A Quiet Rune Scribe

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 4
Chapter 19
Chapter 35
Chapter 53
Chapter 80
Chapter 107
Chapter 110
Chapter 128
Chapter 155
Chapter 182
Chapter 185
Chapter 203
Chapter 230
Chapter 257
Chapter 260
Chapter 268
Chapter 295
Chapter 322
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143
Chapter 144
Chapter 145
Chapter 146
Chapter 147
Chapter 148
Chapter 149
Chapter 150
Chapter 151
Chapter 152
Chapter 153
Chapter 154
Chapter 156
Chapter 157
Chapter 158
Chapter 159
Chapter 160
Chapter 161
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164
Chapter 165
Chapter 166
Chapter 167
Chapter 168
Chapter 169
Chapter 170
Chapter 171
Chapter 172
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175
Chapter 176
Chapter 177
Chapter 178
Chapter 179
Chapter 180
Chapter 181
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 186
Chapter 187
Chapter 188
Chapter 189
Chapter 190
Chapter 191
Chapter 192
Chapter 193
Chapter 194
Chapter 195
Chapter 196
Chapter 197
Chapter 198
Chapter 199
Chapter 200
Chapter 201
Chapter 202
Chapter 204
Chapter 205
Chapter 206
Chapter 207
Chapter 208
Chapter 209
Chapter 210
Chapter 211
Chapter 212
Chapter 213
Chapter 214
Chapter 215
Chapter 216
Chapter 217
Chapter 218
Chapter 219
Chapter 220
Chapter 221
Chapter 222
Chapter 223
Chapter 224
Chapter 225
Chapter 226
Chapter 227
Chapter 228
Chapter 229
Chapter 231
Chapter 232
Chapter 233
Chapter 234
Chapter 235
Chapter 236
Chapter 237
Chapter 238
Chapter 239
Chapter 240
Chapter 241
Chapter 242
Chapter 243
Chapter 244
Chapter 245
Chapter 246
Chapter 247
Chapter 248
Chapter 249
Chapter 250
Chapter 251
Chapter 252
Chapter 253
Chapter 254
Chapter 255
Chapter 256
Chapter 258
Chapter 259
Chapter 261
Chapter 262
Chapter 263
Chapter 264
Chapter 265
Chapter 266
Chapter 267
Chapter 269
Chapter 270
Chapter 271
Chapter 272
Chapter 273
Chapter 274
Chapter 275
Chapter 276
Chapter 277
Chapter 278
Chapter 279
Chapter 280
Chapter 281
Chapter 282
Chapter 283
Chapter 284
Chapter 285
Chapter 286
Chapter 287
Chapter 288
Chapter 289
Chapter 290
Chapter 291
Chapter 292
Chapter 293
Chapter 294
Chapter 296
Chapter 297
Chapter 298
Chapter 299
Chapter 300
Chapter 301
Chapter 302
Chapter 303
Chapter 304
Chapter 305
Chapter 306
Chapter 307
Chapter 308
Chapter 309
Chapter 310
Chapter 311
Chapter 312
Chapter 313
Chapter 314
Chapter 315
Chapter 316
Chapter 317
Chapter 318
Chapter 319
Chapter 320
Chapter 321

Chapter 1

The last thing I remember was the feeling of falling and then, pure black.

I don't remember what killed me, all I do know is that I was walking home on a nice day outside. No clouds or wind, at maybe three or four in the afternoon, then nothing. I was walking and just tripped on a small rock, or something like that. Then I fell and now it's just black.

If I'm going to start talking to myself I might as well say my name. It's Kevin, not sure that matters now, after I fell it's just been this darkness. Although maybe void is a better term for this place. I can't feel anything or see, I'm just here. It's weird that I'm not mad or sad, I feel like I should be, but I'm not.

How long have I been here anyway? Is this it? Ok, what do I know? I'm Kevin Leery Forester, and I'm twenty-one. I was born in 2001, in the state of Ohio, specifically Columbus City. No job, as I lost my last one to budget cuts last month, no living family, not many friends, and no pets.

What else? I don't know. My main hobbies are cartoons? Reading bad fanfiction and games, that's it? What else do I say? Well fuck is this really it? Literally just a black void and my own head... And why am I not panicking or sad? Can I even get sad anymore?

What else do I say? Do I repent my sins? Or scream and make a wish? ... Can I move? It kind of feels like I'm moving right now, but nothing has changed.... what is that? ... light?

As my mind comes to awareness, I still see darkness. :Oh, not this again: As I keep looking though, I see it's not all black, there's some very faint light. I try to move closer only I feel different now, I feel warm and very wet. My mind now properly catching up to my body. :Where am I?:

Suddenly I feel whatever I am shift around me, swaying back and forth slightly as it does so. :Wait am I in someone's, womb?: Although now that I think about it that seems right, I did die. And then that void and light, so rebirth? Probably: As whoever I'm in keeps moving I feel them stop after some time, and wherever we are It is much brighter, that's all the difference I see at least.

I can hear some muffled noises from outside, but I can't make anything out, it's all just too muffled. After a few moments I feel my mother move and lay down, I think. Then a quick burst of movement, the water around me flooding away and the walls squeezing me as I'm pushed forward and out. After a while of this, I see bright light as I leave my new mother.

I can't see well for a while, the light around me makes it hazy and blurred, but after a time my new eyes start to adjust to the light. The first thing I can make out is the wall of the room I'm in. Its color is a soft white much like unfired clay bricks. As I get my bearings I look around the room.

As I look \the first thing to catch my eye is a bright pink and magenta color. After focusing for a moment I make out the shapes. :Oh, what the fuck?: In front of me is a pony, a type of pony I recognize. :Well, I know where I am now: As I take in more of my surroundings I see the pony in front of me is a unicorn mare.

She is wearing what looks like a doctor's coat. It stops at her mid back and doesn't seem to cover her belly fully, only the chest and back. Looking around I see another pony, this one not wearing anything, an earth pony mare with dark a brown coat and green mane. They seem to be talking but I don't recognize the language, the sounds don't have any meaning to me.

Continuing to look at the room I'm in, it's pretty sparse only having some cushions, a bed, a small desk, and a cradle that I'm in. Laying on my side I look up as I hear the conversation between the two mares get louder. I don't know the words but neither looks happy and the doctor keeps trying to get the other mare to sign the clipboard she's holding in her magic.

I get distracted by that as I see a light pink field seep from her horn and vanish reappearing near her clipboard. My attention goes back to the conversation as it's now more of a shouting match, before it can continue the brown mare pushes the door to the room open and slams it behind her, leaving only me and the doctor in the room.

She seems to deflate slightly before looking at me, and seeing me staring back at her she grins a bit and approaches me. After a moment she seems to cast a spell on me before finding a piece of paper and casting a spell on it as well. This seems to form words, although I can't read them as I don't think it's English. It is also hard to make the letters out from the light shining through the paper.

After reading the words her mood seems to lift some, now with a big smile. She picks me up and moves me out of the room and down a hallway with several dozen other doors, all with symbols I don't understand. After going through another door we come to a quiet room full of cradles with sleeping foals, she puts me down in one and leaves. After a few moments of nothing I decide to just sleep like the others, and after a few minutes I drift to sleep.

time skip

It's been about a week or so since I was born, and things are interesting so far, it seems I've stayed in what I presume is a hospital. In that time not that much has happened, I've been fed and changed at least twice a day but not much beyond that. Today something new though, as one of the pony nurses picks me up and we move to the front of the hospital, two large double doors leading outside.

At the front desk she hands me off to a group of ponies, mostly mares but some stallions as well, and a few foals they seem to be gathering to go with them. As the nurse passes me to an older unicorn mare, she also gives the mare an envelope, I think my documents. :Well looks like I've found who I'm living with:

After a day or two of not seeing the brown pony, who I think was my mother, it didn't take long to realize that I was given away. I don't know why, nor do I really care. In my past life, I grew up living with uncles and aunts never meeting my birth parents, they died in a car crash from what I was told.

The older-looking mare picked me up in her magic as her group started to leave, and me with them. As the doors closed behind us, I got my first good look outside, it seemed to be midday as I looked around. I see three to six-story buildings around us, it seems like we're in a city, and a fairly big one from the looks of it. Many ponies moved up and down the streets, some with carts and carriages.

As our group moves through the busy city streets I see more ponies. Mostly unicorns, some pegasi and a few earth ponies, all walking and going about their day, some carrying things. After twenty minutes or so we turned off the busy street and down one with less traffic, we saw a few restaurants with ponies eating at tables as we passed by.

After some more time, we reached a large building three stories high with a fairly large front lawn, along with a few gardens growing herbs and small crops. As we enter the main doors we come to a fairly large room with a large staircase going up to the second and third floors. We turn down a hallway and enter a room much like the hospital, around two dozen cradles most empty sitting in the room, and the older mare holding me puts me down in one before leaving.

rapid time skips

It's been a few weeks since I've come to the orphanage, and in that time I've learned quite a lot. A few words, although I'm not sure what they mean, I have a decent idea but I'm not certain. My legs have gained enough strength to walk, a few of my new caretakers looked surprised but not overly so. I learned why soon when one of the other foals that came with me from the hospital started walking a week later, that does make some sense as ponies in my last life could walk soon after birth.

I've decided that I should probably not try speaking, I don't really want too much attention. This world has magic so I don't actually know if they have encountered someone who's reincarnated before, I may try speaking when one of the other foals that came with me does, but not for now.

Another thing that seems to be working in my fever is they don't seem to think it odd that I can walk so well already. I think it's because I'm an earth pony, out of all the ponies that are here I'm the only one, most being unicorn's foals and a few pegasi.

Even though we can't have been born that far apart, maybe a few days at most, I'm already bigger than all of them. And from what I've seen earth ponies seem bigger than the others, pegasi being the smallest, so my walking before the others didn't seem to raise any red flags.

At this point, I've seen several rooms and in one there was even a mirror on the wall. So I finally got a good look at myself, my coat was a deep brown even darker than my mother's, and my mane and tail were green much like hers, but much like my coat it too was a deeper color, a deep forest green. My eyes are a bright light green almost like emeralds.

And I've been outside a few times, although always under close watch. I've even enjoyed playing around as a kid again, without having to stress over work and rent, it has been nice but I'm starting to get bored, I'll have to find a way to entertain myself.

time skip

It's my first birthday today. I was given some small toys and some drawing supplies as gifts. Even better news I was given a name, it's Shade Evergreen, I decided to take that name as it seems fitting with how I look. In other news, I've learned a lot of the language.

I still can't say I'm fluent in it, but I can now hold a conversation, even better is that not a few weeks ago one of the other foals said their first word, so a week ago I started to do the same. Now a lot of my caretakers try to teach me new words, mostly simple words though, but it's still helping a lot in learning the language.

One thing I found out is that the orphanage has a library in it. One of the caretakers took me there to return books while watching me. It's not big but still fairly large, holding a hundred or so books. In the past year, I've been able to learn a few written words, although not many. I think I will try to learn more if I can. Although I shouldn't push my luck too much, in the past year I had a few close calls with the caretakers.

Speaking of the caretakers, I've learned some of their names. The main one is the name of the orphanage head. The older unicorn who took me here. Her name is Margee Limestone, her coat is sandstone in color and her main a dark brown, although not as dark as my coat, and her eyes are a dark blue.

I've learned the names of a few other ponies but mostly I haven't. The orphanage houses around a hundred or so orphans, so they have quite a few staff members. Another interesting thing is eating, after we turned ten months old they started to feed us solid food, mostly soft stuff, some bread, and fruit. A few other plants that humans don't eat often or at all, like daisies and hay, at first I was a bit apprehensive but after trying them they aren't that bad, although I'm definitely starting to miss meat.

time skip

It's my second birthday today, I'm two now and some things have changed. The big one is that I have magic now, a month or so ago I picked something up with only one hoof. A small rock, I'd been trying to do this for a while now, practicing a few times a week since I turned one.

A few of the other foals my age also started doing it but only the unicorns not pegasi so I think my practice has paid off some. I think a unicorn's horn has a lot to do with how they use magic to hold things so early in life, because even when they are only holding something with their hoof their horn still glows a small bit. My best guess is that their horn is compensating for their weak magic at their age.

In the show, most earth ponies are farmers or bakers and stuff like that, something that requires contact with their work but it's pretty obvious that they still have magic, just not a horn. That still doesn't explain why unicorns have more magic than other ponies. My best guess is that unicorns simply use their magic to make a direct effect more often than the other types of ponies.

A good example is that most earth ponies use their bodies more, so their magic probably strengthens them. Whereas a pegasus uses it to fly as their wings are not really big enough for them to fly, yet they still do. On top of that some ponies also seem to have more magic than others. The only reason I can think of for that is simply practice. From what I remember of the show most unicorns that are strong in magic grow up using it more than others.

After deciding to try to train my magic. My best idea to do so is to simply use it to hold something as long as I can. I can only hold something that doesn't weigh much, a few small pebbles and twigs from the yard during playtime. So my current plan is to find the maximum weight I can hold and do that for as long as I can before my magic runs out, and to repeat that process as much as I can.

time skip

I'm five now and in the past two years, I've made a lot of progress. The main changes I've had are preschool, we get taught by a teacher that the orphanage brings in and we have a room for classes. Right now we're mostly learning to read so there is not much for me to do, as I already know how to read. There are some words that I don't know so it is rounding out my knowledge.

Probably the best thing is the small bookshelf, which I've completely read through. Mostly simple kids' books, but some still had some things to learn. By far the best part about growing up more was the alone time. Before I could only do things like practice for short amounts of time, but now we are for the most part left to our own devices for most of the day.

Because of this I've had a lot more time to practice than in the past two years. The length of time and the amount of weight I can hold have been increasing. I've even learned to hold things without touching them, it's only a few inches from my body but after practicing it also seems to be increasing in range as I push my limits further.

After a while, I decided to name this effect simply my Telekinetic Field, or TF for short. With my practice, I can now hold a few pounds without using my own strength, and a few ounces at most when floating them without body contact. Another thing I've noticed is I can hold smaller and lighter things much longer now, it may just be my body growth but even then I don't think It would be this strong. I believe my training is working well.

The last real thing of note is I've taken up running, mostly in games with the other foals to try and stay fit, I don't know if exercise will help with my magic capacity all that much. But it's worth a try and keeping in shape will help me in general, my current plans are to try and get access to the orphanage library and learn more about magic in general.

time skip

It's my eighth birthday today and the past few years have been a lot. Let's start with school, in my past life I lived in America and the grads there went from. Preschool and kindergarten from four to six, elementary schools from seven to eleven, middle school from twelve to fourteen, and high school from fifteen to eighteen.

After we left preschool at six, we started something like middle school which lasted until we were ten, it's pretty similar mostly to tests on spelling and grammar. The biggest difference I found was with numbers. We were only taught basic math at eight earlier this year, and even then only basic addition and subtraction, not even multiplication.

Furthermore many of the other ponies my age are having a hard time doing it. For a human even if a kid struggles with math they would still be better by this age.

I don't think ponies are dumber or something like that, as far as I've seen in all other aspects they are comparable to humans, although physically smaller. So it's really just math that seems to be a difficulty for them, my theory is that a pony's mind is less geared towards math than a human's, although I don't know the reason, I just can't see another possibility.

In other news, I've gotten to explore the city more and finally learned what city I'm in. Which to my shock turned out to be Canterlot, of all places to be born, I'm not really sure if that's lucky or not.

The good news is I think my idea to keep a low profile was a good one mostly because of my proximity to a certain sun pony. Speaking of her I gotta see her raise the sun not long ago during the summer sun celebration. Me and the other foals were taken to see it, and I can tell you right now she's definitely got presentation if nothing else.

Another thing I've learned is dates like my birthday, April fifth. That's another odd thing, the calendar has the same names for months after translating them, and the year is also three hundred and sixty-five days just like Earth. I may have to look into that later but for now, it's only an interesting oddity, I also learned the current in year nine eighty-eight. So I'll be twenty when Cannon starts.

In terms of my own progress, my training continues as normal. I'm now able to lift rocks weighing sixty to seventy pounds and able to float a one to two-pound rock close to me. Although it gets harder the further away it is, I can lift maybe half a pound, roughly eight ounces five or six feet away from me, for things like pebbles and twigs with some effort I can pick them up at almost ten feet away.

I've kept up with my running too, mostly to train my endurance. I also started drawing again, like in my past life, It was a hobby of mine that I stopped doing because I never had enough time. This turned out to be a good choice of hobby because around a year ago I finally got access to the main library.

In the library, most books were about careers and jobs, which does make sense. But two books did catch my interest, both about magic, the first being about what magic is and, the second is about runes and spells.

First, what is magic? Well, it didn't give clear answers like I'd hoped but I did learn that magic is a form of energy that is everywhere in the world, as far as they can tell at least. And that using magic requires two things, will and math.

Will to move and form your magic, and math to give it instructions, unicorns do this by memorizing a spell matrix in their minds and then pushing their magic out of their horns to power the spells. In contrast, earth ponies and pegasi mostly seem to use their magic more passively for strength, to fly, or to hold objects.

The other book went more In-depth about a spell's matrix. The runic spells use the same math formulas to do the same things in the same ways but are different in casting methods. A good example the book gave was the heating spell, a simple spell that only heats something until it's warm, the math basically just tells the spell what the base temperature is and to go higher.

The more complex the spell and the more drastic the effect means that you need to keep the spell matrix and math firmly in your mind, and then you need enough magic to power it. This is part of the reason not many unicorns learn more than the basic spells, and most go to magic schools to learn anything more complex. It's also why only unicorns use this type of magic, if an earth pony or a pegasus did try this method they wouldn't be able to push the spell out of their bodies where it's been formed with a horn.

This is the most widely used type of magic but there's also runic magic, it's not that different from normal spell casting and despite its name, it seems to not use any language, it's only numbers and symbols as far as I can tell. In fact, the two branches of magic are almost identical. A spell matrix and a runic matrix are interchangeable with each other, the big difference being that a spell matrix is formed in the mind and a runic one is formed outside the body using magic to draw it.

What interests me the most about runic magic is that you don't need a horn to draw with magic. You just need to push your magic into the tip of your hoof and draw the matrix out. If you're good enough at it you can even form the matrix all at once outside your body. That's actually the difference between a novice and journeyman runic caster, a master is somepony who can form more than one at a single time.

Now as you can imagine I was pretty excited that I could actually do magic. I read the entire book that day, and the next day I went to my room with a small rock and the book that I was able to borrow, with a promise to be careful with my attempts.

At first, I was surprised they would give an eight-year-old a book on spells, but the only three spells in the book are one for heating, another for cooling, and a weak lifting spell.

On top of that when a spell matrix fails or is done incorrectly the magic will just dissipate into its surroundings. With weak spells, this isn't that dangerous but with more powerful spells the uncontrolled magic can be disastrous. This is one of the many reasons most don't use this type of magic. Why spend your time learning a difficult and sometimes dangerous branch of magic when you can just pay a unicorn to do it for you?

As for why other ponies don't use runes to make enchanted items? It's because the process of making an enchanted item is the same if you're using runic magic vs spell casting. So yet again a unicorn can do the same thing with less risk, so why bother?

After making it to my room, the room itself is rather simple, a bed, two shelves, a desk, and a small chest. I move and sit on my bed to try the most basic step, drawing with magic. As I focus on my left foreleg I try to concentrate my magic in the front tip of my left hoof. My hoof gaining a dim emerald green glow on one end, I keep focus and move my hoof to the left, as I do so a line of deep green magic is left in the air.

I smile at this and attempt to slowly draw out the healing spell. After several failed attempts I draw two rough circles of green light, one inside the other as I keep my concentration. I write the correct numbers inside and as I draw the last number I move the small rock I brought with me and put it into the circles. I feed the Runic Matrix my magic and the matrix flashes slightly as the rock starts to heat up. After a minute or two I've used half my mana and cut my connection to the runes, the matrix dissolving into moats of light before disappearing completely.

As I reach out to touch the rock I feel the warmth coming off it, the stone is hot to the touch. :It worked: As a large smile spreads across my muzzle I see a faint light coming from my side. :Hmmm?: I turn and I see the light coming from my flank. Before there's a flash of white light that blinds me for a moment.

As I blink the spots from my eyes I turn to my flank, excited to see what's on it. I see the form of a stone tablet with a runic matrix on it, the stone is a deep dark color much like lava rock, and the runes don't seem to have any meaning that I can tell, just random numbers and a few symbols. After seeing my new cutie mark I decided to practice more runes before going to bed.

time skip

It's now my eleventh birthday, and it's been three years since I got my cutie mark. As a gift for my birthday, I got a book on more complex spells, along with a small celebration. The head mare told me that I could only practice these spells only with the supervision of a caretaker. I'm very excited to try some more complex spells out.

A few things I've learned that are important. First, ponies consider fifteen to be an adult which seemed a little weird but ponies in my past life were adults at five or six and only lived for twenty-five to thirty years, and I've gotten to meet some ponies here that are way older than that, one in their seventies. Ponies also seem to mature a bit faster than humans.

Another thing is that I was told to start thinking about a career and was given a small book with apprenticeships I could take for a job. There were quite a few mostly crafting and production jobs so I'll have to give it some thought as when I turn fifteen I'll have to leave the orphanage. One thing of particular note is guilds, many of them exist for a specific craft like blacksmithing or tailoring.

As for my training, it's been going well. I can lift almost two hundred pounds with my TK field now, can float ten pounds close to me, and almost a pound around twenty feet away. My magic reserves are still growing along with my control over my magic. At this point, I think my reserves are larger than even most unicorns my age. Most of them do not practice much magic, and some don't even practice spells at all.

I've also gotten better at drawing and practicing more after I learned that the better my spells are drawn the less magic they take. Using spells has also helped me train how fast my magic refills, the Heating spell that I could only keep up for a few minutes two years ago I can now keep going Indefinitely. My body has also kept growing, I'm now almost as tall as some of the adult pegasi and still growing that, and as I've kept up my exercising I'm in good health.

A few weeks after my eleventh birthday I finally decided on an apprenticeship, after looking through the book they gave me I found one for a librarian fob for the city library. The library is the second largest library in Equestria, only behind the royal library, and the job itself isn't anything grand. But its pay is pretty decent as not many younger ponies want to work there, the only real requirements are that I need to start the job before the age of thirteen and that I need to stay until I'm fifteen.

The main reason I chose this job is because it gives me plenty of time to research, as I'm allowed to read on my break and before and after my shift. I also get free access to the library and can check out as many books as I like, as long as I take them back every month. On top of all of that, I also get a rent-free room, nothing fancy but still my own space, and after learning all this I decided to go for this one. It took a week for them to send a letter saying I was accepted, and after all that I started my new job tomorrow.

Author's Note

So, first things first I'm new to writing and criticism is appreciated, second the chapters going forward are going to be 1k or 2k, this first one is more a prologue than anything.

Thanks for reading, and have a good day. :D

PS. "speech" :thoughts:

[Edit, this AN is made as of the 250 chapter. I've come back to redone the first Chapter so others can get a better idea of what my writing is like now. The quality is below preferable until chapter 50 or so, fair warning.]

Chapter 4

It's been a week since I started working and I've gone through several shifts sorting and shelving books while learning the layout of the library and getting more familiar with it. And after work researching several topics, but as I've dived into the knowledge of the library, I realized that just learning things at random Isn't going to work.

To that end I've decided to redo my training schedules and plans. Let's start with the latter. My plans for now mostly consist of learning any useful magic and also probably creating some new spells but I'll need a lot more practice and knowledge for that as for my long-term plans.

One thing I've never forgotten is my past life and with it the show. I've done a lot of thinking on how I want to act and I'm still not sure. But I know I don't want to be dragged into the main plot mostly for fear of messing things up. But I also don't just want to do nothing. So for now my plan is to help from behind the scenes. Nothing obvious but things like seeing if I can put some protections around a certain tree of harmony or helping with one of the other disasters. And now that I have a decent amount of privacy I started to write down all that I remember from the show in a hidden journal.

And as for short-term plans, I want to unlock my elemental affinity and learn more spells in general which brings me back to training and researching. For training I run once a day in the morning and drain my magic halfway when I start and finish my shift and mostly read and practice spells then completely drain my magic before bed. For now there's not much to change so I'll stick to my current training until I find a better way.

The last thing I'm still training is my TK field, as it stands right now, I can pick up a pony although it's still hard to move things that heavy. And even then only for a dozen or so feet, but for smaller objects like books it's around twenty feet. This has made my job of putting away books much easier as I don't need a ladder to place them on higher shelves. This also being the main way I've been training my precision and aim. I've also started to move more than one thing at a time and although I can, my control is much less when doing it so I'll keep training. As for raw lifting power I mostly train that by lifting my bed a few inches off the ground and holding it there for as long as I can.

In terms of research I've decided to only pick three or four projects at a time to not overwhelm myself. Sight now the topics I'm researching are mostly runes, how affinities work, and spells in general. And to a lesser degree I'm also learning about history, namely anything about alicorns and the past of the princesses. And finally I'm thinking about learning healing magic as no matter what I plan on doing it will be somewhat dangerous so being able to heal myself and others will be a big help.

In the past week I've been reading about a few runes for different things. One of my interests is one that was in the book Daisy gave me. It's effect is to nullify gravity in a small area, it doesn't work on large or heavy things but if I modify it to be more powerful it could be useful to me later. For now though I'm looking more into the affinity spell and I ended up finding a book that goes more in-depth about it.

I'm glad I did as some things I learned are important. The main thing being that when you cast the spell it doesn't only take a large amount of magic but also takes a large amount of magic to maintain the spell. So you only have around half a minute to write down the results before the magic runs out. The second important thing is what the spell actually does when you cast it on somepony of yourself the spell's matrix will have several balls of light each of a different element.

So I spent some time in the past week looking for a guide to what the different colors mean and I did find one. I don't know if it has all the elements, but it does have a good list, so I wrote them down for later. I also went to the market yesterday to see gem prices and found that I wasn't that far off from my earlier guess. I'll take me around three more weeks to buy one and a few days to enchant and fill it.

Speaking of enchantments I'm in the library right now after work reading a book on enchanting. The process being surprisingly easy all you really need is a material that can conduct magic. And to cast a spell on it while also casting a smaller matrix inside the main spells matrix and then applying it to your item. I ended up finding the spell to hold magic. It wasn't too hard to find and it's not too complex so I've decided to get some practice with the spell before I use it on a crystal.

As I put the book back after drawing out the matrix in my notebook. I turn to start heading to my room. Only to stop dead in my tracks as not far in front of me I see a unicorn filly mare reading at one of the tables a purple coat, a tail, with a main of dark purple almost blue with a stripe of lighter purple and pink going through it.

I immediately start walking the other way before moving behind a bookshelf. After gaining some distance I started to calm down. :Why the hell is she here? out of all the ponies to run into that's almost the worst: As I make my way out of the library and into my room I close and lock my door :the last thing I need is to start messing with canon before it's even started: After some time, I calm myself down.

Ok so I might have overreacted some but still I shouldn't interact with any of them right now. After showering I decide to practice the enchanting spell to form it right, and after a while I draw and redraw the matrix a few times. I stop and notice that it's getting late so I draw the matrix for the candle flame spell before pumping all my magic into it creating a foot-wide ball of fire for a few minutes before it fizzles out and I head to bed.

sponge bob like cutaway "three days later."

After the scare three days ago. I was walking on eggshells for a while but after I didn't see a certain purple pony again. I settled back into my daily routine nothing else happened thankfully. And right now I'm heading back from shelving books I take a moment to draw the temporis spell.

Eleven fifty-three lunchtime. I leave the cart in the sorting room and make my way to the break room where I sit next to Blaz and Daisy as I normally do and after I sit down I start eating "So Shade you've been here more than a week now how you are liking the job'' Daisy asks me.

"Not bad the work is pretty easy so nothing to really complain about."

Blaz speaks up "You've been doing a good job colt most who start don't get past two carts a day you did double that yesterday just don't push yourself too hard ok?"

"I won't" I pause to take a bite of some heyfries "I've been trying to find books on spells to train my control, if either of you know any good ones?"

Daisy pauses in her eating for a moment "I think I remember some, but most are complex or take a lot of magic so I'm not sure how much luck you'd have trying them."

I perk up at this "Really do you know any basic ones?" she shakes her head.

"Sorry can't say I have, although I do know some books on training I could find for you?"

"That would be great thanks" After that we talked about some other things before getting back to work.

After I finished my shift, I decided to go to the park for a walk to relax. I've been doing this every few days to clear my head and get some fresh air. As I walk through the park, I see a group of tables with several ponies playing game. As I watch them play, I see an elderly unicorn setting up a chess set on one of the tables before sitting down.

I've come through this park a few times now, so I've learned that it's an open invitation to play. So I decided to walk up to him "Hey you mind if I play a game."

The old pony turns to me and after a moment he gives me a smile "Sure colt you ever played before?"

He says while motioning for me to sit "Ya I've played it's been a while though so a refresher would be nice" he nods.

After a few moments of him explaining the rules, they end up being the same as my old life. As we started playing, going back and forth turn to turn, and while I wasn't the best at chess in my past life it was something I always liked so as the game continued, we seemed evenly matched but, in the end, his experience wins out and he checksmates me.

After our game the old colt turns to me "Well now it's not often I find one so young that can give me a challenge" he says with a light chuckle as moves the board back into order.

"Thanks sir. Anyway I better get going, have a good day."

He nods "Same to you colt and come back if you ever want a rematch."

As I leave the park and start walking through the city passing several shops before seeing a tea shop. I decide to get some tea. As I enter the tea shop its walls are a soft dark wood several wall-lined seating areas with small dividers separating them. I approach the counter and wait in a small line for a bit.

After getting to the front of the line I'm greeted by a younger-looking mare "What can I get you?"

"Mint tea with some lemon please."

"Sure. Three bits and you can sit anywhere you like" After paying her I go and sit in a corner booth and pull out my notebook to study some while waiting for my drink.

After a few minutes a pony comes and brings me my drink "Thanks."

She gives a smile "No problem if you need a refill just ask" I nod back and take a sip of my tea before returning back to my notes as I work my way through my notes organizing them and making them neater. And after some time, I finish my tea and get up to leave.

As I walk down the street heading back to the library as, I start to hum a tune. And after a few minutes arrive at the library and make my way to my room putting my notes away before grabbing the book about affinities and making myself comfortable on my bed as I start reading.

Another thing that I've learned about is emotional affinities. Most emotions have an affinity counterpart but what makes them special is how they function. Unlike elemental affinity which enhances a spell's power through whatever element you have. The emotional ones enhance the power of a spell based on what emotion you're feeling and how strong it is along with what you're doing with that spell. So if you have an affinity for love and perform an act of magic out of love the spell is enhanced.

Another branch of magic I've been interested in is cutie marks but I've found almost nothing on the subject so far what I have found is mostly just reference material and not much else. So I've had to make some guesses about it. I think it's at least part random but I can't rule out the possibility of fate in some form.

What I do know is that the effects of a cutie mark can be vast or small. Take mine for example, through trial and error I've found that it enhances my runic magic how fast I remember a new matrix and helps me draw them. The effect isn't large, but it is noticeable and has helped a lot.

After some time I finish reading and like most days, take a shower and drain my magic before going to bed.

Author's Note

[thank you for reading]

Chapter 19

DEC 28-29. After hearing the loud crack, I move my light closer to see the black egg better, I see cracks all over the egg, its ability to absorb light making it look like a black hole is cracking apart.

After a few minutes of me waiting I see something break the suffuse of the eggs shell, a black beak pushing its way out forming a small hole, I continue to watch as the egg slowly breaks apart and after waiting a while longer, I see the egg finally crack apart at its sides.

I see the top of the egg now separated from the bottom half move, I reach out with my field and pull the top half of the egg up and out of the way, inside is a small bird chick letting out soft chirps as it shuffles around, its skin was all black along with its beak, and it had no feathers like all newborn birds.

I grab a few books from my desk, I had no idea what would come from the egg, but I'd guessed it would probably be some type of bird or lizard, so I made sure to have a several books in my room for when the egg hatched, I flipped through several chapters trying to find anything that would help.

Before I begin my reading, I clean up the chick with a rag and keep it warm by holding it to my chest, I read through the books and don't find anything about what this chick might be the closest I've found is some type of crow, I did also find out how to take care of it, I'm going to need to go buy some food for it and I know a pet shop I've passed it in the city a few times, so for tonight I'm going to let it sleep with me to keep it warm.

As I wake up the first thing, I hear it chirping I get up and hold the little bird "you must be hungry? well then let's go get you something to eat" I grab my bag and place the hatchling on my back wrapped it a cloth to keep it warm and using my field to keep it stable, as we make are way to the pet shop I remember, we arrive and enter I see a mare at the counter and approach, "hello sir what can I help you with?"

"Well, I have a bird that I hatched recently and I'm not really sure how to take care of it" I say with some embarrassment.

She doesn't look very surprised at my statement "you'd be surprised how many ponies I've see come in with the same problem, can I see the bird?" she asks looking at my back.

I pass the bird over to her letting her see it, and after a moment of looking she speaks "well I'm not sure exactly what type of bird this is I can say it's probably a type of crow, are you looking to keep it?"

I nod "yes I came to see what I would need to raise it."

She gives me a smile "ok I'll show you what you'll need and tell you how, although I'll have to charge you."

"That's fine thank you", she spends several minutes helping me pick out a cage some toys for when the birds older and food, the food she gave me is a bottle filled with a mix, it doesn't smell the best but after giving the bird some they seem to like it, she tells me that most crows can start eating solid food after a month so I don't need to buy much and I'll only need to buy more every week or so.

I also bought everything my new friend will need, a water and food bowl along with the cage and toy's I mentioned before, I was also told that most crows can eat most things the only things I can't give it is chocolate and dairy, the final thing I was told was how to keep the chick warm turns out they sold a short guide with a spell so I bought one instead of looking for it in the library, after my shopping I leave the store and make my way back to the library and my room.

I close my door and place the chick on my desk in its cloth nest, I spend some time setting up the cage it's not large, three feet tall three wide and four feet long, it's not the best and I'll probably get something better when he grows some, but it will do for now.

I don't have much room, so I place the cage at the foot of my bed in between the bed and my desk, I assemble the cage and place it on the floor, I hear the chirping of my new roommate demanding food and start feeding them while looking around my room.

I'm starting to realize that I don't have much space and with my plants and my new friend I have even less, I may have to think about moving to somewhere bigger but to do that I'll need permission from the library, and I'll need to find someplace to move to, It's the end of December so in a few days so I can find some time to talk to Daisy and ask her about it, for now though I have my environment spell and this little one to keep me busy.

time skip

JAN 1 Wednesday, it's the new year and canon creeps ever closer.

It's Wednesday which normally means I have the day off but with the new year I get a new schedule my days off are now Thursdays and Fridays so today is now a workday, and I go through my workday as normal.

I do make one change and that's during lunch I leave back to my room to feed the bird, I walk to Daisy's office after my shift is over and knock on the door, "come in" I open the door and see her at the desk with several papers covering it she looks up and sees me, "Shade what can I help you with?"

"Well, it depends, do you want to do something else for the day?"

"To get away from this for the rest of the day would be great, what is it?"

"I need more space and I now have a pet so I'm looking to move what are my options?"

She doesn't look surprised as she's seen my room, "well you have two options, first is asking the library for a bigger room but that's unlikely as there all occupied right now, there also not that much bigger than the normal rooms", she spends a moment looking for something before placing several papers in front of me.

"And the second option is to get an apartment\, but as your underage you can't just live anywhere, but you can live somewhere that is near an employee that's worked here for several years, and I just so happen to be living a few blocks from here in an apartment building with a spare apartment."

"Although I do have to ask if you have enough bits, the apartment I live in is in the upper city so it can get pricey."

I look through the papers she passed me before answering "ya I have enough, I won't get into specifics but let's just say I used some of the bits I've made in the last few months to invest and it's going well."

She nods "ok then all we need is you to sign these papers saying you're moving."

"Wait, I don't even know if I can get the apartment it seems like a bad idea to leave before I have somewhere to live."

She lets out a chuckle "you don't have to worry about that my grandsire owns the building, he even asked me a few weeks ago if I knew anypony that wants to move so this works out well for both of us."

I look through the last of the papers before signing them "well then you said you wanted an excuse to leave want to show me the apartment?"

"A chance to ignore this paperwork for the rest of today? do you even have to ask?"

I wait a few minutes for her to get things in order before we leave, we walk down the street away from the library and after a little while we come to an apartment building with several floors, Daisy introduces me to her grandsire, he's an elderly but strong looking stallion, former guard from the looks of him.

The apartment is decent sized with three rooms and a bathroom, the main room has a large window on the far wall from the front door with both other rooms and the bathroom through three doors to the left when you enter, and the kitchen is in the main room to the right this place is fairly big more than enough room for me.

The main room is fifteen by twenty five feet, both side rooms are fifteen by fifteen one of the side rooms has a window, and the kitchen has a nice island counter a stove with an oven and plenty of cabinet space, the large window looking out into the city overlooking a few other buildings letting you see past them and into a little of the countryside.

After looking at the apartment I decided to move in almost immediately, I can use the main room's window for my plants, and I'll still have space, the side room with the window will be my bedroom and the other small room can be a work room.

I sign a renter's lease for the year, and it can be renewed yearly after that, the rent is a little much but with how much I've gotten so far from the magic light sales I can live here for a decade or more, after getting everything signed and paying him the first month rent Daisy offered to take me shopping for furniture which I accepted.

We stop at the bank so I can withdraw some bits and after we spend time moving from shop to shop buying things I will need, first a bed along with some pillows and blankets two tables and a few sitting pillows, several shelves and two desks for my work room.

Along with a few lesser things, after telling the different shops where to deliver the purchases we couldn't carry with us to my new home we walk back to the library and Daisy helps me move my thing over in several boxes.

When the last box of my things is placed in my new home, I offer to take Daisy out to eat for her help and to wait for my other things to be delivered, we walk around for a while before stopping at a restaurant we spend a few hours eating and chatting over good food before heading back to the apartment building.

It's late and the sun has just set over the horizon when we enter the building and move to the front desk where Daisy's grandsire leads us to a mail room with my new things and we spend half an hour bringing it all to my room, after we finish, we say goodbye and separate.

I close my door and look at my new room seeing the various boxes, I check on my little friend feeding him before I start unboxing everything and setting up my bed and one of the tables in my room to place the birds cage on, after I move to the work room and set up a shelf and desk leaving the others in the boxes for now.

I sort and place everything on the shelf before moving on to the kitchen, I place my utensils and pan away sorting my spices into a cabinet, I use my new larger bathroom to take a shower and clean myself up.

I sit on my bed with the little chick reading a book about birds, I move the small bird into his cage in a small nest made of cloth with a warming spell on it, "good night little one' it gives me a chirp in response "you know I need a name for you, how about shadow? the small chick remains silent.

"Not that then, hmm your dark in every way from your skin to your beak, your egg was so dark it absorbed light itself so how about Entropy?"

Chapter 35

APR 30 Wednesday. I enter the training range a little before five in the afternoon, I'm here to train with Stone Mace, I check in at the desk and am led by a pony to a room, and open the door.

Inside I see Stone slashing a sword around in front of him, he notices me and stops, "come on in colt."

I enter the room, it's mostly plain looking with wood floors and white walls, "so what do you have planned for today?"

"Well first I have a few questions for you" I nod "first your age was marked as twelve right?" I nod again "I can see why others may think you're older, most your age don't act as mature as you, you're also tall for your age, but that's besides the point, second do you want help in spell casting and exercise or just one?"

"I'd like both."

"Good, do you do any exercises right now and what do you eat regularly?"

"Morning runs for a few years now and I eat a decent amount of bread, I should probably eat more veggies now that you bring it up, and meat three to two times a week."

I see his expression change a little giving me an odd look "meat? besides batponies I've met only two ponies in my life that eat meat, I'll be honest colt that's an odd habit for any pony let alone an earth pony but I'm not one to judge others, I do think you should cut back some though."

"I've worked with several batponies and from what I remember they ate meat once maybe twice a week, so I suggest you cut back to one maybe two meals with meat in them per week, moving on I'd like to test you some, basic things mostly a few exercises and some spell practice."

"Sounds good to me", he starts out by showing me some exercises I can do at home or when on my runs, he works me hard for the first hour having me push my bodies limits some, after that first hour we move onto spell practice and aiming, it was mostly small but impotent things.

Little things like how to better visualize a spells trajectory, when you cast a spell aiming it is mostly a matter of control over your magic and how well you can judge distance and speed, he has me cast spells as fast as I can while moving around at a slow trot.

I've never had to cast a long range spell while moving so this took me a while to hit anything, but progress is slowly made with each and every attempt, after that we spend the rest of our time going over different exercises in detail, I leave after seven as we both need to get home.

When I enter the apartment I see Entropy waiting for me, she flies over and demands some attention before leaving me alone, she's stopped following me everywhere inside but she still keeps an eye on me, although she still tries to follow me anytime I leave.

I drop my saddlebags and head to my workroom, I'm going to work on illusions some, I enter the room and grab a medium ruby to work with, I sit down with the ruby along with one of my notebooks and start as always by getting the gem to hold and gather magic.

I didn't do anything for my birthday and the last time I made a complex illusion was when I made the Celestia models so I think it's about time I dip my hooves back in and have some stupid fun with illusions.

I'm using one of my two medium rubies for this as they can let me get more complex and interesting with my creations, I'm going to use the same illusion spell I used for the Celestia models and a new one I found that lets me shift the colors instead of only having one solid color.

These spells combined give me a decent range of color and detail to work with, I want to make something really impressive and fun so I'm going to lair several enchantments and illusions onto the gem, I'm making a small planet, I'm hoping to make a small fake planet that I can modify and change however I like.

To start off with I'm going to need to make this illusion be able to move around, not much but I'd like it to spin if nothing else, but illusions like that are magic intensive the good news is I have found a spell that will help with all of this, a base frame spell.

This spell lets you attach different illusion spells onto it, the two things to keep in mind is there are only twelve slots for illusions spells you can link into it, and you can't use other spells beyond illusions as the frame spell was made to only use illusions.

The spell itself works by linking other spells to it through a different type of linking spell from what I normally use, using both of these combined you can link illusions together and have them stack on top of each other this lets them interact to an extent.

I'm looking into other frame type spells and I haven't found any other types yet, but I'll keep looking, I start with the frame spell and the first illusion, I create a stone colored sphere and take my time slowly adding other details as I go, after a while I have some indents that will be oceans.

I shape some mountains but then realize that they are far too big to look right, I spend more time trying to get them right and after an hour I have something that look kind of like a rocky dead world, it's rough and will take more work but I think it's good enough to add the water.

I layer the second illusion and shape it to fill all the sunken areas with blue, it's all one color so it kind of looks like a 3D rendering of a simplistic world, I spend some time adjusting its colors and get it to shift from lighter to darker water at different parts, and keep it transparent.

I spend more time adjusting these two illusions and getting them to look decent, I make some progress but this project will take me a while to get right and make it look good, I stop as it's getting late and move away from my desk to eat dinner and get some sleep.

time skip

MAY 7 Wednesday.

I just got off from work and am heading back to my apartment, I have a busier schedule than normal because I'm doing a whopping two things today, first practice with Stone and second the auction with Daisy later today, at first I worried that I'd have to miss practice with Stone or the auction, but after asking Daisy the auction starts at seven thirty so luckily I'll have time for both.

I get to my apartment and spend some time taking care of daily chores, I feed Entropy and tend to the plants before spending my spare time tinkering with my little planet project, the water and land is much more detailed then before and I've moved onto the next steps.

I added two new illusions to the frame, first is a transparent bubble that covers everything and is opaque, its thick so it reaches out from the ground and up giving the planet an atmosphere, I think it looks fine but it will need some more work, the second is that the whole illusion now slowly spins on a tilted axis.

The next thing I want to add is clouds and some greenery on the land, but that's for later as I don't want to be late for practice, I grab my saddlebags and leave heading for the range.

I make it there after a little while, and make my way to the same room as last time, as I enter I see Stone doing the same thing as last week swinging around a sword and practicing different slashes, "hey Stone" I call out as I place my saddlebags on the floor and close the door.

He turns to me "colt" he greets "well you've come around for a second time, keep this up and we'll get you properly trained in no time" he jokes.

"Do many not come back?"

"Some but many also choose not to, before we begin I want to ask you exactly what you want training for, I know you want to get better with your spells and fitness but what's your goal here?"

I take a moment to think it over, I want to be ready for what's to come and deal with the things that will inevitably pop up, but in what way? I think a little more before answering him, "could you put me through the same training guards go through?"

He raises a brow before showing a small smile, "well I've not gotten that request before, those who ask for that type of training are planning to join the guard but that doesn't matter, yes I can, but if you ask me to do that I'll need you to stay with me the whole way through."

He moves down a little to be eye level with me, then locks eyes with me "if I train you like that I expect you to be here until the end and if you quit I won't continue training you, I won't train anypony like that unless they prove they've earned it, you got that colt?"

I've met a few people like Stone in my past life, one of my uncles was former military so when they ask you something like this I know they are being completely serious, I also know that this is a opportunity I may never get again as Stone has trained guards before and he will be by far the best teacher I can find.

That and having the same training as a guard even if I don't manage to finish it will be invaluable to future plans and events, with my mind made up I give him a firm nod, "yes I want this."

He keeps eye contact with me for several seconds before giving his own nod, "good then let's get started."

An hour later I realize I may have made a mistake, "you call that running?! I've seen fillies run faster! Now pick up the pace colt?!, I severely underestimated both how loud Stone is when he shouts and how much of a slave driver he can be, although that last part is mostly my fault as I asked a former guard trainer to train my dumbass.

By the time our session ended I was barely standing and was utterly exhausted, I'm resting while taking deep gulps of water from my flask when Stone approached me with a piece of paper, "how are you feeling colt?"

I almost glared at him while answering, "well I just got to see what's in store for me, so about as well as can be expected."

He gives a deep chuckle in response, "well then consider this the cherry on top" he passes me a list of different exercises and meal suggestions, "that is a regimen similar to what a guard goes through when in training camp, I expect you to do the same."

I'm tired and sore but still stand and give him a determined nod, "I didn't go through today just to quit now, so bring it on you madpony."

He only smiles in response "you'll have to try harder than that to get on my nerves colt, we still have a little time left anything you want to ask?"

I ask several questions about the list he gave me and a few specific things on it, when we are done I bring my tired body back home to take a shower and get cleaned up, I eat some bread really quickly before leaving without Entropy and making my way to the auction house.

I arrive and have to wait twenty minutes before Daisy shows up, "sorry if I kept you waiting, I had some last minute paperwork that needed to get done."

"It's fine I wasn't waiting long" we enter the building and pay for two seats in the auction "so know anything about this auction?", I ask as we put on our cloaks and masks.

"Well this auction is smaller than the last one and will probably be less interesting, but hey there is always something to look at if nothing else."

"Fair enough", we make our way into the same large room as last time, inside there are around one hundred ponies far less than last time as back then this room was full, we take a seat not having a specific number this time allowing us to sit anywhere not taken.

We choose middle seats and wait for the auction to start, after a while everpony finds a seat and the doors are closed as the auction begins, a mare walks out on stage and like last time says a few words before bringing out the first item, it's a fancy sword well made but uninteresting to me.

The Next several items are the same, well made weapons and a few other things, like a pure silver tea set or a gold lined silk cloak, as the next item is bought out and it does catch my interest some, a wood crate filled with many books, some old and others new.

"This next item is an assortment of books bought from a private collector, the books are mostly random but a few are spell tomes and several are hoof written, the bidding will start at sixty five bits", I don't know if anything in that crate will be worth it, but I don't see a reason not to try and see what's inside.

I raise my paddle up, "I have sixty five bits, going once", almost before he can finish another paddle goes up and calls out.

"Seventy five", I guess I'll have to fight for this one then.

"Seventy five, going once, goi" he's cut off by me raising my paddle again.

"Eighty five"

"Eighty five, going once, going twice, going thrice, sold", it seems the other party decided it wasn't worth it.

The auction continues and more things are brought out, I sadly don't find anything else of interest but I did get something, and Daisy even got herself a necklace made from silver so the night went pretty well all things considered, after the auction I pay them eighty five bits and get my crate.

I spend the time it takes to walk home talking to Daisy, we break apart at our doors and I close the door behind me, I use my light when I enter to light up the dark room, I get a little scare when I see Entropy sitting right in front of me in the dark barely visible, as always I have to bribe her before she will forgive me.

I'm tired and don't have work tomorrow so I just feed both of us and collapse on my bed sleeping like a dead rock.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading and have a good day. :D

Chapter 53

AUG 22 Friday.

As my mind wakes up I stare at the ceiling and for a blissful moment I don't remember last night, but inevitably those memories come back as I drag myself out of bed.

I'm glad I don't have work today as I have several things I need to think through and several questions that I need to ask myself, but before diving head first into all that I head to the kitchen to fill my stomach, and as I'm making some eggs and toast Entropy comes in from my bedroom.

"What?" I hear her mimic a new word.

"I guess you're getting the hang of talking ay? Well no matter," I grab her bowl and fill it with some berries, raw fish, and a few nuts, I've been trying to feed her a variety of things to keep her healthy, "Eat up," the words barely leave my mouth and she's already digging into her food.

As much as she harasses me for food I can be thankful she's not a picky eater, I go back to making my food and when It's done I make some tea to go with it, I just eat in silence deciding to relax as best I can with my mind wandering around so much, when I'm done I clean up and head to my workroom.

I grab a blank book and take it along with the tea to my bedroom, I get on my bed and wrap myself in a blanket to fight off the cold, it's already fall and it won't be long before the snow starts to fall again, but that's not what I should be thinking about right now is it?

After last night I have started asking myself many questions, but I need to think through this properly so let's do this the best way I know how, with a decent plan, I flip open the book and start writing my questions down one by one until I have a good place to start.

First, what is my main goal?

Second, what should I do?

Third, What should I be doing right now?

Fourth, what do I want?

Fifth, what have I been doing?

After writing these out I draw a line under each of the questions, I flip to a new page and start filling it with my thoughts.

First, what is my main goal?

It is and always will be stopping this world from losing its magic, Why? Because the suffering and death that something like that would cause just from happening would be immense and if I even have a chance at stopping it I won't let myself stand by and do nothing.

As for how I can even try to stop something like that? I don't know but I must try, not just for my sake but for those I've come to know and care about, so what can I do to help myself stop this? I'm already doing it right now, training and preparing for what's to come as best I can.

Second, what should I do?

I don't really know, but I do know that I need to change the future and what is to come, I have been doing this in a few ways already, how? Equestria is at the center of all that is to come and if it is stronger and better prepared then it could massively help.

I've helped the crown and Celestia govern the empire more efficiently, I've helped with light, helped them with water, and food and all that comes with that, but is all of this enough to really make a difference when fighting fate? I don't know and I don't think I ever really will, at least not until it's far too late to change anything.

And I suppose all that brings me to the next question.

Third, what should I be doing right now?

Just like the previous questions I don't really know, what do I know? I know I need to make more changes and keep helping Equestria prepare but the real question is how I should do that? Make more things, improve more lives, and help this world be ready.

What do I need to accomplish that? I need information and power, I have some of the first and a little of the second right now but I'll need far more, what kind of information do I need? It's been clear to me for a while that this world IS a world and is much more complex than a children's show.

That comes with both upsides and downsides, the downsides? Things outside of my knowledge aren't things I can control or influence, I can't plan for something that I don't know is out there, so how do I solve that? Discover what is out there and do what every human before me has done, go poke that something with a stick until I understand it.

The upsides? While this world is full of the unknown and that can be a threat it can also help me, a good example of this is runic magic, if it didn't exist I wouldn't be able to cast spells or invent the things I've made that have helped so many, and that's just the things I know of.

This world is full of magic and history, the things that have been lost or found are amazing and could save this world just as easily as it could end it, to put it simply this opens and closes many doors for me.

Fourth, what do I want?

Beyond saving this world? I want to be happy and do what I love, exploring this world and learning more about it, I honestly think that part of me is still the most human, it's said we came from nomads and I can't tell you the number of times I've just wanted to leave this city and see this bountiful world.

But I can't do that, I want to one day but I have a life here right now and responsibilities to take care of, but one day I will wander this world I promise myself that if nothing else.

Fifth, what have I been doing?

I think I've been doing my best, could I do more? Maybe? But if I live my whole life for nothing, could I even call that living? I don't think I can live like that, doing nothing but worrying and interfering in the lives of others all day every day, how can I save this world if I don't live in it?

I stop writing and stare at the page for a moment, after a moment I add another question.

Sixth, what is my plan?

I only have three real advantages over others in this world, first my knowledge of the future, second my past lives knowledge of how the world works and how it can be changed, third my human perspective on this world, and with that seeing things in a different way than others.

So knowing all of this, what can I do? First leverage all my knowledge as much as I can, if I know how to do something that others don't I need to use that to my advantage, second plan for as much as I can, and I think that starts with me documenting all I know safely.

If I die before canon starts then my planning goes out the window, so I need a way to leave behind what I know because if I don't then everything I've done might be for nothing, the information will need to be stored in a way that others can't find it before it's needed.

I also don't want anyone with bad intentions to ever find it, I'm not sure if I can make something like that yet but it does need to be done so I'll try and think of some solutions.

And the other thing I need to do is change the future in a slight but improved way, how? Well I'll just have to go on a case-by-case basis and plan around things as best I can, I think that's the main thing I've learned from writing this all out, I need to plan for EVERYTHING.

After I finish writing this all down I stare at the page, why not start now? I flip to a new section of the book and start on the first thing I need to plan around, changelings.

I have a few things I need to think about when it comes to them so let's do this again, I start writing out different points of interest and concern.

First, what do I know about changelings from the show, and what more have I learned about them?

Second, what is their current condition?

Third, their leader Chrysalis, what do I know about her?

Fourth, are they a threat right now?

Like last time I underline all these questions and start thinking my way through each one.

First, what do I know about changelings from the show, and what more have I learned about them?

I know their abilities and roughly what they are capable of, but like with many things I can't be certain that what I know is right, they can change into many different shapes and sizes, does this ability have limits? I don't know but with my experience in magic I think it does.

If nothing else I presume that the larger the change from their normal form the more magic it takes to maintain it, I also think that learning how to change is something they probably know on an instinctual level but still need to train with to improve.

I can also guess that Chrysalis's is either much better at this than other changelings or is simply more powerful, probably some combination of both.

They eat emotions, how and why? Well I don't know where they came from or how they came to be, I do think that they could have come from evolution, why do I think that? Well emotion is a really easy way to get food, why hunt for food when you can just blend into a population and feed off of others without them knowing.

I know emotion affinity magic is released into the environment when someone experiences that emotion, I'll need to look more into that, but my point is that I don't know the full history of this world so changelings could be something that came about naturally or were created.

Another thing of note is their smaller size and ability to fly.

Second, what is their current condition?

Well I think that right now their hive is probably a lot smaller than in the show, and I think that for a few reasons but the main one is simply food, they attacked a fucking alicorn you don't do that unless you either have the power to know you stand a chance or your just that desperate, and I don't think they had the power.

That means they were so desperate for food they were willing to risk it all on one hell of a move, that strongly implies that they didn't have enough food to support their current population, and raising a population that big takes time, I don't know how long a changeling takes to grow.

But if we assume that because they are insectoids or at least similar to insectoids it's probably faster than a pony, I'll just use ten years as a placeholder for now, that's probably overstating how fast they can grow but this is just for an example.

If we assume a changeling takes ten years to grow enough to start working or fighting for the hive then if they wanted to vastly increase their population they'd have to start right about now to be ready in a decade, why do it now though if they don't know the Crystal Empire will reappear?

Well the Crystal Empire is only one place, and there are other places a changeling army could go to invade, all this combined with the fact that I've been seeing changelings more often means that they are probably trying to gather as much love as they can to feed their growing population,

This theory still leaves several unanswered questions but I find it likely that this is happening so until I find evidence to the contrary I'll plan around this for now.

Third, their leader Chrysalis, what do I know about her?

Well I know she's not stupid, maybe a little off her rocker but she can still plan well enough to almost succeed in taking over the Crystal Empire, someone like that shouldn't be underestimated even if they aren't the strongest beings around, humans only had our minds and look how far that got us.

But beyond that a lot about her is unclear, and with my intentions to change things I'm not sure how much my knowledge will help me, I do know one thing for certain though, she wants her changelings to survive.

Fourth, are they a threat right now?

Yes and no, as long as you aren't a threat to their plans or try to stop them I think they would rather not draw attention to themselves, and in that regard we are very similar.

I closed the book after making sure I was done for now, my thoughts are rambling and I'll probably need to add more to this book over time but this is enough to start with and I need to get some things done today, I get out of my blankets and make my way to my workroom, I have so much work to do and so many plans to make.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

And good job to a certain someone for somewhat guessing what I was literally writing about as I was writing it, I swear you lot can tell the future sometimes, seriously I just started the part about changelings and tab over to see a small wall of text with several things I just wrote about.

Or maybe I'm just that predictable? Hell if I know.

Also this is not in anyway a bad thing, in fact let me just take a moment to thank that certain someone for the help, thank you.

Ps, if that certain someone is reading this and would like me to remove this mention of them tell me and I'll do so immediately.

Also, nearly four thousand views and three hundred likes, I honestly don't know what to say. :D

Chapter 80

MAR 7 Saturday.

It's been a week since the park incident and nothing has come of it so far. After what happened I decided to stay a little more low-key for the rest of my vacation, this has resulted in me spending all my time at the beach swimming or reading through books at the library.

That's what I'm doing right now, reading through a Griffin book about different herbs. It has several herbs that I've noted for future reference and study. When I'm done with the book I put it back and find another book to read, this one seems to be an old research journal.

As I read through the first page I got far more interested in this journal. It's several decades old and didn't seem to get much notice at the time, it's about griffin runes. Not many ponies practice runic magic, and even fewer griffins use it. This study was about the few runes we know were not just used by griffins but made by griffins.

But runes are pretty universal as long as you know the meaning and context. So while the journal did have a few interesting things including a few runes to copy I didn't learn much from it and moved on not much longer, a little disappointed. I keep reading through books looking for anything that could be of use.

I've learned that a lot of Griffin books here are just history or medical books. So after that journal, I focus on medical books and pick out a few to go through. Griffin's biology is significantly different from pony biology, and I've mostly studied ponies and I should learn more about the second most common species in Equestria.

There are several differences, such as different plants that ponies can use as medicine just fine that can be harmful to griffins. A few of these plants are also used as seasoning in pony dishes and while it probably won't kill a griffin it can mess them up pretty badly if they eat too much.

Treating a wing injury on a griffin is different as the wing bones are in different places and need to heal in a different way. On top of all of that, hippogriffs also have different biology to both and thus have different needs. I like the idea of healing others, and to do that I need to learn all of this, so I settle in to read through as many books as I can.

After reading through several books and wasting most of the day I see something moving towards the table I'm reading at in the back of the library. I picked this spot because it's out of the way and was quiet. I glance over and see something that makes me panic slightly.

Phelix is walking through the library shelves towards me. I don't know why he is here, but I don't think I have too much to fear as I didn't do anything negative to him. I also have Entropy, I rather the world does not know about her but if I have to decide between my safety and a secret I know what I'm choosing.

Beyond even that Celestia knows where I am and when I'm supposed to be back, if anything happens to me then she will come looking. As I take in Phelix's appearance I'm even more reassured of my safety, he's not wearing anything beyond a single dagger and he's alone, all that sends a pretty clear message.

He wants me to know he's armed and that he's serious. And it also tells me he's powerful enough or has the right connections to find me in a city this large. It's best I just try and talk my way out of this if I can. I move the books I was reading out of the way and wait.

He walks up to the table while looking around the table filled with books, I give him a light nod as he sits down on the other side of the table looking back at me. He says nothing for a while and just keeps looking me up and down for nearly a full minute before finally speaking.

Before he speaks I cut him off a little by drawing my own dagger and gently setting it on the table with my hoof. He looks at it for a moment and does the same with his dagger before looking back at me, "I've asked around, you aren't from this city are you?"

I should try to be truthful and not lie if I don't need to, lying will just get me caught in my own web of lies I'd have to make to cover for other lies. I keep eye contact as we talk, "No I'm just on vacation. Why are you here?" I ask back.

His face doesn't change in any way as we speak. "You don't know me, and you helped me. Why?" His deep and dry voice sounds out while he moves a book over to look at its cover.

"You're right, I don't know you. But I know a filly doesn't deserve to get involved in whatever this is." He looks back up at me a little sharply, he just stares at my face with narrowed eyes seemingly looking for any hint of dishonesty or malice.

I don't back down and just keep staring back, after a moment he speaks up again. "What do you want?"

"From you? Nothing. Like I said, I'm just a pony on vacation." I answer back. Again he stares me down for a moment.

"And from others?" He asks back.

"Many things, I suppose. What do you want from me?" This is devolving into a tick-for-tack situation, we just keep swapping questions and it's making me a little nervous about what could happen next.

Again he says quietly and looks at me for a while, he takes off the sheath for his dagger and places it on the table next to his dagger. "I came for three things. To know why you helped me. To give you some advice. And to give you this dagger."

I give him a confused look as he sheaths the dagger and slides it over the table to me. I pick it up and look it over as he keeps talking, "What's the advice? And what does the dagger mean?" For the first time I see his face change expression, he gives me a very small smile. This helps with my building anxiety slightly.

"The advice. You made someone angry, I recommend you leave the city within a few days. And the dagger." He reaches a talon across the table over to me and holds it out. "That means you're a friend to us." I look at his talon and after looking at the dagger I notice a symbol on the pommel of the dagger

I don't recognize it but I can find out later. I look back to his talon and shake it with a hoof before putting the dagger in my saddlebag. "I'll be leaving the city tonight. I do have a question." He stands up and nods at my first statement and focuses back on me again at the second part.

He gives another small nod for me to continue. "Was that filly in danger? And is she still in danger?"

He stays quiet once again for several moments. "Yes. No." With that, he walks away and I keep my eyes on him until he's out of my sight. Once he's gone I wait a few minutes before sighing in relief and relaxing some, it seems I got out of this one alive.

:By magic I really have a way to bumble my way ass-backward into things like this, don't I?: Talking to Phelix took up some of what time I had left, I still have time to read more but I think it's best if I just leave this city as soon as I can. I place every book back and leave the library with my cloak hood drawn over my head.

I go to the inn I stay at and give them back the key before heading to the train station. I stop at another restroom to let Entropy out and disguise her before continuing. I walk into the large brick building and sit down on a bench to wait for my train, it won't be here for a few hours.

As I sit down I let my mind think over what happened more as I wait. I don't think Phelix had any reason to lie to me, then again I wouldn't really be able to know, still, I think he told the truth. If he did then I have no regrets over the situation, even if it comes back around I still wouldn't change what I did.

If he's not lying then Silvis was in danger, then I'm happy with my actions. I still don't know if Phelix was on the good side, if whatever this is ever had a good side to begin with. I open a pocket on my saddlebags to look at the dagger I was given.

I wasn't paying much attention to the way it looked at the time. The handle is a dark wood shined to a great degree and with a flat metal pommel. The complex engraving on the pommel depicts a rose bush with thorned vines and flowers wrapped around an even smaller engraving.

It's hard to see in the dark lighting and the shade from the bag it's in, so I leave it alone to study more later. I spend a few hours waiting for my train while organizing all the notes I've made in the past two weeks.

When the train arrives it's dark and night has fallen, I board the train and find a compartment to sit in before relaxing. I look out of the window as the train leaves New Trotten. I don't plan to visit this city again anytime soon, but despite what happened I had a good time.

time skip

MAR 8 Sunday.

I step off the train in the early morning as I once again step back into Canterlot. I walk through its familiar streets and get to my apartment building, I get my key from Thistle Rush and walk up to my apartment before entering. I let Entropy out of my shadow and she happily flies over to her perch.

I'm happy to be home and take off my saddlebags before setting them to the side and checking on a few things. I check on all my plants to make sure they are healthy, I check and all the plants are fine. I also check that everything else is as it should be.

I take my saddlebags into my workroom and sit down at a desk before grabbing some paper and an envelope. I write about the more mundane things that happened on my vacation and that I'm back, before asking Entropy to deliver it to Celestia. Entropy returns a minute after disappearing then she goes back to her perch.

I walk back into my workroom again and start putting everything away and organizing it all. The new seeds I got, two new daggers, and a few small trinkets I found. Once everything is organized I start work on adding my notes and cross-referencing all the things I've noted down.

It's noon by the time I'm done. I find the dagger I was given and spend some time looking over it in better lighting and with a more critical eye. The blade is made from one piece of solid steel with a tang that goes all the way through the handle and then it becomes the pommel.

The whole thing is a single piece of steel with a wooden handle wrapped around it. It's very fine metal work and would cost a good amount to buy. The blade is curved and it reminds me of a Scimitar, with a blunt back and a razor-sharp cutting edge.

I look over the engravings again and look through the smaller engraving. I look through it closely and it seems familiar, I feel like I recognize it from somewhere. And after thinking about it I realize where I remember it, this is the emblem of a griffin royal.

:How the fuck does shit like this keep happening to me!?: I find the notebook that has everything important I know about griffins that I might need in the future, after flipping through several pages I find what I'm looking for. The emblem belongs to the royal family of GriffonStone.

I sat there for a while, a little stunned over the whole situation. I just sigh, "Well shit." I leave to make some tea and relax my now tensed body, while I try and look at the upsides. Sure I may have potentially affected the future, again, but I now know Phelix wasn't a criminal.

I slump down in the main room to drink some fresh tea and sigh while looking out the window. I'll need to look into them more when I have time. And it's not all bad, I did get their favor in some way, and I never remembered them from the show so maybe Phelix and Silvis could just be relatively unimportant members of the royal family.

After thinking about it for a bit I decided to practice my ability to feel life magic and ignore this for a while.

Author's Note

The vacation arc is over, It may have been a little boring but I had fun writing it.

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 107

JUL 26 Sunday.

I groan and push myself off the ground, I look back to see several of my feathers out of their proper places. I take a few moments to straighten them out and get everything back in place, once that's done I walk back up the small hill that Blaz is standing on. "Well, that was better than your first attempt, but that's not saying much." He says with a mocking smile.

I roll my eyes. "Ya ya, at least I've learned to glide in a few weeks. How long did it take you when you first started?" I ask back.

He pretends to look perturbed. "I was a colt at the time, so it took a while." He admits.

I then give him the same smile he gave me. "All I'm hearing is excuses. Now, what did I do wrong?" I drop my teasing and get down to business. After that, he starts pointing out all the small things that I forgot or didn't do properly, and after that's done I make another attempt.

I brace my legs and gallop to the highest part of the hill before jumping as high as I can while out stretching my wings, I start to glide a little but I have to start flapping my wings to keep myself in the air. I manage to glide for nearly fifteen seconds before the ground starts to level out and I near it.

And now comes the really hard part, landing. I angle my wings the best I can but the wind resistance makes it hard to be accurate. My wings mostly slow me down and I brace my legs as I slide along the ground for a few feet before tumbling slightly from my wings being out of alignment.

And while I don't fully wipeout on the ground I do trip some before getting my hooves on solid ground again. It may have only been for a short distance but for the first time I've gotten off the ground and landed without eating dirt, and it feels amazing.

As I've learned more about flying and gotten to experience it myself I've become very excited about being able to fly one day. Maybe it's the human part of me but I find myself loving the idea of flying through the sky freely. But for now, It's time to once again walk up a hill and get lectured on how I fucked up, by magic Blaz is really not a good teacher but he sure is a fun one.

I walk home in the afternoon sun as Entropy rides on top of my head. The past few weeks have helped me calm down a lot, sure I'm still nervous about meeting Celestia but not as much. Spending time with friends has helped a lot, another good thing about that is how much flying practice I've had recently.

All my friends seem to be helping me in different ways, beyond just our game nights. Maple normally just lets me vent about anything while patiently listening, and occasionally commenting on things. Blaz has been teaching me to fly more often. And Daisy keeps knocking on my door once every two days or so to check on me.

They've all lessened how much they do these things as my mood has improved, and I'm very thankful for all of it. So I've decided to give them all a gift, nothing big but something that sounds fun. It's also the reason I'm walking through the markets to buy a few things.

First I need paint, black, blue, green, red, and yellow, along with some thick and very durable paper, and a deck of normal cards. That's right, I plan to make a certain game that has caused many fights between friends. Normally I wouldn't copy anything from my old world, but this is just for me and my friends so it should be fine.

When I arrived home I spent a little time feeding the gremlin before heading to my workroom. The paper I bought is not normally used for cards, but I couldn't find that kind of paper so I just bought something that will work. I start by grabbing a small block of maple wood and working on it.

Over time my ability to decompose certain parts of wood while leaving the rest intact has improved quite a lot, I can basically roughly carve out objects without needing to even touch the wood. But I'm going for precision here and make sure to not remove too much material, once it's in the roughly correct shape I find the deck of cards I bought.

I probably could just paint over these cards but that's not as fun as making them myself. I take a card and quill, I delicately draw out an outline in the wood and start carving. I want to make a small wood drawing frame that I can hold over the thick paper I bought and use it to draw out card shapes to then cut out.

The carving and paper cutting took me almost an hour before I was done, most of that time was the cutting, it took a while to draw and cut out a total of one hundred and eight blank cards. Now the real tedious work begins, I make one side of every card black before grabbing my paints and drawing the card's faces.

By the time I'm done with all the cards, it's dark and I have to turn on my magical light to see. The cards are laid out on one of my desks to properly dry, they should prove interesting at our next game night. Once that's done I stay in my workroom and continue to work.

I spend a little while draining my magic while training my space magic again, but as I'm doing this I get an idea. At this point, I can now keep two pieces of paper in the air with space magic, but this training is starting to become less effective with time and I need something more straining to continue my growth.

I want to train my control before anything else, mostly so I don't end up like my poor bed stand. I grab the card deck I was using earlier and take a single card before placing it in front of me. My new idea for training is to carefully move this card in specific ways, it should prove harder than just keeping something in the air.

I've also come up with a new idea for manipulating space, although I'm not sure if it will work and I'll need to be careful testing it. All I've done so far is very carefully manipulate space by very gently pulling and pushing on space, I want to see what would happen if I tried to keep the space as still as possible and lock that area in place.

I've been controlling my space magic through will alone, mostly because I don't have anything I could copy. The only things I've seen with space manipulation are Entropy and that odd rock I found, maybe I could ask Celestia about seeing it again sometime.

I slowly pull on the space in front of me and try to lift the card up, it's not that different from the pieces of paper and it doesn't take me long. I keep it in the air and then instead of pulling on the space I will the space to stop moving and try to hold it in place, and the next thing I feel is a decent amount of my magic draining away.

It's not a massive amount but it's still more than what I use to pull on space, but it does work, the card sits completely still in mid-air. I almost reach out with a hoof to touch it but stop myself, I remind myself of my main rule with space magic, never touch it. Instead, I let the magic run out and everything returns to normal while I drink some tea.

I rest a while and just work on my runic casting while I wait for my magic to regenerate. Instantly casting a spell means I need to memorize it and practice forming it, and I regain more magic than those two things take. So as long as I don't actually cast the spell I can practice while waiting for my magic to fill again.

When my magic is full again I grab a branch from the Iron Oak and take off all the leaves and offshoots. I hold the card in the air with my field and then once again try to freeze the space, and once again I feel the drain on my magic, I keep a close eye on how much magic I have.

I test this new method of space magic in the most human way possible, by poking it with a stick. I can feel the stick pushing against my control as it moves into the area. It reminds me of the stasis spell I made, the frozen space can still be moved if I use enough force and effort.

But the more magical power I use the stronger the effect seems to be. I tried to use my will and control to let the stick move while keeping everything else frozen, and I succeeded, for about one second. Then it becomes too hard to control and it all starts to slip out of my control slightly.

I don't want that so I focus my will on keeping the space magic stable while using the rest of it up. Once it's all used up I relax, ok not the easiest thing but it's still controllable, plus I now know a new direction in which I can take my space magic. I was able to let an object move unhindered in the frozen space, it will just take a lot of practice to make it usable but it has a lot of potential.

I keep up my practice for the next few hours before going about my normal activities. A quick trip through the Void, cooking dinner, showering, and finally getting some well-deserved rest.

POV shift Celestia

I sigh as more forms are placed on my filled desk, the last few weeks have been trying to say the least. I look through another form and set it down after looking it over.

So much work to be done, and so much to prepare for. When I learned a war has been raging under Equestria I was less than pleased, and even more so when I realized what my missing ponies were taken for. Even now it angers me, but my ponies don't need anger right now they need calm and reassurance.

At least there is some good news in this mess. This war seems to not spill over into Equestria at large, it would have well been well hidden for me to not have noticed it before now. And while the situation is not great things aren't too bad, we may have potential enemies but we also have potential allies.

Those two mares. I stop that thought and correct myself, those two changelings have given us valuable information and time to prepare, even if they don't seem to know much of the larger situation. My thoughts are interrupted by a guard walking in and placing yet another report on my desk.

I glance at the top page and see it's a report on the prisoner. So far they have still refused to say a word, and it's looking less likely as time goes on that they will say anything without some incentive. I can think of a few ways but I would rather not resort to such things.

I try to keep my mind from a dark place, thoughts of wars and conflicts long past suffusing once again from so long ago. I hoped Equestria would never see war again, but I will protect my ponies. I once again tried to pull my mind off those thoughts, and I succeeded with the thoughts of a new friend.

Shade has been on my mind a lot recently, and not just because he's inadvertently started all of this, for which I am thankful for in an odd way. Yes, he's shown me a massive problem, but I would rather see a problem than be ignorant of it.

One thing in particular keeps coming up in my mind. To be blunt Shade knew something he shouldn't have, but he did. When he gave me those two spells I still remember his face, he looked scared in a way I've never seen before. Most might not have seen that fear under his mask of calm but I've seen it enough to recognize it, and it is a source of great concern and confusion for me.

He knew something he shouldn't have and was beyond hesitant to speak about, but he still did, and as far as I can tell he did it to once again help others. The spell he gave me has many uses, and I'm very thankful he gave it to me, but that curiosity about how he knew to make it is still there.

I want to know the how and why, but he made it very clear that he would never say. He even went as far as saying he's willing to give up any form of friendship we have if he needs to. I've never seen him so serious about something before.

Which leaves me in an odd place, I want answers, but I'm not willing to lose a friend for them. It's a dilemma I've had a few times but never to this degree, but still, I intend to keep that promise. I won't lie and say the thought never crossed my mind to break it, but I refuse to do that.

Shade put a large amount of trust in my promise, more than I even thought he would. It's easy to see he doesn't trust easily, and he chooses his friends carefully, and I don't want to betray that trust. I let my thoughts run for a while as I work my way through form after form, while I glance at the plant on my desk from time to time.

Shade is a pony I could one day consider one of the few ponies to ever be close friends with me, somepony who looks past all this gold and silver. I watch as the glow of solar and lunar magic intertwine as they come off the plants, oh sister if only you were here.

I have to stop myself from frowning slightly as another guard fills the gap in the wall of paper that I just made, enough of these thoughts I have much work to do. I smile a little at the plant and pick up another form, if nothing else it will be nice to talk to him again even with everything happening.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)

Brownie points of you guess the card game.

Chapter 110

AUG 12 Wednesday.

I feel my side hit the floor again as Stone flips me with a well-placed and strong strike, I don't stop and roll over before standing back up and readying my weapons.

He swings to my left and I use the flat side of my greatsword to block the blow, then I try to strike from below with my dagger, but he moves out of the way in time. I try to close the distance and keep him on the defensive. I swing my greatsword and keep following the large strikes with quick dagger slashes.

But my blows are either countered or parried until he pushes past my defenses, and after a few more small exchanges I'm on the ground with a wooden short sword at my throat. It's moved away after a moment and I'm able to stand back up. "Not bad Colt, you got me on the defensive for a bit there."

I nod and dust myself off. "But those blows were too wild and needed to be better coordinated to break my guard. But your style is improving, although it's far from being a proper combat style. Now get going, I have another pony to train." He says as I finish cleaning myself off.

I give him a slight smile. "Thanks, Stone, have a good day, and make them eat dirt." I put my weapons away on a rack and make my way to the door.

He laughs a little. "Will do Colt."

I walk out of the building and walk out into the busy city streets. It's only two weeks until the Grand Galloping Gala and as always the city gets a little more busy as a result. Speaking of the gala I've gotten myself a new suit to wear along with something fun.

I bought a pocket watch, it's a completely useless thing for me to have but it looks nice. And it's not like I have a shortage of bits, hell at this point I can probably live off of the interest alone, and that's not including the bits still coming in from my inventions.

Honestly, I live well below my means, but I'm just fine with that. I have a nice home that I like and a good friend as a neighbor, I might want to move somewhere with more space though. Mostly because of my plants but, now that I'm thinking about it I wouldn't really need to move, would I?

Entropy can move me anywhere within her range basically instantly, I could set up a garden somewhere private and just pop over when I need to. I keep thinking about that as I arrive at home and take a nice warm shower. I mean all I really need is anywhere isolated enough to be private.

But that could get risky, if I just set up a garden in the woods ponies would probably notice it, but there is somewhere I could go and not be bothered, Everfree Forest. The forest is known for being dangerous and filled with evil but honestly, it's mostly wild animals and the Timber Wolves.

Timber Wolves are actually something that interests me in several ways, they are seemingly some form of carnivorous plant life that is definitely magical to some degree. I've tried to look into them but very little is known about them, and that only makes me more curious.

I really want to know what makes them tick, but I'm not stupid enough to run into the Everfree without any preparation. It's a secluded forest filled with many magical plants and dangerous animals, safety is a serious concern. Still, it's a tempting idea, I find one of my notebooks and start brainstorming.

I'd need a lot to even attempt to go into the Everfree, but as a start let's see what I could do for protection. A personal shield is easy to make but has several downsides. I could just make myself invisible? I don't know any invisibility spells but I could learn one, or make one.

I added that to a new list of things I'd need if I decided to do this. The next thing I'd need is a way to protect an area to build a garden in, making a shield like that could be an interesting project. I've made smaller shields but something like this would take some of the larger gems I have.

I do have a medium cubed diamond, and if I use some other medium gems as support I could boost it even further. I started getting a little caught up in this new idea. I'd also need something to hide the area from anyone seeing it if they fly overhead, so the shield would also need some form of camouflage or illusion.

Beyond that, I'd also need building materials to make some place to store supplies there. This is starting to seem like a more long-term project, but it also doesn't seem impossible. While building a camp in the Everfree is definitely risky the research opportunities and plants I could find might be worth it.

After a while I write down a rough list of things I think I'd need to make to even attempt to do this. Once I'm done I put my book down and start going about my routine. I sit down on the floor and start to concentrate on my life magic, slowly I form it into a complex array of different intertwining magical flows over my skin.

I've been learning to copy the Companion Vine for a while now and I'm finally able to break even, I can now hold it for an indefinite amount of time, as long as you don't count any other reason I'd need to stop. And in even better news, I still haven't reached a limit.

I've studied the Companion Vine's magical flows more than any other plant I own, but even now I'm only copying the larger flows and a few smaller ones. If I keep learning how the life magic flows I could actually be able to increase my magical regeneration.

And considering how often I've been running out of my magic it would be massively useful to speed it up even by the smallest amount. On that same note, I've had some slight success in breeding the Blood Leaf Tea, It's not a large increase but still a noticeable one.

The part that is by far the slowest is how long it takes to test the effects of each new generation, but as I always say, progress is progress. I focus my will and try to copy one of the larger magical flows in more detail. I've separated the magical flows of the Companion Vine into two layers.

Large flows are made from smaller flows and I think it might go even smaller, but I haven't reached that point yet. My learning process is to start at the root of the Companion Vine where all the magical flows start, then I pick a single magical flow and start following it while copying the smaller more intricate flows.

When I reach the end of that large flow I return to the bottom and start on the next large flow, I do this while memorizing all the small flows that form the larger flows. It's a very tedious process, even more than relearning spells. But it is showing great promise, and if I can even speed up my magic regeneration a little it will all be worth it.

After an hour I stop and move on to the next form of training. I stand up and stretch out my sore limbs, I make some fresh tea and head into my workroom. I enter my workroom and walk past a small vine on one of the shelves, I spend a moment checking on it. I've been trying to crossbreed a better vine recently, and after many MANY failed attempts I had successes yesterday.

The new vine saw a small but noticeable increase in its growth rate but also saw its gripping strength weaken. That's fine though, now that I have the vine I can focus on breeding it into the perfect little monster. And with a new vine comes a new name, I never really liked Spine Leaf Vine, too bland and long.

I've decided to name this new vine, Razor Vine, I know it's not that much better but at least it's shorter. The Razor Vine has a deep green color with small heart-shaped leaves, and so SO many needles. Speaking of the needles I've realized something interesting that I didn't notice until recently.

When I first started breeding the Spine Leave plant I just strengthened its needles, and while I often broke them off to test their strength I never kept the plant around for long afterward. As a result, I never realized that the Spine Leave's speedy growth is even exaggerated in its needles.

I left a Spine Leaf plant in my kitchen to use as seasoning when I wanted it, but I started to notice the needles growing back at a very fast rate, even faster than the plant's normal growth rate. So after I noticed this I tested my crossbred vines for the same effect, and both the Spine Leaf Vine and the Razor Vine have the same effect.

And this adds to a different effect I noticed in the new Razor Vine. As the Razor Vine lost some of the needle's strength while being crossbred, the Razor Vine's needles are prone to breaking off when they stick inside something. As a result, the Razor Vine is a lot more painful than I originally intended it to be, at this point it's some demented mix of a cactus and barbed wire.

But hey that is a plus for me. Because of this unintended effect, I decided to not strengthen the needles and keep this splintering effect. All of this has resulted in one hell of a plant, pun intended. It can cover a pony in seconds, the needles will grow into their skin and if they move the needles will break off and imbed themselves while the plant keeps growing.

Honestly, using this plant on a pony might be some form of torture, but I only made this as a last resort. This plant will either provide me a chance to escape or incapacitate whatever is threatening me. And it's not like the Razor Vine can do anything in another pony's hooves.

They'd need life magic to use it properly, and as a regular plant, it's just a fast-growing needle-covered vine. Ok, that doesn't really prove how safe it is, but I'm sure as hell not giving it to anypony anytime soon. I stopped my second mental rant of the day and actually started working on what I wanted to.

I want to work on my new prank for a certain princess. She decided glitter is a good idea, and that crime can't go unanswered. So it's time to plan my revenge and this time I want to get creative. And my idea is very simple, a puzzle.

Why torment somepony when you can get them to torment themselves? I want to make a puzzle that can't be solved, make a bunch of clues as red herrings, and the best part? There is nothing inside the puzzle, it was just a massive waste of time.

For most, this might not be that bad, but Celestia is like me when it comes to how curious she is, she will get curious and want to solve my puzzle properly. And while she's messing around with a fake puzzle I can prepare even more pranks for when she finally finds out the puzzles were a distraction.

Now then, what's the vaguest and hardest-to-solve type of puzzle? Riddles can have horrible wording and can run off of stupid nonsensical logic when needed. And I spent a few hours finding the worst riddles the library had to offer, it's time to get to work.

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :]

This chapter is mostly showing some of Shade's progress in a few things. Basically filler.

Chapter 128

NOV 28 Saturday.

I look through another vendor's goods before moving on a moment later. Today I'm working my way through the market to buy gifts and to find some new plants hopefully, but I'll get to that second part later.

The wooden jewelry I've been working on over the past two weeks is now done. The first is a necklace that has its chain made from interlinked tiny rings of wood and a small locket also made from wood, it is engraved with Daisy flowers and holds a small topaz.

The second is a bracelet that has a root theme carved into it along with many maple leaves engraved on its surface, and it holds a small emerald in the center.

And finally, a cufflink, it's smoothed and sanded to a mirror shine, and it is engraved with fires while a small ruby sits at the center of an engraving of a blazing fire, pun intended.

All of these took a good amount of work even with my life magic, mostly because I insisted on carving them out instead of growing them into shape, it felt more personal that way, and gave me a chance to use the book Celestia gifted me last year.

I turn a corner and start to make my way to the outer edge of the markets. Beyond the jewelry, I've also bought several smaller things, a few puzzles, some paint, and a book on pie recipes. Nothing too fancy but all things I know they'll like.

I arrive at the market edge and from a distance I see what I'm looking for. I'm here at the markets to once again visit the Zebra caravans, mostly in search of trees. Herbs are something I always want to look for, but the trees are for a new project.

Ever since Stone asked me what type of armor I want I've been thinking about it. I still like the idea of full plate armor, but like I suspected I couldn't find any smith or business that could make some good full metal plate armor for me. Price isn't the problem, simply no pony offers to make it, but even if I did find somepony that would make the armor it would take weeks or months to be finished.

On top of that, I'd outgrow it in time and I'll have to order more. All of this will just waste a massive amount of my time, so why not use that time for something more productive? Something like learning the structure and all the pieces needed to make my own plate armor.

If I know how to make armor I can make my own out of wood, now that might sound a little counteractive as most wood is much weaker than any metal, unless you're working with magical wood that is. But Iron Oak won't work for my idea, it is great at physical force but not the best against magic.

So I'm looking for some type of tree with magical resistance and I'll crossbreed it to make something that will work just as well as metal armor, but that will take a long time, for now, I'm researching plate armor and looking for a tree that I can start with. And that's part of the reason I'm at the Zebra caravans.

Last year I saw a few tree saplings but didn't have room or much of a need for them, but now I'm glad the caravan arrived last week. As I near the wagons I pick them out easily by the swirling patterns drawn on their wagons and the cloaks they are all wearing to fight off the winter cold.

There are a few more stall’s than last time but none of them have anything I'd be interested in, most only have medicines and potions with a few selling more mundane goods. But after some looking I see a larger stall that's out of the way and is a little hard to notice, at the stall surrounded by small plants is an old Zebra mare.

A few things about her stand out over the other Zebras, the swirls she has painted on herself are all green and she doesn't have a cloak but seems perfectly fine with the cold. She silently tends to a few small bushes of Raspberries as I approach the stall.

She doesn't turn to me but still speaks. "A minute I will need to tend to your needs." Her voice is quiet but surprisingly raspy. I nod as she continues to tend to her plants while I just start to look through all the plants laid around me, I immediately notice that a lot of them are plants that like the cold.

Makes sense I suppose, if you're going to sell plants you'd want them as healthy as possible when you sell them. Most plants are common things, but after a while something does catch my eye, a regular rose bush. It's not special but I wouldn't mind having a rose bush to mess around with.

I pick up one of the tiny rose bushes before moving on to other plants. After a few minutes, the old Zebra mare walks over to me with a small smile. "It seems you have found what you have sought?" She asks with the same raspy and quiet tone.

I nod and pass the rose bush to her. "Yes, I also wanted to ask if you have any tree seeds or saplings?" This is business so I keep my words simple and blunt.

She smiles a little more at the plant. "I have what you seek, many are named in the book I keep." She points a hoof to a simple book on her stall's desk.

"Thank you, but it might actually be quicker to ask you about what I'm looking for." She raises a brow and stays silent. "Do you have any magical plants?"

She smiles even more at my question. "To find something rare indeed walk with me." she walks to the side of her stall and shows me a small table with only a dozen or so plants on it. A few are things I recognize but I see three I don't immediately recognize.

All have name tags on them so I start with that, I walk around the table and start to look the plants over one by one.

The first is a Black Palm Tree. This small palm sapling is far from where it would normally grow, it has dark-green leaves with a brown bark, what's interesting is that the undertone of the bark looks black. It's probably not that healthy considering the cold.

The second is Ash Grass. A gray colorless-looking grass, it looks very similar to crabgrass and seems to be planted in a very dark soil. I have no idea how well this plant is doing, mostly because its leaves are so grayed, but I can tell its life magic is still there so it is alive.

And finally, a small sapling, named Fire Blossom Tree. The small sapling is normal looking and I can't notice anything odd about it. It seems fine with the cold weather.

I only know of the first plant while the other two are a mystery to me. Black Palm wood is considered a very luxurious wood that's very expensive because of its very black color and good durability. I can't remember if it has magical properties off of the top of my head but it's still something I'm buying.

After a moment I turned back to the Zebra. "I'll take these three," I say, and after a quick exchange of bits I'm on my way home with four new plants. It's a long walk through the snow but eventually, I return to the soothing sounds of Entropy squawking at something that's offended her.

I quickly open the door with a little worry, only to see Entropy and Philomena fighting over one of Entropy's toys, a small wooden ball. I look around to check that they haven't broken anything, they didn't, before leaving them to their war. As I enter the room Entropy looks over to me. "Help?!"

I smile at Entropy's plea, "That depends, did you start this?" I ask with a little humor, I know she probably did. Out of the two of them, Entropy is the younger and more mischievous one. She likes to fight and win, too bad she doesn't do much of the latter when it comes to Philomena.

She stops for a moment but still tries to pull the ball away. "... no." I don't trust that answer for a second, so with a smile I just walk into my workroom and leave her to fight the battle she started. A few moments after I enter my workroom Entropy teleports inside and gives me a long stare.

I have no idea what she's trying to convey to me because I can't see her face past the darkness that she's made of, but after a moment she caws a little. "Mean." I just chuckle at that and place my new plants on an empty desk.

"Rude," I say back while walking out of the room. "Now come on, it's lunchtime." That perks up her mood in an instant. While walking to the kitchen I noticed why Philomena was here in the first place, a single letter sitting on my countertop. I decided to leave it for now and focus on food first.

I gather everything I'll need while Entropy and Philomena entertain themselves by preening each other's feathers back into their proper places, I leave them be again and start my food prep. Two diced up Red Spicy Root and some diced fish in an oiled pan while I grind down some dry corn in my mortar and pestle.

I grind the corn down into a rough flour before adding water and mixing. Once I have the right consistency I use the flat bottom of my baking sheet to flatten out several corn tortillas. I heat up a second pan to cook them with a little oil, and a while later everything's ready to assemble my meal.

I keep things simple with a little cheese and some lettuce and make my fish tacos. I fill two small bowls with some fish and Red Root before mixing in some barriers and a little lettuce, and letting both fluff balls dig into their food while I sit down with a little tea and enjoy my own meal.

I open the letter while eating and notice it's from Celestia. She's stopped by Gaia's Eden a few short times during the last few weeks, I was only there for one of those visits so she left notes for the other times, I should just add a noteboard or something to keep track.

I leave that thought alone and focus on the letter.

Dear Shade. I hope this letter finds you well.

I'm writing to tell you that our next two meetings are sadly canceled because of some work, nothing to worry over, just me working on a few things that need attention. So instead of our meeting, I've scheduled a meeting with Cadance, but she was also busy this week, so your next meeting will be on December thirteenth at noon.

Speaking of Cadance she was more than eager to agree to help you make a rune and as far as she's aware it should be possible. Although she sadly doesn't have much time to spare as she moves around quite often for diplomatic work, so it may take time to finish this project.

Signed, your friend, Celestia.

I smile at the short letter and the last sentence. If you told me two years ago that I'd be best friends with Celestia I'd probably have a heart attack at the shock and my own paranoia. But despite all the worry and bumps it's nice to know she's a friend.

And I get to see Cadance again, she was fun the first time we met, but honestly, I would be lying if I said she didn't frighten me. Don't fuck with love, it's not a good idea and never will be, but I can't help it and get a little excited at the meeting I'll be having, it should prove interesting if nothing else.

I put the letter to the side and finish most of my food, I leave my plate on the counter to be cleaned by the two food vacuums to finish the food. I lay down on the floor and move over my deck of well-worn cards, these have been my primary way to practice space magic for a few months now.

I've seen progress in several ways with my space magic. The main thing I've seen progress in is my control, it's still far behind my other forms of magic but progress is progress. At this point, I can hold three cards in the air at the same time or spin two in place at a time.

My conversion ratio is also very slowly improving. And finally, I've been trying to practice freezing a small area of space, but that has proven to be difficult. It takes a good amount of space magic to accomplish and as expected it takes more space magic the larger the area I'm holding still is.

Also holding a section of space is actually relatively easy, the hard part is letting something move in that area at the same time. It's a whole new way I have to split my concentration but I still practice when I can, and on that note, I've had some good news.

Mana Mimicry has reached the point that even in Canterlot it can boost my magic regeneration, not by a large amount but every bit helps. And as a result, my progress has sped up slightly which only fuels my determination to keep training it. But right now I want to try something new.

I've been bending space for a while and I normally do that by just giving it a gentle pull somewhere and letting it snap back into place a second later. I'm still not sure why, but this creates a little force that lets me move objects slightly, this is how I've been lifting these cards.

I want to see what happens if I bend space and simply hold it like that for a while. But I don't just rush in and try this, first I make sure my magic is full and I only bend space the slightest amount. Just enough to feel it but not too much just in case anything goes wrong.

I bend the space a few feet in front of me very slightly, to the point that I can barely see any distortion from it. At first, it's nothing but a light and consistent drain on my magic, but as time goes on I feel the space start to shift back and I have to use more magic to keep it bent.

But once again the space starts fighting me harder, the longer I keep the space bent the more the space fights me to return to normal. After a few minutes, I stop and let the space return to normal before I lose control of using too much space magic. Well, that was interesting.

When I freeze space I never feel that, it seems there is some law of the universe that fights back against space being incorrect. I have no idea if that's some law humans knew about or simply something only in this world, but it doesn't make a difference anyway.

I start to test this new phenomenon again and again while writing down what little I notice. Back to the grind then, the endless grind.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
current year is 993

Chapter 155

APR 30 Friday.

I look through another document and pass it to Daisy after a moment. "I think this one is wrong, what do you think?"

She looks it over and nods after a few moments. "Good eye, this is not the right form, do you see the page stamp at the top?" I look over it from a distance and nod after a moment. "Just find the right form and copy everything over." I nod again and do just that.

I'm starting to get better at spotting things like that and learning what needs to be signed and why. It's still slow and tedious but I surprisingly like the job so far, but I still haven't done much of the talking to ponies part of this job. Right now I'm basically just Daisy's secretary.

I take notes and sort all the paperwork, and I also help out with a bunch of smaller things like scheduling conflicts. Sometimes a pony requests time off and that conflicts with others so that's where we step in to smooth things out. Still, I leave all the talking to Daisy, but I don't think I can avoid that forever.

Time ticks by slowly as we work and I let my mind wander and think. I had another meeting with Avalon, and it went like normal, not much to really say about it. We just worked on finding the right runes and also did a little bit of basic spell design and structure.

He's getting there, slowly but surely, in his defense, he's never done anything like this before. Beyond that meeting and my work, I've been training everything that I normally do, my space magic, my plant magic, and all the other things. But let's start with my newest plant, the Copper Lily.

After my first success, I've grown one more flower and a few more seed pods, each pod has a dozen seeds so I have plenty now. I didn't really have anything to do with the copper flower and decided to just use it as a decoration at the pavilion, it now rests on the fake stump. I've also made several other changes to the pavilion.

First I added six Moon Glow Vines, one on each support, they grow up to the roof before hanging down in several places. Next, I added a railing in between the supports, they are made from the same White Oak as the floor. I also added a large carpet to one half of the floor along with a few cushions and pillows for seating.

I've even started making a project that will take a week or two more, the Gold Oak dust collection ward, and just like that I have once again made a horrible name for something. I've started working on all the math needed, but as I mentioned before all it really needs is math work so once that's done I should be good to go.

I stop my work as Daisy stands up and drops her quill once the clock hits five. "We're done for the day, time to head home, see you Monday." She's much more upbeat about leaving than she normally is, she often stays behind a little to work on a few things but she seems excited to leave.

I raise a brow as she grabs her things. "And where are you off to in such a rush?" I ask with a joking smile and also gather anything I need.

She smiles widely and looks at me. "If you must know-"

I cut her off with a cheeky smile. "I must." She stops and rolls her eyes at me.

"I have a date to get to, now get going, I have nothing more for you to work on today anyway." She says the first part with a slightly teasing tone and pokes me with a hoof before walking off. :Huh, good for her: I'll have to demand to meet this stallion sometime, or does she like mares?

I don't follow her out of the library and instead head into the labyrinth of bookshelves, while looking for books I remind myself of the reason I'm here looking through books. It requires a good amount of explanation.

I've been practicing with my space magic for a while now, and beyond training my control I mostly train two abilities and a third that's a combination of both. Spatial Freezing, this lets me hold space still and keep it from reacting with other spatial effects and phenomena.

Space Bending, this is self-explanatory and is used as a base for most other space abilities I have. The newly named Spatial Fusing, is the ability to bend space in a specific way and snap it back to fuse two materials on a fundamental level. Then I can combine Spatial Fusing and Spatial Freezing to create new materials without breaking them from Spatial Rebound, shortened to just Rebound.

I also thought of training myself to control the Rebound, but that is very difficult and honestly, I don't want to spread myself too thin. I've still been practicing with Spatial Fusing and controlling the Rebound with Spatial Freezing, but all of this is just context.

I want to try Fusing more types of materials, but I need to find the right kind OF materials to work with. One of my first thoughts was gems, in theory, if I combined two gems the result would be an even denser gem that might be better at holding magic and have a higher magical capacity overall, but there are several problems with that idea.

First, the result is unproven, because as far as I know nopony has ever tried to make a gem denser, so I'm not even sure if the effect would be positive. The second problem is much worse though, gems are crystalline structures that would need to be lined up to fuse properly.

On top of lining them up, gems are very susceptible to internal forces and pressure, the tiny amounts of damage that the wood would be able to withstand could shatter a gem. That means I'd need to prevent all damage and that means I need to improve my mastery of Spatial Freezing.

So it's still outside of my reach right now, but Fusing metal might not be. Metal still has internal structures but they are far more malleable and can literally bend more, it is much more durable and can handle the stress of Spatial Fusing much better than wood or gems, and if I use Spatial Freezing I won't have to account for Rebound. That's why right now I'm going to try and research metals a little.

As I walk through different sections of the library I pick out two books on metals and metal alloys along with a medical textbook. I still learn healing, but it really is a massive time sink, even after two years I still haven't really reached a point where I can use some of the more advanced healing spells safely.

I could still learn them, but I honestly don't have much of a use right now and if anything goes wrong I have no idea what to do, so I'll continue to learn about the more mundane healing methods. I find a spot to sit and start working my way through the books slowly, it turns out that metallurgy is not as simple as you'd think.

Lists of different metals and alloys with different properties and uses, I think I'm going to need to check these two books out and read them some more. But for now, I think I have a good idea of metal to start with, bronze, it's not as strong as other alloys but it will show me if Spatial Fusing can be used to create alloys.

Bronze is a commonly used metal and is also easy to make, you only need tin and copper, that also brings me to a different idea, alloys. In theory, alloys are just different metals combined together, and presuming they don't need an added element beyond the metals themselves Spatial Fusing should make an alloy.

But I'm honestly not sure, it might work or something else could happen so I'll have to test that. After some more reading, I decided to buy some more copper and some tin in hopes of making some bronze. I move the two metallurgy books to the side and focus on the medical textbook.

This one is about Griffon wing bones and how to treat broken ones, it proves to be a dry and dense read but by the end, I learn a few things and place the book back on its shelf before leaving the library as the sun sets. I spent longer reading than I intended so I'll have to buy the metal tomorrow.

My shadow whistles a tune as I silently walk down the street heading home yet again.

time skip

MAY 1 Saturday.

I move my cloak hood over my head more as rain pours around me, even with the rain though many ponies are using the weekend to shop and do other chores throughout the city.

I stop outside of a large building, the headquarters of one of the largest blacksmithing guilds in Equestria. The Rusted Hammers, are an odd name but pretty standard for ponies. The building is mostly cobblestone walls that are painted a light blue, I can also see several tall smoke chimney's further back where the forges probably are.

I watch a wooden sign swing in the rain and enter the double doors a moment later, the inside is loud and busy. The back wall has a long counter with ponies working behind it and serving lines of waiting ponies. The left wall has some places to sit and wait while the right has a few wooden tables and a large board with many pieces of paper on it.

In a way, this place reminds me of the classic adventurers guild, and that comparison is not totally inaccurate. The tables on the right are for only guild members where they can look over and read the many pages on the large board. All those pages hold information on many different smithing jobs the guild members can take on and fulfill.

From what I know most of the members are actually mostly a mix of freelance contractors and hobbyists looking to earn a little side income. The guild doesn't actually have that many smiths that work for them, they mostly just take and gather requests for jobs and organize the payment along with making sure whoever takes the job can actually complete it, they also rent out forges for their members and others to use.

The system seems a little over complicated to me, but they must have it for a reason. Most of the ponies at the counter are busy, it is a very large and well-known guild so even on a day like this they are busy. I notice the line to the far side is mostly empty, it's right next to a staff door so most seem to be avoiding the high-traffic area.

I'm not here for anything complex so I just wait in the short line and a few minutes later I'm at the front and face to face with a Hippogriff stallion. Hippogriffs are rare, even as the most common crossbreed between sentient races in Equestria they are not the most common sight. I give them a nod of greeting and pass them a single piece of paper with a simple order. "How much for this?" I ask bluntly.

They pick up the list and read through it. My order is for twenty pieces of copper in small one-inch cubes, and the same amount in tin. They nod after a moment. "It will cost a decent amount, but we have cubes like this for other things so we can get it to you right away, you'll have to pay ten percent up front." He answers uninterestedly.

I nod and he passes me a piece of paper to fill out while I pass him ten percent of the amount on the paper before filling it out, the good thing about doing big transactions in Canterlot is my bank is close enough that I can just give them some information and the bank will pay them. I have to wait twenty minutes but I finally get my metal cubes.

I pack them away and start my long walk home through the pouring rain. Yesterday I found another problem with Fusing metals, they are different sizes, and that complicates the process. I've not mastered Spatial Fusing in any way and I'm not sure how I'd evenly Fuse two things that are different sizes to create an alloy that is an uneven mix of two metals like normal bronze. So the best I can do is make a fifty-fifty split alloy as a test. It won't be of any use but it will prove if it is possible.

I don't spend long at my apartment, I just gather a few things before leaving again for Gaia's Eden. Entropy decides to land us inside my shack as the rain falls outside, "Thanks girl, want to stay here?" She looks out the window before flying up to her perch and moving her head under her wing for a nap. I smile, "I'll take that as a yes then."

I leave her to her rest and step outside into the rain again, this time of year is always so wet. I don't really have a good place to do this in the rain so I walk over to the pavilion and start to set things up.

The pavilion could be damaged so I set up the metals in the rain a dozen feet off from the edge of the pavilion and started to cheerfully manipulate space. I go slow and move the two pieces of metal next to each other before forming a spatial fold and bending the space around them.

I've learned to get a rough feel for Spatial Fusing and I know the rough amount of space I need to bend and how much I need to bend it to completely fuse an inch of material. I bend the space and watch as the rainfall is also distorted, and right before it Rebounds I freeze the space.

Trying to move specific things in frozen space is still very hard for me so it takes time to move the single cube out of the small amount of frozen space. In the end, I have just enough time to get the cube out and move it away before I run low on magic, and the space Rebounds with a loud snapping noise as the grass is flattened and some even ripped out of the ground while the small shockwave pushes the rain back in every direction.

I've done this a few times with wood cubes of the same size as practice and at my current skill I can just barely Fuse two one-inch wide cubes together, but that practice has paid off. The dull bronze metal cube has a silvery sheen and color to it, it matches the description for the high tin bronze alloy I read about. It's an alloy that is both brittle and tarnishes quickly, but that's not important, what's important is that it worked.

I smile at the cube but then I notice many small round holes, it seems some water also got fused into the metal. That mistake on my part probably ruined this metal, but I still smile and celebrate internally the success of my experiment and the proving of my theory.

I look down at the rest of my metal cubes, I will keep experimenting but the rain will just mess it up more and I'm not doing this under the pavilion. So for the time being I take out my sketchbook and start to draw the Gold Oak as it stands defiant in the pouring rain.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 994

A smaller chapter with some worldbuilding. Also, I am not a metallurgist and I have no idea how actually alloying works. I did try and make it somewhat accurate but at some point I do have to just say. fuck it, it's magic.

Chapter 182

NOV 30 Tuesday.

Celestia raises a brow as I freeze for a long moment. "Any thoughts on the matter? You do seem rather good at things like this." She asks while moving another piece to check my king.

I take a few moments to make my move and think of an answer and sort my thoughts a bit. "If you're asking me what I think. I think that this Storm King is about to have a lot more conflict at their door sooner rather than later." I make my move but it is quickly countered. "I'm not sure about the actual situation, but I'm going to guess a few of the city-states around this king will be seeking an alliance quickly."

Celestia nods with a more reserved smile considering the topic. "Exactly right, it's nothing firm yet but rumors and small meetings have already started. I also think I see where you are going with this, after that alliance forms the new king will have a choice."

She has guessed my thoughts correctly so I continue. "He can choose peace and back down on expanding, probably giving something up in the process. Or he can fight it out with them on a larger scale. Although, I personally think he'll pick the second option." I make my last move and lose the game, I spend a moment studying the board before resetting it.

She looks curious about my reasoning. "Again correct, the political climate would make it difficult to achieve such an alliance, it's not impossible though. But why do you think he would do something so risky, fighting a large alliance is no easy feat for any nation, even if that alliance is new and weak." I can see her reasoning, it could benefit him to back off and consolidate his gains.

"Unless he strikes first." She looks back up to me from the boards a little surprised. "If he strikes before the alliance is truly formed, or better yet when it is actively being formed, then he could gain a large win. As for why I think he'd do it? Well, he's relied on speed so far, so why not again?" I push our hypothetical scenario further and try to have Celestia pay more attention to this topic.

She goes silent for a moment and seems to mull it over. "Hmm, I will admit I didn't give such a possibility much thought. I find it unlikely that he could accomplish such a thing, but if he did then it would be a massive shake-up. The alliance members would need to regroup, and it will make others question even trying to form it again." She gives me an immersed stare. "You really are quite good at this."

I take the compliment with a smile of my own. "Another thing to keep in mind is don't expect them to follow any rules, unspoken or otherwise. He's in a risky situation and a gathering of the rulers and representatives of many cities provides a... A tempting target for more than just disruption." I added my last thought on it with the hypothetical situation at hoof. "That's just what I'd do at least."

She gives me a complicated look and seems to think for a long moment. "I once complimented you on your ability to put yourself in another place. It seems you are able to do that to a further degree than I thought." I can't tell if that's a compliment or observation but she still has a look of slight pride on her face.

The Storm King is something I should keep an eye on, I'm not sure there is anything I could really do to prevent his rise as he's already a king with an army backing him. On top of that, his nation is far off and even Celestia's influence would be severely limited so far away from Equestria.

The good news is that his coming here is still far off, and if he wants to get to us he'd need to pass the sea or a thin stretch of land. I do also have some sway in Griffonstone, plus I know he's coming so advanced warning is nice to have. For now, though that is all far off and I have things I need to focus on right now. I look up at Celestia's thoughtful face, getting her to think about this more is enough for now.

After a moment I just decided to move past this topic. "Well, enough foreign politics, let's talk about domestic politics." She smiles widely at my over-the-top tone and I quickly backpedal. "Actually no, enough politics. How have you been doing?" I ask a little too quickly. She seems to have recovered after October but It's good to make sure.

She looks down at me but still looks happy. "Just fine, thank you for asking." I can tell from her tone that she's not ready to bring up that night or her mood at the time, so I drop it at that.

I nod. "Good to hear. Oh, I also wanted to ask how the Frost Carrots are doing? I think you mentioned something about distributing seeds this winter?" I vaguely remember that the plan was to mass-grow seeds and send them out this year, but I never really found out.

She gives me a slight thankful look for the change in topic. "Sure. As for the first crop? It is just starting to come in but many places that farm normally are reporting small but consistent harvests. It's not massive, they need time to adapt to growing the plant and harvesting in the winter. But in a few years it will be a good amount and considering nothing is normally grown in the winter it's a massive boon." I can see that slight pride return on her face as she looks down at me

I also feel some pride hearing that, it is nice to have your work recognized as useful. "On top of that, there is an unexpected benefit." I raise a brow. "It's winter, the harvested Frost Carrots last a long time letting us ship them basically anywhere we can before winter ends, I never thought I'd see the day we would export a harvest during winter." She explains with a happy tone.

"Good to hear, and you'll be happy to know that I have two more crops that should be done by the end of the year, maybe a bit later at the most." I feel my smile grow and the slightly excited look she gets hearing that.

"Really? Well then, it seems I got a Hearth's Warming gift early. Keep this up and I may just give you a tax break for it." I roll my eyes as we both know I could care less about that. "Anyway, we should get going, you have a guard to fight and I have a sparring match to watch." I give her a deadpan look as she continues to smile back at me.

I silently drag my saddlebags back onto me as her look changes a little. "I will say though, you don't need to do this, it's alright to just refuse." Her tone is reassuring and I can tell she's giving me a way out. I was somewhat waiting for this question, but we got a little caught up in our conversation. She also has a point as nopony really asked if I wanted to do this.

But, I made a promise not to hurt Twilight, and then I broke that promise. I made that choice, and he fully warned me about it at the Gala. Beyond that, I know this is not mean-spirited, he just needs to do what he thinks he must. I've gotten to know Shining a little, and two main things have stuck out with his personality.

He will do anything for his family, and he keeps his promises, that's just what I saw from him, but both of those things I can respect. I also don't see this going any further, and if all I need is to do a few sparring matches to keep on good terms with him then I'm more than willing to do this without complaint.

As for how I feel about it? Not too much honestly, I knew this was coming and at this point all I feel is some annoyance and a small bit of frustration, but that's not fully directed at them. I would have preferred some heads up instead of being dumped in, but I have a perfect way to offload this annoyance and very mild frustration, fighting. And to be blunt, I have a thick skin from my last life, when it comes to things involving family I know how to suck it up and talk later.

I give her a firm nod after a moment. "I'm ok with it, he's doing what thinks he needs to. He even warned me at the Gala, so this is kind of on me." I reason and finish getting my saddlebags on as she stands up and slips on her royal mask. She does have a very regal face when she looks like that.

She nods. "Very well. But, at any time you can stop, I also made it rather clear to them I'd be turning his request down if you said no." She starts just to be sure and a moment later we're out the door and moving through the hallways. "You use a dagger and a greatsword right?" Her tone is more formal as guards watch us while we walk through the hallways into a lower part of the palace.

I nod. "Yes, I find they make a good combination, if used right." I can tell this is just polite small talk as we walk around in view of other ponies. I really don't enjoy holding a formal tone with her, but at least I don't need to use formal titles. Luckily it doesn't take us long after that to arrive in a larger training yard.

To the sides, there are some shaded areas to sit and I see Cadance and Shining sitting down and talking, I also notice that we are once again alone. We walk over and I nod to Shining, which he returns after a moment, a good start if nothing else. I smile at him, "So, how are we doing this?" I turn back to Celestia as she sits down with Cadance.

Surprisingly it's Shining who answers me. "You sure you're up for this? Fighting a guard?" His tone is, professional but not angry or hostile. I nod at him, "Beyond armor and weapons? You pick." I expected more, but he just waited silently.

I turn back to the mares. "Hmmm, no other magic beyond holding things, and first knocked down for more than ten seconds or first to concede." They accept that but I see Shining's brow twitch. "The same rules Stone gives me," I answer, guessing that he's curious as that ten-second rule isn't the most common.

He nods after a long moment and walks over to a weapon rack to put down his metal blade and pick up a wooden one. He really is one for a few words right now, maybe we'll talk later. I walk out into the middle of the training field and drop my saddlebags to start to equip my armor.

POV shift Celestia.

I smile a little as Shade sets his rules, They are simple but effective. He did take this all rather well so far, but I was not aware that Shining had warned him before hoof, still, he is being rather calm about this. Shade walks away to equip his armor, "I have two cakes on Shade winning." My head turns to my niece as she makes an utterly ridiculous bet.

I narrow my eyes a little but she just looks unfazed. "Hmm." Normally I wouldn't bet against Shade in a fight, but the rules tip in favor of Shining a good amount. I smile after a moment and speak in a lower voice so they can't hear us. "Agreed, but they have to be chocolate." It had been quite a while since I had an opportunity to bet on something, and it would be a shame to waste this chance.

But her face shifts to slight shock as she looks back at the field, I turn and stop as well. Standing in full plate armor made from a grayish wood, Shade is heavily armored like the knights I once had, he even has a sheath piece. "Huh, well too late to take it back now." That gets a chuckle from Cadance as Shining and Shade get in position for the first round.

That armor is not what I'd expected, it's been a very long time since I've seen a pony use something like that. "He certainly knows how to impress, although where did he even get that?" Cadance asks me as Shade moves over to pick up a greatsword and dagger.

"I believe he mentioned earlier that he made it himself, so no surprise there, what I find more interesting is the wood used." I recognize it, it seems his abilities in life magic really have taken a considerable jump. "This should prove interesting to watch." I keep my smile as Shade takes out the last piece of his armor.

POV shift Shade.

I smile at Shining as he holds the standard shield and short sword most guards use. I ready both my weapons, "Ready? Because I am still a little annoyed about this being sprung on me and I'm ready to hit something." I keep a light tone but tell the truth.

For the first time, I see his face change as he gains a slight smile before bringing his own weapons forward. "Yes, I have a promise to keep and an uppity Colt to humble." At this point, we're just shit-talking each other a bit.

"Just fight already!" We both turn to see Cadance smiling. "Unless Aunty is willing, we don't have all day!" I see his smile widen and I chuckle a bit, too bad for them I heard them earlier, seems I have a bet to win for Celestia. I place my helmet over my head and feel it click into place as my eyes see nothing.

I can no longer make out their expressions, but I can sense him just fine. I start with a steady pace and what I presume is confusion wears off quickly as we finally start our match. I'm used to fighting Stone but he never uses a shield so this should get interesting.

In a moment I dash forward suddenly and slam my greatsword down where he is trying to press the early advantage. "What?" I hear him as he quickly moves out of the way before my blow can land. My ability to still see him doesn't stun him for long as he lands the first hit on my side with a quick jab.

The blow is light and I don't even feel it, so I follow up with another strike that gets blocked by his shield. I start to really chain my blows, but it quickly becomes apparent he's moving faster than me with his lighter armor. "Slippery, I should nickname you snake." I try to keep the light mood even in combat.

At that moment he deflects a blow and gets a few quick but light hits in while I'm able to swipe at his legs. I nearly don't see it coming but at the last moment, I move my head. :Did he just throw his shield?: I'm able to recover as he throws his shield at close range but he nearly knocks me off balance with a few follow-up blows.

"That's just cheating!" I laugh at his words as I'm able to dodge his shield and recover before moving to attack again. We trade blow after blow but I have trouble hitting him while he struggles to break my defense. At some point, he starts to move around me more and even recovers his shield, which he is now using to slam into my armor.

The shield slams into my side again and I slam my greatsword down into it. CRACK The shield splintered into pieces along with the upper half of my greatsword, there goes my range advantage. I quickly move my dagger to block a blow, but I don't expect the hoof that slams into my chest pushing me back a bit.

Damn, he's pretty good, maybe a bit better than me actually. As I'm pushed back I'm able to land a good blow to his still outstretched hoofs with what remains of my greatsword. "Buck!" He causes me to hit a weak point in the light armor.

"Language!" He chuckles as Cadance reprimands him before I ready my half-broken blade and dagger while rushing at him. The next exchange of blows goes a little better for me, he's a bit slower on his legs now and I'm able to land a few good hits, but nothing to knock him over.

Still, he uses his environment to his advantage again, he picks up the broken part of my greatsword and throws it at me at close range like he did with the shield. I saw it coming but he slowed me down with a few blows and I got clipped by it on the back leg, with another. CRACK I'm able to splinter part of his wooden short sword with my greatsword.

At this point, we've been fighting for a few minutes and we're going further than necessary. You don't normally break the training weapons in a spar, but this is just too damn fun for me to care. I'm enjoying myself far more than I thought I would, I haven't gotten to spar and the new experience makes me want to learn, that determination to become better and train more feels like an old friend.

But in the end, he's able to hit another of my legs with his broken short sword and drop me to the floor on my knees. I try to stand but he's able to buck me with his legs on the chest, it's not hard enough to really hurt me but it takes the air out of my lungs and makes me fall on my side keeping me down longer. I know I'm not recovering from this so I stay down as our fight ends.

"WOO! Go Shining!" You can guess who said that. After a few moments of us both breathing heavily to recover, I take off my helmet and move myself to be upright again. After a moment I chuckle, "You are one slippery pony." I'm in a good mood now, any negative emotions I had have been thoroughly beaten out of me, and training always helps me work through things.

I see him offer me a hoof and take it to stand up again. "And you are a tough nut, not to mention that you always seemed to know where I was." His mood has also improved, he's not as stony or professional anymore and instead just looks more relaxed like he normally is with me, seems like he's like me in this aspect.

I nod after a moment and start to take off a piece of my armor before he stops me with a hoof. I look at him with a raised brow, he smiles at that. "Want a rematch? Because I know you're good at spells and there is no way I'm missing out on that." His voice holds an excitement and determination he didn't have before.

I take another deep breath. "You sure?" I smile at the challenging look he gives me in return. He nods and my smile turns a little mischievous. "You grab the weapons and I'll clean up, let's see how long you can last when I'm serious." I joke and he chuckles while giving me an excited look not realizing his mistake before walking off to grab new weapons.

POV shift Cadance.

"Wow, they really went for it. I don't think I've seen him fight that hard before. Maybe he deserves something more for this show." I voice out as they recover from their battle. Shining seems to be in a better mood though, and Shade looks happier than I'd expected he'd be. It seems both of them are the training type, great more muscle head stallions.

Aunty nods with an impressed and slightly proud look while ignoring my last words. "Yes, I almost intervened there, but they seem to have kept it civil, well as civil as this can be." It's my turn to nod now, they did take it a bit far, but they seem uninjured and in better spirits. "Also, I expect my two cakes later, remember they are chocolate." She smiles slightly and lords her victory over me.

I'm about to complain but then I notice Shining moving to help Shade up. "Fine, but I'm ordering one for myself as well." I don't bother fighting her on this, I know she'll just prank me if I try to back out of a bet with cake. I pause as I listen to their words. "They're going again?"

Aunty nods. "It seems so. We did warn him though, you still have a shield spell ready right?" I nod. "Good, I don't think this will last long but it might be needed." She says humorously, but also with some mild caution. Well, this should prove interesting to watch. Shade returns with his weapons and puts his helmet back on.

Even though I know how it works, it's still a little creepy that he sees everything around him. After a moment they get in position and they start, as soon as they start Shade just starts to run full speed as Shining tries to move his hooves. A small flash of green light came from under his hooves one at a time in quick succession right as Shade started running, and Shining could no longer move them off of the floor.

I'm confused but watch as Shining tries to launch a basic firebolt realizing he can't move, only for it to be dodged. Next, an invisible force pulls his shield in half with a crack, the shield is ripped in half before his sword receives the same treatment and both are thrown far to the side. Shining looks completely caught off guard as Shade comes barreling at him while he's been immobilized and disarmed in a few seconds.

I will give Shining credit as he's able to send out a few more spells while trying to move, but they all miss or are blocked in his haste. He even tries to cast a small fireball, but that takes him too long and Shade slams into him pretty hard. He's knocked off balance as the spells holding him seem to fade right before the impact, Shade then casts the same spell as he lands on his side to stop him from sliding back by sticking him to the floor with an abrupt stop.

I watch wide-eyed as Shining has been completely disabled and downed in less than ten seconds. "What in Tartarus?" I mumble out as Aunty looks thoroughly amused before laughing at Shining's misfortune. I stare at Shade as he helps a defeated Shining up off of the floor after he times out.

Shade just smiles at him and comforts him with a pat on the shoulder. "Be creative, even a sticking spell can be a nightmare in the right hooves." He offers some advice to the still-stunned and confused Shining.

I turn to Aunty and back to them. "A sticking spell?" I can't help but voice. "Who thinks of using a sticking spell in a fight?"

POV shift Shade.

I pat Shining as he pieces together my words and actions. "You ok? I hit you pretty hard." He shifts his shoulder despite his occupied mind and nods slowly. "Good, and don't feel bad, I don't fight fair." I joke to comfort him before taking off my helmet again.

My plan to fight Shining may have been a little much honestly. An advantage of runic casting is I don't need to fire a spell from my horn, at that distance I'm able to cast basic spells next to him directly, or under his hooves. I stuck him to the floor then used my field to crush his weapons and ram into him.

A brutal but effective method. Shining gets his mind in order, "I never want to fight you on a battlefield. But, ... Rematch?" He asks with an even more determined look.

I chuckle at him, which doesn't help his wounded pride. "I think me and you just found a new way to hang out. Now, get some new weapons, same rules as the first match. I want a challenge this time." I tease him a bit with my own determined look.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 994

First, I'm going to end this hear I think as this year has dragged on long enough as is.

Second. I tried to make Shade and Shining comparable in weapons skill, Shade may train under a great trainer, but Shining trains a lot more. So I thought they'd be comparable in that way.

Third. Happy birthday to someone. We have enough people here so statically it should be someone's birthday today. And if they are reading this, I hope you enjoyed it. :}

Chapter 185

JAN 5 Wednesday.

I slowly watch as the snow falls down from the sky and covers the afternoon city.

The snow is thinner now and soon it will be gone entirely as the end of winter nears. Things have been going great, after the new year, I have gotten nothing but good news. I haven't had a meeting with Celestia yet though, but I got a letter saying we could meet later today at Gaia's Eden, something I look forward to.

But right now I'm walking through the snow with my scarf wrapped around me while nursing some new bruises. Even after three years, Stone is still kicking the shit out of me. I did end up trying to get a sparring match with him where we'd use magic, but he shot that down.

His reasons were simple, magic is not his specialty and he's taught me all he knows about it already. He taught me some things like proper casting times and aiming, but beyond that his ability to teach me magical combat is limited. He himself only uses a few spells and mainly relies on his weapon skills to fight.

It does make sense, even with all my practice he can easily beat me with a weapon, and if I use magic I'm still not actually sure if I would win. The bad news is I'll need somepony else to practice with, I could spar with Shining, but he wouldn't be able to deal with me when using magic.

I could always get another trainer? Sure my skills are out of the ordinary for my age, but getting a trainer that will sign something like a N.D.A should be possible. Something to ask Stone about next week, he probably knows somepony that's willing, or at least where to start looking.

I smile while walking up the stairs to my apartment, I reach the right floor and enter my apartment. Entropy leaves my shadow and flies over to her bath to clean herself off. She decided to watch me and Stone practice but fell off where she was sitting because of a stray pebble and got covered in dirt.

Celestia will meet me after sunset, which is still two hours away, so I have some free time to indulge in my current obsession. I move over to my window and sit down in front of it while moving a book from my bookshelf over to me. This plain-looking tome is the spell book Celestia gave me.

One thing I quickly learned was that ponies have no idea what the fuck they are doing when it comes to violence. Humans often feel that the violence they commit is unrefined and brutal, which is not an unreasonable way to see it. But compared to ponies we are elegant with our violence, we know what we can do most of the time and tend to hold back when needed or take a more nuanced approach.

It may sound odd for such a peaceful world to be so... I'm not really sure how to say it, unintentionally brutal? Let me explain a few of these spells as examples. The first thing that stood out to me is how badly made these spells are, but that makes sense for a peaceful race, whatever the reason these spells are unrefined and could use some serious work to improve them.

I haven't learned to cast any of these spells yet because they are of such a quality, I plan to improve the spells before using them. Back to the spells though, the fireball spell is a good place to start. It works by just forcing it to form with nothing but pure magic, yup.

No air moving air inside to ignite it like the firebolt, no fancy or clever tricks, just pure magic. I can not tell you the number of ways I could improve upon that, that's not really saying much though because it's not hard to improve on anything. On top of the shoddy work that I just ranted about they also made the thing terrifying seemingly by accident.

When you launch a fireball there is an explosion but it also lights things around it on fire, doesn't that seem odd though? A ball of fire that explodes but is also stable enough to light stuff on fire, and I don't mean a small amount of fire left over, I mean a full blaze is left after the explosion.

Whoever the fuck made this spell intentionally did that, it's not some side effect, it's a damn feature. They made it sustain the flames to burn things after the explosion, they made something similar to fucking napalm. It doesn't last that long as the excessive fire is sustained with some of the spell's magic, but the simple fact they made something like this while being who they are is fucked.

This got me thinking, so after looking through the book, I noticed that this fireball spell is a somewhat older modification of the original fireball spell. I couldn't find the new one, but I did learn that it doesn't have this problem and the effect was removed.

Both of these spells are only a few decades old from what I found, even if the fireball spell itself has been around for centuries in one form or another. Back to my original point though, ponies don't understand violence and they seem to unintentionally make horrifying things and use far too much violence due to their naivety, the worst part is that they don't even know it.

There are several other spells in here that on the surface seem fine but after some thought prove to be just fucked. Let's give another example. The water shield spell is self-explanatory, and it is completely fine, but a modified version of this book is not so nice. It forms a solid ball of water around the target of the spell, which is intended to be used to put out magical fires.

It's not a common problem but it does crop up from time to time and magical fires can be dangerous, the problem is that the spell can target anything, including ponies. So if you ever wanted to drown someone on land this is the spell for you, and once again it seems this is completely unintentional.

There are several more spells like this and sometimes I have a hard time believing this was unintentional, but from everything I've seen it is, even though the human part of me doesn't agree. The human part sees such violence as only something that can be done on purpose.

I sigh a bit and leave my mind, I really am good at mental rants. I chuckle at my slight madness and start to look through the spell book for something I'd like to start working on and improving. I'm not really the type to learn flashy and overly destructive spells but I will be learning fireball regardless and probably a few other spells as well.

Actually, I should learn a few spells from every element that are useful, but I can't learn everything and I'll need to specialized at some point so picking an element now is best. I still haven't decided what element I want to go for, but after some thought, I'm leaning toward two options.

Ice and lightning are my interests. I'll start with Ice, it is less used than other elements but still common enough, but it's known to be hard to use. Mostly because forming a large enough amount of ice takes more magic than other basic element spells like earth, fire, or water.

The upside to ice is that it is a very stable element to work with as it doesn't change much when left alone, after all, it is a solid material, but like I said it needs more magic to shape and form that ice into a decent spell. Overall it's an element that is hard to work with but easy to weaponize, just my style.

Now, as for lightning. It may sound contradictory because I don't like flashy things, but that's if you use lightning as ponies do, that is to say, pure destructive power. Lightning is known as one of the hardest elements to make spells with but also one of the best elements for offensive spells.

A lightning bolt is fast as hell and can't really be dodged a lot of the time. On the downside, lightning spells are horribly expensive in terms of magic, but like I said that's if I use them as ponies intended. I would use it in a more gentle way, lightning can be used in smaller more effective ways after all.

I stop my reading as the room goes dark, the sun having dipped below the horizon. I smirk at the sight and keep the book with me while turning to Entropy. "Time to go Girl." She flies down and a moment later we're gone, and a moment after that we reappear inside my shack once again.

As I walk outside I feel the space shift as Celestia appears right outside of her house with a familiar item providing her light. I feel a smile force its way onto my face as she's wearing the necklace I gave her, and using it to light the way. I cast a light before walking over to her. "Glad to see you, enjoy the holidays?" I ask while walking up to her.

She smiles at me before opening her house door and walking inside as I follow. I have to stare at the floor after a moment because of the angle I'm at while walking behind her. "I had an enjoyable time if you don't count a few balls and events that I had to attend. I hope you had a better time than that." She jokes a bit while I close the door behind us.

I nod and take a moment to look around her home. After Nightmare Night she went back to her normal amount of trips, once every two or three days. Even with those limitations, she's continued to improve her home, with a little help from me of course.

The ceiling now has a few Solar Trap Vines providing light during the night time, they also cover the ceiling of her workroom. She has a few potted plants with Sunflowers and Daisies, all of them are simple enough plants that they can survive even with the cold because of the abundant life magic and cover they are provided.

She has a few more spell paintings and two carpets on the floor, along with a plethora of wooden vases and dishes. After looking around for a moment before watching Celestia pull a tea set from under her wing with focused eyes, even now I can't tell how she's doing that, the space seems to not flex or bend in a noticeable way.

I look back up to her as she chuckles. "I had a good time, I even got some good gifts," I answered her questions and pulled out the spell book for emphasis. "I hope you like the necklace, any issues with it so far?" I ask while taking the teacup offered to me.

She looks at the necklace for a moment with a soft smile. "I love it, thank you, Shade." I nod with my own smile growing. "It certainly is a unique gift, the warming charm was a nice touch by the way." I feel a warmth inside myself at the praise. "The ponies at those events I mentioned seem to like it as well, so many asked where I got it." She teases and I stop my thoughts abruptly.

"... Wait, what? You..." I was rendered speechless and dumbfounded at her words.

She keeps her now teasing smile and laughs a little at my expression. "Why yes. This is a work of beauty and it fits one of my dresses rather well. And it rivals the quality of my other jewelry so it would be a shame to not wear it while it collects dust." I stare back at her dumbly for a few long moments before sighing slowly in defeat.

I'm honestly not sure how to feel about that news. The idea of ponies fawning over a personal gift is odd, to say the least. "I presume you have enjoyed your gift." She asks seemingly moving us past my thoughts on the matter.

I feel a little embarrassed about others seeing my work, but it's not like it really matters, I focus on the conversation instead of that. "At least you like it, and I very much do, but first, I have a question." I take a drink of the well-made tea.

"I never did ask, but what are your affinities? Because I have a theory and considering that the Sunstone looks full of solar magic I think I'm right." I had noticed that the gem was brighter than when I gave it to her, and it would have taken longer than a few weeks to charge it from sunlight alone.

She looks at my smirk with a slightly surprised look before smiling wider. "I only have the solar affinity, and your guess was quite accurate. Although, you are not the first to guess that." She doesn't explain more but I'm simply happy with knowing I guessed right, but her words bring a new question to mind.

"Wait, only affinity? Really?" I was a little surprised. Having a few affinities is common and I'm a pretty big outlier by only having two affinities. Having one seems a bit odd, I suppose she could be hiding them, but I can't see a reason she'd do that with me of all ponies, although it's possible she has a good reason.

She nods with her smirk seemingly pleased I caught that. "Yes, I won't go into detail, but it's part of being an alicorn." She is vague but even just that brings a great many questions to mind. Did she lose her other affinities? Or maybe they are simply inaccessible? Even then this is very interesting.

I nod after a moment and decide to leave that topic alone with some reluctance. I pull out the spell book and place it down to answer her earlier question. "This is both amazing and infuriating, do you have any idea how badly made these are? Because if you do and this is a test that's... Very clever." I admit having just realized that it's something she would do.

She chuckles a little. "Technically no, but also yes, that is something to keep in mind for later though. As for the spells, I would say there are of decent quality for such spells." I give her an 'Are you serious' face, which she seems to find even more amusing. "Spells like this simply see less improvement, but they are better than a lot of other spells, you know this."

I think for a moment before begrudgingly nodding. "Yes I do, and I've seen worse, but this is just shoddy work." I flip through a few spells before I talk. "I am curious though. You know me, why did you trust me with this?" I ask only half jokingly.

She again looks amused. "Because I do know you. You are more than capable of making your own spell that would be more dangerous than anything in that book. Now though you'll be so focused on improving and learning those spells that you won't make some horrifying new creation." She says seriously, having read me like a book.

I stare blankly for a few moments before laughing at the sheer confidence she said that with. "Well, you have me figured out it seems, I guess I'll need to find some new tricks. Or just make those spells anyway, I do like making things." I tease a bit but take her plan in stride.

She just smiles as she'll win either way, we both know that. "That sounds like a fantastic idea." I roll my eyes. "Any other good gifts? I'd hate to be outdone after what I received." She asks teasingly while I resist the urge to roll my eyes again.

I think for a moment and eventually shake my head while taking out a notebook to do a little spell work. "Hmm, no, not really, lucky you. I did get a nice book on sea plants. Although, I have no idea where it is from, the entire thing is hoof written." I have that book with me as well and pass it over to her.

Right now I'm just working on improving the fireball spell, I want to make it better and Celestia seems to enjoy watching me work from the look she has on her face. She seems a bit confused at the sight of the book, "Is this the book Cadance sent you? It's rather, off, for a gift from her." She says with some humor as she looks through the book.

I shake my head again. "No, she...." I trail off before quickly answering. "She got me a Griffon romance novel," I admit as she holds in a bit of laughter while I glare back at her. "That one is from Daisy, apparently she found it in a bookstore." I quickly change the subject.

She smiles mischievously. "Romance, horror, combat spells, you have some interesting tastes in literature." I blush a little at the first one but raise a brow at the second. She can definitely see my blush but just looks amused by it, she also sees my raised brow and answer my silent question. "Cadance opened the gift you gave them near me, I will be honest and say I didn't expect you to read horror, come across anything good?" She asks and seems genuinely interested in my interests.

I pause for a moment and decide to just be honest and resist the urge to hide things when not needed, the only reason my mind wants to is because horror is an interest from my last life. "Yes, but if it is in the library I have probably read it, I've gone through most of the horror section there over the past few years." That's not as impressive as it sounds as it's not that large.

She stops going through the book and looks up a little surprised but not judgmental. "You really do break many molds and standards others would have for you, good, be yourself." I also stop at the unexpected but genuine encouragement, I nod at her in response. "What do you find interesting in horror? What draws you to it?"

I have to ponder that for a few minutes as we relax before answering. "The creativity." She raises a brow at that silently asking for me to explain. "In most types of stories, you can only repeat a surprise or an event so many times before it becomes... Bland, and boring."

She nods in agreement. "I know that all too well. It is very rare that something truly new crops up, except in something like a storybook." She has lived for a very long time so it does make sense, she's probably read more books than I've seen in my entire life.

I nod. "Well, horror has that problem to a higher degree. Because everything is just trying to scare you, they need to get creative, and because of that, there is a very high degree of variation and innovation. At least in my experience." I add as I have no idea if that is truly accurate beyond my thoughts.

She looks thoughtful as she pushes the book back to me. "I'll admit that horror has never been a genre I've really looked into, it doesn't seem like my type of topic and the few times I've tried it were unappealing. But it doesn't hurt to try something and with some help, I might find something I like, who knows? Any recommendations?"

I smiled at her. This mare never fails to amaze me, it takes a strong mind to break out of routine. "It would be my pleasure, and don't worry, I totally won't start you off in the deep end." She raises a brow at my odd saying and my mischievous smile.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995, lets GO!

Ok so, I thought ice or lightning would fit Shade the best. Earth seems to on the noise. Fire is not his style. Air is too bland for him. And anything related to shadows is why we have Entropy.

So, with that in mind, what element do you think he should invest in the most? He's still dabble in the others but whatever element is picked will be his focus.

Chapter 203

APR 5 Wednesday.

I sit down at the table in the break room before anypony else. I don't know where Blaz and Maple are but Daisy is staying behind for a few minutes to find a certain piece of paperwork I asked for.

I have a bittersweet feeling as my thoughts wander and I eat. As a start, I told Stone we'd be missing a practice day for the first time in nearly three years because today is my birthday. Honestly, I'm a little melancholic about today, but I'm also excited about my plans.

I'm still nervous about telling my friends that I'm leaving the library but in the end, I decided to tell them today and get the paperwork started on leaving so I can just rip this band-aid off. I chose to trust in them that they would accept my choice and just try to stay in touch with me.

As you've probably guessed The paperwork I asked Daisy for was a termination notice. After today I will no longer be working for the library, and it feels odd. I've worked here for a third of this life, and even including my last life, this is the longest I've ever held down a single job. But I try to keep a positive mood.

Sure, I won't spend as much time with my friends, but I'll be damned if I don't spend time with them, not that it's hard as we still have our weekly game nights. Funnily enough, Daisy didn't look all that surprised about my request and said we'd talk more at lunch, so here I am waiting for the others.

I look up as Maple sits down and looks over to me. "You look a little sad, why?" She asks bluntly, but there is a slight concern in there that brings a smirk to my face. I also see Blaz getting food so he should be joining us soon enough, and as if on cue I see Daisy walking into the break room.

I hold up a hoof as if to say we should wait and only once everypony is sitting down do I speak. Blaz also notices my mood pretty quickly but just raises a brow and waits as he sees Daisy getting food. Once Daisy sits down and everypony is here I start.

I turn to Maple. "To answer you Maple, I have news." I try to keep a somewhat happy look but my mellow tone still comes through. I look over to see Blaz chuckling and Daisy smiling as she passes over a few documents. "Or maybe not? You all guessed it then?" I smirk as none of them seem surprised in the least.

Blaz nods after he stops chuckling. "Don't look so down Colt, we all knew you'd move on. This place is too small for a pony like you." He seems happy and smiles widely. "So happy birthday, and good riddance." He jokes as both Daisy and Maple chuckle at his humor.

His words and the happy mood perk me up a good amount. Daisy nods and moves the papers over to me, "Happy birthday Shade. And he's right, You always said you wanted to make spells, and with the skill and time you now have, go for it." She hints at my other job without revealing anything. "But don't you DARE forget about us. We still have to even the score with Maple after all." She also jokes and it's clear they are trying to make me feel better about this.

Even Maple speaks up with more emotion than normal. "Happy birthday. And you better keep bringing the snacks, Daisy's cookies are so bad, and raisins are evil." Even Maple jokes a little and I can't help but laugh at that.

I look in between all of them. "Well, shucks. A col- ... Huh. A Stallion couldn't ask for better friends. And just for the record, if I do start drifting away from you all, you have full permission to slap me as hard as you can." I only half-joke as I really do want them to keep me around if needed.

Blaz nods with a smirk. "I'll hold you to that Colt, and yes you're still a colt to me, no matter how old you are." He verbally jabs me again. "Just make sure to leave some free time after you get yourself a mare." He says completely seriously and I fight off some embarrassment at the serious tone he used. Daisy and Maple stare at him, "What? I made that mistake with my first mare friend, I almost missed Hearth's warming once." He chuckles at some memory.

Daisy rolls her eyes and places two other things on the table as I take a few minutes to look through the paperwork for my termination. The contract is simple and to my pleasant surprise, because I'm an apprentice I can quit without any form of notice or warning, I can leave today I just need to finish my last day.

I raise a brow as she moves more papers over along with a familiar metal badge. Her tone is slightly proud as she says, "The badge is already engraved and we don't have a use for it, so it's yours to keep." I smile more as this small metal badge has accompanied me every day of work for five years. "And that, is a consultant contract."

I do a double take and look back up at her surprised and she chuckles. "Well, finding a pony with good skills can be hard, so when we can have them sign a contract, the consultants are added to our records so we can contact that pony with skills we may need at some point." I feel a warmth in my chest at the thoughtful offer.

Being able to come back from time to time and help out sounds really nice, and it also provides a little comfort for the separation. Consultants are often brought in for many different things, specialized book recovery, filling gaps in schedules for specialized jobs, repairing the library, and simply helping with high workloads.

I give her my first full smile of the day and start to read through and fill out both small piles of paperwork. The termination is simple, and the consultant's contract just gives them the right to contact me whenever needed and makes me inform them of my current address, but I have the right to say no and turn down the request for any reason.

After signing the paperwork I turn to look at all of them. "Thank you all, it's been... Amazing." I feel my emotions overtake me a little as the support is amazing, especially when I didn't ask for it, they just knew and stepped up to make me feel better about my choices.

Maple and Blaz nod before looking at Daisy. She keeps her happy expression, "Don't get all sad on us, like Blaz said you're not getting rid of us that easily. And to prove that, we're going out to eat next Sunday, a celebration of your retirement, and we're paying." She said that last part in a firm tone leaving no room for disagreement.

My smile threatens to widen even more somehow after hearing that and I nod my agreement immediately. "That sounds perfect. Now, let's finish our work, I want to get out of here as fast as I can, I've had enough paperwork and scribe work for a lifetime." I blurted out with some humor now feeling much better than before.

Blaz nods. "Like I said, good riddance." He chuckles again before standing up. "See you next weekend Colt." He shakes my hoof happily and Maple surprises me with a very quick hug, it's light but still not something she's done with anypony besides Daisy. That surprised me, to say the least, but raises the happy mood even as everypony starts to separate for the time being.

Daisy also finishes her food and I pass her the documents I signed. "Come on, I want you to write down the sorting system you use, I need some way to remember it. I'm going to miss having an assistant." She teases me a bit and I roll my eyes as we walk off to get back to work.

The rest of the day goes smoothly and I just spend a good amount of that time making a chart with clear instructions about my sorting system that Daisy can hang on the wall. After that and finishing my remaining work, along with cleaning out my workspace, it's time for me to leave the library.

As I pack the last things away I notice one of the paintings I got as a souvenir on my trip hanging on the wall in a new frame. It's a painting of the grass fields that cover much of the Great Plateau. I turn as Daisy stands up and walks over to me with a smile and gives me a quick hug. "Look at you, all grown up." She says after backing up a bit and looking up at me. "I still remember that nervous colt."

I nod with a laugh. "I've come a long way in five years, it feels like an eternity. Thank you, Daisy, you taught me how to deal with paperwork, and for that, I am ever thankful." I give a small bow as she laughs with me.

She gives me one of her beaming smiles. "Truly I could teach you no greater skill than that. Have a good day Shade, and see you in a few days, I'll drop off a note for the time and place." I nod my thanks and a silent goodbye as I leave the room and slowly make my way through the hallways and doors.

I can't tell you how many times I've walked these hallways, it's sad to leave it all behind, to say goodbye. No, maybe not goodbye. I'll return, often or otherwise, I WILL return, I still need to study and find books to read for fun after all. I shake my head after a moment and leave the library with a pep in my steps.

When I return home and enter my apartment I find Entropy waiting for me happily. She's stopped going to work with me over the past two weeks so she could take care of the still unnamed crow. The crow is doing well enough and I might have an idea for them, but that's for another day. "Hey Girl, are you ready? We can't be late after all." Greet her with a few pets.

"YES! Ready! Go?!" She jumps on my back a little impatiently and I spend a few moments grabbing a rolled-up painting before nodding to her. Celestia sent me a letter a few days ago saying our next meeting would be on my birthday at Gaia's Eden. She definitely planned something but I'm just excited to see her after more than a month.

When we arrive I feel both Celestia and Philomena in Celestia's home not far away. It's the afternoon and there is a good amount of rain falling outside and drenching the ground. I took a moment to pick up a heavy box in my field, I decided to give Celestia a complete copy of the documents on the Storm King I bought on my trip here while keeping the originals in my shack if they are needed.

I have to run through the rain a little but I make it to her front door mostly dry and with a resigned feeling as I knock on the door, let's see what she has planned for me. I'm a little confused as there is no answer to my knocking and after a moment I open the door. "SURPRISE!!" I nearly jump out of my skin and move a step back as Celestia stands up happily and shouts out with a massive smile and her forelimbs open wide in celebration.

The inside is decorated with a few small party streamers and a deep green tablecloth over her large table. What really catches my eye is the two gift boxes on the table and a decently sized cake with a few lit candles. I feel my face split into a smile, "Well, this is.. New. You did all of this for me?" I ask while closing the door behind me as my mind tries to catch up.

Entropy takes the opportunity to fly off with Philomena and play while Celestia looks pleased with my happy expression. "Yes I did, but it seems you just can't help yourself and give gifts even on YOUR birthday." She chuckles a bit as I realize it's kind of backward. "Well, come on then, these candles won't last forever." She motions me over to the table and I put everything else to the side for the moment.

I quickly hop onto the seat and my smile nearly hurts when she pushes the cake in front of me. It's simple, a few trees made of frosting and my name written on top. I can't remember the last time someone gave me a cake, but I feel touched by the gesture. "Make a wish, you're only fifteen once." She says like an excited filly.

:I wish... I wish for a quiet vacation, just one: I decide to make a reasonable wish and blow out the candles and she claps and I just feel, happy. "You really went and gave me a birthday huh? This cake better not have coconut, although I guess I can stomach it if you brought it." I joke a little as she brings a knife out and starts to cut up the cake. I smirk at her and meet her eyes, "Thank you, Celestia, this is... I'm not really sure... Nice, nice works well." I say as my mind catches up with everything.

I knew she was probably going to do something like this. I normally don't like parties, but small personal things like this mean a lot to me, even if this is a little corny. I can't help but feel content with my day. It may have started on a lower note but it's certainly ending on a high one.

She nods, "I'm more than happy to hear that. You've made my last few birthdays much brighter and I'd be a poor friend if I didn't try to do the same." She places a large slice of cake on a plate in front of me. "So, how was your trip? I heard from Cadance that things got... Interesting." She teases a bit but it's clear she's relaxed about the topic.

I take a bit of the vanilla and strawberry cake before stopping mid-chew after hearing her words. She sees my look and waves a hoof. "I can scold you another day, today is supposed to be a celebration. But I am curious how you nearly got robbed on your first day in that city." She keeps her light tone with a smirk and practically inhales her own piece of cake.

I swallow and sigh a little. "Oh don't worry, you haven't even heard the last of it." She raises a brow and gives me an amused stare. "But I'll save that for later. For now, gifts, you go first." I move over to the rolled-up painting and move the box next to her on the floor. "A nice painting, and all the information I could gather on the Storm King," I say as her face shifts.

She unrolls the painting and looks happy but then shifts to confused and raises a brow before looking at the box. "Really Shade? This is what you did with your free time on your vacation?" She asks amused and laughs a little before moving the painting and the box over to a wall. "I might just have to authorize another vacation for you if you spend your time like this." She threatens jokingly.

I give her a challenging look and take another bite of the delicious cake. "Jokes on you, I just quit my job, I'm officially retired." I declare victory and she looks surprised at my declaration. I drop the smug look and tone, "Thanks again for the advice, they took it well and I'm now expected at a restaurant next weekend for dinner."

She looks pleased after the surprise wears off and smiles widely. "Well then, are you interested in a job?" I give her a deadpan look in return conveying my answer. "I thought not, still give it some more thought." She says without pressuring me and moves the two small gifts over to me. "Go on, I worked hard on these two. I had to after this." She motions to the necklace I made for her that she's currently wearing.

I nod and do as asked. I Pick the larger gift first and tear off the paper eagerly. It's a plain-looking book with a title written in a flowing script. A theorem on magical gem cutting. By Celestia Solis. Several dozen questions flood my mind as my jaw hits the floor and I quickly look up to Celestia. "What?!!" I ask, completely bewildered.

She just laughs right in my face as my current expression is not something many see too often. So many thoughts are going through my head, but one stands out. I wait until she's done laughing, "Ok, FIRST. I'm sorry, I never thought to ask for your full name." I admit with a little embarrassment as that's something I've never thought to ask her and really should have.

She waves her hoof again after recovering from her laughing fit. "There is nothing to apologize for. I was never born with a second name, they weren't common back then. That name was given by a royal, but I stopped using it long ago." She explains with a slight bit of melancholy.

I notice the mood shift and try to move us away from it. "Fair enough I suppose. Still, I'm definitely using that, Miss. Solis." I tease her and to my amazement, she actually looks a little embarrassed being called that. I could tease her more but leave it for now. "You wrote a book about cutting gems? Did you cut gems? I really need to ask you more about your life." I ask curiously.

She smirks but it seems my question keeps the same lower mood. "A job actually, my first job in fact. And something I rarely get to do anymore. I wrote that a very long time ago, it's in old Pony so it might be hard to read, but I thought you might... Enjoy it." She says with a slight bit of embarrassment, she is being absolutely adorable right now.

I never thought I'd see Celestia like this, but I suppose we all have things we are embarrassed about in our past. I open the old-looking book to find simple text on the pages, it's not as neat as the writing I've seen from the modern here. It's also very dry text, and like she said it's a little hard to read, but being given something like this means a lot to me.

When I put the book down she seems both happy and uncertain. "I know, it's not the best work. But I was... Much younger then." She admits before seemingly trying to move past the current mood. "But enough of that, you still have a gift left and this one I know you'll really love." She picks herself up and looks a bit excited.

I've seen Celestia at some of her most vulnerable moments, but this is a new form of vulnerability. She shared something small and very personal with me, something only one other pony would even know about. I also noticed that she mentioned her being a gem cutter at some point and I want to ask more about it, but leave it for the moment and focus on my other gift.

Before fully moving on though I place the book down gently. "Thank you, Celestia, it's nice to see this side of you," I say with a blunt honesty that probably didn't come out as I intended. After realizing what I just said I quickly rip into my other gift before she can question me about it.

Inside is a simple thing of beauty. A twenty-sided bright green gem that is four inches wide, cut with extreme skill and precision. It might be the best cut gem I've ever seen and all sides are completely even and identical. And I also feel the life magic shifting and contained within the Life gem, this is the uncut Life gem I gave her.

I look up to see the large warm smile on Celestia's face. "Happy birthday Shade."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading this long ass story. :D
Current year is 995

Ok, so, Shade is free from his job, but he'll try not to work himself to death on new projects and inventions. But he will probably be move mobile now.

Also, don't worry I am going to continue this in the next chapter. So, please put the torches and pitchforks down... Please?

Ps. Got my shit together, should be the normal schedule from here, but if it's not I'll make sure to tell you all.

Chapter 230

SEP 25 Monday.

I look over the small ruby and medium ruby for a moment and activate the gems in the proper order to transfer the gathered love. From one to the other.

I've spent some of my time over the past week making what I've come to call the Love Cell, basically a love battery. It has two modes and a way to just turn it off although that would disperse any love contained inside at the time.

The first leaves it on standby scanning for the nearest emotional shield and shows a small green light next to the gem when it finds one. The second mode is activated when it finds a small emotional shield and forms a second emotional shield around it.

Basically, you move it next to a Love Gatherer's compressed mode emotional shield, and then activate the Love Cell before turning off the Love Gatherer, the small gem will then have a small shield floating with it, now containing all the love magic inside. You tap it three times and the Love Cell's shield will expand so a Changeling can eat from it just like the Love Gatherer.

It's very basic and uses a lot of spells from the Love Gatherer, excluding the all important Love Rune, the Love Cell only took a few slow days to complete and send off to Celestia. I got a package back from her not long after, courtesy of Philomena, that thanked me again and also had several books and notes inside it.

After our meeting I was sent home with a lot to think about and a list of several books to read. At first, I found myself very distracted by everything I'd learned, but after a few days, I calmed down and relaxed again. Mostly because I can't do all that much at the moment.

Beyond my suggestions, Celestia has already been making many preparations of her own, and I don't really have much I can help her with beyond my spell work. Things will remain mostly the same for a while and might not even change that much after we finally get into full contact with Chrysalis.

It's an odd mix I've felt a few times before, I want to help to do things to speed up the process, but things like this are best done slowly. So it's back to normal life for me, the regular drum of talking to friends and the endless grind, regular everyday life for me.

Oddly enough all the worrying I did over changing the future and its consequences made me more able to deal with this. A war is raging and I'm sitting down studying, or I'm just a bit insane. I did spend more time on physical practice over the past week just to get any stress out.

Then there are my thoughts on everything, specifically the Changeling queens, let's start with Chrysalis. She's an odd one and something I will keep a close eye on as much as I can, but she's also not what I was expecting. Her being the voice of reason feels off from what I remember of the show.

I could make a guess about why she ended up the way she did. If the war was in the show but never shown then she could have faced varying difficulties as it progressed. Changelings have a hard time when it comes to food and I remember those Changelings in the woods so long ago talking about food difficulties.

It's not hard to guess that would only worsen in such a war, the mere fact one side is taking ponies while Celestia is aware of them is enough of a reason to show just how desperate both sides probably are. If Chrysalis lived in a hive that had just won a war only to start starving and dying I can see her doing something crazy like the wedding.

But this time might be better, with the new inventions we could still feed them, we'll eventually have to deal with overpopulation but that's a long time away. I'm still wary of her though, she's mostly an unknown if a somewhat reasonable creature to deal with.

I'll have to meet her myself to see how reasonable she actually is, but Celestia seems to think so and she is infinitely better at the whole talking thing. And then there is, Cascadia, I understand Celestia's disdain for that name and couldn't agree more.

This world is lucky, more lucky than any creature here could ever imagine. I know for a fact other worlds exist, from fiction and stories to alternate history, all of them are probably out there somewhere. But there are few worlds as peaceful and kind as this one.

Compared to some of the places out there my old world is a paradise, Equis might as well be a heaven. To take such a gift that so many would commit unspeakable actions to have, and distort it with such unnecessary violence and suffering? Why, why the fuck! It makes me pretty angry.

I don't know which side started this war, but to cling to your power so much that you kidnaped and literally farm another sapient being. I hate it, it makes no sense! Even if they don't know how lucky they are, they have magic! The ability to rewrite fucking reality!

You can solve this problem, is it easy? No, but it can be done. Even if I had help and was lucky the fact it took me, an outsider, to solve their problem is stupid. I don't blame the average Changeling though, they are just trying to survive like all others and often are too focused on that to do other things.

But to rule an entire hive, and seemingly carry on like normal? Fuck that. If I had a hive objective number one is fixing the food problem without relying on just natural ability, but it's not up to me. Maybe it's part of their nature? To just continue on without changing, pun intended.

Humans are the same in many ways, but only ever for a while. Suffering is something all humans try to avoid, we often fail but we try. To imprison a sapient being and trap them in their own fantasies? That sounds almost, Human. Enough of getting angry at my own mental rant, the problem still remains and this bitch is harming ponies without a good reason.

I want to do something about that, oh do I want to? All it would take is a single spell with the right runes and I'd have something to fucking destroy Changelings, but again this is not my place. I am many things, but I am not arrogant enough to believe that I have the right to do something like that, not when many innocents would get placed in the crossfire on both sides.

So for now I create and wait, I wait for the day when I will see her fall. I do try to keep this anger away, but it isn't helping me any and it is only a distraction right now. I move the gems back onto a shelf and take a moment to look over what remains of my gem collection.

It's dwindled over the past years and I'll need to look for more soon, I might be able to talk to those Diamond Dogs? It's been a while but I might be able to find them again. I go through my shelves and find a small pendant I was given a very long time ago with a symbol on it.

Something to check on then, fall has already set in and many trees are losing their leaves so I'll have to check before the winter starts. I doubt they would be caravanning gems through snow, that's all for later though. I place the pendant back and make my way into my apartment's main room.

I glance at my small table and the several books now resting on it and sit down to continue reading. Over the past week, I've spent most of my time reading up on rituals and the Anti Scanning spell, mostly the former though. I've only skimmed the material for the Anti Scanning spell because I wanted to spend some time relaxing from my spell work and try to balance my free time better.

The Love Gatherer and Love Cells will take a good while to start any production anyway so I have time before making the improved Anti Scanning spell. Now, onto the truly interesting topic, rituals. At their base rituals are surprisingly simple things, a magically conductive dust drawn into a proper ritual matrix.

Unlike modern spells, rituals use much more runes instead of math and are also inherently less stable. Interestingly enough any magically conductive dust or powder works, but gems are by far the best option. I could probably use the gold dust, yet another thing to look into.

The main difference between modern magic casting and rituals is the power source. Rituals can either take from living things around them, the environment itself, or a gem, but it can never contain its own magic source or store magic. The ritual Celestia sent me is of an advanced rank, but far from being impossible for me.

It uses a total of twenty runes and would take up a decently large area, I'm still working on that second part actually. This ritual is very basic in effect though and can't really go wrong unless I really fuck things up. I just need to make the ritual properly and have Entropy move her shadow magic into the ritual before placing the band in the middle.

Entropy should also have more than enough magic, the main factor of cost in this ritual is the size of the item you're trying to Imbue. Honestly learning about Imbuing an object has been the most interesting part about all of the information Celestia sent me from the topics I asked about both after and at the meeting.

Imbuing is like enchanting but in a different way. First and foremost the entire process heavily depends on what you are Imbuing. The object either needs to be able to conduct the magical affinity you want or any affinity at all. Mithril is a neutral material and can conduct every type of magic, but just because it can conduct any affinity doesn't mean it's good at it.

While something like Entropy's feather would only conduct shadow or space magic. Something like Vita Tree Wood would not conduct shadow magic at all and wouldn't work for my needs. Obviously, a material that conducts the affinity used is better, but not strictly necessary.

Imbuing itself is very simple, it's to saturate an object in a type of magic to give it a desired effect. Imbuing was mostly done with things like powerful weapons, so you could Imbue a blade with fire magic and then it would have a fire effect to it. The more fire magic you use and the more powerful the ritual the stronger the result would be. But how does it power itself?

Well, it sort of doesn't. Over time the effect would consume the magic Imbued and fade, you'd need to redo the ritual again to imbue more magic into the object to make it work again. That's not a problem for the band as I don't need it to use the shadow magic just contain it, so that will last basically forever, but for a weapon, it's a pretty annoying thing.

The effect can vary by a large amount. A blade with fire magic could be strong enough to burn, do a bit, or melt through them like butter, it depends. The ritual and items used to account for this, but will and intent are also important, I'll get to that though.

Imbued magic does last for a while before fading, up to decades depending on how powerful the ritual is and what material you use. The main advantage is the object doesn't need any of your magic to work, a useful thing on a battlefield. The main downside is it needs to be redone in the ritual.

That can get very costly if you are using a large and powerful ritual. It does open some interesting possibilities for me, mainly in my space magic. The effect you want to Imbue into an object can be more structured like an enchantment, which makes the ritual more complicated but can be done.

With the right ritual, it would allow me to use space magic in an object, which immediately gave me the idea that I am definitely trying. A bag of holding, or anything like that really, the sheer possibilities of that alone. A ritual like that would be hard but I can't see a reason why it wouldn't work, I will need to do more research for it.

To loop back a bit. I've learned that rituals are based on both the will and intent of those involved, and the actual Ritual Matrix. Both have a large effect and contribute to the end result. Rituals have a flexibility to them that makes things both easier and harder to accomplish.

With normal enchanting you can give a single item complex, structured, and layered effects, at the cost of needing to be incredibly accurate with all the spells involved. In contrast, the runes used in rituals can be a little off with their Runic Context, the math can be off by a bit, but they would still work.

The flexibility allows you to stretch the definition of runes and use your imagination more, much like with Guided Evolution. It would let me make something like a bag of holding without needing to make any runes for space magic, as I could use runes that would be close enough in context.

The downsides of rituals are plain to see though. From less stability, to any item needing to be re-imbued, and the much higher magic costs. But a large downside is that you only Imbue an item once, you can still add enchantments, but a single item can only ever have one Imbued effect.

I put down the book I was reading and left my mental rant before picking up a second book from the pile Celestia sent me and glancing inside to remind myself of its contents. Before our last meeting ended I was able to ask her about sending me any information she has on life magic, specifically about modifying plants.

She wasn't able to find much on short notice but she did find a bit. It mostly follows the same method I used but also adds an interesting angle I didn't think of. When using Guided Evolution to directly modify a plant you can watch how your will and magic change the plant's magical flows.

Once you find how you are changing things you can better direct your will and magic to that specific point. It gives your mind something to work towards beyond just your own imagination, an anchor point is the term they used. I put down the book and looked out the window.

The sky is cloudy as a cold wind blows yellow and red leaves off of the trees dotting streets and the countryside in the distance. I leave the book alone for now and move over to Entropy. "Hey Girl? Up for a trip to Gaia's Eden?" She stops preening herself atop her perch and flies right down with a happy chirp.

"Yes, go." That's all she says before we both vanish from my apartment. When we arrive in my shack Entropy dives right out a window with some parting words. "Love, go play!" I chuckle a bit and leave her alone for now. She doesn't seem to like fall and winter all that much, I think because her and I spend more time inside.

I spend a moment gathering a few seeds and pots, before making my way outside and to the pavilion. The Everfree forest always withstands fall and winter better than anywhere else, but this year is different from the past few. All because of the Vita Tree.

I still drain my remaining life magic into the tree every day when I check up on Gaia's Eden. The Vita Tree is now fifteen feet tall, five feet taller than at the start of the year. Its field of denser life magic has also grown to fifteen feet, causing all the plants around it to grow wildly.

Even with the approach of winter and full might of fall the plants refuse to brown or die, even a small bit. I think that as long as I add something to keep the snow off the plants they will live through winter just fine. As a nice bonus, I also had to adjust the gold dust gathering enchantments, it's now producing even more gold dust than before.

It's helped with the Copper Lily project and a few other plants I use it on to keep them healthy. I sit down in the pavilion and get comfortable to begin my botanical work. I bought a Cherry Blossom seed and something I've had with me for a very long time. My variant of Moon Glow, the variant I selectively bred to make the entire plant glow instead of just its flowers.

My plan is to add some more night lights to Gaia's Eden, and it works as a good test. I start out by growing a small plant from each seed and have them flower before crossbreeding them together. As I grow the seeds I focus my will on changing the plant's effects so that the Cherry Blossom has glowing leaves and flowers.

I watch how the seed's life magic flows change in my senses, it's small and hard to make out in the tiny seeds, but they do change. The flows of life magic shift a tiny amount, if I wasn't looking for it I'd never have noticed without some great luck. Once the seeds are grown I pick them and decompose both plants.

I study the seeds and notice that all of them look the same but their magic is very slightly different from a normal seed of either plant. I plant one at random but it doesn't grow, a dud, three more duds later and a seedling finally sprouts from the soil. A moment later a small three-foot-tall Cherry Blossom sapling is grown.

The difference is seen in the small leaves and flowers of the sapling, they have all turned into deep green variations of themselves. Not exactly what I wanted but let's see if it works correctly, I cast a spell to form a dome shield around me that blocks out all light, the same spell I used to hide Celestia's piano.

A moment later I see the flowers and leaves of the sapling emit a soft white glow, the effect transferred correctly then. I left the other seeds alone and instead focused on this sapling, attempting to use Guided Evolution to create what I wanted while gaining more practice.

I use Guided Evolution again and pay close attention while trying to change the flowers and leaves back to their original colors. Leaves and flowers fall and regrow rapidly, I focus as the flows of life magic in the sapling shift some, mostly around the trunk and branches.

I keep those changes firmly in mind and continue to grow and replace old growth with new, a shower of falling glowing petals and leaves. After using half my life magic and studying the flow's subtle changes I cancel the shield spell around me and the sapling. My eyes take a moment to adjust to the outside light, but when they do I look down to see the floor is covered in flowers and leaves blowing away in the wind.

Many are green or white, but the ones on the sapling are the same color as a normal Cherry Blossom Tree. The sapling's leaves and flowers glow a bit more before dimming after I take away the shield blocking out sunlight. I smile at the success and start to write notes in my illusionary notebook.

The process this time was both faster and easier to do after I found the changes happening, and keeping them in mind did in fact help. I think it even cut down on the magic cost some, not a lot but it is nice to see. The changes to the tree also seem more focused and complete.

I did this mostly to test if the new method works and to see if I could use Guided Evolution to transfer magical properties in plants to other plants, I can safely say it can be done. The new Cherry Blossom Tree is a nice bonus. I've been meaning to find a visually appealing way to light up the fish pond at night.

All I need is a name, Glow Cherry Blossom Tree is too much of a mouthful. Glow Cherry? No, that's too blunt even for my tastes. I guess I'll give it some thought. I spend a moment collecting seeds from the new type of tree and decomposing them before standing up and stretching.

The chilly wind blows through again and I shiver a bit. An upside to being a pony is that the cold bothers me less, but it can still be annoying at times. I reach into my saddlebags and unroll my green scarf before wrapping it around my neck, it turned out to be a rather good gift.

With nothing else left to do, I slowly walk through the grass and over to the Water Tree and my little fish pond. The fish have been doing well and are preparing for the cold freeze of winter. I've kept the berry bushes full of fruit and the fish have grown large and healthy over the past few months.

I walk around it and plant three seeds before quickly growing them into ten-foot trees covered in flowers and leaves. I sit under the shade of the new trees around me at the edge of the pond. I still need to see how much of a glow the new trees give off, but from how much light the small sapling made I think it should be enough.

I should still wait for dark, and it has been a long time since I've mapped the stars. I smile in comfortable silence while taking out a sketchbook to draw the fish while I wait. I look down at the swimming fish and take a deep breath of the fresh air, even in war there are moments like this.

Moments of peace.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 995

I realized I wanted to take a break form all the talking and war so I thought we could have a few lighter chapters, things like learning new interesting magic and plants, or Shade's friends.

Also, me leaving the new tree without a name, you know what that means! It's time to ask you all because I am also horrible at names and couldn't come up with any. So... Any ideas?

Chapter 257

FEB 25 Sunday.

I keep my eyes closed as I concentrate heavily on the space around me, specifically the Spatial Structure I've been experimenting with.

The past two days have been a mix of me experimenting with space magic and continuing to talk with Larimar. Nothing has changed with her after our small incident, but I doubt anything would have happened to begin with. We've developed an interesting relationship.

It's clear we are both very distrustful beings, that's not to say we have no trust between us but it's small and difficult to build. We trust and respect each other enough to be mostly honest, or at least be more open with our lies, but considering this entire relationship is built off of a business deal it's not bad.

On my end, I've only known her for a few weeks and while I trust her to not attack me or cause me problems without reason, I don't trust her enough to give away any personal secrets unnecessarily. I think she feels something similar, but like I said we are both mistrustful and paranoid.

Still, there is respect between us and I feel like I can say she's a decent acquaintance. I leave my thoughts on Larimar alone and pick up a hoof-sized rock before throwing it at an area with a slight spatial warping, a moment later it appears several feet to the left of me dropping to the floor.

After a lot of testing, I realized I was thinking in the wrong dimensions, no pun intended. I started with a tube, but then I realized that the tube's actual dimensions don't matter, it just needs to make that connection to the other end. So I made a tube with the width of a hair and used that instead.

Compressing the space inside a Spatial Structure turned out to be very easy to do as the area of space is already under my control in a sense. I compressed the space inside the several-foot-long, hair-width tube, and expanded the exit and entrance points to be a foot wide.

The items I throw in one side come out the other side quickly and with zero problems. The whole process has got me thinking about how I'm actually using my space magic, I know magic is based heavily on my will and thoughts and that's really starting to show here.

As an example, all it took to prevent an item from moving out of the walls of the tube was a little more magic and will to guide the item through. Magic doesn't really have many rules, if any, and forcing a change is only a matter of magic and will. It seems that even I can focus a little too much on unnecessarily rigid forms of magic.

It's like Guided Evolution, there isn't really as form of a strategy here, it's just my magic and will. I think I'll be taking that approach more with space magic, as I now have the luxury of having enough magic and control to not really need to be as strict with my magic reserves.

I'm still going to try and use logic and make a technique of some sort to help, but being purposely limited here is not going to get me far. I'm trying to explore and work with spatial dimensions as some random pony, I don't even have the math to explain what I am doing anymore, so for now I'm going to be relying on my will and imagination more.

As an example, I have a slight problem with this form of travel. The hair-width tube can link two points easily enough, but I still need that tube to cover that distance and that means it can encounter solid objects in its path. I let the Spatial Structure I was working on collapse before drinking some tea and trying something new.

I pick two points in space and form another incredibly thin tube by grabbing the space around it and compressing it to form the small tube, building out from one of the points like I'm making a rope. The space inside is enough for a larger object to travel and pass through the tiny passageway, while the compressed space is small enough not to cause much Rebound buildup.

I then contract my spatial senses in an odd way. I control and limit my senses to form a gap where I'm not observing the empty space, just the area to both sides of it. I will the tube to build out more and let my senses follow along through it like an extension of myself as it builds out. Keeping the mental image of the relatively simple action repeating again and again, moving towards the other point I keep in mind.

I visualize it as the tube growing from its starting point like a vine, taking the path of least resistance to the other point in space that I keep firmly in mind as well, but I don't control the tube's path and let it grow by aiming for the second point. A second later the tube forms across the gap in my senses and connects to the second point without issue.

I wanted to see if I need my spatial senses to use space magic but it seems to work just fine without it. I still have to maintain some mental control over the Spatial Structure and feed it magic, but this works just as I hoped. I pick up a rock and throw it in one end, visualizing the rock moving along the tube with space being manipulated to keep it in the center and moving forward.

Doing that takes a tiny bit more magic but a fraction of a second later the several-pound rock drops out the other side, whole and intact. I let it all collapse again and set up another experiment. I make the same conditions, but I also grow a small wall of wood in between the two points blocking the most direct path for the tube.

I limit my senses again so I can't sense the wooden wall and send the tube out again, and while it once again takes a tiny bit more magic, it does connect with the other end after a moment of me building it out. I extended my senses again and see that the tube took the most direct path around the wood without my direct control, I didn't need to sense the object in my path and just needed to will it to avoid the object, but using my senses would have likely worked better.

I let out a long breath and drink some tea while forming Mana Mimicry to recover my lost magic from my experiments. This is a good first step, I prevented any obvious problems like something falling out halfway through and objects that could be in the tube's path.

Because the structure is so small in size it also doesn't take that much magic to form or maintain, the Rebound also builds pretty slowly from how little I'm moving the space. Compressing doesn't cause much Rebound at all and as long as I'm not moving that tube around the Rebound will remain pretty small even if I make a very lengthy tube.

As a positive because the tubes are so small the spatial distortions are nearly invisible and can be easily missed if you're not looking for it. I'm not sure walking through it would do anything to you either, the space is still there it's just smaller, so walking through it is fine as long as you're not inside when it collapses.

I think I'll call this new method Spatial String, it fits and works well enough to keep my notes organized for now. I'll definitely need a lot more practice and experimentation before I'm willing to try and walk through one of these, portals? Gateways? Doorways? I'm not sure what word I should use but doorway will work for the time being.

It's not technically teleportation, I'm just manipulating space to make two points connected by a thin passage, it works though and that's what matters. I'll probably train with it in several ways and test it extensively but I can't see too many more problems popping up.

After resting for a while and slowly reading through a few pages of one of the books I bought from Larimar, it's hard to read due to its age and seems to just be a history book, but it's kept my attention well enough. I stand up once my magic is fully regained and turn to Entropy. "Remember the plan, Girl?" I ask as she preens her wing on my makeshift bed.

She bobs her head and slips into my shadow without a word as I grab my saddlebags and a few of the things I'll need. My plan for today is to take a quick trip to the market and spend some time there to buy anything I want before heading off to talk with Larimar again.

It's technically a little risky because of Obsidian, but I'm not letting some asshole stop me from living my life. I can deal with him if needed, and if not then this is one of the last times I plan to go to the market and I'm unlikely to see him again if he's not waiting for me. Out of all the locations available it's most likely he'll attack me outside the market, it's a place I've gone to often and has plenty of onlookers, it's also a convenient place to wait at and it's easy to spot me there.

After a few mental checks and making sure I'm ready for a fight if it happens, I make my way outside while keeping my senses sharp. While walking to the market nothing happens, but when I crest the last hill it quickly becomes apparent that my thought process was spot on.

Sitting off to the side of the market on a taller hill is Obsidian, looking down watchfully at the market. I sigh after spotting him and start walking down the hill I'm on to get into the market before he spots me. This is partly my fault but I'm still pretty annoyed about having to deal with him.

By the time he spots me, I'm already in the market and I can see him blow out some fire before standing up and staying still. He won't start shit in the market but once I leave he's definitely coming for me, I shake my head a little and just try to enjoy a little shopping before having to deal with him.

I spend nearly an hour just looking through various things, all while Obsidian keeps watching me from the hill he's on, I even spent longer than necessary shopping just to annoy him a little. I ended up finding another old book from a Dragon and was able to buy some living Burn Weed from a Dragon selling spices.

The plant itself looks like a twiggy shrub with many small brownish leaves that are ground down into a spice. After all my shopping is done I find an interesting opportunity in a certain Dragon, Aurora is at the market today selling gems like normal. I walk up to her with a small smile. "Hello, Aurora. Lovely day for some bloodshed isn't it?" I make a somewhat dark joke as she turns to look at me.

She looks me over and glares in the direction of Obsidian on the hill. "You are the strangest Pony I have ever met. You know he's waiting for you, right?" She asks plainly, I can see a lot of Ponies not noticing what's happening here so I take her question seriously and nod. "Got a plan then?" She asks curiously.

I shrug a little and nod. "Yes, to make his little trap useless by springing it first." I don't really give her a detailed answer and just spend a moment taking out some bits. "I need someone to watch my things, one hundred, and you make sure nothing is lost while I deal with him," I say with a serious tone.

I knew this was a possibility so I didn't take anything really important with me, but I like these saddlebags and would rather not lose them to this fucker. She raises a brow and looks me over as I hold out my saddlebags and the bits, "You are actually going to fight him, aren't you?" Her tone becomes more serious. "He's out for blood, you know?" She warns me.

I just give her a flat look. "So am I," I answer, slightly exaggerating my want for violence. I do want to beat this Dragon a little, but I don't need to go too far. "I'm thinking of doing it over there." I motion to a relatively flat area next to the market but outside of it. "You think anyone would intervene?" I ask after a second of thought.

She takes the bits and my saddlebags after a moment of silence. "Sure I'll watch it, and I won't try anything. I don't need more trouble." She reassures me and looks over to the spot I pointed out while taking my saddlebags with her tail. "Should work, you are not the first to do this there." I nod while looking the area over. "Pony?" I look back at her with a raised brow. "Kick his shit in." She growls a little at the end and smiles viciously.

I look at her for a moment and nod silently before turning and walking off. It quickly becomes apparent that the other Dragons here have a decent idea of what's going on, they are good at knowing when a fight is about to start. I keep my steady steps, neither slow nor fast while keeping my senses trained on Obsidian.

I don't want to start off with Spatial Cutting as that seems a bit extreme, but it would be nice to truly test out my elemental spells. As I leave the market and walk into the empty area many Dragons are now watching me, I keep my calm and simply stop walking after a while, sitting in the empty area, waiting.

The area I'm in is mostly flat, probably made that way by Dragons. It's filled with smaller boulders and rocks, the largest are around the size of me along with innumerable smaller rocks. As I sit there I turn to look right at Obsidian, a dead unblinking stare closing the great distance between us, a silent challenge.

My silent challenge seems to piss him off a bit as he jumps off of the small hill he was on and flies to me quickly. He doesn't come right at me and instead lands a hundred or so feet from me by slamming into the ground and sliding to a stop in one quick motion. "Pony!" He yells out, spewing some slightly black fire breath and looking at me with needle-thin eyes.

I don't say anything as he flares out his wings, a gust of wind and dust hitting me as I cast an overpowered Flame Shield spell in preparation and start to plan silently. "You think you can just walk around here?! This is the Dragon Lands!! WE rule here and I'm going to fucking show you that!!!" He roars at me in a rage.

I didn't expect him to be this damn worked up, it seems letting him stew for a few days definitely did something. An angry beast makes mistakes but is also a very dangerous thing to fight. Despite the call out I just stayed silent and simply waited, my body tensed and ready to move quickly.

He bares his fangs more and shows a large slightly crazed smile. "Got nothing to say?! Shaking in you're fucking fur?!! Pathetic! Well, maybe I'll be so nice and let you beg-" That's all he can get out before I grow tired of his shit. I remain calm but am annoyed at his attempt to humiliate me like this.

So I do what every Dragon here would do, I hit him. I reach out with my field and grab a bolder the size of me before throwing it at him as hard as I can. His eyes widen and he's mostly able to move his head out of the way, the large boulder glances his right horn making him jerk his head from the force.

He lets out a small roar before looking back at me with clear rage. "Shut the fuck up! And fight me!" I yell back at him, breaking my silence while grabbing more rocks to throw as it takes less magic than a spell and seems effective enough. The first heavy rock slams into his chest shattering into a cloud of dust.

ROAR He roars full force at me and takes a deep breath. I'm not sure if I'm in range of his fire but I would rather not test my Flame Shield spell like this, so I throw a larger boulder right at his open maw. It comes a moment late as black-tipped fire starts to shoot towards me.

I dash to the right and some of the flame lands near me but misses, the rock I threw hits him right on the nose as he closes his jaw before it can go down his throat. It doesn't disorient him for long as his claws dig in before he pushes with his large legs to move forward despite me continuing to throw rocks at him constantly. His powerful steps quickly start to close the distance between us.

"Fucking Pony!!" He screams at me while moving closer and closer. My best advantage is range so I start to quickly run to the right as hard as I can, he simply adjusts and keeps his body tracked on me. Seeing that he'll outrun me I stop throwing rocks and up the power of my blows.

A deep green spell matrix flashes above his head for a moment and a large lightning bolt slams into his wing from above with a cracking sound. "Ahhh!" This seems to cause a lot more pain as his wing's membrane rips and blood is drawn. The overpowered Lightning Bolt spell seems to have gotten through his scales a bit and caused some actual damage.

The blow isn't enough to stop him though and he keeps closing the distance. He's faster than me and even with me launching three more Lightning Bolts at him he's able to close the distance enough to take action. He contracts his back legs and flaps his wings to bolt forward suddenly and leap at me, claws getting far too close for comfort.

I jump and try to move out of the way, rolling a little while trying to move to the left so the massive Dragon won't slam into me. I didn't expect the leap and I'm now slightly on the defensive, but I'm also far from done. One of his claws grazes my side as he reaches it out to try and grab me, he narrowly misses me and I quickly take stock of the injury.

A gash along my side, five inches long, the pain is sharp but not enough to distract me too much, the wound is not too deep but is bleeding a fair amount. I cast a B.L.P spell on myself before anything else and stopped holding back as much. He digs his claws into the ground and tries to stop his momentum. "Yes, bleed you fucker!!!" He yells out and turns his head on his long neck while I'm now on the left side of his body.

I keep to his side as he moves his head quickly to lunge forward with open jaws as he tries to bite me. I let loose a full-power Lightning Strike spell directly at his exposed neck, the loud crack deafens me a little and I see his head and neck jerk to the side from the strength of the blow.

He stumbles a bit as the powerful lightning rips some scales off of his neck, leaving a spot pouring out fresh blood onto the ground as he recovers. His muscles twitch as the lightning does its job as I redouble my efforts. He barely has time to take stock of his new wound before I hit him again.

He loses his footing a bit as I point-blank let loose with an overpowered Lightning Strike spell into his front left leg. "Shi- Ahh!" His leg gives out as more blood and scales fall to the ground, his leg now kneeling down from the muscle spasms and pain, causing his body to go off balance. The pained scream I cause is ignored by me as I zone into the fight fully, only a second after the bang of the spell hits I cast another spell on him, a Stone Spike spell.

While casting I ran away to gain distance and a second later three stone spikes abruptly jut out of the ground toward the leg that he was kneeling on, aiming for the midsection of his leg. I overpowered the spell more than I really had to, one of the three stone spikes gets lucky and gets through his scales.

It punctures through his leg and pokes out of the other side a bit, blood openly pouring from the new wound, rapidly making a pool. "AHHHH!!" Black flame spews into the air as he roars out in extreme pain. I've nearly gained a good amount of distance but have to dash to the side as his tail closes the distance I made and slams into the ground like a whip, aiming right for me.

The tail barely misses me and I know he can use it to grab me, so in a moment filled with adrenaline and action, I turn to my space magic. In a fraction of a second there is a popping noise and a thud, a five-foot Spatial Plane forms and collapses in a moment, and around half of his tail is cut off instantly as the detached body part falls to the ground with a thud.

Blood pours constantly from the wound like a grim waterfall, drenching me in a large amount of his blood as I stand only a foot or two away from the bloody mess of the cut. "AHHH!!" His roars of pain heightened even more and he started to thrash as his eyes took on a shocked and more fearful look, apparently realizing this was not going to end well for him. "FUCK!" His arrogant tone is gone now and the panic is setting in.

He moves his remaining tail away quickly, drenching me in even more blood from his bleeding stump while doing so. He's able to break his leg free from the stone spike and tries to stand on it, but quickly collapses as the leg can't hold his weight. I see his wings twitch and quickly cast a Sticking spell, sticking his left wing to his body and preventing him from flying away from me. "S-Shit!" He gets even more panicked and tries to get up again.

I send another Lightning Strike spell into a different leg, causing him to fully collapse onto his belly. I then cast an extremely overpowered Sticking spell and stuck his belly onto the ground below him. The pain and entrapment seem to make him desperate enough to attack me again.

He continues to trash on the ground and flap his free wing, trying to break free in some way, but then he whips his head in a quick arc and lets out a small wave of black-tipped fire toward me. With his thrashing I didn't realize his intentions until the fire was already moving toward me, it flowed over the ground and through the air toward me, I didn't have time to dodge.

Realizing this I focused my efforts on recasting a more powerful Flame Shield spell over myself instead of trying to move, I layer the shield over the first Flame Shield spell just as the flames hit me. I cast the spell just in time as I'm enveloped by the flames for a moment, but with nothing to burn it flows over my overpowered flame shield leaving me unharmed.

The wave of heat and fire dissipates quickly though with nothing to latch onto, leaving me among the blackened and smoking patch of ground, seemingly unbothered. Obsidian smiles when the flames hit me but quickly looks shocked again as I stand unmoving and uninjured. Before he can say anything else I cast my most powerful Lightning Strike spell yet.

It hits his side with a boom that leaves my ears ringing as I feel the shockwave of air pressure from the blow, and he once again roars in pain, flailing around with nowhere to run and seemingly no way to attack me. His side now has a patch of smoking and cooked flesh, bleeding slowly. I use a hoof to wipe some blood from my face and look at him, his breathing ragged and quick as Obsidian mostly stops thrashing after seeing his tail bleeding so much.

"Are you done?" I ask in a cold and emotionless tone. He stops struggling completely and looks at me, his eyes darting everywhere with panic and fear. I stand drenched in his blood, standing in a pool of his blood next to his severed tail. "I asked if you are done fighting, or do you want me to continue cutting?" I threatened in the same tone.

He still looks very panicked, but there is slight relief on his face at my words. He rapidly nods his head after a short pause, "Y-Yes! I'm done!" He says back, his tone nothing like the arrogant dragon from before. I keep eye contact for several long moments to add to his fear and uncertainty.

I nod. "Good. Now, listen." I growl out the last word to him as my eyes glow green for a moment and he flinches back a little at my intensity. "You are bleeding pretty badly." I look at his covered tail, still pouring out blood. "So I'm going to give you exactly two options, and you ARE going to pick one," I say without letting him get a word in.

I ignore the pain in my side as I move forward and focus my mind on dealing with this. "I will either heal you enough so you don't bleed out, but I leave your tail a stump, and I will keep this bit," I emphasize each word while stretching my neck and motioning at his severed tail. "Or, you can apologize to me and ask me NICELY, to heal your tail. Pick." I finish without looking away from his red eyes.

There are a few beats of silence as I stare him down, he opens his maw a bit and I interrupt him. "And if you open that mouth of yours to breathe any flame at all, I WILL cut your legs off." I threaten before he can answer to make sure he doesn't try any bullshit.

He looks at me for a moment, baring his teeth in a snarl filled with hesitation and fear. "I- I'm... I'm, sorry. Heal me." He growls out slowly after a moment and I raise a brow. "Please." He says with great reluctance while looking at his severed tail on the ground next to me.

I nod, happy he wasn't a complete idiot. "Move your tail over and stay still." I give him instructions and pick up his severed tail in my field. He growls again but does as demanded and moves the stump of his tail over, the wound is still bleeding heavily and splatters on me as it gets close.

I ignore the blood everywhere and move the severed tail to the wound, lining them up as accurately as I can. "Don't move, this will hurt," I say seriously and focus on my magic. I only have around half of my magic left now and I don't know a spell that can reconnect limbs, but I have a solution.

I've never messed with Biomancy before but today seems like the day, and healing is probably the easiest place to start anyway as I'm just regrowing a little flesh and bone. I press the pieces of his tail together and start to dump life magic into the wound while focusing heavily on my will.

It takes most of the second half of my magic, and I feel a little lightheaded by the end, but the flesh and scales knit together regrow. I cast a scanning spell and while I can't be sure, it seems everything is fine. He moves his tail back and seems to be able to move it well enough for me.

I walk a little away from Obsidian and look at him. "If you ever fuck with me like this again, you're dead. Now fuck off." I demand while canceling the Sticking spells trapping him. I walk towards the market and notice that every Dragon was watching the fight, but I ignore the stares, too tired to care.

I quickly walk over to Aurora and pick up my saddlebags while several Dragons move out of my way, most giving me wary looks. She looks at my blood-covered form with some wariness as well. "Thanks, have a good day Aurora," I say without even stopping my stride.

She nods a little as I pass her. "Same, Shade. You are one badass Pony." She uses my name with a little respect and I don't even respond, I just keep walking. As I slowly make my way back to my cave to recover and heal myself, I notice Larimar sitting on a hill, smiling at me.

I don't know when she arrived or how much she saw but I'm still in pain and don't feel like dealing with that right now. :I have something to talk about with her tomorrow I guess: I chuckle a little at the crazy thought but stop as my side hurts again from the action. :First, some healing though, preferably before Celestia can ground me for the next month:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

This was a long one, but fun to write. I hope it lived up to your expectations. I think I did ok with the way I did the space tube thing in this chapter, I'll have to tinker with it more but I think it's a starting point to go from.

I thought it was important that his space magic is able to do things somewhat by itself, like he's giving it instructions and not doing very precise control. It's kind of needed to make long distance travel possible, at lest as far as I can tell.

Also I decided that Shade will probably mess around with a few forms of teleportation or space magic based travel.

Chapter 260

MAR 1 Thursday.

I shape my space magic in a repetitive pattern, forming a tiny tube of compressed space to grow out from a point.

The last three days have been a mix of me preparing and spending my time at the market buying things. I only talked to Larimar for a moment over the last three days and that was to tell her I'd meet her sometime today, I did spend some time thinking of a few more good questions for her though.

I plan to say goodbye to her later today before I leave, but it seems our cooperation has come to an end. The knowledge I've gained was worth every bit and every moment of my time. With the extra time from not talking to Larimar, I've been doing several things.

First I've been practicing my new ability, Spatial Strings. I've seen some small improvements already, mostly in the speed at which I can form the Spatial Structure. It's not a very complicated thing and it's easy to practice so I've made some progress even in such a short time.

I can form around ten feet of the Spatial String in a second and that distance is increasing with practice, I've also managed to cut down on the magic costs by a very small bit. I can form the Spatial String between two points and then form the entrance and exit, which is the most magically intensive part of this Spatial Structure.

I'm mostly training my speed and control for now as they are the most important pieces of this new ability, but I did do some tests with it. As a starter I can confirm this ability doesn't allow you to move through magical barriers, I tried to move a few rocks through the shield on my cave and they bounced right off without effort, I obviously also can't move things through solid objects.

The magical shield lets me form the Spatial String through it but because I'm still moving through the same space so it will block anything trying to pass through it. I think I would still be able to move through the shield as I normally can, but I'm not going to be testing that anytime soon.

I also tested the Spatial Strings on living things, with the help of several plants that I threw through an open Spatial Doorway. That is the name I decided on for the entrance and exit of a Spatial String, I needed to call it something to make sure my notes didn't descend into chaos and the name worked well enough.

I tossed a few plants through a Spatial Doorway and all of them came out the other side fine, even the more delicate plants I used. I will probably test it on some dead fish and living insects, but it seems to be fine for living things to move through the Spatial Doorway and Spatial String.

I stop moving my magic and stand up with a stretch, ignoring the small pop as the Spatial Structure I was practicing with collapses. Beyond my magic practice, I spent the rest of my time at the market over the past few days, sadly I didn't see Aurora so I didn't get a chance to say goodbye, but I was able to spend a good amount of the bits I had on me.

I have a decent amount of things I'll need to bring back with me and I need space for them, I have packed everything away already and am ready to leave. While trading I was mainly looking for elemental gems as they are normally small and I can't bring anything large back with me.

Sadly that also means I can't bring back some large gems, it's not like it matters though, I have more than enough bits and don't need to do all that work for some cheaper gems. If I or Entropy ever get good enough to travel here quickly it would be a good source of large gems, but it's just not practical at the moment.

I did find a few good elemental gems though, specifically three gems that were worth the effort needed, all the others I found were too poor quality to be worth the extra weight. A five-inch rounded Iron Gem, a two-inch Ice Gem, and a four-inch Fire Gem with great quality. None of them are that impressive but with how cheap they were it was worth it.

The fire Gem in particular is going to be useful for a project I'll need to work on later, I need a source of extreme heat and this could make that much easier. I was also able to find a few more old books, nothing incredible but they are interesting and I can never have enough books.

I look around the cave I'm in for a few moments and make sure I have everything packed away in my saddlebags. I've decomposed the Razor Vines by the entrance of the cave and left everything else as it is, I don't see much of a reason to destroy this place.

Even if a Dragon finds it they wouldn't even know what to question, to attempt, to figure out that something is odd here. I look at Entropy as she stands on my back under her illusion, she's been riding me when I go to most places recently. Except for the market, that still seems to be too much for her.

I scratch her and start to make my way outside into the afternoon sunlight, but I stop after leaving the cave as I see a familiar Dragon sitting on a rock not far away. Smolder is sitting there with a small gem in her hands and just seems to be snacking on it, but her head turns to me after I leave the cave.

I smile a bit at her but quickly notice as she walks over to me that she's a little stiffer than the last time we met. She seems to be a bit more wary of me, probably from the fight with Obsidian. "Smolder, good to see you. And convenient timing, I was just about to head home." I am casual and keep a relaxed tone, I don't want to make her more wary of me.

My unchanged tone from the last time we met does seem to make her relax a bit. She stops next to me in front of the cave. "Shade, I got to watch your fight with that prick." She says and then smiles largely. "You are one badass, that magic was awesome. Wait, you're leaving?" She gushes a little and I nearly frown.

The absolute last thing I need right now is more fans, so shrug and nod. "To be fair he was not exactly going all out, and being underestimated can make for some great surprise attacks. And I am, it's time to head back." I give some bare-bones excuses and think for a moment. "So how have you been?" I ask while thinking over my sudden idea more.

She keeps her small smile but looks a little thoughtful at my words. She huffs a little smoke after a moment, "Fine? Not really much going on, the most entertaining thing I've seen in a while was your fight. Oh, right, I heard you got hurt? You look fine." She asks curiously and looks me over.

With some more life magic, my wound completely recovered yesterday, it doesn't even feel sore anymore. "It was mostly a scratch, it healed right over with some magic." I give an honest but vague answer once again. "You want to come in? There are a few things I left and don't really need anymore, you can take them if you want?" I make an offer and motion behind me.

There are some small gems I bought while trying to talk to various Dragons at the market along with a few things I grew from wood that I don't need to bring back. She blinks for a moment and then looks at me, slightly suspicious. I don't blame her and just wait for an answer. "Mmm, fuck it, you wouldn't need to lead me into a cave to beat me into the ground." She shares her reasoning openly.

I chuckle at her and walk back a bit to turn off the shield around the cave. "Fair enough, I wouldn't trust me either." I give some praise as she did at least think about the risks before agreeing. I cast a light spell and started to walk back into the cave, "Come on then." I encourage her as she moves her hand through the empty space the shield once occupied.

As she catches up to me we take the sort of walk down and enter my small abandoned camp. I left the cloth I put on my makeshift bed and the campfire is still burning some wood. "What? How?" I chuckle again at her confusion. "Damn, this is awesome as well, you've just been chilling down here?" She asks slightly indignantly.

I nod. "Magic makes things much easier, as long as you have the right spells and knowledge. Take anything you like, I'll just leave the shield off so you can come back for anything later." I decided after I saw her on that rock that she might be able to make use of anything left and I don't need it. So, why not?

She looks around more and runs her claws over the moss covering the walls and looks at a few vines in the ceiling that I grew to prevent rocks from falling. "Magic huh?" She mumbles with a smile. "This is a cool place, I'm tempted to take everything." She makes a small joke and chuckles, but stops short when I don't join in.

I think for a few moments and nod. "Sure, you can have it, it's not like I'll need it." I agree with her joke almost immediately. She could make good use of it and this place can still serve its purpose. "I can even make it so the shield will let you in, makes it nice and private from others," I add to my offer with a smile.

Her head snaps back to me after I agree and she looks at me with wide eyes. "Wait, like, seriously?" She asks hesitantly, I nod again. "Fuck ya! Finally, a place away from Garble and his shit! Thank you, you have no idea how annoying my brother, can, be." She slowly trails off and looks a bit nervous. "Ahh, I didn't mention he was my brother, did I?" She asks slowly.

I just wave a hoof. "I guessed you were at least friends after the thank you from last time." I lie through my teeth as I always knew. "And considering your reaction it seems I made the right choice, come on, let me show you the gem." I keep my friendly and relaxed tone and start to walk back to the entrance of the cave.

She quickly follows after me with a smile as I stop near the gem hidden by the cave entrance. She looks at the large gem and I see her lick her lips a bit. I quickly step to the other side of the shield and link her to it, I tap on the shield but it no longer lets me through. "Tap the gem twice to turn it off and on, don't move it from that spot, and don't eat it." I joke as she looks away from the gem and to me after a moment.

There is a long moment of awkward silence as she looks at me and I sit still, Entropy watching our interactions silently from my back. "Hey, ahhh, for this, well. Thanks." She says softly after a long moment as my gift seems to fully register in her mind. "You know what? I owe you one." She nods to herself as if that's a better answer and looks less uncertain.

Neither of us knows each other, hell we've talked for less than a few hours all put together, but she does seem genuinely happy with my spontaneous decision. I nod to her, "Like I said, I don't need this place, but sure." I agree and she looks more confident after my agreement. "Have a good day Smolder, if you are ever in Canterlot the library has good books on magic, just don't burn anything." I make another joke at her expense to make things less awkward.

She nods back enthusiastically and seems to forget her awkwardness for a moment. "Maybe, sounds too, wordy for me." She dismisses my advice but doesn't look completely unconvinced. "Goodbye, Shade." She gives me a simple goodbye and I turn to leave.

That was a little awkward, then again she's a Dragon, she's probably not used to being gifted things by a stranger she barely knows. Still, I feel good about doing a small kindness to someone else, and having that favor could have its uses someday down the road.

Entropy looks at me from my back. "Nice, new friend?" She questions me with some curiosity. Smolder isn't a friend, at least not yet, so I shake my head after a moment. Entropy doesn't ask anything else as I walk the familiar path to where me and Larimar meet, nearly done with my last task in the Dragon Lands. It will be a little odd going home, I'll have to get used to dealing with Ponies again.

I may like Ponies but they can be far more sensitive than I'd prefer, I'm just lucky I made friends with Ponies that can take a joke. Or maybe that's why we became friends in the first place? I'm not really sure honestly. I push my thoughts of home aside for a moment as I see Larimar sitting where she always does.

She lifts her head to look at me and watches me walk over to her. "Larimar, a beautiful day as always," I say while looking up at the slightly cloudy and overcast day. "And our last day as well," I add and her eyes focus more as she stops herself from putting her head down again.

She looks over my filled saddlebags and nods slowly. "So it is. You are not done asking questions though, are you?" She says knowingly while I chuckle and nod in agreement as I want to ask a few more things before leaving fully. "Good, because I have questions for you." She says levelly while crossing her forelegs and sitting up straighter.

I raise a brow but take a seat on the stone ground after laying down my sleeping bag like normal. "Why not? I still have some time." I was planning to just ask a few short questions I thought of last night and then leave, but I have the time and she got me curious now.

She keeps that same expression and waits for me in silence as I quickly make some tea. "Let's get these out of the way quickly." I start first and take out my notebook, only three pages left still having any room to write. "Have you ever seen a Dragon die of age?" A question that I realized I should have asked earlier.

She tilts her head a bit and goes silent for a few long moments. "Possibly, it was less age and more his age and his wounds. An elder when I was young was badly injured, I have seen younger Dragons recover from worse injuries but he seemed unable to do so properly and died." She says after some thought.

I make a few small notes on that, even if Dragons don't have an age limit their bodies still accumulate damage over time. "Ok, what happens to a Dragon's body when they die? I haven't seen any bones or graves, so where do they go?" I ask another odd question I didn't think up until recently.

She looks as expressionless as ever as she answers me. "The sea, it is the only place our bodies can rest without being eaten in sight of others. Some see it in a more divine way, but it is simply the most convenient place to get rid of a body our size, considering we can't burn." She uses the normal logic she has and keeps things factual.

I don't shy away from the topic as I'm used to more human concepts of burial, which can take a great many forms. For Ponies, a grave is by far the most common way to deal with the dead, although I think there are some historical cases of cremation in the past, particularly during plagues.

I use up more of the limited space I have and ask my last question. "This is a bit of a dark question, so don't answer if you don't want to." I take a more gentle tone and give her a warning, she just raises a brow at me and almost looks amused. "You said some eggs don't hatch, so what is done with them?" I take a softer tone and speak quickly to get this question over with.

Last time we were talking about this she actually showed some emotion and I changed the subject after that, but she's also probably the only Dragon that will give me an answer. She pauses at my question, closing her eyes for a long moment and taking a slightly deeper than normal breath, the changes subtle to even me.

The seconds stretch on as she remains silent and I almost move on but she speaks first. "The sea as well, to be lost among the waves. To be free." Her tone is deeper than normal and she says it all very slowly. I just write that down and nod my silent thanks. "What are you?" She asks after another few long moments of silence.

I look back up at her confused, she narrows her eyes a little. "I have spent some time learning about your fight more, the way you acted and took down that drake." She reveals and I'm not very surprised. "You could have ended it in a moment flat, without a fight. What kind of predator puts themselves in such danger when it is unneeded?" She asks with an even voice.

I always found Larimar's ability to see what I am underneath interesting. Other Dragons can see it to some degree, they saw it much more in my fight, but not like her. I stayed quiet for a few seconds, "I did say I wanted to send a message, make a statement so that I was left alone." I give her the same answer she got last time, now interested in her thoughts about me.

She snorts at me. "No, you toyed with him," She states bluntly. "He never was going to win, those strikes and blows you made were testing him, testing us. Seeing what worked where." She says in a very certain voice, "I do the same with my prey, but why do you do it with other predators?" I get more into her thought process as she speaks.

There aren't really any predators like humans in this world, none of them are as adaptable or violent. "Wouldn't you? It is a disadvantage to do otherwise. I am the type of predator that has another predator hunting it. Nether fully prey or predator, but also not both at once." I give her a somewhat vague answer as I don't really want to reveal too much.

She again goes silent. "Perhaps, but not like you do, you cut us open with your eyes. You are different. I can't even tell if you're a real Pony any more, who knows with the magic you wield." She gets far closer to the truth than anyone has before. "It makes me wonder, just how dangerous are you? Just how much do you hold back every day? And why hold back at all?" She asks me with a somewhat focused look.

I stare at her in thought for a while. Larimar has been a massive help to me and a very interesting being to talk to, she knows more than most and yet keeps quiet. In many ways we are alike, seeking little attention from others and playing our cards close to our chests.

We are both a mix of secrets and lies that obscure most of what is underneath. I look around for a moment, "What do you think is the toughest thing here?" I ask, she raises a brow but also looks around for a moment, she reaches out after a bit and picks up a large boulder.

It somewhat fills her hand and is over twenty feet wide, a very large and heavy boulder. As she moves it over to us, my magic acts quickly, faster than she can react. I expend around a tenth of my total magic in a single moment. I overpower the magic to make it faster and in a split second, there is a loud cracking sound.

She quickly moves her hand away, dropping the boulder to the ground with a loud thud. She nearly snaps her head over to me but stops halfway, the large boulder she held a moment ago now being cleanly cut in half. The Rebound was strong enough to break the boulder apart a little more, along with the fall, but the two halves are mostly intact.

I pack away my things, holding seven things at once in my space magic to put it all away in a short moment while also casting the Wing spell on myself. She looks over to me quickly with narrowed eyes, I just smile back. "I am a Pony, but a Pony can be a great deal more than you may think. When every reasonable possibility is excluded, only the impossible remains. " I give some wisdom from my last world. "It was a pleasure speaking to you, Larimar, may we meet again."

She looks at me with a very slight wariness. "Shade Evergreen, you are the most interesting thing I have seen in a long time." She stands up and looks off into the distance. "I believe we will meet again, someone like you is not so easily forgotten." With that, she goes silent and I give her one last nod before taking flight, flying back to the land bridge that brought me here.

I could have walked to be safe but I'm leaving and after my fight, I think I'll be left alone by any Dragons I pass. As I fly away I glance back at the Dragon Lands. I think this vacation went well, maybe next year I will have a vacation without any surprises though. One can hope.

POV shift Larimar.

I watch as Shade flies further and further from my sight, disappearing behind some mountains a while later. I look down and reach out a single claw, I run it over the boulder on the ground at my feet. The smoothly cut stone looks to be cut perfectly.

Beyond the cracks when it fell the rock is perfectly smooth, I don't think I've ever seen something so smoothly cut before. The rock was more than thick enough to make up part of my neck, I wouldn't even see it coming. I feel my spines stand on end a bit at the thought, but suppress that response while gently picking up one half of the boulder and bringing it closer.

I know the smell of magic, of a gem filled and a powerful spell cast, and yet, nothing. There is no scent of magic, no power left over from his actions, as if nothing at all happened. The speed as well, it took him a mere moment, it was no projectile either, it simply cut from nowhere.

As if from within the rock itself, cut in a moment with no signs what he did, or how he did it. What is he? I thought he was a violent Pony, an aberration of his kind, but this is more. He just showed me that I was never a threat, I was never even close to being a threat to him.

I feel my scales shift against the stone ground as I leap into the air and take flight. Let us see what the Dragon Lord knows of him, he must have learned something important. Beings like this must be watched, dismissing anything about them is a fool's mistake.

What drives a Pony, any being, to make something like that? A weapon unseen and unheard, a mere moment, and you are gone from the world. What else has he made? What other things has he built to fight and kill those that stand in his way? Maybe it is best that I never know.

He is like their Princess, the one of the sun... No, he is worse. She has chains that bind her to her way of life, to restrain herself, but him. The chains on him are nothing but his own will and chains like that will bend and break as needed.

Yes, I think we will meet again, one day. Something like him does not die easily.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. :D
Current year is 996

Not too much to say, just us finishing up in the Dragon Lands, back to Griffonstone.

Ps, I'm taking my day off, see you all Monday and enjoy the weekend.

Chapter 268

APR 5 Thursday.

I look over the barrel of water and see the small one-inch copper flower sitting just above the surface, after a very long time my Copper Lily breeding project is somewhat done.

I'm still looking into things I can actually do with the Copper Lilly, and I need to find some water plants that I can crossbreed with it to improve its survivability. So far I've looked into such plants a little, other lily plants as a start but finding a good one and then getting a hold of it might take some time.

I leave the small metal flower alone for the time being and go back to my little shack, pondering what will happen today. It's officially my birthday and I'm now sixteen, one step closer to the start of the show and the beginning of so many problems. I guess it really depends on how much has changed with my actions.

Each change may not have been singularly massive but there have been several and many are widespread now, the changes at this point would be completely unpredictable and unknown. I shake my head and try to not think about all that today, I should be happy and not worry for once.

As I sit down and pick up the carving I'm still working on as my mind wanders to something I've been thinking about over the last several days. My little trip to the orphanage was an interesting experience, I found myself both enjoying it and feeling surprisingly little about it.

I really never thought of it as my home, but that's not important at the moment. It was interesting talking to Magree as an adult and listening to her talk about the foals and how the orphanage is run. We talked for about an hour before I decided to take my leave and I was given an open invite to visit again.

She ended up asking me surprisingly little as well, she mostly talked about the young foals and their antics, along with how things have been in general. I think she was just happy to talk to somepony, as for me I think I might visit again, who knows? If nothing else I could do something nice and donate, or something like that. Actually, how does that work?

Magree talked a little about the fact that the orphanage is run through donations but not how they get donations, it was an off-topic comment for something else she was talking about with little context. It did get me thinking that I could do something nice and help them out, it wouldn't exactly be hard for me and I have the bits. I think I'll run it by Celestia sometime to see what she thinks, if I do this she should have some good advice on how I should go about it.

As for why I would want to do that? It might seem sudden or abrupt, but even if I don't have the strongest feelings for the orphanage I still lived there for a long time. They took care of me and I wouldn't mind too much being kind and taking care of them in this relatively small way.

Also speaking of Celestia, I still have no indication of what she has planned. I never got a letter saying to stay away from Gaia's Eden so I've spent most of my day here observing the Timberwolves pack and working on a few projects, along with some training of course.

My training is going as normal, but I've also been experimenting and found out some interesting things about my method of teleportation. I've been trying to get the hang of teleporting myself while also increasing the Spatial Strings range and speed of formation, and I've encountered a few interesting problems.

My control over my magic is very good, but not perfect. When I use any type of magic there are small mistakes, they are so small though as to be inconsequential to me. However, while trying to form a one-hundred-foot-long Spatial String it suddenly broke at one point in the middle, which made the entire thing collapse in a chain reaction as the small section falling apart caused some Rebound and destabilized more of the Spatial String.

That's never happened before so it startled me and made me stop trying to teleport myself until I found out what was wrong. After a few days of experimenting, I narrowed it down to an issue of control. All those tiny mistakes are fine when I'm just casting a spell or making simple structures out of magic.

However, creating a large magical structure while keeping it stable is very hard, and those tiny mistakes pile up until they become a big mistake and then I have a problem. This isn't an issue of the amount of magic I have or need, my control is simply not good enough to keep everything stable and working without missing something, and once I miss one thing it can pile up into a bigger problem.

Training my control to be better is no easy task and not a quick process either. My control over my magic is something I consider my specialty, the amount of control I have vastly outweighs most regular unicorns and is even above skilled casters. Pushing it further to improve can be done but not through sheer force.

My only and best method for improving control is the very same as what I already do every day, create complex magic and keep pushing yourself to improve. As a result of this it seems my teleportation range is going to be fairly limited while using this method. After figuring this all out I tried to find the maximum length I could make a Spatial String before I'd encounter problems.

At a hundred feet long I can only keep it stable for a few seconds without any small mistakes, after that they will quickly pile up and cause problems. I also can't just fill the Spatial String with more magic as that only keeps it mostly stable, mistakes will still grow the longer the Spatial String exists even through that method.

At seventy-five feet the Spatial String can stay stable long enough for me to move things through it, but I wouldn't feel safe walking through it myself. The maximum I've deemed safe for me to teleport myself is forty feet, I could push to fifty feet but it seems unwise to put myself in something that could go wrong, so forty is my self-imposed limit for now.

Another small problem I've found is that my teleportation is not instant, the longer the Spatial String the longer it takes to move through it. This was expected but is more of a problem when it comes to Teleporting myself. When I push something through a Spatial String I add some momentum through space manipulation to move it through quickly so it doesn't waste magic by taking a long time, and thus making me have to keep the Spatial String around longer.

I also do this when I move myself through the Spatial String, mostly because I don't have anything to walk on and need to keep myself in the center of the tube. However, while I'm teleporting myself I have to brace and take the impact of that momentum I add when I exit the other side.

It's a trade-off, I need to move through the Spatial String quickly to not use too much magic or lose control of it, but I also need to not go too fast and hit something on the way out or trip. I may need to use this to escape danger one day and tripping is not a possibility I can allow.

The longer the Spatial String the faster I must go to get through it quickly. It's a balancing act of speed and safety, at the moment I leave a forty-foot Spatial String I'm still slow enough to be able to land without issue as long as I'm prepared,
a longer Spatial String will present more of a problem for me and are something I need to think about.

That's further down the proverbial road though, for now I'm just trying to master quick short-range teleports. Enough to quickly move out of the way of an attack or gain some needed distance. I've also been trying to merge teleporting into my fighting style, but I need a lot more practice with teleportation before I can even get close to making that a reality.

As I continue to carve I sense the familiar feelings of Philomena when she teleports, and not a moment later the fiery bird lands on my small table with a letter in her beak. I take the letter with some curiosity and give Philomena a few treats to enjoy while I open the letter.

Dear, Shade.

Come to the palace at three sharp, don't be late.

Signed, Celestia.

I raise a brow and smile at the very short but demanding letter. "I guess I don't have a choice then." I cast a spell and checked the time, only to see it's two forty-five. I laugh loudly at the sight. It seems I'm not even given much warning either, it's definitely one way to spring a surprise on me.

I am excited to see what she has planned this time, although I am a little disappointed it isn't happening here, it makes it so much more private. Still, a day at the palace seems like fun and they always have good food, and it will be nice to have another get-together with Celestia.

I leave my desk and notice my shadow shift as Entropy leaves it with a stretch of her wings, having woken up from her nap. "Good timing, we're going to the palace soon." She immediately perks up at the news and chirps excitedly while hopping around, only to stop when she sees Philomena.

I watch the two of them interact for a few moments before walking over to my shelves in my hut and picking up a notebook that I've filled up with information. After a few more weeks of work, this is the complete public version of the book on Dragons I've put together.

I still need some way to publish it, so for that I'm just going to pass it off to Celestia today, she should be able to publish it just fine and maybe get an editor. The book's name ended up being the hardest part for me to come up with, and in the end, I only made a half-decent name.

A small look into the Dragon Lands and the lives of Dragons.

Again, not exactly amazing, but it gets the point across and works well enough for Ponies to know what they are reading. I took at the notebook over for a moment before putting it away and gathering a few other things I may need for what is likely a party. Once I'm done I walk back over to the two birds and pick Entropy up before placing her on my back. "Time to go Girl, we have a party to get to," I say with some excitement.

She lets out a caw. "Party. Friends! Cake!!" The last word is fairly loud and I wonder for a moment when she learned that word while we both vanished from my small shack. A moment later we reappear inside of a familiar mail room, and I can sense a single guard outside, most likely waiting for me.

I look at Entropy and she's being a good girl, already having her illusion in place so nothing can be seen underneath. I have looked into illusions a bit more recently but those thoughts are for another time and place. I open the door and nod to the guard, "Lead the way." I say simply and they nod back before silently leading me through the palace.

I grow curious as I'm led outside and into the gardens. It's been a while since I've been here, but it is a very pleasant sight in springtime and a good location to relax. Eventually, the guard leads me to an enclosed area, tall hedges cutting off line of sight from all directions.

I can sense three beings inside and quickly take note of Cadance, from the amount of life magic and their size it can't be anypony else. I chuckle a little and walk into the secluded area as the guard takes up their post at the entrance. Inside is a large clearing, a few trees and bushes along with several flower beds.

At the center there are three ponies sitting around and talking with each other, none of them having looked my way yet. I smile at the sight of Celestia, Cadance, and surprisingly Shining. It seems Celestia made it an actual party this time, not that I'm complaining, it is nice to see Cadance and Shining again.

Entropy flies off ahead of me and lands on the table as I walk over, all three ponies turning to look at me with happy expressions. "Hello, Shade, happy birthday. I hope you don't mind me inviting these two?" Celestia greets me with her usual friendly demeanor.

I do see Cadance and Shining from time to time, every month or so we meet up and I talk with Cadance before sparring with Shining, we may not see each other much but I consider both of them friends. I chuckle a little while taking a seat at the table, noticing a few gifts along with a cake. "I'm sure they would have found their way in regardless, nice to see you both, sorry I haven't visited recently." I apologize as the last time we met was before I went on my trip.

Shining just waves a hoof and smiles. "Happy birthday, Shade, good to see you too. Don't worry about it, you needed a break after apparently being in the Dragon Lands for FOUR WEEKS" He says with a joking and baffled tone. I never did tell Shining or Cadance where I was actually going for my trip, they just knew I would be away for a few weeks.

I turn to Celestia with a deadpan expression. "Really? You couldn't let me tell them? At least tell me how they reacted." I complained a little as I was somewhat excited to see their faces when they found out about where I went. My words get me a teasing smile from Celestia in return. "Well, that surprise is ruined. Hello Cadance, it's nice to see you." I move past the joke as I sort of cut her off to make it.

Cadance giggles a little at my reaction and nods. "Happy birthday, Shade, and she told us a few days ago. Although I guessed you went somewhere dangerous for a while because of how worried Aunty was." She blatantly teases us both and I ignore her as best I can. "Seriously though, the Dragon Lands, why?" She drops the teasing quickly in favor of getting answers to the obvious question.

Shining laughs a bit at his mare's teasing and nods. "Agreed, why would you go there? It's just about the most dangerous place you can go, let alone go for a vacation. We barely know that much about Dragons as well, who knows how they would react." He makes valid points, and both he and Cadance are confused as Celestia starts laughing.

I sigh and take out the notebook before passing it to them to look through. "Don't damage that, it's the master copy. I went because we know so little about them, I mostly spent my time there at a Dragon market or talking with Dragons I met to learn about them. They are actually a lot more relaxed than you may expect." I give them a quick explanation as I don't want to repeat all of that again.

Cadance and Shining sit head against head as they open the book and start skimming through it. "You are one brave Pony, seriously?" Shining says with a slightly defeated tone before looking at me with a raised brow. "Wait, they have markets?" I nod and he looks at the book with more interest. "I guess you have a point on learning about them, but still, really?"

I roll my eyes as he repeats himself and turns to Celestia. "See, look at what you did, now I have to answer questions instead of eating cake." she just giggles in response as I make myself comfortable by taking off my saddlebags and placing them to the side. "Whenever you two are done with that, give it to her," I instruct them and look at the three small boxes on the table curiously.

They all see me looking and Cadance passes the book over to Celestia. "I'd like to read that later, it was actually interesting. You really did go on vacation to the Dragon Lands to learn more about them, I'd call you crazy but I don't think that's a strong enough word for this." Cadance jokes about and I just huff in response.

Celestia looks over the book for a moment and nods with a large smile. "Oh, this is just the one he wants me to publish publicly." They both look surprised and curious. "The one he gave me is much more detailed, he even got a meeting with the Dragon Lord, he is a very thorough researcher and yes a brave one." She reveals rather bluntly like it's nothing, while knowing damn well it's not.

They both look at me shocked but Celestia just continues. "That's almost as impressive as him fighting an adult Dragon." I look at Celestia quickly and I realize she's taking her revenge over me worrying her for a few weeks, I just sag as she reveals my secrets. "What was it again, sixty feet from snout to tail?" She asked tauntingly.

I sigh as Shining and Cadance now look shell-shocked, staring at me, mouths slightly agape. I sag more and bump my head against the table a little as Celestia looks very slightly smug about her victory over me. "What? You deserve some praise, no?" Celestia taunts me more and I lift my head a little to give her a deadpan stare.

Shining looks me up and down for a moment, "Why the buck do I even spar with you? An ADULT DRAGON!! REALLY!" He looks both excited and completely baffled at the idea but seems to accept it without hesitation. "You really are a crazy stallion." He just starts laughing after that.

Cadance recovers later and gives me a more concerned look but keeps that damned smile. "Well, I know why Aunty was so worried now. A brave stallion going into the Dragon Lands in search of knowledge who ends up fighting a full Dragon! HA, you really are a storybook character. How bad did Aunty ground you after that stunt?" She asks in a teasing tone, not missing an opportunity like always.

I just sigh again and turn to Celestia with a small glare. "You know what? You can give them the report I made you on everything, and no more questions from you two, I'm focusing on my cake and gifts." I shut down the subject as I really do wish to just enjoy today and not deal with this stuff right now.

They can all see I don't want to talk about it and drop it, satisfied when Celestia nodded in agreement with them getting the report. "I'd love to read that, but go on, open them up." Shining encourages when Cadance nods. "An adult Dragon? How did you even?" He mumbles to himself.

Celestia moves the gift I brought over closer to me. "Consider that my revenge, now gifts. I hope you like them." She says in her normal tone and gives me a warm smile, I just smile back at her before ripping apart the wrapping paper and opening up the small box underneath. Inside is a small bag, I open it to find some dried leaves and turn to them curiously.

Shining nods in answer to my silent question. "That would be me, you've said you like cooking so I got you some spices. I'm not even sure what it's called, it's got a nice tang to it somewhat like lemons though, but is also a little sweet." He explains as I try and piece and fail to recognize the flavor.

I smile and close up the bag happily. "Thanks, I can always use new flavors to cook with. And it can be fun trying to find out what it is as well." I am curious what this is called and where I can find it, but I can try to figure that out another day. I move over to the next box and see it's a fair bit bigger, it takes me a moment to break inside and pull out the item.

It's a saddle, like a full-on saddle. It's more of a fashion thing than anything else but it can be helpful when dealing with really cold weather or when you want to tie things to it or drag heavy objects. It's maybe not something I'd normally get but I don't mind having it and I can easily tell it's very good quality. Cadance smiles at me, "There are also a few new books to read in there at the bottom, I hope you like it." She seems to get that it's not a perfect gift for me but I like it nonetheless.

I nod my thanks and smile at her. "I don't have one, and there's no harm in having one either, thank you." I look on the upside as it still means a lot to me that she got something she thought I could enjoy, even if it's not perfect, the books are nice too. I move the last box over to me, the smallest one by far, and I open it to see a single seed inside.

I take out a small slip of paper inside and read it. Prismatic Rose. My brow raises and I smile widely at the gift. This is a plant I've heard of before, a rare and highly valued type of slightly magic rose. Its magic comes from the fact that every flower is a different color, and there are an endless number of colors it could be as it is completely random.

Even on the same bush the flowers will be completely different. Each rose will be completely unique to every other rose, and that's why it has such a name. The plant itself has little use as it is just a normal rose beyond the colors, but I very much like this small gift. I give Celestia a massive smile. "Thank you, it's perfect."

Shining and Cadance both look at the slip of paper and I see Cadance giving us a look that shows exactly what she's thinking. Celestia also ignores her and nods down at me, "I thought you might like it, it is a rather lovely plant to have as decoration, they really are beautiful. Now, cake?" She offers and brings the large cake with my name on it closer.

I pretend not to see Shining looking at us the same way Cadance is and nod back to Celestia. "I'd love some."

time skip

I stare at Daisy as she sits across from me, Maple to my right and Blaz to my left, all of us around the small table in my apartment playing cards and enjoying some snacks. "Raise." I raise our small bet and Blaz matches it as the game continues. "You know today was a good day." I commented happily and continued to enjoy the small get-together.

After spending a few hours with Celestia, Cadance, and Shining I came home and relaxed for a while. I enjoyed their gifts and had a fun time simply hanging out inside of the royal gardens for a while. As for these three? Well, things have gone about how I expected them to.

They gave me a small gift consisting of a few spices and food recipes and we all settled in for a night of games and idle chatting. And since then we've talked and played and enjoyed our time together, they did all come early so the sun only set a few minutes ago, with me casting a magical light to keep things going.

Daisy smiles at me. "I'm glad you had fun wherever you were, I'm starting to think you might have a mare after all. I mean, you did spend a lot of time outside today." She teases me and I blush a small bit at the idea but hide it well enough to not be noticed while rolling my eyes at her.

Blaz chuckles and raises the bet again. "Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, but if nothing else we know he's been doing something. Maybe another crazy thing to train? Learning some new type of magic?" Blaz adds with humor as he reveals the last card for the round and we all show our cards. "Apples and bits!" He grumbles in frustration as Maple once again cleans the house.

I chuckle a little and he glares at me. "Oh, laugh it up, like you didn't make those cookies so she would take it easy on you." He accuses me in a completely unfounded way and I show it by looking appalled at the idea. Deep down though everypony at the table knew he was right, not that anypony would back him up, it's funnier if we don't. He looks at us and huffs after a moment, "Fine, another round, let's see if I can win at all tonight." He grumbles more but the happy mood stays unchanged.

I smile at him and make eye contact before raising the pot right off the bat, knowing full well he now has to match me at the start. He glares at me for a moment and sighs, "Happy birthday Colt, and buck you." He says deadpan only to receive a cookie to the face a moment later courtesy of a glaring Daisy.

There is a moment of silence before we all just start cracking up at our collective antics. It's good to have friends.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I was really tempted to have Celestia drop in, but I didn't want to continue this chapter. I was REALLY tempted though, I'll fit something like that in somewhere else though and it WILL happen eventually because the idea is too good not to use.

Also, the next Chapter will have things in it, maybe, possibly.

Chapter 295

SEP 13 Thursday.

I quickly look over the information I was just given as I assess yet another patient.

The past two weeks have been a change for me, and a good one all things considered. Or maybe I should say the past three days, as it took us a week to get everything ready for me to actually start apprenticing. In the meantime, Clear Water gave me a short list of spells to learn while I was waiting.

None of them were that complicated, mostly a few more Scanning spells, but they proved to be interesting. After that first week I started the real work, and by magic has it been different. As a start the place I'm at is always changing, I'm no longer working in any specific part of the hospital, instead we go where we are needed.

For now, I'm not actually healing that many Ponies, I'm mostly just shadowing Clear Water and watching her work while I get used to the change. I still do heal some things, but at the moment I'm the backup for simple stuff, something I don't mind all that much.

I've also been told to learn to quickly look over any patient information we get while inspecting patients. She was clear and wanted me to get better at spotting things. I look over the patient report and see we have a forty-year-old Griffon complaining of chest pain, it's inconsistent but has been there for months.

I try to think of anything it could be while Clear Water works on another patient in the ward we are in. :Possibly a sickness, but he looks mostly fine, no other signs you would normally see: I think to myself as I inspect the Griffon in question. "Have you been breathing in anything recently? A dust or powder?" I ask the impatient-looking Griffon, it's not a perfect guess but something could be irritating his lungs.

He huffs but thinks for a moment before slowly nodding. "I do carving as work, grind down rocks with sandpaper and tools." He mumbles out with a clear impatience in his tone. Griffons tend to be less patient about waiting around and I think that's part of the reason I'm questioning him.

That could be it then, rock dust can cause several problems if breathed in. I think I've heard about a spell to clean up things like this, I'll need to ask then. "Ok, sit still for now while I get somepony qualified to help you." I am blunt as using flowery language with a Griffon often doesn't help all that much. I turn and quickly walk over to Clear Water as she works.

When I walk over she doesn't turn to me and I wait for a moment when she's fully cast a spell on the still bleeding limb. A poor Pony got in some accident and half their hoof has been cut off along with added damage to the leg, it's something the doctors probably would have been able to handle but most likely wasn't deemed worth the risk. "I got A Griffon with a possible buildup of rock dust in his lungs, or possibly just irritation," I say with quick and clear words.

When we started she told me to ask things at times when it was preferable, but always ask regardless. Basically time my questions in between our work to not disrupt things while still getting answers. I was also told not to heal anypony without her permission for now.

She glances at him and nods, "Start casting Scanning spells to see if you are right, if you are move on and let me do it." I nod as she knows I can't fix this type of problem yet. I walk back over without another word and spend a moment asking for his permission and casting a few scanning spells on his lungs.

In the end, I get some results back from a few of the spells, all pointing to some type of build-up in his lungs. It really depends on what type of rock he was working with, but this is not my problem. I take the results and pass them off to Clear Water. "Confirmed, not sure what but it is there." I again keep my words short as she is still healing the Pony's hoof.

She takes the papers without a word and I move on to another patient in the ward, the next one on my list. I'm mostly being given patients with less visible signs today, good practice for trying to spot problems, and I get the feeling she wants me to talk to Ponies and see how I do.

However, as I make my way over and read the report I stop and quickly move. "Apprentice!" A single word called out and I turned on a dime before hurrying over back to Clear Water, already knowing roughly what she needed. As I was walking away I sensed some nurses bringing in a patient quickly, placing them near Clear Water, who promptly moved to the patient and left her other work incomplete.

As I quickly move over I see she's working on a Pony who is bleeding a fair amount from a large wound on their chest. She's already working on them and speaks without turning to me. "Heal them, the bone and hoof is fine finish healing the flesh." She instructs and I move just as quickly over to the patient she left half healed.

The hoof was damaged and separated, but that's all been healed back together along with the bone, the flesh is still raw and slightly bleeding. I assume she dropped the spell keeping the blood in to focus on the other patient fully. I quickly cast a spell to stop the bleeding and start healing the flesh.

As I do this I add a little of my life magic into the spell, roughly ten percent of the magic given to the spell being life magic. This speeds up the process but not to a large degree, and it also lets me practice adding life magic to my spells as I work. I make sure to not go over ten percent, but I don't think she will notice regardless.

I'm not using much of my magic throughout the day, so me overpowering my healing spells wouldn't look out of place. And visually there is no difference between me overpowering a Healing spell and me adding Life magic to it. So as long as I don't overdo it I can claim I was just overpowering a spell and nopony could really disprove me.

When we first started she spent two hours going over a lot of rules and things to keep in mind. She won't let me cast anything I want yet, but unless she asks for something specific it is up to my own choice. If she asks for a Scanning spell, I can't cast anything else, but the Scanning spell I use is up to me.

In this case, I was told to heal the flesh, but that also implies I should stop the bleeding, something she didn't ask for but is so standard I'd be stupid not to do it. That's another thing she made clear, if I need to stabilize a patient I can do anything needed no matter her previous instructions, but only to stabilize them not to fully heal them.

There are also several other things we went over and we already added a few new ones as we've started working, but for now, this is proving to be much more structured than anything I've done before. There are hard rules and I know she's watching my work closely, even if she's not looking at me.

She hasn't confirmed it, and I haven't asked yet, but it's clear she can sense her surroundings much like I can. There are several methods to do so depending on what affinity you have, and part of the reason I even started sensing my surroundings was because I saw it was possible with other affinities.

I have no idea what affinity she has, or if it's just some spell, but she can watch me even when I'm not in her line of sight, and she doesn't really hide that fact. I don't think it extends that far though, as she insists I stay relatively close. She said it was to keep me in earshot in case I am needed and to keep me in line of sight, but I think that's only half the reason.

I turn off the B.L.P spell I have on the Pony's hoof as they finish healing for the most part and the spell is now getting in the way. I heal the rest of the wound and leave it alone, not regrowing the fur as that is a waste of magic, I do cast a spell to clean up the blood on them and the bed. "Any lingering pain?" I ask the Pony as they start to relax in relief, I get a simple shake of the head in response.

I turn back and see that the other patient is mostly healed with Clear Water turning to me fully and nodding at the Pony's healed hoof. "Good, you are done for the day, I still have a few things to do. Write a report in my office and pick up the material." I nod and turn. "And read up on dust build-up." She adds something extra and I just nod again before leaving her to her work while walking through the hospital.

I haven't had her add something extra like that over the past three days, but I honestly was thinking much the same so I can't complain. It only takes me a few minutes to reach her office and head inside, a neat stack of papers on her otherwise blank desk waiting for me. I put them away in my saddlebags and move over to a filing cabinet.

I look through the cabinet and pull out the right forms before sitting down and starting to fill them out. This is another thing she said I would be doing, filling out some of the basic paperwork needed, apparently she thinks it's a skill I need if I even plan to work at a hospital, she also flat out told me she didn't want to do double the paperwork and wants to teach me to deal with my half.

She obviously will look it over for mistakes but it is an interesting thing I didn't think I'd be doing. After I get that done I take a blank piece of paper and start writing the report she wanted. It's not too in-depth but it's enough for her to read and see what I need improving on. I was also told to add anything I think I should learn to these reports so she can point me in the right direction, something we set up after I asked about some spells yesterday, so we'll see how this goes in the coming weeks.

All of this doesn't take me long and I leave it in a neat pile on her desk before walking out with a small smile. This is all a change, and I'm only three days in, but I can't say I dislike it. I've learned several things so far and she's proven her knowledge on the subject, at least to me she has.

Every time I ask a question she at least points me in a good direction or just gives me an answer outright. I'm also glad she's easing me into everything and not really dumping me in the deep end. My magic hasn't gotten anywhere near empty over the past three days and she's mostly focused on teaching me more practical things at the moment.

I stretch a bit as I walk out of the hospital, stopping at a restroom to do my business and let Entropy out of my shadow. Today was a morning shift, and now it's a little after twelve in the day. I wash my hooves and turn to Entropy as we sit inside the bathroom. "Hey Girl?" She turns to me from looking around. "Take us to the new training spot," I instruct.

She tilts her head as we normally do there at the beginning and end of the day, but she bobs her head and we vanish from Canterlot several seconds later. As we reappear I feel the colder wind from being up high and it being mid Fall. I take a deep breath and look out over the view.

Over time we've continued to move west from Canterlot, our goal being to get across Equestria to the opposite sea. At this point, Entropy can take us halfway across Equestria in one single jump, which is why I make sure she's comfortable as she sits down on my back and I take out several treats. "Thanks, Girl, here you earned it."

I stand on the rocky cliff edge and stare out across the landscape, this particular cliff being on a mountainside. At this point we're nearing the other side of the continent and the landscape has changed. The trees are still mostly temperate but the air is a little more wet and the plants are all different.

This mountain overlooks a city not far away in a valley, Rain River City, a mostly Pegasi city nestled in the more remote landscape. The terrain here is much more vertical with thick forests, steep hills and mountains carving the land into many smaller sections.

This mountain I'm on happens to be a lone peak that rises above all others in this small mountain range. When flying further west I thought this would be a neat place to set up a spot to teleport to, it's not only remote but it's also very peaceful and beautiful. Rain River City in particular is a sight in and of itself.

I only found this location a few days ago so I haven't taken a trip down to the city yet, but from here I can see the entire city. The mountain cliff I'm on directly overlooks the city and lets me see it in good detail. I sit down and take out my sketchbook while setting Entropy to the side to rest and eat.

Hospital work hasn't stressed me yet, but it's only been three days and I know there will be much harder times to come. And for that, I am actually lucky, I have three days dealing with all the stress and then four days to just live my life, a good balance not many get.

It's why I wanted to come here, to spend some time somewhere new and relax for a while. I think I'll explore this place sometime, maybe take some trips to the city as well. I sit at the cliff edge and look down to start my drawing, starting with the basic terrain around the city.

It sits in a deep and wide valley that has steep cliffs on both sides, but quickly levels off into gentle slopes that give plenty of room for a medium-sized city like this. The city has walls like most do when in the wilderness, and it is built around the large river that cuts this valley in half, farm fields spreading up and down the valley from the city entwining with everything.

A mountain range that starts the valley in the distance is the source of the river and it flows down and out of sight in the other direction. I've seen a few maps and I think the river ends in several large lakes. The city itself is interesting as it's built not just around the river, but also above it.

Homes made from clouds sit above the city in seemingly random spots, looking like giant floating snowflakes in a snow globe. They surround the city from above and even give off a similar shape to a snow globe as a result. It's an interesting sight and something that I find pretty fun to see.

It's one of the cities that mix completely different forms of architecture, even though there is supposedly only a small population of Unicorns and Earth Ponies here. I saw the name on my map and looked it up at the library, not too hard when you know a few books that explain cities around Equestria.

I also find it interesting what the city seems to produce, which is actually a lot of smaller things from the wilderness. I read its main exports are things like herbs and certain spices, along with rarer magical materials. It makes sense as Pegasi can move through this terrain faster than any other tribe, still nature-loving Pegasi city in the middle of nowhere was not on my list of expectations.

And that's one thing I can tell even without reading about it, this city seems very close to nature. I can see a great many trees and other plants on every building in sight, there are even a great many plants hanging down from the cloud homes. All in all it's a very nice city to look at and I'm definitely going to visit it, but for now, I'd just like to draw a little and enjoy the day.

I keep drawing and as I do so I also let my senses stretch out. I feel them, faintly beneath my hooves, the slowing currents of life magic that flow through the earth. Every year they slow and seep up with the coming of the seasons, it makes me wonder what is actually causing it in this world.

I know that the length of the day and night change and shift, I even asked Celestia about that once. Her response was actually much more simple than I thought it would be. She said it was like that before she started raising the sun, and that it seemed like a bad idea to change it, so she just left it alone and continued on the same.

A good choice, I feel like she probably knows more than just that, but there are some things she says she can't tell me. It seems to mostly be about being an alicorn, I don't know the actual reasoning but she doesn't want to answer anything about that. So I don't bring it up often.

I think I know one reason why, she doesn't want me to try and become an alicorn. I think it is like the time change I mentioned before, why tamper with a process like becoming an alicorn? If it happens, great, if it doesn't, leave it alone. She doesn't want to influence that process by giving me too much detail. Not that I plan to be an alicorn, because... Just, no.

I shake my head a little as I start to write out an idea next to my drawing. I take a deep breath and feel my back muscles twitch a bit as if to react to a gust of wind as it passes. I've also noticed that the more I use my wings the more my body seems to think they are always there.

It's muscle memory that can't do anything because the muscles aren't there anymore. I make a mental note to look into any research on the long-term use of spells that change the body temporarily. I sigh and go back to my drawing, trying my best to ignore any thoughts and ideas and just enjoying the wind and the view.

"I wonder what she's doing now? Probably annoying paperwork." I chuckle at the thought that slips through.

POV shift Celestia.

I slowly flip through a rather annoying document, this one being a modification to a few laws.

It's nothing large, but a few Ponies have found a loophole in a few laws and now there is a pile of paperwork to deal with. Still, it was minor and caught early on, it will be fixed in a few weeks at most. And despite the added work, things have been slowing down as they often do.

The approaching Winter slows trade and stops farming, two things that I swear make more paperwork than should be possible. I read through the last few pages and make a mental reminder to myself to ask Clover to schedule a meeting with the treasurer. I need to make sure preparations have gone well with the new trade deals we have proposed.

Things have looked up recently and are continuing to do so, despite less pleasant things moving underneath it all. I move the papers to the side and look through the report on the two Ponies that were returned to us, as I read through the details of what they went through I feel my anger rise up.

I take a deep breath and maintain my calm, anger will do no good here. I do not enjoy the idea of my Ponies being taken, not, one, bit. But there is a time and a place for that, this is not the time and this place is not the place. I feel some tension in my body and rub my muzzle a bit.

I know this feeling, I've had it more times than I can count. That feeling of being so close to the end and wanting to just have it be over already, and yet you must wait those last moments regardless. They stretch on and seem to extend the closer you are to that end, months and days feel so much longer than they used to when it was all a century away.

There are things that lessen it all though, that let me speed things along and endure the wait. I wonder what he is doing right now? Probably worrying over Cadance getting her revenge and his new apprenticeship, something I am very proud that he accepted.

I chuckle at the memory of finding out he had become a healer. I look away for a moment and he comes back with such an achievement, and yet it still isn't enough for him. It's not even greed or pride, he just seems to push more and more for a reason I still can't fully see.

That doesn't matter though, he is happy and doing good for so many others as well as himself, and that is more than enough. I smile at the pair of plants that sit in a pot on my desk. One for the moon and another for the sun, a gift I've maintained for a few years now and one I intend to take good care of for many more.

I place down the report and notice I am out of work for the time being. I stand up from my desk and leave everything in a neat stack, Clover will deal with it before the day is over. I look out my window for a moment before writing a note and placing it on my desk with everything else.

A simple instruction to Clover that I will be gone for a few hours and to just tell anypony asking that I am in my office and wish to be left alone. She knows how to contact me if I am needed urgently. I feel my magic shift and flow through my horn, and with a flex of my will and a flash of light, I am gone from my office entirely.

I open my eyes and am greeted by the calm absence of all city sounds, even the calm tranquility of the palace is never this quiet. There is something so freeing about simply being somewhere so isolated, so removed from everything else. I suppose that is why he chose this place.

I look over at the golden tree as its leaves shimmer in the slow wind, even now the grass around it refuses to wilt in the slightest, despite everything else dying off. I take off my crown and hold it as I walk over to my home, that is still an odd thought to me, but is very much a home to me now.

I never thought I would live in this place again, but I never thought of a great many things before Shade came along. I walk inside and move to my workroom, grabbing my woodworking tools along with a beautiful piece of wood, gold threads moving throughout it. "What did he call it? Golden Oak?"

I say to myself, letting my thoughts flow openly in this safe space. I take both and make my way outside again, choosing to sit under the pavilion in the shade of the afternoon. I place the wood and tools on a small table and settle down on the carpet, making myself comfortable as I take off the rest of my regalia.

I look off for a moment, across the river I see the pack of Timberwolves that Shade has been observing for a long time now, all of them sunbathing in the dead grass. I do wonder what draws him to such creatures. I still remember the respect he showed to that wolf, so much respect for something that tried to end his life.

He also seems so fascinated by other beings, the Griffons and Dragons come to mind. It is simply them being a predator that draws him? Is it something in how they act, some common element or trait? I don't know. I look in a different direction for a moment, staring into the forest blankly.

For a moment I feel that all too familiar weight once again, the feeling of sadness washing over me like many times before. So many times, it almost feels endless, and yet it will end.

Soon dear sister, soon.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

You wanted more Celestia POV, enjoy the sadness. I think it fit well to have some of her not being fully happy or sad, but that odd in between.

Personally, I like both about the same, I do think peaches make better desserts though. I made it a vote, 14 for pears, 19 for peaches. Now I just need to, say... *Spots one vote on the ground and picks it up.* Bananas? What?

Anyway, I just wanted to say this vote will have non-serious... Consequences.

Chapter 322

FEB 28 Thursday.

I once again take my time to go through everything in my saddlebags to make sure it is all accounted for and present.

Once I'm done I look out the window to see the sun cresting over the horizon as it rises into the sky. It is very early at the moment and it's finally time to get going on what promises to be an interesting vacation. Funnily enough, this might be my most enjoyable one yet, or at least the most active.

Mostly because unlike all my other trips I actually have a good idea of what I'm going to be dealing with this time, I'm not just walking in blind and that feels nice. That's not to say I'm just relaxing and not taking things seriously, I'm not that much of a fool, but the trip itself should be very interesting.

It may not be something I do often but I really enjoy exploring new places and interesting expressions of magic. I find that nature is endlessly creative with it and the Everfree was my choice of home for partly that reason. Now I'm going to be dealing with something similar and it excites me.

The simple freedom of actually having a choice and willingly walking into a mess versus accidentally stumbling into it is so much more preferable. I stop my thoughts and get myself moving as I do have places to be. I turn to a sleepy Entropy sitting on a countertop waiting, "Come on, time to head out." I keep my words simple and she flies onto my back with a caw as I leave my apartment.

I already asked Daisy to make sure everything is looked after here and left her with a key and the ability to get through the shield. I hum a little as I head to the roof and cast a spell to make my wings before taking flight with Entropy. From there it only takes ten minutes to get to the train station and find a place to land.

This time the location we are leaving from is the same as when I went on two trips with Cadance. That thought of Cadance makes me chuckle as I land and dismiss my wings. Yesterday I got a letter back from her and it was pretty funny to read through.

The first part was basically telling me not to get hurt and to not be stupid, the second part was more interesting. it was just a frown with the words, "I will have my revenge." On it. It's safe to say my and Celestia's prank has been going well so far, I do wonder when she'll find the gem we hid.

The bracelet was just a distraction and the real noisemaker is a tiny pure diamond. The spell I made was really basic so the diamond only needed to be about the size of a few grains of sand. So naturally I had Celestia embed it into the ceiling of her office and paint over it.

I don't think Cadance will be finding it soon but I planned for that as well. The spell has two timers in it, the first is a short but random timer that resets and changes whenever the noise goes off to make a countdown to the next time it should activate. The second timer counts down one week at a time and makes the spell slowly less and less active.

After two months the spell will only go off every few weeks at random. I really need to thank Celestia for getting me a timetable for when Cadance normally uses her office, it made timing the spell so much easier. I leave that amusing thought alone for now and focus as I enter the train station and take my cloak off from the light rain outside.

I take out and look over a paper I was given as I look around the busy train station. Even this early there are many Ponies and several dozen members of a few other races around the massive indoor train station. I follow the directions and find a train on one far-off side with a fair few guards around it.

The train looks normal compared to the one Cadance was on, and the guards are also not Celestia's guards. The guards may all have the same color scheme in Canterlot but there is a noticeable difference between city guards and palace guards, and that's not counting all the different types of guards. I know that difference well enough by this point to spot it.

I walk over and head over to a pair of city guards at an entrance to the train. One detaches a clipboard from their armor and looks me over for a second. "Name?" I give it and they nod before checking the list. After a moment they look back at me a little surprised and with some respect in their eyes. "Healers card please." They ask with a hint of respect in their tone.

It's not something I've experienced much before but I know from stone that most guards respect healers, even if just for the fact you should not piss off the guy healing you. I do as asked and pass them my card while the other guard pays more attention to me as well. They pass the card back with a nod after a moment, "Cabin six is yours, Sir." They say and step to the side to let me through.

I nod and walk past, heading into what is apparently a cabin car, with the rooms right on my left. I decided to find my room first and head down the corridor to find a room marked number six. I open the door and see the inside is about what I expected, a bed, some shelves, a folding table, and a cushion to sit on.

Entropy makes herself right at home quickly by flying over to the bed and promptly falling onto it and trying to sleep. I chuckle a little and cast a Silence spell around her so she can sleep uninterrupted. Last night she stayed up far too late trying to get some last-minute painting in before we left.

I could have made her go to bed but I thought she could use the time and learn a lesson about proper sleep. That and I could have just carried her here if needed. I smile and take off my saddlebags before placing a blank notebook and my metal chess set on the small table.

I didn't get exact details but this trip will take two days by train and another two by carriage after that. That and I'll be gone for a while, maybe more than a month depending on how things go. We may only be working there for three weeks before another healer swaps out with us, but the traveling time will add more than a week after going both ways.

As for why healers are swapping out like that? Well, healing is a mentally taxing thing and you do not want a healer going hard in a stressful situation for too long, that's how Ponies die from mistakes. So while the guard gets more healers ready we will be doing the work.

I settle in and start to sketch out a few ideas for my new chess set. It's been a few months since I got it but the best I've come up with so far is something to make the game easier to play, so I've focused on that. And surprisingly another item I have proved to be some good inspiration.

I took some time to study the spell that made Entropy's ball fly back to her, and it proved to be an interesting spell with an interesting rune. The spell worked from a combination of a rune of Return and a rune of Movement. The movement rune was nothing too special but the rune of Return was more interesting.

Finding the Runic Context wasn't too hard but still took a while, the Runic Context proved to be more robust and flexible than I first assumed. The rune is pretty well made and basically just returns something back to where it was, it is very simple, but well made in its simplicity.

In the end, my first idea was easy, I wanted my chess set to reset itself. More than that, I want it to pack itself back up as well. That might take a little work but the spells involved would all be so simple that the gems would be enough, let alone the metal the pieces are made from, and that means I'm most likely going to be able to add more spells.

The wooden ball didn't even have a gem in it like I thought it would, the wood was enough for the spell considering its good quality, so the chess set can easily handle a spell like this. I spend a moment thinking out a few parts of this new spell before taking the time to start and make something simple and easily workable.

Something like this isn't too hard to set up, and over the next hour, I am able to make the spell easily enough. The spell is simple, the pieces are each enchanted and the board itself is linked to them. I start with a single pawn on the white side and look at the small topaz embedded in its head.

The spell is very simple, when you tap the piece ten times it saves the current position, and then I link it to the board. The piece has two of these spells in it, it lets me save two fixed locations for the pieces to go to. And because I added to the link a little the pieces move relative to the metal board.

The look of the chess set itself is interesting. One-half of the pieces are polished metal, making them the white side, with the black side being unshined. The squares on the board are made from shined and stained squares, all flat and smooth but making distinct colors to separate them easily.

The pieces are stored in the underside of the board, the board itself able to fold in half to make the case. Each piece has a shaped slot lined in fabric to keep anything from grinding or chipping. The board's top has distinct sides to it, four small topaz in the corners and one emerald and sapphire in the middle on two opposite sides.

I linked the chess pieces to two topazes on the sides so they would only activate if you tapped either gem. One of the topazes on the emerald side of the board will move the pieces from around the board to their correct starting positions, setting up the game without needing to do anything.

The second spell on each chess piece links to a topaz on the sapphire side, when tapped three times that topaz moves all the pieces back into the underside of the board to be stored. The obvious downside to this is you have to have all the pieces out and not under the metal board before you activate it to set up a game, and you also have to flip the board to put them all away.

Otherwise, the chess pieces will have no direct path to their set location and will just press against anything in the way, effectively flipping the board if done wrong. Still, all of this is easy enough to set up, though saving both locations on all thirty-two pieces two times took a while to do.

I also had to adjust the spell very slightly for each different type of piece, but that was very minor and after another fifteen minutes I was done. I set the board right-side up and looked at the piles of loose metal chess pieces all lying to the side. I reach out and tap the correct topaz gem three times before leaning back to watch.

I made sure the spell didn't move too fast, but within the next ten seconds, all the pieces floated a little and moved over to the chess board, all landing in the right places. They all stand up and face the right directions as well, all of them clinking a little as a few bump into each other, but overall everything moves into place smoothly.

It takes a few more seconds but after less than twenty seconds the entire board is set and perfectly ready to play on. Every piece is exactly where it belongs with an almost professional feel to the orientation and placement. I smile widely at the sight but pause as I feel the train below me start to shift and move slowly. "Finally," I mutter.

My little project might have been easy but the train took nearly an hour and a half to get on its way, not that I mind at all. I flip the board on its side and watch all the pieces clink and fall onto the small table. I flip the board around so the underside is facing the mess of disorganized chess pieces before tapping another topaz gem.

Twenty seconds later all the pieces are back where they belong in the underside and I happily close my chess set up before putting it to the side for now to make some notes. As I write I notice a mare walking down the hallway before stopping at my room, knocking on it after a second. I glance at Entropy and see she's still sleeping under her illusions on my bed. "Come in."

I don't worry as I have long come to remember the shape of Clear Water in my senses. I close up my notebook and put it down, making a mental note to myself to copy the paper notes to my bracelet later and burn the originals. I turn to see the compartment door open and Clear Water stepping inside with her own saddlebags on.

Her mane is tied back like she often does to keep it out of the way and she looks to have cleaned herself up more than usual for this trip. She looks at me for half a second before turning to Entropy sleeping on my bed, her wings splayed out, "You are here, good. That your familiar?" She asks bluntly.

I smile in greeting and nod. "I am and she is. That would be Entropy, I'd wake her up but she'd be fussy." I say, only half joking. I look at the brown saddlebags she has, all of the pockets rather full. "I got some medical supplies as well, not too much but I'll make a list for you." I decided it'd be a good idea if she knows what I have in case she needed it quickly.

I start to write in my notebook as she gives me an approving nod. "Good, I'll do the same later." She agrees with it and we settle into silence for a long moment before I rip out the page and pass it to her. She nods again, "Good choices, also there is a change in who we are traveling with, you need an update." She explains simply.

I raise a brow and try to let my slight curiosity be more obvious than it is. I knew Celestia changed things but I never got any details on it. "Nothing bad? Because I really don't want to find out we have fewer guards than planned." I joke a little but keep an attentive tone.

She continues to look around the room and spots my chess set sitting nearby before looking back up into my eyes. "No, the opposite. Ten more guards and four knights are accompanying us." I raise both my brows at that and don't have to fake my confusion. She stays silent for a moment and nods while passing me a piece of paper, "It is odd, but it seems this got more attention than expected. Good news for us." She also sounds a tad bit curious but keeps to her stoicism.

Knights are interesting in a few ways, they are about what is to be expected. They are the rare heavy-duty guards and are generally much less commonly seen and deployed. They are specialists and on top of being more armored they are also better trained, nearer the training of a palace guard from what I understand. And that's city guard knights, palace knights are something else entirely.

Overall Equestria and Ponies like lighter and more maneuverable armor, and even a knight has less armor than a full plate set like me. Still, they are heavy units and not as often sent to deal with things, then again it makes sense to send some heavily armored Ponies in this situation.

"Huh, good news indeed," I say lightly while realizing that Celestia did indeed up our guard detail a good bit. "I don't think I've seen a knight before, that should be interesting. Anything I should know about them when it comes to healing?" I ask as the thought pops into my head.

If she suspects anything about me at the moment she doesn't show it and just nods. "A lot of them have enchanted equipment, armor especially. It can be hard to move out of the way, go for the straps, and don't bother with trying to pull it off, cut it off instead." She advises and I nod back while filing that away in my mind. "You play chess?" She adds after a second.

I move my notebook to the side and try not to draw any attention to it, instead letting her step closer and look at the folded-up chess set. "Yes, a few of my friends play it with me. One in particular I play with often. This set I got as a gift recently, it's even enchanted. Do you play?" I don't hide that fact but play it off like it was given to me that way.

She moves close and glances at Entropy, but the crow stays dead asleep. "It is interesting, but I do not play often." She reveals. "Any spells that could interfere with healing?" She asks and even though it seems very unlikely I actually give it some thought for a moment.

I can't think of any way that it would, but I know some Scanning spells have trouble if there are enchanted items nearby, even if those spells are out of my skill. "Not that I can think of, it just moves the pieces into place and packs them away," I explain and she nods before backing up.

She seems to lose interest and instead looks over at Entropy again. "A large bird, healthy from what I can tell. Good for carrying messages then." I nearly tense a little at her close observation but she turns back to me and I resist the urge. "You said they could carry messages? Are they trained to do it?" She asks.

I stay relaxed and hum. "Yup. I raised and trained her myself, and she knows how to do it well. Still, you'd need to let her be around you to remember what you look like if you want her to deliver something to you specifically. She's smart, but still just a crow." I temper the expectations Clear Water has. "We can do that later, we have time after all." I chuckle a little.

She smirks a tiny bit and nods once again. "Agreed. You raised her? It seems you might have skill in that as well. Do you know a lot about animals?" She questions and it seems odd for her to ask that, at least odd for her. But after a moment I get what she's talking about.

We still have no idea what is attacking Ponies, and with the remote woods around an animal being the cause is possible. I tilt my head some, "Somewhat. I know a fair amount about the more common things, more so on magical creatures, nothing extensive though. I'll look through anything we learn when we get there." I agree with the idea right away as I'd likely have done so anyway.

She shifts and walks to the door before opening it. "Keep me informed. And keep your eyes open, simple things can mean a lot when pointed out in this kind of situation." She advises before standing outside the door. "I'm in room eleven if you need me, try not to wake me up early. And when we get there... Don't be stupid." She adds seriously.

I huff a little and smile back. "You wouldn't be the only one screaming at me if I did. But I'll act if I don't have a better option." I add back and she gives me a long look before nodding in agreement and closing the door. I feel her walk away and settle in her room down the hallway.

I sit in silence for a while and look over the paper she passed me, looking over more of the information. The paper she gave me is just a short list of the Ponies we have with us and details on our travel plans, along with things like meal times. I read through it quickly and put it away in my saddlebags along with my chess set and notebook.

I sit there for a moment and look out the window as lush grass fields pass by at a steady pace as a thick rain falls, the sight broken up by the occasional bush and tree. It is rather nice to look at and honestly a beautiful scene. I think for a moment and take out a sketchbook, settling in for an old hobby of mine.

This trip is just getting started and it's bound to be an interesting mess. I wonder how Cadance is doing? Who cares? She put my table on my ceiling.

POV shift Celestia.

I giggle a little as I see my little niece stomp across from me at the large dining table. "I have no idea what you mean, Dear Niece," I say knowing very well that I am lying.

She narrows her eyes more and sighs slowly after a long moment. "If you two weren't so..." She trails off and looks at me very annoyed. "I have taken out every drawer, every paper, every single thing in that room has been moved. And, nothing!" She says with slight frustration. "And YOU helped, I don't know how, but you did!" She points at me with a hoof.

I know her well enough to know she's not mad, just annoyed she can't stop us. I must admit the idea of putting that gem in the ceiling might be his greatest idea yet. I just smile at her and take a bite of the fruit and waffles I have in front of me. "It's quite rude to accuse others you know." I tease her a little more.

She just glares at me for a second before pouting and shoving a pastry in her muzzle. "You two deserve each other." She states plainly and even as a joke those words sit in my mind for half a second longer than needed. "You could at least give me a hint? For all I know you two put it on the floor!" She exclaims and I have to hold in some laughter at the guess.

I think for a moment, trying to mimic what Shade would say in response. And after a moment I smirk back, "We used a gem." I don't lie but I completely omit any context, just to add to it all. She glares at me more. "Now, eat up. You have work to do and a mind to keep focused." I tease her more before standing up and heading for the door.

She just huffs back as I leave the room and make my way toward day court. As I walk I can't help but think about Shade and hope that he will come back safe and sound. There is little to worry over, but I worry all the same. Everything he walks into seems to go completely wild, and out there he won't have full support.

I do know he is far from a weak Pony, and I have sent much less trained and protected Ponies on missions like this before. Yet, he is my friend, and that makes more difference than I can fit into words alone. In all that worry though I worry for his innocence as well.

He had little in his life to begin with, I do not wish for conflict and spilled blood to take what remains. But I know him, and... I think, that the spilled blood won't be his own. What a grave thought that is, and yet I hope for it all the same.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 997

Sorry to say I couldn't fit more Pinkie into another chapter, but we can always go there again. Now onto the real question, what theme should the two sides of his chess set have? Anything with green and blue works well, or we can just ignore the gems and do something else.

Chapter 2

After waking up and washing I grabbed a bag with my things and headed to the head mare's office and knocked on the door "Come in" as I entered the office, I see Magree the mare who brought me to the orphanage years ago. "Morning Shade you ready to go?"

I nod "Yes mam" she nods back.

After a few moments she gathers her things we leave the orphanage. As we walk through Canterlot we pass through the shopping district and move towards the older part of the city as the buildings get taller and more fancy. We come to the entrance of the library we stop.

"Here" she hands me a packet with my documents "You've been a good colt these years and you've grown so much" she tells me looking me up and down some "Now you behave ok I don't want to hear about you starting trouble now" I give a small simile to her.

"Of course mam, and thank you for taking care of me all these years."

She gives her own smile before giving me a nod and passing me a small piece of paper with some numbers on it "This is the orphanage's address for any mail you want to send and make sure to tell me if you help."

The last part is mixed with some sternness in her voice. "I will, I promise, and thank you again" I say as I put the slip of paper in my bag "Goodbye."

And with that she nods and starts walking back to the orphanage. I turn back to the city library the building is much larger than the others around it. Its style is very similar to the old Roman buildings. With large stone pillars and bricks, and a large front entrance with a fair few ponies coming in and out.

As I make my way inside, I approach the front desk. An elderly unicorn mare is sitting there checking someponys books and putting them in a bag. I wait a few minutes for them to finish before approaching the desk. "What can I do for you sir”? she asks.

"I'm here for an apprenticeship, it should be under the name Shade Evergreen."

She looks a bit surprised. "Oh so you're the new colt joining it's good to see some young ponies interested in learning" she says in a happy tone. "Do you see the door over there" she points with a hoof to a door on the left wall In between some bookshelves. "Go through there and take your first right then it should be the first door on your left."

"Thanks."

As I turn to the door after a few moments I'm at the door I reach out and knock.

"Come in it's open." As I open the door, I see a light green unicorn mare with a blue mane. "Oh so you're our new apprentice" I nod as I enter the office.

"Yes, I'm Shade evergreen nice to meet you."

She nods to a sitting pillow on the floor. "I'm Daisy Scrolls nice to meet you too" As I sit she brings out some forms. "So you will need to sign this it will make you a government employee and this one is for your room" as I look at the papers nothing really noteworthy stands out mostly just a simple document for taxes.

"I was surprised this was a government job to be honest I would have thought it would be under the city's control" I ask as I read through the pages.

Daisy chuckles at that "I thought the same when I took the job but apparently the princess likes to keep the library well-kept most of our funding even comes from her" I pause at that.

"Ha, I never would have guessed that." After a few moments I finish reading and sign my name on both documents. Getting a surprised look from her as I don't use my hoofs but my TK field.

"Well that's a neat trick."

I smile. "Ya I think so too" As I finish signing, I pass the papers back and she looks them over before nodding.

well, everything looks good." She puts the papers on her desk "Follow me I'll give you a tour of where you're going to work." We leave her office.

After showing me the library's layout. She brought me to a breakroom. The room has a few long tables with some cushions to sit on. "This is our break room you can eat or just relax on your break food is served in three meals so you can get breakfast at six, lunch is at two and dinner at seven."

After that we move to a wide hallway full of a few dozen doors as we walk down the hallway. We stop at a door numbered fifty six she hands me a key "This is your room key don't lose it you'll be fined for it."

"Thanks" as I unlock the door and enter the room it's larger than I expected around fifteen by twenty-five feet the left wall has a bed desk and dresser on it the front wall has a decent-sized window the right a small kitchen, a counter top, and oven along with another door leading to a bathroom with a shower and toilet.

"Lot more space than I thought."

Daisy nods "I have your schedule here" She passes it to look at it. I have work tomorrow at seven.

"Thanks again." She smiles.

"No problem, don't forget breakfast is at six, and have a good night Shade" I nod.

"You to Daisy."

After she leaves. I close and lock my door before unpacking my things. Mostly drawing supplies on the desk. :Now that I think about it I don't own much do I? Well, I can buy some stuff when I get paid: It's not too late, so I decided to drop my bags and go read in the library. After locking my door again I made my way to the main library.

As I wander the bookshelves, I see many sections before finding the one I was looking for, runic magic. Only a dozen or so bookshelves for this subject. And being in an out-of-the-way part of the library. I decided to try and find a book for the basics of the craft, hoping to find one to let me improve on my basics. I didn't want to blow myself up so best to start small.

And after some time, I found a book that looked good. It's mostly about different kinds of basic runic spells. And after a bit more time searching, I found another about forming a runic matrix. Most other books seem more advanced than these. So I take them to the front desk and check them out before heading back to my room and getting comfortable.

And after some reading and practice, I go eat the food that's being served. The food itself is nothing really special, mostly some raw and cooked vegetables, fruit, and some hay fries. After saying hello to Daisy, I head back to my room and read some more before showering and heading to bed. I don't want to be late for my first day of work.

After waking up I take a shower after drying off. I go grab one of the books that I got yesterday. And after reading some of it I found out my earlier presumption about a matrix only having math was wrong. Although in hindsight it makes sense as despite the ponies of this world having more knowledge than you'd think they are still less advanced than humans.

The main thing I missed in the first runic book I read was the term symbols. I thought this meant things like plus minus and other math symbols and they do but they also have symbols for other things. A good example is light. If I wanted to show light in a matrix, I would have to use something like the speed of light or its wavelength so the spell would have a starting point to work off of.

But as far as I can tell the beings of Equis don't know the speed of light or about light wavelengths so how do they use something like a basic light spell well they use a symbol to represent light instead as a substitute. This is why there are different names for a spell matrix. There is a pure number matrix for the ones with only math which are the most powerful but also most complex the second type is a mixed matrix having both numbers and symbols being somewhat less stable and weaker also taking more magic to use. And finally, there are pure symbol matrix's being the weakest and least stable taking the most magic to create the same effect.

Although most ponies outside of researchers or spell scribes don't use or really know these terms as it's mostly for somepony doing spell creation. Speaking of spell creation, I've found some texts about it in the small library at the orphanage mostly in warnings about its dangers because you can get hurt when a spell becomes unstable this danger and the difficulty most ponies seem to have with more complex math makes spell creation an uncommon career to attain as higher education is needed. This is one of the main reasons that even in an empire as big as Equestria there are only a few real magic schools, most ponies just don't have the talent or drive to try.

And even then, most only modify a preexisting spell. Only a few truly new spells being made every few years, most being released by the crown, some being made by Celestia herself every so often. For my own mental sake I've decided to abbreviate the matrix names to P.N.M and M.M and finally P.S.M to keep better track of them as an example my first spell would be a P.N.M as it's only numbers.

Another thing is the symbols themselves. Most being words of ancient languages. Although I don't know why they would use an older language rather than a new one. After learning all this I decided to find a book on the runic languages later today although I've realized many of these runes are unnecessary for me as a lot of them are for concepts and things. I already know enough about to use that anyway.

A good example of this is the light spell I practiced last night. I tried to change it by using a specific wavelength instead of the symbol they used and after some minor tweaks. I got it to work, the spell being more stable and giving off more light even using around a quarter less magic to maintain the spell.

But after learning about some of the dangers of modifying a spell I decided to only try on weak spells until I get more experience with the craft. The page I'm reading right now is one of those basic spells being one to create a small flame only about the size of a candle flame. But the spell is one of the more complex beginners' spells.

As I start to draw out my rune matrix. I'm interrupted by a few knocks on my door. I pause my drawing to pick up my key from my desk with my TK field and move it across the room to unlock my door. And after a moment I get the door unlocked and bring my key back to me "It's open come in" I give a light shout.

As the door is pushed open I see Daisy coming through the doorway "Morning Shade sleep well?"

She greets me as she enters my room "Yes you?"

I ask back and she nods "Ya so you ready to go?" I nod.

"Yes, do I need to bring anything?"

"Just your key" After grabbing my key we leave my room. And as we walk down the hall she asks me something. "So what are you reading?"

"Some books on runic magic, why?" she gives a bit of a surprised look.

"You practice runic magic? Wow, I've never met a non-unicorn that uses it."

I turn to her "Really? I would have thought there would be at least a few you've met."

"Nope most ponies that aren't studying it never even learn much about it, I myself know some but not much."

As we entered the break room, we paused our conversation to get food before sitting down and continuing. "Who taught you how to do it?" before I could answer we were interrupted.

"How to do what?"

We turn to see an older-looking pegasus stallion. The stallion looked to be on the older side, some of his main graying and a few wrinkles under his orange eyes. His coat being almost the same color of orange and his red main still visible even with its graying. "Oh hay Blaz have a good sleep?"

"Just fine, so this is the new pony working with us?"

I nod to him "Yup nice to meet you names Shade" I greet him.

"Same It's good to see some colts still care about knowledge, ah but where are my manners I'm Blazing Flame but most just call me Blaz nice to meet you." He says as he sits down at the table with us. "But back to my first question how to do what?"

Before I can answer his question Daisy does so for me. "We were talking about runic magic apparently shade here practices it" Blaz looked at me sharing the same look of surprise Daisy gave me earlier.

"Well, now that's a surprise, who taught you if you don't mind me asking?"

Daisy pipes up. "That's what I was asking."

"Well, no one taught me, I found a book about it and decided to try to learn it" Both looked even more surprised now Blaz being the first to speak.

"Do you know any spells?" he asks. I look around for a good example and I spot Blaz's tea.

"Is your tea cold?" I ask.

He looks at his tea before taking a sip. "Yup."

I grab his cup from his hoof with my field and start to draw the runic matrix. Over the past two years I've had only two spells to practice the heating spell and the floating spell, so I've gotten fast at drawing both. After around thirty seconds I finish and start powering the matrix and after a few moments I stop letting the spell disappear before giving blaz his now hot cup on tea "here you go."

Both looked shocked at my display "WHAT was that?"

Daisy asks. I give a light smirk "The heating spell."

she looks back at me. "I know what spell it was but how did you cast it so fast."

"Well, I don't have to picture it in my mind, only draw the runes and feed it magic so as long as I'm fast and don't mess up the runs it doesn't take that long."

"Still colt she's right I've met a lot of unicorns that take longer to cast that spell, how long have you been using it? Blaz asks me.

"Well, it's the first one I learned so a little over two years now."

"How many spells do you know?" Daisy asks.

"Well, I know heating and float from the first book I had on runic magic, magic light and candle flame I found books for yesterday so I'm still learning them."

"Well, you've got me beat when I was your age, I only learned one" Daisy says while finishing her meal.

"We should get moving you ready?

I had finished my own food a while ago, so I nodded "See ya Blaz."

"You too Daisy same with you Shade hope you like working here."

"Me too Blaz."

Author's Note

[thanks for reading :D ]

Chapter 3

After we leave the break room. We walk to Daisy's office. And we sit down, "So right now you are an assistant librarian so most of your only real duties are to reshelve books and help older librarians in their work, although most won't need it, it's mostly to teach you what we do and get you familiar with the library."

"Here's your schedule you start at seven in the morning your half-hour lunch break is at noon and you finish up at three in the afternoon and after that you can just do whatever you want many read in their rooms or the library, but you can also just leave and do anything else" she gives a badge with the symbol of the library on it along with my name and job.

"This is your badge it marks you as a librarian so don't lose it there's also a sticking enchantment on it so just put it on your chest it'll gain enough magic to stick form the environment so just make sure its stuck and you'll be fine also don't forget to take it off after your shift don't want anypony to try asking you for help" I nod before sticking it to my chest.

She also gives me a small paper map "And finally here's your map", she leaves the office and I follow after her a few moments later. We move through a few doors to the back of the library before reaching a room filled with sacks of books on tables with ponies filling several carts. "So your main two jobs will be pretty simple you'll be sorting books to fill the carts or pushing the full carts out and putting the books back on the shelves for today you'll be doing the second."

As we approach a cart she continues "The carts are already sorted so you just have to take them where they need to go each book has a small round symbol" She holds up a book showing a small round symbol made of silver showing a pickaxe on it "each symbol goes to a different section the ordering being right to left is A to Z ascending so bottom right is A and top left is Z, got it?"

"Ya don't sound that hard, so I'll be moving the carts today?"

She nods "Yup everypony knows your new so just take it slow and get used to the library and I'll see you at lunch in the meantime I'll be in my office if you need me ok?"

"Ok see you at lunch."

After she leaves, I pick a cart and start pushing towards its designation, deciding to simply push with my TK field instead of my hooves as I make my way through the library over the next five hours of moving the cart. The process not being too hard with the strength and range of my TK and healthy body.

After a few hours and finishing my third cart I went back to the sorting room only to see it mostly empty. Glancing at the clock on the wall I see its twelve oh five lunchtime. I leave and after a short walk enter the breakroom before grabbing some food and sitting down next to Blaz and Daisy already talking.

"So Shade, how's your first day going?" Blaz asks.

"Not bad I've emptied a few carts but that's about it, nothing to really mention" he nods as I take a bite of some steamed carrots "Although I do have some questions if you don't mind?" I ask them.

"Sure, what do you need?" Blaz asks back.

"Well first I normally do a morning run but I'm thinking I'll probably do them after work now, know any good places?"

Blaz nods with a smile "Good most ponies don't, but you don't need to switch if you want the best place would probably be the park, it's only around two blocks away and has plenty of space so you can get there in a few minutes just leave the library, go left down the road and continue for a while."

"Thanks good to know, my next question is more for Daisy" she turns from her food to me "Do you know any spells to tell the time I didn't even know it was lunch until I saw the clock in the sorting room."

"Sure no problem I know one, it's pretty simple I can find the book for you later."

"That would be great thank you" she nods.

"No problem." After some more chatting we finish eating and get back to work and after three more hours I'm done for the day. After checking in with Daisy and getting my first day's pay I grab my saddlebags and head out to the city.

As I walk along the street I pass through the upper city market district, mostly shops and restaurants, and I descend into the lower parts of the city as I approach the market. The markets here being mostly stalls along with several restaurants, some bakeries, and many other shops.

While growing up in the orphanage I'd visit these markets a few times mostly to help with shopping and to teach me some bartering skills. As I pass through the market, I spot many things that catch my interest but pass them. I'm here for something specific that I've seen in the past.

I turn to go down a side street, this street still has traffic just much less as this street has mostly batponies and a few griffins. This particular street sells meat, mostly fish, and a few other types. As I walk down the street I stop at a stall selling several types of fish meat.

After looking for a few moments I see what is labeled as bass. I see the stall owner, a batpony, passing some fish to another batpony after they're done I call out to him "Hey how much for the bass?" He turns to me and looks a bit surprised and after a moment speaks.

"Sorry didn't mean to be rude, just not often you see a non-batpony in the meat market, especially an earth pony."

"And as for the bass it's ten bits a pound" I turn to see the fish, it's good quality, and ten bits a pound is a decent price.

"Sure, I'll take a pound," I say before grabbing my bits and paying him after he wraps my fish in some paper. And puts it in a small paper bag before passing it to me "Thanks have a good day."

"You too," he says back.

After that I also bought a small bag of flour, a few potatoes, some salt, oil, and sugar, a few plates, some small glasses, forks and spoons, and a pan and pot. Along with a wooden spoon and a decent knife. Before heading back to the library. As I enter one of the staff-only back door, and head to my room after closing my door. I take out my goods and new dishes and get them put away.

Feeling hungry I start by preheating a pan on the stove. The heat comes from an enchanted small flat metal ring controlled by a small metal dial on the front. I start cutting the piece of fish into small strips before oiling my pan and laying the fish into it to cook while I dice two potatoes before adding them to the pan.

After I flip the fish, I hear a knock at my door before shouting "The doors open come in." After a second or so I hear my door open and close.

"What are you cooking?" I turn to see Daisy standing there with a book looking curious.

"Fish and potatoes, why?" I ask back. And hearing my answer, she looks somewhat shocked.

"You eat meat?" I nod.

"Ya not often but sometimes."

"You're just full of surprises aren't you? Well I brought you the book I mentioned." I turn off the burner and plate my food before turning to her. I grab the book "It's mostly just simple spells for things like housework and convenience."

"Thanks for this I'm sure it will be a big help." I float the book over to my desk before looking back at her I see her eyeing my meal "Would you like to try some? I made more than I need."

After hearing my offer, she pauses for a moment before giving a hesitant nod "Y-ya sure I'd like that" seeing her hesitation.

"Are you sure? You don't have to if you don't want any."

"No I do kind of want to try, my grandsire was a batpony he used to offer me some, it's just been years since then."

"Well grab a plate" After we sit down to eat, she tries a piece of the fish.

"Oh WOW, this is good" see her take several bites of the fish in fast order.

"Slow down you don't want to choke," I say with a grin as she does so looking a little embarrassed, we sit in silence after that and finish our meal.

As I collect our plates I put them in the sink. "I'm glad you enjoyed it" she walks to my door.

"Yup thanks again and have a goodnight Shade."

"Same to you," I say as she closes my door. I start to clean up and after I'm done I start reading the book Daisy brought me.

The book mostly contained a list of spells with small descriptions of them and their effects. The one I decided to try first was named temporis. A simple spell to tell the time nothing complex but still very useful. And after spending some time memorizing the matrix I cast it a few times.

It took me a few tries to get it right but after I did it wasn't that hard to get down. After that I started to look through the book for any other spells. I might want to learn a few that caught my eye. Ones like a basic spell to make things lighter and one for freezing something but after a while I put the book down and picked up one of the ones I got yesterday.

This being the one about runes. This chapter in particular is about types of magic. This being new to me as I previously thought that all magic was the same but in hindsight that doesn't make much sense as beings like Discord definitely have some other type of magic, and same with Sombra probably.

The difference being their magic element. Many different magic elements exist, one for any emotion and type of force in nature such as air, fire, and water. The main effect of using different types of magic elements being one of a supplement to normal magic.

A good way to view this is that most spells use neutral magic also called natural magic the main reason you would use an element instead is that depending on the spell the power and effect can be boosted and enhanced. All beings are born with one or several elemental affinities so if somepony with a fire affinity were to learn how to convert their natural magic into fire magic and use it to power the candle flame spell or any flame spell it would be enhanced.

You can also use the converted magic in a raw form as unlike natural magic it already has an effect and as you're the source of the magic it has some form of connection to you. And although it's not very efficient. Costing much more natural magic you can also use an elemental type of magic to control it directly without the use of a matrix.

The main advantage being the ability to quickly use your magic. The downside being that when you convert your magic to an element while you have little to no practice sometimes you'll lose more than half the magic in the process. The main benefit is that unlike spells where you only have a limited amount of control over them with an element you can use it for anything that you like.

For instance you can use a fire affinity to enhance a fire-based spell or you can control it directly and start moving around fire at will. You may be wondering why doesn't everypony use their affinity? Well two reason,, one most don't train even their natural magic and so don't have enough excess magic to convert into elemental magic without draining yourself and the second reason has to do with finding out your affinity and unlocking it.

After looking through the book I found out how one can learn their affinity and unlock it. All you need to do is to use a spell the book even has the spell. But the problem is not the spell's complexity but its power cost being higher than three or four adult unicorns' worth of magic so there are only three good options.

One can gather several unicorns to power a runic matrix. Option two, find a pony with enough magic to do it themselves. And finally get a crystal and enchant it to hold a magic reserve and use it as a buffer to power the spell. Out of all the options available to me the last one is the best as getting several ponies together or getting a pony with enough power would cost a lot and that's even if you can find anypony willing.

So my best bet is buying a gem and enchanting it and surprisingly that's not as hard as it seems. Gems, even the bigger ones, aren't that expensive as crystals seem much more common here than on Earth. Charging it would only really take a week or two. The hardest part being finding a spell for the magic reserve. But I do work in the second-largest library in Equestria so finding one should be only a matter of time.

And as for the gem when I walked through the markets today. I saw several gems that would work just fine. I don't remember their exact price. But I don't think it's much more than I'd make in a month so I'm going to only be buying some small things for the next few weeks as the sooner I know my affinity the sooner I can start practicing with them.

After making several notes in a journal I keep it in English so no pony can read it. I take a shower before draining my magic through a fire candle spell. My new method for doing so as I used the heating spell in the past. But I've decided to use this one instead as the more magic you use for it the bigger the flame gets but it also takes more to maintain making it very useful and for burning through a large amount of magic quickly.

After only a minute or so I'm drained. Only leaving enough that I don't pass out. I drag my tired body to my bed, falling asleep almost as soon as my head hits the pillow.

Author's Note

[as always thank you for reading]

Chapter 5

It's been two weeks and I've truly gotten into the flow of my routine. My days are starting with my morning run and then working and going about my day. Right now I'm on one of my days off Tuesday and Wednesday. Which might seem like a weird choice. But the library is open on the weekend, so I work the weekend and take the mid-week off.

I'm spending my day on a practice field. I found it while wandering the city a few days ago. Tt costs four bits per hour so it's not that expensive but I have to tell them if anything breaks and clean up after myself or be fined or pay them to do it for me. I came here to test a few spells.

The first being an ice spell when formed it allows the caster to form and shape a few pounds of ice. I'm using this spell to create an ice spike an inch of two thick and eight inches long with points at both ends. And then grabbing it in my TK field and launching the ice spike forward using as much force as I can aiming towards the target on the far side of the field.

As the spike impacts the target the ice spike shatters after imbedding itself a few inches into the target. Shards of ice scattering on the dirt field. I walk over to the target and inspect it. The packed hay is impacted with shards of ice intertwined with the hay jagged shards cutting and small shards buried deep inside.

After looking at the target I walk back and take another shot and after several shots I stop seeing the target now filled with spikes. I pant, now drained of most of my magic I sit and rest for a while, before gathering the mess I made and leaving the test range.

As I walk down the street I start moving back to the library and after arriving. And after heading to my room I close my door and move to lay on my bed and get comfortable before dozing off and falling asleep.

When I woke up it was evening. I blinked my eyes slowly as I made my way into the kitchen and checked my cabinets finding some bread and a few carrots along with two potatoes. After some thought I grabbed the potatoes and my knife, some oil and my pan. And started preheating it then cut the potatoes into thin slices and add oil to my pan and finally add my potatoes.

While my potatoes fry in the oil I grab the carrots and peel them then cutting the ends off. I then split them down the middle and repeat that. Cutting two carrots down into eight carrot sticks and adding them to a plate I move back to my frying potatoes and flip them.

I then grab my bread and slice off two pieces, adding them into my pan to toast. After a few minutes I remove my toast from the pan and also drop it on my plate at the same time I add some salt to my pan. I keep flipping my potatoes and cooking them until crispy and soft before adding them to my plate. I wash my knife and pan as it cools.

I finish washing my pan and sit to eat my makeshift dinner as I read a book on the runic language. I start to take notes on different runic matrix arrays picking out small bits and adding them to my ever-growing list of runic experiments to conduct in the future.

After I finish eating and wash my plate I settle at my desk and start practicing drawing my spells out. I draw and cast my candle flame spell and hold it there as I move my hoof and try to draw out another spell. I get to drawing the second circle before I lose my focus and my first spell fails, and the small flame flickering out while the runes dissolving.

I repeat this many times over the next few hours as it turns dark outside the sun being replaced by the moon as I continue to practice trying to cast two full spells at once making some progress but never succeeding. At this point the magic I'd gained from my nap was running dry so I stopped.

I walk into my shower and turn on the water letting out a sigh as I let the water wash over me. I clean my body using some soap and I dry off with a towel before heading to bed.

After waking up I grab my bag and start heading towards the market district. As I walk down the street I pass several restraints. But after a while I don't find any that look good, I continue to the lower markets. As I walk through food stalls I spot a stand selling fried bread with some type of sauce.

As I approach, I smell the frying bread and the sweet scent of maple "How much for two?'.

The pony flipping the bread stops to look at me "Two bits each."

I nod, giving him four bits and taking my sweet treat with me. I continue down the street glancing at different items and after a while I finish my food. As I am near the edge of the market. Most stalls here are less trafficked and less busy. I was about to turn around, but as I turned I paused.

Not far away I see a gray diamond dog sitting on a cloth in between two stalls. Their head down as they shift through their things and place them around their surrounded gems of different cuts and colors scattered about. I approach and stop in front of them. Their attention now on me. I bend down to inspect a large piece of amethyst.

As the light reflects through its body I put it back down where I found it and I turn to face the diamond dog seeing their red eyes "Do you have any rubies."

The diamond dog looks thoughtful for a moment before answering "A few" as they reach into their bag pulling out several rubies of different sizes and placing them on the cloth. As I look through them, I see a good-sized one with a decent clarity, its size being about a two by two-inch cube.

"How much for that one" I say while pointing a hoof towards the gem they look at the one I'm pointing at.

"One fifty for that one" I pause, that's cheap for a ruby especially one that size. And using a ruby will be much more effective than many other gemstones. I won't have many bits left but this will be worth it.

"I'll take it." I say while grabbing my bits as I do so the diamond dog looks excited with their short tail wagging slightly and a large smile on their face.

I pass my bits to them and wait for them to count it all. After a minute they nod and pass me the gemstone "thanks."

I give a nod back as I put away my new gem. And as I start walking out of the market heading home my thoughts wander. I got really lucky crystals come in different grades when it comes to magic depending on the size and clarity. The crystal can also hold more magic along with absorbing and releasing more magic faster with less waste.

The least powerful crystals are things like cloudy quartz and jade. The middle quality being amethyst and clear quartz. High is rubies and sapphires. And the best is diamond. My original plan was to buy a decent-sized amethyst with decent quality. This ruby can probably hold three to four times the magic more than the one I wanted to buy, it's also cheaper than them.

As I make my way into my room. I close my door and put my bags down. With some excitement I move to my desk and place the ruby on it. I only have one chance, if I mess up my enchantment the crystal will crack or shatter so after taking a few moments to calm myself I start practicing the spell for the magic reserve.

After spending an hour practicing holding the spell while I draw the smaller matrix inside it. I complete the spell three times without messing anything up. I take a break to go eat my remaining carrots and recharge my magic and after half an hour I'm ready.

As I move the ruby to be right in front of me I start drawing the spell being careful to go slow and be as accurate as I can for the best quality after some time I finish the spell and start on the enchantment matrix. This one being smaller but simpler as I complete both and gently pick up the ruby.

holding it up I see the matrix fade as I push magic into the inner matrix. The outer part fading as the magic is bound to the crystal. The inner matrix fading soon after and dissipating after a minute. I close my eyes to concentrate and try to push my magic into the gem and feel the magic sink into the gem and compress. After I empty my reserves I open my eyes, and smile wide as I see a small red spark softly glowing in its center.

time skip

It's been three days since I successfully enchanted my ruby and during that time I've been dumping all my excess magic into it. And it should be enough after today so tonight I'm going to try unlocking my affinity.

As I go through my workday, I'm jittery and excited. At lunch even Blaz and Daisy notice although they didn't ask why. After finishing my workday I immediately return to my room and grab my crystal. After draining my magic once again, I spent the next few hours recovering. And by the time I was ready it was dark, the sun having set.

I stand and walk over to my desk grabbing my notebook and flipping to a blank page while grabbing a quill and inkwell. Moving to the middle of the room I place my things down and ready my ruby. I start by drawing the outer circle almost as large as me and the other only slightly smaller. I start to fill out the empty space with an uneven mix of runes and numbers.

As I finish the last number the spell uses much more runes than numbers in this spell. leaning more towards a pure symbol matrix although it's technically a mixed matrix, After finishing the spell I stop to prepare myself. I'm going to have to control a lot of magic and I do not want to lose control of this spell.

After a moment I start pulling the magic from my ruby and direct it into my spell as I do so the glow of the ruby that has built up over time begins to drain at a visible rate. The power flowing into the spell as the matrix starts to glow brighter and brighter almost to the point of being blinding.

The spell is now ready. I move my hoof to its center and wait after a moment, the glow dims by a large amount. And in front of me I see two orbs start to take shape. Slowly glowing threads intertwining into small white spheres as I watch the left sphere slowly turn darker and eventually almost black the final color being an almost black dark purple that seems to absorb all the light around it.

I glance at the other sphere that begins to take shape after writing a hasty note on the first sphere's color. I see the second sphere slowly start to turn a bright green and after a second. I realize it's the exact same color as my eyes, a bright green reminiscent of emeralds.

Then all at once the spell collapses. The ruby having run out of magic. The spell and the spheres dissipate into motes of light before vanishing entirely. As I sit in the dimly lit room. The only source of light being a candle on my desk. I move it over to me and start writing notes on the colors I saw.

After finishing I move to my desk bringing my things with me. I flip through my book finding the page with my notes on affinity types, and I start going through the list before finding one that matches. The bright green sphere being the affinity for life its main properties is to boost spells for plants and healing.

After writing that down I continue flipping and after going through almost my entire list I find it the dark blackish purple. Space affinity this one's got almost nothing written about it. Not even what it helps with, and after some thought I realize the only ponies you see using any form of space manipulation whether that being teleportation or changing somethings dimensions are really powerful beings. Like an alicorn or Discord, and while some ponies do use it on some smaller scales most are either powerful regular ponies or pinky. And the less you think about whatever pinky does or how she does it the better.

But that also leaves me somewhat stumped. As for my life affinity I could try healing spells and controlling and growing plants to train my control and precision and maybe healing wounds directly after I get some practice and learn more. I would rather not try healing myself right now.

But with space I don't really know where to start as I doubt that the library will have spells on space magic as even in my old world where we have much higher levels of math space was a high-level subject. I do remember some useful things but not enough to create a spell without a lot of time so my only path may be using the raw form to manipulate space directly for any other pony. This might not be an option either as most here won't have any knowledge about the fabric of space.

From what little my notes copied from the book said about this affinity. It's mostly theory about what one could attempt to do with such an affinity but nothing on how to use it or what for so I'm just going to have to experiment while being very careful and try and find out what I can do with it.

After writing all my thoughts down I started to change my schedule for training and research. Over the past few weeks, I've read almost every book about alicorns and their history. So I'm taking that off my schedule and replacing it with healing and plant-based magic.

I'm also going to start spending some time after my morning run trying to control a few small plants in the park as I doubt any will notice a few plants growing faster, but first I'll have to learn how to convert my magic. I should also look for books on ways to train my life affinity before I start messing around with it.

I remake my schedule and take a few more notes before continuing with my nightly ritual. A shower and draining my magic. Deciding to recharge the ruby in case I ever need it before climbing my way into bed and letting sleep claim me.

Chapter 6

After waking up I see it's almost midday feeling hungry having only eaten two carrots yesterday, I move to the kitchen and open the food cabinet only to see it empty. "Ugh." I knew I forgot something yesterday, it's Tuesday, so no free food. I guess I'll have to go out.

I grab my bag and head for my door. As I walk out of the library I head to the market district like yesterday and find the same food stand buying a few of those sweet fried bread buns, and make my way into the park and after sitting on a bench I dig into my treats.

As I sit and eat, I look around. I'm sitting on a bench facing a small pond. several fish swimming close enough to the surface to see. birds chirping unsee in nearby trees and the sound of colts and fillies kicking around a ball in the field behind me I lose focus staring at the view so much that I don't notice the sound of hoof steps coming close.

I lift one of my buns to take a bite, "Do you mind if I sit here?" the sudden voice startles me, and I jump a little. I quickly turn my head to the voice only to freeze. not more than a few feet away from me is a young unicorn stallion he's tall for a unicorn and in good health having a decent amount of muscle his coat wight and his main a few shades of blue from light to dark mixed together and a pair of cobalt blue eyes staring at me.

:WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING HERE!?: Shining Armor out of all the ponies in this city why did it have to be you? After a moment my brain registers what he asked and realizing that I've just been staring at him in silence I force myself to calm down and respond to him "Sure."

He nods and sits down on the other side of the bench. The silence is deafening so after a moment I continue eating, trying desperately to ignore my uninvited guest but after some time he speaks up "So what are you eating?" I turn back to him, seeing him eyeing my food.

"Some fried sweet bread want one?" I offer hoping to seem less nervous as I float a bun over to him, he eyes it before taking it.

"Sure thanks." he bites into the bun, and we eat in silence for some time, both of us enjoying the view he finishes first before looking at me again.

"So what are you doing today if you don't mind me asking?" I stare for a moment trying to find a way out of this conversation but not finding any I decide it's less suspicious to just answer his questions.

"Eating my breakfast and enjoying my day off." he looks surprised for a moment before the realization dawns on his face.

"Oh you're an apprentice, aren't you? That makes more sense most, your age would be in school right now where do you work?"

"The city library for about two months now."

"Really? Not many young ponies working there do you enjoy it?"

"Ya the hours aren't bad the pay is decent and free food on workdays so not much to complain about and after work, you get free access to the library."

He lets out a chuckle before stopping and looks a little embarrassed "Sorry you just remind me of my sister she's around your age always reading or trying new spells she'd be so jealous that you can stay after hours." he says while in between soft chuckles "oh by the way my name's Shining nice to meet you."

"Same, names Shade so what are you doing here?" I ask as I finish my last bun.

"I'm waiting for my dame and sister to meet up, they told me to wait in the park so they can finish shopping, so what do you do at the library." but before I could answer him, we were interrupted by a new voice.

"What library?" I turn my head to see Twilight Sparkle and their dam twilight velvet standing with a few bags floating next to her.

"Oh, hey Twilight I was talking with Shade here he works at the city's library." Her eyes move to me and she gets an excited expression hopping from one hoof to another she moves towards me.

"YOU DO? What's it like? What do you do? How long have you been working there? ho-" Before she could continue to bombard me with questions a hoof was placed on her muzzle.

"Twilight, you know not to do that, Twilight Velvet turns to me looking embarrassed at her daughter's actions "Sorry about that, she can get excited when it comes to books."

I nod "No problem it's ok." I turn to Twilight who looks even more embarrassed than her dam, her ears pinned back and a shy look on her face "And to answer your questions it's ok I mostly shelve, and sort books and I've been working there for around two months."

After hearing my answers she perks up some, her ears returning to normal "Thanks and sorry, dam said I get excited about books and magic."

I nod "That much is obvious" I take a moment to crumple the paper bag that held my food and put it in my bag. I hear a gasp and look back to see Twilight staring intently at me.

"How did you do that?" she asks with excitement in her voice once again having watched me crumple the bag without my hooves.

After a moment thinking how I wanted to explain this I said "Well you know how all ponies can move things with their hooves right?" she nodded "So the magic that lets you do that is in every pony and a few years ago when I was younger, I got it in my head that if I could train that ability, I could make it more powerful and do more with it. so I started training with it."

Twilight and Shining and their mother gain thoughtful looks as I continue my explanation "And I started trying to lift heavier and heavier things, over time it slowly got easier, and I could lift more and as I was messing around with it. I found that I could lift things even if they weren't touching me and started training that to hold something and slowly push it away from me and just like my lifting strength my range also increased along with my control and at this point, it's about the same as having a horn"

All three looked shocked at my explanation the first to speak was of course twilight "THATS AWESOME" she shouted out before quieting down from a stern look from her dam "Sorry"

I laugh "it's ok."

Shining speaks up after a moment. "Well colt, that's impressive I don't know many ponies who train that hard."

"Thanks, it certainly took a lot of time to achieve but I think it's worth it to move things without my hooves."

Before we can continue our conversation their dam speaks up "Come on you two we don't want to be late for Shining's appointment it shouldn't be long now. shining, do you have your watch?"

"No, I forgot it this morning."

"Here" Before they can say anything else I start drawing a matrix. and in a few moments, I cast the Temporis spell showing the time to be one thirty-six.

Twilight gets the same excited look but before she can start asking any questions she’s cut off "Oh no we're going to be late" their dam exclaims before grabbing Twilight and putting her on her back before running off Shining not far behind her.

I sigh in relief. Well, that wasn't too bad and while I definitely got their attention and my plan to stay away from the cast is dead in the water, but it's at least cool to meet them and it might be useful to know them as most don't look into ponies. they know so it might be better to hide in plain sight even though it's not as good as remaining unknown. Plus, in the show after Twilight leaves for Ponyvill she even almost forgets so she might not remember me as anything but a friend that she'll forget.

And after the day I've had I still need to go shopping for some groceries and after doing so and getting home with my goods. I decided to take my mind off of today and look through the library as I walked through bookshelves looking for books on healing magic and training my life affinity. Although the original book on affinities I read had some suggestions for training but not as much as a book for specifically the life element which would be much better.

After finding the right section of the library I searched through several books before finding what I was looking for, a book on life magic and its application by Star Shine. The book's text is dry as sand, but the information is good. The instructions for learning how to convert your magic seem about the same for any element.

First, you try to visualize a single point in your body and push your magic through it. technically it is possible to convert magic in any way you wish it's really all about will but for those without enough will or control over their magic imagining a process to convert their magic is easier.

I've chosen not to use this method as it doesn't seem to have a negative effect on somepony who use it. but I feel like it's not a good method mostly because it feels like a shortcut to power so I've decided to use the harder method to feel your magic and will it to take a new form to force its shape.

After reading the entire book I check it out at the front desk and leave the library and walk to the park. One of the steps I want to follow is learning conversion in an environment with a dense amount of life magic and the best place nearby is the park.

After reaching the park for the second time that day I searched for a quiet spot. I find a small spot under an old oak tree that's out of view of any other ponies, a wall of bushes with the tree to my back. I lay on the grass and start focusing on my magic trying to feel the magic around me as my magic seeps into the world around me.

After some time, I start feeling the magic in the grass and roots around me as I study the feeling of the magic of life. the magic itself gives a feeling like a rush of energy from drinking coffee only to a lesser degree. I spend a while just sitting and feeling the ebb and flow of the magic, feeling it move through the roots and feel the magic of the sun being absorbed and converted.

Over an hour passes as I lay almost perfectly still. I retract my will and focus not outward but inward reaching into my magic. I started willing my magic to take the form that I've felt applying more and more of my will trying to change my magic into that of life. After a while of this, I feel something break and feel a rush of energy go through me, I hold onto that feeling trying to burn its feel into my memory but after a few minutes my reserves of magic are drained almost dry so I stop.

I open my eyes glowing green softly for a moment before fading. As I stand looking at the ground around me, the grass only a few inches long before has grown wild and lengthy, the flowers blooming as several vines clinging to my legs. I shake the vines off of me and step away from where I was laying a circle around it of plants growing from its center and radiating out from it.

Noticing the sunlight fade as the sun is lowered and the moon rises into the sky I start making my way home humming a happy tune.

Author's Note

[as always thank you for reading :D ]

Chapter 7

It's the day after I unlocked my life affinity and I started the day like normal with my run. Today is Thursday so I head to the breakroom and grab some breakfast, and sit down not long after I start eating Daisy sits next to me. "So how was your weekend?"

"Not bad I got a lot done and met some interesting ponies and got a few chores done, how was work?"

"Just fine, boring as always but I think that comes with the job" I let out a chuckle.

"Ya that seems about right" We spend the rest of breakfast chatting about small things mostly food. turns out Daisy really doesn't like Daisies ironically enough. that ended up getting a laugh out of me.

After breakfast I start going about my shift. Today it's sorting books so I sat down at one of the tables and settled in for a while. hours later I'm done with my work and in my room reading through the book on life magic. After reading some I narrowed down how I wanted to start training. and what I've found that this is the best approach seems to be growing plants by training your magic to control how a plant grows and how fast.

So, I'm going shopping for flowers that are small and grow relatively fast, they are cheap and I can fit many of them into my room without taking up much space. With this in mind I grab my bags and leave my room. as I walk down the street looking for a flower shop or even just somepony selling seeds.

I keep walking around and after an hour without finding anything I stop to take a break on the side of the street and sit there I see a pony I recognize. Twilight Velvet shopping with a bag floating with her much like yesterday "Well I've had no luck so far and it's not like it could hurt: so I decide to approach her walking over. "Hello again." I greet and she turns to me. staring at me for a moment before her face shifts, gaining a small smile.

"It's you from yesterday Shade right?" I nod "It's nice seeing you sorry we had to run off, Shining had a meeting and we couldn't miss it hope we didn't make a bad impression."

"It's fine I don't mind we all have some days like that, I never did catch your name though."

"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Twilight Velvet but I share a name with my daughter so most call me Velvet you can do the same."

"Sure, thing Miss Velvet I mostly came to ask if you know of any plant or flower shops nearby."

"Thinking of doing some gardening? Well either way I know of one, If you go down that street and take two lefts, and a right you should see it. it's called the rose garden" as she points down the street.

"Thank you so much, I hope you have a good day and say hello to Shining for me."

"Same with you colt and I will."

I started walking down the street she pointed out to me. I continued down the street taking two lefts and a right, and after some time walking I saw a small flower shop just like she said the rose garden. As I entered the shop I see a red mare at the counter pruning a rose bush before seeing me "hello how can I help you?"

I walk up to the counter "I'm looking for a flower that can make its own seeds to replant and grow again" She looks at me with a confused face at my request.

"Well, I know of a few that don't look that great, mostly small flowers, some with thorns" She then points out several flowers in the shop in various pots. I walk around the shop and pick out three flowers. the first with the body of a daisy with a gray flower at the end. the other a vine with dark leaves and many tiny pink flowers. and the final one a small round bush made of many small red leaves making it look like a round red ball with its bottom third missing.

As I take the pots to the countertop and place them the florist gives an odd look at my choices "Well this is probably the oddest order I've ever seen a false daisy along with a gripping vine and finally this one."

"What's so odd about them?" I asked, curious about her reaction.

"Well not much is interesting about False Daisy, its claim to fame is that before it blooms it's almost impossible to tell it's not a daisy and it's not edible it won't hurt you, it just tastes terrible. The Gripper Vine is mostly known for the fact that it can hold onto pretty much anything while in little to no soil it's hard to cut and grows fast and they have a decent grip, I've seen one of these climb a four-story building from a single small pot.

And then there's this one I don't actually know what it is. one of my customers brought it to me and said he found it in the wood and scooped it into a pot for me although it does make seeds and I've collected some a while ago and I've tried looking for its name and didn't find much and I don't really have the time to keep looking. honestly I didn't know what to do with it so I put it up for sale."

After hearing her lengthy explanation of the plants I was interested in I decided to buy them. "How much for all of them?" I ask.

"Well not many ever buy false daisies the same with the gripping vine and I don't have a use for the bush, so I'll just say ten bits."

"You sure?"

"ya honestly most of these were just taking up space, Will that be all?"

"Can I also get three more pots and some soil please?"

After grabbing what I requested I paid her and grabbed my purchase and started walking back home. After reaching home I placed my new plants near my window and gave them some water along with staking my spare pots and soil. I started reading about training my life magic and controlling plants.

The book itself doesn't contain any plant spells, just theory about them. Most plant spells seem to follow two paths, the first being plant growth and the second controlling plants. although I don't think there will be many plant spells as this type of spell doesn't seem common as when looking for a book on training your life affinity I only found two. the one I'm reading right now and the other which was mostly just conjecture and research material.

What little books I did find on plant magic were for growing herbs or improving soil quality. which means the biggest branch of magic that life affinity will help with is healing magic. That combined with the lack of plant-based spells means it's probably better to just use raw magic for plants and focus on healing spells. so after learning what little the book had to offer I brought the false daisy to my desk.

While the book didn't have much to offer in terms of plant spells it did have advice for using raw life magic. The easiest method for training life affinity is to grow a plant until it flowers and seeds, then collect the seeds then uproot the plant. chop it up and add it back into the soil and use life magic to enhance decomposition then planting new seeds starting the cycle over again.

This gives you an endless supply of plants to work with, and as long as you keep some seed if the plant dies you can just make another. As I place the false daisy on my desk I start converting some magic into life magic before reaching out and trying to encourage growth I see the small plant start to grow reaching higher than the single gray daisy joined by others as the buds open.

As the buds open to reveal a gray daisy flower the flower persists for a few minutes before it starts wilting. as they do I see small seeds falling off them. the small brown seed attached to a tuft of silky fibers. After collecting the seeds I grab my knife before pulling the plant out and chop it into bits, dicing it and mixing it back into the soil.

I repeat this process four times each time using my magic to help compost the old plant by encouraging it to degrade and rot. In the end I have a few dozen leftover seeds and my magic is almost dry. I place my leftover seeds in an old flour bag. I'm going to need to get some jars or bags later, but right now it's late and I have work tomorrow so it's time for bed.

time skip

It's been a few weeks and it's Jun 18 and the summer sun celebration is soon. I've made some progress in my training, in terms of my old training I've learned a few new things. First I've made some headway into the runic language learning more symbols. I'm still nowhere near fluent but I'm still improving. My TK field has seen some improvement but its power is starting to level off to the point of almost not being worth dedicating so much time to practice so I'm going to continue training its control but not its strength.

My general training in magic continues, I drain my magic every day along with using it throughout the day and I'm still seeing slow but steady growth. For my new training I've been trying to find a basic healing spell with no success. and after several days of no progress only finding higher level spells, everything else being information texts, I finally decided to ask Daisy for help as during one of our conversations she mentioned a cousin that's a doctor.

Today was Monday I made my way into the breakroom and settled in with some food for dinner and after some time I see

Daisy enters the room after she grabs some food and sits on the other side of the table. "So Shade, how was your day?"

"About the same as every day you ask me that almost every day and the answer never changes."

"I know", she says with a teasing smile on her face.

"I would actually like to ask you a question" She nods with her mouth full.

"I've been trying to learn some healing spells but I can't seem to find any basic ones to start with but I've had no luck"

"And you won't" Seeing my confusion at her answer she laughs, "I asked the same thing to my cousin and I'm afraid my friend that you've fallen into a trap most aspiring doctors and students fall into. It's like this as far as I'm aware there are no basic healing spells. That branch of magic is just too complex as any who've tried to create a basic healing spell have failed so far. from what my cousin told me all the basic spells that have been made are so weak that they do basically nothing to speed up the healing process."

"So, there's no basic healing spells because they get too weak when trying to simplify them?"

"Yup I don't remember the exact reason he said but I think it had something to do with healing spells having a lot of symbols in them."

Now it makes sense this world is much like mine so sometimes I forget that it is different. In my old world we had a good understanding of biology and how the body works. but from what I've read in the books I've been searching through these ponies are not as advanced as humans in this aspect.

They understand how a disease spreads but not what causes it and they have no understanding of microorganisms not being able to see them, that's considered one of the great limitations of healing magic for them, magic can repair your body but not kill a virus or infection.

This also explains why all the spells I did find even with their complexity it's still mostly symbols as they can't use many things to base the spell on. furthermore, this would make it extremely hard to make a basic healing spell as it would have to be almost entirely symbols weakening the final spells effects rendering the spell almost useless. This even explains why this world still teaches mostly traditional healing and many other methods my old world used as you can't just heal anything as the number of ponies that know and can use powerful healing spells are probably in extremely high demand but low number.

This also means I may be able to create a basic healing spell as while I wasn't a doctor in my past life I did take biology in high school so I may know enough to make one. but I can't as I am right now I have nowhere near enough knowledge to pull off something like that but It's something to work on.

But for now it's still years before canon starts and all I'll be doing for the next few years is growing and trying to master my magic so I have time. After finishing my meal and saying goodbye to Daisy I head back to my room.

After I'm inside my room I check on my plants and on all my empty pots now full after experimenting with the plants. I've discovered a few things of not about two of them, the false daisy being the only one to become uninteresting to me.

The other two plants however have several points of interest. for the gripping vine I've found that just like the seller said it does grow really fast when using magic to enhance their growth they grow even faster. and like she said they grab anything they can to grow higher the other thing once again like the seller said they are surprisingly strong for their size being tough and hard to cut or saw the vine stalks being filled with thick fibers.

And then there's what I've found about the last plant, it took me a while to find a book about it. this red bush is named blood leaf tea, yup it's a tea plant. a very rare tea plant, from what I learned this plant is very hard to farm bordering on impossible as the only known way is to have a pony with a life affinity to cultivate it.

The reason being not that the plant is hard to grow but because the properties its leaves are valued for is to increase magic regeneration and as the number of things that can help with magic regeneration are very few the leaves are highly valued.

The problem comes in when you try to farm them as the plant's leaves only gain this property if it's grown in an environment rich with life magic like a large forest or deep in mountain ranges. While you can grow the plant if there isn't enough life magic it won't gain its magical effects rendering it into just a red bush. But if you have a life affinity like I do and get your hoofs on one you basically have an unlimited supply. With this in mind I've already filled the other pots I bought with more of the tea plant and after learning how to make tea I started to produce blood leaf tea.

And after growing several plants and picking them clean before drying the leaves into tea I now have a large stockpile stored in jars along with many spare seeds and four grown bushes. And I've also found out that the tea tastes quite good having a somewhat lemony flavor.

After checking on the plants and watering them, I like all my other nights, shower and go to bed.

Author's Note

[Thanks as always for reading and have a good day :) ]

Chapter 8

It's Friday, Jun 21 today and it's the summer sun celebration and Canterlot is busy with all different kinds of ponies moving about for the festivities, and I've been given the day off as the library will be closed today, and Celestia is going to be giving a speech like she does most years and like most years before this one I'm not going.

Mostly because It's just not my thing I don't mind going to a party but something like this is a little too big for me, that doesn't mean I'm going to be doing nothing though I have a few plans of my own, I'm going to be shipping a package to a certain pony.

To explain we have to back up a bit, during the past few weeks after meeting Shining and Twilight I've been thinking about how much I should change about the timeline, at first I didn't want to interact with any of the main characters, and I still don't but I've realized that if I don't know any of them then it will be hard to help when canon starts.

But if I can get to know some of them before canon at a minimum, I can offer help or be asked to help, the problem being how to do this without getting too much attention on me, I want them to know I exist not to become a part of the main cast, I'm basically trying to become a background character, someone who can help but does things unseen most of the time.

So, I'm taking advantage of the summer sun celebration as many ponies send gifts to Celestia on this day and I'll be doing the same, my plan is to send a lot of my new tea to her, this may not sound like much but after learning about the blood leaf tea's magical effects I kept researching the plant, I learned that the plant is much rarer than I thought as the only way to harvest it is to wander the forests and mountains looking for it and while it's not hard to spot it's not common to find.

I also went looking for it in the markets to see that it was priced at four hundred bits for an ounce, that may seem ridiculous as you'd think at least one other pony has a life affinity to sell this stuff, but after some thought I realized that the process to unlock an affinity isn't easy.

As I learned in the past to unlock your affinity you need a lot of magic, but you also need a lot more money even me with a decent-paying job where I don't have to pay for food or rent it took just under a month to collect the money necessary the only reason, I got such a good crystal for so cheap was blind luck.

That and as I've learned the reason plant magic is so underutilized is how complex the spells are and just how rare the life affinity is, combine this with the expense of a decent crystal and having to enchant it along with the possibility of the enchantment failing and the crystal being rendered useless, along with the time and knowledge needed to use an affinity means most never find out what affinity they have and even less try unlocking and using them as It's much easier to just use normal spells.

This means that the only way to get blood leaf tea is by harvesting it from the wild, a dangerous job even in my old life and my past world didn't have magical monsters roaming the wilds, and I haven't even mentioned the last piece to this puzzle, the magical effect of the tea doesn't give you magic but specifically increases one ability to regenerate their magic so while the effect doesn't do much for your average pony as they haven't trained to regenerate their magic, but for ponies that have the effect it is much more noticeable in some cases taking hours off recovery times.

All this accumulates into its absurd price now as for why this is important is because I might be the only pony in Equestria that can produce as much as I like only requiring time as it takes longer to dry the tea than grow them, now I don't want to start selling the stuff as that would immediately put me in the public spotlight, but I can send a twenty-pound package of the tea to her, as for the reason I think she'll need it is that even if she wanted to drink it every day she couldn't because even though she definitely has the money to pay for it there's just not enough to go around, plus, the magical effect is still coming from the herb itself so for somepony of Celestia's size she'd need much more to achieve the same results.

So, with all this in mind I walk with a box filled with twenty pounds of tea stored in a few wooden boxes I bought yesterday bringing it to the post office, one of the few businesses open today, as I enter the post office is busy and it takes half an hour to get to the front of the line.

"Hello sir, what can I help you with?" the brown-colored unicorn stallion at the counter asks me.

"I'd like you to deliver this to the princess, I presume that you can do that right?"

He nods "Yup I will need your name,” he passes me a small piece of paper and a quill and an ink well, “and I need to know if it's fragile?"

"No, it just can't get wet."

"Ok it will be five bits please" I give him five bits and I write my name on a small piece of paper he gives me, as he takes my package behind the counter, I move out of line for the other ponies waiting before leaving the post office as I start walking home.

After reaching home I start cooking a small meal for myself, frying some salmon I bought and slicing some bread along with lettuce and mustard making myself a fish sandwich after I sit down at my desk and start reading a silly crime novel I found while eating my sandwich.

After finishing my dinner and washing my plate I sat on my bed and started reading about healing magic, after learning how difficult it is to learn healing magic, I decided to learn it anyway as in the future I would like to make healing spells, mostly basic ones.

It will take me a few years to learn what I need to know before I can even start trying to make a healing spell, but I have time so why not, another thing I've been trying to unlock is my space affinity, the only real progress I've made is when I try meditating, I can somewhat feel the empty space around me although it takes all my concentration to feel anything and even then it's a faint feeling, but it is getting easier with time although like healing magic this might be unusable for a few years.

I have made some progress with plant magic mostly in the efficiency of my magic conversion, I now lose less magic when growing plants, it's not much less, only a few percent but with time that will grow, no pun intended, as I stay awake throughout the night waiting for dawn I read and draw.

After several hours I check the time, five forty-six dawn break will be at six so I put down my book and make myself some tea before sitting in front of my window and waiting for dawn break, I sip my tea as the sun starts to rise and the moon falls.

I raise my cup to toast, to another year in this world, :Well I hope the princess liked my gift: after enjoying the sunrise for a moment I move to my bed more than ready for sleep.

pov shift to Celestia

After raising the sun, I move to the throne room and take my seat preparing for day court, before one of my little ponies comes up to me Clover Field my assistant after giving a short bow she speaks.

"Good morning your majesty."

"Same to you Clover."

She gives a quick nod and floats a clipboard and a package next to her :That's odd, most gifts I get are sorted and checked for danger before I get them:, I do love how much they care I just wish they would worry about me less.

"Clover is that one of the gifts I got, I thought we would only be opening them later after day court, which starts in half an hour?" I asked my assistant.

"You are right, your majesty but after we found out what this package contained, we thought it best to get it to you as fast as possible," This caused me to grow concerned.

"Is it something dangerous?"

"No, it's just the value of the package that's a concern," This answer makes me confused.

"Well don't keep me in suspense,"

"Well at first the guards didn't know if it was real but after getting an expert to inspect it, who confirmed that it's all real," She moves the package to me, the outside being basic cardboard with the top loose, as I open the box, I see several simple wooden boxes and a note laying on top of them, I picked up the small note while reading it.

May this serve you well princess signed Shade Evergreen that was all nothing else just some nice words and a name, I move the note to the side and grab one of the boxes before opening it, I have to struggle to keep my face neutral as the box is filled to the rim with a tea I recognize well having enjoyed it greatly in the past on the rare few occasions I've had it, blood leaf tea.

I turn back to Clover "How much is in these boxes?"

"All the boxes combined have roughly twenty pounds in total."

This time I can't keep my shock off my face :TWENTY POUNDS!! The herb sells for hundreds of bits per ounce: .

"How?"

"We don't know your majesty, all we found out was the sender's name, one Shade Evergreen, and where they sent it from one of the post offices in Canterlot"

"Hmm, that's not a name I recognize."

"I'm having some ponies looking into it but that could take a few days."

"That's fine I do wonder how they got so much though?" I take a moment to cast a spell seeing the time, day court starts in a few minutes.

"Well please keep me informed on what you find." I take some tea out of the box and summon a small jar to put it in before moving the box to a safe place. "And please have some tea made for me," I ask Clover as I pass her the jar.

"Yes, your majesty." She then walks away to deliver the tea leaves as I prepare for day court, after a few minutes ponies start filling the throne room along with Clover holding a silver tray with my tea set on it, I take a moment to sip some, tasting the light lemon undertones and the feeling of my magic refilling, :Shade Evergreen I wonder, who are you?:

Author's Note

[ if you've read this far thank you :D ]

Chapter 9

It's been a few days since the summer sun celebration, and I received a letter today that has the royal seal on it, it seems I've gotten Celestia's attention, and after popping the seal open and opening the letter I started to read it.

Dear Shade Evergreen, first I'd like to thank you for your lovely gift, I rarely get to enjoy this type of tea and that's a shame as It's one of my favorites, I'm writing this letter to invite you to the palace gardens for tea on Jun 30 at three in the afternoon, I hope to see you there, show the guards this letter and they will let you into the palace grounds. Signed princess Celestia.

In all honesty I should have been expecting something like this, Celestia seems like the kind of pony that likes meeting somepony in person, so here I am standing in front of the palace at two forty in the afternoon on a Sunday ironically enough, she must really want this meeting as she even got the library to give me the day off work.

As I approach the gates one of the guards stops me "State your business?" they demand.

"I'm here for a meeting with the princess and I have an invitation," I say while holding out my letter, the guard takes the letter from me and starts reading it, and after a moment they wave another guard over "he's here for a meeting with the princess, escort him to the gardens" the other guard nods.

"Please follow me sir," I nod and we start making our way through the palace heading towards the gardens, after a few minutes we make it to the gardens just on time for my tea party, as we approach the gardens a complex web of hedge walls separating small gardens and sitting areas with benches and fountains, we move through the maze-like gardens, the guard taking several turns and at one point I'm pretty sure walking us in a circle before we finally arrive.

As we pass through an archway covered with flowering vines, we enter a small walled-off area with several guards standing along the sides, and in the center lying down in front of a table is Celestia herself, after we approach the table me and the guard bow to her "your guest has arrived princess."

"Thank you, you can leave us" The guard nods and leaves us alone standing with the other guards around us., Celestia now staring at me with a soft smile on her face, "Hello Mr. Evergreen, it's nice to meet you, thank you for coming."

"And thank you for inviting me princess" I say trying to keep my voice steady and not let my nervousness show as she gestures for me to sit.

"Before we start, I'd like to thank you for the gift," She takes a sip of tea from her cup "It's not often I can drink it and as I said in my letter to you it's one of my favorites."

"No problem princess to be honest the reason I sent it to you is because I thought you'd get more use out of it than me I can only drink so much after all," I pause for a moment as she moves a cup of tea over to me and I take a sip of the blood red tea, "Although I'm guessing that you're curious about where it's from?"

She takes a moment to drink the last of the tea in her cup before answering my question, "Straight to the point then? Yes, that was the main reason I asked you to meet me," I lift my cup to take a sip, "and I'd also like to hear the story behind that, if that's ok with you."

She seems to have noticed my TK field "Well for the first thing it might be best to show you, if that's alright with you princess?"

She nods "That's fine."

After she agrees I take a small bag of seeds and a small pot of dirt out from my saddle bags and place them on the table in clear view, Celestia raising an eyebrow at my choice of items and also not having used my hooves to take them from my bag, "So that's what your doing I must say I don't think anypony I've met has ever really tried to use their magic like that."

I pause at this "Really I'd think you'd have met at least one other pony that thought of the idea?"

She lets out a soft chuckle "Yes you'd think so, but to my knowledge I haven't, Do you mind telling me how you accomplished it?"

Hearing her question, I stopped setting up my demonstration to answer, "Well, when I was young around six or seven, I think, I saw one of the other ponies my age, a unicorn holding something with their magic, and a thought came to mind, I don't even really remember why I had the idea in the first place, but I thought that if a unicorn could lift something with magic and I had magic to pick things up why couldn't I do the same and float them too, so after that I'd spend hours practicing trying all kinds of things and after a few months I succeeded," I stop to drink some tea to wet my drying throat.

"I presume you couldn't lift much at the start?" She asks as I drink my tea.

"You'd be right princess, at first I could only lift pebbles and twigs a few inches away from me, but with time and practice my weight capacity and range increased."

Celestia now had a much more pronounced smile on her face, "It's rare to find a pony that experiments with their magic, most don't seem to have the motivation, what's the most you can hold now? if you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all princesses right now I can hold around three hundred pounds at ten feet, although after that how much I can carry decreases the further away it is, and I've found that recently its growth has leveled out."

"That's very impressive for a pony your age, most unicorns can only lift one hundred or so when they are adults."

"Thank you, princess, I also brought my notes on what I remember and what I have found out through the years," I say, bringing a neat stack of papers out of my bag and passing them to her.

The smile she's had throughout this conversation grows bigger showing a bit of her teeth, "Thank you" she says looking through some of the notes, and after a few moments she stops and looks back to me, "This is well made and very nicely done, do you mind if I give this to my researchers to study?"

"Not at all princesses there are yours to do what you want with" She nods before motioning a guard over and giving him my notes.

"You can continue" I nod and take one of the seeds I brought with me before pushing it into the soil, after I cover the seed with dirt, I place a hoof on the side of the pot and close my eyes to concentrate, reaching out with my magic I start growing the plant, its red sprout pierces the soil slowly reaching higher as small red leaf's grow and branches split as the plant continues to grow.

As the plant increases in size it starts to expand outwards and rounds out forming a small red bush in the pot, I open my eyes to look at Celestia's reaction and I've never seen her with a bigger smile before, and that includes in the show, after a moment of staring at the newly created plant she speaks excitement clear in her voice.

"It's been a very long time since I've had the pleasure of seeing somepony use life magic, it's a rare thing to witness even for me, you've been making the tea yourself then, where did you get a blood leaf tea bush from? Most that are found are picked clean or protected from poaching."

"A flower shop," I answered deadpan.

"Truly?" she asked with a humorous expression on her face.

"Yes, I originally went to buy some flowers to train my life magic and ended up buying a small bush of it from the owner, she didn't even know what it was, I was curious and she sold it to me with two other flowers for ten bits, and after a few days of searching, I found out what the plant was and did."

"You bought one of the most valuable herbs in Equestria for ten bits at a flower shop" her voice filled with mild disbelief, after a moment of silence, she asks a new question, "How did you unlock your affinity? The spell isn't something most can cast."

"I used a gem and enchanted it to hold a reserve of magic."

She nods "Many do the same, I presume you practice runic magic then?"

"Yes, it's actually how I gained my cutie mark."

"Good I find most don't use that branch of magic sadly, I must say for one so young you've learned much, I am curious what other affinities do you have? Or was life the only one?"

I took a moment thinking if I should answer or not but after some thought I decided that it's probably a bad idea to lie to the princess, for all I know she might be able to tell if I'm lying, "I do have one other affinity, the problem being that there's not much I can use it for as I don't even know how to unlock it let alone use it," But to answer your question princess I have the space affinity."

All at once I see her face shift through expressions first shock then joy and finally understanding mixed with sadness, "I see, That's an affinity that I haven't seen in a very long time, I will be honest with you, I don't really know if you can use that affinity even, I only know a few space spells myself and the only other pony I've ever met that had that affinity was never able to do anything with it."

I take a moment trying to look somewhat disappointed, it wasn't too hard as I was at least hoping she might know something to help me use my space affinity, but that just means that I'll have to do it on my own as best I can.

"That's fine princess I still have the life affinity after all and that's proving useful enough."

After my words, she regains her smile, "It's good to have some optimism, I feel most tend to get caught up in what they don't have instead of what they still have," There're a few seconds of silence, "Moving on, what are your plans for the future?"

"Most likely? The same as it's always been apprenticing at the library continuing to learn magic to research and experiment with."

"Really? That's all? I would think you'd want to become a researcher, the notes you gave me alone are probably enough to secure you a job and some notoriety with others."

"Well to be honest I'm not the kind of pony that likes attention, and while my current apprenticeship isn't glamorous, I enjoy it, and to be blunt I just don't like the idea of fame, I much prefer my quiet life as it is, that's also the reason I never sold any tea."

Hearing my answer, her smile fully recovers, "Well, sadly we're almost out of time and I have duties to attend to soon, but if you don't mind, I'd like to ask a favor from you?"

"Sure, princess what do you need?"

"Would you like to send letters back and forth?" She lets out a small laugh at my surprised face, "I enjoyed our talk and hope to do so more in the future if that's alright with you?"

"It'd be an honor princess."

"Thank you., and have a good day Mr. Shade," she stands up picking up my plant "A guard will show you out" A guard moves to stand not far away from me.

I nod "Thank you as well princess and same to you," once again following a guard through the gardens and palace before we return to the gate, as I walk home I think about the conversation I just had.

Well, that wasn't so bad if nothing else she's nice, it's kind of odd now that I think about it, I'm going to have to go back to work tomorrow like this didn't happen, as I reached my room and took a shower, I couldn't help thinking I forgot something.

After eating dinner, I prepare for bed before a thought strikes me :she stole my plant!!!:.

Author's Note

Thank for reading

Chapter 10

Jul 17 Wednesday, it's been a little over two weeks since my meeting with Celestia and she's sent me a letter, mostly about the research I gave her and some suggestions for books to read. and oddly enough a few really mundane things, she asked me what my favorite food was, I didn't really know how to answer that, so I just sent a letter back answering all her questions, even the food one, and thanked her for the book suggestions.

I mean what else am I supposed to do? Not answer the ruler of the country I live in when she sends a guard to your door with a letter and a request for a response, I wrote a letter before giving it to the guard, the letter also had a mailing address to send letters or packages too, but after that I got back to my plan for today.

I'm going to be doing some enchanting and experimenting, that's why I'm heading to the markets today, I'm going to go gem shopping, unlike last time I'm not looking for a large high-quality gem but several smaller ones at least that's the plan, to explain why I need to explain how linked enchanting works.

When you enchant something with a spell, you're essentially binding it to the object of your choosing, this process doesn't leave any physical markings on the object itself, the only difference is the magic being bound to the object, a good example of what I'm talking about is my stove, the metal ring that heats up what your cooking is enchanted with and how much heat it gives is controlled by a metal dial.

But how are the metal plate and dial connected? There's nothing behind the dial itself and the plate can be removed for cleaning so how does the dial control the heating plate and how is it powered? The power is easy to answer as when you enchant something the number of spells you put on any one object is limitless.

Any object can hold as far as I know unlimited spells, but if you did do that it would be both pointless and dangerous as while you can put as many spells as possible on an object powering them is another matter entirely, most objects depending on what they are made of can handle different amounts of magic and if you exceed that limit the object will start to break down and self destruct.

But back to how the stove is powered, enchantments can use any type of magic as a power source, so the enchantments on the stove are made to absorb magic from around it And this will work with most basic spells but for something more complex there is simply not enough magic to fuel the enchantment in the environment, so most use gems because for their size they have the best weight to energy capacity.

On to the other question of how the plate and dial are connected, well, that's where the linking spell comes in, the spell itself is fairly complex but still easy enough for me to cast, the spell's effect is to link two or more enchantments together, the spell itself only acts as an on and off switch with varying degrees of both as an example if 0 is off and 1 is on I could use either of these or any in between.

The stove has an off position that being 1 and several other options being so if I wanted something halfway in between I'd use 0.5 this means that you can control the enchantments output to a limited degree, and the spell can also be linked to as many enchantments as you like but maintaining the link takes a very small amount of magic, the more links you have the higher the magic drain and if it exceeds what the environment has, or the power source can provide the links will degrade and fail.

As I walk through the markets, I walk to the edge and find what I'm looking for, sitting on a mat in between two stalls I see a gray diamond dog surrounded by several bags as they sort gems, one thing I've found surprising is that most ponies don't buy from the diamond dogs.

Apparently they are considered untrustworthy rumors of them being thieves because of other packs stealing from travelers, much like the show although I haven't heard anything about kidnappings.

As I approach the diamond dog, they look at me for a moment before some recognition shows on their face, "Hey I remember you, you bought a large ruby a few months back."

"Yes, I came to see if you had a few small rubies, preferably cut like a cube?"

They start looking through their bags and after a moment placing three small rubies half an inch in size on the mat, "These are all I have for rubies, but I do have more sapphires in this cut if that will work?"

"Let me see" They nod before going through their bags again before placing six more sapphires all the same size as the rubies.

"How much for each?"

"Twenty each but I'll drop it to eighteen if you buy three."

"Make it fifteen and I'll buy them all" Their face morphs looking shocked at my offer.

"Deal!" I nod and pass him one hundred and thirty-five bits in total and wait as they count them and after a moment they nod, and hand me my new gems, "Pleasure doing business with you," They have a large smile on their face.

"Same to you."

I spend some time looking through the markets and after a while I find what I'm looking for, a small knife made for wood carving, after that, I started walking back to the library to return to my room, after making it to my room I place the gems on my desk and move over to my window, I take a pot that I emptied earlier and also move it to my desk, I also grab a blood leaf tea seed.

As I sit in front of my desk, I place the seed inside the soil of the pot and start to grow it, but unlike the other times I've done this I try to control how it grows by forcing it to not grow any leaves and trying to grow the main trunk of the bush as thick as I can.

After a few minutes I have a weird-looking bush, it has no leaves or branches, only a single stick two inches thick and a foot long, I use my new knife and cut the stick at its base before moving the pot back to the window, I move over to my sink and hold the stick over it and focus using my control over plants to try and remove as much water from the stick as I can trying to dry the wood out.

This process is difficult as it requires complete concentration on my task and after two hours, I'm finally done, as for why I'm going through all this trouble is that to run my experiments I'm going to need a material that can conduct a decent amount of magic and the easiest is the blood leaf tea as the high content of life magic makes the plant strong and its wood durable.

It also means that I can just make more if I destroy what I'm using, as I take my newly dried stick over to my desk, I use my knife to remove any bark on the wood leaving only a solid wood stick, the wood itself is a light color much like cedar with thin strips of red going through the woodgrain much like veins, I start by cutting a small one-inch piece off from the stick with my knife.

This takes me half an hour and after that I start slowly whittling it down over the next few hours, as the sun sets and my room is engulfed in darkness, I grab a candle and light it with the candle flame spell before continuing my work, after my carving I'm left with a small flat wood square as close as I could get it to match one of the gems in size.

After finishing this I grab one of the rubies and start enchanting it to hold magic along with a spell to absorb the magic from the environment around it placing one and then the other and finally a spell to activate the link when you tap the ruby, this spell is very simple it's only prepose being too open and close a link when you give it the desired input, which I've set to tapping the ruby two times, after a few minutes I'm done, and I have a ruby with a small glowing center, this crystal holds much less magic than the large one I have but that's ok I don't need much magic for this.

After I finish the ruby, I start on my piece of what I'm calling bloodwood, I'm going to enchant it with a light spell I've modified for this enchantment, the normal light spell uses symbols and numbers, but this one uses only one symbol as a base while the rest is just numbers so its magic cost is almost half the original cost while being twice as bright.

I enchant the piece of wood with my new light spell and test it for a moment, the spells light easily overpowering the candle on my desk, after making sure it works as intended, I start casting the linking spell and after drawing the runes I draw the number 1 inside a blank spot in the matrix to set the parameters for power output, the spell creates a small white string made from magic coming from the center of the matrix that with some concentration I can move, I move one end to the ruby and the other end to the small wood piece and after a moment the link settles into place before vanishing.

I wait a few minutes for the link to stabilize and start pushing magic into the ruby filling it halfway and taking most of my remaining magic, as I set the ruby down on my desk, I place the wood piece next to it, and after tapping the ruby twice I open the link between them allowing the magic to transfer into the wood piece.

After a second the wood piece starts to glow decently bright lighting up my room in white light, I check to see if there are any problems, and seeing none, I place the wood piece under my bags placing them on top of the wood piece to block the light, my main experiment here is to see if I can make a magic light last for several hours.

The reason being that most in Equestria like I did tonight use candles to light their homes at night, this is because while the light spell isn't hard it does take a surprising amount of magic to maintain mostly because it uses so many symbols in the spell, this means that buying a magic light that can recharge and still lasts for a few hours takes a large and expensive crystal and is out of reach of most ponies.

But a smaller one like the ones I bought today would be while still expensive for most ponies it would be within reach, my hope is to make it last a few hours at least so it can be used by anypony for lighting If I'm right and my new spell has enough of an efficiency boost to let the small gem last a few hours.

But for now that's tomorrow's problem, I'm taking my shower and going to bed.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading my mess of a story

Chapter 11

July 18 Thursday, as I get out of bed, I make myself some tea to start the day off, after pouring my tea into a cup I start checking my things, first the plants, one empty pot from last night, three with blood leaf tea plants, one false daisy and finally my gripping vine.

After giving them water and some soil I decompose the used plant from yesterday and move it to my desk, I move my bag and see the piece of wood still glowing, I quickly cast the temporis spell checking the time just under eight hours since I activated the enchantment, and the ruby is almost empty with only a tiny flicker of magic left in the gem.

I tap the ruby twice, turning off the light and placing the ruby out of the way to let it slowly recharge over time, it seems my experiment was a success, and the spell is stable, after that I head to breakfast deciding to skip my morning run and start my workday early.

several hours later

After my workday ends, I head back to my room and check on the ruby seeing it's a third full, it's been around eight hours since I turned it off, which means that it would take around a full day to charge, and last around sixteen hours when in use, I start making another magic light, this one is the same as the last only using a sapphire instead of a ruby, as for why I'm making another magic light just like last night is to send it to Celestia.

After my meeting with Celestia and thinking some more about how I want to help in canon, I decided that I'm going to focus on being support for the main cast, my plan is to make either spells or enchanted items to help them accomplish their goals easier while also making things to help Equestria at large.

I'll be doing this by making things like this simple light, right now, many ponies don't have access to a reliable source of light and after dark mostly use candles and fire in general, but this light wouldn't be that expensive for the vast majority of ponies, giving them a stable and reusable source of light after nightfall.

The only real problem being that I can't really sell my creations, I simply don't have the time to do so in between learning new things and my apprenticeship, but there is a certain princess who likes to improve her little ponies' lives and who I can trust to not take advantage of others.

So, I'm going to send this and any future inventions to Celestia as she will probably know how best to sell and use what I make, so today I'm sending this second magic light to her with a letter that has instructions and all the spells used including my new light spell.

With this in mind, I start by carving a new wood piece, the process going faster now that I've had some practice with the carving knife, I finish after two hours, then I enchant the sapphire, layering the spells into the gem, and finally linking them.

After I'm done, I rest for a while and write a letter to Celestia adding the spell matrix's drawn on paper to the pages before grabbing my bags and the new magic light and leaving my room, as I walk to the same post office I used last time, I enter the post office and head to the counter.

A gray unicorn sitting behind the counter speaks up "Hello sir what can I help you with?"

"I need a small box, and I need to ship something along with a letter to the same place," They nod and reach behind the counter pulling up a small box.

"Will this work?"

"Yes, do you have any padding?"

"Yes, sir we do" They reach under the counter again and pull out what looks like scrap paper before filling the box and passing it to me along with a weight sticker with a spot for an address and the sender's name.

I fill out both and place the magic light into the box before closing it and passing it back to the mail pony with the letter, they look at the sticker before nodding and taking both, "That will be five bits please."

I pass them the amount and leave the office before heading home.

pov shift to Celestia

I sip some of my tea enjoying the taste, I'm taking a break before lowering the sun and raising the moon, as I drink my tea, I see Clover enter my room with a letter and a small box, I raise an eyebrow at this as very few ponies are on my mailing list, so I have to wonder who it's from.

"Princess, I have a letter and package from Shade Evergreen for you," Clover says in a happy voice as always.

I smile, it seems that Shade has sent me something again, I wonder if it will be as interesting as last time, "Thank you, clover."

I grab the letter and package before opening the letter and reading it.

Dear Princess Celestia, I'm writing to you to give you an invention I've made enclosed is the spell matrix and a list of materials required, the second part of this letter contains a brief description of the item, thank you for your time and have a good day princess. Signed Shade Evergreen

I smile at this, the letter is short but from my time talking to the colt he seems like the type of pony to speak bluntly, I open the second part of the letter and inside are five spells written out on paper along with instructions.

Enclosed are all the spells used in the enchanted object I've sent you, the enchanted object I've sent you is a magic light made by linking a piece of wood with a modified light spell I made, to activate the light simply tap the gem twice, Its reserve will last around sixteen hours and it takes a full day to recharge, the reason for sending it to you is that I don't really have a use for more than one and you will probably know best what to do with it.

After finishing the second letter I flip through the papers, most are spells I recognize the enchantment spell along with the linking spell, the third is a magical reservoir spell, and the fourth is to absorb magic around it, these I know remembering when they were created, but the last one is new to me, It's the basic light spell, just heavily modified, It's almost all numbers only use one symbol for its base.

The spell work is impressive, I've made my share of spells, and this one is well done, I've seen far worse spells from much more experienced magic users in the past one, so young making something like this is definitely noteworthy, the other thing is bringing a large smile to my face.

I myself have tried to find a good light source for my ponies but most simply weren't viable, being too costly for most of my ponies or too difficult for mass production, but now it seems I've been given a solution to this long-standing problem, I open the box and inside I find a small gem with an even smaller piece of wood, I gently tap the gem twice and see the piece of wood light up and start glowing.

After turning off the light I pass the spell pages and magic light to Clover, "Take the gem and wood piece to the researchers, tell them to test it thoroughly, and send the pages to the scribes to add to the library" She nods.

"Good night princess."

"Same to you Miss Clover," I watch her leave with the box and pages, :I really should think of a way to thank that colt:.

time skip

Aug 13 Tuesday, it's been almost a month since I sent Celestia the magic light and the next day I received a thank you letter from her, and only a few days ago I received a package and a letter, the letter was about the Grand Galloping Gala on August 21, and the package had a few rare books on life magic and one on enchanting, along with an invite to the event itself and her asking me to attend.

So, here I am on my day off shopping for a decent suit, and for the first time I'm going shopping in the upper part of the city, as I walk the street, I look at several shops until I find one that looks good, as I enter the shop, I see an elderly stallion unicorn cutting some fabric.

"Hello sir, what can I help you with?" the elderly pony asks his voice, holding a high-class feel to it.

"I'm looking for a good suit preferably in black or a dark gray," He takes a moment to look at me then the old stallion nods.

"I can certainly help you with that sir please follow me," He starts walking deeper into the shop with me following him, we pass a few clothes racks and cloth rolls before making it to the backroom, inside the room was a small round raised platform.

"Please stand on this sir while I take your measurements," I nod and stand on the platform as the old stallion spends the next few minutes measuring me, after a few minutes he's done.

He takes a moment to write down a few numbers, "I have something in your size sir, but it is gray."

"That's fine," He nods and we move back into the shop front, he looks through several racks before bringing a plain gray suit to the counter.

"That will be fifty bits sir," I nod and pass him the bits before he passes me a bag with my suit in it.

I leave the shop and start walking home to put my new suit away, after getting home I put the suit away and head back out, I'm heading back out to the city as I want to test some spells so I'm going to the range I used last time, after reaching the range I rented a room for a few hours.

I'm here to test something with my TK field, my field has basically stopped growing in strength and I don't seem to be able to increase my control either, so I'm done training it now but there is one thing I thought of trying not long ago and I want to test it, my idea is simple, I want to try crushing something.

When I use my field, I normally try to be gentle with the things I hold, but this time I'm going to do the opposite, I walk onto the field and create some ice like the last time I was here, I create a small ball of ice and hold it in my field and try to focus on my field trying to generate as much pressure as possible onto the ice ball.

After a moment I hear and see the ball crack, a small crack running through it and seeing my successes, I continue trying, after a few hours of practice, I stop having broken several shapes made from ice, I made some progress, but I don't think this is viable as even with my years of practice with my TK field the effect seems weak, so I don't think I'll be training this as it won't be very useful to me.

After cleaning up and leaving the range I check the time and see I still have time to do anything I like, so I walk to the park and sit on a bench before pulling a book and quill out of my bag along with some ink and start drawing the view in front of me.

I spent three hours drawing a decent sketch of the scene, seeing the time, I started to walk home, and after making it home I closed my door and decided to treat myself and make some pancakes for dinner, I grabbed my ingredients and started cooking using my field to cook them almost perfectly golden brown.

After I finish cleaning, I make some tea to go with my food and lay down on the floor with my plate of pancakes and cup of tea, I eat while reading my silly crime novel, and after I finish, I clean my plate and cup before showering and heading to bed, same as always.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading my stuff :D

Chapter 12

Aug 21 Wednesday, today is the Grand Galloping Gala and I'm cleaning myself up for the event, I tied back my mane after combing it and made sure to clean myself thoroughly and used some lavender soap to smell decent, and put on my new suit, the suit gray is fairly plain looking but I like it.

After some time, I leave the library not wanting to be late, as I approach the large building the gala is held in, I wait in line for a while, twenty minutes later I'm passing my invite to a greeter and after they look at it, I'm let inside, as I enter the lobby, I see a mass of many different ponies talking with each other some dancing to music being played by ponies on a stage, while some were sitting at tables eating many types of food.

And walking around the room talking with many different ponies is Celestia, I'm not one for parties but I have been to a few larger ones in my past life although I don't really know what to do, so decide to go sit down at one of the tables and enjoy some fruit salad the mix of fruits giving a pleasant taste, "Oh, it's you."

The voice startles me making me jump in my seat, I turn to the voice to see Twilight standing next to me, :I really need better awareness of my surroundings: her hair is tied back much like mine, and wearing a dress, "I remember hello I don't think we ever properly introduced ourselves."

She looks a bit embarrassed "Ya sorry about that my brother had an important meeting to get to, but it's nice to meet you Shade right? I'm Twilight."

I give her a nod "Nice to meet you too Twilight."

For a moment she looked hesitant to ask something before speaking up "If you don't mind can I ask you some questions about the field you explained last time?" she asked, her face looking hopeful.

"Sure, why not? take a seat," She smiles and we spend the next hour or so talking going back and forth on various topics, mostly magic and we end up talking about the history of ritual magic.

Ritual magic is a branch of magic that is almost extinct, ritual magic is the practice of drawing out a spell matrix with a magic conducting powder, mostly gem powder on a flat surface, the biggest historical use of this type of magic is when ancient ponies used it to raise the sun and moon.

Ritual magic works by combining the magic of several individuals into one spell matrix allowing them to cast a much more complex and powerful spell, but the downside is that by combining the magic you reduce control and with that the efficiency of the spell by a massive amount meaning that to cast the spell requires up to ten times as much magic while also making the resulting spell much less stable.

The reason this branch of magic is almost gone is because of the invention of the magical reservoir spell, it was invented around the year 200, and before the invention of this spell there was no widespread way to stockpile magic for later use, so as the spell became part of everyday life for ponies' ritual magic was slowly forgotten.

Our conversation is interrupted by Celestia as she lays down next to us grabbing some cake before greeting us, "Hello, I hope the both of you are enjoying the gala."

I nod to the princess "I am princess, you?"

"Very much so I always like the gala, But beyond greeting you two I wanted to talk to you Mr. Shade," I looked up to her before placing my food down and giving her my full attention.

"Yes princess."

"First I'd like to once again thank you for the gift," I nod to her, "And this time I have a gift for you," Both me and Twilight look curiously at her.

She takes a letter from under her wing seemingly from nowhere "This is for you although I think it best you open it at home and enjoy the gala for now."

I take the plain white letter from her and place it in my suit, "Thank you princess."

"No problem, now did I hear you two talking about ritual magic?"

We spend the next half hour talking about magic, all of us going back and forth and after a while Celestia leaves to attend to other guests, leaving us to talk again as we spend the rest of the gala in conversation, but after another hour she leaves heading home with her family.

Not having anypony to talk to I decide to leave and head home, I make it back to my room take off my suit and place the letter on my desk before showering after drying myself off I sit at my desk and open the letter, as I read the letter my eyebrows rise before my mouth falls open.

The page contained the number to a bank account in my name, along with the plans for the new magic light that's going to be sold by the crown and select merchants with help from various merchants and crafts ponies around Equestria to help in the production and sale of them.

This means that the new magic light is going to be sold all over the country, and as the inventor of the magic light, I'm entitled to two percent of ALL sales to be deposited into a bank account in my name, I'm about to have a lot of bits, knowing Celestia I really should have seen this coming.

Well, if nothing else I won't need to work another day in my life although I'll probably still work at the library to maintain some form of cover, many would question a young colt with no family and background having enough money to not need to work and I feel I would get bored with that much free time.

The good news is that in a few weeks I won't have to worry about affording materials for experiments and research but for now it doesn't change much as they won't even start selling them for several weeks and right now all I want is my bed.

time skip

Aug 30 Friday, I'm eating lunch with Blaz and Daisy like most days and suddenly Daisy asks me "Hey shade I'm going to an auction later and have a second invite you want to come?" I pause not expecting such an odd question.

"You go to auctions?" she nods before holding up a silver bracelet I see on her foreleg sometimes.

"Yup that's where I got this, normally I'd ask Blaz, but he doesn't have enough spare bits to go this time, so I thought I'd ask you," I spent a few moments absorbing her answer.

"Well, what's at these auctions?"

"Lots of things but this time I heard that the auction has mostly parts from magic creatures," That got my attention as most magic creatures have odd and unique properties, right now, I have a good number of bits stockpiled and when the new magic lights are released, I'll have a lot more.

So, after some thought I agreed "Sure I've got nothing better to do today."

"Thanks, these auctions can be so boring it's nice to have company for them."

"No problem, what time is it?"

"It's at seven so how about I come over and get you at six?"

"Sure" I agree, we finish our lunch and go back to work, after work I take a shower and then do some light reading.

I turn my head as I hear a knock on my door and after opening it, I see Daisy, "Hey, are you ready to go?"

"Yup," I grab my bags and we leave the library heading to the upper part of the city we make our way through the market district we come to a large building with several ponies heading in guards checking invitations to the auction, we approach the entrance and Daisy shows them the invite she has, and they let us through.

We move through the entrance and enter the auction house we go to the front desk, and I'm given a paddle with the number 327 on it along with a mask and full body cloak, I turn to Daisy, "Is this really necessary?"

"You'd be surprised how often others try to steal something from others, I've seen it happen three times and all failed but it still happened," I look a bit startled but ponies just like humans have greed and if you're going to do something as stupid as stealing in the capital city where the princess resides you might as well steal something really valuable.

So, I put on the mask and cloak flipping up its hood fully hiding my identity from others, we grab our paddles and make our way deeper into the building entering a large room filled with seats and a stage at the center where we take our seats sitting in the middle rows.

We wait for a while as more and more ponies fill the room until almost all the seats are full, a pony walks on stage his coat is black his mane gray and he's wearing a fine suit with glasses, "Welcome gentle mares and stallions to the silver mane auction house."

"We all know what we are here for so let's begin with the first item for tonight" a mare wheels a glass case with a bag in it.

As the auction started the first few items that were brought out didn't catch my interest most being more trophies than anything, but as the auction continued, I see something that piqued my interest, "Next is something truly unique" the same mare from earlier wheels a glass case with a black egg a little bigger than a chicken egg inside it, "This egg's origins are unknown we don't even know what it is, and we looked, it's been in our collection for several years and hasn't hatched, we'll start the bidding at one hundred bits."

After hearing the auctioneer most don't seem interested in it as most would probably think it's dead having been with the auction for so long, as for me I was very, very interested, my control with my life affinity and my ability to feel life magic isn't that strong having only had my life affinity for a few months but even then, I can feel the life magic radiating from it even with me being so far away I can feel it like I'm standing next to it.

I raise my paddle into the air, placing my bid, "I have one hundred, one hundred going once, one hundred going twice, and sold."

I was surprised nopony even tried to bid against me having gotten the egg with ease, we watched as the auction continued and while there were some things, I would like to buy they were out of my price range, and after another hour the auction finishes, and we move to the lobby again and I am led to another room I pay them and am given my new egg placed in a wooden box.

We talk some as we walk back to the library saying good night to each other before heading to our rooms, as I close my door, I drop my bags and move to my desk excited to see my new egg, I place the egg on my desk and get my first good look at it the egg is black in color so black it seems to absorb a lot of the light around it even when I shine my magic light next to it very little light reflects off the egg.

Instead, I try feeling it with my magic letting my magic wash over the egg trying to feel anything but after a few minutes of nothing I stop, the egg has the densest life magic I've ever felt so dense it's almost hard to look at glowing like a small sun in my magic, I reach out with my magic again trying to poke and prod the egg seeing if I can get any reaction out of it.

After getting no response I try using life magic instead the magic is almost immediately absorbed by the egg seemingly endlessly hungry for more life magic I keep feeding it until I almost run out of magic, I stop and take another look at its life magic its density having increased a small bit I stare at the egg as it seems to absorb even more light now.

I guess I'll take that as a good sign, I place the egg next to my bed stand and move to the kitchen to make myself some food having missed dinner at the library, I grab some squash cut into it, and pulling out the seeds then I cut it into small cubes and throw it into my pan before putting it on the stovetop adding some oil, so it doesn't burn.

I put some salt and pepper on them and cook them until soft with a light crisp, I take them out of the pan and plate them, I take my food and like most nights when I make food I start reading a stupid or silly book, this one about A fillynaping mystery, I finish my food and wash my dishes and move to my bed and convert the last of my magic to life magic and dump it into the black egg after I drain the last of my magic, I lay down and as I fall asleep, I don't notice the egg shake very slightly.

Author's Note

Thanks as always for reading and have a good day.

Chapter 13

Sep 10 Tuesday, it's been almost two weeks since I bought the strange egg and it's done nothing but absorb all the life magic I give it the only other difference is the egg's shell is still getting darker and darker with time.

Beyond that the new magic light was released to the public at large and to say it's been a success would be an understatement.

That's not to say everypony is talking about it and nothing else most simply buy it and are happy to have it, most not caring who invented it or why which works just fine for me.

I've kept up with my normal training and I've been trying to find something new to work on, I have a good number of bits now so I can get a lot more creative with my work, yesterday I realized that all information in Equestria travels through letters and messengers.

There's no way to send a fast message the best you can do is get a fast Pegasus to deliver your message, but in my old world we could talk to each other around the world, and we didn't even have magic just tech and knowhow, so it should be possible here the main problem being that there are no spells I can start with and modify which means I'm going to have to make my own spell for this.

This is a bit of a problem for me as I don't want to release potentially dangerous knowledge into this world, so I probably need to use a symbol as the base and starting point and work from there but that means I need the right symbol to start off from, and the only ones I could find that might be useful was one for sound and the other one is the light symbol that I used in my new light spell.

And after some thought my best bet is the light spell, I'm hoping that I can modify the spell to send a low wavelength of light much like radios from my old world, with that in mind I've modified the spell, this is the easy part the hard part will not be sending the signal but receiving and translating that into something understandable.

I'm going to try to send and receive a signal first, I grab one of my rubies and a sapphire I then place both on my desk and start with the ruby I enchant the gem with the experimental light spell, as I draw the matrix, I fill a blank spot with the number 100.

I don't remember much about radios from my last life, but I do remember the basic idea, a low wavelength of light sent out with something to receive it the really big problem I have is I don't know how that wavelength of light is translated into sound.

The number is to set the specific wavelength to send and receive, originally I wanted to send a message through a linking spell but had to scrap that idea as the further away two linked things are the more magic it takes to keep them connected, I then enchant the sapphire with the same spell as the ruby.

I push some magic into the ruby seeing no difference when it's activated but I feel the magic slowly draining out of the ruby, so I think it's working, I move to the other gem and activate the second part of the modified light spell the part used to receive a signal it's supposed to create a small light from within the gem when it gets a matching signal.

After a moment I see the sapphire light up slightly, after that I move the ruby with me while leaving the ruby on my desk as I move to the other side of my room but as I walk the glow from the sapphire grows weaker with distance, after I reach the other side, the glow stops the sapphire no longer receiving the signal from the ruby.

I expected problems but for it to be so weak that it can't even reach twenty feet, I may have to rethink this, these gems don't hold a lot of magic but to be this weak means something else is going on here, I make some tea and start going through the spell matrix trying to find out what's wrong.

The math is all correct so I can rule that out, the only thing I can think of is the symbol that the spell uses as a base, I start going through the information I have on the light symbol but after going through all my notes and finding nothing, I'm thoroughly stumped.

The spell should work but something is definitely wrong with it, I spend another hour reading through my notes slowly and after I find nothing again, I stop, I rub my tired eyes in front of me and all my notes and after a moment I start putting them away.

Seems like this spell is a bust for now I'll have to read some books to see if I can find out what's wrong, I place my notes back with some disappointment but that's the thing with experimenting not all things work out well, I decide to get some air and leave for the markets to see if I can find anything of interest.

As I walk through the markets, I see many different stalls selling many things and as I move through them, I see a stall run by a species I've seen before but I've never met a Griffin was standing at a stall surrounded by knives and blades, I spend a few moments just staring at them before approaching.

As I walk to the stall, I get a better look at their stock of many different weapons, mostly blades, but I do see a crossbow lying in the back, I reach the stall and start looking at different weapons "Need help finding anything?"

I turn to the voice and see the griffin now staring at me "You have any daggers? preferably with a curved blade and short handle."

They look thoughtful at my request before grabbing various weapons and showing them to me and after a few I see one I like, it's a simple dagger with a curved blade and wood handle in a sheath after looking it over I decided to buy it, the total price for it was fifty bits, after that I continued looking through the markets.

And after a while I don't find anything, I want to and decide to leave, not wanting to go home I walk out of the market and towards the shops this area is still part of the market district, just shops instead of stalls, as I move through the shops, I pass several before I find a garden shop that looks good.

This shop isn't like the flower shop I've been to in the past this shop has many different types of plants and is bigger, so I decide to find some new plants to train with, I enter the shop and see an earth pony mare at the counter, they notice me entering the shop and smile.

"Hello, what can I help you with?" she asks me in a cheery tone.

I spend a moment thinking before answering "What plants do you have with magical effects?"

She raises a brow at my question "I have a good amount although they can get expensive."

"That's fine" She nods and moves through the shop showing me different plants and telling me about them, and after a while I buy two plants that catch my interest, the first is an Iron Oak sapling that is known for having very strong wood but also for growing very slowly.

The reason I bought this is because the wood of the tree is even stronger if it's grown in a place with high life magic the interesting thing about this is that the more life magic around it the slower and stronger it grows, I may not have enough room for a tree but if I try growing the tree very slowly and with a lot of life magic, I wonder what will happen, it also makes acorns like other oaks, apparently they are insanely tough.

The other plant is a Companion Vine, the vine itself is uninteresting in looks just a green vine with tiny white flowers and inedible seed pods despite this it costs twice what the Iron Oak sapling does, what makes this vine so special is that when it's planted it creates and releases amounts of life magic making everything near it grow faster and healthier.

This effect isn't enough to grow something like Blood Leaf Tea, but it is enough to help grow many other plants faster that's also why it costs so much, the Iron Oak costs sixty bits and the vine is double that most who buy these plants are rich and have a lot of space to work with, I may not have much space, but I can control how large the plants get so it should be fine.

Right now, both plants are small the Oak is only a foot tall, and the vine is only sprouting, I buy both along with a large pot and enough soil to fill the pot, and some extra soil for it all combined is around one hundred pounds so it's heavy but only somewhat I start floating everything and leave the shop after paying and head home.

After making it to my room I move my plants around placing my new tree in the left corner of the room to give it some space, I fill the bigger pot with soil and plant the Iron Oak inside the soil then I start giving it life magic and focus on growing it to a small size tree almost reaching my ceiling but not touching it.

After the Oak is a decent size, I grab the Companion Vine and plant it in the same pot as the oak, after planting it at the small tree base, I start growing the vine guiding it to grow up the trunk and then along some low branches before stopping its growth, I wanted the vine for obvious reasons as it will help with all my plants.

As for the Iron Oak, I got it for materials as while the blood wood is strong it's a little soft and has a tendency to split and splinter when being carved making it hard to work with and while Oak does crack it should be much better than bloodwood, that and depending on how much life magic, I use I can get stronger or weaker wood giving me more options.

I start pushing more life magic into one of the Iron Oaks branches trying to keep it the same size as I regrow and strengthen the wood as I do so the branch grows some despite my best to stop it, after some time repeating this, I'm done so I grab my knife and cut the branch off before helping the tree heal the cut wood where I cut the branch off.

I cut the leaves off of the branch along with the unusable wood as I cut the small branches, I noticed how hard they were a half-inch thick branch taking a surprising amount of effort to cut then, after some time, I'm done leaving me with a branch of solid oak I strip the bark next this time my knife is somewhat struggling even with its sharp edge the cuts aren't smooth.

After I finally get all the bark off of the branch, I take it to my sink and start drying it out, even with the practice I've had it takes three hours mixed with breaks to rest and regain my magic my tea helping to speed up the process, but after I finally finish, I have a branch two inches thick on one end and one inch at the other.

I try to cut a piece of wood off of the branch with no real progress as the wood is simply too hard to cut and carve, all cuts I do make are uneven and ruin the wood, in hindsight this is something I should have thought of as for how to fix this the answer is like many things magic specifically enchanting my knife to be sharper.

There is still some daylight left so I leave my room and start looking for books in the library, after checking several sections and a few shelves I find something that will work a spell to make a sword or any other weapon sharper, the spell is rough and not very well made but fairly simple so after two hours of messing with it I get something usable.

After returning to my room, I place my notes on my desk and grab my knife before enchanting it with the new spell after doing so I try to cut the branch again and while it's still hard it's usable now, I should probably make a better spell for this later as while this one works there's only so much, I can do in two hours.

After I cut a piece of the wood off, I put the rest of the branch to the side and focus on the piece I have, I start whittling down the piece of oak cutting until I have a rough cube one inch thick and two inches long, for now, I don't have a use for this but it's big enough to test its properties later.

I spend the rest of my day carving blocks of wood from the branch, after I finish with the branch I stop and put everything away, I move to the kitchen and make myself a grilled cheese with some tea, after finishing my food and checking all my plants I take a shower and head to bed tired.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading and don't be happy.

Chapter 14

SEP 25 Wednesday, it's been two weeks and after all this time I've finally found what is wrong with my spell, to explain I have to talk about the runic language and how it works and why it's used over other languages, the first thing is that the runic language is made up of only symbols.

That may not sound important from a human perspective, but this language wasn't made by humans, the language itself is all different symbols each one meaning a different word as the language doesn't use letters only symbols and nothing else, this is the reason it's used in a spell's matrix as instead of using your limited space to spell out a word in a spell matrix you only need to use one symbol.

The downside to this is obvious as trying to actually use it for anything else is hard as hell compared to a normal language, if you want to read a runic sentence you need to learn all the unique complex symbols to understand anything, this brings me to the other thing about the runic language and also why my spell failed.

The other thing about the runic language is the meaning behind the words, this is why my spell failed as I didn't take this into account when creating the spell matrix, a good example of this is why my spell failed the symbol I used was the light symbol.

When you think of light, what comes to mind for a modern human, that might be light waves along with visible and nonvisible light, but what does a pony think of, well the only thing they really know about light is that when it's there they can see and when it's not it goes dark.

So, when I tried to use a symbol representing the ability to see to make something you can't see the spell worked but was horribly inefficient and even a little unstable, this also left me at an impasse as I can't make this spell with only math without using knowledge from my old world that could be misused.

And I don't have the magical knowledge necessary to create a spell like this without making it use far too much power to be practical, so I'm going to change focus from trying to make this spell to something else as I don't have the skill or knowledge necessary right now.

I'm going to try something simple but practical anti-pest crop protection, that may seem a little out of nowhere but many farms in Equestria have problems with pests that eat and kill crops causing failed harvests mostly because of their lack of things like pesticides and while Equestria and its citizens don't starve it's still a big problem.

With this in mind I'm going to be trying to create some enchantments that will help, and with my new outlook on how to use runes I have a few ideas as while the runes having meaning closes some doors it opens others, like the runic word for protection in the past, I didn't see much of a use for it.

But now I do, the idea of protecting something or somepony is vague but also malleable it can mean protecting a box from being opened or it can mean protecting somepony in a certain area from anything dangerous to them, runes may be vague, but they allow me to give a spell broad instructions for a wide variety of scenarios.

My idea is to use this rune to make the spell slowly freeze anything trying to eat the crops this will kill and slow pests while driving them away and anything larger will flee the cold while any pests big enough to stay warm will be much easier to find and catch.

It will take me a few days to create the spell and even then, I don't know how large I can make the area of effect for the spell, I have to be careful because if the spell takes too much magic to maintain as the more, it takes the bigger the gem needed to keep it active and if it uses too much it will be useless, this is why I'm trying to make it freeze pests very slowly to lower the magical cost for upkeep.

Right now, it's looking like the spell will be very slow it'll be so slow that it would take over an hour to freeze even a slug, but most bugs and other small pests don't like the cold so after a few days any in range of the spell should die off and I'm hoping other bugs won't try to move into the empty area as it's too cold for them.

The other part of the spell I'll have to make is something to keep the temperature from dropping too much as to harm the plants themselves as that would just cause a new problem for the farmers, I'm hoping to have this enchantment use the same type of gem as the light but that's not looking likely right now.

Beyond all that I've been busy testing my new type of wood, the Iron Oak wood is proving to be a good choice as not only is it tough and with a little help from my enchanted knife usable it's also a decent magic conductor not as good as the blood wood but still decent enough, I've also learned that unlike regular oak the Iron Oak wood doesn't crack if it has enough life magic in it when it's being grown.

This makes it a very stable material for magic and regular use, I've run some tests to see what the limits of the wood are and I've yet to find any limit to how tough it can get although it does have a steep magic cost the stronger you make it, the Companion Vine is also proving useful as while it doesn't make magic rich plants grow faster it does help keep them alive in an area without much life magic without me having to help them let me use my magic on other things.

Like the black egg which beyond the amount of life magic in it which is still growing hasn't done anything, the only other difference is its color which at this point absorbs almost all light even when I place a magic light next to it, I can only barely make out some texture and at this point I'm starting to wonder if it will ever hatch.

I've tried looking for any information on the egg but much like the auction house has come up with nothing, I'm also starting to wonder if it's a good idea to let whatever it is hatch but after some thought my curiosity won out and I will keep trying to hatch it, but I will use one of my spare gems to make a small magic shield around it just to be safe.

But today I'm spending some time making a better sharpening spell for my wood carving knife, the one I'm using now was slapped together in two hours from a less-than-perfect spell it isn't that great it works just not well, and if I'm going to be using even tougher Iron Oak wood, I'm going to need something better.

And after a few hours of work, I have a much-improved spell, I grab my knife and undo the enchantment by carefully pulling the spell out of the knife with the counter spell, the enchantment spell binds spells to objects and the counter spell undoes the bindings you do have to be careful though, so you don't destroy the item in the process.

After removing the old spell, I enchant the knife with my new one, I grab a piece of oak to test it on and the knife glides through it like butter offering no resistance and a clean cut, I expected the spell to be better but not to this degree although I made this spell for only me, so I made it with only numbers.

With this new spell on my knife, my carving speed went through the roof, right now, I don't have anything I need to carve but I still have several small wood blocks and I don't really need them, so I grab one and start carving not to make something for a project or an experiment but simply for fun.

And after an hour or so I'm done having carved a small hourglass out of the wood it's simple and crude, but I found myself really enjoying the process, I do many things, but most are projects or learning and training I do have some things that I do for fun but not many and I've been thinking of getting a hobby and wood carving sounds like a decent one.

It's just past noon, so I grab my bags and head for the door, I make my way to the upper city markets looking for a crafts shop or something similar I end up finding a hobby shop so that will have to work, as I enter the shop, I see rows of shelves next to each other all filled with different small tools.

I spend some time looking through the shelves and after some looking, I found the perfect thing a wood carving kit, it's expensive like most metal things as anything made from metal needs a blacksmith to make it, the kit itself has sixteen small different blades along with a beginner's guide to wood carving.

I buy the kit for one hundred and twenty bits before I move onto another shop, this one a blacksmith, I'm here looking for a decent saw to cut up the wood I grow as cutting the thicker branches with a knife won't work well and after buying a basic hoof saw I head back home.

After getting home I lay all my new tools on my desk make some tea and start the process of enchanting all the new blades along with the saw, after I'm done, I grab my new saw and my knife before moving to my oak tree and start by removing the Companion Vine from the tree letting it lay on the ground.

After moving the vine out of the way, I take my saw and start cutting the main tree trunk a few inches from the soil, I fell the entire small tree and moved the fallen tree to the side before cutting off branches from the trunk and placing all the extra bits into the pot.

After some time, I render the trunk down removing all the bark and branches placing them all in the pot, and decomposing it all back into soil before I start regrowing the Iron Oak from its stump, after a few minutes, and adding some more soil from what I bought, I have a new tree that I place the vine back onto.

I take my new small log several inches thick at its base before thinning out quickly to only an inch or so thick, I cut the log down into several wood blocks before stacking them near my desk and placing the scrap wood into the pot, I sit at my desk and start using my new kit to slowly carve down a block of wood.

As I cut small bits of wood off the block slowly with different tools chipping away at the wood for several hours, as the room goes dark, I use my light to continue carving and at this point, I've carved out a rough pony shape it has no detail just a blank wood model with a horn and wings.

The toughness of the wood makes it possible to have a very small link of wood that does not snap or crack while working the wood letting me make wings that hold onto the rest of the carving without it breaking, I'm far from done with it but I have a rough model.

But I have work tomorrow and it's getting late, so I put down my tools down and go to the kitchen making myself a sandwich without meat, just vegetables and some mustard and after enjoying my dinner I take a shower and make my way to bed.

Chapter 15

OCT 15 Tuesday, today I'm at my desk carving my little alicorn model this is the fourth as in the last three I've broken or messed up the carving, I've been carving a lot and I'm having a surprising amount of fun I even bought some wood to make a small shelf to hold my carvings.

Checking the time, I stop carving and spend an hour meditating on the space around me I try to feel the empty space as it moves, I've been doing this for several months now and I've had some small progress in my efforts as I'm now able to vaguely feel the space around me without having to give my complete concentration.

It still takes a massive effort to feel anything, but I can now slow down and try to feel the space around me with more detail than before, along with that I can now vaguely feel when things move, I can only barely feel it but it's definitely there, when I started feeling this, I started moving things around me to train my senses.

The other thing I've been working on is my anti-pest spell and I've made some progress on the part that targets pests, using some bugs and a slug as tests I've gotten the spell to start freezing them it's a little fast for my liking as it drains too much magic right now, but I can work on that and beyond that the spell is looking well within the realm of possibility for me.

It's still fairly early in the day and after my meditation I don't have much to do so I decide to go to the library and find some new books to read, as I walk through the shelves, I pass many different types of books before stopping at the section with plant books.

I grab an interesting-looking book about medicinal herbs before finding a table to read at and settle in for a nice read, after a while I've read through the book, I find several herbs I may want to find or buy as they have some interesting effects, there's one in particular that I really want and that's the White Rose.

The White Rose is much like the False Daisy in that it's almost identical to a normal rose bush, the main difference is in the plant's name the flowers of this rose bush are white and have a magic property the magic they possess is simple in practice but complex in function.

When the white rose is exposed to a cold environment it will absorb the cold protecting the plant from the cold and through an unknown process converts it into ice affinity magic, this is massive as the plant is essentially converting a temperature difference into magic if I could find out how it works, I could make some absurd things.

Even if the process is slow, I can just scale it up to increase the effects, if It's possible to create a spell that does the same as this plant, I could place it somewhere cold and get an increase in magic regeneration for gems and ponies, there are only a few ways that can help somepony regain magic faster and all are very rare.

But objects that regenerate or collect large amounts of magic are even rarer as I can only really think of one and that's the crystal heart and that thing uses the love magic of an entire city for power, so I'm definitely going to see if I can get a White Rose bush for research, beyond that a few of the other plants in this book look rather useful.

As I finish the book on herbs, I wonder what other books I should look for next and I decide on a topic I've been curious about for some time now, illusion magic Is an obscure branch of magic as it uses both high-level math and complex and uncommon symbols, I find a book on it and start reading.

From what I've read from this book and what I've learned while researching other magic, that illusion magic tends to lean towards two paths, the first is physical illusions this type is best described as light constructs creating an illusion around a target, and then there are mental illusion spells this branch is much MUCH rarer as very few even know one or two basic spells of this type.

Mainly because it's illegal to use that type of spell I only know its name because the book I'm reading mentions it in passing, mental magic seems rare in general for this world as I've only found two spells one to help with meditation and the other to help calm somepony down, but beyond that it's one of the branches of magic that's dwindled with time.

After taking some notes I place the book on herbs back and check out the book on illusions before returning to my room, I check on my plants giving the Iron Oak some more soil before I go back to carving, I spend the next hour or so chipping away at the wood trying to be careful not to break this one.

As I carve the pony figure out of wood, I slowly scrape pieces off bit by bit, and after a few hours I have a decent carving of an alicorn it's still a little crude but I'm improving, I place the half-done carving on my shelf and grab the book on illusions and start reading more about them.

Illusion spells seem fairly standard to what you imagine them to be creating things you can see but not touch, a good way to look at this is magic holograms and there are two main ways to go about making an illusion.

The first is creating a spell to show a certain thing like a large beast or monster using math and only a few symbols, this method takes less magic as you're mostly using math to create an image of what you want the downside is that to change it, you'd need a new spell.

The other method is to use mostly symbols and less math this makes the spell much more flexible allowing you to have the illusion be controllable to a degree, the downside to this is the power costs increase exponentially higher with the changes you make but if you have enough magic, you can make just about anything you want.

I look at my gems still having my large ruby along with four small sapphires and one small ruby I had two rubies, but I used one to make a shield around the black egg, I grab a sapphire and place it on my desk and check the book to make sure I have the spell right.

The spell I'm going to be enchanting into this gem is a small illusion spell that lets you draw in a small area, it's only about a foot of space and it only has red, blue, and green to draw with but I'm curious how it looks, and I have a few spare gems, the spell is complex for how little it does, and it takes me several minutes a good amount of my magic and a few attempts to enchant the sapphire.

After I finish, I activate the enchantment and move my hoof and a line made of red light follows it, I spend some time getting used to the enchantment and try drawing with it and after a while, I've made a 3D cube that I can rotate and change as I want, I continue to mess with the enchantment for the next hour drawing and erasing different things.

After I have my fun, I turn the enchantment off and store the gem, I then spend a few moments cleaning up my workspace.

I'm hungry and I don't feel like cooking today so I'm going to a restaurant I found by accident a few days ago so I grab my bag and leave my room, I move through the city and find the place I'm looking for The Cozy Clover.

It's a strange name for a restaurant that serves mostly batponies and griffins, but they do serve fish and I've been looking for a place that sells cooked meat, as I enter the restaurant, I see a pony who greets me "Hello sir can I get you a table?"

"Yes, thank you" They lead me to a table, and I take a seat before they pass a menu to me.

"A waiter will be with you shortly," I nod my thanks and start reading through the menu and after picking what I want I wait a while for the waiter.

The waiter a batpony mare comes up to me "Hello sir what can I get you?"

"A Grilled fish sandwich and some heyfries please," The waiter looks a little surprised at my order but writes it down anyway.

"We'll have that out to you when it's ready" She walks away and goes into the back, and after twenty minutes I have my food placed in front of me and start eating right away the fish is nice and crispy with a lovely sauce that goes well with it, I get a few odd looks from the other ponies in the restaurant.

It's a bit uncomfortable but I can't blame them, it's not often you see an earth pony eating meat let alone enjoying it as much as I am, I take my time eating before I finish and after paying, I leave heading to the park as I want to do some drawing in the clear weather.

I sit on a park bench and take out my sketchbook and start drawing a large tree in front of me slowly drawing its trunk and roots, after getting a decent sketch of the tree I start drawing the background of a few bushes and walkways along with a small pond nearby, But I stop as I hear someponies hoof steps.

I turn to see a pony I recognize and have met in this very park Shining Armor and after walking up to me I greet him, "Hey nice to see you again Shining, how have you been?"

He takes a seat next to me "Same Shade, I've been busy, to say the least I don't think I've had a quiet day for a month at this point" he says back his voice having a tired tone to it.

"What have you been doing if you don't mind me asking?"

"Guard training I've been in a camp for tryouts."

"You're planning to become a guard? good for you."

He nods "Ya I'm excited I start in a few months, but it's just the training that's been a slog and I'm starting to wonder if I really want this."

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," He turns to me and gives me an odd look before chuckling.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect that colt you're just a fountain of wisdom ha?"

"I try," we spend the next hour talking about things mostly work and stupid things like the fact that he likes comics, I swear I mentioned them once and had to stop him after he went on a fifteen-minute rant about a character getting retconned out of the comic he liked, but talking to him was enjoyable.

After a while he had to go, and left the park, I drew for some time before also leaving the park and heading home, after getting into my room, I as always checked on my plants and after giving them water and shifting them around, so they all have enough light.

I sit down at my desk and start working on my pest spell, right now, I'm working on the part of the spell that targets the bugs, I don't want the spell to spread cold over an area but selectively target and freeze pests only, leaving the plant unharmed I've worked out how to target bugs just not how to keep the cold from spreading afterwards.

As I write out math equations, I slowly make small progress in my work, I've managed to get the spell's magic cost down by slowing the freezing effect and I've even gotten the area of effect to a little over an acre of land enough to cover a small crop plot, This won't be perfect but it's far better than nothing, it should be only a few weeks before I can finish and send the spell to Celestia so she can get some ponies to test it.

After getting some spell work done, I go through my nightly ritual of showering and going to bed, but right as I'm about to head to bed I see the black egg shake a slight amount, the sudden movement making me think I was seeing things, but it definitely moved, I don't know what's in that egg, but I know now that it's definitely alive if nothing else, I check the shield around the egg and after finding it working correctly, I head to bed.

Author's Note

Thanks as always for reading.

Chapter 16

NOV 22 Friday. As I walk with a book cart I stop and start placing books back into their proper places on the shelf in front of me, as I do this, I pick up three books at a time, after all my training with my TK field, three things at once seems to be the limit of things I can hold at one time.

After emptying my cart, I move back to the sorting room and grab another full cart, and repeat the process again and again, as much as I like working here it can get very repetitive but that's ok, I'm happy with my work as while it's slow and boring sometimes, I enjoy the silence and time to think.

As for what I'm thinking of, well a few things one is my current project, the anti-pest spell, at this point it's almost done I have everything I need, I have all the effects I want to figured out, I just need to combine them into one spell.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the spell work off of my spell gems, but the spell won't require a large gem just a slightly bigger gem a little over an inch as the small gems I have are just under what is needed, still, this means that after I finish the spell, I can just send it to Celestia as she is more than capable of finding a gem to test the spell for any side effects or potential problems that they may cause.

Beyond my spell work, I've kept up with my carving and even practiced some illusion magic, for carving I finally finished my alicorn model it's done, and it doesn't look that bad in my opinion, I'm planning on enchanting it with several basic illusion spells to make it look like Celestia for a hearth's warming gift to her.

I have also for several months now been learning healing magic and after all this time I've finally successfully cast the most basic healing spell that I could find, all the spell does is help speed up the healing of small bruises and rashes, that may not seem like much but considering I've only been learning for a few months and I'm self-taught its some decent progress.

My life magic has had much progress as I can now control the growth of small plants to a vast degree, it's still hard to control large of magical plants as I can only really stop a plant's growth or speed it up, but for small and non-magical plants I can control the growth to a much greater degree.

I can control what parts grow or stay the same and how it will grow in what direction and how far or if I want flowers or fruit, it's still only for small plants like my False Daisy and Gripping Vine but progress is still progress, as for my other plants I've been experimenting with the Iron Oak I've been feeding a good amount of life magic into one branch and taking samples to see its changes over time.

My space magic is about the same no real difference for now, as for the black egg I've seen it shake a few more times and it's still getting darker and at this point it almost looks invisible when in a shadow it might hatch soon but I don't really know with that in mind I've used another gem to shield it just to be safe.

I empty another cart and take it back to the sorting room, I look at the clock on the wall and see it's three twenty-two and my shift is over I let go of my cart and make my way back to my room, after entering my room, I sit at my desk and start finishing my anti-pest spell.

I start with the targeting part of the spell, this piece of the spell works by using the protection rune and having it target any bugs on plants with fruit or grains on them, this leaves the plant unharmed as the spell only targets pests trying to eat the plant and its fruits.

This part of the spell then feeds what is targeted into the next part of the spell, this part freezes bugs that the spell tells it to, over an hour or two the bugs will very slowly start freezing bit by bit until they stop eating the plant or die this means that they still eat some of the plant, but it stops them from doing so until the plant dies.

The spell will also freeze all bug eggs that are laid on the plants, killing them and preventing new bugs from being born on the plants, I have found one problem that I wasn't able to solve for now, the spell doesn't have enough power to go through that much soil meaning that underground bugs won't be very affected by the spell.

So, the spell won't be as effective as I want it to be but it will still help farmers as right now, they have nothing beyond just killing pests with regular methods, and finally, the last part of the spell is its enchantment this part is not really interesting just a slight modification on the preexisting enchantment spell.

I spend over an hour piecing the spell together and making sure it functions correctly and won't fail when used, I grab some paper and start writing a letter to Celestia about how the spell works and what type and size of gem is needed for the spell along with what should be tested.

I finish my letter and copy the spell matrix onto some paper and seal it inside an envelope along with my letter before grabbing my bag and leaving my room, as I step out of the library, I hear the snow crunch under my hooves as I walk, we are well into winter now and the snow is getting thick on the streets.

I walk the streets moving to the post office I've used several times now, I enter and talk to the pony behind the counter going through the process of getting a letter delivered before leaving and moving back outside., feeling the chill in the air I hurry back to the library.

After getting back to my room I curl up in a blanket and read my book on illusions in front of my desk, I want to enchant my wood alicorn carving to be a small copy of Celestia so I'm reading through this book, illusion spells that are static are much easier and take less magic but can take a long time to get right.

I start by hollowing out a small compartment in the wood, I go slow so I don’t break anything and after a while I have a square hole, then I take another piece of wood and carve it down to fit the hole, I enchant a gem with the base spell that sets the Illusions base color.

After layering several more illusion spells onto the gem and spending time adjusting the colors and shapes after a while, I have a rough copy of Celestia, it's not ready yet and I'll need to do a lot of work on it, but it's just a matter of time until I finish, I spend the next few hours adjusting the illusion trying to get it right.

I place the model back on my small shelf and check on the black egg, it's not moving right now it seems to only shake every once in a while, there's no other activity from it, just the odd shake, I make some tea, and start checking my plants to make sure they're all fine.

After I'm done, I settle in for a cold evening with my tea and a good book, I read through some of the book before hearing a knock on my door and after opening my door I see Blaz standing there with a bag, "Hey Shade, how's your day been?"

"Not bad you?"

"Good, do you mind if I come in."

"Sure," I say, moving to the side and letting him inside.

After he enters my room, I close the door and lead him to my table as we both sit around it, "So, to what do I owe this visit."

He looks a little pensive before placing the bag he has with him on the table, "Well, if you don't mind me asking you eat meat, right?"

I raise my brow at the unexpected question as I've told both Blaz and Daisy that I eat meat fairly regularly and while I still share some of my cooking with Daisy somedays, I've offered some of my cooking to Blaz before, but he refused my offer as he said he doesn't like meat so him asking me this is a bit odd.

"I do but why do you ask? I thought you don't like meat?"

He nods "I don't but I'm not asking for me."

His answer caused me some confusion "So why are you here? Do you need something?" as I made some tea for us.

"Well, it's about my son and his wife, they are expecting a foal soon."

"Congratulations," I place the now heated tea, having used a spell to heat the water almost immediately before adding some tea leaves.

He nods "Thanks but they have a problem," I pass him a teacup and he stops for a moment to take a drink.

"Well, less a problem and more just an annoying situation, my son's visiting with his wife and they're staying with me as they live in Cloudsdale, but like I said his wife is expecting a foal and both are pegasi."

He takes another drink "And she'll be due soon, so she's been getting a parity bad craving for meat, so my son went and bought some meat thinking I'd know how to cook it, I don't ."

"So you want me to cook some meat you brought?"

"Yes, I was hoping you could help us."

I smile at him "Sure, let me see what you've brought with you," He nods his thanks before passing me the bag he brought with him, after opening it I see a chunk of fish meat.

"Well first, what type of fish is this?"

"Bass."

I nod "ok any preference on how I should cook it?" He shakes his head "ok then it won't take long to cook so come back in an hour or so."

"Thanks Shade."

"No problem, Blaz," After that, I lead him to my door and see him off before closing my door and heading into the kitchen, I fully unwrap the fish meat and place it down before grabbing my knife and cutting it into several inch thick slabs, I set my pan to heat up and add some oil and after letting the pan get hot, I add the fish.

I sprinkle some salt and pepper on the fish as I cook it and after a while, I turn the heat off and place the cooked fish on a plate before cleaning up, I'm enjoying some tea when I hear another knock at my door, I grab the fish and walk to the door opening it to see Blaz standing there.

I pass him the plate "Here you go this should be decent."

He gives me a nod "Thanks again I hope you have a good night."

"Same to you Blaz," He walks away and I close my door.

I go to my bed and bundle up again to continue reading my book.

Author's Note

Small filler chapter with little plot. I might spend a few days on the next few chapters so expect things to slow down a little. Or I'll binge write who knows?.

Chapter 17

DEC 14 Saturday, it's December now and only a little over a week until Hearth's Warming, and like most ponies this time of year I'm out shopping for gifts, I've finished my gift to Celestia, and I'm planning to send it soon, I also sent her the anti-pest spell a few weeks ago and got a letter back thanking me along with telling me that she will have other ponies test it so it's ready for spring.

It will take a lot of testing and it won't be ready for mass use for a year or two but at least the spell is done, and they will be testing it more thoroughly in spring, as for other gifts I'm out shopping for Blaz and Daisy, now that I think about it, they're really the only ponies I really know as friends, but back to what I'm doing, I'm looking for decent gifts for both of them.

That's why I'm trudging through a few inches of snow in the cold to do some shopping, at this time of year very few if any stalls are out on the streets as Indoor shops cover most business for a few weeks until the snow is cleared, I find my way through the cold streets to find the hobby shop I've been to before.

I know both Blaz and Daisy fairly well, so I know what I'm getting them, daisy likes to paint so I've gotten her some paint and brushes, Blaz though is a little trickier as he likes a few things first but the thing I decided on was puzzles, yup he likes solving puzzles of all kinds so I'm here looking for any I can find.

As I walk the shelves, I find a small cube of wood, a puzzle box, and after a little more searching I find several regular picture puzzles, after paying for my things, I leave to walk back home it's dark the sun has set, so I cast a magic light to follow me as I walk home, I turn down a side street and halfway down it my hoof hits something and I tumble down to the snowy road.

After pulling myself off the street I look back to see what I tripped over, I see something lying on the street covered in snow with only some black sticking out illuminated by my light, I reach out with my field to pick it up but after a moment nothing happens the object remaining unmoved from its spot.

:What?: confused I reached out with my field again trying to move the object but just like before no response, I spend a moment feeling with my magic as if I feel nothing at all, my magic seemed convinced that nothing was there, that it's just empty space, but I can clearly see it sitting there on the street.

It's also odd for something to be on the street as they are cleaned regularly and somepony would notice something black as ink sitting in the middle of the snowy street even if it's partly covered in snow, I look around the street I'm in a small street going in between two buildings it's after dark so I'm alone the only pony in sight.

I focus back on the object placing my things to the side some distance away, I try once again to feel this with the same result as before, I change my approach and try feeling it with life magic only to end up with the same result as before, nothing, all my magic agrees that this thing doesn't exist.

At this point I'm both intrigued and concerned all things have magic, All things except this thing apparently, I don't want to touch whatever this is again, and I can't move it and I'm sure as hell not leaving it here unsupervised, I spend a moment thinking what I could do, I could find a guard to help but not many patrol this late in the day especially in back alley streets.

And that still means I'd have to leave it alone for some time, I think for a moment and decide that I should try everything I can before trying to pick this thing up with my hooves, I spend several minutes trying with my magic to feel anything but always getting the same result, nothing.

I've tried my natural magic along with my life magic so I might as well try space magic, I spend a few minutes getting in the right headspace before meditating in the falling snow, I reach out vaguely feeling the space around me and finally, I can feel this thing,

As soon as I feel it, I get a splitting headache and I barely catch myself from falling over as my head spines, what I felt can only be described as empty space crushed so hard it becomes a solid thing, I can feel the warped and crushed space like a twisted knot in the world around me.

After a while I slowly recover regaining my balance :what the fuck?: I stare at the thing I've found, and I have no idea what to do this thing is beyond my knowledge, wherever this thing came from but I can't leave it here but that means I'm going to have to pick it up, I need to get this to Celestia she's the only one who could help with something like this.

I form a basic plan in my head and empty my saddlebags before reaching out with my magic to move the snow away from the thing, after doing so I get a good look at it, it looks like a normal rock much like obsidian back and jagged, it's a little bigger than my hoof a few inches across at most.

I carefully move my bag to scoop up the unknown stone, after I do that, I grab my things and start moving back to the library holding the bag several feet away from me at all times, when I get home, I place the bag in a far corner and start writing a letter, glancing at the bags to keep an eye on it.

I don't know how long it will take to get a meeting with her especially this time of year but I'm going to try, the post office should still be open I'll have to leave this thing here, but I don't have much other choice as carrying that thing around the city doesn't seem like a good idea.

I write my letter being a little vague but stressed about needing to meet her as soon as possible, after finishing the letter I run to the post office and give it to them and run back to the library, after entering my room, I check to make sure it's still there, seeing that it is.

My letters to Celestia normally take a day or two at most to reach her and I normally get a response back the following day, she should get my letter tomorrow morning so I'm not planning on sleeping tonight, I don't know what this thing is but I'm not sleeping anywhere near it.

I spend the next several hours waiting through the night never taking my eye off the bags for long, it's five in the morning when I hear a knock at my door "It's open come in," I say turning my head to the door, I let out a sigh of relief as a guard enters my room.

"Are you here to escort me?" I ask them.

"Yes, sir I'm to bring you to the palace" I nod and grab my bags keeping them a few feet away from us as we walk, we walk through the streets as the sun rises and the moon sets, after a while we reach the palace and pass the guards, we move down hallways taking several turns before coming to a door guarded by two ponies.

As we pass the door, we enter a room, and sitting at a table in the center is Celestia, who seems to be doing some paperwork, as we approach, she looks up from her papers and turns to us with a small smile on her face, "Hello Mr. Shade, it's a pleasure to speak to you again,"

I bow before approaching the table "Same to you princess, although I wish it were with better news,"

She raised a brow and looked at the bag I still had floating near me "Yes your letter did say you needed to speak to me urgently but not why,"

I nod "It's a little hard to explain, it might be best to just show you, may I?"

She nods and I move the bag to the table and dump the odd rock on the table, it lands with a soft thud, "A rock?"

Seeing her confusion I say "Try and pick it up with your magic princess."

She still looks confused but does as I ask, her horn glows and after a moment of nothing she focuses more, her horn glowing brighter but the rock stays completely still, "Try and feel it with your magic princess" I recommend, I feel the magic in the room increases as she tries to feel the rock.

I see her face shift as she feels the stone with her magic focusing more and more on the rock having moved all her paperwork off the table, "What is this?"

I'm not sure if she was asking me or just thinking out loud but decided to answer anyway, "I know what it is just not how it exists" She turns to me and nods for me to continue, "I found it in the city literally in the street, I tripped over it, and it was just lying there in the middle of the street was a rock, I was curious and tried to pick it up and just like now nothing happened."

"I tried several things but only one thing worked, space magic."

"You can use your space magic" her voice carried some surprise.

"Somewhat, I've found that if I meditate, I can somewhat feel the space around me not by much, but I didn't need to feel much to decide to bring it to you, as far as I can tell this rock is a chunk of space crushed into a physical thing."

She looks just as shocked at this as I was when I found out she looks back at the rock "How does something like this even exist?"

"I have no idea, honestly princess, if I didn't have my space magic this would just be an odd rock, but it does exist."

"Have you touched it again?"

"No, I don't know where that thing came from, and I don't know what it can do so I've left it be until I could bring it to you princess."

She nods "Probably for the best, I will be honest I don't know what to make of this thing, I don't even know how one would go about making something like this, when you used your magic what did you feel?"

"Trying to feel it was less than pleasant, it was like having your point of view flipped upside down inside out at the same time, giving me a splitting headache too."

I see her cringe slightly at that "I've felt something similar in the past, what do you think should be done with it?"

I spend a few moments thinking it over before answering her "I'm not sure but if nothing else it should be placed somewhere secure and safe."

She nods "Yes that is probably for the best, thank you for bringing this to me."

"No problem princess."

She pulled a bag from somewhere and put the rock into it before placing it to the side, "Beyond that there's another thing I wanted to talk to you about."

I nod to her "Well I'd like to thank you again for the new spell, testing is still ongoing and early but it's promising so far" I smiled at that "The ponies working on the tests wanted me to send you a list of questions, and since you're here now do you mind?" she summons a piece of paper in front of me.

I look through most of the questions and there mostly about parts of the spell and a few about the symbols and math used, I spend a few minutes answering what questions I can and adding some notes to others before passing it back to Celestia.

She looks the page over and nods "Thank you, is there anything else you need?"

"Beyond sleep? No princess, I'm fine."

She smiles at me and gives a light laugh "Good then the guards will show you out, have a good sleep Mr. Shade."

I nod getting up and following the guard out of the palace, after leaving I walk home and fall on my bed happy to get some rest.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading, also I'm going to be a bit slower and less consistent with chapters from now on.

Chapter 18

DEC 23 Monday. I sit at one of the tables in the breakroom eating lunch waiting with two boxes for Blaz and Daisy, I see Blaz enter the room with two boxes under his wing, he grabs some food and sits next to me "hey Blaz."

He gives me a smile "Happy hearth's warming colt" he pushes a box over to me.

"Same to you Blaz" I responded by passing his gift over "you first."

He nods and rips open the wrapping paper before opening the box, seeing the puzzles his smile widens, "Thanks colt, it's your turn now."

I look at the box a simple green and red wrapping paper on the outside, I rip the paper off and open the box inside, inside the box is a set of different spices in bottles, I read some of the labels of the bottles, I recognize some of them like ginger and clover, but there's also a few I don't recognize.

I'm smiling at this, cooking is something I really enjoy, and this will make it much more interesting "thank you Blaz."

"No problem colt."

We continue to eat for a few minutes before Daisy enters the room, she also has two boxes with her she sits after getting food, "Hey happy hearth's warming, did you two start without me?"

I chuckle at her "maybe, here" I pass her my gift.

She rips the paper in an exaggerated manner before opening the box and seeing different paints and brushes.

She smiles at me "thanks Shade, here your turn" she passes me a box wrapped in blue paper.

Like last time I removed the wrapping paper and opened the box, inside is a simple copper bracelet with a few topaz gems in it.

"Thank you, Daisy."

"No problem," After that she and Blaz exchange gifts, Blaz got Daisy a camera, that got my interest as while I knew cameras exist in this world, I don't know how they work but it might be interesting to research later.

Daisy got Blaz more puzzles which he seemed happy with "so what are you two going to do with your Hearth's Warming" Daisy asks.

Blaz is the first to answer, "well I'm going to fly to cloudsdale to visit my family."

I think for a moment before answering "not anything really, I guess I'll just spend some time off to relax" I get sympathetic looks from both of them "oh don't give me that look I'll be fine."

"Well, I'm visiting family like Blaz, and come new year I'm going to be busy" Daisy says.

"Why?" I ask.

"January is when the library hires new staff every year, and I have to interview them to see which one's will be a good fit for the job,"

"Do a lot of ponies apply?."

She shakes her head "no but the ones that do are either not cut out for the job or don't know what the job is really like, so unlike apprenticeships where you work until your of age, they work on probation for six weeks to see if they can handle the boring and repetitive work" after that we spend the rest of lunch talking before getting back to work.

A few hours later I got back to my room after work., after closing my door I spend some time making tea, I get time off until the first of January and the new year, so I don't have anything to really do for the next while and I don't really have anything to work on.

I don't know what if anything I should invent and beyond my regular training I'm out of things to do, I don't have any projects and that means I only have research left, so I need something new to work on, I spend over an hour trying to think of something before coming up with an idea.

I decided to create something to help with my plants using a few different spells, specifically water spells, water spells are mostly two types, water creation and water manipulation.

Water manipulation is the branch that focuses on water gathering, things like gathering water from the air around you or plants and soil, this breach sees the most use mostly to gather drinking water, although not on a mass scale as that would cost a massive amount of magic, the upside is if you're gathering water on a small scale it's relatively easy to learn the spells and they don't use that much magic.

As for water creation it uses magic to create water from nothing at all, it's technically a type of conjuration but like all types of conjurations the spells are stupidly complex and summoned things don't last long breaking down not long after use, this also means you can't drink the conjured water.

I have neither the time nor magic capacity to learn water creation so I'm looking into water manipulation instead, I'm going to mess around with this magic a bit and hopefully entertain myself, so tomorrow I'm going to look for books on the subject.

time skip

DEC 28 Saturday. It's been a few days since I've started to look into water manipulation spells, and I've made some small progress, unlike most of the other types of magic I practice water magic is widely used and there's no shortage of spells to learn, I'm spoiled for choice for once, so I had to narrow down what I want.

After looking through several spell books I found one spell that looks good, it moves water to form a ball from the air that can be manipulated it's not terribly complex and I'm only going to somewhat modify it for my use, the only real downside to this spell is that it can take a while to gather the water from the air, the upside is its low magic cost.

I want to take this spell and give it a modification, I want the spell to gather water from a specific area and condense it creating a small area with little to no water in the air, as for why I'd want this it's for my plants, my specialty and expertise are in life magic and plants.

My plants have helped me a lot, so I obviously want more but magic plants are rare and expensive, my problem with my plants is that many plants I want don't grow in equestria that isn't too much of a problem I can still buy them or hire somepony in the future to find them for me.

But even if I get them, If the plant isn't suited to live in the climate it could die, I can use my magic to keep it alive but that means spending time and magic constantly taking care of them, I eventually want a decent collection of plants so the more of them I have to take care of on a regular basis the worse the problem.

The best solution I've found it to create a climate that's as close to the plants place of origin as I can, but this means I need to create an enchanted object with enough magic to keep the artificial climate active at all times, this is why I'm trying to limit the amount of water in the air, if I create the right spell for the enchantment I can make something similar to a desert.

I'm not the only pony who does this ether most wealthy ponies with magic plants have similar enchanted objects, I could buy some enchanted objects instead of making one, but I need to learn more about spell creation and like I said I don't have much to do anyway.

One of the main things I'm going to need to figure out is what to do with all the wastewater generated I'm thinking of collecting it to use for the other plants, I'm also going to need make sure to not remove all the water, so I'll need a way to monitor the levels of water in the air or at least a way to keep track of them.

Modifying the spell to only affect a small area isn't hard and enchanting that spell into a gem is also easy, but finding a way to know how much water needs to be removed is hard, I can use the liking spell but that might not have enough options to work well in this project.

My plan so far is to have three spells in total, the first will monitor how much water is in the air, that spell will feed into the second which will control the finale spell telling it how much water to remove, this should all be within possibility for me, I'm thinking of making the control spell a modified timer spell.

If I start with the monitoring spell and link it into the other spells, I can give it a value for how much water I want in the air then tell it to activate the timer spell to set a time for however long is needed for the water spell to drain however much is needed.

I'll need to use a basic timer spell to figure out how fast the water is being removed and how long the timer spell should last but that will only take some trial and error on my part, this won't be the only spell I'll need in the future as mimicking an environment is difficult, but it's a good starting point for now.

I sit at my desk drawing and erasing different matrix's before getting a decent timer spell, it's by far the easiest of the three only a slight modification of the base spell with a few other to set times and receive instructions, the water spell should only take a day or two, the monitoring spell might be a little more difficult as I'll have to create it myself, but I should be able to finish this project before the new year if all goes to plan.

I spend another hour going through my notes and flipping through some of the books in my room that I thought would have useful spells or runes.

After going through my notes and books I decided to cook myself some dinner, I bought some cod earlier in the day, so I looked through my cabinets for something to cook with it and after some searching, I found some flour, a good amount of oil and finally a few eggs I bought a few days ago.

I check to make sure the eggs are still good before cracking them open into a bowl, I mix them before grabbing a plate and dumping some flour on it, I place my pan on the stove and pour a good amount of oil inside before moving back to my fish as it heats up as I cut the fish into slabs.

I coat the slabs in egg then flour repeating a few times before adding them to the boiling oil, as my fish cooks I flip them regularly so they cook through after I'm done, I have a plate of fried fish that I season with the new spices Blaz gave me, I make tea to enjoy with my meal as always.

I enjoy the sunset with my meal watching the last rays of light fade I turn on my magic light, after finishing my food I clean my things washing the pan plates and the bowl when I'm done, I head to the bathroom to take a shower I clean myself up before drying off and heading to bed.

I climb into my bed pulling the blanket over me I start drifting I'm about to fall asleep before I hear it, at first it sounds like some small scratching and a few nearly silent cracks, I try to ignore the sound to get to sleep but after a while I can't anymore and get up looking for the source of the noise.

I use my light and take a look around my room following the sound, I approach the source of the sound on my shelf and right as I approach. CRACK

Author's Note

It's my first cliffhanger WOO!. Thank you for reading.

Chapter 20

JAN 2 Thursday. I get out of bed shifting as I stand up, I stretch and yawn before my attention is caught by a chirping from the cage, I make my way over to the cage and see Entropy calling out demanding to be fed.

"Good morning to you too" I see their head turn to me, and I see that Entropy's eyes are open, "well now look who's making progress" I smile at them before grabbing Entropy's food and feeding them, after I finish feeding them, I inspect Entropy checking on their health.

I see small pins poking out of their skin "seems like you'll be getting your first feathers in a day or two", I spend a little more time making sure they're fine before placing them back in the makeshift nest and making my way into the kitchen and cooking some breakfast.

I make pancakes and some tea before eating my meal and getting to work, it's my day off and I need to get my new home in order' I start by assembling my other shelfs and the other desk in my workroom, when I'm done the work room has two desks on the back wall and shelves lining the left wall.

I set up my last two shelves in my bedroom giving me space to store my things, after finally I set up my last table in the main room along with a few sitting pillows, I'm done setting things up, so I checked on my little friend again before leaving my apartment.

I descend the stairs and make my way to a small office, after knocking I open the door and see Daisy's grandsire Thistle Rush, I offered him some bits if he could go to my apartment and feed Entropy in the afternoon when I'm at work, and after some haggling, we come to an agreement.

I spend a few minutes showing him how to feed Entropy, after that I leave the apartment building and make my way to the park for my morning run, I stop panting slightly as I stop running at the opposite edge of the park, a spot I've rarely been to before, I sit at a bench to catch my breath and recover.

While recovering I look around and spot a fountain and let my mind wander to a few odd things about this world, the main one being the lack of violence when I first came to this world, I worried that it is not like the show that violence and murder could be as common as in my last world, but I've found that it's not like that.

While violence and murder can and does happen it's just not the same as my old world, a good example of this is the murder rate being almost nonexistent to the point that when it does happen its city wide news and is talked about frequently for some time after it happens.

Another good example is war, on Equis war is a rare and infrequent thing even outside of the continent that Equestria is on, most wars only last a year or two at most and the vast majority end in peace agreements, it's a fairly rare thing to see a war end with a nation being full conquered, armies are also much smaller here even large nations have relatively small armies.

I don't know why this world is so peaceful, but my best guess is a combination of the species of this world being less violent and more willing to cooperate at least to a degree along with probable some of harmony's influence as while not all like each other and wars still do happen from time to time, but this world seems much better at peaceful then my last one.

It does make what the storm king accomplished an outlier from the norm, I will have to keep an eye and ear open for any news from that part of the world hopefully I can find out more about how he came to power.

I focus back on the fountain for a moment before moving on and walking back through the park heading home, I close my door entering my apartment and take a moment to check on Entropy and make sure they are fine before grabbing my bags and leaving again.

I'm heading to the library to look through some books, normally I'd have these books with me but now that I'm not living at the library, I can only check out two books at one time, so I need to go there to research some things, as I enter the library I make my way through a few sections before finding water spells.

I'm here to learn and look for a few water spells, I want to find any spells that would be useful to me in my environment projects as eventually I want to mimic any environment I will need in the future for my plants, and now that I have more space to work with, I can get more plants.

I grab a few books that catch my interest and find a table to sit at, as I read through the books I find a spell that seems useful, the spell uses water to create a small constant stream of water, to use it all you need is a source of water near you that supplies the spell and a target to fire at.

You also have some degree of control over the spell's effects, how fast the water moves and how much is moved, its matrix is a little complicated and uses more symbols than it should but it's not a bad spell and could have its uses in the future I draw out the spell matrix in my notebook before moving on to the next book.

I read through another book this one is mostly just theory, most was useless for me but there were a few interesting symbols, so I added them to my notebook and moved on, I was about to open the next book but stopped as not far away from me I see Daisy leading a pony around the library.

I guess we have a new coworker, I watch as they move through the library before moving out of sight, I read through the rest of the books I picked out before placing them back on their respective shelfs, I leave the library not having anywhere to go I wander the streets for a while looking for anything that looks interesting.

I pass several shops and make my way to the lower city markets, I decide to go looking for plants or seeds in the market deciding to find some simple plants from different environments so I can test spells with them, the lower city markets generally have less valuable and more common things, but many caravans from all over come here to sell their goods.

So, there's plenty to find if you know where to look, I find a stall with different types of plants and find a few that I want, first is a regular cactus it's a small ball shaped cactus covered in thorns and placed in sandy soil, the second is a jungle fern of some type and the soil in the pot is dark and moist.

And third a juniper berry bush, needle like leaves and small green berries on its branches the soil in this one is a dry dark brown soil, after buying the plants along with some different kinds of soil and several pots I keep looking through the market grabbing some necessities and a few clay jugs before heading home.

I enter my room and place my bags down before organizing my new plants, placing my Iron oak in the left corner next to the large window, my Blood Leaf Tea plants in between the Oak and window in a row along with my false daisy and gripping vine, I then place my new plants the cactus in front of the window, the fern I placed directly under the oak, and the juniper berry bush on my kitchen countertop.

I spend a few minutes enchanting a sapphire with the desert environment spell and place it in the pot with one of the clay jugs I bought to catch and collect the water, I finished the spell two days ago and it worked out well its effect is slow, so the gem doesn't need me to refill it and I'm planning to use the water from the process for my other plants.

I don't want to use the sink for water as now that I'm living out of the library I'll need to pay for the water I use, so why not use the free water I'm now making, I'm going to be keeping a close eye on the cactus to see how it reacts as when I bought it, it already seemed to be having problems living in this climate.

After making sure all my plants are well and dumping some life magic into the fern and berry bush to keep them alive, I go to my room and check on Entropy, they seem to be doing well and after feeding them some I pick them up and bring them with me as I go about my work, as I leave the room.

I enter my work room and start taking stock of all the things I have, some Iron Oak wood my large ruby that's still enchanted to hold magic two small rubies with shield enchantments and three unused sapphires, and finally the eggshell that Entropy hatched out of.

I've been wondering what Entropy is and have found nothing so far, even odder is the fact that they seem to be a regular crow, the only difference I've found is that much like with the egg Entropy's life magic is massive holding several hundred ponies worth of life magic despite being so small.

For now, I'm just going to keep a close eye on them and see what happens, I won't be able to watch them when working but I'm going to try and spend as much time with them as possible to try and form a bond with them, I place Entropy and his nest on the side of my desk at work.

I start by disenchanting the two rubies with shields as I don't need them anymore and can use the rubies for other things, after I'm done, I place them back on the shelf before going to the main room for two pots and some soil for cold plants to fill them, I fill the pots and move to the Juniper Berry bush growing two berries until they are ripe and taking them with me back to the work room.

I want to mess around with fruit to see how much I can make grow and If I can change things like its flavor and color, juniper berries have a piney taste and a blue color I start by growing two small bush in each pot, I don't know how to modify the plant directly, but I can speed up the process of selective breeding by picking the right types of traits and breeding for them using my magic to speed up the process.

I make them both flower and pollinate them by using my field to grab the pollen and transfer it to the other plant before having both grow fruit before growing several dozen berries and picking the largest berry I found and decomposing all other berries along with both plants.

I spend the next few hours of the day like this each time selecting the largest berry from each generation, after a while I stop as Entropy makes it known that their hungry by chirping nonstop, after feeding them I take Entropy and my pots out of the room, I place Entropy in their cage to sleep before bringing the pots to the main room.

I empty one pot before placing my new juniper bush next to my first one checking if the berries are any different, I hold one berry from each plant and see that the old berries are slightly smaller than the new ones, smiling at my success before decomposing all the berries.

I make myself some food a basic grilled cheese and some carrots before taking a shower and heading to bed.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

Chapter 21

JAN 4 Saturday. I leave my apartment early in the morning heading to the library for my day of work, I enter the building passing the front desk and making my way to the breakroom for breakfast.

As I enter the breakroom, I see Daisy and Blaz sitting next to the pony I saw being shown the library a few days ago, I grab some food and sit down next to them getting a good look at the new pony, unlike most who come to work here she looks relatively young.

A unicorn mare, she has a dark gray coat and black mane with dark green eyes, "oh hey Shade have a good weekend?"

Blaz asks me "yup not much happened as always, who's the new pony?"

The pony is question answers me "hi I'm Maple Stone nice to meet you" she says her voice having a steady quiet tone.

"Shade Evergreen, nice to meet you too."

"So what brought you to work here if you don't mind me asking?" I ask curious as not many younger ponies want to work here, I don't count I'm not young.

She stares at me for a few moments before answering "well I'm new to the city and don't have anywhere to stay so this was the best option for me, plus the pay isn't bad either."

"Fair enough" I do wonder why she'd move here with nowhere to stay but I've heard stranger things while living in this city, we spend the rest of lunch talking about various things before getting to work, before we separate Daisy gives me a new schedule for work hours, I now start at eight and stop at four, I guess I'll have more time in the morning now.

I go about my work sorting books and stacking them on carts to be returned to their shelfs, I see Maple moving carts, so I guess she's doing reshelving today, as the hours pass nothing happens just normal work I check the clock and see it's lunch time so I start heading to the breakroom.

When I arrive it's the same as every day spend some time eating and talking before getting back to it, one bad thing about my shift change is me having to work until four today spending an extra hour working isn't so bad though, when the day finally ends, I get the last few books on the table sorted before leaving.

I entered my apartment building and checked with Thistle Rush to see if he had any problems feeding Entropy, he assured me everything was fine so I headed up the stairs before entering my room, I closed my door and headed to my bedroom to check on Entropy.

They seem fine greeting me with a few soft chirps, I feed them some more before bringing them with me, I try to keep them close as I go about my day to form a bond with them, I think it's working some as whenever Entropy sees me, they start chirping and seem to get excited.

Entropy's feathers have started to grow in they now have several feathers on them and many more still growing, the feathers themselves are odd as they seem to be almost made of pure black, finally it seems some of Entropy's strangeness has shown as normal crow feathers don't look like Entropy's.

Normal crow feathers have this slight rainbow shine to them, but Entropy's is pure black similar to their egg although the feathers do reflect some light it's not much, but if nothing else I can finally definitively say that Entropy is not just a regular crow, beyond that they seem to be healthy and growing fast.

I place Entropy on the floor next to me before meditating, I feel the space around me feeling the shifting of Entropy next to me, I start moving a small piece of wood and cast a float spell on the piece of wood letting it stay in the air while I feel the space shift, I've been training my ability to feel space by doing this, it's probably not the best way to go about it but I don't know a better way and I don't think anypony else would know a better one, I stay like this for some time before standing up.

I grab the juniper berry bush I've been breeding and start the process again, I've been doing this for a few days now and have gone through over a hundred generations this has resulted in berries that are almost a quarter larger than the original.

It will take many more generations for the plant itself to change in any large way, but this does prove that this idea is a decent one, I'm also thinking that I could crossbreed different plants, normally you can only crossbreed plants that are similar, but with my life magic I can get a little more creative.

In theory I can crossbreed any plants that have pollen, I'm not sure how well this strategy will work but it's worth a try if nothing else although I won't be doing this for a while as I'd like to focus on selective breeding for now before moving on to that, I keep repeating this process of taking the largest berry and growing it before starting at the beginning again.

After draining almost all of my magic I place the plants to the side and decide to do some carving, I grab some Iron oak wood and my kit before going back to my desk and starting the carving, I shave the wood block down to a rough pony shape before adding detail.

The last carving I made I sent to Celestia as a gift, she sent a letter back thanking me, right now though I'm making a carving for myself, I always liked having collectables so why not make some and practice at the same time, so I'm going to make a model of noteworthy ponies.

I'm starting with another copy of Celestia, I don't want to make anything that somepony could accidently see so I'm only making models of ponies that are well known right now, or ponies that wouldn't be recognized by others, I don't want anypony asking difficult questions.

I spend the next two hours carving away at the wood until I have an alicorn model, and just like last time I carve out a small compartment for the gem using one of my recovered rubies to enchant the new model, and after some enchanting and adjustment I'm finished.

I place the new Celestia model on one of my shelfs, before moving Entropy back to his cage so he could sleep in peace, I head back to my room and begin my next project, my magic has recovered over the last few hours so I'm going to work on a new spell matrix.

This specific spell matrix is for another type of environment, this one being for a humid environment for the jungle fern I have, this spell will be very similar to the desert spell but instead of taking water out of the air it will be adding water along with a very minor heating spell.

The heat of the environment is actually something I forgot to add to the desert spell in the past so I'm going to need to add that to the enchantment, with this in mind I go to the main room and grab the gem out of the cactuses pot and bring it back to my work room after deactivating it.

The heating spell is easy as the gem still has enough magic capacity for a slow and weak heating spell, so I modify the basic heating spell to slowly bring the temperature to a stable level and keeping it there, after an hour of work making the spell as efficient as I can to use the least amount of magic possible I add it to the gem and place it back in the pot.

I move back to the work room and continue working on my jungle environment spell, It's very similar to the desert spell using the same control spell and monitoring spell, the difference comes in with the last spell as unlike the desert I need to create a wet and humid environment.

I'm planning on using the water collection part of the desert spell to drag water from the air and trap it inside a small area, I'll need to add a very weak shield to keep the water inside but the gem should have enough capacity for all five spells at once as they are all weak in effect although it will probably be cutting it close.

I start by adding the monitoring spell heating spell control spell and after some time and tinkering a very weak shield spell, enchanting all of these spells into the sapphire before starting work on the water spell component, I start with the water manipulation spell that I used for the desert spell.

I modify the spell to collect water from the outside of the weak shield and releases in into the inside in as mist, modifying the spell to releases the water as mist took a while to make work taking twice as long as it should, but a few hour after the sun has set I'm done with the spell.

I add it to the ruby before activating it for testing I spend a while testing the spell before realizing a problem, the spell intakes too much water causing the spell to release too much water into the spells area and the ruby doesn't have enough capacity to hold more passive spells, I think for a while before finding a solution.

I modified the spell not to take water from the air but a nearby source until there's enough in the spell's area before stopping, I'm going to place the fern next to the cactus letting the water generated from the desert enchantment to feed the jungle enchantment.

I'll still need to empty the desert spells water jugs just less often now, with my problem solved I set up the jungle enchantment and placed in into the ferns pot before placing the fern next to the cactus, I watch as a small stream of water move through the air and enter the weak shield before becoming a fine mist after passing the shield.

Seeing both enchantments working I grow and pollinate some spores off the fern before growing a second fern in a small pot as the first one may die from the environment its been placed in, I don't know what type of jungle the fern is from so keeping a copy while I tinker with the spell so I don't need to waste time buying a new fern.

After I finish my new enchantment I grab my teapot and add some water before using a heating spell to bring the water to a boil before adding some tea leaves and letting it sit for a few minutes, spending that time checking on Entropy and feeding them some while also grabbing my sketch book.

I sit in front of the main rooms window laying on three pillows, I sip some tea before starting a sketch of the view in front of me, I spend an hour drawing the countryside bathed in the light of the full moon, I draw the stars and hills along with the small lights in the dark dotting the landscape.

I stop and notice how late it is, I have work tomorrow so I put away my things and take a shower, I let the hot water wash over me before scrubbing my coat, after my shower I dry myself off before walking into my room, I see Entropy sleeping in their nest, I spend a few minutes combing my mane before noticing how long it's grown.

I should get a haircut soon this is getting a little out of control, after brushing out my hair I head to my bed and climb under the covers before drifting off to a dreamless sleep.

Author's Note

thanks for reading.

Chapter 22

JAN 10 Friday. I sit at my desk modifying a spell matrix, but before I can continue I'm interrupted by Entropy making a fuss in their small cloth nest next to me, I let the spell dissolve and turn my head to them, Entropy was hatched on December twenty eighth making them two weeks old now.

In the past week their feathers have grown in, Entropy now looks like a black ball of fluff that's double the size they were after they hatched, they have also become much more attached to me whenever I'm home they demand to be in the same room as me, and if not they'll make their displeasure know by chirping until I bring them with me.

So as I go about my day I keep an eye out making sure their fine, they seem to be growing at the same rate as a normal crow, so I'm guessing they'll be able to fly in two or three weeks, I feed Entropy and take them with me as I head to my bedroom for one of my books.

I borrowed this book from the library, It's a healing book I need to learn pony anatomy as if I want to create healing spells as I'll need to know what I'm healing in the first place, so I go back and forth between books on healing magic and anatomy knowledge.

This book is about pregnancy and helping with foal birth, although the process of birth is somewhat easier and less dangerous for ponies than humans due to the different body structure, as I read through the book I find a spell matrix for a spell, this spell is to tell what gender a foal will be.

The spell is a little complex for me but not impossible to cast just time consuming, I read through the spells description and find an interesting fact about the spell, when cast it glows two different colors green for male and blue for female what's interesting is the spell can be used on anypony of any age and it will still give a result.

I could use it on myself and it will tell me I'm male, after reading this I get an idea and start memorizing the spell matrix, I don't have much use for this spell but I can use it to answer a question that I've had for a while now, what is Entropy's gender.

I don't know if the spell will work on something that's not a pony but I have some free time as it's still morning so it's worth trying, I spend the next two hours going through the spell making sure it's safe and will work correctly and after I've finished I started drawing the matrix in the air above Entropy who watched me the entire time.

As I finish the spell matrix I see it take effect and see a blue aura around Entropy, I then cast the spell a few more times to be sure and yup as far as the spell can tell Entropy's female, I'm not one hundred percent sure as the spell was made for ponies but from what I've seen of the spells matrix it should work on almost anything with two genders.

So for now I'll assume Entropy's female until I can prove otherwise, I spend some more time reading before checking the time seeing it's eleven, I get up and place Entropy back in her cage before heading to the main room hearing her displeased chirps at me leaving her in my room.

I grab my saddle bags placing them on my back and leaving my apartment and heading for the bank to withdraw a decent amount of bits then walking to the lower city markets, I reach the market after some time walking and make my way to the edge, I'm here looking for more gems as I only have two sapphires left and no rubies.

I'm going to need more gems so I'm looking for the diamond dog I've bought my last gems from, but after a while I don't find them I guess they're not here right now which isn't surprising as they seemed like a caravan so they probably left to resupply their stock or to a different city to continue trading.

I look through the market and find a few different traders selling gems, they're more expensive but of the same quality and after going through a few gem sellers I go back to my apartment, I enter my room and check on Entropy who seems happy to see me as she moves around her nest.

I bring her with me to the work room before placing her nest and my bags on a desk, I shift her to the side of the desk and open my bags organizing and counting out the gems I've bought, I've found out through my shopping that gems are sold in certain sizes, small gems are half inch to one inch cubed, medium two to three inches cubed and finally large four to five inches cubed.

I find how large gems can get in this world to be amazing, for some perspective while gems in this world are still expensive their value doesn't come from their rarity but the time needed to mine cut and transport them as while the gems themselves aren't rare the work required to make them useable keeps their price fairly high.

The good news is that gems can get big, really big, some of the largest gems measure several feet in size, although the larger the gem the more work it takes to sell so most gem sellers stop at large gems.

I empty my bag and in front of me I have my new gems, seven small rubies, three small sapphires, two medium rubies, one large ruby, and my best find a six by six inch amethyst this cost a fair amount of bits, five hundred bits to be precise, even with the bits I've made with the magic lights I put a dent in my account

But even with this being a weaker type of gem its size is more than enough to make up for it, I place all the new gems on shelves before taking some time to work on two projects, the first one is a small thing I want an easier way to check the time as while I can cast the temporis spell with ease it's still annoying to draw the matrix so often.

I grab the simple copper bracelet that Daisy gave me, it has a three topaz gems imbedded in the copper I want to enchant the bracelet to tell the time but because of the small size of the gems I'm going to have to get a little creative, I start by enchanting all three small topaz gems to hold a small reserves of magic.

I then enchant the copper band with a modified temporis spell, adding a very weak illusion spell that I modified onto the band and spending some time supplying the illusion enchantment with magic while shaping the illusion into a small clock that will float above the copper band when activated.

And finally I link all the enchantments together, the three topaz gems should provide just enough magic to power the illusion for a few minutes every hour or so, the spell takes too much power to be active all the time but is enough for small amounts of time throughout the day.

I fill the topaz gems with magic and see a small modern looking clock much like an alarm clock appear in the air, I wait for a while before the enchantment runs out of magic and the glowing white numbers dissolve into the air, it lasted five and a half minutes before stopping I mark the time and place the bracelet on the side of my desk to see how long it takes to fully recharge.

I start work on my next project, the last of my environment spells this one for the juniper berry bush, I need a dry and somewhat cold environment for this plant, I start with a small ruby enchanting it with the monitoring and control spells, and then I add the weak shield spell before starting work on the last spell.

I need a cooling spell to keep the environment cold, I don't know any area of effect spells so I'm going to have to modify yet another spell for my work, I start with the spell I've used in the past to create ice and use it as a base working from there.

After a an hour I'm done and finish my enchantment adding it to the ruby before leaving it in the original juniper berry's pot leaving the one I've been breeding alone, I look around and not seeing anything left for me to do I decide to take some time to go to the park and grab a book to read and my bags before leaving.

I leave and walk to the park letting myself relax on this nice day, I pass many ponies going about their business on a path in the park before leaving the path and moving to a quiet part of the park laying down in a grass field under a trees shade, as I lay there and open the book I brought with me.

I spend some time there reading before I see something coming near me through the corner of my eye, I quickly turn my head just in time for a wood frisbee to hit me right on the side of my muzzle, I react how one would expect flinching in pain and spending a few moments letting my brain catch up with what's happening.

I rub the side of my muzzle trying to ease the pain from the impact, I turn my head down and see what hit me, seeing the frisbee on the ground I pick it up in my field inspecting it, I look around me trying to see where this frisbee came from and after a moment to my left I see several young ponies staring at me a few dozen feet away.

A few colts and filly's stare at me as I hold the frisbee and after a moment I give them a small smile and throw the frisbee back, one of them catches it and after a moment of nopony moving I wave them away letting them get back to their fun.

They leave, going back to their game as I continue reading my book, after some time I start feeling hungry so I leave the park making my way to the market to buy some supplies, I shop for some fish, potato's, carrots, spices, and a loaf of bread before making my way home.

I get home and place my ingredients on the counter before as always checking on Entropy, she greets me by demanding food and after feeding her I bring her with me to the kitchen placing her nest on the island counter to keep her away from anything dangerous.

I grab my pot and fill it with water before placing it on the stove to boil, as it heats up I peel and chop the potatoes and carrots into pieces, I cut the fish into small cubes and season it before adding it to the now boiling water along with the potatoes and carrots before brining the pot to a slow boil and letting it cook.

I spend the time it takes my soup to cook by reading with Entropy in between my forelegs resting, after an hour I smell the fish soup and get up to check on it and seeing it fully cooked I turn off the heat and let it cool down for a while before placing some in a bowl and cutting some bread eating it with my soup for dinner.

After I finish and clean everything up, I use my bracelet and seeing that it's still a little early spend the next two hours growing juniper berry bushes and breeding them, and after draining my magic I place Entropy in her cage and take a shower before heading to bed.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading and have a good day.

Chapter 23

JAN 25 Saturday. I sit in the breakroom across from Daisy and Maple with Blaz to my left as we eat our lunch, It's been a few weeks now since Maple started working at the library and I've gotten to know her better in that time, she doesn't have family in the city although she did mention some family elsewhere, overall she's good at her job and seems like a decent coworker and given some time maybe a friend.

My thoughts are interrupted by Blaz asking me something "so colt you have any plans for your two weeks."

"I'm not sure in all honesty" I answer back, we get two weeks of vacation every year that can be used from June until March, I wasn't able to use it last year as I started in late April, I don't really know what to do with it though, I don't have family to visit or anything important to do.

"I think I might just take the two weeks off and relax some."

Blaz lets out a chuckle "colt I've gotten to know you and I know for a fact you'd use that time to learn or practice something."

Daisy adds to his comment "I have to agree with Blaz you train like the world is going to end" I'm stunned for a moment before giving a laugh, we spend the rest of lunch chatting about mundane stuff.

After my shift I head home, as I enter my apartment I see Entropy hopping around on the floor greeting me with several caws, "nice to see you too girl" I pick her up and place her on my back, over the past two weeks she's grown a lot her feathers are completely grown in now.

Even her flight feathers have reached their full size meaning she can fly, she already does some, flapping her wings to climb on top of furniture or my shelves and cabinets, she's also very intelligent beyond even regular crows, although this world seems to have many intelligent animals so I'm not sure if she's much of an outlier.

She seems to understand me to a degree moving out of the way when I ask or sometimes bringing me something I need, she does get confused when asked to do more complex things but she is only a month old so maybe in time she'll understand me better.

She's grown into an adolescent crow, she now looks mostly like a regular crow the only large differences being her completely black feathers and her eyes also being completely black, she also won't leave me alone anymore to the point of trying to follow me out of the apartment when I go to work.

Today I think it's time she gets some practice with flying, before I leave I check on my plants the environment spells seem to be working well and I haven't needed to give any life magic to them and the plants still look healthy, my experiments in selective breeding have also gone well as at this point the juniper berries I'm growing are almost three times their starting size.

My plan today is to take Entropy to the park for some flight practice, I grab some juniper berries and feed them to Entropy who's taking a liking to them I also place some in a bag for snacks for the both of us, I put my saddlebags on my back and have Entropy stand on my back before leaving my apartment.

This is the first time I'm taking Entropy outside so I'm keeping a close eye on her, as we walk through the streets Entropy draws little attention as many ponies have pets so having a crow with me, even if she looks a bit odd, goes mostly unnoticed a few young ponies did ask to pet her, but she didn't seem to like the idea much so I said no.

I walk through the park for a while before finding an empty field and setting my bags on the ground, "ready girl?" I ask Entropy who gives a caw in response, I hold her in my field and raise her a few dozen feet in the air before letting go, she flaps her wings trying to fly.

She fails dropping through the air some before gliding to a stop and landing on the grass, I walk over to her and feed her a berry as a treat before we try again, we repeat this several times and each time she gets a little further from me, I pick her up and seeing her tired I grab a book out of my bag before sitting down and reading some while she rests.

We spend some time resting before we start again and this time she flies much further seeming to have learned a lot from our first attempt, and after a few more tries she's flying a circle around me, she can fly but she'll need much more practice and to grow some as she can't fly far right now getting tired quickly.

It's mid day when we return back home, Entropy flies off my back landing on the counter top when we enter the main room, I spend some time making myself some lunch and feeding Entropy a full meal I fill a bowl with some cubed raw fish for some protein to help her develop some muscle, along with a few berries and some carrot pieces taking my time to cut it up small before placing it and leaving her to enjoy her food.

I've been thinking about what Blaz asked me earlier today, what do I want to do with my two weeks off? Well I decided on something, camping specifically going camping in one of the forests around equestria.

I liked camping when I was young in my last life and I haven't done it in more then two decades so I think it could be fun, I'll have to inform Daisy a week in advance so I'll tell her tomorrow, I'll also buy supplies tomorrow as well, but for now I'll be breeding plants for the rest of today.

time skip

JAN 26 Sunday, I'm walking out of the library after my shift, I told Daisy about my camping trip and signed a form for my two week vacation I have February second until February sixteenth off.

I make my way home to grab my bags and check on Entropy, she greeted me like always with a few caws and some chirps I give her some attention and scratches before grabbing my saddlebags and leaving to make my way to the markets.

As I walk through the markets I'm looking for several things, I need a tent and a decent backpack along with a compass and map, you'd think I'd need more but not really I can grow my own food and create fire so the only thing left is water and I have an idea for that.

I look through the market and find a tent and a backpack, the tent is made from green cotton canvas not amazing but it'll keep me dry, the backpack is made from brown canvas, I also found a decent compass and a map that while a little crude works just fine and the last thing I bought was a small metal flask.

As I make my way home I try the backpack placing it on top of my saddlebags it fits well and feels comfortable, I enter my apartment and place my new things in my work room before eating some lunch with Entropy and getting to work, I start with the metal flask I bought.

I'm going to need a source of water on my camping trip so I'm planning to enchant a gem to fill this flask, I'm not sure the flask can handle the magic from the spells so it's probably best if I use a gem along with the flask, I start by looking through my notes for anything that will be useful.

I can use the same spell I used for the desert enchantment to gather water, the problem is that the air isn't clean so I'll also need it to filter or boil the water, I grab one of my small sapphires and start thinking my way through this problem.

First I'm going to need a way to tell the spell when to stop filling the flask, I go through my notes and not finding much decide to make a very simple spell for this, I start with a two empty circles and add the runic word for weight then add some math making the output for the spell the flasks weight.

I then realize I don't even have a way to weigh the flask in the first place, I spend over an hour making a spell to weigh things and because I don't have anything that I know the weight of I have to use more runic symbols then I wanted to so the spell takes more power then necessary but the spell works.

As I spend the next hour adjusting the spell to get the weight of the flask right I think about what I've learned of runes, when I discovered that the meaning of runes mattered to their function I researched it, I had several questions and found a few answers.

First how does the meaning of a runic word effect a spell?, when you cast a spell you need to understand at least what the runic word means as in if the word is for cold or hot, if you understand the math and what the words mean you can cast the spell but for those who are creating spells you need to understand not just what the word means but the context around the word.

When I was using the light rune to create something you couldn't see I was using the right word I just wasn't using it with the right meaning as the word was never meant to be used that way, witch brings me on to my second question where does the meaning and context of a word come from?.

Is it the belief of ponies or the thoughts of the beings who created the rune that determines what it does?, and after much research I've found that nopony really knows some theories but nothing solid it seems I've stumbled on one of the great unknowns of this world.

Third, can a runic word's meaning and context be forgotten and if they can then what?, yes they can and have been forgotten and when they are forgotten the spells using that rune become useless as while you could still try casting them you will have unpredictable and potentially dangerous results.

And finally where do new runic words come from?, they come from ponies, when somepony want's to create a new runic word then need to things a symbol and something else not completely know, lets say you have a new effect or concept and you want to turn it into a runic word.

First you'll need a unique symbol preferably it should have something to do with the effect or concept, then you need to place it inside a matrix for a spell that would use the new runic symbol while keeping the symbols meaning and effect in your mind before attempting to cast the spell.

This is where things get odd as sometimes this will work just fine and you have a new runic symbol, or sometimes the effect is random or the most likely outcome nothing happens and the spell just fails, many ideas have speculated on why some fail while others succeed but there seems to be no real pattern.

The only things we do know is that keeping the new symbols effect in mind when you create and cast the spell can improve your chances at success but by how much is also very inconsistent, there is also some who think one's knowledge and emotions along with there belief in the spell working helps but no evidence has been found to prove if this is true or not.

I move away from my thoughts having found the proper weight for when the flask is full and empty, I enchant the flask with a spell to tell the gem when it's full by sending it's weight to the water condensing spell and having it stop when full.

I enchanted the sapphire with the condensing spell it has two activation requirements first a simple double tap for the link and when the flasks enchantment says it's not full, this will let me turn off the water condensing enchantment when it's not needed.

The sapphire will condense water and have it flow into the open flask, the two main problems with this setup is that while I was able to get the spell to target the flask to fill it it doesn't have enough power to do this more than a foot away and the more the gem and flask move around the more time it'll take to get the water in the flask without hitting something in the way.

The small sapphire I'm using doesn't have enough power to fix these problems so while traveling I'll need to keep the flask and gem as still as possible to avoid any problems, the final enchantment I add is a spell that purifies water this spell takes a decent amount of magic as it uses a fair few symbols but I solved that by making it only purify water in a very small area the inside of the flask, and the spells can purify my flask in only a few seconds as the spell may take a decent amount of magic but is fast working.

Along with the last bit of magic capacity of the gem I use a second link and by modifying the water spell a little I have the water purifying spell activate when the flask is done filling itself.

I move on to the last thing I'll want with me when camping, I plan to camp in a forest that isn't that dangerous but it's not a commonly visited forest either and will have some dangers so I'll need some protections, first my dagger I honestly forgot I bought this as I've had little use for it beyond keeping it in my bags incase it's ever needed.

I start by adding the enchantment I use for my wood carving tools, I can't think of anything else a blade would need for now so I move onto the next and largest thing, I take one of the large rubies and enchant it to hold magic before working on a shield that would protect my camp from anything that would seek to harm me.

I enchant the ruby with a decently strong shield I'll need to work on it through the week but it shouldn't be to hard as it doesn't need to power anything else, the shield will cover a thirty feet area, I have to spend some time making sure the shield will let me and Entropy through along with air as I don't want to suffocate.

After finishing the shield I don't have anything else to do so I make myself and Entropy some dinner before showering and heading to bed.

Chapter 24

FEB 2 Sunday. I make my way out of bed early in the morning, I spend some time making breakfast for me and Entropy before I start packing what I'll need.

I have everything ready, my flask is done and after some testing I've found the best place for it to be is on top of my backpack so it doesn't move too much while I walk, I also finished the large shield enchanting the large ruby to hold magic and create a shield wasn't too hard just taking some time over the past week.

The shield won't be extremely powerful or anything, but it will be good enough for where I'm going as I don't need it to hold off powerful beasts or monsters just keep the occasional predator or defensive animal away from my camp, in all honesty I probably don't need it but as the saying goes, better safe than sorry.

The shield I've made will be passive from the large rubies magic gain, so all I'll need to do is place it in the middle of my camp and activate it to keep me safe, I'm bringing my magic light, newly enchanted flask, my dagger, some emergency food and juniper berry seed in case I need to create more food.

And when I was shopping for food a few days ago I found a water resistant cloak that I bought as It's still spring and it rains fairly frequently, I've also packed anything else I'd need some cooking and eating utensils along with some tea and spices.

Now onto where I'll be going for my camping trip there is a forest named the White Tree Valley, It's a valley completely filled with birch trees it's a somewhat popular place to camp, although it's not too popular as it's not completely safe.

The forest doesn't contain any really dangerous things, only a few predators and wild animals this combined with the forest's lack of decent trails means that while some ponies camp here its mostly empty, when I finish checking I have everything I'll need for the next two weeks, I let Entropy sit on top of my backpack as we leave my apartment.

We begin walking to the train station to catch a train headed for the small town nearby the forest, the train will take several hours and will arrive near the end of the day and I'll need to walk the rest of the way to the forest, I'm not sure if I'll have enough daylight to reach the forest so I might need to stay at the small town or camp on the roadside for a night.

After some time walking I arrive at the train station, I have to wait on a bench for another hour as my train was late, because of course my first train ride in this world would be late, I eventually get on the train and find a cabin to sit in, I will be spending several hours in this cabin so I guess I'll get comfortable.

I pick up and place Entropy on the seats next to me and place my bags and backpack on a rack hanging above us, I spend a moment looking around the cabin although there's not much to see, two benches on each side of the cabin with a few feet in between them, two racks made of wood bars hang above my head and a window looking outside to my left.

I decide to use this time and grab two books my runic notebook written in English, my sketchbook, along with a quill and inkwell, I'm going to spend some time working on my understanding of several runic symbols, I've been learning and documenting as many runic symbols as I can.

After my last mental rant two weeks ago about runic symbols I decided to revisit the topic as when I first looked through books on the subject I only learned what I needed too before moving on as I wanted to learn other things more, and I'm glad I did as I've learned much I missed the first time.

I've found many books about the meaning and context of different runic symbols, but one thing I've not found is a book with all the known symbols and their meanings, I have found books with dozens or even hundreds of symbols but I haven't found a book with all of them.

I think the main reason is plain and simple greed, while ponies seem less greedy overall then humans it's still very much there, many ponies create new symbols and keep them for themselves or only pass them to family members, the result of this is that while many books have collections of runic symbols there is no public repository of all known runes.

This is one of the reasons that many unicorns don't learn new spells as not only do you need to learn a spell’s matrix if the book your learning from doesn't have an explanation on the runic symbols in the matrix and what concepts they use the spell will be harder to learn and use along with using more magic to cast.

This has been a source of endless frustration for me and also why I'm cataloging all the symbols I learn, I have come across several spells that I could learn but never master because the pony who created the spell didn't tell anypony exactly how the spell worked.

I've learned that this is almost standard practice for anypony that creates spells or runic symbols, keeping how the spell works to themselves or the exact meaning behind a symbol secret so only ponies they tell can use it properly, in hindsight this makes a great deal of sense explaining why so much magic knowledge gets lost over time, it only takes one pony not telling somepony else and dying before they can pass it on and its lost forever.

Well not forever as you can reverse engineer a spell and rediscover the meaning behind a symbol, the problem is that doing this is nothing but a time sink as trying to guess the correct meaning and context behind a rune is hard at the best of times, and if use mistranslate or mess up any part of a spell’s matrix it can be dangerous.

As for why it's so hard to recreate runic symbols, well as I've said in the past runes have their meaning and what the symbol means, the first is what the creator of the rune was intending it to do with it like create fire of steam, what the rune means is the word itself so a word for hot and cold or fire and ice.

A rune is a combination of both these things, let's say I wanted to create a new symbol for a rune I would start with a runic symbol like ice and add onto it to give it a meaning and turn it into glacier creating a new rune with a new meaning with different effects, you then use the process I described last time drawing and using the new runic symbol.

I've decided to use the term runic word for a runes actual meaning, and runic context for the meaning the creator of the symbol gave it.

My point in this rant is what happens when a runic symbol is forgotten?, well it depends on how much of the symbol is forgotten, if the runic word if forgotten then the symbols context is also lost as if you don't even know what it means as a word then how can you grasp the words full context.

When you try casting a spell without knowing the symbols meaning at all then you can still cast the spell but your chance of success is low and the chance that something in the spell will go wrong will only increase.

On the other side if you forget the symbols context but still know its word then you will still be able to cast the spell with a decent chance of success, but things can still go wrong there's just less of a chance of it happening, so it's best to know both before casting a spell.

This is also why learning high level spells, like healing spells, is difficult as they often use many rare or lesser know runic symbols, especially for healing magic as you often can't afford a spell failure when healing somepony, my new internal unhinged rant is interrupted by a knock on the cabin door I close my rune book and put it away quickly keeping my sketchbook out before answering "come in it's open."

After a moment I see a griffin enter the cabin, they look fairly regular for a griffin covered in a few shades of brown feathers and fur, they see me and I see them looking up and down looking me over just like I was before speaking, "you mind if I sit here?"

Their voice is distinctly female, I think for a moment before agreeing "sure I don't mind", I pause for a moment realizing that Entropy might not like being near others, but after a few moments of Entropy intensely staring at the griffin she relaxes and moves to sleep laying against my flank.

The griffin moves a bag into the overhead rack before moving opposite of me and sitting down, after a moment of silence I go back to my own business, I don't want to go through my runes when someone else is inside the cabin so I'll just do some sketches for now.

Some time passes like this before I'm asked another question, "what are you doing?", I look up to see the griffin staring at my book, the question was blunt but most griffins I've spoken to in the past where the same so I think most of their kind are just blunt with their words.

I spend a moment thinking before simply turning over my book letting her see the sketch of Entropy I was working on, she looks at the book for a few seconds before nodding at me "not bad I've seen many who are worse and they have fingers to work with", she moves her talons for emphasis.

I've not been using my field to hold things just my hooves, I'm silent for a moment before deciding to just take the compliment, "thank you" she nods again.

"So you like to draw?" I pause at this, is she trying to make small talk?, if she is then she needs to work on her skills.

But I keep my thoughts to myself, "yes it's a hobby of mine has been for years now, why do you ask?"

Her posture shifts she seems uncomfortable, before she lets out a sigh "this isn't going well is it" she asks more to herself then me as after a moment she seems to realize what she said, "sorry not that this is a bad conversation, or anything you said, it's just" she trails off her words ending as she tries to get herself to stop stumbling over her own words.

I'm now thoroughly confused, but then I realize what this is she's probably trying to learn small talk and from the looks of things her statement was correct that this isn't going well, after a moment of silence I decide to try offering some advice "well first you should have started with your name or asking mine and then probably have asked something like how my days has been so far."

She seems stunned for a moment before looking more embarrassed than before, "ya sorry about that, am I really that obvious?"

"Yes, if you don't mind me asking why do this?"

"Well as you guessed I'm not exactly the best at talking to others, and I moved to equestria recently and have been trying to learn."

"Ok I can understand that but why start now most griffins I've met that aren't traders are about as blunt as a brick in conversation."

She lets out what sounds like a laugh mixed with a bird chirps, "that sounds about right, well to tell the truth I'm an apprentice for a merchant and I need to get decent at talking to others, so I was told to learn by talking to anyone I can."

"Ah that explains it, well do you want some help?", we spend the next hour talking through several things as the train moves along the countryside, I learn her name is Violet and a few other things but after a while longer the train stops and she leaves, wishing me well as she does.

After that encounter I go back to my sketches and runic symbols, several hours later the train stops as I've reached my stop I grab my things and leave the train, there was a few small things that held up the train so we are almost an hour late, so I'll be spending a night in the town.

After asking a pony working at the train station and they point me in the direction of a small inn with rooms for rent, I walk the dark streets before finding the inn and renting a room for the night and heading to my room, after entering I spend some time eating some food with Entropy before we head to bed.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. Also we passed 1k views thank you all so much. I can't believe I've made it this far.

Chapter 25

FEB 3 Monday. I get out of bed looking around the room I rented last night, I was tired and wanted to sleep so I didn't get a good look at the town or inn, I also had to make dinner last night as the inn's kitchen was closed when I arrived, good news is it should be open for breakfast.

As I gather my bags Entropy wakes up from sleeping on the beds headboard, she looks around for a moment before flapping her wings and landing on the floor in front of me, she gives a caw and waits for me to put my saddle bags and backpack on before flapping her wings again and landing on top the backpack and laying down as I leave the room.

I walk down a set of stairs entering a reception and dining room, a desk and kitchen entrance along the left wall and several tables along the right wall, after descending the stairs I go over to a table and sit for a while before a pony asks me what I want to eat.

I order some food for us and we eat breakfast before making our way out of the inn and moving towards the edge of town, as I walk I get my first good look at the town, it's a small town with mostly earth ponies around a hundred buildings with few of them reaching above two stories high.

The town seems quiet and peaceful, as I reach a dirt road leading out of the town leading into a grass plan extending into some mountains nearby, I pass a sign as I leave the town, welcome to Ilinalta, an odd name for a pony town if you ask me.

Entropy takes off from my back and flies around in the open sky, I don't blame her she doesn't get to fly freely much in the city she flies around even doing a few tricks, as we continue down the road reaching several splits in the road, I have to go through the map I have several times before finding the right way to go at each turn.

Over the next hour of walking I came across two different encounters, the first was a courier traveling with several packages who didn't stop to talk for long before continuing on their way, the second was a group of traveling merchants that I saw camped on the roadside.

I spent some time talking to the caravan leader, after some talking I found out that they came from the direction I'm heading in, they informed me that the road crosses a stream but the stream was overflowing and while I should be able to cross it I should be careful.

I thanked them and spent a little while trading with them, I bought some spices I wasn't familiar with along with a small shovel it's made from Iron and while it's a little heavy but works well, after that I continued down the road and a while later I found the stream they told me about.

It doesn't seem to be as overflowed as they said, I guess it receded some the stream still seems higher than normal, I shouldn't have a problem crossing the stream as long as I'm not weighed down too much, I spend a few minutes securing my bags before holding them above me in my field as I cross the stream.

The water is cold and moving fairly fast but not strong enough to stop me and after several minutes of careful walking I'm at the other side, and after drying off and putting my bags back on I keep moving down the road, it takes another hour and three more splits before finding a sign, White Tree Valley.

This valley is interesting for its location, it's in between two mountain ridges, the road I'm following will lead along the side of the valley, the valley extends into the mountains before narrowing out and ascending, this means that I can find the road even without my map or compass as all I need to do is head downhill and I'll find the road.

I find the trail leading into the valley and start following it, the terrain around me changes as I walk as the grass plains turn into forest and eventually I start seeing a few birch trees, as I continue I see more and more birch trees before all other types of trees vanish from sight.

The brush also thins out some as the ground levels some, I enter the White Tree Valley proper the birch trees are dense here while the underbrush is fairly light, I follow a trail for a while heading deeper into the valley, as I walk Entropy flies from tree to tree following me.

After a while of walking this trail we find a decently clear and flat dirt patch, which seems like an old camping spot but it will do just fine for me, I start setting up camp assembling my tent and using my new shovel to dig out a fire pit that's been filled in over time.

I also spend a while clearing out a few shrubs growing in the camp, after I'm done I place my large ruby in my tent and tap it twice activating the shield, I walk out and see the magic shield seeing a thin barrier around the camp, after making sure everything was working correctly and that it's keeping out the rain I move back to my tent.

I'm going to be spending a little under two weeks here so it's time to get to work, I came to this valley for a few reasons, first I came to relax and spend some time away from the city, second I came to train my life magic, and finally I came to let Entropy experience the forest.

Speaking of Entropy she seems to be having a blast, she keeps moving around flying from tree to tree and picking up anything of interest to examine so she seems to be having fun, right now she seems to be inspecting a berry bush nearby, I recognize this bush it's often called thimbleberry.

I see several red berries sitting on its branches, Entropy picks one off the bush before bringing it to me and holding it and staring at me, I think she's asking if it can be eaten, "smart girl aren't you?" I walk over to the bush and eat a few of the berries, I turn to see her eating the berry she picked and considering she starts hopping around and eating more she seems to like them.

I grab a berry and spend some time removing seeds from it before storing them in a bag, I didn't come here for plants but I'll take anything that could be of use, but like I said a moment ago I'm mostly here to relax and train my life magic not look for plants.

Ever since I unlocked my life magic I've mostly trained my control and the efficiency of my magic conversion, but I've gotten to the point where it's time to move onto the next step, all this time I've been growing plants by simply pushing life magic into plants and forcing them to grow.

While this method is easy as you can imagine this is far from efficient, I waste a lot of the magic used doing this which is one of the reasons I'm in this valley, the first step to learning life magic is to improve your control and conversion the second is to use your improved control to mimic the natural process of plant growth.

I need to observe how life magic flows through plants as they grow and copy it letting me grow plants without wasting so much magic, when a plant absorbs life magic it grows faster and healthier this is also part of the reason I'm doing this here instead of the city's park as the denser the life magic the easier it is to observe the flow of life magic.

I walk around the forest near my camp and find a plant, some type of mushroom I'm not sure what type so I won't touch them, I haven't grown any mushrooms yet so this will be some extra training, I dig up the mushroom along with a good amount of the soil under it and move it back to my camp, I place my pile of dirt at the edge of my barrier.

I place it down and lay in front of it before concentrating, I need to move my magic into the plant and instead of forcing growth I let the plant do what it wants with the magic and just watch, I watch as the different flows of life magic move and twist through the mushrooms mycelium and cap, the thick life magic of the forest helping the plant making it easier to see the flows of life magic.

I sit there for almost an hour before getting up, the soil that I bought is now completely filled with the mushrooms mycelium and the top has many mushroom caps coming out of the top, I take a smaller amount of this soil and move it to a different area.

I gather some soil and mound it around the chunk of mycelium filled soil, I spend the next two hours slowly copying the process I watched earlier, moving my magic it the same flows trying to copy what the plant does and how it grows, when I'm done I have another pile of mushroom filled soil, that I decompose.

I then repeat this process without copying the plants magic flow, after writing down the results I find that when I'm copying the plant I save around twenty percent of the magic I would normally use, this matches what I've read so I spend the next few hours repeating this with a few different plants.

This is how I'll be practicing my life magic from now on, the reason that this is the next step for learning plant magic, is that when using this method you need to learn the unique flow of each plant and that can take a long time, but the up side of this is when you memorize the flows enough you can grow that plant even faster then before along with it costing less magic to do so.

So while I'm in this forest I will be getting as much practice as I can, I check the time and see I still have roughly two hours of daylight left before it gets dark, before doing anything else I gather some dead wood for a fire tonight most of what I find is wet but I fix that with a water manipulation spell removing the water and stacking the wood near my tent.

After I'm done I decide to explore the area around my camp some more I also grab my sketchbook incase I find anything interesting to draw, I put on my cloak before stepping out of the barrier that stops the light rain from falling on my camp I hear the small taps of rain on my cloak as I walk into the forest.

Entropy decided to come with me walking and hopping under my cloak as we walk, I stop in several places to draw different plants or gather seeds, after a while it starts to really get dark so we move back to camp, we enter our camp and I take off my cloak and start piling some wood in the firepit.

While I'm doing this I see Entropy holding a stick she seems to have found and adds it to the firepit, I give a slight chuckle before scratching the back of her neck as she bows her head and lets out short chirps, after rewarding Entropy I cast the candle flame spell and light the wood with the apple sized ball of fire.

I turn to a new page and look around myself for something to draw before looking up, in the city light pollution isn't strong but it still blocks many stars from being seen at night, above me I see a break in the clouds showing the night sky, I spend the next few hours drawing constellations of stars before cooking some food for us and laying in my tent next to Entropy and drifting off to sleep.

Chapter 26

FEB 9 Sunday. as I move my magic through a small birch sapling I try my best to copy its natural life magic flow, I sit concentrating using my will to control the magic keeping it from moving in ways I don't want it to, after some time the tree sapling grows several inches before I stop my magic drained almost completely.

I stand up and make my way to my camp around one hundred feet away from the young tree, after entering the shield I'm greeted by Entropy who flies down from a tree branch near by and lands in front of me with a caw, we have been here for a week now and we've been having a pretty good time.

We've gone on several hikes around the valley, I've gathered a few types of seeds mostly different berries and two tree seeds one for a birch tree and the other a stray maple tree I found, most of our time I've been drawing or simply exploring the valley and spending the rest of my time training my life magic.

I've learned how to grow many plants by copying them but haven't mastered any of them as I'm just learning new patterns for different plants rather then trying to master any of them for now, the process is still much slower then simply forcing plant growth but I'm getting better and this was more about learning how to copy the plants.

Entropy has also been busy, she's spent most of her time with me but she's also been exploring the valley mostly the tree tops, she's even brought me a few interesting fruits although I think she does that so I can tell her if she can eat them or not as whenever she finds a berry or fruit she can eat she hops around celebrating.

Another benefit of this training is creating new plants, right now the only way I can modify a plant species is to selectively breed them and pick out the tiny random changes stacking them over hundreds or thousands of generations like I've been doing with the juniper berries.

I won't be able to create new plants for a long time but this is a step closer to that, right now if I get a decent amount of control over my ability to copy plants magic flows I'll be able to speed up my current process while using less magic meaning more generations of plants every time I sit down to breed them.

Another part of life magic that I've been ignoring is animals and other living things, there are two parts of life magic that aren't considered separate types of magic but as far as I can tell they basically are, so I've decided to name these two paths of life magic floramancy and biomancy.

I've only been practicing floramancy this entire time, mostly because biomany is much more complex as unlike a plant you need to feed animals, things can also go horribly wrong if done incorrectly and I don't want to create some abomination by accident.

I'm planning to start using biomancy only after I get a good hold on healing magic to be safe so I won't be using it for a while probably a few years, that and I'm doing just fine with floramancy right now, I sit next to the embers of my fading fire from last night and use a metal teapot to boil some water.

I wait a few minutes for the water to boil before adding some red leaves to the water and letting the teapot cool on a rock, I spend a while writing down anything of note from the magic flows of the birch tree, I've found that the flows of magic in a plant grow in complexity with a plants size and the amount of magic in the plant.

For magical plants that may just be the biggest benefit from learning this new use of life magic, my normal method of forcing plant growth uses massive amounts of magic to grow a plant with high amounts of magic in it, depending on the plant and how much magic is in it them it can take much more magic and time to grow a magical plant compared to plants with little to almost no magic.

Because these plants are magic growing they will always take more magic, but I can decrease the cost and speed up the growth if I learn its magic flows, but magic plants also have much more complex magical flows than regular plants so it will take me longer to learn them.

I pour some tea in a cup and take a sip of the red tea helping me regain my lost magic, It'll take an hour or two to regain all of my magic even with the tea helping so I decide to finish my tea and go for a walk through the valley, like all my walks Entropy comes with me flying around the area as I walk but never too far away.

As I walk we move a fair distance from our camp we move uphill a distance to a flattish area with thicker brush and taller trees, I keep making my way through the brush and as I walk I hear a noise somewhere to my left through the brushes, I stop walking and listen to the sound.

It sounds like somethings scratching wood but it's hard to tell from here, I stay still for a moment wondering what I should do, I don't have my knife on me and I'm not sure what's making that noise, I war with myself for a while before letting my curiosity win, I follow the noise before entering a small clearing.

I see a birch tree with an animal scratching the trunk, it takes a moment for me to realize what I'm looking at, it's a brown bear cub sitting next to the tree and using it's claws to scratch the tree's bark, I freeze before backing off slowly, I need to leave now, it's mother won't be far away an-.

My thoughts are interrupted by a large brown bear burst out of the bushes heading straight at me, :FUCK!: I turn and run I need to move now, I hear the bear not far behind me and after a moment I still here it I hoped it wouldn't follow me but I guessed wrong it's decided I'm either a threat or food.

I run through bush after bush trying to gain some distance but I hear the bear getting closer, and then at the worst moment I trip hitting the dirt of the forest floor tumbling as I do so, I try getting up only to see the bear far too close to me only a dozen feet away, I panic and freeze.

I don't have time for a spell and I don't have my dagger, I force myself to move trying to draw a spell but right as I start, I see the bear closing the distance between us, and right before the bear reaches me I feel something slam into my side before everything goes black.

For a single moment I think I'm back in the place I was in when I died, but the darkness only lasts for a fraction of a second before everything comes back like getting hit with a wall of color and sound and I feel myself falling for a moment before hitting the ground, I cough as the air is forced out of my lungs.

After a coughing fit I get on my hooves and look around to see, :my camp?: I look around and see Entropy looking at me her feathers disheveled and body slumped on the ground, I panic and move over to her checking her over and notice she seems uninjured she only seems tired and weak, I take her to the tent to rest before checking on the shield making sure it's strong and stable before going back into the tent.

I tend to Entropy keeping her warm and giving her food and some tea for a while, I don't know how but she brought us back to the camp and saved me from a bear the least I can do is take care of her, after an hour or so she regains a decent amount of her strength, she tries to stand looking around but I push her back down.

"It's ok girl we're fine, try to rest", she seems to understand laying back down fully and finally going to sleep almost immediately I let her rest and leave the tent, I take off my bags and add some wood to the last embers of my fire and start checking over my body, I have a few scrapes and a lot of bruises but I'm otherwise fine.

I spend some time casting the only healing spell I know on myself might as well get some practice while thinking over what happened, first from now on always have a weapon with me, second I need a spell I can cast fast of an enchanted object with a spell in it for defense, and third whatever Entropy is can teleport apparently.

I need to calm down some, so I start trying to meditate it takes me a while to calm myself and clear my head but eventually I calm down enough to relax some, I get up and check on Entropy again she seems to be sleeping she probably over taxed her magic when she teleported us.

She's only a little over a month old so while her body is almost fully grown her magic is still somewhat weak even if she is a highly magic creature her magic will take time to grow, she should be fine after a good amount of rest and time, it's still around midday so I have time to do things but I don't think I'll be leaving the camp for the rest of today.

I don't have much to do inside the camp beyond practicing my plant magic, but I require focus to do that so I think I'll spend some time drawing so I start to draw the bear I saw today, I should probably make a new book for animals something like a bestiary I haven't needed one before now but if I plan to go on more camping trips I'll need to learn how to handle more predators.

I should also research some actual combat spells soon but that's for the future, right now all I need is to try and enjoy my vacation the best I can although that might be hard as I'll be spending the rest of my time in this forest looking over my shoulder for bears, I spend the next hour growing plants and training.

I pause as I see Entropy leave the tent and hop over to my side, "hey girl feeling ok?" she chirps to me before hopping on my back and laying down, "I'll take that as a yes then" we stay like this for a while as the sky goes dark and the moon rises into the sky.

I take a break from drawing to cook us some food, it's nothing fancy just potatoes and some dried fish seasoned with some of my spices, we eat in the light of the fire, I sit next to the campfire with Entropy laying against my side now while I draw a
rough star map of the sky above us.

I've done this for a few days now whenever the sky is clear enough that I can see the stars, I could probably find better star maps in the library but I enjoy doing this so I think I'll continue for as long as I'm out here, I won't be able to do this in the city but whenever I'm outside the city I think I'll continue.

I put away my book and check the time, I could stay up but after today I think some more sleep than normal will do me good, I clean things up around the camp before checking the fire and adding some more wood to it before gently picking up Entropy and moving us to the tent before climbing into my blankets and letting sleep claim me.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading my minds unhinged rant disguised as a story. :D

Chapter 27

FEB 13 Thursday. It's our last day in the forest as we will be leaving today, the next train back to canterlot will arrive early in the morning tomorrow so I'll be leaving soon today and staying in Ilinalta again.

Right now I'm organizing all the things I've found in the forest over the last two weeks, I have over a dozen types of berry seeds a few fruit seeds and three tree seeds, birch maple and pine I'll have to research them when I get back to the library, I'm also going to need a new sketchbook as mine is now full.

Beyond the things I've collected I have gained a decent amount of practice with copying different plants flows, I've studied a few dozen plants now so I think I have enough practice to feel life magic even in my apartment, so I'll be able to continue my practice back home although it will probably take a while for me to get used to copying plants in an environment without as much life magic.

That's for future me to worry about right now I'm spending the rest of my time in the valley copying the magic of the mushrooms I first found here, I drain my magic then rest with some tea before I start packing up the camp to leave the valley.

time skip

FEB 15 Saturday. I wake up getting out of my bed, I may like camping but I have missed my bed, I move into the kitchen before making some breakfast for Entropy and me enjoying some fresh meat before grabbing my badge and making my way out of the apartment and to the library, I walk through the streets moving through the morning rush of ponies.

I enter the library and check in with Daisy for a moment before starting my work, I'm reshelving books today so I grab a cart and get to work.

I've been thinking about Entropy's ability to teleport ever since she first used it, I still have no idea what she is but as I learn more about her I can narrow down my search, what I do know so far is that she seems more intelligent then a normal animal even by this world's standards.

I'm not sure if she'll become as intelligent as a pony but considering how smart she's been so far I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility, and as for her ability to teleport I should probably help her test and train this new ability as I rather she didn't teleport inside a wall, or pony.

I have also realized something important, she can teleport which means that at least to some degree she's manipulating space, that is both amazing and somewhat useless right now it's amazing because I might be able to copy her to do the same, and also useless as even if I can copy her I don't have the control required to manipulate space like that yet.

Still it's something which is great as before this I was going in blind, beyond that I think she might develop more abilities given some time, the reason I think this is because as far as I can tell when it comes to powerful magical creatures they seem to get more powerful the older they are, alicorns also follow this rule as most alicorns as best I can tell start out as really powerful ponies and then become alicorns that get stronger with age.

I move back to the sorting room to return my now empty cart before taking another full cart and leaving the sorting room again, changing the subject from magic creatures to something I've discovered recently, and it reminds me once again of the odd nature of cutie marks and what they do.

Let's start with my cutie mark, as far as I've been able to figure out my mark helps me learn modify and create spells, and that brings be to something odd about my cutie mark that I noticed when I got it, when I first got my mark I thought the symbols on it where gibberish but they are not.

I was going through my notebook that I filled with different runes last night organizing it and noticed that one of the runes matched the runes on my mark, my cutie mark has fourteen symbols seventy three numbers along with thirty seven math related symbols, all on a dark stone tablet drawn in the same green color as my eyes.

The rune that matches my mark is a rune for water, a very old rune for water in fact it's the oldest rune I could find that means water I'm not sure what this means for me, but I took some time to closely examine my mark and I didn't find anything just like before.

I don't know what any of the other symbols mean as I don't recognize any of them, the math also still doesn't make any sense and I don't mean I can't understand the numbers or the order they are in, what I mean is that it makes literally no sense at all.

This is a part of the numbers for a example, 12 = 23 - 243 = 34 + 3 and it goes on, the math isn't just wrong it is literally impossible hell it's barely math at this point it's just random numbers more than anything, but the fact remains that one of the symbols for water is there and they are exactly the same, I once wondered if fate was an active force in this world I still don't know but this does make me lean to a solid maybe.

I've done a lot of research on cutie marks and I'll probably look again now, but I still understand very little a good example of how odd marks can be are the names of ponies, many ponies have names that seem to determine their cutie mark at least to some extent, but then ponies also seem to get their marks from doing what they love.

I have two theories of how this works, both involve harmony as it's a powerful force in this world although I don't know if harmony is a force or a actual being maybe some kind of aspect of this reality, it may be possible as discord does also exist so I can't say for sure that other beings representing parts of the world don't exist.

Take me for example I still don't know how I ended up in equis so once again I can't say for sure that something like the embodiment of death life or fate hell even time doesn't exist somewhere out there.

My second theory is about emotions and harmony and how they affect magic and the world at large, emotions are very important in this world that much is obvious but what role they play in how this world and its magic works is vague at best, and that leads me to my theory.

I know all things living and nonliving things have magic, and magic gathers inside some types of materials and always gathers in living things, I think harmony is either a real being or a manifestation of all beings emotions, I don't have anyway to prove either of these theories but there my best guess so far.

Whether or not this has an effect on cutie marks I don't know, but I think it does somewhat and my best proof is in Rainbow Dash and Twilight both ponies have done many thing worthy of note like all of the main six but what I find interesting about these two is their names and cutie marks.

Lets start with Rainbow Dash specifically her name, she gained her mark from the sonic rainboom and her name is Rainbow I don't know how much more obvious the universe can get with that, then we have Twilight who's mark is as far as I can tell about all types of magic at the same time.

What I find interesting about all this is that Rainbow Dash's name is very specific to what she goes on to do' while Twilight's name is still connected to her future as she is going to be trained by the being that currently controls the day night cycle right now and her name is the middle point in between both day and night.

This whole mess gets even worse when you bring in Twilight's dam who's also named Twilight but seems to have a fairly ordinary life in comparison, if I had to boil this all down into a single question it would be, to what degree does a pony's name affect their cutie mark and future?.

And to be honest I'm as lost as everypony else, I may have special knowledge of this world and what will happen to it but in living here I've come to realize that there are still things, big things about this world that I don't know about and if I want to stop what's coming I'll need to keep learning more about this world.

I move out of my thoughts as I make my way into the breakroom for lunch, I sit next to Daisy as she talks to Maple "hey anything interesting happened when I was gone?" I ask mostly as a joke as almost nothing happens in the library.

Daisy turns to me and gives me a deadpan look before answering "besides a massive dragon head appearing in the city before disappearing? no" she answers her voice filled with sarcasm, I pause and sink back into my thoughts for a moment, :well it seems spike has been hatched then:.

That also means Twilight is officially the student of Celestia now and also now has her cutie mark, I'm forced out of my thoughts as Daisy is still looking at me waiting for a response, I guess I'll need to play ignorant then, "very funny Daisy, but seriously anything happen?"

Maple speaks up "actually she's telling the truth three days ago a dragon's head broke it's way through the top of Celestia's magic school along with a magic shockwave at the same time there were a lot of ponies panicking."

I pretend to pause before sighing "because of course I'd miss something like that, anypony get hurt?"

Maple shakes her head "no there was some panic but the guards did their job and everything calmed down soon after."

I pause to eat a steamed carrot before speaking again "Well that's good, any other wildly crazy things happen when I was gone?"

Daisy answers this time "nope just more of the same like most days, although Blaz will be two weeks late to return to the library and work he pulled a wing muscle so he was told to rest for two weeks."

"Well I hope he gets better soon otherwise working with the two of you is likely to drive me crazy" I joke trying to lighten the mood a little seeing the concern for her friend on Daisy's face.

That does get a small laugh out of her, we continue eating lunch and talking about what we've missed and how our time off was, I told them about going camping although I lied about where I went and that I was alone, as I don't think they'd like that I went into a somewhat dangerous valley by myself.

I get into a conversation with Maple about pie which she seemed to really like, she even seemed a little obsessed with pie, after that we went back to work and before I knew it my shift was over and I'm walking out of the library and heading home.

I enter my apartment and not even a few seconds later Entropy is in front of me on the floor chirping, "hey girl I'm guessing you're hungry?" she claws at me before flying over to the kitchen, I spend some time making some food and making some tea for the both of us as I have a plan.

After she eats I bring her with me to the window and lay down, I think for a moment on how to try to get her to do this, before getting an idea, crows in my world were trained to solve puzzles and I think I can do the same here, I grab a small ruby from the work room.

I spend some time enchanting the ruby to create as strong of a shield as it can in a two foot area, after a hour I'm done and have a ruby that generates a small shield next to it that only lets light and air through, I grab a few juniper berries as treats along with a small piece of raw fish meat.

At this point Entropy knows something is happening and is paying close attention to me, when I activate the shield it will only last for an hour or so before the ruby needs to recharge but that's enough, I give her a berry which she gobbles down before placing the piece of meat on the floor and activating the shield around it.

Entropy really likes meat even more then fruit or berries so she will try almost anything to get it, my hope is that her desire for the meat will be strong enough for her to try teleporting inside the shield, I keep some tea nearby incase she does teleport as she'll probably need it to regain her lost magic.

Last time she teleported she moved both of us a few miles back to the camp, so I think a jump of only a few feet will be something she can do without exhausting herself like last time, Entropy seems to understand she can't reach the meat after repeatedly trying to find a way around or through the shield.

She spends some time scratching at the shield with her beak and talons before getting frustrated hopping around the shield and cawing at it, I give her a berry to try and calm her some before letting her continue trying, I start meditating trying my best to feel the space around me.

I can't keep my attention on her with both my eyes and spatial senses so I just try feeling the space and close my eyes, it takes a while of her repeatedly trying different things before something happens, Entropy stills for a moment before I feel the space around her twist and shift, I can't keep up with what is happening and only catching bits and pieces of what she's doing.

Then for a split second Entropy disappears and then in the same second reappears inside the shield, I try my best to feel the process but my senses are not enough to feel what is happening clearly, I open my eyes after a moment and see Entropy enjoying the piece of meat.

I turn off the shield and let her eat her well earned treat before checking her over, she look a little out of breath much like when she flies for a long while but is otherwise fine, I smile at her as she bows her head demanding scratches I comply using the edge of my hoof to scratch her neck.

"Well then girl it seems you'll be joining me in some training, although I'll need to buy more meat" she caws at me when I say meat and I chuckle "seems you agree then."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 28

FEB 27 Thursday. I sit next to the magic shield as Entropy takes a moment to concentrate before teleporting, and after a moment I see her disappear in an instant, with black wisps of something that looks like smoke that disappears almost immediately after she teleports.

I've been training her for over a week now and she's made some good progress, when we first started she would get tired and she still does but I think that will lessen with practice and time, she has improved with how long it takes for her to teleport she needed roughly ten seconds each time before.

And now she only needs five or six, this is massive progress for such a short amount of time, but I think that has more to do with her learning how to control her ability than anything else, I think that whatever her kind is would teach their young to teleport around the time they learn to fly or maybe soon after.

I think this because it would increase a young birds chance of surviving when they leave the nest, but because I didn't know she could teleport she was never taught how, so when she saw me in danger she probably acted on instinct and teleported us, she probably didn't even know what would happen but wanted to save me.

Because she never knew she had this ability she needed to learn how to use it properly, I think that's why she's made so much progress in only a little over a week, I think her progress will slow down soon but she's doing fine for now so we will keep training like this until then.

As for my own training, I've kept up with my morning runs and meditation, I've also been successful in copying a plants magic flow in my apartment, although much like I thought it's more difficult to feel the life magic flow through a plant here but I can still do it and that's what matters.

I've spent my time copying the plants I own, mostly the Iron Oak as it's magic is fairly complex but I expected that even so it still took me three days to even get a decent understanding of the trees magic flows, I've made progress just not much and it will probably take me a few weeks to fully memorize it.

I also took some time to look at the other plants and the results are about what I expected, the Jungle Fern, Cactus and juniper berry plants are regular along with the false Daisy, the Gripping Vine is a little interesting as it's magic flows are fairly complex for such a relatively simple plant but still fairly normal.

The most interesting plants are the Companion Vine and Blood Leaf Tea, as far as I can tell the Companion Vine seems to use complex flows not only to grow itself but also to pull in more life magic from the environment, it's much more efficient than other plants and I have high hopes for this plant in the future.

Then there's the Blood Leaf Tea which by far has the most complex magic flows I've ever seen, I'm still new to copying plants and because of the complexity of this plant I couldn't learn much of anything so I'll have to revisit this plant at a later date.

I've also been spending some of my spare time doing research into a few different subjects, the first subject is about the symbols on my cutie mark, and sadly I've found no other runes that match the ones that are on my mark, I've also not been able to make any since of the numbers other than them being in the pony language.

Another thing I still need to research are the different languages of this world, but back on topic I've also been researching cutie marks again and just like last time I've found basically nothing that would help me understand how they work.

It's odd because you'd think that a species that is almost defined by magic marks they have would try learning more about them, but most seem to just not care about cutie marks beyond what they mean and how to use them, but then again humans did the same not caring about something until it becomes a problem or is needed, still it seems weird.

Maybe I'm missing something but the fact remains that there is little written about the nature of cutie marks and I'll have to try finding my own answers, if I even can, moving on to the last thing I'm researching and that's what Entropy is, I still don't know but I might have found something.

I was looking through a book about myths and legends from a few hundred years ago mostly because I was curious, but while looking through it I found a reference to something that seemed similar to her, A Night Crow, I only found the name and a brief description of what it is supposed to be.

What I found was more of a story to scare foals than anything else, It calls them the birds of the night evil creatures that are made from darkness and hate almost the opposite of a phoenix in every way, well first things first the book I found this in was full of myths and stories so it's likely to also be full of lies or misinformation.

Second I don't think Entropy is evil as she both saved my life and has never hurt anypony, hell the most she's ever done to me is demand food and scratches, but I do think that she might be related to a phoenix in some way as they share the trait of teleportation and are both avian, I'm not sure if this is what I've been looking for but I'll look into the name more in hopes of finding something.

I've thought of asking Celestia but I decided against it, it might be selfish of me but I'd like to keep the true nature of Entropy to myself, my main reason for this is her ability to teleport as I can do many things with her help that I may not be able to do otherwise and I may need her help to stop what's coming.

So unless something comes up I'll be keeping her nature secret for now, moving on I've found a new project to work on a text copying spell to anything on a page really, there are a few spells that do something similar but the ones I could find only copy small amounts of text or a few symbols and none copy art, mine cant copy art either but can copy some simple symbols.

This means that the county goes through a staggering amount of ink and paper because if you make a mistake when copying an important document you need to start over again wasting paper and ink, at first I almost decided not to create this spell as the ponies that make ink and paper would see less business, but then I realized that I could make the spell also use ink but I will probably need to make the spell a little more complicated for that.

The spell was always going to need paper, but I think I could make it use no ink if I really tried, but instead I'll have it use both and like I said earlier the spell will probably be a little more complicated but also use less magic to cast as it won't need to create the letters just move the ink around.

I have found a runic symbol for copy, well technically it's a symbol for mimicking but that will work just fine for what I have planned, I'm going to start with a already existing copy spell as while, it's a little messy and crude but it will work well enough as a base for my spell.

I'm in my work room right now going through the spell matrix, I remove most of what is there and start streamlining what remains, I add four symbols to build the spell off of the symbol for mimicking then the symbol of movement and finally two symbols one for area and the other for light.

The finished spell when cast will create two small zones one green and the other red, this comes from the light and area symbols making a small illusion, then you simply place a filled piece of paper inside the green area and keep it still, then add the same amount of blank paper to the red area, then the spell will use the movement and mimicking symbols along with some math to copy the contents of the paper.

It will take longer depending on how much you're copying but it should still work, although because the spells matrix is small to reduce magic costs it won't be able to copy more then twenty pages depending on how small or large the text is it could also increase or decrease.

It takes me six hours to get a prototype done and it will probably take me several more days to finish the spell completely, I stop to make some lunch at the insistence of Entropy, we go into the kitchen and find little to eat so I decide to leave and go out to eat before buying some groceries.

I grab my bags and Entropy hops on top of me as we leave the apartment, I see Daisy inside the hallway next to her door and approach her, "hey Daisy, how's your day so far?"

"Oh hey Shade, ya it's been fine same as always I suppose, you?"

"I wish I could say it's been interesting but nope just more of the same, any new about Blaz?"

She nods "yup his son stopped by the library today said he should be fully healed in another week or so."

"Good it'll be good to see him again, anyway I hope you have a nice day Daisy" I say moving past her to the stairs.

"You too Shade."

I walk out of the apartment and start moving through the streets, it's late right now so there is a decent amount of ponies on the streets most like me going to get a late lunch or heading home for the day, Entropy decides to fly over head rather then ride me letting me move more freely through the streets.

I walk through the market district before entering the area with many food stalls and restaurants, I head to a place I've been to before the Cozy Clover and unlike last time I enter with Entropy so I ask if she can eat with me and I'm told yes but if she breaks anything I'm paying for it.

We get a table before ordering some food I get baked cod with some steamed vegetables and heyfries, I order Entropy a fruit bowl as I don't think they want a crow eating raw meat where others can see, I get our food a while later and it's great.

The fish is cooked well and there's a white sauce that reminds me of ranch that goes well with the fried cod, Entropy seemed a little jealous of my fish but then after getting a bowl filled with several types of fruit and berries she's far too distracted to care about my food anymore.

We spend our time eating in silence before I pay the bill and we leave, I still need to buy food for home so we make our way through the market buying necessities and a few extra things, Entropy finds a wooden ball with several holes throughout it letting her pick it up with her beak.

She doesn't have many toys so I get it for her, and considering that when I gave it to her she wouldn't let go of it I think she's happy with her new toy, I buy three new blank books and some more ink I also find two things of interest so I buy them, the first is a book about the griffin language.

I've wanted to learn other languages for a while but couldn't decide on which so I just decided to learn the one I thought I would use the most, and out of all the races of this world, not counting ponies, the species I've encountered the most is griffins so I'll be spending some of my time trying to learn their language.

The other thing I bought was a enchanted painting of a forest at night, the enchantment makes the painting give off a soft glow of different colors letting the painting have glowing fireflies and a glowing moon, what I'm mostly interested in is the enchantments used as they look interesting, plus the walls of my apartment are empty so this will add something to look at.

We take everything back home and get it put away, well I put everything away while Entropy throws her new ball around and chases it but I'm not complaining as she looks happy, we spend the next hour or so training her teleportation with berries as treats as she ate a large meal recently so no fish for her.

We spend the rest of the daylight playing or training before it gets dark and I start breeding plants, I've not learned the magical flows of the Juniper Berries yet so that's what I work on hoping to speed up the process of breeding them.

I have some success but it takes me a few hours of practice before I can grow the Juniper Berries decently fast so it will take me a few more days before I can achieve the same speed I normally have, but after a few hours of practice my magic is almost gone and I'm tired so after cleaning myself up I head to bed.

Author's Note

Thanks as always for reading.

Chapter 29

MAR 12 Wednesday. I get out of bed and after waking up Entropy and we move into the kitchen so I can make us some breakfast before going to work, I make myself a grilled cheese and some fruit with the last of the fish for Entropy.

But as I eat my breakfast I hear a knock at the door and move over to the door to answer it, "letter and package for yo, Shade?" I see a guard in their armor specifically one Shining Armor standing at my door with a box and letter, :oh hell, why the FUCK is it you again:.

I need to think fast and not say anything stupid, "oh hey Shining I didn't know you were part of the guard, when did that happen?" he still seems a little confused but after a moment answers me.

"I joined younger than most and got into the guard early" :good now don't ask me abou:, "if you don't mind me asking why are you getting a letter and package from the princess?' :WHY!:.

I think fast trying to come up with an excuses and the best lies are the truth so let's try that, "I sent her a gift once and she liked it, after that we started sending letters back and forth for a while now as for the package I have no idea."

He still looked a little confused but seems to have dropped the subject :thank god: Shining's horn lights up as he passes me a letter and box, I take the letter from Shining while I move the package inside the apartment with my field before opening the letter and reading it.

Dear Shade Evergreen, I'm writing to you because the first full tests on the pest enchantment have finished and included in this letter is a copy of the results that I'd like you to review if you have the time, as the researches want to check that the results are what you expected and also asked you to include any more advice you can give them.

I'm also asking you to join me on the fifteenth of March at three in the afternoon for a meeting with me as I'd like to discuss something with you, beyond that there is a second package with this letter that's a late Hearth's Warming gift as it took me a while to copy the book in my spare time I hope you enjoy it. Signed princess Celestia.

I haven't gotten a letter from Celestia since she sent me a thank you letter for my Hearth's Warming gift, I look back to Shining "I'll send a letter later thank you for bringing this to me, nice seeing you Shining."

He gives me a nod "same to you Shade" he then walks away from my door and down the hall, I close my door before calming down some :I swear if I bump into him unexpectedly again I will flip a dame table:.

I refocus on the letter and take out the test results and place them to the side along with the letter, I move the package over to me and open it inside is a single book with a green cover and no name on it, I spend a few minutes to skim the books contents and find it be a hoof written instruction book.

The book's author is a pony named Green Skies, a unicorn mare born in the year 124 and died in 235 at the age of one hundred and eleven, she lived a long life especially for the time period she lived in and that's what makes this book so interesting.

Green Skies was a master at using the life affinity I've even seen her name a few times in my research about affinities, this book is a book she wrote for her at the time apprentice who made a few copies, some of the knowledge it this book I even found in the library but only bits and pieces.

This is as far as I can tell a full unedited copy of the book, Celestia said she copied it for me and considering her age she might even have one of the original copies, as I flip through the book I find many things that interesting me all worth learning, I have to stop myself from reading it because I still have work so I just place the book in my room before finishing my breakfast and leaving.

I get into the library and go about my work as always and like every other day with nothing of particular interest happening, While working I let my thoughts wander specifically to what happened when I was camping the Sonic Rainboom.

First when the Sonic Rainboom happened I was far enough away to not feel it or maybe the forest and valley walls dampened the effects enough for me to not feel it either way the result is the same, I've been researching about what happened and I may ask Celestia when we meet.

I've found little unfortunately the best source of information I've found about the event is a newspaper that explained some about the event but it had nothing I didn't already know so I wasn't able to learn much out of this whole thing, I did learn how the public reacted though.

And it's pretty much what you'd expect some panic over the magic shockwave and then even more panic over the dragon head busting its way out of a building, after an hour or two the guards got everything under control and Celestia made an announcement that everything was fine.

After that most calmed down and after a day everything was basically back to normal, this once again reminds me about how much ponies trust Celestia not that the trust they give is unwarranted, the effects of the shockwave didn't do much else besides giving every weather team a stroke over how much work they needed to do to fix the weather after it.

I check the time by looking down and activating the enchantment on my bracelet It's lunch time so I head to the breakroom,
and when I enter I see a newly recovered Blaz sitting with Daisy and Maple so I grab some food and sit with them.

"How's everypony doing today?"

Daisy is the first to speak "Shade perfect you can help me prove my point."

Blaz also speaks "Hey colt, ya you might be able to shed some light on this."

I'm not too surprised at this as when you work in a library you often have ponies disagreeing over different topics, "Sure why not, what's the topic?"

"Well blaz here thinks that the warming spell can melt stone if you use enough magic when casting it, I think the spell will take too much power for anypony to cast before the stone melts, what do you think?"

All three look at me, Maple quietly listening in, "well first we are using the basic warming spell not a modified version right?" the both nod "well than I think it depends on the type of stone something like shale has a low melting point so that would take a lot less effort."

"You'd also have to take into account the affinity of the pony casting it if they have a fire affinity then it would be easier, so in short yes and no."

Blaz speaks first "told you so."

"He didn't say you were right just that it was possible" both continue to bicker over the topic.

Maple looked confused at this before turning to me "does this happen often?"

"Right you probably haven't seen them like this before, no not often but maybe once a month or so depending on what it's about."

She pauses for a moment with a thoughtful look at me "why ask you?, not to sound rude but they are both older then you so why ask you? also what is an affinity?'.

"Well first I focus mostly on learning how spells work so I know a little more than most, and second affinities are what type of magic you have a natural advantage in you can read up on it if you want the library has plenty of books on it."

It's not often I talk to a pony that doesn't know what affinities are, but I work in a library so maybe I'm just biased, "I might just do that thanks" I nod to her as my mouth is full.

I swallow before speaking "So any plans for the day?'.

"No not really, I did want to look for some new blankets though."

"Did the room not come with them?, mine did."

She looks a little embarrassed at my question "ya they do, but I kind of destroyed mine."

I raise a brow at this before deciding that it's best not my business, "well your still new to the city and there's a few places I know where you can go to get what you need and I also need to buy some necessities, so after work would you like me to show you where they are?"

She pauses looking like she doesn't know how to answer me for a moment, "yes that would be very helpful, thank you."

I smile at her "No problem, but we really should finish our food, lunch is almost over" we eat and get back to work for the next few hours.

After I'm done with work I walk back home to grab my saddlebags before returning to the library entrance and waiting for Maple, she comes outside not long after so we start making our way to the market district.

We make it to the market and first we stop at a cloth shop, it mostly sells cloth for other businesses but also sells things like bed sheets tablecloths and other products that use large amounts of cloth, we spend a while looking through their stock feeling and looking through different cloths.

Eventually Maple finds one she likes and buys it, I tell her she can head home but she decides to continue shopping with me, so we move through the market talking as I show her around and buy what I need which is mostly just food but I also need meat, so when we approached the street that has the meat market I stop us.

"So this part of the market is for meat, I'm not sure if that's a problem for you so do you want to stay here?", I ask her as most ponies get uncomfortable around meat especially raw meat, but hearing my question she seemed unaffected.

"No that's fine I'll come with you," I'm a little unsure as she may change her mind when we enter the street, but as we walk down the street she does seem unaffected by what's around her I don't think I've ever seen a non batpony so unbothered by this.

I'm curious but keep my thoughts to myself we all have a past and Maple seems to keep hers close, hell it's not like I'm one to judge over somepony not talking about their past, I buy some bass and we move on as our shopping is done so we decide to part ways and both head home.

I make it back home and as always I'm greeted by a certain bird demanding to be fed, so after making some lunch for me and cutting up some fish into small bites, I eat while placing small pieces of fish inside the magic shield we letting her teleport inside and back out repeating this over dozens of times before stopping.

She's now able to teleport inside the shield almost instantly and is much better at teleporting in general so I'll have to find a new way to train her ability, I give her the rest of the fish before making my way inside my work room I sit in front of a desk and start working on my almost finished project.

The copying spell is proving to be more difficult than I expected, over the past two weeks I've drawn and redrawn it more times than I can count but finally a few days ago I finished a decent working version of the spell, I've been testing and adjusting and now it's basically finished.

I still need to test it some more and unfortunately the spell ended up needing another runic symbol to make it work, this has made the spell use more magic then I'd like but it's still castable by almost any unicorn, I'll also probably be giving it to Celestia at our meeting so she can take credit for it.

After some testing of the spell I moved onto the test results for the anti pest enchantment, the tests were done over the months of January and February and they consisted of three crop fields, the first was wheat the second potatoes and the third blueberries.

The wheat seemed to be decently protected but a few larger pests were still active but that was expected, the potatoes seemed to be helped only some as the pests that ate them mostly lived underground but the enchantment did help keep the plants leaves and stems safe.

The blueberries were the crop most positively affected as most pests that tried to eat them died or fled the area, over all it seems the enchantment was a success after reading through the test results I added some suggestions on where to deploy the enchantment and what other plants would benefit most from it's help the most.

After that I grab the book Celestia gifted me, the book doesn't have any ground breaking techniques or anything but it does have many small things that will help me improve on what I already have, I spend the rest of the day reading through the book and testing different things on my plants.

The most impactful thing I've found in the book is a better way to feel the life magic flow through a plant, this doesn't help me in memorizing the flows but will make it a bit easier to feel the flows of magic so it will speed up my progress slightly.

Beyond that the book does have something else of use, it has a list of useful plants to help somepony practicing and training their life magic, I'll still need to find these plants but I'll at least know what I'm looking for now, after draining the last of my magic I make some dinner for me and Entropy before heading to bed.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 30

MAR 17 Sunday. I make my way through the city moving higher and higher, I'm heading to the palace for a meeting with a certain princess.

I had to leave Entropy back at the apartment, she was not happy about that but with some bribes and scratches she was willing to let me go, after that I grabbed the things I would need for today, first my notes on the anti pest enchantment, second my new copy spell.

I walked to the entrance of the palace and like the last two times a guard leads me inside, we move through several hallways and arrive at a room I've been to before, although last time I was here I was panicking over a rock, we enter and I see Celestia sitting at a table.

"Mr. Evergreen, it's nice to see you again".

I bow "same to you princess", I sit opposite of her at the table, "I have the test results you wanted me to look over" I say placing them on the table.

A smile blooms on her face, "thank you" she spends a few minutes looking through my notes before placing them to the side.

"I also have this for you" I then place the new spell I've created on the table, she raises a brow but doesn't look very surprised, she looks through the spell's matrix and my notes on the spell before speaking.

As she reads the smile on her face grows, after a few minutes her horn glows for a moment as she casts the spell, she then grabs two pieces of paper from nowhere, she quickly writes something on one piece of paper before copying it, after seeing the spell work properly she finally speaks.

"This is amazing work" she takes a closer look at the spells matrix, looking through the numbers and symbols, "it's well made, almost any unicorn should be able to cast it", she takes a few more moments to drink some tea as I wait quietly.

"Although I am curious as to why the spell uses the mimicking symbol?"

"Yes it's a little out of place, but I couldn't find a better rune so I made do with what I had", she nods at my explanation.

"You did well for not having any exact matches, what do you want to do with the spell."

"It's yours now princess" I answered bluntly.

"I guessed as much, what I'm asking is what you want in exchange", she playfully deadpans back, the smile never leaving her face.

"Nothing, I don't really need money, and like I said in the past I don't like attention, so let's just say it's free?"

She lets out a laugh "it's a rare day when I have to find a way to pay somepony for something free, you're a hard pony to pay you know."

"Well as I said I don't need bits, I don't even know what to do with all the bits I have let alone more" I take a sip of tea and tasting the familiar tea gives me an idea, "well this tea is worth a fair amount so let's just call it even."

That gets another laugh "very well if you insist, thank you Mr. Evergreen."

"Shade is just fine princess, if that's not too forward of me?", I've talked with her a few times so I don't think this is too forward, at least I hope not.

"It's not, I find many are too formal with me, and you can call me Celestia if you want."

"Of course princess", I say with a cheeky tone and a small smile "your letter said you had something to discuss with me?"

She gives me a look before answering, "yes I wanted to see if you'd be interested in a project that's being worked on."

"Really? I'm still an amateur at making spells, I'm not that confident with working on higher level things", I say trying to emphasize my uncertainty.

"Yes but you seem to have a knack for finding creative solutions, and this project is mostly a small thing that's hit a rough spot, it also doesn't involve spell creation", I think over her words and decide to accept, and if I find that this will affect the future too much I'll just say no and pretend to not have the knowledge or skill.

"I suppose I could at least see what this is about", she passes me a few pages, the project is small and I can see why she wants my help, this project is to breed a new strain of grain that will be sold to farmers for a steep discount.

The specific goal of this project is to have the new strain grow better in rocky soil, there are a few regions that have less then quality soil making them import grain from other regions of equestria, they want a strain that will grow better in rocky soil even if the yield is lessened.

The pony that has been doing this is just growing wheat and selectively breeding them slowly, they basically just grow wheat and leave it in a corner until it grows and picking out the best ones, the problem is nopony want's to do this so the pony working on it right now is an older earth pony who wants to retire.

So somepony else needs to do it and because I have the life affinity I can do it in a fraction of the time with better results, "I can definitely do this all I'll need is the right soil and the some seeds from the plant, I also have one other request."

"Thank you I'll have a guard bring it to you before you leave, and I'm willing to grant a request as long as it's reasonable."

"I'd like my name to remain out of any of this."

"You really don't like attention do you, but that is reasonable so I'm willing to grant it, how long do you think it will take you to finish",

I spend a moment thinking over it "well it depends on how much magic the plant requires to grow, but it is wheat so probably a few months maybe a year at most, I can also get a little more specific with the end result so is there anything else you'd like for the plant."

"I know many things but plants aren't my specialty so what would you recommend?"

"Well how much snow does the region have a longer winter or a higher altitude?"

"Some of both depending on the specific area."

"Then I can also breed them to handle the cold better, but I can't think of anything else that would be of immediate concern."

"Perfect once again thank you for helping with this, but I think our time is almost up."

I check my bracelet and see that it's been a little over half an hour since we started talking, I turn back to her looking at my bracelet, "a clever place to put an enchantment, but I have duties to attend to, it was a pleasure speaking to you and I hope we'll do this again."

"Same princess have a good day", a guard walks me out of the room where another guard is waiting with a few bags, they lead me to the gate and pass me a few bags of soil along with a small bag of seeds, all combined it wasn't too heavy but it still took me a while to bring it all home.

After placing the bags next to my front door I see Entropy who flies over and lands on my back, "I wasn't gone that long you know?", my only response was a caw, but after some scratches she seemed placated, I'll need to clear some time every day to breed this wheat but it will still help me train.

And if I spend some time fully learning it's magic flows I can speed up the process, still this is a long term project but it's worth doing, I place the soil and seeds on my shelves before spending some time feeding both of us, as I haven't had lunch and Entropy is always hungry.

After we eat I start on something new, I realized a problem when Shining showed up a few days ago, my apartment is full of expensive things and currently the only thing protecting them is my front doors lock, crime may be rare in the city but it still happens so I need more security, so I'm going to be making some protections for my house.

And I already have a large gem enchanted to hold magic, the large ruby I used when camping is just sitting there so why not use it, I move into the workroom and grab the large ruby before sitting at a desk, first I remove the shield enchantment leaving the magical reserve.

I then start going through my notebook looking for a spell I can use, I have something pretty close the spell lets you engulf an area in a shield but only a small area, I'll make a better shield later for now I just need something that will work until I can research a better shield.

I modify it slightly making the shield weaker but letting me determine the area it will shield, and after two hours I have the shield done it's not as strong as I'd like but is more than enough to deal with a common thief, I spend another hour shaping the shield to fit my apartment.

The shield won't let any other things inside except me and Entropy, I'll need to turn it off to let others inside but I'll fix that later, and I'm not expecting visitors anytime soon, the ruby is already charged from sitting around and the shield won't take more magic then the game regenerates so It won't need to recharge.

I place it on a shelf in the work room before moving onto the next thing, I grab the book Celestia gave me, I've been reading through it and have found a few things, like the fact that I'm an idiot that can't see what's right in front of him, why? well I missed something so damn obvious that I hate it.

When I grow a plant they need two things, my life magic and soil, I don't add water something that plants need and this whole time I've been unknowingly compensating by using more magic than necessary, THIS WHOLE DAMN TIME!, as you can imagine this is a little annoying.

But I guess that's what you get when learning about a magic branch with whatever book you can find in a massive library by yourself, though it's not all my fault as none of the books I did find mentioned this, and even with water the process is only a little faster.

It’s a small boost but a welcome one, an odd thing I've found is that using water only helps grow plants without much magic, from what I can tell the more magic a plant has inside it the less of an effect adding water has, I don't know why, as magical plants seem to need just as much water.

My best guess is that like me when a plant grows they can also use their life magic to use less water, this is my best guess but there is a few things wrong with it, I'll have to try researching this later, although I don't have high hopes considering the fact that those same books didn't mention this whole mess.

I take two of my pots and fill them with rocky soil, I place them both on a desk and plant a wheat seed in both, after a while I have two wheat plants each with stalks and seeds, the cornels look smaller then the ones I've seen at the market, probably from the previous breeding attempts.

I leave them alone and move over to my other desk, I open my notebook and grab a small ruby, I enchant it with the same environment spell I used for the Juniper Berries it's not perfect but it will do just fine, after that I spend the rest of the day learning the magical flows of the wheat.

When I'm done I write what I felt down, I want to try comparing the starting wheat to the finished one to see if their magical flows are any different.

After I finish this I head into the main room to take a shower and make dinner, I feed both of us and head to bed early.

Chapter 31

MAR 20 Thursday. I make my way through the park as I run past a tree, I've been going on a morning run most days for years now and it seems to do me well, I find it helps me clear my head and relax some.

I make it to the other side of the park and turn around, I used to do one lap through the park, but since I started working at the library I've grown, as it seems I've hit my teen years, I've been eating more in the past year then before, and have grown an inch or two.

I make it to the other side of the park and rest some before walking back home, as I leave the park Entropy lands on my back, she comes with me whenever I go running she mostly follows me or explores the park, she's almost three months old now.

The only difference I've seen in her is her feathers that are getting darker, before they looked almost identical to normal crow feathers just darker, now though they're starting to absorb light like her egg did, this isn't a problem right now but if it continues she'll start drawing unwanted attention.

The good news is that this process seems to be very slow, it's taken three months for me to see the slightest difference, and I spend almost all of my time with her, so others probably won't notice for a while, that gives me some time to find a solution, I'm thinking some type of illusion.

I enter my apartment and Entropy flies off, I head into my work room, I have a few things I want to make today, I grab my tools and bring them over to the Iron Oak in the main room, I'll need some wood so I'll be harvesting some branches, I saw two thicker branches off and help the plant heal.

I decompose all the excess, then I spend some time drying out the wood, I've gotten better at this over time and it only takes me half an hour to finish, I take them to my work room and start cutting the branches down, after an hour I have two, two inch thick and seven inch long wood blocks.

I place one block on my shelf and place the other on a desk along with my tools, I start whittling down the block, I thin it out and round it out with some sandpaper, after an hour I have a solid wood pen, I place my tools away and clean up my desk for the next step.

I made this for an experiment, I have always drawn my spell matrixes with my hoof, I want to see if I can use another source of magic to do the same thing, I grab a small ruby and enchant it to hold magic and place it to the side, I'll need a custom spell for this.

But I only need it to condense and release the magic at one point, I use two runes for this, a rune for concentrate, and a rune for release, these runes are almost perfect for this spell, concentrate is not ideal but it will work fine, the spell takes me until noon to finish it.

I link the new pen and ruby together and try to use it, I activate the link and let magic into the pen, and immediately realize a problem, I forgot to give the pen a way to stop drawing, but before I start modifying the spell I test it, I drag the pen through the air.

And an odd glowing line is carved into the air before letting it fade after a moment, I repeat this a few times and notice that the color is definitely odd, its color is white but it has a rainbow sheen to it.

This confuses me for a moment, but then I realize, the gem is feeding the enchantment with magic it's gathered from the environment around it, this means that the pen is using a random assortment of magic affinity types to draw this give it the odd effects.

I spend another hour fixing the spell, adding the ability to turn it off by tapping it twice like most other things I've made, I start by drawing a basic heating spell, but half way through the lines start disappearing, my best guess is the magic being used in the matrix.

When I draw a matrix all the magic used is my own, that magic is stable as it's from one source, but this magic is a mess of different affinities and not all combine well, when I use a gem to power an enchantment the magic gathered by the gem is condensed inside and released for an enchantment.

The difference between enchantments and a matrix, is that the enchantment is bound in a stable state on a object letting it use all types of magic without problems, but while a matrix is still being drawn the mass of conflicting magic types makes the magic unstable, that's why it disappears so much faster.

That's just my best guess though, I'll need to look into it later, this effect is small and wouldn't be a problem for anything but runic magic, as when a spell is being drawn it's very delicate and can be unstable if done wrong, I spend the next hour studying the pens magic.

I write down everything I learn in one of my notebooks, I've found some things out but this will need more study, the magic the pen uses is mostly condensed natural magic, this is where the white color comes from, the rest of the colors are small amounts of many different affinities.

With a little extra effort I'm able to draw the heating spell fast enough to cast it, and the results are the spell working and then rapidly breaking down, I won't be able to cast any spells fast enough to use the pen to make spells so I honestly don't know what to do with it.

If I separate out all the affinities out of the magic it should work fine, but that will require a lot of work and finding the right runes and math, and for something this small it doesn't seem worth it to spend all that time, I'll still probably look into it I'll leave this project alone for now.

I still have a few hours left before the day ends so I start work on the next project, that being training Entropy's teleportation, the method I was using is no longer useful, so after some thought I decided on the next step, I modified the shield we have been using, to block some of the light passing through it.

You can still see the inside it's just harder, she still sees me place a piece of meat inside when we start, I see her sit outside the shield for a while before disappearing, I turn off the shield and see her eating the piece of meat, she took much longer to teleport this time so we'll use this training method from now on.

It's eight by the time we are done, so I move over to the kitchen and make us some food, we eat in silence while I organize all my notes from today, after eating I drain my magic by breeding wheat, I've found a problem that I may encounter when breeding the wheat.

I need to make sure the wheat is still edible and tastes decent, I've looked through ways to test both and the best method I've found, and it depends on what it's used for, most in this world seem to breed wheat to increase its size, they don't seem to be able to test it's quality besides how it looks and tastes, so I'll be doing the same for now.

I'm planning on grinding up some of the grain every week or two and making some bread, it's not a perfect test but it seems to work well enough for this world, and I can try finding a better way to test it later, after draining my magic I take a shower and go to bed.

time skip

MAR 21 Friday. I get out of bed, after getting up I see Entropy teleport out of her cage and lands in front of me, one downside of teaching her how to teleport has been the fact that she can follow me anywhere and I can't really stop her, she's still bribable though.

I open my bedroom door and check on my plants, their all fine and the environment enchantments have been a success, as all three plants have been just fine without me, I move to the kitchen and make us some breakfast, fruit with a little meat for Entropy and I fry some fish and make myself a sandwich.

We eat and I leave for my morning run, it takes an hour to finish it and get back home, when we do get back I spend some time meditating on the space around me as Entropy trains with the new shield, I still haven't learned anything from watching her.

I feel her distort the space around her as she moves, we spend the next hour like this before stopping, I move over to the workroom with the wheat plants, I start breeding them, I grow several small plants in a pot then pick out the best ones before repeating the process.

I'll need a way to grind down the wheat, so I'll be going through the market today and try to find a solution, I see some light rain outside so I head to the front door, grab my saddlebags and put on my cloak, Entropy sits on my back as we leave, I walk down the stairs and out the building front doors.

I walk out into the rain feeling the light patter of raindrops on my cloak, Entropy doesn't seem to mind the rain either, she just sits on my back as I walk, I take my time moving through the streets as I walk to the markets, when we arrive I see less stalls then normal but even with the rain many are open.

As I walk I keep my eyes open for anything that could break down grain, I stop at a stall with several herbs and spices and see a mortar and pestle, it's made from a dark gray stone, I look it over and find it to be sturdy, the only problem with using this is it would be slow.

But after giving it some thought I buy it, after that I make my way through the market buying things I need at home, before I'm finished the rain starts picking up and I decide to head home early.

We make it back to the apartment, we are both fairly wet so I dry myself and Entropy off with a towel, I spend some time putting away all the food, I take my new mortar and pestle to my work room, I place them on my desk and get to work.

I want to enchant both to speed up the process of grinding down the wheat, I look through my notebook and find two symbols that should work fine, I want to enchant the mortar to be more durable and make the pestle grind things down easier.

For the mortar there are a few spells I can use that already exist, but I'll have to make one for the pestle, I use two runes for this, a rune of crushing and the other a rune of breaking, I'll need to make this enchantment weak enough to not damage the mortar.

I spend the next two hours making the spell and enchanting them, when I'm done I grow some wheat seeds and collect them, I try grinding them and the process is fairly easy only taking an hour to make a pound of flour, I collect the whole grain flour and place it inside a jar.

I clean everything up and take the jar into the kitchen, I haven't used the oven I have yet so why not make some bread?, I start with some water and flour and add some eggs, after adding some yeast I bought earlier I mix everything thoroughly, I don't have a baking pan but my solid iron pot will do just fine.

I place it down and let the dough rise, I spend an hour training Entropy before adding the dough into my pot and placing it in my oven, I don't have anything to do, so I just spend some time drawing, I draw Entropy as she sleeps on a branch of the Iron Oak.

I don't finish when I smell the bread, I check it and then wait a little longer before taking it out to cool down, I mostly finish my drawing by the time the bread is cool, I cut off a piece and add some butter, it's got a decent flavor, I spend the rest of the rainy day eating bread and drawing.

Chapter 32

APR 5 Saturday. I place the last book in the cart on the bookshelf, I move the now empty cart back to the sorting room, I check the time and see that my shift is over so I return the cart and leave heading home.

I leave the library and make my way home, when I get home and enter my apartment Entropy flies over to me, I quickly make her some food and grab my saddlebags, I want to read some today but Entropy will try following me so I have to leave before she finishes eating.

I make it out of the apartment building without her following me, I walk back into the library and start looking through books, after a while I find a few books about what I need.

Today I'm going to spend some time reading about a few subjects, first anything I can find about the ambient magic in an environment, second combat magic, ever since the bear incident I've wanted something to defend myself, the library doesn't have many combat spells but there are a few.

Most of the combat spells you can find are weak or slow which makes sense, I don't think anypony want's powerful combat spells in a public library, the third subject is the shield protecting my house, it's not the best for several reasons, first and most importantly I need a way to let others inside by turning it off and on.

I've never had guests but I will at some point, the problem is I need someway to link the shield to myself or a way to control it remotely, I have an idea but I'll need a specific rune for it a rune and I don't have it, so I'm looking for it as I research other things.

I spend the next three hours reading through a few books, I add anything I find interesting into my notebook, as I make my way through the books I find a few things I could use, one of particular interest is a different type of rune for protection, a rune of citadel.

A citadel is a fortress or castle inside a city, the pony who created used the rune to enchant and reinforce walls, I want to use this in my shield as the runic context will work well, I'll combine this with the protection rune, the magic requirements will increase some but that's fine.

I still need something to turn it off and on, and after all my searching I didn't find any runes that would help, so until I find a rune that will work I'm just going to enchant an activation mechanism to do the same, I'll need to hide it but also keep it close, so I'll have to find a place to put it.

After finding a rune that would work with my shield I start looking through the combat magic books, most only have simple spells that aren't that useful to me but a few I find stand out, first a spell that's literally just a weak fire ball, the spells official name is lesser fire ball.

But from the description it's basically a fire bolt, it's small moves fast and isn't very destructive, but it's a decent spell so I add it to a new book that will have any spells related to combat, the second spell is just a water bolt, the last is a little odd it's not very dangerous but it is interesting.

It's a transmutation spell that turns soil into thick mud, I haven't found any transmutation spells before as they are normally too complex or powerful to be in the library, the spell itself is mostly uninteresting but the matrix is a different story, it has several runes I don't know and some fairly complex math.

Honestly this spell is much more complex than it needs to be, but I added it to my notes to study later, I see the library darkening as the sun sets I guess it's time to head home, I place the books back on their shelves before leaving the library and walking home.

When I enter the apartment I immediately have an annoyed bird cawing at me, I have to spend the next ten minutes bribing her with scratches and berries after that she calm down and spends her time following me, I go into the work room and find the shield.

I grab my large ruby, and start the careful process of removing the shield spell from it, I have to be very careful so I go slow, after half an hour I finish and can then start working on a new shield spell, I start with the protection rune and the citadel rune.

I work my way through the matrix adding and changing things as I go, it takes me a while to finish but when I'm done I have a better shield, the old shield stopped anything besides air me and Entropy, this one is the same but with the addition of the citadel rune the shield will protect the room more.

I'm not sure to what degree the new rune will improve the shield, but even with the spell costing more magic it looks sturdier, the last shield looked like a thin transparent wall this one is a little thicker and slightly less transparent, I'll have to find a way to test it but for now I'm happy with the improvements.

I spend some time enchanting the large ruby again and shaping the shield to cover my apartment, I shape it to hug the walls making sure not to extend it to other apartments, I start on the next step, I take a small piece of wood and start carving it into a small flat piece

It is a half inch by half inch flat wood piece, I enchant it to link into the shield and turn it off when flipped over on one side, I do this by using a rune for up and one for sticking so it doesn't flip by accident, I set the large ruby on my shelf and place the small wood piece on the counter top.

I look around looking for a decent location, I eventually decide to place it inside the Jungle ferns pot, the wood is Iron wood so it shouldn't rot and when it's sitting under the fern leaves it will be very hard to see, but its still nearby enough to flip when needed.

I take another piece of Iron oak wood, its an inch thick and several inches long, I carve down one side into a point and push it into the fern pots soil, I lay the activation piece on top of it and it sticks to it, when I need to turn off the shield I just pull the piece of wood until I overpower the weak sticking effect and flip it.

I test it several times making sure nothing is wrong and that the link is stable, after I'm satisfied that it's stable I move onto the combat spells, I sit down at a desk and open my new book studying the three new spells, I leave the transmutation spell alone for now and focus on the other two.

It will still be some time before I have the skill necessary to create a spell matrix without drawing it, so I want a spell with a decent amount of power and a simple matrix so I can draw it fast so I need to focus on one spell.

The water bolt spell takes longer and has a higher magic cost, but is better as it has a decent amount of force behind it, but it takes more time and magic to cast then the fire bolt, but on the other hoof the fire bolt spell is better at a distraction and if I hit the eyes or some fur it may do a decent amount of damage.

After looking over the spells I decide on the fire bolt spell, my reason for choosing it is its matrix, the fire spell works by gathering air and lighting it on fire then shooting it at something, the water bolt spell works by gathering water from the air and shooting it.

What matters is how simple I can make it, the fire spell uses fewer runes and a smaller matrix, letting me draw it faster, I spend the next hour taking apart and modifying the fire bolt spell, It's not easy as the spell is simple, giving me few things to improve.

When I'm done I have a new fire bolt spell, it costs a little more magic then the original but is faster to cast using a simplistic and small matrix, I'll need a lot of practice with it but I have time if nothing else, I spend a while drawing the matrix, practicing.

I don't have anything to do after this, I think for a moment before deciding to go for a walk, it's night time but that doesn't mean there's nothing to do, I grab my bags and magic light then move to the door, but Entropy doesn't seem willing to let me go without her so I let her sit on my back.

I've heard of a few places that are still lively at night, the first is a place nicknamed lantern street it's a small street filled with a night market lit up by many hanging lanterns, I've been curious about it and it's open on weekends, I make my way through the dark streets with my magic light.

Entropy doesn't seem to mind the dark, she blends in so well that even with the light I have with me you can barely see her, I walk down several streets and enter the market district, I see several other ponies walking to a specific street I follow them and see the street I'm looking for.

When I turn a corner I hear and see a fairly busy street, its filled with stalls on both sides with a clear path through the middle, almost all of the ponies I see are batponies then a few unicorns and one pegasus, in between the stalls there is ropes with hanging lanterns made from colored paper.

There is a lantern on each rope, two or three every ten feet or so, there also very bright so I walk into the street and look at a lantern closely, there is a hole in the bottom of the paper shell, inside I'm surprised to see a small gem with a piece of wood lighting up the lantern.

After some staring I see that the gem is locked in place with a metal cage around it linked to the rope above it, I follow the rope and see them tied to the stalls main posts, if somepony tried to steal one they would need to reach up there and cut the metal.

They could probably still be stolen, but unless you steal several they wouldn't be worth the risk for how cheap they are, It's a little odd seeing something I've made being used, after staring for a moment longer I move on exploring the street looking through different stalls and what they are selling.

It's very similar to the regular market, all the normal things are here, many with a night theme, I stop at a food stall selling some type of noodles, I haven't eaten dinner so I sit at the stall and buy some, not long after I have a bowl of hot noodles with some broth.

It reminds me of ramen, it has a piece of carrot and some brown sauce on top, I'm given a fork and spend my time eating a warm meal, when I finish I leave the fork and bowl on the stall, I continue exploring the market, I pass a few stalls and find one that catches my interest.

The stall has different jewelry stones and uncut gems, most are small things but I see something that I like, it's a bracelet much like the one Daisy gave me, It's made from silver and has four sapphires imbedded in its front, I pick it up and get a better look.

They form a cube with lines in between them, each sapphire occupies a corner making a sideways cube with corners pointing up and down, the side corners lead to lines carved to go around the bracelet, I see the price and it's a little expensive but that's fine.

The only problem is that I can't tell if its real silver, it definitely has the weight and color of silver but I can't really tell, after some thought I decide to take the risk and buy it anyway, I spend a moment haggling and after arguing that I had no way to tell if it's real silver we come to an agreement.

I get a decent bit off the price and continue down the street, I almost make it to the other end not finding anything else I'd like, but on the last stall I see a few plants, most look uninteresting but one I recognize, a Moon Glow it's a plant that releases a small pale light at night.

The plant uses this to attract bugs and their predators, so when something like a frog finds the plant it will eat the bugs and often relieve itself next to the plant, the frog gets a free meal and the plant gets fertilized, a symbiotic relationship for both, I'm interested in it as it has a few properties that will be interesting to selectively breed or cross breed.

The plant isn't rare but it is hard to transplant or move so you don't find them often, I buy the plant and make my way to the end of the street, I turn a corner and start walking home with my new things.

Chapter 33

APR 10 Thursday. I sit at my desk tinkering with the water bolt spell, even if I decided to focus on the fire bolt spell I thought I'd tinker around with the water bolt spell, I don't really have a reason, but having a well made version might be useful later.

I've been able to increases the speed at which the spell gathers water, but that increased the matrixes complexity making it harder to cast, If I want to progress in my casting speed I'll need more practice, so right now I'm practicing drawing two matrixes at once.

I attempted this several months ago but I didn't have enough control at the time so I stopped, and I've improved my control, I haven't been practicing like this so I'm drawing a matrix and holding it there before attempting to draw a second matrix.

When I cast a spell I need to draw the matrix with my magic and then push enough magic into it, the difference comes in when I want to hold a matrix without using it as soon as it's done being drawn, when I place my magic into the air it will dissipate after around a minute.

As a pony grows more powerful there magic is more stable letting them hold a matrix without effort longer, but when you want to keep a matrix around after that you need to concentrate and keep the magic stable, when I first tried doing this type of training I didn't have the control to keep the matrix stable.

And I also didn't have enough practice to draw the matrix fast enough to cast both, what changed is that I now am much better at drawing matrixes making them more stable, as a matrixes stability is affected by a few things, first how well its drawn, second how stable the magic used to draw it is, and finally how well the spell is constructed.

When I first did this training my matrixes had imperfections in them, and they still do just to a lesser extent, this is why I failed and why I can do it now, I spend the next hour drawing the firebolt matrix and holding it as long as I can keeping it stable, but the longer I try the more it seems to slip away before it fails entirely.

Right now my magic can hold a spell in the air for just under a minute, and I can hold it there for about three minutes before it collapses and the magic dissipates, I'm not sure why but as a ponies magic grows it becomes more stable, I tried to find out why but most don't even use runic magic let alone study it's mysteries.

After practicing some I stop to work on something else, my new plant has been doing ok, I have it in a pot on the kitchen counter as it doesn't like direct light, I've done some research about it over the past few days and have found a few things of note.

First its glow isn't just light, it's moonlight, the plant seems to convert ambient magic into lunar affinity magic, I'm not sure if it has any real use right now as lunar magic seems like another variation of light, but it's something of note, the plant also seems to prefer forest soil.

I've been feeding it life magic to keep it healthy but it doesn't seem to like this environment as I can feel my magic healing it whenever I give it some, I'm not sure what the problem is but that's fine as it is the only plant I need to keep healthy right now.

I've learned some things about the Moon Glow, first how long does it's light last?, well that depends on how large the plant is and how much magic it is the environment around it, second are there any uses for the plant beyond light?, yes but not much, the leaves can be used as a mild healing agent.

It helps with small cuts and scrapes, but beyond that the plant is mostly just a natural light, I've collected some seeds from the Moon Glow to store and am going to leave the plant alone until I start trying to selectively breeding it or find a use for it, It's ten in the morning and I don't have much else to do today so I look through my things to get some ideas.

And I land on my new bracelet, I'm not exactly sure how I want to enchant it but I have a few ideas, first this bracelet is made from silver which can handle much more magic going through it than the copper one Daisy gave me, that combined with the better gems gives me more magic to work with.

I move to my bedroom and take off the copper and topaz bracelet Daisy gave me, Daisy is the first real friend I made in this life and I don't want to damage the first gift she gave me, so I place a cloth under it and leave it on my bedside, I've keep using it as a clock for checking the time when I wake up.

I don't want to just stop wearing it, but I can't keep it on me always, I'll still wear it sometimes but I think I'll keep it at home for now, I head to the work room and get started, I grab the new bracelet and sit at a desk.

I start by enchanting all four sapphires to hold magic and linking them together, I want this to still be a watch but I can add more now, I spend time going over the spell matrix for my watch, the last bracelet didn't have much magic so I had to make the spell as simple as I could.

But this time I can add a few more things, first it will tell me the time and date now, second it will let me set a timer that will make the bracelet activate when the timer finishes, and it even has enough magic to add two very small illusions, when it's day there will be a small sun and a small moon at night.

I spend some time working on the matrix and refining it, I then enchant the silver of the bracelet with the new time spell, it takes a while to get the Illusions right but I'm able to get them looking right, when I turn it on, it shows a small clock in the middle, on the left is a small sub number for the timer, with the date and year on the right side .

Just like the last bracelet it can't be active all the time , but it can be active for longer, the last one could last two to three minutes before using all it's magic, this one can last ten minutes and is much more useful, I go through the rest of my things before leaving the workroom.

I don't have anything left I want to do so I grab my things and bring Entropy with me to the park, I walk through the streets and after a while we reach the parks edge, we come here often mostly on my morning runs but also whenever I need to relax or Entropy needs to stretch her wings.

I walk over to an empty bench and sit down, I don't have anything to do here either but it's nice to simply do nothing sometimes, as I watch the scene in front of me I see several ponies, some younger ones playing and older ponies talking or playing with them.

Most seem to be having a good day, but there is something odd, I'm just sitting there when a pony enters a restroom nearby, at first they look uninteresting a brown unicorn stallion, I barely notice him when he enters and I wouldn't find it odd except he doesn't use his magic to open the door but his hoof instead even though I can see the dirty handle form here.

It's a little odd but I don't really care about what others are doing, but then things get weird, another pony comes out they are a gray unicorn stallion that walks off and out of sight, I wait because I'm now curios about when they will leave, I realize that what I'm doing is stupid but my curiosity is nagging at me but I let my curiosity win, so I decide to just go inside check on them.

I turn the dirty handle with my field and open the door, inside is a few stalls and a urinal, but as I look around I notice something all the stalls are empty, I check the room but there's nopony here it's completely empty which makes no sense, I kept my eyes on the door the whole time and there's only one entrance nopony could leave without me seeing them.

Something doesn't feel right so I spend a moment thinking before I realize what might be happening, I try and act calm as I leave the restrooms and walk out of the park, I walk slowly down the streets as I keep an eye out for anything following me and I don't stop checking behind me until I enter my apartment,

When I enter I put Entropy down but she keeps following me chirping softly at me, "I'm fine girl, just something unexpected" I make myself some tea to calm down before getting my thoughts in order.

This has raised several questions for me but before I go down that rabbit hole I need to make sure I'm correct in my guess, what do I know for sure?, first a pony entered that restroom and a different pony came out, there is only one entrance and exit so there's nowhere else they could have gone.

Which leads to my best guess and the reason I left the park so fast, that pony may have been a changeling, I don't have concrete proof but I can't see many other possibilities and all of those are even less likely to be true, I spend a moment writing down all I remember about how they looked.

Both were male unicorns around the same height, the first one had a light brown coat and red mane, the second a deep gray coat and blue mane, I don't remember much else about either of them but I think they looked parity similar besides the colors of the coat and mane.

I don't know why they were in the city, but if I had to guess a park filled with ponies enjoying a nice day and having fun is a decent place to gather love, although would they really be so desperate for love to risk being active right next to the princess?, then again hiding right under her nose isn't the worst strategy.

This still doesn't solve what I'm going to do about this, I can't tell anypony as nopony should know about them for years, I think for a while before deciding on my next course of action, I won't do anything as I can do little that would help, I won't be able to stop them myself nor do I want to as that endangers the future.

So for now I'll think of ways to protect myself, and fight them when the time comes but that also won't happen for years, the good news is I don't think they will be a danger to anypony as they are probably just here to gather the love magic released into the environment.

With my mind made up I stand and make some lunch for the both of us and we eat in silence, Entropy seems to know I'm still a little on edge as she seems determined to distract me, she keeps throwing her ball at me until I throw it out and then returning it back to me.

I smile a bit as she bows her head and ruffles her feathers, I scratch her neck moving the feathers around, "thanks girl, what would I do without you?" I get a caw and some small chirps in response, I try to stop worrying over this unexpected encounter and do some training to distract myself.

I move to my workroom and start messing with the pen I made not long ago, I still cant use it for much but it can help me train something, if I draw a matrix fast enough I can try and hold the unstable matrix, this lets me train my control over magic not my own.

I don't know if this will be useful but I thought the same thing about my Tk field when I first started, it's much harder to hold these matrixes in place as the magic fights me the whole time trying to break free and unwind, I can only hold it for several seconds before it dissipates but that can be improved, I think.

I spend the rest of the day inside training and thinking of things I could do and playing with Entropy.

Chapter 34

APR 19 Saturday. I sit down at a table in the breakroom with my lunch, in front of me is Daisy and Blaz, and Maple is eating on my left.

I look at Daisy as she's eating and ask her something, "hey Daisy?" she turns her head to me "any good auctions happening soon?", she thinks for a moment and swallows her food.

"Yes actually there is one I know of, it's happening in a few weeks but it's not as large or particularly interesting as the last one, it doesn't need an invite though, you want to go?"

"Ya I enjoyed the last one and I'm getting a little bored and need something to shake things up some, plus they can have very interesting things."

"You still remember the last one we went to" I nod "same place next month on the seventh, I'm down to go with you?"

"Sure, thanks Daisy", we continue our lunch and get back to work, it's uneventful as always and after a few hours I'm free to head home.

After getting home I take a moment to go through my calendar to make sure I'm not missing something important, half way through marking the date of the auction I realize that I forgot my birthday, it was April fifth, I've been so busy that I just forgot it, I decide to make up for it by doing something fun or stupid, probably both.

I spend some time feeding Entropy before grabbing my saddlebags and taking Entropy with me, I'm heading to the practice range that I've used in the past as I want to practice the combat spells I have, instead of just practice drawing the matrix, I walk through the streets and find the right building.

I enter and rent the next three hours of time inside the range, it's a simple test range much like a gun range with stalls and targets on an opposite wall, the wall in made of stone and enchanted so you can get pretty crazy before you damage it, I walk into the range and pick a spot.

I leave Entropy behind me and make sure to keep her there, I draw out the firebolt matrix and send it down the range at a target drawn on the wall, I don't hit it but get close so I try again drawing two firebolt spells at once, I succeed but aiming both is even more difficult then just one.

I brought some tea in my flask to drink, so I spend the next hour firing bolt after bolt improving my aim, while Entropy somehow sleeps nearby despite the noise, I stop and spend some time going through my notes while regenerating my magic, while I'm resting I see an older looking unicorn stallion walk past my stall.

He has a black mane and a stone gray coat along with yellow eyes, a strong build with more muscle then some earth ponies I've seen, I get up and start casting again and this time I've gotten a little bit better at aiming the spell, I repeat this cycle once more, but while resting again I'm interrupted.

"You're not bad colt", hearing the voice I look up from my book and see the older stallion that passed me earlier, his voice is deep and gravelly.

"Thank you? I don't think we've met before, have we?"

"No we haven't met before, but I saw you casting that spell a lot and got curious, not many younger ponies coming here to cast spells so much."

"Well thank you for the compliment, but if you don't mind me being blunt with you what do you want?"

He lets out a chuckle "fair, well first I should probably introduce myself, names Stone Mace nice to meet you."

"Shade evergreen, nice to meet you too."

"To answer your question I rarely see young'uns like you practice so much, most learn a spell until they are competent with it and leave it at that, few I've seen practice so much after that, so my question is why are you practicing so hard."

I think for a moment before answering him, "I use runic casting so it can take me a while to cast a spell and firebolt is a fast spell so I'm trying to get decent at aiming it."

He nods at me seemingly pleased with my answer, "well I've met a few ponies that use runic casting, so I don't know how good you are but some of the recruits I've had are a bit slower then you, so good job."

"Former guard?"

He smiles "caught that did you? ya I used to be a guard I retired last month and I'm already regretting it" he says that last part with a grumble" I raise a brow at him before deciding not to ask, "speaking of the guard you ever consider joining?"

"No I'm apprenticing at the city library" before I continue Entropy wakes up from her nap apparently deciding to wake up from our voices and not the spells being sent down range be other ponies, she turns to Stone and stares at him for a while, he also notices her and stairs back, they keep this up for a few moments before Stone lets out another chuckle.

"Seems your friend keeps an eye on others, the library? well not many go there but it's a decent profession, you planning to stay there or do something else."

I stay silent for a moment wondering if I should answer him as we just met, but I decide to tell him the partial truth, as others like Daisy and Blaz already know I want to make spells they just don't know I already do, "I'm planning on getting into spell creation and research."

He nods at me again, "a good career, so that's why you're taking notes?"

"ya I'm researching how this spell works right now" another partial truth.

"And decided to get some hoofs on experience? good most who take that path only make things and either keep it to themselves or pass it on, you want some advice from an old stallion?"

"Why?'.

"Like I said most ponies your age don't put in nearly this much effort, I like that and I don't have much else to do right now."

I think for a moment before deciding to humor the old stallion "ok sure why not?", he spends the last hour I rented giving me tips and some advise on how to properly aim a spell, his advise really helps as I make more progress in that hour then the previous two hours, but after my rented time is up we part ways.

"Thanks for the help sir Stone."

"Ha it's just Stone colt no need for sir, also colt you have more persistence then most of the recruits I've trained don't lose it, I work here as a trainer so if you need some help I'd be happy to give some advice when I'm not working", I realize that I may have kept him from his work, but he seems to see the look on my face, "I'm not working today if that's what your wondering."

I sit there for a moment before making a decision "you have any open spots?" he raises a brow before nodding "well I wouldn't mind having a trainer so how much?"

"You sure colt?"

"I get paid decently and have the spare time plus I could use the practice, so why not."

"Well I'll need to ask your parents but if they agree I'm willing."

I open my bag and take out a paper card, I'm an orphan living on my own this lets me do some things that others can't at my age but I need to provide proof, so I was given a card saying as much for situations like this, I pass the card over to him and he looks over it, his face doesn't shift but if feels a little softer.

"Well then I have an open slot on Wednesday the thirtieth from five to seven and it costs fifteen bits an hour, that work for you?"

"That works fine, I'll be there" I check my watch and decide it's time to head home, "Thanks for the help, and have a good day Stone."

"Same to you colt", he says as I walk out of the room, I make my way through the streets and get back to my apartment after a while, all this time I've been learning on my own but now I have a teacher for the first time in a long time, I still don't fully trust him but guards frequent the range so if I need help it would be easy.

I grab the wheat plants and take them to the workroom, I've kept up with breeding them almost every day and I've made a little progress, at this point I've mastered its magic flows as best I can with my skill right now and that has sped up the process massively.

I can breed them around fifteen times now before having to stop and regain my magic, this is faster than I originally thought it would be, at this rate I'll be able to finish this in five to six months from now, but because I'm breeding them so quickly I need to test them more often than before.

This has led to me making bread almost every day now, my watch has helped a lot in this as with some experimenting I've been able to find out how long it needs to bake before it's ready, letting me set a timer and do other things at the same time without the worry of starting a fire.

The good news is I don't buy bread anymore as I make plenty for both me and Entropy, I mostly make sandwiches and toast, I've even tried making some sweets and made some cookies they were ok but I can definitely improve them, Entropy also seemed to like them.

I've enjoyed baking and it's nice having fresh bread but I'll need to buy more yeast if I continue like this, but that's fine it's inexpensive and common, as for the wheat it's still early but I'm already seeing a very small amount of progress.

Its grains are the same but the wheat has been growing a little better in the rocky soil now, I'm going to change the wheat's soil every few weeks adding more rocks and less soil each time, I'll keep doing this over time to let the wheat slowly adapt over successive generations.

It's still slow going but progress is progress, I spend the next hour breeding the wheat, I get through thirteen generations before stopping to harvest enough grains to bake some bread, I'll be baking more than normal as I want to give some to Daisy.

I want to give her some both as a gift and to see if she thinks the wheat tastes decent, I bought a few loaf pans a few days ago to make bread loafs, I grind down the grain keeping the bran on the grain, I knead the dough and let it rise before filling two loaf pans and bake them.

I set a timer and move back into the work room, I'm going to work on my shield some more, I'm not going to update it for a while but I want to start making things to add when I do, first fire protection this one is both easy and hard, I'll need a way to detect fire that and put it out.

Detecting a fire is hard as I cant detect the temperature as that would make the shield also detect any heat source high enough, that includes my stove and oven so I need some other way to detect fire, I also need a way to put out fire without destroying anything.

For that the best method would be removing the air, but I have to be careful not to suffocate myself by accident, but I can't do that without a way to detect fire so it's best to start there, I look through my book and find a rune that might work, a rune for fire prevention.

I don't need to prevent fire but stop it, still this could be of use, I tinker around with the shielding spell and try to think of ideas that could work, I'm eventually brought out of my thoughts by my watch lighting up, I turn the alarm off by deactivating the enchantment.

I move back into the main room and take the bread out of the oven, it's well cooked and has a good look to it, I take the bread out of the pans before placing them on a plate before putting it on the counter and let it cool down, I drink some tea and keep looking through my notes for a while.

I get up and check the bread it's still warm but is fine to eat, I take a loaf with me and leave Entropy inside my apartment before moving into the hallway, I move across the hallway and knock on a door, the door opens and I'm greeted by Daisy "oh hey Shade, what do you need?"

"I made some bread and thought you'd like some" I passed the loaf over to her and she smiles at me then takes the loaf.

"Thanks, I'll tell you what I think tomorrow, want to come inside?"

"No thank you, I'm a little busy right now, have a good day Daisy."

She gives me a knowing smile "sure, have a good day Shade."

I walk away and make my way back inside, I spend some time making lunch, I cut some bread slices and toast them in a pan with butter, before frying some eggs in the same pan, I eat my lunch while sharing some of my eggs with Entropy.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading, we hit 2k somehow, thanks for that.

Chapter 36

MAY 21 Wednesday. I run while being shouted at by Stone like all my Wednesdays now, the training has been a brutal grind of physical and magical exhaustion, the training schedule Stone gave me was also a tough routine but it is working well.

I've lost a little weight and the physical exercise is becoming a little easier, I'm still far from being done but I've passed the worst part, I think, and I won't quit now.

I've also made progress in everything else I'm doing, my little planet has been something I've put a decent amount of time into, I've added some greenery and have made some progress on the clouds, the wheat project is still making steady progress and as far as I can tell the bread I make still seems to be fine,

I've also learned a little of the griffin language in the past three months, but I'm only learning it in some of my spare time so I've made slow progress, I'll keep learning for now but eventually I'll need to get some practice with the language, I could try and do some trading at the market with griffin traders, but that's for a later date.

Moving on from that, I've also spent a few days over the last two weeks going through all the books I bought at the auction, most were books I've seen in the library, but a few were new to me, they were mostly uninteresting or useless to me right now, and then there is the hoof written books.

The books are trash, all but one are just journals and diaries, one was a little useful it's a book about research into rock formations, not very useful right now but still better then everything else inside the crate, I did have to buy a bookshelf to store all the books I wanted to keep, and to help keep them nice and organized.

I've kept up with general research and learning a few things here and there, and I've been thinking about what project I want to work on next, I've thought of a few things but most had to be put to the side as they were either too complicated to work on right now, or would make too much of a impact on the world.

A good example of the first thing is healing magic as I'm still learning as much as I can about it but progress is painfully slow, all the spells use way too many symbols with hard concepts to learn properly, I have learned one other healing spell as I thought it would be a large help, and it has.

It helps recover from sore muscles, it speeds up the healing process slightly, the spell doesn't cost that much magic but because you need to use it for an extended period of time it can add up, I've mostly used it to speed up my recovery from training with Stone.

And I've had a few ideas that had to be scrapped because of potential problems, for instance the communication spell I tried to make, I may still make it but after some thought I decided that if I do make it I won't be giving it to others unless it's really needed, it would simply cause too many potential problems to the plot of the story.

But that still leaves me with nothing to work on or improve, I stop running as Stone calls an end to the first half of our training, "hey colt" I look over to Stone as he sits next to me.

"Ya?"

"I've noticed something these last few weeks?" I give him a nod to continue, " did you know you act like a unicorn?"

I raise a brow at him, "in what way?"

"Most unicorns I've met don't do much physical work, they tend to just use their magic instead of their hooves, even I do that just less" I've gained some trust in Stone so I told him about my field as it's a relatively small thing to reveal, "I think you need to get used to using your hooves more.

That's not to say you shouldn't use your field thing, it's a massive advantage over others, especially those who don't see it coming, but like I said you also should use your hoofs more, we don't want you getting hurt if that field ever fails you."

I think on his words for a few moments before realizing he's right, "I think you're right, thanks Stone."

He flashes me a smile "no problem colt that's what I'm here for, let's get back to it", he stands back up and starts walking to the targets.

"Sure" we spend the rest of our time practicing casting spells while moving around, I do this in two ways, first keeping a matrix in the air and moving it with me, at first this proved to be difficult but I've gotten a little better over time.

The other method is to draw the matrix as I walk and make it follow me, this is much harder as walking with three legs is more difficult than it looks, both methods are not easy but I'll need to get better if I want to be able to defend myself while staying mobile.

After I finish the training and make my way home, I like always have to tend to Entropy before she'll let me go about my business, I feed her some juniper berries before heading into my work room, I still don't have any large things to work on so I might as well work on my current projects.

But I also want to try something different for once so I'm going to try and cross breed two plants that are different, I'll still pick two plants that are fairly similar to increase my chances, I grab three pots and some soil before sitting at a desk.

I then grab two seeds from my small collection, a Thimbleberry seed and a black berry seed, I want to breed both of these as they are similar but different enough to see changes, I plant and grow both into small bushes before making them flower and bloom.

I move some pollen from one to the other and let the flowers fruit, I pick the fruit and extract some seeds from the thimbleberry before planting them in the third pot, when the resulting plant grows it looks about the same as the Thimbleberry, I let it grow and fruit before picking a berry.

It looks about the same just a small red berry, I try eating it and don't notice anything different, I try this whole process a few more times trying to change the resulting plant, and after seven attempts I finally get something new, the berries on this bush are a darker shade of red while also being less sweet.

It's not much but I still succeeded in my attempt, I stop for now decomposing all the plants after collecting some seeds, I make some tea to recover my magic and work on the wheat next, I grab both pots of wheat and two other pots before moving them to the workroom desk.

I also grab a Moon Glow seed as I want to experiment with it some after, I decomposed the first Moon Glow a while back as I have plenty of seeds to grow one whenever I need it, I place the wheat on my desk along with the other two pots and remove one of the four pots then plant the Moon Glow seeds inside the pot and put it to the side for later.

I first start by collecting some of the wheat seeds and composting the plants, I need to remix the soil to make it more rocky as the wheat has adapted to the current soil, half way through mixing the soil I decide to use my hooves instead to mix up the soil, it does get a little messy but I get it done.

I clean up and start breeding the wheat, the project has been progressing well in the past two months and I'll probably be done by August or soon after it, beyond that I have confirmed that a plant's magical flows change as the plant does, the wheat's magical flows have changed a slight amount over time.

It's not by much but it still proves the theory, beyond that the wheat has been adapting well so far to the new soil, so I'm adding the second part of this project is the environment spell, I've already made the spell a few weeks ago for when the wheat was ready.

I made the spell by modifying the spell I used for the Juniper Berries, it will create an arid and cold environment for the wheat to grow inside, I take two rubies and spend a few minutes enchanting them and placing them inside the pots with the wheat plants.

I spend a little while growing more wheat and testing how it does in the new environment, the previous breeding seems to have prepared it some so while it does struggle it still grows fine, I breed a few more generations before placing them to the side and focusing on the Moon Glow while drinking some tea.

I haven't done anything with this plant yet and I still don't really know what to do with it now, but I thought I might as well try and see what happens, I plant the seed and after a few moments I have a Moon Glow on my desk, first I'm going to just selectively breed it to see if I can make any changes.

I use another two pots and start trying to find any differences between the plants, after four generations I find two that look promising for different reasons, the first is very slightly brighter than the original, and the second is dimmer than the original.

I want to see if I can get the plant to have a different amount of light and if that will make the light last longer, so I'll be breeding both strains and seeing how they change over time, for now through I decide to start with the brighter strain and breed it first, I spend the next hour working through several generations before stopping.

I put all the plants away or collect seeds and decompose them, after I'm done I start on two things I'll be working on for a while, the first is my small planet, and the second is a smaller thing I'm making as a gift, the Summer Sun Celebration will be here in a few weeks and like last year I'm getting Celestia a gift.

I'm going to send another batch of Blood Leaf Tea and make her something, specifically I'm planning on making her a quill that doesn't need to be refilled, I have a few ideas on how I want to do this but let's start with the small planet.

It's going well, I've added a lot more detail and it's starting to look like an actual planet now, it's not done I'd like to add many more things and at this point I still have eight slots left in the frame so I have a decent amount of things I could choose to add next, one of the first things would probably be a storm of some type.

As for the quill, well having an enchantment to just create ink would be hard but I do have a different idea, I want the quill stand to collect carbon from the air and condense it inside a slot that you dip the quill inside and use it to write, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make something like this but I think it's possible.

I'll probably need to use a medium gem for this, it is a massive waste for something like a quill but I think it will be a nice gift so I'm doing it anyway, I'll also need it to draw properly, which I'm not even sure is possible with just carbon but it's worth a try.

I spend the rest of the night going through different notes and runes before getting some sleep.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading, also I have a little writers block over what Shade should try and invent next, so if you have any suggestions I would appreciate the help, only if you want to though.
Have a good day. :D

Chapter 37

MAY 30 Friday. I'm sitting at a desk inside the workroom, and breeding Moon Glow plants right now, specifically the dimmer strain, I've had a decent amount of success in creating the two different strains, the difference is now much more noticeable then before.

I stop and move the plants back to where they belong, then I grab a small ruby and my notebook on runes, I've spent the last week thinking about what I can make and I realized that I've had something sitting under my nose this whole time, my water flask.

Stone is right in what he said about me, I think like a unicorn, that's why I didn't remember that not all ponies can just use a spell when they want to find some water, but the vast majority of non unicorns can't do that and need to find and purify water when they are traveling.

This is why the next thing I'm working on is a reliable source of water, and for places without much water to find I already have the perfect thing, my flask gathers water from the air after all, it would probably work slower in an environment without much water in the air but it should still work.

That means the harder type of water gathering is already done, the other type of water gathering I want to help with is ponies who can find water but it's dirty or they don't have a way to purify it safely, so I want to make an enchantment that purifies dirty water sources.

I bought a second flask yesterday for this, I started by refamiliarizing myself with the water purifying spell, it uses a lot of symbols and could use some work to improve them so I'll start there, I start by deconstructing the spell into its base symbols and math.

I'm able to remove all but two runes and replace them with supporting math, the two runes I left as a base for the spell are, a rune of purifying, and a rune for water, when I'm done I have a spell that costs much less magic and even works a bit faster, when I'm done with that I write done the spell matrix and start modifying it.

I'm modifying the matrix for the second flask, I'm going to enchant it to purify water that's been added to the flask, a pony using this will still have to find water, but as long as they do find water they will be able to drink it no matter how contaminated it is.

The reason for modifying the matrix is to make the spell weak enough to hopefully work without a gem, I start by enchanting the flask to gather magic without holding it, I then add the new water purifying spell and link both together, now I just need to see how long it takes to purify water.

I take the flask to my kitchen and fill a cup with a little dirt and some water before mixing them thoroughly, I may have added to much dirt but that's fine we'll just start testing at the high end, I check the time and fill the flask with dirty water before waiting, after eight minutes I pour out some water.

It's clear and seems clean when I drink some, I guess we have a success, I spend a while doing several tests with different types of contaminants, it takes several minutes but it seems to purify the water regardless, as I'm doing these tests a thought strikes me.

Where are all the contaminates going? after that I realize something both amazing and terrifying, I look through my notebook and don't find anything to prove what I'm thinking but I can't see any other way it could work.

The runic context around the purifying rune is simple, remove anything that doesn't belong, but either on purpose or more likely on accident whoever created this made it remove contaminants by destroying the matter completely, which may be the most terrifying thing I've found in all the spells I've seen.

I think whoever created this wasn't aware of just what they had made, they probably just saw that it worked and like me never thought about where the contaminants went, I'll have to experiment with this rune more, I'm not exactly sure what counts as a contaminant but I should find out.

With that somewhat terrifying discovery out of the way, I spend some time updating the enchantment on my first flask with the improved purifying spell, before writing a letter to Celestia and grabbing both flasks, I don't really need my old flask and the new one was always going to be sent to her, so I spend some time writing a letter to her and copying the spells used onto some paper before putting it all in an envelope.

I take both flasks and the sapphire connected to one of them and grab my saddlebags, Entropy seems to want to go with me as always, "stay here girl, I won't be gone long" I give her a few berries and leave, I've been trying to train her to not follow me and it seems to be working well.

I make my way to the closest post office, I could just leave them in my mailbox to be shipped but I rather not have letters between me and the ruler of the country be shipped through the mail, so when I need to send her something I go through a post office as It gets there much quicker and isn't laying around were somepony could steal it.

After sending the package I head back home, when I enter the apartment Entropy is there waiting for me, "told you I'd be back soon, now how about some training?" I set up the shield and grab some meat chunks to give her, we train a little before stopping.

At this point the shield we are using blocks all line of sight, she had a few problems teleporting without being able to see where she's teleporting, but after a few tries she got the hang of it and can now do it just as fast as before, so I think it's time to work on a new type of training at that involves a trip.

I want to train two things right now, first how far she can teleport and second how well she can teleport other things, and I have a plan for both, after a little training I grab my saddlebags again and bring Entropy with me as we leave, we leave the apartment and make our way to the market district.

There are many different businesses in the market district and one on the outer edge caught my interest, they let you rent a storage room of different sizes, and for different lengths of time, the most important thing is that it's around five miles from my home.

The first time Entropy teleported she moved both me and herself several miles, I'm not sure the exact distance but it was at a minimum four miles and that was before she started practicing and she's also grow some so she should have more magic, that's why I'm going here to rent a storage room and use it as an in between point for training and to see if she can move that distance.

I just need a way for her to understand what I want her to do and I have a plan for that, I walk in and go over to the front desk, behind the desk is an older looking unicorn mare, "hello I'm here about renting a storeroom?"

She looks up from some papers she was reading to look at me, she looks me over before giving a slight frown, "you have to be an adult colt now scram."

I pause at this as while several businesses have denied selling me things based on my age before, I normally just show them the card I have that gives me permission, but I've never had a pony reject me like this before, "mam I hav."

Before I finish I'm cut off, "I told you colt your too young, now leave" she says her voice holding an annoyed tone.

I'm annoyed at all this but decide it's not worth dealing with her, so I leave as there are several places like this one and while they are a little further away but they should still work fine, it takes me a while to find another place that will work.

Like the last place the pony at the counter says I cant rent a room, but unlike the last place they let me get out my card and I successfully rent a small storage room for the next few weeks.

The room is small, only ten by ten feet but it will work for us, I let Entropy look around the room before using some ink to draw a circle big enough for me to lay inside, I take out a small piece of meat and place it inside the circle and let Entropy eat it.

Next I sit down on the hard floor inside the circle with Entropy on my back "ok girl I'm not sure if you can understand me enough for this, but try and bring us home", she tilts her head at me "take, us, home, and, get, meat" I say slowly to her.

She seems to understand that enough to realize what I want her to do, I feel her talons grip my coat through the bags straps and then a minutes later I see nothing but darkness, like last time it's only a single moment, and then all the color rushes back like I blinked, we are inside my apartment I look back to Entropy to check on her.

She seems only a little tired but is otherwise fine, "amazing job girl" I tell her while feeding her some meat and giving her scratches, I make some tea for her and after resting for a while I get her to try again, this time is easier as she seems to know she has to teleport to get some meat.

We do this five times in total before stopping, when we appear home again I make her a full meal to enjoy for all her hard work, after five teleports she's definitely tired, I make sure to keep an eye on her for the next hour before she falls asleep, I put her inside her cage and leave her to rest.

I think it's safe to say that this day went well and I'm not even done yet, in my search for things to do I decided to research my plants and different uses they may have, while doing this I found out something about the Moon Glow.

The plants light comes from the plant absorbing ambient magic and converting it to create luner magic to create the glow, but if you pick the flowers and supply them with a source of magic it will still do this, this effect only lasts a few days after the flowers are picked and the glow is much weaker.

And I'm curious so I'm going to run some tests on this effect, I take some time to grow a basic Moon Glow in a pot, the plant's flowers are similar to Lotus flower is shape but much smaller in size, they are thick and white with a small cluster of white stems in the middle.

I pick the petals and place them to the side before decomposing the plant and growing a new one, I repeat this until I have a decent amount of petals to work with, when I'm done I grab my mortar and pestle and grind down the petals, I have an idea but I don't know if it will work.

From what I've learned of things like alchemy, you take plants, or parts of plants, that keep their magical effects after killing them, and mix them to create a new effect or use the plants effects better, I want to see if the glowing comes from the plants flesh or it's fluids as the book never told me which, so I use a small cup and pour the plant juices into it.

I keep the plant pulp inside the mortar and place it to the side, I then push some of my magic into the fluid and watch as it gains a slight glow, it's not strong but definitely noticeable, I try the same with the pulp and it glows a bit stronger, I decide to empty the mortar into a bowl.

I mix a little bit of both inside of the mortar, crushing and mixing them thoroughly, I end up with a thick paste that glows bright enough to be seen in the day, I spend some time drawing things with it and pushing magic through it to see it glow, seeing this gives me an idea.

But it's late already and I have work tomorrow so it's best if I get some sleep.

Chapter 38

June 3 Tuesday. I finish my morning exercises and head home for a quick shower, after that I make my way to the library as always and head for the sorting room, but before I can I'm stopped by Daisy in one of the hallways "hey shade I need you for a while."

I don't ask why as she wouldn't ask without a reason, so I just nod and we walk over to her office and sit down inside, "so what do you need?"

"Well you've been an apprentice at the library for a little over a year now, that means it's time for you to do more then just sort books endlessly", she pauses to place a piece of paper on top her desk, "but there are several things you can do, so you'll be choosing a mentor to learn under."

"This list is filled with anypony willing to teach you, you'll be shadowing them and learning their job for the next year, so choose carefully", I'm a little excited, sorting books may be easy but it's also as boring as dry sand.

I look through the list and see both Daisy and Blaz on it, along with several other ponies I've met while working at the library, I spend some time thinking over my choices.

Most at the library treat me like a colt, which is fair as I am a colt, but it doesn't make it less annoying when they talk to me like I'm stupid, in contrast Blaz, Daisy, and Maple treat me more like a friend and equal, they basically don't talk down to me, so I rather apprentice under one of them.

Out of the two Daisy works as an administrator, she's not in charge of the library just the employees and their pay, I've seen the library head a few time but they are rather hooves off in running the library, back to the point though, I don't think I'm going to apprentice under Daisy.

I don't have any interest in administration or paperwork so that only leaves me with Blaz, the library is public so often books are either lost or damaged beyond repair, this is why the library has at least two copies of every book, and also why you can't check out a book if it's the last copy in the library.

Blaz's job is to copy books to either be added to the library or replacing lost books, so If I apprentice under him I'll be copying a lot of books, interestingly enough Blaz's told me his job became easier because somepony made a copying spell, It doesn't help him copy a single book as the copy spell has a limit, but if he needs to make multiple copies he doesn't need to write the same pages again and again.

With this in mind and after looking through the rest of the list, I eventually decide "I'll go with Blaz."

Daisy looks up from some paperwork she was doing while I was deciding, she gives me a smile "good choice paperwork isn't fun, and thanks for winning me ten bits."

I give her a deadpan look "you both bet on who I would pick, didn't you?"

"Wrong, all three of us, Maple pitched in."

I let out a long sigh "is Blaz at his work area right now?"

Her smile grows "yup, do you remember the way?"

"Yes, thanks Daisy", she nods to me as I leave her office and head down the hallway, I move through a few hallways before stopping at a door and knocking on it.

"Come in" I open the door and enter the room and look around, the room has three desks, two are covered in stacks of loose paper, and the last one is empty, there are also several bookshelves lining the walls, and sitting at a desk is Blaz looking back at me, "well looks like I just lost twenty bits, thanks colt, well come on in we got work to do", I close the door and move over to him.

"You know my job pretty well from hearing me complain about it so I don't need to explain much", he places a stack of papers to the side "considering how much you take notes you probably know the new copying spell by now, right?"

"Yes I know it well."

"Good then lets get you set up" he motions over to the empty desk, "you'll work there, here this is what we'll start on", he passes me a small history book, "a few of these were destroyed in the last year so we need to make three new copies, I'll be writing down the first half, and you'll do the second half, we'll then take turns resting and copying the pages we made, sound good?"

"Sounds good", I sit at the desk and get to work, and as I start writing I let my thoughts wander on an internal rant.

I eventually want a copy spell that will copy full books, but the current one can only copy a few pages and also can't copy from books, as adding a part to the spell that lets it target specific words or pages would make it use too much magic for most ponies to cast, this is why me and Blaz still have to copy out pages by hoof and them copy them to assemble a new book.

Moving on from work, Entropy's training has been going well, I have her teleport me to the storage room I rented and back twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening round trips, this lets her get tired but not exhausted.

And it's been working well as while she still gets tired, she can now teleport the distance much faster, I've started timing her with my watch and when we started a few days ago it would take her almost thirty seconds of concentration before teleporting, now it only takes twenty five seconds, a large improvement for such a small time frame.

As for the flasks I got a thank you letter back the next day, Celestia seems happy with them and I was told that I would be getting a cut of the profits, I don't think she would take no for an answer, so I guess I'll have more bits and nothing to do with them, hell I have enough at this point to not work for the next few decades.

As for my other projects, the wheat is doing just fine and should definitely be done by mid August or early September, my other plants have been growing well and haven't had any problems.

My small planet is almost done now, it looks decent and just needs a few detail tweaks before it's finished, I'm not sure what I'll do with it when it's done, but It does look nice.

The endless quill has also seen much progress, I was able to get the quill to draw with carbon much like a pencell, but I still need to finish the part that will gather carbon from the air, although I think I can just get the purifying rune to filter it, but I don't want it sucking in a bunch of air all at once so I'll have to slow the process down.

Beyond my projects I've kept up with Stone's training, It's still rough but I'm making progress, I've gained some muscle and have lost weight, I've also improved in my magic training, I'm now able to draw a matrix while walking, it still takes a while though.

I continue copying pages for the next few hours until lunch, the book isn't that thick so we are almost able to finish it before lunch, and after lunch we are right back to it, an hour later we are done copying the pages and spend some time going through them.

After making sure everything is correct we start using the spell to create three copies of the book, it takes both of us several turns before we finish, when we are finally done we spend the last bit of the day binding the book and giving them proper covers before finishing for the day.

I spend a few moments cleaning up my desk before leaving, "well colt you seem well suited to this work, not that I would suspect anything different from somepony like you."

I give him a blank look showing how impressed I am at his attempts at humor "have a good day Blaz" I deadpan to him as I leave.

"HA, same to you colt."

When I get home I go through my daily schedule, checking the plants, making food, and trying to keep Entropy entertained enough to work on other things, but when that's all out of the way I sit down and start finishing the small planet, it's now detailed enough to almost look real, if you squint some.

But it looks good enough for me, there are mountains, some rivers and even a wandering tropical storm that moves through the oceans, the clouds look nice and as I still had three slots left when I was done I decided to add a ring around the planet, and the last two I'm going to use to make the planet have a day night cycle.

It takes me a while but I'm able to get the illusions to work right, when I'm finally done I spend a few minutes simply watching it spin slowly, when I'm finally done staring at my small world I place it on a shelf and turn it off with two taps, I grab my other project that needs work.

I've gotten the quill to write properly when covered in a thin layer of loose carbon, but I still need the gem to gather that carbon, and because I don't have anything to start with I'll have to work from scratch, I start by selecting the right runes.

The first rune I need is one for air, after some looking I find I have two that would work well, first a rune of air, and second a rune of wind, after some thought and looking through the runic context for both I decide on the rune of wind, as my spell needs to gather air so having movement as part of the context should help.

After that I need a rune for condensing and I have a perfect rune for that already, so that's covered, the last rune I need is something to separate the carbon from the air, with this I have three options, first a rune of purification, second a rune for filtering, and finally a rune for separation.

All could work but I think I'll go with the filtering rune, as it only filters things instead of destroying or separating them, I spend the next three hours just working out all the different parts of the spell, I wasn't even able to finish it as the math needed is also complex.

I put it back on a shelf when I'm done, I'll work on it more later but for now I'll focus on something else, I grab the bright strain of Moon Glow and place it on my desk along with an extra pot, I'm going to do some breeding and then work on the Moon Glow extract.

I spend a while just breeding them to get a brighter plant before I start harvesting their petals, I gather a decent amount before stopping and putting the plant back, I grind down all the petals and collect their fluids inside a small clay jar.

I want to see if the magical effects of the plant is lost if I extract as much water as I can and then purify it to be pure water, I go through this process and when I'm done I have a very small amount of clear liquid, I try and push magic into the liquid and it gives off a very soft glow.

It's so soft I can barely see it even in this slightly dark room, it seems the processing of the plant has removed almost all of the magic from the fluid, I don't think the effect will last long in this form, a day maybe two at most, so I'll need to find a different way to process the plant.

Still this proves that the Moon Glows magical effects last a long time even with heavy processing, unlike some other magical plants.

I'm also starting to form an idea of what I'll use this extract for, but that's for later, right now it's late and I need sleep, I spend a few minutes having Entropy travel back and forth between the storage room before going to bed.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading and eat cake.

Chapter 39

JUN 11 Thursday. I copy another page from the stack to the right of me and place it inside a growing stack to my left, I've learned in the past week that Blaz is a hooves off teacher, he mostly just gives me a section of a book to copy and double checks my work.

He's also quiet, most of the time we work in silence only speaking a few words every hour, the work itself is boring, but it's still more interesting than book sorting so I've been having a decent time.

I finish the section I'm working on and sort the copied pages before placing them in a neat stack, another thing I've learned about Blaz is he's not a very good organizer, his desk is always covered in loose pages and open books, I honestly don't know how he works like that.

I check my bracelet and see that the workday will be over in a few minutes, so I clean up my work desk and finish sorting a few papers before standing up and stretching, "I'm heading out, have a good day Blaz" he turns to me and gives a nod before going back to whatever he's working on, I leave the library and head back home.

When I arrive home I go through the daily checks before preparing to leave, I have a plan for today a haircut and a lot of shopping, my mane has grown fairly long and I need to fix that so today I'm heading to a barbershop, I take Entropy with me and grab my saddlebags before walking out into the streets.

I know where a barber is so I walk through several streets and find the right place, I can't bring Entropy inside so I just let her fly around the area and enter the barbershop.

Inside there are a few different ponies getting their manes cut or trimmed, "welcome what can I do for you?", a mare sitting behind a desk asks me.

"I'd like to get a haircut if you have a spot free?"

"Sure", after a minute I'm led to a small place to lie down and get comfortable.

After a little while a pony walks over to me with a towel and kit, "so what are you looking for today?"

"I'd like you to just cut it at my mid neck and clean it up some."

"That's all? ok then get comfortable" they wrap the towel around me and start cutting, I'm not one to get hairstyles I just want this mess out of the way and taken care of, and I rather not try doing it myself, mostly because I know I would ruin it somehow.

I go over the rest of my plans as I wait, a trip to the markets for some necessities, and three other things, first several glass jars and bottles, I need something that won't accidentally contaminate any fluids I'm working on, or melt from something being acidic.

And I need a new weapon as while I do have a dagger it's too large to conceal easily, so I want something small and easily hidable.

accessible if I need it, and finally more gems, specifically a few different cuts and types to experiment with, also restocking.

After that I want to try and practice my griffin some, it's an interesting language and I need some practice with someone who knows it, I'm hoping to find a griffin that will at least try and speak with me, one thing working in my favor is that much like griffins themselves the language is blunt.

Many words don't have any other meaning or context, it's a very literal language, you say what you mean and nothing else, this makes it a little easier to learn but also means that the language has more words to learn, I haven't tried speaking in the language but I should at least be able to understand a few words even if I can't speak back very well.

The barber finishes cutting and spends some time trimming me up, when they are done they clean out my hair and let me stand up, I'm given a small mirror to look through, my mane is now much shorter and looks better, I tie it back into a ponytail and pay them before leaving.

I walk out and not a moment later I feel Entropy land on my back, "ready girl?" and like always my response is a caw, we move through the streets and head to the market, we pass through a few streets before arriving at the edge and working our way through the stalls.

I start with my necessities and after that, I start on finding some glassware it takes me a while and go through several stalls before finding a merchant that would take a bulk order of glassware I have to haggle some and end up paying more than I probably should, but it the end I have thirty seven jars all of different sizes along with several bottles.

After that I look through a few weapon sellers before finding one that's perfect, the being at the stall is a griffin, I walk up to them and try using a griffin greeting, "hello day good?"

And I think I did a decent job, until the griffin starts laughing, "not a bad attempt, but it could definitely use some work."

I'm embarrassed but regain my dignity a little hearing their words, "sorry that's literally my first attempt, and thanks."

"Sure it's not every day I meet a pony that tries to learn our language so thanks for the laugh, now did you need anything?"

I take some time to look through their stock and after a while I find something that looks good, it's a small blade five inches long with a wood handle wrapped in cloth, one side has an edge that travels up the blade and then goes at an angle until it hits the back of the knife.

The blade is thicker than most and has a sturdy feel to it, after deciding to buy it I try again to speak griffin, "this one have, sheath?"

The griffin seems to find my attempts funny but humors me, "does this one have a sheath? Not bad for your second attempt, and a bit of advice? there are a few places on the edge of the markets where you could probably get a griffin to help you learn for the right price, and yes it does have a sheath you want that one?"

I stop my attempts, "yes I would, and thanks for the advice."

They nod to me, "thirty bits" I pay them the amount and they pass the sheath to me, I spend a moment sheathing the knife and securing it to my saddlebags before moving on, I make my way to the market's edge looking through stalls for anything that catches my interest.

I pass a few stalls and find a small pony run stall selling gems, a few of them have different cuts and I find a cloudy quartz that is cut into a pyramid, it's three inches long between corners and is heavy, after some thought I buy it, cloudy quarts may be one of the worst gems for holding magic but it could have its uses.

When I do make it to the edge of the market I check a specific spot and find just who I'm looking for, a diamond dog with gray fur, red eyes, and black hair, they are sitting on a cloth mat, and like the last times we've met they are surrounded by different gems, but unlike the other times they aren't alone.

The other diamond dog is sitting next to them and is smaller, they have the same colors with the only difference being their eye color, a deep cobalt blue, they seem related, maybe siblings or a child, I approach them and get close, "hello again, good to see you're still around."

They flash me a smile "one of my favorite customers, good to see you, uh" they pause as if realizing something, "you know we never actually introduced ourselves have we? well then nice to meet you, names Beryl."

"Names Shade nice to meet you too, who's this if you don't mind me asking?"

The smaller diamond dog looks at me with some apprehension, "she's my pup, Gravel, I'm teaching her the ropes of the trade, anyway what can I get you?"

I nod to the pup, "nice to meet you Gravel, and to answer that I have to ask, did you come here with a caravan?"

She nods, "yes there are a few dozen of us and we mostly sell gems and a few other things, why do you ask?"

"Well I'm looking for large and uncommon gems, even better if they have interesting cuts, so I'm wondering if your caravan has anything I'd be interested in."

She gains a thoughtful look and stares at me for a few moments, "yes we have things like that but they are expensive, I'm willing to take you there and introduce you to the caravan leader, but I'll need to know you can afford something like that."

I raise a brow and seeing my face she elaborates, "it's not that I don't trust you, but if I go and tell the caravan leader that we have a wealthy customer and they aren't I could get in hot water with them."

After hearing her I think for a moment before deciding, "I'll agree but I want something with your caravan's name or mark, I may trust you some but I'm not sure I trust your caravan."

"I can agree to that" she goes through a bag before passing me a piece of hard and rough paper with a symbol and name on it, The Rough Riders, "does that work for you?"

I think for a moment more, I have roughly five hundred bits on me as I knew I was shopping for gems, and even if I do get robbed I won't be anywhere near broke and I could find out who they are easily enough to inform the guards, with all this in mind I take a bag with my bits and open it next to her.

"Will this work?", I open it slightly before placing it back into my saddlebags.

Seeing the insides of the bag her eyes go wide for a moment before nodding, "definitely, we are camped right outside the city in view of the walls, look for the symbol and you should find us easily, I need to finish up here but I should be at camp in an hour or so."

I nod to her, "I'll meet you there then" I walk away as Beryl and her pup start packing up their things.

I decide to get everything I have home, after getting everything put away and sorted I eat and leave to make my way to the city edge.

As I walk through the city gates I see several caravan camps with a decent amount of other ponies and guards walking around the area, this area works like a small market in and of itself, I look around a while before finding the right camp and asking one of the members where their leader was.

They seemed to know I was coming and one of them led me to a large tent, when I enter I see Beryl and her pup talking to an older looking diamond dog, they have gray silvery fur with some fading blue color still in their hair, and they turn to me and I get a good look at their face.

There is a small scar on their cheek and their eyes are a bright light blue, "come on in" they say motioning with a paw, their voice is distinctly male and deeper than others I've met, "please have a seat."

I sat across from them at a table, "nice to meet you, I'm guessing Beryl already told you my name?"

They nod, "yes she did, nice to meet you, my name is Onyx Granite, so you're looking for gems?"

"Yes, I'm looking for odd, large, or rare gems, I should show you this first'', I pass over my card and wait for them to read it.

Onyx passes it back to me a moment later, "that answers a few questions and clears up a few problems, I'll be honest I was about to reject you for your age but this will work, I do have to ask though how do you have so many bits?"

Luckily I have an answer to things like this, "I work at the library and when you work there you get a place to stay and free meals, this left me with a decent amount of bits to invest, you know the magic lights that were invented a while back?" he nods at me.

"Well I got lucky and invested in several businesses that make and sell them with the crown's help, so when they got the contract to make the new lights."

Onyx cuts me off at this point, "you got in early and got a massive payday and are probably still making a good amount even after the rush when they first came out, that definitely explains it", he takes a moment to drink something from a cup.

"We have a decent collection but some are reserved by others so we can only sell you some things, would you like to see what we have?"

I stand up, "sure" we leave the tent and go to a few carts nearby, and with the help of a few other diamond dogs they unload a few crates and start opening them, we go through several crates as I pick out several things to buy each being placed to the side before the crate is returned to the wagons.

By the time we are done I have several gems in front of me, first another large ruby, second an eight sided diamond shaped sapphire that is four inches long, and third is five medium rubies.

The last two gems are by far the best and most expensive, a two inch cubed diamond, and a one inch cubed water gem, all this combined is a lot of bits, a lot even for me but this is still much less than what I would have to pay to somepony in the city, but it will be worth it for this.

"I'm willing to take them all, but I only have one five hundred on me right now and will need to get the rest from the bank, the Diamond is worth around that so how about I take the diamond and give you what I have before coming back with the rest?"

Onyx spends a moment being silent before answering, "I can agree to that", he holds out a paw that I shake.

"Then I'll be back in an hour or so", I pass him a bag and get back a gem, I leave heading home real quick to put away the diamond before heading to the bank, I have to fill out some paperwork saying that they are not responsible if I lose the bits, I'm able to finish the deal before dark and get home, I swear banks never change no matter the world.

After closing the deal I'm given a small crate to carry everything and spend some time talking to Onyx before leaving for home.

When I finally get home with all the new gems I let out a sigh of relief knowing nothing went wrong, I feed both me and Entropy before storing all the new gems and taking a shower, after drying myself off I spend the rest of the night sorting my things and doing some practice.

I take one last look at the softly glowing water gem I bought before heading to bed.

Author's Note

Sorry that this ended on a cliffhanger but this chapter is getting long, I may have gone overboard on this one.

Thanks for reading. :D

Chapter 40

JUN 12 Thursday. I get out of my bed and check the time, and after fully getting out of bed and making myself some tea I start going through several different exercises until I'm done with my mirroring training.

After that I have Entropy move both of us back and forth between the storage room, while she's teleporting I'm meditating on the space around us as we move, it feels odd when we teleport.

At this point I still need to use almost all my concentration to feel the space around me, but I have made some progress in feeling the shift when Entropy teleports us, it's hard to describe, the space feels like it shifts, blends, and cracks all at the same time and it's all hard to understand.

Feeling the space around us when we move is hard to understand, but is much easier to feel then empty space, this has made my training speed up a little, not much but it's still better than nothing, once we are done I make some food and settle it at a desk in my workroom.

Stone really pushed me hard after work yesterday so I didn't have a chance to look through my new gems yet, so I decided to write a list of all the unused gems I have, while I'm looking at them.

One large ruby, five medium rubies, four small rubies, four small sapphires, all are cube shaped, my new diamond shaped sapphire, three inch cloudy quartz pyramid, six by six inch amethyst cube shaped, two inch cubed diamond, and finally my best find the one inch water gem cube.

I now have the gems needed to try and do some more advanced enchanting, to explain why I need to go over how gems work, different gems are better at different things it's just that it doesn't matter much for weak or simple enchantments, but for powerful or specific things you need different gems.

This brings me to the water gem, gems naturally hold more magic than most things, and when something that hold a lot of magic is in a place with a high concentration of any type of affinity, the plant life, animals, gems, metal ores, and basically anything that can hold a decent amount of magic.

When anything like this sits in an environment with a high concentration for long enough it will take on that affinities properties, this process is painfully slow and rare, which makes finding something with an affinity hard, but also means that the object has unique effects.

The water gem I bought will greatly boost anything to do with water magic, but only water magic, the downside to gems like this is that the gem can only hold water affinity magic, any other type of magic and the gem will start breaking down or become unstable, this limits the use of the gem but gives it more power.

The reason I bought it is because I may not get another chance anytime soon, honestly I'm surprised they even sold it to me, but now that I have it I can do some truly great things with it, I won't be using it right now though as I want to study it and save it for something important.

I move the water gem back to the shelf and continue, the diamond shaped sapphire is also useful, the shape makes it better at absorbing ambient magic from around it, but weakens the gems stability so I can't cast any powerful spells with it, I have a plan for it but I'll get back to that later.

The diamond is just plain useful, diamond is basically better at everything but doesn't have any special effects.

And finally there is the cloudy quartz pyramid, the shape gives the gem more stability, but it will be bad at absorbing magic, both because of its shape and the gems quality, It's still useful though and will be the first gem I use today, so after counting everything I place the cloudy quartz on my desk.

I want to experiment with the purification rune, and I want a gem that's very stable and weak, this is why I'm using the cloudy quartz as its shape and weak power will ensure that if anything goes wrong the aftereffects will be weaker, this rune seems to destroy matter I don't want anything going wrong,

I grab a few blocks of Iron Oak wood and my woodworking kit, I want to make a stand that will hold the quartz pyramid upside down so I have a flat side pointing up, I carve out four wedges that meet at their corners and leave a hole in the middle.

I glue the corners together and use the warming spell to dry the glue, I place the gem inside before removing it and adjusting the hole with a tool, I do this several times before I get a good fit, I then spend a moment cleaning up the desk.

I'm going to need a new spell for this project but it won't be too hard to make what I need, I start with the purifying spell I made recently and start modifying it, I remove the water rune and replace it with a rune of liquid, it takes me an hour of tinkering to finish this but when I'm done I place it to the side.

The next thing I'm going to need is to make something new to me, I start with four runes, first a rune for knowing, second a rune for understanding, third a rune for seeing, fourth a rune for learning, all this combined will make something I've wanted for a while now.

A scanning spell, it's not as powerful as it sounds, this will be a weak spell and won't be able to scan much but will work for this project, I spend the next few hours making this spell, and at midday I finish a prototype, it could definitely use much more work, but it is working.

When you want to use this spell you first need to pick a rune to base the scan off of, if you don't the spell will fail as it tries to scan everything at once, so you have to limit it by giving it something to focus on, in this case I have it working with the same rune of fluid I used earlier.

This means the spell will be able to scan any fluid and attempt to output a result, but the more things it needs to scan the more magic and time it will take, the spell will also only give me one type of output, it will tell me how much of what fluids are in a container.

That's it, nothing else, and even getting the spell to do this took far more magic and runic symbols than it should, the matrix is double the size of the water purification spell, and I don't mean my streamlined version I mean the old one, to be blunt I'm not ready to make spells like this and was only able to because I brute forced it with symbols and much more math than needed.

But after some testing the spell, it does work so it will have to do, the last thing I need is a small illusion, which I take from the copying spell and modify, it's only a few small modifications so it doesn't take me long before I'm ready, I spend an hour very carefully enchanting the cloudy quartz, being careful not to make any mistakes.

When I'm done I place the cloudy quartz inside its stand and activate it, when I do I see two symbols appear on top of the gem's flat side, first a green circle outline two inches across, and second there is a larger green cube outline that is seven inches long and five across.

All this hovers in the air above the gems in it's stand, I grab a small piece of paper and cut it down until it's the right size and leave it on my desk, then I grab a small glass jar and take it to my kitchen, I fill the jar halfway with water, I then grow and harvest some juniper berries and juice them, before adding the juice to the jar.

While walking back to the desk I mix the fluids in the jar together, I then place the jar in the small green circle and grab two other things, a rag and a heavy block of wood, I put the rag over the jar opening it and placing the wood block on top of it, I activate the enchantment and place the piece of paper in the output.

And after a few minutes two lines of text form on the page, seventy three percent water, twenty four percent juice, three percent unknown, that's all I get, the spell doesn't seem to be able to tell what type of juice it is but that's fine I don't need it to, I activate the purifying enchantment and wait for it to finish.

When it is done I lift the wood block to check the rag, it's clean, not even wet, which means that nothing came through the air, I can now say with a degree of certainty that the purifying rune doesn't evaporate things away, next I use the scanning enchantment again.

This time it only takes a minute to finish, I grab the new results, ninety nine percent water, one percent unknown, I'm guessing the unknown is just tiny partials of many different things, but the rune seems to have done its job very well, although this still doesn't answer if the purification rune destroys matter, but it's certainly looking more likely.

I spend two hours just mixing and purifying different liquids, the enchantment lets me purify other fluids by selecting them, but water seems to work the best, other fluids take more magic to purify and don't get to the same purity as the water, but that's fine.

After I'm done testing I clean up everything and take some time to relax, it's still a few hours before the day is over and I don't want to work on a project, but I also don't want to just lay around, so I'm going to do something productive, I grab my saddlebags and let Entropy hop on my back before leaving my apartment.

I'm going to try and find a griffin to help me practice the language, I'm not exactly sure how to go about this but I have an idea, I walk to the edge of the markets where it's much less busy and spend some time looking around for a griffin merchant, and I do find one after a while.

They are an older looking griffin with some silvery fur sticking out in spots, and a few frayed feathers, they seem to be selling a few trinkets and other random items, I walk over to them, "see anything you like? I can offer you a good price?", a male voice asks me.

I look through his things, but find nothing I want, "no, but I do have an offer for you?", I see his eyes focus on me "I'm trying to learn the griffin language but need some practice, so I'm willing to pay you to teach me while you try and sell your things."

He seems interested enough to hear me out, "what type of practice?"

"I don't need help writing or reading just speaking the language, we'd probably just talk and you'd help me learn as we do so, I'm willing to pay you fifty bits for the day."

They seem to think over my offer before speaking, "I'm part of a caravan and we're leaving in two weeks, so how about forty bits a day, but you come see me whenever you can over the next two weeks."

I think it over before deciding to agree, "I can agree to that, but I'm only paying you at the end of every day."

He nods, "fair enough, my name's Gerald, now how about you take a seat?"

"Names Shade, and thanks", I sit next to him for the next three hours talking and conversing while Gerald tries to sell his trinkets to others, he's not the worst teacher, that's not to say he's good but he seems to actually make an effort to teach me.

He's also a decent conversationalist, he had more than one interesting story to tell and seemed like a well traveled individual, but as the day comes to a close we decide to stop and call it there, I leave as Gerald packs up his things and make my way home.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading, and sleep well.

Chapter 41

JUN 14 Saturday. POV Celestia

I take a sip of tea as I fill out and copy another form from the stack in front of me, this month is always so busy, the Summer Sun Celebration is only a week or so away and the paperwork just piles up.

It's not all bad though, the new copy spell has been making it easier, and yesterday I received yet another gift from a certain colt, the quill I'm now using might be the most complex thing they have made.

On my desk is a wood block that contains a gem, I dip the quill tip inside a slot and sign another form, I even spent some of my rare free time looking through the enchantments, and they are truly unique.

Thinking of all this brings my mind to the pony responsible for all of this, Shade Evergreen, a source of both great joy, and even greater confusion for me, a young earth pony, an orphan, an apprentice, and an inventor, this pony is many things, but simple is not one of them.

So many things about him both makes sense and also don't make any sense at the same time, I've had a few of my ponies look into his past but that has answered little, and in fact just raised more questions.

As far as I've been able to find out he started practicing magic as soon as he could, his younger life is mostly uninteresting as he was and is still young, but seemingly right at the moment he left the orphanage he started doing so much that it's a little overwhelming.

When offered the chance to become an apprentice he agreed, not that uncommon for orphans, but he decided to become a librarian apprentice, it's a rare thing for a pony that young to seek that type of apprenticeship, in fact only four have done the same in the past few years.

Then without help he unlocked his affinities, most don't even bother to unlock them at all, and then he spent a considerable amount of time training that affinity, after that he found a valuable plant by accident and with it an even more valuable herb, one only he could grow in large quantities.

And then he just gave it away, I'm used to others sending me gifts to gain my favor, but Shade doesn't seem to want that from what I've seen, then there is the first time we met, at the meeting I could tell he was nervous, even if he hid it well, but that's where he went from interesting to odd.

He's mature for his age, he speaks well and tried to remain calm through our conversation, and as far as I can tell he never lied to me, he didn't even hide his method, he even offered to show me how he did what he did, the vast majority of ponies his age would be scared or secretive, but he wasn't.

The next several meetings and letters have only raised more questions, he seems very good at math, I can tell that much from the things he's sent me, he's also good at inventing new things, and every single thing he sends me is useful or life-saving, the magic light alone has helped so many.

And in return he asked for nothing, in fact he didn't even ask he just sent me a life-changing invention and said it was mine, the fact that he didn't even ask for bits or to have his name attached to it is odd to say the least, in the end I decided to give him some of the royalties from it's sale.

And all he's done with those bits is invent more things, the magic light, the anti pest spell, the copying spell, and recently the water flasks, each one of these is amazing, the light is something I've had other ponies try to make for a while, but none succeeded.

The pest spell has been working well, crop loss has dropped by roughly seven percent this year, that may sound small but adding up all the different farms together and it makes a difference.

The copy spell has been a personal favorite, there were a few spells that did the same thing, but those cost too much magic for most to cast and were hard to learn, this spell is fairly easy to learn and almost anypony can cast it, it's made the administration of equestria easier.

Paper and ink waste is down massively, and important paperwork can be copied and sent in mass quickly now, this spell has even made my job easier, I don't have to wait as long for bills or documents to be written and sent to me, and with the new quill he sent me I don't even need to use ink anymore.

And finally the new flasks, this is something I never thought could be solved this easily, with a small gem and a flask you can now get water even in the desert, I know it will definitely be popular with the caravans.

I move the signed paperwork to the side, I then open a letter I got from Shade with my new quill, it's a progress report on the new strain of wheat he's breeding, I smile at the progress and expected finish date, if he can get it ready before the next year starts then that would be perfect.

I never did ask him to send me progress reports, he just did, I've come to know that Shade is the type of pony that does so much for others and never seems to want them to know, I don't know why but he seems dead set on remaining unknown, even with all he's done.

I may not know why he does this but I can tell that he wants to help others, what I can't understand is what drives him, he does all this, and yet he doesn't seem to have a reason, at least not one I can see clearly.

I take another sip of tea as I finish reading the report he sent, Shade Evergreen what drives you?, I would like a break from all this paperwork, and maybe I could invite him to talk again soon, maybe it's time to ask some questions and get a few answers.

POV Shade

I'm copying a page when a chill runs down my spine, :did Blaz leave a window open?: I look around but nope all the windows are closed, I shake my head and focus back on the page in front of me.

time skip

JUN 17 Tuesday. I stand in front of the gates to the palace checking the time.

It's odd that Celestia would invite me this time of year, the Summer Sun Celebration is a little lessthan a week away so why does she want to talk now, I suppose it doesn't really matter I'm about to find out, I approach the gate and like the times before I show a guard the letter I got and they lead me through the palace.

We enter the same room as last time and I see Celestia lying next to a table, unlike last time she's not alone, she has a small baby dragon with her and seems to be entertaining them, :I forgot that Twilight might be here, fuck: I maintain my calm and approach the table after bowing to her.

"Good to see you again princess."

"Same to you Shade" Before she can continue Spike interrupts her, "Shh it's ok."

I spend a moment looking at Spike pretending to be surprised, and after a moment I speak, "I've never met a dragon before, what's their name?"

She turns back to me, "It's Spike, my student Twilight hatched him."

"So that's what happened? I heard that a dragon's head put a hole in the roof of your school."

"Yes it was a byproduct of him hatching, he's still young but is growing fast" "she moves Spike a little away from us to some blankets before casting a spell around him, I'm not sure what spell but if I had to guess it's something to let Spike sleep while we talk.

"Now you're probably wondering why I invited you?", I nod "Well first I'd like to thank you for the gift I love it, and I have also been meaning to talk to you for some time now and realized that I had some free time today, so I'd like to just talk if that's ok with you?", I don't trust that for a second.

"Completely fine princess, anything in particular you want to talk about", she smiles at my answer.

"Well, what have you been working on recently?"

Out of all the questions, this is by far the worst to start on, in response I take a moment to rummage through my saddlebags, and I take out a book I use to take notes.

I have several notebooks but most I keep at home and write in English, this is one I use when at the library or in public, it's written in the ponies language just in case somepony sees it, this book only has some notes and spells along with my thoughts on things, It also doesn't have anything that would get me in trouble, or anything I shouldn't know.

"Here this should give you a decent idea of my current skill", it's pretty obvious she was asking a loaded question, and from the look on her face she wasn't really trying to hide it.

She just smiles and takes the notebook, I spend my time trying to keep myself calm as she takes a few minutes to read through several pages, "you have progressed much further than I realized, different spell designs, matrixes, and even some notes about plant cross-breeding."

She passes the book back to me and I put it away, "Thank you princess."

She's silent for a moment before speaking, "We've talked some and have been writing letters back and forth for a year now, and something has been on my mind for a while, so do you mind if I ask you something personal?", I spend a moment thinking, before nodding to her "Why do you make things? what drives you to learn and train so much?"

I freeze, :out of all the dammed questions it had to be that:, I'm silent for almost a full minute, I see Celestia about to speak before cutting her off.

"Magic is many things, and it can do so many wonderful things, but so often I see others look at a problem and just accept it, some do try and fix or improve things but most don't", I pause to keep my words steady "but so many of those problems hurt others and could be solved easily, but nopony does."

"So often I see a way to fix something or improve those problems, so one day I decided to do something about it, I guess you could say I don't stop trying to improve because I can't let the world stay like this, I can't just sit here and watch others suffer when I can do something about it."

Celestia's face shifts to a soft understanding look, "I know what you mean, I'm much the same I see many problems, and often I try and help all I can but I can never do everything alone, you should try and remember that Shade, and I apologize if that question upset you in any way."

"It's fine princess, but how about a change of topic?", we spend some time talking about several topics, and I find myself relaxing, I may have to hide a great many things from her, but unlike my other friends I can actually talk to her about my projects, and to no ones surprise she's great at giving advice.

We spend the rest of our time together talking about different branches of magic, and when our time is up we stop, "thank you for keeping me company for a while Shade", she picks up a sleeping Spike "I do have one last thing to ask you, if that's ok?"

I hesitate for a moment before nodding "I asked you why you do so much now I want to ask you, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

I sit there, really thinking over her question, :what do I want to be?:, and after some thought, I find my answer, "I want to help, even if nopony ever knows, even if nopony ever knows I did anything at all I want to help."

Celestia has a kind smile on her face as she looks at me, "Then know that I will always do my best to help you, have a good day Shade"

"Same to you princess", after that I'm led out of the palace and back out into the city, I hum a small tune as I walk home, and I think I feel just a bit better about the future.

POV Celestia

As Shade leaves I spend a moment thinking over what we spoke about, I didn't get any real answers, but I'm not sure I need them, I could tell that Shade has secrets and that he didn't really want to answer me, so I stopped asking after the first question.

I want answers but not at the expense of Shade's trust in me, I don't want to push him away by asking too much, so for now he can keep his secrets, I just hope he trusts somepony with them, holding all that in won't do him any good, but for now I'll be patient.

Author's Note

This is my first real attempt at something emotional so sorry if it's rough, I may tweak it later.
Thanks for reading.

Chapter 42

JUN 21 Saturday.

I slowly wake up and get out of bed, It's the Summer Sun Celebration today and I have some things to do, I leave my room and spend some time making breakfast for myself and Entropy, speaking of Entropy she's still changing and I think it will definitely become a problem.

At this point her feathers have gotten extremely dark, and it seems whatever process that is happening is getting faster, she looked mostly normal when she was born but over the last half year she's changed.

Her feathers are darker at this point, but unless we come across anypony who is an expert on crows or birds we should be fine for a while longer, at this rate it will become noticeable to everypony within a few months, so I need to find a way to hide her changes, but that's an entirely different problem, my best bet is an illusion spell, but I need it to last several hours, or always be active, and anypony would notice Entropy holding a gem.

So if I want it to be an enchantment I need a material that can hold, gather, and withstand enough magic to keep an illusion up for a long time, I don't have anything like that but I can find it, the problem is that the only thing that might work to hold the spell is a magical metal, magical metals are rare and expensive, they can have a very high magical capacity, even higher then a lot of gems, but even with a decent magical metal the illusion spell would take too much magic, so I need to get creative.

Illusions are made in many different ways, but what I need is a spell that will use the least amount of magic possible, or a spell that will stay on Entropy for a decent while,

Let's start with what I need both of these spells to do, I need it to make Entropy look as normal as possible, If I remove everything and just make the spell change her color that would be enough, I just need her feathers to not look like the event horizon of a blackhole, much like her egg.

So if I can get an illusion to cover only her feathers then that would also save on magic, if anypony were to touch her they would notice, but she doesn't let others touch her anyway so I don't think that will be a problem, if I use no runes it would save on magic but it will take me much more time to create the spell, so I'll probably need at least a few runes for this.

Using an enchantment also has two more problems, first I need to find a magical metal that is good enough to use for this project, and second I need somepony to forge it into a usable state, all of this is going to require me to do a lot of research.

So I'm going to spend some of my spare time researching all of this, I'm also going to be researching something I should have been looking into for some time now, changelings.

How do changelings change? Do they use illusion? Do they transform? What kind of magic is used in the process? All these questions lead me to a new project I want to work on, a way to detect changelings, this is more of a long-term project, mostly because I don't even know what I'm trying to detect.

One other thing about the changeling's transformations is why it creates fire, the changelings seem to live in the dark so why would part of their abilities make fire? just another question to add to the ever-growing pile I guess, I'm not sure if changelings use illusions but it seems as good as any place to start.

I open one of my notebooks and turn to a page containing the new scanning spell I made not long ago, I've been making small improvements but it will take much more than a few days to really make the spell better, right now I want to use this as a base.

My first step in this project is to see if I can make a way to detect illusions, I start with one of my medium rubies and enchant it to hold magic, then I add the scanning spell and change out the liquid rune, but then I realize that I don't have any runes for illusions, so I guess my new first goal is finding a rune that will work.

I go through my notes for a while to make sure I don't have a rune that would work, and I was right I don't have a rune for this project, with this in mind I realize that I'll have to do this another day, so I spend a moment making sure Entropy is fed before putting on my saddlebags and leaving my apartment, the library like most businesses isn't open today.

So for now I decide to simply enjoy the holiday, I leave my apartment and walk through the crowded streets moving towards the park, when I enter the park I walk around for a while before lying down in a grass field, Entropy flies off to a nearby tree as I open my sketchbook.

I look around and spot an old Oak that looks familiar, I look at it for several moments before recognizing it, it's the same tree I unlocked my life affinity at, I stare at it for a while before starting to sketch it, I draw it's trunk, it's branches and its leaves, I then add the buildings I can see behind it, then the ground around it.

After a while I finish my sketch and close my book, after some time staring at the Oak I walk over to the old Oak and place a hoof on its trunk, I focus and push my magic into the tree, and after a moment I watch as a single acorn falls from the tree top.

I walk over and pick it up, :someday it would be nice to find a place to plant this, but that day is not today: I put the acorn in my saddlebag and whistle, after a moment Entropy lands on my back, "Time to go girl" We spend a while slowly walking through the park and simply enjoying the nice day.

After some time we reach the edge of the park and leave, I wonder what I want to do today before deciding on something, :actually, maybe today is the day: I decide to keep walking as I push past crowds of ponies to reach the cities edge, I make my way outside the city walls and keep walking for a while, nearly an hour later I stop at the roadside and keep walking off the road.

I walk through a grass field and arrive at a small forest, it's a small place the trees and bushes aren't dense so it doesn't take long for me to be out of sight of the road, I wander the forest for a while sketching a few plants and even finding a wild blueberry bush that I collect some seeds from.

By the time I find what I'm looking for it is midday, I find a small clearing in the forest made from an old tree falling over, its fall has left a hole in the tree cover and from the looks of it the tree fell over fairly recently, I spend a while decomposing the tree into new soil.

When I'm done I take out the acorn and place it on top of the new soil, I back up some before laying down and concentrating, I close my eyes and start meditating on the life magic around me, before pushing my life magic into the acorn.

I dump more and more inside, I feel the ground under me shift as new roots grow and expand, and after a while I stop, panting slightly from exhaustion, I open my eyes and see a thick tree trunk in front of me, I turn my head up and see the new Oak tree covering the small clearing that was here before.

I see dozens of new acorns growing on the branches of the new tree, I simply stare for a while looking up at the tree and feeling the life magic course through it, after a while I've recovered enough and stand, and I start walking through the forest, making my way home while humming an old tune.

JUN 26 Thursday.

"Checkmate, that's eleven to zero right?" Gerald asks me.

"Yes, you should tell me how you get so good," I respond in slightly broken words.

"Good try, you almost got it, but you it's got, not get."

I look up to Gerald while moving all the chess pieces back into their starting positions, over the past two weeks I've been spending a lot of my free time here with him, and although I'm paying him it's still nice to simply talk to someone old, in many ways he reminds me of an old uncle.

He's always rambling on about this or that, hell he even had a conspiracy theory or two to tell me, and all while trying to teach me how to speak griffin properly, and to be honest I'm going to miss our talks a little, as he's leaving with his caravan today.

"Black or white?"

"What do you think?"

"Black", he always picks black, although he never told me why.

It's late in the day and I'll have to leave soon, but I have just enough time for one last game, it was me that thought of playing chess first, I quickly learned that was a mistake, turns out Gerald is very good at chess, so good that I've only won three of our games.

But that's fine I didn't come here for this anyway, I came to learn and I think I'm doing well, in the last two weeks I've learned a lot, I'm still far from fluent but I can at least hold a conversation now, even if I speak like I'm a child still learning to speak properly.

"Hey Gerald" he looks up from the board to me, " you've helped me a lot in the last two weeks, so thank you, I mean it, thank you."

I see his feathers rise up slightly, he's silent for a moment before answering "Well nothing to really thank me for Shade, You're the one paying me after all."

I just give him a smile and move my next piece finishing our last game, "It's been a pleasure Gerald, I wish you the best wherever you end up, and keep the board, consider it a gift."

His eyes focus on me for several moments before he nods, "Don't get all sappy on me Shade, get going, and thanks for talking with me."

I walk away from him heading home, :I wonder if I'll ever see him again? Maybe, if the world is kind, maybe:, I walk through the streets and get home right before the sun sets, I let Entropy off my back and take my saddlebags off, I don't have work tomorrow so let's work on a few things.

First an update on my changeling detection project, not much honestly, I've made some progress in finding the right rune but haven't found anything that would work well yet.

But while searching for runes related to illusions I found something that can help with my other project, I found a spell that could help me hide Entropy, It's still going to take a massive amount of work but this spell should help, the spell is called ghost target.

It creates an illusionary target that you can shape, things won't hit the target obviously, but it has a unique twist that can help me, the target can move, the spell uses two runes I do not recognize that allow the spell to move and bend, I've been able to find a out about one of them.

It's a new rune of movement, I already have something similar but this runes context is vastly different than the rune I have, the rune I have is about movement in general, while this rune is specifically made for the movement of illusions making it much better at doing what I need.

Sadly I can't find any reference to the other rune, and for the illusion to bend I need that rune, If I can get both I'll be able to make an illusion spell that will cover Entropy, it's not a permanent solution but it will give me time to create the right enchantments, and find the materials I need to solve this problem permanently.

So right now I'm studying the rune trying to find anything that can help narrow down my search, and so far the only thing I've been able to figure out is that the rune is based on a bending rune I've encountered before, I have the rune in my notes but I'll need to find the book I copied it from and work from there.

After looking through the rune again and noting some things down I move on to something else I've been wanting to try, I bring my liquid purifier, my Moon Glow plant, and my mortar and pestle to my desk and start working, first I go about the process of harvesting Moon Glow petals.

I grind them down and add some water to the mix, I keep grinding down the petals trying to extract as much fluid from the petals as I can, when I'm done I drain the mix into a jar and place it on top of the smoky quartz, I let the scanning finish and check out the results.

Sixty-seven percent water, twenty-three percent plant fluid, I have the enchantments purify the plant fluids and let the enchantments run, it takes almost an hour for the spell to finish but when it's done I have a small amount of clear fluid, I'm not sure if this will work but there's only one way to find out.

I take a piece of paper and write something with the fluid, but to my disappointment the glow is only very slightly brighter than when I tried this last time, at least it's a step in the right direction, I'm not completely sure why the plant's magic fades so much with this method.

I spend a while trying to draw a few other things before cleaning up my desk, I guess I'll need to think of a different method to try, but for now I'll work on something else, I grab my wheat plants and spend the rest of the night breeding them.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading, and here here you can all have a cookie, to share.

Chapter 43

JUL 2 Wednesday. As I copy another page I look through all the pages I've finished so far, I then double-check them before grabbing a book cover, it takes a while to bind all the pages into a finished book, but when I'm done I put the book next to four other copies.

As for why I'm making so many copies of a single book, well turns out that the city library having the second largest collection of books in the country means that when other smaller libraries lose a book and don't have any to copy they will request a copy from us, or in this case several copies, to replace the lost ones.

There are a few dozen ponies who have the same job as us, I've met a few but most simply ignore me or don't want to talk, so I leave them be, so I've mostly just spent my time talking with Blaz, and while Blaz may be quiet a lot of the time he always has something interesting to say when he does speak.

"I'm done with this order, what's the next order?" Blaz simply points a hoof to a book, I grab it and start the process all over again, I take a moment to look through the first page before starting to copy it, I've learned that this can be the hardest part of the job, it can be hard to simply copy things again and again.

But it's not all bad, I have an amount of work I'm expected to complete, and if I finish before the day ends I can spend the rest of my time reading, I look at a small piece of paper attached to the book, it's the order ticket and it tells me who's ordered the book and how many they want.

I only need to make two copies of this book, It's a thin book so this shouldn't take long to finish, I work my way through the book writing page after page, and by the time I'm a third way through it's lunch, I get up and whistle to Blaz who turns to me, "lunch" he nods.

We both move through the library and enter the breakroom, we get some food and sit next to Daisy and Maple, "so how are you two doing today?" I ask as I sit down.

Daisy answers first, "Besides dealing with an apprentice that decided to leave in the middle of the work day? Fine."

"Who decided to quit?"

"You remember the stallion who always, ALWAYS tried to mix philosophy from books into his sentences?"

I let out a groan, I've unfortunately met that pony a few times, and even as an introvert I've never wanted to end a conversation faster, he was a minor noble who decided that working at a library would make him look cultured, all he really did was read about romance and quote philosophy.

"Ya, I remember him, well at least we won't have to listen to him at lunch anymore."

"So that's why lunch is so quiet today? Well like the colt said we won't have to hear his yapping anymore."

"So what about you Maple?"

"Well I have the day off tomorrow, not anything interesting to do though."

Maple's days off are Friday and Saturday, "why do you have the day off?"

Daisy answers me, "When Mister Philosophy quit I had to shift the schedule around some, so she has another day off this week."

"And you have no plans?" she nods "Well I don't have much to do tomorrow so want to do something?"

It takes a moment for her to answer me, "Sure, anywhere in particular?"

"Well, you do seem to like pie" Almost to prove my point Maple's ears pop up and she looks at me more intently, "So let's go find some, I know a cafe where we can find some pie."

"YES, oh sorry, yes that sounds nice, what time?"

"I have a few things to do, so let's meet at the library at twelve, that works fine for you?"

"Sure, and thanks Shade."

"Hey what are friends for if not to waste your free time", we spend the rest of lunch talking before getting back to work, and after a few more hours of copying and writing books I'm free, like always I clean my work area before saying goodbye to Blaz and leaving.

I stop at my apartment for a little while to feed Entropy and grab my saddlebags before leaving again, it's Wednesday so it's time to be run ragged by an old stallion, I leave Entropy and make my way to meet Stone, I find the right building and enter it making my way to the right room.

But before we start Stone asks me something, "Well colt at this point you are in good enough shape for us to change things up, so today you're learning something new", he tells me this with a smile, a smile I do not trust.

And an hour later I'm more than proven right, Stone decided that I'm ready to learn some basic hoof-to-hoof combat, and the end result was me getting a good amount of practice with both of the healing spells I know, that and getting my ass kicked repeatedly over the course of the next hour.

When we are done I still have several bruises to heal, "That healing spell works well, most recruits would need a full day of rest doing half that, keep it up colt."

I guess that's a downside to learning healing magic, when Stone found out I could speed up my healing process, even if it takes a lot of magic to heal myself, he took it as an excuse to push me harder, but even with this training being hell it's definitely working.

At this point I've burned off all my fat and have gained a good amount of muscle, that is an upside to the healing spells I'm using, they only speed up the healing process so muscle fibers still grow back in increased amounts, the main downside is that the spell only works at a decent speed if I use a lot of magic to make it work.

For a lot of spells you can add more magic to increase the effect or speed of the effect, the upside is obvious, it's faster, but there are two main downsides, first the magic costs grow exponentially so you have to be careful not to drain yourself completely, the second is a little more situational.

If a spell is not made well, or when using runic magic if the matrix is damaged then overpowering the spell could go horribly wrong, this is why I only overpower the healing spells while meditating, it helps keep everything more stable.

After we are done with combat training I'm asked another question, "So colt, when a guard trains they train their magic and also train with a weapon, I want you to do the same, so before next week I want you to find out what weapon you want to train in, I know the basics for most weapons, and if that's not enough I know a few guards that could help."

I'm thankful this question doesn't cause me more pain, "Ok I'll make sure to try some weapons out, do you know anywhere I can test some weapons out? I rather not buy a bunch of weapons I might not use."

"This place has something that will work great, they have wooden weapons of all types, just ask at the desk and rent a sparring room, now get up colt we aren't done yet", I groan and stand back up.

time skip

JUN 3 Thursday.

I get out of bed and groan a little at my sore muscles, I make some tea and spend a while healing myself before getting ready for the day, I need to meet Maple but that won't happen for a few hours so I have some time to do other things, but first I grab four very small pieces of fish and call Entropy over.

At this point we travel back and forth between the apartment and storage room eight times a day, four times in the morning and four in the evening, it takes eight trips to tire her out the same amount as before, it seems her training is working well.

When we are done I feed her a proper breakfast, I also make myself some French toast, I haven't had this in years so I thought it would be nice, when I'm done cooking and cleaning I sit down and eat with Entropy, and when I'm done fighting off Entropy's attempts to beg for my food I finish eating and move to the workroom.

I sit down and start working on the illusion spell for Entropy, I've made some progress on finding the other rune but still haven't found it yet, another part of the spell I'm working on is its ability to stay active for a long time, this is done by overpowering the spell and making sure the spell knows what to do with the excess magic.

I need the spell to use all the magic I pump into the spell to keep it active, and if I don't tell the spell to do that it will use the extra magic to just improve everything, or go wild, and I don't need that so even if this makes the spell more complex it's worth it.

I work my way through the half-finished spell matrix, I shift things around, and edit things for a while before stopping, I'll need to work on this more but I can't do much more without that other rune, I'll have to find it but that's for later, I write and sort my notes before moving on to the next thing.

I grab the newly named Rocky Wheat and start breeding it, at this point the wheat is mostly done, it can handle the new environment well and just needs the finishing touches, throughout the process of breeding the grains have shrunk a little and there are less of them, I'm going to be fixing that before I fully finish this project.

This should only take a week or two so I'm finishing a little ahead of schedule, the reason that I was able to finish faster is because I didn't take into account that once the wheat adapted to its new environment it wouldn't need to keep struggling, now that it's fully adapted it's growing faster and that uses less magic speeding up this final step.

I breed them for a while before taking a break, I spent a decent amount of magic healing myself so I spend a while resting and drinking tea, after going back and forth for a while I stop breeding the wheat, I don't have anything else I want to work on so I just spend the rest of my time reading.

I'm brought out of my reading by the alarm on my watch flashing, I turn it off and put on my saddlebags, Entropy sees this and wants to come with me, "not this time girl, I'll feed you something nice later ok? so just relax here some", she doesn't seem happy but stays.

It took a while but she now seemed willing to stay when asked, I walked through the streets and made my way to the library, and when I got there I see Maple waiting for me, "Hey Maple, sorry if you had to wait for me."

"It's fine, you are leading the way?" she seems excited, :she really likes pie ha?:

I just smile at my friend, "Sure come on it's not far from here", I start leading her through the streets and to our destination.

We walk along the streets before finding the place I remember, a small cafe named The Blue Berry, it's a stupid name but they make good sugary baked treats, they have most things you'd think of, along with a few booths inside to sit at, we enter the building and find a booth to sit in.

"So what type of pie do you want to get?" I ask as we look through the menu.

"OH, so many choices, I can't decide, apple? raspberry?" she continues naming different pies, she's definitely excited about this.

I also realize that she's definitely the type of pony to take forever to decide, "How about we just get one cherry pie, and an apple pie? Keep it nice and simple."

She seems to war with herself for a few moments before agreeing, "ok", I motion over to a waiter and place our order.

"Well it will probably take a while to make, so want to talk about something?" I ask as the waiter brings me a green tea I ordered.

She thinks for a moment before asking something, "Well how about this, what do you do in your spare time?" she asks.

"Well, honestly a lot, I have a few hobbies and also like learning in my free time, so you'll have to be a little more specific."

"Ok then what's your favorite hobby?"

I spend a moment sipping my tea while thinking, "Drawing, I've been doing too since I was very young and have always enjoyed it", a thought strikes me and I open my saddlebags and take out a book, "Here" I pass it over to her.

She opens it and starts flipping pages, "Wow color me impressed, these are all amazing, although I guess that makes sense you have to draw anytime you want to use a spell."

"Thank you I try, and yes I presume drawing that much has helped me improve", she continues flipping through pages.

"There are a lot of plants, do you like plants? And what's with the crow?"

I nod, "Yes I do like plants, I even keep several in my home, and that's Entropy she's my pet crow."

"You have a pet crow? I honestly didn't see you as the type of pony to have a pet, why a crow?"

"Ya I'm normally not the pet type, but well let's just say that I got lucky and found Entropy's egg, and I wanted to see if it would hatch, after it did I guess she grew on me and now we are almost inseparable, sometimes I have to convince or bribe her to not follow me to work."

Maple lets out a small laugh, "Really? Well you'll have to introduce me sometime", we are interrupted by the waiter placing both pies in front of us along with two plates, and two forks, we spend a moment filling our plates before digging in, while we eat I'm able to get down four pieces before having to stop, but Maple is already on her fifth piece and is still going, "I knew you liked pie, but your really able to eat it aren't you?"

She gains a little blush and pauses mid-bite, "It's fine, I'm just surprised, most don't eat as much as me but you just keep going, well it's my turn to ask the questions, so let's start with what your favorite hobby is?"

She seems to think it over for a moment, "Well I'd say it's baking, I like baking things when I can, but I don't do it often, only when I feel like it."

"Hm, I also bake, mostly bread, It's a good hobby to have, ok next what is your favorite baked good that isn't a pie."

"That's not fair, that's like asking what type of fruit you like and then saying you can only choose berries, but fine if I had to decide I'd say it's cake, any type is fine, except chocolate, I don't like chocolate."

"Ok, what's something you genuinely don't like?"

"Odd question, but sure, hmm if I had to pick I'd say large gatherings, and I mean large gatherings, parties are fine but once you get more than ten ponies in a room with me I stop having fun."

"Fair enough, I don't really like crowds either", I put down my fork and push my plate away, "Well I'm full and I should probably get back home, I have a bird to placate and some other things to do, thanks for the fun time Maple."

I spend a moment paying the bill and gathering my things, "Same to you Shade, and thanks for the pie, but what am I supposed to do with the rest? And how much was the bill?" both pies aren't even halfway eaten.

"Well, I guess you'll have leftovers for a while, and don't worry about the bill, consider it my treat, have a good day Maple."

"Fine, but next time I'm paying, have a good day Shade", I make my way out of the cafe after that and start heading home, I don't even notice Maple watching me from the window as I walk away.

Author's Note

100K words, I'm honestly shocked I've made it this far, I'd like to take a moment to thank everybody that's helped me so far, thank you one and all, seriously, THANK YOU, and I hope your enjoying this story so far. :D

ps, here is the cookie I promised, 🍪 just remember to share it.

Chapter 44

JUL 4 Friday. I move out of my bed and move to the kitchen, and after making some food and tea I move over to my workroom, I had an idea last night and I want to test it, but I'll need to be very careful, I've wondered over the meaning behind my cutie mark many times, and I realized something my cutie mark is a spell matrix, so what will happen if I tried to cast it?

But I don't want to just cast a spell that may just be random numbers and runes, I rather not have an explosion happen in my apartment, so I need to cast the spell with the least amount of magic possible, and have several protections in place, and for both I'm going to need a few gems.

I sit down at a desk with my notes and a small ruby, I start with the enchantment to hold and gather magic, I spend a while removing the part of the spell that gathers magic, once I'm done I enchant the ruby and spend a minute making sure everything is working correctly.

I feed it a small amount of magic to make sure it's working and start work on the next thing, I spend some time drawing out my cutie mark and copy it to a piece of paper, the next step is protection, so I grab a medium ruby and enchant it to hold and gather magic before spending some time filling it with magic.

After a while recovering my magic I start on the shield spell, I'll need a new shielding spell for this so I start with the base spell and work from there, I make the shield better at containing what's on the inside of the shield, I also add protections against fire just to be safe, it should contain any fire or smoke now.

I enchant the medium ruby and spend some time shaping the shield to the correct size, I stand up and grab my wood saw, and move to my main room, I spend a while cutting down the Iron Oaks main trunk, once I have it cut I move it to the side and start growing a new tree.

During this process I make sure not to damage the Companion Vine, when the new tree is large enough I place the vine back on it and start processing the tree, I remove the branches and leaves to be decomposed, during this process the saw struggles slightly to cut the trees main trunk.

It seems that with the Companion Vines help the Iron Oak had absorbed a lot of life magic, the fact that the enchanted saw is having any trouble cutting it proves that this harvest of the Iron Oak is tough, to the point that it might be as tough as a few types of metal.

I don't need all the wood for this project, after drying out the wood and rendering it down I have a two-foot-long, three-inch thick wood post, I also have a few smaller wood blocks that I was able to cut out from the rest of the trunk, after cleaning everything up and decomposing all the scraps I take the wood to my workroom.

I store everything besides the wood post, I move the post to the center of the room and stand it up, I take the medium ruby with the shield and place it on the floor a few feet away, I take some time to make sure the shield will cover the upper part of the post and activate it to test it.

I then spend an hour drinking tea and recovering my magic fully before proceeding to the next step, I cast the sticking spell, it's a basic spell that does what the name says, sticking something to something else, I use the spell to anchor both the post and the medium ruby to the floor, that should keep it in place.

The final step is to enchant the small ruby with my cutie mark, when I'm done I place the ruby inside the shield and activate the shield, I then start slowly feeding magic into the small ruby while watching the process, nothing happens for a while, but then in an instant I see the ruby flash so bright it blinds me.

I have to cover my eyes as the inside of the shield is engulfed in fire, when the light fades I'm able to open my eyes, and I'm greeted by the sight of a burning wood post, I'm lucky the shield is still intact, but the inside is a complete mess, the ruby is shattered into hundreds of pieces.

The wood post seems to have withstood the magic, but not the fire, it's currently burning slightly, but the shield blocks air so it should die out once it burns through the available oxygen, I wait a minute before the fire fully dies out, I ready a water spell and once the shield is deactivated I cover the wood post in water.

After the smoke clears and the post is no longer smoldering I face my next problem, there are no windows and this room is enclosed, there is nowhere for the smoke to go so it's just on the ceiling, I also can't just release it into the city, I rather nopony think there is a fire.

I could let it settle but that would take a while and somepony might smell the smoke after a while, I grab my notebook and leave the room trying my best to trap the smoke inside, I need a way to fix this as fast as I can, I don't have a spell to clear the air, but if I cut a lot of corners and sacrifice any form of efficiency I can make something fast.

I spend the next half hour trying my best to make a spell with the purifying rune, and an air rune, it's far from well made, to be blunt this spell is a complete disaster, but it should work, I enter the workroom again to see that a lot of smoke has settled.

I draw the spells matrix and push my magic into it, it takes far more magic than it should but after a few minutes the room is clear, :god this whole thing is just a disaster, then again I did try and cast a spell that didn't make any sense,: I spend the next two hours cleaning the entire room.

When I'm finally done making sure everything in the room is clean and intact I relax some, I take a moment to look at the post and the remains of the ruby, the post is burnt but still in one piece, and the ruby is in hundreds of pieces, that I've collected, I store the gem fragments and move the post to the main room.

I decompose the post down and move back to the workroom, I sit at my desk and start writing down notes about what happened, I'm pretty sure the spell was unstable and when I pushed magic into it everything went out of control, I'm just lucky the shield contained the blast, I didn't feel or hear anything so I don't think my neighbors noticed either.

I'm not really sure if I learned anything from all this, well I guess I learned to get better safety measures for the future, not that I want to do this again, when I'm done with my notes I put everything away, I don't want to do any more testing today and I'd like some fresh air.

"Come on girl, we're going out," I call out to Entropy from the main room, in a few seconds Entropy flies from my bedroom and lands near me, I take a quick shower to wash out any soot before grabbing my saddlebags and leaving with Entropy, I walk through the streets until I reach the park.

I spend a while drawing while Entropy flies around the area, after a while I get a little bored of drawing and remember that I have something I need to do, I call over Entropy and take her home before leaving again, I make my way to the same building I meet Stone at.

I rent a sparring room like he suggested, when I enter it's the same type of room we normally meet in, it also has several racks filled with different types of weapons, I don't really know where to start, well what type of weapon do I like?

I'm not trained in any of them so I can just pick anything, after some thought I just decide to try the things I like the look of, I try out a few staffs a short sword, and even a polearm, I do find one weapon that I like but it's not exactly practical, the greatsword, it may just be the monkey part of my brain but I like the idea of hitting something with a big sword.

But like I said it's not really practical, I can use it easily as it doesn't matter how much it weighs, but carrying around something like this in public is just not going to happen, I try to think of a solution or even an excuse to choose this weapon as I like it, and I do find one.

I can hold and move three things at the same time with my field, if I hold three things my control suffers some, but I can control two things at the same time with minimal loss to my control, so my idea is simple I'll pair the greatsword with something else, I spend a while trying to decide on the right combination.

And I decide on a dagger, one blade for heavy damage and weight, and the other for speed and exploiting openings, then again I don't know anything about combat so we'll see what Stone thinks of my choice and go from there, for now I spend some time swinging both around for a while.

It's a little hard to swing the greatsword, but then I realize what I'm doing wrong, I'm holding the whole blade in my field, I adjust to only hold the handle and swing it again, it's much faster now, but after a few swings I stop, my control degrades after several feet and I rather not hit myself with a large piece of wood, so I decide to not try anything else until I meet with Stone.

I don't have much else to do so I put everything back and start making my way home.

time skip

JUL 9 Wednesday.

I walk through the same building I've been in so many times now, I walk through the familiar hallways and enter the right room, and like most times I come here I see Stone practicing with a sword, he turns to me and nods, "Shade, enjoy your week?"

"Ya I did, I also did what you told me to and tried out some weapons."

"Well don't keep me in suspense colt."

"I tried several things but I decided on an odd choice, and I don't know anything about combat so I thought I'd run it by you first," he nods for me to continue, "Well I decided on both a greatsword and a dagger."

Stone didn't seem to reject it instantly, he seemed to think it over for a few moments before nodding, "It's definitely an odd choice, but it makes some sense, using both will give you a good amount of options, and from the size you are right now you'll grow enough to use a greatsword even without your magic."

"The only real problem is that I don't know any styles to teach you, but I can teach you how to each separately, so we'll start with the dagger and go from there."

I gained a smile hearing his answer, "Don't smile yet colt, You're training in two weapons which means I'm going to train you twice as much."

I lose my smile some but nod to him, "Well come on colt, we're heading to a training room for some training weapons," and much like last time I don't trust the smile he has.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

And you can blame the weapon choice on my crippling addiction to dark souls, shoutout to the Abyss Watchers, now if you'll excuse me I have to fight the nameless king.

Chapter 45

JUL 18 Friday.

I stand up from meditating, my ability to sense the space around me is still very slowly progressing, I walk to the kitchen and make the only tea I've had for over a year now, :I should find out how to make other things with this tea: I do have a cookbook but it doesn't have anything I can make.

I only have one plan today and I won't be doing that for a few hours, so I'm taking a quick trip to the library, I give Entropy a few berries and leave my apartment, I make it to the library not long after and start looking through different cooking books.

After a while I find a few books to read, not just cookbooks but a few others too, I spend the next hour skimming through a few books before opening the cookbook, this book mostly has baked goods, and after a while I find something simple and easy to make with tea as an ingredient.

Tea cakes, they don't need much and go well with tea, I write down the recipe and put the books back before leaving, when I get home I start gathering everything I will need, it takes me a while to mix everything and bake them, but when they are done they come out decent.

They are a little sweet so I probably should add less sugar next time, but they have a slight lemony flavor and go well with the tea so I'd say this went well, after that I spent a while breeding the Rocky Wheat, it took a little longer than I thought but it's finally done.

It took just under five months to complete this project, and I think it's come out great, I'm going to keep some seeds with me so I can still make bread, but right now I have three five-pound sacks I bought that I've been filling, I finished the wheat yesterday day and sent a letter to Celestia.

I haven't gotten a response yet, but I know they will need a decent amount to grow so they can then distribute it, that's why I'm filling these sacks, it's probably overkill but that's fine, she'll probably have either a guard, or me deliver it, I'll give them two sacks and keep the last one so I don't have to grow wheat every time I want bread, the sack should last me a week or two.

I spent a while growing and collecting the grains, I already filled two sacks yesterday so it doesn't take long to fill the last sack, when I'm done I tie shut the sacks and place them on a shelf, I do have something else to do today, if I can.

I want to find someone to keep learning the griffin language from, but I got lucky last time with Gerald, this time I'm going to try and find a better way to do this, but I'm not sure how I could do the same thing as last time? But like I said I got lucky last time.

I could try and find an actual teacher, but I have no idea where to find somepony like that, I could try and ask around? But that's just leaving it up to blind luck at that point, there is a place I could go to that can help me find a teacher, and I don't have any better ideas, so I grab my saddlebags and leave my apartment.

It takes me a while to find the right place but I do find it, there are many guilds in Equestria, some are more frequently used and some less so, this particular guild is decently sized and is also very old, the Information Guild, their name says it all really, they trade information for money.

They have also been around for a long time, you might think a guild like this does some less-than-legal things, and maybe they do but most of their business is trading information that is legal to those who are looking for it.

Let's say you need to find a rare herb? Well pay them enough and they will find any information they can about it, and if you pay them more then they will even help you get it, and that's the problem, they trade information and I have many things I'd like to keep secret, so I'd rather not do business with them, but as the old saying goes, Needs must.

I didn't use their services in the past because the things I was looking for were either something I didn't want others to know about or things I could find on my own without having to pay them, this is why I didn't use them in the past, I don't want to ask them for information.

At least not for important information, but for something like finding a teacher? Well an orphan trying to find a teacher for a skill that could help them get a job isn't all that uncommon, hell I've even seen guild posters advertise just that, this is why I decided to find them this time, as most wouldn't think it odd for me to look for a teacher.

I find the right building after a while, it looks like a regular office building, the only big difference is the sign, Information Guild Canterlot Branch, simple and to the point, I watch the building for a while before entering, and a few ponies enter and exit the building most younger a few around my age, perfect I won't be out of place.

I walk into the building and look around, it's a large room with several counters with ponies behind them, and other ponies waiting in lines, above each desk is a sign, I look through them before finding the line that matches my needs the most, Training Information.

There are a few ponies in the line so I stand behind them and wait, it takes a while to get to the front but when it's my turn I walk up to the desk, "Hello how can I help you?"

"I'm looking for someone to teach me the griffin language".

They nod and flip through several pages before stopping, "We have a few on record, ten bits for the list and an extra five for directions, and their business hours."

They are blunt and to the point not that I expected anything different, I pass them fifteen bits and they nod then spend a moment copying the information with a spell I'm very familiar with, I’m passed the page and leave the line then I place it in my bags and leave the building.

I walk a decent distance away before finding a bench to sit on and read the list, it has several names and where they do business, there are a dozen different options so I have to narrow down my search, first I look through the addresses to see which are closest.

Six are close to where I live, I'll probably need to do this after work so I exclude any with business hours that wouldn't work, I have four options now, I don't know anything else about these businesses so I stand up and start walking, I'll just need to find these places and see them for myself.

After an hour later I've scratched three names off my list, the first was fully booked and couldn't fit me in, the second was not willing to teach me, and the third was closing shop and moving to a different city in a few weeks, so I only have one place left.

The address led me to a small shop that seemed to sell art, I thought I had the wrong place but the address matched, so I entered the shop and looked around, several shelves filled with small sculptures and paintings fill the shop, but it seemed mostly empty with only me and the owner at their counter.

The owner is a griffin, they look to be on the older side not as old as Gerald but still not young, they have a dark blue coat, and slightly lighter blue wings, the feathers around their head are white, and their beak and talons are yellow, they look up from the book they are reading and look at me with their brown eyes.

"Hello, is there anything I can help you find?" Their voice is feminine.

"I was told you teach the griffin language?"

She spends a moment staring at me before answering, "I only teach it to those who actually try, most who come to me don't put in enough effort for my liking, so how much do you know?"

I don't understand all the words missing a few, but I have enough practice to understand her, "I practice some, still need more though, I could use the help to learn more," I answer back, probably messing something up but I hope it's coherent enough.

She looks a little surprised but then gains a small smile, "Not bad, most who come here don't even know a full sentence, and expect me to teach them the whole language without putting in much effort," she says the last part like she had a grudge.

This confuses me, "Really, why? I can understand if you don't want to teach those who don't have a basic grasp of the language, but then why do so many come to you unprepared? Do they just not ask?"

"Well unfortunately the language has gained a bit of a reputation for being easy to learn, not wrong it is easy to learn in comparison to other languages, so a lot of ponies come to me thinking it won't take long to learn the language and then get mad when they have to actually learn a complex language.

"But back to business, you want to learn from me?"

I nod, "Yes I've learned some but can't find any other way to advance at the pace I'd like to, I could just talk to others but that will only get me so far."

"Well, you have enough of a grasp of the language for me to teach you, what hours do you have free?"

I think over my schedule before deciding, "Would Monday work?" she takes out a book and flips through a few pages before nodding.

"What time?"

"Well I'm an apprentice so I'm free after four."

"I can make that work, we may be interrupted by someone coming to the shop, is that fine with you?" I nod, I've been learning it in a market, I can handle a pony or two interrupting us, "Ok then, it will be twenty bits an hour, and we start at four thirty and stop at seven, Does that work for you?"

"That's perfect."

"Well then, my name is Caelum Vi, Nice to meet you, do you need anything else?"

"Shade Evergreen, same, and I think I'll look around before leaving," She just nods, I spend a while looking through the shelves and find a small griffin statue that looks nice, I buy it and say goodbye before leaving the shop and making my way home.

When I open my front door I'm greeted by Entropy waiting for me, like always I have to placate her with scratches and some treats, when I'm done I set my new small statue on my counter top I think it looks nice and it adds yet another thing to fill the empty space around my home.

I don't have anything else planned for today, so I guess I'll just spend some time messing around, I've been learning the magical flows of the Iron Oak for a while now and I think I have a good grasp on it so I want to grow the wood into different shapes and see what I can do with it.

I grow and collect an acorn from the Iron Oak, I then take it along with a pot filled with soil to my workroom, I sit down and push the acorn into the soil, I then grow it into a little foot-tall sapling, I make sure to keep the sapling the same size but let the roots grow throughout the pot.

I use my knife and slice the sapling down the middle, then have it grow back, leaving me with a sapling that splits in two, I cut both a few inches above the split and push them together, I then grow both together making a rough wood ring.

I keep the sapling the same size as I dump life magic into the sapling, the tree stays the same size but the wood gets tougher, when I've used most of my magic I stop and cut the wood ring off, because so much magic was dumped inside such a small sapling the wood is insanely tough.

So tough that even my wood carving knife feels like it's dull while I cut it, when I'm done I place the ring to the side and move the plant back to a shelve, I'm basically out of magic so I'll need to continue this later, so I take out my sketchbook and start drawing Entropy as she sleeps.

I think I'll just relax for the rest of the day.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 46

JUL 21 Monday. I wake up and move into the kitchen to make some breakfast, and after feeding Entropy and myself I sit down to read some before I have to go to work but after a while, I'm interrupted by a knock on my door.

Not many knock on my door so I'm guessing that it's somepony Celestia sent to collect the wheat, :And I swear to magic if it's Shining again I will flip a table: I move over to my door and being careful I open the door a little and when I see who's outside I open the door fully.

:OH, thank fuck: Standing on the other side of the door is a guard I do not recognize, "You here for the wheat?"

"Yes sir."

"Wait here a moment please," I walk away from the front door and go into my workroom grab two sacks, and bring them out to the guard, "it's in these, don't get them wet," he nods and takes the sacks before passing me a letter.

I see the royal seal on it and move it to the side, "Anything else?"

"Do you need me to take a letter back?" I shake my head, "Then no, have a good day sir," They take both sacks and start walking away, that's what I like about the guard, no unnecessary questions asked, I close my door and grab the letter I crack the wax seal and start reading.

Dear Shade Evergreen, first I'd like to thank you for the help you have provided me in this project, you've performed beyond my expectations, and I'd like to update you on the progress of the other inventions you've sent me.

First the magical light, they work well and we've found no problems so far, its sales have dropped some but that's to be expected, they can last years so most who wanted one already bought one, there has also been some discussion about exporting it to neighboring countries on a large scale, but it likely won't happen for a while.

The pest spell has already proven very useful, the main harvests of the year won't come in until fall, but the crops that are harvested earlier have shown good results, most have a ten to fifteen percent increase in crop yield, mostly from crops surviving more often.

The copying spell has been a massive help to the running of the country, there is not much to say about it beyond the fact that it's doing what it was made to do, and that there have been no problems with it.

The water flasks are already in production and will be released in a week or two, I've had several tests done on them and they work well, As you theorized the water harvesting flask is less effective in dry environments, but even then they still produce enough water for a single pony.

and finally, the new wheat you've made, I've decided to adopt the name you've been using, the Rocky Wheat will be grown in greenhouses and sent out to farmers, hopefully, it will be widespread in a year or two.

I'd once again like to thank you for the service you've provided to Equestria. Signed Princess Celestia.

I fold the letter and place it back inside the envelope, it's nice to know how the things I've made are doing, I reread the letter a few times and write down the information before burning the letter to ash, I burn the letters that could tie me to my inventions, any letter that is us just talking I keep.

But moving on I have an experiment to run before work, here's a question, how much magic do I have? Well, I don't really know I'd need a way to measure it.

Trying to feel the magic of others is something I can't do, and I don't really know how much a pony has to begin with, so that's what I'm going to try and figure out, I refill my teapot and take it with me to my workroom, I sit down and start going through my notes.

I do have a plan for this but it will take a lot of magic, I start with the scanning spell I made a few weeks back, It's seen some improvement since then mostly making the spell more efficient and stable, I grab a medium ruby and place it on my desk, and I take a moment to modify the scanning spell.

I want it to scan my magic, but I don't have a rune for me so I need something that will target myself and my magic, which leads me to my first problem, what type of magic am I scanning for? Even if I don't have an affinity for other types of magic that doesn't mean I don't have them in me.

For instance, all living things have life magic in them even if they don't have an affinity for it, so I need to narrow my scan to just one type, I pick natural magic as all ponies have it and it's the most common type of magic, so it would be the best baseline to work off of, I even have a rune for natural magic.

The next problem there is natural magic all around us, so I still need something to target specifically me, if I use a rune for pony and the natural rune at the same time I probably could get the spell to work, but it would need even more magic and because I'm scanning a full pony this spell will take a long while.

With this in mind I place the medium ruby back and look through my collection for something that will work for this project, and after some thought I grab the six by-six-inch amethyst I've had for a while now, even if the gem is only amethyst its size should be more than enough to hold the magic I need.

A gem's magic capacity is determined by the gems type, size, and quality, in that order, this amethyst is of decent quality and its large size also helps to keep it stable, so I take the heavy gem and place it on my desk, first I'll need to modify my scanning spell.

I'm undoing a lot of my work with this spell but I need to, It takes me a while but I get about halfway done before I have to leave for work, I grab my badge and leave my apartment, it only takes a little while to make it to the library and find my way to the right room.

I enter to see Blaz already working on something, "Hey Blaz."

"Oh good you're here colt, I got news."

I raise a brow, "Good or bad?"

"Depends on how you look at it, a small library burned down."

:Oh shit, please tell me it's not Ponyvile: I try and keep my calm while asking a question, "Do you know where?"

"Not really, but the order took a few days to get to us so I assume it's far, maybe a border town who knows? Anyway, we now have a massive order for over one hundred different books."

Hearing his answer I calm down, and then let out a groan hearing the second part, "The next few days are going to be a mess aren't they?"

He lets out a chuckle, "Yup, don't look so down, before that new spell this would take weeks, now sit down there is a list on your desk."

I nod and sit at my desk and look at the list and look for the names, I need to make a copy of each so I start by writing down the names and making my way out of the room, I'll need to retrieve these books first so I make my way through the shelves and find the right books.

When I'm done I sit down back at the desk, I start with the thickest book and flip it open.

The work is the same as always, I stop as the timer on my watch goes off "Lunch," I say to Blaz before leaving the room and walking into the breakroom, I don't see Maple here yet but Daisy is sitting there, so I grab some food and sit opposite of her eating my food.

I'm drinking some water when I'm asked a question, "So, how was your date?" I spit out the water I was drinking and cough a few times.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"HA got you, no I'm just messing with you."

I glared at her, "where did you even get that idea?"

"Well, Maple told me about the day you two had, I know it's not a date but you've got to admit it sounds like one."

Thinking about it I can see how others would make that mistake, "Well as long as you know it wasn't, and I will get you back for that."

She just smiles, "Bring it on, so how's your day going?" We continue talking as we eat, Blaz and Maple join us not long after and both get a laugh out of Daisy telling them what she did to me, Blaz nearly fell off the table, and I was half tempted to help him do just that.

After lunch I get through the rest of the workday and start cleaning my work desk up, I was able to copy the pages today but I'll need to go over it again to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I take a quick trip home to clean myself up and get ready, I have another meeting to get to today, after cleaning myself up some I feed Entropy and leave, I walk through the city until I find the right shop and enter it, I see Caelum behind the counter reading just like last time.

She looks up when I enter, "Good you're here, come on then let's get started."

The next two hours are filled with dry conversation on different topics and words, it's not exciting but I learn a lot in that relatively short time, it really puts in perspective how much having a good teacher can help.

A few ponies come in, some buy things some don't, and when we are done she gives me a few books that can help me and sends me on my way, Caelum is a blunt person like most griffins I've met but she's a good teacher and I think learning from her will help a lot.

I make my way home in the dark and take a moment to make some tea before getting to work, I need to finish the spell I'm working on so I sit at my desk and start where I left off, it takes me a while to get the runes working together properly and to finish all the math.

It's not done and I'll need to work out some other problems, the main problem right now is the magical requirements, the amethyst should be able to hold enough magic for a full scan, but the scan will take hours to complete and I'll need to stay as still as I can throughout it.

I'll also need to fill the amethyst with magic and considering how much it can hold it could take weeks, if I dump all my excess magic inside it will speed this process up massively, but I won't be able to do much training if I do that, regardless I start enchanting the amethyst to hold and gather magic.

I've done this many times so it doesn't take me long to finish, I won't add the scanning spell for now, I have some time to finish and improve it so I'll add it when the gem is full, I place the gem on my shelf and start on something else.

I don't have much to work on right now so I'll just spend a while tinkering with a few spells, first the scanning spell I just made, it could use a hefty amount of work and adjustment, I spend a few hours like this tinkering with different spells and dumping my magic into the amethyst, It will take at least two weeks to fill the gem at this rate.

When it gets late I spend some time reading and playing with Entropy, I throw her wood ball and close my book, "ya know girl" She looks to me with the wood ball in her beak as she brings it back to me, "We should get you some more toys," she seems to agree as her tail starts waving up and down.

"OK, then we'll go shopping soon," after a little more time I get up and take a shower, and head to bed.

Chapter 47

JUL 25 Friday.

I got out of bed and nearly tripped over a knotted rope on the floor, a few days ago I went shopping with Entropy to buy her some toys and she got a few things, a knotted rope, another small ball, and funnily enough she wanted some building blocks we found.

She seems happy with her toys although I should try and teach her to clean up some, but right now I head to the kitchen and make some food for both of us, when I'm done we take our daily trips to the rented storage room, her training is still progressing well.

It still feels odd every time we teleport, every time I see that place with nothing in I think of my death and past even if it's just for a moment, but thinking of a world that I will never see again won't help save this one, so once we are done I walk into my workroom and get to work.

First a little update on my self-scan project, the gem still needs to fill a lot and the spell still needs more work, I've completed the part of the spell I was working on but still need to add more things, first things first I need some amount of magic to measure with.

I decided to use the firebolt spell for this, as it doesn't use much magic and is consistent, I'll use that as a baseline and scale it up from there, I'm doing this because if I tried to measure the exact amount of magic I'd need a unit of measurement and I don't have that, so I'm just going to use the spell as a rough way to measure my magic.

I start tinkering with the scan spell and get it to link into the firebolt spell, I choose the firebolt spell because it's nice and consistent as it uses the same amount of magic each time it's cast, as for why I don't just cast the spell over and over again until I'm out of magic?

Well running completely out of magic is something you don't want to do, at the low end it will give you a headache and leave you exhausted, and if you overdo it too much it could kill you, that's why I stop using my magic when I start feeling side effects as I want to push my magic to grow not harm myself.

And while I'm casting the spell my magic will regenerate, I can feel my magic but I can only get a rough measure of how much magic I have, so if I used that method I would get an answer that is off by quite a bit as my magic would regenerate while I'm casting.

It takes me over two hours to get both spells to work together properly but when I'm done I have my first prototype, it still needs a lot of work but it's somewhat done so I copy the matrix down and start work on the next thing after I put away anything that I won't need.

I want to mess around with some plants, specifically the wood ring I made in the past, as I think I accidentally discovered something amazing, my magic was full when I dumped it into the Iron Oak sapling, so it got a lot more than normal.

The ring is only an inch wide, and the amount of magic and the small size caused a new reaction in the ironwood, it all started when I tried to shape the rough ring into a proper shape, and failed as my knife did basically nothing to the wood even with its enchantments it only somewhat cut through the bark, I was confused by this and tried to find out the answer.

The wood was tougher than any I've had before, why did this happen only now? Well turns out that when I give the Iron Oak life magic it will use it to strengthen itself and grow larger, but it seems to level off at a certain point and after a while I learned it has a limit and if the plant reaches that limit it will still grow stronger but the progress will level off and slow down to almost nothing.

I think most plants probably have this limit to stop them from taking all the life magic from around them, but when I concentrated that much life magic on something so small it forced the Iron Oak past this limit, in normal circumstances the plant would probably just grow larger.

But I was stopping it while my magic and will still wanted the plant to grow stronger, so when my magic started saturating the plant it was forced to keep making its wood stronger against its nature and past its limits, it seems that I could push a plant past its natural limits if I use enough magic.

The end result of this is the wood ring being so tough I don't even have a way to work with it right now, this discovery is amazing for several reasons but the best is the ring itself, Iron Oak wood becomes slightly more magic resistant and conductive the stronger it is.

So how much magic can this ring hold and use? Well I want to figure that out today, but to do that I need a way to work with this material so I grab my wood carving knife and a medium ruby, I'll also need to create a better spell for this new project so I look through my notes and find the spell I have on my carving knife.

I look through it and try to make it as strong as I can for the new way I'm going to use it, after I'm done I enchant the ruby to hold and gather magic then add the spell, when I'm done I link my knife to the ruby and grab the wood ring, I try and cut into it but even with more the magic behind this enchantment it's not easy.

It takes me a while to remove the bark and start cutting the ring into shape, it takes a while but when I'm done I start on the next step, trying drying the wood out I take it over to my sink and try to force the water out it takes much more time and magic then it normally does but I finish after a while.

I take the ring and place it on my desk and decide to start with something simple, I enchant the ring to gather and hold magic and after a while of giving it magic it's full, it doesn't hold much magic around a tenth the capacity of a small ruby, but this is much higher then I thought it would be.

It brunt out quickly so I'll need to see what the real limit of this wood is by experimenting more, but if I can get it to hold as much as a small ruby it would be amazing, not needing to use small gems would be very convenient for me, but I don't know what the limit of this wood is so I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

This ring can hold a decent amount of magic for how small it is and the fact that it's wood, I'll definitely need to experiment with this more but for now I spend some time taking notes about the ring and any theories I have, I also try to add another spell to the ring, a basic illusion.

But it proves too much for the small ring and it promptly bursts into flame, I'm holding the ring in the air so not much happens I just take it into my kitchen and dump it in some water, that would be a downside to using this wood even if it's tough it can still burn.

There are problems I can see with this wood now that I think about it, first it probably can't handle that much magic going through it at once without damaging the wood, so I'd need to slowly fill and release the magic to keep the wood intact.

I could use this as a cheap way to gather large amounts of magic, but I don't think it will work well if I use it to cast any spells that aren't weak and it would be single use, the magic can be gathered safely but when I try and use it the wood will probably start destroying itself fast.

But this is still an amazing thing to have, I also don't have much to do today so I might as well test some things about it but to do that I need two things.

First, if I want to work with this new wood I need better tools, at the bare minimum I need my saw and wood carving knife and the ruby I enchanted can link to both, but if I want to enchant all the other wood carving tools in my kit I'll need to use more gems then I have right now.

For my saw and carving knife, I need a better enchantment so I take the modified version I made earlier and start taking it apart I need to do more than just modify this spell to get the results I need, I take what little parts of the spell that I can use and start on my new spell.

This spell will be linked to the medium ruby so I can let it use much more magic, I look through my notes on runes and find three that will work well, a rune for carve, a rune for cut, and a rune for sharp, they don't all fit perfectly for this spell but in combination they should work well enough.

I add them and start working on the spell, it takes me a while to get everything to work together but when I'm done I enchant everything and try it on a tiny wood scrap from the ring, I tap the ruby twice and start carving with the knife and I once again get a smooth cut without much resistance.

Once I see that it works I deactivate the ruby and place it to the side to regain its magic, and start on the second thing I will need which is more wood, I still have the pot with the Iron Oak sapling so I grab it and place it on my desk, I want to grow a one-inch piece for some testing so I grow the small stump into a nub.

I grow it a little larger to account for the bark and young wood before starting to saturate the wood, I want this wood to be at least as strong as the ring but the ring had much less mass so this will need more magic, I'll need to do this process a few times to get the same effects so after I'm done draining what magic I have I stop.

I take some time to make tea to help me recover faster, I don't have much I can do without using magic so I decide to look through my notes on other projects, I'm close to finding the rune I need for Entropy's illusion but I'm missing some context for it but I should be able to find it soon.

After organizing my notes on the spell and looking through the runes used my magic has recovered enough to go again, so I dump my magic into the Iron Oak sapling again I also need to wait again so I just decide to draw some as I wait, I look around and start drawing the small griffin statue I bought not long ago.

Author's Note

Sorry that this chapter is short, I have some IRL stuff going on right now so chapters will probably slow down a lot.

But I'll try and keep posting as best I can, thanks for your patience with me and have a good day.

Chapter 48

JUL 30 Wednesday.

The air in my lungs is forced out as I'm pushed back from Stone's hoof hitting me, "You have to remember that when fighting close up there is more than just your opponent's weapon to look out for."

I pick myself up off the ground as Stone points out yet another thing I need to learn, Stone may be a good teacher but he is also a rough teacher, I nod to him and pick up my wooden dagger getting ready for another exchange.

We've been doing this for four weeks now and I'm still getting used to the feeling of fighting somepony, it's not something I ever thought I'd need to learn but it could be useful in the future, and since when has something being hard stopped me? Not anytime soon I hope.

After several more rounds of me getting my flank handed to me we stop and move onto magic, at this point I can draw the firebolt spell while walking in roughly thirty seconds, and according to Stone that's not nearly good enough and I agree with him.

I've made progress but I really should try and advance to the next step in runic casting, but I don't have the magical capacity for that yet so I'll need to make do with what I have for now, that won't stop me from practicing the steps later today.

But for now I just focus on drawing out the spell matrix correctly, when I'm done I take a second to aim and release it, the small bolt of fire impacts the target and leaves a scorch mark on the painted stone target, I repeat this again and again as Stone reminds me of things he's taught me over the past weeks.

When we are done we go our separate ways and I walk home, when I get home I have to feed Entropy like always but when I'm done I make some tea and head to my workroom to start dumping my magic into a small wood bump, this is the fifth time I've grown a piece of what I've come to call Steel wood.

Through several tests I've found out most of its properties, I was right in my guess that it can hold a lot of magic, and sadly I was also right when I guessed that the wood couldn't handle large amounts of magic passing through it at once.

It can store large amounts of magic if the magic is gathered slowly, when magic is held in a reserve it doesn't move around but when I try and activate a spell or enchantment the wood can't handle it and normally catches on fire, or in one case explodes into wood splinters, I'm glad I put up a shield for that one.

All this means that the wood is not useable as a material to replace gems, but it still has uses, the best I've found so far is to use it as a one-time use magic battery and if I make a linking spell to transfer all that magic to a gem before the wood completely destroys itself I could use it to quickly fill gems.

But I'll need a much more heavy-duty linking spell for that so I'll look into it later, the last thing I have to say about the new wood is how much magic it can hold, and the answer is that a one-inch cube of Steel wood can hold about a quarter of the amount a one-inch ruby can hold.

Moving right along to another project that I left alone for a while and I can now make some progress in, trying to detect illusions, I was working on the illusion spell for Entropy when I realized that if I use both of the same illusion runes it might be enough to get the spell to work.

I did try and only use the one illusion rune I had but it wasn't enough for the spell to detect illusions, so until I find the rest of the other runes both of these projects can't progress, and by magic have I been trying to find the last bits of the final rune.

I've even found some of its runic context, but sadly the book that had it was only using half this runes contexts as an example for something else, but it did tell me about some of the rune's history and that led me to other books with more bits and pieces of the runes context, but not all of it.

And I rather not try guessing the context, my search continues even onwards and upwards, so for the rest of today I'll work on something else trying to advance my rank as a runic caster, right now I'm an apprentice and I want to become a journeyman.

Ranks for casting with a horn are simple, an apprentice can cast any spell they have the magic for with a good degree of certainty, most unicorns fall into this category, and most guards who fall into the upper percent of this category.

A journeyman can hold a spell matrix in their mind forever so they can cast it instantly when needed, they also have greater reserves of magic and have much better control over their magic, unicorn guards that work in the palace have to reach this level at a minimum, along with a few others who are mostly researchers or ponies seeking to push their limits.

A master can cast multiple spells at once, and have a vast knowledge of spells and magic along with considerable magical reserves and control, only guard captains and old ponies who have practiced magic their whole life ever reach this rank, there are probably only a dozen or two throughout Equestria right now.

And finally a grandmaster can instantly cast multiple spells at once, they are as close as a pony can get to an alicorn and have a scary amount of magic and knowledge, no grandmasters currently exist in Equestria right now and there are only a few recorded grandmasters in the past two millennium.

Runic magic is very similar but also different in a few ways, an apprentice runic caster can cast any spell by drawing out the rune with their magic, and have enough magical reserves and control to power the spell to cast it, not many practice runic casting and there are probably less than a thousand ponies who use it in Equestria right now.

A Journeyman runic caster can focus their magic in the air to form a spell matrix without needing to draw it, they can also hold a spell matrix in their mind to form it at a moment's notice like a unicorn, but fulfilling both of these categories is harder than a unicorns path, so there are probably less than a dozen ponies who have reached this level in Equestria right now.

A master runic caster are basically the same as their counterparts, they can cast multiple spells at the same time and hold a large amount of knowledge and experience along with large reserves of magic and a great degree of control over their magic, to my knowledge there are no ponies who have reached this level in Equestria right now, and I could only find a few references to masters of this craft in existing in the past.

And finally grandmasters at runic crafting, just like masters they are basically the same as a grandmaster who uses horn casting, but I could only find one pony who ever achieved this title and sadly their name and much of their achievements have been lost to time and forgotten by the world.

Coming back from one of my mental rants I sit down and start meditating, I don't have the magical reserves to form a full matrix all at once but I can at least practice trying to draw a matrix without my hooves, I need to concentrate on my magic and push it outside my body.

This is another reason that becoming a Journeyman as a unicorn is easier, using their horn they can push magic outside their body much easier than others can, so a unicorn can become a Journeyman at runic casting faster than an earth pony or Pegasus.

I push my magic outside my body and try to keep control of it, I try and condense it into a line but I don't control the magic well enough and it starts dissipating, this is what makes this process so hard I need to condense my magic and keep it like that in a complex pattern.

And doing this takes a lot of magic from me, much more than I normally need to draw a matrix and even if I can create a matrix with this method I still need to supply the spell with enough magic to cast it, this is the main reason that basically nopony reaches Journeyman rank in runic magic.

I make some fresh tea and try again, this time I don't try to make a line but just a rough one-inch dot, this time a small deep green dot forms in the air it's smaller than I planned but it's there, I then try and form a line using the dot as a starting point but after a moment it also dissipates.

I keep trying this again and again, but I never get more than an inch or two of length before I reach my limit, I can see several ways to improve my attempts but this is mostly just about practice and repetition, I probably have enough control to form a matrix but I'll need much more practice.

So I settled in and started training in yet another way, this could take a few months but I need to do this if I ever want to improve my casting ability.

time skip

AUG 1 Friday.

I get out of bed and start yet another day of messing around with magic and hoping for the best, like all days I first cook some food for me and Entropy and make some tea that I'll need throughout the day, I sip my tea and eat a fish sandwich as Entropy devours her bowl of fruit and raw fish.

When we're done I spend a while cleaning up, I then spend a while doing my morning exercises and when I'm almost done, "Berry" I nearly jump out of my skin as Entropy says her first word, and after calming down a smile forms as I look over to her, I reach out my hoof and start scratching her.

"Well I think that's a bit overdue, good job girl" many crows learn to mimic sounds and words, and unlike Entropy they aren't nearly as smart, so I think it's about time she learned a word or two although I'm not sure how to really teacher her more words beyond just talking to her often.

"I guess I'll have to talk to you more hu girl?"

She seems to understand that I'm happy, at least that's what I think from the speed at which her tail feathers are moving, "Berry" she mimics again.

"Sure girl" I grab a juniper berry and feed it to her as a reward.

This is definitely a new way to start my day, but I have things I want to do so after a few trips quick through a black void I head to my workroom with my tea, first things first I want to practice drawing out a matrix with only my magic, I've started doing this every day for at least some amount of time.

I've made some progress and can now form a line five inches long, but I need at least a few feet and several dozen different individual structures to form even a basic spell matrix, but progress is still progress so I continue on, each time improving slightly.

Once I'm done I move on to something else, I have some reading material that Caelum wanted me to read through, she mostly teaches me how to speak the language but was also insistent I learn to read and write the language just as well.

This is easier as I already know a decent amount of the written language, it's more work to do but I don't mind, if there is one thing I've learned it's that I might be a training junky, but that's something I refuse to call a problem, plus I do other things and take breaks.

The book she wanted me to read is a griffin history book, it's dry but there are a few interesting things in the book and some interesting griffins to learn about, I get through some of the book before I want to take a break from reading so I decide to start practicing with forming a matrix again for a while.

I go back and forth several times over the next three hours and by the time I'm done reading the book and taking notes for later I want to do something else entirely, so I decide to spend the rest of my day playing with Entropy and trying to teach her more words.

Author's Note

I'm still busy but I had some inspiration and wrote this out in two hours at three in the morning, so enjoy I guess.

Chapter 49

Aug 8 Friday.

I open another book and start reading through it to find any reference to what I'm looking for, I've probably looked through over one hundred books in my search for the second illusion rune and I'm still missing three small pieces of it.

I'm still not done but I'm very close and should be able to find the rest in a few weeks, and really need to find it soon, at this point Entropy can't leave the apartment as her feathers have gotten too dark, I hoped I'd have more time but it seems I don't.

Entropy's not holding up the best right now, she hasn't left the apartment in three days and is starting to get restless, I've been trying to play with her more and make sure she always has something to do, but I can't be there always and I don't think she'll last more than a week or two before trying to leave.

Not that I blame her, she just wants to go flying again and go outside, I push those thoughts away and focus on the book in front of me, after a while I find another part of the runes context and add it to what I know, I only need two other parts and then I'm done.

I find another missing piece in the next book but even with all my searching I can't find the final piece I'm looking for, as I move a book to the side I start putting all the books away on their shelves, when I'm done I look for something not research related to read, and after moving through a few shelves I find a griffin history book

After I grab the book I turn my head and see a pony I know looking through some bookshelves, It's Twilight with Spike on her back and her dam, I haven't seen either of them in a while now, although I did meet Spike who seems a little bigger now, they have several books with them and seem to be searching for another.

I decide to talk to them, I haven't in a while and I should at least try to get to know them so I walk over to them, while hoping this goes well, "Hello, it's been a while since we last met."

Both startle a little and turn around and see me, and after a moment Twilight Velvet is the first to speak, "Hello Shade?" I nod "Yes it has been quite a while now, how have you been?"

"I've been doing well thank you for asking," I look over to Spike and stare at him for a moment, "I'd ask where you found a dragon hatchling, but I'll settle for asking their name,"

Twilight looks a little embarrassed but answers me, "His name is Spike,"

Twilight Velvet buts in, "She hatched him" she says with pride in her voice.

"DAM!"

"She's a little embarrassed, but I keep telling her it's fine and something to be proud of."

I wave a hoof, "It's fine I guess I now know that rumor I heard has some truth to it, and if it makes you feel better it's not the oddest thing I've heard before."

"A rumor? Well regardless you're an apprentice here right? Maybe you could help us find a book we're looking for, If you're not busy working?"

"I'm not working today and am only here to read, so sure, what are you looking for?"

"Here, and thank you for the help," Twilight says while passing me a page that has a list written on it, each has the books name and the subject it covers along with most having a checkmark next to them, I recognize several books on the list, there is only one book not checked off the list, I read through it's information.

I don't know this book but I can guess where it will be for the subject, "Follow me please," both nod at me and I start leading them through the library and find the right shelve, after a moment I see the book several feet above us and reach out with my field and bring it down to us.

"Here, anything else you're trying to find?"

"Nope that's the last one, thank you," Twilight says to me as she holds the book.

"If you don't mind me asking why do you need to find so many books?"

Twilight looks a little nervous before answering me, "I need to study for a test, what are you reading?" She's a terrible liar but I'll give her points for trying to change the subject.

"Ah that makes sense, and I'm reading this," I show the book cover to them, but after a moment of both of them looking at it confused I realized the cover is written in griffin, "Oh sorry, it's a griffin history book," I say a little embarrassed at not realizing sooner.

"You know the language?" Twilight asks me.

"Enough to read, but I'm still learning it," my eyes wander to Spike as I think about dragons in general, so I decide to take a risk and try asking them, "This might come off as a little rude and you have every right to say no, but would you mind if I ask some questions about Spike?"

Hearing my question Twilight Velvet steps in taking control of the conversation, "What type of questions?"

Seeing her wariness I try and phrase this well, "Nothing personal or out of line, honestly I'm mostly curious about things like how he's aged and what he eats."

She stares at me for a few moments seemingly judging me, I make sure not to break eye contact and try to keep myself calm, "That's fine but I'll be answering the questions."

"That's completely fine with me mam, would you like to sit at a table for this?"

She nods, "Yes I would, please lead the way," it doesn't take us long to find an empty table and get comfortable, me and Twilight Velvet sit opposite of each other at a table while Twilight is reading some books at one end.

I take out a quill, some ink, and a piece of paper, and place them on the table between us, "Before I start I'd like to say I'm going to be writing notes, if that's fine with you?" She nods "And you can ask to look at them any time if you want," She seems pleased with my statement showing me a small smile, and waits for me to begin.

She seems like a protective dam and I would rather not get on her bad side, so I'll have to be careful not to say anything out of line, I spend a moment collecting my thoughts before asking my first question, "So what does Spike eat?"

"A few things, when he was first hatched we fed him nonsolid things before moving on to gems and normal foods."

"Does he eat meat?" I ask this with a straight face.

She looks at me with focused eyes for a moment before answering, "We haven't tried yet but we assume he will need some at some point."

I write that down and then rip a small piece of paper off before writing a street name on it I then pass it to her, "There is a fish market on that street all week long, most batponies go there for what they need."

She looks a little surprised but quickly shifts her face back into the calm but stern look she's had for this conversation, she takes the piece of paper from me after a moment, "Thank you, but if you don't mind me asking why do you know about a fish market so well you know the street it's on and when It's open?"

I smile at her, "I don't mind at all, it's not something I hide but I also don't make it well known, but I happen to like fish so I buy some to eat pretty regularly."

That gets an odd look from her, "Is that healthy?"

"Yes and no, ponies can eat meat just fine, you just don't want to eat too much, I limit myself to one or two meals with meat in them a week, I can also give you some recipes if you need them?"

"I think we are fine, you have other questions?" She didn't seem to be judgmental just grossed out a little by our subject, not an uncommon response, and hearing her request and wanting to move onto a new subject I move on to the next question.

"I don't know how big he was when he hatched but how much do you think he's grown since then?"

"He grew some after he first hatched but soon slowed down, we know he's still growing just not very quickly."

I nod while taking notes, "That seems about right."

"What makes you say that?"

I finish my notes and look back at her, "Well a few things, most animals that hatch from eggs tend to grow very fast for a short amount of time before slowing down, and he's a dragon so I expect it could take several up to a few decades for him to reach the size of a pony."

"Really you think so? We thought he'd grow slower than a pony but that seems a little too slow."

I think about her words for a moment before answering, "Maybe, but we know little about dragons, and they could be like ponies with several different subspecies."

"Subspecies?" she seemed a little offended at my words, seems I hit a nerve, some could take me saying someone is a subspecies as an insult, especially if they don't know the words meaning as not many know or use this word outside of researches.

"Sorry if that came out wrong, subspecies isn't an insult, the word is used for different types of living things that come from a common ancestor."

Hearing me she looks a bit less offended but still looking at me with hard eyes, "Can you give an example?" it seems she wants me to prove it.

I think for a moment before finding something that would work well, "You know how there are many different types of apples?" she nods, "Well all those apples came from a tree somepony decided to start growing," her eyes haven't left me so I assume she's following along.

"So who do we have so many different types today? Well, some ponies took the apples that had traits they wanted and only planted those ones."

She cuts me off, "You are talking about selective breeding?"

I nod, "Yes exactly, with selective breeding ponies created many types of apple, but some of them have changed so much over time they barely resemble apples anymore, so we gave them new names and called them different species, so all species that come from another species that are still around are called a subspecies"

"Again sorry if that came out as an insult, the term is mostly used by those who study plants and I can understand how it can be misinterpreted."

Her face relaxes and she gains a small smile, "It's fine I should also apologize I've just had some bad experiences in the past, so I'm sorry if I overreacted some, and thank you for the explanation," Her face has relaxed more then ever and it seems she holds no grudge.

"No problem mam."

She cuts me off again, "It's Velvet."

I nod, "No problem Miss Velvet, I think it's best I end the questions here, sorry again about that and thank you for being patient with me, and just to say it aloud I don't have a problem with others that are different, I work with many different ponies here and several are good friends."

"That's fine we all make mistakes, and that's good to hear" She seems to think about something for a moment, "Can you please tell me the time."

I may not be the most social but I know a polite excuse to leave, so I just nod and draw out the spell matrix with practiced ease, "Looks like we need to go, thank you again for helping us find the book, and I hope you have a good day."

Twilight who's been silent this whole time speaks up, "Thank you, and have a good day" She mimics her dam,

"No problem it's nothing, and same to you have a good day," I watch as all three leave my line of sight after a moment, :Well that could have gone better, at least I was able to clear up the misunderstanding: I decide to leave too, Entropy needs me and I don't want to leave her unsupervised for longer then I have to,

Author's Note

This is mostly filler, and me trying to get better at dialogue.

Thanks for reading and have a good day. :D

Chapter 50

AUG 9 Saturday.

I leave the room me and Blaz work in as my shift is finally over, but I don't leave the library and instead start looking through books, it takes me a while to find any books about illusions that I haven't already searched but when I do find a few I start reading through them.

I've been reading a lot of books trying to find the last piece as Entropy's mood has taken a turn for the worst, after reading through the books I once again find nothing and let out a weary sigh, I put the books back and force myself to read something else so I don't completely burn myself out.

But I can't bring myself to stop looking so I pick a book about illusion spells, it's mostly theory and is dry but I like this kind of book as they always have something new to learn about magic, but as I'm reading I find a section about the exact rune I've been looking for.

This book is not about runes so I don't expect much, but after a moment of reading through the theory the book uses a rune as an example to demonstrate some theory, and to my surprise, it's the very thing I've been losing sleep looking for.

I had to stop myself from getting excited and make sure it was correct, and after checking and then double checking my notes, I was right it was the final piece I needed, I nearly jumped for joy before reminding myself I'm in the library, Entropy's state has been a source of constant concern and worry for me so finally being able to fix it is a great relief.

I rush home and after feeding Entropy I immediately start finishing the spell, the spell was only missing this rune so it only takes me an hour to complete it after that hour of work it's done, and I leave my workroom and find Entropy sleeping on the kitchen counter and gently wake her up, "Hey girl, sorry for waking you but I need your help with something."

She gets up and watches me as I practice the spell several times I'm ready enough to try casting it on her.

She seems to know I'm excited and stands there while looking at me, "Just stay still ok girl?" She seems to understand and keeps standing there, I start drawing out the spell and after a few moments of drawing the matrix and making sure it's correct I successfully cast the new spell, and in an instant she looks like a normal crow again.

She turns her head and looks around her new look for a while as I make sure nothing is going wrong, she looks fine and seems to be able to move around, wanting to test it I walk over to the other side of the room and call Entropy over, she looks at me and flies over landing on my back without issue.

We go through several tests and the spell holds up to her flying, moving around, and covers her completely, but like I thought if I touch her my hoof sinks into the illusion and it doesn't feel right, but Entropy only lets me touch her so as long as nopony else does so it should be fine, when I finish the last test I celebrate some.

"YES it works," I celebrate finally knowing for sure that the spell works I let myself relax, and after coming down from my high I look at the time and write it down, I still need to know how long the spell lasts without overcharging it, while I wait with Entropy I start work on my other spell.

Accounting for the time it took to test the spell it takes two hours for the spell to finally wear off, the spell takes a decent chunk of my magic but lasts a good amount of time, and if I overcharge it I can make it last longer if I need to, but for now I think it's time for Entropy to get some fresh air.

"Let's go to the park girl, what do you say?" She gets really excited and starts jumping around while cawing, and lands on my back before I can even get my saddlebags on, "Fine, fine let's get you outside."

time skip

We spent two hours at the park before heading home, it's near the end of the day when we got home and after entering my apartment I made us food and some tea for myself to relax.

I got really lucky finding the last piece of the rune today, but I have it now and I'm both relieved and excited to start testing with my other spell, it's mostly done but even with both runes it will take several hours to finish it enough for some basic testing, but for now I'll just spend some time relaxing without the fear of Entropy going stir-crazy.

But as I'm about to retrieve my sketchbook to draw something I hear a knocking at my door, I walk over and crack open the door slightly and look outside, there a guard stands waiting for me, seeing them I open the door fully, "I have a letter for you sir."

They like most guards, get right to the point and hold out the letter, I nod and take the letter like always, "Thank you," I open the letter and start reading it.

Dear Shade Evergreen, I'm writing this letter to once again invite you to the Grand Galloping Gala on the twenty-first of the month, I hope to see you there.

I'd also like to inform you that the Rocky Wheat has been growing well and should start being sent out after winter. Signed Princess Celestia.

The letter is much shorter than most she sends me but it gets the point across and she's probably very busy right now, I look inside the envelope and see an invite to the gala as she said, I quickly write up a response and seal in inside an envelope before passing it to the patiently waiting guard, they take the letter and give me a nod before leaving.

I'm not too surprised Celestia invited me again, and I had a decent time when I went last year so I might as well go again, but I'll need a new suit for that as I've outgrown my last one by a fair amount, over the past year I've grown an inch or two and have become much fitter, I don't like bragging as it's just not something I enjoy doing, but I do have a certain amount of pride over how far I've come in the past two years.

I shake my head and start working on my illusion detection spell, I've been working on this for a while even if I couldn't finish it until now, and during this process I've gone through several ideas and ways I could go about this spell, but the form I decided on was something that will need some preparation, I want this spell to detect illusions and I want it to be active for a long time, but that will take a lot of magic so I need to do one of two things.

First I will need to limit the effect of the scanning spell, or my second option, having it be vague enough that the spell doesn't need to scan something intensely, both of these options have downsides to them.

The first option is partly solved by me limiting the spell to illusions but that's not enough, so if I limit it to only bending illusions then that will massively cut down on magic use, but this project is also to see if I detect changelings, and I'm not sure if changelings use illusions so it might be useless on them.

The second option would be vague and non-specific, I can do this in a few ways like making the spell only scan in a limited area, or having the spell only scan something enough to know it's there and tell me.

But now that I have both runes and the spell is actually possible I have to decide how I want to use this, I decide that I should first make sure that the spell will work properly, so I start working on the spell removing parts and fixing things that break as I go.

It takes several hours until I'm done and the night drags on when I finish, but when I'm finally done I don't have much time left before I need to get some sleep as I still have work tomorrow, so I quickly enchant a small ruby to hold magic and add the new spell then I fill it with enough magic to see if the spell will work.

The spell works by picking a radius to scan, in this case I set it to twenty feet, and then I needed the spell to inform me in some way, so I have it make the ruby glow green if it detects anything, but the spell won't be able to tell me where what it detects is just that's it's there.

I move my small planet to my desk and activate it, at the same time I activate the new spell and wait for a while, the scan is much simpler than the fluid scanner so it takes much less time, and after a few seconds the small ruby glows green as it detects the spell.

After seeing that the spell is finished enough to work I call it a night, I need to clean myself off and sleep both tired and relieved.

time skip

AUG 14 Tuesday.

I get out of bed and go through my normal routine, after some food and our trip through the darkness I grab my saddlebags and head for the upper city markets, I need two things and the first is a new suit for the gala, I walk through several streets before finding the same place I went to last time.

And just like last time I got measured and after looking through a few options I found a nice simple black suit that I bought, after getting my new suit I started looking for a piece of jewelry, I have a plan and for that I need something, so after finding a shop in the upper city markets that sells more high-end jewelry.

It takes a while to find something that I think will work, and after some haggling with the pony running the shop I end up paying more than I like but less than I would have had to, I bought a bracelet made from silver with several rose carvings engraved on it with a small diamond in the center.

After getting everything I need I head back home, it doesn't take long and after getting my saddlebags off and attending to Entropy I make some tea and sit down at a desk in my workroom, I take a closer look at the bracelet and study it, it's elaborate and quite beautiful and I think it will look nice.

The diamond is also of a good quality and will work well for my plan, I want to be able to detect changelings but I need to be extremely careful in how I go about this, as for why? Well, the only real way I can see to test this spell is to find a changeling, and I don't think I'll find one who will willingly work with me.

So I need to find one moving through the city without them knowing, that's where this gets dangerous and where I'm not sure if I should do this, but after a lot of thought I think knowing if I can detect them is worth it, and if I do this right they will never know.

I want to enchant my new bracelet to hold the illusion detection spell, but the current spell uses too much magic to work with my idea so my plan for today is to work on that, I grab my notebook and start deconstructing the spell matrix and thinking of ways to lower it's magic consumption.

I start with the way the spell informs me it's detected something, I can't use something that others will be able to see or hear, so I decide on linking in a very weak heating spell as I can have it get warm when it detects something, after that I work on what the spell detects.

I still don't know if changelings use illusions, but I know other ponies rarely ever use illusions in public as they can fail and accidentally reveal what they are trying to hide, and both these runes might be able to detect something even if it's not an illusion spell, but if it does the reaction will be weak.

The reason I bring all this up is because I need to know how intently I need the spell to scan something, this is one of the things that uses the most magic so after some back and forth with myself I decide to go as simple as possible, if they do use illusions then I just need to know nothing else.

The scan will probably take several seconds to detect something, I also added the other parameters for the spell’s scan, I limit the spell to only ten feet and to limit magic use I have it only tell me if it detects an illusion in that radius, not where the illusion is or how close it is.

This is far from ideal but should be enough for the bracelet to hold the enchantment, after enchanting the small diamond to hold and gather magic and start enchanting the bracelet with the new spell, it takes a few practice attempts to cast it correctly but after that I enchant the bracelet.

After I'm done I take both it and my small planet to the main room and place it on the far side of the main room, I activate it and walk more than ten feet away before marking a line and activating the bracelet, after checking that it's stable and not breaking I slowly walk over to the small planet.

I enter what I think is roughly ten feet and wait, and after a few seconds the bracelet on my foreleg starts to warm up, as I get closer the warmth increases before leveling out once I'm a foot away from the small planet, it seems I was pleasantly wrong.

I can tell the distance they are from me but only roughly, still that's better than nothing, after several more tests I check on the bracelet and see how much magic it's used, after a little over an hour it's drained a little more than a tenth, I can't get an exact amount but that seems about right.

Despite my best efforts I couldn't make the spell completely passive, but it will still last several hours and that should be enough, after I'm done testing and writing down notes about it I put everything away and decide to relax some.

To be honest with myself stressing over Entropy safety last week and how much I've been working on I need a little break, and as much as I don't like large crowds I am looking forward to the Gala, I enjoyed the last one even if all I did was talk about magic, or maybe that's why I enjoyed it?

Doesn't really matter I suppose, my point is that I'm hoping to relax some and maybe talk to Celestia some, talking to her can be a little stressful but she always has something interesting to say, so for now I think I spend the rest of my day off just reading something stupid or doing something stupid, maybe both?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

Also 50 chapters, I'm very happy that you have all read this far, truly thank you all for reading my half baked ideas.

Chapter 51

AUG 21 Thursday.

I get out of bed and stretch, feeling the pain in my muscles as I move around, they are still pretty sore from yesterday as Stone decided to go extra hard on me, I asked why and he said I looked like I was getting used to his training routine so we'd be going even harder now.

So that's just amazing, but beyond that I'm excited for today and I'm a lot less nervous than last time as I know what to expect now, It's still a little daunting to go somewhere with so many ponies but I'll manage, maybe.

It's still several hours before the Gala and I won't take long to get ready as all I'll really need is a shower and to brush out my mane and tail so I have time to do other things, but first I need to feed the child that I call a best friend and make myself some tea as I always do, after some tea we take a few trips through what I'm now calling the void.

I'm not really sure where we go when Entropy teleports us, but my best guess is some dimensional plane that is easy to access or is easier to move through than others, either way I think that space in this dimension is either compacted, or space is relative and you can move vast distances instantly.

Or maybe being in the void lets you exit wherever you want, the answer isn't that important to me right now but if I ever get good enough at sensing and potentially manipulating space it could be important, but for now there is another question that's been occupying my mind when we do this.

How does she know about this place? Well, I think the answer is dependent on what answer you're looking for, personally my best guess is that whatever she is is born with a connection to this place, I'm not sure how but magic only follows the rules it wants to so who knows?

My mind then wanders to unknown magic, unknown magic is a term used to describe any magic that doesn't follow the systems sentient beings use, a good example is how I do magic I don't really need runes, or matrixes, or anything else to do magic.

But if I tried without all that I would be less than successful, as trying to control magic without the systems and structures in place is like trying to grind a mountain to sand using a rock, sure given enough time or the right pony it can be done, but good luck with that.

This is all to say that the structures and systems we have only work because magic seems to agree with how we made them, we shaped chaos and formed some sort of order out of it, why is magic like this? And why does it behave like this? I don't know and I think the only ones who do aren't telling us anytime soon.

I'm brought out of my thoughts as Entropy makes her last trip through the void, at this point we take four round trips twice a day, the more we do this the further her ability grows and I'm not sure if there is a limit, but if there is a limit I don't think she'll be hitting it anytime soon.

I will need to find a new place for us to travel to as it seems this is no longer pushing her limits, but that's for another day right now I want to work on my new bracelet and relax before the Gala, I grab one of my English notebooks with my notes on the spell and start trying to improve it.

I do this with most of my spells but this one is something I really want to work well so I'm putting in more time than I usually do, as I go through my notes I'm so distracted that I don't see Entropy moving around the apartment like she normally does.

That proves to be a mistake as she decides she wants my attention and carries one of her wood balls over me as I lay near the overhead counters and drops it, her aim proves true as my face gets firmly planted in my book by a small wood ball hitting the back of my head.

"AHH, motherfucker," I slip into English for a moment before rubbing my head and looking up to see the smuggest bird I've ever seen, in response I narrow my eyes and smile back before grabbing a small berry from the Juniper Bush on my counter and using my field to throw it at her, but she proves to be a little too quick for me and move out of the way.

I narrow my eyes at her and after a moment grab another berry, "Berry" seems she knows how to mock me now.

"Oh don't you worry, I'll give you all the berries you want," Things only devolved from there.

And after an hour of berries flying around my apartment and a not-insignificant amount of stains that I needed to clean up afterwards we both calmed down, she helped clean up by eating the berries and bringing me a rag while I cleaned up the stains and berry juice.

Sometimes we may get silly and a little out of control, but that never lasts long as we normally get ourselves back to normal not long after we are done with our fun, Entropy may be a little mischievous and is becoming something of a prankster but I don't know what I'd do without her.

After another few hours of me going through my notes and spending a while drawing a new sketch of Entropy it's time for me to get ready, I take a shower and clean myself thoroughly before combing out my mane that's just long enough for me to tie back behind my head.

As I stare at the small mirror and look at myself, I do a double take as I see the fur around my chin is very slightly thicker than before, ponies mature faster than humans and are basically fully grown by seventeen, but that varies depending on the pony and what subspecies they are from.

Earth ponies in particular can hit puberty before others, and considering my size this shouldn't be much of a surprise to me, but honestly I would rather not go down that rabbit hole right now so I just find my suit and put it on before grabbing anything else I will need.

I want to bring a bracelet and decide to bring my new one as I like the carvings in it, so after I grab my new bracelet and activate it before putting it on, I've been doing this for a few days now when I walk around the city to see if it detects anything.

But so far it's done nothing, I'm not sure if that means that I haven't run into any changelings or that it just doesn't work, personally I think it's the latter and it doesn't work, but that's not important right now I'll just turn it off when I reach the Gala but for now I might as well leave it on to see if anything happens.

After making sure the suit is on properly and that I look decent I pet Entropy some and tell her to stay before leaving, I walk through the streets of Canterlot and not long after I see the Gala, it's dark and the Gala seems to be in full swing already and after passing my invite to a pony and going in I see that the event has definitely started.

I'm not sure what I should do so I just find a place to sit at a table and get some food, just like last year the tables are filled with many different types of food and after a little searching I found some carrot cake and dig in, it's well made and it's just what I needed to take my mind off of worrying about random things.

I spend a while simply watching the Gala and its many ponies talk and interact with each other, and not long after I start looking around I see that Celestia has joined the crowd of ponies, although it's not hard to see her given her height and appearance.

She's wearing an elaborate dress that looks both simple and complex, which from what I know of her makes sense, I keep looking around at all the ponies and see a few faces that I recognize, not anypony from the show just different ponies that I've heard about over the years.

I do see who I think is Prince Blueblood and his family, but I'm not really sure and even if it was I rather not have to interact with nobles, I keep looking around before a thought occurs to me, why was Twilight here last year? She wasn't Celestia's student yet.

I mean many ponies do come here to make connections and socialize so her family could have just come here to do that? Or maybe they just got an invite somehow and decided to come for the festivities? Wait was Celestia talking to us technically the first time they've met?

Maybe? Honestly the show was unclear about many things so I'm not sure if that would have happened anyway, I don't think it matters now as things seem to have happened as they should, I try to focus on other things and leave the existential crisis for later.

It takes a moment for me to return to normal but after that I just keep eating my cake and try to have some fun with the night, I try a few other desserts and even find something I haven't seen in both my lives, the best way I can describe it is carrot pudding.

Some dumbass human thought it was a good idea and probably already made it before, but it's still new to me and after deciding to try it I find that it's not bad, a little too much carrot flavor for my liking but the sweet taste seems to go well with it, although that may just be this body agreeing with it more then my old one would.

As I'm eating I see Celestia spot me, she doesn't nod or anything but she definitely saw me and will probably talk to me at least once tonight, I'm interrupted in my eating as a pony reaches for a baked apple at the same time as me, "Oh sorry, you go first."

I offer as I turn to them, as I get a good look at who is in front of me I take in their appearance, a mare that is on the younger side but definitely an adult, she is a unicorn with a blue coat, teal colored mane, and green eyes, "It's no problem, and thank you" she responds while taking a baked apple.

After that they start eating next to me, I don't really care and just grab an apple without using my field, I do use my field in public but I decided against using it here to draw less attention to myself, too many high profile ponies here and too many who could see it as odd.

That may sound odd but in a world of magic most who see me use my field don't care and just focus on what they are doing, the few that ask I just tell them it's something anypony can learn to do if they train enough, although like I said most don't seem to care.

"So what are you doing here? If you don't mind me prying into your business," I'm a little surprised by the same pony from earlier talking to me but quickly use the excuse I had prepared for something like this.

"I got lucky and had a chance to win an invite and didn't really have anything else to do, so here I am," I chose to use this as an excuse as many get invites from many different sources and the invites also don't have names on them, so unless somepony really tried it would be hard to prove me wrong.

"Got lucky? Well I'm pretty much the same," Seems she got an invite from somewhere, not that it really matters, "So what have you found that's good? I don't recognize half the stuff here."

I'm not the most comfortable talking to somepony I don't know, but I rather not stand out so I answer her in a short and simple way, "Well it depends, I happen to like carrots so anything with that is fine for me but if you're here for something less dense I think I saw some fruit salad over there."

I point to a table not too far away with several fruits and a few other less-cooked things, she seems interested in it and nods to me, "Thanks, and have a good night," I simply nod back and start eating my food again.

But as I do so I move my bracelet as it's uncomfortably warm right now... :wait I forgot to turn it off, WAIT!!: I freeze for a moment before forcing myself to act normal, I try and stay as calm as possible while trying to remember when my bracelet started feeling warm, and after a moment I realize that it started not long after that pony sat next to me.

I keep eating even though I don't want to while my mind goes into overdrive about the situation, let's start with this, is there any reason that would just be a pony with an illusion on them?

They looked young so it wasn't for looks, and I find it unlikely that they would be under a full body illusion, and if they were anypony who touches them would realize, like I said in the past most don't use illusions to hide their looks as it can fail from being disturbed.

That and coming to a party that the princess is attending while under a full-body illusion is suspicious as hell, and honestly could get you in a lot of trouble, so what other possibilities are there? Hiding a scar or other markings? No that's out for the same reasons.

A magic object with an illusion on it? she was wearing a dress but it was simple and seemed to be form fitting for the most part, and even if she had a magic object hidden on her it wouldn't make sense for the same reasons, if a guard or other pony found out they would probably be in trouble.

And she didn't have any jewelry either, but my bracelet still went off so the only real possibility that I can come up with is the most obvious, there is a changeling in the Gala.

Author's Note

I'm sorry to leave this one on a cliffhanger but this one is already getting long.

So tune in nest time for more of Shade panicking about stuff.

Thanks as always for reading. <3

PS, did you know carrot pudding is real? I kind of want to try it now but I think don't I'll like it that much.

Chapter 52

AUG 21 Thursday.

My thoughts keep running wild trying to think of any answer that is more likely than the one I found, but after a few minutes I have to face the fact that my current situation is not the best, but I realize that my mind is just going in circles and thinking of things that aren't important right now, so I get my mind in order and find a place to start.

First question, what is the likelihood of that changeling being here for me? I'm not completely sure but I don't think they are here for me.

I have a few reasons for this, first while someponies know about what I do for Celestia I don't think they have infiltrated the empire enough to get a hold of anything with my name on it, and even if they did they would probably just see that all I do is make things for the princess.

And if they did know about me they wouldn't really have a reason to find me, I don't think they'd blow their cover just to get a hold of me, as while I make things for the princess but so do many others, and the only thing that makes me stand out from them in what I do is my success and speed.

And unless I really fucked up the timeline I don't think they would need me to make something for them, so if they weren't here for me why would they be here? Well they could be here to gather love as this is a very large party with many couples and families having fun.

They could also be here to just spy on the princess and other important ponies, and to do either of these you need to blend in and not draw attention so talking to other ponies and trying to find the right type of food is a good excuse to wander around the Gala, either way I don't think I drew too much attention to myself.

Maybe some from how bluntly I answered her questions but someponies, those like me, just want to be left alone so I think I did fine, but now comes the big question, what do I do now? Well nothing, I came here to relax and have some good food, so my best move is to do just that until I can leave quietly.

The only problem is talking to Celestia as I don't think I can stop the princess from talking to me, I'll just have to do my best to not act out of the ordinary and remember to not say anything that could be overheard by others, Celestia will probably be able to tell something is wrong but I can't do much about that.

As I'm thinking over my plans of what I could do I'm interrupted by ponies around me turning their heads to my left and up slightly, I don't even need to turn my head to know it's Celestia that they are looking at, :I guess this is happening sooner than I thought it would:

It isn't all bad though as Celestia is known to talk to many ponies while at the Gala, many of those ponies are also not important ponies, from what I've seen she seems to take great joy in having a night to talk to her little ponies without needing to bring them to the palace or inviting them to a meeting.

Not that I blame her, this is probably one of the few days she gets to do that, but all this does work in my favor as while some will find it odd that she's talking to me most will just brush it off as her finding a conversation that interested her, at least that's my hope.

A pony not far from me down the table gets up and bows, :it seems I'm out of time to think: I turn my head and try to act a little surprised and do the same as the ponies around me, Celestia walks nearby and stops at the table I'm at, but to my luck she starts talking to a different pony first.

I'm not sure if she noticed something was wrong with me or she just wanted to talk to this pony but either way it makes her talking to me even less noteworthy, after a few moments everypony at the table including myself goes back to eating their food.

And after several minutes Celestia finally moves over to me and sits down, "Hello Shade it's nice to see you again, I hope you are enjoying the Gala so far."

"Same to you princess, and yes I am," from the look in her eyes she definitely knows something is up with me.

"Good, how have you been since we last talked?" but she doesn't bring up my discomfort and just continues talking to me.

"I've been well, how have you been?" I ask back more as a courtesy than anything, as she is the princess and if she wasn't well I'd have much bigger problems.

She smiles at me, "I've been just fine, so what have you been working on recently?"

:Ahh fuck, really? you could have asked any question and you ask that?: I keep my thoughts to myself and answer her, "A few things here and there but nothing that is done, right now I'm mostly just learning and training," Hopefully anypony listening in will think I'm talking about a school project, or that I'm something like a craftspony.

"Good to hear that you're still learning new things," she takes a moment to grab a plate and several slices of cake.

I decide to try and change the subject even if I'll probably fail, "Has the quill worked well? I didn't have time to make sure it would work correctly for a long time."

She gives a slight nod while eating before swallowing her food and answering, "Yes it works just fine, I must say again it's a very nice gift, and has made doing paperwork a little easier."

"Good to hear," I buy myself some time by eating a bite of my cake, :god this whole conversation is stressing me out: .

"You said you're also training?" : well there goes my plan, for the love of magic please stop talking about me, you're over one thousand years old you must have something more interesting to talk about: .

I decide to just tell the truth on this as I don't think it would reveal anything I wouldn't want her or others to know, "I've mostly spent my time trying to improve my runic casting right now," I half lie as while I am training that it's not the only thing I'm training right now.

"Really? How much progress have you made so far?"

"Some, I can form about a one-foot-long line of magic in the air, and progress is slow, but things like this always take time so I expect I'll be working on it for a long while yet."

She nods as she puts down her now empty plate, :I know she likes cake but that seems like a bit much: "That's good to hear, most don't even bother trying to advance to the next step, but that's not important right now, this may sound a little personal but I wanted to ask if you are doing ok living on your own?"

:Ahh there it is: I definitely shouldn't lie here, "I will be honest and say yes and no, there are some days that it can get lonely but I don't mind the quiet, and I do have a few friends, and colleagues to talk to, and a pet," I will have to mention Entropy to Celestia at some point and if I do it now instead of trying to hide her it will raise fewer questions in the long run.

"A pet? I myself have a pet, she's been a companion for a long time now, what type of pet did you get?"

"Yes I heard you have a pet Phoenix, I have a crow and she's a hoof full."

"A crow? I expected something else to be honest but now that I'm thinking about it that fits you rather well, a smart bird for a smart pony, and a hoof full is probably the best way I can describe Philomena, I swear she has a way to distract me at either the best or worst of times."

She says all this in both a joking and very much blunt manner, and I just have to laugh at the way she describes Philomena, "Ya mine's the same, this morning she decided I wasn't paying enough attention to her and dropped a woodball on my head while I was reading."

That gets a laugh out of her and a small smile out of me, Celestia may be a little intimidating but once you get past her size and all of that she has a way to make you just relax and talk, "What's her name?" I stopped at this, originally I didn't want to spread her name around too much.

The only ponies that know it are Maple, Blaze, and Daisy, I didn't want to tell her because of the mirror as she might have enough knowledge about that world to know what the word means, but even if she does it's unlikely she'll think I know what the word actually means.

So after a second I answer, "It's Entropy."

Her face shifts to confusion, :FUCK!: I look at her face and I don't think her surprise is faked, although it would be hard to tell given the experiences she has in that area, "Entropy," She says the word out loud, "An odd word to use as a name, where did you come across it?"

It's my turn to look confused, "I wasn't aware it was a word, I just picked it because it sounded nice to me," I tell another half-lie.

She nods, "To be honest with you I barely remembered it was a word either, from what I remember it's a very old dragon word for death," :wait what? WHAT!!?:

Crushing my panic I ask a question after a moment, "I wasn't aware the dragons had a language."

She nods, "Most don't, I myself am not sure about the reasons but at some point they stopped using it and started using the pony language, I'm also not sure why they started using our language, but back to the point a few document and text still have bits and pieces of their old language, I myself only know a few words that I could find translations for."

That was far too much information to just have dumped on me all at once, but before I could ask any questions she looks around and stood up, "It's been a pleasure as always Shade, but I would like to talk to more of my little ponies tonight ends, I hope you don't mind me cutting this short?"

:HELL YES I MIND, you're just going to drop that on me and leave?: "Not at all princess, have a good night and I hope you enjoy the rest of the Gala."

She gives me another smile, "I plan to, and have a good night Shade," with that she is followed by an attendant as she walks away and starts talking to other ponies, I take a few minutes for her to walk away from me before getting up and moving towards the exit and leaving the Gala.

As I walk home in the dark I let my mind wander to the conversation I just had, first dragons have a language? Where the fuck was that in the show, then again griffins also didn't have a language and this isn't a show but a real world, and at this point I know that things are different here.

But I didn't think it would be this different, she said that the dragons stopped using their language, so why would you just stop using an entire language? She also said they started using the pony language, when? God this whole night has been a complete mess.

First I get far too close to a changeling for comfort, and now I'm dealing with learning this shit, I shake my head and try to organize my thoughts as I enter my apartment, and Entropy like always is there to greet me with demands for food and scratches, "Berry."

"Nice to see you too girl," I get her some food and make some tea to help me calm down, well tonight was interesting if nothing else, my only real regret was not getting any answers, actually I did get one, I take off my bracelet and turn it off, I know this works on changelings now.

I'm not sure how this will help me but I have it now, I take off my suit and toss it to the side happy to not have it constricting me anymore, "You know what? fuck tonight I'm going to bed," and I do just that deciding to deal with all this later.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 54

SEP 1 Monday.

I write another line of text and move to the next page, it's been a few weeks since the Gala and I've been going through my days like before, that's not to say I've been doing nothing this whole time.

I've kept up with my practice and training with both Stone and Caelum, and I've made progress in all the other things I do, but what I want to hopefully work on right now is my first healing spell, well kind of, it depends on how you define a healing spell, I personally see any spell that helps with the healing process as a healing spell.

Also, I'm not going to be making a new spell just modifying an existing one to make it better, The Cleansing spell is just what you think it is a spell made to magic away dirt and grime, there are a few spells like this but the ones used in healing are much more complex.

They are used to clean wounds and medical equipment, but as you can imagine having a spell clean a wound without it accidentally harming the patient can be hard, this is a large part of why the spell is so complex and uses five different runes.

The spell also takes a while to fully clean a wound and takes a decent amount of magic to cast, I plan to try and simplify the spell, make it work faster, and use less magic, and having looked at the spell I've found a good amount of room for improvement.

But doing this will take several weeks to breakdown the spell and build it back up again, but even with the time investment I think it will be worth it, I won't be doing this today though as I have a few things I need to do, and the first is to finish my work.

Recently a pony made a new spell, and this pony isn't me this time, I don't know all the details but apparently some researcher got tired of copying out text from books, so they took a spell and modified it over the past few months to remove the glue binding most books together.

The spell is a little complicated for my tastes and could use some modifications, but it does what it needs to and does it well, it lets both me and others remove the binding on a book and just copy the pages without writing them out, and it's something I never really thought of.

And honestly I'm kind of mad I never thought of that, not that mad though as the spell has made me and Blaz's work go much faster, although after we got the spell we've had much more free time so the library decided to give us more work to fill that time.

So now I'm not sure if I should thank this pony or kick them, as for what the new work is? Well many old and untranslated books find their way to the library, so now the library head is having more of us proofread these books or translate the older books slowly.

As both of these things still need to be done slowly so I don't think we'll run out of work anytime soon, I finish the book I have in front of me and place the stack of paper to the side to be rebound later, I look at a list to see the next book I need to work on.

And after finding the book I look through it and see it's an exploration journal, the books we get are inspected before we get them so we are given a rough idea of what needs to be done with them, I look at the notes on this book and see it needs to be proofread and some parts need to be removed, and several pages are missing.

A few of its pages were torn out at some point and I'll need to count how many pages are missing and add a note to the book explaining how many are missing and where they fit in the book, then when I'm done copying it I'll add an extra page with all this information on it at the end of the book.

Many old books come to us like this, but not all are added to the library as space isn't infinite, so the ponies I mentioned a bit ago have to check the book and see if its contents are worth the work and time needed to make the book as readable as we can

This book is being kept as while it is damaged it also contains several accounts of different types of animals that are rarely documented, I take the book and gently flip it open to see that the writing is not the best and several important pages are missing from it.

I skim it a little and see that most of it is about different kinds of birds, it's a little interesting as there is even a bird that has some form of bioluminescence in its feathers that glow at night, but after a little looking I start copying the pages and cleaning up the text while noting any missing pages.

I don't finish this book by the time my shift ends, so I organize all the pages and leave them on my desk before leaving the library and heading home, but when I get home I don't stay long, I just feed Entropy and grab my saddlebags before leaving again.

It's a Monday so I have language practice today, I make my way through the streets and easily find the right shop, and when I enter the small shop I see Caelum reading like normal, she looks up and sees me "Hello Shade."

"Hello to you too Caelum," Caelum Isn't the type to do small talk so we get right into my lesson.

At this point I don't need to learn much about the written part of the language and we are focusing on communication right now, I'm not sure when I'll be done but I don't think it will take more than a few months at this rate, although I don't know and Caelum won't tell me, every time I ask she just smiles at me and says nothing, I think she just enjoys fucking with me a little.

Our lesson went as normal and I learned a little more of the language like every time we do this, I've also asked her many things as we've talked and today is no different, "I have a question for you if you don't care?" I always ask if we are still in the middle of a lesson.

She nods, "The last word is mind not care, and no ask away."

I take a moment to remember the right word and note it down, "This might sound personal but where were you born? I'm curious as I don't think you ever say."

"Said not say, and no I don't think I ever did, I grew up in a smaller griffin city, not anywhere really important just a fishing city on the coast, the city's name is Crossis, honestly it's a boring place to live as most just fish, or trade, that's one of the main reason I came to Equestria."

I make a note of the cities name as she continues, "You ponies might be a bit emotional for my tastes but you know how to make things interesting, no offense intended," She adds the last part in the same dry manner she always does.

"None taken," I check the clock on the wall nearby, "Seems we're out of time today, take mind Caelum."

She just smiles at me, "You mixed them up, and same to you Shade" I stare for a moment before chuckling at my mistake, and after leaving I head home again.

I enter my apartment to Entropy like all days and take off my saddlebags, I spend a little time playing with Entropy before having her take us through the void, as we do this I meditate on the space around me, I still haven't learned much from doing this but it's helped me get better at sensing the space around me.

At this point I can sense the space around me more clearly and without using all my mental effort, it's still not easy but I don't have to try as hard now, I still do as I want to push my limits as always, and I still haven't found a way to use space magic beyond just sensing the area around me.

As we enter my apartment again and stop moving back and forth I give Entropy some treats and make my way into my workroom, something I've been putting off a little to research some other things is my self-scan, the gem finished filling a while ago but I had other things to do.

But today I decided to get it out of the way and I'm rather curious about what the results will be, I grab the strongly glowing amethyst and move it to the center of the room before lying it on the floor and laying next to it, I'll need to stay as still as I can so I'll just spend more time meditating as it works.

Before I start the scan I grab a small piece of paper and keep it with me as I start the scan, the amethyst flashes with magic and starts to work, I calm my breathing and stay still as I start to meditate, while I do so I let my mind wander to the things I've learned about affinities over time.

To use an affinity properly you need to convert your magic into the type you have an affinity for, for my life magic I spent time learning how to do it through observation, but I haven't fully unlocked my space magic yet, so how can I still sense things with it?

Well as long as you have an affinity your natural magic will carry much more of that type of magic than normal, my natural magic has much more life and space magic in it then other ponies this lets me sense these types of magic even if I haven't started converting it yet.

But the downside is that it takes both more magic and much more concentration to get the same results, so why haven't I unlocked my space affinity yet to make it easier? Well when I first unlocked my life magic I chose to not go with the method that was recommended.

I did this as it felt like an easy shortcut to power and I thought it might have downsides that I didn't know about at the time, and I was partly right as if you use the method they recommend it does make it easier but also makes it harder, this is mostly because ponies like structure and order.

And when you form the structure to convert your magic trying to then change that structure can be hard as you have come to rely on it and it has been in that form for a while, this makes everything harder even trying to improve is harder as that also changes the structure of the mental construct you are using to convert your magic.

In contrast I don't have a structure to convert my magic I just observed and felt the life magic around me and willed my magic to change into it, this lets me grow without hitting any problems like others who used the other method would have as they'd have to change the structure or learn the way I did if they want to improve more.

This is why I haven't used the other method as I don't want to trap myself in that mess, so I've just been observing the feel of space magic around me and how it flows and flexes, I don't do this right now though as the scan is still happening and I don't want to use magic while it's working.

And after a while of me meditating and thinking about some spells I want to work on, I feel the magic stop flowing and settle down, I open my eyes to see the amethyst is almost empty and walk over to it, I grab my piece of paper and place it on top the amethyst before waiting a moment.

The result is two hundred and forty-six, I raise a brow at this as that seems high but after thinking about it some I think I know what's going on, a good example is a human, we can exert a lot more force from our muscles then we know but a lot of that strength is locked away to prevent ourselves from being hurt from overexertion.

Most living things are like this, they have a reserve of different resources for the body to use in life or death situations, I think that it's the same for our magic as we need some of it to live so if we used it all we'd die, and like I said in the past using too much magic has side effects.

So the real question becomes how much of my magic is held in reserve? Well this scan was based off of the firebolt spell I made that uses small amounts of magic, and if I had to make a rough guess I'd say I could probably cast the spell one hundred and fifty times before I start feeling side effects.

Keep in mind that I'm not adding magic regeneration to all these numbers, but if I pushed myself and suffered a headache and some nausea I could maybe cast one hundred and eighty firebolts but any more than that I'd start risking my life, and after doing some quick math.

Side effects start at roughly forty percent magic left, and anything past thirty percent and you're risking your life, that may seem like a lot of your magic but considering all things in this world need some type of magic just to live I'd say that it seems about right.

It still doesn't really answer the question of how much magic I have compared to others but it does give me a way to roughly measure my magic against others, the firebolt spell uses about half as much magic as the copying spell so I use that as a base and go from there.

Many at the library use the copy spell and when they first got it a few bragged about how much they could cast it and others wanted to prove them wrong, and if my memory is right I noted the results down somewhere at the time, and after looking through a few notebooks I found it.

Most of these ponies are middle-aged and probably have more magic so I'll need to account for that but after doing the math it seems most of these ponies can cast six hundred firebolts on average, and after some more math I have a rough number to work with.

A young adult unicorn has on average enough magic in them to cast two hundred firebolts, so right now as a colt I have more magic than adults that are around twenty years old, after going through all this and making sure to note down that all this is with rough and imprecise measurements I finish up and place the amethyst on its shelf.

I have work tomorrow and still need to cook dinner so I clean up my work area and start cooking some food.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

Chapter 55

SEP 4 Thursday.

I get out of bed and like all Thursdays I'm still sore as hell from Wednesday, but after making some food and tea I spend a while using the muscle healing spell to fix that, it takes me half an hour to feel fine again.

When I'm done I go to my workroom and start looking through several notebooks all written in English just to be safe, all these notebooks have knowledge about the show or future events, and right now I want to recall and copy a few things to a new notebook.

The new book is where I'm going to put all my theories and knowledge about changelings and what they could be doing, once I've grabbed all the books with the information I need I spend a while copying it and re-organizing it, when I'm done I put all the books back and grab my saddlebags.

Before I leave I grab several things, my tent, food for a few days, a new flask with the water collecting enchantment on it, and several other things I might need, I have a plan for today and that plan involves not being home for a while, after I've gathered everything I call Entropy over and cast the illusion spell on her before we leave.

As we walk through the streets I let my mind wander to what I'll be doing over the next two days, as you've probably guessed it involves camping, I spent a little time checking the records for the small forests that are around Canterlot and it turns out that most of them are owned by the crown.

And after looking through a few laws and boring texts I found out about something, the reason for all this is that I heard that as long as you don't damage the forest and if it's owned by the crown you're allowed to camp there, I didn't know if that was true so I did some research.

And turns out that that's correct, as long as you don't damage the forest in any large way, so something like cutting down a grown tree, but smaller things are just fine, you can even harvest any fruit or herbs you find as long as you don't take too much.

And you also have to pay a higher tax if you intend to sell anything you gather from the forest, this is why I'm heading outside the city as I'm allowed to camp out there, and after my last trip I wanted to do it again but I only get two weeks off a year so I couldn't.

But now with a forest so close I can take small trips out there and be in the forest more often, as I walk I also keep an eye on how far we've traveled and the rough distance, this trip is also to test something else, after we reach a point I stop at the roadside.

We aren't far from the city walls and I can still see the city buildings, when Entropy teleports us to the storage room I rented she moves us about five miles and through much of the city each time, and with four trips both ways that's roughly forty miles at once, so I want to test two things.

First, does increasing the distance multiply the magic cost any, and second, does that mean she will now be able to teleport forty miles at once, I want to test both of these but doing so inside the city could be bad, this is because I don't know what happens when Entropy doesn't have enough magic to teleport but still does.

I rather not appear in the middle of the city, or a wall, so I'm doing this differently, I'll head to two different spots both near the city but in wooded places that are roughly forty miles apart and have her try to move us in between them, I start walking down the road again and head for a forest not long after.

I don't think Entropy will be in danger if she doesn't have enough magic to teleport but tries anyway, the reason I think that is because of my self-scan not long ago, if my body keeps magic in reserve to not kill itself then other beings with magic probably do too.

And if a being develops the ability to teleport I'd also expect it to develop some safeguards against accidents, if she doesn't have enough magic I think she'll either not be able to teleport, or will only be able to teleport a certain distance before collapsing from exhaustion.

As we enter the forest I walk through it heading for a certain spot, and when I reach it I see what looks like an old Oak tree sitting among some grass, this is the tree I grew not long ago and I'm going to use it for the first spot, I take off my saddlebags and start setting up camp.

When I'm done I take Entropy over to the Oak and sit at its base, I look around and start collecting several twigs and small stones with my field, when I'm done I arrange them into a circle around me, Entropy sees this and seems to know what's happening.

She's gotten used to what me making a circle means, "Not yet girl" I make sure she doesn't try to move us yet, first I make another circle on the other side of the tree and sit in that one, "Ok girl move us to the other circle."

She looks at me for a second she then hops off of me and around the tree for a moment before returning back to me, seems she is smart enough to get a good look at where she's moving us, she hops back on me and after a few seconds we move through the void for a moment.

And we appear on the other side of the Oak tree, I give her a berry as a treat and have her do this several more times before stopping, when we're done I let her wander off and fly around the forest, I do tell her not to go too far as this forest could have other ponies in it.

I don't think others will wander into my camp but you can never be sure, so while she's having her fun I start on the next part of my plan and that involves my sketchbook, I take it out of my saddlebags and start drawing the circle and Oak tree as accurately as I can.

If I want Entropy to teleport us back here I want something to remind her what this place looks like, that and it's fun to simply draw, I came out here to test things but also to train and relax some from city life, somedays the constant noise and movement can be overwhelming so it's nice to go somewhere so quiet.

After I'm done with my drawing it's around midday so I still have plenty of time to do other things, and one thing I want to do is make this camp a little more secluded from others, but I don't want to use magic or gems to do that so I will be doing this more naturally, pun intended.

I walk away from my camp under the Oak tree and move a little bit away, I start converting my magic and pushing it into the plants around me, I slowly walk around my camp in a circle letting my magic grow the plants into a thick wall of brush and tree branches.

This takes a long time as I can only move a dozen feet before running out of magic and having to wait for it to regenerate, and that brings me into the next thing I want to test, a plant I've had for a while now is the Companion Vine and I haven't done anything with it beyond letting it help my Iron Oak grow.

But I remember that the plant uses its magical flows to help it gather life magic, and I thought, why can't I do the same? Well I can think of a few reasons but it still seems like something I should at least try, so after another round of growing plants I sit down and let my magic fill before I start meditating on the life magic around and inside me.

I can see my magical flows and they are much more complex than anything I've ever seen before, I take a moment to think about this before deciding to be careful about this, so instead of trying to change the flows inside of me I try to copy the magical flows on top of my skin.

Shaping my magic into the correct flows and shapes takes a while but when I'm done I have a glowing shifting mass of green magic flowing over my skin, holding this takes a lot of concentration, and a decent amount of magic and so I shouldn't be able to hold it for long, but that's where this experiment starts to get interesting.

My theory on how this should work is a small fact I came across, when you are in an environment with more ambient magic it boosts your magic regeneration, the more magic around you the better the result, but the returns are diminishing and too much magic in the air can hurt you.

And as I hold this formation of magic around me as it flows, I'm able to hold it for longer than I should and after a while of feeling my magic I realize that I was right, the magical flows are gathering life magic and keeping it close enough to my body to increase my magic regeneration.

But this whole process takes more magic than I gain, so after I get low on magic and let go of the magic to let it dissipate, I'm very happy and surprised that worked so well, but it seems like many things I train it isn't fully usable right now, I'll need to get a much better understanding of the magical flows of the Companion Vine.

But if I do get better at this I might be able to gain more magic from this process than I'd lose, if that is possible, this is all still relatively unknown to me so I'll have to move slowly and with caution, after taking notes about my experiment I start growing the nature wall around my camp again.

I don't finish it before night sets in but I get about halfway before stopping, and by the time I'm done I'm very tired, my magic may regenerate but my mind still gets exhausted, so after making some food for me and Entropy before I head to bed.

time skip

SEP 5 Friday.

I get out of my tent and sit next to my dying fire before grabbing my teapot as the sun rises up into the sky, gathering water with a spell I fill the teapot and set it above the warm coals, as I'm making fresh tea Entropy flies down from the Oak tree and lays on my back while preening herself as I make my tea.

After breakfast and some tea I gather up my camp before setting out again, I remember to cast the illusion spell on Entropy before we leave the forest and make it to the road again, we continue down it along the city, I take out my map and start trying to roughly judge the distance as we go.

I can't judge the distance perfectly so I try to stop a little under forty miles away just to be safe, this takes a long while as I have to walk a good distance, but these roads are well maintained and traveled so a little after the afternoon we reach the right distance.

I can still see the city and there are a fair few ponies on the road, so after some looking around I leave the road and walk into a wooded area, and after a little more searching we find a good spot to do this.

I've walked from one side of the city countryside to another side, if we travel from here we shouldn't appear inside the city if Entropy can't make the full trip, but I only plan on doing this once for now, I just want to test Entropy's abilities not stress her out with lengthy trips, or endanger her.

If this does work I'll have her move us from my apartment to the Oak tree I grew as they are roughly fifteen miles apart so if she can make this trip she can do a round trip once a day, and after finding a secluded place I take out my sketchbook and open it, I show the page to Entropy and let her look at it for a while.

"Ok girl you're smart and I think you know what I want you to do, so do you want to earn a berry? Just be safe ok? If you can't do it that's fine" Entropy stares at me for a few seconds before closing her eyes and going quiet, she stays like this for almost two full minutes before I see the familiar void greeting me.

I feel like it takes longer this time but it's hard to tell in this place, but we do reappear next to the Oak tree, I keep my eyes on Entropy to make sure she's ok, she's definitely tired from that trip as her body drupes some but beyond that she's fine, "YES GOOD GIRL, YOU'RE AMAZING!!"

After I feed her several berries and a small piece of fish she's looking a bit better, and I think I've answered my main question, it seems that as long as she has the magic increasing the distance doesn't multiply the cost any more.

I'm happy she succeeded and she seems happy too, "You can rest now I'll get us home just fine," she seems to accept that and just lays down on my saddlebags as I start walking us home.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading, and enjoy birb.

Chapter 56

SEP 9 Tuesday.

I reapply new glue to a book cover and start delicately rebinding the book. I used the glue removal spell to remove the glue on the book not long ago. I've looked into the spell and it's actually interesting, it has a few interesting ideas in it, and I think it could be useful.

After I'm done with the book I start on the next. And because I'm an overactive pony I let my mind wander as I do so. First things first, Entropy's new method of practice is to teleport to the secluded Oak tree and back home twice a day. And it seems to be going well.

She gets tired but not to a dangerous or worrying degree. And like the last times we've changed her training I think it will get easier for her with time. Moving on to all my other training. My language lessons are going well as always. And my training with Stone is also going well.

In fact I've been doing so well that he's upped my training by throwing small pebbles at me while we practice fighting. And he can throw them pretty hard and fast, so now I have to constantly be aware of flying pebbles. As for where the pebbles come from? He's hidden them throughout the training room, somewhere I can't find.

I swear if that old guard wasn't such a good trainer and teacher I'd have thrown something back, maybe a table. But that's just me being dramatic, as much as he causes me pain he's also the reason I'm in such good shape. That and he's also the pony that teaches me how to hit others in the right way.

Want to know an interesting fact? Turns out punching somepony in the throat is just as effective on ponies as it is on humans. But moving on again, I've been working my way through a lot of the different things I've been meaning to research and noting things I learned down.

And as always I learn more than I expected and less than I wanted, but that's fine. One thing I learned is about Emotional affinities. I've not learned much as it's an under-researched and vague topic, but I did learn a few things.

First magic with an emotional affinity comes from somepony experiencing that emotion, the stronger the emotion the more is released. I don't know why the beings of this world would evolve like this. Either that or it's some type of unintended effect from having magic.

I never found an answer to that question. But I did find something much better. I found an old research journal about an experiment to convert magic into an emotional affinity through an enchantment. This is something I've thought about in the past but gave up on for now as there was no knowledge to work with.

I've found some knowledge about converting magic into an affinity but never an emotional affinity. I'm not sure why nopony tried, but my guess would be that it's simply not needed. I mean what would you even do with a reserve of sadness? or happiness?

That and I think there is a moral aspect to consider. I rather not have somepony be able to create a large amount of hatred affinity magic that could be used with a spell to cause chaos on a mass scale. Then there is the opposite end, somepony forcing somepony else to be happy.

Both are things that probably aren't likely to happen, but I rather not test them in practice. But that doesn't mean that this avenue of research is not useful, the most obvious example is creating love for the changelings to feed off of. But I'm not sure if giving them an endless source of love is a good idea.

Chrysalis was able to gain some form of power boost from having so much love at her disposal. So giving her an endless amount is probably a bad idea. But it's still an option to consider as I don't know if all changeling would get more powerful from overdosing on love or just her.

But for now I've shelved the idea. Beyond all of this I also found another very interesting thing, I found another one of the runes from my cutie mark. It's also a very old rune like the last one, and it's for wind. Water and now wind, I'm not sure what they mean or if they mean anything at all, but if nothing else I've made some type of progress.

I finish binding the book and place it to the side to dry and be added to the library. I look at my bracelet and see the time. "Lunchtime Blaz" I called out to him while making my way out of the room we work in. And after a short walk we enter the breakroom and get some food.

And like always we sit with Daisy and Maple. "So how are you two doing today?" I ask both of them after sitting down.

Daisy is looking a little tired and is the first to answer. "Well besides the paperwork from somepony lighting a book on fire inside the library, not much."

Eveypony else in our little group raises a brow. And I'm the first to speak, "How? Who starts a fire in a library?"

She just looks at me with her tired eyes. "Apparently some young colt with poor eyesight thought that he needed to see the pages of a book better. And so he cast a small candle flame, and one thing leads to another and the book now on fire. Also you'll be seeing an order for a textbook coming your way soon."

Both me and Blaz groan at this. Textbooks are the worst, their words are small and close together so the copy spell can only copy half the amount of pages at once. That combined with how many pages these books usually have means that copying a single textbook can take as long as copying three other books.

That and if we don't have another copy we'll have to wait on a new one from publishers or another library and that's its own kind of hell. I rub my muzzle and turn to Maple, "Please tell me you don't have more work for us?" I ask more as a joke than anything.

"No, I don't." She answers in her short and blunt manner. Seriously the only thing she seems to get excited about is pie.

"Well I have some news." Blaz says. We all turn to him and wait. "What? Noponies going to ask?"

Daisy sighs. "Fine, what's the news?"

Blaz shows a massive smile. "My son sent me a letter, he and his wife are having another foal."

Daisy's the first to speak, a little more energy now in her voice. "Congratulations!"

Maple congratulates him next. "Same" and she does it in the most Maple way possible, with a bland tone and simple words.

I'm the last to speak and decide to mess with him some. "I don't live here anymore so you should look up some recipes."

He looks a little bashful but takes my verbal jab in stride. "And don't come to me for relationship advice colt." And like always he jabs back, So I just smile at him. "Beyond that, I'd like to go out to eat but rather not spend a dinner celebrating alone. So do any of you want to get a free meal?"

I just nod to him. "I'll have to stop home for a bit but I have nothing to do, so sure."

Both Maple and Daisy also agree and we make a plan. We'll be going to a decent restaurant that Blaz likes after work at seven. And we'll all meet there.

But for now we finish up our lunch and get back to work. I go through the books I have to work on and after a few more hours I'm finally done for the day. I leave the library and after getting home, and I tend to Entropy like always. And then I take a shower to clean up and leave my apartment again.

And after walking through several streets I found the right place. The Bashed Table, I swear even after living as a pony for twelve years I still don't understand their naming sense. But I ignore that and stand near the building, waiting for the others to show up.

And I don't have to wait long, as I see Blaz walking towards me with Maple. They both live at the library so I guess that's why they're showing up at the same time. "Hey you two, I guess it's only Daisy we have to wait for."

Blaz nods, "Ya seems like it."

"How about both of you go in and get us a table while I wait for her out here?" I offer both of them.

"You sure colt?" I nod. "Well thanks, we'll be inside then." With that they walk inside while I continue waiting. And after ten minutes or so Daisy rounds a corner and walks over to me.

"Are Blaz and Maple not here yet?"

I shake my head. "They're inside getting a table, they should have one by now."

We both walk in and see Blaz and Maple sitting at a table waving us over. We both walk over and sit down on the cushions around the table. I look around the restaurant, it's nothing amazing but has a nice feel to it. And I can smell something good from another table.

"This meal is on me so get what you want."

I take a look at the menu and see a few options. But one does catch my eye, a fruit salad with some slightly sweet sauce on it, and some cheese. I think the cheese is a little odd but some fruit doesn't sound bad so I choose that. A waiter takes our orders and leaves us with some water.

"So anypony have something interesting to talk about?" Blaz asks after we order.

Daisy answers him. "Beyond work? Well I did finish a new painting recently, I think it came out ok. But I do want to try and find a better blue paint color, mine are just not right for what I need."

I speak up at that. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen one of your paintings."

"Have I never shown you? I guess I haven't. Well remind me sometime to show you, I may not be the best painter but I take pride in being decent at it."

I just smile and nod. We talk about several things but eventually the topic of conversation drifts into Blaz's hobbies. "I swear Blaz the only thing you do is puzzles." This stellar comment comes from Daisy.

"That's not true. Ok maybe it is some, but I used to have other hobbies. I just stopped doing most of them over time."

"Really like what?" I ask him.

He smiles. "At one point I tried to learn the griffon language but stopped."

I cut him off before he could continue, as I saw an opportunity to mess with him. None of them know I can speak griffin almost fluently. It's not something I've tried to hide but it just never really came up. Honestly I don't use the language a lot out of learning it as I have no one to talk to.

"Really, you know how to speak griffin? so what if I called you old right now?"

All three of them turn to me with looks of surprise. It's times like this that I want to buy a camera. "I didn't understand much of that but I heard the word old" Blaz responds back. "And if you're calling me old I'll keep calling you colt until you're my age."

I smile wider at him. "I said. Really, you know how to speak griffin? So what if I called you old right now? It's not my fault you can't understand me."

Daisy joins back in. "When did you learn griffin?"

"I have been for a while now, it just never came up. And to answer what you're probably going to ask next, no I'm not fluent but I am getting close."

Daisy looks a bit put out at my guess, but smiles again at getting an answer. Blaz joins back in, "Well I'll admit that's impressive, but colt you are just like an onion." I raise a brow at him. "You're full of layers and smell awful." He says this with a smile typical of him. I try to stay strong but seeing his smile and hearing his stupid joke I can't help but laugh.

The joke also gets a laugh out of Daisy, and surprisingly even Maple gives a small chuckle. "Oh Blaz never change you mad, old, pony." I say after I stop laughing.

"Same to you, you young, weird, colt." After a little more banter we all stop as the waiter brings out our food. The fruit salad is nice and the sauce goes well with it, I even try some of the cheese. It's not bad and goes surprisingly well with the fruit and sauce.

We continue joking around while we eat our food. But like all things it must end. And after another hour we decided to call it a night and head home. I thank Blaz for the meal, he just waved me off and told me to go home. When I do get home I decide to just relax and play with Entropy for the rest of the night.

Ponies much like humans can be a pain in the neck to deal with. But it's nice to spend time with friends.

Author's Note

Not much plot here just some fun and filler.

Thanks for reading and have a good day.

Chapter 57

SEP 12 Friday.

I move a plant pot with a piece of Steel wood that's not ready yet. I spent most of yesterday working on the new cleansing spell and observing the magical flows of the Companion Vine.

The cleansing spell is more complex than I originally thought, and will probably take some of my free time over the next month or two to complete it. But what I have worked on already shows great promise. When it's done it should cost around half the magic and be much easier to learn.

And it will have another unintended effect. Turns out that one of the main things you should know when you become a nurse is any cleansing spell. You can still be a nurse without learning it, but those who can use this kind of spell are more valued as they can cast the spell while a doctor uses their magic to heal somepony.

That's because any cleansing spell that is used for healing is so complex most hospitals don't have enough ponies that know it. So there can be competition for those that do know it. So I may accidentally cause a small mess for the medical industry. And that's part of why I pass all these spells and inventions to Celestia. She's much better equipped to deal with any problems that will inevitably pop up.

Moving onto the Companion Vine. After I had my first success with copying its magical flows I've been observing it more to improve my technique, and how efficient it is. And I've had some success, but not much as copying the plants flows in great detail is much harder than a basic copy.

But progress is progress. :God is that my saying now? I mean it's not the worst, but still: Anyway back to my point. I'm not sure if this technique will ever give me more magic than it takes but it can let me stretch my magic out. I'm not sure if that will help my magic capacity grow, but it's definitely improving my control.

Now that we got what I was doing out of the way, I can get to what I want to work on today. A spell I've had for a long time now, and I want to have some fun with it. The Floating Spell. And boy is it an odd spell, well odd to me. The reason I say that is the single rune it uses.

This rune is something I haven't come across before. And the curious thing about it is the meaning behind the single rune. The rune is for float, not that odd by itself as I've come across a few runes for float before. But this one's oddness comes from the runic context.

Its context holds a word in it that I can't really explain concisely. That's because the word is very old and doesn't have a translation for either the Pony or English languages. So while I can find a definition I can't ever find a translation for the word.

The word itself has a few definitions. And the best I've found are two different definitions. To float and see. And to separate from the ground and touch the sky. But I can never fully express this word in any language I know. And as a result I can never fully understand the rune and its meaning, as I simply don't have that words original meaning.

This is mostly just something I found curious. Moving onto the spell itself, it's very simple. Really just some basic math telling the spell the few things it needs to know and the rune to make it all work together. I want to mess around with this spell but not as it is.

So with this in mind I'm currently sitting at my desk improving the spell. First I take out the rune, as while it is a curious rune not being able to fully know it weakens the spell. I changed it for another rune of float I've found in the past. After that it just takes some math, and a little time to double-check everything, before it's ready.

When I'm done I draw out the matrix and cast the spell. I modified this spell to float things up a predetermined and preset distance before keeping it there. I can also control the area of the spell effects. And can even control what it will lift by specifying a weight limit.

Adding all this did increase the spell's magic cost by almost double. But even then my magic regeneration, without drinking tea, is more than enough to hold the spell for basically forever. I do some testing as always. Checking how much the magic costs increase with the weight it's holding.

With the spell I can lift almost three hundred pounds without losing any magic. But if I hold something that heavy with this spell I won't lose magic. But I also won't gain any as I'd be using it as fast as it comes back to me. Once I'm done with my tests and taking notes I get to the fun part.

I go to a shelf and pick up a small one-inch Steel wood cube from a small stack of several other cubes. I spend a lot of my time at home. And when I have excess magic I make sure to use it. But sometimes I'm not training and instead learning or tinkering with spells.

So when I'm doing this and my magic is full I normally take a moment to drain all my excess magic into something before going back to what I was working on. So over time I've collected a small stockpile of Steel wood blocks. I take this small block of wood and place it on the desk.

I can't enchant the Steel wood to hold a powerful magic. But I can have it hold a weak spell, and the spell I just made should be weak enough to work. I start out by getting my carving knife and whittling down the cube. This will lower the magic capacity more but I don't need much for what I have planned.

When I'm done shaping the cube I'm left with a small one-inch triangle pyramid. I then carefully enchant the Steel wood to hold and gather magic, before adding the new float spell. While I'm adding the floating spell I configure it to only float a small amount of weight right above it.

And when I'm done I take a moment to test it. I grab the medium ruby that has the small planet illusion in it. I turn the ruby on its side so that the cubes corners are pointing up, down, and to the sides. Then I activate the float spell in the piece of Steel wood and place the ruby above it.

And the spells work, as the medium ruby floats above the Steel wood piece. I spend a moment simply staring at the gem floating there before moving on to the next step. Normally when I activate the planet illusion it appears above the gem. But it's not hard to move it.

So I move the planet to cover the ruby. The planet is bigger than the ruby, so when I'm done you can't see the gem, just a small planet floating an inch above the wooden triangle pyramid. I spend a while watching the planet slowly move and spin atop the wood piece. I think this has gone rather well.

Sadly the ruby doesn't gain enough magic to have the illusion always active. But it can last a few hours and that's good enough for me. The float spell keeps things from the ground but also keeps anything it's floating very stable. This means that when I pick up the Steel wood piece the gem will stay with it.

Honestly this whole project was just for fun. Some days it's nice to just make something cool. But now that that's done and my magic has regenerated fully I'm going to get some more training in. I leave my workroom and make my way to the Companion Vine.

As I sit in front of the Iron Oak I start feeling the life magic around me. Learning a plant's magical flows isn't hard if you're just looking to copy it. But those flows aren't as simple as they look. When you start trying to copy a plant's flows in greater detail you realize that those flows are made up of smaller flows.

They weave and twist into each other to make the larger flows. But if I want to improve this ability I need to copy the plant in greater detail. But copying the smaller flows is much, MUCH harder to achieve. But like all things it can be done with enough practice.

But It will take me a while to fully learn and memorize the flows. As I sit around the Iron Oak, I meditate and feel the flows shift in the Companion Vine. This process is always slow and tedious, but it also helps me improve my control. After a while I stopped studying the Companion Vine.

And start copying the magical flows onto my skin, and trying to improve my skill at it. I've learned a few small tricks while practicing, but for the most part improving at this will just take time. So I spend an hour slowly draining my magic and practicing.

After that I don't really have much to do for the rest of the day. I check the time and I still have about two hours before sundown. So I decided to do something I haven't done in a while. I grab my sketchbook and my drawing supplies, before calling over Entropy.

She flies over to me, "Think you can do our trip early?"

She caws at me and after a moment she closes her eyes and stays still. I know this well so I wait for her to do everything correctly. And after a moment we spend a moment in the void before reappearing in the forest. "Thanks girl, you're the best." And like always she demands food.

So after feeding her I started drawing the Oak tree here. I came out here to draw the stars, but the sun won't set for a while. So for now I'll spend my time drawing different things as I wander the forest. It's not a thick forest but it's one of the largest near Canterlot.

I finish my rough sketch and spend a moment casting the illusion spell on Entropy. Then we both set off into the forest. It's a quiet day, and the only sound in the autumn forest is the quiet wind. The trees have lost most of their leaves. And any leaves left are a brilliant orange color.

As I walk I hear the leaves crunch under me in the wind. But after a moment I hear something. Not far away from me I hear loud voices shouting not far away. I haven't seen anypony else in this forest before. That and it's suspicious for an argument to be happening out here.

Not far away from me is a dirt overhang that has elevated ground on top of it. I'm on the lower side some distance away. While the argument seems to be happening on top. I'm not one to involve myself in others' business. But this whole situation seems off.

So after a little thought I move over to the overhang and sit under it. "Hey girl, can you get us ready to leave at any moment?" I ask as quietly as I can. She closes her eyes but after a minute we stay in the same location, so I assume she's waiting for me to tell her when we need to leave.

With that done I start listening in on the conversation above me. "And I keep telling you that it can't be done safely."

"And I keep telling you I don't care, we have our orders and we need to finish them." :Oh what the fuck did I just stumble into?:

"To gather that much we'd need to move through several heavily populated areas for a few hours, we don't have the magic for that. We need to rest and recover, because if we don't I can't guarantee that nothing will go wrong." Both voices are male but I can't tell much about them beyond that.

Then there is a small stretch of silence at that. "Fine, I'll see what I can do. But this is up to the queen, and with how much love we need I don't think we'll be getting a break anytime soon."

:FUCK: I start feeling panic rise in me, but crush it down as hard as I can. And after a moment I get my mind under control and continue listening.

"That's all I ask. And ya I know what you mean it's been getting pretty," but the voice abruptly stops. "Do you feel that?"

I don't listen to their words anymore I just tap Entropy and in an instant, we are gone. I only start calming a little once we are back inside my apartment. "FUCK" I say in a quiet shout. My mind is moving a mile a minute and I don't like it, so after taking a moment to calm down I start thinking through this.

Those were changelings that much is obvious. As for what they were talking about that is also obvious. What's less obvious is what happened next. I found the book I've been writing about changeling in, and started adding more. First, what did I learn?

Well I can definitely say that a decent amount of changelings are inside Canterlot gathering love. I can also say they have plans and orders to follow. The argument itself seemed to be in between someone giving orders from the queen, and someone in charge of the operations in Canterlot.

And there was that part about them being overworked. I'm not sure if they just don't have the numbers or if they can't bring more changelings into the city without getting noticed. But that does raise a question, why do they need so much love. I know they eat it but the way they talked about it, it sounds like this is more than normal.

This does give credence to my theory. But they could also just need more for something else. I just don't know enough about them right now. But out of all of this the thing that worries me most is what happened at the end.

They felt my presence. I don't know how I didn't realize it before but they might be able to sense emotions. I'm not sure if that's what they felt but I can't think of anything else it could be. And if that's correct that's a big problem. That changeling probably felt that spike of panic I had.

And if they can all sense emotions I basically can't talk to any of them. If I find another changeling in disguise, and if I have to talk to them. They would feel my panic about having to interact with them, and that could end very badly. Well if nothing else I have something new I need to work on.

I'll have to look into shielding my emotions or even just hiding them entirely. But for now I better keep my distance from them and get some research done.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 58

SEP 17 Wednesday.

I walk through the streets heading to the library. It's been a few days since the forest incident and thankfully things have been quiet. But that doesn't mean nothing is wrong, I still have to worry about a changeling possibly interacting with me. And to that end, I've done something that might seem counter-intuitive.

I've stopped wearing my illusion-detecting bracelet. My reasoning behind this is simple, if I don't know that the pony I'm talking to is a changeling then they can't sense my fear or panic. Now obviously this isn't the best solution but until I find a better one it's my best bet.

I reached the library. And start walking through different hallways, before reaching the room I work in. But to my surprise, Blaz isn't alone in the room, as Daisy is also there talking to him. "What's this? A visit?"

Both turn to me with Blaz being the first to speak. "Don't know colt Daisy just showed up and said she'd be waiting for you."

"I can explain that myself Blaz. Anyway, I need to talk to you for a bit, mind coming to my office?"

"Sure lead the way." After a short walk we enter her office and sit down.

"So first, nothing is wrong. At least I don't think so, it really depends on how you see it."

I just sigh at her. "Daisy stop joking and just tell me, I have three books I need to do today," I say back at her.

"No need to be short with me Shade. But you are right I'm keeping you from your work. Ok sit down, this is going to take a little explanation." I comply and sit opposite of her. "First, do you know Ruby Rose?"

I think for a moment. "Ya I do, she's the older mare that works a few doors down from me and Blaz. I never talked to her though." The mare in question was elderly. Her main and tail, which seemed to be red at one point, is almost entirely silvery gray now. And her coat is a deep red, while her eyes are equally red.

"Right, so the thing is she's decided to retire at the end of the year, keep that in mind. Now you said you've been learning Griffin, you even showed you're almost fluent in it. What I need to know is how well you can write and read it.

I raise a brow at her. "Ok seriously Daisy, what is this?"

"You know it's my job to keep the library staffed." I nod to her. "Well, finding somepony that can take over for Ruby won't be easy. Not many ponies learn other languages, and those that do mostly learn Zebra or Griffin as we have the most trade with them."

"But most who learn griffin use it for trade and don't want to work at a library. This is a problem because Ruby is our expert for the Griffin language and does all our translations for it. So I would normally have to find somepony to replace her, but like I just said it's not easy, and that takes time."

"But while thinking about the problem I realized you might be able to help."

"So what, you want me to take over for her?"

"Yes and no. You are still underage and need a mentor, but we can work around that. What I'm asking is, would you like to apprentice under Ruby and fill her spot while I look for somepony qualified for the job."

I think over it for a few moments. It would be beneficial to learn from an expert on the written language, and it wouldn't be a position I'd hold forever. After some thought, I came to a decision. "I'm willing to do it, but I'd like to know how exactly this is going to work."

Daisy smiles widely at me. "Good, and as for how it will work that's easy to explain. Like I said you'll apprentice with Ruby until she retires in a few months, and when she leaves you'll go back to working under Blaz, as you'll still need a mentor. I don't expect you to do the job long after that, a month or two at most."

"And as a bonus I convinced the library head to give you the same pay as Ruby during that time. I know you don't really need it, but you will be paid twice what you are right now. But before we continue I want to ask if you're absolutely sure?"

She says this part more as a friend than a superior. Do I really want to do this? Yes I think I do. I'll be able to solidify my knowledge of the Griffin language. That and it would be a nice change of pace, plus the extra pay doesn't hurt either. I nod to Daisy. "Yes I'm sure, I want to do this."

"Ok, just making sure. And I'll be looking for others to fill the job starting right now, so if you change your mind I can probably find somepony to fill in for you if you change your mind. I mostly offered this to you because I thought it would be a good learning experience."

I smile back at her. "Thanks, Daisy I appreciate it."

"Well I've kept you from work long enough, so let's go inform Blaz and introduce you to Ruby." And we do just that. After walking back to the hallway, and informing Blaz, we walk down a few doors before knocking. "Come in." The voice that answers is that of an old, softly-spoken mare.

When we enter I see Ruby. And she's just like I remember. "Nice to see you Daisy." She turns to me. "And this must be the colt that will be taking over for me, at least for a while."

"Nice to see you too Ruby, and yes this is Shade."

I nod to her. "Nice to meet you ma'am."

She looks me up and down for a moment before answering. "Same to you Shade, and Ruby is just fine." I nod to her again.

Daisy speaks up again. "Well I need to get back to work, and you two need to do the same. Have a good day Ruby."

“Same to you daisy,” Daisy then walks through the door and leaves us.

I turn to Ruby as she shifts through a few pages. "Come here, I have something I need you to do." I comply and walk over to her. She passes me a small stack of papers. "First I want you to fill out this test to see where you're at." I nod. "You can work over there."

She points to a clean desk nearby. "Ok." I don't complain and just start filling out the test. Most of the test consists of me writing out sentences, and answering grammar questions. It takes me a little over an hour to complete it. And when I'm done I take it with me and move back over to Ruby.

"I'm done." I pass her the test, and she takes it, and then starts reading it.

It takes her several minutes to finish. "You did really well, there are a few things we'll need to work on, but overall well done." I can't help but smile at that. "Now then, come over here and help me with this book.

time skip

SEP 18 Thursday.

I leave my bed as the sun rises into the sky. Yesterday was certainly an interesting experience. Ruby turned out to be a very quiet but very good teacher. And as I learned she was an actual teacher when she was younger. But back to the point, she's a quiet pony.

And I mean quiet, she didn't talk except when she needed to. But when she did speak it was always to teach something to me. And I think I made the right choice. The work is basically the same as before just with a different language, and I find myself enjoying the work more.

Normally during work I don't get bored, but it can get tiring and tedious. This work may be the same, but using a different language just keeps me more interested. But enough about that, time to talk about Stone, he's still pushing my limits all the time.

We are still practicing with daggers, but I've made good progress. We've also done some practice with greatswords, but for now we are focusing on daggers. I leave my bedroom and start making breakfast. And when I'm done me and Entropy take a quick trip through the void.

We didn't go to the forest we normally use, but the other spot we used during Entropy's distance test. It's only a little further away from the city so Entropy can still make the trips, even if it makes her a little more tired. But she's fine, if she's ever too tired I make her stop and rest, even if we have to spend a while in the forest.

I do want to go back to the other camp, but I'll need to make a shield to hide it. Once we are back in my apartment I give Entropy a treat and head for the door with my saddlebags. I'm going to the library as I have several things I need to research.

Like always it's a short walk and I'm there. Once I'm inside I start looking through shelves for anything that might be relevant. Right now my focus is on finding a way to shield my emotions, and I already have a few ideas. I spend the next few hours digging through different books.

And after learning what I can I head back home with a few possible solutions. Once I'm home and inside my workroom, I start going through a few of my notebooks. My plan right now is a type of shield that will stop my emotions from leaking out, but that's easier said than done.

My first, and arguably biggest problem is finding a way to carry an enchantment like this with me. I expect it to take a decent amount of magic to use, and that will need something that's able to keep up. After some thought, I decided to work on the enchantment itself first.

The spell for the enchantment can be made in two different ways. First, I can use only one rune, a rune for emotion, and use that to base the shield off of. Second, I can target a specific emotion to block out by finding the right rune for that emotion.

Both have ups and downs, so let's start with the first. Upsides, I can use just one rune that covers for all emotions, and it would use less magic. Downsides, it will be blocking all emotions which is odd in its own way, and while the rune would block out all emotions it will probably do so to a lesser degree.

Now the second idea. Upsides, it can better block a single emotion, and it will be harder to break or see through. Downsides, if I need to block more than one emotion I'll need to add more runes, and finding those runes could be hard.

I think over my options before flipping through my notebook with all the runes I've collected. And after some searching through the notebook I only found one, A rune for sadness. Well that's not very helpful right now, I guess I'll need to do some research and try to find more runes for this.

And that also puts a stop to most of this project. The only thing I can work on right now is the size and shape of the shield, so I just started working on that. I take out a notebook and start my work. It's not too complicated to set up a shield's area and shape, so after two hours I'm done.

I take notes and start on the next thing. The cleansing spell. It's made good progress, but it is still far from done. I have knocked the number of runes the spell used from five to four, and I think I might be able to lower it to three if I do well enough.

I spend even more time working on the cleansing spell. But I start feeling hungry after a while and decide to stop. I stand up and move into the kitchen to start on a late lunch. Maybe I should just relax for the rest of today? Ya, that sounds nice. It's important to relax and ground myself.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

Chapter 59

SEP 18 Thursday.

After deciding to relax I find my sketchbook and sit in front of the main room's window. I can see a few birds on a building not far away and just start drawing them. I can't see them well from here, but I can draw them as they sit in a line on the edge of the building.

I get halfway through the drawing when I abruptly stop. A thing I've developed over time is my ability to sense life magic. And something with a lot, A LOT, of life magic just got close enough for me to feel it. I don't know what it is, but I try to focus on it while keeping calm.

I feel it is getting closer to me slowly. It's not moving fast so I know it's not in a hurry. What is that? Why is it here? I focus my mind while keeping a metaphorical eye on the mass of life magic. What could this be? Well I only know of two things that have that kind of life magic in them.

First, Entropy. I don't think it's another of her race so that's out. Second, an alicorn, and that might be possible. Although I don't know why Celestia would be here, but I have a decent guess, me. If it is her then I should get ready. I quickly go into my workroom.

First I grab any notebooks that have anything she shouldn't see in them. I don't really have anywhere to put them so thinking fast I go over to my Iron Oak. And using my magic I decompose the wood of the trunk to make several small areas. They aren't large but can each hold one book.

After moving the soil out of the way I put the books inside and grow the wood over the opening. This takes me a minute, and by the time I'm done the mass of life magic is much closer to me. Next I grab my small planet and move it to my bedroom, then hide it under my bed.

But as I'm thinking of if I need to hide anything else my mind has a thought. And what if it's not Celestia?

I pause at that thought. I don't know anything else that would have this much life magic, but just because I don't know it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. But I don't really have a way to defend myself from something like that do I? But as I'm starting to panic about all of this my time runs out.

That mass of life magic is now on the same floor as me. No time to spiral, I need to keep my calm as best I can. I'll ask a question to see if it's her, if it is I'll deal with all the questions she'll ask, and the secrets that I will have to tell her. And if it's not her I have Entropy get us the fuck out of here.

I cast the illusion spell on Entropy and had her ride on me. "Ok girl remember that time I asked you to wait to move us? I need you to do that again." Once again I'm not sure if she understands me, but she closes her eyes and stays still on my back. My saddlebags are near the door if I need to grab them, and I'm as prepared as I can be in such a short amount of time.

And whoever they are is at my door. Nothing happens for a moment, but then I hear a knock. I wait a moment, steeling myself for whatever is to come. And open the door. I normally check who's on the other side before opening the door fully, but that won't matter here so I just open it fully.

On the other side is a pony. A unicorn mare with a lime green coat, jade eyes, and a light blue mane. And on her back is a large dove. We lock eyes and neither of us speaks for a moment, I'm tense but summon my courage to ask a question before she can speak.

"What was the first gift I ever sent you?" I say this in a blunt and flat tone.

Her face shifts for a moment, looking confused, but after that moment I see it shift to understanding. She smiles at me, "A lot of red tea." I let my body relax, and use my field to flip the small piece of wood that controls the shield around my home.

"Come on in, please close the door behind you." I move out of the doorway and walk to the kitchen. I'm going to need something to help me relax, and tea sounds nice right now.

As I start making tea, Celestia comes inside and starts looking around the room. Not that there is much to see beyond the one painting I have, and my plants. "Thank you for inviting me in, although I am rather curious how you knew it was me?"

It doesn't take me long to heat the teapot with a warming spell, so I walk over to my table and sit down with two tea cups. "I can feel life magic, and very few things give off as much life magic as you. Also, you can drop the disguise if you want, I don't normally get visitors."

She nods at that, and drops her illusion. A small flash of light and Celestia is standing in front of me. "That's something I didn't know. Although now that I think about it, that would explain a few things." I pour both of us tea. "I met Green Skies several times, and she always seemed to know when I was nearby. I guess she did the same as you."

I take a sip of my tea. "Most likely. To be honest your arrival gave me quite the scare." She raises a brow at me. "I couldn't tell it was you, just that somepony with a lot of life magic was nearby. That was why I asked you that question."

She looks at me for a moment. "I'm beginning to realize just how paranoid you are."

I just give her a small smile. "You know I'm not the type for formality, and I realize that I don't really make much sense. But before we get to that, how about we get the rest of our introductions out of the way." I say while pointing a hoof to the dove on her back.

She smiles again. "Yes I suppose some introductions are still necessary." After a second the dove on her back also changes, there is a large Phoenix on her back. "Shade I'd like you to meet Philomena."

Philomena stares at me for several seconds. She just stares with narrowed eyes, but after finding whatever she was looking for she stops and starts preening herself. "I believe it's your turn," Celestia says, holding her smile while staring at Entropy.

As soon as I knew it was Celestia at my door I knew she'd find out about Entropy's true nature. So I don't try to hide it, I use my magic to carefully dismiss the illusion spell around Entropy. And watch Celestia's face for her reaction.

At this point Entropy's feathers don't really look like feathers anymore, just a dark mass that reflects almost no light. Honestly, it's hard to tell where her feathers end and begin. "Celestia meet Entropy, she's been a very good friend to me."

She stares at Entropy, studying her. "I don't know where you found such a bird, do you know what she is?"

I shake my head. "No, not from a lack of trying, I've looked through every book I could find about magical birds. I only found one reference that might be right, but even then it's vague. Do you know what she is?" I ask back hoping to finally have some answers about Entropy.

But to my surprise, she shakes her head. "I may know a few things about her, but they are little more than myths. Sorry if you were hoping for more. Where did you find her?"

"I won't say I'm not disappointed, but I would like to hear what you do know. And I hatched her."

Celestia looks surprised again. "How? Most magical beings very rarely have children, so where did you find her egg?"

"Well to answer the second question, I found her egg at an auction. They said it was in their collection for years, and that they had no idea what it was. And I bought it because much like you, her egg was producing a lot of life magic." I refill my tea cup, having already emptied it.

"No pony else would buy it so I did, and after that I started dumping my excess life magic into her egg."

She cuts me off. "Did you ever consider if that could go wrong?" She doesn't say this with a scolding tone just as an actual question.

"Yes, I had two shields over her egg and kept a close eye on it. Anyway there isn't much more to say about her egg, beyond the fact that it kept getting darker over time, in fact by the time she did hatch the egg looked more like a hole in the world around it." I stop short as Philomena files over and lands on my back.

I decided to try and be friendly with her. I take a juniper berry from the bush on my counter and try to float it in front of her. She immediately eats it, I didn't even stop moving it, she just grabbed it out of the air.

Celestia chuckles at this. And I just sigh, "I'm going to take a wild guess, and say that Philomena is also obsessed with food?"

"Yes she very much is." Entropy and Philomena are both on my back looking at each other, after a little while both don't do anything and just sit on my back. "It seems Philomena has taken a liking to you, but she tends to do that with anypony who gives her food."

I nod to her. "Well I've calmed down some, and I've delayed enough. So what would you like to know?"

She gives me a reassuring look. "I can tell you're not the type to tell others about yourself, I've known that for a while now."

I nod. "Yes I don't share much about myself with anypony, honestly Entropy probably knows me best."

She nods back. "I'd like to say before we begin that I won't be angry or judge you, I'm just concerned about your well-being. That said, my first question would be, are you ok?"

I really thought about her question before answering. "Yes and no. Am I ok with my life, and what I'm doing? Yes. But, there are other things that cut away at that. And I think the biggest thing is lying."

Like she said she doesn't judge me and just listens to me. "But why lie about anything?"

"Because I want to help, but I also want to be left alone. And I think I can't overstate that last part, I REALLY want to be left alone. And I'm not sure I can say why to you, I also won't lie to you and say I don't have secrets I won't tell you, and this is one of them. And I hope you can respect that."

She listens to me talk with a calm face. "Then I will, I do hope you can trust me enough with that one day, but I won't force you to tell me. Let's move on, I've asked you this before, and you gave me a half answer then, but why do you try so hard?"

I was expecting this question, but that doesn't make me any more ready for it. But I'm tired of the lies and I think it's long past due for the truth. Why now? Because if I can't trust Celestia I can trust no one. "I'm scared."

She raises a brow seemingly surprised at my answer. "Scared of what?"

"Celestia, have you ever thought about what having magic really means?"

This only seems to increase her confusion. "In what way?"

"I'll be blunt then. Celestia, do you know how easy it would be to cause mass destruction with magic?" She tries to answer but I cut her off. "If you gave me a single small ruby I could level a building with ease, I'd just need to fill it with magic and have it gather and compress air."

She doesn't speak, just continues to listen as I go off on a small rant. "You wait a week and then light the air on fire, the resulting explosion would be massive. And this has no real limit, as long as the air doesn't condensate into water then the more air you have the bigger the explosion."

She stops me at this. "I can understand the concern over something like that, but why fear it so much? The likelihood of something like that happening is almost zero."

"Because anypony can do this, as long as a sentient being has magic they can cause massive destruction. And the worst part is that it's not even hard. I fear the day a pony decides that they want something, and will use any means to get it. All it takes is a single pony with the right knowledge and a city is just gone."

By the end of my rant I'm not loud or angry, just tired. There is a long moment of silence before she speaks. "I, I understand, that fear, it is one I shared long ago." I look up to meet her eyes again, surprised at her answer.

She takes a long drink of tea before continuing. "When I was much younger I was always fearful of others' intentions. The world isn't like that now, but back then court politics could get messy and dangerous. I've lost a few friends that way."

The mood is heavy now, and a stillness comes over both of us. "But one day I realized that if I did nothing but worry about what could be I'd grow blind to what is."

A saying comes to my mind when hearing that. "Those who live in fear of everything never truly live."

She nods. "Wise words, and something to keep in mind. I myself still have moments where I slip back into that type of thinking. And in the end I settled for preparing as best I can."

If the mood was bad before it's downright fucked now. I'm more relaxed now and decided to show some trust, so I stand up while making sure that both Entropy and Philomena are still stable on my back. "Come with me," I walk over to the door to my workroom and lead her inside.

When she enters, she starts looking around at the things on my shelves. "What is all of this?"

"Welcome to my workroom, I test, create, and invent here. Feel free to look around, just be careful what you touch." And she does just that, she takes her time looking through different things on my shelves and examining them. And she starts looking through my small stack of Steel wood cubes.

"What are these for?"

"You saw the small tree I have, right?" She nods. "It's an Iron Oak, they are known to have wood that is both magic resistant and magic conductive. And because I can make the wood stronger with life magic I can take the wood to new levels."

"I've seen some craftponies use the wood in the past." She looks around the room. "Just how many things have you made?"

"As of now? Several dozen spells and many other small things. Mostly enchanted objects I use for various purposes. Any of my larger projects I send to you."

"That is another thing I wanted to ask you, why send your inventions to me? I know you want to be left alone, but it still seems odd to not take any credit for them."

"Honestly? It's for the same reason as my fear. I make many good things, but they can be used in horrible ways. That and I believe you'll know how to implement and use the things I make better than I ever would."

She looks happy to hear that. "Thank you for the trust. What are you working on right now?"

"Right now? I'm taking apart the cleansing spell used for healing, and improving it, I hope to make a much better version."

"Really?" She asks back with much more enthusiasm and interest. "How long until it's done? And how far have you gotten?"

I'm a little surprised with how excited she seems. "I won't be done for several more weeks, and how about I just show you?"

I take her over to my desk and take out a piece of paper with the half-done matrix I was working on earlier today. She reads through it quickly and then does something I don't expect. She hugs me, I'm stunned by this and don't do anything until she lets go of me.

She sees me looking shocked and backs up from me. "OH, I'm sorry if that was too far." She apologizes.

"No it's fine, I'm more confused why you seem so happy?"

She looks a little bit embarrassed at all this. "Once again sorry, I let my emotions get the best of me. And to answer your question, it has to do with some unpleasant memories."

I can see she doesn't like thinking about it, so I cut her off hoping to keep our lighter mood. "Then you don't need to answer me, you've respected my privacy, and I'll do the same."

She smiles widely at that. "Thank you, but I do think you should know the reason. What do you know of the Red Plague?"

As soon as I hear the name I start remembering all I know about it. In 556 a plague wiped out over thirty percent of Equestria at the time. To say it was a disaster would be an understatement. That may not sound too bad to humans but it is for ponies.

A thing I've learned from reading about history in this world, is that plagues aren't as much of a threat for them. In a world with magical spells and plants disease is much less of a threat to your life. And that's what made the Red plague so bad.

The original disease was relatively bad, it caused some pain and red boils to appear on the infected's body, but was relatively easy to survive. Most who caught it recovered after a few weeks and lived on just fine. But the disease did have an interesting ability.

It was highly resistant to magic, and thus couldn't be treated using magical spells or plants on a large scale. This wasn't a problem until it mutated. The disease mutated to form boils in the throat, which normally caused the infected patient to die, as they would have difficulty eating, and being unable to breathe if it got bad enough.

And worse yet if the boils popped it would normally result in an extreme infection of the throat. The plague got its name from the red boils that still appeared on the skin. And because most healing spells and plants wouldn't work the disease was a disaster.

I can not overstress how bad this was for them. They had never had a plague this bad in their remembered history and were completely unprepared for it. The only two things that kept it from being worse, was the small size of the population at the time, as most ponies were spread out.

But when the disease did get into a community the results were hellish. The only form of magic that did help was a few cleaning spells. I'm not sure about all of the details, but apparently, a few of the cleaning spells were able to get past the magical resistance of the Red plague.

And after the plague had burned itself out it became mandatory for doctors and healers to learn at least one cleaning spell. And this is also the reason that many still value those who know it, even if Equestria is much better prepared for a plague now.

I focus back on our conversation. "Yes I know a lot about it."

She gives a slow nod. "I was there and lost many to it, and I've had many try to improve cleaning spells as a result. But the one you have here shows great potential, the fact that you've removed a rune entirely and still improved the spell is no small feat."

I knew that she was there, and did see all of the deaths involved. So of course she's happy to have the spell be easier for others to learn and have them be better prepared. "Thank you, and sorry again for bringing up bad memories."

She just smiles at me. "You have nothing to apologize for. Now I think we've gone off topic." Seems she's trying to lift the mood.

"Yes we did. What other things did you want to know?"

"Hmmm. What do you train in? I know you use life magic, and are working on sensing space magic, but what else?

"A lot. I'll just go down the list. I practice life magic, I'm still getting better at sensing space magic, and I also keep practicing my runic magic. I'm currently trying to become a journeypony in runic casting. I pay a retired guard to train me in both fighting and weapon use."

" I have a teacher and I've almost become mostly fluent in Griffin."

"Really? That's good, not many bother." She says this is a challenging and joking tone. I'm just happy we're not on a depressing topic.

I just smile at her small tease. "Yes really, and if you want I can just speak Griffin for the rest of our conversation?"

She just smiles back. "No that's fine, please continue."

"I work at the library and am currently apprenticing under Ruby Rose. But I expect you already know that." She doesn't answer me and just keeps smiling. "I research and learn different spells. Mostly illusion spells, healing spells, and a large assortment of other spells."

"Beyond that I have a few hobbies. I carve wood, draw, and I obviously create things. There are probably a few things I'm missing but those are the big ones."

"I must say that is a lot for anypony to do. But considering your attitude I think constantly learning new things and seeking out knowledge is just who you are. Who's the guard you train with?"

"Stone Mace, he runs me ragged, but I couldn't ask for a better trainer."

She nods. "Yes, I remember meeting him a few times. From what I remember he had a reputation among the guard recruits."

I laugh at that. "Ya, that sounds like him. Anything else?"

"Yes, have you found out any of Entropy's magical properties? She's definitely highly magical so I expect her to have some abilities."

Right now both Entropy and Philomena are still on my back. Both just seem to be napping while me and Celestia talk. I pick up Philomena and move her over to Celestia. "Hey girl wake up," I say to Entropy, and after a moment Entropy opens her eyes and turns to look at me.

"Want to earn a treat?"

"Berry." She answers back. And Celestia looks a little surprised at her talking

"Sure a berry it is." I walk into the main room with a curious Celesta following me. I grab a Juniper berry and keep it with me. "Ok girl, just to the other side of the room." She caws at me and closes her eyes. And considering the small distance it only takes a moment before we both vanish in a wisp of back smoke.

I see the void for a moment and then see my apartment again. I turn back to look at Celestia and see her fully shocked for the first time. "She can teleport? I have several questions."

I chuckle at her. "I thought you might, ask away."

"How far can she move? How does she move? Are there any restrictions? And how long has she been able to do this?" She asks all these questions very fast and with an excited tone. It's times like this that I remember she's still just a pony.

"Well in order. Right now she can move us forty miles, but suffers from exhaustion afterward. I don't know how she moves us just that we move through someplace I've been calling the void. It's just a back empty space that we appear in for a tiny moment."

"Like I said she gets exhausted if we move too far over her limit, or exceed that limit with much smaller teleportations. And she's been doing this since she turned a few months old, and I train her by giving her treats to move us around. When we started she could only move us a short distance but that's increased."

"You train your bird? Never mind of course you do. Still this is an amazing thing. I've never met anything besides a Phoenix that can teleport. And now I'm even more curious as to what she is."

"Yes, she is an amazing bird. We take trips to a forest outside Canterlot." I say this while giving Entropy her well-deserved berry.

I think about something for a moment before speaking again. "Celestia? You probably know what I've been avoiding this the whole time, So I'll just ask. Now that you've had most of your big questions answered, what happens now?" Despite my best efforts, my voice comes out a little nervous.

She stays silent for a few seconds before answering. "I'll be honest, I expected to have to comfort you or help you with dealing with the stress of life. But beyond a few small things you are doing well, very well."

"I'm not sure what to do with you Shade. I want you to live this life you've made for yourself, but I also worry over your safety." She once again goes quiet for a moment. "So I will settle for keeping a closer eye on you, I'd like you to meet me at the palace once every two weeks to talk."

I was honestly expecting worse. "That's it? just talking to you?"

"Yes that's it. I've seen ponies younger than you make a life for themselves in much worse conditions, and you are doing very well for yourself in life. So like I said I'll just keep an eye on you. Plus it's nice talking to you, and I wouldn't mind doing it more often."

I stay silent for a moment thinking it over. "I don't have a problem with that. But I do have one thing to ask of you. Like I said I have things I may never talk about and secrets I may never tell you, all I ask is that you accept that, that may never change."

She gives me a sad but understanding look. "I can't promise I'll never ask, but I can accept that you may not answer. That I can promise you."

Hearing her say it fully and with certainty I feel the last bits of uncertainty leave me. "Then it would be my pleasure to talk with you more," I say, showing her a smile. "Also, how long do you have before you need to leave?"

"I thought this would take longer and cleared my schedule for the day, so we still have quite a while. Why?"

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted something to eat? I'm hungry and would like to eat lunch."

She just shows me a new smile. "I'd love to have lunch, what are you thinking of making?"

"Nothing amazing, just something simple to eat. Although I do have to ask, are you ok with eating meat?"

She raises a brow. "You eat meat?"

"Yup, most don't seem to like it, but I do."

I take a quick glance around the room and see Philomena decided to sleep on Celestia's back after our demonstration, not that she seems to mind. While Entropy is sleeping in the Iron Oak.

"I don't mind it, but I also don't get to eat it often."

"I'm going to just guess it has something to do with nobles and weird politics," I say in a dry tone.

She chuckles at my dry tone. "Yes, that's about right. Do you need any help?"

I think for a moment before getting an idea. "Not with cooking, but I do have a project I never really found time to complete that I wouldn't mind a second opinion on."

"I'd love to." I nod to her, before heading back into my workroom and grabbing several things. A pot with soil, some wheat seeds, my mortar and pestle. And my notes on the Moon Glow plant and my experiments with it. I pass her the notebook as I get to work on the food.

Celestia keeps an eye on me as I start growing some wheat. I grow and harvest enough to make some bread and start grinding it down. It takes me a few minutes before I'm ready to add the other ingredients. As I make my dough Celestia reads through the notebook while watching me work.

I leave the dough alone to rise and start on the fish. I take it and just slice it into thin slabs. I preheat my pan and add a little olive oil, before adding the fish. And while it's cooking I fill a baking pan with the dough before putting it in the oven.

"What was the plan for this project?"

I turn to her. "Not much really, I just wanted to see if I could extract the Moon Glows magical properties for other uses. But because I never got that far I never really had a use for it. The only idea I did have was for an ink that you could only see if you fill it with magic."

She nods. "Well, I've never seen Moon Glow used for that. But I can tell you why it failed, but I also want to see if you can figure it out, so I'll give you a hint. What is the most common way to store magical ingredients?"

"Drying, why?" But I cut myself off as I realized the problem. "Most of the plant's magical properties are in the plant matter itself aren't they?"

She gives me a smile that I've seen a lot today. "Yes, while the fluids of magical plants have some magic in them most of it is in the plant itself, and by filtering out everything but the water the effect was massively reduced."

I just sigh at that. "You'd think I'd have realized sooner considering how much I work with plants. Thanks for pointing that out."

"No problem, also there is a way you could achieve a type of ink like that." That gets my attention so once again I turn back to her from my cooking. "If you dry out the petals and turn them into a powder before mixing it with a fluid you'll probably get a better result."

I add several seasonings to the fish while thinking about that. "I think you're right. I could also write on something that isn't paper to have it be less noticeable. Thanks again, I think I'll try that." We both went silent for a while as I continued cooking. The fish is done first so I put it to the side.

But the bread will take a while longer so I sit back down at the small table. I'm about to talk about something I'm not sure I should, changelings. It's been clear that they have more going on than the show ever said, and to be honest I find it unlikely that Celestia doesn't know about them at all.

So I'm going to tell her my first two encounters, but only that and nothing else. "I did have one other thing I wanted to mention." She puts down my notebook to give me her full attention again. "I think it's best I start at the beginning, I was experimenting with an enchantment to detect illusions."

That isn't a lie. "And I succeeded." I leave the table and grab the bracelet out of my bedroom, before returning. "Here." I passed it to her. She takes a few moments to examine it. "But that's when things get odd, do you remember my mood at the Gala?"

She nods. "Yes you seemed distressed, that was part of the reason I wanted to visit you and check on you."

"Well I wasn't stressed about the Gala, but rather what happened. But I'll get to that. All this started in the park. I was sitting on a bench enjoying my day when I saw a pony enter a restroom nearby, I didn't think much of it at the time. But that pony never left."

"A different pony came out, but no matter how long I waited, the other pony just didn't. Normally I'm not the nosey type, but I do have moments when my curiosity gets the best of me. So I head into the restroom and find nothing. No pony was in there, it was just empty."

As I talk I see her face shift into a neutral form. This is the face she shows to many others, this isn't Celestia, this is Princess Celestia. "There was only one entrance and exit, and nopony could fit through the windows. Now I thought this was all weird and just went home."

That wasn't a full lie, but definitely not the full truth. Her face stays the same so I continue. "The next incident involves the bracelet. I took it to the Gala as it was my nicest looking bracelet, but I also forgot to turn the enchantment off." Celestia seems to know where I'm going with this.

Her face might as well be stone right now with how little it's moving. "And while there, it detected an illusion. I'm not sure if either of them are connected or how powerful the illusion I detected at the Gala was. And honestly, this is all probably just my paranoia getting the best of me again. So you should probably take what I say with a lot of skepticism, I just thought I'd mention it."

She's silent for a moment before her face relaxes back to normal. "Thank you for telling me this, and I would appreciate it if you did the same in the future." She doesn't say anything more than that for a moment. "Do you mind if I get a copy of the enchantment on this bracelet?"

That I expected, so I just nodded. I may be messing with the future here, but I need to change things. And while this has the potential to change a lot, I think it will probably change less than I expect. If the face she made was any indication then I can say almost for certain that she probably already knows about the changelings.

I grab some paper and copy down the spell before going back to check on the bread. It's done so I take it out to cool down. When I look back at the table again the piece of paper is gone and Celestia's mood is somewhat better. I let the bread cool and start cutting it into slices.

I take them and add a little mustard and the fish on top, it's not fancy or that special but it should do. I make us both a plate and bring them to the table. "If Entropy tries to steal any just pick her up."

She smiles again at my small joke. "Thank you." We eat in relative silence. And after we are done I spend a moment cleaning everything up. She's about to speak again but stops. "It seems I may have to cut my visit a little short sadly."

I look at her to ask why, but I'm interrupted by a knock at my door. Celestia takes a moment to cast an illusion on both herself and Philomena before answering the door. Outside is a guard waiting for her. I walk over and say my goodbyes.

"Have a good day, and when should I come to talk to you?"

"Same to you, Shade. And I'll send you a letter with a schedule, please tell me if it will work for you when it arrives. Also if you ever need something don't hesitate to ask, ok?"

I nod. "Of course." And with that she leaves my home. I close the door behind them and sit down staring at the door.

My thoughts are still a little messy about this whole day. But I think I feel a little better.

Author's Note

This Chapter I've been planning for a while now. And boy was it fun to write. If you ignore my pain from having to actually write it.

As always thanks for reading.

PS I might take tomorrow off.

Chapter 60

SEP 24 Wednesday.

Right now I'm translating a page from a Griffin history book, It's not the most interesting thing to read but it's not half bad. I've been working with Ruby Rose for over a week now and things have been going well, I've learned a lot and it's been a nice change. Although I miss working with Blaz some, it's nothing big, just a small complaint.

It's also been a week since Celestia visited me, and I think I feel a little better. Honestly, constantly wondering when she might ask me questions was a distraction for me. I'll still have to talk to her more now, but I know when it will happen in advance and that makes me less nervous about it. And her promise to let me not answer questions also helps.

And it was also nice to just have somepony to talk to about things. There are just some things I won't or can't tell my friends, and as much as that sucks at least I can talk about it to her now. And speaking of our meeting, I got a letter this morning, although it gave me quite a scare.

Apparently, Philomena got a good enough look at my apartment to teleport right inside. So I got to see a small flash of flame and then there was a phoenix standing on my table while I was eating breakfast. Beyond that I'm supposed to go to the palace on October second, so I have that to look forward to.

But for now I've just gone back to my everyday life. Learning new things, working at the library, and later today I get to be beaten by an old pony. Although I probably shouldn't call him old, I'm not scared of him popping up or anything, but I'd also like to not tempt fate. I've said it before, but honestly it's odd to go from talking to an immortal princess, and then just having to go back to normal like nothing happened.

I refocus on my work and start on a new page. It takes a few more hours to finish work and get home. And after a little time hanging out with Entropy, I leave again to head to my training. And when I do get to the room me and Stone train in he's there like always. "Hey Stone, have a good week?"

Over the time we've spent together we formed something of a friendship. I wouldn't call him a close friend, and I don't think he would either, but still a friend nonetheless. He turns to me and greets me with a nod, "Hello to you too colt, and it was fine. Although I did have to deal with some less than pleasant customers."

"Nothing out of the ordinary then. Shall we get started?" He nods and my self-imposed torture starts again. After getting through half our routine I get to rest for a moment while Stone tells me everything I did wrong and why. He mostly goes over what I need to improve and how I should do so.

And like always the training is a grueling thing for me, but I also get a little bit better. After my training and a little more of him telling me what I did wrong I'm finally free for the day. And I drag my sore body home.

time skip

SEP 25 Thursday.

I get out of bed and start making food and tea. After that, and a little healing to get rid of any soreness from yesterday, I head to my workroom. I have something I might now be able to finally finish, with some help from a princess. With this in mind I grab a pot and some Moon Glow seeds.

I go through the process of growing and collecting the petals. Once I have a good amount I take them over to my kitchen and start drying them out. Unlike the Iron wood I need to be more careful to not damage the petals while doing this. Once I'm done I take them back to the workroom and start grinding them down.

They grind down easily and turn into a light gray fine dust. I take this and start mixing it with some water. Once it's formed a paste I try drawing with it on some paper, it leaves gray streaks on the paper, but it does work. I run my magic through the paper and watch the streaks give off a strong glow.

In fact it's a little too strong and makes it hard to read. I start experimenting, adding more or less water to see what works best. After a while I get it to have a decent glow while still being able to write with it. I clean up my desk and put everything away after taking some notes.

I completed this project more for the satisfaction than anything, as I don't really need it. But hey it might be useful later you never know. I do have one other thing I wanted to make today and I want to gather some material, so I start gathering what I will need.

I grab my small saw and wood carving knife, along with my saddlebags and a few berries for Entropy. "Hey girl, I need you to take us on a trip," I call out to her while she's perched on a branch of the Iron Oak. She flies over and lands on my back, "To the forest ok?"

She caws and after a little wait I'm greeted by the cold autumn breeze. This is the other forest that we traveled to a while back as I rather not run into anymore changelings. And I'm here to do some cleanup. I want to make something, and for it I need wood, and while I could buy it I would rather gather it.

But this forest is owned by the crown, so I'm not allowed to cut down any trees, even if I can just grow them back right after I rather not as it just feels disrespectful. So I'm here to find fallen trees, which are legal to cut and use as I want, I just can't sell anything made with it without saying where it's from.

I don't walk fast as Entropy will need all her magic if I want to have her bring the wood back with us. Plus it will be interesting to see how much she can bring back with us, and if she can't then I'll just have to bring it in through the city. But I think she'll be able to do it considering she brings my things with us.

I walk slowly through the woods enjoying the crisp air and quiet day. It should only be a week or two before the snow starts to fall, not that I mind the snow, it's always had a certain charm for me. I catch myself walking down memory lane and thinking of long-gone days.

I wonder if my relatives back on Earth are doing well? I hope so, we may have never been very close but they were still family. I shake my head and chase away those dark thoughts, it can be hard some days but I'll make do. I've been alone most of my life and I'm just happy to have more friends in this life.

But despite my best efforts my mind still wanders to my past life, so I just let it while trying to keep myself positive. Like I said in my past life I was alone a lot, I had those who cared about me but not as close family. I think the closest I ever was to someone was my cousin.

He was a nice guy, and a good friend throughout much of my life. But we grew apart over time, there wasn't a dramatic falling out or anything we just grew up and talked less and less. By the time I died I hadn't seen him in over two years. Realizing that this line of thought is just ruining my day I shut it down.

How about something more positive? I have close friends in this world, maybe not many but still it's nice to have them. And I think given some time I can say the same for Celestia. But not yet, I may know her more now through our letters and conversations but it will take a while longer before I can call her a friend.

I stop as not far off the trail I was following I see a downed tree, I walk over to it and start inspecting it. It's an old Chestnut tree, it seems it fell not long ago from the soil under it sliding away in the rain. It's still alive but it is totally uprooted and won't stay that way long.

The tree's trunk is more than a foot across and several feet long. I cut off a branch with my saw and it cuts with no resistance whatsoever. I brought the medium ruby that feeds the enchantments so this will be easy to cut. I look at the tree's wood and see it's got a decent quality to it.

I start by removing one large branch that is a few inches thick and several feet long, along with a smaller branch that is only one foot long. Once I have those I start on the trunk. I cut it at the base and then cut it before the branches start at the top, this leaves me with the tree trunk. I take out my knife and start removing the bark.

But I stop as a thought occurs to me. Why don't I just decompose everything I don't need? I think about that before changing my approach. I don't have enough control to make a clean-cut shape, but I can get a rough shape that will be much easier to work with.

I start with the bark as it will be easier, and after several minutes I've removed it all. Next I start by trying to decompose away one side of the trunk until it's flat, this takes much longer than the bark. But after almost fifteen minutes and wiping away new soil I'm done.

It's not great but it's flat enough to cut down on a lot of my work. I repeat this process over the next hour, slowly shaping the log down. And when I'm done I have a good piece of wood, just one problem left, I don't think Entropy can move all this at once.

I use my saw as I want more precision, I cut the rough plank into seven cubes of wood, each is roughly a one-foot cube. I call over Entropy who's been flying around the area while I work, but to my surprise she comes back to me with a dead mouse in her beak.

Apparently she has hunting instincts, so I just sit nearby and wait as she eats the mouse. Most ponies probably wouldn't like watching this but I couldn't care less, in fact I'm happy to know that she can hunt her own food. After she's done I have her land on my back and ask her to take us home with a chunk of the wood.

It takes her more time than normal but she gets it done. We reappear inside my apartment, Entropy is a bit tired so I leave her to rest while I move the wood block into the workroom, but when I return to the main room I see that the floor has several blood stains on it. Right, she can be a messy eater.

I find a rag and clean this up before taking Entropy to my shower to clean her off. She's not happy about getting wet but still lets me wash her. Once I'm done I let her go and return to the main room, it will take a while for Entropy to regain her magic so I make both of us some tea.

I drink out of a cup and Entropy drinks out of a small bowl. Honestly I'm surprised she even drinks the tea, when I first gave it to her she tried some and just kept drinking after that. I wonder if it's some form of instinct? Or maybe she's just smart enough to know it helps her.

And that's another thing, I don't really know how smart Entropy is. She can understand me to a degree, even if she doesn't always seem to know what I'm asking. But she does understand basic and even a few more complex instructions, I'm also not sure how smart she will become.

She'll be turning one in December, so if her intellect keeps growing with age she might end up being as smart as a pony. I should ask Celestia how smart Philomena is to compare them, they may be different species but they are both magical birds and could be related considering both can teleport.

But that would be almost impossible for me to prove. After a while of Entropy resting and me meditating on the space around me we make another trip. This time I know she can move us so I grab a little, I have her move one wood block and the two branches I cut off, and after we wait a while in the forest for her to recover.

This time it takes Entropy a little less time to move us but she's more tired when we arrive. I make her an early lunch as we still have five more wood blocks to move. While she eats and rests I get to work on my project. I stack the second wood block in the workroom and start with the branches.

They are still alive so this should work, although I've never really tried to grow root from something that doesn't normally make them. But from what I remember you can grow new Chestnut trees from cuttings so this should work. I leave both branches on my desk and retrieve a pot filled with soil.

I take the large branch and stick it inside the small pot and make it grow roots, while I keep it stable and upright with my field while also grabbing my wood carving knife. I cut the large branch at the top, cutting a hole in its side a foot from the top. I take the small branch and place it in the hole before growing both branches together.

Next I have the large branch base, growing it outwards into a large wood bulb. I use my saw to cut the branch out of the pot and lay it on its side. I cut the bulb halfway, I use my saw to make it as flat as possible, then I stand it up. I back up and look at my newest creation.

It's seven feet tall and the top nears the ceiling, one foot down is the smaller branch sticking out sideways, and the bulb at its bottom has formed a stable base so it doesn't wobble around, it also has a few small twigs with leaves along the whole thing. I decompose what's left of the Chestnut in the pot and take it, and the new bird perch with me into the main room.

I set it up near the window, and as so as it's upright and in position Entropy immediately lands on the sideways branch. I smile up at her, "I'm glad you like it." I fill the pot with some more soil, and then pollinate and collect a seed from the Companion vine.

I plant the seed in the pot and place it at the bird perch base, I then grow it up and along the perch. I'm hoping the vine will be enough to keep it alive and let it maintain its natural look, I also may have to give it some life magic but it shouldn't be much if I do. Me and Entropy still need to retrieve the other blocks of wood so I enjoy some tea while waiting.

This is going to take a while.

Author's Note

Can I offer you a slice of life?

Thanks for reading. :D

Chapter 61

OCT 3 Friday.

I wake up and go through my routine of healing myself and doing my morning exercises. I have my first biweekly meeting with Celestia later today, It's at three in the afternoon and it's only six right now so I have a lot of the day still free. And I don't mind that as there is something I want to work on.

I make some breakfast and feed Entropy her food. I eat while looking out the window and see small flakes of snow falling outside. It seems winter is a little early this year, it's not unheard of but still not common either. I just enjoy the view and eat my food.

Once I'm done and have everything cleaned up I head into my workroom. Next to a shelve I have the seven Chestnut wood blocks stacked together, I don't have a use for all of them, but I do want to turn one into a bird bath for Entropy. She should prefer that to me taking her in the shower.

But making a regular bird bath would be boring so let's have some fun. I take one of the blocks and move it over to my desk. I've been doing a little testing on how detailed I can get when decomposing away unwanted wood, and have made a little progress.

I lack the control to do fine work for now, but taking out rough chunks to speed up the process is relatively easy, only taking some time. I started by grabbing my wood carving kit, it's seen less use as the wood I normally work with is too tough, but now it will see some use once again.

I use my magic to take out a rough amount to form a base, I do the same to form a bowl on the top. After cleaning all the soil off and using it to feed several of my plants I start doing the detailed work. Right now I have a wide base that thins and then widens into a bowl on top.

I start by cleaning up the base using my tools and some sandpaper. I slowly make my way up the bird bath, and after three hours I've finished most of the outside. The next, and last, part takes over an hour by itself, as the bowls inside needs to be smoothed out.

Once I'm finally done with the carving I can move on to the enchantments. I want it to fill with water and also keep Entropy from flinging water everywhere when she cleans herself. The first part is easy as I'll just use the same enchantment I use on my flask.

I enchant a small ruby as that should provide enough water. The shield will take more work though, I need it to just stop water from leaving the shield but not any water on or inside Entropy. None of this is that hard, just time-consuming, it takes me two hours to get the shield right.

When I'm done I enchant the shield into a small sapphire. I take both gems and hollow out places for them on the birdbath base. And once everything is finally ready I move it to the main room. Entropy is currently sleeping on her new perch that she seems to love.

I take the bird bath next to the perch and let the enchantments do their work. I add some water as it will take a while to fill on its own. It's not very large but it should do just fine for her. I admire my work a little before heading back into my workroom.

I want to bring something to show Celestia, nothing fancy, honestly, it will be more of a toy than anything. I just want to know what she thinks of it as it may give me some inspiration, or even just something to talk about with her. I grab one of my steel wood blocks and get to work.

The heavily modified float spell I made has a quirk to it that I didn't realize at the time I made it. Depending on how much magic you give it determines how strongly it will keep an object stable, the minimum is just enough to keep it from falling out of the air.

Take my small planet for example. It doesn't have much magic so I can just take the ruby off by pulling on it a little. If I increased the magic the float spell gets it would be much harder to move it around without turning the enchantment off.

And this gave me a fun idea. I take the float spell and modify it slightly, changing the area it floats things in. When I'm done I enchant the small cube of Steel wood and activate the enchantment, I let go of the cube midair and watch as it just stays there not falling.

I had the enchantment only effect itself letting it just stay in the air forever. The best part is that I weakened the effects of the spell just enough for it to not move, but for me to still be able to overpower it and move it around with ease. I take a while to just play around with it before stopping.

I check the time and see I still have a few hours left before my meeting, so I decide to just practice with life magic until it's time to go.

small time skip

I place an illusion over Entropy and put on my saddlebags and cloak as I prepare to leave. My meeting is in a short while and I need to leave, so I take the Steel wood cube I enchanted earlier along with some paper and writing supplies before leaving my apartment.

I step out into the street, the snowfall has only increased and the ground is now covered with an inch of snow. I walk the streets with a few other ponies as I make my way to the palace, I've kept her letter as an invite for when I get there.

I've done this a few times now so I just walk up to a guard and show them the letter, and like those last few times a guard leads me through the palace. And I'm once again led to a doorway, before I'm let in I take a moment to take off and fold up my cloak before stuffing it in my saddlebags.

And when I'm led inside I see Celestia at a table waiting for me, I give her a bow and sit down with her. "Hello Shade, thank you for joining me. I hope things are still going well?"

I nod to her, "Yes everything is just fine princess, and thank you for inviting me. It's always a treat to see the palace." I try to be less formal than I have been in the past but still use her title.

And she doesn't seem to mind. "It's fine and you're free to use my name, not many do. I see you've brought Entropy with you." She says while looking at Entropy who's still on my back.

And Entropy stares back at her. I'm not sure if Entropy likes her yet but Entropy doesn't seem to mind her presence if nothing else. "Yes I wanted to talk about her with you, but first I have something of a gift."

She just smiles as Entropy stares her down before giving me her full attention after I speak. "You always bring me things, not that I mind." She says this in a joking manner.

But I don't mind and just take out the small wooden cube, I pass it over to her and let her inspect it for a few moments. "It's nothing important, more a small oddity than anything, but I thought you might find it interesting." She passes the cube back to me.

I tap it twice and activate the enchantment before moving it in front of both of us over the table. And I just let go of it with my field, and it works just as intended staying still in the air. She smiles at it before casting a spell on it, "Definitely interesting. What spell did you use for this? I can detect one."

I make a mental note that she can detect spells with some form of spell. "A heavily modified float spell, it can be used to specify an area where it will keep objects stable and in the air. This one I made is weak enough to be moved without needing to turn it off."

After my explanation she does just that, moving the cube around and letting it stop in the air. "You're right it is more of a toy than anything, but it's still an interesting application for a float spell. I don't think I've ever seen it used like this before. I have seen others accomplish the same thing, but this is a much more elegant solution."

I just nod to her, "Thank you. And I suppose it could be called elegant, I'd just call it simple. Honestly I find the material I used more interesting."

She doesn't ask and just pours us some tea, so I just take that as a sign to continue. "It's Iron oak, but I found that if I saturate a small amount of it in enough life magic its properties are enhanced past its normal limits. Although it's still wood and has a tendency to burn when too much magic moves through it."

She does nothing but smile as I explain, "You remind me of my student, she also likes to discover new things. Do you mind if I keep it? I like collecting small oddities like this."

I shake my head, "Go ahead I don't really have a use for it, and I can just make more wood."

She nods and the small cube is turned off and placed on the table. "As for Entropy I'm afraid I don't know much, I did spend some time looking through the royal library to see if I could find more but still I didn't find much."

She drinks some tea as I wait for her to continue. "I found a few myths and legends about the Night Crow, but most of that seemed more like speculation and hearsay. But I did find one thing, it was vague and the text was very damaged, but what I did find was interesting."

I'm excited to finally learn anything about Entropy, so I just keep quiet. "It was an old text and the author is unknown but it spoke of an ancient bird made from the night that protected them from beasts. They are said to blend into shadows and move through nothing."

I raise a brow as she stops. "That's it?" She nods, "Well that is definitely vague but it's better than nothing, thank you for taking the time to look for anything you could find."

She just keeps her smile and nods. "It's no problem, I was also curious about her. And you now have a hint of what she might be capable of."

I nod, "Yes that part about shadows, I haven't seen her do anything like that before but it wouldn't be far-fetched from what I've seen of her abilities." The prospect of Entropy being able to work with shadows in some way is something I'll have to test with her later.

"I also wanted to ask you something else, how smart is Philomena?"

She looks thoughtful, "In what way?"

"Well Entropy understands me enough to bring things to me and take me to specific places when I ask her to, and she's learned two words so far. That's why I was asked how smart Philomena is, to try and compare the two of them."

"What are the words she knows?"

As if on cue Entropy joins our conversation. "Berry, What?" She says both words to Celestia.

She raises a brow at Entropy. "That's what I mean, I didn't even have to ask her she just listened and knew. Honestly she's less than a year old and I'm starting to wonder how smart she will get."

She's silent for a moment, "I can say for certain that Philomena has never spoken, she does know where to take me or my letters when I ask. But I'm not sure how much she understands beyond that. Now that I think of it I can point out a few cases but they are very few."

"And if I compare Philomena to Entropy it's not really a competition. What just happened shows she at least understands we are talking about her and her ability to mimic speech. I can think of many magical animals that have an understanding of someponies intentions but few know how to speak, or understand what others are saying to them."

"Really? I thought there were a few ponies that could understand animals?" I'm curious as ponies like Fluttershy can do something like that.

"Yes and no, Someponies can but it's more about intent and body language than actual words."

"So this is also a dead end? Well it was worth a try. Do you have anything else you wanted to talk about? I'm out of questions."

"I have a few, but first have you ever tried teaching her new words?"

"No not in a structured way, I have tried to help her mimic more words but I'm not sure she's ready yet. Like I said she's not even one yet and her intellect is still growing, but that does sound like a decent idea once she's grown up some. Thank you."

"No problem. Keeping on the topic of Entropy, you said she moved you both through a place you called the void? What is that exactly?"

I think over the best way to describe it before answering. "I only appear there for fractions of a second each time so I don't know much. But I know that there is nothing there, no light or dark, no sound, no downwards pull, nothing to stand on. It is an almost complete void."

"Almost?"

"Yes almost, while I'm there I can still feel my body and magic. But I'm not sure what else is really there as like I said I spend only tiny moments there. I haven't tested anything like trying to stay there or anything, I'd rather not get stuck."

She once again nods. "That's probably for the best, teleportation can be a dangerous thing. Moving on, are you still doing ok? Anything bothering you?"

I smile at her, it's nice to have somepony ask that. "About the same, as in life is just going, nothing to really complain about right now. And even some good news, your idea worked and I now have some glowing paste, it's not very useful but it's fun to mess around with. And using a brighter strain of Moon Glow gives it a pretty bright glow even I dilute it, letting me make it very bright."

"Brighter strain?"

I nod, "Yes I breed a type that is brighter and one that is dimmer, it was mostly just to practice but they have their uses. Beyond that the new cleansing spell should be done in three weeks, probably a bit more though as I need to make sure everything is working right."

She smiles at that. "Speaking of spells I heard something that I thought you should know about." I drink some tea while listening to her. "Recently a few of my researchers and two that happen to also be nobles requested to know who's been making all the new spells."

I choke on my drink a bit at hearing that, after a little coughing I recover enough to speak. "And your response?"

"I told them it was a gift from a pony that works for me, not a lie but also not the truth. I won't reveal that you have anything to do with it unless you want me two, but ponies are starting to notice so many spells coming out and the cleansing spell will be much more noticeable. It's not often that a new healing spell is made, even if it's only for cleaning many will take notice."

I let out a sigh at that, I try to think of a good way to deal with that but can't see a good solution. Why not ask her? She's probably dealt with similar things in the past, :fuck it?: "I have no idea what to do about that, do you have any suggestions?"

Her smile grows a little. "I have one, although it may seem counterintuitive. I say you give them what they want, just not all of what they want."

I think I see where she's going with this. "So something like a writer's name? Give them a name so they have something to look for while sitting right in front of them."

She nods. "Precisely, most will look for anything connected to that name and I don't think many if any would suspect you."

It does seem like the easiest way to solve this before it gets out of control, and she's right basically nopony would suspect a library apprentice. "Thank you again. And I'll give it some thought before giving you a name to use."

"Good, and no need for thanks. Well, our time is running short, is there anything else you'd like to talk about before we are done?"

I think that over for a moment. "Yes actually, how far away would you say my apartment is from here?"

I see her realize the what I'm thinking. "Around ten miles probably a little more, I'm guessing you're thinking of having Entropy deliver your letters here?"

"Yes exactly, she can make a trip like that twice without needing to rest halfway and it would make things more convenient. Would it be fine with you?"

"Yes but I'll need to find a place she can come and go from, I can get that ready by the next time we meet. Thank you for coming Shade and have a good day."

I stand up and give her another bow. "Same to you princess," I say back in a joking way. She just smiles as a guard leads me back outside.

Author's Note

Will you all please stop guessing what I'm writing about as I'm writing it? JK do it more I want to see how much you all can get right. :D

Also Shade's pen name, got any ideas? I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks for reading.

Ps this and the last chapter where setup for there meeting and things will start moving faster soon.

Chapter 62

OCT 31 Friday.

It's been just under a month and a few things of note have happened in that time. My second meeting with Celestia and also her showing Entropy a room she can deliver letters to. It was a small blank room with only a single table in it, but that worked just fine for us.

On the same day I also told her the fake name she could use for me, Veil Winter. It's got nothing to do with my name and should throw off any attempts to find me.

Beyond that over the past month, I have been using almost all of my free time to finish the cleansing spell, and that paid off when I finished it two weeks early. However I didn't send it to Celestia yet as I wanted to improve and polish the spell to the best of my ability before giving it to her.

I did this both because it's at least somewhat important to her, and because I wanted my first healing spell to be fully complete and triple-checked for any mistakes. And yesterday at our last meeting I was able to give it to her, but it wasn't as much of a celebration as you'd think.

Celestia had a somewhat gloomy mood the whole time, she was definitely happy with the spell being done but I could tell she wasn't in a good mood. Why? Well we met yesterday and today is Nightmare Night, and I'd imagine that this day isn't much of a holiday for her.

I am glad she got some good news before today, I hope that helps her in some way. But enough of the sad talk, beyond that everything else is progressing nicely. Caelum thinks I should be done learning from her in a few weeks or a month at the most, and that time is just to make sure I remember everything I've learned.

It's not an emotional goodbye for me, unlike Stone or Blaz I never developed much of a relationship with Caelum. The most I could say is she's a good teacher that I liked to learn from and would do so again. Moving onto Stone things have been going well, if you can call me getting my flank kicked well.

Apparently I've learned enough about daggers to have a basic amount of skill, so now we've started working on the greatsword. And just like the dagger I get my flank kicked back and forth until I learn something. I also asked him what we'll do when I'm done learning the basics of the greatsword.

And he doesn't really know, I remember him telling me he doesn't know how to fight with both a dagger and a greatsword. So his plan seems to just be to have me fight him while he uses various weapons and I use a dagger and greatsword until I learn my own combat style.

I'm not sure if that will work but other combat styles had to start somewhere so I'll give it a try, I'll probably also see if I can find any books that could help, but considering how peaceful this world is I won't get my hopes up.

Next is my work with Ruby Rose, and It's been going just fine, I should be fluent enough in written Griffin by the time the new year starts to take over for her. I've also gotten to know Ruby a bit better, but much like Caelum I don't think we'll ever be more than teacher and student.

As for me right now? I'm at home right now cooking some breakfast to start my day. I'm not planning on going out as many will be walking around and I also rather not walk around in the cold and busy streets. I also have some things I want to work on today, so after eating my food while Entropy uses her bath I head to my workroom.

I don't have a main project to work on so I'll be doing some experimentation today, specifically with plants. A while ago I was grinding down more Moon Glow to see how long the powder would last before its magical effects fade. But while growing a Moon Glow I saw it have an unintended effect.

I've been selectively breeding the brighter strain of Moon Glow while harvesting the petals trying to make it brighter, but one of them developed a small mutation. The effect that makes its petals spread into all its leaves, I'm not sure how this happened but I got lucky finding it as the glow was so soft I almost missed it.

Its glow is so soft it almost looks like it's just light reflecting off the leaves, but after picking a leaf and putting it in the dark it definitely glows. I sit at my desk with two pots filled with soil and some Moon Glow Seeds, these seeds are from the Moon Glow that mutated.

I plant a seed in both pots and grow them, I start breeding them again and again while picking out those that glowed the most. I want to see how far I can push this mutation and how much I can make the plant glow. I don't really have a reason for doing this beyond my curiosity.

The Moon Glow doesn't take much magic to grow as it's a small flower, this lets me go through many generations before running out of magic. And after forty-seven generations I'm almost out of magic and go to make some fresh tea, and some lunch.

I leave my workroom and see Entropy sleeping on her perch, she doesn't sleep anywhere else anymore and I'm happy she likes it. I get to work making some tea and food while reading up on some healing magic. I've made much progress in healing magic but I'll still need to study much more if I want to make better healing spells.

Entropy wakes up a while after I start cooking, I pass her a bowl of food I made her. We both eat in silence like most days as the snow falls heavily outside. After I'm done eating I go back to breeding plants, it's a slow process but over time I see the small changes accumulate.

I stopped to drink more tea, but it's gone cold. I think on that for a second, let's fix that. I decided to take a break from plant breeding and start modifying the heating spell. It's a very simple spell so after an hour I'm done, I enchant my metal teapot and activate it.

The spell is very weak but it should keep my tea nice and warm for as long as I like. I continue my plant breeding, by the time I'm done it's a little brighter than when I started. It will take me much more time to get the leaves to glow like the flower but it should be possible with enough time.

I still have a lot of the day left but not much to really do, I walk back into the main room and sit facing the window. The snowfall is even worse now, I watch as flakes of snow fall in uncountable numbers past my window. I find my sketchbook and start drawing the view.

I draw the outlines of different builds that I can just make out through the snowfall. I take my time with it and try to add as much detail as I can. It's a slow process taking me two hours to get right, but it comes out to be one of my better drawings. I sit there for a moment trying to think of what to do next.

I could start thinking of gifts? Hearth's Warming is in a few weeks and I'll need gifts for a few ponies. Daisy always likes new paints, and Blaz always likes puzzles, as for Maple I know she likes anything involving pie and a few other sweets. I start scratching away at some paper thinking of different things I could give them.

I can buy some small things for them next week, but I also need to buy some necessities. After finishing my list I stand up and stretch and start practicing my runic casting. At this point I can form a four-foot-long line of magic without using my hooves,

I've made good progress but still far from forming a spell matrix. I'll need around eight to ten feet just to form a basic spell, and I'll also still need to form the matrix with that line and memorize it before I can cast it instantly. I continue my practice as the sky grows darker.

time skip

NOV 1 Saturday.

I keep my cloak close as I make my way through the snowfall. After a while, I enter the library and make my way to the right room. I enter and take off my cloak while moving to my work desk, "Find your way through the snow?" I look over to Ruby as she asks me that.

"Just fine, but I'm wondering what the weather teams feel like right now? Probably cold." She just nods before going back to work, and I do the same sitting down and getting to work. All this snowfall is from a rogue storm that got out of control, and from what I hear the weather teams are having a hard time with it.

Rogue weather is the term given to any weather not made or controlled by ponies, basically it's what a human would call normal weather. But there's nothing to be worried about as all that this storm brought is higher snowfall than normal and some stronger winds.

It can make it hard to move through the streets though, but the weather teams made an announcement and this storm should be lessened by tomorrow and gone in two or three days. I focus on my work as the hours tick by, I stop when it's lunchtime and make my way to the breakroom.

I sit down with Blaz, Daisy, and Maple like always. But I pause as I see Maple, she seems tired, like really tired. She looks the same as normal but her movements are slow and she's sluggish to react, "Did you not get enough sleep last night Maple?"

She turns to me and blinks slowly, "I'm fine, just tired." She says this while sounding a little out of it.

I raise a brow at the way she answered me, she must really be tired to not even be able to form a half-decent response. I've known Maple for almost a year now, and I know she's not a morning pony. And this isn't the first time I've seen her tired, but this is more than normal.

I just give her a nod, "If you say so, but tell me if you need help with something ok?"

She gives me another slow blink, "Sure." I'm not sure if she really understood me but I got an answer. I turn to Daisy and look at her while gesturing with my head to Maple and giving her a questioning look. She just shrugs and shares my look of confusion.

Maybe I'm worrying over Maple too much? She is an adult and is probably just dealing with something. So I'll do what a friend should offer help and wait until she either accepts, or until she needs help so badly that I do it without asking.

But for now, I'll just hope she's ok and wait until she needs my help. It sucks, but like I said she's an adult and as a friend, I'll have faith she can take care of herself. After talking with Blaz and Daisy for the rest of lunch I make my way back to work. A few hours later I'm free and start making my way out of the library.

As I do so I also see Maple leave the library. Why the hell would she be leaving in this weather? Food? Maybe something she needs? My curiosity is killing me, but this isn't some pony I don't know, this is my friend and I shouldn't dig into her business.

So I let it go and made my way home in the falling snow. Maybe I should invite her to do something, get her mind off of work for a bit, and talk to her?

Author's Note

I was thinking of just using the suggested names as inspiration, but there where just so many good ones. And I couldn't decide, so I decided to just mash two of them together, and I think it came out decent.

Thanks to everyone who suggested something, I may use the other names for oc characters later on.

Thanks for reading as always. :D

Chapter 63

NOV 6 Thursday.

It's been a few days now and Maple seems to be doing much better. She still looks a little tired but seems to be doing better overall, Daisy did end up getting a bit annoyed with her for leaving in a storm and has been forcing Maple to take breaks. I've never really seen Daisy like that but apparently she can be stubborn and a little scary when she wants to.

I'm just happy Maple seems to be ok, and as for her leaving in that storm? nopony asked, why didn't I? Like I said it's not my business and she deserves at least that much trust as my friend. Moving on I have some plans today and something exciting to do, I need to go shopping.

Right now I'm going through my saddlebags and cleaning them out for today. I won't be taking Entropy with me as I don't want to deal with her for a while and she doesn't really like being snowed on, but she can take care of herself and will be fine here. Once I have my saddlebags emptied out I find my card and put on my cloak and saddlebags before leaving my apartment.

I walk through the streets as small flakes of snow fall around me. My first order of business is finding gifts for my friends, I didn't try to keep it as much of a surprise and just asked them what they would like as a gift.

Maple just asked for some good tea and sweets. I don't want to give her Blood Leaf Tea so I'll have to find some other type to give her, and the sweets are easy enough to find.

Blaz wanted puzzles to noponies surprise, but he also asked me to send him a few good fish recipes, turns out the second foal his son is having is a Bat pony and he wants to know how to cook for them if he ever needs to in the future.

Daisy just asked for some paint and a new set of brushes, specifically any types of blue paint I could find, apparently she still hasn't found the right one.

They also asked me what I wanted as a gift. I asked Daisy to paint a pot for me as I thought it would be a nice thing to add some art to my home. From Blaz I asked for a chess set, I think I might know a princess that would enjoy a game or two. And from maple, I asked for a pie pan and a pie recipe that uses tea.

That last one was both a legitimate request and me wanting to see if she can actually find a pie that uses tea. I walk through the markets and shops looking for anything that catches my eye. I find a stall selling maple-shaped maple flavored sweets and buy them, I can't pass on a gag gift.

I found a small puzzle box, it's made from wood and after having the seller tell me how to open it I bought it, the puzzle box is a hard puzzle and I think Blaz will enjoy the challenge. I already know enough recipes so that's blaz off my list, and if I lock those recipes in a puzzle box I happen to own that's not my fault.

I keep looking and fail to find any stalls with paint or brushes, so I have to go through a few shops to find what I'm looking for. It takes me longer but I find several shades of blue paint along with a few other colors and some decent brushes.

That only leaves Maple who wants some tea. And that brings me to the exciting thing, during the winter Equestria has a shortage of many types of herbs. So often during winter trade caravans from the Zebras come to sell cheap herbs at a profit.

The dry savanna plains they live in are easy to travel through if you know what you are doing, and that easy travel gives them easy access to many environments with many types of plants and herbs. I didn't know about them last year but I do now and I'm not missing the opportunity to get some interesting plants.

I don't have to leave the city to find them but I still have to walk to the other side of the market and that takes a while in the snow. When I do find the right place I see several stalls with markings I don't recognize with zebras wearing cloaks like me. I guess they don't like the snow.

I look through their stalls, this is the only Zebra caravan here right now and it's a smaller one so I won't find any really good things, but I could still find a few things that would be useful.

But first I need to find some tea for Maple so let's start there. I see a stall selling specifically tea and tea products. The stall owner is talking to somepony so I take my time to look through the teas they have, and I find a nice apple tea that she should like, Maple will never tell me what flavor of pie is her favorite but I know she likes apple pie.

I wait as the zebra and pony talk over the price of something. Zebras are known for their herbs and potions, but they don't export many potions to others as most potions degrade rather fast and can be hard to transport. So instead they bring the ingredients and take commissions for whatever you'd like.

It lets them sell their potions without a lot of the logical problems, the downside is that if you want one of their potions and they aren't here you either need to go to them or wait for them to show up again. The stall owner and pony seem to have come to an agreement and the pony leaves.

I walk up. "I'd like this please." I place the small bag of apple tea on the table.

They nod, "Fifteen bits I shall need, in order to take that you've decreed." And like many zebras, they talk in rhyme. I just pass them the bits and take the tea, It's an apple tea, something you can find commonly in Canterlot but the Zebras are good with making tea and this tea is of a much higher quality than what I'd be able to buy for that price.

I look through several other stalls before coming to one with a few plants in pots and many dried herbs. There are also a few small jars filled with seeds and labeled with paper tags, I look through them and see many names I recognize. Most are normal and common herbs.

But a few of them caught my interest. Solar Vine seeds and Frost Bloom seeds, both I've heard and know of, I wouldn't mind owning them. After not finding anything else in the jars that I'd want I move onto the few small plants they have. Again most are things I can find here, but two are different.

The first is Spicy Red Root, I don't recognize it but it catches my interest. It's a large thick root with small fern-like leaves growing out of the top. I'm intrigued and grab it, I'll ask the seller and look around at the library to see what I can find out about it.

The last is by far the most and also least interesting. It's a small and clearly struggling Venus Fly Trap, I don't know how they have kept it alive in this cold as it's not known to like the cold at all. It's nearly identical to Venus Fly Trap I know, the only difference being its color, a deep purple with reddish stripes.

I have no use for this plant but I'm still buying it, why? Who wouldn't want one? It's a cool plant to have and I think it will be fun to just have around, plus fly's are annoying and I wouldn't mind having less of them in my life.

After looking through the rest of what they have nothing else catching my interest, I just buy what I have and ask a few questions about the plants before walking home. When I do get home I store the seeds and start working on the Venus Fly Trap, I'm surprised it's lasted this long in the cold and it needs help.

The Zebra said they didn't know anything about the Venus Fly Trap so I'm on my own. I start by feeling its magical flows, they are weak and sluggish. I start feeding it life magic and watch as the leaves and maws regain color. The purple lightens some as the red deepens, and the plant now looks much more healthy and stable. I take it to my window and place it with the others.

I go and grab a small sapphire to enchant, I don't know what the plant wants as I'll need to look into it later, but I know it will probably need a warmer and wetter environment. So I just settled for copying the jungle environment spell and placing the sapphire in its pot.

I'll keep an eye on it but it should at least stay somewhat stable now. I started with the Spicy Red Root next, I was able to ask the Zebra selling it about what it is. They didn't say much, just that it's a common food for a lot of them and you can eat it raw or cooked beyond that its name says it all.

I don't know how the plant flowers so I just have to brute force it with my magic, this takes longer and much more magic but after some effort I have several seeds from the Spicy Red Root. That name is a bit of a mouthful, isn't it?

I plant one of these seeds just to make sure they'll grow properly. I plant it and after a little while I have another Red Root, I think I'll just call it that, it seems easier. I take the new root out of the pot and start washing off all the dirt in my sink, I grab my knife and cutting board.

I cut off the top part that connects to the leaves, I spent a little while cutting it into several pieces. The inside is a deep crimson that looks like blood, I fill a pot with water and drop it inside before putting the lid of the pot on, and then putting it on the stovetop to heat up and cook.

I'm not sure how long I need to boil them so I'll check on them while cooking the fish. For the fish I do what I normally do, slice it into pieces and cook it in a pan with several seasonings. I have to go in between checking on the fish and Red Root but after a while both are done.

The Red Root came out much like a potato, it's soft and creamy with a nice amount of spice to it. Although its red color seems to stain a lot. But the Red Root goes well with my fish and Entropy also seems to like them, I don't remember if crows can taste spice but she doesn't seem to mind either way.

I'm definitely using this more in my cooking. After lunch I take the Red Root I still have and leave it next to my window with the rest of my plants. I still have two other plants that I got, well they are seeds, not plants but that's semantics. I grab a pot filled with soil and start with the Frost Bloom.

The Frost Bloom is a small flower, it has a white stem with very deep green leaves and light blue petals. Its base has several thick leaves with small thorns on their tips, all these leaves are connected to its main stem that rises high to form its flower.

The flower itself looks similar to a thistle without its bulb, it is a collection of light blue needles that form a small tuft on top. This flower doesn't have any magical properties or effects, you can't even make much with it. But it has one quality that made me buy it.

It can grow in very cold temperatures, far beyond almost any other plant. Its natural environment is snowy mountain tops and plateaus. It also has a small bulb under the plant that lets it hibernate until the winter much like a poppy, and when winter comes it grows out of the ground and blooms.

This lets it grow and breed without competition, and most animals won't eat it as it's slightly poisonous. You don't see them much in Equestria as they aren't from here, I wanted the plant because I might be able to crossbreed it with other plants to make them cold-resistant.

I grow a single flower in the pot and have it grow several new seeds for me to store. I take the pot and place it on my countertop as it does look nice despite its cold nature. The last plant I found is by far the most interesting one, the Solar Vine.

It grows on rocky outcroppings in the desert, and it does basically the same thing as the Moon Glow. The Moon Glow converts ambient magic into lunar magic, the Solar Vine stores solar magic it gathers during the day and releases it at night to attract bugs and their predators just like the Moon Glow.

Both plants use this to help themselves grow, but that's where they become opposites. The Solar Vine only collects solar magic and can't convert it from neutral magic. Its glow is also weaker than the Moon Glows. I planted the Solar Vines seed in a new pot with a branch from my Iron Oak as support.

I push my magic into the seed and watch as it grows up the branch. Its body is almost identical in color to sandstone, I presume that's to blend in to not be eaten. Its leaves are a sandy yellow-green that grows at certain points along the vine, at the base of these leaves are bean-sized white flowers.

I grow new seeds from the plant and store them like the others. I take the vine out into my main room and place it at the base of Entropy's perch and grow it along the perch with the Companion Vine. The Companion vine should also keep the Solar Vine alive despite the cold.

It should be relatively fine as desert plants need to deal with both extreme heat and cold. I haven't needed to give Entropy's perch any life magic so the Companion Vine should have enough for both. After checking on all my other plants I sit down and start wrapping the gifts I got.

Author's Note

150k not as big of a thing as 100k but still a milestone. I don't really have anything planed for this, but if any of you have questions you wanted to ask but haven't go for it.

Although if the question is about the story I may be a tight lipped or vague about it.

Thanks for reading as always and have a good day. :D

Chapter 64

Nov 14 Friday.

It's been a week since I bought my new plants and I've learned a few things about them. First the Spicy Red Root, honestly what I found on this plant is mostly cooking recipes and a way to make red dye with it. It comes from the savanna and is a popular crop for the Zebra's.

Second the Venus Fly Trap, or what they call it the Bug Trap, I prefer the human name but both work. It's not edible and can't be used for anything and is mostly valued for its ability to kill bugs. And it's known to grow in wet jungles or marshes so it should do just fine with the jungle environment spell I used.

Third, the Frost Bloom, I already said where it's native to and what it does. The only other thing I found out about it is that while it is poisonous if used right it can help with pain, although you have to be very careful not to poison somepony while using it.

Fourth, the Solar Vine. Same as the Frost Bloom I already explained most things about the Solar Vine. The only new thing I learned is that I can make a bitter tea from its flowers that helps with indigestion, but I don't think that will be of much use to me.

Besides my new plants I've also finished with my practice of Griffin, Caelum said I was done and so I was. There were no tears or heartfelt goodbyes, I simply paid her for the last time and said goodbye after thanking her.

I have a few things I want and need to do today. I have my meeting with Celestia later and I want to work with my new plants. Right now I just returned from a trip through the Void courtesy of Entropy, and she can now make two round trips twice a day.

"Thanks girl, good job." I feed her a few berries.

"Good." Another new word she learned two days ago.

I smile and scratch her, "Yes good." I leave Entropy on her perch and move into my workroom. I take three filled pots and grab a Soler Vine seed and a Gripping Vine seed. I've never used the Gripping Vine for anything and long ago decomposed the plant I had while keeping seeds.

I plant both and grow them until they are large enough to grow flowers. I picked the Gripping Vine to crossbreed with the Solar Vine as both have several traits in common. And my goal is to increase how fast the Solar Vine grows and how tall it can grow.

The Gripping Vine can grow higher and faster than most other Vines while still staying stable. I want those traits for the Solar Vine, and I also want to increase the Solar Vine's glow but that will come later. I start by moving pollen from one plant to another while using my life magic to grow new seeds.

Over the next three hours I grow many seeds that either don't grow, or grow into a worse plant that I have no use for. By the time I stop I don't get any good results, but that is to be expected as I am basically just mashing two plants together and hoping for a good result.

I check the time and see I still have a few hours until my meeting. I eat some lunch while thinking over something I've thought about a few times this week. What should I get Celestia? She probably doesn't need anything but she's helped me and I want to do so.

She'd probably prefer something personal as a gift. I start thinking over the problem again and after a while I get an idea, and it involves the Iron Oak. The Iron Oak will grow as fast as it can with how tough the wood is, so an Iron Oak with weaker wood grows faster, and one with stronger wood grows slower.

I think this happens because the tree doesn't want to have different parts of itself having different amounts of strength. If half the trunk can withstand a tornado and the other can't it won't end well for the tree.

My idea is to make a small Iron Oak that has been strengthened so much it almost doesn't grow, it still will but if I can make it Steel wood then it could take years to grow even a small amount.

I walk over to my Iron Oak and start growing a small acorn, I keep it small but let it fully develop before collecting it. I have a smaller clay pot that should work just fine, I take it and fill it with the proper soil before planting the small acorn.

I let the seed grow but keep it as small as I can. I slowly grow it into a small bonsai tree, it looks fully grown but is only half a foot tall. Once I'm done growing it and styling it, I start dumping my life magic into it. I still have a few hours until my meeting and by that time I should be able to make this small tree all Steel wood.

I spend this time draining my magic into the tiny tree and taking breaks where I draw and drink tea. By the time I have to leave the tree is ready, it will now grow very slowly and be pretty hard to kill as it has a lot of life magic in it. I grab my saddlebags and leave my apartment.

I've been through the process of showing the guards my invite and having them lead me. But that's where things go a little wrong, standing as a guard for the room is Shining Armor. I recognize him and I know he recognized me. :God fucking DAMMIT! Why is it you every time? I don't even have a table to flip right now:

Despite my worries, I'm thankful that he stays professional and doesn't say anything to me, the other guard opens the doors and I walk in trying my best to pretend I don't recognize him. I'll have to think of something if I ever need to explain this to him. Honestly with Twilight being Celestia's student I'm surprised I haven't run into her yet.

I walk in and bow to her like always before dropping the formalities and sitting down. "It's nice to see you as always Celestia."

"Same to you Shade, I'd like to start off by apologizing if I was a bit off at our last meeting." She sounds genuine and looks a bit down.

I wave my hoof. "We all have bad days. Anyway, here, Happy Hearth's Warming." I passed her the Iron Oak.

She smiles a little at this, I'm glad that helped lift her mood a little. "Thank you, but you didn't have to get me anything."

I just smile back. "You've helped me a lot by just having somepony to talk to, and that didn't stop me last year."

She looks over the tree for a few moments. "Hmm, isn't this an Iron Oak?"

I nod. "You decided to learn about it then?"

She nods back. "Yes, after our first meeting I wondered if any others found out how to grow Steel wood. But I couldn't find anything beyond just framing and harvesting it, not that I'm very surprised as you were only able to make it because of your magic. Did you pick this tree for any reason? It seems odd for you to choose something so normal."

I smile at her jab. "Yes I picked it for a unique property it has, the more life magic used to strengthen it the slower it will grow." I drink some of the tea and enjoy its taste, I don't know who she has make it, but it's much better than when I make it. "That tree will take years to grow."

"I saw that being mentioned in a few books, a creative way to make a house plant. Thank you for the gift, it's lovely." She moves it to the side of the table.

"I'm glad you like it, also the wood is very tough so when you do need to trim it you'll probably need enchanted tools to do so."

"I'll keep that in mind. Here happy Hearth's Warming." I'm surprised at this but I really shouldn't be. She moves a book over to me and I look at its cover, How To Make Wooden Jewelry By Hardy Wood. I was not expecting this, but it's a welcome gift that I can get some good use out of.

I take a moment to skim through it and see it has several sections, even one on how to embed gems into wooden jewelry. "This is perfect thank you, and you might be getting some jewelry."

She nods. "I'm glad you like it, and that would be nice I don't wear wood often. Now before we move on I thought you'd like to know how the cleansing spell is doing." My ears betray me and stand up showing my interest. She just smiles, a smile I don't trust. "It was open to the public a week ago and to say it's going well would be an understatement."

"I've had the two main hospitals in Canterlot and several others in the region offer you a job and several dozen ponies requesting a meeting with you." That floors me.

"THAT many? I know healing spells aren't made much but this seems a little excessive." Not many make new spells but that still means several dozen good spells, and who knows how many bad ones come out each year. It's been a single week, why the hell would so many care?

Her smile just grows, and I have the feeling she's enjoying my reaction. "A few reasons. First I had all the other spells and inventions you've made were placed under your alias, so the first time many are hearing of you is from taking credit for two popular spells and two widely used inventions. The only thing you didn't get credit for is the Rocky Wheat."

I just give her a tired and deadpan stare. And she just continues to smile back. "Second. While many spells come out very rarely does an established and well-known spell see such a large improvement. And finally, that simple fact that nopony has heard of you before, you're a complete unknown that's done much in a short amount of time."

I just sigh and drain my teacup. Honestly I should have guessed she'd pull something like this, I know she means well and wants me to take credit for my accomplishments, but I also don't want others to know about all this for several reasons. But I also expected something like this. It is odd for an unknown pony to come out of nowhere and improve a spell so much. This is just that but more, I'm not sure whether I want to thank Celestia or prank her. Maybe both?

I speak after filling my cup again. "Thank you for respecting that I don't want my name to be known, and for helping me release all these things," I say this in a tone that shows how unamused I am. "What was the excuse you used for me?"

But this damn princess won't stop smiling at me. "your welcome, and I should be thanking you. I declined all the invites and meeting requests for you, and I told them you work for me as a private researcher meaning you worked for me and me alone, that only resulted in me getting dozens of letters addressed to you."

She takes out a stack of letters bound in string and tied with a bow, I swear she's doing this just to fuck with me at this point. I take the stack and move it to the side, I look back up to her and see that her smile is still there. :Oh fuck there's more:

"And there is one last thing of note, after I declined the hospital's requests for information on you they requested for me to have you work on a certain spell." She passes me a rolled-up piece of paper. I unwind it and see a complex spell matrix, this one for a Blood Loss Prevention spell, commonly shortened to B.L.P.

It's made to save lives by keeping blood loss to a minimum, it creates a small shield around any wounds to seal them. It's not a permanent fix by any means, but it does buy time for the injured party to get proper help. And in a world where travel can take a while it saves many lives often.

But I'm not sure how much I can improve this spell, it's much more complex than any other spell I've worked with before. It uses three rings and eleven different runes on top of all the math. After looking over the spell I place it down and turn back to Celestia. "I've never worked on anything this complex before and I can't guarantee how much success I'll have in improving this spell."

She gives me a reassuring look. "Let me tell you what they want before you reject it." I nod and let her continue. "They are offering a large amount of bits and a stake in the hospital, I wouldn't take the latter offer as they could find your name if your part of their shareholders."

I give her a grateful nod. "Thank you I'll be careful of that in the future."

"You're welcome. In exchange they want you to streamline the spell, specifically, they want you to lessen the magic cost while not sacrificing anything else about the spell." I think about the offer for a moment while taking another look at the spell matrix.

If I'm just cutting down on the magic cost and not making the spell better then this becomes much more doable. Looking at the spell matrix again I can see a few places to improve but this could take a while. I look back up at her, "When would they want it finished?"

"They want it done in a year and will let you go six months over that if you can improve it some by the end of the first year." A year? I spent just over three months on the Cleansing spell and I held it back for two weeks just to double check my work. Celestia sees my surprise. "Most don't make spells as fast as you do."

"How much do they expect me to improve the spell?"

"Ten percent. and for every percent after that, they'll raise your pay by ten percent." It seems they have a way to measure the effects and cost of a spell, I'll have to look into that later. I started really thinking about this offer, if they just want ten percent then I could probably do that, it would take me a few months, maybe half a year but I could do it.

"Why me? I'm an unknown that's only been around for two years." I find it odd they would just offer something like this to me.

"I did tell them you work for me and that comes with a level of legitimacy that most take years to achieve, and while you are new everything you've made is impressively well made."

So after some more thought and studying the matrix, I decided to accept. "I think I could do ten percent but I promise nothing over that."

"Really? Well even if you fail you'll just have to pay a fine to them. Here?" She passes me another piece of paper. It's a contract with more details and how much they'll be paying me.

"HOW MUCH!!" I shout out as Celestia just continues to smile at me.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading, and have a good day.

Chapter 65

DEC 25 Thursday.

I finish wrapping the last gift and place it with the others before standing up to stretch. It's been a little over a month since my last meeting with Celestia. And at the end, she told me she would be busy with a few things and we won't be having any more meetings until January 14.

In the past month things have been going just fine, I've started my work on the B.L.P. spell. I start to go on another internal rant as I make some fresh tea.

The B.L.P. spell works by forming small shields around a wound and keeping the blood inside. This is accomplished by using several runes together and a lot of math to tell the spell where a wound is and where the shield should go. This is all done by the spell so the caster only needs to provide enough magic.

And that is the main reason this spell is so complex. It does almost everything by itself and just needs magic and some will. This is good as a doctor can just cast the spell and not worry too much about blood loss for the next hour. But it also means that the magic cost is very high and like I said, it only lasts one hour, more if you overpower the spell but that's just a waste of magic with how much the cost increases compared to the time you gain.

The good news about this is that while the spell is complex it has many places I can improve. I can now confidently say I can hit the ten percent mark they want, but it's going to take a long while to go through this spell and make sure nothing breaks at the same time. This also explains why they're paying me so much for ten percent.

And that brings me to who's paying me for this, and the answer is complicated, to say the least. The medical system in Equestria is something that could only work with an immortal princess running it.

First, how do hospitals work? Well, Equestria has free healthcare for all citizens paid through taxes, if you're a pony that wants to get medical help you just go there and get it, For the everyday pony it's that easy. But for anypony working in the medical industry, it's a fucked mess.

The medical industry in Equestria is a mix of large crown-sponsored and funded hospitals, with many smaller and privately run clinics owned by others. Then you mix in the guilds that help organize and train doctors and other medical professionals.

Then mix in other schools to teach doctors the same things or more things. Mix in an immortal monarchy and the varying degree of control that the monarchy may choose to use depending on where you live. And the result is something that shouldn't even work, let alone work well, but it does.

I'm not sure about a lot of the specifics, but it turns out that having an immortal semi-divine pony ruling over all this is enough to make it work with a surprising amount of efficiency and success. I bring this all up because it can kind of be confusing as to who this spell is for, and who's paying me for it.

The two specific hospitals that offered this job are partly owned by the crown and the public while being funded through a mix of taxes and revenue gained from other services offered.

The free healthcare I mentioned only provides what you need to be healthy. That includes medical exams, medicines, and anything to do with sickness, injury, and incurable ailments. For anything else, you need to pay them, as for what ailments count and don't? I have no idea, and I'm not opening that can of worms today.

Back to the question. The short answer is that the director of that hospital is paying me with some of their and the crowns money to have me make a spell that will be available to the public and any other medical practices, and in exchange, they'll get a large tax break and a lot of the prestige that comes with the spell.

And that brings me to another thing I now have to deal with, taxes. In Equestria it's pretty easy overall, in June they send you a form telling you how much you own from your income. The crown works with banks to collect that data. You pay them, and you're done.

But if you want to declare any tax exemptions you need to bring a lot of information and proof to the tax offices. Last year I didn't need to pay anything as the crown gives orphans a one-year tax break when they get their first job to help them get their footing. But this year I can't do that.

This leaves me with a question. Should I just pay the amount they ask for or try to get a few exemptions? I think I could claim a few as my work is for the crown and I make things to help others. But honestly fuck that, I'd need a tax professional to do that and I'd have to reveal a lot of information to them that I don't want anypony to know.

Even if I get them to sign a contract or something like an N.D.A. I don't think it's worth the risk. Plus I have far too much money to know what to do with, so I'm just going to pay the higher amount so I don't have to deal with it. But enough about taxes and hospitals.

Moving onto my life. The library is going through some repairs and will be closed until the new year, which means me and everypony else has a week off. And because we can't exchange gifts at work we agreed to meet up at Daisy's apartment later today. I'm done making my tea and start on the next thing I need to do.

I offered to bring some snacks with me so I'm going to make some cookies. I take out some fine white flour I bought and start measuring it out. I measure out all the other dry ingredients and mix them, next I start on the wet ingredients before mixing them together.

I lay out small balls of dough on a baking sheet while preheating my oven. I set a timer on my bracelet and start waiting, I take out the book Celestia gifted me and continue reading it. I've been using this book and small chunks of the Chestnut wood I have to practice my wood carving.

This has helped me improve my wood carving as it has been a fun hobby. And if I use it properly I could make some interesting things if I have the right type of wood and gem. But for now, it's just a way to improve my wood carving until I can get good enough to make decent-quality things.

I read through the book for a while before checking on the cookies, I look at my timer and turn it off. I take the cookies out to cool down and go back to reading. A while later I check the time again, it's six in the afternoon and we're supposed to meet up at six thirty so I should probably get going now. I pick up all my gifts and the fresh cookies before heading to my door. I close my door and lock it behind me, I walk over to Daisy's door and knock.

After a moment Daisy opens her door. "Shade nice to see you, please come inside." She moves to the side and I walk inside. The walls are painted a light red, and the room is much more furnished than mine.

Her apartment is the same as mine in terms of space and layout, with one main room with a window and two side rooms. She has a dining table with a few cushions. By the window, she's made a small nook surrounded by paintings on the walls and a few potted plants.

In the middle is a large plush carpet. "Sit down wherever you like, and tell me if you need anything." Daisy lives up to her friendly and nice attitude with a happy tone.

"Thanks for hosting our little get-together, also I have to say I like the way you've decorated." I look through some of the paintings on the walls. Most look well-made and are mostly paintings of cityscapes and plants. "Are all these paintings you've made?"

She comes back over to me. "Thank you. I pride myself on being able to decorate. Yes and no, most of them are mine but a few I got from my dam, she was a painter for a living." I think I remember her mentioning that before.

"Regardless they're very good." I turn away from the walls and pass her the plate full of cookies. "Here as promised, where do you want me to place these?" I asked while gesturing to my gifts.

"OH, these smell good, thanks for making these. And under the tree is just fine." I move over to what might as well be a Christmas tree that's set up in a corner of the nook. I place the gifts in a few spots, none touching any other. I look around and see Daisy cooking something in the kitchen.

"What are you making?" I walk over to the kitchen but don't enter.

"Hot chocolate, I thought it would go well with the cookies, and I can't resist a good hot chocolate." We both turn as we hear a knock at the door, Daisy walks over and opens the door.

"Blaz, Maple glad you both could make it, come on in Shade's already here." Both Blaz and Maple walk in each with a few gifts.

"Hello you two, have a nice walk through the snow?" I ask as a jab. Blaz just smiles while Maple gives me a deadpan stare.

"Same as ever colt, and yes the cold was lovely you should take a swim later." And like always Blaz jabs back.

"I hope the cold wasn't too bad Maple, I'm making hot chocolate if you want some?" Daisy offers as she closes the door behind them.

"That would be nice, thanks." She responds in a somewhat tired tone.

Daisy nods. "Either of you want any?" Both me and Blaz just nod. "Feel free to sit where you like, and gifts go under the tree."

I decide to sit at the small table, I get comfortable and enjoy the calm atmosphere. Maple also sits at the table while Blaz helps Daisy retrieve some mugs. "So Maple, you seem to be doing better recently, still feeling ok?" I ask as she has been doing better but still looks tired a lot of the time.

She nods. "Yes I'm doing better, this cold has just been brutal, and like I've told you I don't do well in the cold." She's said that a few times now after we pressed her on why she's so tired all the time. She told us that she had a condition that makes her tired when it's cold.

I'm not sure if I believe her, but she also asked us to leave the subject be and so we have. I can't say I'm not still worried or curious, but it's not my place to dig into her life.

Daisy and Blaz walk over and sit down with us before passing out a few mugs and placing the plate of cookies on the table.

We talk while eating through the plate of cookies. I also get a surprise as Daisy eats half the plate by herself, I didn't know she had a sweet tooth for cookies. After a while, we decide to start unwrapping gifts and all lay down on the thick carpet and get cozy.

Daisy speaks up. "How do you all want to do this?"

I think it over for a moment. "Just pick them one at a time?" I offer, I haven't done this in years so I honestly have no idea.

Daisy looks to Maple and Blaz who both shrug. "Randomly it is." She picks one out and reads the name. "From Shade to Blaz." She passes him the gift and he opens it, it's the puzzle box I got him.

"I got the pony I bought it from to show me how it works, it's a hard one so you should have fun trying to figure it out," I explained to him.

"Thanks colt."

"Next, Maple to me." Daisy wastes no time in opening her gift, and it's even more blue paint. She grabs another gift.

We continue like this as we all unwrap our gifts. I got just what I wanted. A painted pot from Daisy, it has several Rose bushes filled with rose flowers painted on it. Maple did find a good pie pan, and she did find me a pie recipe with tea in it, somehow.

And finally, Blaz got me a very nice chess set, it comes in a small wooden box and the pieces are made from stone. One set is granite and the other is a darker stone I don't recognize. "Hey Blaz I think you may have gone a little overboard on the chess set, don't get me wrong I love it, but still."

We're all sitting around and organizing what we got. He looks up at me and smiles, "You'd think so, but that chess set was owned by my ex-wife. She never wanted it back and it's been years, and I don't want it so it's yours now." Blaz has mentioned his ex-wife a few times but never told us why they split up.

"HU, well ok then." I look over to Daisy as she organizes different paints she got, in an odd twist of fate, me, Blaz and Maple all get her some amount of blue paint. She seems happy about it though, "You think you finally have the right color of blue in there?"

"Maybe, with painting you can never be sure. But a few of these show promise." She says this while holding a small jar of paint up.

I look back over to Blaz who mostly got puzzles. He looks back at me and has a look on his face. "Hey colt I just remembered I also asked you for some recipes, did you forget?" He says the second part is a fake hurt tone.

I just give him a large smile. "No, I remembered it, in fact I already gave it to you."

He looks confused for a moment before looking down at the puzzle box. He starts chuckling, "Well colt looks like you got me good this time, I'll make sure to return the favor."

I look over to the last pony and see that Maple mostly got different sweets, she has one hell of a sweet tooth, I almost feel bad for her teeth. But like everypony else she seems happy with what she got. We spend our time messing around and I use my new chess set to play a game with Maple, who loses horribly.

We stay late and go home even later, but when the night is finally over I can get some rest.

Author's Note

Thanks as always for reading. This one doesn't have much happening in it, but I have things planned. :D

Chapter 66

DEC 28 Sunday.

I put down my carving tool as I crack another piece of wood and ruin another attempt. Making things out of wood is a lot harder than you'd think. I've improved a lot in detail work, but I still have a long way to go. I clean up my desk, sweeping off wood shavings and chunks.

Today is Entropy's first birthday and at first I wasn't sure what to do for her. I already made her a perch and bath, and she doesn't really need much else. So after some thought I decided to just get her a nice meal and spend some time with her. It's for this reason that we are heading out tonight.

It's the late afternoon right now and it will be dark in about two hours. I've made a reservation at a fancy restaurant that allows pets and serves meat. I had to look through several restaurants yesterday to find it and I could only get a reservation after dark on such short notice.

But I don't mind the cold or dark much and I know Entropy doesn't. But before all that I still have some time to mess around. I take out a few seeds and two pots before setting them on my desk. I plant the two seeds and grow them to a decent size, both the vines that grow are odd.

They have a deep green vine, but yellowish sandy leaves. This plant is the result of me breeding the Solar Vine and the Gripping Vine. The flowers still glow but it's gotten even dimmer, on the upside the new vine is stronger and grows faster. Now I just have to selectively breed it into something useful.

My main goal is to have the vine grow strong enough to cover a large area. The original Solar Vine doesn't grow that large and can collapse if it grows too large. I want to breed it until I can grow it as large as I like, and then focus on how much solar affinity magic it can store and release.

I breed the new vine for a while as I keep an eye on the time. When I'm almost out of magic I grow some seeds and decompose the plants away before storing everything. I still have another hour so I go out and lay down next to Entropy's perch. "How are you doing girl?"

"Berry?" She asks while landing on my back.

I scratch her neck and grow a Juniper berry for her. "Here, you've grown a lot this year and saved my ass two times now. Enjoy the well-earned berry." She just eats it before lying down in between my forelegs as I continue to scratch her. But I have to move my face away as she starts flapping her wings.

"AH! The fuck?" I have to close my eyes until she stops. I look back down at her prepared to give her my best disapproving look, but stop as I see something on the ground. Ever since Entropy stopped growing several months ago she's never lost a feather, but on the ground in front of me is a large feather that consumes all light.

I pick it up and examine it. It's one of her bigger feathers and seems pristine and undamaged. I turn back to her as she looks up at me. "Great, I can't even be mad at you now. Ahhh, just take your damn scratches." I continue scratching her while looking at the feather.

I have no idea what I can do with a feather but I'm sure as hell going to try and find out later. After a little more pampering I stand up and walk into my work room, I place the feather on the shelf next to the box that I got Entropy's egg in, it now contains her eggshell. I walk back out and start putting on my saddlebags.

I lay my cloak over my saddlebags and raise its hood. "Come on girl, we're going to get some good food." She lands on my back again and I cast the illusion spell over her before we leave. The snowfall is still light so we should be able to make it there easily.

I brought my light with me to see, and after a while I found the right building. It's only just after dark so a decent amount of ponies are still around. The restaurant is well lit and after walking in I move over to a small front desk while lowering my hood. "I'm here for a reservation, it should be under the name Shade Evergreen."

The mare behind the desk nods and looks through a book for a few moments. "Yes, your reservation is for six. You are a little early, but we aren't too busy. Would you like to wait or get a table now?"

"Now is fine."

She nods again. "Just to remind you if your pet eats any other customers' food or breaks anything you'll have to pay for it. Please follow me." She leads me to a table and I get comfortable while Entropy sits on the table. After a short wait, a waiter takes our orders and leaves.

I got a fish club sandwich. And asked them to just bring out some cooked fish and fruits for Entropy. I pass the time by giving the birthday girl all the attention she wants. Both of us skipped lunch so by the time our food arrived we immediately started digging in.

I relax as I finish my meal. This place may have taken a while to find but by magic the food was worth it. I pay for our meal and we leave satisfied. As I walk outside I see that the snowfall has gotten much worse, I can't see more than a few feet in front of me.

I flip up my hood and tighten it, before moving through the snowfall. I rather not walk through this snow and luckily for me I don't have to. I look for somewhere out of the way so Entropy can just take us home. After a little walking, I see an alley that is unlit and out of view from others.

I walk into the alley and look around, I can't make out much so I walk further down the alley and I see that the alley turns left. I walk over to check if it's a dead end where we can hide from view. I turn the corner only to have something slam into me. I flinch from the impact and I feel Entropy fly off my back. I strain my eyes in the darkness and snow to look at what I ran into.

In front of me in the dark I can just make out a pony. I'm about to speak up and apologize, but in a quick movement they lunge at me. But I haven't been getting my flank handed to me every Wednesday for nothing. I dodge to the left and tense my body, they rush past me but quickly find their footing and lunge again.

I panic and just move, reacting with the training that's been beaten into me. I dodge again and as they pass me I swing my hoof out as hard as I can, I feel the thud as it impacts the side of their head.

They hit the street and landed in the cold snow several feet away. Through the dark I see that they don't get up and just stay on the ground. :WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!:

I sit there for a minute just trying to get my panicked breathing and racing heart under control. After my mind processes what just happened I quickly take out my light, I hit them in the head pretty hard and I need to check that I didn't just kill somepony by accident.

I activate the light and move over to the pony. I'm not a doctor but I know enough to tell if this pony is dead. :OH god please don't be dead, don't be dead: I keep repeating this to myself as I walk over to the pony. But once I see them only one thought occupies my mind. :FUCK!!:

Laying in the snow is a dark mass of chitin sprawled out on the street. A Changeling is lying face down in the snow not moving. :This is BAD! I NEED to think fast: I have no idea if others will be able to tell what just happened in some way. After some panicked thoughts I form a rough plan.

I grab the Changeling and turn to Entropy, she flew off my back in the scuffle but returned once the Changeling was down. "Take us to the forest with the Oak tree, now." She wastes no time and lands on my back. And after the most stressful minute of my life we vanish from the alley. We appear inside in the small clearing with the Oak tree.

But I don't relax, hell I don't think I can. The forest is dark and quiet, the Oak tree I grew in the past has no leaves like the rest of the trees. I clear some snow off the ground and lay the Changeling down, I need to see if they are even still alive. I start looking over their body.

I can see them breathing as their chest moves. :Ok not dead that's good: I keep looking them over, I check their head to see no real damage to the outside beyond a scrape on their chitin from my hoof. Seems I hit them hard enough to knock them out.

And that's a problem as I don't know when or if they'll wake up. I'm not an expert on insects but I don't think they are going to die, I can't really be sure though. I don't know if they can find this Changeling somehow so I need to leave as fast as I can. But even a pony could freeze in this cold if left out here.

I could just leave this Changeling out to just die? They attacked me. I stop that thought and smack myself with a hoof. I can't- no I WON'T let this changeling die just for trying to survive as who they are. I turn to Entropy. "Take me home," It takes another minute but we appear at my apartment.

I've made up my mind and I have a rough plan. I didn't see any green flames, this Changeling wasn't transformed and probably attacked me because I saw them. And I refuse to kill someone just for trying to save themselves.

I find a spare blanket and cast the best cleaning spell I know on it, if I remember correctly that spell also removes hair. I give the blanket a shake to remove all the things the spell loosened off. Next I head to my workroom and grab all the Chestnut wood scraps I have.

Once I have both I turn to Entropy again. "Back to the Oak Tree girl." She's already made two jumps so I can only go home after this. We reappear inside the forest again, I move over to the Changeling and wrap them in the blanket before dumping the wood scraps in a pile.

I use the candle flame spell and light it on fire. I made sure to only grab the Chestnut pieces so nothing could be traced back to me. I lay the Changeling on their side so their underbelly is facing the fire. I double-check to make sure they're still breathing and wrap the blanket around them tightly.

I use my field to disturb all the snow I walked on to remove my hoof prints and turn back to Entropy. She's clearly tired from teleporting me, and so much cargo. "One last time girl, home." It takes longer than normal but we vanish and reappear in my apartment, finally safe.

Entropy is barely standing up and looks utterly exhausted. I pick her up and move her to my bed, "Get some rest girl, magic knows you've earned it." I wrap her up in my blanket and leave her to rest. I don't rest though I still have things to do.

First I take off my cloak and saddlebags. I go through every pocket and make sure I haven't dropped a single damn thing. After checking and double-checking I move on to the next thing. I start thinking of anything that might link me back to this. It was dark and I had my hood up and drawn low, so I don't think they saw what I looked like enough to recognize me.

But a Changeling might be able to see better in the dark? Still, even if they can it would be hard to see past both my hood and the thick snowfall. I shake my head and focus, I can't do much about it if they saw me. What else? Entropy? She flew off my back when we collided, and trying to see her in the dark might as well be impossible.

Blood, I don't think I was injured? I start checking my body for any wounds. I have a small bruise from when we ran into each other but that's it, so I didn't leave blood behind. I keep running through different things before I stop. I find my notebook where I keep my knowledge about Changelings and start writing.

I add any small detail I can remember about this mess. I hope that Changeling wasn't too injured and can recover. That wood should burn for a while but if they are in a coma I don't think I can help them. I definitely can't go back to that forest anytime soon to check if they died.

I pushed those dark thoughts away, I did what I could while keeping myself safe, even if it wasn't enough to save them. I sigh and check the time, it's not that late but this day has been a fucked mess and I need rest, I'll think about all this later. I walk into my bedroom and snuggle up with Entropy. I let sleep claim my mind, and the dark thoughts along with it.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

I've had the gore tag from the start and haven't used it yet. fair warning, this story WILL earn that tag someday.

Also an interesting fact, one of my favorite games is bloodborne. :D

Chapter 67

DEC 29 Monday.

I rise from my bed with groggy thoughts. My mind is still occupied with last night. I start by making some tea and sitting down with a few of my notebooks.

Last night was a fucked mess of a situation to be in, and I still feel a little terrible that I might have killed that Changeling, I was just defending myself but that doesn't make me feel much better about it. I can't even go and check, I just have to sit and wonder without an answer. I sigh and down more tea. I guess I may never truly know.

I flip open the notebook for Changelings. I wrote down everything I could remember last night, but I did it in a rush so I'll need to sort and organize what I wrote down.

The Changeling I saw was around the size of a Pegasus. They looked like a Changeling, black chitin, I think their eyes were green but I didn't get a good look at them, holes throughout their body. I didn't have time to thoroughly examine them so I didn't learn much beyond their size and how they looked.

Moving onto the circumstances. When I ran into that Changeling in that dark alley why did they attack first? I didn't see the flash of green fire that happens when they transform, so unless they have a way to hide it, that Changeling was undisguised in the alley.

The likelihood of them getting out of that situation without me seeing them was almost nonexistent. I think once I saw them they only had two choices, kill me to keep their secret, or run. And I don't think whoever they report to would be very happy if they ran, hell that might even get them killed.

So they went with the only real option they had left, attacking me. I spared them both because I couldn't bring myself to kill them through inaction, and because I don't think they had much of a choice. From their point of view, they were put in an impossible situation, kill or be killed.

But what doesn't make sense, is why the hell would a Changeling be undisguised in the middle of a city? To rest maybe? I'm not sure how their magic transformations work but they count as illusions in some way, and illusions take a good amount of magic to hold, and their illusions are also solid, increasing the magic cost further.

Even if they've evolved to do this there would be a point where they would have to rest and recover their magic. But the alley was near the upper city markets and that area has more guards around. They could have been doing the same thing as me and were using the alley as an out-of-the-way resting spot.

But in that weather? Yes, it would be hard to find them but it would also be hard to see others approaching. I have some evidence that they can also sense emotions, so why didn't they sense mine in the alley? They obviously didn't know I was there. Can they turn that ability off? Does it take magic to use?

What can I learn from the way they acted? Thinking back on it, their attacks were just wild lunges without any real skill or combat style. Were they not trained to fight? Well, why would you train them in combat when their job is to only infiltrate to collect information and love?

And I remember those two Changelings in the forest talking about being overworked. If I needed to train Changelings to collect enough love to not starve I would be willing to sacrifice other things to get that faster. If they were only trained to be good at infiltrating and nothing else I could see it being a possibility.

So many ifs and buts with no real answers in sight. I just don't have enough information. So what do I do? What can I do? I sit there getting lost in my thoughts for a while.

I'm a single pony, and I'm up against. Beings capable of moving celestial bodies. Discord, who might just be the fucking embodiment of chaos. Warlords. Wars. Magic bullshit of truly epic proportions. And the end of the fucking world. I was outclassed from day one.

And in all of this, I've only three real advantages. The knowledge my past life has given me. And within that my knowledge of the future. And time to prepare for what's to come. And with the way things are going I might not have that second one for much longer. So what do I do?

After an hour sitting on my floor and thinking it over again and again, I find my answer.

I sigh as the realization sets in. I'm not ready. I'm not ready to fight this battle, I have neither the strength nor knowledge to do so. I'm still twelve for fucks sake. I need to grow stronger and keep doing what I've been doing, helping as much as I can while staying safe, but to do that I need to solve my main problem right now.

Changelings can still find me, and if I want to live long enough, to grow enough, to help enough, I can't die now. So I'll Keep my head down and hide until I am ready. But to hide I need two things, a way to tell when Changelings are nearby so I can leave. And a way to hide my emotions.

And luckily I've made some progress in the second. I found a rune of emotions, its context doesn't fit what I need the best, but I'm also out of time to find a better rune. I'm also not sure if what I'm making will even work, but like I said I'm out of time. I take my notebooks with me into my workroom.

I sit at a desk and begin. Including today, I have three days to finish this before I have to go back to work.

When I encountered them in the forest they didn't sense me until I had a strong emotional reaction. And I think that they are tuned to only look for strong reactions. If you're a Changeling and need to sort through a crowded street for the best source of love the easiest way is to look for the highest amount of love emotion.

Most others are probably ignored in favor of those strong bursts of emotion. So if I have this shield to block those strong spikes of emotion and keep the rest at a low level I'd probably not draw much attention. I wouldn't be a good food source and I wouldn't stand out for having no emotions at all.

Then again this is all with the assumption that this will even work. I drag my mind out of my thoughts and start working on the spell. I start with the shield spell I've used in the past. First I remove the rune for shield, I can make this spell work without it and that will cut down on the magic cost some.

Finding the right math equations to form a shield will take a while but once I have that I can add the rune for emotions and more math to have it conform to my body. If I can get this working as well as I hope I can then it should be able to work with a piece of jewelry.

It'll definitely need to be an expensive piece of jewelry but I could care less about money right now. I prepare for the sleepless nights and days inside I have ahead of me by drowning my stomach in more tea and settling it at my desk.

DEC 29 Monday POV shift Celestia

Yet another of my guards walks over and places a report on my desk. It's been a hectic two days to be sure, and things have gone far from planned.

I move another report over and read it, another failure. This all started a while back when a few guards and other ponies started noticing some odd things. A few ponies here and there going missing, or a pony acting out of the ordinary. How I wish it stayed that small.

At first nopony knew what to make of this, but over time patterns started to emerge. Someone was taking my ponies, I was not happy, to say the least. But we could never catch any of them in the act, and it's gotten worse recently. We don't know the exact number yet, but over three dozen ponies have gone missing in the last two years.

Luckily not long ago I got my hooves on the enchantment Shade gave me. I had a few ponies trying to develop something similar but that was still a year or two away from being ready.

The enchantment only tells you if somepony with an illusion is nearby but that was enough to start tracking them more consistently, and hopefully find them. I've had several ponies making the devices in secret to be used by the guards and a few agents, and they were supposed to start using them yesterday.

That did not go well, I'm not sure how but whoever is behind this found out. The few suspects we had under watch disappeared two days ago, along with several of Canterlot's guards, I don't know where the leak happened but it did. The new devices were given to several experienced guards and agents as quickly as possible and sent out looking, but they've found nothing so far.

I read through the report and stopped at a certain point. Last night we had a rogue snowstorm that is also being investigated, while it was happening one of the suspects under watch was ordered to be brought in. They were able to track them down, but there was a fight and the suspect ran.

They were followed to an alley that connected two streets, but shortly after that, they got away in the snowstorm. I read a note at the bottom of the report.

Suspect presumed to have used the alley to change their disguise and left through the other entrance before guards could secure it.

I sigh and drink more tea to fight off my fatigue. Another dead end, as I go through report after report I find nothing but close misses and cold trails. We haven't captured any suspects yet and it's looking increasingly likely we won't, whoever's behind this had a plan to leave fast if needed.

I don't know who's behind this but when I find them. I stopped that thought trying to not let my anger get the best of me. I take a breath and calm myself. I sort through a few more reports before taking a break. This has been a disaster, and the worst part is still unknown.

They had somepony high enough in either the guard or any of the other ponies involved in this plan. I've done my best to keep it quiet but they still found out, and if I want to try this again I'll need to plug that leak.

I would have just given that enchantment to every guard in Equestria. But it takes too much magic. I've had a few ponies start enchanting larger, lower-quality gems, to have them be sent to other cities and towns. But even doing that on a large scale is difficult to do without notice.

I could ask Shade to help? I shake my head. No, he may be accomplished but he's still just a colt and I refuse to drag him into danger. My mind wanders to the colt as I read through more reports. I had to postpone our meetings for a while in preparation for this.

My meetings with Shade have been a nice distraction from my duties. He, like most, was formal with me when we first met and continued to be so until we talked in his home. I'm still a little surprised he was so calm about it, and that he blatantly told me he had things he may never tell me.

My curiosity about that is still strong, but it's clear he doesn't want to talk about it so I'll wait, I can be very patient when need be. After we started meeting he became much less formal with me, and it's not often I have a pony do that.

Many do become more comfortable around me after some time, but few actually relax enough to joke around with me and have a little fun. I smile as I sign off on another report with my quill. It will be nice to talk again when this situation is more stable.

I nearly groan as another guard places several more reports on my desk. I drink another cup of tea and settle in, it's going to be a long day.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}

Chapter 68

JAN 1 Thursday.

I slowly get out of bed and make my way into the kitchen for some tea and breakfast. It's been a hectic three days of spell creation and keeping an eye out for anypony acting strange. But after a few late nights and long days, I'm done.

After my breakfast, I'm about to go into my workroom when I hear a knock on my door. I hurry into my workroom and grab a new necklace I bought, it's made from silver and has a small silver case on the chain. The case has a diamond that is the exact size of the case and fits inside perfectly.

The necklace was easy to find but having a gem worker pony cut a diamond to the right size took a full day by itself. But it was worth it as my new emotional shield is enchanted into that diamond, and even better I was able to cut down on the spell's magical requirements enough to have it be active all the time.

I take the necklace and place it around my neck before heading to the door. I take a moment to feel the life magic behind the door, it's about the same as anypony would have. I open the door slowly to see Daisy looking back at me. The bracelet on my foreleg doesn't react so I open the door fully.

"Hello Daisy, do you need something?"

She smiles at me. "I have bad news and good news, which do you want first?" I don't feel any panic as she says all this in a tone that is far too happy and teasing tone.

"Bad news." And I know how to shut her teasing mood down, a response about as subtle as a brick.

She loses her smile a little. "Oh, you're no fun. I hope you didn't plan anything for today as you have work."

I raise a brow at her statement. "I do? It's Thursday?"

"That's the good news. This year I planned out the new schedules in advance, your days off have been moved to the weekend." She says all this in the same teasing tone.

I just stare at her for a few moments. "You'd have to have known my days off were moved for a while. You aren't trying to prank me are you Daisy?" I ask back in the same tone.

All I get is the same smile. "I'm only half joking, you can come in tomorrow if you actually have things you need to do." She offers in her normal tone.

I think about it for a few moments. I can't just stay here forever fearing that this new shield won't work. It's like a Band-Aid you'll have to rip it off at some point, and I'd rather do this fast to give me more time if it doesn't work. I nod to her, "Ya I can come in, give me a few minutes."

She smiled again, "Thanks Shade, I need to leave now so I'll see you there." With that, she leaves down the hallway.

I close my door and spend a few minutes feeding Entropy before leaving my apartment. I walk through the streets, I'm still a little nervous and on edge but I make it to the library with nothing happening.

I move to the room that me and Ruby work in but find it empty. After realizing my mistake I walk over to the room that Blaz works in. "Hey Blaz, did Ruby leave my work here for me?" He turns to me from his desk.

"Yup, there is a schedule on your old desk with what you'll be working on."

I nod my thanks and walk over to what is now once again my work desk. I look through the schedule, it has a list of books that should keep me busy until Daisy finds a replacement. I find the right book and distract myself with work, I slowly relax more over the following hours.

By the time lunch rolls around I'm a little more calm about being outside of my apartment. There is nothing like three days of worry and panicked work to raise your anxiety and paranoia. But that will fade with time, but also never disappear, I am paranoid by nature.

But bringing out and about living my life helps. I walk over to a table and sit down with my friends to eat lunch. "So how have all of you been?" We haven't talked since we exchanged gifts a week ago.

Blaz answers me first. "I took the time to go visit my son, his little foal is just as much of a hoof full as he was at that age," Blaz says with a very happy tone, he doesn't use a tone like that often.

Daisy answers next. "Blaz you'll have to get pictures for us someday. And I've been doing just fine, I spent some time painting and trying out those blues you all got me."

"Are any of them the right one?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "Not yet, but a few show promise and One is very close."

And last Maple answers. I turn to her, she's been looking better. The cold has let up some after that snowstorm and spring should be here in a week or two. Maple speaks up, "I've been fine, thank you for the tea, it's nice." Her answer is short but that's something I've come to expect from her.

"I'm glad you like it. Although if you want more it might be hard to find, I bought it from a Zebra caravan." She just nods and continues eating.

Daisy looks at me. "Have you had any trouble today with Ruby's work?"

I shake my head. "No it's been the same, she left me a schedule that should last until you can find a replacement."

"Good. Also, I saw it this morning but I do like the necklace, it's plain but it fits you."

"Thanks, I thought it looked nice." That's only a half lie as I do think it looks nice, but that's not the reason I'll be wearing it all day. At her comment, both Blaz and Maple look at it. Blaz just nods after a second, and Maple just goes back to her food after looking at it.

I'm glad neither of them had more questions, I don't think I have the mental energy to form complex lies right now. We talk about mundane things for the rest of lunch before heading back to work. It goes as normal and after a few more hours I'm free to head home.

But I have something I need to do. I start walking to the lower city markets, I have a few necessities that I need to buy. Another reason to head to the markets is to help with my fear. I won't know if the shield works until I find a Changeling, and I rather not live in constant fear.

But I also find it difficult to just stop worrying, walking around should help. I walk through the markets trying to not let my nervousness show. I buy what I need along with a new cloak, I need to get rid of my old one. It's made from canvas like the last one but is dyed a deep green.

I put it on to stop the very light snowfall from landing on me. It's still odd to me that all this snow will be gone in a few weeks. I walk home a little less nervous than before, but still keeping an eye out. I make it home and start putting everything away, once I'm done I start working on my necklace.

I made the shield in three days and had to cut a few corners along the way, now that it is done I feel like I have some breathing room to improve it. I go over the matrix for a while changing small parts and improving it the best I can. But after an hour I stopped.

I've ignored everything besides Stone's training for the last four days and I should start catching up. So I started doing some work on the B.L.P spell, I've made some progress but it will take me several more months before I can finish it. With that in mind, I'm setting aside some time in my schedule to work on it slowly.

They gave me a year and I have many other things I want to do, so this will just be something I do at my own pace. I spend a while organizing my notes and making a few small delicate changes to the spell. It's a slow process as I need to take many things into account to make even small changes.

After a while, I'm interrupted by Entropy landing on my desk. "What?" I look over to her.

"Just doing some work, what do you need girl?" She looks back at me for a few seconds.

"Out?" I raise a brow, a new word. Out? I'm confused about this.

She moves over and looks at the door. "Out." OH! Oh. Shit, I haven't taken her outside in a few days now have I?

"Damn girl I'm sorry. How about a quick trip to the park before it gets dark?" She starts hopping around and moves over to me. I chuckle at her, "Ok just let me get my cloak." I stand up and find my new cloak, as I'm putting it on I see Entropy move over to me and land on my back.

I cast the illusion spell on her and walked out of my apartment. Once we leave the building she takes the opportunity to fly off of me and around the area. I keep my hood down as I walk to the park, it doesn't take us long to arrive. It's still day with a few ponies about having fun with the snow before winter ends.

I find a bench with a nice view and sit down. I just enjoy the view and watch as Entropy flies around the area, after a while she lands near me and sits down. "Did you have fun?"

"Good." That's all I get, but it's enough to know she's happy. We didn't stay long as it was near the end of the day, so we just spent a while relaxing before leaving for home. The walk is also peaceful and we arrive home not long after, Entropy goes off to do something and I get back to work.

I sit down and start working on the B.L.P spell again. An hour later I'm yet again interrupted by a small caw near me. I sigh, "I'm trying to do something girl, what do you want?" I say this while turning around, only to see nothing. I look around me but I can't find Entropy.

I hear another caw right next to me, that makes me jump slightly. I keep looking around but still see nothing. "Girl, you ok?" I'm getting a little worried. But I see some movement by my hooves, I look down only to see my own shadow moving. It splits off from me and in wisps of black smoke Entropy emerges from the shadow.

She looks back at me with what I can only describe as a smug look. "WHAT was that?" I remember the mention of shadow magic but this seems sudden. More wisps of black smoke appear as Entropy molds back into my shadow. I look behind me and see that my shadow on the wall now has a crow standing on it.

"Since when could you do this!?" I ask her, but she doesn't respond to me. She just moves out of my shadow on top of my back before sitting down. "We have so much to test." She just tilts her head at me and stays silent. "Let's get you a treat." That got her attention.

I fill a bowl with fruit and fish. She eats while I make my own food. After we are both done I walk into my bedroom, I've been going pretty hard so after seeing the time I decide to just get some more sleep than normal tonight.

Author's Note

I decided to let Entropy have this ability now as getting around guards that can detect illusions would complicate things, and I don't think I want to add two or three chapters of him finding out the problem and then finding a solution as I feel it would drag things out.

I also thought it was about time Entropy showed more abilities.

Also Entropy's now an adult for her kind, normal crows are adults at four months old so I thought twelve was enough for her. This fact has no real baring on the story just a small thing I wanted to add.

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 69

JAN 3 Saturday.

It's early morning right now and Entropy just finished moving us through the void. We only did a single round trip today instead of two as I want her to still have a good amount of magic for tests.

I held off from testing her new abilities yesterday so I could catch up on several other things, and I also don't have work today so I can focus on this. I feed both of us and I sit down with Entropy in the main room with a notebook. I bring over an empty pot and place it by my window so it casts a single shadow.

I also have a bowl of small pieces of meat, that Entropy's been eyeing the entire time. "Ok girl, try and go into that shadow." She tilts her head and looks at the pot's shadow, after a few moments she walks over and touches the shadow before merging into it.

"Ok, now come out." She does so and looks at me expectantly. I chuckle at her, smart bird knows I give her treats for this. I throw a small piece of meat into the air next to her, she catches it out of the air and gobbles it down. I move the pot away and pick a leaf off of the Iron Oak.

I place it in the same spot. "Again." She moves over to the leaf inspecting it, she then moves a talon into the leaf's shadow and once again melds into it. It seems the size of the shadow doesn't matter. "Stay there for a moment girl." I wait several minutes before picking up the leaf.

Its shadow is now a few feet away. "Ok come on out girl." She emerges from the shadow again. She can leave the shadow even if it's moved, I take another note while rewarding her. The next test I move over the pot again and have her hold the leaf.

She once again touches the shadow before melding into it. I think it's safe to say she needs physical contact with the shadow. She moves into the shadow but the leaf doesn't move with her, it seems she can't bring things with her. I take a note and test this same thing several more times to be sure.

It ends the same way every time, she can't move other things with her into the shadows. Another thing I notice is the fact that she doesn't seem tired yet, I add a note for that and continue. The next step is having her meld into my shadow, and walk around for a while.

She just stays in there for a while as I work on a few other things, sometimes her shadow is on mine and sometimes it's not. Seems she can control that, another note is added. When she leaves my shadow she still doesn't look tired. The next test is simple, I have two shadows connected and ask her to enter one and leave the other.

She does this easily. Next, I move us into my bedroom, I close the door and use a blanket to block out any light from the gaps in the doorway. I can't see anything but have her stand on my back and then ask her to move into my shadow. A moment later I feel her disappear from my back.

I wait a few moments and then move the blanket before leaving the room. Before asking her to come out, she does so. Seems she can stay inside my shadow even in darkness. How does one move into a shadow that isn't there? Maybe shadow magic is the wrong word for this, it acts more like darkness in general.

I again make a note of this. Next test, I have Entropy return to my shadow and ask her to teleport us to the other side of the room. But after a few minutes, nothing happens. I then ask her to just teleport herself, and after a moment she appears outside of a shadow nearby.

Having her inhabit my shadow doesn't get around her not being able to move things through shadows. The next test is the same but I ask her to teleport to another shadow, and she does. She stays inside the shadow, she moved without needing to leave the shadows.

I ask her to move back to my shadow, and she does. I have her stay there and sit down to start meditating. I try to feel the space around me for anything out of the ordinary, but after several minutes I feel nothing occupying my shadow. Whatever this is doesn't mess with space as far as I can tell.

I know she still takes some form of, different form inside a shadow as she can still talk and even move around the shadow. So if she's not messing with space then it's more likely she's becoming a shadow, that does raise some concern in me as I don't know what will happen if a shadow vanishes.

But she can also teleport to other shadows so I don't think she's in too much danger. I can only think of one other big test, how long can she stay as a shadow? And from what I've seen I'm not sure if there is a limit, but it's best to test it regardless.

So I asked her to just stay inside my shadow for a while and continue on with my day. She doesn't seem to mind staying in there so I'll just let her stay until she wants out. I start working on something new, to explain I'll have to go over a few things.

While researching ambient magic I came across something that is considered one of the greatest mysteries of magic. Ambient magic is categorized into affinity ambient magic, and neutral ambient magic, let's start with affinity magic.

Affinity magic comes from anything in this world that causes magic to change its form. Take fire affinity magic, for example, it can come from a being with that affinity or anything that is related like a wildfire and a volcano. This same thing applies to all affinities.

The process of converting that magic can take endless forms. I'm not sure why but I think it's some combination of belief from sentient beings or the odd and vague rules of magic. However it happens, when magic becomes a certain affinity it slowly fades back into neutral magic or is used up by something in the environment.

This means that without a source any affinity magic will run out. But it's different for neutral magic, this is where the mystery comes in. All throughout the world there is a set density of neutral magic in any and all areas, it's never more or less than that just the same everywhere.

And nopony knows why. This is why my gems can all gather magic at the same time in a small space, once they absorb some magic it's replaced by more to keep its density the same, the best way I can describe this is if you teleported a ball of water away while being underwater.

The second that water vanishes more flows in to replace it. The only way to overcome this and store more magic than that base is with a medium to bind that magic to, gems, living things, any anything else capable of holding magic.

They also do collect some magic from many affinities but that's basically nothing compared to the amount of neutral magic. This also lets me do something interesting, I walk into my workroom and sit down to start my work.

I start with the linking spell, it's not too complex to cast but it is very delicate and can break very easily. So not being in any rush I slowly work my way through the spell over the next few hours. The spell does several things but at a base level, it just moves magic.

But it's also not the best at this, it's a simple spell but that also makes it a little inefficient at what it does. A rare example of a spell being simpler making it worse. I added a new rune on top of the old one and even doubled the amount of math.

I've modified the spell to move more magic in a more stable flow while making it possible to roughly adjust the amount of magic moving through it. It's not perfect though, it costs more magic to use and upkeep while also being more complex to cast. After I double-check the spell I can move to my next step.

I grab four Steel wood cubes and a medium ruby. I enchant all of them to hold and gather magic before linking all of the Steel wood cubes to the ruby. I activate the links and wait, I've used enough of these to roughly know how long this should take.

While waiting I spend my time copying the Companion Vine. It's slow and tedious but I push through and keep going over the next few hours. I stopped several times to check on the ruby while also checking the time and taking notes. It was faster but not to the degree you'd expect.

The Steel wood can only slowly gather magic so the effect is roughly five percent per Steel wood cube, but that's just my best guess. I can't make many of those cubes very fast so while this is helpful I'd need more magic to grow more Steel wood to make anything truly impressive.

Still being able to recharge gems faster without using more gems is nice. I check on Entropy, it takes a few attempts for her to respond, when she comes out she's fine but gives me an annoyed look. It took me a moment before I realized she was probably sleeping and that I just woke her up by calling her name.

"Sorry for waking you girl, I'm just checking that you're ok. You can go back in there to sleep if you like?" I offer and after a moment she does so, melding back into my shadow. I take another note that she can sleep in my shadow. I spend a while checking that the new linking spell works fine before leaving my workroom.

I want to go out so I tell Entropy to not leave my shadow unless I ask her to, I get a small chirp from her in response. I take that as a positive and put on my necklace and bracelet along with my saddlebags and cloak before leaving my apartment. I still have a few hours of daylight left so I have some time.

I don't need anything right now, but I feel like going somewhere. I go to a small cafe I haven't been to in a while. I walk in and find a nice place to sit, and not long after a mare walks over to me. "What can I get you?"

I want to treat myself a little so after taking another look at the menu I order. "A piece of cherry cake and some lemon tea." I don't eat cake often and it would be a nice treat.

"Sure it'll be right out." And a minute later I have a slice of cake and a cup of tea placed in front of me. I take out my sketchbook and start to draw as I enjoy my treat. I spend a little while here even getting a refill on my tea before leaving. When I do go outside it's near the end of the day.

And considering what happened last time I was out at night I hurried home. I get home just fine and spend a moment taking everything off. I have Entropy leave my shadow and let her free. She spent a total of nine hours in my shadow without any problems.

She's done a lot today so after a quick trip through the void I start making her food, I give her a bigger meal than normal. I also make a smaller meal for myself. While eating I start organizing my notes on the tests I had Entropy do, and I must say this is a very odd form of magic.

At its base, she seems to be converting her body into some form of non-physical magic construct. I have no idea how but it is very useful for me. She seems to be able to stay in my shadow as long as she likes, I could have her with me at all times from now on.

I probably won't though, she needs her own time to have fun. But it's still nice to have a better way to hide her when we move around. After I finish with my notes I start practicing again with my space sensing. It's still getting easier to sense space but I don't think I'm ready to try unlocking my space affinity.

After the sun sets and I get tired I move into my workroom and drain my magic into a growing Steel wood piece before heading to bed.

Author's Note

I'm making the joke first to get it out of our systems. Chapter 69, nice. Ha-ha I did the funny.

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day. :D

Chapter 70

JAN 10 Saturday.

It's the dawn of a new day and I'm spending it like always, breakfast and a trip through the void. Once we're done I walk over to my workroom and start breeding plants again.

I've been breeding two things for the most part, my crossbreed vine and the special Moon Glow. The new vine has been progressing well but it needs a lot of work, it's now more stable and its glow has improved a little.

The special Moon Glow that has glowing leaves has been going better, its leaves have gotten brighter and its flowers are the brightest I have now.

Today I want to try to breed this new vine with the special Moon Glow. I don't really expect much to happen as both plants are very different, I try breeding them several times but I don't even get a viable seed from them. After many attempts, I stop and start thinking about a different way to go about this.

I breed them again while trying to force my will on the plants, I use a lot more magic than normal into it trying to bypass this roadblock, and after a while, a few seeds grow. That single attempt took almost half my magic for four seeds, so I took them and started planting them.

They also take more magic to grow than other seeds, and sadly none of them grow well. I was able to force the plants to breed successfully, but all the resulting plants were not very good. One lost almost all of its glow, another was barely able to live, and all of them were failures.

It seems that while I can force the plants to breed the resulting seeds are still random. I decompose all the useless plants and the two starting plants. Using this method would take far too much magic, so I'll just shelve this for a while. I move onto my next piece of work.

I've thought about a few things that could help other ponies and came up with something very small but useful. Let me ask, how much time do you think different sales ponies spend counting bits? On a pony-by-pony basis probably not much, but add that all together and it adds up.

So I want to make something very simple, a bit counter. I start with the spell, which should only need a few things. Bits are a controlled currency and have a standard weight and size, I want the spell to weigh and count bits. I could try to weigh a bit, but why do that when I could just find the information?

Seems it's time for a quick trip to the library. I just take my saddlebags and leave Entropy at home, It's a quick walk to get there and after looking for a while I find two books. It's not information that's hard to find and after making a few notes and double-checking it I get up to leave.

As I'm walking out I see a pony I haven't seen in a few months. Shining Armor was at a clerk's desk checking out a book, and he saw me. I also have to check out two books so I need to go to that desk. :Well, fuck: Honestly after this many run-ins with him I'm not that panicked anymore.

I just try to act like nothing is out of place and walk over with my books. Shining is a good guard from what I remember, and him being in Celestia's guard despite his age proves that. So I'm going to handle this the same way an uncle of mine would.

I've mentioned this uncle before, he was in the military for nearly three decades. And I never really knew what he did because he never talked about it. That man didn't get disrespected, why? Because he was the type of guy to take shit from NO ONE.

I spent a decent amount of time around him, and I think it's time to drag out some of what I learned while watching him. Shining the first to speak as the clerk checks his book. "Hey Shade. It's been a long time, how have you been?" I can tell that something is off about him but ignore it.

I smile at him. "Ya, it's been a while. I've been just fine, you?" I'm better than him at keeping my mask. I've had to stare down Celestia several times, I can bluff my way past a young guard. I also let my guard down a little as my bracelet didn't react after several seconds.

He gives a small smile back. "I've been doing well." I can see him warring with himself for several moments before he speaks again. "Hey, do you mind if I ask about som- ."

He doesn't get to finish as I cut him off. "Not here," I say in a tone I've learned from my uncle. It's dry, blunt, and no-nonsense. He just stares quietly at me as I check out both of my books and start walking towards the doors. "Do you have anything you need to do for a while?"

I relax my tone somewhat while asking this. "No, not for a while. Why?" He asks this while putting on a bracelet of his own.

"You have questions and I don't want to answer them where I work. So do you want to take a trip to the park?" He's silent for several moments after I ask this, he moves his bracelet again before nodding.

"Ok, lead the way." He says this in a more relaxed way than before. I make a mental note of that but start walking with him to the park. On the way I stopped at a cart and got us both a treat, I got some type of sweet bun, and he got a plain donut. When we do reach the park we find a bench to sit at.

It's much like the first time we met. It's also at this point where I start questioning whether it's even a good idea to talk to him about anything. But having his trust could help in a few ways as knowing somepony high ranking in the guard could prove very useful.

And to be blunt I need more competent ponies I can trust. I rather not dive head-first into the main cast, but a few ponies like Shining could prove vital. I turned to him after several seconds of silence, "Well we both know you saw me that day, so what do you want to know?"

I leave my question open-ended to give me room. He stares at me for a few more seconds before answering. "What am I allowed to know?" I smile at him. Shining works as a guard in the palace, so it's not much of a surprise that he'd ask this.

"Well, I can safely say that it doesn't involve anypony getting hurt or being in trouble of any kind and that I have a biweekly meeting with the princess." He just stares at me for a moment before sighing.

"Getting a straight answer out of you isn't going to be easy is it?" He says this with a tired look.

"Nope, talking to me will get you little. Also, you seem rather defeated, mind if I ask why?" He did drop his mask rather fast.

He just gives me the same tired look for a moment. "I'm where I am in the guard both for experience and for them to teach me more. Two of my trainers have been riding me hard recently." He cuts off there abruptly.

"I won't ask why, but I will give you my sympathy, I train with an older guard trainer myself so I know the pain of a hard trainer." This is honest, Stone never goes easy on me and always expects better. Not that I mind.

He looks at me a little surprised before getting this odd look on his face. "What's the name of the pony training you? If you don't mind me asking." He adds that second part as an afterthought a moment later.

"Stone Mace." I only get his name out before his face shifts to one of full shock.

"How did you pull that off? So many guards request him as a private trainer but he rejects almost all of them, even I got rejected." He says with a baffled tone.

And I'm equally confused for a moment. But it does make some sense, Stone has been a very good trainer to me this entire time, and I can see other ponies wanting that. It's also nice to know I met Stone's high standards. "I ran into him by accident, he offered and I accepted."

I keep my answer short, and he realizes he's not getting more from me, "Of course, how else? Well, what can you tell me?"

"I like tea." He gives me a deadpan look while I smile back at him. "I work for the princess in a certain capacity, I won't say more than that but I can guess you'll see me at the palace more. I also ask that you don't tell others about any of this." This whole time I've wanted to answer him enough to satisfy his curiosity.

If he thinks he knows the answers he won't go looking. He now knows I work for the princess and for many ponies that's enough. His face shifts again to something more upbeat. "I'm a guard and legally we can't say anything about our work in the palace or anything related to that work, to unrelated parties. I can only talk about this with you because you were involved."

I didn't know that, but it is useful. "Not that I would even if I could, this isn't my business, it's just another thing I can't talk about." I see a bit of myself in those words, I guess we both have things we can't talk about to those we care for. I take the last bite of my bun and finish eating it.

"If it makes you feel any better you are not alone in that. Well, it's been nice talking but I do need to get home." I stand up from the bench.

He nods. "Well, thanks for answering what you could, even if you decided to be vague about it. Have a good day Shade." He's gained a little smile.

"Thanks for the talk, it was nice, also say sorry again to your dam for me." I walk away before he can ask what I mean. He doesn't come after me and just watches me leave while shaking his head a little and muttering something about crazy colts. I get a good distance before chuckling over the whole event.

He seemed more relaxed after our conversation, I hope I can talk to him more. Maybe while at the palace? Maybe.

Overall I think that went well, I thoroughly confused him while also answering him. It helps that he legally can't talk about this, I make a note to look up those laws later. I walk back home and enter my apartment later than I planned. After feeding Entropy I head into my workroom.

This information wasn't hard to find. I feel like this just gives others information to try and counterfeit some bits, but I also think that they would probably have a few ways to check if a bit is fake or not. But that's not relevant to me, this whole project is just to help merchants and their customers trade faster.

I continue my work on the new spell. I use a bit's weight and size as a base with a tiny amount of wiggle room on both sides, as most bits are probably a tiny bit different from each other. This spell should be very simple to use, enchant it into a flat stable object and activate it, with something to give it magic.

Then the spell will scan above itself and count all bits it can find before giving an output. The scanning part of this spell will take the most magic. But the scan will be for one thing specific so it's less complex than my other scanning spells. I work well into the night working on the specific parts of the spell.

When I stop I have a decent amount of the spell complete, it still needs a lot of work but I should be able to finish it before me and Celestia meet again. I leave my workroom and make myself some food while feeding Entropy some snacks. After a quick shower, I just head to bed.

I climb into my bed and get comfortable as Entropy merges into my shadow. "You want to sleep in there?"

"Good." I guess so then, I snuggle into my blankets before drifting off to sleep.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]

Chapter 71

JAN 14 Wednesday.

It's the end of my workday and I'm at home waiting for my meeting, I told Stone I wouldn't be training with him last week. I just told him that I had something to do at work.

Right now I'm double-checking my newest invention. It's a small flat piece of wood several inches wide and long, with a small sapphire to provide magic. It's simple to use, you just place bits on it and a small illusion will tell you how many there are.

The spell scans anything above the small wood plate for anything that matches the weight and size of a bit. Most of my time was testing, it can also count bits inside bags or containers. It's not the most useful to smaller sellers but for bigger transactions, it should speed things up.

I also expect many to not really trust this invention for a while, but I think it will see use after some time using it. But none of that really involves me as I won't be doing more than inventing it. I still have some time before I have to leave so I just do some chores.

I take care of my plants and Entropy's needs, and then I just spend some time carving wood. Right now I'm working on a model of Entropy while in mid-flight, it's far from done as I'm still learning how to carve feathers properly. The book Celestia gave me has information on how to carve several things.

Feathers are delicate to carve as they are both thin and detail-intensive. I'm using a piece of Chestnut wood for this so I have to be more careful than when I work with Iron Wood, but I'm slowly improving as I go. I stop for a moment as I see a flash of flame in my main room.

Philomena appears in a small shower of flames that disappear immediately after. I look over to her as she lands next to Entropy on her perch. I look up at her as she holds a letter in her beak, "Hello Philomena nice to see you." I grow and pick a Juniper berry to trade her.

She drops the letter and catches the berry I throw at her, Entropy watches this and then looks at me expectantly, I just smile and do the same for her. I open the letter, and it's just a confirmation of the time of our meeting, I fold the letter and keep it with me, I'll need it to get inside the palace.

Philomena doesn't leave right away and instead just starts resting next to Entropy on her perch, Entropy just stares at Philomena for a moment before doing the same. I continue with my carving, slowly cutting out small pieces of wood, I slowly carve out a single feather before moving on to the next one.

This model is several inches across and is going well so far, I hope I don't break it before I finish it. I spend a while longer working on it before checking the time, it's still a little early to leave so I find a book to read. This is one of those books I bought a while back at the auction.

It's just a story novel and not a very good one at that, but it keeps my interest long enough. When it's time I get up and watch as Philomena leaves in another flash of flame. "Hey girl, you remember the plan?" Entropy opens her eyes and looks at me for a moment before flying over to me and landing on my back.

"Ok then, let's get going, we have some revenge to reap." She doesn't answer me and just melds into my shadow as I put on my saddlebags and jewelry, I leave my cloak as it's not snowing right now. I walk out into the street and start making my way through the city.

The snow has lessened a lot and by the end of the month, it will all be gone. I see some guards pass me as I walk uphill into the upper city, I've seen more of them patrolling recently. I don't think much of it though, it's probably just a robbery, even if those are rare they do still happen.

It doesn't take me long to reach the gates, after showing them the letter I got earlier, I'm led to my meeting. I enter the room and bow as always before sitting down with Celestia. "Hello Celestia," I say to her while getting comfortable.

She smiles. "It's good to see you again Shade. How have you been? Anything of interest happened since our last meeting?"

"Straight to it then?" She gives me a nod. "Well I've been doing well, and I have two things for you." First I pass over a report on the progress I've made with the B.L.P spell, it's not long and basically just tells her how long I think it will take along with a few other small bits of information.

After she's done she moves the papers to the side and looks back at me. I pass her another small stack of papers, these have all the information she'll need to know about what I've nicknamed the Bit Counter. Then I placed the one I made on the table and slid it over to her.

Her smile grows as she reads through the papers. "This is very well done, I can think of several ponies who will find this useful." She looked back at me once she was done reading. "I must once again thank you for the work you've done. And the work you've given me." She says that last part in a teasing tone.

"Stop accepting things I give you, you should know by now it's just a trap to give you more work." I tease back at her. Her smile stays and she moves the papers and bit counter to the side.

"Well if nothing else I'm happy you've been busy. Where is Entropy? You mentioned you were bringing her." She asks.

I just smile and wait for my plan to unfold. Me and Entropy had a plan, and considering how smart Entropy is I hope she remembers. After a moment of me just smiling silently Entropy starts, and from Celestia's own shadow, we both hear a voice. "Move."

Celestia's head snaps down in surprise and she starts looking around her, but she finds nothing. "Out." This time Entropy's voice comes from the stack of papers to her left. She picks them up with a confused face, nothing is under them.

She looks at me thoroughly confused. "Where are you?" She asks this in a curious and happy tone while casting some type of scanning spell. I can't hold it in anymore and start chuckling, Celestia's waits until I'm done before giving me an expecting look.

Once I stop I answer her. "Come on out girl, I think you've earned that treat I promised you." Entropy shifts out from the shadow of my teacup and stands on the table with a proud look.

She watches Entropy closely as she emerges from the shadow. She looks surprised for a moment, "When did this happen?"

"Just after the new year, she basically did the same thing to me. I'm not sure how she learned how though. We've tested several things and it's an interesting ability. It seems what you found was accurate in some way."

"It seems so. Do you mind if I take some notes on a few suggestions and ideas?"

"I'd love that." She pulls a piece of paper from somewhere and starts taking notes. Celestia is a curious pony just like me, then again if you live that long you would need to be curious to not go insane from boredom.

I feed Entropy a small piece of fish while she takes her notes. Philomena is sitting on a perch in the room and sees me giving Entropy something, she flies right over to the table and lands next to Entropy. I think for a moment before turning to Celestia. "Hey, can Philomena eat meat?"

I don't know the diet of a phoenix so I thought it best to ask. She stops for a moment to look back at me, "I've offered a few times but she doesn't always take it, she prefers fruit and nuts" She goes back to her notes. Instead of giving Philomena meat I take a small bag out of my saddlebags.

I only brought two small pieces of fish for Entropy, but I also brought some berries with me when I went outside with Entropy. I give the second piece of fish to Entropy and offer several berries to Philomena, she takes them happily. She eats all of them in only a few seconds and I spend a while scratching her feathers.

She didn't let me pet her for the first few meetings, but I kept giving her treats and now she lets me pet her. Her feathers have an odd feeling to them, it's like holding your hoof over boiling water in the steam. It isn't warm enough to hurt me and feels nice, it gives a nice warm that takes away any cold from the waning winter.

My second hoof is occupied a second later by Entropy also demanding scratches. I pet them both for a while, when Philomena was done she decided to find a better spot to sit, after a flap of her wings she landed on top of my head before sitting down.

I just look up at her as she looks back down at me, I chuckle and let her have her fun. When Celestia finishes she looks back up to see me scratching Entropy while Philomena sits on my head. She holds it in for a second before chuckling at my situation.

"It seems Philomena has really gotten to trust you, I'm glad as she doesn't always trust others even after interacting with them for a while." She silently passes me the notes she made. I take a moment to look through the few pages she wrote. In very neat and elegant writing she's taken about three pages of notes.

They are mostly about theories and suggestions of different things to test, most of those tests are things I've already done. But a few suggestions are things I didn't think of. Can Entropy move through glass in a shadow? What effect does a shadow being distorted by things like water have? Along with a few other suggestions.

"Do you mind if I copy this?" she nods while petting Entropy who moved over to her after I stopped giving her attention. I take out some paper and cast the copy spell on her notes twice, I put away the first copy and take out a quill to start adding a few things to the second copy.

I use the back sides of the papers to answer what questions I can, it takes several minutes to finish before passing the edited notes and her original notes back to her. "Thank you, there are a few things in there that I missed. I added anything that I did test." I wait again as she reads my added notes.

"Also, how has the whole Veil Winter thing going." I've heard the name mentioned a few times at the library over the past few months.

"I have mail for you." I nearly groan as she moves several letters over to me. Every time we meet she gives me any mail Veil Winter gets. I haven't answered most of them as most are just me being invited to different events.

The few I did answer were mostly invites that were too important to ignore, so I just politely declined them, claiming that I'm too busy with work for the crown. I got many letters the first month or so, but after that, it calmed down to only three or five every time me and Celestia meet.

But we haven't met in a while now so I have more than normal. I start going through them and see a few that are nothing new to me, I do find one from a noble family for a party of some kind. I write them a polite letter declining their invitation and move on.

Most of the other letters are uninteresting to me, but one does catch my interest. It's a student, I don't recognize their name, but they are writing me for extra credit. They can get a little extra credit if they write to a known inventor, and she decided to write to me.

I'm not sure what to do with this, so I decided to just send back a list of book recommendations to study and leave it at that. Once I'm done I turn back to Celestia who's put away the notes and is now just drinking some tea. I pass her both letters.

After she takes them I ask her a question. "When was the last time you've played a game?"

She turns to me before thinking for a while. "I'm not sure, it's been a while now though. What type of game?"

I smile and take out a wooden box from my saddlebags. "A friend got me this and I thought you might enjoy something fun to do." I unfold the box to reveal my new stone chess set.

She smiles again. "I'd love that, it's been far too long since I've last played." I see her smile and realize that I just challenged a thousand-year-old pony to a chess match. Needless to say, I didn't win a single one of our games.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

Chapter 72

FEB 1 Sunday.

It's a new month, and the last of the winter snow is gone as spring has started. That also comes with more rain but I don't mind that at all. Right now I'm relaxing in my main room while carving Entropy's wooden copy, it's seen some good progress over the last two weeks.

I have to be very careful with it so it will take a while to complete. I do this while thinking over another problem I have, I have two weeks vacation to use and I'm not sure where to go yet. I have a few ideas but would need to plan them out more.

I could visit another pony city or take a trip to another country nearby, but I only have two weeks to travel and it takes time to move from place to place. So I need to pick the right place to go to still have fun with my trip.

The best way to travel is by train, the train network in Equestria is extensive and can take you to most cities quickly. I was able to find a decent map of the train network and have been looking for a good place to go. I still have a month and a half until I need to decide so I'm not in a rush.

I clean up the wood shavings on the floor and move my unfinished carving, and tools into the workroom before starting work on my plants. I take out the vine I've been breeding and start the process by planting its seeds. The vine is still unnamed but I've thought of a few.

Sun Vine, Sky Vine, Star Vine. This vine still has glowing flowers and can grow much higher than the Solar Vine, so something that references its glow and ability to grow so tall. It's not hard to grow, it's a fast-growing plant so it doesn't need much magic to grow enough to make seeds.

I can go through quite a few generations every time I sit down to do this. It can grow large enough for my needs now, so I'm now focusing on its ability to absorb solar magic, but that is going to slow this down by a large amount. I don't have a way to measure their ability to do this so I have to test each one.

I've been taking three of them each the same size and leaving them by my window each day to collect light. Then I take the one that holds its light the longest and brightest, this has been slowing down my breeding of the plants by a large amount so this project will take a while to complete.

When I'm almost out of magic I collect seeds from them before decomposing the plants. I still want to breed more plants so I go make some tea to recover my magic faster, when I have my tea I sit down with my selectively bred Juniper bush.

I spend the next two hours just learning the magical flows of the Juniper berry to take away a lot of the cost from breeding it. The main reason my plant breeding has had such an increase in speed is that I've gotten better at memorizing those magical flows.

And my magic capacity is still slowly growing, but it's mostly the former. After I have a decent understanding of the Juniper bush I start breeding them. I can get through many more generations faster than the last time I bred them, so I can change them faster.

But even with the new speed it will still take a few weeks to make really big changes to the plant. To be honest I don't have much of a reason to breed the Juniper bush, but I want to see how large I can get the berries to grow, while still having the plant grow without my assistance.

Right now the berries are three times their original size and I want to see how far I can push that. I spend another hour just breeding and decomposing plant after plant while checking for the best ones. Once I'm out of magic again I move on from plant breeding.

I put everything away and take a break for a while, I sit in my main room and start reading a book. This book is about the effect that different magical plants can have on ponies, and it has a decent description of Poison Joke. This plant is odd even by this world's standards.

Because of its unpredictable effects, it's illegal to own or grow, and I can see why. The plant's effects aren't too hard to reverse but they can still be dangerous. If it changes your body to a significant degree it can cause a few bad conditions. It may not be the most dangerous plant but it's definitely up there.

I keep reading through the book for a while before standing up. I don't have anything else to work on so I just ask Entropy if she wants to go out with me, she just stays on her perch and closes her eyes again. I shrug and put on my things before leaving my apartment.

I don't have anything in mind so I just wander the streets for a while and explore the area, I also make sure to not enter secluded areas. As I walk I find a few interesting things, mostly different guild buildings and a few interesting businesses.

I find a small discount bookshop near a street corner and decided to check it out. As I enter the small building I'm met with the familiar smell of dusty paper and still air. It's not a large shop with only a few rows of bookshelves that go back deeper. I see an old mare at the desk who's reading a book.

They look up at me as I enter. "If you need anything just ask. Or you can look around." The mare says in a calm and quiet voice.

"Thank you, I'll just look around for now." She goes back to her book and I start looking through a few books. The shop goes further back than it looks. As I walk further back the books get more dusty the further I go, and when I reach the back of the shop I need to take out my light to see the books well enough to read them.

A lot of the books I saw near the front were popular and well-known books, but back here I see many that are less common. I find a few journals and even someponies old tax documents, I keep looking through the shelves trying to find anything of interest.

I spend an hour just looking through dusty shelves for anything that might be useful, but in the end, I only find three books that I want. The first is about plants that grow well in the cold and a few methods to tend and farm them. The second is about insects and their uses in various industries and products.

It's not the most useful but the book is written in Griffin so I thought it would at least be interesting. The third book is the most interesting out of them all. It's about runes, it's a small collection of recorded runes from over two hundred years ago, it's hard to find any collection of runes let alone one this old.

But I can also see why nopony ever read through it thoroughly, the first two-thirds is a journal that is about a pony's mundane life. Only after you get past that will you find badly written notes about different runes, it's also degraded to a good degree at this point.

Most would just think the book is damaged and even if they did read it I think they would stop after a few pages of badly written, rambling, boring text. But I work with old books all day long, I know the difference between a book damaged from use and a book damaged by age.

That is what drew my attention to this book, it is very old. And while the writing is bad, what it contains is useful and accurate information on several runes. Several of these runes I recognize and their runic context is correct and accurate, so it's likely that the runes I don't recognize are also correct.

And this book has several runes I don't recognize at all, and a few seem really useful to me. I take all three books and carefully move them to the front desk. I approach the front desk and place the books down, "How much for these?"

The old mare looks over them for a moment. "Thirty bits for these two, the last one barely looks usable so I'll sell it for five bits." That's about right for discount books, I pass her the bits and carefully put the books away before stepping out into the street.

When I arrive home I take everything off of me and carefully move the damaged book into my workroom. This book is in bad shape and it's best if I copy it quickly before I lose any knowledge it may contain. I can't risk taking apart the book's binding in its condition so I have to copy the pages one by one.

I focus on the runes first and start copying them over, the writing is not good and this part of the book is more damaged. I even find a few pages suffering from slight water damage, somehow, after I copy every rune I start on the other text.

At this point, it's been drilled into my brain to preserve books, even if it's just a journal from a long-dead pony. This book isn't large so after a few hours I'm done with the book, I don't have a binder so I just make a copy of the parts about runes and tie the full version together before placing it to the side.

I wrap the original book in some cloth and place it on a shelf, I'll probably give it to the library. I take the copied pages and start looking through the runes in detail. There are several that I recognize, but some of them are odd. A rune for blue light, it's specified to be blue in the runic context.

One rune shows some promise. A rune for silence, I haven't found a rune for this before and I can think of several uses for it. A rune for life, this rune has some odd context and the notes on it are unclear on its uses. But even if it does work I don't think it will work well as it is not very well made.

Runes are only as good as the context and the knowledge used in making it. The next rune is for the sun, and it's borderline useless, there are other runes for this and this one is so weak it is also useless to me. I keep looking through the pages and add the runes to my collection as I go.

Once I'm done I want to try one of these runes. I take one of my two remaining small sapphires and start working on it. I enchant it to hold magic and start on my idea. I take the rune for silence I found and start forming it into a spell matrix, what I'm making is not complex so after only one hour I'm done.

I place the sapphire on the floor and activate the enchantments. A small invisible zone forms three feet around the gem. I pick up a piece of Steel wood and throw it into the zone and watch as it hits the floor without making a sound. I test several things to see how well it works.

I even move my head into the field, it's odd to have all ambient sound just stop. Absolute silence is something few get to experience, I wouldn't recommend it. I was able to overpower the enchantment with a loud enough sound, I slammed two pieces of metal together.

Even then the sound was much quieter than it should have been. Once I've had my fun I put the gem away and go back to the main room to read the other two books I found.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

Chapter 73

FEB 12 Thursday.

I copy another page as I translate more text from the book I'm working on. It's been five weeks since I temporarily took over for Ruby and I'm chugging along just fine. I look through the next page and read through it for a while before I start translating it, once the page is done I copy it and move on to the next one.

After I finish the book I check the time and get up to leave the library, I'm done with my shift. It doesn't take me long to get home and go about my chores, feeding Entropy and tending to all my plants.

Once I'm done I walk into my workroom and sit down at my desk, I have a rune I want to play around with more. The spell I made a week ago is useful but I want to make a few variations of the spell I made. I start by modifying the spell I already have to stick to something and move with it.

This is more complex as I don't intend for it to be an enchantment but a spell to cast on myself. I have a good base to work with and this spell isn't the most complex, but it still takes me two hours to get it right. When it's done I test something before casting it.

I gently stomp my hoof on the wood floor and listen to the thump, I draw out the matrix and cast the spell on myself. Once the spell is done I stomp my hoof again and this time I hear nothing. I stomp on the floor several more times each time with more force until I hear a noise.

It takes more force than I thought it would to make any noise with my hooves. The spell is very simple, it just forms a silenced area around my hooves to keep them quiet. This does have a few downsides first, it's a spell made to be cast on a pony.

It would take a good amount of modification to make it usable as an enchantment. Second, it takes more magic than I'd like as I needed to add two more runes to have it form only around my hooves and form an area to affect not just my hooves but also a small zone around them.

This spell will be perfect for stealth, not that I have much use for that kind of stealth, at least not yet. I move on to my next idea for this rune, this will be an enchantment with a few small modifications to the original spell. The changes are so small that it doesn't take me more than an hour to finish.

The main change is to limit the effect to only the border of the invisible bubble. This will block all sound from the outside and inside at the same time. While testing it I got another idea and added another small change, I made it only block sound from the outside and not the inside.

I set the zone to only three feet and enchant it into the same small sapphire that I used last time. I test it by activating it and throwing things inside the area of effect. They land and I can clearly hear them hit the floor, I place my head inside and throw something outside, but I hear nothing.

I weaken the spell's effects so that it just dampens all noise but doesn't get rid of it entirely. The small sapphire I'm using for this is overkill for such a weak spell and a very small sapphire or ruby, like the ones on my bracelet, would be enough to keep this enchantment active indefinitely.

This would make it really cheap, which is good for my idea. I add one last thing to the spell before I start optimizing it, I add a very weak illusion to give a very transparent look to the bubble so you can actually see it. Once that's done I spend the next two hours just improving the spell.

I'm making something that all parents would thank me for. In the city, or a lot of other situations, a foal could lose sleep from there being too much noise around them. But with this spell, you can leave a small gem near a sleeping foal to block out all unwanted noise while still being able to hear the foal if they cry out for you.

This should help many tired parents finally get some sleep. I can think of a few other spells that do this but all of them are too complex for small gems. And the best part is that because this spell is so easy and weak I don't need to include the runic context in the spell's instructions.

Whenever I give something to Celestia I normally include the runic context to make the enchantments and spell more efficient for those casting it or enchanting objects with the spell. But this is so weak that even without the context it would basically make no real difference.

The reason I'm not giving out the runic context is that this rune can be used for some less-than-legal things in the wrong hands. I rather not risk it, so they won't be getting the context, they could still use the rune but this will make it much harder to do.

And if they had another way to find it then me including the context or not doesn't make much of a difference. I copy the spell matrix and its single rune onto some paper along with a description of how the spell works and a few things to test before releasing it to the public.

I disenchanted the gem I was using and returned it to a shelf before leaving my workroom. I walk out and see that it's fairly late at night, I have Entropy take us to the forest and back once before asking her to bring the latter to the palace. She does so and vanishes for a minute before returning.

After that, I make both of us a late dinner and take a shower before heading to bed.

time skip

FEB 14 Saturday.

It's the weekend and I'm spending my time working on a few hobbies while training and preparing for a few other things. Right now I'm waiting for my magic to refill by practicing my space sensing. I've gotten to the point where I can slowly move my forelegs while still maintaining my concentration.

It's still hard but I'm making progress. After my magic refills, I go back to copying the Companion Vines's magical flows. The green flows of magic wrap around my body as I form my life magic into the right ebbs and flows, this has also seen progress.

The magic I gain is still less than what I expend, but It's to a lesser degree than before. I stay in that position for the next three hours trying my best to keep it all stable and working correctly. I have to make sure that the flows don't move into the wrong position.

I have to form them in the correct construct without letting them stray off. I feel a flow shift as my attention shifts away to something else, the thing that distracted me is Philomena teleporting into my apartment in a flash of flame. She lands next to me and offers a letter in her beak. I take it and give her a berry before she leaves, I open the letter.

Dear Shade. Thank you for yet again adding more work to my schedule. Jokes aside, this is a very useful invention that many will find a great relief. I noticed that the runic context is not included and after looking over the spell I agree that it's probably for the best that it stays that way.

Beyond that I hope you'll have a good trip, please remember to be careful and keep Entropy with you. Remember to find a guard if you need help.

Signed Celestia.

This letter is in response to me planning out my trip. I've decided to travel to a medium-sized pony city called New Trotten. It's a smaller coastal city with several shipping routes and a fishing industry, I picked this city as it's on the larger size of cities while not being one of the large cities.

And it has a higher population of Griffins than any other city in Equestria, it has several things to do and the best part is how fast I can get there. It's primarily a trade city so it has several train routes there and by train, it would only take me one day to get there.

I would leave in the morning and arrive after dark. It's about the same distance I traveled to Ilinalta from here, so it won't take long for me to arrive, giving me plenty of time to enjoy my trip. I've booked my trip for the twenty-first and informed both Daisy and Celestia of my plans to take a vacation.

I only told Celestia about my plans to travel and where I'm going, just in case anything happens, but I very much plan to stay out of trouble while there as I rather not stress while on my vacation. I had to sign a few forms Daisy gave me yesterday, and I'll be doing a little more work so it's not too backlogged when I return.

I hope it's like last time, a calming and quiet trip, then again the bear incident last year was not that quiet or calming. Regardless I'm excited to see some new sights and hopefully, find a few interesting plants and books to take home with me.

I leave on the twenty-first but my vacation starts on the twenty-third to give me two extra days off, Blaz recommended I do this as many at the library also do this to give them some extra time. I'll be returning on March eighth and go back to work the next day.

I plan to take Entropy with me, she'll probably spend a lot of that time either in my shadow or under an illusion. I have a few things I need to prepare for my trip and the first is a safe way to carry my bits with me. I need to bring a good amount if I want to buy things and pay my expenses.

So I need to keep that safe from both thieves and my own potential incompetence. And I'm not entirely sure how to go about this in a good way, the best idea I've found so far is to enchant my saddlebags in some way to make them more durable or secure.

The cloth that makes up my saddlebags is fairly durable so I should be able to enchant it, even if its effect is weak. I stand up and let the magic around me disperse as I walk into my workroom with my saddlebags. I take out my rune notebook and start looking through it to find a rune to work with.

I flip through several pages and note down a few runes on some loose paper as I compile different potential runes. I then start looking through these rune’s context looking for one that would fit my needs the best. When I'm done I'm left with a single rune that should be perfect.

A rune for locking. I can't get very fancy with how weak I need to make this but I now have a good idea of how to go about this. I start on a very basic spell to keep anything it's used on locked and closed as best the spell can with how weak it will be. When I'm done I grab my saddlebags and start enchanting them.

The saddlebags have several pockets with metal buttons to keep them closed as I walk. I enchant a specific metal button to activate or deactivate the main enchantment when tapped two times. Then I enchant the saddlebags to keep all the pockets locked closed.

I link the enchantments and try it, I activate the enchantment and try to open a pocket. I can't open it with a gentle pull so I keep using more force. It doesn't take much to force it open, anypony could force it open but I would feel it if they did it while I'm wearing my saddlebags.

It should get me to notice if anypony tries to take anything from me without my notice. Once I'm done testing it I turn the enchantment off and head to my main room to continue my practice.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

Also we have a cover now, YAY!! :D

Chapter 74

FEB 21 Saturday.

I started double-checking my things to make sure I didn't miss anything I may need on my trip.

My cloak, my small dagger, some berry seeds, my flask, and a bag with a good amount of bits for shopping and expenses. I can go to a bank in New Trotten to get more if need be, but that will cut into my time. And finally, my newly enchanted saddlebags that I will carry my things in.

I pack everything I just stated, and a few other small things I might need before checking the time. It's very early and the sun won't be up for a while yet. I gently wake Entropy up with a shake, she opens her eyes and looks at me, "Sorry to wake you girl but we need to go. You can keep sleeping in my shadow."

She gives me a small caw and melds into my shadow, I put on my saddlebags and leave into the dark streets. My train will arrive just after dawn and the train station is a decent walk away. I take out my cloak and put it on as a light rain starts falling around me.

After some time walking, I approached the train station, I saw a pair of guards walking down the street in the opposite direction as me. "Sir, can I speak to you for a moment?" As I'm passing the guards one of them stops me with a question. I've seen them patrolling more than normal and rather not cause a scene before my trip even starts.

I lower my hood and look at both of them. "Sure, what do you need?" I remain calm and respectful as I look at them.

I see the other guard relax a little at my friendly answer. One of them moves a piece of paper over to me, "We've been looking for information on this pony, do you recognize them?"

I move closer and look at the picture properly for a few moments. It's a unicorn drawn without color, I decide to answer honestly. "Nope, I don't recognize them. Do you mind if I ask why you're looking for them?"

The guard nods and puts away the piece of paper. "Thank you for your time. And they are a suspect we are looking for, if you see them please contact a guard. Have a good day sir." After that, they both continue their patrol down the street. I guess that partly answers my question.

I wonder what they did to get the guards so riled up? Well if the guards are looking for information and not the pony themself then I can at least guess they aren't in the city anymore. I move those thoughts to the side as I arrive at the train station and enter the building.

My train won't arrive for a while longer so I just sit down at a bench near a light, I take out the sketchbook I brought with me and spend some time drawing in it. After a while I see sunlight start streaming in through the windows as Celestia raises the sun once again.

My train arrives several minutes later. I stand up and find my ticket before moving over to a desk, a few other ponies doing the same. This early train still has other passengers and more will come before we depart, I have to wait for a few other ponies to go first but a short while later I'm moving to my train.

I enter and walk along it until I find a section with several private compartments to sit in. These are on a first come first serve basis, I pick one in the middle and open it before getting comfortable inside. I sit down and have Entropy leave my shadow before casting an illusion spell on her.

Just to be safe I dump almost all of my magic into the spell so it should last for the entire train ride. I take out the only reading book I brought with me, a text on medical knowledge. I brought it because it's a long read and will give me something to do on the train ride.

As I settle in for the ride through the window I see ponies start to fill the train, and hear them moving around outside my compartment through the thin walls. After a while, I need to use the bathroom and leave Entropy to watch over my things while I'm gone. After some wondering I find a bathroom and do my business before heading back to my compartment.

As I walk back I remind myself of the two new rules I'm following while on this trip. One, don't use my field in front of others. Canterlot is mostly unicorns so not many question odd bits of magic, but others that are less used to that, will be more likely to ask about it, and I rather not deal with that so unless I'm alone I won't use my field.

The other is smaller. I'll be calling Entropy, Shadow whenever others I don't know ask about her. It's a small thing but it's for the best that I don't stand out more than I already do.

As I enter the train section that I'm in I hear raised voices not far away. I don't pay it much mind as I get closer to my compartment, when I do get there I see a compartment door several doors down open, a Griffin is pushed out and I can now hear the voices clearly.

I can now tell that the voices are speaking in Griffin, I see another Griffin come near the open door and throw a satchel to the Griffin on the floor, some of its contents scattering on the floor. "Stay out of our compartment, you're not welcome" The other Griffin looks back while grabbing their satchel.

"That's not what you said earlier, at the train station you said I was welcome to sit with you all." The voice that answers back is surprisingly calm about the whole situation and sounds more tired than angry or annoyed.

The other Griffin also with a male voice seems to get angrier at their response. "I won't have a soft beak like you sitting with us. now STAY OUT!!" They slam the compartment door shut after that.

Two things both shock and piss me off about what I just saw happen. Soft beak is an insult used by Griffins and it's basically like calling someone a weak bitch, which in and of itself is uncalled for in a public space even if most beings around you can't understand what you're saying.

The other reason that this is making me angry is I'm pretty sure I know why they called the other Griffin this Griffin that. The Griffin that was thrown out is now standing upright and is picking up the things that fell out of their satchel when it was thrown. And it's easy for me to see that they are missing a limb.

Their left forelimb stops abruptly halfway down and has a scar at its end. Insulting someone with a disability is a great way to make me fucking angry, it's something I can't stand.

One of my best and only friends in my past life was treated like this for missing a leg. He would never get angry over stuff like this, so I would for him. And I've had to tell off more than one asshole for things like this, and that part of me is still very much there.

It's one of the few things that can and will make me violent. I steam in that anger for a moment before deciding to focus on something of more importance in this situation. With my mind made up I start walking over to the Griffin.

I reach out a hoof and pick up a small bag that fell on the floor several feet away from them before walking up to them. They turn to me as I approach them, "Here this fell out." I hold it out for them with a calm face and relaxed posture.

They look at me for a moment before reaching out and taking the small bag that makes clinking noises as it moves. "Thank you." They say in a voice that has a less-than-happy undertone, not that I blame them for using that tone after what just happened.

I nod to him. "I heard what happened. Do you need a place to sit, my compartment is still half empty?" I make the offer while motioning behind me.

They stare me up and down for several moments and seem to be thinking it over for a while, I wait patiently as they decide. After a few more moments they give me a slow and reserved nod, "Sure that would be nice, thanks again."

I give him a small smile. "No problem." I turn around and walk back over to my compartment before opening the door. The compartment has two benches on either side with a small table in the middle, I sit with my things and Entropy on the left side.

The Griffin enters behind me, they look around the compartment for a moment, they spot Entropy before closing the door behind them and sitting on the opposite side from me. I don't ask them anything about what happened and just go back to reading my book. We sit in silence for several minutes before they speak.

They clear their throat and I drop my book and look at them. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you help me?" They ask this in a cautious tone. I can see their eyes flicker to where their limb should be for a moment.

I decided to give him a direct answer as most Griffins seem to prefer that. "I heard and understood what happened and there is no situation where what they did was ok. So I decided to lend some help." I say all of this in perfect Griffin to prove my point.

They look stunned for a moment before looking embarrassed about the situation. "Sorry you had to hear that." They respond in a quieter voice.

"You have nothing to apologize for, they do. Even if you started that situation, which I doubt you did, they shouldn't have resorted to insults or force." I say this in a tone of voice that shows that I meant what I said without any room for argument.

He once again seemed a little stunned at my statement. He goes quiet for a few more moments, "Thank you, again. My name is Avalon, it's nice to meet you." They try to not so subtly change the subject. I take a moment to get a good look at him.

He mainly has brown feathers with a few light red ones mixed in. His eyes are a light rose red, with the feathers around his head being a deeper red than his other feathers. After looking him over and decided to just let the subject go and introduce myself.

"My name is Shade, nice to meet you too. and like I said it's no problem, and if you need help just ask." I offer while putting back the medical book in my saddlebag and taking out my sketchbook.

They nod and look over to Entropy who's decided to demand scratches from me. I reach down and give her what she wants, "What's their name?" Avalon asks while looking at Entropy.

I lie without a second thought, "Her name is Shadow, she's nice. Just don't touch her, she doesn't like when others do that." He nods and keeps looking Entropy over for a few moments.

"Would you mind if I draw her?" he asks with a slightly nervous tone. I don't mind at all and give him a nod while starting to draw in my sketchbook. Avalon takes out his own book to draw in and holds it in his lap while holding a quill in his talons. I decided to do the same as him and continue to work on a drawing of Entropy I haven't finished yet.

We spend the next two hours in almost complete silence while we both draw. When he stops I do the same and look up to him, "Would you like to compare?" I ask in a friendly tone while smiling at him. He looks a little uncomfortable and I'm about to apologize to him for overstepping my bounds when he holds the open book out to me.

I gently take it and pass him my sketchbook while looking at his drawing. I'm a little blown away by what I see, despite only drawing for two hours, his drawing has an amazing amount of detail to it and is beautifully done. I have to stop myself from turning a page to see what else he's made and just pass the book back to him.

"That is very well done for how much time you had, are you an artist for a living?" He looks bashful at my compliments and gives me back my sketchbook.

"T-thanks, it's not really the best. And no I'm not an artist just a courier. Yours is well done, and." He seems to catch himself and stops.

"And what? If you're offering some advice I would be glad to have it, not many have the kind of skill you have." He's almost blushing when I say that and stays silent again, I just patiently wait for him to respond. I've meant every word I've said to him, drawing with one limb would be hard enough but to have that kind of skill while having one limb is just impressive.

"W-well since you asked. You should use a different kind of quill, the one you use is not the best for small details." I listen intently as he starts to talk about different things I can do to improve my drawings, he gets more and more passionate as he goes. And I settle in for a long drawing lesson with a smile on my face.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading, and have a good day.

Chapter 75

FEB 21 Saturday.

I'm drawing another sketch of Entropy while Avalon gives me different pieces of advice and small instructions. Turns out that Avalon very much likes art in many forms, but his favorite seems to be simple drawings and sketches.

Avalon is a quiet and calm Griffin and seems like a nice person overall. I draw another line and look back up to him as he draws in his own book. It's still several hours until we arrive so I might as well attempt some small talk. "We still have a long ride until we arrive, do you have any good stories?"

He looks back up to me. He seems now much more relaxed than when he first sat down with me and has opened up more than any other Griffin I've met so far, he seems to defy his nature in that way. "Well, I do have one about a delivery I had a while back."

"Oh ya, you did mention you were a Courier. What's that like?" I changed the subject slightly out of curiosity.

"I work for contract hire, it basically means I'm independent of any organization and can be hired by anyone. And it's fine, I mostly move small delicate things as they are easy and can pay decently. Back to the story, a month or two ago I was contracted to deliver some documents."

"They needed them to be moved fast and while I'm not that fast on land I consider myself to be a good flyer. I was contracted to move them in two days as they were important and time-sensitive. And I got it there in time, but the pony I was supposed to deliver them to wasn't there when I arrived."

I listen to his story with a smile on my face. "Turns out the pony that I was supposed to deliver to was fired by some other pony that wanted their job and got them fired somehow."

"Why?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "I asked another employee there and they just started talking about some feud between them over some past incident. But this is where things get fun. The contract I signed was for some important documents for this business, and it specifically said I could only deliver the documents to the pony working there."

I start to see where he's going with this. "So when I arrived and they weren't there I couldn't give it to the new pony or I could get heavily fined for a breach of contract. But that's not my job and after some less than pleasant back and forth between me and the new pony in charge.

"He just lost it a little after I mentioned the other pony's name and that I had something for them. Full-on screaming at me that they didn't work there anymore and that I wasn't needed there. So I did just that and left without delivering the documents."

"The contract told me what to do if I couldn't fulfill my delivery. It's standard practice in most contracts like this to return the package to the sender in situations like this, so I did just that and left the same day. When I got back my employers were losing their minds over what happened."

"Turns out the document I was delivering was for a trade document, it needed to be signed before they could buy out a new business in that area before word got out and their competitors noticed the same opportunity, and that new company got a better offer."

"The new business was a small smithy that invented a new slightly cheaper way to smelt iron, it mostly just saves fuel. But when that pony refused to let me deliver my package to the pony stated in the contract they lost the opportunity and got into a bidding war over ownership of the small company."

"They ended up paying a lot more than the original offer to acquire that business. And I was contracted to take another document to that pony not long after, it was a letter telling me they were fired from his new job." Avalon chuckles as he ends the story.

I chuckle along with him. "That's just a mess, do you have things like that happen often?"

He shakes his head. "Thankfully no. That was probably the worst reaction I've gotten from someone getting a delivery."

"Probably for the best that it stays that way. So are you delivering something now?"

He again shakes his head. "I'm heading to New Trotten to pick something up that needs to be moved, and after that, it's back home. Where are you going?"

"I'm on vacation for the next two weeks and decided to take a trip to New Trotten. Where is home for you? I myself have lived in Canterlot for my whole life." I start with where I live to sound less noisy.

"Same, I've lived in Canterlot for two years now. It's a wonderful city, the only problem I have is all the questions." He stops abruptly at that and looks a little odd, I think he was relaxed enough to let that slip out by accident.

He stops for a moment and looks back at his missing arm. "Why haven't you asked yet?" He seems to realize he said that out loud a second after he said it. "S-sorry that came out wrong. It's just that most ask about it and you haven't even after a few hours."

I just smile at him. "I had a friend that was missing a limb when I was younger. And while he never let it show I know he didn't want to talk about it when others asked. So no I didn't ask, and I won't be asking anytime soon."

He gives me a thankful look. "Thanks not many do that." He stops talking after that and goes back to drawing in his book. I do the same for a moment before a thought strikes me, why doesn't he have a prosthetic? After flipping ahead through the medical book I brought until I found a small section on prosthetics.

I read through it for a while and saw that it's not the most informative. The answer is mostly that ponies don't need prosthetics much, as while it's not easy it's not too hard to reattach limbs with healing magic. But over all this seems to be yet another thing that is underdeveloped in Equestria.

My mind won't let this stand, so I find my notebook and start thinking of ideas on how I can make or improve prosthetics. I start writing down different runes and spell matrices while thinking of different rune combinations or spells that could help. As I'm doing this I don't notice Avalon staring at me.

"What are you working on?" He asks. I jumped a little at his voice as I was sucked into my work. I look at him and think of the best way to explain this. And just decide to down play what I was doing while still being honest.

"I study and practice runic magic, and I had an idea a moment ago. I was just making some notes and writing down a few ideas on some things to research later." He looks intrigued.

"Runic magic? I've heard a bit about that, it's a type of magic non-unicorns can use right?"

I move my hoof in a half-and-half gesture. "Yes and no, it's not often used but those that do are mostly Earth ponies and Pegasi. But all beings have magic and with enough practice can use runic magic, even you could use it."

"Wait, I could use magic?" He asks while looking confused.

I nod. "Well, yes. You'd need to learn how and you'd probably have less magic to work with than a pony, but you'd still be able to use a lot of simple spells." I give him an example by quickly drawing out a basic light spell matrix in front of him and casting it to form a small ball of light in the air.

"Wow." That's all he says as he looks mesmerized by the small light. After a moment he looks at me with a surprisingly determined look on his face and a certain look in his eyes, "How could I learn to use magic?" He nearly demands of me. I guess I've sparked something in him.

"There are a few ways, but before you start there are a few things I should warn you about." I start writing something out as I continue speaking. "All magic can be dangerous if used improperly, so no matter what you decide on I caution you to be careful and double check everything as you go."

"With that out of the way let's start with this." I pass him a page of paper I ripped out of my notebook, it's filled with several math questions. "Magic is mostly three things. First, will, you need to have enough will to control your magic to do as you want. Second, you need magic. And third, you need the knowledge to use magic."

He looks down at the page confused. "And what does math have to do with this?"

"Magic spells are made from two things. Runes to give the spell complex and widespread instructions, and math to give the spell structure and more specific instructions. If you can solve those questions it will give me a good idea of what books to recommend to you."

"Also I noticed that you seem really interested in magic, why?"

He gives me the same look he had when he was talking about art. "I've seen it a lot, and it's always interested me. But now that I know I can use it I really want to try and learn how. Also, thanks for the help, again." That last part is said in a more reserved way.

"No problem, it's just nice to see someone excited to learn about runic magic." We lapse back into silence as he works on the questions and I continue working on my ideas. It takes him almost two hours to finish the thirty questions on the page. When he passes it back to me I start reading it.

He got a surprising amount of them right, even a few of the ones I didn't expect him to be able to answer. Seeing that he has at least some potential with the mathematics side of magic I start writing a list of books for him. When I'm done I rip out another page and hand it to him.

"This is a list of books to start with, you can find all of them at the city library in Canterlot. I recommend you start at the top of this list and work your way down. A few of the early ones might seem simple but they have several things that are important to learn."

He looks over the list and looks back at me. "Thanks, I know I've been saying that a lot but I mean it."

I smile at him again. "And like I said before, it's no problem. Just make sure you stay safe and don't ignore the warning in those books, many ponies make that mistake and while weak spells are safe to fail stronger ones can lead to some less than pleasant situations."

He gives me a firm nod. "I promise." He goes back to reading through the list after that and I go back to my work. We spend the rest of the train ride in silence with a few small conversations. When the train does eventually arrive I start gathering my things and preparing to leave.

When I have everything ready I turn to Avalon. "Thanks for the story and keeping me company through the ride. Oh, and the drawing advice." I pretend to forget that last part just to see him smile about it when I bring it up again.

He nods and stands up next to me. "It's no trouble. And thank you for all the help you've given me, even a lot of ponies aren't as helpful as you have been. Here." He passes me a small piece of paper. "That's my mail address. If you ever need something moved I'd be happy to do so." He smiles at me while I take the piece of paper.

I smile back before taking a small piece of paper and writing down the address used for my apartment building. If he sends anything there it will just be sorted into my mailbox without him knowing what room I live in. "And here, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm more than willing. Have a good day Avalon."

"Same to you Shade, and I hope you have a good vacation." We both leave the compartment and make our way off the train before separating to go our own ways. I look around the busy train station and move towards the exit, I walk out onto an equally busy street.

I smile as I look around. Seems I have a new city to explore.

Author's Note

I had fun writing about this and just kind of kept going. Next chapter should be more interesting.

Also new city, and ideas? Or suggestions?

Thanks for reading as always and I hope you have a lovely day. :]

Chapter 76

FEB 21 Saturday.

The first thing I do after leaving the train station is to find a place to stay the night as it's already near the end of the day. Before that, I found a public restroom and had Entropy move into my shadow, the spell I cast on her was almost over. After that, I started looking around the area for a place to stay.

New Trotten is a decently big destination for travelers so there are many places to stay. I found an inn not long into my search but decided to look for someplace closer to the ocean. I haven't been to the ocean in over two decades and it would be nice to spend some time there.

It takes me a while to reach that part of the city and find a place to stay. This inn is smaller in size and also a little more rundown then others, but it's also got the right feel to it. It's called the Salty Pony, by magic these names. I ignore it and walk inside the inn while looking around.

The place is what you would expect. A room filled with tables, and ponies eating while having fun. A bar on the back wall with a pony serving drinks and talking with others. It's got a down-to-earth feel and in my opinion, it is much better than the other inns tourists go to.

Their sign said they had rooms but I couldn't see any other ponies beyond the bartender and a few waiters, so I just decided to walk over to the bar counter and wait a while for the bartender to come over to me. I don't have to wait long as the mare bartender comes over to me.

"If you need food, ask for one of the waiters, I only have drinks." They say in a bored tone. I guess she thinks I'm just here to eat, well I am but that's not the point.

"I'll probably get some food, but first two questions. Do you have a spare room? And are pets allowed?" She looks me up and down with a close eye for a moment before nodding.

"Small pets are fine, just keep them under control. And we do have a few rooms free, ten bits a night without meals, and eight more bits every night you rent after the first night." I nod and use a little force to force open my saddlebags and take out my bit bag. Including tonight, I'll be staying here for sixteen nights, so I passed them a total of one-hundred and thirty bits.

I have to count them out one by one which takes a few minutes, I really hope the bit counter catches on soon, this is just painful. The mare raises her brow as I go and looks quite happy by the time I'm done. "That should be enough for the next sixteen nights."

She nods and takes the bits, she moves a key out from under the counter and over to me. "I hope you enjoy your stay." I nod again and leave them to their work. I walk out of the inn for a few minutes to find another restroom, it's harder to find one on this side of the city but I do find one after a little searching.

I wake Entropy and have her leave my shadow before casting an illusion spell over her. Then with her on my back, I walk back into the inn and sit at a table. It doesn't take long for a pony to walk over to me, "What do you need?"

"A serving of whatever you recommend, and some fruit for my little friend." Entropy perks up at the mention of food and moves off of me and onto the tabletop.

They nod and write it down. "Some potato soup and bread, with some fruit." They walk off and I take out my sketchbook to draw as I wait, not long after the same pony places two bowls and some bread on the table. One is filled with some diced fruit that Entropy starts eating as soon as it's on the table, and the other is filled with hot soup.

I eat the bowl of soup, it's well seasoned and cooked, and it also goes very well with the bread. When we are done I walk through a hallway on one side of the inn and pass several doors before finding the room number that matches my key. I close the door behind me and lock it before looking around the room. It's just a bed and a small desk, but that's all I need.

I take off my cloak and saddlebags before sitting at the desk to continue working on a few ideas I have. While I may not have done much today I've been awake for far too long at this point, so after two hours of notetaking and brainstorming ideas I have Entropy merge into my shadow before heading to bed.

FEB 22 Sunday.

I slowly open my eyes as I look around the room. I do some basic exercises, but keep it light, before casting the illusion spell on Entropy and leaving my room. After locking the door I walk into the large room and sit down at a table to get both me and Entropy some breakfast before we leave the inn.

I wander the streets for a while with Entropy in my shadow before finding a guard. I ask them for directions to somewhere I can buy a map, and they bluntly give me those directions. I follow the directions and see the streets start to fill with more and more ponies and griffins as I get close to the markets.

The streets are filled with mostly ponies, but there are also a lot of griffins walking around, much more than I've seen before. I walk around a street corner and see familiar rows of stalls and the sounds of a bustling market. I walk through the markets looking for a place to buy a map.

I want a decent map of the city so I don't have to ask for directions all the time or get lost. This city gets a good amount of visitors so finding a stall that sells maps doesn't take me too long. I bought two maps, one that shows most of the important business, and another that shows a more detailed layout of the streets and buildings.

Maybe I should work on improving maps? Thoughts for later. I start walking towards the side of the city that connects to the sea. I haven't seen the ocean since I was twelve in my past life, that was a long time ago. Since when did I start reminiscing about my life?

Then again if I add my lives together I'd be thirty-two years old, some days it feels like my last life was an old dream. I shake my head and focus on enjoying the nice day, I make it to the beach and step hoof in the sand for the first time in a long time. I simply enjoy the feeling for a while before continuing.

As I walk I watch the waves form and crash onto beach sands. The last time I saw a view like this was when I was a kid on a cross-country trip to a cousin's wedding. I hope they are still doing well, I shake my head again and continue walking down the beach.

I walk up to the ocean before something important occurs to me, I don't know how to swim. I never learned how to do that in this body, I think for a moment before deciding to not go swimming today. So I lay down in the sand and took out my sketchbook to start drawing.

I spent a while drawing the sea and watching other ponies swim in the water. I chose to observe to learn how they swim through observation, I still won't go swimming right now but it's good to see how others do it.

When I'm done with my basic drawing I get up and clean off any sand on me before leaving the beach and walking back through the city streets again. This time I'm not looking for market stalls but shops, specifically plant shops. Coastal areas can have many types of useful plants that I wouldn't mind adding to my collection.

The map I bought has a few listed and I decided to visit them all. Two hours of walking later my decision turns out to be less than effective. Out of the five shops listed, three of them were just flower shops, and another sold only decorative plants. The only slightly useful shop was the last one. It mostly sold normal plants but did have one thing that I wanted, Salty Seaweed. This plant is very similar to normal Seaweed but with a few twists.

The name comes from this plant's ability to absorb a lot of salt into its own leaves and stem, this makes it hard and unpleasant for many sea creatures to try and eat the plant, giving it a good defense against being eaten.

In fact, the plant can absorb and store so much salt that it's a viable way to harvest salt, it's also used in several different popular dishes. But this also leads to it being overharvested by many, and because of that it can be hard to harvest any large amount of it at any given time.

The plant also has two other properties that interest me, it can survive in freshwater, although it does have some difficulty with that. It can form small salt crystals on its stem if it lives long enough in an environment with enough salt to absorb.

I bought a small bottle with the plant in it, it's not doing that well inside and probably wouldn't live that long if I didn't give it life magic. This plant doesn't have much use to me, but like my other plants, I can breed its abilities into something I can make use of.

I plan to just grow some seeds later and dispose of the plant afterwards. Once I'm done with plant shopping I start looking around for other things to do, and after a little searching, I find a small cafe advertising free board games to use. I have nothing better to do so I walk inside.

It's nicely decorated and filled with several ponies sitting around and playing games or talking to each other. I find an empty table and sit down, I wait for somepony to take my order, and a griffin walks over to me with a notepad not long after.

"What can I get you? And will you need chess pieces?" I'm about to answer their first question but stop as I hear the second question. :Chess pieces?: I'm confused by their question and they seemed to have noticed. They just point down at the table with a talon, and I notice that the table has a chessboard built into it.

I just chuckle to myself for a moment before answering. "A cup of green tea and some cookies, please. And yes I'd like the chess pieces." They nod and write down my order before leaving. It's a little odd seeing so many griffins around, maybe I should use my language skills a little more? Why not?

Not long after they leave the griffin returns with a small box that has all the chess pieces inside it. "Your things will be out soon." I nod my thanks and entertain myself by setting up the chessboard while I wait. I decided to use the white pieces and set the other side up with the black pieces.

After a few minutes, the griffin places my drink and a plate with cookies on the table. "Thanks." I pay them and they nod before walking off to tend to other customers. I sip my tea and enjoy a cookie while taking out my notebook to work on a few things as I wait.

Prosthetics are hard to make for several reasons. The main reason is simply the fact that there are so many different limbs that could be missing, even just griffins and ponies add so many different limbs. And you'd need a different type of Prosthetic for every type of limb in several different sizes, and that's a tall order, even with the crown's resources.

Magic could provide several ways around this problem, but I don't think I have the skills for something that advanced yet. Making a single prosthetic may be possible for me, but I don't have much of a reason to make one right now. I'll keep looking into this but probably shelve it for a later date.

I keep working through several math problems to form a few different matrix’s and spells. I eat a few cookies and finish my tea by the time somepony sits down across from me, I put away my book and look at who sat down with me.

An old griffin with a scar across the left side of their face stares back at me, I examine them a bit. They looked male but it can be a little hard to tell with Griffins, they also have a slightly intimidating presence to them. They remind me of Stone in a few ways, they sit up straight and wear an unreadable expression.

After examining them I speak up. "Black goes first." I think they seem like the type that doesn't talk much, and that guess was proven right when they moved a pawn without saying anything in response.

I ask for a refill on my tea as we play chess in silence, neither of us say a word as we play out our game. They are a good opponent but after a long drawn-out game that I barely win through a little luck on my part. I look back up to them, "Checkmate." They study the board for a few moments before looking up to meet my eyes.

"Hm, not bad." After saying that they finished the drink they got and stood up from our table before walking out of the cafe. Well that was definitely something, I double-checked my bracelet and necklace, and both are working fine. I finish my cookies and tea before paying and leaving the cafe, I walk through the streets making my way back to the inn.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

Also happy birthday, I have no idea if it is someone's birthday. But if it is and their reading this, then make sure to have the absolute best day.

Chapter 77

FEB 25 Wednesday.

It's been a few days since I arrived in New Trotten and been having a good time. I've spent that time eating at several restaurants and shopping, I've even found a few interesting things to keep.

A very well-made sculpture of a small island that is painted to look accurate. A wooden mug made from maple with metal rings to hold it together. Several types of seasonings that I haven't come across before. And finally, a small envelope opener that looks like a small sword, it even has a tiny sheath.

Right now I'm walking to the beach for something I found yesterday while wandering. I found a flier advertising swimming lessons, they are apparently a popular thing. That didn't make much sense to me for a while, but then I once again realized that these are ponies not humans.

Humans consider swimming to be a skill that most need to learn, but there are a few outliers to that. But overall most humans know how to swim and do so a lot throughout their life, it's not the same for ponies.

As a pony, we aren't as good at swimming as a human and from what I've seen many just never learn to swim at all. To be fair not many have a reason to learn, ponies on the coast teach their foals to swim but ponies from inland don't bother doing it that much.

This also varies depending on the subspecies, not many pegasi learn to swim as wet feathers can be less than fun. So most who learn to swim are unicorns and earth ponies. As a result of many not knowing how to swim, many choose to take lessons while visiting a coastal city, and I've decided to do the same.

The practice starts at ten am and is at a calmer part of the beach, anypony can show up and pay them ten bits to learn with everypony else. I have Entropy in my shadow and am walking to the meeting place. I look around the city as I walk.

Most of the buildings have a more open design to them than Canterlot. The buildings here are taller and further apart. This lets many pegasi and griffins fly around with more ease, and also leaves more room for balconies. All of this gives New Trotten the city a much less cramped feeling than Canterlot.

Another difference is what the buildings are made of. In Canterlot the buildings are mostly stone and wood, but here the buildings are made from brick and mortar. I near the beach and start following a path for a while before seeing a sign on a post in the sand.

It's another advertisement for swimming lessons. I walk over to a decent-sized group of ponies and wait with them until it's ten am, twenty minutes later a pony gets our attention. "Hello everypony and welcome. If you're here to learn please form a line and talk to one of the ponies that are wearing the same vest as me."

They are wearing a white and red vest that stands out, I walk over to a forming line and once again wait for a while. After I get to the front I pay them ten bits and wait until everypony else finishes. The next two hours after that are fairly boring overall and mostly consist of me slowly learning the basics of swimming as a pony.

I had to take a shower afterwards, I was a very salty pony by the time I was done. It wasn't very hard to learn to swim but I'll need more practice to let that knowledge set in. It was a little past noon by the time I was done so I started thinking about what to do next.

I think about what to do as I once again wander the city streets looking for anything that catches my interest. After some wandering I see something that wasn't marked on my map, it's a smaller street filled on both sides with market stalls and ponies walking around shopping.

I looked through my map again but couldn't find anything about this street or its market, so I decided to just take a look around the market and see what they had. And what I find is both amazing and a little worrying, this is a gray market. I'll need to give some context to explain that.

Crime is not anywhere near as common in Equestria then anywhere in my last world, but it does still exist. And by far the most common form of that small amount of crime in Equestria is gray markets. They sell a lot of things that aren't really illegal, but are also not truly legal.

A good example is herbs, some are illegal to sell, but only because they can be dangerous if used improperly. Why would the crown allow this? Well getting rid of all crime is simply not possible, and the next best thing to that is controlling that crime.

Illegal markets will never go away as long as there are things ponies can't buy in regular markets. If you tried to get rid of these markets they would just hide better and be harder to find and control. So instead the crown lets a small and controllable amount of illegal markets so it's easy to keep them under proper watch and control.

Doing this lets the crown pick off any truly dangerous crime while getting help from other criminals. Why? If you were a gray market seller, you and you aren't doing anything the crown would really care about. But if another pony in the same market starts doing really illegal things then it would be in your best interest to tip off the guard.

The end result is a self-limiting illegal market that keeps major crime to a minimum while still being something the crown can keep under control. To be blunt, this is all in a controlled mess that could properly only function under the guidance and planning of an immortal.

I double-checked my knife and put on my cloak before entering the street. There are a few things that I could find while here so as I walk I pay close attention to what others are selling. I keep to myself and don't draw attention as I shop, but I don't have to be too careful.

Places like this are normally open secrets to the local communities, I've seen at least two ponies that give me the same feeling as guards and carry themselves in the same way. I walk through the streets looking at what they have to offer, a lot of what is here are items of dubious origin.

Most of these things aren't illegal to own or sell, but that just means the sellers probably got them through less than legal means. A few things I do recognize as illegal are around, but none of them interest me. Honestly, this place is less illegal than I thought it would be.

The atmosphere is much lighter than you'd think, and a lot of ponies seem to just treat this like any other market. Around half of the griffins and ponies here don't even hide their face from view. Seeing the way this place operates I take my time looking through various stalls.

I have to fight my paranoia a little to not make me act too careful, that would just draw more attention to me. I found a stall selling herbs of various types along with different remedies. I look through the labels of a few remedies for a few moments, but wrinkle my nose and stop after I see a bottle labeled, Male Enhancement.

I just keep to the different herbs and find an interesting herb that I buy before moving on to other stalls. I stop at another stall selling enchanted objects and start looking through them. They have a few things you'd expect to see here, including one of the water flasks I invented.

It's probably here because it was stolen or some other reason. I keep looking through the objects before finding one of interest to me and buying it. I continue through the market but don't find anything else of interest to me, so after reaching the other end of the street I walk away and start heading back to the inn.

I take off my cloak in yet another restroom and let Entropy ride on me under an illusion before entering the inn. I got us some lunch before heading into my room. I found two things that have shown some interest to me. I start by taking out the herb I got and placing it on the small desk in my room.

I recognized this herb and thought I might have some use for it. Spine Leaf is a small plant with very sharp needles on the ends of its leaves. And It's not even an illegal herb, It's needles can be used as a seasoning, but not many like the taste, and because of that very few ponies sell them so it can be hard to find.

The needles are said to have a unique taste and are sometimes used as a seasoning for different dishes. I only bought a few needles but I still feel a little life magic left in them. I've never tried to grow a plant from an almost dead leaf, but it's worth a try if nothing else.

I don't have any soil or pot, so that's the first thing I need to solve. I leave Entropy in the room, I walk out of the inn with a small glass bottle I had free, and start walking down the street. There are still a few hours of daylight left so I decide to do something fun before continuing with this.

I give it some thought and start walking to the cafe I went to a few days ago. They had good tea and snacks, plus I wouldn't mind having some fun with a game or two. When I arrive and enter the building I look around and I'm slightly surprised to see someone I recognize.

The same old griffin from last time was playing a game of chess with a pony while drinking some tea. I order some tea and a pastry before sitting at the same table as the old griffin. He turns to me and gives me a small nod, which I return, before going back to his game.

The other pony playing against him is not doing very well and doesn't seem happy about it. They aren't as quiet as us and even let out a few quiet curses when they badly lose the game, they leave right after that and walk out of the cafe. I move and sit down opposite the old griffin and start setting up the game.

"White goes first." His deep and dry voice calls out white I'm moving the pieces. I nod and set up the white pieces on his side before sitting back to relax and enjoy my tea. He doesn't talk again after that and we start our game, it doesn't go as well for me this time.

While we play I take some time to get a better look at this old griffin. His feathers are a mix of coal black, and deep ash grays. His eyes are a light yellow, and his talons have a stone-gray look to them. Honestly seeing someone so darkly colored is a little odd, even most other griffins I've seen weren't this darkly colored.

Our first game ended with me losing badly due to a mistake I made at the beginning of the game. But our second game is much more evenly matched, it ends in a draw as we both only have our kings left on the board. I look up to him while finishing off my tea, "Not bad."

He looks up after I say that and locks eyes with me. His face hasn't changed this entire time, but now I see it change very slightly to what I think is a humorous expression. "Not many give me a challenge. Phelix." He holds out a talon to me.

I smile a little and shake his talon with my hoof, "Shade." He nods before standing up and walking out of the cafe. I check the time and decide to do the same as it's getting near the end of the day. While walking back to the inn I look around for any loose soil, It doesn't take me long to find a tree planted on a street corner.

I make sure nopony is looking and fill the bottle with soil before walking back to my room at the inn. I sit at the desk again and start thinking about how I want to try this, after some thought I just decide to try something. But I only have three leaves so I do need to be careful.

I start by taking one of the needles and sticking it in the soil. I focus and start dumping life magic into the needle while trying my best to force the magic to grow roots on a part of this plant not normally able to do that. It takes a full minute of focus to succeed, I watch through the glass bottle as a few small roots grow downwards.

Next, I cut off the needle and grow the plant from its new roots. I watch as a new plant is grown from the roots and steadily takes form. Once it's big enough I use more magic to grow some seeds and harvest them before testing if they are viable.

I take out the first plant but keep it intact before planting a seed and giving it life magic. It grows in short order and I decompose both plants to make room for more tests. I take the second needle and cut it in half before trying to grow it the same way I did before.

The first time it took two, maybe three times the magic it took to fully grow the plant from a seed. I repeat the process and roughly compare them. The second test with half a needle took five to six times more magic than using a seed, to make the same fully grown plant.

I cut the last needle and only used one-fifth of the needle, like the others, this one also becomes a fully grown plant, but it took much more magic than the others. It seems that I can grow a full plant from any plant matter as long as that matter is still alive, but it also takes increasing amounts of magic depending on how small of a sample I'm working with.

I bought this plant for two reasons. First, I'm curious about how it tastes and I always like new seasoning. Second, the plant's needles are very sharp and fairly sturdy for their small size, I see some potential in selectively breeding these needles for other uses.

I open my notebook and settle it to start writing down Ideas while studying the plant in front of me.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading my mind slop.

Mind slop? God WTF is my brain?

Chapter 78

FEB 28 Saturday.

I feel the cold water wash over me as I scrub out all the salt and sand from my coat and mane. I just got out of the ocean water and had some fun swimming around for a while. I've been going for a swim every day since I learned how to.

After I'm done I start walking back to the inn. I eat an early and hardy lunch before going to my room and sitting down at the small desk. Today I want to work on something I found at the gray market a few days ago, a small dagger made from iron enchanted to be covered in frost.

Its enchantment isn't that strong, but it has a unique property. Frost doesn't just cover the blade, it also imparts a small amount of frost into whatever you cut with it. The effect for both is weak and wouldn't do much, but I'm more interested in what runes were used to accomplish this.

I start with a spell I haven't used much before. The spell forms a copy of whatever enchantment you cast it on, this lets you study the enchantment. But it's a fairly complex spell that takes a good amount of magic to cast the spell for an extended amount of time.

After drawing out the matrix I cast the spell on the dagger and watch as a matrix forms in front of me. Along with another matrix that gathers magic, that I can ignore. I start writing down and copying everything so I don't have to keep powering the spell, it takes twenty minutes to finish. After I'm finished I let the spell dissolve and start going over what I copied.

The spell that was enchanted into this dagger is interesting, and the runes used in the spell are even more interesting. Out of the four used I recognize two of them, but the other two I don't really know that well. One I recognize as a modified rune for frost that I've come across before.

But the other is completely unknown to me. Its base structure isn't similar to any other rune I can remember off the top of my head, but I can't be sure without my other notebooks. It does share a few traits with other runes but that's not enough to know what this one could be, I'll have to research this rune more when I get back to Canterlot.

Not having anything else to work on I settle for just organizing anything I did learn and writing it all down. Once I'm done I put everything away and walk out of my room after locking the door behind me. Entropy is on my back and today I have two new places to visit.

While on a walk through the city yesterday I found the tallest building in the city. It's a large bell tower that is a little taller than the next tallest building. And after looking around I found out that they offer open visits to the top on the weekends, and I've decided to do just that.

I have Entropy merge into my shadow before I approach the bell tower. When I reach the base I see several other ponies who also seem to be here for the same reason, I join the waiting crowd of around twenty ponies. After a while, a pony comes over and opens the doors to let us inside.

I wait in a line and pay seven bits before walking up the long staircase. It's a tall building so it takes several minutes to reach the top of the tower. When I climb the last step I look out on the city in the late morning sunlight. I move out of the way of other ponies behind me before really taking in the view.

It's amazing to say the least. The brick buildings stretch out beneath me and I can see many pegasi and griffins flying around above the city. The tower I am standing on is around twenty feet across with railings around the area with four brick pillars holding up the roof and a large metal bell above us.

I walk over to a railing and look over the railing, I've never been afraid of heights so to me this is just an interesting view. I look back up and take out my sketchbook and a quill, I don't get to draw a view like this often. I spent two hours sitting up on the tower drawing the view.

When I'm done with a few good sketches I stand up and take in the view for a while longer before walking back down the stairs. I have something else I want to do today, I walk through the streets and find the right place I'm looking for. I approached New Trotten's city library.

It's nowhere near as large as Canterlot's city library but it's still a decent size and has many, many books. Most of these books are things I can find in Canterlot, but I'm guessing there will be more Griffin books to read here. When I enter the library I have to write my name down and I can't check out any books as I don't live in this city.

But I'm still able to read as much as I like for free. I start looking through bookshelves and different sections. I'm happy to see that I was right as I found a section with nothing but Griffin books, it's even organized into several smaller sections for different subjects.

I start by picking out a history book and a political book. They may seem boring but knowing about the cultures and governments that others have will always be interesting to me. I start with the history book which turns out to be less interesting than I hoped it would be.

It's about a smaller Griffin city and is more like light propaganda for the king who ruled it at the time this book was written. I move that book to the side before starting on the culture book, this turns out to be more interesting. It's an instruction book for griffin nobles on how to act and behave.

It's an older book but still seems relevant, I don't think I'll get much use out of it but I do find it interesting so I keep reading it. I learned several griffin words to not use at formal events and a few gestures and actions that can be considered rude in different situations. Once I'm done with that book I find another to read.

I came across a combat book and decided to flip through it, after a few pages I saw enough to know it won't help me and put it back. Next, I found a griffin cooking book, and this one I very much like. Finding meat recipes in pony books is hard, but in this book, I find many fish recipes with interesting ingredients.

Most meat recipes I use and know are from my last life, so finding new recipes using this world's seasonings makes me excited to try out some of these recipes. After reading through the recipes and copying several of them into my notebook I check the time.

Seeing the time I put the cooking book back and left the library. I start walking to a place I've taken a liking to, the board game cafe that I've been to a few times. I've come to enjoy the feel of the cafe and its drinks. I went there again yesterday in hopes of a relaxing game or two of chess, sadly the old griffin Phelix wasn't there and the ponies that played with me weren't that much of a challenge.

I'm hoping to see Phelix, he doesn't talk much, which I like, and provides a good opponent for a fun game. When I enter the cafe I'm happy to see Phelix sitting at a table playing a game of chess, but I'm surprised to see who's playing with him. A small hippogriff sitting with him enjoying a cookie while moving a pawn.

They are small and probably not that old. They have a light gray coat and a white mane, with very light green eyes. They seem to be having a lot of fun and won't stop talking to Phelix even though he doesn't respond much. I walk over and sit down with them while they continue their game.

Phelix looks over to me and gives a little nod while not taking his eyes off the game. The filly also sees me and her eyes seem to light up. "Hello! Who are you? What are you doing here? Are you here for games like us? What kind of snacks are you going to get? Do you like chess?" The young voice of an excited and happy filly rapid fires questions at me.

She stops as Phelix gives her a stern look. "Introduce yourself first, and say sorry for not letting him answer." He turns to me with a slightly tired look. "She's excitable." The filly looks a little admonished and has her ears slightly pinned back.

I can't see a filly like that and try to cheer her up a little. "I'm Shade, and in order. I came to play games. Yes. I want tea. And yes I enjoy chess." She looks happy at me giving her answers, and looks a little less shy.

" I'm sorry.MY name is Silvis, nice to meet you." She says the first part shyly before cheering up instantly and giving me a blinding smile. This filly is far too pure for me, I can feel my teeth rotting from it. I smile back and settle in while they play their game, I work on a few spells and some math as they play and order a cup of tea.

I finish a little work and my tea by the time they are done. Phelix looks over to me, "Here for a game then?" I nod and he starts setting up the board again, but before he can we are interrupted.

"But Grandsire, you promised we'd go to the park after this," Silvis says with a look that is a mix of sad and adorable. Phelix gives me a look that tells me he doesn't want to argue with a filly right now.

I brought my chess set with me when I traveled here. I thought I could find somewhere to play in a park but never needed to after I found this place. I don't know either of them that well, and my paranoia is shouting at me to stay quiet. But I also don't want that paranoia to stop me from having fun.

I check my bracelet and make sure there is no reaction before making up my mind and pushing my fear to the side. "I have a chess set with me, we could play there?" I offer. If I want to live my life then conquering my fear is something I need to get used to, I just need to remember to never forget my fear.

Phelix looks at me, his eyes are hard and he seems to be judging me. After a few moments and more prodding from Silvis, he sighs and nods, before standing up and placing Silvis on his back. "YAA! Park!" The filly celebrates her victory as we leave the cafe and start walking to the park.

Neither of us talks much beyond answering Silvis's questions. The small relationship I have with Phelix is simple, we both want a good challenge and a quiet game of chess. I don't know him and he doesn't know me, we are both just here for a fun game and to not have to talk.

And I'm happy with that. As much as I like how much ponies care for others, a lot of the time I just don't want others to drag me into a conversation. But I also like doing things with others from time to time, and Phelix seems to be the same.

As we walk they lead the way while I follow behind them, but something catches my eye as we walk. I look down while walking and see Entropy sitting on my shadow. I've trained her to never come out or show herself in any way unless it's important. She looks at me then moves to the side of my shadow and points behind me with a wing.

I feel my fear rise but force myself to not outwardly show anything, I just keep a steady pace. Entropy melded back into my shadow after that while my mind started running wild. Entropy showed me something was behind me but couldn't specify. Am I being followed?

I can't just turn around to check, but after looking around in front of me for a moment I see an opportunity to prove if I guessed right. Not far down the street is a restroom, something that is becoming increasingly useful to me. I walk up beside Phelix, "Hey do you mind if I use the restroom really quick?"

I ask while motioning with my head to the restroom. He looks over and then nods, we both stop and I enter while he waits outside. Once I enter I make sure no one else is inside before having Entropy leave my shadow. "Girl, am I being followed?" Entropy gives me a look and caws.

I know her enough to know that's a positive. After some quick thoughts, I formed a rough plan. "Move into the shadow of whoever is following us, then come back to me a little after."

She looks at me for a moment before melding back into my shadow a second later. Even when Entropy is in my shadow I can still feel her life magic, and if she understands me correctly then I can easily pick out whoever is following me. When I leave the restroom I feel the mass of life magic move away from me as we continue walking down the street.

If I look behind me too much, whoever's following me will notice, but if I only do it once they are unlikely to notice much. Once I feel Entropy stop moving further away from me, I turn my head to open my saddlebags with my mouth while still walking. I take out something from a pocket and at that moment I look around behind me.

I feel Entropy's life magic coming from two griffins walking together a good distance away from me. Who the fuck? I turn back while my mind starts thinking of why two griffins would be following me.

I haven't done anything, so why? I keep thinking of other possibilities as to why I'm being followed but can't see any logical reason that makes sense to me. As we walk further I feel them keep the same distance with us even after we turn a few corners.

After some thought a different idea pops into my head. These griffins are definitely following us, but I don't think they are following me, I look over to Phelix and Silvis as we near the park.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading and sleep well. :}

Chapter 79

FEB 28 Saturday.

After realizing that those griffins might be following Phelix and Silvis instead of me I calmed down slightly. It would make more sense than random griffins following a pony that's been in this city for a little over a week. But now the question becomes why are Phelix and Silvis being followed?

I can think of a few reasons and the first is somewhat likely and less concerning than the others, the griffins following them are guards of some sort. I have no idea who Phelix and Silvis are so they could be important enough that they need guards from some form of threat.

But on the other hoof, I don't know if they are guards or a threat themselves. Phelix stops at a bench next to a play area and takes Silvis off his back to play while we sit down at the bench. While I set up our chess board I feel Entropy move back into my shadow.

I've been training her to do a few different things, after I found out she could see out of shadows I trained her to keep an eye out when she can while I'm walking around in public. It's becoming apparent that Entropy is still getting smarter, she's able to understand me a bit better now.

As I finish setting up the pieces Phelix moves the first piece as our game begins. While we play I keep track of those two griffins by feeling their life magic, they haven't moved closer and seem to be keeping their distance for now.

Keeping track of two specific sources of life magic can be hard with so many walking around. But I had them pointed out to me and have been trying my best to keep track of them while acting normal, it also helps that they are moving together and that makes it a little easier to pick them out.

I've even been able to see them a few times now, right now they are sitting on a bench a good distance away while looking busy by talking to each other and doing a decent job at watching us while they talk without drawing attention to themselves.

Now that some time has passed and neither of the griffins have done anything I'm calming down and thinking of what to do next. From what I remember seeing earlier I don't think either of those griffins had any visible weapons with them.

That again makes me think that they could be some type of guards or maybe some type of surveillance. But the thought that I'm wrong still bothers me, and now I'm wondering if I should say something. If they are just guards then saying something would make me look suspicious and could lead to me being seen as a threat.

But on the other hoof if I say nothing and something goes horribly wrong, then I could end up regretting it for the rest of my life. I think it over a few times as our first game ends with me losing, and as time ticks by I keep running it through my head again and again.

But I just can't make up my mind and keep going in circles, and after a while I keep thinking about my next potential actions. Phelix doesn't seem like the type of griffin to go down without a fight, and I think anyone who tries to mess with Silvis will have to answer to him.

He is in good shape and I can bet he has some form of weapon on his right now, he is a capable griffin and I think he can take care of himself. So is the risk of me intervening worth it? Well, it really depends on what form of intervention I take.

I could just be blunt and ask about it, but that could go wrong very easily. I could try and deal with it myself, but that carries a lot of risk and presumes that those two griffins are a threat.

So what can I do? I don't have a way to know what their intentions are, and I'll need to find out if I want to decide on anything. I could gather information? But that might be more risky than my other options. I keep trying to think of a good solution.

After a lot of thinking I decided to do something that would be risky. I can't bring myself to do nothing, but rushing into this is a very bad idea. I need more information and to get it I'll have to act, "Do you know the time?" Phelix looks at me for a moment before motioning with his talon to a clock tower nearby, that I've seen already but pretend otherwise.

I look at it a bit and look back at him. "I have something to do, will you still be here in an hour?" I try to keep my words simple but concise with a casual tone, and above all else truthful, the best lies are truths. He once again scrutinizes me for several moments, then he gives a single nod.

I nod back and stand up. I know he doesn't trust me and this probably made him a little suspicious of me. "I'll be back." I leave the chessboard as a small token of trust and stand up before walking down a park path. I find a restroom to find a quiet place, after making sure I'm alone I start modifying a spell quickly.

The silence spell that I made for foals is simple and doesn't take much to modify, it helps that I'm only making two relatively small changes. I switched the effects to keep all sound inside while letting outside sounds in, and I increased its size to form a bubble around all of me.

This leaves one more problem, this spell was made as an enchantment and not a spell to be cast on someone and I don't have the time to change that. But the spell is weak even with its size increase, and the diamond in my locket around my neck still has enough excess magic for another enchantment. I needed to install an on and off function which takes a little more time, but after fifteen minutes I'm done.

I cast the spell on myself and tested it two times with a bit, before continuing with my plan. I leave the restroom and follow the life magic of the two griffins while being careful to not accidentally enter their line of sight. I know where they are and have a good chance of sneaking up on them.

Luckily the bench they are sitting on has its back to a decently tall brick wall that separates a different area of the park. I make no noise as I walk around the park and reach the other side of the wall before moving to the area where they are sitting. I lean against the brick wall and take out my notebook to look like I'm just drawing while listening in.

I have an hour time limit and I've already used some of that so I keep my quill nearby and start waiting. After ten minutes I hear something. "What time is it?" A male voice asks.

"No idea, I think I saw a clock over there if you want to go check?" Another male voice, this one a little deeper, answers them.

The other voice sighs, "Na it's fine, this job is boring." I hear a slight chuckle from the other voice at that.

"Ya, but it's not hard, follow and watch a single griff for a few bits, easy money." After that, they go quiet again. Well, that wasn't as useful as I hoped it would be. But it does put some of my fears to rest, they are only here to watch. I can also say they probably aren't guards.

But who hired them? And why? I don't know anything about Phelix but I can assume some things from the way he acts and looks. He's old but is in good health, has a well-muscled body for his age, and a personality that says he's been some type of guard or soldier.

I stop my thoughts as I hear them speaking again. "You know I never asked, but how did you find the pony that gave us this job?" The lighter voice asks.

"Honestly? Luck. Some Fancy pancy pony in a cloak dumps a small bag of bits in front of me while I'm drinking at a bar and says there's more if I find somegriff to do this with. But hey I'm not one to ask questions about a job like this, not with pay this good." They answer back in an amused and friendly tone.

Ok, they are definitely not guards, but they are also not here to cause immediate harm. But who wanted them to do this? This just raises more questions. I wait out the rest of my time, but they just start talking about different drinks they enjoy.

After my hour is up I walk away from the brick wall and put away my cloak while canceling the spell, then I start walking back to the bench with Phelix sitting on it.

When I arrive he's not on the bench, but he was off in the play area looking at something Silvis wanted to show him, before seeing me and walking back over and sitting down with me again. He doesn't say anything and just moves the first piece on the board to start a new game. I started thinking over the whole situation again and what I should do.

Now that I know no one is in immediate danger I have to think about this in a different way. I know basically nothing about either party involved in this and I don't want to pick sides without knowing who I'm even supporting.

Phelix could be a criminal being investigated by the guard through those griffins for different crimes. Or he could be a criminal and those griffins were sent by rivals to spy on him.

On the other hoof, he could be a retired guard who is being targeted by criminals. Hell, he could even be some form of griffin noble and this is some political spying to dig up dirt on him.

There are so many ways this could be taken and I'm starting to think that maybe I shouldn't get involved at all. I keep mulling it over, Silvis eventually tires herself out and decides to take a nap on top of Phelix while we continue playing.

We complete five more games by the time the day nears its end, and I'm running out of time to make a choice. I just can't think of a good way to choose, but after a while, I realize something and make my choice. Regardless of what's going on, there is a filly here.

My next choice could get others hurt, but out of all those that are involved and could get hurt the one that should never be hurt is a filly too young to even understand that today is anything but a fun day out with her grandsire. So not seeing any truly good choice I choose the choice I think will keep her out of danger.

This is a little rash and stupid but I just can't bring myself to do nothing at all. I know those griffins are watching them for some reason, and whether it be for good or bad reasons this filly is still being caught in the middle. I have to shove down my fear and act while my mind is made up.

I take a moment to turn my head and look through my saddlebags while using that time to quickly write something on a small piece of paper inside the pocket with my field and a quill.

I keep it hidden. "Thanks for the challenge," I say as I lose our last game and start packing the pieces away. I move the piece of folded paper out of my bag with my field while keeping it out of view. I slowly move the piece of paper under the bench and fit it through a gap in the wood pieces before moving it into his talon that is resting on the bench.

When he feels in touch with his talon he doesn't outwardly react but does move his talon to hold and crumple the piece of paper in it. I act like nothing happened and just put the chess set away in my saddlebags before getting up nodding goodbye, and walking off. I have no real idea what I just did or what it may cause, but I promised myself a long time ago to live this life without regrets and I intend to do that as best I can.

As I walk away from the park an old griffin uncrumple a piece of paper in his palm and reads it. We were being followed since we left the cafe. And for a moment a look that can only be described as blinding rage moves over his face before vanishing just as quickly.

He looks down to his sleeping grand-filly and gives a very small smile before standing up and walking away from the park bench with her still on his back.

Author's Note

This whole chapter is to see how Shade would act in a more morally gray situation. I think it came out ok. Sorry if it seems a little anticlimactic.

Thanks for reading. :D

Chapter 81

MAR 15 Sunday.

I slowly let out a breath as I focused on the life magic around me. Right now I'm lying on a patch of grass in the park training my ability to sense life magic on a larger scale than before.

In the past, I mostly focused on small details and plants. Right now I'm focusing more on tracking the larger amounts of life magic around me to sense other beings while mostly ignoring plants. I decided to do this in the park as from an outside perspective it just looks like I'm meditating or taking a nap, and it has a good variety of life magic sources to train with.

It's been a little less than a week since I got home and thankfully nothing much has happened. I caught up with my friends and gave them each a small souvenir I bought for them. They are small wooden carvings I saw in the markets that I thought they would like.

A puzzle piece for Blaz, a pie for Maple, and a daisy for Daisy. That last one was more of a joke than anything, but I couldn't help myself. Beyond the gifts I got some news the day after I returned, Daisy found a replacement for Ruby and I'm going back to my normal work again.

It's a little boring but the job became less interesting to me after I fully learned Griffin, plus this means I can move on to other things. I also got back to training with Stone, who after hearing that I took it easy while on vacation decided to run me right into the ground, and then some.

I also got a response letter from Celestia inviting me to our next meeting, which is later today. It will be nice to talk to her for the first time in a few weeks. The last thing worth mentioning is the fact that I saw a bit counter being used at a bank when I went to get some bits a few days ago.

That should make many ponies trust the new invention a decent amount as a bank wouldn't use something optional that could cost them bits especially if it could get them in legal trouble if it doesn't work correctly. I expect the bit counter to start popping up more and more over time if things go well.

I breathe out deeply in preparation to try something I haven't done before. I've practiced space sensing enough to do it without using all my concentration for a while now so I'm wondering if I can use both life magic sensing and space magic sensing at the same time.

Doing this will be a step back in some ways as it will take a lot more of my concentration to do this, but it will also push my limits and that should help me improve faster. I stay as still as possible and have everything around me fade away as I start meditating on the magic around me.

I start with life magic and feel the grass and trees, the ponies walking down a nearby path, and a flock of birds flying above me. I then try to add space on top and overlap them while trying my best to blend them together in a way that gives me the most information.

But a problem started happening, the different magics overlapped too much in many areas and sent me the same information twice. This adds unnecessary overlapping information for little gain, so I start filtering out all duplicate information. It's a slow process of identifying different sources and choosing to focus more on them or ignore them.

I also have to choose which magic I want to send me information on a specific thing. Then I have to commit all this to memory so I don't have to filter it all out again. This will need a lot of work to become second nature to me but if I can succeed then I'd be able to add two new senses to myself.

I continue this process until my magic is nearly dry, I stop and open my eyes to look around me. The grass has grown a little from my efforts but isn't noticeable unless you're really looking. I'll probably just focus on each type of magic individual for now until I can use them constantly without needing to meditate, then mix both together as it's not really worth it right now.

I check the time with a quickly drawn out Temporis spell. Seeing that my meeting will be relatively soon I stand up and stretch before walking out of the park and to my apartment building. I get my saddlebags and Entropy melds into my shadow, and I leave to walk to the palace.

Like always I show them my invite and they take me through the palace. Unlike other times we don't go into the room we normally meet in but instead I'm led to the gardens, it seems we are having a nice meeting outside today. I look around as we walk through the rows of hedges.

The last time I was here I was worrying over my first meeting with Celestia and didn't take the time to truly appreciate how beautiful it is. The winding hedges have many areas filled with different flower patches and trees with colorful leaves, it's a lovely place to visit.

I follow the guard into a part of the path with Celestia inspecting a flower. I walk up to her and bow, "It's nice to see you again Celestia, have you been doing well?" I ask while walking over to her and standing a few feet away.

She looks back with a smile. "I've been doing well, although I've had a lot of work because of a certain pony and their inventions. How was your vacation?"

We start walking through the gardens as we continue talking. "It went well, I saw many things and even learned how to swim. And that washing salt out of my coat and mane is something I may need to make a spell to help with."

She nods with an amount of mock seriousness. "I know that feeling well. I'm glad you had fun and took your time to relax, but knowing you, you probably spent a lot of that time learning or training something."

I pretend to look offended at her words. "I'll have you know I know how to have fun, it's not my fault I consider both of those things to be fun," I say while hamming up my words a little.

That gets a small laugh out of her. :She has a nice laugh: My mind stops at that thought. Well, those thoughts are going into a corner of my mind to be ignored. "Well, I see you're in a good mood." We reach a clearing that is higher up and overlooks most of the gardens.

We both sit at a table set up in the grass. I stare out at the gardens while Celestia casts a warming spell on a teapot, as I look around I notice we are alone with no guards in sight. But I don't need my eyes to know that on the other side of the hedge around us, several guards stand watch.

"We should meet out here more often, this place is amazing." She nods and moves a teacup filled with red tea over to me.

"I'd like that too. I'm happy you enjoyed your vacation, you seemed like you needed a break. Anything interesting to talk about?"

I think about anything that wouldn't reveal my involvement in what happened, although I'm not sure even she knows about what happened. "Well like I said I spent some time learning how to swim and spent even more time at the beach doing just that."

"I also spent a lot of time at the city library, they had many Griffin medical texts that were interesting, and a few other books that caught my interest." I started talking about the various things that caught my interest while I was in New Trotten.

When I'm finished with my storytelling I remember something and take out some pages from my saddlebag before passing them over to Celestia. The pages are an update on my progress with the B.L.P spell. While she's reading through it I spend some time setting up my chess board, she sees me setting up the pieces and smiles at me.

When she's done reading I ask something else, "Do you know any good ways to train magical sensing?" This launches us into a conversation about different methods and what might work for me. While we talk we also play chess, and I really shouldn't challenge her to this, but I think I improved while playing against Phelix so I might stand a better chance now. The rest of our meeting proves just how wrong I am and just how far I still have to go.

When our meeting is done we say our goodbyes and I'm led back outside before walking back home. When I arrive home I take my things off and move into my workroom to start work immediately. I've been so busy catching up with everything that I haven't had the chance to work with the new plants I got.

I take a few pots full of dirt and place them on my desk before grabbing seeds, the Salty Seaweed can't be grown by me right now so I focus on the Spine Leaf. I read up on this plant while at the New Trotten city library so I know a few things about it.

The Spine Leaf's appearance and natural environment. It has leaves that are similar to a daisy, a splay of deep green leaves coming from a central stock. And the stock ends in a flower that has a blueish-white color that looks similar to a poppy without the bulb. The main thing to notice about its appearance is the needles on the edge of its leaves.

Unlike other plants that have thorns or small spikes on a leaf, the Spine Leaf has thick leaves that grow full needles that are similar to a cactus. They are only a quarter inch long but are very sharp and surprisingly durable for their size, I think they also have something that helps them stay inside as the needles are said to be hard and painful to remove.

The environment this plant is native to is the grassy plains that stretch across several parts of Equestria. The plant evolved to grow in nutrient-poor grassland soil and live through bushfires while developing its needles to stop herbivores from eating it.

It's been used as a natural source of sewing needles for a long time but became less useful as metal needles became common and they are better in every way.

I take two seeds and plant them each in a pot before growing them into full plants, but as I'm doing this I notice something odd happening. I grew the first few Spine Leaf in less-than-ideal conditions and with little starting material and because of that I never noticed that it was a very fast-growing plant.

The life magic it takes is about average but after some testing, I find that the Spine Leaf can grow very fast, the only other plant that comes close is the Gripping Vine. This effect isn't something documented in any book I read, but it offers me an interesting opportunity.

After some observation, I find that the Spine Leaf is very efficient at absorbing and using life magic to grow. This lets me grow a generation of the Spine Leaf very fast, and that's without me learning the Spine Leaf's magical flows. So I decompose everything and start over by growing a single Spine Leaf to start memorizing its magical flows.

The plant is smaller than most and doesn't have any magical effects so it's relatively easy to get a basic understanding of the plant's magical flows. I decided to test how fast I could grow the Spine Leaf now and plant another seed, and push life magic into it while watching it grow at an amazing rate.

I start selectively breeding the Spine Leaf to grow tougher needles, every generation I pick off a needle and snap it to see which is toughest. I'm able to get through a lot of generations quickly but the magic cost is still the same which just led to me running out of magic faster.

I'm not sure what I'll use the needles for but having them around could prove useful for a few ideas. In between breeding plants, I take breaks to regenerate my magic and work on a few other things, specifically, I'm working on the runes I found on the frost dagger I bought.

I've been able to find one of the two unknown runes but I haven't found anything about the second one. Maybe I should have asked Celestia? Well if this rune gives me too much trouble I'll ask next time we meet. I stop looking through runes and walk back into my workroom to breed even more plants.

Author's Note

I have a little writers block and several things happening IRL right now, so you'll probably see me post every other day more often then I am right now. Sorry in advance.

Thanks for reading. :}

Chapter 82

MAR 20 Friday.

I sit up from my work desk and turn to Blaz, "I'm heading home, have a good day Blaz." He nods without looking over at me.

"Same to you Colt. Oh and can you drop this off to Daisy on your way out?" He says while motioning to a small stack of papers on his desk. I shrug and take them with me, I stop by Daisy's office while leaving and give her the papers. With that done I walk out into the main library to leave and drop off a book I need to return.

While returning the book I look around and see a pleasant surprise. Sitting at one of the tables near the front of the library is Avalon reading through a book and taking notes every once in a while. I remember him being a nice griffin to talk to and having a good time with him on the train. I pushed away the negative thoughts from the way he was treated on the train.

I don't really know him but the interactions I've had have been pleasant so far. So after giving it a little thought I decided to walk over to say hi and see how he's doing. He's facing away from me, so not wanting to startle him I walk around the table and sit down opposite of him.

He's so focused he doesn't notice me for a few moments before catching me out of the corner of his eye. He looks up at me and doesn't seem to recognize me for a moment before it clicks, "Shade? It's good to see you. How are you doing? Did you enjoy New Trotten?" he asks with a friendly tone and a small smile.

I return his smile, "I'm doing well. And my trip went well, I had a good time. So you decided to look into runic magic then?" I ask while looking at a few of the books he has around him, most of them are the books I recommended with a few other books on miscellaneous subjects.

He nods enthusiastically. "I've started with the books you recommended, thanks again for the help. What are you doing here?" He asked curiously while moving the book he was reading a little to the side and looking through the others.

"I'm glad the suggestions helped you, and I was just returning a book before leaving. I just came over to say hi and ask how it's going, have a good day Avalon." I nod while standing up.

He nods back and moves another book over to him, "I'm doing just fine, and am having fun with this, so many interesting things. Same to you Shade have a good day." He nods to me before going back to reading, I leave the library and start walking home. I don't try to make new friends often but Avalon is a decent Griffin and I can see myself getting along with him.

Although I may be a little biased because he does remind me of that old friend I had in my past life, I hope he took my death well. I shake my head and open my apartment door to see Entropy on her perch sitting with Philomena as they both sleep, I close the door and look at Philomena confused.

I look around the main room but don't find a letter or anything else she could have delivered to me. Why is she here? Entropy heard me walking around and woke up, she looked over at me and flew down to me landing on my back. I raise a hoof to scratch her before making lunch for her.

While making her food Philomena also wakes up and lands on the countertop looking at me expectantly, I just sigh and make more than normal before filling a bowl for each of them. After they start eating I leave them be and take another look around the apartment.

But like last time I found nothing Philomena could have delivered to me. Did she just come for food? Or to visit? I shrug after a while and continue with what I had planned. I sit down at a desk in my workroom, take out two pots filled with soil, and plant a Solar Vine in both.

This is the selectively bred Solar Vine. It is basically finished but I don't have a place to grow it right now. The main idea with this new vine was to see if I could use plants to gather a specific magic affinity from the environment and collect it to use for other projects and ideas.

I've decided to call this new vine the Solar Trap as that is just what it does. It now collects and stores a large amount of solar magic and can cover a large area if necessary. But right now I want to create a different strain for a new idea I had while working on this project.

I want to breed another strain of the Solar Trap to not release the solar magic it collects from its flowers. As I breed the vines I take time to think through something that's been on my mind recently, I've been thinking more and more about my past life and it's started bothering me a little.

I find myself remembering old acquaintances or a few of my friends, I'm not really sure why all this comes to mind though. I can't point out a specific moment when this started, but I think it began after I started my vacation, and I'm not sure how to feel about it.

It feels like there is this thing nagging at me and I don't know what it is, and not knowing is just making it worse. Throughout the day I think about people I knew and cared for, how they are doing, and if they're ok. I feel a little trapped thinking about the past so much, and it's distracting me.

But every time I try to think through it to put my thoughts to rest I always end at the same place with the same question. Why? Why am I thinking about something I can never change? Why am I thinking about a life I will never see again? I'm so distracted by my thoughts that I stop breeding plants.

I snap out of those thoughts and realize that I've stopped repeating the motions that have been burned into my memory from the amount of times I've done them. I stand up and walk out of the workroom, I need to properly think through this and finally put these thoughts to rest.

I see that Philomena has left and sit down with Entropy in the main room trying to think through this yet again. But that just once again brings me to the same question, why do I keep thinking about all of this? So I start thinking about all the things I've been ignoring, I start thinking of all the thoughts I've pushed to the side to get work done.

I think about how my friends could be doing, how what little family I have is doing right now, are they all ok? Will they be ok? Slowly my mind is consumed by all these thoughts and at a certain point I just stop holding it all in.

I think of all the feelings and memories I've kept inside and as the emotions wash over me it starts to overwhelm me and I do something I haven't done in so many years, I cry. I cry over all that I lost and all those that I will never see again, all the memories that are now so far away.

Entropy doesn't know what is wrong with me but does know something is definitely wrong. So not knowing how to help she just sits with me and quietly chirps, "Good, good." she keeps repeating that word a few times until I get some type of hold on my emotions.

I think I found the answer to my questions. When I first met Avalon and helped him I was reminded of one of the only real friends I ever had, and with that came so many other memories that I have ignored for so long now. I think I've been using work to keep my mind off of these thoughts for a while now.

After recovering enough to stop crying and stop spiraling down an endless road of old memories, I reach out to pet Entropy and let her help me calm down. After several deep breaths and some time I'm doing better, I make some tea and try to think through my life trying not to break down again.

Ever since I came to this world I didn't think much about my last one, always burying myself in different things to learn and train to distract myself from negative thoughts. After all, why think about what you can't change? But it was Avalon that indirectly brought back some bad memories when he was treated badly on the train.

After thinking through it on my floor for an hour in silence and after a few more tears, I think I know what is nagging at me so much. My past life will be forgotten and no one will remember a large part of who I am and how I lived. If I died today then the new friends I've made will never know so much about who I am, and I know I would regret that.

But I can't tell them about it even if I want to, and it hurts to hide so much from them. But beyond that, I think I fear them never knowing who I was and what I've done. I fear my story would be forgotten, with no one to tell it and no one to know who I really was. After wallowing in my sadness for a while longer I feel determined to not let that happen.

If I die I want to be remembered for who I actually was and not who they think I am. Filled with a determination to fix this and put my fears to rest I walk back into my workroom to start thinking of ways to solve this new problem. If I'm going to write down my life I need a way to keep it safe from others and for it to only be used if or when it's necessary.

And I think I have a good way to do both, illusions. Illusions let me store a drawing and if I can draw I can write, but to do this I'll need to do it properly. I start by finding my note on a spell I used for my model planet, the Base Frame spell, it lets me attach several illusion spells together so they can interact and work properly with each other.

The spell has a limit of twelve but I think I can fix that and modify it to fit my purposes better. Before starting on that I start on how I'm going to store the information itself, and I come across the first illusion spell I ever used. This spell lets me draw with three colors on a white canvas.

I start by stripping down the spell to make it as simple and cost-efficient as possible. The spell isn't that complex so it only takes me an hour to finish it. The finished spell has an average book page-sized area to draw in and costs very little to cast and maintain.

The part of the spell that takes the most magic now is the amount of detail I can draw in. I increased the detail so I could write with more accuracy and precision. I enchant the spell into a small sapphire to test it and see if I did anything incorrectly.

After some tests, I fixed a few problems that popped up and refined the spell a little more before moving on to the next part. This spell, that I'm calling the Page Spell, is very simple to the point that I even removed the part that lets you draw, Why? Well, I'll need to write everything down and that will take many pages, the more pages needed the more magic it will take.

If every page has the ability to draw in it would be a massive waste of magic as that small cost stacks up. So instead I'll have the Page spell work with another spell to do the drawing part, so I'll only need one spell to draw with and not bloat the magical cost by attaching that to every individual page.

This spell to go with the pages will just be called the Pen spell. It's very easy to make as it's just the drawing part of the original illusion spell. Once I'm done with those two spells I start on what's going to tie everything together and make it work properly, the Base Frame spell.

Right now it can only hold twelve spells but that limit will be the first thing I remove. The reason the limit is there in the first place is because the math used in the original spell is lacking in several areas while also being less than efficient, limiting the spell's effectiveness. Over the weekend I'll spend my time optimizing the spell to work with the Page spell and Pen spell.

Considering how cheap both spells are, I should be able to fit several dozen pages on a single small gem without going over its magical regeneration rate, and bigger gems should provide much more capacity. I work late into the night determined to fix what has been bothering me.

Eventually Entropy demands dinner from me and I stop my work to feed both of us, before deciding to not run myself ragged and get some sleep.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]

Chapter 83

MAR 23 Sunday.

I walk through the streets as a gentle breeze moves around me in the evening sunlight. It's been two days since my break down and I'm doing better overall from my previous mood. I've tried to keep those thoughts in my mind without breaking down or ignoring them, but trying to accept them.

I'm still in a down mood but not ignoring it seems to help me work through it, at least some. As for my fears, they have lessened very slightly by me actually doing something about those fears. And I also got a little lucky, yesterday in the evening Daisy knocked on my door to invite me to a party night at her place.

She invited all three of us so Maple and Blaz will also be there because Blaz will be leaving tomorrow for his two weeks, he's going to visit his son and grand-foals. I was happy to be invited, hanging out with friends should help my mood improve a little.

So I agreed to attend and she asked me to bring the dessert, so right now I'm out shopping for ingredients to make a pie, Maple should be thrilled. But I need apples and several other ingredients to make it so I'm walking through the markets shopping for everything I'll need.

I bake often enough to find all the ingredients easily and the apples are also easy to find in the market with how often ponies eat them. I look through what stock a few vendors have and buy enough for two pies, one with red apples, and another with green apples.

Once I have everything I need I return home to start prep work. I get home and start going through and organizing everything I'll need while also gathering up a few seasonings I want to use. I start by preheating the oven and then I start working on the dough, mixing flour and salt with some water.

Making the pie dough is easy, just add small amounts of water until you get the right consistency. Once that's done I leave it alone and work on the filling, I peel the red apples and cut them into slices before covering them with a little sugar and cinnamon.

Cinnamon is something that was surprisingly hard to find, it's not the most popular seasoning among ponies for some reason, ponies can eat it just find most simply don't like it. But I very much enjoy it in apple pie so I'm adding it, I hope they don't mind.

I do the same with the green apples and take out two pie pans, I had to buy an extra one today. I roll out the dough and line both pans before adding the filling and covering both of them, I open the preheated oven and place both pies inside before using my bracelet to set a timer.

I sit down and start practicing while I wait for it to bake. I've made significant progress in progressing to the next rank of runic caster. I can form a long enough magic line to form a matrix, but now comes the tedious part. I need to shape and form that line into a matrix while memorizing it.

I'll basically have to relearn all the spells I know and practice until I can cast them whenever I want. This will be both slow and fast, learning a single spell again would only take a day or two, and memorizing it is only a matter of practice. But to relearn all the spells I know will take me a while.

For now, I start with the spell I use the most, the Temporis spell. I write out the simple matrix on a piece of paper and start trying to form the numbers and the rune I'll need for the spell. I focus and shape that magical line into the right shape before cutting it and moving on to the next symbol while trying to keep what I've already made stable.

I started with the matrix's outer and inner lines, another thing I need to keep in mind is to form everything at the correct size. When drawing out matrixes I don't need to worry about making spells too big or small but now that I'm casting without my hooves I need to keep everything near enough to the correct size.

Why? Well, let's take the FireBolt spell as an example. To cast it I draw out the matrix and a small bolt of fire forms at the center of the matrix in the empty area. But if I make the matrix smaller than the bolt it's creating then the magic could destabilize the matrix, and as you'd imagine that's very bad.

This combined with the fact that many spells need to be a certain size to work correctly for one reason or another, is why one of the instructions in casting a spell is how big the matrix needs to be. This mostly applies to runic casting but can be a factor in horn casting as well.

This means I not only need to form the matrix correctly I need to remember each spell's size. I form another part of the spell but am interrupted by my timer going off, I sigh and let the magic dissolve before walking over to my oven.

The pies are done so I take both of them out to cool and go back to practicing. By the time I'm supposed to leave for the get-together I've made some decent progress and have committed most of the Temporis spell to memory, it will take more practice but I should be able to become a Journeypony in runic casting very soon.

Once I memorize the spell fully and cast it instantly I can officially call myself a Journeypony in runic casting. I stand up and stretch before grabbing the pies and walking out of my apartment, I walk over to Daisy's door and knock. Not long later Daisy opens her door and greets me with a smile.

"Shade glad you could make it, ohhh pie, Maple will be thrilled." She says happily while letting me inside before closing the door behind me. I like Daisy's apartment, It's got a comfy feel to it. I leave both pies on a counter and find a comfortable place to lie down and talk.

After a while Blaz and Maple show up together with their own foods, Blaz brings a bowl of mashed potatoes. And Maple brought some fresh-cut greens, cucumber slices, carrot sticks, and a few other things. Daisy made our main course, a casserole, they put their things in the kitchen and we all sat down.

We all sat down at Daisy's table as she brought out a board game, "So what have you got for us?" Blaz asks Daisy while she sets up the game. A flat board with paths along it and a start and end location, reminds me of the Game Of Life from my old world.

I let the emotions of that thought wash over me and try not to ignore them, I feel a little sad but I'm also happy to spend time with friends.

Daisy finishes setting up the board and explains how to play and the rules, it turns out to be very similar to the game I know with a few twists. The game is called Adventure and you have to roll dice to move a certain distance before landing on a part of the path that gives you a choice.

To win you have to collect either gold or artifacts and both are counted as points at the end, whoever has the most at the end wins. "Everypony understand?" She asks when she finishes her explanation, and we all nod before picking out pieces and staring at the game.

I land on a spot and get a card that I keep. Daisy speaks up while Blaz rolls for his turn, "Did you show them yet?" Both me and Maple are confused for a moment before Blaz shows us a piece of paper.

I'm confused by the crude and nonsensical drawing he shows us. "Ya, I got it yesterday, my grand-foal's first drawing." He says with a slightly proud smile. Maple stays silent but I get an idea to have some fun with Blaz, I love messing with him. I pass Blaz the card I got earlier to Blaz, he reads it and looks back at me with a clearly exaggerated annoyance, "Really?"

I just smile and note down the increase in my gold because I just stole half of Blaz's gold from him. "Well you can't blame me, that smile was just asking for it." We both have serious faces for a moment before that facade cracks as we start laughing. "But in all seriousness that's adorable, I'm happy they are doing well," I say with a happy tone.

That's one of the things that helps with the stresses of my life. Blaz is always down to joke around and help me laugh about life. Maple always listens to our problems and offers solutions that are oftentimes practical. Daisy always tries to keep us positive and also offers solutions while trying to cheer us up.

We continue our game while cracking jokes and getting frustrated at each other with various cards and tricks. In the end, it comes down to the wire between me and Daisy for first place, I roll again and get unlucky. I land on an event that takes some of my gold and fall behind Daisy.

I turn to her after learning this and decide to go out with a bang, I use my last turn to give all my gold to Maple letting her win. "We both know that's against the rules." She says with a fake seriousness.

I smile back, "Not if I get Blaz to agree with me." I look over to Blaz and he gives me a deadpan look.

"Colt, drag me into this and I'll give you all my work while I'm on vacation." He says in a blunt tone but keeps his smile showing just how serious he truly is.

"Like you could do that." Daisy doesn't say anything and just smiles at me. "He can't do that, right? Right?" Daisy stays silent and keeps smiling. "Fine, I'll take the loss. Anyway, how about we get to the food? I'm hungry." Everypony agrees and we start setting the table.

The food is all well made and we all enjoy stuffing ourselves, when we are done I go and grab both pies to serve dessert. I place both on the table and to no pony's surprise I now have Maple's full attention. I cut both pies up and fill a few plates before passing them around, I make sure to fill Maple's plate with more than anypony else.

"Thanks" I get a round of thanks from everypony and sit down to enjoy my own plate. We all enjoy the pie and end up eating through all but half of a pie, again to no pony's surprise mostly because of Maple. "Where did you get these pies," Maple asks in her blunt manner.

I raise a brow at her question so she elaborates. "I try all the pies I find, but don't recognize this one ." Of course Maple's is the type to find and try new pies in her spare time, so why am I not surprised? How the hell would she even be able to tell the difference?

"I made them," I answer cautiously and watch as her eyes light up slightly and focus even more on me. I push the last half-finished pie over to her, "You can take this home, just give the pan back to me." I see one of Maple's rare smiles and get a nod and quiet thanks in return.

After we finish eating the night starts to wind down and we all decide to call it there so Blaz and Maple can get home before it gets too late. We all say our goodbyes and I stay a little longer to help Daisy clean up before heading home with some leftovers to share with Entropy.

When I get inside my apartment I'm greeted by an annoyed bird that's been waiting for her dinner, "I know girl, but I brought something new." I say trying to appease her, I fill a bowl with a few things she likes and add some of the food we made before heading into my workroom.

I sit down and start working on the project I've been working on for three days now. The modified Base Frame spell is basically done and just needs some testing and tweaking.

I still need a way to lock the illusions away from others but that can be done later for now I'll just test if it works correctly. I grab a medium ruby and add the spells used to gather and hold magic before adding everything else and starting my tests. First I use the Page spell in the gem and try to draw with the Pen spell, it works well, although I can see a few things that will need to be tweaked.

After several tests I stop and leave my workroom, it's getting late and I have work tomorrow so it's best to get some sleep.

Author's Note

This is a slow chapter but I thought I should add something with Shades friends, maybe I'll have them do this more. I'd like Shade to consider them trusted friends eventually, but that takes time.

Thanks for reading. :3

Chapter 84

MAR 29 Sunday.

I focus as another number appears in the air in front of me to complete a spell matrix, I push more magic into it and watch as a small ball of light forms in front of me. I try my best to memorize the entire matrix and after the light vanishes I try to cast it again.

This time I try to rapidly form the entire matrix from memory in one go, in a few seconds the matrix forms but a few parts are wrong so I let it collapse and start again. This is the tedious process of relearning spells, over the past week I've officially advanced into a Journeypony.

The first spell I fully memorized was the Temporis spell and after that, I started relearning other simple spells. So far I've relearned the Heating spell, and the Firebolt spell, and now I'm working on the Light spell. I attempt to properly memorize the spell again by slowly forming it without my hooves.

I could just write down the matrix and study it until I memorized it, but doing it like this helps me train my magical control and my ability to form a matrix without drawing it by hoof, so while it is less efficient I prefer this method to others so far. I've been practicing this Light spell for a few hours now in between breaks.

Now that I can cast spells instantly I can use a part of magic that I haven't before, spell chanting. Using different words while casting a spell can improve the effects of a spell depending on the word and how you use it, this either slightly or massively improves your spells, but there are several downsides.

First, if you're using runic magic you probably won't use spell chants until you reach the Journeypony rank. This is because you have to chant the entire time you are casting a spell, for a Journeypony runic caster that could be a single word as they can cast a spell instantly.

But for an Apprentice runic caster, they'd have to chant the entire time they are drawing out a matrix and casting it, and that is a dangerous thing to do for a few reasons. The first problem with it is how you do spell chanting, you need to push your magic into your throat and words, and then clearly and correctly say a word, this adds to the magical cost of a spell.

And while using spell chants you have to be very careful how you go about it as one wrong word can go horribly. If I cast Firebolt and chant the word fire at the same time then the fire of the spell would be all around stronger. Or if I say burn then the spells fire would burn hotter.

But if I say either of those words incorrectly it can destabilize the entire spell and it could backfire on you. So if you're fighting someone and they throw a brick at you while you are chanting something bad is going to happen.

The words you say can also negatively affect the spell so if I say water while casting Firebolt that will also destabilize the spell, all words you chant need to have meaning to the spell you're using and work well with it.

On top of all of that, you need to make sure the words you're using have the right meaning, if you chant glacier with an ice spell you have to fully know what that word means in detail. And even further, you also need the chant to last the entire time you're casting, so if you're still an Apprentice runic caster then you need a long chant that lasts the entire time it takes to draw and cast the spell.

For all these reasons I and most others haven't used spell chanting, in the past as I thought it best to advance my rank first. I don't think I'll start using it until I fully stop using non-instant runic casting, and that means I'll just be relearning the spells I know for now.

While advancing set me back it feels so nice being able to cast a spell so fast without tiring out my forelimbs. Beyond my spell practice, I've gotten better at fighting with a greatsword and Stone said we'll be moving on from it in a few weeks, and that means I finally get to use both a dagger and greatsword at the same time.

But he did warn me that we'd be developing my own combat style by him fighting me. That just means I'll be mostly on my own to come up with ideas and see what works and what doesn't while getting my ass kicked at the same time, isn't that great?

I stand up and stretch out my body before looking over as Philomena teleports into my apartment with a letter in her beak. I trade her with some berries and open the letter, it's once again an invite to a meeting later today. It's still relatively early in the morning so I have plenty of time until the meeting.

This letter doesn't come as a surprise because it sends me a different letter with our meeting date and time every month or two. I keep the letter and spend a moment petting Philomena, who melts at the attention and scratches. Entropy sees this and can't let it stand so she flies down from her perch and tries to get my attention.

I just give both of them attention for a while before giving Entropy a few of her toys and walking away to do other things. My mood has improved a good amount over the past week and I'm doing a little better overall about the whole situation, but I'd still like to finish my project and start writing things down.

And that brings me to a problem I've been having. This project is basically complete and ready to go, but I still don't have a way to protect it and keep its contents safe. That is what I've been working on for a week now and I think I've come up with a decent but non-perfect solution.

I don't need to keep others out if there is nothing to access. The writing will be in English as a safeguard but the gem will also have a self-destruct to destroy itself if accessed by somepony that's not me. This is the best solution I could come up with that couldn't be easily defeated.

It's far from perfect and if it's ever activated then all the knowledge would be lost, but that's better than it falling into the wrong hands. I'll set up a password system and then activate the self-destruct if it's entered wrongly or if the gem is tampered with.

The way the gem will break is easy enough as all I need is to add a spell that is purposely wrong and activate it when needed. I take out the medium ruby I've been working with and start tinkering with the right type of spell to use in the wrong way.

I settled for something else and overcharged a Firebolt spell to form inside the gem, the resulting heat would crack the gem quickly and shatter it, rendering it useless. Next, I start on the password system, it's not hard to make something like this as it's just me filling in something the spell expects to be there, and if it's not then it activates a link to the firebolt spell, but I still have to get creative for a reason I'll touch on in a bit.

The next part is something a little more complicated and I need to be careful with how I implement it. I start making a scanning spell to detect anypony trying to tamper with the gem by using a rune of protection as its base and building on it with a rune of locking.

This is more complicated to make and I spend extra time making sure there are no mistakes in it. After three hours I'm done and I add the spell to the gem without activating it. Next, I link that into the same password along with the self-destruct and decide on what form the password should be in.

This brings me to a flaw and that's the fact that I can't prevent others from observing the enchantments enchanted in the ruby. And the password needs to be stored in those enchantments so the spell knows it, that's why I've made the password a bit unique.

It checks if the answer you give is correct but the entire spell is using human numbers and symbols for the math. It's filled with several false answers that are in English that mean nothing and do nothing in the spell, and unless they can translate it anypony trying to find the right one would basically have to guess the answer.

On top of that, the answer isn't even there because the real answer is formed from several parts of those fake passwords, this is the best solution I could come up with. The only concern left is somepony seeing the English numbers and letters, but if anypony besides me is seeing this then I already have bigger problems.

Once everything is done I test it a few times by putting in the correct password. There is a moment where I'm nervous I did something wrong and I'm about to see my work shatter, but it all works correctly and the enchantments activate. I turn it off again and put it away after seeing that it works.

I'm not going to write anything right now, I'll do it later. I place the gem on a shelf and leave my workroom, only to see something I never thought I would see. Apparently, Philomena decided to stick around and saw Entropy use her bird bath, and decided to try it.

I walk out to see a bird made of magical fire washing themselves in water. I'm worried about her safety for a moment, but she doesn't seem to mind and just keeps bathing in the water. Turns out her fire can't be put out by water even when she bathes in it.

I watch the strange sight and after a moment just sigh, my worry having left me after seeing that she's fine. I watch her just to make sure none of the enchantments do anything to her, but nothing happens. After she's done I start on lunch for me and both birds.

I'll have to ask Celestia if she knows why Philomena showed up and stayed here last time. Once the food is ready I give both of them a bowl and eat my sandwich while thinking through something. I'm still working through my feelings and could use some advice.

But I can't ask my friends, and that only leaves one pony I could ask, Celestia. Either as a human or a pony, I don't trust easily, even if I want to it takes time to earn my trust. And over the last year, I've come to trust Celestia much more, I'm still a little wary about talking to her about myself but I think I can trust her.

And while I don't want to talk about my real past with her, at least not now, I think I can still get some advice and counsel from her. I'm also worried about revealing too much to her, but I think I should at least somewhat talk to her about what I'm going through.

But I'm still unsure, after some thought I shake my head to force away those fears, but I don't ignore them. I just don't let them stop me. It's still two hours until our meeting so I start working on my runic spells while I wait. After an hour Philomena leaves and I start gathering my things to do the same.

It's been raining slightly today so I grab my cloak and saddlebags, along with my illusion bracelet and my necklace. Entropy merges into my shadow and we leave the apartment to walk through the streets. I take my bracelet and necklace off before entering the palace, It's the normal song and dance when we get there, and not long after I'm once again led into a room with Celestia waiting at a table with a pot of tea.

When I enter I drop any pretense about my mood and just let it show in my expression and body language. I don't bow and just sit down, I don't think either of us cares about me bowing and I just don't want to right now. Celestia immediately notices my low and less than enthusiastic mood. "Are you ok?" She asks with concern in her voice.

I just stare back as Entropy leaves my shadow and moves onto my back. "Do I look ok?" I say back with a little snark, but quickly realize that she doesn't deserve that. "Sorry, and no I'm not ok. But I would rather not talk about that first." I say with a less defensive tone and pass her a report on the B.L.P. spell.

She takes it and not even glancing at it moves it to the side before giving me her full attention, she gives me a comforting smile. "That's fine, I have a few things we can talk about first if you want?"

I down my entire cup of tea in one go before nodding. "Yes, please," I say, thankful she's willing to let me calm down and get more comfortable.

"I have letters for you, if you'd like to start there?" She moves seven letters onto the table. I stare at them for a moment and slowly nod before taking out my chess board and passing it to her, she silently takes it and starts setting up the game.

I look through the letters. Four invites to events, they are really being persistent, I just write polite rejections. Two letters about offers to work for different companies and what they are offering as an incentive, I have no interest in that and write a blunt and professional rejection to both.

The final letter is about- I stop reading it and look back up to Celestia with a tired expression, "Really? Why?" She's done setting up the game and is now looking through the report while I was going through the letters and looking at the letter I'm reading.

"You are fairly wealthy, and the recent inventions have been a massive success, especially the silence spell for foals." I look back down at the marriage contract and don't bother responding to it, that has got to be the oddest thing I've ever been sent before.

I pass her my replies and look down at the board to move my first piece. And decide to just go for it before I can convince myself to back out, "I've had an odd week, a few downs and a few ups." She looks back up at me after finishing her turn, giving me her full undivided attention. "You know me, I don't like dancing around things..... And I could use somepony to listen and offer advice."

I feel the weight on me lessen a little at saying that out loud, too late to turn back now. She just smiles slightly and nods, "That's the reason we have these meetings, what do you want to talk about?" I'm once again thankful that it's Celestia I'm talking to.

She said that all genuinely and without a hint of anything but kindness and understanding. I sigh, "I'll start with the bad stuff then, around a week ago I broke down. Full crying breakdown, it was not a good day." I drink all my tea again and she refills my cup.

"Turns out I've been holding a few things in too much and it all came out at once, the main thing being that I hide things from my friends. And before we go down that rabbit hole I'm not going to tell them about this part of my life, maybe one day but not now, and I don't think I'll talk about why either."

She gives me a sad but understanding look and nods. "That's fine, just say what you're willing."

I swallow thickly and continue, "Well I've been ignoring and pushing those thoughts down for a while now, and when it all came out I realized that I feared not being remembered for who I really was. You would know and remember but if anything ever happened to me they, they wouldn't."

By the time I finish speaking, my voice is a little hoarse and I start drinking more tea to help me keep calm. "After my breakdown I've been doing a bit better, I had a nice game night with friends and I've decided to do something about that fear." I move another piece and take a moment to collect my thoughts.

With a more steady voice, I continue. "You know me, I see a problem and I try to fix it. And if I left this fear alone I knew it would only get worse, but like I said I won't tell them about my life yet, so I decided to write everything down in case anything ever happened before I felt it was time to explain."

I deliberately don't mention how I'm storing all this writing as I'm not sure if I want to reveal that to others yet. Once I'm done she waits a moment before speaking, "Well I say with certainty I will always remember you, I promise that." She says that with so much conviction it's a little startling to me.

Hearing that once again lifts a small part of that weight off of me, even though I presumed she'd do that hearing it makes it feel more real. "And I can understand what you're going through. I would obviously suggest telling them, but that isn't my choice to make, it's yours, and yours alone."

She gives me a sad smile, "I've seen many ponies who work for me go through the same things, struggling with not being able to tell their family and friends about their work and how it went. It can be quite a weight for a pony to hold, especially for somepony so young." She says this without any insult, stating a fact to me that she's probably seen so many times.

"And many of them did the same thing as you, bottled it all up until it all came out at once. It's ok for that to happen, and you've done nothing wrong, just unknowingly followed the same path. But what's important now is how you move past this and how to deal with it from now on."

"And unlike many you've already started doing something productive instead of staying in that place like many others sadly do." She gets a slightly far-off look for a moment before refocusing on me. "A journal is something I recommend to anypony who has the same problem."

"It's a good place to start and beyond that, I recommend two other things. One, try your best to work through those feelings through some activity instead of just pushing them off to the side and ignoring them. Two, if you start feeling like that again, come to me and let me talk to you about it, even if it's a day we aren't scheduled to meet I'll make time."

I'm a little overwhelmed by all she said for a moment and spent some time thinking over it before answering. "I've tried to not ignore those feelings anymore but that will take time to get used to, but I also won't give up. And I promise to send a letter if it happens again." I say with complete seriousness.

She promised to never forget me, I should do the same, even if it's just in this way. "That's all I ask. Anything else you'd like to talk about?"

I smile a bit. I'm already feeling somewhat better having gotten all that off my chest and saying it out loud. "Well, I still have the good news I mentioned." I smile and spend a second concentrating, in roughly three seconds a full Temporis spell forms and is cast, showing the time.

I see a true smile spread across her face and feel my own smile grow at the sight, I rather not end our meeting on a sad note. "Amazingly done, congratulations on the advancement." She says in a happy tone while clapping lightly with her hooves.

"Thanks, I thought it would be nice to end this on a more positive note." Seeing the time I know our meeting will end in a few minutes. "And thank you for listening, it means a lot to me," I say with a serious tone, and I mean that.

She nods, "Always. We can talk longer if you want?"

"No, I have many things I'd like to write down and work through by myself." I turn her offer down and smile while looking at the board, for a moment I can't believe what I'm looking at but smile at the sight. "Also, checkmate."

She looks confused for a moment before looking down at the board and laughing at it. Through some mix of her focusing on me more than the game and some weird form of luck, I've finally won my first game against her. "Don't worry this one doesn't count, if I'm going to beat you I'll do it properly." I challenge her.

She smiles back at me, "I'm looking forward to it. Have a good day Shade, and remember, you are not alone."

I nod. "I will Celestia, and same to you." After that, I stand up and Entropy returns to my shadow, I start packing up the chess game before stopping as a thought strikes me, "Actually I do have one more question." She looks back at me and nods, "Philomena's shown up at my home before with nothing to deliver, did she not bring something?"

She looks confused before shaking her head, "I haven't sent you anything beyond the letters, seems she's really taken a liking to you." She seems to think for a moment before pulling a piece of paper from somewhere along with a quill and writes something down on it.

She holds out the piece of paper to me. "Here, it's some instructions on how to take care of her properly, they should help when she visits, and also don't have grapes within sight around her." That last part is said with complete seriousness and that just confuses me.

"Why?" She doesn't answer and just smiles playfully. "Fine, I guess I'll just have to test it." She smiles wider, or maybe I shouldn't test it. I shake my head and take the piece of paper before putting it in my saddlebags as a guard walks me out of the palace. After I'm outside I find the nearest restroom and have Entropy take me home.

Once we arrive I feed Entropy and sit down in my bed with the medium ruby, I sit there staring blankly at the first illusionary page for several minutes before I move my hoof and start writing.

Hello if you're reading this then something has either gone horribly wrong, or I'm dead. My name is Shade Evergreen, and my name is also Kevin Leery Forester. And I have a story to tell you, my story, and I'm so sorry.

Author's Note

200k...... YES!! LETS GO!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!

I can not believe I have made it this far.

First I'd just like to thank everybody who's helped me with this story, from the smallest grammar correction to all the advice, I wouldn't have gotten this far without it and I'm very grateful.

I'd also like to say thank you for reading my first story, and one that I've loved making.

And lastly, I'd like to explain something. When I started this I had no plans or ideas on how far I'd go, I had an idea that wouldn't leave me alone and the will to say fuck it and try to write anyway.

I've never written anything before this and I was massively out of my depth when I started, hell I didn't even take notes on names and other important things until I forgot something important twenty chapters in.

And now I'd like to think I've grown a lot and I'm not complete shit at writing anymore, but I still have a long way to go.

This is all to say if you're ever thinking about writing, go for it, if it sucks so be it, but at least you tried and finally got that idea out of your head, rent paid in full.

But that's enough of my rambling, if you have any questions feel free to ask them and thanks as always for reading, have a lovely day. :D

PS, any names for the new illusion pages?

Chapter 85

APR 8 Wednesday.

I hit the floor once again as Stone landed a solid hit to my left back leg, I dash to the side trying to recover only to have a pebble hit the side of my head while I was moving. I try to recover again but a second blow to another leg brings me down with a wooden sword pointed at my throat.

It's pulled away a second later and I roll right side up before drawing out a spell I've come to rely on, the basic muscle healing spell. After recovering for a while I stand up and keep the spell active to help me heal. "Not bad Colt, but you probably should have blocked with the dagger instead."

I nod and pick up both of my weapons before getting ready for another round of getting my ass kicked. After several more rounds of this, we spent some more time going over what could improve my combat style and a few general things to keep in mind.

Fighting with blades is different for ponies and involves more dodging than tanking hits. Heavy full armor does exist but isn't common, most prefer lighter armor that covers their back and head, like the guard. I asked Stone and he said that full plate has a main weakness.

It's good protection but there are gaps. For humans that was a weakness that could be exploited but it was hard to exploit it as knights were taught to protect those gaps, for humans it was hard to hit those gaps because it's hard to angle a weapon right to hit those weak spots.

But ponies can levitate things to hit those gaps much easier and this makes full plate less effective. So most prefer top and chest armor with a helmet, this helps with arrows and bolts while leaving their legs free to dodge and maneuver out of the way. So most ponies develop a very mobile and fast form of combat.

There are exceptions to all of this but the guard mostly follows this doctrine and has for hundreds of years now. And it makes sense for what they normally deal with, most guards only deal with thieves and common criminals. And when things do devolve into a fight it's normally against untrained, relatively badly equipped opponents.

Like I said there are exceptions and differences. There are guard regiments for different tasks like search and rescue, tracking criminals, and pretty much any other role the police and military would do in my old world. Honestly, the only reason the guard hasn't gotten corrupt and weak over time with how little they fight or change is Celestia's oversight.

I rapidly form a Firebolt spell and launch it at a target Stone is moving while I trot around. I miss but cast the spell again half a second later and hit the target before it's dropped and another is lifted in the corner of my eye.

Another thing about pony combat is the fact that it requires a higher degree of situational awareness, an attack could come from any direction so you need to learn to keep not just your eyes but also your ears alert, and for a pony that is different.

Humans have ok hearing but it's weak compared to ponies, you know the saying, you could hear a pin drop? Well, I can. But I haven't used that hearing much in this life so over the past year we've been training, has it been a year already? I try to think about it but cut the thought short as he throws another target at me.

Over the last year, Stone's been training my hearing by giving small clues about when and where he's going to throw something, and sometimes he doesn't but throws something anyway just to keep me on my hooves. He switches from throwing things around me to throwing things at me as I try my best to dodge, block, and hit what I can.

I hear a small noise behind me and move out of the way a second before a small pebble flies past me, but inevitably something gets through and hits me on my side. I stop when that happens and stumble on my tired legs a little before recovering.

Stone stops and walks over to me, "Well that's it for today, you've improved a lot from that Colt I met a year ago. But you still have a lot to learn, get some rest and remember what I said." His deep and dry voice says with a slight chuckle at the end. He doesn't say much but we already covered anything important earlier.

I nod to him and slowly walk to the exit with him. "I won't forget. Have a good day Stone." I've come to see Stone as a good mentor, and a decent acquaintance. He's not a friend but is still relatively close to me and somepony I hold respect for. And while I do pay him to kick the shit out of me, he did warn me so it's not his fault.

And I've found this exercise to be a good way to work through the emotions I've been dealing with. In the past, I would just enjoy the improvement and practice, and I still do but I've also taken Celestia's advice to heart and used that time to work through my negative emotions and uncertainty.

I've also been doing this while I exercise on my one and while drawing and writing. Celestia sent a book to me the day after our last meeting, it's about how to properly express and process emotions in ways that won't just make you wallow in those negative emotions.

The book isn't a perfect solution by any means and it's not intended to be, so I'll keep talking about how I'm doing with Celestia, although I am a little guilty that I'm unloading all of this on her. But she did volunteer and has continued to do so. I walk out of the building and put on my cloak after seeing the slight rainfall.

It's a cloudy day and the streets will be dark soon so I hurry home. I enter my apartment and like normal tend to my plants and Entropy, after that, I make some tea and lay down in the main room before I start my runic casting practice. After a while, I drain my magic and spend the time it takes to regenerate my magic to study.

I've been learning about healing magic for almost two years now and I've made a lot of progress. In this time I've mostly focused on the practical knowledge and not spells, mostly because the spells require that knowledge and also because I've never had much of a need to learn the spells.

But with my training going even further and the work I'm doing on new healing spells I think it's time to learn more healing spells and get some experience with them. I can't test them on injuries but I can at least learn them and memorize them for later.

I spend the rest of the night practicing and reading before heading to bed after a shower.

time skip

APR 9 Thursday.

I walk back home from another day at the library and I'm in a pretty good mood all things considered. I still have a lot on my mind but I am feeling much better than two weeks ago. I enter my apartment and once again feed the small gremlin I live with before getting to work.

I walk into my workroom and find the large amethyst before placing it on the floor. It's been a little over seven months since I last scanned how much magic I have and I'm curious about how much it's grown in that time. The scan takes just as long as last time and I spend that time meditating on my feelings.

This is one of the things the book Celestia gave me recommended I try. It's simple, you meditate on what you're feeling and why you're feeling it while asking questions about both. Basically, just a mental exercise to make you better understand what you're feeling and help you accept and deal with it.

But it's a delicate balance, you want to better understand what you're feeling, not get stuck in those feelings. I open my eyes as I notice the gem stop.

I hold out a piece of paper and watch a number appear on it after a moment. The first scan was on SEP 1 and had a result of 246. This scan had a result of 297, a significant improvement in the total amount considering it's been around half a year, but that's not completely unexpected.

During a pony's teen years and early adulthood, they are known to have their magic grow faster. I'm not sure if that's because they start using their magic more at that age, or if there is a biological and magical reason for this happening. But regardless it does happen around that time for most unicorns and I presume other ponies as well.

That brings my mind to a different topic, ponies age up faster than humans. As a good comparison, most humans consider eighteen to be physically mature and twenty-one to be mentally mature, this is just a general rule and has many exceptions. For ponies, they consider fifteen to be physically mature and eighteen to be mentally mature, also with many exceptions.

This isn't a cultural difference but more so a fact of pony biology. But this means that a thirteen-year-old I'm considered to be in the middle of my teens, so it would make sense for my magic to be growing so much with my age and constant training.

I find the right notebook and write down the new information before grabbing my notebook on runes along with a small ruby. I had an idea earlier today and it's stuck with me, the floating enchantment that lets me suspend things in the air, I want to modify that spell and try something.

I slowly modify the spell over the next few hours so it can handle more magic and a more powerful effect. The spell is a little complicated but I'm just improving on what's already there and even then only in a few key areas. When I'm done I enchant the small ruby to hold and gather magic before adding the modified floating spell and starting work on the other pieces.

I need a way to turn off the enchantments from a distance, I've done just that before so after looking through a few notes I copy what I did with the shield around my apartment, using a small piece of scrap wood as the switch, when I flip it the enchantments will turn off or on.

And now that last piece, I make a very simple spell using a rune of seeing and a rune of understanding to make them work properly. The result is a very simple spell that activates a link connected to it when something is moving within a certain radius of itself.

It's set to a single-foot radius around in, which is the same area that the beefed-up floating spell will affect when activated. I enchant all these spells into the small ruby and then link them together properly. The very basic detection spell links into the floating spell.

The simple switch links to both the detection and floating spells to turn them off and on when I need to. Once everything is ready I place the ruby in the middle of my desk and flip the small piece of wood, there is no visual difference. I grab another piece of scrap wood and throw it above the ruby.

Once it passes the threshold it moves a little further before abruptly stopping in mid-air. All the ruby's extra magical capacity is being used in the float spell so I expect it to be pretty strong and hold things very stable. I reach out to try and grab the piece of wood but have to push against the spell.

It's like pushing my hoof through honey, possible but difficult. With enough effort I'm able to push in half way, the more of my foreleg I push in the harder it becomes to move. But the spell isn't strong enough to overpower me and I pull my hoof back out after reaching the center.

If I make it stronger than I could trap myself inside, it would work like a glue trap in a three-dimensional area. But it also gives me a different idea. I've basically made the perfect stabilizer, with the downside being that it also traps things. I can think of a few uses for this but that will take more work and it's late.

Guess I'll test this more in the morning.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

Also I ended up Choosing the name for the full illusion database. Illusionary books for a single one, and illusionary library for multiple. Maybe a little boring, but I feel like it's the type of name Shade would come up with.

Chapter 86

APR 11 Saturday.

I draw out another rune and double-check that everything is correct before casting the spell without a target in mind. The matrix flashes before disappearing completely, it does nothing. This is a healing spell I've been working on for over an hour now with mixed success.

Before this, I only knew two healing spells, one for speeding up the healing process of muscles, and the other speeds up the healing of bruises and rashes. And now I'm learning about a spell to help speed up the regrowth of fur and hair, not the most useful spell but I found it interesting to learn.

And I've found another healing spell I want to learn. It helps with healing burns and it might be the most complex spell I've tried to learn yet. It helps speed up the healing process but to a much greater degree, the other spells can take hours to fully heal injuries.

And even if you overpower those basic healing spells with more magic, like I do, it hits a limit on how much faster it can go before the magic required makes it not worth the investment. But this is a better quality and more complex spell that costs more magic but can be pushed much further.

I look through the spell's matrix for a while before deciding to do something else instead, it's the weekend and I wouldn't mind doing something I've been thinking about. I grab my saddlebags and cloak, and then my necklace.

My necklace is something I don't leave home without and recently I've put some work into improving it. Over time I've improved the illusion detection spell on my bracelet and now it's efficient enough to fit on the diamond in my necklace at the same time as the emotional shield.

I had to remove the silence field enchantment but that's just fine by me. This also leaves me with the bracelet free to be enchanted with anything else I could want again. After putting on my necklace I call Entropy over and she merges into my shadow before we leave my apartment.

Over time I've observed that Entropy seems to prefer to stay inside my shadow when we move through public areas. I think she likes being able to watch everything or sleep whenever she wants while staying with me. And that's good because her appearance keeps changing slowly.

When I started using the illusion spell on her, her feathers were so efficient at absorbing light that she looked like a hole in reality itself. Now her feathers have stopped getting darker and have started to become a mass of black shadowy wisps that appear and roll off her like fog before vanishing. This effect started at the very tips of her feathers but is slowly creeping over more and more of her body with time.

I'm going to guess all her feathers will be replaced by it given time, she'll definitely be a sight to see on that day. I take my time walking through the markets and making my way to the city's edge. I don't find anything of particular interest before I reach the city's gate.

I walk outside the city past the guards and see many caravans camped outside selling many different things. Many of them set up stalls out here to sell things without needing to move their products into the city or pay for a stall, the downside is that they can only sell to each other and any ponies going into or out of Canterlot.

I'm here to see if the diamond dog caravan I traded with last time is here again. I only have three small gems left and one medium, so I'm going to need more for my tests and inventions soon. And to my luck, I see the same symbol used by their caravan on a camp.

It's been months since I last bought gems and back then I wasn't as rich as I am now. All my inventions and spells are really seeing some dividends now, there was a dip from paying my taxes but I can easily ignore that. My point is I have much more money to spend this time on some of the things I had to leave last time.

I walk over to their tents but don't approach too close, it's obvious I'm here to talk to them and I think it's best I don't just walk inside their private area asking questions about where their leader is, so I simply wait for someone to see I'm here and get someone in charge.

And a few minutes later two diamond dogs approached me. They both have small swords and are well-muscled, it seems like some guards noticed me, perfect. While they approach I take a moment to remove my cloak and pack it inside my saddlebags, I also move my small dagger from a hidden spot into a pocket, I would rather not have any misunderstandings.

Last time I was here I was vouched for by the caravan leader's daughter, but I'm alone this time and I'm also not sure if the leader is still the same diamond dog, so it's best to stay on good behavior. Both caravan guards walk up to me and look me over before one of them gets a bit closer.

"What business do you have here?" Her tone is blunt and dry but not angry or rude.

"I've done business with your caravan before, and I'd like to do more. I'd like to speak to the caravan leader if that's fine?" I ask back with an even tone.

They scrutinize me a little more before nodding. "Follow me." They turn and start walking away. This is going surprisingly well considering I had no proof of my claims, although it would become apparent very quickly if I was lying to them. We walk through their camp and enter a large tent with a table set up just like before.

And just like last time Onyx is there, reading something while looking over some other papers. He sees us enter and looks confused for a moment before seeming to recognize me. "Well this is a surprise, I'll be honest I never thought I'd see you again." His tone is light and relaxed as he looks over my appearance.

"Well, I needed more gems and decided to check if your caravan was here." He nods and moves the papers away before getting right done to business. He doesn't seem as suspicious of me as last time, I guess I earned some trust from doing good business with our last deal.

"Well you have some good timing then, someone I supply just backed out and I have a lot of gems that they ordered. First, though, did you bring enough bits or are we doing the same deal as last time?" He asks while walking me over to several carts filled with boxes.

I'm not worried about being robbed as we are right next to the capital, and Entropy can get me out very fast if need be. "I brought a good amount, but if you have some more expensive gems then we can do the same deal again." I offer and he nods before calling two other diamond dogs to help him with the crates.

I brought a lot of bits with me this time and I'm expecting to have to go get more for this. Over the next two hours, we go through a few dozen crates and haggle over different gems while I look through them for what I want. By the end I have so much that it will be hard to bring it all home in one trip.

So we agreed to make it three trips in total with me coming back two more times to get the rest and pay them one-third at a time. I end up spending more than I thought but it still doesn't make that large of a dent in my savings. It takes me three hours of back and forth before I'm home with everything by the end of the day.

On my last trip, Onyx gave me a pendant with their caravan symbol on it, he told me I can show it to the guards to be let in right away if I did business with them again. I tried to decline as I didn't really know or trust them but he insisted because, in his own words, I rather not lose good business from an inconvenience, and from his tone I think he was speaking from experience.

So in the end I took it and kept it in my saddlebags while walking home. I made sure to check it for any type of tracker or magical enchantment before going home just to be safe, there was nothing on it but it's always best to check and be sure, many would call me paranoid, and they'd be right.

Thinking about my paranoia makes me think about the Changelings. I haven't had my bracelet or my necklace detect anything yet and I find that odd. I've been wearing the bracelet for months but nothing has happened and I'm wondering why. But I'm also not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

That saying just feels wrong as a pony. I refocus as I enter my apartment again with the last of the gems. I bought a lot and have to sort them all while updating my inventory list.

I got eighteen small gems, seven rubies, six sapphires, and five diamonds. Seven medium gems, four ruby, two sapphires, and one diamond. Two large gems, one ruby, and one sapphire. After that, I have the more unique gems I found.

A sun stone, this is an affinity-attuned gem for solar magic, it could prove to be very useful and I already have an idea for it.

Next is an iron gem, and it's an odd gem. It's known for being very durable and sturdy, and that extends to its magical capabilities. It can handle a lot of magic moving through it and is above average at conducting magic but it can't hold that much magic in itself.

And the last gem I found is a fire gem, this one is mostly self-explanatory. The gem is the same as the water gem, it can hold and safely store a large amount of fire affinity magic, but only that affinity and no other affinity type.

After organizing everything and writing it all down I start on a new project immediately. I grab the sunstone and place it on my desk, I start with the spell I use to hold and gather magic in gems. I've never modified this spell before because it's one of the few spells that has little room for improvement, honestly I'd love to meet the pony who made it, but they're long dead.

I carefully enchant the sunstone to hold and gather magic, because this is an affinity gem the process and how I use it is different. The spell will work fine as it just helps the gem gather and hold the magic it can't force any gem to take more magic than it can hold so it's safe.

The sunstone can only hold solar affinity magic and the spell will gather all magic that it can, and because only solar magic will enter the gem the other magic will just stay around it or more likely be absorbed by my other gems in my apartment, and the neutral magic won't decrease or increase as it can't outside of a gem.

But back to my idea, I can speed up the sun stones ability to absorb solar magic in a few ways. The first is simple, leave it in sunlight, and the second involves a plant I've bred. The Solar Trap is perfect for this idea and would massively speed up the gathering process.

Normally the sunstone could take weeks to gather all the magic it needs and fill itself because solar magic in the environment is in low amounts, even in direct sunlight. But I do have a problem, I don't have a large enough area to grow a Solar Trap big enough to fill this gem in a single day, although if I could find a place like that then it would be possible.

For now, I finish enchanting the sunstone, I grab a filled pot and a Solar Trap seed to plant. I take both to my main room and clear a place near my window with the best sunlight throughout the day, I place the pot and plant the seed before growing it into a full plant.

I don't have anything for it to grow on so I control the plant to grow into a structure of interwoven vines capable of supporting itself. The Solar Trap doesn't expend solar magic and just collects it, I originally wanted to have the Solar Trap feed its collected solar magic into other Solar Vines to keep their flowers glowing at night, but this is honestly a better use for it.

Once it's done I place the sun stone next to the base of the plant where the most magic will gather. It will probably take several days to fill it but when it's done I can experiment with it and see what I could do with Solar magic. I can think of the most basic use, which is to simply release the stored Solar magic for plants to absorb and use.

Once it's properly in place I take a shower and feed both of us before heading to bed, I have so much I want to do.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

Chapter 87

APR 12 Sunday.

I return from my morning run and start showering after I get home. After I'm nice and dry I check on the sunstone, it's working as intended and has collected a small amount of solar magic.

The bright yellow gem with a rounded appearance and a slight glow to it, it's opaque and seems to be working correctly. I hold the gem and feel a slight warmth from it on my hoof, I place it back and make some tea before heading to my workroom.

Now that I have several more gems I can experiment with a few more things. In the past there were two main things that limited what I could do with the gems I had, The first is the gem's magical capacity, and the second is how much magic a gem can handle going through it.

But now that I have the Iron Gem I have an interesting idea I want to try and make, it shouldn't be too hard. I found the three-inch gray, and slightly see-through gem and set it on my desk with four small rubies. First I have to enchant all of them to hold and gather magic which takes several minutes to draw the matrix out so many times.

With how much I use this spell I should relearn it later, once I'm done with that I leave the gems to the side and start working on a spell that's going to be needed for this idea to work. I've made a variation of the linking spell before but I'll need to make another one for this.

This one will be for moving much more magic at a time than the others. I roughly know the max a small ruby can channel through itself without causing damage to itself, but it varies so I'll undershoot that just to be safe. I add another rune to this linking spell along with a lot more math to improve the transfer rate and make it more stable.

This takes me longer than I thought it would but after a few hours, I'm done and can start using it. I link three of the rubies to the Iron Gem and have them all push their magic into it, even all three of the rubies dumping all of their magic into the Iron Gem at the same time isn't enough to hit its transfer limit.

Once that's done I start working on the more complicated part of this spell. The transfer capacity of gems is mostly dependent on the size of the gem, and also its quality and clarity to a lesser degree. So I take the same modified linking spell I just made and modify it again.

I make it have several different rough amounts of magic it will discharge at a time based on percentage and depending on what I set it to. I also added a small scanning spell to the Iron gem to detect when another gem is touching it, once that happens it uses that output to attach the linking spell to the gem while both are touching.

I don't have a dial to control the linking spell so I improvise by carving a tiny wooden cube the same size as a die. I carve several numbers and have the spell determine what number is selected by using a rune for up, it's basic but it will work. This setup lets me change the amount of magic transferred.

Once everything is in place and double-checked I leave the three connected rubies to the side to gather magic and place the last ruby next to the Iron stone without letting them touch. It should be obvious that I'm making an improved invention I made a while back.

At the time I used Steel wood to help a gem charge faster, but that had a few downsides. First I needed to relink the Steel wood blocks every time I wanted to charge a different gem. Second, it was an improvement over just letting gems charge normally but was still slow, this new charger will speed things up a lot.

It will fill gems as fast as possible with the limits gems have. Once everything is double-checked I move the unused ruby and let it touch the Iron gem. I see what little magic the three other rubies have collected drain into the last ruby at a visible rate.

I leave it be to test how well it works, I mark down the time and start working on a different idea I had to help more than just me. That's right I've found a way to make more work for Celestia and help ponies as a byproduct. I've done something similar to this in the past but this time I am better equipped.

I grab my cloak and set it on a desk in my workroom. The material my cloak is made from is canvas, and canvas is already water resistant and because of that it's by far the most common material used for cloaks and tents, and I want to improve that aspect further.

The canvas is tough enough to have a very simple enchantment on it, nothing powerful but what I'm planning is very small. I basically want to make a spell you could enchant into any durable enough piece of cloth to be hydrophobic and to do that I'll use two runes.

A rune for protection and a rune for fluid, it won't be a perfect spell and it will probably only repel water. If you dunk it in water it will still get wet, but it should protect against rain and most other fluids. I work on the spell for a few hours before I have something that should work well.

I enchant my cloak and use my flask to test it, it works decently well but like I expected it's a weak effect. But it still works and I can give it to Celestia next time we meet. While I'm lost in thought about other things I could test, I'm interrupted by Entropy.

I hear her caw and turn around to see her holding a letter, I raise a brow at her. "Where did you get that?" She tilts her head and moves the letter from her beak to a talon before holding it out to me. "Thanks? Here." I walk with her into the kitchen to feed her a few berries.

But while doing it I feel something else lands on my back and I jump a little, I quickly turn my head only to see Philomena standing on my back. I sigh, "Well that answers one question, I'm guessing you also want some?" I see Philomena's eyes lock on the berries I'm feeding Entropy and take that as a yes.

After rewarding them both I open the letter.

Dear Shade. I'm writing to tell you that our meeting will be delayed by a week because of some unforeseen circumstances, nothing concerning but you'll probably see something about it in the newspapers soon. Our next meeting is on April 18 at the same time as our planned meeting, I hope to see you there.

Further, I wanted to ask how you're doing. You've been handling this well but I also want to remind you to be patient, things like this take time to heal and that's normal.

Stay well, and remember I'm here if you need to talk. Signed Celestia.

A smile forms on my face as I read this, she normally sends me letters, and after our meeting where I admitted my troubles her letters always ask me how I'm doing and remind me she's there if I need her. It's a small reminder that I don't need it, but I am happy to receive it regardless.

I find some paper and a quill to start writing out a response.

Dear Celestia. I'm doing well, thank you for the book. It's been helpful and I've been doing what you suggested. But I'm still having a few problems. Sometimes I find myself a little lost in those emotions, but I feel like it's better than just pushing it all down.

I'll be at the meeting, and now you've got me curious about what's going on. But I know better than to try and get involved in politics.

Also, I made another spell, it's small this time I promise. I'll include the spell and what it's used for with this letter along with an update on the progress of the B.L.P spell.

I hope whatever is happening goes well. Signed Shade.

I write down the spell and instructions along with an update on the B.L.P spell before sealing it all in an envelope. I look over and see Entropy preening Philomena's feathers, how does that even work? Her feathers are made of fire. I leave those questions for now and place the letter next to them.

Both look at it for a moment before Entropy walks over and picks the letter up, she vanishes a second later and I spend the time it takes her to deliver the letter petting Philomena. Philomena's feathers are interesting in several ways that I've seen while interacting with her.

Her feathers are made from pure flame that doesn't create any form of smoke. They have a present warm feel to them and feel soft, the flame is less like actual flame and denser, unlike normal flames you can actually feel an odd texture to them that is hard to describe.

And you can also feel the feather's spines, the fluff is pure flame but the feather spines are still solid which leads to an odd sensation while petting her. Entropy interrupts my train of thought again by reappearing next to Philomena and after a moment looking annoyed at her getting all of the attention. I pet both of them for a while before giving both of them some more berries and leaving them alone.

I find my wood carving knife and the wooden carving of Entropy. Sadly this isn't the one I was working on last time, that one had a bad cut that cracked the wing. The good news is that this one is basically complete and just needs a few smaller touches.

I spend a while just finishing it while Entropy and Philomena mess around and play. Turns out that while Philomena isn't as smart as Entropy she's still pretty smart even for a bird, and also loves to throw things around, as I learned when I narrowly moved out of the way of a wooden ball.

On the upside, it's interesting to watch two teleporting birds fight over different toys by stealing them from each other and teleporting to a different area of the main room. After a while, Entropy seems to decide to stop playing and take a nap on her perch, and Philomena, after seeing that decides it's time to head home teleporting out of my home with a small flash of flame. Maybe I should make Philomena something?

Then again Celestia can get her just about anything she would want. After things calm down I finish up with the wooden carving and put it away, I sit down with some fresh tea and start practicing my spatial sensing, I move three small pieces of scrap wood around me while I do this.

I'm getting pretty good at sensing space and I feel like I could probably unlock my space affinity if I really tried, but I think it's best to improve more before doing that just to be safe. Once I'm out of magic I take a notebook and start working on a few problems while waiting.

Specifically, I'm working on a few ways I could potentially make prosthetics, but it's slow going and It seems like this isn't something I can finish soon. It's just too complicated and I don't know enough to make it work properly right now, and I haven't found any potential solutions to needing so many different types of prosthetic limbs.

After working on this for a while I decided to do something I haven't in a long while. Getting a little flash of inspiration I grab a small sapphire and start Enchanting it into an Illusionary book, which is what I've come to call my new illusion information storage, next I look through my sketch books and find what I'm looking for.

My old star maps, I should make more again soon, maybe in the forest although that might not be the best idea considering what happened last time. I start drawing copies of the star maps in the illusionary pages while making sure to stay as accurate as possible to the originals even if that means including mistakes.

I work into the night and stop after seeing the time, I call Entropy over and have her take us to the forest and back a few times before she tires out and I take a shower while she rests. She can make eight trips back to back now and I might need to find a further away place soon.

When I'm clean and dry I feed both of us and head to bed, I have work tomorrow and I need some rest

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]

There are many more people here than last time I asked this and I didn't really do anything for 200k, and we have all these new gems to use. So any ideas for inventions or useful things Shade could make? No pressure if you rather not, this is just something to have a little fun and see what crazy things we can all come up with.

Chapter 88

APR 20 Monday.

I walk through the hallways of the library with Blaz as we make our way to the breakroom. My last meeting with Celestia went like normal and was as always a good way for me to relax. And the day before our meeting I did end up finding out what delayed our meeting.

Turns out a Griffin ambassador was secretly in a relationship with the wife of a noble, a noble that just so happens to do a large amount of trade with the same Griffin city-state that the Griffin ambassador was representing. So after the noble found out about the affair he did what you'd expect and cut trade.

But he was smart about it and found a very small smuggling operation to give him a legal and justified reason to do it. So Celestia has been dealing with a messy breakup and a political shit show at the same time, I do not envy her in any way. Hell if that was me I'd just tell them to knock it the fuck off and stop being foals about it, and that's why I don't do politics.

Another thing that's happened over the week is a potential new line of study. I was looking through things I could improve and decided to take a look at food preservation, in Equestria food preservation is one of the few areas where they are probably more advanced than humans and that's by in large because of their access to magic.

Food preservation is a branch of magic that is both advanced and not-so-advanced. It comes down to the commonly used enchantment found in almost every home, normally called simply the Preservation Enchantment, the spell is weak enough to be enchanted into a cabinet and can extend the shelf life of all foods by weeks. It's so common that food waste is significantly less than humans ever achieved.

After looking over the spell I realized that I couldn't improve the spell. Most spells I've improved have been unnecessarily complex or less developed, but this spell has seen continuous and extensive improvement over hundreds of years, there's simply nothing to improve about it that hasn't already been done.

I simply don't have the skill or knowledge to improve it. But the spell isn't perfect and has two main downsides that I've found.

First, the spell doesn't protect against pests at all. There are a few spells to help with that but they need to be enchanted on gems to be used and aren't as well developed, so I've made a note to look at those spells and improve them.

The second reason is a little more complex. The spell can only extend the shelf life of food for two or three weeks at best for something like bread depending on the type, and meat only lasts about a week, maybe two. And because the spell is so weak it can't stop food from spoiling, only slow it down.

So even with this spell many still use traditional preservation methods like salt or drying, and that brings me to the second problem, overreliance. This spell is so easy and effective that basically any other preservation spell is ignored in favor of this one and they are often not further developed as a result.

So while this spell works very well it's basically the only magical food preservation method used, and that limits them from storing food too much longer than this spell lets them. For instance, freezing food isn't done as far as I've found, and freezing a lot of these foods could make them last much longer at the cost of more magic and probably a gem being needed.

So there could be room for improvement in that area. My thoughts are interrupted as me and Blaz sit down without food and he asks me something. "Hey, Colt?" I turn to Blaz and nod to him with a mouth full of food. "You got anything you need to do after work today?" I raise a brow but shake my head. "Well then, do you want to head to a chess contest?"

That piqued my interest. "A chess contest?" He nods. "Wouldn't we need to sign up in advance? Or something like that."

He shakes his head. "Nope, it's a smaller contest and isn't even really advertised. I only know about it from an acquaintance who told me about it, I asked them if anypony could sign up and they said yes. So you up for it?" He smiles at me. I think about it for a bit, it could be fun and I don't have much beyond my normal day, so why not?

"I'll have to go home for a bit, but sure, where is it and what time?"

His smile grows, "It starts at six-thirty and stops at nine, we can just go together, I'll stop by your place at six if that's fine with you?" We get off at five so that should be more than enough time for me.

"Sure, also do I need to bring anything?" I've never been to a contest so I ask just to be safe.

"Nope. Anyway, did you read the newspaper?" Oh by magic not this shit again. After talking a little more and a few laughs we finish our food and get back to work. Once it hits five I walk home and go about my day as normal. I spent my time trying to improve my spatial sense while waiting.

Not long after starting I hear a knock at my door and get up, I put on my saddlebags and open the door. Like I expected I see Blaz there, "Ready to go?" I nod and we both leave my apartment building and start walking through Canterlot's streets. As we walk Blaz turns to me, "So Colt you still holding up ok?"

His question blindsided me a little and it must have shown on my face, "I don't like to pry, but you seemed to be down a few weeks back and I thought I'd ask now that you seem to be doing better." He explains while we turn a street corner.

I'm surprised he asked me this, I thought Daisy would. But I answer truthfully and try to be somewhat open about what happened. "I had a bit of a breakdown, I'm doing fine now and have changed a few things to help. And I think I'll be ok." My answer is blunt and short, and He stares me down before giving me a nod.

"Like I said I don't pry but I thought I'd at least ask, and if you need to talk I'm always willing," Blaz says with a soft tone and a firm nod. He's not one to show much emotion beyond a smile and laughing, so I just nod back and we continue to walk in silence.

The mood is thick for a while but after we arrive at a simple building it lightens up a bit. The buildings got a simple sign, Canterlot Game Club. I stare at it for a moment before we enter, the inside is lively with a few dozen ponies walking about and playing different board games, mostly chess, and others walking about and talking with others.

As I'm looking around Blaz walks over to a desk and starts talking to the pony behind it, "Hey Nox, I got the pony I told you about. Shade this is the acquaintance I told you about, Nox." Blaz says with a happy tone as I walk over to join him. The Batpony sitting there is surprisingly big for their kind as most Bat Ponies are similar in size to pegasi.

The mare is in decent shape and is showing her age a little but still looks fairly young. Blue eyes with a two-tone mane of dark gray and black, a deep blue coat, and an earring hanging from one of her more prominently pointed ears. She stares at me for a moment before nodding.

"Nice to meet you," I say with a slight smile as I nod back.

"Same. Are you joining?" Her voice is not offensive or boring, just blunt and straight to business. So I simply nodded to answer her, "Name and age." She slides a clipboard over to me along with a quill and ink, the page is just spaces to fill out what she asked for.

After filling them in I turned to her, "How does the contest work?"

I am as blunt as her deciding to not waste time beating around the proverbial bush. She doesn't bat an eye, pun intended, at me and answers immediately. "We draw names at random and have several matches at once, shrinking the contestants down until only two remain. It should start in a while, come up when your name is called."

I nod for a final time and look over to Blaz who motions to follow him. The room is a large open area with a few hallways leading to other rooms, the main area has many tables and cushions set up with a few tables full of different games to play.

Part of the large room is empty except for a line of twelve tables all with clear lines of sight to them. We find a table near the lined-up tables and sit down, "So how far do you think you can get?" Blaz asks while he sets up a game of dominos he grabbed while we walked over here.

"I guess it depends on who I'm up against, but I'd like to say I'm pretty good so I hope to make it at least into the top ten." He nods and places the first domino.

"Let's hope you can, some of the ponies here have been playing for years so you'll definitely get a challenge."

"I hope so, you aren't enough to challenge me anymore, or ever were now that I think about it." I tease while placing another piece down. He just chuckles as we wait for the contest to start, "How did you find this place?"

"They do puzzles on Sundays. I was here yesterday when I heard about the contest and thought you might like it."

I smile. "Well you thought right, this should be fun." At six we see a pony walk into the empty part of the room and whistle to get our attention.

Nox stands there and starts reading off names from a list while various ponies walk over and sit down where she tells them to. Eventually, my name is called and I walk up, she points to a table with an older mare at it and I sit across from her as the first round begins.

My opponent is not the best, making several mistakes that many make while playing chess, still, she's better than Blaz and offers a fun game if nothing else. She's also very nice and even ends up asking for some advice while the other contestants finish up their games.

She was very nice and I was happy enough to show her a few things before the round ended and we all moved back to our tables. The next three rounds are spent eliminating most contestants, and my second round isn't much better and funnily enough ends in five moves because they made a bad mistake at the beginning.

By the time my third round starts, there are only twenty-four contestants left and this round would eliminate half of them, there are more ponies competing than I thought there would be. I sit down across from a unicorn stallion who already seems to not like me, "What's a Colt like you doing here? Did you get lucky to make it this far?"

His tone is not pleasant and has an air of pretentiousness to it. So I do what I find works best with anyone like this, I ignore them until they fuck right off. But throughout our game, he kept making snide comments to me to the point that Nox decided to step in.

"Crumble, you're out of line, calm down before I disqualify you." Her tone had an edge to it and spoke of how serious she was. I turn to her and nod my thanks, he wasn't anywhere near making me mad, I can deal with Entropy and her nonsense I can deal with this fucker, but he was starting to get annoying.

He steams in clear anger as we continue to play through our game, and he's not doing amazing. He's not bad but comparing him to Phelix is not fair to him, but as the game goes on I see him get madder and madder as he realizes he's going to lose the game.

When I move my piece and checkmate him I call it out, "checkmate." The anger he was holding seems to explode at this and he slams both forelegs on the tabletop.

"Listen here you little cheater you are forfeiting, right now." He says nearly shouting at me and trying his best to look intimidating, honestly I'm not even sure what he hopes to achieve with that blatant and unreasonable demand. But I'm unfazed, I've stared down Celestia, this pony is nothing compared to her. My calm expression and me continuing to ignore his shit just makes him angrier.

"YO-" But before he can get anything else out the same nice older mare from earlier marches over and grabs him.

"Crumble! What are you doing? You do not shout at a Colt." The mare seems pretty pissed at him and it's also at this moment that I realize they look around the same age, my guess is they're married. "You will apologize, NOW." She nearly shouts at him.

The stallion for his part looks pretty nervous, not scared, more just the kind of expression I'd expect to see on a foal's face when their dam catches them doing something bad. Seeing his face I have to keep myself from bursting out laughing. After a moment the stallion turns to me, "Sorry." I can almost hear his teeth grind as he's dragged away by the mare.

After they walk out of the front doors, me and a few other ponies can't hold it in and start laughing at the whole situation. After that everything calms down and the contest continues as normal. After winning that round I'm now in the top twelve and my next match isn't as easy.

My next opponent was an old mare with a strong look in her eyes and oh boy was she a proper challenge. She had me on the ropes the whole time and I barely won the match, it was so close I could almost call it pure luck. When I checkmate her she looks up to me and gives a single nod before standing up.

She was one hell of a challenge that I got lucky with, she also didn't say a word throughout our game which is a little odd but not unheard of from what I've seen of the other games going on around me. And that brought me to the final six and also brought me to my defeat.

The last pony I face is an older stallion Bat Pony that wipes the floor with me, I make a few bad moves at the start that he punishes them hard and as the game goes I'm constantly retreating. Not long into our game I'm checkmated, I didn't even get close on this one.

But I made it onto the top ten so I'm happy, plus playing this many games was a blast, if you don't count that one dickhead. After losing I sit back down with Blaz and spend the rest of the competition playing board games and joking about different things.

By the time the contest is over the pony I faced ends up winning, so I can at least say I got beat by the winner. After a round of claps and a small trophy, he walks out of my sight, after that me and Blaz decide to call it a night there and get home.

Author's Note

I got a little carried away on this one. Also writing dialogue for a pony that doesn't talk much is hard, so sorry if the conversations is light in this chapter.

Thanks for reading and have a good night. :]

Chapter 89

MAY 1 Friday.

I sit completely still on my floor while I move three small wooden cubes around me, I focus on how the space stretches and moves very slightly as they move. Right now I'm trying to accomplish something I've been working towards for more than two years now, unlocking my space affinity.

I chose to wait a few more weeks and improve a bit more before taking this step, and I think that was a good idea now that I'm actually trying to unlock it. Unlike my life affinity, I don't have much to observe beyond the space around me and what I have seen from Entropy.

I start by meditating and focusing my mind to the best of my abilities, I drank a good amount of Blood Leaf tea just to help with my magical reserves while attempting this. The small amount of space magic already in my natural magic is going to be pushed hard while doing this.

I drop the wooden cubes and just focus on how the world around me moves and how the space flexes at different points. It's honestly really hard to describe the feeling of it all. I keep in mind all I've learned about space from my old world and what I've seen from observing Entropy teleport.

I keep all that knowledge in the forefront of my mind as I start to force my will on my magic, I force my magic to change itself. It's not like my life affinity and takes far more will and focus to even attempt this. I stay like this for an unknown amount of time feeling the physical world around me slip away as I focus completely on only this.

My magic starts to drain more as I keep dumping it into my attempt. It's hard to keep my focus and my magic under control but eventually, I start feeling more space magic take form. I observe the process as best I can while keeping the magical pressure on my single desire.

More and more magic drains from me as I start using the space magic being created to expand my sense of the space around me further to help me get a better feel for the new magical conversion process happening, and I really want to make sure I remember it all.

As my spatial senses expand I start to feel the small movements of the wind on the building and ponies walking around in their apartments. Looking at the world this way is amazing so I try to focus less on small details and just sense as much of the world around me as I can. I start to feel bigger changes like the movement of large crowds of ponies walking through the city.

My head starts to hurt a little but I stubbornly ignore it to sense even more of the world, I'm determined to see more. And I start to feel something bigger that I can't really fully sense. I recklessly push past my new headache, too entranced by what I'm feeling and seeing to think about the danger.

And then for a very small moment, I feel something truly massive. For a single tiny moment, I feel the world move beneath me.

And then everything collapses away as my mind fades from the waking world and is consumed by darkness.

......

An unknown amount of time later I woke to a splitting headache and extreme tiredness. "OH, what the fuck?" I feel something move and caw right into my ear far too loudly for my liking, I reluctantly open my eyes to see the wooden floor of my apartment and Entropy in my face jumping around seemingly panicked.

Seeing her like that wakes my mind enough for me to pay attention, "Why am I on the floor?" I tiredly lift my head and Entropy seeing me move around seems to calm down and starts pressing against me while cooing. I look down at her and try to lift a hoof to pet her and calm her down.

But everything feels heavy and sluggish. I try to ignore the headache and get my mind in order, but after a little thinking, I don't feel any better when I remember what I was doing. It seems my dumbass decided to ignore my body telling me I was out of magic and do something monumentally stupid.

I reach out a hoof and slowly drag my teapot over, I'm too tired to give a shit so I just stick the nozzle on my mouth and start chugging all of it down. After drinking it I start to feel a little better but that's not saying much, "Remind me to never do that again." I say to Entropy who's finally calmed down and is now preening my mane while fussing over me.

I start inspecting my magic to feel if anything is wrong, something you should always do after pulling shit like this. And as far as I can tell I'm fine just, severally magically drained. Seems I got past forty percent magic left and reaped the consequences, I think I should be fine though as I passed out before hitting the truly dangerous thirty percent.

I stand up slowly and a wave of nausea hits me for a moment, I stumble a little before regaining my footing. I feel out my magic more and see that it's slowly coming back to me. This isn't my first time feeling these side effects, just never this strong, I move over to the kitchen and start tiredly making more tea.

While it boils I check the time with the bracelet Daisy gave me. I don't remember how long I was meditating before passing out but I know I started meditating at six in the afternoon and it's seven-sixteen right now so I couldn't have been out that long.

I spend the next hour drinking tea and reading through notes I have on magical exhaustion. I do a few exercises they recommend to check if I need to find a doctor, and from what I'm reading I should be fine as long as I get some rest. So after feeding myself and Entropy, I head to bed in the middle of the day.

time skip

MAY 3 Sunday.

I move another pot as I reorganize my plants to make sure they are all doing ok. It's been two days since I decided to drain myself and I'm recovered now. The day after I spent my time doing jack shit and resting as much as I can, by the end of that day I felt normal again but decided to not overuse my magic for a while.

I've tested a few things and everything in both my body and magic is working normally and I feel fine again, but I can't really be sure and I'm thinking about going to a doctor. Beyond that I'm still mad at myself for pulling such a fucking stupid stunt, it's unlikely I would have died but this was still a bad decision on my part and something I won't be doing again.

I haven't touched my new affinity and I probably won't until I know I'm fully recovered. But for now, I have something to do today, I have a meeting with Celestia and I'm not sure if I should tell her about what happened because I'm not sure how she'll react.

I finish the report I'm making on the B.L.P spell and get ready to leave my apartment for my meeting, I guess I'll decide when I'm there, that will give me less time to chicken out. Entropy merges into my shadow and I leave my apartment and start walking to the palace once again. When I arrive things happen as they normally do, and from the looks of where the guard is taking me we're meeting in the gardens again.

I'm led to the same area as last time with Celestia sitting at a table like always, and after a short bow, I sit down with her. I'm still trying to decide if I should tell her the stupid thing I did, and honestly, I think I should. I did something really stupid that could have gone much worse.

And while I'm not planning to ever experience that again, a scolding would be a good reminder. And after the last incident, I find myself more willing to trust her. I give her a small smile as she moves a cup of tea over to me. "Hello Celestia, nice to see you again. How did the marriage break up go?"

I add that last part with a joking tone, we both know it didn't go well. She just smiles back, "Not well, it took me several days to get them to come to some sort of agreement and continue trade. I hope you had a better week than me." The first part is said with clearly fake enthusiasm.

Seems I have to show my hand early. I sigh and give her a half smile, "Good and bad, mentally I'm fine but I did something stupid." She drops her joking attitude and puts on the face she used to comfort me last time. I see it and interrupt her before she can say anything.

"I'm ok, and I'm actually pretty happy right now. But I did do something bad, I gave myself some pretty bad magical exhaustion." I see her face shift to something a little more serious and continue. "I'll explain how later, but I ended up blacking out for a while and had to recover over the next two days."

That gets the reaction I was expecting as her face once again shifts this time to one of both worry and stern eyes. After a moment of silence, she locks eyes with me. "Are you ok?" Her tone is stern but a little less so than I expected.

"I'm fine. After I woke up I did nothing but rest and recover and I'm still taking it lightly right now, no new spells or experiments, only reading and spell design. I'm no expert on the subject but I had enough notes to help me recover. Do you think I should see a doctor?" I ask that last part as she will definitely know more about this than me.

She looks less stern at my explanation of what I did afterward. "Good, you at least took proper steps. And that depends, do you feel any pain or discomfort?" I shake my head. "Then you should be fine, but I'd like to cast a spell or two on you to check."

"Please by all means." She nods and after a few seconds, two or three spells shoot out of her horn and connect with me. They all come so fast that I'm not even sure about the exact number of them and what they could do, although if I had to guess I'd say several scanning spells.

She brings a few pieces of paper out from under her wing, I should ask how she does that sometimes, and casts another spell on the pages as words appear on them. I wait as she reads through them before looking back at me with a more neutral but still stern look.

"Well as far as I can tell you're fine, but you should keep resting for a few more days just to be safe. But I do want to know what caused you to do this to yourself? And a promise that you will never do it again." The last part is said in what I'm now calling dam Celestia, a stern and no-nonsense tone.

I nod immediately. "I promise to never do that again. Honestly, the headache from it alone is more than enough to make me never want to do that again." She stares at me for a few moments before nodding and giving me a small motion to continue.

"Well, that takes a little explanation. When I unlocked my life affinity I did it without using a magical construct, I just learned to will the magic to convert by observing the life magic around me and my knowledge about it." I've told her this before but bring it up as an example.

"And as I've told you I've been meditating on my space affinity and space magic for a long time now. And a while back I felt I was ready to unlock it but decided to practice more just to be safe." She gives an approving nod at that and seems to become less stern as I explain more. "Two days ago I attempted to unlock my space affinity, and succeeded," I say with a little pride in my voice.

"But while unlocking my space affinity I did make a mistake. I used the new space magic being converted to expand my ability to sense space, to help me solidify my affinity, and to give me time to remember the process thoroughly. But I got carried away, even when I started feeling pain I just kept pushing it far more than I should have without much of a good reason."

She listens until I'm done and nods. "I won't say that was a good decision by any means, but what's most important is that you are ok and won't repeat this again." She drinks some tea before continuing. "But regardless, congratulations, you are to my knowledge the only pony to ever accomplish this." I am surprised to hear a little pride in her voice when she says that, and I can't help but smile a little.

"Have you done anything with your new affinity yet?" Her tone is still a little stern but is much lighter than before.

"No, I decided to wait a while more and I'll take your advice to rest for a few more days. But when I'm recovered I'm excited to see what I can accomplish."

She nods. "Good rest thoroughly. I'd also like to warn you to be very careful and train your control first before trying anything more, take what happened as a lesson if you must but don't rush into this." She says with a kind but firm tone.

"I don't plan to rush anything, and honestly I'm already taking this as a lesson in not pushing too hard. But I'll keep your warning in mind and make sure to take things slow. While we're on this topic I wanted to ask if you know of any good places to start?"

She seems thoughtful for a moment before answering. "Well, I've only ever met one other pony with this affinity and they never unlocked it. But moving things around might be a good place to start, maybe train it the same way you trained your field?" She suggests.

I think about that while getting out my chessboard and setting it up. That's not a bad idea, I could try to manipulate space to move something before I try to manipulate space by itself. And I can scale it up or down depending on whether I want to train strength or fine control. I nod my agreement, "That seems like as good a place to start as any, thank you again."

"It was no trouble, just please remember to stay safe. And to not do something like this again, if nothing else than for your own safety." She reminds again with a stern tone. I nod and look down to move my first piece. "Also." I turn back to her with a look of curiosity. Her tone is now lighter and her smile is back, "It takes a lot of courage and trust to admit you've made mistakes and messed up, especially when you could have said nothing and I'd probably never know."

She locks eyes with me again and smiles more, "So I'd just like to say I'm proud that you admitted this, and I'm happy you trust me enough to tell me." Her tone is soft and genuine, and for a few moments I'm at a loss for words. I'd never thought I'd hear her say that.

I smile as big as I can while looking up at her. "I have no idea what to say to that." Honestly, I'm completely unused to somepony giving me a compliment like that and I'm a little embarrassed. So I just say what's on my mind, which gets a small laugh from her seeing my face and hearing what I said, which doesn't help with my embarrassment.

I move my first piece and try to think of something to change the subject. I remember the contest I was in recently and get an idea. "Now do you want to hear about how I got a stallion in trouble with his wife over a game of chess?"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}

Also two small things. First there is a very small show reference in this chapter.

And the second thing is pointless but just something I found neat. When I started this fic I wanted to make each chapter in-between 1k and 2k, but at some point 2k become the goal. And that's why only four chapters in the entire fic are below 2k.

Chapter 90

MAY 12 Tuesday.

It's been a little over a week since my meeting Celestia and I've spent that time practicing like normal but keeping my magical use light, I felt fine after the first two days but I've kept things light just to be safe and not temp fate again, once was more then enough for me.

I still haven't used my space magic, and to be honest a small part of myself is scared about using it, but fear will get me nowhere fast. And that leads me to what I'm doing right now, I'm once again sitting on my floor attempting something new.

I feel the magic in by body and start willing it to convert into space magic while taking everything very slow just to be safe, and not long into this process I feel something that helps explain how my magic was drained so badly so fast. To put it simply the magical conversion ratio between my magic and space magic is complete shit.

When I first unlocked my life affinity the conversion ratio wasn't too bad but was still draining on me, but with time and all my practice it's vastly improved. But it contrast the conversion ratio for space magic is a lot worse and will probably take much more of my magic to do anything.

This is why I went from ok, to unconscious in such a short amount of time, and it means that I have to be more careful with how I go about this especially because I have no idea what I'm doing. And that brings me to another question, how should I train my space magic?

Fucking with the fabric of reality isn't something to take lightly and could go wrong in so many ways I don't understand, so I need to be careful. So as a first step I'm going to just test what space magic does when I try to accomplish simple things with it and go from there.

I place a single blook of Steel wood on the floor in front of me and have to come to my first decision. Do I want to keep the piece of Steel wood close to me and save on magical costs while having better control. Or do I want to keep it away from me incase anything happens to it while I'm testing things.

I think about it more while making some tea that I'll need for this. On one hoof keeping control of the space magic might be best as I'm not sure if it will react in anyway to the world around it when uncontrolled. Any magical affinity can only start affecting the environment around it if there is a high enough density of that magical affinity in a small enough area.

But this can change depending on the affinity. Some simply need a lot of that magical affinity to cause a reaction, others need some other type of magic or magical object to do anything. As an example lets take fire affinity magic, it can cause things to catch on fire or heat up an area if there is enough fire magic, but that amount is several dozen times higher then the normal amount in the environment.

This could be a problem, space magic does exist in the environment around me but it's in such small concentrations that even my natural magic has dozens of times more then the entire room around me. So if I try to do something with my new space magic and lose control I have no way of knowing if I'll pass the density threshold for it to start affecting the world around me if I lose control.

So after some more thought I decided that the best way to know is to carefully test it. I head to my workroom and grab a medium sapphire before enchanting it with the same shielding spell I used when experimenting with my cutie mark. I enchant the gem to hold and gather magic like normal but complete my work much quicker then I normally do.

Over the past week I've been deliberately not draining too much of my magic and stopping before I get even close to low, so over that time I've been relearning less magically intensive spells. And that includes the three most common spells I use in enchanting, the enchanting spell that lets me bind other spells to an object, and the magic gathering and storing spells.

I can now cast all three instantly and no longer have to draw them out every time, it should help speed up my work slightly. Once I'm done with the sapphire I grab a small ruby and start enchanting it to hold the sapphire in the air with the float spell I've made.

Once both are done I take them over to what I've come to call the Gem Charger, and place the medium sapphire next to the Iron gem to help it fill much faster. While I wait for the gem to fill, I spend my time practicing the flows of the Companion Vine and copying them.

I've been practicing this for a while now and I'm nearing the point where this process would give me just as much magic back as I expend into it. But getting this far has meant I have had to copy the finer details of the magical flows, and that takes a lot of time and focus so my progress has slowed down a lot.

The good news is that doing this has helped me improve my magical control by a lot and keeps doing so. I spend two hours in my room meditating and waiting until the sapphire is fully filled, once it is I place the small ruby on the floor and let it suspend the medium sapphire several feet in the air where it's two foot shield isn't touching anything while the medium sapphire floats in the center.

I make sure everything is ready and working properly before attempting anything, I start converting my magic into space magic and moving it into the shielded area. I was used to controlling small amounts of space magic but controlling this much at once is harder, but manageable.

When I first taped into all this space magic while unlocking my space affinity it was easer to control because is was a gradual increases in amount, that, and I was very determined at the time. Back to the test I keep slowly pushing more and more magic into the shielded area while trying my best to keep it inside.

I don't get that far before I get through roughly half of my magic, and then I let all of that collected space magic go while bracing for anything to happen. I don't hear anything but not even a fraction of a second after I let the magic go wild a part of the medium sapphire is just, fucking, gone.

No visual effects or portals of any kind, about a third of the gem is just gone without a trace. The only reason I don't panic is because most of the collected space magic also vanishes at the same time. Ok lessoned learned, NEVER EVER let space magic lose control. I rather not lose a piece of me thank you very much, fuck that.

I make sure there is no other affects and that most of the magic was used up or stable enough to be left alone to dissipate. After that I looked around my apartment making sure everything is ok, and I find the other piece of the gem partly inside of bed stand.

You hear right, not on my bed stand, IN IT. Ok well that answers one question, I'm lucky it didn't land in another apartment. I reach out and am able to pull the gem piece out without much effort. It left a hole where it was lodged, guess I'll need to replace this.

I'm so damn lucky I used all the space magic I converted when I unlocked my space affinity, I don't think anything good would have happened if I didn't. I shutter a bit at the thought and decide to try not think about it and move on, I pick up the gem piece and bring it back to my workroom.

Thankfully the remaining gem was enough to keep the shield and magic stored inside stable despite the damage caused to it. I look over the piece and see that the part of the gem that was separated wasn't evenly or smoothly cut, but a mess of sharp points and jagged pieces sticking out at odd angles.

It's a total loss and the gem is beyond fucked, It's lost its ability to hold magic very well and could be potentially be unstable. I'm surprised it's still stable enough to have kept the shield up at all afterwards. I decide to disenchant it's ability to gather magic just to be safe and after a moment also decide to enchant it with the linking spell I made for the Gem Charger and drain the rest of it's magic into other gems.

Once it's completely drained and I remove it's enchantment to hold magic and the link along with the shield, it's now back to a normal gem that is now broken. I leave it be and spend my time recovering my magic before testing anything new, while also still trying to decide on how to train my space magic.

Losing control is not an option, so I need to keep what ever I'm training with close by, but if I do that and things do go wrong I'd be too close to move away in time. I'm also not sure how far over the density threshold I went, I could have just barely passed it or I could have gone far past it, and I'm sure as hell not testing that here again.

After recovering my magic I decide on an idea and grab a small stack of blank paper, I sit on the floor again with the paper and more tea. I take a single piece of paper off of the stack and cut it into smaller pieces before placing a piece in front of me and concentering on my magic.

My idea is simple, the heavier and bigger the object the more space magic and control I'd need to train safely, so I'll start with something very light and small. I reach out with my space magic and try by best to will it to move by manipulating the space around it carefully.

I can only think of two ways to move objects right now. First, I can flex and bend the space to move something through reactions. Second, I could move a chunk of the space around the object, witch in theory should also move the object. The first seems easier and safer to do so I start there, I also try my absolute best to keep full control over my magic at all times.

I try to move the piece of paper up off the floor for a while, I very slowly use more and more space magic until something finally happens. I successfully flex the space just enough at the correct angle and watch as the piece of paper rises into the air in an unsteady and chaotic way.

I try to stabilize it there and keep it steady but as you'd imagine controlling space isn't easy. I practice like this for a while keeping it in the air, and while practicing I pull too hard at a point in space and watch as the piece of paper crumples slightly at that point.

I realize why while staring at the formally pristine piece of paper, I tried to pull on the space too hard and caused a stronger then intended pull, that's why the piece of paper got crumpled up a little. I guess I have another thing I'll have to be careful about.

This entire ability is looking more and more like a death trap, but if I lean to control it well enough who knows what I'll be able to accomplish with it. With some renewed caution and determination I continue practicing trying my best to not damage the paper and keep it in the air.

In between my practice I take breaks to refill my magic and spend that time working on the B.L.P spell witch has seen significant progress. I've been working on it slowly for a little over six months now and it's nearing completion, I'll probably do a little extra work to smooth a few things out but if all goes to well it should be done in a few weeks, two months at the most.

I continue this back and forth for a few hours before deciding to call it a night, I walk over to Entropy who's resting on her perch and whistle up at her. I can't see her eyes so I don't know she's awake until she moves her head from under her wing to look down at me.

"Dinner time." That's all I need to say to get her full attention. She flies down to me and lands on my back while I walk into the kitchen, she jumps off and sits on the counter as I start cooking. It's nothing amazing, some grilled fish with the Red Root for some spice and flavor, along with a small loaf of bread.

It all works well together and both of us enjoy our meals. I'm not fully ready to head to bed yet and Entropy still needs to do her practice so I find the small sapphire I store all of my star maps in and have Entropy take both of us to the forest. I look up to see a sky full of stars and find a decent place to lie down.

Once I do, I activate the small gem to start drawing. I don't have a specific style of way of drawing them I just draw all the different points of light and form lines in between them to create different things. I spend a while like this, staring up at the sea of stars above me.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. : - )

Chapter 91

MAY 18 Monday.

I move another book to the side and open another to continue reading, right now I'm researching different topics. Specifically, I'm reading about different runes and a few spells I'm interested in, and I'm also researching the rune I couldn't identify on the Frost dagger.

I've found a few clues and a few runes that have similar parts and could be related to this one, but I still haven't found it yet. I flip another page and start reading through it. In other news my training with space magic has been, well not a success but also not a failure.

I've been training with only small pieces of paper and I have improved over the past week, but it has been very slow and tedious, even for me. The main problem is simply the magical conversion ratio, I can only practice for an hour at most and that's if I go slower than I need to, to be safe.

Beyond my space magic, I've also been thinking about something else. My plants specifically the Blood Leaf Tea, it's a very important plant to me and by far the plant I use the most. And now I think I've progressed enough to start copying the plant's magical flows.

I haven't been breeding the Blood Leaf Tea because the magical cost to grow many generations of it back to back would be extreme. So I wanted to learn its magical flows first to cut down on the magical cost, but I haven't been learning it because of the complexity, now that I've gotten much more control over my life magic and have gotten better at copying plants' magical flows I should be able to start breeding the Blood Leaf Tea.

My thoughts are interrupted by someone sitting down across from me and waving to get my attention, "Hey." When I look up I'm greeted by Avalon sitting down with a few books of his own and a satchel strapped on him. "It's good to see you again, Shade." He says with a slight smile. He didn't sneak up on me as I saw him moving around out of the corner of my eye but was too distracted to recognize him.

:Well isn't this a pleasant surprise: I return his smile. "It's good to see you to Avalon, how's your self-study going?" His smile grows a little but he doesn't say anything and starts looking through his satchel for a moment before passing me a piece of slightly weathered paper that's ripped on one side.

I take it with my hoof and start looking it over, after a moment I recognize it. This is the same page I ripped out of my book when I first met Avalon on the train, the list of names has around half of them crossed out. "You've read through all of these?" I decided to speak Griffin because I don't often get to.

His smile widens and he nods. "Yes, most city libraries seem to have a few of those books so it's not hard to find a book or two while delivering things." he also switches to Griffin, he doesn't ask why and just keeps speaking. "I did have some questions if you don't mind?" He asks while looking a little hopeful.

"Sure, what do you need help with?" He nods and passes me another piece of paper, it's filled with several math equations and a few spell matrices. "Do you need help with all of this?"

He shakes his head. "No, I've only been able to feel my magic so far not use it, and I'm trying to find a good spell to start practicing with. Those are the best ideas I've found so far." I look through the list again and see that all of the spells are very simple to learn, at least for me.

I recognize several but a few of them are probably more complex than you'd want for a starting spell, but a few of them could work well for this purpose. After looking through them I flip the page over, and I grab both a quill and an ink well out of my saddlebags.

I start drawing a matrix on the back of the piece of paper. This is the matrix for the modified version of the Candle Flame spell I made over two years ago to be more efficient. It's perfect for what he needs and it doesn't contain any knowledge that I can't give away.

It only has one rune, it's safe to cast, and it's easy to control, also I think a convenient source of fire could be useful to him on his deliveries. I give him the matrix, the runic context for the single rune used, and some instructions on how best to cast it, it's all written in Griffin and once I'm done I pass it back to him.

He takes it and starts reading through it, his small smile growing as he reads and that same look of excitement he had on the train reappears. "This is perfect, thanks."

"No problem. By the way, good work on getting so far, not many do." And I mean what I said. From what I know most who try to learn runic casting stop when they see how much math and knowledge is necessary to cast even the most basic spell.

He looks embarrassed and scratches the back of his neck. "I wouldn't say that, it's all just so interesting, and honestly it's fun for me." I can hear the passion for magic in his voice and I'm much the same, magic will never not be interesting and fun to use for me.

"Good, keep that attitude, it will take you a lot further than you'd think. Anything else you've been struggling with?" He nods and starts going over a few things he's needed some small help with. It's mostly just him asking me a question or two while we read through the books we have while just enjoying each other's company.

While we're talking about another subject we are interrupted by a voice to our left. "Uhhh, excuse me?" Apparently, neither of us saw whoever walked up and both turned our heads towards the voice. At the end of the table we're sitting at stands Twilight Velvet looking a little lost.

:Is today just the day people I haven't seen for months come to talk to me?: She has a saddlebag with her, and a very cute-looking Spike sitting on her back. He seems to have grown a little and is looking at the world around him with curious eyes, and honestly, his face is adorable.

Twilight Velvet has a slightly confused expression on her face as she looks at us, It doesn't take much thought for me to realize she's confused about what we were talking about. I switch back to Pony and greet her, "Hello Miss Velvet, I hope you've been doing well?" I greet her with a friendly tone.

We may have both apologized and forgive each other last time but it's still a little awkward for me, I try to not let it show. She greets me with a small smile and returns my friendly tone. "Shade, it's been a while, I'm doing just fine thank you for asking. And like I've told you before, no need for Miss, Velvet is just fine."

Avalon takes out a piece of paper and looks over it for a moment while we're greeting each other and gets my attention, and I look over to him. "Sorry for interrupting, but do either of you know the time?" He asks. I concentrate for a small moment and watch as a spell matrix forms and is cast in a fraction of a second.

The time appears in the air and Avalon looks at the piece of paper again, he doublechecks but then gains a slightly panicked expression. "OH, I'm going to be late! Thanks for the help Shade but I have to go." I just give him and nod as he packs everything away quickly and leaves after a moment with quick steps.

I turn back to Velvet as we watch Avalon leave in a rush, she also looks back to me. "A friend of yours?"

I shake my hoof in a so, so, motion. "Mostly an acquaintance but he's fun to talk with and good company." I do my best to keep a relaxed and friendly attitude.

She moves over to me and lays down where Avalon was. She's about to continue but is interrupted by Spike demanding attention, hearing a baby dragon cry is interesting. She looks over at him and gently shushes him while calming Spike down. "It's ok, I know you're probably hungry and we can eat when we get home." She gently consoles Spike.

She's able to calm him down after a minute, she handles Spike with the skill of an experienced dam who's dealt with more than one foal before. Once she's done she turns back to me, "Sorry about him, we've been out for a while and he's probably just hungry."

"It's fine, and I'd just like to apologize again for what happened last time." I am sincere with my words and I do regret bringing up bad memories after trying to gain her trust. It's not something that bothers me all the time, just something I'd like to fix if I can.

She smiles again and nods. "And I'd like to do the same, it's not proper of me to be so hostile when you couldn't have known." There are a few moments of silence but she breaks it with a more upbeat tone of voice. "How about we agree to move past all that?"

I'm glad she asked because frankly I'm not the best at things like this, I'm a blunt pony, and trying to dance around an issue doesn't work well for me. "That would be nice, although I am curious, did you come just to find me?" I ask.

She shakes her head, "No, I actually wanted to talk to you earlier when me and Twilight normally visit the library, but couldn't find you."

I nod. "Around that time I moved my apprenticeship to a different part of the library, I do book editing and copying now instead of sorting," I say while moving the books Avalon left on the desk into a neat stack to the side.

"Well, regardless it's nice to have this put to rest." Spike decides it's once again time to make his displeasure known to us.

It's also at this point when Velvet once again attends to Spike that I remember I have a few small treats on me I keep for Entropy. "I have a few small things on me if you need to feed him?" I offer while taking out two small bags, one with berries and the other with a few small pieces of meat under the Universal Preservation spell.

Once I realize he might not eat meat yet I awkwardly take the second bag back. She raises a brow at this, asking a silent question. "I have a pet crow and these are normally her treats, that one is filled with juniper berries, and this has some meat in it." I finish carefully.

She reacts with a very slight amount of revulsion, but she seems to be controlling her reaction well. "Right you eat meat, you might be able to help me if you're willing?" She holds no prejudice in her voice, just a very slight amount of hope.

"I don't mind helping if I can, what do you need?"

She actually looks a little embarrassed. "Well, it's less about me and more about Spike, we were told recently that he's old enough to start eating meat and that we should try our best to feed him some." Ok, now it makes some sense.

"Raw or cooked?" I take out another piece of paper and my quill again.

"From what we suspect either is fine, but we were told to cook it just to be safe." I nod and start writing down several things. Several recipes for unseasoned fish, how to tell when fish is properly cooked and safe, and a few ways to tell that the fish you're buying is of good quality.

I look back up to her and ask something else. "Do you remember where to buy meat?" She looks more embarrassed as I did give her the location last time we met. I add that to the list and pass it over to her before taking the second bag back out. I cook the meat I bring around with me just to keep its shelf stable for a little while longer.

I take out a single small piece and move it over to her, "This isn't seasoned and is properly cooked, we could test if he likes it if that's fine with you?" I offered it to her.

She looks at the small cube for a few moments before taking it from me in her horns field, she takes Spike off her back and places him on the table while moving the piece of fish over to him, while also keeping her distance from it. She hesitates before it gets too close and looks back at me, she scrutinizes me for a few moments.

I'm more used to her paranoia. She doesn't really know me and I just offered her adopted foal food that could be dangerous, so I took out another cube and ate it in front of her. A good lesson for anypony, is to never underestimate the paranoia of an overprotective dam, and don't underestimate the lengths they will go to, to keep their foal safe.

She cringes a little at my display but moves the piece of fish over to Spike. He looks at it for a few moments before sniffing around for a moment, he follows his nose to the fish, reaches out with a claw to grab it, and shoves it into his mouth immediately, he chews it down happily.

"Well, he seems to like it," I say while smiling at the adorable face Spike makes after getting what he wants.

She nods and relaxes some, "Thank you, and sorry about the suspicion." She says looking a little apologetic, and from her tone I feel like there's probably a reason why, but I'm not planning on asking why anytime soon.

I wave it off. "I'd have done the same, is there anything else you need help with?"

"Still it's not nice to do that when you've been so nice, and no I was planning to search for recipes and instructions but you've given me everything I need, thank you again. I should get Spike home and it's getting late, have a good day Shade." She answers with a smile.

I smile back. "No problem, also double check for bones if you get a piece of meat you don't recognize." I realized I forgot to add that to the list I gave her, and decided to remind her about it. "Also please tell Twilight and Shining hello for me."

"Gladly. Let's get you home." She says the second part to Spike as he fumbles around with a book cover, she picks him up and walks away leaving me alone again. :Well if nothing else that's resolved: I turn back to the books on the table and check the time.

It's almost dark and Entropy will be annoyed with me as it is, so I pick up all the books and start putting them away before heading home.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

It took longer then I thought it would to color that.

Chapter 92

MAY 30 Saturday.

I gently move a small piece of paper to the left of me while trying my best not to damage it. But at a certain point I use too much force and once again crumple the piece of paper.

Over the past few weeks, the thing I've focused on improving the most is the magical conversion ratio for space magic. And it has improved some with practice, and it's actually improving at a somewhat decent speed. It's not fast improvement but it's enough to keep my continued interest.

While it can be boring, even more so than anything else I've trained with. A good byproduct of all this free time without the magic to practice other things has led to me focusing on the theoretical side of magic, spell matrices, the math for those matrices, and any other subjects I haven't had time for recently.

I stop moving my magic as I run low on magic and watch as the new piece of undamaged paper falls to the ground. I stand up from a desk in my workroom and stretch out my legs. It's still near the beginning of the day and I have something small planned.

My mane and tail have once again grown too long for my liking, so I'm going to spend a little time today getting it cut. I need to take a shower first so I head to my bathroom and start washing myself, after I'm done and dried off I take a moment to look at myself in the mirror.

Over the past two years my appearance has changed some. I'm in much better shape and have a well-built body. I have been and still am growing taller and at this point, I'm as tall as most unicorns and taller than almost all pegasi, I'm not quite at the size of a lot of adult earth ponies but I'm already taller than a few shorter earth ponies. I wonder how much more I'll grow?

Another interesting thing that's changed, and has increasingly become apparent is the thicker fur on my chin. I'm honestly confused why stallions even have this thicker fur patch, it reminds me of a beard, although I haven't seen it grow as much as a human's beard would.

The fur on my chin isn't thick enough to have to trim yet, but I should probably buy some scissors, or maybe just a razor if I can find one. I stop admiring myself and leave the bathroom. I feed Entropy and myself before playing with her for a while after I put on my saddlebags and necklace.

Entropy sees me preparing to leave and just merges into my shadow before I can even ask if she wants to come with me. I shrug and leave to walk through the streets, trying my best to remember where the place that cut my hair last time is located. And when I do find it, my haircut is a boring affair with me sitting down for an hour and staying relatively still.

I have them trim up and cut down my tail a bit to keep it from dragging on the ground and have them cut my mane just long enough to be tied behind my head, which is how I prefer it. Once that's done I decide to spend some time outside today and take the opportunity to buy a few daily necessities I need.

Once I arrive at the markets I start looking through different stalls and do some window shopping while I'm here.

I stop at a stall and buy some potatoes when I smell a sickly sweet scent that fills up my nose and won't leave. It's an odd scent and I feel like I've smelt it before but can't place it with how distracting it is. I turn my head around a few times looking for the source but there are too many ponies to pick out what it could be.

Slightly NSFW begins here.

But I freeze as I feel something else. I feel the skin of my sheath shift slightly as my blood starts to move downwards. I feel adrenalin fill my veins as I start to panic slightly about what's happening. :What the fuck!: I quickly walk over to the side of a stall and try to calm my body down, I don't want to just be hanging my cock out in public.

As I have this thought a few similar things come to mind and realize what's probably happening. I'm hitting puberty. For mares that means heat season and all that comes with it. And for stallions that means having to deal with mares in heat when they are around you.

To explain I'll need to lay out some context, I start trying to distract myself with an internal rant. For ponies being naked is normal, no pony wears anything to cover their privates and it's common to see them. When I first started living in this world it was awkward, to say the least as I wasn't used to it, but after years of being face height or lower with most ponies hips, I stopped being shy or awkward about it and just moved on with life. Basically over time I got completely desensitized to it all.

But puberty is a bitch, and my body has decided it's time for me to care about having foals so it's doing its best to make that known when a mare in heat is around by making the fact I'm old enough to have foals visible to others in the easiest way possible, and I just got a taste of that. As for my specific situation, what I smelt before was most likely a mare in heat and my body did what it knows to do.

And that would have been embarrassing, not bad, just embarrassing. Ponies live their whole lives naked and understand that this happens, so seeing an unfortunate stallion with an erection in public isn't too uncommon a thing. For ponies, it's about the same seriousness as a wardrobe malfunction would be for a human.

Sure it's an embarrassing thing to have happen in public, but it's just embarrassing and won't get you in trouble. Everypony knows it's natural and has seen it enough to be desensitized and not really care about seeing it. But I'm still human in several ways and modesty is one of them, so that situation sounds like a nightmare.

Earlier I stepped into a gap between two stalls and spent a few minutes calming down and getting that damn scent out of my lungs. I take a quick glance in-between my back legs, I can see my sheath and my member's head poking out a little, but that's as far as it got and I can feel my body starting to calm down.

I breathed a sigh of relief, I got lucky and found a quiet place to calm down before my body started really getting excited. I try to keep my wandering thoughts off of anything that could drag my mind to any thoughts that could cause the same reaction. After a while, my body returns to normal and I can finally relax.

:By magic wasn't going through puberty once enough?:

NSFW ends here

Once I'm sure my body has fully calmed down, I leave the gap and try to finish my shopping without that happening again. Once I'm done with buying everything I decide to find a place with fewer ponies and try to relax in an open-air area, plus it's been a while since me and Entropy spent time at the park.

As I walk I let my mind wander to something else, trying in part to forget the embarrassment of what just happened, even if it's likely no other pony even noticed. Over the past two weeks, I've been looking through many different spells and I've found one I'd like to learn, but I'm not sure if I want to.

The spell is called Temporary Pegasus Transformation, or T.P.T for short, and it's a spell I recognize. My memories of the show and its less important events have faded slightly with time, that's why I wrote everything I remembered down as soon as I could, a few years ago. But this spell is one I remember Twilight casting.

The spell falls under the conjuration branch of magic and like all conjuration spells is complex, far more than most spells I know. Nine runes, three larger-than-normal matrix circles, and a lot of math to hold it all together. And this brings me to whether or not I should learn it, on one hoof I really fucking want to.

Why? Because flying sounds both useful and fun as hell. But this spell isn't easy and takes a lot of magic, I think I have enough to cast it, but it would suck to learn that I don't after spending so much time learning it.

And it would take a decent amount of time to learn all the runes and make sure I don't fuck up the casting, it's a body transformation spell so I'll have to be very careful not to fuck up the spell. And it will probably take a few weeks of my spare time to learn fully.

But learning it wouldn't take much magic, just a lot of reading up on the runes, and practice drawing the matrix. I have an abundance of time without much magic available to me, so it would fit my schedule right now. But do I have something more important I could be doing with that time?

I go back and forth a few times as I walk into a restroom near the park, I need to cast the illusion spell on Entropy. This is another spell I've spent some time relearning and after a few seconds, she's all dressed up and ready to be seen in public. She knows how to stay out of trouble so I just let her fly off, while I start walking through the park at a slow pace.

It's a nice day with nice temperatures, a gentle breeze, and ponies having fun. As I walk around I sometimes see Entropy flying in between trees and having her own fun. After a while I stop at a bench and sit down, I don't do much beyond enjoying the view for a while.

Different ponies walk by and do different things, after a while Entropy flies back to me and sits on my head to rest for a bit. But at some point a pony stops to stare at me, not an uncommon thing for most ponies to do, many see Entropy and stare for a moment or two before moving on.

So I ignore it for a few moments, but after nearly a full minute it's getting a little uncomfortable. They are standing in the corner of my eye to the left of me, so I can't really see them. I turn to them, about to ask if they need anything, or to leave me alone, but those words die in my throat. :WHY! Why the fuck does this keep happening? Are parks just cursed for me?:

Standing only a few feet away is a pony I instantly recognize, Fluttershy. She looks younger but it's definitely her, same cutie mark, same hair, same eyes. :For the love of magic, how do I keep running into the cast?: I'm internally panicking a little at this point.

But then I noticed she's not looking at me but at Entropy, and seemed to be ignoring me for the most part. Why is she here? And what do I do? Well, I have no idea about the first, but I think it's best to try and act like normal. I try not to stare at her too long and just speak up, "Can I help you?" I a little loudly as we're a few feet apart, I add a confused face to try and sell it more.

"Epp." She jumps and her eyes snap from Entropy down to my face. She hides half her face behind her mane and shrinks back a little. "s-sorry." Her voice is so quiet that I almost miss it. She's obviously shy, not that I should have expected anything different.

And seeing her like this I can't help but feel sorry she's feeling this shy. I lower my voice some and quiet down, "It's fine, many ponies stare at her and I think she likes all the attention." I say with a calm and quiet tone, trying my best to not startle her again.

She perks up a little at my reassurance and looks back to Entropy. Entropy stares Fluttershy down for a few moments before turning to me and back to her, sometimes even I'm confused about what Entropy is thinking. "She's v-very pretty." her voice is still quiet but I can actually hear it clearly now, but she still seems very shy.

I smile, but before I can thank her Entropy decides she agrees with Fluttershy. "Pretty." Apparently, Entropy liked that word enough to learn it.

"Well, aren't you talkative today?" I take out a few berries and feed her some as a treat. When I turn back to Fluttershy she's much closer and is staring intently at Entropy, she doesn't say anything but her eyes are practically sparkling as she watches Entropy eat.

"That's amazing, does she speak a lot?" Her voice is still quiet but I can hear the excitement in it. But in her excitement, she gets closer to Entropy and is now only a few inches away from me.

I ignore how close she is and answer her. "Sometimes, she mostly talks to demand food from me, but I haven't heard her say that word before." I try to remain calm about being far too close to a future element of harmony than I'd like.

She smiles as I answer her, but before she can start asking more questions a voice interrupts us. "Fluttershy, are you ready to go?" We both turn to see a green-furred stallion with a pink mane standing nearby.

Fluttershy turns back to me and stops, it seems she just realized how close she was to my face. We're now staring at each other only an inch or two apart. I see her face shift and a blush spread on her muzzle, in a second she's backed up a few feet surprisingly fast.

"S-sorry for-r bo-bothering you." She says with a nervous tone and a slight stutter, and clear extreme embarrassment. She looks back to who I presume is her sire before quickly walking over to him.

I watch them leave with only one thought on my mind. :What the fuck just happened?: She sure left in a rush, not that I'm complaining. I'm now thoroughly confused about why she was here, but decided to just take the small blessing that she left so quickly.

I sat there for a moment before deciding to call it a day. This day has been a mess, and I think it's best I just get home before anything else can happen today.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}

Also, NSFW warnings will be added where needed in bold.

Chapter 93

JUN 3 Wednesday.

I watch as a blood-red sprout grows from a pot and starts to rapidly form into a small red bush. Once it's fully grown I leave it be and start on the next blood Leaf Tea bush. I've been spending a little time over the past few weeks to selectively breed the Blood Leaf Tea and progress is as slow as I expected.

I'm still using most of my spare magic to train my space magic so that doesn't help, and the plant itself takes time to test. I don't have a good way to test how much it's improved.

The best method I've come up with is to stop draining my magic at a roughly consistent point, and then timing how long it takes to fill back to full while drinking tea. That combined with the magic needed to grow and harvest the tea means that the Blood Leaf Tea will only see very slow improvements.

But progress is progress, so I'll keep working on it. Once I'm out of magic and the plants are grown I leave them be and rest while doing some other work. After some thought over the past few days, I decided to learn the T.P.T spell, and it's also proving to be slow going.

The spell is complex and requires a decent time investment to learn properly, the first problem I had to get around was the runes used in the spell. The book I found the T.P.T spell in had the context on five of the nine runes but the other four weren't included, so I've had to start tracking them down.

Two of them were in my own rune collection but the last two are unknown to me, so needless to say I'll have to find both of them. Another thing I've learned is that this spell wasn't made to be an enchantment, I'd need to modify it a good amount to use a gem to cast it.

This is because spells can be classed into three categories for enchanting with spells. Non-useable, multi-usable, and usable.

For most basic spells they can be used as a spell and an enchantment interchangeably, these are multi-usable spells because they can be used for both purposes. But more complex spells are different, as a spell gets more complex it also gets more specific with how it needs to be used, the T.P.T spell was made to be cast by a pony on a pony. And it falls into the Non-usable category because of that.

The last category is for spells that can only be used as enchantments and not cast by ponies, although this category is by far the least common. The vast majority of spells fall into Non-usable or multi-usable, making a spell that can only be cast by a gem simply takes away a lot of its usefulness so not many do it.

I could try to enchant the T.P.T spell into a gem regardless, but that's just asking for trouble. It could work, or I could get unlucky and get myself killed. So until I have some time to modify it I'll have to cast it myself.

Another thing I'm thinking about is a way to keep myself safe in case the T.P.T spell fails for whatever reason. I think the best thing to start with is the modified Float spell I made a while ago. It locked down an area and kept things from moving inside it.

And I realized that with some tweaking and work I could basically make a Slow Fall spell. If I have the spell apply to a pony instead of an enchantment and have it only keep things aloft enough to make them very slowly fall then it would negate most falls.

It would take a few hours of work and a good amount of testing but it should be possible. Once my magic is mostly regained I start draining it again by saturating the Blood Leaf Tea leaves enough for their magical effect to develop, after that, I start picking leaves with my field and placing them in numbered jars.

Once that's done I check the time and grab my things to leave, it's time for work. I walk through the busy morning streets, it's a nice day like most and everypony seems to be going about their business. I put on my small badge and walk through several hallways until I reach the right door and walk inside.

Blaz looks over to me for a second and nods before going back to his work. I move my saddlebags to the side and sit down to do the same as him. My work is fairly boring and I spend a lot of time just thinking about problems and ideas I have. A prominent thought for me right now is the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration.

Specifically, I'm trying to think of what I'm going to gift to Celestia, and so far the best idea I've had is to make something from the Solar Vine. But the plant is not that useful, the things I could make out of it are limited. The wood is soft and easy to bend but not that durable or strong.

And while I can make tea from the buds, I've made it before and it's not the best tasting. So that leaves me with only a few options on what I could make. I keep thinking about it while working and don't come up with anything good by the time it's lunch, I'm so focused on my thoughts that I don't even realize.

But Blaz does and he gets my attention. "Lunchtime Colt." I hear him and turn around to look at him, I give him a nod and finish up what I need to. We both silently walk into the breakroom and join Daisy, and Maple at a table. I don't have anything to really talk about so I stay silent as Daisy asks Blaz something, "So what are you doing for the Summer Sun Celebration?"

"I don't have anything planned, why?" He asks back.

Daisy turns to me and Maple who are sitting opposite of Daisy and Blaz, and gets our attention before continuing. "Well, it will be announced tomorrow so no harm in telling you right now. The library normally only closes for a single day on the Summer Sun Celebration, but we found some damage on a support beam and it needs to be fixed soon."

As she talks we all start paying more attention, including a few other ponies sitting around us. Seems she intends for this to spread around, it's probably not very serious news if she's willing to do that.

"That would only take a few days. The Summer Sun Celebration is on the twenty-first, that's a Sunday. So we'll be getting not only the weekend off but also Monday as well so they can fix it." She says all of this louder than she needs to for us to hear her, and it's now blatantly obvious she's deliberately trying to be overheard by the other ponies, who are all happy at the news.

She quiets down after that and keeps speaking. "And I'm planning to visit a friend who lives near Canterlot. I'll be leaving on the twentieth and staying a day there before coming back on the twenty-third. So do any of you want to take a trip?" She looks at all of us with a hopeful face, "Come on it'll be fun, and a nice break from work."

We all go silent for a moment, all thinking about how to answer. Blaz is the first to answer, "Sure, I got nothing better to do and you're right it'd be a nice break." Daisy gives him a beaming smile before turning to me and Maple. After a little while Maple nods, and Daisy turns to me.

It would be a nice break from work, and some quiet time outside of the city also sounds nice. "Where are we going?" I ask curiously.

"Nope, I can't lose the opportunity to hold this over you, and surprise you." She says in a joking tone, while keeping her large smile.

I give her a deadpan stare, "Seriously?" She gives me a happy smile and nods. Daisy likes to mess with me sometimes and the best way she's found to do that is to surprise me, or to keep something innocent from me just to annoy me. I gave it some more thought and decided to agree, it'd be nice and I could spend some time relaxing with friends and having fun.

And I'd be a bad friend if I didn't let her have a little fun messing with me. "Fine I'm in, but at least tell me what I need to pack for this trip." I get a smile and a happy laugh.

"We'll be staying with an old friend so you won't need to bring much beyond the normal. And thanks for coming Shade, I promise it'll be fun and you'll like where we're going." I smile back at Daisy and nod again. After that, we get back to work.

A few hours later I'm free for the rest of the day, free to get my flank kicked. Stone is as rough as always and spends our two hours together beating me into shape. But I also once again get to try and form a combat style, I've made a little progress but it's not easy to improve without instructions.

By the time I'm finally home I take a nice warm shower and spend some time working on the Slow Fall spell I thought about earlier. The Stasis spell is a good base to work from and all I really need to change is the spell's power, effect, and area of effect. And for all that I need some testing.

I start with the spell and take a few unneeded things out, once that's done I add what I'll need. I add a rune for weight, this rune is used to tell the spell how heavy what it's slowing down is. I want the spell to negate my weight just enough to make me fall slowly.

I add another rune for Pony so the spell knows to target me and then I just have to add all the math. It's not a complex spell so it only takes me two hours to finish it. I still have work tomorrow but I should have enough time to test the spell in a few ways.

I draw out the relatively simple spell and feel the world around me shift slightly, I feel lighter than before. I gently test it by bending my legs and trying to jump up very slightly, and as my hooves leave the ground I fall back down faster than I probably should.

I tested it several more times but its effect was too weak, so I modified the weight negation a little and tried again. I repeat the same test, only this time I go far too high. My head bumps against the ceiling and I start rolling around in the air flailing my limbs trying to grab something.

Eventually, I just stop moving and very, very, slowly float down to the floor. Ok lesson learned, don't nullify too much weight. I rub my head where I hit the ceiling, I hit it surprisingly hard even though I was moving so slowly. I think about that for a moment before realizing why.

I've been thinking about it wrong, the spell doesn't remove or nullify my weight, it only counteracts the effects of gravity on my body by pushing back with a similar amount of force. So even though I'm floating like I would in low gravity I still have the same mass. So when I bump into something I still hit it with the same force and mass.

I'll have to make sure not to hit anything else then. I once again modify the spell and test it, while also keeping something nearby to grab onto if I need it. This time I'm closer to what I want but it's still not right. After a few more tests I decided to leave the rest for another day and go find Entropy.

She's waiting for dinner in the main room, I call her over and have her take us through the void like we normally do. Her ability to teleport is still growing, we're up to twelve teleportation's twice a day to keep her magic drained, but her improvement has started to level off again.

It's just not a far enough distance anymore, maybe I can find somewhere when I go on that trip Daisy's planning? I guess it depends on where we're going. I let those thoughts leave my head as I feel and see the cold embrace of the void once again.

This place is always so odd, it always feels comfortable and peaceful in some way. Many would probably find it disturbing or scary, and maybe it's because I've died, but this place is always a little relaxing. It's like all the problems of the world just melt away for the small moment I'm here.

I've thought about experimenting with this place more, maybe seeing if Entropy can keep us here. But I never do, this place is almost completely unknown to me and I don't know what could happen to us if I do. Even if my curiosity is killing me.

After Entropy's training, I spend some time cooking dinner for us and checking on my plants before bed.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}

PS, anyone know about a half decent map of Equestira? Or Equis?

Chapter 94

JUN 13 Saturday.

I stand up from my desk and start sorting the pile of papers, this pile of papers is the final report I'll be making on the B.L.P spell. That's right, after a little less than seven months I'm finally done with the spell.

With all the extra free time from practicing with space magic, I was able to finish the spell faster than I expected. I even had enough time to work out a few other problems and streamline the spell a decent amount. I probably could improve it further but that would take more time than it's worth.

Beyond the B.L.P spell, I've also finished the Slow Fall spell and realized it could be useful for other things. I can use it to keep myself safe and other ponies could do the same, but I realized the spell might be too good. The spell has so many potential uses that it could end up changing too much.

Unlike a lot of the other spells I've released this spell has a very wide range of applications. From construction to cleaning, and every other type of work that requires being high up. All ponies working these jobs could use a better way to keep themselves safe from high falls.

And that leaves me in a bit of a bind, on one hoof I want to keep ponies safe and make Equestria better, but on the other hoof I'm afraid this spell could cause too much of an impact. So after a few days of thought, I decided to pick an in-between option, I thought this might make me feel a little better about not releasing the full spell. So I handicapped the spell and will release that to help others.

I've modified the spell to only work as an enchantment, and I've vastly weakened the effect. I plan to give it to Celestia as a way to keep young pegasi safe when they start learning how to fly. The spell's now only strong enough to lift young ponies and it won't work for adults.

But I still don't feel the best about this, lessening one of my creations is just something I don't enjoy. Thinking about all the ponies the original spell could help makes me hesitate, can I really do this? In a way I'd be endangering ponies through my inaction, but if that can save more lives down the line by the full spell not being known, is it worth it?

This spell could save many lives, but those lives will change the world even more. Then again all my inventions also do just that, keeping many ponies alive who might otherwise be dead. Honestly, these thoughts are not only about this specific spell and also just about the things I've been making in general.

If I affect the timeline too much it could kill far more ponies than I'd ever save with this spell. But is that really a choice I have the right to make? As I'm compiling the papers my mind keeps treading over the same ground, again and again I think in circles.

I know I've most likely changed a lot already, but it's starting to dawn on me just how much of the future I've probably changed so far. And making me wonder if I should keep changing things more, I'm getting stuck in the worry over what could be.

I gather all the things I'll need and take only the lesser Slow Fall spell with me, deciding to leave the original be for now, Entropy melds into my shadow and we leave my apartment. Today I'm once again meeting Celestia, maybe I should ask her about this? Not the full truth as to why I'm feeling this way, but at least something similar to get her perspective.

I've come to value her knowledge and experience, and it's nice just having somepony look over what I'm doing from time to time. I go through the same song and dance with the guards again, and I end up in the gardens again. This is a different spot that doesn't overlook the gardens and is more secluded.

I don't bow to her and just walk over, and for a second I see her face shift to something more comforting. I'm confused and let it show on my face, and then I remember that the only other time I didn't bow to her I was in a bad place. I quickly try to correct my fuck up. "I'm fine, I just felt like I didn't need to bow anymore."

I see her face shift again, she visibly relaxes and smiles. "Good, I rather you not have that ever happen again. On the same topic, have you been well?" Her tone has a little relief and plenty of kindness.

"I'm doing well enough but before we talk about that, Entropy," I call Entropy from my shadow, she emerges and looks at me expectantly. I nod at her, and a moment later she's gone is a flourish of shadowy wisps. While she's gone I take out a small bag from my saddlebags, this bag has some fish and berries for Entropy when she returns.

A minute later Entropy returns with what I wanted her to bring. Over the past two weeks, I've been thinking about what to give to Celestia and decided on something interesting to look at, but not too hard to make. Over the span of a few days, I've been carefully growing two plants for her.

I started with what I've come to call Full Moon Glow, this is a strain of Moon Glow plant that has both glowing flowers and leaves. I grew the Full Moon Glow in the center of a foot-wide pot. Next, I took the strain of improved Solar Vine that can gather, hold, and release more solar magic.

I kept the Full Moon Glow relatively small and grew the Solar Vine into a criss cross lattice on the floor of the pot's soil and over the edge of the pot to partly cover the sides. I also left a circular area around the base that's clear, so the Full Moon Glow has proper room.

The last thing I added was two small gems, a ruby, and a sapphire. They keep two environmental spells around both plants, letting them have an optimal environment to live in. The environment spell for the Full Moon Glow also blocks the Solar Vine from growing through it, giving the plant roots space and keeping the small inner area clear.

All of this creates an odd plant terrarium, a plant for the day, and one for the night. When Celestia starts looking over the plants I see her face light up. I pass over a packet that has instructions and information on how to take care of both plants and some spare seeds, and also what the enchantments do.

She takes it from me and reads through it for a few moments. "I hope you like it, I thought it'd be a nice gift," I say with a little hope.

I get a large smile and a look of excitement in return, "It's amazing, I've never seen anything like it. Thank you, Shade." I can hear the excitement in her voice as she moves the pot over to her and starts looking through the plants in more detail. It's nice to see her so happy.

"It seems your abilities with plant magic have definitely improved." She compliments while moving the pot around a few times and looking over the plants and their respective glows. Both have enough magic to glow for a while and should be able to live for a long time.

"I'm glad you like it. That packet also has seeds for both plants, just in case they end up dying. But that's not all I have for you. Although, this one might just be more work for you." I pass her both the finished B.L.P spell and the new spell I made. Her smile just gets bigger as she reads through the papers.

As she reads my smile slowly grows, I don't think I've ever seen her this excited before. It's a nice feeling to know I inspired such excitement and happiness. And as she reads her excitement only grows.

At this point she's like a foal on their birthday, not hiding her excitement at all. She turns back to me, clearly very happy with how her day is going, "You never cease to amaze me, this is all very well done." She says while putting everything to the side. "Maybe I should give you a raise." She jokes lightly.

"What would I even do with more bits? I could have retired last year." I joke back. "And I'm about to get paid a good amount from one of those spells alone." I smile at her small chuckle and decide to move on to the next topic. "Any mail for me?"

"No, seems most have given up, but with two new spells being made at once, and with how you've finished the B.L.P spell half a year ahead of schedule I expect more to start coming in short order." I smile at the first piece of news but groan as she continues talking.

"Not again, well at least there is none for today, thank magic for small miracles." I try to console myself, and after that, I change the subject again to something a little less light-hearted. Showing a more calm face I say, "I have something I'd like to talk about, anything we need to go over first?" I ask bluntly while keeping my relatively relaxed tone.

"I also have something to talk about but it might take longer, so how about we start with you?" She asks with a similar calm and a happy attitude.

I'm curious but nod my agreement. I try to think of the best way to explain my thoughts before I continue, as I'm thinking in silence, I can see Celestia looking over her new plants with a smile and reading some of the things I gave her.

"I understand the things I make very well, I did make them after all. I know the good they can do, but also the bad they could cause. And that's been worrying me, I'm starting to question if I should even make some of my ideas because of what they could be used for. I guess I'm just feeling uncertain about it all" She stopped reading when I started speaking again, and by the time I was done, she was paying full attention to me.

After a moment of silence she speaks. "That's not an unreasonable concern, many have and will misuse newly made inventions. But I think you're once again forgetting something." I perk up a little at this, my ears rising slightly. "You are not alone, and others can also help. Sure many could misuse what you make, but many more will try to stop them."

I remember Celestia telling me this before, but is that really enough? I start thinking about her words, and seeing my conflicted expression she continues. "A good way to think about it is like this, what stops you from misusing the spells you make?"

I think about that for a few moments before realizing where she's going with this. "The law, I could do it but there would be consequences and I would eventually be stopped." She nods.

"Exactly, many will always misuse things. But that's why we have laws, and why new laws are made." I stay silent and think over her words further. I know she's right, but this isn't about laws. Or is it? Equestria has stood strong in the face of many disasters.

And that goes beyond just villains, many natural disasters and plagues. Through wars with neighboring countries and political mess after political mess. A lot of that does come down to Celestia, but even more of it is just ponies doing their jobs and living their lives, helping to keep their little corner of the world turning.

As I'm thinking over her words I feel tiny droplets of water start to hit me, I look up to see some light rainfall, and what looks like more rain coming soon. "Hmm, seems the weather ponies decided to add a little rain today, how about we head inside?" She asks while standing up and grabbing her things.

I nod and do the same, Entropy merges back into my shadow as we start walking out of the gardens. Not long after several guards appear and start following us. The rain starts to increase as we walk and we make it inside right before it really starts to pour down. We walk through the winding hallways of the palace, and after many turns, and a few flights of stairs we arrive at a doorway.

I follow her inside as the guards take up posts outside the room. Inside I'm a little surprised to see a large office, several filled bookshelves on one side, and a large couch on the other. And on the far wall is a large window and a large desk, it's filled with papers and nick-nacks.

And something I recognize, the magic quill I gave her is sitting on one side of her desk. It brings me a small feeling of pride when I see that she's been using it. Once I've looked around the room I refocus on Celestia. As she walks over to her desk she sets the plant I gave her right on top of it in a clear spot.

She turns it a little and smiles at its new place, before moving behind the desk and looking back to me. "Please make yourself at home." She says with the same smile. I'm a little awkward but decided to just try and relax, after looking around a bit I just jumped on the couch.

After a little silence, I decided to ask something in an attempt to make myself a little more comfortable. "Why a couch?" It's not the best question, but I am curious about it.

She turns from placing the papers I gave her in different areas. "Why not? It's comfortable and great for naps." She says with a seemingly serious tone.

I look at her for a moment trying to tell if she's messing with me or not, but I stop after a few moments, trying to read Celestia is an exercise in futility. I sink into the plush cushions of the couch and start to relax, after a few minutes Celestia walks back over to the couch and sits on the other side.

I speak first, "So you had something to talk about?" She nods and also relaxes on the couch, now that I think about it I don't think I've seen her this casual before. She's certainly been relaxed before but this is somehow different, I'm just not sure why.

"Before that, are you still feeling uncertain about your work?" I let my mind wander back to those thoughts as Celestia starts filling some teacups.

Do I? Yes, I'm still concerned. Not for the reasons she expects but I'm still not sure if I should start releasing even more impactful spells and inventions. Yes, it could help, but it could also make everything worse. I find myself falling into that same trap of trying to decide on one or the other.

As I'm thinking Entropy decides to leave my shadow and move over to Celestia, Entropy stands right in front of her on the couch and then lowers her head. She starts chirping and demanding scratches from her, and Celestia is happy to give Entropy what she wants.

After a minute or two I'm not much closer to an answer, so I decide to make that my answer. "Yes, I'm still uncertain. I think I need time to think this through, I'm not sure if that will really help, but I'm at a bit of a dead-end right now." I admit, and I think that is my best option.

She nods. "That's fine, it's always a good idea to take your time with things like this." I nod my agreement and take a cup of tea offered to me. "As for what I wanted to talk about, well, I'll start with a question. And I'd like you to be honest, do you consider me a friend?" Her voice is calm and steady with no judgment in it.

I turn to look up at her, surprised at her question. I don't answer immediately, instead, I once again go silent and think it over. I certainly respect Celestia, and I value her opinion quite a lot. I've gotten to know her personality fairly well, but not as much as my other friends. And she knows me pretty well from how much we've talked.

She's always treated me like an equal even though I'm young. She also doesn't treat me like an idiot, and I appreciate that. She's never disregarded my words and always listens to me. But I also don't know that much about her, I know a few things but not enough to really know her.

After more thought, I came to an answer. "Yes, but not a close friend. To be blunt, I don't know a lot about you." Despite her reassurances I try to be careful with my words, trying to not offend her. Celestia doesn't seem offended at all and just nods in agreement.

"It's good to know I'm considered a friend, and I also consider you a friend." I smile at that. "But you're right and that makes me somewhat of a bad friend." I think about interrupting but stop myself when she continues.

"I know a lot about you, and your life. But you know less about me and mine, and I'd like to fix that." I'm a little shocked at her words and am stunned for a moment.

After regaining my composure I answer. I smile up at her, "That sounds wonderful, and I'm happy you also consider me a friend."

She smiles back, "Then where would you like to start?"

I think about all the questions I've never asked but always wanted to. And decide on one that might be a bit much to start with, "I have one question I've wondered about for a while and I feel like I should at least ask. But it's a bit heavy to start off with, and probably a little too personal."

She waves a hoof. "That's fine, you've been very personal with me and I don't mind doing the same."

"OK, but don't answer if you don't want to." After a calming breath, I just force myself to ask. "Are you doing ok?"

She gives me an odd and confused look. "Why wouldn't I be?" She asks, confused.

"Let me phrase that differently. Are you doing ok mentally? Do you have somepony to talk to about your mental health?" I show some concern on my face trying to not hide how I feel about her potential mental state. She's lived a long time and that weighs on any mind.

She sees my concern and shows a comforting face in return. "Yes, I'm ok. And also yes, I don't see them too often but I do talk to trained ponies about my troubles, and receive professional help." She answers in a reassuring tone.

I breathed out a breath I was holding in. "Good. Sorry if that was too much at the start, but it's always bothered me a little."

"It's fine, I appreciate the concern you show for me. Although I am curious why that bothered you?" She asks back.

"You're very old, and I know what it's like to hold things in. To be honest I can't imagine living that long and still being ok." I answer bluntly.

She doesn't look too surprised and just nods. "Many think the same, every decade I have a new pony asking after my health. And that's a good thing, even I need a reminder every once in a while. What's next?" I'm not sure if she's really fully answered me, but decided to drop the subject.

"Well, another thing I've wondered is what your birthday is."

She laughs a bit at that, "That's one of the more common questions. And to be honest I'm not really sure" I raise a brow and she continues. "When I was born not many knew how to read let alone tell the date. I do know it's near mid-spring, so I've just taken June twenty-first as my birthday."

That sparks another thought in my mind. "That makes me wonder. What came first, your birthday or the Summer Sun Celebration?"

She just smiles and nods, "In a way, both are now one in the same, when I started saying when my birthday was many ponies sent me gifts, and would continue to do so over the years. And over time the festivals held on the longest day of the year merged with celebrations for me."

That's odd but makes some sense now that I think about it. "Even later most forgot that my birthday was involved, they just saw it as a day to celebrate me, Equestria, the crown, and the sun. Eventually, it all just sort of mixed together into what it is now. Keep in mind I'm leaving out a lot of things in between all of this happening."

"Ha, that's not what I expected. Also Happy birthday." She smiles and I go silent for a little while, trying to think of more questions to ask. But before I can ask her something again we are interrupted by a knock on the door. After Celestia opens it I see a mare with a clipboard and several stakes of papers walk inside.

She sees us both and bows to Celestia. "Sorry for interrupting your meeting princess, but I have those reports you wanted and your meeting was scheduled to be over a few minutes ago." Her tone is nothing but respectful and professional.

"Thank you, Miss Clover." She turns back to me. "Sorry, but we'll have to continue this next time."

I wave her off. "It's fine, have a good day Celestia, and Thank you for trying to be a good friend. I hope you enjoy your gifts."

"Shade, It's my pleasure. Have a good day, thank you again for the lovely gifts, I couldn't be happier with them." After that goodbye, I walk out of the room as Clover starts talking with Celestia. I don't listen in, it's best not to get involved with things like that. After I leave the room a guard is waiting for me and leads me outside the palace like normal.

As I walk home through the streets of Canterlot my mind thinks about what just happened. I still am uncertain about my choices, but I'm very happy I've started to get to know Celestia more, and I find myself looking forward to our next meeting. I start to whistle a tune as I walk home, while my shadow whistles along with me to the same tune.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

Chapter 95

JUN 19 Friday.

I watch once again as I mess up another rune in the matrix, I sigh and let go of the magic watching as the matrix dissolves into nothing. Once it's gone I start again and carefully draw out the three runic circles. It's the end of the workday, and I got home only an hour ago.

I've been learning the T.P.T spell for a few weeks now and I've basically finished learning it. But I still make small mistakes occasionally when trying to draw it from memory alone, and with a spell like this I can't afford mistakes or accidents. I've also done more research into the spell while learning it.

It took me a week to find the last two runes I needed, so while searching for them and learning the spell I started looking for more information on the spell. Things like how long the spell will last, and the answer to that mainly depend on a few factors. How big is the pony it's being cast on? How much magic was used to cast the spell? Along with several other small factors.

I'll need to test how long the spell will last on me and also learn how to actually fly, but after that I should be good to go. I have no idea who I'll get to train me but it shouldn't be too hard to hire a pony, or maybe I could ask somepony I know? But who? Blaz?

My friends know I'm pretty good at runic magic, and spells in general. But they'd definitely be surprised that I learned this spell, I could just lie to make it more believable and tell them I've been working on it for longer than I truly have. I could also say I've been really focused on learning it for a few weeks now, a half lie.

Now that I'm thinking about it I could probably start showing my talent a little more around them and just in general. In the past I didn't because it would look suspicious with my background and young age, but I've aged up some and have spent a lot of time around smart ponies in a library.

I don't think I really need to hide it as much anymore, but I don't think I should show my talent for making spells anytime soon. Casting a complex spell is just a time investment, making a complex spell is much more than just time. And if I did show them my talent and this spell I could get Blaz to teach me.

It'd be a lot more fun with him than a pony I don't even know. And Celestia's words from last time are still rolling around in my head, I'm not alone. I need to hide many things about my life, but I'm not sure I need to hide this part as much anymore. I find myself going back and forth a bit before stopping my train of thought.

I try and think of a reason I shouldn't show what I'm capable of more, but don't come up with much. I decided to just focus on the spell matrix in front of me and think about it more. I finish another attempt and start looking the matrix over, I'm pretty sure it's correct.

I flip over a piece of paper I kept face down next to me, I look back at the matrix to compare it to a copy I have on the piece of paper. I double-check again, and another time just to be sure.

Once I am sure everything is correct I cast the Temporis spell and quickly note the time, before casting the spell on myself. The matrix flashes as a lot of my magic is drained and the spell starts to take effect, I brace at the odd feeling that overcomes my body.

I turn my head to see the green magic start to form out of my back quickly, a few seconds later it fully extends from my back and starts to become more detailed. They shift from rough wing shapes and start to form feathers and proper structures, then the color shifts to be the same as my coat.

It's an odd feeling as it forms and I start feeling the weight on my back, then I feel the touch of the wings on the sides of my body. It takes around thirty seconds for the larger-than-normal wings to fully form and for the magic to settle, once they are fully formed I experimentally try to move them.

I watch and feel the wings twitch a bit and fall to the floor, it's now in an apparently uncomfortable position. I slowly start flexing different muscles trying my best to control them. As you'd imagine, trying to control two new limbs isn't easy to do, so needless to say I mostly just flop my wings around.

After several minutes I only figured out how to contract the bottom half of the wings to my back using some new muscles. After that, I just try to fully fold them, but bending the wings right is hard and takes me half an hour. Once they are properly folded, at least as far as I can tell, I stand up off the floor and try to keep them folded in place as I walk around.

As I do this Entropy wakes from her nap and looks over to me walking around, only to loudly caw and fly right at me. She lands on my back a little hard and starts looking over my wings while jumping around on my back. Every time I move too much she smacks me with a wing and makes me stay still.

So I just stand still and let her inspect the wings. After a minute she stopped looking at them and started using her beak to straighten out several feathers that had moved out of their proper position while I was moving them. I watch as she does this and try my best to remember how the feathers are supposed to fit together. Once she's done with her work she jumps off of me and looks very proud of herself.

"Thank you, girl." I fed her some berries, she taught for once and that deserves a treat. After that, I start walking around while trying to keep the wings on my back folded as best I can. Keeping them stable and not moving the wrong muscles proves difficult.

I go about my normal activities while getting used to the wings and trying my best to keep them controlled. At some point I feel the same odd sensation and look back to see the wings dissolving into tiny particles of light before disappearing entirely.

I checked the time, it's been just under two hours since I cast the spell. That's not a bad amount of time considering my size and that I didn't overpower the spell, so it can probably last even longer if I did overpower the spell. I find a blank notebook and start writing down everything I've learned about the spell so far.

As I write I let my mind wander to something that keeps bothering me. I've always been concerned about what I've done to the future. And as I've thought about it I've realized more and more just how much things have changed because of me.

When I think of the large events of the show a few big things are time-based, by that I mean things like Nightmare Moon's awakening, and Discord waking up. The likelihood of me changing these events from happening at all is basically zero, the only thing I might be able to change is the outcome.

Honestly, the event I'm most concerned about is the main six coming together and forming the Elements Of Harmony, if that doesn't happen then it would change a lot. But most of the smaller things and even a lot of the villains are likely to change because of me.

And yet I still fear changing those smaller things deliberately. This world was already different from the show when I first arrived, and now it's also got me and all that I've done in it. If things are already so different why do I still hold myself back? Why not change more?

I'm trying to find the solution to this question, a solution that will put these fears of my actions to rest, that will let me live my life unimpeded and change the world around me. But I'm starting to wonder if there even is a solution like that. I'm trying to pick in-between doing little to help others in the hopes it could potentially save many lives, and doing a lot to help others while hoping it doesn't kill us all.

I stop my thoughts for a moment and just sit there, I'm tired of not being able to choose, I'm tired of thinking about this so much. So after a little while of me just staring at a wall, I do what has helped me come to a decision in the past, write everything down and think it through fully. Something about writing things out lets me take a step back and really look at what I'm thinking.

I flip several pages and start by playing out the two choices I want to pick from. I have two options, do as little as possible and do as much as possible. Let's say I do everything I can to help others right now, then things could go horribly wrong or amazingly well. And on the opposite side, let's say I do as little as possible to change the timeline from now on, then things could go horribly wrong or amazingly well.

As I write this out I realize that in the end both result in the same thing. The future has already changed so much that my foreknowledge is looking less and less useful. I can either accept that things have changed and prepare the best I can, or bury my head in the sand and hope for the best.

After writing this all out I force myself to choose one of those options instead of thinking in more circles, treading over this again won't help me, I need to make a choice. I remember doing this once before and picking the in-between option, but considering I'm here again that clearly didn't work for me. I stare at the window for a while as I war with myself.

And eventually, I make my choice, I won't, no I won't let myself ignore the second chance at life I've been given. I can't just ignore the world, I can't run from the fact that I've already changed so much. So the only rational thing left to do is accept it and try my best.

So after steeling my nerves, I start writing a letter for Entropy to send to Celestia, it will contain the full Slow Fall spell. I'm still scared about what going all in will do to the future, and I think it will take time to get out of this mindset that I've kept myself in for years now. But that fear of changing things isn't going to work anymore and it will only drag me and others down.

I won't mess with big canon things unless it's needed to prevent what's coming. But everything else is now on the table, anything that I can do to help is what I should do. I check the time and decide to get some sleep after sending Entropy off with the letter.

I have no idea what will happen now, and I think that's ok, I just need to convince myself it is.

JUN 20 Saturday.

I Place my sketchbook into my saddlebags and close the pocket I placed it in. I'm packing for the trip Daisy invited me on, and I'm starting to get excited about it. I place a bag of berries in another pocket and start looking for my magic light, I find it and add it to the growing list of things I'm taking with me.

The thoughts of last night still roll around in my mind, but seeing friends should help me calm down about my new choice. And I'm hoping to not think about all this for a little, I don't want to ignore it, just focus on something else for a while.

Entropy lands on my back and chirps at me, I turn to her as she looks over at the window. "Ya, we should get going." I finish packing and cast an illusion spell on Entropy before we leave my apartment. I walk through the very busy streets and make my way to a crowded train station in the morning.

Daisy told us to meet her here at seven in the morning, I'm still a little early so I just found a place off to the side to sit down and read a little to pass the time. After a while I see Daisy and Maple push their way through the crowd and walk over to me. "Hello you two, excited?" I ask when they sit down to wait with me.

Daisy smiles and nods, "By Celestia yes, I get to meet an old friend and spend time with my new ones at the same time." I can hear the excitement in her voice, I look over and see Maple silently nod in agreement. "Blaz should be here soon, and our train arrives at eight.” Daisy says.

I nod and go back to my book while Daisy and Maple talk to each other, I glance at them and see that both of them brought their own bags or saddlebags to carry their things. Another part of my brain likes the way they look, I ignore that part. A little while later Blaz showed up and sat down next to us, after a little more waiting our train arrived. "That's the one, come on," Daisy says while grabbing the bag she brought with her.

We all get to experience the joy of watching Daisy wait in line to get our tickets checked. None of us say much as we walk through the very busy crowds and board the train, and after we find a compartment we all settle in. "Thanks again for coming, I promise to make it fun for all of us," Daisy says with a smile as we all sit down and start to relax.

I nod. "Thanks for inviting us. And I promise to have fun, even if I need to fake it a little." I Joke as I feel the train start to shift under me. Daisy rolls her eyes at me and Blaz just laughs a little while taking out his own book to read, a thought strikes me and I ask something else. "Oh ya, I forgot to ask earlier, but will you finally tell us where we are going?" Daisy's been teasing me for two weeks now and I'm very curious at this point.

She smiles. "Fine I'll tell, we'll be visiting the pony that held my job before me. She's old now and decided to leave her busy job in the city to me and head somewhere quiet for her retirement. She works at the Golden Oak Library in Ponyville now, that's where we're heading and where we'll be staying for our trip." She says with a smile as she also takes out a book to read.

I just stop as she says that, not fully realizing what I just heard, but after a second it clicks right as the train leaves the station. :WHAT!!!:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]

Also I had some stuff happen and wrote this without much sleep, so sorry if there are more errors then normal.

Chapter 96

JUN 20 Saturday.

The first thing I feel is a nearly overwhelming sense of panic, but I'm not alone and can't afford to show what I'm feeling right now, so I slam that panic to the back of my mind and try my absolute best to show no outward reaction. Instead, I retreat into my mind to try and calm down and frantically think of a solution.

:WHY? HOW? FUCK!!: Calming down proves to be difficult, and I spend a few minutes zoning out and screaming internally. After a lot of cursing and continued panic, I get some form of control over my thoughts. I need to think through this and I need to find out what I'm going to do about it.

This train is already moving so I have no way off, or any way to excuse me wanting to leave after being so excited to go with my friends. I try to think of any other way I could prevent myself from staying on this train but come up with nothing that wouldn't raise more questions that I don't want to answer.

And that means I'm going to Ponyville whether I want to or not, and if I'm going there I need some form of a plan. I'm heading to the last place I want to be and I'll need to be exceedingly careful with how I act and what I do. First things first I need to figure out what I'm dealing with.

Who will be there? Well, Applejack will definitely be there as I'm pretty sure she's living there now. Twilight is still in school so she's out. I remember seeing who I'm pretty sure was Fluttershy's sire, and she's not an adult yet, so it's likely she's not living in Ponyville yet. Rarity is a complete unknown and I'll need to keep an eye out for her.

Rainbow Dash is also an unknown that could be here, the same goes for Pinkie Pie. So that leaves two accounted for and four unknowns, not the best situation. Avoiding Apple Jack shouldn't be too hard as she lives mostly on her family farm, and even if I see her I can just avoid any interaction.

As I'm thinking about possible situations somepony waves a hoof in front of my face. "Shade? You in there?" I turn my head from the window view to Daisy as she tries to get my attention.

I think fast and make up a half-lie. "Ya, just thinking about something I've been working on." I panicked a little as I was still not fully calmed down and brought up the first thing that came to mind, the T.P.T spell I was working on yesterday.

"Oh sorry if I interrupted your thoughts, I was just checking. What are you working on?" She asks curiously as Maple also starts looking at me, I take a second to look around the compartment. Blaz is still reading his book across from me, Daisy is sitting next to me and seems to have put her book to the side, and Maple is across from Daisy doing seemingly nothing.

And Entropy, under her disguise, is just sleeping on the rack above us. I again panic a little realizing what I just told her, but calm down about it a little a moment later. I did decide to show them this, and right now seems like as good a time as any, and it would give me something to do to distract myself and help me relax.

"Well I've been learning a complex spell for a few weeks, and I succeeded in casting it recently," I say with a little pride in my tone, it's not often I get to show off my training.

Daisy and Maple both looked a little intrigued now, and Blaz who seems to have been listening in lowers his book and also gives me his attention. Seeing them all looking at me I decided to just show them instead of explaining everything. "Move your legs," I ask while moving off the cushioned bench.

They all do as asked and move their limbs out of the way, I fold up the small fold-down table in between us, I lay down on the floor and start drawing out the spells matrix. I start with the three large runic rings and then work my way out from the center.

At first, I have my friend's interest but as I start forming the spell their curiosity turns to milled shock. They are all ponies decently well versed in spells and spell casting, they know the spell I'm casting is more complex than most my age would normally cast, the fact I'm drawing it from memory is just the cherry on top.

It takes me three full minutes, with me going extra slow just to make sure I don't mess anything up. When it's done I take an extra minute to check everything over, nopony says anything as I work, they know it's best not to interrupt somepony while casting a spell. Once I'm sure it's correct I push my magic into it and cast the spell.

The matrix flashes and I get the same odd feeling as the magic starts to take form. I hear a small excited gasp from Daisy, I ignore it to watch the wings form and make sure nothing goes wrong. After a short time, they are fully formed and I look back to my friends.

Daisy has a massive smile and looks excited, Blaz looks a little shocked but recovers quickly and just starts laughing. Even Maple looks a little shocked at my display, and she's not one to show much emotion. I smile back, "ta-da." I say with a laugh at their expressions.

Blaz just laughs harder and at this point is almost out of breath. I just smile and stand up from the floor, and forget to clench the right muscles so the wings flop down to the floor.

I start trying to move them correctly and fold them, which causes Blaz to laugh even harder at the sight of me clumsily moving the wings. I get them back into a resting position on my back before sitting down on the bench again, as I do so Entropy starts fussing over my wings again and demanding to fix the feathers I've misaligned.

Daisy speaks as Blaz is still doubled over laughing. "That's a very impressive spell, how much time did you spend learning it? Or practicing it for that matter?" She asks while watching Entropy preen the feathers on my back.

"A few weeks to make sure I remembered it properly and a lot of practice casts to make sure nothing was wrong. All in total it took around a month." In truth, I spent two weeks on it and first cast it yesterday, but they don't need to know that.

She nods proudly. "Impressive, not many have the patience or magic to cast something like that. Amazingly done." She flashes me a winning smile while looking the wings over.

Blaz has finally recovered at this point and turns to me, "Agreed, I haven't seen anypony use a spell that impressive in a while. But I'm guessing you have no idea how to use those wings?" He asks with a teasing smile.

I nod without any shame. "Nope not in the slightest, I've only learned how to fold them back and somewhat hold them in place there, and learning just that took a while. If only I knew a pegasus who might be able to help teach me." I tease back with a smile on my face.

He looks a little surprised but quickly switches to a smile again. "Well now, you want me to teach you?" I can already tell from his tone he's about to mess with me. "I guess I could, but what's in it for me?" His tone isn't serious at all, and I want to joke back.

So I decided to make an offer. "Two."

He raises a brow and looks bemused. "Two Bits? Really?"

"Oh sorry, let me be more clear." At this point we both know I'm fucking with him. "Two thousand." I smile as his face tries to stay neutral but eventually cracks as he chuckles.

"I have free time on the weekend, and the park should work well enough and we can practice there. And maybe we can try while we're at Ponyvile." He offers happily.

I struggle to maintain my smile when he mentions where we are going, but I recover a moment later. "That would be very much appreciated, thanks for the help Blaz," I say genuinely, it's nice to have friends to help you when you need it. He smiles and nods while picking his book up off the floor, it fell in his laughing fit.

Maple speaks up. "Congratulations, how long do they last?" Her tone is mostly neutral like most of the time but has a small hint of curiosity.

"Thanks, I timed it before and it came out to just under two hours." She nods and keeps looking at the wings as Entropy finishes her work and decides to lie down next to me on the bench. "Thanks, girl," I say while scratching her a little. I have to be careful to not mess up the illusions she's under but still get happy chirps in response.

"Lucky you, you get your wings preened without needing to do a thing." Blaz jokes.

I just laugh, "If you knew what it's like to live with her you wouldn't call me lucky." Entropy looks up to me. "It's true." She responds by demanding more scratches and ignoring me. After the excitement of me showing off the new spell, we settle in for the train ride.

Showing off my wings and joking around some helped me not stress as much and calm down. Going to Ponyville is less than optimal but at this point it's not looking too bad. I just need to avoid a few ponies, and the only one of them that might try to find me is Pinkie Pie.

But if that happens I'm out of luck, I know better than to try and run from her. Plus if she does throw a party it would probably be for all of us making it less stressful for me. Now that I'm looking at this with a more calm mind it sounds fun in a way.

Sure there are things to worry about, but I get to see Ponyville, it's like a dream come true, I just have to make sure it doesn't become a nightmare. I take out the book I brought with me to read while we traveled. It's just a Griffin history book but it's good to keep my skills sharp and read some Griffin books every once in a while.

The train ride is mostly quiet. Me, Blaz, and Daisy rotate reading books and talking to each other, while Maple plays with a deck of cards and occasionally joins our conversations. I'm still a little on edge and decided to play a few card games with Maple to distract myself a little more.

I can't do much about going to Ponyville beyond theorizing, so it's best to keep my calm and think of ways to stay out of trouble on this trip. Maple got a deck of cards from Blaz last year at our little get-together for Hearth's Warming, and while she's normally not one for games she's taken a liking to them.

We end up quietly playing twenty-one together. Maple is an odd pony in a few ways, but look who's talking, she's quiet and not very expressive but also seems decent at telling when you need somepony to vent to, and despite her blunt and dry tone she's always well-meaning.

As we play our game I spot a small smile on her face. It's funny in a way, she'll have the most bland expressionless face when hearing jokes. But during small moments of us just hanging out and relaxing she's got this small smile that makes her look like the most content pony I've ever seen.

It's just a small thing but I always smile back whenever I see it. The rest of the four-hour train ride is peaceful and mercifully calm, but as the countryside is replaced by more roads and a few ponies walking down them, I know we are nearing our destination. I can feel a bit of my small anxiety and fear returning but keep calm.

The train platform is in the open air unlike Canterlot's train station, it's not at the center of Ponyville but at its edge. This is only meant as one stop on the train's route and isn't that important of a location. I can see Ponyville out of the windows and it's as I'd imagined it would be.

It's not tiny but is also far from being the size of a city, with small buildings mostly homes, and a few more important larger buildings standing taller than the rest. I can see the town hall even from out here along with a large tree. And the streets are filled with a plethora of plants, bushes, and trees throughout the streets.

We gather our things and make our way off the train as a group, not many ponies get off with us, only a few that also seem to be heading to Ponyville. The roads are just packed dirt and sometimes gravel, but they work just fine and we enter the town properly a minute later.

It's a nice calming place, it's still a day away from the Summer Sun Celebration so many ponies are around doing preparations. The streets of Canterlot are always busy around this time with ponies walking every way and the streets having a chaotic feeling to navigate through.

In contrast, the streets here are still busy but it's much more relaxed, with many ponies simply walking around in no rush, talking with each other and socializing. "So what do you all think?" Daisy asks as we walk closer to the town center.

Maple just looks around and nods approvingly. Blaz is the first to verbally answer her, "It's nice, quiet and calm. Seems like a friendly place too." He comments while waving to a random pony who waved at him as he was answering Daisy.

I nod in agreement. "Same, also seems like they're preparing for the festivities," I answer with something mundane, I honestly don't have much to say about Ponyville yet. But I do agree with what Blaz said, this seems like a friendly place. After some more walking and talking about the different buildings we see, we arrive at a large tree.

The tree is not a species I recognize, its trunk is very large and covers a wide base. It's also tall, very tall towering over all the buildings in the town. I can see a balcony further up the tree trunk and several windows as well, we all walk over to the front door. I see the sign above the door, Golden Oaks Library.

On the door is an open sign so Daisy just opens the door and walks inside, we all follow after her. When we walk inside it's empty with nopony in sight, "Willow! Are you here?" She calls out as we all walk inside and wipe our hooves on a mat, I hear a pony walking and turn to a staircase near the back wall.

A very old bat pony mare slowly walks down the stairs. She has a light brownish-black coat, a silvery gray mane, and deep brown eyes. She's on the older side of anypony I've seen before, and she greets us with a kind smile. "Daisy, I'm glad you could make it." Her voice is quiet and gentle.

Daisy smiles when she sees the old mare, "It is Willow, it's been so long." Daisy walks over to her and hugs her happily.

Willow returns the hug and looks over to us when they separate, she squints her eyes a little as she looks us over. "So these are your friends?"

Daisy nods, then points to Blaz. "That's Blaz, Maple, and Shade." She says while pointing at each of us, and we each nod as she introduces us. "Thanks for letting us stay here," She says happily.

Willow gives us all a nod in return, "Nice to meet you all, I'm Willow Bark." Then she waves Daisy off. "I'm more than happy to have you stay, come I'll show you to your rooms so you can get those bags off of you." Entropy pops out from behind my head and starts looking around, and Willow notices her.

"Oh hello little one, aren't you beautiful?" She seems very happy to see Entropy and smiles at her. "Is she yours?" Willow asks me as she slowly starts to lead us up the stairs.

I nod. "Yes she is Miss Willow, I hope it's fine if she stays with me?" I ask nervously.

She just smiled kindly. "You're my guest, no need for Miss, please call me Willow. And they are more than welcome to stay with you, it's not often I get the pleasure of seeing such a bird up close. What's their name?" She asks as we follow her up the stairs and see a hallway filled with several doors.

I'm starting to get the sense that Willow really likes birds. I normally would just say her name is Shadow, but my friends know that's not Entropy's real name. So I just answered honestly, "Her name is Entropy, and thank you for letting us stay with you."

It's at this moment that Entropy decides she agrees. "Good." She caws out as we enter a room.

Willow stops and looks a little surprised at Entropy. "Seems she agrees with me," I say, a little embarrassed.

Willow lets out a soft chuckle at my embarrassment. "And quite the talkative one too. Like I said, it's no problem." We walk into a decent-sized bedroom. "This place has a few rooms just like this one so take your pick. My room is at the end of the hallway, and the bathroom is near the stairs on the left." She explains.

I turn to my friends and we all basically shrug, "I'll take it then," I volunteer, and the others nod.

"Good, please try to keep things relatively clean." She asks respectfully, this old mare is just too nice, it brings a smile to my face.

"No problem, and thank you again," I promise her.

She smiles. "Thank you, I'll show the rest of you thee other free rooms." Before they leave Willow turns to me, "I'm cooking dinner at seven please come down if you want some." She offers and I nod while taking off my saddlebags. Somepony closes the door on their way out and I'm left alone with Entropy.

She immediately starts exploring the room, and I start looking around the room too. It's basic with a bed, a bed stand, a shelf along with a closet carved from the wood that makes up the walls. This place is amazing, I can feel the life magic moving through the tree and it's a lot more than most plants I've seen have.

I have seen some plants with more but they were much smaller, I have no idea what type of tree this is but I'm definitely curious, maybe I should ask Willow later. I don't really have anything to unpack so I just spend a little time organizing my saddlebags.

Once I'm done I cast the illusion spell on Entropy again and I leave my saddlebags in the room before leaving with Entropy on my back. When I walk out into the hallway it's empty so I head downstairs, the tree seems to be form a three-story building.

The first floor is the library, the second floor is a kitchen and open living area, and the top floor has several bedrooms and a bathroom. It's surprisingly spacious inside and has a very comfortable feel to it. The hallways and stairs have several paintings on the walls.

I look at a few of them and recognize some of them as Daisy's art style, and a few of them have her signature on them. When I reach the open living area I see Daisy and Willow sitting at a table with some tea talking with each other, I walk over and sit at the table with them.

They turn to me while Entropy decides to sit on one of her favorite spots, the top of my head. They look up to her and start chuckling a little. I smile, "It's one of her favorite places to sit, and I know better than to disagree with her." I say as a joke, and that earns me a few laughs from both of them.

Willow looks back at my face, "Does she let others pet her?" She looks a little hopeful and I'm kind of sad I'll have to say no,

"Sadly no, she doesn't even like standing on other ponies besides me let alone getting pet, sorry. Not to be rude, but you seem to like birds a lot." I'm maybe a little blunt with how I ask that but Willow doesn't seem to mind.

"Yes, I very much do, I myself had an owl for a long time." From her tone, I can guess her owl isn't around anymore.

I try to cheer up the mood a little with a light joke. "Did they also demand food and scratches if you weren't home on time?" I ask half joking half seriously.

That seems to work and she laughs again before nodding. "OH yes, Jade was a feisty owl when it came to her dinner, and any meal really." I listen as Willow starts to recount different stories of her owl and younger years, all while Daisy smiles and listens along with me.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}

I was planning on having each of the three days be their own chapter, but that's clearly not going to plan so the next chapter to might be yet another continuation. This arc might take a while.

Chapter 97

JUN 21 Sunday.

I slowly open my eyes to see a dark room I don't recognize, it takes a bit for my brain to kick in, and when it does I let out a groan before rolling out of bed. I'm still in Ponyville, I was hoping for this to be an odd fucked up dream, guess I'm not that lucky.

After I wake up a bit more I take my time doing several morning exercises, nothing too heavy but still enough to get myself breathing hard. After I'm done I look out of the small window to see the sun rising over Ponyville, well I have a nice view at least.

Yesterday after we all settled into our rooms we decided to just lounge around the library and stay inside, except Willow who went out to buy a few things for dinner. As uninteresting as it sounds, we just played games with each other and spent time together.

Sure we could have gone out and done things, but as much as I like Ponyville we had no idea where to go to find anything to do and with only a few hours of sunlight left. So ya we had a fun day and night inside, plus we got to listen to Willow tell all kinds of stories, turns out she's quite the storyteller.

I look over to Entropy as she moves her head out from under her wing and looks over to me. "Morning girl." I smile at her, she flies over to me and demands attention, and I give her just that. After a little pampering, I cast the Illusion spell on her and took both of us out of the bedroom.

I head over to the bathroom and clean myself and Entropy off, she's annoyed that I washed her but calms down after she's nice and clean. I dry both of us off and reapply the illusion spell before leaving the bathroom and heading downstairs. When I enter the main living area I see only Willow sitting down and drinking some tea while reading a book. She hears me and turns to look at me, "Oh, good morning. I hope you slept well?" She asks kindly.

I nod. "Good morning, and I slept very well thank you." I walk over and sit down at the table with her. It's a quiet morning, me and Willow talk for a while as the other ponies slowly get up and walk down the stairs. Blaz looked a little tired for a bit but woke up quickly. Maple seemed to be wide awake from the moment she came down the stairs. But as I've come to learn over the years, Daisy is not a morning pony, and she acts like a dead pony walking for a while.

It takes a while for us all to wake up fully, mostly Daisy. And I spent that time helping Willow cook some breakfast, she wanted me to just sit and wait but I insisted on helping. I'm a guest and I should act like one. After we all eat we start discussing what we want to do today.

"So what are you all thinking?" I ask curiously.

Daisy, who's now woken up enough to not look like she's crazy, speaks first. "Well I want to do a little shopping with Willow, even if I don't expect too much from the town market it should be fun. Anypony want to join us?" After a moment of silence Maple nods. "Great, what about you two?" She asks me and Blaz.

I think about it but decide against it. Last night after some thought I decided to try and carefully look around Ponyville, it's a good opportunity to gather some information about the town. Blaz is the first to answer Daisy, "Well I remember Willow telling me about a small game area some ponies set up and it sounds like a fun time."

I smile, that's about what I expected. I answer after he's done, "I'm thinking of just exploring around, it's going to be busy so what better time to experience a town like this." I explain, and get nods all around.

"Seems like we'll be splitting up then, how about we all meet at the town hall at noon for the festival?" She asks and we all agree. After that me and everypony else besides Maple head back to our rooms to grab things we may need. I decided to just take my saddlebags with me and leave nothing. I like having everything I might need nearby.

I double-check my things, and by the time I go back downstairs again everypony else is gone. I head down to the first floor and decide to look around the library for a bit before leaving. It's not a large place, several rows of bookshelves.

After a little looking nothing really stands out all that much so I move on to my next goal. I have no idea what type of tree this place is carved into but I'd very much like to take a seed and clipping with me when I leave. So I walk to a secluded spot and touch one of the walls.

I focus on my life magic and try to grow a small branch out from the wall, after a little effort a small branch does grow. I use even more magic to try and create flowers, but while doing so I notice that I'm using much more life magic than I expected.

The tree has a fairly high amount of life magic so I expected it to take a decent amount of life magic, but it's much more than I expected. It takes nearly all of my magic to grow a single seed from the branch. The seeds reminds me of a maple seed but with an odd golden-yellowish color to it.

I pick up the seed and use what magic I have left to return the wall to normal while taking the leftover branch with me. I don't know what this tree is but with how much magic it took to grow a single seed it has to be magical in some way. I pack both things into my saddlebags and head outside.

It's a nice day and ponies are out in force doing various things, but it's still nowhere near as busy as a normal day in Canterlot. I don't really know where to start, and I want to explore around and see the sights. And what better way to do that than saying fuck it and picking a random direction, so I do just that.

At first, nothing really catches my interest, so after a while I decide to try and find Sugar Cube Corner, because why not? I walked down a side street to cut across some buildings and find a new street, and I see a very pregnant mare doing the same from the other end. She has a light tan coat, very light blue eyes, and a large, orange, curly mane.

I feel like I recognize her but can't tell from where. Right now she's just slowly walking in the opposite direction of me with a bag in her mouth. But as we get close to walking past each other she trips on something unseen, I see her about to tumble and react on reflex.

She's falling towards me so I quickly rush forward and grab her with my front two hooves while rooting my back legs in place as best I can. She's very pregnant and because of that she's heavier than I expected but I'm able to stabilize us both and keep her from falling over. After making sure she's ok I speak up, "You ok Miss?"

After a moment of regaining her balance, she looks over at me and answers me. "Yes I'm fine, thank you for the help." She says with a thankful look and tone. Her voice has a small southern drawl, it's something I've heard before but not this strong. It's at this moment that she looks down, "Oh no." She says with a tired and stressed tone.

The bag she was holding fell when I caught her and spilled its contents on the dirt street. the bag seemed to have been filled with tea and it was spilled everywhere, it's mixed with the dirt and didn't seem savable. "Buck." I'm surprised to hear the mare curse at the sight, she seems to remember I'm here a moment after and looks very embarrassed. "OH, I'm so sorry about that." She says looking very apologetic.

I can't help myself and just chuckle, "It's fine Miss, I'd also be less than pleased, here let me help." I offer and decide to cast a simple spell. I gather the tea and dirt it's mixed with into a pile and draw out the spell matrix, this is a simple spell I found while researching tea-making methods.

It lets me separate impurities from tea leaves, it just moves the unwanted impurities and doesn't destroy them. The main downside is that because the spell is so weak it can take a little while to work fully, I sit there and slowly watch the spell separate the tea out of the dirt for a few minutes, before passing the now-cleaned tea back to her in the paper bag.

When I first cast the spell the mare looked a little shocked but watched fascinated as the tea was cleaned up, by the time I was done she was smiling and looked much happier. As I offer the bag to her she takes it with a smile, "Thank you kindly, Colt, this is expensive tea, I owe you one." That last part is said a little more seriously than I expected.

I wave it off. "It's no trouble at all Miss, I'm happy to help." It's not like it was hard to do.

She nods with a slight frown. "Still you helped me, and I don't like owing favors." I want to say she doesn't owe me anything but before I can, she stops and seems to properly take in my appearance. After she does she smiles slightly again. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but you don't look like you're from Ponyville, are you visiting?" I can see where this is going but also I don't see any harm in answering, so I nod.

Her small smile grows a little. "Great, how about I give you some directions then?" She seems determined to pay me back in some way, a strong-willed mare from the looks of it.

After a little thought, I nodded again, I wouldn't mind some directions. "Yes that would be very welcome, thank you. Do you know where I can find Sugar Cube Corner?" I ask, I want to visit it, and as much as I like exploring around, I don't want to miss my chance and run out of time before I can find it.

She smiles fully at my question. "If you go that way it's two left and will be at the end of the street on your right." I quickly commit that to memory.

"Thanks again I appreciate it." I smile back, this should save me some time.

The mare seems happy to have paid me back in some small way. "No problem. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Pear Butter. Thank you again for the help but I have to get going." She says happily.

I pause at the name as I definitely feel like I know it, but I shake those thoughts off for the time being. "I was happy to help Miss Pear, have a nice day," I say as she picks up the paper bag in her mouth again and nods to me before leaving with a smile. :Well that was interesting:

I decide to follow the directions and I find the place I'm looking for not long after. It's just as I'd imagined and I spend a moment looking at the outside of the cafe before entering inside. It's a nice place with a good sign and large windows on two sides. I look through a window and see a pony I recognize, Mr. Cake.

I don't remember if he has a full name in the show but I do remember he exists so that's something. He looks to be in his twenties, maybe a little bit older but I don't think he's past thirty. He sees me enter and smiles, "Welcome, tell me if you need anything." It's a simple greeting, but I don't mind simple.

I take a moment to look around the interior. It's not a large place but still has some decent floor space, on the left side is a wall of windows with small sitting booths. And on the back wall is the counter filled with many sugary treats, the wall to my right has some paintings and a few newspaper clippings about this place.

I walk up to the counter and see all the goods on display. After some thought, I decided to get a white frosting donut as a treat and ask for just that, "This one please." He looks at where I'm pointing and nods.

A few moments later he sets a paper bag on the countertop. "Four bits please." I pay him and walk to a booth to sit down and give Entropy some treats while eating. I give her some berries and relax, but then something starts to nag at me, I think back to the mare I helped, Pear Butter.

I really feel like I should know that name for some reason, I keep thinking about it while eating my donut. "Pear Butter," I mutter the name out loud and as I'm about to take another bite I remember why I know that name, she's Applejack's dam.

:Well, Fuck me sideways:

I nearly groan out loud as I make my realization. :Why do I keep running into ponies I don't want to be near? Is fate just fucking with me at this point?: I try and remain calm about the situation. At least I didn't fuck anything up badly, then again I did change her day by helping her so maybe I did already fuck it all up.

I try and keep myself from spiraling down the same thoughts about what this could mean for the future, but despite my best efforts I still feel anxious about what happened. I try to remind myself that the future has already changed and this isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

But thoughts about the future bring a different kind of feeling with them, I feel some dread. In the show neither of Applejack's parents were alive. That realization hits me like a brick and makes me immediately think about something. If Pear Butter is alive then, what was his name? I think about it for a moment, right it's Bright Mac.

If Pear Butter and Bright Mac are still alive, then could I save them?

I let that thought hang in my mind for a moment, I expect to feel some fear or anxiety about these thoughts. And I do feel both of those, but I mostly just feel a little tired about the whole situation. I expected to have to deal with a noisy Pinkie Pie or an overly friendly Rarity, maybe Rainbow Dash, instead I'm debating changing the future or letting two innocent ponies die.

I sigh and finish my now unappetizing donut. If I do nothing those two ponies will likely die, but if I do something it will change things in a big way. Recently I said to myself I wouldn't change big events, but can I really just walk away from this? Could I really live with letting them die?

I push my mind past that tired feeling and start really thinking through my options. If I do nothing what would that be like? As I think of this my mind wanders back to a different day, a while ago I saved a Changeling, I refused to let them die just because they wanted to live.

Even though I definitely changed the future in some way, I wouldn't compromise my morals for a life, I absolutely refused to do so. And even though I worry over the consequences I don't regret my decision in the slightest and would do the same thing all over again.

So can I really live with myself if I do nothing? I lapse into silence while looking at different ponies walking past the windows. No, I don't think I can, I just can't bring myself to sit here and let them die. I feel my mind pulling in the other direction as my fears eat away at me with worry and uncertainty.

I try to ignore that but it keeps nagging at me. :SHUT UP!!: I snap back internally, I force down those fears and take out my notebook. These fears keep distracting me, they keep trying to make me ignore who I am for a potential safety that may never come. And I'm tired of listening to those fears, tired of doing nothing to the detriment of other ponies.

I WILL help them, I need to prove to myself that I can help them. With my mind made up I try to think of all I know about Applejack's parents. I don't know much, I know they die but not how or why. So what could I do to help them without putting myself in the spotlight, I'm willing to help but not to the point it reveals who I am.

That may be selfish of me, limiting my help for my own sake, but that's who I am. I'll gladly help others, but I also have ponies I care about and I refuse to endanger them for being close to me. So I refocus my mind on thinking of the best way to help from the shadows.

Well, how I can help them mostly depends on what kind of threat they will face. What can I rule out? Well both of them are earth ponies, and with how close they live to a town so they can get medical help easily, so I find it unlikely that a disease or injury would kill both of them.

Pear Butter is pregnant so she could have a complication with the birth, but I also find that unlikely. Unlike humans, ponies have a much easier time giving birth because of the way their bodies work, it can still happen but it's nowhere near as common as it was for humans. And like I said before they can get medical help easily, and that would only kill one of them.

With those out of the way I can only think of two options. They are killed by another sentient being, which is a very unlikely outcome. Or they are killed by something like a wild animal, they do live near the Everfree Forest so it's not an unlikely outcome to happen, and that does seem likely now that I'm thinking about it.

I've done some research in the Everfree, not that I found much about it, it's considered a very dangerous area so very few ever try to research it. But that's not the point, let's assume that the most likely reason they die is being attacked by some type of animal or monster, what could I do to help them with that?

A warning? No, that wouldn't work. The warning would either have to be so vague it would be basically useless, or so specific that it could only be seen as somepony knowing about the future, or planning the threat. So what else could I do?

I could send them a weapon? But they'd have no idea how to use it and probably would just be freaked out that some unknown pony is sending them a weapon for self-defense. I could send them something to defend themselves? Not the worst option but I'd need something to work with.

I don't have any gems on me and it's unlikely I'll find one of decent enough quality in this town on such short notice. Wait? How much time do I have? Well, I guess it depends on how much of their future has been changed by my influence, but trying to figure that out is just a waste of precious time.

Let's just say that their deaths will happen at the same time as normal, it's not the best framework to base a plan off of, but it's the best I have right now. If I follow canon then Pear Butter is probably pregnant with Applebloom right now, and as Applebloom is alive in the show it stands to reason Pear Butter won't die until Applebloom is born.

So if nothing else I probably have a few weeks at a minimum, but that's just a guess. So I have a little time, what's the best defense I can make for them? Well, it will need to be at least somewhat portable and easy to use, so a shield enchanted into a gem is probably my best bet.

I have time so I can wait for this trip to be over, but it would be difficult to send the gem to them from Canterlot without mailing it, and if I do that they'll need my name. As I'm thinking of ways to deliver the gem an idea pops in my head and I start doing some rough math. I come up with a few promising numbers, so I check the time and see I still have two hours to meet my friends.

I put my notebook away and stand up, I thank Mr. Cake and make my way outside. I look around and start heading to the nearest edge of town, it only takes me ten minutes at a fast trot to arrive. I move even further away from Ponyville and start looking around, eventually I find a patch of fairly dense trees and bushes a little out of the way.

It's far from perfect but it should work, I find the most secluded spot and turn to Entropy. "Look around girl, try and remember this place," I ask while drawing a circle in the ground around us. Through all her training I've always drawn a circle to indicate a place I want her to take us.

I intended to make her understand that when I do this she should remember the location, and considering how intently she's looking around the area right now it's working. I wait as she looks around her, I plan to have Entropy take me to my apartment and back.

I did the math and it should be just far enough for her to do a round trip. As I'm double-checking my math just to be sure another thought strikes me. I could use Ponyville as a place to train Entropy's teleportation.

Her progress in teleportation has almost completely leveled off and I've been thinking about a new place to use, but until now I haven't found a decent location. As I think about it I start liking the idea more. I don't want to spend more time than absolutely necessary in Ponyville, but having easy access to it has benefits.

My best option is to find a spot an hour or so away from Ponyville and have Entropy take us there. It still gives me relatively quick and easy access and should be far enough away that I won't run into any ponies by accident. After more thought, I decided it was my best option for Entropy's training and made a mental note to come back here soon to find a proper spot.

My thoughts are interrupted by Entropy shifting on my back and looking at me expectantly. I smile up at her and give her a few scratches, "Take us home girl." She goes silent, I can't see her eyes so I'm not sure if she's concentrating, that question is answered when I feel the familiar feeling of the Void a minute later.

After a moment I look around me to see my apartment and the sounds of the busy city outside. I checked on Entropy first, she's fine and even a little less tired than I expected. I quickly make some tea to help her regain her magic and let her rest while I take some time to unwind my stressed mind a little with some tea.

After half an hour Entropy has recovered enough to move us back without being too tired. After Entropy's recovered we teleport back to Ponyville, it works just as normal and Entropy isn't tired enough to need sleep. But I let her nap on my back anyway as I started walking back to Ponyville.

After we return I'm more relaxed about the whole situation, I have a half-decent plan now and that helps me unwind and enjoy the rest of this trip. Checking the time I start leisurely walking to town hall to meet up with my friends. It's not a long walk and I arrived a little early.

I find a bench and sit down. Ponyville holds a yearly festively slash fair around town hall and I can see it starting around me. The street is full of stalls, with games, merchants, and many other oddities. From what Willow said, this event lasts until a little after the sun goes down.

Many places in Equestria have different traditions around this holiday. Many stay up all night to watch the sunrise, some have parties and festivals, and so many other ways to celebrate. It's not a very strict holiday, hell many ponies just take the day off to sleep in, sounds nice.

After a little waiting, I see a small group of four ponies walking down the busy-ish street. Seems Blaz already met up with the mares, I wave them over to the bench I'm sitting on and greet them, "How's it going?" I ask happily.

Maple gives me a simple nod, and Daisy speaks up with a happy tone, "It's been really fun, we even found Maple a new bracelet." I look back to Maple and see a second bracelet on her other foreleg. She normally wears a silver bracelet on her left leg that's made from silver and has three small rubies in it.

The new bracelet is also silver but has five sapphires in it, it looks nice. "Good find." I turn to Blaz to ask him how the games went, but stop after seeing his less than pleased expression. "No good games?" I guess at his look.

He shakes his head. "No." I raise a brow but he doesn't elaborate further.

So I turn to Daisy hoping she knows more, and seeing her smile she's been waiting to tell me. "I didn't see the beginning, but I did see the end. He got in a contest and nearly won, but an old grumpy mare was his last opponent, and he got his flank kicked. He didn't even stand a chance." She says while chuckling.

I just start laughing at the mental image of Blaz losing to an elderly mare. "Ya laugh it up you two, but I warn you don't mess with that Apple, she's a monster at Scrabble." I nearly choke at the mention of who I presume to be Granny Smith, but that passes and I start laughing even harder knowing who he lost to.

After I've recovered we all start walking down the street talking about anything that catches our eyes and joking around. Life can be stressful, but it's times like this that make it worthwhile.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]

Also the inspiration for the tea spell is probably not that interesting but I wanted to mention it, mostly because it involves a hobby of mine. I make tea, and god there are several times I wish I'd had this spell.

Chapter 98

JUN 22 Monday.

I move some things around and continue to sort through my saddlebags. It's my last day in Ponyville and I'm both happy and sad to leave.

On one hoof keeping my guard up for certain ponies all the time is tiring, but on the other hoof, I've had a really fun time. The ponies have been friendly, hanging out with my friends is a blast, and the festival was a fun event to attend. It's a very slightly bittersweet moment for me.

On a positive note, I'm currently working on a small gift for Willow, she's been amazing to us and I feel like I should give her something. So I'm making a very simple and weak spell, it will keep a teakettle and the tea inside warm for basically forever without needing anything to heat it.

My friends believe I have aspirations of creating and researching spells, they just don't know that it's far more than just aspirations. But I've been wanting to show my talent a little more so I can move more freely and not hide as much of my life from them.

I want to show that I have the ability to enchant things, but only simple enchantments. So I'll tell them I found the spell and learned it so I could enchant my teakettle. Once the simple spell is complete I gather my things and make sure the room is properly clean before leaving.

Our train back to Canterlot arrives at noon and it's already ten so it's best I get this done. I walk downstairs and see Maple and Willow sitting together and quietly talking while drinking tea, perfect. I walk over and sit with them, "Willow?" She turns to me, "Can I see your Kettle for a minute?"

She looks confused but nods and passes it over to me, it's still slightly warm and full of tea, guess I have good timing. I slowly start to draw out the correct matrix for the spell I just made and the spell used to enchant an object and bind the spell to it. I make sure to go a little slower than necessary and even double-check a piece of paper with me.

They are both silent as I work and just watch, and I take a full minute to draw everything and cast the spells. The reason I'm drawing the matrix out instead of instantly casting it is simple, I haven't kept the fact that I'm a Journeypony runic caster secret, but I've downplayed how far I've gotten with my practice.

Once the enchantment takes hold I pick up the teakettle and inspect it for a few moments. "What did you do?" Willow asks, her tone isn't angry, just curious.

I smile at her and tap my hoof on the kettle three times before passing it back over as it starts to slowly heat up. "I enjoy tea often, and a while back I got tired of having to reheat my tea so much to enjoy it. So I did some research and found an enchantment to keep the kettle warm."

She looks at the kettle and places a hoof on it before pulling it back a second later, seems it's working well. "To turn it off or on just tap it three times like I did." I see the curious look on Willow's face shift into a happy smile.

"Thank you Shade. You didn't have to do this, but it's much appreciated." Her reply may be simple but I can hear a lot of emotion behind it, I'm happy she enjoys it.

"You've been very nice and shared your home with us, it's the least I could do." I decided to also keep my reply short. After a little while both Daisy and Blaz join us at the table and we talk for a while and enjoy Willow's company, but noon grows near and we need to leave.

As we're gathered at the front door we start saying our goodbyes. "Thanks for letting us stay Willow." Daisy is the last of us to say goodbye and is by far the most reluctant to leave. I've come to see that Daisy and Willow are much closer than I expected.

Willow smiles at her and embraces her in a large hug. "It's my pleasure, remember to write and have a safe trip back." After their hug, Willow steps back and Daisy joins us, standing a few feet away.

"I promise I will." Daisy still seems reluctant to leave but she waves one last time and turns to us, "Let's get going before I cry." She says with a half-joking tone. It's a nice day outside and it doesn't take us long to arrive at the train platform, and after that it's just a little more waiting.

I play Go Fish with Maple as we wait and the time passes quickly, and we don't have to wait long before the train arrives. We all shuffle into the train and find an empty compartment, and after a little maneuvering we all have our things put away, and we're properly settled in.

It's a quiet ride but after a while I find myself getting bored, I don't feel like drawing and I can't do spell work. So after some thought an idea struck me. Me and Blaz never found any time to train with my new wings in the last few days, but right now could work.

"Hey, Blaz?" He turns to me and puts down the book he's reading. "I'm bored, want to help me learn how to move my wings? I'd prefer it if I didn't look like a foal." I ask with a smile and a small joke.

He chuckles and nods. "Sure, why not?" He then turns to Daisy who's sitting next to me, "Swap seats?" She's looked a little sad for the ride so far, she nods and a moment later Blaz is sitting next to me. "I should probably explain a few things first. Bear with me, it's been a while since I taught my son."

He starts explaining a few things to know about using my wings properly. He used his wings as a visual aid to show me what he was talking about, which helped me understand. He tells me about how to tell what feathers need to be where and how to tell if they are unaligned.

He also gives some explanation on what muscles to move and a few things to practice so I can move around properly when I'm not using the wings. His explanations are not that in-depth but do inform me about a lot of simple things I didn't know about. After a little more talking I lay down and started to draw out the spell matrix.

I take my time to make sure I don't mess anything up and after a few minutes I'm sporting my wings again. I stay in place on the floor as Blaz starts pointing at different parts of my wings and showing me how to properly move them. But Blaz proves to not be the best teacher.

Sure he can explain things well but that's different from teaching. After an hour I need to use the restroom, so I tell Blaz just that and leave our compartment. I look out the windows as I walk down the train to the restroom, It's odd to see just how far Entropy can travel.

As I walk I try to implement a few things Blaz told me about how to better control my wings. It's still not easy but I can at least somewhat keep them pinned to my back and stable. When I near the restroom I see a small sign on the door saying occupied, so I just stand nearby and wait.

The bathrooms on the train lock and aren't separated so I'm not really surprised when a pegasus mare opens the door and starts to walk out. But from the look on her face she's a little surprised to see me, she takes a few moments to look me up and down, her eyes even take a peak around the side of me at my flank. All the while I stand there a little awkwardly waiting for her to finally move.

After around ten seconds I'm about to ask her to move, but then I see a sly smile appear on her face. "Well hello, what's a handsome stallion like you doing here?." :What?: "Are you here alone?" :What?: "Maybe we can head to my compartment,

or yours, and get to know each other better." :What the fuck?:

As she says this she uses a charming and sweet tone of voice. She also shifts her hips and flicks her tail back and forth behind her a little, while also getting closer to me. As she speaks I go from confused, to really fucking confused, and by the end I'm just shocked at what I'm hearing.

For a moment I'm too shocked to answer her, but I recover quickly and take a step away from her. I have no interest or want to get involved in this so I answer bluntly and firmly, "No thank you." I keep my tone a bit firm but that doesn't seem to deter the mare.

I try to walk past her but she moves in front of me again. "Oh come on, I'll be fun, I promise." At this point she's once again closer than I'd like and I'm getting a little annoyed. And surprised at a part of my mind that wants to accept her offer, fuck I hate puberty.

I decided to be more firm with her. "Miss I have no interest in your offer, leave me be." I make sure to keep my voice firm and no-nonsense while also keeping a flat emotionless expression.

She frowns at me a little, "Fine. But when you change your mind I'll be in compartment thirty-three." She says with a sultry tone, while she walks past me, and as I watch her leave she even lifts her tail a little while looking back at me.

Once I see that I look away and quickly head inside the restroom. :What the fuck was that?: To say I'm confused is a massive fucking understatement. She came onto me way too strong, why? I know I look decent for a pony, I'm in good shape and keep myself clean.

But even then the fact she was so blunt and bold about it is just a shock. I know I look older than I am, but I'm an earth pony, we are larger by default. It's at this moment I realize the problem with that thought process, I don't look like an earth pony right now, right now I look like a taller-than-average pegasus stallion.

That might be part of the reason, but even then it's odd to hear a mare offer that to me. I spend a few minutes calming down and doing my business before drenching my face with some cold water. I'm not sure what to do honestly, I guess I'll ignore it?

In a way I'm flattered, and my hormone-stricken mind definitely liked the idea. But I'm not interested in a fling, and it's technically illegal for her to even offer what she just did. My thoughts are interrupted by somepony knocking on the restroom door.

I make sure I'm clean before heading out and I start making my way back to my friends, I probably shouldn't mention that this happened. While that mare did annoy me a little I don't think she deserves to get into trouble just because she couldn't tell how old I was.

So I just head back to our compartment and lay down on the floor again so Blaz can continue teaching me while ignoring what just happened. Thankfully the rest of the train ride goes without incident and we all arrive in Canterlot. While we walked home from the train station me and Blaz worked out a rough schedule for flight practice.

It's near the end of the day when we arrive in Canterlot, so Blaz and Maple separate from me and Daisy when we arrive at our apartment building. As me and Daisy are walking up the stairs I talk to Daisy. "Thanks again for inviting us, it was a nice break. And I even did as you asked and had some fun."

She laughs and looks over to me before nodding, "And thank you for coming. And it was a nice break, three full days without a single piece of paperwork, truly a dream come true." I chuckle at that. "Maybe we can do it again, it's always nice when I get to visit Willow."

She always has a smile when she talks about Willow and I've been curious about why, I know they are close but it's just odd for them to be this close. Even if Willow mentored Daisy, I decided to just ask. "Ya know I've been wondering, how did you meet Willow?"

I keep a casual and friendly tone, but as soon as I say that I see her face shift. I'm not sure exactly what expression she had, but I can tell she's sad. I panic a little thinking I overstepped on something, "Sorry, forget I asked."

Her expression shifts again to what I can only describe as a flat, sad smile. "No it's fine, I just don't like thinking about that time in my life." We both lapse into an awkward silence as we near our apartment doors. "I'm sorry for not answering, but I just don't want to talk about it."

I shake my head, "It's fine, we all have things like that. Have a good night Daisy. And keep your chin up, you have paperwork to look forward to tomorrow." I attempt to joke in hopes it will repair her mood a little.

I see her expression crack into a very small smile, and she quietly chuckles. "Thanks Shade, now all I'll think about tonight is paperwork." She says back with a deadpan and serious tone.

I give her the biggest smile I can. "You're welcome," I answered with a very cheery tone.

She groans slightly and laughs a little, "Good night Shade." She says with a tired tone as she enters her room and closes the door behind her. I hope she's ok, mental note, don't bring that up again. I enter my apartment and start looking around, it's good to be home.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

None of this chapter is serious in any way, if it seems like that it's because I'm bad at humor.

Chapter 99

JUN 27 Saturday.

It's been almost a week since I got home from my little trip and I've spent that time working on a few things and catching up with a few other things. I mostly just needed to make sure my plants were fine and still alive.

As for what I've been working on, well there are a few things. The first is flying practice, although calling it flying might be giving me too much credit. Blaz and I agreed to meet at the park whenever we both have the free time needed, he's been helping me learn how to fly and use my wings properly.

Right now it's mostly just him helping me get better control of fine movements and how to properly take care of my new wings. While we were doing this we noticed a difference between his wings and mine, it might be because I just got my wings but Blaz's wings seem to be more flexible in general.

From what Blaz could tell I should still be able to fly just fine but holding and picking things up will be harder to do properly. After some research I think this non-flexibility is just the spell not being perfect at what it does, it's still a very good spell but it's not perfect.

Overall there isn't much to say about our practice, it was mostly just me trying to not look like a foal flapping their wings in an adult body, and failing.

Moving on we have the protection spell I've been making for the Apple couple. I've had time to think more about all of this and I've come to realize I might be jumping the gun a little. I have changed the world and it's a distinct possibility that they will live even without further intervention.

But is that worth the risk? Sure I could be wrong and they'll be just fine. But if I presume that and do nothing to help them, then what happens if they do die? To be blunt, I'm not willing to take that chance with lives, especially when it's easy for me to help them.

I bought two matching silver bracelets with simple engravings and small rubies embedded in them, they cost me less than I'd make in a day and they might save two lives. I've been working on a simple shield spell that can take a decent amount of damage and provide convenient portable protection.

The spell itself isn't the best, it can help with attacks but is only somewhat effective at protecting you from things like fires or floods. But it's still a decent shield for a bracelet. But I still have a problem, how do I get the bracelets to them?

I don't know them and sending them a gift like this would raise far too many questions, so how to go about this? Well, the easiest way to get it to them would be through the mail. That's easy, I can just drop off a package at the post office, they let you drop things off in a mail slot at night.

I can just drop it off at night and leave the sender and return address blank, it may raise a few questions but it's very unlikely to be traced back to me considering how far away I am. But that leaves me with a different problem, I can send it to them but they might not accept a gift from some unknown pony.

That might just be my paranoia but it's still something I need to account for. The best idea I've come up with is a little stupid but it might work. I'll say I'm a family member who wants to send them a nice gift in celebration of their third foal, but I don't want to upstand any other gifts sent by family, so I'll leave my name out of it.

I'll admit it's not the best idea, but I'm not good at this. Because I'm starting to feel my resolve weakening with time, thoughts creep in and whisper about how this is all a bad idea and that I should just walk away before it's too late. I don't want to listen to those thoughts, but I don't think I can ignore them forever.

I need to do this before I convince myself to back out, so even though this plan is far from perfect I'm still going to go through with it. I'll be doing it later tonight, I don't think anypony will be awake but I'll make sure to be careful regardless.

Right now I'm sitting in my workroom with two new discoveries, the seed and branch I took from the Golden Oak Library. And as a first step I'm going to try and grow a new tree from the branch, I want to keep the seed as a backup, mostly because it took so much life magic to grow.

I've been keeping the branch alive by giving it life magic until now, I take the foot-long inch-thick branch and cut its thick end off a little. I strip the thick end of its bark and sink it into a pot filled with soil, then I start using my life magic to make it grow new roots.

It takes a little time but it successfully takes root and starts to grow larger, I make sure to keep its size under control. Once I have a decent-sized sapling I start really examining the plant. At first glance it does look like oak, in fact it's so similar that I wouldn't be surprised if it's directly related in some way.

But I've never come across a type of oak like this before. If you look closer you start to see some of the smaller differences. The leaves are a lighter shade of green, and they have incredibly tiny golden threads winding through the leaves and the leaf's stem. After examining the leaves I cut off the whole sapling and moved it to the side before regrowing the plant.

I take the sapling to the kitchen sink and start removing all the tiny branches and leaves, then I draining all of the moisture out of the wood. Once it's properly dried I use my wood carving knife to start cutting the branch into inch-long sections, I look at a section and see the wood inside it.

The inside looks like regular oak, but just like with the leaves the wood grain has tiny golden lines weaved throughout it. The wood is also a little stronger than regular oak, but not by much. I'm still not really sure why this tree is magical but it definitely is, no plant takes that much life magic to grow a single seed without a reason.

And that leads me to the seed, after some thought I decided to not plant it, planting an unknown magical seed in my apartment doesn't sound like a good idea. I clean things up before examining the tree seed, the amount of life magic in the seed is large, nothing like Entropy or Celestia but still much more than a large tree.

The seed itself is similar to a maple tree seed. It has a single seed at its base and then two flat pieces of plant matter shoot off and form flat wings. For maple trees the seeds use those wings to spin as they fall and gain distance from the parent tree, this lets the maple tree spread its seeds further around giving them a better chance of survival.

Not seeing anything else of note I leave the seed be for now and place the small sapling next to my Iron Oak. As I'm rearranging my plants I see and hear the now familiar flash of flames as Philomena teleports into my apartment. And as I expect she's holding a letter for me, she flies around for a moment and then lands on my back.

I give her some berries as a thank-you treat and take the letter from her, it's a reminder from Celestia that we have a meeting tomorrow at five. I smile and put it to the side before pampering Philomena with pets and scratches, it will be nice to see Celestia again.

After Philomena is satisfied she flies over to sit next to Entropy on her perch. I still have a few hours until it gets late enough to implement my plan, so I decide to continue experimenting with plants. Specifically the Spine Leaf, I've been slowly breeding it to make stronger needles for a while now.

And it's been going well, the plant's needles are much stronger now, but I still haven't found much of a use for them. I spend a while just thinking of potential uses for the needles but come up with nothing, however I do come up with an idea for the plant itself.

The Spine Leaf grows faster than any other plant I have, with second place going to the Companion Vine. So my idea is simple, if I breed them together I can make a very fast-growing vine with very sharp needles. It could be very useful to constrain or capture someone if I need to.

It could also just be used to grow a wall of natural barbed wire, a great way to give me time to run. I don't have a reason to need this plant right now, but having it in reserve seems worth the effort. With no better ideas, I go into my workroom and gather everything I'll need.

A Companion Vine seed, a Spine leaf seed, and three pots filled with fresh soil. Once I have everything on my desk I start the slow process of selective crossbreeding. The good news is that these two plants grow very fast, so it's faster than breeding any of my other plants.

After six hours of me breeding plants I have something with some promise and potential. The resulting vine has very small needles growing on its leaves, I'll need to breed this new vine to have larger and more frequent needles, but this is a good place to start.

The new vine also lost a decent amount of the speed growth that its parents had, but once again that can be fixed with more selective breeding and time. I check the time, it's eleven at night and should be the right time to get moving. I gather the things I'll need. My dagger, the two bracelets in a sealed box along with a letter.

Once I'm ready I have Entropy take us through the Void, and I get to experience the dark silence of that place again. But like every time before it doesn't last more than a moment, me and Entropy reappear in a thickly wooded area in almost complete darkness.

The only light comes from the dim moon hanging in the night sky above us. I cast a small spell that acts as a compass, and after gaining my bearings I start walking through the dark woods. In the past few days since my trip to Ponyville I took a trip back here to find a better place for Entropy to teleport to.

This spot is around a one-hour walk away from Ponyville and it's near a road that goes through a thick forest. I find the road after a few minutes of walking and start following it. It takes me longer than expected to arrive because of the darkness but I do arrive at Ponyville at a little past midnight.

The town is silent with only the odd light here or there to break through the darkness. I remember where the post office is but it's dark and it takes me a while to find it again. I'm on edge the whole time, I keep looking around at small sounds or any movement.

But things go smoothly, I find the mail slot and drop the package inside before walking away. It's at the exact moment, but then in the darkness, I see a pony walking towards the post office. I don't think they see me so I duck into an ally in between two houses.

I hold my breath as they walk past me, I worry they'll look over, but they just keep walking and don't even glance in my direction. Once they walk far enough away from me that they won't hear me I have Entropy leave my shadow, "It's time to go home girl." Hopefully, before anything else can happen.

After a short wait, I'm thrown through space again and appear inside my apartment. Once I'm home I feel the tension leave my body. I'm pretty tired so after eating something I just take a shower and head to bed. I'm glad I did this on the weekend because I'm definitely going to sleep in tomorrow.

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :]

Ok so, good news and bad news.

Good news, Sparkly sparks gifted me a higher quality cover for the fic, so a very special thank you for that. :]

Bad news, while making this chapter I had some technical issues and the file I used to store all notes for this fic got snapped out of existence.

To give you some idea of how bad that is, it contained, the names of all oc's, how many gems Shade had and of what type, all the spell names, all of his inventions and when they were started and finished, all the words Entropy knows how to speak, all of Shade's schedule, all the runes he knows.

And so much more, now as you can imagine this is a problem for me. But most of it was easy to find in the fic again, so I've already gotten most of it organized again.

But if you see any errors in the fic's, timeline, logic, names, or Shade having things he shouldn't, you now know why. And if it's not too much trouble I'd very much appreciate a heads up if you happen to find anything wrong. I'll try to fix this as fast as possible, but I'm definitely going to miss things, sorry in advance.

Chapter 100

JUN 28 Sunday.

I watch as a vine quickly grows from a pot and up a stick I've jabbed upright next to the new plant. I've been growing generations of this new vine for three hours now and it's going well.

And I've also thought of a name for the vine, the Spine Leaf Vine, it's not very original but it works and is easy to remember. At this point I've gotten the Spine Leaf Vine to form small needles on not just its leaves but also the vine's stem, and this fast success mostly comes from how fast the Spine Leaf Vine grows.

It grows fast and is fairly strong, but not as strong as I'd like. So I'm thinking about crossbreeding the Spine Leaf Vine with the Gripping Vine, I'll probably try it when I finish selectively breeding the Spine Leaf Vine.

Once my magic is almost drained I stop and start to clean up my desk. I have a meeting later today with Celestia and I'm a little excited, last time our conversation was cut short and I still have many questions. Once my workroom is properly organized and clean I head out into the main room.

Entropy's teleportation training has finally seen more progress, and with the new location, her range has started to increase once again. I walk out and see Entropy resting on her perch with a stick she found, a few days ago on a trip she picked it up and has just kept it with her.

I'm not sure why she likes it, but she's allowed to keep her own things. I look out the window to see the overcast sky, it seems it will be a rainy day. I check the time and see it's a little past noon, my meeting is still not for a while so I have time to burn.

I find my sketchbook and decide to do some drawing while I regain my magic. My drawing skills have improved over time, and the advice Avalon gave me a while back has also helped quite a bit. I'm just happy about being able to draw better portraits of Entropy sleeping.

By this point I'm on my third sketchbook and this one is almost full, and funnily enough around half of all those drawings are just Entropy. I'm not in a rush so I take my time and slowly draw out a full drawing of Entropy on her perch with the background full of my plants and the view out the window.

After two hours of drawing, I've finished the drawing enough to be satisfied and stop. I put my sketchbook down and lay down in the center of the main room, I place a few small pieces of paper on the floor and start to focus. I've made some progress with space magic and now I think I'm ready to up my training a little.

I slowly move the first piece of paper into the air and try my best to keep it there while moving the second piece at the same time. But it doesn't take me long to lose enough control for the piece of paper to fall, but I make sure to keep firm control of the magic even if the piece of paper is gone.

I keep this practice up until I'm once again drained of magic and then go back to drawing while drinking tea. It's a slow process as always but I enjoy the feeling of steady improvement and progress. I go back and forth a few times, I stop when it gets near my meeting time and decide to leave early.

I take my regular things with me and have Entropy merge into my shadow, before leaving my apartment and walking through the wet streets of Canterlot. I'm a bit disappointed that the weather is like this, we'll probably be meeting inside and I've come to prefer the royal gardens.

I left a little too early so I decided to take the more scenic route and see the city a bit. I know Canterlot well, but even I haven't seen everything, and I can still stumble on places I haven't been to in a long time. So it's not too much of a surprise that I end up walking somewhere I haven't seen in over two years.

The orphanage I grew up in, I pause when I recognize the building and my thoughts start to wander. It's been a long while since I last saw this place, and it looks like it hasn't aged a single day. The same fence, the same small vegetable gardens, and even the same faces.

Sitting on the porch I see somepony I recognize, the head of the orphanage, Magree Lime. I always thought that was an odd pony name, not that it really matters I suppose. I never was close to her, but I do remember what she's like.

I remember that she'd always sit on the porch and wait when it was raining, I thought it was just her taking a break and getting some peace and quiet. But I asked why once and she just said that it would be rude to have nopony there to greet visitors. I pointed out not many would visit in the rain, and she just smiled at me.

As I feel the memories wash over me I stare at her for several moments in the light rain and eventually decide to walk over. Even if it's just a simple hello, I think she deserves at least that much. As I walk closer I see the old mare stand up and look over to me. "Hello, can I help you?" Her voice still has that slightly stern but caring feel to it.

I walk onto the porch while lowering my hood, and when I come face to face with her I make sure to show a smile. "Hello mam, It's been a while hasn't it?" I greet them in a friendly tone. The last time we met she was taller than me, but now she has to look up to meet my face.

She adjusts her glasses for a moment before one of her rare smiles starts to show on her muzzle. "Shade Evergreen." She doesn't say anything else for a moment while looking over my appearance. "It's about time you visited. You made an old mare wait." I'm surprised at the slight joke she makes.

From what I remember she was always the serious pony, then again I was younger at the time and she was directly responsible for me. I nod, "I can't say the visit was planned, but it's nice to see you again. How have things been?"

She sits back down on a bench, "Regardless, it's nice of you to come and say hello, many don't. Not that I blame them, they have their own lives to live. And things have been well, in fact, these are probably the best years I've worked here." She seems to have a happy attitude.

I'm curious, but also remember I do have a meeting to go to, I quickly cast the Temporis spell and check the time. "Well I don't have much time, but I'm too curious not to ask why."

She watches me cast the spell instantly and her smile widens a light bit. "Seems you still practice magic, good, you always looked so happy when you read about it in the study. And to answer you, have you heard of Veil Winter?" I feel my adrenaline spike a little at her words.

That name is gaining more and more attention, and me making more spells and inventions isn't exactly helping. I nod, "I do book copying in the library now, and they made a spell that vastly sped the process up, so yes I do." I give a logical reason.

She keeps her smile, "Yes I know that spell, it's very useful for paperwork. But the real gift is the silence barrier they made, the foals sleep so soundly now. You have your answer now and I have things to do, so get going, I won't have you be late on my account."

There is the mare I remember, the mare that will tell you to get going and stop wasting time. I just smile and don't even try to argue with her, "I will. And, thank you, for everything you did for me." I try to sound as genuine as I can when I say that because I really mean it.

She turns to me and smiles again. "And you seem to be doing well, that's thanks enough, now get along Colt." I chuckle and nod again. I flip up my hood again and walk out into the rain again, it was nice to see her again. Maybe I could visit more? I'll think about it later, I have a meeting to get to.

When I reach the palace it's just on time, and I go through the same motions with the guards as always. But this time I'm not led to the room we normally meet in, instead I'm led to a double door I don't recognize. The two guards on either side of the doors look at me for a moment but don't seem very interested, after that moment one of them nods to the doors.

Seeing that I just open the doors and walk inside, and what's inside surprises me. I'm greeted by a brightly lit and nicely decorated bedroom. A large bed and several shelves filled with books and other objects filled the space, and sitting at a table in the middle of the room was Celestia.

She turns from the book she's reading and smiles when she sees me. "Shade, Come in and make yourself comfortable, and please close the door." I'm still a little stunned at being in what I think is her bedroom, so I just nod and use my field to close the doors behind me.

A tiny part of me is uncomfortable to be in somepony else's home, but I shake that off and walk over to sit down at the table with her. After a movement I'm given a cup of fresh tea, "So how was your trip? I hope everything went well." She says with a smile.

I nod. "It was very nice, the ponies were friendly and kind, and the festival was fun." I keep my answer short and truthful.

She keeps her smile and nods, "Good to hear, I've had the pleasure of visiting Ponyville a few times in the past and it's always a good experience." Knowing what's to come she was probably there for more than just a visit, but I keep those thoughts to myself.

"I agree. I am curious though, why meet here now?" I decide to change the subject, I rather not let my mind think about the potential consequences of my actions right now.

She obviously notices me changing the subject but moves right along. "Well, I've seen where you live, so I thought it would only be fair if you got to do the same."

I take another moment to look around her room. It's nice and clean, warm colors decorate it and despite its opulence, it has a nice feel to it. I smile back at her, "Well I can definitely say you're better at decorating than I am. It's a nice place, thank you for inviting me." It is nice to know she trusts me enough to be in her personal space.

"Well thank you, I try to keep it interesting. But enough with the pleasantries, last time we were interrupted, and knowing you, you're still curious." She's got me pinned there, I am definitely curious.

"Straight to the point? You do know me well." I joke a little more and start really relaxing with her. I spend a moment sipping some tea and thinking about what to ask. "I guess I'll start with simple things and go from there." She just nods as I continue to think.

But I have some trouble trying to think of decent simple questions, eventually I just go with the first thing I can think of. "What's your favorite thing to do that doesn't involve ruling?"

She tilts her head a little, "Well there are a few things, but music is probably my favorite. And out of all the instruments I've learned to play piano is the one I enjoy playing the most." Well, that's a nice surprise.

"I don't really know what I was expecting, but that wasn't that. Do you play often?" Although now that I think about it a piano does fit her.

She moves her hoof in a so-so fashion. "Yes and no, sometimes I play often for a while, and sometimes I can also go years without playing."

I nod and decide to move on to the next question. "Favorite color?"

"Yellow." She answers immediately.

I give her a deadpan stare. "Really?"

She chuckles. "No, it's red."

I roll my eyes. "Favorite food. And cake doesn't count." The few times she's eaten something at our meetings she ate cake or other sweets.

Her face shifts from her smile and I swear I see her pout for a moment, but don't fully catch it. "I like pretty much anything with daisies."

I note that in my memory and move on. "Ok, how about this, name three things you don't like."

She pauses for a moment and seems to think about it, "Cherries, pineapple, and hayfries." I just give her an, are you serious, look. "What? You brought up food."

I just smile and move on again. "OK, I'm done with the simple stuff. I'm honestly not sure if I should even get an answer to this question, but I'm too curious not to ask." I drink more tea and reassure myself that she's a friend, and the worst she can do is refuse to answer.

She seems to see I'm a little apprehensive. "I'll say the same thing as last time, you've been personal with me and I'd like to do the same, so please ask. Even if I can't answer there is no harm in asking."

Hearing her encouragement I just go for it, blunt as a brick. "It's obvious you are ageless to some extent, but are you just ageless or are you immortal in some way?"

She gives me another reassuring look. "Well first, I can see why you'd hesitate to ask, and I'm happy you trust me enough to ask difficult or sensitive things without thinking I'll get mad or defensive about it. But to answer you, as far as I know I am completely ageless, and I'm able to recover from... Extensive wounds, but I'm not sure if I'm truly immortal." I hear the pause and decide to not question it.

I smile at her reassurances, and start thinking about her answer. "So there could be a limit to what you can heal from, but you're not sure where it is and rather not test it?" She nods. "Well, that puts a few fears of mine to rest."

She raises a brow. "You worry over my health?" She asks curiously.

Seems I relaxed a little too much and let that slip, but I don't panic and just think up a reasonable, truthful, answer. "Yes and no, I know it's unlikely that anything would happen to you. But we both know how paranoid I can be, and I've told you about how I worry over things like this."

She smiles a little sadly and nods. "I'd hoped you'd learn to worry less about such things, but like I said last time I understand such fears and that it takes time to put those fears to rest. And while we're on this topic I'd like to ask you something that I ask anypony that asks me the same question you just did." I'm not at all surprised other ponies have asked about her mortality before me so I nod.

It's honestly amazing that she can look past my age and talk about things like this with me, then again that's part of the reason I like talking to her. "If you could, would you want to live forever?"

I don't need to think about it for more than a second before answering. "No, I'd be happy to live for a long long time, but living forever isn't something I'd ever agree to." And I'm being honest, I've died before and while I do wish to live a long life, living forever is nothing but a trap.

She smiles at my answer. "Most at least give the idea some thought, and many just say yes immediately. So why flat-out refuse?"

"Math." She raises a brow. "Forever by its very definition never ends, and that's completely terrifying." I now have her interest as I keep explaining. "I think the best way for me to explain how I feel about it is by changing the question a little. Would you want to live longer than everypony else?"

She nods. "And that is the same trap that so many fall into. You are completely right, the idea of living forever can be scary." We lapse into silence as I try to think of what to say next.

It's clear we've gotten off track so I ask something else. "What is an alicorn?"

She goes along with me changing the subject again and answers a few seconds later. "Well that's complicated, and I won't go over a lot of things, mostly for safety." I nod my understanding, I'm not sure if a pony could become an alicorn if they knew how they come about, but I rather not find out. Plus I already know how alicorns come into existence.

"But I can say an alicorn is a mix of all the pony tribes, and that I have all the magic of every tribe. And as you know I control the sun and moon, while my niece Princess Cadence rules over Love." That brings my mind to Cadence, I haven't met her yet or seen her for that matter.

But I heard about her ascension when I was younger, somewhere around mid-988 if I remember correctly. "But I won't say much beyond those two things." She looks a bit apologetic but also firm in her answer.

I wake it off. "I'm the last pony you'd need to say that to, I'm paranoid enough as it is and don't need more things to worry about."

"Thank you for understanding, any more questions?" Seems she's the one to change the subject this time, and just as she did with me I'm happy to go along with the change.

And this is one I've been curious about ever since she brought it up to me, and I think it could be funny. She jokingly told me to never have grapes around Philomena, so I'm doing just that. During this whole conversation, Entropy and Philomena took time to mess around and play.

Right now Philomena is sleeping next to Entropy on her perch, it's honestly adorable that they share perches. "Well I do have a question, but I think I can answer it myself." Celestia raises a brow at that statement. Philomena is awake sitting on her perch, so I look over to her and take out a cluster of green grapes I brought with me from my saddlebags.

Celestia looks at the grapes for a second before she smiles, and then she starts chuckling. :I may have made a mistake: Before I can put the grapes back a ball of living fire and excitement slams into the grapes I was holding in front of my face.

Next thing I know I have a very hyper Phoenix gobbling down the grapes at an insane speed while standing on top of me, meanwhile I'm splayed out on the floor belly up because she knocked me down with how fast she moved. I'm too stunned to move and just lay there on my back as Philomena eats on top of my belly while Celestia breaks down laughing.

It takes less than twenty seconds for Philomena to eat around twenty grapes, and once she's done she finally gets off of me. I move myself upright as Philomena hops on my back and starts happily chirping at me while preening my mane that was messed up from the fall.

I turn my head to Celestia, she's recovered from her laughing fit and is now looking at me with the biggest smile I've ever seen on her face. I gave her a look of utter confusion, "WHAT, was that?" I demand.

She just laughs again. "THAT, would be what happens every time Philomena sees grapes. She will do anything to get to them and pamper those who give them to her." She explains while Philomena continues to straighten my mane out, I look back to Philomena and stare back at me with what I swear is a smile.

She looks happier than I've ever seen before and is happily working away on my messy mane. It's at this moment that Entropy decides she can't be outdone and flies down to also land on my back, and then she starts helping Philomena preen me, I turn back to Celestia and she just laughs again at the sight.

"I did try to warn you, the good news is Philomena will basically adore you for a while." She says with a smile. "So what other questions did you have?" Celestia asks with a far too cheery tone. I just give her an unamused look as she chuckles at my expression again.

Author's Note

100 Chapters. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING!!! And have a lovely day. :D

And as a special surprise, Sparky sparks has made a lovely piece of art to celebrate this milestone. They drew it with a mouse and basically no experience with drawing ponies, impressive work I'd say.

Chapter 101

JUN 28 Sunday.

I sigh and move back to the same place I was sitting before a crazy bird body checked me. I lay down and get comfortable again while Entropy decides to sit on my head, with Philomena staying on my back, "Well I'm glad you two are happy with yourselves." I turn to Celestia as she softly chuckles again.

I give her yet another deadpan look, "And I'm glad you've gotten a good laugh out of this."

She stops and smiles at me. "Well thank you, your sacrifice is appreciated." She jokes, It's good to hear her joke so much when we talk. "But moving on, more questions?" I almost nod but don't because of Entropy, she sees my predicament and just keeps her smile.

I think about it for a few moments. "What would you personally consider a short span of time? Months? Years?"

She looks thoughtful for a moment while I refill my teacup and eat a biscuit, these are good. "Well, that's not really a simple answer to that. Sometimes I can keep going through the motions of my day-to-day duties again and again, and then suddenly it's two months later. And other times it feels like the day slowly crawls along as I go through the same thing I've seen so many times. So yes and no." I make a mental note of that as she continues. "I am rather curious why such a question came to mind?"

I think of a good analogy and then answer her. "Well, we were talking about immortality. And from what I've seen a short amount of time seems to change depending on how old you are, at least to some extent. For me, a year feels like a decent amount of time when many things happen. But an old pony that's lived for decades might consider a year to not be that long." She seems to understand where I'm going with my explanation.

"And you wondered if a pony that's lived for centuries would experience that to a greater degree." She guesses.

I'm about to nod again but once again remember Entropy is still on my head, so I pick her up and place her on my back next to Philomena. Then I nod, "Yes something along those lines."

She's silent for a moment before speaking. "You know I didn't notice too much before now, maybe because we talked about yourself, but you seem to think a lot about how different beings might see the world around them."

I let that roll around in my mind, and I'm a little confused by what she means. She sees my confusion and elaborates, "Let me ask you this as an example. If you could be any other species besides a pony, what would it be? And why?"

I think over her words before answering. "A dragon. They don't age, can eat gems if they can't find meat or plants, are very tough, can fly, and they have their fire for attack and defense. And there are probably more reasons that I don't know about."

She smiles and nods. "All decent reasons, with the information you have to work with. Now what would be some downsides to being a dragon?"

I'm not sure where she's going but answer anyway. "I'm not sure if a dragon can use magic, but even if they can it would probably be harder to use than as a pony. From what little I know they aren't the most social race and that would make cooperation and finding help with injuries or trade harder."

"Their size is useful, but when they get truly large it might be hard to find enough food or shelter. Their size would also make it hard to create personal items or useful tools that they wouldn't outgrow or break. And it would also probably be harder to get along with other races to an extent."

"And I could probably think of a few other smaller things, but that's most of the big ones that come to mind immediately." By the end, Celestia looks a little proud of my explanation, and I'm not sure why.

"And do you think most would think the same about dragons if I asked them that question?" She asks while keeping that same look.

I nod. "We may not know much about dragons, and any pony you asked would have to read up on dragons some, but all of the things I mentioned seem pretty common sense to me. And it would only take some time to think it all through."

She shakes her head a little, "As much as I wish all my ponies did that, they simply don't. From my personal experience a majority of ponies only think about things from their perspective or a pony-centric perspective. What you are doing is in a way the opposite, you put yourself in another's position and try to imagine what life is like for them."

I decide to interrupt, to voice my disagreement. "I understand that many could have some difficulty doing it, but I feel like most ponies could do it with a little effort and time." As we talk I'm starting to see her point a little.

She shows a smile filled with a little pride directed at me. "It's not that they can't, they simply won't. I can not list the number of ponies I've met who fail to grasp what you've just told me, so many simply see the world how they see it and never really think about how others may see it. Many just don't take the time and effort to understand others like that."

I understand what she's explaining, but I'd thought it would be less of an issue in this world. For humans, we oftentimes struggled to see how the world looks and feels from a different human’s perspective than our own, sure we can do it but it takes time and effort on our part.

I just thought ponies would be more willing to put in that time and effort considering they interact with completely different species on a reasonably often basis.

And the more I think about it the more I realize ponies struggle just as much as humans did in this aspect, maybe even more considering how isolated they can be as a species, I'm reminded of Ponyville and a certain Zebra. I slowly nod to Celestia, who's let me think through her words in silence, "I see what you mean, although it still seems odd that they don't think about others like that."

She keeps a small smile. "Many do, but sadly they are in the minority. Most live their lives and don't worry about much else, they never really question what life is like for other ponies, let alone other species. But at least there are ponies like you, ponies who try to understand." She gives me that same slightly proud look again.

"Well, I'll take that as a compliment." I move on and try to think of what to ask next. "What's something you enjoy talking about but don't get to as much as you'd like?" I'm curious if she likes something but can't talk about it with most of the ponies she interacts with normally.

She seems to think about it for a few moments before answering. "Philosophy, I enjoy thinking and questioning things about the world around me and how they work."

I'm pleasantly surprised at her answer, then again I'd be more surprised if she didn't think about the world at her age. And it seems we share an interest in this topic. "Philosophy is something I also enjoy, but also don't get to talk about much." I lapse into silence for a moment and come up with a decent question. "Do you believe destiny exists?"

She smiles seeing that I'm trying to engage with her interest, and stays silent for a moment before answering me. "Yes I believe destiny exists, but I also believe it can be changed. And that it's not as rigid as many would presume." She then asks the question back to me. "What about you? Do you believe destiny exists?"

I think about her question a little before answering. "Yes I do, but I don't see it as a singular thing." She raises a brow and stays silent, so I elaborate. "I think everypony has their own unique destiny, and that it changes with our actions, if you make a different decision at any moment your destiny will change to reflect that."

"And that every destiny interacts with all the others, one action leads to another and it spirals endlessly. I see it as an endless sea of destinies, constantly changing and interacting with each other, shifting with the tides, never staying the same for more than a moment. But that's just how I see it."

I don't lie to her about how I see destiny. I know it can be changed because I've done just that, but I also personally believe in choosing your own destiny. This is just my best attempt to visualize these two ideas together in an explainable way.

As I explained my thoughts Celestia goes from interested to thoughtful. "That's certainly an interesting way to see destiny." We both go quiet. Then Entropy decides she needs attention and moves in between my forelegs, I just start scratching her as Celestia speaks. "Where do you think life came from?"

I can see her wanting to continue but deciding to not engage with this question. "Ahh, the oldest question there is. I have no idea, I honestly wouldn't even know where to begin." I lie through my teeth.

My last world never found out where life came from, but we narrowed it down to a few good theories. And some of those theories could even be correct. So I think it's best I don't bring those ideas up right now, especially when I can't just say I read it somewhere. If I did, she might go looking for my sources and she won't find them, and that's just a slippery slope that could lead to many questions I won't or can't answer.

She nods. "Yes many are the same, I myself am just as clueless in answering it. And I've heard a few interesting theories over the years, but nopony could ever prove any of them to me." Yet another moment of silence falls over us, and Celestia takes a moment to look at the clock on the wall.

"Seems we have gone past our meeting time." I glance over and see it's eight at night, we've been talking for a while now. "And I think this is a decent place to leave it, anything else before we finish?"

I can't think of anything that couldn't wait until our next meeting so I shake my head. "No, thanks again for inviting me. And for showing me your home." It was nice to simply talk with her, no guards, no palace, just a quiet space, and some interesting topics.

"And thank you for indulging in one of my interests. Have a good night Shade, also feel free to just have Entropy take you home, I rather you not have to walk home in the dark." She gave me a happy smile while cleaning up the tea set we were using.

I nod, but then an idea strikes me. "And the same to you. Would you mind if we set up somewhere I can just have Entropy bring me here? Although that might be somewhat of a security risk so maybe a place nearby the palace would work better." I offer.

She nods and keeps her smile. "I doubt Entropy would bring anypony but you here. The room she brings mail to should work just fine, I'll have a guard be at the door when we have a meeting scheduled to guide you. I wish you a pleasant rest." She answers while taking Philomena off of my back, Philomena for her part looks annoyed at being moved while she's resting.

"Agreed, and I wish you the same Celestia," I say while stretching out my sore legs and turning to Entropy, who's standing on my back. "Take us home girl." A moment later I see nothing and reappear in my apartment.

Well, today has certainly been interesting, but I'm hungry and tired. I feed both me and Entropy some dinner and head to bed.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}

I originally didn't plan on making this a continuation of the last chapter. But some microscopic bastard decided to get me sick. And then I wrote this slightly dehydrated with a slight fever, why? Fuck if I know.

The result is interesting and I think I got weirdly philosophical half way through. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the mad ramblings.

Ps, I'm taking tomorrow off.

Chapter 102

JUL 10 Friday.

I hit the ground on my left side as I lost my balance again. "Come on Colt, you need to remember to move them in sync." I just gave him an unamused look.

I nod and once again stand up straight while flexing my wings out. I keep my hooves firmly on the ground with a very specific sticking spell Blaz taught me, well not taught, he showed it to me and I learned it. But that's semantics and not important right now, I refocus my attention on the task at hoof.

Learning to fly is not easy, you need to properly control your wings to keep yourself in the air and also not crash into anything. Me and Blaz normally mark a day or two out of the week to meet up after work at the park and practice. And while I wouldn't say it's going poorly, it's still far from easy.

I flex the right muscles and feel the wings push through the air. The spell Blaz showed me lets me stop the spell at any time, so if I start falling I can fall properly, instead of falling over while my hooves stay stuck in place. The spell has helped in our practice a lot so far.

I keep trying my best to move both wings in sync and in the right way. This goes on for another hour before me and Blaz decide to call it for the day and we start walking back home together, "Well Colt, you've definitely made decent progress. But you still flap around like a confused bird." He ends his words of encouragement with a jab at me.

I just smile back. "True, but at least I'm not as horrible as you are at teaching. Seriously, you couldn't instruct a pony to cut paper." I joke back, and predictably we both laugh at the horribly stupid insults we throw at each other.

"Have a good night Colt, and remember to practice some before we meet up again." I nod as we separate, he heads down a street to the library and I start walking to my apartment building. I definitely made the right choice when I asked him to teach me how to fly.

Sure he's far from the best teacher and we both know that, but it's still far more enjoyable to practice with him than it would be to train with a pony I don't know, even if they would probably be a better teacher. I whistle while walking home and enjoy the nice evening air.

As I'm walking down an empty street, which is a fairly rare thing in Canterlot, something catches my interest. My ability to sense life magic has improved by quite a bit over time and with training, so when I feel two sources of life magic moving towards me quickly I notice. I turn my head and look towards the direction I feel them approaching from.

Normally I wouldn't notice two sources moving around, but this street is empty and these two are moving fast while being on the ground. When I say fast I mean a full gallop, and that's not something you see often in this city. Immediately my mind starts thinking the worst, but I push those thoughts to the side and instead, I just try and form a plan to reassure myself.

The street I'm on doesn't have anywhere I could hide easily. Wait, why would I need to hide? I realize I'm letting my paranoia get the best of me again, but something about this doesn't feel right and is nagging at me. Not knowing if I needed to run, hide, or ignore the problem, I decided to simply maintain my calm.

So I just keep walking at the same steady pace while making sure my dagger is properly hidden in a place where I can quickly access it. It's probably just two ponies who need to get somewhere quickly. The two sources of life magic burst out of the alley around fifty feet behind me.

As they run out of the alley they knock something over and it scatters on the street. And while I could pretend to not hear it and keep walking, I am very curious about what is happening. So I glance behind me to see two ponies standing in the street looking around.

Two mares, one pegasus, and one unicorn. Both look unremarkable and are looking around the empty street quickly while talking to each other, after glancing at them I turn back and keep walking. I'm not sure what's going on, but my curiosity is sated and I have no interest in getting involved in whatever this is.

But since when have I ever been that lucky? After a few moments both mares stop talking to each other, I can't make out what they talked about, but I do feel the life magic move when both of them start running in my direction, so I just play ignorant and keep walking.

After a short amount of time both mares run up behind me and I wait while hoping they just run past me. But they don't, instead, I hear their hoof steps stop behind me, and not a second later I hear an out of breath mare's voice speak up. "Excuse me, Sir?" I know they're talking to me, I play dumb by looking a little startled before looking behind me at them.

Once I look at them I give both a slightly confused look. "Yes? Can I help you, Miss?" I'm still not sure what's going on, but I take the opportunity to memorize their features. The pegasus mare is an adult but is a little small, even by pegasus standards. She has a light red mane, a deep pink coat, and cherry-red eyes.

The unicorn mare looks a little older but is still relatively young. She is standard in size, has a very light green mane, light dusty tan coat, and yellow eyes. Another thing I notice is that they both have matching bracelets, some ponies have a tradition of using matching jewelry to signify that they are married, but I'm not sure if that's the case here.

"We're in a big hurry, do you know where this is?" The unicorn asks while holding a piece of paper up to me. Both look to be in a rush. I look over the piece of paper but stop when I start to feel the heat from my neck, :oh, FUCK!: The first thing that consumes my mind is panic.

I keep my face blank as I internally scream. My first concern is that the emotion shield won't work, but after several moments of nothing happening while I feel the panic run through my mind I start to believe it is working. So I focus on not acting out of the ordinary and remembering any information I notice.

I feel the warmth on my neck, but it feels weak. I've been improving the spell in my free time for a while now and I test it every time I try to improve it. So I've gotten a good feel for how warm it gets when an illusion is detected, but its reaction is weaker than normal, is something interfering with it?

I push those thoughts to the side and read the piece of paper, it has a single address and street name on it, I feel like I know the rough area that address is in but don't focus on that, instead I focus on answering them and leaving. Thoughts keep flashing through my mind and I see the pegasus mare looking back to the alley they came from for the third time since they walked over to me.

I don't know who they're running from. :Shit this is a bad situation: I can't just stand here forever and I'm not sure I want to tell them where they're going, but I think my emotions are hidden so I might be able to just lie. "Sorry, I don't know that street name." I offer in a neutral tone.

The mare unicorn looks at the page and back to me. "Do you know where it could be? Even if it's just a way to narrow it down? We really need to get there fast." She asks with a nervous and slightly desperate tone, and I'm also starting to get nervous about what happens if I can't leave before whoever is chasing them catches up.

I don't think they would attack me, but they are being chased and I saw them. I decided to give them some vague directions and get the fuck out of this situation. "Well, that address has a lower number so it's probably in the upper city and the street name makes me think of the markets. Sorry, I really don't know how to narrow it down more than that." I try to sound genuinely apologetic about it as I lie through my teeth.

Both look a little disappointed for a few moments but then something happens, whoever was chasing them finally catches up. I'm not sure what to expect, but I don't expect three normal-looking ponies walking out of the alley in a rush. They look around and spot us.

:FUCK! WHY?!: I'm definitely involved now, I start mentally preparing for a fight to happen while coming up with plans. The ponies are now trotting over to us at a decent pace, they seem more tired and out of breath, while the two mares with me are better rested, we might be able to outrun them. The approaching ponies also have less than friendly faces.

I look them over and start looking for weapons or threats. Two more mares and a stallion, one with saddlebags, and all of them are also wearing some piece of jewelry with a gem embedded in it. :Could they also be Changelings? Fuck if these two mares start a fight things could get bad:

The good news is I don't see any large weapons, and they while it's definitely tense. My thoughts are interrupted by the pegasus mare, "Grab him we need to go." I'm startled as the unicorn mare near me grabs my shoulder and starts trying to drag me with her. But she's less than successful, I'm easily able to keep myself in place.

"Wogh, hold on what's happ-" Before I can ask anything she gives me a look, full of slight fear and concern.

"No time, we need to run, NOW." I'm surprised by how forceful her voice is, I need to make a snap decision. At this point it's safe to assume both parties are either Changelings or under illusions, and considering the situation I think it's the former. But that still doesn't solve my dilemma.

If nothing else these two mares are trying to keep me out of danger instead of using me as a distraction. Seeing the other ponies getting closer I just pick my best bet and turn back to them, I give a single nod and all three of us are running a second later. I hear sounds from the ponies following us and keep pace with both mares.

I follow them as we run down the street far enough to find another alley and start running through it. While we run I easily keep pace with them, they aren't that fast all things considered. I keep trying to think of a way out of this, I don't have Entropy with me right now and I really wish I fucking did.

I still have my dagger, and I'm capable of casting many Firebolts instantly. I rather it not come to a fight but if it does I'm as ready as I can be if it does. Right now my best bet is to get away from those chasing us and slip away from these two afterwards, dealing with two is better than three or five. During this whole chase I can feel my heart race as I feel my panic constantly.

But we're moving slower than needed to outrun those pursuing us, I hear them getting closer. The unicorn mare is decently fast, but the smaller pegasus is slowing us down. she is tired already and won't last much longer at this rate. I don't have a plan right now and at this point I'm just concerned we won't get away. :Agghh, FUCK IT!: I stop for a moment and grab the small pegasus.

Both mares look surprised and very concerned at my actions. "What are yo-" She's cut off as I pull her onto my back and keep running at a faster pace. Both still seem surprised but don't question it as we turn onto a new street and quickly find another alley to run down.

The distant hoof steps of those following us disappear over the next few minutes of frantic running. The unicorn mare is completely out of breath at this point and needs to stop. I look around and see a cafe that's still open with a decent amount of ponies eating and relaxing inside, I'm not sure if they can track us but we can't stay out in the open like this.

I take the mare off my back. "They're probably still following us, come on." I don't elaborate more than that and start walking towards the cafe with a calm expression and stance pretending nothing is out of the ordinary. It's not the best idea to walk into an enclosed space, but I doubt whoever is following us will start anything with so many ponies around.

I don't look back but feel their life magic following me after a moment. I casually walk inside and find a free booth to sit in, the booths are separated by small walls so we should have some privacy. The two mares are definitely on edge, and the unicorn is still breathing hard, but both sit down opposite of me after a moment.

"Order anything and don't cause a scene. If they follow us in pretend they don't exist and ignore them." I'm not calm in the least, but I project that I am to not cause a scene. Once the coast is clear I'll just walk away and explain nothing, it's a stupid plan that will probably fail, but I don't have a better idea right now.

After a tense minute of me looking through the menu and pretending I'm calm a waiter walks over to us. "What can I get you three?"

I don't skip a beat and answer immediately. "Coffee with sugar and a cheese bagel please." I don't like coffee and bagels are not my favorite, but the fewer things these two know about me the better.

After a moment the mares order some green tea and plain doughnuts. After the waiter leaves we all go silent, but after nearly a minute of pure silence the pegasus speaks up. "Why are you helping us?" She asks with thinly veiled suspicion.

I stare her down for a moment. I could just not answer her and keep silent, but we're in this together now and they are my only potential allies. So I decided to play the calm and confident card while trying to gain some trust from them by being somewhat honest. "You dragged me into this, and those ponies didn't look like the type to just give up." I stop as the waiter brings us our things.

Once they are gone again I continue, "They've seen me with you now, they'll be looking for three ponies, not two. I could walk away right now, but if either of you get caught you could tell them about me, and then I'd be in an even worse scenario. So for now we're stuck in this together." I'm pretty sure this is related to either Changelings or crime, and in either case I don't want to be involved further by these two getting caught.

My paranoid mind strikes me with a thought as I drink some far too black coffee. "Do they have any way to track you two?" I ask calmly. Honestly, I'm a little surprised I've kept this calm facade as this situation unfolds, I guess knowing I have skills and backup helps.

I'm supposed to meet Celestia tomorrow and if I'm not there, and when I don't answer any of the letters she will inevitably send when I don't show up, she will come looking for me. And it's not like I'm defenseless, I keep telling myself different reasons why I can maintain my calm. It doesn't really work, but I keep the fake calm on my face.

They both look at each other after my question, after a moment the unicorn starts looking through the small singular bag she has with her. Once she's checked her bag thoroughly she turns to me and shakes her head, "Not that we would know, but I can't say for certain."

The two mares have been faring worse than me on the surface, they both look nervous, jittery and aren't that good at hiding their concerned expressions. I can't say I don't sympathize, I'm also far from calm, I'm just better at hiding it than they are. The pegasus seems worse off and is tapping her hoof on the floor. "What do we do now?" She asks me impatiently.

I look at her while swallowing a bite of my warm bagel. "It depends on if they find us here, if they don't we look busy until it looks clear and leave calmly. If they do find us it's unlikely they will try anything when this place is so busy, our best bet is to wait until dark and leave then."

With a plan they should be a little more calm. "And if they do try something." She snaps back a little, seems she's more on edge than I thought.

"Cherry, calm down. But she is right, what if they do try something?" The unicorn interjects and calms the pegasus down some.

I make a mental note of the name before answering. "It's the end of the day and most guards change shift around now, I can count at least three off-duty guards with us right now," I tell a half-truth while keeping my voice as steady, I'm not sure the ponies I spotted are guards but they look about right and could actually be guards. I watch their reaction as I tell them, they both start glancing around and looking at different ponies with clear worry.

And as if to prove my point an on-duty guard walks in wearing their armor and starts to walk to the counter to order something. The guard is probably starting the night shift, maybe here for some coffee. It's at this moment I see the pegasus mare panic and quickly put on the bracelet she had apparently taken off at some point.

We see her put it back on a moment later, right after she puts it back on the guard stops and starts to look around them. They start on the opposite side of the cafe and start looking over the ponies and what they are wearing. Both the mares see this and freeze at the sight.

I don't know why they freeze up but I need them to stop staring at the guard. So I think fast and start drawing out a spell matrix as a distraction, that gets them to look away from the guard and back at me. But then out of the corner of my eye, I see the guard start messing with a cuff on their foreleg and looking around more, at the same time that my necklace started to heat up.

It didn't take long for my brain to connect the dots and realize why they just froze so hard. My mind was really starting to panic now. :Fuck! Is that for detecting illusions? Why would they have that?: I panic and do the first thing that comes to mind.

The spell I was making wasn't complete so I was able to quickly swap a few parts out and cast the most basic illusion spell I knew before the guard looked at us. It's the spell that lets me draw on the illusionary canvas, once it's in the air in front of me I start talking about it. "Pretty neat ya? I spent a while trying to learn it." I say louder than I need to.

The guard looks over at us and sees the spell before looking us over as I ignore them and keep talking about the spell while keeping eye contact with both mares, at this point both of them look confused and dazed about what's happening. "It's a basic illusion spell that lets me draw and paint, how cool is that?" I fake my excitement and speak louder than I need to.

The guard hears me and after a few moments seems to calm down and lose interest while I keep talking about what the spell does. Once the guard looks away I bring up a hoof and make a zipping motion that seems to snap them out of their panic and they quickly nod as I continue talking about the uninteresting inner-workings of the spell.

By the time the guard leaves I'm drawing with the spell and still talking about it, but once they are gone I drop the spell and my excited act. "Don't do whatever you just did again," I say to the Pegasus as seriously as I can, they both nod and I look around. Still, no sign of the other ponies, if we lost them then we need to leave soon.

At this point they probably suspect that I know they are using an illusion, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to know to cast an illusion spell. I hope they assume that I think they are under an illusion, and not that they are Changelings, they also probably think I knew about the guard's bracelets before now. So I'll play on these assumptions.

We sit in silence as I try to think about what to do next, I'm with two ponies who I know aren't ponies, and now they know that I know that they are hiding something.

How do I get out of this? If they are part of the hive then more of them will come for me for just interacting with them. No matter how I separate from these two it will always lead back to me being in danger from association with them. I don't think I can get out of this situation on my own, but the only pony that can help me is Celestia.

Celestia could solve this easily. But getting her help means one of two things, telling her I know about Changelings, or bringing these two Changelings to her while pretending that I only thought they were under an illusion spell. And then there is the fact that this will massively change the timeline, but I think that ship has already sailed.

That guard could detect illusions, and those bracelets on the mares are the only thing stopping it. It explains why the necklace only half worked earlier, my version of the illusion detection spell is both better and enchanted into a bigger, higher-quality gem. The bracelets these two are using can ward off the guards detection, but not mine.

As for why it's too late to not fuck up the timeline even more then I already have, I remember Celestia taking the illusion detection spell from me a while ago. It's easy to see her equipping her guards to find Changelings, I'm not sure how the Changelings found a way to counter it in time but they did.

This means it's likely that Celestia has already captured a Changeling or knows about them, and if either of those things are true then there is no downside to bringing these two to her. Honestly, it's the safest option now, for both me and them, even if they get imprisoned I know Celestia wouldn't treat them badly. And getting caught by whoever's after them is probably a much worse fate.

With my mind made up I just need a way to implement it. So I start with trying to figure out why they are here, it's obvious that Canterlot is not a good place for them to be. I stare them down and make sure my knife is ready before speaking. "We both know that you're both under illusions and that you know about the guards' bracelets. So why are you doing this? Why take a risk like this?" I demand in a stern flat voice.

Neither of them looked shocked that I guessed about the illusion, I guess they figured it out from the spell I used. They both look very nervous but also a little relieved. Good, they think I only think it's an illusion, I can take them to Celestia and claim I had no idea that Changelings were even a thing. But I'll probably have to capture them to do that, and my best bet to accomplish that is knowing their plans.

After some tense silence and them both looking at each other, they both look unsure about answering me. Then turn back to me, the unicorn speaks up with a wary and cautious tone as she answers me. "We're here to try and get an audience with the princess, and to ask for her help."

I stare at her for a moment. :Ha, that's, not what I expected:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading you lovely people. :3

I had some inspiration and decided this was a good time it add some action, or at least what counts for action in this story. Honestly I feel like this even might be a little sudden, but it's how I want things to go and life has a tendency to be sudden. And hey, if I write myself into a mess I'll just have to write my way out.

Chapter 103

JUL 10 Friday.

I stare at the two mares in front of me thinking about what they just told me. :Why the fuck?: To say I'm confused would be an understatement.

My second thought is suspicion and concern, this reaction is so sudden that I can't stop my face from showing a slight frown before returning to normal. These two are probably Changelings and maybe criminals, bringing them near Celestia puts me on edge. Celestia is a friend and becoming one of my close friends, I won't just put her in danger. But after a moment I squash those thoughts.

Celestia is far more capable than me in almost every way, she doesn't need my protection and I should really be more worried about myself right now. So what do I do? I think it's still best if I bring them to Celestia, yes there is risk but this entire situation has risk and she's better equipped to handle this.

At least they will come willingly instead of me having to trick or foalnap them. But that brings up a new problem, how do I get them to Celestia? I could just tell a guard, but I don't have any proof that I know the princess on me. We could just walk to the palace, but that's going to take a long time.

If I did either of these then I'd need proof or time and I'm short on both, and if I had to pick I'd go with option one. But if I need to go home and get proof they have to come with me, so why not just have Entropy take us all right to Celestia? Well, I'd have to reveal Entropy and where I live to two unknowns.

But as long as I get them to Celestia they won't be able to use that knowledge against me. All my options are far from desirable, but I think heading home and having Entropy take us to Celestia is the safest option for us. That and I recognize the cafe we are in, and my home is a lot closer than the palace is from here.

With a rough plan worked out and a silent moment to steel my frayed nerves. I really don't want them coming home with me, but it's by far my safest option even if some things are revealed, but secrets don't matter if you're dead. And considering I don't know who's after us they might try to kill me. Once my mind is made up I look over at the mares across from me and speak.

I spent almost a full minute thinking this through while staring them down, and both of them were clearly uncomfortable at this point. "Why do you need to meet the princess? Why is this important enough to need her help instead of the guards?" They seem a little relieved that I finally spoke, and they look at each other again.

After a moment the unicorn mare speaks. "We need her help, and going to the guards isn't an option. We... We need a chance to explain a few things and we don't think the guards will hear us out, but the princess might." She goes silent again and the pegasus breaks the silence.

"We don't have time for this, here is this enough to prove it's important?" The pegasus seemed to have lost her patience in her worry and does something very surprising. She holds a hoof in between her and the unicorn mare so nopony else but I can see it.

Then there is a slight flourish of green flame and her hoof turns black, I can see the holes in her limb as the black chitin reflects some light. I struggle in-between pretending to show surprise and keeping my calm and stony facade up, In the end I settle for widening my eyes slightly and raising my brows.

"Cherry! By magic, what are you thinking?" The unicorn scolds her while glancing around to make sure nopony saw what happened.

"He's definitely not a normal pony, you saw how well he's handled all of this, he barely even reacted to my hoof. And they could find us again any time now, we don't have time to argue about this." She explains quickly with zero patience, before looking back to me. "It's a matter of life and death, can you help us? Please?" She's basically pleading with me at this point, she even has a slightly pleading look.

And her look and tone of voice do pull on my heartstrings a little, but I keep my blank face and don't respond for a moment. After pretending to think about it, I answer her. "Yes." I see the pegasus look hopeful and the unicorn looks surprised at my answer. "But to do that we need to find somewhere safe, I live nearby but that means we need to get there safely and without being followed."

The unicorn looks suspicious at my answer. "I'm thankful for the help, but why do we need to go to your home? Why not the palace?"

I don't take offense to her suspicions and just answer, but I need them to come with me to my home. "I can help you, but we can't just walk up to the palace and knock. But if we get to my home I have a way to send a message to somepony higher up, and they can help us all more than I can." I lie about needing to inform some superior, she stares me down for several moments before slowly nodding.

I could probably just take us all to the palace, but we're still being hunted and the longer we walk around the more dangerous it is. So I'm lying to get them to follow me home, from there I can get us to Celestia easily. I have no problem lying to these two for our safety.

I look over at the other mare who also nods her agreement. "Ok then, we'll all walk out in a moment. Keep your eyes open for anypony following us, if you do see anypony tell me but don't make it obvious." I don't say anything else and just stand up to walk over to the counter and pay our bill.

They stand up from the booth and wait for me by the door, and a minute later we are walking through the dark streets of Canterlot. While we walk I make sure to focus on my life magic while I think about what I've learned so far. Well, I can say for certain that these two are Changelings.

And that they are probably being hunted by other Changelings, if the bracelets I saw on all of the ponies that chased us mean anything. I have no idea what is happening, but the fact that they are going to Celestia with the deliberate intention of revealing what they are is good enough for me to somewhat trust them, just a little bit. Mostly because you only take a risk like this unless you have no other option left.

But the idea of Changelings fighting other Changelings brings up even more questions. I thought they all lived under the rule of Chrysalis, so this is either some of her Changelings defecting, or there is more than one hive of Changelings. I have no idea what the implications of that second idea are, but either way things are going to get really messy soon.

It's not too late and the sun only set a short while ago, so the streets are still decently full of ponies and well-lit. That's good for us, makes it easier to blend into the small crowds. I'm very on edge as we walk, so it doesn't take me long to notice we're being followed again.

I only sense one source of life magic this time, but we've turned down a few streets now and it's still following us. I don't turn but speak to the two mares behind me, "Don't react, just keep walking like nothing is wrong. You understand?"

After a moment the unicorn voice answers me, "Yes we understand, but why?"

"We're being followed again." I hear a slight misstep from one of them, but nothing else happens and we keep walking. "I think there is only one of them, and we need to get rid of them before we get to my home." Neither of them responded to me voicing my concerns.

I'm forming a rough plan as we keep walking. There is only one of them, which probably means they are either following us to find out where we are heading and then going to report back to somepony, or they are keeping an eye on us while somepony else gets reinforcements. Either way, we need to get rid of them fast.

As we walk I see an alleyway, it could work but it will be a big risk. Not seeing a better option I voiced my plan, "We'll head into that alleyway and hope they follow us, if they do we will jump them and try to knock them out."

The voice that speaks up first is the pegasus. "Really? That's the plan? Buck! Fine." She seems less than enthusiastic about my plan and so am I. The unicorn doesn't answer me, but she also doesn't voice any disagreement. We turn into the alley and start looking around.

A few trash bins on the left, and two wooden crates on the right with a few feet of room in between, both are several dozen feet down the alleyway. "You two hide behind those, I'll hide behind the crates," I say while pointing at the trash bins. They give me unsure looks but still do as I instruct, they must really be desperate to go along with me so much with so few questions.

We hide as best we can, and I feel the source of life magic nearing the alley entrance. I peek out from a small gap in between the two wooden crates and see an uninteresting unicorn stallion. He looks down the alley and curses. "Buck they ran." He says just loud enough for me to hear him.

He is starting to speed up while moving down the alleyway, but just as he nears where we are hiding he looks at the trash bins, after a moment he starts to skid to a stop and backpedal. :FUCK, he saw something: I don't have time to plan and just jump out with my dagger held to my side in my field.

At the same time the two mares also move, they push the trash bins out of the way and throw something at him, but it misses. The stallion is not too surprised having seen something that tipped him off already, but at this point we're too close for him to run down the empty alley without cover. I see his mouth open with a light hiss and do the first thing that comes to mind, I've never used my field on another pony before, but let's see what happens.

I try to grab one of his four hooves and pull it to the side as hard as I can. Turns out I overdid it, I heard a slight crack and the pony fell to the floor with a pained shout, I don't give myself time to think about what I just did and rushed over to him.

The problem is I'm not sure how to knock a pony or changeling out, last time was pure luck. I may be stressed, worried and running on pure adrenalin at this point, but I don't want to kill them by accident. I lunge at him and try to wrestle him to the ground to restrain him, but he fights back and takes a swing at me with his good foreleg.

I duck under it and backup a little as the stallion gets his footing under him, but while dealing with me he wasn't paying much attention to the mares. The pegasus mare takes advantage of this mistake and rushes over quickly to him before taking a swing at him.

Her form is horrible and the swing is sloppy, but the stallion is disoriented and in pain, so he doesn't see the mares rushing at him until it's too late to move out of the way. The mare is probably running off a lot of adrenaline and fear right now, and that helps her hit him surprisingly hard.

The blow lands square on the side of his head and lays the stallion out on the cold street, he doesn't get up for a few seconds as we all wait with bated breath. Once he doesn't move for a while I cautiously walk over and start checking on him, I hit him lightly on the chest but get no reaction. And then I push on his injured leg a little just to make sure he's not faking it, but still no reaction.

He's still breathing so I guess he's knocked out or has a concussion, I'm not one hundred percent sure but I think so. I look over to the two mares and see that they are both fine, the unicorn looks shaken but ok, and the pegasus looks a little worried. I've felt what she's probably feeling before and tried to calm her down, "He's just unconscious, but we need to move now."

He's seen us and we can't just leave him here. His disguise, transformation? Doesn't matter, the point is he still looks like a pony and that gives me an opportunity. The stallion is smaller than me so I haul him over my shoulder and place his belly down on top of my back. The mares looked confused at my actions, "We're near my home, if we leave him here he could wake up and they could start looking around this area."

I go quiet trying to force my tired mind to form an excuse as to why we're carrying around an unconscious stallion, but I come up with nothing. So I do the only thing I can and turn to the two mares. "Can either of you think of an excuse as to why I'm carrying around an unconscious stallion?"

Asking for help does take away some of my calm and in-control facade, but I need ideas and I've reached my limit on improvising bull shit on the fly. After a moment the pegasus speaks up, "We could say he's drunk and that we found him like this somewhere?"

The unicorn cuts in. "No, if a guard stops us they might ask us to take him to a hospital or to come with them. We could say he's our friend who got too drunk and needed to be carried home with us?" She offers.

I roll that idea around in my head for a moment before nodding to them. "It will have to work, come on we're close now," I say while walking towards the entrance of the alley.

It's not the best idea but I can work with it, and I'm sure as hell not leaving him here. I think of something else and look over to them, "One of you sticks close to me and tells me if he starts to wake up or moves, you have to keep a close eye on him." I stress the second part as the mares look at each other.

I start walking out of the alley and the unicorn walks up next to me, while the pegasus follows right behind us. My apartment isn't far now and it will only take a few minutes at most, but my luck has been shit today and it's not changing now. Two guards on patrol are down the street from us and coming closer.

The mares also see them and start to look concerned. "Let me do the talking, and back up my story if they ask you anything," I tell them without stopping in my stride. My mind is getting tired of the constant worry and faking my calm while shoving down my constraint panic and fear.

This entire thing has brought my mind to its limit and I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this all up. As I expect the guards to see us and walk up to us, I greet them with a tired look and a slight nod. "Ya, we know," I say impatiently, the guards look confused and a little annoyed at my words, I then pretend to look embarrassed about what I just said.

"Sorry, we've had three other guards come up to us and ask about him." They seem to look less annoyed when I explain that with an embarrassed tone.

"And what is going on with him?" The guard asks while looking at the stallion, they don't seem that suspicious, more curious than anything.

I give an exaggerated sigh. "My friend here isn't the smartest. We all went out for a fun dinner night and some drinks, me and those two" I say while pointing at the mares, who are doing a decent job of looking just as tired and done with this as I am. "Needed to go and grab something from her home" I pointed to the unicorn mare. "And when we came back my brick brain of a friend had gotten himself drunk."

As I start explaining this like I've explained it three times before, the guards start looking even less annoyed and more amused. "We came back to a bill and him nearly blacked out at the bar. So we decided to drag him home with us and let him sleep it off, but he was too drunk to walk straight so I've been carrying his flank for a few blocks now.

I say all of this in a, I'm fucking done with this shit, tone of voice, as I talk I keep sounding more and more annoyed at my supposed friend. "And he fell asleep as we walked." Once I'm done with my explanation one of the guards lets out a slight chuckle, but cuts it short by a look from their partner.

The guard looks at me and nods. "Sorry for bothering you, but it's just something we need to do when we see things like this. Are you near your home?" The guard asks.

I nod to them tiredly. "Ya not far now, a block or two at most."

They give me a slight smile and nod. "Get home safe." The guard seems amused but is also serious about his goodbye. I just give them a tired nod and start walking again, after we're a decent distance away I hear the guards faintly laughing. We keep walking in silence before finally mercifully arriving at my apartment building.

The two mares with me seemed to have relaxed some when they saw we were actually going to an apartment building. I have to trudge up the stairs with the stallion on my back, and it takes several minutes to reach the right floor. Once we reach my door I take out my key and open the door. "Don't touch anything." I tiredly tell them before entering and turning off the shield around my apartment.

I leave the front door open and walk into my apartment. :So close to safety, but still not there yet: I remind myself while dropping the stallion on the floorboards like a sack of potatoes. I turn to the mares, "Watch him, if he starts to wake up, hit him until he stops." I no longer have the energy to keep a professional tone and just start walking to my bedroom.

As expected Entropy is sleeping on my bed and looks rather mad that I'm home so late. I whisper to her while closing the door behind me, "Quiet, we have guests." I tell her before she can make a sound, I immediately cast the illusion spell on her and motion for her to climb on my back.

I quickly take out some paper and ink before writing a short note to Celestia.

I don't have time to fully explain, I have two mares with me and an unconscious stallion.

I'll explain more when we arrive. Send guards to the room Entropy delivers mail to along with a medic. I'll have Entropy take us there exactly fifteen minutes after Entropy returns. When we get there I need to talk to you without them present before anything else.

Once it's done I look over to Entropy. "Do you remember Celestia's bedroom?" I ask Entropy quietly, she tilts her head and gives me an uncertain look. "Philomena knocked me over for grapes." I try to use an example to jog her memory, and after that she gives me a nod and a quiet chirp in response.

"Good, take this there now. Only give it to Celestia and nopony else, If she's not there, start looking around." She looks at me and takes the letter in her beak. "Come back right after you give it to her." And after a moment Entropy disappears with the hastily written note.

Once she's gone I walk back into the main room and check on the stallion, he's still breathing and out cold. After that I turned to the mares, "I sent a message, we'll be leaving in fifteen minutes." They both look a little skeptical but still nod to me. They haven't said much this whole time and I think it's them not trusting me, but that's fine we're nearly in the clear anyway.

They sit down while looking around my home, it's a little uncomfortable having them here, but we'll be gone soon enough. It's the most tense wait of my life, I'm constantly thinking about how things could go wrong. But thankfully it doesn't take long for Entropy to return and fly out of my bedroom before landing on my back.

The mares stare at Entropy for a few moments but don't question me about her. I check the time with a spell while taking the small torn piece of paper from her claws. We'll be ready, stay safe. I smile at it and look at the mares.

We watch each other and the stallion while waiting in dead silence. The minutes stretch out unbearably long, but eventually, it's time to go. I tiredly pick the stallion up again and look at the mares, "There are three things you'll need to remember before we leave." They look confused again but nod for me to continue.

"One, this will feel very odd, and it's very important that you don't panic" I let that sink in before containing. "Two, don't attack anypony or make any sudden moves when we arrive. Three, be very respectful." They still look a little lost and confused but both nod again after sharing an unsure look. "Good." I walk up next to them and turn to Entropy, "All of us to the mailroom." Entropy is silent as she looks at the mares and back to me.

Two full minutes of nothing happening, and right before the mares are about to ask something, everything goes completely black.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}

Chapter 104

JUL 10 Friday.

For an instant, I feel the all too familiar feeling of the Void. I relax a little and just enjoy the fraction of a second where there is nothing but blissful silence and calm.

To say this day has been stressful would be a monumental understatement. I've gone from running to hiding to fighting, all while juggling my concerns, fears and telling lies. And the worst part is that I had to pretend to be calm and collected as best I could the whole time.

At this point I'm tired, more tired than I've been in a long time. Physically I'm mostly fine, but mentally I'm past my limit and it's really hard to keep my mask of calm at this point. I've never been the best when dealing with things like this, but today really has shown me just how true that is.

I prefer the quiet life, helping where I can while staying in the background. And maybe I could deal with things like this if I had time to prepare, but I didn't and now I'm just relieved to finally be somewhere safe, even if my paranoid mind disagrees with the assumption that it's safe.

The Void is gone just as fast as it came, and as I get my footing under me I look around the mailroom. The room Entropy normally delivers letters to isn't big by palace standards, but that still means the room is more than big enough to fit Celestia and around twenty guards.

I was expecting to be greeted by guards, then I'd give them this stallion and leave the room to talk to Celestia. Instead, I'm greeted by guards, and Celestia with the most intense stare I've ever seen her make. Her face doesn't show much emotion but I've gotten to know her well enough to somewhat guess what she's feeling.

I can see a mix of concern and worry under her mask of calm, but when she looks at the mares with me I see something else. If her stare was intense before now it's downright piercing, to say she looks intimidating would be one hell of an understatement.

The mares basically freeze when she looks at them with that stare. Not that I would do anything different in their place, I do not envy their current situation.

I pull the stallion off of my back and give Celestia what most would consider a normal bow, I normally don't do this anymore but those two mares are still watching. The mares see what I'm doing and mimic it a second later, Celestia turns to a guard and nods.

Two guards walk up and take the stallion from me before dragging him out of the room, while four more guards follow behind them. Good, I do not want him escaping. Celestia turns back to me and nods, so I take that as permission to stand up.

After I stand up the mares follow suit and also stand up, Celestia takes a moment to look at the mares. "You are safe here, but I ask that you stay in this room until I return." Her tone is nothing but royal business, and while that may have sounded like a request, it was not. After that, she turns around and heads for the door with me following behind her.

Once we leave the room Celestia waits for the door to close fully before turning to me, she lowers herself down some to be more near my eye level with me. "Are you injured?" Her tone switches in an instant and now holds concern for my well-being.

I shake my head. "Maybe a few bruises and scrapes but that's it. Also, those two aren't enemies, but I'm not sure if they're friends either so have the guards keep a close watch." She stares at me for a moment before nodding and casting a few spells on me, I guess she's double-checking that I really am fine.

After she sees the results I see some of the tension leave her body, wow she was more worked up about this than I expected. After that, she seems to actually think over what I just told her, "Then who are they?"

I tiredly nod. "I'd like to sit down before I go through all of this, I'm tired as it is and would rather not stand in a hallway while talking for the next hour." I don't beat around the bush and bluntly tell her I'd like to go somewhere private before we start, and she doesn't even skip a beat before nodding.

And then she does something I would have never expected, she reaches down with her wing and starts carrying me like a piece of luggage. I guess she can see how tired I am. I stare up and see her small smile and in response, I give her a mock glare, but I don't have the mental energy to argue with her.

We walk a few doors down the hallway and enter a room I've never been into before. As far as I can tell it's a breakroom of some kind, maybe for staff, it's empty right now and has some tea waiting for us already. She dumps me on a couch genially and sits down next to me while pouring us both some hot tea.

She passes me a cup as I finally relax for the first time in a few hours, I take a sip, damn it's nice to have some tea. I look over at her, she's just patiently waiting for me to speak. "Do you want a quick explanation, or all of it in detail, along with my theories and guesses?"

She seems to consider it for a few moments before answering. "You look about ready to fall asleep on this couch, so the quick version will have to do. Although I'd like you to write down everything you remember sometime later."

I nod and start explaining how this all started. "I'll make a full report later. Well, it all started with me and Blaz walking home from the park, we separated after a while, with him going to the library and me going to my apartment. A reminder that I did not bring Entropy with me, I won't be doing that again." As I say her name Entropy leaves my shadow and snuggles up with me on the couch, she tries her best to comfort me.

I don't remember seeing her when we arrived so I assume she went into my shadow as soon as we arrived at the palace. I smile and scratch her a little. "Anyway while walking home I found myself on an empty street." I stop for a moment to drink some tea Celestia gave me and enjoy the lemony taste.

"While walking I felt two sources of life magic moving quickly towards the street I was in, at the time I found it odd because they weren't just running but full-on sprinting, moving very quickly on hoof." At this point, Celestia takes out some paper and ink to write what I'm saying down as I go. "Not long after I noticed them, the two mares you saw burst out of an alleyway and started looking around the street."

"They looked distressed but I didn't think too much about it, I basically decided to ignore my paranoia for once, a bad idea. After they spotted me they ran over to me and asked for directions, I vaguely remembered the part of the city the address was for but you'll have to ask them about where they were going." She nods and notes that down.

Honestly I'm a little nervous about telling her what I did, my plan was far from well thought out. I ignore that thought and continue. "They were in a hurry and I didn't know where they were going, so I helped narrow it down as best I could. Right after that three other ponies ran out of the same alleyway the mares came out of, and once they saw us they started running at us." Celestia seems to see where this is going and slowly starts to frown a little.

I may be tired but catch it and stop my story. "Stop that, I'm fine now and upsetting you won't make me feel better about all of this." I try to take a joking tone to reassure her, but I'm tired and don't do the best job.

But my words do get her to stop frowning. "I know, but I will always worry over my little ponies. And especially my friends." She adds the second part with a small smile.

I just nod, happy that she's not frowning anymore and continue. "The two mares see the ponies and try to drag me with them saying we need to run. At this point I was very confused, and I'm not the best at making snap decisions, but in between the two options I chose to go with the mares."

Celestia keeps her concerned face and raises a brow, I see her silent question. "Those mares could have just left me as a distraction, it probably would have made it easier for them to get away. But they didn't, instead they at least tried to warn me. Taking me with them might not have been the best decision on their part, but it's better than sacrificing me."

Celestia doesn't look happy about my explanation, but I think it earned the two mares some goodwill. "So we ran, at some point the mare pegasus was slowing us down so I carried her for a while. After a while, we got away, but we were out in the open and it was going to be dark soon."

"So I led us into a decently busy cafe, and we sat inside for a while. Now this is where things get interesting and complicated." I drink more tea, all this talking is killing my voice. Celestia looks a little incredulous at the idea that this is where things get complicated and is giving me an, are you serious? Look.

"Yes, now it gets complicated." I'm still nervous about her judging me on my actions but try to not let it show. "A lot happened in there so I'll go over that in the report I'm going to make, but you know how I told you about my encounters with illusions and the ponies using them?"

In a moment Celestia goes from a little relaxed to very much focused again. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, I've noticed that the guards have started to wear more jewelry with gems in them." The only real lie I'll be telling Celestia, I don't want to lie to her but it's needed in this case.

She's still focused but nods, not confirming or denying anything. "Well I remember giving you the illusion detection spell and how interested in it you seemed, it did not take long for me to put two and two together." She again doesn't say anything, but the tiny smile she shows tells me everything I need to know.

"Anyway back to the point. The bracelets the two mares and the stallion are wearing seem to protect them from the illusion detection spell." She notes that down very quickly as I continue speaking. "Now when we were in the cafe one of the mares took their bracelet off to adjust it, right when a guard walked in."

She cuts me off at this point. "Did you think about asking the guard for help?" Her voice doesn't hold any form of negativity, just curiosity, but I'm still a little hesitant to answer her. In the end I still answered truthfully.

I nod. "My paranoia was extreme at that point, the mares were some type of ally for now but that could change if I went to a guard. And I had no idea how many ponies were looking for us, so I decided it was best to simply not be noticed and get to safety first, while not losing what little help I had."

She nods after a moment. "Maybe not the best idea, but considering your lack of training for anything like this and the situation you were in you did very well." Her tone is an odd mix of pride and sadness, but hearing that does improve my mood some.

I smile a little and nod. "When the mare took off her bracelet the guard's cuff told them an illusion was nearby, that's when I realized what the mare's bracelets did. But it caused me to panic, if the guard started looking around for an illusion the ponies following us could notice a guard investigating. So I panicked and just cast the simplest illusion spell I knew and talked about it louder than I needed to so the guard would hopefully overhear me."

She gives me a complicated look. I'm still trying to hide my expression of slight worry over being judged, I don't want to get scolded by her again right now, even if it's probably deserved. She sees through my attempts to hide my worry and gives me a reassuring look. " I don't judge you in any way for how you acted, you had no training and did the best you could, and that's ok. You did far better than pretty much any other pony would have done in your place, I'm just glad you're safe."

I can hear the kindness in her tone, honestly I'm emotionally exhausted right now, and worrying over what she'll think about my decisions isn't helping. I decide to continue this and finally get some rest, so I nod and continue. "The guard was tricked and left after seeing me, after that I asked the mares what they were doing here?"

"They panicked when they saw the guard notice an illusion, so they knew about the guard's bracelets, so they also had to know it was an extreme risk coming to Canterlot." At this point, I'm just tiredly rambling through the story. "They told me they needed help but didn't trust the guard to hear them out, so they wanted to try and talk to you hoping you'd hear them out."

She looked just as confused as I was when I heard that. "And I think they made the right call." That gets her even more confused. "You'll have to ask them to show you, but those illusions they have on are for more than hiding an identity. One of them briefly dropped the illusion and showed me their hoof."

I try my best to force my tired mind to be careful with what I say next. "It looked like a pitch black rock with holes throughout it, kind of like some types of cheese." Celestia is both concerned and thoughtful at that statement, and I'm curious if she knows about Changelings. "You have any idea what that could be?"

She shakes her head after a moment. "No, I've encountered a few things that are similar in description, but nothing that would let a pony keep walking around while afflicted. But if what you saw is true then you made the right decision bringing them to me." I smile at her praise and decide to not question her about the other similar things she's seen, I'm not opening that can of worms right now, I have enough nightmare fuel as it is thank you very much.

I nod and continue. "After some time we left. I could have brought them to the palace, but I wasn't sure we could make it that far without being found again, and I'm glad I didn't decide to come here." I can tell she doesn't like what I'm implying. "So I decided that our safest bet was to head to my apartment and have Entropy take us to you."

She seems surprised but doesn't interrupt me. "Ya, not something I'd normally ever do, but I was stressed, panicked, and tired," I say with a small smile, but then I lose it remembering what happens next. "While we were walking back to my apartment I felt another pony following us." That gets another frown from her. "And I thought that could only mean one of two things, he was either going to follow us to my home and leave to report back, or he was waiting for reinforcements to show up."

She remains silent but nods. "So I decided to take a big risk. We walked down an alley and hid behind some things in the alley, then when he came down the same alley and didn't see us he thought we had run. He drew close but saw us, luckily we were still able to ambush him."

Celestia looked far from happy, but not mad with me. Now I'm explaining in less and less detail and just want to sleep. "I used my field and probably broke his foreleg. That's why I requested the medic." I'm about to continue but am cut off and surprised when she reaches over with her wings and embraces me in a hug.

She has very fluffy and comfortable wings, and I have to force my mind to not fall asleep. Once she pulls away I give her a small thankful nod and a smile before continuing. "I tried to get him to the ground but he fought back and I had to back off a little. Luckily the pegasus mare hit him pretty hard on the head while he was distracted with me."

She keeps her reassuring and comforting look. "And then he was out cold. I had to carry him back with us and pretend he was a drunk friend to some guards on patrol who asked about him." I try to seem humorous about it but it does nothing to lighten the mood. "After we got to my apartment I had Entropy send you the note and you know the rest."

As I finally finish my story and wait as Celestia takes it all in for a moment. She moves what she wrote down to the side and looks back at me. "First, I'm happy you're ok, and if you ever need to talk about what happened please come to me." She says kindly.

I nod tiredly. "I will, thank you."

She smiles. "Good, now let's get you to a place to sleep." I raise my brow and am about to ask about what will happen to the mares and stallion. But she cuts me off. "I'll have the mares sleep in a room under constant watch, but you need sleep, so focus on that. Tomorrow we can talk about what will happen."

I try to think of a reason to disagree, but my tired mind can't think properly. Damn it, she's right, as much as I want to ask questions and get some damn answers from the mares, I do need rest. So after a moment I slowly nodded to her, "Fine, but wake me if I'm needed."

She keeps her smile. "I will, now let's find you a room." I stare at her and nod again, and a moment later I see her smile widen a little while she gets a mischievous look in her eyes. And then she picks me up off the couch and starts carrying me once again, if I wasn't so tired I'd have several things to say about being carried like this.

But I am very tired and welcome the sight of a bedroom, she drops me on the bed and I stare back at her. I see the smile and glare again, "I'll get you for this." I promise her while she just walks out of the room.

She turns back while keeping her smile. "Oh I know you will, but first get some sleep. Good night Shade." After that, she closes the door before I can speak again.

I stare at the door for a few moments, "I guess somepony is going to find grapes in their mane soon, but first, sleep." I drop onto the bed and fall asleep within minutes.

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :D

I wasn't sure if I wanted this to be a cutaway where Shade explained everything that happened, but I also didn't want Shade to recount everything in extreme detail. So I took a middle of the road approach and I think it came out ok.

Regardless I hope you enjoyed it, even if it's probably less interesting then other chapters.

Chapter 105

JUL 11 Saturday.

My mind is slowly pulled from a dreamless sleep, for a moment I just move the fluffy blanket on top of me a little and want to go back to sleep. But my mind just has to remember yesterday and I can't go back to sleep with all that running through my head. I'm used to waking up when I don't want to, waking up at the crack of dawn often will do that to you.

So I open my eyes and stretch out my limbs a bit, I also notice some scratching noise to my right but ignore it. The fluffy blanket on me is warm but a little heavy for my liking, so I try my best to move it with my field. "Oh you're awake, I guess you don't need your blanket anymore." I just about jump out of my skin as my head whips around to the voice.

My blurry eyes are greeted by Celestia lying right next to me, and I just kind of freeze. She has a playful smile and I follow her eyes, to see that the blanket I've been using is her outstretched wing. And for the first time in a long time I blush, but the adrenaline is now pumping.

I try to roll to my left and get out from under her wing, and I roll right off the side of the bed. The floor is carpeted so it's not too bad when I land on my back, but it's still far from pleasant. "Uggg," I elegantly voice my opinion on my current situation to the rising laughter of Celestia.

After a few moments I pick myself up and stare at Celestia, she's got a smile as she tries to muffle her laughter with a hoof. "Good morning, I hope you slept well." She says with a happy and joking tone.

I just give her a deadpan look, I'm still pretty embarrassed about what just happened, and try to figure out what the hell is happening. I take a moment to look around the room I'm in and recognize it instantly, I turn to Celestia. "Why are we in your bedroom?"

She just gives me that same smile. "Well, you were very tired last night, and my bed happens to be very comfortable." Like that explains anything. "Would you like some breakfast?" She asks while pointing to a cart that has food on it.

I'm nearly distracted by the food, I haven't eaten for a long time now, but I ignore my hunger for the moment. "Don't change the subject, I won't be bribed by food." She gives me a look that says she doesn't believe me for a second. "Ok, maybe I will. But why was I doing, THAT." I don't know how to say it without getting more embarrassed so I just look at her wings.

She just keeps smiling. "I also needed to sleep, and you looked so peaceful and I didn't want to move you, so I just slept on the other side of the bed. And apparently you decided my wing was a nice blanket, I'm flattered." At this point she's just fucking with me, and my blush threatens to come back again. :Fuck this I'm too hungry to deal with her right now:

I just give her an unamused look and grab a plate, I fill it with some food, and after a minute of inhaling waffles and hayfries I feel more alive. Once I'm done eating I just ignore what happened and ask a question. "Anything important happened while I was asleep?"

She signs another piece of paper from the stack she's going through. "Well the stallion you brought to us woke up and is in a cell under watch right now, he hasn't spoken yet. And the mares are probably still asleep." I cast a spell and check the time, it's only just past dawn.

"So what's the plan for all this?" I ask while finding my saddlebags near the bed, it seems she took them off of me at some point.

"For now I'll leave them to rest and have them eat, then start asking questions a little after that. It's best to have them calm down and acclimate some before asking them about what will most likely be personal and private problems." I nod my agreement, she has experience with this kind of thing.

"So I have a few hours before we get any answers?" She just nods.

"Essentially, I know you want an answer, and so do I, but it's best to be patient with things like this." I trust her wisdom and nod. She then points with a hoof, "There is the bathroom and shower if you need them, please make yourself comfortable." I nod my thanks again.

I don't really have much to do, so I decided to just go through as much of my morning routine as I can. I can't do my run but I can at least do my exercises, and doing something physical helps me work through my feelings about last night.

My worry for once isn't about the timeline. I'm still not sure if Celestia's caught a changeling before, but even if she didn't it was only a matter of time before she would have. So tonight was more me just speeding up what was probably already going to happen, and at least now we have some changelings who might answer our questions.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out things are only going to escalate from here, and that makes the information the mares can tell us even more valuable and impotant than it already is. After I'm done with my exercises I walk inside the bathroom and start the shower.

POV shift Celestia

I watch as Shade stops his exercises and walks into the bathroom. I don't think he really noticed me watching him, it seems he's distracted. I must say he does take rather good care of himself if he does that every day.

After a moment of silence, I hear the running water from the shower. I look at the last form that requires my attention and sign off on it, once it's done I place it all to the side and relax with some tea.

It's been a mess of a night, and I now have much more work to do. I chuckle a little at that fact, every time I see Shade new work always seems to follow him. Not that I mind, he's done nothing but good for so many. I let my mind wander to my thoughts on Shade.

The memory of what he told me last night brings a frown to my face. I don't judge him for his actions, like I told him, he went above and beyond what most ponies could or would have in the same situation. But that doesn't make the worry I have for my friend lessen, and the way he acted felt not quite truthful with me.

Shade has always kept secrets from me, but he normally doesn't lie about them existing. He tells me that he doesn't want to talk about a secret and then I leave it be. But last night was different, it felt more like he was deliberately hiding things that he didn't need to.

I'm lost in my thoughts as I hear the shower stop, I should probably say something about it.

POV shift Shade

I let the water fall off of me and step out of the shower. Now that I'm more awake I'm starting to reflect more on last night. I remember telling Celestia about what happened, and I didn't really act the best, I know I'm going to make a report with more detail but I still left things out that I shouldn't have.

And it feels like shit to do that to a friend. I sigh while drying my body off, I need to fix this. I've come to very much care for Celestia and I can't just leave this as is, even if that would be easier. I get out of the bathroom and just walk over to her, I lay down on my back on the bed and just go for it. "I think I messed up, sorry."

I'm not looking at her but she shifts on the bed. I'm nervous and I know I'm not going to enjoy this, but I need to do it. There is an agonizingly long moment of silence before she speaks. "I can guess about what you're referring to, but I think it's best if you just say what you wish to." Her voice is kind as always.

I still don't look at her and just stare at the ceiling. "It's something you've seen before, I keep secrets, a lot of secrets." I take a deep breath. "I started keeping secrets and lying after I started making spells, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

I try my best to explain without lying, but some things I'll still need to lie about, fuck this sucks. "I wanted my quiet life and to help the world at the same time. And I was doing that, and all was well until it wasn't." I see Celestia move so I can see her face from the side, she just has that same kind of small smile.

"At some point, I started to hide things I didn't need to, my paranoia didn't help either. And it's something I've tried to work on, but it still comes out and I hide things I shouldn't." I flip myself upright and look at her face to face. "Last night I was tired and pretty done with the day, and that story lacked details that I should have included."

I pause and she's about to say something but I cut her off. "I need to really state how much I do this. Even right now I've been trying my best to not lie and it's not easy. I just... I don't know anymore. I want to tell the truth, but I can't stop, and I can't say why." After that final admission, I struggle to form the right words to continue and just go silent.

After a moment I see her smile, always the kind smile. "I have many questions, but you clearly aren't ready to answer them. But regardless of that, I forgive you for last night. Thank you for being honest with me." How the hell does this mare turn this into her thanking me?

"I don't have an easy answer for you, but if you think you can't tell me then don't. As much as I'd like you to tell me one day, you aren't ready for that. And that's ok, it's ok to not be ready." She says with the same damned smile that makes me feel ok.

I just sit there for a minute, not thinking much and just blankly staring. We stay like that for a few minutes before I finally find my voice again, trying to force myself to reveal something. "Do you remember the Floating spell?" Before I can even try to stop myself I ask a question, and she nods. "It's a good example of all this. You definitely noticed the odd way I acted and me sending you the full spell later."

She keeps her soft smile. "Yes, and I remember the question you asked me. I was going to ask you about it at our next meeting."

I let out a soft chuckle. "Ya, you are good at catching things like that. I got so caught up in what bad the spell could do that I didn't see the good. But your advice struck true, and I was able to force myself to send the spell to you, even if my fear argued against it the whole time, and yes I'm leaving things out in this explanation. UgA, I can't even tell the full truth with that." I say getting mad at myself as I talk.

And Celestia's response to this was to pick me up and full-on embrace me. "It's ok, it's ok." I don't cry, but I just embrace her and try to feel better for a moment. But I pull away after that moment and move back a little. "You don't seem ready to answer my questions, so don't force yourself to."

"But I should, doing this doesn't help anypony. Lying more won't fix anything." I try to argue back. If I keep lying like this it could ruin the life I've made.

In response, she gets a little more firm. "And doing it right now is hurting you. So listen to me." she moves my head so I have eye contact with her again. "My curiosity will never be worth your well-being. So let go, if you can't answer me, then don't."

I stare at her eyes for a moment. My mind is running at a sprint and my thoughts are everywhere, but eventually, only one thing comes out of my mouth. "Thank you, I can never say how much it means that you're willing to just not ask," I say with genuine relief.

She just keeps that magic damned smile. "I did promise you I'd be patient didn't I?" I just give a hollow chuckle in response. "Now how about we leave this for now, we can talk more some other time. We already have enough to deal with right now." I can tell she's changing the subject for me, and I'm silently thankful.

"Well then, how are you going to go about this?" I ask while getting off the bed. I try to cheer up but that will take a while.

"I believe WE have two mares waiting to talk." She says while gathering the paperwork she completed earlier.

I'm confused by that. "We?"

She gives me yet another smile. "Yes WE, those mares are probably very nervous and you have probably built some small amount of trust with them by helping them get here, so you might make them more comfortable with your presence." I can tell that's a flimsy reason to bring me with her.

So I voice just that. "Are you sure? I'm not trained for this kind of thing." I ask a little unsure, my fuck up is still fresh in my mind so I'm reluctant to involve myself even more. But my curiosity is tempting me to just say yes.

She nods. "Yes you're not trained, but we aren't here to interrogate them. They requested an audience with me and a chance to explain their situation while asking for help. And that's what I'm going to let them do, now are you coming or not?" It's obvious she's trying to cheer me up by satisfying my curiosity, but damn it if it's not working.

So after a moment, I nod my agreement. As we near the bedroom doors Entropy flies down from somewhere and lands on me. Where has she been? I shrug it off and start following Celestia as Entropy merges into my shadow. As we walk through the hallways I think about the changelings and what answers we will find.

But as I think about Changelings I realize a potential problem. I've been wearing my necklace since yesterday, which means those Changelings could notice how unnaturally calm I appear. And they could also notice during our meeting that I'm not giving off much emotion.

And if I take the necklace off it could cause the same problem in reverse, they would notice how much more emotion I have. And that traps me in a hard spot, no matter what I do Celestia could find out about the necklace and its emotional shield.

And that will raise the obvious question, how did I know to make such a thing without knowing about the Changelings? And now once again I can see myself walking into another web of lies if I keep this secret. I go back and forth but after a moment I steel my mind.

It's a no-win situation, if I tell her about it she might ignore her promise, or be hurt that I would hide something so important. And if I keep this a secret and it ever comes out it would be worse, especially because this spell could save lives in what's to come.

After a moment I take out my notebook and start drawing while we walk, Celestia sees this but doesn't ask. This will see the light of day no matter what I do, but if I'm the one to reveal it then maybe she'll keep her promise.

This could go horribly bad, but I trust my friend to hold her promise, I just hope I'm right. I write out both the improved illusion detection spell and the emotional shield spell, along with instructions and descriptions for both. Once I'm done I rip both pages out and just hold them for a moment.

"Celestia." She turns to me as we walk. "I'm going to give you something, and you will have questions about it. And I won't be answering them. Even if you demand answers and throw away your promise, I will never answer those questions, even if it ends any friendship we have." She seems very shocked by how serious I am, and seems concerned at my last words.

She's silent as I pass the torn pages to her. "I have no intention of breaking that promise, no matter what questions I want answers to." She looks over the papers and seems happy with the first spell, but confused about the second spell.

I don't look at her as she reads it. "Even if it puts ponies' lives at risk?" I almost stop myself from asking that but do anyway.

She stops looking at the papers and again looks shocked at how serious I am, and goes quiet. After a moment she answers me, "Yes, I will keep my promise even then. But I doubt it will ever come to that."

It's my turn to look shocked at the conviction she has in her tone. "Thank you." I say quietly to her as we near a doorway. :I just hope that's true:

We stop at the door and Celestia puts on a face that shows nothing but royal authority, the kind of face only a millennium-old ruler could make. I put on my mask of calm and entered the room after Celestia. The room is simple, two beds, and a single large table.

Along with two nervous mares who bow to Celestia as she enters the room. Celestia speaks with a firm but not hostile authority, "You may rise." She points to me with a hoof. "He has informed me of what happened last night, and that you have come here to speak to me and seek my help with something."

The unicorn mare nods. "Yes, Your Majesty." Her tone is short and overly formal.

Celestia nods and sits next to the table. "Then what have you come here to ask of me?." Celestia is being neutral with them for the most part.

"I believe we should start by simply showing you, Your Majesty." Celestia nods after a moment but keeps silent.

The mare looks at her companion, both look extremely nervous now. Then they nod to each other, and a second later two small flashes of green flame consume both of them. :Are they starting with this? Well, they definitely know how to get her attention:

I've seen a changeling before, but that was at night and in the snow. This time I'm greeted by two changelings in a well-lit room, and I can't help but show a little surprise at their appearance. I can see that even Celestia's mask nearly slips off, but she keeps her expression under control.

The former unicorn has a completely black carapace, with light green eyes. Their wings are interesting, they have a see-through appearance but also have a tinted color that's the same as their eyes. I look at the former pegasus and see that she's still roughly the same size, she has yellowish-green eyes and the same color seems to also apply to her wings. She looks smaller than her companion but doesn't seem to be different in overall body shape, is she younger or just small?

Celestia stares them down for a long few moments. "What are your names? What are you? And why are you here for my help?" Celestia is blunt and to the point, seems this did end up becoming somewhat of an interrogation after all. Not that I blame her for wanting answers.

The very blunt questions do not help with the changeling's nervousness, but the former unicorn answers quickly. "My fake name is Dusty Bowl, and my real name is Cricket. Your majesty." She adds that last part a second later.

The pegasus seems more nervous than their companion, but answers right after. "M-my fake name is Cherry Blossom, and my real name is Cicada. Your majesty" She stammers at the start but finishes quickly.

I'm confused about the fake name part, I know they would have fake names, but why say it like that? After her companion speaks Cricket continues. "We are changelings, and we have come to ask for your protection and help."

Celestia doesn't say anything for a moment as she takes in their appearance. "What is a changeling? And protection from what?" Celestia is fully serious but still is calm and neutral with them.

Cricket seems too hesitant to answer her for a moment. "Changelings are a race that's lived in secret with ponies for as long as anyone can remember. We either live in a hive with many changelings, or in small families of a dozen or so that live with ponies their whole lives."

"As you saw we can take on the appearance of any pony, and also members of other races, but that's harder to do. We live about as long as ponies and we are similar in a lot of ways." I think she's trying to seem relatable, not the worst idea.

Celestia narrows her eyes a little but doesn't interrupt so Cricket continues. "Changelings are normally referred to as a Hive Changeling or a Hiveless Changeling. The small groups live with ponies to feed and aren't allowed by our laws to make themselves known to ponies, I'm breaking the law by even being here."

Celestia's face might as well be a brick wall with how little it shows beyond her narrowed eyes. "What do you mean by feed?" Seems she caught that, not that I'm surprised. I can feel the panic in me rising as I know she's connected the spell to all of this pretty quickly.

Her words make the changelings very on edge, they're about to say they feed off of ponies, so I understand her fear. "Ch-Changelings eat emotions, normally we can live just fine by absorbing the emotions given off from ponies living their lives while we live with and around them."

I can see Celestia's eye twitch over to me for a second, she's definitely made the connection. :Please keep your promise: "And does this harm ponies in any way?" Celestia's tone is about as expressive as her face right now.

The changeling shakily nods a little. "Yes and no." She stops but Celestia doesn't say anything and just stares, so after a tense moment Cricket continues. "Changelings have three ways we can feed, we can simply walk through a city and collect emotional energy that is a byproduct of ponies just living their lives, that harms nopony, they don't even notice it."

"We can also drain a pony of emotion, this doesn't do much on the low end but can cause harm if done too much. It's not done often because it's noticeable and not often necessary." She goes silent for a moment. "And the final method is only used by hives, that's to take a pony and keep them to drain emotion from them repeatedly."

Cricket quickly explains that last one and watches Celestia's face with clear nervousness. But Celestia just keeps that same stony look. "And is that last option done often?" The same stone-cold tone for her.

The changeling quickly shakes her head. "No, you need a safe place to even do it and those that do always keep it as an absolute last resort. It's, well, it's not illegal but drawing unwanted attention is illegal so this is something only a hive would do while smaller groups simply can't risk it."

Celestia just keeps the same flat stony tone and face as she continues. "And how many hives are there?"

"Two, but it might be one soon, thankfully." I'm not sure she realized what she was saying before it came out.

"And why is that?"

Cricket looks even more apprehensive. "I don't know everything, but." She seems to struggle to voice her words. "There are a few things I'd need to explain first, Your Majesty." Celestia just coldly nods for her to continue. "Changelings are mostly all the same, some smaller, some bigger, and a few different colors. But we also have queens."

"Changeling queens are stronger, bigger, and as far as I know they don't age. Normal changelings can only have one child at a time with each other, while queens can have many relatively quickly, which combined with their power makes them the only changelings that create hives."

"But queens are very rarely born, sometimes not for hundreds of years, because of this and their agelessness they can rule for a long time. They normally just rule their hives while demanding some form of food tax from the smaller groups, in exchange they use the large number of changelings under them to help keep us secret from ponies and enforce our laws. But it mostly hooves off beyond that."

Wow, that's a lot of information, and it implies a lot of things. "But problems happen when there is more than one queen at the same time." Didn't she say there were two right now? I don't like where this is going. "Changeling queens can form entire hives, but with more than one hive it becomes difficult to collect enough food for both of them, and the taxes on small groups could be doubled when they both demand the same thing."

"So that normally leads to wars in between the hives for control. And that's what we've come to ask for protection from a war in between the two current hives." :Oh, well, fuck. That is not good in so many ways:

Celestia still has that stony face, but even with it, I can see some concern in her eyes. "Tell me everything you know about this conflict." Celestia's not even bothering to ask questions anymore.

Cricket nods curtly. "I don't know much, but I know some. Before this all started Queen Cascadia ruled as the only hive, and she's been ruling since long before I was born, but I'm not sure how long specifically. I was born in her hive, but luckily I was able to leave when things started to get bad."

"A new queen started her rise a decade ago and formed a new hive, her name is Queen Chrysalis. And around five years ago Queen Cascadia declared war on her." I find it interesting that she says Chrysalis's name with a mostly neutral tone but seems to practically spit out Queen Cascadia's name as if it's a curse.

"At first things weren't too bad, Queen Cascadia was a strict but decent queen. But as she started losing the war she changed, food was getting rationed and she got more and more strict with us." The changeling seems to fold in on themselves a little as they speak.

"Then she started going mad. It was small things at first, a changeling tried to defect to the other hive and was imprisoned, and then another, and another. As it got worse and more tiring to leave, and as we kept losing the war she... She just started killing any who tried to leave and then." She's cut off by a hoof from Celestia.

Celestia turns to me with, well, not a bad look but I can see that this is all a lot to take in even for her. She gives me a tiny smile and looks concerned. "I don't think you're needed here, please send the report later. And get some rest at home." I can tell she doesn't want to be so formal with me but we're in front of those two.

I can easily guess she's concerned about a colt hearing all of this, and to be fair this is taking a dark turn. I don't hold the situation against her and just give a professional nod, I stand up and give her a quick bow before walking out of the room. As the door closes behind me I feel my thoughts running wild, but one thought stays in the front of my mind. :Please keep your promise:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

This site decided I didn't save the chapter before editing it to check for errors and instead posted the raw version. So sorry for any confusion.

Chapter 106

JUL 18 Saturday.

I move my hoof as Entropy demands more scratches from me, and I spoil her for a minute before going back to the book in front of me.

It's been a week now and things still feel odd, but I guess it feels like that every time something big happens in life. After Celestia asked me to go home and rest I spent the rest of the day writing a much more detailed report on what happened, and it included some of the things I lied about.

I didn't mention anything about me knowing about Changelings before meeting Cricket and Cicada. After I sent the report Entropy came back with a response, and I still remember it.

Dear Shade. Thank you for sending this to me, it could prove very useful.

I don't have much time to go into detail, but things are happening and measures are being discussed and taken. I know you have many questions about what is planned, but rest assured it's not as bad as it all seems and that things are being done.

I'd also like to thank you for both the improved illusion detection spell and the other spell you gave me, both may save many lives. And just to reiterate, I WILL keep my promise to you.

I don't know what you won't tell me, but I know you gave me something that would raise the very questions you don't want to answer. And I see why you did it, to help others. So when we next meet I will ask, but I will keep my promise and never demand an answer from you.

With all that's happening right now our next meeting will have to wait, I know it's a long time to have something like this unaddressed, and I'm sorry for that. I'll send a letter with our next meeting in a few weeks, I wish you the best and please stay safe.

Celestia.

Her letter was both a relief and yet another source of concern, but I'm used to worrying about so many things. A changeling war, me revealing things I've never wanted to and all the regular stresses of life. God this entire situation was a disaster, but I'm trying to see some good.

She's right that not completely knowing if she'll keep her promise or not for weeks will suck, but it does give me time to work through my feelings and calm down. I said it before but going back to regular life after all that happened gives me a feeling of whiplash, it all goes from everything happening at once to basically nothing happening.

And the worst part is I can't really do anything more in this situation. It now involves wars and politics, and the consequences are massive. To be blunt I'm not needed right now, there are ponies better suited for all this and they should be the ones to do it.

But that leaves me in this weird limbo, I can't help but I really want to, I can't help anypony with something like this I simply don't know how to do so. In the end I found my solution in some advice Celestia gave me a while ago, I'm not alone. I don't need to do everything and the world won't fall apart without me.

So the best thing I can really do right now is just continue on with my life, and keep going as I was before all of this. It's a far from satisfying thing for me, but I don't have much of a choice. I sigh a little as I move another book to the side and stand up from the small table.

I'm spending some of my day off reading at the library, I still have so much to learn, and maybe I always will. But it feels nice to improve, so I decided to stop there for the day and get home before it gets dark so I can work on a few things. Entropy is under her illusion spell right now and sits on my back as I start walking home from the library.

I've decided to keep Entropy with me at all times when I'm able to, just to be safe. I'm still a little jumpy after everything that's happened and find myself checking if I'm being followed every once in a while, but nothing has happened, yet. When I arrive at my front door I see Daisy's door and smile slightly.

My mood has not been the best this past week, and my friends noticed it. Unlike last time I was in a bad mood I decided to be truthful with them and tell them I've been in a bad mood recently. So I've been to three game nights this past week and they keep checking on me, it's something I'm very thankful for. They did ask about what happened to make my mood so bad, but I didn't tell them anything, and they were kind enough to respect that and simply try to cheer me up.

I sit down at one of my desks in my workroom with a few pots and some seeds. This past week I've kept myself busy and active so my thoughts don't overwhelm me, the upside is I've made progress in pretty much everything I train. And that includes the Spine Leaf Vine.

When I started it was a fast-growing, decently strong vine with small needles all throughout its leaves and stem. I've gotten the plant to grow even more needles and increased their size some as well. And now that it's closer to what I wanted I've been trying to improve the plant even further.

The Spine Leaf Vine was made from a combination of the Spine Leaf and the Gripping Vine, both grow quickly and have useful traits to combine. Now I want to breed the Spine Leaf Vine with the Companion Vine, I hope to improve the Spine Leaf Vine's ability to gather and absorb life magic to boost its growth even more.

But the Companion Vine has been surprisingly resistant to interbreeding with other plants. I can still do it, it's just harder than it should be for such a change. I've been trying for two days now but I still haven't gotten a new plant worth cultivating and improving, but I'll get it eventually.

Once my magic is nearly drained I stop and spend a few minutes cleaning up before moving on to the next thing I want to do. Changelings are going to be more involved with ponies in some way from now on, and that brings my mind to the one thing I might be able to help with during this situation.

I can invent spells to help in different ways, my first thoughts are about ways to combat changelings but I realize that's not my only option. We now have changelings that are at least willing to be friendly with ponies, so beyond ways to fight changelings I can also make ways to help them.

My knowledge of them may be limited but I can guess at a few things that would help them, and by far the most helpful would be some way to more efficiently collect emotions for food. But that brings up a question, what do changelings actually eat?

They could absorb the different emotional magic affinities that ponies give off, but it could also be the emotions themselves. And I'm not sure how to even test that, if emotions do come from ponies and it isn't just magic then I can't think of an easy way to distinguish them.

I might be able to test it in some way but it would take a long time to figure out and I feel like it would be easier to just ask a changeling at my earliest opportunity, or maybe Celestia will have asked the changelings that and she can tell me. Either way that could take a while, so in the meantime I'll just make other useful things, and the next thing that comes to mind is a modification to the illusion detection spell.

The original spell has clear limits on what it can do so it doesn't waste magic because it's normally placed on a bracelet. But the spell being placed on small jewelry and small gems makes it weak, but now I have a reason to make something more powerful.

I plan to make a version of the spell that can be used on larger gems and detect illusions in an area while being able to break past most protections. The original spell is a good starting place to make something like this but it will still take time to properly finish it.

I drew up some ideas and kept thinking of other ideas that could help with the changeling situation. As a start changelings seem similar to insects in some way and might share some of their problems. I sit there for a while and try to think of different problems and solutions.

I end up with a few ideas but most of them are more guesses than anything, I simply don't know enough about changelings to help them that much, but I'll give it more thought. Moving on from helping changelings and ponies, how can I help fight changelings? Well, I do have an idea, but once again I don't know if it would be of much use.

The emotional shield blocks all emotional magic, and I know that changelings use that as a sense to view the world around them. So what would happen if I made the shield block out all incoming emotional magics and then put that shield on a changeling?

Would it disorientate them? Or even incapacitate them? And that's once again the problem, my lack of information, I simply don't know how useful this spell would be. But it still seems worthwhile to make the spell, even if it doesn't do anything to changelings it can still be used to keep them from absorbing emotional magic if it turns out that they do feed on that.

As I'm thinking about how I could use the ideas I've come up with and how I could go about making them into spells I'm interrupted by a knock at my door. I look at the door and put down my notebook before walking over to the door, Entropy is in my bedroom and she knows to not show herself when others are around, I crack open the door a little before opening it all the way.

"Hey, Shade." I was happily greeted by Daisy, who seemed to be in a good mood.

I smile at her, my friends keep checking in on me every day or two, not that I mind it's a nice thing to know they care about me. "Hello to you too. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I ask with a smile. Honestly without them trying to cheer me up my mood would be much worse right now.

"Well Blaz saw you moping around the library and I came to see how you are doing today." She's used that exact same excuse to check on me the last three times, at this point she's just fucking with me.

"Oh really? I even tried to avoid him this time, how did he see me?" I joke with her as she keeps her smile. "I'm doing fine Daisy, much better than most of this week. Thank you for asking." I'm less joking with those words, it does mean a lot that they try to make me happy and feel better.

Her smile gets even bigger. "Good, you don't look cute when you're sad. Tell me if you want to talk, ok?" She switches from joking to a kind reminder in an instant.

I nod, she's not the one I need to talk to but it still helps to have her offer. "I will, I promise." I stay there for a moment, a little awkward, but then an idea strikes me. "Hey, do you have any plans right now?"

She shakes her head. "Nope, what are you thinking? Wait it doesn't matter, count me in." I chuckle at that.

"Well, I remember you enjoying some of the fish I cooked a long time ago, and I need to make dinner, and you've just agreed to help me," I say with a smile as I turn off the shield around my apartment and walk away from the door.

She seems a little stunned, but after a moment her smile returns and she follows me in while closing the door behind her. "Shade Evergreen, are you asking me on a date? That's highly inappropriate." Her tone is uptight and she's obviously joking with me again.

So I respond with a deadpan stare that lingers too long, before smiling like I'm about to agree. After a moment I drop the look and just laugh at her expression. "Come on, I'm going to teach you how to make fish, if that's fine with you?" I ask, I probably should have asked that before telling her what we were doing.

She looks uncertain for a moment before nodding. "I do remember enjoying it last time, and while I might be a little squeamish there is only one way to fix that, experience. So let's do this, chef." I smile back at her, oh this will be fun.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

This chapter was inspired by something I've noticed a lot in my life. Have you ever had something big happen and when it's over it feels like nothings really different? It's that odd feeling you get when you think something should be happening or should have changed, but it just doesn't and things continue for the most part like normal.

I wanted to use this as a chance to capture that feeling, not sure how well I did but I tried and that's what got me into writing in the first place. Trying new shit even if I have no idea what the fuck I am doing.

If you've read all of that then thanks for listening to my small rant and have a nice day. :}

Chapter 108

AUG 2 Sunday.

Today is the day, and by magic I am nervous. Even with her reassurance and further reassurance it still doesn't keep my mind from worrying about the outcome of today's meeting.

And as I wait the final minutes I keep myself busy as a distraction. Over the past few weeks I've continued my work on the only decent idea I've come up with to maybe help this situation, the widespread illusion detector, a horrible name but it gets the point across.

It can cover a roughly thirty-foot area and can be adjusted to fit specific sizes. But as I've worked on this project it's become apparent that there are a few downsides. The first problem I had was how the gem would inform somepony that an illusion spell had been detected.

My solution was to just use what works, I modified the spell to link to five bracelets. The bracelets will only need very small gems to warm up and maintain the link, when anything is detected the spell will heat up all the linked bracelets at the same time.

And that brings me to the next problem, the spell still can't differentiate between changelings and other illusions. I wanted to try and make something that can detect only Changelings, but like with all my other ideas I don't have enough information, something I plan to ask Celestia about.

The final problem with the new spell is that it proved harder than I expected to improve the spell's ability to overpower the changelings bracelets. And the problem lies in the runes used in the spell, they simply aren't magically cost-efficient or powerful enough.

A rune's strength and magical cost efficiency come from how well the rune is made. The two base runes used for the illusion detection spell aren't bad, but they are also far from the best.

My problem comes down to the fact that the magical cost doesn't increase linearly but exponentially, the more I increase the range or power of the spell the more magic it will take.

At a certain point the magical cost overtakes my ability to supply it, and that means I've basically reached the point that the spell can't be strengthened anymore than it already is. So until I find some better runes this is the best I can do while still making the spell producible on a wide scale.

That also means the spell can only bypass magical defensives up to a certain point before a strong enough protection won't be broken through. So if a changeling has a powerful enough bracelet they would be able to walk right past it.

I move out of my thoughts as I put the finishing touches on a new gift for Celestia, in truth it's less of a gift and more a form of revenge. I still remember her carrying me like a suitcase and I'd like to get her back for that. I know it might not even be used, depending on how this meeting goes.

But despite all the stress, I have enough trust in Celestia to keep her promise, and making this was a fun little project to distract myself. It's a very simple illusion spell that can be cast on anypony or enchanted into a gem, and all it does is create a small illusion, it should prove interesting.

I smile as I place a small pebble-sized ruby in my saddlebag pocket while calling over Entropy. It's time for my meeting and time to face whatever is to come, by magic please everything be ok. I take a deep breath before turning to Entropy and giving her a nod.

The silence of the Void is a slight comfort to me, and a moment later I'm standing inside the mailroom I send Entropy to. I look around to see only a single table, I walk over to the door and open it and like I expected a guard is waiting for me, I give them a nod and they start leading me through the palace like so many times before.

I'm led to what I think is her office, and after opening the door I'm proven right. Inside is Celestia working at her desk while Philomena rests on a perch nearby. Despite all my mental preparation for this I'm still a little tense and end up just standing there for a few seconds.

She puts down a piece of paper and smiles when she sees me. "Shade, it's good to see you, please come in, I'll be with you in a minute." My mind is settled some by the friendly tone so I close the door behind me and walk over to the couch, I might as well make myself as comfortable as I can.

She keeps reading for a moment while Philomena decides to come and demand scratches from me, and that means Entropy demands the same a moment later. I let Celestia finish her work while I satisfy the two gremlins, after a minute I watch as Celestia walks over and lays on the couch with me.

"So how have you been?" She asks with that smile she always has, I like that smile more than I'll ever admit to myself.

I don't lie and just tell my friend the truth. "Nervous about this meeting and somewhat worried about what the changelings told us. But not everything is bad, my friends have kept my mood up."

Her smile falters a little and she nods. "I'm sorry it took so long for us to meet, things have been very busy recently." There is a lapse of somewhat tense silence and we both know the topic that's sitting in front of us.

So I decided to break that silence and just be blunt, I never did like dancing around issues. "I.... I honestly don't know what to say, so I'll just ask directly. Are you still going to keep your promise?" It takes a moment to form my words and despite my best efforts a little of my nervousness comes through in my voice.

She nods instantly. "I am, I was serious when I told you I will never demand an answer from you. But I will still ask. How?" It's a simple and blunt question, the kind of question I normally prefer.

I stay silent for a moment as my mind wars with itself. It would be so easy to just tell her, so much worry would just melt away if I did. But that worry would just be replaced with more worry over what her knowing would mean, sure the timeline is changed in many ways but some things could still be affected if I tell her.

In a way it reminds me of Pandora's box, once it's open there is no going back. I could tell her the truth, I wouldn't even have to mention my past life, I could just tell her I've seen the future for an unknown reason. But once that is revealed anything could happen.

After a long moment of silence, I look back and face her again. "You've shown a lot of trust in me the whole time we've known each other, never demanding any answers, even now. And I want to return that trust, but I can't bring myself to answer that question."

She doesn't look surprised at my answer and seems ready to move on from this topic, but I continue. "Do you have a way to determine if I'm being truthful?"

She raises a brow. "You know we can just leave it here right? I'm ok with not knowing, I trust you." I'm a little surprised hearing those words, but it just makes me more determined.

I nod after a second. "And that trust means a lot to me, and I'd like to prove that trust isn't misplaced, even if it's in a vague and small way. And it will help put my mind at ease a little for not telling you anything."

After a moment she nods, that same smile happy appearing on her face. "I do have a way, but it only works on willing ponies, it's something I've had for a long time but rarely use."

Despite the serious mood, I raise a brow. "Why? I feel like that could be useful in several ways."

She nods. "It could be, but the spell is unique, some of the runes used to make it are completely lost. And using magic to determine the truth is a tricky thing, magic can fail or be subverted. It's simply a crutch that could fail when most needed and a risk that isn't worth it in my opinion."

I think about it and nod after a moment as she stands up. Sure a lie detector is a good idea at first glance, but as with all things that try to tell the truth, they are always eventually subverted by those who wish to lie. I watch as Celestia stands up and her horn starts to glow brightly.

I wait until she's done to ask what she's doing, but a second later I'm blinded a little as she vanishes completely. I stare for a moment at the spot she was in and decide to feel it with my space magic, it's the first time I've seen a teleportation spell and I'm curious what it looks like.

I feel nothing out of the ordinary but keep my spatial sense on that spot as I wait for her return. I don't feel anything for a few minutes, but when I do it is odd. The best way I can describe it is as if somepony bent a piece of paper through itself, and that's with me simplifying it. I don't manage to learn much but I do now know something, if I ever want to do that I'll need to get much MUCH better at converting my magic into space magic.

I open my eyes as she sits down on the couch again, and next to her is a foot-thick pure diamond cube. That is one heavy-duty gem and with how much magic it seems to hold this spell is not an easy one. "That seems like a lot of magic for a single spell, even a spell like this."

She gives me an odd look. "Maybe by your standards, but not everypony makes spells like you, this one will only last for a little over a minute." I look at the large gem like it's committed a crime, who the fuck made something so inefficient? "All you need to do is touch the gem while it's active, if you lie it will flash once and if you tell a half lie it will flash twice."

There's a moment of silence. "Are you sure you want to do this? You don't need to prove anything to me." She tried to reassure me again.

Honestly I don't mind doing this, even if it's just to give me some slight peace of mind. I nod and place a hoof on the gem. "Ready when you are." I wait for a moment while thinking of the wording I'll use, I need to be precise and quick.

She nods and a second later the gem's glow increases. She gives me a nod, I take a breath and carefully speak. "To the best of my knowledge I believe I'm acting in your and my best interest by not answering your question." I keep my statement short and simple, once I'm done I take my hoof off the gem.

I tried to reveal as little as possible while still offering some form of reassurance. And from her expression I'm not sure what if anything she gleamed from my words. Once I remove my hoof she turns the gem off, I give her a small smile. "I know that's not much, but I hope it helps, in some way."

She nods while gently moving the gem out of the way. "I won't ask about it more, and it does, thank you. Now we have other things to talk about, yes?" I can see her changing the subject for my sake and going along with her.

"Can I see the spell that gem has?" It's the first thing that comes to mind and I'm pretty curious about it, and that curiosity shows that on my face.

I can tell she expected me to ask something like that and a moment later she casts a spell on the gem while moving it a few feet away from us. The spell she casts is some form of a reveal enchantment spell. The enchantment takes form and not long after I have a complex spell matrix in front of me.

And this thing pisses me off slightly. It's definitely an impressive spell, four rings, at least fifteen runes, and a lot more math the necessary. After a few minutes of looking at it, I turned back to Celestia. "If I ever meet who made this I'm going to have a lot of less than polite words with them."

She chuckles, and it seems she is truly letting our last subject go. "And why is that?"

I groan. "Where do I even start? Take that section right there." I point to the worst math equation in the spell that I have found so far. "It could easily be replaced with a math equation a quarter the size." To prove my point I draw what I would replace it with in the air with my magic.

She looks at both for a few seconds before noting my example down on some paper she gets from her desk. "I think you underestimate just how good you are at making spells."

I shake my head. "Nope, I just overestimated everypony else, and then I'm inevitably disappointed with the result. Now please take that down before looking at it gives me a headache." She snorts at my response and lets the spell she cast collapse and dissolve.

After a moment I change the subject yet again, I look over at all the paperwork on her desk. "Well, I can tell you've been busy, what's been happening?" I ask as she moves the gem to her desk along with the quick note she made while bringing over some tea.

It's her turn to groan a little. "A lot, and at the same time, not much. Right now we've been trying to find more information without tipping any of them off, and it's proven very difficult. They are very good at hiding, but that's not much of a surprise. beyond that, it's mostly been preparation and implementing plans for different potential situations." She's probably leaving a lot out, but that's not something I need to know, it's thankfully not my job

"Don't overwork yourself," I say only half joking.

She raises a brow again. "As if you're one to talk?" She jokes back before looking happy at my concern for her. "I'm not, I know well the practice of delegating my work, this is just a backlog that will take some time to get through."

I smile at that. "Well, speaking of work, I've brought you more," I say in a cheery tone while taking a few papers out of my saddlebags, they contain the new widespread illusion detection spell, its limitations, and instructions on how to best use it.

She stares at it, I can see her face fighting in between happy and annoyed, I chuckle when she just tosses the papers on her desk and ignores them for the time being. "Thank you, it should prove useful."

I keep smiling. "Also this." This time I passed her the pebble-sized ruby. She looks confused and curious, "You remember when you held me like a sack of potatoes?"

She just smiles back a little mockingly at the memory. "Good, that is my revenge," I say while pointing at the gem.

She stares at the gem for a moment. "I wouldn't describe how I carried you quite like that, and why would I use this? You already tipped your hoof."

I give her a knowing look. "Because you're like me, too curious for our own good. And we both know it will be funny." I reason as a slight taunt.

She looks at it for several seconds, and I can see the curiosity slowly winning out in her. I glance down at Philomena as she rests in between my forelegs, she's not as smart as Entropy but she's still a curious bird, so she also watches as Celestia activates the tiny gem.

I watch as a small illusion takes form, a single green illusionary grape floats right above the gem as Celestia holds it in front of her face. It takes half a second for her to realize what she's looking at, and that proves to be a half-second too late. Like a small flaming missile, Philomena jumps from her spot and lunges at the fake grape.

And passes through it before smacking right into Celestia's face, the next several seconds consist of Philomena flapping around and trying to eat the grape while Celestia tries to stop her from climbing on her face. While I just break down laughing at the sight of Celestia struggling to control a hyperactive phoenix.

I keep laughing as she finally turns the illusion off and gets Philomena off of her. Philomena keeps looking around for a while as I get my laughing somewhat under control and smile widely at Celestia. "Now we're even," I say in between breaths as I try to catch my breath

She looks at me for a second before laughing for a few moments, "I guess we are even, for now." I don't like that smile she has, but a challenge would be nice.

"Bring it on." I decided to take out my chess set and start setting it up, Celestia may not be overworked but she could probably do with a little more fun. And I'm proven right as she smiles at the sight of my setting up the game.

It's mostly small talk and uninteresting conversation for a while as we play, but eventually, I stop for a moment and remember something I wanted to ask about. "How have..." I stop short trying to remember their names. "Cricket, and... I don't remember the second one's name. And also the third one. How have they all been."

She smiles at me while checkmating me yet again. "Miss Cricket and Miss Cicada have been doing just fine. They have been staying here for their own safety, they are allowed around the place with a guard escort and seem to be doing well. As for the prisoner, he's still being questioned but has said nothing so far." I nod. "Why do you ask?"

I don't ask about the prisoner, probably not going to get much of an answer anyway. "Well, I have several questions for Cricket and Cicada. And I need to know something for an idea of mine." She looks interested.

"Our meeting is almost over so I'll just take you to them." I nod my agreement, I collect Entropy and my chess set from the couch. "Also here, this should interest you." She grabs some papers from her desk and passes them to me, I'm confused but start reading through them.

It's a report on the B.L.P spell. From what I see it's been a massive success across the board, it doesn't have exact numbers but it shows that the spell has proven to be very effective at its job. And it's not required learning for doctors, that's one hell of an achievement.

I smile while reading through the report and get a nice feeling of accomplishment. Once I'm done I pass it back over. "Thanks." It was definitely a mood booster. She smiles and puts the report back as we leave her office.

"So what was this idea you mentioned?" She asks as we walk down the winding hallways of the palace.

I think for a moment about how best to answer. "Well, the emotional shield I gave you works by keeping emotional magical affinities inside itself." I won't mention how I know changelings can sense emotional magic. "So my main question is what do changelings actually eat? Is it the magic itself or some other form that a pony's emotions can take on?"

She seems to see where I'm going with my line of thought. "If it's the former then that shield would also contain all the emotional magic that builds up inside."

I nod and continue. "Yup, and with some modification it could become a way to store emotional magic and collect more of it. A new food source and a decent bargaining chip. But it depends on several things. For example, have you asked them if they have a way to store their emotions?"

She thinks for a moment before shaking her head. "Not that I remember, the last few weeks we've mostly asked them about the political situation and any information about the war." I'm not too surprised at that, it seems like a good idea to prioritize that information.

She continues. "Even if the shield doesn't work for this idea I'd like you to see if you can make some way to store food for them, even if they already have a way to store their food. If nothing else it's an avenue for trade, which in itself is a good bargaining chip for some form of peace." She seems happy with the idea.

And she brings up a good point, trade could start some form of peace and cooperation, but I'm not the pony for diplomacy so I'll leave that to experts. I'll definitely keep looking into ways to gather and store whatever it is that changelings eat, food trade is the oldest form of trade for a good reason.

We come to a door I don't recognize with two guards at the door's sides. "I wish you luck with the idea, and please keep me updated on how it goes."

I smile, it was nice talking to her again. "Have a good day Celestia, and enjoy the paperwork." I give one last jab.

She gives me a deadpan look, that's a first. "No." Her face shifts back to normal. "Have a good day Shade, our next meeting should be in the normal amount of time, I'll see you then. Oh, and I'll have Philomena bring you your mail." She walks away after that and I can't help but notice her well-toned flank.

I shake my head after a moment and shove those thoughts down, by magic I'm starting to remember why puberty sucked. After a moment I knock on the door and walk inside.

Inside is a nicely decorated room with two beds and a table, along with a few bookshelves. Both changelings notice me and stop what they are doing, "Hello, Miss Cricket and Miss Cicada, I hope both of you have been well since the last time we met."

I plan to speak like a government employee from my past life. Basically being friendly while also being all business.

They are both silent for a moment as they stare at me, neither are in disguise so it's hard to tell what their expressions are. "We've been well, how have you been?" Cricket answers me with the same manner of speech I'm using. But both also seem a little awkward, but I might be wrong, still they at least are somewhat friendly.

"I am doing well. I'll get right to the point of my visit, I'm here to ask both of you a few questions, if that's fine with both of you?" I have no intention to force them, but I hope they'll agree.

They glance at each other, and Cricket answers me again. "That's fine, but I'm not sure how much more we could explain."

I walk over and sit down while Entropy decides to stay on my back looking at them, they haven't seen Entropy without her illusion before so both give her odd looks. "Before that, I think it's best that I introduce myself." I might as well be friendly and I don't see much harm in them knowing my name.

They already know where I live and that I'm far from normal, so trading a little information about myself for some small amount of trust seems worth it. "My name is Shade, and I work for the crown in a capacity that I'm not allowed to fully disclose."

Entropy is an odd bird to look at but both seem to not pay her too much mind, and after a moment Cricket once again speaks. "I'm Cricket, and that is Cicada. I never got to thank you for helping us, thank you." Cricket tells me their names, even though I greeted them by names, she really is being awkward, or she's on edge about something.

I then watch as Cicada pokes her with a hoof and gives her a look. "And sorry for getting you involved." Seems she's somewhat embarrassed about it.

I just show them a customer service smile. "Not your fault, your apology is appreciated." My lack of anger seems to perk up their moods and cause them to relax a little.

This time it's Cicada who speaks. "You had questions?" She seems far less professional and much more blunt than we are being, I can see why Cricket normally does the talking. Cicada seems like the blunt and simple type, and I can work with that.

I nod and take out some paper, a quill, and some ink. "Several. But before I start I'd just like to make it clear you don't have to answer me if you don't want to." Cicada nods at that. "What exactly do you eat?"

Cricket answers me first. "We eat emotions from ponies and other races." Her answer is polite and simple.

Cicada interrupts her at the end. "He knows that, I think he's asking what form it takes, right?" She asks me.

I'm a little surprised that she's the one to guess correctly, so I give her a nod. "That is correct, our best guess so far has been emotional magical affinities." Cricket seems lost at the terms I'm using, but Cicada seems to understand completely.

"Oh, you're actually smart." I'm confused by both her statement and her excitement, but don't let it show. Cricket glares at Cicada but stays silent, Cicada just smiles at her. "Come on Crick, we both know you don't know anything about how stuff like this works." Cricket just keeps silent at that.

Out of the two of them I didn't expect the blunt small changeling to be the one more versed in magic, guess it's true, you can't judge a book by its cover. Cicada looks back at me. "And you made a good guess. It's a little more complicated than that though so I'll have to explain a few things first." I nod and ready my quill.

She seems happy to talk about magic, or maybe it's because we're talking about changelings? I'm not sure. "We do mainly live off of emotional magic, but there is also something we call pure emotion. All races produce emotional magic while we can produce pure emotion ." She pauses for a breath.

"Do changelings require both?" I take notes of everything she's saying.

She shakes her head. "Nope, we only need enough of either to keep us full, and we can even convert one to the other. Now you may be wondering what pure emotion is?" I nod, honestly it's a little hard keeping my professional face with how friendly she's being, she kind of reminds me of a less hyperactive Pinkie Pie.

"Well, it's a solid form of emotional magic that we can naturally produce if we have enough emotional magic gathered. But the conversion is not the best and it takes time and effort to create, but it lets us store food for long amounts of time."

Well, that answers a few questions and brings up a few new ones. "Can you eat all emotions? And if so, is there a difference from eating different emotions?"

She seems very forthcoming with information, maybe she's just used to it after the last few weeks. "Another good guess, you're good at this. We can, and they do. Positive emotions are preferred because they give us more, but all of them can work in a pinch."

This solid form of magic is definitely something that would be interesting to study, if I could copy it for other types of magic it could prove very useful. "What emotion works best?" I can guess but it's good to make sure.

She gives me a smile, a changeling smile is odd but not unpleasant, at least not unpleasant to me. "Love, so many other emotions all mixed together while also being a very powerful emotion, gives us more than anything else I know of." No surprise there.

At this point, I can only think of two other good questions for this topic. "How do you collect emotions? And is there a limit to how much you can hold at one time?"

She tilts her head and seems to think about it for a moment. "It's kind of hard to describe. We can feel all types of emotional magic and some of the skilled changelings can even pick what emotions they collect. But most changelings simply collect all emotions around them, that's why picking a good spot is important."

"Things like restaurants or taverns, places where ponies have a good time. And yes there is a limit to how much we can hold, when we reach it we can't gather more, but that limit is smaller or bigger depending on the changeling and how much practice they have."

"Whenever we have too much emotional magic stored and have a safe place to stay we turn that gathered emotional magic into Pure Emotion to store it for later. But most changelings aren't the best at converting it and often lose a decent amount of the emotional magic in the process. You're just full of questions, do you mind if I ask something?"

I note down everything she's told me, I'm done with the main thing I wanted to know so why not? "Sure, but I may not answer you." I don't see much harm in answering a question, and I could always just refuse to answer.

"Why do you not have emotions?" I'm confused by her question for a second, it seems my necklace does work.

Cricket has just been reading while we've talked, and also quietly listening in on us. But when she hears this she gives Cicada what I think is an incredulous look. "Cicada! Don't be rude." I almost chuckle as Cricket admonishes her friend, these two seem to be close.

They are about to continue but I interrupt them. "What do my emotions feel like to you?" I've never known for sure how well my necklace works and it would be good to know.

Cicada smiles again, I wonder if she can eat meat with those teeth. "I can kind of feel some emotions from you, but barely any. I've felt ponies like that a few times before but not this consistently, do you have something happening to your brain?" I can't stop myself from chuckle very slightly, she really doesn't have a filter.

They both looked at me confused as I finally broke my calm mask a little, I started thinking about how to approach this. The emotional shield is something that they will probably figure out when the guards guarding them start using it, and I know Celestia well enough to say that's something she's probably already working on implementing for the guard.

But such a shield is too fast for a pony to have invented it, so I lie. "No I do not, but I'm not allowed to say how or why." Neither of them looked that surprised at my answer.

I cast a spell and check the time. "And that's also me out of time, thank you for answering my questions. Do you need to know anything before I leave?" I decided to start shutting down the conversation to avoid the topic, I already got the answers I needed anyway.

They can obviously tell what I'm doing, but I keep a professional and non negotiable tone. Cicada seems a little disappointed but as far as I can tell neither of them seem mad. "What is their name?" She asks while pointing to Entropy, who's still on my back.

I stand up and organize my notes before placing them in my saddlebags. "Entropy." I turn to Cricket and wait to see if she has any questions.

Her pupil-less eyes stare back for a few moments. "Why these questions?"

I'm honestly surprised it took this long for either of them to ask that. "To better understand your kind." I give a nice corporate answer. After that answer, I give them both a nod. "Miss Cricket, Miss Cicada, I hope both of you have a good day."

Cricket just nods and goes back to her book, while Cicada is more lively. "Come back anytime, it's fun to have interesting questions for once, and you have a good day too." I give them one last nod and leave the room, once the door is closed behind me I finally let my mask go.

Well, talking to them was interesting, and I now have a good amount of answers. I whistle as Entropy takes me home, I have work to do.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

Took a day off. Also this one came out way longer then expected, the next chapter will probably be shorter, for my sake.

Chapter 109

AUG 8 Saturday.

It's been a week since I talked with Celestia and any remaining tension and worry has mostly faded with time.

Also in the past week, I've kept myself busy, first and foremost I've been looking for a better emotion rune. The one I've been using for the emotional shield spell is decent but I'd like something better to make an emotional magic collection spell... By magic am I terrible at naming things.

Anyway, another thing that I decided to do was ask Celestia for some help in finding a better emotion rune, her help would definitely speed up the search. I know she's busy so I specifically asked her to instruct a pony or two to search for her and send me the results. I also included that basic report about how long the spell will take, it should only take a few weeks after I find the right runes.

And in response, I got a letter back the same day.

Dear Shade.

I'm glad to hear that your idea seems possible, and thank you for the help you've provided with your continued work.

Now, with that out of the way. As you know I've been busy recently and haven't had much time for other things, that includes teaching my student. So I've tasked her with finding the rune you need and any other runes that she thinks could be of use to this project.

She was told it was an assignment from me to help research something for Veil Winter, so she doesn't know you're involved. She also seemed very excited, it seems you have made an impression on her, and you may have a fan.

Also enclosed in this letter are two small packets, one holds a ticket to this year's Gala, I hope to see you there. And in the other is my revenge. Open it, you know you want to.

Celestia

Getting some help with this project so I can focus on more than just this is nice. The idea of Twilight being my fan is terrifying, and a great motivation to never reveal my real identity. And I can just tell from the way Celestia wrote this that she's messing with me.

The Grand Galloping Gala is something I honestly forgot about, but It sounds fun. Last year's gala ended on a bad note, but there should be protections in place this year, and spending some time at a party with Celestia sounds nice. But that means I once again need to get a new suit, being tall can kind of suck.

And then there is the second packet she sent me, her revenge. She's right, I did want to open it, and after resisting for four days I decided to finally give in to my curiosity. The small packet exploded into glitter, fucking glitter, all over my bedroom. It took HOURS to clean it all up.

Do you know how hard it is to clean up glitter? It's hell. I had to get it out from in between my fucking floorboards, and the worst part was Entropy. For some fucked reason she loves the hellish sparkly powder, when it first got everywhere she got covered, and then refused to let me clean it off.

I had to bribe her with treats and promise a fish dinner before she let me wash her off. And while I was doing that she flew around spreading the glitter even more!!! And even after three fucking days of cleaning I still find it everywhere. So to say the least I will get her back for this, but that's for later.

Right now I'm once again sitting in the library while reading through a few books, while Entropy sleeps in my shadow. I'm reading through a book about healing burn wounds when I glance up and see someone I haven't seen in a while, Avalon. He walks through the library and finds several books before spotting me.

I smile and wave as he nods back. It's been a while since I last saw him, it's nice to see that he's still learning about magic. After a few minutes, he sits down with me at the table. "Shade, how have you been? It's been a while now." He seems a little excited and happy to see me.

He speaks Griffin from the start, not that I mind, it's nice to sharpen up my language skills. "It has, And I've been well. I'm happy to see you are still learning, how has your studying gone?" It's been around four months since we last met and I'm curious how far he's progressed.

His smile widens and he passes me a very roughed-up piece of paper, it's seen better days with small tears and several stains. But under it all I can still make out the list I gave him several months ago, I'm surprised it's still holding together, but I'm also pleasantly surprised to see only three books left on the list.

I smile at the list and pass it back. After a moment I watch as he holds out his talons and starts to draw, a dark brown magic line is formed in the air. "Well now, that's definitely something worth celebrating. Have you managed to cast any spells yet?"

He stops drawing and looks a little embarrassed as the magic dissolves. "Well, only the really simple one you gave me, but that spell has saved me a ton of time, thank you for showing it to me." By the end his smile shines through again.

That's not massive progress, but for someone who's never used magic before he's made pretty good progress. "Good job, you are now officially an apprentice rank runic caster." He looks bashful. "Anything I can help with while you're here?"

My research is a slow endeavor so lending a hoof for a while is just fine by me. He gives me a thankful look while taking a notebook out of his satchel, oh good he takes notes. "That would be great thanks. Here, I want to learn this spell but I'm struggling with this part, something about it seems wrong."

I look over the page he opened. It's a relatively simple spell to help dry feathers quickly, a good spell to have if you're flying a lot. I take a moment to copy the spell matrix and runes while I look over it, this is something I wouldn't mind having. After that's done I start looking at the section written to the side of the matrix.

The spell is mostly simple, but this particular section is harder and the math isn't the best. I turn the notebook so he can see what I'm pointing at, "You see this part?" He nods. "It's solved like this, and either you or someone else copied in the wrong number here."

I spotted the defect when copying the spell, so I drew it out with my magic, and I did it without using my hoof to draw. He looks interested at my display of magic and watches as I show him how to properly draw the matrix. He nods and takes a few notes while I keep that matrix in the air and continue reading my book.

For a while we just read silently with a few questions from him about certain things thrown in at random, it may be quiet but I find myself enjoying the simple interaction. I also find his determination and passion for magic commendable and inspiring, I often find ponies take having magic for granted and don't really appreciate it.

Earth ponies do appreciate it more than pegasi and especially unicorns, but I find it to be something of a breath of fresh air to have someone so amazed by magic. Maybe that's the difference, like Avalon I've lived also without magic, while normal ponies seem to be used to magic being everywhere.

As I read I take a moment to look over the books Avalon has taken an interest in. I can see the last three books on the list I gave him, one of which he's reading now. But he seems to have gotten confident enough to start looking through books, not on the list.

I recognize a few but one in particular stands out to me, The Intricacies of Magical Affinities. I remember that this book is the one I found the affinity testing spell in and taught me a lot at that time. But it's not the best book to start with if you want to learn about magical affinities.

"If you want to learn about magical affinities then you should probably start with a different book, that one is not the best as a starting point." I say while grabbing the book to show him.

He looks at the book for a moment and nods with a small smile. "I know, I've already looked into it some, and I thought it was interesting. But the library I was at didn't have more on the subject so I waited until I was back in Canterlot to try and find out more about it." I'm again pleasantly surprised by Avalon.

I nod and go back to my last book, after I'm done I decide to call it a day and head home. But a thought strikes me after a moment, I could easily enchant a small ruby so he can test his affinities. After a little thought, I decided to help Avalon further.

He's more than shown that he has the mind and passion for magic, and it'd be a shame if I didn't encourage that. "I have something to do, I'll be back in a while." I don't elaborate further and he just nods before going back to his book.

At a decent running speed it takes me around half an hour to get home, grab a gem, enchant it and write some instructions before getting back to the library.

I walk back in and see Avalon finishing up with his books, perfect I made it just in time. "Sorry about running off, but I needed to grab something." I apologize while walking over to him.

He smiles. "It's fine, thanks for helping me Shade. You always seem to know so much about this stuff." I know a compliment when I see one.

I smile back. "A lot of reading. Here, this should be useful. It's a gem with the affinities testing spell on it and some instructions. I already found out mine and don't have much of a use for it, so here you go." I hold out the gem offering it to him.

He's surprised, his feather twitching slightly, he just stares at the gem for a few moments. "Are you sure? This couldn't have been cheap and you could resell it." I keep my smile and nod.

"Yes, like I said I don't have a use for it anymore and you have proved that you want to learn magic, this should help with that. However please remember to stay safe and research your affinities thoroughly before trying to use them." Him telling me I could sell it instead of just taking it is a kindness, and kindness should be rewarded.

He stares at the gem before delicately taking it from me. "Once again thank you Shade, I won't forget this." I'm a little surprised at how seriously he says that second part but I ignore it.

"And thank you for showing genuine interest in a craft many forget even exists. Have a good day Avalon, I wish you safe travels." I hold out a hoof for him to shake.

And he happily shakes it. "And I wish you clear skies. See you around Shade." He gives me a uniquely Griffin goodbye before walking off with a smile.

After he leaves I find the books I left behind and put them away before heading home. It feels nice to help others, maybe fate will take it easy on me for a bit if I help others more. Ahh, who am I kidding? Fate has it out for me. I chuckle a little as I and my shadow whistle a tone as I walk home.

Entropy seems to have taken after me yet again and picked up my whistling, good news is she's rather good at it. When I arrive home I spend some time making food and organizing my workroom, all the different things that routinely get out of order when I work on things.

When I'm done cleaning I find small traces of glitter in my workroom. "How the fuck did that even get in this room? The damn door was closed when I opened that fucking package." I can't help but voice my annoyance. "Oh, fuck this." I decided to do something about this menace that's in my home.

I sit at one of my desks and start flipping through a few notebooks for ideas, and after a while, I find something I have forgotten about. The unique property of the purification rune, its seeming ability to destroy matter. The last time I experimented with this rune was a long time ago so it takes me a while to find my old notes on it.

At the time I got busy with other ideas and this sort of just fell to the wayside, but now that I have more skill and experience it seems like a good time to experiment again. And it could solve my current problem with this devil dust. After finding my notes and reading through them I start designing a new spell.

The rune is simple at its base, you tell it what you want to get rid of and it does, while also leaving everything else untouched. But it still destroys matter so being careful is a given, I flip through my collection of runes and try to find a rune that will work well with the purification rune.

After a while, I found a rune I only added to my collection for the sake of documentation, a rune for trash. It's not a well-made rune, but it is helpfully vague with what it considers trash, and that is a double-edged sword. The spell that I create over the next few hours is a simple and odd solution to my problem.

One thing I did note about the purification rune during my last experiments, is that the more matter you destroy the more magic it takes. So targeting something like a pony would be very hard to use the rune on due to the sheer amount of magic required to do anything. But I still added two safeguards.

I added two more runes, a rune for living, and a rune for protection. Both protect different things from the spell's effects, the rune of protection is simple, it keeps the spell from causing harm, if the spell tried it would conflict with itself and the spell would do nothing.

The second rune is more interesting. This rune of living protects all living things from being affected, and the reason behind that should be self-explanatory. I have time, so I make sure nothing could go wrong before attempting to cast the spell.

It's made to target a set area and I make sure to stand outside that area when first casting it, while also leaving a potted juniper berry bush in the affected area. I then add some of the glitter I've collected and leave it in a small pile next to the pot, then I slowly draw out the spell and double-check it before casting the spell.

The spell is more complicated because of the safety measures and the area it covers, and that means it takes more magic than it probably should. But the result seems to work properly, the plant is fine and its soil is still there, while the glitter is gone without a trace.

I walk over after the spell is finished and see that my floor is very clean, it almost looks brand-new with how clean it is. As I'm examining the area I realize something, I will definitely need to do more testing, but this spell can probably be released to the public.

If I remember correctly I found the purification rune in a cleaning spell, and what I've made is basically an improved version of that. I'll definitely need to do a lot more testing just to be safe, but this could be yet another thing for Veil Winter to invent.

As that thought comes to mind I remember Celestia's letter and what she said about a certain filly. And just like that I think it's time for bed, I clean up my workspace before doing my routine and getting some sleep.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

Chapter 111

AUG 21 Friday.

I look at myself in the mirror and check that nothing is out of place.

My hair is tied back behind my head, I have my nice and simple new black suit on, and my new silver pocket watch on its chain in my breast pocket. It's the big day and for the first time I'm hoping to really enjoy the event, but my paranoia is still there as always.

And for the first time Entropy's coming with me, after the last changeling incident I'm not going anywhere without her. "Ready girl?" I ask as she finishes her large meal, she'll need it for how long we'll be at the gala. She looks at me and caws before landing on my back.

"Scratch." She demands of me, she's started using more words and it's getting interesting. I give into her demand and after some scratches, she merges into my shadow. Before feeding Entropy I had her deliver a package to Celestia, I know she won't get it until after this event.

The package contained a few pages on the new cleaning spell, I've been improving it for a few weeks now and it's ready to be released. The package also contains something I probably put too much work into, the puzzle prank is now finished and it is hellish.

It consists of three riddles, they are all complete bullshit, all three have nonsense answers and most are beyond stupid. And just as an extra cherry on top I removed all E's from all the writing and left them on a different piece of paper with the same placement, she's going to have to cut out the blank spaces and line them up, or fill it all in to read it smoothly.

Once she finds the stupid answers for the riddles she'll have to take the word that is the answer and count the letters in each word. Then take those numbers to finally unlock a combination lock I bought and used to lock a wooden box. And after all of that, the box contains nothing but pure glitter.

It should be a fun surprise for her when she either solves it and opens the box or throws it at a wall out of frustration. I chuckle at the mental image of Celestia full force throwing the box at a wall, that would be a sight to see. I double-check my suit again before leaving my apartment.

It's near the end of the day and I'm happy to see clear skies, I'd rather my new suit not get rained on. The streets are lively with ponies busily walking every which way, I just focus on moving through the crowds and start walking to the gala. It doesn't take me long to arrive at a well-lit and bustling gala.

Like the last two times, I show the guards my invite and walk right inside, I still don't enjoy large parties but it's hard to not get swept into the excited atmosphere. So many ponies are talking and dancing with each other, but as I enter the party proper I start feeling odd.

To be blunt I have no idea what to do, I don't know anypony here and I'm not too interested in dancing or partying. So after some thought, I did the same thing I did last year, enjoy the food. And that becomes something of a problem because Entropy loves food.

So as I approach the table I don't notice her looking at all the food from my shadow, thankfully Entropy is a smart girl and knows not to reveal herself in public, but she is a smart girl who seems to understand loopholes. I sat down at the table and started picking out a few things to add to my plate.

After I'm done I keep the plate next to my chest and after a little while I notice something, things on my plate are disappearing. I'm confused, so I look under my plate to see if anything's fallen, and in between my hind legs is Entropy enjoying a nice baked apple.

"What are you doing?" I ask her quietly as she keeps eating, she just looks up and then goes back to her food. I take a quick glance around to make sure no ponies have seen her, I seem to be in the clear but I need to solve this. I don't want to make a scene so I shift my legs a little to better hide her.

She's in an uncomfortable place, right next to my bits, but I don't do anything as she finishes the apple. "You had your food now, go back!" I quietly demand.

My response is an annoyed caw. "Bad." She retorts me, and then pecks a place that is less than fun to be pecked.

"OHh, you little!" My sudden outburst earns me a few odd looks from ponies around me. I can feel my blush all over my face, but just keep staring at my plate intently while ignoring them. Luckily Entropy goes back into my shadow after that and anypony that noticed me stopped caring after a few moments of nothing happening.

"Stay in there you gremlin," I whisper to Entropy while she continues to eye the table filled with food. I keep eating and try to ignore what just happened, not the best start to this night.

I'm distracted with trying not to act embarrassed. "Hello, do you mind if I sit here?" I hear a voice and turn to see a pony I recognize, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. :Well fuck you too fate: Apparently while I was dealing with Entropy and my embarrassment I didn't notice her approaching my table.

Tonight was already getting out of hoof, but this is just bullshit. I can't hide my surprised and slightly startled expression, so I settle for giving her a bow as quickly as possible. "Of course Princess." I don't say much but keep a respectful tone.

She smiles slightly and lies down next to me at the table. Well, I'm fucked, having Celestia talk to me tonight was already going to stand out, mixing Cadance into it will definitely start some form of rumor. Cadance gathers a few things on her own plate while talking to me, "I hope you're enjoying the gala, my aunt always makes it an interesting event."

I nod and keep my formal attitude. "I am, thank you for asking Princess, and yes Princess Celestia always makes it impressive." Does she know who I am? Did Celestia tell her anything?

She smiles but doesn't turn to me. "There's a spell around us, no pony can understand anything we say, all they hear is boring talk." I'm startled by the far less formal tone she takes me. "I just came over to meet the stallion my aunt has talked so much about."

I stare for a moment. Honestly, after getting pecked in the balls I'm not in the mood to act so formal when she clearly won't be. I decided to drop a lot of my mask and just see how this goes. "Hhhh, of course she did... Hello, I'm Shade Evergreen, nice to finally meet you Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." I really hope she doesn't mind me acting so informal from the start.

And from the smile still on her face, it seems she doesn't mind at all. "Agreed. You seemed very distracted when I walked over, you didn't even notice me for a few moments." I can hear the very slightly teasing tone she's taking with me. :By magic, what have I gotten myself into?:

"My shadow pecked me." I decide to tell her the truth, which only earns me a confused look in response. I try to keep being less formal than I normally am with ponies I don't know, I'm trying to be less guarded and more relaxed with her. She's like family to Celestia and I should at least try to get to know her instead of just staying in my bubble. "I am curious though, what did Celestia tell you about me?"

Her smile disappears as she eats something, only to return when I ask that question. "Many things, but mostly I've heard about all the things you've made. I must say you've done some impressive things for someone your age. And when she told me you were attending I thought it was a good opportunity to finally meet you."

"Well, thank you, I do try to keep busy." I'm not used to getting compliments so I mostly brush it off. "I hope she hasn't told you anything too bad about me."

"OH no, nothing like that, so far at least. Although... She did mention something about grapes." She finishes with a smile that promises something unknown. "Fake grapes. You wouldn't happen to remember the spell you used for that, do you?" She doesn't even pretend to act innocent with her intentions.

I raise a brow. "Why do you ask?"

Her smile widens. "Well, let's just say you're not the only pony who wants some.... revenge let's call it." Ok, that is not what I expected from her.

I can guess what she's hinting at, so I keep up with my far less-than-normal openness. I'm not sure if it's just because she's also a princess like Celestia, but I'm being far more loose-tongued than normal. "So.. you're also pranking her?"

Her smile doesn't falter in the slightest. "Maybe? But if I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you about my aunt's dislike for peanut brittle, strong dislike. But I also wouldn't mind knowing that spell for... let's say, research?"

I just stare for a moment before smiling back a little, seems I have an unexpected ally. "OH, really? Hmmm, well then, if I did know that spell I certainly wouldn't be able to copy it with some paper and ink." I'm honestly surprised with myself at this point, but she seems nice and I find myself relaxing much more than expected.

She doesn't skip a beat and takes some paper and a quill from somewhere hidden in her dress. "Where did you keep that?"

"It's a secret. Now, the spell if you don't mind." I just shrug after a moment and start drawing out the spell matrix while not touching the paper more than absolutely necessary.

"It doesn't work as a spell, you can only use it as an enchantment, and any small gem should work. Also if you used a decent-quality diamond you could probably get the spell to work with a very VERY small gem. You know? The gems that are easy to lose in somewhere like, oh I don't know, an office? But that's all just a hypothetical."

She laughs slightly at the suggestion. "I'll need to remember that one. But I think we should change the subject, my aunt is coming this way." She takes the things she gave me, along with the spell matrix I drew out, and I turn to see Celestia walking over to us.

Celestia is wearing the same dress as last year, and I can't help but notice how well it fits her. I shake that thought out of my head and focus as Celestia lies down on the other side of me. "I see you two have finally met. Shade, I hope you're enjoying the gala."

Celestia is also less formal than I expected, but it seems Cadance was telling the truth, no pony around us seems to care much about how informal we are talking. "It's... fine. Although it's always a little boring for me, good company helps with that though." I try to relax and ignore the fact that I'm sandwiched between two very attractive mares.

Cadance takes the opportunity to buy in. "Apparently his shadow pecked him. Can you believe that aunty?" She jokes a little at my expense.

Celestia just glances at my shadow and chuckles. "Yes, I can niece. And I'm happy to see you two getting along." She says happily.

Me and Cadance share a look but don't say anything, partners in crime it seems. After a moment I remember the gift I sent Celestia, and go to address her. "By the way, thank you for the invite, and the glitter." She smiles. "SO, as an extra thank you, I sent a gift back. It should be waiting for you by now."

I don't elaborate but she can see my smile taunting. "Well then, it seems tomorrow will be interesting. I leave you two alone for a few minutes and already you are cooperating, I guess I should be happy you two are getting along so well."

"HEY! I'll have you know that gift was only my work." I defend myself, but I also don't deny her accusation.

Celestia probably noticed but didn't say anything about it, while Cadance spoke up again. "You sent him glitter aunty?"

I interrupt. "No, she sent me a glitter pack, that exploded inside my bedroom," I answer with a deadpan tone. Cadance laughs again and I turn to Celestia, who's also chuckling a little. "Also, I have you to thank for Entropy discovering her love of glitter. She got COVERED in it, and refused to let me clean her off while flying around my apartment, spreading the glitter EVERYWHERE!"

Cadance looks confused while Celestia starts laughing for a moment, at least her getting a laugh out of this is a positive. "It seems we're once again even then. At least until I open your mysterious gift." Celestia moves a large slice of cake over to her.

I roll my eyes and turn back to Cadance. "So what's the best prank you've managed to pull on her?" I decided to use our shared interest in pranking Celestia as a starting point, I have to start somewhere after all. She smiles again, my impression of Cadance is definitely not what I expected, she's far less formal and royal acting than Celestia, but given her much younger age that makes some sense.

"Now that you mention it. There was that one time with the food dye I-" Before she can continue a fork moves over and shoves some cake in her open mouth silencing her, I turn around to see Celestia with an innocent look on her face. After Cadance eats what's in her mouth she turns back to Celestia and gives her a small glare.

"Fine, I won't tell him that one. How about that one with the chocolate cak-" She's once again cut off my Celestia trying to shove more cake in her mouth, Cadance closes her mouth after that.

Seeing Celestia's small smile and Cadance's defeated look I can't help but laugh at their antics. "I can certainly say this is more interesting than last year, is that cake any good?." Cadance just ignores my question and after a moment Celestia stands back up.

"It was a pleasure as always, Shade, but I have other guests to meet. I'll see you in a few weeks, and please Enjoy the gala." Her smile is kind as always, I think she really is just happy me and Cadance are getting along.

"I'll try but no promises, enjoy dealing with the nobles." I joke as she walks away from us and starts to mingle with other important-looking ponies. And once again my eye is drawn to her flank, but like last time I shove that thought away. :I really need someone to hit me when I start thinking like that:

I take a bite of some cake to distract myself from those thoughts. "So what do you think of her dress?" I cough a little from the question Cadance asks me.

"I-I'm sorry, what?" I ask back confused.

She gives me a far too vicious smile. "Anypony can tell you where staring. So what do you think?"

I'm stunned for a few moments before my mind restarts. It's at this point that I realize Cadance is the alicorn of love, and it's not a stretch to say attraction is counted as some form of love. When I find my voice Cadance is still calmly eating, "Well, it is a nice and... impressively made dress."

I try to deflect her question but from the look she's giving me she sees right through that. "Oh, really. In what way?" At this point I'm sweating some, this suit is suddenly a little tight.

"The... color? And well-made stitches?" At this point my blush is starting to show again. It's also now clear that she's fucking with me right now.

"The stitches? ... They are well made. Anyway, I'm going to help my aunty." I breathe out a sigh of relief at that, but it seems I celebrated too soon. "Also, you forgot to mention she has a nice flank. Enjoy the gala!" She laughs while walking away from my stunned and flustered expression.

It's at times like this I remember an old saying, even gods fear the power of love. I groan and just bury my blush for a moment. :Remind me to never mess with her, she'll kill me from embarrassment. By magic I'm thankful she put up that spell: After I calm down enough to not blush at her words I put down my plate of unwanted food.

:Maybe it's time I head home?: But before I can even finish that thought I'm once again interrupted. "What were you talking about with-" I'm once again startled out of my skin and quickly turn to see... Twilight Sparkle standing behind me. :If I ever meet fate I'm hitting her with the biggest stick I can find: I curse fate in my mind while regaining my composure.

I haven't seen Twilight in a long time now, a year? Maybe more? I'm not sure. She looks different now, less like a filly and more like a teen. The last time we met she was only a tiny bit shorter than me, but she's grown taller since then. But so have I, and now I'm a few inches taller than her.

Her question registers in my mind after a moment. I'm sure as hell not telling her what we're talking about, ESPECIALLY that last part. She goes silent and stares at me for a little bit. "Wait, don't I know you? Hm, Slate? right?" she guesses while studying my face.

I'm a little amused at her calling me by the wrong name, and that helps me relax a little bit. "Shade, we've met a few times now. But it's been a long while since then." I keep a calm but friendly tone, I rather not make a bad impression after so long.

She seems to think for a moment before having a look of realization dawns on her face. "You're the one with that field... thingy! And you work at the library! " Her voice comes out quickly and with a hint of excitement.

I'm not sure whether to be flattered she remembers me, or a little insulted that that is what she remembers about me. In her defense, she's only met me a few times. "That is an.. Interesting way to describe me, but yes that's correct."

After I point it out she has the decency to look a little embarrassed. "Sorry, those are just the things that come to mind. I'm Twilight, I'm the princess's student." She quickly shakes off that embarrassment and shows a little pride, not a lot, just a little.

I'm not sure if she introduces herself like that out of pride or simply because ponies might better recognize her that way, maybe both?

I nod to her. "Congratulations, it must be interesting to have the Princess as a teacher. And I think we also talked with the princess last year." I attempted small talk with somepony my age for the first time in a very long time while trying to change the subject from what I talked about with the princesses.

I start eating again so I don't have to talk as much. "OH YA! We talked about rituals. Yes, the princess is an amazing teacher, she even gives so many interesting things to research." I watch as she sits down with me and starts listing off a few things she's learning.

She's surprisingly open, then again, one of the few things she knows about me is that I'm also a magic nerd. So I just eat while she rattles off on different subjects, some of them are interesting and something I might even want to look into later. "I even got an assignment to help The Veil Winter!"

I do a double-take hearing that. I know Celestia gave her that assignment, but she said that with far too much excitement for my liking. I decided to speak up for the first time in a while, "The inventor?" I play somewhat ignorant on the topic.

"Yup! no pony knows who they are. BUT! They've invented so many spells in such a short time, and I get to help them!" She's kind of fangirling right now. I can't tell if her excitement comes from working with a spell inventor or Veil Winter in specific, either way this has to be the oddest conversation I've ever been in.

She talking about me, to ME, and I can't say anything. "It's definitely interesting, but what's the big deal?" I don't even have to fake my curiosity with this question. There is far more than one inventor making spells, sure I make them faster and maybe a little better, but that's about it.

She looks a little taken aback, and maybe even a little offended. "BIG DEAL!?" She nearly shouts a little before quieting down again. "They've made so many spells so quickly. You work at the library right?" Her high energy is honestly a little much for me after having to deal with Cadance.

Still I keep my inner thoughts in check and nod to answer her. "You know the copy spell?" I nod again. "They made that spell, and the light spell everypony uses, and th-" I watch silently as she lists EVERY SINGLE thing I've invented. :OK, it's official, I'm uncomfortable now:

I just keep silently nodding as she talks for a while. "And that's just what they've made in TWO YEARS! Imagine what they'll make in the next five years!"

I'm silent as she finally slows down some. "Well, I do have to admit that's impressive for only two years." Honestly, I have no idea what to say beyond that. So I just try to bring up a different topic. "Are there other inventors you know making interesting spells?" I'm genuinely curious because I don't keep track of things like that.

That only seems to half work. "Yes! Recently I've been reading about a pony trying to make a spell to bend metal." That actually sounds pretty interesting. "They haven't released anything yet. But they've been able to bend needles. Imagine what ponies could do if they made the spell able to bend bigger things? A single pony could forge something in half the time!"

She starts nerding out again, and so am I a little as my mind works through how a spell like that could work. "Really? Ha, that would be useful. Even just the spell as it is could be used in making jewelry, or depending on how it works it could help with engravings. Does the spell just bend metal or does it move it also?" The more I think about the spell the more my interest grows.

She smiles a little as we dive down a rabbit hole of weird spells that interest us. And I find myself enjoying the conversation, even with the rocky start. It's nice to talk to somepony who's as much of a nerd for magic as I am.

As I'm talking to Twilight I never notice Celestia glancing at us from time to time with a small smile.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]

I consider the weakest part of this story to be the dialog, so I tired to make it more interesting, and play it less safe overall. I have no idea if I did that right, so any feedback is appreciated.

Also, two more things. I imagine Cadence as formal to those she doesn't know, but very much inform to those she does, Shade being a special case as Celestia is already close to him.

And finally. My brain likes the fact this chapter is exactly 4k.

Chapter 112

AUG 21 Friday.

I put down my fork as Twilight asks me something interesting. "You use runic magic, right? What's the spell you think is best to start with?"

I'm a little confused by her question, I don't think she knows anypony that would need to know that, but I answer anyway. "A basic warming spell, or maybe a candle flame spell. Although that second one can be somewhat dangerous if used wrong. Why are you asking?"

She looks a little bashful. "I want to teach my brother. It would be so amazing for me to be able to teach him magic." She admits with a small smile. I'm confused for a moment, why would Shining need to learn magic? It takes a few seconds to realize she's talking about Spike.

I have no idea if a dragon could learn magic, but I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't be possible. I also have no idea what that will do to the timeline, but if he can do it, why not? At this point, I just don't care as much. It's also nice to see she considers Spike family. But I do have a responsibility as a runic caster to inform her of the dangers.

"Good, it's always nice to see other ponies interested in my craft. Just a warning though, runic casting can be dangerous if done improperly. Read any warnings thoroughly, and take them seriously." I make sure to emphasize that last part.

She nods and seems to understand my warning, but before she can say anything else we're interrupted by yet another pony. :I'm starting to get tired of ponies sneaking up on me today: "Sweetie, so this is where you've been. Who's your friend?"

We both turn and see a unicorn stallion. He has a blue coat, a deep blue mane, and yellow eyes. I decided to answer the stallion first. "Shade Evergreen, nice to meet you, Sir." I keep my introduction relatively formal.

"OH, and he's polite." He's said that while looking at Twilight, who now looks a little embarrassed. "Night Light, a pleasure to meet you." He greets me with a smile and an outstretched hoof. AH, now I recognize him, Twilight's sire, I guess he's here with Twilight.

"Sire, don't embarrass me." She mumbles to him, I'm just confused at this. All he's been is friendly.

"All I'm doing is being nice sweetie. Anyway, I'm sorry to cut your talk short, but we have to get going or your dam will be less than pleased with us." He says to Twilight, she looks a little sad but nods. "But we have a little time, so how about you tell me a little more about yourself?"

"Looks like we have to go, have a good day Shade!" She very quickly blurts out, she seems even more embarrassed and quickly tries to drag her sire away with her.

I'm surprised at how quickly she's able to drag him away, as they move away I catch a few words from Night. "So sweetie, where did you meet that Colt? You seem to like talking to him quite a bit." He sounds amused as she just drags him harder.

Well, that was something, I'm not sure what that was about, but hey at least I had some fun talking with Twilight tonight. A few good conversations and a few things to laugh about, not a bad day, if I don't count Twilight's fangirling, and Entropy pecking me, and Cadence. Seriously, that mare is the last enemy I would ever want.

Somepony able to force you to love someone is something you never fuck with, not that she would ever do that, but I'm not paranoid for nothing. I'm once again not entirely sure what to do, I'm full and out of ponies to talk to, so I take a moment to look around the gala.

Ponies are all dancing and enjoying the night, but I don't see anything of interest to me. I could go home? But tonight only comes once a year and I wanted to have some fun. So instead of staying at a table, I decided to explore the gala more than I had before.

The gala mostly consists of the main event in the large room, but off to the sides are small things. Some gardens to sit inside and even a few smaller rooms with smaller events happening inside. I've never had much interest in them but I don't really have anything better to do.

So I start wandering down some hallways while making sure to keep out of staff-only areas, and as I walk I just let my mind wander.

It's been so long since I've thought about my life and how far I've come. I still remember the days when I used to work at a gas station, it was a small out of the way place in a city like Columbus. All I ever did was man the counter, it was a boring job most of the time but at least it was simple work.

Those days seem so far away now, but aren't they? It's been so long and with every year I live it feels further away from me. I wonder if that's just how humans are? We forget what isn't needed, it's why we repeat our mistakes. I stop for a moment and try to pull my mind from that dark area of my mind.

I sit down in a walkway with an overhang that overlooks the small gardens. I sit there for a while simply enjoying the view before a far-off noise catches my attention, music? The gala has bands and plenty of music, but this sounded much more simple and singular. :Ehhh, why not?: I decided to satisfy my curiosity and find the source of the music.

It's easy to follow the sound, and after a short while, I can make out what instrument is being used, a violin. Eventually, I find a single open door, I walk over and look inside. And Inside is a decent-sized room with a few dozen ponies in it, a small stage is on the back wall while ponies sit on mats facing the stage.

After a moment of watching I looked around, but I didn't see any sign or anypony stopping me from entering. I decide to walk inside and find an empty mat to lie on, the music isn't as well done as the main bands, but it's still nice and I find myself relaxing in the quiet and calm environment.

Several ponies notice me, but nopony says anything, I also see another pony come in and look around just like I did before also finding a place to lay down. I listen quietly to the pleasant music and find my mind once again wandering. This time I don't think about my past life, but my current life.

I've started to ponder something recently. In the past, I'd avoid doing certain things to not affect the timeline, but that ship has sailed and I've started to care less and less about that over time. And that leads me to my question, what do I want?

I still mainly want to stop what is to come, but I can't do just that for my entire life. So beyond that, what, do, I, want? And I'm honestly not sure. I do enjoy what I'm currently doing with my life, I help many, have good friends, and love my work. So what am I missing?

And the truth is I don't know, I have much more than most ponies but something feels missing. Maybe that's just the human part of me coming out again. From what I've seen ponies are much more willing to simply play their role, they find what they're good at and just enjoy their life by living it, and they get complacent.

Maybe that's a downside of having your special talent on your flank. There are ponies that do something new and break their mold, but none of them act like a human does. Humans are many things, but complacent is not often one of them. We can be happy with what we have for a while, but eventually, we want more, and seek more. So where does this leave me?

It's taken years, but I'm starting to want something a little different. I don't want to upend my life, but I feel like I need to add something new to my life that is consistent, and I think it should involve some form of exploration. Why? Well, I may not know what I want, but I do know the part of me that wants something new is human.

And as a former human I can tell you one of the most interesting things to me is exploration. To go somewhere to see new sights and learn new things, it's why I enjoy the forest so much. So how can I do that consistently? Well, I think I already have the perfect answer, The Everfree Forest.

Not long ago I thought about building a camp in the Everfree to study and explore it, and that sounds perfect for me. Sure there are risks, but I find the idea worth some risk. And it will help in other ways. Sometimes I get tired of this busy city, and having somewhere quiet to go for a weekend sounds nice.

As the pony playing the music stops I start to clap with the other ponies who were listening. But for now, I think it's time I head home, if I want to make my idea a reality I have a lot of work ahead of me.

POV shift Celestia

I slump onto my bed after finally getting that dress off, it's beautiful but a little too tight for my liking.

Tonight was a whirlwind of ponies and endless talk, just like all the gala's before this. At least I had Cadence and Shade to break up the monotony some. I flip myself right-side up and smile at the memory of them joking around some.

When I started to tell my niece about Shade she wanted to meet him immediately, and I decided against that. It took me a long time to gain his trust and have him drop his guard enough to relax. That's why I asked my niece to meet him at the gala instead of one of the meetings I and Shade have.

And that's what's so surprising about tonight. I'm not sure why, but Shade was more open and warm to meeting her than I thought he would be. Not that I'm complaining, it's nice to see him act more open with others. That thought brings my mind to something else I saw that also made me smile.

Twilight is a dedicated student, but sometimes I fear she's too dedicated to learning. She still has friends but much like Shade they are few in number, but unlike Shade Twilight doesn't see her few friends as much.

Shade talked about his friends and he sees them almost every day because of his work. But Twilight's friends were mostly in school, and with her learning from me now I worry she'll lose touch with them. Which is why I was delighted that they seemed to enjoy talking to each other so much.

I don't see them becoming friends soon, Shade is too mature, and Twilight is too attached to rules for Shade to relax fully, but maybe when they grow up some. I move my thoughts from the gala to the cardboard box sitting in front of me on my bed along with a single letter.

I start with the letter and find it to be yet another spell. It's not a massive thing, but a good cleaning spell can help with a great many things. I keep my smile as I read through the spell's instructions and look at the spell's matrix, he always sends me useful things.

I carefully put the letter to the side and moved the box over to me. He was vague about this part, but considering how annoyed he looked about the glitter at the gala it should prove interesting. I open up the top and see several pages of paper and a wooden box with a lock on it.

I raised a brow and took the papers out, the top paper had a single sentence on it. I hope you like riddles.

OH, this will definitely be interesting. I smile while I start to read through the papers.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]

I had some writes block on how I wanted to finish the gala. In the end I decided on something smaller and simple, it may not be that interesting but I feel like it fit well here.

PS, I'm either taking tomorrow or the day after that off.

Chapter 113

AUG 30 Sunday.

I watch as a few birds fly by my window, I take a sip of my tea and focus again on the task in front of me.

It's been over a week since the gala and I'm in high spirits right now. Everything has been calm and steady, and I've started preparing for something exciting. In preparation for building a camp in the Everfree I've been researching several different ideas for my two main problems.

The first is simple, I need to find a spot to set up camp while staying safe. I previously thought about an invisibility spell, but I recently realized something, I've almost learned to fly. I don't need to walk through the forest and could just fly over a large part of the journey.

It's definitely safer, but it also has problems. While I'm flying I can't land or take off easily, I will also need to be safe and not drop my guard as I have no idea if there are any flying monsters in the Everfree. And while I don't have a good solution for the second, I can solve the first easily.

I can use my slow-falling spell to land easily, but taking off is another problem altogether. I could use a second more powerful slow-falling spell to get rid of all my weight so I can get above the tree canopy again. I write that down and move on to my next problem, the second main problem I have involves the shield the camp will use.

I want the shield to do two things, I want the shield to protect the camp and also hide the camp. The first part is once again easy, the shield spell I made for my home should work with a little modification. But the second part is harder, the only way I can think of to hide my camp would be an illusion.

Making an illusion like that will take time but is completely doable, powering both it and the shield is another thing altogether. I'll need a lot of space for my plans and both the shield and illusion need to cover all of it, so I'll need to dive into a branch of magic that I haven't used before.

Gem arrays. Normally I link gems with a linking spell so they can share magic and work together, and while that would probably work for this plan, I have a better idea. Gem arrays are not technically their own branch of magic, it's a sub-branch of enchantment.

It involves using a much MUCH more complex spell to link gems together, this lets them share and gather all of the gems magic combined into a single pool rather than the gems just being linked normally. This gives them a much greater efficiency and far greater stability.

The amount of magic lost when using gems like this is so much less it's amazing, but there are several big downsides to this. The gems are linked so closely that if they are ever unlinked they would immediately fail, and if those gems have magic then that will most definitely result in an explosion.

The gems will destroy themselves if unlinked for too long, or if moved too far from each other, and that's not the worst part as the other two downsides are arguably worse. To enchant these closely linked gems you have to enchant them while linking them at the same time, and you can never change or modify any enchantment on the gems after that.

If I use this method the resulting shield would be far stronger and able to withstand much greater threats, but if I ever wanted to replace it I'd need to start with new gems, and the old shield would either need to be used somewhere else or destroyed to prevent it from blowing up by accident.

And there is also one last downside, but it's much more situational. All the gems are very closely linked, so if one breaks all the others will go out of control and do the same. This combined with the fact that they need to be close to each other at all times when active means the gem array is delicate to sabotage, but I don't think that's something I need to worry about.

This is why most ignore this method unless they absolutely can't, it locks that gem to one purpose forever. But like I said this doesn't come without upsides. This method may lock the gems used into one enchantment, but it is also particularly good for shields.

The faster a gem can absorb magic and the more stable it is makes the shield both stronger and quicker at repairing itself. This makes gem arrays very good objects to enchant a shield into, and it's also why I've chosen to use a gem array for my Everfree camp.

I will lose some gems, but I can always buy more, and paying extra for safety is a good deal to me. That all leads to my current plan, first I need to make the shield spell and illusion spell, and then learn the complex linking spell. All of that will take a few weeks to complete which is why I'm currently going through my notebooks for runes and spells to start with.

The shield is relatively easy to make, I can just modify the shield around my home, it has the citadel rune which should work well for this. But I don't have a good rune for the illusion spell, I only have the bending illusion rune and the moving illusion rune, and both are not the best for a static shield.

So I've spent a few days trying to find the right rune, and I'm close but it will take more time. Speaking of time, I cast the Temporis spell and check the time, it's near noon and I have something to do today. The reason I thought about flying over the Everfree was because today is the big day.

Over the last few weeks I've gotten much better at gliding and keeping myself in the air with wing flaps, and at this point I'm basically just flying near the ground. So a few days ago when me and Blaz last met he told me we'd be trying to get me fully in the air and away from the ground the next time we meet, that meeting is today, and I'm very excited.

I've put a lot of time and effort into this and I really want to fly unimpeded, but that can wait until I don't kill myself. Which is why I'm bringing my old sapphire bracelet with me, I've enchanted it to let me activate a slow-falling enchantment in an instant if needed.

I bring Entropy with me under her illusion and make sure to keep her in my shadow while I walk through the streets, I rather not have a guard think I'm a Changeling because of her. I happily trot my way to the part of the park me and Blaz normally practice in, only to find a surprise waiting for me.

Maple, Daisy, and Blaz are all sitting down and talking while enjoying a picnic. After a few moments of confusion, I walked over to them, "What's all this?"

"Shade! good to see you. Get over here, we brought donuts!" Daisy says with her usual smile. I walk over and join them on a simple blanket laid out on the grass.

"Thanks? Daisy .. But, that doesn't really answer my question." I ask as Maple devours a donut in seconds.

Blaz answers me. "If things go to plan you'll be really flying for the first time, and it's not every day a friend learns to fly. So they came to support you." I'm a little touched by that, and suspicious. I've kept both Maple and Daisy up to date on my progress as this was never something I kept secret.

As for why I'm suspicious? Because I know Blaz. "Oh.... So what you're really saying, is Blaz invited both of you to watch me fail several times before I succeed, and fly around where you probably won't be able to even see me?" I just smile at them while sitting down.

Blaz smiles at that, and Daisy answers me without a hint of remorse. "Yup! He even brought the donuts to bribe Maple when she wanted to tell you about it. She almost ruined our surprise! Can you believe that? I'm not passing up the opportunity to see you crash." She's obviously joking with that last part.

I chuckle and turn to Maple. "Did you at least enjoy the donuts?" My answer is a small smile.

"Yes.... Shade, don't crash, it will make me sad." I try my best to not laugh at her deadpan tone and mostly blank expression, but I fail.

"I'll try." I turn back to Blaz. "Let's get started then, I'm excited to finally fly free, and we don't want to keep our audience waiting, do we?" He smiles and nods before walking a distance away.

"Hey Shade?" I turn around to look at Daisy. "Don't crash. It might be funny, but I'd rather you not get hurt." Unlike last time she's more serious and shows a little concern.

I give her a reassuring smile in return. "I don't plan to, but Blaz should be able to catch me if he needs to, why else would I deal with his teaching?" I joke while walking with Blaz to the highest part of the small but steep hill.

"You'll be fine Colt, just remember what I taught you. Also, don't panic, it will not help you fly better, I should know." He chuckles at his own, joke? I'm honestly not sure that was a joke. As I start walking I start feeling my worry act up a little. I've never been afraid of heights, but even with that and my months of practice I still can't fully remove my fear.

I take a deep breath and start drawing out the spell matrix, I'll need as much time as I can get with the spell so I held off from casting on until now. Once the spell is done and I feel the familiar weight of the wings I start a few stretches before finally starting.

I stretch out my wings fully and watch as Blaz flies into the air before hovering in place, something that I'll definitely need to learn. I focus my mind on the task at hoof and make sure Blaz is ready before making my attempt, unlike last time I don't get a running start and just start beating my wings while maintaining control.

It takes a moment to properly get off the ground and once I am, I immediately have to start moving forward. I carefully make my way a few dozen feet off the ground while also making sure to keep myself stable and not hit a tree. I slowly fly in circles to gain height while not flying away from Blaz.

After a while I rise high enough to start really flying around, and it is..... Liberating. It's not some spiritual awakening or anything like it, but liberating is the best way I can describe it. To be free of even the ground, the rushing air and the gentle breeze.

I don't fly off, I mostly just glide around the area and flap my wings every once in a while. "So, what do you think?" I turn to see Blaz flying next to me, he has to shout a little over the distance and wind.

I look forward again to keeping my focus. "It's amazing...... thanks."

"Thanks? Colt, we both know I'm a bad teacher. This is all you, enjoy the view." I can't see his face but I can imagine the smile he has. I decided to take his advice to heart and enjoy the moment.

The wind and the feeling of it passing over me and through my feathers. The most amazing part by far is the view, for the first time I see the city of Canterlot from above. The filled streets, the other pegasi flying around and in the sky with us, and the building stretching far away.

"It's beautiful."

"That it is, now let's get started on teaching you."

"Sure, but first let's land so I can recast the spell, I'd rather it not run out. And I need to give the mares a show when I stumble on the landing." I joke as I turn and start making my way back to the same area of the park we started at. During all of my flights, I make sure to take things slow and not make any fancy moves, simple is best for now. When I reach the right area I start descending.

I start circling an area again and slowly descend in a corkscrew, I straighten out as the ground nears and prepare for the hard part. I tilt my wings and start to break while flapping them quickly, I struggle a little to control my wings right and the landing isn't perfect, but I get my hooves on the ground again no worse for wear.

I smile as Daisy waves at me from the small hill, as I start walking over to Blaz to get further instructions on what to learn next, I smile as he starts. Today is a good day, let's just hope I don't crash.

Chapter 114

SEP 6 Sunday.

I write out another rune in my notebook and check the letter I have again.

It took a few weeks, but earlier today I got the results of Twilight's research.

Dear Veil Winter.

First I'd like to thank you for the amazing opportunity to assist in your research, it was an enlightening experience. Attached is the list of runes that you asked for and their context.

Once again thank you for the opportunity, Twilight Sparkle.

The letter isn't long, but it was still very awkward to read. And that's not it either, I still had other mail. I had a meeting with Celestia yesterday and she gave me my mail.

A lot of mail, it seems Celestia has found a new way to prank me. Turns out Celestia only ever brought me the important letters, not this time, now she just sent me all of the mail, including a backlog of unimportant letters that she kept. So color me surprised when I got a fucking pallet of letters dumped into my apartment courtesy of Philomena, at six in the morning.

It's now six again and I've only gotten through half of these damn letters. I don't know the full number, but I'm halfway done and have counted over two hundred, so around four hundred total. Most of them are uninteresting, a majority are letters from other researchers that are asking for information or on occasion some advice.

Not many normal ponies have much of a reason to send me a letter, as it's fairly well known that I don't really respond to letters or accept invites to events, but even then a few letters stand out. A few dozen letters are thank you letters, and from what I can guess these are from regular ponies.

Some have names and some are unnamed but all of them are thanking me for one or more of my inventions. And I have odd feelings about it, on one hoof it will always feel odd to have ponies talking about me and thanking me, but on the other hoof, it gives me a feeling of pride and happiness that what I've made has helped so many.

I've seen many use what I've made and talk about how much they like it, or even sometimes how thankful they are, but to be personally thanked in a hoof-written letter that somepony took the time to write and send me while not expecting a response is something new. As for how I responded to all this mail? Well, I'm not sure I should respond.

The only reason this pile of mail isn't much bigger is the fact that most ponies that know about Veil Winter also know that Veil Winter doesn't respond much to letters, and when I do respond it's mostly to decline invites. So if I started to respond to researchers and others I'd get even more mail and that would cut into my free time significantly, especially when I release new inventions or spells.

So for now I think it's best I don't respond more than I normally do, and that leaves me with only one problem left, what do I do with all these letters? Most of them I won't be answering, so I guess I just destroy them? I'm not really sure to be honest. After some thought I decided to keep some while destroying most of them.

It may feel a little rude to destroy letters ponies sent me but I don't have the room for all this, and keeping them would be pointless. I decide to destroy all the letters but that brings up a new problem, how do I destroy them? I can't burn them all and my trash doesn't have room either.

I guess I'll have to think about that more, I stand up and look around at the piles of envelopes and letters. I decided to just stack it as best I could and use some string to tie them together in bundles. It takes a while but once everything is somewhat organized I decide to move on from all these letters.

I leave that be for now and start on the list of runes I was given. The top of the list is another rune for emotions, and this one is of a much better quality, which means I can now continue on my emotional magic gathering spell, but I've decided to focus on my Everfree project first, mostly for my own health.

The emotional gathering project is definitely more important but my current project won't take long so I'll push it off a little, it may be selfish but I really want to do this and like I said it won't take long, and I can do a little work on the other project in the meantime. Speaking of the Everfree project I've made some progress already, specifically I've finished the shield that will go around the camp.

I also found the right spell to create a gem array, now I just need to pick out the right gems and make the illusion spell, I should also train my flying a little more but I can do that with Blaz. And speaking of the illusion spell, I found a good illusion rune a few days ago that should work well, it's not perfect by any means but it's enough for what I need.

I also see the three other runes Twilight was able to find on emotions. A rune for happiness, a rune for discomfort, and a rune for joy. Somewhat of an odd mix of emotions, and most of these runes are not well made at all, but they do still work so I'll add them to my ever-growing collection.

Once I'm done I fold up the letter Twilight sent me and keep it away from the others, probably for the best if I don't lose it. Once That's done I decide to practice something more interesting, my life magic is something that's been progressing well for a long time now.

When I first started working on it two years ago I mainly focused on the conversion ratio between it and my natural magic, like I'm doing with space magic right now, but over time I focused less on the conversion ratio and more on my fine control of life magic.

This has resulted in my life magic being both more dense and much less wasteful when being used, guess all the tedious work on copying the Companion Vine was worth it. And I am also much less wasteful with my natural magic by improving my natural magic control by relearning all those spells.

What's my point with all this? Well as a result of all these things I now have access to a lot more magic than before, which opens a few doors, and I think it's time to look at a certain plant again. The Iron Oak, in the past I made steel wood by accident and now with more magic and better control I can actually start using the material more.

I find my small stack of stockpiled steel wood cubes, each a one-by-one-inch cube. I have five as I stopped making them a long time ago, I leave them be for now and I find my Iron Oak seeds before planting one in a pot, It's time to see just how much I've progressed, so I start to dump my life magic into the plant while making sure to copy the Iron Oak's natural strengthening process.

It takes a few moments for me to properly remember the Iron Oak's magical flows, and I feel a sense of satisfaction when the Iron Oak becomes Steel wood in a few minutes. It ended up only taking a third of my magic to make a new steel wood cube, a vast improvement from spending half a day waiting to regain my magic to dump it inside the plant.

This vast increase is mostly due to me gaining better control over my life magic, and a smaller part is probably my magic capacity growing.

I find my wood carving knife and the gem that is used with it before processing the wooden lump into a new one-inch cube. Once that's done I make some fresh tea with my kettle and also spend time practicing with the Companion Vine to improve further.

Normally I can only break even on how much magic it takes to hold up this ability, but when I drink Blood Leaf Tea I can gain magic slowly even while practicing, I really should name this ability something. After an hour I stop practicing and simply meditate on the life magic around me while my magic fills completely.

Now that I know my new limits I can start messing around a little, also called experimenting. One thing I never really tested is how tough the wood is to different damage, I know fire is less effective and magic breaks it if too much is used, but how would steel wood handle simple physical damage?

I decided to grow a quarter-inch thick stick that is a foot long, It takes a little less than the full one-inch cube would, I do lose a little width due to carving off the bark, but I planned for that when growing it, I take the stick and dry it out before trying my best to snap it in half.

I first try with my field alone, and I fail, I'm able to somewhat bend the stick but it's just too tough to snap and after a few tries I give up and move on to using my hooves. I again try my best to break it, and after way more struggle than should be needed for something so small I break it in half.

If I use this as a base I could probably break an inch-thick piece of steel wood but that would be the limit of my impressive strength, I seem to have severely underestimated the strength of this wood. I thought its strengths lie in how much magic it could handle and how hard it was to cut, but now I realize its real strength is its sheer durability.

Honestly, the magical capacity and magic resistance are the weak parts, that's insane, by magic the things this wood could be used for. And that leads to an interesting thought, how much more can I strengthen this wood? A good question for later, I still have more things I want to test.

I take half the snapped stick and start decomposing some of it to thin it out and form a rough cutting edge. Next, I take my carving knife and start improving the edge further, I finish up with sandpaper, but it turns out to be completely ineffective against the steel wood, guess I'll need to work on something for that.

For now, this will have to do, I need to make dinner and this should be a decent test. I walk out to see Entropy preening her feathers while on her perch, over time the shadowy mist has spread from the tips of the largest feathers to covering the ends of all her feathers and it's still progressing further.

"Hey, girl?" She stops preening herself to look over at me, "You want dinner?"

In response, she flies over to me and lands on the countertop. "Good, food." She caws out while hopping around a little.

Recently she's started stringing words together a little, it might be only one extra word but that's double what she started with. I smile at her, "That's right, good food. Now can you ask nicely?" I've been trying to teach her a little since she started doing this.

She tilts her head for a second. "Good." She caws while rubbing against me. She still doesn't know a word to describe me, but that can be worked on.

"Not bad. But, you, good, would work better. Can you say, you?" I ask while gathering a few ingredients to start cooking as Entropy stays on the countertop.

She again tilts her head a little, and after a moment of silence she tries. "Uou." It's not quite right but still a good attempt, so I ripened a Juniper berry before giving it to her.

"A good try, but not right." I smile and encourage her more. She's a very smart bird and is by far my most trusted friend, it would be amazing to talk with her fully one day, and from what I've seen it's also likely given enough time.

She happily gobbles down the berry. "Uoy." Another good attempt that gets another small Juniper berry as a reward. We repeat this several times as I test out my improvised knife. It's dull as hell, but it works and what little edge the wooden blade does have doesn't dull at all as I cut up carrots and other vegetables.

I'll have to test it on other things but this could be an honest-to-magic replacement for low-end metals, and it's wood, FUCKING WOOD. Once my vegetable and fish stew is cooking I focus on Entropy again, she's still trying to get it right and I think she's getting a little frustrated about it.

"It's fine girl, we'll try again later," I reassure her and sit down next to the counter she's on top of.

But it turns out Entropy is like me, stubborn in her training. "uuoU, Yoy, CAW!" By the end I can tell she's definitely frustrated and maybe even a little angry.

So I employed a skill I learned years ago when helping my relatives deal with their kids. "HEY! Calm down, it's, OK!" I'm maybe a little too stern with my words so I start petting her. Be firm but kind, it's the best way I know to deal with the young when they get like this.

She seems a little down at my words, I've never needed to be loud with her like this. "I'm not mad, but how about we focus on something else?" She perks up a little and I take her over to the main room by the plants. "How about we take a quick trip to the forest?" I ask happily.

She doesn't say anything but a few moments later we're in the unnamed forest around Ponyville. Neither of us says anything as I quietly pet her while watching the stars overhead. I smile as she calms down and starts demanding scratches from me. I Wonder how Celestia is enjoying her gift? I ask myself with a slight smile, she's probably not enjoying it at all.

I chuckle and continue to watch the stars in the dead of night.

POV Shift Celestia

I silently glare at the box in front of me as the stubborn lock doesn't open for the hundredth time. "What kind of riddle is this!? It doesn't even make sense!!" I exclaim in frustration at my empty bedroom.

I huff and start going through the riddles again, I know he's new to this but this is just a horrible riddle. Maybe I could send him some better ones?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

Any names for the Companion Vine copying skill? Because I tried and failed to come up with anything good.

Chapter 115

SEP 18 Friday.

I copy yet another page instantly and close the final book for the day.

I look over and see that Blaz has already left before me, not something he does often but not out of the ordinary either. It's been two weeks now and I've made significant progress in my current project, and now I'm ready to create my new camp, but I still need to get there.

I've spent most of my time creating the illusion spell for the shield and doing some flying practice. I wouldn't call myself an amazing flier, but I can now take off and land without eating dirt, most of the time at least. I also learned and practiced the linking spell I needed.

And finally I enchanted my bracelet with both a slow-falling spell and a strengthened slow-falling spell that should let me get off the ground much easier. I finished cleaning up my desk and practically pranced out of the library before sprinting home in the fall weather.

I'm in a rush because I have a meeting with Celestia in two days and I want to get as much done before then as I can. When I get home I'm greeted by Entropy like always, who demands food and attention. After dealing with the gremlin I start on the last thing I need to do.

I packed everything I'll need and the only thing left is the shield, and that's just what I plan to make. After a lot of thought I've decided to use a total of four gems for this project, I chose four powerful gems just to be safe and decided on a medium diamond and three medium rubies.

After gathering them and arranging them on the floor I practice a little before starting the lengthy process. I need to make absolutely sure I don't fuck anything up while drawing a very large matrix. I start by drawing out the enchanting spell and move on to the shielding spell and illusion spell.

The illusion spell I made for the shield took more work than I expected and needed a copying rune to blend into an environment properly. It's also not the best, it blends in very well but if you're within a few feet it starts to show its flaws.

Basically it's not the most detailed and can be spotted after you get really close to it, but that's fine for where I'm setting it up. After those spells are added to the growing matrix I finally add the last outermost ring with the array linking spell, this whole process takes several minutes.

The result is a massive matrix with eleven rings in total, I can't hold this matrix for too long so I don't waste any time and start looking for any imperfections, I find a few small ones and once those are corrected I finally cast the spell. For a small moment, I feel around half of my magic drain away from me and move into the matrix.

I watch as the matrix settles into the gems as magical lines connect all the gems together with the diamond at the center. After a few moments, all the magic dissipates and the new gem array is finished. I take a few moments to fully inspect all the gems to make sure nothing is wrong with them.

They all seem properly linked and stable. "Thank magic, if this broke I would have screamed," I mutter to myself while gathering the gems together, I'll be leaving them here for now to gather magic while I find a place to set them up.

After that, I grab my saddlebags which are filled with everything I'll need, and call over Entropy. "To the forest girl." She caws softly and a few moments later I'm standing in a sunlit forest as golden brown leaves cover the ground and tree tops, I'm glad I'm able to do this before winter sets in, I'd rather not trudge through the snow.

I get my bearings and start heading to a clear area to take off from. Entropy isn't that tired from our trip, her ability to teleport is still growing and she'll probably need to take two round trips here to tire out, which is good because we're changing the location of where she takes me to be even further away.

I wasn't able to do exact math but I'm fairly sure she'll be able to take me to the Everfree without much trouble.

Once I'm out of the woods I start to plan out my route. The Everfree is a few miles away from Ponyville and I'm on the opposite side of Ponyville, which means I'll need to walk through Ponyville to get there or walk around Ponyville which will make me arrive after dark, and I rather not do that.

I could just fly the whole way, but ponies might notice a pony flying into the Everfree and inform the guards thinking I'm lost, or something along those lines. Plus I wouldn't mind seeing Ponyville again, and it should be easy to avoid Willow, who's probably the only pony that would recognize me.

With my mind made up I start walking down the road and head towards Ponyville while going through a mental checklist. The Everfree is dangerous but as long as I don't mess with anything and set up the shield I should be fine, the few things I would need to look out for are also not very common.

A Cockatrice is one of those things, I wanted to try and research a way to counteract its stare but decided against it after learning a few things about them. Their stare and the petrification that comes with it are not permanent and only lasts a day or two at most.

On top of that, you are surprisingly safe when under its effects, you're not just coated in stone you become a stone statue and that makes you very hard to damage. Even the Cockatrice's can't damage you, that's because it mostly doesn't need to damage or want to kill you, only incapacitate you long enough to get away.

Its stare takes a lot of magic to use so it only ever uses it for self-defense or to defend its nest from larger predators. And as more good news, Cockatrice don't eat ponies or want to harm them much. Most of the time they're an annoying but relatively harmless animal, as long as you give them space and don't bother them.

As I'm walking Entropy decides to enter my shadow before we get close and after a few more minutes I officially enter Ponyville for the second time. It's quiet with only a few ponies walking around and going about their day, I always enjoy the calm feel of small towns.

It's nearing the evening and most seem to be heading home or out to eat right now, I didn't eat a lot at lunch and I have some time so I decided to stop at Sugar Cube Corner. Finding the place is easy this time because I now know what I'm looking for.

When I enter it's the same as last time, and I find myself waiting in line for a while as they seem rather busy right now. When I get to the front of the line I order two cupcakes and a donut, probably too much sugar for me but I want to celebrate a little.

The moment I sit down to enjoy my treats is the same moment things go horribly wrong. As I'm eating my first cupcake I hear Mr. Cake call out to somepony. "Hey Pinkie! How are those new donuts coming? We're almost out of maple and jam-filled." As I hear that my brain short circuits.

:FUUUUCK! WHY?!: The only reason I came to Ponyville was to avoid suspicion and now I have to deal with this! OK calm down, calm down it's not that bad. Pinkie is only making things in the back, and I'm just a normal customer; she should have no reason to notice me right now.

I try to maintain my calm as a bubblegum pink pony practically bounces out of a door with a tray of fresh donuts held in her muzzle. Well, that makes three of the main six I've accidentally run into, does fate just hate me? Because at this point I'm starting to question if fate is real and laughing at me.

Pinkie places the tray down. "Thanks, Pinkie, it's almost the end of your shift so take a break before cleaning up, and eat something, here." MR. Cakes said kindly while passing her a donut.

And for the first time in decades, I hear Pinkie's voice. "Oki Doki Mr. Cake, and thanks again!" By magic, she's high energy. As she takes her donut I turn back to my donut and continue eating while trying my best to not draw attention to myself, but it seems that I'm shit out of luck.

Apparently, I'm interesting enough as it is for Pinkie to lock her light blue eyes on me. :Oh by Celestia, why? What the fuck did I do?: I see her looking at me with a sparkle in her eye but try my best to pretend she's not there. :For the love of all things, NOT ME:

But since when was I lucky? Trick question, I'm not. Which is why she walks right over to my table with a bouncy step and a large smile. "I don't know you! Are you new to Ponyville? OH! What are you eating? Also! I'm Pinkie Pie. Nice to meet you!" I'm immediately bombarded by the questionably sane mare as she sits down across from me.

I'm stunned as she talks and I try to keep up with her. My first thought is how to get out of this, but honestly a part of me is resigned to meet her. After a moment of thought, I decided to just try and stop worrying and go with the flow, I can't avoid it now, and trying to run now would just be counterintuitive.

That and I can't bring myself to run away from a pony this happy and excited to meet me. So I decided to have a little fun of my own. "I don't think so, I'm passing through, maple and jelly-filled. And I'm Shade, nice to meet you too." I answer her question in a deadpan tone while taking another bite of my donut, let's see just how close I can get to her sister's attitude.

Pinkie doesn't seem disheartened in the slightest and her smile grows larger, somehow, and I swear I see that sparkle in her eyes again. I have to remind myself of rule one, it's Pinkie Pie, don't question it and just move on. She devours her donut in seconds, I don't think even Maple can eat that fast.

"Shade? Ohhhh like a shadow, I get it. So where are you heading? Is it somewhere exciting? Or fun?!" I feel like I chugged a pot of coffee just from talking to her, also what did she say about a Shadow?

I have to make myself not ask and remember rule one again. "I'm going camping, and it should be, the forest is always beautiful this time of year. I assume you live in Ponyville, what's it like?" I try to ask something back before she continues her barrage.

"OH oh! I moved here recently, IT'S AMAZING! So many friendly ponies and so many PARTIES to plan!" She's about to continue but we're interrupted by somepony.

"PINKIE! I need a hoof back here." I hear another mare's voice coming from behind the same door Pinkie came out of.

"COMING MS. CAKE! It's nice to meet you!" She grabs my hoof and shakes it for a moment before pulling a quill and notepad from her mane. I don't sense space magic of any kind, but neither of those things should have fit in there. "What's your birthday?!"

"April fifth... why?" I can't stop myself from asking, and in response her smile just grows more.

"For your birthday party silly, bye Shade, bye Shadow!" Before I can let the dread rise in me she quickly moves and leaves me alone once again. I sit there frozen for several moments chanting a single thing in my mind. :rule one, rule one, RULE FUCKING ONE!!:

I decide that it's time to get the fuck out of here, my curiosity is not worth my sanity. I quickly finish my pastries and leave Ponyville as fast as I can without just running out of town. I did enjoy meeting and talking to Pinkie, even if it was for only a few moments, but by magic does the researching part of my brain rage when I see her do something blatantly impossible.

We barely even talked and I already have questions I may never know the answers to, but I know better than to ask, Twilight is enough proof of that. I try to just clear the entire incident from my mind and focus on what I need to do. I only have a little over two hours before it gets dark so I cast a spell and start flying as soon as I get away from Ponyville.

Once I'm fully in the air I watch Entropy leave my shadow and start flying next to me excitedly, she's never flown with me before and she's vocal about that. "GOOD! YOU!" She doesn't use it correctly but my heart melts a little at the excited praise. We continue flying for a few minutes before reaching the edge of the Everfree.

Everfree is an apt name, even from this height I see how untamed the woods are. Another thing I notice is how much of the forest is still green, unlike the rest of the forests which are all golden brown and yellow's. I don't pay too much attention to that for now and focus on going deeper into the Everfree.

I keep my life magic senses sharp to make sure I'll notice anything that gets close to me. And while I don't feel or see anything alive, I feel the life magic coming from below me. Even from up high, I can tell this forest is immensely rich in life magic, more than anywhere else I've been to before.

I want to land but decide to head deeper before investigating. The Everfree is a massive forest that stretches for miles and is mostly unmapped, as I fly deeper I see something sticking above the dense tree canopy, a lone stone building in an endless sea of green.

It's on a hill that is surprisingly clear of trees, the castle of the two sisters. Well, it will take me a while to find a good place to set up camp, and I would rather do it tomorrow instead of at night. That, and my curiosity is killing me right now, so why not spend the night somewhere relatively safe?

I decide after a moment and veer off course and head to the dilapidated castle.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

HEY! That's my job, get back in the story.

Opss. BYE! :pinkiehappy:

PS, I decide on Mana Mimicry as I thought it fit best, thank you. :)

PPS, I wanted to change a few things about the Cockatrice because I felt they seemed too aggressive in the show.

Chapter 116

SEP 18 Friday.

I land with slight difficulty on the uneven ground, once my hooves are properly on the ground I start looking around.

The field is empty with only me Entropy and a few scattered trees. It seems safe so I relax a little but make sure to feel the life magic around me at all times. I dismiss the wing spell and start to rest while drinking some tea, I'll need more magic to continue.

The castle is impressive from close up, even after all this time it still stands. Well, somewhat stands, it's not in the best condition and could use some new paint, and walls. Once I'm rested I decide to set up my camp before it gets any darker, the sun will set very soon.

I set up my tent and found a dead tree to gather wood from, I should buy a hatchet but I don't have one so I just decompose some of the dead tree to make smaller pieces. I pile them up and cast a large candle flame spell instantly to start a nice fire,

and lastly, I set up a small shield around my camp with a medium ruby, and just on time as the sun set a few minutes later.

The pastries I got weren't very filling so I decided to cook something for me and Entropy before I checked out the castle. As I start cooking I watch the forest around me, but nothing makes itself known, it's quiet except for the sounds of bugs and small animals. After a decent meal, I cast a magic light and started walking to the castle.

It's dark and I have to watch my steps, but the stone stairs are still stable. I ascend and arrive at the main door, I'm about to open it but stop myself. This is a very important place and Celestia knows that it's best to check for any defenses, I pick up a single pebble and throw it at the castle wall while feeling the area with my magic.

Hiding a magical shield is hard, but it can be done and the best way to get around that is by using some form of attack to make the shield respond. Nothing happens as the pebble hits the stone wall, I take my time and throw several more at different locations, I even throw one through an empty window.

Still nothing happens, so with plenty of caution, I slowly open the door and enter the castle. The inside is pitch black and completely quiet, it seems no pony is home. I turn to Entropy, "Keep an eye out girl." I ask while walking through the doorway into the darkness.

The weathered stone halls are empty and cold, this place has been abandoned for a long time now. I have no idea what I'm looking for, or if I'm even looking for something, but I stare at what little decoration has survived the ravages of time as I walk. A few glass windows lay half shattered with broken images warped beyond all recognition.

I try to make out what they once depicted, but it's too shattered and broken. But a theme makes itself known even through the decay of time, one blue one yellow, one for day, and the other for night. I end up finding a shattered pair of glass windows that are still somewhat intact.

The old glass still holds some color even after all this time, and what little remains of it depicts a white mare with wings and a horn. A slightly disturbing thing I notice is that most things depicting Luna are broken or gone, I wonder why? Ponies could have done it when this place was left.

Or maybe ponies that came to this place afterwards and did it, I do know that Celestia definitely didn't do it, even with whatever bad blood she had with Luna I don't think she'd ever be able to erase evidence of her sister. Honestly, this place is saddening in a very... Human way.

The decay of an old building, with no one around to tell its tale, a forgotten place made for forgotten reasons. I try to pull my mind from that all to familiar feeling of melancholy.

I simply walk around for a while, this place is just a wreck. After a while of wandering down random hallways, I come to another door and throw a piece of crumbled wall at it, but unlike last time I do feel a reaction. I feel magic move slightly to the point I throw the stone at it, I freeze for a moment but don't feel any other reaction from the barrier.

I'm not sure what the magic is, it could be something to make the doors more durable, or a full shield. Either way I rather not trigger any form of defenses Celestia could, and probably did set up over the last thousand years.

I decided to call it here and just leave before anything goes wrong, I'm not pushing my luck after the day I've had. It takes a few minutes to leave the castle, I close the ancient door behind me and leave everything as it was. Once I'm back at my camp I decide to get some sleep, I have a lot to do tomorrow.

Before I go to bed I hold two small pieces of glass, one blue and the other yellow. Yet another human thing I still do, picking up things without reason. The glass has nothing on it, it's just colored glass, but holding something from that ancient place gives me a content feeling.

time skip

SEP 19 Saturday.

I move my kettle off the last embers of my fire and enjoy some fresh tea, it's very early morning and the sun rose a few minutes ago. As I enjoy my tea I dump my magic into the ground and plants around me to drain my magic quickly, once it's all gone I start practicing my Mana Mimicry, the name I've decided on for my ability to copy the Companion Vine.

I'm met with a pleasant surprise as the rate at which my magic refills is boosted beyond what it normally is. And it's not hard to see why the Everfree is insanely dense in life magic, five or six times more than a normal forest. And that means Mana Mimicry is much more effective than normal.

I'm not sure why it's so dense but I'm not complaining about it. After regaining my magic in half the normal time it takes due to a combination of the tea and Mana Mimicry, I start packing up my camp while putting out the fire coals. It doesn't take long for the camp to be packed away safely, and after casting a single spell I'm in the air a few minutes later.

It's always a rush to be flying around and it's quickly becoming something I can never give up, it's just so freeing. As I gain height I start looking around for a good spot, I don't want to be that close to the castle for obvious reasons and I'd like somewhere as flat as possible. With that in mind, I head even deeper into the forest.

Everything is nice and calm and after a while, I find somewhere that might work, it's a very small clearing with some grass surrounded by a very thick forest. I fly closer and activate my slow-fall enchantment to slowly drop down into the small clearing.

As I touch the ground I realize almost immediately that this wouldn't work for me. The ground is less even than I thought, everything is on a decent slant and the soil has a lot of larger rocks that would be hard to remove. Deciding to find someplace else I activate the second slow-fall enchantment and jump as hard as I can.

And I can't help but chuckle and cheer a little as I launched off the ground a few dozen feet into the air, I started to flap my wings while turning off the enchantments, a quick and clean way to take off with limited space. After a while, I find a decent-sized river and start following it.

I end up finding another grassy field on the river bank, but I can see several animals drinking from the river, setting up there would attract a lot of predators and prey, and disturb the forest unnecessarily. But the ground does look flat and being near a river would be nice.

After some thought, I decided to land on the opposite side of the river from the grassy field. This time I have no clear area so as I float down I have to work my way through the thick forest canopy, but once I land fully I'm greeted by the dark forest as most light is blocked by trees.

After making sure nothing is around me I ready the gem I used to shield my camp last night, I can activate it at a moment's notice if need be. The ground here is flat and not rocky, and even better the river is adjacent to this area, I take some time to wander around and make sure the flat area is large enough for my needs.

I'm not just looking for a functional place but preferably a nice-looking location too, this place is for both my plants and a place for me to relax. And this location has a nice view, I'd have to remove the trees in the area but that's doable and as a bonus, I can watch the active watering hole animals often visit.

After checking the area for anything dangerous, I rather not make a camp in a wolf den, I find a good central location and start roughly measuring out the area with a stick. The shield I made can cover a circular area of three-hundred feet from its center in every direction, so I make sure I have some of the riverbank inside that area before drawing a circle in the dirt at the center and setting up the small shield.

"OK girl, take us-." But before I can finish she interrupts me.

"Home?" She questions while looking at the circle I'm drawing in the dirt.

I smile and scratch her neck a little. "Yes, home and back here again, so take a good look around," I say with a slight chuckle.

She looks around for several moments before we both vanish from sight, and a moment later I'm back in my apartment. I have a lot of work to do so I just grab the gem array and pack it into my saddlebags before having Entropy take us right back.

The distance between here and the previous location I would have Entropy travel to is definitely greater, so I'm not too surprised to see Entropy is tiredly sitting down on my back. "It's fine now girl, get some rest." She doesn't say anything and just melds into my shadow for some well-deserved sleep.

I place all four gems on the forest floor and activate them after a moment. I feel the rush of magic as all of the gems move large amounts of magic at once, and I watch as a very translucent shield forms in the distance through the trees. I smile as I see the shield work properly, it's nice to see my work pay off.

I need to adjust it some before doing anything else so I take some time to walk to the riverbank, it's the only place I need to make sure is inside the shield properly. It does cover the riverbank, but I'd like to also cover some of the river itself just in case I need it.

I adjust the gem array by moving it a few feet and checking again. Once I see it's in the proper position I check the last potential problem, I need to make sure no tree trunks are in the way of the shield, and two happen to be. I'll have to remove them later but for now I just mentally mark it down for later.

Next, I start on some additional security, and that's where a certain plant comes in. I walk along the perimeter of the barrier and slowly sprinkle seeds along it until I reach the riverbank, I stop for a moment as I see something both amazing and interesting, on the other side of the river I see several Timberwolves drinking water.

I drop my bag of seeds and take out my notebook to quickly note anything I observe. Unlike the show these, animals? I'll just call them that for now. They aren't made from logs that look sawed but simply masses of twigs and branches that look grown together on all sides.

Their limbs are made from larger logs but seem to bend in ways wood shouldn't be able to, that is interesting for several reasons. They don't seem to be hostile to the other animals in the same field, a few wild rabbits and non-sentient deer along with a few boars.

They also show some form of pack mentality as none of them are fighting and simply take turns drinking while others watch the tree line, which proves they are smart enough to cooperate as a group on more than just hunting. It's also interesting that they drink water, I decided to take a small moment and try to feel their life magic.

The river is around twenty feet across and very deep with steep banks on my side, as I reach across the distance and try to feel their life magic all of their heads immediately shoot up and start looking around the area. Their slightly glowing greenish-yellow eyes start to look around the field.

They can't see me because of the illusion, and I'm not sure if they felt me or something else, so I try to move my life magic close again. This time I can sense them properly, they have around double the life magic of a normal pony, and they give an odd feeling that is some type of mix in between plant and animal.

But while sensing them they start wildly looking around and start to bere their wooden jagged teeth across the river in my general direction. They seemed panicked and frightened, ok lesson learned Timberwolves can definitely sense life magic to some degree.

I decide to test something and flare out a good amount of life magic at once, the effect is immediate as all of the Timberwolves stop looking defensive and just bolt into the forest startling the other animals at the same time. I note that down immediately, that could be useful in a pinch and it brings up a few interesting questions.

I note a few things down before continuing with my work. Once all the seeds are spread across the barrier edge I start using life magic to sprout and grow them, not long after a three-foot-thick five-foot-tall wall of Razor Vine starts to grow as I walk along the edge again.

This is just an extra measure to make sure nothing unwanted gets inside if the shield fails for some reason. It takes a few breaks, which I use to practice my Mana Mimicry to refill my magic faster, after two hours I'm done with the vine wall, it should prove useful.

Once that's done I prepare myself for what I'm probably going to be spending the rest of the day working on, removing all the trees in my shielded area. I groan as I count thirty-seven thick large trees I'll need to decompose into soil, well if nothing else I'll have plenty of good soil for my plants.

I find the first tree at the center next to the gem array and start on the top leaves and branches before slowly making my way down, I feel the rain of soil as I do I make sure to not decompose the heartwood of the massive and old oak, it's good material for later so why not keep it?

It takes half an hour and all of my magic to complete a single tree, I leave the several-foot-long and one-foot thick heartwood in the pile of soil for now along with the stump. As I brush off the soil that fell on me I look around at all the trees left, this might take more than a day.

I sigh again. "Welp, nothing to do but get to work then." I started using Mana Mimicry again while moving some of the soil around in my field.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

This chapter is mostly jus important but boring context, I enjoyed writing it though.

Chapter 117

SEP 20 Sunday.

I use the float spell to lift the heavy heartwood log off the ground and move it over to a pile with thirty-six other logs, all the heartwood from each tree that once stood in this now empty area.

It's early in the morning and I just decomposed the last tree that was in the way of my work, and now I have a six-hundred-foot area that is cleared for use. I removed all the tree stumps and roots except for the ones near the river, I left them untouched for now because I don't want the soil eroding into the river without roots to hold it in place.

I'll replace them with other plants over time but they're not in the way for now and that's enough for me. Moving on, while I was dragging those logs around I took some time to use them by rolling them around to help spread all the new soil I made, this place is now primed for planting.

I look around at the flat and clear ground with a smile, time to make things interesting. First things first I walk over to several boxes that I've had Entropy bring here over the last two days so she had time to rest. I bought these boxes for this and each has many small compartments that hold many types of seeds I've produced over the last few weeks.

They all have preservation spells to help and I'll have to keep them someplace dry, but when they're stored properly it should provide a good backup of all my plants somewhere safe. Now I just need a place to keep them, and that's where the heartwood logs that I kept become useful.

There were several types of trees, but the most common of them was a type of white oak with a pale wood, it's definitely interesting to look at and is sturdy enough for good building material. As I look around I start mentally planning how I want to do this.

The shield is designed to not stop rain or water flow, so the river that is partly inside the shield flows uninterrupted. The river is to the north, while my log pile is on the south side furthest away from the river, I would rather not build next to a river just to be safe so I'll build on the south side.

I started to think of a few designs before deciding on a hexagon shape, that way I can add new buildings off of the first much like bees do with their hives. I start by using my field to dig six shallow holes exactly five feet apart with the help of a ruler. Then I walk over to the logs I've organized and staked, I start with a log of White Oak.

An important thing I did while felling the trees was to keep them alive, I cast a powerful slow-fall spell on a foot-thick-eight-foot-long log. The spell negates most of its weight so it becomes relatively easy to move with my field, I stand up the log and place it in the hole before concentrating.

I use my life magic to have the log grow roots and root itself firmly into the ground, I give it a few good strong shoves to make sure it's stable before grabbing the next log. The logs aren't all the same length so I have to decompose some of each to make them all roughly the same height when stood up.

After a while I have to rest and practice Mana Mimicry to regain my magic, it's proved to be very useful in this entire project. As I work I let my mind wander to the meeting with Celestia I have near the end of today, specifically, I'm wondering if I should tell her about all this.

I'm a bit split. I don't think she'd prevent me from doing any of this, she knows I can take care of myself and stay safe, although she might scold me. And I don't like the idea of keeping more secrets after what happened recently, but I also don't really want to tell anypony about this place.

I'm building this place for two reasons. First is my plants and my want to explore. And second, is my want for someplace to call my own and be alone. Sure I have my apartment, but living in a busy city is not a great way to feel alone, to be blunt I want somewhere for myself and only myself.

And to be fair I'm not keeping a dangerous event or important information secret, just a private sanctuary for myself. And I think that's ok, plus if I ever do need to show this place for an important reason I can do so easily. But for now this will simply be my personal place to be away from it all when I need or want to be alone.

With my thoughts settled I refocus on my task as the last log is rooted firmly in place. I decided to start with some stairs. I can easily grow wood without bark so I grow a square beam in-between each log forming a hexagon, I start with the side pointing north towards the river and start to form some stairs three feet off the ground.

I'm not the best at building, but anything is possible with enough support beams. I start to fill in the floor with a single solid piece of white oak, the color is really starting to grow on me. The floor is suspended three feet off the ground and once the floor is done I test its strength by jumping on it repeatedly.

It's four inches thick so it doesn't budge in the slightest when I jump on it, good, next are the walls. I only make them two inches thick and make sure to include some windows in the two sections adjacent to the doorway I form at the stairs. Next is the door itself, again an easy thing to grow from the living building.

And once the walls, windows, and door are all done I finish with the roof. The top of the six logs grow into a single point at a forty-five-degree angle before merging, I fill in all the gaps with an inch-thick wooden plain and grow a thick layer of bark and leaves over the top.

And finally I have a complete building, and it only took eight hours. I had to rest a lot and Mana Mimicry is really pulling its weight speeding up this whole process, but by the time I'm finished with the new living building it's only an hour and a half before my meeting with Celestia.

I decided to just get the boxes inside and call it a day for now, I still need a shower because I do not smell great right now. After moving the boxes inside I quickly grow some shelves from the walls and I place everything away, before grabbing anything I need to bring back to my apartment and having Entropy take us home.

It's a quick trip and I have to grab Entropy before she can fly off when we arrive, she's confused as I hold her, but a second later she goes from confused to annoyed as I take off my saddlebags and walk into the bathroom. Entropy's a smart bird, so she knows it's bath time.

She's both vocal and less than happy about the prospect of a shower. "bad. BAD!" She caws and struggles a little as I start the shower.

As water rains on us both, I chuckle as she's drenched along with me. "I'll give you a nice meal later, but we need to be clean to see our friends," I say while soaping both of us. After a little more complaining and an annoyed bird flinging water everywhere to dry herself I'm nice and clean.

After drying off and feeding Entropy her promised meal we leave yet again to meet a princess. I appear inside the mailroom and like always a guard is waiting on the other side of the door to lead me. This time I'm led through the autumn colored gardens.

I'm led through an arch of yellow leaves and into an area without guards, the normal location we talk at when we are outside. I smile as the guard leaves and I walk over to Celestia before sitting at the table. "Celestia, how have you been? Well, I hope." I ask as a start while sitting down with her.

In response, I get a smile, like normal. "I'm well, and you?" As we start talking Philomena flies down from a tree and lands on my back, while Entropy leaves my shadow and sits next to her. I'm happy they have learned to get along so well, my thought is proven correct as Entropy starts preening Philomena.

"Well, as can be. Now, how have you been enjoying the gift." I ask while trying to act as innocent as possible. Over the past few weeks, I've made sure to mention my gift at least once every time we meet, and the reaction I get is always amazing. At first, it was excitement, then confusion.

And I watch as a slight look of annoyance crosses her face. "It's been..... an interesting challenge." I have to stop myself from laughing, it seems it's starting to get to her a little. "But I enjoy a challenge, how has progress on your new spell been?" She changes the subject.

While working on my Everfree camp I've used some of my free time to start work on the emotional magic gathering project, by magic that needs a better name. How about... E.M.G is a simple acronym but it works fine for now. I refocus and answer her, "I've started on a few things and formed a few ideas, but it will probably take a few weeks, maybe longer depending on how I decide to go about it." I answer honestly.

She smiles again. "Good to hear, please keep me updated and tell me if you need any more help." She's been very interested in this project, but that makes sense considering the situation. As she talks about it I remember a question I had for her.

"Now that you bring it up... Well, I was wondering what the plan is for the Changelings, is there a plan?" I've been curious for a while now and it's been a while.

Her smile falters a little but she still smiles, she drinks some tea and seems to think about it for a few moments. "It's complicated, there have been a few ideas thrown around but nothing solid yet. To be honest it's a tough situation to be in." I nod in agreement.

"The hives?" I guess while enjoying my tea as Philomena decides on top of my head is a great place to sit down and nap.

Celestia nods while smiling at the two birds using me as a perch. "Exactly. The unaffiliated Changelings can simply be contacted and introduced into society, not to say that it would be that simple, but with time ponies will come to accept them I believe."

I'm a little more skeptical about that, but she has much more experience so I'll trust her judgment on this. Celestia continues, "But the hives and this... shadow war, proves problematic. Having not one but two nations inside your nation is a mess waiting to happen and it could get worse considering they are in conflict with each other." She says with a contemplative and slightly concerned expression.

After a moment she seems to remember who she's talking to and puts up a less concerned expression for my sake. "Things will work themselves out though, it just takes time." She says with a calming smile.

I smile back. "If anypony can make it work it's you. And no need to sugar coat it, I'm more paranoid than most and trust me when I say I've thought about how things could go many times before." Her smile grows at my first words, but once again falters a little as I continue.

I can see she doesn't enjoy that fact. "I'm sorry that you were dragged into this, I know it's not the most pleasant situation to be in." I feel like she's talking from experience there, but I don't point it out.

I immediately speak up. "You of all ponies don't owe me any form of an apology, it's not your fault fate has it out for me." I joke a little to lighten the mood, and that gets a slight chuckle from her.

"At least your sense of humor can't be stopped. Speaking of jokes, you know you never did retaliate for the glitter, and I've been wondering what you have planned. Unless you've given up on me already?" I can tell she's goading me, it seems she hasn't realized my retaliation is already happening.

I just smile. "Don't worry I haven't. Now how about a game?" I ask while taking my chess set out and placing it on the table, she nods. "OH, and you know how I've been breeding the Blood Leaf Tea? Well, I've had some small improvements, not a lot but next time I send you some you'll probably notice a difference." I change the subject while setting up the board.

She moves the first pawn and hums. "That's good to hear, the tea has been a very pleasant and useful addition to my days." There's a lapse of silence. "Actually, now that you bring it up, I know you've been busy but I do have something I've been meaning to ask about." That catches my interest.

I raise a brow. "Something like the Rocky Wheat? I do still have time if you'd like me to work on something like that." I'm building my camp but that has no time limit so I'm a lot more free now that it's set up.

She shakes her head. "Nothing so large, my request is more.... personal." I stay silent for a few moments as she seems to think. "The Moon Glow you've bred, how hard would it be to turn it into a vine that has the same effects?" She asks softly, her mood seems a little more subdued.

Considering what plant she's talking about I can guess what she wants this for. I answer without hesitation, "Easily, I can even add other effects depending on what you need." I don't question why she needs it and just offer my unconditional help.

I see her mood lift some at my willingness. "I don't need anything beyond it being a vine, I'd like to plant it somewhere, important. As for a deadline, anytime before Nightmare Night is fine, if that's possible?" She's definitely talking about Luna, and my heart goes out to her as she says why she wants the plant.

I don't know why she wants it as a vine, but the request is easy and simple enough. My life magic has improved by leaps and bounds since I first bred the variations of moon glow. And moving such a large effect from one plant to another should be easy, especially because I have a better place to grow it.

I nod at her question. "Do you want me to change the glowing effect in any way? I can dim it or make it brighter, I could even change the place where it emits light from. However, that can take more time depending on how large the change is. " I offer a few changes to make the plant more like the moon's soft glow, the current Moon Glow is too bright to mimic the moon properly.

She smiles as I'm checkmated for the one hundredth and twelfth time, yes I keep count. "A bit dimmer maybe, something similar to the moon?" Called it, damn it's sad to see her this subdued. "And, maybe have it glow from the flowers more, if that's not too much on such short notice?" She asks gently.

I smile brightly at the slightly hopeful look she gives me. "Easy enough, it will take a few weeks but I can get it done. Do you need a lot of seeds or just some grown plants?" I ask while taking out a notebook and writing a few things down.

She stops for several moments. "I'll... decide later. For now, though, checkmate." I'm a little surprised as we just started a new game, but it seems I wasn't paying much attention to the game. She checkmated me in six moves, I just laughed at that and started resetting the board again.

One hundred and thirteenth.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

Also, nearly 300k, any idea what I should do to celebrate?

993

Chapter 118

SEP 26 Saturday.

I frown as Daisy stacks a plus two onto Blaz's plus two, I sigh while drawing four more cards, setting me back from a win. "I'd say it's not fair that you teamed up, but with Maple being Maple I can't say I blame you." I joke while watching Maple draw a new card with a blank face.

We're inside my apartment as we all finish the day with a game night, something that we've all come to enjoy doing regularly. Entropy watches us play from her perch, while Maple plays yet another plus two, and I have to stop myself from groaning. Blaz groans and nearly buries his face in his cards. "I will find out how you do this," Blaz promises.

We've been playing uno for a while now and we've all learned one thing quickly, never bet against Maple. Turns out a pony with a nearly perfect poker face and some insane luck is horrible to play against, hell one time she drew literally every plus four in the deck on her starting hand. How? Fuck if I know.

My thoughts decide to become reality as Maple plays her second-to-last card. "Uno." She says softly with a smile as she stacks two plus two's and wins the game before anypony can stop her.

This time I join Blaz and groan. "I should have never showed you this game, I can't even win and I made the game!" I exaggerate and joke around with her.

"You'd still lose," Maple jokes back, she doesn't joke often but when she does she hits hard.

Blaz and Daisy just laugh at my expression, and after a moment I can't help but laugh with them, It's nice to have friends. "So anything interesting happening?" I ask to change the subject of my slight embarrassment.

Daisy answers me. "Well, I once again have to deal with finding new ponies soon. It should prove.. interesting next year." I'm confused by her tone and raise a brow. "You remember that stallion? The really annoying one?" I nod. "He's back." I just give her a look of utter disbelief.

"How? Did he bribe somepony?" I ask incredibly.

She shakes her head. "Apparently his parents did not know he stopped working at the library, and I recently learned he was sent to the library as a punishment." I groan yet again at the memory of the stallion, Daisy smiles. "Don't worry, I made sure he won't bother us." I see a mischievous smile on her face.

She now has our collective attention now. "They wanted him to start working again immediately, but there were no more apprenticeship positions left. But I was able to offer them a job on the cleaning crew." Both me and Blaz burst out laughing at that.

The cleaning crew were a nice bunch, but their work was dull and tedious, even more than mine is. And they had a bit of a reputation for giving ponies they didn't like the worst cleaning jobs. We'll all probably have to deal with the stallion complaining, but it will be worth it.

After we finish another game they all head out before it gets too late. "Thanks for coming," I say while passing all of the leftover snacks to Maple, she happily takes the leftover cookies and hayfries.

"Thanks." I get a quiet thank you from Maple as she eyes the paper bag happily.

"No problem Colt, see you on Monday," Blaz says with a wave as he and Maple walk down the hallway.

"Have a good night Shade," Daisy says while walking over to her apartment. I smile and nod before closing my door, finally, alone I spend some time cleaning up before heading into my workroom. It's nice to spend time with friends, and even if I could technically be doing something better with that time I would rather do this.

I grab a few pots before Entropy takes me to my new camp, when we arrive we appear inside the small building I made a week ago. I cast a magic light spell and light up the dark room, unlike before. The small room now has some furniture, a desk, table and chair, a bed, and a perch, all grown from the walls and floors.

I love life magic, it's such a fun power. I leave Entropy on a perch and place the things I brought on the desk, I have work to do. I start with three pots and two seeds, these seeds are the result of the last week of work, a new vine that will glow like the moon and grow strong.

With the help of the abundant life magic in the Everfree and Mana Mimicry, I've been able to make substantial progress. It took only five days to combine the magical glow of the Moon Glow, with the fast and sturdy growth of the Gripping Vine, which has resulted in this new vine.

The new vine's glow isn't as powerful, which should save me some time from having to do that myself, but it isn't going to be ready for a few more weeks. I need to increase the flower's size and brightness, along with making sure the vine can survive without my help.

I find myself often wondering what she'll do with this new vine, I can guess it will be some form of gift or memorial for Luna, I'm just not sure what form that would take. But that's not something I need to know, all I need to know is that a friend asked me to make something for a lost family member, and that's more than enough for me.

Once my magic is drained I start my practice, I manipulate what magic I have left to form Mana Mimicry over my skin. After a few moments it's properly formed and I start the second part of my training, I move my hoof forward and take a slow step while holding the magic in place.

It's difficult to hold my concentration but I keep a delicate balance while I slowly walk from one side of the room to another. My hope is to one day be able to use Mana Mimicry while doing other tasks. Sadly, I can't use it at all time, mostly because of the green glow of all the magic moving around just above my skin.

I go back and forth in-between breeding plants and practicing magic deep into the night.

SEP 27 Sunday.

I blink the sleep out of my eyes as I quietly watch the sun rise into the sky, it has to be one of the most amazing things I see so often. To wield a star, or at last something similar, is amazing and terrifying in equal measure. I finish my tea and look away from the window before walking over to my shelf.

Over the past week, I've spent some of my time here, not a lot just an hour or two every day or so. And over that time I've discovered and changed a few things, first is my new garden. I've brought seeds of all my plants with me and I've started planting them.

I started with a herb garden next to my singular building, not a large garden but more than enough for all the herbs I use in my cooking. The second thing I did was find a problem, a few days ago I noticed that my shield had accidentally trapped a few fish inside it when I activated it.

The water can move through fine but they were trapped, I fixed that by molding the shield to not cover the river, and it now stops at the shore, I'll have to be careful when I go there but that's easy as it's hard for anything to sneak up on me from there. Sadly this also brought the fish out of the water, the good news is that me and Entropy feasted like kings for a night.

Another thing I've changed is grass, the ground is mostly plain soil and it's bland to look at. So I've been slowly filling it in with grass, not a quick process even with my improved magic regeneration, but progress is progress and it's getting done. The final thing of note is the Timberwolves.

I let my mind wander to them as I stand on the river bank and watch several Timberwolves drink water and socialize with each other.

I've seen them a few more times now, and a few things about them stand out, but to explain I need to point out something odd I've noticed. It's September now and fall is in full swing and soon snow will start to fall, but here deep in the Everfree it'd be hard to tell.

The wind is just as cold as everywhere else and everything seems right for fall, but the trees remain the same, they don't lose leaves or drop them despite the worsening weather. My best guess would have to do with the amount of life magic here, it seems to give the plants enough energy to survive the season without changing.

I'm not sure if this will hold through into winter, but I'll keep an eye on it. The reason I bring this up is because the Timberwolves are also changing, the few leaves they have growing on their bodies have disappeared and they are moving slightly slower as it gets colder.

And beyond that the wood that makes up their bodies is also changing into a pale color, they seem to be shedding a coat by molting the bark on the wood that makes them up. I'm not sure if it's to better hunt in the winter or to hide from even bigger predators, probably both.

I continue to stand on the bank of the river and watch as the small pack of Timberwolves drink and relax. I watch them scratch bark off of themselves and help others do the same, the fact that they shed their bark is interesting in several ways and I once again want to research them more.

A few seconds later I'm reminded why trying to research them unprepared would be unwise, as one of the pack comes out of the woods and runs up with a bloody rabbit it's caught. I watch calmly as they eat the rabbit, and I notice that each pack member doesn't eat that much, I'd expect something so large to eat more.

Then they all spend time simply laying around, but only in brightly lit spots with direct sunlight. I know they are more than just a plant or animal, but it's still odd to watch something eating in two completely different ways. I draw out a few sketches of them before they all leave, heading back into the dark woods.

After they leave I walk back to my shack and decide to try something I haven't before. When I visited Ponyville for the first time I took a seed from the Golden Oak library, I didn't want to try and grow a magical tree in my apartment, but now that I have all this space I might as well try.

I gently take the seed and look around trying to decide where to plant it, this tree represents many things, and to me, it is something special. I walk over to the array that is at the center of my camp, now that the shield is properly fixed in place I can move them anywhere inside.

I carefully move the gem array away from the center and place the seed on the ground before backing up a few feet. I steady myself and reach out with my life magic, I keep a close eye on the seed as I pour life magic into it. But after several moments nothing happens.

I try to add even more magic but the seed still refuses to grow in the slightest despite all the life magic it's absorbed. I stop after a while and just try to feel the life magic inside the seed, but that's where things get even odder. I can feel like magic in the seed, but it's dampened in some way.

I can still feel it but something is partly blocking my senses, this is all kinds of odd. I remember growing wood from a branch just fine but this seed seems to be something else altogether, it seems to be stockpiling life magic like Entropy's egg did, but also hiding it from the world.

Maybe some form of defense so it doesn't get eaten? I keep thinking about it while pushing more and more life magic into it. I use Mana Mimicry and decide to take breaks practicing while continuing to feed the seed life magic, but I stop as an idea strikes me and try something new.

Instead of swapping back and forth, I try to use Mana Mimicry while moving around and giving all the excess magic generated to the seed. This turns out to be a difficult but rewarding practice for me, I've never had to be both delicate and forceful at the same time with my life magic before.

I get a little too caught up in this and spend three hours in that same area before finally stopping, even after all that the seed still hasn't done a single thing. Even with its apparent ability to block life magic I can still feel a decent amount coming off of it now so it's definitely absorbed the life magic.

And now I'm not sure what to do, I don't want to bring it inside anywhere, so I guess I'll just leave it there and see if anything happens. I decided to just continue with some other plans for now, and the immediate thing that comes to mind is lighting for my small building.

Last night I had to keep casting the magic light spell and that got old fast, I could just enchant a gem with the spell, but I really enjoy the druid vibe this place has and would prefer something more natural. I have a few options but the best is probably the very thing I'm breeding right now.

The Moon Glow Vine is still not finished and will take some time but it would be perfect to grow inside while its stem is outside. I walk back to my shack and sit down at my desk to start breeding more plants, this place is really starting to come together.

I whistle a soft tune while Entropy joins in. "I wonder if I can teach you to sing?" I ask myself while staring at her, this process is mostly boring so why not spend that time teaching a certain bird to speak more words? "Can you say apple?" I ask Entropy with a smile.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 993

300k... I honestly don't know what to say. I'm just happy I've made it this far.

I'd like to take a moment to personally thank anyone and everyone who's helped me get this far, from small to big, every word of encouragement and kind thank you. It's all pushed me to keep going and improve what I'm making.

So truly, thank you one and all. :}

Now enough of the sappy stuff, TIME TO CELEBRATE! WOOOOOOOOW!

Also. New fan art by Sparkly sparks.

Blog with new fan art. https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/1043280/more-fan-art

Chapter 119

OCT 7 Wednesday.

I hit the ground and slide back while getting my hooves grounded, a second later I move my head out of the way of a pebble. I'm able to block a blow right after and land a small hit with my dagger before I'm pushed back yet again.

Stone truly emulates his name when it comes to combat, tough as hell, heavy, and it hurts to hit him. But even the strongest stone cracks and even Stone has openings, it's just about timing and knowing when to push an advantage. As I deflect another blow with my dagger I'm able to find such an opening and land a solid hit with my greatsword.

Normally I'd be concerned for a pony getting hit like that, but like I said Stone is a tough bastard. Which is why he's able to mostly shrug off the blow and get one of my forelegs, and just like that I'm once again on the dusty floor with a wooden sword to my throat.

After a moment he backs off and I'm able to stand again. "Not bad with that last blow, but you should have kept pressing instead of defending. My hooves weren't solidly placed and you could have knocked me down. Remember, always keep an eye open for things like that."

Stone may be a hard ass, but he knows what he's talking about. I nod and stand up to recover to dust myself off. "Ya, I know, but I'm a slow learner. That's why I have you to beat it into me." I joke, Stone isn't the joking type, but he does have a certain dark sense of humor.

Well, dark by pony standards, it's still very tame by human standards. He chuckles. "Sure Colt, just remember to get some rest." He says while putting away his weapon. "Also you should start thinking about what armor you want to use." He advises while dusting his coat off.

I raise a brow. "Armor?"

He nods. "I don't know much about making new combat styles, but I know they can vary greatly depending on the armor you use. Your style is roughly getting to the point that you need to choose a type soon before you keep going and find out the armor you want doesn't work well with the style you've made."

I think about that for a moment while putting away my wooden weapons. "Thanks, I'll give it some thought."

"Good." With that he walks out of the room, leaving me alone. What kind of armor do I want? I could go with a few different ideas, but I'd need to think about it more.

The combat style I'm slowly developing mostly involves me deflecting and blocking hits more than dodging them, so heavy armor might be fitting, and I like the idea of being a walking tank. But ponies don't make full cover plate armor like that, it doesn't fit the mobile and fast style of combat used by the guard.

So if I want heavy armor like that I'd need to find someone capable of making it, or make it myself. As I'm walking home and thinking about my options my mind shifts to Steel wood. I can make and manipulate it much more than before, but it's not a perfect material as it has a degree of weakness to magic, but it would be a good starting point.

When I get home Entropy is waiting for me like always. "Good?" She asks while demanding scratches from me.

She's been learning to use more words more often, but like with any child teaching them is a slow process. I smile at her, "Yes, good. Now, let's get you some lunch." Hearing that she eagerly flies off my back and lands on the counter while I gather what I'll need, a simple meal of fish and Spicy Red Root.

When we're finished eating I find one of my notebooks and a small sapling before having Entropy take me to.... Ya know, I never did name the Everfree camp, I'll need to think about that. Regardless when we arrive I take my time to check on the area, the grass now covers the entire camp in a soft blanket.

I've been slowly growing it over the past few weeks and it's a pleasant addition to this place. Beyond that, I've planted several small fields of crops, Blood Leaf Tea, Spicy Red Root, and some Regular crops like potatoes, carrots, Rocky Wheat, and some celery.

All the fields are ten by ten feet with one field for each crop, a total of six plots lined up near the shack on the south side of my camp. The reason I planted all of this is simple, I won't have to bring it here which takes time, and I can study the effects of high amounts of life magic on a wide variety of non-magical plants.

As for the Blood Leaf Tea, the Everfree is one of the few places that can grow the plant and bring out its magical effects without me needing to grow it. Even if it's slower I can grow a truly massive amount of tea with the space I have, and it gives me a chance to test if the tea is different when grown naturally, although I don't expect much of a difference.

And the final thing of note is a single small seed in the center of this grassy plain. Over the past few weeks, I've been feeding it a lot of life magic, and yet nothing has happened, yet. At this point even with the plant's ability to block life magic a large amount is radiating off of it.

It's not that noticeable at a few dozen feet away, but if I keep feeding it life magic then I might have problems with animals sensing it. I'm not sure what could do that beyond the Timberwolves, but at a certain point, the sheer amount of life magic could be sensed by things that can't normally.

Many beings can sense life magic, but to such a small degree that it's basically useless unless you're right next to a massive source of life magic. And it leaves me in a bind, I can't just leave it alone but I also can't move it unless something happens when I try, and I'm far too curious to stop trying to grow it.

But I might have a solution, and it involves a small sapling I've brought with me. This is the sapling grown from the branch I took off of the Golden Oaks library, but my solution is more of a theory than anything else. If the seed has shown the ability to block life magic, then can the wood do the same?

I place the sapling on the desk in my small shack and start growing the sapling into a one-foot cube of solid wood. It takes more magic than other woods but I'm able to finish it after a short while, when I'm done I cut it off of the base with my wood carving knife and move the wood block to the side while regrowing the sapling.

I take the wood block outside while keeping a small ruby enchanted with a light next to me to see, I decompose some of the wood and hollow out the inside of the cube while also removing the top. I dump out all the soil and see the faint gold lines running through the wood shine in the light.

I now have a rough box with a two-inch thick lining and a hollow space, just what I need for a simple test.

I walk over to the strange seed and simply place the living wood box upside down over it, the life magic I sense lessens slightly. It's not a massive amount but enough to hide the seed even more, I remove the crude box and start to plan this out a little more. But I stop moving when I feel something light up like a star in the dark.

Somethings nearby, and it has a lot of life magic, similar to the levels that Entropy and Philomena have, but not as much as Celestia. Still, something with that much life magic nearby immediately puts me on edge, I try to calm myself as I feel it getting closer.

I sprint over to my shack and find the only weapon I have right now, my simple dagger, not much but it is better than nothing. I'm honestly not sure what to do, part of me just wants to have Entropy take me home right now, but another part is both curious and reluctant.

Things with that much life magic are very rare, and I really want to know what it is. And at the same time, I don't want to just run away from this place, sure I've only been here a few weeks but this camp has already helped me in several ways and I've come to value having it.

I don't want to just give it up, feeling my thoughts run wild I take several deep breaths. Entropy is inside my shadow but leaves after she sees the slightly panicked state I'm in. She stands on my back and tries to comfort me. "OK? ok?" She has no idea why I'm like this and it's obviously making her nervous.

I turn to her with a serious but confident look, trying my best to reassure her. "I... Something is here, stay in my shadow and be prepared to take us home at a moment's notice." It's clear that does not help calm her down, but she still returns to my shadow a moment later.

I steady myself, keeping the dagger close to me as I walk outside again. I'll have Entropy take us home at the first sign of danger, but I refuse to just abandon this place without even knowing what's out there. I turn my magic light off and try my best to navigate in the dim light of the half moon.

The source of life magic is still getting closer, but it's not heading right for me, instead, it seems to be passing by the shield. I keep myself quiet as I slowly walk closer to the edge of the shield, all I see is the pitch-black forest stretching out of sight, it's impossible to make anything out, so I wait.

My nerves are a mess and I have to force myself to not move unnecessarily, words from Stone's lessons repeat in my mind as I mentally prepare myself for anything. He once told me to never give away my movements, when facing an enemy do not move unless needed.

The forest is completely black, and I also notice that everything has gone quiet, no bugs, no animals, just dead silence. I'm not sure how long I stood in the dark waiting, but eventually, I saw something. It starts as a very faint light cutting through the dark, but as the source of life magic gets closer so does the light.

After a while, I finally see what's approaching, and I'm both amazed and absolutely terrified. It was a snake, and it was unlike anything I had seen before. Its red scales give off a slight pale glow and despite its large size it moves in complete silence, even as branches break under it no noise is made.

I just froze my mind in disbelief at the thing in front of me, I silently watched as the snake, probably two feet tall at the head and maybe over a hundred feet long, silently moved right past my shield. I don't move in the slightest and watch as it slithers past.

In my shock I let it get too close, moving away now could be worse than staying still. So despite my fear and panic, I stand as still as I can while watching the massive snake move. But for a moment its head looks around and I see its tongue flick through the air. :OH FUCK!: This shield doesn't block scents from leaving it. The massive snake moves and I see its pale glowing red scales shift with its massive weight.

It turns in my direction and I prepare to run, I see the pale almost white eyes of the snake look round. After a few torturous moments of it flicking its tongue, it slowly moves closer, the only reason I don't run is a vain hope it will just leave, it touches the shield with its head and seems to look over it for, it licks the shield.

I stop breathing, holding my breath as I watch it inspect the shield, and after the longest moments of my life with the only noise being the pounding of my heart and the ringing of my blood in my ears it seems to lose interest and move away from the shield. I let out a breath and watched as it slowly moved through the forest silently, its massive glowing body and a seemingly endless sea of deep crimson-red scales.

I just wait in frozen silence until it's completely out of my sight before slowly walking back to the shack. :What in the absolute FUCK! WAS THAT THING?!: I'm honestly just glad it moved on, but I learned one thing, if I feel that thing gets close again, LEAVE IMMEDIATELY.

I can deal with animals, but that thing is on a whole other level, I can guarantee it would be able to break through the shield if it really wanted to. I force myself to calm down and focus on writing down everything I noticed before it slips from my memory, not that I'll be forgetting tonight anytime soon.

Despite my fear and slight dread, a part of me is excited to see such an amazing creature, it's not every day you see a massive magical snake hunting. I have so many questions about it and what it does, why does it glow? How does it move silently despite its size?

I focus and start with its physical body. Deep crimson red scales, with a pale white glow that seemed to cover its entire body. Eyes so white it almost looked blind, and then there's the size. I can't be exact, but it's roughly a hundred feet long and its head is probably two or maybe three feet tall.

And probably the most disturbing thing of all is that it was silent. Even as it moved and flicked its tongue it didn't make the slightest noise, nothing but pure silence. Something that big being able to just move through the forest silently is hellish, that was the apex of this forest, or at least one of them.

As for what it actually was? I have no idea. I'll definitely need to research it, but if nothing else I know it's a highly magical being. Magical creatures are rare, but most of them can be found in places sentient beings avoid. Old forests like this one, vast deserts, tall mountains.

Much like with humans, the sentient beings of this world hunted anything that could threaten them, and they still do. Powerful magical animals are smarter but oftentimes lack the intelligence to be bargained with, and that normally leads to them coming into conflict with one race or another.

And while they may be powerful, they are almost always alone, and no one being can fight a nation. So when a creature like this is encountered one of two things will happen. They run or die. A sad reality to be sure, but I'm not here to judge who if any is at fault for this being the case.

But there is some good news for me, while creatures this powerful are a definite threat they normally aren't that aggressive. They are often one of the most if not the most powerful beings in the area they inhabit, which makes them comfortable and confident, and because of that they often show little interest in weaker beings.

As an example that snake would have probably not eaten me. It's no guarantee, but I'm simply not an appealing meal. I'm three foot seven and it's almost at eye height with me when on the ground, I'm simply not a filling meal, and I'd also be a hard meal to earn.

While that snake could definitely break the shield it would still take a lot of effort and energy for such a small meal, to be blunt I'm not really worth it to the snake. It caught my scent but chose not to pursue me, mostly likely because it sensed this was my nest, and a well-guarded nest at that.

Something like that is probably very old, it's no stranger to different types of hunting, and it's definitely encountered ponies before so it would know and remember what I am. With how often I'm in my camp it would be easy for it to presume this is my nest, and it can probably tell how strong the shield is, at least to some degree.

It most likely knew I was a pony and only one pony as only my scent is here, and it decided to break into a heavily defended nest for so little reward, it wasn't worth its time. Like I said creatures like this aren't dumb, they're just not smart, they're probably smart enough to follow the same chain of logic I just did.

But all of this is just my best guesses, I'll need to do a lot of research to find out more, but one thing is for certain.

I underestimated this forest, and I don't plan to again.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 993

Got any names for the camp?

Interesting fact. I love snakes more then birds, but only slightly.

Also I might take tomorrow off, not sure.

Chapter 120

OCT 17 Saturday.

I walk through the bookshelves of the Canterlot library looking for anything that might give me the answers I seek.

After the snake incident, I've been doing several things. First, I have a few new rules for my camp. One, if I feel its life magic again, leave. Two, don't leave the camp shield at night unless necessary. Three, don't leave any food out, something might come looking for it.

All of this is simple stuff but should help keep me safe, I really don't want to meet that snake again.

And another small thing, I've named the camp, Gaia's Eden, simple but I think it fits well and pays homage to my old home in a few ways. I pull my mind away from thoughts of my old home and focus on this internal rant.

Beyond Gaia's Eden, I've also spent some time trying to find out exactly what that snake was, and the answers I've found are complicated. Searching for these answers has led me down a rabbit hole of things that may or may not help me.

Magical creatures are classified in many ways, but one way to class them is uniqueness. A magical creature is either a member of a species that is magical, Phoenixes are a good example of this. Or part of a second group, this second group is harder to define.

As I've seen, sometimes magic and evolution combine in amazing and terrifying ways. It turns out that extends to creating things that are not just a slight difference in the species, but something new altogether. With enough magic and environmental pressures a magical or otherwise normal creature can change in truly massive ways.

The result is called a unique existence, something that is singular in this world with nothing else like it. Evolution for not a species but an individual, this is the uniqueness factor and it explains a lot of the odd things this world has. Any being in an environment with enough magic can change to better fit that environment.

That change is normally a slow thing, but magic can speed things up a lot. But all this begs the question, is this snake unique? Or a member of a magical species? Well, after a lot of research, I've found my answer, in this case it's both.

The species this snake is from is a Ruby Snake, they are a somewhat rare and large snake species. They live in large forests, have a slight venom that is mostly harmless but can cause infections, are known to be somewhat more intelligent than most snakes, and they have very tough scales. But after that it gets odd.

The Ruby Snake is magical, but only slightly. They can make their scales glow to attract smaller predators by attracting bugs, very similar to the Moon Glow. They also use this ability to communicate in several ways, if they want to mate, are hunting, or if they are trying to scare another of their kind from their territory.

But this species of snake normally only grows to ten or fifteen feet long, still large but nothing like the snake I saw. And that means this Ruby Snake is an aberrant member of its race, at some point some form of magic significantly changed this relatively normal snake into the monster I saw.

How? No idea. From what I've learned the change can happen from any number of sources. Large amounts of any affinity of magic, certain magical plants, even large magical events like a volcano eruption, this snake could have been unique in some other way before this happened, or hell even some pony messing with something they shouldn't. I don't think I will ever know for sure what it did to become what it is now.

But I did learn a few things that could help me with the situation. I've researched snake behavior and feeding habits, along with anything that could deter it from bothering me. I mainly focused this research on the Ruby Snake as they are the most similar to what I'm dealing with, and a very important thing I learned is the snake is most likely nocturnal.

The Ruby Snake hunts at night and sleeps in the day, they are also primarily ambush predators, although I'm not sure how much that applies to this snake. It was moving silently, but it wasn't exactly stealthy with how much it glowed, other Ruby Snake can turn that effect off so this snake may also be an ambush predator, I'm simply not sure.

The point stands though, as long as it's day I should be fine. After I finish my reading I leave the library and start to walk home, I have a meeting today and I would rather not be late. Over the past few weeks, my projects have been going very well so far.

Let's start with the Moon Glow Vine, it's done. The green vine has small leaves with large flowers that remind me of water lily flowers. Its entire body glows with the flowers glowing slightly brighter than the rest of the plant, and it's gained enough strength to grow tall under its own weight.

I've also used it to light my shack at Gaia's Eden and it works well. I've produced a good amount of seeds. I hope Celestia likes them.

The other project that has seen progress is the Emotional Magic Gathering project, shortened to E.M.G. Over the past few weeks I've gone through a few ideas before finally starting with a simple idea that in all honestly I should have thought of before.

The emotional shield I use is simple, it prevents most of the emotional magic I give off from leaving the shield. It basically captures all that emotional magic inside and releases it when I turn it off, so what if I just used that to gather emotional magic? An easy solution.

All I need is a way to store what is already being gathered, and that is easy by comparison. I've modified the emotional shield to change size while keeping the shield active, once you activate it the shield will compress into a small ball that holds all the gathered emotional magic, and then the shield will become solid to prevent anything from moving through it and disrupting the gathered emotional magic along with blocking out all emotional magic from leaving to prevent leakage.

But I'm not sure if this could have side effects. I'm no expert on magical affinities and how they interact with each other, so I have no idea if compressing them like this is bad in some way, and even with an expert they wouldn't be able to tell me if this gathered magic is edible for Changelings.

If the magic does change in some way that makes it unusable for Changelings I need to know before I start investing more time into this potential solution. And there is a simple way to do that, ask the two changelings I know, which I'll be doing after my meeting with Celestia today.

When I get home I clean myself up and make sure to look professional, I want to look like an employee of Celestia. I normally wouldn't care how others see me, but I don't really trust those two Changelings that much, at least not yet, so for now I will keep it professional.

Once I look proper I find a small gem with a seemingly empty shield floating above it, this is some of my own emotional magic I gathered yesterday. Once I have everything I need I have Entropy take me to the mailroom, I appear inside the room and open the door like normal.

A guard is standing there just as I expected, what I don't expect is who the guard is. I stare forward as me and Shining Armor share a look of mild surprise. There is a long moment of silence, but I speak first. "Hello again Shining, it's nice to see you again. Seems you'll be my escort today then?" I greet him with a degree of fake calmness.

I haven't spoken to him in a long while, and a lot has changed since then. He nods after a moment before looking into the room behind me, only to see nothing but a single table in a windowless room with only one entrance. "Yes I am... and it's good to see you Shade." I can tell he wants to ask but doesn't, he keeps a professional and on-duty tone as he starts leading me through the palace.

There is once again a few moments of silence before I speak up. "So, how have you been? It's been a long time since we last talked." I try to relax and remind myself it's fine to interact with important ponies, the future is fucked as it is no point hiding from it now.

He seems a little off, not that I blame him, I just appeared from an empty room and now he has to walk me to the princess without asking the burning questions he no doubt has. "I've been fine, thank you for asking. It seems you are doing well." He says while looking me over, his tone is still all guard-like, he is both blunt and polite.

I'm only an inch or so shorter than him now and I'm probably in better shape, by magic I love earth pony strength. "Yes, I am." It's not a long conversation, but he's on duty so probably can't say much without getting in some form of stupid trouble.

When we were near Celestia's office I turned to him. "How about we catch up sometime soon?" I suggest staying professional in front of the other guards. We may not have talked much but I wouldn't mind getting to know him more.

He gives me a very small smile and a short nod. "Sure, how about the park? Seems we always end up there anyway." He seems a little standoffish as we don't really know each other and I'm asking while he's at work, but he still agrees and that's enough for me.

I chuckle slightly at that, we do seem to find each other there. "Sounds good. Does tomorrow at five work for you?" he nods a moment later and starts to walk off silently as we reach the door to Celestia's office. I hope to talk with him more later, but for now I get to hang out with a friend.

When I enter I see Celestia working on some paperwork while drinking tea. I glance around her desk and see much less paperwork than the last time I was here, it seems things have calmed down some. After a moment Entropy leaves my shadow and joins Philomena on her perch while I lay down on the couch.

"Hello Celestia, anything interesting?" I ask half-jokingly. She looks up from her work and gives me a slightly annoyed and happy look, but before I can ask about the look something catches my interest, what catches my interest is the pair of simple reading glasses she has hanging on top of her muzzle.

"Hello to you to Sha-" That's as far as she gets before my shock wears off and I interrupt her.

"WAIT! Wait wait wait... YOU, have glasses?" I ask while pointing a hoof at her face, I never thought I'd see a pair of glasses on Celestia, she looks like a librarian.

She raises a brow and smiles. "Surely you've seen me use them before? And yes I do, all this paperwork is hard on the eyes." She says with some amusement at my reaction.

I'm silent for a moment as she takes off the glasses, and a small part of me notices that they look rather good on her, I push that part away quickly. I speak again as she joins me on the couch, "I suppose that makes sense, it's just.. that's not something I'd ever thought I'd see you wearing. Can I see them?"

She keeps her half smile, I feel like I'm forgetting something here but ignore it for the current situation. "Here, satisfy your curiosity. And yes I presume many would think the same, but like I said they help with all this work." Something in her tone yet again seems off, but I continue to ignore it.

She passes the simple pair of metal-rimmed glasses to me, they are normal and surprisingly plain-looking. After I'm done I pass them back and look up at Celestia, and I see a wide smile as she looks slightly above me. My brain finally decides that something is in fact wrong and I look up.

I quickly close my eyes as I see something rushing at my face and after shutting my eyes I feel myself get covered in some form of dust. I have to hold my breath to not breathe anything in and after it settles I open my eyes again. Glitter, glitter fucking everywhere.

I look up at Celestia again while she breaks down laughing at my shocked and dumbfounded expression. "Your- hahahaha, Your riddles need work, these were just terrible." She says while placing an empty box next to her, the same box I sent her as a prank. :It seems I've been pranked, humiliated, and quite possibly bamboozled. Well.. shit:

After a few more moments she calms down and stops laughing. "Although, I will admit you had me confused for a while, it took me longer than it should have for me to notice." She admits with a large smile.

I feel my muzzle heat up some and know I have a blush, I look away to not show it and see I'm completely covered in glitter, by magic am I thankful I learned to instantly cast the cleaning spell I made. Instead of answering Celestia I spend a minute cleaning myself off and hoping my blush goes away with my embarrassment, that process was made more difficult by Entropy's love for the devil dust.

Celestia starts laughing again at my reaction and Entropy trying her best to cover herself in this hellish stuff, and I decide to get some petty revenge by not cleaning her off. Celestia stops laughing when Entropy flies over to Philomena to show off the shiny glitter and in the process spreads it all over Celestia's office.

I chuckle a little as her face pinches. "I did warn you she loves this stuff, for some reason." Once I've cleaned off the couch and myself, I turn to her fully. "What gave it away? That was supposed to blast everywhere when you opened it." I ask to try and distract myself from further embarrassment.

She doesn't laugh but keeps her smile. "The last riddle, it was just too terrible, even for you. Looking back I should have realized so much sooner, but it seems you played your cards well." Only Celestia can find a way to insult and compliment me while sounding neutral all at the same time.

I sigh, she's right that the last one was just the worst and probably overdid it. I chuckle at the way she turned my prank back on me, "Well I tried. Now I don't even want to give you this, but here." I try to move on and change the subject by passing her several pages of notes on the M.G.P project and my progress so far, along with the need to test it on the Changelings.

I see her face shift from playful to serious as she starts reading through the documents, I let her fully finish them as they are important. Once she's done I speak up, "The only thing I'm not sure about is what happens to the magic when it is held like this." I take out the gem with its small shield as an example.

Celestia is now in full business mode and starts looking at the shield, although I have no idea what she's looking at as nothing is there for me. "I'm also not sure, I know they are probably interacting in some way as the magic looks thoroughly mixed together, but I have no idea what that would do."

I note that tidbit down, at least it confirms something. "That's why I wanted to ask the Cricket and Cicada, especially Cicada as she seems to know more about things like this." While thinking about it an idea strikes me. "Also, I'd like a doctor or medic there just in case."

She looks away from the shield and back to me, she gives me an approving nod and smiles. "That is probably best, I'll be joining you then." I raise a brow and look at the still considerable amount of paperwork on her desk. She sees that and waves a hoof, "It can wait, this is more important."

She starts to stand up but I stop her. "Hold on a moment." She stops getting up and lays down again, it's her turn to raise a brow as I start looking through my saddlebags, a moment later I pass her a small bag full of seed. "Seeds, I call it the Moon Glow Vine," I explained while opening the bag to show her.

I once again see her face shift, this time it's a soft sad smile that breaks my heart a little. She gently takes the bag from me and stares at the seeds. It's almost a full minute before she speaks with a very soft voice, "Thank you, this... it means a lot to me."

I nod and return her small smile. "It's no trouble at all, and I've found my own use for them. Here are some instructions." I offer a few more papers to her. She takes them but moves them to the side immediately, she's silent again for a while.

"Are you doing anything on Nightmare Night?" The question is almost a little hesitant, I have no idea what she's thinking but shake my head. "Would.... would you mind helping me with something again?" I'm honestly shocked at how melancholy her tone is.

"Consider it done." I agree immediately.

She looks up from the seeds with that same small smile. "You don't even know what you're agreeing to help with?" I can see that same small sad smile.

I show a larger smile at that. "And I don't need to. I don't also know what this is about, but that's not important, you need my help, that's what is important." I keep a sincere and firm tone while keeping my smile.

I'm surprised by a very fluffy hug a moment later, "Thank you Shade." I sit in stunned silence as she hugs me for several moments, and my damned hormone-stricken mind can't help but notice the lavender scent she has, some type of soap, it is nice smelling though.

After a minute or so she lets go and backs up. "I'm sorry if that was a bit... much." She seems a little embarrassed at the hug, but not the least bit regretful.

I keep my smile and wave it off. "It's fine, I don't mind." I keep silent and after a moment I try to change the subject and cheer her up a little. "How about we go and find out how badly my crazy idea works?" I joke slightly.

She doesn't laugh or chuckle, but she shows a slightly renewed smile. "Yes, this is not the time for this. Come, we have things to test." I smiled happily as that seemed to help her out of that funk.

"Sounds amazing, I just hope nothing explodes." I joke again.

And she tilts her head. "It can't do that.. right?" I can tell she's joking, so I don't answer as I walk out of the room ahead of her. "Right?" She asks again, I just smile and continue walking.

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :D

I've personally seen what happens when a toddler gets their hands on glitter, and I feel like Entropy would be the same.

Chapter 121

OCT 17 Saturday.

A moment after I leave the room Celestia follows behind, I stop for a moment and let her take the lead, I would have no idea where I'm going. "So how do you want to do this?" I ask while two guards fall in step behind us.

Celestia seems to put on a more reserved and calm tone and expression than when we were alone. "I'll mostly be there to observe the magic while you can ask questions and test anything that comes to mind, although they might be less casual with me there."

I nod my agreement and try to think of something to pass the time, these hallways are too damn long. A thought that does come to mind is alicorns, and the snake I met recently. The Ruby Snake I found was an aberrant member of its race, and that is a very rare thing.

Before I dive head first into this I probably should explain something. Aberrant is a term used to describe any being that is born different from the normal members of their species, this applies to all living beings, plants, animals, and even ponies.

A unique being is a living thing that has changed so much it can no longer be considered the same race as when it began, and it has to be the only one of its type.

A unique being normally comes from an aberrant member of a race, something is born slightly different and magic builds on that to change even more. While the process by which they change from one to the other is called magical metamorphosis.

So my question is this, are alicorns an aberrant of the pony race? Well, that's complicated in several ways.

Pony is not really one species, it's a collection of subspecies that all call themselves the same thing. Even earth ponies aren't like the common ancestor we all share, which are normally called the ancient-ponies. They were in the middle of the road and were just normal ponies that were also sentient.

How? We don't know, magic, gods, fate, so many things could be the cause but that's not the point. Alicorns are very rare when you compare them to the population of all ponies, so are they aberrant ponies? Or unique ponies? They do have traits from all ponies.

Wait... Do they share traits with Batponies? I'm actually not sure. Why not just ask? I turn to Celestia. "Something just occurred to me, and now I won't be able to sleep without knowing," I ask levelly and make sure to not be too informal around others, namely the guards.

Celestia is calm and nods. "Well, we don't want you losing sleep, what occurred to you?" She asks back, I can tell she wants to joke more but can't right now.

"An alicorn has traits from all ponies right?" She nods and looks interested. "Does that include Batponies?" In response, she once again nods.

"Yes, a good example is meat. All ponies can eat it but only Batponies require it and crave it, as do I. But I personally find it more interesting that the Batpony traits I have are not very prominent, it's mostly small unnoticed things." She explains.

I raise a brow. "Really? If it's less than the other types, then what type is the most prominent?"

"That's why I find it so interesting. All the others are much more balanced and seem like a more even split. but not the Batpony part, it is simply less. My best guess is because they have the largest difference between them and every other tribe of pony"

"Hu... that is odd." I retreat into my thoughts again. Maybe harmony has a role to play in that part? Or population size? Batponies do make up the smallest amount of the pony population. No matter the reason it does show alicorns have the traits, which leads me back to the same question.

I know alicorns come from harmony in some way, but what is harmony? Some force of fate? The collective will and emotion of all things? Just a straight-up god or an aspect of reality? I refocus, that doesn't matter right now, back to the question at hoof.

Aberrant ponies do exist, but it's not a common thing by any means, especially if that aberration is magical in nature. Ponies have more stable magic than most other beings, probably because of how much we interact with magic, but this also makes it less common to see changes in our magic.

I have read of a few cases of aberrant ponies while researching the snake and it's odd. The aberrations are normally very small, to the point most can live their entire lives without knowing about it, but some are bigger and more drastic. But there is a line where aberration meets simple genetic disorders, and from what I know they are hard to tell apart.

I'm about to throw my mind deeper down this rabbit hole but stop as we arrive at a door.

I slip on a professional mask and adjust my bags, I turn to Celestia as she looks back at me. "Ready when you are, your Majesty." I can't help but verbally jab her a bit. I see her swap out one of her golden hoof shoes and taps it twice, good she's being slightly paranoid, I approve.

She just smiles. "Then let's see how well your invention works, Mr. Evergreen." She grabs back and I realize that I don't enjoy being called Mr.

She opens the door and two guards walk in first with her next and me entering last. The room is mostly just as simple as before, but I'm surprised by what I see.

I see Cricket and Cicada bowing to Celestia as we enter, but I also see a Changeling I don't recognize. They have the same body shape and are also bowing, but even with my limited knowledge of changelings I can tell they aren't comfortable or happy.

Their deep green eyes and wings, they keep shifting to the guards and Celestia while they jitter slightly every once in a while. "Please stand." Celestia has that royal tone again but makes sure to not look too intimidating. "This is Mr. Evergreen, I believe you two have met him before?"

They all stand up and Cricket is the one to answer. "Yes, your Majesty." She keeps her words simple and calm.

"Good, he has a few questions and something to ask your help with. I ask that you accommodate him as best you can." Celestia doesn't explain anything else and sits down a little out of the way so we have room. There is a pause as the Changelings see if she'll do anything, but Celestia stays silent and simply waits as a staff pony brings in tea for all of us.

I step forward and greet all of them with a nod. "A pleasure to see you again Miss, Cricket. Miss, Cicada." I keep myself even more professional than the last time we talked, I don't want to embarrass Celestia now, do I?

They seem to relax a little at my friendly demeanor. "Same, you need help with something?" Cricket is still the only one to talk, but before answering her I turn to the new Changeling.

"Before that, hello I don't believe we've met before. Shade Evergreen." I greet them calmly.

They seem very on edge, probably because of Celestia's presence. "..... Slither." I'm a little surprised to hear a male voice, and then it clicks. I doubt Celestia would try to pony-nap another Changeling without telling me, so this is probably the one we captured.

Well, at least they are out of the dungeon. I nod, "A pleasure, I have things to work on so I won't be taking up much of your time." I lie a little and walk over to the table in the room before placing the ruby on the table. Cicada smiles at it and immediately walks over to look it over.

"Miss, Cicada- ."

She interrupts me. "Just Cicada is fine."

I don't skip a beat and nod. "Cicada, this is something that needs your help in testing and I'd also like to ask you a few more questions. You remember what we talked about last time?" From what I remember she enjoyed talking about magic and that seems to still be the case.

She nods with a little excitement. "Ya, we talked about what and how we eat, is this about that?" She asks back while looking over the small ruby carefully.

I return her nod. "Yes, this is a prototype. Still being worked on, I've been tasked with asking for your help."

She smiles, as Cricket sits down next to her. Slither seems to just be glancing at Celestia and staying as far away from her as possible. "Ooo, this could be fun. What does it do?" She really does seem to like magic, my kind of person.

I gently lift the gem with my hoof. "This is an attempt to capture and store emotional magic for Changelings to eat." I don't beat around the bush and tell them bluntly, and the reaction is about what you'd expect.

Even the quiet Slither had their eyes widened somewhat. Cricket looked even more shocked, a shocked Changeling is not something I ever thought I'd see, but here we are. And Cicada looked both shocked and very excited. "Really!? How? Does it work?" She moves forward and gets a little too close for comfort.

I don't back up and thankfully Cricket pulls Cicada back a second later. As her excitement rises Cicada starts to buzz, literally. Turns out an excited Changeling can vibrate their wings slightly, I wonder why. I don't let myself get distracted and answer Cicada before she gets even more excited.

"How, is something I'm not allowed to tell you about. We don't know if it works and that's part of what we need help with, but that isn't the problem." She is disappointed but perks up a second later while staring at the ruby with interest. "The problem is that the prototype collects all emotional magic, we're just not sure if that will have any side effects or potential problems."

I grab the gem and activate it partly. This specific version of the spell can also partly release the magic, just like the normal emotional shield. "Tell me, what do you feel?" I question while taking out some paper and a quill.

Cicada is not jumping around anymore and seems almost transfixed by the gem, Cricket gets a little closer and is also interested, hell even Slither walks a little closer to the table. "Well, it's...." Cicada starts but is interrupted by Cricket.

"It's odd, it feels like everything was smashed together," I note that down quickly.

"Ya, it does, I wonder." There is a stretch of silence before Cricket shakes Cicada with what I presumed is an annoyed and worried expression.

"WHAT are you doing!? He just said it could have side effects and they didn't test it yet!" I'm a little confused by this, but it doesn't take me long to realize she just tried to feed off of the gathered magic. I turn to a guard that has a small white band that signifies they are a medic, I nod to them.

The guard immediately walks over to us and starts casting a few spells on Cicada, who protests. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just got caught up in the.... odd flavor." She says while moving her forelimbs around.

After a moment the medic turns to me and nods before moving back again, I give a quick nod in thanks before turning back to Cicada. "I'd ask that you please not worry us like that again. That being said, is there anything of note?"

Cicada is still inspecting the gem. "Hmmmm, OH, me?" I raise a brow and nod. "Umm, yes there is. It tastes odd, normally a pony's emotions are less mixed and more separate. It's really odd, it is edible and I feel fine, but the taste is somewhat... bland I guess?"

I take notes of everything that happens. "Normally all emotions taste different, this just sort of tasted like nothing, it's not unpleasant, just plain." She seems to think about that for a few moments. "It's like white bread, it's nice but eating it every day wouldn't be pleasant."

I stop at that. "Can you think of any reason for that?"

She tilts her head. "Maybe? It could be all the emotions canceling themselves out." I motion for her to continue. "Some Changelings can use specific emotions to counter other ones, it's not precise in any way but it does work." I knew they could manipulate emotions but that is interesting.

"What do you think of this as a food source? And further, do you have any ideas to help our work?" I ask, feedback is important after all. Before she can answer there is a knock on the door, a guard walks in and quickly whispers something to Celestia while we all go silent.

Celestia stands up and looks at all of us. "It seems something demands my attention, please report to me later." She says that last part to me, I give a single nod, and she doesn't say anything else before leaving us alone with the guards. This is around the time our meeting should have normally ended so she's probably just heading back to work.

I turn back to Cicada but stop as Slither walks over to the table, I'm surprised by the massive shift in his body language. He goes from reserved and skittish to confident. He seems to want to say something to me but Cicada speaks first. "Well, to answer your questions. It would work just fine, but living off of only this would not be fun. As for ideas, you could try collecting a specific emotion?"

It's the obvious solution, but still something to point out. "Yes, that's something we've considered. Can you think of any way to accomplish that?" But before I can answer we're interrupted.

"And who are you, pony?" I'm thrown off by the interruption and the hostile tone he takes with me, his body also shows an almost arrogant side.

Well, this should be interesting. "I work for the princess." I am blunt and make it clear that's all he's getting.

He doesn't take this well and even moves closer to the table. "In what way? You come in here demanding answers, for this? No, this is something else." I have no idea what he's talking about, but I keep my calm even as a guard behind me starts to move over.

I hold up a hoof. "It's fine." The guard backs off. I take a moment and really look over this Changeling, it seems I get to meet an asshole today. I keep my professional tone and answer him. "Yes and no. This is about feeding Changelings, but it's also about learning more, you are unlike anything we hav-"

"OH! Don't give me that nonsense. This is about you wanting to win." Cicada and Cricket look very annoyed and a little alarmed at his words.

"SLITHER! We talked about this, accusing them will get us nowhere fast." Cricket says while trying to shut him up. Seems Slither is like me, a somewhat cynical and paranoid person.

I interrupt them all with a stern tone. "No need Ms. Cricket," I say with a calm tone, this guy is nothing compared to some people I've talked to before, and I know just how to shut him down. "And Mr. Slither." He turns to me with what I know is an angry expression, he even hisses slightly. "Please don't interrupt again." I turn back to Cicada. "Continue please."

She raises a brow as Slither just gets more angry at my disregard. "Well, I don't know how to help there. But if you do try I would recommend trying to gather positive emotions, they are for the most part more filling for us." I nod my thanks and note that down.

"Are there any emotions that you consider easier to collect?" This doesn't have much to do with this topic as I collect emotions in a different way, but I'm curious.

"Hey! Don't ignore me." I ignore him. Both Cicada and Cricket seem to understand what I'm doing and decide to do the same. "HEY!" He shrugs again.

Cicada for her part seems to be trying not to laugh as Slither steams over us ignoring him. "Normally simple emotions are easier, but not by that much, and they are also less filling. It's a trade-off that can be hard to balance."

I nod. "Well, I only have-" I'm interrupted again.

"PONY! DON'T IGNORE ME!" He keeps shouting, and I keep ignoring him, after a moment of me finishing a note he just storms off to the other side of the room. The best way to deal with people like that is simple, ignore them.

"I only have one question left. You talked about pure emotion last time, could you produce some if we provide enough raw emotion?"

Cicada shrugs. Cricket answers me, "I know how, but I'm not good at it so I'll need a lot. And this stuff probably won't work." She points at the shield. "It's too mixed for me to separate, I'm simply not skilled enough."

I give both of them a small smile. "Well, I believe that's all. Thank you both for your time today." I turn to Slither. "Same to you Mr. Slither." I make sure to sound genuine.

"BUCK YOU, WEAK PONY!" He says that like an insult, I simply keep my smile and nod.

Cicada nods with a smile at Slither's response. "It's no problem, this seems important and I'm glad to help." She seems happy despite our company.

Cricket also nods. "Same, please thank the ponies working on it for me." I know she's probably just being diplomatic, but the gesture is still appreciated.

"Then I wish you all a good day." I end the conversation and leave the room with a glance at the brooding Slither, fucking with him more could be fun. I hum a tune while walking through the hallways, today was fun, despite that damned glitter. I can't help but chuckle at the memory, I'll get her back for that.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 993

Angy Changeling. Also this chapter might not be that interesting, but I felt is was important.

Chapter 122

OCT 25 Sunday.

I walk through my vegetable fields as a gentle snow falls around Gaia's Eden, the shield doesn't keep out the snow and I watch as the small flakes fall in uncountable numbers.

Winter is finally here and the Everfree is mostly unaffected, snow has started falling but it's much less than Canterlot and the plants have only just started changing. Some trees have finally started to lose leaves and change their color, but even now most plants are fine.

I feel like some plants will die from the cold and lack of sunlight after being covered in snow, but with the amount of life magic here I think most will survive. It's odd, normally I feel the life magic around me lessen and retreat during winter, but here it still moves around, everything is still alive.

Gaia's Eden has seen some small changes over the past week, with the largest being the Moon Glow Vine. I planted it next to my shack and let it grow in through a window, I had it split after that. One vine went to the roof and grew leaves to keep itself healthy, the other grew to cover my ceiling and bloom flowers.

I've also planted a field of Frost Bloom to study and see if I can cross-breed it with some crops to make a cold-resistant crop. It's not a priority for me but if I succeed it should be useful to Equestria's food production during winter. That's the hope at least.

Beyond that, I've made a change to the seed in the middle. I was concerned that the snake might notice the seed if I kept feeding it life magic, so I used the Golden Oak wood to place it inside a one-foot-thick box. I basically grew a stump and formed a box around the seed.

It blocks almost all of the life magic and it's well hidden now, one less thing to worry about. I've also been trying to find a way to gently repel the massive snake, preferably without fighting it, but most things I've found are about different concoctions you can make with different plants.

I could make those, but they don't last long and I'd need to sink time into it. So after a little more looking I found something of a partial solution, Lemongrass. It's used as a slight repellent to snakes, I have no idea if this will be effective in any way, but it was easy to grow some inside the wall of Razor Vine's.

It's better than nothing, but it does give me an idea. The reason Lemongrass somewhat repels snakes is because of its strong scent. So I'll be selectively breeding a stronger version of Lemongrass and see if that works better. I stop walking and make sure my saddlebags are secure, and that Entropy is ready before walking to the edge of the shield.

It's noon right now and I'm taking some time to go on my first expedition into the Everfree. I've prepared, I have my bracelet that I've enchanted with the same shield I made for the Apple family, it should work against anything normal that I come across, and if anything big finds me I have Entropy to get us out fast.

I have two daggers, the frost dagger and my normal one, along with some medical supplies and food. I decompose the wall of vines in front of me and take my first steps into the cold forest. The tree canopy is still thick so not much snow is on the ground, and even in the day, the forest is dark.

I should make some way to see in the dark, it could prove useful. I make a mental note of that and regrow the wall of vines before continuing, it's quiet beyond the few small animals that I can hear, and feel with my life magic. I try not to stress too much, and try to enjoy the simple exploration.

The forest may feel empty to most, but I know how to spot the small plants that grow through the brush and in between tree roots. I find a few herbs I recognize but mostly it's normal plants that can be found in many places. At least that's what I thought but after an hour of mindless wandering, I came across a nearly dead tree.

The tree seems to be dying, with withered leaves and dried-out bark. I feel the life magic it holds leaving, being pulled away from it, but what interests me is where it's going. I feel the life magic being very slowly pulled into the ground out of sight, I haven't seen something steal life magic from another being before.

It's a very VERY slow process, but whatever is doing this is slowly killing the tree. It's also not a consistent thing but comes and goes in bursts, it's death by a thousand cuts. I am curious now so I place a hoof on the ground and push my life magic through it with some effort, and for a second I see the world under my hooves.

I feel the tree roots stretch out from the topsoil and into an endless network. And in the web, I find the cause of this tree's slow demise, an even smaller web of mycelium of some form is attached to the roots and it takes small amounts of life magic, and probably other things as well.

Its magical flows are both complex and oddly simple. There aren't many large flows, but even from here, I can tell those large flows are very complex once you start dividing them into smaller flows. This mycelium is deceptively simple for what it's doing.

I've encountered a few myceliums like this before, but all of them just took nutrients from plants, this one takes more than that. I use my field to dig into the forest soil and after some effort find some dirt filled with uncountable strands of white. I take out a bag and fill it with the soil before moving on.

Not sure I want to mess with this mycelium too much, it could prove dangerous considering its effects, but I'll take some for research. I continue to wander for two more hours but don't find anything of interest to me. I'm about to call it a day and head home, but before I can I hear a noise behind me and quickly turn while drawing my dagger.

Only to see a normal fox running away at my sudden movement, I nearly laugh at myself, but I don't. I re-sheathe my dagger and continue looking around, it's surprisingly calming here once you get past the darkness. I don't end up finding anything else of interest to me, but for a first quick trip, this is a good place to end it.

Plus it's getting later in the day and I have places to be. With that in mind, I turn to my shadow, "Hey girl, you awake?" She comes out of my shadow a second later. "Good, back to Gaia, and then home." Even with her ability to understand speech I make sure to simplify my instructions just to be safe.

"O-K." She has an odd pause in between with that word. A second of endless darkness later I'm back at Gaia's Eden. I drop off a few things and make sure to place the mycelium I found inside a pot, I decide to carefully feed it some life magic and it grows normally with nothing happening to me or my life magic. I give it more water from my flask and head home to clean up.

A nice shower later and I'm ready, but I still have time before my meeting at the park, so I spend some time practicing Mana Mimicry. My meeting with Shining is going to be interesting, he knows something is up and will probably have some questions for me.

And I'm not exactly sure how to answer. Many guards have probably noticed my continued presence, but they probably just assume it's something out of their pay grade. What makes Shining different is that I know him and his family outside of work, and they know me, even if none of us are close.

I don't want him to push me away by being vague, as that could damage any relationship I have with him. He could even ask his family to stay away from me if he thinks I'm part of something that could endanger them. That's not likely to happen, but unlikely things seem intent on happening around me, I'm not taking any chances if I can help it.

So to prevent that I'll need to give him some answers, but which ones? If I tell him about making spells for the princess he'll ask me what spells, and if I answer that he will find out or guess that I'm Veil Winter. And if I just tell him I'm Veil Winter he's likely to presume I'm full of shit, and not without reason as I am still a colt.

I could just say I'm Celestia's friend, but that raises even more questions. I ponder this while practicing and after a while, I'm out of time. I take my saddlebags and Entropy with me and leave my apartment, I put on my cloak seeing the light snowfall, and start walking through the streets.

As I think more on this conundrum I come up with something that might work. There is one other thing that would make my presence less suspicious, my life affinity. As I walk through the streets I stop at a food stall and buy two small bags of hayfries, snacks always help, not long after I reach the park.

The park has a nice blanket of fresh snow, and on the same bench we first met I see Shining Armor. He sees me and nods, I return the nod and walk over, he seems a little wound up and is obviously a little impatient, he has been waiting a week so it's not much of a surprise.

"Hey Shining, thanks for coming. Here." I offer the heyfries, and after a second he takes them. I sit down as a slightly awkward mood sets in.

"Thanks, and no problem. It's not often I spend time here, I miss the view." I can tell he's trying to be polite, but it's clear his curiosity is getting to him.

I want to try and actually enjoy this, and that won't happen with his curiosity getting in the way. So after several moments of silence, I sigh. "Just go for it, I'll tell you what I can." I keep a relaxed and friendly tone while getting my story straight in my head.

He stays silent for a moment. "Who are you?"

I laugh a little at that, and he just gives me a confused look. "Sorry, that was just more blunt than I expected." He looks a little embarrassed but I continue before he can say anything. "But that is the question, isn't it?" I smile at him. "Last time we met I told you I work for the Princess."

He nods. "Yes, and you said it was a secret. So why answer me now? What changed?"

I keep my smile, at least he's being forward with me. "Two reasons. First, we'll probably see each other again and maybe even work together, when that time comes I would rather you not distrust me for a silly reason. And that brings me to reason two, I've met your entire family." He raises a brow and nods, he's not defensive so that's good.

"Yes, my dam and sister have mentioned you, even my sire." I feel like there is something I'm missing with that last part. "But that doesn't answer the question." His tone is getting slightly more relaxed as we talk.

"You and your family are good ponies, and I'd rather not taint any relationship by putting up walls. Or to be blunt, I want to be able to call you a friend, and keeping unnecessary secrets doesn't help with that." I show him a smile while chewing on a hayfry.

He looks a little shocked at my intentions, we haven't really talked much so this does come a little out of the blue. "Well. I would have thought... OH! ohh." I raise a brow as he seems to trail off and realize something before smiling widely after a moment.

"What?" It's now my turn to be confused.

He just keeps his smile and shakes his head. "Oh, it's nothing, just something my sister told me about you. So back to my first question." He shifts to being much more relaxed and friendly. :What the hell does Twilight have to do with this?: I'm just confused, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, pun intended.

This is where my plan comes into play. I look around a little, no pony in sight, I move some of the snow on the ground off of the dead grass underneath it. "How about I show you? Also, I'd ask you never to say anything about this." He again looks confused but nods seriously.

"I know how to keep a secret, and doubly so if it's for the work you do for the Princess." His tone is still friendly but very serious. I smile again and nod my thanks before ripping a small clump of grass from the ground.

I push a little life magic inside and watch as the lump of grass regains its green color and starts to grow even as it's suspended in my field. "Have you ever heard of Rocky Wheat?" He seems very intrigued by my display but not very shocked, magic can do many things and he probably isn't that well-versed in magical affinities.

He thinks for a moment before slowly nodding. "Somewhat? I vaguely remember one of the other guards talking about it, something about farming from his family." I feel a little pride at that but ignore it for now.

"Rocky Wheat is a type of wheat specifically bred to grow in colder and rocky soil, mostly for places that can't grow normal wheat. To make it somepony had to selectively breed thousands of generations of regular Wheat and pick out the ones that survived the best."

"As you can imagine this takes a very long time because you can't speed up plant growth that much. It can take decades to finish such a project, and I'm the reason it only took a year." That makes him even more confused. "What do you know about magical affinities?"

He seems to see where I'm going with this. "Enough to guess you have one that helps grow plants faster? That would definitely be useful for a project like that."

I nod, it seems he's making just the conclusion I want him to. "Yes, and much more. I have the life affinity, something that only a few ponies have had in the last thousand years."

And finally, I see understanding dawn on his face. "You make and grow new plants for the Princess? huh, not what I expected. And if it's that rare then I can understand keeping it tight-lipped, you won't have to worry about me saying a thing, I promise." I was expecting to have to ask for that promise, but it just shows what type of pony he is that I didn't need to.

"Thank you, it means a lot. But I want you to fully understand why, if nothing else to better explain myself. My affinity lets me grow and manipulate all plant life to a significant degree, which would normally take months for others. I can do it in seconds. As an example, what's the most expensive herb you've seen before?"

He seems to be getting my point now. "Ummmm, I think some type of magical flower, don't honestly remember, but I do remember it being way too expensive."

I smile. "If I had a living plant that herb comes from I could grow as many as I like, all I'd need is a few hours." I smile as I see understanding on his face again. "As you can imagine, many would like to have something like that, so it's for the best that the world never knows about me having this ability."

He once again goes serious, and there is another stretch of silence. "Why trust me then? Even if you like Tw- want to be friends with me, wouldn't this be too much of a risk?" I can now clearly see the part of him that makes him a good guard, he's more concerned about me than any answers he's gained.

I answer with complete honesty. "Because I feel I can trust you. You've been nice to me, and from what I've seen are a very good guard." I give him a large smile while he is once again a little stunned. "Now anything else to ask?" After his shock wears off he shakes his head. "Good. I think I remember you liking comics, what's your favorite?"

He smiles after a moment. All friendships have to start somewhere, and I did enjoy comics in my past life, I think it's time to see what they're like here.

time skip

POV shift Shining.

I wipe my hooves on the doormat and walk inside to see my lsbff sitting on the couch. "What are you reading about this time?"

She smiles and looks up from the book. "Light runes, why?" She can already tell I'm up to something, too bad it's too late now.

"Well, I took a trip to the park and ran into a certain somepony." She gives me a suspicious look at my smile.

"Who?" She asks slowly.

"Shade..." I see her face shift to one of slight excitement, seems I guessed right. "So.. do you like him? Cause if you do I can see why, he's quite the Colt."

As soon as she hears me her face goes red, "WHAT!? NO! YOU-YOU!" I start laughing as she sputters, and I laugh harder when a cushion is thrown at my face. :OH this will be fun:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 993

Chapter 123

OCT 31 Saturday.

I slowly move my carving knife through the wood while trying my best to keep the cut clean.

I check the cut and move the piece to the side before cutting again, I immerse myself in the simple motions of cutting small grooves in the steel wood sculpture of Philomena that I've spent nearly a week on. It's coming along well all things considered.

I plan to carve Philomena and paint it as a gift this year, but really this is just a way to pass the time. It's the afternoon and it should be dark soon, while the Nightmare Night celebrations are in full swing. And the snow is falling hard today coating the city in white while seemingly endless amounts of ponies rush through the streets.

And earlier today I was sent a letter from Celestia.

Dear Shade.

I'll be meeting you at your apartment around seven, I apologize for the short notice.

Celestia.

That was it, a much shorter letter than normal, but considering what today means to her I can understand not wanting to mince words. I sent back a letter saying she was more than welcome and that I didn't mind. I am rather curious as to what she needs help with.

It probably has something to do with the Moon Glow Vine I made her and Luna, or maybe she just doesn't want to be alone today, I don't know. But that's ok, I don't need to understand, I just need to support my friend through a hard time, and that's what I intend to do.

I still have a few hours so I move my mind away from Celestia and put down the half-carved figure, I have something else I'd like to work on for now. I clean up the floor where I was carving and take everything back into my workroom, once my things are back where they belong I find my rune book.

The last time I tried to sharpen some Steel wood it didn't go well, so this time I'll make something to help. After flipping through my runes I find a rune that I've used before and it should work well for this. A rune for Grinding that I used on my mortar and pestle.

It still sees use whenever I make bread, but back to the point, if I combine that rune with the sharp rune I have I can make what I need. I start by grabbing a small block of Iron Oak wood that is around five inches long, three inches wide, and an inch thick, this piece is something I made in preparation for this small project.

Both sides are as flat as I could make them and after it was properly shaped I sanded it thoroughly to work out any bumps. I placed it on the desk along with the second item I made for this little project, an almost exact replica of a kitchen knife made entirely from pure Steel wood.

The spell will need a decent amount of magic so I'll need a gem to connect it to, it won't need too much magic so a small ruby will work fine. Next, I find another rune I'll need, the protection rune I've used many times now, it will protect the Ironwood block from being damaged while sharpening blades.

I write out some math for the spell and spend the next hour designing and working on the relatively basic spell. It's not that complicated so once it's done I draw it out and enchant the wooden block before linking the small ruby to it. Once I'm done, I'm left with a sharpening stone.

Well, not a stone, but something that hopefully works just as well. The Iron Oak block is reinforced with the protection rune to prevent damage while the grinding rune and sharp rune are used to form two separate effects on both flat sides of the Iron Oak block.

I also add a second enchantment to let the Iron Oak block stick to any surface to keep it properly still.

One side lets me take away chips in the edge by grinding material off, and the other allows me to hone it into a razor-sharp blade with the same effect in a weaker form. But I'm still not sure if I got the effects strength right so I have a lot of testing and tweaking left to do, so I start with the stronger side and run my roughly carved edge along the block.

The sticking enchantment works to keep it in place as I run the wooden blade along it, and it works a little too well. After a single pass, my kitchen knife now has an off-center edge from how much material was shaved off, I'll need to weaken that side a little.

I even out the edge as best I can before trying the other side, it works well but it is also a little too powerful. The spell definitely needs more work but is a good start for a first attempt. I disenchant the block and check for any damage, it seems completely undamaged so I start working on adjusting the spell, while checking the time, it's six-forty-five and the sun has set by now, shouldn't be long before she arrives.

I spend fifteen minutes working on the math a little trying my best to limit the spell a little more but before I can finish the second attempt I feel a very large source of life magic from below me. I find myself smiling at the feeling, I focus on it more and find that it's not one source but two. That's definitely her, I leave my workroom and start to make some tea in preparation.

I place my tea on the small table I use for my meals and grow some Juniper berries as snacks for us. Entropy sees me moving around and growing berries, so of course she demands some of them. "Good? Berry?"

I raise a brow. "What good? The berry?" I ask back simply.

She tilts her head before fluffing out her wings while pointing her beak at her chest. "Good, good. Give, berry?"

I'm confused before it clicks and I chuckle. "Yes, I suppose you have been a good girl. Fine, here." I would have given her some anyway, but I'm not going to dissuade her from acting good for treats. After feeding Entropy it only takes a few minutes for Celestia to reach my front door, and a second later I hear a gentle knock.

I flip the small wooden tab in a pot and the shield around my apartment flicks off, while I open my door to see a white pegasus mare with a blue mane. "Shade." Her tone is more solemn than I've seen before, damn this day must really hit her hard.

"Sunny. Come on in, I made some fresh tea for us." I walk back to my table and start to pour some tea for us.

She gains a tiny smile at the name and nods, she walks in and closes the door behind her before looking around my apartment. It's changed some since she last saw it, several new plants, Entropy's perch, and her birdbath, along with the small sculpture I have on my counter.

The large dove on Celestia's back flies over to Entropy's perch and sits down next to her. Entropy is seemingly confused for a few seconds before Philomena's illusion disappears and they start to socialize. I smile as Celestia's illusion also drops away, but my smile falters some at the sight.

She's not unkempt, but she's also not looking normal. Her mane is a little roughed, maybe tangled in some way. Her pelt looks a little messed up with a few out of place patches where the fur is misaligned, she also looks a little tired. I've seen people in my last life lose family, and while they do recover the scars never truly leave them, still, from what I've experienced she's handling this all well.

I don't say anything and simply pass her some tea, she takes the tea with that same tiny smile and drinks some before finally breaking the silence. "Sorry again for not giving you more notice, I... I wanted to be away from the palace for a while." Her tone is solemn but still friendly.

I shake my head a little and give her my best smile despite the low mood, "It's no problem. You needed some space, so please make yourself at home." I keep a slightly more upbeat tone, but stay mellow.

Her smile grows a little. "Thank you, it means a lot for you to take time out of your day for this."

"Like I said, it's no problem. I am rather curious though, what do you need my help with?" I decided to get the question out of the way quickly.

Her smile almost vanishes. "...Later, if you don't mind? For now, I'd like to talk and relax some first."

"Later it is then. Do you want to talk about… this?" I gesture to her appearance, while trying my best to be comforting, by magic I am not good at this.

If nothing else she seems to see my good intentions and smiles a little more. "I'd also like to keep that for later. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything with my visit?" I can see she wants to change the subject and maybe talk about something to distract herself, and that is something I'm happy to do.

"Yes, but it's not important just a small project, more of an experiment than anything, right now as it's not finished." She seems interested so I get up and walk into my work room, I return a moment later with the sharpening block and wooden kitchen knife. "I think I've mentioned Steel wood to you before, right?"

She nods after a second and I activate the blocks enchantment and demonstrate by attempting to balance the edge again but just like last time it takes a little too much material. "I wanted to see if I could make a proper blade from it, but forming a proper edge is proving difficult. The spell is a little too strong right now, shaves off too much, I was fixing that when you arrived."

I explain and offer her the wooden knife, she takes it with a slightly bigger smile and runs the rough edge against her hoof. "Still dull, but for wood it's very sharp. This must have taken some planning, how long have you been working on the spell?" She asks while moving the wooden block over to her side of the table.

I watch as she starts to sharpen the knife's edge with a practiced skill, I wonder when she learned that. I wait and watch for a few moments as she's able to sharpen the blade, even with the wanky sharpening block. "A little under two hours now, I started somewhere around four or five in the afternoon by picking out the needed runes, and after that, I just enchanted it and started to test it," I answer while enjoying some of the warm tea, even after all this time she still makes it better somehow.

Hearing my answer she abruptly stops sharpening the blade, she turns from the task and back to face me. "Two hours? To make this?" She looks a little surprised, I'm not sure why, this spell is simple.

I nod. I cast a spell to reveal the enchantment on the block of wood. "Most of that time was the math, but this was something simple and I took my time making it. I just need to adjust it a little and it will be properly finished, that and more testing of course." I give some more context while she looks over the spell.

I take back the blade and feel the much-improved edge she's made. She seems to think about my words for a moment before speaking again. "Do you have any extra small gems like this one?" Her tone has taken a pleasant shift from solemn to curiosity, and it seems I've successfully distracted her.

I raise a brow at her question and now. "Yes, why?"

She keeps her interested look. "I want you to try something, if you don't mind?" I'm still confused but this seems to be distracting her so I nod and walk back to my workroom to grab a single small ruby before walking back and placing it on the table.

She stares at it before nodding. "I want you to create a spell to make a red light glow from this gem, do you think you can do that?"

I decided to voice my confusion at that request. "Yes? I can if you like. but, why?"

Her smile grows a little more. "I want to see how fast you can complete it without preparation, think of it like a test if you will." She finally seems to be relaxing more and not asking if I'm willing to do something each time.

"A test? Sure, why not? Could be fun. But I want to be timed, it's no fun without a timer." I make my first small half-joke, she doesn't laugh but keeps her smile.

She nods and casts a spell, a clock reading zero appears a second later and starts to tick before stopping and resetting. I quickly enchant the gem to gather and hold magic before nodding to her. "Perfect, ready when you are."

".... Go." I don't waste a second and start drawing out the matrix. I could just modify a spell I know, but where's the challenge in that? So I start with a blank spell matrix and try my best to build a new spell off of only a single rune of light as a base.

I've never been under a timer before, and it's kind of fun. I have to think fast and even if it's not perfect I have to build a spell as best I can. The basic math for a normal white light takes only a few minutes, but the math to change its color turns out to be harder than expected.

I can't use my knowledge from my past life so it takes longer than it should to get that part right. Honestly, if it wasn't for all my speed drawing practice, mostly from me casting spells with Stone before I advanced my rank, I wouldn't have been able to draw out the spell as fast as my mind made it.

I take a few seconds to skim through the matrix and cast the spell to enchant the gem. Once it's bound fully I activate the gem and a second later a small red light forms in front of me.

Once I'm done I turn back to Celestia and look at the clock next to her, twenty two minutes. Honestly, if it was any other spell it would probably have taken me an hour or more, but this type of spell is easy though, even if I have to make it from scratch.

I turn from the clock to see Celestia staring a little dumbfoundedly at the small red light, there are several seconds of silence as she studies it. "I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure to see something quite like that." Her tone is somewhat excited and definitely an improvement from earlier.

I raise a brow at her reaction. "I know it's fast, but the spell is basic, and I've worked on a lot of light spells and illusions. Anything more complex, like making a silence spell, would have taken an hour or more at that pace, and the spell is not very good because I had to rush it." I downplay my ability. :Sure it's fast, but so are other ponies, I can't be the only one to do something like this:

That gets a chuckle from her. "An hour, like that's nothing." She even laughs for a moment before calming down. "You really don't know do you?" I shake my head and continue to show some confusion, and she smiles more. "Yes, many can make what you just did easily, but even for the spell you made it could take them hours at their fastest speed."

"It's just absurd." She chuckles more at it. But before we continue talking we both hear a chiming noise that seems to take all that excitement and wonder away from her in an instant. Her smile vanishes and she's basically back to how she was when she arrived.

The whiplash of her mood change is surprising, to say the least. "Are you ok? What was that?" I ask with thinly veiled concern.

She's silent for a moment, before letting out a long sigh. "I'm fine, it's a timer I set. It's time for us to go." I feel a weight to those words.

I don't question her, I just stand up and find my saddlebags before nodding to her. "Then let's go, no use waiting." I think she's past the point of conversation, so I keep my words concise.

She nods back. "Yes, there isn't. Please stand near me." I'm confused but do as she asks, I stand next to her and a moment later she whistles. Philomena flies over a second later, with a curious Entropy right behind her. Celestia sees Entropy land on me and makes sure Philomena is on her before closing her eyes and concentrating on something.

I see an almost blinding light come from her horn and a second later my spatial senses go haywire. I feel the space around me be cut and shifted in impossible ways for a few seconds, when it's over I almost fall over from the wave of slight nausea that hits me.

I regain my balance a second later and look up to see a somewhat concerned Celestia. "Sorry, I should have warned you, that can be disorientating. Are you ok?" I can hear a much sadder tone in her voice now.

I nod. "Fine, don't worry. That just felt very odd." I see Celestia has cast a magical light to cut through the darkness around us and start to look around, it doesn't take me long to recognize where we are, an ancient building bathed in the moonlight.

The castle of the two sisters.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 993

I though about making this an extra long chapter, but I felt this was one of my few opportunities for a good cliffhanger. So sorry to say you'll have to wait an extra day, don't worry it won't be long.

Chapter 124

OCT 31 Saturday.

Besides a blanket of snow, the old castle looks the same as the last time I was here.

I focus on that thought for a moment and realize a potential problem. I was here only a few weeks ago, and I wasn't trying to hide any traces of that visit. Before I can panic I try to remind myself that it will be ok, even if she finds out I can just say I was curious.

It's been a few weeks and even if I left traces then it would be hard to trace them to me, for all I know others could have been here in the last few weeks too. The only thing that might point to me is the magic I activated, and that was a small reaction so I find it unlikely.

With some form of reassurance in my mind, I refocus on what's important here, Celestia. She spent the last minute simply staring up at the decayed castle, so I decided to break the silence. "Where are we?" I ask gently. I've read some about the story of the two sisters, but what I learned is limited so I'll have to watch what I say.

She looks back at me with the saddest stare I've ever seen on her face. "This was once my home." Her voice is heavy. "I come here every few years." I'm curious about that second part, but keep silent for now. She uses her magic to push open the large doors and walks inside while I follow right behind her.

The inside is dark but the magical light she has cast brightens further to cut back the darkness even more. The last time I was here I didn't examine things closely, this time I had the opportunity to really look around. The hallway we're in is dark with a faded carpet forming a single path deeper in.

To be honest, there's not much to see beyond the stone and the empty hallway we're in, so I turn back to Celestia and decide to ask the first thing that comes to my mind. "Do you miss it?" She turns to me with a raised brow on her sad face, seeing the confusion I clarify. "Living here I mean. Do you miss living here?"

She turns back to look around and stops for a moment at an old shattered window. "No... I left because I couldn't bear the sight of this place. But, sometimes I do wish to see it like it once was. Always busy and lively, but that's all gone now." Seems my question didn't help.

"This place was a palace then, somewhere you ruled from once?" I play a little dumb and try to keep her from that dark train of thought that I set her on.

She continues walking and I continue to follow her. "Yes. Tell me, have you ever heard of the story of the two sisters?" I'm surprised by how quickly she brought that up, I'd expected that to take longer. I could say no, but that'd just be a useless lie.

I nod and answer honestly. "I've read everything I could find about alicorns, I didn't find much. And that story was one I came across, although it always seemed vague, more myth than anything." The story I read was like that, I just leave out that I know more than just that old story.

We reach another doorway, the same one I didn't open last time. "There is more truth to the myth than most remember." After a second I see some form of shield around the door fade into existence before disappearing again. "But I do remember, even if there are days I do not wish to."

The doors are opened to reveal a large open room. The room is much more preserved than the hallway and the red carpet retains most of its color. The tall windows on either side of the room show the night sky through their shattered glass, and at the far end, two tall thrones sit empty and alone.

Above them are two banners, one for the night and the other for the day. I turn back to Celestia once again. "So, how much is true?" I try not to be as blunt as I normally am, but I am me.

She shows a sad smile at my curiosity. "Once there were two sisters, one for the day and the other for the night. They lived long and eventually built a kingdom, there were problems like always, but with each other to rely on they built a lasting peace." I can't help but very slightly smile at the storytelling style she's using.

Then her tone takes an even deeper drop, even her ears fold back slightly. "But peace never lasts, and eventually the younger sister was consumed by their subject's praise for her older sister and the sun. They praised the day and forgot the night, over time it started to slowly pull them apart."

"Then one day it grew too much." I notice she doesn't use names, only titles. I wonder if that's a way to separate from this somewhat and be somewhat calm while telling the story. "The younger sister was consumed by darkness and... something took hold of her. It twisted her and she started a war against her older sister and eventually even the day itself."

Before-." Her words are cut off a little and I look up with sadness to see a tear on her face as she continues to stare at the thrones. That has to be the most heartbreaking thing I've seen. "Before the older sister took action. They fought a long battle, and the older sister was losing, so in an act of desperation she used a powerful artifact to-."

I have no idea how to help her right now as she lets a few small tears fall, but I refuse to do nothing. :Ahhh, FUCK IT! If I die for this it's worth it: I move closer and hug her as best I can with the size difference, a certain part of my brain tries to speak up at the close contact but I squash it in an instant.

Celestia doesn't say anything to reject my actions and even leans into my hug a little. "To seal her sister away in the night, something she would never stop regretting." At this point, she stops and seems to take a moment to regain control of herself.

I know she left a lot out of her story, but oddly I feel happy she's willing to share something like this with me, it shows a lot of trust. Plus, even with the vague story, I noticed a few details that answered some of my questions.

We stay like that for a while, watching the small moats of dust fall and settle in the moonlight. After a minute or so she calms down and seems to be doing a little better, no more tears and she even smiles in an odd way. After a moment I speak up while moving away from the hug. "I'm sorry, I can't imagine something like that," I say the only thing that comes to mind.

She shows a genuine tiny smile at my words. "You have nothing to apologize for, and I'd hope you never do. To you, this all should just be ancient history."

"No. To me, this is my friend crying, missing her sister." Her smile grew a little at that. "What was her name?"

"Luna." She says the name very softly while looking at the old weathered thrones.

"Fitting." Yet again we went silent, so I decided to try and uplift the mood slightly and change the subject in hopes it helps her. "So this is what you wanted the vine for? A... tribute?"

She keeps the odd smile. "Yes, of a sort. But not here, we still haven't reached that yet." Again more silence. "Thank you for this, I know it's not fair for me to burden you with my troubles." She sounds a little sad at that, and I won't allow her to be even sadder today because of me.

"Maybe it's not, but life is rarely fair to anypony. You've been there for me at my low points, and I should do the same. That's what friends are for, aren't they? So I'll tell you the same thing you told me. It's ok, and you're not alone." I try to be upbeat with a little encouragement.

She lets out a weak chuckle. "I suppose you're right, still thank you for doing this." At this point both Entropy and Philomena make themselves known, they've been staying out of the way and seem to understand the mood somewhat. Entropy more so as she actually tries to help back up my words, in her own unique way.

She moves in front of Celestia and stares her right in the eyes. "Good, beautiful." That gets a small laugh from her. Looks like Entropy's getting more treats after this.

"Thank you too. We still have places to be, and it's getting late, let's move on." Her mood is a tiny bit better so I take the small victory and nod my agreement.

We move to one of the doors near the thrones and open another door to head deeper into the castle. "What was this place like back then? I know it was busy, but was there a city here? Or just the castle?" I'm hesitant about bringing up the past more than needed but can't think of anything better to ask for the moment.

She's still saddened at my question, but not as much as before, maybe being outside that throne room helps. "Not a real city, more of a fortress city, smaller and less populated. This place has always been isolated, it made it a hard place to rule from, but came with advantages."

Asking questions seems to help in some small way so I keep at it. "Easy to defend and hard to attack?" I guess.

"Exactly, but it could also be easy to cut off. But despite that, it was always a lively place, small but bustling markets with trades from far and wide, diplomats of other nations, even the small things like the festivals felt so large back then." I can tell she's getting lost in some memories.

We reach another door that's only half standing, one side partly collapsed, I can see snowy grass beyond the cracks and rubble. In an instant, all of that rubble is moved out of the way by a force of magic and we enter a small enclosed courtyard. It's only a few dozen feet across with roofed paths around two sides of it.

I also noticed that all the glass windows that I see here are blue, it seems this was in Luna's part of the castle. Celestia stays silent for a moment while looking around. "This was Luna's garden, she spent many nights tending to plants that bloomed and glowed in the moonlight. It has seen better days it seems." She smiles a little at the overgrown plants and weeds that cover the courtyard.

We walk onto the lightly snow-covered grass and stop near a tree that has grown inside the courtyard. "She always told me it helped clear her mind. Even after she stopped using it and the plants withered." I won't comment on the second part and leave it be.

"So this is where you want to plant them? They should fit perfectly." She silently nods and pulls the bag of seeds from somewhere before passing them to me. "Is there any specific way you want me to grow them? I can make just about any shape or form?" I offer.

She seems to think for a moment before her smile grows slightly. "A crescent moon, beyond that... how about you decide?" That surprises me. I'm more than willing to do so, but it seems I've underestimated just how much she trusts me.

"If you're sure?" she nods immodestly. "Very well, I'll do my absolute best." I don't mince my words anymore and simply get right to work.

This courtyard has two roofed paths on the opposite sides and two stone walls in the other two opposite directions. I move out my life magic and start by decomposing anything that doesn't belong, I'm not going for accuracy so it doesn't take much magic to remove all of the shrubs and vines, leaving only the grass and a single tree near the middle.

Celestia looks intrigued by the plants becoming soil but doesn't interrupt me. I take the bag of seeds and spread seeds around the base of the tree and all four edges of the courtyard. Once they are in place I lay down and concentrate fully on my task.

The Moon Glow Vine doesn't take much life magic to grow, but I'm growing a lot of them so I'll need to be precise and not waste my magic. I start with the two pathed sides, growing the vines and letting them spread without direction or instruction. They climb the pillars holding the path's roof up and also spread them along the stone walls.

I make sure they bloom plenty of flowers along the way before moving onto the two walled sides and doing the same. The courtyard is now decently lit with only the Moon Glow Vines. I focus the rest of my dwindling magic on the seeds at the tree's base and will them to grow and climb the tree.

I have them wrap around the entire trunk and every branch before growing many flowers. When I'm done I only have a little magic left but it should be enough to finish. I have vines grow down from the branches to hand in the air, and bloom flowers before shaping them.

I create a curtain of vines on one side of the tree and bloom glowing flowers into the shape of a crescent moon just as asked. When I'm finally done I feel more tired, but it was more than worth it to see the look on Celestia's face. Even with all the sadness of tonight, I see a full smile on her face as she looks around and takes it all in.

After a moment she lies down next to me and pulls me close with a wing, I'm pinned in between her wing and body in a fluffy warm hug. "Thank you for this, it's more than I ever hoped for." Her tone is still low, but it has a happy undertone to it now. "It's beautiful."

"My pleasure. It might just be my best work." We both watch small snowflakes fall among the hanging vines and glowing flowers, it is beautiful. We stay like that for a while, while Entropy and Philomena entertain themselves by playing in the snow and glowing vines.

I nearly fall asleep from my earlier exertion before I feel her warm wing move away from me, I turn to look up at her. She smiled, "It's late, and you need rest." I catch the hint easily, so I stand up and stretch a little.

"You're right... thank you for sharing this, it means a lot that you trust me with it." I decide to voice something that's been on my mind for a while tonight.

Her renewed smile stays. "I thought it was time I show you more of myself, even this side. But enough of me, let's get you home." I get the feeling she has more to work through tonight, but I think that's best done alone. She whistles again and both our gremlins come flying over to us.

"You may want to brace yourself, it's worse if you're tired." She warns while her horn starts to glow brightly once again. I take her advice and try my best to keep a stable grounded stance as space rends itself apart again. A few seconds later we're once again inside my apartment.

Celestia turns out to be spot on as I feel like utter shit for a few moments before recovering somewhat. She actually chuckles a little. "I know that feeling well, I could say it gets easier with time, but I'd be lying." I'm surprised as she makes some form of joke, it seems I have helped in some small way then.

I chuckle at the dry joke and recover enough to stand up straight. "I'll stick with Entropy then, no offense but I would rather not feel like this more than absolutely needed." I joke back.

She smiles and nods. "None taken. Good night Shade, and thank you for tonight." A nice and simple goodbye, a good way as any to end this night.

But as I'm about to respond an idea strikes me. "Hold on a moment." She's confused as I hurriedly walk into my workroom and start looking through my notebooks. A while back I copied all of my star maps into an illusionary book, but I also kept the originals in two sketchbooks.

Celestia is obviously saddened by how ponies don't seem to appreciate her sister and the night she brings, I think it would be good to show her that her friend does care about it. After finding the books I walk back to the main room and hold out both sketchbooks to a confused Celestia. "Two years ago I started a small hobby one night."

She takes both books and opens one. "I always liked the stars, so I drew them and the things I saw in them. Those are the results." I see her face take on an odd mix of highly emotional sadness and happiness intertwined together. I give her my best smile. "And now they are yours."

She stops flipping through pages and looks back at me with an unreadable face of surprise. "I can't take these, there's your work and-" I cut her off right there.

"I have copies, and I wasn't asking you to take them. They aren't mine anymore, they are yours, and that's a demand as your friend." I try to take a slightly joking attitude but stop trying to convince her as I'm enveloped in a full double hug. She wraps both her forelegs and her wings around me in a full embrace.

"Thank you." It's almost a whisper this time, but I just hug her back and enjoy the comfortable feeling, we stay like that for a while, before everything slowly fades to back and sleep claims my tired mind.

POV shift Celestia

I slowly pull back from my hasty embrace and am about to apologize for being so abrupt, only to see he's asleep I smile as he doesn't respond to my gentle prodding with a hoof. Not knowing what to do with the sleeping colt I turn to Entropy as she preens Philomena.

"A little help, please?" She turns to me for a second and looks at her sleeping owner. She stares for a moment before flying down from her vibrant perch and flying over to the second door in the room. I lift Shade in my magic and gently carry him with me while opening the door.

Inside is a plain bedroom, I turn to the small bird that blends into the dark room. "Thank you." She really is a smart bird.

"Good, nice." She crows out while rubbing against me before flying back to her perch. I smile as she leaves, such a nice bird. I place Shade on his bed and stand there for a moment, I cover him in his blanket. walk to the door, I glance back at him. "Sleep well Shade, and thank you for listening to an old mare's troubles." I look at the books I've been gifted and feel my smile grow further. "I know she'll love meeting you." I close the door gently and leave him to his well-earned rest.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 993

I tried to make Celestia emotional but not a complete mess, not sure how well I did, but I tried. I hope you enjoyed it.

Chapter 125

NOV 1 Sunday.

I slowly open my eyes and stare vacantly at the ceiling for a few minutes while my mind slowly wakes up.

I review the night before and try to remember how it ended, only to flip over and bury my face inside my pillow at the realization. The last thing I remember is feeling tired and being hugged in a fluffy blanket, great now she has that to tease me with.

I reluctantly get up and look around my room to see nothing out of the ordinary.

After my blush dies down I get out of bed and walk into the main room to see Entropy sleeping on her perch. I leave her be and grab my teakettle, as I'm making some tea I realize I never washed or put away the tea I made for yesterday's meeting. I can't help but smile at the conclusion I come to.

"She rules a country yet has enough time to clean up my house." I chuckle and look around to see several other small things cleaned up, at least she's a good guest. I finish my tea and start on some breakfast, I haven't eaten in a full day and used all of my magic, so it's no surprise my body hates me right now. I make some basic food for myself and Entropy, as I cook I think about last night more.

Last night was interesting in several ways, but something that was very important was a detail in Celestia's story that brought up an interesting point. She said something took over and corrupted Luna, which would imply that it wasn't a part of Luna but a separate something that took over.

I admit that's mostly speculation on my part, but it still brings up a good point. What did take over Luna? And I'm not really sure, to be honest. It's one of the things the show was never really clear about, it could be a repressed psyche or a monster possessing her, I simply don't know.

I leave those thoughts alone as Entropy wakes up and seems just as hungry as I am. As I sit down at my table to eat I see a small folded piece of paper on the table. I raise a brow while shoving a piece of fried potato in my mouth.

Thanks for last night, I hope you slept well.

I nearly choked on my food as I read the piece of paper. I stare at the words for a moment and feel my blush come back again. "No way in hell the wording wasn't intentional. Well, I do need to get her back for the last glitter incident." I smile while eating as I think of ways to get my overdue revenge.

time skip

NOV 6 Friday.

I sit down next to Blaz in the break room and look over at Maple. She looks tired again, just like last year the cold seems to sap away some strength from her. That could be a good gift now that I think about it, it should be relatively easy to make a basic spell to keep her warm, I make a mental note of that.

I turn to all of them. "I know it's a little early, but are we planning to meet up for Hearth’s Warming like last year?" It's still several weeks out but I would rather not find out one of them is busy before we can plan around it.

I get an immediate nod from Daisy. "I'm in! Last year was fun, and I don't mind hosting it again?" She offers with a beaming smile, always the helpful mare.

Maple just gives us a tired nod of agreement. But Blaz seems to think about it for a moment, "Maybe? I have a visit with my son planned on Hearth’s Warming itself, but if we plan for a closer date I can make it just fine." Everypony gives an understanding look.

I nod. "Sounds Good." I turn back to Daisy and change the subject. "So I've noticed that that one annoying stallion isn't here, it's been two days, so what happened?" I saw the annoying stallion yesterday and the day before but not much since then, and while I could care less I feel it might be entertaining.

Daisy gives me one of her rare vicious smiles, oh that'll be good. "Well, he had something of a disagreement with the head of the cleaning crew. And he's been moved to the night cleaning crew." I chuckle at that. "He lasted three days, and now Blaz owes me ten bits." She says with a cheerful tone.

Blaz groans at that. "Fine, I'll pay up... Or, we double down!?" I laugh at Blaz, don't bet against Daisy, it rarely ends well. I eat as they descend into a small argument over the terms of their newest bet. I just stay silent and enjoy the good company.

The rest of the workday goes as normal and a few hours later I'm free to head home. I have to trudge through snow for a while to get home, the weather ponies went a little overboard this past week. When I reach my apartment I'm greeted by the gluttonous bird that I live with.

"Hello." A new word I taught her recently, she's been slowly picking up more and more words, but most of them are still basic and she doesn't seem to like using full sentences. No idea why, she just seems to prefer simple short words.

"Hello to you too, let's get you some lunch shall we." The talk of food gets her excited as it always does. One quick and simple meal later I gather a few things I'll need and have Entropy take me to Gaia's Eden so I can work on a few things. When we arrive I let Entropy sleep in my shadow or follow me around as I go about my tasks.

I store a few things in my shack, my wooden sharpening block and my wooden kitchen knife. I leave them be for the moment and check on my crop experiments, over the past few weeks I've been trying to crossbreed the Frost Bloom with a few crops and I've seen some limited success.

A few plants show promise but they still need time and further work to see if they're viable and safe to eat. The largest difficulty I've encountered so far is the fact that the Frost Bloom isn't edible, and that seems to affect every plant I've bred it with to some extent.

I suspect it has something to do with its ability to resist the cold, it seems it might be reliant on some substances that aren't edible, but I have grown a few things that I can eat and grow well in the cold so I'm still not entirely sure what's causing this. Either way, I still think it's worthwhile to pursue, but I don't expect good results for a while.

As I'm inspecting the snow-covered crops my mind wanders to an idea I've had knocking around in my head for a week now. Last week Celestia put a large amount of trust in me, more than she ever has before, and I feel as if I need to return that trust in some way.

I know I don't necessarily need to do it, but I feel like I should, and that brings me to Gaia's Eden. Originally I intended for this place to be a totally private retreat for me alone, but now I'm wondering if she needs something like that more than I do.

Her work leaves little room for peaceful moments and having a place to simply be alone could help. But I'm hesitant to show her Gaia's Eden, this is my private place and I simply don't want to give that privacy up. On one hoof I'm just not sure I want to take that step. But on the other hoof, I think it would be a good way to return the trust I've been shown.

I sigh and decide to give it more thought and decide later, for now, I return to my shack and focus on a few things. Recently I made the sharpening block and after a little refinement it proved to be a success, but I've quickly noticed my approach to this problem has its flaws.

The main one is simple, sharpening something with any wet stone takes skill and time, you have to form and sharpen an edge properly or you'll end up with an even duller blade than what you started with. It's not some monumental task but it takes time to do properly. There are a few easy fixes for this, things like a guide rail or simply a notch in the block to slide the blade through.

And after some thought I decided to go with the second method as I can easily modify what I already have to work with it. However this method also comes with some downsides, the main one being that one notch won't work with all blades, so I'll need to make a custom block for different-sized blades.

I could probably make some type of adjustable sharpener, but I'll need something beyond just wood for that so I'll look into it more later, this works well enough for the time being. I start my work by removing the enchantments and using my wood gouge to make a basic notch in the block.

I need this notch to be as smooth and even as possible and I'll need to make two of them, one to hone the blade's shape and the other to refine the edge. I'm basically doing the same thing I did with the full wooden block in a smaller area. I continue to chip away and sand down the wood until I reach my desired shape.

The enchantment has the proper strength already so after changing the area affected I re-enchant the block of Iron Oak and link it back to the small ruby. Once it's done I take the wooden kitchen knife and try to run it along the notches a few times, it seems to work well but after a few passes, I see a few imperfections in the wood I missed before.

I'll need to refine the wood more and try to smooth it out more, but for now, I note down my progress and move on to the next project for the day. After my last meeting with Cricket and Cicada, I've been trying to think about how to more effectively gather emotional magic.

And yesterday Celestia sent me a letter with what little information and old studies she could find on emotional magic. And after reading through it all over the past few weeks I've learned a few problems that I'll need to either fix or find workarounds for.

The first problem I've learned about has to do with the nature of emotional magic itself. Unlike many other magical affinities, emotional magic is much better at mixing together and changing its form. Most types of magic resist this type of change but emotional magic seems almost eager to interact with other emotional magics.

They mix easily and like Cicada told me emotional magics also counteract each other. This means I need to gather specific emotional magic and keep it as pure as possible without letting it interact with other types of emotional magic. And that brings up the second problem, filtering.

Emotional magic works in what I've come to call tiers. Very basic emotions are tier one, those basic emotional magics mix and form more complex emotional magics that are labeled tier two. This is only a rough way to visualize emotional magic as it interacts in many complicated ways. But to simplify, the higher the tier of emotional magic the more energy a Changeling can gain from eating it.

So something basic like simple joy is good but not that complex, while love is a mix of many complex emotions that form an energy-dense emotional magic. Back to the second problem, how do I separate complex emotional magics from simple ones if those complex emotional magics are made up of the same simple emotional magics?

If I say love is a tier three emotional magic, and I try to gather only love then I'd need to filter anything that's not love but also all the emotional magics of a lower tier, even those that make up love. And to make matters worse none of the runes I have will be of much help with the project.

The rune I've been using for my emotional shield has a runic context that is just vague enough to make a working spell, but not specific enough to be that efficient.

The few other runes on emotions I do have aren't made for this task. Their runic contact is wildly different and the wording used doesn't describe emotions as a resource and has nothing to do with filtering them in any way. While they still have some use it won't be enough to make what I need.

Celestia seems to have also realized this same problem as she has several ponies working on finding more runes, but Twilight was decently thorough in her first search, and runes of this type are basically nonexistent to begin with. Ponies simply don't have a reason to make runes for emotions and the vast majority of those that were made have had parts of their runic context missing or weren't made with this type of project in mind.

And this leaves me at a bit of a dead end, I can't make this spell with the things I have on hoof, and until more runes are found I can't do much. I'll still continue to search by myself and try to think of better solutions, but this seems to be a long-term project that will need much more time.

But it's not all bad, while the E.M.G Spell I made isn't the best it still makes food for Changelings without the need to do it themselves. Seems I may have jumped the gun on this project, maybe it's time I also rethink my approach to this entire spell.

With nowhere better to start, I sit down, open a blank notebook, and try thinking through different ideas while watching the snow slowly fall outside the window.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 993

A smaller simple chapter to tide you over as I take tomorrow off, I'm sleeping in. :D

Chapter 126

NOV 15 Sunday.

I watch as snowflakes fall outside the window while I draw the snow-covered city out my window. I see a pegasus fly past the building in the snow and smile as I recognize a weather pony at work.

This is a small snowstorm that's been planned and carefully controlled to not disrupt ponies going about their days. I sip some warm tea and close my sketchbook, yet another week of snow and ice for the city. I always liked the snow, but only ever at a distance, snow doesn't feel nice, even with a coat of fur.

I take my tea with me while walking over to my workroom, on one of my desks is a new project I've been working on slowly for the past week. A half-finished, intricately carved wooden bracelet is sitting surrounded by several small woodworking tools.

Last week I decided on a good gift for Maple, a simple wooden bracelet with a weak warming spell on it. The spell itself was just one I found in a book and improved slightly, while the wood is Iron Oak. The bracelet will hold a small emerald in its center that will power the enchantment.

The wood itself is carved to hold a small gem and also has a twisting pattern that resembles roots, it still needs work but should be done in time. I plan to make similar Jewelry for Daisy and Blaz as well, a necklace for Daisy, and a cufflink for Blaz, they will also be enchanted to help with the cold.

This is just a more personal gift, I still plan to get them some other gifts but this is something I've enjoyed doing and something I think they'll like. I put away my sketchbook and check the time, six in the afternoon, it's time for my meeting with Celestia. And I'm a little nervous about my plan, because after a good amount of thought I decided to trust in Celestia and show her Gaia's Eden.

At first, I was on the fence about it, but I realized that this wasn't me showing some random pony my hidden home, but a trusted friend. I was thinking about this like it would lead to more and more ponies invading this private space, but it's just a single friend.

That and I truly believe having somewhere to get away from the palace could do her some good, even if it's only every once in a while. Now that I'm telling her a new problem arises, how to tell her without making her too mad at me for being reckless or stupid, probably both.

I know I was as safe as I could be, but she'll still worry, it's just who she is, I just hope I can explain before getting lectured too. I finish my tea and make sure my saddlebags have everything I may need before calling over Entropy. "Time to go girl!" I call out, she flies out from the main room and lands on me with excitement.

"Friend." I chuckle at her excitement, using another new word, one she's come to use in reference to Philomena. Which is something I find adorable as all hell.

"Yes, we'll see friends. Now let's go." The slight unintentional humor helps me relax some as we both shift into the Void. Like always it only lasts a moment before we appear inside of the mailroom with a guard waiting on the other side of the door, a few short minutes later I'm in front of Celestia's bedroom doors.

We don't meet in her room as often, but it's nice to be in a relatively private area for this meeting. I open the doors and inside Celestia is sitting at a table, she smiles as she sees me and motions me inside. "Shade, it's good to see you." Her greeting is simple and much more upbeat than our last meeting.

I feel like her tone has a slight undertone of something else, although what that tone means I'm not quite sure. Still, she seems to be doing much better than before and is mostly back to her normal self. "Celestia, same to you. Nice day for a meeting, although the snow is a little much, maybe the weather ponies are competing today?" I joke slightly.

She keeps her smile as Entropy flies off to join Philomena on her perch. "Maybe, but if that's the case they can clean it up by hoof. How have you been?" Her tone is joking and then slightly concerned, I can guess her concern is probably from our last meeting.

I give her a smile and try to reassure her. "I should be the one asking that. I'm doing just fine, a little better than normal in fact." I keep a happy tone while sitting down at the table. "Are you doing ok? Our last meeting was... emotional to say the least." I try to be gentle with my words.

She keeps her smile and nods. "I'm doing much better, that time of year is always a little, rough. Thank you again for the help, it really does mean a lot to me." She's thankful and even draws my eye to a pair of familiar books sitting on a shelf. "And thank you for the gift, they're beautifully done."

I smile. "I'm glad you like them, and they are horribly drawn, and that's what makes them so great, imperfections and all." She smiles back. "Also, I'll get you for that note, although I appreciate you cleaning up." I joke and see her show a large smile that somehow looks completely innocent.

"No problem, being a good guest is just proper. Also, the note? Why would you need revenge for something like that?" I may not be a social butterfly but even I can see that trap, and I'm sure as hell not walking into it.

"Moving right past that, I have something to show you that's very important." I see her face shift in an instant and realize I should word that better. "To me, it's important to me. And it's nothing bad... well actually it could be, I guess it depends on how you see it." I quickly try to correct myself.

Her face relaxes at that and she chuckles. "Good to hear, you had me worried for a moment, shame on you. So what did you want to show me."

Despite our friendship I still have worries, but I've learned to temper those worries with logic and trust. "Well, we'll need Entropy for that. Before that though, is there any reason we can't disappear from here for the rest of our meeting?" I ask while looking over at Entropy.

She's fighting over a rope toy with Philomena at the moment. "Not that I know of, and anything that does come up others can handle it. So where are we going?" She's curious and I can't help but smile mischievously.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." I tease her slightly, and then I shift into a somewhat more serious and business tone. "But before we do that I have something I wanted your opinion on." She keeps her curious look. "We both know the problem we're facing with my project."

"Lack of usable runes." She answers immediately. "I don't suppose you found one?"

I shake my head. "Sadly, no. But I do have an idea, although it might be more problematic. We need a rune with a useful context that will work well for this spell, something I don't think we'll be finding any time soon. So why not make one?"

She doesn't outright reject the idea and also shifts into a more business-oriented attitude. "Possible, but I'm not sure that's something you can make, no offense."

I smile and nod. "None taken, I may know what the rune needs to do, but I'm not an expert on any emotion, but we know somepony who is." That gets her interest.

It doesn't take her more than a moment to see where I'm going with this idea. "Cadance, the alicorn of love." She drinks some tea and seems to think it over more. "She does have a great understanding of love, and her being an alicorn could help in some ways with rune creation, although I'm not sure about that second part."

I nod. "From what we know about Changelings they can get the most out of love than any other emotion, so if we are to collect any emotion it should probably be love. We both know making runes isn't an easy process, but I can't think of a better idea as we slowly search for a workable rune."

She smiles and nods, still with a business look. "It's not a bad idea, I'll have to ask if Cadance is interested. She knows more about love than even me and it's best we ask her before making any plans." I notice that she words that part as a small lesson, always the teacher.

"Agreed, I'm not sure if you want me or somepony else working on it with her, but either way let me know if you need my help." I drop any business attitude I have and stand up. "Now, can you promise to hear me out completely?" I ask with a slightly nervous tone. I can't avoid the topic forever so might as well dive in head first.

She gives me another curious look and a serious nod. "Always." I feel my nervousness fade slightly at the reassuring and firm tone.

"Thank you, I'll explain everything when we get there. But first, Entropy!" I call out to the bird as she preens her feathers from her epic battle with Philomena, which me and Celestia have been ignoring. She hears me and flies right over before landing on my back, I smile and pet her before turning back to Celestia. "This will feel, well, probably a little odd."

She raises a brow at that. "The Void, it's an odd thing to experience. My only advice is don't move too much."

She keeps her confused look and also looks a little concerned. "Why? What happens if I do?"

I smile. "I have no idea, never tried it myself, I just thought it was good advice." She gives me a deadpan look in response, I keep my smile and look at Entropy again. "All three of us, to Gaia's Eden." I originally thought to keep the name a secret, but if she does know what it means I can just claim ignorance like I did with Entropy's name.

Entropy's ability to teleport is still growing and at this point, it takes three round trips to Gaia's Eden to fully drain her. She'll probably be tired from bringing Celestia with us, but she should be fine after some rest. After my words, there are a few seconds of silence before everything goes black.

When we reappeared I looked back to see a tired but otherwise fine Entropy laying on my back. I turn back to Celestia and see she has a slightly far-off look as she just stands there silently thinking about something, I'm about to ask if she's fine but she cuts me off. "Is... Is it like that every time?" I raise a brow and nod. "I don't think I've felt something like that before, it was so... silent and empty." She seems a little thrown off by the experience.

"Did you feel something I missed?" I guess with some excitement in my voice.

That question seems to snap her out of her thoughts as she starts to really look around the area, we're standing near the shack in a snow-covered field. "Sorry to disappoint you, but no. It's just as you described, but hearing about it and experiencing it are two very different things. Where are we?"

I'm a little disappointed at her answer, and feel my nerves rise again at her question. "That's the part I need to explain, let's get inside first, I would rather not explain in the cold out here." She continues to look around as we walk the short distance to the shack.

I'm glad I made the building tall enough to fit her, even if it will be a little cramped. Once we're inside I use the kettle I left here to make some tea while Celestia looks around the shack, more specifically she's looking at the wood. "You grew a house?" She guesses with some amusement.

I smile. "Yes, good eye. It was a lot less work than building one, only took me a few hours and if anything breaks I can just grow it back." I lay down on the floor with two tea cups and invited her to do the same with a motion of my hoof. "So to answer the burning question of where we are I'm going to have to explain a few things, so please bear with me."

She smiles and offers another reassuring look. "Take all the time you need."

"Well, a while back I started to feel a little restless. Nothing bad, I just felt like I wanted to do more than my normal day-to-day toil." I get an understanding look from her, but she doesn't interrupt me. "Now I didn't want to do something drastic and upend my life, but I wanted to do something new, so I went looking."

"This place is the result of me wanting to do something new. Now this next part will bring up questions, so before I mention this I want to stress that I'm fine and that we're safe here." I once again get a look of both confusion and mild concern.

I hesitate for another second. "We are currently very deep inside the Everfree forest." I see slight concern turn into shock and worry, but before she can speak up I cut her off. "Please, let me explain properly," I ask quickly with a little desperation.

After a moment she nods. "Thank you, I appreciate it." I take a deep breath to ready myself and calm my nerves. I started to explain the exact steps and plans I used to find and build my camp. All the while she stays silent and lets me properly finish with my explanation.

Her face goes from concerned to surprisingly more relaxed. Once I'm done I take another deep breath and she finally speaks. "I won't say I'm happy you decided to take such a risk, but I'm glad you took your safety seriously and that you had a decent plan. But, I will be checking in on you from time to time from now on." That part is not a suggestion or request. "After all somepony has to keep an eye on your... bold choices." I'm surprised at the joking tone she ended with, and the playful verbal jab.

I see an opportunity to lighten the mood a little more and take it. "Yes, I'm aware that I'm stupid, good thing you're here to keep me in check." I joke back, which gets a small chuckle from her. "And you are more than welcome here, even if it's just for some time away from the place. I could even build you a house if you like?" I offer with a smile.

Despite the slight serious attitude she had before she smiled again. "I wouldn't put it like that, and as for the house? Maybe. But for now, I have more questions." She's remarkably accepting and ok with the situation at hoof, much more than I expected.

My smile grows as she seems to fully relax again. "I'm more than willing to answer any questions. But I do want to ask, why? We both know this was a risky move even with the measures I took, so why accept it so easily?" I'm not trying to dig myself a grave, but I'm curious.

She gives me a knowing and understanding look. "I'd be less accepting if it was when we first met, but you've grown since then, and as much as I'd prefer you to stay safe I know you can take care of yourself, the last incident with the Changelings proved that."

"That, and I know the folly that comes with youth, trying to stop you from falling and stifling you won't help you be who you are, it will only cause you to act more rashly in the future, so instead I'll just be here when you need help to get back up again." I'm once again reminded of the understanding and kindness Celestia shows so often.

I'm silent for a moment as I process that. Seems I have underestimated just how much she believes in me. I settle for a simple nod of thanks after a moment. "Never knew you had such confidence in me, thank you." I keep myself completely serious before switching back to a joking tone. "And I'll make sure to disappoint you on all accounts," I say with a cheery tone.

That gets an actual laugh from her. "Seriously though, thank you. It does mean a lot that you respect my choices, even if they're as dumb as rocks." I joke again and get another small laugh. "Now you have questions to ask and a curious mind to sate?"

She gives me another reassuring look and a smile. "I will always respect your choices, even the bad ones, but if you ever need help I expect to be asked, understood?" She's very serious with that second part so I nod my agreement immediately. "Good. Now, first question. Did you find what you wanted? Was this risk of yours worth it to you?" There is no judgment in her tone, only curiosity, and I can't help but smile wider, of course, this would be her first question.

A quick memory of the massive snake flashes through my mind. "Yes, I think it was. And this place is more interesting than I ever thought possible, the Everfree may be dangerous but it contains an endless wealth of mysteries to discover. And as a bonus, I find myself very thankful to have somewhere that is truly my own." I answer honestly and let a little excitement show in my tone.

She keeps her smile. "Good, I'm happy you found what you needed. Now then, I have more questions and would like to look around, and because you gave me quite a scare I think I'm entitled to a tour." I smile at that.

I take her request in stride, and with a large smile, I stand up. "It would be my pleasure. You' are lucky Miss Princess, it's near the end of the day, and if we are lucky we can go see the Timberwolves." I joke in an exaggerated tone of voice.

She smiles but gains a slightly concerned look again. "Timberwolves?" I smile wider and nod as I lead her outside again.

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :D
Current year is 993

Chapter 127

NOV 15 Sunday.

It's late in the afternoon by the time we walk back out into the snowy field that I've made in this dark forest.

I hear the inches of snow crunch under my hoof as I walk down the stairs of my shack and look around. "So, you had other questions?" I ask while ignoring Celestia's question about the Timberwolves and keeping my smile.

She gives me another deadpan look before going along with my nonsense. "You've told me before that you were learning to fly, but you never did mention you succeeded. So what do you think about it?" She asks curiously.

That was one of the things I explained earlier while explaining how I set this place up. I smile at the memories of flying for the first time not long ago. "I really enjoy it, the wind and the sky is very... freeing I guess. I find myself enjoying the simplicity of it all."

She smiles as I get a little lost in those thoughts. "Mmmm, I also feel like it's a great freedom, just of a different sort, when I first flew I felt as if the sky would go on forever and was endless. Did you have any trouble with heights? I know I did when I first started flying." She chuckles at some long-ago memory.

I'm curious about that second part but answer her first. "Not really, I've never had a problem with heights, although I still feared falling. And if you don't mind me asking, were you born an alicorn? I know that's a little off topic but the thought just struck me." This is yet another thing the show never really said for certain.

She's been open more than most, but this question does open a slightly fresh wound from our last meeting. And I notice the slight shift in her mood a second later and realize I'd fucked up again. "Sorry, bad topic. Let's just move on, I have things to show you." I gently say while staring to walk over to the small crop fields I have.

Celestia's mood mostly perks right back up at my words. "It's fine, and I'm honestly surprised it took you this long to ask, most have it as their first question." She takes my fuckup in stride and reassures me. "And the answer is no. Now, what is all this?" She changes the subject to the plants around us and I follow along.

That answer didn't really answer much, but it's far more than expected to get and I'm happy she was willing to answer at all. I turn to the field and pull out a mostly normal-looking carrot with my field, the only big difference being the dark green differently shaped leaves that they inherited from the Frost Bloom.

I go along with her and change the subject. "This is one of the smaller projects I'm working on." I point to two fields, one of normal crops and one of only frost bloom. "I've been trying to crossbreed normal crops with Frost Bloom to make crops that grow in the snow. It's still too early to tell but some of them have shown some promise."

She smiles widely at that. "That's a fantastic idea, and one I'd ask you to update me about." She seems very pleasantly surprised, and I can understand why. New food production is rarely a bad thing and it can always be used, if not for eating then for selling to other nations.

"Will do. Now onto defenses, I didn't really explain the Razor Vine much did I." I remember mentioning it but mostly in passing. She shakes her head. "Well then, let's go see them." I decided to walk towards the river so we could see the small glade on the opposite river bank at the same time instead of having to backtrack.

As we walk Celestia continues to ask questions. "You also mentioned this place had advantages?"

I smile and nod. "Several, but the best is the life magic density here. I can get a lot more done, especially if I use Mana Mimicry." She raises a brow at the name. "My little name for something I stole from a plant, all things have different flows of life magic in them."

That is one of the few things commonly known about life magic, so I'm not surprised when she nods her agreement. "The book I gave you talked about copying them to speed up plant growth if I remember correctly."

I nod. "Yes it was very useful, but I tried something new. I copied a plant's natural ability and used it for myself, it lets me regenerate magic a lot faster depending on the place I'm in." I smile at the slightly shocked look on her face and slow down my steps while concentrating on my life magic.

Over the past few weeks I've been practicing by using Mana Mimicry and dumping all the new magic I generate into the Golden Oak seed while walking around, and at this point, I can walk slowly while having the ability active. The green light shines around my body and my eyes gain the same glow as the magic starts to form.

She's very curious and studies the magic for several moments before speaking. "This is beyond impressive, and no small achievement! Developing such a technique is no small feat. How much does it increase your magic regeneration?" I'm somewhat bashful at the excited praise she gives me while she inspects the magic.

"Well, develop might be giving me too much credit, I'm just copying nature. And the regeneration depends on the amount of life magic around us, so here it's quite good but everywhere else it doesn't do that much. And I'm still learning to move while holding it all in place." I say as we walk near the Golden Oak tree stump that contains a single seed in a hole at the center.

I drop Mana Mimicry and walk over to the stump. "This is something of an oddity I came across." I pull out the see for a moment letting her get a good look at it before placing it back inside the hole. As I do this I see a small reaction from her, she flinches back very slightly when pulls it out.

"What, was that?" At this point, the seed has absorbed a lot of life magic, so it's not too surprising that somepony like Celestia, who has a lot of experience in magic could somewhat sense even it without a life affinity. After a moment she starts inspecting the stump more thoroughly.

"That's a bit of a story. I visited Ponyville a while back, it's the closest town to the Everfree. Ponyville's library is made from a giant tree, and I grew curious so while I was there I grew a branch and seed to take with me." I watch for any signs that she knows how important Ponyville really is, but if she does she doesn't show it on her face.

"I kept both for a while, and when I made this place I tried to grow the seed, but no matter how much life magic it absorbs the seed doesn't grow. I've been dumping all my extra life magic into it for weeks now, and still nothing. As for that reaction, that's what a large amount of unshielded life magic in a very small object feels like."

"And the stump blocks it?" I nod. "Interesting, I haven't heard of something like this, but life magic is rare even without an affinity so that's not much of a surprise. I've seen that library you mentioned, but never knew it was this special." Her curiosity is now on full display, she is just as much of a researcher as I am.

"Neither do I, no book mentions it and it proves to be a continuous mystery. The stump is grown from the branch I took, the same plant as the seed, oddly enough I recently found out the wood has the ability to block life magic. I've been keeping the seed in there so nothing unwanted can sense it and come looking." I grow a branch off of the trunk without any bark so she could see the golden threads through the woodgrain.

A thought pops into my head while growing the branch and I decide to have a little fun, I haven't made nearly enough jokes at her expense yet. So I grow the wood into a crown that has the same style as her normal one, I make sure to grow leaves and tiny white flowers to decorate it all, and after a minute of her curiously watching I detach it from the branch.

I grow a sphere on the end of the branch and detach it to before I smile at her confused and curious look. I quickly place the crown on her head and pass her the wooden scepter before she can say anything. "A new crown and scepter, ALL HAIL THE PRINCESS OF THE FOREST!" I give a shout at the end while hamming it up as much as possible.

She's a little stunned by my words and then looks a little embarrassed at my loud proclamation. And I can't stop myself after seeing her face. "Hahah." I did not expect to be embarrassed at all, but it's my best victory yet. "Haha, revenge is sweet." I stop when she also smiles, :Ah, fuck: My internal thought it proven right a second later.

But that embarrassment fades as she realizes we're alone, and then she smiles before taking a deep breath. "THEN I SHALL CLAIM THIS LAND IN MY NAME, RULER OF ALL FORESTS!" She says while holding out the wooden scepter with her wing, pointing it at the forest in an exaggerated manner.

I'm surprised as she uses her royal voice to slightly deafen me, and then I double over laughing at her playing along with my stupidity. While she starts laughing a moment later at the absurdity of our words and actions.

It takes us both a moment to calm down again, and when we do Entropy flies over to see what all the noise is about. She sees us laughing and lands on the best spot, on top of Celestia's new crown, which only makes me laugh harder. After I'm finally done I see Celestia take the crown off her head while Entropy sits on it and stares at her curiously.

:By magic, I never thought I'd see Celestia as a proper princess, birds and all: She smiles at the crown and Entropy as I stand up from where I sat, she stares at the wooden crown with all the golden lines going through it in every direction. She turns to me with a smile. "Thank you, my old crown was getting old."

I smile at the slight joke. "Sure, but it's getting late and we still have things to see." I start to walk towards the riverbank again. After a moment Entropy lands on my back while Celestia walks up next to me, with the wooden crown back on her head and the scepter still held under her wing. I raise a brow, "Not going to take it off?"

She smiles again. "Nope. I like them, and they're mine now." She says happily.

I feel like that will bite me in the flank somehow, but that's for later me to deal with and I hate that guy. A few moments later we reach the wall of vines nearest to the riverbank. She spends a moment looking them over the wall and even runs a hoof edge along one of the three-inch long needles.

"Well, this is certainly a way to keep most things out, I know I wouldn't want to try moving through it. I am curious where you found a vine like this though. Something like this couldn't have been easy to track down." I'm a little distracted by the sight of a nature-themed Celestia on a backdrop of throned vines, so it takes me a moment to register her words.

Once I get the damned hormones out of the way I answer. "I made that actually," I admit while trying my best to pull my damned mind away from how she looks.

She smiles with some pride showing once again. "Truly? Well, it seems I really have underestimated your ability with plants." She once again praises my ability, and I once again can't help but smile widely. "How long did it take to grow all this?" She asks while looking down the long wall of vines.

"Two hours, maybe a little more, but this plant is special. I made it by crossbreeding the plants, The Spine Leaf, The Gripping Vine, and The companion Vine. This is the result, Razor Vine, it's hardy and can be hard to break apart or uproot, and grows extremely quickly even without life magic."

"And the needles can stick inside deeply before breaking off, I keep some of the seeds on me as a... well, a defense of sorts." As I explain I see her face go from curious and impressed, to impressed and a little grossed out, probably from the mental image of what happens if I use these things on a living target.

"Let's hope you never have to use them then. Now what was it you said about Timberwolves?" I nod as she changes the subject and motions for her to follow me. It's a quick walk over to the river bank, and we appear just in time to see several whiteish Timberwolves step out of the tree like on the other side of the river.

We are both silent and just watch for a few minutes as they approach the river and start drinking in turns. "I've been observing them for a while now, this pack and a few others come here. And they are very interesting creatures." The shield doesn't block all sound so I keep my voice down.

The Timberwolves seem much more skittish than normal and keep glancing at us, and Celestia notices this right away. "Can they see us?" She asks a little concerned.

"No, but they can sense life magic better than any creatures I know of, and you have a lot of life magic. Most powerful beings do, so they are looking around trying to find whatever they can sense. No sudden movements, otherwise you will scare them." I'm honestly not sure why they haven't run already.

Maybe because she's moving slowly and because she's on the other side of the river? Something to think about later. "Mhhh, why are they white? I've never seen them that color before." I'm a little confused as I expected her to at least know about this.

I smile. "You've seen them before?"

She half nods her head. "A few times, and I've never gotten a good look at them. But I've read reports and seen many drawings." Ah, that explains it.

I nod. "I saw them shedding their bark a few weeks back, much like wolves they shed their coat to better blend in with the snow." As I finish explaining I see another member of the pack walk over with a dead squirrel in its maw, it's not hard to make out as its fresh blood drips onto the white snow.

I see a slight grimace of disgust on Celestia's face, but only slightly, overall she doesn't show much reaction to it. We silently watch as they eat the squirrel and start to clean the blood off of themselves. "They eat meat but also sunbathe, as far as I can tell they really are a mix of plant and animal," I comment and look over to her.

She gives me an odd look, and I raise a brow. "You seem, remarkably ok while watching that, most would turn away or be sick at the sight." Her tone is not one of judgment but simple curiosity.

I chuckle, much to her continued confusion. "Entropy hunts, I've had to clean up a lot of blood stains, and I eat meat a lot. I've long since grown desensitized to the sight of things like that. And it's not like it's some great tragedy, this is just nature being nature." I explain my thoughts as we watch the Timberwolf pack wander back into the tree line and out of sight.

She nods after a moment. "I probably should have guessed as much considering you feed her meat. Still, I think many would disagree on that last part, but I understand and agree, that nature is simply as it is, nothing more and nothing less." I smile as we find yet another thing we have in common.

"But it's getting late and I have duties to attend to." She stares at the sun as it hangs low in the sky, night will need to be here soon and she needs to attend to that. "Thank you for showing me this, it was a nice change of pace, even if it's odd to put it lightly." She says with one of her typical smiles.

"Ya ya, I'm odd, now go lower the big ball of fire. And I should be the one thanking you. Thank you." She chuckles at the horrendous joke. "And remember, if you ever need some time away from the palace you are more than welcome here. Just remember to not touch any unknown plants." That last part is said with a serious tone, I would rather she not get hurt by one of my plants.

She nods. "I will, and I will have to check in on you so I will visit. Have a good night Shade," She says with a smile.

I nod back. "Same to you, and I hope you enjoy the toy crown." I try to verbally jab her a little before she leaves.

She gives me a positively beaming smile before I see an all too familiar mischievous glint in her eyes. :OH shit: "Did you know royal families used to propose with flower crowns?" I feel my face heat up as I start to blush while she laughs and teleports away a moment later.

I'm left blushing up a storm along in a silent grove. "I hate past me, and I really need to get her back soon. Maybe, paint? Or dye?" I distract myself from the embarrassment by trying to think of revenge plans while watching the sun lower below the horizon.

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :^)
Current year is 993

I've started to realize my ability to write more is improving. When I started this story I set the minimum of a chapter to be 2k, but now I'm sometimes having to stop myself at 3k. I'm happy with this progress.

I tried to make this like a date this time, without bringing romance into it. No idea how I did so please tell me what you think.

Also... Mmmmmm, birb.

Chapter 129

DEC 5 Saturday.

I place my last book back into its proper place and start to slowly make my way out of the Canterlot library. I've spent a good amount of time over the last week preparing for my meeting with Cadance and researching the new plants I bought from the Zebra caravans, along with learning about how to make all the pieces needed for plate armor.

I'll start with the armor and work my way backwards, when I told Stone I was making my own armor he was for once very encouraging. He normally gives advice and slight encouragement but not to this degree, turns out he was just happy to see somepony willing to make their own equipment.

Apparently, he blacksmiths as a retirement hobby, one hell of a hobby if you ask me but if the way he talked about it is any indication he really enjoys it. But he only does it as a hobby and mostly makes relatively simple blades so he couldn't help with getting metal plate armor when I asked him, so I'm sticking with the wood armor idea.

Moving onto the armor itself. Once you remove the forging process of making plate armor it's actually pretty simple to make. It really is what the name implies, plate armor, it's just a bunch of simple pieces all stuck together and fitted for the pony in need.

I'll have to measure myself and it will take a while to get everything right, but with my ability to just grow wood into the right shape it should only take a week or two of concerted effort. But I have a few other things I want to work on right now so this can wait for a little while.

Moving onto the new plants I bought. I've learned a few things about most of them, but one of them has proved to be elusive. Let's start in the order I found them in.

The Black Palm Tree is very interesting for a few reasons but by far its most striking feature is its black wood. Now when I say black I don't mean dark or something like Ebony wood, I mean that the wood looks like gray charcoal. It's not completely black but it's still far darker than you'd ever expect.

Because it's a palm tree the wood is very similar to coconut wood, it's a rougher wood with small even darker threads moving up and down the tree's woodgrain. Like I've said before the wood is prized for its rarity and dark color, but also because the tree does have a magical property.

It's native environment is pretty much any desert. It takes a long time for the tree to grow properly but It can grow in basically pure sand and while they are rare as long as it has the right soil it can grow basically anywhere. This is because of the magical property.

It's not massive, but the tree can block out a large amount of cold or heat without being damaged by it. The reason it's magical is because the plant's magic strengthens the wood against temperature change to a high degree. The wood is mostly used in high-end cooking utensils and dishes because of this magical property.

I'm not sure I'll do the same but the tree still has properties that would work well for armor, if I can get it to be properly bred with Iron Oak, but we'll see. The next plant is Ash Grass, and it's the plant I wasn't able to find much information on.

It normally grows near volcanoes or places with common wildfires. This is because it needs soil rich in carbon, mostly ash and charcoal, and that's where it gets its name from. It's normally the first thing to grow out of the soil after a wildfire, much like the Spine Leaf that I have.

But that's where my information gets foggy. I know the plant has a magical property that helps with healing burns, but that's about it. I have no idea what else the plant can do or what other ways its magic is used, so I'll keep looking for more information. And finally, we have the Fire Blossom Tree, also called simply the Fire Bloom.

It's kind of funny because this tree is also related to fire and heat just like the other two plants. Let's start with the fact that this tree is rare, very rare, honestly, I have no idea how that Zebra found one or why she'd ever sell it that cheap. My best guess is she knew it was magical and was able to find its name but not much else.

Very few places have information on rare plants like this, it took me, a pony who's worked at the library for years now, days to find anything on the plant and I knew its name. That Zebra got lucky to even find this tree's name, and it would be unlikely for her to find out specific information on the tree outside of Canterlot.

Even if that information is out there it's hard to find while moving around in a caravan, but I digress. The Fire Blossom is a very rare tree for a good reason, it basically exists to start fires and burn everything around it. It's nature's chosen arsonist.

The tree is mostly normal. It's similar to birch with white bark and a thin trunk, and small light green leaves with large vibrant red flowers. But this plant also slowly converts the magic it gathers into fire affinity magic, then when the tree makes flowers it moves that gathered fire magic into those flowers.

This makes the flowers slightly glow like a candle and gives them a warm feeling when held, the problem comes right after that though. The tree will then shed its flowers in a brilliant shower of embers as the tree overloads the flowers with fire magic and drops them all over its surroundings.

This pretty much always results in a wildfire that consumes its surroundings, this burns everything but the tree itself as it's highly resistant to fire and can withstand the blaze just fine. When it's the only tree left standing it grows and drops its seeds to sow the newly cleared land.

This is why it's so rare, because no matter who you are you do not want some tree lighting the forest you live next to on fire every few years. So like any sane being you would cut that tree down and make sure it doesn't grow back, but I'm not complaining in the slightest.

The wood of this tree is just as fire-resistant as the rest of it and I wouldn't mind having that for several reasons. Mostly to prevent my new armor from burning off of me, and if I breed it with the Black Palm and The Iron Oak I have a good start to covering some of the Iron Oak's weaknesses.

I still need something to prevent damage from too much magic being channeled through it, but I can't have everything and I've already gotten much more than I hoped for. Moving on once again, the last thing I've been researching is rune creation.

Rune creating is a complex and at times vague craft that is hard to succeed at, mostly because a large amount of your success is out of your control. So let's give a little refresher.

To create a rune all you need is some form of concept, a sentence to explain that concept and a sufficient level of knowledge for that same concept. That's it, but the quality of those three things is very important.

The more accurate to reality your knowledge is, the better the rune will be. Also the better you can word the concept the better the rune will be. Let's take something like a rune for air as an example.

A normal pony might study the wind currents and how things fly, or how air helps fires burn, to gain a better understanding and knowledge of air. While I actually know what air is made from and its properties on a small scale. We can both use the same runic context but my rune will be better because of the knowledge I used.

On the other hoof, if we take the same hypothetical and say that we have the same knowledge. They might write the runic context incorrectly, maybe they use more words than needed or they use words that somewhat clash with the very concept they are making into a rune. While I use better words and meanings that complement the concept. This would also result in my rune being better.

Another thing you need to keep in mind is being factual, with either the runic context or the runic meaning you have in your mind, the closer you stick to things that are real and correct, and that you know are real and correct the better the resulting rune.

As for why it works like this or what determines if a rune will fail or succeed? No idea, yet another mystery of magic, but back to the topic at hoof. All of this is the reason I can't make a rune for any emotion, sure I know emotions but I simply don't have a deep or particularly profound understanding of them.

That will be Cadance's role, she's providing her knowledge and understanding of love in both the runic context and the runic meaning, while I will make sure the runic context and meaning line up with what we need the rune to do in a technical sense.

I leave my lengthy internal rant while walking to the front counter so I can check out two books I didn't finish reading. As I'm waiting in line I hear a polite cough and a quiet friendly voice. "Hey Shade, how are you doing?"

The voice startles me slightly, and I jump a little before turning around to see Avalon standing in line behind me with two books of his own. I smile after a moment and nod. "Avalon, I've been well. You?" I ask back politely as I pass my books to the old mare at the counter.

I don't see Avalon often but he's a nice sort and I always enjoy my time talking to him. "I'm doing good. It's been busy though, plenty of deliveries this time of year." He's a little wooden with his speech just like the last few times we've talked with each other.

We simply don't know each other well enough to fully relax, but that can be fixed with some time and effort. "Ya that seems about right, I can't imagine the number of gifts sent this time of year, must be tiring on your wings." I try to make small talk with someone I don't know that well.

He gives me a look that tells me just how on point I am. I can't help but chuckle a little at his tired expression. "That bad huh?"

He tiredly nods. "Like you wouldn't believe, so many nobles send gifts this time of year and they often have private deliveries." He says with a little annoyance in his tone. A good tip for getting someone to open up and relax a little, give them something to complain about.

With that in mind, I raise a brow while he gives his own books to the old mare. "Really? I'd have thought those would be the easy ones. Just drop in and give it to a staff member or something." I guess.

He chuckles at that like it's an absurd statement. "By Celestia I wish." It always feels odd to hear her name used like that. "They never really read the contract and just put down the recipient's name. That means I have to deliver it personally to only the recipient and can't just leave it with someone else." He explains with a slight huff while collecting his books.

I just laugh at that. "OH, that sounds like a nightmare. Having to explain to snobby nobles why they got the paperwork wrong." I laugh at the thought while he gives a small laugh of his own. Once I'm done laughing I turn to him as we slowly walk towards the library's exit. "Hey, what are you doing right now?" I change the subject as we stop outside the library.

He seems to think for a moment. "Ummm, nothing I guess? Why?" He asks with a hint of nervousness, I have no idea why though.

I smile regardless, "Well, I want lunch and I'm curious as to how you've progressed, want to come along?" I offer carefully, I very rarely reach out but this time it seems like a good idea.

My words only seem to make him more nervous and I realize what's going on, it seems I've found one of the few people more introverted than me. We haven't interacted outside the library and that one time on the train so I've never noticed before. Though I wonder why now of all times?

If I had to use my introvert powers to guess, I'd say it's because all of our last meetings were unplanned or in calm private places, as long as I don't count the train we met on. However, that does make me question why someone like him would try to meet with griffins like that?

I'm snapped out of my thoughts as he answers. "Well, ummm, maybe?" He's not massively nervous but it's still easy to notice.

I try to encourage him gently. "Oh come on, I know a good cafe near here, it'll be my treat?" I try to tempt him with promises of free food, a good tactic to tempt introverts. Who passes up free food?

There's a moment of silence while he looks uncertain before he slowly nods. "Ok..... ya, sure. Lead the way? Actually, how far is it?" He still seems unsure about it but a yes is enough for me.

I keep smiling. "Two blocks or so." That makes him more nervous.

"Um, I would prefer to fly, if that's fine with you? But we can meet up there?" He offers kindly.

It only takes me a moment to realize I just asked someone with a missing leg to walk two blocks. :Great, now I'm being an utter dickhead: I look apologizing and immediately apologize. "Sorry, I should have thought about that, that's my bad." I give him a genuine apology.

He looks slightly bashful at that. "No! No, it's not your fault, I should have asked before agreeing." He says quickly, seemingly trying to prevent me from feeling bad about it.

I regain my smile and nod. "It is, but thank you. And flying works just fine by me." I decide to show a little trust and walk a little further away from the library while he follows me a little confused.

"W-what time should we meet up then?" He asks.

I just turned back to him with a larger smile. "No need, I'll be going with you." That statement only makes the confusion on his face grow. Over the last few months I've been slowly showing more and more skill in magic to my friends, so I see no reason why I can't do the same with someone who may become a friend.

Before Avalon can ask what I mean, a complex spell matrix appears and flashes for an instant before vanishing, a few moments later I flex the now familiar muscles to spread my wings a little. I turn back to see a shocked Avalon staring at the new wings with a dumbfounded expression.

I smile at the look. "Shall we get going? Seems the snow is picking up." I politely remind him and shake him out of his shock.

For a moment I see that excited glint in his eye as he walks closer and almost pokes the wings before hearing my question and backing up slightly. "OK, sure. But, how?" He asks while continuing to stare at my wings.

Honestly, his love and excitement with magic is something I'll never get tired of. I smile as he seems to be distracted from his nervousness by interesting magic. "I'll explain while we fly. Now come on, I'll show you the way."

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :D
Current year is 993

I decide to flesh out Avalon a little more, I tried my best for him to come off as polite and friendly, but also an introvert. Tell me what you think.

Chapter 130

DEC 5 Saturday.

I push off the ground with my legs and beat my wings to get far enough off the ground to not hit anything before I start gaining more height.

I don't try to go slow as Avalon should be more than capable of flying circles around me, I may have learned to fly but he's lived his entire life with wings. I'm proven right a minute later when I level out and start gliding, he flies up next to me while looking over my wings intently. "Tilt them a little more forward." He seemed so focused on watching them that he didn't really realize he spoke aloud.

I'm confused by his request but still do as he said and notice that angling my wings a little more helps level out better. "Hu, thanks," I say with a smile while he seems to realize what he said and looks a little embarrassed. I turn and look around for the right building so I don't get lost.

Learning to navigate the city from the sky has proven to be one of the unexpected challenges of flying. "So, the spell?" He asks with a little eagerness, it's easy to guess that he's asking for more than just curiosity.

I keep my smile and turn back to him after finding a good point of reference, we're not flying quickly so we can take a little time to enjoy the view and talk. "Temporary Pegasus Transformation. It's not an easy spell to learn, it took me weeks and that was before I had to learn to fly."

He tilts his head while keeping his gaze locked on me, apparently griffins can do that. "It didn't just, I don't know, tell you how?" I almost take his question as a joke, but no it's a serious question.

I laugh a little at the innocence of his question. "Nope, I can't even name a spell that does something like that. I had to learn the normal way, crashing repeatedly until I didn't." I make a small joke and see his face grow a little concerned. "Just kidding, I had a friend teach me," I explained.

"Oh, good, that's good. But-" He's about to continue but stops himself.

I raise a brow. "But? ... But what?"

He looks a little nervous again. "Well, I. Don't take this as an insult... but you could use more practice." A very polite way to say I'm not the best at flying.

I just chuckle at his words. "You're fine, my friend was nice to teach me but he is not a good teacher. Also, it's fine to insult me, there are very few things that can get to me." I say with some humor in my tone. He looks a little uncertain about my statement but nods regardless.

I see the cafe we've been flying to and point at it with a hoof. "That's the place, come on!" I decide to have a little more fun and dive down. I make sure not to speed up too much and leave myself plenty of distance to slow down, but that does not stop Avalon from looking surprised at my actions.

It doesn't take me long to land on solid ground once again, I take a moment to redo my mane tie as my mane got a little messed up from that move, worth it. Avalon lands a few moments after me and gives me an odd look before shaking his head a little and mumbling something I can't hear, while I smile at him.

"This is the place, they make a great grilled cheese." I said while walking over to the door and opening it. This cafe is a nice place that I've been to several times before, I even came here with Maple a long time ago, and when I entered it looked the exact same as before.

I walk over to an empty booth and sit down, he follows a few moments later and sits down opposite to me while looking around with that curious gaze of his. "So, how have your studies been going? Oh, and your affinity, how did that go." He's clearly a little out of his comfort zone, so I do what seems to work best, distracting him with magic.

He relaxes a little at my question and takes his satchel off to be more comfortable. "Well, I've kept reading and casting the spell you gave me, thank you again for that, and the gem, and the-" I decide to cut him off a little.

"You don't need to thank me, I'm just happy to help. And I'm glad to hear things are going well." I keep a calm smile as a waiter walks over to us. "Green tea and a grilled cheese please," I ordered quickly and looked at Avalon, who seemed to be a little clueless about being put on the spot.

"Uh, same?" He asks, sounding a little uncertain, but the waiter writes it down and walks off to get our food. There is a moment of silence he speaks up. "I've learned my affinities. It was certainly an... interesting experience, the spell looking so interesting, how did you enchant it into a gem?" He seems to be opening up more as he talks.

I remember when I found out my affinities, and I remember the feeling of excitement when casting the spell. I smile wider at his question, "Enchanting isn't that complex, it just takes a lot of practice and repetition, but not much beyond that and materials. Do you mind if I ask what affinities you have?" I don't want to pry but I am too curious for my own good.

He gives me a slightly confused look. "Sure I don't mind, but uh, why would I mind? Am I not supposed to share that?" He asks back with a curious tone.

I tilt my head back and forth a little to show a so-so motion. "Maybe? It depends, the type of pony that normally finds out their affinity is either very open about it or very private, though that's just a general thing, not something set in stone. It's really up to you, I'm fine either way." I make sure to emphasize that last part while keeping a friendly tone.

He goes silent for a moment and the waiter returns with our drinks and food. I take a bite and patiently wait for him to sort his thoughts out. "Do you tell others?" He asks after a moment and drinks some of his tea.

I decided to be honest with him on this, it's a harmless fact and it might help him decide. "I've told my best friend and that's it, but I'm a very private pony so take my choice with a grain of salt." I genially advise him again.

He eats a little of his grilled cheese. "Fire and wind, along with one I couldn't find information on." I stop mid-bite and give him a look of surprise, as he softly admits his affinities while switching over to Griffin.

I never actually expected him to tell me, it's something I would never do for those I don't completely trust. Honestly, I'm a little flattered he trusts me enough to tell me, even if he doesn't care about keeping it private. After a moment my mind registers what he said and I start thinking about it.

"Fire and wind? That's a great combination and both of them have many uses." I decide to voice the first thing that comes to mind while also switching languages. "As for the other one, I'm not sure I can help much, I can point you to the book I used to find out my affinities but that's about it." I'm rather curious as to what affinity it is though, but those thoughts are for later.

Like every time I compliment him he looks bashful and reserved. "Thanks that would help, and, y-you think so? I thought they might be weak compared to the other affinities I read about." He says while looking a little uncertain.

I smile but make my tone a little firm. "I know so. Some of those other affinities may seem better but they can be very hard and time-consuming to learn properly, and they can often have only limited uses or depend on rare knowledge. Fire and wind may be simple but that makes them easy to learn and use. So chin up, we have something to celebrate!" I finish while holding out my cup of tea to toast his accomplishment.

He looks even more bashful at that, but he can't hide the smile on his face as he bumps his teacup against mine. "Thanks again. Ya, I suppose it's not so bad when you put it like that." He smiles as we both drink, but I also notice his eyes drift to the wings still on my back.

It doesn't take a genius to know what he's thinking about, and my hunch is proven correct a moment later. "Hey, those wings, do you think there's a spell like that out there for, this?" He says the last part softly while moving his half-missing limb a little.

I'm silent for a moment. The answer is most likely no, but I don't want to crush that small glint of hope I see in his eyes, the same glint I saw in my old friend when he got his first prosthetics after weeks of moving around in a wheelchair. But lying to him won't help him either.

"Hhhh, I won't lie and say yes." I see the feathers around his head pin back slightly as he hears my answer. "But that doesn't mean magic can't help, have you ever considered a prosthetic?" I gently ask while keeping a friendly tone to hopefully keep the mood up slightly.

He still seems a little disappointed with the answer, but not that surprised at all. "Well, thanks for being honest. And I've tried prosthetics before, but I can't stand them." He's a little sad but seems to pick himself back up again a moment later, seems the world can't get him down that easily.

I nod. "Honesty is best, and sorry if that was too personal. But, if you're comfortable with me asking something else." He nods almost immediately. "What do you find so bad about prosthetics?" I try to keep my gentle tone and not upset him. I'm honestly beyond surprised he's been this open with me so far.

Despite the topic, he gives me a small smile. "Too clunky, they never work quite right and just feel too slow." He answers with a little humor, it takes a strong mind to laugh at their misfortune.

"Even magical ones?" I've done some research on the subject since the first time we met and learned a few things about prosthetics.

First is that there are magical prosthetics out there, they may be somewhat pricy and hard to find but they do exist. Although I could never find one for a griffin, I just presume it's not a common thing in Equestria because the population is by far mostly ponies.

He keeps his small smile and shakes his head. "Never could find one, the best prosthetic maker I could find doesn't know how to do the talons right." He wiggles his talons to demonstrate. "Also, well, griffins don't make things like that." Interesting choice of words and sadly something that makes me realize his point.

Griffin culture varies like every culture, but as a good rule, most griffins generally don't look down on the disabled. But Griffon culture is strongly focused on work and work ethic, if you are missing an arm you are still expected to function normally without special treatment.

I know there are griffins who practice magic and make enchanted items, but with that culture, I find it unlikely they would focus on developing and making prosthetics. I nod after a moment but don't comment about it. "Well, that still means you could make one." I suggest.

He stops for a moment and I can practically see the gears in his head turning. "Could I? Isn't spell creation really difficult? I barely know two spells." He deflects as his excited tone is tempered by his logical mind and I can already tell he doesn't believe he can do something like this, and maybe he's right, but I refuse to believe that.

"Maybe not alone, but with some help." He showed me a little trust, so I think I should do the same. "I dabble in that sort of thing, and wouldn't mind helping?" I offer with a smile, maybe I'm being too trusting right now, but I can't help but feel something for his situation, he reminds me of my old friend in so many ways.

I see that small hope return to his eye again, even if it's just a spark there's something in me that wants to see it blaze. "Really?! Wait! No, I can't ask for more help after everything you've already done." He backs down quickly, we can't be having that now can we?

"I insist, I may not be an expert but I know a thing or two, in fact you know the candle flame spell I gave you?" He nods. "It's my own modified version, I made it easier to cast and take less magic." That just about floors him.

I don't think I've seen a truly surprised griffin before, his feathers are puffed out some, and his mouth is even hanging open a little. I try to keep serious but his expression proves too much and I can't help but laugh. "Surprise! Are you surprised?" I made a horrible joke at his expense while finishing my grilled cheese.

He looks a little embarrassed and returns to normal a second later, he stares at his plate for a long moment. "Why help me so much? We barely know each other?" I'm a little thrown off by his question but give him a large smile.

"Because I can and want to, and because it would be nice to have more friends. And well, I don't think I need a reason beyond that actually." He's again surprised at my answer but also looks pretty damn happy.

"Thanks... And I think I think I'd like that. Friends?" He seems to taste that word for a moment before giving me a much-renewed smile.

I notice it's getting late as more and more ponies start to walk inside for the dinner rush. I make a quick decision and take out a notebook and quill. "Absolutely friends, here new friend." I passed him a torn-out page. "It's my mailing address."

He looks confused as he takes it from me. "Sadly I don't have time to work on something like this right now." He once again looks a little disappointed but it doesn't even dent his new smile. "So for now, you keep studying and I'll look into it some to see what we'll need to do. You send me a letter when you have free time and we'll try to meet up and work on it, sound good?" I offer while holding a hoof over the table and offering it to him.

He takes my hoof in a strong grip before shaking it a little. "Thank you Shade, I mean it, thank you. And umm. OH! Here it is!" He takes out his own quill and motions for me to pass the notebook to him. I do and a few seconds later he passes it back with an address on it. "It might take a while for me to check it if I'm on a delivery, but I'll see it, eventually."

"It's still no trouble. But I have to get going, I have an angry crow to feed." I stand up and place a few bits for the meal and a tip. "Have a good night Avalon, and don't forget to write, I'll be rather annoyed if you do." I joke a little as he also stands up.

He chuckles a little. "I won't I promise, now go tend to that beautiful crow." I'm pleasantly surprised that he jokes back slightly.

With a final nod, I walk out into the evening air and decide to just fly home, a quick spell cast later and I'm in the air again. Seems today I've made a new friend.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 993, but not for long.

I tried to make this seems decent but I'll be honest and say I haven't nailed down Avalon's characterization fully yet, but I have time now so. I hope you enjoyed Shade being more open, now you can prepare to see him face love, and lose, badly.

Also, for those of you who are American, like me, happy forth of July. And everybody else can join in on this time honored tradition of explosions and alcohol, and yes that's as stupid as it sounds.

Chapter 131

DEC 13 Sunday.

I place the last notebook into my saddlebags and double-check I have everything I'll need for today.

A few notebooks and several stacks of paper have everything I'll need, and some of the work I've already done on the rune we'll be trying to make, specifically I've been sketching some designs. Out of all the runes I know I decided that the best base is probably the rune of emotion I already have so I started with that and drew a few sketches.

The actual way the rune looks doesn't do much from what I understand, but I felt it was best to base it on something that was related to emotions. Once I have everything gathered I turn to Entropy as she preens her feathers and relaxes on her perch.

I still have a little time so I sit down with some tea and think for a while. The last week has been as normal as ever, I tended to my plants, practiced my magic, and read far too many books, and even then I found a little time to plant the two new trees I bought inside Gaia's Eden, right next to my small shack.

I grew two healthy trees and then I harvested many seeds from both, before promptly cutting them down to harvest some of their wood, although I only regrew the Black Palm for now because I still need to make some type of fire shield around the Fire Blossom Tree, I would rather not burn down my garden.

Beyond my new trees, I've mostly been doing more research on prosthetics and rune creation. So I've been fairly busy with all these things, but something slightly interesting did happen, the date for the Hearth's Warming party is set for the twentieth.

I have all the gifts wrapped already, the wooden jewelry is done and I've bought a few other small things that they should like. As I think my mind inevitably shifts to who I'm meeting later today, Cadance is an interesting pony and one I've grown to like very quickly.

We've only met once but in that meeting, she was able to get past all my seclusion and even bond with me over our shared prank war. Even if I let her do all of that it still says a lot about who she is as a pony and how she approaches others, and I'm not afraid to say she could become a fast friend.

But that's all just speculation on my part, only time will tell how it goes. Also speaking of pranks I've finished my newest prank, and Cadance is the perfect accomplice to give it that extra kick. I've been running a few tests with the Spicy Red Root and it really does stain everything it touches a nice deep crimson red.

It turned out to be very easy to boil some of it down into a concentrated form that is easy to store and carry with me. Now I'm not a monster and I know Celestia can't go around looking like she violently killed somepony by bathing in their blood, so I've included a modification on a cleaning spell I've used before.

The spell doesn't necessarily clean things, it just loosens anything sticking to you and lets you wash it out easily. I've improved it to be more powerful and I even tested it on myself, this stuff really does stain you like a nightmare, but the spell works, and with it the makeshift dye comes out easily.

The only problem I have is I don't know how to get Celestia to use it, so I'm going to bribe Cadance to help me, yes bribe her, because why not? The spell I made for cleaning has a slight side effect, it can be used on your mane and fur to also remove all tangles in it as they are considered filth and the spell loosens it right out.

It makes it much easier to brush out a mane or coat, it's not massive as all it does is speed up the process but a bribe is a bribe and she might find some use for it. I stop my thoughts as I check the time, eleven-fifty, time to go. I turn to Entropy and whistle quietly.

She flies over immediately. "Time to go girl, we're headed to the palace."

She tilts her head and jumps on my back. "Friend, good."

I chuckle at her excitement. "Not this time, but maybe a new friend." I temper down her excitement a little. She stops hopping around but still looks happy to go. "Well then, ready when you are." I stand up and wait for the embrace of an endless Void.

When we arrive it's the same song and dance as always, a guard is waiting for me and I'm led to a doorway I haven't seen in a while now. Me and Celestia normally meet in her room, her office, or the gardens, it's been a long time since I was last in the comfortable meeting room we originally used.

The guard leaves me alone and I take a deep breath before opening the door, inside is just what I expected. A single table with Cadance sitting down and reading a book, I notice the title, some type of romance novel, fitting. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, a pleasure." I'm fully formal and give her a bow.

"Shade Evergreen, I hope you don't greet Aunty like that." I start walking over to the table but stop to give her a slightly baffled look at her words. "I'm already a little tired of hearing it so often, I can't imagine how she feels." Her tone is light and humorous, and she smiles while closing the book she was reading.

I hold strong for a moment before chuckling. "Well, I can assure you I don't, and I can guarantee that I do not envy either of you in the least. Even what I did is too much formality for me." I decided to take the same approach I did last time, be relaxed and friendly.

Her smile stays while she huffs slightly. "It can be tiring and annoying, but it is important, or so I'm told. But we're here to make a rune, aren't we? I'll admit this is not my specialty so I'll be relying on you." That's not much of a surprise, most ponies don't know much about runes, let alone how to make them. "But I cleared my day, so we have plenty of time to talk first." I really should have seen this coming, and yet somehow I didn't.

I nod after a moment. "If we have the time, sure, what about?" I ask while looking at the tea laid out on a tray, it's not made yet. "Actually, do you mind if I start?"

"By all means go ahead, although I think I can guess already." She also looks at the unmade tea but doesn't continue.

There is silence for a few moments before I give her an annoyed look and realize what she's doing. "You are going to make me ask aren't you?" She stays silent but her smile widens. :I really need to remember she also likes jokes and pranks: "Fine. What's your love life like?" I ask with my most innocent tone.

I can see her brow twitch a little but she doesn't react to my words. "I'm glad you asked." She suddenly says with a far too cheery tone. :OH shit: "Aunty said I should practice making tea, so I take any opportunity I can. Although I still have a long way to go until I can make tea like her." She promptly ignores my question and carries on. :Thank magic:

I now know I'm not winning this verbal back and forth, so I leave it be and pick up the kettle to start making the tea myself, if you can not defeat your enemy, do your best to deprive them of victory. "Oh, hmmm, thank you." Or just mildly annoy them however you can. "Anyway, enough of all that, how has your day been so far?" Her tone changes again to a relaxed but somewhat more serious tone.

Nice and blunt, this I can work with. "Just fine, I have everything we'll need prepared and can answer most questions you'll have. How are you doing on this cold day?" A matrix flashes in the air for a moment as I cast a warming spell on the teapot after adding the red tea leaves.

She watches the spell matrix but doesn't comment on it. "Well enough, I do have to be at a budgeting meeting tomorrow so please drag this out as much as you can." She jokes, maybe, actually with her tone she could actually be serious.

I decided to just nod. "Sure. But to be the adult here and actually move along, what did you want to talk about?" I joke back gently while pouring us both some tea.

"OH fine, ruin my fun. I have a lot to ask, but the first is not so simple. If you had to describe yourself in one sentence how would you?" An interesting question to start with, and something I've never been asked before.

I think about it for a few moments. "Well, I'm thirteen, I like magic and plants, I spend most of my time practicing skills or making things, and that normally results in work for Celestia with the nice side effect of helping ponies." I don't play myself up and just state what I think while including a small half-joke.

She smiles. "First name basis, how long have you been friends? She never did give a decent date." She asks innocently, this is definitely a trap, I just can’t see how.

I decided to just ignore the wording in the first part and answer her. "That's because like most friendships it happened over time. But I can say we've been meeting for around two years now." Time sure flies.

She just smiles at that. "Plants and magic. Hmm, you really are a humble pony. I wonder why? You've done so much but claim so little." She asks while tasting the tea with a smile.

I shake my head at that. "I'm really not that humble, although most might see it like that. I might be somewhat helpful, but I'm not some paragon, the truth is I'm simply a very private pony. Or to put it bluntly, I would rather the world just leave me alone, it seems to disagree." I drink some of my own tea and note that I didn't let it sit long enough.

She smiles wider. "I'm pretty sure that's just another form of humility, but moving on. I've heard Aunty talk about a pet, is she at home? I heard some... interesting but vague things, aunty likes to do that sometimes, a lot of the time actually." She admits with a very slightly annoyed look.

I've also started to notice that Celestia only told her vague things about me, and I can't help but think it was very much intentional. "Yes, she definitely does. Also, Entropy is always with me, come on out, Entropy." I move the teapot a little and Entropy shifts out of its shadow, she stands on the table and stares up at Cadance. "This is Entropy, say hello."

"Hello, pretty." I nearly laugh at Entropy's words, oh you beautiful bird. Cadance looks shocked at the sudden appearance of Entropy, to be fair a large shadow mist bird appearing from the shadows might count as an actual demon to some ponies.

There's a long moment of silence as she stares at Entropy, "Hello? ... Did, did you teach her to say that? Because if you did, I'd be truly flattered." She seems a little nervous around Entropy, not much but it's still there, yet she still finds a way to tease me slightly.

I shake my head as Entropy decides she wants to rest on top of my head and climbs right up. "Nope, Entropy is as smart as a filly and can for the most part perfectly understand what we're saying. I'm still teaching her new words though, and she prefers simple one to two-word sentences." I explain as Entropy keeps looking her over.

That shocks her even more. "Wait! Really?! Can you?!" She asks Entropy loudly with a skeptical tone.

Entropy tilts her head and stares for a moment longer before fluffing her feathers and getting more comfortable, she puts her head under her wing to sleep. "Loud, bad." Entropy learned that one not long ago, it's good to see she was paying attention, and that she apparently knows how to insult others, I've never been more proud.

This time I can't stop myself from laughing, which causes Entropy to shift to my back for a better place to nap. Seems Entropy's got me beat. "I don't think she understands tact or subtlety yet, or she just doesn't use it." I smile at Cadance's expression.

Cadance looks a little embarrassed at being called out by a bird but recovers quickly. "Well, then. She really is something, on that note, what is she?" Her curiosity breaks past any other expression on her face.

"She's a Shadow Crow, whatever that means, even after a lot of searching me and Celestia basically know nothing about her. We don't even know if there are others of her kind." I never really thought about it but Entropy might just be completely alone in that aspect, sad in a way, but I have no intention of leaving her alone.

"Oh, sorry to hear that." She addresses Entropy directly at that, she's in my good book for that alone, not many would just accept Entropy as sentient like that. "Moving on though, I wanted to ask about something I heard from Aunty recently. Did you really give her a crown? Or was that a joke? Either way, it doesn't help the rumors" She asks curiously.

She gets her answer a second later when my blush decides it is time to do what it does, displaying just how embarrassed I am. "Wait. You did? Really? OH! That's Gold!" She breaks down laughing at my embarrassed face.

"I didn't know, ok?! How was I supposed to?! What rumors?!" I try to defend myself while also trying to make my blush go away. Her continued laughter shows just how badly I did, I wait a few moments but she doesn't stop for several moments.

"Well, the staff see you often enough to notice you, and you always meet privately with Aunty, so." I can already see where she's going with this and I just bury my face in my hooves for a moment as I feel my blush deepen.

"Ugggg! I'm never living this down am I?" That just makes her start laughing again. "Fine! You can laugh all you want. But I want help with this for embarrassing myself, consider it my payment." I place a small glass jar filled with a red liquid in an attempt to distract her and hopefully gain her assistance.

She laughs a little more before finally calming down "OK! Ok, I'll stop, but I won't forget this... Now what is this?" She asks while holding the jar up to look at it.

I'm thankful she finally stopped laughing and changed the subject. "My revenge for several past incidents that befell me. It's a highly potent red dye, something that is an absolute, complete, horrible, nightmare, to wash out of your coat and mane, even with soap and a brush, it kind of works like mane dye just worse because I had no idea how strong I had to make it." I emphasize my point with a few words.

I see a far-from-innocent smile spread across her face as she stares at the small bottle. "Oooo, now this! Will be fun. So what's the plan? Because whatever it is you can count me in." She volunteers immediately.

"Well, I guess I don't need the bribe then." I try to tease her back for what she just did to me.

She raises a brow and smiles more. "Well hold on, I didn't say that. As you well know, I as a member of the nobility love bribes, now give it here." She holds out a hoof and makes yet another joke.

I chuckle and relax as my blush finally dies down. "Fine, but I'm expecting good work if you're taking payment," I say with an uptight tone while taking a few pages out of my saddlebags and passing them to her.

She takes a moment to read through them before giving me an amused look. "You made a spell just to fix your own prank. You make two spells and you're still losing, shame on you. But I fail to see how this is a bribe." I roll my eyes at that and motion for her to flip to the next page, this page has information on the spell's effects on manes and coats.

Her smile grows very large, she looks at those pieces of paper like they are made from pure gold. "Do you have a filly friend?" That question comes out of nowhere, I'm not sure what to do so I just shake my head "Oh, you poor Colt, you better hope they never find you. Well, now I'm more than in, I demand you give me permission to release it under your alias." She says with new excitement, which just confuses me further.

Sure it can help untangle manes and pelts, but there are already spells for that, I can't see a reason to disagree though. Also what the hell was that first part about? After a moment of confusion, I just gave up. "Sure? I don't really care. For now though, we've talked enough and we still have work to do, and a prank to plan." I decided to finally get us back on track for the actual reason we are here.

I enjoy the sight of her smile faltering slightly as I dump several stakes of notes and a few notebooks on the table. "I feel like that bribe wasn't enough, and you're rich, is it too late to ask for more?" She half-jokes while looking through a few of the top pages on the stakes.

I give her my biggest cheeriest smile. "Nope! Now start reading, we have a lot to do." I smile as she stops joking around and does just that. If we keep joking we'll never finish, still, for my revenge, it's all worth it.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 993

It's my birthday tomorrow so sadly no chapter for you, enjoy your weekend. :]

Chapter 132

DEC 20 Sunday.

I stand in the empty field that still makes up most of Gaia's Eden and silently concentrate on my surroundings as my magic shifts and moves around me while my mind drifts through thoughts of my recent meeting.

Cadance was fun to talk to and despite the embarrassment, I'm glad to have met her again, even if I'll most likely be embarrassed again. Me and Cadance also made some good progress on the reading material I brought with me, but it will probably take another few meetings for her to learn everything needed and for us to start work on the rune itself. Beyond those thoughts, I'm currently working on a new idea.

Over the past few months, I've focused a lot of my time on training Mana Mimicry to both improve its efficiency and to be able to walk around while using it. I've succeeded in the first and have mostly succeeded with the second, I can now walk at a normal pace and use my hooves freely while keeping Mana Mimicry active.

But at this point, I've hit something of a crossroads in terms of progress. I started with large magical flows and moved onto smaller ones, but I've mismarried all of the small flows so to progress further I'd have to go even smaller which would make progress crawl to a stop and it would take a long time to progress much beyond where I currently am.

So, I can either keep bashing my head into this wall for the little benefit or move on to something else. The choice is easy for me, I may be stubborn but I don't like wasting time if I can help it. With that in mind, I've decided to leave Mana Mimicry alone for now and focus on something else.

As for what ability? Well, while I was working on my new armor I had an idea, but let's start with the armor. Over the past few days I've started to slowly grow and carve pieces of the armor from steel wood, but making that much steel wood takes a good amount of time.

The armor is made from steel wood and that gave me the ability to add a few small enchantments, the main one being many small sticking spells. Each of the sticking spells is linked to a single piece of the armor that I can tap twice to deactivate all of them at once, all of the sticking spells connect and attach each piece of armor together so I don't need to rely on belts or straps.

It's a big convenience and I might send it to Celestia later, although I should probably finish the armor and test it with Stone before doing that. But I've gotten a little off track, my main point is actually about the helmet, specifically the many different types of eye holes used to look outward through it.

Now for most human armor, this was a notable but difficult-to-exploit weak point on all armor. However, it's a larger weakness for ponies, because of magic and the move omnidirectional form of combat ponies use it's a much more easily exploited weak point.

Also, the eye holes in most full armor for ponies have larger holes, so it's a common point to exploit on opponents using heavy armor. So while I was making the helmet I was thinking about ways to lessen this weakness, and I came up with an odd solution, one that finally brings me to what I want to practice right now.

In the past, I tried to use both life magic sensing and space magic sensing at the same time to form a complex and complete view of my surroundings. I tried to sort out the overlapping information and memorize it all, but at the same time, I was also relearning my spells and working on several other things.

I ended up stopping my practice and focusing on those other things, but now I have both the time and a good reason to do so again. If I can learn to sense both types of magic well enough I should be able to walk around without my vision at all, and that means I can just remove this weakness altogether.

That is why I'm going to practice something new entirely. I stop using Mana Mimicry and stand up before moving three items over to me. My armor is not ready yet so I'll have to start without it, I grab both a steel wood greatsword and dagger that I've made before placing a thick blindfold over my eyes.

My new practice will happen in two ways, when I'm with Stone I'll do everything the same but keep a blindfold on, and when alone I'll practice my combat style with a blindfold over uneven terrain. I let both my senses expand and try to also keep my ears open to the sounds around me.

I could try to separate the two new streams of information, but after a moment I just try and absorb it all. Trying to limit what I can gain won't help me, even if it will take me a long time to adapt. I take a deep breath and start to chain a few strikes together, before promptly falling face-first into the grass as my hoof hits an uneven spot.

I readjust my blindfold and stand up again, this will be a real grind, but that hasn't stopped me before and it won't now. I take my stance again and feel the space shift as the world moves while life magic flows through the world around me in great streams.

I can't help but smile at the new challenge in front of me. I might be a bit of a training maniac, but if I am I might as well embrace it.

time skip

I let out a pleasant sigh as the warm water washes down over my sore body, I haven't even dealt with Stone yet and I'm already regretting this. Speaking of Stone, I'm wondering how to ask him about this. Over the years I've built trust with him but we've never been friends.

My affinities are a close secret and I don't want to share, but honestly, I'm overthinking this. I pay him and he trains me, we might be friendly and good acquaintances but it is still business in the end. Even if he doesn't understand how I'm doing it I think he'll just go with it, and if he doesn't I can just train on my own.

With my mind made up I dry myself off and spend a moment combing out my mane, speaking of manes, I've discovered why Cadance showed so much interest in that spell I gave her.

In the papers I gave Cadance I added a small note about how the spell can be used as an enchantment, I used it like that to enchant a comb and test the effects. When on a comb it makes it very easy to comb out your mane and fur, turns out mares do that more often than I thought.

In hindsight I shouldn't be that surprised, it's common for mares to have long manes and it can be a literal pain to comb them out and detangle them, and while there are spells that can help they are too magicly inefficient to be enchanted onto anything but a comb with gems in it. The one I made can be slapped on any metal comb.

It took Cadance one week, ONE, to have some crafts guild start making them, and they sold out instantly, and they continue to do so every time new ones are made. To put this in some perspective, Daisy was complaining about not being able to get one a few days ago despite it being around for less than a week.

I honestly can't see what the big deal is, but after asking Cadance in a letter it turned out to be her fault, and I will blame her next time we meet. I don't often read the newspaper, so I never noticed that Cadance endorsed the comb, turns out Cadance is a pony the fashion industry likes to copy a lot.

With her help we started a small fashion trend around combs of all things, I knew humans did stupid shit like this and I really should have expected it at some point from ponies. In related news, Veil Winter's name also got caught up in all the hype, and my alias is now even more well-known.

I've also gotten a flood of mail recently because of all this, and at this point, I'm just composting all the stupid letters into soil and using it in Gaia's Eden. I keep some of the more personable and kind letters I get, but everything else is now dirt, except the mail I'm being sent that's weird.

The fashion industry is very near another industry I would rather not receive letters from, I opened one without knowing, and now every time I open one I just burn it, my hormone-filled mind does not need more things to think about. I leave my thoughts as I smell the pleasant scent of baking banana bread, it's what I was asked to bring to today's Hearth's Warming party.

It's bound to be fun, or maybe calm if I'm lucky, but I wouldn't count on that. Still, today is something I've looked forward to and plan to enjoy to the fullest. I take the banana bread out of my oven and make sure it's ready by poking a fork into it before leaving it on the countertop to cool down.

I start gathering all the gifts I've wrapped. Three boxes for the wooden jewelry and three more for other gifts, a few puzzles, some sweets, and a few new paints. We kept it more random this year and didn't ask for specific things as none of us could think of much we really wanted.

I read for a while before checking the time and seeing it's almost time to go, but before I leave I turn to Entropy and pass her the last wrapped box, this one contains a very detailed carving I made of Philomena that I'm sending to Celestia as a small personal gift.

Entropy returns a few moments later without the gift and I cast an illusion over her, I was actually asked to bring Entropy this year as Daisy apparently decided she wasn't invited last year and that must be corrected. "Remember girl, nopony can touch you, and no talking." I remind her yet again just to be safe.

She shifts. "Cree. Know." She makes a slightly odd sound but still answers me, that she really is getting the hang of new words. Although all attempts to have her speak in full sentences have failed, so I've just stopped trying and let her talk as she wishes, at least I can understand her.

I leave her alone and grab the gifts along with the banana bread before walking out of my apartment, the hallways are empty and it only takes a moment to walk over to Daisy's door and knock on it. A quick moment later the door opens to reveal Maple looking at me, "Hello Shade, no pie?" She asks bluntly while looking at the things I'm holding.

I can see Daisy doing something in her kitchen behind Maple and waving at her. I turn back and smile at Maple's blunt tone. "Nice to see you too, Maple. Sadly no, but I do have banana bread, and before you blame me Daisy asks for it." Maple walks away from the doorway and stares at Daisy with slight betrayal.

"Hey! Shade, thanks for coming. And I keep telling you Maple, you eat too much pie." Daisy teases Maple slightly while placing some fresh cookies on the counter before turning back to me. "Under the tree, Oh!" She smiles as Entropy lands on the counter and starts looking around Daisy's apartment, "Aren't you just adorable?! Who wants some sweets?" I place the gifts down while Daisy feeds a very happy Entropy a cookie.

"Meanie, no such thing as too much pie." She may have a blunt and slightly tired tone but the small smile shows just how serious she actually is. She steals a cookie and promptly sits down on Daisy's couch in the comfy nook that makes up the far half of Daisy's living room along with the holiday tree.

I chuckle at her words while placing the gifts around the tree. "She is right, you do eat a lot of pie. Maybe it's time you cut back a little?" I join in on the teasing while sitting down and placing my homemade Uno deck on the table. I have to tilt my head down very slightly to meet her eyes.

I'm still growing at this point and I'm already slightly taller than most unicorns, the only reason I'm not the tallest out of us four is because Blaz is a tall Pegasus. Maple tilts her head up slightly and narrows her eyes, "Are you calling me fat?" She asks, trying to tease me.

I smile, I've dealt with Cadance, I can deal with Maple. "Yup, that sounds about right." I turn to Daisy as she sits down in between us with a plate of cookies. "When do you think Blaz will be here? He's already a litt-" I'm cut off as somepony knocks on the door. "Well, that answers my question," I say while jumping up to answer the door as I'm the closest.

As expected Blaz is standing there with several gifts with him. "We've been waiting for you, are you just getting slow in your old age?" I greet him with a smile and a mild insult.

He chuckles at me. "At least I know patience, you can't even give an old stallion some breathing room, shame on you. Now scoot." He also smiles and I move out of the way to return to the couch. "Maple, Daisy, thanks for inviting me, at least two of you have some manners." He jabs back while whipping his hooves and closing the door behind him.

I just keep smiling. "Agreed, we are worse than them." Blaz quickly drops his gifts under the tree and decides to lie down on the plush carpet while facing us.

"We? Who's we? That's all you Colt. Now deal with those cards so I have a proper reason to insult you more." I shrug and join him on the carpet so we're all surrounding the small living room table.

Daisy huffs with a chuckle. "You two will talk until the sun rises, now give me my cards, I'm feeling lucky and Maples hasn't lost a match this month." She joins in on our tomfoolery as I pass out cards, Uno was my best choice yet. "Now that the jokes are out of the way, how has your day been ya'll."

Both Blaz and I stop before looking at Daisy. After a moment I voice what we are both thinking, "Please never use, ya'll, ever again, it feels wrong." My tone is completely serious and focused as I give Maple her cards, cards that will most certainly bring our doom.

She huffs again before turning to Maple. "I think it sounds nice."

Maple gives her an absolutely amazing deadpan stare. "No, it doesn't. Now, draw two." She ends with a small smile as she starts the game with a plus two much to our combined annoyance with three nearly synchronized groans.

I decide to actually answer Daisy now that we've thoroughly messed with her. "I'm doing well, got some practice in and worked a little on my plants." I don't lie, just omit the whole truth. I've started to be more open with them but many things still linger in my shadow.

Speaking of shadow, Entropy decides she wants to watch our game and lands on the floor before snuggling up in between my forelegs. "You never stop do you Colt? I wish I had that kind of drive at your age." Blaz places an arrow to swap the game's direction.

Maple breaks the silence a moment later. "He doesn't, he's already a better spell caster than me, and he doesn't even have a horn." I smile at the complement, Maple's not one to say things without meaning it. "But he is also, completely, crazy." Ahh, a Maple brand joke, truly a rare sight.

I chuckle. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, and it's not my fault you lack determination." I get a dirty look from Daisy as I play a plus four and change the color to blue again. After that, we devolve into some small talk before Maple sweeps the floor with all of us once again and keeps her place as the reigning champion of Uno.

Daisy groans out as Maple wins yet again. "Next time, you'll see! Now, it's gift time!" She moves on quickly and practically jumps off the couch before moving over to the tree to pick out gifts for us to open.

"Those three green ones are supposed to be opened at the same time, and no they can't go first." I stop the smile on her face before she can try and pull something.

"Fine, then they can go last. This one! Ohh, that one! Annndd, this!" She picks one gift for herself and three others at random before passing them out.

Daisy is a very professional pony, except when gifts are involved. She rips into the box and pulls out a set of new brushes and a small jar of green paint, the smile tells us just how much she enjoys her gift. Blaz takes a little more time and rips his gift open to show a new tea mug with the words, best old stallion, on its side.

Maple slowly unwraps her gift while keeping it completely intact, she even undoes the folds to keep the wrapping paper intact, she gets some recipes for other baked goods that aren't pie and sticks her tongue out to Daisy in response. We go back and forth slowly, each going through gifts while enjoying some good old banter.

I get some flower seeds from Maple, a few types of tea from Daisy, and a good variety of seasonings from Blaz, all things I love. After we all go through the gifts there's only three left among the three and this time I'm the one to pass them around to everypony.

"So this is the super secret gift huh?" Blaz asks. "If it's another mug I'm donating it away." He says with a smile.

I just chuckle at his relentless jabs, then I pretend to sigh dramatically. "Just open them already so I can go home and feed my bird." A few moments of ripping paper later all three of them are holding the expertly carved wooden jewelry.

All looked stunned, even Maple's tired and normally stoic face broke to show her surprise. Daisy is the first to speak after smiling widely and putting on her new necklace. "Where did you get this?! Now I feel silly for only getting you some tea." She says while opening the small wooden locket.

Blaz puts on the new cufflink bracelet with a similar smile. "She's right, you've gone and outdone us all on this one Colt." He looks closely at Daisy's necklace and his cufflink bracelet. "Did you have these customs engraved?" That causes all of them to look at their gifts closer.

Maples is the last to speak, and she shows one of the largest smiles I've ever seen on her. "You cheated, no fair."

I smile at all of them. "To answer you before I get any more complaints, I didn't buy them, I made them." That gets me new looks of surprise and an amused smile for me. "What? I told you all I carve wood as a hobby plenty of times, now onto the main gift, put them on and tap them twice." I instruct before they can interrupt me.

They all look curious and do as asked before giving me even odder looks. "They are enchanted to keep you warm, it's not that strong but it should work in most weathers," I explain with a large smile as all three of us look over to Maple. "Does it work? Because it would be very embarrassing if it didn't." I half-joke.

Maple stays silent for a moment before turning to me with a surprisingly emotional look. "It... It works great and it's beautiful... Thank you." Her tone is soft as she adjusts the new bracelet on her free foreleg with a large smile and a renewed awareness.

Daisy joins in. "Agreed! Thanks, Shade! I'll bother you for new jewelry now." She has a happy tone and a massive smile.

"Same, good job Colt, this is yet another impressive thing to hold over us." Blaz isn't one for long thanks, and one to mix jokes into everything.

I smile back at all of them. "I'm glad you like them, now! How about another round before we leave? I got five bits on Maple winning." I lock eyes with Daisy while saying that.

Blaz laughs. "Deal! Now give me those cards, it's time to end her winning streak!" The mood is lifted back into never-ending banter.

I won five bits that night, and I even got bragging rights for the next week. It was a good day.

Author's Note

Thanks as always for reading. :}
Current year is 993

I may have gone a little overboard on this one, I really just kept going. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 133

DEC 24 Thursday.

I continue to cast the muscle healing spell on myself as I rest and recover more from yesterday's painful training. Stone as always did not take it easy on me in the slightest.

When I told him about my new form of training he made a few suggestions. First, train more before doing it while practicing with him, to quote his exact words. If you can't walk you can't run, a polite way to tell me to improve a lot more before I disrupt our training with crazy ideas.

To be fair I can only slowly walk around and clumsily swing my weapons right now, so I'll take that advice and practice it on my own for now. A little disappointing but not something to worry over, for now, I'm focusing on my armor again and it's coming along well enough.

The many pieces need to be measured, carved out, and enchanted, so it's taking a while to make everything properly. So far I've only made three legs and some of the back armor, it will take me longer to work on everything else, especially the chest piece as it's the largest, and making a piece of steel wood that big takes much more time.

I down a cup of tea and feel my magic return to me with a little vigor, I need to wake up more and deal with a few things, but first breakfast. Some toast and jam with a steamed Red Root, simple but filling. I also made Entropy a bowl of some diced fruit and seeds, because if I don't feed her first she'll just beg off of my plate.

Once everything is properly cleaned up I move back to my main room and sit down with some rather nice mint tea. I drink a lot of Blood Leaf Tea so it's nice to mix things up every once in a while. I get comfortable before laying out my deck of playing cards in a neat row.

Over time I've started to get creative with my spatial training, and something I've tried recently is to build a house of cards. Even with humans' dexterous hands, many struggled to make this, and even with my field, it's not that easy. But with my spatial senses, I can detect the tiny changes when the cards start to become unstable.

So, I need to stack cards very delicately with only my space magic while also keeping the whole structure stable. It's a slow process and takes a lot of practice and patience, but I lack neither of those things. I lift three cards at once forming two into a triangle with the floor before grabbing more cards to continue.

I formed a base and I'm able to start on the second layer before I pulled a little too hard on a card while trying to stabilize it and everything fell apart like a house of cards, pun intended. So, I start again and again repeating the same process as I make a game out of my training.

After an hour I stop and move on to the next thing I have planned for today, going through more magic damned mail.

Somewhat N.S.F.W begins here.

I had hoped the hype would die down some with time, but then some bastard pony from the fashion industry decided they liked making bits off of metal combs and endorsed it more.

Hoity Toity, a minor character in the show and now somepony on my, go fuck yourself, list. Needless to say, I started to get more mail when that happened, and it's starting to annoy me a little. It's not actually that much mail, several dozen letters a week, but the contents of these letters are something else entirely.

It's only one out of every few dozen letters and I have no idea why I'm even being sent things like this, they don't even know if I'm a stallion! Yet they still come, and every time I open one of them my body has the reaction you'd expect, and let me tell you, walking around my apartment with my member bumping around is embarrassing even when I'm alone.

I'm also not asking Celestia for help on this either, why? Because I'm not asking my friend to help me deal with the ponies sending me what amounts to porn. I also have to at least open them because some of those letters are important things like my taxes.

So I do what I'm best at, ignoring all of this until it goes away, even if it's hard to deal with when my damned mind can't stop thinking about mares. Having Celestia pop into my head also doesn't help, especially when my hormones demand I do more than just ignore what's bouncing between my hind legs.

I'm not describing how I do that, even in my own head, I have enough on my mind as it is without that being brought up.

I shake those thoughts out and watch another letter burn while trying not to think about what I just read, I fail and just decide to drink more tea and ignore the uncomfortable way I'm now walking. After a while of sitting down and clearing my mind, I'm able to calm my body down and get back to doing something actually productive instead of being unreasonably horny.

Somewhat N.S.F.W ends here.

I breathe out and stretch my legs after sitting for so long waiting and after a moment I decide that some fresh air sounds nice right now. With that in mind, I turn to Entropy as she rests on her perch like normal, "Hey, girl." She turns to face me with a slight head tilt, "Let's go to the camp, I need something to do."

She flies over immediately. "Out, good." I smile at the odd words before we both vanish a moment later. The Void is always somewhat calming for me and helps take my mind off of several things, I really do not want to think about mares or worse my mare friends right now.

I open my eyes and look around to see my small shack and breathe out slowly. Entropy decides to fly over to a perch grown from the wall and goes right back to sleep. Normally I'd like to have her with me while I'm here, but I've relaxed those rules a little because I haven't seen the snake in a while, and because Celestia knows about this place.

I walk outside and notice that the snow has already lessened slightly from the last time I was here two days ago. The weather here really does seem to be somewhat separate from the rest of Equestria, although I'm not sure if that's because this is normal and ponies mess with that timetable or some other odd magical reason.

Before checking on everything I walk over to check the standing board right next to the shack. I took two White Oak seeds and grew them into several-foot-tall posts before making a flat board in between them and putting a small roof over that. I take off a small note that's posted on the board and read it.

Shade, the odd seed sprouted when I arrived and was already an inch tall.

Ps, I'll be sending a letter with our next meeting time soon, have a good new year.

Celestia. December twenty second

I smile at the note and my mind moves to certain thoughts before I realize what seed she's talking about and wrench my thoughts to that. I snap my head to the center of Gaia's Eden and see a small tree that looks utterly out of place, I can't get a good look from here so I sprint right over to it with excitement.

When I got closer I immediately noticed a few things. The life magic within several feet of the is a little denser than it normally is, the difference isn't big but the fact that it's being changed by a single plant is not normal. The other main thing is that the tree is around five feet tall.

I checked the note again to confirm, Celestia's note is only two days old but it mentions a tiny sprout, not a small tree. Did it grow this much already? I normally kept the seed inside the hole in the stump along with a few inches, I made it like this so it could grow a little inside the trunk and then be transplanted.

I look at the thin and odd-looking small tree. Its bark is filled with large eight-inch thick veins of golden-looking material, which I know isn't actually gold, just something that looks the same. I honestly have no idea what it is, but now I might be able to extract enough of it to experiment with and find out.

Beyond that, the bark is the same brown as normal. Next, I inspect the leaves, they have by far the largest difference from what the normal tree is like. The leaves are completely gold, the same gold as the lines in the trunk seem to make up all of the leaves now as they gleam and shine in the sunlight.

I look around the ground for a moment but don't see any leaves on the ground, I am beyond curious now, so I reach out with my field and pick a leaf. It detaches fine but as soon as the leaf leaves the tree I watch as it disintegrates into golden dust before breaking down into nothing at all, not even dust falls to the ground.

"What ... are you?" I can't help but ask out loud. Before I do anything else I try to reach out with my life magic to feel the tree, but get nothing back. I try to focus my mind to find anything, but still, there's nothing there, just a wall that my senses can't pass.

It seems the tree's ability to block life magic has taken a massive step up. But how? What caused something like this? After a few moments of thought, I can only see one possibility. Normally a tree like this would either take a very long time to absorb the amount of life magic I dumped into the seed, or if the seed sprouts after a certain amount of time it would probably never reach the level of life magic it had.

Either way, this tree is some form of better or simply a more complete version of the normal tree that it normally can't reach, the only thing I could guess for certain is it needs a lot of life magic to reach this stage and I doubt it ever would without somepony like me. But now the question becomes, what should I do with it?

This tree can block my life magic senses, so even if I tried to change it with life magic I'd be working blind which is a bad idea in several ways, most prominently the simple fact that I could kill the tree by accident. So, the only real thing I can do is feed it more life magic and let it do what it wants.

There is some good news though. The tree roots were able to grow through the trunk it grew out of so I will be able to move the tree and plant it, but after I plant it properly it's not moving anytime soon. Another piece of good news comes from the fact that the tree doesn't give off the same amount of life magic.

It does increase the amount of life magic around it but the massive amount of life magic that's probably inside it can't be sensed, so unlike the seed it came from it probably won't attract powerful beings anymore. So I could just plant this tree wherever I like safely, and I will be planting this tree because it's beyond amazing in so many ways.

Just its ability to slightly increase the ambient life magic around itself is worth every second I spent feeding it life magic, and who knows what else I can learn from this magical tree? I decide to take a small cutting of a branch just to make sure I don't lose my work if this tree dies somehow.

I don't have my knife so a quick trip back to my shack to retrieve the carving knife I use for steel wood and the gem that goes with it, when I return to the tree I find a very small branch and move the knife up to it before gently pressing down with the blade.

But nothing happens as the blade fails to cut it and instead just slightly bends the branch. I use more force and hold the branch still with my field, but still, nothing happens, somehow this tiny branch can't be cut in the slightest and after several tries, I move the blade back to see that even the bark is untouched.

I just stare at the increasingly odd tree with my knife. "Well, shit. What do I even do with you?" I again talk to myself trying to think this all through. I can't seem to damage it and I don't want to try other more destructive things for fear that the tree could die.

I also can't manipulate it with my life magic, so all I can do is plant it. But is that a good idea? I don't know. This is unlike anything I've seen before and I have no idea what to do with it. I could wait a while and ask Celestia? But honestly, I think she'll be just as lost as I am.

I also can't leave it as it is, the tree is a complete unknown and I have no idea if it would survive where it is for long. So I decided to pick my only half-decent option, plant the super magical tree, and hope for the best. But before I do something completely stupid it's time to at least try and take my safety seriously.

I can't do much, but I can go home and make a simple shield to surround the tree, it probably won't do shit against this thing, but it's better than nothing. I spend the next hour going home and enchanting a large ruby with the same shield I use on my apartment before heading back with it and another gem I've had sitting around for a while now.

When I return to the tree Entropy is with me and she immediately lands on a branch while inspecting the gold leaves. "Pretty." She caws as I set up the shield and place the sunstone down next to it, I filled the sunstone a long time ago but never found much of a use for it.

This tree could make use of the extra solar magic it slowly releases so why not add it in to try and help the tree live, if this thing even needs sunlight that is? I start by simply trying to think about where the tree should be planted and after some thought I decide to just keep it where it is right now, the dead center of Gaia's Eden.

So I simply decomposed the tree stump into soil so the new tree didn't have to be moved at all, it seems like the best idea to keep the tree healthy and make less work for myself, plus if the tree is here I can keep a clear line of sight on it at all times.

I keep the tree straight with my field and compact the soil so it keeps the tree standing in place before placing the large ruby a few feet away and activating it. I then place the sunstone on top of the ruby and sit down in the snowy grass while looking up at the magical tree and taking out an empty notebook.

As my thoughts drift about and ponder this tree something pops into my head. "As a madman once said, I will know you better than you have ever known yourself." I chuckle at myself and start to draw the tree.

I have a feeling this tree's many mysteries could drive me mad, but only time will tell. I look up as a strong wind blows through and a few leaves fall from the tree before scattering into golden particles and vanishing completely in the wind. I smile up at the tree, "If nothing else this is one hell of a way to end off this wild year."

I spend over two hours trying my best to document every tiny detail I can about the tree before taking a break and heading home again. I have something very important to do today and it all revolves around the little gremlin I live with, it's Entropy's birthday today.

Well, actually it was her birthday two days ago but I kind of forgot about it and had to move the date a bit to gather everything I'd need for her small celebration, and yes I know it's bad I forgot her birthday but in my defense, I barely remember my own birthday.

So to make it up to her, even if Entropy could care less that it's her birthday, I explained it to her but she just looked at me like I was stupid. Regardless of that, I bought a large Bass that I'm going to cook for her to feast on as a gift and apology, along with a few new toys I bought without her knowing.

So when we return home I start working on the fish immediately. "You do what you want, and happy birthday." I smile as she looks at the large Bass with excitement while not listening to a word I said. "You are just a glutton aren't you?" I tease her a little which earns me a peck on the hoof before she flies off to her perch.

It takes me a while to properly process the Bass because I haven't done it in a very long time, but once I have it ready I drench the thing in some oil and a little cheese before throwing it in the oven to bake. It takes a while to bake and in that time I make myself a little bowl of oatmeal and fruit.

I eat and then spend the next hour checking on the Bass and showering Entropy in scratches and pets while playing with her. When the Bass is done I let it cool before dumping it on a plate and placing it on the table next to Entropy as she practically vibrates at the sight. "Dig in girl," I say with a happy tone.

She turns back to me and then looks back at the large Bass. "All?" She caws out the question, I never knew birds could show excitement in their tone.

I chuckle. "Yes, it's all for you, happy birthday Entropy." The words barely left my mouth before she descended on the Bass like the vicious best she could be. I don't think I've ever seen a bird rip a fish's head clean off, and the scales don't seem to stop her in the slightest, those talons are sharper than they look.

I watch in grotesque silence as she devoured half of the Bass that's twice her size before she even slows down a little, when she finally stops I decide against giving her the bowl of diced fruit I made as only a quarter of the fish is left as she lays sprawled out on the table in a food coma. I can't help but laugh at the sight, "You crazy ass bird."

I pick her half-awake form up and move her over to my bedroom before laying her on my bed. "Get some sleep, you can finish it later," I say as she happily snuggles up in my blankets.

I'm about to turn away and leave her to rest before she looks up at me. "Love, love." I stop for a moment as she says that.

I smile widely as my mild shock wears off, "I love you too, now sleep." I say softly as she quietly chirps before drifting off to sleep as I gently pet her.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year 993, nearly another year down!

If you couldn't tell I played a lot of Elden Ring recently. YOU FOOLS! HE WAS THE ELDEN LORD THIS WHOLE TIME! HAAHAHAHA.

Chapter 134

JAN 1 Friday.

I walk out of the library and step into the cold snow as the sun greets my eyes.

It's a new year and it started with me and Avalon finding a little time to work on our project. It wasn't very interesting and I spent most of the time explaining and teaching Avalon the basics of spell creation and modification, specifically about how to go about it safely.

He stayed behind to read a few books I recommended while I went about my day as planned. For our first planned meeting, it was nice and even a little fun, mostly from Avalon's endless excitement over magic and all that comes with it. Along with the fact that he's now a new friend made the whole meeting enjoyable.

Speaking of meetings my meeting with Celestia is set for January tenth and I'll be excited to see her again. I temper the bad thought that appears in my mind for a moment. I don't know what it is but my mind and body have been more rowdy than normal and I find myself being a little annoyed despite my best efforts.

But that's fine, I can deal with all of that, what I can't deal with is the mares in my life. I keep finding myself looking and I would rather not insult my friends by eyeing them up, so I've tried my best to not let my eyes linger and keep them controlled as best I can.

I huff and force my mind to something else, something like the weird tree I have in my garden. For now, I've named the odd tree the Gold Oak, mostly because the only thing I can link the tree to is an Oak. Anyway, I've tested several things with some odd results.

Over the week or so Celestia hasn't left any notes on the board so she doesn't seem to have seen the tree yet, so I'm definitely bringing it up at our next meeting if she doesn't visit first. I stop my thoughts as I enter my apartment and smile at Entropy, she files right over to me like most days. "Hello." She greets me before flying off again to go right back to her nap.

I just chuckle at her antics. "Crazy bird." I find myself using that to describe her a lot. I make her a quick meal and leave it out before heading into my workroom and sitting down at a desk. I place an open notebook down and start organizing some information.

I've tested several things with the Gold Oak and sadly haven't learned all that much yet. I tried to saw the wood instead of cutting and the result was the same, with no damage. I tried to simply rip or snap a piece off, again with no luck, then I tried to collect some of the dust the leaves disintegrate into with a jar.

This at last was a slight success. Whenever I tried to pick and capture the leaves they'd vanish into nothing at all, something that confuses me for several more reasons, but when I captured a falling leaf I didn't pick it resulting in a very tiny amount of golden dust being collected.

The only thing I've found out about this dust is that it holds a decent amount of life magic in it and doesn't dissolve in water at all. I'm not sure if it's a metal of some form, it does float and seems buoyant enough so I don't think it's metal, but I'm not an expert on that. I've not done much beyond that for now but I'll probably try melting or burning it later.

But like I said it does hold a decent amount of life magic for being such a small amount of material and it also doesn't block my senses like the tree does. I've tried to give this gold dust more life magic, but that didn't do anything and the dust didn't even absorb the life magic, let alone do anything with it.

Back to my tests on the tree. Without a way to gather anything else from the Gold Oak, I started seeing if there was anything I could do with my life magic. First I must point out another odd thing, despite the Gold Oak seemingly growing a few feet in two days it hasn't grown naturally besides that,

I say naturally because for the first week, the tree didn't change in the slightest but when I dumped all of my life magic into the Gold Oak it grew very slightly. It was barely anything and I had to measure the tree with a ruler to even notice, one-tenth of an inch from draining myself completely, I could grow a thirty-foot oak with that much life magic.

But it still does something, and after that, I tried to gain a little more control than just letting the tree grow by itself. I started with the leaves but they were just as resistant as the Gold Oak's trunk and branches, so I went down and tried to connect with the roots, only to face the same result.

I could see the roots underground because of the lack of life magic leaving a noticeable void. Sadly they provide the same result and now I'm at an impasse with this route, I'm stuck and can't do much beyond simply growing the tree further with more life magic and just hope it knows what it's doing.

After organizing my notes I started on something new, a new idea that struck me today. I keep all of my information in books filled with notes, but that is limited in several ways and I have a better idea for long-term information storage.

I've made a way to store a lot of information in a small area with my illusionary books, but they have a big drawback that I need to solve before I start using them for more than what I already have. I need a way to copy that information and move it to other illusionary books.

So what I need is some way to move a spell from one gem to another without breaking it and I also need a way to copy that spell along with its stored information. The first seems more complicated so I'm starting with the second idea as it should be easier and will be helpful when I loop back around and work on the first idea.

So for now all I really need is the copying rune and a scanning spell to find and copy the specific thing I need. I start with the copying rune and then take the scanning spell I have before taking it apart. I'll need to add more to this scanning spell with something to target spells without detecting itself.

The rune I add is a broad and somewhat vague rune for the concept of magical spells. I slowly work my way through math equation after math equation before finishing something that's good enough for a base to improve upon later, I move a single small ruby over and start enchanting it.

I start with the spells to gather and hold magic, then I add the illusionary spells to make it a small illusionary book before placing it to the side and continuing my work on the spell. After another two hours of fiddling with the math, I only solve a few of the hurdles I need to overcome before I hear a knock on my door.

It's quiet and I almost miss it, I don't have anything planned and I'm not expecting a visit, so needless to say this is out of the ordinary. I stand up and walk into the main room before casting an illusion over Entropy and slowly opening my door, only to see Daisy. "Hello, Shade." I'm immediately on edge a little as her tone is not the normal happy tone she has.

Her tone is somber and subdued, I immediately open my door fully and look her over. I saw her earlier today and she was fine, but now her mane is a little messed up and her eyes are a little red, she's been crying recently. "Daisy? Are you ok? Come in." I step aside and motion her in.

She shakes her head a little and shows a flat smile. "No need, I'm ... fine. I just came to ask if you could take care of my apartment for a few days." Her tone is anything but fine and it's obvious she's avoiding the topic.

I nod after a moment. "I can do that, but... Look I'm far from the best pony to talk to but anypony can see you're not fine. I won't pry, but if you need to talk I'm here." I offer gently. I don't know what this is but Daisy needs some help and I'm not going to leave her hanging.

She stares at me for a moment. "I... It's complicated and something I shouldn't burden you with. But, well, it's Willow... She passed away." Daisy is talking in a whisper as she finishes and her mood now makes a lot more sense.

I stop and go through my memories of Willow quickly. We only met once for a few days, but she was very nice and it was clear she meant a lot to Daisy. My smile drops and I give her an understanding look. "I... I'm sorry Daisy, my condolences." I've had relatives pass before and it's never an easy thing.

I'm silent for another moment as I can't think of anything to say to her. "Seriously Daisy, I'm here if you need to talk, same with Blaz and Maple." I give the only small comfort I can to her. I'm also taking a page out of Celestia's book, don't push and simply wait until they are ready to talk about it.

The mood has definitely taken a dive, but I still see a small smile on her face after a moment. "Thanks, it means a lot, and I'll be fine. I just need... Time, I need some time. But first I need to go to Ponyville." She's taking it well, or at least better than I've seen others who've had similar things happen to them, I can respect the strength it takes to carry on through things like this.

I nod again, "Understood, I'll take care of everything so don't worry. Take all the time you need and come back when you're good and ready." I keep a gentle tone and try to give her a comforting smile.

She also keeps her own very small smile. "Thanks again, here's the key." She passes me a simple key before backing out of my doorway. "I should be back by Monday. Have a good night Shade." It's obvious she's done talking and just wants to leave, and that's perfectly understandable.

I nod and take the key from her. "Same to you, and try to get some sleep, Daisy." She just nods before turning around and walking away. I notice she picks up a suitcase in the hallway before walking out of sight as I close my door and simply stare at it for a minute.

I've seen my fair share of loss in my past life, a few distant relatives and even a few dear uncles and aunties. I'm lucky that everyone really important to me was alive by the time I died if that can even be called lucky. My mind takes a darker path as I remember all the faces I'll never see again.

You know what's the worst part about never seeing someone again? It's not forgetting how they look or sound, it's when forgetting them lessens your pain. To lose even the pain of loss brings a new pain all its own, one not so easily forgotten or ignored by the mind.

"Hhhhh." I sigh and let those feelings wash over me for a few minutes before picking myself off of the floor and placing the key I was given on the countertop. I don't feel like working anymore so I just close the door to my workroom and start to make myself some tea.

I lay down and stare out my window as the snow lightly falls past, winter is already clearing a little and spring won't be long now. The season of new things and new beginnings, I hope Daisy finds both this year. "A saying comes to mind on days like this," I speak to nopony but the wind and a sleeping Entropy.

"You die twice, once when you are buried, and once when your name is spoken for the very last time. I think that's how it goes, maybe I'm wrong, can't remember." I lapse back into silence and take a deep drink of my tea as I am reminded of an old grizzled man I knew once, he was a neighbor when I was in my teens.

He was old, late nineties if I remember correctly. He was a grouchy guy but he was always willing to talk to me when I needed to vent a little about life and stress. He didn't have anyone left, he had outlived all the important people to him and when he died I heard there wasn't even anyone that was going to be at his funeral, besides me.

The funny thing is I don't even remember why I wanted to go, we barely knew each other, but something told me it was the right thing to do. At his funeral, the pastor read some words that the old man had asked to be read out. It was only three words but they've stuck with me.

I walk free. I never knew why he wanted them to be read aloud, or who those words were for, but I do remember those words, I remember them well. I think for a moment before casting a single candle flame spell to light up the room as the sun lowers from the sky, I sit there for a few moments staring at the small flame in the dark.

"Walk free Willow Bark, and may you find your well-earned rest." I let the flame fade into nothing as the moon rises into the night sky.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 994

Death is truly an odd thing, but the oddest thing about it, is how peaceful death is.

I was in an odd mood and decided to see how it would feel to write during it, sorry if this was less upbeat then normal. Still, I think it came out decently. I've been trying to think of a time to have Willow pass for a while now and this lined up well enough.

Chapter 135

JAN 10 Sunday.

I slowly work my way through the many numbers used in my newest spell while I try to keep everything working together properly without breaking anything.

The spell I've been working on for over a week has been more difficult than I originally presumed. Targeting a single spell among many other spells at the same time is a tricky thing, I solved it by simply adding a number to each page and scanning for that instead.

Changing my approach did set me back some but after a few days of light work I've gotten most of the problems resolved, I'll still need more time to properly finish it fully though. Still, in a week or two I should have it done and then I can start work on the more complicated spell.

I need this spell to copy illusionary pages to new illusionary books and I need the second spell to move the spells themselves. It might seem odd to have the second spell but it's mostly about preserving the information in case of accidents or damage.

When a gem breaks or shatters the spells enchanted inside aren't fully lost, it depends on the spell and how complex or powerful it is, but a decent amount of the time the spell stays mostly intact inside what remains of the broken gem. But casting another spell to scan what remains and copy it might just cause more damage, so it's better to move that spell somewhere safe and try to recover what I can then.

The spell is probably going to be much more complex than this one, so in the meantime, I'll be copying all my notebooks into illusionary notebooks. I could make something to copy the paper notebook pages into my illusionary books, but this is for more long-term storage so the notes should be much better organized than how I normally keep them.

Don't get me wrong, I keep my notes in order, somewhat, but they could use a lot more work. That means I'll need to redo them anyway so I'll leave that other copy spell for now and just slowly write everything into the illusionary books. My mind starts to wander as it often does while I slowly work on something.

Daisy has been... Not the best. I'm still not sure exactly what connection she and Willow had, but it's weighing heavily on her right now. Still, she's doing better than I expected, and Blaz told me they talked about it a little, which seemed to have helped somewhat as she was more lively the next day.

For now, though, we're all just trying to be there for her and we are making sure to check on her every few days, mostly me because we live a few dozen feet away from each other. I go over and play a few card games while making us tea, it might be small but I can see how much it means to her every time I do it.

I stop working and leave my thoughts as Entropy flies in with Philomena close behind her, Philomena holds a letter in her beak that I take from her in mid-flight before they can damage it with their play fighting. I chuckle as Philomena steals a rope toy from a shelf before teleporting out of the room. "Mean!" Entropy caws out before also teleporting away.

I open the letter while listening to the sounds of two birds fighting in my living room.

Shade, I'll be at your camp at around five in the afternoon, I hope to see you there.

Celestia

I flip the page but find nothing more, of course, she would send an entire letter for less than twenty words. I burn the letter into nothing before checking the time, it's twelve so I have five hours left, might as well be productive and have some fun. "Entropy," I call out while walking out of my workroom.

I turn to see Entropy and Philomena still fighting over the rope toy. "Come on girl, we need to head to Gaia." I walk over to them and take the toy, earning me a squawk from Philomena and a small glare from Entropy. I roll my eyes at the indignant birds before growing a few large Juniper berries and giving both of them a few.

A moment later Entropy lands on my back and we both vanish, I feel my thoughts stretch out as the Void greets me before everything comes rushing back again. I feel Entropy hop off of my back and fly over to her perch as I reorient myself from the abrupt change of scenery.

A second later I notice that Philomena appears inside the shack with us. She came here a few times and I'm not sure how she learned about Gaia's Eden, but it was probably Celestia. I turn to Entropy, "I expect nothing in here to break, otherwise I'm grounding you, literally." I warn slightly as Philomena carries over another of Entropy's toys that she's stolen.

I smile as instead of fighting, Entropy starts to preen Philomena’s feathers before moving back to my rough plan. I have time so I'll be spending it messing around with something I need to be very careful with, space magic. I rummage through a few shelves and grab a few normal Oak acorns before walking over to a completely empty area of Gaia's Eden. I make sure to be at least one hundred feet away from anything just to be safe.

I take my acorns and drop one before growing it into a small tree and backing several feet away from it, then I start concentrating on the space around it. I'm not entirely sure how to go about this but I have an idea, so I start by imagining four points is space around the sapling and pushing a small amount of my space magic at those points.

I then imagine those four points connecting to form a flat square, now this is where my probably bad idea comes into play. I try to will the space at the points to anchor them to the space around them, the only reason I know anything is happening is the feeling of my magic draining slightly and the slight vague difference in the space itself.

Anchoring those points doesn't seem to take much magic, but I do feel a slight consistent drain on my magic, and filling this imaginary square in seems to just take a little more magic to maintain. I hesitate for a moment before taking one of the points and start trying to cross it over to the opposite point while keeping the mantel image of folding a piece of paper from corner to corner in my mind.

I watch as the space shimmers very slightly and watch the light bend a little, doing this takes much more magic, and the result is odd. I formed the flat square over the sapling's tiny trunk and I watched as the part of the tree that was inside that imaginary piece of paper moved and bended with the space outside of the trunk itself.

After a moment I let go of the space and watch it snap back into the correct shape, but as I walk up to the sapling I see that that's not entirely correct. I can feel that the space has returned to normal, but the physical material of the tree seems to be slightly deformed.

The bark has an inconsistent pattern and seems to be partly intertwined with the wood that should be under it, and on the other side, some of the wood seems to be missing from the trunk. After looking over the tree I removed the section of wood and saw that the material was deformed halfway to the side I bent it in.

It seems that physical material does return to normal, but not as quickly as the space does, and that results in the material fusing and blending as the space snaps back faster than it does. It's yet another terrifying aspect of space magic, but I leave that for now and start to test more things.

I redid the same experiment but carefully folded the space back to normal before letting it go, this resulted in no damage or side effects as far as I can tell. Next, I tried to twist the imaginary piece of paper and this resulted in a different pattern of deformation and compression.

The material isn't smashed to one side but instead seems to roughly mirror the same pattern I twist the imaginary piece of paper in. Even if it's imprecise I can control this reaction to some degree and that gives me options for advancement with my space magic.

This lets me roughly mesh materials together in a way that should be impossible otherwise, and that needs much more experimentation. I was doing this on a whim and I don't have anything to take notes with, so I'll just do one more basic test for now.

The last test I want to do is to try and speed up the process. I fold the space once again, but this time I try to snap it back to its original position even faster than it normally does, and I watch as the space seems to ripple slightly from some form of recoil that results in the wood shattering and cracking violently.

I keep my distance and watch for any other side effects for a few moments, but nothing else happens and I walk over to the splinters after waiting a minute. I pick up the largest splinter to see that what little material remains intact is much more thoroughly fused than before.

The first two times I could distinguish between wood, core wood, and bark, but this is more mixed than that, it's much harder to tell them apart. And at the center, the point where it was bent and compressed the most, it's so blended and fused that it looks like something new altogether.

While I'm holding it I watch as the new material seems so weak that even in my field it falls apart, whatever I've made isn't very strong or stable. I stop the tests here for now, I've already made a big discovery and the ability to fuse materials to such a level will need a lot of research to see what it could be used for.

I decompose what's left of the sapling and walk back to my shack with the fragile splinter of fused wood. I leave it on a shelf and check the time again, I still have two more hours so I might as well use them. I grab my blindfold and wooden weapons before walking outside to continue my endless training.

time skip

I nearly trip over my legs when I sense the violent rending of space near my location, normally I can't sense space at that distance but something that big is hard to miss. I drop my weapons and leave them on the ground for now.

I smile while closing the distance with my blindfold still on, as long as I'm not swinging a weapon it's relatively easy to walk around with just my magical senses. I feel the slight tremors in space as the steps of a large pony get close to me. "Hello Celestia, It's good to see you again, I hope today has gone well for you." I greet her while staring at her face with a large smile.

I can't make out any details, but I can still look at where her head is. I keep my smile as she stops for a moment and even waves her hoof to her side. "Why the wave? I'm right next to you?" I play innocent and pretend like nothing is wrong.

I hear an exaggerated sigh. "I leave you alone for a few weeks and you start doing things like this, because why not? Also, what is that tree?" She greets me with the same casual attitude and asks about the Gold Oak while pointing in its direction.

I chuckle while taking my blindfold off, Celestia looks the same as always and greets me with a smile. "Well, I need to train my ability to sense life and space magic somehow, so blindfold. That... Thing is the result of the seed you told me sprouted." I explain while walking over to the shack, I need my teakettle.

She starts to walk alongside me. "You never stop, do you? Always something new to train or improve. Mmmm, that is not what I expected when I saw the tiny sprout, I presume you've been growing it then?" Celestia seems to be in a good mood.

I huff a little at the thought of growing that tree. "Not really, I've only grown it around two inches over the past few weeks." She raises a brow with clear confusion. "I'll just send you my notes later, but you never answered me, how are you doing?" I decide to leave that damn tree alone for now.

She smiles and lays down on my shack floor as I start to make some fresh tea. "Well, I guess my curiosity will have to wait then, a true shame. But to answer you, I got to use your new spell, I must say it really is good at getting stains out of your coat." I hear a slightly playful edge to her words and put it together a second later.

I start to chuckle, and then full-on laugh as Celestia's perturbed face proves my guess right. Once I've recovered I try to tease her for some extra revenge. "Well then, I hope Cadance got pictures, we spent two hours planning that." She smiles in a way that never ends well for me.

"I didn't know you wanted pictures of me showering." She asks in a far too innocent tone.

"W-wait?" I stutter out in shock and confusion as my damned blush starts to consume my face as certain thoughts flash through my mind, while Celestia's smile only grows at my reaction.

"Yes, she added whatever that dye was to my soap, it got everywhere. But that spell did remove it, good thing too, I had a meeting that day and didn't want to attend it as a strawberry." She jokes, but I don't respond as my mind can't keep up with the teasing she's just subjected me to.

I want to both laugh at the image that pops into my head and also bury my face inside my hooves from the embarrassment. After several moments I get my mind and body back on track enough to speak. "I... You're just not fair are you?" I sigh and just slump a little as she chuckles. "Well, you've gotten me good and embarrassed, and you haven't even asked me about my day yet, shame on you." I make a weak attempt to fight back.

She laughs right in my face for a moment. "Ok, I'll let you off, for now. How have you been? I hope well." She shows a little mercy on me.

I focus on keeping my blush under control and distract myself with something to bring my mood down a little. "I've been so and so, I've made progress in several things, gotten far too much mail, and..." I trail off, I'm not sure I should bring Daisy's life into this.

She gives me a curious and mischievous look. :fuck it: "A friend, Daisy, I'm not sure how much you remember about her. Anyway, she recently lost somepony important to her, I won't be more specific than that, but I've been helping her with that for a bit now." I keep it vague but don't hide things that aren't needed.

Celestia's look immediately softens and whatever she was about to say changes. "I'm sorry to hear that, is she taking it well?" Her tone is soft and she drops any teasing she had planned before. "Were you close to them too?" She adds after a second.

I feel a little bad using Daisy's life to distract her, but as long as I stick to how I'm doing and don't share too much I think it's ok. Why does having friends have to be so complicated?

I shake my head and take on a soft tone. "No, I only met them once, but they were a kind and nice soul. Daisy's doing, actually, pretty well, all things considered, I think she'll be fine after a while." I pass her a cup of tea. "Death is odd like that." I can't help but voice that thought.

Celestia looks a little bit concerned. "Are you handling it well? Death can be a bad thing to find yourself thinking about so often."

I smile at her concern. "I'm just fine, I was talking about death in a more philosophical way. It's one of those things I ponder from time to time, just another mystery of life. But you are right, so got a better topic?" I decided to take my mind off of death for a while.

She nods and loses her concerned look. "Yes, it is. Maybe not a topic, but I have some important news." I perk up more at that. "I've been so busy recently because we've made contact with a group of Changelings." That brings my mind back from any other stray thoughts.

"Really? That… That is certainly big news. How did it go?" I eagerly ask while going through my shelves to find some paper and a quill.

She smiles again at my actions. "It took several weeks to even get a meeting, they are very isolated and distrustful of others, and their war didn't help with that. But after many promises and overtures, we had two representing a small independent group meet with us."

I take notes of everything she's saying and write questions I have for later. "They were predictably wary of us, but after finding out that we already knew about what and who they were, they became a little more open to talking."

I decide to interrupt at that. "It won't take long for that to slip out into their communities, this could get bad." I summarize my worry and she gives me a reassuring look in return.

"Yes most likely that will happen, but it would have anyway, and at least we have some control over the situation if we act first. The meeting went... It was tense and it took a while to get anywhere, but after a lot of negotiations they agreed to tell us more about what the situation is like."

Her tone is now more official and reserved. "It's complicated, to say the least. So I'll keep it brief, the war is still happening and it's escalated some as apparently the newer hive is nearing some form of victory." She obviously doesn't want me involved in this and is just answering the bare minimum to satisfy my curiosity, but that's more than I expected already.

That is important information, if Chrysalis really is winning then the situation could either get much better or much worse. It really depends on how badly the war has gone and just how powerful her hive is right now. "IF that's true, then it changes a lot." I give a vague but true comment while keeping my inner thoughts to myself.

She nods. "Yes it does, but for now we've started a small trade with the group we met. Both hives seem to be demanding a lot of them right now so their food situation is not the best even with their small numbers, so we're using the emotional collector you made to supply them with something that they can eat in exchange for information."

I tilt my head and nod my agreement after a moment. It's a good way to learn more and build a little trust while things are still relatively calm. "I'm glad to hear that it's proved useful, and just to update you a little it's going to take a long while to make something better than that, even if I had the rune already." I lament that a little as it's plain to see that Changelings not even involved in the conflict are suffering because of it.

Celestia's able to see my mood change in an instant. "It's not your fault, you've already done more than any other has and what you've made will save many lives, and you don't carry this burden alone. So how about we change the subject? Both of the previous ones are rather subdued for a talk between friends."

I chuckle and nod after a second. She's right, as always I'm overthinking things and putting too much on myself. "Thanks. Yes, that sounds nice, take it away then Miss Princess." I try to joke and fail like a seasoned pro.

She smiles again. "Well, about that prank, what did you convince Cadance to lather me in?" I can already feel my face heat up at the wording choice. :Magic damn you Celestia, magic damn you:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I'm not sure if I'll continue this to another chapter but we'll see how it goes.

Also, I'm in no way an expert on the fabric of space and how it works, so I'm just making things up as I go and it probably won't make much sense to anyone who dose understand how space works.

Also also. 350k YAY! :}

Chapter 136

JAN 10 Sunday.

I feel my blush come back but I'm able to force it down by desperately focusing on the technical aspects of her question. "Red Spicy Root, basically a spicy potato that stains everything red. I just boiled it down and gave some to Cadance, I never did ask how she was going to use it. I thought it would be funnier that way, but you've thoroughly turned that back on me."

I try to keep a bland tone for my own sake. She just keeps that damned smile and nods. "I've had the pleasure of eating them before, but finding them is hard outside of the Plains." The Plains is a colloquial name for the massive savannas most Zebra tribes live in.

I'm happy she's let up on the teasing and is just talking, for now. "Well, if you haven't been turned off by them from the prank I can make some for you. Personally, I enjoy them with fish and bread, sometimes toast too." Entropy decides to make her presence known and flies down from her perch.

"Food? Food." She caws while giving me an expecting look.

It is nearing the end of the day and she does need dinner, so I turn back to Celestia. "Philomena's probably going to want some too, so would you like to join me for dinner?" It takes my mind half a second to realize how that sounds. I see that smile start to show on her face again and cut her off. "Not that way, get your mind out of the muck." I keep a joking tone as I slightly chastise her.

She chuckles. "Fine, but you should word that better next time. I presume we'll be heading to your home then?" She asks back while finishing her tea.

I think about that for a moment before shaking my head. "Actually, no. You two stay here and look around if you like, we'll be right back. Entropy if you don't mind?" I get an idea and a moment later I leave Celestia in the shake before appearing in my apartment. I don't dally and start to gather everything I'll need quickly. Some raw fish, bread, Red Root's, and some seasonings, along with a pan, pot, and a knife.

It only takes me a few minutes to gather everything and have Entropy take me back to Gaia's Eden. When we return I look around and see Celestia isn't inside anymore, I glance out of the window to see her inspecting the Gold Oak while taking a few notes. "Of course," I mutter to myself and can't help but smile at the sight.

I keep all my things with me and walk outside to join her while also grabbing an acorn from a shelf along with the teakettle and teacups. It takes a moment to walk over to Celestia and Philomena, who is in the treetop pecking at the golden leaves. "I've taken to calling it the Gold Oak, and it is just plain weird."

She calmly turns from the notes and smiles as she sees what I'm holding. "A cookout then? Why not? It's been an age since I've had the opportunity. As for the name, it works, I guess." I roll my eyes at that and drop the acorn I grabbed a few feet away before shifting some of my life magic into it.

I control the growth to form minimal amounts of roots and make nothing but a few-foot-long log without bark before decomposing it into sections and letting them tumble to the ground. Celestia glances over to watch something with some interest while still taking notes.

"Well, in my defense I'm absolutely horrible at names. Interesting fact, I'm unable to gather wood from the tree because it seems impervious to my tools, even my enchanted ones. Try if you like." I keep her interest in the tree as I force all the water out of the newly grown wood to dry it out quickly.

She turns back to the tree and I see her golden magic bend a tiny branch much more than I could with my field. She's probably trying to be careful by holding back, but she's still putting a good amount of force behind her magic, and yet the tree doesn't break in the slightest. "Hmm, that is interesting." She notes it down.

I smile, we really are alike in some ways. I take the log sections and decompose them along the grain to form the classic-looking firewood pieces, I do this several times before piling them into an equally classic-looking campfire. But before I can light it Philomena flies right down and sits on top of the firewood.

I'm about to ask her to move or simply pick her up, but before I can I feel some serious heat coming off of her before the firewood starts to smoke and catches fire a moment later. "Huh, that's neat, did you teach her that?" I ask while using the stump of the oak tree to grow a few sticks to hang my pot on before decomposing it away.

She smiles as Philomena goes back into the tree while Entropy follows right behind her. "Somewhat, more an accident than anything. But she learned to do that over time, with a little encouragement with treats. Although, I've lost a good amount of furniture to her."

I chuckle at that and assemble a simple spit roast to hang my pot on before casting a spell to fill it with water. I take my knife and cut the Spicy Red Root's into pieces before dumping them in to boil while setting my pan over the fire with a few more sticks to give it a base to sit on. "Now that sounds like a story, but I'll settle for asking something else. What's something she does that makes you laugh?"

She stops taking notes and fully turns to watch me prepare our food. "Hmm, there are certainly a few things, but if I have to pick. Probably her reaction to a certain small green fruit." I give her an odd smile.

I raise a brow. "Really? I can see it being funny to watch, but having to deal with that seems like a nightmare." I don't have a cutting board so I grow one from a log section that was put to the side and start cutting up the meat into slices while adding a few seasonings to the pan.

"It certainly can be, but I'm not always on the receiving end, and nopony ever suspects a princess to slip grapes to unsuspecting ponies." She chuckles while saying that and turns back to see me cutting the meat up. "You really aren't bothered by meat, are you? I've met hardened guards who can't even be near it." She gives me something of a compliment.

I stare at her blankly for a moment and start full-belly laughing. "You what! That has to be the best thing, you just throw it without anypony noticing and watch the chaos unfold!" I break down laughing for a moment at the madness Celestia can get up to. "I'll answer the meat question, but first I have to know. Did you ever get caught in the act?"

She laughs with me. "If I did, nopony ever said anything about it. Although, once I had a guard captain who definitely knew. She never did say anything though, she'd just smile whenever it happened." I can sense a small amount of sadness with that, but it's interlaced with an odd joy.

I don't ask about that and just chuckle again before moving on to her question. "As for the meat? I don't really know myself, I don't fear it or where it comes from. Honestly, I find it odd to be so offended by somepony else's meal choice, although I can understand not liking certain things."

I place the meat slices in the pan and start to fry them before growing out two rough plates along with two bowls from the cutting board I made. She nods. "A good way to view it, one most wouldn't share. I am curious as to when you first tried it though?" She asks and my mind stops for a moment.

I can't really answer that truthfully, so I add as few lies as possible while still answering her. "Shortly after I started my work at the library. You know me, I get curious, so I read a basic recipe and bought some Bass, it took me a while to get used to the market though. Anyway, it turns out I liked eating meat, so I never stopped." I keep it simple and it's not really a lie, for the most part.

She tilts her head and nods. "That seems about right. Also, what makes you laugh about Entropy?" And we circle right back around to the start, which is fine by me.

I give it a little thought. "Several, first. She refuses to use big sentences, so she comes off as beautifully blunt and simple. But my current favorite involves her and Philomena, they keep fighting over Entropy's toys, and they immediately nap next to each other right after." I chuckle at the memory of this morning.

She laughs with me. "Hehehe, that seems about right, Philomena always liked her toys, she never did care if they weren't actually toys. That's starting to smell nice." She looks at the meat and I smile with a nod.

I check on the Red Root's and see it's done, I take the pot off of the fire and place the pot to the side to keep warm, and place the teakettle to start boiling. The fish is also done so I use my field to fill both our plates with the simple meal along with the two smaller bowls. "Good, because it's done, here." I pass her the larger plate.

She gives me a new mischievous look. "No fork, you want me to eat with my hooves?" She pretends to be offended and I huff at her pretending to be annoyed.

"Fine, if that is what Her Majesty demands." I jab back with a noble tone while growing a fork from her plate and breaking it off by decomposing it before dropping it on the plate with my field. "Now eat, it's better when it's hot." I drop the tone and smile as she pouts a little while taking the fork and using it to stab some fish.

I take a bite of the fish, it's not bad for a campout. "Needs more salt." I sprinkle some more on it and pass her some, which she uses after tasting the fish and nodding in agreement. I enjoy the meal for a few moments and a few moments later I look over to see she's already eaten half her food and seems to be very much enjoying the fish. "I'm glad you like it." I also watch both of the birds dig into their food with vigor, "Same with you two."

Celestia doesn't seem the least bit embarrassed at how quickly she's eating. "It's not often I eat fish, mostly when a Griffin ambassador visits. So it's a nice treat, thank you." She says with a smile.

I stop at that. "Hmmm, Griffin cooking, I should look into that." I voice my thoughts openly again.

She raises a brow. "Then you've done an excellent job if you're working with pony recipes, normally it's just not the same." I smile at the compliment.

"Well, well. That's high praise, I can hang my head high and call myself a half-decent chef." I joke while finishing my meal and dropping my plate right into the fire. Celestia does the same a moment later as she's also done with her meal. She stops as an alarm goes off. "Seems our time is up then." I've heard that before and the day grows late.

She stares at the evening sky for a moment before smiling. "Maybe not, I'd rather we didn't end this quite so soon. You want to see something interesting?" I raise a brow and nod. "Good, because it's your turn to look shocked for once." She smiles and stands up fully as I see her horn start to glow brightly.

I put it together half a second before her horn starts to blind me with its glow, I stop looking at it and turn to watch as the sun starts to lower below the horizon and disappear entirely before the moon rises a few seconds later as her horn dims and the world around us goes dark. "Well, that's another thing off of my bucket list," I say with a stunned expression.

She looks at me with a large smile. "I'd hope so. Unless you know any other princesses?" She jokes with me as I move a fresh pot of tea off of the fire.

"Actually, maybe?" I'm reminded of Silvis, the hippogriff that might be something close to that. Celestia gives me a deadpan stare. "It's a solid maybe, but if they were some form of royalty I never knew for sure, just a decent guess." I elaborate and move a cup of fresh tea over to her.

She sighs. "You really get around for such a quiet pony. Who do you think you met?" She seems amused at least.

I'm not sure I want to reveal everything about that particular event, mostly to not worry her, but it's all long ago now and I can't see much of a reason not to. She's seen me do dumber things so I just trust her to be fair. "Not sure to be honest, but probably somegriff from the Griffonstone royal family." Her brows raise further.

"Now I need to hear this." She sips some tea and shifts to lay on her side as we talk around the campfire, a proper campfire story it is then.

I decided to say fuck it and just be honest about the whole thing. "Well, remember my trip to New Trotten?" She nods. "While I was there I met this old Griffin at a game cafe, the really silent type of Griffin. We played chess and I kept coming back every day to keep playing with him, mostly because we were pretty evenly matched so he was good practice against you."

She definitely noticed that I'm not using names, but doesn't demand them, and smiles at the last part. "Anyway, near the end of my visit, I came into play a game with him at the cafe like normal, but he had a hippogriff with him, probably his grandfilly, and she demanded a visit to the park and so I tagged along to play with him there."

She interrupts me. "For chess? Did you even know them?" Her tone is nothing but curious.

I half-shake my head. "Not really, but he had done nothing bad to me and we were in public the whole time. But this is where things get... Messy, I may have gotten in over my head a little." I'm a little nervous about telling her this, and she's able to see that easily.

"It's in the past now, the worst I can do is ground you." She jokes to break that slight tension in me.

I smile and nod. "I'd like to see you try, actually I really wouldn't, and thanks. In my defense, I think I did some good. You know how paranoid I am, so it didn't take me long to notice someone was following us, two griffons to be specific." Her eyes gain a slight sharpness to them, but her expression is still relaxed and reassuring.

"Now I had no idea what was happening, they could be guards or something less pleasant. So I pretended like nothing was happening and after we reached the park we played for a while and I made a choice. Whatever this was, the filly didn't deserve to be a part of it." I keep a steady tone and watch her face closely.

She nods after a second. "With so little to work off of it's a good choice, do you think it was the right one in the end?" She asks gently.

"I know it was." She still looks a little concerned at that but doesn't interrupt. "I'll skip a bit, but at a certain point I slipped away and was able to listen in on the two following us, they never saw me, but all I learned was that somepony paid them to spy on the Griffin and filly."

I can see her eyes narrow further. "Did anything happen to you?" I hear the concern in her tone and notice the lack of any form of scolding.

I answer quickly, trying to reassure her. "No, I was fine. After hearing that I walked back and finished the chess game like normal, and then I passed him a note before walking off. Nothing happened after that, but right before I left the city that same Griffin found me in the public library."

She relaxes slightly at my answer. "I admire the good intentions, but you know that was a risk right?" I nod with conviction. "Good, I'm not one to judge you, I've done plenty of stupid things myself. Also, for what it's worth, I think you did the right thing." She tries to make me feel better about my choices.

She succeeds in that and I smile again. "Thanks, that means a lot coming from you, and I know it was a risk, but to finish off my story. He asked some rather pointed questions, but never threatened me or anything, after that, he just gave me an elegantly engraved dagger with some type of crest on it and told me it was best I leave the city soon."

To my surprise, she just chuckles at that. "Only you would stumble into something like that and gain the favor of a royal." She really does seem to take it lightly. "You did good." I look a little surprised at her tone shift from understanding to serious praise. "If they gave you something with their symbol then it was serious and helping them was definitely a good thing." Her tone is completely certain and I can even feel some pride in it.

I nod at the compliment. "What exactly does that dagger mean? I know the language and found out it was their crest, but never could really find out what it meant in practical terms." I take the praise with happiness as my choices are vindicated.

She smiles and fully relaxes again. "It means you are under their protection to a degree and you will always be an ally to them. Basically, you gained yourself a stern ally, maybe you should be a politician? You've already had a great start after all." I'm surprised by that joke and blench at the thought.

"By magic no! I don't care how much you pay me, I'm NOT doing that. I can barely handle my friends as is." She laughs at my response and I pout. "Well then, I'm calling the night here, I don't see a reason to give you more leverage on me as it is." I stand up and stretch my legs out.

She just keeps smiling. "It is getting a little late, and I have duties to attend to, as always. Good night Shade, and thank you, this was nice." She also stands and whistles, a second later Philomena lights up the area when she lands on Celestia's back.

I nod and drain the last of my tea. "It was, maybe we should do it again sometime? But for now, good night, and good luck." I start to walk away with Entropy as Celestia gives me an odd stare. I should make less sense more often. It's fun.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

Take your damn Celestia chapter and enjoy it, or else. JK

Chapter 137

JAN 17 Sunday.

I move another card into place while keeping it as stable as possible to not tip over any of the other cards that make up my stupid three-layer house of cards.

It might not seem stupid, but all I'm really doing is building a literal house of cards in the most difficult way, on purpose! Just to watch it all come crumbling down and do it all over again. But it has proven to be a very good way to train my control over space magic safely and effectively.

Speaking of space magic, I've continued to experiment with what I discovered last week. I stop for a moment and smile at the memory of last week's impromptu cookout, it was really nice and I wouldn't mind doing it again in the future. But back to my point.

I've come to call this new method, Fusing, I know it's not the best, just like all of my other names, but it at least gets the point across. The first thing I looked at was the large splinter of wood I recovered from my first few experiments, I spent an hour slowly and delicately inspecting it.

The reason made itself known pretty quickly. When I bent the space and snapped it back the wood grain would intersect and no longer line up properly. This resulted in ruining the structural integrity of the wood and when you add in the destruction it was a bust, so as my next test I tried to time and line up the space folding to keep the grain more intact and consistent.

It did work, somewhat. It still violently destroyed itself from the after-effects that seemed to happen, but the splinters I recovered had slightly more intact grain and even held together a little better. That brings me nicely to the next main problem with this method.

I've come to call the effect that happens when space is snapped too hard Rebound, again not an amazing name, but it works. From what I've seen, space has some form of tension to it, and when you pull too hard at a single point it ripples and bends after the initial actions from the force used.

This effect also seemed to grow stronger the longer a change in space it held, which may have given me a bad idea. If, IF, hypothetically I hold a single point in space and severely band the space, the longer I hold it in that state the stronger the Rebound will be, unless I use more magic to try and counteract the Rebound.

That second part is what I tested next, if I want to safely fuse materials together I have to keep them structurally stable and prevent the Rebound from damaging them. My first idea was to simply keep some control over the spatial fold while it was snapping it back into place and then trying to counteract the Rebound.

It went ok, some damage was prevented but it still happened. I think this is a possible solution but I wanted to see what else I could do because it was very hard to exert that much precise control over something happening that quickly as my mind simply couldn't keep up with the process very well.

So instead I tried to freeze the space by holding it right before the Rebound happened, this proved to be simpler but much more magic-intensive than the other method. Turns out that holding space completely still while it's bent and shifting takes a lot more magic to achieve.

So I didn't have much time to work with it, I tried to remove the wood by only allowing it to move in the frozen space like I've tried to do with other objects in the past. This isn't complex but it takes a lot of concentration and I got halfway before nearly running out of magic and having to watch the space Rebound. Interestingly enough it wasn't worse even though I held it in place longer.

It seems that whatever I'm doing when I hold space still overrides the increasing Rebound effect. But this leaves me with two bad options. The first, is very delicate and control intensive but doesn't take much magic. The second takes a lot of magic but is relatively simple by comparison. Also, both take a large amount of my concentration, but that's just standard with all space magic at this point.

Both do have other uses I can think of, but training both would also take more time. I watch my house of cards fall once again right before I build a fourth layer and I decide to call it there for now. I put all my cards back into the deck and tie some string around it before putting it away.

I stand up, stretch my neck and glance over as Entropy looks down at me from her perch. "Yes?" I look up at her and she flies right down to me.

"Food?" She asks back while giving me her best cute look, which is not that effective because of how otherworldly she looks.

In return, I give her my best smile. "No. You already had breakfast. Now come on, we're heading to Ponyville." I made a snap choice on how to spend my afternoon. I haven't visited in a while and honestly I kind of want to just spend some time there and see how it's doing.

My memories of Ponyville bring back memories of Daisy. She's still doing well and is in fact mostly back to normal, but there are moments when her sadness shines through. We're always there for her though and she'll be fine, which is a relief and gives me a bittersweet feeling.

I shake those thoughts from my mind for the moment and grab my saddlebags before Entropy lands on my back. I cast an illusion spell on her before we both vanished from my apartment. A moment later I'm standing in a calm forest as the sun shines through the leaves above me.

I take my time and enjoy the view as I slowly walk to Ponyville, the snow is already starting to let up and soon it will be gone, specifically next week. Winter Wrap-Up is still such an odd thing to me, but it can be fun to watch and even help with, although I've never done the second one.

My mind then gets bored and drifts to yesterday as I find the road and start to follow it. I spent most of yesterday working with Cadance again, it was not as interesting as our first talk because she was more pressed for time and we had to focus on our project. The bad news is she still found time to get me flustered, good news is we made some decent progress.

We've gone through a lot of the reading material, but there's still more to go, but we're closer to actually starting now. I turn at a bend as the road ahead of me turns into another road and I spot the outskirts of Ponyville. I've never been here during the winter and the snow gives it a nice homely look.

Entropy stays on my back as we enter the town and I immediately spot something on a fence post. It's a brightly colored flier with some equally colorful text.

YOU! Yes, you. Are invited to the pre Winter Wrap Up party this Sunday!

Hosted at Sugar Cube Corner on the seventeenth at twelve sharp! See you there everypony!

I smile at the basic flier. It seems Pinkie is already in full swing with her parties, but now the real question is if I should go. It will be twelve in an hour and I'm pretty tempted to go, after all, it's not every day you attend a Pinkie Pie party. I think it over for a moment and decide to at least check it out, but I'll probably just say hello and leave.

With that in mind, I decided to just look around for a while, specifically I want to find the markets and check them out because I haven't the last two times I was here. Unlike trying to find a specific shop, finding the market proves to be much easier and it only takes me a few minutes or aimless wandering to find it.

It's nothing like the markets in Canterlot, this is much more calm and casual as many ponies stop and spend some time simply talking with vendors as they go about their day. I'm not really looking for anything and just wander for a while before finding a small cart selling ice cream.

A bit odd to sell ice cream in the winter but I'm not one to judge and I wouldn't mind something sweet right now. I notice that I'm drawing a little attention from being an obvious visitor, something that's much less common during winter, and because Entropy keeps looking around curiously at everything.

I walk up and stare at the unicorn mare in the cart. "Two vanilla's please." I don't even bother asking or looking for a price, honestly, my opinion of money has kind of gone wonky after a while.

She stares at Entropy for a moment but nods and quickly makes two vanilla cones before holding them out to me with her hooves. "Eight bits please, and have a great day sir." I realize that holding both of the cones would tie up my hooves and just decide to say fuck it as the want for sugar overrides my logic a little.

I take both cones with my field and pass her the bits. "Thanks, and the same to you." I turn and walk away as the mare stares at me with a slightly bewildered look, I don't notice that her eyes linger on my flank for a bit. I sit on a bench not far away and start to enjoy my ice cream while holding out the other one for Entropy to utterly devour.

I chuckle as she smears a decent amount over her beak and I just smile as she doesn't even care. "I'm glad you like it." It doesn't take long for us to finish and I continue my trip through the market stalls. After a while I hear something and turn to see a stall with ponies I recognize.

A mare tries to console a very young filly as she makes her displeasure known to her dam. Pear Butter and an upset Apple Bloom are right next to a stall that is selling apples. I also noticed a filly that looks to be around my age, Applejack. I stand there for a moment and smile again.

I have no idea if my gift has saved them, but they are still alive so that's something. I have the thought to go over and buy some apples or something just to interact with them. :AHH, fuck it, why not?: I walk over and stand in front of the stall as the mare continues to console her filly.

I don't interrupt and simply wait patiently for her to finish, but somepony else has a different idea. Applejack, seeing her dam busy walks behind the stall and looks at me expectantly. "What can I get ya fella." It's still a little odd to hear that good old southern drawl, I keep my smile and look at the slightly shorter filly.

I take a moment to look over the stall, only green and red apples. "A dozen of each please." I keep a level and calm tone while Entropy looks over my head and at Applejack. Applejack raises a brow but doesn't ask about Entropy, and I'm just fine with that.

"OH, sorry for not noticing you si-" While I was waiting Pear Butter had calmed down her filly and looked over to see me, but stopped after seeing my face from the front. She's silent for a moment before smiling at me, "I remember you, good to see you again." Her accent is not as strong as Applejack's but still stands out to me.

I see Apple Bloom give me a nervous stare before hiding behind her dam. It's nice to meet this lot again, and I can scratch another main cast member off my list. I give her a nod, "Same, I hope you're doing well." I try to make small talk but I'm really shit at that sort of thing.

She keeps her smile. "Well, only if you don't count the little one." I'm surprised at the small joke and chuckle politely as I'm passed two bags of apples. "Thanks." I smile at Applejack and take them before fitting the two dozen apples inside my saddlebags, I guess I'm going to have apples for a while.

"Ma pleasure fella, and make sure to come back if ya need more." She says back with a smile in a well-practiced manner, a true sales pony in the making.

I chuckle at her enthusiasm. "I just might, it was nice seeing you again, have a good day Miss Pear." I don't see a reason to drag this out and I shouldn't get too close to the cast, this was enough for me and I have a party to attend.

Pear Butter smiles back and nods. "Yes it was, have a good day sir. OH! I don't mean to hold you up, but I never got your name." She asks with the same friendly tone.

"It's Shade." I decided to play the mysterious card and leave my last name out of this, it could be fun later. I see Pear Butter smiling at Applejack and hugging her as I walk away while Applejack has a massive smile of her own. I don't know if I saved that mare, but I sure hope so because both those fillies deserve to have a dam.

I didn't interact with them much, but it was nice and it's good to see them... Well, alive. I take my mind off of death and focus on the party, it's time and I don't want to be late. I take an apple out of my saddlebag and bite into the vibrant red fruit.

After a few bites, I have to admit this might be the best apple I've had in this world, maybe I can bring a pie of them to the next game night? I give Entropy some apple pieces as we near Sugar Cube Corner, and even from down the street, I see the party gathering.

It's not massive but it still seems like a big party for a town like this, I can see ponies walking inside and I can even hear somepony playing music, a banjo I think. I'm normally not one for parties, but I'm too curious to not attend a Pinkie party and I have to live a little at some point.

Entropy doesn't seem to like it as much though. "You can just stay in my shadow if you want?" I offer her and a moment later she hopes under me to be somewhat hidden before doing just that. With that out of the way, I walk over and head inside the building to the sound of ponies and music.

It's not as busy or chaotic as I thought it would be, mostly just a large cake and some colorful decorations with ponies enjoying the mood. I have no idea what to do at a party so I just find a booth and relax a little, but that doesn't last very long as a pink mare speeds right over to the booth I'm in.

Pinkie just about makes me jump out of my skin when she appears at my table with a massive smile. "OHHHH! I remember you! Here! Have some cake, and enjoy the party! I'll talk to you later!" In the span of two seconds, a plate with a piece of cake is on my table and the hyperactive pink blur is gone.

I just stare at the cake and blink before shrugging and taking a bite, it's best to not question Pinkie Pie. At least the cake is good. I watch with curiosity as Pinkie dashes around like a maniac and delivers a piece of cake to everypony in a few minutes, she's a lot faster than I'd expected.

I finish my cake at that time and a slightly out of breath Pinkie sits down opposite of me after a moment. "Sorry, it was cake time." She's a little tired out and is a little more mellow, but she still has an excited smile as she recovers from her admittedly impressive feat. "Thank you for coming! It's good to see you, did you like the cake? I made it myself!" It doesn't take long for her to bounce right back.

I can't help but smile at her excitement. "Well, I was passing through again and saw the flyers, so I decided to come. And it was great Pinkie, although strawberry isn't my favorite." I am honest and blunt with her, no need to beat around the bush with Pinkie Pie.

Her smile widens more, somehow, and she looks offended? in some way. "YOU! Nopony disrespects strawberries!" I'm a little taken aback by her outburst, but her smile shows just how serious she actually is. "Take it back!" She demands while moving her face a few inches away from mine.

I'm not used to mares getting this close and have to force down a few thoughts. I'm not entirely sure if she's joking or not, but even if she's not I don't think she'll mind me joking back, and I am a prankster so it's time to have a little fun. I smile back and with my field, I move a red apple from my saddlebags and move it in between our faces.

I nearly laugh as her eyes cross and stare at the apple, right before I gently shove it into her slightly open muzzle. "Nope, here have a proper fruit." I joke back as her eyes narrow, but I just laugh as she swiftly moves back into her seat and takes a bite of the apple before standing up.

"Fine! But I will change your mind! You'll see! HAAHAHA." She laughs like a madmare before dramatically running off back into the party to drive somepony else insane.

I sit there for a few moments before laughing and deciding that this is enough for me, it's time to head home and preserve what little sanity I have left. I smile at Pinkie's antics as I leave right before a loud pop is heard and some confetti is showered over the party.

"Yup, time to leave." I keep my smile as I walk out of Ponyville.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading this story that I can't stop writing. :D
Current year is 994

I'm taking tomorrow off, because as a wise man once said. Sleepy time.

Chapter 138

JAN 30 Saturday.

I smile as Avalon moves another book to the side and takes a few notes on some paper. We've gone through a good amount of books after the last two meetings and now we're ready to actually determine how to go about this project.

Prosthetics are made in several ways, but most seem to be made of two simple spells. First, a simple movement spell that is vague and weak, it also costs little magic and is very stable. The second spell lets a being control those movement spells with just their thoughts.

This second spell is complicated and very finicky. I don't like using spells like this mostly because whatever you're using it on needs to be in close contact with you, and because these spells can be very unreliable. Why? Well, let's say for example that I used a spell like this for my apartment shield.

A spell like that can't filter all your thoughts, there are simply too many individual thoughts in someponies head to do that without making an utterly massive spell matrix. So if I had a stray thought to turn off my shield, even if that thought is in a completely different context the spell would still do just as told.

It will interpret every thought, this isn't that bad when you are controlling a limb because you already do that normally. Have you ever scratched yourself without even thinking about it? That is how the prosthetic would work. The only way to somewhat limit and control this effect without adding an ungodly amount of extra runes is to heavily HEAVILY specify what the thought-controlling rune does.

This somewhat limits stray thoughts from doing something unintentionally, but it obviously makes the rune basically useless for all other tasks outside of what was originally intended. Finally, this type of rune borders on mind magic which is heavily controlled and illegal to use without permission from the crown.

Combine all of this together and you have the main reasons I don't use these spells and just find other easy solutions, it's best not to overengineer things when a simple switch will do just fine.

I stop my internal rant as an open book is slid over to me. "What about this one? It seems good, although some of its context is missing." Avalon asks with a smile. He's been nothing but a joy to work with and a pretty good student on top of that.

We still aren't close friends by any measure but I'm slowly getting to know him a little better. As a student, he respects my knowledge and advice while also putting a large amount of effort into everything he does. Funnily enough, he does get a little cranky if he doesn't get enough sleep, which I learned the last time we met up.

I can understand the dedication though, he may regain something he's lost for so long. I see that drive in him and honestly, I'm a little proud to have inspired it. As for how he is at spell creation? Mhhh, not bad, but not good. To be blunt he's simply in over his head.

He doesn't know enough and even after three cram sections, he'll need much MUCH more time and knowledge to make spells on his own. But he is still a big help, he now knows what we're looking for and how to find it and that means he can help me do the research, which is normally the most time-intensive part of this all.

I stare at the rune he's shown me and look it over, yet another thought rune that has some promise, but it will take time to track down its remaining runic context. "Not bad, add it to the list." I pass him the book back and he nods while keeping his smile. "So, anything planned after this?"

He takes a moment to note down the book's name and the rune before looking up at me. "No? Not that I can think of anyway. It's finally started to calm down some, thank Celestia for that, because if I had to deal with one more noble." He huffs at the memory.

I just chuckle at my friend's misfortune. It's now the end of January and the winter is finally over, the last of the snow is gone and with every passing day, I feel the flows of life magic start to move with more speed and vigor. "Well, at least you have some connections, who knows when those could be useful?" I joke with him a little.

He looks sheepish at that but nods. "Maybe, but not many remember the mailgrif." Avalon has an odd mix of social issues and the will to carry on through much hardship, although those are probably linked now that I think about it. "Although, I've met a few who were much more understanding and easy to deal with."

I nod. "Well, I don't have much to do either and I want tea, it's my treat?" I offer while copying the notes he took, and I smile at the small doodle drawn on the side of the notes. I've been trying to take him to lunch after each of our meetings to get to know him better because we don't talk much while at the library.

We'll talk a little, but it's best we focus on the project while here and that takes our full attention most of the time. He gives me that same uncertain look, but it's not as intense as last time. "Sure, but you don't need to pay for me. The same cafe as last time?" He starts to pack up his things while I do the same.

He's also a Griffin that seems to prefer the known over the unknown, he picked that same cafe last time as well. "Sounds good, they might be a little busy though. Don't worry, I'll just bribe anypony in our way." I joke and he rolls his eyes at me. Avalon's not the kind of person to joke much, but we always smile a little at my jokes.

"Like you have the bits for that." Seems this is one of those rare times, and his joke is just as tame as always. The pleasant afternoon sunlight greets our tired eyes as we walk out of the library after we get everything we need done. "We're flying there? R-right?"

I smile and nod. "I can't pass up a chance to stretch my wings, now can I?" I ask back as my magic already starts to form my wings and I feel the weight settle on my back a few moments later. "There's not even any snow to freeze us, imagine that?" I may like the way winter looks but snow can just suck.

He smiles at that. "Oh, you have no idea. The amount of times I've had to deliver things in the snow, I lost count years ago." He takes off after that and I join him in the air a moment later. I've done some practice with my wings, but only a few times a week at the most.

We don't talk much while flying, it's best to stay focused on not crashing. The cafe is not that far and we arrive a few minutes later to see that it's decently busy. "Mhm, guess we'll have to wait. Got any good stories?" I ask while standing in the line with him as he looks around.

He seems a little uncomfortable with the busy ponies around him but still speaks up. "Ummmm, not really? I can tell you about, my start?" He stumbles slightly but I'm still intrigued.

"Like, how did you start delivering things?" I guess and he nods. "Sure, why not?" I smile as we walk inside and find an empty booth to sit in, it seems we got a little lucky with that today. This cafe always has a nice feel to it, even when it's very busy, although it's going to take a while for somepony to take our order and deliver it.

He settles in for a moment. "I... Well, I never did grow up anywhere in particular, me and my flock just moved around all the time." I didn't expect him to go into his family's past, but I didn't interrupt him. "I've probably seen almost every town and city in Equestria, but none of them drew me in like Canterlot."

Now I interrupt him. "The magic?" I guess he, he always loves magic.

He tilts his head as his feathers shift a little. "Kind of? I've always liked seeing magic, but beyond that, I loved how old the city was. So many buildings and places that have stood for so long." He holds an appreciative tone and looks out of the window for a moment.

I raise a brow. "I never knew you liked history so much."

He looks back at me with a sheepish smile. "Not really, I just like drawing them, the old buildings have such a nice feel to them, so much... Character, if that makes sense. Actually, that just sounds a little silly." He backpedals a little, he's still not that used to being so casual with me.

I shake my head. "No, it doesn't, I feel the same way sometimes. Some places just have a feel to them, for better or worse." I add that last part as I remember how empty the castle of the Two Sisters felt.

I see him perk up and give me a better smile. "Thanks. Anyway, after a while I picked up this trade when... Well, I needed to pay for something so I started to deliver things for a caravan, I started slow wit-." I don't ask about him skipping things and just turn to a waiter as they reach our table.

"Black tea with some cream please," I ordered something simple.

Avalon is still nervous but orders in a quiet tone. "Green tea please." Avalon isn't the type to speak up much and normally keeps a calm but low tone, especially with unknowns. The waiter nods and busily walks away to attend to others as Avalon turns back to me.

"I kept making deliveries for them, mostly mail and small packages. Turns out I was good at it and, I started to enjoy it after a while." He smiles slightly. "There's been many, bumps? Ya, bumps along the way, but I enjoy it now. Sorry if that's not an amazing story." He scratches the back of his neck as I wave it off.

"All stories are interesting, it just depends on how you listen... How about I tell you my boring story?" My strategy to befriend this griffin is simple, be nice and be patient.

"OH! No y-you don't have to, I'm fine not knowing." He looks surprised and backpedals again.

"Too late." I smile at him and continue anyway. "My early life is as boring as dry sand. I grew up an orphan, that may sound interesting but trust me it isn't." I chuckle as Avalon gives me a slightly sad look, which turns to confusion at my reaction. "Everyone always looks sad, why? It's not like I had a bad life."

He still keeps a slightly sad look. "S-still, I can't imagine life without my flock."

I nod after a moment. "Moving on, I liked reading and magic so I learned whatever I could. After I turned ten I started to apprentice at the library, but beyond that there's not much to really say, I've just learned and done my job properly." If you take out my private life there's not that much to talk about.

He nods and drops the sad look. "Have you ever thought about who your family is? I-If you don't mind me asking?" He asks very gently before adding the second part quickly.

I let that thought wander my mind for a few moments. "I don't really know. I never knew them at all, I have my life and they probably have theirs. Maybe I'll care someday, but I'm living my life right now, and that's enough for me." I see his feathers flex and shift as he thinks before he nods.

There are several moments of silence as we get our drinks. "Sorry, that was probably not the best question." He apologizes and I again wave it off.

I give him another smile. "I really don't mind, and you have nothing to apologize for, but thank you anyway." I take a deep drink of my tea. "So, what's the dumbest thing you've ever delivered?" I change the subject and watch as he looks up from his drink with a small smile.

time skip

I swing my wooden blade while avoiding a small rock in the knee-tall grass around me. I once again stand in the field that makes up most of Gaia's Eden practicing my swings and movements.

It's still hard to take in so much information from around me at once but I am getting used to it with time. I stop my swing to catch my breath and stop my practice for today. I keep my blindfold on though, I actually keep it on most of the time I'm here just to get more practice with navigating my environment.

It's honestly almost impossible to describe what it's like to see the world this way. I can feel everything around me and the closer I focus the more detail I see, I can also take in large amounts of simple information from all around me at once. I even feel my own body to an extent.

It's vague and hard to make anything out, but I can find things like my heart and lunges with a little effort. I can't see much of a use for doing that right now though, maybe someday. I stop by my crop fields and start to check on the newest batch of hybrid vegetables.

I've actually succeeded somewhat in my attempts, the carrots are the first to become resistant enough to the cold to grow on their own. I found this out right before winter fully ended and I'll have to put this project on hold until the next winter, or until I make an environment spell for them.

Over the months I've learned that the frost resistance of the Frost Bloom doesn't come from some form of poisonous element. The carrots I grew can be eaten just fine and still resist the cold, it's just proven very difficult to have a hybrid plant that has one without the other.

It took several thousand generations to hit that magical combination with the carrots, and that's just to get something I can start to selectively breed to be completely cold-resistant. So while this project is going well it's going to take a very long time to complete all the different crops.

As for the carrots, I'll be selectively breeding them for a few weeks before sending them off to Celestia. But that brings up a small but potentially big problem, ponies didn't really notice when the Rocky Wheat was given to farmers, it was a project that had been worked on for years before it was released.

Most farmers noticed and were thankful for it, and it remains the only thing my alias didn't claim credit for. But if the crown releases a new slightly magical crop that can be grown in full snow it will draw some attention, especially if nopony takes credit for it and it's released without forewarning and then several more crops with the same effect are also released in the same way.

It's very unlikely anypony will find anything out if they go digging, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. So, I could just have my alias claim the credit and leave it at that, but ponies aren't stupid and as I release more cold-resistant crops it will only be a matter of time before somepony points out that my alias is using life magic as it's the only way way something like this could be accomplished in the time frame.

I'll be thinking it over, but I'm leaning toward just having Veil Winter take credit for it. Ponies will be digging into that alias like mad when it comes out, but I would rather take a known risk over an unknown risk. I finish checking the crops and I move on to the Gold Oak.

It's grown a few more inches but is otherwise the same as always, and I still haven't found a good way to gather anything but the gold dust from it. On that note, I think I have my next small project, a way to automatically collect all the dust from the falling leaves.

Right now I just need to slowly gather it by waiting for a leaf to fall and catch it, which is both time-consuming and even by my standards tedious as all hell. I lean my back against its trunk and stare out at the sky. It's a nice day with a lovely evening sky.

I check the time and wait a few more minutes and watch as the sun lowers below the horizon before night falls over the world. I smile and take out a medium ruby from my saddlebags before activating it. This ruby contains all of my star maps, and tonight seems like a nice day to add to it.

I stare up at the stars with a smile as I imagine all of the shapes I can while drawing out imaginary constellations. Today was a good day.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

I decided to heavily limit and nerf the thought control runes. Mostly because I think it makes things too simple and easy, using other activation and control methods just seems better. I'll probably have Shade use them more at some point though.

Chapter 139

FEB 6 Saturday.

I move through the less busy night markets of Canterlot while stopping occasionally to look through a stall's goods. I am once again at the night market. I don't come here often but I felt it would be a good change of pace for tonight.

Over the past week things have been as calm as ever, I had meetings with both Celestia and Cadance. Both went well and Cadance and I were able to get through even more of the reading that's needed. Another thing that happened is I have vacation time again.

Two weeks to go anywhere I like, and I have several ideas for that. I haven't really come to a decision yet and I'm thinking it over, but I still have time so there's no rush. Maybe I could visit the Griffin City states? I'll have to give that more thought. I stop at a stall and buy a few blueberries to take home.

I see Entropy shift in my shadow cast from a magical light while looking over all the fruits on display, I know she'll want something so I buy a few grapes for her. Turns out she also likes them, thankfully she's not bat shit crazy for them like Philomena is. I keep looking through the stalls as I shop for my necessities.

I finish not long after and start to head home, I have a spell I need to finish. Over the past few weeks I've slowly worked on the Illusionary Page copying spell, I really hate the names I make. Anyway, I spent a lot of time improving the spell as much as I could, mostly so I could cut down on the magic cost as much as possible.

It still takes more magic than I'd like but it works and it works well so that's enough for me- My thoughts are abruptly cut off as somepony knocks into my side and I lose my balance for a moment. Once my hooves are stable I quickly turn to see a cloaked pony running away from me down the mostly empty street.

It's odd but I'm about to just shrug it off, but stop as I feel an out-of-place wetness on my side. I turn only to see blood, not a lot but definitely blood, it's stained on my side now. It has a slightly odd coloration with a faint green being mixed in, but as the iron scent hits my nose there's no mistaking it.

I also see a few tiny drops making a trail down the dark street heading away from the night market. :The fuck?: I guess they were running to a hospital then, it would certainly explain the hurry they were in this late at night. Still, it's annoying to get blood stains out of fur, it seems this day is ending in an odd way.

As I turn I see two more cloaked ponies rush past me. I only catch one of their faces for a moment, I can't see much but I notice that they look pissed, like legitimately angry about something. This night is just all kinds of odd, isn't it? As they pass me something about this doesn't seem right, the night market normally has fewer guards, and no guard is following them to help or ask questions.

This all doesn't seem quite right, and as much as my mind is telling me to just walk away and go home, I can't. You can call it stupidity or curiosity, but no matter what you call it I can't just walk away from this. Something is off and even if I can't put a hoof on it I feel it in my gut.

I hesitate for a moment before reaching out with my life magic and finding those two ponies that pass me and running after them. :Celestia's going to kill me after this:

They are moving quickly but few things are faster than a determined earth pony and I'm able to keep up and trail behind them with relative ease. I have no idea what the hell I'm doing right now, I'm taking a stupid risk but something tells me to go. My mind runs in overdrive as I follow the ponies down another dark street.

I'm doing something incredibly stupid, but if I'm going to do something stupid I can at least do it smartly. I could send a letter to Celestia? But that would take time and Entropy is my only emergency exit, I can't just run into this without that safety net so that's not an option. So what else? I have some Razor Vine seeds and my frost dagger with me.

It's not much but I still have my magic, if I do things right I'll be ready for a fight. I feel the two ponies slow down after entering an alley on a deserted street, but something else I noticed is much more concerning. The blood trail is still there on the ground, this pony has to have lost a lot of blood by this point.

Only a deep wound can do that and it only makes my concern grow as we're nowhere near a hospital nor are we heading in the direction of one. We're instead heading to the most densely populated part of the city, taller apartment buildings and many isolated alleys.

Just like the long pitch-black alleyway they have now stopped in, I can just make out that it turns left before going deeper, so I stop and try something else. I reach out with my special senses to try and see what's happening, but the distance is several dozen feet too great to see anything in detail, so instead I just try to scout the terrain.

The alley turns left before opening up into a decent-sized area that seemed completely enclosed. I can sense several live magic signatures there although from here I can't tell how many, probably a dozen or more though. I have no idea what this is, but it's now crystal clear that this is not a good situation.

Cornering an injured pony in a dark alley is the literal plot of many crime novels. I start to hear loud voices but can't make anything out as the noise bounces around the alley walls. I could leave and get a guard? But they could need help now, fuck somepony could be dying right now.

I feel uncertainty and panic and try to grip my mind but push them down as best I can. I've trained in many ways for so long, I can do something here and I believe I must. I take a very deep breath and quickly take out my cloak to drape it over my body tightly and cast a silence spell on my hooves before drawing my dagger.

: Let's do this:

POV shift ???

The voices are too loud and I can't move my leg right, it's so cold now. "And I said NO! Now get the hell out! They are one of ours now!" I hear the loud voice but have trouble lifting my head to see it.

A hoof is placed on me as I try to move. "Don't! I need to get this bandage on you, just... Just try and relax, Leaf has this, I hope." I barely hear the last part. I feel my wound strike me with a fresh wave of pain as a hoof moves past it and cloth covers it causing me to cough up more blood.

After they're done I can finally look over to see four ponies standing at the side of the entrance to the alley's dead end, they are arguing with a deep green Stallion I recognize. "And we don't care! They ran and we're here to take them back! Or have you turned your back on even the Queen's mercy?!"

"Mercy?! As If-" I can't concentrate that well on the voices. It's so cold, how much blood have I lost? I feel really tired, and- What is that? I try to focus my eyes on the darker area beyond the torch lite dead end, I can't see anything. No, right there! There is no sound but I can see a faint pair of green lights.

It's just past the torchlight and stands in complete silence. Are those eyes? I try to focus more but even with my eyes I can't see anything until small things start to shift along the alley walls. I have a bad feeling about this and I turn to the one helping me and try to point with a weak hoof as best I can.

They turn and I can see those things movements reflected in her eyes as they widen before she shouts. "The entrance!" The words provide no context but they all seem to understand as every pair of eyes snaps to the black alleyway along with mine. There's silence for a moment as all seem to simply watch on confused.

It's slow at first but we can see long green tendrils start to snake from the darkness and into the light. The odd sound of them scraping against the stone and bricks draws everyone's eyes to the large thorns that sprout and grow from the vine at random points.

Its slow pace doesn't last as they jump quickly and start to cover the walls and alley floor in a web of thorns and green vines. The spread slows to a stop for a moment as those eyes in the dark stare back slightly closer this time. "W-who's there! Come out now!" The leader of the ones who were following me seemed to stammer for a second before shouting at the dark alley with authority. They step closer to the vines covering the floor, "I sai-"

Gore warning from here on out.

He never finishes his words as a vine snaps out to him faster than any plant should be able to before it starts to quickly grow up his leg. "What the buc- AHhH-FUUUCK! GET IT OFF! AHhhhHH!" His panicked words are cut off as the vine's thorns start to grow into him as it climbs his leg.

I feel my body shudder slightly as I hear faint popping and cracking sounds as the chitin around his leg is penetrated by the thorns growing into the chitin. All that while he tries to desperately pull his leg away as hard as he can, but no matter what he does it wouldn't let go simply growing further.

I feel sick at the sight as his disguise fully falls away and two of the others with him try to help pull him away from whatever this is all the while he tries to not scream more and fails. :What did they bring here?: I feel my panic rise as the green eyes in the dark stare on without a change, simply watching as this ling's leg is mangled almost beyond recognition.

The cracks in his chitin are filled with thorns and he's oozing blood as some fragments of his chitin fall on the cobblestones of the street. The ground starts to form a puddle of greenish crimson as the vines dig deeper before they are finally able to pull him away from this nightmare.

I can't stop staring in horror as my body shakes a little at the blood-drenched vines that land on the cobbled alley's floor. :By magic what did I bring here?: I feel myself panic as I glance up to the glowing eyes while thinking about the allies I have with me.

After a moment of pained noises, the ling's finally collect themselves despite the pain that they must be in. "HISSS! Who are you?! This has nothing to do with you! N-now, stay out of this!" Despite their best efforts, I hear the fear in his tone as he cradles his mangled bleeding leg.

I feel my heart racing as I see the condition of his leg after only a few seconds of being held by that vine. In a moment all the vines grow beyond quickly and I flinch back as they surround the four while Leaf backs up quickly in fear of being too close to that vine.

The four stand back to back as the vines start to grow a little off of the ground and make a small fence of promised pain so they can't jump to safety. A voice speaks up and all eyes are drawn to the darkness again. It's so monotone as if it has no emotion at all, and even worse I can sense barely a single emotion from the figure standing just past the lights safely.

It only says one word.

POV shift Shade.

I stand in the dark using my special sense to move without light, as I walk my hooves make no noise. I have a few ways to approach this mess, but I need information first and foremost and the darkness helps quite a bit with that. I slowly creep my way to the lit area and listen to the noise.

"And we don't care! They Ran and we're here to take them back! Or have you turned your back on even the Queen's mercy?!" I can see them now and start to lay a trap as a preparation, I spread several Razor Vine Seeds around the alley with my field and grow some of the vine's so they are at the ready.

As I listen to the words start to make my mind tick, Changelings. They don't seem like friends and are arguing, four in total with eleven others standing near the back of the alley as a deep green colored unicorn stallion stands up to the other four. "Mercy?! As if that bucking queen has mercy!" He shouts back with a stern tone.

None of them have spotted me so I spend what little time I have coming up with a plan. I don't know much but I know these ponies are definitely all changelings, but beyond that, those four changelings are after the injured one, and I'm not going to let them be taken so easily.

I don't know anyone here and I don't know the consequences of doing this, but I can't let that injured Changeling be dragged off to some unknown fate without knowing if it is even deserved. But what should I do? After a moment I see only two solutions. The first is to scare them off, and the second is to capture them.

but if I try to capture them it might result in them harming someone else to cause a distraction, it's a risk letting them go but I don't want anyone to die. Mistakes can be fixed, but lives can't. I make a decision and mentally prepare myself while spreading the vines a little more and continue thinking over the situation.

But a moment later my time is cut short, as I never noticed the injured Changeling had apparently spotted me and pointed with a hoof right at me. I act quickly and spread the Razor Vines further through the alley to prepare for a fight while I steel my nerves with all the practice I've had with Stone.

I don't have the surprise factor anymore so I have to rely on intimidation and fear to scare them off. I stand up straight and let the vines advance even further into the light as I walk a little closer so they can just barely see my outline while adjusting my hood to cover even more of my face.

"The entrance!" The Changeling tending to the injured Changeling also points with a hoof as everyone there snaps their heads to me. I rush the vines forward and watch as confusion and slight fear are shown by many as they start to see me. There is a potent moment of silence as everyone stares me down and I try to keep my calm as my heart beats faster and faster.

The leader of the four hostile Changelings steps forward a little. "W-who's there! Come out now!" I notice the slight hesitation. Good that will make this easier, just a little closer now. I might be able to just scare them off quickly, but a show of force is needed to have them reconsider a fight of any type, with that in mind I start to sift a vine closer to them without any thorns so it grows quietly.

They step even closer to the vines without noticing them being so close in their demands and take that moment to strike. "I sai-'' He's cut off as a vine very quickly wraps around his foreleg and starts to grow up before I start to sprout thorns. "What the buc- AHhH-FUUUCK! GET IT OFF! AHhhhHH!" I don't enjoy the pained screams in the least but this is needed as a threat, so I power through it and try my best to not react as he panics and screams more.

His disguise drops and he immediately starts to struggle as the other three start to help him, after a few attempts I let go of my life magic and stopped repairing the damage they were doing to the vine. It snaps a second later and they are able to pull the blooded and punctured limb from my vines grasp. I take a moment to kill the vine sill in him so it can't grow more and enter his body, I don't want to kill them by accident if those vines start to grow from how much life magic I'm throwing around.

I feel my fear rise a little as things start to get very tense. :No backing down now: The revealed Changeling looks back at me with some fear and clear anger. "HISSS! Who are you?! This has nothing to do with you! N-now stay out of this!" His tongue slithers out as he hisses at me as a desperate threat and demands more answers.

I gather a large amount of life magic and force an insane rate of growth, it's hard to remain in control of the vine's direction of growth at this speed and a moment later they are surrounded completely. They start to panic a little seeing this and stand back to back as I grow a small wall around them.

I muster as much neutrality as I can and speak in a dead tone with no room for argument.

"Leave."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 994

I told you that gore tag was going to come in handy.
Also I'm starting to realize just how scary Shade really is, I couldn't be more proud.

Also, on a different note. Any vacation idea?

Chapter 140

FEB 6 Saturday.

I see how the Changeling is bandaged after a moment and cringe at it. I probably overdid it, I tried to send a warning, not maim someone. They are also cornered now and I just need them to take the easy option and fly away, then I can deal with this after.

I feel kind of bad and start to focus more on the wound, it's not looking great but from what little I can tell it's not lethal, most of the damage seems to be to the chitin. Shit, now I feel bad about this. My mind wars with itself as the changelings look around themselves and back at me. "W-why do this?" The lead Changeling in the vine circle asks me.

I'm starting to really feel bad as I sort of just attacked them, but I think my reasons are justified. "Look, we'll... If I don't take that one back with us it's on our heads, just like the others, I know you understand that." My thoughts stop at that as that never occurred to me, this is about more than loyalty to them, this is about survival.

I'm not sure who he has me confused with. One of the others looks at the injured Changeling. "What are you doi-" He doesn't get to finish.

"Shut up! Look around you!" He surprisingly chastises them before turning back to me with an almost pleading look. "We need that ling, we can take them and just leave." His tone is neutral and it's clear he's trying to negotiate. It's not hard to see why, if his life is really riding on this.

I piece it together a moment later, he's trying to negotiate and not retreat because if they leave without the injured Changeling they're just as fucked. Which also means they won't fly away and my plan has failed completely. I'm also not planning on giving the injured Changeling to them because I know that won't end well.

If whoever they report to is willing to kill them for failing I can't imagine what they would do to someone who's ran away. A thought occurs to me and I take the same tone again. "Which queen, do you serve?" I don't know much about them, but I remember what Cricket said about them.

He stops and looks at me with confusion. "Queen Cascadia? Why would you ask? ... Who are you?" And I think he just realized I'm not in the know here.

I can't deal with this, at least not alone. I take a small box out of my saddlebags and throw it into the vine circle, it's a simple medical kit. One of them catches it and gives me a wary look before slowly opening it, after they see what's inside it's quickly passed to the lead Changeling.

I stare them down for a moment. "Stay, don't try anything," I warn them and immediately dump more of my dwindling life magic to enclose them in a ball of thorns and vines. One of them almost looks ready to try and fly away, but one of the others stops them.

"Shit! ... Give me that box." The lead Changeling seems to not like the situation in the slightest but focuses on his wounds for now, and I spend a moment growing thornless vines under their hooves, a silent threat. I need to work quickly as I have no idea how long this situation will remain stable. I take out some paper and a quill.

I keep my life senses sharp and attentive as I quickly scribble out my location and a request for help on a piece of paper and silently move it behind me while casting the silenced-area spell around me. Now that they can't hear me I speak out loud to Entropy, "Get this to Celestia, come right back."

Entropy's probably been watching this whole time so she knows it's serious. A few moments later I feel the piece of paper disappear from my field and I deactivate the sound-canceling spell around me. The now captured Changelings seem very on edge but are attending to the injured one for now.

I feel one of the others move to my left and turn my head quickly, it's the deep green stallion they were arguing with earlier. He sees me looking at him and freezes on the spot not moving in the slightest before finding his voice. "I- I need to check on them... Please?" He keeps his tone mostly level but it seems he's just as frightened of me as everyone else now is.

I surveyed the ten others in the square alleyway that forms an open area surrounded completely by tall buildings. I keep up my dead tone, mostly to keep all of them subdued until reinforcements arrive. "Do not try to leave." I keep my words simple while watching the life magic of everyone present.

If they tried to run I don't think I could stop them all, and giving up a little ground now might make them less panicky when the guard arrives.

He nods slowly after a second and takes a slow pace as he checks on each Changeling, talking to each of them quietly while keeping an eye on me and the Changelings in the vine cage. The next few minutes pass at a crawl and I start to feel a little tired from how much magic I've used and the adrenalin still coursing through my veins.

Eventually, I feel the odd feeling Entropy gives off when she teleports, and a few feet behind me I hear some noise before a light breaks the darkness for the first time. At that same moment, my life senses are blinded by the abrupt and sudden appearance of a small sun a few feet away from me.

I nearly fall on my flank but just stagger slightly before turning around, standing behind me are two very alert guards and a pure white unicorn mare, Celestia's pony disguise. :Wellll, I'm fucked: I knew I was going to have to face her about all this, but I didn't expect it so soon.

Within a moment both guards move in front of me and start to look over the situation, while Celestia gives me a very worried look as she looks at my side and the blood on the street not far away. She quickly moves over to me and casts several spells faster than I can react.

The Changelings are taken off guard by the sudden appearance of the guards, and of seeing my cloaked form. But none of them try anything as the two guards stare them down. I'm still on edge from what's happened and I'm also fearing Celestia's wrath a little, but even then I relax some at finally being safe. "I'm fine, it's not my blood." I try to reassure her, but she looks far from reassured at my statement.

Her gaze keeps showing her concern but also shows hardness to them as she looks over me. "That's not any better." Her tone is like stone, cold, hard, and heavy. The tone does not help with the anxiety I'm feeling right now. She turns away from me for a moment and quickly assesses the situation, while I see more guards start to run down the alley towards us.

Celestia turns back to me. "What happened?" Her tone is not a demand, but also not a request. I still feel my anxiety but quickly start to explain as the guards round every one of the changelings up, even the hostile ones once I decomposed the vines surrounding them.

None of them try to run, mostly because there is nowhere to run. The buildings have pegasi guards on them and the alley is full of dozens more guards at this point. Running would be a bad idea so things go far smoother than I thought they would.

I keep my explanation truthful and to the point, while showing a little regret when two guards carry the Changeling I hurt away on a stretcher along with the other injured Changeling. As I explain things I see many emotions break through her mask slightly but in the end she mostly shows worry and slight disappointment.

It hurts to see that look, but I understand it, I did fuck up. "Can she take us back?" The question is directed to Entropy as she rests on my back. By this point, the guards have everything well under control so I can guess we aren't needed here anymore.

I try and force my mind to do some calculations before giving up and just nodding. "She should, but she'll definitely be tired after." Celestia gives me a nod, and Entropy understands us enough for us to both vanish a few moments later.

The Void is blissfully silent, the darkness has always been so calm and quiet. But that ends a moment later when we appear inside Celestia's bedroom. Entropy is definitely tired so she just melds into my shadow and vanishes completely. I just stand there a moment and try to read my mind. I'm not going to enjoy this conversation, but it's needed.

I muster up my courage and turn to Celestia, only to be covered in two forelegs and a pair of large fluffy wings as Celestia takes off her disguise and hugs me. It's a long moment of silence before I reach out my hooves and hug her back. "It will be ok." Her words hold a weight to them that brings a little comfort to me.

We stay like that for several moments before I pull away and take a deep breath. "Celestia?" She backs up a little before looking me in the eye. "I think I need that kick in the flank I once mentioned," I admit and give her a weak smile that shows what little conviction I have in my words.

She stares at me for several moments. "Hhhh, what am I going to do with you?" She asks herself while sighing. "You have done something foolish and shortsighted, I know your reasons but even then, what were you thinking?" Her tone holds a little frustration and disappointment, and it does sting a little to hear.

"The guard, me, or so many other ponies could have helped you solve this, but you ran off and made me worried sick and then I showed up to see blood everywhere. You keep running head first into danger, even if it's for a good reason it's no excuse for risking your life." Her tone is not loud or angry but is definitely chastising.

It's not fun to hear any of this, but this isn't the first verbal lashing I've gotten so I stand and take it. "You ran into something unknown, hurt others, and only then thought to call for help, it was stupid and completely reckless! And the only, SINGLE reason I'm not grounding you, which I CAN do, is because you were trying to help." I can't help but pin my ears back at that thought.

"You had NO Idea who you were attacking or defending! No idea who was at fault, and no idea how badly that could have gone if a SINGLE thing went out of your control." All valid points, harsh, but valid. She's a little more worked up by this point and let it be known.

"I haven't even mentioned that Changeling's leg!" I cringe a little at that. "I know what it's like to act recklessly, but, really! Really Shade?! You could have just threatened them, not put the fear of Tartarus into them!" Her face is downright crossed at this point.

But it softens a second later as she takes a deep breath. "So, you, Shade Evergreen, are going to promise me to not pull something like this again unless you ABSOLUTELY must." I nod quickly. "I want to hear you say it, clearly." That is a straight demand, one of the first she's even asked of me.

"I promise! I won't do ANYTHING like that again unless absolutely needed!" I answer her quickly and precisely for fear of being stuck in my apartment for the next few weeks. I take a deep breath, "And, wel- ... Yes, I did go overboard on that Changeling, and I won't even try to defend it or why I thought it was a good idea at the time." I admit that and can't help but look at the floor.

"Good, now remember that, please." I nod again and look back up to meet her kind eyes. "Now, with that done, are you really ok?" That kind face is back and I can't help but release my held breath.

I shake my head. "No, I just got one mean talking to, but I will be... Thanks, I... I think I needed to hear that." I say honestly as I feel myself sag even more from exhaustion over tonight's events. The silence stretches for a long moment, "What now?" I ask a little aimlessly.

She sighs again. "A lot, you may have done something stupid, but you took some precaution in doing it, thank magic for that. But you've thoroughly involved yourself in this mess, and maybe even in a war to some degree." I let those words settle into me and give her a single slow nod.

I hadn't even thought of that until now. "So, for now, you are to avoid Changelings, for your own safety you need to stay out of this." I just nod again and keep silent. "As for the Changelings, well that remains to be seen. But at a minimum, they will be questioned and detained for now."

That brings out a different feeling of sadness, I dragged those other Changelings into this as well. "They'll be taken care of and cared for, so don't worry." We both know I will regardless, but the words help some. "As for you, well, what do you want to do?"

I stare back for a moment and blink a few times. "How do you deal with the unknown? If you can't know what is right, then what do you do? Because I deal with it through action, oftentimes rash action, and some perspective would be nice." She gives me a lopsided smile and lays down to be at my level.

"There is no one answer to that. So many things must be accounted for and so many things still go wrong. But in the end, I just try my best, the same as you do." She tries to reassure me with a smile and a calm look.

"Then, why are you so much better at it?" I ask back. I don't even know why I'm asking this, I already know the answer, it's obvious to anypony with eyes.

I see that same sad smile I saw last Nightmare Night. "Because I have failed much worse, so, so much worse. But I got back up, and I will the next time I fail. Just as you will." It does bring a little comfort to know she still fails, just as I do. But I knew that already, it just helps in an odd way to hear it spoken out loud.

I can't help it and just chuckle hollowly. "Always the optimist." I stand up and look over to see that Entropy's still recovering, it's going to be a long walk home. "I need a shower, and you have important work-" Before I can finish she stands up and cuts me off.

Her smile shifts to something more upbeat, somehow. "And that's why you're staying here for the night, I'll have a guard take you to a guest room." I don't even bother arguing with her at this point and just nod yet again. "Get some rest Shade, it will help, I promise." Her tone is kind.

I see an opportunity to mess with her and take it, old habits die hard after all. "I'll keep you to that, I expect at least eight full hours." Neither of us laughs, but she keeps smiling at me. "Good night Celestia, and thank you for everything," I say genuinely.

She nods. "And thank you for trying, no matter what. Good night Shade, and don't worry, it's a promise I intend to keep." She walks me to the door and outside a few guards are already waiting with stacks of paper. I silently follow a guard through the palace as my mind tries to wander.

Tonight sucked, and I really need that vacation.

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :}
Current year is 994

I know it might seem a little anticlimactic for this to be how it ends, but honestly I'd have to pull some stupid things out of my --- to make four openly hostile Changelings in a cage a threat.

Chapter 141

FEB 7 Sunday.

I pull the blanket off of me and stare at the ceiling for a moment as my mind pulls itself from the quagmire of sleep.

Having a friend lecture you over your mistakes is not fun in the least, but it was needed, because despite my good intentions I was being a dumbass. In the end, I'm just glad I can rely on her to put me in my place when needed while still being willing to listen and understand my actions and reasons.

I really lucked out having her as a friend, didn't I? On the same note, last night was a mess and I'll have to really think about my actions. I don't regret what I did, it was what I thought should be done and it could have saved lives, I just regret not knowing how to do it better.

I sigh before dragging my body out of bed and taking stock of my things as Entropy leaves my shadow to greet me. "Ok?" It's a simple and innocent question, one that makes me smile down at her.

"No, but I will be. Do you want some breakfast? We kind of skipped dinner." I ask back while taking some of the berries I bought last night out of my saddlebags. She stares at the blueberries for a second before ignoring them and focusing on grooming my mane and making small chirps as she tries her best to cheer me up.

I smile and reach out a hoof to scratch her misty feathers, as they now are almost completely shadowy mist now. "Thank you girl, now eat." I pass her a few berries so she can tide herself over until we get a real meal. She happily takes them while I get to work cleaning.

I took a blissful shower last night but didn't take the time to clean my cloak or saddlebags, so I spent a few minutes emptying my saddlebags onto the bed. Then I take them to the bathroom which is way too big and start to use some soap and a cleaning spell to wash out the blood stains.

Entropy hunts every once in a while and she is far from a clean eater, so needless to say this is far from the first time I've had to wash blood out of my clothing. With my practice, it doesn't take too long to finish the saddlebags after I cast a drying spell on them and put them on before grabbing the cloak.

But I stop as someone knocks on the door. "Come in!" I fold the cloak up to move it and turn back as the door opens to see that Cadance is now standing in the doorway looking over my things laid out on the bed with a raised brow. "Cadance, good morning." I greet her evenly and with a decent smile.

She smiles back, but also seems a little tired, that's probably my fault. "Good morning to you too, same to you Entropy, what's all this?" She looks over the various small things I normally keep with me. While Entropy flies over to her and demands scratches from her, and she obliges.

I take my cloak over to the bathroom and keep the door open to see and talk to her as I work on clearing my cloak. "All the things I normally carry with me, excluding a medical kit that I'll need to replace." I give a blunt answer. "I hope you got some sleep, and if not, sorry." I apologize while not being fully awake yet, she waves me off with a hoof.

"I'll accept it, as long as you don't worry Aunty like that again." I hear a little sternness in her tone, but it relaxes a moment later. "Then again, from what I heard Aunty already gave you that lecture, so I'll spare you from it, for now." She smiles at me but falters a little as she sees the blood washing out of my cloak.

I nod. "Thanks then, one is more than enough. Trust me when I say I don't want to get involved in anything like this again." I finish cleaning my cloak and cast another drying spell on it before packing it away in my saddlebags and walking over to the bed to pack everything else up.

"You won't." I pause and raise a brow but she just smiles viciously in return. "Anyway, I'm here to bring you to breakfast, or drag you out of bed if you were still asleep, either way works." She jokes while opening the door. "Now come on, you don't want to keep her waiting, do you?." I ignore the way she says that.

"Sounds good, I haven't eaten in a while. Lead the way Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Such an odd name." I say back with a smile as Entropy dips into my shadow while we leave the room.

She huffs. "Well, at least you haven't lost your sense of humor, too bad that's not worth much." She jabs me right back as we move through the hallway.

I start to both wake-up and relax more as we start our normal rhythm. "You're not the first to tell me that, and you probably won't be the last, but I'm not giving up my horrible jokes, even if the sun asks." I use an old pony saying that has long since gone out of fashion.

She just rolls her eyes at that and has to stifle a groan as two guards pass us and she has to look at least somewhat royal this early in the morning, once they pass us she relaxes again almost like a switch was flicked. I've never really seen her act that formal with me, so it never really occurred to me why she started off that casually when we met.

Well, since she's been so forthcoming, why not just ask? "Why trust me so much?" She turns her head and gives me an odd look. "I mean why be so informal and relaxed? Don't get me wrong, I very much prefer the informal and relaxed way we talk, but I guess I just find it odd." It seems this is yet another failed attempt at the fabled small talk.

She just gives me a large smile. "Let me ask you this, how many friends do you think Aunty has? And I don't mean friends, I mean real friends that aren't ponies she works with." She emphasizes that last part.

I let that bounce around my head for a moment. "Ten? Maybe more? I wouldn't guess it to be high, but she must have some friends other than me." Celestia is obviously a busy mare but she has to have some personal time and ponies to share it with beyond me.

She gives me an odd smile I've seen a few times before. "Four, and I'm one of them." I nearly trip at that and give her a disbelieving look. She just smiles back, "To be blunt, Aunty doesn't have many opportunities to make genuine friends who don't want something from her."

I know that's something that obviously happens, but even then I'd expect more than just four. "That's also why I trust you, she is always happy after your meetings and it shows. It's actually how I learned about you, she was happy and I kept bugging her until she relented." She says with such a proud smile.

I feel a small wave of both happiness and surprise wash over me at hearing that. I never knew, but it does bring a smile to my face. "Well, guess I'll have to keep making her happy as best I can," I say with a happy and serious tone. A moment later we reach a door that I don't recognize, Cadance just walks right in with me following her a moment later.

I really should have expected something like this. I'm greeted by a large lavish dining room, far too big and fancy for me, and seeing the smile on Celestia's face I can't help but think this was intentional. "Nine hours and fifteen minutes." I raise a brow at the stopwatch she has. "Seems I kept my promise." Her tone is kind and sunny, no pun intended.

I can't see anypony else inside the room and the food is already out on the big table. At least I don't have to deal with acting formally around others, so I just try to relax and walk over to the table with a small smile. "I guess you did. Did you get enough sleep though?" I ask a little awkwardly, last night still making things a little odd for me.

She doesn't miss a beat and just smiles as Cadance starts to pile some food on her plate. "Yes, now relax and eat, you'll need it." I do as she asks but notice the second ominous warning I've been given today. But if they have something planned for me I'll take it with a smile, it's the least I deserve for the stunt I pulled.

"Fine, anything good?" I ask as Entropy leaves my shadow looking like she's in heaven. "Hold that thought." I turn to Entropy and grab her with my field before she can fly around like a maniac, I place her on the table and keep her there. "You might want to be quick, she will start teleporting if we take too long." I half-joke while turning back to a thoroughly amused Celestia.

"There's plenty to eat, the staff heard we had a guest and went a little overboard." I raise a brow. :What's a lot then?: She moves a few plates around in a decently impressive display, and a moment later I'm filling a plate and bowl with anything that looks good. I also noticed some fish that I immediately took several pieces of it. She chuckles, "I expected you'd want that."

I raise a brow at that tone before taking a bite of fish, only to stop mid-chew a moment later. I swallow and turn to Celestia with a deadpan stare. "Did you do this?"

She just keeps smiling and laughs a little at my expression. "My staff aren't the best at meat, even the batponies. It's terribly bland." Despite her words, she smiles while eating a piece of fish.

The fish is cooked very well, but the seasonings leave a lot to be desired and are definitely not a good standard for royal meals. "Of course, first you two have something ominous planned and now the fish is bland, what next? Melted ice cream?" I take another bite of the bland fish while pretending to sulk a little.

I do notice that Cadance doesn't seem to like eating the meat she has on her plate. She's heard our topic and sees where I'm looking. "I'm still getting used to it if I ever do." She says flatly while taking another bite slowly. She has only been an alicorn for a while so I suppose it takes time to adjust.

Once Entropy is done devouring her food I have to keep her in place to not overeat. "Free! More!" She demands as she gives me a glare.

I chuckle at her. "No. We'll eat later, but you need to know when to quit." I move her next to me before giving her a few small pieces while keeping an eye on her, I don't notice the amused looks from both mares as they watch me deal with a fussy bird. It doesn't take long for us to finish and when we do I turn to Celestia. "How are they doing?" I ask gently.

Celestia gives me a gentle and reassuring look. "The injured Changelings will recover just fine, and the rest are still being talked to for now. I'd also like to apologize about last night, even if you deserved it." Her tone is genuine but holds some humor to it.

I nod my thanks. "No need, I asked for it and needed it. So, thank you for giving me a good kick in the flank." Cadance chuckles at our bland humor. "Now, enough keeping me in suspense, what do you two have planned for me?" I glance back and forth in between them and give them a comically suspicious look.

They both just smile and Celestia drops a few pages on the table in front of me. "I'm confiscating your vacation for making me worry." She says with a cheery tone. I raise a brow and start reading the papers, it's the form I need to sign to take vacation time from February fourteenth to the twenty-eighth.

I'm not against spending my vacation helping her, she's done so much for me and this is the least I could do, plus a vacation for forgiveness seems like a small price to pay. "Ok." I sign it without even knowing what I'm agreeing to, I'll just have to deal with what comes next.

Celestia was mid-sentence what I agreed and looked a little surprised. "I was going to ask if you had anything planned already in case we needed to reschedule it, and then tell you your pay, but that works too." She smiles and quickly takes the paper back from me. "I can give you more vacation time if you still want to go somewhere?" She offers.

I shake my head. "I didn't even know where I wanted to go, and even if I'll be doing something I should be able to have some free time to do other things, right?" She nods. "Then what did I just agree to? Because I'm going to be disappointed if I'm being sent to a boring place."

Cadance smiles widely. "You've just agreed to be one of my translators for a diplomatic visit to Griffonstone. I hope you've kept in practice." Her smile shows just how fucked she thinks I am.

I turn back to Celestia with a surprised and somewhat deadpan stare. "You're not giving me that page back are you?"

She smiles widely. "Nope. Take this as a lesson to ask questions and read something thoroughly before signing it. And before you worry, you won't be doing that much actual diplomacy." She smiles as I feel my body relax and breathe out a sigh of relief.

"Thank MAGIC! I already don't like talking to others, let alone nobles." They just laugh at my reaction.

Cadance drops her crazy smile. "Good, because me and Aunty don't want a diplomatic incident. But don't think you'll be getting off easy, You'll be doing something far worse." She drinks some tea for a dramatically long moment as I wait and give her a deadpan stare. "You will be translating and copying all documents we need, something that will give more time for the actual diplomats to do their work."

She says that like it's a punishment, I just smile as her face morphs to confusion. "I spent several months translating griffon texts for the library. You think the paperwork is bad? Just wait until you're translating a detailed account about the griffon who wrote that paperwork and why." I say dramatically with a smile.

Griffon's text is much like the language, dry and blunt, the paperwork even more so. Cadance gives me a slightly horrified look, "I know right? So you'll have to try harder on this one." She just shakes and laughs after a moment. I turn back to Celestia, "Well, I wouldn't mind a trip like this and the work should be easy enough."

She nods. "Well, what have you been working on recently?" I raise a brow as she changes the subject a little. "You are always training something interesting." She gives me a knowing look.

I get an idea and smile at her. I grab an apple with my field and start to concentrate on the space around it before carefully manipulating the space by making a piece of imaginary paper and twisting it into a spiral before letting it snapback. I have to slow the Rebound to prevent the apple from exploding.

This lessens the effect to an extent but the result is a messed up-looking apple. They both give curious and slightly alarmed looks as the space visibly bends for a moment before the apple deforms. I let the space settle and cut the deformed apple in half before giving one half to each of them.

"Turns out I can fuse things by manipulating space, not easy but it's interesting and could have its uses," I explain while feeding Entropy a few small berries as a final treat for the meal.

Celestia and Cadance both give me odd looks and inspect the insides of the apples. The inside is now a mix of apple skin, apple flesh, and seeds all blended and wrong. Cadance decides to just take a bite before shrugging and putting it down, while Celestia seems to give it a serious inspection.

"I hope you are being safe, I would rather not give you another lecture so soon. But I must say this is impressive work for how little time you've had." She gives me a serious look before smiling again and praising me.

I nod quickly. "I'm still mostly training my control, and that is actually a lot weaker than it looks. Even if things do go wrong the after-effects would be small." I explain as my ears stand up while I move my mostly empty plate to the side and out of reach of Entropy's grubby claws.

She nods and stands up. "Good to hear, for now, though it's time me and Cadance get to work. You're free to do what you like and I'll make sure to send a schedule soon so you can plan in advance. Have a good day Shade, and thank you for agreeing to help, finding another trusted translator so quickly would have been a pain." She keeps her smile the whole time.

I huff and pick up Entropy off the table as she tries to sneak even more food before placing her on my back. "Fair enough, and it's the least I can do." I turn to Cadance. "Have a good day, enjoy the nobles and paperwork, and make sure to whip something up to really get me." I smile as she sticks her tongue out at me.

She also smiles. "Trust me, I WILL. Have a good day though, and enjoy the... Wait, you don't even have work today do you?" I shake my head. "Uggg, I hope you trip on something then." She jokes before standing up and stretching as I turn back to Celestia.

"Make sure you have some fun today, even if it just involves a few grapes." She just smiles and nods before walking out with a few grapes moved into her mane where nopony can see them.

Cadance walks over next to me before giving me that damned smile. "Did I see your ears perk up when she said it was impressive? Becau-" I don't let her finish.

I can see where this is going and quickly turn to Entropy as she stands on my back. "Retreat!" A moment later I'm gone, leaving only a laughing Cadance left in the dining room.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 994

Thanks to a certain someone that made the suggestion to have Shade accompany Cadance on a trip, turns out it fit rather well and I really liked the idea. So once again, thank you for the suggestion. :D

Chapter 142

FEB 12 Friday.

I sit down in the breakroom with a plate of food for lunch. "Here, now spill." Before I can even fully sit down I have Daisy shove a few papers over to me.

Over the past week I've asked Daisy to tell me when the request for my vacation time was approved, it took longer than normal because the paperwork had to be sent to her before going through the library's mail system instead of me just hoofing it to her.

The whole time she's been bugging me about where I'm going, so to mess with her a little I refused to tell her until it got approved. Maple and Blaz also turn to me expectantly, "Fine, you can be really persistent you know?" I roll my eyes at Daisy.

She smiles at that. "Thanks."

I give her a deadpan look. "That wasn't a compliment. I'm taking a trip to Griffonstone, it should be interesting." I explain with my most bland tone just to take the fun out of it.

She mock glares at me for a moment. "Uggg! You ruined it. Well, at least I know where you're going, why Griffonstone though? From what I know it's not the largest Griffon city, or the most popular for that matter." She perks right back up.

I nod. "Not wrong, but it is one of the oldest cities that's still a decent size. It has so much history, and it has some easy ways to get to it." I give them two valid but boring reasons for my choice. Although I didn't completely lie, Griffonstone is one of the oldest large Griffin cities left standing and I do want to see it regardless of the diplomacy.

Blaz cuts in at that. "I've actually been once, not the most receptive to guests, but some good views. And some surprisingly good cider." He comments while eating. "Not a bad choice though, try not to insult anyone with your poor social skills Colt."

I smile at him. "Of course you have, somepony as old as you must have been everywhere at your age. Anyway, it should be fun, and I'll be back before you know it to bother you all again." Blaz just huffs and stuffs his face while Maple stays silent and smiles slightly.

"Any of you have plans for your time off?" I take a bite of the same old steamed carrot that they serve a little too often for my liking.

Maple nods. "A trip to a small city, visiting relatives." She says plainly while finishing her food and taking out a small bag of sweets. Maple doesn't talk much about her family, but I know she has at least one brother and sister.

Blaz nods at that. "Same for me, I get to see my grand-foals, they're already taking flying lessons and everything!" Few things will make Blaz jovial, and his family is one of them. "Also, I got a letter yesterday, they are having another foal!" I feel my own smile grow as he practically beams.

"Congrats! Tell them I wish them the best. Oh! Those recipes I give you ever work out?" I ask back while keeping my smile. A while back I gave him a few meat recipes for his son's wife.

He nods. "From what I hear, yes, apparently she really likes bass. But I got to say, Colt, with how much you eat meat, how can we be sure you're not a Batpony in disguise?" He asks with fake accusations in his tone.

I roll my eyes and look at Daisy, only to see her looking a little sad. I'm pretty sure she normally used her vacation to visit Willow. I smile at her and give her a gentle poke, "You thought about where you want to go?" I ask while trying to be as gentle as possible.

She gives me a half-hearted smile. "Not really, a few ideas but nothing that sounded fun or interesting." I can tell she's trying to be strong.

An idea pops into my head at that. "Have you ever been to the sea?"

She looks more confused than sad now and nods. "Yes? Not in a long time though, I went when I was only a filly." Not an uncommon thing for more inland ponies.

I nod back. "Go to New Trotten then, the same place I went to last year. The sea is beautiful and swimming can be pretty fun, plus the city has quite a few interesting restaurants." I offer with a smile.

She seems to think over it for a few moments before nodding to herself. "That... That sounds nice actually, thanks."

I give her my best smile. "Don't mention it, and make sure to have some fun there." We all descend into our usual banter after that and the day moves on.

A few hours later I'm walking through the heavy rain in my cloak as I make my way home for the day. The rainy season has started a little early and even with the weather team's efforts the rain is proving stubborn. Not that I mind, I enjoy the rain and the new life it brings with it.

I arrive home without incident and start to relax with some tea and relentless training after feeding Entropy. It's been several days now and I'm starting to get excited about my trip, I may have to do some work while there but that's fine and I should still have time to enjoy the city.

True to her word Celestia sent me a schedule yesterday and I'm supposed to meet Cadance at the train station on the fourteenth two days from now. I even got a small badge to show the guards, along with how much I'm being paid. Normally I could care less about bits, but she's not paying me in bits.

She's bought me two very unique plants, one for when this trip is over, and the other for my birthday although she wouldn't tell me anything about that second one. The first plant is a tree, yup, more trees. Specifically, a Cherry Blossom tree that can make a tea with a very unique flavor.

It's not the most interesting plant, it's not even magical, but it's still a nice plant and I don't mind a new type of tea. The letter also made a not-so-subtle hint that she'd appreciate some of the tea I make because of course she would. Still, it's a nice little reward when I wasn't expecting much.

It might not seem like all that much, but Cherry Blossom trees are not an easy thing to transport or grow, so it's worth a lot more than you'd expect. Honestly, I'm probably being overpaid, a lot, but hey I'm not one to turn down a plant and the tea should be nice.

I finish building a house of cards and stop as I've used half the deck already. I'm getting better at this and playing with these cards gave me yet another idea for training space magic, magic tricks. That's right, I found a book to learn magic tricks without using actual magic, besides the magic to move the cards themselves of course.

Some of them require quick, complex, and precise movements to do properly. It will be a good way to train both my control and my speed, although it's going to take a while to learn some of the more complex tricks that the book has, still I'm up for the challenge.

Once I practice enough to drain my magic I down some tea and move on to other things. I went shopping so I have everything I'll need, but there is something I want to improve before I leave. I want to make something for information storage that won't raise eyebrows.

I don't need that much storage, a few dozen pages are enough for a single trip. For this reason, I went to a jewelry store, and I bought a small earring and a few other pieces of jewelry. This earring was very pricy because it contained a small diamond of incredible purity and the others had three smaller diamonds of good quality, I did get an odd look from the seller when I asked them to remove the gems a few seconds after I bought them.

Still, they did as I asked and got paid in return. As you know a gem's durability and magical capacity vary in many ways, and all of them I've mentioned before. This diamond is only a quarter inch wide at any point and in the classic diamond shape that all shows used, but it has a completely clear inside and is really high quality.

After a little testing, I've found that this small diamond can hold seventy-four illusionary pages, a good amount for the size and well worth the bits. This also makes the diamond nice and easy to hide on me, all that's left is to turn it into some easy-to-access form, and I have just the idea for that.

I don't want an earring, and my necklace is too obvious, so I'm going to change my bracelet. I've used a silver bracelet with only decent-quality diamonds in it, and now it's time to change it for something better. That is why I needed the other three diamonds.

The other three have the same shape but are only a fifth-inch wide, when combined they will be more than enough for the Changeling detection spell, while like I mentioned the other diamond will hold a small illusionary book. This provides me an easy-to-access location for the illusionary book and the three gems will provide even more magic to the Changeling detection spell than my old bracelet did.

All that's left is the bracelet itself, and after some thought, I decided to make something similar to what I made for my friends. I made their jewelry out of a normal Iron Oak, this time I'm working with steel wood to provide as much durability as I can.

I sit down at my desk and I start with the gems, it doesn't take me long to draw out and cast all the spells I'll need, the pure diamond is already finished from my testing so I focus on the other three. I link them together and add the Changeling detection spell before also placing them to the side.

I grab a pot filled with soil and a single acorn to sprout a single Iron Oak tree. I start by growing a blank bracelet shape and dumping my life magic into it, the bracelet needs to be decently tough so it takes me two full cycles of draining my magic before it's all pure steel wood.

Once it's ready I use my enchanted knife to cut it off of the stem and move the pot back to its proper spot before moving the hunk of wood over to the kitchen sink. I take a few minutes to dry the wood out before walking back to my desk. I place it down and begin the slow process of chipping away material.

It's a very slow process and by the time it's dark I only have a basic outline of how it will look and a few sketches I drew out. I decided to leave it be for now and go about my day. I cook dinner and clean myself before working on a few small things and heading to bed.

But as I stare at the dark ceiling I can't help but let my mind wander. I've always been the sort to just get lost in my thoughts, ideas, and plans, they cloud my mind so often that many get lost in the jumble.

I remember my old life, and it feels like a dream now. It's odd to think of this world where there is magic and the day is controlled by a pony as normal and my last life as odd. But that's just what perspective does I suppose, I once thought this world was only a distant dream, and now the tables have turned.

I remember so many faces and people, all they were, and all they meant to me. Friends, those few I would consider family, old pets, acquaintances, and even a few petty rivals that I once hated for silly reasons. But all that feels so distant now, smoke in a mirror that only reflects at certain points, only to twist and vanish again.

I lived a simple life, even if it didn't feel simple at the time that's what it was. But now things are so complex, Changelings, diplomatic meetings, the unknown fate of this world. It can be a lot to carry some days, but it's worth it when I spend a day talking to friends and making bad jokes.

That's the irony, despite all the things that make this life so much more complicated than my last one, I feel happier here. My last life felt so small despite how much my kind knew, we knew of the seas, the turn of the earth, and even the stars, but that just made it feel small.

There was no mystery for someone like me there, just a life that could go well if I was lucky. As sad as that sounds I still liked that life, even with all its flaws it meant a lot to me and I remember that time fondly. But one can only look back so much before they see the cracks.

And I've come to realize this world is not that different, sure there are things to learn and explore, but whether it be on Equis or Earth life ticks on all the same. Friends, pets, and all the things that come with them, life just keeps going for better or worse.

A wise man once said home is where you make it. I think I've made this place my home, and I have no regrets about that. I smile before turning over and pulling my blanket over me. I should sleep, I have things to do tomorrow.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

Not much in this one, mostly just some prep and Shade thinking about life.

Also. I'm taking either tomorrow or the next day off.

Chapter 143

FEB 14 Sunday.

There is a misty rain as I walk through the wet streets of Canterlot. Today is the day and I'm once again leaving the city that I call home.

I pay no mind as Entropy moves from shadow to shadow as she follows me through the slightly busy streets. She's under an illusion already, just in case she wants to fly around normally. Although I still have to keep an eye on her, she is a very curious bird after all.

I've packed all the things I may need and a few others, mostly more medical supplies. Having more can never hurt and it can literally save lives so I don't mind giving up a little space. Along with my things, I have a new piece of jewelry on my leg, an intricately carved wooden bracelet.

It resembles roots and vines interwoven together with carvings of rose flowers, leaves, and thorns. The diamonds are embedded inside the bracelet itself under the wood so they aren't visible in any way. I have no want or need to flaunt wealth and I prefer the simple wooden aesthetic.

But as a result, I had to get creative. Normally I activate or deactivate something by tapping it, it's a simple and versatile way to do so and is very reliable. But that means I need to be able to access the gems to turn them off and on, so this time I had to work with something else so the gems can stay hidden.

I ended up using switches of a sort. I carved two channels in the underside of my bracelet that hold small pieces of wood that can slide back and forth. All they do is turn off the Changeling detection enchantment and the illusionary book when moved to the opposite position.

The best part is that I can use my field and spatial senses together to aim my field and flip them without taking the bracelet off. A convenient and discreet way to use my enchantments and not draw eyes, and it's even very stable because the switches take a decent amount of force to activate so it won't happen by just moving around.

All in all, I have a new bracelet with a look I prefer much more. I leave my thoughts as I reach the train station that services all of Canterlot. It has several sections that each do different things, some for ponies, others for trade goods, and even some for mass amounts of raw materials like lumber and stone.

These provide for some of Canterlot's needs and transport requirements. As for me, it doesn't take me long to find the smaller train being guarded by several patrols of alert guards, I can bet every bit I own that's the right train. I observe for a few moments before dropping my hood and walking up to the guards.

They see me immediately, and I slowly take a badge out of my bag before affixing it to my chest to show it properly. They also see that as I walk up to them. One guard stares at the badge for a moment before nodding. "Please follow me Sir."

I just nod and do as asked. He leads me inside and through a few links of the train to a compartment with a simple bed, folding table, and a few shelves. "This is yours, the princess asked to see you at noon, somepony will come for you." He is all business and duty, not that I mind, simple instructions work best.

I nod again. "Understood, thanks." They just nod and march off with a disciplined pace. It's only ten right now so I just spend a moment relaxing and reading a little. I brought a good amount of the reading material that I and Cadance have yet to go through. I also brought only two books with me, one about griffon customs, just to refresh a little, and one about griffon military history.

Honestly calling it history might not be accurate, they have a tendency to embellish and make borderline propaganda sometimes. But it does make for an interesting read and it does contain some accurate history that is fun. I also do a relatively simple spatial exercise while reading my book.

I took my deck of cards with me and take out two to slowly rotate around each other in mid-air while reading. This takes a decent amount of concentration and slows down my reading as I need to keep my mind on two separate tasks at once, but something I've gotten good at over time.

All my abilities require multitasking to some degree so it's something I make sure to train thoroughly with all my abilities that could benefit from it. I read slowly and play around with the cards as more and more ponies come up to the train before a guard checks them and leads them inside.

I'm a nobody here, a stallion that nopony would know or recognize and I'll be keeping it that way if I can. I'm just another scribe hired to translate documents on short notice to do this job, so I'll do just that, work and keep my head low while enjoying my time off.

The train starts to move an hour later and an hour after that I stop playing my game of solitary when somepony knocks on the cabin door. "Come in."

A moment later the door opens to reveal a guard standing there. "Sir, you have a meeting with the princess." Her tone is as blunt and serious as the first guard.

I decided to take my saddlebags and also affix my badge again. "Then lead the way," I say while standing up and swiftly following them out of the compartment. It's a short walk down several train cars and past other ponies talking, they don't even notice me, and before I know it we arrive at a more expensive train car.

It's definitely more fancy than the other cars and it seems to be sectioned into a few large compartments with a single hallway connecting them and guards at every door. The guard opens a door and steps to the side, I just pass them and enter to see Cadance and Shining sitting at a table talking.

:Well... Fuck: I probably should have seen this coming. Cadance never mentioned if she was dating or in a relationship, but it seems she either is already or will be soon. This still leaves me in a bind, I never lied to Shining but I never told him anywhere near the full truth.

I let myself think about it for a moment. I could tiptoe around this mess, dodging questions and avoiding topics, but I honestly don't want to. I don't fully trust Shining, but I don't think he'll ever betray my trust. After a moment of standing there, I made my choice. I don't want to deal with all the mental stress of being covert and secretive with Shining, so I'll just answer what I want and stop pretending, it's best to rip this band-aid off quickly.

A new thought also enters my head before I walk over to the pair. Both are looking out the window and neither seems to have noticed me yet. I smile and cast a silencing spell on my hooves before walking over and carefully sitting at the other end of the table. "The view is nice, and it will be good to get out of the city again, especially with some free time," Shining says with a calm tone while appreciating the view of the passing countryside.

Cadance nods while doing the same. "Agreed, it has been too long since we went somewhere together." She turns back slightly and glances at him with a sly smile. "We might even get some alone time." Well, that answers that question. It also makes me very uncomfortable, but it also makes me nearly laugh as I just pour myself some tea slowly.

Shining also glances at her. "Really? Hmmm, maybe we will, guess we will have to find out. Anyway, when is the pony you wanted me to meet going to be here?" He asks while watching a tree move past the window.

She shrugs a little and turns back to the window. "No idea, but it should be soon, I think you'll like meeting him." She reassures Shining a little.

I can't help it anymore and finally speak up. "Oh, I'm already here. How have you been Shining?" Both snap their heads to me and look equally shocked as I simply lift my tea cup in a toast. "By the way, thanks for inviting me to talk." I smile widely at their faces and take a long sip.

For the first time, I see Cadance slightly embarrassed. "H-how much of that did you hear?" I must have really caught her on the back foot as she even stutters a little.

I smile wider. "Enough, but you know my secrets and I know yours, so we're even now. Seriously though, I won't say anything if you don't want me to." I see a little relief in her eyes and turn to Shining as he stares at me like I've grown a second head. "You should pick your jaw off the floor, it might attract flies." I break him out of the shock with a mild tease.

He still looks baffled. "Shade? Wha? What? When? How?" He stammers out clearly confused at my appearance.

I turn back to Cadance. "Not fast on the up take is he?" She just gives me an odd look from the unknown saying as I continue to confuse both of them, but after a moment she still nods. I smile at the chaos I'm causing and decide to cause more. "Well, to answer you. Yes, it's me, hi. I'm here as a translator. Around two hours ago. And it's complicated." I answer in a blunt manner like I'm giving orders.

Cadance can't help but snort at my blunt answer. "It seems you two already know each other, that's a story I must hear. Anyway, how have you been? I hope the cabin is to your liking." She changes the subject and for the first time, it seems she's the one wanting to move on from a topic.

I could tease her about it, and I will later, but for now, I need to make a decent impression on Shining. "Just fine, and the cabin is more than enough for me," I answer as Shining finally seems to sort his mind back together and gives me yet another confused look as me and Cadance talk so casually.

"When did you two meet? For that matter, when did you get involved in diplomacy?" He's not hostile or even embarrassed at being caught as it seems his curiosity has overtaken all that. His tone is still calm overall and he seems a little happy to see me.

I shrug and keep a friendly tone. "I did tell you I can't talk about a lot of what I do?" He nods. "Ok, so let me just give you both a rundown real quick." I look at Cadance. "Through luck, chance, and maybe a dash of fate, I've had run-ins with the entire Twilight family. And I've seen Shining at the castle a few times, he knows I make plants for Celestia, and that's all he knows for now."

She nods after a moment and smiles as I just blatantly spill this out as Shining tries to figure this out in his head. "Well, here I thought this would take longer, way to keep it simple." Her tone is teasing but I just roll my eyes and turn back to Shining.

"I do make new plants, along with other things that I'm not sure I'm allowed to talk about." I stop at that and turn back to Cadance. "Actually, what am I allowed to tell him exactly?" I ask Cadance as Shining seems content with me explaining, but still pays close attention to my words while showing an odd smile.

Cadance gives me a reassuring look. "He knows everything about me and is my most trusted confidant. You can tell him anything you like about yourself, it's completely up to you." I give her a thankful nod and turn back to Shining. His shock is gone now and he just smiles at Cadance's words.

"You're a guard and I'm not one for subtlety so I'll keep it simple. I do much more than you may ever know, and I don't like to share, I'm sorry if that's not ok for you. I'm just not the type to trust easily." I explain with a completely serious tone while maintaining eye contact.

He nods after a second. "You have nothing to be sorry for, It's not my business and unless you want it to be it will stay that way." His tone is reassuring and he shows a small smile, and while I can tell he still has many questions he's willing to let it go. That means a lot to me, even if he doesn't know that.

I smile at him and nod back. "Thank you. You can ask anything you like, I probably won't give clear answers though. But for the sake of your relationship, I will say I mostly interact with Cadance because we are working together on something important. Now, how have you been Shining? It's been a while." I tease them both and enjoy the embarrassment that shows on their faces for a moment.

He keeps his small smile after several moments. "I knew you were odd, but this is just excessive. Seriously, where did you even come from?" He asks with a slightly humorous tone while drinking his cup of tea.

I also keep my smile. "You would never believe me if I told you. So, any questions?" I'm happy with how well this is going so far. I was honestly expecting a bigger reaction.

He starts to relax. "Many, but to start. I'm doing just fine, although I had the misfortune of being promoted, so I have to organize guards now." I chuckle at the tired look that crosses his face for a moment before it hardens. "Keep laughing and I'll have a guard follow you at all times for your safety." He says with a blunt tone and a small smile as he sees my panic from hearing his words.

I stop smiling and fold my ears back a little. " ... Point, taken." I don't try to fight that threat as Shining seems like the type to actually follow through.

He smiles fully again. "So how did you get roped into this? You never seemed like the type for diplomacy." He pours some more tea for himself. He really seems to have taken this all very well, or maybe he's just used to things like this considering his job.

I decided to just do the same and try to move on from the maybe real threat before he changed his mind. "I can translate Griffin, and I'll be doing that for all our documents. As for how? I'm not saying ... mostly for my own safety." I really want to trust him, but it will take time for that to happen.

I'm not ready to tell others about this, hell the only reason Cadance knows is because she needs to. If I could have only told Celestia I would have. Shining gives me a slightly concerned look before turning to Cadance, "Does he actually need a guard?"

I'm about to object and say no when she shakes her head, much to my relief. "No, he... Well, he's more than capable of taking care of himself, as long as we make sure to check in on him and make sure he's not doing anything stupid." She says with a smile while talking like I'm not here.

"Don't worry, I keep several seeds and a dagger on me at all times." I decided to derail her attempt to tease me by drawing my dagger from its hidden spot and showing it to them. "You don't have to worry about me." I resheath my dagger as they both give me slightly bewildered looks again.

Cadance just sighs after a moment, I seem to cause that reaction a lot. "You really are as paranoid as she said. Are those seeds The..." She trails off and I nod. " Then I'd appreciate it if you didn't use them then." She cringes a little at their mention and I just nod as Shining once again looks confused. She sees that "You don't want to know."

I decide to change the subject again. "Well, besides meeting your stallion friend, why did you invite me?" I ask while drinking more red tea.

She doesn't look as embarrassed but it still shows a little. "That was all actually, but if you have something you'd like to talk about I'm all ears?"

I give her a wide smile that she now recognizes as a bad sign. "I thought we might have a little free time while traveling, so I made sure to bring all the reading material we haven't gone through." I smile even wider as she gives me a slightly concerned look. "Yes, that reading material."

She huffs. "Traitor, you dare bring the evil paperwork here? This is a vacation!" I get a small taste of her royal voice as she jokes with me.

I just keep my smile and play along. "Correct your majesty! And that's why I even brought my notes for you to read through, in Griffon of course so you can get some practice in." She just slumps a little as I laugh and Shining holds back a chuckle.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 994

A simple chapter, I hope you like it.

Chapter 144

FEB 15 Monday.

I wake to the light of a new day as the sun beams through the train window and the steady movement of the train shakes me fully awake.

Yesterday was nice. I gave Cadance a book with notes to read before just talking with Shining and her about boring stuff. Likes, dislikes, random questions, and a few other things. Not very interesting but it was nice to get to know both of them a little more.

I and Cadance aren't really friends, sure we joke and talk but we're not that close yet, still I enjoy her company. As for Shining? Well, we've spoken less than a dozen times over the past two years, so I honestly don't know him all that well, but so far he seems like a nice enough stallion.

He doesn't joke or tease as much as Cadance and has a more quiet and reserved presence. But he is not like Avalon, he's a calm but sturdy stallion that doesn't spook or scare easily, but it can still happen as yesterday showed. Still, he has the stoicism the guard shows so often down to a tee.

He's also a little quiet, he'll talk when asked things or when he has something to add to the conversation but otherwise seems content to listen more than talk. But this is just a first impression as a pony he doesn't really know, so I expect he's different when around family and friends.

I shake those thoughts out of my head and get out of bed to start my day with my exercises like always. Several stretches and an hour later I'm panting slightly while recovering, I don't have the room to do my full exercises but it's my vacation and I'm going to relax some, even if Stone kicks the shit out of me for it later.

Once I'm done I start on the next part of my morning routine but I'm interrupted by Entropy as she leaves my shadow and looks up at me. "Food?" I smile down at her and dig through my saddlebags. I packed food for her so she could eat in peace and so others didn't find her presence odd.

"Sure, you pretty bird." I smile as her tail wags up and down slightly at my words. I packed several fruit and grain seeds along with a small plant pot. It doesn't take me long to grow her a meal and dice everything before adding it to a small wooden bowl. "Enjoy."

"Happy." She rubs her head against my hoof for a moment before digging into her breakfast as I grow myself a pear to eat. Growing plants and fruit does consume some soil from the pot but that's easy to replace, and beyond that, I can feed her easily with what I brought with me. After I finish my snack I stand up and stretch out my limbs while Entropy also finishes her food.

Once she's done she merges into my shadow as I leave my cabin and start walking down the train. Shining told me about the basic layout of the train and a few other important things, the back cars have supplies and the guard quarters, the mid cars have civilian cabins and a dining car to eat and relax in.

Then the front has Cadance's train car and of course the engine. I'm heading to breakfast and after passing a few ponies in the halls I arrive at a mostly empty dining car. The few cooks that are cooking in the car in front of this one are occasionally bringing plates of fresh food to the tables.

The layout is simple, tables in the middle with plates of food and seating booths to each side with room to walk through in between them. It's early so not many other ponies are here and most of them seem to be off-duty guards eating a meal before they start work.

I just find an empty booth and sit down before getting comfortable and opening my book again. I could eat but I'm curious what else they'll bring out as the serving tables are still mostly empty. So I just settle for some type of black tea and enjoy the view out the window.

The terrain outside has gotten much more mountainous and rugged now. This trip is planned to last two weeks with four days of nothing but traveling. We're heading up the continent before crossing the frozen straight and heading back down and finally reaching Griffonstone.

It's far from the most efficient route, but this train is faster than a normal train and they planned ahead to clear the track from other trains meaning we don't have to stop, and this train is traveling light making us go even faster. This is why our trip is only two days, without all this preparation the train ride would have taken a week, and that's without any delays.

Over time more and more ponies enter the dining car and it becomes quite lively, with many ponies talking and discussing things with others as they eat and wake up more. This trip is diplomatic but many other important ponies took this opportunity to go to Griffonstone for one reason or another.

Some are guild representatives and others are influential merchants, and some are nobles seeking to make new connections or renew old ones. They are all social types and I'm just fine being left alone as I eat a good meal, after I finish my meal I decide to stay and keep reading for a while.

After some time the car is basically full and I'm one of the few sitting alone in a booth, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that somepony would notice. My reading is interrupted as a mare stops next to my booth, "Hello?" I turn to look at her. A middle-aged unicorn mare with a brown coat and mane.

"Yes?" I ask back with a neutral tone.

But before she can ask a griffon walks up next to her and just sits down. "You don't need to ask, he's reading, just let him and sit down already." A female voice with a gruff tone comes from the griffin as she makes herself at home with little care about my opinion.

Honestly, I don't really care about sharing the booth, even with her attitude. "You can if you like." I just turn back to my book and decide to ignore them.

The mare gives me a nod and sits down with the griffin. "Thanks, and sorry for her tone, she's just stressed." She makes a seemingly genuine excuse before turning to the griffin with a mild glare. "Lithl! Even if he's ok with it there's no need to be rude!" She switches to griffon speech and starts chastising what I think is her friend.

Lithl seems to be a young adult griffin with gray head feathers and the normal mix of different drowns making up her body feathers, along with grey eyes. She rolls her eyes and huffs a little. "Fine! It's not like it matters, he's just some noble or merchant's son, a pampered stallion that isn't worth attention."

The mare just sighs. "Maybe, but that's still no excuse for insulting him! Now behave." Honestly I felt nothing at her insult, if something as mild as that can even be called an insult. But I do find it kind of funny that they are talking and don't realize I understand them.

The griffin huffs again before looking annoyed and nodding slowly after a moment. "Ugggg! You just have to be nice don't you Coco? But fine, I'll play nice. Not like it matters, he can't even understand us." She complains while eating a piece of food off of the plate she brought.

The mare just starts to eat at this but has a small smile. I'm pretty unaffected by their words, I've had friends insult me harder and honestly, this seems like another opportunity for some entertainment and chaos. I look over at them and nod much to their confusion.

"Not a bad guess, still incorrect though." I say abruptly while going back to reading my book. I get to see a griffin blush for the first time out of the corner of my eye as both go a little red with embarrassment. I try my best to hold a neutral expression at their looks.

"S-sorry Sir about t-that, she's just... Well..." The mare immediately starts on damage control as the griffin narrows her eyes and her embarrassment turns to annoyance.

She interrupts her friend. "We don't need to apologize! He never even told us, we can't be blamed for that." Lithl stops Coco from apologizing or making excuses. She makes a bad excuse that doesn't really impress me in the slightest, and then she turns to me. "Who are you anyway?" She demands.

She doesn't seem to be taking the embarrassment very well, but I don't rise to her tone and just stay calm. I close my book and give her my full attention. "I apologize if that offended you, and I'm a translation scribe." I keep my level tone and answer her plainly.

My calm tone seems to shift her mood and make her stop for a moment before relaxing a little as she takes a breath. "Whatever, just leave me be." She stops looking at me and instead focuses on eating her food.

Her friend gives me a sympathetic look. "Well, I'll just apologize regardless. Sorry about this, she's stressed over going home." The mare seems to make a genuine attempt to apologize to me and the griffin just ignores it.

Honestly, she seems to be on a short fuse and my antics probably didn't help, I'm not sure about the context but I know what it's like to have a bad day. I decided to just let this go, she may have been rude but it was entertaining for me. "It's fine, we all have bad days." I still keep my words simple and tone level as I brush it off and nod to them both before going back to my book.

It's just a little awkward and silent for a while after that and eventually, they leave after finishing their food. After that, I decided to do the same and return to my cabin, but as I walked down the hallways I see a face I recognized knocking on my cabin door. I walk over to Shining and greet him with a smile, "Hey Shining, need something?"

He doesn't jump and just turns to me with an unimpressed look. "I try to wake you and you're already up, of course. I'm guessing you already ate then?" I just nod. "Well, that offer for questions still open?" He asks gently.

I raise a brow and then remember my offer yesterday. "Sure, but like I said I'm not one to answer. Expect to leave with more questions than you started with." I warn him plainly before I open the door and let him inside. I've laid a few things out on the shelves and the fold-out table has a plant pot on it.

"Make yourself at home." I rummage through my things and lay out a pair of teacups and my well-worn teapot on the table before sitting down. I fill it with my water flask and dump in some tea leaves as he sits down opposite me. "Well, take it away." I try to keep a calm and friendly tone as I feel a little anxious.

I don't expect he'll demand an answer, but a part of me always feels off when being asked personal things by those I don't know well. "Thanks." He takes the tea with a nod. "Well, I guess I'll start with something simple. How did you even get the Princess's attention? Even if you went to day court that's no small feat." His tone even has some respect in it.

It's a blunt question and dives us right into the deep end, but I can work with that. I stay silent for a moment before deciding to actually be honest with this one, I don't see much harm in it and it's a simple answer. "Tea." He just raises a brow. "Have you ever noticed the tea Cadance drinks?"

He looks down and notices that we're drinking the same tea right now. "Kind of? Sure I've noticed it, but it's just tea." I have to smile at his confused face.

"Blood Leaf Tea, to be specific." That doesn't get a reaction out of him. "It's priced at four hundred bits an ounce." He nearly spits out the tea but stops before swallowing instead and looking at it with pure bewilderment.

"How?! It's tea?" I nearly laugh but keep my mouth shut because of last time's threat. He's not as surprised as yesterday but still seems a little shocked.

I give him my best mischievous smile for a moment. "It boosts magical recovery speed." His eyes widen even further and gives his teacup another look. "It's normally a very hard-to-find herb that also can't be grown in large quantities under normal conditions." I stop for a moment before casting a spell around us.

This is a basic modification to the silence spell to cover a larger area. He raises a brow, "Something to keep things private. But back to my point. The herb is rare and valuable, but with life magic, I can grow as much as I like."

He nods after a moment and tries the tea with a new awareness. "So, you are her... Tea dealer? That's certainly an interesting title to have." He jokes a little with me but keeps a normal tone while relaxing from his light shock. "But that doesn't really answer my question." He doesn't sound impatient just bluntly moving things back on track.

I nod. "Right. Well, I thought this tea would be a good thing for the princesses to have, so I sent her twenty pounds during the Summer Sun Celebration." That doesn't get the full shocked look from him, but I can practically see his mind as he starts to calculate.

I decided to beat him to the punch. "One hundred and twenty thousand, give or take some depending on market rates and time of year," I answer simply.

He just gives me an impressed look before a small smile shows on his face. "That would definitely do it. Tea, of all things." He chuckles for a moment before nodding. "Ok, well, what do you actually do for work?" He moves right along again.

I drink some tea. "At the library, I repair and copy books. And for the crown? Well, that's complicated." I pause and drink some tea. "I'll just say I make new plants and grow other plants, and I do a few other things, but I'll leave it at that." I give a very vague answer while hoping he does just leave it at that.

He nods after a moment. "Ok. What do you like to do in your off time? I think you mentioned something about runes a few times?" He really does move on and leaves it be, and that makes me relax a bit more. Even if he doesn't know it, that earned him a little more trust.

I give him a slightly thankful look. "A lot of things. It probably won't surprise you to know I garden in my free time." He gives me a, no shit? Really? Look. I just continue talking. "Wood carving, training in two weapons, and I'm a massive nerd," I answer vaguely and bluntly.

He seems to realize just how little I really talk about myself but still shows that small smile he's held for a while now. "Seems we have a few things in common then. Although, you wouldn't happen to be a book nerd would you?" It's clear that's a trap question.

I'm not sure what he's leading me into, but I'm not falling for it. "Me and a friend verbally spar constantly, you'll have to try harder than that. But I'll humor you, yes." I take all momentum out of his words and he gives me a defeated look for a moment.

He chuckles again. "Seems we also have that in common, I can never pull one over on Cadance." Shining seems like the honest sort, so I'm not the least bit surprised that he fails to outwit Cadance in that aspect. "And now I don't have any good questions, you got any? Or something to do? Because I still have an hour to wait out." I actually can't tell if he's serious about not having more questions, but get an idea regardless.

I smile wider and take out my worn deck of cards. "You ever play twenty-one?" I offer as he shakes his head. "Well, prepare to suffer then. Just remember, you asked for this." I smile evilly and start to draw cards. Little known fact, I loved to play twenty-one in my past life.

Needless to say he never won a single round that day.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 994

The conversation was a little dry but I tried to make it interesting, not much I could do though because it's mostly just him being shocked about the gremlin that is Shade Evergreen.

Also, just to clarify something for you all, nothing important, just interesting. I have an odd writing method, I start by making a new chapter over the course of a day. Then I go to bed and wake up before editing and posting that chapter and starting work on the next chapter that same day.

This means that oftentimes when I'm writing a chapter I'm reading all the comments from the previous one at the same time.

This last part is just something interesting and has no bearing on the current story.

When this story was young, around chapter 20, I had an idea for something completely new to add to the story. I was thinking of ways to explain why this world was so peaceful and came up with the Aversion To Killing rule.

The idea was that all beings had a built in aversion to killing that made them mentally unable to kill another sentient being without extensive specialized training. This was supposed to be a way to further show Shade's human side.

It never really went anywhere and has now been left to the wayside, but I thought you all might find it interesting.

Chapter 145

FEB 16 Tuesday.

I look up as my head sticks out of the train window at an angle. In the near distance, I see a decent-sized mountain with a large stone tree-like structure reaching high into the sky. Along the stone branches, I can make out a great many buildings and many tiny dots flying around.

Griffonstone is said to rest upon the petrified remains of a great tree, I never knew how accurate that was. The show basically said nothing about it and no book I could find ever said for certain if it was a tree, but this trip might be the time I find an answer to that question.

Dawn broke not long ago and we have finally arrived at our destination. As we get closer I take some time to sketch out the tree and city from the odd angle I'm at, I don't get very far before we arrive at the mountain base and start to ascend. Through rock tunnels, we reach higher and higher before finally reaching the top.

The mountain top is relatively flat with a large amount of buildings around the base of the tree. The buildings are an odd mix of stone and thatch roofs with many wooden support beams, it's an odd way to build homes in my mind but it's not my place to question their way of life.

The train station is an open-air area with a flat platform and not much else. While I pack I glance out the window to see the massive stone tree reaching even higher into the sky as Griffons fly around the busy city. As I finish packing I hear a knock on the door and open it a moment later.

A guard looks me over for a moment before nodding. "Please follow me Sir." I just nod silently. During our card game, I did end up asking Shining what I'd actually be doing. From what I know we'll be headed higher up the city into the branches and near the palace.

We have accommodations waiting for us up there and after that, we won't be doing much for the rest of the day. Meanwhile Cadance will be greeting the royalty of Griffonstone and attending a party in her honor, luckily I'm neither invited nor needed to attend.

The other translators and diplomats will be doing that, while I'm basically just following the guards around for today. The guard leads me out of the train where everypony is gathering with a few carts of cargo, I also notice some well-dressed Griffons greeting Cadance not far away.

The city is somewhat like the show, some buildings are more degraded than they should be and many griffons seem uninterested in the princess or what's happening around them. Some do notice, but then keep their distance and just watch. I wouldn't call this city bad-looking, it's just not well maintained from what I can see.

After a few minutes of standing around Cadance is off with a retinue of guards in a flying carriage and our translators and diplomats. I can't help but notice that it seems I'll be walking with the rest of the staff and guard, and while I'm a little annoyed she got one over me I wouldn't mind a walk through the city.

The Griffons we pass seem mostly uninterested and just go about their days while moving out of the way. Griffonstone is larger than the show even showed, it's not as big as Canterlot but it is still the larger size for a city. We walk down the stone streets as we near the tree's stone trunk.

The city has different rough districts, some markets, an area with many restaurants, and what looks like a few government buildings that are better maintained. This is a city like any other, a busy place with many beings living in it, and now I'm excited to explore it.

As we near the trunk I reach out with my life magic and feel nothing. If this thing was alive once it died so long ago that not even the faintest traces remain. I notice a tunnel in the trunk not far away and after a minute we enter it and start to ascend even further.

The tunnel is lit with many torches and a few braziers that light the many dark steps. To the side of the steps are ramps that Griffons and our guards use to bring the carts with us. The walk is uninteresting for the most part, with many turns and twists before we arrive outside again.

I look out far into the distance as the land and sea stretch out below me, I've got to admit this is one unique city. The branches act as streets with houses on each side of a street, all the buildings look far more professional and neat. We're on the second to last branch with only the palace above us.

This part of Griffonstone reminds me of Canterlot's royal district, large buildings, and well-maintained streets. Its residents are also far more interested in our presence. Several watch us and whisper amongst themselves, a few even walk with a few of the more important ponies and talk to them as we continue walking.

Eventually, we arrive at an older, more disheveled-looking mansion, like many of the upper-class buildings it's made from stone with thick support beams and a nice wooden shingle roof. The rook walls are painted a dull green and the small greenery around the front is struggling a little.

Not a bad place to stay honestly, plus it's interesting to stay in an upper-class Griffon home. A pair of armored Griffons walk out from the front door before handing off a few papers to the pony guard who seems to be in charge of us. The Griffons fly off right after that and the mare guard opens the papers as we all wait.

But after a moment she turns to us after muttering something and looking a little annoyed. "Any translators still with us!" Her voice holds some authority as it carries over our group. I know most of the translators went with Cadance, but after a moment nopony else steps forward.

:Hhhh, fine: I mentally sigh and start to walk over to her with a neutral expression. She sees me and looks at my badge for a second before nodding. "Can you translate this?" Her tone is calm and professional as she holds the paper out to me. I take a moment to take out some paper and a quill before looking over the document.

I thought they'd just forgotten to translate a certain part, but no, it was all in pure Griffon. It's not hard to guess this is some classic incompetence or political bullshit, either way, I can fix this. I turned to her, "Give me a few minutes." I answer before moving to the side of the gate and just getting to work.

"All right, you lot get inside and start setting up!" She shouts out and everypony gets to work. She turns back to me, "Can you give me the basics of that?" She asks while I start to work.

I read through it quickly and it is basically a document giving us permission to use this building for our visit. "It lets us legally stay here for the duration of the trip," I answer simply and she nods. Over the next few minutes, ponies walk past me and I feel a little uncomfortable as many start to notice me.

I don't like the attention but I brought this on myself, so much for staying low key I guess. Once I'm done I copy my translation twice and give her all three documents while keeping a copy for myself. "Don't let anyone have the original, if it's lost we can be kicked out easily," I warn bluntly before walking inside with the rest as she holds the documents with more care than before.

The inside has an old feel to it, it's dark though and I cast a magical light to walk around the large main room as everypony starts to clean up and sort out where everypony will sleep and eat. I don't really know what to do, so I just pick up a broom and ask where a cleaner is needed.

I asked the same mare that asked for a translator earlier, in response she gave me a confused look but shrugged after a moment. "A few are already working on the upper rooms." She points to a staircase. "You can do that if you like?" She suggests and I just nod before doing just that.

I get a few more odd looks from the other ponies cleaning but I continue to clean over the next two hours before being assigned a room. It's nothing great, just a dusty bed with clean sheets and a wooden desk, but that's all I really need. I don't want to unpack and I don't have anything to do so I just start to work on a few things.

time skip

FEB 17 Wednesday.

I decided to start the new day by joining the guards for their morning run. I may not have been in formation or wearing armor, but I kept the weight of my saddlebags and ran alongside them. Eventually, they stopped but I kept going to finish the daily regimen Stone demanded of me.

I run my last lap around the mansion breathing heavily, but I still push my limit and make sure my body is exhausted and my legs feel like stones before I stop. I stop after that and sit down while casting my muscle healing spell on myself as I sit down and recover.

After a moment a pair of hoof steps come near me and I look up to see Shining with a water flask held out to me, I shake my head and take out my own flask to quench my thirst. "You sure know how to train, I guess that training with old Stone paid off huh?" He greets me with a friendly tone.

I nod. "Yup, I dread every Wednesday and he never goes easy on me." I chuckle and start to stretch out my legs before standing up again.

His smile turns into a lopsided grin. "Wow, you're still training with him? Guess you are tough. I heard most only last a few weeks with him." I hear some respect in his tone and smile back. I noticed that he had a wooden sword at his side and raised a brow.

He sees that. "Training, some of the ones here are recruits, and somepony needs to teach them." He explains before giving him an odd smile. "Want to join us?" He offers happily.

I stop at that as indecision overcomes me. On one hoof I don't like attention or training with others. But on the other hoof, it sounds fun, and training seems like a good way to gain a little more respect from Shining. It's not something I need, but earning that respect could lead to a good foundation for a friendship. "Sure." Eventually, I agree.

That gets a larger smile from him. "Come on then, I'm late as it is." He says with a little humor as we walk back into the mansion. I spent yesterday helping with a few small things and relaxing in my room, but while walking around the mansion I kept my senses sharp.

I didn't find anything bad, but I still memorized the building's basic layout and counted the entrances. From what I learned Griffonstone is a somewhat tense place right now. Griffonstone seems to be having a bit of a hard time over the past decade or two.

Mostly because of a few minor territory disputes with neighboring city-states, they never turned into a war and what little conflict that did happen seems small and relatively nonlethal. Honestly, even full-scale wars in this world have nothing on wars from my old world.

Even if I use a similar time period like the eleven hundreds human wars were way more violent and bloody. To be blunt the many races of this world are less prone to using extreme means for victory. As an example, prisoners of war are almost always treated decently no matter the conflict, but like with all things there are exceptions.

I once pondered that this could be the influence of harmony, and I still think it might be, but I have no way to ever prove that. Back to my point though, Griffonstone has had a few small conflicts with other city-states that resulted in concessions and territory losses which led to economic troubles.

This is partly why Cadance is on this trip. Griffonstone is a large exporter from the East continent to the West continent mostly shipping things by boat where traders on the coast of Equestria move those goods further inland. It's a large trade route Griffonstone is perfectly positioned for. So this trip is about negotiating more trade on that route.

I leave my thoughts as we enter a somewhat busy room with several guards out of armor talking, as soon as we enter they quickly sprint to the middle of the room and stand at attention. It's a large room with the floor covered in a layer of cloth for padding.

I'm already a little jealous, they got padding. "At ease, you're here to learn not stand around, now pair up and start, no more slouching around. Except you, come here." Shining gives them orders and points at a unicorn mare who looked like a hard ass at first sight.

She looked stern and not very fun, but she marched up with a nod of respect. "Captain?"

"He's with you, get him a weapon and in the ring." Shining's tone is all authority and leaves no room for argument.

She stops at that and looks like she swallowed something sour, she just looks me over and looks annoyed before eventually nodding curtly at me. I don't know what crawled up her behind but I don't really care. We walk over to a weapon rack and she grabs a single short sword with her horn.

I can tell she's not going to talk to me so I just grab both a greatsword and dagger, much to the confusion of Shining and all the other guards who are pretending to train while watching us. The mare just huffs at me and a few moments later we're starting in an empty area.

She did give me a slightly confused look when I grabbed my weapons with my field and not my hoofs, but she just took a stance that I recognized well. Stone uses the same stance and so do most guards, but I can tell Stone is much better at it than she is. Honestly, this might be an unfair match-up for her.

Shining moves to the side and addresses both of us. "No spells, no tricks, just your weapons, make sure to stay in the circle. First solid hit wins. " He has the same tone and a moment later she moves. I'm used to Stone throwing shit at me at all times so something this big doesn't catch me off guard.

She starts with a basic strike that I deflect with my greatsword as she moves back a little after I swipe with my dagger before taking my own battle stance. I hold my greatsword at an angle from the front of my body and hold the dagger at its midsection, I hold that stance and simply wait.

The mare seems to actually consider me an opponent now. She moves quickly and tries to break through my defense with several fast blows. The battle technique she's using mostly uses fast and well-timed strikes, so I move to deflect with the dagger and start to swing back.

I rotate the greatsword at the handle's base causing it to swing much faster than it normally should, but this mare has some skill and barely deflects the blow before it hits her. All the other guards have basically stopped training and are now just watching as I follow up my strikes with more rapid swings.

She doesn't have a weighty enough weapon to properly deflect the blows and is forced to dodge and starts to be pushed back as I rapidly swing while constantly switching between the dagger and greatsword. The flurry of blows doesn't stop as I just keep chaining my swings together and keep pushing her back more and more.

Only when she was right at the edge of the circle was she forced to attack again, only to be deflected again and knocked back with a blow to her side from the greatsword. "Out!" Shining shouts and I stop before lowering my weapons. The poor mare still looks a little stunned.

The whole fight took a minute at the most and she was backpaddling for most of that. I just reach out a hoof to help her up, she just stares me down for a moment before taking the offered hoof. Once she's upright again I feel a little embarrassed as a few guards start to clap a little.

Honestly, the mare put up a decent fight for a recruit and somepony fighting me for the first time. My fighting style is different from most and she probably didn't know how to counter it or know what to expect next. To be blunt she was at a disadvantage from the start.

Shining smiles at me before turning to the others in the room. "All right you lot, enough slacking! Get to it before I give you extra patrol duty." He has an upbeat tone but I can tell he's serious.

I'm about to go over to him, but I'm cut off. "Not bad." The mare I fought gives me something of a compliment before walking off. Not the best compliment, but I'll take it.

I walk over to Shining as he observes the training guards. "Well, that was certainly not what I expected." He seems even more relaxed with me, it seems this is the way to get to know him. "Where did you even learn that? I consider myself knowledgeable about things like that, but I don't recognize that style." He asks calmly.

Shining seems to ask things in a blunt way while not really expecting much of an answer. Celestia will leave a topic alone out of respect, but Shining just lets things go and shrugs them off most of the time. Although I strongly suspect that he can be very different if needed.

I feel hungry and honestly, I have other plans, so I just smile at him and put the wooden weapons away before walking away. "I invented it," I answered simply before walking out of the room leaving an impressed Shining. I'm really starting to think that he and I will get along just fine as friends.

Now, it's time for my paranoia to kick in.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I know there's not much going on in this one, but I got a little carried away with world building and fleshing out Griffonstone. I may be addicted to world building, and I'm going to make it your problem.

Chapter 146

Feb 19 Friday.

I check another rune and add a few more notes to my illusionary notebook inside of my bracelet as I go over a spell matrix and make sure it's working properly.

The past few days have been uneventful and boring, which is a good thing because I don't want things to ruin my fun or my peace. I've spent those last few days working on a new spell and enjoying the city.

Griffonstone has many good restaurants that actually know how to cook and season meat properly, I even found a few new seasonings in the local markets. Although the residents of this city aren't the most hospitable, they mostly just get annoyed looks and a few mild insults from the rougher Griffons.

But they never said anything to my face and no one caused me trouble, it kind of reminds me of Earth actually. Overall I've spent my time exploring several parts of the city and finding new things to eat and enjoy, I even found a new magical plant in the markets, although I'll get to that later.

I've also been working on a new spell for security, mostly because I'm paranoid and don't trust this quiet and peaceful mood. But, we have several dozen guards and they are all doing a good job so I'm not really sure what I could do to really improve security.

So I defaulted to what I'm best at, spells. After a lot of thought, I decided on something simple, a detection ward that can cover a single room. It wouldn't do much to stop anypony, but it would give time for others to act and prepare for an intruder.

I only took two small rubies with me so I'll have to use those, but something like this is just very finicky. The scanning spell I made works fine for the detection part, but specifying the scan has proven difficult. As an example, I used a rune of protection as the scanning focus for this spell.

It would detect all threats, but that includes threats for everything in the area of effect. Are there termites eating some furniture? Then it would go off detecting a threat to the furniture. So I need to limit it, but I don't have my rune collection with me, and that ironically limits my options.

So I had to limit it by rough weight and size, not the best because I had to set a vague upper and higher limit for both. Still, it should work, and now I just need some way to limit the other problem. The spell would probably go off from any threat, including verbal ones.

So I once again have to limit the spell, and after even more thought I decided I'd have to limit the spell's scope itself, now it will only be used at night when we're sleeping. Sure it can still go off by accident but eliminating being awake helps a lot with stray problems.

Now there is only one thing left to do, how do you wake somepony when it goes off? Well, I settled on a simple vibrating bracelet. It does make noise but it's the best I can do at this time. I brought a few Iron Oak seeds for materials so it was simple to make a bracelet for Cadance.

Honestly, I find it unlikely I'll be in much danger, I'm just a scribe after all. But Cadance is a ruler of a powerful nation far away from home, she might be protected and she is probably able to protect herself, but since when has that stopped my paranoia?

So one of these rubies has been enchanted with the new spell and the bracelet is properly sized for her leg, and the other is enchanted with a weak shield spell around my room. not the best but it gives me time to act. Now I just need to give it to her without making a mess or attracting more attention, and that's where a certain shadowy friend comes in handy. "Hey, girl."

Entropy has spent most of the trip in my shadow or flying around as I walk through the city, I've also made sure to spoil her with food to make up for the confinement. She looks up at me and I scratch her with a smile. "I need you to g-" But before I can ask I hear a knock on my door.

Entropy immediately goes back into my shadow as I deactivate my illusionary notebook and the shield around my room before walking over to the old wood door. Once again a guard stands at my door with a neutral look, "You're needed by the princess Sir." A slightly respectful tone is held by the stallion as I nod and grab my saddlebags along with the ruby before following them through the mansion.

Over the past few days, I've kept running in the morning with the guards and even fought that mare guard recruit again. These actions seem to have earned me some respect from the guard, not a lot but none give me even a little bit of trouble and a few have even joked around with me during meals.

My mind moves in from that and wanders to the new plant I bought yesterday at a local market. I was probably overcharged and it was an expensive purchase but I could honestly care less about all that. The plant is called the Water Tree, well that's the best translation from the Griffon name to the pony language.

It's not a very good name, but it gets the point across well, much like the horrible names I make. The tree has a water affinity and is normally found high in the mountains. The tree itself has a light tan dusty-colored bark with twisting branches, the leaves are light green and grow in a flat plain on top of the tree giving it an odd look.

The tree's magical effect itself is simple, it converts neutral magic into water affinity magic and uses it to efficiently collect large amounts of water from the air before condensing it and excreting it out of its bark. It normally creates small waterfalls or ponds in isolated places high up, and as a result, animals and other plants will come to drink that water in such an extreme environment where a reliable source of water can be hard to find.

Animals leave behind their droppings and plants rot into more soil that feeds the Water Tree, the end result is an oasis in the mostly barren mountain tops. It's a hard tree to find normally because it is both rare and sought after in other countries, but here it was much easier to find, and I can think of several uses for this tree.

I can't see many opportunities to crossbreed it because it's so specialized for what it does, but the tree can still prove useful in something I've had to make a spell for in the past. It can remove a lot of moisture in an enclosed space, and it can be a source of water for other plants and animals.

I leave those thoughts alone as we move through a few hallways and arrive at the room Cadance is staying inside. Cadance seems to have been rather busy over the past few days and we haven't had time to talk since the train ride. Two guards are at the door but don't pay me much mind so I just enter the room and close the door behind me and look around the room quickly.

Cadance is the only one in the room and seems engrossed in a pile of paperwork in front of her. She hears me enter and smiles at me. "Shade, thanks for coming. And don't you dare bow! I've had enough over the past few days." She says with a slightly serious tone.

I unbend my legs slightly as that is just what I was about to do, but once again it seems she caught me. Although, she looks like she doesn't need my madness right now so I just nod and walk over. "Fine, I'll just give you work then. Here, make sure to read that thoroughly." I dump two pages of instructions for the new spell along with the bracelet and ruby on the table.

She gives me a glare and just slumps back while moving the papers over to her. She skims it and gives me a smile again. "Aunty really didn't overstate just how paranoid you are, you do know we have guards for a reason right?" She seems more amused than anything at my gift.

I just nod back. "Yes, and I can think of three ways to break into this room, four if you didn't put protections on that window." I point to a small window at the top of the room that lets smoke escape. It's not that large but someone could fit through and get inside.

She looks up at the window and with a thoughtful look. "Alright, I'll admit I never really noticed that, and I'm going to have to ask Shining about it. Well, thanks then, I hope it isn't needed but it can't hurt." She doesn't have a teasing tone and instead looks plain happy. "Have you been enjoying Griffonstone? And what is this about fighting the guards? You're supposed to behave." There's the teasing I was expecting.

I'm happy to know she'll use it and that my work was worth the effort. "Well, your stallion did invite me, and yes. So many good restaurants and delicious meat dishes." I emphasize my words as she cringes a tiny bit.

She just smiles. "He is mine, but enough tit for tat. Here, enjoy your work." She gives me plenty of sarcasm while passing me a few pages.

It's an invite list for an upcoming diplomatic meeting at the palace later today. I honestly expected this a little sooner, not like I can avoid work forever. That doesn't stop me from complaining for the sake of it, "Ugh! Fine, what do I actually need to do anyway?"

She gives me a side smile. "Not much, the meeting will be handled by everypony else so you only need to work on the documents, a lot of documents. Basically, you'll sit in a corner and copy things before waiting there bored, sounds exciting doesn't it?"

I roll my eyes. "Can I bring games then? Because if not I'm just going to meditate." I ask back while thinking of what I could do.

She just shrugs. "Can't see why not, there's probably going to be Griffons also watching so you could also play with them, like the colt you are." She gives me a babying look and tone while trying to look cute.

I give her a deadpan look. "Do you like philosophy?" I ask levelly.

She shows a nonplussed look. "No! Magic no. I get enough of that from Aunty... Wait." She stops and gives me a small glare as I smile back.

"Have you ever contemplated fate? It's such an interesting thing." I add some fake excitement to my tone.

It's her turn to groan this time. "Uggg! No! Stop! You're supposed to be the fun one!" She starts to complain as I laugh at the annoyed tone.

I stop and smile at her. "Fine, I'll settle for you and me getting some work done then." That gets me a new glare. "If you do, I'll make you a quill that never runs out of ink." I offer and she immediately smiles widely.

"OH! Like Auntie's?" She's now all excited and happy like a foal on Hearth's Warming, that was a fast switch.

I raise a brow at that. "She told you about that? And, yes? I could use a smaller gem if you'd prefer but it would work all the same." I offer with a little confusion.

She just smiles wider. "Yes, she did! What was it she said? Right! It was one of the most thoughtful gifts she's ever gotten." Despite my calm mood I can't help but feel some heat in my cheeks at the compliment I never knew about. "Also, can you make it out of emerald? And the wood of course." She switches from teasing to serious pretty quickly while moving her other work to the side.

I'm a little overwhelmed by the quick change but still try to answer. "... yes? None of that is hard, although the emerald will have to be a decent size to hold the spell, or I could find a better quality one? But I'd probably have to order that. As for the wood trim? It's easy enough, any designs you'd like on it?" I distract my horny mind by focusing on the new project that just fell into my lap.

She smiles wider somehow and it's at this moment that I remember that one of Cadance's interests is fashion. This might take a while.

time skip

I watch as Cadance takes a ride in her carriage up to the palace, but unlike the last few times, I'll be following her up. I could fly but that is too much attention for me so I just start walking up the tree like the others. It took two hours and several sketches before we agreed on a design for her new quill.

But after that we were able to get some more work done on the love rune project and if we meet a few more times we might be able to actually start on the rune when we return home. It's a calm walk and I ascend the last step, looking out over the land as I stand atop the tree's highest branch.

The top branch is only for the royal family and their relatives to live on. Beyond the impressively sized palace, there are several high-end mansions and some smaller buildings for other things. Along with a metal gate and stone wall with several griffin guards standing watch as we walk closer to them.

They check us one at a time but make sure to do it quickly. When it's my turn a guard looks me over, "Name, reason for entrance, and do you have any weapons?" The tone is bland and the pony isn't spoken perfectly but I understand them just fine.

"Shade Evergreen, translation scribe. And yes, do you need them?" I keep a neutral tone but try to show some respect to them in my tone as well.

They stop before looking me over again and spotting the dagger I have. "Just that one?" She asks.

I shake my head. "Another in my bags, both daggers, and both less than seven inches." I don't hide a thing and give more context as I feel my nerves try to distract me with worry.

They shook their head after looking at me one last time. "No, but keep them sheathed, if you don't we're not responsible for what happens." She keeps the blunt and serious tone, I just nod before they let me pass. After that, it's a relatively short walk to the palace.

Large stone walls with mixes of light and dark blue paint covering them, a great many magical lanterns with smell gems inside that are off at the moment. It's a little surprising to see one of my creations all the way out here but they are a major trading partner so it does make some sense, and gives me a small smile.

The large wooden doors are already open with several well-dressed Griffon staff members that are telling us where to go. The inside has tall ceilings and thick wooden beams as rafters with even more colorful lanterns lighting everything up. Thick carpets line the floors as we walk to a large hall room.

The large hall has two areas, the back half has a section guarded by both ponies and griffons that keep everyone not involved out of that side of the hall. While the front side has many tables with upper-class ponies and griffin nobles talking to each other and mingling.

There are staff constantly moving drinks and foods into the hall while a group in the back plays music. It's not a bad song and adds a nice feeling to the lively gathering. While the back area is walled off with a short wooden wall that blocks sight of all the side tables besides the main one where the negotiations is being held that's raise up for all to see.

I'm not really sure where to go, but all the other translators are heading to the back area so I just follow along with them. The guards see me and let me in after looking at my badge for a second. The back area is a lot more calm so I just sit at a table to the far side and leave everyone alone.

I look over to see Cadance and a very important-looking Griffon with a gold crown and gold scepter. King Thelis The Third, a middle-aged Griffon with deep brown feathers, bright white feathers around his head, and deep green eyes that remind me of my own. He holds himself well and seems to draw attention and respect from everyone in the room.

I can't hear anything they or the translators are saying, some type of sound barrier probably. After that things went as planned, a pony brought over a large pile of documents, and a nice griffin asked if I wanted anything to eat or drink, I just politely refused.

I ended up just making my own tea and starting my work, and like Cadance said it would. It takes almost two hours to translate everything and I fail to notice another person entering the private area as I finish sorting the paperwork and the copies I made. Once I was done with the work I just copied everything again and left it to the side before someone else sat down opposite of me as I copied the last page.

An old griffin in a nice plain suit stares back at me with deep ash-gray eyes that show a calmness most would never have. I smile as I recognize the face in front of me. I move the last of the finished paperwork to the side and smile before giving them a nod of respect and greeting the familiar face. "Phelix."

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :D
Current year is 994

As far as remember the show never said anything about a current king of Griffonstone. If that isn't correct please inform me so I can correct it.

I planed to wrap this all up in one chapter, but I try to keep these under 3k if I can, and I fail at that regularly, so I'll have to make this a to be continued chapter.

So, TUNE IN NEXT TIME ON, SHADE'S MAGICAL ADVENTURES IN PONY LAND!!!

Chapter 147

Feb 19 Friday.

I'm a little surprised to actually see a tiny smile on the grizzled griffin's face as he nods back, he moves a talon and with a soft noise sets a dagger on the table. "Shade." His tone holds a slight friendliness, but only just, his mask of stone stays firmly in place. I'm a little surprised he remembered my name, but he also does seem like the type to remember names.

I've learned more about Griffon culture over the past year, and one thing I learned is the meaning behind placing a weapon in plain sight. It's not a common thing to do, but its meaning is to show the person you're talking with a certain level of respect by unarming yourself. So I do the same with my dagger a moment later.

I haven't seen Phelix in a little under a year now, and honestly, it's interesting to see him again. I don't feel much for him though, we met for a few days and we barely said a few words that whole time. To be blunt I know nothing about him or who he is, but I don't mind the company.

I decide to just do what we both enjoy, I take the chess set out of my saddlebags and place it down on the table along with another teacup while only using my hooves. I fill the tea and pass it over before moving my hooves to set up the chess pieces quickly and I see that tiny smile widen a little as he makes the first move of the game.

As he does I glance at the meeting to see many of the Griffons now staring at us, including the king. :Oh! FUCK! WHAT NOW?!: I stiffened as my mind tried to process everything. I've done a few things to draw some attention, but that was when I was with the other ponies, and not many really care that much.

Now I have a damned king staring at me far too intently for my liking, and most of the other beings in the meeting also turn their heads. :UGGGG! WHY?!: I can only scream internally as I just try and focus on the game and ignore the many MANY pairs of eyes now on me.

POV shift Cadance.

I look over yet another document quickly and keep up as the translator reads through it a second later when I pass it off and look back to King Thelis as he does much the same as me and passes more papers off to an attendant of his. "I believe this could be done but it will cause some trouble." He says with a level tone.

I guessed he wouldn't modify the trade deal without compensation. "I can understand that, and we prepared a different offer to help smooth it over with your subjects." Another page of this endless paperwork is passed, this one containing a deal for trading Rocky Wheat seeds at below current market prices in Griffonstone.

It's a very popular grain among the Griffons as it grows much better in their maintained farms than even their own strains of wheat. Yet another thing Equestria has to thank Shade for. Even as I listen to the translators and diplomats argue over numbers and figures I let my mind ponder slightly.

Shade is a never-ending mystery that remains to be solved by anypony, even my Aunt can't figure him out fully, although she never did say what she meant by that. I glance over to see Shade is already almost done with the paperwork he was given a scant two hours ago.

But I quickly focus back on the king and his retinue. "This could work, but it will still leave a few more problems than needed." He tries to grab for more concessions, something I'd expected. But as we start to read more documents the Griffons start to look over and whisper amongst themselves.

The King even looks away from me before smiling slightly, I follow his lead and look to the entrance of the meeting area and see that the Griffon guards stand at attention as an old Griffon walks right past them without being stopped or questioned.

I remember meeting this old Griffon at the party when I first arrived in Griffonstone, he was not very talkative and mostly just talked with a few other old Griffons and stayed out of the way. But even with him not being very social he commands respect from everyone present.

Phelix Ovadon, former retired captain of the royal guard and once a general of Griffonston's guards. Brother to the former king of Griffonstone and the father of the current king of Griffonstone after the former king failed to have an heir. As soon as he enters the meeting most eyes are on him.

Despite being retired now he still commands the full respect of his former titles and even the new captain of the guard stands at attention when he's around. He's also famous for rarely involving himself in politics and mainly supporting the royal family of Griffonstone.

Which is why no one ever really knows if he'll show up at events like this or not. From what I know he sometimes comes and other times flat-out refuses to. That would normally be seen as an insult in Griffon culture, but if anyone thought that they never said a thing to him.

As he enters the area I see King Thelis smile very slightly but that turns to confusion quickly. As Phelix looks around I notice that he stops for a moment as he looks at a certain colt finishing the last of his work. :Oh, Shade... What did you do?: My mind tries to think of what could have caused him to get such a person's attention.

After a moment even more eyes start to notice as Phelix walks over and sits right across from Shade and stares at him expressionless as the collective confusion in the room grows quickly. Then Shade looks up and smiles, he smiles! The meeting is so quiet now that we are actually able to hear him over the background noise of the outer hall.

He nods. "Phelix." A simple and far too informal greeting than any would dare to use with such a high-ranking Griffon. A few Griffons even seem a little offended at Shade's actions.

I am mentally preparing to deal with this new mess Shade has made. But before anyone can do anything Phelix actually returns his nod, and then he moves a talon to move an intricately engraved dagger onto the table, a show of respect that sends increased whispers through the meeting.

"Shade." And just like that Shade now has far too many eyes on himself. :At least I can tease him later: That is the only upside I can see at this moment as a planned meeting is turned slightly on its head by the mere presence of Shade. :Maybe he would make a good diplomat?:

I watch as Shade does the same with a dagger he apparently brought with him. :How paranoid is he?: And then he brings out a chess set? He thankfully only uses his hooves, he does not need more attention right now, he also brings out a second teacup and starts setting everything up quickly as the old Griffon actually smiles a little.

:HOW! Aunty said he probably met a minor member of the royal family, NOT THE KING'S FATHER!!: And then it clicks, it's a damned test, Aunty was the one to bring this up as a punishment of sorts and this lines up far too nicely to not be her doing, I'll get her for this later.

I see Shade glance over only to look back quickly and stiffen some, it seems he noticed. After a second I feel magic move slightly and see a very dim light from the other side of him before he opens his mouth again, but no sound reaches us. :At least he did something to keep things private:

I turn back to the King as most of his retinue seems to also be going back to the work at hoof and quietly discussing what just happened.

The King seems to know something as his eyes stare at Shade for several moments before turning back to me with a slightly more willing look. "I believe that the grain trade deal is something we can agree to, and the old deal could be changed with a little time." He starts up where we left off but suddenly seems more willing to do a trade deal I was expecting to have to fight much harder for.

:It seems I have yet another thing to thank Shade for, and Aunty will love hearing about this. Maybe I can take pictures?: I can't help but smile internally at the thought, and I once again have the same thought about Shade Evergreen that keeps popping up.

How?

POV shift Shade.

I quickly look back to Phelix and realize I may have really fucked up, although this can't really be blamed on me. I never knew who Phelix really was, and I still don't but it seems he's a lot more important than I originally thought. I expected a distant relative but it seems I got something else altogether.

:Why! MAGIC WHY can't I JUST meet normal people?!: I try to blow off some steam in my mind and deal with the fact my shaky facade of unimportance is broken to a large degree. The only silver lining is that the large group of griffons and ponies can't see me because of the small wooden wall that gives us some cover and hides me and Phelix.

That somewhat limits this mess and I'm very thankful that almost all of the noble ponies that came with us are in the other half of the hall. But the Griffons, especially the noble and royal ones will notice what just happened and talk about it. I look up to Phelix and make a snap decision.

I cast a spell to the side of me that is in between my body and the wooden wall preventing most from seeing as a spell matrix quickly flashes. The spell prevents any sound from coming from me and Phelix, he also notices the spell. "Something to keep things private, I hope you don't mind?" I answer the unasked question quickly with a little uncertainty.

He nods while keeping his tiny smile. "Good, because we have to talk." His tone is still rough, but not unfriendly or commanding, just calm. "Who are you?" A simple question that I've heard many times before, and a question I've given many different answers to.

"Shade Evergreen, currently I'm a document scribe and translator. Oftentimes I'm a lot of other things, but I'm not likely to answer beyond that. Who are you?" I give a half while switching to Griffon to answer him while bluntly implying I won't tell him more than that.

I think he's amused at my answer, it's honestly hard to tell with how little he shows. "Phelix Ovadon, former guard to his majesty and a warrior." He also switches to perfect Griffon while his answer is also vague and non descriptive, but I recognize that name. Sometimes when I get bored enough I listen in on conversations and some mention him.

Former captain of the royal guard and I think he also has some relation to the king, although I don't remember what type of relation. :FUUUUUCK!! Of all the beings in this world, I had to gain his attention: I moved another piece on the board and tried to keep my calm while thinking quickly over the situation, "Stop overthinking, it just makes you tense." His rough voice has more humor now and he seems to find my mood funny.

This griffin has been around royales and schemes his whole life, it's not too much of a surprise that he saw right through me. So after a moment I just slump a little and stop pretending as much, "Politics are not my thing." I admit bluntly and he actually chuckles a little.

"That is plain to see." He smells the tea I gave him for a moment before drinking it. "Not a blend I recognize." He says, he really is a blunt Griffon. "Pleasant though." He moves another piece and I counter his move a second later.

It's not often I find someone so blunt and outspoken, so I decided to just ask something that has popped into my mind since I first saw him. "Is..." I nearly stop as I second guess myself but power through and just wing it once again. "Is the filly fine?"

He gives me a very slight look that I can't decipher but nods a second later. "Yes, she is. I never did thank you for that... Thanks." I honestly find the blunt way he said that a little funny, is this what others feel when talking to me?

Still, I show him my own smile again as I get a satisfactory answer. "It was the right thing, but that's not something I think either of us wants to talk about much." I get a simple grunt in return so I change the subject quickly. "What do you enjoy?" He raises a brow. "I can't think of anything better." I keep a truthful and somewhat blunt tone.

I have no idea how to talk to him, so I just decide to be as blunt and honest as I want while revealing little that could be used against me."Fishing. You?" Yet another simple answer but a somewhat unexpected answer.

In Equestria, most fishing is done by either Griffons or Batponies, mostly because they can handle it better, but even then Griffons are the best at it. Even Bat ponies somewhat cringe at killing something, Griffons do too but not for fish. Fish are their natural food source and they are also one of the few races that eat meat raw.

"A lot of things. But I enjoy gardening and cooking quite a bit." I again answer equally as bluntly. "I've found several seasonings that I hope to grow back home." He looks up at that and just nods again. "I also train in two weapons, the dagger and greatsword." I add because I feel he might relate to that more.

I don't really have a reason to make him like or trust me, but being friendly and sharing common interests is good for small talk, or so I've heard. He does perk up a tiny bit at that, "Hmmm, good choice." He sees right through my reasons and after that, we descend down the rabbit hole of old historical wars and different forms of combat.

Phelix seems well versed in both subjects and I end up relaxing and enjoying the conversing of bland words and blunt questions far more than I thought I would. But all good things come to an end, and eventually, the meeting is over with the signing of more documents.

As Phelix stands up to leave he looks back to me. "Do you now know the meaning of the dagger I gave you." Unlike the conversation we just had, this tone carries a seriousness to it. The tone is not cold, but much like a rock, it is now hard and unyielding.

I just nod. "Good. This family has always repaid its debts and always helped its friends. And you are a friend, so don't be a stranger." With that he walks away from the table and I'm left alone at the table again. Over the next few minutes, things go back to the plan.

The documents I translated are organized and packed up by others, while I translate more documents they gave me. Most of the meeting attendants join the larger party in the other part of the hall, but some don't. "Hello, do you have a moment, scribe?" I turn to see a well-dressed griffin smiling at me as many others stare at me from afar.

Over the next painful hour, I'm pestered by several Ponies and Griffons coming over to very politely and respectfully introduce themselves and ask about me trying to start a conversation. It was not overwhelming as they seemed to only come over once I'd made another leave me alone, but still face after face came to talk to me.

It takes all my resolve to be patient with them and gently ask them to fuck off and leave me alone. I slowly lose count of the number of questions I have to deflect and stonewall, but these are politicians and they are stubborn in a whole different way than most others I've met.

All the while Cadance watches from the corner of her eye and gives me a knowing smile, the same smile she uses to tease me. She's clearly enjoying my pain at talking to so many faces while pretending to give a single fuck, but thankfully this torture ends with our group gathering up and leaving.

By the time we leave, I'm just done with tonight and want to go home, the walk home proves no better as many ponies take the opportunity to try and talk to me, and I might have been a little rude. I literally just told one of them I didn't feel like talking.

I'm out of excuses and too tired to deflect questions so I just quickly shut down any conversations they try to start, I give them blank looks and say no to everything while barely pretending to care about their words. The walk that felt so short when this started takes forever this time but mercifully it does eventually end with us arriving back at the old mansion.

When we do arrive I get a far too short hour rest before my presence is once again demanded as a guard leads me back to Cadance's room. When I enter the room I see both Shining and Cadance staring at me, and at this point, I'm too drained to care about being nice. "If I hear one more question I'm throwing something out a window," I tell her bluntly before sitting down as Cadance just laughs while Shining chuckles.

I give her a deadpan look as she stops and smiles widely at my expression. "Not my fault you apparently know Phelix Ovadon!" She puts some serious emphasis on the name and I feel my headache worsen at the thought of this Griffon being someone really important. She sees me looking slightly confused and starts laughing much harder, "You don't know?! Hahahah."

I just take a single bit from my bag and throw it at her. She stops as it hits her chest before clattering to the floor as she gets herself under control somewhat. I keep my blank look and stare up at her damned smile, "I'm tired and annoyed, so just tell me."

She picks up the bit and takes it. "Fine. But first, you're telling me how you met him in the first place because this is just GOLD!" I stare back at her before letting out a long sigh.

"I met him on my last vacation... And well... Look, I'm not really comfortable talking about what happened, but we met and I had, and still don't have any idea who he really is." She looks like she'll laugh again but doesn't and instead gives me a more kind look and seems to finally take it easy on me.

She gives me a reassuring look after a moment. "Ok, but I'll probably ask Aunty." I give her a thankful nod of acceptance.

"What are you willing to tell us?" Shining cuts in and gives a surprisingly gentle question while also giving me a look of understanding.

I try to move my annoyances away from them and be a bit more kind in return. "I... Helped, with something. And in return, I was given this." I may be trying to be nice but I'm still tired so I just drop the dagger I was given on the table. "Apparently I'm a friend," I add just in case they don't understand.

Shining seems confused but Cadance figures it out immediately and just smiles wider while looking at me like I grew a new head. "Shade?" I raise a brow and prepare for the teasing that a smile promises. "King Thelis is the nephew of the last king who lived for a long time." I already knew that and nodded impatiently. "His full name is King Thelis Ovadon."

My tired mind takes a few moments to untangle her words and piece them together. She smiles like a shark when my ears pin themselves back and I drop my face on the table while groaning. "Wwwhhhhyy?!" I scream out as Cadance breaks down into another fit of laughter.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 994

I honestly struggled on trying to get Shade and Phelix to talk, mostly because a defining trait of both is not talking. But I think it's ok.

Chapter 148

FEB 26 Friday.

The last week has been an extreme test of my patience and willpower.

Over that week I had to do two more meetings and they were just annoying, thankfully Phelix didn't show up again but that didn't stop many others from coming to annoy me. So many Griffons and so many different faces that leaked out of my mind the second they walked away.

Worse still is that several of the ponies working with us also seem intent on trying to find out my connection to Phelix, so I've been spending more and more time in the lower city where no one cares who I am. It also gave me time to raid the local library for information on the stone tree.

It's been a constant source of interest for me and a nice distraction to throw myself into, it's just too bad that griffons don't seem to care as much as I do. All the books I found only confirm a few useful things. One, the tree is actually a tree, the rock has tree rings and they've also found pieces of stone bark that have mostly broken off and degraded over time.

Along with a few fossils of massive leaves that look like they came from a chestnut tree, but they aren't quite right and don't match perfectly. But it does line up somewhat with the most common theory that explains the tree's existence, it's an aberrant member of its race.

Just like the Ruby Snake this tree may have once been a normal Chestnut tree, but it became something else altogether with magic's influence and effects. But that's all I really found, the tree is too dead to grow sadly and there's not that much I can learn from a dead stone with my skill set, overall it's a bit disappointing but not really unexpected.

I sigh and close the last book with anything useful in it before looking around the decent-sized library as other Griffons read and ignore me. Entropy stands on my back under her illusion and grooms my mind a bit before looking at me. "Food?"

I smile at her. "Sure, let's get back then." I start the long walk back to the mansion as Entropy sings a tune with me. Entropy's simple wants and cares have helped a lot with all the stress I've been dealing with and honestly, she's kept me sane, even if she also drives me a little insane sometimes.

After I near the base of the tree I start the walk up the long steps and get ready for more climbing. These stairs are the single reason most other ponies who aren't pegasi don't head down to the lower city more often. I arrive at the correct branch and Entropy enters my shadow as I approach the mansion.

The guards let me in and after a quick walk with me avoiding busy rooms and hallways, I'm back in my room finally safe from others' eyes. I probably need to check in with Shining for any paperwork I'll need to work on, but before that, I can at least enjoy the simple action of growing fruit and eating with a loyal friend.

"Good. Love." After she's done eating Entropy moves over to me and demands attention for a while, and I even take out a small wooden ball to play with her to simply enjoy the simple things for a moment. It takes nearly an hour to appease her but eventually, she returns to my shadow to rest as I head outside again.

Next to the room Cadance is working and sleeping in is a smaller room that Shining has made his office. Over the time we've been here, I always come here to pick up new paperwork, and when I arrive I see Shining already working on something and he looks up as I enter. "Shade, paperwork?"

I give him a deadpan stare as he asks that knowing damn well he's asked that same question every single time I come here. "Sure," I say back as he smiles and instead gives me a single letter, I raise a brow at him.

"Too bad, it seems you got something else instead, a shame." He says happily and smiles a little, I give him a suspicious look and open the letter slowly.

Shade Evergreen, your presence is asked for at the Blue Palace on the twenty-sixth of this month for a meeting with his majesty King Thelis Ovadon The Third.

It goes on after that and lists the sender, some noble attendant for the king that I have never met, and a few other things like the exact time and even directions to the palace. :I take it back, fuck this city: I just let out a long-suffering sigh as Shining smiles at me. "I now see why you and Cadance deserve each other," I tell him bluntly.

Which gets a chuckle out of him before he gives me a serious look. "Look, just be careful ok? I don't know what you did to get a private meeting that even Cadance can't join you in, but it is not a small thing." In contrast to his previous tone, he gives me a serious tone and a kind tone.

I nod back firmly. "It's not my first time doing something like this, as absurd as that sounds." I joke back a bit but his face doesn't change. "I know how to act and behave, and yes I will be careful," I reassure him and take an equally serious tone for a moment.

He stares at me for a moment before nodding. "Good. Cadance apologizes for not being able to join you, but they were very insistent on that apparently. Remember, stay safe." He says before smiling again. "Now go drive another ruler mad." I just turn and walk out as he laughs a little and goes back to his work.

This is just another straw on my back and yet another reason I want to leave this city, but I try my best to keep my thoughts positive and see some upside to this all. Sure others will notice my presence, but they already do that and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to meet the king.

His predecessor was a very controversial figure. Much of the conflicts Griffonstone had with its neighbors was because of an aggressive policy that the former king had, it made many enemies and few friends in the end. In contrast, the current king has spent the last seven years of his reign trying to undo that damage and make more connections, he's the main reason this diplomatic visit happened.

But that's just what I heard, I have no idea what he's really like in person, but it seems I'll get to find out very soon. The meeting time is closer than I'd like so I spend the next hour getting my appearance in some form of order. A thorough shower, a lot of combing, and take some time to clean my saddlebags.

It's odd but I don't feel much fear or anxiety when I walk up the tree, no it hits when I actually reach the palace itself. I walk to the guards and pass them the letter I got and a moment later a higher-ranking guard stands before me and gives the letter back. "Follow me." A simple and blunt request, or maybe some form of demand.

The walk is slow while the guard doesn't say a word as my worry rises with time. We pass the more open areas of the palace and enter the deeper parts that most never see. Finally, we reach a single wooden door with two guards on either side. "His majesty is inside." The guard that led me stands at attention near the door and says nothing more.

All this walking gave me time to think about how to go about this, and to be blunt I think it's best if I handle this like I did with Shining. Tell the truth, but bluntly say something if I don't want to answer while remaining as polite and formal as I can. I take a deep breath and open the door before my doubt can drown me.

I let my life magic senses move and sense only one being in this room, along with two others in a different area nearby, but I don't know if they are also in the room. When I enter I see King Thelis Ovadon The Third sitting on a couch and reading something quietly.

The room has full bookshelves covering the left wall, the right wall has a few paintings and a door along with a few potted plants, and the back wall has a large glass wall that lets you look out over the world. And at the center, there are two couches in the middle of the room that face each other with a short table in the middle.

He turns to me as I close the door and bow quickly and deeply. But he waves a talon immediately. "No need, friends have no need to bow to us." He dismisses that formality.

I'm tense and on high alert, but I do as asked and stand up again. "Shade Evergreen, a name we never found. Who knew you would find us first." His tone is completely neutral as he talks, but it does hold some inherent authority. I also take notice of the words used. :Have they tried to find me? Probably. I'd do the same thing:

I don't move and decide to just continue like normal. "Your Majesty." I greet him.

He looks up from the papers and tosses them aside. "Sit." I don't question him and sit down on the couch opposite of him. "The dagger." Another order, but the tone makes it sound like more of a request that could be ignored, but I know better and hear the undertone of that voice.

I kept the dagger on me and took it out quickly before moving it onto the table. He slowly picks it up and looks it over for a moment before holding it back out to me. "It is you then, it seems I have you to thank for saving my niece's life." The blunt way he brings it up startles me a little, but not as much as his tone shifts.

He seems to relax more and take a more friendly tone and body language. He holds out an open talon, "It's good to finally meet you, you have my utmost thanks for what you did." He even shows a small smile. I'm again taken aback by the abrupt shift but take his talon and shake it.

"It wasn't much honestly." I downplay my actions. "Can I ask his maj-" I'm cut off at that.

"King Thelis is fine. And I suppose I wanted to meet you because you make little sense." I don't comment on that and just stay silent as he correctly guesses my question. "Do you have that chess set with you?" I nod and he motions to the table with a talon and I take it out before he starts to set it up. "I need practice, father always wins." He comments something openly yet again.

Once the gameboard is ready he makes the first move and looks at me again while I hesitantly move a piece. "I'm not one to repay kind actions with demands, or insult allies. So take this as a request, who are you?" He keeps the friendly tone but is a little more serious now.

I expected this to come up, I guess I'm lucky it's not an outright demand, but I still don't trust him that it's not a demand at all. "I work for the Equestrian crown, I am loyal to the princesses and I will not say anything about my work." This is my plan, hide behind loyalty. After all, I am loyal to Celestia as a friend, and by extension the Crown.

He narrows his eyes and moves another piece as I tense even more. "Very well, then I only demand you do not abuse the friendship that was willingly given, for anyone." His tone is deadly serious at that.

I nearly look away from his eyes but keep still and nod. "As long as that friendship does not endanger my loyalty that is something I can guarantee, King Thelis." I answer just as seriously with a tone I normally never use, one of conviction and certainty. I mean what I say and will keep my word if I can.

He smiles a bit several moments later and gives me something of a nod of respect. "Good." He moves one of his last pieces and I end our game with a victory. "I see why he likes you, you can challenge him." He's once again switched from one tone to another, he's friendly again as he stands up.

I put away the chess set as he looked at me again. "You have done my family service, but you have asked for nothing. Even if you didn't know who we were then you do now, and yet you still ask for nothing. I'm curious why?" This question is not remotely phrased as a demand, just simple curiosity.

I could lie, or deflect and tell a half-truth, but he's been surprisingly kind so instead I tell him the truth. "You have nothing I want." I say with a truthful tone before putting away the chess set. "Even with me as a friend of some sort, why not... Demand answers?" I ask back with a little hesitation.

He looks out the window for a moment and down at a few of the lower branches of Griffonstone. "My predecessor always demanded things, even from friends. It did not end well. Now come on, I have a promise to fulfill." He says while moving over to the door I saw earlier while I look on a little confused.

The two sources of life magic I felt are behind that door as well and after a moment I follow him over to the door before moving through it. It's an open-air balcony with a beautiful view of Griffonstone and a table with two beings sitting at it, Phelix and a young hippogriff. I watch as Silvis plays with a few paints and some paper.

The old pastime of finger painting, something I haven't seen in a long long time now. "Uncle!" A light gray and white filly nearly tackles Thelis as she slams into him. He just laughs and picks her up before giving her a beaming smile.

"Yes! With a guest no less." The little filly's eyes look at me and she looks confused for a few moments before smiling in an adorable way. She looks to be around six or seven years old and full of energy.

"Grandsires friend!" Apparently she remembers me and thinks I'm Phelix's friend. "How have you been? Do you like to paint?" She starts to ask questions immediately and I just wait patiently as the Griffons watch me. "Or drawing? Oh let me show you what I drew!"

She seems excited about everything and squirms out of Thelis's grasp before quickly moving back to the table only for Phelix to move the papers out of her reach. "That's not how we greet guests." He uses a slightly stern tone and the filly pines a few feathers back and looks back over to me while looking at the floor.

"Hello, I'm Silvis Ovadon... Nice to meet you, Grandsire's friend!" She beams again at the end and gets her energy back after greeting me.

This mirrors how we first met quite well, and I find it both cute and humorous, so I answer the same way as last time. "My name is Shade. I am doing just fine. Yes. Yes. And I'd love to see it." I answer back with a friendly tone and move over to the table as she has stars in her eyes before looking at Phelix with puppy dog eyes.

I see a rare smile on Phelix and he hands the pages back after she introduces herself. She smiles widely again and quickly takes the pages before shoving it in my face. "Here! What do you think?! Huh? HUH!?" She tries to hurry me along and I take a moment to move over to the table and look over the pages by splaying them out.

They are all decent actually, most are drawings of Griffonstone or other buildings, all in bright mismatched colors. But there is order to the chaos, lines form skylines and cities and some structure. It's odd but has some beauty to it, "It's well done." She beams again at that. "Although, do you want me to show you a trick for how to draw better lines?" I try to interact with her.

"YES!" Another stern look from Phelix. "Ummmm, yes... Please?"

I can't help but smile at the hopeful and innocent look she gives me. "With pleasure." I take a blank piece of paper and simply bend it over the table edge before creasing it in a straight line and then laying it flat again. "There you go." I pass the paper over to her as she looks curiously at it before copying me and smiling as she succeeds.

It's a simple thing but she happily entertains herself by working on a new page as I look over to the two Griffons who seem a little pleased at my actions. "Phelix." I greet him just as simply as before and he nods back.

Phelix turns to Thelis and smiles again. "Did you lose?" Thelis nods with a slightly annoyed look. "Not a surprise then." He then turns to me and looks me up and down for a few moments. "You holding up?"

I'm a little surprised he cared enough to ask, but this whole family seems far more kind than I'd originally expected. I nod. "Well enough. If you don't mind me asking King Thelis, what was the promise?" I question Thelis as he sits down with us.

He doesn't smile but looks pleased. "You can probably tell I'm not that good at chess." I could tell as much from our last game. "So Father promised to teach me if I found a good opponent to demonstrate." That is a bare-bones excuse to question me when I arrived and see how I reacted to Silvis, that I can see plainly.

But I'm not one to turn down a decent game of chess when I can actually lose. "Sure. But I'd like to help." I make a slight demand and take out my chess set again, no one rejects that demand, and so the game begins again.

I ended up spending longer than I'd thought talking idly with the two and entertaining Silvis by drawing a few birds for her to color in with paint. I also try my best to teach Thelis how to be better as does Phelix, and with a lot of tips and several practice games, he does improve a little over the next few hours.

Eventually, Silvis tires out after asking many questions. so Thelis picks her up and looks at me. "My duties call me, and this one needs sleep." A polite excuse to leave.

Silvis seems to disagree. "No I don't!" She complains but fails to break free from his grasp.

He smiles slightly. "Like I said, she needs sleep. It was a pleasure to meet you Shade Evergreen. Know you will always be welcome here." He puts some emphasis on that last part.

I nod firmly. "Thank you. Have a good day King Thelis." I use his title with a little respect as he smiles more and wrangles the filly before walking off.

"Goodbye grandsires friend!" The adorable filly waves while being carried and I wave back with a small smile of my own, it seems I have a new title to my name. I turn back to see that Phelix has beaten me and the game is over, and a moment later he starts to put away the game.

I raise a brow and he shows a tiny smile. "I would like some rest, I don't often talk this much." I nod and pick up the game after he's done putting it away. "Shade." He offers his talon and I shake it happily.

"Phelix." A simple goodbye but a fitting one for us and how we act. I turn on the spot and walk over to the door.

But before I can walk through he speaks again. "I've seen a lot." I stop and turn my head back to see him staring out at the city. "I've seen battle after battle and far too many foolish things done by foolish beings." His tone holds a weight that reminds me of Celestia in a way.

"When you've seen enough in your life you get a feel for some things. A feeling that points you in a certain direction or makes you think about something more." I'm not sure why he's saying this but he still doesn't look at me and just looks out as I stand still.

"In battle you get a feel for how dangerous someone can be." He looks at me now. "You have a good mask, many would never second guess it for a moment." I stiffen as he talks about things that are a little too close to the truth for my liking.

He smiles again before standing up and moving to the railing. "I pity whoever you hide from, because, by the time that mask falls, it will be far too late. Don't be a stranger." With that last remark he takes a quick leap off the balcony and takes flight like nothing was said at all.

I stare at him for a moment and go through the door. :I hope he's right. By magic, I hope he's right:.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

Not too much in this one. Also, I'm taking tomorrow off.

Chapter 149

FEB 28 Sunday.

I smile widely as I finally see Canterlot in the distance.

The last two days have been just as annoying as the last week, but it wasn't all bad as I did get to talk to Cadance a little when some things needed translation. Could she have just asked the other translators? Yes, did she? No. But it did give her some time to reassure me.

I could tell she wanted to ask about my meeting, but instead focused on helping me with my mood a bit. It's been obvious I'm worried about going home because several ponies now know me far more than I'd ever like, and that's where the good news comes in.

Turns out the specifics of meetings like the ones I attended are normally kept pretty tight-lipped, mostly so the different monarchs can announce the results without massive rumors or misunderstandings happening, or accidentally exposing important ponies to the public eye. Not the most democratic or open thing, but this is a literal monarchy so I'm not sure that really matters.

To be blunt, it means that not many will be talking about the meeting when they return to Canterlot, and those that do talk about it will be very careful with who they tell and what they say. Mostly so they don't leak anything big and have the crown come down on them as a result. So while others will certainly learn about my involvement, it will mostly be nobles and other diplomats.

It will probably leak a little from there but Cadance assured me it was very unlikely for the press and by extension the public to find out about me. That's part of the reason this rule is upheld, it's partly used to protect ponies in complicated political positions, which I am basically the definition of at this point.

So while I'm still far more well-known than I'd like, it's not the complete end of my peace and normality, which helped me cheer up some. After that she gently asked about the meeting, I just told her to ask me when we return. I have no intention to hide what happened but I just wanted some time to relax and unwind more.

I spent the two-day train ride drawing things and not really coming out unless I needed to. I drew, played, and relaxed with Entropy, along with working on a new project that I thought about while hiding in my room at the old mansion. Fire is endlessly useful and necessary for so many things.

For ponies, fire is an easily accessed thing that can be summoned as one of the most basic spells there is, but the same could not be said for other races. In Griffonstone I can not count the number of Griffons I saw refueling, tending to, or trying to light a new fire to light the many torches and lamps still used.

In Griffonstone the upper class could afford to import magical lights from Equestria but the rest of the city could not say the same. They light their homes and shops with fire at night, keeping in mind that Griffonstone is on a decent-sized trade route that comes directly from Equestria.

It's not a matter of demand though, I saw magical lights in Griffonstone with ten times the price sell out quickly, but the supply simply can't keep up. Many in Equestria use magical lights now, but many smaller towns and cities have only limited access because they simply can't be made quickly enough to fill Equestria's demand.

Each light needs a gem and that takes time on its own but add shipping times, the sky-high demand, and the limited production capacity, and it's not much of a surprise that buying a magical light outside of Equestria can be hard. Then there is the simple fact that sometimes you need plain old fire instead of just light.

The main roadblock comes down to the gems, they take time to cut, shape, and enchant, so my idea is something more mass-produced. Gem fragments are a much more common thing and often they are either cut into smaller gems or just thrown away as waste.

But a gem fragment can still be used, so I want to modify my Candle Flame spell to be weak and efficient enough to be enchanted into those fragments. The result would be an easy source of fire with a cheap cost and short production time, along with a way to use gem waste more efficiently, plus Equestria would have yet another popular export.

But to do this properly I quickly realized I'd need a better fire rune and I'd need to build the spell from the ground up to be as magically efficient as possible. So for the moment I pass the time by working out a few ideas as we finally arrive at Canterlot and I'm finally fucking home again.

I smile at the busy train station and quickly make my way to the door. I'd like to leave as soon as possible and check on a few things. But when I open the door a guard walks up at the same time. :OH WHAT NOW!: I give him a blank look and the nameless guard just passes me a piece of paper before walking off to do something.

I raise a brow and flip it open.

Aunty wants to meet at the palace, at eight this evening. Don't be late.

That's it, because of course Cadance would. It doesn't take a genius to guess what they probably want to ask about, on the upside I get to see Celestia and catch up. I smile at that and have to force my mind to stop thinking about my friend before I embarrass myself in public.

I huff and walk out of the train through a lesser-used door and make an uneventful exit into the busy streets of Canterlot. A light rain makes the walk a little wet but not long after that I walk up several flights of stairs and I'm home, it's the weekend so I knock on Daisy's door.

She opens it a moment later and smiles brightly at the sight of me. "Shade! Good to see you. Enjoy your trip?" She greets me happily and I nod. It seems she's happy, it's good to know she's still doing ok.

I smile back. "Hey, Daisy. It was... Certainly entertaining. But I'm just here for my key, I still have to unpack." I gave Daisy a key to my apartment so she could water my plants and check on them, although I had to modify the shield to let her move through it without turning it off, something that I will be reversing soon.

She nods and walks over to a counter before fishing my key out of a bowl and passing it to me. "I'm glad to hear that. We'll catch up on Friday, go relax." She tells me with that same smile.

I nod again. "Thanks, Daisy, see you soon then." She closes the door and I turn around to do just as she said. Over the next two hours, I unpack my things and organize the items I bought back with me before having Entropy take me to Gaia's Eden. This is my calm space and for a while, I just sit in the afternoon grass and meditate.

Gaia's Eden is basically the same, beyond the grass growing some more and a small film of golden dust covering some of the grass from the Gold Oak's falling leaves. I decide to just stay there for the next few hours as the sun sets and the moon rises into the sky.

But eventually, it's time to go, I have two princesses waiting for me after all. Things go as normal and a little while later a guard leaves me at a solid wood door and I walk inside of Celestia's office once again. Cadance is on the couch reading a book as Celestia is once again wearing her glasses and looking over some paperwork.

It's at this point I remember a certain thought I had while on vacation. There is no way in hell Celestia didn't recognize Phelix and Silvis when I described them, and she then sent me on a trip to be in a meeting that was likely to have one of them at it. "You are a very good schemer, and I will get my revenge." I glare right at Celestia but still smile.

She looks up from the pages and gives me a clearly fake confused look. "Good to see you, Shade, and I have no idea what you're referring to." She then smiles and looks back at another page. "Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the trip." She says genuinely.

Cadance drops the book she was reading and gives me a sympathetic look. "She told me the exact same thing, actually now that I think about it she even used the same tone." She closes the book and smiles at me. "Well, Auntie's working and I want answers. So, spill." She demands but keeps a soft and friendly tone.

I sigh and watch as Entropy flies off to play with Philomena. I decided to just lie down on the plush carpet instead of the couch. "Did Celestia catch you up already?" I ask while shifting to get comfortable.

Cadance shakes her head. "Nope, she said I should ask you." I should have expected that, it's nice she kept it private though. I take out my teapot to make some ginger tea, I might get better at telling stories at this rate.

One explanation later.

Cadance gives me a baffled smile before chuckling. "You just walk headfirst into such unlikely and ridiculous things, don't you? Can't say it was a bad choice though." She does agree with my actions which I find interesting. Although, she is the alicorn of love, and people can do crazy things for love.

She drinks some tea that I gave her as Celestia finishes her work and decides to lie on the carpet with me. "If he wasn't so good at runes I'd say it was his special talent." Celestia joins in on the teasing and I just roll my eyes. "And the meeting?" Celestia asks gently while giving me that same kind of smile that makes me relax.

I try my best to ignore some thoughts as she keeps her glasses on. :They do look good on her: I crush that thought quickly and focus on answering her. "Mostly normal actually. Thelis wanted to meet and thank me for my actions."

Cadance interrupts. "What exactly did he thank you for? You weren't exactly clear." She gives me a look that says to get to the point already.

I huff but comply. "I didn't really know what I did at the time, and I didn't get any real answers. But he said, and I quote. Thank you for saving my niece's life... I think I stopped an assassination attempt. But I'm really not sure!" I add that second part as Celestia's eyes narrow a very slight amount before she returns to normal.

Cadance just laughs despite the heavy answer while Celestia gives me a proud look. "Maybe you would make a good diplomat?" She jokes to lighten the mood and I glare up at her as Cadance laughs harder and Celestia smiles down at me.

I smile back a moment later. "I'll have more work for you in two to three weeks. It will be a complete mess." I promise her as she playfully glares back at me when I mention more work. I turn to Cadance who's still laughing. "It's also sure to be a big exporter, guess we'll need more trade deals," I say with a little glee.

She abruptly stops and also gives me a weak glare before huffing. "Who invents things while on vacation? You were supposed to just write things down and copy them." She complains a little and messes with me at the same time.

I smile back. "It's not my fault I had to hide in my room for a week, take up any complaints with her." I point to Celestia who just keeps smiling while pretending to look innocent. I turn back to Celestia. "Any other questions?"

Celestia nods. "How did the meeting actually go?" A simple enough question for me to answer.

"He asked me not to abuse the friendship they offered, I agreed as long as that didn't conflict with my own friendships, but I phrased it as loyalty. Then I spent the next few hours teaching him chess with his father and niece." I keep my explanation simple and short. "I'd say it went ok."

Cadance and Celestia give me slightly baffled looks. "Want? Why?" Cadance asks the question they both seem to share.

I shrug. "Phelix apparently promised to teach Thelis to be better at chess if he brought a good opponent. I think it was just an excuse to meet and get to know me, I'm just not sure if there was more I didn't notice." I voice my theory and thoughts.

Celestia nods after a moment. "I think his niece is still a filly right?" I take notice that she remembers something like that so quickly, but I still nod. "How did you react then? As distasteful as it might sound to have a filly act as bait, it's not the worst way to learn the intentions of others through their reactions." I think I can see where she's going with this.

"Well, she was drawing so I just, helped?" Celestia smiles in a new way that I can't pin down. "I helped her with a simple drawing trick and tried to keep her entertained by drawing things for her to color in." I summarize it simply. Cadance also shows the same odd smile I don't understand.

Celestia seems happy with my answer though so that's something. "Did anyone ask you to do that?" I shake my head. "Then why do it?" She asks.

I raise a brow. "Why not? It's not hard and it makes a good impression, plus it makes her happy." I shrug again. It just makes sense to be nice to those who have done the same to you.

Celestia's smile shifts to something more normal. "Good reasons, but all unnecessary in a meeting. You basically showed them you can be nice for no real reason, a good choice on your part... Anything else interesting?" She changes the subject and I just take the compliment and move past my confusion.

Cadance seems to have gone back to her book but an ear pointed in our direction shows she's still listening. "Do three hours of someone talking about different fishing spots count?" That seems to put her off a little, ponies. She shakes her head. "Then not really, it was mostly small talk beyond that."

Celestia nods and her face shifts back to normal. "It seems you are on your way to befriending another monarch then, should I be jealous?" I give her a deadpan look but she shifts to a more kind and reassuring look. "With that mock interrogation done, I do have something I'd like to ask about." She half-jokes and moves to her side to lie down more.

I can tell this will be an interesting topic, but at least she can still joke about it. "Be blunt, it's what works best." I return a reassuring look.

She nods. "Well, first I have some information for you. The Changelings you... Subdued, have been doing well." I perk up a bit and give her my undivided attention. "Currently the four you captured are still in a cell, and they have proven very hard to convince, and have mostly refused to talk at all." I hear a little sadness in her tone but don't interrupt her.

"The others have been let go under supervision." That shocks me a little and I show that to her as she continues. "It seems the Changeling that was being chased was a defector from Queen Cascadia's hive." She says the name with a little disdain much like Cicada and Cricket did, I also remember the Changelings saying something along those lines.

"The other larger group was a nonaffiliated family that took them in, I believe Miss Cricket called them hiveless Changelings." That gets my mind thinking as she continues on. "They have lived in Canterlot for years and have done no harm."

"Also, it's probably already known by some of the Changeling population that we know about them, so I saw no need to keep them locked up for a secret that's already out in the open or will be soon enough." Celestia steals my teapot as I think about her explanation and refills her cup before putting it back.

I nod after a moment as she is right. "A good way to show we're not an outright enemy, while also giving us access to more information than before." I summarize my agreement with the choice. "There's still ways that could go wrong, especially with Queen Cascadia's hive," I add with a little sadness.

Celestia sees it immediately and mostly drops the topic. "It's not your fault." I try to interrupt but she silences me with a hoof. "You did the best you could have, and considering what we've learned about Queen Cascadia I can guarantee you we would have never been allies." She reassures me and I nod a moment later.

I sigh. "You're right, as always. Still, it's not a fun thought... Anyway, what was the thing you wanted to ask about?" She's able to lift my mood a little and I move us along.

She nods but keeps the reassuring look. "Do you regret it?" A blunt question but also a question I've asked myself a few times now.

I tilt my head a little. "No. I do somewhat regret that I wasn't able to do it better, but I don't feel like I regret doing it." I answer with conviction in my tone.

She doesn't judge me and just nods. "Thank you for sharing, and if you need to talk I'm here... So, what have you been working on recently?" She changes the subject and I decide to just go along with it and leave that day's memories for now.

I think about it for a moment and I realize there is a project I haven't actually mentioned before. The prosthetics project with Avalon, that also reminds me to check in with him later. "Well, I'm helping a friend make better prosthetic limbs, although that's going to take a while to see any results." I try to tamper with any expectations.

Both of them seem to stop, Cadance drops the book again and mimics Celestia's shocked face. "It's not a priority so it will take a long time, don't expect anything soon." I try to downplay it again as Celestia gets an excited look and smiles widely.

"I think I speak for both of us when I say that's not the point." Cadance also smiles widely. "The fact that it's being done at all is more than enough, also... I do kind of feel bad for taking that vacation now. You work too much as it is." Cadance says sympathetically.

I don't like seeing her saddened, especially when it's not needed, so I wave it off. "Don't be, I may complain about it but I did actually enjoy the trip," I reassure her as Celestia nods.

"He also had it coming." I glare at her before nodding.

"Fair."

Celestia still keeps her smile as I put away my teapot. "Honestly I'm more surprised you are willing to tell somepony about your spell work." Seems she caught that.

"Some context then. Avalon is a nice Griffon I met who's a relatively new friend, I'm not too close to him though. Anyway, I met him on my last trip and it turned out he has a serious fascination with magic but didn't know he could learn it, so I started him on the Journey of becoming a runic caster."

"We met a few times and he improved decently, he has some serious dedication. So I agreed to help him make a new limb for himself, mostly because he couldn't find one he liked. He only thinks I have an interest in spell creation though, nothing beyond that." Celestia shows a somewhat proud smile and Cadance just looks happy. "What? I can make friends!"

Cadance chuckles. "Well forgive us for needing proof, you aren't exactly social." Cadance stands up and stretches in a way that makes me force my eyes away, while she gives me a knowing smile. "Well, it's late and I need to get going. Don't stay up too late you two." With that remark, she walks out of the door in a happy mood as she embarrasses me yet again.

I try my best to force my mind off of that and focus on Celestia, which doesn't really help. "I'm glad to hear you are helping someone, even among ponies many wouldn't do so much to help somepony they don't know that well." She compliments me again and I really have to force my body to calm down.

I shrug yet again. "It's like I said earlier, it doesn't take much from my side and helps others. A fair deal to me." I summarize and stand up to also stretch my legs as Entropy flies over with Philomena, they both decide I'm a good perch and land on me. "Having fun?"

"Good. Friend." She caws out as Philomena lands on my back and demands some attention.

I attend to both of them as Celestia also stands up. "I also think it is time to turn in. Have a good night Shade, and please keep me updated on that project, I think it could be yet another invention to add to the ever-growing list of times you've made more work for me." She shows a large amount of pride in her tone.

I chuckle and nod. "Sure, and I'll also get you some tea from the Cherry Blossom Tree, just leave it at Gaia's Eden." She nods with an even larger smile. "Have a good night." I turn back to Entropy as Celestia takes Philomena off of me. "Entropy?" A few short moments later I enter the Void.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

Something unexpected came up and I might need to release the next one of two chapters every other day. Sorry in advance, but to tide you over I made this chapter a little longer then normal.

Chapter 150

MAR 12 Friday.

The day slowly winds down like many days before it as I finish copying another book.

Earlier in the day at lunch, Daisy asked me to stop in with her, she was a little vague though. But that's fine, I'll find out soon enough. I finish the book and turn to Blaz, "Make sure to get some sleep gramps." I joke as he looks over to me while I clean up my desk.

"Sure, as long as you try to get a mare friend, and fail." I stop at that and look away as he chuckles, I quickly leave him alone and start walking down the hallway. The last two weeks have been a nice return to normalcy for me, with a few minor exceptions here and there, mostly my mail actually.

First, the good news. The fashion craze around the combs has died down mostly and I'm only getting the occasional piece of mail now, and very rarely do I receive anything less savory, thank magic for that. Now onto the bad news, I've gotten several invites to different high-class parties.

It's like I've made a new identity again, and just like last time I decline everything and hope nopony cares enough to look into it more. Honestly, there's not much else I can do, I'm sure as hell not going to a party with nobles and I'm not sending a letter back demanding they leave me alone.

Plus only a few nobles and one diplomat have sent me letters so it's mostly ignorable, but just to be safe I wrote down all the names of the ponies that invited me, and I think I'll continue to do so. Beyond my mail a few other things have happened, including a meeting with Avalon.

It was normal and honestly, a nice time to relax and just talk about magic, we also made some progress in our search for runes. It's slow going and we're still far from being done but progress is progress, and it's also nice to just talk with a friend at a cafe afterwards.

I've also improved in a few of my own projects. First is my wooden armor, it's now done and I've started using it while training with Stone, who decided to take that as a challenge and kicked the shit out of me. At least I know it works well and can hold up against strong blunt blows, but it will take me a while to get used to using it effectively and efficiently.

I've made some decent progress on what I've come to call the Firestarter project, the spell has seen some major progress after I found the right fire rune and it should be done in a week or two. On a similar note to that, I've started to work on the illusion book transfer spell and another project that I mentioned before.

I quickly learned that trying to move an enchantment is not an easy thing, mostly because trying to make a spell that transfers all other spells makes the needed runes massively vague. So I had to cut down on another of my spells yet again and limit the spell scope by a large amount.

But doing that needs more specific runes so it's once again back to the hunt for me, in the meantime, I'm working on something else that won't need research. A few weeks ago I wanted to make a better way to gather the golden dust produced by the Gold Oak when the leaves fall.

This is still in the early stages of planning but it's looking very doable so far. Right now my best idea is to target the falling leaves with a scanning spell before having the enchantment form a shield around the falling leaf before moving that shield over to a predetermined location and deactivating it to let the dust fall and be collected.

It shouldn't be all that hard to make because I already have all the needed spells, it's just a matter of doing all the math and making it efficient enough to preferably work on a medium gem. I could use a large gem and just make an Enchantment that's good enough but my pride won't let me.

I want to make something and I want to do it well, so I'll just take my time to do it properly, after all, it's not like I'm in any rush right now. The final thing to mention is the Fire Blossom Tree and the Cherry Blossom Tree. Lest start with the Fire Blossom and it's tendency to start fires.

I have a Fire Bloom tree at Gaia's Eden but I cut it down for some wood and left it as a stump so it couldn't burn anything. So I've used a medium ruby to make a fireproof shield and that was enough to grow a new tree and setting it up only took a few hours, so now I have a fully grown Fire Blossom Tree in my garden near my farm fields.

As for the Cherry Blossom Tree? Well, It was a sapling I found sitting in my shack a few days ago so the first thing I did was collect seeds and grow two next to my shack as decoration. I also harvested a good amount of Cherry Blossom Tea, and I did end up sending some to Celestia and got a nice thank-you note in return.

Honestly, the tree is a lovely decoration and the tea is quite good, so overall I'd say it was well worth the work I did on the trip. I finally leave my thoughts as I reach Daisy's office and knock on her door a few times. "Come in!" She calls out and a moment later I open the door to see Daisy working on several documents.

"Daisy. Another day of suspense, really?" It's become a pattern for her, she seems to just enjoy knowing something I don't.

She smiles and nods happily. "It's fun. But please come in, we have paperwork to do and a conversation to have." I roll my eyes but smile as I sit down at her desk.

"Fine, but it better not give me a headache."

She keeps her smile and passes me a document, "No promises. Another year passes and it's time you change things up again." The document is to transfer my apprenticeship again, something not wholly unexpected, but what is unexpected is the option I have.

Yes, option, as in singular. This document is just a form saying I'm going to apprentice under Daisy, there are no other options. I look up at her with a deadpan stare. "Why?" Honestly, I'm less hesitant to apprentice under Daisy than I was last time I was given the option, mostly because I realized just how few ponies would actually care.

I've started to show my skill more and canon is fucked so that doesn't matter, the only reason I can think of to turn this down would be if I actually don't enjoy doing it. But Daisy's job is mostly paperwork along with small things like schedules and talking to ponies about different problems from what I know.

She nods. "I'm the only offer, mostly because all the other ones were ruled out. They are things you already know or don't need help with learning, you'd showed us that with how much you've progressed in your magic. So this is ironically the only option the library head would accept giving you, beyond that you could just stay where you are for the next two years." She explains with sympathy.

"If it makes you feel better about it I'd have you mostly just helping me with paperwork." I can tell she's trying to cheer me up as a friend and give me more options.

But like I said before, I'm much less opposed to this option than I once was, it's going to probably be a little annoying but like any government job I just need to keep my head down and look busy. So I smile at my friend and show a reassuring look, "Well, maybe it's not what I expected or wanted, but at least it's boring." I joke a little.

She smiles and I continue. "Seriously though, I think I can handle it as long as I'm not telling ponies what to do on day one." I drop the jokes and get a little serious.

Daisy nods happily. "I would hope not, if that happened I'd have to rehire the whole library after you fire them immediately to not deal with their antics." She jokes back as I start to read through the document she gave me. Daisy gives me a more serious look, "Are you sure though? You can just keep doing what you have been doing." She offers again with kindness.

I smile and nod. "Don't see why not, it might actually be fun, and honestly I could use a change of pace." I signed the papers and passed them back after reading them thoroughly, I learned my lesson after Griffonstone. "Is that all I'll need to do?" I ask to make sure.

She shakes her head after a moment. "Hold on, I have it here somewhere." She quickly moved through several piles of unorganized documents before finding what she was looking for. "Here! The new schedule for the year, and you're getting it a week early, lucky you." She passes me a new schedule with another smile. "Make sure to remember it."

It's the same working days and hours for me but it moves around a few other working times, I also notice Maple is moving to apprentice for book restoration. "Thanks, Daisy, it will be a pleasure. Also we are still on for Sunday?" I ask about our next game night.

She smiles widely. "Yup! I even have some new games we could beat Maple in. Now get going, I have more work to do." She encourages me as I smile and do just that. It doesn't take me long to leave the library and enjoy the spring breeze as I walk home.

It's a calm walk home and when I arrive I spend some time making a late lunch for Entropy and sorting a few things before taking the Water Tree with me when I have Entropy take me to Gaia's Eden.

The field of tall grass sways slowly in the wind as I take a look around. I planted the Fire Blossom Tree near the crop fields near my shack and the two Cherry Blossom trees are right out front of my shack providing some good shade. I walk over to the river and start looking around for a good spot for my idea.

I'd like to fill in a lot of the empty space I have, but that will take a long while. For now, I want to test how much water a Water Tree can actually produce, so I'm planting something of a test tree near the riverbank. I start by dropping an Iron Oak seed and growing it into a small sapling.

I widen and flatten the bottom and decompose the roots and branches leaving me with a crude wooden shovel, not the best but more than enough for what I need. I can easily move a large amount of dirt with my field but trying to dig a shaped hole with it doesn't really work.

I start by decomposing all the grass around me before drawing a five-foot circle in the dirt and then drawing another circle ten feet out from the first circle. I start by digging out the dirt with my field and piling it to the side as I go. My field takes little magic even when lifting at my limit so it doesn't take more than an hour to dig out a circular pit.

It's slanted both ways and looks like what would happen if you pressed a donut halfway into the ground before pulling it out. All the dirt is piled to the side so I start using it, I spread it out along the pit walls and compact it with my shovel and hooves to strengthen the pit walls before piling the rest of the dirt in the center island.

It's a mini moat with a small hill island, and at the top of the hill is where I plant the Water Tree. Honestly, I could have just planted it next to the river but this is so much more fun. I plant the tree and start to grow it out of the small sapling, the tan bark and light green leaves start to rapidly shoot up and spread.

I control the root growth to grow throughout the walls of my pond to make them even better at retaining water before stopping the growth. The tree is not known to grow that large, and I stopped this one at twenty feet, the large flat tree top provides some shade and the twisted trunk makes it look interesting.

I repack any dirt that was loosened by the tree roots growing and after a while, I hear water dripping. The bark is more porous than other trees and has many tiny holes that you can only see when very close up, and each of them is slowly dripping out water.

I spent a while cutting a long ditch a few inches deep heading from the pond to the river, it should prevent overflow from the pond. When I return I watch as many drops of water fall and join each other before flowing down into the pond, it's not a lot, the collective flow is about as much as a sink faucet.

A small but steady flow might not be enough to fill this before it drains away, but I'll see how it's doing later. I smile at a job well done and move on to the next thing on my agenda, but before I can do that I feel a decent-sized source of life magic move into the range of my senses, I stop on the spot and draw my dagger.

It's definitely not the snake, it's too small for that. The life magic is around four or five ponies worth so it's probably big but not massive, I could just leave but it doesn't look too dangerous so I wait and watch while whistling to Entropy. Entropy lands on my back a few moments later as I notice that the source of life magic is coming from downriver.

It's not moving very fast so it takes a few minutes for it to arrive and be within my sight. I'm greeted by a large shape moving through the river before stopping right next to the shield for a few tense moments. In a burst of movement, the water erupts and makes me jump back a little, but before I can ask Entropy to get us out of here I see what it actually is and stop.

"Hello? Any good fellows here?" A well-spoken voice calls out as a familiar Water Serpent with a large well-groomed mustache stands halfway out of the water looking at the shield curiously. I'm pretty sure this is the Water Serpent Rarity that helps at the beginning of the show, although I don't remember much about them.

"Hello?" He calls out again. "I don't mean to bother any good fellows here or cause troubles to them." He sounds friendly enough and he already knows the camp is here, so after a few moments I move a little closer.

"Yes! Can I help you?!" I have to shout because of the distance between us.

He perks up and smiles. "Oh! Where are my manners? I am Steven Magnet, it's a pleasure to meet you, Sir." He's a little formal for my tastes, but I can't see him doing me any harm right now, mostly because I don't think he can get through the shield, so I move a little closer while keeping my dagger drawn.

I wait a moment as he looks at the shield awkwardly. "Nice to meet you then Sir Steven, may I ask what you are doing here?" I speak with some formality as his smile widens.

"It's good to see a cultured being out here! Well, not see per se, but that's hardly the point." He chuckles at his own joke. "And so you may indeed! I'm here to see and ask if any other esteemed gentlemen such as yourself have claimed this fine river as their own, as I wish to do just that for myself." He rambles on with a few fancy words while I simplify things for myself.

:Well, shit: I think about it for a few moments as he looks around the river. He's kind of important for the main story, and even if I'm not following things anymore I don't think I should derail this by making him leave especially when I gain little in return. On the other hoof, I don't really want him near Gaia's Eden.

I war with myself but in the end, I can't see much harm in him staying in the river, and he could actually be useful if I need to gather something underwater in the forest or just to tell me where the river goes. "I... Umm. I mean to say, that I haven't seen any other gentlemen lay claim to it beyond myself and I'm not terribly... Bothered? By you doing so as long as you leave my home be." I stumble on my words a little but he keeps the happy expression.

"Well then, it's truly a pleasure to meet you kind Sir, may I know the name of my new neighbor?" He's very happy now and I'm coming around to the idea of him living in the river more, but I still have a question, I just need to phrase it properly.

"My name is... Sir Shadow." I use a fake name, I don't trust him enough for real names. "I do wonder if you don't mind me asking of course? Where you intend to make your new... Domicile?" I use more fancy words with a little difficulty, I think Celestia has spoiled me with how blunt she is.

"Oh! Of course! I found a truly lovely riverbank a ways down the stream, it's just perfect for sunbathing." I take a mental note to actually read up on Water Serpents more after this. "For now though I'm terribly sorry but I must get back before the sun sets, moving around in the dark could scruffy my beautiful mustache. So I must bid you farewell, Sir Shadow." He does something of a half bow.

"Sur- Yes, of course, I'm terribly sorry for keeping you. Have a good day Sir Steven." With that, he nods curtly and swims off down the river from whence he comes. "I wonder if I can get him to dump praise and formality on Celestia?" I contemplate it out loud as I watch him leave.

"Let's call that a solid maybe." After a moment I turn and go back to tending my plants, I want to see what I can do with Fire Blossom wood.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

I'm doing fine and should be able to keep up now, but that's not a guarantee.

Also. I honestly can't think of many fic's that even mention good old Steven, and I thought it would be interesting. I'm mostly going to make him a side character that we sometimes see, and he'll obviously be very formal, just for the fun of it. :]

Ok, with that out of the way.

400k at Chapter 150 is amazing timing and makes my brain happy.

Anyway, 400k. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! YES YES YES. LETS FUCKING GOOOOO! THANK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU FOR EVERYTHING!

Ok, I'll stop now.

But I can not DISCRIBE the happiness I'm feeling over making it past yet another 100k! LET ALONE 150 Chapters. <3

So seriously, thank all of you for the support and kindness you've shown me in this community, it means so much to me.

I hope you all have fantastic days! And I wish you the best :D

Chapter 151

MAR 23 Tuesday.

I slowly move my knife along the last ink-drawn line to carve out a small piece of oak wood. I've split my time over the past two weeks finishing the last of my work with Blaz and making a new magical quill for a certain pink princess.

She sent me a letter one week ago with a good quality emerald that I thought I was going to have to find myself, but it saved me some time and effort so I decided to just focus on making this quill and it's ink well with the emerald so I can focus on other things after. It's a very clean and good quality emerald that's four inches cubed in size and works perfectly for this project.

The design we decided to make was a little more interesting, White Oak with Black Palm Tree engravings. On all six sides, I started with a simple cover of White Oak and then I cut out a heart on each side except the bottom and top. Then I added the roses.

Large amounts of roses and rose stems with thorns. The heart just goes all the way through the wood so you can see the emerald inside while the rose engravings only go halfway through the White Oak and fill the space with matching pieces of Black Palm Tree wood that strike a large contrast with the White Oak.

All in all, it looks like a white box with a green heart on each side and wooden black roses crawling along the sides. Honestly, I love the design and I might steal the theme for myself. I placed the last piece of black wood into its proper place and fused the woods together with a little life magic so it all acted like one piece of solid wood, and with that, the quill was done.

The spell work is already done so I just slotted the emerald in and activated it before placing it to the side with the quill, I still need to test it before work so I passed the short time by going over some notes and thoughts. Over the past two weeks, I decided to mess around with a plant I got a little while back, the Fire Blossom Tree.

I mainly wanted to do the most obvious test I could think of, setting it on fire, I quickly learned that the fireproofing of the tree is not as simple as expected. Let's start at the beginning, like most trees the Fire Blossom Tree has three main parts to its trunk, the bark, the newer inner wood, and the older core wood.

The bark and the inner wood seem the most fire resistant as even a powerful several inches wide Candle Flame spell took a few minutes to burn half an inch of material and it refused to catch fire at all. Hotter and more magical flames will probably do a lot more but it is very impressive for wood.

But the core wood is different, it was still fire resistant but that seemed to express itself in a different way. It does burn and light on fire after a few quick moments of being exposed to an open flame, but then it just keeps burning. I did these tests on one-inch thick slabs of both the core wood and the inner wood with bark on it.

The core wood lit on fire and then took eight hours to burn a hole through the slab and even then most of it was still burnable, the Fire Blossom Tree's fire resistance seems to massively extend the burning process of the wood. I think when the wood becomes less useful for blocking fire the resistance effect lessons enough to cause this slow-burning result.

The core wood also seems to contain a higher amount of the tree's sap which makes it relatively easy to light on fire but also extends the burning time even more. It was an interesting effect so I ran a second test in the core wood, I took a five-inch cube and lit it on all six sides to burn.

It lasted a day plus a few hours more before it stopped producing flame, and the leftover coals stayed glowing and warm for six more hours after that. It's simply ridiculous and might be something I can work with, for now, though it's just useful for sustained fires.

Now I should mention some more news, the frost-resistant carrots, which I have nicknamed Frost Carrots have been finished. They ended up taking longer than I would have liked because of the warmer weather, but it is now done and a large amount of seeds were delivered straight to Celestia a week ago, I really am finishing up on a lot of projects this month.

Those will take a while to grow and mass produce more seeds to distribute, and that gives me some time to ready myself for the mail I'll be getting. After a lot of thought, I decided to just release my plants under the alias I already have, even if there are going to be some inevitable problems.

I think it's still a better option than making another identity. My reasoning is basic, I currently have and am building a massive web of lies and secrets by having one fake identity, adding another to the mix just ups the chances of something going wrong and everything spiraling out of my control.

The more layers and things I add the worse it will get, so even if my singular alias comes under more extreme scrutiny I think it's going to be easier to manage than two different aliases at once. Moving past that tangent though, the Frost Carrot seeds should be distributed in six months or so.

Now to move on to the next thing I've worked on this month, the Fire Starter project is finished and complete, it just needs to be sent to Celestia now and I'll be sending Cadance's gift with it. I finish checking over the new quill and write a few things to make sure it's working correctly before taking it with me along with several papers and leaving my workroom to find Entropy.

I walk into the main room but don't see her on her perch or anywhere else in the room, I check both the bathroom and my bedroom but can't seem to find her. I sigh and huff, "Breakfast time!" I shout a little and less than a second later Entropy dashes out of the shadow my Iron Oak casts on the floor from the morning sunlight, and Entropy looks up at me expectantly.

Over the past few days Entropy has learned the art of stealth napping, she picks a shadow and just falls asleep inside it, apparently she prefers napping inside a shadow and it's made it hard to find her sometimes. "This is for Celestia, then you get breakfast, now get going." I encourage her but make my demands clear as she looks at the package.

I chuckle as a moment later she and the package are gone in a mist of shadows. I smile and start on some lunch for us, which actually brings something else to mind that I need to fix soon. Entropy is once again hitting the point where we need to up the distance she teleports, at this point it's three round trips to Gaia's Eden and back.

Well, there's actually another problem I should mention first. Entropy seems to finally be hitting some form of a limit on her ability to teleport after more than two years of training. She's not hit that limit yet but I noticed that it's taking longer to increase the distance she can teleport.

I think she'll still be able to improve much more but it will take much more time than before and it's going to hit the point of not being worth it at some point down the road. For now, though I need a new place for us to teleport to, and like everything I do that requires some thought and planning.

I stop my thoughts as Entropy returns and jumps on the counter as I cut up some Red Root. "Food! Happy!" A new word she's taken a liking to, that also reminds me of her speech training. She's still learning new words and improving, but she is stubborn like me and still refuses to string more than two words or three together. "Give?" She caws while looking at the meat I'm cutting up hungrily.

I smile. "No, I need to actually cook it first, now you go sit down and wait," I ordered while keeping my smile.

She ruffles her feathers for a moment. "Wait. Bad!" I give her a more stern look and she backs up a little. "Fine... Wait." She flies off as I laugh, and she just watches me impatiently with a glare from atop her perch.

"Ya, ya, I'm the mean one, need I remind you about the last fight you had with Philomena?" She lost that particular fight, badly. I smiled as she ruffled her feathers again.

"Mean!" She caws back as I laugh more and leave her be to focus on cooking. A pan of diced fish and a few fried Red Root with plenty of seasonings from my growing collection. It's nice to be able to harvest everything I need from my own herb gardens when I need it.

After we eat lunch Entropy merges into some random shadow as I leave my apartment to get to work, I haven't been late yet and I'm not breaking my streak now. The walk is nice and a short while later I look up and glance at the tall library as I walk through the main doors to start yet another day.

I've finished the last of my work with Blaz so it's time to start working under Daisy, and as I've thought about this something else popped into my head. What do I want to do next year? My birthday is close and next year around this time I'll be an adult and my contract will be done.

I agreed to work at the library until I turned fifteen and it makes me wonder what I'll do when that time is up. I could just stay here, but that's looking less desirable with time. I originally picked this job because it let me stay low key and gave me easy access to knowledge.

But I've mostly stopped caring about canon and this job doesn't help me hide that much anymore. I have more money than I'd ever need, and I don't give a shit about rising the ranks of the library or any form of a career. So what do I do? Should I just walk away?

A part of me would love that, as much as I like the job it takes up a lot of my time and I could do so much with that time. But my friends also work here and I'd see them much less if I did that, so I'm on the fence right now and haven't really made up my mind, the good news is I have a year to think about it.

Small N.S.F.W begins here.

I stop at Daisy's office and decide to not knock and just open the door, which I quickly regret. Daisy is sorting through some cabinet in the back of the room and is bending over to get a closer look, and that means I get a face full of her backside as her tail sways a little to the side.

Instantly I feel my blush overwhelm my face and I quickly turn my face away from the sight of my friend's uncovered privates, while my sheath tries to move as my blood rushes downwards. I just drop down quickly onto the carpeted floor as my cock tries to spring loose a little, while I'm trying my best to get some control over my body and Daisy turns around confused at the noise.

She sees me lying down embarrassed and raises a brow. "Shade? Ummm, you ok there?" She asks before getting a better look at my face, and I can see the exact moment that she figures it out which only makes me blush deepen. I feel my sheath start to move more at the attention and take several deep breaths before looking at her with clear embarrassment.

When she figures it out she just laughs for a few moments. "OH! You poor colt! I remember that age, it was a complete disaster." She laughs more as my blush comes back right when it was lessening some. At least she's not mad, but it's still not pleasant to have it so bluntly pointed out.

Thankfully she gives me a few moments to calm down as my member returns to where it should be and I get my mind off of certain thoughts. After a minute or two though she speaks up again and gives me a small smile and a nod for a greeting.

Small N.S.F.W ends here.

"You're on time, so that's a good start. Now stop sitting there, you can be embarrassed later. It's not like it's anything I haven't seen, you're far from the first colt or stallion to work with me." I think she is trying to comfort me, but it really doesn't help me, I forget how blunt and calm ponies can be about this sort of thing.

I jerkily nod after a moment and take another deep breath before standing up again. "Sure... And, sorry about that." I apologize quietly but she just waves it off and points to another desk that's been set up in her office.

"Not needed. Now get over here, we have a lot to go through today." I nod again and look around the rearranged office space. In the middle is still Daisy's desk while the left and back walls are lined with wooden file cabinets. The right side now has seven cabinets and a smaller desk that is up against the wall, with the desk facing the front of the room.

I set up what few things I took from my last work desk, two notebooks to write things in, and a small potted cactus that I decided would be a nice addition. The atmosphere is a little awkward for me but Daisy doesn't seem to care in the slightest, "Ok, so, let's start with the basics." She says happily as I focus on learning and try to keep my mind off of any thoughts about my friend.

"I need you to get used to where everything is, and I'll be honest I'm not the best at that." That is something I already knew about from Blaz, apparently, Daisy is the type to work in an organized mess, whatever that means. "So for now just look around until you find the cabinet with schedules and try to get used to it. When you find them, bring me the newest one, I still need to make new ones for the cleaning crew."

I nod again and finally speak up. "Sure, is that all just in one cabinet?" She nods, "Ok, give me a bit to find it and I'll see just how much Blaz exaggerated your sorting. It can't be that bad right?" I joke a little at her expense, but she just looks a little embarrassed at that, more embarrassed than what just happened a few minutes ago. "Right?"

It took Me FIFTEEN minutes! To find the single specific cabinet with the right documents, and even when I found them the documents were just in a loose stack! Who does that? ALL the cabinets were like that, WHY?! After a lot of frustration, I dump the documents on Daisy's desk. "Please tell me this is just you messing with me." I give her a slightly pleading look.

She again looks a little embarrassed. "It's never been a problem for me, I just sort of... Remember? Where everything is. You'll get used to it." She waves it off as I give her a deadpan stare that lingers for several seconds.

"Daisy?" She looks back at me. "You're not teaching me anything until I sort this out, and that's not up for discussion. Now start telling me how these need to be separated, and if you just tell me it's fine as is, I will dye you pink." I threaten her a little when she gives me a smile that I don't like.

She drops the smile and sighs. "Fine, but if you do that I will make it your responsibility to keep it organized." She demands back trying to dissuade me.

I don't give that demand a second thought. "Deal! Now talk." I demand and smile when she gives me an annoyed look in return.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

Just some projects being finished in this one.

Chapter 152

APR 5 Monday.

I happily bounce out of the library as Daisy lets me off of work several hours early because it's my birthday.

That's actually something interesting about my friend group, we don't really celebrate birthdays all that much. I know their birthdays and they know mine but none of us ever really expressed an interest in having a party or getting gifts, I normally just give them a few bits and tell them a happy birthday before leaving it at that.

They mostly do the same, we all agreed that gifts are a Hearth's Warming thing. Still, Daisy didn't have much to teach me or have me do today so I was let out of work really early, and that's the best kind of gift. Also while on that topic, I've been both hating and enjoying my new job.

I've spent the past week doing nothing but sorting so many magic damned files, there were twenty-six full cabinets and several more half-full ones and all of them were a mess. The files did have some form of order to them, basically just similar files in the same cabinets, but it still took a long time to fix.

I also bought a bunch of blank stickers to make labels, and I started with the cabinets themselves. I got Daisy to tell me how she normally organizes things if you can call it organized at all, and then I just cleaned it all up and sorted it by date and alphabetical order.

I've been spending half my workday sorting things and the second half learning what documents do what and how to properly read all the odd terms and meanings. It seems that paperwork is always confusing and pointlessly convoluted no matter what world you're living in.

I leave those thoughts alone as Entropy moves in my shadow and looks at me, she's started to come to work with me sometimes. She mostly just sleeps in my shadow or I cast an illusion on her and she grooms herself and naps as I work, Daisy was perfectly fine with having the cute crow around the office to quote, spice things up.

I take my time walking home and stop at a food stall I occasionally go to when I want a good snack, it sells those lovely maple buns that I had years ago. I pick up an even dozen and tip them a few extra bits just to be nice, although tipping isn't a common thing in Equestria.

Entropy noticed the food instantly and I quickened my pace to return home so she wouldn't leave my shadow to demand some immediately, I made a quick stop to check my mail and find a single letter. When we enter my apartment Entropy practically jumps out of my shadow, "Food! Sweet!" She caws happily and gives me her best puppy dog eyes, although it's hard to actually tell because of her appearance.

I smile and throw a bun into the air, and with two quick teleportation's she moves to it and catches it out of mid-air before moving back the the ground and devouring the bun as I also enjoy one, we both really like this particular treat. "Good! More?" She caws as I look at where the maple bun once was a few moments before.

"Fine, but only three in total." I pass her two more before eating another and putting the rest away for later. I place the letter I got from my mailbox down and I also notice two more letters sitting on my kitchen countertop. "Seems those two remembered." I muse out loud.

I start with the two letters that Philomena must have delivered, they look mostly the same, with one being a bit thicker so I start with the smaller letter. When I open it the text is in a neat script with a little flourish to it.

To Shade, I bet you're thinking about mares aren't you? Evergreen.

Regardless, I'm sorry it took so long for me to respond to your lovely gift, but it seems somepony had to give me a lot of work very suddenly. Did you know Aunty decided I can help with implementing your new inventions? It did give me a great chance to test the quill, and I must say you definitely weren't exaggerating.

Seriously though, thank you. It's been a huge help to not have to wrangle with nearly empty ink wells and it looks fantastic! It's just like I asked for! But I also kind of hate you right now for dumping two inventions on us, during tax season of course! You meanie!

Enough of that though. Happy birthday! I hope you enjoy it, I didn't have enough time for a gift but Aunty seems to have that covered. Make sure to enjoy the day, maybe go find a mare, or go bother Aunty. Whichever makes you happy.

Signed, Cadance.

I blush a little at the letter but laugh at the chaos I've caused her, I really should watch my back around her after this, but for now, it's nice to know she likes the quill and magical ink well. I wonder if the unintentional timing on my part can be counted as a prank? I guess it depends on how I phrase it.

I also feel some excitement at the mention of the gift from Celestia. Celestia also teased me about it before that trip started but stubbornly refused to tell me anything about it since then. I fold the letter from Cadance back up and put it to the side before opening the second letter.

Inside are a few papers and a small seed that looks like a brown ball, barely an eight-inch in size. I smile at the neat and elegant script, me and Celestia last met a week ago for our meeting but it was mostly just us playing chess and talking. I start with the papers and start reading with a smile.

Dear, Shade. I hope this letter finds you well.

First I must once again thank you for your efforts and contributions to Equestria. The Frost Carrots are far past my already sky-high expectations, as I send this they are already being planted and I expect the news will spread over the coming months when they start to be harvested and distributed.

All while the crafting guilds are practically fighting over the chance to be a producer of the new Fire Starter, that news should break much sooner. Also, I must compliment you on the ingenious simplicity of this invention, I expect that you'll be getting a lot of mail soon, don't worry I'll give Entropy treats to bring it right to you quickly.

With that out of the way though, happy birthday Shade. I can hardly believe it's only been three years since we met, so much has happened in such a short time, although I suspect it feels much longer to you. Still, I wish you the best and hope you enjoy today, and I hope the gift I have for you helps do just that.

Over time I've collected a great many things, although I'm sad to say plants were more my sister's interest so I don't have much to gift you there, but I do have this one exception. The small seed I gave you comes from a plant called the Copper Lily, I won't go into too much detail as the other pages in this letter have more information on it.

For now, the most important fact is the plant's history and how I came to have it. Firstly, the Copper Lily is extinct, and it has been for over a thousand years now. To oversimplify it, the Copper Lily grew in a special river that was very copper-rich and was over harvested to extinction.

Around that time, so very long ago, my sister was able to bring back a large amount of seeds in the hopes to grow for her own garden. But even with her skills in gardening, she could never grow it properly, most likely because none of us were aware of the plant's need for copper at the time.

In the end, she only had one seed left, and not knowing what to do with it or how to grow it she gave it to me. I kept it under stasis for a very long time, mostly as a keepsake. I also never saw much of a reason to give it to either of the other two life magic practitioners I've met, but I believe you could find some use in it.

And I think she'd be happy to have somepony finish what she could not, so if you do succeed in growing the plant as a friend I ask that you show me. But that is only a request by a friend, nothing more, it's yours to do what you want with.

But for now, I once again wish you a happy birthday. Make sure to have some fun today instead of just working on different things, and yes that's an order.

Signed by your thankful friend, Celestia.

I smile widely at the letter but stop as I read through it, I have a warm feeling at the trust she's once again shown me. Even if it's just a seed that she could never use it still means a lot for her to give it to me. I hold the small round seed with a very gentle touch in my field to not damage it.

It's clear that she was melancholic while talking about her sister, and now that I think about it this is the first time I've really had her refer to Luna as sister. It gives me a bittersweet feeling, I've been given an amazing gift but at the same time, I've been entrusted with something from a cherished and missed sister.

Beyond the warm and bitter feelings I get from the trust and history she showed me, I feel extreme excitement. I quickly read through the information she sent me while smiling like a madman, It takes several minutes to read and reread the information to piece it all together in my mind.

The Copper Lily is a type of water lily that looks almost the exact same as a normal water lily, with large flat pads with long stems underwater and widely recognized flowers. But the flower is where this plant gets unique, to explain I need to talk about the Copper Lily's native environment.

They once grew in a river that once flowed down from the mountains near where Canterlot now is, and this river came from a spring that was inside of a massive copper ore vein. This led to the small river formed by this spring and a few other sources having a very high content of copper.

At some point long before ponies were around the water lilies in that river mutated from either evolution or magic, probably some mix of both, and as a result it started to absorb that copper for its own use. This continued for an unknown amount of time until it became what it is now.

The Copper Lily was named because all the copper it absorbs is used to make its flowers, that's right this plant makes pure metal flowers, somehow. That is some feat of biology and magic that I never would have expected, but back to my explanation. These flowers were discovered at some point and immediately exploited.

A free way to gather a useful metal? Sign me the fuck up, and ponies at the time agreed with that statement. So they started to mass harvest the abundant metal flowers and smelt them down for amazingly pure copper, but that was The Copper Lily's downfall. It only grew in this one river so after most were harvested the remaining ones were protected and farmed.

Ponies tried to grow them in other places but they never understood that the plant literally needed copper to live and without it, the plant wouldn't grow, they were also unaware of the source of the plant's copper at the time. So greedy beings harvested the last of them and eventually, the plant went extinct and was forgotten about.

I know that explanation leaves a lot out and that's because the information Celestia sent me was incomplete. A note in the information mentioned that most information about the plant is lost to even her and her library so she honestly can't help beyond what she gave me already.

Still, this is enough to grow it, and I can grow it. The first thing I did was feel it with my life magic senses, and even though it's very weak there is still some life in this ancient seed. I immediately give it a very small amount of life magic while making sure it doesn't grow before securing it in a small cloth bag.

The Copper Lily is a plant I could have never thought possible and opens so many doors for me, right now it's not that useful but it is a natural way to extract and refine metal. Even if it's just copper it proves this is possible and that gives me so many different ideas, but first I would need to grow this seed.

I don't have anything to do today, but my friend who's also a princess ordered me to not work so I won't be growing this seed today, I placed it in my workroom in a stable spot where nothing can mess with it. For now, though I think I want to take another little day trip to Ponyville, I've come to like the town and honestly, I just think it would be a fun place to spend the rest of my birthday.

I'm about to just grab my saddlebags and leave but stop as I remember the third letter I got, which is odd because not many send me mail to my mailbox, all the mail I get is normally for Veil Winter and that is delivered by Entropy. The only one is Avalon but I don't think it's him because he normally signs his letters on the outside and this one is blank besides the stamp.

I slowly open the letter to see a single page with... Is this ink pink?

I raise a brow and start reading.

Shade, I don't know your last name.

I wish you an absolutely super duper HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Eat cake, party, and have an amazing day!!! Next time you stop by Ponyville I'll give you a cupcake and some pie!! On the house of course!!

Pinkie Pie!

I stare blankly at the page and a hoof-drawn coupon for several moments dumbfounded, I close my eyes and take a deep breath before signing. Ok, either Pinkie knows where I live or somehow got this to me, without knowing anything but how I look and my first name, is Pinkie some kind of super stalker?

My mind tries to think of some way that explain how she got this to me, but nothing makes sense and I'm just getting more and more confused. After a few minutes, I have to stop and take another few deep breaths before putting the letter back in the envelope. "It's Pinkie Pie, just, don't think about it." I tell myself out loud and put the letter down.

I stare at the coupon for several more moments before shrugging. "Why not? It's my birthday." I voice my logic to Entropy as she stares back at me confused. "You remember Ponyville girl?" She tilts her head for a moment before nodding. "Good." I put on my saddlebags and smiled at her. "Are you up for a trip?"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

A bit of a shorter one this time but I'll be continuing it in the next chapter because I got very busy today and deiced to not make this a several thousand word chapter by cramming. Anyway, have a good day y'all.

Chapter 153

APR 5 Monday.

I continue to walk down the dirt road as I near Ponyville in the afternoon sun.

I could have just sprinted here but the day is nice and I see no reason to rush things. The wind sweeps past me as I walk and the grass that sprouted out of the snow over the past few months has grown tall, it moves and waves freely in the wind. I wonder if I can blame Celestia for this good weather.

The walk is nice and eventually, I arrive at the outskirts of Ponyville. My first stop will be an odd one for such a nice day, the library, and honestly I'm not sure why. I never was close to Willow in any way, but I still feel a slight sorrow at her loss, she seemed like a good pony.

When I arrive at the library it looks exactly the same, but it also has a small sign advertising a job for a librarian. I just sit there for a while before I notice that the library is still open, I'm not sure who's tending it but I don't really want to go inside, it just doesn't feel right.

In a way I feel as if this place doesn't want me here right now, or maybe that's just a part of me feeling squeamish at the thought of entering a dead person's home. It's so odd, ponies fear so much humans would consider it silly, but from what I know we share our sense of loss.

We also share a sense that the dead and things to do with them should be left alone, to simplify it both species suffer from the feelings you get while in a ghost town. The eeriness and the feeling that things are too quiet, the odd feeling of emptiness you feel when seeing a dark and dilapidated building.

After a minute or two I start to walk away and move through the streets again. Today is no day to ponder the morbid side of life, so instead I'll go enjoy some free pie and confront something beyond all understanding. After a few more minutes I arrive at Sugar Cube Corner.

I hesitate for a few moments before walking inside on high guard, I expect Pinkie to have planned something, but nothing happens. A few ponies are eating and talking but everything is normal, I'm not sure what I expected honestly, I guess I expected something chaotic.

I stand there for a moment before walking over to a booth and sitting down to get comfortable. I don't think I'll need to wait long for Pinkie to notice me, still I take out my sketchbook to draw and pass some time. After a moment I feel Entropy shift to lay on my flank side on the bench and chirp loudly before jumping back onto the table.

I raise a brow but jump a little as Pinkie Pie pops out from under the table across from me with a party popper. "SURPRISE!!" I just about draw my dagger but stop myself a second later, I look at her as some confetti falls around the table. "Happy birthday! Are you here for the coupon?!" Pinkie is even more high-energy than normal and gives me a massive smile.

I just stay silent and tense for a moment as my mind tries to keep up with this madness. :Why was she down there? What was she looking at down there?: I immediately have to force off that thought as I feel a blush trying to make itself known, but I force my mind to deal with this madness. "Thanks? Umm and, sure? Here you go." I pass her the coupon and try my best to not ask questions and hide my thoughts.

She gives me a very happy look. "OH! Good! It worked, I didn't know if that would get to you in time!" I think that confirms that The Party Note actually exists, that's something I should probably look into at some point. "What would you like?! It's your birthday so ask for anything!" She's still all excited but I'm calming down a little and just ignoring the questions I have.

I give her a half smile. "A milkshake and a piece of apple pie if you have it, and thank you for the kindness." I give her a simple request and be nice. She nods quickly and zooms off a second later, she is certainly happy if nothing else, I just hope she doesn't do anything like throw me a party.

I go back to drawing and a few short minutes later Pinkie returns with a milkshake and two plates of pie. "Here you go!" She gives me my food and then sits down across from me. "Soooo, what are you doing later today?" She's a little more calm now, but I can see where this question is going, I need to nip this in the bud.

I nod my thanks and just accept that she's now eating with me. "Mostly look around some more, this town is nice and quiet. Also, don't throw me a party, it's not my kind of thing and I'd have to force myself to enjoy it." I tell her bluntly, mostly because this is the best way I can think of to deal with Pinkie.

You need to be blunt and honest with your intentions because Pinkie really is just trying to make ponies smile, but in those attempts she can be very forward. She has nothing but good intentions, but that can lead to misunderstandings and mishaps, and the best way to prevent that is blunt honesty.

I see her smile lessen for a moment. "Oh. How'd you guess? Can you see the future? ... But fine, I won't." But at that moment she bounces right back up to normal. "I'll just have to make your next visit extra fun then! So, what do you usually do?" She just moves right along and starts a new conversation.

Several things in her words stand out as beyond suspicious, but there's no real way to tell if she really knows things. I know if I ask I won't be getting answers. In fact, I'm likely to leave with far more questions than when I came here. I drop that line of thought and try to think of how best to answer this while looking her over for a moment.

She seems to be a little younger than me but it's hard to tell, probably not more than a year at most though. In the end, I decided that once again some blunt but vague honesty would be best. "I work at the Canterlot library, but I also travel around some." It's nothing but another half-lie. She eats some pie and it's at the moment she gives Entropy more attention.

"That sounds nice, but also really boring. What about you?" She asks Entropy while holding out a small piece of baked apple on a fork. Entropy also doesn't trust easily and surprisingly doesn't take the food, instead, she moves a little closer to me.

I interrupt her with a chuckle. "Yes it can be sometimes, but I enjoy it. This is..." I stop for a moment before deciding to just tell her Entropy's real name. "Her name is Entropy, she's my best friend. Also, she really doesn't like others touching her." I add the second part as Pinkie lifts a hoof and reaches out before putting it down again.

"Okie-doki! Nice to meet you little shadow!" She smiles at Entropy and I once again push my questions down and just try to enjoy the talk. "She's so cute?! I bet she's fluffy too!" She spends a few moments trying to feed Entropy again, and eventually Entropy gives her a look.

"No. Loud." She caws out before settling next to me on the bench again.

I'm a little embarrassed at that. "Entropy! That's rude." I give Entropy a stern look and she pretends to not see me. "Sorry about her, she's very... Blunt." I give Pinkie an apologetic look.

Pinkie just stares at Entropy before laughing a little, her laugh is softer than I'd expected. "No, she's right. I can be a little loud." :A little?: "Anyway' where are you heading? Home?" She asks with a lower volume, but still a little louder than most would talk she also keeps an upbeat tone.

I try to think of a good answer and feel myself relaxing easily, unlike talking to powerful beings I don't feel there would be much of a consequence if I said no. Still, I see no need to push her away, "Yes, I... Collect things, of a sort. Right now I am heading home, back to Canterlot. Have you ever been?"

She shakes her head. "Nope, but I heard about it. It seems so busy, how can you have time for a party if things are so busy?" She complains a bit, an odd way to look at it but not incorrect. "Maybe they just don't? But that's sad! Do you know?" She asks back.

I also shake my head. "No, not really. You might be right though, me and a few friends don't really do birthdays, we just save all of that for Hearth's Warming." She gives me a slightly surprised look, but she doesn't seem offended. "But I've been to some good parties before, if you ever can, go to the Grand Gala, it's certainly something," I ask hoping to distract her from myself.

It seems talking about parties was a good idea because her face lights up. "THE GALA?! OH! OH! What was it like?! Any things I could add to my parties?!" She's loud again but I just smile and start answering her questions for a bit as she takes a quill and notepad out of her mane.

We go back and forth for a bit before I decide I've hit my daily limit of Pinkie, and I'd still like to see some other things. "Anyway, I have to get going. Thanks for the food Pinkie." I keep my reasons private but sit up to stretch my legs a bit.

She keeps her bright smile and grabs one of my hooves with her own before shaking it with surprising strength. The shorter filly nods and takes the plates we left, "Ok! Remember to come back. Oh! And make sure to enjoy today." That sounds oddly like a demand. "Also, I hope you enjoyed the strawberry milkshake , it's so much better than an apple milkshake. It's a proper fruit." With that last remark, she happily bounces off back into the back rooms out of my sight.

I stare for a moment before laughing, she is one crazy pony, but she is fun, and talking to her is always interesting. I found my mood a bit more upbeat after that talk and I started to wander about the streets of Ponyville again, from street to street and building to building.

I'm not really going anywhere in particular, but I would like to learn Ponyville's layout a little better. As I walk around I turn down a street and see something odd, on a mostly empty street a single cart is just sitting still in the middle of the street. After a moment I raise a brow and start to walk over.

As I get closer I see many boxes inside the cart, there are several things inside them but it's mostly apples. As I pass the cart I see the backside of a pony sticking out of the underside of the cart. I recognize the pony a second later as they shuffle out from under the cart, Big Mcintosh. :Two in one day?:

He looks a little annoyed but it's hard to tell how much. I think he's around sixteen, maybe more but he's definitely an adult, and very tall for his age. He stares under the cart with focused eyes and I glance in the same direction, the axle of the cart has splintered and cracked, it's almost in two halves.

After a moment he noticed me and stared me down for a moment. He's taller than me by a few inches and has well-defined muscles, a strong earth pony that is used to pushing carts and bucking trees. "Ya?" He asks the question with a slightly deep tone, it's not unfriendly though.

I look at the broken cart and back to him. :Hmm, fuck it: "Need help?" I ask back with a calm tone. Yet another chance for me to befriend the cast and their families, even if it's just in a small way like helping with a cart. He stares me down a little more intensely before slowly nodding after a long few moments.

"Yup." He says back and steps out of the way a little, a silent offer. I don't waste time and quickly move down under the cart as Entropy jumps off my back and lands on the cart, she enters into a staring contest with Big Mack as I work. The axle is cracked along the wood grain so I just move it back in place as best I can before casting a sticking spell.

I overpower the spell some and shake it a little before standing back up to see that they are still staring at each other. I whistle to Entropy and she flies back over to stand on my back again. I turn to Big Mack and give him another nod. "It will be more bumpy, and won't last past today." I keep my calm and blunt tone.

He slightly raises a brow before looking down at the axle and nodding slowly. "Thanks, I owe ya." He doesn't waste more words and just moves to the front of the cart before strapping himself into a simple harness and walking off down the street with the cart as I stand there. Well, that was interesting and very quiet.

I wasn't really expecting much for conversation, but I still think I made a good impression. I guess that's another pony off of my bucket list. I'm not sure why I'm that surprised that I ran into two important ponies so far, I did pick Ponyville for a day trip.

But I think that's a reason I should interact with Ponyville more. I've said I want to just live and not worry about changing things, but saying that and doing it are two different things. I'm still a little uncomfortable here, even if I don't show it much, and the only way to fix that is to just keep going.

So after a moment I start walking again and keep exploring Ponyville. This time I wander the outskirts of the town with a little more purpose, I'm looking for something specific. There are a few paths that lead to the Everfree and I want to try and find Fluttershy's home by following them, just for future reference.

I can find the homes of every other of the main six easily, but Fluttershy is more difficult. In the end, it does prove a little difficult to find the right overgrown path and when I do find her home it's not looking great. The decent-sized home is a little dilapidated and rundown.

I guess she hasn't arrived yet, but it's still nice to know the location. As I walk back the way I came I think more about this new quest for my day trip. Who else can I visit? The Apple family is an option, but going to their farm would take a while and I already saw Big Mac, so who else can I check on?

Pinkie is accounted for, which leaves Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. Twilight is out for obvious reasons and I have no idea where Rainbow Dash's house could be, If I remember right it's a cloud house so it can probably move around, so that really only leaves Rarity as a potential option.

But that means I need to narrow down where her boutique could be, so off to the business district I go. Ponyville is small but it's still large enough to have to separate shops from houses, so it does have a street filled with most of the town's shops and merchants.

It's also not hard to find as I've been there before, the open market is set up on the same street. When I arrive I just start walking down the street and looking through the various shops here, and I do stop at one that catches my interest, a blacksmith.

Every town has one for all the small metal things needed by the town it's in, and this small but respectable building fits the bill. An earth pony mare beats down on some metal with a rhythm as she holds a hammer in her hooves. I walk over and wait a moment for them to stop.

She has a strong build and keeps hammering for a few moments before turning to me. "I only smith the metal, if you want to buy something head inside." She motions to the other half of the building which looks like a shop with several things in a window display.

I nod but don't move, "I guessed as much, but I don't need normal wares, I just need some copper, if you have it?" I ask while staring at the slightly shorter mare.

She doesn't look at me and moves the metal with some tongs back into the blazing forge before turning back to me. "Then you have come to the right place, I don't have that much though. I'll have to check but I think I only have a few ingots right now, and they're costly." They warn me a little but still answer me.

That's about what I expected. "How much?" I ask to get right down to business. Metal normally costs a decent amount in Equestria. It's not extreme but still much higher than in my last world. A quick exchange later I have two five-pound copper ingots and one of my bit pouches is a bit lighter.

The ingots are a little heavy but I store them in my saddlebags easily and continue my search, it quickly proves to be a fruitful search. At the end of the street a little away from the rest of the buildings I find a round, tall building that seems to have been recently painted.

It's not as decorated as I'd expected, but it seems Rarity has only just arrived in Ponyville, I have good timing it seems. Well, that confirms the presence of three of the six. I stand outside for a few moments lost in my thoughts. Should I go inside? I do see an open sign on the door.

I can't see much harm in it and I am also curious to meet yet another of the main cast, so after a deep breath I walk over to the shop and slowly open the door. The inside looks a little disorganized, several shelves are half stalked with different fabrics and pieces of clothing, and a few open boxes are around the main room.

Clothing is a smaller business in Equestria than on Earth, not tiny, just small. Most ponies don't have much need for clothing, but many do have uses for different shapes and colors of fabric for many other things. Nopony is at the counter but I notice the back door is open so I just look around a little.

After a few moments, I shift my saddlebags a little as one of the straps is a little tight and uncomfortable, and that gives me just the idea I need. I've had these saddlebags for years now, and they are getting a little small for my body, if I keep growing as I have they will just become impractical to use.

My thoughts stop as hoof steps on wood sound out through the empty shop. "OH! I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in Sir." Rarity has a hair bun tying back her mane and looks a little tired, even then she looks well groomed and also seems to be a little older than me, a year or two at most around Big Mac's age actually.

She gives me a warm smile and moves from behind the counter. "I'm sorry about this ghastly mess, I'm still setting things up as you see. But enough about me, it's a pleasure to meet you, Sir, how can I help you today?" She has a good amount of formality but balances it well with a comfortable tone, and seems to know how to smoothly talk with her customers.

I don't smile back but give a friendly expression and a nod. "It's fine, and it's a pleasure to meet you too Miss. As for why I'm here? Well, my saddlebags have served me well for a long time now, but I need new ones. Do you happen to have any?" I return her friendly tone and even mix in a little formality for the sake of it.

She smiles brightly in return. "Of course Sir, anything in particular that you're looking for? A style or theme? I can think of a few that would go well with your coat and mane." Rarity gets right down to it and quickly moves around to show a few shelves with different saddlebags.

A few look interesting and I keep up with her as she moves. "Green, and maybe nature?" I like that feel and look, and why not lean into the druid feel more?

She stops and looks over at me with a more scrutinizing eye. "Hmmmm, yes, I could see that. Do you normally tie your mane back?" I have no idea what that has to do with my saddlebags, but I nod affirmatively. "Yes, I think I have just the thing for you." She moves over to a half-empty box and takes something out before unfolding it.

A very deep blackish green with yellow leaves drawn out with thread, a simplistic but well-matching combination. She holds them to my side and nods again with a smile. "A little too simplistic, but a good match. What do you think, Sir?" She holds them out to me and I look them over.

The canvases are high quality, much better than my old saddlebags and they look like they will fit me much better. The straps have solid metal clamps instead of just metal rings and the straps themselves are long enough to fit me even if I grow a lot more, on top of that the pockets are larger and there's more of them.

I smile and look back at her. "Perfect, how much?" I love this new saddlebag already and they are just what I need. Honestly, I got very lucky here, maybe it's just some birthday luck.

She keeps her smile but looks a little more serious when I ask the price. "Oh no, no. I can't have my first-ever customer leave without some generosity. They're yours. It's not like many would ask for something so simple anyway." She says it like it's a done deal and there's nothing left to discuss.

I sigh a little and give her a level stare. I really should have seen this coming, she is the element of generosity after all. I also don't feel like arguing with her so I try a different approach. I give her a firm nod, "You have my utmost thanks, and you also have my generosity in return. Have a good day Miss." I drop a decent sided bad from my saddlebags on the counter with a soft thud and turn to leave before she can say anything else.

"Wait what? Sir?" I open the door and leave before she can say anything else. I quickly move down the street and out of sight before she can try to follow me. Once I'm a distance away I laugh at the confused and stunned look she gave me as I left, I have no idea how much these saddlebags cost, so I may have overpaid a bit.

But hey, she can probably make good use of five hundred bits, or was there more in that bag? Ahh, who cares? Although, I would have liked to see her expression when she opened that bag. I whistle a happy tone with Entropy as we leave Ponyville and head back out of town.

I think today went well, and honestly, I think it was a good birthday.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading this story, and dealing with my spelling.
Current year is 994

I felt like having Pinkie throw a full party wasn't going to work, because lets be honest it's hard to surprise Shade. And even if she did somehow throw him a surprise party he'd just sneak away at the first opportunity.

Also, I'm taking either tomorrow or the next day off.

Chapter 154

APR 17 Saturday.

I draw out another rune and finish modifying the spell that is enchanted into my mortar and pestle, which is now linked to a medium sapphire.

The last two weeks have been both calm and slightly annoying, mostly because the Fire Starter was released, it did not take long for the public to notice. That wasn't helped when the news really broke as newspapers started to print new stories about what is called yet another genius invention from the mysterious Veil Winter.

I do feel a little pride with yet another helpful invention but they are kind of overstating things, then again that is what the news is good at isn't it? As you can imagine this all resulted in more damned mail, at least it's far more clean, I don't want to walk around like I was any more than absolutely necessary.

But all of this is second to something more important that I've been planning, growing the Copper Lily. That is also the reason I'm currently remaking my mortar and pestle. I've used a medium sapphire to really boost its grinding abilities, I need that boost to grind down the copper.

Copper alone is probably not going to be enough though, this metal is just too pure, so I found a smeltery in Canterlot. There I was able to both buy some copper ore, it's low quality but if I mix it with my ingots and some soil I can make suitable soil for my newest plant.

I also paid the smithy to cut up the copper ingots I bought into small pieces, around an inch each. The ore was in a sack in many small chunks, so it doesn't need more processing. I open the sack and grab a few pieces of ore along with a single piece of the copper ingot, and I throw all of this into my mortar.

I didn't do anything fancy while modifying the spells used, I just made them stronger than before, I'll just have to hope this is enough. I start to grind down the copper and it does work but it will take a while to grind fully, while grinding I move an empty bag over to me. Then I activate a small ruby to form a shield around my mortar, it won't block my magic but will block any loose dust, I would rather not breathe in any copper.

It does prove to be a very slow process and it takes half an hour to grind down one pound of the mixture, I may have to look into better runes to speed up this process. but this should be enough for a single plant, I think. I sprinkle some water from my flask to take any dust out of the air before turning off the shield and collecting the rough copper dust.

After that I check a few more things I'll need for today, once it's already I place all the things in my new saddlebags and move out to the main room of my apartment. Today is one of the days me and Celestia planned to meet, but to shake things up a bit I'm the one inviting her.

In her past letter, she asked me to show her if I succeeded in growing the Copper Lily, and I plan to do more than that and invite her to see my attempt. I'm a little nervous about failing though, but if I do fail it won't be made worse by her being there.

I think I've prepared as best I can for growing the Copper Lily. I have copper and even copper ore, and with enough life magic, I should be able to grow viable seeds to make more plants. On a different note I love my new saddlebags, the style fits me well and they are so much better than my old ones. The blackish-green cloth strikes a contrast with the yellow leaves drawn out of thread.

There are maple leaves, oak leaves, and even a few small flowers, it all comes together with a simple but enjoyable look, and like I said it's a large improvement over my old saddlebags. I've also added the enchantments I had on my old saddlebags into my new ones.

I leave that line of thought alone as I pick up a small cloth bag on my shelf, it holds the Copper Lily seed. I take a moment to make sure it's still alive and nod to myself as I feel its small amount of life magic move very slowly inside the seed, I pack it away with extra care and turn to my shadow. "It's time to go Girl. To Gaia."

She emerges on my back a moment later and we enter the Void a second after that. The Void stretches out and I have a thought as I stare into it, I wonder if this Void is staring back. like that old saying. Either way, it's not like I'd be able to know for sure.

That thought ends when I'm greeted by the afternoon sun gleaming in my eyes as I now stand in a lush grass field. I look around for a moment before letting Entropy fly off to do whatever she wants while I put my blindfold on and go to my shack to grab two White Oak seeds.

I've wanted a nice outside place to relax in Gaia's Eden for a while now and I have some time before Celestia arrives so now seems like a good time. First I need to pick a location, and I think the best would be near the Gold Oak for a good view, but not too close as the tree needs room.

In the end, I settled for a spot roughly forty feet away from the Gold Oak facing the side closest to my shack. Once I have a spot picked out I head over to my log pile, I cast spells on a few of the regular Oak logs to significantly lighten before picking up three in my field.

With two trips I have six logs moved and I dig out three holes in a line each hole five feet apart, my field makes it easy. I move ten feet to the side and do the same again, this new structure is going to be ten feet wide and fifteen feet long with six supports made from logs. I place the first log in a hole and start growing roots to keep it in place.

I continue this with four more logs and nearly get the last one in place before abruptly stopping as I'm moving the log, not far away I feel the space ripple and rend apart. "Hmm, seems she's early," I mumble before continuing to move the log into its place and rooting it thoroughly.

I already decomposed the oak logs to the same length so I just need a floor and roof now, so I decided to start with a good floor. I take out a White Oak seed and drop it before letting it spread and grow, I don't grow any bark or leaves and start to form a solid foundation.

A two-inch thick slab of pristine white wood spreads out, it's an inch in the ground and an inch above it. This process takes a few minutes even while boosting the speed by using more life magic than necessary. As I'm working I feel and hear Celestia walk over to me. "Seems you've been busy, what's this for?"

I smile at the friendly and relaxed tone she carries. I don't remove my blindfold and just concentrate on my work while answering her. "A pavilion, somewhat like those in the royal gardens. Although this is a little less grandiose. Also, you are a little early, aren't you? I didn't even get to surprise you with all this." I joke a little as she watches me grow out the floor, although I only guess what her expression is.

I can imagine the smile she often has. "A wonderful idea, and for the record you never surprise me, I just fail to predict you." She says with clear sarcasm. If I wasn't blindfolded I'd have rolled my eyes at that. "As for why I'm here so early? Well, I told Cadance about our meeting and she was very insistent I come as soon as I could, she even offered to finish my work."

I raise an unseen brow. "Huh? Well, that's nice of her. Especially considering how much work I gave you both." I do find it a bit odd she didn't take the opportunity to mess with me, but she doesn't always need to do that and it's good to see she can just be nice. I move past that thought as I finish the floor, "I'm thinking of having the roof be covered in leaves like my shack, what do you think?" I ask her opinion while growing out the basic frame of the roof.

The six logs extend upward at a forty-five-degree angle, then I grow them horizontally at the tip where the logs merge along the fifteen-foot length. "Hmm, yes I think that fit would fit rather well as a theme of sorts, you could also add some Moon Glow Vines for lighting." She suggests while tapping the new floor with a hoof.

I nod at the suggestion. "Good point, I can even have them hanging down, and maybe some railings too." I grow a half-inch thick plane of wood in between the roof frames and cover the top with a layer of bark and leaves to finish the structure. I huff out a little feeling the drain on my magic, doing all that so quickly nearly drained me.

The last time I did this I made my shack but that took a lot more material and time to think over how I wanted to build it, so I wasn't as tired by the end. I take off my blindfold and turn to her as she looks over the new building with a smile, "Tea? I could use some right now." I say while walking into the new area and dropping down on the wood.

She follows me and lays down facing me. "Maybe a carpet as well, or some cushions to lay on." I nod while setting up my teapot and filling it with water before activating the enchantment and waiting for the water to boil. "So, beyond changing life inside and outside of Equestria yet again, what have you been up to?" She asks.

I wave my hoof in a so-so motion. "Not too much really, I've mostly focused on a few personal projects and helping Cadance with our rune project." Cadance and I met up a week ago and actually started working on the rune a little, it was just us making a basic design for the rune and trying to figure out how to word the rune's runic context properly.

She nods. "Good to hear. Also, do you always wear that?" She points to the blindfold I have hanging around my neck. "Because if you do, I might get to hear some entertaining rumors about you going blind." She says half-seriously, somewhat of a dark joke by pony standards.

I chuckle at that and take out two teacups before pouring us both some fresh tea. I smile back up at her and drain my cup to regain my magic. "You want to play that game? Because Cadance is a gossiper, and she has told me quite a few rumors about you." I have heard a few from her that are good ammunition against her.

She smiles right back. "I know right? Do you mean the rumors about you and me?" She asks back with some humor, and I just give her a confused look in return. She smiles wider at my confusion, "Did you know some ponies think we are dating?" She even waits a moment to say that so I'm drinking tea at the same time.

I spit out all my tea and start coughing as she breaks down laughing. Once I've recovered a little I look at her like she's mad while trying to not blush as my mind goes wild. "They WHAT! Why?! I-We---What?!" I stumble and flail my words as she just laughs harder as I blush despite my best efforts. In the end, I just sit there thoroughly embarrassed as she recovers from her laughing fit.

"Haha, y-you really don't know? I'd expected Cadance to have teased you with that before." It's at that moment I remember a few times that Cadance did mention rumors, but it seems she was keeping this rumor in reserve. "Don't feel too flustered though, it's just staff gossip." She drops the teasing tone but still looks very pleased with herself.

I just glare for a moment before slumping down a little and wiping some tea dripping off of my chin with the back of my foreleg. "This is why I hate politics, so much drama and gossip. Now I don't want to think about this so change the subject... Please." I ask with a thoroughly defeated tone.

She just keeps smiling but does give me some mercy. "Fine, but I'm telling Cadance, I think I might have just ruined a long-term prank of hers." She drinks some tea and I just take a few deep breaths and relax again. "As for a topic, well I do have one off of the top of my head... But it is a bit morbid and might not fit today." She says with a much more gentle and slightly hesitant tone.

I feel my body settle down and give her my undivided attention while perking up some, I really doubt she could rattle me but I'm really curious now. "Go for it, a somber mood is preferable to what just happened." I give a much more upbeat and joking response while refilling my teacup.

She smiles and nods, but doesn't ask for a few moments. "You told me your friend, Daisy I believe, lost somepony not long ago." That is a bit of a morbid topic, but nothing that bad really. "I also remember you said you've pondered death before." I nod at that and notice she still has some hesitation. "Well my question is simple then, what do you think of death? And I am asking in the more philosophical sense." Her tone is not sad or serious, just curious and mellow, maybe a little melancholy too.

Now that is an interesting question, and one I can understand Celestia asking about. She is one of the few beings that has lived for more than a millennium and I honestly can't imagine the amount of death she's seen in her life, but I also feel a little warm knowing she probably asks this with some concern over my health.

It's also not something she would really be able to talk about much, she has few friends and I might actually be the only one of those friends that is willing to be philosophical. So I think about my answer for a few moments, "In what way? What do I personally think of death? Death as a law of reality? Or something like a deity or embodiment of death?" I ask back with an equally curious tone.

I see her smile a little despite the topic. "Good question and I'd have to say I'm curious what you think about all of those, but let's start with it as a law." She drinks some more tea and seeing how relaxed I am about the topic is less hesitant now.

I nod. "Well, It's probably best to define what death is first. For a law, I'll just presume it's the process of something ceasing to be what it once was and not anything that may come after that, like an afterlife or that something changing. And to be blunt, as a law it serves the same purpose as most laws of reality, balance." I now have her full attention as I continue.

"All things begin, and then they end. As a law, it is simply a fact that things must change, and honestly, I'm not sure what more to add to that. At its base death as a law is less of a law and more a simple fact of the world we live in, there's probably a better word for that." I probably ramble a bit too much but I think I explained my thoughts properly.

She nods after a moment and her smile grows a little. "I think that is a good explanation, but I think it could be said to be a law because by its very nature as part of reality it resists any change to how that law functions. Then again that function is left up to interpretation more than anything." She debates a little.

I nod back after a moment. "Good point, death can be very different depending on the culture and individual," I admit before realizing we're out of tea and starting to make a new pot as some rain moves over the area and starts to fall from the sky.

Over the rhythmic taps of rain on the roof above us she continues. "Correct, and that's also perfect for the next form you mentioned. Death as a deity, some would view it as evil or wild, but others view it as a simple part of nature. And then there are all the different forms death is said to take, from a vengeful force of the world to a slightly more passive being that takes your soul when it's your destined time to die." She starts to get into the conversation and adds more points to talk about.

"I think there is a part that most miss. Most of those variations have one thing in common." She raises a brow. "They all frame death in a somewhat kind light, even if they did not intend to." That earns me a confused stare for a moment.

But she seems to get it after a moment. "That is something I don't hear often, but I think you mean that death waits for us? That it is patient in a way." I nod with a smile. It's not that surprising though, it's not exactly a rare thought. "Yes, I suppose you're right then, all the different iterations of death I can think of have that is common. Although, a few need worship or sacrifice to keep them so patient." She adds some context.

I nod, she's probably seen many worship death in some form. "Agreed. Anyway, to move back to the point, death as a literal being can be viewed in an endless number of ways, so I'll just tell you what I personally think, look at me combining my last two options to save time." I joke a little and chuckle, but she just smiles in return.

I brush that off and continue. "Death is a very... Kind thing." She looks confused but doesn't interrupt me. "I once told you I fear living forever, because forever is endless. It's odd, but I find a little... Comfort knowing that one day I won't have any worries, just rest, endless rest. Death is with you the first day you're born and the day you die, they are your oldest friend."

"And like a friend, they do not demand you come to them or show you anger if you shy away in fear. From the lowest of the low to kings on high, they are all greeted the same, and they are all taken where they need to go when it's time." I pause for a moment and see a very thoughtful expression on Celestia's face.

I drink some tea and finish. "So, for me at least, I intend to greet death as the old friend I think they are. But that's just how I see it, many would probably disagree." I think I'm half quoting a few things from my last world, but for me this is how I would like to imagine the embodiment of death, I am being very optimistic though.

As I finish my little speech she stops and looks out into the rain as it really starts to pour down, it's a long lingering stare like she's remembering something. "That is... An oddly beautiful way to look at it, and a perspective I haven't heard before. Sure, a few were similar but not the same as that."

She looks back with a thoughtful face. "Death as a friend? That would definitely be interesting." She comments that part more to herself than me. "Thank you, I... I think you have given me much to think about... I also find it interesting that you talk about this more like a Griffon would."

I feel myself stiffen very slightly but hide it well. "Really?" I ask back hoping to see what she meant by that.

She nods with a smile and seeds to partly move past this topic. "Yes, I find that races like the Griffons and Diamond Dogs seem more willing to talk about and ponder these more morbid things. And you yourself are rather good at putting yourself in the perspective of others, I guess that trip did you some good hmm?" She compliments me and jokes a little while I relax again realizing she's just pointing out the obvious, I do act more like a carnivore than most ponies ever would.

"But this topic has dropped the mood a little, anything else you'd like to talk about?" She drops any gentleness and seems to want to move on to something more lighthearted, and I have just the thing for that. I smile widely at her and start taking two things out of my saddlebags while standing up to stretch my legs.

"Do you have a spell that can collect some of this rain? Or just water in general?" I ask while placing down the bag of mixed copper and a small cloth bag. She looks over the items a little confused but nods at my question. "Perfect, then give me a few minutes, I'll be right back." I drape my cloak over me and walk through the rain to my small shack.

When I get there I grab a large bag of unwanted mail and my crude wooden shovel before walking back. I get back to see a still curious but patient Celestia looking at me with a smile as I take off my cloak and shake some water off of me, but I'm interrupted as a spell hits me and I'm instantly dried. "That works too, thanks." She just silently drinks some tea as I get to work.

I drop the sack and she sees the mail inside. "Why?" She finally asks.

I smile and start to grow more wood from the floor. "Out of everything, the bag of mail is the one you ask about?" She nods completely serious. "Fine, I'll show you." I place my crude shovel to the side and she immediately takes it to look it over, I just let her satisfy her curiosity.

I pick the dead center of the pavilion and grow a hollow tube three feet tall and the hollow center is a foot wide. I shape it like a tree stump and even add some fake roots and bark, I make sure to keep the middle of the fake stump hollow with the top open. Next, I take the bag and dump all the mail inside the hollow trunk.

She stands up and walks over to sit next to me and watch what I'm doing. A moment after I've emptied the sack so I toss it to the side and start decomposing all the mail into fresh soil. Celestia smiles at me and chuckles a little, "You compost all of the mail you don't want?" She asks humorously.

I smile and nod. "I'm not keeping it, and I don't want to just throw it away, so why not compost it?" I summarize as I move the second bag over to us, the stump now has a few inches of soil in the bottom. "Can you fill this with water? A few inches under the lip." She nods immediately and a moment later her horn starts to glow.

Raindrops and water in the air all gather into a single spot in mid-air, and all that water forms a small falling stream that lands on the stump. "Well, I can't say it's a bad idea. Actually, I can think of several times I'd have liked to do the same, but I had to settle for just burning those." She jokes. I chuckle at that, it seems we agree that some mail just needs to be burned.

The stump is now full of muddy water and she stops her spell at the perfect time, It's an interesting water spell, I might research that later. For now, I pour the copper dust inside and start to mix it all with my shovel as Celestia raises a brow. "What, are we making soup? Because if we are, that seems like a mighty big spoon, I wonder why it's so big?" I try to ignore the teasing tone and finish my task.

"Make your jokes, I can take them all. But to answer you, no, this is something so much more." I drop my joking tone and very gently pick up the cloth bag. "Hoof," I demand while motioning for her to give me her hoof, she raises a brow but does as I ask.

I let a single small seed drop into her hoof as I see it click in her head, she glances at the water in the stump and back to me. "I thought you might... Well, I thought you might want to be here... For my first and possibly last attempt, no guarantees this will succeed though ." I smile up at her as she gets a look that's a mix of happy and sad.

I see a large smile bloom on her face as she looks back at me. "Thank you." Her tone is a mix of happy and a little excited. "What do I need to do?" She asks back.

I smile widely. "Well, just chuck it in. Let's see if this will work." She does just that with gusto and I watch as the seed splashes in the water before sinking right to the bottom. I reach out with my life magic and focus on the small seed before pushing some life magic into it.

This entire setup is just to hopefully grow and collect more seeds, I don't think the Copper Lily would be able to live here long-term without my constant help. After a few moments, The seed breaks apart and a small unseen sprout starts to spread roots and form a bulb while stretching a stem upwards. "It worked."

I see a beaming smile on Celestia's face as the small plant shoot reach the water's surface and unfurls into a small three-inch wide pad of deep green. "Thank you." She just repeats herself again and keeps her smile as another shoot follows the first, and then a third.

Eventually a fourth grows but it's different, when it grows I see a bud form that slowly unfurls into what looks like a normal white Lily flower. I almost get concerned that this is not the right plant, but a moment later I notice that the flower petals are really thin, thinner than paper.

A few moments later we see small bits of copper start to be excreted by the flower petals, and more builds up over time. The petals grow thicker, but my magic is being consumed quickly, and even with so much life magic it still takes a long time to grow fully, I guess forcing the plant to gather this much copper so quickly takes a lot of life magic.

But I need more seeds and that can only happen if I finish the plant's life cycle, I do prevent any more offshoots to try and keep my magic drain to a minimum. After a few minutes of us watching in silent fascination, the flower petals are now even thicker than a normal Water Lily's petals.

Finally, a small cluster of yellow needle-like petals grow in the center while new types of offshoots grow from the leaf stems, a few moments later the pods grow on the ends of the new growths while the new petals start to also build up copper. Eventually, the seed pods are done and I stop growing the plant, just in time too because I'm almost out of life magic.

I reach out and pluck four pods filled with seeds, and all of them have small amounts of life magic moving around inside them. "It worked, I can grow more. YES!" I get a little loud as I celebrate happily that it really did work. I turn back to Celestia, and she's just looking at the copper flower seemingly transfixed.

An idea pops into my head at the sight, and I reach out with my magic to decompose the stem and any plant material still in the flower. It nearly sinks a moment later but I pick it up in my field and stare at the pristine flower made from pure copper. I stare for a moment longer before holding it out to Celestia. "Here, it's yours now."

I smile as she looks over the moon, but her expression has an undertone of something sad. Still, all this is worth it to see her so happy. "I... Thank you Shade, this means a lot to me." Her tone is soft but happy as she holds the shiny flower in her hooves with a large smile.

She stares at the metal flower for a moment more before looking back at me. A moment later I'm once again enveloped in a double hug, but unlike last time I can appreciate it. The feathers cover my back while her forelegs grab my sides, and my face is buried in some chest fluff.

She lets go a few seconds later and moves the flower to the side with her horn. I smile widely at the hug. "Good, I'm glad you like it. Now, I'm mostly out of magic, and I wouldn't mind learning something. So, teach me that water spell, It seems interesting." I try to move off the emotional topic before things get too heavy.

I see a whole different smile and she has a more teacher-like look. "With pleasure."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

Your probably getting a shorter chapter next because I went way overboard on this one, but I think it came out well. I hope you like it.

Chapter 156

MAY 10 Monday.

I give the pony in front of me a glance while reading through a few documents that were just passed to me. "Hmm, you sure about this Ms. Cream?" I ask the old mare.

She's one of the oldest librarians and she's worked here for a long long time, she even stayed a little past when she could have retired. But the form she gave me will make us start the process to fill her now empty position and let her retire next week. "Yes dear, I've stayed long enough." Her tone is soft and low while she shows a small smile.

Today is my first day actually handling ponies and their problems, not big things, just simple paperwork and asking a few simple questions. But it seems the world once again made things interesting and I ended up processing the retirement paperwork for one of the oldest working employees.

I nod respectfully at her words and fill out the paperwork before standing up and shuffling through several neatly organized file cabinets. I find the right records and paperwork before returning to my desk and giving them to her. "Sign these please, and I hope you have a good retirement Ms. Cream." I show some more respect to the old mare.

"With pleasure dear, thank you. You too Daisy, it seems like only yesterday you came here with Willow." The old mare starts to talk and reminisce with Daisy for a bit as our workday winds down. Well, it's technically already over, but we both stayed to help Ms. Cream and get her set up.

I turn to them and get their attention. "I'm heading out, see you later." Daisy nods and starts talking with Ms. Cream again and I leave the office to walk home. Thankfully there is no rain today, a small miracle considering it's been raining for almost two weeks now.

Daisy has been very happy this past week, turns out her date went very well and they will probably do it again. But no matter how much I and Blaz ask or pester her Daisy refuses to tell us who it is. I don't really care too much about the who or what though. It's not my business, but it is good teasing material so I'll keep asking.

I smile at the thought and take off my saddlebags while Entropy flies over to me. "Love. Food?" She tries to bribe me with love, it works well as I grow several large Juniper berries, but I stop when Philomena flashes into the room with some quickly fading flames.

I raise a brow as she doesn't have a letter, it seems she wants to visit again, I smile and decide to have a little fun. When Philomena lands next to Entropy on the countertop. "Food?" I say suddenly and they both snap their heads to me, I silently grow a lot of large Juniper berries before picking them and filling a large bowl as they watch my every move intently.

I place it down on the floor away from anything else. "Go nuts." I laugh as they both dive off the counter, Entropy hits her mark and literally dives headfirst into the bowl before trying to grab berries with her wings and beak while Philomena squawks and gobbles up all the berries falling out of the bowl while also trying to get inside.

I'll have to clean up the mess, but getting to watch a bird of shadow and fire fight and squabble over berries is worth it. I leave them alone and let them sort it out while walking into my workroom, I have work to do, specifically I have a prank to plan.

A few days ago I was organizing my ever-expanding library of runes, which is now written in an illusionary book inside a small ruby. I still keep my notebook copies, but this much more organized and neat version is something I do not regret spending time on.

I activate my bracelet's illusionary book and move through a few pages before finding the notes I took on the new rune. This color-changing rune has a runic context that makes it useful, it's specialized to work best with illusions. With this rune, I can rapidly shift the color of an illusion once, or I could make an illusion change color rapidly. This is something I could do before, but this new rune makes that process much smoother and magically efficient.

I move the bracelet's illusionary book next to the illusionary book containing my runic library before casting a spell. I see a magical line manifest before connecting the red end to my bracelet and the green end to the small ruby, a moment later the empty illusionary page from the ruby becomes an exact copy of the illusionary page on my bracelet. The illusionary page copying spell was a good time investment too.

This rune is still being used with an illusion as it doesn't actually change the color of an object, but I can have a very simple illusion cover an object and change that illusion's color. So my plan is simple, make a spell to make Celestia and Cadance look ridiculous, but that's still a little vague.

I could do many different things with a spell like this but they all would take time to make, so I'm going to build a more complex but versatile base spell that will let me quickly modify it into many different forms of the same spell, it should save me a massive amount of time having to rework the spell. I find the bending illusion and moving illusion runes along with the new illusion color rune and get started on the spell.

The base spell needs to be flexible and versatile so it takes a long time to add so much math that will support and speed up the modification process in the future. Three hours later the base spell is finished, I spend a few more minutes writing down the blank base spell matrix before modifying the spell again so it has some effect.

Once the spell is adjusted I spend a moment looking it over and double checking things before casting it on a spare Steel wood cube I have. Within a moment the grayish wood turns a blindingly bright hot pink color. I chuckle at the sight, "This will be perfect!" I laugh for a moment.

I pick up the cube and see my hoof sink very slightly below the illusion, it's not perfect but it works well enough. Before I can test more things I stop and look over as Entropy comes into the room with a piece of paper in her beak. I raise a brow and look at the piece of paper, "Where did you get this?" I ask her while unfolding the sheet of paper.

She tilts her head. "Friend." I give her a confused look but see Celestia's writing on the piece of paper.

Shade. There is something I need your help with, come to the palace.

I feel my fear and worry rise as my mind starts to run wild with possibilities. The note is not neat and looks to be written quickly, but I don't have time to think about that anymore. I stand up and rush out of my workroom, I grab my saddlebags and double check my daggers before turning to Entropy. "The palace, now," I added some worry to my tone and a moment later we're gone from my apartment.

When I arrive in the mail room Entropy enters my shadow and there is a guard standing right outside the door waiting for me. "Sir." A quick acknowledgment and a quick turn as they immediately start walking away as I follow right behind. I notice that several guards are moving around quickly, but the staff seems unbothered.

Everything seems calm, but much like any undercurrent the surface always looks calm. I'm led to Celestia's office and I don't bother with even waiting and head right inside immediately. Inside I see Celestia is not alone, an older unicorn mare is also there giving her several papers. "They should be fine but a few have lost a decent amount of blood so it will take a few hours to know for sure." The mare's tone is calm but her words spike my worry even higher.

When I close the door both glance at me but keep concentrating on their conversation. "Thank you, captain. You're dismissed, but please tell me when they wake up." Celestia's words make me recognize the older mare. The current captain of Celestia's guard, Ash Mark.

She's been the captain for a decade or so now and as far as I know, does a good job. She has an ash-colored coat with a white mane and some light red eyes. She gives Celestia a quick bow before turning around and walking towards the door, as she passes me she nods a single time to me and leaves without another word.

Once she's gone Celestia looks up from her paperwork but stops when seeing the clear worry on my face. "Everything is fine! Well, no actually it's not, but it's under control and you can relax." I feel some of the tension leave my body when hearing that. She smiles a little apologetically. "Sorry about that, I didn't have much time to write that note. Things were hectic."

I sigh and take a few deep breaths. "Celestia, next time, add that to the letter! Even just a bit saying don't panic would have been nice! ... I don't want gray hair this young." I complain and joke a little to relieve some of my tension, but neither of us laughs.

I take another deep breath and just move on. "All right, what happened? And what do you need help with?" I get right down to business not wanting to drag this out and give my mind more time to widely theories about the situation.

She looks a little more serious. "You remember what I told you about the hiveless group of Changelings we contacted?" I nod. :Changelings again?: "Well, over the past few months we've built a slightly better reputation with them, it's not much but we started to trade more." I have a bad feeling.

"After a lot of negotiation, we agreed to offer help if they were attacked by others for dealing with us, it only extended to Canterlot and it was supposed to be a small concession not a guarantee of blanket protection from anything, the agreement even specifically said we'd only help with a dozen guards."

She starts on her paperwork again as she continues talking. "The negotiators and myself saw it as unlikely that anything could happen, but something did." I can see the mistake a mile away.

I nod sadly seeing where this is going. "They were attacked weren't they?" She nods back. "Probably the more desperate side of the war then. I remember Cricket said they collected some form of food tax... So... Oh, they stopped paying that tax when they got your protection didn't they?" I guess quickly.

She stops doing her work and looks up at me with a raised brow. "Yes, actually... After a misunderstanding, they took it as us protecting them fully, or something close enough to that, and were attacked by Queen Cascadia. We're not sure if it was only because they stopped paying that sorry excuse for a tax, but they did attack the hiveless group when they refused to pay them with food." She moves her work to the side giving me her full attention.

"We're still not sure why the hiveless group thought our offer was so wide-reaching, but their insistence on only verbal agreements has made things more difficult. Luckily, or unluckily, they attacked while a shipment of emotional food was being delivered to them by us, the guards watching them also noticed quickly and in the end, no one died. But there was still some fighting and several injuries." Her tone has a slight edge to it as I have many different thoughts moving through my head.

I'm not too surprised something like this happened, misunderstandings are inevitable and the two warring hives were eventually going to notice that ponies had discovered them and were starting to interfere. As for Queen Cascadia, she's probably in a bad position right now, she's losing this war and now ponies have invented a new way to get food.

Hiveless Changelings will see that as a great opportunity. They could stay in hiding and get taxed by both the Equestrian crown and the hives, sometimes both of the hives at once, or they could just pay regular tax and not have to be involved in a war they have no stakes in.

Throw in the fact that the hives tax comes in the form of the food you need to live and that we offered them some form of protection and it's hardly a surprise this group agreed to work with us after only a few months. So when the group of hiveless Changelings were told they would be protected by the crown they saw no need to pay tax to the hives as they didn't provide anything in return.

But I'm still missing a few pieces here. For one I have no idea why Queen Cascadia decided to attack and abandon all relations with the hiveless group. Burning a bridge like that over something that could be resolved with negotiation or threats makes little sense, then again she is said to be literally bat shit insane.

She not only lost any ability to collect tax from this group but even attacked the guard, even if that was a decision made in the heat of combat it was a bad move. From her perspective, it could unite the crown and Queen Chrysalis's hive. Another thing that remains unanswered is why they are wasting so many troops that are probably needed elsewhere on a small hiveless group.

I leave my thoughts as Celestia pokes me with a hoof, I realize I've been lost in thought for a few minutes now and she's walked over to me in that time. "Sorry, I'm thinking over everything," I answer and decide to lie down on her couch.

She smiles a little and joins me. "It's fine, this is your first time dealing with something like this, it... It can be a lot to take in. But I am curious what you think about this." She hesitates for a moment but keeps a steady tone that makes me feel that the situation is in fact under control.

I nod and spend a few moments voicing my internal thought process and the reasons I believe this could have happened. Celestia is silent for a moment and looks a little surprised as I finish explaining, "I can't figure out that last part though, it just seems like such an overreaction."

Celestia's slight shock wears off and she gives me an impressed look. "You never cease to amaze me, who knew your paranoia could be so useful? But your thoughts on the matter are largely correct. And to answer the question, I can think of two main reasons. First, there could simply be no logical reason." She answers with a slight smile and slips into her teacher's side.

I stop and call myself an idiot internally, it's obvious that is an option. I'm reminded of a saying and can't help but voice it. "No plan survives first contact with the enemy." Once I say it she nods thoughtfully.

"An interesting saying, but accurate. Where did you learn that one?" I hear no suspicion in her tone, only curiosity, but her words still make me tense slightly. :Shit:

I think fast and just throw something out. "Some journal I think? I'm not really sure actually. I could try and find it?" I don't actually know where that quote is from so I'm not lying, just omitting some things yet again.

She shakes her head after a moment and passes me some tea. "No, we have more important things to do. But to finish my point, the second reason is that other hiveless Changelings may follow the lead of the hiveless Changelings we're trading with, something we actually hoped for." It clicks in my head and I really feel like hitting myself now.

"A single group not paying taxes is a problem, and when others see them paying less they'll want to do the same, and a few dozen not paying tax..." I trail off, letting her voice the rest of her answer.

"Would be a much larger problem. Hmm, I might ask you for advice on this more often, but to get to the reason you are here." I perk up and lock eyes with her. "I wanted to make sure you understood the need to stay out of this." Her tone is more firm, but not unkind. "I know you can take care of yourself, but all the same I would rather you not need to." She smiles again at the end.

I nod back firmly. "Trust me, I feel the same way. After three run-ins I'm fine watching from a distance, a far distance in fact."

Her smile widens before she passes me a piece of paper with a spell matrix on it, it's a copy of the emotional shield. "We have a small problem. This war will only get more dangerous and we'll inevitably need to be involved more, and one part of that is imprisoning more Changelings." Her tone is level and calm at that and I nod my understanding.

"I would rather they simply live peacefully but I'm not willing to risk my ponies on such things. The shield has been an amazing help, but as we imprison more and more we need an ever-increasing amount of gems and jewelry to equip the staff and guards that tend to prisoners. So my guard captain asked me to request your help with an idea she had." She passes me another piece of paper with a few lines on it.

The idea is simple. Make a shield that keeps emotions form entering or exiting, they also want it to cover a large area if possible. I raise a brow and look back up at her, "I can do this, a week or two at most. But why this?" I ask curiously.

She drinks some tea and answers bluntly. "Changelings can sense emotions, and some of the more trained ones are proving to be very good at manipulation, a dangerous combination. Also, we are currently using the small shields at all times and that could lead to failure points, so the guard captain would rather use a large gem that can be easily monitored and watched along with the small shields."

I nod with a smile. "I can see the idea there, backups are always good, and the guard captain seems like the paranoid sort, I like her already." I joke a little and drain the last of my tea. "Anything else?"

She shakes her head and chuckles. "No, and again sorry for worrying you." We both turn to a knock on the door. "But for now I must cut this short, thank you again for helping with this and coming so quickly." She gives me a quick farewell and we both stand up.

She's busy and still dealing with all of this so I just nod and keep it short. "No problem, I'll give it to you as soon as I can."

She gives me one last smile. "Good to hear, maybe I should get you a medal after this? You have helped quite a bit." She teases me one last time and I just give her my best mischievous smile in return. I cast a tiny spell under her chest out of her sight and watched as her chest and forelegs are turned pure bright pink.

I struggle to hold back my laughter and speak. "And, haha, may--maybe you should cast an illusion before anypony walks in. Entropy!" She leaves my shadow a moment later. "Home now!" I turned back to her. "Have a good night!" A moment later I vanish from the room, the last sight I see is Celestia looking at her bright pink foreleg with wide eyes.

As soon as I'm back in my apartment I just break down laughing.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

Not too much in this one, but something at least.

Chapter 157

MAY 15 Saturday.

I make a few notes in my illusory notebook as another golden leaf falls from the Gold Oak only to get caught in mid-air.

A ball of slightly blue-tinted see-through magic forms around the leaf as it falls and contains all the gold dust as the leaf disintegrates. The small ball-shaped shield then moves over to a singular point and lowers right onto the top of a barrel before deactivating, the dust falls to the bottom of the barrel and joins the slowly growing pile of dust.

The past few days have been busy for me, but I am happy to see that this worked well. I was nearly done with the gold dust collection shield when Celestia disrupted my plans with a poorly worded note, I got my revenge though. I chuckle again at the memory of a partly pink Celestia.

I take a moment to double-check that everything is working correctly. The gem I used for this project was one of my medium sapphires, and the enchantment itself is fairly simple in effect. A scanning spell detects when a leaf falls below the tree's branches so it doesn't detect leaves still attached to the tree.

Then a small shield envelops the leaf as it falls, sometimes the leaf is already disintegrating by the point and some dust is lost but that's fine. Once the shield envelops the leaf it moves it to a preset point and lowers a preset distance, which leaves it right above a three-foot tall one-foot wide barrel I grew out of white oak.

The barrel has its own enchantment, a shield that lets dust fall through it but doesn't let it leave the open top of the barrel, a simple one-way shield. Now I have a slowly increasing amount of dust, and nothing to really do with it, which is part of the reason I'm here right now.

It's still early in the morning and I decided to take some time to set up this shield and spend a little time experimenting as a break from my constant spell work. Not too much has happened on that front, I've just spent my time working on the requested spell.

Modifying the spell to block emotional magic from inside and outside isn't that hard, but converting the shield to a large area and keeping the effect's strength is more tricky. It's not just a matter of using a bigger gem, I need to adjust many things and even rebuild a few parts of the spell.

Still, it shouldn't take more than another week to finish it, and while working on this I had another idea. Why not make a small bracelet that disables a changeling's ability to detect emotions? It's an idea I thought about in the past, but that was before I knew for sure that the emotional shield worked.

Now that I know it works, and because I can now see some use for it, I decided to look into that as well. It's less of a priority than the new emotional shield, but it is something I will make right after it, and it should be very easy to make as all it really needs is some modification on the base emotional shield.

So to summarize. The base emotional shield protects you from Changelings reading your emotions, but doesn't block emotions from entering it as that's not needed and would just cost more magic. The two-way emotional shield blocks magic both ways and will come in a large shield that covers a room or a small version that can be put on a Changeling to disable their ability to sense emotions, at least that's the plan.

I stop my internal rant and look over to see Entropy looking at the barrel with the small amount of golden dust in it. "Nooo, don't you dare." She looks at me and back to the gold dust, a moment later I react just in time to grab her in my field as she tries to dive into the barrel. "I said, no." I give her a more stern tone and she looks back defiantly.

"No! Pretty!" She complains to me while I keep her with me as I walk back to the pavilion.

I smile at her reaction. "Fine, I can make you pretty. But you have to behave." I keep my slightly stern tone but try to encourage the things she likes. Saying no without reason doesn't work on children, it's better to bribe and compromise with them or at least explain why you say no.

She stops trying to break free, not that she was trying all that hard, she could have teleported out if she really wanted to. But she knows that would just get her in more trouble with me. "What?" She is also smart enough to not agree to something instantly.

Another thing I've been experimenting with in my spare time is my new color illusion spell. It's not hard to change the color or copy a material's look, so after a bit of testing, I was able to make it mimic metal, and immediately copied the most popular metal. "Magic," I answered with a smile and quickly cast the spell on her before she could fly away.

In an instant Entropy is covered in what looks like a layer of pure gold, it does look odd because unlike her crow illusion, it doesn't have much detail. It reminds me of those games that let you put textures on something never intended, she looks like a moving mound of gold roughly shaped like a bird, but Entropy seems thrilled with her new golden look.

I let her go and she landed on the floor before looking at her body and wings. "Pretty? Pretty!!" She caws out before hopping around like a jumping bean a few times and flying off to the Gold Oak. I watch as she starts to compare her wings to the leaves and continues to hop around the branches excitedly.

I chuckle and leave her to her fun while taking a small wooden bowl off of a coffee table I added to the pavilion. It's made from pure Black Palm wood and provides a good contrast with the White Oak wood floor and the red carpet, while also being insanely expensive if I ever sold it. I take the small wooden bowl I used for breakfast and walk over to the barrel.

There's not much gold dust inside, it's been working for an hour and I only see an ounce or two so it will take a long time to fill up completely. For now, I just turn off the enchantment for a moment and take what's there before turning it back on and walking to my shack.

I grab two pots and two Blueberry seeds before sitting down at my desk, my experiment comes from something I've observed over time. First, the gold dust contains a decent amount of life magic in it, not a large amount but more than most plants have if compared by weight.

Second, I've noticed that the dust seems to help plants grow. The Gold Oak increases life magic density for a dozen feet around it so the grass is taller and healthier, but downwind from the tree where the gold dust blows the plants are also healthier, even though they are outside of the Gold Oak's effects.

In retrospect, it's obvious plants could probably eat this stuff, but I'm thorough and I still want to test it. I take half of the gold dust and mix it into the soil of one of the pots thoroughly before planting a Blueberry seed in both pots and carefully giving them the same amount of life magic.

I watch as the pot with the gold dust does grow the Blueberry bush faster, it's not massive but any increase in growth rate is more than welcome. I stop supplying life magic once the Blueberry bushes reach a few inches tall, but then things get a little odd and I quickly flip a switch in my bracelet and activate the illusionary notebook inside to take notes.

The pot with the golden dust is now radiating a decent amount of life magic and the bush continues to grow at a slower pace than before, but still fast enough to see with the eye and watch in real-time. I've stopped supplying any life magic so the only source it could be coming from is the gold dust.

After roughly one minute the effect stops and I start to look over the Blueberry bush that is larger than the other bush and double the size I intended. The plant is normal but I notice that the soil lacks any of the gold dust I added to it, even deeper in the pot's soil, after taking a few notes I immediately start to test this again.

The dust didn't react like this in the past when I tried to add life magic, but I tested that again just to make sure. I move life magic into the gold dust in the bowl, but just like last time the life magic doesn't do anything and just disperses a few moments later as the gold dust doesn't react.

It seems I'm missing some third element here, I take a few small branches of the Blueberry bush and place them in the bowl before covering them in some gold dust and trying to add life magic and make it grow. I give a quick burst, but beyond my own life magic, nothing happens yet again.

I remove the branches and just scoop some soil into the bowl and mix it a little. When I add some life magic the reaction does trigger this time, the gold dust gives off a very light sparkle and looks to be degrading away into what looks like charcoal, or some other form of black substance, while all the stored life magic in the gold dust was released into the soil and air around it.

It seems that a mix of high amounts of life magic and something in the soil triggers the release of all the stored life magic, I have no idea what it could be because the soil has so many different parts to it. It could even be a specific element that is present in tiny amounts, amounts so small I can't even separate or find them.

I rapidly take notes for a while but a timer cuts off my focus and reminds me I have something to do today. I deactivate the illusionary notebook after taking a few more notes and pack everything away for now. This discovery raises a few more questions about the Gold Oak.

It seems that the Gold Oak specializes in creating and spreading life magic, but I'm not sure why it would do that. My best guess is that this helps its seeds hatch, it took a lot to grow a single Gold Oak so if it wanted to reproduce it would need an environment insanely rich in life magic.

I can't think of any environment that could be like that normally, so the tree might make its own environment. I add that last theory to my notes before leaving my shack and calling out. "Entropy!" My voice carries clearly and a moment later she flies over to me and lands on my back.

At this point, the magic has worn off and she's back to normal. "Did you enjoy being pretty?" I ask with a little humor.

"Again! Again!" She demands and I just chuckle as she tries to look cute while demanding to be gold-plated again.

"Maybe later." She gives me a long look. "Fine. We can later, I promise. But for now, we need to get home." I scratch her a little in compromise and she seems to accept my promise, and a moment later I'm standing in my apartment. "Thanks, girl." She gets some more scratches before flying off and leaving me to get ready.

I don't need much but I do grab a few things before leaving my apartment and walking down the stairs. I'm going to be helping Daisy with game night today and she asked me and Maple to meet up at the markets and grab a few things for tonight.

As for why we're both going? Well, according to Daisy, Maple knows all the best sweet merchants, and I'm coming because I have the bits for the expensive ingredients. Originally she wanted to pay Maple to get them, but I insisted I pay for it because I always love her cooking and I literally have too much money.

In the end, she let me do it but insisted I don't go overboard and just get what she needed. I also got first dibs on all of the leftovers when we were done, which I accepted. After a little walking, I found the cafe where I and Maple had something that could have been an accidental date, although neither of us would ever admit to that.

I can see her inside eating a donut and waving to her, she sees me and nods back before finishing her donut and walking outside shortly after. She walks right up to me and I see a very slight smile on her face. "Shade. You have the bits? It is why we keep you around." She jokes in a very blunt way.

I chuckle at her unique brand of humor. "Yes I do, but we should get going, rain seems to be on the way." I point up to a weather team flying past, a common sight before hard rain. She nods silently and I start following her to the markets, it takes a while and in the meantime, neither of us really talks.

I'm not blind to how odd Maple is, she talks little about her past, but so am I. In truth, I've never seen much of a reason to bring the past up, but I've always had some curiosity, and asking probably wouldn't hurt. After a moment I decided to just ask and see how it goes. "Hey."

She turns to me with a mostly blank look. "I've never really asked, but I am curious. So shut me down whenever you want." Her face becomes a little more blank as I speak, but I still emphasize that she doesn't need to answer. "But, do you mind if I ask something personal?" I give her a friendly but gentle tone.

Her face is like a stone for a few moments, I'm about to break that silence and just drop it but she speaks first. "Ok, but... I want to do the same." She says a little slowly, but I also hear a hint of trust.

Honestly, I didn't expect her to agree, but it shows she's put some trust in me, and I won't be taking that lightly. "Agreed. You want to go first?" I offer while keeping a gentle tone.

She nods again and seems to think it over as we enter the market and start moving through stalls. "You grew up in an orphanage right?" I nod. "What did you not like about it?" She's still blunt, but there is a gentle undertone to her words.

The question is one I haven't really gotten before and one that makes me think. "Well, I never had that much to do. I did leave early, but still, it often felt boring in a way. That and I always felt... Older? No... More mature than the other foals, made it hard to make good friends." I decided to be honest with Maple and open up a little.

I did feel a little lonely at the orphanage, there were ponies I did like. But I never had real friends there, just playmates. Her look actually softens a little at that. "Oh... Your turn." She answers after a moment.

I know my question and hope it doesn't bring down the mood more. "This is a bigger one, but where were you born?" I ask back after a moment of consideration.

She seems hesitant but still answers me. "A small town, it's far out. Ilinalta It's, well, It's not much." Her answer is vague, but it sparks a memory.

I smile a bit at the odd events that made up my first vacation, and the fact I made my way through that town while there. "Actually I've been there." She keeps her mostly blank expression but I can see that she tenses slightly and quickly tries to put her at ease. "But I barely saw it sadly. Only stopped there on my first vacation." I'm once again truthful with her and she does seem to relax a little.

We stop at a stall and she picks out several foods and seasonings before I pay for them and we keep walking. "Your turn," I say to change the subject.

"What did you think?" I raise a brow at the odd question. "About Ilinalta, What did you think of it?" She asks back with a tone that has something I can't pin down.

I strained my mind and tried to remember anything, but it was mostly like another small town. So in the end I just shrug, "Honestly? I don't remember it much, but I did love the White Tree Valley, it was an amazing place." I smile wider at my memories of camping there.

She almost trips a little but recovers just fine, I have to stop myself from chuckling a little at her slightly shocked face. "You... Why there?" She seems a little shaken, but also oddly happy at my words.

I can't say the real reason so I just shrug and tell a half-truth. "I like camping, and I read about it. So when I got the chance I took it, I can't say I regret it either, the place was so much fun. Have you ever been there?" I ask back as she buys another thing we need and I drop a small bag of bits on a Bit Counter.

She nods slowly and smiles a little for the first time during our conversation. "I have, and yes... It is… Beautiful." She still has that undertone of something unknown that sounds mixed in a way, but I don't push it and just take the small smile as a win. "This is everything, back home then?" I nod in agreement and we start walking again.

I think this went well, and it's nice to see her smile more. It also just makes me more curious about her, but I'll be patient, just like Celestia was with me.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

So, should I continue this one and show the game night, or just move on? I'm not sure so it's up too all of you now. Hooray for moving my decisions onto others!!

Also, gold birb.

Chapter 158

MAY 15 Saturday.

The walk back is silent, but I'm fine with a quiet walk, it gives me time to enjoy the day.

When we arrive I stop by my apartment and drop off my saddlebags, Entropy watches me and flies over. "Game?" She's been over for our game nights a few times now and seems to love getting spoiled by Daisy.

I pet her while casting an illusion spell on her, once she's looking like a crow again she hops on me and we leave my apartment. I knock on Daisy's door and when it's opened I see Blaz staring back, "Seems you’re late this time Colt, it's a shame your record is gone now." He greets me in his usual manner and moves out of the way.

I smile at him and wipe my hooves on a welcome mat before letting Entropy fly off to bother Daisy. "I'm surprised you're on time at all, those stairs must be a struggle for you." I jab back while glancing around the room. Daisy is already feeding Entropy something in the kitchen while cooking.

Blaz is on the floor with Maple and they are playing Go Fish of All Things, also to no pony's surprise she is beating him soundly. I walk over and look over the pot Daisy is cooking some soup in while some mushrooms sizzle in a pan. "What are you cooking anyway? Some of those ingredients made no sense. Also hi." I ask Daisy as she feeds Entropy an Orange slice.

She smiles at Entropy but doesn't touch her, Entropy wouldn't let her even if she tried. "Hello to you too. I'm making saffron soup with mushroom sauce and fresh bread." I raise a brow at that, I remember the Saffron because it was by far the most expensive thing we bought, but it still sounds like an odd meal.

She just gives a bittersweet smile at my confused look. "Willow taught it to me, and I haven't had it in ages. Thanks again for helping, even if you really didn't have to." Her tone is a little melancholic but she also has a little happiness in there along with some thankfulness, it makes an odd mix.

I wave her off and wordlessly take over the job of cutting up vegetables. "Daisy, I have many problems, but bits aren't one of them. Honestly, you could have asked for more, still thanks for cooking." I reassure her and dice some carrots as she stirs a pan.

She smiles and nods. "I know, you're kind like that. But I'm not one to ask for help unless I really need it." She chuckles a little. "It also just occurred to me, what do you spend your money on? I liked the new saddlebags but what else do you do with it? I can't remember what you mentioned." She asks curiously.

I pause for a moment but keep cutting a second later. "Not much, I buy magic plants, and... Actually I don't buy much beyond that and normal necessities." I don't mention my gems, but beyond those two things, I don't spend my money on much.

She laughs a little at that. "Why am I not surprised? The only rich one of us has no idea what to do with his money, can't say I sympathize." Her tone has sarcasm and humor as she is just joking with me. "Pass me those carrots please." I finish dicing them and do as asked.

I smile at her sarcasm. "Oh? Would you rather I live within my means? I could buy a nice suit and wear it constantly, I could even get a monocle to look down on all the less fortunate folk." I increasingly use a comically high-class tone as I talk and even turn my muzzle up a bit as Daisy laughs.

"If you do, please tell me, because I will need pictures." Blaz and Maple also seemed to be listening in and Blaz laughed a little at my spot on mimicry while Maple just smiled.

"Agreed, I'll even help by mentioning it constantly and never letting him forget. On the upside with a voice and attitude like that, you'll fit in just fine at a noble party." He adds to the teasing and I just roll my eyes while smiling. "Now get over here and help me beat this master of disguise." A nickname we've given to Maple for her ability to be unreadable in any game we've played.

I finish helping Daisy cut a few things up and then sit down with them on the carpet with a pillow under me and shuffle the deck before passing out cards and starting a new round of Go Fish. "I haven't played this in... Actually I can't really remember the last time," I comment while losing a pair of threes to Blaz on the first turn. "I'm starting to remember why I don't like it." Blaz just smiles and places down all four three gaining a point in the first round. "Of course."

The game moves on as Maple beats us both in what should be a luck-based game. Even with my spatial senses, I can't detect any form of cheating, but this is just ridiculous. I huff and pass her a pair of aces, "I will find out how you do this one day, and then I will cheat along with you." I joke as Daisy sits down with us and Blaz sorts the deck while I drop the Uno deck I brought with me in between us.

Blaz starts to shuffle and deal with the Uno cards. "Ya know Colt? I never did ask but how did you come up with this?" He holds up the deck before placing it in the middle and flipping a card to start the game.

I give him a cheeky smile. "Boredom. Now draw two." I start the game by returning the favor he dealt me before and deflecting his question. He smiles and places another draw two passing it to Maple, she has to draw four cards at the start but looks unconcerned. "Five bits on Blaz drawing more than twenty cards first." Instead of betting on Maple winning or losing, I bet on who will be inconvenienced first.

"Deal!" Daisy takes the bet without hesitation and Blaz gives me a challenging look.

"Then I'm betting on Daisy, now play your cards!" He gets an excited look as we continue the game. It goes poorly for me and I end up owing Blaz five bits when four draw-two's and a draw-four cards are all staked on me and my cards balloon to twenty-three.

I pay him and several rounds later I stare across the table with narrowed eyes as both Maple and Daisy have only one card left. "I don't even care about winning anymore, get her." I encourage Daisy as Blaz changes the color to green, and Maple is forced to draw a card. "YES!" All three of us shout as Daisy plays her last card and actually wins us a game.

Maple just smiles and looks pleased, despite being so good she never looks mad when losing a game. Daisy jumps up and practically bounces over to grab some chalk and moves over to a small chalkboard she has on the wall. "Another win for the group against the reigning champ." She mimics an announcer and updates the score.

On one side is Daisy, Blaz, and me with a total of sixty-three victories. On the other is Maple alone with one hundred and ninety-six. Maple keeps her smile, "You're all almost there, just one hundred and thirty-three to go. Good luck." She says with a slight chuckle.

I just smile. "It could be six points five to four hundred and eleven? So it's not too bad." I joke back, well it's not a complete joke. That is my current score with Celestia, we still play chess and I've still yet to win that much.

Blaz chuckles. "No half points Colt, half points never count." He insists as we prepare for yet another game.

I shrug. "It wasn't my choice," I answer back cryptically as he deals more cards.

He widens his smile. "Oh? Well, I wonder who that could be? It seems Daisy isn't the only one with a special friend." I know he's just teasing me, but his talking about Celestia that way threatens to make me blush.

I give him my best deadpan look and force any impure thoughts down as my mind tries to run wild yet again. "No, I don't. Now give me my cards." I demand while trying to rapidly change the subject, none of them seem to believe a word I said but all thankfully drop it.

Maple takes the opportunity to speak up. "Speaking of dates, Daisy. You ready to reveal your secrets?" She doesn't demand it, but even I can tell that she's curious, as we all are.

Daisy gives Maple an unimpressed look but sighs after a moment. "Fine, I'll have you know he's a rather nice stallion I met a few weeks back. But that's all you get for now." I nod and just accept that, but Blaz picks right back up.

"Welp, I owe Mist ten bits." He says disappointedly, if I remember correctly Cool Mist is a mare that works in book translation, Daisy gives him a slightly incredulous look. "What? You're telling me you wouldn't bet on my dates with Shade?" He drags me in and I can't have that.

"Wow! Not my kind of bet... Actually it is, are you dating somepony." I defend myself only to mess with him a moment later, despite our words we're just messing with each other, and to prove that point Daisy just chuckles at me and Blaz.

"Ya, I suppose you're right you old duster. Now draw four and hope we get a reverse card, I want to get another win over the champ." She takes it all lightly and jokes right back while adding four cards to Blaz's already full set. I smile as we descend into our game again, I love these mad ponies.

In the end, we all eat a hearty meal and I'm able to take home a large amount of leftover soup and bread for myself. I place the borrowed pot on my countertop and leave it be for now, I have a few things I really want to test even though it's already dark outside, only just though the sun only set half an hour ago.

I could experiment with the gold dust more, but I want to test something else and I think I can do both at once, the other thing I want to experiment with is the Copper Lily. Specifically, I want to try and selectively breed them to have much smaller flowers than they do now.

Right now the cost of growing a single flower is very high, it's basically my limit actually, so I can only grow one before having to rest. As far as I can tell the main consumer of magic is the process of gathering and transporting metal for the flower, so if the flower is much smaller than it currently is it should cut down on the cost a lot.

As for why I want to do that? Well, the Copper Lily can filter copper out of soil and water, so why can't it filter other metals as well? But to make it do anything like that I need to selectively breed it on a large scale, and with the cost right now that's not very practical.

On top of that the gold dust's newly discovered ability could help massively speed things up. I grab my saddlebags along with my mortar and pestle, the copper ore and metal I have, and after that I have Entropy take me to Gaia's Eden before letting her get some sleep in my shadow.

I grab another sack of old mail and a bag of Copper Lily seeds along with my wooden shovel before walking over to my pavilion. I checked on the Copper Lily I still have, the original plant I grew in the stump is still there and I'm thinking of keeping it as a memento for now.

It needs a little life magic to keep itself healthy so I give it some and move on to my plan. I grow a new barrel out of the White Oak floor, it's two feet tall and one foot wide. Once it's done I detach it by decomposing a little wood before taking the barrel across Gaia's Eden while lugging my things with me.

The Water Tree has been slowly filling up its small pond over time and now it's full of water as a small stream moves the excess water into the river nearby. It's crystal clear and I can see right to the bottom of it, the tree itself seems to be happy enough and hasn't needed my help.

I repeated the process I did a few weeks ago and emptied the sack of mail into the barrel to make some fresh soil from it. Once it's ready I use my field to dip the barrel into the water and fill it up. It's heavy but my field is still able to lift it as I make my way to the Gold Oak.

I place the barrel next to the medium sapphire and barrel used to collect gold dust. I take a moment to turn off the dust collection shield, I don't want it messing with my work by accident, once it's off I check the dust barrel and it has several ounces inside.

Both barrels are in the radiuses of the Gold Oak's effects and this is where my plan unfolds. I need to grow a lot of Copper Lily's so I want to stack as many life magic effects as possible, the Gold Oak's increased life magic density, the gold dust, and myself.

All combined this should speed things up massively, or that's my hope at least I'll need to test it first. For now, I need to test if the gold dust can even work on the Copper Lily, so I start grinding down copper ore and metal. It takes a while and I'm once again reminded I need to improve this process later, but when I'm done I add the dust to the water and use my wooden shovel to mix it up.

I add a seed and start to measure out two ounces of gold dust, I'm not perfectly accurate but I get close enough for my needs and add the measured dust to the water before mixing again. But unlike last time the dust activates before I can do it myself, the life magic density from the Gold Oak is high enough to activate the gold dust on its own it seems.

I feel with my life magic as the seed I dropped inside starts to sprout and grow, I don't give it more life magic to grow and just control the Copper Lily's growth. I have it only grow two stems, a single lily pad and one flower, both reach the surface of the water and unfurl a minute later.

The gold dust's effect ran out a moment later, I couldn't time it but it felt like roughly two minutes, I checked the time before adding the same amount of gold dust again. This time I watch as the flower blooms and starts to accumulate copper, it's slower than when I do it but considering I'm not using my own magic it's amazing to have it go this quickly.

I have to keep the plant from growing in other ways as I repeat this process, in the end, I get three more uses out of the barrel, around ten ounces in total, but the Copper Lily is still not fully grown. The gold dust lasted roughly two minutes each time and it took around a quarter of my magic to finish its growth. I use that as a measuring point it takes roughly thirteen and a half ounces to produce the equivalent of my magical energy capacity.

I'm working with rough numbers and I'll need to test a lot more, but that means a little less than a pound of gold dust can grow a Copper Lily completely. But the Gold Oak doesn't produce that much gold dust, it made ten ounces in around the same amount of hours so a full day would give me just over a pound, but that amount will most definitely change by a lot.

I also have to factor in the Gold Oak's effects on life magic density, if I tried this somewhere else I'd need even more gold dust. I'll definitely need to measure and test all this more but for now, it means I can grow a Copper Lily for free every day, which should speed things up to a degree.

For now, though, I just make myself some tea to replenish my magic and pick the Copper Lily before growing a single seed pod off of the plant and decomposing the plant into soil. I take the new copper flower and take notes on its size with my illusionary notebook in my bracelet before grinding it right back into dust to be reused in the same process and planting a new seed from the bag I brought with me.

I'll need to grow several flowers from a single generation and compare the flowers of each to see which is the smallest while collecting seeds from each plant before destroying it to grow the next one. Then I recycle the all materials used and pick the smallest one to make a new starting bag of seeds and restart the whole process from the start.

In between breaks of regaining my magic, I work on my spells as the night goes on.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I'm taking tomorrow off, you all know the drill, see you Thursday.

Also, 3.000 words. Hmmmm, good.

Chapter 159

MAY 30 Sunday.

I draw another line and continue to sketch the view of the rainy sky and countryside outside of my window.

Life has gone on like normal and things have progressed as expected. I've finished both variants of the two-way emotional shield and spent some extra time optimizing them before giving them to Celestia when we met yesterday. She was very pleased and thanked me, which got a few too many thoughts running around my head.

Beyond that, I've mostly trained and went about life like normal, including another meeting with Avalon, which went well. For more practical training Stone has green-lit me training without my vision, and that means I needed to remake my armor and take one hell of a beating.

He started throwing many more things at me while we trained and ramped things up yet again, but I'm used to his training by now and know how to deal with it. As for the armor, the Mark One armor was just a normal set with a few sticking spells and Steel wood.

The armor consists of plates that are three to five inches long and anywhere between half an inch and an eighth inch thick that stack like shingles. It starts with the back and the next plates lay slightly on top of that one at a slanted angle, this repeats all the way to the helmet that caps it all off. The helmet itself is more unique.

The new helmet has no eye holes and is just a smooth dome with two holes for my ears, and that is something I'd like to fix someday. The armor has many pieces but to simplify it. The legs have hoof pieces that act like shoes and then half rings are interconnected and layered up all my legs.

The main body part of the armor is made from a large piece covering the front of my chest and plates that align down my back and sides, then separate plates going under my belly and connecting with the side plates. The layering starts at the back with two larger pieces that cover my flans and a little piece that hangs over the top of my tail, and on the underside, I have the only part of my armor with any cloth on it.

The sheath piece is basically a lower hanging codpiece from my last world, and because it hangs down a little I inclined it with cloth to prevent any pinching. It was a suggestion Stone made when I had a less-than-pleasant training session with him. It's a little tight and uncomfortable but it keeps everything protected.

The final piece of my armor is my helmet. Overall the Steel wood armor has been a success and works about as well as regular steel, but I still need to mitigate the weakness to fire and excess magic. I might have a good solution to one of those problems but it makes building new armor difficult.

I've learned that the bark and outer wood of the Fire Blossom Tree can provide good protection from fire, but getting that on my armor would be hard. I'd need to breed them together and get both the fire resistance of the Fire Blossom Tree and the strengthening properties of the Iron Oak.

But that takes time and I think I might have a better method, grafting. The process of grafting plants together is hard normally but I can do it easily, and with a little time I could graft Fire Blossom bark onto my armor to provide protection, but that also has downsides.

The bark can break or splinter, and it would add more weight to the armor, but it does seem more practical than crossbreeding and hoping for the best. So for now that's what I plan to look into and experiment with.

Beyond my training something else has come up recently, the news about the Frost Carrots finally broke out into the public eye and it's going how you would expect.

Some are already throwing around theories about how Veil Winter was able to accomplish this without anypony knowing, and it's already been suggested in the newspaper that I invented some kind of new plant spell. I smile a little at the thought of their reaction so far, I drag a newspaper over to me from my countertop.

It took longer than expected for ponies to notice them but when they did the reaction was humorous to me. The headline is unimportant and eye-catching, and most of the article talks about the Frost Carrot, when and where it will grow, along with what that will mean for different ponies and businesses. A smaller section at the end is what I find interesting though.

A new carrot? I know it sounds almost absurd, but that is the latest invention from the mysterious Veil Winter. Out of seemingly nowhere, the renowned inventor has created yet another wonder that promises to revolutionize farming life for many of those in Equestria. But all of this brings even more questions.

The main one dear reader is simply. how? To create a new magical plant is no small feat, in fact it may be an insurmountable mountain for a pony to ever accomplish. Yet, from what we at the Canterlot Daily have found no evidence to show it was worked on by anypony beyond Veil Winter alone.

The idea of a single pony being able to do a task so vast just shows that Veil Winter has exceeded all expectations yet again. But how? Well, dear reader, we have gained an insight from an expert pony who wished to remain anonymous. And I quote, 'We believe they used some form of new plant magic spell to speed up the complex process of growth, truly they are a great mind.' You heard it first here reader, plant magic.

For those ponies who need some context, plant magic is a rare branch of spellcraft that is often never practiced by anypony. The spells are known to be immensely difficult to learn and cast while they are also rare to find, and yet our intrepid inventor had seemingly done just that to create this new food.

Dear reader it seems the mystery deepens as answers prove themselves ever scarcer, but one thing is for certain dear reader. We at the Canterlot Daily will keep you updated as soon as we hear the slightest of news.

Article by Fountain Quill.

Honestly, they made that guess faster than I thought and it makes me curious who their anonymous source could be, and I'm not blind to the possibility that it's Celestia herself. She never did enact any revenge on me for my prank and I've been waiting for the other horseshoe to drop for a while now.

I also wouldn't put it past her to reveal this information to try and make myself more comfortable, if they think it's just plant magic they would probably disregard the possibility of a life affinity as it is so much more rare than plant magic. I should mention the difference between plant magic and what I do.

A life affinity is not just plant magic but also animal magic, so if you had to classify it it would be simple life magic. In contrast, plant magic is much more restrictive and weaker than life magic so if an actual expert on plant magic talked about it they would sniff out the discrepancy quickly.

Plant magic has a few significant roadblocks that I don't have, the main one being that growing seeds is almost impossible. Speeding up plant growth is hard but doable, but for a spell to mimic the fertilization and growth of a viable seed is much MUCH more difficult.

The magic costs would be very high either way, and the entire branch of magic is woefully underdeveloped. But most don't know this, and it would take a few months of research to piece that all together properly, even longer if you don't have the right books near you. So for now, at least nopony is looking for a life affinity practitioner.

The last thing I can add to all of this is the mail, it's mostly thank you mail this time as many farmers and small towns that have trouble growing crops have sent their heartfelt thanks. It's touching and I keep some of the nicer letters, I definitely did a good thing and I can hold my head high knowing that.

I stop reading and drop the newspaper so I can go back to drawing in my sketchbook, but I stop when somepony knocks on my door a few times. I cast an illusion on Entropy quickly and walked over to the door before opening it. Outside is Daisy with a slightly sad look, and the sight immediately makes me open the door fully. "Daisy, are you ok?"

She immediately notices the worry in my voice and makes a reassuring face. "Oh! I'm fine! Don't worry, this is different." She quickly tries to put me at ease.

I nod after a moment and breathe out slowly. "Sorry, this just looked a little too familiar." I try to be delicate as she does still seem a little down. "Anyway, what do you need?" I just move past those memories of the last time she was at my door when saddened.

She keeps a somber look and also looks a little hesitant and tense. "Well, you're not wrong. I... Do you mind if I come in? I want to, share some things." I flip the small wood tab and turn off the shield before stepping aside and letting her walk inside.

I let her sit at my table and start to gather the things needed for some mint lemon tea quickly before sitting down with everything a minute later. She seems a little nervous overall and I can tell she's breaching something sensitive, so I keep a calm tone and an open mind. "So, what's on your mind?"

She stays silent for a moment before sighing slightly and looking up at me. "First I feel I owe you an apology." I raised a brow but let her continue. "I never really said much about Willow, about who she is- was. The reason I'm apologizing is because I told Maple and Blaz, but not you, despite you helping me just as much." Her tone sounds a little regretful and definitely apologetic. "I'm sorry, I know you're mature but-" She trails at that.

Honestly, this is not a massive surprise, even if I act like an adult I am still not one yet, and even if I was fifteen talking to somepony so young about death is hard. I do feel a little sad that she didn't tell me and told our other friends, but I understand her reasons.

With my thoughts made up, I give her my best smile and a reassuring look. "Apology accepted. I also understand, I'll be honest and say it... hurts a little but I completely understand." I keep my normal blunt manner of speaking but try to soften it some.

Her expression has an odd mix of sadness and relief, but after a moment she smiles a little. "Thank you. But I suppose I owe you an explanation." I can tell she's trying to just leave this at that and hope it stays that way, something I'm more than willing to do for a friend.

But I cut her off. "Daisy, you don't owe me a single thing. I mean that you owe me NOTHING." I stress that heavily. "If you don't want to talk about it, just don't. I'm your friend either way." I reassure her more and keep a firm tone, and I once again see relief flash on her face.

She nods after a moment and smiles a little more. "I know. and thank you. But I want to, and I think I should. But... Do you want to hear it? It's a little... Dark." She warns me but I nod without hesitation. "I might ramble so please bear with me, but to start I have to talk about my early life."

The tea is now ready and I pour us both some, I listen as I pass her a teacup. "I was born in a small town on the far upper east coast, it was mostly a fishing town with a fair few Griffons, it's called Ice Drift, and it gets its name from sea ice that washes ashore sometimes. It was nice, I was a filly when I lived there and I only had my grandsire and my dam." Those last words bring a whole new wave of sadness to her face.

She takes a deep breath. "My grandsire passed away when I was around ten and my dam moved us to Canterlot, I... I think she wanted to just get far away from that small town, and Canterlot was the furthest she could find." Daisy is rambling but I let her, this is important to her and I should listen.

"Things were fine, she worked and I went to school, but it didn't last. I won't be specific but my dam got sick, and they couldn't heal her." She almost looks like she wants to cry but keeps herself together, while I have my sad feelings wash over me when I realize where this is probably going.

"She... I hoped she would get better, but she didn't. Over time it became very... Clear, what was going to happen, and then life just got complicated." Her expression has a bittersweet look. "I was your age when this all happened, and still had school, so one day at the library I just, broke down. It was all just too much at the time, worrying over my dam and my future."

I feel some sympathy for her, I may have never lost a parent, but I know what it's like to struggle on your own in the world. "While I was crying in some random corner of the library Willow found me. She... She just sat down and started talking to me, for hours without me even asking, and it helped a little, so I came back because I didn't have anypony else I could really talk to."

She gains an odd smile as some memory I can't see. "It's odd how we meet those most important to us in such random ways." I stay silent but nod, there is wisdom in those words. "At the time she was the only thing really keeping me together, I had nopony else... And in a way, she became something of a parent to me when my dam, passed." Her tone starts to recover and be more level as she talks.

"She helped me through all of that, even got me a job at the library to help me have someplace to live." She drinks more tea and takes a few deep breaths. "After that life, just sort of, went. Time passed and I moved on with life, but Willow's... Passing, really brought it all back." Her tone is steady now and her smile is almost normal.

She went silent and I decided to finally speak. "Thank you." She raises a brow. "For trusting me, it takes a lot to share things like that with others, even friends." I smile as her smile widens. "I'm also sorry you had to go through all that, life can be... Well, sometimes it just is."

I remember older days for a moment before pushing them out of my mind. "But things heal with time. Regardless, if you ever need to talk I'm here to listen, it's my specialty as an apprentice." I joke a little to lighten things up, and it seems to work as she chuckles a bit.

She nods. "Thanks again, and I will." She gives me a firm tone in that second part. "But enough about all this unpleasantness, how have you been?" She changes the subject and I go along with it.

I smile back at her. "Well, not much really. I did get to work a little more with Avalon." They all learned about Avalon after Blaz saw me working with him one day, but they just knew I was helping him with something private and had the decency to leave it at that. "Overall though, things are their normal boring selves." But they aren't, and in that moment fate seems to take my statement as a challenge.

As if on cue I hear the all too familiar sound of a flash of fire as Philomena teleports into my apartment with the worst timing I have ever seen. Daisy Jumps up and looks shocked as Philomena lands on the table in front of me with a letter in her beak and an expectant look

My mind blanks a little as all this comes rushing at me and I can only say one thing once my shock wears off. "Oh, buck," I mutter softly and look over to see Daisy still looking shocked, but my words seem to have snapped her out of it.

"Language!!" She scolds me a little before looking back to Philomena. "Also, what!? Do you have a Phoenix? Or, is it wild? What is this?" She looks at Philomena with a completely baffled expression and voices extreme confusion. Philomena for her part gets tired of waiting for food and being next to such a loud pony, so she just drops the letter on the table and flies off to sit next to Entropy on her perch.

My mind is now in full-blown panic mode. :FUUCCKKK!!! WHY??!!: My ears pin back as Daisy stares at Philomena before turning back to me, when she looks at me it all hits me like a brick wall. She sees my scared expression and she stops being shocked, she stops for a moment and giving me a concerned look. "Shade? Are you ok?" She asks with clear worry as I probably don't look ok, but I barely register her words.

I stare back trying to get my mind in order and think of a way out of this, but everything just leads to dead ends and infeasible plans that would just make me lie and deceive a friend. I feel my mind start to spiral. Daisy looks more worried when I don't respond and just stares blankly as my breathing gets more panicked. "Shade! Seriously, what's happening? Are you OK?" She also starts to get worried and touches me with her hooves, and that's what breaks my mind out of its panic.

I force myself to nod shakily. "Y-yes, no? Maybe? I don't know." I'm indecisive and still reeling, but I've grown used to working under pressure and in less-than-ideal situations. Daisy relaxes a little but still looks worried for me, I drain my tea and start to pour more. "Please sit down, I... It seems I have some things to explain." I say in a defeated tone.

She does as I ask but for nearly a minute neither of us speaks, but suddenly the silence is broken by both of us at once. "I'm sorry, it seems I'll have to ask-"

"It's ok, you don't need to tel-" We both cut each other off and despite the situation I find some humor in it all, Daisy takes the opportunity to continue as I try to get my breathing under control. "Just breathe Shade, in, and out, just like me." I'm still panicked but will myself to breathe in and out, and after nearly a minute I calm down enough to not look scared.

She's very concerned but stays patient, after I look a little better she continues. "I don't need to know Shade, if... If this is something you don't want to talk about I can drop it. Right now." She is probably still curious, I can hear it in her tone, but the offer is made with nothing but my well-being in mind.

My mind can think somewhat now and I can say the offer is tempting. I could just take it and never talk about this, but I'm not naive enough to miss that our friendship would change if I did that, and am I really willing to drift from a friend over this? I ponder that for several moments before letting out a long sigh and looking back up at Daisy, no I'm not willing to.

Even if she knows about... About all the things I've lied about, she might be able to forgive me. At least that's what I tell myself as I take a deep breath and remember to breathe.

"I... No, I'll explain, but." I struggle with my words for a moment before steadying my tone and trying to overcome my mix of fear and uncertainty. "I'm not good at sugarcoating things, you know that, so I'm going to be blunt. There are things I'm not willing to talk about, and some things I literally can't." I try to steady my tone more as her face shifts in between a mix of worry and confusion.

I take one last deep breath. "I don't like to lie. I'll avoid a topic, tell half-truths, or even just shut down a conversation. I tell you all this, because you're my friend and I... I don't want to lose a friend. And I know you just asked me to forgive you over this, over keeping secrets." Her face shifts to reassurance.

She even gives me a small smile. "Hey, I don't know what." She looks over at Philomena. "THIS, is. But I'm not going to quit on you. We all have secrets, there are things I'd never tell you either, so calm down I'm not going anywhere. But If you are willing I... I would like whatever form of explanation you're comfortable with." At this point, she's just trying to keep my calm and help me through what might be a panic attack.

I nod my thanks again and try to convince my mind of her words. "Thank you... I... Thank you." I shake my head for a moment and try to think clearly. I can't tell Daisy everything mostly for the safety of us both, but I also don't know what is safe to tell her. I could just be half honest? I could just let her know the big things and then not give context or detail.

It's not the worst idea, she could know some truths and that would be it. I go back and forth but decided to just be truthful with one of the few friends I have, before I lose them to my lies. "I... I'm going to be honest and tell you, that you probably won't get many answers, in fact you'll definitely leave with more questions than when we started."

She nods her acceptance and keeps her reassuring look. "Most importantly, I can tell you why I have never told anypony about this, even... Even my friends." I let my sadness at keeping this a secret bleed into my tone. "But you can never tell anypony, I mean it, NEVER, not even Blaz or Maple," I stress my words with a deadly serious face that makes her look concerned again.

I formed something of a plan in my head and intact it quickly. "I'm still worried though, I don't want to lose a friend. So, I'll let you pick. I can either take your offer and never talk about this again, or I can give you vague answers that you can never share." I keep my serious tone and look her in the eyes as best I can with the mad mix of worry and guilt in my head right now.

She stares at me with determination and once again she nods. "I can tell this is weighing on you, so half answers will have to do. But I might ask questions, even if I don't get answers, Now spill, because I want to know how you have a Phoenix." She surprisingly relaxes her tone a lot and ramps up the reassuring look.

I try to smile again, but it comes out lopsided, I stand up while picking up the letter from the table. "Come on then, I have something to show you. Also, don't touch anything, I don't feel like exploding today." I try to joke, more for my sake than Daisy's.

She looks slightly uncertain at my words but follows me to the only room in my apartment she hasn't been in. "Very funny Shade. Wait, that was a joke right?" I just open the door and walk inside, her shock will be fun at least. "Right?" She repeats while following me inside. :I feel like I've done this before:

It seems it's finally time some secrets saw the light of day. Please let this go well, I need my friends.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

This came out to be much longer then I thought it would, so I'm going to split it, don't worry you'll get the rest tomorrow. I think.

Also, this is a lot more somber and sad then my normal MO, and I hope to make things more up beat nest time.

Also also. I'm sorry if this brought up any bad memories for those reading this, I wasn't really sure how to add a warning so I hope you can forgive there not being one.

Chapter 160

MAY 30 Sunday.

My nerves still feel numb and this is all overwhelming for me.

The small panic attack didn't help either, but by this point, my mind had gotten enough of a hold on itself to calm down somewhat. First and foremost is the simple fact that something like this was bound to happen eventually, no matter how I hid this part of my life they would notice anomalies.

They already have in fact, but they are good friends and were kind enough to not demand answers or pry into my life. This entire day is fucked already, and it's not even done yet. Why the hell did this have to happen? The chances alone of this happening are stupid.

My reaction to them was also not the best, it never is when I feel like things are slipping out of control. With a clear enemy or problem, I can handle it, but this? Having my lies exposed by my own overreaction? It's something else altogether.

When Philomena appeared I wasn't thinking clearly, I was panicking and scared. I also think some part of me just wants to stop, stop all this lying and secrets. That's not to say I'll shout it from the rooftops, but, a friend knowing might not be so bad, right?

I think... I think this should happen, because if not now then when? I could just walk away, but would that really solve this? No. It would just make an ever bigger web of lies and deceit, and that won't help me.

Daisy showed me trust, maybe not to the same level as this but she still did it. And, I'm reminded of the times I've trusted Celestia, it can get rocky, but we always end up closer in the end. So, even as I fight myself over this I feel as if I'm doing the right thing, no matter how much my mind disagrees.

I try to get my thoughts in order as Daisy walks into my workroom while looking around curiously. "No, I'm not joking. Don't touch anything." My tone is still on edge, but I try to relax more and just commit to my choice. To be blunt, I'm scared. I don't want to lose a friend, but I also try to remind myself of Daisy's words. I have to have some faith and trust that she will keep to her word, and that even if this changes things we'll still be friends.

I snap out of my thoughts as Daisy finishes looking around the room curiously. "What is all of this? Gems? Wooden blocks? Is that, a feather?" She stops and takes a moment to stare at the feather I got from Entropy a while back.

I take a breath to steady myself once again and mentally prepare for a long conversation. "Welcome to my little workshop. It's where I invent and build anything I need." I answer her while placing the letter from Celestia on my desk before moving over to a neatly bound stack of letters.

I plan to tell her about my other identity, and for that, I need proof, a stack of thank-you letters will have to do. "Invent? You invent things? For who? Why?" Her tone is not demanding but does point out that I'm not exactly being clear.

I nearly chuckle a little as I realize the trap I've fallen into. I give her an apologetic look, "Sorry... Vague statements and comments are just how I normally... Dodge things like this." I try to keep a light tone despite my words. "We should probably start at the beginning, come on, sit down, and get comfortable. You want some more tea?" I slowly ask while reaching out with my field and spatial senses to bring our tea into my workroom.

She looks around and just sits on the floor, "Sure. Although, I think you need it more than me though." She again tries to joke around, I can tell she's trying to get me to relax more, and I appreciate that. "If I can ask though, what does this have to do with the phoenix, or that letter for that matter?" She's very curious at this point and I can't blame her for that,

I sit down with her and pour more tea. "I'll get to that, but like I said let's start at the beginning." I take a moment to organize my thoughts and what I'm going to tell her. I think I'll tell her I invented things and who I am, but for the most part not how or why, I'm also going to try and keep my life affinity out of this.

Daisy just waits patiently as I start. "I've always been good at math, and you know how I want to make spells. You know, become a rune scribe?" She nods and keeps silent. "Well, I already am one." She just looks more confused and I force myself to stay on one track. "It all started when I first started working at the library."

"For the first time, I was on my own and could do a lot more with my newfound freedom. Before that at the orphanage, I studied all the magical texts it had on spellcraft. so needless to say I basically immediately started trying to modify spells." I can't help but huff out a bit as she looks shocked again.

"You what! Why? Do you know how dangerous that can be?" She tries to scold me and it's not undeserved, so I just try to explain calmly.

I nod back. "I am fully aware. But that's only for high level stuff, simple things can't really hurt you and before you ask yes I took precautions." She stops at that and goes silent again, but she looks a little peeved at being predicted while trying to scold me.

I would normally smile but I'm not there yet. "It turns out, I am very good at spellcraft, and I'm going to prove that." I drain the last of my tea and drag over a small ruby from a shelve. I've made an entire new spell under a time crunch before, modifying a basic light spell would only take me minutes.

Daisy watches in stunned silence with a look of slight concern as I instantly form the matrix for a basic light spell and hold it there instead of casting it. I move a few numbers around and two minutes later I'm done with a very simple modification that just changes the color.

I cast it again to form a small ball of white light next to me. "This is the widely used basic light spell, and it's the same spell you just saw me start with, right?." She still looks a little concerned, but it's now outweighed by her curiosity.

She nods. "Yes, what did you do?" I quickly enchant the ruby with the modified spell I just made, this will let it stay longer, or maybe I'm just making this more complicated to distract my mind. I tap the gem a second later and she flinches in surprise when I activate it immediately. "Shade what ar-!!" Her next scolding stops short as she watches with shock, a small green light forms right above the gem.

I nearly laugh at her face, but hold it in again, I am able to show a small smile this time. "Like I said, I'm very good at spellcraft. I more than know the risks, but I also know how to do things properly to minimize those risks. So calm down a little, you're starting to sound like a worried mother hen." I try to joke back as she moves a hoof through the light with disbelief.

"H- ... Shade, I've met some skilled rune scribes, but this. How?" She's more baffled than ever now and I can't stop myself from at least chuckling. I wonder who she's talking about though, maybe something for a new day.

My small smile remains and I try to keep in a more positive mood. "It's just what I'm good at, my cutie mark also helps to an extent. But I still have a story to finish." I add the cutie mark part as while it doesn't help me a lot it does help me, and it's probably easier for her to accept things if I add that in.

She is still confused but nods a moment later, I'm oddly kind of enjoying her reaction to all of this, just a bit at least. "The first spell I started to modify was the basic light spell, I disliked using candles and wanted something... Simpler to use." As I talk I start to pick out a few letters from the stack I brought to show Daisy.

"I tried my best to make it as efficient and easy to use as possible. In the end, I finish the spell." I form the matrix that I'm talking about next to me. "This spell, the same light spell so many now use in the magical light, is the finished combination of my work." I try to sound serious so she actually believes me.

She glances in between the green light and the matrix I have in mid-air and I practically see the gears turning in her mind. "So, you're saying you made that." I nod. :I think she's getting it: "But it's claimed to be an invention of Veil Winter." :Yes: "Then that would mean you." :Yeeesss:

"They stole your invention?!!" She nearly shouts with a little anger. :YEES- wait ... No. Hell no!: "I can't believe they would do th-!!" I have to place a hoof on her muzzle to force her to stop and try to get my thoughts right. I wasn't sure she'd believe me at all, but this might actually be worse.

"No, no no no no! NO!" I rapidly try to correct her. "First, why believe me so easily," I ask a little more assertively and try to steer things back to the point I'm trying to make.

She stops at that. "Well, you just remade a spell in front of me, so..." She seems to think again for a moment. "Also... OH! You helped them make it then?!! That's amazing Shad-" I have to stop her again by grabbing her muzzle as she again tries to guess and misses my point.

This is clearly not working so I go to a more blunt approach. "NO! I... I am... By magic, just... Just read these." I nearly shouted over her before forcing a few letters in her face. She seems startled and once again bewildered at my answer, but holds it in long enough to read a few of the letters.

The letters I picked out are shorter letters that are thanking me for a few different inventions, a notable one is from Hoity Toity asking about me making more beauty products. I watch as her face shifts from confused and shocked mixed with a little disbelief, to a slowly dawning realization.

I can't blame her for the disbelief, I am just me after all. She's a fast reader so less than a minute later she drops the letters and looks at me. At this point, she just looks shell shocked, "You..."

I nod. "I'm Veil Winter." I just say it bluntly to prevent more of this mess from unfolding.

She is silent for a moment and gives me back the letters. "I... How? I mean I believe you, but..." I hear a slightly hurt tone in her voice, and even if it hurts to hear it I don't hold in against her. I did feel the same thing earlier today, it's only natural that she would feel the same.

I decided to talk about our friendship later and just focus on answering her. "I'll skip over the specifics as they are complicated. After I finished the light spell I realized it could be immensely helpful to other ponies."

She's still shocked and confused but looks a little proud at that and I take it as a win. "But I didn't really have a good way to share it, or maximize the help it could provide. So, I just gave it to the Princess?" I trail off a bit as the logic isn't really that sound for most ponies who don't know Celestia personally.

Mentioning the Princess seems to snap her out of her thoughts a little. "You what? I mean... I guess that works. Did it work?" She's more relaxed than I thought she would be, but she also has a building look of excitement as I explain.

I nod and try to get back in a positive mood. "Yes actually. It wasn't really that hard, I just sent a letter with the spell and said she could do whatever she wanted with it, and some instructions on how best to use the actual spell."

Daisy gives me an odd look. "I think I remember something about the crown doing all of the work to implement it, never knew it was the Princess herself though." She's lost in her memories for a moment before focusing on me again. "Wait. Is that why you're so rich?! That makes so much more sense!!"

I'm happy she's taking this so well. "Kinda? I didn't really ask to be paid, she just sent me a letter back saying I'm going to get royalties from my invention, it was just as much of a surprise for me. I actually never asked to be paid for anything I've made. Wait, no, I did get paid for the Blood Loss Prevention spell." I correct myself.

Daisy gives me a deadpan look for several moments before laughing as her excitement boils over, it's now my turn to be confused as she just keeps laughing at me. "That is so... YOU!! You invent a spell, give it away for free and then get surprised when they pay you!!" She laughs more and I have to agree there is some humor in that.

I wait for her to stop before continuing my story. "Anyway, after that, I just sort of kept going. I'd make something useful, send it to the princess, and... Well that's it actually. As for Veil Winter."

Daisy gave me a knowing smile before cutting me off. "That I can guess myself. You barely like talking to new ponies, I know you'd hate being famous. Even then, Veil Winter..." She says with some wonder and looks at me while drinking some tea. "I can also see why you never told anypony, it's... Well, it's certainly a big secret." She's still more calm than I thought she'd be.

I nod slowly, I could also mention I make things for Celestia herself, but it's best I don't. "Beyond that, it's about safety. I'm good at what I do and others would never leave me alone if they knew who I was, along with those that have less than friendly intentions." I take a more serious tone.

She nods slowly after a moment as it seems like I just doused her in cold water. "Oh, that..." She looks a little concerned again but moves past it a moment later. "I won't tell anypony, I promise. Still, you're Veil Winter? It's... Honestly, it's a lot to take in that my friend is famous." I feel a little bad at hearing that.

"I'm sorry, I don't like keeping things from you all, but..." I trail off not really finding a good way to explain it.

She smiles wider and gives me another reassuring look. "No need, the safety concern is enough on its own. You literally work for the Princess! I'm surprised you told me any of this." She takes an oddly happy tone despite the topic and her excitement shows again a moment later. "Also. I'm friends with the Veil Winter!!!" She almost squeals a bit.

I give her a horrified look as I realize a possibility. "Noooo, no, not you too! Please no, I can't handle you being a fanmare." I half-joke half-pleaded with her.

She just laughs at me again. "Well too bad, because I waited three weeks to get a comb you made and I'm not letting you live it down so easily." I can't help but smile as she just jokes around and takes it in stride. I can never thank her enough for being my friend.

I try to move past all the bad thoughts and once again try to lighten the mood. "I'll tell you what, you never fanmare around me again, and I will personally make you a comb." I offer her and I see her eyes light up at the idea.

"Deal!! Do I need to give you a comb or..." She tails off while looking at me impatiently for an answer.

I nod and give my first real smile at her reaction. "Sure, or I can just buy one. I could even enchant a comb you already have, as long as it's made from metal." I smile back as she gets even more excited.

"Perfect! Thank you!!" She seems happy with it all, but I have to bring that mood down a bit sadly.

"Also... Look... I... Are you ok with, all of this?" I wave around the room. "It's not exactly an amazing thing to keep secret as a friend, by magic, I even accepted an apology from you for the same thing today. It... Well, it makes me a pretty big hypocrite doesn't it?" I ask trying to not fall down a rabbit hole of negativity again and fail.

She can see where this is going and shows a soft expression. "Maybe, but like I said we all have secrets, and honestly it's reasonable for you to keep this one hidden. I know you and I know you would be miserable if your life was all fame and recognition." She tries to reassure me again with a few points we already went over.

"As for me? Well, I won't lie, much like you earlier I am a little hurt. But I'll get past that, and by Celestia, I am not going ANYWHERE! You're my friend and this will not change that!" She's both encouraging and very certain in her words to me. "Plus, I kind of like the idea of being friends with a celebrity." She tries to distract me with a joke again.

I somehow keep my smile and nod before standing up to stretch my legs. "Thank you... It really means a lot to me, and just so you know I would have missed you." She chuckles and I realize it's getting late, plus I've gotten through most of what I'm willing to tell her. I don't hide that fact either. "Well, I've explained what I wanted to, any other burning questions before I kick you out and reclaim my peace?" I say as she also stands up.

I lead her out of my workroom as she takes one last look around, when I close the door Daisy looks over to see a disguised Entropy and Philomena sleeping peacefully. "Yes, two actually. When should I bring over my comb? And what's the deal with the Phoenix? We kind of missed that one." She motions with her head to them.

I nod. "Next Monday, I have things I still need to do. As for her, that's Philomena, the Princess's pet phoenix." I chuckle as Daisy once again gets a bewildered look.

She looks at the letter I still have with me. "So, the letter?"

I nod again. "We use Philomena as a secure form of communication, this." I hold up the still-unopened letter. "Is directly from her, I'll be reading it when you leave," I explained bluntly.

She looks at the letter with a slight concern. "Oh. I... Should probably hurry then, that could be very important... Did I just break the law?" I nearly laugh but settle for shaking my head. "Good... Thanks for trusting me Shade, and don't worry this isn't the first secret I've kept, make sure to try and get some sleep." She smiles brightly and oddly her mood has flipped since she arrived.

I do something I rarely do, I reach out and give her a quick hug. "I don't care if you hold this over me, you deserve a hug." I show a cheeky smile as my mood recovers more, I back up again before pushing her lightly to my door. "Good night to you too, and... Thanks for leaving it at this."

She huffs and rolls her eyes, but keeps the bright smile. "Fine, go deal with your secret Princess friend..." She walks out of the door but stops to look back at me. "Wait a minute, no, that game score you meant-" Before she can finish that thought I close the door quickly and activate my shield.

Nope. I am not dealing with that today.

As I go to read the letter I keep my smile, despite all the stress, I feel oddly ok with this all happening. Maybe it's not so bad for others to know? This may have all been caused by a stupid call on my part, but I think it worked out in the end.

I opened the letter after that thought and started to read it.

Shade.

Our meeting is delayed until after the Summer Sun Celebration due to some diplomatic functions I must attend and timing issues.

Signed your friend Celestia.

I smile wider at the short letter. I wonder what I should get her.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 994

I tried to make this more upbeat like I planed, I think it came out ok overall.

Also, any ideas for Celestia's gift?

Chapter 161

JUN 5 Saturday.

I slowly walk through the castle with a guard as I'm led to yet another meeting, specifically a meeting with Cadance.

We're having another meeting to work on the love rune, and we're actually getting somewhere now. After going through all the reading material we designed, the runes look, it is a little too complicated to describe in detail, but its base is a simple heart symbol.

Its shape is now done so we need to start work on the runic context, and that is where things get much more complicated. As we pass a large window I leave that thought for later and drag my mind to something more personal, Daisy. Things between us have been... Well, not tense but a little awkward.

We're definitely still friends, that doesn't seem to be changing any time soon, but she's getting to know the other part of my life. She mostly acts the same, but now she's also been asking questions while we're at work. I just cast a sound shield around us every time she does, and she warns me before asking things to let me do it. What I find interesting is that the questions are mundane for the most part.

There have been several I have refused to answer, but a lot of them are small things like my inspiration for, and my thoughts on my inventions. It's kind of fun to talk to her about all this stuff, even if I'm not very clear about a lot of things and have to shut her down sometimes it's not that bad.

I still feel... I don't know, nervous? It's not all-encompassing, but I am having to adjust to talking about this with her, and she's still adjusting to it as well. Beyond that I did make her a new comb, it was easy and not really that interesting but I did it and she seemed to like it.

Overall I'm just glad to still have a friend, even if I have to answer annoying questions at work now. I leave my thoughts again as we arrive at a large door and the guard leaves me alone, I enter a moment later and see Cadance sitting at a table like normal.

I close the door behind me. "Hello again, ready for hours of debating and researching the meaning of slightly different words." I tease her a bit with the work I've dragged her into doing.

She rolls her eyes a bit and motions for me to sit. "Unfortunately yes, are you ready for me to lecture you about the many intricacies of love? Don't worry, I can get Aunty if we need a personal demonstration." She smiles as the thought of that causes me to blush a little.

I lightly glare at her as I place a few stacks of paper on the table. "Cheater. Hhhhh, how has the Fire Starter been doing? Any problems pop up?" I change the subject, I know I won't be winning that verbal sparring match with her, I might be able to tease her but she has a leg up on me.

Her smile falters a little and she gives me a slightly annoyed look. "Beyond all the extra work you gave me? It's been going well, very well in fact. The ease of production and shipping has made it spread much more quickly than anything else you've made."

"It also gave the new trade route with Griffonstone a large boost right at the start. They need fire much more, and with how much we can ship trades on both sides are more than happy. I even got this a few days ago." She takes out an opened letter and passes it to me, I read it quickly.

It's a very formally written letter from King Thelis asking Cadance to send his thanks to Veil Winter for the helpful invention that his people have apparently made great use of. Part of the reason I made the Fire Starter was for trade with Griffonstone, but even then I didn't expect this to go this well.

She smiles lopsidedly. "It seems you have the miraculous ability to gain the appreciation of royalty." She teases me again but keeps it light. "As for problems? None that I'm aware of, there were a few incidences of wildfire. But not more than normally happens from other sources, so overall it's going well."

I nod happily at that. "Good, I would rather not be blamed for a city burning down. Then again, I'd get away with it if I did." I chuckle and Cadance gives me a slightly challenging look.

"I don't think even Aunty could save you then, I'd give you a day at most before you're caught." She jokes at my expense.

I give her the same challenging look in return. "It's not really that hard to hide from the world, just make a spell to form a bubble of air underwater and find a gem strong enough to have it always active. Then you just sit at the bottom of the ocean for a while and relax." I come up with something off the top of my head and voice it out, that probably wouldn't really work but it gets the point across.

She raises a brow and opens her mouth to rebuttal me but seems to come up with nothing. "Huh, I... Actually, I can't think of a reason that wouldn't work right now, I guess we could catch you before that? Hmm, I think I'm starting to see what Aunty said about the Changelings and you." I remember the last talk I had with Celestia about Changelings, it's not a surprise Celestia would share it with Cadance.

I shrug. "I could also just have Entropy take me to a forest and use my life magic to turn it into a deathtrap for anypony that tries to find me. But we're getting off-topic and we have work to do, and your letter said you had some material I needed to read?" I move things along and she gains that smile that scares me.

"Yes, I do! You're going to need to understand love a little better, not too much, but still more than now." I really don't trust the smile she has and try to get out of this quickly.

"Why? Aren't you the one doing that? I'm just here to make sure it works properly for the spell." I defend my position and try to not let whatever this is happen.

She just smiles wider. "We spent weeks reading things you brought, you're not getting out of this regardless of the logic. Now, you're a smart colt that is growing up, and when I was that age I loved romance novels." My eyes widen and my ears pin themselves back as she places several books on the table. "Tell me if you have any questions, I'm more than willing to explain all the tiny details." She offers with a far too cheery tone.

I look at the books. "I think I'd like to go home now."

"Nope!! Too late!" A book is shoved into my hooves and she starts to talk about how the runic context should be worded. I think I have made a horrible mistake.

time skip

JUN 6 Sunday.

I breathe out heavily as I finish my chain of practice swings with my weapons over the uneven and rough terrain, while a complex weave of green magical flows moves right above my coat.

I'm at Gaia's Eden right now training my abilities like always and, over the past several months my sensory training has really paid off. I can walk around on the worst terrain without my sight just fine now, and I can even full-on sprint while blindfolded as long as I'm on roughly flat terrain.

On top of that I'm still getting better at sensing moving objects beyond myself, mostly because Stone really likes throwing things at me, I think it's his hobby. I've also made some progress in my fighting style, it's not massive but over time it's been taking shape slowly and I'm getting better at using it.

The swings have better form and I can put up a decent fight when Stone uses his own combat style, he is definitely holding back but it's still an improvement. Along with that, I've been thinking about making some new weapons, but that's not what I'm working on today.

Today I want to start working on both of Celestia's gifts, yes both, I have two in mind and both should be interesting. The first is more of a joke gift than anything, but I think she'll love it. I'm going to modify the spell that creates an illusionary grape, I want it to be more optimized and I want to improve it a bit with an idea I'll explain in a moment.

Here's an interesting fact for you, did you know a skilled unicorn or a very skilled alicorn can hide the magical light their horn gives off? It's not an easy thing as you need to precisely control the magic you wield to not give off any magic waste, the more magic a spell uses the harder this is to achieve.

It's a skill very rarely learned because it is both very hard and not very useful to the vast majority. But a pony like Celestia has to have learned it at some point, I didn't know for sure if she learned this, but considering how easy it is to prank others with this skill I can basically guarantee that she does know it.

But back to my gift, once the grape spell, yes that's what I've named it. Once it's done I'll gift it to her so she can magically signal Philomena to deal with anypony annoying her. But that's not my only idea for the spell, I have a second idea but I'm sure it will cause havoc.

There is something known as an illusion binding spell, it limits the visual effects of illusions to a designated target, as long as that target is a living thing. It's used so you can make an enemy see an illusion while it remains invisible to you and anypony else in the area.

It's needed because without it an illusion would block your enemy, but also you. As an example let's say you made an illusion of a black rock to block the line of sight with an enemy, you would also have to deal with this illusionary rock in your way, unless you made it so only they could see it.

This spell does just that, it's not that complicated either, it just uses runes with the right context and forces the process with a large amount of magic. That is actually one of the main downsides, its magic cost is high, and to use it you need a compatible illusion spell that is made to work with it.

You have to cast this illusion-binding spell on somepony before casting an illusion on them that is compatible while binding the spell to a non-visible magic thread that is made by the binding spell. Over the past few days, I've been tinkering with the grape spell to be compatible and I've also been modifying the illusion binding spell to work a little better.

So, let's say hypothetically the illusion binding spell was cast on Philomena to let her see a grape that would be invisible to everypony else. Well, if I do it right this won't be very hypothetical, and a certain princess will be able to throw Philomena at somepony blame-free.

I think she'll like it, but I also think she'll like her other gift even more than this one. When I first showed Gaia's Eden to Celestia I offered to give her a place to stay here, and I realized that it would make a nice gift to do just that and build her a small home away from home.

So that's what I plan to do with my free time today. I stop swinging my weapon and rest for a few minutes while casting my healing spells as I continue using Mana Mimicry. On that topic, I haven't made any progress in improving Mana Mimicry beyond being able to cast it while retaining my full range of movement.

I can even cast a few simple spells while using it now, and eventually, I might be able to keep it permanently active while alone. Once I'm mostly recovered I stab my weapons into the ground in the ten-foot area next to the Gold Oak I normally practice my swings in and leave them there for later.

I've been thinking about how to build this for a few days now, and I've already done some of the work, specifically the foundation and support. The building will have three rooms in total, a large main room and two smaller rooms, the smaller rooms will be a small workshop and a bedroom.

As for the layout of the building, one large octagon is made from eight ten-foot sections. So from wall to wall, it would be forty feet, I'll divide it in half and then divide one half again to make three rooms in total. I take off my blindfold and look at the partly constructed building.

The building is located on the other side of my crops fields from my shack, it's maybe one hundred feet in between them in total. The foundation sits on eight extra thick tree stumps I grew and the floor is two feet off of the ground. The floor is four inches of pure White Oak and the stumps are the same wood.

The tree stumps have trunks that reach fifteen feet into the air above the wood floor before connecting to each other horizontally to make an octagon in the air, they all go up at a forty-five-degree angle into a single point that joins all eight trunks together. I did all of this over the past two days and now it's time to fill it all in.

I start with the roof and let the triangle-shaped gaps fill in with pure white oak and repeat what I did with the other buildings, the top has a layer of bark and leaves while the underside is just the raw wood grain. I go section by section and make sure to have an overhang at the bottom of the roof slant so rain doesn't pour down the walls.

It takes me a full hour to grow it all and get it done properly, once that's done I can build the walls. I start with the section facing my crop fields and my shack with the Gold Oak to my left side. I fill in the wall and divide it down the middle, one side is pure wood while the other has a tall doorway and door with steps leading down to the grass.

I fill in each wall but leave spaces for one window in each small room and a large window facing directly at the Gold Oak in the main room. Once the outer walls are in place I divide the octagon down the middle with the door outside and the main window on one side and the two smaller windows facing the forest on the other.

I made two more doorways next to each other and divided the other half into two areas as planned. This all takes nearly four hours in total and by the time I'm done, I'm sitting in an unfurnished building with a sketchbook drawing out some ideas. I can make most of the furniture but where can I find a mattress that big?

I could ask Cadance? As soon as that thought crosses my mind I shudder a little. How about no, I would rather not get the teasing that would entail. I guess I'll just have to look around for a big mattress or something else that would work just as well.

I smile a little as I start to plan out the layout more and look out to see the Gold Oak glistering in the distance. Maybe I should also upgrade my shack, I could use a place to sleep as well? I get lost in thought as the wind blows through the calm area.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

A short and mostly uninteresting chapter, but as a compromise I have something I made in MS paint when I got board for a few minutes. It's not good and it's not even slight to proper scale in anyway, but it should give you an idea of the full layout of Gaia's Eden.

Chapter 162

JUN 21 Monday.

I slowly flip through a page of my notebook on my day off while listening to all the celebrations going on outside of my apartment, the streets are packed with ponies all joining in on the Summer Sun Celebration.

I'm not really sure what I want to do today, but I did already send Celestia her gifts, well most of that at least. I hinted that I have something for her at Gaia's Eden and to not visit until our next meeting, I'd like to be there when she sees what I've made.

Speaking of her cabin, I've added most of what's needed so far, I even found a big enough mattress, although I got some odd looks when bringing it home. Most of the furniture is simple but functional and I used some Moon Glow Vines as light. Beyond her cabin, I also added another section to my shack.

My shack was made as a hexagon so I could add more rooms like a bee makes more honeycomb, and I did just that by adding a second room for a dedicated bedroom. It's only got a bed and desk but I honestly prefer it that way as It makes it easy to change or decorate it later.

Now, onto Celestia's other gifts. I sent her a happy birthday letter with the new grape spell and the illusion binding spell I modified, I made it a little better but stopped there. I also sent a new shipment of Blood Leaf Tea to her, and this time it's seen some improvement.

The Blood Leaf Tea is a plant I've been slowly selectively breeding for several months now and It's seen small but consistent improvement over that time. If I used rough numbers it's around eight to ten percent better at helping you regain your magic than the original, but progress in improving it is very slow.

It did get faster when I started growing it in the Everfree, but even then I have to test each generation individually and pick the best one, which can be hard because the generational increase in the magical effects is very small. Sometimes I have to drink a batch of tea for several days before I find the best one and complete another cycle.

Beyond the Blood Leaf Tea, I have updates on several other plants I've been breeding. First is Lemon Grass, it's been a less important and less worked-on project, but with how easy is it to grow and test I can do a lot in one day. But to the point, it's grown much more fragrant now.

The lemon smell is much stronger and I always add the strongest variety I have to the Razor Vine wall to hopefully push away that snake. I haven't seen it again, I've sensed a large amount of life magic moving at the edges of my senses but it never comes close so I think the Lemon Grass works, at least to some degree.

Next is all the winter crops I'm trying to make, I never did make a shield for them to stay cold and just decided to
wait for winter again. I can't grow a lot during winter anyway so why rush it? They can be bred in the winter and I'll focus on other things for now while it's still warm.

The Copper Lily. It's... Well, It's going, but like I expected this is not going to be a fast process and will take me a long while. I've been using all the gold dust that gets collected to grow them, normally I wait a few days and it builds up enough gold dust to grow a few plants at once.

But even with that and my own magic I've only gotten the flower to shrink a very small amount, but it is working. Even just the tiny amount of shrinkage in the flowers means they are already taking less life magic to grow, if I can get them small enough I can then breed them much faster and scale them up again.

Lastly is the Companion Vine. I've tried selectively breeding it, but it turned out to be very VERY stubborn. I can grow and go through generations very quickly, but the plant refuses to change in one specific way. The smaller things like how the plant looks and even crossbreeding the life magic gathering effect into other plants are all relatively easy.

But improving the life magic gathering ability itself has proven to be almost impossible to improve in the slightest, it's only very slightly improved after THOUSANDS of generations. I just gave up at some point and decided to focus on other things I think are more important.

I'm willing to grind something endlessly, but only if what I get back out is worth it, and this is not worth it right now. I stop organizing and copying my notes as an idea strikes me, it seems there is something I can do, so I stand up and get ready to leave. Where am I going? Well, somewhere interesting.

I grab my saddlebags and a few things I may need, I'm once again setting out to visit Ponyville. I did the same thing last year, although I was far less excited about it back then. This time though I can enjoy the celebration much more, and I get to check on the cast again.

Entropy sees me getting ready and emerges from some shadow to fly over to me. "Out? Friend?" She seems to be missing Philomena a bit as she's been visiting less, I think Philomena is probably at parties with Celestia, and Celestia seems to like taking Philomena with her to parties to show off a bit.

I don't really see the big deal, but that's why I'm not a diplomat and why I never will be, orders or otherwise. I smile at Entropy and pet her a little while casting an Illusion on her, "No, but we do get to go outside." I almost chuckle as she looks a little disappointed.

"Don't worry, well see them soon enough. Now come on, let's go have some fun. To Ponyville please." I ask nicely with a reassuring smile as she perks up a bit, we both vanish a fraction of a second later. She's still improving but I really need to find a new place for her to take us for training.

When we reappear it's yet again a nice slow walk in the summer weather as I walk down the dirt road, but things get interesting as I notice a cart being pulled down the road headed to Ponyville. The forest I have Entropy teleport to when traveling to Ponyville is adjacent to a road that connects Sweet Apple Acres.

It's not a direct road and it also connects to a few different roads that leave town entirely, but it's not a massive surprise when I see a familiar red stallion pulling the cart. He's going a little slower than me and after a while, I catch up with Big Mac, he seemed to be. Well, like himself.

Quiet and stoic about the world around him, but I've spent a long time around Stone and Maple to get a read on how he was feeling. He seemed happy enough, and after a moment he spotted me at his side and looked over without stopping, he glanced at me and then Entropy who was sitting on my back, and I saw a little recognition.

He stares for a moment and then his eyes soften a small bit. "Howdy." His tone has a hint of friendliness and he gives me a firm nod.

I smirk a little and nod back. "Same to you. Cart all fixed up?" The walk is still a good distance so I try to start some small talk, yes, small talk with Big Mac, I know it sounds a little stupid.

He looks me over and seems to be debating my look in some way, I'm not sure what he was looking for but after a moment he nods again. "Yup." A simple answer and one I expected, what I don't expect is for him to continue. "You visit'in?" His accent blends the words a bit but I understand him just fine.

Wow, I guess he can speak first. I make the fourth nod of our conversation and give a slow response, "Yup." He seems to wait but I don't elaborate more beyond that and just keep walking. Entropy seems curious and flies off to look around for a bit as Big Mac and I continue to walk down the road silently.

Big Mac is good company for comfortable silence and neither of us seems to want to break that silence, we just walk before eventually reaching Ponyville. As we enter the town it seems we're heading in different directions so I turn to him and nod once again before looking down a street.

He stops a little abruptly and I turn back to him as he turns to me to look me in the eyes, I raise a brow silently as he detaches from the cart a moment later and goes through the cart items for a bit. I wait and a moment later he comes up to me holding a bag in his muzzle before passing it to me. "Now we're even." He says with a subtle happy tone before holding out a hoof. "Big Macintosh."

I smile fully and shake his hoof, "Shade." There is no more need for words and I turn to walk off right after, I don't notice that he shows a very slight amount of surprise when hearing my name, but smiles a little bit before reattaching his harness and dragging the cart off.

I think that went well, he was nice enough and even paid me back for a small favor. I open the bag and look inside to see what I expected, several bright red apples, "Hmm, nice." I take one out and share it with Entropy as we walk down the street. Once I finish the apple I put the rest in my saddlebags before joining the celebrations.

Most streets are empty as all the ponies have gathered on a single large street that runs through the center of Ponyville. It also runs right past the town hall, it's basically a bustling fairground all along this street with games and so many stalls set up to celebrate the day.

I take my time and steadily walk down the street enjoying the festivities and happy atmosphere, and I stop at a few stalls to look through what's being sold. Nothing too interesting, but a small souvenir did catch my eye. A nameless older mare selling flowers and one caught my eye.

Tulips are nothing fancy but something I might as well buy, so I do just that and buy several tulip bulbs to plant later on. But as I finished my trade and continued to walk the street I saw and smelt something odd.

N.S.F.W starts here.

I smell a slightly sickly sweet scent that is something I've really tried to avoid, a mare in heat. I know this because a few other unlucky stallions on the street were in a similar situation, their members hanging low as they all look a little shy about the situation, but otherwise, they are unbothered.

I feel my blush overtake me as I feel my own sheath starts to stir as I look around to try and find a way off of this damned street quickly. But it's too busy and too many ponies are around to run off easily, in fact running off right now would just draw more attention.

I nearly run anyway when I see a mare around my age not too far away glance under me. I have no idea which mare is in heat or where they are so I don't know if she's behind me back down the street or in front. After a moment I force myself to just start walking forward and try to ignore the stares around me.

Luckily nopony seems to care all that much, the other stallions in my position are mostly older and just wave it off as they keep going about the day and continue to celebrate. A few mares around my age look at me but most adult mares also don't seem to care about me. The good news is in a mostly earth pony town they can tell how old I am despite my large size.

I'm beyond uncomfortable being eyed in such a way, but ponies just don't care, even as I walk around with my member bouncing around. I try to distract myself mentally by thinking about mathematical equations and continue to walk down the street trying to get away from that damned scent.

After a few minutes I'm able to get away from the scent and I feel my body start to calm down a little, but it's still- SMACK My blush comes back again as my cock smacks against my belly, I glance over to see a few older ponies chuckling but taking it in stride.

Once I'm far enough away my body starts to return to normal and calm down fully as I take several deep breaths and try to scrub that memory from my mind. That was... Uncomfortable and embarrassing, but at least it's over. My member is going back into my sheath and I stop at a bench to get my mind in order.

N.S.F.W ends here.

I close my eyes for a moment as I relax on the bench while nearly chucking myself, it is funny in a way, even if it can suck. The good news is nopony will even remember this, I myself have seen it plenty of times before and I also stopped caring at some point, but seeing it and experiencing it are two very different things.

"Excuse me?" My eyes snap open and I jump slightly as a quiet voice sounds from my side. "EEEPP!" This time it's a quiet squeak as I sit up straight and move my legs closer to my body to hide the fact that I'm still not fully back to normal while looking over at the source of the noise.

I look over to see a mare that's a few inches shorter than me looking back through her mane as it covers most of her face, it's Fluttershy. Just as I'm relaxing I feel my blush come back strongly as I see her eyes place in between my legs for a moment before looking away, well, I know what startled her.

I stare at her silently for a moment in newfound embarrassment and slight horror, but I force that down and try not to make things worse by staring silently. "Ahem! Sorry about... That, I... Well, today is rather busy, lots of ponies. Can I help you, Miss?" I try really hard to not make my body react again and just focus on talking while keeping myself somewhat covered.

The last time we met I wasn't paying much attention but Fluttershy looks to be around the same age as me, maybe a bit younger. If she is my age I can't really blame her for looking, she's probably dealing with the same hormone issues as me right now.

She seemed startled but my friendly greeting made her relax a little more and she moved some of her mane out of her face. I take notice of the blush she has, yup we're both in this shit show then. "Ummmm, I-I'm not sure if you remember, but I was wondering if I could... Talk about her?"

She looks up to Entropy who's just been sitting on the back of the bench for a while now. I do remember Fluttershy being really interested in Entropy the last time we met. I pretend to be confused for a moment before looking like I realized something. "Oh! it's you. I hope you've been well, it's been a long time." I think fast and try to act like I don't remember her for a moment.

She looks back at Entropy for several moments before smiling a little up at her, when she hears my question she's all embarrassed about something, probably what just happened. "W'well, I'm fine. But, ..." She petters off and looks back to Entropy.

My mind registers her question and I give her a smile while trying to keep a low and quiet tone over the busy street. "Sorry. You can, but don't touch her, she doesn't like it when others do that." She smiles wider and very quietly gets on the bench to look closely at Entropy.

"Can I... Oh. May I? Ask where you got her?" She's a little more brave when talking about Entropy and I get the feeling she wants to ignore what just happened as much as I do. Her own blush is now fading away and I'm mostly back to normal.

I'm happy to go along with the change in subject and can't see much harm in talking about Entropy. "I raised her." Fluttershy looks a little surprised at that. "Her name is Entropy, and she's somewhere around two and a half now," I answer her and preemptively answer a few questions I know she'll have. "Also, I'm Shade, nice to meet you again." I keep my tone and show her a small smile.

She keeps her smile while looking at Entropy, she also gets pretty close but not too close, and she definitely knows how to deal with animals. Entropy looks back at Fluttershy for a moment and cries, "Pretty." The same word she learned from Fluttershy a while back now.

Fluttershy's eyes light up at her words and I hear her whisper to herself. "So beautiful." After that she looks back to me as I drop my legs and try to once again relax. "Fluttershy, and same to y-you." She is still acting like... Well, Fluttershy, but she's not as nervous as before. "D-does she talk a lot?"

I nod. "Quite a bit, but only ever one or two words at a time." I take out an apple and pass it to her. "Here, you want to feed her?" I offer with a friendly tone. I should try and be friendly and nice to a main cast member, and she seems to like Entropy so this should work.

Her smile was there before but now it truly shows as she takes the apple and bites a piece off to feed Entropy. Entropy stares her down for a moment but does take the apple piece in the end. "So what brings you here? The celebration?" I guess a bit and try to start a conversation.

She keeps staring at and feeding Entropy but answers me. "Umm, maybe? I-I mean I am, but I'm also here for, other things." I raise a brow but drop the subject and let her enjoy feeding Entropy.

"Does she eat right?" She asks curiously in return.

I keep my brow raised but answer regardless. "As far as I know. I feed her a mix of fruits, seeds, vegetables, and some... Meat." I try to be extra gentle with that last part, but she nods and seems satisfied with my answer. I guess she knows enough animals to be mostly ok with that, good for her. "She's also a complete menace." I joke lightly while Entropy finishes eating and moves over to sit on top of my head. "Just like that."

I hear a quiet giggle as she stares up at my head. "It's good, most birds only play with those they trust." She shows a little of her knowledge.

I smirk fully as Entropy starts to preen my mane. "Well, she trusts me enough to drop things on my head, so I'll take your word for it. You seem to really know about birds." I comment and she shows a bashful look in return.

"I... I like animals, they are so much fun to learn about and watch." She speaks with some subtle passion. "A-also, sorry about the last time we met." :OH, your are just adorable:

I wave it off and stand back up to start walking again, I may like talking to her but I'd like to see more of the celebration and I can always meet her again. "It's fine, all water under the bridge. Anyway, have a good day Miss. Fluttershy. I hope you enjoy the rest of the celebration."

She looks a little hesitant to let me and Entropy go but raises no objections. "O-oh, ok. Thanks for letting me feed her, a-and I wish you the same." She turns to Entropy and smiles again. "You too."

Entropy looks back at her. "Good. Happy." That seems to lift Fluttershy's mood again as I give one last nod and walk away down the street, I also notice she blushes and watches my flanks a little as I leave, hormones suck. I just try and ignore it to keep my mind off of things like that.

By magic today has been something else. But that was not too bad, and I still have festivities to partake in. I smile as I walk down the busy street and find a few more things to satisfy my curiosity. Maybe I should come back here again next year? Hmmm, maybe I will, it is always so interesting if a little wild.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I realized I kind of mimicked parts of Chapter 92 in this one by accident, but I still tried to make it interesting to read after I realized that. I hope you liked it.

Chapter 163

JUL 3 Saturday.

I slowly walk through the streets as a very light rain alleviates the heat of the summer sun. I don't bother putting on my cloak and just let the sprinkle of rain cool me off.

It's been around two weeks since I sent Celestia her gifts and she's finally found some time to set up a meeting for later today. It will be nice to see her after almost a month, but that's for later, right now I'm heading home from work in a relatively happy mood.

Nothing in particular is happening, it's just a nice day. But I shouldn't talk about it too much, I could tempt fate yet again. As I walk that thought echoes in my mind for a while, fate. It's a weird thing but what's even weirder is my relation to fate, I both fight and rely on fate.

I fight fate and change the destiny of this world, but I also have a genuine hope that fate does help make some events go as originally planned. So many things are needed to keep this world safe and many of them are far out of my control, things like the elements coming together when needed.

I can and plan to help things go as they should, but I'm far from perfect and can't account for everything. I try to plan, and I hate it when things don't go according to my plan, but I know my own faults and failures well enough. So what can I do? Well, as a start I've been thinking about the medium ruby currently hidden under my bed.

Yes, I hide the gem with my life story in it under my bed like a diary, and that's part of the problem. In the past, I didn't really have a good place to store it, but now I do, Gaia's Eden. I'm not sure where I want to store it yet, but I should make it someplace both hidden and findable.

I need it somewhere nopony will find it unless I need them to and that's where things are tricky. I can't even hint that this gem exists for fear of it being opened by somepony before it's needed, but the last time I died I was just walking and tripped, so I need to make a contingency for something like that soon.

I could make something that could activate on my death? But the gem is also needed if I'm kidnapped during something important. Oh shit, I also need to add in the password somehow. How do you write down a password and still keep it secret? I'll definitely need to think about this and the sooner the better.

After a moment I shake my head and leave those thoughts alone for now, it's supposed to be a happy day, not me planning for my own inevitable death. I open my apartment as Entropy leaves my shadow smoothly to fly off to her perch. As I watch her something comes to mind that I had nearly forgotten about.

Entropy has only ever shed one feather, unlike the rest of her feathers at the time this one was fully made from a shadowy mist and to this day retains its magical appearance. It was odd because at the time her feathers were only partly made from magic, but this one was different.

Right now Entropy has stopped changing as far as I can tell, she's kept the same size and her feathers have stopped changing after fully becoming a mass of black mist that flows over her. Another thing of note is that she's a little cold, not ice cold but colder than you'd expect.

I think she absorbs most of the heat from light, but I have no idea where that energy is going. It could just be a side effect of shadow affinity magic, but I also have no idea how I would even try to confirm that. Back to my point though, the only feather she ever gave me has sat unattended in my workroom for a long while now.

It's not that I'm not curious or want to study it, but I only have one feather and Entropy has shown no signs of giving me another one. That and I'm not really sure what I could even do with the feather in the first place, I guess I could make a quill but that seems like a waste.

I know nothing about shadow affinity magic and what it can do, and I'm not even sure if I can do anything with the feather, so sadly it's just stayed there for over a year now. I slowly turn the feather in front of me as Entropy files down to look at me. "Pretty?" She asks while I look at the feather.

I chuckle a little and smile at her as she hops in front of me as I lie on the floor. "Yes, I suppose it is pretty. Thank you." I thank her with attention as she melts into my hoof as I scratch a certain spot she always loves. "Such a pretty Girl." I smile widely as her tail feathers start to wag up and down.

I spend a while throwing around her wooden ball to play with her before I grab a gem from under my bed and have her take me to Gaia's Eden. When we arrive it looks like there has been a good amount of rain as the soil and grass are soaked. "You want to go off or stay with me?" I don't always ask her but she looks like she wants to just sit on my back right now.

She just lays down on my back as I nod as I walk over to the pavilion, I don't have a perfect place for this gem to be hidden but I know a better place than under my bed, and until I can think of something better it will work. I walk over to the fake stump in the pavilion that holds the first Copper Lily.

The medium ruby I have isn't very large so I take a moment and move the soil at the bottom of the water filling the stump with my field. I gently place the gem in the underwater pit and push it in deeper until it rests on the wooden bottom, then I cover it in the Copper Lily plant and a few inches of wet soil.

It's an obvious place, but most would just see the rare plant and never question it more, plus I'm rather good at hiding things in plain sight and I think this will work just fine. With that down I take out my teapot and sit down on the comfy cushions and carpet under the pavilion to wait for my friend to arrive.

I flip open my notebook and start to look through a few notes I made on different runes. After my last incident with a mare in heat, I thought it best to try and find a way to prevent anything like this again, with that in mind I've spent some time over the last two weeks looking into smell or scent-based runes.

The idea is simple, purify the air I breathe to block out a mare's scent, and honestly, I should have thought of this earlier. It's also not that hard of a thing to accomplish, I've modified my bracelet to add another switch and I will add this spell to the gems inside my bracelet when it's done.

It will take more magic than my bracelet could supply if I run all three enchantments on the bracelet. But as long as I don't use all three at once it can work just fine, now all that's left is to actually make the spell. I've done some work on it but I'll need to find the best rune and streamline it all.

I leave my thoughts as I feel space rend apart once again, and around ten feet away from me Celestia and Philomena stand where empty space once was. "Hello, it seems you've been busy?" I ask in greeting as she looks around a little before walking right over to join me on the cushions.

We both watch as Philomena and Entropy fly off to magic knowing where to play and catch up. "More than normal, we had another griffon city state visit for a trade agreement." I pass her some fresh tea as I see her spot the building and raise a brow, before smiling at me. "It seems I'm not the only one who's been busy." She also looks over at my expanded shack.

I nod but don't tell her it's her new home yet. "Yup, but we'll get to that. How was the celebration? I had a fun time myself." I move the topic off of the buildings and take out my chess set to make things more interesting.

She huffs a little. "Same old, same old. I do love the festivities, but it is all rather... Tame. How did you spend the day?" She looks a tad bit done with the Summer Sun Celebration, not that I particularly blame her, there's only so many times you can do it before it gets annoying, but she also has a smile and seems to have enjoyed it to some degree.

I see a chance to joke around and like always I take it. "Did the Princess not enjoy the entire day basically celebrating her?" I ask in a sarcastic tone, but I chuckle at the end as she smiles and moves a chess piece to check my king. "Fair. But to answer you, I spent the celebration in Ponyville."

She smiles at me and raises a brow at the name. "Hmm, you seem to like that town. Maybe I'll take a visit sometime." If she does know about how important Ponyville is she still doesn't let it show in any way. "But, for now. Checkmate." I roll my eyes at the playful smile and decide to just get my gift out of the way because she just ended this game far faster than normal.

"If you wanted your gift you could have just asked without so soundly beating me." My only answer is a smile. "Come on then, let me show you around." I stand up and stretch but leave all my things on the floor, I even leave my necklace and bracelet behind, and I'm naked for the first time in a long while now.

I don't really have a reason for this, but sometimes it's nice to just walk around unhindered. She keeps her smile and walks with me. "Let me guess, a large kitchen? It would be a nice addition." She jokes a small bit but does actually try to guess as we walk up to the door.

I shake my head. "Nope! Want to guess again?" She does the mature thing and nods happily.

"A bathhouse? You don't really have anywhere to clean up." She guesses again and I stop before opening the door or answering her. I try to ignore a few thoughts when I hear that and shake my head.

"Huh, you're wrong, but I think I might add that regardless." She does make a good point there. "Now come on in." I open the tall door and let her walk inside without needing to crouch, it seems I got that part right. "Welcome to your birthday gift. A home away from home." I say with a slightly proud smile while looking at her expectantly.

She looks around the room with curious eyes. Over the past few weeks, I've made all the basic furniture. The main room has a large table with a few seating cushions, and the far side has several wooden cabinets and a large countertop. The most striking thing is the look, all the furniture is made from pure Black Palm wood which strikes a contrast with the White Oak floors and walls.

She smiles but does a double take when hearing my words and looks back down to me surprised. "You... You made this for me? All of this?" She has a tiny bit of disbelief and I catch one of the very few times Celestia hesitated with her words, I watch as the surprise turns into a growing smile when I nod.

"Yup! I did make the offer when I showed you Gaia's Eden, and I thought you would like a quiet place to relax a bit and just get away from it all, but that's hard without your own space. Let me show you around, although there's not too much to really see." I try to temper her expectations and show her the two other rooms.

The bedroom just has a bed and nightstand, while the workroom has two shelves and an extra large workbench. Not a desk, a workbench, it even has some basic woodworking tools I bought. All this furniture is also made from Black Palm wood with a simple look and is sized for Celestia.

Celestia is silent the entire time but when we're done with the very short tour she has a massive smile. "So, what do you think? It's not massive but it should work." I feel a little nervous as I put a good amount of work into this and really hoped she'd like it.

She keeps a large smile and looks down at me, and in a quick movement hugs me once again. I've had this happen a few times but it's always nice. "It's perfect! And honestly, far more than I could have hoped for." She stops following me and just starts looking through a few cabinets and other places. "It's a lot, how much work did you put into this?" She questions with an excitement I rarely see with her. She moves over to the table, which is too tall for me to sit at so I find a place on the floor and look up.

Her smile and happy attitude is infectious now and I can't help but smile like an idiot. "A fair few hours, the building was easy and the furniture was just grown and moved. Actually, the planning and logistics were the hard part." I explain with a happy tone.

She knocks a hoof on the solid table and looks at the wood with curious eyes for a few moments before raising a brow. "Logistics? I can't imagine this took much considering you grew it all. Also, how did you get the wood to mimic Black Palm? It's a very close match." She asks and I chuckle a bit which causes her confusion to grow even more.

I smile. "I bought a Black Palm Tree a while back, it's all just actual Black Palm wood, I wouldn't even know where to begin to try and make normal wood look like this." I look up and laugh a little at the shocked face she now has as she looks over the house in a new light. "As for logistics? Finding a large enough mattress took a while." I smile knowingly while making a small joke at her expense.

She blinks but laughs with me after a moment. "Yes, I suppose that could be hard to find. But in all seriousness, this is a lot Shade, the furniture alone is beyond expensive. Thank you, this is amazing." She keeps her large smile as she looks around the room some more.

I wave off the second part. "It's just a time investment to me, not even that much time either, and honestly I think my sense of wealth is beyond skewed at this point. Literally, I don't even look at my taxes, I just pay them and forget it all." That gets another laugh from her. "Anyway, I'm glad you like it, also, any requests?"

She raises another brow. "Requests? For what, furniture?" She asks while tapping the table.

I nod. "Yes. I can add or make anything you need, or provide materials if you want somepony to make something for you. I could even enchant things if you need it?" I offer more help. "It's not hard for me and I have plenty of time, while you work too much, and I'd like you to actually enjoy staying here." I get a warm expression from my words.

"So, I can redecorate? Rearrange or add anything I like?" She asks with building excitement while looking around with a practiced eye.

I raise a brow and nod. "Yes? I told you, this is your home now. Paint in bright pink, flood it, you can even burn it down if you want. Although, I won't rebuild it for you if you do that." I joke again. "Seriously what you want, it's supposed to be a home, make it one."

She gets a glint in her eye, I think I messed up. "Yes! Seriously, thank you Shade! I haven't gotten a gift like this in ages!" She acts out more and celebrates a little by clapping her hooves together a few times like a happy filly. "I barely remember that last time I got to decorate a home." She's more excited about the decoration than the house itself.

I keep my raised brow but have another beaming smile on my face and a heart filled with a little pride at her happiness. "You've decorated homes? I mean, I guess it makes sense but that seems so... Well, unlike a princess I guess. But you don't really act like a princess so that actually makes sense." I make yet another verbal jab at her expense.

But this time she's too excited to care about that and immediately moves the large and heavy wooden table a few feet to the side. "I'll get you for that and the other joke later, and I haven't forgotten that last prank. But that's for later, I'm too happy right now for that." My smile falters a little but she continues. "Believe it or not, yes I did, I didn't always live in a castle after all. Still, it has been... A VERY long time since then." I feel her melancholy tone and once again remember how old she really is.

I nod and try to ignore her threat. "Well, tell me if you need anything. But, on a related topic, how is the other gift I gave you working out?" She gets right to it and starts moving the table around and looking up to see the Moon Glow Vines on the ceiling with a smile.

I think she's planning a few things out in her head as she continues to examine the mostly empty space. She also gets a mischievous smile. "It was yet another lovely gift, so once again thank you. As for use? Well, a few rather pushy nobles have had an unfortunate time recently." She doesn't laugh but I sure do.

She takes a moment to walk into the workroom as I follow her around now while laughing for a few moments. She looks over the tools I gave her and nods. "Although, I may have to lighten up a bit before some of my little ponies connect the dots. Also, I must commend you, I never thought to combine those two effects in that way." She compliments me and starts to organize the tools a little.

To be fair, it is a stretch to combine bound illusion magic and love of grapes into a prank, it seems it went well though. "Great! Just make sure to use it on Cadance before she uses something like that on you." She looks back at me with a criticizing stare, although it lacks any real heat to it. "I gave her the grape spell the first time we met at the Gala. Well, less gave and more conspired."

She narrows her eyes at the wall a little, "Hmm, that would explain it..." I'm about to ask but she stands up and looks around the workroom. "I think first I need some wood to work with." I snort in surprise hearing that and get a confused look that I wave off. She wouldn't understand even if I explained that ponies don't have that euphemism.

"Sure what type?" I ask back and ignore the unintentional euphemism.

She seems to think about it. "How large of a piece of that gold wood can you grow? You know? The same type as the crown you gave me." I feel my cheeks heat up a little and I recognize that smile on her face, it seems she's already getting some revenge.

I try to ignore certain thoughts and nod. "Sure. What are you thinking? I can roughly shape it to cut down on time." I add with a smile again, a chance to do some arts and crafts with Celestia sounds like a blast.

"Hmm, for now, I think a nice chair. You seem to need the boot at my new table." She gets me again, I never thought I'd be at the end of a short joke in this life, but here we are. "Actually, I have a good amount of time. Do you have anything to do?" I shake my head. "Perfect, let's get to work then. We have two homes to decorate. OH, it will be so much fun to work with wood again." She says happily and I have to stop myself from laughing again.

I raise a brow and she smiles more at my confusion. "I know you, that shack probably has nothing but a bed and table." I don't deny it as she's got me pinned to rights. "And if you insist on staying in it, then I insist on it actually looking nice inside. Now, come on, we have work to do."

I chuckle and nod again. "Woodworking with a princess. HA." I can't help it and make a joke that she fails to understand. "Oh, this will be fun," I tell her as she gives me a slightly confused look and we head outside to start our work.

She stops and gives me another large smile. "Shade?" I raised my eyebrow yet again. "Thank you for this, I think this is just what I needed." I'm once again thanked and I once again wave it off a little.

"It was for a good friend. Now, let's get started, I want to see how well somepony like you can carve and decorate." I have a slightly challenging tone and from the look in her eye, she accepts my challenge.

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :}
Current year is 994

Not much to say on this one. Enjoy. Also, I'm taking the day off.

Chapter 164

JUL 21 Wednesday.

I feel a strong blow hit my side and knock out a little of my breath as Stone hits my armored side yet again and tries to knock me off balance while I defend with my greatsword.

My armor is better than metal at absorbing the blows and that has proven to be a small but unexpected advantage in a fight. My armor is also still made from living wood so I can simply regrow any damage, although it can take a decent amount of my magic to repair it because it's made from steel wood.

Stone has even asked about the armor, but I just told him it was from an Iron Oak and he doesn't seem to know much about plants, in the end, he just accepted that. I was pretty sure he knew I was hiding things, but he left it be and focused on our training. As I deflect another blow I move to the left quickly as a rock comes from behind me and I quickly move out of the way.

But even with all my practice Stone is one tough bastard, so with two swift blows he's able to knock me down and then ends our match. When I started using armor we agreed that if I got downed and if I couldn't get back up within ten seconds I would lose the match by default.

The reason for that rule is simple, in combat getting back up while in full plate armor is very time-consuming and leaves you open to attacks. So, if I can't get up fast enough I'm defeated, if I do get up we continue. I bang my armored hoof against my armored chest twice to signal an end to our match before the ten seconds are up, and Stone helps me stand up again.

"Good job with the blocking but you need to keep in mind those attack chains." He gives some advice while looking up at me a bit. As I've grown in skill, age, and size he's treated me less like a colt and more like an equal, although we're not really friends still we do have some trust in each other. "Still looks odd without the eyeholes, but I can't argue with the results." He smiles a little and taps the helmet.

I nod and take the helmet off to talk better, it's a small show of respect from me to the older stallion. "Agreed, but with how many things you throw at me I'd be ashamed if I didn-" I stop and move my head to the side as he throws a small pebble past my head from behind, it wouldn't have hurt much but I still rather not get hit. "If I didn't improve." I finish without skipping a beat and laugh a little as he smiles, this is as close to a joke as this rough bastard has.

He nods and puts away his old and battered wooden blade. "Don't get confident now, I can still give you a good thrashing Shade." He says this without humor but with a friendly tone. He is serious about any warning he ever gives, and I take it seriously. I give a firm nod in return while packing up my armor into my mostly empty saddlebags.

I emptied them for this and left my stuff at home. It takes a while to disassemble and pack them up properly and it's a little unwieldy, but after a few minutes, it's all packed away. "See you next week, Stone." I give him a simple farewell and he just nods back silently as I leave and quickly make my way through the streets.

I have plans so after a quick trip home to drop off my armor and take Entropy with me when I head to the library. I have a meeting with Avalon to continue our work and much like with Cadance things are progressing rather well. We've found the right runes and now it's just down to making the spells needed and building the actual prosthetic.

That first part is what we're going to be working on today. I stop my thoughts as I see Avalon waiting at a table in the library with a few books in front of him already. I smile a bit and realize he's not spotted me yet, so I walk up behind him silently. "Hey, how's it going? Find anything interesting?" I ask and can't help but chuckle a little as he jumps from my voice.

His head feathers pin back a bit and his head turns around to look at me while his body stays mostly forward facing. "Shade! S-sorry, you startled me." I smile at my friend's slightly timid tone and wave off the unneeded apology. "Um, well? I think I found a few types of wood that could work well." He perks up as he passes me a piece of paper with a small smile.

His head tracks me while his body stays still as I walk around the table and take the page from him. I always wondered what part of a griffon gave them that trait. The list has several woods but a few stand out as particularly useful, "Oak could be good, but definitely not pine, too weak even if it's lighter." I advise and pass the page back while Entropy looks at Avalon.

"Hello." Entropy has made something of a friendship with Avalon as he likes to draw her when we eat after our study sessions and she seems to like seeing the drawings. Avalon smiles at her while crossing Maple off of the list he gave me. Over time we've talked a lot about what material to use for this project but we're still narrowing it down.

I let Entropy sit on the table while I take out our own notes. "How has it been? It's been a few weeks, and if I remember the last time we talked you were complaining about some noble, or was it a merchant?" I just dive into small talk and flip open my own notebook.

He scratches the back of his head a little. "Well, I wouldn't say I was complaining..." I gave him an amused look in return and he just gave up after a moment. "Ok, maybe a little. But delivering to the Blue Bloods can be... Difficult." He admits and I'm surprised to hear that name.

I don't know much about the Blue Bloods, beyond Celestia complaining a little about the youngest member of the family, although that's only on rare occasions, he's already a headache for some it seems. I smile and hide my interest for some other day, their family can wait for another day. "Fine, just a bit, that's enough for my jokes to work," I admit in return and pass him one of my notebooks. "Here."

He opens the notebook with some curiosity and I watch as his eyes show more and more interest. I took some time to write down all the ways I could carve out the wooden limb, and how to do it himself. He looks back up at me a little confused. "Thanks, but... Well, I thought you were doing all the carving?"

I nod and try to not mislead him by accident. "Don't worry, I still am. But you'll need to know how to maintain and repair it yourself if needed." I reason and he regains his smile and looks at the instructions with renewed interest, we settle into a simple silence for a while and get to work on our project.

We've narrowed down the material we're going to use to some type of wood. Metal is more durable but far too expensive for Avalon and hard to get new parts in remote areas when anything inevitably breaks. Stone or bone are simply unsuitable, and ponies wouldn't really react well to the second one, which only really left the wood as an option.

We could have used magical wood, but that is still expensive for him along with being harder to acquire on his own. So, in the end, we decided to just embed gems in a limb of regular wood, and after our last meeting, I decided to try and teach him enough woodworking to make his own limb.

Ideally, I want him to know how to rebuild the entire thing on his own, even if it takes us longer it will be worth it to never have to worry about it on deliveries. After a while of us working and reading in silence occasionally broken by a few questions and ideas we come across, but eventually we switch to the more interesting part of our work, the spells.

"I. I think this is right. What do you think?" He passes me a drawing of a part of the spell matrix, specifically the matrix for the movement spell we're working on. He's not making an overly important part of the spell, just some of the math needed, and I make sure to double-check his work. Still, he has some skill in being a rune scribe and is slowly improving with time.

"It is, good job, you are doing well so far." I smile and encourage him, he has improved and did the math for this part of the spell well. He shows one of his bigger smiles and moves the page back to keep working on it. I decided to break the silence a little and try to start a conversation. "So, have you ever been to Griffonstone? I'm going to guess yes." I add with a little humor.

He stops and looks up from his work with a slightly raised brow. "Umm, yes. A few times actually, but not recently. Why do you ask?" He asked back while reading through the notebook. I gave him some more and took many notes for later study.

I shrug. "No real reason, I took a trip there for my vacation a few months back. It was... Well, interesting if nothing else." I chuckle at the wild time I had. "Great views though, the top branches were just spectacular," I commented happily and opened a sketchbook I brought to show him several sketches I made while there.

He looks happy for a moment and smiles at the drawings, but slowly grows more and more confused, before becoming a little nervous and uncomfortable. "O-oh, I didn't k-know." He mumbles quietly to himself and I grow confused at the quiet comment.

"Didn't know? Didn't know what?" I ask back, but that seems to make him more nervous.

"W-well, I um..." It seems he let that slip out unintentionally and now looks both embarrassed and a tiny bit... frightened? He also starts speaking in Griffon and lowers his tone to be more quiet. "T-that you know nobles from there?" :Ah. Well, fuck. How did he guess that?:

He continues to be pretty hesitant at this point. "N-nobles are t-the only ones who are allowed up that, high. S-so you know... N-not that I'm asking about them, or anything!" He explains quickly later looking even more uncomfortable when talking about nobles, it seems I got us on a bad topic. I also didn't know about that fact, I was always with the others in the diplomatic party so it never came up.

I look at him and try to come up with an excuse while also trying to get him to calm down and relax again, after a moment I come up with something. I start laughing a little at his reaction, and I wave him off and smile, "It's fine! I just had an opportunity to go there and took it because I was curious, I don't know any nobles or anything. That just sounds stressful." I half lied to wave his concerns away while making a weak joke out of it.

I'm not sure why he reacted so much from a simple question, it's not like I'd have minded answering if it didn't involve what actually happened. Plus, I didn't even have to lie all that much, I don't have any noble friends or acquaintances in Griffonstone. He still looks uncomfortable and nervous about the topic so I change it quickly. "Anyway, what do you think? I still need to improve my shading a bit, the mountains don't look quite right."

That seems to somewhat snap him out of whatever this brought up and he even perks up a little bit when I ask about my art. He looks over the drawings again and after a long moment seems to settle his thoughts, I don't ask about it though, it's simply not my place and he looks happy to avoid the topic. "Umm, y-ya. I think you could try holding it like this while drawing." He demonstrates for a few moments and things gradually return to normal from there.

We work for a while longer and even make some decent progress on the needed spells, and we also start to sketch out some designs for the limb itself. But inevitably things wind down and he stops his work to draw out a basic Temporise spell in the air with his magic. He's a little slow and takes a moment to double check his work, a good practice, but he does cast the spell successfully in the end.

I nod with a smile and some pride. "Good job, it seems you're already branching out to new spells, just make sure to stay safe." I give him more encouragement. He normally asks about what spells to learn but this one he's done on his own, he is progressing well. "Maybe one day you'll be a proper Journeygriff runic caster," I add and he looks a little bashful at my praise.

He also smiles and his mood has properly recovered from the incident before. "I wouldn't say that, it's just a basic spell. Plus it took me two weeks to get it right, being a Journeygriff is a far-off dream, but maybe someday." He looks a little longing and that determined glint in his eye is back once again.

He never seems to tire when it comes to magic. "I thought the same thing, but here I am. Keep at it." I glance at the time and it's around the time we normally stop. "I think we're done for now. To the cafe then?" I ask as we both start to pack our notes up.

"N-no, sorry." His tone is disappointed and apologetic. "I have some things, and well, ya. I'll see you next time though?" He asks a leading question and I nod while keeping my smile. "Goodbye Shade, and... Thanks again for all of, this. It's, so exciting." He smiles down at the part of the spell he completed by himself today.

I wave him off again with a hoof. "And as always it's no trouble. Have a good day, Avalon. Also, make sure to study those woodworking notes, we might actually be able to make an attempt soon if you do." I'm not even lying, most of the spell is done or soon to be, and we'll be able to start carving the pieces needed and getting the gems soon enough.

He looks even more excited at my promise. "Really!" I nod again. "Y-Yes! I'll see you around, a-and, I'll make sure to send a letter!" He promises before hurrying out of the library and into the evening. I could also leave, but recently I've thought about looking into some medical spells and decided to find a few books and keep reading.

I only know four healing spells, one for muscles, one for blood loss, one for bruises, and one for burns. So, I preferably want something outside of those injuries, and one thing that requires more advanced knowledge is scanning spells. That's also what I want to look into now that I have a good amount of skill.

A few weeks ago I relearned the last spell I had and now I'm firmly a Journeypony caster, before that I was still very slowly relearning all my spells. Now that I can cast any spell I know instantly I don't need to really draw spells out anymore, even for enchanting.

I also now have the skill and confidence to learn a spell and instantly cast it without learning to draw it out first, and that gives me access to more possibilities. I could have learned these spells before now when I first advanced, but I prefer the steady and stable approach with my magic.

A lot of higher-level spells can't even be cast by drawing them out, some are simply too big or complex to make that efficient, and some actually specifically require to be instantly cast to work at all. Scanning spells related to healing are often like this, they need both advanced skill and instant casting to use properly.

Yet another reason runic casting is at a disadvantage when you start out, but as you advance the differences between the two branches of casting are minimal. Back to my interest though, I want to learn a few basic scanning spells to actually know what's wrong with somepony beyond my practical knowledge and skill.

I find two good spells, one for the intestines and another for the lungs, I sit down at my table again, and Entropy naps to the side of my work, while I start reading through the complex spell matrix and instructions. I find many scanning spells basically use runes and large amounts of magic to force at least part of the scan and collection of information.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but in a way, it makes you lazy. At the base, all runes and spells are made from knowledge and facts about reality and how it works, but the more complex the task the more knowledge you need, so you fill the gaps with more magic to compensate.

But the problem with just using more magic to fill in the gaps is that you just come to rely on pure magical power at some point. Take teleportation as an example, it's very magickly intensive, but if ponies had more knowledge about the subject they could cut down on the magical cost a lot and make it more usable.

They don't though, those who have the magical power to cast it often don't want to spend time researching it even more, and those without the power see it as an impassable mountain and ignore it. In the end, it results in most never trying to solve the main problem, lack of knowledge.

I finish with the first spell and copy a few notes before grabbing a blank piece of paper and visualizing the spell in my mind. It takes several minutes of intense concentration so I don't mess anything up and several failed casting attempts, but after an hour of work the spell is cast with myself as the target.

After a moment the matrix flashes and I sit very still for a few minutes before the spell fades away having done its job. and after looking through the book again it seems to have found nothing concerning. This was the lung scanning spell, both scanning spells can't tell me much, but they will be able to find anything like an illness or injury.

Most medical scanning spells can only really tell you if there is a problem, roughly where that problem is, and sometimes depending on the problem it can be described specifically. But that's often the domain of more advanced medical scanning spells.

The results I got left the paper completely blank, which means the spell found nothing, but also could mean I messed it up. I took a while to look through the text again to make sure I did everything properly. I form the spell matrix in the air instantly but as I'm studying the spell I hear a small gasp as a purple pony moves next to me and closely looks at the magic spell work. "OH! What are you casting?"

I'm a little stunned at the interruption and my mind takes a moment to recognize the mare at my side asking the question while watching the spell matrix in the air. :Ohhh, here we go again I guess: I feel a remnant of panic rise in me when I see her, but unlike the last times we met I am much more calm and collected.

Maybe it's some mix of having been to Ponyville multiple times, or my more relaxed attitude about changing things, but the result is the same regardless. So after a moment I smile a little and tap her on the shoulder while backing up to let her better look at the spell matrix I'm still holding in the air.

"Nice to see you again, It's been quite a while hasn't it?" I greet the mare plainly as she turns to me with a smile, a smile that turns to slight confusion as she stares at my neck before looking up further to meet my eyes. "Hello again Miss. Twilight ." I greet again while staring down at the smaller mare.

Author's Note

Thank for reading this little story. :}
Current year is 994

Anyone asking for more Twilight? Well, too bad, you're getting it anyway.

Chapter 165

JUL 21 Wednesday.

I watch as she seems to recognize me after a few moments of looking up at me. "S-Shade?" She asks, shocked, and with a slight blush.

I'm confused by the blush, but she barged in next to me so I guess she's just embarrassed. She's grown since we last met and now stands a little taller, but at this point in my life, my height is becoming really obvious. I stand a few inches taller than her and she seems to have also noticed that now. "Umm, sorry, about ... That." She's awkward about her actions and I just keep my smile.

I take another step back while moving my things a little further to one side of the table, giving her more space, it seems she needs it. "It's fine, curiosity is nothing to be sorry for, even if you could be a bit more subtle. As for your question, I'm working on some scanning spells." I answer and take a moment to study the spell matrix before letting it dissolve into nothingness.

She looks even more surprised now and starts to look at the books I have open on the table. "Wait what? You're becoming a healer!?" She exclaims and I raise a brow. She stares at the text intently for a few moments and her embarrassment seems to be forgotten in her new excitement.

I shake my head. "No! No. I just practice in my free time, it's more of a hobby than anything. I mostly just find it interesting to study and learn." I excuse and downplay things a bit. "But enough about me, how have you been?" I blatantly try to move on from the topic involving me, old habits die hard after all.

That takes a little wind out of her sails and she seems to calm down again, but she still looks excited about the magic involved, that's just my guess though. "I've been well, great actually! Learning for the Princess is always fun. The Princess is amazing!"

"All the different types of magic she's shown me, she can even teleport! The calculations alone!!" I get the sense she's trying to show off to me a bit, not that I can blame her, it is certainly an accomplishment to be Celestia's student. She also has a glint in her eye when talking about Celestia, it seems her authority figure worship is already there.

She sits down next to me at the table with a few feet of space between us, she puts down several books she brought with her, most seem to be about magical incantations from what I can tell. "Also... I sorta noticed you weren't around the library that much anymore, I heard you repair books now?" She asks again, awkwardly trying to start a conversation.

It seems her dam told her about that. I tilt my head a little and half nod, "I did, but now I'm onto administration work. Paperwork can be a tiring thing, but It's a decent job. So, incantations huh? It's an interesting topic, although I find them to be a little unstable for my liking. Although, I haven't used them much beyond my curiosity." I again move us past things like my job to less specific things about myself.

It seems that just like Avalon talking about magic is a good way to veer the topic away from something. She smiles wider and nods happily, "Maybe, but the Princess says it's important and gave me a test for it. You said you were working on a scanning spell?" She asks back.

I nod. "For the lungs, yes, but I'm not sure I got it right. I'll need more practice and time." I think about it for a moment and gather my will and magic to reform the spell matrix in the air again. "I cast it earlier, but the result was nothing, just a blank page. So I either have nothing wrong with me, or I have to make sure I actually got it right." I explain while looking over the matrix closely.

"Wait! Did you learn this today!?" I nod slowly. "It's a healing spell, those can take weeks to learn properly!" She asks seemingly impressed with my actions. She moves closer and looks over the matrix again looking it over for something, probably flaws, not that I would mind her checking my work.

I raise a brow, I know I'm a fast learner when it comes to spells, but I didn't expect it to cause such a reaction from her of all ponies. "Yes, that is true, but it's really not that hard. I'd expect you to be able to do that same thing, it's just memorization and visualization." If I remember correctly she does just that several times in the show, and she is the element of magic for a good reason.

She nods slowly after a moment and blushes a little again, ok this is just getting odd. "Yes, but... Well, I'm the Princess's personal student, she hoof picked me to learn from her, and you're a librarian." She seems to have enough awareness to realize that's a little rude and looks apologetic a moment later. "S-sorry! Not that I'm better than you, or anypony! At anything! I'm just... Better trained than most!" I nearly laugh a little as she scrambles for an excuse.

I keep my smile and after a moment I can't hold it in and just chuckle at her, which doesn't help her embarrassment. If this is what Cadance feels like when teasing me then I can see the appeal. "Don't worry, I'm very hard to insult." I wave her worry away easily. "In fact, feel free to try your best. But you're also right, most aren't as proficient." I agree with some humor.

"But, I am interested in what specifically Ce- The Princess has you testing for, it must be interesting for her Majesty to assign it to you." I'm a little too relaxed about this and nearly let something slip before correcting myself quickly.

Luckily she seems too embarrassed to notice it. She looks relieved for a moment and seems more than willing to move on and even moves over a book from her pile to me. "Thanks, and sorry again. Right the test! The Princess is testing me about different incantations and how they affect fire spells, oh, and why, that's also important." She explains quickly, obviously trying to change the subject.

I look over the books again and see that it is mostly fire spells and incantations. It's a specific topic, but it is good at visibly showing the effects of incantations. Fire is prone to change depending on the words used more than other spells, a good way to teach Twilight, maybe I'll complement Celestia later.

"Hmm, it is interesting, just don't cast anything like that here. We already had an incident like that before, and I was one of the ponies fixing those books, such a mess." I chuckle at both the memory and the slightly horrified look Twilight gives me after putting it together in her head.

"WHAT!" Even though I was expecting it, it still made me flinch a little when the normal quiet of the library was disrupted by the Irate mare. "Who would cast a fire spell in a library?!! Were the books ok?!" she gets a little in my face again and I quickly nod to try and placate her.

She calms down a little after that but still looks ready to yell at somepony. :OK, lesson learned, don't do that: "Good. Fire in a library, so..." She trails off and takes a deep breath. "Still, it is cool you got to fix that, probably took a while though." She shows a slight appreciation for a job most never even consider.

I decided to try and just ignore her outburst and move past it. I'm really not doing a good job here, then again I don't really know her at all. We've barely ever talked or interacted, and she's also dealing with puberty so that doesn't help. I shrug, "Not really, the copy spell made it easy, and some other pony made a spell to remove old binding glue. We just take it apart, copy it, check for errors, and put it back together." I still don't know who came up with that spell.

She looks excited for a moment. "OH! I know that one! Another spell from The Veil Winter!" :I nearly forgot she was a fan, fuucck: "I even got to help h-!" She stops abruptly for a moment as her eyes widen a bit too wide looking almost comical. "I mean got to... Help the Princess. Yup! I got to help the Princess with something!" She tries to hide her slip-up behind some more excitement, and fails, badly.

:Oh, thank magic she stopped: At least she's mostly able to keep it hidden. I settle for raising a brow and giving her a, 'ya obviously' expression while nodding, mostly just to keep up appearances. "Well, ya? Who else would you help?" I tested her a little but she didn't answer me for a moment and I moved on. "... Anyway, how has your brother been? Last time I saw him he was barely walking around." The last time I saw Spike he was mostly immobile but did move around some, and it's been a while so I'm curious.

Yet again she looks a little confused. "My brothe-? Oh! You mean Spike?" I nod and notice the smile she gets when I confirm her guess. "He's doing great, he even said his first word a few months back! They were 'Dam' he was so cute!" She shows a newfound excitement. "Although, he did say it to me. But he calls me Twi now." She adds for some reason and overshares a little, I get the feeling not many ask about Spike.

I just chuckle at that and try not to laugh outright. "Well, you are his big sister. I'm happy to know he's doing well, I hope those recipes helped out in the end."

She seems to think for a moment before nodding with a slight grimace, but not an overall bad reaction. "Actually I think we've cooked a good number of those. It's kind of gross, but dam insists I learn how to cook at least a few of them for Spike." She adds some teenage snark that shows just how that annoyed her. I also wonder if this is an alteration to the timeline or not, it could go both ways I guess.

:Ahh, teenage angst, I did not miss you: "Well, regardless I'm glad you found some use in them. I myself prefer to eat meat, but that's just a preference. Have you ever tried any?" I ask back and she gives me a slightly more grossed-out look while seeming to remember something.

"Blah, it was so... Fishy! Even with sauce! I have no idea how you and dam deal with it!" She complains a bit, but the conversation is less and less awkward as we continue talking. "She got a taste for it and now me and my sire have to try it every time she makes something new!" She complains some more about her parent.

I just straight up laugh, she looks a little annoyed at my reaction, but more cute harmless annoyed than truly annoyed. "Well, I have no regrets then, another pony on my side," I say jokingly. "But seriously, that's nice to know, maybe we could swap some recipes?" I wonder out loud and she gives me a light glare.

She groans a little and just looks back to her books, after a moment she stops and looks like she has an idea. She looks a little more hesitant and looks over at me while not making eye contact. "Hey, could you... Well, do you want to, maybe, help me study...? I-I could help you too!" She offers with a hopeful look and a slight hesitation, enough to make her fumble her words a little.

I stare at her for a few moments, she's obviously nervous about something yet again. From what I remember she had fewer friends at this time and might already be drifting away from the few she does have, so she could just be nervous about trying to make new friends? Honestly, I have a similar problem, for me it's just my paranoia that gets in the way.

I can't see a problem with her offer and she's obviously trying to at least be nice and offer help in return. I'm also pretty curious just how good she is at magic. After a few long moments of silence, I eventually nod with a half smile. "Sure, why not? I know a little about incantations so how about we start there?" I offer in return.

Her eyes seem to sparkle a little and she moves closer to me while opening a book. "Well, part of the test is learning how different languages affect spells and how to best pick words that coraspon-!" She gets excited and starts to rapidly ramble about her test while flipping through a few books and pages of neat notes.

I keep my half smile seeing her enthusiasm, this could be interesting. So as we dive into the technical mumbo jumbo I let my magical senses slip for the moment and ignore most of the world to focus my mind on the task at hoof while relaxing a little.

It can't hurt to let my guard down a little, right? After all, I think I'm due a little good luck.

POV shift Cadance.

I smirk slightly as I walk into the large library as the day nears its end.

I walk through the shelves looking for the right aisle and keeping an eye out for my special somepony. My smirk widens at the thought of getting to spend some time with Shining outside of the palace, he always knows when I need a break. As I walk I look around and a few thoughts surface in my mind.

The library itself is an interesting place with a long and storied history, but what I personally find more interesting is a specific pony who works here. Shade Evergreen, is an enigma that never seems to be solved. The more I learn the less things seem to make much of any sense.

He rarely talks about himself to others, even Aunty doesn't know everything about him, and talking to him doesn't really help. He is good at answering without really answering, you can ask him what color he likes best and he will tell you, but only in such a way that never leads to more information then necessary to answer.

He will say a great many things, and you will learn little at all. If Aunty is to be believed then what little I learn about him is already more than he ever says to anypony that isn't a close friend, it makes me concerned about his life sometimes. But, he seems completely fine with being this way.

He walks through life with possibly more secrets than me and yet he lives like it doesn't really matter. But above all of this is the simple fact that he makes no sense. He has immense wealth and could have even more fame, but instead, he works in the last place you'd expect a library.

Although I suppose I should be grateful, very VERY few would be as humble as he is with the power he wields. But all of this, the secrets, the magical skill, the rare abilities, it's all less interesting to me than one single thing he does. He makes Aunty smile, and I mean truly smile.

Before he came around she would show that smile, the same smile she had when I first ascended, but not very often. The smiles she shows other ponies are still genuine, but they lack something, it is not a full smile that forces its way onto your face and won't let you stop.

Only with me and a few others would she show that smile, even then it was relatively rare to see, but a few years ago things changed. That smile that she rarely showed started to pop up more and more, and for a long time I bothered her about the way and how. Eventually, I learned the reason, a seemingly ordinary colt.

As I came to learn he is anything but normal, but that's not the point. My Aunty was smiling because for once in a very long time she had a true friend, not a royal who became a friend, not a fellow ruler like me, a simple friend. Even if it also involves some business it seems to come second overall and doesn't hinder them. That's also not to say that those other friends aren't real or genuine, the friendship is just of a different form.

I have many types of love, and I KNOW the difference between her friends. Shade is, well, just a friend. I see it in the way they talk and interact, he looks at her as just his friend. He knows who she is, and what being her friend means, but I know that if Aunty was just a normal pony he'd probably still be her friend all the same.

I can't help but smile even more at the memories of seeing them talk and joke. I think they are good for each other, and I couldn't be more happy for Aunty, she needed more friends. To circle back around though, recently Aunty has had the smile again and I've seen her around a little less.

I asked, but she said it wasn't her place to tell, and the only pony that makes her smile like that is Shade. So, after a lot of nagging and a little pranking, she said he gave her a very nice gift. I know about the other gift he got her, mostly because I was the first test subject.

I huff at the memory of that dinner now long ago. I also know he tattled on me, but I can get them both back for that later. I'm also begrudgingly impressed with the idea he came up with, and as a silver lining, I got to see it be used on a few particularly annoying nobles.

But it just makes me wonder what the other gift was. It has to be something a bit personal but I have no clue and I can't tease him if I don't know, It's all a little frustrating. Although, I could just tease him about Aunt's good mood? Maybe, but I'd need to mix it in with something else.

Aunty did seem rather pleased with the odd metal flower now sitting on her desk, but she didn't share anything about that. I'd have to confirm if it is a gift from him, if it is from him it wouldn't be that hard to confirm, just tease him about it and joke about her looks with him.

I keep forming plans in my mind as I walk before eventually finding my Shining. He's at the end of a row of books and seems to be, hiding? I raise a brow and walk up behind him, he hears me and turns around quickly, only to relax and smile when he sees it's just me.

He puts a hoof on his lips before I call out to him from a distance, after a moment I walk up next to him. "Spying isn't really like you my Shining knight, are you up to no good again?" I tease him a little, but he's too used to it for that to do anything but make him roll his eyes a little.

He smiles and moves to kiss me on the cheek. "Yup, but I have a good reason this time." He says in a low tone with a smile that is far too mischievous for him normally. "Don't let them catch you, but look." He keeps the quiet tone and I keep my brow raised as he stops further back so I can peek around the corner.

When I look around the corner I'm still confused, but that cleans up quickly when I see Twilight sitting at a table reading. This would normally be uninteresting, but this time she's not alone. Sitting next to her and talking with her is a Colt I recognize immediately.

Shining moves a little closer but keeps out of sight. "They have been talking for a while now. Also, you remember how I said I think Twi likes somepony?" His words are all I need to start and pay attention to the feelings that are coming from Twilight. She's giving off a particular feeling of love, but most would just call it a weak crush.

It's not full love by any means, but it's there and from the way things are going it's not leaving anytime soon. I do notice that Shade isn't really feeling the same, but regardless I feel my smile grow more and more as I watch. They do seem to be getting along rather well even without any feelings on Shade's part, maybe I don't need to tease him about Aunty, or rather not only Aunty.

As I watch Shade stops abruptly, and after seemingly waving away the question Twilight just asked about his sudden reaction, and then he turns. A moment later he looks across the room right at me, and after a very small moment, I see his eyes widen as he seems to recognize me.

I give him my biggest smile in return. "Shining, I think it's time we go find a book to read, I'm sure those two will be fine until we get back." It seems I'll have some things to adjust for.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I'm not sure if I got Twilight right in this chapter, she feels a little off but I kind of struggled to her her personality to come out right. I was going for the introvert trying to be likable while also trying to impress someone. Along with a dash of her being a teenager.

Tell me what you think. If you want of course, if not please ignore my words. Regardless I hope you liked it.

Chapter 166

AUG 1 Sunday.

I silently watch as more gold dust works its magic to speed up the growth of the Copper Lilly in front of me.

It's been yet another few weeks and things have been peaceful, so I have some plans for today. I slowly watch the plants grow and dump more gold dust inside when it's needed. My time spent with Twilight was... Well, actually pretty pleasant, if you don't count a certain interruption.

Twilight did know her stuff and certainly knew about spells and magic, but she seemed to lean more towards the study of magic itself, while I'm more focused on spell creation, and we both enjoy learning new magics in general. Overall though we have a decent amount in common and I think we both learned a few things while working together.

In the end, I actually ended up giving her the mailing address for my apartment, something I would normally not do. But she is going to be important, so even with my paranoia, I think it's best to try and maintain at least a friendly relationship, even if it never goes further than that.

But there is something more concerning about the otherwise pleasant meeting, Cadance. I have no idea why she was there, but I know her enough now to guess she's not going to let this go, and she nearly gave me a heart attack when I saw her peeking behind a bookshelf. Our next meeting will definitely be interesting if nothing else.

I watch as the last of the gold dust is used and I take a moment to use my upgraded mortar and pestle to grind the new copper flower to dust before adding it right back into the water. I put away all the tools I use for this process right after, I drop the things off under the pavilion and get to work on my plans for the day.

First I need to find Entropy, and considering the annoyed screeching coming from Celestia's home I think I can guess where she is. As I walk over I hear the noise get louder, normally this might be a concern, but I saw Philomena around a while ago so I'm pretty sure I know what I will find.

As I approach the door I see a small area where I left several pieces of wood a few days ago is now empty. When Celestia started to decorate I told her she could just leave any material requests on the message board and I'll get around to them when I can and leave the requested things here.

She's been very happy about her new home, she spent more time here in the last month than ever before, still, it's only an hour or two every few days but I'm glad she's getting away from the palace. She's proven to be pretty decent at woodwork, not amazing but she does have some skill in it.

I asked and she seems to have only ever really dabbled in the craft, I guess even someone of her age can't master everything. Still, she's decent and has already made a few small things for both of our homes, for me she made a few small shelves along with a small wooden plant pot.

As I enter I see both Entropy and Philomena fighting over a small rope toy that is normally in my apartment, I guess one of them brought it here. "Ok, time for a rest you two." I pick both up in my field and take the toy much to their annoyance. "I'll give it back later." I try to placate Entropy as she glares at me, while Philomena just flies away when I let her go and seems to content herself by preening on a perch in the room.

Entropy still looks annoyed but moves onto my back when I let her go while I place the toy in my saddlebags. "Come on Girl, we have things to do." She stops glaring after I give her a few berries as a bribe and take a look around the room. Celestia has done some decent work so far.

She mostly used Black Palm wood, so I helped her make a pair of chairs for her table. Not for her but for me and any other ponies that want to sit down and still be able to use the table, they are plain but functional. Next is an assortment of bowls and cups made from several wood types, White Oak, Normal Oak, Black Palm, Maple, and so on. This seems to be the main way she's practicing her woodworking.

I also helped her make a perch large enough for both our gremlins to rest on at the same time, and finally, she made a small chest for her room. It's not much, but considering how much time she has to work with it's a good job, and I'm curious what else she'll be working on next, and what I can help her with.

I leave her home and close the door firmly before walking to my own shack and grabbing a few small things I'll need for my trip today. I found my flask, my sketchbook, a few seeds to grow snacks, along with a few other small items. Once it's all ready I turn to Entropy. "To Ponyville please."

She looks up at me and nothing happens for a moment. I can guess what she's trying to do and roll my eyes, I pull out a little piece of fish as yet another bribe. She locks on to it immediately but I keep it away from her. "Get us there and I'll give you two more. You greedy glutton." Despite being extorted I smile as she gobbles down the fish and we vanish a few moments later.

When we reappear we're once again in a forest a good distance away from Ponyville itself. I give Entropy the rest of her bribe and take a moment to adjust my saddlebag, like most saddlebags, they have two gaps that any pegasus buyer can put their wings through.

I cast a spell and overpower it to last longer before waiting a minute as my wings fully materialized on my back. Entropy finishes her treat and looks at them before she immediately starts to fuss over my feathers again. "I know, I know, you can fix them in a moment." I pick her up in my field and put her down before putting my saddlebags back on and putting my wings through the correct gaps.

Once everything is properly secured and strapped Entropy jumps right back on me, "Stay! Bad." She demands and starts to peck and preen my wings while I have to move them any way she wants. In the end, I just sit on the forest floor and take out my sketchbook to pass the time as she works.

Autumn is now getting closer, it's still a little off, but in forests like this you can see the first tiny signs as animals find new borrow and some plants die. Along with that I see what others do not, how the flows of life magic running through the forest twist and turn, and eventually slow as winter draws closer.

The trees will have golden leaves within two or three weeks and many of the leaves will be gone not long after that. In the quiet forest where I'm sitting I face an old rotten tree trunk half standing up, several feet thick and it is long dead, but even now life grows from what remains.

A small fern grows from in along with a few mushrooms and moss has covered its base. I slowly draw it out even when Entropy finishes her work, once it's done I look over the decent sketch before stretching and standing up to get back to work.

I walk around and find a gap in the tree cover, I cast a spell on myself to cancel out most of my weight before jumping as hard as I can. I brush against a few branches but I'm easily able to break over the tree cover and get myself well into the air, I beat my wings several times to gain height as Entropy follows behind me.

When I get high enough into the air I level out and cancel the slow-falling spell on myself, I let the wind flow over me as Entropy flies next to me with a happy caw, we don't often fly together. The world looks so small from up here, so far away, it can almost make you forget all the troubles you have.

This will take a while so as I fly I let my mind wander through my endless thoughts. I've pondered many things, but a few things recently have brought up a few new thoughts. One in particular is the conversation I had with Celestia about death, it made me think more about my own death and what that could mean.

In a way, the thought of something after death can be utterly terrifying. So many take comfort in something more than just an end, but many do not think of how bad that could really be or maybe that's my paranoia talking again. An example is the classic idea of Heaven and Hell, a good place and a bad place, doesn't really matter what you call them or how you define that good and bad.

One is the fear of an endless punishment, and the other is often an endless reward, that's not how humans work though. I know myself and I know that if I had everything I could want it would never be enough, as a human I have in me not just greed, but a fundamental need for something out of my reach, something I can push myself to be better to acquire.

So, what would getting everything you want do to a human? Well, if the super-powerful and rich from my last world are any indication, they go mad. Sure, some deal with it well and live on just fine, but so many others fall in spectacular fashion and style for reasons that make little sense to others.

The reason I bring this up is a fear I now have. Tell me, I died and was reborn, who's to say that won't just happen again? And again. And again. Living one life is wild, living a second one can be both a blessing and a curse, but how many lives before it becomes nothing but a hell?

How many times can you do the same thing before it all loses all meaning? My death and rebirth also bring other questions to mind. Above all else, there is one question, how? Did some entity bring me here? Was this second life a reward of some kind? Or maybe a punishment I don't yet understand?

Depending on how things go it could be either way, if I save this world then a long life in a peaceful land is not out of possibility, I would even call it likely. But if I fail, I will have to watch this all burn, it will be a new hell. I've always thought about things like this, but that conversation has brought it back yet again.

It's not as if this is all doom and gloom either though. Sure things are undetermined, but they were in my past life and I know I can change the future. It's not easy in any way, but it CAN be done, and that's a large part of what keeps me going, that all my work is not in vain.

All that remains to be seen is if I can truly win this battle. I'm fighting fate itself and I am under no illusion she will swing back at some point. But is that in a literal or metaphysical sense? Is fate a being? Or just a concept? Why can't it be both? So many questions yet so few answers, that never changes in any life I suppose.

In a way I'm more clueless now than I was in my past life, at least on Earth there is no magic, here beings warp reality at will and that means nothing is off the table. Are gods real? Yes, that I can answer with some certainty, what I can't answer is what a god actually is.

Discord is probably close enough to count as some form of higher being, but I wonder if belief or worship plays any role in his power? Is it just that he's attuned to chaos in some way, or does he draw power from all the feelings about chaos? Yet again more questions and no answer, but unlike the other topic I may actually get answers someday.

I snap out of my thoughts and check the time since I started flying and keeping in mind my rough speed I calculate the rough distance I've traveled so far. Today is about finding a new place for Entropy to teleport to, the distance between my apartment and Gaia's Eden is just not nearly enough anymore.

Entropy needs ten round trips to tire herself out now and it's not pushing her anymore, so I need a greater distance, a much greater distance. That's why I'm flying towards the west coast of Equestria, somewhere I haven't been to before. New Trotten is on the east coast so I thought I'd go see the other side of the continent.

I'm in no rush though, I'm planning to travel far enough away where Entropy can make one round trip to drain herself, once she's used to that we'll just move further towards the west coast and eventually we'll reach it. It will be slow going, but we have time and it will be effective.

Although, unlike her past routine of two trips a day, one in the evening and another in the morning, We'll only have one trip right before we head to bed. I still need to get to Gaia's Eden so her new training will be a bit slower, but like I said we have plenty of time to work with.

The flying itself is both boring and exciting. I see many lakes, rivers, towns, and cities, I even see other ponies flying about. But all of that is second to me focusing on flying and measuring the distance, I'm using rough measurements here so I'm going to deliberately undershoot my goal.

I can easily go further if it's not enough to fully tire out Entropy, but I really don't want to overshoot it and have to backtrack until she can get us home. So over the next few hours of daylight, a cycle starts to form, I fly for a while and keep measuring the distance, sometimes I cast a slow falling spell while recasting my wings before they disappear, and sometimes I take a long rest to eat and drink while recovering my stamina.

As the sun starts to hang low and the day nears its end I reach a distance I consider to be good enough for now. I'm not really anywhere right now, even from this height I can't see any towns, just roads and forests for a long while. I need someplace at least secluded so after some looking I find a rocky hill outcropping.

It's just some smoothed rocks on a taller hill rising around a hundred feet above the ground, in its center it has a flattish area that is good enough for what I need. It will be dark soon so I land a few minutes later. The landing is a little tricky but I've gotten better at flying and I'm able to keep myself intact.

Entropy had long ago decided to rest in my shadow. As I land I stretch my back and legs, which are pretty sore from the long hours spent flying, even if it was mostly just my gliding flying can take a lot out of you. I don't bother setting up camp and just start to draw a circle in the grass with a stick.

As I'm drawing, Entropy leaves my shadow and looks at the circle before looking up at me. "Home? Dinner?" She asks a little impatiently. At this point we're both probably hungry and tired, I certainly am.

I nod a little tiredly and point to the circle. "You need to remember this place. But yes, it's time we head home and get something to eat." I don't mince my words and she seems to understand my instructions just fine, she's still getting smarter. She looks around for a few minutes while I use a map and try to calculate roughly where we actually are.

By the time Entropy hops on my back my tired mind is a little closer to my answer, but it's cut short when we both vanish from the outcropping as the sun finally sets. When we reappear in my apartment I immediately check on Entropy, she's tired but still able to stand and walk around just fine, seems I got the distance just right and she'll be able to make a round trip, lucky me.

I smile at her and place her on the countertop. "Just rest Girl, I'll make us some dinner, and you're getting extra." She perks up a bit at that but just lays there to rest as I get to work on a meal. It's nothing amazing but I'm tired and neither of us cares at this point.

Once we're done eating she just slips into a random shadow to sleep while I decide to wind down my day with something simple. I trudge down the stairs to grab any mail I got and trudge right back up, heading down here to get any mail can be annoying. I go through what I got when I get back to my apartment.

I use a spell to create light in my now-dark apartment. A single letter from Avalon stating when he'll be available for another meeting and today's newspaper. I read the letter with a smile and decided to read the paper a little afterward, not something I always do but it can be interesting.

It's mostly more of the same, fashion and politics, but the second page catches my eye. As I read I feel a sadness grow in me, and then a small ember of frustration and even a tiny bit of regret. I don't cry, but It's still far from a pleasant feeling to see this news. In the end, I let out a long sigh and tried to sort out my now chaotic thoughts.

My earlier thought echoes in my mind rings true. Fate will swing back.

Loving husband lost is Timberwolf attack!

In tragic news a loving husband, Bright McIntosh from the small town of Ponyville has lost their life on July twenty-eighth. He and his wife were near the Everfree forest when a small pack of Timberwolves attacked. The events are still largely unknown, but from a few sources we have learned that the Miss Pear Butter only survived from a magical item she had, this is yet to be confirmed though.

The specific events are still being investigated by the guard and many questions are still unanswered. We at the Canterlot Daily send our utmost condolences to the family of the deceased and will keep our readers informed of any developments.

As I stare at the page I feel bittersweet, I have saved a life, and failed to save another. And in that moment I can't help but remember an old saying from a life now past.

From defeat, victory, from victory, defeat.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading my short story. :D
Current year is 994

Fate is not so easily fought, but what's important is that you can still win, but victory always comes at a cost.

Something a little bit more somber and maybe even thoughtful.

Chapter 167

AUG 13 Friday.

I slowly draw out the last lines of the tree in front of me as I sit in the autumn weather of the park.

The last two weeks I've been... Well, I'm not really sure, mostly just feeling a little defeated. It's not like my life is ruined or anything, I'm just feeling down, it is passing fairly quickly at least. But still, that nagging feeling of failure and loss will cling to me for a bit.

In a way I succeeded, I saved a life that was destined to end, but I also can't help but think about what I could have done. If I just did more and tried harder could I have saved both of their lives? And after a lot of thought, I realized I was asking the wrong questions.

Do I regret my actions? And is doing more worth the risk? First things first, no I do not regret doing it and I never will, I saved a life. But I do have a little regret over not doing more, and that's where the second question comes into play. Is doing more worth the risk?

I can safely say the future has changed from what it was, and considering what is coming and what must be done that is... Terrifying. Some things must go as they did before, but I don't think that should stop me from saving lives either, I refused to let my fear stop me last when I gave them that bracelet and I refuse to let it stop me now.

But, acting recklessly and just changing things won't lead to anything good in the long run, so in the end, I think myself into a circle and end up right where I began. I will do my best and change what I think needs to be changed, but there has to be a limit to that change, in the end, I just have to choose what to change when the time comes.

As for the Apple family specifically, I think I did the best I could at the time with what I had, that doesn't take away my feelings but it is a small comfort. Honestly, I'm very lucky they even took the gift and used it at all, it was a long shot to begin with and was pretty unlikely to work.

While I do feel bad about the whole thing it's not really tearing me up too much, mostly because I'm pretty detached from the ponies involved, I never even got to meet Bright Macintosh. The only thing that separates him from all the other ponies I don't know that die every day is my own involvement.

No matter how bad I feel I know his family is in a much worse place and the absolute last thing they need is anything to do with me and my messy life, so I'm not planning on going near them for a while, they need to grieve in peace without my regret or guilt. So, I do what I can to keep moving, and do my best to live my life.

There is also a silver lining for all this, as morbid as it is, Bright's death and Pear's survival prove something that is beyond important. Fate can be changed, I CAN win this fight, I CAN save this world. I can make large changes and shift things, I will have to fight fate to do it but I'm more than willing to fight to the bitter end for this world.

I don't care what enemy is in my path, I WILL win, and they will learn just how much a determined human can endure, and how far we can go to win a doomed battle. That is probably very overly dramatic, but when the cost of losing is the loss of a fucking law of reality and the literal end of a world it's more than reasonable.

I take a deep breath and try to calm my mind for a few moments as I put down my sketchbook and look out over the park. Autumn is here now and the trees are rapidly changing their leaf colors to an endless mix of red and orange, soon winter will be here as well.

As I'm calming my mind, Entropy shifts from laying on my side in the drying grass to looking up at me better. "Ok? Love." She asks with some mimicry of a concerned tone while brushing her head against my hoof in an attempt to cheer me up.

I smile at her lopsidedly and scratch her some. "I'm fine, just too many thoughts, as always," I reassure her and give her more attention for the care she's shown me. Entropy really has been such a blessing in my life and I have no idea where I would be right now without her.

Speaking of Entropy, she's doing as well as always and in fact even a bit better. The new spot we picked for training has already started to expand her teleportation distance, but like I expected the returns are falling off a little. It will still be a few years before we hit a wall but it's a clear sign her ability does have a limit.

Along with her teleportation, something else has started to pop up, she's learning to use tones in her voice. In the past she mostly phrased things as a statement or a question, now she's started to add tones to those statements and questions for verbal context, things like happiness or worry.

It's not very complex right now, but I'm still teaching her and she seems happy to learn, It seems her intelligence is still growing with her age. Another thing is her ability to hide in shadows seems to be improving in an odd way, in the past, she'd only inhabit a shadow or place her shadow on top of mine.

But I've started to notice that when she moves from a shadow it moves slightly, somewhat like a balloon the shadow bends out following her exit before snapping back into place. Neither of us knows what that means, and Entropy seems to have no control over this effect as well.

I also don't really have a way to test it as the shadow still remains completely intangible to anyone but her, for now I'm just going to think about it and have Entropy try new things. A chilly wind passes me and I see some rain start to move in from a distance, time to go then.

I stand up and start walking out of the park as Entropy merges into my shadow to move with me, I cast the Temporise spell at the same time and it's also nearly time I get to my meeting. Over the past few weeks, I got a few pieces of mail, even from Twilight.

It was a rambling letter that could be boiled down to asking me about my week and asking how I was doing, along with explaining her day, overall it was awkward and not too interesting. I just sent a letter back with some small talk and basic questions for her about her time and interests, just friendly words.

I don't expect much to come of it but it's nice having a pen pal. Beyond that I got a letter from both Celestia and Cadance, Celestia had to skip a meeting to organize the Gala and invited me to it again, while Cadance invited me to our next meeting for the love rune, which is today.

The final thing of interest is that Avalon and I had another meeting, we finished the last of the spell work and even started to finalize some designs for the prosthetic. But he also told me he got a large order and will be busy for a while, he couldn't even give me a good date for when he'd be done, so the rest of the work will have to wait a little longer, sadly.

I get home before the rain catches me and just like that all my luck for today is spent, not that I assume I'll have any luck with this meeting today. I didn't have much time before the meeting so I just spent it on something small and simple, I made a small gift for Cadance.

It's nothing fancy, I just made a large Steel wood comb enchanted with the spell I made. As for why I'm making a gift? Well, I have no idea when her birthday is and I feel that after all the meetings we had I consider her something of a friend, and because I have no idea when her birthday is I'll just give her this today.

To be honest I was mostly just bored and needed something to spend a little time on and distract my mind. I finish wrapping the comb and pack it away before finding Entropy again to take me to the palace. It's the same old, same old. I arrive, a guard leads me to a door, and inside is Cadance waiting at a table for me.

What is not normal is the look I get from her when she sees me, it's not the look I normally get before a teasing, this seems more demanding and sinister in some way. I stare at her for several moments before sighing and lowering my head a bit. "I will bribe you to not do whatever you're thinking." I plead a little with her, but her smile doesn't falter for a second.

"Nope! You can't run either, I will tell Aunty! Now sit your flank down." Neither of our tones is really serious, and after a moment we both laugh a little. I could probably run but this is more important than my embarrassment, so I gave in to her demand and sat down across from her.

"Fine, your majesty." I give her as much sarcasm as I can muster. "Before my torture though, when is your birthday?" I ask in a more natural tone while taking out a few things we'll need for our work, along with a comb wrapped in brown paper.

She raises a brow at the sudden shift in topic and tone. "February fourteenth, why do you ask? Planning something special?" She tries to tease me a little as I stop and give her a deadpan stare. That date would mean her birthday is also Hearts and Hooves Day.

I think for a moment before shaking my head. "No, no, just no. I am not buying it, how?" I demand back, it's too much of a coincidence for me to believe.

She looks a little offended, but only in a playful way. "Well, that's not very polite at all, young Colt." I narrow my eyes. "You really should respect your elders when they tell you something." She keeps talking down to me, but that last line gives me an idea and I smile back.

"Does that mean you're ol-!" I do not get to finish my question as a pillow comes speeding at me almost instantly and I have to move my head quickly. I stare at her and no longer feel as smug. "Never mind!" I correct myself just as quickly at the narrowed look she gives me. "Anyway! Here's an early birthday gift, no need to thank me, just open it and forget everything I just said." I backpedal and try to placate the now-annoyed alicorn.

She looks at the gift for a moment and I sense a few more pillows she picked up off a nearby couch move back into place. I breathe a small sigh of relief at that, I don't think she was all that serious, but I also don't want to find out if she stashed a brick in one of those, I know when to back down.

She looks at the gift and I see the mask of annoyance slip and fall a few moments later. "Hmmm, fine. But it better be something nice." She warns a little but there is no heat in her voice and she's back to normal, at least as normal as a princess of love can be.

She rips the paper open with some glee and smiles at the large comb, she tries it immediately as Entropy leaves my shadow to look around before deciding to just lay down next to my flank on the floor and sleep. She runs it through her mane and it seems to work just fine, it seems all the work getting the small wooden bits was worth it.

She smiles wider at the effect and looks back at me. "Ok, you're forgiven. Although, how did you dodge that? Even Shining can't always do that and I pride myself on my aim." She seems to change the subject and I gladly go along with it, I would rather not test my luck again.

I think about it for a few moments before answering her. I'm not sure I want to just reveal my knowledge about space magic, so after a moment I tell the truth while leaving out any specific detail about how I can do anything with my space magic. "I think I mentioned I can sense things with life magic, but not really anything specific right?" That is something she's already aware of.

She nods. "Well, I've been training with my space magic." She rolls her eyes and I ignore her. "Anyway, I can do the same with my space magic now, and after a lot of practice, I combined both of them. At this point, I can sense all living things around me, and all forms of movement around me, it's an... Odd way to look at the world."

She looks at me for a moment and I see a small amount of glow from her horn as she lifts a book from a shelf behind me in the corner of the room. "Book, back left corner. I'd really appreciate it if you didn't throw it at me." I play her game and I feel the book return to its place.

She looks annoyed again, but more playfully annoyed than anything. "That's not fair!" She complains and I raise my brow. "That makes so many pranks harder, how am I supposed to surprise you now?" She asks me, and I just smile at my small victory, even if I know it won't last.

She sulks for a moment but then that magic damned look returns to her eye. "You know, I just realized that that's probably how you noticed me at the library, isn't it?" I don't like where this is going but that look makes it clear I need to answer her.

I nod. "Yes? As I explained in the past, most powerful beings have a lot of life magic, Celestia literally looks like a sun in that way, so it's easy to notice you normally. Honestly, if I wasn't distracted at the time I'd have noticed you when you entered the library." I nearly smile a little at the memory of me having a panic attack from Celestia coming to my apartment a few years ago.

I expected her to look a little annoyed again about me seeing her coming from now on, but instead, she seemed to perk up more and smiled wider. "Distracted huh?" I nearly don't hear her muttering under her breath. "So, you know Twilight? How did you two meet?" She asks after a moment.

I know she's digging into my life, but considering she and Twilight are almost like family I can't see much of a reason to not answer, and from that look, I don't think she'll let me just drop the topic. "Well, if I remember correctly the first time was at the park." It's been a while since then.

She just smiles and looks at me knowingly. "The park, well, it almost sounds romantic." I can tell she's just messing with my hormones again and roll my eyes. "Did you enjoy talking to her? She might be a good friend?" She subjects and I think I see what her angle is here, beyond just messing with me of course.

I decided to just get this over with. "Maybe. Honestly, I think she's fun enough, and we do have a lot in common, but... She is also a fan of Veil Winter, and I don't need that. Overall though it was fine, we even agreed to mail each other." I give a quick rundown and try to add an excuse.

She smiles happily and nods. "Hmm, interesting, I think I'll talk with Twilight then. On a bit of a different topic, what did you give Aunty? She's been smiling a lot about it and she won't tell me. Unless it's that metal flower." I feel a slight blush and a small warm feeling knowing she liked her gift so much. "Oh! So it was from you." I stare at her blankly and just sigh defeatedly after a moment.

I know she won't leave me be and I just want to get to work at this point. "Yes it was from me, no it's not what she's happy about, or at least not the main thing. I won't be specific, but I built her a little getaway from the palace and let her have full reign over it. She's been quite... Enthusiastic about decorating it." I explain quickly and bluntly no longer having the energy to fight this witch.

I see that smile widen to a frightening degree and panic to cut this short. "But, I'm done with this interrogation. We have work to do, so stop smiling and start reading." I demand and move a stack of notes over to her.

She does smile less and glares at the notes as I cut her fun off but keeps the smile while passing me a book. "Fine I'll stop, for now. ... But you still have a few books to read, don't worry, I have more if you finish them." I glare back silently before sighing and taking the damned book from her.

I was right when I first met Cadance, never fight something embodying love, and gods feared love for a reason.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

From the way I described it, what do you think would be a good shadow ability for Entropy to develop?

Chapter 168

AUG 21 Saturday.

I move another piece of steamed carrot into my mouth and look up to see Daisy joining us at the lunch table. "Took you long enough, what were you even doing?" I ask as she sits down across from me. Earlier she told me to go to lunch early and that she'd catch up later, it's been nearly fifteen minutes since then.

She looks very excited and straight-up giddy. "I got an invite! I can barely believe it! Finally!" She holds a letter like it's made from gold and is acting like an excited filly with a smile to match. "By Celestia, I need to get a dress, and fix up my mane!" She starts to worry over her appearance and I begin to get an inkling of what this is about.

But before I can ask Blaz beats me to it. "Wait... No? How? If that's what I think it is I may just have to call you corrupt. It's the Gala isn't it?" His tone is a little disbelieving but he's still happy for her. "You know what, don't answer, I'll find out myself."

Maple and I silently watch as he takes the open letter and looks inside. He smiles a moment later as Daisy snatches the letter back with wide eyes. "Hey, hoofs off! I'm not having you get in the way of today. But if you must know, Yes! I'm going to the Gala!" She's beyond excited for the event and I can't help but smile at her reaction.

Blaz just chuckles at her excited face, while I raise my cup of water for a mock toast. "Congrats, I've heard it's an amazing party. Although, I'm honestly more curious how you even got an invite in the first place." I ask while also realizing I'll be seeing her later tonight, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, it's not a big deal either way.

She smiles at the latter and puts it securely on the table under her tray. "Well, this is more something Blaz would remember." She turns to him. "You remember that grumpy mare who had your job before? I think she mentored you for a week or two." She smiles knowingly and Blaz looks like he swallowed an entire lemon, peel included.

"Raining Cloud, and don't remind me. That mare is the only pony who could ever scold me." I laugh at him and give him a look silently asking how the hell that happened. He huffs at my reaction. "Oh, you can laugh, Colt. But how about you spend six hours learning how to correctly draw an S while being reprimanded the whole time." He says with some distant eyes and an odd look of begrudging respect.

Daisy also chuckles at his words and continues her story. "Anyway, she stopped by and gifted it to me. Apparently she got one somehow but didn't want to go." She explains while looking over the invite with a glint in her eye. I guess that explains what she was doing earlier.

Blaz looks a little annoyed but not surprised. "Of course, she'd give it to you, that stubborn mare would never do that for me. Then again going to a fancy party isn't exactly my thing, I much prefer a nice bar." He complains a little about this mare that tortured him. I wonder if I could get some blackmail from her? Maybe.

Things mostly wind down after that and we all get back to work while I mentally prepare for yet another Gala, and this one should thankfully be less interesting. Although, it seems Daisy will be joining me, not the worst thing though Daisy and I have been doing well recently.

When she first found out who I was she had many questions, but after a few weeks of that things were just back to normal. It does make me wonder if I should tell my other friends, it would make things easier in a way and a part of me does want to tell them, but I still think it's a bad idea to do that overall.

It's not even really about trust, I know they can keep this secret and I'd like to think things will be ok if I tell them, but no matter how I tell them they will be at risk if I do. My second life has dangers, and it's not just from my fame, it comes from the other things I work on, specifically with the Changelings.

At some point, someone will put it together and realize that Veil Winter made the spells that both help and hinder Changelings, and once that happens they will come looking for me. That danger is something I can probably handle, worse comes to worse I just live in Gaia's Eden and lay low.

But my friends do not have the training, resources, or mindset to deal with that threat, it could very well get them killed. So for now, I will keep my silence and hope that Daisy does the same, for the safety of us all. I shake those dark thoughts away as I enter my apartment and smile as Entropy greets me. "Hello."

"Hello to you too, I'm guessing you're excited." She wags her tail feathers in response. Entropy is smart enough to know where we're going and she knows how good the food is. I give her a more stern stare, "And you remember our talk about behaving yourself?" I ask while looking down at her.

She stops and looks up at me slowly, she shuffles around back and forth on her legs a little and tries to look cute, but I keep my stern look. "Ok. Be, good." She says while looking at the floor.

I smile again and try to compromise. "I'll give you some food, but no stealing." I reinforce the rules but I do also intend to pass her a few things from under the table, which she should enjoy. Hopefully, that's enough to get her to behave, and also not peck a certain part of my body again.

I leave her alone for now and start to get ready for the Gala, and that starts with a nice shower. I've had to buy yet another suit this year and it was also more expensive because of my size, yet another downside to being tall. The suit is the same as my last one, plain black with some white underneath.

I trimmed the thicker fur on my chin and thoroughly combed out my mane then I tied it back behind my head. Overall I think I look quite good, I could do more but I don't really care enough, honestly this year is going to be more boring than the last three.

In my normal paranoia, I asked both Cadance and Celestia to not talk to me at this Gala, it may sound like a bit much but I have my reasons for it. To be blunt, if I did talk to them this year it would mark the second time the two most powerful ponies in Equestria walked over to talk to a random earth pony.

Ponies noticed it last time but it could mostly be brushed off. I was a good few inches shorter at the time and from an outside perspective, the princesses were just talking to a Colt who was probably a student or noble's son. This time I look like an adult and talking to them again will draw much more attention.

So for my own sanity, I asked them to just not talk to me for the event, it's not like we can't talk later and I really don't want to deal with more questions. They agreed and just took it as a time to focus on their duties fully, as for me? Well, the Gala was looking to be a pretty boring night with some good food.

But now things are different, I have a friend to surprise and somepony to hang out with, so overall things are looking pretty good. I put on my necklace under my suit and attach my wooden bracelet, which has been successfully upgraded. The scent shield is now properly enchanted into the bracelet and the third switch to control it works.

It functions well, I tested it by walking around the market and even walked past a mare in heat without a single problem. Although there is a small side effect that makes it a little annoying, it filters out most scents, not all of them but most are gone entirely while the remainder are heavily muted.

It makes smelling anything almost impossible, only weak scents actually make it through as it blocks all strong ones because of the runes used. Still, it's much better than the alternative and I won't have to worry about literally hanging around in public, at least not from a mare in heat, my own thoughts try to do the same thing to me all the time.

I double-check my enchanted items and whistle to Entropy. "It’s time we get going, it's already dark out and it will be even more busy out there soon." She silently merges into my shadow a moment later and I use a small bottle before I leave. It's just mint spray I bought but it makes me smell better if I sweat in my suit.

Now smelling decent I walk out of my apartment and walk out into the already busy streets. Not many go to the Gala, but many other businesses and important individuals also throw parties at the same time, so the streets are much more busy than you'd expect.

I keep a slow pace and move with the crowd, I decide to walk through a more busy street instead of a less busy street like the last three years. It's busy, but that gives me a chance to really look around at the events and celebrations that are happening.

After a decent amount of time I arrive at the Gala, and it's still somewhat empty, it seems I'm a little early this year, but hey, no long line. I walk up and show my invite to the guard, and like last year I'm waved through without a problem, and after a short walk, I'm finally at the Grand Galloping Gala.

As I walk into the main ballroom I take a moment to look around and try to find Daisy, but it seems she's not here yet so I just leave the ballroom before anypony can talk to me. I didn't get a chance to explore gardens last year and I'd like to, even if it's uninteresting to most.

I walk along the large overhang on the outside of the building before descending some stairs into the large gardens. It's nowhere near as impressive as the royal gardens, but it is a nice place to relax. The tall hedge walls separate a few rounded areas with benches and fountains all connected with wooden paths.

The autumn season is now in full swing, the trees have lost most of their leaves while the grass and hedges are dying as the weather grows colder. After a while I find a bench to relax near the front of the gardens facing the Gala while still being a little out of the way, it gives me a good view.

I just spend a minute there, but after that short minute of peace, I feel a source of life magic grow closer to me from the path behind where I'm sitting. It's probably just another pony, but after my second Gala, I don't drop my guard and glance behind me at whoever it is from the corner of my eye, and color me surprised when I see Shining Armor walking towards me.

He doesn't seem to know I've spotted him, so I have some fun and do something stupid. The area has other ponies but most don't come over to this area, so I quickly turn my body and snap my head backward to stare right at Shining even though he's several dozen feet away and I shouldn't have been able to spot him from my position as he's behind me.

He freezes on the spot and stares back looking a little startled, after a moment I smile at him and wave a hoof, and turn back to look at the Gala while laughing a bit. It doesn't take long for him to arrive and move in front of me, I keep my smile and nod to him. "Shining, how's it going? I would have thought you'd be with your mare friend right now." I greet him a little cheekily.

He raises a brow before sighing and sitting down next to me, I take a moment to cast a silence spell around us. He seems to notice and looks over at me. "Every time we meet I remember how utterly paranoid you are." He chuckles. "It's going fine, just thought I'd get out of that busy mess for a bit and saw you sitting out here."

He's relaxed with me and doesn't question my actions, which is fine his reaction is good enough for me. "I know what you mean. Honestly, I rarely enjoy parties, the Gala is at least interesting though." I give a bland statement for some small talk as he nods passively.

He smiles. "Interesting? Sure, if you don't count all the overly polite talk and having to watch your words constantly." He says with a little snark. "Food is good though, even if it's ridiculously expensive." It's clear he's trying to make small talk and get to something.

I smile at him and give him a knowing look. "Shining, you know me somewhat, but something you might not know is that I'm hard to insult. Not many try, but even then it's not easy, I also don't take many words to heart. So, if you have something to say, just say it." I keep my relaxed attitude as I stare at the slightly shorter stallion.

He looks me up and down for a moment before slowly nodding with the same smile. "You're getting too tall, it's annoying." He states bluntly and I just chuckle at his words. He looks a bit more stern but I keep myself relaxed and ready for whatever he can throw at me. "Don't hurt my sister, I won't take it well." I raise a brow and give him a confused and surprised stare.

He keeps a stern look but a mostly relaxed tone as he continues. "She's got few friends and I'm not letting a Colt mess with her heart." :Where the hell did he get that idea?: I'm growing more confused as he talks. "But, you are a good Colt so if you wan-"

At that point, I decided to nip this understanding in the bud quickly before it got out of control. "Ok hold up." He gives me an annoyed look. "You can threaten me in a moment, but just to be clear. I do not have an interest in your sister, at least not like that. I barely know her, and to be blunt we're not even friends yet, and I'd need a lot more than that for any relationship." I say seriously while quickly trying to explain, I really don't want an older brother after me over this.

"Where did you even get that idea?" I ask as he gives me an odd look.

He looks me up and down again with a more level look. "Well, I wasn't threatening you." I roll my eyes a bit at that. "But, thanks for being straight with me. My point stands all the same though, you hurt her and we'll be having words." His tone is still relaxed, I also notice he doesn't answer my question and shows an odd lopsided smile.

It seems he did his brotherly duty so I just decided to move past his words. Me and Twilight? Why the hell would he think that? I mean, we are close in age and we get along well enough so I guess I can see why he guessed. It's probably just something to do with family that I don't get.

I give him a firm nod. "Ok, I don't plan to anyway but I'll agree anyway." There are several long moments of silence before I decide to break it. "Any good comics recently?" I ask, deciding to just change things up and move on. "Because I still know nothing about them," I added and he gained a new smile.

He takes the change of topic in stride. "Well, Power Ponies are always popular. Although, that's a little... Tame, maybe slow is a better word. Either way, I like more extreme things, battle comics, crime fighting, that sort of thing." I raise another brow at that.

I've read several of what are considered the most brutal and extreme pony horror novels, they were disappointing, the horror was bland and predictable while the descriptions were borderline PG. They barely mentioned blood at all and the monsters were weak. I widened my smile, "You a fan of horror? Because that is where my interest lies."

He does a double-take and looks a little surprised before laughing a little. "Of course you do." He says back a little mockingly, it seems he doesn't really believe me before realizing I'm serious. "Fine, only a real horror fan would know about the good stories. What is the monster in Canterlot at Night?" He says a little smugly while holding a challenging tone.

Am I really willing to get into a nerd argument over this? Yes, I absolutely am, because Canterlot at Night is horrible. I narrowed my eyes in a lighthearted way at his challenge, "A Cockatrice." My answer takes the proverbial wind right out of his sails. "Now, have you ever read Black Sky?" This particular novel is infamous for its extreme horror, at least by this world's lackluster standards.

He again stares me down for a moment before shaking his head. "Great, the super-talented Colt is also a complete horror buff." He laughs at his own words for a moment and I just smile wider.

"I've stared down an angry Celestia, any book I can think of doesn't hold a candle to that." I make sure to keep a joking tone so he has no idea if I'm being truthful or not. "But you didn't answer my question, have you read it?"

He looks surprised at my claim but seems to take it as a joke after a moment and laughs again, joking on him I was serious. "Yes, I got nightmares. But in my defense I was younger than you are when I did that, it was not a smart move." I laugh at his stupidity, not in the way he's expecting though. The truth is a lot of human children would find Black Sky stupid and boring.

He looks back to the party for a moment and back to me. "Well, I better go. I have far too many nobles to talk to and a princess to keep out of trouble." He stands up and gives me a nod. "Make sure to try and enjoy the party."

I nod back. "No promises. Have a good night Shining, and enjoy guard duty." I tease him a little.

He actually nods seriously in return. "If only, it would be so much easier. And same to you Shade." He walks off after that and I stare back at the party. I should probably get back in there as well, I have a friend to mess with after all.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 994

I decided to make this about ponies other then the princesses. I thought it would be a nice difference from the past three Gala's and make things more interesting to write.

Also, don't worry this will be continued next chapter. Although, I'm taking my day off so you'll have to wait a little longer then normal.

Chapter 169

AUG 21 Saturday.

I arrived at the Gala early so I didn't immediately head back to the ballroom, instead I took my time and wandered through a few of the side rooms I missed last year.

I see a musical performance room like last year but leave it alone and keep looking. After a moment I find a larger room that's well-lit by magical lights and has several ponies walking around looking at art and discussing paintings. I can be a sucker for some decent art so I joined them.

As I wander the room and look over the paintings my mind starts to get restless, but unlike many other times, I try to keep it on track. The first painting that catches my eye is simply called Sunflowers. It is as the name implies, some sunflowers in a vase, simple but nice to look at.

Most of them are simply the wilderness or plants, I'm not sure if it's because they wanted a theme or it's just a collection from one painter. Either way, the paintings are high quality and have a sunny and happy vibe reminiscent of most pony art. It's something I've noticed over time, but ponies have an odd way of looking at the world, it's innocent in a way.

But I suppose it makes sense for the world they live in, it's not even necessarily a bad thing considering emotions have actual power here. No nation on Earth would ever be so passive and nice, but when even the most violent races of your world act this peacefully it's forgivable.

As far as I'm aware, the most violent race is Dragons, but even they have nothing on humanity, or just individual humans. Keep in mind that everything I've learned about dragons is from second-hoof accounts and should be taken with a hefty grain of salt. That being said, Dragons are known to be temperamental and attack when threatened or otherwise bothered, but they mostly just try to drive you off and make you leave them alone rather than go for the kill immediately.

Then again, this is all from things I've read, and even if they aren't as violent as you'd expect they are still lethal. Ponies have and will die from bothering Dragons or trying to steal from them, it's a good thing very few try to do such things. It doesn't help that ponies don't have the most informed view on Dragons though.

Even what little I learned about them from a few scary books paints a less violent picture than what most ponies say about them in conversation, although most simply don't talk about Dragons, to begin with. When it does come up though, Dragons have a reputation similar to a Barbarian from my old world, big, strong, stupid, and above all dangerous.

They have such a reputation for a reason, but ponies and several other races also actively trade with Dragons, not commonly but it does happen. It's another case of this world being more peaceful than it really should be, and I might actually have a theory as to why. This might be a bit long winded but stay with me.

As far as I can tell there are endless different types of magic in this world, and depending on how you see things they could be assigned labels, good, bad, nice, mean, but it's all really the same thing at a base level. And to some extent Harmony is magic, that statement is much more blunt than I think most realize.

All things in this world need magic to continue to live in its current form, and to some extent, the very fundamental force of magic is tied to Harmony on some universal level. I don't know in what way they are linked, but magic being one of the elements of Harmony proves that they are linked in some capacity and might just be the same thing altogether. But why would this make everything more peaceful?

Well, if Harmony is an integral part of magic, or vice versa, if you lose one you may lose the other. If magic is needed for all life, then it's in the best interest of all living things to have Harmony in themselves as well, I have no idea how that works though, or even how to explain it. But this also theoretically means that losing Harmony entirely might actually kill you from the loss of your magic, but much like most of this I can't prove that, still I strongly suspect it to be true.

Now if we look at this from the angle of evolution, then possessing magic is by far the ultimate tool for surviving and passing on your genes. So, if magic is the best tool and Harmony is magic then the best method for survival is to be closer to Harmony and thus be more peaceful by proxy.

It's a self-selecting process where the beings closer to Harmony are more likely to survive over those without Harmony. Even if a being without Harmony is stronger they are competing with the ability to manipulate reality, they would almost always lose and would die out over time.

But this theory has many holes. The biggest one is simple, what is Harmony? We know it is part of magic itself to some extent, but it is also most positive emotions as well, and probably even more beyond that. On top of that, we're presuming you can have or not have Harmony, which has some disturbing implications, we also presume that Harmony is inherently a peaceful force.

It's all rather subjective and unknown, but to simplify the whole theory. Harmony is good for surviving and those that survive because of Harmony will pass it on to their kids, and because we are presuming Harmony makes things peaceful this effect of peace from Harmony is in every living thing making the world more peaceful.

But like I said this theory has got a lot of holes, and this is mostly me speculating heavily for fun while staring at a painting. I leave my internal rant, which I tried not to have, as a pony walks past me to leave the art room. I should also be going, I still have a friend to find after all.

I keep a steady pace as I walk through the hallways and a few minutes later I arrive at a bustling ballroom. A band plays music and things are really getting started, and after a moment I spot both Celestia and Cadance mingling with different important-looking ponies.

Honestly, it's a mess that I would rather not get involved in, but after a few more minutes I spot who I'm looking for on the other side of the ballroom. Daisy looks good, a red dress that contrasts maybe a little too much with her blue mane and light green coat.

Still, she seems to have gotten herself proper for this party, but from the way she's sitting at a table eating something and glancing around, she seems a little lost. I can't really make out her expressions from here but she at least seems relaxed enough to enjoy the Gala.

It takes me a while to move through the crowd, and as I walk through it I get relatively close to Cadance, who notices me. She is still several dozen feet away but we lock eyes for a moment and she smiles in that way I never trust, it seems she's up to her shit again.

I just turn away and ignore her for the time being, after a few more moments I reach the table and see Daisy not far away. She hasn't spotted me and it gives me the chance to look over her expression, she looks both excited and a little bit bored at the same time.

I know Daisy likes parties more than me, Blaz, or Maple, but she probably isn't used to this kind of party. After a moment of observing her, I decide to make this fun but not draw it out too much, so while she's distracted eating I quickly sit down next to her as she's eating some type of sweet bun.

She glances over to me from the corner of her eye but seems to not register it's me for a moment. "Those are good, but the cake they bring out later is much better so you might want to save room," I say like nothing is out of place and take a clean plate from a stack before starting to fill it with different things.

She pauses abruptly mid-chew and slowly turns to me with wide eyes. I just smile at her knowing, but once I can tell she's about to scream something when she takes a quick deep breath, I move a hoof over to her lips just in time. "Don't, I would rather not draw attention, and it's rude to shout," I say quickly as she continues to look utterly baffled and shocked.

She at least takes a moment to swallow her food and take a breath before looking at me demandingly. "What are you doing here?!!" She demands while trying not to shout as I try to hold in some laughter from her reaction. "Did you break in?!! How?!" She seems a little panicked and is jumping to conclusions.

I give her an annoyed look. "What? No! I got an invite. Why would you ever try to break into the Gala?" I ask her and laugh a bit at the crackpot theory. "But I guess I should be flattered you think I could pull something like that off," I say humorously while moving a few more things on my plate and grabbing a fork from the tables with my field.

She just looks at me slack-jawed for a few long moments before her brain restarts. "Invite, wha-?" She stops abruptly and she seems to have realized. "Oh, your... Other job?" I discreetly cast a silence spell around us, which she doesn't seem to notice, I nod to answer her question.

After seeing my answer she seems to calm down a little and gets her shock out of the way pretty quickly, but all that's soon replaced when she actually looks me over. I expected many things, more shock, more questions, or even some annoyance, but instead, she just started laughing at me. "What?" At this point, she's flipped the tables on me and just laughs harder at my confused face.

"You- hahaha. You're wearing a suit!" She laughs harder and I'm just blatantly confused now.

I raise a brow but keep a slight smile. "Yes? It's the most important party of the year, what am I supposed to just walk in? Especially when talking to the Prince-" I cut myself off but luckily she's laughing too hard to really notice. "Important ponies. I have to at least look decent after all... Stop laughing!" I demand as my annoyance gets the better of me.

She keeps laughing for a few moments but finally starts to stop, she takes a few deep breaths and smiles widely at me. "Oh, I needed that." She lets out a few more laughs. "Shade, you are the least formal pony I know, not even Maple isn't that informal, and her face is made from rock." She jokes a bit at our friend's expense.

She looks over my suit again and nods. "Yet, here you are, standing in a full suit with a proper tie to match." She jokes to herself and I roll my eyes. She's not wrong, I'm definitely not one to dress up normally, even as a human I was never like that.

I normally just tie my mane back and that's it, I do have a bracelet and necklace but that's not too uncommon for ponies. I smile back at her and nod my agreement. "Well, you're not wrong. But I could say the same to you, you're a little overdressed yourself."

Unlike many of the dresses that only go to the midsection, her dress goes past her midsection with some extra cloth to add a few matching style straps to keep it secure. "Yup." She takes no shame in her look. "But going to the Gala has been something of a dream for me." She looks around with an excited smile.

I'm happy for her and move past being laughed at. "I suppose, but the glamor and gold wear off eventually," I say from experience. The first Gala was probably the best, and even if I still enjoy it I still find it less impressive overall. "The food is always good though." I encourage them while chewing down on some fancy food.

She raises a brow. "I guess? You'd have to go a few times though, and getting into the Gala is no easy feat." She also enjoys some food off her plate. "I tried for years, but the invites that were given out or traded around were always taken quickly. I can see why though, there are a lot of important ponies here."

That is something I don't have experience in, so I just shrug at her words. "Maybe, but I always get an invite from the Princess." She chokes a little on her food. "As for me? The glamor has fully worn off after four Gala's. Did you know there are smaller areas? I was at an art gallery earlier." At this point, I'm just messing with her and silently enjoying her reactions while wearing a smile that shows I know exactly what I'm doing.

She downs some water to not fully choke and looked at me with another shocked look. "The Princess?! Four times?!! You've been to the Gala four times and never told me?!!" She's surprised and disbelieving but doesn't hold any heat in her tone, but she is demanding more answers.

I keep my slightly smug smile. "She insisted I come the first time and after that, I always got an invite." A slight lie as I'm pretty sure I could have declined. "And yes four, but like I said it's not the same after your first time. As for not telling you... Well, you know?" I answer vaguely, not willing to say it out loud.

That seems to make her realize what she said out loud, she starts looking around slightly panicked but I place a hoof on her muzzle again. "You're fine!" I say quickly and emphasize my words. "I cast a silencing spell, nopony can hear us right now." She stops abruptly at my words and it seems I've prevented her panic.

She takes a deep breath and gives me a slight glare while I move my hoof back. "You could have told me that before giving me a heart attack." I nod in agreement and she glares a little more.

"Yes, but this is funnier." I joke at her expense again. "But back to the point, I never said anything for obvious reasons, plus nothing really interesting ever really happens at the Gala." I lie through my teeth a little and let her calm down some more. "By the way, how are you enjoying the Gala?" I ask to change the subject.

She stops glaring after a moment and just sighs while smiling at me, she always seems to get her smile back quickly. "It's... A lot. Everything I wanted and more, but it's also, less in a way..." She trails off for a moment. "I guess expectations never really live up to reality, no matter how many times you learn that." There is an odd mix of melancholy and happiness in her tone.

I notice the change in tone and decide to move us away from any dark thoughts. "I know, but I like to think all those expectations are outweighed by the little surprises." She tilts her head as I continue. "All those little things that you never expected, the things that surprise you with a little joy out of the blue."

She smiles more and the slightly dark mood is lifted quickly. "That's, nice... Anything here like that?" She asks back with some interest as we fully move past the bad topic.

I nod. "A few things actually. One I think I just mentioned is the other rooms, so far I've found an art gallery and a smaller room for music bands to perform." I explain simply. "The food is also good, even the weirder-looking dishes," I say while eating an oddly decorated blueberry tart.

She steals a second tart off my plate. "With how often you've mentioned the food I'd guess you only came to the Gala for it." She teases me and I just huff a little. "I am curious though." I raise a brow. "Well, I remember that score you mentioned, and with you getting invited." I think I see where this is going. "So... Do you, like, meet her or?" She asks curiously.

She's asked a few questions about Celestia, but our relationship is something she's not really asked about. In a way, I think she's nervous to ask about Celestia's business. After a long moment of thought I stare at her, I keep my relaxed attitude. "Yes, I can't be specific. But we meet regularly for a few reasons. And sometimes that involves chess." I keep my response vague.

She looks intrigued but seems to leave it at that and drops the subject. She looks around a bit, "Well, I want to talk to other ponies, and I know you don't want to join me." I nod unashamedly and she rolls her eyes. "Then I'm going to mingle, you can enjoy the admittedly great food. And try to have some fun, Shade." She stands up and starts to move away.

"Fine, I'll try. Now go mingle, enjoy talking to nobles." I ended with some joking sarcasm as she walked off into the busy party around us. I spend a moment finishing my food and putting several things under the table where the tablecloth blocks the view.

It takes a few minutes to feed a greedy gremlin that lives in my shadow. "Eat up you monster," I mumble under my breath while looking around, and after a moment I stop as I spot somepony I recognize. Twilight Sparkle is sitting at a table eating alone.

I stare at her for a few moments. Both Shining and Daisy said I should have some fun, and I wouldn't mind talking to Twilight. We could discuss some magic, and she just looks a little out of place as it is. After a minute I shrug to myself, :Fuck it, why not?:

I stand up with a smile and start to walk over as Entropy blends back into my shadow. It only took me a moment to walk over and sit down next to her, apparently she spotted me coming because she doesn't look very surprised, but she still had a slight blush when looking me over. "S-Shade, enjoying the Gala?"

I smile and nod. "Well enough, but I think I'd much rather talk about magic," I say softly. "You remember that spell I was researching?" I ask while she shows a smile of her own as the Gala is ignored by us both. Maybe tonight will be even more fun than I thought.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I'm not sure I want another Twilight chapter so soon, so I think this is the end of this Gala. But there is always next year.

Chapter 170

AUG 21 Saturday.

Twilight is dressed more than I'd expect, she even has a dress on, unlike the last three years.

Her dress is an odd fractal mix of purple that matches her coat and a clean white. It's a standard type dress that stops at her midsection and overall looks decent on her, after a moment I force my eyes away from her dress as my mind tries to make me have some less decent thoughts.

Twilight is also mostly silent and stares at my own suit. "I-I like the suit. I mean, it looks nice on you." She stumbles over her words and blushes a little, probably in embarrassment. She really is not good at being social, but teenagers are like that, and being a nerd doesn't help.

I wave her concern off immediately. "Thanks, I think the dress looks nice as well." I try to give a basic complement and move on, but she blushes even more. I guess she doesn't have many ponies who flatter her. "Anyway, like I was saying you remember that spell?" I changed the subject and moved it back to what I just asked.

She seems split on changing the subject but nods and moves on to the next topic with me. "Well, I learned it, but at the same time it's proving to be a little subpar." I didn't bring a quill with me so with a flex of my mind and will a small-sized version of the spell matrix appears in front of me so we can look at it.

Twilight is now more interested in the magic and seems to pay more attention to my casting than the last time we met. "OH! you are a... Journeypony caster?" She guesses and I nod. She keeps her smile and looks excited, "That's amazing! Not many get that far with spell casting, let alone runic casting." She compliments.

I shrug. "It's, well, it's what it is. ... But, I've noticed this spell is a little off, the runes just don't line up well." I wanted to ask her about this and see how good she is at theoretically modifying spells, but I just overshared a little. I salvage it by scratching the back of my head and pretending to look uncertain, "That's just what I guessed though, I could be wrong."

She smiles at that and also takes a few moments to look over the matrix. "I don't recognize those two runes, this one I know and it makes sense, but that final one does seem a little out of place. It should still work fine though, are you having some difficulty with it?" Her words are pretty accurate.

The spell has four runes and her recognizing two of them is pretty good considering I don't think she's learned many healing spells. I shake my head, "No, I can use it just fine. But, hmm, that rune doesn't sit right with me, can you think of a better one? I can just swap them out." Another small test for her.

Normally most don't modify spells, but changing a rune to another rune that is similar enough works well. It's one of the most common ways to modify a spell as it doesn't need math, just two similar runes. "Oh, umm." She looks over the rune for a few moments. "Maybe? Do you know the rune's meaning?"

I smile as we both start to dive down a rabbit hole of facts and runes, neither of us notices two Princesses taking the occasional glance over at us. We go back and forth several times and at some point, we start using an assortment of random items to represent things and help us work on the problem.

It's interesting and she is decent at working on the spell, but eventually, I learned she's not the best at thinking outside the box when it comes to spell creation. She's great at magic and using spells in some creative ways from what I can tell, but spell creation is just not her area of expertise, even if she can do it.

But that's just what I observed over the time we've talked, she might be different if I knew her better, and after a while, we do move away from spell work. Twilight keeps her small smile as my matrix dissolves into nothing, "Really good at magic." She mumbles out to herself like she's noting it down.

I nod. "I'd like to think so." She seemed a little surprised I heard that considering she spoke so quietly. "But I suppose that's only compared to untrained ponies, I think most ponies from the Princesses school could beat me soundly." I downplay my skill some and tamper expectations like normal.

She tilts her head and raises a brow. "No... I m-mean, not really? How old are you?" I raise a brow in return and she blushes again. "Sorry. I-If you don't mind me asking of course!" She adds quickly.

I find her fumbling a little funny honestly and I don't really mind, it's not like it's important. "Fourteen this year," I answer and she pauses for a moment.

"Huh-h, same age as me. B-But, umm, anyway. Most ponies from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns aren't at the Journeypony yet. I can think of a few, several actually, but it's still not common to get that far before graduation. It's a-an achievement, so congratulations?" She ends with a little uncertainty.

I take in good humor and just smile wider. "Thanks, it's not often I get a compliment like that." I just take the uncertain compliment and we move on again. It is interesting to know I'm decent at magic, maybe not as good as others though and I think to a point she's overstating my abilities to be nice.

She smiled at that and honestly, she looked a bit cute, like a seal. "S-Sure, so how were you invited?" She asks curiously trying to do more small talk, and I stop for a moment. I can't just say the truth and I also can't say there is no secret as getting invited to the Gala four times in a row is not easy or normal.

After a long moment, I crush any small amount of panic and focus again. "I have a... Friend. They normally have a spare invite and give it to me. No idea where they get them though." I tell a half-truth and a full truth. Celestia is my friend more than anything else and I have no idea where she gets the invites, for all I know she makes them.

She's definitely curious but seems to think about it for a moment before saying anything. She has a look of slight realization and I'm almost worried she knows something. "A noble friend? A-Actually, you don't need to answer. Sorry again." She guesses half to herself and half to me and quickly apologizes.

I nod and feel any leftover tension leave me. "Something like that, though they are private, so I won't say much about them." That is another half-truth, Celestia is technically private. "Anyway, do you have any fun stories?" She raises a brow but drops the topic. "Because I have a few if you like?"

She looks more intrigued so I continue. "Well, have you ever been to New Trotten? Because it's an interesting city to visit." But before I can continue we're interrupted by the music changing and many ponies move off of the main ballroom floor to clear it out.

The dance is the last part of the Gala and it is also the most popular, anypony can dance as long as they don't cause a scene. As we watch ponies start to pair up, sometimes a stallion and mare and also mares with mares, even a stallion couple. Along with complete strangers dancing at random while talking to each other.

As we watch I see Twilight start to get more nervous and jittery. "S... Shade?" I turn to her and raise a brow again. She seems much more nervous about me staring at her. "Would y-you... Would you like to dance with me?!!" She quickly blurts out so fast that I almost don't understand.

My brain just freezes for a moment and I stare back confused. After a long moment of her getting more and more nervous, I give her an apologetic look and decide to be blunt and honest. "Well, sorry." I see her face fall at that. "No! I'd like to... But... I literally don't know how to dance." I quickly try to let her down easily before admitting that last part a little sheepishly.

Her ears lower some and she looks a little downtrodden, but hearing my full answer she doesn't look fully rejected. There was a long moment of silence as I rapidly tried to think of a solution that wouldn't end with Shining kicking my ass for this, and after a few moments of panic, I found a solution.

"But, umm, if you do know how I wouldn't mind learning?" I offer with uncertainty really hoping this will work. I honestly don't mind dancing as it's not necessary for couples and many ponies dance with whoever they want, plus it sounds interesting, but I really don't want Shining mad at me. My words do seem to have the desired effect.

Her ears abruptly pop up and her eyes widen and almost sparkle with excitement. "Really?!! I-I mean yes! Of course, I can!" She grabs my hoof and in her excitement pulls me away from the tables with some strength. Abruptly I'm now out on the ballroom floor and have a pair of hooves on mine as I stand on my back legs.

It's a little abrupt and odd to stand like this, but I adapt quickly before looking up at her. We just sort of stare at each other for a moment as she seems to realize how forward she just was. "Ummm." She looks a little panicked and doesn't seem to know what to do at this point.

After another moment I give a half smile. "So, which hoof do I move first?" I ask and that seems to slowly move things forward from there. She snaps out of her own thoughts and panic and looks split between embarrassed and beyond excited.

It starts with her moving a hoof back. "Just... Hmm, follow my lead?" She says uncertainty and I quickly have to use my spatial senses to my advantage. As she slowly starts to move us back and forward, we almost slip right away, but I pull back a little and we stay upright. "Sorry!"

I keep my calm attitude and try to memorize the moves while guiding us away from other ponies with my senses. I even limit my spatial magic and life magic senses to only a dozen feet to pay extra attention. "This is, good. Yea." She says more to herself as we actually start to have some form of rhythm.

"It is, thanks for teaching me." I compliment back, even if this is more for her than me. She blushes a little at my words and I brush it off as just being who she is, another personality quark.

"You're welcome. No! Wait, thank you for... For agreeing to dance!" She corrects herself as she saves me from a misstep by pulling me a little. From there we fell back into a silent rhythm.

time skip

I step out into the dark and mostly empty streets of Canterlot once again.

The dance with Twilight was certainly interesting, even if we were both obviously horrible at it. But I learned a thing or two and as the Gala finished up I got to wish Shining goodnight when he came over to grab Twilight and go home, he looked pretty happy so I don't think my ass is on the line. After they left I didn't have much of a reason to stay so I did the same.

The big dance was the last part of the Gala so I just left as well, but I did catch one last look at Celestia, who just smiled back happily. Honestly, this Gala proved to be more interesting than I'd expected, even more interesting than the year I got stuck in between two princesses.

I wander the streets a little slowly as I move through the night. Talking to Twilight is fun, if a little awkward, I'm much more comfortable with ponies that are more mature. She's fun, but she's also hormonal, not that I can blame her. I think we both took a few glances at each other's bits while watching our hooves during the dance.

Boy was that difficult to not have a certain part of me react, in the end, though things worked out fine and I was only embarrassed about how badly I danced. I turn another corner and see my apartment not far away. It's been a long night and honestly, I'd like to unwind somewhat privately.

When I enter my apartment I let Entropy finally leave my shadow. She was a good girl so I took a few minutes to make us both a few snacks to enjoy even though we ate dinner at the Gala. "Here you go Girl, enjoy." She digs in with gusto and a few minutes later she looks up at me for a long moment. "What?"

"Happy?" She asks a little abruptly.

I raise a brow. "Yes? Why do you ask?" I ask back, but she just stays silent about her thoughts and after a long moment I just shrug. "Well, ok then. Can you get us to Gaia?" I know the answer already, a moment later she hops on me and we both vanish from my apartment.

The sounds of a sleeping city are replaced by the soft sound of crickets and the slowly blowing wind of the Everfree forest. It's a nice reprieve from the chaos of the city and all the parties, here at least there is silence. "Thanks, Girl, do what you like, I think I'm going for a walk for a bit," I tell her while leaving the small shack we appeared in.

It's a cool and mercifully quiet night, the crunch of dead leaves in the wind as many trees in the Everfree are now leafless. Many trees resisted the coming cold and stayed green longer than anywhere else, but they too would fall to the cold eventually. I don't have much of a reason, but I felt I needed time to think.

Entropy apparently decided to come with me and rode on my back as I walked. So many things happen in life, but I think things in my life are going well. But some things are just ticking in my mind, not of the problems I have now but the problems yet to come.

What remains of canon events is creeping closer, I still have years but that is not a long time all things considered, especially with what I'm up against. Thinking about all these problems makes me want a plan, even if it's early I should start considering how to actually help with events.

At the top of that list is the first major event, Nightmare Moon. The first villain and one of the more dangerous ones, it might not seem like it but she could end this world easily. Just the ability to and intentions of messing with the sun and moon is more than enough to end this world with ease.

Honestly from what I understand about magic and the sun if it disappears for even a day, the consequences are messy. Every magical flow of the world even remotely reliant on the solar magic from the sun would shift, not by a lot, but even a small amount can change environments.

As a very good example take life magic, for it to function and flow around the environment properly it needs plant life and animal life to be active. But if every plant stopped moving the life magic they use at the same time, well like I said things will shift somewhat.

A forest could have some of its plants die, or animals migrate from the event. It won't be large in any way, it's more the fact that everything will shift at the same time. Honestly, nopony could ever truly know just how much will change or how it will change, but it will happen.

So, for the safety of literally every living thing, it is for the best that this never happens. But preventing it is not an easy thing, in fact it is immensely dangerous, maybe more so than even the sun being gone for a day. Messing with the very start of the Element's journey is no small thing.

The main thing is Celestia, I have no idea what happens to Celestia during the whole event. She only appears at the end, and that makes messing with the sun much more complicated. At the low end, we can say Celestia was trapped or distracted by Nightmare Moon in some way.

I find this the most likely because I know Celestia and she would not leave something like this to chance, she would immediately intervene if she could. I still don't know what she knows about the future, but I doubt she'd not involve herself even if she knew the future events in detail.

So, if we work on that as a base, then she will not be able to stop the sun from lowering for whatever reason. I could see Nightmare Moon trapping her in some way, she has had the time to plan for such a thing after all. That doesn't really leave many options, hell the best option might just be me finding a way to raise the sun myself, but that is ridiculou- .... Actually, that might not be completely crazy.

Well, it is still a bat shit crazy idea, but it's not an impossibility. I know about spells and magic, and I have considerable resources to devote to such an idea. On top of that magic is sort of working in my favor here, even if I have no idea how this sun works I probably know more about stellar bodies than even Celestia.

It wouldn't be easy and I'd need a lot more skill, but getting enough magic isn't too hard. I'd need to gather several dozen high-power gems, probably pure diamonds, but beyond that, I think it is possible to make such a spell, although it might actually be better as a ritual.

Rituals are more finicky but they would work better for something so large scale. As my mind tries to think through the logistics of such an idea I lay down in the dried grass next to the small pond made by the Water Tree. It's doing well and in fact seems better at handling the cold than many of my plants.

I stare into the crystal clear water under a bright half moon lost in thought. Entropy snuggles up in between my hooves against my chest and a thought pops into my head randomly as she does so. "You know, I've never told you my real past." I ponder out loud.

She looks up at me as I cast a silencing spell around us. "What?" She asks, confused at my seemingly nonsensical words.

I smile down at her as I think of how best to tell my closest friend about my past. "I think it's long past due then. Let me tell you a story, a story that makes no fucking sense."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I could have had the dance go on longer, but I ran out of idea and just decided to end this Gala. Three chapters for a single Gala, next year may take longer, hmmm.

Chapter 171

SEP 4 Saturday.

I slowly watch as the cold wind blows past my window as winter is almost here, the snow will start to fall soon enough.

It's been a few weeks since the Gala and things have been just fine, even with Daisy getting on my nerves a little bit with her teasing. Turns out she saw me and Twilight dancing, and then immediately started to mess with me. It's only small things like saying I have a filly friend.

I made it clear I did not like her that way, which she acknowledged, and they continued anyway, but it did make me realize something about Twilight, that's for later though. I promptly ignore Daisy after that, the only good thing is she can't tell Maple or Blaz. Beyond that, I haven't done much these past few weeks, just research and practice.

I've looked into my crazy idea and quickly noticed that a ritual is probably my best bet. Rituals are much more complicated, hard to use, and all-around less efficient, but they are much better at large things like this. Spells are more stable but they don't have the flexibility that I need, rituals do.

So, for now, I'm just going to split a little of my free time to research rituals and start working on the idea, it is going to be a long-term thing that's for sure. But moving on to today I have two separate meetings, the first with Celestia and the second with Avalon.

I've only gotten to see Celestia a few times at Gaia's Eden since the Gala, mostly just us leaving messages or a small hello as we go about our days. But now we get an actual meeting, as for Avalon? He's been busy, but during that time he actually finalized the design of his prosthetic and sent it to me.

It will need more work, but in the time since I got that letter, I've been carving out the prosthetic from some good old Oak. It's going to need testing and adjustment, which means we need to re-carve the wooden limb several times. That will give me time to teach Avalon how to make all the parts.

That's what we'll be working on later today, as he is going to be one of the few that I let into my home. Now don't get me wrong, I'm fine with having others come into my home, as long as I invite them first so I can hide all the things that I need to. For this purpose, I've moved things around a little for the day.

I moved one of my work desks into the main room near the front door, along with some wood and woodworking tools, and I locked my workroom just to be safe. After a moment of checking everything I move towards Entropy as she hops over to me. "Ready to go?" I ask her, and after a moment she flies off to grab a toy to bring with us, I put it in my saddlebags.

I smile at her actions and a few moments later we both vanish from my apartment. We could have met at Gaia's Eden, but Celestia apparently had some work still so I'm going to the palace, it's not like I mind either way, I always like talking with her regardless.

The old routine repeats as I'm led through the palace yet again. Unlike other times I actually somewhat know where we are going, I'm pretty sure we're going to Celestia's office. Honestly. The palace has a more logical layout than many would assume, at least from what I've seen of it over the years, still if nothing else it is an impressive structure.

It doesn't take long to arrive at a familiar door, I just walk inside as the guard walks away. I smile and have some abrupt thoughts as Celestia is sitting down wearing her glasses again, she does look nice in them but right now isn't the time for such thoughts. "Hey, is the paperwork any fun?" I ask cheekily.

She just looks up and smiles at me. "I'm not sure, maybe you should help me and we'll both find out." I cringe a little at the offer and she chuckles at my expression. "That's what I thought, most may not enjoy the paperwork, but it is necessary." She tilts her head and makes her glasses drop down her muzzle to look at me. "Enjoy the Gala?" And suddenly I do not like that smile anymore.

I just huff at her and take a seat on the couch as Entropy comes out of my shadow and takes the toy she brought from my saddlebags before flying off to play with Philomena. "It was nice, I even got to see a friend there. Thanks again for giving me space by the way." It was a bit mean to ask her to leave me alone when she was the one to invite me.

She keeps her smile and nods while moving a few papers around. "It's fine, I enjoyed the night regardless, and from how the night ended it really seems you did as well." I already expected her to tease me about the dance so I just rolled my eyes a bit. She seems happy for me, but switches to something more serious and calm a moment later. "You know she likes you right?" She asks bluntly.

I give her a surprised look. "Diving right into it then?" She nods again with some seriousness. "Yes, I guessed as much." I put it together after Daisy kept teasing me.

She doesn't judge in any way and just nods before asking the obvious question. "Do you like her?" She really is just going for it.

A part of me was expecting this topic, I was not expecting her to be so blunt, but she knows how to talk to me. I think for a moment and decide to be honest, she's probably just looking out for Twilight. I will be blunt in return, "No, I don't like her that way. Honestly, I don't just know her all that much, we've only met a few times." After a few days, I played the memories in my head a bit and realized more about the situation.

I look back at Celestia. "I'm not blind." I noticed Twilight's actions and fit it all together, but this is full-on confirmation of that theory.

She snorts but doesn't laugh, I think she'd like to but the topic is a little too serious for that. "Really? Could have fooled me, it took you a full dance at the Gala. Do you know how much I've had to stifle my laughter when she talks about you?" She jokes good-naturedly while being serious at the same time, somehow.

After the Gala and Daisy's words I kind of realized that Twilight probably likes me in some way, although I think that is mostly the fact that she is at that age and she has few stallions her age around. I chuckle at her and try not to bring down the mood with my uncertainty, "You must have suffered, but you have more strength than me, I wouldn't be able to breathe at that point." I try to joke back but lapse into silence for a moment, she just patiently waits with that smile.

"I'm... Not really sure what to do about it." She gives me an understanding look. "I, need to find a way to let her down, but..." She nods as I trail off.

"Love is no easy thing, for anypony involved." She moves from behind her desk and I notice that the first Copper Lily I gave her sits on her desk now. She moves over to me with a relaxed look, "I could offer you advice, but you don't look like you really want it." She holds a gentle tone now.

She's got me pinned there, I still don't know how to feel about it all. Love is far from easy, and I have no idea how to deal with Twilight's feelings. I was hoping I was reading it wrong and she was only hormonal, or just plain horny. I let out a sigh, "Yes... I... I need to think about this. Thanks, sorry I got you caught in it." She did unintentionally get placed in this mess.

She waves it off. "I think you said it best, life just goes like that sometimes." She moves some tea over to us and I take out my chess set to provide some distraction from my thoughts. "Also, if you need to talk I am always here, and Cadance for that matter." She reminds me as a reassurance before moving to the first piece of our game.

"Thanks..." It's a long lapse of silence before I try to move us past the topic, I'll need to think more for now. "In more simple news, I'm meeting Avalon later, we're finally working on a prototype. It will need much more testing, but if it works out then the spells are done at least." I give some exciting news to help change the subject.

Her face shifts from kind to happy and proud. "Yet more work, hmmm, I suppose it's worth it for my little ponies, like you." She jokes again probably to break any remaining mood from the last topic. "Seriously, it's amazing how you seem to find a problem and just eliminate it. Maybe that medal is needed." She is on a roll.

I roll my eyes again and give her a blank stare. "I will literally paint you pink from horn to hoof if you do that." I threatened without any heat or emotion.

She narrows her eyes at me and looks annoyed. "I had to cast an illusion on myself last time. Did you know that Cadance was at my door then?" She asks rhetorically and I chuckle a little at the image. "Either way, I found a few shield spells so I wouldn't recommend using that spell on me." She gloats and smiles victoriously.

I return the same type of smile. "Spell? I just got some paint. Although, I wonder if I could enchant a liquid?" I ponder as a threat and she loses her victorious expression.

Instead, she drops any real expression and just relaxes before moving a few papers and a quill over to us. "Fine, but I'm showing you how to properly do it." She demands plainly. "Also, checkmate." I look down at the board and back up at her as she uses a clear chessboard as a place to write.

I try to look annoyed but that's outweighed by my curiosity about enchanting a liquid. "You know what? Sure. But, I also have a spell I want to mess around with, and I think you'd be interested in what Twilight and I were working on at the Gala."

She looks a bit intrigued before showing a humorous smile. "Because of course, that's what you two were doing the entire time." She laughs to herself for a moment. "You two are definitely alike. Well, come on then, let's see what monstrosity you two have created." She has a relaxed and humorous expression as I take out my notes.

I smile at that. "Don't worry, we won't disappoint you. Definitely not her, I think she'd have a heart attack if she knew I was showing you this." She raises an eyebrow at the dark saying but takes it in good humor. From there things just continue on as they normally do.

time skip

I slowly comb out my mane a little before looking in the mirror again. My mane has once again gotten too long, I'll need to get it cut again, or maybe I could just make a spell for that?

My meeting with Celestia was definitely interesting, and I'm still thinking about the whole Twilight situation. It's... complicated, I know I need to either let her down or let this burn itself out, but I have no idea how to do either of those and I don't want to hurt Twilight by doing it.

I know that's probably unavoidable to some degree, but I'm not one to give up that easily. Maybe I should ask Cadance? I'm not a full-on friend with her yet, but she has earned a good amount of trust from me and I think I'm willing to ask her. Yet another thing to think about it seems.

I ponder that for a few minutes before walking back into the main room of my apartment and double-checking that everything is where it is supposed to be. It's late in the day now and the sun has set. When we were planning this meeting I told Avalon he could just come over for dinner before we do our work to simplify the timing.

I've already made some fresh bread which I immediately turned into garlic bread, something that isn't too popular in Equestria. I heard the Centaurs like it but it seems mostly ignored by ponies, I personally like it on occasion. I place the nicely toasted garlic bread on the counter to cool before checking on the salmon still in the oven.

Along with some mashed Red Root, this is going to be a good meal. As I was moving the garlic bread off of the baking sheet I heard a quiet knock on my door. "Give me a moment!" I call out before quickly flinging an illusion spell at Entropy on her perch before walking over to the door and turning off the shield around my home.

I feel the life magic on the other side and notice a small cluster normal for a pony or griffon, so with a smirk I open the door. "Avalon, I'm glad you could make it." I greet my friend as he stands there a little uncomfortably, but I ignore his worry and step back to let him inside. "Come on in, make yourself at home." I encourage them while walking back to check on the boiling Red Root.

He stands there for a moment looking before taking a slow step inside. "T-thanks, I hope I'm not interrupting anything." He apologizes like he normally does. He closes the door behind him while looking around my relatively plain apartment, before seeing the main attraction, my plants.

Entropy's perch still has a Solar Vine grown around it to slowly release light, and to see in the darkness I placed two small gems with magic lights inside the main room. I wave off his concern and move my pot off the stove top, "It's no trouble at all, I am the one who invited you to dinner. It's still baking so relax wherever you like." I start to take the Red Root out of the pot to mash it up.

He stays silent simply taking in the sights, he immediately notices Entropy's perch and the soft glow it gives off. He looks at the small garden I have and seems mesmerized for a while, but Entropy makes her presence known by flying down to a countertop and looking at him. "Hello."

He smiles a little more when he sees her. "Hi." It's a small thing but it seems to help him relax more as he moves a bag off of his back. "Whe- Can I put this somewhere?" He seems even more nervous than normal, maybe it's just being in someone else's home, regardless I keep my friendly attitude.

"Anywhere, I can always just clean up later. How was your large job, did it go well?" I ask, trying to break the ice some while adding butter and salt to the mashed Red Root. He does just that and leaves his bag next to the door before walking further inside and seemingly curious about Entropy's perch. I smile at his curiosity, "It's nice right?"

He looks back at me and nods. "The job was f-fine. Yes, it's... Beautiful, what is it?"

I'm a little proud to have someone enjoy my work. "Solar Vine, an interesting plant. It collects solar magic and releases it at night." I explain simply before moving both the garlic bread and Red Root to the table along with a few plates and utensils. "You can snack if you like, but it will be better with the salmon." Entropy is on the table being a good girl and waiting, while also eyeing the garlic bread.

His head feathers perk up and his head snaps to me as his body stays still, honestly, it's a little funny the way he looks, he looks surprised at my words. "S-Salmon? Yo-u didn't have to do that for me. We c-can eat something more... Palatable? For you?" He looks touched.

I chuckle and again wave his concern away. "No need, I was planning on eating it as well. It may sound odd, but I'm one of the rare few ponies that enjoy meat, I actually had to cut back in the past." I explain while opening the oven and let the smell waft out. "Done, should be good," I say as if to prove my point as I take it out of the oven.

He looks more shocked, but the smell of the salmon seems to kick his mind out of it. "Re-really?" I smile and nod. "Well... Thanks, it's been a while since I ate fish." He shows his first full smile and starts to really relax, it's at this point he notices the desk I set up. "Is this...?"

I nod again. "Yup, we'll be working there. But that's for later, right now we have food to eat." I place the freshly baked salmon on the table and motion him over. "Eat up," I say simply as he joins me with slightly narrowed eyes, he looks like he really wanted that fish. "Wow, it really has been a while for you hasn't it?" I joke gently at his expense.

He blushes a little in embarrassment. "Ya, I don't get it too often. Restaurants are too, busy. And..." He trails off as I plate us both some food, I raise an eyebrow and he looks more embarrassed. "I d-don't know how to, cook." He admits quietly.

I can't help but just laugh a little at that. "A courier that can't cook?" I ask back, but I keep my tone blatantly friendly so as to not hurt his ego.

He looks at the plate I gave him. "I c-can cook! Just, not meat, it keeps burning." He defends himself and I just smile back while passing him a fork.

"Then enjoy, I'd like to think I'm a good cook." With that bit of encouragement, we all dig into the food. The garlic bread is perfect and the Red Root mash was a really good side dish. We were so focused on eating we didn't say a word as we ate and in the end, we finished the entire meal, mostly thanks to two birds, one of them now in another food coma on the tabletop.

Avalon practically inhaled the salmon and looked halfway to his own food coma by the end. "Seems you enjoyed it, I'll take that as a compliment." I boast.

He smiles widely and is now much less nervous. "It was amazing, I don't think I've had fish that good before." He agrees, but I also noticed that he's occasionally been glancing at the desk I set up. He also smiles at Entropy, "I think she agrees."

I don't torment him and just stand up. "She could eat rocks and be happy. Now come on, we have work to do, and I have a gift." I see his feathers perk up in excitement and he quickly moves with me to the desk. "You can look over the tools, I need to grab it."

Before he can say anything I move over to my workroom and make sure he can't look inside before entering. Avalon seemed a little too excited to notice the part about the gift that works in my favor though. Over the past two weeks, I spent some time building the prosthetic without him knowing.

We're going to need to make a few more before we're done, but I thought it would be a nice surprise. I walk over to my desk and double-check the wooden limb, it looks plain, just smooth wood. The limb is controlled by movement spells and specialized sticking spells to keep the parts connected while allowing movement of the parts at the same time.

He can turn it all off and the limb would fall apart, but it makes swapping parts very easy. The magic comes from two small sapphires I used, they are embedded inside a compartment that can open and close with another sticking spell. It's no masterwork but it's more than enough.

One joint is at the wrist and then four more joints for each talon, all of them need adjusting. I pick it up with care before leaving my workroom and locking the door behind me. When I leave Avalon is distracted by the tools and doesn't look over to me, so I move closer before placing the prosthetic on the desk slowly. "Surprise," I say softly with a smile.

His eyes go from the tool in front of him and they focus on the limb not truly recognizing it for a moment. But it clicks quickly, "I... Tha... Wha?..." He's rendered utterly speechless for a long moment as his eyes widen and he looks shocked, he reaches out and moves his talons over the limb almost as if not believing it's real.

I just wait as his eyes start to water in the corners a bit, "Well, want to try it?" I ask just as softly as before. He looks transfixed and picks it up like it's the most fragile thing in this world. It was shaped to fit the stump on his limb and I even added a piece of cloth to make it more comfortable.

He slowly moves it into place before hesitating for a second, he gently presses the wood to his stump and the spells lock it in place. For a moment it just hangs there, but then the wooden talons twitch a slight amount, he takes a sharp breath and hesitantly moves his other arm off the prosthetic.

It doesn't fall down and he's able to clench the talons closed slowly. At this point he looks on the verge of tears, he looks up at me with a look that makes every bit of work worth it. There is no smile, but he has the most grateful look I have ever seen and I can't help but smile widely. "It seems our work has paid off, are yo-"

My words are cut off completely as he rams into my body while wrapping his arms around me in a hug. "Thank you! Thank you. Thank you." He just keeps thanking me while gripping me tightly, well the new arm definitely works for hugs.

After a moment I tap his shoulder and that seems to make him back off a bit, but unlike my expectations, he doesn't look embarrassed, just beyond happy and grateful. "I. I can never thank you enough, this... I." He's still at a loss for words and I brush off the surprise hug.

I smile gently. "I'm glad you like it. But this wasn't just me, that is your own efforts as well." I remind him before looking as he starts to play with the limb like a child on Christmas. "We still have work to do though, I need to teach you how to make that, and I can already see a few places where the wood is rubbing incorrectly." I'm happy but we do have work to do.

I move closer to him as we both stand next to the desk. He picks up a tool with a little difficulty, but he still looks to be on cloud nine. "Shade?" I turn back to him from moving around a few things. "I can never say how... How much this means to me. I... Thank you."

I keep my own smile. "You're welcome, now how about we get to work? We have a project to finish, and some testing to do." I offer him another tool and he takes it with his other hand, he looks at both his arms happily. "And thank you, it's been a pleasure working with you." He smiles even more than before and we start our work.

It's days like this, they make all the effort worth it.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

Multiple happy birb, hard to write but worth it.

Chapter 172

SEP 12 Sunday.

I slowly draw another line as I copy a new rune into my ever-growing collection.

Over the past two weeks, I've kept up with things and spent a lot of my time thinking about my life and future. Specifically with Twilight. I'm honestly a bit of a mess, not that I really should have expected anything different from love of all things.

Last time I rejected the idea of a relationship with her, and honestly, I still think that's for the best, but I've had more time to think about the reason for my rejection. As a starter, I really am just not looking for that, mostly because I don't think I have the time to invest in a relationship.

Companionship is something I do enjoy, but I have that in my friends already, but the deeper reason is simple. I'm not sure I can bring myself to have a relationship with so much on the horizon. The death of Bright Macintosh proved that fate won't just let things veer off course so easily.

Future events might play out similarly despite my best efforts, and if I do find love what does that mean for our future? With the way things are fated to go I won't make it to thirty, is a relationship really worth it when that time and effort can be used to give us all a better chance at survival?

That in itself is a dilemma, but add to the fact we haven't really talked that much and it gets more complicated. I don't really have an interest in her that way, she looks fine, but it's just not there. That being said, I don't want to ruin what little friendship we've had as I really do like hanging out with her.

As an example, I got a letter from her a few days ago, and I wrote back trying to act more like a friend, using less vague words. But honestly, I need advice about how to handle this, I don't want to ruin things, but I also do not feel comfortable leading her on, even if it's unintentional.

Ideally, I'd like to be a simple friend to her but just telling her that seems like a bad idea, I'm a blunt pony, and this is simply not the time to be blunt. So for now I'm just going to be friendly with her, and the next time we meet I've decided to ask Cadance for advice.

Still, this entire thing has made me think about my life and future choices. Would I pursue a relationship if I really had feelings for someone? Even with the future as it is? At this point I think fate is self-correcting to at least some degree, I don't have complete proof but Bright's death is strong but inconclusive evidence to this theory, but only time will tell if I'm right.

I let out a breath as I finished the last of my notes and added them to my Runic Library. I need something to distract myself for a bit so I start going through my notes on my newest stupid idea, raising the sun. I've mostly been looking into how it was done in the past and why it was done like that to see if I can get some form of starting point.

Records on things like that are hard to find, but I've learned a few things and remembered a bit from the show. Sadly I wrote most of my notes on the show a few years after I was reborn and even then I watched the show a few more years before I died.

I bring this up because there are gaps in what I know, some things have simply been forgotten despite my best efforts. I vaguely remember something about the side effects of raising the sun, but that is foggy and distant. So, I had to rely more on this world's knowledge than mine.

I didn't find much, mostly historical reference journals, but from what I can tell the effects on a normal pony raising the sun depended on the method and time period. Really old records said it needed a complex ritual and several magically strong unicorns, and sometimes it resulted in deaths if done improperly.

The normal side effects were extreme magic exhaustion, you can recover just fine with some time but it's never fun or easy. This changed over time though, magic like any science sees progress, so over time the number of ponies needed and the death toll was lessened, but never eliminated.

It was around this time it became possible to attempt to raise the sun as an individual instead of a group, but that never seemed to end well. The group method has a few risks, it is harder to mess up but also hard to maintain, anything like a war can fuck it up thoroughly, in contrast having only one pony needed was an attractive idea.

This is also where things get the most foggy and uncertain. At some point, somepony was able to achieve raising the sun on their own and promptly died from it. Even after many attempts, it seems the furthest they ever got was making it so you only lost your magic instead of fucking dying.

This is where all experimentation stops though, somewhere in that rough time period Celestia and Luna pop up and started raising and lowering the sun and moon. Ponies no longer needed to do it, so these two methods were thrown away as dangerous and not worth the risk.

I couldn't even find anything about how the ritual worked, only records on what happened to those who used it. Now this normally would dissuade me from even trying to raise the sun, but in the time from when that ritual was used probably the biggest invention in magic was made.

In the past you had no way to really store magic, your best bet was to take a huge gem and place it in an insanely dense magical area, even then you'd have trouble controlling the magical output of the gem. But in modern times we can collect, store, and release magic in much better ways. Back then the spell used to turn a gem into a magic reservoir and the spell to enchant objects easily wasn't invented yet.

Those ponies back then had no choice but to raise the sun with a ritual because they had no other way to collect enough magic beyond dumping all their collective magic from their bodies into a single ritual. And the more ponies that dump their magic inside the ritual the more unstable the ritual would become.

So you want as many unicorns with as much magic as possible to minimize potential problems with the ritual. But now I can just use gems to gather that magic with ease, it cuts down on the biggest problem with this old method, lack of easily usable magic.

That's not to say this will be easy, gathering the magic necessary won't be hard but building a new ritual will be. The books I found have no detail about the rituals used, not even an example of something similar, not that I'm surprised it's a good call to not let that be public knowledge. Still, I'll be looking for any information, but I would rather not ask Celestia.

She is willing to let a lot go and let me keep a lot of secrets, but if I start asking about the sun and moon and how to control them I know she'll need answers. Plus, if all my planning fails and I can't make this happen then I can just do nothing and let events go as they normally would.

I get up after my work and decide to do something with the rest of the day, I feel like I need some outdoor time and maybe another run. To this day I still exercise and take my morning runs, along with getting my shit thoroughly kicked in by Stone once a week.

I find Entropy sitting on the desk I've decided to keep in the main room, along with a couch and carpet I bought a little spontaneously. Avalon and I didn't really have a good place to relax while we worked so it's a nice addition to my small home.

My last meet-up with Avalon was awesome, his reaction alone was worth all the effort. We tested the new limb in many ways and we found a lot of room for improvement, he also never stopped smiling the entire time he was using it. I do need to talk to him about what we'll do with the project when we're done as I don't want that going under my alias, but that can come later.

He did try to pay me for the gems used when the night was over, but I swiftly turned him down. His help and friendship are worth endlessly more than a few bits, and I told him that. In the end, he settled for thanking me again and promised to be careful while using the new limb just to be safe. I reach out and pet Entropy a bit, "You ready?" She stretches her wings a bit and swiftly slips into my shadow before reappearing on my back a moment later.

I've had her practice moving through shadows as she's able to move quickly in them and it would be a good skill to learn. If she gets quick enough at it she'll be able to move around any obstacle without needing to teleport and unnecessarily waste her magic supply. "You're really getting the hang of that, who's a good Girl?"

"ME!" She states this as an irrefutable fact. I chuckle and we both vanish from my apartment, we take one trip each day to tire her out so she knows where we are going already. We appear in the evening light on the edge of a large lake inside a steep valley, the air is cold and some snow is partly covering the slightly frozen ground and lake.

Entropy is tired so I let her devour some berries and meat before she merges into my shadow for some well-earned rest. A while back I had to fly further to keep Entropy challenged, and the new spot we teleport to is this valley lake. The shaded valley is a forested area with the lake as the central feature.

I've narrowed it down to somewhere in the middle of the country. There are even some roads and paths that lead into this valley so this place is known about by somepony. I haven't seen anypony though but the place we teleport to is in between some rocks next to the lake just for some extra cover.

I don't have much to do, so I just start walking down the shoreline looking at rocks, At some points, I pick up a few and skip them across the water. It's calm here, simple in a nice way. Eventually, the sun dips past the hills and a full moon rises high into the sky above me.

It's a well-lit night and I enjoy the cold air and silence for a while, but after a while, I get a little bored. The view may be beautiful but I'm not always one for beauty, so after a moment I move to a boulder and decide to have a little crazy fun. I've always been curious about what would happen if I used my space magic as a weapon.

Something else I wanted to try was to cut things, so I found a tall boulder and started to concentrate. There are a few ways I could try this, but I start by feeling the space around the boulder, and then I try my best to visualize a completely flat plain intersecting with the boulder.

It takes a little while to form it, but when I do I add another flat plain as close to the first one I just made as possible. I then flex my will and try to pull both plains apart a very tiny distance to separate the space, the space is pulled apart and stretches while a tiny gap is formed, but holding the space like this is really draining.

I then just let both plains slam back into each other with a loud clap and the snapping of stone, the boulder is around two feet across and I watch as a line of cracks spread from the gap that was formed. It doesn't look like a clean cut at first, the space was bent just enough where the rock couldn't move back into place to refill that gap quickly enough, effectively cutting it.

It was cut right in half, but the damage beyond the cut from the Rebound is extensive. The cracks spread several inches from the mostly clean cut and the boulder would probably fall apart if I tried to move it. That proves correct when I try to pick up the top half of the boulder as it crumbles into several large pieces.

I flip the switch in my bracelet and start to take notes on the results. This is promising, but it takes too long to set up. I look down the shore at all the other boulders, it seems I have something new to practice.

POV shift Celestia.

I step through the doors and enter the mostly plain room as four of my most trusted guards follow me inside and take their posts to guard the door behind me.

This meeting has proven both tiring to get to set up and a test of my patience, but hopefully some progress will finally come out of it, even if this is only the first of several more meetings. At least that is my hope, any real progress would be welcome at this point. As I wait I survey the carefully set up room.

This is normally a storeroom of the palace that's been emptied of everything, even shelves, one large pair of doors leads outside to bring in carts, and their goods are unloaded and taken through the door behind me as needed. The outside beyond those doors leads to Canterlot's streets quickly and is probably the quickest way inside the palace.

It's normally heavily guarded, but for this meeting, the outside is devoid of guards. That's not to say my ponies haven't taken my safety seriously, there are over eighty guards past the door behind me that will flood this room at a magical signal and I have personally warded this room, I hope none of that is needed tonight though.

My thoughts are interrupted as the door behind me opens again and my sometimes adorable niece walks in with a guard of her own. I smile as she walks in and preemptively cast a privacy spell so we may talk in peace, there are some things even my guards should not hear. "Niece, are you ready?" I ask, trying to calm her a little.

I do feel for her, this is the first time she'd had to deal with something like this and it's never easy. But her expression is calm on the outside, even if I can see the signs of her worry. She keeps her mask on and nods with a very slight smile of her own, "As ready as I can be." Good, she noticed the privacy spell this time, she is improving well.

I keep my own mask of calm but switch up the topic, she could use something to distract her worried mind. "Things will go well, getting a meeting at least puts us at a starting point. How was your trip to New Trotten?" She wrinkled her muzzle and I stifled some laughter. "Yes, dealing with the trading guilds can be... Tiring, but the increase in trade has been a boon for them. It seems your trip to Griffonstone was well worth it." I try to pull her mind to a recent accomplishment.

She knows what I'm doing, I can see it in her eyes, but that just means she remembers what I've taught her. "I plan to throw glitter at Shade the next time I see him." Her tone is nothing but serious. "That Colt has gotten me in an endless stream of meetings and trade disputes." She vents a little frustration, but I also hear the underlying happiness in her words.

I tilt my head a little. "Maybe later than that would be best, I suspect your next meeting will be interesting as it is." She raises a brow slightly at that. "I decided to ask him about my ever-faithful student's feelings towards him, he seemed... Undecided, but still rejected the idea." Shade was a little quick to shoot the possibility down, but I can guess a few of his reasons already.

I nearly giggle as her ears betray her mask and pop up as she gets that glint in her eyes. "Oh? Well then, maybe I will hold off." She drops the joking tone. "Did he say anything about why?"

"Not really, beyond the fact they don't really know each other, I am glad he isn't rushing things in either direction though." I voice some of my thoughts on my friend. "I find it likely he will seek you for advice though, he didn't look resistant to it when I brought it up," I add after a moment of thought.

I am glad Shade is trying to be adult about this, even the most mature colts and fillies can fall into love far too fast. I have seen many both uplifted and ruined by love in that way, but for now, I see no reason to step in beyond offering advice to both of them when asked.

That glint in her eye intensifies. "Hmm, are you jealous?" I blink a little not expecting her sudden question but don't show it. "What was that thing you said a while back? He's growing into his body well." I narrow my eyes a little as she once again uses those words against me while ignoring the context.

I show no outward reaction and just ignore her attempt at teasing me while also focusing my mind on the meeting, she'll have to try much harder with me than Shade. "No. But I do have news for you." I don't change my expression but I see her tense a little at my tone. "Shade is almost done with a new invention, I think you can handle that well enough."

If she wasn't at this meeting she would be glaring at me by now. "If it wasn't for Twilight I would have dumped glitter into his pillow by now... Fine, what has the wonder colt invented now?" In the end, her curiosity wins out over her annoyance.

"Easily made wooden prosthetics." I almost see her disbelief break through her mask but she keeps her composure, while I have to resist a laugh of my own at her contained reaction. "You'll have a few months before then I think, but it should prove to be useful as always. And, it's unlikely to be a trade good, the logistics though are another story altogether." I peter off and let her own mind fill with what that could mean.

She's about to say something, but we both go silent as the noise comes from the far side of the room. We both straighten up and fully assume our proper royal appearance. The guards also stiffen as the door slowly opens to the darkness outside. Four small forms in full cloaks slowly creep into the room.

The well-lit room beats back the darkness under their cloaks to see their faces, they mostly look uninteresting and unassuming. They take a moment to drop their cloaks to the floor and reveal that they have no weapons before they approach us slowly. They take a moment to give a bow, not too deep or too long but enough to show respect.

A small flash of green flame and suddenly what's bowing before me is different. "Your Majesty's. I am Kalis, and I speak for Queen Chrysalis."

It's time for some progress, because I WILL not let these beings bring harm to my ponies.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

I think someone mentioned a better way to cut things with space magic, but I couldn't find the comment. So, any ideas on how Shade could improve or recreate that ability?

Ps. Sorry for asking again.

Chapter 173

SEP 27 Monday.

I read through another document before signing it and moving it to the side. Yet another day of dealing with endless paperwork and ink.

It's good at keeping my mind off of a few things though. I had another study session with Twilight, it was much shorter than last time because I had things to do, but it was nice. I'm trying not to think about that too much, it's just been in my head for a while, and a break is needed.

I have a tendency to fixate on a single problem until it's solved, but I'm trying to just hold out until I can talk to Cadance, which is proving hard as she's busy. I also did try to be more of a friend than anything else with Twilight, but I'm honestly not really sure if I've made any progress there.

I stopped my mind right there and shook my head a little, and just like that I nearly fell back into my thoughts. I turn to Daisy to try and distract myself from myself, she's just going through her own papers with a quill. Our normal work is the continued suffering of trees, and yes office work will make you start coming up with things like that.

Honestly, I think I need something to do. I haven't made anything new recently and a lot of my day is repetitive training and work, something I can handle fine, but a shakeup is nice sometimes. I look over at Daisy again and decide to do anything with a friend, "You have anything planned for today?"

My abrupt question makes her stop and look over at me. "No? I can't think of anything. Why? Got an idea? Because I could stand to have some fun." She asks back while cleaning up a few pieces of paper as our workday winds down.

I look at the clock before following her lead and cleaning up myself. "Nope, but I want to do... Something. Any ideas of your own?" I place a few things in my saddlebags as they lean against the side of my desk, before putting away my badge and putting on my saddlebags.

"Hmm." She thinks it over for a bit before nodding. "Well, I think Maple is free, so we could ask her for a suggestion, but that's probably going to go nowhere." I chuckle and nod, Maple is not the pony to ask for entertainment, at least beyond board games. "Oh! I know."

She packs her paperwork in a random drawer, something I will have to sort out tomorrow. "There's an art fair going on in the Night Market, not sure if it's still going, but we could just eat out if it's not." I pause and let that bounce around my head a bit. I wouldn't mind having some more decorations for my home, or a nice meal with some good old banter.

After a moment I nod again. "Sure, sounds good, I could get some decorations. I'm not sure if we can get Maple into that though, her room might as well be brand new with how little she cares about that." That gets a chuckle out of her.

"It's Maple, I'll just tell her you're buying all the food, and the problem is solved." I give her a deadpan glare. "Oh, there's that stern look, Blaz would be proud." She jokes more at my expense.

I try to stay strong but laugh after a moment. "Fine, I'll pay for her, but you're helping me pick out a few decorations and convincing her to at least get something." She just smiles wider at that and nods her agreement as I make my way to the door. "Eight at the diner nearby sounds good?"

"Yup! See you there, and don't forget to bring some bits. Some of that stuff can get expensive." Some sound advice, even if I carry around more bits than needed most of the time. It's a calm walk home and Entropy rides on my back disguised, she gets a bit of attention but most ponies have seen me enough to not really care, and most others don't care regardless.

I still have three hours before the meeting time so when I get home I unpack a few things and have Entropy take me to Gaia's Eden not long after. I spend time with my friends, but recently that's just been game nights and it will be good to go out and just relax for a bit while doing something spontaneous.

When I appear in my shack I immediately notice the small sun nearby, Celestia's life magic is shining bright like normal, it seems I'm not alone today. I smile as Entropy notices Philomena outside on one of the cherry trees, she takes off like a rocket to play with her. "Don't burn anything this time!" I shout after her.

Last time was only a small fire that burnt a little dry grass before Philomena put it out, turns out she can snuff out a fire pretty easily with her wings. I had to ground Entropy for the day though, that play fight went too far. I leave my shack and am greeted by gentle snowfall around me covering everything in white.

Winter is in full swing now and most of the trees have fully lost their leaves, some though stay stubborn and keep their green canopy despite the cold. I pull out my blindfold and spend a few minutes checking on my crop hybridization attempts for this winter.

The cross-breeding has been going well once again and I've even gotten to test something. I dusted the crops with gold dust to see what would happen, and it did work, but spreading the gold dust so widely weakened the growth effects by a large degree. The growth was only slightly accelerated, but it could be an option for speeding things up more if I really wanted to.

After I'm done checking on the crops I put on my blindfold and move over to find my practice spot, embedded into the ground are my dagger and greatsword. I could check in on Celestia, but we had a meeting a few days ago so she can come over if she likes, I want to focus on my practice right now and not think about mares for a while.

I enchanted my blindfold to stay on, maybe not necessary but it was interesting to do. Once it's on firmly I drop my saddlebags a little away from my spot and start to link swings together trying my best to keep a proper form. Building a combat style from the ground up is far from easy, but practice makes perfect.

I can feel Celestia moving around and at some point, she seems to have noticed me, but as she's walking over she abruptly stops. A second later I have to quickly move my greatsword as several dozen small objects fly at me quickly. I block a few of them but there are too many and several get through, they hit me in several spots and have a wet feel to them.

After they stop I take off my blindfold and drop my greatsword, but when I look up I just see Celestia standing there with a massive smile. "That's for the illusion and red dye!" She calls out over to me while laughing before teleporting away in a small flash. For several moments I just stood there utterly confused.

It's also at this point I look down, only to see myself covered in blotches of bright blue. "Oh, what the fu-?" I mumble before trying to wipe it off to no avail. :It's fucking dye! And it's just smearing too, what the fuck is this stuff?: I stand there for a few more moments before I burst out laughing at my new situation, and just like that Celestia has gotten my mind off of my problems, I will have to get her back for this though.

After a good laugh, I drag myself over to the Water Tree pond before casting my cleaning spell on myself and jumping into the water. It's cold as hell and half frozen, but it's better than looking like a blueberry, I float in the water for a while and scrub myself clean as fast as possible before getting out.

I cast another spell to quickly dry myself, I'm still cold as hell but it's bearable. I dry my blindfold too and put it back on with a chuckle before getting back to practice. It seems I'll need to work on something for revenge. I decided to work on my swings a little more than normal and by the time it's time to leave, I'm pretty tired.

A quick teleportation and a shower at home later, along with some food keeps me alive long enough to prepare for the night. I had to comb out my now tangled mane, but halfway through I stopped to look at myself in the mirror. My mane is shoulder length and it's getting a little annoying for me.

I normally just tie it back with a band and let the rest hang down in a ponytail, pun intended. I get an idea and tie my mane back before cutting it two inches down from the band. The rest of my mane is thrown away, not a bad look overall. I comb out any loose hair before tying it back again and gathering my things to leave my apartment.

The night is cold but the snow has stopped falling down so it's an easy walk to find the right cafe. This place is right next to the Night Market and is popular for that reason, and by the time I arrive it's already busy, I can see that the well-lit market street is bustling with ponies.

I shrink the range of my magical senses but keep an eye on the world around me. I think I'm still early so I head inside to get out of the biting cold. The inside is much better, they even have a large fireplace going in the back, I just find somewhere to sit before they are all taken.

I only order some ginger tea while drawing a few things, and right after I get my tea a familiar face enters the building, Maple. Normally she'd be looking tired and all droopy this time of year, instead she looks like her normal self, a walking block of stone that can talk.

I chuckle at my own thoughts as she sits down across from me. "What?" She asks and I just wave it off. "Ok... Thanks for inviting me. I like the look too." Her words are blunt as always but hold a very slight tone of happiness to them.

"Thanks, I wanted to cut it back. But it was more Daisy than me, I just wanted to do something different. I am paying though so get wha-" Her ears jump up and she leaves the table before I can even finish talking. I sigh as she walks back a few minutes later with a milkshake and pie. "Yup, I walked right into that one." I hold no grudge though, I have more bits than time and I don't mind paying for her.

She smiles a bit. "Thank you, again, they have good pie here." It's already cut into slices so she just takes one and digs in, I raise a brow at the milkshake as she doesn't drink it. "It's for Daisy, too cold for me." That's all it takes to get a chuckle out of me.

"I didn't know she liked bananas, heh." I chuckle again but Maple is utterly lost. "Speaking of the cold, is your bracelet still working? The spells should be but you never know." It seems to have done her plenty of good and I don't want it to break anytime soon.

She stops mid-chew and nods with a slightly bigger smile. "It is. Although, walking around in the snow while warm is, odd. The cold has always been... Tiring, it's nice not having to deal with it." I smile back at her, she doesn't speak that much that often and I'm happy to hear such a simple gift has seen good use, even if I've heard it before.

"Good, but that reminds me I need to start thinking about Hearth's Warming. It's going to be hard to top that." I enjoy some of my tea while motioning to her bracelet. A thought strikes me at the topic, "Actually. Are you planning to get anything to decorate?"

She tilts her head seemingly confused. I smile more, "Your room is more plain than my apartment, and I'm ME... I can even make my plants look organized at home." I joke around a bit, she doesn't laugh but I see the signs she shows when she finds something funny.

"Not my fault you can't decorate, my room has potential, yours is just..." She trails off letting her words play themselves out. "And, maybe? It depends, I really don't often like most art." She moves the bracelet a little. "Except this. This is nice."

I raise a brow again. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome." She says back without a hint of shame, I'm honestly not sure if she's just good at hiding it or just doesn't have any. She turns a little as she spots Daisy moving past a window, I follow her eyes and smile as Daisy enters the cafe to finally join us.

"Well well well, look who it is." I drawl out in a bad cowboy accent. She takes a seat next to me while stealing some of Maple's pie, truly a grave sin, and her milkshake. I smile as Maple stares Daisy down for a few moments before moving the pie back over to herself and sticking her fork in it to lay claim.

Daisy just smiles at her and sticks her tongue out for a moment before turning to me. "Hmm, nice choice. And sorry mister, I was with S- With my friend for a bit and he held me up." She tries her own accent and is somehow worse than me, but more importantly, she lets something slip.

Over time we haven't learned much about Daisy's stallion friend, turns out she's the type to keep her love life to herself, not that it's stopping us from trying to figure it out. I quickly turn to Maple, "A stallion, maybe a guard, and his name starts with an S. Unless they use nicknames." I summarize and Maple nods in agreement.

That's all we've been able to guess about her special somepony, not much but this was a big step up. Daisy groans at our antics, "Fine! Yes, it starts with an S, now stop asking me." She pleads good-naturedly, we all know we're just messing with each other.

Daisy takes more pie from Maple and that starts a stare-down over the next few minutes as they devour the pie like it's a contest. "Never, and you two are ridiculous with your sweets," I answer Daisy and drain the last of my tea. "Now come on, we have some shopping to do." I have to wait for Daisy to do more before standing up and paying for the meal at the counter.

They stop their staring contest and we all make our way out of the building. "So, anything in particular you want to get?" Daisy asks as we enter the Night Market. "Because if we have time I'm getting something for Maple, she needs it." She doesn't joke in the slightest at that second part.

Maple actually rolls her eyes a little. "He already offered, I still don't see why I need anything. I already have a bed and table, that’s enough." I don't think either of us can tell if she's serious or not.

I shake my head. "No it’s really not. If nothing else we're finding you a plant, or even just a colorful pot, maybe a vase," I demand.

Daisy nods. "Agreed." She chuckles as we move past a few stalls and stop at the first one with several small sculptures and paintings. As we look through them I try to find something that I like, but most of them are relatively plain and uninteresting.

I see the smile on Daisy's face widen as she helps us look. "This one is not bad." I show it to them, it's a basic painting of a snowy forest. "I think I'll take it, Maple doesn't need a reminder of the cold." I joke a little as I pay the seller and we move on. Maple is quiet like normal but actually seems to be looking through stalls for something she might like.

As we walk I turn to Daisy again. "I don't think I've asked, but where did you learn to paint? Some of the ones you make are really good." I compliment her, her paintings are actually really good.

I see her smile flatten a little, she looks bittersweet. "My dam taught me." :Well, fuck:

I look apologetic, "Oh, sorry." I try to correct myself and drop the topic quickly.

But she waves me off. "Not your fault, and honestly it's something I'm ok with." Her smile returns to normal. "It... Well, it brings me close to her in a way, a few of the ones in my apartment are actually hers." I think she's told me something like that before, but it's been a while.

I'm a little lost for words. "Well, they are rather nice." I give a vague compliment. "Anyway, we should look for a few more. I still have several blank walls and Maple lives like a spartan." I joke to try and get us out of this mood.

They both looked confused for a second. "Spartan?" Maple asks the obvious question.

My mind blanks again and I just say the first thing that comes to mind. "It's a Griffon word. What about those?" I point to another stall. That seems to work and we dive back into the busy market, and from there, it is thankfully as planned. In the end, we do end up finding what we wanted.

I found another painting, this one of a forest in the day, it should go well with the one I have of a forest at night. I also found a small sculpture of a crow, something Entropy is sure to enjoy. Beyond myself we found Maple a pair of cactuses, they are simple but they are also low maintenance.

All in all, I enjoyed the night out, it's good to have friends.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I wanted to make this one a bit longer but something came up, I'm fine but I'll be busy tomorrow so you might have to wait two days for the next Chapter, hopefully not though. Sorry in advance.

Chapter 174

OCT 9 Saturday.

I slowly concentrate my life magic onto a single small area to grow more steel wood from the back pieces of my armor.

I'm currently working on modifying my armor a bit to improve it, in this case, I'm growing out a few steel wood handles to secure straps too. I normally can't wear my saddlebags and my armor at the same time, this will fix that to an extent, although I should probably try and buy something better for this later.

I like my saddlebags and would rather not get them damaged so they will be staying home today, but my old saddlebags are coming with me. They are lighter and being unneeded I can modify them to work with my armor without caring. After the small wooden handles are in place I start to equip my armor piece by piece.

Once I have everything but the helmet on I start to work on the old saddlebags. I take my dagger and start to cut off a few of the individual bags and straps. Saddlebags come in a few forms, but both of my saddlebags are in a style I prefer above others. They consist of one large bag on either side of my body, connected to each of those are two medium-sized bags and a few pocket-sized ones mirrored on both sides.

I have some needle and thread so I start by cutting two of the medium bags and several small ones out of the old saddlebags. Because I'm rusty it takes a long while to stitch it all together, but when I'm done I have two medium bags and all the small ones sewn together with some straps. They attach in a single piece that straps onto the upper back of my armor.

I test it several times by trying to pull or yank it off, but my needlework is decent enough to get the job done. I'm definitely going to do something better later, but this works for now. After I'm done with that I start to take off my armor pieces thinking about how to improve them more.

The Steel wood doesn't have much magical capacity, and some of that is taken up by the sticking spells that keep it together, but there is still a good amount to work with. I can't do something like a protection spell, but something small is possible.

After a little thinking, I decided to try something small but challenging and new. The idea is simple, but the implementation is a bit more complex, so I need to explain a few things. The spell I use to embed a spell into an object and enchant said object is very common, and something I've never modified, it simply has no room for improvement.

Unlike many spells, this one is worked on consistently by amazing inventors trying their best to improve it constantly, but back to my point. This is not the only enchanting spell I've found, most are simply variations that change little things, and this one is no different, all it does is let you put a single spell on multiple objects at once. It's called the Group Enchantment spell.

The normal enchanting spell lets you embed a spell in any object, but only a singular object. The best way to visualize this enchanting new spell is that it's taking a spell apart and putting those parts in several objects at once to achieve the same effect, but as you'd imagine this has some heavy downsides.

First, when I made the analogy of cutting a spell into pieces it was not literal. An enchantment is a metaphysical construct that has no physical form, so while that metaphysical structure is inside multiple objects that doesn't mean it's in pieces. It's a little hard to wrap your mind around honestly, but it is called magic for a reason.

The spell inhabits multiple objects while still being a single spell, it's odd, but back to the downsides. Second. To properly activate any enchantments with this method you need all the objects to be within a certain distance from each other, the more magic available in the object the more distance you have to work with.

Three. All enchantments with this method are weaker and a little less stable, also if any of the objects are destroyed or missing it won't work. On the upside, the spell does let you connect some of the magic capacity of the objects used, not by a lot but it's something.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that the spell is also much more complex to cast. Now for what I'm enchanting my armor with, I have a very weak water-repelling shield for a past project, and out of everything I would rather not get wet in my armor, or covered in snow. The problem is that none of the individual pieces of my armor have enough magic capacity for a spell like that, but if I Group Enchant them then it should work.

I could use gems, but that seems like a little much for such weak armor that I'm still working on improving. The water-repellent spell also still has to be very weak, it will only be able to repel water and snow but that's enough for me. I start with the water-repellent spell which doesn't take long.

I've made shields to conform and follow my body before so I just combine that with the water-repellent shield spell I have and go from there. It takes a full hour to make it efficient enough, and when I'm done I have to take off my armor again. I don't include my helmet as I don't want to be rained on when I take it off.

My wooden armor sits in a loose pile on the floor before starting to cast the spells needed. A three-ring spell materializes around my armor before a second one-ring spell appears inside that matrix, I start to dump my magic into the spells and a moment later there is a soft flash from my armor.

I then have to start snapping the pieces back together on my body, it takes a few minutes but once I'm done I quickly activate the armor's new enchantment. I made the activation method tapping a specific plate of my armor, one of the leg segments on my front right leg.

There is no visual difference so I settle for going to the kitchen and turning on my sink, I stick my hoof inside and it slips on an invisible shield an inch away from my armor mid-air. I smile at my success, "Perfect, I have everything then." I keep my small bit of pride as I place the new bags for my armor on my back.

I take another moment to remove a piece of my armor while keeping the water running over my hoof. After a single plate is moved a few inches away the shield stops working, it seems the range is very small, but that is to be expected considering the low magical capacity of my armor.

After double-checking my armor I turn to Entropy sleeping on her perch. "Hmm. Maybe not now then, heh." I smile at her and decide to wait a little longer and make sure I have everything I'll need for today.

Lunchtime is soon so she should be awake by then, she always is, for now, I just start to sharpen my blades a little more. For this trip, I'm taking my frost dagger and a steel wood greatsword. The frost dagger is still something of a mystery to me, but one that I found a lead in recently.

The rune that is used to apply the frost effect to others has proven difficult to find, much more than any other rune so far. When I started looking for it I found nothing and eventually just gave up, but recently I found a somewhat similar rune so I might be able to find it soon.

As for my greatsword, well I have two of them now. One is just for practice and stays dull, while this one is actually sharp and ready to be used. I slowly move my V-shaped sharpening block over the blade several times until it's properly sharpened. Beyond my weapons, I'm bringing a medkit and a few days of food just to be safe.

You may be wondering what the hell I'm doing? Well, I'm taking another trip into the Everfree, this time to study Timberwolves, at least that's the hope. That's why I'm preparing so much, I take my safety seriously. This trip has a few goals, first and foremost I want to try and find where the pack I often see lives.

Not much is known about Timberwolves, they are as dangerous as normal wolves, and I've learned a few things but overall they are a complete unknown. I want to learn more, but doing so is dangerous and that's why I'm preparing so much. I spend the rest of my time organizing some of my old notes on Timberwolves.

By the time I'm done, Entropy is awake and flies over to me looking over my armor. "What?" I turn to her as she looks over my appearance.

I smile at her. "We have a trip to go on, but first lunch." That gets her excited as always. It's a quick and easy meal for both of us and I don't even bother to leave my armor while cooking. Once we're properly fed I have Entropy take me to Gaia's Eden, and we appear inside my shack.

I take a moment to make sure Celestia is not here, I would rather not have her know about me doing this. She isn't here so I turn to Entropy again, "Remember Girl, banana." She looks up and nods before merging into my shadow while I leave my shack and put on my helmet.

Over the meal, I told Entropy that banana is my safe word, if or when I need to quickly retreat all I need to say is banana and Entropy will take us away immediately. The thick snow crunches under my hooves while any snow that falls on me slides right off of the shield. I walk over to the river, which is mostly frozen by this point, only a third of the river in the middle is still unfrozen by this point.

Last year it froze over entirely, it's something of a hole in my defenses that I will need to look into sometime. I test the ice with my hoof and try to stand on it, it's stable enough but the ice is thin and it's not going to be easy to walk on. Instead of walking on it, I cast a slow fall spell on myself and backed up to get a running start.

I take a running jump and clear the river easily but almost tumble as I overshoot it, luckily flying has made me skilled enough to not eat shit completely. After I have my hoofs under me again I start to look around for tracks. This river is one of the few places with easy to access fresh water so even in winter they come here.

There are a few tracks but they are hard to spot and I'm not skilled in tracking, after a few minutes I just decide to move in the direction I normally see them coming from as I move into the forest from the small riverside clearing the terrain changes.

The Everfree is much brighter than normal as many trees have lost most or all of their leaves. It lets more sunlight through, but even then there are still many shadows cast from the thick trees and cover of intertwined branches. The good news is the snow is only three inches deep most of the time so walking is easy.

I have no idea where I am going, but getting lost is no concern, so I take my time and explore this side of the river. It's mostly more of the same, but eventually, I find more tracks. They are half-filled with snow but they seem similar enough to the others so I start to follow them.

But after a while the trail ends as more fresh snow covers them up. I pause for a moment and decide to try something else, I reach out with my space magic and try to sense any difference in the snow. But as I do something feels off, it's a slow movement not too far behind me that I haven't noticed until now.

I spent a few minutes focusing on the snow with my spatial senses, but kept my life magic senses on watch around me, still when I quickly drew my blades and turned around I only had a moment before something was inches away from me. I'm not able to block in time so I try my best to move out of the way, but as I do that something clamps on my front right hoof and starts to pull.

I get my bearing and try to keep my balance while I see a white Timberwolf trying to bite through the armor on my leg. My mind is in full panic at the sudden attack and I do the only thing I can think of, I stab my greatsword down and try to make it let go. But it lets go before I hit it and my greatsword only hits the cold ground.

The Timberwolf has backed off a few feet and has its maw open in a snarl. Backing off gives me a chance to let my mind catch up with my new situation, and the first thing my mind remembers is that Timberwolves don't hunt alone. I get lucky as the moment I sweep my spatial sense around the area I'm able to move out of the way just in time for a second Timberwolf to fly past me as it jumps at me from behind

Although I've been caught off guard I didn't train for years for nothing. As soon as the second Timberwolf lands I move the greatsword still in the ground near them to strike one in the side while simultaneously casting a Firebolt spell at the second one.

The fire seems to spook both of them while I'm able to deal a glancing blow to one of them before quickly bringing my greatsword back to my side and getting into a proper stance. It's not very damaged from the blow and recovers fine, and just as I've gained some breathing room I sense another Timberwolf moving in quickly.

This is bad, I'm not used to fighting these things and three is too much for me. A faint memory pops into my head and I get a crazy idea, but I don't have time to hesitate so I take the risk and dump out a large amount of life magic around me. The effect is immediate as the two that were startled by the fire freeze for a moment.

I take advantage of the freeze and move forward quickly, they try to react and one even tries to lunge with its maw open, but they are a second too late. I slam my greatsword into the side of the one lunging at me and slashing at the front leg of the other with my dagger. I hear an odd sound somewhere in between a whimper and creaking wood coming from their mouths.

The pain seems to be enough for both of them to really start running, so they scramble away from me quickly. The one hit by my greatsword is knocked over and back a few feet onto the snow, but it quickly tries to get up and run away. The third Timberwolf arrives but just quickly joins the other two in a hasty retreat. It's now clear to all three that I'm not something worth the risk of trying to hunt further.

They don't try to attack me again and just run out of sight, the two injured ones moving slower than the rest as I breathe in deeply and keep my guard up. I keep my senses on high alert for a full minute and keep myself at the ready, but nothing else comes towards me and the Timberwolves are definitely not coming back.

I take a few more deep breaths before finally lowering my guard, I still keep my weapons drawn though. "Well, fuck. The hell was that?" I ask myself for a moment then try to get to work and calm myself down more. First things first, my leg, I look down and start to take off the armor.

The armor has several grooves in it from the Timberwolve's teeth, it even clipped my leg a bit. Just a slight cut and some roughed-up fur, most of it is a bruise, it seems the armor did its job well. The wound is barely even bleeding so I just clean it with a cloth, put the pieces of my armor back on and start to check my weapons and the area around me.

The weapons are fine, they didn't do much damage though. The Timberwolves only had shallow grooves in the wood that made up their bodies, although I think I heard a few cracks from the greatsword's weight hitting them. The ground is a mix of roughed-up snow and prints, and a few other things.

There is a dark watery sap soaking into some of the snow, it seems Timberwolves have something like blood. I activate my bracelet and start taking notes of everything while it's fresh in my mind, I also remember to keep my senses sharp and at attention.

I'm able to collect some of the bloody snow in a bottle, I also found a few splinters of wood and some white bark. I collect everything and decide to mark a tree and write down where I think I am before turning to my shadow. "Come on out Girl, it's over." She does just that before immediately looking my body over.

"Ok? OK?!" She demands while looking at the leg armor that was damaged.

I smile and take off my helmet to let her see it. "I'm just fine Girl, you don't need to shout." Her glare is enough to show she disagrees. "Fine. Banana." She still looks worried and takes to my instruction with some vigor, she moves quickly and in a second we are both back at Gaia's Eden.

I take a moment to remove my armor fully before showing Entropy my leg is just fine. She looks it over before looking back up at me, "Worry! ... Love." She bumps her head into my hoof and I start to pet her. I take a moment to reassure her while cleaning the scratch some more and applying some ointment to keep it sealed from the outside. It should heal in a day or two with proper care, it's also not very noticeable as it is only a very small cut.

"I know Girl, but it happens. I'm fine though, now how about we get something to eat." I think she knows I'm bribing her with food, but she still lets me pick her up to start making some food. It's just fruit and some jerky but it gives me some time to think over the small fight I just went through.

I'm not too shaken up by the events, I was looking for Timberwolves so I knew it could end like this, but getting ambushed was not expected at all. Several things stand out immediately, but above all else, I can't understand how they snuck up on me, I was keeping watch with my life magic senses the whole time.

I had my spatial senses focused on the snow, but I've sensed the life magic inside of Timberwolves before, yet during that attack I couldn't feel it anymore. Somehow they were hiding from my senses, I know they can feel life magic much more than most other animals so maybe it's more than just that, but that's a wild guess at best.

After I'm done eating I curiously place the splinters of wood and bark, along with the blood-like sap on the desk in my shack. Unlike a lot of trees, these pieces of wood have already lost all of their life magic, even though it's only been half an hour at most since they were detached and they are already completely dead. I don't think it was dead before detaching, which means the remaining life magic dissipated out of the wood and bark very quickly after it broke off.

In contrast, the deep brown sap still has a life magic left inside, which I quickly add to it, to prevent any more magical degradation. I'm not sure how long it will last, but the bottle is enchanted to keep things preserved so if I keep giving it life magic it should last at least a while so I can study it.

I watch the liquid in the bottle while taking more notes. It seems this is a bigger mystery than I thought. What are you?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I decided to give us a little action, not much through. But this I can promise this is not the last time you'll see of the Timberwolves.

Also, I find it on point that this is the first time Shade got hit be an opponent, even if it was just on his armor.

Chapter 175

OCT 17 Sunday.

I move around a few notes I've made on the brownish blood I got from the Timberwolves.

It's been a week now and I haven't made any real progress in this sap-like blood. Feeding it life magic seems to keep it alive in some form, but I'm hesitant to try and make it multiply or manipulate it. Despite all my progress in life magic, I'm not sure I'm ready for Biomancy yet.

I did find out that unlike normal blood, as long as I keep it somewhere with enough life magic around it, it remains stable and alive, that's why I've been storing it next to the Gold Oak. It might also have something to do with the cold but I'm also not sure, still, it's something I should look into before everything unfreezes.

Speaking of the cold, things have been going well for my crop breeding. I'm nearly finished with both the newly named Frost Potatoes and Frost Cabbage, they still need a few more months but by the time spring comes, they should both be completely done.

I get up from my desk and spend a few minutes double-checking my armor. Right now I'm in Gaia's Eden and I've been spending some of my time today repairing my armor from the minor damage caused by the Timberwolf that bit my foreleg, while the small cut I got has healed just fine after a few days.

Nopony even noticed it was there, and the bruise was healed by me with a spell the same day I got hurt. It took a little while to regrow and repair my armor, but it was easy compared to any form of metal armor. It did serve me well, even if it is just wood it can take some decent damage.

The leg plates are some of the thinnest so the fact it was able to take a full-force bite from a predator is pretty good. This whole event has made me both proud and more cautious than ever, this was the first time I've ever fought a wild animal. It's very different from a pony.

They didn't try to injure or defend, they were hunting me. I'll need to think of more situations if I want to try and investigate them again, I would rather not risk this more than I absolutely need to. I stop after looking over my armor and start to think of other things as I leave my shack and start walking around.

It's a calm day, the snowfall is light, and the sun is peeking through the clouds every once in a while. As I walk around I glance over at Celestia's home, I can feel that she's there right now. She's stopped working on her home as much and this is the first time she's been here in a week, she's normally around once every few days working on this or that.

It's not a real surprise though, our next meeting will probably also be a bit somber. This time of year is always hard on her, and every time I see her like this it tugs on my heartstrings. With that in mind I'm planning to do something for her on Nightmare Night, specifically Luna's garden.

Last year I helped improve it, and this year I'd like to do the same again, something small like a Copper Lily maybe? I don't plan to keep it secret though, I'll be asking Celestia for her full permission before doing anything at all. There are some things you simply don't mess with without permission, and the dead or lost are at the top of that list.

I have a meeting with Cadance today which should be... Interesting. Honestly, I've mostly tried to keep Twilight out of my mind recently. But from her letters, she's been busy with tests so it's as good a time as any to think on all of this more, because even after a few weeks I'm still lost on how to properly deal with this.

My mind is still made up, I don't want to pursue a relationship with Twilight. The timing and my life just makes it too complicated, hell I never even brought up the simple fact that I have too many damn secrets. I would never be able to be completely honest with her and lies are never a good thing to build a relationship on.

It's not even about Veil Winter, the changelings, and my friendship with her mentor. So many things I'd probably never be able to tell her, and even if I do, the results will probably be horrible. I'd either need to keep it secret for too long, or she knows too much and could endanger us both. I shake my head a bit and sigh as I once again lose myself in this rabbit hole.

I focus my mind on one thing at a time and start walking over to Celestia's home, which has seen slow but steady improvement. I don't knock as I can already feel her movement inside her workroom and she might not hear me as she's probably carving something, as I enter I look down and notice a new doormat.

It reads, greet the sun with a smile. I can't help but snort at the ridiculous but on-brand choice of my friend. Her home has seen some serious improvement and now has a few carpets, a coffee table, and a couch, along with a few small paintings hanging from the walls and a Solar Vine in a pot that she asked me to make.

After I look around I knock on her workroom door to not startle her while she's working with tools. It's a moment before her voice answers. "Come in, and watch your hooves." The tone is, well, It's not really a sad look. In fact, it's much better than it normally is this time of year, but it's still not her normal tone.

I open the door slowly to see Celestia's back as she focuses on the desk in front of her. All around the floor are pieces of paper and drawings laid out next to a small wooden carving in the middle. In the middle is a half-carved statue of a pony that is a little crude, it needs a lot of work and it's clear from the damaged ones to the side that this is not her first attempt.

I look back up to her, even if my eyes linger on her flank pressed against the floor. :It's not the time for such thoughts brain!: I force that all down, "Seems you've been, busy," I comment quietly while moving past her work and over to her, I move next to her and look up to see her face.

It's a mix of a smile and sad eyes, she's definitely feeling it this year, but even with her mood, she smiles down at her work. "Yes. I have a... This project I'd like to finish." Her tone is a bit somber, but also happy in an odd way. "I'd have thought you'd be meeting with Cadance by now? Your meeting is soon I believe."

She turns to look down at me with a friendly smile. Her desk has a few blocks of wood and tools, it looks like she's trying to practice carving feathers. It doesn't take me long to guess what she's trying to carve, so I nod and smile back without asking what she is making.

"I've carved feathers before, it's a bit difficult to get right. I can get you some Steel wood and my tools though, the wood is very sturdy so it's easier to make small details, and my tools are enchanted to make it easier.' I offer immediately. It's not like I mind her using them and I still have a good amount of Steel wood left over from making my armor.

She pauses and I see her smile grow some more. "You wouldn't mind? I may need them for a week or two." I nod again. "Thank you, Shade." She looks at a drawing sitting on the desk, the drawing lacks many details but it's definitely Luna. "Do you want to know what I'm making?" She offers some form of thanks.

I shake my head. "No, I think I guessed already." She doesn't look surprised. "I'll drop the wood and tools off later today, but before that, I came to... Ask about something but it's, so I don't want to bring it up but-" I'm not good and gentle talk of finesse, and she sees right through my attempt at being gentle and cuts me off.

"You are horrible at subtlety, not going back to normal. You're boring otherwise." She's actually able to make something of a joke despite her mood.

I chuckle after a moment and just do as asked. "I. Well. Last year we fixed up, her, garden. So, do you want to do it again? Maybe even add a few more plants?" I still try to be gentle, just less so than I intended. She pauses and gives me a slightly surprised look, but that quickly turns back into an even wider smile.

It's one of those smiles that lets me know I did the right thing. "I. I would love that. I can deactivate the spell around the castle if you need to prepare things? But sadly I'm busy right now and won't be able to join you." She admits with a little regret. "I would like to spend the... Date at the castle though, if you are willing to join me?" My heart melts a little at her stare.

I should have expected something like this honestly, she's always busy. I nod after a moment of thought. "I don't need long, if I tell you a date before that then will that work?" She nods silently. "Perfect, then don't worry, I'll make it a surprise for you and we'll go there on Nightmare Night. Does that work for you?" I offer to hopefully make her feel better about not having time.

Her eyes sparkle a little like Twilight's does and she pulls me into a quick side hug with her wing. It's not like one of her full hugs, but it's still nice. "That sounds amazing. Thank you." She lets go a little quicker than I'd like, but I don't voice that. "Now, get going, you have a different princess to deal with."

I smile and leave her alone again, I can take a hint and she needs her space right now. If nothing else I think having some more personal space is helping as she looks better than last year, then again it's hard to tell. I don't waste my time, I gather my things in my shack and have Entropy quickly take me to the palace.

I'm lost in thought as I'm led to a meeting room. I'm trying to think of what I want to do with Luna's garden, I don't want to make a drastic change but I want to improve it. Maybe I should look into plants that bloom at night? I end my thoughts as I enter a pair of doors.

Cadance looks just like always, but she also has a slightly more somber feeling. "Hello Shade, doing well?" It's a plain greeting but it's enough to break the ice.

I nod and try to improve my mood from the somber feelings of my talk with Celestia. "Well enough, but I do have this princess that keeps forcing me to read romance novels." I start off with a joke and sit down opposite of her.

She shows that damned smile in return. "Maybe I wouldn't need you to read them if you knew anything about relationships.

Then again you already have a filly after you ." She jabs back with no heat, she's just trying to be fun but I scrunch up my muzzle a bit as she dives us right into the deep end.

I sigh. "She told you my choice I guess?" I ask back. It's not a surprise that Celestia would share this, she was the one who suggested I talk to Cadance anyway.

Cadance sees the shift in my mood and drops the jokes. "Sorry, that was probably a bit fast." I just wave her off, I may not like it as much but I prefer things blunt. "Yes, Aunty did tell me. But first, is Aunty doing well? I expect you've seen her?" She asks with a little concern. "This time of year can be... Hard on her."

I nod back quickly seeing the worry she has. "I saw her not long ago, she's... Well, she's better than I expected, but that's not saying much. I think having some personal space helps, at least as much as it can considering what this time means to her." I keep things vague as it's not my place to share her activities.

She stops for a moment and looks a little surprised. "She told you about her sister?" It's asked with a gentleness that Cadance doesn't use often. I raise a brow and just nod affirmatively. That smile gets even wider but she moves us along right after. "So, why not?"

It's a blunt question but I don't need to think about it long. "I... You are really just going for it huh? Well, a few things, but honestly the main thing is secrets. Veil Winter and all that." I don't really know where to start so I just pick one of the big reasons. I can't say the main one after all, there is simply too much risk.

I may be willing to change things but I still need to preserve what I can of the main cast, to some degree at least. Cadance doesn't joke, which feels odd, she just nods. "Not a bad reason, but if that was not a problem what else would stop you?" I think I see where she's going with this and decide to just list it all out.

"I don't really know her, I would have to hide a lot of things, I feel my work takes too much of my time, and... Well, honestly? I just don't feel that way about her, at all." I try to stay consistent with my answer but hesitate as Twilight is something like Family to Cadance, and I also come off as a little defensive over my choice.

She still doesn't judge and again nods with an understanding look, but that smile is still fucking there. "Again, good reasons, and no need to explain, I know you don't love her like that." I feel a little worried at her calm answer. "I'd also like to make something clear. I'm not here to convince you, I just want to help you no matter your choice. Nothing else." She says with a gentle tone.

I pause at that and smile back, I don't think she was going to but hearing it is nice. "Sorry, it's been on my mind a lot. Thanks." I did act a little too bluntly there, and now I'm a little embarrassed and awkward. After a moment of her being patient, I drink some tea and try to move on. "I feel like I need to say something to Twilight. I'm just not sure about the what or how."

She takes it in stride. "Well. Why do you want to do it now? You could let it sit for a while, and see where it goes from there?" I take a moment to stew over those words.

But, I've had a lot of time to think so I already know what my answer is. "I feel, like I'm leading her on in some way... She likes me, but I don't like her and it just doesn't feel right to not tell her that, it's misleading and I don't like doing that to her." This is the main source of my urgency, the longer this sits the worse it could get.

She doesn't say anything so I continue. "I also don't mind the idea of her being a friend, if I just let this sit and bubble then I fear how it might end." I feel a little weight leave me after actually saying it out loud. I expected many things, but in the end, she just kept that same smile.

She refills my tea. "Love is an endlessly complicated thing, and many never really think through how other ponies feel. But it takes a kind heart to worry more over the other pony than yourself." I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not, so I just wait for her to continue.

"There is no easy answer here, there never is when it comes to love." She seems happy overall but still hasn't really answered my worries and I'm not really in the mood for beating around the bush.

I give her a deadpan look. "I came here for advice, not philosophy. Unless you want me to join in?" I joke to try and keep things light. Her face scrunches up a bit like mine did. I chuckle at that, "I'll take that as a no. But, seriously, I could use some advice here." I plead a little.

She seems to have mercy on my poor soul. "And there goes my new romance novel. Fine, look I don't really have a good solution for you. There simply is no easy solution here." I feel a little lost for a moment but she cuts me off before I can ask anything.

"My advice? Be you. Be the beautifully blunt and kind pony you are. Just tell her, tell her you don't like her but still want to be friends." I stop a little and try to raise my concerns again but she silences me. "I know, and it will not be fun or easy. But even still, this is eating you up inside a little, maybe not massively but it is there and it doesn't need to be." Her tone is humorous as she dumps this on me.

I can't deny her words, this has proven to be a weight on me, not massively but it's still there. She chuckles seeing me struggle, "Look, let her down gently. Don't hold this in, just do it and try to go from there. Keep talking to her, keep trying to be friends. But even if just for your own sake, tell her." She looks thoroughly amused at this point.

I stare up at her. "But. It. Really?" She looks even more amused and nods. "It just feels, mean? I can do it but... It's so blunt. I need, like, a way to properly do it." I try to reason but she waves it off.

She laughs seeing me continue to struggle. "You dense Colt, you want to tell her, so do it. She likes you for who you are, so just do that. I can promise it will be rocky, but I can't see a reason it won't work out. You two can still be friends as long as you actually try to mend anything that breaks." She encourages me and insults me at the same time.

I stop for a moment. Have I really been overthinking this all? I know she's still being simplistic, but I think she is right. This isn't just about Twilight, I may not want to hurt her, but trying to find some magic way to solve this easily with some form of advice is not really working right now.

Maybe this isn't as complicated as it seems. I wipe the confused look off my face and smile a bit, "I never thought you'd be the pony to give me a good kick in the flank." I laugh a little at the situation.

She keeps that smile and nods almost proudly. "Anytime anywhere, I'm happy to do just that. But-" I look up at her as her tone shifts. "I want you to turn her down as you are not some script, but even then you need to know what not to say, and I have just the thing for that." I don't disagree, I could definitely use some advice on that if nothing else.

But even with a need for an example or advice, I still frown when she places another damned romance novel on the table. I look up at her, "If your stallion kicks my flank for this I'm coming after you." I threaten, but she just shows THAT DAMNED SMILE while laughing at me!

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I tried to think of so many ways this could go, but in the end this was the best I could do. Maybe it's not perfect but I think it fits who they are.

Also, what do you think we should do with Luna's garden?

Chapter 176

OCT 23 Saturday.

I add another item to my saddlebags as I slowly make my way through the busy market streets of Canterlot.

The last week has been both busy and freeing for me. The dilemma with Twilight didn't weigh on me that heavily. It's nice to be freed from it. Not fully, I still need to actually tell Twilight, but having my choice locked in has helped. I knew I wanted to turn her down, but I now realize I was overthinking all of this a bit.

But enough about the why, let's talk about the how. Right now is not really a good time to tell Twilight, she's dealing with more tests, probably because Celestia doesn't want her to see her like she is right now. While I'm also working on this small project and making sure Celestia has all the support she can get.

That's why I sent a letter to Twilight asking to hang out again sometime in November, that gives us both time to finish things and means I can focus on doing this properly. On that note, it turns out that while romance novels aren't good relationship advice they are good for learning what absolutely not to say to a potential partner.

Although, in a not surprising twist most of the novels are obviously made for mares, even the others that aren't never really appeal to me. To circle back to what I have planned, I should mention how Celestia is doing. She's been doing ok, but with every day that passes, she looks more down.

From what Cadance told me she takes over a good amount of Celestia's duties so she has more free time, and Celestia has been using that free time. I remember her saying she was busy as an excuse for not helping with the garden, I think she just doesn't want to come.

I do not blame her for that, I've made similar excuses to get some free time or avoid things. I can guess that it hurts her to go to the castle, if she wants to make excuses I will respect them as well. Or I could just be looking into it too much, either way, she's been held up in Gaia's Eden, mostly carving her statue of Luna, but sometimes she just wanders around.

I have no idea what she's thinking about, but after asking if she wants some company, and getting a polite no, I've left her be to enjoy the silence. I also lent her my tools and all my extra Steel wood, with a promise for more if she needed it, her smile in response was all the reward I needed.

She seems, well, not obsessed, but driven to complete her little project. I'm not sure if she's simply not had time or space before, probably not actually, she could demand some space from her ponies easily. Although she might not do that, it's simply who she is, she puts her ponies above anything else, even herself.

Beyond that Celestia also gave me access to the Castle as we discussed, it will stay open until Nightmare Night so I have plenty of time to work on Luna's garden. That's why I'm walking through the market right now, I'm looking for anything I may need for later today.

I've spent the last week doing almost nothing but research and preparation for this project, the only interruptions were another meeting at my apartment with Avalon and a game night. Avalon has been testing things and taking note of anything that could be improved or fixed.

The limb still needs work, but with how busy he is this time of year we may not finish this before the new year. But back to my point before I veer even more off-topic. For Luna's courtyard garden, I have a few ideas, but one of the main ones is some type of water feature that will have Copper Lily.

It's important to both of them and it fits well, ok so veering off just a little. My Copper Lily breeding project is going well enough, it's very slow but it's working and getting faster with time. As for how to implement a water feature? I'm not really sure because it is winter.

Today's trip is less about finishing the garden and more about getting a look at the space to design and plan things out better. For now, I've been looking into plants related to the nighttime, with some limited success. One of the most common plants is the Moon Glow but I don't want to use that more.

I've learned of another flower that glows at night, the Frost Light. The problem is it's a physically far-off plant and I couldn't find anypony selling it, but I did find one other glowing plant. Star Moss only makes a very soft glow with brighter points of light mixed in, it also isn't lunar magic, I was able to buy some from a shop though.

I also found Night Poppies at that shop, they are basically the same as normal Poppies but they bloom at night, that's all they do though, they aren't magical in any way. I'm honestly a little confused as to why this type of Poppy blooms at night, maybe some form of insect pollinates it at night?

Not important right now. With these plants, I have been thinking about what I actually want to do with them. I leave my thoughts as I ascend the stairs up to my apartment, but I stop halfway as I see Daisy walking down towards me. "Hey Daisy, still moping over Maple's victory?" I tease her as a greeting while we both stop in the stairway.

She gives me an annoyed look. "I still insist you helped her." She says but smiles after a moment. "Oh, who am I kidding? She'd have won anyway. But you're still making the sweets for next time." I just smile mischievously at the accusation, it's not my fault Maple offered a truce.

"Fine, but no pie. I didn't even get any last time." I agree happily with the demand, it's mostly Daisy and I who take turns baking for game night. "Anyway, I have some stuff to do, I'll see you on Monday." I offer but she raises a brow and that stops me for a moment.

"Actually, I wanted to ask, you doing ok? You've been pretty focused this last week." I can tell she's just asking from a place of concern and curiosity.

I wave a hoof. "My other... Profession, I have some things I'm working on." A half lie, I have been working on the new crops, just not only that.

She pauses and nods after a moment. "Right! ... You know, it's odd how often I can just forget about that. Either way, have a good day and I'll be waiting for the news." She jokes a bit and walks past me to head downstairs. I shake my head a little and continue on with my day.

I walk inside my home and Entropy quickly leaves my shadow, "Long, hungry." I did have to spend a few hours looking for somepony who could sell me the Star Moss, it took a while to find as it's not a common plant, especially during winter.

I pat her a few times. "At least let me put things down, and no meat," I add as we both already ate it two times during this week. I take a pot on the countertop with the Star Moss and some Night Poppy flower seeds. I make a quick lunch of fruit salad and some sunflower seeds.

I always enjoy eating with Entropy, even if she always finishes first and tries to beg off of my plate. After we're done I head to my workroom and start to sort through everything I'll need. First and foremost, I don't plan to grow any Copper Lily's.

I do plan to add something with water, but it's winter and anything will freeze, including anything growing in that water. So instead, I bought more copper and grew five Copper Lily flowers as decoration. Beyond that, I'm bringing some colorful flowers just in case I see somewhere they might fit into this.

It takes me a while to gather everything, I also make sure to grow and harvest a good amount of seeds from the Star Moss, then I store half the Night Poppy seeds before leaving the workroom and finding Entropy. "Hey." She turns to me before flying down to stand on her back. "You remember the castle? The old one?"

She tilts her head before nodding. "Good, think you can take me there?" She again tilts her head, and after a moment we both vanish and are suspended in the Void for a while. When the light comes rushing back we are standing in front of the old front doors of the castle.

I stare up at the walls but don't linger in the snow for long. As I walk inside I move down the hallways and try my best to keep to the same path, which isn't hard as this part of the castle only has a few turns. Not long after I arrive at another set of doors, I slowly open them and see the throne room again.

Entropy mostly stayed out of the way last year, but this time she really looks around. The room looks exactly the same, not a single thing is out of place. I don't dally long though and move on quickly, but after entering the side door I stop at the first crossroads in the hallway. I could just find the garden, but I'm curious.

I don't want to dig into the past, or my friend's business, but as long as I don't touch anything I can't see much harm in it. I war with myself but the old saying about the cat holds true and I start to explore the other hallway. It winds down deeper into the earth as the hallway ends with a wide staircase.

I don't bother to mark my path when I reach the bottom and start to explore. As I walked it seemed that a lot of the castle's staff rooms and kitchens were down here, along with anything else that was needed but not seen. Old empty rooms with a few things left here or there, it's rather boring honestly. Then again I'm not really sure what I expected, this is just an old castle.

I expect that there are many more interesting things further up, but personal places like that are not mine to explore. Even if Celestia never finds out I don't want to barge into her past like that, so instead I just backtrack and make my way to my original destination.

I almost got turned around, but with how much dust was on the floor I was able to follow it back and make my way to the small courtyard after a while. The courtyard garden is only around thirty by thirty feet, not large but I do have some room to work with and I already have a few ideas for what to do.

In the year since we were last here and as expected the wild has taken back what it once owned. The grass is dead under the snow as there are no longer any trees covering it, beyond the single tree in the middle of the courtyard. The Moon Glow Vines have grown wild but have no flowers as it is the dead of winter.

A few new small saplings have grown and I started decomposing all of the plants that have tried to reclaim the area. I have a lot of work to do, and I know I'll probably have to come here the day before Nightmare Night to regrow and fix anything that breaks in the meantime, but that's easy.

I look around again and start to take out items, this is going to take a lot of work, but it will all be worth it to see that smile again.

POV shift Celestia.

I slowly move the enchanting wood carving tool and hold it steady to gently carve through the wooden piece. The feathers still don't look completely right, but they are much better than when I started two weeks ago. I lowered the tool and picked up another, he was right, this is so much easier than the Maple wood. If it wasn't so hard to make I'd ask for more, but he's busy enough as it is.

Despite the heavy thoughts of this time of year I still smile a little, that colt. Hmm, no, he's not really a colt anymore, is he? Next year is close and he'll be an adult soon enough, has it really been so long since we met? It only feels like yesterday that he was that little colt nervously standing before me.

But now, he is well on his way to being a stallion, he even looks like one now. Although, he still looks at me like a colt, all those times staring at my flank while trying not to, not that I mind really. Even many of my guards, both mares and stallions, stare at me like that from time to time, at least he tries to hide it or not stare too much. It's honestly a little flattering, and very funny to watch as he struggles with it.

Shade Evergreen, is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. I chuckle a little at that and move a few shavings of wood off of the beautiful Black Palm wood desk. But even this shows how kind he is behind all that mystery.

A pony that is kind enough to give something like this home to me, for no other reason beyond the fact he thought I could use some space. I guess that's just who he is, a pony always willing to help but never really seeking recognition for it, even if he deserves it.

That's part of the true mystery really, he absolutely does not enjoy others paying attention to him. I've seen it in small ways, but the sheer level of what he shows is something else. He's willing to invent another identity just to avoid fame, and I have no idea why.

It's one of the few things he never answers, but in an odd way, I'm ok that he has his own secrets. I have many things I can never tell him about, I see no reason my friend should not be able to do the same. Even if I'm curious, and above all else, I wonder about that one night.

The only way I can make sense of it is that he knew about Changelings, and considering he invented a specialized shield spell to defend against them he's known for a while. I could simply wave it away as him finding out about Changelings from some hiveless Changeling at some point in his life, but that's the only way I can see it and that still makes no sense.

I have seen a great many things, so I know when something bigger is at play, but any solution or answer doesn't make sense. Even more surprising is the fact that he knows his knowledge is suspect, but the fact that he's willing to never speak to me again if he needs to.

I saw the look in his eye then, he was serious about it, but he also sounded worried. In the end, though I decided to drop it, for several reasons but the most important was his intent. He's terrified of this secret, and yet he risked it to help others, that was enough for me.

But another part of me didn- ... I. I didn't want to lose my friend. I stop my work for a moment and sigh, I need some air. I stand up and leave my lovely little home to take another walk outside, the day is cool and the sky is cloudy. I know where I want to go and as I walk through the snow Philomena flies over to land on my back.

I give her a half smile. "Got tired of playing then?" I know she does not understand me, at least not like Entropy does, but Philomena is still a smart bird. She just lays down on my back as I move towards the pavilion. I lay down on the carpet and look out at the Gold Oak, I stop for a moment and giggle at the name. "He really is terrible at naming things."

Well, maybe not all the time. This place has a rather interesting name, but I feel as if it fits in some way. I take a moment to ruffle my wing feathers and move something in between them, after a moment I cancel the spells as the tea sets unsticks and unshrinks from a gap in my feathers where it was stored.

It's a small trick and the spells used are hard to master, but it's useful to store a few things on you. Plus, the focused and inquisitive face Shade makes whenever he sees it is something I'll never get tired of. He tries so hard, he even had a few theories he shared with me.

My friend, even now it feels a little odd to say that. Even in my long life, there have been so few ponies I considered a friend, and finding new ones seems to only get harder over time. Even then many of my friends were not as close to me as Shade is, who could have guessed it would be a colt of all ponies to comfort me in a way nopony else has.

I'm torn between a smile and a frown as I remember what he is doing right now. The wards around the castle's warded section aren't active, but I am still warned when somepony enters that part of the castle. It's only a basic warning and doesn't tell me who or how, but that's not the point is it?

Right now my friend is fixi- I take a deep breath as those memories come flooding back again. He is fixing something that I had visited over the past millennium, so many times I have seen its dilapidated and overgrown state. That's what made that night mean so much I suppose.

He took his time to slowly grind away at what I know is a tedious task of selectively breeding plants for a simple request. Then he silently accompanied me in a very low moment only to drain all his magic to fix up that beautiful scene. All because he thought it would help me, and now he's doing it again, I didn't even need to ask.

I feel myself start to be overwhelmed by the memories of my little sister as I think of that garden. I take some deep breaths and stare at the swaying golden leaves.

"Soon, just wait a little longer dear sister, you'll be home soon, I hope."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

I decided to do an unveiling, so you'll have to wait another chapter for the garden.

Also, if anyone want's a refresher of last year the relevant Chapters are 124, and 123.

I hope you liked it even if not much happened.

Chapter 177

OCT 31 Sunday.

I try my best to ignore the sound of one of my neighbors partying while I focus on my spell work.

Nightmare Night is something that has always been a little different from the show. Or maybe the show simply left a lot of things unsaid, either way, it's the same result. The show made this day up to be a watered-down and kid-friendly version of Halloween, but honestly, it's just like actual Halloween.

The colts and fillies spend their time dressing up and asking for sweets, while the free adults do what you'd expect. They party like it's the end of the world, not everypony does this obviously but it's not that uncommon either. Which is why my upstairs neighbor is currently pissing me off a bit, it's not even dark yet for fucks sake!

So that's part of the reason why I'm spending time at my desk working on something, it also just so happens to be a way to get some damned peace. To explain, the shield around my home has needed some upgrades for a while now, and I needed a distraction to keep my mind off of what I'll be doing later today.

I spent some time yesterday touching up Luna's garden and the weather should be clear so everything will hopefully go well and be in its correct place. As for Celestia? She's mostly kept to herself and even spent a few nights sleeping in her home at Gaia's Eden, she's also not talking as much.

I know she just needs space, she's asked for exactly that when I offered to talk, so I've been giving her that space and actually decided to spend less time at Gaia's Eden so she can be alone. In an odd way it's inspiring to me, I can not imagine the pain of having to raise her sister's prison into the sky every night.

To stare down your own failings and endure it all, it takes a will and strength I can't imagine. Even with all the time that has passed the fact that she only shows her pain for a few weeks every year instead of all year takes... Honestly, I have no idea what it takes. I don't think I could do that, but I don't even know what it's like to lose close family so that's not really a good comparison.

I stop for a moment and move my mind away from that for now. My new shield is almost done, I've spent some time over the past week working on it and improving what was already there. I used a large ruby for my old shield, so let's start with what I'm going to use to power this new shield.

In the past I used my Iron gem to make a Gem Charger, it works well but I would rather use it for something more than just that. The Gem Charger worked by channeling the combined magic of several small gems to quickly charge a single gem, I'm skipping a few things there but that's the important part.

I unlinked the gems that were used to collect magic and instead linked it to the larger ruby I used for my apartment shield that I have since disenchanted, along with a large sapphire. I plan to enchant the shield into the Iron gem instead so it can draw magic from both large gems.

This will let it still charge gems while also giving me much more magic to work with for my shield, although getting all the spells to work together properly was a time sink over the last few days and it means I need to watch how much magic I use to charge gems so I don't drain the shield. Now on to what I actually did with the shield itself, first and foremost the activation and deactivation method has changed.

I used to just have a piece of Iron Oak inside the top of a pot that I would flip, now it's a small wooden switch carved into the bottom of a wooden plant pot so it can't be seen. Much like my bracelet I just need to search with my space magic and flip it, it's both more stable and easier to hide.

In fact, the bottom of the pot has four switches that all do different things, this is also where my improvements come into play. One switch turns off the shield completely, the next only turns off a section of the shield around my doorway letting me invite others inside without turning it all off.

The third switch activates a second shield that blocks out all sound, I couldn't make it let some sound through like somepony knocking but it's still nice to have some silence. The final switch dumps extra magic into the shield, it costs more magic than the gems can collect so it can't always be active which is why it's connected to a switch.

All in all it's a massive improvement in both power and convenience. I stop my work as the light coming from the sky finally vanishes completely, the ponies upstairs get even louder as the sun sets and I'm thankful that it's time to leave and meet Celestia. She asked me to meet her at Gaia's Eden before the trip to the castle so that's where I am going.

I quickly pack away my things in my saddlebags and Entropy jumps down from her perch. "Go?" I nod to her silently as I mentally prepare for the more somber mood that will greet me. When I arrive I cast a magical light and notice that Celestia is here, but interestingly it's not as annoying as before.

Normally when I'm around Celestia using my life magic senses is difficult because of how much life magic she gives off, but with her around so often I've gotten better at tuning it out. I shake my head and force my mind to focus on the important things, like my friend.

I open the door and walk outside to see her with a magical light sitting in front of the Water Tree a fair distance away, she's just staring at the frozen ring of water in the dark. I start to walk over and she spots me not long after and stands up before walking towards the pavilion, she motions with her head and I take the hint before adjusting my own path.

I get there first and spend a moment taking out my tea set as Entropy flies off to land on Celestia. They are a distance away but I still hear them. "Sad, bad. Ok?" I nearly chuckle at the child-like innocence Entropy gives off, and Celestia does giggle a little at Entropy's concern.

"I think that is a rather good way to put it. And no, I'm not, but I will be." I smile at that and notice that Celestia seems to be doing something similar to last year, an attempt to have a somewhat normal meeting before we get to the heavy topics, I'm more than willing to help with that.

I start to let the tea boil as they both join me under the pavilion. "Just hope you're never around her when she finds glitter, it's like mentioning the word grape around Philomena, If I had to compare them that is." I joked a little, only to regret it as I didn't notice Philomena was inside Celestia's mane this whole time, and she heard me. "Oh." I then see Celestia get a look in her eye as Philomena stares at me attentively. "OH! Wai-"

That's all I'm able to get out before I'm tackled by Philomena as she tries to eat a grape that doesn't exist. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get away from her, but I know it's of no use as that grape illusion will just follow me. So instead I try to grab Philomena, but she just starts teleporting as I'm rolling around trying to deal with her. "Call her off, call her OFF!" I beg a little.

I mostly decided to play along because as soon as I was tackled Celestia started to giggle, and then full-on laugh as I wrestled with Philomena. "Ma- haha! Maybe if you asked nicely." She teases with a smile while continuing to laugh at my continued misfortune.

If it wasn't for this damned bird I'd be happy to make her smile on a day like this. "Fine! Call her off, PLEASE." That does it as Philomena looks confused and then annoyed as she stands on top of my side while I'm laid out on the carpet catching my breath. I recover after a moment and pick up Philomena while mumbling under my breath, "You're lucky your smile is so nice."

Celestia is still too caught up in laughing to really hear me but still noticed I said something. "What? Sorry, your face was too funny for me to hear you." I blush a little in embarrassment.

I huff and try to pretend I said nothing. "Nothing." I place Philomena on the ground. "That spell was a mistake, or maybe not. Hmm, how many nobles have you messed with using it? I need something to weigh this against." I try to cover up my words while keeping a light and joking mood.

She keeps her smile. "Several, including Cadance, just to throw off anypony that saw a pattern." I pause for a moment but that does get a good chuckle out of me. "I hope that you're doing well, and... Thank you again for giving me some, space." It's not a complete shift in the mood, but it hints at other things and gets me to stop chuckling.

After a moment I just nod. "You've done the same for me, plus it gave me some time to work on a few things." I pour us both some tea as it finished while I was dealing with Philomena. "Today I finished a new shield for my apartment, and that means I got to mess around with some shield spells, not too bad I'd say." I explain to keep us off of the obvious topic.

She once again looks amused at that. "You really could do with worrying less, but I suppose that's like asking a fish to walk." The jokes hide pain, but it's still funny. "But it is good to know you are safe. Any interesting spells?"

I give her a half smile. "Well, that is why I made those." I point up above us as a recent style choice. I've set up the gem array for Gaia's Eden to hang on the roof of the pavilion. "Although, there are a few things here that you have to worry about here, mostly the snake." I've told her there are a few dangers in the Everfree but never went into specifics.

She raises a brow at that so I explain. "An aberrant member of the Ruby Snake. Around one hundred feet long, some form of silence magic as it can move without noise, and it glows. That's also why I planted so much Lemongrass, I even bred it to be stronger so we'd be left alone."

I watch as her face shifts to slight concern and surprise, but she keeps her calm. "That would have been good to know about." There is no disappointment in her tone, only some slight annoyance. "Tell me if it becomes a problem, I'll deal with it." That part almost sounded... Defensive? I'm not really sure. "Any other interesting things?" She moves on quickly.

I nod. "Sure, hmm. Well, I found something odd that I've not messed with yet. A fungus of some type, I've left it alone for now because I had other things to work on, and because it's a little frightening." I drink some tea to wet my dry throat. "It steals life magic from trees."

Again she looks a little surprised, but also confused. "I'll admit I'm not an expert on plants and that it sounds interesting, but I feel as if that isn't too dangerous, at least compared to other things you've done." I don't blame her for the lack of knowledge, and just try to think of a good way to prove my point.

There is an example that both my old world and this one share. "Did you know there is a fungus that takes control of small insects' bodies by growing inside them to spread its spores while they are alive?" Oddly enough this is something that exists in both of my worlds, luckily it's just as rare here as in my old world, at least from what I've seen.

I see a look of slight disgust from her in response. "Exactly, and that fungus isn't even magic from what I know." She looks a bit concerned about that so I wave my hoof. "Don't worry, it's harmless to us, but it makes me nervous about messing with this fungus. Although, I've grown since I found it so I might start to practice on some normal fungi soon." I end my mini-lecture there.

She shakes her head after a moment. "It's true what they say, nature is endlessly creative." I haven't heard that before but it fits rather well. She drinks some more tea and I notice that her face shifts as she glances at the night sky and the moon. "But, you've distracted me long enough, thank you for that." I nod silently as I see where this is going. "I do wish to see what you've done with, Luna's garden." She pauses for a moment at saying her name.

That's only the second time I've heard her say Luna's name, normally she just calls her sister. I stand up and look over to Entropy, "Are you taking us or...?" She nods. "Then we can leave them if you want?" I offer as Entropy was mostly just standing there last time and I would rather they stay and play with each other.

She looks over as they start to fight over something neither of us understands. "Yes, they should be fine on their own for a while." She agrees before walking over to me. "You may wish to brace yourself." I do just that as her horn starts to glow, the unpleasant feeling comes as we are violently moved through space. I'm not sure if my extra senses make it worse but this is always disorientating for me.

This time we do not teleport outside of the castle but directly into the throne room, I have to take a few deep breaths and steady my legs before I can really get my bearings. I look over to see Celestia staring at the thrones silently while whatever positive mood she has vanishes like dust in the wind.

She looks like she's going to cry, but somehow she keeps herself somewhat together. I don't break the silence but move over to sit next to her and look at the thrones just like last year. There is a few minutes of silence before her soft voice breaks it, "You never asked me about her, why?"

It's a simple question, and I answer honestly. "You don't need that, at least I don't think you did. You grieve enough on this day as is and I'm not willing to make my friend cry for me." It is the truth, no matter how curious I am it's not worth making her upset.

She lets out a chuckle that almost mixes into a sob, being here really seems to have broken the dam on her emotions. "Because that is who you are." I'm not sure what to make of that and she doesn't elaborate. "I, I don't think I want to be here anymore." Her tone sounds like she is on the verge of breaking down.

I have no idea what to do as she just keeps staring, so after a moment of hesitation I tap her leg and start leading her to the door. That seems to break her out of it a little. "Have you ever wanted to talk about her?" I ask as we cross the room, it's the only question I can think of.

She almost stops in her stride but continues a moment later. "Yes, no, I... I don't, know." As we pass the thrones it's like the weight on her increases more and more, but even now she doesn't cry. Maybe it's the fact that she's not talking about the past but she holds herself together more than last year, at least until we make it to the hallway.

She just stops at a certain point and stares at the stone brick wall, she looks like she is lost in a memory before she moves her hoof. "I." She steadies her hoof and moves it to a brick that is slightly different. There is a tiny X on it that is almost impossible to see even in direct light from our spells. "I remember her, but I also forget things, small, important things." Her tone dips lower than ever.

She pulls the brick out with some difficulty to hold it, but that really doesn't seem to help as the small carving on one side finally makes tears fall from her eyes. "I... How could I forget? How?" She cries out before slumping with her back to a wall as she sits down and stares at the brick and the hole it was in while starting to weep.

I immediately do the same and sit next to her to provide whatever small comfort I can. It's a long moment of unstoppable crying before she speaks again, "Y-you probably want to know huh?" She asks but it sounds like a question more for herself then me, I try to say no but she continues. "A prank."

That gives me pause as she turns the brick so I can see a crudely drawn map on one side. "She... Luna." That name almost seems to bring a little comfort and she stops crying as hard. "She'd hide things for me to, find, and when I'd find them she'd also hide the maps."

I never would have guessed Luna would do that, but I suppose it makes sense given how the show presents her. "I found this one, whe- ... " The crying moves more from sobs to simple tears, but the longer she looks at the brick the more she seems to calm down again but also on the verge of crying even harder. "I found it right before..."

I can guess the rest and put a hoof on her side. "It's ok, I don't need to know." I try to reassure her.

She shacks her head. "But you should, you... You're dealing with this after all." She motions to herself a bit.

I nip that in the bud quickly. "No, I'm helping a friend. I will not have you blaming yourself for my choices." I probably come off as too strong there, but it still seems to make her stop that train of thought. She stares at the brick more and lets out another small sob.

"I forgot. Even something about that day, how could I?" I honestly have no answer to that, but it's clear sitting in this hallway is not helping her all that much. So, I stand up again and offer a hoof to her, she looks at it before standing on her own. "Right, yes, this. We should go, you worked hard after all." I'm not sure if that was an excuse for herself or for me but I don't comment either way.

Her tears mostly stopped as she very gently placed the brick back. "I... I won't forget again sister, I promise." I stay silent as we start to move down the hallway again. Crying seems to have helped more than I thought it would, she's a bit more collected as we walk and by the time we're finally at the garden, she's a bit better.

When she sees it she stops mid-step. "It... This..." She's rendered speechless as we both look out over my work and I see a smile force its way onto her face. The small courtyard is mostly the same, with a few key differences. The courtyard has two stone walls on either side with other covered paths on the far side.

The two stone walls to our sides are completely blanketed in a thick layer of Star Moss with Moon Glow Vines over it. The Moon Glow Vines provide a good amount of light while the Star Moss shines with countless tiny dots of light. The grass that covers the ground is lush and deep green, a different type of grass that I brought with me, it should survive here much better than the other type.

To one side of the courtyard near the left stone wall is a small boulder I moved here, with a Water Tree wrapped in Moon Glow Vines growing on top of it. It looks like a small bonsai and will provide some water when spring comes, around it is a patch of blooming Night Poppies. But in the center is the main attraction.

The simple tree standing in the middle is still covered in Moon Glow Vines that cling to its trunk and branches while hanging down. At its base is a ring of Star Moss that partly covers a ring of stone bricks that I gathered from other areas, on top of the stone bricks surrounding the base of the tree are the five Copper Lily's glittering in the light.

I see it coming this time but don't fight it as Celestia picks me up for another full hug, something I still very much enjoy despite the overall mood. "It's amazing, just like last year. Thank you, thank you so much." Her words are simple but that genuinely thankful tone makes up for any words she could ever use.

I hug her back but let go not long after as I really don't want my body to get the idea right now. "It was my pleasure." We both stand there looking at the scene. "Anything you want me to change?"

Her smile has fully shown now and she shakes her head. "No, not a thing." We lapse back into silence as we watch the wind-shift scene. "Thank you." She repeats and I raise a brow while looking up at her. "For being my friend, thank you."

I smile wider at that. "No Celestia, thank you for trusting me to help." I try to say something nice as the silence hangs over the scene, She just wraps a wing around me in another side hug. I can't help but feel content as the night goes on and we lapse into a long silence.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 994

I don't think I'll continue this one, not sure where I'd go with it if I did and this feels like a nice place to leave it.

Chapter 178

NOV 6 Sunday.

I move a small gem to charge as I prepare to enchant it further.

I've been working on a few things like always, right now I'm making another illusionary book to store my ever-growing collection of information. As of now, I have three illusionary notebooks and my runic library, and the time investment in all these spells has proven more than worth it.

I instantly cast the needed spells and the small ruby is enchanted easily, advancing to Journeypony has been beyond useful. I've actually been trying to advance even more, but becoming a master in runic casting is not an easy feat. A master runic caster needs to accomplish a single main feat, casting multiple spells at once.

To give some context a master runic caster can cast multiple spells at once, but not instantly they just draw them out without using their hooves, casting multiple spells instantly is something only a grandmaster can do. The difficulty of holding more than one spell in your mind is extreme, it's multiplicative in the effort needed in fact.

This is the part I'm stuck on and will be stuck on for a long while, I need to split my focus and draw out two separate spell matrixes at the same time while not using my hooves and giving them the magic needed. I stop my thoughts abruptly as the enchantments settle into the gem properly, I'll need to copy over everything later.

I place down the gem and leave my workroom as I have something else I need to do today. I have another meeting with Avalon, and this time I'm going to ask him what he wants to do with the new prosthetic. If nothing else I'm sure as hell not attaching this to either of my names if I can get away with it.

Maybe I can get him to take the credit? He's probably not really one for fame either so I don't think that will work, but it's worth a try if nothing else. I sigh a little while making some tea to relax a bit. Beyond Avalon I also got three letters. one of them from Twilight, it was once again a long-winded letter but she accepted my invitation to meet.

Our next meeting is planned to be on November twenty-first, and by magic, my nerves are already a little on edge. Planning to tell someone you don't love them is a lot easier than actually doing it, but this is one of those cases where my stubbornness comes in useful.

When I set my mind to something it's hard to stop me, that's not always a good thing but it has its advantages. There is some good news though, as much as I'd like to deny it, the damned novels Cadance made me read have helped me think about how I'm going to do this.

There is an out-of-the-way corner of the library that is less used, it should give us some privacy and make her feel less embarrassed about this happening somewhere public. As for what I'm going to say? I'm still giving that thought, mainly I'm trying to choose if I should ease her into it and bring it up at the end, or just go for it at the start and work from there.

I'm leaning towards the second, even if it's blunt I feel like I'm just better at talking that way. On a similar note, I got a letter from Celestia, after Nightmare Night I didn't see her and her letter explained that she had a backlog of work to get through.

The rest of the letter was just her thanking me again for being with her and saying our next meeting would be delayed due to the aforementioned backlog. It was nice of her to send me a letter and ease any worries I had over not seeing her after Nightmare Night.

She hasn't stopped at Gaia's Eden though, but she did leave something for me inside my shack the day after Nightmare Night. I look over to my countertop and look at the Steel wood carving, it's a little unrefined but it's still a good carving. The small figure of an alicorn, she gave me her carving of Luna.

I'm honestly not sure why she gave it to me, or if she even intended to give it to me from the beginning, it seems like a thank you though. Either way, I love it, and I've decided to keep it in my main room. Anypony could tell it's an alicorn, but I doubt anypony would recognize that it's an unknown alicorn.

It's unpainted and the different body shape could just be waved off as whoever I bought it from not knowing how Celestia or Cadance looks like close up and carved it wrong. It can easily be confused from either of them and honestly, I want to show it off a bit as I'm proud she was able to make something like this so quickly.

I'm sure as hell not going to tell her that, but her giving me this means a lot to me. I can't help but smile into my teacup as I think of that night. It was full of ups and downs, but that's ok, I was just glad I could help her for all she's done for me. I have no idea where I'd be in life without her help and guidance.

The final bit of good news comes from the letter Cadance sent me, it's a short thank you letter. I was never around Celestia during that time before the past two years but Cadance was. So, when she sent me a thank you letter saying Celestia was doing better than normal, along with some not-so-subtle demands about what I did, I was pretty happy with myself.

I sent her back a thank you letter and told her she could pound sand, I know I'll pay for it next time we meet but it's worth it to mess with her. I stop drinking my tea and check the time, it's a little early but I wouldn't mind having a decent lunch so I grab my saddlebags and make my way to the door.

Entropy follows me like normal and merges into my shadow as I walk out and head downstairs. The snowy streets are a little busy as a snowstorm is coming soon so everypony is getting their shopping done. It's taking me too long to get there so I just cast a spell and decide to fly instead.

Seeing the snow-covered city from up here, it almost looks frozen in time. I have some time so I just enjoy flying around a little before landing, and it seems I flew longer than I should have as I arrived to see Avalon already waiting in a booth inside, even though I'm late I see him smile and wave when I walk inside.

I walk over to him and have the decency to look a little embarrassed, "Sorry, I got caught up in enjoying the sky. I hope you didn't have to wait long." I apologize for one of the few times I arrived late.

He gains a small but genuine smile. "It's fine, thanks for inviting me." I don't bring up the fact he suggested the meeting in the first place. "Sorry I-I've been so busy recently." I wave that off but before I can reassure my friend a pony walks over to take our order.

I order a full breakfast and he gets some fruit salad. "Don't worry about it, honestly I've also been busy with things myself. But to get right down to the main event." I add with a little too much excitement, just to try and get another smile out of him. "How is it holding up? This is by far our longest stress test yet." I gesture to the wooden limb and try to ask with a more gentle but still excited tone.

Normally he gets a bit withdrawn when talking about his missing limb, but recently I've seen his smile instead as he shows a little pride. "Great! Although, I-I did have to ... repair a piece ... that I broke. B-but that was easy!" He looks both excited and embarrassed while offering the limb to look it over.

One of the talon segments is a bit more crude than the others, but the connection points are correct and it seems to function just fine. "Hmm, needs a bit of detailed work. But everything seems to be working correctly, good job, your first repair already." I compliment him and he scratches the back of his head with his other arm.

"W-Well, you taught me all of this." I chuckle at his embarrassment. He's silent for a moment as we get our order, "Thank you, for... All of this." I'm about to say it's not needed but he continues before I can. "I. I never thought I'd be able to, well, do anything normally really."

He looks a bit melancholic but I've seen enough of that recently so I try to turn the mood away from this. "Normal doesn't exist." He looks a bit confused at that. "Everybody has a different normal, so normal is meaningless in a way." I try to use a little philosophy and it seems to turn his mood a bit. "Beyond that, there has been something about the spell that I wanted to talk to you about."

He looks a bit startled, "O-OH, did I mess something up? I can redo any of the math of nee-" I cut him off before he could go any further and let his mind become his worst enemy again.

"No! No, everything is just fine. I just wanted to ask what you want to do with it once we're done with the spell." I quickly explained to him, and he looked both relieved and confused by my question.

He's thoughtful for a long moment. "Do? Umm, I-I don't know? What were you thinking of doing with it?" He looks a bit blindsided. "I guess do whatever you want? I'm just happy to have, this." He gestures to his arm, he seems to have no real idea what we've invented.

I smile at his ignorance, this should be fun. I quickly cast a silencing spell to give us privacy. "Well, you've heard of Veil Winter right?" He nods. "You could do the same, release the spell so others could use it to make prosthetics," I suggest bluntly and he looks absolutely floored, his feathers jumping a little.

"Wha- But- ... We c-can? I-I means is that even possible?" I stifle some laughter as he looks both excited and thoroughly baffled. Avalon has never been a fan of Veil Winter, thankfully, but he still admires that name in some way for the skill and reputation it has.

I nod back just as enthusiastically. "Not a reason you can't, it's not even that hard honestly. But it depends on how you want to go about it." I have his undivided attention now. "You have several options-" This time he cuts me off, which he doesn't do often at all.

"W-wait, sorry. But, what about, well, you? You did more work than me, if anyone should get the credit it should be y-you." He looks surprisingly firm in his words, this might be more difficult than I thought it would be.

I give him a calm but firm look in return. "Honestly, Avalon? I do not like the idea of it. I like my peace and don't really want to deal with being known for this." I decided to be honest about this as I see no point in hiding it. "But I thought you might want to, it would certainly be a boon for you."

I can see he's a little on the fence about it but respects my decision. "A-... Are you sur-" I nod firmly. "Umm, well, w-we have time to think about it. Right?" I can tell he feels put on the spot and is not ready to answer.

I nod again with a smile. "Plenty, we still haven't worked everything out or finished our testing, so it's best we do that first. Take your time, we're certainly in no rush, and you're also quite busy right now." I try to help by giving him an excuse, that might be a little manipulative but I have secrets for a reason.

My reassurance seems to help and he calms down before nodding slowly. "Ya, ok. You, you think about it too..." He takes a long sip of his tea. "And thanks for telling me." I nod yet again and he's still smiling despite the dilemma I dropped on him. "Oh! I also have some notes on, the..."

I raise a brow as he seems to trail off for a bit, he's looking off a bit as his eyes drift to the entrance of the cafe we're in. At the entrance of the building is a mare pegasus, she looks to be around twenty, a similar age to Avalon. She also notices Avalon after a moment and gets this smirk that I don't like.

I notice Avalon's feathers pin back a bit as she looks at him. I look at him with a little concern and a bad feeling, "Someone you know?" I ask switching to speaking in the Griffon language.

He looks back at him as the mare goes to the counter to order something. "Um- W-Well, yes." He's already more nervous and switches to Griffon without realizing it, I don't like the implications. "S-She's also a courier but-" He switches back to Pony and the mare apparently walking right over to us after getting her order.

I sensed her coming but hoped she'd just go to a different booth, I was proven incorrect as she walked right up to our table with a cocky smile. "Well, if it isn't Avalon, still lugging that expensive hunk of wood around?" Her tone is not necessarily mean, more belittling than anything but it immediately makes me not like her.

She seems to be focused on Avalon so I take a moment to look her over. A light red coat with a deeper red and light blue striped mane, along with light blue eyes. She looks fairly fit but even my normally horny mind doesn't care about that right now.

Avalon is definitely uncomfortable, not really hurt by her words though. "I-It's not your business, Sweeps." His tone is not very confident but I do feel a little pride as he tries to stick up for himself. I decide to stay out of this for the moment as Avalon seems to be doing ok.

She huffs and rolls her eyes at him dismissively. "Well, maybe not but when you flaunt your success like that it is every pony's business." Again her words aren't outright insulting, but her tone makes it come off like it's Avalon's fault. "I happen to have a friend, and I know how much something like that costs."

For the first time, I see him look a little insulted, not enough to totally overcome his nervous attitude but it's still there. "H-Hey, n-no. I, I built this!" He tries to defend himself. "I didn't pay a bit f-for it." Again I feel both a little pride for him and a growing dislike of this mare. None of us are loud so at least nopony is paying attention to us, I don't think Avalon needs that right now.

The mare rolls her eyes exaggeratedly this time and has the audacity to laugh at my friend. "Ya right, next you'll tell me you invented it." She jokes and chuckles a little more. Avalon seems embarrassed at that but still keeps his cool, while the mare finally notices me. "And are you on a date? Who's this?"

I'm pretty sure that's meant to get a rise out of me and embarrass Avalon more. Avalon does look surprised and embarrassed which makes the mare smile more, but I just stare at her with a completely blank face. "No! H-He's my friend!" Avalon quickly shoots her down but by this point, she's locked into me.

She narrows her eyes at me a bit and takes a moment to really look me over, and I see her expression change over time. I still have the summoned wings on my back and I can see her eyes linger on me a little too long so I finally speak. "Miss, may I ask who you are and what you want?" I keep a bland stone cold tone.

She gives me the same cocky smile. "OH, I'm just saying hi to a fellow courier, business and all that." Her tone with me is more neutral and that does make my feelings about her worsen even more. "So, what is a stallion like you doing here?" She asks a little too friendly.

I don't plan to have this happen again so I put a stop to it quickly, but before I can Avalon does it for me. "H-He's here to talk with me, a-. And that's also not your business." :YA! Go for it!: I cheer him on internally.

She looks visibly annoyed at him butting in. "Well then, how about you show some manners and introduce us?" This mare is really starting to get on my nerves, not that I'd ever let her know that.

I interrupt them to take the heat off of Avalon. "I believe it's also proper manners to introduce yourself when asked Miss." I throw that right back into her face, which considering how her muzzle scrunches a bit she does not like.

She looks back at me with an annoyed look now. "Sweeping Wing, and for your information I'm the best courier in this city." A plain and simple brag, one that rings completely hollow to me. "Who are you huh? Because I don't even recognize you." :Is she really trying to upstage me?:

I keep my blank expressionless face and tone. "Like he said, not your business," I respond bluntly as I'm getting tired of this mare's uppity tone.

She was already looking a little mad about my lack of reaction, but my shutting her down really seems to piss her off a bit. "You-... Well ... At least I'm not friends with a defect." I see Avalon flinch a little at that and my eyes narrow hard. :Does this bitch want to eat nothing but paste for the next week?: To say that this was not the right thing to say to me is a massive understatement.

She seems satisfied that I don't talk back as she looks at Avalon's slight flinch with a little satisfaction, which angers me even more, but her mood changes a little when she turns back to me. I straighten my back and am now standing several inches taller than her while my strong build is obvious, all while I stare back silently. I just stare unblinkingly at her for several long moments. "W-Well, I."

She looks a bit nervous now, and she fucking should be. My eyes give off a very slight green glow as I sweep my magical senses widely to take in some extra information and make myself reclaim my calm. She's visibly nervous as I stare her down with a glare that is only matched by a pissed Celesta. "I believe you should leave Miss Sweeps." My tone is not just cold but freezing.

She takes a slight step back and looks at me like she wants to argue, but after a moment her survival instincts seem to win out. "I, You- ... Fine! You losers aren't worth my time." She tries to console her wounded pride but I just stare her down as she walks away while glancing back at us a few times only to see me staring back.

As soon as she's gone I drop the look and tone for one of mild concern before turning to Avalon. "You ok?" I asked gently as he looked at the doors with a mix of embarrassment and slight bewilderment.

He was silent and just watched me stare down that bitch- No, no, not right now, more important things first. I put away any anger as Avalon nods a little, "Y-Yes, I-I'm so sorry about her, she's normally not this... Persistent." He immediately tries to apologize but I quickly shake my head.

"It's not your fault, not in the slightest." I reassure him. "But, does that happen often?" I ask, trying to move away from his embarrassment and get some answers, because if this mare is messing with my friend, I will be most displeased.

He nods again and takes a few deep breaths before answering. "No, n-no. She, well, we don't talk. It's really only when we run into each other, she doesn't really like that I, well not to brag but I do more work than her." Well, that's at least some form of answer. Although he seems uncomfortable talking about it, I rethink my approach and just move past this quickly.

"Well, tell me if you ever need to talk, or need help dealing with that mare." I keep a soft tone but make my dislike known. "Well, I'm not hungry anymore, want to do something? I got the day free." I offer before taking out some bits to pay for our meal. I would like some silver lining for today.

He looks a bit surprised at my offer but quickly nods. "Y-Ya, Umm, we could go ... Flying?" He offers back uncertainty. I certainly wouldn't mind clearing my head after that, and getting some more practice is always nice. Plus I can spend some time making my friend feel a bit better.

I nod after a moment as we both stand up. "That sounds nice actually, want to race?" I challenge them in a clear attempt to distract him from all of this, but it seems to work a little as his smile comes back just a bit.

"Y-Your on!" I laugh a bit as he challenges me right back. I love having friends.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 994

Originally I wanted to replace

:Does this bitch want to eat nothing but paste for the next week?:

With.

:Does this bitch want to die?:

But I thought that was a little much. Still it's fun to have Shade scare the shit out of someone.

You all know the drill, I'm taking the day off.

Chapter 179

NOV 12 Friday.

I move another piece on the board as Celestia calmly counters my move while still doing some paperwork on her desk.

I stare up at her but she just smirks a little without even turning, I let out a long sigh. "Five hundred and twenty-four to eight point five." I updated our score and started to reset the board. "You know, you can be pretty ruthless when you want to be, but I also think I'm getting used to this." I joke before making the first move of yet another game of chess.

She pauses at that. "I don't think I've been called that in a long time, but I can try harder if you like? It might make you good enough to demand my full attention." She jokes right back and I scrunch up my muzzle at the idea that beating her in chess could get harder. She giggles a bit, "That's what I thought."

I smile despite the teasing and dive headfirst into my thoughts while resetting the board. The past two weeks have been mostly relaxing if you don't count that one mare who is now on my shit list. I even got a pleasant surprise by having a meeting with Celestia earlier than I thought.

She's still going through her backlog of work but after some thought she decided to invite me anyway, with the caveat that she would have to work while we talk. It's not as relaxed or interesting as our normal meetings, which is probably why she schedules them in the first place, so she can actually focus on the meeting itself.

But it does give me time to think, not even about important things really. Recently I decided to start growing and familiarizing myself with fungi like I planned, and I started with Shiitake mushrooms because I was able to buy some at the market easily enough.

The Shiitake mainly feeds off of dead trees but can grow in most forests so it's easy to grow, in related news I found my hatred of mushrooms again. I never really liked eating them in my past life and I was so used to avoiding them that I never tried them in this life, so I did just that, I still hate them and would rather never eat them again.

On the upside mushrooms aren't that popular of an ingredient in Equestria, they have a more dangerous reputation, and to be fair there is a good reason for that. Unlike my old world where Humans would eat anything even remotely digestible this world's diets are more specific, and the vast majority of mushrooms are dangerous for Ponies.

Let's take Griffons as another example. Did you know that while Ponies and Griffons can both eat meat, the Griffons use several seasonings that are harmful to ponies? The same applies in the opposite direction, and this is also why every restaurant in Equestria requires menus to be very detailed about what every dish has inside it.

This applies to most species, but this world has long adapted to this. Back to the point though, my training in growing and breeding fungi has been a learning experience. First and foremost is keeping them contained, fungi have a tendency to spread spores everywhere and those spores can be hard to contain and separate from each other.

This is a pretty big problem when the fungi I'm working with can steal life magic, I do not want it spreading spores, so for now I'm trying to learn how to control that while growing them. I'm also thinking about a shield to help contain the spores, but that- "Hmm, what madness are you thinking about now?" My thoughts are interrupted by Celestia as she wins yet another game.

I smirk as an idea pops into my head. "Fungi breeding." I see her smile falter a tiny bit as she remembers the last time we talked about fungi. "I'm taking it very slowly though, and I make sure to be cautious. But that's all boring, whatever you are working on should prove more interesting, right?"

She smiles a little at my reassurances, but she also huffs a little at my question. "Well, sorry to disappoint you but that might be more interesting. I'm looking through a bill to modify the tax code for nobles, truly riveting." She says with thick sarcasm in her tone which gets a chuckle from me.

"Yup, you got me beat there. I'm also just going to guess that you're also trying to deal with loopholes that are most definitely accidents?" I move a piece while petting Philomena again as she rests in-between my front legs, while Entropy sleeps on my back acting like a mini ice pack.

She laughs at that and nods a bit. "By magic, you have no idea, the amount of times I've had to intervene in somethings like that is beyond count." I can hear the slight annoyance in her tone.

"That's why I just pay my taxes, it's not like I need even more bits. Why live lavishly when you can live happily? Or something like that."

She raises a brow in a silent question while signing a form. "What? I can't always have a perfect nugget of advice for the situation, I'm only a half-decent philosopher at best." I defend myself while trying to not lose another game so soon.

Her smile persists but it's become clear over the last hour that the conversation is not as active as normal, not that I mind, it's nice to just spend time with a friend. "I suppose so, but you do a lot better than most. And just between us, it's a breath of fresh air to have a rich pony just pay their taxes." She says while glancing over at me with her glasses covering her eyes.

A weak joke, or maybe that's not a joke, I actually can't tell with her sometimes. I pause for a moment while looking down at the board, "Anything I can do to help?" I ask a little suddenly, she looks over at me for the first time in a while looking a little surprised. "I've gotten decent at paperwork, and." I move another piece losing the game. "I think I'm done with chess for now."

She smiles wider and actually seems to take me up on the offer. "Well, I wouldn't mind somepony making sure I didn't miss anything." We both know she's much better at this than me, but I am bored so why not? I nod and she moves a few documents over to me. "Look at you, doing paperwork like a noble already, makes me think." She teases.

I roll my eyes before looking at the document, a tax exemption proposal, it's seems complicated but after several months of dealing with paperwork I can mostly understand it. "If you ever make me a noble I'm moving into the Everfree, permanently." I threaten, but that does nothing to her and I just start reading through the document.

We both lapse into silence, it's a calm thing and I find myself simply enjoying helping a friend for the day. After several minutes I finish the document and pass it back only to be given another. I take a moment to notice that Celestia keeps the paperwork very organized.

I smile again. "Have I ever complained to you about how unorganized Daisy truly is?" She shakes her head a little with a knowing look. "Great! So, I spent a WEEK organizing things, before that she literally just remembered where everything was, somehow." I take the chance to vent the little remaining frustration from that week.

She looks amused and lets me keep going. "Although, I will admit it's a little impressive. She truly did remember where every single thing was." As I'm talking about Daisy a thought strikes me. "Huh, right." She raises a brow at my face of realization. "I don't think I mentioned that I told Daisy I'm Veil Winter did I?" I honestly never really thought about telling Celestia as it makes little difference if I did, but I'm sure as hell taking this opportunity to mess with her.

She abruptly stops at that and looks over at me both confused and shocked. "What?" I just start laughing as I rarely see her this baffled. She narrows her eyes a moment later and watches me laugh far more than I should have, the past few weeks have been gloomy so a good laugh is nice.

She huffs and looks amused before signing. "If you're going to try and shock me, at least have the decency of bringing in a camera for some pictures." She smiles and seems to take it as a joke before responding in kind.

I recover after a moment and smile widely. "Fine, I am serious though, I did tell her." I drop my tone and make it clear that I am serious.

She looks at me again before realizing that I am in fact serious. "WHAT?" Her tone is now pure confusion as my laughter starts up again. I really need to start being a little more chaotic, it's so much fun.

time skip

I place another pot in my apartment as I make sure everything is here. I don't often get things shipped to my apartment, but I would rather not lug several dozen clay plant pots around the snowy city. As for why I need so many pots? Well, I want to contain fungi and wooden pots aren't the best for that.

Most fungi eat away at wood and while I could exert some extra control over the fungi while growing them to prevent that, but it would use more of my magic. So instead I got myself some clay pots, cheap, easy to buy in mass, and the fungi won't eat them saving me both magic and time.

Forty clay pots may not sound that heavy, but you'd be wrong, and I had to lug them up a few flights of stairs. I did remember I can lighten things, around halfway up, but none of that really matters, I have them in my apartment now. I just stack everything into my workroom for now and decide to work on something new.

I've finally found the rune used to add frost into my daggers attacks, and it also had some concerning implications but I'll get to that. The runic meaning for it is Imbue, about what I honestly expected. The runic context was a little hard to find, but I was able to find all of it.

I found both in an old journal from some researchers. Now, the rune works by adding another rune with some type of element and it lets you transfer that element into attacks. I already guessed this, but the runic context shows some light on the limits of this rune.

It can only be used with basic elements, ice, fire, air, water, that sort of thing. It has some connection to nature in the runes context so more complex elements won't work. On top of that the rune is not the best, it has a decent quality but nothing really exceptional.

The main limit is the fact that the rune was made for enchanting weapons, it probably won't work well in spells at all or if it's enchanted into anything that's not a weapon of some form it will most likely lose most of its effect. The rune is not as flexible as I'd like, but it's still useful and it gives me a few ideas.

The effect of the rune is also variable from what I learned. Let's take ice as an example, if I used a lot of magic to power the spell with this rune it would create ice shards and freeze a target, but if it's weak it would only really cool something down a bit. But this is just what I found in that journal so I'll need to test it myself, but I don't see much of a reason why they would lie.

Beyond that there is something else odd about it, it is one of the runes I have on my cutie mark. It's been more than a year since I even really thought about this, and after going through my runic library I found another rune that matched the ones on my cutie mark.

A total of four runes are now known, out of the fourteen in my cutie mark. In the order of discovery they go, Water, Wind, Imbue, and Earth. This discovery has once again sparked my curiosity about my cutie mark and what this could mean, I still don't have any answers though as it makes no sense to me.

The only thing I can say for certain is that all these runes are old, I don't have ages for all of them but the newest one is over eleven hundred years old as best I can tell. Runes are heavily reliant on good information keeping to remain useful, so out of all the runes made, only a fraction even last beyond a few centuries, let alone a millennium.

All these runes are old, they are also all in dialects that are dead now. Like I said I have no solid ideas about any of this, but I'm starting to think something higher is involved. I came to this world through unknown means, maybe reincarnation is just normal but that's not relevant right now.

Whether it's fate or Harmony, or something else altogether, something seems to be involved here. The simple fact that the runes on my cutie mark are seemingly still around despite how old they all are shows this is not random. So many old runes survived for thousands of years only to appear here, why?

It brings some disturbing ideas to mind. If I was placed here and this was all planned, then does that mean everything I have done is predestined? If that's true then fighting Fate seems like a fool's dream and I've just been dancing in something's palm while never knowing.

That's the thing though, I won't let this possibility stop me. I still don't know for sure if Fate can be changed, but I think it can, and I refuse to give up on that small hope. So once again I will do the only thing I really can do in this situation, my damned best despite all the troubles I will inevitably encounter.

If Fate has a problem with that Fate can go fuck itself, but enough about my internal problems and my tempting fate. The Imbue rune is interesting and something I immediately want to test, specifically how it works with other elements beyond ice, I also want to test how the material affects it.

I gathered a few things onto my desk, two seeds, two pots filled with soil, and my runic library. I want to start with something simple and plant both seeds to grow two wooden daggers, one from Iron Oak wood and another from Fire Blossom wood. Both don't have much magical capacity but they should be able to hold an enchantment.

My skill in life magic has never stopped growing and I've made sure to practice my skill in growing things in specific ways. At this point I'm able to grow identical daggers that look like they were skillfully carved, it's not perfect and plants with more magic are more difficult but I can now carve without tools. I also can do the same detailed work while decomposing material.

Back to my little experiment though. I detach both wooden daggers and place them on my desk before moving the pots, now I need a rune and a basic spell. I have the spell for the Frost dagger so I just modify that and dumb it down to be much weaker, I don't want to overload the materials I'm using.

The effect will be basically nothing, anything I hit will probably get a little warm at best. I move a ruby over to me and quickly enchant it to hold and gather magic before letting it quickly charge from the Iron gem. It takes me around half an hour to finish the spell and enchant the knives before linking them to the ruby.

I don't have a perfect test subject, so a small piece of Maple wood will have to do. I set the piece of wood down and activate the enchantment, something I did not take into account is how the Frost dagger protects the wielder. So when I pick up the handle of the Iron Oak dagger I feel a slight warmth spread into my hoof very slowly.

I drop the thing instantly, staring at it wide-eyed, it takes my mind a few seconds to put it together, and after checking I confirm where I went wrong. I may have been a little hasty it seems, part of the original spell on the Frost dagger was not just to protect against damaging the weapon, but also the pony wielding it.

A small fuck up on my part, and something I'll need to keep an eye on, best not to get arrogant and really fuck up. I make a mental note of that but this gives me another idea, this could have potential for some security measures. If I can make the effect ignore me while burning others that would be pretty nice.

Also new rule, never touch an untested invention with my hooves. I made some more notes about this idea in my bracelet before picking up the Iron Oak knife with my field this time. I smack the small hunk of wood and notice that it heats up a slight amount, but like I thought the effect is very weak, thankfully.

Next, I tested the Fire Blossom knife, and the effect is stronger, not by much but it does leave very slight char marks on the wood. It's commonly known that some materials related to a type of magic can improve an enchantment held within it, something that doesn't normally need testing.

But, I tested it anyway because I wasn't sure if Fire Blossom wood would have this effect, and I might, maybe, perhaps, want to mess around with knives and magic. I tested both knives several times but I didn't touch either of them again, one scare was more than enough.

After I'm done I decompose everything I can and disenchant the gem before putting everything away. Once It's all cleaned up I take a few more notes on ideas and possible complications before leaving my workroom to eat a late lunch with my gremlin of a feathery friend.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 994

I decided to add something more relaxed before Shade's meeting with Twilight.

So, we're technically a few hundred words short, but 500k words. I'm just speechless, falf a fucking million?!!!

Sadly this seems to have snuck up on me and I have nothing planed. So, next chapter I'll be giving you an updated layout of Gaia's Eden, and I'm just going to throw in a Q@A

If you have a question feel free to ask away, no pressure though. Either way I hope you enjoyed this.

Chapter 180

NOV 21 Sunday.

I slowly turn another page of the book I'm reading as I rest under the pavilion.

As much as it pains me to admit it, romance novels, maybe, aren't that bad. This is why I'm currently spending some free time relaxing and reading one of the books Cadance gave me, I am also reading a few other things. I can never tell her any of this, she is already adept at teasing me as it is and doesn't need help.

As for what I find entertaining about these books? Well, oddly enough the romance is not what I enjoy, no it's the creativity of the scenarios they think up. Some are humorous and some are just plain crazy, but as loathed as I am to admit it they are decently good at entertaining me.

I chuckle a little as Entropy fusses over my wings before they vanish. Today is the day I'm going to talk to Twilight and I spent some time flying over Gaia's Eden to clear my head. "Mess! Bad!" I smile as she finishes her work and lays down next to me again.

"It's not my fault nopony ever taught me how to do it myself, but at least I can bribe you too, and you know you'll take it." I defend myself a little and pass her some fish jerky. She immediately switches her attitude and gobbles down the treats. "That's what I thought." I leave her to enjoy the food and start reading my book again.

Beyond trying to relax I've spent some time today breeding various plants, and even working on something new. Let's start with the frost crops, they have been progressing well and sometime past the new year the Frost Potatoes and Frost cabbage will definitely be complete.

For the Copper Lily, over the past few months, I've been able to shrink the size of the flowers by a little less than one-eighth of the flower's original size, only around half an inch in total. It's not a lot, but the magical cost of growing a single flower is already dropping and the process will eventually become a feedback loop. The flowers will shrink, letting me breed them faster, and that will let them shrink faster, rinse and repeat.

Now onto the new thing, I spent some time over the last week looking into the possibility of an idea I had to improve my armor. I've been looking into how to debark a tree while keeping the bark intact, after I succeeded enough to get a few good-sized pieces I tried to graft them onto my armor with life magic.

It's proven to be difficult, the amount of life magic needed to graft living plants together is more than I'd expected, and the harvesting process of the bark is a bitch. The Fire Blossom Tree is spindly and doesn't like to grow smooth or even patches of bark, and growing the trees also takes more life magic from my other projects and training.

But as a silver lining, when I grafted the Fire Blossom bark onto the armor, the armor held up to fire pretty well. It's not perfect but the Firebolt spell is useless against it and most open flames do nothing as well, a fireball might do something more but it's good at resisting fire and dealing with any heat made in the process. I'll need to think about how best to graft the bark in the future for the larger pieces of armor as I tested this on a single small piece, and maybe I should try selectively breeding the Fire Blossom Tree to produce thicker and more uniform bark.

Interestingly enough I found out something else while researching magical tree bark, the Water Tree I have works as a defense against water magic. I don't really have a use for this but it gave me an odd idea for an experiment, do you think the magical affinity of a plant affects what plants it can crossbreed with? Because I couldn't find anything about that and it got me curious.

With this thought in mind, I tried to breed the Fire Blossom Tree and the Water Tree together a few days ago, only to be met with some odd results. For the first time in a long time, I couldn't grow a seed, when I bought them the vast majority of the seeds were completely unviable from the beginning.

I tried several times but most refused to grow at all, I think the seeds were so charged that the seeds failed before even fully growing on the tree. This led me down a small rabbit hole looking for an answer, and I did find something that could explain it to an extent.

The idea of Affinity Contrast. Fire and water are opposites, so mixing them has about the result you'd expect, the magic inside of the plants works a similar way. The small amount of fire magic in the Fire Blossom's pollen contrasted with the water affinity magic in the Water Tree's flowers.

This is just a theory but it seems pretty likely from what I understand of magic. What I'm still unclear on is what actually happens to the different types of magic involved, do they destroy each other? Or maybe they mix in some way as some affinities can be artificially made that way, a good example of that is any complex emotional affinity.

I abruptly pause my thoughts as I feel something that's becoming a little more common, I feel a large amount of life magic far off in the forest. From this distance, I can't feel much, but I know it's at least a few miles away from Gaia's Eden, and it also hasn't gotten close yet.

I'm pretty sure it's the snake, but I haven't truly committed to that because I've felt it in the daytime as well as nighttime, and I think the snake is nocturnal. And like I said I can't tell much from this distance, only that it has a large amount of life magic and I can only sense it vaguely at best, I can't even tell what direction it's moving in.

Stretching my senses out this far also drains my magic fairly quickly, which is why I'm stretching out my senses while reading, to get some practice and get better at paying attention to changes in my environment. I focus on that source of life magic but it leaves my senses not long after.

It hasn't come anywhere near Gaia's Eden recently, I think the selectively bred Lemongrass has had some effect. Or, maybe the snake just no longer considers this area its territory, that may sound odd but you have to consider that all beings can sense life magic to some degree, and that thing is probably better at sensing it than most.

So I think Celestia scared the snake off, she is on a whole different level of strength and shines like the sun with life magic, that thing probably thinks she's claimed this area and wants to stay far away. Which is fine by me, I would rather never go near that thing again. After a few more moments watching the forest, I go back to my book and continue to pass through the morning.

At some point, I feel a different disturbance as space shifts in an odd way before Philomena teleports into the pavilion and lands on my back a few moments later with a letter in her beak. After our last meeting, Celestia had an odd mix of pride and humor when I explained what happened with Daisy, but didn't say too much after I told her, to be fair she was busy with work.

I pass some berries to Philomena and open the letter, it's just telling me when our next meeting will be with Celestia, it will be nice to relax with her again without work getting in the way. And, there is something I could use a little advice on, but those thoughts are for later.

I take a moment to check the time and see it's about time to go, I stand up and stretch a little before looking down at Entropy. "Sorry Girl, but we have something important to do, you can play later. Come on, let's get home." I reassure her a bit and she reluctantly jumps onto my back before we vanish leaving Philomena behind.

When I arrive home I don't spend long there, Twilight seems like the type to be early to everything and I don't need her worrying over me not showing up. I clean myself up a bit but keep it simple, when I'm ready I leave my apartment and put on my cloak to start walking through the snow, while Entropy decides to come with me like the faithful shadow she is.

The snowfall is light and I'm able to make good time. When I arrive at the library it doesn't take me long to notice Twilight sitting at a table reading, called it. I pack away my cloak and walk over to her with a smile, this is where things get difficult. She notices me almost immediately and smiles back, "Hey Twilight, how have you been?" I ask but don't sit down.

She looks too excited to blush but her eyes have that familiar look in them. "Shade! I've been great W-Well, actually I've been really busy, the Princess has been testing me a lot." She backpaddles a bit but just looks happy to see me show up. By magic, this entire thing is going to suck, but it's necessary.

I nod back. "Being busy can be a good thing too, it depends on how you look at it really." I give some bullshit advice and try to calm my mind to not let myself be distracted. "Come on." She looks confused at that. "I have something to talk about, and I know a better place for it." I take a neutral tone but make sure it's not unkind.

She is obviously confused about this, but she nods after a moment and picks up the few books she has on the table. "Sure, where are we going? Is it somewhere secret?" I can tell her imagination is getting the better of her.

I start to lead her deeper into the library and chuckle a bit. "Sadly no, nothing that interesting. But I've worked here for years now, and there are a few places that are far less used by ponies. We are going somewhere more private though, fewer eyes and ears there." I can't help but keep things a little vague, still I don't lie in any way, doing that would be a horrible move.

She looks curious about that and does exactly what you would expect. "Talk about what? Wa-ait, s-somewhere private?" She seems to get some idea in her head and blushes a bit. :Fuuuuuck, that was not how I wanted it to be taken, magic damned teenagers and their imaginations:

I nip that in the bud quickly. "Just somewhere to talk, I have something... Important to say. How have your studies been going? I think you mentioned something about incantations." I again don't lie but try to distract her a little this time. She smiles at that and starts to rattle off about how her tests went and a few small things Celestia had her learning about.

When we arrive we turn into a small reading area with a few tables surrounded by tall shelves on all sides. She's still going on about her tests, which she apparently did well on, while I listen and guide us. "Here we are, nice and quiet. It's one of my favorite spots in the library." I take my seat at the table, she does the same a moment later still with a smile on her face as she puts down her books.

She takes a moment to look around. "Huh, I never noticed the library could get this, quiet." The library isn't that loud normally but even what little noise there is doesn't reach here. "It's nice." I can tell her curiosity is still there and she's been holding herself back. "So... Y-You wanted to talk about something?" There it is.

At this point I don't try to hold a calm face and nod slowly while giving her a more kind look, something she does notice. "Yes. But before that, I want to explain." My tone is calm but somewhat serious. "You've probably noticed that I'm pretty blunt, I speak my mind a lot."

She stays quiet but I think at this point even a pony like her is able to realize that this is going to be different than our last hangouts. "I'm not good at being... Delicate, so I'm sorry if my words come off as... Well, cold." I'm really trying to say this quickly, but it's hard.

She seems to have noticed my mood. "Umm, I... Ok? Are you ok, or something?" She's both confused and a little weirded out, not that I blame her, we really don't know each other well enough.

I let out a long sigh. "This is why I'm blunt. Ok, I consider you a friend." Her ears jump up at that quickly as I've never full-on said that before now. "Maybe not my closest friend, but a friend nonetheless."

She smiles widely. "R-really?! I, that's- I mean! Me too!" She's excited and is a ball of nervous happiness. I try to stay strong but slump a little at her happy mood, which she notices. "Is- Is there s-something wrong though?" She asks as that nervous energy changes direction to mild concern at my look and tone.

I quickly shake my head. "NO! No. But... Look, I'd very much like to be your friend, but I've noticed you might think… More of me as more than just a friend." I realize dragging this out is not doing favors so just finally say it. There is a long lap of silence as she looks to be a mix of shocked and nervous as my words sink in.

I watch as she seems to retreat into herself a bit and quickly try to soften the blow. "I. It's ok." I have no idea what to say even after all my thinking and just try to stress that point. "I'm not mad, or anything bad like that! I promise!" I panic a little seeing her deflate and I just start talking.

We both fall into silence as she seems to stare off for several long moments and I wait patiently. I think my words really started to hit her after a few moments. "I..." She stops herself and takes a breath. "I, maybe I should just go." I can tell this is probably overwhelming her a bit.

"Wait!" She stops as I raise my voice a little more than I meant to. "I, sorry. I really want to explain, please?" I have little words for this as I never expected her to just walk off, so I try the only thing I can. She looks a bit surprised at me begging her to stay but after a very long moment sits back down, even as I see a few tears well up in the corners of her eyes. I nod, "Thank you."

There is a long moment of silence but before I can speak she ends up breaking that silence. "You... Do you, feel..." I knew this was coming, and it would be all downhill from here, but I could also see that this was a bit much for the poor mare and just shook my head silently in a negative way. "O-Oh... ... T-Thank you. For, b-being, honest." I nod again after a long silence before sighing tiredly.

Her look by this point has changed completely, her ears are pinned back and she has this look that just makes me want to give her a hug. Never thought I'd be crushing a mare's heart like this, but all things considered, she's taking this far better than I thought she would, or maybe I'm reading too many romance novels.

It's clear she's very uncomfortable and probably just wants to cry somewhere on her own. "I, I meant what I said, and I'd still like to be your friend," I say, making sure to hold some of my conviction in my tone. "But I can understand if you need time, I just wanted to try and... Well, try to be friends, even with all of this." That does seem to get some positive reaction, but she seems caught up in her own thoughts.

I really have come to enjoy talking with her, and being her friend is something I would like to do. "Again, I'm sorry for raising my voice, and you're free to leave. I just wanted you to know that." I apologize again and resign myself as I don't really have much more to say as it's clear she'll need space and time after this.

She's silent for a long moment, before nodding again with a minuscule smile. "I think... I'd like that-t." It seems everything is really hitting her now and a tear nearly falls from her eyes. "I- ... I'll send you a letter, goodbye Shade." With that last whisper, she just stands up and quickly retreats from the table while degrading even further.

"Goodbye Twilight, and.. Please do write, I'll be happy to hear from you, next time we can even work on something." I try to keep a more upbeat tone and reassure her some more, but all I get is another nod before she leaves out of my sight while continuing to sniffle, and then cry. She didn't even remember her books, but honestly, that went better than I thought it would.

She's really upset, but at least I was able to say my peace and potentially keep a new friend. Well, not a full-on friend but at least somepony I could consider a friend. I didn't lie when I called her a friend, but I won't lie to myself and say I trust her like my other friends.

I sigh after a few minutes and Entropy moves out of my shadow, despite my mood I cast an illusion over her before grabbing her for a hug. "Good. Ok." She tries to reassure me even though she probably doesn't fully understand what happened.

I smile as I let her go and start to pet her. "I know Girl, I know." This entire thing was mentally draining, but it's done, I don't have to worry about being silent or over what words I'd use. It was far from perfect, and I fucked up a bit looking my calm, but I did my best and that's all I can really do.

I take up the task of putting the books she left on their proper shelves, something to distract me more than anything else. When I'm done I decide I've had enough of the library for today, so I once again walk out into the snow and head home. I think Cadance said it best. 'There is no easy answer, there never is when it comes to love.'

When I get home I have a single thing to do, I need to send a letter to both Cadance and Celestia. They never asked me to, but they could use some heads up about this and I think Twilight could use some of Cadance's advice right now. Once they are done I pass them off to Entropy and tell her where they are needed before deciding to take a shower, it always helps.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

I've never written anything like this and romance is not my specialty, I think it came out ok overall.

Also, just a small fact I thought you all might find interesting. I don't like reading slow paced stories, yup, me. If your wondering why someone who's made a 500k story can somehow not read stories like that, they you can get in line behind me because I'm just as confused.

Chapter 181

NOV 30 Tuesday.

I sit down for lunch in the break room with my friends. Today has been going well if you don't count the slight worry I have rising in me.

Over the past week, things have been calm, but I haven't heard from Twilight, it sucks but I'll just have to be patient no matter how long it takes. But I've also tried my best to not let it affect my life, even if I didn't like her back I still don't feel good about hurting her.

I shovel some food into my mouth as Blaz gives Daisy a few bits, I swallow and raise a brow at the sight. "What did you two bet on now? The snow?" I ask with some sarcasm as Blaz grumbles at Daisy, there two never stop. Maple smiles a bit and Daisy just looks pleased.

"Maple cheated at dice, somehow." He mumbles out begrudgingly as Maple continues to smile and Daisy laughs a bit.

"It's not my fault you took the bet, but to be fair you should know not to bet against her by now," Daisy responds before turning to me. "They played to see who could roll the highest with three regular dice." I cracked up a bit at my friend's misfortune. "Good news, he lost somehow. Bad news Maple added it to the scoreboard." She admits and my mood switches quickly to a groan.

Daisy chuckles. "Yup, it doesn't help, but it was worth it to see Blaz lose, and the bits don't hurt." She teases Blaz a bit only to have another bit thrown at her a moment later. "Owe! Hey! No throwing things." She tries to scold him but he's unaffected and just chuckles.

"No, you embarrassed me in front of the Colt, I did the same. Speaking of the glorified secretary." Blaz holds no heat in his tone and looks over at me. "You mind helping me make a gift?" I'm a little surprised at that but nod immediately.

"Sure, why not? What do you need?" I've been thinking about gifts for the holidays myself, a few ideas have come to mind but I'm still working on them. "Although, keep in mind that I'm not the best at some things."

He nods with a thankful smile. "Nothing fancy Colt, but I'd like you to make a cuff like last year." He taps it to emphasize his point. "Think that's doable in the next few days? I know that's pretty short notice." I pause at that. I carved them by hoof last time but if I use my life magic it should be easy enough to complete quickly.

I nod again. "I can, but the intricate engraving isn't something I can do that fast. Tell you what, pick a wood type and a basic style for it then tell me tomorrow and I should be able to get it done before Monday." I offer and he nods happily before going back to his food, I do the same as Daisy and Maple start a discussion on baking.

The rest of my work day goes as planned and I end up walking back home with Daisy, the snow proved to be a bit deep but at least I had company to joke with. I relax a little and take off my saddlebags as I finally enter my apartment, at least for a bit I can rest.

I have a meeting with Celestia later and that needs my attention, but for now, all I want is a shower and some food. The shower is nice but a warm meal proves to be even better on this cold day. With those things out of the way, I head to my workroom and start to think for a while.

I've been looking at gifts for my friends for a few weeks now, and I have everything already picked out, but it's not all complete yet. Let's go in order, for Daisy, I got paint, brushes, and a few canvases. I also solved a very old mystery that I think will make a special gift for her.

A very long time ago I bought an enchanted painting, it's a beautiful scene of a forest at night and the painting itself emits a slight glow from the fireflies and moon in it. The specific spell that does this is a mix in between an illusion and a basic light spell, honestly, it's surprisingly well-made.

It took a while to study the spell matrix and find the runes, but I have reverse-engineered the spell and am planning to give it to Daisy. I think she'd like it, and while researching the spell I found a few interesting runes as well. Now, moving on to Maple, our resident game master and manipulator of luck itself.

Beyond some sweets I bought her a nice blanket, it's pure cotton and has a design of a night sky on it. It may seem like a smaller gift than others, but honestly shopping for Maple is like shopping for me, a bitch and a half on the best of days. So, I'm also adding a homemade coupon for three pies of her choice that I will make for her.

Next up is Blaz. He gets some puzzles like always, but also a puzzle box I myself made with my ability to grow wood. It's made from thirty interlocking pieces and I got the design for it after asking Celestia for a little help in a letter, which she was happy to provide me with. Again it might not be the best, but I know he likes things like this and it might give him a challenge considering Celestia said it was tricky, plus I'm now making him a gift for somepony else on top of that.

Cadance, I'm honestly not sure what to do with her. So I'm giving her a bunch of bits and demanding she do something with it to make herself and her stallion happy. Along with a few good horror books to pass onto Shining, mostly to try and placate him a bit for whatever he is going to do with me the next time we meet.

Last but certainly not least, Celestia. This one proved difficult like always, so I went for something small but personal like always. I chose to make her some wooden jewelry, specifically a necklace. I'm going to give it a very basic enchantment, I'm going to embed the Sunstone I have into it and enchant it to release sunlight. As I said, small and personal.

As I'm double checking my things for the meeting Philomena appears in my apartment with a letter. I feel my heart quicken as the only other time she sent a letter like this was an emergency, I quickly rake it and read through it before becoming even more concerned.

Shade.

Cadance and Shining Armor will be joining us, you may want to bring your armor.

Signed Celestia. :)

I stare blankly at the smiley face for a few moments. "Oh, shit."

POV shift Cadance.

I chuckle a little with Aunty as Philomena returns with a simple piece of paper with a frowny face drawn on it. "It seems Shade has guessed what's coming already, or maybe not, that's not exactly detailed." I turn to Aunty to see the amused look on her face and that smile once again in place.

She nods in response before placing the paper on her desk. "Yes, he is rather good at being prepared, even if he's not the best at enacting those preparations." She turns to Shining as he stands at attention next to the door. "Are you sure about this?" She asks again.

The past week has been a little trying on my little knight, Twilight took everything about as well as she could. I've talked to her a few times, and honestly, It went both better and worse than I'd expected. She is upset, but not completely ruined, the love she had was young and while it hurts she will be ok.

Maybe I could have tried to intervene more, coached Shade a bit, or walked him through it in more detail. But love is not so simple, and meddling too much could end up much worse than doing nothing at all. While Shade didn't do too well, his words were only his own and all genuine.

My little knight though took the news differently, on one hoof he's not really that mad at Shade, but on the other somepony just hurt his little sister. Shining nods to Aunty, "Yes Princess." A stallion of few words when on duty, I can't say it's not attractive but that's not important today.

Aunty decided the best method to solve this was a sparring match, it lets my knight get everything out and Shade is a complete training fanatic from what he's told me, so a win-win. Aunty nods again, "I wish you the best then, and try not to take your eyes off of him." She holds no humor in those words.

He mostly keeps a stony face but I can see he's confused about the warning. "I've seen him fight before, Princess." He says with a little confidence. Oh, my little knight. I still remember the reports from that event, and the pictures as well. I suppress a light shudder.

Aunty just smiles at him knowingly. "No, you really haven't. That's why this is only a sparring match. Now get going you two, we'll meet up later." She dismisses us both while moving a few pieces of paperwork over to her.

POV shift Celestia.

I watch as my niece and her poor stallion friend leave my office. "Oh, Shining." I let a chuckle escape now that I'm alone. I'm not too up to date on their individual skill, but I'd say there are comparable weapons skills. Outside of that however, well Shade is an expert at modifying spells for his own use, so magic is a bit advantageous for him.

But the thing that really sets them apart is mindset, Shade seems to see everything in a different light when it comes to combat, at least from what I can tell when we talk about it. It's hard to pin down, but sometimes when we discuss magic I feel he has a way to weaponize everything, and I've seen just how far he will go if he finds an actual threat.

That Changeling was able to recover, with some slight phobia of vines and thorns. Sometimes I do have to remind myself just how much Shade is, well, Shade. He is both profoundly kind, and scary when angered, it is an odd contrast. But even with that, he continues to grow as a pony.

Recently he revealed he confided a big secret in a friend. Even if it was an accident the fact remains he could have said nothing but still told her, it is both a slight weight off of my shoulders and a point of slight concern. I was worried he'd never be able to tell others and just only talk to me about it.

That's not to say it's bad to keep such a thing secret, but to a point, there is only so much advice I could give. Trusting in his other friends and getting more ways to get perspective on it all can help greatly, and it also makes me happy to see. As for my concern, well I suppose it's just that Shade could be in actual danger from his alias now.

In the past it was fine, but now that his inventions are intertwined with the Changeling war that is different. Still, this is just some slight worry, I find it unlikely that his friend will do anything. I stop my thoughts and put down my work as my door starts to open. I smile widely at the pony standing there.

POV shift Shade.

I pack the last piece of armor into my bags and even fit my helmet inside so nopony can see it and recognize it later. I decided to bring my eyeless helmet, if I'm going to fight a decent royal guard I want to actually enjoy it. Plus this is a good opportunity to learn and improve.

After everything is packed away I lug it onto my back before securing it to myself properly. I turn to Entropy a moment later and whistle. "Time to go Girl, we have an angry stallion waiting for us and he's going to kick my flank." I joke at my own expense.

She just tilts her head confused about my smile before taking us to the Palace. Like always a guard leads me where I'm needed when I arrive, and not long after that, I arrive at Celestia's office. I can tell she's alone inside so I walk in without any fear of an ambush.

When I walk inside I see her staring back at me with a wide smile. "So, today is the day I get to visit a hospital?" It's a bit of a dark joke by pony standards but she's able to take it in stride.

She huffs out a laugh. "I should hope not, but if it comes to that I know enough healing spells to take care of you." I roll my eyes at the teasing and I drop my saddlebags onto the floor with a loud wooden clank. She raises a brow at that. "Your armor then? I will admit I am curious as to what you brought." She asks curiously while eyeing the bags.

I've told Celestia about my armor, but only ever in passing, she doesn't even know what type of armor it is. I flop down on the couch, "Don't get your hopes up. I made it myself so it's not very good." My armor may look decent but it is just wood, magical wood, but still wood. "Anyway, how is this going to go down? Also, where are my tormentors?" I joke more to try and remove a bit of my nervousness.

She chuckles a little and finishes whatever she is working on before taking off her glasses and joining me on the couch. "Well, Cadance is finishing up some work and Shining is guarding her, as for what will happen." She pauses for a long moment to nab the chess set out of my saddlebags.

She makes me wait as she sets up the entire game, I know she's just messing with me, but come on! Now of all days?! She smiles mischievously at my impatient stare, "For now we'll have our normal meeting, and later will be some sparring with Shining in armor with practice weapons. It should be fun to watch." She teases me again but my mind has already run with that information.

A sparring match? I honestly don't know what I expected, but that seems reasonable enough. It doesn't take a genius to know he's probably mad at me, my best bet is to talk to him after we beat the shit out of each other. "Hmm, how mad do you think he is? Because I need to know how I should go about this." I ask, dropping my humorous tone.

She looks unsurprised at my question. "Honestly? I'm not sure. Say what you want but he can be rather hard to read when he wants to be." I contemplate that for a moment. "If I had to say though, not as much as you'd think. He knew this was a possibility after all, and probably just wanted to fulfill his duty as a brother." She reasons.

I'm not sure if I agree with her on that, but then again my last experience with this was in my last world. Humans can be violent, and extremely violent when it comes to family. She smiles at my face and moves a piece to start the game, "It will be ok you know? These things can be worked out, even if it takes time and effort." She reassures me.

I nod after a moment. "I honestly don't know, but I'll trust you on that." I'm truthful as I've seen a lot of situations like this end badly in my last life. I sigh and move my own piece. "Any other topic on your mind? I could use something to distract myself."

She keeps her reassuring look. "Very well, but, are you not going to ask about my student?" She holds nothing but curiosity and kindness in her tone, even now she tries to make sure I'm doing ok.

I slowly shake my head after a moment. "No, I don't think it's my business to hear that from you, I'll just wait for her on that." I can't lie, I am tempted but it's not worth dragging her into this more than absolutely needed. "Now, pick a topic, please," I demand with a little sarcasm.

She doesn't change her expression at my answer, she just nods in acceptance of my answer. "Ok. Well, have you heard about the recent situation abroad?" She faintly changes the subject and her words pique my interest. "There has been an expanding conflict in the city-states near the wild lands."

I pause at that as a thought comes to mind. The Wild Lands is a large stretch of the continent past Griffonstone, it mostly consists of alliances of city-states and small kingdoms over varied environments. Conflict is a bit more common there, not massively so and nowhere near human level, and much like with Griffonstone most of the conflict is small in scope.

I shake my head a bit but motion for her to continue. "It's nothing massive, but a city there recently got a new king and he's proven to be rather, expansionist." I listen intently as this sounds a little familiar. "His victories have been mostly quick and decisive, but his speed of expansion has raised a few concerns." She's talking about it like it's not her problem, which it isn't considering this is all happening more than a continent away.

"Huh, sounds a little worrying honestly. But I suppose it is far off, still..." I can't help but feel like this fits in somewhere, I just can't put my hoof on it.

She nods with a smile. "True, it is very far off and it's unlikely to spread out of the Wild Lands, but it is interesting that it's happening so quickly. In fact that king has nearly doubled his land in a few months after becoming king, he's gained a bit of a reputation for his speed in fact. The press there are nicknaming him the Storm King, a little presumptuous honestly." She jokes a bit as I just freeze for a moment.

:Ah, so that's why it sounded familiar. FUCK!!:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

So, Shade will be having an interesting time, as this will be directly continued in the next chapter. Also, I watched the movie a long time ago so my memory about the Storm King is foggy, so I might be making up a fair amount in regards to him. Although I don't think we are actually shown much in the first place, either way please call me out if I make any major mistakes with him.

Chapter 183

DEC 11 Saturday

I scoop some more gold dust from the barrel and dump it into the water while watching the new copper flower grow.

It's been more than a week now and things are going pretty well. Me and Shining's spar ended with a second victory for me, but then we ran out of time as Cadance and Celestia had work to do. Afterward, though we did discuss doing it again, something I am full up for, and he agreed to send a letter for when he might have free time.

But he is just as busy as Cadance, mostly guarding her, so we may not get to spar that often. Beyond that, I also got a letter yesterday, a letter from Twilight to be more specific. It was more, formal than her past letters and it's clear things are a bit different between us.

Shade.

Sorry it took so long to send you a letter but things have been rather busy here. Hearth's Warming is close and my family is also planning a getaway after the new year.

I'd once again like to thank you for being honest with me, and I'm writing to say that I wouldn't mind catching up again and talking sometimes.

Like I said I'm busy right now but sometimes a little after the new year works for me, so please tell me if that works for you as well.

Signed Twilight Sparkle.

It's much shorter than the other letters she sent me in the past, but it's a step in the right direction. I have no doubt our next meeting will be awkward, but that's fine as long as we can try to rebuild what has been damaged. It's clear from how short and formal the letter is that we have taken a figurative step back.

I'm just happy she's willing to try and fix things as well, even if it's still a few weeks or longer until we even start to try. Now that I think about it that vacation might be something her family is doing for her, or she's lying to keep some space for a while, either way it's clear she needs more time and I'm willing to wait.

Beyond that pleasant news, I have some other news, I have all my gifts ready except Celestia's necklace, something I hope to finish soon. I actually thought about sending something to Twilight, but decided against it for this year. Also, Blaz's son is visiting other parts of the family so Blaz will be staying with us for this year's Hearth's Warming.

Like I said, all my gifts are ready and the only other thing I have planned for the rest of the year is Entropy's birthday. I'm thinking of doing the same thing as last year, you know, give her a fish along with a few new toys, her old toys have gotten pretty banged up for her and Philomena.

I let the last of the gold dust dissolve and pick the seeds needed before decomposing everything and leaving the tools in a small box next to the two barrels. I stretch and walk over to the pavilion while keeping the blindfold on my head securely. The past week has also given me some time to think about my space magic.

All my training is really starting to show as my control and conversion ratio with space magic has improved significantly. I've mostly trained my control, but I've gotten better at all my spatial abilities as well. But Spatial Cutting is something I haven't gotten down yet.

I want to try cutting something again right now as I have a few new ideas on how to go about it. For a few minutes, I drink tea and rest to recover my magic fully before taking out a seed from my saddlebags. I drop the seed on the snowy ground a decent distance away from anything else.

I move my life magic and watch as a normal Oak sapling grows from the snow into a decent-sized tree with a foot-thick trunk. I decompose everything except the Oak's stump and trunk, this leaves me with a nice and simple target to try and cut apart.

I take a deep breath and focus, I reach out with my space magic and start to form a single flat plane. I follow the same steps as the last time I attempted this and form two flat planes on top of each other. But instead of pulling them apart from their wide faces, I try to pull at the ends.

I pull the top plane to the left and the bottom one to the right. It quickly proves difficult to stretch space in two opposite directions at once. But I am able to do it and the spatial bending is less than my past attempt. After they are far enough away I let go and let everything snap back into place.

The Rebound still does some damage to the trunk as it cracks a little, but the incredibly thick pieces of the trunk that were held in those spatial planes don't have time to move back and as a result, are missing from the trunk. The top part of the trunk falls into the snow with a thump as it's effectively been cut off.

I didn't really cut it, I just removed the material supporting it, but the end result is the same regardless. The pieces of extracted wood were completely destroyed as the Rebound was too much for something that looked to be thinner than paper.

I realize something and attempt the same thing again but instead only use one spatial plane instead of two. The result is both better and worse, the spatial plane removes the material but the Rebound is stronger than before. The wood is more damaged and the cut is less stable overall.

I think for a moment and realize that when I used two spatial planes they probably canceled out each other's Rebound slightly. Not by a lot from the looks of it, but enough to make only using one less stable but more cost-efficient. I stare at the ruined tree and regrow what was broken.

Next, I will try something more experimental. I form another spatial plane but instead of making it as thin as possible, I thicken it to be around an eighth-inch thick. I then try to compress the space inside that area, something I have not tried before. I immediately feel some pushback that makes me struggle a bit, but it's manageable.

I feel the space try to move back but just dump more magic into this and try to will the space to compress to become thinner and thinner, once the space is compressed as flat as possible I let it spring back, and like other times the material doesn't move as quickly.

Nothing loud happens but there is only a slight amount of Rebound, which is odd to me as bending space always causes Rebound. The three sections separate as the middle piece is now a compressed piece of wood, it seems this works best so far, but it's odd that there was so little Rebound.

I sit there and look at the small piece of compressed wood that cracked into a few rough chunks. If I had to make a theory, I'd say that there is a functional difference between bending and compressing space, even though they are very similar in function as they both cause Rebound.

I've never tried compressing space before, but it felt less violent than bending it. When you think about it, bending space is stretching things outward, but compressing space it is bending it inwards, compacting it. The main thing that changes the most is the amount you are bending space.

Bending an entire plane at angles and curves bends a lot of unnecessary space, but compressing bends less overall space and causes less Rebound. It's just a theory, but if I'm right then I may have been going about Fusing materials in the wrong way, or maybe not, I'll need to test this a lot more to figure it out.

My magic is mostly drained by this point, one thing I can say for sure is that compressing space is more stable but it takes even more magic than just bending space. I drain the last of my tea and look over to Entropy as she sleeps on the Gold Oak, which weirdly enough doesn't have any snow on its branches or leaves.

I whistle over to her and she flies to me a few moments later. "Hey Girl, are you up for a trip?" She tilts her head and nods. "Good, we're going to Ponyville." I don't have much to do today, and I'm mostly out of magic for now so I might as well go and spend the end of the day at Ponyville.

I haven't been there in a few months now and checking in isn't a bad idea. After a moment we both vanish and I'm greeted by the Void once again, I wonder? As we move I reach out with my space magic and feel around the Void in the slight moment I have there.

When we reappear I sit still trying to remember what I felt, which was nothing but empty space. But that's important in and of itself, the space may have been empty but it was normal, with no fluctuations or anomalies beyond me and Entropy. It's not much, but it does mean that space can probably be shaped by me in the Void.

I cast an illusion over Entropy and start the snowy walk in silence as my mind words on its own. The Void having stable space makes sense, it's probably more stable than this dimension actually, there is no matter there to cause space to bend with gravity, no stars or planets.

In theory, this means I could bend the space there, so if I found a way to teleport I might be able to come and go as I please. Not that I'm thinking of doing something like that right now, I've improved a lot in my space magic but I'm not ready for something like teleporting yet.

I stop for a moment as I arrive at the outskirts of Ponyville, it looks the same as always if you don't count the large amount of snow covering everything. The sleepy little town is winding down as the day nears its end, and I decide to get myself a late lunch, or is it early dinner?

I know going to Sugar Cube Corner will mean interacting with Pinkie, but I think I can deal with that, and I could use some positivity right now. When I walk inside it's not as busy as I thought it would be, only a few ponies at a few booths, but that works well for me.

I sit down in an empty booth and make sure to check under the table first before sitting down, I don't want a repeat of last time. It seems like nopony is at the counter so I just take a sketchbook out of my saddlebags and start sketching designs for Celestia's necklace.

After a minute or so I feel space shift slightly as Pinkie walks out of the back with a tray of pretzels, but she stops when she spots me sitting down. I turn to face her a little abruptly and nod as a greeting before placing my sketchbook down. She moves quicker than she probably should and drops off the pretzels before moving over to me with a quill and notepad.

"SHADE!" I nearly flinch from the loud greeting. "HI! How have you been? When did you get into town? Do you want a donut? OH! Or a fresh pretzel?!" I keep a small smile as she rapidly fires questions at me, most of which I'm able to catch.

I chuckle a bit at her very excitable face, she always has a smile on her face it seems. "Hello to you too Pinkie. I'm fine, today, yes, and no." I answer bluntly in order while looking at the display. "Do you have any apple fritters? Oh, and a cup of mint tea if it's not too much to ask?" I move past that and I see her quickly write something down on her notepad.

I can't really tell the specifics of what she's writing, but it doesn't look like normal text. "We do, and it's not." She imitates me a bit. "Okie doki, I'll be back before you know it!" She zooms off behind the counter and starts to make my order. Pinkie is like eating raw sugar, too damn sweet for most but enjoyable in moderation or short bursts.

I barely have time to pick up my sketchbook before Pinkie quickly moves back to placing my order on the table. I raise a brow at the speed but don't question it, instead, I just smile at her and nod my thanks. "Well, it seems you keep your word. Thank you." I accepted the goodies and noticed she included a small bowl of fruit and a milkshake.

She places the fruit next to a happy Entropy before sitting down and taking a sip from her smoothie. "It's no problem!" She answers just as excited as ever. I don't bother trying to protest her eating with me, it's just who she is. I take a sip and the tea is pretty good for being made impossibly fast.

"Happy. Good." Entropy caws up at her and Pinkie beams at her with a massive smile.

"AwwWW! You're adorable!" She gets more excited than before. I think about reminding Pinkie but she doesn't pet Entropy and seems to remember that and just smile at her. "So, are you passing through again? I thought the train rail was out for the week?" She asks while happily watching Entropy eat.

I pause at that. The rail is out? It's not uncommon for it to happen with how many railways there are, but I did just tell her I arrived today. I stay calm and just half-lie like I've done many times before. "I didn't know it was out actually, I didn't take the train." Technically not a lie, just a lie by omission.

She tilts her head much like Entropy does. "Huh? Did you walk here in the snow? That's so cold, silly, you could get a cold and that's no fun!" She's looking at me over a bit but seems to show a slight worry.

I kept my calm smile and started to move my magic, I came here to have some fun, and showing off a bit should be fine and she just gave me an idea. Plus it's not like this is some massive thing, it's just a spell. I cast a spell and I chuckle at the confused and then shocked face she watches as a pair of wings start to form on my back after a few moments. "I flew actually, it's much preferable to walking through the snow." I silently enjoy the slight chaos I'm causing.

For the first time, I get to render Pinkie speechless, but that only lasts for a few seconds before her eyes widen more and she looks beyond excited, I quickly cast a sound barrier around us from under the table as she takes a deep breath. "OH MY CELESTIA!! How did you do that?! Wings! You have Wings!!" She very quickly leans over the table to get a closer look.

I'm now facing a Pinkie violating my personal space and pressing myself back more to regain some of it, only for her to practically half stand on the table to continue to look at them. I decided to try and make her back off by stretching a wing closer to her. "It's just a spell. Something anypony can learn." I downplay things to try and calm her down again.

The chaos may be fun, but this is also Pinkie Pie so, ya. "Oh! A spell?! You can do something like that with a spell?!" She asks while poking my wing with a hoof. "That's amazing! What else can you do?!! Can you control them?!" She is a bit more calm now and moves back into her seat.

I sigh a bit at having my space back while moving my wings back into place and flexing them. "Yes, and yes. What else? Well, anything? It depends on the spell and how much magic is needed, but beyond that magic has no limits." I add philosophically. "As for me? I'm not amazing, but I know a few interesting things." I motion around us. "Like a barrier spell to prevent anypony here from hearing us."

She looks confused for a moment but looks around, and despite how loud she was, nopony seems to have noticed. She looks a tad bit embarrassed after I pointed that out, but she doesn't let that slow her down. "SO I CAN SHOUT AND NOPONY WILL HEAR ME?!!"

I have to pin my ears back as her surprisingly loud voice calls out. While I'm uncomfortable Entropy just seemed annoyed. "Loud. Bad." Entropy reprimands her a bit before deciding to move onto the bench next to me. Pinkie's slight embarrassment deepens as she's called out by both of us.

She looks around again and sees that nopony noticed her shouting. "This is even more amazing! Imagine the surprise parties!" She smiles like a mad mare and still keeps her excitement up. "Can I learn to do this?" She actually drops her tone a bit finally.

I just smile at her antics. "Yes, but it's hard. You would have to draw it out as well." I draw a few lines in the air to demonstrate. "It's a big time investment as well." I see her looking thoughtful. "How much do you like reading very dry textbooks?" I chuckle at the slightly scrunched nose she shows. "Then it might not be for you, you could try to find somepony to enchant an object for it, but that can get expensive and it can be hard to find the right pony." I give her an alternative.

She looks excited but also thoughtful, an expression I'm sure not many ponies have seen on her face. "Huh, maybe! Anyway, I got to finish helping Mr. Cake close up. Have a good day Shade!" I watch with slight amazement as she drinks the remaining half of her smoothy in seconds.

I laugh at the admittedly impressive feat she just accomplished. "Same to you Pinkie, and thanks for the tea, it's great." I show her one of my better smiles as she pokes my wing one last time.

"They look nice. Bye!" With that last remark, she zooms off back through the staff door and out of sight. I can't help but laugh again at the mare that causes confusion and smiles wherever she goes. Say what you want about Pinkie, but she just makes things a little brighter.

I take a bit of my treat and enjoy the pleasant mood of the cafe. I think this is what I needed. It's nice to shake things up and have a little fun.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

A little of the pink one for you, and some space magic.

Chapter 184

DEC 25 Saturday.

I wrap the last gift for the day and smile at it.

This particular gift is some of my best work. A White Oak necklace that is larger than any normal pony would be able to wear, but it should be the perfect size for Celestia. It has intricate carvings of Sunflowers and Solar Vines, and in the pendant, I've embedded the round Sunstone in a sun carving.

It's very on-theme and I think she'll like it, beyond just its look I've also embedded two enchantments. One to release a slight amount of solar magic to create real sunlight, something I didn't need to make as I found the spell when researching uses for the Sunstones.

The second enchantment is not necessary, but I felt that it fit the theme well. It's the warming spell I put on Maple's wooden jewelry. I had to embed a pair of small diamonds to make it work, but it fits too well to not add, even though I know it will do little for her.

She probably has dozens of warming spells, but I'm still proud of my work. I place those gifts next to the others I need to send out. I have added a few things and gathered everything else required. I have Shining's horror books, Cadance I'm just giving some bits.

I sent Avalon a packet of my notes on a few spells he can learn along with some book recommendations for his gift. I'm also sending a new batch of the improved Blood Red Tea to Celestia early, it's not massively improved from the last batch but any improvement is nice and she could always use some fresher tea.

I turn to Entropy and place all the gifts needed on the countertop. "Ok Girl, all of these need to go to the palace, and don't take too long, we have to leave soon." I reward her of a few pets as she chirps happily. She's been over the moon after her birthday.

I got her a large fish and a few new toys, along with a fun hoof-made nest I found in a pet shop. It's nothing fancy but I placed it on top of her perch and she seems to enjoy sleeping in it so that's enough for me. On top of that, I also asked Celestia to send Philomena to my apartment on Entropy's birthday so they could play.

I mostly sketched out drawings of the two playing and sleeping with each other that day, I may get annoyed but I love these two gremlins. I smile as Entropy vanishes with the needed gifts, while she's gone I spend a few moments organizing all of the other gifts to be moved.

Everything is ready and all that's left is to wait and bring everything over when it's time. I walk over and put the fresh cookies onto a plate as Entropy appears back inside the room with a gift that I do not recognize. I smile at the sight and take it from Entropy while giving her a treat. "Thanks, Girl."

I should wait till later but I have a gathering to get to so I just open the gift immediately. The brown wrapping paper rips easily and I open the box with a little excitement. Inside are a few things, the first two books and a small pony figurine. The figure is a model of a guard in matching armor with a paper tag on it.

From Shining. I smile and place it to the side, the two books also have tags, one from Cadance and the other from Celestia. The first book is a Griffon romance novel, I know it's to tease me, but it's still a nice gift. The other book is even more interesting.

A book on combat spells. I quickly open it and flip through a few pages and see that most of them are elemental, but there are several interesting spells. They are not the most powerful spells, but they are stronger than anything I'd be able to find in the library.

I smile like a mad pony at the book. "Oh, this will be fun. There's even some elemental control spells." I nerd out a bit but stop as I realize I'm about to go on a mental rant. I reluctantly put the gifts away and quickly cast an overpowered illusion on Entropy, I grab the gifts and leave my apartment with Entropy hopping behind me.

I knock on the door and it opens to show that everypony else is already here. "Shade," Maple answered the door with a small nod and looked over my gifts. "Hmm, those better be chocolate, I don't like raisins." I smile at her and walk inside while closing the door behind me. Inside I see Blaz cutting up some things while Daisy cooks food.

"Nice to see you too Maple. It seems I'm a bit late, good thing I always bring good gifts." Daisy smiles and takes the gifts from me to put them under the tree.

"Yes, we know you're rich, now go distract Maple by losing until we finish cooking this, I don't feel like losing again so soon," Daisy replies with some sarcasm.

Blaz just chuckles and continues to help with the cooking. "She's got you there Colt." I roll my eyes and place the cookies on the table, which immediately start getting eaten by Maple as I sit down next to her and pick up a deck of cards.

"They are chocolate, just remember to save some for the rest of us." She just stares blankly before taking a few more cookies and looking down as I deal her a few cards. "Any fours?" I ask while taking a cookie for myself as Entropy moves into the kitchen to beg and steal some food for herself.

Maple's able to guess that game from that and passes me a four, and just like that I have doomed myself to losing another game and skewing the scoreboard even more in her favor. It's already dark out and it doesn't take long for Blaz and Daisy to finish cooking while me and Maple play in silence.

Eventually, they join us and I return the cards to the deck as Daisy walks over being the last out of the kitchen. "We doing gifts first? Dinner still needs to cool and I don't know about you all but I don't want to wait anymore." Daisy puts up her hoof casting a silent vote. Maple raises her hoof immediately and Blaz huffs out another chuckle before doing the same.

I shrug. "Why not? We can eat and play later, and I will admit I'm curious." I agree and Daisy wastes no time in looking through the gifts before sorting them into five piles. I raise a brow as she changes our normal order of gift opening giving us all our gifts at once.

"I got something for the lovely Entropy, and because I'm hoofing them out I get to say open them however and whenever you want." She says while watching Entropy jump down to the floor and join us with a wagging tail. None of us voice any disagreement and we all pick a gift.

I watch as Blaz opens the box containing the puzzle box he asked for, and he smiles at me. "It seems I have a new challenge, not too bad Colt, there are even some others in here." I take the complement with a nod as he looks at the other puzzles he got, while I open my own gift Maple looks at the pie coupon with a small smile thrown my way.

I have three gifts, and the first is a thick book. It's from Daisy so I look over at her with a raised brow, and she smiles right back. But gets distracted as she looks over the new paints and brushes happily. "Ooo, I don't know this one, thanks." She nods to the book. "It's a book I found about sea plants at a book store." I smile wider as I open it to see several hoof-drawn illustrations of sea plants.

"Thanks, huh, I don't recognize a few of these, I wonder where this is from?" That second part is more me talking to myself but she seems happy I like it. I look back up and see that Maple is now wrapped tightly in her new blanket looking content. "I'm glad you like it." I turn to Daisy as she opens the important gift I got her.

It's several pages of paper and I see her look more and more excited as she reads. She turns to me beaming, "This works?" I nod. "Thank you! This is perfect, I can do so much with this." She quickly busies herself by showing Blaz and Maple while looking through the rest of the papers.

I nod again and open my other two gifts. Some pink salt and a few other cooking ingredients from Blaz, along with a nice deep green scarf from Maple. "Hmm." I wrap the scarf around myself with a smile. "It seems we had the same idea, it even fits my theme." I munch on a cookie as Maple nods back in silent agreement.

I watch as Blaz fiddles with the wooden box and looks curious, while Daisy gets her glasses out to read through the notes I gave her. I see Entropy open her own small gift and pull out a small scarf that is a vibrant red color. I laugh a little and Daisy looks up before laughing as I use my field to wrap the small scarf around Entropy's neck. "Ok, this is just adorable." I blurt out as Entropy cuddles with the scarf looking content with her gift.

Daisy smiles widely and crouches down to look at Entropy. "I know right? I saw it while shopping with Maple and I couldn't help myself. You look adorable, don't you?" She asks in a babying tone. Entropy just wags her tail and chirps back in response to the attention. "OH, yes you do."

"Happy! Good!" She caws out and Daisy babies her more while I get a bit lost in thought. It's days like this that remind me how happy I am to live in this world. Out of all the places I could have potentially ended up in this is the best, even if there are inevitable problems.

I wouldn't call my last life lonely, but in comparison, it might as well have been. Here I have a few close friends and a few more casual friends, but they are all friends to me. Daisy, Maple, Blaz, Celestia, Avalon, almost Cadance, and even a little for Shining and Twilight but those still need time.

So many, and they all hold a space in my heart, even if they never know how much that means to me. All this and I'm not even an adult yet, time really does change so much. I can barely remember the paranoid colt that left that orphanage years ago, and I never imagined that this was where I'd end up.

I smile wider as Entropy and Daisy sit a distance away sharing a cookie, Entropy remembers not to get touched but enjoys the sweet treats. Blaz has figured out a small bit of his new puzzle and Maple is like me, just watching silently and enjoying the feeling of being in good company. But underneath all this, a dark undercurrent churns in my mind.

I've come so far, but will it be enough? Can I prevent what is coming? Can I save them? Some days these thoughts get too loud, but if there is one thing I have learned is that I will not give up. Not just for myself, but for all of them, all the ponies I have come to care for. "Hey, Shade? You paying attention?"

I blink and shake my head a little. I turn to Daisy as she holds up a familiar hoof-drawn deck of Uno cards. "Sorry, got lost for a moment there. Are we playing a game?" She nods and pushes the deck closer to me beckoning for me to take it. I raise a brow but take the deck, "Making me the dealer? After when I brought the snacks no less?" I defend myself unnecessarily.

She rolls her eyes and chuckles at my uptight tone. "With that tone? I expect a gentle colt like you to be more than willing, it's only polite after all." She responds in a smiler tone while I deal out the cards and Blaz laughs at our antics. I keep my unbreakable smile as we start a game of Uno.

No matter the dark thoughts I have, it's days and company like this that take all that away, that makes the future bright.

POV shift Celestia.

I watch as the sun dips below the horizon and move my will and magic to raise the moon.

I stare blankly at it for a few moments before forcing myself to turn away, this day is not for such solemn thoughts, instead, I move towards my bedroom table. The past few weeks have been a nice break from many things, and the highlight of it all was the sparring match I had the pleasure of witnessing.

Shining is a good guard, and he's achieved much for a pony his age, but there is only so much natural talent can account for. He has been trained, he has fought others for long hours, but he just doesn't have the mind Shade does. I can still remember that quick match in great detail.

It took less than a few seconds for Shade to form a plan and enact it, to a very effective degree. He used only a single simple spell and a unique ability he developed. I do think that such a method will be less effective after the first attempt, but in a real battle, one attempt is all you need.

Shade really outdid himself, or maybe not actually. He relies heavily on prep time for a lot of his actions, it stands to reason that he would do the same with a battle. So, how quickly would that match have ended if he had a week? No, not a week, just one day would be enough for him.

It is something that I am constantly having to think about and consider, Shade thinks differently than most, and that reaches just beyond combat. I find his insights on the Storm King particularly interesting, along with his comment at the end of that topic. He saw something that I didn't, not something that often happens, especially when it comes to conflict.

I will fully admit I considered it a possibility he would attack them, but to do something like march on a forming alliance? It's not a conventional strategy in war, but after some thought, I consider it a decent possibility. As Shade pointed out the king's preferred form of war is speed, it just makes it more likely.

I've sent a few inquiries to other nations and city-states in the area in an attempt to get more information, but that is not the point. Shade saw this, and he also proved very aware of the dangerous possibilities involving the Changelings. It all points to him being very good at not just knowing an enemy, but actively trying to put himself in their place.

In his last comment, he thinks about them not just from the viewpoint of his enemy, but he asks himself what he would do in their situation. It's something very few beings are willing or able to do, and yet he does and he's good at it, maybe not perfect but far better than anypony would expect.

I chuckle a little to myself. He really would make a decent diplomat, or maybe even a general, but I know he has no wish for anything of the sort. All those things are too big and public for him, he may excel at the job but he would not have his heart put into it.

My thoughts come to an abrupt end as a knock comes on my door. "Come in," I call out and stand straighter, only to relax again as my niece enters the room while closing the door behind her. "Niece. I thought you wanted to join Shining and his family for Hearths Warming?" I question as that's what she told me before she left not long ago.

I also see a few boxes being carried with her. "I was Aunty, but I stopped to leave our gift in the mail room and saw Shade sent us some rather lovely gifts, so I decided you get your gift today instead of tomorrow. You may now thank me." I giggle a bit at her antics, she always tries to keep my mood up after October, even though she doesn't need to.

She places a large box down along with a smaller one in front of me, she keeps the other box with her and keeps it next to her on the table with an adorably excited face. I smile at her and move the gifts closer, "Very well, you are thanked." I purposefully make it sound off but not incorrect.

She huffs a bit and starts to rip off the paper on the gift she has. I decide to join in and start with the large box, and inside is a large amount of dried red tea leaves in glass jars along with a note. This is the selectively bred Blood Red Tea, it should be around ten percent better than the normal base version. Enjoy.

I place the note back down with a large smile. The tea has been an amazing boon that I would rather not live without, it is stronger than normal and is just another bonus. Cadance glances inside and smirks. "He always gives you expensive things." I promptly ignore her teasing tone.

She opens her own box and inside are several books and a note. She picks up the note and starts to read it aloud. "A few books for Shining, apparently they both like horror books, because of course they do." She looks amused. Hmm, I never knew that was an interest of Shade.

She continues. "Something about training and scheduling. Ah! Here we go! For Cadance, I have no idea what you like so I'm throwing money at you until you go away, buy you and your stallion something nice." I laugh for a moment as her face shifts from excited to perturbed at being snubbed in a note.

That face changes when she opens an envelope to see what exactly he gave her. "O-Oh, oh." She's rendered a bit speechless and I take the piece of paper to see if it's an official bank document to transfer an amount of bits. Specifically five thousand bits, a rather large amount. I smile at her, "Yes, but it seems he gets expensive things for more than just me."

Cadance like me has access to the royale accounts, but those are for much more than just personal use and while we are paid for our roles, it's a small symbolic amount. That is to say that getting five thousand bits for personal use is no small thing for her and Shining, they could buy a home in the city easily.

She smiles widely at the paper as she takes it back from me before moving the box to the side and keeping the paperwork with her. "It seems so, and it also seems like me and Shining are going to have much more lavish dates. It also seems I'll need to think about better gifts next year."

I never did ask what they got him so I just nod. "Maybe not, he much prefers some things that are personal or useful. A good book is a sure bet." I advise calmly while moving the small gift box over to me and ripping into it.

She pauses and laughs. "I got him a book, seems I have some great luck today." She watches as I open the box and pull out a wooden object slowly. Once it's in full view we both stare at the work of beauty. "Or maybe you stole it all. Shade really does get you the best things."

I can't help but nod while looking over the necklace in front of me. The white wood is intricately carved into a chain and pendant while being covered in detailed and complex engravings. Sunflowers cover the sun-shaped pendant while vines wind up the chain and meet at the other end.

But the main part is the bright yellow stone in the middle. I look in the box and see a note that explains everything about the necklace. After reading it I smile and tap the Sunstone twice before feeling the gentle warmth of sunlight in the candle-lit room.

I place it around my neck and stare at the glowing gem. "Yes, he really does."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994, but not for long.

A small and less important chapter, I hope you liked it. Also I'm taking the day off, maybe two but probably not.

Chapter 186

JAN 29 Saturday.

I flip through another page of notes and copy a few things before nodding to myself, closing the notebook and putting it away.

The last few weeks have lapsed into my normal routines and it's been an uninteresting time. Winter Wrap-Up is almost over and the snow is all gone from the city even though Everfree is mostly snow-free while the weather is getting warmer. It's still odd that it changes in less than a month, but I am enjoying the beginning of spring.

The last month has been a mix of finishing up two projects and continuing my endless grind. I had my normal meetings with Celestia and a meeting with Cadance that ended with a sparring match with Shining. On a similar note, I got another letter from Twilight.

It was a bit more friendly than the last one she sent and she talked about where they were going for vacation. It turns out her family is going to Manehattan, someplace I myself might visit in the future. I hope it gives her the space and fun she needs before we next meet.

The two projects I finished were the Frost Potato and the Frost Cabbage, along with modifying a fireball spell as best I could. I knew Celestia would want any combat spells I improved so I sent it along with the new crops, and I received a lovely thank-you letter in return.

Beyond that, I've kept breeding my plants, but most of my time was spent studying healing and the new combat spells. All of which has gone rather well, but I've noticed that I haven't really invented anything recently, so after a lot of thought I found something I could work on.

Heat retention, may sound odd but stick with me. For your everyday pony having a spell to keep something warm longer is a nice little thing, it's not life-changing but a restaurant or just a pony moving food around with them would find some use out of it, but that's not what made me think of this.

All metal used by ponies is forged, there are a few places that use mills to help but everything is hoof forged by smiths. It's part of the reason metal items are so expensive, and a large cost of forging things is the material required to heat metal and keep it heated for forging.

So if you could cast a spell that keeps the metal heated for longer or the forge itself heated for longer, you'd be cutting some of that price out along with making the work easier to do. There are also probably a few other things that could probably do with keeping warm, but you get the idea and I need to make the spell itself.

I grab a few books and flip to a blank page to start to go through notes and my runic library. There are two main ways I think I could do this, a shield of some sort, or I could add it as some form of temporary effect to an object, but I think the best place to start is with fire runes and preservation runes.

I spent a while looking through runes before finding a few good runes. A rune of Contain, and a rune of Continuation, along with a rune of Fire. The rune of Fire is mostly normal but this specific rune of Fire lends itself well to this project because of its Runic Context. After some more thought, I decided to use both of the other runes for different purposes.

The Contain rune will probably work better for improving a forge and the Continuation runes seem to work best on a small scale. After a little more thinking I decide to start on the spell that will be used for forges as it will be more complex, I bring over yet another notebook with shield spells.

This one will be for the forge and I think a shield will work best for a stationary object mostly because making the spell an effect is less stable and weaker. I start to draw out the spell in the air and use a basic shield as a base before working on the heat retaining part.

The math isn't too hard but working around the runes Runic Context took a little extra time, but after a few hours the spell is roughly functioning. I stare at a piece of paper with the spell matrix, "How to test you? Hmm." I mumble out before an idea pops into my head and I walk into my main room.

I spend a while grinding down some wheat and start to make some bread dough while I find my well-used baking pan. I turn the knob that starts to heat my oven with the enchantments on it and leave the bread to rise while continuing my work on the new spells.

This time I work on the more simple version of the spell for everyday use. Making the spell create a temporary effect on an object is less stable like I said, but it's not too magically expensive depending on how long you want the spell to last. I ponder for a moment and start to draw things out again.

I use the Continuation rune and start to fiddle around but take my time as this spell won't be an enchantment and needs to be as magically efficient as possible. It needs to be that way as this is for the common pony, although, maybe I should make it compatible as an enchantment on the second through. It might take more magic but this way more than just unicorns can have easy access to it.

After an hour the dough is ready and I place it in the oven to bake while I take a little break to trim up my mane a bit along with my chin fluff. I look at myself in the mirror and smile as I'm once again a bit taller than a few months ago, it's slowed down a lot though.

Puberty is still hitting me but a lot of the growth seems to be over, or at least slowing down. Even with that though I'm still in it, hell I still have problems looking at mares in public. Although I have better self-control, my necklace enchantment has helped a lot so far.

I sigh after a moment and move my mind away from that topic so I don't start hanging low in my apartment again. There is also the fact that my mind is still a horny bastard. I splash some cold water on my face before my body can mess with me anymore.

I walk out and focus on my work again to try and keep my mind off of all of that... Stuff. I continue my spell work until the bread is done, I take it out and put it to the side before casting the shield version of the Heat Retention spell after adjusting the size of the area needed. I've used this oven for years so I know how long it takes to cool down when the door is open or closed, so I check the time and leave the oven door open to cool.

Entropy watches me curiously while wearing her cute scarf as Philomena sits next to her asleep, those two are adorable. I try some bread and smile a bit, it's not bad and I think I've become a decent baker. I continue to snack on my bread while finishing up the rough version of the personal Heat Retention spell.

I check the oven and push my hoof inside past the shield to feel that it's still warm, not massively but it's been almost an hour since it was left open. It seems it's a success, I'll need more testing but this proves that it does at least work as intended. I wrap up the rest of the bread and sit there for a few moments looking out of the window.

I want to do something, I think. but what? I could go exploring. But I don't want to deal with the busy city or the Everfree right now, and certainly not Ponyville. After a little thought, I realize I have far more options than just that. It's near the end of the day and I turn to Entropy. "Hey Girl, training time," I say and she flies right over to me.

We are both used to the routine and a few moments later we're standing in a great grass plain with rolling hills. "Hey Girl?" She turns to me before she can take us back home. "Want to grab some dinner?" Her wagging tail is the only answer I need.

"YES." She eagerly agrees to an early meal and I chuckle while casting two spells in quick succession, an illusion over her and one to give me wings. We're currently somewhere in the western part of Equestria and unlike the eastern half, this place has many large grass plains and smaller forests.

I've continued to push Entropy and her travel distance is still increasing. Around two weeks ago we moved our destination to this grass plain as it is far from anything, roads, towns, or cities, it's isolated enough for our uses. After my wings are formed I flex them before beating them several times to get into the air.

Entropy flies up next to me as I level off high in the air. When traveling to get here we passed a small town, smaller than even Ponyville, but it should at least be enough to find a good meal and spend some time somewhere new. I still have an hour or so of daylight left and I should be able to get there before dark.

As I fly I let my mind wander to something I've been debating with myself. My upcoming vacation time, it's something I haven't decided on yet and I'm not really sure where I want to go. I have several options, but I'm actually thinking of doing something unexpected.

I could do my own trip, or I could follow along with Cadance on another trip she mentioned in passing. It may sound odd after what happened last time, but this trip will be to a completely different place and if I went I would probably be able to just go as a scribe, at least I think so because I have no idea if they'd let me join.

I don't actually know where she's going because I never asked, but I do know she's not leaving Equestria. There are a few places she might go but I suspect the east coast to negotiate with the cities that have seen a large increase in trade with the Griffon city-states.

Apparently, it's expanded beyond just Griffonstone as other city-states have seen the new products we have as an opportunity to ship things further inland on their continent and make some money at the same time. Either way, it's more trade for us.

After some thought, I decided to send a letter to Celestia asking if it's possible for me to come before making any plans and leave my thoughts as I see the town I was looking for. It's a small place largely made from wood and only has dirt roads around it.

After a few moments of flying above it, I see something that looks like an inn and land on the street with Entropy right behind me. There is still some snow out here but it's in small amounts and the weather is warmer than expected, pony weather control is really something else.

I wait a moment after landing as Entropy lands on my back before I start to walk over to what is definitely an inn. I look up at the sign above the door as I enter, Straws Rest, yup definitely a pony name. I chuckle at the sign and walk inside to see a busy but jovial interior.

It's mostly Pegasi inside but a few Griffons and the other tribes are mixed in. Everypony is talking, drinking and just enjoying themselves as the sun sets outside the windows. All around there are tables and a bar with stools, and to another side are a few empty tables.

Normally I'd sit at a table but some ponies are eating at the bar so I just find an empty spot and take a seat. It didn't take long for an older mare to move over to me, Entropy decided to sit on the bar in front of me so she looked at her for a moment before looking at me. "They know how to behave?"

I nod after a moment. "Yes."

She stares at me for another beat before nodding back. "They break anything you're paying for it, now what can I get you?" That was simple enough I guess.

"Anything's good, along with some juice if you have it. And something for her." The older mare just nods and walks off before coming back with a mug of apple juice not long after. "Thank you." She just nods and walks off leaving me alone. I take a long swig of the juice and enjoy the pleasant taste.

The atmosphere is nice here, there is plenty of banter and talk while somepony is playing a guitar in the corner. But after a minute or so I smell something that switches the mood a bit.

Light N.S.F.W Begins here.

I recognize the smell as my sheath tries to move, I quickly activate the enchantment in my necklace and the smell fades, thankfully. I look around and quickly see that I'm not the only stallion that noticed. A pegasus mare around twenty or so walked in not long ago and it seems she's in heat.

An interesting fact about pony culture when it comes to heat is that stallions are expected to control themselves, along with the mare in heat. Basically, while this happens and nopony really cares, you can not just give into instinct and fuck in public, take that somewhere private.

For stallions specifically, though, we're expected to just deal with this happening. A mare can't control when they are in heat, some do choose to quarantine but many don't. As a stallion when a mare in heat is around we're expected to just ignore it and not ask her to leave or bother her about it.

It's a bit of a gender role thing, although there are some places where a mare can't go while in heat so it kind of balances itself out if you put it in full context. I laugh a little as the poor stallions in the room start to make occasional smacking noises and a few younger stallions look embarrassed.

They all have their cocks hanging out and while a few leave most stay and soon enough there are a few jokes thrown their way. It's nothing rude or mean, just some good old banter at their expense, and in her defense, the mare in heat also looks a little embarrassed as she starts to wait on the tables and sometimes lifts her tail up by instinct, I have to divert my eyes anytime that happens and take a few deep breaths.

After a while, the older mare gives me my food before walking over to the waiter mare in heat and seemingly assigning her behind the bar to save her some embarrassment. I just focus on my food after that but as the pegasus mare works behind the bar she glances at me on occasion with a little confusion, it's not hard to guess why as I'm not hard.

I just ignore that, I still have my wings out, and even without them I look old enough to be an adult, mostly because I am almost an adult. But after I finish my food and a few more ponies leave as the night winds down the mare walks over and takes my plate. I nod to her. "Thanks, can I get a refill on apple juice?" I ask politely.

I catch her eyes glancing down at my sheath and balls as they were pressed against the stool I'm on, she looks intrigued and nods after averting her gaze. "Sure, be back in a minute." Her tone is friendly enough, but it just seems like a tone you'd use for a customer.

Light N.S.F.W Ends here.

She returns quickly and her mane is now hanging down instead of being tied back while she has a slight sway to her walk. I just hope she doesn't notice me staring. I take the juice she brings. "Thank you."

She nods again. "So, are you passing through?" I raise a brow at that. She smirks a bit, "We get a lot of couriers and some traders that pass through. You just seem like the type to travel a lot." I wasn't expecting the small talk but don't really mind as long as it's not too intrusive, I did come here to find and do new things.

I tilt my head back and forth. "No, but good guess, I travel a fair amount. At least when I can, I'm just passing through." I answer ruefully but keep everything vague and try to be casual, if Celestia can get out of her comfort zone I can as well.

She smiles as I answer. "You get a feel for it after a while, many of you have the same look when in a new place. So, what brings you to Good Berry?" I give her a slightly confused look and she chuckles after a moment. "You don't even know where you are? What kind of journey have you been on?" She asks, cracking up a bit.

I feel a slight blush creep onto my cheeks as I'm a bit embarrassed, I'm at least able to keep a straight face. "The type that's had me flying for a bit too long I guess." I lie to deflect her question and pass it off as a joke.

She keeps that smile that shows her teeth. "You must be tired then, we have a few free rooms if you'd like?" That kicks my mind into shape as she says it with a little excitement and a slightly flirty tone. :OH, not again, are these wings fucking cursed?: Now that I think about it her interest in me seemed like more than just curiosity.

I decided to just nip this in the bud and leave it be. "Well, I do have places to be and I wa-" That is the moment my thoughts grind to a halt as something large moves quickly in my senses. I focus my senses for a moment even though the mare is confused at my abrupt cut-off.

I turn with most of the other ponies inside the inn when the door abruptly opens to show something tall walking inside. Dull gray scales and a snarl on their face, at the door, standing taller than any pony is a human-sized dragon. I stare at the pissed look on the dragon's face and let out a sigh. :Fuck my life:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

I'm still debating the element question I asked, but we have plenty on time for that later. Where do you think Shade should go for his trip? Join Cadance or do his own thing? And where should Candace be going?

Chapter 187

JAN 29 Saturday.

The inn goes silent as the dragon walks inside and all heads turn to them momentarily before looking away.

While this is happening my mind moves at a mile a minute. I've seen a dragon before, only once though, and not very close up. They are not known to be the most social so you never see them often, the only one I've seen was quickly walking through the streets of Canterlot.

I've heard they can be seen more often in smaller towns like this, and it seems that holds true. I think they just don't like large busy cities, something I can agree with to a degree. I sweep my senses around the room and look over the dragon as they look around the inn angrily.

They have a three-tone body, the main scales have an ash gray color while her underbelly has a lighter sandy color. The spines along her back and head are a deep almost black gray, while her eyes are a bright yellow. They stand around twice the height of an adult unicorn, a good two feet taller than me while having an impressive pair of wings and short three to four inches spines from their head to tail.

Overall, they look intimidating to most ponies, but I'm mostly calm unlike every other pony here. I've dealt with Celestia and this just doesn't compare to that. The dragon looked around for a few moments as ponies avoided eye contact before stomping over to the bar.

They definitely seem angry, but that anger doesn't seem to be pointed at anypony in the inn, just angry in general. Most ponies in the room seem uncomfortable and talk in whispers while trying to avoid the angry dragon. The dragon doesn't head for a table and just walks over to the bar.

I do notice they have a bag with them, it's not large and looks pretty roughed up but it seems to work just fine. As they walk towards the bar most ponies freeze as they yank a stool out and sit next to me with an empty stool in between us. They glare around at the ponies and me but I just keep my calm face and drink some of my juice.

She snaps her eyes at the mare and huffs a bit before slamming a few bits on the bar. "You pony! Drink! Anything strong!" A gruff but female tone sounds from her and the poor mare that was flirting with me jumps a bit before doing as told. I stare at the dragon for a moment, not really liking the tone she used.

It only takes a few moments after that for every other pony at the bar to suddenly have somewhere to be. I see her eyes narrow a bit at this sight and honestly, I feel for her when it comes to that, she may be angry but avoiding her like that is still a bit rude.

Eventually, the mare comes back with the drink and the dragon takes it from her before she can even place it down, this dragon is being kind of a dick. It seems she notices the fact I haven't moved and that I'm staring at her, she turns to me with a more intense glare. "What?! Got a problem pony?" Her angry tone is challenging now and while she speaks louder than needed it's not in a shout.

Entropy moved off the bar and into my shadow when the dragon walked in, she knew I would want her out of the way if a fight happened. I stare her down calmly, taking note of her claws and sharp teeth. "Yes, you're being mean for no good reason," I answer back just as bluntly as her tone and actions have annoyed me a little, although this is probably not a good idea. I don't have the best impression of her so far.

She bares her teeth more but I don't react in the slightest, this reminds me of dealing with a human actually. "Fuck off!" She says and I surprise myself a bit by chuckling at that. I don't know what she was expecting but that was probably not it, and my reaction seemed to anger her a bit more. "You laughing at me?!"

I realize that while she's been rude she's at least been nonviolent so angering her doesn't help anyone, time for a different approach then. "No, it's just been a long time since someone has insulted me like that. Brings back memories." I answer with a little honesty and a more relaxed tone to try and de-escalate things.

My answer seems to stump her a little but dragons seem like the stubborn type. "Then you shouldn't care if I continue?! You fucking feather duster." She says and throws another insult at me with a little venom, and honestly, it's not a bad insult either.

I can't help but laugh a bit more and smile at the audacity of this dragon. That insult might have worked on a normal pony but all of this is still weak and uninventive compared to anything a human child could come up with, I'm more amused than anything with the situation but keep my guard up.

I might feel a little angry if it was unprompted, but I kind of brought this on myself and I'm curious what she can come up with. I smiled up at her, "Sure, as long as you can take an insult in turn you walking burnt log." I start off with something lighter and hope I judged her right and didn't make things worse.

Again her eyes narrow a bit as she looks at herself, and she huffs out a little smoke, but she doesn't look as angry at me anymore. "A pony with some backbone? HA! Now that's a good joke." I've seen humans like this, the type who just can't deal with other people's shit. It's a little refreshing to talk to someone like this again.

I nod. "Yup, just like you, if those are bones." They still have an angry face and tone but it isn't really directed at me all that much now.

She sees me looking at her spines. "No, maybe?" My question makes her question it for a moment. "HGG! I don't care! Why the fuck are you even bothering me?" She demands impatiently as her anger comes back.

I shrug a little. "Curiosity? I've never met a dragon. And, you look like you want to hit something, so at least I can distract you from bothering the others here." I answer completely honestly, lying probably won't help much here and if she sees through it she might get too angry. And this has been the plan, even if it's a horrible plan.

She seems a little surprised at my blunt answer, but I can't really be sure because of the unfamiliar body language and angry look. She really seems to look me up and down for a moment, "You're a weird pony. And yes, I want to hit something." That just seems to remind me why she's so angry but her voice is not as loud now.

I think for a moment before I get a stupid idea, it's probably something I shouldn't do, but I'm tempted. :Fuck it: "Ok then, drain the drink and follow me." I have no idea if this will work but in the worst case scenario she ignores me and I leave having somewhat distracted her.

I just drop some bits on the counter and walk outside without looking back, she stays for a moment but eventually, it seems her curiosity gets the best of her and she follows me. My senses let me know that there is an empty space between this inn and the building behind it that should give us some cover.

I walk out into the dark and cast a light more for her sake than mine. She walks faster than me and catches up as I walk down an alley beside the inn. "If your trying to fuck me that's a great way to piss me off pony." Apparently, she got the wrong idea after seeing the alley.

I look back to her as we enter the enclosed-ish space behind the inn. "Not interested and not my plan. You said you wanted to hit something and I'm not passing on the chance to fight a dragon." I answer completely seriously while casting a more powerful light above us to give us light to work with.

I'm able to fully see the shock on her face this time as I drop my saddlebags to the floor and turn to face her. She laughs after a moment, "Of course, I find the only fucking insane pony in this town! Fine! You keep fucking with me and I'm pissed!" She really stops holding back her anger at that.

I just nod and calm my mind and body to prepare. "Good. First though, rules."

She groans at that and looks even more annoyed "Fine! Hurry the fuck up so I can hit you!"

"No claws, ball your fists. No teeth, I will bite back if you try. Don't push things, this is a fight, not a death match. And we stop when someone surrenders. If you go too far I will put you down, hard." I don't mince my words and keep a serious tone as she looks like she's thinking about it for a moment before nodding and balling her fists up.

"Good enough!" With that, she just full on runs right for me like a bulldozer. I knew this was going to be a shit show, but there is a certain thrill to just hitting someone, no weapons, no fancy shit, just a fight. As she gets close she moves with some serious speed and tries to land a hit on my neck.

She's definitely a predator, she went right for my throat from the start. I take a step back and dodge before landing a hit on her right leg, it doesn't do all that much but I was mostly testing the waters with that blow. Her scales are tough but I know she felt that as she delivered a blow to my back a moment later, purposely avoiding my wings to not break them.

Stone has gotten me used to getting hit so while I feel it I recover quickly and slam my hoof into her gut, she's knocked back a bit but is able to slam her tail into my neck after a moment knocking me over as we both land in the dirt. "Ugg, yup, you hit like a fucking brick," I say while getting back up as she does the same.

She snarls "SHUT UP AND HIT ME!" That's all I need to rush at her and after a moment I slam into her as she blocks with her arms and is able to stop my charge after sliding back a few feet. I feel a fist slam into my head twice in a quick moment. :FUCK:

The blow hurts but as she moves for another blow I turn on my front legs and buck her with my back legs pretty hard. I still hold back with my legs but even then she gets hit in the chest and has the wind knocked out of her. Somehow she's able to claw her feet into the ground and not move too much before grabbing one of my back legs and slamming a fist into it.

It doesn't break even though I know she could have if she really tried, it still hurts like a bitch though. I'm able to break free a moment later and turn around to hit her in the muzzle, I land a decent hit and she tries to grab that hoof to keep me off balance and hit me with her other hand.

She got a hold of my foreleg and is twisting it a bit so instead of getting hit in the face again I just slam my forehead into hers as the spines scrape me a little. The blow was probably a little too hard as I'm really getting into the fight and we both stumbled back before landing on our backsides.

I have a few bruises and a bleeding nose but I'm mostly fine, she kept to the rules. She even avoided hitting my wings as they are more fragile, this dragon isn't a complete asshole then.

There is a moment of heavy panting as we both recover a bit but neither of us moves to stand up and eventually, she starts to laugh. "Well, shit." She rubs her head a little as her nose is also bleeding a bit. "You hit hard, and can actually fight unlike the rest of their fucks, the hell do you normally fight?" Her tone is a little more relaxed and friendly as I stand up.

I stand up and ready myself but she seems to have lost some interest in the fight and stays down. "I'll take that as a compliment. I've been getting my ass kicked by some demented stallion for years now, he still kicks my shit in with ease. Now get the fuck up, I'm not done yet." I use a few more curses than needed, it's not often I get to use them so freely.

She laughs some more and does as demanded before shaking her head. "No, I'm already tired and need another drink." I'm a little disappointed at that but nod in acceptance and relax my stance. She smiles showing all her teeth, "Don't think this is your win though, this is just a draw." Seems her pride won't call this a loss.

I just nod again. "Fine, but I have some annoying questions for you, let's go get another drink." I take the new relaxed mood with a smile of my own and take a moment to dismiss my wings much to her confusion. A moment later I cast the two healing spells on myself as I walked down the alley.

She catches up and looks at me oddly. "The fuck was that?" She demands with some curiosity.

I smirk. "Magic, you need some healing?" She raises a brow and shakes her head but looks unhappy at my uninformative answer. "Suit yourself. To be specific it's a complex spell, better than walking everywhere." I re-cast the wing spell, something she doesn't question, and we enter the inn again.

When we walk in I notice it's more empty and the ponies that remain look a little surprised seeing us. Although we both look roughed up, nopony seems to question us as we sit at the bar again. "Ugg! The last thing I need to hear about is some magic mumbo jumbo." She groans out.

After a moment the older mare from earlier walks up and eyes us both. "Something strong for her and apple juice for me," I ordered bluntly and turned back to the dragon. "So, now that you're doing better, mind telling me what got you so worked up?" I ask, trying to continue the conversation.

She huffs some smoke out but keeps her cool. "Some soft scaled bustard merchant scammed me," she grumbles out. "I sold him some gems and we disagreed, the guards showed up and I was told to kick rocks." I pay extra attention to the odd words used at the beginning.

She sees my curious look. "A dragon word, soft scale, or something like that." She humors me a little even though I thought she'd be less accommodating and didn't ask.

I nod. "I'm just going to guess they gave you a price far from fair." Her look is all the answer I need. I chuckle a little, "I have fallen for that far more than I'm willing to admit." I say in good humor and try to keep things light.

She seems to take that and move past the topic. "Why?" I give her a confused look. "Oh, don't give me that look, I can tell you aren't as stupid as the rest here. Why help me? Even with you ponies being so... Nice." She holds a slight disdain at that last word but I don't take any insult to it.

I decided to keep to the honest approach that has been working. "Out of all the ponies in this place, I'm probably the only one who could handle you if you got violent, or became an actual threat to others. And I helped because I felt like it, and that's all the damned reason I need." She gives me a level look but also shows a slight respect I think.

She takes a deep drink. "I ain't that kind of dragon, no matter how angry." She's surprisingly firm about that point. "I can also respect a pony that actually sticks to their shit." I nod at the unexpected compliment. "But we both know I was holding back out there, what would you have done if I was a threat?" Her tone is actually a little joking but mostly challenging.

I stare at her eyes unblinkingly for a few moments before casting a spell on her mug, she notices the slight light and raises a brow. "Pick it up." She looks at her mug and tries but it's firmly stuck to the bar, she tries again with more force but can't make it move even when almost breaking it.

I cancel the spell and she looks intrigued. "That is a sticking spell. I don't know much about dragons so I'd have to go for a sure weak point in an actual fight." I take a long drink of cold juice.

"If you were a threat I would have stuck you to the bar or floor and strangled you until you were either unconscious or dead before running my dagger through your eye to make sure you stayed down," I speak quietly so others can't overhear us while my tone is as blunt and cold as stone.

Her eyes widen at the detailed plan and my shift in tone before I smile up at her. "But you are my kind of person, blunt and no-nonsense, plus you can definitely control yourself," I add with a more relaxed tone and smirk a bit. "Now, you fine with a few questions? Because I have so many."

She stares me up and down after her surprise wears off and she seems to reevaluate me again. After a moment I see another look of respect and what I think is slight weariness. "Sure, as long as you're paying for the drinks." She holds a slight respect in her tone as well but seems to just relax after a moment.

"For how rare information on your lot is? Drink yourself under the table." I turn to the mare. "Put her on my tab, and do you still have something to eat?" She has been listening in on us but didn't hear my explanation so she's mostly relaxed and she nods after a moment. "Anything good then, thank you."

I turn back to the dragon "Well, as a start. Names Shade, nice to meet you." I finally introduce myself.

She looks a little amused and nods. "Andradite, or just Andra because fuck that. And I'd say the same but you're an annoying pony." She doesn't sound actually insulting and I think she just enjoys talking to someone who can take an insult in good casual humor.

I chuckle again. "Fantastic. What do you eat? I know gems are a staple but what else?" I ask while showing a bit of excitement and taking out my notebook to write some things down. She rolls her eyes a bit but starts to answer me after the glorious promise of free drinks.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

I tried to make Andra come off as rough and rude but not a complete asshole normally. I think as a Dragon in Equestria she has to at least be somewhat civil with others. Also, I don't think I want to continue this as I'm not planning for Shade to learn all that much about dragons from a tired dragon drinking themselves under the table.

Chapter 188

JAN 29 Saturday.

Andra looks a bit perturbed at my question and the idea of more questions but a fresh drink being placed down seems to change her mind. "You better have a lot of questions, because I'm not answering this shit without more drinks." I nod again to confirm and she sighs. "Mostly fish I guess? Not much to really eat beyond fish and gems."

I know the Dragon Lands are a large peninsula mostly surrounded by the Celestial Sea, it's often called an island even though there is a land bridge that connects to the eastern continent. "Any land prey of interest?" I ask after writing down her words while casting a sound barrier around us for some privacy.

She raises a brow at my words but shakes her head. "I've seen a few large lizards and other stuff, none of it tastes good though. All too, stringy." I find it interesting that they primarily eat from the sea, but it makes sense as it's the closest source of food for them beyond gems.

I nod. "Agreed, is any fish in particular your preferred food? Or is it just whatever you can get?"

She looks at me oddly. "Ok, wait, explain first." I smile at that. Maybe she's just a particularly smart dragon, but she is far from stupid and the show didn't give them enough credit.

I take out some fish jerky and pass her a piece before snacking on one as well. "I'm one of the few ponies who actually likes meat. I can't tell you how many have given me that look." I chuckle at the face she has while sniffing the jerky and taking a bite.

She quickly eats the rest a moment later. "Huh, you are a really weird pony. Ya, we eat what we can catch really, I've seen some of the elders eat whales." She laughs at the memory and I continue to transcribe her words. "There are a few that can mess us up though, we just avoid those." It's not very detailed but I move on from that topic.

"Ok, you mentioned elders, how do you feel about them?" This is a curious point as she said that word with a little respect.

She takes another drink. "Umm, I don't know. They are big and strong, and know a bunch of useless stuff, you show some respect to not get in trouble or lectured." Seems I'll have better luck talking to an older dragon then. She groans a little, "They are also so boring, always sleeping and they barely pay attention."

Stereotypical dragons then, still best not to drop your guard around them. "Are there any gems you can't eat?"

That gets her to actually think for a moment. "No? None I've eaten at least, but a few ores and rocks can mess us up a bit."

That confuses me for a moment before it clicks. Dragons can't clean gems that well so eating the odd rock or piece or ore connected or embedded into a gem is inevitable.

"You eat rocks connected to gems?" She nods like it's a stupid question. "Any ore you do like eating? And does that mean you can eat metal?" I question further.

She nods after a moment. "I think I remember some dumbass trying when I was younger, he was fine I think, maybe I should try? Yes, a few ores, mostly, iron I think?" She seems to struggle to put a name to it. "Hgh! Doesn't matter to us, we know by taste, and don't use some stupid name, it's just called Crunch damn it!"

That is pretty interesting, and something to ask about if I ever visit. "Hmm, what's something you consider valuable for a horde," I ask after making my notes.

She smiles a little. "Finally something important! You are so boring when talking, I liked you more when you were hitting me." I take her words in good humor. "And it depends on how old the dragon is, I guess." She speaks with a little more interest and vigor. "A dragon like me wants gems, the cleaner and bigger the better. They are good eating and tell other dragons who's boss."

She takes another long drink and it seems she's starting to feel it a little after four mugs. "That's why I'm here actually, those elders trade." She hiccups a bit from her drinking. "Some good gems for gold." I pause as it implies several interesting things, mainly that dragons trade with each other, something heavily implied but never proven.

"For what? Sure gold looks nice but I doubt you have much use for it." I ask as they don't often trade with other races and certainly not enough to need any large amount of gold.

She huffs out a laugh. "Like I said I don't care about it, the elder dragonesses love the stuff though, it's how they gain an elder drake's attention. You really don't know shit about dragons do yooou?" She asks as she finishes another mug with a slight slur in her voice.

I know it can't be as simple as she said, but she's probably not wrong either. It makes me wonder what evolutionary trait caused them to develop in such a way, it could be an instinct they develop as they get older. I chose to avoid mating as a topic in case I crossed some taboo I didn't know about.

"So you were trading gems to bring back and trade for better gems." She gives me a slow nod and an annoyed look at the bar. "Got any left? I'm willing to trade fairly if you are?" She narrows her eyes despite the alcohol but nods again after a moment and places her bag on the counter.

She rummages around inside and dumps a few on the bar and most are rough gems like emerald and topaz, but two do catch my eye. One is a fire affinity gem, around three inches across on all sides. Those are hard to come by at the size and I'm definitely buying it, the other gems are something even better.

A roughly four-inch wide rounded gem with a greenish color very similar to emerald and a little dirt on it, it almost looks identical to emerald actually. Most wouldn't know what this is unless they were an expert but I could feel the life magic stored in the gem. It's a fucking life affinity gem, a Life gem, something beyond rare to find and worth a fortune.

My eyes widen while staring at it and I take out three bags from my saddlebags and move them over to her immediately. "I'm not sure where you got this, but that's fifteen hundred bits and I'm still underpaying you, deal?" I explain honestly and quickly while looking hopefully at her.

I could have tried to underpay her and lie but I'm not going to try and scam a dragon no matter how young. Her eyes widen comically at my words and she quickly peeks inside the bags before looking shell-shocked. She's sobered up a bit by my actions and looks up at me and the gems. "B- This is underpaying me? By how much?"

I keep my blunt but hopeful tone. "If you found the right buyer? So much more, but you'd need to find the right buyer and set everything up properly and legally." She grimaces a bit at that idea. "Look, I may not be offering the best price, far from it in fact, but I'll buy it now and I'll be honest about screwing you over here." I decided to just be blatantly honest and try to appeal to her nature.

She huffs a laugh after a moment. "From getting scammed to getting scammed knowingly. Fine, you got a fucking deal, this is more than I'd ever hoped for anyway." She smiles a bit and pushes the gems over to me while taking the bags. "Plus, I rather deal with you than some stuck-up asshole pony, it's not worth the headache." She jokes a bit and shows that we're on decent terms if nothing else.

I smile widely and quickly collect the gems. "Thanks for letting me scam you then. Seriously though, if we ever meet again I owe you one, I live in Canterlot, if you ever need something come find me." I say with a serious tone and she stares into my eyes for a long moment and seems to understand I'm serious before nodding with a little respect.

I still have a smaller bag of bits left and pass it to her. "That's for the tab and any other drink. I'd say it was a pleasure but you weren't very helpful, you chromatic little shit." I try to lighten things again with an insult, one she doesn't understand fully but she knows she is being insulted.

She laughs as I stand up, and she takes the smaller bag. "And you're a batshit insane pony who makes no damn sense, but you're not bad. Now fuck off so I can drink in peace finally." I chuckle and leave her alone while walking out of the inn. Not many ponies remained inside and most avoided looking at her too much so nopony probably noticed our trade.

I also don't think she'll be robbed, mostly because robbing a drunk dragon seems like a stupid fucking idea, and because I noticed a guard waiting outside the inn probably there in case Andra got violent. I quickly leave town and Entropy takes us home late into the night.

When I return I start to go through the gems in more detail and sort my notes a little. I did miss out on more information by cutting that conversation short, but she was only going to get more drunk and this single gem is worth it a thousand times over. I can not understate the value of this gem.

To give some context a Life gem is immensely valued because it is the only known way for anypony to manipulate life magic without a life magic affinity. It only lets you gather and release life magic but that is more than enough to justify the price. As an example, the last time I heard about this gem was when I was around ten or so.

Back then a one-inch cubed Life gem sold to a noble for over one hundred thousand bits! It's fucking absurd but the gems ability is worth it. This Life gem is rough but if cut correctly it could make a four-inch wide gem, although it can't be a cube cut as that would waste too much material.

I stare at the gem slightly transfixed and notice that the clarity is not perfect but still better than a lot of gems. I very carefully secure it inside of a spare box I have. This is a true treasure and even Celestia would have a very difficult time trying to buy one if she could even find one this big which I doubt. I spend a few more minutes enchanting a ruby to shield the box more.

After it is secure I place it on my desk with plans to leave it at Gaia's Eden as soon as Entropy is rested enough to make the trip. After a moment I take a deep breath and look through the other gems I bought in a rush. Most are normal uncut gems of various sizes and qualities.

The only other gem worth my attention is the Fire gem, it's larger than the one I have but looks a bit less clear on the inside. The other gems are thrown on a shelf and the Fire gem is placed next to the other one I have. After a few moments, I leave my workroom to make some dinner for me and Entropy.

time skip

JAN 30 Sunday.

I flip through another page and continue to take notes in the quiet library. After the excitement of yesterday I've made some quick plans.

After dinner last night I took the Life Gem to Gaia's Eden before quickly making a box from Golden Oak wood to block out life magic and placing the gem in it before hiding it in my shack. After that I finally got some sleep late at night, I struggled to contain my excitement while going about my morning routine before heading to the library.

It's been several hours now and what I've learned has just proven just how valuable my find really is. Turns out there is a spell that lets you connect a living thing to a Life gem, it only works on plants though, and explicitly says to never connect it to a living being made of flesh.

I'm not sure what would happen, but I don't fuck with Biomancy for a good reason. Anyway, this spell lets you directly feed gathered life magic into a plant, as you'd imagine the ability to grow any valuable plant faster is very much sought after. Even the Blood Leaf Tea could be farmed with a Life gem, although that would be horribly inefficient.

But this is where the downsides come in, mainly the rarity of the gem. Only one or two are found every few decades and the largest one currently known about is three inches cubed. Another downside is the simple fact that gathering life magic in the gem is painfully slow.

The only places with good amounts of ambient life magic are old deep forests, so charging a Life gem can be a very tedious thing. This is also why anypony with a Life gem can't just use it at will as much as they'd like, instead, it's used on very specific plants or to heal rare plants that are dying.

On top of the rarity, the gem is also highly contested when found, many might kill for it in fact. It's also the reason I left so quickly after buying it, I'm not risking shit like that and the Life gem needed to be secured as quickly as possible.

Now, another related upside that I skipped over is a bit more difficult to explain and it involves how affinities work. When I absorb neutral magic it changes to become unique to me, like it's been tainted with part of myself in some way, this is also why you can't just pull magic from a gem into your body and use it, your body needs time to make it its own.

But when you have an affinity it is already a unique type of magic and your body holds a reserve of it and its ability to gather that magic affinity is only really limited by the amount around you. So, let's take Celestia's solar affinity as an example of how this works.

She could dump some of her solar magic reserves into the Sunstone to charge it, but she can also take solar magic from the Sunstone and absorb it into her magical reserves directly. That's right, you can swap them back and forth at will, now think about that with the life affinity I have.

The efficiency of this transfer is based on your personal conversion ratio, so it's not a massive cheat and you inevitably lose some of the gathered magic in the process. But the simple opportunity to expand my reserves of life magic is worth every bit I own.

But even after all of my research one big problem remains, I need the Life gem to properly be cut into shape. Without being properly cut it's far less useful and efficient, so I need to have it cut into a shape before doing anything with it. As you'd imagine something with such immense value could tempt even professional ponies to betray their morals, and the fact I bought it from an unknown source doesn't help.

I sit in the library and close the book after a moment before picking everything up and walking around to place the books back where they belong. After it's all sorted I start to walk out of the library but stop as I see Blaz doing the same. I walk up to him as we leave. "So, working overtime for your retirement?"

He smiles at me and nods in greeting. "At least I work hard for my bits instead of getting lucky, I bet you blew it all already." He jabs back as we walk outside.

I laugh at that. "If you'll remember I'm not the one who can't stop betting on every little thing. What are you even doing here on your day off?" Blaz has Sundays and Wednesdays off and he's not often the type to do anything but relax and play games on his days off.

He huffs and stops outside the library's steps. "I decided to do some woodworking, taking classes and reading up on it." I raise a brow as he doesn't change that often and picking up a new hobby suddenly is not like him. "Don't give me that look, Colt, unlike you I'm an adult and can do what I want."

I just keep my brow raised and he sighs after a moment before getting this look of slight pride. "My son's foals are getting older and I want to make them some toys ok." He shows some pride in his words but also some hesitation at giving me more ammo.

I don't joke about that as it's just an adorable and kind thing for him to do. I take out my notebook and write down a few book names that should prove helpful in his quest. I rip out the page and pass it to him, "Those should help, and if you need some help I'm always free."

He smiles at me and looks a little proud. "Always the helpful one, thanks Colt. I got to get going, but we're still on for next Sunday right?" I nod as that is our next planned game night. "Good, I'll bring something then, keep out of trouble Colt." He bids me farewell.

"You too, you lovey dovey grampa." I tease him a bit and walk off with a laugh. Having friends is always nice, even if they can be complicated and even annoying at times. My mood has been high all the way and still is as I walk home to finish something I was working on.

When I arrive home Entropy leaves my shadow like normal, by screaming out. "Freedom!" before deciding to ride on my back as I sit down and continue my work from yesterday. The Heat Retention spell has its groundwork done and it would only take me a few days to optimize it some more and in a week or so I'll be able to send it off.

As my mind wanders to my current conundrum a thought strikes me. I've been reminded by Celestia a few times that I'm not alone, and I think this is a case where I could use a little help. If some random pony tried to have a gem cutter cut a Life gem I'm likely to get robbed, but if The Celestia orders it.

Hmm, that might actually work, it's not like she'd steal it from me and she could get it done with far fewer questions while being way more lowkey. After a moment I think about our next meeting time, more than a week from now, and it would be perfect to ask in private.

I smile at the mental image of her face when she finds out what I found and where I found it, this should be fun.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

I decided to extend this one for another chapter as I've wanted Shade to fine a Life gem for a while now and this fit pretty well by complete accident.

Also, the dragon lands are said to be an island, but Spike went there without wings so I changed a few things, I'll probably have to make up some more stuff when we eventually end up there.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Chapter 189

FEB 11 Friday.

I slowly draw another line as another flower falls on the ground in a beautiful shower of embers.

The Fire Blossom Tree decided to start making some flowers when spring arrived and now it's trying its best to burn everything around it to ash. I'll admit that despite the dangerous nature of the tree it is quite pretty when in bloom and I've spent some time drawing it.

The past week has been fine and I've spent it like normal, along with finishing the new spells I made. They have come out well but in the end, it proved to be a little too easy and I went a bit overboard on the quality this time as I really worked hard on the shield version of the Heat Retention spell.

I ended up making it really versatile, it can be used as a spell or enchantment, there is an option to make it weaker or stronger depending on how effective you want it to be. It even lets you make the shield visible or invisible whenever you want. The main reason I did this is because forges can take many forms and styles so versatility is needed.

It's all finished and both versions of the spell could have been sent to Celestia a week ago, but I waited and decided to give it to her at our next meeting. It's today and she should be here within the next hour or so, and to say I'm excited would be an understatement.

I have several things to talk about, mainly the upcoming diplomatic trip and the Life gem. But beyond the thoughts on this meeting, I've been thinking about something else. I've been pondering something more personal and less simple, it's about my work.

When I first decided to apprentice at the library I was eleven and signed a contract saying I'd work with them until I was an adult. My birthday is now less than three months away, and it brings to mind the obvious question, should I stay and continue to work at the library?

I've gone back and forth many times now and I think I need some outside advice and Celestia is perfect for that. I spend a lot of time talking with my friends at work and I'd definitely see them less, something I'm not sure I'm willing to do.

On one hoof I feel it could draw me away from them and I really don't want that, but on the other hoof the time and freedom I would have access to would be immense. My work takes up nine hours a day five days a week and having that as free time to practice and train would be amazing.

The amount of things I could do are uncountable, and this is not just a personal thing, the free time would let me invent more things for the good of many others. The good I could do might outweigh any inconvenience that comes of this, but lessening that connection I have just felt wrong.

Then again, it's not like I'd never see them, we still have game nights and I do visit the library a lot to read in my free time, but is that enough? I mull it over a while more before sighing and trying to put the thoughts out of my mind for the time being, but that doesn't last more than a few minutes as space rends apart.

Those thoughts came back with a vengeance as I watched Celestia appear in the grass field. I'm relaxing in the pavilion and over the past two weeks the last of the snow has melted away in Gaia's Eden while the grass is already starting to sprout as trees regrow their leaves.

Philomena flies off to join Entropy on the Gold Oak while Celestia walks over with a happy face. As she sits down on the comfortable carpet I pass her some tea, "I guess I should be thanking you for this beautiful day, even if it's a tad bit warm." I joke while pouring her tea.

She giggles a little. "Well thank you, so few notice my work. Did you know I sometimes wait an extra minute to rise the sun? Just to tease the odd astronomer." I can't actually tell if she's fucking with me or not which just makes it funnier, I crack up for a few moments and she smiles at me.

"Ok, that's now true and you can't prove to me otherwise." I laugh a bit more and enjoy the joke, but I do notice that she still has her necklace on and seems content with keeping it that way. I stare up at her and take a few pages out of my saddlebags, "I'm not sure I should give these to such a dastardly villain as you, but here." I tease her a bit in return.

Her eyes sparkle a bit at the sight as we both know I only give her things as a gift or invention. "I promise not to use it in my overly elaborate plans for misguided revenge." She plays along while eagerly reading through the papers. After a few moments, she looks back up at me with a large smile. "You always seem to surprise me, how did you even think of this?" She asked while looking very pleased at the new invention.

"The price of metal is too high, it's annoying," I say completely seriously and she snorts. "That should at least help cut it down, and with cheaper metal, a lot of doors get opened. Plus it might be useful for a few other things." I reason and she just laughs after a moment much to my confusion.

"Never change. Do you know the main problem with heating things with enchantments?" That question seems a little out of the blue but I shake my head. "Most metal that can endure high heat and have a high enough magical capacity is expensive, and gems are often too fragile to be sitting around a forge, and they can also be expensive."

I nod but keep a brow raised. "So, for larger things like a train or forge, even large bakery ovens, they all need fuel beyond magic. Some use magic but getting it enchanted and set up plus the cost of materials is a high investment. Do you know how many industries rely on burning fuel?"

It doesn't take me long to piece it together. Sure a few places could use only magic as a heat source, but a lot of smaller towns or poorer businesses can't do that and have to use charcoal and wood, maybe coal as well. "Huh." I make a mental note to run more invention ideas by Celestia.

She looks even more amused. "Huh? This." She holds up the papers. "Let's anypony with a small gem, a very light investment, improve a key component of their business, even if you add the cost of having it enchanted it's a massive step up." She looks both impressed and beyond pleased. I was mostly thinking about forges but it seems I've underestimated my work.

I give her a smile after a moment. "Next page." She raises a brow and turns to the second Heat Retention spell which is for the everyday pony to keep smaller things warm.

Her smile completely outshines mine and she looks back to me. "Do you sleep? Because you really don't seem to with work such as this." She giggles a little and vanishes the pages under her wings. "Thank you, Shade, this will prove very useful, and it's sure to be very popular, more fame hmm?" her tone is enough to make me roll my eyes.

I take out my chess set after a moment and she takes it from me, I raise a brow and she just keeps her smile. "You always play white, I'd like to go first for once." I laugh in response and nod. I watch as she sets up the board and I spend that moment to ponder my earlier conundrum.

She sees my face after a moment and drops her smile a bit. "Are you doing well? Overwork is nothing to scoff at." Her tone has rapidly changed to slight concern and worry.

I wave her off with a smile. "I'm ok, just something I've been thinking about." I drain my tea and she just looks ready to comfort and listen to me. I give her a better smile, "I'm serious, I'm just fine. I'll talk about it, but first, I have something more important to talk about." I reassure her.

She looks a little uncertain but nods and lets me move on. "Thank you." I make the second move of the game and stand up. "I'll be right back, I need to grab something, don't cheat." She smirks silently and I quickly gallop over to my shack not noticing Celestia's eyes staring at me as I walk away and retrieve a small wooden box before heading back.

As I sit down again and place the box down she looks intrigued. "Another gift? You really spoiled me." I suppress a blush at the words.

"Sorry to say this is a gift to myself. Now, Entropy is a good girl and can travel pretty far so I had a little trip around two weeks ago." She smiles as I start to tell a story and shifts to get more comfortable while I beat back a few thoughts seeing her lay on her side. "I ended up in a very small town somewhere in the Great Plains. I think its name was Good Berries or something like that."

She interrupts a little. "She can move that far?" I nod. "Hmm, it seems her training has paid off then. A very good Girl indeed."

I smile. "Oh, remind me to show you her scarf. Anyway, I ended up just relaxing at an inn and talking to a nice bartender, but then things got a little... Complicated." I hesitate a little as she might not really agree with my choices here. She picks up on that quickly and narrows her eyes a little.

I quickly move to reassure her. "I'm fine, and nothing bad really happened." Her look tells me to hurry up. "A dragon walked in, and they looked less than pleased, actually they looked angry." Her eyes narrow even more. "And I ended up talking to them, it went pretty well actually."

She looks at me with a mix of mild concern and suspicion. "Define pretty well, because I think we have different definitions here." Her tone is not angry, or even annoyed, just curiosity and concern.

I take a deep breath and just go for it. "The dragon is called Andra, she got scammed and came in for a drink. But she was being pretty rude so I asked her to knock it off and she insulted me." Her eyes narrow more and I wave away her concern. "Celestia, I can handle some words just fine." I chuckle at her concern as that is not the past she was concerned about.

She lets out a breath and I continue. "Anyway, I immediately insulted her back."

"Shade, why?" She asks, utterly confused and slightly disappointed.

I smile at her expression. "I know her type, she just couldn't deal with the whole kind and happy vibe that ponies do a lot, she wanted a blunt conversation. After a few rounds of trading insults, I said she looked like she wanted to hit something, and she agreed. So..." I see her face look both amused and concerned with a little tiredness.

"Shade Evergreen, did you... Fight a dragon?" Her tone is a little firm and my face gives it away pretty easily. "I know I'm going to ask this a lot. Why?"

I rather not get lectured and quickly move to explain. "Ok yes not my best idea, but! I laid out rules! We kept things clean, well cleanish, and we didn't take it too far. It even worked, she was much more calm and friendly after getting her anger out." I say all this in a single breath and after a moment Celestia just sighs.

She moves a piece and ends our game. "You are going to give me gray hairs." Her tone is, a little humorous and she chuckles after a moment and smiles at me oddly, I was not expecting that. "I once said I'd let you live your life and make mistakes, then help you get back up when needed, I will stick by that." Her tone holds more humor than I'd expect and she relaxes again.

"So as your princess, I can't say much as you are basically an adult. But as your friend." She reaches out a hoof and flicks it on the forehead. "You're an utter idiot sometimes Shade, a lucky idiot." She smiles a little more at that.

I move to complain but stop after a moment and nod before chuckling. "Ok fair, but in my defense what happened next made all of that worth it. Wait, do you get gray hairs?" Her eyes narrow again. "Never mind, not important! Anyway! After that, we went back inside and I was able to ask her some questions."

At this moment I take out a few more pages of paper. "This is my peace offering, please do not ground me." I half-joke as she takes the papers with a smirk and clearly fake a royal expression.

She looks through the organized notes on everything I learned with some curiosity before looking back at me. "You are pardoned, but seriously Shade, please stay safe." Her tone is more relaxed and she smiles fully again. " This is fascinating. But was this really worth all fighting a dragon though?"

I motion for the papers and put them away when she passes them back before placing the box on the table in between us while moving the chess game out of the way. "Before I left I asked about why she was angry, she got underpaid for some gems she was selling."

I don't open the box but I can see her curiosity is piqued. "So, I offered to see what she had and maybe buy any gems she had left, more out of curiosity than anything." She smiles knowing that. "I ended up giving her every bit I had on me, around sixteen hundred, and I basically scammed her at that price."

She raises a brow at that. "I told her as much, I literally said she was getting underpaid, but she took the bits. And I got this." I opened the box to show the Life gem that I've cleaned with a rag and some water, I didn't do more as I didn't want to break it by accident. She looks at me completely confused and I remember she can't feel life magic. "It's a Life gem."

She goes utterly silent and for the first time I see a slack-jawed Celestia, it's worth any punishment I could ever receive. "I... How?" I start to laugh as she utterly fails to comprehend what is happening. After a minute I'm done laughing and she's recovered enough to speak again. "You really did underpay them." She laughs with me at the absurdity of it all.

She stares at the gem in wonder. "You are by far the most unlucky and lucky pony I have ever met." She looks at me as if looking for permission and I nod. She very gently picks up the gem and looks it over, "I think this might be a record of some type, I presume you plan to use it?"

I nod with a large smile. "By magic yes, I never thought I'd even get a Life gem let alone one of this size. It's a dream come true with my affinity, it will open so many doors for me."

She nods in turn. "You'd have more use for it than any other pony. A part of me still can't believe this is real, I don't even know how much this would cost. A worthy prize for fighting a dragon, you know with your armor I think you'd make a pretty good knight." She says with some amazement and it seems her earlier feelings on my trip are gone.

I smile at that and decide to ignore her teasing. "I think it's pretty good for a fight in a back alley. But I still have a big problem before I can actually do anything with it." I start and she cuts me off quickly.

She continues my thoughts concisely. "It needs to be properly cut, and with something of this value, theft is a definite possibility. I can also guess that the easiest pony to get something like that done safely."

I see an opportunity to keep the conversation interesting and take it. "Is you. I was definitely going to show you regardless, even if just to show off a bit, but honestly, I have no idea how to go about this on my own." I admit freely and she gains the looks of happiness and slight pride.

She puts the gem back in the box and places it to the side before moving the chess game back in front of us and resetting the game. "I appreciate the trust." She smiles softly at me and I get a nice warm feeling before I have to beat back a few inappropriate thoughts.

"I sometimes need specialized gems as well, normally I have a cutter come to the palace and work under contract." She sips some tea and lets the offer hang in the air. It's not a bad idea, and I don't think Celestia is letting anypony take this from me. Plus if it's in the palace the chances of them running away with it are very slim, and stealing from Celestia is just plain stupid.

I nod slowly after some thought. "That sounds perfect, thanks. You can send me a bill for the costs, and I'm not taking no for an answer." I insist after she raises a hoof. "It would make me feel better and it also leaves less of a paper trail if the bits don't come from you." I reason that the less information known the better,

She smiles and just nods her acceptance before chuckling and giving me a fond look. "I'd call your paranoia unnecessary, but given your life maybe it has its uses. Just remember to relax every once in a while." She advises and starts a new game of chess.

I silently agree and push the box over to her. "That box blocks life magic so best to keep it in there." I prove her point and let my paranoia get the best of me again. "As for fun. Do you think I could tag along on that diplomatic trip? Because I need a trip and I have no idea where to go." I ask and her smile returns in full.

She looks far too pleased for my liking. "Cadance would be thrilled to have you, in fact, I was going to offer just this today. Did she tell you where they are going?" I don't like the teasing tone but nod regardless. "Perfect, I'll send you a schedule in a few days along with your assigned job, you'll probably be a scribe again."

I expected I'd be given a job and honestly don't mind, it'd be suspicious if I was with them but didn't do any work. But I notice a distinct lack of details about the trip as she doesn't elaborate after a few moments. I give her a deadpan stare, "You're not going to tell me where I just agreed to go are you?"

She smiles wider. "Where would be the fun in that?" I just give her a half-hearted glare before sighing. "Remember to pack your cloak and some snacks." She says vaguely and I just keep my deadpan stare.

I give her a half-smirk after a moment and admit defeat. "Fine. But if I end up in Griffonstone again I'm causing a diplomatic incident. Maybe painting the king bright pink before any meetings." I joke a little and she giggles before moving another piece and checking my king.

She rolls her eyes a small bit and I cackle at the sight to which she just pouts a bit. "I will ground you, literally, there's a spell for that." She smiles in victory as I abruptly stop laughing. "Good, now, you looked conflicted earlier, why?" She seems to have remembered that and decided to change the topic and mood.

I keep my smile but it lessons a bit. "It's probably me just overthinking it, but I've been thinking about leaving my work. But..." I trail off a bit trying to think of my next words. "I feel as if that will distance me from my friends in some way, I really don't want to lose any of them," I admit after a moment and the mood quickly changes from relaxed to something uncertain.

Her face shifts to a kind and soft look. "You're right, you are overthinking it, and recognizing it is a good thing." She compliments me a bit to make me feel better, it still works even if I know it. "Shade, am I your friend?"

I raise a brow and answer without hesitation. "Yes, the only person I'm closer to is Entropy," I admit not seeing her point.

She keeps her reassuring look. "And how often do we meet?" It clicks in a moment and she sees my look of realization. "Oftentimes we miss the most obvious things, even I do that." I hear a little regret in those words but it leaves quickly. "Would you still try to be with them if you left?"

I feel a bit stupid not realizing that parallel sooner. I only see Celestia once every other week at best and I'm very close to her, so seeing my friends for a weekly game night and on the odd encounter should be enough. "No, we have regular game nights and I read at the library all the time."

She breaks us out of the low mood with a laugh. "Shade, that just sounds like a friendship, many are friends and only see each other every few weeks." At that, I bury my face in my hoof and groan. "You may be a prodigy with runes but you are still a pony, don't be hard on yourself." She reassures me again and keeps a kind but upbeat face.

"I know what you're feeling, you don't want to lose your friends, and that's ok. Many who first make friends never want to change things for fear of their friendship changing as well, but the truth is it will change regardless, and trying to keep it the same might be a detriment. Especially when it causes you unneeded stress." She gives me some more wisdom.

After a few moments I nod, it seems I now have more to think about. I smile and pause while looking at the chessboard before laughing. "Thank you for knocking some sense into me." She looks pleased with herself and I move a piece before looking back up at her. "Checkmate." I see her smile falter a little. "Nine point five to five hundred and eighty-three, one step closer." I celebrate my victory.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

Not much to say about this one, I hope you enjoyed it.

Ps, might take the next day off.

Chapter 190

FEB 21 Monday.

I laugh while staring at the slightly rough carved toy pony. "If you're going to just laugh I'll take it back." Blaz's slightly embarrassed voice calls out.

Right now I'm sitting in the breakroom with Maple, Daisy, and Blaz. Blaz decided to show us an attempt he's made at wood carving and while it made us laugh I waved off his words. "No, it's honestly not a bad attempt. You could use some sandpaper to clean things up, but overall not bad." I give some advice and pass it back to him.

He nods his thanks and takes the toy back with a slight smile. Daisy speaks up, "I still say it's absolutely adorable. Your grand foals are going to be thrilled." She smiles brightly and Maple just watches happily from the sidelines. "Still, you definitely need practice." She says with another chuckle.

He huffs at that. "Well not all of us are complete training fanatics like the Colt. How long have you been training Colt?" He asks as if to prove his point.

I smile seeing him trying to drag me into a friendly argument. "Depends on what you mean, I train in a lot of things." I derail the topic to avoid having to hear them argue again. Blaz and Daisy have a special way of arguing and relaxing at the same time.

Maple is surprisingly the first to answer. "Like woodworking and runic casting?"

Daisy sees an opportunity and picks up for her. "Or the healing magic, and even a little spell creation." She hints knowingly while the others brush it off as I've told them I aspire to create spells someday, but that's not what she's thinking of.

Blaz laughs and smiles at me mischievously. "Let's not forget the guard he trains with and his gardening." He adds and all three look amused at listing out my training. But I just look proud about it, "Seriously Colt, I don't know a pony more dedicated than you. It's ridiculous."

I smirk a little smugly. "No, everypony else just lacks the motivation to improve more," I answer completely seriously, which just confuses them as that makes no sense. I chuckle at the confused stares and continue to eat my food as Daisy dashes my attempts and starts bickering with Blaz again.

time skip

As I enter my apartment Entropy leaves my shadow and flies over to clean herself, she still insists on coming with me even though I feel as if she gets bored. I keep snacks for her and even pack a lunch for her, but it's yet another thing that might improve if I quit my work. I know she spends most of that time just napping but it still makes me feel a bit bad for her.

I shower quickly before sitting down to play with Entropy and read my spell book while sorting out some of my thoughts on recent and upcoming events. The first thing that comes to mind is the planned diplomatic trip, which will be set out on the seventh of March, and the end is not yet decided but is planned to be no more than four weeks.

That is to say, they don't know how long the trip will last, but a personnel transfer for those who need to leave early will happen after a little over two weeks, the twenty-second of March to be specific. It means I'll be returning a day late but Daisy was happy to give me an extra day of vacation time, hooray for nepotism.

I smile as Entropy places a toy in front of me to throw and play with, something I happily do while continuing to read over a spell matrix. Over the past few weeks I've finally made my choice on what element to focus on, I picked lightning. Mostly because I think it will fill two important gaps in my combat skills.

The first is a more nonlethal option for subduing others. With some testing and modification, and plenty of work, I feel it wouldn't be too hard to make something like a taser from my last life. But I'll need to take my time and do a lot more research because fucking up a spell like that means potentially accidentally killing somepony.

The second gap is range. I have a few spells with some medium range but nothing long range and a few lightning spells seem to fit that niche. Again it will take a lot of research and testing but it should be doable, and if done right I can make something long-range, accurate, and very fast to strike.

But before I can do any of that I need to learn a lot more, not only about the spells but how to properly use them and things to look out for. A good example is metal, it attracts lightning, and with metal armor and weapons being commonplace that could prove to be a problem.

So for now I'm going to spend a few months casually researching and remaking the lightning spells in this spell book before branching out to modifying and making new lightning spells. Which will take a while as these spells are notably more complex than others, not immensely so, but still, this will take time.

I leave my thoughts as Entropy drops the ball I just threw into the air for her to catch with a quick teleport. "Food? Hungry." She asks while trying to look cute with a head tilt.

I smile down at her and shake my head. "Soon, we need to wait for Avalon though," I advise and she starts to get more excited.

"Friend?! When?" I laugh at her as she seems to like Avalon a good amount, mostly because he draws her beautifully and Entropy seems to always love that.

I stand up and put the spell book on my bookshelf before moving to the kitchen to start preparing dinner. "Like I said soon, now you sit down and be good, and no stealing the leftovers this time!" I reprimanded a little as she apparently learned to open the cabinets or teleport inside to find treats, with or without my permission.

As I cut up the fish my thoughts wander again. Avalon and I have met twice after the new year and we realized during our last meeting that the prosthetic is done. We can't think of anything new to work on and it's complete, which led us to a question, what now?

We've talked about it before, but at our last meeting, we ran out of time to really discuss it, so that's what this meeting is for. He said we could just go out to eat, but I insisted on making a meal as I like cooking and rarely get to share my meat dishes with others.

However, this meeting took longer than we thought to set up because of our respective schedules. He often takes weekdays off and delivers on weekends as the pay is better on those days, at least that's what he said. This line of thought brings up something I've been thinking about a lot.

Celestia's words have proven yet again how I tend to overthink things and think myself into not seeing the obvious. I felt that changing my life would change my friendships, which is true it will, but that's ok. Things change and while it could be for the worse it could also be for the better.

Sure I'd see them less, but that just means that when we do hang out it will mean more to me. We will change, and we will adapt, I have to trust in my friends enough to know they will not let me drift away from them so easily. So I'm going to tell them about my choice, probably after my vacation.

I stir the fish cubes in my pan and check on the boiled red potatoes. But both my thoughts and cooking are interrupted by a knock on my door. I flip a switch under a wooden pot and the magical shield opens around my door, I cast a spell on Entropy as I walk over and slowly open it. "Avalon, thanks for coming. Come on in." I greet them after seeing him and move back from the door.

He smiles happily at the sight of me and walks in a moment later. He takes a moment to close the door before placing down his satchel bag next to the door and taking a deep breath. "Shade, thanks again for inviting me. Also, t-that smells really good, y-you didn't have to though." He's far less nervous than on his first visit and seems to be able to relax in my home.

Entropy under her illusion flies right over and lands in front of him excitedly. "Friend, Hello." She caws out and his smile grows at seeing her.

"Hello Entropy, I hope you've been a good girl." He teases her slightly as we both know she gets up to no good when I'm not looking. He sees my face scrunch a bit, "Or maybe not, what'd she do now?" He asks me with some humor while Entropy looks betrayed and flies off to brood on her perch.

I chuckle and drain the water from the pot boiling my potatoes. "She found out how to open the cabinets, it's been a learning experience for us both. How's your work been? The arm is still holding up well?" I start some small talk and take the fish out of the pan and start to toast some bread slices.

He lays down and plays with Entropy by throwing a toy and Entropy flies down after a moment, she does a good job not teleporting or letting herself be touched. I've spent a long time teaching Entropy the dangers of revealing herself around others, and I'm also keeping an eye on her to make sure she's ok and not having problems with all this, I do not want to hurt her in any way.

Avalon chuckles quietly and nods. "She is very smart, seriously, other crows I've met are far less talkative." I pause a bit at that as crows are not a common pet for ponies. He sees my look of interest and answers the silent questions. "W-well, some Griffons keep them as p-pets." He looks a little uncomfortable suddenly so I just nod.

I do know Griffon nobles keep them as pets, and Avalon is always nervous when talking about nobles, something I don't ask about, it's not my place to. "Yes she is an amazing bird, aren't you Girl?" She caws out and her tail starts to wag up and down. "Yes, you are."

Avalon holds up his wooden limb after a moment and I see that several pieces have been replaced. I raise a brow and motion to the limb. "Hmm? O-Oh. I had an... Accident, w-while flying." I give him a concerned look and he quickly shakes his head. "I-I'm fine! I-It was just a small fall. I even f-fixed up my arm." He tries to reassure me and looks a bit pleased while showing the new sections of the arm.

The food is done so after placing it on my table before I walk over and look at the limb, it's been repaired well and his skill in woodworking has progressed decently overall. "It could use a bit more work, but it's good work. Stay safe though, I would rather not have to scold you." I tease a bit and motion for him to sit at the table.

He looks embarrassed and rubs the back of his head. "S-Sorry." I chuckle at that and wave his concerns off with a smirk. "So, how have you been?" He tries to move past his embarrassment and I go along with it.

"Well, I'm going on a trip next month, and I'll have a lot more free time in a few months." He looks curious and I decide to just save the topic for a moment. "I'll get to that, for now, though I'm learning a few combat spells, mostly lightning spells." I reveal and motion to a book sitting on my bookshelf.

His head feathers rise a bit and he turns his head, a sign of interest that I've learned to interpret. "Can I..." I smile at his curiosity and nod. That's one thing I've always liked about Avalon, neither of us ever loses that spark of wonder about magic and exceptionally new magic.

He tries to get up but I just bring the book over with my field and place it on the table while making us both a plate of food, along with a bowl of food for an excited Entropy. "Knock yourself out, just don't try to cast any of them, they are dangerous and complex," I warn seriously and he nods with an understanding look before opening the spell book excitedly.

He immediately goes for the fish on his plate and to my amusement makes a pleased chirping noise while eating it, I hide my amusement by filling my mouth and watching him read. He starts to flip through a few pages slowly becoming more curious and also more lost with each page.

After a few more pages he looks completely lost as he's now looking at the more advanced spells. He places down the book after a moment looking happy and perturbed, "Hmm, those spells." He mumbles more to himself than me and blinks before looking back up at me.

I nod in agreement. "A lot of them are much more advanced and complex, you're a few years out from doing anything like that, I do know a decent Firebolt spell if you want something to defend yourself though?" I offer to see a slightly intimidated look after seeing such advanced spells.

He smiles again and I see that familiar look of determination. "That would be nice, thanks again. You've really done a lot for me over the past two years, it's... Thank you." I'm a little surprised at the emotional moment but smile back in turn as we both continue eating our meal.

"Like I always say, it's no problem. It's also good to remember this wasn't all me, you put in the effort, a lot of effort. Take some pride in it." I advise and he glances down at his arm while looking bashful at my complement.

"S'Still, thanks..." He trails off for a moment and finishes his meal, I offer him more by pushing over the serving bowl but he shakes his head. "I-I'm ok, thank you for the meal, it's delicious." He seems embarrassed that he keeps thanking me and moves things along. "So, you'll have more free time? That sounds nice." He tries to make small talk.

I've grown to trust Avalon quicker than I trust others, I think it's the simple fact that I enjoy his company, so I'm going to reveal a little more than I normally would. "Well, I need to give some context first." His head tilts a bit in curiosity but he nods and stays silent.

"I won't go into much detail, but I invested in a few of Veil Winter's inventions when they were released. Needless to say, those investments went very well, and I made a good amount off of them." He looks intrigued but not very surprised as I'm far from the only pony who's made money off of Veil Winter.

I smirk at him. "You know me well enough, I like simple stuff, so I live well below my means and I intend to keep doing so. But I apprenticed at the library when I was younger, I had a contract to work there until I was an adult, so I've had to continue working there. I'm excited to have more free time." Avalon is smart enough to see where this is going as he knows my age.

He perks up and smiles. "O-OH! C-Congrats! I hope you enjoy it. H-Honestly, some more free time would be nice." His excited face reminds me of another reason I trust him. He just learned I'm probably very wealthy, and he's just happy for me and accepts that I never told him, he's simply a good friend.

I give him a thankful smile. "Thank you, and I plan to. But this brings me to another point. The arm." He picked up my meaning quickly as we agreed on this meeting to discuss it. "I'll be blunt, I have enough money to never work again, and honestly I don't want or need more. And you know I don't like attention."

He's silent for a moment before nodding. "Ar.... Are you s-sure? It just feels, wrong? You helped so much, and to get nothing from it..." He seems to war with himself a bit. I give a firm nod in response and he starts to look uncertain. "Well... What do I do t-then?" He seems a bit lost.

I give him a reassuring look. "Well, as a start. You still want to release this spell right? And if you do, do you care about being paid?" I ask calmly.

His eyes get this slightly determined look. "Yes, I want to." He is far more firm in that word than normal. "And... No, I have a job. It might be nice, but t-this, it could help others, others like... Me." He admits with a slightly hopeful look. "A-And. Well, after last time I got an idea, but..." He looks both determined and uncertain, an odd contradiction. I smile and motion for him to continue as encouragement. "No one really knows who Veil Winter is r-right?"

I'm a little confused but nod in agreement. "So, what if I just released it under a f-face name? K-Kind of like a pen name!" He tries to explain as my face goes a little blank. "W-We just need to find out h-how? I know it's not the best option, but it's all I could come up with." He admits as my face shifts to one of surprise and contemplation.

:Why the hell are you so much like me?: I spend a few moments thinking it over before realizing this might actually work due to a few factors. One, you can just send a letter to Celestia, not many do it, but you can. Celestia told me about others sending inventions to her in the past, it's not common but there is historical precedent for it. But it's not through the mail, it's normally passed on through connections with powerful ponies like a noble.

After a moment I leave my thoughts having formed a decent plan. "We can do that." He looks surprised but I continue before he can speak. "But, it won't be simple. I've worked in the library for a while now, and as you'd imagine I hear a lot about spell inventors."

He looks cautiously optimistic at hearing that but also confused. "I've heard about inventors sending their inventions to the Princess, it's not been commonly done in recent times, but it's still possible." He looks a bit daunted at that. "So, your best bet is probably to send a letter giving it to Her Majesty and asking to remain anonymous."

He looks shocked at my words and his feathers pin back a bit. "We... W-Would. H-How?" He's obviously a little overwhelmed so I pass him some fresh tea and give him a moment. He takes a few deep breaths, "I... If this will help others. I w-want to do it." Again that look of determination.

I smile at him. "Good to hear, and I can even help you do it. Normally you can't just send the Princess letters, except on the Summer Sun Celebration." He nods but looks a little uncertain hearing that, so I move to reassure him before he can falter. "But, I work in administration at the library, and I know a pony I know who could get it to Her Majesty." Technically only a half lie, Entropy can get a letter to Celestia after all but she isn't a pony.

He still looks uncertain but that determination and hope is still there. "I-Is that... you know?"

I smile. "Legal?" He nods. "Yes, I can't give away names, but they work for the Princess as a researcher of some sort, even though I don't know much beyond that. Anyway, adding it to a report wouldn't be too hard, and they owe me a favor, while I trust them." I lie a bit but try to keep the story mostly truthful.

"We can look for another way if you want? Companies might take a deal, but they might not be as good at using what we give them or helping others with it." Celestia has a good reputation, not undeserved either, so if she got this spell it would be much better than some guild or company.

He stays silent for a long movement while looking at his arm before clenching a fist. "L-Lets do it! Right? W-We can do it?" I smile widely and stand up to pull some paper along with a quill and inkwell out of my saddlebags. 'W-Wait, r-right now?" He sees my actions and guesses my intentions.

I nod. "Why not? I can pass it on tomorrow and the sooner the better." He looks at the pieces of paper for a bit. "How about you focus on the message and I copy all our notes and instructions?" I give him a way to focus on the important work of writing a monarch.

He takes the quill after a moment and nods slowly. "Ok, y-ya, let's do it. Umm, and... Thank you Shade, all this is, It's a dream come true." He smiles a little while looking at the paper as I start to copy our notes over from our notebooks.

It seems I'll need to send a letter to Celestia, and I know her well enough to know Avalon is going to be getting a face-to-face meeting, I think she'll like him. I smile widely, "You're welcome Avalon, and hey remember to keep me out of there. I'm too introverted to have the Princess notice me." I take a joking tone as he nods with a slight chuckle before we get to work.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

I still haven't decided where we are going for this trip, but I think I have an idea, still, it you lot have any suggestions feel free to share.

Chapter 191

MAR 6 Monday.

I stare at the standing log thirty feet away from me in the grass field that makes up most of Gaia's Eden.

The last remains of winter have faded weeks ago and spring is now in full swing. The trees are filling in with green and the forest's darkness grows with each passing day as the trees block out more and more light. Along with the grass once again growing tall into the air.

My frost crop breeding has once again stopped but I feel that it can wait until next winter. Three crops is enough for now and waiting a year won't make much of a difference overall and it lets me focus on other things for the year. Things like learning how to kill from a distance.

A spell matrix with four rings quickly flashes in the air before vanishing as a crack sounds out. The slight flash of light as a small bolt of lightning moves faster than my eye can track before slamming into the log opposite of me. The wood splinters a little at the connection point and the log is singed on the point of impact.

The spell is not that strong and would only do limited damage, and armor could block it easily, but it's progress and after modifying it the spell takes far less magic than the original. The spell is called Lightning Bolt, the weakest lightning spell the book had and the easiest to learn.

It may be weak, but it's still not a lot stronger than a Firebolt but costs several times more magic than a Firebolt. That's after the modifications, before that the Lightning Bolt spell cost nearly thirty times what a normal Firebolt costs. However, I decided against improving the spell strength for now and focus on practice.

The past two weeks have been both relaxing and interesting. First and foremost, I sent a letter to Celestia asking for a favor, something I've rarely done. I asked her to let Avalon also work under an alias and release our work in a long letter explaining the situation and my plan.

The next day I got a letter agreeing happily to the plan along with adding to it in her own special way. She suggested I come over a day early and spend the night at the palace before setting out with Cadance the next day on the trip. I don't know why she asked, or what it has to do with my plan but I felt like it would be entertaining so I agreed to the unknown plan she had.

I spent another hour firing bolts of lightning while running around the log and repairing it with my life magic until my magic was drained nearly dry. Lightning spells really do take a lot of magic, even after my optimization. I might actually need to look into fully remaking these spells to improve them more at some point down the line.

It's not quite time to leave so I spend some time relaxing and drinking tea. After a few minutes, Entropy appears next to me with a small branch from the Cherry Blossom trees in her beak, it has a few vibrant flowers on it. I smile at her, "And what have you gotten up to?" I ask as she hops over to place the flowered branch in front of me before cuddling up in between my forelegs. "Well, aren't you just a romantic."

She chirps a little. "Happy, adventure!" Entropy is like most crows, she's a curious being and she is quite excited about our trip. She's even asked about it often over the last two weeks. "Go now?" I smile at her excited tone and feed her a treat for using two words continuously.

It's not something she does often, but very slowly she's getting better at talking in a more normal manner. "Not quite yet, and remember to behave, I don't need you causing trouble," I warn good-naturedly as she moves her head like she's annoyed at being reminded.

"Know, good." She caws out as I open the illusionary notebook in my bracelet and start to draw a picture of the growing forest and the Gold Oak. Over the last year, I've dumped any leftover life magic I have into it at the end of every day I can, and the results are pretty good.

The Gold Oak now stands over ten feet tall, double it's starting height, and its abilities are growing with its size. There is a zone of increased life magic density around the tree, it increases the ambient life magic by a little less than a third of what is normal in the Everfree.

But at the start, it only extended around five feet from the tree and now it's doubled with the tree size to ten feet as well. Another thing to keep in mind is that the larger the Gold Oak grows the more leaves fall and the more gold dust collects. All these observations have sparked my interest with the Gold Oak again.

I still have no way of taking wood from it and no branches seem to have died over time, but even just the gold dust has proven very interesting. It has become a valuable resource but its activation method is still a mystery to me, and I have actually tested a few things about that point.

I tried to narrow down what it could be interacting with but have had no luck so far. I've tried any kind of metal I could get easily and I've even started to use it on everyday objects to see if anything would happen. But like I said no luck so far and from the looks of it not anytime soon either.

I finish my drawing in the afternoon and check the time to see that I need to get going. I look down and gently shake Entropy awake. "Time to go Girl." She nods and stretches out her wings, batting them into my face, before jumping on my back and moving us before I can complain.

I stumble a bit as we appear inside the mail room and I turn to her with a slight glare as she just tilts her head like she's confused when we both know damn well what she did. I sigh after a moment, "Ok, you got me there." I admit with a chuckle and she melds into my shadow as I near the door.

As I leave a guard I recognize is standing there. "Captain Shining Armor." I greet a little smugly and the Shining looks at me blankly.

"Researcher Shade Evergreen." His tone is professional. I shudder a bit at the very formal greeting and tone he uses along with my official job title. "Ya, she told me that would work." He chuckles a bit and my mind sorts through his words. Great, it seems either Cadance or Celestia has dragged Shining into our little games.

I smile back after a moment and tap his armor, a second later he sees that it's turned entirely bright red. "And she did not tell you I tend to take revenge." I canceled the spell as it was more to make a point than anything. "Now let's get going, I have two princesses to take revenge on. Nice to see you by the way."

He just smiles at the joke and turns to lead with me walking beside him. "Same to you Shade, where did you even get a spell like that?" He asks curiously while keeping his tone mostly professional. I think about how to answer for a few moments. I've not told Shining that I'm Veil Winter, and I don't think I will right now, he knows a few secrets and I wouldn't mind sharing a few more small ones, but not something like that.

"Classified," I answer smugly and he rolls his eyes as we walk through the hallways in silence for a while. After a few minutes we arrive at Celestia's office and to my surprise Shining follows me inside I enter, but that surprise clears up seeing Cadance inside lying on the couch. "Huh, a nice little get-together then?"

For a few moments I feel my paranoia try to make me panic a little, but I tamp that down quickly. This panic comes from the fact that I never told Shining about two things, I'm close friends with Celestia and Entropy. But after a few moments of thought, I relax and accept the outcome.

I was truthful about trusting him a bit more. Honestly, I would rather not walk on eggshells whenever I talk to both Shining and Celestia at the same time, I just don't want to deal with that It's not like he will say anything, he knows well the need to keep a relationship with a princess on the down low, and honestly it will be pretty funny.

As for Entropy? Well, I think it will be good for her to interact with more ponies like herself, not under an illusion. It's something that I've realized, Entropy is often under an illusion around others and I worry that could affect her in some way, it hasn't to the best of my knowledge, but I'm no expert. My earlier point about not wanting to be on constant watch around him still stands for this as well.

That and I've grown to trust Shining more, not with everything but his learning more should be fine. Especially with things related to him, or close enough to that. I will also admit that knowing I can beat him in a fight brings me some comfort about him knowing my secrets.

The final thing that made me calm down was the simple fact that Celestia is in the room, and I trust her, so I'll let this go and let things develop. Plus this could be a little fun. Shining nods in getting to Celestia and she smiles at us both. "Thank you Shining, would you mind waiting outside for a while?" She asks with her mask still in place and Shining nods professionally.

I interrupt her and wave a hoof while sitting down next to Cadance on the couch. "He can stay if he likes." She turns to me with a raised brow and I shrug a bit. "What? Shining's a decent stallion, and I honestly can't bother with secrets right now, come on in and become thoroughly confused Shining." I answer by adding and joking a little.

Celestia looks surprised enough to break her mask, but that shifts to pleasant surprise after a moment and she chuckles. "Who are you and what did you do with Shade?" She jokes. She looks at Shining and laughs a little, "I'm guessing that was just an unintended bonus?"

I laugh along with her while Cadance to my side holds in her own laughter. Shining just looks beyond confused at the very informal tone me and Celestia use with each other, in fact he just stands there frozen trying to piece it all together in his mind. "Maybe. Sorry about breaking your stallion, but to be fair I haven't really pranked you yet."

Cadance loses her battle and bursts out laughing after a moment, she's able to recover quickly and not fully embarrass her stallion. "It took you long enough, I honestly thought you'd strike on the train last year, or maybe after in Griffonstone. It seems you really are excited, Shade Evergreen revealing his secrets." She says that last part mostly to herself and laughs again.

Shining seems to finally snap out of his thoughts and looks at me before turning to Celestia, back and forth a few times before he lands on me. "Wha... What?" I have to force myself not to laugh again as he looks baffled. "When? ... What?!" I fail after a moment and even Celestia giggles at his reaction.

I smile at him widely. "I said I work for the Princess, and I have regular meetings with her, both true. But we're more friends than anything else, it's not something I admit often. Actually, only three beings know about it and you're number three." I see a very large smile on Celestia's face when I admit that and I almost feel embarrassed at the slightly proud look she gives me.

Shining looks even more dumbfounded and snaps his head over to Celestia. Celestia smiles at him and nods happily. "It was a slow thing, but I am happy to count Shade among my friends. Even if he can be an utter fool sometimes." She jokes at my expense.

I just nod in agreement. "I still say it was worth it, how is that order I asked for by the way?" I hint about the gem without mentioning it by name or giving context.

She nods but before she can speak Shining finds his voice again. "Wait! You..." He turns to Cadance and looks questioningly. "Are they?" He trails off a bit and Cadance breaks down laughing again while I feel a blush overcome me at the implications, all while Celestia watches on thoroughly amused.

I quickly move to nip that in the bud. "No! No. No. We're just friends." I insist and glare at Cadance as she continues to laugh at me.

Celestia smiles softly and looks over her glasses. "You didn't have to be so insistent, it feels a little rude to be turned down so quickly." Her tone is clearly joking but the extra teasing doesn't help me and at this point, I'm just getting teamed up on. I want to bury my burning face in a pillow as even Shining looks amused at the new situation.

After another moment I sigh and look over to see that Shining has mostly recovered. He looks at me for a moment and shakes his head. "You make no sense. How many secrets do you have?" I shrug and he just seems to accept that after a few moments. "You are ridiculous."

I expected him to have more questions, but he seemed to just acknowledge this new fact and move past his shock quickly. Although he is a guard, getting over his shock quickly is something you need to be able to do in a fight. "I have another secret, Do you remember Entropy?" He gives me a tired look but still nods slowly.

I watch as his eyes become a little wary, while Entropy leaves my shadow to stand on my back. "Entropy is a very special Girl." I brag a little as he looks around for a moment.

He looks at me, Celestia, and Entropy before just taking his helmet off and sitting down on the couch. "I. I give up, this... Today makes no sense anymore." He admits while looking at Entropy. "What even is Entropy, some... I don't even know how to describe that." He seems to just give up on being shocked and starts to deflate a little and let his curiosity shine through.

I shrug again unhelpfully. "We don't really know, we think she's something called a Night Crow, but beyond that we're clueless." Entropy takes the opportunity to hop onto the couch and lie down next to Cadance to be pampered with pets. "She's also completely harmless, seriously just scratch her and she practically melts. Now, why am I here? And where are we going?" Most of this meeting has been fun but unproductive so I try to move things along.

Cadance pets Entropy while answering me. "Short answer? Aunty has something planned, no idea what though. As for where we're going? Feather Falls. A majority Griffon city, we'll be heading there for another trade deal." She explains vaguely and I turn to Celestia as she finishes her paperwork for a better answer.

She smiles at me and nods. "She's not wrong, but it's not nearly that simple. The trade deal is for several foods, a few other specialty trade goods too, along with something more delicate." She moves over and lays on the carpeted floor as the couch is full, and I decide to do the same so I have more personal space.

She passes me a few pages of paper to look over, they are mostly about our travel route. "Feather Falls is fairly inland on the eastern continent. The trip will be similar to the last one in path and length, but there is no direct train access to the city so some of the journey will be on the road." I don't mind walking a bit and nodding to continue.

She smiles at me and motions for my bags, so I silently take out and set up the chess board as she continues. "You'll get more information on Feather Falls later, for now, though the most important thing is its location and correct situation. It's located on the edge of the Wild Lands."

I can already see part of the plan and turn to her. "Information gathering?"

She nods. "Exactly, but the trade route is also important, the information is just another reason. But the situation there is complicated." She brings over a tea set and I pass her my kettle as she makes the first move on the board. All while Cadance and Shining are talking quietly to my left on that couch.

Shining leans into Cadance's side to talk very quietly so as to not be overheard. "Are they always like this? It's kind of... Cute. Are you sure they?" He whispers just loud enough for only her to hear.

Cadance smiles and nods slightly. "Yes they always are, they can talk for hours, literally. And well... Mmm." She whispers back not really answering his second question as Celestia continues her explanation and we remain unaware of their words.

"The city elects its ruler every decade or two, and that election is ongoing right now. But with how turbulent things are in the Wild Lands things will most likely not be so, tame, there. I'm not entirely sure to what degree though, a lot of my contacts from there are decades old and many are retired."

I nod interested. "Potential for conflict then, maybe even large-scale conflict depending on how involved the population is in this election. We're bringing enough guards right?" I voice my thoughts as we play but before Celestia can answer Cadance groans.

"Ugg! I didn't come here to hear MORE about politics. Hmm, I'm stealing Shining, have fun you two, and don't do anything too wild." I feel my blush come back full force as she literally picks up Shining in her magic and quickly leaves and walks to the door. "Make sure to get some sleep." I see Cadance smile at my embarrassment and leave the room with her stallion.

After the door closes I turn back to see an amused Celestia smiling at me. "Ignore her." I sigh after a moment and nod. "The train leaves in the evening tomorrow so you sleep in, and we still have most of the day free." She joins in on teasing me and I groan before covering my muzzle in my hooves as she laughs.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

This arc might last a while, I plant to have another continuation chapter after this one and this is all before we even start the trip, so buckle up.

Chapter 192

MAR 6 Monday.

It takes a few moments to get any indecent images out of my mind and prevent myself from getting excited, I really do not want to do that next to Celestia.

She seems to guess my thoughts and simply giggles a bit as I really try not to blush again. "Cadance is... Relentless." I mumble and pull my head out of my hooves after a few long moments. "So, do we have enough guards? Because I really don't want to have too few when something happens." I quickly take us back to the topic in the hopes she drops the teasing.

Celestia moves a piece on the board. "Yes, she most certainly can be, but I have something planned for that. A little off-topic, but how versatile is that color-changing spell you used on me?" She asks with a mischievous smile. I'm happy she's willing to move on but I'm also a little confused as to what spells she is talking about.

But it clicks after a moment and I smile at the opportunity for entertainment and reach out before tapping her foreleg. At the same time I do this I cast the spell and a small spell matrix appears around my hoof before vanishing. A moment later her foreleg transformed to look like pure gold.

She looks thoroughly intrigued while looking at her hoof. "Hmm, not color changing then, transmutation?" She guesses as she tries to figure it out while moving around her foreleg. A moment later she touches it with her other foreleg and disturbs the illusion. "Ahh, an illusion, clever." She compliments me.

I nod in confirmation. "Thanks, it seemed like the easiest way, and to answer your question." I form the spell matrix in front of us. "It's designed to be heavily modifiable, it only takes me a few minutes to change the color or texture. Although more complex things like gold take more time." I explain as Entropy moves over and looks at Celestia's hoof.

She then turns to me and I already know what she wants. I cast the spell on her and she turns gold before hopping around excitedly. "Pretty!"

I chuckle at her outburst. "Also she happens to be obsessed. Now, you said something about a plan? Because I need some revenge." I ask and she gives me a knowing look as her hoof turns back to normal without me doing anything.

She ends the game with a move and resets the board. "Nothing yet, but by tomorrow most certainly. Back to the topic at hoof though, yes we have enough guards, more than necessary actually." She reassures me but continues. "I am more than willing to hear any suggestions though." She offers and brings a few pieces of paper over from her desk.

I read them and it's just a basic list of the retinue for the trip. Several nobles and a few merchants, but less than the Griffonstone trip, probably because we have less robust relations with Feather Falls. The guard escort looks fine and there are enough guards, but I do notice something small.

"There are only two healers going with the guards, you should probably double or even triple that amount. Not having enough healers is not a problem I want to encounter. Beyond that though, this seems adequate, everything else really depends on the city and other outside factors." I give a quick rundown and the only small bit of advice I can before passing the papers back.

She looks pleased at my answer. "A good point, and something I fully agree with. I am curious though, what makes you think about this first? Out of all the possibilities, injury seems to be an unlikely one, exceptionally wide-scale injury." She moves us past the topic and I have to pause at the question.

I really think about it for a minute before answering. "Have you ever heard the saying, prepare for the worst and hope for the best?" I use a bit of knowledge from my last life.

She tilts her head a little. "No, a few that are similar but not that specific one." She answers after a moment of thought. "Is that how you see it? Trying to weigh the risk and reward as it were." We start to get a tad bit philosophical but I don't mind.

"Hmm, yes and no. I do like that saying and I agree with the idea, but I feel that a different saying describes me more. Nothing is as it seems. Take me for example, fighting me seems like a sure win for anypony with some basic training, but that's just while looking at the surface." I do tend to try and be overly cautious about anything unknown.

She nods slowly. "True, anypony attacking you would be in for quite the surprise. Although, I do hope that doesn't happen." She asks, giving me a knowing look. "At least you are ready for the possibility."

I smile. "And that is my point." She raises a brow now a little confused. "You just dismissed most of the threat, that's still better than most I've met who never even considered it. But I find many put the bad possibilities out of their mind and thus often never see them coming. Even with all my work, I'll never be prepared for everything." I give some blunt advice while trying not to sound insulting.

She stops while moving a piece and looks thoughtful. "That is a fair point. I may see the possibility, but to really think it through, hmm." She seems to really be thinking about this. "Now that I think about it, I can kind of see what you mean, I've had a few guards who could never predict a threat all that well." She agrees after some thought.

I smile at her seeing my point. "Like I said, you thought about it more than most others would, and that matters," I reassure her even though she doesn't really need it. After a moment I look around and stare out the window on the back wall of the office. "What is the first thing you think somepony notices when coming into this room?"

Celestia seems very interested in the conversation overall, I myself am enjoying showing her how I see things. She looks around for a minute before answering, eventually, she motions to the pot next to her desk with the Solar Vine and Moon Glow in it, something I gifted her a few years ago. "It is rather eye-catching to the eyes, and also Philomena." She motions to Philomena who's sleeping on her perch with a gold Entropy.

I nod as it is a good answer. "Agreed. But for me? There are two main things, first and foremost through. That door can be locked from the inside and from what I can see there is no key to open it from the outside. If anything were to happen the guards would have to break through it first, and that's doubly so if the door is reinforced. Also, the window, if it's not shielded a long-range spell could go right through it." I explain with a smile seeing her face shift.

She looks at both for a moment. "I do know the window is shielded, but only to withstand the wind and harsh weather. And the door is enchanted to be strengthened. Great, now I need a new door." She jokes a little abruptly and I chuckle at her bland tone. "But you make valid points. That's what you do when entering any room, isn't it?" She asks and guesses correctly.

I nod with a smirk. "Rooms, ponies, many things really. I don't see everything and I do make mistakes like everypony and I rarely need to act on these thoughts. But I tend to not just see these things, but also think them through, most of the time at least." I summarize my point and lose yet another game with a quick exchange of moves. "Also, you never did answer my first question when I arrived, why did you invite me to stay the night?"

She looks me over for a long moment as if sorting her thoughts. "You have a very unique mind, and honestly I don't think I've met a pony that thinks like that before." Her tone is happy, but also simply fascinated by my thoughts. She drinks some tea and finally answers my question. "Your friend is going to be meeting with me in..." She cast a time spell that looks like a clock. "Around half an hour."

I stare at her for a few moments blankly, and then I start laughing. :Oh, this mare. She really knows how to mess with people: I recover pretty quickly and look back up at her. "Of course, you planned this. I do ask that you go a bit easy on him, he can be nervous normally so meeting you might be a bit much for him."

She nods a little more seriously. "I have no intent on terrorizing him, especially after the invention he made." I raise a brow at the way she says that and she just smiles. "Well, he is the one submitting the invention to me, so he gets the credit." :And there it is: I'm not really surprised at that.

I roll my eyes at her words. "How are we doing this then? Because I'm not missing this for anything." I insist while trying to think of a solution, but before I can suggest anything Celestia casts a spell on me and I nearly roll out of the way but stop myself. A few moments later I see a small transparent dome around me. "Huh."

I look around for a moment before shifting to the side a little and watching it stay in place and not follow me. I stick my head outside of the dome and see that there appears to be nothing on the inside. I turn my floating head to an amused Celestia, "You're teaching me this, right?"

She chuckles at my focused and interested expression. "I don't know, a young colt with an invisibility spell." I blush a little and move my head back inside the dome quickly much to her amusement. "Hmm, honestly? This spell might not be the best for you." Her tone was simple and factual.

The spell vanishes and luckily my blush has died down a bit by then. "The spell is not very well made, it costs far too much magic, and the reason I prefer it is because I have magic to spare and because it's robust in effect. Even if you remake the spell I think it might be better for you to make your own spell." My ears dip a bit in disappointment and nod after a moment.

She's not wrong, I should be able to make something like this, and dealing with a spell so badly made that even Celestia only prefers it slightly is not something I want to do. She smiles at my face and comforts me, "That said, I'm more than willing to pass along the runes used, even if they are a large part of the reason the spell is so inefficient."

I nod vigorously and perk right up at hearing that. "Yes please!" I happily agree and she nods. There are a few moments of silence as I move a piece on the board. "Oh, right. How is the Life gem coming along? Also, do you know how long it will take to be finished?"

She gets a slightly odd look on her face, some mix of happiness and contained excitement. "It's coming along very well. I personally watched it be worked on in fact." A bit of odd phrasing but I leave it be for now. "And, it should be done around your birthday, maybe a bit sooner."

Considering the delicate nature of gem crafting and the sheer value of the gem in question I would rather the gem cutter take as much time as necessary. I don't care if it takes months or hell, even a year, it just needs to be done properly beyond that the time frame is irrelevant. "On that topic, do you have plans for your birthday? It's not every day you become an adult."

I shrug after a moment. "Nothing really? Birthdays aren't really a big deal for me, I've even forgotten it before, twice actually." I admit and she looks a little bit sad, not pitying just sad. I huff and wave her off, "None of that, I could have asked my friends if I really wanted to, but it's just not all that important to me." I reassure her and keep the mood light.

She smiles again after a moment. "Fine, but does that mean you have that day free?" I raise a brow and nod. "Perfect, then it seems I have something to plan." It's a pleasant surprise to hear her say that and I try to disagree but she shuts that down. "Don't make me give a royal decree." That shuts me up.

After a moment I sigh and just agree. "Fin-" But before I can fully voice my reluctant agreement a knock sounds on the door. Celestia acts first and just picks me and my things up with her magic, the sudden feeling of floating feels a little odd but I don't struggle against it.

Me, all my things, and Entropy are placed on the floor in the back left corner of the room so no one would bump into us. A moment later we are under a translucent dome and invisible again. "You may wish to cast that silent spell, and you be a good girl and behave." She looks right through the invisibility and at Entropy, who nods quickly in response.

I chuckle and cast the spell quickly as Celestia takes off her glasses and puts on her royal mask while standing sitting behind her desk again and looking busy. "Enter." Her voice is clear and regal. The door opens quickly and a guard enters with Avalon, who looks to be shitting bricks at the moment.

He's very nervous, fidgeting every few moments, and to my amusement he's in a suit. It's a plain black suit but seeing him wearing it makes me chuckle, but I try to keep it in and not laugh at his expenses too much. I don't want to make it a habit and it simply doesn't feel right even if he will probably never know I watched this.

He walks in and quickly bows deeply to Celestia. "Y-Your Majesty." He really tries his best but his stutter still comes through a little bit. His tone is much more formal than I'm used to and his head feathers are pinned back a bit.

Celestia keeps her royal mask on but smiles a tad. "Mr. Tesis, thank you for joining me. Please, sit." Her tone is also too formal for my tastes. I wonder if this is how I acted when we first met? Honestly, a lot of that day has faded from my memory a good bit.

He nods shakily and tries his best to keep eye contact. "M-.... Hem. It's an honor, Your Majesty, thank y-you for inviting me." He's keeping himself together rather well all things considered, but I can tell that this fake calm is thin and will break with only a little pressure.

Celestia moves a few things around on her desk and Avalon stares at the pot with the Solar Vine and Moon Glow in it. "It is a rather interesting combination." She comments and he squeaks a little and looks back to her quickly. She tries not to laugh at that but is very good at hiding it. "Now, I mostly invited you out of curiosity for your invention, and rather... Odd request." Her tone is all business but has a calming undertone to it.

She motions to his wooden arm with a slightly more gentle expression. "May I?" It's a simple request and after some slight hesitation, Avalon deactivates the enchantment, attaching his prosthetic to his stump and holding out the prosthetic warily. "Thank you kindly, I'll be gentle with it." Her tone is reassuring and she takes a minute to look over the prosthetic.

Avalon keeps his eyes forward this time and Entropy watches them curiously. "Friend? Friends?" She looks in between the two and seems confused by the meeting before looking up at me.

I smile down at her. "Shhhh, our friends are talking." I didn't explain for now and just kept listening. Celestia looks over the arm and lets a little curiosity show, I think she's showing more emotion than needed to help Avalon relax a bit more if he even can relax at all while being near Celestia.

Celestia breaks the silence. "An amazing piece of work, simple but effective." She smiles a small bit again and Avalon looks relieved as she passes it back to him. "I have been told that you wish to release this under an alias, is that correct?"

Avalon straightens his back a bit. "W-Wel- I mean yes Your Majesty!" He takes a deep breath. "I-I am not... Fond of a-attention." He explains unnecessarily.

She nods slowly after a moment. "Very well. This will prove to be a great help to many, and from what I've been told this is your only condition correct?"

Avalon's feathers pin back more. "C-Condition? M-Maybe? I... Yes?" He looks unprepared for any form of negotiation. Celestia gives him a curious look at the uncertain answer. "Yes! Yes t-that is my only request, i-if it's allowed?" His nervousness is peaking with every question she asks.

Celestia nods down at him. "If that is all, then I thank you Avalon Thesis for your contributions to Equestria and her people." Her tone is pleased and very formal but I see him tense at the mention of the second part of his name. Now that I think about it he never told me his full name, well we all have private things.

He seems relieved and kind of proud at Celestia's words. "Thank you Y-Your Majesty, it's my honor to have the opportunity to h-help others." His words feel truthful and he's even able to control himself more at her acceptance.

She moves a few pages over to him. "Please sign these, they are the standard contract for an independent inventor. Use whatever name you like, as long as it's not another's name of course. Also, are you willing to leave a mailing address if we need to contact you about any problems we may encounter?" I'll give her credit, Celestia is great at making someone sign something without reading it.

Avalon quickly signed the provided contract and just as quickly wrote down his address on another piece of paper. Celestia looked pleased but it was as muted as her other expressions. "O-Of course you may, p-please if anything goes wrong I'll... I-I will help in whatever way I can." I see that determination he hides so well.

Celestia takes both papers and reads them over quickly. "Thank you Mr. Thesis. This will help a great many. I'm afraid though I have other work to attend to, do you have any questions?" She seems to cut this a lot shorter than my first meeting with her, I think because Avalon is still highly on edge.

He looks secretly relieved, even though it's easy to notice, and shakes his head quickly. "No, Your Majesty. T-Thank you for the honor of this meeting." He bows again and stands there a little uncomfortable.

Celestia smiles a bit in his relief. "It was a pleasure Mr. Thesis. Please, show yourself out, a guard will take you outside." With that dismissal, he turns on a dime and walks out of the office a little quickly. After the door closes I leave the dome as Entropy flies off to join Philomena again.

She smiles at me and looks happy. "He is certainly interesting, a little stiff though." She chuckles in good humor.

I smile in return. "Well, can you blame him? He did have to stare down someone three times his height that controls the sun and moon." I joke in return before moving the contract over to me. "Hmm, Gentle Feather? Yes, that fits him rather well, maybe he'll get a confidence boost from this? Also, I don't remember signing something like this." I read his alias with a little thought and asked something.

She nods. "Yes, he could certainly use it, but his heart is in the right place. A bit of a shame he didn't read the contract though." She looks a little mischievous. "You are an orphan and thus a ward of the crown, I signed it for you." A simple enough answer for me.

I raise a brow and laugh after a moment. "I'm just going to guess that you included royalties in his contract." Her smile is all the answer I need, I laugh more realizing he's going to make quite the fortune off of this, and promptly lose his mind.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

Not too much going on hear, but I feel I'm really getting decent at writing dialog. It's far from great, but sill a lot better then when this all started. I hope you all liked it.

Chapter 193

MAR 7 Tuesday.

I slowly look through the notes on the small table in front of me that Celestia wrote out last night.

After Avalon's meeting Celestia and I talked for a while longer before I was given the promised notes about the runes used in her invisibility spell and their respective Runic context, after that I was sent on my way. I was given a nice room and sent some dinner as she knows full well that all I want is to hunker down and study these runes.

Along with my dinner was another note that asked me to modify the illusion spell I showed her yesterday, and I must say I love the idea she came up with, but I'll get to that. The new runes have proven both interesting and disappointing at the same time.

Celestia was definitely right that these runes aren't of the best quality, out of the fourteen runes given to me only two show much promise. All the other runes are so inefficient that they are practically useless for making decent spells, and I honestly don't want to use them for a spell as they'd hamper any spell made with them severely.

Those two decent runes are interesting. The first is a rune of Hiding, its context is very specific and seems to only really work with illusions, but it's good at what it does. The other rune is a rune of Perception, but again it's heavily specialized to make others ignore any small mistakes in an illusion.

At first, that felt a little like mental magic, and maybe it is to a degree, but from the Runic Context it seems to mess with the illusions based on somepony's perception, instead of altering the perception of somepony itself. It's honestly an odd rune, it's decently made though and the context is a little weird.

It's not a big thing and doesn't seem to affect the rune, the Runic Context is just worded a little oddly. As for the application of these runes? Well, the first is just plain useful for any invisibility spell while the second is nice but much more situational and not as flexible as I'd like, still all the runes bad and good alike are going into my collection.

With these runes and the ones I already have, I could probably make a decent invisibility spell, but before that, I feel I need a better rune for copying the surroundings. The ones I have don't work well for this purpose and the runes in Celestia's spell are too low quality so this spell will have to wait for a bit.

I stop my note-taking and spend a moment looking over the spell matrix I've been modifying. Celestia's instructions were pretty specific and I actually had to remake a fair bit of the spell to get it right. Normally the spell only creates one color, but with a bit of work, I've gotten it to mimic three separate textures and colors at the same time.

I look over the spell again and cast it on myself before looking at a mirror, I chuckle after seeing the effects, and cancel the spell with my will before turning to Entropy as she stretches her wings and wakes up. "Someone had fun yesterday, you tired yourself right out." Entropy had quite a bit of fun playing with Philomena.

"Friend fun." She caws before hopping over to me and chirping a bit. "Happy, awake."

I sort her words for a moment and laugh at the odd phrasing. "That works, but good morning would work much better." I encourage her but a moment later there is a knock on the door and she quickly moves into my shadow and out of sight. "It's unlocked," I call out while packing away my notes and putting on my saddlebags.

The door opens a moment later and I see Shining standing in his armor. "Morning, sleep well enough to deal with a princess?" He starts right out of the gate with a joke at my expense.

"Did you sleep well after getting those books I sent you?" I smile back as his face shifts to a slight look of uncertainty. I gave him a knowing look. "Apparently not then, I hope you enjoyed them at least. Are we heading to breakfast?" I ask while walking past him into the hallway.

He huffs after closing the door behind him and leading the way. "Yes. Where did you even find books like that? And... Yes, they were actually pretty good. Also, I've been meaning to ask about something." His face looks a bit more serious but still friendly. "The gift you sent Cadance was... Well, thank you, but it is generous, to put it lightly." His tone is torn between thankful and a little uncertain. I was expecting this honestly as it was a rather lavish gift.

I nod in understanding and try to keep a friendly mood. I don't see a reason to hide my wealth from Shining, he already knows I'm wealthy enough to give Cadance a small mountain of bits. "I made some good investments when I was younger, and they really paid off. As for the gift? It was more or less for both of you as I knew she'd share, and honestly, I had no idea what to gift her."

I smirk at him. "So, make sure she spends at least some of it on something fun and doesn't just save it, it's a gift after all." I keep my tone purely joking before becoming serious. "Also you have nothing to worry about, I have no interest in Cadance." I stare firmly to put any fears to rest quickly.

He doesn't even look surprised at the information and just gives me a deadpan stare. "Is there anything you aren't? Rich, strong, smart, and friends with both princesses." He holds a little humor but just looks exasperated. "Also, I know you don't have eyes for her." He smirks a little and I brush off his vague teasing.

I roll my eyes. "Says the stallion in a relationship with the alicorn of love. I do wonder how you got that new fancy position so quickly." I tease him in return and he looks amused at my words.

"Says you. I'll have you know I worked hard for this, and it's not as fancy as it sounds. I only command Cadance's guard and the rest are still under Captain Ash Mark." He explains and I think for a moment before remembering that night with the changelings and the guard captain.

I nod. "So, double the work and responsibility with the same pay?" He pauses for a moment before nodding with a chuckle. "Just like all good governments this one suffers from its ponies." I quote randomly as we near a familiar door and the guards salute Shining as we walk in.

I see Celestia and Cadance sitting at that table and after the door is closed I walk over to sit at the table. "Here, it took a while to make so you better pick your timing well," I say vaguely and pass a folded piece of paper over to Celestia while moving a plate and some food over to me.

Celestia smiles mischievously while both Cadance and Shining just look confused. "And what are you two up to? I smell a plot here." Cadance looks suspiciously at us both but we just smile in return. Shining sits next to her and leans on her a bit.

Shining removes his helmet before getting some food of his own. "Heh, smell a plot." That earns him a nip to the ear from Cadance. "Ow! Ahem, I meant... The plot, like a plan?" That earns him another lighter nip to the ear and he quickly decides to give up.

I just chuckle at his slip as Cadance looks at me. "Sorry about that, Shining can be very... Immature about some things. Feel free to ignore him, thoroughly." She says with some humor while Entropy leaves my shadow to join Philomena in devouring some fruit Celestia put to the side.

Shining eyed Entropy a little but seems to relax after a few moments. "It's not like he's innocent, he is almost a fifteen-year old adult." He defends himself a bit, and he's even able to duck away from another nip, only to be pushed over by a hoof and hit the floor. "Ugh."

Cadance just keeps a polite smile as I and Celestia laugh for a few moments. "On a more palatable topic, thank you Shade, I will make the effort worthwhile," Celestia says, moving us past the odd topic fully. "Did you sleep well? I don't know about you but I find I have trouble sleeping in new places." She shares a little about herself to firmly move us away from the prior topic.

I'm a little embarrassed at Shining's words, which is why I'm thankful for the change in topic. "I slept just fine. Oddly enough I have the opposite problem, I could sleep on a rock, in fact I have before." That particular event was from my past life but the point still stands.

She giggles a bit. "For somepony so intent on living a peaceful life you certainly have some odd adventures." She comments and I shake my head after a moment.

"No, it's only interesting if you remove the context, everything is mostly mundane. It's not like I do much most of the time." I downplay things as my life is boring by the standards of most others.

She raises a brow at me. "Need I remind you that you decided to fight an angry dragon out of curiosity." She looks amused at my attempt at humility.

At this point, Shining is off of the floor while he and Cadance look confused at Celestia's words. "Wait what? What do you mean fight a dragon!? When? How!?" Cadance asks surprised as she has never heard about this apparently.

I sigh and glare a little at Celestia. "You did this on purpose." I sigh even longer seeing their curious looks demanding an explanation. I finish the last of my food down with some water and answer the questions. "It's not that bad, like I said, context."

Shining looks a little jealous, but not to any large degree. "I don't know, fighting a dragon at fourteen because you were curious seems like a pretty interesting life to me. Was it a good fight?" He asks the second part more seriously but gets nipped on the ear again. "Hey! That's a valid question!"

I gain some satisfaction as that backfires on him. "It was pretty fun. But it was not nearly as extreme as you'd expect. She was a young dragon and only around twice my size, she was also pretty relaxed after getting her aggression out. I even got a few of my questions answered." I smile but don't tell them the full story.

Cadance groans a little. "Always with the vagueness, you really are the most paranoid pony I have ever met." She complains but I still refuse to tell the story as it involves a few things I would rather Shining not know about yet, like me being Veil Winter. I may trust him with parts of my life but some things are too important to share until I trust him more.

Celestia chuckles and nods in agreement. "You have no idea, but you can pester him on the train later. On that topic, the guards assigned to you have changed slightly." She passes a piece of paper over to Shining who looks curious. "Please make sure to get everything in order, we do not want a delay." Celestia is a bit more professional while saying that but keeps a calm mood.

He looks over the list with Cadance doing the same over his shoulder and nods. "This should all be easy, but I'll need to get to it now, we have a tight schedule." He agrees and puts his helmet back on.

Celestia stops him with a hoof wave before he can leave though. "Hold on, one more important thing." We all paid attention to her. "Want to see a magic trick?" She doesn't wait for an answer and casts a spell on Cadance before she can react, and a moment later Celestia starts to laugh.

I quickly follow her and even Shining struggles hard not to burst out laughing after his shock wears off. As soon as the spell connects with Cadance the illusion moves to cover her entire body, and soon enough her coat turns a pristine white. Her mane keeps its shape but the texture turns a little wavey and takes on a familiar look.

Once the spell is done a smaller version of Celestia is standing there without a cutie mark and utterly confused. "What did you do?" She asks a little uncertainty before seeing her now white hoof. "What did you do!" This time it's a demand and it takes us a few moments to calm down enough to answer.

Celestia smiles widely with a little pride. "I asked Shade to make something... Special as a parting gift." A moment later a spell is cast and a mirror-like surface appears in the air, if I wasn't still laughing I'd have shown more interest in the spell used.

Cadance glares a little as even Shining fails to contain all of his laughter. But that glare is gone when she sees the way she looks. There is a long moment of silence as she looks herself over with wide eyes before turning to me with a glare. "If this lasts more than an hour I'm filling your apartment with glitter." Her threat is surprisingly serious but that switches to a reluctant laugh after a moment. "But, I'll admit this is one to remember."

Her face proves too much for Shining as he bursts into laughter before getting a far more fierce glare from Cadance that cuts him short. "I'll see you all later!" He gives Cadance a kiss on the cheek and nods to me and Celestia before very quickly running away and leaving the room before she can retaliate.

Me and Celestia are amused at this and I taper off my laughter with a few chuckles that makes my sides hurt. "Shining!" I see Cadance get a little flustered as he runs away before she sighs and glares at us. "I'll get you back for this, both of you. Now turn it off, I would rather not look like Aunty for the day." She asks with a little embarrassment.

Celestia cancels the spell after that and I turn to Celestia after finally calming down. "Worth every bit of my work. So is there anything else I should know about this trip? Because I really don't want to find out when it's too late." I ask while moving my empty plate away to pet a full and happy Entropy that plops down in front of me.

Celestia smiles and moves a few papers over to me. "I expected you to ask something like that, this has a few things but it's not much, we simply don't have much information about the current situation there." I nod my thanks and look over the papers, it's mostly just the trade deals being discussed and a few important ponies going with us, along with a little information on the city.

Cadance seems a bit perturbed that we got one over on her, but she takes it in good humor. "Well I have paperwork to do and doing that while dealing with you two is not on my agenda. Have a good day Aunty, and remember that the train leaves at seven Shade. I do not want to turn back because you forget, one time was enough." She huffs a little before standing up and putting on her crown.

Celestia nods. "Same for me sadly, it seems you'll be on your own for a while Shade, try not to cause any trouble." She jokes a little before also standing up and moving towards the door. "I'll have a guard find you when needed so feel free to ask any of them if you need directions." She gives me a large smile and a small hug. "And please enjoy your trip."

I fight off a blush at the contact and nod my thanks after a moment. "Thanks. I sure plan to, even if it gets rocky. My last trips haven't been that quiet after all." She giggles a little and slips on her royal mask as she leaves the room with me trying not to stare at her flank as she does so.

After a moment she turns down a hallway and out of sight so I close the doors behind me and turn to a guard standing guard outside the dining room. "What's the way to the garden from here?" I'm mostly blunt and professional and the guard quickly gives me directions.

They even offered to lead the way but I turned that down and simply followed the directions, I needed to learn the layout of this place more. But as I walk the long halls they become winding and the only reason I'm able to find the gardens is because I can see them outside the windows.

As I enter the garden I walk through the hedges and wander without a destination in mind. The winding rows of hedges make the palace look like a cakewalk, but eventually, I end up in a slightly more open area. The hedges are much shorter and I'm able to actually see where I am going.

After a while, I find a nice spot that's a little more secluded, but before I can sit in the grass I spot something that makes my stomach turn a little and my body freeze. Not too far away in a smaller clearing cut off from most of the garden is an odd stone statue that doesn't fit any of the others placed in the gardens.

I quickly crush any form of panic in my body and mind for fear of causing a disturbance of any kind. A few hundred feet away sits the statue of a Draconequus frozen in time. Discord. He is one of if not the most powerful beings in this world, and arguably the closest thing to a god we see in the show.

I walk over but don't get anywhere close to him and simply sit in the grass while making sure I'm facing his back. I have no reason or want to mess with him and even while sitting one hundred feet away I feel wary at the sight of him. After a long moment, I take out my notebook and start to think through a few ideas.

I spend a while sitting there thinking and sketching out his form, it seems yet another reminder of the future pops up in my life. I sigh after a moment, "Hmm, a sleeping monster." I chuckle at the reference no being in this world would understand.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

So, I remember someone wanting Shade to make a disguise, wish grated. It may have taken a while but now he has the idea of a full body illusion.

Chapter 194

MAR 9 Thursday.

I'm awoken by the rhythmic sounds of the rocking train underneath me. After getting up and finding my tea kettle I sit down for some tea.

The last two days have been slow and relaxing like planned. I spent some time in the garden observing Discord but never getting close, and I also stayed out of his line of sight as I'm not sure if he's conscious in that statue form. But honestly even being that close to him put me a little on edge.

Discord presents a threat that can't really be quantified, I simply don't know how strong he really is. At some points, the show presents him as an unstoppable force, but at other points, he's shown as nearly powerless in some situations. On top of that his powers are simply unpredictable in nature.

It fits I suppose, his power is chaos after all. It does make me wonder though what that actually means, what is chaos? Is it some form of magic, an affinity perhaps? Or is it something else altogether? This also brings up the questions of what Discord actually is and how he came about.

Personally, my guess is he's an aberrant member of some race, possibly an extinct race depending on how old Discord is. I have no idea what he may have been once, but I think something changed him into what he is, and the only example I have of a being changing that drastically is an alicorn ascension or an aberration.

Beyond my spiraling thoughts on Discord things have gone to plan. We boarded the train at the end of the day and I spent that evening with Cadance working on the love rune. Progress on that front has been going really well and we're nearing a finished rune that will work wonderfully.

But now comes the most ambiguous part of rune creation. The Runic Context is nearly done and once it's finished we can test it, but it working on the first attempt is unlikely. If it does work then that's great, but if it doesn't then we need to modify the Runic Context a little and try again.

If that doesn't work then? Well, we have to try again, and again, and again, and as many times as it takes. This is the worst part of rune creation as the rune working is out of our hooves to some degree, we can tilt things in our favor but the end result of it actually functioning is not under our control.

The good news is we stand a good chance as our rune is well-made with clear goals in the Runic Context and the thought process. But it also reminds me of another mystery, why the hell are runes like this? I know we're trying to stabilize a concept into magic and invoke it at will, but even then the uncertainty is odd.

All magic is based on some form of logic, maybe that rule is bent in a few places but on the whole, it's a safe bet. It's relatively clear that magic prefers to follow the logic and laws of reality, magic can bend and outright break these laws but magic still works better when following them.

Although I'm basing this off of the magic system ponies use and there are other types of magic out there, even if they are far less common. Still, I can't help but feel that there must be some form of logic or unknown rules that govern rune creation, but I can't think of a way to really test that at the moment.

My thoughts are interrupted as Entropy rubs against my side. "Breakfast?" She asks impatiently and I chuckle down at her. The longest word she's learned so far is about food because of course it is. I nod and cast an illusion over her while deciding to leave my saddlebags in my cabin for now but take a sketchbook and quill, it's still early so when I leave the cabin not many ponies are walking around.

I slowly trot over to the dining car and find a place to sit down on my own after piling some food up on a pair of plates. I'm a little surprised that they are serving some fish, it's just grilled fish and it's probably bland but I take a good portion for myself and Entropy regardless.

I take a bite of the fish and give an unimpressed look, while Entropy also dives for the fish only to look up at me after eating a piece. "Good? Bad? No." She seems to try and speak her thoughts only to not have the right words.

"Bland. It means to have no flavor or to be boring." I use a word and its definition to the best of my memory, although I probably quoted the definition wrong. "I agree, it could use some salt at a minimum." She pauses for a moment and tries to sound out the word a few times with me helping her.

She eventually gets it right and goes back to her food while I finish mine and decide to draw in my sketchbook. I limit my senses a bit as the dining car gets more and more busy, I don't need to track all of them and limit it to ten feet around me for now and focus on my drawing.

It's peaceful for a while and Entropy spends some time napping on the table before someone walking past us abruptly stops. I glance over to see an adult Griffon standing there, around twenty I think, the feathers and body structure look to be female and she's looking at Entropy curiously and intently. "Can I help you, Miss?"

My voice seems to break her out of her surprise and she blinks before staring at me. "My apologies for staring, it's been a long while since I've seen a royal bird." I raise a brow at the odd phrasing she uses and she still doesn't move on. But as she turns to me she pauses for a long moment before speaking. "Would you mind if I join you?" She asks with the same professional and calm tone, but also keeps her a bit friendly.

I look her over for a few moments and take in some details. She's a little smaller than most Griffons and has a more petite body shape. Her feathers are light green with very light green almost white head feathers along with yellow green eyes. She also holds herself in a mix of formal and relaxed.

After a moment I motion to the seat and decide to satisfy my curiosity. "Sure, I am curious though. Why do you call her a royal bird?" I ask levelly and watch as Entropy moves off the table and onto the seat with me. She's not the most friendly to strangers or those who get a bit too close, that second one might be my fault though.

The Griffon spends a moment placing down her food, which includes some fish, and getting comfortable on the opposite bench. "It appears I have forgotten my manners. Viridis Everfalls, a pleasure." She holds a talon across that table and I shake it without much of an expression.

"Shade, likewise." I don't give my last name, something she takes notice of but hides it well, I'm able to see it on her face for a moment though. If being friends with Maple and training with Stone has taught me anything, it's how to see the small changes someone shows.

She takes a bit of fish before answering my questions, really dragging things out. "The founder of Feather Falls was well known to have a pet crow with him often. Many of the rulers, elected and otherwise, have imitated that and can be seen with crows often, it's a status symbol and tradition to many." Her tone is friendly and level like before but it's clear that she's fishing for a reaction.

So I keep a level expression. "Hmm, interesting." Instead of continuing I pick up my sketchbook again and start trying to draw again.

But it seems I've sparked this Griffon's interest as she keeps going regardless. "I am rather curious where you found such a beautiful crow. She's even well-trained, did you have a Griffon from Feather Falls do it? They are well known for their skill." Her tone is controlled and this is starting to get much more of my attention.

I give her a long look before answering with a half-lie. "I got her when she was young and a friend helped me train her." Not a complete lie but it is nowhere near the truth. Her face forms a very slight smile and just looks intrigued by my answer. I decided to be a little blunt as I'm not walking on eggshells for no reason. "May I ask why you are so interested? Thinking of getting a crow of your own?"

She seems like a smooth talker and I know she's set this up to some degree to get a conversation with me, I just don't know why. She smiles a bit more, "No, I personally don't have an interest in pets. But I remember seeing this beauty last year on the trip to Griffonstone and got curious, so I thought I'd ask."

My eyes narrow a bit and I now understand what's going on. During my last trip, many saw me talking to Phelix and tried to make connections with me, and while they aren't allowed to share such knowledge with the public about my life, there is nothing stopping them from trying to talk to me. "I see, and what do you think?" I ask a very open-ended question.

She takes a moment to finish the last bites of her food that she's been going through over our conversation. "Of what? Her? You? I think a great many things, but honestly, I'm just curious." I know she's leaving something out but she also doesn't seem to be lying. "Above all I find it curious that you show up again for another trip to a Griffon city and no one really seems to know you." She hints and speaks a little more bluntly.

I stare at her for a moment judging her. "Well, Miss. Viridis, I'm a translation scribe for documents, same as last year. The pay is rather decent after all and I get to travel." I excuse my motives and close my sketchbook before putting it away. "So, what do you do? Someone of your intellect must have an interesting job." I throw in a small compliment to try and pretend to be nice.

She knows I'm hiding things and I know she's digging for them, but she can't just outright ask as I'd just shut her down, so she keeps this little dance going. "It seems my manners are rather lacking today. I'm the only diplomat to Feather Falls stationed in Equestria, as you'd imagine I'm accompanying you to take a trip home." Equestria has limited relations with Feather Falls so I'm inclined to believe her that she's the only one.

:Well shit, of course she's a head diplomat on this trip: "Interesting, I'd have thought you taking a trip to Griffonstone would take you away from your work. I guess there's not much to really do though." I indulge in more delicate small talk, I will say it's interesting talking to someone like this.

She smirks a bit and hides her expression a bit less. "Correct, I find I have a good amount of free time, so I decided to do a little traveling and make some new connections. Also, you said you were a translation scribe? Any trouble with the spoken language? It can be rather hard to navigate a new land without understanding others." She fishes again and I can see that this seems like an excuse for something and decide to have a little fun while shutting her down.

"No, actually, I find myself rather well-equipped for this visit. But I suppose that's true in many other places, did you know that dragons can make quite interesting conversation partners?" I answer in fluent Griffon while being purposefully vague about the dragon part.

She pauses while moving her empty plate to the side and locks eyes with me, I don't flinch and she blinks first after a long moment. "Well, it seems you are." Her tone is not as level, I think I threw her off with the dragon part as there are only a few ways to talk with a dragon.

I could have met a young dragon in Equestria, which is what I did, but they aren't known to talk much with others from what little I heard some talking to one would stand out, and that's if she presumes that I'm talking about a young dragon. "Either way, I must get going. Thank you for the conversation, maybe we'll talk more at a later date." She stands up and I decide to just nod silently.

She stares for another moment before turning away and walking off down the train car and out of sight. I chuckle for a moment after ending the conversation with an out-of-pocket statement. "Long. Go back?" Entropy crows out quietly and a moment later I stand up and head back to my cabin with her. As I walk I go over what just happened in my mind.

I still feel as if she wanted something from me. She was persistent in learning about me and even when she didn't get much she kept trying, it made me a little worried. I can't see a way that she'd use anything I told her to her advantage, but I'm no diplomat and she very much is.

On top of that, she knows the city we are going to, she has an advantage there. But all of this is more of an inconvenience than anything, she has no idea who she's actually dealing with, and while I'm cautious I trust in myself enough to get out of a bad situation.

If for some reason I do get in over my head I have two very powerful friends at my back, I just hope it doesn't come to that. After getting into my cabin I settled in for a few more hours of waiting.

time skip

I step off of the train as many guards and important ponies disembark with wagons, carriages, and supplies. This is where the train tracks end and also where we get off. This is a medium-sized city mostly focused on trade, but we won't be staying for any time at all as we will set out as soon as we are ready to.

Several others head into town but after a moment I just start helping the guards unload the train's cargo, I do get a few looks but I just shrug and say I'm bored and I'm not the only one who does this. It's ten now and it's been a few hours since breakfast, we plan to set out in an hour from what the guards say.

Our caravan will spend the rest of the day on the road before camping for the night and arriving at the city sometime tomorrow. By the time everything is loaded and ready to move, the important ponies and Griffons load up in carriages but I just start to walk alongside the guards near the middle of our caravan.

After a while, a guard comes over to offer me a place in a carriage but I refuse, I need to at least get some exercise after a two-day train ride and Stone might go easy on me if I at least do this. Who am I kidding? He's going to beat my ass when I return.

Apparently, a pony walking with the guard with a crow on his back draws a few more eyes. But it's something I've become a little more accustomed to over time, it's part of a larger change in me I think. In the past, I'd shy away from standing out in any way shape, or form, but that is not completely the case anymore.

I still try not to stand out too much, but I've seen that many just see it as odd and stop caring as soon as they decide it's unimportant to them. I like the idea of walking that line, standing out enough to do things my way while coming off as different but harmless and unimportant.

Plus all the ponies and Griffons here are important and gossiping about a random earth pony scribe walking instead of riding in a carriage would be seen as far below them. I am after all just a scribe here to sit in the back and translate things, no matter how odd I may act.

The terrain is a little uphill but from what I remember of the maps I've seen we're on a plateau that is mostly flat with some variation. The plants are mostly shrubs and thinly wooded forests, there are also large grassy areas mixed in at random. A few of the plants are interesting and make me stop to pick a few things here and there.

As I walk I go a little faster than the rest and end up near the head of the caravan. I look over a branch I got from a berry bush of some kind. I study the magical flows in the plant while continuing to walk. "So, what brings a scribe out here, studying plants?"

I turn my head to a pair of guards walking alongside a carriage next to me. The mare guard is studying me and because I'm wearing my badge right now it's clear what my job is, the mare guard turns back as her partner taps his shoulder. "Hey, leave the good-looking stallion alone, he's minding his own business." The other mare says before looking over to me. "But what are you doing anyway?" She contradicts herself a moment later.

I can kind of see where this is going and yet again decide to have a little fun with the unknown. "Studying the complex cell chains that make up the structure of this plant's branches." I pull something out of my ass and smile at them as they look confused. "These plants are full of fibers, I might be able to make rope from it." I chuckle a bit at their faces.

Neither of them talks for a moment and I spot another interesting plant a ways ahead so I speed up and leave the mares alone. I choose to face a bush abruptly when I blush after seeing them point at my backside and whisper to each other with my magical senses.

It's something I've started to notice more and more as time passes. Before recently even most unicorns and pegasus could tell I was still not a full adult, but now that I fully look like an adult I've seen more mares staring. It doesn't help that I'm in good shape and am taller than most others.

I sigh and pick a few more herbs before adding them to my saddlebags. I really hope this stops, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I stand up and stretch my neck before continuing the pace. For now, I need to focus on my magical senses and make sure I notice anything getting too close to the caravan.

If nothing else the weather is nice, and so is the view. I stare out across the foreign forest as the sun dips low, I wonder how Celestia is doing?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

Mostly just more information and setup, but we're nearly to the city, and I've only wasted four chapters on a week of the story before we even arrive at the destination. Fuck. 349 Chapters Later indeed.

Need to word build an entire city, so I'm probably taking tomorrow off.

Chapter 195

MAR 10 Friday.

I keep my steady pace following the road along the slightly slanted terrain while looking over the large river in the distance.

Last night was a fun time as I ended up talking with the guards for a bit before sleeping in a tent and setting out again the next day. It's around noon now and we're finally at Feather Falls, well close enough. I can see a pair of gates and stone walls that mark the entrance of the city.

It takes us a while to get through the gates and some important Griffons lead Cadance's carriage off in front of us as the normal guards start to inspect the carts before letting them through one by one. I'm in the middle but when it's our turn and we walk through the gates I see an amazing view.

The plateau we walked across ends in an abrupt steep cliff that drops who knows how far. Beyond the base of the plateau cliff, the Wild Lands stretch out to the horizon beyond. The Wild Lands are a massive area of the eastern continent and cover a wide variety of biomes and cultures along with many different races inhabiting the lands.

I can't stare for long before I have to turn left to start walking down a long staircase made from solid stone and seemingly carved from the cliff side itself, measuring almost one hundred feet wide. One half is made from wide steps and the other half is a ramp for carts, as we descend more and more the descending path moves more into the cliffside giving us a roof of stone supported by thick pillars of stone.

I hear the rumbling before I see it, but it slowly comes into view. The main attraction of Feather Falls is the massive waterfall that hangs like a curtain over an even more enormous cavern with one side open to the outside world. This area is an enormous recess in the cliff face that holds the city itself.

I look out over the pretty large city that is an odd mix of vertical buildings carved into the cavern walls or hanging from the ceiling with many more stone buildings covering the cavern floor. Everything is lit up with flames as even with the cavern being half open the inside gets very dark in places.

The cavern is several miles wide and tall while the opening to the left is almost just as large, but above everything is the roaring noise of falling water. The pathway leads along the cavern wall deeper in and eventually leads to the ground floor of the cavern and into the city. I wonder if this place is magical? Otherwise, I'm not sure how it seems structurally sound.

As we move through the streets led by some guards I see a mix of many different races among the streets. It's mostly Griffons, around two-thirds from what I can tell, but mixed in are many others. Ponies of all tribes, even Batponies, Diamond Dogs, Buffalos, Yaks, Zebras, Donkeys, and even a Dragon or two.

The diversity is pretty large but the Wild Lands are said to be like that. This area of the world is like a melting pot of different races and it's much more common to see many others here. That's not to say everything is great though, I've barely been here and I've seen what looked like a classic case of racism.

It's not unstable, or even that significant, but it's nowhere near as peaceful as a pony city, and while the citizens seem fine with each other they seem to only really interact with their own race unless needed. I've also noticed campaign posters for different potential kings running for election while some seem to argue over the election.

I don't necessarily have a good feeling for the city yet, I simply haven't been here long enough to learn the situation, but it's clear things are a little tense. I don't expect a war or even a fight really, but protests could be possible. After a while, we reach the back of the cavern as the stone floor climbs higher.

We eventually came to a large square building made from stone and wooden support beams. It's not even painted but It's far from the worst place I've slept, I do notice that the other ponies with us seem to disagree with me on that. The inside proves to be plain but orderly and well-lit.

The inside uses a large number of candles and torches, interestingly enough they don't produce any smoke and each torch and candle stand has a small gem in the metal connection to the wall. Probably a very slight enchantment of some type that removes the smoke.

Something to look into later. The floors are wooden and the building is furnished, a little simple and plain but it's nice. After a while, our guards unload the supplies and start to sort out sleeping arrangements. I stick around long enough to get a room assigned to me before heading out into the city to satisfy my curiosity and do something productive.

I checked in with our guards and headed out without much fanfare, one thing I made sure to do was have Entropy stay in my shadow. The streets are mostly lit by torches and creative use of sunlight. Most of the larger streets are angled to be vertical to the outside of the massive cavern.

It lets some more light in and keeps visibility up, but even then there are many dark alleys and crevasses. Funnily enough, I could probably find my way through the dark places of this city better than many of its residents. But for now, I'm looking for something unsavory, a black market.

The Wild Lands is known for many types of plants and herbs, not everywhere but the markets here will probably have something less available elsewhere. But why a black market specifically? Well, because this city is somewhat known for its crime, and that means they are bound to have some interesting things.

Things I can't get normally, like poisonous plants or less legal information, like spells. Another part of me is simply curios about finding an actual black market instead of a gray one. But finding a market like that while being an unknown is hard, it's why I'm making it the first thing on my list of things to do. I'm thinking it might take me a few days to find anything, but the diplomatic meetings probably won't start for around three days so I have some time.

After wandering for a while I found a bookstore, it's a little rundown and shabby-looking. It's not what I was looking for but it's interesting enough to check out and see what they have in such a far away city. I push open the creaky door slowly and step inside.

Like most of this city, the inside is darker than preferable and there is a distinct smell of dusty paper and mold, all so very pleasant. An old grizzled-looking Yak sits behind a counter talking with a Diamond Dog, they both turn to me but stop caring after a second and keep talking.

I decide to do the same and start looking through different shelves for books. It quickly becomes apparent that this place is more than just rundown, it's also a disgrace to bookstores. The majority of books are copies of books with varying quality, while everything else is degrading off of the shelves from mold and moisture.

I'm not sure if the owner is just lazy or actually incompetent but this place sucks. I grab a pair of cooking books I'm unfamiliar with just to not waste my time and start moving over to the counter where the Yak and Diamond Dog are still talking. "I heard that those ponies arrived, a princess and everything." The Diamond Dog's female voice sounds in fluent Griffon.

The yak huffs and speaks a little louder than necessary while also speaking Griffon. "Ya, sounds like trouble, or maybe not. I got some relatives up north that deal with them a lot, they don't know tradition for shit but pay well enough." His voice is deep and raspy and he shows a generally grumpy expression.

The Diamond Dog smirks a little at that. "You think they are a good mark? I'd think a princess would be mighty wealthy." I nearly look over when hearing that from shock but force myself to not react and keep looking through books while eavesdropping. "You know I got a few lads who could use some decent work." She glances at me a little but seems to think I understand nothing they are saying.

The Yak looks her over for a moment before Shaking his head. "No, some things you just don't mess with. Take your so-called 'lads' and pick a better mark." His tone is still pretty bland and grumpy, but something in it speaks of the experience of age. I take my books at this moment and walk over to the front of the store.

The Griffon sighs. "Ya, yer probably right. You know we ain't doing well though." All this talk gets my mind whirling. The Diamond Dog does have a dagger and bag, but I also notice she holds herself lightly and keeps on her feet in case she needs to move, like running from a sudden guard appearing.

I didn't learn much from the information Celestia and Cadance gave me, but I did learn that Feather Falls is known for its crime and shady markets. Like the rest of the world violence is much less intense than in any human city, even in this city murder is a big thing that doesn't happen often.

In Canterlot we have a murder every decade or two, most of the time those are murders of extreme circumstances. Here I don't know the murder rate, but I don't expect it to be all that high. Still, crimes like robbery and theft are much more common here, it's one of the main reasons I left most of my bits in my room under lock and hidden away.

As I walk over and place the two books down they look over to me. The old white-furred Yak looks them over before turning to me, "What ya paying with?" His tone is the same and seemingly unchanging, but he speaks pony just fine. I just drop a bit on the counter and see him nod. "Ten each."

I know for a fact that's a scam, but I could give less of a shit and just don't want to deal with this right now, I've had enough spontaneous situations as it is. I just drop twenty bits without blinking and walk right out. "Hmm, a fast spender huh?" The last thing I hear is the Diamond Dog mumbling those words while glancing at me.

:I'm pretty sure she's a thief, and has friends that do the same, I just really hope she dosen- ... Fuck!: My thoughts are cut short as my senses feel her follow me out of the bookstore a few moments later now wearing a black cloak. :OH COME ON!! I'm on vacation for fucks sake!: At this point, I'm a bit pissed and irritated.

:I lasted less than a fucking DAY! Why won't people just leave me the fuck alone?: I huff out a deep breath and turn down a dark alley hoping to just lose this annoyance and go about my day. But she proves to be persistent with her actions and follows me while closing the distance slowly.

:Nope, I'm not doing this shit today: I spent a few minutes finding an isolated alley with a bend in it that leads to a dead end and moving around the bend before stopping in my tracks and turning to face the direction I came from. A few long moments later I feel and watch the Diamond Dog turn the corner in the very dim light only to quickly jump back a step while letting out a yip seeing me staring back at her silently.

There is a tense moment as I stare her down. "Leave me alone." It's a demand plain and simple. I have no patience for this shit right now and my dead tone says that. I'm normally not this angry but I just walked for two days and don't need this shit at ALL.

Sadly this Diamond Dog does not take my advice and pulls out a dagger, it's a little rusted, and clearly, she's a little startled at my actions. "How about you give me everything you got and I'll let you go? No strings attached, I promise." I'll give her credit, her tone stays steady and it's clear this is not her first time mugging someone.

I am one hundred percent done with this, but I also don't want to kill this Diamond Dog for such a small offense. So instead, I move first. She tries to move out of the way but it's very clear she is not professionally trained in combat as me lunging at her catches her off guard.

I slam a hoof into her paw knocking the dagger to the ground, while I use my other hoof to grab her chest fur and throw her at an alley wall. She grunts after hitting the stone brick wall and slumps down clearly not feeling great, I spend that moment picking up her dagger.

I can see she knows she's not winning this, but after a long moment of silence, she's able to stand up and looks down the alley I was walking down as I'm standing between her and where we came from. But the alley dead ends not too far away, she's trapped here with me and she now knows it.

She stares me down for a moment longer while I try to think of what to do now. I honestly hoped she'd just turn around after seeing me thinking I was not worth it, but she instead did something stupid and now I have her trapped. :Why can't things just be simple for once?:

"I'm sorry, about that, but we're fine right? Do you mind, if I have that back?" Her tone holds a fake confidence and charm to it and her attempt at smooth-talking me is just baffling. The sheer guts needed to ask me that in her current situation nearly breaks my stone-like expression. "Is that a no?" She speaks up again and I remain on high alert.

I'm still pretty angry about this and do not want to deal with a smooth talker right now. But that anger lessened after realizing I could actually get something productive out of this, even if it's just a small thing.

She seems far too calm about this, even with the worry I see it's clear something is still going for her here. I also remember her talking about having comrades, so after a long moment, I dropped the dagger on the floor. "Oh! Thank-" That's all she's able to say before I stomp on it.

The dagger is braced against stone and with my blow I break off the blade from the handle. "Shit!" Her outburst seems odd but I pay it no head. I could just walk away, but I'm still annoyed right now and I feel like getting this one in trouble, but dealing with the guards when I'm new to the city seems like a clusterfuck waiting to happen.

After a moment of my continued staring while not moving, she looks back up at me. "What? You want something else now?" Her tone is not as nice as it's clear she's annoyed with my actions, something I could agree with when it comes to her. I see her shift her shoulder that I slammed into the alley wall for a moment with a suppressed wince.

Most other ponies might just throw her to the guards but I'm not like other ponies. I know crime happens for more than just want and greed, sometimes you either steal or starve, it's not that simple obviously but that is to say that I can sympathize to some extent with those in such situations.

I have no idea if this Diamond Dog is in a situation like that, but she's definitely not wealthy. After a stretch of silence, I finally speak again. "Directions to a black market." It's again a blunt demand from me with a stone-cold tone that gives nothing away.

I'm not above buying from less reputable sellers and I'm wondering what I could find in such a place. The Diamond Dog looks a little surprised that I answered at all but smiles after hearing my words. "Twenty of those bits and I'll show you the way." She holds out a paw a little smugly and I turn on the spot to leave without another word. "W-Wait! How about ten?!"

I pause, getting more annoyed at her trying to bargain with me, I turn to her with a blank look before taking out eight bits and throwing them to her. She fails to catch most of them but smiles in some form of victory, I honestly can't tell when this Diamond Dog is so fucking nonchalant about this when she should be more nervous or wary. "HEY. This is two short!" She sounds indigent.

I'm beyond done dealing with this, even if it's a little amusing how she's reacting. "Lose two bits or lose an arm... Pick." I say keeping my cold tone while showing my dagger. It seems that literally being threatened with mutilation finally makes her take this a little more seriously.

She seems to take in my look again which I allow as she's already seen what I look like. She looks for any hint of my intentions before letting out a nervous chuckle. "Good one, you, uhh. You come up with that yourself?" She tries to wave my words off and I just draw my dagger out of its sheath in response.

She is silent for a moment but it seems my blank face finally convinces her I'm not joking, she now looks scared and a little horrified. "Ya, s-sure, deal." Her tone is notably more subdued now and she nods before slowly picking up her broken weapon and putting it in her bag before walking past me warily. I could have just paid her the full amount, but I have a plan.

I could find a black market on my own, but that takes time I do not want to spend. I shorted her to find an excuse to threaten her with harm, I want to make a statement to her so she actually takes me to the right place. Do not fuck with me. This solves another problem to some extent.

She tells others I'm not to be messed with because I come off as a literal crazy pony threatening to sever limbs, something that is not common by any means even here. I notice that as we walk the Diamond Dog seems on edge, my eyes never leave her for a moment and that seems to just raise the tension in her.

We walk to a lower part of the city that rests at a low point of the massive cavern, even less light is here and it's nearing the end of the day now so it's dark. The shadowy streets seem to heighten the tension even more, and my constant blank staring really seems to be freaking her out now.

She points down a street with several other beings moving around the area. "D-down there, t-to the left." She answers and as soon as I stop staring at her she backs up from me quickly. I just start walking down a completely different street and ignore her while leaving the area, after a few moments she takes that as her cue to run off quickly without looking back.

In short, I planned to find a black market by using her, something I've probably achieved, and to put the fear of Celestia into that fool. She'll talk to others about some crazy pony and I should have fewer problems with them in the future while walking the streets. Although, some may ask questions about my actions.

It's not like I did anything illegal, I just paid some residents of this fine city to help me and threatened them to stay to the deal we made. Also if it comes down to it, it's my word against a common thief's. I doubt she'll cause me more trouble though, I'm simply not worth the risk.

I mark the location with a business name and make a mental note to buy a map tomorrow before setting out to return to where I am staying. As I walk through the dark streets I replay everything in my head again. I may not have handled that perfectly, but it turned out well enough I think, maybe I should play with Entropy a bit and meditate though, being this irritable won't help me.

Still, it's best if I buy temporary saddlebags that stand out less and find a way to disguise myself for any trips to shady markets in the future. I'd prefer to remain completely unknown in any place like that, I just hope things go better there than they did today.

When I get back to my room I settle down for a shower and try to relax. If nothing else this trip is already proving to be interesting.

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :D
Current year is 995

I got a little wild with the world building, and maybe went a little overboard. But I think it's an interesting if generic location.

Chapter 196

MAR 12 Sunday.

The past two days have been both fun and refreshing.

First and foremost I've done some reflecting on what happened a few days ago. I realized pretty quickly that I probably went a little overboard. I still think my plan was fine, it worked and I'll get to the results in a minute, but I think I let my anger and annoyance get the best of me.

It's just the fact that my last three trips had something happening to me and I really was hoping this would be peaceful, but I guess I can only find peace at home. I ended up spending a few hours calming down that day and trying to have a better mindset, but that takes time.

I'll probably get annoyed at something again, but I just need to not be so violent, or at least save those emotions for training and practice. With all this in mind, I spent yesterday doing nothing but relaxing and finding places around the city to eat and draw different views.

As for training, I decided to join in on the morning run with the rest of the guard today and yesterday. The rhythmic thumps of my hooves and heartbeat help me work through my thoughts and help me relax before the meeting I'll be going to later today.

Most of the guards stopped running before me while I just kept pushing my body to its limit, at least Stone will be happy about my suffering. Back to the first topic though, the black market I was shown is probably real. I've walked past the outside and swept my spatial senses inside to make sure.

The market seems to be inside of a large building, a warehouse of some type from the looks of. I haven't gone into the black market though as I'm still trying to relax for the time being and treat my vacation like an actual vacation, or at least as much as I can with how I train and plan.

I've also put more thought into my plan for actually going into the black market, first I need a disguise. The spell I made for Celestia to make Cadance look like her is a perfect solution to this particular problem. I'll just modify it to make me look completely different while casting another spell to change my saddlebag color and pattern.

It's a bit much probably but it should make it very hard to recognize or track me, and that's all that really matters. As my lungs burn I finally stop and take a moment to nearly empty my flask of water, I choose to ignore the looks a few mare guards sent me as I was running and just head inside for a shower after that.

The healing spells work quickly and the cold water refreshes me enough to head down to breakfast to grab some food with Entropy on my back under an illusion. The dining area is a large hall that was fitted with several long tables to sit at while another table holds food from a kitchen behind a doorway.

Today is the official start of the diplomatic meetings so almost everyone is in the room talking and eating food. All the tables are pretty full so I just sit at one randomly before digging into my food. Something positive I've learned is that our food is also made by a few Griffons along with some ponies so there is some decently seasoned meat on the menu.

I make sure to feed Entropy well and I get a few surprised looks from any of the Griffons that see her with me. It's something I still don't have context for as most seem to simply have some respect for crows, but I have a feeling I'm about to get some answers.

I only get halfway through my meal before a certain Griffon walks into the room and gets some food before spotting me. Viridis Everfalls, turns out the last name of Everfalls is from an old noble family in the city, it's a large family though so it's a not very unique name to have.

Considering that Viridis is a diplomat for a far-off country that hasn't meant much to them up until recently, I don't think she's an important member of the family. All this brings to mind the political structure of Feather Falls, but I have to cut those thoughts short as Viridis sits down next to me without any fanfare.

"Hello Shade, how has the city been treating you? I myself find it lovely to be home again, it's an amazing place don't you think?" Her tone is friendly enough but stays fairly formal overall. She seems pretty relaxed though and more confident than on the train, and more careful too.

She looks intrigued as I take a bite of meat. I nod after eating a bit more. "Well enough, and I'll agree with you there, this city is certainly something interesting. A bit dark though, you could use a window." I try to relax more even when around her and make a stupid joke.

She looks a bit taken off guard at the sudden joke and my change in tone from our last meeting, but she's able to push past her surprise quickly. She lets out a soft and polite chuckle but it's clear to me that she was prepared for something less informal. "Well, I suppose we could put in a skylight, it's only a few thousand feet of stone above us after all." She jokes back after a moment.

I take this moment to cast a silence spell around us from under the table. "I like a good verbal spar as much as the next pony, but let's stop all this. What can I do for you and why should I do it?" I ask with a blunt and relaxed tone. I acted carefully the last time we met but I think I have a good feeling for her now and I'm not changing who I am and how I speak just for someone I barely know.

That seems to throw her through a loop completely and it's several long moments before she finally speaks again. "You really aren't who you seem to be. Did you know I tried to get your file? I'm supposed to have access to all of the files for the diplomats and scribes on this trip, curiously they rejected showing me yours." She spills out some information to try and make me slip up probably.

Truth is I just don't care in the slightest at this point, she already knows there is something odd about me, and trying to hide will just make her dig even more. It's better to simply admit I'm odd while stonewalling any questions and just get to the bottom of what she wants from me.

There is a long moment as she looks for any reaction from me, but I refuse to give a single fuck. After a while, I finish my food and she sighs slightly, "How much do you know about the current political situation right now?" She's now trying to rattle me with complex words and questions.

I shrug a little without really hiding my slight smile. "Enough to do my job." I don't give her a thing and start to enjoy teasing her with my lack of clarity and care of the situation. Messing with her is proving to be more fun than playing along with the intrigue and politics.

At this point she lets a little annoyance slip into her tone a little. "And I suppose if I were to ask you, you'd say your job is being a translation scribe and nothing else?" I don't even nod to that. "Fine. I'd like you to hear me out, but I think somewhere more private is preferable, yes?"

I think about that for a moment. I could just make her talk here, it's not like others could hear us right now. But if I'm going to even try and hear her out and even vaguely get involved in this I'd like as many aces up my proverbial sleeves as possible. As for why I'm even thinking about hearing her out?

Well, like I said I would like some peace and quiet on my trip, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out she might not just give up easily, and I really don't want to deal with that. She's desperate enough to want to talk with me, a completely unknown pony with no background and many secrets, to help her achieve something.

After a long moment of thought I nod slowly. "Sure, just don't try and ambush me, it won't go well." My tone is a bit less relaxed but still completely informal. She looks pleased and confused at that and stands up without even bothering with her food at all, what a waste of decent food.

"Thank you for hearing me out, I have an office we can use." She turns and we walk out of the room a moment later. After we're out of the room she turns to me and keeps talking. "You didn't really answer my question, so I'll give some context so you know what's going on." She makes it sound like a favor for me.

I stay silent so she talks as we walk through the hallways. "The current King, King Adosis, has ruled for three terms, almost thirty years, and thus can not be elected again. So, he's nominating a niece of his, she is the head of diplomatic efforts and my boss." She explains with some patience, that I think she thinks I'm not very politically savvy, which is not wrong.

I didn't know about the nomination, but I did know about the current king. The election system of Feather Falls is an odd mix of royalty and democracy. Districts of the city elect a noble to govern them, and then those nobles along with other powerful individuals elect a ruler.

Most of these individuals who can vote are the elected nobles, who also have ten-year terms but the rest are different, some are merchants, others are guild leaders, and a few are simply old and powerful family heads. As you'd imagine, a system with both elected and inherited positions along with an elected monarch is a massive clusterfuck.

I chose not to research the government here more than that and have no idea what the details of the situation are like. But I now know why she needs my help at least, her boss getting elected could be big for her, really big. Eventually, we arrive at an office and she lets me in before closing the door behind me and activating an object on the desk. "No one will be overhearing us now."

I am curious about the magical item, but leave it be for now and just sit down. "So, why do you think I can help you do anything? In your own words, I'm just a scribe. And why do you want it secret? Is this going to be illegal?" I tease her more with a relaxed tone and try to not get too entangled in this.

She sighs again and looks me over before looking at Entropy. "No, this is not illegal, but it would look bad for me so it's best we're not overheard. And normally? No, you're not of much help, but your friend here changes things. King Adosis is very known for his love of crows, and if this new trade deal were to go well then my boss would look very good to the nobles." She drops a lot of pretense and just starts to lay it all out.

I listen silently. "Now this is where you come in. Out of the three translation scribes here, one is for the Zebra language and the other is like you working with the Griffon language, they are planned to be at the table with us while you are going to be sitting in the back with the paperwork." I know all of this so just nod waiting for her to get to the point.

"I'll be sitting on the side offering information to both sides of the negotiation and I want you to join me at the table with my boss, doing your work in full view of the king, and I want your friend to come with us. Along with talking to the king at the party afterward if he approaches you and trying to make a favorable impression." I'm starting to put the plan together myself.

She and her boss want this deal to go smoothly, so having a scribe with a pet the king likes could be useful, but really? This seems like a lot of work for something so small. "Really? All this, buttering me up, seeking me out, just for that?" I ask levelly with a blank face while thinking this over in my head more.

She smiles a bit. "When I said he likes crows, I really meant it. He's literally famous for owning several dozen expertly trained crows. A little odd but he is the king." Her tone is more relaxed. "As for you though, I'll pay quite well for your time, especially considering the small efforts on your end." She's being vague about her reasons now and trying to dangle money over my head.

I stare her down for a moment. "You didn't answer my question, so I'll be more blunt. I'm no one, so how does this help you?" I ask without any pretending or beating around the bush as I'm tired of even trying to be stubtle right now.

She stares dryly at me a little amused at the bluntness. "I was honest when we first met, I was curious about you, nothing more, but after talking I thought you could prove useful in some way. You seem to be just a scribe, but a few powerful individuals do not want this deal going through, I do. And I'm willing to pay well to up the chances, even just a little bit." Her tone is enticing and she's trying to appeal to my greed again.

I'll give her this, it's not a horrible plan, and it's pretty simple too. She stands to gain if this deal goes through, so spending a few hours trying to up the chances a bit makes some sense. The whims of rules can be implosive and detached, I don't know this king, but if he's like that this could work well or not at all, but there is little overall risk for me.

As for me? Honestly, I'm tempted, not by the money, and certainly not by the attention. But, we came here to make a trade deal, form new connections, and get better sources of information on the situation in the Wild Lands. Feather Falls works very well for all of that.

It's a big trade route from the coast into the inner continent because of its location. This city is a nightmare to try and attack and it is a large weapon producer. The plateau the city is inside has abundant mines that are used for metal production, the city's main export.

This is why I'm thinking of accepting it, this could be a good connection to gain information in the future. And while doing this is going to be a little uncomfortable, I'm not exactly doing anything that complicated or dangerous. It will probably suck, especially the party I was planning to skip, but I think it's worth it.

After a long moment, I nod slowly but stop her from speaking. "I don't want your money, I want a favor." She raises a brow slightly. "Nothing big, but something I can call on if needed." I could have just asked for information but a favor is more flexible, and having a favor from a family like the Everfalls could prove useful someday, even if it's just a small favor.

She looks intrigued but nods after a moment. "Clever, but this is a little small for payment like that normally. But sure, why not? I can't and won't promise anything big, but I can promise something small. Within reason of course, because if it's not you'll have far less than a favor." A slight threat is thrown in much to my amusement.

She holds out a talon and I shake it. "And if you back out, we'll be having words in less pleasant circumstances." I threaten a little right back. "Have a good day Miss. Viridis, and see you at the meeting" I give her a short nod walk outside the office and quickly walk off to my room to clear my head a little.

But when I get there I see Shining waiting for me. "There you are, you kept me waiting, for a while, you owe me a drink." He jokes before nodding in greeting. "Cadance wants to talk to you about the meeting. Now come on, you're keeping me from my work." Shining's friendly and relaxed tone is a welcome change in the mood.

I roll my eyes. "Well excuse me for being in a secret meeting with a nosy negotiator to earn us a favor," I say back a little blandly and he looks at me like I've grown a second head. "What? I can play this game of politics just like others." In response, he just laughs in my face without a second of hesitation.

"You- Oh, Cadance will love this! After she's done with you of course." He says vaguely before we enter a guarded room. Once the doors are closed I look around, It's a pretty plain-looking bedroom with Cadance waiting at a table. "I found the troublemaker, he got into more trouble, somehow. See you soon." He nods and chuckles again before walking out of the room in a hurry.

I'm just confused about what is happening and turn to Cadance with a raised brow at the events. "Ok, so what trouble am I in, and why?" I ask a little humorously and take a seat at the table. Her expression looks amused but also curious and concerned.

She smiles at me. "Well, apparently while at a bar a few guards were listening in to rumors and the like, doing their job." I nod as that's not too surprising, we did partly come here for information. "Then a Griffon started to talk about their friend almost getting stabbed by, and I quote, 'some crazy bucking pony.' Mind explaining?" She asks a little more seriously and it seems I'm now in trouble.

I just stare blankly for several long moments realizing I've been caught. Not many would do something like I did, let alone a pony, and she knows me well enough to connect the dots. I sigh after a moment. "Well, I'd ask what specifically you heard. But would it make you feel better if I said they drew a knife first?" I don't even try to deny anything as that will just get me in more trouble.

Her brows raise further and she looks even more concerned now. "No, they didn't hear much beyond that. So explain, NOW." She demands with concern in her look as she looks at me a bit. I feel a little relieved at her answer as I really don't want to talk about trying to find a black market, although I don't think that Diamond Dog is dumb enough to talk about that in any story she tells, I'm also guessing this unnamed Griffon is one of her lads.

I just nod. "Ok, so. I went for a walk and found a bookstore, bought two books, and then someone followed me. I knew they were following me so I tried to lose them in an alley, but they caught up and tried to rob me." I lie at a few points and hope she doesn't notice while trying to keep my story mostly truthful. Every word seems to make her look more concerned though.

"Wait! Why did you not tell us about this!?" She loudly demands while utterly confused by everything and a little angry at me.

I open my mouth and then close it. "It's just not how I work, and I really am sorry for that." My apology seems to confuse her more but it also seems to cut off her anger as she looks more worried about me than anything. "Look, it's complicated. But I like to try and fix my own problems, and I tend to ignore help as I don't like relying on others." I admit honestly.

Cadance doesn't really know what to say to that for a few moments, she takes a few deep breaths and lets out a long sigh. "Ok, sorry for shouting. But, please tell me in the future, magic forbid this happens again. And I'm telling Aunty about this, now keep going because you still have explaining to do." She smiles a bit and seems surprisingly willing to let this go.

I was expecting a talking-to as I got from Celestia last time I did something stupid, things are different now though. I didn't actually do much harm to anyone for starters, and she knows I can take care of myself, while I'm also basically an adult, unlike last time. I give her another apologetic look and nod. "Please do, I need another good kick in the flank from her."

Despite the mood, she smiles and takes the opportunity I unwittingly gave her. "Hmm, I didn't know you were into that sort of thing." My burning face is all she needs to laugh a bit and lighten the mood to something less serious. I really am thankful she's this calm about this, even if it means being teased more.

"There's not much else to say really. I took their weapon, threatened to remove their limb with my dagger, and they ran for it." I give a vague summary and lie a bit more. I really need to get better at not lying so much. "And before you ask, I didn't go to the city guard because I didn't really get a good look at the thief and trying to track them in this city?" I answer the most obvious question before it can be asked.

She rolls her eyes. "I would rather you did anyway, sadly I do agree with you though, knowing this city I don't think it would do much good." She speaks with a little disdain. I guess she is like most ponies and doesn't really like how much crime is around here. "Please stay safe Shade, I do not want to deal with Aunty flying over here." She pleads a little.

I don't really like that idea either, so I nod. "Sure, but Hey! This is not really my fault, I just defended myself." I verbally defend myself but she looks unconvinced.

She just throws a ball of paper at me that I catch without even flinching. "We both know they wouldn't have gotten away unless you let them, at least there's no paperwork. Now what is this new trouble? Because if I get into more danger I'm just assigning you a pair of guards." She sounds both amused and frustrated while bringing up Shining's words.

I actually smile at that. If nothing else I can enjoy causing her a headache. "Well, you remember Viridis Everfalls? The diplomat?" She raises a brow and nods. "She just made a deal with me to help the trade deal go through by sitting at the meeting table with Entropy, apparently the king likes crows, along with going to the party and talking to him if he approaches me there. I think she's desperate to even bother asking me. Oh, and she now owes me, and by extension you, a small favor in return." I admit with a little pride.

I chuckle a moment later as her mouth hangs open a bit in complete shock. "You- What?" I full-on laugh as her reaction is almost the same as Shining's. My words seem to sink in a few moments after the shock wears off and she starts to laugh with me. "Ok, I NEED to hear this." She takes out a few papers. "Aunty will love this." She teases and laughs more as I just sigh.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

I don't really know what to say here. So, have a lovely day. :]

PS, I've never really tried to write about politics, so sorry if this comes off as stupid. I hope you enjoy it if nothing else.

Chapter 197

MAR 12 Sunday.

I just give Cadance a deadpan stare as she continues to laugh after I finish telling her about the meeting I just had with Viridis.

I sigh. "You could offer some advice, or at least tell me how I did. Actually, did I do anything illegal? I don't think I did but I'm also... You know, ME." I joke a little to try and keep the much lighter mood in hopes we don't return to the previous topic, I already have to deal with Celestia as it is.

She keeps laughing like a mad mare for a few moments before getting some control over herself. "Well, I can certainly say you have surprised me, it's not unwelcome either." She passes me a teacup with some kind of lemon tea and continues. "To ease any worries, not that you deserve it after worrying me. No, I can't see this getting you in legal trouble, even if it's found out." She reassures me while also hanging me out to dry a bit.

I nod and don't try to deny it. "Thanks, and I am sorry. It's odd but I literally never thought of informing you, it's just how I work and it's something Celestia's helped with. I was worse a few years back if you can believe that?" I give a full apology and even open up a bit to be sincere.

She smiles oddly at my words and looks even more amused. "She's told me you used to be even more secretive, I guess she was right." I can tell she wants to ask the obvious question of why I do this, but she leaves it be. "I've been meaning to ask, you and Aunty disappear sometimes and it's curious. But I'll settle for what you think should be done with the favor you earned." She changes the topic with a slightly teasing and suggestive tone at first.

I knew she'd ask about this eventually, I thought it would have happened a while ago actually. I'm not sure about telling her about Gaia's Eden, but not answering will just make her dig more. I don't feel like dealing with answering that though so I'll leave it be for now.

I drink some more tea and lay out several stacks of paper, she knows my plans and narrows her eyes a bit. "We might as well make this meeting somewhat productive. As for the favor? I have no idea. I just thought it'd be better to have than asking for information." I answer honestly as she starts to look over a few papers. "Any suggestions?"

She smiles while reading and writing a few things. "Awww, is the wonder colt not up to politics?" She uses a baby voice and I just glare a little while she chuckles. "I'd recommend you save it for now, something she didn't mention was the fact that the favor won't mean much if this deal fails, something you should ask about if you try this again." She explains calmly.

I pause while flipping through some other pages to get to where we left off. "Huh. And this is why I don't like politics, too many things to consider. Give me a broken spell and my cozy apartment any day." I complain while passing her a page without attempting a rune on it.

She huffs. "Only you would think fixing a spell is easier than talking to others." She chuckles and looks over a list of words I passed her to maybe include in the Runic Context, but she stops after a moment. "Wait? Do you live in an apartment? I thought you would have bought a mansion by now." She asks half-jokingly.

I shrug. "Technically there are some laws preventing me from doing that until I'm an adult." She gives me an unconvinced look. "Laws I'm not asking Celestia to bypass. Anyway, I don't really see a reason to move. I got a bedroom, a workroom, a nice living space, and that's enough." I summarize simply while looking over the Runic Context and trying to think of ways to improve it.

She raises a brow. "How big is your home?" She asks curiously. It's not too surprising she'd find this odd, I do live below my means.

I answer with a little amusement. "I'm not entirely sure, but if I remember properly. Two ten by ten-foot rooms, and a larger ten by twenty-foot room, along with a bathroom." I chuckle at her slightly baffled look. "You know me well enough, I'm not one for fancy things."

She laughs a bit and smiles down at me. "The stallion who gave me enough bits to buy a high-end house, In the royal district, lives in a small apartment. I can't tell if you are humble or just lazy. Have you thought about moving out then? It'd be a good way to change things up after your birthday." She suggests.

I think for a moment and shake my head. "I'll probably travel more, but I think I'll stay, I like it there and my friends are close by. Now, enough small talk, we have work to do and I have a party to mentally prepare for." I smile as she glares a little and I force us to get some work done.

time skip

I finish combing out my short mane and tie it back behind my head again. I've kept cutting my mane short with a knife as it's less bothersome than getting it cut at a barber.

I put away my comb and started to organize the notes me and Cadance made while working on the Love rune. Progress is still being made and the Context is finally fucking done after so much work, but the diplomatic meetings and travel will slow things, I'll also be leaving before her so we'll have to test the rune later as I need to be there to help when we start modifying the rune.

I take a moment to look over the symbol we made for the Love rune. Its base is a simple heart, at Cadance's insistence, and it grows more complex from there. Lines split off from the top and bottom of the heart, they go in four directions from the heart at a slanted angle.

They then turn and twist like vines to overlap each other to form a larger heart of twisting lines around the smaller heart in the middle. Originally this was all that we did, but after some thought the lines were changed to have thorns on them that mimic those of a rose. It makes it a little harder to draw but fits the theme so we added it.

After I'm done copying my notes into my bracelet's illusionary notebook and destroying the originals I take a few moments to go through my saddlebags and leave anything of importance. I make sure to also leave my weapons as that's probably not a good thing to bring, along with any other important items.

I think for a moment before deciding to leave the dagger Phelix gave me as well. It could be useful but I do not understand the political situation nearly well enough to show up with that and flaunt it around. I rather not start a war or some kind of diplomatic event.

Once everything is in order I turn to Entropy. "Ok Girl, you remember the rules?" She hops on my back and nods, while I cast an overpowered illusion spell on Entropy and she now looks like a normal crow again. "Ready to go then?" I ask happily as while this is going to be a shit show it will at least be interesting.

She nods her head again. "Be good. Excited." She's getting better at using her words and I feel a little pride every time she improves her speech.

"Don't get your hopes up, this is not going to be all that interesting. I think." I warn as I leave my room behind and head down to the lobby where everybody is gathered and waiting for our main attraction.

I spot Viridis in our group but all eyes turn as Cadance joins us. Most settle for bowing their head instead of fully bowing as it's not practical in a crowd. Not long after we're all out the door and on the move through the noon city streets, although even with it being noon things are dark.

We're near the back of the city from the cavern opening and back here it's simply dark, and it only gets even darker as we head even deeper into the cavern the city occupies. As we walked I kept looking around while remembering Cadance's advice to me before we finished our meeting.

It was nothing special, she just told me a few simple things to keep in mind. One, be respectful, this one is easy. Two, if the king asks about Entropy be honest but vague, this is also easy. Three, don't ignore other guests even if you want to, I don't like this one but I'll do it. Four, just because you technically can sit anywhere at this meeting doesn't mean you should, this one is just common sense.

As we walk the streets start to be lit by street lamps with fires burning in them, again there are gems that seem to remove any smoke. The buildings get more fancy and well-maintained, I even saw a few mushroom gardens, but that will also have to wait for another day.

As we reach the very back of the cavern we arrive at the palace and main governmental building of Feather Falls. Stone stairs lead up to a large entrance carved into the stone of the cavern wall itself, along with many other windows and openings lit up throughout the stone surface.

When we reach the top of the stairs we are stopped by heavily armored and well decorated Griffon guards, it takes a while for us to be searched and let through. I needed to empty my saddlebags in front of them, which only had some paper and writing supplies along with treats for Entropy.

Speaking of Entropy, she gets more than a few surprised and curious looks from Griffons around us. Interestingly enough I see a well-dressed Griffon noble has their own crow wearing a thin string to keep it from flying off. The crow seems well-behaved but is not as calm as Entropy is.

After we are let in we walk down a large hallway a dozen feet wide that eventually opens up into a small cavern with a massive chandelier hanging above us and preparations for the party being made around us. Several dozen tables are being filled with fancy food and decorations and brought hanging as we enter one last doorway on the other end of the chamber.

The final room is still large but still more quiet and smaller in comparison to the small cavern, it has a long stone table with a stone throne at one end of the room raised a little. Interestingly enough it seems they moved the table here as it's very slightly off-center, or the carvers of this fucked something up pretty badly.

As we enter the room no one bows out of respect for both rulers in attendance as Cadance and King Adosis meet each other and talk a little. Most of our group stayed in the large party room and the dozen who went into this room were here for the meeting. I don't pay much attention to the words said and instead take in the king's appearance.

He holds himself well, but he's a little heavy set in the belly and his age is really showing. Many of his feathers are silvery and he has a few bald spots. His body feathers and fur are a faded deep red, his wing feathers are even more faded, and honestly, I'm not sure if he can even fly well as several flight feathers are missing from his wings.

His head feathers are mostly silver and white while his eyes are a bright yellow that shows his age and experience. He seems pretty jovial and relaxed while talking to Cadance and I spend a moment looking around. As most others watch them talk I move over to Viridis and an older Griffon with her. "Miss. Viridis." I greet them levelly with a nod and keep a professional tone.

She keeps a professional attitude in turn but seems a little pleased to see me. "Mr. Shade. Nice of you to join us." I nearly shutter at that but keep myself under control. "This is Auran Everfalls, my superior." She motions to the Griffon next to her which stands with a straight stance.

I look her over for a moment and she does the same. Light red with fur with deeper red body feathers and very light red wing feathers, along with white head feathers and reddish yellow eyes. I can see her resemblance with the king and it's clear they are related.

The main thing I notice though is the stone cold firm expression face she has. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss. Auran." I also quickly took note that Viridis didn't mention she was related to her boss, and by extension the king. I'll need to be on guard with these two, but not unfriendly.

She gives me a firm nod in return. "Agreed, I was told you'd be joining us?" Her tone is surprisingly blunt and nonemotional. It's not unfriendly, but it's also not friendly, just very matter-of-fact and to the point. I just nodded in response, "Good, read this and copy it in Pony for me." She gives me a blatant order.

I'm a little surprised as there is only one person who can truly order me around, but I do as asked anyway. The paper seems to just be a list of names, nothing even remotely interesting, but it doesn't take me all that long. I just write it out on the floor while keeping an eye on what's happening around me and Auran as she watches me intently. "Here you go, not a bad choice for a test, Griffon names can be tricky." I complement bluntly.

It's obvious she doesn't really need this list and was testing me for some reason, probably because I'm an unknown. She looks it over for a moment before nodding seemingly satisfied. "It is rather effective." She confirms my guess before looking at Entropy. "Keep her under control, I don't want you causing trouble." She again gives me an order, and I decide to just go with it.

I just sit in silence with them after that as the meeting finally begins. At the head of the large table, Cadance and her diplomats sit opposite of King Adosis and his own diplomats. Any other attendants who need to do work but aren't talking at the moment, like me, Viridis, and oddly enough Auran as well, we all sit on the other end of the table not far away.

I'm not the only pony on this side of the table here so I don't really stand out too much if you don't count Entropy. It's only a dozen feet separating our two groups around the table and both sides seem to swap out people when needed. Not long later I got burdened with paperwork and got to work, it's also now that I noticed that Auran sat me at the very end of the table right in the middle so everybody could see me, just lovely.

As I start my work and we all settle in Auran is next to me with Viridis at her other side. Entropy takes this moment to find a comfortable spot to nap, namely on the tabletop next to me. She's not the only one as a crow that the king himself brought stands on the table impatiently, along with two other crows from a pair of nobles.

It's not immediate, but others do start to notice Entropy sleeping peacefully like she's a statue despite all the noise. As I work I'm not terribly surprised that someone starts a conversation with me, I however am surprised by who does speak. Auran doesn't turn to me but speaks to me anyway. "What is their name?" It's a blunt question, but it's more friendly in tone and far less cold than I expected.

I can see she's put on a mask and is acting more diplomatic than earlier. I work and speak at the same time, "I call her a few things, but Shadow works fine. Also, don't touch her, she will bite you." I respond in an equally bland but fake-friendly tone to match her.

It seems we're similar in this way, we'll act friendly and use formality, but only if needed. Her words and actions do make me wonder if she was something like a guard in the past. She nods with some seriousness, "You may get that from others, but I know better. She is remarkably well trained." She comments in some form of a compliment.

"Good, and yes she is." I won't elaborate beyond that and move some papers to the side after translating and copying them with a quick Copy spell. Something she notices quickly and seems interested in.

She looks over as an attendant whispers to her. "I'll be back." She stands and moves over to get involved in the meeting.

I stay there but after a few minutes Entropy seems to get a little annoyed as another crow keeps cawing insistently, much to their owner's embarrassment, and disrupting Entropy's attempt at rest. "Loud." She chirps quietly to me while moving to cuddle on the side of my forelimb as I work.

It seems her moving seems to draw enough attention and the king notices her. Currently, Auran is talking to a pony diplomat about something, and the king's just reading a few documents when he spots me with a little surprise on his face. He stares at me but I don't look up from my work.

His own crow seems very well-behaved, at least enough to not caw or make a scene of itself, but it's still a little restless and needs to play with a toy. In contrast, Entropy just looks around and quietly and watches things silently as I occasionally pet her, this seems to intrigue him further.

He doesn't pay attention for long as the meeting needs his undivided attention again. But Auran comes back not long after, "You got his attention, it's a start, just don't mess it up." She says without ceremony while sitting down next to me again. "Where did you buy her?" She digs for more information.

I could lie, but that just complicates things so I take Cadance's advice and tell a vague truth. "I didn't, I bought her egg and raised her myself," I answer simply and that seems to surprise her enough to break her mask a bit, something that probably doesn't happen much. "Also, I will never sell her. So, how likely is it that he asks to buy her?" I knew someone might ask something along those lines and thought I'd ask about it as saying no to the king might cause problems.

That seems to actually make her think for a moment. "Hmm. Have you ever learned about why crows are so important to us?" She asks and I shake my head a little. "Well, they just got to trade routes and taxes so we have plenty of time, let me tell you a bit of a tale about Feather Falls and my ancestor." Her tone is a bit more interested and she starts to speak.

I smirk a bit at her words and continue my work. :Finally, something worth listening to, or at least something more worthwhile than this meeting:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 995

I really can't stop myself from writing. How many chapters are we into in this ack? Six? Severn? OH GOD, Has it been seven?! I literally don't remember! I really need to speed this shit up!

Also, birb meeting with little birbs.

Chapter 198

MAR 12 Sunday.

I copy another document by casting a Copy spell and spend a few moments organizing a few documents while she continues to speak.

She watches me cast spells with interest, probably because Runic Casting is uncommon even among ponies, let alone other races. And that's for just a Novice, a Journeypony Runic Caster is even more uncommon. "The founder of my family was an explorer, and something of an... Eccentric."

I don't react and just keep listening. "His name was Everfalls Calix, he originated from the Wild Lands, and without getting into too many specifics, he got involved in a war." She has to pause as someone passes her some paperwork of her own. "He ended up on the losing side of that conflict."

"He and what remained of his people lost their city entirely from the conflict and they had to run away. The journey was, problematic. To leave the territory they had to move through a neighboring city's territory and they took offense, to the point of gathering or destroying any form of forageable supplies from Calix's path." She watches my reaction while saying that.

I nod after some thought and motion for her to continue, my utter lack of reaction seems to make her even more interested in me. I know Viridis probably told her what she knew about me, and honestly being studied and watched like this is unpleasant for me, but I keep all of those emotions in a corner of my mind for now.

As for the story? It seems pretty standard to me, this is a classic Human tactic for war that's been tried and tested countless times. "They also suffered from occasional attacks, bandits, monsters, or just the wildlife, all standing in his way. But in the end, he led his group to relative safety." This is starting to sound like some classic propaganda.

I decided to at least give lip service to her story. "He certainly sounds like a capable leader, I also remember hearing of him a bit. He founded the city right?" I literally have never heard of this guy, but I vaguely remember at least that much, not that I tried very hard to learn all that much about this city's past.

She passes a few papers to Viridis to work on. "Yes. While he eventually found some safety atop the Great Plateau." That I believe is what they call the plateau that Feather Falls presides within. "But, his enemies preferred him to not rebuild elsewhere and pursued him not long after." Again that sounds suspiciously vague.

"At the time Calix was building a fort on the plateau edge, and soon after it was built he was put under siege. Nowhere to retreat to, and all negotiation utterly failed." This is sounding more like an adult children's story, with enough context to make it believable without talking about the other side of the proverbial coin.

"But something odd started to happen. Calix had a pet crow, one they say he himself raised from birth, it's said he often used it to carry messages to his scouts while on his long exodus. But more curiously, his companion started to act oddly. It was seen circling the cliff for hours with seemingly no reason."

This is at least entertaining enough to keep my attention and ignore any looks from others at the table as the king keeps glancing at Entropy from time to time. "It would fly along the cliff and out of sight night after night before returning in the morning. And one day Calix grew concerned for his loyal companion and insisted on following them despite the danger of his persistent enemies."

I watch as Entropy seems to grow a little too bored, so I feed her a treat to bribe her to bear with the situation along with crumpling a ball of paper for her to play with. Auran looks interested as Entropy starts to try and crush the paper more with her talons.

"So, in the dead of night, he flew off without telling anygriff about his plans. He flew along the cliff and eventually followed his companion to a small cave under a massive waterfall in the seemingly endless cliffside. He followed inside deeper only to find a massive expanse of darkness that seemed to have no end, and his companion resting in a nest made from stone."

I nearly raise a brow at that because it implies something interesting, after a moment of thought I just decide to ask. "That implies that this entire cavern was enclosed at one point in time? I find that rather hard to believe, no offense." I voice a little of my thoughts and show my doubts to see her reaction.

She keeps a friendly but neutral face like always and nods. "Yes, I suppose it does. But it is the truth, once this place was fully encased in stone. The city is only six hundred years old after all and this place would have been found much earlier if it was so easily spotted." I can see the reason there, still. "It's not as if Canterlot's palace is any less impressive of a feat, in fact, I'd say they make a good parallel." Again she makes a fair point trying to sway me a little to accept it.

I just nod after that and she continues. "The stone nest was odd as it was mentioned by Calix but never really elaborated on, and no Griff has even found out what he meant by it. From here things get more uncertain. The story goes that after this Calix explored enough to get an idea, he prepared and in a single night somehow moved all his Griffons here and their things into the cavern. His enemies thought he'd fled and left to pursue him." That one just doesn't make sense, I can't really think of a realistic way to do that.

"From there he decided to just stay at the strategic location. At first, they supplied the community by digging a bigger entrance and selling metal. As for your question? Well, it depends." Finally, I get an actual fucking answer to my question, I hope at least.

"Crows are called royal birds because Calix outlawed hunting them and considered them a symbol of the city, and later in life he considered them a symbol of the god's favor." I honestly don't know much about the beliefs of this city so don't comment on that. "Over time they became a sign of fortune to the city itself and were considered guides for those destined for greatness."

Adding religion into this complicates things, but could also work in my favor if the king believes such things, or if he's against it I'll have to find out. "Even further along they were integral for passing messages during wars and other crises along with a few other incidents that ended in our favor, and now they are a symbol of the crown itself to some extent."

I finish a pile of work and have nothing left to work on for the moment, so I move Entropy over to me and start carefully petting her to not disrupt the illusion. "I doubt he'd try and force you outright, but how well a crow is trained is often considered a sign of their master's respective skill." She hints bluntly at the fact that Entropy is very well trained from an outside perspective.

I silently nod my thanks and continue my work as more paper is added to the table in front of me. Auran offered some advice, but I think I won't be getting much else out of her as she stands up a while later and joins some other conversation after she's called to the other end of the table.

As I'm left alone I let my mind think my plans through. Her words were vague and in no way a guarantee, not much of a surprise for a politician. As for the king? I do have some worries, but I doubt things will escalate too much, or I at least find it very unlikely.

From the fact that the king has glanced my way a few times throughout the meeting I know he's curious at a minimum. What worries me is his intentions, no matter what the situation. I am of a lower standing than him, and a big part of my being at the party is making a favorable impression on him.

There are a few ways I could go about this though. I know he likes crows his own pet crow looks healthy and well-trained, and considering the story I was told, fictional or otherwise, I think he raised the crow himself. I mostly think this as the crow seems to actually relax around him.

It's something you get a feel for, I know how Entropy acts with others and she doesn't fully trust anyone but me, not even Celestia, sure she'll let them pet her but there is a line in the sand. Back to the king though, this gives me an angle I can use to talk to him.

As I think and work I keep an eye on the meeting and listen in a little. Most things go right over my head, no matter how smart I am I am not educated to negotiate deals like this. What I do understand is mostly just things that will always be argued over, who pays what and why someone else should pay it instead.

After a while things mostly blend together and while a few Griffons seem curious about me they focus on the meeting and let me work in relative peace, thank magic for that. Time seems to speed up as I lose myself in my work and by the time the table in front of me is empty things are done for now.

It's clear this will not be the only meeting, we barely got through a single trade deal so far. I do find the opportunity to leave the room before most others as I no longer need to translate or copy anything. I soon regret this as I'm one of the first few out of the meeting room.

I walk right out into a full party with music and everything, and for a few short moments, me and Entropy are in a far too big spotlight.

I quickly move the FUCK out of the way and move towards a wall of the room. Still, I draw eyes anywhere I am, it seems that a crow well-behaved enough to relax in a busy party is pretty interesting, and Entropy seems just fine with the attention. After a while, some well-dressed Griffon even tries to approach me, probably to talk, but that's cut off as their eyes shift a bit and they turn away quickly to talk to someone else.

Apparently, the king did decide I was interesting, as he slowly made his way over to me while talking to Ponies and Griffons along the way. I could run away? But I was pai- Wait no, I'm not even getting paid for this. I was bribed with favors of an uncertain nature to talk to him, that really doesn't sound any better does it?

In the end, I just snack on a few things with Entropy and wait for the inevitable. When the old Griffon king finally arrives near, I and others around me greet him with a half bow. I just bow my head and neck while placing a hoof on my chest, he doesn't speak to me immediately but does after talking to a few others.

He walks over and eyes Entropy a bit. "Your Highness, it is a pleasure to meet you." I greet them formally as he fully turns to me and looks me in the eye for a few moments.

He nods slightly. "To you as well, I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting before? You are a scribe, yes?" His tone is odd. It's jovial, but not weak or informal in any way. He gives off the feel of a wise and competent leader that you can just relax around.

I immediately choose to force myself to not relax and keep things very formal. I nod in return, "Yes Your Majesty, I am one of the translation scribes, Shade Evergreen, it's an honor. And no, sadly I have not had the pleasure of meeting you before." I keep a formal and praising tone while keeping eye contact.

He gives me a smile and his own crow sits on his back like Entropy does with me, although his crow has a string on it and looks a tad bit uncomfortable with the large crowd. "Oh, where are my manners? This is Phoso, my companion. I see we share that in common." I can see he wants to know things and just decides to give that information away without a fight.

"A pleasure and I suppose so. This is Shadow, or Little Shadow, she has a few names she likes. She's been my companion since she was hatched by me." I reveal some basic things and make it sound uninteresting.

He smiles a little wider. "Really? It seems we have more in common than I first thought, I myself raised Phoso." Ok, not a bad start, I think that at least works in my favor. "So, what were you and my niece talking about? You both seemed rather talkative, an accomplishment when it comes to my dear niece." He digs more and I can tell he knows something is up.

I'm already tired of using any form of formality, it's just so annoying. "She was kind enough to tell me the tale of the city's founding, it was certainly interesting and informative," I say neutrally and spend a moment shifting as Entropy looks over at the other crow with curiosity and a healthy dose of wariness.

I do notice that many, MANY eyes are currently on us and I'm trying my best to keep myself calm and collected. The king chuckles a small bit, "Yes, she is rather fond of that tale, she can be... Blunt while telling it, however. It is rather good to see a responsible owner, many do not take the responsibility seriously." I feel as if he's joking at the expense of other nobles here.

I don't nod and just say something noncommittal. "I suppose so. And from you, Your Majesty, that is high praise." It honestly is, I'm not even that good at crow raising, I just have a very smart crow. "You yourself probably know more than me, I've just done my best so far." I show some humility.

He chuckles good-naturedly. "No need to be humble now. Shadow here seems as calm as the wind, even with so many around her. I am rather curious how you trained her." A not-so-subtle request for me to change the subject back to me and my little friend.

I again decided to downplay things. "I myself am not entirely sure, to be honest. I grew up and raised her in Canterlot, it is a very active city and she seems to have simply adapted well. Beyond that, simply teaching her with treats and punishments." This is not even a lie as that is what I did.

He nods. "Hmm, exposure to a large and busy city? I'll admit I never thought to really try that. I myself use the same method of punishment and reward, although I find it doesn't always work well with some crows. Some simply seem too, curious, to train well." He comments and even with his formal tone, I can see he's enjoying the topic.

Well, I should at least try to do the job I was asked to do. "I agree Your Majesty, Shadow here can still be rather... Mischievous when at home. I have gotten her to do a few small tricks though, with some great difficulty." I nearly chuckled at the memory of Entropy teleporting around to catch treats.

To my surprise, the off-handed comment gets his undivided interest. "Really? Have you ever tried to get her to speak on command? I myself have but it's proven very difficult to consistently achieve. I once heard Phoso speak a word I tried to teach her for a week straight, only for her to never say it again, even after years." He chuckles a bit and I spend a moment in thought.

In the past I did know of a decent method to do just that, he probably already knows about it but it's worth a try and this is going well. "Hmm, somewhat yes." My answer seems to surprise him. "She won't speak on command, but I found it helped when I gave her an example."

He looks thoroughly intrigued so I look around the food table for an example. After a few moments, I pick up a grape and hold it out to Entropy. "What is this?" I ask and I know she's smart enough to get the meaning of what I want her to do without raising suspicion.

I know this is risky but I trust my companion and this meeting is going really well so far. Entropy looks over the fruit inspecting it and even bites it a bit. "Grape." She says with a little fake difficulty. I smile at her acting and let her eat the grape off of my hoof as the king looks both impressed and very interested in the little display.

I speak before he can. "I guess she's excited today, that rarely works so well." I downplay things hard with my tone. "That particular word took weeks, and even after a few years she only knows a few words. Funnily enough, I've had the same problem as His Majesty, she once said sky, and never again." I smile a bit and keep my tone reserved.

The king beams a bit at Entropy and moves closer to get a good look at her, I'm almost concerned he'll try and pet her but he doesn't. "Good show! You really must have some skill in training." He boasts a bit. "What is the method you used for this? I have tried to show them things before but it's never quite worked." He predictably digs more.

"I think it helps that Shadow is very food-oriented, it's rather hard to keep her away from a meal. I started with two types of treats, one she likes more and another less so but will still eat. I speak the word and give an example while trying to encourage her, if she succeeds she gets the preferred treat, and if not she gets the other." I pull something right out of my ass and try to pass it off as legitimate.

He looks happy and satisfied with my answer, or at least enough to not ask about it more than that. "A bit of a novel method, thank you for sharing Mr. Evergreen." He seems to think for a moment. "I will be at a gathering soon for owners such as ourselves, would you be so kind as to attend with me?" He asks and I'm now fucked.

I can't turn him down after he worded it like that, an offer from the king is something you don't just turn down. I really do not want to do this but fuck it, I'm already this deep in no turning back now. "It would be a pleasure, Your Majesty." I agreed after a moment.

He smiles wider and looks pleased again. "Very good to hear. I'll send somegriff with details, but I must attend to the other guests. I wish you a good night, please enjoy the festivities." He excuses himself simply and I honestly can't tell if he's being malicious in some way, his mask is simply too good.

"Of course Your Majesty, and to you as well." I finally relax a little as he walks away from me after that and I move even further into a corner of the cavern. But even after moving out of the way a few pairs of eyes linger on me and I know I'll have visitors soon enough.

I decided to at least eat before dealing with them. I sigh, reviewing all my thoughts and memories of that conversation. :I really REALLY hate politics. Wait, do I need a suit for that party? Fucckkkk!:

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. :D
Current year is 995

Ok, so, I think I have the rest of this trip planed out, at least a bit. Four more chapters at the worst, hopefully not five.

Ps, I had an odd moment while making up the back story for the whole crow thing. I hit a bit of a wall and started to complain to myself that I'm not a story teller. Then I realized that I am, it's been an odd day.

Chapter 199

MAR 18 Saturday.

I slowly draw out another rune into the spell matrix in the air, this has proven to be a somewhat interesting spell to make.

The past week has been both too fast and too slow for my liking. Much like last year I've been approached several times by nobles and interested parties. The good news is that unlike last year these nobles are less persistent and more or less just try to meet me and get to know me.

I'm not close to the king or royal family unlike in Griffonstone and that makes things much more bearable for me. I normally just do some bland small talk and find an excuse to stop talking to them, which is not that hard as most of the time they try to talk to me during the diplomatic meetings and I have work to do.

The meetings themselves are as bland and uninteresting as the first time, even more so after the novelty of it all faded away. I just endure the small talk and do my work, a little good news is I get to have Entropy with me while I work which is a small positive.

As for the king and his party? Well, I was told when it would be and got so close to being lucky. I'm planning to leave with others on the twenty-second but after getting the invitation I found out this party is on the twenty-first right before I leave, because of course, it is.

Honestly accepting this invitation was something I normally wouldn't do, at all, but I think it is a good course of action. I was told to get on his good side, the better I do that the closer I am with the king and that will always be useful to me in the future.

It's another connection I can call on, even if just a weak one, in the event that we need to deal with the Storm King in some way. I may hate parties like this but some temporary discomfort for a long-term gain is worth it to me. But back to the point it seems the party will be something I am attending.

So no skipping out for me, at least I found a decent suit, a nice plain black suit that I paid too much for, with a bit of help from Cadance. On that topic, she found a little time to talk with me and get an update on what was happening and what happened the day after the party me and the king talked at.

She found it pretty funny, I did not. But she at least was able to find somewhere to buy a suit and give me a little advice, sadly we didn't have much time to talk let alone do any work. It also looks like we won't be getting any more work done for the rest of this trip.

As for myself, I've been spending a little time preparing for a specific trip and generally relaxing. I spend most of my free time simply exploring the city and enjoying the many types of food with Entropy, I even found a library, a private one though. I had to pay for a membership to read anything inside.

It turned out to mostly be history books and more mundane things like herbology and techniques for many different crafts. It didn't have anything to do with magic really and the few books on magic I found were more study journals on magical creatures and plants.

After reading for a while I decided to look into the story I was told by Auran. It took me a few days of reading several versions of the story but I pieced a few things together that were missed in all those versions of the story. First and foremost is that the war he ran from was not just a war alone.

The war itself was pretty bad by this world's standards, there were some actual civilian casualties done on purpose. It's a very uncommon thing to do in this world, but back to the story. Calix was a minor noble who controlled the outermost district of his home city.

During the war, half the city burned down from a fire, there was a massive crop failure, and then a disease outbreak, all in this span of a few months. It was a clusterfuck and a complete disaster, and then the ruling king died without an heir, and then the city promptly descended into a civil war.

After that Calix rightly decided to just get off of that sinking ship, a pretty smart move. But it turns out that the kingdom they were at war with was still invading them and would rather he not run away with part of the remaining population of the city and his gold. Most of the story stays the same from there.

The only other thing of note is Calix followed his pet crow. The part about him moving everything in a single night seems consistent in every version of the story but none of them specify how. There is just a hole in the story that none of them even address.

I found some studies trying to figure this exact thing out but they failed utterly, the only thing of interest they did find was that no one ever wrote about Calix's pet crow. He definitely had one, but only his close allies ever said anything about it and they never spoke of it in any detail, you'd think such a bird would at least get some attention, but there is seemingly nothing.

It makes me think of a possibility, but I really don't know how to feel about that. Entropy's true nature is a closely guarded secret for me and if I had been in his position I would have done the same thing. So is it possible he had a Night Crow? Well, I have no idea.

It does explain a few things, but it also raises more unanswered questions, on the other hoof this was a chaotic situation shrouded in political propaganda secrecy on purpose. Sure he could have, or many things could have simply been lost with the passage of time and the spreading of false information. It did renew my interest to keep looking through any information I could find.

But after going through three libraries and a few bookstores I found nothing, if that information is out there I have no way to access it or find it without a large time investment. I could ask the king but if this is some big secret I don't feel like digging into it like that.

I could come back here one day, but for now, this mystery won't help me and I'll have to move past my curiosity. I move the last part of the new spell into place and look it over for a few moments to make sure it looks good after I finish cleaning it up a bit and checking for errors.

I plan to visit the black market today, my preparations are complete and it's time to get to work. For my little trip I've modified the spell I used to disguise Cadance to make myself a different look, two different looks in fact, I named it the Disguise spell to simplify things as well. I stand up and take out a plain black cloak from my saddlebags on my back.

I start with the Disguise spell and watch as my body changes quickly, I stay the same size, and the only thing that changes is my colors. My fur changes color to a light sky blue, while my mane is a deep blue in color. And as a bonus, the illusion covers up my cutie mark, not that I would have kept it uncovered but every bit helps for my plan.

The other spell I worked on today is a small but simple one. With the use of two runes, a rune of Voice, and a rune of Sound, the spell is able to change the pitch of my words a bit, not too much though as it distorts my voice. It doesn't do anything to my actual body, it just changes the sounds that leave my mouth after I've spoken.

I cast the spell and see no visual difference. "Hello." My voice is normally pretty bland, a small bit deeper than others and not light, but mostly plain. Now it is noticeably deeper and as I speak Entropy looks over at me from the bed in my small room. I smile at her, "Hello girl, what do you think?" I ask her.

She saw me cast the spells and has been watching with interest at my actions. She flies over and stands on my back slightly disrupting the illusion on me, it's not immensely noticeable but anyone touching me will notice pretty quickly. She looks me over for a few moments, "Like. Better." She caws with a slightly joking tone, it's not a perfect replication though.

She's gotten a bit better at using different tones of voice when she does do it at all as a lot of the time she doesn't use a tone at all. "Oh, hush you. Come on, we have places to be." I say and cast the last spell I'd need, a simple illusion to change the color of my pure saddlebags to black as well to make sure everything looks fine.

Entropy enters my shadow and I dispel all the spells on me before putting away my cloak and leaving the building we've been staying in. I move through the city in a relaxed manner and make my way to my destination without any difficulty. When I arrive I find an empty alley near the black market entrance.

I put on my black cloak and place all my illusions on myself again. I double-check that my voice is different before checking my dagger and moving towards the correct street. I'm currently in the lowest point of the cavern that the city occupies and even with it being day it is dark and gloomy here.

The street is a little busy, a few dozen creatures walking around. I stop at a very large building that looks to be a random warehouse as this part of the city has several of them. The door has a pair of well-built Griffons standing there with a bored look, they let someone else through and sees me as I walk up to them. "What are you paying with?"

His gruff tone demands me to answer him. I really should have seen something like this coming, and honestly, I don't care enough to argue about if it is some type of scam or a legitimate tax from the beings who run this place. I spend a moment pulling a small bag of bits out of my saddlebags. "That has twenty, count it." Twenty should be plenty and bits should work fine.

In preparation for the trip to this city, I knew I was going to try and buy information, and that normally costs a lot. So I prepared several bags with increasing amounts of bits, with the larger ones being under a floating spell to lighten them and a silence spell so they don't make noise as I walk.

He does just that and nods after a moment before keeping the entire bag with a smirk. "You got a weapon?" I nod. "Good. Cause no trouble, or else." He warns me before stepping to the side of the door. I notice as I enter that he never said if I overpaid him or not, seems he's smart enough.

When preparing for this trip and scouting out a few entrances to this place, this one is less used than others. The large room is two or three dozen feet tall and probably one hundred feet long in one direction and three hundred in another. Interestingly they seem to have set up densely packed shanty shops inside the building itself like an indoor village.

The entrance I used seemed to not have many beings paying attention as planned and as they walked down the market's path with stalls and shops on both sides and many creatures moving back and forth. The market seems both quiet and busy, with many others talking quietly and all trading different things.

Information first and foremost is what I want, everything else can wait. After a moment I join the flow and start moving down the lane with others while keeping my senses sharp for anything trying to bother me. Most looking to buy things seem to have a mask or cloak, something to cover themselves up a bit, while most sellers seem to just wear nothing as if this is a normal market.

Most stalls have presumably stolen goods or things that the law would frown upon. I'm no expert so many things aren't recognizable to me, I keep moving until I see a herb shop of some kind. It's made from dilapidated wood and looks shabby even by this market's standards.

Inside behind a counter, I see an old-looking Griffon with an unhealthy appearance. They should know what I need to learn so I spend a moment scanning it and open the door. "Oh! A customer, please come in. What can I do for you? A potion perhaps?" Her tone is dry and raspy.

I take a moment to look around as she keeps looking me over, I turn to a few herbs and I notice she keeps tracking me. "Or many an ointment? I have some rather useful concoctions for more intimate things?" I shudder a little at that. I already do not like this Griffon so just walk up to her with a random mushroom I grab as soon as I can.

I look around behind the counter for a moment before turning to the elderly Griffon. "Do you know this market well?" I voice it as a demand in my new low and deep tone without a hint of emotion.

She smiles at that. "Information then? Yes, I can do that, for a fee." She's quick on the uptake with what I want. "But wouldn't you rather look around a little more first? I have many wonders for sale." I ignore the prompt and just place the mushroom on the countertop.

"This and you tell me where I can buy better information, how much?" I say bluntly. She looks annoyed at my words so I just place another small bag of twenty bits on the counter. She smiles with clear greed and takes it before looking more willing to answer after checking the amount inside.

"That will do. Down the lane, that way, two lefts, and a right, look for the fancy place. Anything else?" She asks but I just put away the random mushroom and walk out without another word. Well, at least I got directions from her, it seems my guess was half decent.

I look over the mushroom as I walk and find it to be utterly dead and useless to me, I just drop it on the floor and keep following the directions. After a few turns I find myself at a larger more well-built building, it's not big but compared to the small dingy shops around it it's a large improvement in both size and quality, although it seems to move back a fair distance out of sight so I'm not sure how large it actually is.

The door is simple well built wood and when I enter it gives off the feel of a mostly normal office building. A single Griffon sits at a desk and a few other beings sit to the sides of the room seemingly waiting for something. I keep a firm and steady stride as I walk to the desk and the Griffon notices me with a polite smile. "Hello, how can I help you today?" A professional and friendly tone greets me.

"You sell information, yes?" I ask with a deadly serious tone. She nods in return. "Good, how does this work?" I know this makes me seem like an outsider, but that's what I'm going for right now. I want information and being an outsider works well for that even if I get scammed on the price.

She keeps her smile and nods again. "Well, we have plenty to offer. You can either wait with them and get a reservation for later, or." She adds with an enticing tone. "You can pay a fee to see one of our professional consultants to get a private meeting and service right now." And this is why I come as a mysterious outsider.

My looks and actions show I don't want to be seen, more so than most others, she guessed that and offered better service because of it hoping to get more money from me. I nod and place a single bit on the counter, "How much?" She states a price and I pay it without batting an eye.

She takes the bits and looks over some papers before leading me to a door on the side of the room and knocking on it. Inside is another Griffon, "This gentleman has a meeting in room four." I follow them inside and look through the plain white hallways as we find a room with a simple four on it.

I only sense a single being inside so I open the door and walk, the inside is a completely plain office with a desk and two seats. "Ahh, hello, please take a seat." The older-looking Diamond Dog says with a male tone. I don't sit after a moment and he seems to just accept that. "How can I help you, Sir?" He gets right to the point seeing how I'm acting, good a real professional.

I think about my words for a moment to say as little as possible. "I want all the information you have on the Storm King that you can get within an hour, I'll pay double," I say bluntly, this was a big reason I brought a lot more money with me than normal, three thousand bits in total actually.

He looks caught off guard by the blatant request but recovers just as quickly. "Hmm, I believe we have such information, but getting it so quickly is a problem." He goes through a few cabinets very quickly. "We need to find the value of the information and tha-" I can see where this is going and decide to speed this up the best way I can.

I am not exposing myself for longer than absolutely needed. So I cut him off by dropping two heavy sacks of bits on his desk much to his shock. "That is two thousand bits, get it to me within an hour and I'll consider it a fair trade." I'm not sure how much this information costs, but that should be enough to force the issue and get what I want. There are some perks to having money after all.

His eyes go wide and he looks shell-shocked at my action. "Wha- I- ... " He stumbles for a few moments before getting himself together and opening a bag a little, causing his eyes to widen more. "O-Of course Sir! This... It is a pleasure doing business with you, please give me a moment." He quickly leaves the room and once he's out I sense him sprinting down the hallway as fast as he can which gets a chuckle out of me.

I keep my senses sharp and a few moments later he runs back and fixes his fur a little before entering the office again slightly out of breath. "Sorry about that Sir, I have been informed that the information will be prepared within the hour. I will of course have to count this out and confirm the stated amount." He says with an overly polite tone.

I think he might be going a little fast as he agreed before confirming everything, but I can see he also wants to grab this opportunity while he can. I just nod and keep standing there silently as he starts to count the coins out with a large smile on his face while glancing at me.

It's a boring wait but by the time he's done counting, he looks very happy with himself, and not too long after another being approaches the office and knocks. "Ah, there they are. Enter." Another Griffon opens the door holding a box that's packed very densely with documents.

I take it from him and place it on my back without a word to them. "Is there anything else I can help you with today Sir?" I shake my head silently. "Then thank you for doing business with us Sir. Here is my card, in case you ever need anything else from us again." I take it and nod but still don't speak and just walk out of the office before heading towards the exit with the Griffon that brought the documents.

I get piercing and curious looks as I balance the box on my back and quickly leave the building. I spend as little time as possible in sight of others before finding a gap in some of the dingy shops not too far away and squeezing through to a hidden spot I saw with my spatial senses.

Once I'm alone I take off my cloak. "Girl." Entropy leaves my shadow quickly. "Take this back to the room, and be quick about it." I ask quietly while putting on a different cloak, this one brown. She does as I asked and a moment later she's gone with the heavy box.

I spend a moment removing the illusions over me and casting a different one. This time my fur turns black and my mane a deep gray, I also change the color of my saddlebags to red just to be safe. By the time Entropy returns I look completely different from before.

I smile at Entropy and chuckle for a moment while petting her. "Thanks, Girl. You are the best." I compliment her as she chirps happily before hiding in my shadow again. I take a few deep breaths and smile in victory while getting out of this small gap between shops.

I have no idea if that information is worth all this, but in the worst case scenario I just lost a few bits and paid a criminal. I'm not sure I like the second part but this cost me very little and the information could be a literal lifesaver. I shake my head after a moment and look around the unfamiliar market I'm still in.

That's done, so time to do some shopping and see what goodies I can find. I keep my smile as I start to walk through the dingy and dark market.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

I didn't want this to be only about him shopping so you'll know what he bought next time, for now though our short trip in this market is over.

Ps. I’m taking tomorrow off. Also, I have something coming up and I might miss a day or two, I'm not entirely sure yet though so I'll update you in a few days.

Chapter 200

MAR 21 Tuesday.

I choose to ignore the stare of Cadance as I straighten the tie of my suit. "You could at least tell me if it looks decent, I could use the positivity before dealing with nobles and a king."

That earns me a giggle as Cadance works on more paperwork and passes me a few things. "Here, the train leaves at seven, you are heading back with the guards and a few others. Do not let me hear about you running off, I don't want to let a rowdy stallion like you out of sight." She holds out a few pieces of paper.

I take the papers with a slight blush as she gives me a calculating look. "Smooth out your left side a bit, and stop complaining about going to a fancy party while I'm dealing with, THIS." She motions to the small mountain of paperwork and I just smile smugly in return. She narrows her eyes, "I can keep you here until the next train in two weeks, we could always use another scribe." She deadpans to me.

I chuckle with her after a moment as we trade insults and threats. "Thanks for the help by the way, and make sure to at least find some fun, maybe with your stallion." I joke again but drop that tone a moment later. "Seriously though, thanks for letting me tag along, I'll see you when you get back." I smile over at her.

She smiles in turn and nods. "It's not like you didn't help as well. Things have gone pretty well and that deal of yours helped, just a little though, and as a bonus, you made this a little less boring. Now get going, you have a princess waiting for an explanation." She smiles knowingly and I decide to turn to leave the room before she can get the satisfaction of seeing my soured expression. "Goodbye Shade, and by magic please stay safe."

I leave as she chuckles and makes my way to the room I'm staying in after leaving her temporary office. When I arrive Entropy is sat atop a bedpost and greets me happily. "Hello. Go?" She asks while flying over to stand on the wooden floors next to me. I kept her here to keep an eye on my things while I said goodbye to Cadance.

I pet her with a smile at her excitement. "Soon Girl, you can rest a bit more if you like." She bobs her head and merges into my shadow without another word. I leave her alone and start checking that I have everything in order to leave tomorrow as I really don't want to spend even more time in this place with all these nobles with fake smiles.

To one side of my bed is a packed and wrapped box filled with many different documents, and I've spent some time reading through a few of them over the past few days. I've learned several things of interest and it seems the situation is about as bad as I expected.

The current situation is a complicated mess, but from what I can see other factions are finally moving against the Storm King. Two months ago several dozen kingdoms and city-states tried to form a meeting to deal with him, only for two of the groups attending to start another fucking war, as if it wasn't bad enough already.

It didn't completely derail the meeting but things are moving very slowly after that and it's giving the Storm King even more time to maneuver around. Precise information is frankly impossible to get and I've only gone through some of the information I bought, but from what I can tell the Storm King is consolidating his gains and building up more forces.

It seems he might try what I pointed out several months ago could actually happen, and if he does stop the other factions from allying together and forming a larger force things will degrade even further. I hope this information at least makes Celestia take him somewhat more seriously, if we can prepare now it will be a big step.

Sadly I think the window for stopping him early has passed, he has loyal supporters now and a building base of power. I shake my head and focus more on the things I've recently bought. First, there are several new spices, something I always look for in new locations.

Beyond that, I found a gift for each of my friends. They are paintings, all are full sizes but rolled up to be space-efficient, and they all depict different places around Feather Falls. Some are of the city and others of views or impressive buildings. One, in particular, is from the perspective of someone in the cavern looking out of the large opening with the setting sun streaming through the waterfall.

Beyond this, I found two things of interest in my limited time in the market. First is a new plant, Poison Cactus, a small round ball cactus that poisons those pricked by its needles. I learned a little about the plant after a day of looking through a few libraries. First, it's not a deadly poison unless you get pricked repeatedly in a short time span.

It's illegal to buy or sell, but not own. And it's illegal because you can extract and concentrate the poison to make something truly deadly without much difficulty. I bought the plant and grew some seeds before destroying it to prevent any accidents from happening or unwanted questions. It's nothing amazing but I could always use a poison for, medicinal uses let's say.

Beyond the cactus, I also found an interesting enchanted item, a small wooden ball that returns when you throw it. It's again simple but unique and it could prove useful to study at some point, but for now, it's a new toy for Entropy. I didn't find anything else of much interest though, I simply didn't know where to look and didn't want to spend too much time there.

I straighten my suit again and use a small pocket to store a few treats for Entropy. I turn to my shadow with a small smirk seeing her standing on my shadow's back. "Remember the rules Girl. No talking without me telling you to, if you get in trouble find an opportunity to get into a shadow and find me, and no stealing food." I emphasize the last point heavily.

Her shadow holds out a wing while nodding. "Know. Be safe." She demands in turn and I nod as the care she shows for me brings some comfort. I'm not taking anything else with me so I just leave the building and start making my way through the streets of the city.

The dark streets are honestly something I've come to enjoy a little. It may sound odd but there is a curious calm in such a dark and shadowy place, somewhat like the Void. I suppose others may see it another way as for me even when completely dark I can see just fine, all my training really paid off in the end.

The amount of times my extra senses have helped me countless times and are one of my greatest assets. For insistence, I'm currently keeping a proverbial eye out for anything around me. And with my constant use, I never really turn my senses off, I limit them but it's basically constant now, with the exception of sleeping.

In fact, I can find it a little disorienting when they aren't active, I've adapted pretty well after all this time. That's not to say I'm perfect, I still have trouble with really detailed stuff from a distance though, and some things I'll never be able to see like color. Still, it's a part of me now and it's only becoming more so with each day.

Before reaching the address I was invited to I stopped in a secluded alley and cast an illusion over Entropy and had her ride on my back. I let out a deep breath as I know this is probably going to suck. "Ok. Love." I smile at Entropy as she tries to reassure me, she's able to see through my mask of confidence pretty easily.

"I know." I shake my head a little and make my way over to the correct building. It's a well-built and fancy-looking villa in the upper districts of the city near the back of the cavern it occupies. Painted stone and a few glass windows become obvious as I near it.

It's well-lit and has several guards at the gate out front. Things go smoothly though and I'm able to show my invite and walk inside a moment later without trouble. The inside of the villa is a little fancy for my liking, well built and elegantly carved furniture with expensive and large paintings as decorations.

The floors are sanded wooden planks with prominent grain to them. As I enter the room a Griffon in a well-made suit greets me with a slight bow, "This way Sir." He motions down a hallway and I nod silently before following it. As I do so I sense a few dozen beings past a door with my limited senses. I make sure to limit the range to focus my mind on other things and not get overwhelmed.

I open the door to find a large courtyard, a few tables with drinks and food along with a table full of cages sit around the area. There are a few staff members serving different things but the majority of beings here are talking and interacting with each other while showing off their crows.

Two or three dozen beings, mostly Griffons but I see a Diamond Dog and a Yak as well. As I look around a Griffon I recognize walks over with a smile. "Ahh! Mr. Evergreen. I'm glad you could make it." King Adosis greets me happily and a few others immediately notice. "To you as well Shadow." He smiles at Entropy.

I give a quick bow. "A pleasure, thank you for the invitation, Your Majesty." I keep a very formal tone but don't fully bow as this is a more casual event.

He chuckles a little and waves me off. "No need for all of that, Adosis is just fine, Sir. if you must." His tone is still formal but more casual about everything than the party nearly two weeks ago. "Now, I must attend to some things, please enjoy yourself." He encourages me and walks off with a silent nod from me.

I have no idea what to do so after a moment standing there I decided to just move over to the cages on a table that are rather loud. Several Griffons have their crows with them, but the crow owners who can't seem to control their crows leave them in a cage a little out of the way.

They aren't the most calm and some are actively freaking out a little, I don't really enjoy seeing or listening to this. Not all of them are doing as badly but it's clear not all of these creatures are able to take proper care of their pets. I can't do much for them so I settle for moving away from them before I get upset. "A rather sad thing, yes?"

Before I can move away a Griffon walks over and stands next to me. The female voice is prim and proper while her suit is of a very high quality. Her expression seems relaxed but also very well composed. She has a crow of her own on her shoulder that is tied to her suit with a thin string.

Her fur and body feathers are a tan brown while her head feathers are pure white, along with yellow eyes, she looks like the classic Griffon really. I nod after a moment, "I suppose so, they could have at least moved them further apart." I comment plainly while showing my disapproval.

She nods and shows a little frown before turning fully to me. "Sita Steel, a pleasure. Shade Evergreen I presume? I've heard much about you." It's immediately clear that she knows more about me than I do about her, but she's not the first to say my name without me telling them to try and put me off base.

I nod politely. "Yes, I am a translation scribe, and it seems the king found it fit to invite me along." I keep a less formal tone than I did at the party or with the king as I just don't care what these nobles think about me, that's not to say I'm being rude. I do downplay things as normal, but I notice her crow looking curiously at Entropy and caws at her, but Entropy stays silent and calm.

She smirks a little at Entropy. "Yes, I remember you at the ball, sadly I was busy at the time and didn't get a chance to talk. I must say your crow is remarkably well trained." She compliments Entropy who looks happy in response but doesn't really show it all that much.

I nod again and start to move away from the noisy table as she walks alongside me. "In a way she is. She is rather good at dealing with crowds and noise, but like all pets, she is a hoof full at the best of times." I joke a little to throw us off of the topic and change things up.

She chuckles good-naturedly before her demeanor shifts a bit. "I've noticed that I myself take pride in raising crows, in fact I specialize in it." She brags in a thinly veiled way. "That's why I wanted to ask if you're willing to trade?" She's all smiles but my mind stops abruptly at hearing her words.

I'm willing to deal with a lot of things, but fucking with those I care for is a very bad idea, and I do not like the way she's steering this conversation. "I, am not aware of what you mean, trade what?" I ask with the same tone while keeping my expression the same.

She keeps that smile and relaxed look but raises a brow like I'm dense. "Your crow of course? I myself trade and sell them all the time, I've even raised a few of the crows here. I could offer you a better-trained one if you wish?" Her tone is a little boisterous about it and she seems a little blind to my slight shift in body language.

Internally I want to slap this bitch and tell her to promptly fuck off, but I keep that impulse buried and just pretend to look understanding but uninterested. "Ah. I see, sorry to say I'm not interested in a trade. I quite like her and we all have our favorites." Even while trying my best my change in mood comes through in my voice a bit.

Her face twitches a little but she keeps smiling. "Really? I am a noble you know? And I can offer a very generous price, exceptionally for someone of your... Standing." She tries to entice me and I really have to keep myself under control as her words do not make things better. She saw my expression stay the same and I saw her eyes narrow a bit.

Entropy is smart enough to listen in and I don't think she's pleased either. But before we can continue a clear voice rings out. "Attention! Attention Everygriff!" The King stands up and everybody turns to him as he stands up fully. "Thank you all for coming, and now that we are all settled in we can begin."

My mind flashes back to the invite I was given for a moment. In the invite it explained that the gathering was more than just a party, but also had some planned games for the guests to participate in. I should point out it specified, that the games are mandatory for all guests as that was the theme of the party.

Several staff members walk over with cloth covers and start to place one over each cage with a crow in it. "Please leave your feathered friends with the staff, they will take good care of them in the lounge as we enjoy the festivities." He waves over to a room that is visible from the courtyard area.

The invite did not talk about this, but from the reaction of the other guests, this seems to be normal. Funnily enough, I don't feel that much anxiety or worry over leaving Entropy alone, she is more than capable of taking care of herself if need be. Sita turns to me with a smile I don't trust anymore. "Well, you have time to think about it all, please keep my offer in mind, I don't make offers often." With that said she puts her crow in a cage and walks off without an answer.

As I pick up Entropy and move her into a cage I whisper to her. "Anything happens, come find me." She bobs her head a slight amount and I leave her on the table with the other crows as her cage is covered with a cloth. After that, I joined the others waiting for this unknown game to start.

The king stands up on his back legs to look taller and I have to beat my mind away from looking at his lower half. "Good, we can start." He motions to a door behind him to a room inside the villa. "The game is simple. Behind me are four rooms separated from the rest of the house." The king seems pretty happy with himself as he explains.

After a moment he holds up a card. "In each room hidden around are fifty-two cards, a full deck. The goal is simple. Through searching, trading, or allying, you must complete as many sets as you can." He takes a moment to flip over an hourglass on a table. "You have two hours, ask the attendants if you need anything, and please enjoy." He smiles widely as several Beings start moving immediately while talking with others.

I wait for others to shuffle in before doing the same as the doors are closed behind us after the king enters. He turns to me as I look around. "Well, I would rather not do the searching alone, care to join me?" He asks with a relaxed tone and I think about it for a moment.

I did not like the arrogance and entitlement of Sita, and it put me on high alert. I'm not worried about Entropy, but the unpredictable actions of others are never simple. Still, I see no reason to turn the King down as he's not too bad from what I've experienced. "Of course Sir. Although, wouldn't you know where everything is already?"

He smiles and shakes his head as he overturns a few cushions on a couch as I walk around with him. "Afraid not, I had a few attendants place them around. After all, there's no fun in a puzzle that's already been solved." A fair enough point. I nod and join in on the search with him. "So, how have you had the chance to see the city during sunset? It's quite a sight and one of my favorite times of the day."

I take a second and focus my spatial senses to be even more compact and detailed. I still practice my space magic control with cards so I know very well how they look with my spatial senses. It takes a brief moment to find three hidden cards and I pull one from behind a plant pot.

I show the card to him. "I have, I took a small outing to a taller building at the right time. Honestly, this entire city is very... Unique." I'm honest with him and a little more open about my words. He pulls a card from between the pages of a book while talking to me and we fall into a rhythm of small talk.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

I really tried to end this arc, but we're going to be adding one more chapter it seems. Also, before anyone asks, no this is not a murder mystery, even if I was sourly tempted to do that. Also the game is literally fifty two card pick up with extra steps.

Also, 200!!! HOW THE FUC--- Ok no more of that.

Thank you to everyone who's shown support for this story, small or big, silent or loud. I hope you all have a great day.

Also also. I made an updated map of Gaia's Eden for you all, and like the last one it's not to scale, it just shows where everything is. I didn't have anything better for this so I hope you like it.

Chapter 201

MAR 21 Tuesday.

Things are mostly relaxed and actually a little fun as I and the King walk into another room to continue our search.

We've found seven cards so far and almost half a full pair, but I just pass any cards I find off to the king as I don't have much of an interest in this game. "You are rather good at this, it seems you have the eyes of a crow as well." He comments as I pull a card from a particularly well-hidden spot.

I keep my trend and downplay things again. "Thank you, I can't take too much credit though, my job requires an eye for small details." Not a lie, just a diversion. From there I decided to pull fewer cards from where they are and just relax a little to not stress myself out.

He chuckles. "I suppose so. I've seen your documentation, it is well done." He compliments without much of a reason. "Ahh, another one, we have a full set!" He smiles in victory and keeps the cards with him. "Although, it seems many of the easier cards have been taken."

I nod as I've noticed that many others have a card or two and that's just in this room. "Seems so, I think I'll leave any talking to you though, that is not in my skill set," I answer with a little honesty and decide to just sit down on a couch in the room, I take a moment to look around more.

The room has one wall caverned in windows that look out into the city. There are two doors into the room and they are kept open with stoppers. The room has a few couches, a few seats and rugs, several bookshelves, and an assortment of smaller items and other shelves and tables.

The King nods after a moment and also looks around. "Fair enough, then I think I'll ask the Silversteens, they seem to have a few extra cards and I think I spotted a three in there." He comments before looking over to me with that same smile. "Wish me luck, they can be a stubborn sort, but you didn't hear that from me." He jokes with a smile.

I nod to him and we walk off to deal with other guests. I find the king interesting, he has proven to be nice enough if a bit formal and relaxed, maybe a little too friendly for my tastes though. Not to say it's a bad thing on his part, but I don't really enjoy this semi-fake friendliness at events like this.

It's all just so tiring, the smiling that hurts your face after an hour of having it on your face, and the kind words that ring so very hollow. It all just drains me, at least parties like this are much calmer than large parties like the one where I met the King at. Hollow.

That really is the best word for all of this, a shell without substance, as I sit there I have a while to think to myself. As for what I'm thinking of, well like many days I'm thinking of the future. Specifically about my work and Entropy's ability to travel large distances in a short amount of time.

Once I'm no longer working the only things I'll really need to return home for are game night with my friends and meetings with Celestia, Cadance, Avalon, and getting my ass kicked by Stone of course. I wonder how he's doing right now? Probably something more interesting than this at a minimum.

Back to the point though, once I am free from work I won't need to spend more than a day or two every week at home. All that other time is going to be free for me and I think I need to strike a balance with everything, specifically with inventing and training.

I'll probably do more of both, but I need clear limits to not burn myself out completely. I may have the will to grind on a project but only to a certain point and eventually, I will need to stop myself, so I need limits. To that end, I need something to fill more of that free time with something different from my normal routine.

I could add more hobbies but that won't really help, I need something similar to training but also different, maybe something a bit more social? I may not be one for consistent interaction but something simple that I'm able to walk away from when needed would be a nice addition, and if I can learn or improve while doing it that's all the better.

I know for sure one thing I really want to work on more is healing magic, and I don't mean healing in general but specifically healing magic, as in spells. I've spent five years learning the vast majority of nonmagical healing knowledge, even if I could use some practical practice I at least have the knowledge to heal others.

I'm not professionally trained, but I have the ability to treat most wounds, or at least I know how to treat most wounds and that's about as far as I can get without taking the initiative to find the injured and heal them. But before I try to heal others through non-magical means I want to learn better healing magic as a backup.

Beyond that I have another reason to learn healing magic, it's a part of my life affinity that I never worked with before. You are able to enhance a spell's effects if you use a magical affinity instead of neutral magic that works with the spell. As an example let's use the basic Firebolt spell.

If I had a fire affinity I could enhance the Firebolt spell while not needing to add more magic and overpower the spell. It is a bit more complicated than that as you need to take into account the control you have and the conversion ratio of the affinity you are using, but it proves the point.

The life affinity is able to enhance healing spells of all kinds. I now have the control over my life magic and the magical reserves along with the skill needed to cast higher-level spells consistently. If I learn several stronger healing spells then I could enhance them even further and that is not a skill I want to leave off of the table.

Maybe I should look into a healing guild or a hospital? I'm not entirely sure about the process of becoming a healer, but I feel as if it might be worthwhile to look into it and see if I can accomplish it without disrupting my life too much. As I think through my dilemma I leave my thoughts because someone sits down next to me.

I glance over and nearly frown at the sight of Sita Steel waiting next to me with a few cards in her talons. "Hello, Miss. Steel, enjoying the game?" I ask while keeping tight control of my tone and pretending to remain relaxed. I also have to fight some slight embarrassment as she glances down between my hindlegs without looking the least bit embarrassed in turn.

Being eyed by others is a problem I've had to a lesser degree with so few ponies around, but ponies aren't the only ones who've shown interest in me. Personally, I still want to tell her to fuck off, but I keep my mask in place. "Personally, it's not really of much interest to me." I continue and even though I don't like her I try to be honest to keep my story straight.

She smirks a bit and has the decency to look me in the eye. "On that, we can agree, although I have a few cards I plan to trade-off." She shows the three in her talons with disinterest. "For now though I'll drop all the formality. Name your price, I have plenty to offer you." She does the unexpected and speaks plainly but only in a way that makes it sound like she's doing me a favor.

I'm pretty much done with this shit now but stay the course. "I must remain persistent, I have no intention of selling her, even with a generous offer I'm sure you can provide." I keep a fake friendly smile and tone but I'm less than pleased inside. I could have explained why I refused her but I don't feel like doing that anymore.

She openly frowns a little bit and sighs like she's dealing with a child. "Did you know that the laws of this city are rather complex? So many interesting laws have come, and gone, some have even been forgotten for the most part." She waves her arm back and forth. "Another interesting fact for you, I own this villa and offered it for this party." She keeps that fake friendly tone but starts to just spell things out for me.

I'm officially done with her now, completely done. I straighten my back a little and stand a few inches taller than her with a blank expression on my face. "Hmm. I think you'll find I am a rather hard pony to convince, so please, try all you like. But at least try to make this a little more interesting and threaten me right." I say blandly with a deadpan tone before smiling and changing to a friendly tone with a laugh. "Just joking. I really must insist on keeping her though. Now if you will excuse me I believe the game is almost over."

I make a complete joke out of her threat and just ignore her outright. The last thing I see is the scowl on her face as she tries to say something to me, but I ignore that as well and join the others as the attendants start to gather everyone up. I sense her stomp off into a different room before leaving the area we are playing the game in.

I have no way of knowing what she's going to do, but I can guess and I don't think it really matters as the worst she can do is try to steal Entropy. I really do not like the idea of that but if she does do that, Entropy will just wait until she's alone and come back to me. I do check where she is with my life magic though.

Entropy isn't as bright as Celestia or Philomena but she still shines brighter than anything else in this place so I'm easily able to sense her location. I can pick out a few other beings in that room but not much else, from this distance, I'd need to meditate to sense the room a few hundred feet away in any good detail.

I refocus on the room as every being starts to trade after the king announces that all the cards have been found. I just sit in a corner again and let everything run its course, but not long after I sit down I feel a noticeable shift in my magical sense. I feel Entropy being moved.

I try to focus as best I can without acting odd but I can only sense that Entropy's been moved a room or two away at most. A few minutes after Entropy is moved Sita walks back into the party and looks far happier about things, the bitch even smiles at me, and I just smile back, much to her confusion.

I just stay there and sense Entropy's location more thoroughly while I can, although I don't get very far before this room demands my attention again. "Well, the hour is up! Please bring over what cards you have so we can tally things. OH! And make sure to write down who you worked with, don't want anygriff left out do we?" The king's jovial voice calls out as he stands again.

I don't have any cards nor do I care about the game, but as I sit there something does bring a real smile to my face as Sita sits near me again looking smug and happy with herself. "Well, I must apologize, it seems some of my staff aren't as skilled as I'd hoped." I pretend to look a little confused but she just stays silent and holds it over me.

She stretches out on the couch across from me. "You may wish to look into the, unique, laws of this city, they can be so tricky." She smiles more as I continue to pretend to be confused. "Well, I must help with the party, important matters and all that, you can see yourself out whenever you like." She stands up after having just sat down before turning back to me like she forgot something. "Oh, and if you ever need to buy a new crow I'm more than willing to give you a good price." She offers with fake sweetness and walks off.

I have to force myself not to laugh as this fool tries to be mysterious and vague about what she did and tries to surprise me later. I still REALLY do not like her, but in my heart, I'll thank her for letting me leave with her blessing. I could stay but there are others leaving at the moment and I take the opportunity to do the same to get the fuck out of here.

I stand up and walk over to the King like several others and bid him goodbye. "Thank you for the lovely evening Sir. But I have an early meeting tomorrow and must get going." My mood has improved a tad bit as he gives me a genuine smile and nods happily.

"Of course. And." He passes me a small booklet. "This is a few notes from my discoveries in crow training, it's only right after the technique you shared with me." He offers happily and I find myself pleasantly surprised by the action. "I wish you luck on your journey home." He added even though I never told him about that.

I take the booklet after a moment and place it in my saddlebags. "It is very kind of you, and I wish you the same." With that I let others say their goodbyes to him and quickly make my way through an open door directed by attendants. After a moment I feel something that makes me chuckle a little.

I feel Entropy's life magic move closer to me and as I near another room she enters my shadow. It seems that bitch will have to taste bitter defeat today. I leave her be for the moment and focus as I enter a room with several tables with even more covered cages on top of them. "Most of them are sleeping, please stay quiet Sir." An attendant next to the door I walked through says quietly.

It was evening when we arrived so the fact that most of them were asleep by now seems about right. I nod and they continue. "Thank you, Sir. Do you remember the color of the cover you used? If not, we can look through them and find your crow." They offer still speaking in a quiet tone as a few other attendants help guests look through the cages to find their respective crows.

I remember that the covers for each cage were a different color but didn't pay much attention to it at the time. It seems this was her plan then, not that bad actually. After searching my memory for a moment I think it was green? Honestly, the only thing I'm sure of was the cover Sita used to cover her own crow's cage was orange.

I pause at that thought as I see the green cover, but also the orange cover. The attendant looks ready to offer their help but I smile widely as an idea pops into my head. I turn to the attendant and speak in a low but certain tone, "It's the orange one, and hurry." I use a more commanding tone like a noble would in hopes the attendant wouldn't question me.

The attendant looks a little confused and uncertain and I quickly pretend to look annoyed. "Well? I said hurry, I have places to be." My much firmer and slightly scolding tone.

That seems to snap them out of their uncertainty and they nod quickly. "Sorry, Sir. Most just don't reme- ... Never mind. O-Of course Sir. Right away." I feel a little bad as this might land on them later, but I don't think they can't take much blame if they weren't explicitly told they couldn't give that cage to others.

The mere fact they even considered giving me the cage means they were never told they couldn't do it. But if it does land back on them I'll owe them if we ever meet again. With my mind made up I do my best to memorize their face to at least do this for the help they have unwittingly provided me.

I nod my thanks with a slight smirk as they pass me the cage gently. "Here you go, Sir. And the cage is yours as well, a gift from Sita Steel. Please have a good night." They offer friendly and I decide to pass them a small bag with a few bits in it, fifty to be precise. "Oh? Thank you, Sir!" He is excited and I just nod before walking out the front door and quickly making my way out of the villa's gate.

As I walk out into the night streets, completely dark and quiet, I quickly make my way to an alley and cast a light spell to form a shadow under me. I turn to my underside and call out quietly to not wake the new crow I have with me. "Hey Girl?" She moves out of my shadow and looks up at me curiously with her illusion still in place. "Stay quiet, but take us back to the room, you remember the room right?" She nods and hops on my back, she looks at the covered cage for a few moments before we all vanish.

When we reappear in my temporary room I gently place the cage down on the floor and cast the spell I made for sleeping foals so the crow can sleep undisturbed. I turn to Entropy and start to look her over before petting her, "You ok Girl? What happened?" I ask with a little worry and pride.

She tilts her head for a moment as if thinking. "Moved, mean bird. No touch, waited, left." She speaks like she normally does but uses much more words than normal. I take a moment to pet her more and she looks at the cage, "Me? No." I raise a brow at that before chuckling.

I shake my head. "No, it's not for you and I'm not putting you into it, I promise." That seems to be good enough for her and she busies herself with flying off to the top of a shelf and preening her feathers. I stare at the cage for several moments in deep thought about what I just did and the possible consequences.

First and foremost, I don't think I'll get into much trouble over stealing this crow. If I do get caught and someone asks about them then I can just claim I remembered the wrong color and had kept them in the cage the whole night before leaving the city. And if they come before then, I'll just claim it's a mix-up and ask for my crow back while offering up the crow I took without a fight.

To be honest though with how many guests she has and how little she seems to value her crow, beyond being a status symbol that is, I kind of doubt Sita will even put it all together before I'm long gone. As for the morality of stealing someone's pet... I'll think about all that after I'm out of this damned city.

Beyond all of the uncertainty I still have a new problem, if, IF, I get away with taking this crow. What the fuck am I going to do with it?

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. :]
Current year is 995

I have no idea what to do with another crow, but I'm leaning towards giving it to a character as a pet. Tell me what you think.

Also. I need to take Saturday off, you'll still get a chapter tomorrow but after that the next chapter will be on Monday.

Chapter 202

MAR 24 Friday.

I watch as Canterlot comes into view through some trees as the train continues down its tracks.

The past three days have been both interesting and boring, just like many other days. After stealing the crow I just slept like normal and went about the next day as planned. I left Feather Falls with the others and we used a pair of carriages to make good time, it only took us from morning until evening to reach the smaller town with the nearest train station. From there it only took a little longer for us to leave on a train back home.

I've neither seen nor heard anything from anyone about the crow I took and by this point, I'm an entire continent away from anyone who'd care. As I've thought about it over the past three days I've come to a conclusion on my feelings about stealing this crow, I feel it's a fair turnabout.

Honestly, for her trying to steal the closest thing I have to family, also a literal sentient being even if she didn't know, I think my actions were pretty tame all things considered. I only took a single bird from someone who has the money and resources to get another pet, I will admit I do feel a tad bit bad over taking her pet though.

I'm not sure what emotional connection she had with this crow, but with the way she talked about Entropy, I'm leaning to the side of her probably being more mad she got tricked than anything else. But it leaves me with the new problem I've been thinking about, what to do with this crow?

I don't know much about the crow, but they have been behaving well all things considered. They aren't anywhere as smart as Entropy, they don't seem to trust me all that much as they don't know me though. But they are trained enough to at least behave around a stranger like me and let me feed them, and clean their cage.

I've mostly kept them in their cage and occasionally let them out to play a bit and walk around, but I'd probably have to tie a string to them so they couldn't just fly off when they get curious. They don't let me touch them much beyond pets but I'm able to take proper care of them so far. It does make me resolute in one thing, I don't want to keep this crow.

It was one of the solutions, but I just don't have the mental energy to take care of another pet, especially one who can't communicate with me. I thought about just letting them go into the wilds, but I would feel bad taking them from a life like they had and throwing them into the wilds.

That leaves me with limited options, but I have two good ideas. One, find a new owner. Two, drop this crow off at some type of pet store or pet sanctuary. I personally would prefer finding them a new home myself, so I guess I'll be asking my friends after I settle back in.

I might have to keep them with me for a few weeks but that's doable. I wonder if I can get Entropy to help take care of them? I leave my thoughts as the train stops at the busy train station. I grab my saddlebags and Entropy slips into my shadow as I pick up the crow still in its cage with the cover over it, and finally a thickly packed box of documents.

I cast the spell I made to let foals sleep in the cage so the crow could have some quiet. I move through the busy crowds of ponies and make my way back to my apartment without too much difficulty, the streets are as busy as always and despite the noise, it's good to be home. I spend a moment checking my mail before ascending the stairs and opening my apartment door.

I asked Daisy to take care of my plants just like last year but I'll get my key back from her later. I set down my saddlebags and smile as Entropy steals a small wooden ball from a pocket and flies off happily, "Don't hit the window, I can and will ground you, literally." I threaten her a bit and she nods vigorously at that.

The wooden ball is one of the two things I found in the black market, all it does is return to you when you throw it. I watch as Entropy whips her head and throws the ball before watching it return to her with the same speed a moment later to be caught and thrown again. I'm definitely looking into the spell behind that enchantment later.

I set the box down and left the cage on my countertop. I lay down and start to open the two letters I'd received over my trip, the first is from Avalon asking about how I'm doing and how my trip went. I smile as included in the letter is a drawing from a high building in an unknown city.

It's been about a month since we sent the prosthetic spell to Celestia, and considering production times it shouldn't be more than a month or two until it is released to the market. A week or two after that I expect I'll be getting a rather frantic letter from my nervous friend.

I smile at the letter and snort a little. That should be fun. I stop as my new responsibility chirps a little from inside their cage. I stare at the cage for a moment before getting an idea. I grow a few fresh berries and put them in a bowl before taking the cover off and placing the bowl in the cage.

"Caw." The crow calls out to me a few times before seeing the food and digging right into it. I do hope this one will find a good home, I really rather it not stay with me too long. Before I go down that rabbit hole of ideas I open the second letter I got, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see it's from Twilight.

I open the letter with a wide smile.

Dear Shade.

Sorry it's taken me so long to send a letter, the trip has been beyond amazing. I and my dam spent nearly three days inside of the city library in New Trotten, they have so many books about the ocean. It's admittedly not as impressive as the Canterlot Library, or the Royal Library for that matter, still, it was fun.

My sire took Spike to the beach so many times he started to leave sand everywhere he went. Do you know how hard it is to get sand out of fur?! It's absurd! But, I'll admit the ocean is beautiful, especially during the evening. I think my favorite though is the view from the top of an old bell tower we went to.

I'm writing to ask if you still want to meet after my trip? Our trip is probably going to be over by the time you get this letter so we'll most likely be home in a few days, maybe a week actually, my dam wants to stop and see a few places on our way back. Either way, how are you doing? Is your work going well?

I hope things have been well, and I am sorry for taking so long to write to you. I do want to meet up though, maybe at the library? Regardless please write back with a date soon. Sorry! My dam just reminded me I need to catch up on my schoolwork! But that should only take a week or two and we can definitely meet up after, if that's fine with you?

Signed Twilight Velvet Sparkle.

A chuckle makes its way out of my muzzle and I smile at the letter. I never knew that was her middle name, I guess she got that from her mother. It's good to hear from her either way, and I'm happy to know she still feels up to a meeting after thinking it over on her trip. I also remember the very bell tower she talked about, I wonder if I still have that drawing?

I smile and place the letters to the side. Twilight's letter was longer than her last two and is more like the letters she sent me before I had that talk with her, still not completely the same but it's a promising sign. I spend a few minutes getting lunch ready for all three of us and then have Entropy take me to Gaia's Eden, I have some things to catch up on.

time skip

MAR 27 Monday.

I chuckle as Blaze sits down at the table and I enjoy the company of my friends. "But where did you go?! You can't just run off for three weeks, longer than normal, and not tell me. I gave you that extension! you owe me." Daisy complains for the tenth time today as Maple looks amused and Blaz settles in with us.

Blaz huffs at that. "She's got you there Colt, you don't get to just drop off of the face of the world for a few weeks and not say anything, that's just rude. Although I do agree with not telling her, it's funnier that way." He chuckles as Daisy shifts her glare over to him. Today is my first day back to work and it's nice to see my friends again.

I spent the weekend catching up on things and making sure everything was in proper order. When I went to Gaia's Eden I had to do a few chores, I had a full barrel of gold dust that I decided to store for later use and replace with an empty barrel. I also found a note on the message board from Celestia asking for more wood to carve with.

I grew and left the requested wood beside her home and spent the rest of my time tending to any plants that needed it. The only other large thing of note is that I sent a letter to both Twilight and Avalon. I asked Twilight to focus on her work and send me a letter with a date and location when she has time, and I talked about my trip in a response letter.

I sigh exaggeratedly after a moment. "I wanted to save my amazing adventures for game night. But fine, if you're that determined." I say sarcastically. I finish the rest of my food quickly and think about what to say. "Where to start?" I ask myself with a teasing tone.

Daisy looks happy that I finally gave in to her insistent demands. "How about where you went? You know, what I've been asking you, all day!" She says in a tone just as sarcastic as mine. Blaz just sits at the side with Maple and listens silently.

I laugh for a moment and drop the sarcastic tone. "Fine, ruin my fun, will you? I went to a city-state in the Eastern continent called Feather Falls." I can already see Daisy wants to ask something so I put her spoon into her muzzle with my field. "No questions until I'm done unless you want me to stop every minute?" I ask, raising a brow as she takes the spoon out and glares a bit again.

one vague story later

"And the last two days have been the trip back here." I finished my story. I left out a lot of details and watered down a lot of things for the sake of time as we are on the clock and I have to hide things. "Now, questions?" I ask while looking at them as Blaz finishes the last of his food and stands up.

He smiles. "Sounds about right for a colt like you, but I got nine books to rebind so I'll bother you for details another day. Also, you better have gotten me a souvenir, I'd be hurt if you didn't." He jokes with a nod to us and walks off with a slightly tired expression. He seemed pretty tired during the entire lunch actually.

Daisy sees my confusion and speaks up. "A pretty big book order came in and he's been pretty busy. Still, you are probably tired yourself after traveling across two continents, again. Feather Falls, right?" I nod as she looks thoroughly intrigued. "A city both underground and on the surface? Now that's something worth traveling to see, you better have drawn at least one good sketch." She smiles and I know I'll be getting many more questions about it as we work.

Maple stands up and smiles a small bit. "Sounds nice, might be a bit dark though. Did you enjoy it?" Maple speaks in her normal blunt and level tone.

I think about that for a moment before nodding. "Yes. A few ups and downs, but it was an entertaining trip if nothing else." I answer honestly and she nods before walking off to get to work. I look up at a clock on the wall and speak before Daisy can ask more questions. "Come on, you can interrogate me as we work." I joke a little as she rolls her eyes with a smile.

time skip

I close the door behind me and sigh a little. Daisy is a great friend but she can be a very curious sort and she can also be very persistent about getting answers to her questions. I left Entropy at home for the day to look after our new friend and feed them both if need be, I guess I should head home and make sure they are alive.

As I make my way through the streets I take a deep breath and relax in the nice spring weather. The rainy season is now in full swing but we still get nice and sunny days like today. The wind is blowing slowly and the sun beams down through a few trees on the street side.

Canterlot is the best this time of year, the plants are in bloom, and even in a large city like this it seeps into every nook and cranny of the stone and bricks. Weeds and grass cling to the streets and building sides as the seemingly endless and titanic rivers of life magic flow through the earth below my hooves.

It's something I noticed a long time ago but never gave much thought to. The flows slow during winter and speed up with spring and the new growth. But I have no real idea what they are, they flow both near the surface and so far down I can't sense them in the least.

The flows form complex rivers and streams that wind through the earth, they seem to start nowhere and end nowhere. So much life magic flows through them, some seeps down from plants and animals to join the flows while other bits of the rivers flow off and rise to help the life above it.

It is a structure and a part of the ecosystem that so very few will ever see, and it is beautiful. To sit before something so much larger than one's self is humbling in a way, but it also lights this fire in my heart and a near-endless determination in my mind. Because all of this could end.

I don't know what would happen if magic was removed from this world, but I know these flows that seemingly spread and sustain life on this world would most likely collapse. I don't know what these flows do or how they affect the world, but their being gone doesn't seem like a good thing no matter how you think about it.

The blade still hangs above me, doesn't it? No matter how much I distract myself with the day-to-day of my life I can never truly run from what I know could happen. But hope keeps me going, always hope. Sure the future looks grim, but it is not completely black and there are things going for us.

But I think I take comfort in a simple grim fact, life will endure it all. I know that life in this world is very similar to Earth's, and Earth went through more than one extinction-level event, several in fact. Even if it is just the tiniest smallest speck of life, it will endure and grow anew.

That is all grim, but it is a hope of its own, the simple hope that this will never truly end, even if no one is there to see it. I find myself standing in front of my apartment door for a few minutes, silently pondering questions I shall never have answers to.

What finally breaks me out of my thoughts is the sound of something in my home falling over with a soft thud. I can feel the life magic of both Entropy and Philomena inside and I sigh before opening the door to three loud birds. The unnamed crow is still in their cage but is cawing out while acting excited and watching Entropy fight Philomena.

The two magical birds are fighting over a toy like normal, but the toy in question is the magical ball I bought on my trip. My slightly somber mood is replaced by feelings of amusement and love. The two birds attempt to throw the ball out of each other's reach only for the other to teleport and try to catch it, all while the ball flies around sporadically as the enchantments fail to track the teleporting birds properly.

I close the door behind me and lock it before laughing at the two as a wooden bowl sits overturned on the floor. "I knew leaving you alone was a bad idea. Did you at least take care of our friend here?" I ask humorously while taking the ball from both of them and stopping the fight. They both look a little annoyed with me but I put the ball in my saddlebags.

Entropy looks at me and then the nameless crow. "Yes. Feed, berries. Play." She caws out with a bit of pride to her words.

I smile down at the two and shake my head. "You two clean yourselves up, and I'll make a late lunch." I offer and Entropy happily flies off to her bird bath with Philomena not far behind her. I take a moment to feed the unnamed crow a treat to calm them down and get to work on the food.

Life may look grim, but it sure is beautiful.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

I was a bit pressed for time so this one is mostly just set up for later. Also, sorry if there are more errors then normal. I also will be busy most of the day so sorry if this is posted at an odd time or I'm not able to get to fixing mistakes and responding to comments until a few hours later then normal, I should be able to respond for a bit through.

I hope you like this smaller chapter.

Chapter 204

APR 5 Wednesday.

I stare at the large green gem in my hoof with an equally large smile on my face. I take a moment and shift some of my life magic into the large gem.

The life magic seeps into the gem without difficulty but I notice only a small amount of the life magic is lost to the world around it. I'm beyond excited to test and use this new tool, but for now, I have to focus on my friend, and the constant rain outside would make it uncomfortable.

I turn back to Celestia, who looks very pleased with herself and my reaction. "You made this didn't you?" It doesn't take a genius to figure out she cut the gem herself, she apparently has the skill for it after all. She spends a moment finishing her second piece of cake and nods.

She smiles brightly and looks proud. "Yes I did, it's not something I get to do often. And getting to work on a gem like that was a reward in its own right. I think I set some type of record." She explains while taking a tea set out from under her wing to make us something to drink.

"Maybe, a gem like this is unique." I spend a moment looking over the gem in more detail. I never saw the inside of the gem clearly so I never knew its quality, but whatever my expectation was at the time I underestimated it. It's not completely clear but I can see through it and there are no cracks throughout it.

I look back up to her. "It's absolutely amazing. This might just be the best-cut gem I own, and it came out so much better than I thought it would." I compliment her honestly and she actually looks a tad bit bashful, but she hides it very well and I can't be certain. "I remember different cuts help with certain things, what does this one do?" I ask and take another piece of cake before she can eat all of my birthday cake.

She takes the topic in stride and I see her face light up a bit at hearing a question about her work. "Well, the cut is called a Polyhedron Cut, named after the shape itself." I get an idea and open the book she gave me as she talks, I try to find a page on gem cuts of some type. " It's- Did something catch your eye?" She asks with an odd look as I start going through the book.

I flip through the pages and skim the contents before smirking at her. "I thought there might be relevant information in here. It may be harder to read but it is well written and-" I think for a moment and flip to the back of the book and find an index of the book contents. "Like I thought, you are always thorough," I say, showing the index to her with the same smirk.

I watch as her bashful expression comes back and she does a worse job of hiding it. I chuckle a bit at successfully teasing her. Her eyes narrow a bit, "Oh? And what did you say earlier? You like seeing this side of me?" She teases right back and I feel a blush creep on my face a little as she giggles.

I bury my muzzle in the book and quickly try to find the information I'm looking for while ignoring her words. She claims her victory, "You aren't wrong I suppose. I do think I added some notes in there about gem cuts, maybe not one this complex though, I was less skilled when I wrote that." She admits and seems to try and get past her slight embarrassment by relaxing and being more factual.

I really like being able to tease her a bit, even if she swings right back. "Please continue then," I ask while continuing to slowly read a few pages of the book. It seems to mostly be a relatively basic theory around gems and how they can help with magic.

If this book is as old as I think it is then this would have been uncommon information at the time. Back then you couldn't fill gems with magic as you can now, in fact, gems back then were very expensive and only magically useful to very rich unicorns.

She smirks and passes me some fresh tea. "As long as I'm not interrupted again, barely an adult and already so demanding." I roll my eyes at that but stay silent. "The cut is known as one of the most stable and consistent cuts you can make for a gem used in magic, while not still being too complex to make." She slips into her teacher's tone quickly.

The book itself is rather hard for me to read, there are several words I can't even understand and it's rather technical at points. But the small drawings and instructions given on how to cut gems and why it's done in certain ways are fascinating to me. It's a good book overall.

"The cut is difficult, but not the worst one I've had to make." She smiles fondly at some memory. "My best work, and one of my last when I was a gem cutter as a profession, was a one hundred and twenty-sided gem. That wouldn't have worked all that well here though."

She picks up the Life gem as if to demonstrate. "As a general rule, the more rounded the gem the more stable, while larger flat sides are better at absorbing more magic, and the more even and consistent the gem sides the more stable it is." She seems to think for a moment before taking out a quill and paper from under her wing to write out an example.

She draws out three shapes, a cube, a triangle, and an octagon. "A cube is the most common as it's easy to make it very even on all sides, and the large flat sides improve magical gathering. While something like an octagon would be more stable as it has more sides, it would gather magic slower."

She then points to the triangle. "The triangle is even better at gathering magic than a cube but is less stable." I nod in interest and fully put the book down to listen. "This is just a simplification though. The triangle for example is more efficient at gathering magic not just because it has more large even sides, but because it gives quicker access to the magical focal point of the gem, its center."

Giving it some thought and it seems about right from my experience. "So, the Life gem won't have the best efficiency when absorbing life magic, but it will be very stable?" I guess the cut has twenty flat sides which should make it stable. I guess you can't have everything and I'd prefer stability.

She tilts her head and seems happy to teach me something and talk about her craft. "You are half right. The gem's sides determine how quickly it can absorb magic, but it depends on the source of the magic as well. This cut will hamper the gem's absorption but only from the environment around it, if you directly pushed your life magic inside then this cut would make a relatively small difference. The clarity of the gem would matter more to determine how much magic it pulls from the world around it without an enchantment to assist it." She answers me expertly.

I let the knowledge sink in and decided I should read her book more later. "Huh. You make a great teacher, I see why Twilight can't stop praising you." She looks amused at the mention but also happy at the compliment. "But enough about all the theories and facts. How have you been?" This conversation is a little off-base for a birthday party.

I decided to start slowly emptying my life magic into the Life gem as we talked. She smirks down at me, "I have been very well. I got to practice an old skill of mine." She motions to the Life gem. "And while my faithful student was away, things were calm and quiet. At least there was before my student and niece returned in the same week." I chuckle at that as the exaggeratedly tired face she shows says it all.

She takes a long drink from her tea to quench her throat and drops the tired look. "Beyond that, the trade deal with Feather Falls has been a success." She smiles at me knowingly. "Apparently you make a rather decent diplomat after all. Look at you, making deals with nobles and attending parties hosted by royalty." She uses a babying tone.

I huff at the tone used but take the small compliment. "My student is catching up on her work, and seems quite determined to get it done quickly." She again hints that I choose to once again ignore the topic. "But I suppose your trip was far more interesting, and while I don't feel like scolding a stallion, I can't make that promise as a friend, and I do want answers." Her tone becomes a little more firm, but also reassuring.

I nod gratefully and try not to stress over this. Her attitude toward me doing stupid things seems to have shifted some. She once said she'd let me make mistakes and help me back up when needed, and this will probably be the first real test of that. I take a deep breath and answer her question.

"It started with a simple, but slightly risky plan. You've probably noticed that I see the Storm King as a danger, at least more so than others." I had an overly concerned attitude the last time we talked about this so she nodded and brought over the box I gave her seeing where this conversation is going.

I help her and pick out a few documents I think would be of most interest. "I wanted more information, and Feather Falls is close enough to get it. But to do that I needed to use... Less savory means." She flips through the documents I pointed out and starts to look more serious. "So, I went looking for a gray, or black market to buy information," I say with some hesitation.

She stops reading and looks up at me both surprised and concerned, but she doesn't get angry about it and seems to think it over for a moment. "What?" Her tone demands an explanation and my ears shift back a little. "You know how dangerous that can be RIGHT?" She demands and I nod vigorously.

She seems to stop at that moment and take a deep breath before sighing. "Please tell me you at least took proper precaution? Because if you don't I AM grounding you for the next two weeks, as your friend I will force you to stay at the palace." Her tone is more serious, but again not mad or judgmental, and she keeps to her word and tries not to scold me.

I nod quickly at the threat. "I would rather my new freedom not be taken away. Yes, I modified the illusion I used on Cadance. I made myself look completely different, wore a new cloak the entire time, I even changed my voice." I explain quickly and she seems to take that well.

She sighs a little and looks at me with a lopsided smile. "I will admit, I do not like the choice. But it is your choice to make. Please keep safe." She really is sticking to her promise and after a moment of thought continues. "Why are you so concerned about the Storm King? And what about the robbery?" She asks with a far more relaxed tone and drops the seriousness a good amount.

I know a large part of her reaction is that she knows I can take care of myself, and that I'm now a full adult. I also know that she just worries over me and is being a good friend letting me make my own choices. I nod again in a better mood, "Thank you. And not too much honestly. Some Diamond Dog tried to rob me, but it did not go well for them." I joke a little to try and lighten the mood.

She rolls her eyes like that's the most obvious thing in the world. "I sensed them following me, so I tried to get away and lose them in an alley, they caught up with me and pulled a knife. I took the knife, broke it, and then threatened them." She doesn't look all that surprised about that.

She looks a tad bit amused actually. "Yes, Cadance did mention something about you threatening to remove a limb. A bit far don't you think? Also, not something you should rely on." She cautions, she does seem to judge me a little as I kind of agree with her here.

I nod slowly after a moment. "Probably, but I was really annoyed and somewhat angry that this was how my trip started, and yes I'm aware it's ironic that I went looking for a black market and got robbed." She just smiles a little at that. "I did think it through after that and took a while to just relax and think about my actions," I reassure her a little and drink some of the well-made tea. The mood is more relaxed now, much to my relief.

She nods in turn. "Good, if you need to talk I'm always here. As for not telling Cadance, just try your best to do that if you take more trips with her, not that I have high hopes for that." Her tone is jokingly sarcastic at that and I'm again very thankful that Celestia is an understanding friend.

I laugh a little. "Agreed. Anyway, after... Pacifying the robber, I didn't feel it was a good idea to go to the guards as an outsider when they could be bribed and I didn't know the laws well. Instead, I took the opportunity." She looks intrigued at that. "That robber was also pretty odd. They asked for their knife back, after I took it from them. In a relaxed tone, like really relaxed." I say with a little humor as looking back on it that was rather odd.

She raises a brow. "What? That... Hmm, that is certainly an odd thing. You can't even make being robbed normal can you?" She asks just as confused as I was at the time.

I laugh again as she joins in on making light of the story. I shrug. "No idea, I broke the knife instead. After threatening them I basically demanded they take me to a black market, it seemed like the fastest way to go about it and get something out of that situation." I just say the last sketchy thing I did.

Her brow raises higher but nods after a moment. "Again, maybe not the best idea. But I can see the usefulness. And I myself have seen many of my guards do the same thing to great effect or great failure." She again doesn't really judge me and seems to be taking the approach of advising me.

I don't mind advice and listen intently before continuing. "I will. But the robber got even odder, they tried to negotiate a price to guide me. Literally, they tried to bargain with me while cornered and disarmed." I chuckle a bit and she just looks a bit baffled. "I did pay them, and they did lead me where I needed to go." I end my story on more of a high note than when we started.

She sighs again but laughs. "You are a conundrum of luck and strangeness, and... As loathed as I am to use such places, this information could prove useful." She flips through a few more pages and looks a bit concerned. "This situation is worse than I thought and very volatile. That brings me back to my question, this shows your worry wasn't unfounded, but what worried you so much about this Storm King, to begin with?"

That again makes me thoughtful. I can't just say I know the future, but there are other angles for an explanation. "It all seemed so uncertain. I like planning for things, and inaccurate information is the death of a good plan. To simplify it, better safe than sorry." I use a saying I've explained to her before. "I guess my paranoia strikes again."

She giggles a little. "Yes, it seems it has." There is a lapse of silence as she moves the documents back into the box and seems to move past this topic. "I don't like you putting yourself at risk, but thank you. This could very well save lives, and that is worth acknowledgement." I hear pride in her tone and feel better knowing she at least understands and recognizes my reasons.

Again there is a part of me that is happy Celestia is such a good friend. "I hope it helps in some way. But enough of all these serious topics. You were a gem cutter? What got you into that line of work?" The show was never accurate with the princess's pasts and all of that is from the show.

I've come across big historical events the show never talked about, so it's safe to say a lot of events the show does mention could be different than shown. And that's without knowing if the ponies in the show describing such events are telling the truth or if they are misinformed about things.

Celestia seems pleased at the change in topic. She chuckles a little, "Not something many would expect. Well, how did you start working at the library?" She asks seemingly to let me figure it out myself.

"An apprenticeship? Hmm, that actually brings a completely different question to mind. I remember you were unwilling to talk about alicorns, and that's not me asking, it's best that it is left unknown." I reassure her. "But I am curious if this was before or after becoming an alicorn," I ask gently as I know this topic is personal for her. "Because if it was after I'd question the intelligence of ponies at the time."

She snorts at that. "A bit of both, it was a rather complicated time. But yes, I was an apprentice to an old earth pony mare named Crystal Quake." She doesn't really answer me, but I don't press it. The name she said is spoken with some fondness. "Funnily enough she, much like you, was never one for formality or fancy words."

My ear tilts in thought. "Really, I'm no expert, but I thought gems were mostly used by unicorns at that time." Being an earth pony can make doing detailed work on delicate objects difficult, so being a jeweler is an uncommon job for them. That's not to say only unicorns and pegasus did such work but it was tilted towards them.

She nodded with a larger smile. "Ohhh yes. She was a master of her craft, even when others weren't as respectful about it." Her tone shows a little bit of disdain. Racism among tribes is pretty rare in modern times, but not so much in the past. "But that never stopped her. She was a good teacher."

I take a moment to finish off the last of my piece of cake. I enjoy hearing about her life, "I'd have liked to meet her. But for now, how about we test this thing? I am rather curious how well it holds up to my expectations." I pick up the gem. "Shall we Miss. Solis?" I offer and stand up.

She laughs a bit. "Of course Sir. Evergreen." I normally don't like others calling me sir, but I find myself not really caring when she uses it. "And I sure hope it does, my reputation as a gem cutter relies on it after all." She stands up as I move over to one of the Moon Glow Vines on the ceiling with a chuckle.

Throughout our conversation, I've been slowly dumping life magic into the gem and it now holds a decent amount inside. It's not enchanted in any way so the only thing I can really do is take life magic out and add it back in. I focus on my life magic and start to pull from the Life gem into myself.

I watched as the Moon Glow Vines started to grow more and more flowers that bloomed brightening the area more with my control over the life magic used. The Life gem seems stable and functional, I'm able to add to it without much difficulty, I can't wait until I enchant the Life gem. My mind swims with the possibilities that this gem will let me achieve and my smile splits my face in two.

I turn to Celestia with that smile, and I walk right up before hugging her. "Thank you, Celestia, today was... More than I could have ever asked for." I've come to realize a great truth, Celestia's hugs are the best. She wraps her wings and hooves around me. I sit there for several moments before backing off.

She smiles just as brightly down at me. "You're welcome Shade. And, it gave me a rare opportunity to plan a party. Now, let's finish this cake." I laugh at that as she takes another large piece and I join her with a large smile.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

I tried to make this fun, but it came out a little more mellow and gloomy then intended. But I hope you all like it.

Chapter 205

APR 9 Sunday.

I adjust my hair tie and make sure all the strands of my deep green mane are out of my eyes.

Today is the final bit of my birthday celebration and I can safely say I plan to enjoy it. The past few days have mostly been me deep cleaning my home and reading more than normal. I'm still getting used to my new free time and don't really have much of an opinion on it yet.

But even with the changes in my life, I've been riding a high mood for the past four days straight after my birthday. I feel a smile stretch across my muzzle as I think about the small party Celestia surprised me with. The entire day was a blast and as a bonus I got gifts.

I've read most of the book she gifted me, even though a lot of it went over my head. I may be smart but I also don't know much about gem cutting or the tools used in the craft. The book she wrote is mostly about the more magical side of gems and doesn't seem to cover a lot of the basics.

Things like tool names, explanations of how tools work, how to actually cut gems at all, and everything else you are already expected to know when reading the book aren't included. But I find it to be well written and informative in a few ways I can understand, a good example is something basic but small that I never thought about.

Different materials can block or limit the flow of different magics, any physical thing can block magic to some extent. Even non-magical things can block magic, but only to a very, very small degree. It's basically nothing, but keeping a gem off of a surface does improve magical gathering efficiency.

This mattered much more when you didn't have enchantments to help gather the magic into a gem, back then you had to place a gem into a magically rich area and wait a long time. Still, it's something I can keep in mind, after all adding a simple levitation spell to my gems is pretty easy and actually brings a spell I once made to mind.

The Stasis spell lets me lock something in midair without it moving or falling down, it would be good to do it more and add it as a standard enchantment to my gems. Although that might be a bit far for such a small increase in efficiency. I abruptly shake my head with a chuckle as I nearly dive head-first down into a mental rant right before I need to leave. I focus on making sure I look decent and leave my bathroom.

Entropy hops over and I pet her for a moment. "Remember to feed them, and make sure not to scare them this time." I chuckle a bit as Entropy accidentally frightened the still-unnamed crow by teleporting next to them a few days ago. I'll be leaving Entropy here both to take care of the crow and because the restaurant won't allow pets inside.

To lessen the blow of being left here I made both of them a nice fish dinner. Entropy bobs her head to me, "Know, will. Love, be happy." She caws out and I pet her a bit more before leaving my apartment with my saddlebags. I quickly make my way through the wet streets of the city in the evening sunlight.

The rainy season is still in full swing and rain is common. I wander several streets and it takes me a while to find the right place, it seems to be a pretty nice place to eat. I wasn't told the name of where we were going beforehoof, I was just given a note from Daisy with an address and a time to meet up.

When I arrive I check the time to see if the sun should be down any minute now, the building is painted a nice blue and seems pretty busy. With Glass windows with an interior lit by magical lights, there are many ponies sitting at tables eating and talking with each other.

A moment after standing outside I see Maple walking out of the doors and over to me alone and raise a brow at her. "Are you the first to arrive then? That's a rarity." I ask with a smile and she huffs a small bit. She looked good as well with her gray coat combed out and her black mane tied back being her.

She shakes her head. "No, everypony is inside, I drew the short straw and had to wait for you." I give her a surprised look as she very rarely gets that unlucky. She just smirks a small bit, "Even I can lose, just not to you. And my luck came right back, I only needed to wait a minute." She jokes a bit and leads me inside to join the others.

The inside is simple but fancy, I hope they didn't go too overboard. I sit down and smile at Daisy and Blaz at a simple round table with a tablecloth, "So, which one of you convinced the rest to go somewhere this fancy? Because I want to know who's going broke after this." I joke and after Maple and Blaz glance at Daisy.

Daisy rolls her eyes and smiles. "Hello to you too Shade, my day is going great thanks for asking." She teases me right back with a sarcastic tone and a chuckle. "And don't worry, this place is new and looks a lot more fancy than it is. Just don't go for the wine." She reassured me a bit.

Blaz nods. "She's right Colt. We may be dirt poor compared to you, but a single dinner is just fine." His tone is just as joking as Daisy's was. "I am getting us some cider though, I want to see how you handle your liquor. I will enjoy watching you get a hangover, though. You'll be miserable afterwards." He laughs a bit and I raise a brow at him.

I smirk a little and shake my head. "Well first, you never asked, and I never said anything about never drinking before." I hint vaguely. I never drank like that in this life, but I know full well I couldn't hold my liquor in the least, in my past life, I was a total lightweight. "And second, I am not drinking like that again, hangovers just aren't worth it," I say honestly agreeing with him on the second point.

I laugh a bit as everypony at the table looks shocked at me, even Maple has her mouth hanging open a little. "Wait? YOU, you broke the rules and decided to get drunk? You? When? How?" Daisy asks while growing even more confused and shocked as Blaz just starts laughing.

I chuckle more and smile at their reactions. "Well, the legal drinking age is different outside of Equestria. For instance, it's thirteen for ponies in Griffonstone." I half lie in my answer. It is true that the drinking age is different in Griffonstone but my last time drinking was a literal lifetime ago.

Blaz recovers from his fit and gives me a proud smile. "What do you know, you can actually do crazy things Colt, instead of your normal endless routine." He makes light of my seemingly boring life, if only it was so boring, wouldn't that be a blessing?

I laugh along with them as we all really settle in. We do stop for a moment to order food before we start talking again giving them a moment to recover. "I can't believe you'd do something so... Irresponsible? No, foolish." Daisy reprimands me lightly but she sounds more amused than anything. "But I'm sure as Celestia not leaving you alone until I hear the full story." She demands with a smirk as Maple nods in agreement.

I think about it for a moment and try to fit the real story into the supposed setting without lying too much. "Sure. But there's not all that much to tell. I was drinking alone, but not really. The Griffons there were nice enough to drink with, and a few drinking games later I was pretty deep in my cups." I remember that night when I turned twenty so long ago as I continued my story.

Blaz chuckles with a smile. "Sounds like when I turned fifteen, ahhh, the good old days. But I'm guessing things went a little less pleasant for you?" He teases me and I give him an unimpressed look.

"Yup, the good old days ya old stallion." I jab back. "Anyway, like I was saying before some fossil interrupted me. I got really drunk, and honestly, I can't remember a lot of that night. What I do remember though, is waking up in my inn bed with a throbbing head, and a bar stool in the bed with me." I finish truthfully as that was what happened if you take out the arm wrestling and the small bar fight.

They all look thoroughly amused as Blaz laughs again and Daisy along with him, while Maple just chuckles quietly. I smile wider, "OH, it gets better. I went to the bar I was drinking at to return the stool the next day, they said they mark their furniture in case it gets stolen, and that the stool I had wasn't one of theirs. I never did find out where I got it." I laugh as Blaz practically doubles over onto the floor as he laughs harder and harder.

He recovers again after a minute. "I was expecting something to do with a mare, but that might actually be better." He laughs more while Daisy and Maple get full control over themselves as a few ponies in the restaurant glance at the commotion we are making.

I'm done with my story and rather not have them dig more into my funny story, so I move the topic away from me. I look at Daisy, "Speaking of special somepony, are we ever going to meet your stallion? Because it's been a long while but I still don't even know their name." I bug her about this topic again both to annoy her a little and because I am actually curious.

She sighs but actually smiles a little to our surprise. "Maybe." That gets our collective attention as she's always just flat-out refused. "Neither of us likes to take things fast, and we mostly just talked and went on dates from time to time." Maple huffs a little and I roll my eyes.

She's already told us a variation of this before so we are expectedly disappointed. "But, things picked up a bit over the past few weeks." We perk up again as she continues. She gives us a more stern look, "That doesn't mean he'll be around soon. But if things keep going you will meet him, eventually." She smirks as we are again disappointed.

Blaz looks annoyed. "Really? Just tell us. Isn't this waiting long enough already?" He demands from her and Daisy retorts, starting yet another argument between them as me and Maple watch on amused. I look around and smile at all of them and can't help but feel silly about the worries I have.

Friends aren't so easily lost.

time skip

APR 13 Thursday.

I launch lightning bolt after lightning bolt at the target while moving around constantly in my full wooden plate armor.

As I do so the target swings around after being hit with each bolt and swings back and forth. I can't really practice on a full moving target, so for my training I tied a piece of thick log to a tall post with an overhang, it's attached with a long rope that lets it swing around with ease and each time I hit the target it moves, making it harder to hit again.

I've made a game of it. Each time I hit the target as it's still swinging I tally a point and keep it up until I miss or stop. I also move around with my armor constantly while practicing, mostly to get a feel for spell casting in the armor while on the move. My current score is twenty two by the way, and this has proven to be good training.

After half an hour I stopped practicing. Breathing hard and with low magic I sit in the grass while removing my armor piece by piece and pack it away in a spare bag I use to store it when not being used. After putting the armor away I start to walk over to my shack.

The last week has been very... Interesting. It's really started to sink in just how much more time I have available to myself now. Beyond the dinner out with my friends, something we agreed to do again at some point, and a game night a few days ago, things have been quiet.

I used to normally spend around nine to ten hours each day on my work, that's if you add in things like getting ready for work, walking there and back every day, and a few other small things. But now all the time is empty, and I find myself doing things I don't normally do.

My training has only increased slightly, so I decided not to push myself and keep to roughly the same amount of training at different times of the day. Past the training, I've found time to engage with hobbies that I normally used to only do every few days or so.

A big one is wood carving, my version of wood carving is different from most others. I still use tools, but only the very specialized ones used for details, the rest I've decided to do with only my life magic. Which is probably blending the lines between training and relaxing hobbies.

My skill in life magic means I can make wooden carvings with ease, but some things in detailed work can still be difficult. I can do a good amount of detail, but really small things are still not possible as it is. Carving like this has been improving my control even more so it might be possible with enough time.

But what is really different from before is the amount of time I've been investing in this hobby. Before I'd spend an hour or two at most every few days unless I was making a gift, but now? I spent five hours yesterday carving an incredibly accurate carving of a crow on a rock and I still only used half the time I had free.

I suddenly find myself with ten hours in a day that I need to fill in some way and my hobbies aren't cutting it. I was tempted to increase the length of my training sessions after realizing this, but I tempered that down quickly. I don't know if I can deal with that much and I don't want to figure that out right now.

With not enough hobbies, and training off the table, I've found myself reading and doing odd tasks much more. As a start, I've been looking for somewhere to send that crow, and I didn't find much in Canterlot sadly, the few places I did find seemed unable to deal with a crow.

Crows are not a common pet and finding somepony to adopt them is hard, at least that's what the places I went to said to me when they declined to take the crow in, it somewhat wasted my time honestly. But there is a slight upside, I decided to keep the crow at Gaia's Eden and have Entropy check on them so the crow could be more comfortable.

I still have to mostly keep them in their cage, but at least they seemed trained to endure that well. And I make sure Entropy plays with them a little, although I don't think Entropy really likes the crow all that much. The crow simply doesn't have the ability to play and communicate with Entropy like she wants it too.

In contrast, Philomena isn't as smart as Entropy but is still more intelligent than most animals, including this crow. For now, though, they are at least healthy and safe. On to the other thing that I've been spending my time on, reading, a lot of reading.

Not just spells, but medical texts, fun stories, histories, and even a few more, explicit books. I may not be growing as much, but puberty is still a bitch and I sometimes need to... Unwind as it were. Thoroughly ignoring that thought though, I've spent a lot more time reading at the library this past week than before.

I have given more thought to looking for something to fill this empty time, and I've narrowed it down to a few things. Mainly, medical training, this one is a little complicated depending on how you want to go about it. You could go to a medical school, a healers guild, or an apprentice at a hospital under a doctor or healer. Or simply volunteer to help at the hospital and take some tests there to prove what you can do, if you prove yourself competent they will let you do more things over time.

All can be done, but your selection is limited depending on the location and circumstances. For me though, my best is either volunteering or a healing guild. Being in a guild limits me in other ways though. To join a healing guild it's not too hard, you take some tests and do some healing jobs, if you do ok you are now a member, fuck up, and suffer the legal consequences.

It's really weird that these guilds even still exist, but some combination of entrenched power and the flexibility they provide seems to keep them around. Joining a guild would let me take jobs at my own pace and I can walk away at any time.

On top of that, I would mostly be doing magical healing as guilds focus on that side of healing and that aligns with my plans. But I would also find problems as I would be taking on jobs and signing contracts, something that is far less appealing to me and my calm life.

So I think volunteering might be better. I'd have to start at the very low end and work my way up until they let me do bigger things, but it's almost as flexible and it helps more ponies than the guild. And starting on the low end doesn't sound all that bad, I do prefer the slow and steady route after all.

I let the thought move around in my head and think it through. I decide to think about it more after a while and leave my shack after putting down my bag of armor and heading outside again. I walk down the path of shorter grass I made so I can move around the field of chest-high grass.

Eventually, I sit down in front of my training area. This part of the field has three things. The first is a single tree stump and tree trunk without a top that I use to practice special magic. The second is the log suspended in the air I use for target practice. I keep both alive so I can easily repair them with life magic.

The final spot is a clearing of short grass and dirt I use to practice my swings. I carefully take out my Life gem and look it over. I'm still testing it, but so far the gem has proven to be amazing, I really need to get Celestia a nice gift for her birthday, maybe a gem of her own?

The Life gem can hold around ten times my total magic capacity after conversion into Life magic, that's enough life magic to grow several dozen Oak trees that are over fifty feet tall. I can also absorb all that magic with some difficulty, this has provided me with a much larger amount of life magic to work with at a single time, but I still have a problem.

Charging the Life gem is difficult. I don't have a spell that can be used to help the Life gem gather life magic so I can't enchant the Life gem right now. Without that enchantment, I can only leave it next to the Gold Oak and let it charge over time, and that has proven to be very slow.

It took three days sitting next to the high-density life magic field of the Gold Oak and that only charged it around one tenth. So to refill my own life magic back to full It needs three full days to recharge, far too slow for my liking. But finding a good rune for life is really hard and it will take me time to find something that will work, I might have to settle for something subpar at this rate.

For now, I've just been using my tea, and Mana Mimicry to charge the gem and practicing taking life magic out and absorbing it back again. I don't have exact percentages, but I lose around a fifth of the magic when I absorb it back into myself, and at least some of that is because I need practice.

I stare at the gem with a smile and start to practice in the afternoon sun. Maybe she'd like a new plant?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. <3
Current year is 995

Not a massive amount here, just set up for other things and him settling into a new schedule.

Chapter 206

APR 26 Wednesday.

I take a breath and focus my mind and magic on my task.

But as I focus on my task my mind starts to wander off. Over the past two weeks I've actually gotten bored enough to take naps, it's certainly a new experience. It's nice though, if I need to regenerate my magic I just drink some tea and take a nap, but I only do that when I actually have nothing better to do with my time.

The past two weeks have gotten me into a new flow of practice and finding things of interest to fill the rest of my time. I've spent an absurd amount of time at the library for no longer working there anymore, but I'm certainly improving my knowledge of anything I find of interest.

Beyond that I did add something new to my training, I've started to practice with other types of elemental combat spells from the spell book Celestia gifted me. So far I'm only learning a few of them and I only practice them until I am competent before moving on to the next spell.

I don't plan to specialize in all their elements and I just want to learn them and have the spells ready for whenever I may need them in the future. But right now I'm attempting something completely different and potentially dangerous, which is why I'm sitting in front of the Gold Oak trying to concentrate on my task.

I've never done much with the Gold Oak, mostly because it is a highly valuable thing that would take a lot of effort to replace and set me back literal years if destroyed. I'd need another seed, I'd need to saturate it with enough life magic, and then I'd need to constantly feed it life magic daily to grow it to the current size.

Which is why I've been hesitant to mess with it, but after getting the Life gem I feel more certain about trying new things. I know from how much life magic it takes to grow the Gold Oak that repairing any damage would also take a lot of life magic. As for how I'm planning to damage the Gold Oak when I couldn't before?

Space magic. It theoretically should bypass any physical defense because I'm bending the fabric of reality itself, at least that's what I'm going to try and achieve here. But how I'm going about this is very important, so for the last hour I've been observing the Gold Oak to find a good spot to start with.

Near the midsection of the trunk is a small branch, only a quarter inch thick and a foot long but it's small and has only a few leaves that would be lost if it is removed. I focus on my space magic and decide to test a new method of Spatial Cutting that I've been experimenting with.

I focus on forming a Spatial Plane an inch wide and thick, and a foot long. I overlap one end of the Plane with the base of the small branch and I start to pull both ends of the Plane into each other along the length of the Plane. I'm compressing the space in a length-wise manner and it's proven difficult.

The world fights me and eventually, I have to let go of my attempt letting it all shape back into place. Normally when attempting to cut something I compress space by an inch or two at most, this time I move it nearly six inches and compress the space in the middle of the foot-long Plane, and the Rebound is stronger.

The Rebound is still far less than when I bend space instead of compressing it. The piece of branch that was in the Spatial Plane falls to the ground intact along with the branch as it is successfully cut off from the Gold Oak, but I quickly notice something is wrong. The part of exposed wood beneath the bark is pouring out life magic very quickly.

In preparation for this test, I spent the last two weeks completely filling the Life gem with my own life magic and what it could absorb from sitting next to the Gold Oak. I did this because I can't control the growth of the Gold Oak so the only way to heal any damage is to have it do the healing itself.

I panic and quickly reach out and dump my life magic into the tree without hesitation and focus on watching the part of exposed wood the branch was connected to. But I watch with concern and the tree bark heals over the inch wide cut slowly, I don't know what is happening or why the tree is leaking so much life magic, but I need it to stop.

I start to pull life magic from the Life gem as I run low, but before it can drain more than a bit the cut is fully healed a minute later. It took a moment but the damage was reversed without too much difficulty and the Gold Oak stopped leaking out its life magic. I breathe a sigh of relief and take a moment to calm down and take stock of the situation.

I do notice that the branch I removed is also leaking life magic, but to a lesser degree and it seems to be slowing down and ends in a trickle a minute later. I also noticed that both the branch and the small section of wood cut from the base of the branch are entirely intact and undamaged, it seems they resisted the Rebound completely. I leave the branch for a moment and focus on making notes and theories while the experience is fresh in my mind.

The most immediate thing I ponder is the tree leaking out its life magic like it was bleeding out. The first question that comes to mind from that thought is, how does it store that life magic? I know it expels that magic in its leaves and the dense life magic field around it, but not how much is actually inside it?

The effect of the Gold Oak is much like the Golden Oak, it blocks almost all life magic that is moved through it. But nothing is perfect, and some would inevitably leak past the Gold Oak's defenses. In the past, I theorized that this is what the life magic field is, a byproduct of it not containing all that life magic perfectly.

If that is true, then just how much life magic is in there? I've been dumping my life magic into it for YEARS, the sheer amount inside it must be immense. And that's not even taking into account all the life magic it absorbs from the ground beneath it, of which I can say is a large amount.

I can feel the large magical flows down there and parts move up and are pulled into the roots of the Gold Oak and out of my ability to sense it as the roots block my senses. So how do you contain and store all of that magic without it dissipating into the world around it? Well, the main way is with a structure that can absorb and contain it in a stable form.

The life gem is such a case, but if that was true here, why would it start leaking life magic so abruptly? I think about that question for a few moments and then a thought comes to mind, a container. The Gold Oak's wood can't contain the life magic, but the bark does.

If the tree can't store that magic in a stable way where it won't dissipate, instead it can form a barrier that traps all the life magic inside itself so it simply can't leave. I take a moment to finish my notes and pick up the small section of gold Oak I cut out along with the branch before walking over to my shack.

While walking I noticed I didn't use too much life magic. I used my personal reserves or magic that I converted into life magic and around one-twentieth of the gems reserves. So it took one and a half Me's worth of life magic to heal it. I pause for a moment and decide I need to find a better way to measure amounts of life magic later.

I also think I could have used less if I tried. I just wildly dumped my life magic into the tree and I wasn't being all that accurate or controlling in my response. If I had more preparation time I could probably cut down on the magical waste to a degree, I'll have to test that at some point as well.

I place both pieces of the Gold Oak branch on my desk and start really inspecting them. First I notice that while a lot of the life magic has drained away the wood still holds a fairly large amount of life magic inside it, at least more than any other plant I've seen so far.

The bark seems to be the same mix of tree bark with large golden veins running through it. But the wood is different, inside I can clearly make out rings, and not normal tree rings. All of the rings are perfectly spaced apart and get more compact at the center until forming a solid in the branch.

Also, the rings and core are made from the same golden material as the bark and leaves. I get an idea and stick the piece I have into a bag of soil from my shelves, I then add a small Blueberry bush and add some life magic before waiting. But unlike when I use the golden dust nothing seems to happen, it just sits in the soil as the Blueberry bush grows from my life magic.

I mix things around a bit, but again nothing happens. Whatever this golden material is it's reacting differently, but why? Is it because it's solid and not dust? No, I'd still see some reaction if it was just that. I was focused and panicked at the time, but I remember all the leaves on the branch I cut off disintegrating into golden dust shortly after the branch was removed from the tree, I'm not sure that really helps here though.

I think for a while and inspect the wood more, it really looks the same as Oak wood, besides the gold of course. After some thought my best guess would be I'm missing not one, but two materials. Either the dust or the golden material in the wood has something else added to make it either stable or unstable depending on the use. It seems the wood won't degrade into life magic if I sick it in the ground, which is nice.

I start testing a few other things after that and keep that theory for later. First, I try to grow it, which doesn't work at all. In fact, the wood feels, dead. I think as soon as it lost all of that internal life magic it just died, I think the tree needs that insanely high amount of internal life magic to live at all, if that is true I suppose it makes sense that the tree is so hard to damage.

If it leaked all that life magic out it would die, so it evolved to make itself as tough as possible to endure anything that could damage it. I file away another theory and continue my testing. I move some life magic into the wood, which it seems to absorb with zero difficulty and a high efficiency.

But as soon as it is absorbed it leaks out just as quickly. I smile widely at the sight. The wood can't seem to hold any life magic, more proof of my earlier theories, but it's amazing at channeling life magic through itself. I nearly start testing with it more but stop as a timer spell I cast earlier goes off.

I cast a spell and checked the time before sighing and putting down the branch reluctantly. I have an important meeting to get to and this will have to wait for the time being. I whistle and Entropy flies over to take me home for a shower and to clean up some, once I'm clean and dry I have her take me to the palace in short order.

When I arrive I turn to pet Entropy. "Thank you, Girl, I think you can go find Philomena, just make sure to come and find me at seven, ok?" I say happily and she chirps excitedly and nods before shifting into a shadow and moving out of the room then further away towards Celestia's office.

She can talk just fine, so recently I've tried to teach her numbers and basic math. We've had some success with basic addition, but the real progress came from a clock. She seems better at memorizing the time than doing math and after a week she learned how to tell the time.

She's not perfect but I'm pretty sure Celestia is in her office as her life magic is in that rough direction and if Entropy needs help she knows how to ask for it. Teaching and playing with her more has been a good use for the new free time I now have. I shake my head and leave another mental rant as I need to get to my meeting.

Like normal a guard leads me and a few minutes later I'm closing a door behind me. I'm used to this room, the bookshelves, the round table with couches, and the Alicorn of Love that never stops teasing me. I smile in greeting and sit down with her, "Hello Cadance, I hope you've been doing well." Despite all the teasing, I do consider Cadance a friend, not a close one, but still a friend.

She smirks in turn. "Hello, Shade. I've been great, me and Shining had a nice week off, those bits you gave me got us an amazing date." She seems pretty happy and her tone is thankful, but then she gives me that smile. "And according to Aunty, you had a great birthday." She says with a slightly suggestive tone.

I give her a slight glare and succeed in trying not to blush at the tone she uses. "Really? Please tell me she didn't talk about the gifts? Because if she did I... I may need to really prank her, a lot." I technically can't stop Celestia from talking about the Life gem, but I'll admit to being a little annoyed if she did. At least it's to someone trustworthy.

She keeps her teasing smile. "Somewhat. I think she left some things out." Again the suggestive tone. "But I did learn you apparently snuck off to buy some information." I tense a little but she doesn't sound or look mad, just amused. "You really don't rest, do you? The black market? Really? Maybe we should give you another, mandatory, vacation?" She keeps her teasing tone and I raise a brow and relax again.

I do feel a little bad about not trusting Celestia, but that's the downside to my paranoia. Either way I smile a bit realizing Celestia left the more private details out, "She made the same threat, she didn't tell you how that went did she?" I ask and it's her turn to look confused. I smile wider, "My contract was up, and I quit my job weeks ago."

Her smile falters a little as she gains a thoughtful look. "She set me up! I told her that joke and she encouraged it!" I break down laughing at her outburst. "Hmm, I'll have to get her for that. So you quit huh? Can't say it's much of a surprise, you don't exactly need the pay." She takes a more level tone and I start to take out a few stacks of notes.

The notes are about the Runic Context for our rune and our thought process about why we used certain words in it. I nod, "True, but I find it... Odd. So much free time is proving a little difficult to fill. Although I'm finding ways to fill it or find new things to do." It's not a big topic for me so I will just be honest about my thoughts.

She looks curious. "Really, and what are you doing to fill that time, hmm?" I don't answer her and try not to react. "Adding more training? With how much you do I'd really hope you actually take a break for once. Aren't you our little workaholic?" She uses a baby voice and in response, I just drop a heavy stack of papers in front of her. She gives me a slightly annoyed look. "I'm not going to be able to distract you am I? Fine, where did we leave off?"

Understandably, Cadance is busy and doesn't always remember where we left off last time. "No, you will not, and we get to start actual testing now." She looks thoughtful for a moment before her face lifts and she smiles. I find an opportunity and take it, "Don't get too excited, this is going to be worse than anything else, combined."

She glares at me a bit. "What do we actually need to do then? I know we need to test the rune, but how?" She asks and I take out a very simple spell I made for just this purpose. She looks over the paper for a moment and then looks back at me. "This is it? I expected more for such an important spell."

I shake my head. "No, that spell will take a lot more effort and time. This is just to test the rune, if the rune works it will create a small light when it detects love magic, all we need to do is testing." I look over the Runic Context further and move it over to her. "All you need to do is cast the spell, and then if it works it works. If not, we start messing with the Context and see where that gets us."

She nods and reads over notes and the spell matrix. "Ok, sounds simple enough." She keeps reading and studying the spell matrix and smiles. "But while I'm doing this, let's keep talking." I get a bad feeling from that smile and she just passes me some tea.

I took it suspiciously and cut her off. "You sure? Because I rather you not mess up the spell and make this take longer than necessary." I use a slightly sarcastic tone while deciding to draw as she reads. After a moment I choose to draw the view out of the windows.

I see her from the corner of my eye as she keeps smiling. "Please, I was taught by Aunty, I can learn this spell, finish a negotiation and still find time to tease you." She boasts. "But for now, I'm curious what your party was like, did she do anything... Special?" She again uses that damned tone.

I'm not as glad to be looking in a different direction as a slight blush shows on my face from the side. "No. She did bring a cake and a few gifts." I answer vaguely.

Her eyes narrow. "You did mention that. So, what did she get you? A crown perhaps?" She smiles wider as I blush deeper at the memory of that incident. "Or maybe she got you a few pictures?" She goes a little too far on that one as I feel my body try to react to the thoughts that flash through my head.

I take a few deep breaths and give her a level look. "She helped me with a project," I admit to try and get her to shut up and move on but my words make her eyes light up a bit. "Not like that! ... Stop laughing!" I finally break and turn to face her while trying to get my blush under control and she starts to laugh.

She smiles in victory as she's able to break my calm a bit. "You don't have to sound so against it you know? She is a rather nice mare, in fact many stallions would be very jealous of you." I just glare silently for a moment before turning away and trying to tune out her laughter.

It takes me a few minutes to calm down from the rather excessive teasing and focus on drawing. And around ten minutes later she looks up and closes her eyes for a moment before her horn glows. But she frowns after a moment and I guess the result. "Time to get to work then." I start looking through the Runic Context for a few moments. "This line never sounded the best to me." I pass it over and point it out.

She looks down. "The serendipitous love of another. Hmm, maybe a shorter word?" She offers and I shrug as we start discussing shorter words for that section.

one hour later

I rub my eyes as our tenth attempt fails. I think for a moment, "Maybe more romantic words? Actually, these might work well for ideas." I move a few romance novels I recognize from the shelves. She nods and starts to flip through them with me.

another hour later

Cadance sighs with clear annoyance as the twenty-second attempt fails. "This is so stupid. Just work!" She demands the piece of paper and I'm inclined to agree as this is getting repetitive. "Ugh! Let's just... I don't know! Let's remove words that don't sound right." She makes a random vague choice.

two tired hours later

I watch with a slightly satisfied smirk as Cadance bangs her muzzle into the table. "I blame you for this." I just chuckle at that and she lasts out a long-suffering sigh and looks at the newly modified Runic Context. "That's it! I can't take more of this." She exclaims while glaring at the papers.

I nod. "Fair enough, we're almost out of time as it is. Let's just shelve it until next time." I agree with a slightly tired tone. Turns out trying to word the same damn thing differently FORTY SIX times, can make you pretty tired overall. I think for a moment before moving all the paper to the side of the table. "Chess?" I ask while talking out the board.

She shakes her head. "No, I don't need that right now, I already have a headache." I nod and instead, take out a deck of cards from my saddlebags. She raises a brow, "Ya, that will work." She smiles a bit as I start to shuffle the deck. "So." :OH shit: "You never did say where you had your little birthday party."

I sigh and give her a tired look in return.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

A few things in this one. Importantly though, what do you think Shade should use as a standard from of measurement for life magic? I was thinking how much life magic it took to grow a ten foot tree, but you all might have better ideas. So go for it.

Chapter 207

MAY 2 Monday.

I slowly hum a tune with Entropy as we walk down a dusty road while I carry a wooden cage on my back.

Currently, I'm walking down a dirt road on my way to Ponyville, somewhere I haven't been to in a while. I'll get to why in a moment, but for now, updates. First and foremost, my last meeting with Cadance unfortunately ended in failure for our first attempt.

After getting teased by her some more and playing a few card games, and then Entropy showed up on time for me to go home and stop dealing with my embarrassment. I'm not completely blind to why she does it, me and Celestia are close and I won't lie and say Celestia isn't attractive.

I force my mind away from that topic as I would rather not have a fifth leg while walking. Beyond that, I spent time working on the new material I now have access to. The Gold Oak branch has proven to be very interesting, if a little confusing, honestly, I just have more questions now.

To even work with the wood I needed to upgrade my wood carving tools to be even sharper and more durable, something that took a week by itself. I was able to cut the bark and wood after doing it, but it still proved difficult. After finding that I was able to cut through the branch I tried to use the same newly enchanted tools to cut the Gold Oak itself.

But it did not work in the slightest, it didn't even leave a scratch on the bark. I wanted to try this to see if the toughness of the wood changed in the absence of the life magic normally inside it, and it seems my guess was spot on. But it did work on the cut-off branch and that opened a few possibilities.

First I removed the branch bark, which seems to have kept a large amount of its properties, I can push life magic through it but it's uncontrolled and the bark completely stops my life magic senses. Interestingly enough it also messes with my special senses a bit, I'm not sure why.

Once the bark was off of the branch I removed any small offshoots and started to test with the wood itself. It's a really tough wood but also turned out to be very brittle. I tried to cut a piece off the branch and I used more force than I should have and the cut cracked it instead of cutting smoothly, which has made working with it difficult.

I did try cutting the small section I have with my space magic again, but the Rebound cracked it in several places and ruined it. Another reason I believe the wood loses its strength after being removed and dying, it's not able to handle the Rebound. But despite the wood's downsides, the upsides more than makeup for it.

It can conduct and channel life magic along its length with ease, and it seems to follow the wood grain. I pushed life magic into one end and it flowed out the other, this golden material seems adept at channeling life magic and I've been thinking of a way to extract it.

For now, though, I'm just trying to find even better runes and remake the cutting spell I used for my wood carving tools again. I need a smooth cut to make anything useful with how brittle the wood can be, I’ll need something stupidly sharp to cut it properly. I leave my thoughts as I crest a hill and see Ponyville in the distance.

I came here because I'm out of options that won't take a long time and decided to try something a little crazy, and I wanted to do this before the dinner night I had this evening, something me and my friends have decided we'll be doing every few weeks on top of our game nights. Back to my point though, the crow I stole is still with me after several weeks and I haven't found a home. I tried more places in Canterlot but they rejected me, I asked my few friends, and I even offered it to Avalon when we met up a week ago to hang out.

My other friends didn't need a pet, they did ask about where I got it and I just lied and said it was an odd gift from an acquaintance, something they joked about but didn't dig into. Avalon didn't want it, apparently, he just didn't have the time or want to train a crow to travel with him and because the crow doesn't seem well adapted for a city, it seems to be affecting them even with trips to Gaia's Eden.

So I'm at an impasse, I can either let this crow go somewhere in the wild, a town, or a forest. Or, I can check one last location. I may have a lot of free time but I don't want to go to another city and search through it for days just to find somepony who might find them a home or might just tell me the same thing everypony else has told me.

So, I took an opportunity to check in on Ponyville a little and see if a certain shy mare is now living here. I remember seeing her in the town last time I visited and if anypony might take this crow in, it is her. Plus I never confirmed if she now lives here, but considering I saw her here and some time has passed it's worth a look.

As I enter the town I see ponies walking around going about their days, a few do look at me, and some even wave at me in greeting. This town is always a breath of fresh air, it's friendly even by pony standards. I vaguely remember the way to Fluttershy's shack when I visited it a long time ago, and I follow those memories to guide me while Entropy under her illusion sits on my back as I walk.

I take a few turns before noticing the right path, and unlike last time the plants around it are more trimmed and controlled. The path is also far less overgrown with grass and weeds, the dirt path even looks freshly upturned and disturbed. A good sign to start with.

I smile a little and start to follow down the winding path through the bushes and trees. It's not too far as Ponyville is pretty close to the Everfree and Fluttershy's home is pretty much right on the edge of the forest. After a while, I turn a bend and see a building come into view.

The small plank bridge over the stream has been replaced with a sturdier one made from properly cut planks with wooden railings. The cottage that was once dilapidated seems to have been fixed up properly. The walls are freshly painted and have no holes while the front door has been replaced.

I cross the small bridge and stand on the flat area that makes up a clearing surrounded by bushes and trees that her home sits in. The front of the cottage has garden beds that seem recent as nothing has grown in them so far, but I feel seeds inside them. I can feel a pony move around inside and smile knowing she's home, it seems my slightly crazy idea could work.

I stand in front of the door for a moment to get my story straight. I've noticed the crow acting differently and I think it's not holding up the best, so asking her for help is where I will start.

I reach out a hoof to knock on the door, but before I can the door swings open. "EEEP!" A mare's voice calls out in surprise as I see Fluttershy open the door and go wide-eyed seeing me standing only a foot away. She hides half her face behind her mane and backs up very quickly.

I nearly laugh at the sight of her reaction but contain it and just smile at her. "Hello, Miss. Fluttershy. It seems we meet again, a pleasure." I will be a little more polite than I normally am and use a quieter tone than needed, mostly to try and calm her down and not startle her again.

She stares at me for a few moments before her eyes glance down and a blush overtakes her face, she looks embarrassed. "He-Hello." She stutters a bit before taking a breath, I just wait patiently for her to calm down a bit. She looks back up to me and her eyes light up a bit after seeing Entropy. "Oh! Hello!" She greets Entropy much more enthusiastically.

Entropy does what she does best and acts adorable. "Hiii!" She crows out but keeps her words like a normal crow would, such a smart girl. Fluttershy looks even more excited and happy before getting some control over herself and looking back at me.

"It's nice to see you again... Shade?" I chuckle a bit and she looks more embarrassed, I nod in the affirmative. "Good. Umm, can I help you with something?" Her tone is quiet and a little nervous, something that comes off as adorable. I quickly beat off a few other thoughts and focused on answering her.

"Yes, I was passing through town and heard you might be the pony to ask about pets?" This is my excuse, it's not perfect but it's the best I could come up with. "I have a crow that needs to be looked over and I thought you might know something, or somepony that could help."

She looks a little surprised and then a little worried as she moves closer to me and looks closely at Entropy. "Oh no! Are you ok, Entropy?! Did you get hurt?" Her tone changes to be a little more confident as she looks Entropy over with worried eyes. I noticed she did remember Entropy's name, just not mine.

I quickly shake my head at that and keep my smile. "No! No. She's fine, my other little friend I'm not so sure, it might just be things changing though." I take a slightly sad tone. The unnamed crow has been quiet and inattentive, I think all the time alone and me not really knowing how to take care of them is getting to them.

She blushes again and backs up so she's not right next to me, she looks over at the cage on my back that has its coven on. "O-oh. Do... Do you want to come inside? I-It could rain out here." She seems to remember her manners and walks inside while keeping the door open and showing a small nervous smile.

I nod my thanks. "If it's not too much trouble, sorry if I was interrupting anything." I be polite again but take a more blunt and relaxed tone than an overly friendly one. I make sure to wipe my hooves on the mat before stepping inside to look around after closing the door behind me.

The home is finished simply, with a few plain wood shelves, a blue couch, a table, and a nice red carpet. The place isn't all that large and I think she's moved in recently as it seems a little plain, or maybe that's just how she likes it? She shakes her head a little, "No, well. I mean! I-I was just going to check on the birds I met yesterday, but t-they can wait a little longer." She reassures me and stands there awkwardly.

I nod again. "Well, thank you for the help. Here." I move over the cage with my field, something she seems to notice and looks curious about. "A... Friend, couldn't take care of this one. So I took them in, but I think something might be wrong. Well, honestly, I think I'm just not right for them." I scratch the back of my neck and play up the truth a bit, this crow is just not something I'm good at taking care of.

She takes the cage and peels off the cover hesitantly, only for her eyes to go soft at seeing the crow inside. She spends a moment looking them over before looking concerned and whistling to them a bit. They chirp back and I raise a brow, I never could find out if she could really communicate with animals, I know it's possible but I never needed to look into it after Entropy started talking. "Oh, you poor thing." Her tone is very soft as she takes the crow out of the cage.

I feel kind of bad that the crow has gotten to this state, but I'm not one to deny my fuckups. "Yes. Sadly, unlike Entropy, this one seems unable to handle city life or travel." I half lie and she raises a brow slightly. "I live in Canterlot or travel around a lot of the day, Entropy is fine with that and I can take care of her well, it's not the same for them," I admit with some guilt in my tone.

Fluttershy lets the crow out of the cage as it seems to trust her almost immediately. It steps out onto her hoof and Fluttershy starts to look over her more. "Hmm. He's very healthy, just... Not happy." She says more to herself before looking at me. "N-Not that you did anything wrong! He's clearly well taken care of!" She defends me.

I shake my head. "No, you're right. He's?" I ask, noticing she seems to have found out the gender, she nods. "He's not ok, and part of that is my inability to take care of them," I say honestly while sitting down. "But that's why I'm here, I was passing through, and heard you might know who to talk to about getting him to help."

She shares a sad stare for a moment but shakes it off. She puts the cage on the floor and turns to me with a gentle smile, "Would you care for some tea?" She asks uncertainly, I nod and she smiles a bit more before walking into a kitchen through an open door.

I take a seat at her small table and decide to read while I wait. An hour ago I got home in the afternoon and I collected a letter from Twilight before coming here, it might be impolite but my curiosity is getting to me. I open the letter and read it quickly.

Dear Shade.

I'm taking an exam later today so I can't write much, but I just wanted to get this to you as early as I can. I've been so busy with learning and tests, it's AMAZING! The princess is really testing me this year! I even got to work on a few more advanced spells like th-

Sorry, I really do need to keep this short. Ok, I'm going to be free on May thirteenth, I know you have work so I thought Saturday would work best. I need to do some research so I'll be there for a long while. I hope to see you there.

Signed Twilight.

I chuckle a little at the letter, she really can't help herself, can she? Even in a short letter, she adds so many unnecessary things. "Wha- N-Never mind." I look up to see Fluttershy and the crow with a wooden tray, it has a few snacks and a hot teapot. She places it down and sits with me, "I. I hope lemon tea is alright, I don't like most other teas." She admits shyly.

She seems curious but stops herself from asking. I nod and take an offered teacup, "It's just fine. I like your home by the way, you are certainly better at decorating than I am." I mix a joke and compliment to relax the mood and try to make her more comfortable.

She smiles again and looks bashful. "I-I'm sure your home looks lovely. And thank you." I nod in turn and the male crow on Fluttershy’s back hops on the table to steal a cracker for itself. "Oh, right. Umm, you need help with this one?" She smiles as the crow eats.

I nod yet again. "Yes, I, well... Honestly? I'm not sure I can keep taking care of him, even if he gets better he's just not compatible with the way I live my life." I did come here seeking help, but I could have just gone to a veterinarian for that, I came for a different reason. "But, sadly I couldn't find them a new home."

She also looks a bit sad and looks at the crow. "So, I was hoping you'd know where I can get them help, and hopefully somepony that can take them in. I already tried places in Canterlot but none would take him." I lay my reasons out plainly and with a blunt and kind tone.

She looks a bit surprised at my admission but also happy with me, to be honest. "You're very kind." I raise a brow. "T-To take care of them for so long, e-even when you... W-Well many just, let them go." She looks a bit, well not quite mad and not quite sad, some odd mix of both maybe? "Well, maybe I-I could?" She offers very uncertainly.

I smile at that as I thought I was trying to think of a way to suggest just that, but I notice she seems uncertain about it. "I'd be more than happy to leave them with you, Miss. Fluttershy. You already seem to know more about crows than me and I've been living with one for years." I joke again and she giggles a little. "But, are you sure? I don't want to drop my responsibility on you." I offer her an easy way to back out.

She seems to think about it for a few moments before nodding with some surprising determination on her face and petting the crow. "Just F-Flutteshy is fine. And, I- Yes. It's not too much, I. I already have a pet and... Well, I like animals." She sees my uncertain expression. "R-Really! In fact, I want to make this place an animal s-sanctuary." She blurts out before realizing her words and blushing fiercely.

I smile widely at that. "Really? That's quite a noble aspiration. And thank you, it means a lot that I can find them a good home." I compliment and thank her, and it's the truth, caring for and running a sanctuary for animals is no easy task, and finding the crow such a good home is great.

Entropy seems to agree with me as well. "Pretty." She caws out before deciding that the best place to rest is on top of my head, just as she did the last time I met Fluttershy. She blushes even more at the combined compliments and buries her face in her mane.

"T-Thank you, but it's really not that much." She doesn't whisper so much as just speak quieter. "S-So, what do you do, f-for work I mean." She can't seem to take all the compliments but also doesn't really know how to make me stop so she just changes the subject.

I almost answered that I'm a librarian, but that's not quite right anymore. What do I do now? After thinking on it for a minute I finally answer as she happily feeds Entropy a cracker by outstretching a wing and being careful not to hit me with it. "I've been a fair few things, right now though I'm just an aspiring rune scribe."

In the past, I was quiet about this but I can't see much harm in saying it now, it's not like I can get in trouble for saying it either way. She looks intrigued but also confused, "Don't they, make spells?" She guesses hesitantly. "So you cast a spell, mmm, runic casting?" She again guesses.

I smile at somepony recognizing my craft, many don't. "Correct. Although it's an aspiration more than anything, making spells is no easy feat." A half lie from me. I take a moment to sip from my teacup and enjoy the simple lemon tea, it's not bad. "And again correct. I've learned to cast spells. Not many know the technical name of my craft though."

She again looks bashful. "O-Oh. Well, it's just something I remember from a classmate. They wanted to learn, I think they learned to cast a light spell last time I met them." She seems to be in thought. "Or maybe a cleaning spell?" She seems to have relaxed much more after the change in topic.

I smile at that and decide to have a little fun. A rune flashes into the air slower than normal to not startle her, and a moment later there is a blue ball of light in mid-air. "Wow." I nearly laugh at the small whisper. "I- She never did anything like that, you don't have to draw the... Carving?"

I shake my head. "Its technical name is spell matrix. And no, I'm a Journeypony Runic Caster so I can do it without drawing them." I explain but a thought comes to mind a moment later, I cast another spell to check the time remembering I have a night out with my friends in an hour, shit. "Sorry, it seems I have to cut this a bit short." I quickly stood up after seeing the time.

She looks a bit sad at that but nods and follows me to her front door. "Oh, of course, it was nice meeting you again, and p-please don't feel bad... W-Wait, don't you need your cage?" She asks and points to it on the table.

I shake my head and take out a small bag of bits, fifty bits in total. "No, my friend gave it to me and I have no use for it, keep it. And here, for the help and taking him in." I offer and her eyes widen and she looks uncertain. "I won't take no for an answer, not after barging in unannounced and you being so helpful," I say, noticing she looked like she'd reject me.

I toss the bag to her and smirk a little at the slightly shocked face she has while catching it. "Thank you again for the help Fluttershy. Please take good care of them for me." I open the door and step out as she follows me again.

"Wait!" I turn to her as she speaks pretty loudly. She looks embarrassed at the outburst. "It's nearly dark, a-and the... E-Everfree, is close." She seems afraid of the name itself and looks genuinely concerned about me. "I- I could lead you back. In the d-dark." She offers with some fear, but also concern for me.

I see that she is right and it is going to be dark very soon. I smile at her in reassurance. "I will be just fine, I don't plan to walk." I was planning to just have Entropy take me home once we were out of sight, but this will work as well. I quickly cast a spell and waited a moment for my wings to fully form.

"Have a good night, Fluttershy." I don't wait for a response before beating my wings several times and leaving a stunned Fluttershy in my wake as I fly off into the evening to head home again.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 995

I was thinking about giving the crow to Avalon, but this gave me an opportunity to head to Ponyville again. I know there isn’t much in this chapter but I wanted to stop at Ponyville and solve the crow problem before getting to Twilight.

Ps. taking tomorrow or the next day off.

Chapter 208

MAY 13 Saturday.

I take a deep breath and focus my senses on the world around me.

I move my body quickly and just barely dodge out of the way of a weak fireball spell launched at me as I'm pushed back from Shining's onslaught. I sense another spell hidden right behind the fireball and again just barely move out of the way in time also to deflect a third spell with my greatsword.

This time we decided to switch up our sparring a bit, he can only use spells while I can't use any at all, first to fall down loses and we start far apart. Which means I get practice dealing with spell fire and dodging. I move forward quickly and try to close the distance, but while advancing I take two firebolts to parts of my armor and nearly trip over an ice spike.

As I close in and swing my dagger I'm not all that surprised to have my blow deflected by a magical shield shimmering into existence. Shining is annoyingly adept at them and even at full strength I can't break through them with my wooden weapons alone, which is why he's only allowed to use it three times per match, and he just used his last one.

He tries to cast another spell to stave me off but I respond by pulling back and hitting him in the leg while he's focused on dodging my weapons. His spell discharges and slams into my chest pushing me back a few feet and I'm barely able to keep standing, he's knocked off balance and drops to the floor from me hitting another leg with my dagger. "Match!" An excited and far too entertained voice calls out as we both stop.

I take a few deep breaths and reach out with a hoof to help Shining up. "What was that last spell?" I ask while removing my helmet and chest piece, the thickest part of my armor now has some slight damage. "That last spell nearly sent me flying, I want it." I smile a bit and cast a pair of spells on him to help heal bruises and muscle damage.

He nods his thanks and gets up testing his leg a bit, it seems fine. "Not as hard as you hit, just don't hit too low, I want foals someday." He jokes and I roll my eyes, if only he knew. "And I don't know? Maybe I shouldn't tell you, you're already a monster as it is." He takes off his helmet as well as we walk over to Cadance and sit down with her.

Cadance nods a bit as I start to take off the rest of my now-damaged armor, at least the Fire Blossom bark protected me against the fire spells, it's not even singed. "That I can agree on, he's just not fair, but you tried honey." She consoles her stallion. "I do wonder what makes you push so hard?" She asks me and smiles as Shining does the same.

"Maybe this fine young stallion is trying to impress a mare, or two?" I blush a bit and give him an unimpressed look in return. "What? You literally can not convince me there isn't a mare after you." He laughs as I blush more, but stops a moment after and gives me a more level look. "Just try not to break my sister's heart again, ya?" He jokes more at my expense and I just sigh.

Cadance looks almost proud about Shining as she laughs and I glare at both of them. "I can have us spend a bit more time working on the rune? It is rather important after all?" That shuts her up before I drop the joking tone and turn to Shining. "Is that something I should worry about? Because I literally don't know how to deal with that if it happens, or how to avoid it actually." I ask more seriously.

He keeps his smile and looks at Cadance for guidance, she just shrugs. "Well, maybe? I can tell you she's doing much better, and is excited to see you. But... I don't know, be nice? I'm no expert. Sweety?" He again looks to Cadance as he seems a little lost about a good answer

She gives me an unimpressed look before sighing and smirking at me. "You'll be fine, just keep clear boundaries and be your blunt self. And for the love of magic try and actually pay more attention this time." She lifts the slightly awkward mood with another attempt to tease me. I groan a little as those two make one deadly team.

I stand up with my bag full of armor before giving them a wave. "And that's my cue to get out of this wolf's den. You two are relentless." I mumble and turn to Entropy as they laugh" Have a good day you two, don't keep the guards up." Before they can say anything I feel the sweet embrace of the Void and enjoy the nothingness.

When I reappear inside my apartment I turn to Entropy and pet her. "Thank you Girl, great timing, and sorry you couldn't see Philomena." I console her and she chirps softly in response. "Here, go nuts." She perks up as I give her the magical ball toy she's come to love. "I'll be back later so make sure to be good, and don't break anything." I remind her before dropping my bag of armor in my workroom and going into the bathroom for a well-deserved shower.

I let the warm water flow down me and clean myself as my thoughts wander. The short time since I gave Fluttershy the crow has been much more relaxing than before, I never really noticed how much I had to check on and go out of my way to take care of that crow, yet another reason to be thankful I have Entropy.

Beyond not needing to deal with that, I've spent more time looking into a few things and working with Cadance more. It turns out that quitting my job made it much easier to schedule a meeting with her and today we got another thirty attempts filed away, still no new rune though.

There is something interesting I learned while trying to look into rune creation. It was a study paper that found that using more commonly used words increases your chances, but it wasn't very conclusive so it's hard to say how much it actually helps. Honestly, runes are a complete mess that gives me a headache.

Runes just don't make sense, they are a seemingly random thing and it all just feels arbitrary in a way. I guess I don't do as well with magic that is so... Random, or maybe just the randomness I can't explain. But we are making progress, if only from process of elimination.

Beyond the rune and dealing with Cadance I spent a nice meeting with Celestia at the royal gardens a few days ago, it was just a simple meeting and actually had to be cut short by her in the end, it's nice to catch up, and talk with her. She might be my favorite pony to spend time with... Hmm, that thought is going into a dark corner of my mind.

I dry myself with a quickly casted spell and take a moment to trim up my mane and chin fluff. I stop for a moment and look at it, what would happen if I grew it out? I've seen other stallions grow it out and it seems to grow similar to a goat's beard, on second thought maybe I don't want to look like that.

I trim it down and make my way out into the main room to feed Entropy before leaving her in my apartment. I could take her with me but she seems more interested in playing and sleeping at the moment, unlike in the past I'm far more willing to walk around without worry of changelings or being attacked.

My senses and ability to defend myself may have taken a long time and a lot of effort, but it was all worth it. Something would have to try really hard to get the drop on me and even if it did I'm not going down without one hell of a fight, and I'm not even adding in the new combat spells I'm still learning.

I move away from those thoughts as the Canterlot Library comes into view. It's noon right now but I don't know when Twilight will be here so I might have some time before this finally happens. It's certainly been a long wait, but I'm glad we both had time to process things, well more her than me really.

I look around for a while and after not finding her I start to look through a few shelves to pick out some more advanced healing texts, and maybe a more advanced healing spell, what few there are at least. The Canterlot library has a massive amount of spells, but more and more I find that many of those spells are beginner-level.

Journeypony spells can be found, things like the lung scanning spells I learned, but sometimes they are incomplete or really hard to find. As for advanced spells? I might be able to find a few here or there, but not many, and the majority are incomplete in some way, and master spells are just nonexistent, which leaves my future path of progress a little uncertain.

I could always ask Celestia to access the royal library, but I feel as if I shouldn't yet. It's something I struggle with, I often don't like looking to others for help. But maybe I should? Or I should when I actually get to the point of needing such knowledge. Right now everything I need is at the city library and the truly advanced spells are still out of reach for me and will be for a while yet.

After picking out some books I get comfortable at a table in sight of the library entrance. As I read I try to look for hints on a specific type of healing spell, something to help heal or speed up the healing of bones. I can deal with bleeding and I'm not ready for any major organs so the bones and muscles are a good place to continue my learning.

But before I can really dig into the books I spot a pair of recognizable ponies along with a small purple dragon. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised to see Velvet and Spike as well, I hope she doesn't lecture me though, that would be awkward as hell.

I wave them over with a small smile and Twilight runs right up leaving her dam behind. "Hello, Twilight. It's good to see you again." I give her a slightly awkward greeting and I put my book down as she sits across from me. She already has books with her in a pair of red saddlebags.

She smiles, it's neither large nor small, but she looks much better than the last time we met and seems genuinely happy to see me. "Shade. It's good to see you too, have you been doing well? With, your work?" It's clear things will be awkward with us but I try to ignore that and get us on a topic to cut through the awkwardness.

I shrug a little and watch her place a notebook down along with a few books she seems to have brought with her. "Life's been as it is. But I actually don't work at the library anymore." She looks shocked and a little appalled at that. I chuckle a bit causing her to look concerned for some reason.

"Did you get fired!?" She asks concerned and I just laugh as she widely guesses. "H-Hey! I. I was being serious!" She complains and looks annoyed as I continue to laugh at her reaction. She huffs a little, "I didn't know you were this rude." She complains, but her tone betrays just how little she means that.

I shake my head and notice she's acting a little more confident than before, good for her, and she can certainly break through the tension with her wild guesses. "I can be, a few of my friends are rather sure I can be mean as well, ah, but what do they know?" I return a joking tone and try to break the tension more. She gives me a small giggle but she still looks curious, because of course she is.

"I had an apprenticeship that ended when I turned fifteen. I could have stayed, but... Well, I have, other aspirations." I answer and she tilts her head a bit before looking me up and down. She blushes a bit but I don't begrudge her that, she's still in the same boat as me after all.

It's at this point that Velvet catches up with us. "Oh? I hope you aren't breaking her little heart again, I'd be having words with you if you did." I knew she was approaching, but it seems she saw Twilight staring and her blush, and it turns out Twilight Velvet can be pretty good at teasing Twilight.

Twilight goes really red and looks at her dam. "DAM! W-Why?! We w-were just, talking! You--" She looks thoroughly embarrassed about her mother's words and stutters. Her dam just looks amused as her daughter glares at her a little.

I hold in my laughter as Velvet giggles a little "Velvet, nice to see you." I'm not blind enough to realize she's giving me a real warning and not just joking, it will do us no good to ignore our last meeting. I give them both a more serious look, "My feelings are the same, and I have no intention of leading anypony on." I keep my tone serious and turn to Twilight. "Sorry if that's very... Blunt. But, ya." I trail off.

Twilight takes a moment to stop glaring at her dam and calm down a little. "I know." Her tone is softer and her ears tilt back a little. "And, I talked a lot with my dam and Cada- Casi. They helped me a lot." I almost laugh at her slip but keep the serious tone. "Thanks for being, honest with me. So... Friends?" She asks, a bit nervous and hopeful.

I know there is more to all of this, but for now, I nod with a smile. "Friends, and I'm glad to know you're doing well with all of that." We all lapse into an awkward silence and I nearly speak before I'm interrupted.

"Twie, up!" A slightly squeaky and utterly adorable voice calls out from Velvet's back. A little Spike stands on his four limbs and looks at Twilight demandingly. I can't hold it in and the serious mood is utterly ruined as I laugh and smile widely.

"He's certainly grown, he even speaks now." I shift to be a little closer and look him over. He's not as large as I feel he should be in the show, as that's still five years from now, he's bigger though. He has more strength and seems to be able to move under his own weight, he's also completely adorable with his large green eyes and innocence.

Velvet nods. "He's more active every day, I never did thank you for those recipes. He always loves them, and so do I it turns out. But I need to get Spike some lunch, and I think you two don't need me meddling anymore." She jokes and Twilight just looks defeated. "I'll be back later, stay safe you two." She smiles and I nod as she takes a now fussy Spike and walks off.

I chuckle a bit and turn back to Twilight. "I always knew I liked your dam, even if we haven't met much." I joke and Twilight just gives me a slight glare without any real heat. "Anyway, how was your trip? I loved New Trotten when I went, the beach is so nice." I move us away from the earlier topic. For the moment.

Her embarrassment and her blush fade after a few moments as she takes a deep breath and calms down, I can sympathize with the teasing. "You've been there?" I nod. "Hmm, well you're right, it's absolutely amazing. Did you go to the library? I did, there were so many interesting books!" She starts to come out of her shell more while talking. "I even found books on Griffon history! Although my dam didn't let me read all of them, and a few were hard to read." Disappointment is laced in her tone.

I smile and nod again, some of those books are violent for most ponies. "I did, turns out learning to read Griffon was worth it, I'm guessing you did as well to get that invested in them? Actually, funnily enough, I remember you mentioned you visited a bell tower, and I remembered I made this when I was there." I passed her a page of paper I cut out of one of my sketchbooks.

She smiles but looks bashful as her left ear tilts. "Kind of? I learned it... Just not, all of it." She admits and I just chuckle in response. "Hey! I tried! Learning a language is hard and you... Also just said you, learned it..." She trails off and takes the piece of paper I chuckle as she again looks a bit embarrassed.

I'm having far more fun than I thought, it almost feels like nothing changed. Well, actually something has. In the past, I came to realize she would get embarrassed about things because she liked me, now? She gets embarrassed for the same reasons I do, ponies teasing us. The fact I get to tease her and she doesn't know how to deal with it is just a bonus.

But I decided to lighten up on the teasing to keep the peace, I think I've pushed her enough. "You made this?" She looks curious and smirks at the half-decent drawing. I nod, "It's great, but you do need to draw out your, slow spells, so I suppose you'd need to be good at drawing to speed things up." I see her smirk more as her tone is laced with some teasing intent. But it falters as her weak attempt at teasing me utterly fails.

Something Twilight doesn't know is I've fully stepped into being an advanced Journeypony Runic Caster, which means I don't need to draw spells unless I want to, I don't even need to draw them before learning to cast a totally new spell. But in the past, I'd still draw spell matrixes out when with Twilight while saying I was still a beginner Journeypony.

I just smirk back and cast a spell to make her book lock in mid-air as she moves it from a spot on the table. She looks confused and tries to move it, but I put a decent amount of magic into that spell. "Actually, I don't even need to draw any spells anymore." I use a smug tone.

She blinks a few times before her expression flips between excitement and a glare. "Don't cast spells on my books." Her eyes narrowed a bit and for a moment I remember that day Twilight Velvet stared me down, it seems the apple didn't fall far from the apple tree.

I cancel the spell and she pulls the book back before switching to an excited smile, "You did! Do you know how few make it to being an advanced Journeypony Runic Caster! ... Oh right! Congratulations!" Her words almost trip over themselves as she says all that in a single breath.

I hold in another chuckle. "Well I'm glad you're excited, and thank you, I worked hard to get this far." I spend a moment moving a book to the side and opening another medical text. "I am curious though, how advanced is the princess's personal student?" I ask and glance at a few of the books she's looking at, most are about light spells.

She smiles with some pride instead of her normal embarrassment and seems to be truly relaxed. "Well, the princess said I shouldn't brag, but... I'm also an advanced Journeypony Caster." She holds a slightly bragging tone despite her words, I can't say I'm too surprised. "The princess even said I can try some more advanced spells when I turn fifteen! I can't wait! ... Please don't tell anypony I said that." She pleads a little after realizing she got carried away.

I smile mischievously at that as I'm definitely telling Celestia, but that's certainly not what I'm going to tell her. "Ok." She sighs in relief. But."She tenses again." Only if you tell me when your birthday is." I demand happily and she blinks a few times.

"Uhh, December thirty-first?" I raise a brow at that and she chuckles nervously a little. "Yes really. Actually, my dam said it was at midnight so it could also have been the first of January, I don't actually know why they chose the former." She explains and I nearly get lost in thought. I'm starting to think all alicorns have odd birthdays.

Cadance's birthday is Hearts and Hooves Day, Celestia's birthday is actually unknown but she decided it was the longest day of the year, and now Twilight has a really specific birthday. I push all that to the side for the time being, "April fifth." She looks confused before smiling more. "I know, not quite as unique as yours, but it's mine all the same."

She waves her hoof a little and glances at my books. "Maybe, but you're the one learning healing, even though I don't do that. Well, actually I know a few spells, but that's it." I realize for a moment that she's not stuttered as much, she really has grown, maybe some good came from this after all.

Instead of teasing her on that I just nod as she focuses on reading while glancing up to me every few moments. "Yes, healing is a time drain if nothing else. But I like to think my casting is my true strong suit." She raises a brow at the odd saying. "A Griffon saying that I picked up in Feather Falls on my vacation," I explain before an idea pops into my head. "Hey?"

She looks up from reading her book and taking a note. "You said you weren't the best at reading Griffon, right?" She looks a slight bit bashful but nods. "Well, if you can finish all that up in time, you want to learn more? I'm fluent in both written and spoken, and I don't have enough books to pass the time for my liking." I smile encouragingly.

I see her eyes light up a bit. "Really?" I nod. "Yes!" She nearly shouts before stopping by a librarian staring at her sharply. "Sorry." She turns back to me. "Are you sure? I can be, well, I stopped for a reason." She asks again and seems to tamper with her expectations.

I smile wider seeing her reaction. "Why not? I've certainly got the time now. As for you? ... The worst that can happen is I prank you in retaliation. But I really doubt that will be needed. How bad can it be?" I ask.

Thank you, Shade, for this. “This is, nice." She smiles happily but then looks away a little embarrassed. "And ya, how bad can it be?"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

There we go, finally got this done. God that last arc dragged on too long. Anyway, I hope you all liked it.

Also, slight clarification in advance. Twilight knew Shade spoke Griffon but not how well or if he could read it, she also knew he was a Journeypony Runic Caster but not how good he was at that. This was Shade opening up a bit more then normal to try and get Twilight to relax.

PS. 600k YAY!! :)

Chapter 209

MAY 22 Monday.

I make another note of a Timberwolf across the river as it rips a rabbit to shreds in the early morning sunlight.

It's a bit bloody but I don't really care, animals do as they please and nature doesn't care either way. The small pack feeds in a specific order, females with pups first, then larger pack members, and finally the smaller pack members, each getting enough to fill themselves.

I realized a week ago while being bored that there is something else I can do to fill my time, watching and studying the Timberwolves. I spent much of the last week either watching them or waiting for them to show up, and I quickly noticed something new about the pack that lives near me.

They moved their den much closer to Gaia's Eden, something that worried me a little the first time I noticed it. But that didn't last long as I don't really have much to worry about, they mostly stay on the other side of the river and when they do come to this side they completely avoid my Gaia's Eden.

I know the aberrant snake has stayed away and basically given up this territory, and I think that's why they moved closer to Gaia's Eden, Celestia and my presence provides protection from larger predators. Or that's my theory at least. Either way, they made their new den, a burrow, literally right across the clearing on the side of the river.

From my position on the riverbank, I can see the packs burrow. It's under a massive Oak tree, and I do mean under, they dug it out at some point and I only noticed once I started observing them more closely. Not that I really mind, they may be close but they don't seem to be a threat and I can observe them closely from here.

I've kept my distance though and only watched so far, and in my observation, I've noticed several interesting behaviors. I even learned how to tell the difference between males and females, how? Well... I saw them mating, and it turns out that part of their biology is still the same and they do have sex and sexual dimorphism in their species.

The males seem to have more large leaves, some in different shapes and sizes, on their bodies with an emphasis around the neck. While females are slightly smaller than males and also have fewer branches sitting out from around the body that leaves normally grow on, it's not a massive difference and it's hard to tell, but it's there. I will leave out the description of how their mating looks and the bits involved, but it seems they take more from the animal side when it comes to that process.

As a result of the mating, I think they mostly do it in spring or late winter so there is plenty of food for the young when they are born in the summer, other animals do the same. Their pups are honestly adorable, they play and are scolded by the adults when they get a little too rough.

The entire pack seems to help with raising them, they are carried out of the borrow in the mornings and then spend most of the time laying in the sun or eating meat other members hunt for. I guess unlike wolves the pups can't really be hidden in the burrow all the time until they are older, something about them needs to sunbathe to develop.

They look interesting, unlike the adults, the bark they have as skin looks young and sheds often, I've seen them scraping pieces off and even collecting pieces to study, either by themselves or with their mother's help by licking and nibbling they shed themselves. I finish another detail-oriented sketch of the young pups fighting over a fresh and bloody rabbit bone, I close my sketchbook and put it away.

I've learned a lot about their behaviors, and just how wild they can be if needed. Turns out like many animals they can get violent about mating, both competing for mates and the actual act itself. I finish the last of my notes and I deactivate my bracelet's illusionary notebook before standing up and stretching my legs.

I walk back towards my shack as Entropy flies down from a branch of the Water Tree. "Hey Girl." I pet her a bit and take a moment to look over the small pond around the Water Tree and spot some small movement. It comes from several small fish that now live inside the pond.

Another new addition, and one I decided to add myself. I never had any wild animals here so I thought I'd add something small, like fish. I caught a few baby fish from the river with a water manipulation spell and added them in here, I don't even know what they are.

They are mostly dark gray and black in color, but one is a dull red that pops slightly. I'm not sure if any of them will survive in the long term but I tried to make it possible. I planted several different berry bushes around the pond and had them bloom in abundance, fruit that can either be picked and fed to the fish or just fall into the pond naturally over time.

I'll have to feed them every once in a while and also grow more berries when they run out, but I have the free time so why not have a few fish? I pick a few small Thimbleberries and toss them in while sitting down to watch them nibble and eat. I smile at them and enjoy the good mood I've had since my meeting with Twilight.

Also, it turns out she's not really the best at learning new languages. We didn't get to do much, mostly a few words and a few phrases, we only did it for half an hour before Velvet returned. But I still managed to get a little frustrated, but I still taught her a few things with the help of a Griffon textbook I found.

It was, nice, nothing spectacular but there is nothing to really complain about. She is fun to talk to and genuinely a smart pony when it comes to spells and magic. It was still a bit awkward at several points, but we made do and agreed to meet again when she has some free time available.

I'm not really sure when that will be though, turns out Celestia is starting to really ramp up her studies now that she's nearly an adult so she might not get the chance to meet too often. I'm just glad to have it all seemingly sorted and put to rest, and happy to have a distant friend back.

I shake my head and leave my thoughts, I have places to be and something important to do today. I stand up and finish walking back to my shack before getting a few things put away and having Entropy take me home once again. I clean myself up and make myself look presentable enough to be seen in public.

I've looked into it more and more and finally, I decided to try and volunteer at a hospital. Ironically enough the hospital I want to go to is the same one I was born in, it's an interesting situation but not an unpleasant one. I have Entropy stay in my shadow before making my way out into the busy morning streets of Canterlot.

I decided to fly instead of walking as I wanted to know how fast I could get there if needed. The journey takes twenty minutes at a decent but safe speed, probably ten minutes if I really push it. I land outside the large building and dismiss my wings quickly, better to not cause any confusion here.

The very large and busy building is Canterlot's second largest hospital, right behind Canterlot General. It's called Cracked Hoof Hospital, fucking pony names, at least this makes some sense. The building is a bright white and stretches out over a very large area. I head inside through a pair of large doorways at the front of the building and enter a large waiting room with several desks and receptionists helping various ponies.

Off to the side is a smaller desk with a simple sign on it. Volunteer today, and help a pony! Yup, turns out unlike humans ponies are a bit more loose and blunt about things like this. After all, any pony with limbs can clean a hospital hallway at a minimum, magic and talents can have unexpected uses as well.

Or at least that's what I understand, I guess I'll find out myself soon enough. There are two ponies already in line so I do have to wait a few moments, and when I do arrive I'm met with an older unicorn mare looking me over. "Hello, Sir. volunteering?" I'm a little confused as that is literally what the desk says, but I nod regardless.

Apparently, she sees my confusion because she smiles and huffs a little. "You'd be surprised how many don't read the sign." She says while moving a few forms around. "Ok, first, do you have any medical credentials or degrees?" I shake my head and she takes a few forms away. "Ok, work crew, or testing for the assistant program?" She asks like she's done this a thousand times.

This is what I came here for. The assistant program lets anypony with some basic or moderately advanced medical skills or knowledge to help doctors and nurses do their work, on a small scale of course mostly and it's mainly focused on teaching volunteers to improve their skills. Not many places do this and if I remember correctly it's many set up by the crown to nurture those with the talent but not the means to become a healer or doctor. "Testing, and maybe the work crew, what's that like?" I keep a mostly blunt tone to not waste her time.

She doesn't look all that surprised and takes it in stride. "The work crew is simple enough, just a lot of cleaning and moving things around, sometimes simple repair work as well." She explains patiently. "Do you have any healing skills or any basic healing education? If you do, then it's good to note those beforehoof so they know what you already know." She asks while going through more papers.

: Work crew huh? That sounds a little interesting, ahh why not?: I think for a moment before answering. "I can cast several cleaning spells, I also know several basic healing spells," I explain before shrugging a little. "And I'll volunteer for the work crew today, maybe more depending on how it goes." I decided to just go with the flow for now and indulge my curiosity.

She looks slightly surprised for a moment before moving out a few new forms and passing the stack to me with a larger smile. "Fill these out properly. Sit over there, also don't wear your saddlebags. And, thank you for volunteering." I'm almost confused but understand after a moment and nod my thanks. The seats she pointed to are out of the way and not near other ponies or seats.

I sit down and put my saddlebags to the side, it's clear from the way she's glancing at me that this is a short protection against cheating. I have to sit in clear view and can't take things out of my bags, less of a chance of somepony cheating that way. I get comfortable and start to go through the papers.

First and foremost is basically an NDA, I can't talk about other ponies' time here under threat of legal consequences. After that is another form, I'm decent at paperwork but this one is also pretty simple to understand as well. Basically, if I lie on this test or about my capabilities and skills, then I'm fully responsible for any legal consequences from fucking up or lying and I can't fight it in court.

Well, these forms explain several things on their own. It's still odd how ok they are with accepting unknown help. But with all the different guilds, schools, and private practices, let alone creatures from outside Equestria, it makes some sense that their system needs to be very flexible to handle it all.

After a few more forms, including one she added for me to write down all the healing spells I know and another asking for basic information about me, name, age, address, and job. Even with things being lax by human standards they still gave me very thorough paperwork.

I have to take the test, it's in two parts, one for practical healing and the other for magical. It's not really that hard but it's certainly lengthy, it takes nearly an hour on its own, and there are a few things I don't get immediately or don't know the answer to, but I think I did pretty well. But a lot of it I answer easily enough and I feel some pride in my years of self-study.

And last is a form asking where if anywhere I learned my knowledge and spells, I marked self-taught. I notice that the entire time I write things more than one staff pony glances at me, and a few fully watch me, they aren't blind to the possibility of cheating, good. "What now?" I ask while passing the finished paperwork to the mare.

She looks over everything with skill and quickly answers me. "Well, the test needs to be graded, and the results will be mailed to you. After that you can come in on the date it says and after several more forms, more tests if you want to advance further, you can join the program. Also there is a small fee, it's only ten bits though." She reassured me with a slightly happy smile.

She pauses and looks things over again before nodding. "Ok, everything looks good. Here, don't lose this, you'll have to wait a week to get another one." She passes me a card after writing on it. "You will also need it if you get into the program so make sure to keep it."

I smile a bit. "Thank you." I put in a small bit to thank her, it just feels right.

The paper card just says that I'm a volunteer along with my name and address. She nods, "For today I'll have somepony lead you to Bristle Groove, he's in charge of work crew staffing. Also, if you volunteer with them past today please show up any time before noon, if you're late you won't be able to volunteer."

"Got that all?" She asks. I take a moment to absorb that before nodding. It seems like an inefficient way to do it, but I'm not in charge and it will work just fine for now. She smiles a bit again and waves over another mare. "New volunteer for Bristle."

The mare nods. "Follow me." I nod and secure my saddlebags before putting away the card. That was easy enough, if a bit odd to experience, it feels like I'm an apprentice all over again. I mean I understand why this is so easy, the idea of lying or cheating for this is not something many ponies would even think of doing.

So some basic countermeasures are probably enough for most, and for the rest, I presume they wouldn't last long here as I fully expect to be watched closely. I follow the mare and after moving down a few clean hallways we move through a staff-only door and enter what looks like a large storeroom.

Large tall shelves with many boxes and crates of supplies. Past this room we enter another room that is just an office desk and a locker room on the other side. There are several ponies everywhere we go all doing various things. The mare walks over to a unicorn stallion that is wearing a yellow jacket. "New volunteer Bristle." The mare walks right off after.

The stallion looks at the mare and sighs a little, "Of course. Card." He demands with a short tone, I'm not sure how to feel about that but I pass the stallion my new card. I take a moment to look over the stallion and memorize his name.

He stands a good few inches shorter than me and I have to look down at him. He has a light yellow coat and a brown mane with light brown eyes, he also has a necklace. He seems to be in his forties, maybe a bit younger. He gives me an annoyed look and grumbles something. "You sure picked a great time. Ugh, just follow me, and leave the bags in a locker, the jewelry is fine to keep." His tone is short and annoying.

I don't know what his problem is, but I don't think it's me so I did as he asked and put away my empty saddlebags, I emptied them beforehand for something like this. To one side of the large room, there are several rows of wooden lockers, I pick an empty one and put my things away before flipping a small dial to show it's in use.

A small gap near the handle changes from green to red with a click and I memorize the number on the locker before walking back to Bristle who looks just as annoyed if not more so. "Good, now basic rules." He says while leading me to another location.

"One, listen to orders of any staff, I don't care if it's a doctor or a janitor, you're only a volunteer." His tone berates how done he is with seemingly everything. "Two, you leave after six to five hours, no more no less." I did see that in the contract, a little annoying you can't leave whenever but I understand it's probably bad if somepony just walks off without a replacement. "Three, don't forget your things when you leave." I just nod at the slightly grating stallion.

After moving back into the large storage room he walks me over to a group of ponies and passes them a schedule. "This ones new, make sure he doesn't break anything." That's all he says before walking off. I turn to the rest of the ponies and give them a questioning look.

Most look me over, a few mares stare a little too much before a mare with the schedule walks up. "Alright, all of you know where you're needed, no big changes." She turns to me and looks me over. "Are you fine with some heavy lifting?"

I nod. "Sure, also, is he always like that?" I ask out of curiosity while motioning towards the staff break room that Bristle walked back into.

She smiles. "Yup, he's... Well, he lives up to his name. Just don't fight him on anything, he'll just whine more." She advises with a chuckle before turning to a group of five other ponies. "Ok, he's with you." She turns back to me. "You'll be moving cargo with them, try to keep up, and thanks for helping out." At that point, she also walks off with that small bit of encouragement and I turn to a group of mares.

They size me up a little before one walks forward. "Come on, you heard them big guy." She says and I shrug a little before following them to start work. After that I spend the next few hours on a very simple task. They offload supplies behind the hospital and I drag them inside on a trolly, simply unloading carts and moving boxes.

The mares showed me where to go and answered my questions with short answers, but didn't really talk much beyond that. They showed me where I would be moving things and that was it, honestly, I get the feeling nopony really cares to get to know me. They're still friendly like most ponies, but they don't try to start a conversation and just get me to work.

I suppose they don't care all that much because I'm just a volunteer. Although I'm excited to do more than just this, I really hope I did ok on that test. The work itself is pretty easy though, earth pony strength and my size make it trivial even without using my field.

Eventually things slow down outside and I spend the rest of my time after that helping move heavy boxes to wherever a pony tells me in the storeroom, I also give up trying to learn anyponies name as few even say theirs. At a certain point the mare that was given the schedule by Bristle says I'm done and says I can just take the back way out after getting my stuff.

She smiles a bit at me before leaving. "You did fine today, thanks for helping out, have a good day." She politely told me before walking off, I retrieved my things and walked out into the afternoon sky a little dazed. I stand there for a moment before casting a spell and start to fly home.

That was... Well, interestingly is certainly a way to put it. Honestly, it feels so fast-paced from what I'm used to. Everypony is just working quickly and with so many ponies around none seem interested in a single stallion. I'm really not sure how to feel about it all, it kind of feels like I'm back in retail, it's such an odd thing to have nostalgia for something like that.

I don't really enjoy doing this kind of work though, it's simply not what I came for. I suppose I'll just be waiting for that test then, but I did do some good today even if it's in a small way. Today wasn't that bad, but I need a shower and I want to work on that lung-scanning spell, it needs some improvement.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D

I could have just left it at Shade signing up, but I decide to add in him doing something small as I didn't know what else to do with this chapter and it felt interesting to see this side of things a little.

I'm not sure I really did good with this one, but it's ok enough to be filler and setup.

Chapter 210

MAY 30 Tuesday.

I look through my notes again and start to carve another rune into the floating green spell matrix in the air in front of me.

I've spent some time over the past week slowly and methodically ripping apart and remaking the lung-scanning spell I learned a while back. I did fully learn it but never had much use for it, so it's just been sitting in my mental library of spells and I never really got around to improving it, so I finally decided to work on it.

Recently a few big things have happened, The first is that both versions of the Heat Retention spell have been released fully. From the letter Celestia sent me about the release it took a long time to release the spells because several laws needed to be reworked or in some cases remade entirely to prevent any problems.

It's proven to be a success, and surprisingly one of the first industries I've seen implement it widely has been the food industry. It's still early but an advertisement for a restaurant in the newspaper offers to cast the spell on any food you take home with you.

It's safe to say this should help a great many, even if not everypony is happy about it. Turns out a lot of the ponies who produce fuel for many industries aren't pleased with having to drop their prices in the face of reduced demand because of the new spells, that's just what the newspaper says so I'm not sure how accurate it is.

It's not the best feeling to be the cause of others' struggles, but progress is also important and many unicorns will probably be hired to cast the spell for others. Like many things in life it's neither black nor white and nopony will even know all the answers or repercussions, so all I can really do is march on.

Past the Heat Retention spell the newspaper last week announced something even bigger, the new prosthetic limbs have been released to the public. It didn't take too long for them to test everything and after that several businesses started preproduction preparations, things like logistics, materials, and crafters, they started taking orders and announced the new invention under the name Gentle Feather.

I chuckle a little at the idea of Avalon's face when he finds out. It was released a few days ago. It's even more impactful than the Heat Retention spell, it's no small thing and I'm happy it's so celebrated. As for the Lung Scanning spell I'm working on? Well, I've been going a little overboard with it.

I could have just improved and optimized it, but I have so much more free time now that I thought I'd go even further. The last time I remade a spell this much was the Blood Loss Prevention spell, that particular spell is more complex than this one but they have both been remade from the ground up.

That spell took around six months, mostly due to my work and the fact I took things slow. With a few more years of improved knowledge under my belt and with more experience with higher level spells I've been able to work on the Lung Scanning spells with a blistering speed.

I spent most of the last week focused on this one task, and in that week I've nearly completed it. Again it's not on the same level as the B.L.P spell but it's still a complex spell that I've been remaking. The good news is there was a lot of room for improvement so I was able to vastly improve the spell with all the uninterrupted time I have.

I do think I'll be taking a week-long break from spell-making after this, I'm starting to get tired of spending most of my day locked in my workroom fiddling with runes and metatheatrical sequences. I can endure a lot of tedious work but even I have some limits and a week seems to be the limit.

I sigh after finishing another part of the spell. "Fuck this, I need some air." I decided to take my own damn advice and not push things even more. This spell only needs another few days of work at most and a break sounds nice right now. Maybe a trip to the park? It has been a while since me and Entropy went there to just relax.

I walk out into the main room and look over to Entropy. "Hey Girl?" She looks at me with that adorable head tilt. "We're going to the park, pick a toy out to bring. Not the magical one." I add as she looks at it immediately. She caws in slight indignation but still finds a toy and excitedly brings it over to hop around while I put on my saddlebags.

I cast an illusion over her and left my apartment. I take a slight detour in the lobby and check my mail like I do every day since I volunteered. On that topic I decided against going back to volunteer for another day, I simply didn't enjoy the work even if I liked helping others.

In the meantime though I've been waiting for a letter from them. And as I open my little mailbox with my apartment key I notice a single letter sitting inside and quickly take it. I look at the sending address and see it's for the hospital, and I rip it open with a large smile.

Inside are three papers filled with information. One is my test results, another seems like a small information packet, and the final one reminds me to bring ten bits to be paid when I first attended. I found it odd when I heard that I'd need to pay them, but my sense of wealth is just fucked. And after reading through the information packet quickly I quickly find out why I need to pay them.

Apparently, at some point, a few ponies did something to try and cheat their way into the program, it doesn't mention how though, that's probably for the best. It doesn't say why they had to do it like this, but to stop it they added a one-time fee for taking the test to join the program, which is only paid if you actually do join the program.

I'd guess they added the payment because they couldn't stop them in a more reasonable way, this has some political bullshit vibes to it. Either way, it's not really that big of a deal, ten bits is not a lot for any pony so it's not hard to pay even for those less privileged, plus there are several exemptions for different circumstances.

Anyway, if I don't show up at the first meeting I won't need to pay anything but I can't take the test again for two weeks. The ten are put to good use at least, they help maintain the program itself. Honestly, this seems like something Celestia would set up.

After reading the information packet I look at my test results. An eighty-eight out of one hundred with a passing grade of seventy, a really good result for being self-taught and the fact I didn't study for it in advance. It was an easy test but I'm still pretty proud and happy I did so well on the test and all my work paid off.

The last thing of note was the meeting date for joining the program, it's for the first Monday of next month, the fifth of June. It's a little soon, but it's also exciting to see it won't be all that long until I can start. The rest of the information packet just describes the assistant program with a bit more detail.

I'll be going through some practical training on what not to do and other rules of working in a hospital for the first week before I get to do literally anything else, and there are a few other small things to keep in mind. I put away the mail with a pep in my step and exit my apartment building, only to quickly move out of the way as someone quickly swoops down from the sky and lands where I was while Entropy clings to my back.

The landing isn't too hard, but the ruffled Griffon that looks around snaps their head over to me and quickly closes the gap between us. I nearly draw my dagger, but it only takes me a moment to recognize a very excited-looking Avalon. "Shade! Need, to, talk!" He demands while holding up some papers.

He holds a few slightly crumpled papers in his talon and I can't make anything out from the angle. He's out of breath and looks both excited and a little panicked. It takes me a second to realize what is happening, and despite my friend's demands for answers, I can't help but laugh right in his face.

He looks confused but also very impatient, even while catching his breath he's shuffling from one limb to another and his eyes keep darting around as I laugh. "You-" I try but his face is just too much, I eventually recover. "Enjoying the pay bump?" I joke, by this point, he's not breathing hard and it seems to have clicked.

He gets a look of realization and slight shock. "Y-You knew? You knew?!" He demands and I smile without a hint of shame. "H-Hey, Entropy?" Entropy decides to take it upon herself to help her feathered friend. She hops onto his back and settles in silently.

I smirk. "Come on, we're going to the park, we can talk while walking." I encourage and start to walk, he catches up quickly and gives me a look demanding answers. I cast a silence spell around us in clear view so he sees it. "No one can hear us now. I saw the newspapers talking about it, congrats, you're famous." I use an exaggeratedly positive tone.

He gives me a slight glare while passing me the papers. "How-?" He says with some exasperation and just seems to give up. I smooth out and look over the papers and it's what I expected, a letter from Celestia giving him a copy of the contract he signed, thanking and congratulating him on his work, and informing him a bank account has been opened in his name.

I pass them back and he's still clearly excited about everything. "Yes, I knew, well actually no, I didn't know. But I thought It would be pretty likely." I cover my ass with a lie. "Have to keep a new inventor happy after all, so congrats on never needing to work again." I make a joke out of it.

He looks a bit bashful at being called an inventor. "W-Well, thanks I just- W-wait, you are ok with, this?" He holds the papers up to emphasize. "I... Well, h-half of it is yours, right?" My friend seems lost and really out of his depth here, not that I blame him, it's not every day you become rich so suddenly.

We enter the park and I stay silent for a minute until we sit down on a bench, which only makes him more impatient. I give him a reassuring look and shrug, "First, deep breath." I probably don't need to say it but I thought it might help him relax a little and not be so jittery.

He takes a few deep breaths even though he's already already winding down from his excitement. "Second, keep it all, I don't need it." I try to take a light tone but it is apparently a little too light.

He looks a bit shocked and interrupts me. "B-But, you. Y-You did more work than me! I can't just... T-Take it all." He insists but I just wave him off. His feathers press back a bit, "I-I know you have money, b-but..." He trails off after that, not finding the right words.

I give him a large smile and use a more firm tone. "I have more than you'd think, a lot more. Look, I really don't need it, plain and simple, it would do nothing for me." He looks reluctant. "And, you need it more, I don't know what you want to do with it, but it's yours." I insist more but again he looks reluctant about my choice.

He looks a bit thoughtful before gaining a small smile and a bit of determination. "I-I. Your g-getting half." His tone is way more firm than I'm used to and I raise a brow while giving him an amused smile. "Y-You don't get to refuse, as your f-friend I, I won't let you." He builds up his courage and insists despite my words.

I'm kind of proud, he straight up said no. I could insist, I know he'd back down eventually if I tried, but this seems like a principle of his and I don't want to dash his bit of newfound confidence. I smile at him and chuckle a bit while he almost deflates. "Fine, I'll take it." I chuckle more as he perks right back up. "But only because you stood up to me, I'm so proud." I hope to lighten the mood again.

He looks embarrassed but also smiles at getting his way. "But, if you ever need bits you have to come to me, no complaints." I use a very firm but happy tone. "But enough about the money. Did you do anything to celebrate yet? It's certainly an achievement, you even got a letter from Princess Celestia herself." I tease him a little.

He looks embarrassed but also genuinely happy about it. "T-Thanks?" He thanks me for letting him win. "Umm, I cooked dinner?" He offers up shyly and I give him a deadpan look. "R-Right, are you, busy?" I shake my head. "Ok, I- I'll... Buy us lunch, s-somewhere nice." He suggests with a renewed smile, I notice he completely ignores the part about Celestia.

I nod after a moment. "Sounds good to me, but I also insist you spend your newfound riches on something fancy. You never answered me though, how does it feel to be famous?" I fully move past the topic of money to try and not let it drag the conversation down.

He pauses for a moment and gives me an odd look. "You- YOU are asking me to buy something, fancy?" He asks with some humor and I just roll my eyes at his humored smile. "And... I- I don't know?" He answers uncertainty. He looks at the small pond in front of the bench. "It's really, odd?"

I remember the weird feelings I had about having fame, even if nopony else knew about who I actually was. "Happy? Worried? Nervous? Does anything come to mind? Because if you say no I will straight up prank you." I ask with a lighter tone while keeping the humor going.

He seems to think for a moment as the last of the excitement leaves his expression, he's finally settling down. "I... I'm definitely happy, a-amazed actually. I- WE, did this, helped so many others, it feels... Unreal." He takes a more emotional tone than I expected, but I don't mind. Entropy just flies off to play a little after I wave her off.

He looks down at his wooden arm with an odd smile. "You know, I. I spent so many years wanting something like this." His tone grows more steady as he talks even as he seems a bit lost in his emotions. He opens and closes his talons, "I do this a lot, it's like reminding myself it's real."

I don't want to interrupt him by spilling his proverbial guts, but I feel as if I should say something. "I get that, it's in a... Very, different way, but I understand." My mind flickers to the far past of my old life and the feeling of wonder this world still gives me. "It's like pinching yourself to make sure you're not dreaming. But reality is often crazier than any fiction." I remember a saying that goes something like that.

He looks at me and nods slowly. "A dream? Ya. Funnily enough, this was a dream for myself long ago, b-before..." He cuts himself off and looks uncertain. He sighs after a moment and I think I see what is going through his mind, my old friend never liked talking about losing his limb.

I just turn to him and smile. "So, lunch right?" I offer to change things up some, but he shakes his head and continues to stare out across the small pond as ducks and fish swim around inside. "You know you don't have to tell me anything, right?" I reassure him.

But he turns to me with that flicker of determination in his eyes, along with a very trusting expression. "I-I know, but I want to." His tone is quieter now and he takes a deep breath. "You've done, so much for me, I. I don't think I could ever express what this all means to m-me." His tone is pretty emotional, but not distressingly so.

I give him a single nod and he takes a deep breath. "My f-family never really lived anywhere. They were traders and never stayed anywhere for all that long." I do remember him saying that before, just not as bluntly. "Sometimes we also did trips to the eastern continent." He has a bittersweet look when mentioning that.

"When I was a really young chick, six or so, we were in a caravan to Griffonstone and back, through land that is, sailors we are not." He chuckles a bit despite the lower mood. "But, that continent can be... Less stable. Nothing really bad for us, but m-monsters can be a problem." His tone is far more steady than I thought it would be.

I nod in silent agreement. I've never had problems because I mostly moved by train on my two trips there, but monster attacks aren't unheard of and do happen. The city-states can be inefficient in guarding roads and the occasional conflicts doesn't help with that.

"We were traveling with some, sad Griffon noble, tagging along for safety in numbers. I-I don't even remember who they were." He has some disdain in his tone. "At some point, a monster, a Manticore, crept up on us, I don't remember much, but... T-That noble ran, the bastard didn't even t-try to, help us! And he had guards!" He says with some clear anger.

He takes a deep breath and calms himself again. "S-Sorry." I wave it off and give him an understanding and reassuring look. "I. I don't remember much, it was, c-chaos, and I was h-hiding. But at some point, the M-Manticore." He holds up his arm again. "I-It Crashed into a tent I was, inside."

I pat him on the shoulder for a second time. "Was... Well, did you lose anyone?" I ask with a little morbid curiosity, I also try to use a gentle tone.

He shakes his head tiredly. "N-No. A, a few others, but my family was ok. Thank Faust. After that, I, r-recovered from... T-That." He finishes with a long exhale as we both sit in silence for almost a full minute. "T-Thank you, for listening, It. Well, it means, a lot." He looks back up at me and seems a little drained.

I nod with a sad smile. "No, thank you for sharing. Honestly, I can't imagine..." I don't really know what to say after hearing all of that so I just stand up and give him a larger smile. "Come on, we're going to get some ice cream, we need it." I change the topic abruptly not knowing what else to say or do.

He blinks but smiles back thinly seeing that I'm trying to cheer him up. "I... Y-Yes, I would like that a lot." He stands up and starts to walk with me in silence for a few moments. "Thanks, Shade. For being my f-friend." I raise a brow a little.

I chuckle and he looks bashful at my reaction. "And thank you for being mine." I change my smile to something more mischievous. "Now, you never did tell me what it was like meeting the princess. Were you nervous?" I chuckle more at his reaction as we walk off with Entropy joining us as we leave the park.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

And now you know. Also, do you think Shade is the type of pony to get revenge for his friends? Because some Griffon is now very much on Shade's shit list.

PS. I didn't know what to do for hitting 600k, so I compiled a list of every OC in this story. It will be in a blog so of you want to see it go there.

Chapter 211

JUN 4 Sunday.

I look through the complex spell matrix once again before finally considering it good enough for my admittedly high standards.

It's not perfect, and I had to add another rune making it consume more magic, but it works and it should be easier to learn and cast, along with costing around twenty percent less magic. Beyond that, the only other thing I changed was a small part of the spell's function.

It normally just shows no results if it detects nothing, I made it give a result of nothing. It's a small difference but I felt it was better and it wasn't all that hard to add in. I silently celebrate a bit at the newly completed spell and start to gather all the notes and information needed.

I added all the notes, things for others to test for, and a full breakdown of the spell and its component parts. I add all this to every spell I give Celestia, but this one has more than normal because it's a medical spell and I'm not willing to risk anything when it comes to a pony's health.

Once everything is ready I tie it together with some twine into a stack and turn to Entropy who's sleeping on my desk. I really pushed it the last few days to get this ready so I could focus on the Assistant Program, and in the process of doing that, I burnt myself out a bit.

I think it's a mix of curiosity and wanting to know my limits. Turns out this is my absolute limit, I really don't want to look at another rune or mathematical formula right now. I've spent the majority of my time inside my work room and only left when I needed to, my morning runs, hanging out with my friends, getting my shit kicked in by Stone, and my training.

Those things only take a relevantly small amount of time throughout the day, I really need some time outside. Funnily enough, Entropy has taken it upon herself to try and help me, much like the time I spent with her when she couldn't go out. She stayed by my side constantly.

Before she'd sleep in a shadow or on her perch, but now she just sleeps on my desk as I work and makes me take breaks by asking about different words or math. I gently shake her awake, she takes her head out from under her wing and looks up at me. "Done? Go?" She asks as I've told her I was nearly finished.

I smile at her. "Almost, last thing I need is to take this to Celesti-" I'm cut off as she jumps on the papers and vanishes. It takes a minute before she returns and when she does she gives me a demanding look and I chuckle. "Fine, let's go to Gaia's Eden, I'm guessing you want that?" She snaps to look at me and practically tackles me while trying to jump on my back. "Hey-" Before I can complain we both vanish and a moment later I have to blink rapidly to adjust my eyes to the sunlight coming in through the windows.

After I'm no longer blinded I look down at the smug and excited Entropy sitting in front of me with her wagging tail feathers. I sigh and chuckle, "You could have just waited. Well, come on." She chirps and jumps back onto me as I walk outside and take a deep breath in my home away from home.

I've only spent enough time here over the past two weeks to tend to and breed my plants, along with occasionally checking on the Timberwolves. I don't have a lot to do so I decided to just check on the fish I got a few weeks ago. I check the message board and notice a small note on it.

Shade.

I made you a herb/bird-carrying basket.

Celestia

I raise an eyebrow at that. "Bird Basket, the hell?" I look around for a moment and behind the message board is a simple basket woven together with a few sticks and something like wicker. I chuckle a little at the sight and pick Entropy up with my field before placing her inside the basket, she fits perfectly. I smile as Entropy looks up at me, "Not nest, poky." She complains before teleporting back onto me.

I just laugh. I carry the basket with me and start to walk to the Water Tree, it seems I'm not the only one giving spontaneous gifts anymore. I'm not sure I really need a basket, but it is well made and a gift from a friend is always nice. I stop at the edge of my pond and look inside.

The fish seem to be doing ok, a few of them turned out to not be baby fish, just smaller fish than expected. I learned that when one of them gave birth there are now tiny minnows swimming around inside, sadly a few of them have been eaten by the other fish but that's how things go.

Still, most of them seem to be doing well and growing, the fish are even healthy enough to breed. I spend a moment filling my basket with some berries and feeding the fish. I watch them rush up and nibble the berries as they drop down into the pond's water.

Entropy seems to have forgiven me after I give her a few berries and is just as interested in watching the fish eat as I am. "Water, bird? Swim?" She tries a few words and I spook the fish by laughing at her. She just glares and turns her head, "Mean."

I pet her a little and smile at her. "Fish, they are called fish. F-i-sh." I slowly sound out the word and hold a few more berries in the air as a potential reward.

I can see that she tries to stay annoyed at me but that lasts all of three seconds before she gives in. "Fics." A little off and she knows it. "Fiss." Closer still. "Fiish. Fish, fish!" She caws out and celebrates a little in the moment. I drop the berries back into the basket and place her in there as well. She looks torn between annoyance and excitement as she's now standing in a basket of berries.

Eventually, she turns up to me. "Cheater." She caws before burying herself in berries and feasting on them as I stop holding it in and laugh at her antics. I'm so lucky to have a friend like her, no, family like her. I settle in and whistle a little while watching the fish and Entropy. Life can certainly be fun when it wants to.

JUN 5 Monday.

I double-check everything again and make sure I have everything I'll need and that I'm not taking anything dangerous with me, I even left my dagger on my desk.

Today is finally the day and I'm setting out in the early morning to get to my appointment in time, if it is an appointment, they never did say what I was actually going to do. I guess I'll find out when I get there. "Come on Girl, we're leaving," I call out into my bedroom as Entropy quickly teleports to me. "Remember the rules?" I know I don't need to ask but I do anyway.

She rubs against me and chirps happily, she's been much more happy now that I'm getting out more and not working on spells after yesterday. "Yes." She caws before slipping into my shadow. I decided to take her with me for today, I'm not sure if I always will but it's an option to keep in mind.

My meeting is in an hour so I'm leaving a bit early, I really don't want to be late for this. I get outside and cast a spell to form my wings before flying off into the busy city and clear sky. Like last time it only takes me a short while to reach the hospital and land.

Like normal I see a few ponies notice my wings disappear, but few actually care enough to do anything but glance at me. I end up simply sitting on a bench outside for a while to pass the time until it's near my meeting time, when I do enter the hospital I move over to the same volunteer desk as before. A different mare is there and she looks up at me with a smile. "Volunteering?"

I shake my head and pass her the information I was given, she looks it over for a moment before nodding. "Hmm, let's see here." She looks through a few papers. "You're scheduled for a meeting with Dr. Meadows. Through that door, take two right and it's on the left side, her name is on the door." She points to a staff-only door and I thank her before following her directions.

The hallways are basically identical but they are clearly labeled so it doesn't take me long to find the right door and knock on it. A moment later a voice answered, "Come in." I do just that and I see a unicorn mare sitting behind a desk, the office she's in is like many others, with a few cabinets and a desk with a few small decorations.

The mare has a teal-colored coat, a blue-colored mane, and light blue eyes. She's also on the older side, forty, maybe fifty. She's wearing glasses and looks over for a moment before showing a professional smile, "Welcome, Mr. Evergreen I presume?" I nod and ignore the slight displeasure of being called that, I think I’ll have to get used to it though. "Please sit, I need to grab a few things." Her tone is lightly stern and very professional.

I do as asked of me and sit on a cushion. "Thank you. Although to be honest, I'm not really sure what I'm here for, if you wouldn't mind explaining." I ask while keeping an equally professional tone and watching her movements. She moves around and gathers a few different documents before sitting back down and nodding.

"Yes, the information they send you doesn't normally cover this, you'd normally be asked to meet on a weekend day and have a meeting with everypony else to fill out some other paperwork. But your circumstances are, interesting." Her tone holds a little disapproval as she pushes a document over to me. "You filled all this out correct?" I look it over and see the list of spells I wrote down as knowing and my current skills in magic.

"Yes, I did. Is there any problem with it?" She stays silent for a moment and seems to be judging my reaction and expression carefully.

She shakes her head. "No, it's not, as long as it's truthful." :Ah. I see, hmm: She sees me raising my brow a bit and elaborates. "You hold no background, no tests, no schooling, you did prove you know what you're doing though, and tested very well." She praises me slightly but keeps the same tone and expression.

"But I take the health of ponies and the reputation of the hospital very seriously." She gives me a long look. "To be blunt Mr. Evergreen, I'm here to test you, and to see if you're telling the complete truth." She explains bluntly after a moment.

I'm not sure what reaction she was expecting, but I just nodded in agreement. It makes complete sense to me, I am an unknown, and only a real fool would put any life in my hooves as it is. "Ok, what do you need? A practical demonstration? Or more testing?" I ask and keep a level tone.

She blinks for a moment and seems to have been caught slightly off guard at my complete agreement. "Very well, but I remind you of the legal consequences." She points to the list. "You've stated you are an Advanced Journeypony Runic Caster, and can cast these spells. So, cast them." Her tone is now more interesting and challenging.

I look through the list and nod, I have enough magic for all of them and it's an easy thing to do. "Ok, do I do it here?" She nods. I stand up and focus for a moment before casting the first spell. I have to stop myself from reacting when her eyes go a bit wide as a spell matrix flashes in the air for a few moments and I cast a healing spell on myself.

I go down the list of spells one by one and always keep the matrix in the air for several moments so she can see it clearly. It takes me a minute to get through the dozen or so spells and I take a breath as a part of my magic drains away. I sit back down and can't help but show a tiny victorious smirk as the mare stares blankly for nearly a minute before I speak up. "Is that sufficient?"

She nods slowly and I see a very small smile on her muzzle after a moment. "Yes, Mr. Evergreen. I do have another question, and a few things for you to fill out, we might as well get the paperwork done now. But that... Demonstration, is more than sufficient." Despite me proving her wrong she seems pretty happy about me actually telling the truth. "Here, to start with you'll need to outline your availability."

She passes me another paper while writing a few things down on some documents. I quickly read it and it's pretty simple, I need to state two to three days in the week that I'm available for the program. This is still voluntary so those who do this have jobs or school to attend to.

I look over the time and see the schedule can and probably will vary from week to week. I could have the evening morning or afternoon time slot so I also need to specify that if needed. I pick out Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The slots only last six hours each so it won't completely take over those days.

I also marked down that I couldn't take evening slots on Wednesdays, I rather not have a pissed Stone coming after me because of a scheduling conflict. Once I'm done I pass the form back and she looks it over, she looks curious but doesn't ask about my choices.

She nods again. "Well, for now then you'll be going through orientation. It will last for a week or two at most and get you familiarized with everything." :Good, no more bullshit: "But." :Spoke too soon, fuck: "If you wouldn't mind me asking a question." She takes a slightly less stern tone while keeping everything strictly professional.

I'm not the most comfortable with them, but I'm in the program so it's not like I can't say no. "Sure, but I would rather not discuss anything private."

She nods. "And I have no intention of asking for things like that. I'm more curious as to where you learned these spells? Specifically this one." She pushes points to a name on the list, the B.L.P spell, and her face shifts to become unreadable. "I'm not sure if you are aware, but this spell is often a requirement for becoming a nurse." The tension quickly rises for me and I notice a little too late that she's more observant than I thought.

I don't panic but I feel tense and a little worried, I've just fucked up. I could lie? But this mare has already gotten the drop on me and she might be able to see through that, and pissing off a senior doctor is not a good idea. After a long moment, I just shrugged a little. "A friend knew it and copied it for me, I honestly have no idea where they learned it, I just thought it would be good to know." I half lie instead of just straight up lying to her.

I did get the original B.L.P spell from a friend, maybe a different version but that still counts. She gives me the same unreadable look before seemingly accepting it and her face shifts back to normal. "Yes, it is very useful, I also noticed you have the new version, which is normally hard to find without, friends." She doesn't word that as a question, simply an observation.

There is a long moment of silence before she casts a spell to check the time and stands up. "Well, we have everything we need and you are expected to show up at the next scheduled time. Although, do you have anything pressing to do for the next few hours?"

I stand up as well seeing that this meeting is ending. "Thank you for your time Dr. Meadows and I'm happy to know this is all cleared up." I be polite and nearly turn when I hear her question. "No Dr. Meadows, I'm free for the day, why?" I ask back curiously.

She smiles slightly. "Well, another group is scheduled to start orientation today, in half an hour to be precise. Would you be interested in joining them? I'd let you start a bit early." She offers and I have the distinct feeling this is yet another small test from her to gauge me.

At first, she definitely thought she was catching a liar, namely me, and wanted to either dissuade or reject me. But after I proved myself truthful she changed from suspicion to curiosity and a little digging. I don't understand why though, it's an odd thing for her to be so critical of me and try to sniff things out.

I didn't know how long this meeting would last so I don't have anything I need to do today. I nod after some thought and agree to her offer. "I'm willing to, I might as well get this all done quickly," I comment while she gives me a slightly more stern look for a moment. "I'd rather get to the actual learning quickly, it's something I'm very excited about." I try to make myself come off as impatient instead of rash.

She gives me a curt nod as we leave her office and move through the hallways. "I suppose seeing somepony so young and so motivated is nice. Just temper that excitement, I don't want to hear about you doing anything reckless." Her face is a bit amused but she keeps a stern tone.

Not too long after we enter a waiting room with two dozen other ponies sitting inside. Most of them are unicorns, with the exception of a pair of pegasi and a single other earth pony. I get several stares when we walk in but I ignore them and join the crowd while Dr. Meadows walks in front of the group.

We all look at her as she seems to check that everypony is here. "Hello, I am Dr. Meadows and I'm in charge of the Assistant Program, welcome." She pauses to let that sink in. "Now before anything else, I'd like to make something very clear."

Well, that somewhat answers why she acted like that, not fully though. "This is a program to further your education and opportunities while assisting the staff in healing others, but even as volunteers, we have standards and expectations of you all. So, today as I give you a tour of the hospital's facilities I expect you to pay attention and behave yourselves, do not interfere with ANYTHING." Her tone turns as rigid and stern as an old Oak.

She watches us for a moment before nodding. "Good, we'll begin with the long-term patient wing." And with that, she turns and our group follows along after her. It is finally time to learn something if I can avoid pissing her off. I chuckle a small bit to myself as something comes to mind. She reminds me of the orphanage head, I wonder how she's doing.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

Ok first and foremost, I still have no idea what I am doing, just something to keep in mind if I fuck this arc up. Second, I really tried to not make this boring, but dealing with two wooden planks for characters makes it hard.

On to more interesting news. Ans yes I have actual news! A little while ago I was approached with a question, to witch I said HELL YES! But when the result to that question would come about was uncertain so I didn't mention it until now.

So, I'm thrilled to announce that the lovely voice of Fire Hearth decided to read this story on their YouTube channel! Yup, I'm just as baffled as you may be.

So, here's the first reading if your interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-tgy8o5OxY

Chapter 212

JUN 13 Tuesday.

I and several others watch with interest while a few qualified ponies in their appropriate outfits, white for doctors and light blue for nurses, start to check over a patient who just came in with a bad laceration on a front foreleg.

Dr, Meadows stands with the six of us to one side of everything happening so we don't disrupt them. "This is a good example of my earlier point. If you have no way to help or don't know how to do so, it's best you simply stay out of the way until specifically called upon." She continues to lecture us in a calm tone as a pair while motioning to another volunteer from a different group who was helping but is now staying out of the way while more ponies come in and start casting spells on the injured pony.

They cast a familiar spell to stem the bleeding while another casts a spell at the same time to start healing the wound slightly. Over the past week, I've spent five days at the hospital and I've learned a lot already, mostly what not to do and who to talk to if anything goes wrong.

I've learned the layout of the hospital and the names of a lot of the ponies in charge of different departments and sections of the hospital. I even got to see Bristle again, he didn't even recognize me and had the same tone and body language as last time, he seems good at his job but he's also just annoying.

Beyond getting us oriented we've been shown and met several patients. This is the first time we've seen something so bloody though, and the other ponies with me look squeamish or uncomfortable about the sight, but they still handle it better than other ponies would. I just can't be fucked to care, I've spent a few weeks watching Timberwolves rip apart small animals and licking the blood off of themselves.

Combine that with the fact that I occasionally take Entropy hunting and that I've never really cared about the sight of blood, I could honestly care less. I watch with interest as a nurse cleans up the wound with a spell after the two doctors cast several spells and gain tired expressions.

The wound is healed on the outside but I'm not sure what spells were used, and considering that the nurses cast a few scanning spells and made sure to keep the leg very still, it's probably not fully healed. I quickly learned that the standard procedure for injuries changes a lot depending on several factors.

If the wound is like this one, life-threatening, then they start off by using spells to stabilize things and then take a slower approach. Things like slower, more stable, and less taxing healing spells, something to speed up the healing but not heal it in moments. It's simply not practical or advisable for most doctors to only use powerful healing spells like that.

Those spells can take a toll on the caster or could be cast wrong if the pony is tired as spells like this rapidly tire the caster. So to minimize risk, a lot of healing is not magical or done with weak healing spells. It also doesn't help that not everybody knows all the healing spells needed, much like many other professions doctors specialize.

Beyond life-threatening wounds, smaller things are done with a slower approach as well. Let's say you broke a bone? They would set it and heal it just enough to stick together before putting it in a sling and telling you to wait several weeks for it to finish healing.

A lot of lesser injuries are treated with what is called Assisted Healing, injuries that could be healed instantly but instead, they take their time to treat and let it heal like normal. The main reason is simple and I already half-explained it, if a doctor casts a lot of spells to completely heal those lesser injuries then they wouldn't have enough magic for an emergency like the one I'm currently watching.

The patient is carefully taken out of the emergency room we're in on a stretcher. "Now, we're out of time so this will be all for today, I hope to see you all tomorrow." Dr. Meadows stares at me while saying that and I ignore her stare as we're all led back into the lobby of the hospital.

I leave the lobby and start to fly home while thinking about the day so far. I've really enjoyed my time so far and learning about how everything works is proving much more interesting than I expected. Although, I am rather excited to actually start doing things, not that I'll be doing much at the start.

I'll be doing things like helping take care of long-term patents or recovering patients that have to stay for one reason or another. And maybe casting a few simple spells and changing bandages, something they have to do very often for a lot of patients.

I still don't know a lot, like the internal politics, because of fucking course that's a problem here. Turns out that mixing so many different healers from so many places causes friction or bickering. At least it doesn't seem to hamper the staff's ability to do their jobs too much.

I land and take a moment to check my mail before walking up the stairs to my apartment. On a more personal note things with all the different ponies I know are going well. I had another meeting with Cadance, a slightly awkward study session with Twilight, and my normal game nights along with a night out for dinner.

Sadly I haven't gotten to talk with Celestia much recently, this time of year is always busy for her though with the Summer Sun Celebration so near. I enter my apartment and Entropy slips from my shadow before looking up at me. "Still want to come along? It isn't getting any more interesting." I ask her while moving into the kitchen to make us some early lunch.

Over the past week, Entropy has insisted on coming with me in my shadow. She looks at me for a moment, "No, stay. Look, scary, need a friend." she insists and I just shrug at that. She's been less clingy after I started working way less and relaxing more, but she still wants to come with me every time.

I finish up our food but stop as a familiar flash of fire and life magic move into my senses as Philomena teleports into my apartment. She moves over to me with a letter in her beak and eyes up the lunch I just made. I smile at her and start making a portion for her as well. "Thank you, Philomena, and you two behave." I pet her a bit and leave them to eat while opening the letter.

Dear Shade.

Sorry it took me a while to respond, apparently the pony I assigned to check the mailroom was out sick and nopony replaced them. It took five days for them to return and find your letter, I really question the thoughts of my little ponies sometimes. Either way, two ponies now do that job and are required to check in, so it hopefully shouldn't happen again.

With that said, you're grounded for the next two months. Because, really? Another spell? We just released the last one! This one isn't even simple, you remade the ENTIRE spell. So consider this your warning, no new inventions for two or three months, magic knows Cadance needs the break as well.

On that note, you may wish to avoid my lovely niece for a bit, she's not too pleased about the news, and the last time we talked she was planning something or other. Honestly though, as a friend, please take a break. Because I will ACTUALLY ground you if you get ill while trying to heal others.

As much as I don't want to encourage this though, thank you. This spell already has the attention of several ponies and should prove to be another welcome addition to your growing list of contributions. Maybe I need to commission a window for you? You've seen those I assume? If not I'd love to show you them, my ponies put some amazing work into them.

I digress though. I hope you liked my little summer gift, it's an old tradition to do so, and I have to repay all the lovely gifts you sent me somehow. I am rather curious what you have planned? I doubt you could top an entire house though, and yes that is a challenge.

I hope you're doing well and I should have time for a meeting after the celebration at the latest.

Signed your friend, and the mare who has to worry over you, Celestia.

I just laugh after reading everything and smile fondly. It seems I don't have the luxury of working on spells then, or at least sending them to her. I fold up the letter and make a mental note to not touch any mail sent to me by Philomena, or my regular mail actually, she'd definitely try that.

I finish my lunch with two happy birds before starting to practice for a while. I take out my deck of cards and start to concentrate on manipulating space delicately. With all my practice I've gotten to the point that I can levitate and rotate six cards at once.

My increase in my control with space magic has improved in more than just amount but also quality. In the past, I could levitate things but they were a little shaky and would wobble around, now as long as I'm holding four or fewer items they are almost just as stable as my TK field.

This has opened a new possibility. My Tk field, or just field, has a hard limit of moving three individual items at once, I'm not sure why but I've found no way around it. But now I might be able to go even further with space magic and use it instead of my field.

With my improved control I can manipulate the space just enough to move items without causing it to visually show the space bending. If I try to lift really heavy things though it will show the space bending to anypony paying attention. But I still think it's worth the slight risk.

The training from using my space magic in everyday life will also help even further in my conversion and control of space magic. The added benefit is that I can start to move more than three items at a time, the idea of picking up a dozen items and controlling all of them individually to move in different ways at once is very tempting, and a little badass.

After I'm done with my practice I open my eyes to see that Philomena is gone and Entropy is preening herself after playing. "Hey Girl?" She stops and turns to me. "I need to get something, up for a trip?" She answers by flying right over to me and landing on my back and I spend a few minutes gathering what I'd need before turning back to her. "Perfect, to Ponyville please." She bobs her head and a moment later the Void greets us.

We reappear inside the noon forest and I start walking after casting an illusion over Entropy. I always walk down this familiar dirt road, I really should find a place closer to Ponyville, or I could speed up my trip? I don't hide my ability to fly in Canterlot and now that I think about it I don't see why I can't do the same here.

It's eye-catching but so is having a crow and being an outsider to this small town, and I've already shown them off to a few ponies here, once in public no less. I cast the spell after a moment of thought and both me and Entropy take to the skies in short order, from there the trip is a short one.

I don't land in the town when I arrive, just at the edge, but still, a few ponies see me and look surprised when my wings vanish. I take my time walking towards my destination and ignore any stares, but before I can get there I'm surprised to see a pink mare bouncing towards me from the opposite direction of the street.

I just smile at her and speak as she passes. "Hey Pinkie. Chocolate or vanilla?" I ask Pinkie while she takes my question in stride and answers while still moving. I wanted to try and see if I could confuse her for once, but I quickly found out how stupid that thought was.

She smiles widely. "Both silly!" She doesn't stop though and just keeps bouncing right past me. "Nice to see you, Shade! Oh! And you to, Entropy!" She says happily and moves right along without stopping at all. I watch her bounce off down the street slightly baffled at the oddly small response from the normally hyperactive, and overactive mare.

I shake my head after a moment and Entropy gives me a look. "What?" She seems just as confused and I do what I should have from the start, rule one, don't question Pinkie. I put that out of my mind for now and continued walking to a certain fashionista's shop.

I've come here to commission something special, a bundle of custom clothes for decoration, yes really. I have no idea what to get Celestia but after a lot of thought I decided something with clothes might be a good place to start, and with a few other gifts it should work well. I stand in front for a moment and take a breath before opening the door.

The inside of the shop is much more decorated than before and much more organized as well. The walls have shelves full of clothing and a few mannequins with dresses and suits on them. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique, how can I help you, Sir... Oh my! It's you!" Rarity stands behind the counter and trails off as her eyes light up.

It seems she remembers me. "Hello, I see you are doing well," I say a little awkwardly as she walks out from behind the counter very quickly.

She moves up to me with a large smile and an excited look. "Rarity Castilia Belle, at your service!" She gives me a slight bow and I'm now officially out of my comfort zone. "And you good Sir. are my mysterious benefactor. It's absolutely fabulous finally meeting you!" Her tone is oddly relaxed for how excited she looks to meet me, and she also gets a little too close for comfort as she walks right up to me.

It seems my kindness has come back to bite me in the ass, that's what I get for trying to be a little crazy and fun, no good deed goes unpunished indeed. I take a half-step back and curtly nod, "I prefer Shade. Sir. is a bit formal for me, and you are welcome. It was more a spontaneous situation than anything planned though." I try to downplay things and not make it seem like a big deal.

She smiles a bit and thankfully backs off some, she keeps her large smile though. She looks over my saddlebags critically. "Goodness. I see you've gotten a lot of use out of those, I must insist on-" And also notices Entropy, "Mmm, that. Friends of yours can behave themselves, right?" Her tone shifts a bit from happy to slightly uptight but still friendly.

I nod happy with the change in subject. "She can, but I can leave her outside if you want?" I offer and while she doesn't look like she wants to say no she doesn't say yes. This isn't the first time somepony has made a request like this so I don't really mind.

So I take the initiative to do so anyway, I let Entropy out the door and turn back to Rarity. "It's good to see this place is still open, I hope things have been going well." I know I can't run from this topic even if I want to, so I take my normal blunt approach.

She smiles brightly. "Thank you, Shade, may I call you Shade?" I already asked her to but I nod regardless. "Shade, you have my utmost thanks for your help. As ashamed as I am to admit it, you're rather large... Donation, helped me in many ways." Her tone is very positive and over-flattering.

I cut her off. "More of a tip, I really liked the saddlebags and thought I might do something... Generous." I make a joke she'd never understand, I may not enjoy having her admiration and attention but I do enjoy messing with others. "Although, I would ask you not to advertise all this, I'd prefer it not spread around." I finish with some hesitation. I probably should have been less blunt about that but that's not who I am.

She smiles again and just nods, accepting it without hesitation. "Oh don't worry, I keep my customer's business completely confidential." She reassures me and again looks at my saddlebags. "Now, would you mind if I take those for a moment? A few of those stitches look loose and I can't have my work in such condition." She asks and I do as asked after a moment.

I'm just happy with how that went and my bags don't have anything bad in them at the moment. "Thank you Shade, this won't take more than a few moments." She uses my name with a familiarity that only my friends normally use, she's really trying to make a good impression. She moves and places my saddlebags down on the counter then takes out a box with threads and needles.

She starts to remove and redo the stitch with speed and skill. "Now, you came here for something, yes? What can I do for you? A suit for the upcoming celebrations?" She suggests while continuing to work and motioning to several suits on one side of her shop.

I could use a suit eventually, my current one is made by a Griffon and doesn't fit the best in a few places. But the suits she shows are a little too loud for my liking. I shake my head after a moment, "No, I'm looking to get some custom cloth, with a pattern stitched in, a bit like that. You know a wall decoration." I point to a cloth with flowers stitched into it hung on the wall as decoration. "If that's possible."

She smiles widely again and nods enthusiastically. "Yes, I can! Everything in here is my work, I won't accept anything else. Hum, Maybe something with vines and leaves? Deep greens and reds? Or gold? These bags go well with your coat." She starts to look me over again with a critical eye and mumbles out loud.

I shake my head. "Well, it's not for me. I want something for a friend of mine." She blinks before smiling even larger, somehow.

"Ahh, of course, summer indeed." She takes out a notepad after finishing the last few stitches. "Now what is your, friend's coat like, their eye color?" She asks now going into full designer mode. "Any ideas for themes? Maybe something with their cutie mark?" She bombardes me with questions, more like demands.

I take a moment to sort my thoughts and think about my options. "White coat, purple eyes. And themes? Well, it is summer and they have a... Connection, to the Summer Sun Celebration, good memories, and all that. So maybe something along those lines? Sun-themed maybe?" I try to word it in a way that doesn't make it too obvious.

She moves quickly over to a few different colors of cloth and starts to work through them. "Oh! And I know just the thing, a Princess Celestia theme, I've never gotten to do something like that!" It seems my words inspired her as she buzzed with energy while talking quickly.

I worry for a moment as she hits a little too close to the actual truth, but it seems she's just excited. I stand there and watch as she shows me fabrics and demands answers to questions again and again. Why do I feel like this is going to take longer than I thought it would?

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :]
Current year is 995

A little visit to Ponyville and Shade being thoroughly out of his comfort zone.

Chapter 213

JUN 18 Sunday.

I nibble on a cookie while looking at my cards as Maple forces me to draw another four cards as our game continues. "So what are you two doing for the celebration? Because I'm going drinking with a few others, and I got Daisy to come with me." Blaz says smugly while Daisy places a plus-two in a quick retaliation.

Maple just shrugs. "Eating out, and sleeping in." She explains simply and we all just nod in unsurprised agreement.

They then turn to me and I just shrug as well. "I have plans with a friend," I answer without any context, which just gets me some curious looks before Blaz chuckles.

"Five bits says the Colt's got a mare." I glare at him a little and that just makes him laugh. "Oh ho! It seems I might not be that far off." He smiles wider and I have to fight off a blush.

While Maple smiles slightly Daisy gives me a demanding look but I interrupt her before she can say anything. "Don't you start, if you can hide things, so can I..." Daisy and Blaz start to laugh and I blush a little. "No! It is not like that!" I insist as my words fumble and even Maple starts laughing as they increase my embarrassment.

time skip

JUN 20 Tuesday.

I slowly move my hooves back and forth to wrap the bandage and dress the stitched wound on a pony's foreleg. The mare nurse keeps a close and observant eye on my progress. "Good, but make sure not to do it too tightly, you don't want to interrupt blood flow." She advises with a professional tone.

I take in the advice and ease up on the tension slightly while keeping it tight enough to keep the bandage in place. I nod in thanks to the nurse I've been shadowing for the day, "Thank you." I thank her more out of politeness than anything else. "And the end? Do I just tie it?" I ask, holding up the other end of the bandage wrapped around the limb.

She takes it from my hooves with her magic and demonstrates it again. "There are several ways, you can just tie it, you can even make a bow like a pony I know. But it's best to tie it around the past few wraps you made with the bandage." She again shows me the proper way to do it and then lets me take a note in a notebook I've kept with me on my volunteering days.

Once she's done she looks to a clock on the wall and smiles. "Well, we're done for the day. Thanks for coming in on the day before Summer Sun." She says while leading me out of the room filled with resting and recovering Patients. "We're always understaffed today and tomorrow, either way, I hope you enjoy the holiday." The nurse makes some polite small talk while leading us into the hallway.

"Not much else to really do, and thanks for teaching me, Mam." I make a small mental note of her appearance and the badge she has with her name on it. The hospital has so many staff members that I gave up trying to learn or ask for names unless they were for really important ponies. With that, we go our separate ways and I quickly make my way outside to head home.

I've officially started to do volunteer work and learn under different staff members now. It's like I expected, doing simple things while being closely supervised. I've mostly been casting cleaning spells or cleaning the old-fashioned way the past few days, but by the end of today a nurse started to teach me how to properly bandage a wound. It's something I learned to do but never actually did, like stitching a wound.

Something I've limited myself in during my time at the hospital is using my field, I still use it and many others have seen it. They cared about me as much as any other pony in Canterlot, but I limited my use of my field so I could learn to do all this healing without it, best to not rely on it in case it failed at some point.

Another concern of mine is more immediate, I'm not allowed to wear my bracelet, and normally I wouldn't be able to wear my necklace as well. But as a volunteer, they didn't care much about it as I'm not doing anything really important. The bracelet can impede my movement or actions and needs to be removed to do things like apply bandages.

It's a bit of a problem, I may have to find another solution or just deal with the possibility. Actually, I wonder if a Changeling would willingly go to a hospital? Either way, I'll need to mentally prepare for that. Beyond that concern, I've been really enjoying my volunteering.

Unlike that one day when I did physical work, I enjoyed this far more. Even if I'm still cleaning a lot, the opportunity to learn and help other ponies with the knowledge I've learned is a good feeling.

I've only learned about simple things so far but getting to watch others work up close and learn that way is also helping in its own way. Beyond the Assistant Program, I've spent the last two weeks relaxing and taking Celestia's grounding to heart by slacking off or at least not overworking.

I leave my thoughts and go through the normal song and dance of going home and cleaning myself up. After doing a few chores and eating some lunch I have Entropy take me to Ponyville once again to pick up what I ordered from Rarity. As I walk out of the forest and onto the dirt road I quickly take to the skies and gain height.

I smile as Entropy flies around me happily while under an illusion. The last time I was here I spent nearly two HOURS discussing details with Rarity and even then she somehow seemed uncertain about what exactly she was making, at least she told me it would be done in time for the Summer Sun Celebration.

When I arrive at Ponyville I can see from the air that the main street is packed with stalls. I circle in the air for a few moments before landing on a mostly quiet side of the small town. With earth firmly beneath me again I head straight to Rarity's boutique.

I let Entropy fly off somewhere else for the time being, it seems Rarity is a bit uncomfortable with Entropy being inside, something I don't begrudge her. When I enter the boutique I see Rarity ringing up another pony at the counter, she spots me and smiles widely while I wait for her to finish.

Something I notice is she uses a Bit Counter to speed up the process of the other pony paying, and I feel a slight pride at the sight. The other pony pays and leaves in short order, "Hello Rarity. Good business today?" I ask with a friendly demeanor while walking up to the counter. I might be a bit uncomfortable with how pleasant she is around me, but it's not the worst thing and I'm a bit used to it after talking with her for a few hours.

She keeps her wide smile and nods enthusiastically. "Shade. It's been fabulous! Many of the stalls this year are designed by yours truly." She expresses before getting a look of longing. "But oh how I miss the celebrations in Canterlot." She says making some mundane small talk.

I try not to look impatient about things and just wait. "But I know you came for your gift, and you must be as busy as me with that face." She jokes a bit and reaches behind the counter and pulls out a bundle of cloth while I try not to look embarrassed about my mood slipping through a little, she's good at spotting things like that it seems.

She just chuckles a little. "It's perfectly understandable, we're all busy today. Anyway, this has proven to be a beautifully simple and yet challenging request, what do you think?" She talks quickly and with clear excitement as she unfurls the cloth and holds it up with her magic.

The large cloth is eight by eight feet and looks perfect. The design uses simple, almost cartoon-like lines and colors. The centerpiece is a large yellow sun with stylized flames along its edges, the background is a mix of pure white, a soft light blue, brown, and green. Around the background of the cloth is a light pink that creates a sideways oval that contains the sun in the center.

The center area has several mountains with a grass plain on the bottom half, and a light blue sky on the top half. Altogether it has the image of a sunrise through some mountains with an overall color scheme that matches Celestia and I pretty closely. The white and pick from her and the brown and green from me. It seems Rarity found a way to add me to the mix.

At least she took my other demands seriously. I heavily stressed to Rarity that I wanted something simple and with simple colors. She argued with me on that pretty hard but in the end, agreed to do it my way. The cloth isn't some masterful design, but it doesn't need to be. And while the image is simple the work is masterfully done.

Not a stitch is out of place and everything is perfectly sized and positioned. It's not a massively fancy gift, but combine it with the other thing I bought for her and it should work well. And that other gift was a much larger pain in the ass, it took me three days to just buy and transport it to Gaia's Eden.

I leave my thoughts with a slight shake of my head and a smile at Rarity. I nod in response, "It's great, thank you Rarity." I walk closer as she folds it up again and smiles wider at my response. I move to open my saddlebags and pull something out.

But before I can she shoves the folded cloth over to me and shakes her head a little. "Absolutely NOT, you aren't paying a bit for this and that's final." Her words turn stern and it's clear she's leaving absolutely no room for argument. I almost protest anyway and she uses her magic to pull open one of the pockets on my saddlebags and stuffs the cloth inside. "Final!"

I open my mouth before closing it and chuckling a little. :The element of generosity indeed: "Ok fine, but next time I am paying." I insist instead and she raises a brow slightly. "I need a suit in a month or two, but for now thank you for the lovely work, and have a good celebration." I decided to cut this a little short as I have other things I want to do.

She sees my blatant attempt to exit the conversation and takes it in stride like she does. "Don't keep yourself waiting on me, and enjoy the celebrations as well." She waves a little and I nod back while walking out the door, I do notice she looks distracted and starts mumbling about suits as I leave the building. Once I'm outside I chuckle again before sighing a little. I have the distinct feeling she won't let me pay her next time, well that's a problem for future me.

A moment after leaving Entropy lands on my back again and I take a moment to look around before picking a random direction to walk in. I didn't need to leave so quickly but I would rather not spend more time with Rarity for the moment, she's nice enough but I prefer something less socially demanding, and dealing with such a friendly mare doesn't help with that.

For now, though, I don't have many plans for the rest of today. My plans for the celebration are pretty simple, I want to stay up all night like many others to watch the sunrise, with a slight twist, but that's for the next dawn and it's still midday. So after a little wandering, I decide to walk over to the town's main street and see how things are being set up.

Everything is still mostly tame, there are a lot of ponies and stalls but the celebrations will only really start after sunset and continue until tomorrow evening. I walk down the street past other ponies and half-assembled stalls in between others already set up to sell their goods.

I take my time looking around and eventually, I find somepony I didn't expect, Pinkie Pie is running a stall of all things. I stare at the boringly colored banner and the mare happily selling cotton candy and party supplies to other ponies. She also sees me and waves excitedly, I stare for a few moments before deciding to do the smart thing and simply wave to her before moving on.

She sees that and waves back again. I'm normally fine talking to Pinkie but I don't want to deal with all the Pinkie-ness right now, I'm in a more mellow mood honestly. Eventually, though I do find a sight that is both interesting and slightly saddening, the Apple Family.

I spot every member except Bright Mac, Applebloom, and Granny Smith. I do see Big Mac, Pear Butter, and Applejack all working on setting up a stall of their own. I keep my distance for a moment, hesitating a little. I've never checked in on them, mostly because I felt I had no real reason to.

I did what I could and partly failed, it's not something I'm very emotional about but a part of me simply doesn't like the idea of looking that failure in the face, of seeing the ponies that got hurt. I think that's a pretty bad way to think about what actually happened. Running won't do anything either, and I feel... Partly responsible in a way to at least know how they are doing.

:I think, I need to do this so it doesn't nag at me: I reason with myself before taking a deep breath and walking over to the half-assembled stall. It doesn't take them long to notice me and I get a myriad of looks, Applejack is curious, Pear is both curious and smiling, while Big Mac nods in recognition.

"You'll have to wait a bit partner, we're still setting up." The slow drawl of Applejack greets me with a polite sternness to her tone.

Big Mac lugs a large crate of apples on his back and stops near us. "He's the one who helped with the cart." He explains with a small smile to me and holds out a hoof to shake. "Shade. Nice to see ya." I take the hoof with a nod while Applejack looks a bit surprised before seeing Entropy and gaining a look of recognition, it seems she's putting it together in her head.

I take notice that I'm still an inch or three shorter than Big Mac. At this point in my life I'm taller than a lot of ponies, the vast majority actually, even most earth pony stallions are an inch or two smaller than me. I shake his hoof and nod back. "Big Mac, been a while. Hope things are going well."

He stills a bit and nods again. "Yup." I somehow don't believe him all that much, he's not really good at hiding things it seems.

Applejack looks me up and down again as Big Mac moves away to continue lugging the crate. "Huh, so you the pony he was yapping about." She looks up as I stand a head taller than her. "Tall one ain't ya?" I just chuckle in good humor. "Either way, we're still closed for an hour or two." She motions with her head to the stall they were still putting up.

I look at it for a moment as Pear sorts things behind the stall counter and listens to us while being out of my sight a little. Something about her is different in my spatial senses but I focus on the conversation. "Well, I have nothing better to do, need an extra hoof?" I offer as I honestly don't have anything better to do and it lets me stick around a little bit more.

She raises a brow for a moment and almost looks like she'll turn me down, but seeing Big Mac moving another heavy crate she nods a little slowly. "Ya, maybe, you look as sturdy as an apple trunk, think'en you can move one of them?" I pretend not to notice her eyes wandering and nod. "We'll throw in some apples for the help’en hoof." She insisted rather than offer after I started to walk over to the cart they brought.

I know for a fact that she wasn't joking and an apple takes their debts seriously, so it's best to just not fight them on it. I've been more relaxed about magic in public, or at least simple magic like my field and wings, so I just use my field to pick up three crates at once and start to move them.

Big Mac raises a brow at the sight and I just shrug with a smile, "It's a trick I've picked up, a bit hard to learn but very convenient." I explain without really lying or giving anyway too much, it's best not to lie while standing near the literal element of honesty. I swiftly move the crates over behind the stall and place them down near Pear before looking at her. "Miss. Pear, it's good to see you again..." I nod in greeting while trying to hide my surprise as I trail off in surprise.

I knew it was possible Pear could have gotten injured in that, but seeing the actual result aches my heart a little and brings up several unpleasant emotions. A large scar runs down from her left shoulder to her mid chest, a familiar pattern of Timberwolves claws. But what really catches my eye is her right foreleg, it's gone.

From the shoulder, there is a scar and a slight stump but everything else is gone. :Fuck, I... : I'm a bit stunned at the sight and even with my effort it shows. I snap out of it and look up to her face, she looks... Ok, I guess. Tired and wary, but she still smiles a bit. "Sorry, didn't mean to, stare." I apologize in a more reserved tone, a little ashamed at my reaction.

She keeps her smile and just waves my concern away with her good foreleg. "No trouble, many ponies do the same." Her tone is happy and more upbeat than I expected. "Under here please, they need to be out of the sun." She motions to some shelves under the stall's counter and I place the boxes inside still feeling a little off about everything.

It certainly doesn't help that I don't really know them and while we're being friendly it's also very polite and less relaxed than I normally like. But there is nothing I can do to fix that beyond talking to them and I only really came here to check on them.

She moves the boxes a little with her good hoof, while I try my best not to feel bad about what my actions indirectly caused. :At least it's better than her being dead, not that it makes me feel too much better: She gives me a sterner look with the same smile, "Oh! My manners again! Sorry. It's nice to see you as well Shade, and you've certainly grown like a sapling. And don't go looking sad for me, I'm just fine." She insists and helps Big Mac guide another box into the shelves.

I try to smile at that and move back to grab the last two boxes out of the cart. "I know, but I can sympathize, in a way." She raises a brow at that. "I have a friend, he's missing a... Well, he's in a similar situation." I nearly come off as too blunt but stop and try to be more tactful about it.

She looks a little surprised but nods. "Anyway, what can I get you? We've got a new harvest not too long ago so it's all as fresh as spring." It's clear she wants to move off the topic, but something comes to mind that makes me reluctant.

I pause for a moment and look her in the eye. "I don't want to, well, dig into your business." She seems to see where this is going and Applejack, who's been listening in, gives me a slight glare at my words. "But, have you all gotten much news from Canterlot recently?" News about new spells can be tricky even being so close to Canterlot, and not many earth ponies keep an eye on things like that.

Whatever they expected me to bring up, it wasn't that. Applejack moves a little closer now looking more curious than annoyed. "News? I mean, we get a good sum but nothing all that big. Why?" She asks as Big Max also moves over to listen in while helping Pear continue to set up the stall slowly.

Pear gives me a tired but curious look while Big Mac seems as passive as ever. I knew bringing up something unwanted was going to be touch and go, but I have their attention and that's good enough to not cause a mess, hopefully. Even if I come off as nosy I think this might help them so it's worth it. "Well, I heard most of this from my friend." I pause for a moment thinking about how best to word this without being rude accidentally.

I scratch the back of my head. "Anyway, he's never had the bits for a prosthetic, you know a new limb?" I think that hits a little too close to home as Pear looks a bit downcast hearing that and I nearly get another glare. "But recently some genius of a pony found a way to make them really cheaply, it's been news for weeks." I try to keep a level tone and not smile when they all perk up a bit.

Seeing a little success I continue talking while they all stop to listen. "I don't know a lot of the details, and I think it's still all new and stuff. But, my friend got his for, eighty-five bits I think?" I quote a cost that mirrors the prices I've seen. I looked at some of the places that make the new prosthetics when shopping a while back and most of them started around there.

The price isn't cheap for poorer ponies, but it's not something impossible either and for regaining a limb it's a small price overall. I give them a smile despite trying to hold it in when I see a hopeful look on Pear's face. "Sorry for... Well, bringing this all up. I just thought I should say something." I confess trying to put the topic to rest now that I've said my peace.

I get a smile from all three and Pear looks even more upbeat than before with a boutique smile. "Bother-shmother, You. Thank you, This..." Applejack is the first to speak up and looks by far the most excited about the information. "Ma, if he's right." She moves over and hugs her dam happily.

Pear lets go of her a moment later while Big Mac smiles at them and gives me a nod in return. Pear speaks up with a more emotional tone. "Thank you, Shade, this. I owe you one again it seems." She says simply and I'm reminded of our first meeting years ago, she remembered that? "I never thought I might be able to... We owe you." She insists more firmly.

I shake my head a little and at least try to turn her down. I feel a little bashful as I didn't do much of anything. "I didn't do anything, you would have heard about it either way." They seem to agree with my logic, but not my argument. I keep my smile but sigh a little seeing her look unconvinced. :Well I tried, and failed: "Fine, how about a recommendation then?"

She raises a brow. "Know any good apple pie recipes? I was planning to make some with the apples I came for." I pull something out of thin air and before I can even fully finish she's shifting through a saddlebag on her side with her muzzle. She brings out some paper and ink and quickly starts to write something down.

A moment later she passed me a page with two recipes on it and had the same thankful smile. "I added another for apple fritters, the best you'll ever find." She brags a bit, and considering her family I'm inclined to believe her. "And, an open invitation to dinner if you're ever near the farm." I see she's also added directions to their farm on the paper.

I accept the list with a smirk. "Well lucky me, not one but two Apple Family recipes." I joke a bit and she chuckles along with me. "Sorry to cut it short though, but I have places to be." A small lie as even after trying to help I'm not entirely happy at the sight I've seen today.

I just need time to think and process my own actions, even if the alternative was worse, that is only of little comfort to me right now. I'm not wrecked, but it still is affecting me and I would like to distance myself a little. I take out a small bag and pass it to her, she looks inside the small bag I gave her and raises a brow at the bits inside. "Four bags of red please, I have some new recipes to try out."

She smiles widely and nods, a few moments later I'm loading several bags of apples into my saddlebags. It's my turn to raise my brow seeing a fifth bag, and Pear just smiles in response. "Thank you again. And this is what we promised for the help." Her tone once again leaves no room for disagreement. "Bye Shade, and don't be a stranger, granny makes the best pies recipes or otherwise." She says with a friendly and welcoming tone.

I just take the bag without complaint and nod to her with an understanding look. "I really didn't do much. And I may just if I'm passing through. Goodbye, and thanks." With that, I start to walk off after another nod from Big Mac and a smile from Applejack. As I'm walking Entropy moves to look at me from my back.

I sigh after a moment and start to make my way somewhere private to get home, I need to do a little thinking. I find an alley and quickly have Entropy take me home. When I do arrive home I take off my saddlebags and they thump down heavily while spilling a few apples. I stare at them for a moment and sigh again.

I wanted to buy more than needed to help them a bit more, but. "What the hell am I going to do with all these?" My mind ponders my thoughts and a pile of apples becomes my new problem for the rest of the day.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year 995

So, first and foremost. This will be continued in the next chapter, and the other gift for Celestia was intentionally not mentioned until now to give you all a surprise as well.

Second. I completely forgot about the Apple's, and with me wanting to show off more of Shade working at the hospital and having him get the cloth from Rarity, I thought it fit to add them in here. Even if this is a little repetitive from the last chapter.

And finally three. I'm sorry about not communicating my absence earlier, I was writing the next chapter but some things got in my way and I had to delay it.

I do find it both heart warming and funny, because several of you thought that the only thing that could have stopped me from posting was that something ACTUALLY happened to me.

Witch I'll be honest, just made me laugh my ass off. I am fine by the way.

Chapter 214

JUN 20 Tuesday / JUN 21 Wednesday.

I move my hooves and field in repetitive motions to cut up and de-core apples.

I use my field to hold two knives at once to cut apples in half before using my hooves and field to wield a spoon each to scoop out the apple cores and seeds. I've gone through about half of the apples so far and I'm almost done with all I'll need to make a lot of pie.

I've already got the dough ready and the oven is preheated, I even asked Daisy to borrow her pie pans so I could make more than one pie at a time. I decided to try out the new pie recipe I got as a gift from the Apple's and with how many apples I bought I decided to go big or go home.

I finish the last of the apples and start to mix everything I'll need for the pies while letting my thoughts wander while doing the motions of these simple tasks. Mostly my inner thoughts focus on two things, my plans for tonight and tomorrow, and my thoughts on seeing Pear Butter and the other Apple's.

My plans are simple and I've already set everything up over the last week. Celestia said she could meet me after she raises the sun for the celebration, so I just asked her to meet me at Gaia's Eden when she could, she agreed and even said she'd be there an hour after the sun rises.

I was planning to bake her a cake, but instead, I decided to treat her to an Apple Family pie, twelve actually. I'll need to bake them all and then get some early sleep so I can wake up before dawn, I have another plan for dawn itself but for now, it's just the repetitive actions of filling pies and baking them.

I sit down with Entropy as the pies bake and look out the window to see the afternoon sky over a busier-than-normal Canterlot. The other more somber topic on my mind is the Apple Family, specifically Pear Butter. Seeing her in the state she was in definitely affected me, I'm still sorting the entire thing in my mind honestly.

It's, dividing for me. On one hoof it's not hitting me all that hard, I'm simply not that close to them, and even though I care about other beings my human life made me hardened to such things to a point. I have no problem seeing the darker side of the world, even if I don't like it, and I am far from blind about such things.

On the other hoof, I do feel I have some responsibility in all this. The fact is I could have done more but didn't because of a few selfish decisions, mainly my wish to stay unknown and unseen. I may hate fame, but does that mean I can ignore a life being affected or lost?

My inaction caused this situation, plain and simple there is no denying it. Or, maybe there is? I'm not sure honestly, it's all just so complicated. If I kept a closer eye on them or helped more I might have been able to prevent everything. Another part of my mind thinks something else though. Or I might have gotten myself killed in the mess that happened.

The situation was clearly dangerous and me running it might have made things worse, or better. That is the crux of the whole thing, isn't it? The uncertainty of it all? How unknown it all is. I guess that's a problem I will always have, it's the price of knowing the future and what might happen.

As for Pear, well it's all done and dusted, isn't it? I can't turn back time and I can't undo my choices. And if I look at this with a more positive twist things aren't all that bad. She may have suffered but she is still alive and that affects more than just her, it also means her children have a mother.

Especially Applebloom, the poor filly lost one parent but she still has one left and that can be a world of difference for her. On top of that, she may be crippled but there are solutions for that. My long project with Avalon has already helped give her some hope for a decent recovery.

I breathe out after a moment and get up to put in more pies and take out the done ones before casting a spell on them to keep them warm a lot longer. I think I'll get some sleep a little earlier than planned, I need it. I finish off the rest of the pies after a few hours and feed me and Entropy before getting some rest.

time skip

My mind comes to awareness with an annoying grogginess. I dismiss the alarm spell that woke me up and crawl out of my bed in the pitch-black darkness. I check the time and see it's almost sunrise, I have half an hour to get there in time.

I spent a few minutes making some tea and a very early breakfast for me and Entropy as she also woke up when I started walking around with a light spell. Once I'm a bit more awake and lucid enough to function and get where I'm going I gather everything I normally carry with me. As I descend the stairs I notice that the streets are still just as busy as before, if not more so.

I normally prefer not to fly in the dark, but I can navigate just fine with my senses so after a moment I cast a spell and take to the skies to follow many other ponies to our destination. The very large street I'm heading to is more of a lengthy courtyard and directly in view of the palace in the upper city.

It's not hard to find as it's lit up like it's day already with all the ponies here, I approach and decide to land and watch from a building top instead of on the ground. Even up here though it's packed, many Pegasi and Batponies are here already as everypony waits while talking and celebrating.

After the time hits six thirty we all see Celestia fly down in full royal regalia surrounded by many guards. Cue the crowd going wild at her presence like she's about to break out into a rock solo. I chuckle at that thought while sitting on a building edge facing the elevated stage Celestia lands on to address everypony.

Everypony goes quiet as she starts to speak in her royal voice, loud and clear even at this distance. It's not really all that interesting to me, she mentions harmony and diplomacy and all that good ruler stuff. Eventually, though, we get to the main event and everything goes mostly silent as she turns to face the sky.

We all do the same as her horn glows brighter and brighter, the sky shifts in color rapidly and a moment later the sun rises above the horizon and ascends into the sky like it does every other day. Once again I almost have to cover my ears as every pony goes batshit insane about the sight.

I stand up and look down to see Celestia waving at her ponies and looking stunning on stage... Nope, not thinking about that. I shake my head a little and drag my mind out of the gutter before looking back and freezing a little. Turns out Celestia also looked up to wave at ponies on the rooftops and because I'm in the front she spots me.

I see her smile widely seeing me and I just wave a bit before moving back from the roof edge. This was fun, but I need to get home and get everything ready for today, and this crowd is starting to annoy me a little. It took me a while to fly home but all the excitement woke me up if nothing else.

When I arrive home with Entropy she hops over to one of the several pies on the counter and gives me a slightly pleading look. I just sigh, "No, not yet, but soon I promise." I chuckled at the downcast look and tried to look pleading by tilting her head. I just smile, "If you help me get them to Gaia's Eden we can speed things up a bit."

That's all it takes for her to teleport onto my back and start hopping from leg to leg impatiently. I laughed openly at her before picking up the pies to take with us, I got a box to carry them all securely. I also grab anything else I'll need before having her teleport me to Gaia's Eden.

When we arrive I move over to the pavilion to unpack the box I have and set everything up properly before Celestia arrives. I start with some basic colored streams and hang them around the pavilion. Next, I spend a moment filling the table in the pavilion with all the pies and a wrapped gift.

Beyond the pie’s and the wrapped folded cloth Rarity made for me, there is something else already set up. To one side of the pavilion is Celestia's other gift currently under a small magical shield as it's too big to wrap up and I didn't want her to see it if she visited before today. The shield itself is very basic and just blocks out the view in a dome shield.

The final thing I do is pick out one of the pies and place three candles on top. I check the time and start to wait while reading a certain book I was given. Celestia really should make more books to read, she's pretty good at it. I don't have to wait too long as I feel space bending soon enough after I settle.

I quickly light the candles with a fire spell and my muzzle upturns as she pops into existence. She stands in the grass field and to my surprise she's still wearing her full regalia, full crown and everything. She smiles widely at me but stops when she sees everything I've set up.

"Surprise! Happy birthday!" I shout out across the short distance between us and she walks over quickly.

"Happy!!" Entropy shouts out as well while I keep my smirk as she walks into the pavilion. Philomena flies off to join Entropy in the support beams above us to play out of the way.

Before she can say anything I push the pie closer to her. "Candles first, we can't have you missing your wish."

She smiles wider but stops while looking at the candles before giving me an 'Are you serious' look. "Really?" She asks with a chuckle while looking at the three question mark-shaped candles on the pie. "I'm not sure if this is clever or a subtle prank." She says amused and I just shrug unhelpfully with a smile.

She takes a moment to close her eyes and blow out the candles and I clap a little bit like she did for me in the past. She looks back up at me with a happy expression, "Thank you, this is lovely." She says while removing her crown and horseshoes to put them to the side. "Also, did you enjoy the ceremony? It's always a spectacle." She lays down to get comfortable.

I get out some forks while passing her an entire pie with a fork in it. She raises a brow and looks at all the pies. "A little much huh? Do you buy this many for a single party of two? You must love pie." She weakly teases me but keeps a curious tone while taking the pie happily.

I nod and move two pies to the side for the birds to go nuts on. "Go crazy you two." They don't need any more encouragement than that. "Well, first of all, I take some pride in making all of these," I say with a slight pride and she looks happily surprised again. "It wasn't the first time I've seen the celebration, but that was when I was much younger, and It was certainly special." I agree while also settling in.

I then follow her eyes to all the pies on the table "As for the pies? I, Well, I bought too many apples on a trip and I didn't want to waste them, so, pie." She laughs after swallowing and I roll my eyes. "The candles though, it was honestly the best I could come up with." I shrug again and she just keeps laughing.

Celestia eats her way through the pies quickly and I stare a little amazed. "Wow, I only know one pony that can eat pie that fast, but she's still quicker." I tease a little in turn while she stops picking up a second pie. I chuckle, "I didn't say you need to stop, I made far too much so go for it." I encourage her before smiling mischievously. "It's your birthday, so you can cheat on any diet you have," I say with some humor.

I laugh as my second attempt at teasing causes her to blush slightly. She huffs a bit and in response distracts me by picking up her wrapped gift before looking at the shield. "I presume that's a gift? Because I'm very curious how you've outdone yourself this year if you outdid yourself that is." She changes the subject blatantly knowing I'd won as she eats another pie happily.

I smile and leave it be for the moment. :Cake and pies are a weakness, good to know: "I think? Sadly I couldn't think of anything to make you. But I got something commissioned, and added something big and fun for some flavor." I motioned to the gifts in order. "Now go on, I want to see you act like a filly again." I tease her more but that attempt seems to fall flat.

She smiles and shakes the gift a little. "Hmm, maybe a new crown? I rather liked the last one." I blush a bit at that and give her a deadpan look in return. She giggles a little before ripping over the flimsy paper and opening her gift, she raises a brow at the folded cloth and unfurls it while holding it in the air with her magic.

Her smile grows more and more as the full tapestry unfolds in the air, the large bright fabric hangs there for a few moments before Celestia turns back to me. "This is absolutely lovely, simple yet well made. You got this commissioned?" She asks and keeps looking over the fabric with a happy and content look.

I nod and feel a warmth at her reaction. "Yes, a small boutique with a rather skilled mare running it. It was a bit of a rushed job because I only had two weeks when I ordered it, but it did come out well." I will be a little vague to avoid mentioning Rarity. "Come on though, we still have the big gift, and this one is... We'll see, I guess." I finish some more of my pie and stand up while motioning with my head.

She also stands up and looks a little excited at the large present. "Agreed, this should be interesting. But-" I raise a brow at that. "I'm still going to guess." I just give her another blank stare and she just laughs. "Now, large, needs to be covered. Furniture? No. A plant?" She seems to decide on her guess.

I roll my eyes a little and shake my head but feel happy as she gets to act silly. "Wrong on both accounts." I deactivate the shield with a hidden switch and reveal the gift. What greets us is a full grand piano, bench and all. It's a high-end piano too, it was also a bitch and a half to get my hoofs on. Buying it was only a little annoying, but I had to wait for them to deliver it to a store room I rented before taking it to Gaia's Eden and that took time.

The entire thing is made from solid Oak and is heavy as fuck. The weight wasn't much of a problem with the help of a few spells, but getting it in position without breaking anything was another thing entirely. Celestia looks stunned at the sight and turns to me, I just smile widely in response. "I remember you mentioned liking it, I know I didn't really double-check, but I thought you might li-"

That's as far as I got before being enveloped in one of her double hugs. "I love it! Thank you, thank you, Shade!" She exclaims more excitedly than I thought she would. I hug her back and enjoy the comfortable feeling of her feathers and fur. :Why does she smell like lavender?: That thought gets my body a little too excited.

Luckily she pulled back from the hug before anything happened, thank magic for that. She smiles down at me and she looks utterly thrilled. "It's been so long since I've gotten to play, do you know the maker?" She asks while swiftly moving over to inspect the piano more thoroughly.

I laugh a little as she acts like an excited filly about her gift. "I'm glad I picked well then. And no? I had literally no idea what I was buying, so take my choice with a grain of salt." She looks too excited to care in the slightest about my uncertain answer and just opens the top of the piano to look inside. "I would have thought you'd own one already though. It's not like you lack space." I ask curiously.

She moves her hooves to press a few keys and makes sure things are working properly, it seems to, not that I'd know the difference. She keeps her blinding smile and shakes her head a bit. "I do, but sadly I don't get to play all that often. As much as I love my ponies, they have expectations of me." She explains while moving on to pressing keys with her magic.

It sounds like there is a story behind that, but I'm not going to drag down the mood by going into that. I just nod, "Well, tell me if you need anything for it. I honestly wouldn't know better. I am happy to see you so... Well, happy about it." She chuckles at that and moves to fully sit after moving the too-small bench out of the way.

She hesitates for a moment before looking back at me questioningly. "Would you, like to hear something? To test it." She hesitates adorably while I stand there for a moment a little shocked at the offer. I kind of thought this was something she'd keep private from the way she just talked about it.

I show her an excited look of my own and sit down on the spot. "I'd be honored, it's not every day you hear music from a princess after all." She doesn't say anything to that and instead focuses on the piano keys, a few beats of silence later she starts to play.

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGnvlW89-Us )

At the start it's a slow few keys that form a mellow tempo, it's almost hesitant in a way. But as she continues to play it starts to speed up and it sounds more confident with each note that passes, until it picks up into several keys being pressed every few moments.

The music has an upbeat and building feeling that reminds me of some music from my old world. But even with the subtle complexity it sounds, longing in a way I can't quite describe in words. It brings to mind a mix of wonder and adventure, or maybe a long journey's bittersweet end.

It's an odd mix that only music may ever be able to fully convey, but beyond all that, it feels, emotional. I watch from the side as Celestia shows a smile I've never seen from her before, both sad and happy, excited and muted. A war of emotions unknown to everybody except herself.

As she holds down the last keys and the sound hangs in the air for a moment she finishes. I don't hold back and just clap loudly at the performance I just witnessed while Entropy caws out in agreement. "Bravo! A true musician at work." I say without a hint of sarcasm or humor, she truly is skilled at the piano.

It also seems she got a little too absorbed in the moment and forgot I was listening in. She turns to me with a large renewed smile and a slight embarrassment, she then moves to sit down with me again. She looks me directly in the eyes, " I wouldn't call myself a master, but it is flattering to hear... Thank you, Shade, today is... It's been forever since I had a day like this and it means, so much to me." Het tone is still happy, but it also holds much more emotion than I expected.

I nod to her and give her my best smile. "That's what friends are for, right? Plus, you deserved it, plain and simple. Happy Birthday, Celestia Solis." I make a small tease and pass her another pie. "Now come on, those two are already on their third pie and it'd be shameful to be outdone by them." I joke a little while continuing to eat my half-finished pie.

She just gives me this thankful and happy look before laughing and picking up her fork. "Now that sounds like a worthwhile reason to eat pie." That happy look never left her face even when she left a few hours later.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

Yup, a nice and simple chapter about gifts and good feels. Also, this sadly won't be continued into a third Chapter, I'd like to move things long a bit. Plus there with be another opportunity for them to talk more soon.

Also... HA! You all thought I forgot about the piano line of dialog 114 chapters ago! Jokes on you I love piano music and having an excuse to add them to this story is an opportunity I'd never miss! HAHAHAHA!!

I did have a little trouble decided what music to start with though, but I was listening to this while writing this and decided it would fit well enough.

Chapter 215

JUN 29 Thursday.

I wrap another bandage around an elderly mare's hind left leg while ignoring how close I am to her backside. A nurse keeps an eye on my progress as they treat another patient, by this point they know I can at least do this without close supervision.

Once I'm done the nurse I'm assigned to waves me over to their patient. "Have you ever cleaned a cracked hoof? A serious one I mean?" She asks while motioning to a pony hoof that is pretty badly cracked open. It's a bit gory and some flesh is exposed, but it's healing well from what I can tell.

I shake my head a little. "A few smaller wounds, but never a hoof, or anything too large," I answer and she nods before taking a clean cloth with her hoof and starting to slowly and delicately clean the wound while I watch closely and take physical and mental notes on the process.

Once she's done cleaning the wound and explaining a few things she turns to me. "That's about it, also make sure to keep an eye out for other cracks whenever doing it so the cloth doesn't snag." She waits a moment for me to finish my note-taking before continuing. "Either way, you're done for the day so dress this and you're good to go."

I nod and she points out a few more small things on wrapping a cracked hoof before leaving me in the hallway like every time over the past few weeks. But I don't immediately leave the hospital as I have something else I need to do, with that in mind I make my way through the hospital and find a specific office.

This is something small but important to me, and it's about my jewelry. Specifically my bracelet, I've had to leave my saddlebags in a locker room while I volunteer, but my bracelet also detects Changelings. I would have just added it to my necklace but the diamond it uses can't handle a spell that strong.

Other jewelry wouldn't be big enough to have a gem either and adding to my necklace might add more questions that I don't want to answer. A few days ago I had the idea to just wear my bracelet on a hindleg to not interfere with my work while helping other ponies.

But that's where things get more iffy. Originally a nurse told me to take off my bracelet to do my work, so I'm not exactly sure about the rules here and have just been doing what I was told. And because I don't know the rules I need to ask some questions and get some clear concise answers.

The good news is that there is a simple enough solution to all of this, when we went through orientation Dr. Meadows said we could ask her questions if needed. I'm normally not one to ask for help, but a hospital is no place for that mentality and I swallow all those thoughts before knocking on the office door. "Come in."

I open the door and see a slight smirk on Dr. Meadow's muzzle. "Mr. Evergreen, anything I can help you with?" She asks while looking up from some paperwork she was working on.

I don't sit down and just nod while showing her some respect. "Just something I wanted clarification on, if you're not too busy at the moment?" I ask and she nods with the same professional and business-oriented expression. "What are the rules around jewelry? I wear some so I thought it best to get some clarification." There is no reason to lie so I just ask bluntly to not waste her time.

She doesn't look surprised and just opens a drawer in her desk, she pulls out a stack of documents and flips through them for a moment before copying a few pages onto blank paper and passing them to me. I raise a brow slightly and she nods to the papers. "You are far from the first volunteer to ask about the rules, and I have work to do, that is the exact rules on jewelry. Have a good day Mr. Evergreen." She dismisses me after that and goes back to her work.

I don't feel like bothering her more and leave quickly. This is part of the reason I've come to respect Dr. Meadow's. I've not interacted with her too much, but every time she's been blunt and stern, but fair and efficient. This is a good example, she didn't waste time talking and just had a copy of the rules to copy and distribute as needed, simple and efficient.

I stop by the locker room that also holds Bristle's office next to it, he always has the feeling of annoyance around him but he does his job from what I've seen and he doesn't bother me at all. I gather my things before putting away my notebook and the papers before heading home for the day.

I leave and cast a spell to fly, and while flying home I speak aloud. "Come on out," I say and I feel Entropy shift onto my back from my shadow while I quickly cast an illusion spell over her. She jumps off of me and in a moment we're flying together. It may be a little risky but from this height, nopony would see anything in detail, and I could just say I was holding her in my saddlebags if needed.

Entropy is still coming with me to the hospital, so eventually, she asked if she could fly with me, mostly because she was in my shadow as I flew to the hospital and back home. I didn't see much harm as long as we were careful and agreed, and as a bonus, I got to fly with her more often.

Even better, I've gotten more flying practice while going back and forth so often. It's only helped with small things like landing in between buildings or on crowded streets, it's still nice though and all training is welcome. When I arrive home I take a moment to circle around and I land on my apartment building's roof.

I found out while complaining about walking up and down the stairs every day to Blaz, that many buildings keep their roof access open for pegasi. It seems so simple and obvious in hindsight, but I just never really thought about it honestly. Either way, it kind of shortens the walking for me.

My apartment building has five floors and I live on the third floor, so I'm still walking roughly the same distance but at least it's all descending instead of climbing, plus it's easier to land on the roof than landing on a busy street. I cancel the wing spell and descend the stairs to get into my apartment.

I relax with a shower before anything else and after getting clean I lay down with some fresh tea and the rules I have, the sooner I know the rules the sooner I can start looking for solutions or loopholes. Its text is very dry, and I'm not surprised at how much legal jargon is used.

After reading through it all I go through it again just to be sure and start thinking on how to go about this. Well, first and foremost there are no rules specifically against or for wearing a bracelet on your hind legs, at least not in that exact wording and it gets a little complicated.

Ok, to simplify it all. Volunteers are allowed to wear jewelry of any type, but that is subject to any actual worker at the hospital. So that nurse asking me to remove my bracelet and not my necklace was totally fine, but this rule is also vague about what that means.

I quote, 'Volunteer is allowed to wear jewelry in regular voluntary activities, with the exception of restricted sections below, or at the asking of any staff member' So ya, it's not entirely clear about if I can wear my bracelet on a hindleg, I'll probably just need to ask each nurse I shadow when the day starts and go from there.

Overall this doesn't really answer my question, but it does bring up something I do need to be aware of. Restricted sections, the list of things that fall under that mostly consists of anything to do with surgery or high-level healing spell casting. The idea here is very obvious.

Jewelry can be small and healing a small loose earing inside a wound on accident seems like a clusterfuck waiting to happen. There are several other things on the list and beyond volunteering no staff member is allowed to wear any jewelry at all at any time.

Honestly, I don't know why we even get an exception, maybe to prevent theft of items? Either way all this points to the simple fact that I'll need to take my jewelry off at some point in the future. Taking my bracelet off is mostly a slight worry for me because I can't detect Changelings, but my necklace is arguably worse.

I'm still not entirely sure what a Changeling can do with their magic, I do remember... Cricket, or was it Cicada? One of them mentioned something about using different emotions in magic. I have no idea what that means and I should look into it more, but the emotional shield around me is the only defense I have for anything like that.

The thing is I don't really have another form of recourse, I either need a spell that will work similarly to my enchantment, or I need to sneak in my jewelry some. Both seem like a bad idea that could get me in legal trouble, so my best defense might be something my paranoia really hates.

Do nothing, just take off both pieces of jewelry and become ignorant of the scenario, at least until I can find a new solution. It definitely has risks to it, I wouldn't know if I'm talking to a Changeling, and also wouldn't have a defense against any magic they might have.

On the upside, I wouldn't draw attention by trying to sneak things in by casting odd spells on myself while in a hospital. Plus it's not like I have much of a real choice here, I will need to remove my bracelet and necklace at some point. So, for now, the plan is simple, ask me to wear my bracelet on a hindleg and just take it off when I have to.

Even if I do it, remaking the enchantments as spells will be hard as a few of the runes used aren't supposed to work on a pony, and I'll need to fundamentally change them to work at all. The hardest part is keeping them just as effective, especially the Changeling detection spell.

Changelings have something to counter my detection spell and right now I can only detect them because my spells are better than their defense, if it weakens even a little that might change rendering any resulting spell useless.

I really am putting a lot of thought into a situation that I have very little control over huh? With that thought I distance the topic from my mind while trying to pull my mind off of something already somewhat solved.

I stand up and stretch for a moment, I have something I want to work on and for that, I'll need more space. "Hey Girl?" Entropy turns to me from playing with her toy. "Need to take a trip to Gaia's Eden," I explain and she flies over to me without a word before we both vanish.

When we reappear inside my shack I pet her for a few moments. "Go play. Treat?" She asks while acting cute, I chuckle at her before reaching into my bag and feeding her a few pieces of fish jerky. She gobbles them down happily, once she's done she tilts her head a little. "Cood?" She guesses a bit hesitantly and doesn't use the word right.

I raise a brow as she's never guessed before, I just pet her more. "Cod, and nope, it's Trout." She ruffled her feathers and teleported away to a different part of Gaia's Eden. I chuckle at her antics before looking over my shelves and grabbing a few things I'll need for my plans today.

I take my Life gem out of the padded Golden Oak box I keep it in, I also grab the piece of Gold Oak I have. Next, I grab my woodworking tools and a few seeds, a Golden Oak seed, a Fire Blossom Tree seed, and an Iron Oak seed, along with several pots filled with soil. With all that gathered I take it with me out front of my shack to start my work.

I lay down in the summer sunlight and lush grass before setting everything out for my two projects. To start I take the piece of Gold Oak and start very slowly carving it. After improving my carving tools with an improved sharpness spell and a medium ruby it now actually smoothly cuts the Gold Oak wood, which gave me an idea.

I've learned a few things about the Gold Oak wood I harvested after testing it further. The wood is able to absorb life magic smoothly from either the sides or the ends, and then release it smoothly from either end of the small stick. It's somewhat like an electric wire, although that comparison is not completely accurate.

It lets me direct life magic into a single point if done right though, and with the life magic blocking abilities of the Golden Oak wood lets me block life magic from moving into the Gold Oak wood by covering one in the other. But this is all preamble to mention my idea so let me get to the damn point with another rant.

It turns out that when Gold Oak wood is stripped of its bark, I'm able to control the life magic that's flowing through it without much difficulty, specifically I'm able to control the direction it flows very easily. I finish smoothing out the foot-long thin pieces of Gold Oak I have and put it to the side for a moment.

I plant a Golden Oak seed into a pot and start to grow it slowly and deliberately. I make it into an inch-thin and two-foot-long pole without bark or leaves, I then carve a small round hole into the top of the pole with my knife. I fit the Gold Oak stick into it and lined it straight with the rest of the pole.

I continue to grow the Golden Oak wood around the small piece of Gold Oak while leaving a few small gaps at the meeting point of the two woods. It's two feet of Golden Oak wood and then a few small gaps in the to show the core, followed by another foot of pole with a Gold Oak core.

The Golden Oak wood grows around and to the other end of the Gold Oak wood, I then carefully move the Life gem into place at the top of the newly formed pole. I place the Life gem on top with one of its twenty flat sides touching and sitting atop the Gold Oak core.

I grow the Golden Oak wood to cover the Life gem in six spikes of wood that conform to the Life gem's sides and lock it firmly in place. I decompose the base and detach the pole from its stump, then I move it around in several ways while the Life gem stays in place, I even swing it around while being prepared to catch the Life gem if it breaks free.

Once I'm sure it's not going to move I start to test my main idea with this new staff I've made. I place my hoof on the section that has the gaps to the Gold Oak core and starts to pull life magic from the Life gem top-down through the Gold Oak wood and to me.

The life magic is absorbed without difficulty and it's easy to pull it from the gem through the Gold Oak. I take a moment to grow a pointed end on the bottom of the simple staff before sticking it in the ground to stand on its own. I smile at my work for a few moments before making some notes.

I made this staff for a few reasons, but the main two are magical loss from moving magic through the air and safety with a fragile gem. When magic moves through the air a little is lost in the process, the better your control and the closer you are the less you lose, and the inverse is obviously true as well.

It's not massive when working with plants as they are normally very close to me, But holding the life gem so close to myself messes with my life magic senses because of how much it gives off passively. With a loss of my senses comes a loss in my control and when doing things like healing the Gold Oak that really matters.

This is my attempt at somewhat solving things and seeing if the Gold Oak wood would work for this. This staff moves it an extra foot away from me if I hold it right and that makes a small but noticeable difference in my senses. Another very large benefit is simply the safety of the massively valuable Life gem.

Having such a thing simply on its own without protection or resting on a surface is a danger to its safety, accidents can and will happen. I also can't directly enchant the Life gem because it would take away some of the precious life magic held inside that I can't waste on such a simple purpose.

Now? I can just put gems in the staff and use that to protect the Life gem. It's also just safer to transport in this form, and I'll admit that having a staff is also a bit of a dream and badass. I leave my new staff alone for the moment while moving the seeds and pots over to start my other project.

The Fire Blossom Tree and the Iron Oak. Now that I have access to the gold dust and the Life gem I can breed plants much faster, so I want to try and crossbreed these two trees now. I've grafted Fire Blossom bark to my Steel wood armor, so my goal is to improve the Fire Blossom bark with some toughness from the Iron Oak and also try to improve its fire resistance even further.

I still want the base armor to be pure Steel wood to not weaken it, but better bark will help and make the lengthy grafting process more worthwhile for me. As I start my plant breeding I pause hearing the faint sound of piano music as Celestia plays something from inside her home.

I was so focused on the staff that I limited my life sense while testing it and apparently didn't notice Celestia's arrival. I'm so happy she's enjoying her gift, and the music is a nice addition to this calm sanctuary. As I work I listen to the distant soft sounds with a smile.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

I thought something small and simple would be a nice touch and break up all the dialog and emotions of the few last chapters. I also will be adding a bit more experimentation and crafting as we drifted from that for a bit now.

Also, Shade be wissard boy now.

This last thing is completely unnecessary, but I thought you all might find it interesting. First, a little bit of an omitting on my part. When the show was being released I watched it as it came out and never rewatched anything.

So it's been like eight years sense I watched the first seasons, with is why I can sometimes misremember things and events. And, my favorite character is Spike.

Do what you will with all that information.

Chapter 216

JUL 7 Friday.

I watch the green light shift inside the Life Gem as it rests in my new staff while I continue to fill it.

I've spent some time today working on my staff to improve it further and superficially embed some gems inside it. I look over the finished work with a smile while running a hoof down its length. The three-and-a-half-foot staff is now engraved with vine carvings all along its length.

It starts at the bottom with a pointed end that thickens to be one inch thick after a few inches. Then the vine carvings and exposed wood continues up uninterrupted for two feet before a few gaps expose a golden core beneath the outer wood. Another foot above that is the Life gem resting atop the staff kept in place with pikes of wood that wrap around it.

The staff itself works well and I've improved it beyond just the engravings. But before that a small thing of note, I changed the name of one of the materials used in its construction. I noticed while going over my notes that the very similar names for the two wood types were getting annoying to keep track of and make notes for.

So, I kept the name of Gold Oak for the tree that rests inside of Gaia's Eden. The other wood was called Golden Oak and was a less evolved type of wood from the Gold Oak that had the property of blocking life magic. So, both the Golden Oak tree and its wood are now named Vita Tree and Vita Wood.

It's a word for life if I remember right and it seemed to fit as well as the old name I took from the Golden Oak's Library. So to rephrase, the outer shell of the staff is made from Vita wood while the core is Gold Oak. Moving onto the improvements though I started by hollowing out a few spots in the staff.

The lower two feet of the staff has no core so I hollowed out three small spaces and embedded a few small diamonds inside the staff. The three diamonds are very small but very pure, I had to buy more jewelry to get them but that's not important. All three gems are enchanted to gather and store magic while being linked together to share the magic gathered.

The magic all then goes into two of the same enchantments, one for the staff body, and another for the Life gem. It's enchanted with a simple spell that improves durability and damage resistance, an improved version of a spell I already had. Overall it was a smaller but important addition to the staff, I also made a box to store the staff inside so it isn't just lying around.

I finish my modifications to the staff and test it by trying to cut the Vita wood. I hold a normal steel kitchen dagger in my field and try to hack and cut at the wooden staff's body. I look at it and see that a normal dagger has no effect, I should test it more later to make sure I know the limits of the protective spells, but it works and that's a good starting point.

I move over to a lengthy box made of living Iron Oak that has a perfect gap inside to fit the staff. I placed my staff inside the cloth-lined gap and closed the box before simply growing the lid of the box to its base so nopony but I could remove it without cutting open the thick wooden box.

I spend a few more minutes inside my workroom clearing my desk and organizing a few notes. Speaking of notes, a downside to renaming the Golden Oak Tree to the Vita Tree meant I had to redo all my notes and correct them, a small inconvenience but worthwhile change.

While going through my notes on my staff project I also finished organizing some notes from volunteering at the hospital. I did end up asking the nurses I normally work with about wearing my bracelet on a hindleg, which they were fine with but also made it clear I'd still need to remove it if asked. Again it doesn't solve my problems, but it at least delays them.

I placed the box on a shelf and leave my now clean workroom to get ready for my meeting later today, I'm going to be meeting Cadance once again. She went on another trip actually, a shorter one but still she wasn't here for the Summer Sun Celebration.

Despite the slightly bleak prospects of being on the receiving end of Cadance's teasing, I still smile at the memories of Celestia's birthday. The entire thing was a blast and getting to hear piano music every once in a while while working and training in Gaia's Eden is very nice.

She's genuinely very good at it and more interestingly I can't find all the music she plays. I decided to do a little reading on her hobby and it turns out that many of the songs she plays are either very old or I couldn't find any record of them at all. I think some of them are songs she's made herself.

It's, well, it's just nice to see her so happy about having a piano and getting to play it. I may not know why she stopped but I see that same smile every time she plays it so that's good, I think. She also moved the piano itself into her home and we spent a few hours talking and playing chess mixed with some songs a few days ago.

I leave my thoughts and focus on gathering the notes and items I'll need for today. Some snacks for Entropy and plenty of spare paper to write down words and phrases on. By this point, we've gone through a staggering amount of paper and ink just trying to find the words needed for the runes Runic Context.

After gathering everything up I look around for a moment before whistling. A moment later Entropy comes out of my shadow and I raise a brow, "Decided to nap with me then?" I ask as she stretches out her wings and starts to wake up. "Well, we need to get to a meeting regardless, to the palace," I say softly.

She looks up at me for a moment before we both vanish and reappear inside the palace mailroom. I turn to thank her but she's already gone back into my shadow to get some more rest. She really tired herself out playing earlier so I left her alone and left the mailroom.

I look down a bit to stare at Shining in his guard armor. "Shining, enjoy your trip? I heard Manehattan is lovely this time of year." I say with a tone full of sarcasm, I'm pretty sure that's where Celestia said they went. In truth, Manehattan is stormy this time of year and rogue weather coming in from the sea that ponies have to deal with.

He just gives me a blank stare as we walk through the palace. "I no longer have any remorse for anything Cadance will do to you." He states matter-of-factly. I raise a brow at his ominous words but he doesn't elaborate in the slightest and just smiles at me. "So how have you been? Before today that is." Again he is rather ominous.

I shrug a bit and give him a suspicious look. "Fine? Things have been going well, I've been working on a few hobbies and even started volunteering at a hospital." I throw out something to try and make small talk, I would rather he not rub in my approaching doom.

He keeps that smile but looks a bit surprised at my statement. "Really? Who would have guessed that a pony like you could be so... Gentle." He laughs a bit and for emphasis motions to my size. "Seriously, you in a nurse outfit would just be ridiculous." He laughs more at the mental image.

I huff a little but chuckle as he's not exactly wrong. "Well, I know who I'm not patching up in the future. And now I'm telling Cadance you have a fantasy of her in a nurse outfit." I say without shame as he nearly trips over his own legs as the image enters his mind.

I laugh as he pauses for a movement before shaking his head and giving me a slightly pleading look. "Please don't... Last time I bruised a hip." He pleads as I break down laughing harder. His eyes narrow a bit and show a more serious look, "Fine then, I will tell the Princess you have a crush on her."

He keeps his annoyed look as if I don't stop laughing and instead better off before giving him an amused and confused look. "Really? That's the best you could come up with? At least threaten to reveal something worse than that, that's just too simple." I explain as an attempt to tease me would just get him laughed at by Celestia.

He raises a brow and gives me a confused stare in turn. "Shade, I will literally eat my helmet if you aren't even trying." I just shrug a little noncommittal, I know what he's trying to say but it's just incorrect, and he looks tired in response. "Ok, I'm leaving this to Cadance, this is out of my league." He decides while speeding up his steps.

My face shifts to a slightly defensive look. "Why? She's just my friend." I defend myself while he looks annoyed at my reaction. I don't even know why he'd bring that up with such certainty, I've never shown anything like that, and while I do enjoy her company and looks...

I force my mind away from that as my mind tries to get a little too focused on certain parts of my friend. Shining sees me shake my head and just sighs before stopping at the door and opening it. He looks to Cadance who's sitting at a table, "He's as dense as iron, you deal with him. See you Shade, and good luck." He shoves me into the room and closes the door behind me.

I turn to Cadance as she looks both maliciously happy and confused over Shining's words. She raises a brow and I sigh, "I really don't know what he's trying to do." I say honestly. I told him she was just a friend, and Celestia was my friend.

She gains a look of realization and then before I can do anything my senses try to warn me. Turns out Shining made a good distraction as a waterfall of glitter fell from above me at a volume that was impossible to dodge. Apparently, the gremlin is awake as Entropy moves out of my shadow to dive into the pile of glitter I'm not a part of.

I turn to her while being saturated in glitter while she laughs her flank off. "Yup, Shining is officially on my list." I decide while trudging out of the glitter pile and trying to shake most of it off. Cadance just breaks down laughing like a maniac.

Entropy busies herself by literally rolling around in the pile. "PRETTY! SO MUCH!!" She goes nuts while I back away from Entropy so she won't splash any more glitter on me. I cast a spell on myself to loosen any remaining glitter while glaring a little at the still-laughing Cadance.

She finally starts to calm down and gives me a large victorious smile. "That! Is what you get for dumping a spell like that on me without ANY warning." She explains before casting her own spell over the area. In a moment all the glitter is simply gone, I give her a curious look. "No, I'm not teaching you that spell, consider it the last bit of my revenge."

I sigh and sit down at the table after removing most of the glitter myself, I do notice her spell left me covered while removing everything else. I smirk a bit at the challenge, "Then I'll just remake it and have Veil Winter release another spell." I smirk more as her smile falters a little.

She just sits for a moment. "Hmm, still not teaching it to you. But-" She casts the spell again and the remaining glitter vanishes off of me. "Compromise?" She offers and I nod in agreement, glitter sucks. Plus she deserves it, she was able to get the drop on me and that's not an easy feat. "Great, now, what was he talking about?"

I sigh knowing she was not going to let that go, I could lie but I know she won't give up that easily. "He insinuated I have a crush on Celestia, I do not," I explain with some complex but short words while watching her eyes go extremely focused.

I expect an avalanche of questions, instead, I get a very focused and collected stare while bringing over a teapot and some teacups. "Are you sure?" The question is said with a serious tone and she drops any humor. I raise a brow and am about to say yes, "I mean to say, have you really thought about it?" She insists and pours us tea.

The sudden and abrupt shift in topic and tone throws me off pretty hard. I pause a little and nod, "Yes? Look, I keep saying this, but she is just my friend." I insist in turn while trying to find out why she's so suddenly insistent on the topic, she's not even teasing me. I know she's the alicorn of love but this seems a little bit much.

She gives me a calm look and shakes her head a little. "Yes she is your friend, but do you want more? Would you want more someday?" She asks more probing questions while keeping her calm but focused tone. "What makes you so certain she doesn't feel anything for you?"

That question gives me a bit of a shock as I never even considered that to be a possibility. I blank out a bit while trying to sort out the thoughts her questions bring up. I feel pretty uncomfortable with how serious she's being about this, it's nothing like her normal joking teasing self.

But, even with me being suddenly uncomfortable, her questions are... Accurate. I never really thought about this all that much. I'll admit to myself that she is attractive, both in looks and personality, but... Things just aren't that simple. There is a long list of problems with trying to let emotions like that take root in this friendship. "I, well..." I'm speechless over the questions.

Or, did they already? I. I don't know. I turn to Cadance with a slightly lost expression and she puts a hoof on my muzzle while giving me a much more relaxed and reassuring smile. "You don't need to answer me, not in the slightest. But I think you needed to ask yourself those questions, and you weren't." She says with a kind tone.

I take a deep breath and try to sort my thoughts over a minute or two, Cadance just waits patiently for me. "I, don't know?" I answer honestly. She gave me questions that I was very uncertain about, things I haven't thought through anywhere near enough to really answer. "Why, now? This all seems very, sudden." I ask, trying to make some sense of her questions.

She smiles reassuringly. "Sorry if I went a little far there, but you needed the push. It does no good to ignore those questions, and they are just questions." She refills her tea and just looks understanding. "As for why? You are very dense." She jokes a little to try and break the tension a bit.

I ignore the slight teasing, even if it is the truth, and again try to focus. I'm not entirely blind I can see how somepony else may see me and Celestia's friendship from the outside, but this is starting to raise a few more questions in me, beyond those that Cadance asked.

These are questions, more for myself than her, she just wanted to show me that these questions should be answered. Do I like Celestia in that way? I don't think so? At least not as it is now, but could I see myself wanting that? I... Maybe? It's at this moment that Cadance whistles a little. "You ok? I really am sorry if that was too much, and it's really not my business." She asks slightly concerned as I zoned out completely.

I nod slowly and try to put their emotions and complicated questions to the side for a second. "Yes, no? Maybe. You certainly dumped this on me suddenly, thanks for that." I try to fall back on a joke to relax and not overthink these questions and panic. I look up to face her again. "What, should I do? I mean, advice for the moment because, I'm honestly a little lost on how to act." I don't often ask for advice but this is not my area of expertise, at all.

She smiles again. "Again sorry, but being blind to this would not have helped you." I actually agree with her there, both for my sake, and Celestia's being completely blind would be bad. "As for advice? Mainly, SLOW DOWN." I raise a brow at that. "I can not stress enough that you need time to think and once you've really thought about it, then you act, and not a moment sooner." She really stresses the point and gives me a serious look.

I take a deep breath and try to calm down more. I'm trying to find solutions and trying to figure out my next actions, before I even really know what I am doing. She's right, I need to think, really think about this before doing anything. She smiles wider as my face shifts to something more calm.

"Good. Now, beyond that. Nothing is going to happen, you're still friends with Aunty, and you don't need to act differently. Unless you want to." Again good advice. Celestia is a good friend, and even if I'm now considering this new... Perspective, she will remain my friend regardless, I trust her enough to know that for certain.

I nod after another moment and show her a smile. "I, I'll think about this. And, thanks, I, well, I'm not the best at things like this. Twilight and now myself, two for two." I again joke a little and it helps move the mood up from the serious thoughts and questions. "Really though, thanks, I have a lot I need to think about it seems."

She chuckles and keeps her reassuring smile. "Everypony is like that at some point, even I was. Make sure to take all the time you need, and more if necessary, and please ask me if you need advice." There are several beats of silence before she motions to my saddlebags. "Still feel like getting some work done?" She asks kindly, to which I just start to move some papers over to her.

"Ya, I do. I need something to do with my hooves, any topic that you can think of to shift to? Because I could use something to talk about." I ask bluntly now, far less invested in being serious. I see that familiar smile on her face and prepare for teasing, at least it can lighten the mood, even if it is at my expense. I sigh, "Just get it out of your system." I smile more.

She keeps her damned smile. "You sure? I know Aunty is probably not the best topic, but as her family, I have to ask." I raise a brow but nod regardless. "What did you do?" She demands with a large smile and a slight chuckle.

She's right that the topic doesn't help distract me, but I'll need to think about my feelings and relationship with Celestia so maybe being distracted is not the right step. But her question just makes me confused while keeping a lighter mood, it is humorous to see her so driven. "I, nothing? I don't think I did anything at least." I answer uncertainty.

She smiles wider. "I came back two weeks ago, and at that time Aunty had not stopped, smiling. At all really, even the staff have noticed and rumors abound about it." I feel an embarrassed blush rise up at the mention of rumors, the last rumors were very telling. I try to control my hormonal, and now emotional thoughts. "So. What, did, you, do?" She asks with a light but serious tone.

I pause for a long moment and realize she's not taking no for an answer here, I also notice she mentioned this after getting me to question my feelings to wear me down, and damn it if that didn't work. I sigh yet again, "I threw her a birthday party." Her eyes sparkle at that. "And gave her a gift she really liked," I answer with honesty but I keep it vague.

She moves a little closer to me. "That's adorable." I just glare a little at that. "And where was this birthday party at? Because I don't think you'd do it in a small apartment." She asks with some determination.

I raise a brow and pause for a beat. "I, don't remember telling you where I live."

She rolls her eyes a bit. "I'm a princess, I know how to requisition documents and building plans." Both my brows raise at that and I can't help but chuckle at her slightly crazy means. In truth, I was expecting her to know because Shining has delivered things to me before. "No changing the subject, where?" She asks again in the same amused and jokingly demanding tone.

Even with her joking and demanding tone I'm tired and full of questions I need to think about. "I own a piece of land, and before you ask it's not even in the city." I motion to Entropy as she rests on a shelf. "She takes me there and Celestia teleports. And you know what? If you can find out where it is I will personally show you around. Now can we please get to work?" I say knowing damn well there is no way she'll find Gaia's Eden.

She smiles victoriously. "Outside the city? Of course! Nopony would guess that! Deal! But I'll keep you to your word." She promises before starting to look through a few pages of paper I laid out earlier and settling down. "This is the pile of new ones, right? I don't want a repeat of last time." She asks while reading.

I nod and cringe a little, we lost an hour of work because we went through Runic Context attempts we already did before. "No, or at least I hope not. With how many we've done I wouldn't be surprise-" I cut my words off as a slight pink glow comes from the air in front of us as a small ball of light is formed.

We both stare at it for several moments. "Shade? Did- Did it just, work?" She asks, stunned at the sight before her.

I'm equally stunned and nod dumbly. "Well, I'll be damned." I laugh at the absurdity of today.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 995

I realized the two wood types having similar names was a little annoying, and then I realized Shade would think the same thing. So it's changed now, a nice and simple solution.

So, I decided Shade needed a slight kick in the flank to actually start thinking about Celestia in any new way. I could have had him have a eureka moment, but this felt more accurate and genuine while also fitting into Cadance's personality.

Also, just to be clear. This is not Shade realizing he has feeling for Celestia, it's him realizing he needs to ask himself some questions about what he wants in the friendship and how to go about his emotions.

And to no one's surprise this will not be resolved or addressed in a few chapters, or every chapter, it will be a long haul like normal.

Ps. It's been two years, and the love is now done. Thank god.

Chapter 217

JUL 15 Saturday.

I watch as Entropy preens her feathers slowly while I sit and listen to the wind blow and grass shift.

The peaceful nature around me helps me relax as I simply feel the world around me as it moves and flows in both seen and unseen ways. It's still so surreal the way I see the world, I don't think I could ever truly form words to describe the things I feel while sensing all this.

Eventually, I retract my senses as my magic starts to run low. I let out a deep breath stop meditating on the world around me and center myself back into my complicated thoughts. The past week has been... Weird for me. My life goes on as normal and nothing has changed, nothing but my thoughts it seems.

It's all centered around the questions Cadance asked me. What do I want? And what does that mean for me? As with all the difficult decisions in my life I started by simply writing everything down and sorting all my thoughts and options, Preferably before I do anything stupid or rash.

First and foremost, hindsight is a bitch and really makes you rethink life sometimes. Looking back on it I wouldn't say I love Celestia, even thinking that feels really odd, I do know I don't currently feel like that but I also know that there is something more there than just hormones.

I feel for her, but I don't have full feelings for her, if that makes any form of sense. But, that's about as far as my mind got before I hit a lot of internal indecision. It all centers on a single thought, I know I don't currently have full feelings for her, but do I think that I can develop those feelings over time?

Yes, as simple as that is there is no denying that I could fall for her, it's not exactly hard with a mare like her, we are also very similar in many ways and I feel very close to her. But with that answer comes so many questions, would she ever feel something similar? Do I want something like that? Can a full relationship like that even work between us?

Let's go in order so I don't drift off-topic like I tend to do. Could, or would, Celestia ever feel something similar? I don't know, I know her well but not in this way as I tend to be gentle about probing her past. If she had relationships in the past, a whole other can of worms, then asking about it might just cause her unnecessary grief, so I don't have a lot to work with here.

Do I want something like that? This is a bit more complicated for me. On one hoof I can say with some decent certainty that I like the idea of something like that, but I also don't want to affect our current relationship, and personally, I don't think I want an at-all relationship at the moment.

I think I just don't want that, not yet at least. I'm young, and I want to explore and travel and experiment, but things like that make a relationship difficult, not impossible but also I don't think I like the idea of doing that to somepony I would... Well, love.

If I boil it down, I don't feel like I want something so serious in my life at the moment, or maybe that's just me making excuses to not deal with this? It's hard to put my thoughts into order, I just... I need more time, this is all still fresh, and bringing it up so quickly is not helping.

But I also realized that stomping these feelings down and not letting them come to mind, dismissing them as puberty, or being too hotly minded, is not the solution either. I'm not sure where that really leaves me though, I could continue to ignore it or try to find a way out of it, or I could change things and see what happens.

I'm not really sure what to do, plain and simple, but I think that's ok. Cadance was very insistent that I don't do anything rash, and that I don't dive head first into looking for a decision or trying to change things rapidly. So I guess I'll do nothing and see what happens for now while thinking about this more.

The final question is, can a full relationship like that even work between us? Again I don't really know, but I can see some obvious problems that will eventually pop up. First, she's immortal, straight up she won't age and her dying is very unlikely to happen anytime soon, if the future changes that is.

The future is another problem but I don't want to think about that right now, I just can't. Yet another problem is her standing in society, even if I couldn't give less of a shit if we take that step it will become a problem at some point. Finally, there is the fact that I'm not immortal.

I'll die, and that would hurt her.

I lay in the grass field of Gaia's Eden for a moment before shaking my head and standing up. Those thoughts are getting a little too dark, and diving into that so quickly won't help me. I have time, so I will use that time to not rush myself and think it all through at a slower-than-normal pace, or at least slow for me.

I take a deep breath as Entropy lands on my back. "Happy?" She asks slightly concerned and shifts to sit down while rubbing my side with her wing a little.

I smile at her and nod while pushing away any darker thoughts from my mind. "I am, I just got a little caught up in my thoughts again," I reassured her honestly. Really my thoughts haven't affected my life that much because I'm trying to control and measure my reaction this time.

I try not to think about it unless I'm somewhere private and calm, where I have space to think on my own and sort things slowly as I want to, or walk away whenever I want if needed. That's not to say nopony has noticed, last game night Daisy commented on me looking a little distracted, I just said I had something to think about and they offered to be there if needed, my friends are still the best.

I also had some fun studying with Twilight for a short amount of time when we bumped into each other at the library. My friendship with her is light, but we enjoy the time and things are progressing towards an actual friendship that we can be proud of someday.

I again pull myself out of those wandering thoughts and sit down at the small table I have inside my shack. It's a small workspace but for my current project I don't need all that much room, and I've been thankful to have something to work on and not be consumed by my stray thoughts.

After nearly three years of slow and inconsistent work, the Love rune is finally complete and functional. It took us one hundred and seventy-three attempts and several months, but it is finally working properly, and after testing it does work. Now my work can truly begin and it starts with a spell.

I'm attempting to create a spell to gather and collect a large amount of love for Changelings to use as a food source. There are several ways I can go about this, but the best I came up with is a modification of my first attempt to solve this particular problem. The emotional shield.

My last attempt at this was simple enough, a shield that worked as a one-way filter for any emotional magic to trap it all inside. I want to go further this time though, not just collecting what love drifts through the shield, but actually gathering the love from the environment and collecting it at a point.

This is why I needed the Love rune, no other rune for love would work for such a specific task. The Runic Context of the Love rune leans towards filtering and targeting love affinity magic, we tried to also fit in something for purifying but that was a little too complicated and we couldn't fit it in a good way so we prioritized.

Back to the point though I started by ripping apart and remaking the emotional shield to be more robust and well-rounded. I use the Love rune and the Emotional rune I used before to set up the filter for the shield. It will block out any emotional magic that is not love affinity magic, but I'll have to test it and see how effective it is as no filter is perfect.

This alone is taking me many hours as I really need this filtering and containing spell to be robust and able to work very reliably, even with a base spell this will take several more days to finish properly, and this is only one of the two spells I'll need to make. Like I mentioned I also need another spell that will do the love gathering, and maybe some purifying if I can find a purifying rune of some type to add in as well.

Any purifying rune won't be as good as a custom rune for this purpose but it might be able to help in some way, I'll need to test it thoroughly either way. That brings to mind another thing I'll need to do, I need to talk to a changeling to get some answers and test the multiple prototypes I'll inevitably be making.

Beyond just the spells for gathering love I need to think about security, this will be a massive food source for Changelings and I know for a fact both of the queens will try to monopolize it when they find out it exists. But they can't do that if I do it first, and so I need some form of security on any enchanted item I make.

For now, though, I just make several notes for later and have Entropy take me back to my apartment. When I arrive I start preparing to leave again right after. After the last time I spent two weeks locked down inside working constantly, I learned to stop and take a damned break.

I descend the stairs of my apartment building and walk out into the city streets while heading towards the park with Entropy on my back under an illusion. The streets are as busy as always and when we arrive at the park I sit at a bench. It has a path behind it and it faces a small pond, Entropy flies off somewhere to play alone for a bit while I open a book and start to flip through the pages slowly.

It's a medical text about healing Griffon burn wounds, it's a Griffon healing book I was lucky enough to notice at the library and has proven to be informative and interesting. A difference that I noticed is that medical books written by Griffons tend to be a bit less squeamish about drawing what the wounds look like.

Many Pony books don't do that, or draw more simplistic representations for the most part. The author of this book took care in being very accurate with their drawings, it is interesting. It reminds me a little of the horror from my old world, this world sorely lacks visual horror of any real type.

As I'm reading I notice a few ponies walking on the path behind the bench glance at what I was reading. Most who do look disturbed at the drawings and I just chuckle at their reactions once they hurry away. It's pretty funny to me how they react, such pure minds make the best victims for horror, or maybe that says more about me than them?

The ponies that see it give me odd looks and they act weird about it as they move away, or at least weird for me. Then again, most ponies would feel ashamed at the thought of traumatizing others so maybe I'm just the weird one.

POV Shift, Celestia.

I sit at my desk as one of my little ponies is kind enough to deliver some fresh tea for me. I blow on the steaming cup for a moment and enjoy the lemony taste that fills my muzzle. Even after five years, the oddity of drinking such a tea nearly every day remains.

I bring over my quill and deliberately draw out another note on the musical sheet paper I have resting in front of me. I do so enjoy taking the time to make music again, yet another thing in my life that has changed for the better because of my friend. He really has changed so much, hasn't he?

I've seen centuries pass, but in a short five years life for Equestria at large has changed so much. Amusingly enough Shade's earliest and most simple piece of work brought by far the largest changes. The simple act of making light widely accessible to everypony was all it took.

My mind wanders to eight centuries ago. At the time the most widely used source of light was open fires, with mostly nobles and wealthier families buying candles. For most of my ponies, it was simple fires, hearths, torches, and braziers, so I set out to try and improve the situation.

It took me thirty years to grow the candle industry and have ponies research better and cheaper ways to make candles, all with the goal of lowering the price and expanding the reach. In those thirty years and the following decades, it took far too long for my liking and made less of an effect than I'd have liked.

So many things slowed me down, this is all to say that improving the situation can take a very long time. But Shade utterly destroyed any expectations by solving the problem in an entirely unexpected way. I did look into magical lights several times, but it never worked out, until this little fearful colt sent me a letter one day.

Beyond just the magical light, many of his other inventions have improved life for many. That friend of his as well, Avalon I believe? He shows promise, even if Shade did a lot of the work he helped and did an amicable job. The prosthetics might not help a great many, but those it does help have their lives practically transformed.

Not even to mention his botanical inventions, the winter crops have been nothing short of a boon, and not just for Equestria itself. Many nations, the Yaks, in particular, have a great want for them and trade is abound. I let my thoughts drift further in this rare moment of relaxation inside my office.

That stallion, because he is a stallion now, really has done a great deal in a very short time. I finish off a few more musical notes on the sheet before hearing a knock on my door, which now has a lock on it after it was replaced. "Enter," I call out before placing my half-finished music under a few pages of paperwork.

I am pleasantly surprised to see my Niece walking into my office with a slightly tired look. I raise a brow as she flops on the couch, "Niece. Are your duties really that stressful? I thought I gave you lighter work for the next few weeks still?" She's more than able to work on her own, but I took a little of her work so she could relax after her recent trip.

She sighs a bit and smiles at me while moving her crown to the table. "I have good news, courtesy of me and Shade's continued work." She says while moving a piece of paper over to me. I keep my brow raised as Shade didn't mention working on anything recently, wait?"

A sudden thought reminds me of something and I quickly unfold the paper and read through the message.

Celestia.

Me and this teasing shark dressed as a pony, finally succeeded in making the Love rune.

But, because SOMEPONY grounded me from making the spells I want to make, it will take a few weeks to get a prototype done, maybe two months at the most depending on how thorough I want to be. And I will probably be very thorough with all of this work because of how important this is, so why risk it?

With that in mind can you put me in contact with a Changeling when I'm ready? I'll need to do a lot of tests to make sure nothing goes horribly wrong. Actually are Cricket or Cicada still with you? If not I presume you're still in contact with them, Cicada in particular is fairly knowledgeable in emotional magic so it best to test this with her.

Also, I told Cadance I own some land, you know the place, so try your best to tease her about it. to help her find it.

Signed your friend, Shade.

I giggle a bit at the odd humor and paranoia he shows in his words, while also smiling at the good news. The Love rune has been a lengthy project and it's being completed is massive news. The negotiations with the Changelings have been... Difficult and frustrating to say the least, but this changes a lot of things.

I snort a little at the crossed-out text and turn to my Niece with a smirk, now understanding her tired look. "So, how has your search been going so far? I hope it's going well because this letter is from a week ago if I remember the last time you two met." I tease her a bit while asking a question about her delayed news.

She sighs and rubs her eyes a bit with her hoof. "He said it would take a few weeks for even basic tests, so a week wouldn't change much." There is some logic there, we still have a while to wait for anything we can work with, and it of course gave her some time to search. "You wouldn't happen to have a clue for me, right my lovely Aunty?" She asks in a tone she used when much younger to try and beg for this or that.

I smile at her blatant attempt. I'll need to thank Shade next time I see him, I rarely get such good opportunities. "Well, what did he tell you already? I wouldn't want to confuse you by repeating anything now would I?" I ask in a teasing tone while giggling as she deflates.

She glares a bit and sighs again. "He said he owns land outside of the city, and that's IT. I already looked at anything under his name and SEVERAL other registers." She complies while I sit back thoroughly amused at her complaints. Shade really picked the right words here.

The Everfree forest isn't even in any property registry as nopony lives there to my knowledge, beyond shade that is. I just give her a reassuring smile, "Oh, don't worry. It is out there, but he's a very clever stallion and is very good at hiding when he wants to." I lie through my teeth and hold in a laugh as her ears perk up.

She keeps her slightly more attentive look. "Thank you, Aunty." She says sweetly. "Also, I heard you had a great birthday party, you should have invited me, I would have brought a gift." she scrounges for more information right after getting a hint, real or otherwise. "Oh, and he never did mention what he got you that's making you so happy." She adds with curiosity.

I feel myself smile again at the thought of the gift Shade got me, a very thoughtful gift indeed. I mentioned my love of piano once and he remembered it years later. "The party was a surprise to me as well, and he got me a piano, which I have greatly enjoyed playing on his land." I tease more information as she looks surprised about my answers.

After a few moments of me working on my music more, she smiles in a way I've seen several times before, mostly when Shade imitates a tomato. "So, a very clever stallion ha? You know-" She starts up with something of a trend I've noticed, my niece really is a very... Insistent adviser when she wants to be. "-Shade is quite the stallion indeed."

I sigh a little as she tries to tease me about Shade. I will admit he is certainly impressive, but teasing like this is just annoying sometimes. Then again if Shade can deal with it so can I, with that in mind I imitate him a little by giving her an unimpressed and deadpan stare. "Need I remind you of the closet incident? Because I don't believe Shade has heard about that and he might enjoy the story." I mention a certain incident from her and Shining's past.

She drops the smile quickly and I feel my smirk come back in turn as she blushes. "No, I don't think he needs to know about that... Please?" She pleads a little while I just move several piles of paperwork over to her.

I nod in agreement. "Of course my lovely Niece, with you being so loving though you surely wouldn't mind helping your lovely Aunty with some paperwork?" I ask sweetly as her ears pin back.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

So, I took a certain potatoes advice and made some of this chapter about Celestia's POV. Although I felt like Celestia would be far more resistant to Cadance's teasing attempts or probing questions so I had it end with Celestia shutting down Cadance before much could happen.

We have plenty of time so no need to rush and have Celestia start asking things at the same time as well, plus I have other things to focus on with my obsessive writing.

Shade is very undecided right now and is going to change his thoughts a lot over time, fair warning.

Ps. I'm taking the day off like normal, see you all on Friday.

Chapter 218

JUL 23 Sunday.

I flip through another page of the textbook in front of me and continue to study while lying in my shack and enjoying some tea.

The past week has been a mix of regular life, and volunteer work, along with me working on my training and projects. Let's start with volunteer work, it's going slowly but consistently and it seems that for the time being I'm mostly just learning and helping in small ways.

They are mostly focused on teaching us how to operate and function properly in a hospital, something that is not nearly as simple as you'd expect. Everything else comes second before that, I am learning a lot though and I even got to stitch up a wound a few days ago. It's a little bloody but the staff seem to have noticed that I'm mostly unaffected by the sight of blood.

Now I'm getting more duties involving cleaning up more bloody messes, it can get a little disgusting but I'm willing and able to power through that. The main benefit though really is learning the first hoof experience, I'm no longer completely useless when it comes to healing others without magic, yay!

Onto my training, my magical training and physical training remain mostly the same and are always progressing. Something I did start doing is using space magic instead of my TK field, at least while I'm at home alone where others won't notice if I mess up, just to be safe.

I've also once again stepped things up with Stone a bit, mostly him throwing more things at once and trying to pull dirty tricks. Things like trying to rip my armor off while I’m wearing it, or hitting more... Sensitive spots, when he really wants to get me moving and focused.

So ya, Stone is still an utter bastard when it comes to training, what's new? There is some news in my more private life though, my friends and I had another game night a few days ago and Daisy said we might, MIGHT, be meeting her mysterious stallion she's been seeing for a while now.

The thought of meeting her stallion does bring to mind the questions I've continued to ponder for over two weeks now. But I don't have any new insights or real answers for all of those questions, which is causing me a little nervousness as I have a meeting with Celestia pretty shortly.

So, I've been spending some time simply relaxing by reading and learning things that help me ground myself. But all things must come to an end and I close the textbook as a timer goes off with a small chiming noise. I stand up and look out the window as space bends and shifts in my senses, she's punctual today.

I take a deep calming breath and smile despite the situation I'm now in. I gather a few things as Entropy dives out the window and flies over to Celestia. "Friend! Hello!" She calls out while flying off, I gather a few small things and leave my shack with a wave to Celestia. :You know? It's a bit of a random thought but could I teleport?:

I distract myself while walking over to the pavilion. I think I have the control to at least try and do it, and my conversion ratio is pretty good as well so it might be possible. As I sit down Celestia gives me a curious look, "Something on your mind? You have that focused look when you come up with something, innovative, let's say." She teases me a bit as I get comfortable.

Her normal tone helps me ignore any odd feelings I have about talking to her and just try to relax. "I've been training with my space magic for a long while, now I'm wondering if teleportation is possible with how far I've come," I answer a little stiffly, something she catches immediately but doesn't point out.

She just smiles at me and thinks it over for a moment. "Hmm, you've already done something impressive with space magic, I think you called it Fusing? Honestly, I'm a little out of my depth in this, I know some spells but with how you've described it I'm not sure how to translate that."

She takes my mood in stride and distracts me with magical theory. I nod and finally start to relax a bit, "Yes it's called Fusing, or I named it Fusing? Same difference." I shrug a little as she giggles. "But I have pushed even further than that and developed a few new things. For instance, I'm not using my field right now." I brag a bit while holding the cup of tea she passed me with my space magic.

Stops pouring herself some tea and looks curious before casting a spell on me, which makes me confused and a bit concerned. "What? Is something wrong?" I ask as the spell puts me a little on edge.

She looks at a piece of paper before looking up at me with a reassuring smile. "Hmm? Sorry, no, just a thought that occurred to me." She looks a small bit embarrassed about being so forward and I sigh in relief. "You're not the only pony who likes learning about magic, or being a bit spontaneous, although I'm not nearly as proficient as you in such things" She jokes at my expense.

She passes me a piece of blank paper with nothing on it, that doesn't clear up any confusion. "It was supposed to scan for different types of magic, but it detected nothing, just like the odd rock you found. It seems that spell doesn't work with space magic, I'll need to look into other spells." Her researcher side comes out as she shares some interesting information.

That brings several thoughts to mind. "Now that you mention it, did you ever learn anything about that thing? Because I found it and I at least deserve to know. Unless it's something world-ending, then I vote we throw that thing into the deepest ocean we can find." I say the last part dead seriously to add some more humor.

She chuckles at me. "I would have shared, but I never really learned anything. No magic, or spell, or test, ever gave me any information to work with." I do find that curious, but from my brief interaction I'm not too surprised. "Although on that topic, you might be able to learn more about it, you are as close to an expert we may ever have for space magic." She offers and I cringe a little.

"No, no... No. I'm not going NEAR that thing." I insist without hesitation and wave my hooves a little to emphasize.

She smirks. "Oh? Is the brave stallion scared of a rock?" She teases me.

I just nod. "Yes. I may not know about all that much, but from what I've learned about space magic that thing. Actually-" I pause for a moment and shift my will to bend the space in front of us enough so it's visible. "Imagine this, being inverted inside itself repeatedly. Because that's what that thing is." I try to explain.

She looks a bit lost and I try to rake my brain on a good example. "Right, that doesn't really help." I sigh a bit and she looks amused at my actions. "Oh! Ok, so, when you bend space, the world around you literally fights it. The longer something stays out of order the more the world around you fights to put things back in order."

As an example, I band two points in space a distance away from the pavilion. One I hold for only a moment before letting it snap back into place with a soft crack, the other I keep for a minute and the result is a much louder noise. "That effect I call Rebound. And as far as I can tell it always happens when messing with space, the longer you hold something out of order the worse the rebound."

She nods, seeming to understand. "So what do you think is powerful enough to bend space permanently, while the universe itself fights against it constantly? And that rock has been messing with space for a very long time, so what happens when it stops holding back any rebound it might have?" I explain the point I'm trying to get across. "So, no, I'm not messing with what might be a bomb."

She looked very thoughtful and focused for a few moments, I think that sparked some memories in her, and I can guess who from my mention of order. "Hmm, it seems I'll be putting that thing under much more robust protections." She nods as if agreeing with herself, and I nod as well. "We're rather off topic though, you were talking about your progress, yes?" She asks curiously.

I think for a moment before turning to Entropy as she rests on top of Celestia's back. "Hey, Girl?" She turns to me. "Can you grab the box I have in my workroom? You know the one." I ask and she vanishes a moment later. "I love that crazy bird." She giggles.

I taught Entropy to recognize and retrieve the box my staff is in, just in case I ever need it and don't want to leave. A moment later Entropy returns and I move the box over while giving her a treat. "Thank you, Girl. Now to answer you, I've done a lot, so I'll summarize."

She tilts her head a little at the plain-looking box. "You're not the only one with a crazy bird, but I couldn't agree more. Another present? You are a very, gifted, gift giver, not that I'm complaining." She half teases and I roll my eyes.

"A gift for myself actually, but not for you." I decompose away the wood connecting the lid of the box and the inside before opening it. "I made something rather useful, and a bit fun to play with." I say while showing the Vita wood staff to her. "I'm finally a proper spell caster." I joke.

She huffs a bit. "I never knew a staff was the qualifying feature, but I suppose it is rather well made. A bit 'small' for a pony your size." I pause and turn to look fully at her, a little surprised as she holds in a laugh while saying that.

I move the staff back into the box and put it to the side before hearing her. "Did- Did you just-" I ask, dumbfounded at the joke she implied with her tone.

She smiles in turn. "Of course not, and nopony would believe you anyway." She laughs a bit. "You said you improved? I admit I am rather curious about what you came up with, pioneering a new field of magic is a rare thing to witness after all. But you keep teasing, so go on." She says flatteringly while I sit there dumbfounded for a few moments.

I glare a little as she makes another joke at my expense, so I focus on my spatial magic and life magic. I quickly go through the proper steps and in a quick shift and snap, a small pole of wood quickly grows from the wooden floor as she watches. Then the pole is cut in half at the middle after two seconds of space being bent, the top half falls down with a thump.

Celestia couldn't sense space magic, so from her point of view the air bent a little before a quiet crack sounded and the pole fell down. "Hmm, wait? Did you, weaponize space?" She seems to sort out what she saw pretty quickly and turns back to me. "How do you even do that? It's empty space." She asks a little incredulously.

I nod to her first question with some pride. But when she asks how, I'm not really sure how to explain it properly. "You need to either bend space in the right way or compress it." I don't give many details while she gives me a stare showing just how unhelpful that is. "I can give you notes, but it's hard to explain." I half lied about some things I just don't want to reveal to her.

She sighs a bit and shakes her head. "I'm not even sure why I'm surprised." She chuckles a bit at her own words while I spend a moment cleaning up my demonstration. "But enough of the magic, and don't start you on me asking, I get enough of that on a day-to-day basis." I raise a brow but look amused. "That's not including my ever-energetic student, who found a new spell book." I just laugh, Twilight can certainly get excited with new spells.

She places her tea down and thinks for a moment. "I'll save all the talk about the Changelings for another day." She shifts to a more gentle tone and gets my attention and I focus on her and take notice of her changing the topic pretty suddenly. "But, I also remembered the... Events of all your encounters, a topic popped up."

I tense a bit as I think I see where this is going, I knew she would ask about this more eventually, I just hoped otherwise. She gives me a reassuring look as my ears tilt back, "My promise still stays, I don't expect an answer in any way. But I would like to ask. if that is fine with you?" She still offers a way out, a kindness I take comfort in.

I stay silent before nodding a little in resigned agreement. "Can I ask why now? I know I'm an adult and all that, but... Actually, no. I think I get it, curiosity never really leaves ponies like us." I try to keep a lighter mood, but it doesn't do much for me. My nerves were already a bit frayed from my thoughts and this isn't helping.

She looks a bit concerned but continues with a nod of agreement. "Curiosity? Yes, I am curious, and I'll admit, also concerned." I stay silent and drink some tea. "I suppose the most obvious question is how, but I'll start with something smaller. Why do you view Changelings as a threat? Or I presume you do with the spells you've made?" That catches me a little off-guard as it's not as direct as I thought it would be.

I struggle to remember what information I would know that she wouldn't, while trying to decide if I should answer at all. She waits patiently, "How do they view us? Because from what I've seen it can be, less than friendly." She cringes a bit at that and I nod. "We're currently their primary food source, and that is a dangerous place to be," I say a little pessimistically.

She schools her face. "Some do unfortunately think like that, but we've encountered more than a few that don't seem to think that way at all." She says with the kindness I expected. "I know you don't care about interacting with those who are dangerous, so why them in particular? Do you also have spells for dealing with a dragon?" She questions without judgment.

:That didn't really give her an answer, did it?: I sigh a little and nod, "No, but to be blunt, their abilities make them extremely adept at learning secrets. There is nothing more dangerous than secrets, especially ones concerning you, and me by extension." That comes from the paranoid part of my mind, it's far from wrong though.

She nods in agreement at that. "True, I suppose that's why you didn't want to be found by them? The other spell working in combination to find them first?" I don't comment on that and she nods after a minute, understanding my silent answer. "Why not answer at all? You could just lie, so why simply nothing?" She takes a different approach to her questions.

That actually makes me think for a moment. "Trust. I'm hiding something from you, we both know that, but I trust and care about you too much to just lie. I am honest in my dishonesty." I quote after some thought. "Why not demand answers? You could, even if I tried we both know you could get answers." I ask questions that's sat at the back of my mind for a long time now.

She looks interested as I answer but then shifts to a downcast mood. "Trust. In my long life, I have found that demanding things rarely does anypony any good. It just pushes others away." I can guess where she learned that, and feel a pang of guilt bringing it up, but also some warmth at her blatant trust in me.

The mood is thick by this point. "Do you have any plans in case the Changelings are a threat? Because I would rather you share them, things of that nature need far more than a single pony to bear the weight of a decision like that." Her words have an underlying heaviness to them, but also a gentleness she's keeping up for my sake.

I just shake my head a little, consumed by the lower mood of the topic. "No, at least not yet. Trust me, I will be getting your advice for anything like that." I promise before looking her in the eyes directly. "Thank you, for everything you've done for me. A bit odd for the mood I know, but I... I needed you to know that." It comes out of the blue.

She blinks a bit as the low mood shifts upwards. "I do, I truly do. Have I ever said how strange you can be?" I raise a brow at the odd questions. "You've done more good than so many others, even me in some ways, and you KNOW that. Yet, you're still thanking me." She smiles down at me.

The silence consumes us both as I don't really know what to say to that. She breaks the silence. "Why?" She finally asked the obvious question, the one we both knew was coming.

I sit silently and she opens her muzzle to continue, but I cut her off. "Fear, a fear that... Fear." The answer bubbles up in me with some heavy uncertainty and hesitation. I want to tell her so many things, but a part of me just can't, I don't have the right to.

The future has changed, but it is still somewhat on track, the main six are still ending up in Ponyville. If I reveal something and it changes things even more, to such a point as the main six do not come to be, I would never forgive myself for the consequences.

Celestia looks a little... Hurt. "Oh, I see." She turns her head down a bit.

There is a heavy beat of silence as some dread pools in me before I shake my head quickly and tilt her head back up to face me. "No, never you. I would never fear you, never." I insist on her and look her right in the eyes. "I fear so much, for so many reasons, but NEVER YOU." My dead serious tone seemed to get through whatever thoughts she was having.

I do fear the consequences of revealing what I know. But I trust her enough to know that I would never have to fear her, no matter what I revealed. She looks taken aback at the dead serious tone, but also relieved and happy. She smiles again and I feel my panic fade. "I'm sorry, It's not right for me to react like that, forgive this old mare." She apologizes sincerely.

I shake my head and try to smile as well. "You are always forgiven, as long as you can forgive a young stallion who doesn't know how to word a damned thing." I joke a little and feel something unseen flick my ear. "Ow!" I flinch a bit as she gives me a mixed stare seemingly recovered from her really low moment.

"I will, as long as that young stallion keeps his muzzle clean, I can and will flick you again." I nod with a chuckle as she looks pleased. "Good, I would rather not have to imitate my Niece, she can be rather vengeful." She jokes while I try not to link her example in the wrong way remembering that particular breakfast.

I smile at her. "You can't always stop me. Did you know dragons are rather colorful, with their words? They are an interesting lot." I joke in turn to try and keep things positive. "Ow! Stop that!" I demand as my ear is flicked again by something I can't see, damned magic.

She smirks at me. "No, not when you could be a bad influence on her." She motions to Entropy, who looks thoroughly amused at everything happening. "Shade? Thank you, I don't know what this is, and I may never know. But thank you for trusting me, even with just that small bit." She has a happy tone.

I stay silent for a moment before smiling. "Thank you, Celestia, that means more than you may ever know." I move something out of my saddlebags hoping to finally move us past all of this. "Now, I was thinking about pranking Cadance. Do you want to help? Because I have so many ideas and a change in topic."

Her smile is all the answer I need.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

I know not much is really happening here, but on my day off I got a several hour long migraine and still feel off. So I went for something with a lot of feelings and less plot, the writing might also be a little wonky, sorry.

I do think it fits to have Celestia start questioning Shade about this now that the topic of Changelings are coming up again, plus it's been a while sense we had a chapter of there two just discussing things. Not too much to really say beyond that though.

PS. The second episode of the reading is out. I'll probably just add them to the chapter notes when they come out. So here it is if your interested, https://youtu.be/005vaTpoAhU

Chapter 219

JUL 29 Saturday.

I sit at the park waiting patiently for everypony else to arrive for our little get-together planned for the afternoon.

I slowly flip to another page and start to sketch out a few spell matrix pieces while getting lost in thought as I often tend to do. My last meeting with Celestia was emotional in several ways. I am happy in a way, despite the topics that came up the entire event unexpectedly helped me.

I felt a little off about talking and relaxing with her like I normally do, mostly because Cadance just had to ask me three damned questions. But despite the high emotions, or maybe because of them, I was able to relax far more than I thought by the end and I was able to focus on more than just those questions.

As for all the topics brought up? Well, I won't say much about a few of them, but the talk of Changelings and Space Magic gave me some ideas. For the Changelings I want to try and make some actual way to disable them in a fight, and that may have actually provided a new unintended use for the Love rune.

It can filter and gather love, but the gathering part is really robust in its context. So, what do you think would happen if I used it to forcibly gather love from a Changeling? I have no idea as well, but I imagine it is likely to be very painful and maybe even deadly.

It's now filed under 'maybe but no,' it wouldn't be hard to make as the idea is simple and I have the runes for it, but I need something less lethal. There are a few ways to do that, I thought a lightning spell would be my best choice, but how would that affect a Changelings chitin?

I'm not sure how resistant it could be to magic, Dragons scales are like that from what I know so it's possible they do as well in some way. So, in the end, I decided on something relatively weak and simple, sensory deprivation. It can mess with you normally but more complex senses are much more disorienting when disabled.

I keep my magical senses on continuously, and when I turn them off it does mess with me for a bit, so doing something similar for a race that is born with a magical sixth sense will most likely do the same thing to a higher degree. Either way, I thought it was a good starting place and I've spent a little of my free time working on this spell along with two others.

My main focus right now is still the love gathering project, then the new Changeling disabling spell, and finally a smaller project that I'm still not entirely sure how to go about doing it. It mainly involves Entropy, specifically the illusion spell I cast on her when we go out to do anything in public.

I want some way for her to turn on and off the illusion herself, mostly so I don't need to cast it and so she's safer from any mishaps. On a more concerning note, I know she might be having some problems with being disguised in public, but she needs to be disguised for both her and my safety.

After a lot of thought I decided the best method was to give her more control over the situation, it's not a perfect solution but I think it will help. Accomplishing all this is proving to be an interesting challenge for me due to several limitations I'm facing.

To state the obvious, the only real way I can accomplish this is with an enchanted item. But making something small enough to cast the spell continuously is by far proving the most challenging. I need to do two things, improve the old illusion spell and find the appropriate materials for the item.

The illusion spell was some of my earlier work and with all the experience and new runes I've gotten over the years I have a good amount of room for improvement. Overall the spell won't take too long, and that just leaves the item I'll be enchanting in the first place.

Getting several very small, very pure diamonds won't be hard, I'll just buy more jewelry. But in my search, I looked for metals primarily, magical metals. Much like gems some metals condense magic over time and take up a property, but these metals are a bitch and a half to work with.

Magical metals are actually a bit more common than affinity gems, but their crafting process ups the prices a lot. Many of them require lengthy or hard smithing processes depending on each individual type of magical metal, and an appropriate expert in smithing is needed to forge the metal into something useful without destroying its magical properties.

Several of these metals have high magical capacities or absorption rates, with all that said my idea should be obvious. I want to make something like a small leg clamp to put on Entropy, with enough small diamonds and the right metal I think I can pull it off even with the very small size requirements.

I fiddle around with the spell in my notebook while Entropy sits on my back. "What make?" She asks, staring at the page curiously. Her curiosity is just as strong as when she was young, it's adorable.

I pet her a little. "Just another spell, and a gift for a very special someone. Also, when they get here you can go play if you want." I hint while she just bobs happily. She knows I make gifts for Celestia so she probably thinks I'm just doing that, which is good because I really want this to be a bit of a surprise for her, every kid needs some surprise gifts.

I flip to another page and make two notes. I need to get a suit for the gala next month, best to ask Rarity sooner rather than later so it's not a rushed job. I should also order the magical metal in the next week or two, work like that can take a while even with the simple item I need, maybe the forgers guild?

The Rusted Hammers, I think? I bought copper from them and they have a good reputation. They will definitely charge a premium, but I also feel like they could keep things quiet, their reputation would be on the line after all. I make another note to visit the guild before closing my notebook and taking out my sketchbook.

This part of the park I'm in is nice and quiet. I'm sitting under an old oak tree I remember with some fondness, the same tree I unlocked my life magic at. The area is filled with lush grass and some nice shade. "Heh, Shade in the shade. Oh, by magic, I really hope none of them make that joke." I groan a little at the idea.

I stop drawing as two ponies walk into the grass field, Blaz and Maple arrive and I wave them over. The large blanket I'm sitting on has a nice woven basket full of picnic supplies in it. They walk over with Maple immediately looking at the basket, I smirk at her. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Entropy, wait," I say as Maple huffs a bit.

She lays down on the blanket with a huff and Blaz chuckles. "Well look at you, all prepared for a nice day out." He also lays down to get comfortable. "So, anypony got some last-minute guesses? I still think they're some high-ranking stallion, I just can't find out who though." That is the primary theory Blaz has had for a while now.

Maple shakes her head a bit. "No, not a guard. A noble." She shares her theory of the stallion pretending to be a guard to not draw eyes. I'll admit she could be right, but I also think Daisy would be able to see through something like that, she's a smart mare no matter how silly she sometimes acts.

I myself think several things, but I'm not one to voice a theory without much proof, and all the proof points to Daisy being honest about her stallion so far. "Either way, you doing better Colt? Because I don't want to deal with an ex if you now have one. I left my marriage for a reason." He teases me.

I just huff back. "I'm doing good, still a lot on my mind though, maybe even more in fact." I'm being honest but don't elaborate. "You're right, you did and as a special gift I invited her here today." I joke back and he grimaces a bit, "How are you doing? Still complaining about your new apprentice?"

He frowns at that but takes the jab in good humor and frowns at the mention of his new apprentice. Turns out that one annoying stallion is still around at the library, he did mellow out enough to not loudly complain before I left, but I still didn't enjoy talking to him.

He sighs. "He does the job, I guess. He is a complainer and an annoying-" I laugh a bit as he cuts himself off and doesn't swear. "He's still himself. I blame you for spoiling me. Now, you said something about volunteering? How did that end up going?" He asks curiously.

I never told any of them about my volunteering at the start because I wanted to settle in first and see how it went, I didn't want to be all that secretive as it's not something that needs to be kept secret. Then when I wanted to tell them Cadance happened, along with me working on the Love rune and sorting my emotions it was put on the back burner. Long story short being safe and a few things in my life made me put off talking about it.

I realized this last game night and I mentioned it before I left, I didn't have enough time to really talk about it though. I shrug, "Sure, but I'm too curious to talk about that now. It seems we'll have our answer sooner than, later... What? ... " I trail off after sensing two ponies approaching us from behind me.

I'd sensed them a minute before but didn't turn, when I did though I immediately noticed that I recognized the stallion with Daisy. Daisy walks up happily while me and the stallion stare each other down, both frozen in slight surprise. "Hey, I'd like to introduce my stallion friend, St-."

I cut her off and started to laugh at the luck that curses my life. "Stone Mace." I laugh harder while Stone starts to chuckle. The other three look shocked and confused. "It makes so much sense now!" I stop laughing as hard as he walks closer. "So, this is what you spend your weekends on huh?" I ask cheekily.

In response I quickly tilt my head out of the way of a water spell that goes past my head, I don't even flinch far too used to this. "Of course, you're the Colt she talks about, good choice in friends Colt. Nice to meet you two, names Stone Mace, like the uppity Colt said."

The shock seems to wear off fast for Daisy and she looks at me with a demanding stare. "Explain! Before I start revealing embarrassing stories." She demands with serious eyes while Blaz starts to laugh. "And don't think you're going unnoticed, Stone." She glares a bit while looking embarrassed about everything.

Stone's ears actually pin back a bit and he also glares at me. "Not a word about this Colt." He threatens me to ignore his reaction, not that I blame him, an angry mare can be scary.

I settle for smiling largely. "Well, you know his job right?" She nods before getting a look of slow realization. "Yup. For those not in the know, Stone here is a former guard trainer, now a retired guard and private trainer. The very same one who's been kicking my flank for... Three and a half years? Somewhere around there." I reveal to Blaz and Maple.

Maple stays silent for a moment and looks over at Stone's black mane and grey coat. "Hmm, Maple, nice to meet you. Shade is strong, not a bad job." Her blunt obversion causes Stone to raise a brow, but he takes the oddly worded compliment with a simple nod.

Blaz stops laughing and holds out a hoof to shake Stone's hoof. "I can agree with her there, he's like a brick wall. Nice to meet you, names Blazing, Blaz is fine though." He greets Stone with a little too much enthusiasm. "So, what do you normally do to him? Any good tips for getting the drop on him?" He asks and I nearly throw something at him.

Stone chuckles but thankfully shakes his head. "No can do, but I can tell you what I say to tick him off." I throw a water spell back at Stone for that, but the bastard just dodges. "Have to do better than that Colt, I still got my hearing." He advises happily before moving onto the blanket.

Daisy recovers from her shock and lets Stone lean against her side as they lie down. "So, what did you bring Maple? Because I'm hungry." Maple shakes her head a bit and turns to me. "You own a basket? It's even well made, you really are a gardener, I bet you own a trowel." Stone looks curious at her words and I just huff while taking out a few loaves of bread I made and some cheeses to eat it with.

I turned to her. "If you give him something on me, I will go into your office and scramble the entire sorting system, chart and all." I threaten back and that gets her to drop her teasing smile. I am happy for Daisy though, Stone is a good stallion and I'm happy for both of them, plus I can relax, I know Stone won't reveal anything and I have some trust in him. "So, how'd you even meet?" I start up some small talk.

Stone is the one who starts. "The library, I needed to research something to train a certain Colt." He joins in on teasing me a bit and I glare at him. "Then this mare comes up to me looking all tired and grumpy." He looks over to Daisy with a smirk.

She rolls her eyes a bit but takes it in stride, everypony else being fully relaxed and enjoying the simple food. "I just got finished interviewing several annoying ponies, I just wanted to read. So I sat at the table with the fewest ponies to relax for a little, and this gentle stallion asked if I was ok." She compliments him but he just smirks.

She looks a bit bashful and stops for a moment as Stone looks amused. "Don't you start! Anyway, I ended up talking to him a bit, and sorta ranted my frustrations to him after we started talking." That gets us a glare from her as we chuckle. An irritated Daisy is always fun to watch, not so much to be on the receiving end of though.

Stone smiles and keeps his laughter inside. "She can be very spirited when she gets worked up. But I've been yelled at by guards who can eat rocks, maybe literally. Honestly, it was adorable." Daisy looks conflicted before nipping his ear a bit in retaliation, he barely even flinched.

I just nod and as a bit of a surprise take a wine bottle out of the basket. "Well, I'm glad I brought this, also if anypony goes too hard I'm going to carry them like a sack," I say seriously while all of them just celebrate a little at the sight. I didn't bring glassware and just brought some small wooden cups, I don't want any of them to go too deep too fast.

I pass the bottle and cups off to Blaz, from what I know about him he can drink like a beast but is responsible about it. He opens the bottle and gets everypony but me a cup, they know I don't drink. "You're just a stump Colt, you don't even drink. I'd call you boring if you didn't do crazy things like train with him." He drinks his cup slowly.

I shrug and notice Maple is only very slowly sipping her cup, she does drink but only ever slowly. "Not my fault, I told you that story for a reason." Stone raises a brow and Blaz chuckles.

"Oh! Do I have a story to embellish for you, I think I might even add a mare in there." He teases me and I roll my eyes. Blaz is the type to retell stories with, twists, to the original telling he likes making shit up for fun. "First though, I want the answer to my questions, what are you volunteering for Colt?"

Maple nods while the two lovers look interested. I shrug again, "Well, not to downplay this happy meeting on this fine day with the only blemish being a certain drunk." I eye Blaz while he lifts his cup unashamed. "To summarize, I'm volunteering at a hospital. It's been, an interesting experience." I say without any fanfare.

All four look a bit surprised, but not overly so, Stone is the most affected. "Well, we've seen you reading medical books for years, it's good to see you were actually learning and not just sitting there looking smart." Blaz jokes again. Maple just nods happily while eating some bread.

"Wow, I'll be honest I expected something with spells, or plants," Daisy comments before turning to Stone. "So, does that give you any new ideas to train him? Because I think he could use a little more work with how relaxed he looks right now." I glare at them as she smiles a little too much like Cadance.

Stone smiles as well and gives me a look I never like. He's going to kick the shit out of me, by magic Daisy is on my prank list, maybe at the top. No, second, right behind Cadance. I throw another spell at Stone to try and wipe that smirk off his face, but it misses.

time skip

I walk down the evening streets with Stone as Daisy naps on his back. "Ok, she has a sweet tooth for wine, noted." Daisy ended up drinking a bit much by the end and needed to be carried home with us. Today was great, a lot of fun small talk and joking around, even with a lot of those jokes being to mess with me.

Blaz got a little drunk and called it early as he had work the next day, he wanted to sleep it all off, Maple was fine but left with Blaz to keep him out of trouble. Stone chuckles a bit, "I learned that the hard way. I got her a good wine for a date, it was certainly something." He smiles in that small way again.

I ignore the tone there. "Just make sure to take care of her, because I will come for you if you don't," I say half-jokingly. He seems to take it seriously though. I know Stone is a good guy, but Daisy is my friend and I'd go very VERY far for my friends.

He nods back firmly. "I have no intention to do so, and if I do you have full permission to do just that." He chuckles a bit and looks up into my eyes. "If you can that is, I'm still kicking your flank, Colt." We enter the lobby of my apartment building and start heading up the stairs.

I nod in turn taking his challenge in stride. "Good night, Stone. Also, make sure she gets up, she'll be blaming me if she's late and I'm not taking the fall for that." I say as we arrive in front of her apartment and he opens the door. I didn't know he had a key, but I suppose they are close enough.

"Same to you Colt, see you in a few days, and bring your armor." He opens the door and heads inside leaving me alone. Daisy probably told him I live here so no use hiding it, I enter my apartment and smile as Entropy hops off of me excitedly.

"Well, you ready for dinner?" I laugh as she starts to get vocal.

My friends are amazing, if a little crazy, but who am I to judge?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

To my knowledge no one guessed who Daisy was dating. And BOY HOUDY!!! Am I happy to have made a true surprise for once. I did try to drop hints to, S for his name, an older Stallion with a guard background.

Anyway, I hope you liked it.

Chapter 220

AUG 4 Friday.

I move through the busy Canterlot streets with a clear goal in mind.

I decided against waiting too long and potentially putting off two things. Getting a commission from the forgers' guild and making a visit to Rarity for a new suit. I stop outside of the busy building with the same smoking chimneys and well-built stone forges.

I enter the bustling room while many ponies talk and take jobs from the large job board. I wonder if there is an actual adventure guild? If there is, I've never seen it so far, but many guilds are small-scale and can keep a relatively low profile. Either way, this place still reminds me of an adventure guild.

I look around for a moment before walking over to get in line for a desk labeled commissions. When I get to the front the earth pony mare looks at me for a moment, a long moment. "Hello, Sir. What can I help you with today?" She asks in a sweet tone and with some clear flirtation.

"I have a custom commission, I was wondering if I need an appointment?" I ask while she pulls out a book quickly.

"Well, it depends on what you need to be made, you can post a public commission or go with a guild smith. It also depends on the materials used, do you have a list of materials? Or some idea of what you may need?" She recites those words like saying something similar a million times before, which she may have actually done.

I ignore the tone she has and take out a list and pass it to her. It's a sketch drawing with a list of materials and a basic blueprint of the item. "This is confidential, yes?" I ask before passing her the paper. She raises a brow but nods after a moment with a more alert look. I do give it to her, the worst she could do is tell somepony and I can just sue them for that, and I very much would.

Her brows raise a bit more at the information and she starts to flip through the book some before reading down a page. "There is a crafter who is certified to make something like this, but they are a masterpony crafter and don't come cheap." She drops the flirting pretty quickly and becomes professional.

I nod in agreement, money is no object to me and a master's is actually far better than I hoped for. I'm not sure how rare a master crafter is, but they can't be too common. She smiles at my agreement, "Great, I believe she's free now so you can meet her to discuss a commission if you like? You will have to pay for a rushed consulting fee though." She warns slightly before looking through the book more. "Or we can schedule you for an appointment with a smaller fee?"

I agree to the fee and after paying her a different pony leads me through a back door down a hallway. A few moments of walking later we go through another door and I blink at the heat that hits me, it's like... Well, a furnace, which makes sense considering I just entered a forge.

The pony guiding me closed the door after I entered and I listened to the consistent but soft thumps of metal on metal. A surprisingly small unicorn mare sits at an anvil slowly and deliberately beating metal into the correct shape, she's using a smaller hammer and seems to be doing detail work.

I'm in no hurry so I sit down on the stone floor and simply wait while watching her work. She definitely saw me so it's best to wait, but to be safe I stay in her line of sight to not distract or surprise her. Eventually, she finishes and leaves the piece of metal to cool, she turns to me and I get a good look at her.

She has a bright orange coat with a deep red mane and some striking red eyes. What I find most amusing, and annoying, is her height, She's straight up half as tall as I am. She looks over my body like most mares seem to do, I would prefer they didn't. "Metal Quake, nice to meet ya. What ya need? I didn't think I had a meet'en?" Her heavy tone is a bit surprising for her size but take it in stride.

I nod and take out the same information I gave the other mare. "Nice to meet you as well. I got a rushed consultation if that's fine? And I have a commission if you're interested." I keep a respectful tone to not upset her, which she does seem to notice.

She raises a brow and moves a soot-covered hoof to take the papers, even though she has a horn. She was using it to pound metal and making force like that can tire out your magic so maybe some magical exhaustion use? I focus as that doesn't really matter right now. "Diamonds and mithril? An interest'an piece." She mumbles to herself a bit.

Mithril was the magical metal I settled on in the end. It's a form of magical iron, not immensely rare but still a magical metal so not common either. Its main properties are increased durability and magical capacity, it doesn't have an affinity though as affinity metals are so much more rare and expensive, and I don't need them for this project.

I nod. "Yes, I also already have the diamonds. You'd have to source the metal yourself but I'm willing to add that to the price, upcharge included." I'm fully aware I'm probably going to be scammed at some point, but I have bits to burn. Plus, I don't have a way to get the metal like that so I'm hoping she'd have a way to do that.

She doesn't look surprised at that and just nods. "Hmm, not one to care about bits eh? Ya, why not? It's small work, a good job. Nothing complex even, should be easy en'gh to hammer out. And it's not often I get to make something with jewels and magic metal. Time limit?" I shake my head. "Eight hundred if you want it done soon, a week maybe a smidgen more. Seven if you want it in two weeks." There it is, still not all that bad.

She moves over to a desk in the forge room and takes out a quill and some papers. "This is the whole contract, you can read it if you want'en?" She passes it to me with a professional tone and her odd accent. I flip through it to make sure I don't sign anything stupid, it's mostly basic and just says I'll pay them along with a confidentiality agreement for her, seems she can pick up on things more than I'd have thought.

I sign it and pass it back along with two bags from my saddlebags. "Payment and the diamonds, pleasure doing business with you." I give her all the bits on the spot and turn to the door with the contract after she makes a copy of it to give me.

She takes them both with a smile and nods. "Agreed, I should have it done soon en'gh, you got a place I can send it to?" I scribble down my apartment building address instead of my specific apartment address just to be safe. "Good, I'll get it to you in a week then."

As I leave her forge I feel pretty satisfied, that mare was very simple. She got right down to business and I'm already done, I always prefer dealing with ponies like that. After leaving the guild building I find the nearest restroom and look at my shadow, "Time to go, Girl." A moment later she leaves my shadow and we're gone a moment later.

We reappear near Ponyville in a different location, after the last time I decided to fly around Ponyville for a while a few days ago. Turns out there are a few dense forests that are relatively inaccessible to Ponyville by land, and most of the population are Earth Ponies so that works well for me, the wooded areas are also much closer to Ponyville.

So, I appear in a forest only a twenty-minute walk to Ponyville, it's almost in sight of the small town actually. The exact location is on a higher elevated area that is wooded and next to a steep stony incline in between here and Ponyville, making it really difficult to walk here, it's secluded enough for my uses.

After arriving I cast an illusion over Entropy and another to start forming my wings. Her being in my shadow brings a problem to mind, that being she can't take items into the shadows with her. The Enchanted item I just commissioned would fall off any time she would shadow travel.

It's not a massive problem as Entropy can just avoid going into a shadow, and I'll probably have to carry it around with me for when she wants to use it, I would rather she not lose this item from having to run from something, I don't want it linked back to us.

I don't really have a solution beyond teaching her as best I can and being careful though, then again it's been a while since we experimented with her powers. Something to theorize about this later, for now, I focus on the plan for today.

I sort those thoughts away for the time being and take off into the air with Entropy right behind me. When flying it doesn't take long at all to reach Ponyville, but with things being less busy this time I land outside of town and walk in, I don't want to show off my wings unnecessarily when random ponies will question it and notice me more.

I walk through the town a little slowly and enjoy the good mood I've had for a while now. I'm still pondering Cadance's questions, but they don't pop up into my mind as often as they did and I feel like I'm slowly working through them, I'm just not sure what that means for me.

I shake my head again before stopping in front of Rarity's boutique, and to my surprise, she's currently outside watering her plants in a purple hat. She turns her head a bit and smiles widely seeing me, "Shade. Good to see you again, have you been well? Oh! Where are my manners today? Let's go inside and get out of this awful heat." She greets me with the same friendly tone she always uses.

I let Entropy fly off and nod in greeting while wiping my hooves on a mat. "Rarity. I've been well enough, same with you? Either way, I came to get a suit like I mentioned, if you're not too busy?" I ask while noticing that her shop looked a bit emptier than the last time I saw it.

She waves a hoof while placing down her hat, I try my best to ignore when her tail shifts. I swear to magic I would make a spell for their hormones if mental magic wasn't illegal. "Oh nonsense, I have plenty of time. Nothing to all this, I just got an order for a client and had to use a few of the showpieces." She explains happily.

She turns to me with a few bundles of cloth, "Now, let's talk color, you would look positively dashing in green." She comments while bringing over a notepad. I stare a little blankly and sigh internally realizing I wasn't getting out of another discussion about fashion.

I give her a smile and a slightly tired look. "Well, I was hoping to get something in black actually." Her ears tilt and I get the sense she disagrees. I look around and spot a suit that looks plain enough. "This looks good, too small but I like the look."

"Black?" She huffs a bit while holding up the dark cloth with some slight distaste. "Are you sure I can't convince you to get something in gray at least? Black is such a mute color." I nod to try and not have another two-hour conversation. "Very well, but we need some color in this, I can't have something being so... Drab." She seems a bit resigned but after a moment she looks at my saddlebags. "That's it! Magnifique!"

Her quill blurs on her pad as she stares at my saddlebags, I think about stopping her and insisting on plain black. But she has that determined and inspired look that tells me it will be futile to even try by this point, at least I got the right main color? I stare at my saddlebags and I think I see what she does. "The plants?"

She nods vigorously, "Yes, it's perfect! The rugged black with the yellow- No! I still have some silver thread, it will be a garden at night!" She works herself into a slight frenzy while scribbling on the notepad. I sit there not really knowing what to do. I guess that works. Silver and black? Silver's not really my color, but with how focused she is I'm definitely not going to be able to stop her and it doesn't sound too bad, I can get on board with a plant theme.

She writes, or draws? Both I think. She continues like that for a minute or two before pulling a cloth measuring tape from under her sales counter. "Now, is this a full suit? Or half?" I raise a brow and give her a confused look, she chuckles a bit. "Yes, I thought as much, full suits aren't common, a shame really, they have so much opportunity for variation."

I think for a moment and shrug a bit. "I honestly don't think I've seen one before, or maybe I just never noticed?" I've really only ever seen half suits, they start at the neck and end at a ponies mid-section. "Actually, I think I've seen a few at the Gal- A rather large party. Either way, yes a half suit is fine." I'm glad she's too worked up to notice my slip.

She moves over to a door in the back of the shop. "This way please, I need a proper position and better lighting to measure." Again I'm a little confused but after enduring the room I see what she means. Inside is a small raised platform around six inches higher than the rest of the floor. "Bags." She demands a little impatiently in her excitement.

I don't much like the idea of being eyed more, but I need my suit so I take off my saddlebags and place them to the side before getting on the raised platform. "Will this take long? I have some other things I need to do." I lie in hopes of speeding this up, I have a bad feeling about this.

Rarity looks distracted for a moment before answering me. "Oh, only a few minutes, you'll barely notice. Now, legs together and back straight" She comments while moving around to my back left side. I do as asked of me.

N.S.F.W starts here.

It's at this moment I notice what she got distracted by, it turns out with how tall I am and me being on the platform, Rarity is head height with my belly. She has a full view of my sheath and balls right now. I really try not to think about that and just stay still, but I do jump a little when her hoof touches my side.

She smiles a bit out of my sight. "I need to be accurate, can't have a misfitting suit now, can we? Sit still as you can please." She jokes a bit and I really try to ignore the slight blush she's hiding by standing mostly out of my sight. I am suddenly pretty uncomfortable about my position, but normally ponies wouldn't care much about this so I try to do the same.

I still occasionally feel odd being naked all the time, even after mostly adapting to life here. And unlike a lot of ponies, I like my personal space and rather not get touched. Still, I try to keep my mind distracted with mental math as she loops the cloth measuring tape around my barrel.

It's at this point I'm reminded just how sensitive a pony's underbellies can be. The cloth strip rubs against my belly and it gives me a similar feeling to goosebumps. Rarity just focuses on her notepad and taking my measurements, while I go stiff and try to stay as still as possible.

But the feeling of the cloth rubbing my fur and my mind constantly trying to go to a certain place can only be resisted for so long. So as she moves her hooves around to adjust and keep the measuring tape still I feel my sheath stir and panic a little. :Why the fuck isn't she using her horn!!!: I scream internally.

Despite desperately trying to derail my body's efforts, my shaft hardening seems to kick my body into action and everything starts to derail. "Are, you almost finished?" I ask stiffly and impotently after a minute of my problem worsening, while she moves her hooves again. At this point, I'm hanging down and it's very obvious what's happening.

"Just a few more minutes, why-" smack You could hear a pin drop for a moment. I feel myself blush like I was pointed red while feeling extreme embarrassment. It doesn't help when I sense Rarity looking down outside of my vision, "Ah." I expect many responses.

But she just stares for a moment before taking a breath and looking up while giggling a bit, I just feel more embarrassed about her reaction. "I apologize, I was a bit enthusiastic, I am flattered though. Let me finish up quickly so you can calm down." Her tone sounds amused about the entire situation and she keeps a friendly and slightly professional tone.

She seems very un-bothered about this. :By magic ponies are weird!!: I know ponies are very relaxed and used to things like this, but it's so weird to me. I feel her measure another point and- smack :FUCKING STOP!!!: I scream internally while my cock makes its unwelcome presence known again.

The, leaking doesn't help either. :Fuck today!: I try to keep steady breaths as Rarity finally fucking finishes her work. "There we go, I'll go get some different types of cloth ready, we still need to pick the material after all. I'll, leave you be for a minute." She glances again while blushing a bit before walking out of the room, I have to rip my eyes away from her as she walks out to not see anything that will prolong this mess.

I stand there very stiffly for a few moments before taking another deep breath. smack :FUUUUUUCCCK!!!!: I take several deep breaths and step off the platform while trying not to bounce against anything. It takes a few minutes of deep breaths before my body finally calms down a bit.

My cock retracts into my sheath and I feel myself relax a bit, before blushing again noticing I did in fact drip a bit. I grab my saddlebags and take a moment to cast a cleaning spell to fix my embarrassment.

N.S.F.W ends here.

I'm still blushing up a storm as I walk out of the room, but at least I'm not like I was. I come out to see Rarity looking through a few different black fabrics. "Sorry about... That..." I awkwardly say while walking over to her. I try to continue but can't think of any form of an excuse.

She just giggles again and waves it off with a smile. "Nothing to be embarrassed about, you're far from the first stallion with such a reaction." She again takes it in stride with a slight moment of her glancing downwards. "Either way, I have the proper measurements, now we can discuss clothes. Do you prefer cotton or wool?"

I stand there just processing the odd feelings I have over this. :Stupid ponies and their stupid nudity: I try my best to put my thoughts to the side and focus on answering her to get out of here without embarrassing myself more or prolonging things. I don't have particularly high hopes for that though.

An hour later I step out of the boutique with a tired and still slightly embarrassed expression. Entropy lands on me and tilts her head a bit, "Why red?" She asks and I nearly glare at her as my blush comes back again. I don't glare though as she's not doing that intentionally, at least I think so?

I sigh and turn to her. "No reason, let... Let's just get home for some lunch." She wags her tail at that and I cast my wing spell despite there being ponies that notice, I don't care anymore. As I fly an unlikely but concerning thought strikes me.

When they meet Cadance can never know, I'll never hear the end of this if she does.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 995

So, I didn't do anything spicy for a while and this chapter was shaping up to be a bit too boring. I do find it interesting how few stories ever point out just how different ponies are to humans in this department, some do it really well though.

Ponies, and horses, have more sensitive skin at certain points from what I know, I'm not an expert though. And a world without clothes is something a human mind may never full get used to, poor Shade.

Also, Metal Quake. A small unicorn smith that talks a little out of the ordinary. Did you know dwarf ponies exist? I decided to be a little more literal then that.

Chapter 221

AUG 17 Thursday.

I stare a little blankly at the two packages set on my kitchen counter.

I just got them both from the building manager after asking about mail, apparently they got one a few days ago but had something to do so didn't get it to me when he got it. Which was a little worrying, this particular package is important and I was getting a little concerned that it was a few days late.

I was planning to go to the forging guild tomorrow if it didn't arrive but it seems things worked themselves out. I sigh a little and open the box after seeing the sender's name, Metal Quake. Inside is a large amount of paper cushioning and a smaller box, the small box opens to show a tiny green band of metal.

One thing I have found interesting about this world is that ponies are much better at detail work when smithing than humans ever could be, I blame magic and spells. Ponies are able to forge things that shouldn't really be possible with nothing but a hammer and anvil. And yet they do so anyway.

The small band of greenish gray mithril, studded in a ring of twenty-seven small very pure diamonds, the entire thing is tiny, small enough to not weigh much on Entropy's leg. The mechanism to latch the band to her lag is very simple, two tiny rings of metal sit to one side with a third piece of metal dangling to latch them together on one side of the band.

On the other side is a hinge, a really fucking tiny hinge. This is what really fucks with me, how the hell do you make a hinge that small with a hammer? Did they use metal manipulation spells? Actually, Metal Quake is a master smith so she'd probably know a few, though, metal manipulation spells are not an easy thing to learn or use and takes a lot of magic. Maybe that's something to look into later?

Either way, I didn't specify how the band should attach and detach, I don't know enough to know what is truly possible, but still it came out really good and should be easy enough for Entropy to take off and put on. I glance into the box and see a small card inside, which I pick up and read.

This was interesting to make, come see me again if you have something fun that needs smithing.

I chuckle a bit and keep the card as it might have some use to it. I study the band for another moment before glancing over at Entropy atop her perch as she sleeps. I want to open my other package, but I need to do this before she wakes up and notices. I cast a spell to quiet my movement and make my way to my workroom without her knowing.

I sit down and take out some notes to start the process in full. Over the last few weeks, I've continued to steadily work on my three spells. The Love Gathering Spell, or LG spell for short, is still being worked on and I'm definitely taking my time to do things properly.

It's a balance between complex and efficient, and it's taking time, but that's not a bad thing. The other two spells, the illusion for Entropy, and the Changeling Sensory Attack, C.S.A spell are done already as it proved pretty simple to make. Let's start with the illusion spell though.

It really just was me improving on what was already there, and after the improvements, it costs less magic while looking even more accurate to an actual crow. I'll probably work on it more at certain points to try and improve it further but there really isn't too much to say about this spell.

Meanwhile, the C.S.A spell also proved to be surprisingly simple to make, all I needed in the end was the emotional shield spell I already had and a bit of creativity.

Now instead of keeping the emotions inside, it prevents emotions from passing through it in either direction at all. It should prevent a Changeling from absorbing or sending emotional magic out of their body. I will need a test subject though, I might have to convince Celestia on that one as it's not exactly a nice thing to test on them, it's also not dangerous though so I think she'll agree.

After sorting through my notes I start with enchanting the mithril band. I start by enchanting each small diamond and the band to gather and store magic, then I link each diamond to the band before enchanting the illusion spell onto the band, along with a very simple Scanning spell to locate where Entropy is for the illusion to be placed properly.

I stare at the band and try to do the mental math after the quick enchanting process, I'm not entirely sure if this will be enough to power the illusion continuously, but it should be from what I can tell. The band is mostly ready so I leave it here to keep it a surprise while I go satisfy my curiosity and retrieve Entropy.

I walk out of the workroom and leave Entropy alone for a moment to open the other package I got today, this one makes me blush a bit after remembering the whole mess it took to get it. It's not really Rarity's fault, she was doing her job and was pretty professional while dealing with a stallion who couldn't fully control themselves.

As for the staring? Well, I do the same from time to time, even if I try my best not to, it's not exactly easy to do when nopony wears clothes. I shake my head a little and get those thoughts out of my head before I have to deal with another thing today. I open the box and see a small note inside.

This suit came out fabulously, I hope you like it. No need for payment either, I insist.

I left Rarity with my address so she could just have it delivered to me instead of me coming to pick it up, I would rather not see her for the next few weeks by which time I will have mostly made myself forget that event. It did mean though that she got away with me not paying her.

Maybe I could drop some bits off next time I'm in Ponyville? Thoughts for later. I open the larger box more to see a nice suit neatly folded up inside, the deep black fabric contrasting with lines of silver that glint a little in the light. She must have really been motivated to get it done so quickly.

I pick it up with my space magic and get a better look at the entire suit. The suit itself is like the others I've owned, but the pattern stitched into the black fabric brings a whole new feel to it. The silver thread fomes vines that crawl from the bottom of the suit up, splitting into leaves and flowers as it rises.

I don't recognize this type of vine, but above the last of the vines and covering the top third of the suit sits many pinpoints that mimic star constellations in the night. The quality is as high as I expected with not a stitch out of place, it's honestly impressive how well-made this is. It might have actually been worth the embarrassment, hmm, on second thought no.

Still, it is a very good suit, I do think it could be less flashy though. On the other hoof, it is the Gala so not too many ponies will really notice another fancy and unique-looking suit, or at least not notice it for long until they see something even more interesting. I pack it away again taking care to not crinkle or mess it up, it will certainly look interesting, I wonder what Celestia will think?

I leave it be for the moment and focus on giving my family member a gift, along with some experimentation afterward. I had an interesting idea that I'd like to test, but this comes first. I walk over and stand at the base of her perch. "Entropy?" I call out quietly while shaking her a bit with my field instead of my space magic.

She pulls her head out from under her wing and looks down at me with a slight grogginess. "What?" She caws softly while stretching out her wings.

"Sorry to wake you, but I need your help with something." I keep my normal tone and she doesn't need to hear more than that before flying down to stand on my back while I walk back into my workroom. When we make it to my desk she takes notice of the band and hops onto the desk to look at it closely.

She doesn't peck it and keeps a little distance, I long ago taught her to not touch anything in this room without asking first. "Pretty, why? Do what?" She looks back at me with her slight head tilt she often does.

I pet her and feel my hoof shift through the warm feathers made from pure shadowy mist and spines. "You'll see, for now just watch for a bit." I lead her curiosity on and retrieve another item I'll need, I use my space magic to bring over a small pot with a single tiny plant stump in it.

I cut off the upper part of the plant in preparation for this. I place the metal band atop the plant's stump and keep it as still as possible while I focus on my work. I watch and sense as the small plant of Iron Oak starts to grow to cover the band in a very thin layer of bark-less wood.

I cover all the diamonds and only leave the latch and hinge free from a coating of wood. Then I dump more life magic into the wood and turn it into Steel wood. I could stop there but I really want this to be durable so I decide to just dump all my life magic inside and watch the wood slowly become more and more gray.

I never tested how far I could really push the Iron Oak with how much life magic I have now, another thing to test later. I don't really know what to call this new form of Iron Oakwood, it's still similar enough to Steel Wood to share a name for now. It's grayer than Steel wood and even makes a slight metal sound when it falls against my desk.

I decompose the band from the plant stump and put the pot to a side before casting a spell and enchanting the thin layer of wood now on the band. It's now thicker in some places and rounds the band out to hide the diamond's shape from the outside, a few spots of the mithril still stick out but they are minimal and I doubt anypony would recognize it easily.

Entropy watches the entire process patiently and gives me a curious stare as I smile at her. I pick up the bands with my space magic before maneuvering it to her left leg. She lets me do so and watches on as I latch it in place. "You know how I was making a Gift?" She bobs her head a bit and I notice her tail feathers wagging. "I hope you like it."

She starts mini-hopping from leg to leg and looks up at me again. "Me?" I nod and chuckle a bit as she rubs against my hoof while chirping happily. "Happy! Pretty! Stay?!" She hops around on the desk testing if it will stay on all the while her tail acts like a fan going up and down.

She looks thrilled before looking up at me and doing something she hasn't done before. She quickly teleports with the band still on her to the floor in front of me and wraps her wings around my belly as best she can. "Love you!" She caws excitedly while hugging me. I sit surprised for a moment before wrapping my forelegs around her.

I smile wider down at her and push her away a little after a moment. "I'm happy you like it, but it gets better. Up." I command and she teleports back on top with excitement clear in her body language. "Ok, now, peck on it gently." She almost looks a little offended at the suggestion and I laugh a little. "It will be fine, go on, three times quickly." I encourage her.

"Ok?" I nod with a smile. She tilts her head down and does as asked, a moment later light shimmers before she transforms into a completely different look. I take a moment to look it over, I'll have to keep an eye on it to see how long it will last. Hopefully, it's fully passive, but it seems to be working currently for now.

She turns her head back towards me but stops when she sees her body. "What?" She holds out a wing before looking over her body, seemingly amazed. I also tell her how to turn it off but she beats me to it, she pecks the band quickly, off and on again and again.

Once she's got a hang of it she shifts from foot to foot rapidly before leaping at me. "LOVE!" She caws out while tackling me to the floor and hugging me again. I laugh as she rubs against me and hug her back for a moment before standing up and placing her down on my desk again.

I feel a warmth in my chest. "I'm glad you love it, but we'll be having a talk about the rules when using it ok?" She rapidly nods her head and I pet her again. "Good, now there is something else I wanted you to do, up for some experimentation?" She tilts her head a bit and it seems to dampen her excitement a small bit, still, she nods quickly.

"Yes." She looks at the band again. "Happy, happy." She says while I flip the switch in my bracelet and activate my illusionary notebook in preparation.

"Ok, try to move into a shadow while keeping it with you," I ask and she closes her eyes for a moment, but expectedly the band drops to the floor as she slips away. "Do you feel like you can take it with you?" She leaves the shadow and shakes her head a little, looking disappointed. "It's ok, a different approach is all we need."

While pondering this problem I had an idea, Entropy is able to move any part of herself into a shadow, so what about parts of herself that aren't actively part of her?, anymore I bring over a cloth-lined wooden box that contains a cracked egg blacker than anything you could imagine, and a single feather made from the shadowy mist that shifts constantly from it, coming from nowhere and vanishing to nowhere.

I take out the feather, and even after a few years, it remains the same shadowy item. I wonder what causes it to retain its magical properties? Either way, I pass it to Entropy. "Remember this?" I ask and she tilts her head again.

"Yes, gift, like?" She asks me excitedly and I give her a smile in return.

"I love it, Girl. Try to move it into a shadow with you, just don't let go if it works, ok?" She bobs her head and picks up the feather in her beak. A moment later I feel my smile stretch widely across my muzzle. Entropy shifts into my shadow and I see her still holding the feather in her beak.

She comes out a moment later with the feather and I shower her with scratches. "Ok progress, good job." She preens at the praise and I put the feather down before passing her a smaller fragment of her egg. "Try with this," I ask and pass it to her.

"What, is?" She asks curiously at the small fragment absorbing all light.

I pause at that. I never did show Entropy her egg, but then again I've noticed she doesn't have the best memory of her first year or so of life, she was young then though so it makes sense. I move the box over to her and show the full egg. "This is your egg, you hatched from it," I explained calmly.

She looks closely at the void in reality that her egg makes. She sits silent for a moment before looking up at me. "Where from?" She asks curiously and my brain stops short.

"I... It's complicated, I found your egg at an auction, a shop. I, I'm not sure where it came from Girl." I try to be gentle with my words. I still remember the conversation I had with my uncle and aunt when they told me about my birth parents and what happened to them. I shake those memories away for now and focus on Entropy. "And I could never have been happier to have found you." I use kind words in hopes of visiting this topic later when she's older.

Her tail wags again and she chirps. "Yes, happy." I move the box away and pet her more before motioning to the fragment again. She picks it up and just like with the feather it enters her shadow with her. After she's done with that I pick her up and give her the band again.

I set her down on my back while walking to the workroom's doorway. "Thank you for the help Girl. Here, you can play and use it as much as you like, but don't lose it, when you're done leave it on my nightstand, ok?" I use a firmer tone to make a point, the normal tone I use to let her know I'm serious.

She takes it from me and puts it on happily before bobbing her head and rubbing against me again. "Ok, thank, love you." I smile as she flies off to the bathroom to probably look in the mirror. I leave her alone and started to organize everything I used while making some more notes.

Entropy, who would have guessed I would be raising a sapient crow when hatching that egg? Not that I have a single regret, Entropy is a light in my life. I place her feather and egg back with a thoughtful look. I'll need to look into magical uses for magical creature parts.

I think that anything she takes with her needs to have a shadow magic affinity to it, the affinity definitely exists out there even if I can't find proof of it. Why do I believe that? Well, if there is an affinity to life and space, why not shadow? The point stands though, it looks like I'll be doing some research.

I smile at the box again and put it back on the shelf. Entropy is such a good girl.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

Not a whole lot in this one, but I thought it would be nice to have a birb focused chapter, we haven't in a while. Any ideas for how Shade could go about adding shadow magic to the band?

Also, a little fun fact about entropy. Her feathers are made of shadow mist, but not the spines of those feathers. So, birb porcupine. That! is some eldritch fuckery.

Also, I'm taking tomorrow off, I know it's a day early but I got stuff that needs doing. Have a good day.

Chapter 222

AUG 21 Monday.

I pet Entropy slowly while focusing my space magic on the delicate task at hoof.

I move another card into place and stop with a smile. I've not been using my TK field as much in favor of my space magic, which comes with a few benefits. I can now accurately move five items simultaneously without difficulty, and I can do eight if I concentrate on nothing but the task.

Unlike my field which has some limitations, I think it's biological in some way, either way, space magic has proven more flexible and has better potential. On the topic, I had a thought about my field when pondering why it has such limitations, and I think it has to do with hooves.

The telekinetic field ponies use to pick things up is consistent across all tribes and members of the pony race. How though? Because ponies aren't the only ones, Zebras, Deer. Yaks, and Donkeys are all races that show the same ability to pick things up with nothing but a hoof.

It's one of the odd things that is weirdly consistent across different races. I'm not sure if that means we share some evolutionary ancestor, maybe some form of life developed this ability so far back in time as to be a common ancestor for all our races?

But then wouldn't other forms of life also have it? I've never heard of an animal or creature that can do it. But I've only ever learned about some magical creatures, mostly those I interact with, and I'm not sure if others would have looked for such a thing in wildlife.

I guess that's yet another thing to research. Either way, back to the main point here, all telekinetic fields that every race uses are centered around the hooves of that creature, always the hooves. I know it can extend beyond that but the effect is strongest at that point meaning it's a safe guess to say it's the source of the TK field.

Does that sound familiar to you? Because to me it sounds damn close to a unicorn's horn. Question? What is a unicorn's horn made from? Honestly? From what I've seen it's not as complex or clear as you'd think. From my time in the hospital, I've seen a few cracked horns and studied them some.

From what I've learned horns are just bones with a core of something structurally similar to bone marrow. Sidenote, that's also why a horn is so sensitive, it's like having a bone exposed at all times, and getting hit on the horn hurts a lot from what I've heard. Back to the point though, by magic, my thoughts never keep on track.

Horns aren't magic for any reason ponies can see, I think there might be some special cells or maybe some magical element in very small quantities inside a horn. But I'm as clueless as everypony else as to why horns work as they do, but this all brings me to a theory I had.

If a horn is just the right biological material, then a ponies hooves might work the same to a lesser degree. It also explains why it's easier for a pony to draw out runic matrixes with a hoof than any other body part. This is also where I think the limitation of my TK field comes back into play.

If hooves have enough of whatever makes us conduct magic, then I expect our bodies to have a limited amount that is in our hooves while a horn would have much more. The limit I encountered is simply what my hooves can do before hitting a hard biological limit, but this also doesn't explain other things.

If the limit is biological then why is it only in this one area? All other magic castings with a horn or otherwise can continue to grow without any end, and I can channel much more magic through my hooves than the field would ever need. Those things could come from two different sources I suppose?

One for my magical changeling and another for the Tk field specifically. Honestly, this entire topic sent me down a rabbit hole with no answers. Do our bodies store our magic? Is the source physical or metaphysical? I suppose there are cases to shift it in either direction.

It makes me question if there really is any logic to magic itself? I leave that question be and look at the entire deck of cards, all assembled into a full house of cards. I manipulate my space magic to pull and start to disassemble the cards back into a neat pile five cards at a time.

Beyond all my theories and questions using space magic instead of my Tk field is going well. I have noticed that the more control I have over my space magic the less of a visual effect occurs, I think it's just me being more stable with my space manipulation.

Either way at this point as long as the items I pick up are less than ten pounds there is no visual effect when using space magic to move things around. So, with all the advantages I have just stopped using my TK field most of the time and use space magic instead.

Along with my endless practice on all these things, my time at the hospital is going well. I'm mostly just continuing to do the same things as before, treating basic wounds under watch and casting a few simple spells. A new healing spell I learned helps speed up the healing process of broken bones.

It's slow and takes patience, but it works, and healing others is a nice feeling. It's also given me an opportunity and the time to really inspect a pony's life magic, and it's proven just how complex any Biomancy truly would be. A single pony has magical flows more complex than any plant I've ever seen, a hundred times over.

It's monstrously complex, and it also pointed out something that I've not tried in years. So far I've only manipulated life by selectively growing or breeding it, but that's not the only choice I have. A lot of the higher-level ways to use life magic are very secretive though.

I'll probably ask Celestia for any books she might have, my point stands though I have limited information. Either way, I've seen references, I know it is possible to permanently modify a plant without selective breeding, to change life not through guided evolution, but instead through direct modification on a living plant.

I have no doubt it will take a lot of life magic, but with the Life Gem that is less of a concern, but having some starting point would be very helpful. For now, though I may do some tests after the Gala, and speaking of the Gala it's about time I get going. "Ready, Girl?"

She moves into my shadow without a word and I stand up to get ready. I've tried looking into how to use elemental parts from magical creatures, and I quickly hit a wall that pissed me off a bit. Turns out, to no one's surprise, many crafting guilds keep such knowledge private for their members to monopolize.

But much like with life magic, I think I'll just ask Celestia. I normally wouldn't ask her for help, but I need to really get out of that mindset when it comes to getting help. In some cases it is good, but in a case like this where getting the knowledge myself would be difficult, to say the least, I need to put my pride aside.

Honestly, if it wasn't for this rare and highly specific knowledge I need, I wouldn't need anything from the royal library. Anything truly advanced in there is still far outside of my reach and any knowledge I currently need is at the city library already.

So I've adopted a policy of asking when needed and doing my own thing otherwise, a nice balance hopefully. I smooth out a part of my suit and finish trimming my mane and chin fluff a bit. I give one last look in the mirror before leaving my apartment and making my way through the very busy streets.

A dressed-up mare passing me on the street smiles and steps in front of me a bit. "Hello there, you off to somewhere handsome? I could use a good party suggestion." From her tone, it's clear this mare is being, seductive. Or at least trying to be, I just step to the side and move past her.

"I'm going home, good night Miss." I lie curtly and speed up a little before turning off to a less busy street. Turns out dressing and looking nice has downsides, who'd have guessed? Seriously though, maybe I should just look ugly? It might actually be worth it to be left alone more often.

Mares can be, persistent, sometimes, most take a no in stride and move on, but I find myself getting more offers as I've grown. It's not every time I go out or anything, but every few weeks one will try to talk to me or make some advances, some less and some more persistent.

I sigh a bit but shape up as I move towards the Gala's entrance. I show my invite and move past the guards without a problem, and once I'm inside things are already happening. I came a little later than last year so I didn't have to wait as much or spend as much time here, but it still seems like things aren't in full swing yet.

I stand in the large ballroom and decide to just wander around the edges of the large room for a bit. The party is not completely full yet but there are still many ponies present, after a bit more time aimlessly walking I just sit at a table and start to draw.

I don't have much else to do so drawing this admittingly interesting event from a corner of the room seems like it would be a nice memory. Honestly, I've been drawing less recently, but not in the way you may think, I draw less for pure pleasure and more for study and documentation.

I drew many things while working on my notes, plants, objects, animals, and places. Most are simple but many are intricately detailed, I honestly don't remember when I started doing this. If I had to guess it started with my notes on plants, I'd draw a few flowers or fruits of a plant I was working with at the time.

As I draw the large stone room with its tall windows and drapes I notice several ponies take note of my appearance, but I also notice a certain young mare walking towards me. Twilight Sparkle, in a deep blue dress, forces me to try not to glance at her flank. She looks a tad bit awkward while walking over to me, "Hey, Shade. Enjoying the Gala? I certai- Oh, what are you doing?" She has a friendly tone and we both ignore any glances at each other's bodies.

I smile back and nod. "It's fine, things are going well so far, but we'll see when things get loud and I get annoyed about it." I joke a bit while she sits with me at the table while moving over a jug of water to fill a cup. "As for this, here. What do you think? I don't think I did the windows quite right."

I ask curiously while showing her the page I've been drawing on. She looks at it for a moment and smiles wider, "It looks great. I, well I'm not really a good artist, can't help much here sorry." I wave her slight nervousness off. "It is really good though, where did you learn to draw like that anyway?" Always full of questions isn't she?

I shrug a little. "I've been drawing for most of my life actually, so I never really learned from anywhere. Although, I do have a friend who's better than me, he helps sometimes." I explain and start to relax more, having a friend to talk to helps, even if she's not a close friend. "Anyway, how have you been? Princess keeping you busy?"

I remember Celestia mentioning something about upping her work after the Summer Sun Celebration, finals I think. She gives me a slightly tired look that makes me chuckle, she gives me a little glare in return. "I'd like to see you try. Yes, I also had to come to the Gala, I was hoping to study for my tests." She mumbles a bit and I laugh as she goes a little more wide-eyed. "Not that this is bad or anything! It's just..."

I nod in agreement as she trails off. "I'm the last pony you need to make an excuse for, if it wasn't for- Well, let's just say a friend gets me my ticket each year and they might get... Pranky." I reveal the truth in the hopes of recovering from my misstep, I really don't like having to juggle truth and lie.

She looks curious but her ear turns at the end. "Pranky, is that even a word? I think I know what you mean though. I know somepony who really likes to pull pranks, she's... I don't know, persistent?" She looks for a word that doesn't seem insulting and I have to hold in a laugh.

I'm pretty sure she means Cadance, and I have the perfect word for her. "Well, at least you don't have to deal with my friend, they are ruthless." I joke about Cadance and laugh internally at the unspoken joke. I close my sketchbook after finishing my drawing. "Well, I'd like to not spend all my time here, want to join me in the art gallery?"

I would rather have somepony to talk to and even with things remaining a tad bit awkward, Twilight is still fun to talk to. She raises a brow, "There is an art gallery?" I chuckle and she looks a bit embarrassed. "Well, how was I supposed to know, ok!? I thought this was the, The Gala." She motions to the large room and keeps a somewhat quiet if high-energy tone.

I laugh fully at her defense but don't take it too far, no need to make her feel bad instead of embarrassed. "Fair enough, it took me two years to realize the same thing. But you didn't really answer my question, maybe I should have added some spell formulas to keep your attention." I use a joking tone to tease her.

She just pouts a bit. "Yes, I think it'd be nice to get some air at least, and maybe you could?" I chuckle again as she actually takes me up on my teasing offer.

"Why not, you know anything about healing spells? I think you mentioned learning something like that not long ago?" I ask while leading her through the increasingly busy party. "I myself have a pretty big interest in healing in general, I even spend some of my free time volunteering at a hospital."

She perks up at the change in topic and nods to my question before stopping abruptly and she looks surprised. "You volunteer at a hospital? Why? I-I mean that's amazing and very kind of you to help ponies like that, but why?" Her tone has curiosity to it and I knew she wouldn't let the topic slip past.

I wanted to bring this up with all my friends, and Twilight was the only one who didn't know, and it makes a half-decent topic. "Thanks, as for why? I've always liked medical texts and healing spells, I enjoy learning about them, but getting to actually practice can be difficult. So, I volunteer."

She looks intrigued, but gives me a slightly odd look. "That sounds a bit, messy, aren't you grossed out? Also, your talent is for magic right? I mean, doesn't doing that seem, limiting in some way?" Her tone is primarily curious, and I would be a bit insulting if she wasn't genuinely curious.

I shrug a little. "It depends on the day, but I've seen a lot of messy scenes, and no not really. As for my cutie mark? I don't think that really matters all that much to me. But enough about me, what have you been studying recently?" I can tell she's a bit stuck on the cutie mark part.

It's a part of life in Pony society, many different beliefs hover around cutie marks but a popular one is simple, You are best at your talent so why do anything else? I don't give a fuck about that, I would have done the same things in this life even if not having my talent would make it harder.

She looks like she wants to debate me and keep talking about it, but that is cut off when we enter the art gallery. It distracts her from the topic, "Oh, wow! How did I not know about this?! Oh! I've seen something similar to this one, where though?" She gets excited and I'm able to avoid the topic, I don't think she'll be learning that lesson for a while yet.

One thing I've learned about Twilight is that she can be very stubborn, especially when she wants to be right. Honestly, I don't know how to help with that, I'm not even sure if I can. Convincing ponies with the right words is far off from any skill I have, any attempt from me would probably involve many colorful words. So I just drop the topic or concede to her point, it keeps the peace in our small friendship.

She walks over to a painting of a forest and looks it over curiously. "I wonder where I saw it? A museum, or maybe a private collection?" The upside to dealing with Twilight is she can get distracted if shows something new or interesting to her. She turns back to me a bit sheepishly. "S-Sorry, what did you ask?"

I chuckle again and look at the painting. "I asked what you've been studying, but now I'm curious where you've seen a private art collection. Either way, I've spent some time looking into different magical creatures, and it's proven very interesting. Did you know a Phoenix can make their fire act like actual fire?" I move our topic along and ignore the previous part of the conversation.

She tilts her head a bit and seems to make a mental note of that. "Creatures? Wait, they can? Hmm. The Princess has been having me learn about Enchantments, it's been so boring?" I raise a brow and she waves her hoof a bit. "W-Well, it's interesting magic! But come on, spells are so much more fun to learn." She complains a bit.

Now this is a topic I can happily argue over. "Maybe, but spells are also very fragile, I'd like to see a spell last more than a few days without costing a stupid amount of magic. I personally prefer enchantments, I find the process of laying spells into an object and creating a form of stable magic enjoyable." I flaunt my preference fully.

She sighs a little. "The Princess says the same thing, but it is so, slow! I have to spend so long writing out the matrices." She complains and I raise a brow, she notices and elaborates, "She insists I do it with runic magic. It's supposed to make me think about how and why the spell is the way it is, and supposedly how to change it." I nearly laughed a little at that.

I've told Celestia in the past that I often stare at a spell matrix to come up with ideas on how to modify or improve the spell. It seems Celestia took that as a good lesson, something I can agree with. I nod in agreement, "I can see how that would be useful, well, we still have some time, want me to show you a few drawing tricks to help?" I offer and her ears perk up.

Her smile is all the answer I need.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

This will be continued, have a good night.

Chapter 223

AUG 21 Monday.

I smile and laugh a bit as Twilight draws on the piece of paper I gave her, she gives me a slightly annoyed look but keeps trying anyway. "Good tip, move the paper to a smoother surface if you see lines like this. Or try to hold it in your magic, just don't let it move."

She does just that with a small smile. We're currently sitting on a bench on the outside of the Gala building that overlooks the gardens, and are just drawing together and talking, it's nice. But, it quickly became apparent to me that Twilight doesn't really dislike runic magic, more so she just doesn't really enjoy drawing all that much.

She can do it but she simply doesn't enjoy the process as much as I would, which is fine it's not something everypony likes doing. "How are you so good at this? It's so... Finicky." She complains a bit more but her smile has stayed even as I help her with several mistakes she commonly makes.

I shrug. "Practice, so very much practice. You could say I was drawing before I was born." I joke and she gives me an odd look. "What? It's true after all." I again use an overly obvious joking tone, but I also don't lie in the slightest. "We probably should get back to the main event, can't have the Princesses personal student absent after all." I tease her and she's able to brush it off by rolling her eyes a bit.

She looks a bit relieved at not having to draw anymore, she nods and passes me the quill while keeping the half-done drawing. "You're probably right. Thanks for the help by the way, drawing is just not easy for me. I can't seem to get it right." I've noticed she has a little frustration over the fact she's not the best at drawing.

We stand up and start to walk while I store the drawing supplies in my suit's inner pockets. "Maybe, but are you better than when you started?" I ask, trying to lighten things up. As we walk back into the hallways the amount of ponies increases the closer we get to the ballroom.

She sighs a little but nods in agreement. "I guess, but it just takes so long, and studying didn't really help too much, for some reason." I nod in agreement, books can help with a great many things but drawing is a skill that can be hard to teach at times, and to be honest Twilight just doesn't have much talent in drawing.

I chuckle. "You remember that friend I mentioned? The one who's better than me?" She nods. "I've been drawing most of my life, and beyond." She rolls her eyes at that but giggles. "He's literally missing a limb, and he's still got me beat in so many ways. Drawing isn't for everypony, but you can always improve." I give some odd encouragement.

She blinks surprised but looks thoughtful at my statement. Our conversation dies down as we enter the bustling ballroom, it seems we picked the perfect moment to join back in. Right after we move to a table filled with food and drinks, the entire mob of ponies quiets a bit and looks over to one side of the room.

In dresses that mimic their coats Cadance and Celestia enter the ballroom. They both spot me easily and I see Celestia smile a small bit in my direction, luckily most ponies who notice look at Twilight, which is fine by me. Honestly, Celestia herself looks very, nice... I'm going to ignore that line of thought for the time being.

Celestia is wearing a flowing dress that is pure white with gold trim, interestingly enough her dress has sunflowers stitched into it. Cadance has a dress that is also the color of her coat, with hearts covering it, to no pony's real surprise. :Really going for the theme huh?:

They do look really nice, but I stop looking to not feel awkward. I turn back to Twilight, "Do you know what my first thought was when I first saw Princess Celestia?" I feel off using her title. My odd question gets her to turn back to me with a raised brow. "That she has great presentation," I say seriously.

She gives me a confused look. "I mean, yes? I don't think I've ever heard somepony say it like that." She admits. "When was the first time you saw The Princess? I still remember mine, I was amazed. I mean, it IS Princess Celestia." She looks off a bit remembering something unknown.

I ignore the hero worship. "She seems to have that effect on ponies, as for me? I was, seven? Somewhere around there. The orphanage took us to the Summer Sun Celebration, like I said, great presentation." I chuckle a bit at a different memory. "The second time was more interesting, I just starte-" My words and thoughts abruptly cut off.

I feel a little dread as my senses, both magical and normal go wild absorbing information around me while my thoughts focus heavily. My bracelet is warm against my left foreleg. :SHIT, HOW THEE FUCK!!!: I know for a fact every guard here has something to find a Changeling, so how is one here?

It could just be a normal illusion? But it would have to be a very powerful illusion to evade the guard's detection, and if a pony goes that far to make something look different then that's still a pretty big problem.

Twilight gives me a look and I wave a little. "Sorry, just got an idea, a week struggling to work out a spell and I have the thought now of all times. Ugg, you know what? I'm heading to the restroom to make a note and do my business, I shouldn't take long." I lie through my teeth as best I can while trying to act normal.

She giggles a bit at me but seems completely understanding. "I can sympathize, I always have my best ideas while in the middle of class, not that they'd let me test them there. I'll probably go find Shining then, I think he's near Princess Cadance, meet me there when you're done?" I nod in agreement and she stands up before walking off while my eyes shift to a slightly brighter green.

I know the range of my bracelet, and in the fifteen feet around me there are only four ponies with any large jewelry that haven't moved away from the table I'm at. I've used a few things to narrow my search down some, mainly the fact that they must have something to hide themselves.

All the guards have something to detect Changelings, and I expect the entrances have the AOE version of the Changeling detection spell, but all of those have a flaw. If the magical item powering the Changelings counter spell is powerful enough then it would still be able to hide them completely.

With how many guards need bracelets and how expensive small high-quality gems could be there is simply no way to get enough gems to counter a single Changeling buying better gems for their counter spell. And considering my bracelet is only somewhat reacting to their presence, I know they have something pretty good powering that counterspell.

It puts me on edge, but I'm also not sure what to do. I picked out the four, wait. Nope, one moved out of range of my bracelet, so there, three different ponies that could be around me. What to do? I have no way of telling which is which, hell there could even be more than one of them.

I'm mostly calm about the situation, the guards are everywhere and that keeps me mostly calm, but this is still something that needs to be addressed. I could tell a guard? But that's a long shot and there would be many questions. I can't tell the princesses in any discreet way, hell I can't even have Entropy warn them for fear of being heard or spotted with how many ponies are paying attention to the Princesses.

I look over the three ponies in casual ways to not draw attention to memorize their looks and cutie marks, after a few minutes a thought comes to mind and I look around the room. I'm taller than the majority of ponies so it doesn't take me too long to spot what I'm looking for, Shining Armor.

He's near Cadance but off to the side talking to Twilight. It's not perfect, but he is my best bet considering the situation. I stand up from the table and head to the restroom like I said I would. I get inside and wait to be alone for a moment, once there is nopony left in the room I take out some paper and start to write.

My message is short and simple, it just tells him that one pony out of the three I suspected is very likely under an illusion, which is obviously prohibited at an event like this. I don't mention Changelings specifically but I do word it to point in that direction, I'm not sure if he knows about them yet but I suspect he likely does.

I cast a Silence spell over myself and turned to my shadow. "Girl? Are you awake?" I get a chirp in response and see her on top of my shadow. "Good, I have a task for you. You remember Shining?" She bobs. "He's on the left side of the large room near Cadance, go find him as a shadow, look around the area, and then come back quickly." She tilts her head a bit but disappears quickly hearing my serious tone.

I spend a minute actually using the bathroom and calm down a bit more, I'm not that worked up as it is but this has still got me on edge. Luckily she returns quickly. "Found, why?" She asks softly to me.

I smile at my shadow. "Good, is there anywhere near him you could teleport without being seen?" I remember his being at a table and those have tablecloths that hang to the floor. She bobs after a moment, "Perfect, take this paper, go to him, and pass it off to him, do not be seen. If you can't do it just come find me as a shadow, ok?" This entire thing is a bit risky, but this keeps things quiet and me mostly out of it.

The only reason I'm not tying all three ponies down with spells is to protect my anonymity, and that fact Celestia would be pissed I involved myself again. She leaves my shadow and rubs my hoof, "Ok, stay safe." She promises and takes the paper before vanishing. I wait in the restroom for a full two minutes before quickly but calmly leaving to look over to Shining.

He's still at the table, Luckily Twilight is talking to somepony I don't know, they look like a noble, good to know she deals with their shit too. I take a calming breath and act normal, and after that moment I see Shining jump a bit and move a leg further from the table, he looks down and I see him holding a piece of paper a moment later. I feel Entropy's life magic move back to my shadow while I cancel the silence spell over myself.

This plan is a bit rushed and far from perfect, but the worst-case scenario is that the ponies get interrogated a little before being let go. It might just be a normal pony with an illusion, in which case they will face the consequences of breaking the law. If it is a Changeling? Well, Shining can handle that.

I slowly start to make my way towards them as Shining looks around before locking eyes with me, I just nod silently and he talks to Twilight a bit before walking away from them while I approach Twilight and the stallion she's talking to. "Sorry, that took a bit. Huh? Shining's busy even at the Gala? Shining certainly works hard." I say in a joking tone while joining her at the table.

She also looks a bit confused as well but chuckles a little at my words. "Yes, he really tried hard to stay. But he's a guard captain for good reason, not that he isn't annoying." I raise a brow at that. "W-Well, he is?" Twilight grumbles about her older brother like siblings tend to do.

I just laughed for a moment and saw the other pony she was talking to look at her. "I really must be going, have a good night Miss. Twilight." The stallion she was talking to moved off seemingly losing all interest in the conversation and not even letting Twilight say anything in response before moving away.

I turn to Twilight with a confused look. "Sorry if I interrupted your conversation. Considering they were a bit rude I think I made things worse." I apologize as I was a bit rushed in my attempt to act normal. It is still rude to leave like that at an official event like this.

Twilight actually seems to relax more after they are gone. "N-No, I probably should thank you, talking to nobles like him can be... Tiring." I laugh at her annoyed look and nod in agreement, I know that feeling all too well. She turns back to me from some food to say something but looks past me with a much more attentive look.

I am already aware that Celestia is near us, but I turn to see that she's now moving over to us directly. I wondered when she'd come over to talk, this should be fun. :Wait?: I realize something too late while giving Celestia a quick bow. "My student, Mr. Evergreen." She uses my last name and I almost use hers in response.

I realized that with Twilight here I need to act formally with Celestia, and that just annoys me. "I'm honored to be remembered, Your Highness." I force a formal tone and stand up straight with Twilight doing the same.

"Princess Celestia." Her tone is also formal, but she actually uses her name. I quickly notice Celestia doesn't seem to have cast any privacy spell on us, as ponies are whispering about our words. :Magic damnit Celestia:

Celestia smiles at both of us and sits on the other side of me. :And now I'm trapped in between them, not again!: "I hope you are both enjoying the Gala, it is a rather splendid event after all. But I suppose you both have more academic pursuits on your minds?" She asks with some humor.

Twilight blushes a bit but I just nod in agreement. "I suppose drawing is a part of magic, Your Highness. For runic casting if nothing else." I agree and decide to have a little fun with this even if I have to suffer with this so does she. "The piano music is certainly a favorite of mine, my compliments to the pony that picked it," I ask while guessing the answer.

I've heard her playing this one before and I see a tiny twitch in her lips at the mention, my guess was correct then. "I must agree, I certainly enjoy it as well. I myself picked it in fact, with some suggestions." She hints subtly to me. I remember telling her it sounded nice, I guess that was enough?

While we talk Twilight gets more confused before looking up at Celestia. "Princess? You like piano music? I, wasn't aware." She asks curiously and I see Celestia realize what I just did.

She smiles in that soft way that makes it seem as if everything is fine. "I'll admit I have a proclivity for the music. Now, you were talking about drawing? Anything interesting?" She changes the subject back on us, something that puts Twilight on the spot.

She looks a bit uncertain before taking out the half-done drawing she made. "Yes? I mean, Shade was nice and helped me with a few things. But-" She's cut off from Celestia smiling happily and looking at the drawing. "I-It's not the best, but I did get the shading right?" She states it more as a question and I have to force down a laugh from being put in a spotlight in front of so many.

I just sit in the middle as she passes the page back. "It certainly is a marked improvement, so quickly as well. Mr. Evergreen certainly helped it seems." She subtly teases us both, but Twilight at least gets to look proud of her progress. "How have your studies gone Mr. Evergreen? It's been a while since we last met."

I shrug a little as Twilight also pays attention, her using my last name is annoying, and I can tell she's enjoying that. "Well enough, I've been looking into magical creatures actually, it's been interesting, if a little time-consuming. I find many books on the subject to be... Divisive."

Ponies create all kinds of rumors about magical creatures they consider scary, it makes researching them and getting accurate information a bitch and a half. I watch as a pony walks over to us and gives a bow to Celestia.

We all turn to see Velvet looking at us, including me with some surprise. "I'm sorry to interrupt Princess, but Twilight does need to head home." She keeps a formal and respectful tone. Twilight looks reluctant but not surprised, and neither does Celestia.

Celestia nods. "Yes, unfortunate timing for tests to be tomorrow. I wish you both a good night." She says calmly and nods to them a bit.

Velvet nods and Twilight smiles back at us. "Goodnight Princess, I'll do my best, I promise." She says before turning to me. "Goodnight Shade." I just nod back as she walks off into the party with her dam.

A moment later Celestia turns back to me and smiles, "I cast a spell. So, Mr. Evergreen, how have you actually been liking the Gala?" Her expression stays the same but her tone changes to be much more relaxed.

I nearly sigh but keep up appearances. "Well, Miss. Solis, was her early exit actually planned to be this soon?" I ask to confirm something I suspect.

She catches my change in tone and nods curiously. "Yes, unfortunately, she does have school tomorrow, a rather important test actually, so Velvet insisted on her leaving early to get rest. Why? What did you do?" She is a bit concerned about my tone.

I sigh a bit and bring over some juice to the table realizing my guess was wrong. "Everything is fine, but my bracelet got a little warm if you know what I mean?" She catches on immediately and her eyes narrow a slight bit at me. "I didn't do anything!" I quickly defend myself. "I narrowed it down and had Entropy pass a note to Shining, I didn't even speak about it," I explain quickly so as to not receive a verbal lashing.

Her eyes soften a bit at me but I catch this undercurrent of something, angry. "Tonight of all nights, and with so many of my little ponies." Her looks are the same but her tone has an edge to it. She takes a breath and gives me a reassuring look. "Thank you, we'll talk more later. You learned your lesson it seems, for them at least. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you end up in a fight with another dragon." She half-jokes and I can see she's trying to help me stay relaxed about everything.

I'll admit I felt a little tension in me since I found out about it. I chuckle a little and shake my head, "A fight? Preferably not, a sparring match though? Well, that's another thing entirely." I relax my body and sigh again. "I really hope it's just some entitled noble under an illusion," I admit trying to make light of the situation like her.

There is silence for a moment before turning back to her. "I need something to distract myself, any good topics or ideas? Because I would rather not think about this until I convince myself with some crazy idea." I say dead honestly to which she looks a bit thoughtful.

"Well, I do occasionally dance with a pony at the Gala, but I think you wouldn't like that attention, to no pony surprise." She teases and my reaction is more blank than I think she expected. "Also, I like the suit, I didn't think you'd go with silver though, green would have been better." She comments while inspecting the suit.

My internal emotions war with themselves for a moment. "I didn't get a choice on that part actually, my tailor is, persistent. ..." I've seen Celestia dance with ponies sometimes, and it draws a lot of attention. :Ahhh, fuck it: I give her a smirk, "Prepare to be surprised, fair warning though, I can barely dance at all." I agree to her offer despite my paranoia and distaste of attention screaming at me internally.

Celestia blinks a bit stunned before smiling widely down at me. "Then color me surprised, now come on, let's see if they will show your picture in the paper for this." She stands up and I nearly don't follow her hearing that.

I did agree so it's too late to back out, so I do follow her albeit reluctantly. "You're not serious, right? Right?" I ask with concern as we walk out onto the ballroom floor.

A few moments later I'm standing next to her with far too damn many eyes on me. :I regret everything: Celesta holds out her hooves, "Shall we?"

I try not to embarrass both of us while standing on my back hooves and desperately trying my best to remember what Twilight showed me last year. "As long as I'm not blamed for embarrassing the crown? I'm going to regret this." As I hold her hooves and try to work around the size difference to dance properly.

She giggles a bit. "You are far from the first in this position. After all, I danced with many ponies, sometimes they were nobles who I found, unpleasant, and who didn't know how to dance." Celestia hints at another thing she does to subtly mess with other ponies. "As for regretting it? I'll just have to fix that. Now, right hoof forward, and follow my lead."

As we start to dance I try my best to keep up and also really try to ignore the look I catch from Cadance out of the corner of my eye. I also don't miss the pony with a camera that took a picture, several in fact. :Welp, I'm officially fucked: But, something about Celestia's slightly excited smile makes it all, just a little, TINY bit, worth it.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 995

Shade's friends are about to lose their shit, it should be fun. I really tired to think of how Shade would deal with a Changeling in this situation, and this felt the most real to me, even if it's a bit boring.

Chapter 224

AUG 27 Sunday.

I take a breath while holding my staff next to me in my outstretched hoof.

The Gala was, a lot, and it actually got a little worse for me but I'll get to that. I haven't heard anything about the Changeling but that probably means things are under control. The dance with Celestia was honestly very, nice, I don't know how that slots into all my thoughts and questions. Still, I can admit I enjoyed the activity with her and would like to do so again if I ever can.

This did come with a downside though, the newspaper was released two days ago, and I even went out of my way to buy one. It's both bad and good news. The bad news is that I did get my picture in the paper, front page and all, it's there and ponies sure as hell will notice.

The good news is that most newspapers very rarely print in color, so the picture doesn't have any color to it, and the angle makes my cutie mark hard to make out in any detail. Overall, I know those who see me often will probably recognize me, but I walked past several ponies reading and discussing that exact page and they didn't recognize me so there is hope there.

I also noticed that the article was mostly talking about Celestia and how kind she is to interact with a pony at the Gala and things like that, it even makes comments about several events like this in the past. There is a part commenting about who I could be and speculation about me, but it's mostly small and not too extreme.

My name is also not even in the newspaper at all, I think Celestia managed to make this a bit better for me by focusing things on herself once again. With the off angle and the way the article is worded, it feels likely she shifted things on purpose.

I'll have to ask about that I guess. This all brings me to another problem that I've been avoiding a bit, my friends. I haven't seen any of them yet but by coincidence, our next game night is later today and I'm mentally preparing for the conversation I know is coming.

So I decided to spend some of my day distracting myself with some experimentation and relaxation. I just opened my box to retrieve my staff and I also gathered several other things I'll need for today, Blueberry and Raspberry seeds, a few pots, and a Birch seed.

I gather everything and head outside of my shack while enjoying the sunny day, Entropy flies off my back to explore a bit and I chuckle as she starts to do some aerial tricks. I pause a bit after passing my herb garden noticing something on the message board.

It's a small note with a photo attached to it. I thought you might like a memento. I smiled a bit and the picture of me and Celestia dancing, this picture is of better quality and is in color. I take it down with a smile and spend a moment putting it in my shack somewhere safe before continuing.

It is nice to have something of the night, even if I have to deal with some ponies recognizing me. I pause a bit as I'm reminded of a certain mare who would definitely see this news and recognize my suit, it seems I'll be avoiding Rarity for a bit longer than planned. I shudder a bit and sit in the pavilion to actually start working.

I set a few soil-filled pots down along with the seeds and my staff, I take a moment to go through my recent notes on my plant breeding. I've continued very slowly breeding the Copper Lily to be smaller and smaller, at this point it's half the starting size and that is speeding things up.

I can grow twice as much as normal and it's going well, if slowly. Beyond that I've had some interesting time trying to crossbreed the Iron Oak and Fire Blossom Tree, I've gotten a few successful results but they have been middling at best, mostly though it is slow going.

The result loses a lot of both of the effects as expected, but on top of that, it's taken a large amount of magic to grow those few good results. I think it's because creating a strong, fire-resistant wood has a slight problem. To put it simply, I think having two strong magical effects is increasing the cost more than normal.

That's my best guess at least, the best result I have gotten has been decent but I think I'll keep crossbreeding in hopes of a better result before selectively breeding it from there. All of this though is not what I actually want to do today, I want to test permanent plant modification.

I tried once in the past but my control and magical reserves were lacking to really get a good result. So now I want to test it again and see if it's actually viable, even if I haven't gotten the opportunity to ask Celestia for the knowledge she may have on the topic, something I will be doing next time we meet.

I expect to have some type of meeting with her soon enough, which is good because I need to schedule a meeting with a Changeling in the next month or so. The love-gathering spell shouldn't take more than a few weeks to smooth out and be ready for testing.

I focus my mind on the task at hoof and place the two different berry seeds in a pot each before growing them into small bushes. I have both of them grow flowers and start to cross-breed them by moving pollen with my space magic from one plant to the other, and then I change things up from how I normally do.

I focus my Will and life magic completely on my thoughts, I try my best to keep my mind and Will focused on my want and start to pull on my life magic to move it into the Blueberry bush. The drain is far higher than normal and I have to really keep my mind and life magic under control the entire time, but something is happening.

It also takes a few moments longer than normal before several Blueberries fruit on the bush. I take a deep breath and notice that the process took nearly ten times more life magic than doing this normally would, it's still only an overall small amount of my total magic but it's a notable jump in cost.

The Blueberries look the same but on the inside the seeds looked different, It definitely did something then. I take a single seed and plant it in another pot, it does nothing so I take another and try again, after several attempts a seed actually sprouts. The result is an odd combination of two plants.

It looks like a normal Blueberry bush with, red Blueberries, Redberries? I eat one and it has an odd taste that feels like a mix of both fruits. Well, it worked I guess, I wanted it to be fully from actual Raspberries but this is a step in the right direction, and one hell of an achievement. I pick a few of these odd berries and decompose the plant before planting some seeds from the berries back in the pot again.

The bush that grows is the exact same, so the modifications I just did are permanent. I take several notes on my success, before going back to the Blueberry bush and picking more modified seeds I started with to plant, some of the seeds spurt and grow into plants, but most don't and the ones that do are always different.

The bush is always a normal Blueberry bush but the fruit is a mix of the Blueberry and the Raspberry, but never a full Raspberry like I envisioned. Some have the same color but the wrong shape, some are weird combinations with patches of both berries, and they all look mutated.

I've decided to name this new branch of life magic Guided Evolution, simple but to the point. As far as I can tell with enough life magic, control, and Will, I can actually directly affect plants and even specific parts of a plant. But the result is still inconsistent much like with crossbreeding.

But, the ability to guide the changes is a big thing for me. I leave the berries alone for now and plant the Birch seed before growing it into a small sapling, I watch as it grows and focus my Will again. I try to Will a change in the bark’s color, from white to as red as I could clearly picture in my mind.

I kept regrowing the bark again and again while keeping the change in mind hoping it would show a change quickly, but after using over half my magic the bark's color had only tinged a tiny bit. There is a very, VERY, slight pink hue to the bark now and I regrow the bark again to see if the color persists, it does.

That took an absurd amount of magic for a normal tree and a small change, but it did work. I think it'd take a long time and a lot of life magic and time to change a plant significantly. I guess it's a trade-off, seeds take less magic but are more random, while direct manipulation takes insane amounts of magic while being very accurate.

I have the modified birch grow some seeds and try to modify those to have red bark. After using more of my magic I decompose the sapling and plant one of its seeds. The resulting Birch tree is more red-colored, a very light red, more than my other attempt though.

I finish up my notes and sigh a bit looking at the pots, I'll need a lot more testing to make sense of all this. I drink some tea to recover my magic and start pulling from the Life Gem, let's see what else I can work out today.

time skip

I look over the large amount of unorganized notes in my illusionary notebook. I tested several other things and I'm starting to work out a few details of Guided Evolution, as I'm now calling it.

There is a scale of how easy or hard it is to modify a plant. Crossbreeding with this method is easiest and the cheapest magic-wise, but also the most random in terms of results. Directly modifying a seed from one singular plant is still relatively easy but costs a large amount of magic, the results are accurate if slow. Directly modifying a grown plant is the hardest and most magically expensive for me. But it lets me actively see the results of my work.

I also quickly learned while testing other plants, that the more magical a plant is the more the cost increases. But inversely, the better I understand the magical flows of a plant the less magic and effort it takes. That only helps to a point but it works so I think I'll be spending time studying the magic flows of the plants I work with in much more detail.

All this has definitely proven very useful, it makes any future plants I could make so much easier. And while the cost has gone up using this method is still faster than simple selective breeding, I won't use the method for my more magical plants like the Copper Lily, at least not until I get a lot more practice and possibly some information from Celestia, presuming she has anything like that.

I pause my thoughts when I hear a knock at my door. I glance over to Entropy, "You remember the rules?" I ask and she bobs her head before activating the band around her left leg. "Good make sure to keep on your disgui-"

She looks at me as her body changes. "Dress. Is, dress." She states and I sigh a little. "Like Friend." She says happily while I shake my head a little.

"Fine, your dress, just keep it on." Over the past few weeks I've had Entropy test the band I gave her several times. The band is passive and lasts forever, so I've let her use it anytime her and I go out on my morning run or when we go out shopping. She also stated saying it was her dress after the Gala, and wouldn't take no for an answer.

I leave my thoughts as there is another knock on my door, I flip the switch to turn off the part of the shield around my front door. I hesitate a little before opening the door, and to no pony's surprise, I see three ponies looking at me with curious and demanding looks. "If any of you shout before you get inside I'm filling your beds with glitter dust." I threaten in a deadpan tone.

"Magic knows I'm already dealing with enough." I sigh a little, "Ok, get in and sit down, apparently I have a story to tell. Because I know you all aren't polite enough to take no for an answer." I try to take a joking tone as Maple moves past me.

"Correct." That's all Maple says to me as she walks past me and looks at Entropy. "Hello, Entropy." She moves over to the table while Blaz walks up with a large smirk.

He pats my shoulder while passing while carrying a few things. "Colt, I have never been more proud of you." I glare at him and he laughs while joining Maple at my small table. "Like you said, we're not taking no for an answer."

Finally, Daisy walks over with a hop in her step and a smile that makes me shiver a slight bit. "Shade? How did you get to the Gala? Because the only way I can think of you going again is..." She trails off leaving the secret she knows unsaid. "Either way, I brought cookies to celebrate you being in the paper." She says far too cheerfully.

They are all more right to the table and I can tell they planned this out before hoof, I hate how good they are at not letting me distract them. I close the door and walk over to the table to join them, Daisy is already feeding Entropy a cookie happily. "Ok, nice to see you all, and ground rules first. No yelling, I don't want others hearing us, and get your completely mad theories out of the way first so I can explain without hearing them." I smile a bit as at least part of this can be entertaining to me.

They look at each other for a moment before Maple beats the other two and goes first. "You know Twilight Sparkle, so she got you an invite and the princess fell for you very suddenly." She explains with a tone that holds some actual excitement, while I fight to not blush at the implications there.

I pour down some tea as Blaz goes next. "Same as Maple, but you impressed her with some obscure skill, probably something to do with magic." Ok that one at least makes slightly more sense, just barely though. "Seriously Colt this is just ridiculous! It's literally Princess Celestia." He laughs while exclaiming that.

Finally, Daisy, who's practically vibrating in her seat, speaks up. "I think, you've been secretly dating her behind the backs of everypony because you met at some point, and this is just you being honest with the world." We all give her odd looks. "What? You can't tell me that doesn't explain how much Shade dislikes attention." I nearly let it show just how close she was to the actual truth, but her silly filly-like tone just makes me laugh instead.

She knows damn well why I don't like attention, but it is a funny theory. I take all the theories with humor as despite the topic it is pretty entertaining. "On that topic, you holding up Colt? We all know you don't like the attention, and you really can't get more attention than this." He laughs at the slightly tired look I show in return.

I sigh slowly. "Not many seem to recognize me too much in the picture, but a few definitely have, or at least think they have. Then there are the ponies trying to find out who I am." I heard several ponies discussing that and coming up with theories. Even with the suboptimal photo somepony will find out about me. "You may see less of me at the library for a few weeks."

I get comforting looks in return and Maple smiles at me. "Change your mane, and maybe wear your cloak more?" She suggests and I tilt my head in thought.

My mane was tied back like normal and cutting it short wouldn't be hard, I also have a cloak so why not use it much more often? It's close enough to Fall and Winter that there is a decent amount of rain so few would question it. "That might actually help some. At least more than nothing at all. Thanks." She nods happily.

Daisy looks at me impatiently. "Now." She takes out a copy of the newspaper from her own saddlebags and slams it into the table, the picture in full view. "Explain." She demands with a large smile and a look that shows she really isn't giving me another choice.

I bring over a cookie and eat it quickly before thinking about how best to ward off this. "So, I have a friend, I'm not saying who. But I got an invite, at a price." I hint that I bought my invite, I do have the bits for it after all. "I even got a nice suit, but things went... Really odd."

I drink a little tea. "Ok, you've all seen me talking with Twilight, the Princesses student, before right?" They all nod again. "We're not all that close, friends, but not close friends, as I've mentioned before." They nod again. "At the Gala, we met up and talked, mostly about magic and spells." Blaz huffs out a chuckle at that. "At some point, The Princess came over to talk to Twilight, and I got dragged into the conversation."

Blaz full-on laughs while Maple rolls her eyes a bit. "Only you have more luck than me, not sure if it's good or bad luck though." Maple makes one of her rare jokes and that gets a chuckle out of all of us. "Let me guess? You kept talking about magic?" I stare blankly as she's completely correct. "Of course." Maple giggles a bit.

"Colt! You met the princess of all ponies, and you talked about, magic? Why? At least talk about something more interesting." He asks a little incredulously while doing his best not to be loud. "She's right, your luck is just broken, in both ways." He laughs again.

I roll my eyes at them while Daisy actually starts to take a few notes. :OH, by MAGIC!! Not another one!!!: "Yes I did, she proved to be very knowledgeable about runic magic, I actually learned a few things." Which was true when we first met at the Gala years ago. "But then Twilight had to leave, and the Princess just... Stayed? And kept talking to me."

They don't even look surprised at that. "Eventually, she made a joke about dancing with me, or I think it was a joke? Honestly? I was too nervous from the ponies watching me to really tell." I lie somewhat and try to stick mostly to warped facts. "So I made a joke back, and she took it a bit seriously."

Blaz nearly falls over laughing and even Maple's holding some laughs in. "Shade? Did you literally charm your way into dancing with a princess? HOW? WHY?" Daisy asks, confused about my actions. "You're the least social pony we know, including Maple, why did you even accept the offer?" She asks, getting into the drama of it all.

I see an opportunity to make things more believable and have some fun. I show a defensive expression, "What was I supposed to do? Say no? It's Princess bucking Celestia, it's not exactly somepony you can just turn down in front of hundreds of ponies." I pretend to defend myself before slumping in my seat. "Ugg, so many ponies are going to try and find me."

That is an actual fear of mine, so on top of Maple's suggestions I was already planning to stay out of public for a month or two, minus friends of course. Maple gives me a slightly pitying look, "Your fault, but I can beat you in a game if it will make you feel better?" She asks with a mix of unhelpful reassurance and teasing.

Blaz nods. "She's right Colt cheer up, gossip like this burns itself out quick enough. I've seen more newsworthy scandals than I can count while living here." That actually does help a bit. "But don't worry, we sure as magic won't forget anytime soon. Now give me those cards, I have a winning streak to break." He happily moves past the topic, with a promise to tease me about it, of course.

Daisy smiles like a star. "I'm going to ignore that curse, not like I can stop you now. They are right though, just keep your head down for a bit, and maybe take Maple's advice. On the plus side, you would look decent with a short mane." I take the continued reassurance with a chuckle. "I am getting details though, even if I have to pry them out of you." Her tone gets jokingly serious.

I look at my friends before just laughing at the madness that is my life, I'd pray to Discord but I'm pretty sure that would make it all worse. "One day, I will have nothing interesting happening in my life, one day," I say deadpan, they just laugh more.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

I wanted this to come off as relaxed, but more humorous then anything. I also wanted to show that Celestia wouldn't straight throw Shade into the proverbial deep end, after all what's a little news tampering between friends?

Or at least that's what I think she'd do, it seems right.

Chapter 225

SEP 7 Thursday.

I look closely at the wound on the older mare's side, it seems to not be doing too well. "This was improperly cleaned, you know a cleaning spell for wounds right?" The nurse asks me while we inspect the wound.

The mare is around fifty and came in with an improperly cleaned and bandaged wound she apparently did herself, it's not infected but it could become so if it's left as it is. I nod in affirmative, "I do, is that the best choice here? It could still be cleaned out normally, it might take a while though." I ask not to offer an alternative but to learn.

The nurse stallion tilts his head back and forth a bit. "It could be, but some filth might have settled deep inside, it means you might need to make the wound worse to fully clean it, it's best to use a spell here." I nod understanding the logic. "Are you alright with that Mam?" He asks the mare who's been sitting patiently after we gave her a few herbs to help with any pain.

She nods a bit sluggishly, obviously still somewhat in pain and looking tired. "Yes, if it will help." She doesn't say much as the wound is near her ribs on her side and probably makes it hurt when speaking or breathing deeply.

The nurse nods back, "Ok, give her another dose of Sunlight Sting for the pain." I nod. "Good she needs another dose, clean it out and stitch it up after that, maybe heal the skin a bit to speed things along if you have the magic for it." With that, he moves over to another patient while I begin my work.

I move over to a cabinet in the patient ward we're in and look through the bottles. At first, I thought it was odd that they use so many herbal medicines for treatment, but after a little thought and some questions, it makes sense. In my old world, we focused on making better medicines because we needed them.

Like many things in Equestria though, this field has stagnated for the same reason that others have, magic. Medicinal herbs in this world are more effective because many of them are magical and have greater effects. Combine that with healing magic being available to fall back on and ponies simply put less effort into more advanced medicines because they didn't really need it.

I ignore a few looks I get from ponies in the ward, some from mares for obvious reasons, and a few of curiosity. I've cut my mane down to be short, much shorter than I normally have it, but ponies are still recognizing me. I fucking hate the news right now.

After the newspaper came out ponies have been recognizing me, even with wearing my cloak more often and changing my mane. Turns out finding a tall earth pony in a city of unicorns isn't as hard as you'd think, I've had many ponies stare and several try talking to me over the last week.

Overall though most are content with gossiping about me from the sidelines instead of trying to confront me, and no news reporters have bothered me so far. I actually did some research to try and calm my nerves, and from what I can tell the other examples of this all go down the same way.

Celestia dances with somepony and it's the hot gossip, sometimes it's a noble embarrassing themselves a bit by struggling to dance with somepony of Celestia's height. Or the pony dances with Celestia for a bit before going back to the Gala, then the news runs with it.

They talk it all up and spin a few wild theories, and then things slowly flicker out a few weeks later when the next big thing pops up and everything cycles again. I find the right bottle and take out the proper dosage, inside the herbs are tied into douses so they are similar and consistent, at least mostly consistent.

I move back to the mare with a few dried yellow leaves from a medical herb called Sunlight Sting, it helps with pain in small doses, and in higher ones can kill. "Chew on these for a bit Mam, swallow when they are thoroughly chewed up," I advise and she takes the small leaves to do just that.

Another thing that simplifies herb use is that ponies can eat things humans often couldn't. "I'm going to cast a spell now Mam, it may hurt or feel off, please try to stay still." She nods still chewing slowly and I quickly cast the correct cleaning spell, it takes a moment for the spell to remove all the dirt and anything else in the wound.

This particular cleaning spell is the same one I invented, it's proven very useful to the hospital as it's easier to use than other cleaning spells that accomplish the same things. I take out a needle and some thread as her breathing starts to settle down once I'm done cleaning the wound, good the herb is working.

Sunlight's Sting is a quick-acting herb that mostly helps with pain, but dosage needs to be closely watched as giving too much over a day can be bad. I feel the eyes of the stallion nurse, and a few other nurses that pass by, watching my work somewhat closely, even after all this time I'm not left completely unsupervised.

Not that I disagree in any way, the exact opposite actually. I'm not afraid to say I've made some small mistakes while volunteering here, but those incidents were small and didn't harm anypony. Mostly because I was being watched, so this is something I welcome.

After I stitch the wound closed I tie off the thread and cast another spell, I watch as the edges of the wound near the skin heal a bit, binding to the thread more firmly as it does so. I stop shortly after and double-check the wound before waving over the same nurse when I'm done, they come over having already finished with their patient.

The nurse moves to the mare's side and inspects it for a few moments before nodding. "Hmm, good job, bandage it." I do that as he turns to the mare. "It should heal up fine Mam, but we'd like you to stay for the night if you can?" The mare is even more sleepy now but nods slowly. "Great, we'll have you moved to a room for the night so you can get some rest."

He looks at me and smiles a bit. "You're with the afternoon slot right?" I nod and he motions to a clock in the room I often work in. "You're off for the day, make sure to write down the time." With that, he turns back to the patient and I just take it in stride and leave the room.

I quickly make my way into a staffroom and write down my name and the time in a ledger before opening a locker, inside are my saddlebags and my deep green cloak. I store my volunteer badge in my saddlebags and put on both my cloak and saddlebags on. I make my way out of the hospital, and I stop at a public restroom to both do my business and give Entropy her 'dress'.

She puts it on and transforms quickly so we can both fly home together, something we've made a habit of doing over the last few months. As we fly through the air I start to ponder on my plans and projects. First and foremost is the love-gathering spell I've poured a lot of work into over the last few months.

It's mostly done so I'm onto the safety features I've been thinking about. Security has been a problem for me as I'm not sure how to actually go about it, there are several options but a good starting place is to heavily guard the Runic Context for all the runes involved, it would make the spell far less useful for others if they don't have the Runic Context.

I also made the spell only work as an enchantment, so the only way it can be used is to enchant a gem with it. Combine that with no Runic Context and the enchantment would be inefficient at best and possibly unstable. That alone might not be enough though so I have other ideas.

With this in mind, I went with something simple but effective, I encoded the runic context. Word ciphers aren't too hard to make honestly, take a very basic one for example. Take all the words of the Runic Context, or even the letters, and give them a numerical value, then replace everything with those numbers.

As long as every number used is picked at random, If you don't have a chart of all the corresponding number-to-letter conversions it makes it tricky to unwind. That still leaves you with the problem of protecting the cipher solution but that is a bit easier to do.

This particular cipher is not the best example but it proves the point, and if you combine it with another spell I added in then it works well. The other spell is a small modification of the disenchantment spell, all it does is rip apart the enchantments on an object violently.

The spell uses a scanning spell that detects enchantment-revealing spells, so when someone tries to find out the spells enchanted into the object the spells all unwind at once. This second spell is actually two small spells and will drop the efficiency a bit, but it can be added as needed.

Normally something like this isn't used in any enchanted item because the destruction it can cause is dangerous to others, but with the circumstances, I feel it warranted. I'll probably ask Celestia if she has anything else she could add to improve things, yet another thing to talk to her about.

On that topic, I sent a letter to Celestia a few days ago asking when we could meet as we have a lot to talk about, I also asked if she could set up a meeting with a Changeling to test things out. She sent a letter back pretty quickly saying we could meet in a week from now, I can do my testing with Cadance and then the next day we can meet, so I guess I'm sleeping over again.

This also lines up nicely with me being done with the love-gathering spell. Well, done enough to test it properly and make a prototype, polishing things and getting it completely streamlined for mass production will take me another week or two after that, presuming things go well with testing.

I stretch out my wings and land softly on my apartment building's roof. After a moment Entropy lands on my back, as I descend the stairs and make my way down the stairs and to the right floor. But as I reach my apartment door I see a familiar pony standing there. "Daisy? Ambushing me then?"

Daisy has been pretty calm about my news after that night, but she said she'd try to interrogate me later when they had time alone, and yes I am quoting her there. She gives me a smile, "Maybe." She looks at me innocently. "Hi, Shade. I was waiting for you to arrive, mind if we talk inside?" She asks very happily and I know what's about to happen to me.

I sigh and unlock my door, she tries to follow me inside only to hit the shield. "Right, sorry, I totally forgot to warn you of that." I laugh a bit and she rubs her muzzle and looks stunned. "Give me a moment, I'll let you inside." I move behind the door like I'm doing something, instead, I move my space magic and flip a small switch under a pot. "Come on in and make yourself comfortable," I say while walking over to put my saddlebags down and start making some tea.

She moves a hoof through the doorway before walking inside and closing the door behind her. "You have a shield around your door? No wait, that actually makes sense coming from you." She says and doesn't look too surprised about it. "Still, your paranoia is so, extreme." She giggles a bit while joining me at my small table.

I've never told Daisy about my shield, but I thought showing her couldn't hurt, plus I got to watch that. Entropy flies off to sit on her perch and rest as she normally does when I get home from the hospital. "Oh no, it's not just the door, that would be silly. The shield covers all the walls and the window as well, the entire apartment." I smile a bit as she gives me a blank stare. "So, you wanted to interrogate me?" I ask while casting a silence spell around us from under the table.

She huffs a bit at that. "I keep telling you I just want to ask some questions, it's not like I'm forcing you to." She defends herself a bit.

I keep smiling. "So I could ask you to leave and not answer you?" She looks conflicted for a moment and I chuckle at her. "Fine, just don't write anything down anywhere. Seriously." I take a serious tone for a moment before pouring us both some tea. "How would you like to start?" I find myself much more relaxed than I expected, I guess a week of time to gain some sense of normalcy helped with that.

She gives me a reassuring look. "I won't, I know how to keep a secret. Also, you know I will drop it if you want right? It's really not my business." I nod and motion for her to keep going. Daisy is the only one I can be more honest with, and this is already proving to be fun enough to be worth it.

She takes a sip of tea. "Ok, so, did you actually buy an invite to the Gala or what? Because you don't seem like the type to go there more than once." She brings back memories of the year me and her met at the Gala.

I shrug a bit. "A half lie, I did get the invite from a friend, I didn't pay for it. Seriously, trying to pay the Princess is basically futile." I know Celestia sure as hell wouldn't take my money. "To be honest? This year is my fifth time going, every year since I started my other job. The Princess is insistent on sending me an invite." I don't lie but I deliberately leave things out.

I trust Daisy enough to reveal more but I'm not the type to just reveal things, even after years. Her brows shoot up and she laughs a bit, "Every year?! Because of course you do, nothing about you makes sense does it?" We share a chuckle at that. She smiles oddly, "Also, does that mean you consider the Princess a friend?" She asks cheekily.

I stiffen a bit, looks like I let that slip. I try to see a way out of this without outright lying to her, "Kind of, it's complicated." I say honestly but leave everything unsaid. "Either way it's not something I'm too open about, so mosey on." I am more blunt than needed but she takes it in stride.

She nods and thinks for a moment. "Ok, I do have to ask as your friend, are you two actually, anything?" I give her a deadpan stare for a moment and shake my head. "Noted. So, what actually happened that night?" She sticks to her word and just ignores the previous topic.

I drink some more tea and relax my body again. "Actually I was mostly honest there, the only real change was the conversation topic and the reason I went along with it. On a different note, a bit of advice. Don't trust Princess Cadance, she is a prankster." I add with a casual tone.

Her brow jumps and she has a disbelieving look in return. "Wait Really?! She is?!!" I just smile silently and she quickly catches on. "Great! Now I have that bugging me for the next few weeks. You are really hard to interog- Question." I just laugh at her. "And now I'm out of good questions, or at least questions I think you might answer. So I guess... OH! How has volunteering been going?" She picks a topic I'm more willing to fully engage with.

I smile as Entropy moves over to sit on the tabletop to watch us. "I spent the last bit of my time today sewing up a laceration on a poor mare's side." She cringes a bit at that. Interestingly I've noticed that many of the nurses have problems with blood and gore, but they can control themselves enough to do their work properly.

Control being the keyword, they aren't used to it from those I've talked to, only a few ponies seem to actually be desensitized to it. "Overall though, it's been fun and insightful. I've learned a lot about patching ponies up, so it's going good so far, but check back in after spring, foal season is the real test." I refill my tea and get an idea. "You want to play chess? I know Blaz detests it and Maple is ok, so how will you fare?" I ask while bringing over my chess set.

She smiles and nods. "Our last games didn't go well for me, but that was a while ago, wasn't it? Why not? Let's see if I can actually win against you." I use my space magic and quickly fill up the board six pieces at a time. "You're getting really good at that, figure something new out?" She asks while looking at me move pieces

I shrug a little. "Kind of, technically I'm directly manipulating the fabric of reality to generate small forces and move the pieces through micro-movements," I explain in a single breath with a straight face. She looks confused before just rolling her eyes at me.

"You could have just not answered you know? Either way, this little game of chess reminds me, what is your current score?" I'm confused for a moment before realizing what she's asking. I could lie, but this is a pretty inconsequential thing to talk about, or I could mess with her more?

I think for a moment. "Six hundred and fifty-seven to nine point five. Who would have thought I'd actually win nearly ten games?" I joke a bit and deliberately don't mention who I was playing against, but she's already put two and two together, I'm just not going to confirm that theory.

She huffs a bit when I don't continue. "Well, they have Maple beat. Actually, I wonder what would happen if they played against each other?" I tilt my head at that, it is an interesting thought. "Thanks for yet another question without a clear answer." She teases me and smirks. "You know? I think even if I ever learned every secret you have, I'd just be more confused by the end." She chuckles at that idea.

I stay silent for a moment. "A secret is safest when unspoken. And I have so many secrets that have never been spoken." I get a little philosophical with her to mess with her more. "Nopony knows who I am, and in the end, I'm just a shadow of a shadow, a shade," I add some humor and use a sage-like tone.

She raises a brow before quietly laughing. "Maybe, but even a shade is seen." I blink at the oddly profound statement. "Now go on and make the first move, I want to see if I improved since last time." She motions to the untouched board.

I smile a bit and settle in for the game. "Only if they want you to see them." I reach out and move the first piece

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

I thought something more relaxed and an update on the hospital was needed. This one is also a little shorter... Wait, since when did 3k become short? I'm serious, I hade this thought while writing this AU note.

The amount of time I spend on a single chapter is like, four hours, to four and a half hours at most. And hour or more of that is just editing. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this whole writing thing.

Chapter 226

SEP 15 Friday.

I look over the medium ruby with a critical eye making sure everything looks stable from the outside.

This is the first finished Love Gatherer, as I've named it, and yes I know the name is not the best. But it should work for now, even if it is far from flawless. First and foremost is the fact that the spell takes too much magic and needs a medium gem instead of a small one.

It's a little inconvenient to carry around with you, but it does its job properly. The shield gathers love magic from ten feet around it and while it does suck to carry it, if you place it in a spot with high hoof traffic it would work amazingly, which is the intended way to use it. The implementation is something for Cadance and Celestia to deal with though.

I finished it yesterday and spent most of my time lugging this thing around with me all the time to fill it, I even played with Entropy a lot to try and improve the process. But that caused a different problem, how do I tell if the love magic is actually being gathered? It's not visible with the naked eye so I had to get a bit creative.

First, let me actually describe what this thing does. It is turned on and off with three taps, and when activated it forms a small slightly pink-tinted shield above it. The shield starts out tiny and expands to be a foot wide, this is done to create a vacuum with minimal other types of emotional magic besides love magic inside.

Then the gem will pull any ambient love magic around it into the shield over time, I added a protection rune to that part just to be safe and not drain a pony by accident, if that's even possible. Then you tap the gem two times and the shield shrinks into a marble-sized ball while turning solid so nothing can move through it and disrupt the gathered love.

If you tap it four times the shield will expand again and become intangible but not gather love, I mostly did this in case colleting love while they feed it interferes with their feeding process in some way. After entering this mode a Changeling should be able to stick a limb into it to feed, that's the idea at least.

This leads back to the problem of how to tell if it is actually gathering love magic. I enchanted a small piece of Steel Wood to glow at one end when it detects love magic, it's a small spell that I made when we were testing the Love rune. It works though, and the more love magic is present the more it glows.

I pack the gem into my saddlebags and also grab a thick stack of papers that should have everything Celestia and Cadance will need. I make sure the shield floats an inch over the ruby's surface, while in my saddlebags it seems to stay stable and solid. I stretch out and move away from my desk leaving my workroom and walking into the main room of my apartment.

I turn to Entropy and whistle at her. "Time to go Girl." She turns to me and flies over and almost lands on me. "Wait!" A thought strikes me and she stops abruptly. I didn't factor in if teleporting would do anything to the love I'd gathered, it didn't last time I tried something like this, is it worth the risk?

I go back and forth a little before deciding to just go for it, if it does lose the gathered love Cadance can gather some up for this easily. I turn to Entropy and nod, "False alarm. Go for it." She tilts her head confused but does as asked and jumps on my back before the Void greets us.

A moment later we're inside the mailroom of the palace. I pull out the medium ruby and the small stick, I tap the gem twice and move the stick inside, it glows brightly and it seems things are fine. I put everything away and Entropy shifts into my shadow as I move towards the door, when I open it I'm greeted by a smiling Shining.

I stare at him for a moment so he looks a bit smug. "Shining. How bad is it? Because I can just skip Cadance and only do the other stuff I came for, right? It is more important." I ask, noticing the amused look he already has. He turns and I hesitantly follow him down the hallway, not like I have much of a choice. "So, is that a yes?"

He chuckles and shakes his head a bit. "Nope. She's one step ahead of you, she decided that as the alicorn of love, it would be a good idea to oversee any testing, but she would not tell me what that meant. But she'll be waiting for you, no point in running now." His smile is far too smug for my liking and then his horn glows as he casts a spell.

I don't see any effect so I presume it's a privacy spell. His words make me deflate a little as I'm now resigned to my fate, "I blame you for leading me there." He raises a brow and I just glare a bit. "I've been dealing with random ponies walking up to talk to me for two weeks, don't test me," I warn him with a level tone.

The past week has been a bit better than the first, with fewer ponies looking and trying to talk to me. It's dying down pretty quickly, but a few other things have caught the average ponies attention in the news, more gossip to no ponies surprise, so things are improving.

Shining just smiles at me as a maid passes us with a subtle curious look thrown my direction. "Oh, that's just the start. Turns out the castle staff remember what you look like, this visit will not help." He teases me and I nearly throw a spell at him. "Also, really? You get to dance with THE Princess and you're complaining?" He holds an amused tone as we continue walking.

At least I know it's a privacy spell, he wouldn't have said that otherwise. "No, I'm not complaining about that, I'm complaining about the consequences of my actions, completely different." I joke to try and feel better about having to deal with Cadance. "So, how did Twilight react?" I ask curiously.

He huffs out a laugh and smiles fondly. "Fair enough. As for my sis? Well, she's not really one for reading the news, she doesn't know, I even tried to show her but she brushed me off because she was studying." I chuckle at that as Twilight has a tendency to miss the obvious sometimes. "So, you and the Princess?"

My humor is cut short as I groan softly. "Hey, I'm the last stallion you're going to get judged by. Actually, I'm a bit happy to no longer be alone." He defends himself and drops the teasing tone.

I shake my head a little. "There is nothing there, officially. I feel, I honestly don't know how I feel. As for her? Who knows." I say honestly as we approach the door. He's probably the only pony who can understand my position here, or at least something close enough. "Also, about the Gala."

He nods slowly. "She can update you, we'll talk later. I know better than to get in her way." He gives me a sympathetic and understanding look and nods. "As for you two? I've been there and done that. Just take your time." He advises with a reassuring tone and turns. "Nice seeing you, Shade. Good luck, you'll need it." He laughs a little while leaving me alone at the large double doors.

I stand there for a moment and take a deep breath while ignoring the guard at the door, she glances at my flank when I open the door and walk through. Inside I notice Cadance sitting down with some paperwork and drinking tea like normal, "Hello, Shade." Her tone nearly puts me on edge.

I sigh a little and lug myself over to the table to join her, Entropy emerges from my shadow and hops over to sit on the tabletop while I take out her band and give it to her. "Hello, Cadance, I don't suppose I could derail your questions with my new amazing invention that's taken us more than a year?" I ask already knowing the answer.

She shakes her head with that same smile. "Nope, you can't run from me." Her tone is happy and sweet. "But I guess we do need to actually get that done. Aunty and I have enlisted Miss. Cicada to help with our testing, but she'll join us in a bit." She moves over a cup of tea.

I nod thoughtfully. "You know. I never did find out what happened to them, mind filling me in before I'm thoroughly embarrassed or given more world-shattering questions." I drink some tea, mint with a hint of ginger, a good combination.

She just nods. "Well, Miss. Cicada and Cricket have actually stayed on as staff members for the palace, both for their insights into their kind and for their safety." That seems about right, they got involved in the war in some way so just leaving them unsupervised is a bad idea. "Then Mr. Slither still resides within the palace as a guest under watch."

I vaguely remember him, a bit of a dick, but at least he's doing ok. "The others who were with him are still uncooperative and are imprisoned. Finally, we have the Changeling you found at the Gala." Her tone has some heat to it that stands out. "That one is... Complicated, I believe it's best you wait for Aunty to talk about them more."

So it was a Changeling, at least that was a good call then. "Shining has been, miffed about that one, he is really not going easy on his guard." She giggles a bit and I smile at the thought. "Now, did you enjoy the dance? Because you certainly seemed to." She levels my mood as she changes the topic.

I just decide to get this over with and nod slowly after a long moment. "I did, but honestly? It also made me uncertain and confused in a few ways." I pause but she doesn't interrupt me. "I. I'm really not one for attention, but at that moment, the dance seemed, worth dealing with it all. Not that I thought I'd end up in the newspaper because I really didn't. I blame both of you for eroding my paranoia." I slip a joke to try and at least keep things lighter and not purely emotional.

She chuckles a little and nods. "We try our best, but considering all that amounted to is a single dance, we still have work to do." She moves her work to the side and reaches out to pet Entropy a bit. "What causes you the most uncertainty? Your feelings? The possibility itself?" She questions softly while noticing the small band on Entropy's leg.

I smile and take the opportunity to have more time to think. "That is a special something I got her. Entropy, why don't you show her your dress?" I ask and Entropy nods rapidly before standing up and turning to face Cadance before pecking her band, a moment later the illusion covers her up.

Cadance looks at the adorable crow. "Dress! pretty!" Entropy caws out as Cadance pets her again, Entropy melts into them and coos.

She smiles wider. "Awww, you're just adorable." I let Cadance pet her and retreat into my thoughts for a moment. Mostly Cadance's question, what uncertainty affects me the most in all this?

I take a deep breath and drink more tea. "I think it is the uncertainty of how she feels, or rather how she might feel. I just don't know, and honestly, I don't trust myself to notice. I don't like not knowing." Cadance looks back up at me and lapse into silence for a few moments.

"Many, many, MANY ponies have that problem. But the simple fact is there is only one way to find out, to ask. Do you feel ready to ask her something like that?" Again her tone is understanding and kind, lacking much of the teasing I was expecting her to have.

I think about that for a moment going back and forth. "I'm not sure, but I don't think so. Or maybe that's just my uncertainty about uncertainty. Feelings are hard, who could have guessed." I sigh and she chuckles at me again. "Do you think that's even possible? I mean..." I trail off not really knowing how to ask this.

She smiles widely. "Shade, if there is one thing I truly know about love, it's that it's always possible, no matter the circumstances." She's serious before that smile comes back again. "But enough of the serious questions, I haven't teased you enough. You two were, SO CUTE. I got so many pictures!" All that seriousness breaks away very quickly.

I feel a blush win over my control and I sigh at her antics. "Yes I'm aware, I have one. But I really don't need another friend doing this to me, I already have a mini you who interrogated me last week." I fill my voice with sarcasm and roll my eyes, her eyes just sparkle.

"She gave you a picture didn't she?" I blush more at that. "OH! I bet she did! Was it at your little secret getaway? That's so cute. And that suit, I'm curious who you got to make something like that, it was certainly unique." I feel my blush consume my face as she talks and I bury my muzzle in my forelegs.

"I hate you," I grumble out at her far too accurate guesses.

"No, you don't." She pokes me with a hoof still smiling. "It's not my fault you two have a storybook romance, I mean COME ON!! A spontaneous dance at the Gala with a princess is straight out of a novel." She brings up a good point that I can't really refute. "Don't even get me involved on the effect you've had on her."

I drain my tea and deflate a little while giving up on trying to hide my blush at all. "It's not my fault, she brought it up. And what effect? I try to make her happier, but that's not exactly special." I try to defend myself in some way, mostly for the small remainder of my pride that is left.

She keeps that damned smile though. "She has gushed to me three times over getting to play piano so much. Yes that is what you did, and you did it masterfully, she's been consistently happier than the years before meeting you. Did you know she had that big smile after the Gala?" She changes abruptly and smiles wickedly as my blush comes back with a vengeance.

I take a deep breath and glare at her for a minute while she laughs. "Ok, that's enough. I'm shutting you down, and we do actually need to test things." I take the medium ruby and place it down on the table. "Can you feel any love magic coming from this?" I rapidly change the topic to try and stop her relentless onslaught.

She laughs at my demand but mercifully agrees with a nod before focusing on the gem I put in front of her. She tilts her ears a bit, "Somewhat? I can but it is very muted, it is there though." Ok, if the alicorn of love can only somewhat sense it then Changelings probably won't be able to, good to know. "I'll go retrieve Miss. Cicada then, you just focus on your blushing." She stands up and walks to the doors giving me time to get control of myself and stop blushing.

It is nice to know Celestia enjoyed the night as well, but those thoughts can wait, we have testing to do. "Best to get in my shadow, Girl," I tell Entropy and she does just that, and I put away her band right after. Cadance comes back into the room a few minutes later with a small Changeling walking behind her. I notice the guards don't seem all that surprised, I guess they are used to it? Maybe. A trial run like that seems like something Celestia would do.

I nod in greeting while slipping on my professional mask. "Miss. Cicada. It has been a long time, thank you for agreeing to this." I greet them calmly and she stops to look me over for a few moments. Cicada is the same as I remember, a small being, even by Changeling standards, with black chitin and light green coloration.

She blinks after a moment and smiles. "Oh! Your that one pony, asked all the interesting questions." She recognizes me before moving over to the table. She seems to be a little on edge from Cadance's presence, but not overly so. "You also got really tall. huh." She remarks while looking up at me.

I ignore the look Cadance gives me when Cicada can't see. "Yes. Now, are you aware of what you are doing here?"

She nods happily but keeps her voice more reserved. "Yup, the Princes of fo- Love, said I was helping test something, is it like last time? Because if it is, I hoped you improved the taste a little, it can get really, REALLY bland." I enjoy the mostly relaxed tone she uses but keep my professionalism. I also have to hold in a laugh at her slip-up.

I move over the medium ruby and take out some notes to remind myself of a few things. "Well, I have two things I want to test, but one is strictly voluntary, I stress that fact heavily." I did get permission to try the spell I made to disrupt Changelings senses from Celestia in the letter I got from her.

I was told it was very strictly voluntary though, which is why I'm being so clear here. She tilts her head a bit. "Hm, is it dangerous?" I shake my head as I can't see a way it would be. "Why not then? The last time I was tested on we got a new FOOD source, so worth it." I notice she puts some extreme emphasis on that part.

I nod and look at her. "Thank you, but to be clear, if anything feels painful tell us immediately, ok?" She nods but I decide to clarify more. "This spell is designed to block all emotional magic from around you, we're trying to see if this would affect your senses," I state the spell effects plainly.

That gives her some pause, but only for a moment, after that, she gains what I think in a curious look, I still don't have the best read on Changeling expressions. "Huh, good question. What would that feel like? Ok, you've got me curious now, go for it. Uuu, if that's fine with Her Highness?" She asks turning to Cadance, seemingly forgetting she was there for a moment.

Cadance just nods while bringing over some paper and ink. "I'm just here to observe because of the nature of the other test, I do thank you for the assistance you have provided, Miss. Cicada." Her tone is far more formal than I'm used to, but Cicada turns back to me and nods again.

I cast the spell while waiting for a reaction. She blinks for a moment and then does it several more times while moving a foreleg to hold the table as she wobbles a bit. "Wooow, ok, standing, yes. That is, weird. Ya, ok, turn it off, please?" I quickly do so and she recovers for a moment. "Ok, I'm ok, that felt, SO off."

I took several notes as she reacted and her words. "Do you still feel well?" She nods. "Good, I apologize if that was uncomfortable." I make several more notes before pondering for a moment and moving over the ruby to get it ready for the next test.

Cicada bounces back quickly and shakes her head a little. "Wow, I didn't think you'd all think of something like that. I can't believe we never thought of that actually, cutting off the emotional magic to disorientate a Changeling. Not a bad combat spell." I tense a little hearing her words.

But she doesn't seem mad in any way, just genuinely curious and thoughtful. She sees my look and smiles a bit showing her teeth, "It's kind of obvious, not that I really care. It's not like it's bad, it makes it easier to capture instead of... Well, you know." She reasons and I nod slowly.

I find it odd she'd be so accepting about something like that, then again she came from a society that's been at war for years she's probably used to things like this, something to ask about later. "Thank you again. Now, onto the second test. Do you see this shield? I'll be expanding it in a moment, I want you to try and absorb the emotion inside." I move the gem closer to her and tap it four times.

She looks very curious and a bit confused but places a forelimb inside the shield, that confusion quickly deepens as she retracts her limb a moment later. Seeing her confusion I explained, "This is our first test of an automated love collection spell, were you able to absorb any love magic from inside?" I ask, ready to make more notes.

Her face goes stiff for a moment as she looks at me completely confused. My words seem to register a moment later and she looks completely shell-shocked, to the point of being unresponsive for several long moments. "W-What?" Her tone sounds a bit weak as she looks at me.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 995

I wanted to get this meeting done in one chapter, but I'm 3.4k in without editing, witch normally adds a few hundred words, so you know how it is. The entire two meetings will probably take two more chapters at least, so buckle up.

Also, 666 words, neat.

Also also I'm taking tomorrow off, see you all soon.

Chapter 227

SEP 15 Friday.

I stare at the Changeling with a little concern. "Are you ok, Miss. Cicada? This is a test and if you are hurt we need to know as fast as possible." I use a tone I've started to use when dealing with hospital patients, a tone of clinical bluntness.

Cadance also looks a tad bit concerned, but after a moment she makes a few notes, probably something to do with the love magic she can sense, I'll have to ask for a copy later. The Changeling nods a bit shakily and takes a breath, "N-No, no. I'm, fine, it's just..." She slowly says, still looking very distracted.

I give her a moment and she looks at the ruby seemingly transfixed. "You- You said this gathers LOVE right? Like, you didn't get it from another Changeling or it doesn't need their help? Anything like that?" Her tone starts to regain its steadiness. I note the reaction for reference, it seems this is a bigger deal to Changelings than I thought.

I nod looking a tad bit confused. "Yes and no, it was based on the idea of how you described Changelings feed. It gathers love from around it and stores it, that's an oversimplification but it is accurate. It doesn't need anything else though." I will be honest as I need good data for later work, and lying won't give me good data.

Her breath quickens a bit and she looks, honestly I can't describe the emotions on her face. "I- oh, this is. OH! You- YOU ACTUALLY DID IT! You beautiful ponies! You did it!" She shouts a little but quickly regains control after glancing at Cadance. Even then she still looks absolutely thrilled, even shuffling from leg to leg as she sits like an impatient foal.

Cadance nearly giggles a bit at the outburst but hides it well, I nod and can't help but smile a small bit at her reaction. "Well, thank you. But I still actually need you to tell me if it's actually working, this is just a prototype after all." I tamper with her expectations, which doesn't work in the slightest.

She takes a few deep breaths to calm down and nods quickly. "Right, ok!" She seems to think for a moment. "Yes, I. It definitely worked, the amount of love in there was a good amount, I think, it's hard to sense it. But, it was EXTREMELY pure. I've- Well, I've never eaten love, or any emotion actually, that pure before."

I'm happy to hear it does work, the comment about purity is interesting though. "Good to know, can you tell me any downsides? Discomfort? Pain? Also, how does something like purity affect feeding?" I ask a few questions and flip to a new page to make more notes.

She tilts her head and the smile on her face shows off her many teeth, I wonder what function they have? Defense? "No? It felt a bit odd that I couldn't feel the love before putting my hoof inside, but that's it." That also confirms they can't sense the love easily. "And purity? A lot, It's complicated though."

I motion for her to continue with a hoof. "Well, you remember what I said about how we eat and make pure Emotion?" I nod. "Something important is that we can only pull emotion into us if it's close. Some have more range and some less, for me it's only six inches away from my shell, that's pretty normal from what I know." Now THAT is interesting.

The ruby has a range of ten feet, and with a better gem that could be extended much more, it seems I really did copy their method. "Normally Changelings pull all emotion into themselves, and skilled Changelings can pull emotions with more accuracy and concentrate that emotion into Pure Emotion, but that name isn't really accurate." She looks at the gem again with almost a wishful look.

She takes a breath. "I was never part of a hive, they are the best at making pure Emotion, but I've tried a few types, even pure love. But it's never fully pure, I'd say the best a Changeling can make is eighty percent of a single emotion, the rest being a mix of others." huh, it seems they have something like natural currency.

If they can only form something of that purity then it could mean a few things for us. "So, why does it matter? Purity I mean, is there a difference in effect for you? Is it better?" I ask, wanting more context as Cicada still seems distracted by her own thoughts on everything.

She nods quickly. "Yes, it's very important. It matters because we can only absorb so much emotion at one time, you can train to have a higher limit but there is a limit to how much we can eat, but not all emotions are equal. And gathering emotion takes effort, so if you expend too much effort for not enough food, you will still starve. It gets worse if you can only eat subpar emotions, you can stuff yourself and still not have enough."

I raise a concerned brow at that. "Wait, the first attempt to gather all emotions, is even viable as a food source?" It seems my first piece of work was not as effective as I originally thought.

She shakes her rapidly and shows a smile "No, it's still absolutely amazing, not as amazing as THIS but... Anyway, that problem comes from eating mostly negative emotions, you ponies are so happy that even that messy mix is enough to feed us, it's not that filling though. For other races, it can be more difficult." She explains before reaching out a hoof to touch the ruby very gently.

I made several notes on that. She looks back to me finally, "Right, purity. The more pure an emotion the easier it is to absorb, and the less is wasted on eating it. It's like, ugg. OH! Eating a soft food, you don't need to chew as much and it's easier. It's why Pure Emotion is better to eat." She moves a hoof away from the gem, almost looking afraid to damage it.

"Also, with better emotions, especially love, it lasts us longer and fills us more, it lets us overfeed. That l-love, was enough for the entire day for me, maybe more, I barely even absorbed any." She says that last part more to herself than me. "You, can I ask who made this? THIS is, I can't even describe what this means to us. I feel fuller than ever." I nearly shudder seeing that familiar look of reverence some ponies used when talking about Celestia. :By magic, FUCK no:

I nod with my best passive look. "Unfortunately no, I'm not allowed to tell you. But I can pass on your thanks to them." I say levelly while ignoring Cadance looking at me from the side. "Well, I would like to test it again, and I'd like you to try and guess the purity if you can, just a general range, nothing really accurate." I motion to the ruby and try to come off as less demanding.

She looks surprised at the offer and her eyes glance at the shield in the air. "Umm, how much?" I raise a brow. "I mean, this probably took a while to gather, consuming it all feels... Wasteful." She says uncertainty. From a society that values food so much I can see her point, but filling it as much as I did was easy by just walking around with it for a while in the city and my apartment.

I shrug a little. "We have plenty of time, so, just eat as much as you can. Stop if you feel anything out of place obviously, but let's see if love has much of an effect on you." I don't see why she can't eat her fill, and a part of me is just happy to see her so moved from my work. I did a good thing, and that is worth all the effort.

She still looks hesitant, but she reaches a hoof out to move it into the shield again. She closes her eyes to seemingly focus while taking a very deep breath. "O-ho, wow. Feels..." She seems to be enjoying gorging herself, probably a first for her. A moment later she moves her hoof back and takes a few quick breaths. "That was, awesome."

I take note that Changelings gain some satisfaction from eating, something to keep an eye on. "I feel, stuffed? Ya, that seems like the right word, this, is, AMAZING." She takes another breath and slouches a bit. I've noticed she's kept a more serious and mellow tone after finding out what I've made, maybe she's scared it will be taken away if she's too silly? I expect her to have some fear of food theft with the way she reacted so far.

She straightens up a bit and turns back to me. "That was, I'm not actually sure. Love that pure? I. I think it was above, ninety percent?" She says uncertainly. "But like I said, I've never eaten love this pure so take that with a big grain of salt." I finish making some notes and nod.

"Ok then, any way you can think of improving it?" She goes silent for a few moments before shaking her head. "Hmm, then I think we're done for the time being, we may call on you again if we need to test things more, are you willing? And I'd like you to also make a few notes on how long that love feeds you." I make a last note before putting my supplies away.

She nods excitedly. "Absolutely, I don't think I've ever felt this, great!" She bounces up happily and smiles at me with another teeth-filled smile. "Your Highness? Does that mean I am free to leave?" She turns to Cadance and even being next to Cadance doesn't seem to dampen her excited mood anymore.

Cadance jolts a tiny bit and puts down her own notes, what is she working on? Cadance nods with a regal posture. "Yes, I believe we're done for now, and it's getting very late in the day as it is. You may see yourself out if you don't have any more questions." She dismisses Cicada in a normal fashion for rulers.

Cicada stands up and bows quickly before turning back to me and looking uncertain. "Can I, tell, Cricket? You remember her right?" She is clearly excited to share the information with her friend but also nervous about everything. "Oh! And, can you send my thanks to whoever made this? I know you said you would but, I really do want to thank them, or hug them." She rambles on a bit and seems happy about everything.

I shrug after a moment as I can't see a reason why not. "Do you have any problem with that, Your Highness?" Cadance shakes her head while still focusing on her notes. "Then you're free to do so, just make sure it doesn't leave you two. I'm no expert on the law but this is very strictly need to know." I use a very authoritative tone and a warning tone at the end.

She pauses for a moment, her excitement put to the side so she can nod seriously. "Understood. I can promise you I won't tell anyone else, I am NOT risking something like this." She smiles again and moves a bit away from the table. "Thank you for the food, have a good night Your Highness, Mr. Mysterious." She says brightly before bouncing out of the room like a certain pink pony I know.

I wait until she's out of the room before turning back to Cadance, who's already relaxing a bit as the sun finally sets outside the window. "Mr. Mysterious? Great, now of all times I find a decent alias." I throw out a small joke to try and break any tension from interacting with an unknown being. "At least things went well, but I can already see a few places to improve things a bit, it mostly seems done though." I move the ruby back into my saddlebags while flipping through my extensive notes.

Cadance puts down her notes with a smile as I cast a magical light in the now-dark room above the table. She giggles a bit, "It would certainly be a more fitting name, kind of obvious though, and likely to be found out. But it seems you have another mare after you all the same, two already, just don't break Aunt's heart." I just glare a bit at the smug smile she has.

I sigh and deflate a bit. "Fantastic, it's like Veil Winter all over again." A thought strikes me and my ears perk up. "Actually, that's not a bad idea. It would be convenient as well, same for whenever Changelings become public knowledge." I comment out loud and add my notes.

She looks curious. "Thinking of adding it to your list of other spells? Well, you are well known by this point, and we wouldn't have to make another fake identity." She brings over some tea but stops drinking after noticing it's now cold. "As for revealing them, what makes you think that's the plan? They are doing fine in the shadows." She asks with curiosity, but also a very natural tone.

I just tilt my head a bit and chuckle. "Better question, do you think Celestia can be convinced to not do just that? Oh, she'll be slow and careful about it, but she will do it. Those pockets of hiveless Changelings were part of her little ponies the second she realized they existed and weren't a threat." I say with confidence and some humor.

Celestia is simply not the type to leave anypony in such a position if she can do something about it. Cadance nods with a laugh and smiles, "You sure have a lot of faith in her, not unplaced but still a lot." I don't deny that, Celestia is a skilled pony when it comes to ruling. "It's cute how much you trust her, and amazing how much she trusts you." She teases me for the first time in a while.

I pause and look back up to her with a slight blush trying to ignore that. I put my notes away again and stand up, "And just like that, I think I'm ready to get to my room and sort my notes before bed. All while I ignore most of what you say." I tease her back, or at least try to.

She places a hoof over her heart. "Oh, how those words wound my poor heart, just like I WILL wound your pride when I tell Aunty that you, secretly, like...." I pause mid-turn and look back at her. "Romance novels." My ears are slightly pinned back as my eyes widen. "Or maybe I won't, who knows?" That damned smile is still on her face.

I open my mouth before closing it. "I- I, hmm." I smile a bit after a moment. "Well, if I can't get to you, I'll get to your stallion." I see her look a bit surprised. "Or maybe not, he already suffered enough, his poor pelvis. Also, try a nurse outfit next time, he's going to LOVE it." I say with a smug smile before shrugging. "Or maybe I'm lying, I tend to do that a lot." I finish with a laugh.

Her eyes widen a bit and she blushes for a moment before showing me an odd look. "You really got into those books, huh? To come up with a nurse outfit, I mean, a good idea, maybe I'll pass it on to another mare." She hints bluntly and I feel a slight blush overcome me at the thought.

I take a breath as my body gets a really bad idea. :lesson learned, don't think about that, at least not around others: Cadance smiles in a way I haven't seen before as she stands up before walking over to me. She reaches out a wing, and pats me on the head. "Thanks for the suggestion, now let's get you into bed, I need to go find Shining." Her tone is weirdly, cheery.

I decide to ignore the tone and expression she has for my own safety. :Sorry Shining, or maybe you're welcome? I guess it depends on if he survives tonight: I just nod as we both leave the room. I go quiet as she seems a bit lost in her own thoughts as I'm led down a few hallways and to a door. "This is your room, see you tomorrow." She says happily before walking off.

I watch her walk away before shaking my head a little. "Mares." I open the door and settle into the room for the night.

POV shift Cadance

I walk down the hallway and approach the doors of my personal quarters, I keep my stride even and regal as I pass my guards before closing the door behind me.

After entering I noticed my little knight wasn't here yet, I'll have to wait a bit longer then, a shame. I relax my stance and happily walk over to a small drawer desk with several of my personal things on it. I open a drawer and take out a thick bound book with a wooden cover, and a name inscribed on it. Love Diary III

I smile and bring over my new, 'notes' to add. It started off small and simple, like most things. When I was still in school I'd see a few ponies act cute together, so I started writing down my thoughts on different couples. :I was really into classical romance then wasn't I?:

The idea of a pony and their romantic savior, I eventually learned not all love was like that, but I kept up my... Hobby. Little notes on different ponies, sometimes ideas as well, and occasionally I would, nudge a pony in the right direction. Only rarely though, meddling too much can be a bad thing, I learned that very quickly.

So, after making some notes about Shade's tests, I spent some time on Shade and my Aunty. Who has been nothing but adorable for the past few months, the sheer romance is almost unbearable. At least Shade is a bit more thoughtful and aware of things.

But Aunty, she's something else altogether. I may know a lot about love, and I can sense a great many things about it as well, yet I am not all-knowing. Love is not simple, and sensing it is even more complicated, it doesn't help that such an active emotion as love changes so often.

A single day could, and can, break or make a lifelong love. Even then I can sense that Shade has something, maybe not full love, but a seed perhaps. An uncertain and undetermined seed, but a seed all the same. Aunty is much harder to read though, both in magic and personality.

With Shade, I can just tease him to get a reaction or be blunt and honest to get my answers. But Aunty is far from easy to tease, and very good at using a great many words, to say nothing at all. I do feel, something there but it's muddled, not by her feelings though.

I can't tell if it's some protection, or because she's an alicorn, but I am unable to get a clear image of her love. Not even just for Shade, but her feelings and love for anypony are clouded from my senses. I'm not sure why or how, but it's definitely not her love being uncertain, I know what that feels like, and this is not that.

I never really paid much detailed attention to her love before though, a misstep in hindsight. But even if clouded, I know there is something there, but what? I refocus on the page and look over several ideas and a small list of locations drawn next to them, but I still haven't found it.

Months of looking and I CAN'T find it! Every registry and property office has NOTHING that could point me in the right direction. But all my ideas for nudging, Shade and Aunty in some direction, but I need a good staging ground. And what better place than the private getaway they both share?

It would be so perfect to set up a date there, or even just to watch them interact alone to get more ideas. But it's being stubborn, and I'm tempted to get my hooves on Shade to get some answers. This place is very important to both of them though, I can't disrupt that.

My thoughts are disrupted as my chamber doors are opened without a knock. I smile as only one pony does that, "Hello, my little knight." I turn to him and he freezes mid-step before he can say anything. He looks at me for a moment before taking a step back.

The door quickly shuts behind him and locks, he quickly looks at the door and back to me. "Buck." He mutters quietly.

I smile wider at that. "Correct."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

So, changelings never had much information about how they eat and all that. So I just said fuck it and tired making my one rules here, tell me what you think.

Poor, poor, Shining. Don't expect to see him next chapter. And no, the word count has nothing to do with this chapter's ending, I swear.

Chapter 228

SEP 16 Saturday.

POV Cadance.

I comb out my mane while slowly humming a quiet tune and going through some notes I made last night. I really got worked up, again.

I ignore Shining as he slowly gets out of bed, he casts a spell to check the time before bolting up and quickly getting his armor on. I giggle a bit but leave him be, he's late enough as it is, that may be my fault though as I decided to let him sleep in after last night. He moves over to peck me on the cheek quickly. "Love you."

I smile down at him. "Love you too my knight." I watch him walk away with a slight limp and flip another page. These plans are a bit much, I find that sometimes I can be overzealous when it comes to things like this. I do enjoy making theories and helping ponies get closer, but at times I make some plans that are better left unused.

I look over some of the rough plans I made last night and scratch a few of them out, some are simply not very well thought out. I flip to another page and look over a list of names, I've been trying to find their little getaway for a while now, but Aunty was right in wishing me luck.

Shade is better hidden than I thought he would be, although I really should have seen it coming from him. I am mostly looking out of curiosity, and I have no intention of ruining such a place for either of them. If nothing else because they both seem to care a great deal about it and Aunty smiles so much when she comes back from there.

I'm not entirely sure how to approach this or accomplish that though, it really depends on where they go. If it's a small town or city then Aunty would be under a disguise and I'd have to do the same, but if it's more isolated I could be more overt about things.

My goal is still the same, I want them to get closer. They are good for each other but no matter how much I want to just shout at them to kiss, this needs a delicate touch. I need information about how they interact, and another part of me really wants to know where they slink off to.

A small part of me also has my pride on the line, Shade challenged me to find this place and I know he will hold that over me if I fail, and we can't have that. I chuckle a bit and scratch out another far too-extreme idea from my book. This one is just ridiculous, how would I even get them to dance again so soon? Shade maybe, but Aunty would see right through it.

To be fair to myself I've already gotten a large step forward by just getting Shade to think about it, which will have to be enough for now. I nod and close the book before putting it away. Love much like wine takes time, in all its forms its best I let this ferment for a while longer.

I stand up and head towards the doors of my personal chambers. Enough of feeling silly over my excited ideas, I have work to do.

POV shift Shade

I move a few notes to the side and start to categorize them, something I started doing last night.

After the testing and all the talking, I spent last night feeding Entropy and myself some food that was brought to my room, and going through all my notes. I've learned a few interesting things about Changelings and a few things that I could leverage to our advantage.

First and foremost is the fact we seemingly made an amazing food source that is incredibly easy to gather in large amounts. The gems are a slight problem, but for something so important it will need a lot of protections and failsafe's. I sit there for a while before checking the time, I stretch after half finishing my notes and pack everything away in my saddlebags.

I have a meeting to get to after all. I stand up and whistle to Entropy as she sleeps splayed out on the bed. "You can sleep in my Shadow Girl, but I need to go." She turns her head to me and slips into a shadow without even standing up. I laugh at her laziness and move towards the door.

Once I'm out of the room I turn to the guard that I sensed standing outside my room for the last few hours, "I'm ready." I say bluntly and the mare nods before turning to lead me. Last night I got a note from Celestia with dinner saying she'd be busy this morning so we'd meet a bit later in the day.

So a guard brought me breakfast and said they would be waiting until it was time to meet, I feel a little bad they stood guard for three hours but it can't be helped. I really should learn the layout of the palace more, maybe she has a map? Actually no, I really hope she doesn't, that would be one hell of a security risk and a bad trope.

After a few minutes of walking, with me paying more attention to my surroundings than normal I'm led to Celestia's bedroom doors. It's a bit odd being left here of all places, but her room always has a nice feel to it so I'm not complaining. I swear one of the guards gives me a smirk as I approach, but it is gone before I get close to them.

I just hold in my emotions and open the door before quickly closing it behind me. I sigh and close my eyes for a moment, "I assume the tests had some complications with a reaction like that? Well, not everything can be so smooth. Good morning, I hope you slept well." I open my eyes and turn to Celestia as she lies on her bed reading some ever-present paperwork with a calm smile.

I chuckle a bit and shake my head before moving a bit closer to her, I lay down on the floor and look up at her. "Actually no, the tests went better than predicted, far better. Here, more work for you." I smirk as she takes a stack of papers I pass to her. It has all the things we learned last night and all the information for the Love Gatherer.

She looks torn between curiosity and slight disdain at the idea of more work. "I got some free time and decided to spend it with a friend, of course they bring more work." She says without any real heat. She does skim through the pages a bit before putting them to the side. "Meticulous as always, congrats on the success. So, what is actually bothering you?" She asks in a relaxed tone while shifting from the bed to join me on the floor.

I notice the signs of her trying to be comforting and understanding and wave her off. "Nothing really, I'm just tired of the staff staring, that dance is looking less and less worth it." I joke but keep a relaxed smile on my face. "Either way, we have a lot to talk about and my feelings aren't high on that list." I use a slightly more serious tone to get us on track.

She looks amused while bringing a tea set to the floor with us, seemingly happy to relax with me on the carpeted floor. "They will stop eventually, ironically enough you'll get fewer stares if you are around more often." I'm not sure if I agree, but she's the expert. "I suppose we do, but first I have an important question." I decided to take the tea set from her and make our tea for this meeting.

She sees my actions and lets me take the set, I perk up my ears to listen while continuing my small task. "I know you can help in this situation, that much is obvious. So, I want you to keep in mind my question while I explain what's been happening and give me an answer when I'm done." Her tone is more firm than before, demanding attention.

I look back up to her with my full attention. "How involved do you want to be in this? This will be messy and complicated, so you will likely need to decide how much you wish to be involved in everything before it truly starts." She takes a cup of tea I poured as I think about her words.

I take a sip of tea. "To what degree? Say I decide to get fully involved? Would I have some responsibility to see it though? Can it be changed at some point?" I'm willing to get my hooves very dirty, but if I have expectations of me that will change my diction. "Is the situation really that involved already?" I added after a moment.

She smiles at me with a tilt of her head. "I'm happy to have you step back whenever needed, we have the luxury of other ponies being able to fill any role you take or even a team. I will admit this is very important though, so I think you would at least have to see it through in some role to the end, even if your role changes." Her tone is relaxed but holds an undeniable authority to it.

I lapse into silence while scratching my chin with a hoof. I don't think I fear responsibility all that much, maybe those diplomatic meetings have done me some good on that front. I do worry about my actions though, protecting certain parts of the timeline might seem odd to others.

Then again, this entire event is going to happen with or without me and will affect many MANY things. But I knew that was a possibility a long time ago, the same time I revealed Changelings to Celestia. With all that said, I think it's best if I get really involved in this.

That way I at least have some form of control over everything and can try to protect a few very specific things if they come up, I doubt they will though. I drink some more tea as Entropy leaves Celestia's shadow and sits on top of her head. "Hello sleepy head, found a nice place to sit?" I ask a bit amused and Celestia looks up as Entropy leans on Celestia's horn.

Entropy bobs her head happily. "Yes, comfy. Dress?" She asks and I roll my eyes a bit before passing the small band to her, she's already showing it off to others as an excited filly. "Dress!" She caws happily and takes it from me as I hold it in front of her with space magic.

Celestia giggles a bit at her antics and picks Entropy up in her magic before placing Entropy in between her forehooves. "Oh? You have a dress?" She asks and Entropy hops onto her legs away from Celestia before attaching the band to her leg and activating it. Celestia smiles widely at the crow and pets her, "Well now, a beautiful dress indeed." She says thoroughly amused.

Entropy melts into the hoof and I drink some more tea before bringing out my chess set. "I'll keep it in mind. So what is the situation? Last I heard the war was going well for the new queen." I get us back on the topic while picking Entropy up to sit on my head. She raises a brow at that, "What? Do you want her talons scratching your horn on accident? Accidents happen."

She does an odd mix of a chuckle and a grimace. "No, I would rather not." She makes the first move of yet another game. "We've learned a lot more about the situation, and it is... An absolute mess that needs to be very delicately dealt with." She frowns a bit, something she doesn't do often.

"The war has gotten more active again. When we started interacting with them more it caused the attention of Queen Chrysalis to be split at a critical time, it gave Cascadia time to recover and regroup." She uses Cascadia's name with clear disdain. That information by itself already shows I may have fucked this up badly.

I've just prolonged a war and it's probably caused a lot of deaths. Celestia notices my mood quickly and gives me a reassuring smile, "This is not your fault." She states, and I open my muzzle to argue she stops me with a hoof. "Shade, this is NOT your fault." Her words hold a wisdom and kind firmness to them.

She lowers her head to look at me on the same level. "Many choices look foolish or regretful in hindsight, I know that all too well, so take my advice." Her tone holds its own regret for a passing moment. "Nopony knows how things will turn out, the future is uncertain, and things could have gone much worse if you did nothing." Her words ring both true and hollow.

For anypony else that would be true, but I know better. Then again do I? There isn't anything saying the wedding would have gone well, but is that better than a literal war? I don't know. I take a deep breath and nod a bit. I'll think about this later when I have some alone time.

She smiles wider and moves her head back to give me space and move another chess piece. "Good, and if you have any doubts, as your friend I expect to be informed. Or you'll quickly find out my Niece is not the only one with access to large amounts of glitter." I chuckle a bit and nod again still silent.

She sips her tea before continuing. "The war is by far our biggest problem, it's now clear that it doesn't have firm sides, and is more a mix across nearly every large city in Equestria. Combine that with the small pockets of hiveless Changelings who could support one side of the other, and it gets complicated." The more I hear the worse it seems, but I keep listening as it's important.

She moves another piece with a focused look. "We've made contact with Queen Chrysalis, only through messengers, but they have proven to be somewhat reasonable. Much more so than the other, who tried to attack our envoy on sight." I see that rare look of anger in her eyes.

She sighs a bit and looks somewhat wary. "Honesty? Dealing with this race has proven very difficult, you'd think the large factions would be less suspicious and more willing to speak, no. In fact, they are so isolated that it took a long time to make any progress at all." She vents a little of her frustration to me.

I have questions but those can wait until she's done. "We have had successes in interacting and allying with small hiveless groups, that too is slow though. They reach your level of paranoia about being found in any way, it seems to be ingrained into who they are culturally."

I nod. "Well, when you are a race evolved to stay unseen it's probably not so easy to change after who knows how long. But the idea of a new food source is a very tempting thing from what I've seen, maybe enough to pull them into the light." I point out the new advantage we have and commit her words to memory. "So what is the actual goal for us?"

She smiles in agreement. "Long-term is integrating them fully, and coexistence with the hives, probably Queen Chrysalis as they have proven able to actually negotiate willingly." I don't trust Chrysalis, at all. But I can agree she seems more reasonable than the other queen. "Short term is to end this war before more are hurt, not a simple task I know."

I saw that coming, but she’s right it's far from an easy goal to achieve. "That is going to be messy, I can't see a peace treaty of any kind working with how hostile one side already is, and backing the other side may just put ponies in the crossfire of the war. To be honest our current situation is a blessing and a curse, it may be a war but it is contained." I offer what little advice I can.

She nods. "Exactly. Both sides know we know about them, any move to support one or the other may result in retaliation. But now we have a less direct path, we have something they want. Trade is much harder to disrupt on a large scale, even during a war."

"This will bring up problems, many problems. But the situation is not good as it is, and it needs to change in some way. So, for now, we're focusing on making more firm contact with Queen Chrysalis, that is our best option." She pauses to let me add my thoughts into the conversation.

I shrug a bit. "Hmm, negotiation is not my specialty. But, I guess you could start collecting love on such a wide scale that it can't really be stopped without them revealing themselves. Let them make the first move? That's still dangerous though and will leave retaliation as a likely possibility." I can't really see her full point here.

She tilts her head and smirks slightly. "Yes, it would be a flimsy shield, but a shield nonetheless. We don't want to reveal their existence yet, not until this war is over, trade is the only advantage we have as it is. Even if there is retaliation it will take time and effort, effort they can't spare easily."

She looks more, resigned. "We could use that time to win over the Hiveless Changelings and hopefully make a deal with Queen Chrysalis. Retaliation is very likely though, we may even get involved in this war fully, as loathe as I am to consider that." I really thought she'd try something less confrontational or more neutral.

I raise a brow realizing I'm missing something. I see a mix of sadness and anger in her eyes, "I'm sure you remember when we first met Miss. Cricket, yes?" I nod. "I did not want to bring it up at the time, and I hope you can forgive me for leaving you a bit in the dark." She lowers her head a bit and my stomach drops a bit.

She takes a breath and shows a profound sadness, almost defeated in a way. "The final option for feeding Changelings, you do you remember it?" I slowly nod again but stop halfway. "Yes, ponies have been, taken." My brows tighten up. :No, OH FUCK NO!: I feel my anger rise but crush it down to prevent an outburst, she doesn't need that right now.

I stand up and ignore everything else to give her a quick hug. She smiles a bit at that and lets me do so before pulling away and sitting down again. "How many, and how long?" I ask with a quiet fury to my tone. I may not know these ponies, but to take somepony from their home when there are other options? Despicable.

She nods again. "Thank you, Shade. For a long time, before you even found them we noticed ponies going missing. Never very many, but still, it's why it took so long to really notice. And, it's still happening." I again see that small spark of anger, the look that reminds me just how scary she can be.

I sigh and move a piece, losing the game. "Do you know for sure if both sides are doing it? Or just one?" I use a much more sober tone.

She frowns. "Yes and no. Some we have confirmed to be Cascadia from the Changelings you captured, but it's no guarantee the other hasn't as well. We are still looking though, I can promise you that. For now, though, it seems less likely Queen Chrysalis would do something like that with them willingly interacting with us and actively winning this war."

"Not without some extreme arrogance or foolishness at least. We have no guarantee, but no evidence to say they are doing it." She seems just as uncertain and angry as me though.

I drain my tea and pour more. "Then we're facing active aggression, that can't stand, the longer it does the more likely it is that they try something worse." I pull out some paper. "The status quo is not viable, we need to change things and end this quickly. Which means, war." I say with a somber look.

She stays silent for a long moment. "Maybe, but peace is not impossible. And direct war is an absolute last resort, it would be happening inside our cities and homes, it would be from within." She looks, resigned. "But that is an extreme best discussed later, we need more information and we haven't even started fully talking to Queen Chrysalis, and that comes first."

I nod and pass over a few short notes, she raises a brow. "You're right, we don't have enough information and the situation is actively dangerous. We are in the middle of this mess. It's time to plan, and that is something I might be able to help with." The paper I passed has a few simple ideas and thoughts on the information.

Celestia smiles at me in an almost sad way. "Yes, that seems best... Thank you again, Shade, for listening." The mood is a bit higher and I smile up at her. This is probably something that's been stressing and worrying her, not that she'd let others see that.

"No problem, the situation is a mess but we will get through it all. War never changes, but it always ends." I add some philosophy to up the mood. She raises a brow against my foreign saying but nods with a small smile.

"Maybe so, but it always comes again. Remember my question, we still have some time so think about it thoroughly. Now, let’s see what madness you've come up with." She takes a lighter tone and the mood relaxes again. I sip some tea while staring at the chess board, yet another loss.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

Ok first. I realized that I may have shown Cadance being a little too much in the meddling department. Now I wanted to back-peddle that a bit, but I didn't want her to just write it off. So I tried to pass it off as Cadance being excited and a bit, in the mood for Shining.

I think we all have those times when we make a bunch of plans and thoughts for different things, only to look at those plans the next day and question what the fuck we were thinking. I'm not sure I passed it off like that, but I tried.

I tried to show that the Changeling situation is a fucking mess. Equestria is in a difficult position and while it could win a war, the cost would be very close to home. And let's not forget that Changelings would be great at guerrilla warfare.

I'm starting to realize I signed myself up to write a war, fuck. Welp, like all things I'll just write and see where that gets me. Welcome to the fantasy pony Vietnam arc. JK

Also, I'm on the fence about containing this in another chapter, we are three deep already, tell me what you think if you're willing.

Chapter 229

SEP 16 Saturday.

POV Celestia.

I watch Shade move the chess pieces back into place as he resets the game quickly. Six pieces at a time in fact, "Developing that field of yours more?" I ask to change the topic to magic so we can move away from the serious things for the time being.

He smiles a bit and does what he does anytime I show interest in his achievements, and downplay things while also making himself more impressive. "It's not my field actually, that still has a hard limit. I've found that space magic doesn't have such a limit, It's still growing." He says that like it's the most normal thing in the world.

From what I understand, and from what he's told me. He is pulling on the space in complex ways to move an object, that still feels odd in a way, magic is ever so creative though. Still, to do such a thing with six objects at once while being that accurate is equally as impressive if not more so.

I smirk down at him, but not as far down as I do with most other ponies. "That is much more interesting then, I still don't entirely understand how that works. Empty space is empty, manipulating it seems like a contradiction." I get the idea, but it still sounds like nonsense.

He just shrugs a bit and moves the first piece of another game of chess. I return my attention to the shortlist he passed me a few moments ago that has some interesting ideas on it. They aren't that complicated, mostly theories on the Changelings, but also some suggestions for preparations.

A few of them are odd. "Interesting theories, they need a little more thought though. But, Improve gem production, increase document security, and improve food security. This is a little unclear though, I may need some context on these." I read them aloud with a slight smirk and look back at him while trying not to giggle a bit at Entropy as she sleeps atop his head.

He raises a brow and nods slightly careful to not trouble Entropy. "Fair enough, gems are needed for just about everything I can make to help in this situation, they will be an integral part of any conflict that happens. So get more, I'd assume we have a good amount of funds from all the trading my inventions have brought in, so if there is some left work on this quickly." He advises bluntly.

I tilt my ear a bit and nod slowly before making a mental note about that. "We do have a rather large influx of funds from the last three years, and it's only increasing. I'll look into it, maybe subsidies for a few new rock farms." I voice my own thoughts so he can continue to advise on them.

He smiles and continues. "The other two are much simpler, if this war does happen infiltration and sabotage is likely. And if it was me? Food and information are the first things I'd hit, burn down every record building and crop field." He chuckles a bit at the end, seemingly finding some humor in the idea.

He continues after moving another piece. "You can't exactly pay others or collect tax if every record office burns down in one night. It's not like Changelings would need them so they could just burn it all indiscriminately. Same with bank records, nothing causes chaos like nopony knowing how much money they have just lost."

I raise a brow a bit at the seemingly simple plan to burn a government from the inside out he just came up with. He's not wrong, far from it, he's entirely correct that such a thing would be a nightmare to deal with. The possibility of some officials deciding to manipulate things in the chaos would also be a massive problem.

If all the records are burned in a span of a few days then nopony would be able to accurately say who owns what or why, and a census can take years to do accurately. It would be a disaster, and they aren't part of our system so this wouldn't affect them. I sigh a bit, "Great, now I need to create protocols and backups for every document storage facility, you just pile work on me don't you?" I glare down a bit without heat as while it's more work for me it's work I'm glad to have.

It's better to know about this now and prepare than to be caught unaware. He smiles, "Better now than later. Food is something I might be able to help with more, I think I still have some notes about better food preservation. That might take a while to implement though, and take even more gems." He voices my thoughts accurately and comments on another small thing to help further.

I can't help but laugh a bit at that. Because of course, he's already looked into that, he never seems to actually rest. I am a bit glad he actually quit his previous work, it took up a lot of time on top of the training he does day in and day out. Not to mention all the things he invents on the side.

He does the work of several dozen ponies with his inventions alone, but that's just who he is. "How is your volunteering going? Last we spoke you were talking about cleaning wounds I believe." I bring it up and move the paper to the side for later, I think it's best we fully move away from that topic for the time being.

I can tell he knows I'm changing the topic, and even though he's still thinking about it he follows my lead. "Well, mostly more of the same. Sewing ponies and casting a few spells to speed things along, I'm also doing more with herbs and some chronic conditions. I've definitely learned a lot, even if the ponies there give me looks as well." He grumbles out that last part.

I can't help but show a small bit of pride, he never stops. With that determination to improve and help others without pause, he's been helping others for years with little recognition. I do hope he finds more of that in this new venture of his, he deserves it. "You never cease to amaze me, you know that?" I compliment him and giggle a bit at the slight blush he gets.

He is far too easy to compliment. He deflects my words with a slight eye roll and I take another of his pieces on the board. I try to contrast the bashful and embarrassed expression I see on his face to the look he had earlier, the same look that shook me a little bit, not that I'd let him notice.

When I mentioned ponies going missing I saw the anger he held, and it is not misplaced I was angry as well. But when I speak of my ponies being taken I feel an anger of indignation and worry that blends into my concern over other matters. In fact, I find most ponies react to such things with worry and fear and much less often with anger, so we are outliers in that way as well.

But his look? That same look rests in him hidden just out of sight, it's so very different from the anger I've seen before. Few have the experience I do, most would not recognize that look in his eyes. I've only seen it on rare occasions in other races, and in ponies very rarely, but I recognize it all the same.

What drives him to have such a look? What hides there that demands such a look? A look that shows not just anger or rage, but a silent promise of something right below the surface, glinting at consequences unspoken.

A look promising only one thing, retribution.

POV shift Shade.

I move and look at the board as the game continues, with me losing of course. But it gives me time to think about the situation more, and what a situation it is.

I am glad Celestia took my suggestions seriously and will be making some plans for them. Dealing with the Changelings is going to be a massive undertaking, and we'll need to prepare as much as we can. With that in mind, I change the topic and bring over the stack of papers I gave Celestia earlier.

She looks curious as I flip through the papers and bring out a few specific pages before putting the rest back. "No matter how we go about this, we'll most likely be making a lot of my new inventions, so I've made some protections." I move over the information relating to my topic. "I don't think it's enough though, what do you think?"

She reads through it quickly. "Hmm, creative as always aren't you? This will prevent a lot of tampering or anypony trying to easily make their own. But it is a bit drastic, the gem will probably get ruined and the collateral damage would be, very messy." She scratches her foreleg with her hoof before nodding. "I can think of a few ways to get around such a spell, not easily but it is definitely possible."

I smile and take out some paper from my saddlebags. "At a minimum, we need to hide the Love Runes Runic Context, but I'd like to just encode the entire thing. It'd make things a bit harder to crack and it would take some time to do. We could also heavily restrict the production to secure areas and ponies." I explain with a relaxed mood while putting down my teacup.

She smiles and chuckles a bit. "Like I said, you amaze me." I ignore my slight blush once again. "Encode it? I've seen similar things with a few spells, and particularly paranoid ponies." I roll my eyes again. "It is a good base considering it doesn't cost us anything, but I think I have just the thing to improve this." She takes out some paper from under her wing and I try to once again sense how she does that.

"Not space magic, but they are physically there? An invisibility spell? No, that doesn't fit." She gives me a slightly smug look while not saying anything. "Fine, keep your secrets for another day. So what miraculous spell do you have to burn my feeble works to the ground." I say sarcastically.

She huffs a bit and passes me some paper she wrote on. "I'll need to look into the exact spells again, and you may actually want to make one of your own while we prepare for production. An Anti Scanning spell should fit perfectly, it draws varying amounts of magic to prevent scans or Enchantment Revealing spells." She again acts a bit smug in retaliation for my tone.

My brow raised higher and higher as I read over some of the information she wrote down. It seems to just be something she remembers off the top of her head, but it looks like just the things we need. "Yup, completely upstaged my work." I laugh and commit the information to memory.

She drops the slightly smug look and I continue. "I'll definitely need to study a few of the spells, and improve them. But I'm going to guess the runes used in these spells aren't well known?" she nods. "Perfect, it will take away some magic from the love-gathering spell but that's worth it."

A thought strikes me a moment later. "Wait? Do these spells normally interfere with other Enchantments from being added after this spell, or just scanned and seen?" I curiously ask while getting an idea I might be able to work with.

She thinks for a moment. "The spells themselves are not common simply due to lack of need, another small thing to slow down anyone trying to learn our secrets. Again I'll need to do a little research, but I believe it depends on the specific spell, some do and some don't. Why? Are you about to shock me with a new invention?" She asks playfully while I reread through the information I was given.

I nod slowly, still thinking it through. "Nope, just production streamlining. I'm definitely making my own version then. We can teach some ponies how to enchant the anti-scanning spell into the gems and then take them to be enchanted with the Love Gathering spell, another thing for the pile." I reason and start to make some notes on the paper.

I take Entropy off my head finally so I can fully turn my head down to the paper. She smiles, "I suppose it wouldn't be hard for you, we really are just piling it up, aren't we? Hmm, if you link the Anti Scanning spell into the spell you have to destroy the enchantments you won't need it to scan for itself and could save on some magic." She adds while stretching one of her wings a bit.

I immediately made a note of that. "Good point. I also need to make something more convenient to store and move the love magic we gather without using medium gems. That should be easy though, just a small gem and an emotional shield with some scanning spell for targeting should be enough." I ramble my thoughts to see if she has more ideas, I spend a few minutes writing more notes while glancing at the game board.

She leaves me be and pulls a few crackers out from under her wing to spoil Entropy while I work. I finish and notice her feeding Entropy, "You have snacks under there? That's just unfair." I complain with a smirk as Entropy devours another plain cracker. "Not that she'd agree with me." I chuckle a bit.

Celestia gives me a slightly annoyed look. "I'm not the one who sent their bird into my office while I was working, I had to send for some treats to get anything done without her asking me questions." She gives me a deadpan look and huffs a little. "The next time she showed up unannounced I decided to be prepared."

I put away my finished notes and just laughed. Several times when me and Cadance would work on the Love rune I'd send off Entropy to go to Celestia's office to see Philomena. "I'm so proud of you." I reach out and scratch Entropy while reaching into my saddlebags to give her another treat.

"In my defense, Philomena has broken several things in my apartment, they play a lot," I say through my laughter. I look around for a moment. "Actually where is Philomena? She's not normally one to miss out on a playdate." I notice her odd absence.

Celestia shrugs a little. "I'm not sure, sometimes she has a mind of her own. She wanders off for a day or two before coming back. One time she was gone for three days and I got a bit concerned, she was inside the palace pantry eating herself into a stupor." She giggles a bit and I snort slowly succumbing to my laughter again. "That is also why guards are ordered to check it every evening."

I lose my fight and break down laughing again while Entropy looks at both of us. "No, friend behave." She defends Philomena much to our continued amusement.

I recovered after a moment. "At least your bird isn't smart enough to realize she can just become a shadow to get inside the kitchen cabinets. She got a full talking-to after that one, and don't even get me started on the- Hey!" I'm cut off by Entropy flapping her wings and jumping on my head to nip my ear.

I roll on my side and she just decides to stand on me anyway while her shadowy form glares down at me, I can't tell for sure because of her form but it feels like a glare. "No! Be nice, no talk." She caws out in an embarrassed tone, a tone she has not used before. Despite being on my side I start laughing at her again. "No! Stop!" She demands as Celestia also can't hold in her laughter anymore.

After a minute of us laughing she ruffles her misty shadow feathers and hops off of me to sulk on the floor. I right myself and pet her a little with a large smile, "Oh, don't pout. You're a good Girl, we're just being silly." I try to improve her mood. "I never signed up to raise her, but I love it all the same." I joke a bit and continue to pet Entropy.

Celestia recovers from her own laughing fit and smiles down at Entropy before giving her another cracker. "I can imagine it would be, you've done a good job in raising such a good Girl." Entropy pretends to look annoyed but her tail wags at our words and the treat.

I look down at the board and move another piece. "You know, I did have another thing I wanted to ask about." She takes a few breaths to recover and nods silently. "Her band has a bit of a flaw, she can't take it into a shadow with her. I found out from a little testing that only something with shadow affinity magic can move with her, so I need to figure out how to apply that to her pretty little dress." I explain while pondering my next move and teasing Entropy more.

She raises a brow looking at Entropy. "Do you mind if I see your dress for a moment?" She smiles down as Entropy does as asked after a moment and stands up to take her band off. Celestia gently takes it and looks it over, "Hmm, interesting look. How does it have enough magic for the illusion?" Her curiosity shows quickly.

I give Entropy a proud look, she trusted Celestia enough to give her a prized possession, I'll talk to her about that later. "I got a smith to embed several tiny pure diamonds in mithril, and then coated it in Steel Wood," I explain as she casts a spell to reveal the enchantments on the band.

She studies them for a moment before dismissing them. "Hmm, an interesting illusion spell. As for your problem, there is one thing I can think of, but it is a bit complicated. Have you ever done a ritual? Because you may wish to read up on them a bit." I perk up at the question.

Rituals can come in small and very large forms, and while I've studied them I never did have a need to use one. "No, I know a decent amount about them though. You have a ritual that could help?" I question and take out my notebook to write things down. "It would certainly be interesting to finally dive into that branch of magic, with a little help," I say with excitement.

She gives me a knowing look. "It's a complicated ritual, and I'd ask you to let me oversee things when you use it, just to be safe. But the specific ritual is used to saturate an object in high amounts of a magical affinity to imbue it, that means beyond the ritual itself you need a source of shadow affinity magic." She looks down at Entropy.

She pets Entropy more. "That would normally be hard for a familiar to learn, but this beautiful girl is smart enough to do that part easily enough. You'll need to create the ritual by saturating the gem dust in shadow affinity magic and then activate it with the focus being this band." She passes it back to Entropy as we both listen to her attentively.

Entropy puts her band back on and chirps happily. "Yes! Do?!" She turns to me and I just nod with a smile. "YES! Thank, happy." She caws out to both of us and moves to sit in between Celestia's forelegs again.

Celestia smiles back. "You are quite welcome." She reaches out for my notebook. "Here, let me write down a few books to read, I'll also send you some books to read from my library." She says kindly.

I smile with barely hidden excitement. "Thank you. But I think it'd be more fun to discuss it, we have time and you have to know a lot about rituals right?" I ask seeing an opportunity to learn from a true master of the craft. The teacher-like look I get in return is all the answer I need.

She smiles widely. "With pleasure, now, where to begin?"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

I did continue this, mostly because I thought giving Celestia's preceptive would fit nicely and Shade had some other things to ask about.

Not much else to say though, have good day you all.

Chapter 231

OCT 1 Sunday.

I gently salt the fish as it fries in the pan while I use my space magic to cut up some other seasonings to the side to add them in.

Another week passes with little to no change in my life. I spent my time working on the improved anti-scanning spell, it didn't take all that long though. The spell itself mostly makes use of a few interesting runes, mostly centered around protection and scanning.

It was a pretty basic spell overall and because I was only improving the spell it didn't take long to finish. I sent off a letter with the improved spell and a few other bits of information off to Celestia right before I started cooking a late lunch. Now I'm just waiting for a response.

Beyond the spell work, I've spent a lot of time reading more into rituals, both for the Imbuing ritual and for my own personal project. My frankly insane idea to raise the sun, by magic is this ambitious. It's also proven to be a pretty hard thing to really learn how to do in the first place.

Rituals have been out of use for hundreds of years and are simply not used all that much anymore, it's a fairly dead branch of magic by this point. I scoured a lot of the library and only found a few good books, the main problem there being the fact there is no section in the library for ritual magic.

So I need to search slowly through different books all around the library and try to find books that are actually helpful. The list of books Celestia recommended to me was a massive help for this reason and has given me a good opportunity to continue my learning and research into rituals.

The books she gave me on top of that helped even more than the library books. My project, which I've nicknamed Project Peaceful Dream, because I'm defying Nightmare Moon with my actions. It's been very slow going and I've made barely any progress, that's not to say I've made none though.

Currently, I have a few obstacles but a big problem is that I need the ritual to pull from gems, which I've learned is not so simple to do. It requires adding more complexity to the Ritual Matrix and that is already looking to be a very large project to just create it.

I haven't found any good information on the original rituals used to raise the sun, but I have found references to runes used in it and that led me on a long search. I've been slowly tracking down different runes that could be added to make the ritual work without exploding.

Runes for the Sun with Runic Context about it rising and falling. But another problem I have is that I need to make a ritual, not just modify one but make one from parts of others and my own original work. It is both similar and different from normal spell crafting in several big ways.

Here's a good example. When creating or casting a spell your location doesn't really matter, unless you're drowning or freezing I guess. But a ritual of this scale needs a proper location with strict conditions to not disrupt the process. I need access to the sky and preferably someplace high up.

A few of the key runes I'll be using have that in their Runic Context. As I mentioned before a ritual can deviate from things like Runic Context, but that does make them a bit less stable. And considering the amount of magic I'll be throwing around I'm not willing to risk it so I'll need to be as accurate as I can be.

I also can't have it be anywhere near a location with a high amount of any magic that could destabilize things. Large amounts of uncontrolled magic or particularly volatile affinities could mess with the ritual. A Ritual Matrix is a physical magical structure, a temporary one but still a structure that is more influenceable than a spell matrix.

All this is to say that while I'm making slow progress I am far from achieving my goal. I haven't even done one ritual, let alone studied how to modify and make rituals myself. I take the cooked and seasoned fish out of my pan and plate it to cool while opening a letter I grabbed out of my mailbox in the apartment lobby this morning after doing some shopping.

It's from Twilight and I was sort of expecting this after the letter I sent. I waited another week to see if Twilight would notice the news so I could talk to her about it, but I received nothing so I sent my own letter. I mostly just asked how she was doing and what she was learning.

Then I vented to her and talked a bit about my struggles with ponies and the news being annoying after the Gala, something I was honest about. Basically, I just ripped the band-aid off quickly. I open the letter seal and start to read it with a slight bit of worry.

Dear, Shade.

Hi! Sorry it took me a few days to send you a letter back, I was really busy. Also, WHAT?! You got to dance with THE Princess! I didn't even notice and when I asked my family they laughed! Even Shining, he just said he tried to show me but I was studying. He should have at least been more insistent.

Either way, sorry to hear you've had a hard time with, all that. Funnily enough, I've seen it happen before, Blue Blood danced with her two years ago I think? The newspapers always run wild with it, I do not envy you. Sorry, I just realized that might sound bad!

I mean it's not all bad, very few ponies can say they've danced with the Princess right? It's a great honor. I can promise it will calm down though, it always does. I still can't believe I missed that, I imagine you and her dancing to be funn a sight to see If you haven't improved since last year.

As for me? Sadly nothing so exciting has happened, or maybe I'm lucky for that? I've just been testing for spell proficiency and casting at the Journeypony level, I'm now a few months ahead of the tests! That shows just how amazing the Princess's teachings are.

Don't tell others, but she's the absolute best. The amount of knowledge she has is immense, it seems like she has an answer to every question I have.

I need to get back to some homework so I'll leave it here. We should meet up again sometime, if you are still learning healing spells maybe we can work on that at the library?

Signed Twilight Sparkle.

I smile at the letter and breathe out a sigh of slight relief. I had several ideas on how she may react, but it seems I didn't have too much of a reason to worry. She's probably been to more Gala's than me so she's seen plenty of ponies dance with Celestia, it is a bit different considering I am her friend.

These might just be kind words though, words can hide true emotions all too well. But I'll take the slight joke at my expense as a good sign that she can still joke with me, however rarely she does. She joked slightly when we first met but stopped after the whole talk we had, so ya this might be a good sign. I guess I'll see what she's like the next time we meet, whenever that may be. I put away the letter for now and turn back to see Entropy waiting for me impatiently looking at the fish I've cooked.

I chuckle at her, "Not yet, we still have to wait for our guest. So go sit down and wait, I'll add some dessert if you're good." She fluffs her feathers but bobs her head and flies off to sit on her perch. I take a moment to cast a Heat Retention spell on the food to keep it warm and spend a few minutes tending to my plants.

I go into my workroom and bring out a small bag, inside is a fine gold dust sparkling in the light. I spend a few minutes going to every plant pot and sprinkling a small amount of gold dust in each pot before adding a bit of my life magic. I've found this to be a good method to keep my plants healthy even in the cold of fall.

I also have a large amount of gold dust at my disposal now. With the increased production and the Copper Lily's taking less gold dust to fully grow I've been slowly stockpiling a good amount. By this point, I only use half of each day's production on the Copper Lily before barreling the rest.

I have three and a half barrels inside my shack in Gaia's Eden, with each barrel being two feet tall and a foot wide. I don't have much of a use for it right now but if I ever need to grow a magically intensive plant quickly I can. Speaking of magical plants, I've named my new cherry tree.

Stardew Blossom, is a simple but meaningful name. I also decided to make them look a bit visually different from a normal Cherry Blossom Tree, mostly because I got bored while waiting for night to fall and it fit the new name better. I changed the color of the flowers from reds and pinks to shades of blue and white.

I thought it would fit better and it also gave me an excuse to practice Guided Evolution to modify the three fully grown trees, a nice bonus. I also added something else to the fish pond, a medium sapphire that creates a shield around the pond to keep it warm and prevent the water from freezing.

The pond is too shallow so it will freeze into solid ice and kill my new fish. The warming effect is just a modification of the Warming spell and only covers the pond and its berry bushes, the Water Tree and Stardew Blossom Trees are still going to succumb to the cold. But that did really show me I have a problem, I'm really low on good gems.

I still have a few dozen small gems and four large ones, but I only have one medium gem left. They are increasingly becoming needed as I want better enchantments and I expand Gaia's Eden. I'm already planning to make a trip outside the city to find out if a Diamond Dog Caravan is nearby.

Even if it's a different caravan I don't really care, I just want to buy some gems. As for why I'm not just buying from the city shops? I need bulk amounts of gems that don’t draw the attention of the thieving type, or just attention in general that I rather not have considering ponies are still recognizing me. It's not that big of a deal I suppose but I see no reason to deal with all that when I can just buy from the caravans.

Once I'm finished tending to my plants I put away the bag of gold dust and open a cloth-lined box to take out a small band, Entropy's band to be specific. As I walk out into the main room I turn my head and notice the space bending in an odd way, almost like it is melting as it shifts.

I'm used to such a thing and don't even blink when Philomena teleports into my apartment with a small flash of flames. "Friend!" Entropy caws out and jumps down from her perch to stand on my back next to where Philomena landed. I take the letter in Philomena's beak and bring over a few Juniper berries to give them both.

'Thank you, Philomena, but I'll need you to go shortly." I say knowing she wouldn't really understand me. I turn to Entropy and smile at her before giving her the band. "How about you two go and play at Gaia's Eden? Just make sure to have your dress on when you come back and don't bring Philomena. Don't lose the dress." I stress the last part.

She bobs her head happily before putting on her band. "Thank, love." She says while rubbing against me and caws at Philomena before vanishing. I chuckle and open the letter as Philomena teleports away shortly after that.

Shade.

I have been rather busy with your new inventions and suggestions, your new inventions will almost certainly be taking more time than normal to get into production. Mostly from the need to vet ponies working on it and the need for secrecy.

Work is continuing though and things are falling into place. Things will still be rather slow, but other preparations for a situation like this are being made and I have competent and knowledgeable ponies to help with that.

We've started to probe at Queen Chrysalis for more involved talks, but still no answer though. It may take time to set up a meeting while remaining undetected by Cascadia's forces. I will inform you as soon as we make progress, I would ask that you destroy this letter after reading it, but I suspect you already were going to.

I sadly won't have time to meet you for a few weeks, but I would be grateful if you are willing to spend some more time at Gaia's Eden around the end of this month. Specifically the last day. It may be a good time to do your ritual as well if you can prepare it in time.

Also, I have keyed you into the shields around the castle, just be careful of the west wing of the castle, they are much more heavily shielded and won't let you inside, be careful to not fly into them. I did this to once again ask for a favor, it would mean a lot if you could clean up the garden again. As long as you're still willing, I loved how it looked last year.

I hope you're doing well and enjoying the cold weather.

Signed your friend Celestia, or as you call me, Miss. Solis.

I let out a long sigh and felt a bit more somber at the letter. It is good to know things are actually happening, and like normal Celestia is taking some free time for this month. The castle is a surprise for me, but not an unwelcome one as I'm more than happy to improve the garden again.

I can also guess what is in the west wing, but I have no intention of messing with anything to do with that. I feel a pang of sadness about her being in such a mood again, but I can be there for her when she needs me and that's enough. I move over to a pot and decompose the letter to destroy it completely, even if I'm tempted to keep it I won't risk such a thing.

I move back to the food and hear a knock on the door as my guest arrives, he's a bit early. I flip a switch to deactivate a part of my apartment's shield and open the door without walking over. I can sense it's only a single Griffon with my space magic so there is no reason to check myself. "Come on in. It's nice to see you, Avalon, how have you been?" I ask as he slowly walks inside and places down his satchel.

I've met Avalon a few times over the past few months, mostly at the library, but this is the first time I've seen him since the Gala. He looks around and turns to me with a smile. "Um, pretty good? N-Not much has happened actually." He rubs his neck a bit and moves into the kitchen. "You?"

I shrug a little and move down a bread loaf from my cabinets to slice up. "Somewhat the same, I did have an incident. If you've been keeping an eye on the news." I huff a bit and slice several pieces of bread before adding them to a plate. "But the volunteering has been nice and life goes on." I make some casual small talk and mention the news immediately.

I know he was going to have questions when he saw the news, his curious and slightly nervous expression confirms that. "Y-Ya, about t-that." I just laugh a bit and bring the food over to the table. Some fried fish, boiled Spice Root, and some bread and butter. "S-Sorry if it's personal, o-or anything like that... You-"

He doesn't finish as I wave him over and laugh a bit more. "It's fine, the entire situation is not exactly private. Come on, you must be hungry to make a face like that." I point out as he looks intently at the food, he looks a bit embarrassed but complies and sits down with me. "So, before I tell you my story, do you have any theories?" I ask, ready to hear more craziness.

His eyes focused a bit and he took a plate to pile some food on it. "Umm, w-well... You d-did know how to send her a letter." He says uncertainty. "And you know a lot about spells... Do- Do you w-work for her?" He guesses, sounding very uncertain and curious.

:Well, shit: I blink a few times in confusion not expecting his accurate question. I thought he'd guess something similar to my other friends, but he's getting that close to the truth, which was not what I expected. He sees my confused face and elaborates, "I-I know, it sounds dumb but. Well, I tried to ask about it a-and The Princess rarely responds to letters herself, even wi-with inventions."

He adds before shaking his head. "S-Sorry, it's stupid anyway. Thank you for the food, i-it's great as always." He waves it off and changes the subject while biting into a piece of fish. I stayed silent for a moment and let my thoughts run wild because he got far closer than I expected to the truth.

I know him well enough to guess he probably learned that Celestia apparently doesn't read all her mail herself. Something I apparently missed and is very fucking obvious in hindsight, magic damnit! But no matter how he got to that theory I'm now in a slightly messy situation.

I don't want to just lie to him and say I don't work for her, that could come out later and bite me in the flank. It's not like his suspicion will just vanish if I say that, remaining silent and ignoring it would look suspicious as well. I stay silent for another moment before laughing a bit and smiling despite the situation. "You know, out of all my friends you're the first to put that together," I say with a light tone trying to be relaxed about revealing a secret.

I could lie and pretend he's wrong, but that would break trust and if I am somewhat honest I can at least have him stop digging for more answers, I also would rather not have him learn about the war no matter how unlikely that is. Plus this route lets me control what I tell him. He nearly drops his fork and his eyes widen. "W-What?"

I give him a more level and slightly more serious look while trying to remain relaxed. "You are technically right. I work for the Princess in a... Odd fashion? It both is and isn't an official thing and my work is complicated. I don't even do all that much often, maybe help out every few weeks at best." I stretch the truth but mostly keep things factual.

He looks even more stunned but bounces back quickly. "Y-Your serious?" I nod a bit amused at his reaction. "Oh, OH! D-Did you help me get that meeting? I-" He takes a breath seemingly realizing he's a bit over excited. He goes silent for several moments, "O-Ok, ok, umm, w-what does this, mean?" He sounds a little lost in the situation.

I'm happy he calmed himself down some. "Well, don't tell anyone, ok?" He blinks before rapidly nodding in reply. "And nothing really? I just help with spells occasionally. Kind of like Vail Winter, I help in research and that sort of thing." I use myself as an example to throw suspicion off. "My name doesn't have a reputation like that though." I laugh a bit and make a joke out of it. "But some of the things I work on I can't talk about, so I just don't tell others about it." I shrug a little.

He blinks a bit and nods slowly. "Huh, w-wow. That's amazing, t-to work under HER." He shudders a bit and starts to eat again now calming down after getting a seemingly reasonable explanation. "S-So, you did help get that meeting? W-Wait, s-sorry, I won't ask any more questions! I-I don't want you to get in t-trouble." He quickly corrects himself.

I laugh again, finding some humor in his reaction and relaxing fully knowing he's taking this rather well. I think his theorizing about it helped him react more calmly as he already considered it to be a possibility. I wave my hoof, "Kind of? I told somepony higher up that your work might be worth her attention, apparently, they agreed, cheers to that." I lift my cup a bit. I did tell somepony higher-up, he doesn't need to know that it was Celestia.

He nods and smiles again looking bashful while lifting his cup to bump against mine. "T-Thanks, that means a lot. I- Well, do you- I mean, would you be willing to, t-teach me more? About spell creation I m-mean, I really like it." He asks with a combination of excitement and nervousness.

I smile at my friend seeing that look of determination and nod back happily. "Sure, I have free time and you come up with some good ideas of your own. Now, how about I tell you an amazing story? A story where I had a panic attack and ended up in the news." I change the subject to something else and let the topic rest on that high note.

He smiles much more and his eyes light up before he nods happily. "Sure! Y-You, didn't actually have a panic attack, right?" I just chuckle again at him.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

The idea of changing the flowers to be whites and blues along with the name Stardew Blossom was perfect, I love it. Thank you to everyone who made a suggestion, I'll probably keep the names for other plants down the road.

I was thinking of how to have Shade worm his way out of this, but I think this makes more sense considering I think Avalon is the type to keep looking out of curiosity.

I also don't think Avalon will appear too much more with the new arrangement, but you'll see him around as this gave me a good excuse to show him working with Shade more.

And like normal I'm taking the day off, maybe two days we'll see how it shakes out. See you all soon.

Chapter 232

OCT 11 Wednesday.

I take a few deep breaths and start to recover from Stone's onslaught. "Not bad Colt, you got a few decent hits in. And I was actually trying a bit this time." Stone's steady and gruff voice calls out to me while he puts away his wooden practice weapon.

I huff and stand up with slightly wobbly legs. Stone just got finished kicking my ass again and we're finally done for the day. "I'll get you to be serious one day, and I will sorely regret that day." I joke a bit and walk over to put my own practice weapons away. "See you next week, and enjoy the date," I say happily as he throws a water bolt spell at me as I quickly make my way out of the room.

I chuckle a bit and make my way out into Canterlot's busy streets and the cold snowy weather. The trees have lost all their remaining leaves and winter has fallen again just like every other year. I've been spending my time focused on a very important task, improving my equipment.

I don't feel like walking through the snow so I put on my scarf before casting a spell and getting myself into the air to fly home in the afternoon sun. I changed my schedule a bit last week and now me and Stone will meet in the afternoon instead of the evening, it lets me do more after training with him and volunteering in the morning.

I touch down on my apartment's roof soon enough and head down the stairs to get out of the cold. Once I'm in my apartment Entropy leaves my shadow with a stretch of her wings and flies off quickly to continue to sleep somewhere else leaving me alone like normal.

I ignore her and quickly take off my saddlebags to get back to what I've been working on for more than a week now. With the Changeling situation as it is and me getting involved, I need better equipment so that's what I've been working on. I open the door and see a loose pile of wooden armor scattered around my work desk, I sit down and move over the box containing my staff to take it out to continue my work.

Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking about how involved I want to get in this Changeling situation, and also what role I'll try to play in it all. I've figured it out and have a decent plan that I think will work well, I still haven't answered Celestia but I plan to next time we meet up, which should be around the end of this month.

After a lot of thought, I decided to get as involved as I could, to be in the middle with Celestia. But to do that effectively I need many safety precautions, above all else I need to protect my identity. I have several options like using spells, but illusions are temperamental and can be broken easily.

But what if I could hide myself by standing out in a different way? A pony in full plate armor may be very eye-catching at any meeting we may have, but it would be very effective at hiding me, especially with the things I have planned. And a unique but strong-looking guard makes sense for any meeting we might have with Queen Chrysalis.

Plus being able to constantly be in my armor and carry weapons will make me much more secure, and I can actually help defend others if need be. With all this in mind and my need for better equipment I've been overhauling my armor in several ways, it's also why I wasn't wearing it for training with Stone for the last two weeks.

I did that under the excuse of wanting to focus on my fighting style instead of my armor and movement, which is half true as I'm more than proficient enough in moving and fighting with my armor on. The armor laid out in front of me is almost done and I just need to work on one last piece.

I hold my staff and start to dump large amounts of life magic into the Steel Wood armor to enhance its strength even further by saturating it. Much like with Entropy's band, I've been able to enhance the Steel Wood further to be what I've come to call Mithril Wood.

Mithril is a magical form of iron so it being the next tier of the Iron Oak seemed fitting to me. Mithril Wood is enhanced Steel Wood and that just makes it stronger, and also a bit better at conducting magic. Nothing really crazy though, just an improvement of what was there. The armor plates themselves now make a slightly metallic noise when hit against something.

I slowly breathe out having fully improved the last piece of armor to Mithril wood after more than a week of work. To get this done I've been regularly draining the Live Gem on my staff and filling it by using Mana Mimicry and drinking tea while keeping my staff with me throughout the day to refill it. I look over the armor and start on the next part of my work.

Beyond converting the armor to Mithril Wood I've also made several changes to the armor. On the upper back, there are two armor plates that have been changed slightly to have smaller sections that can be removed at will. I can remove these two small plates of armor with my field or space magic and form wings out of the hole when I need to fly.

Flying in the armor means I also need to cast a lightening spell to not weigh too much, but it works well enough and gives me the option. Two other changes were made to the helmet of the armor, specifically the mouthpiece and the forehead. The eyeless face plate now hangs down a bit over my jaw to cover my mouth up somewhat.

My armor has a jaw piece letting me open my mouth to eat, drink, and speak. Now I can just tilt my head down a bit to prevent anypony from sending a spell down my throat when my mouth is open, I did this because Stone started throwing stones into my mouth during practice. This also makes it harder to tell when I'm talking and covers up even more of my body.

The other visual change to the helmet is a fake horn, it is a bit larger than normal to make it look like it's covering a horn that isn't there. This makes it harder to find out I'm an earth pony and should throw others off more, plus it's nice and sharp so I can literally ram myself into somepony as an attack now.

The final two non-magical changes were made with the armor as a whole and the chest plate. The armor used to look like it was made from tree bark after I grafted Fire Blossom Bark onto the armor, but that stood out too much. I also haven't completed my crossbreeding project with the Fire Blossom and Iron Oak tree so I haven't gotten to improve the bark yet.

With no way to directly improve the bark, I instead increased the thickness of the bark slightly while improving the Steel Wood and focused on the visual problem. I spent some time sanding it all down so the entire armor had a smooth appearance while the Fire Blossom bark still worked fine. I'm also thinking of painting it black so it doesn't look like wood.

The final thing is I've embedded two half-inch pure diamonds into the chest plate. I didn't want to because gems are fragile but I needed them for my upgrades to the enchantments. One diamond just protects both diamonds from breaking so easily with a protection spell.

The other hasn't been fully enchanted yet but I'm about to fix that. I start to go over my notes while bringing the chest plate over to me and flipping it to see the inside. There both diamonds can be seen inside holes that I will grow over with more Mithril Wood when I'm done.

While practicing with Stone today I had an idea for my armor, specifically with silence spells. I settle in and start working on a simple spell in theory, it ends up taking a full hour in the end to get it working properly though, and takes more runes than I would have liked. That is mostly because I have a very specific idea and getting the spell to work as I want took time.

My past silence spells worked by making a shield to block out sounds, this spell was made with the idea to prevent sounds from happening at all. It causes anything enchanted to be unable to make any noise, either from other objects touching it or the object itself. This effect comes from a rune of spreading and the Silence rune.

After writing down several notes on the spell and possible other uses I move over a small ruby and enchant it before taking a hoof and tapping it against the gem, only to hear no sound at all. I tap harder and harder until I crack the gem a small bit, but still there is no sound from the effort. I try to scratch the gem with my hooves and a knife, but still, no sound is made.

I smile at my success and celebrate internally at another spell being made before getting to work on the armor again. This new silence spell works by preventing anything with the spell on it from making noise at all, either from something hitting it or it hitting something, the spell prevents sounds from being produced to begin with.

The spell costs more magic than a normal silencing spell but it should work great for my armor and the diamond embedded inside will have more than enough magic to power it. I'll need to enchant every piece of armor and link it to the diamond before linking the pure diamond to an activation method.

I spend some minutes enchanting each piece of armor before snapping it all in place on my body with the sticking enchantments to keep it together. Once it's all on I fold my ears back and slip my helmet over my head, I tap my chest plate three times and the silence enchantment activates.

I raise a hoof and stomp down, but there is no noise, just silence. I walk around the room and the normal sounds of my armor clinking against itself and rubbing against my body are absent. And after a little testing, everything seems to be working properly.

I added a rune for voice and hearing to the spell which made it cost more magic, but it allows me to hear and speak while under the spell. Although I'll need to make sure I don't cough or speak in any way when trying to be stealthy. I test a few more things but take off all my armor as I still have something else I want to do today.

I put everything away and put on my saddlebags before gathering a few needed things and leaving with Entropy in my shadow. I only have an hour or two of sunlight left so I quickly make my way through the city with my wings and fly right to the smithing guild I've used before.

After landing I go through my saddlebags and take out a small simple card with a hammer and some writing on it. Metal Quake, Rusted Hammers Canterlot branch. I need more than just armor for what's coming, I need some actual quality weapons, and with a little luck I might know just the pony for that.

She did send me her card, but what to do with it? I guess just ask the receptionist? I shrug a little and dismiss my wings before walking into the smithing guild with my cloak hood up. I don't look around and just get into the line for commissions, seeing a stallion behind the counter.

Not many are here at the moment so a minute later I'm at the front. "How may I help you, Sir?" They give me a slightly odd look for having my cloak up but still use a pleasant and professional tone.

I move the card across the desk with a hoof. "Is this pony free for a rushed consultation?" I don't care about paying the fee so being direct seems best.

The stallion raises a brow and reads the card for a moment, he's a bit surprised but not shocked. "Hmm, a moment please Sir." He takes out a book like last time and flips through it before reading through it. "It seems she is currently working on something else, but I would be able to send somepony to ask her if you wish, for a fee?" I just nod bluntly.

"Perfect, then she may agree to see you for a consultation, you'll still have to pay the fee of course. And if she refuses, can we schedule a meeting for you?" I can hear his greed in the sales pony tone he uses but could care less and just nod. "Perfect, I'll send somepony while we get payment sorted."

The fee is paid and I wait a minute or two before a pony approaches me. "Sir? She's agreed to meet you. Please follow me." I notice the mare leading me has a respectful tone, it seems that card was useful in the end though. I put the card away and follow the mare deeper into the building.

I'm led to the same forge as last time and when I enter I see Metal working at the anvil with a hammer. "I'm work'en, it'll be a bit." Her slightly gruff but relaxed tone says and I just nod while staying out of the way. I spend my time watching her work and quickly notice her hammer is enchanted to help forge the metal.

I think it's got a few smaller gems on it and it is beating the metal into shape easily. She stops at a point and casts a spell before concentrating on the hot metal intensively. The glowing metal shifts a bit and a sharp square indent is made without disturbing the rest of the work.

Metal manipulation spells are useful, but very magic-intensive and hard to learn and use. Once she's done with that she takes several deep breaths before moving the metal to the side to cool. "Ai'ght. You, the one with the fun work, got something else interesting for me?" Her heavy accent is odd but understandable.

I nod and take out some blueprints, these ones much more detailed than the last ones I gave her. "Thanks for seeing me, sorry if I interrupted. And yes, I do think this counts as interesting." I lower my hood and pass the papers to her. "If you have the time for such a thing."

She looks neutral about it. "It'fine, not often I get to mess around like that. Took me three days to get those hinges right." She says with a smirk and looks over the paper, I see her brow raise more and more as she reads. "What'in Celestia's flank? Ya, I think this counts." She says with a laugh before moving over to a desk and waving me to follow.

I try not to react to the humorous use of Celestia's name, I have to remember that one. She lays the papers out with a more focused look. "What are you need'en this for? No... Not important. Better question, you know how much something like this will cost?" She asks me with a raised brow.

I nod knowing damn well I don't. "Roughly, cost is no object here though. In fact, I'm willing to offer a five thousand bit bonus if you can get it done in a month." I say in a professional and level tone. "I presume I have your interest in this job then?" I add on to make sure she's even willing and able to do this.

Her eyes bug out and her normal relaxed but mostly calm face breaks into shock. "Five peeve'en thousand! You-" She exclaims and looks back at the papers much more intently with a laugh. "Yup, this is interesting. Hmmm, I think I can, the metal alone will take a bit to get but." She goes silent and nods slowly. "I can get this done within a month, it'll be a challenge though." She pauses to think about it.

She writes on a piece of paper and passes it to me. "This thing will cost ya a'lot, A LOT. Sixty percent up front, no arguing. And you get the gems needed. You got that on ya?" I look at the paper and nearly react at the amount stated. It is certainly a LOT, more than I've ever spent on a single thing before.

But the amount is still basically nothing to me. I glance at the papers and remember the decision I came to after a lot of thought. I've come to the guild to commission a mithril greatsword and dagger with matching mithril sheathes for both. It was always going to cost a lot.

That price doesn't even account for the gems I bought. I spent a lot of bits buying some jewelry for their pure diamonds, I actually got questioned about why I wanted them this time. I was half honest and said I wanted to have them embedded in something else.

The good news is I only needed to buy two pieces of very high-end diamond jewelry to get the gems needed so while the staff thought it odd others didn't even notice. But that's why I went there under an illusionary disguise to not be recognized, I even used my wings to improve my disguise.

I leave my thoughts and place down a heavy bag of bits and a much lighter bag of diamonds. "That's six, give me somewhere to send the rest and I'll get the bank to move it right after this." She looks surprised that I agree without care but smiles widely after opening both bags to look inside. "We have a deal then?" I ask, holding out a hoof.

She looks up at me from her much smaller height and doesn't look intimidated in the least. She watches my face for a moment more before shaking my hoof. "Ya, we do. Seems I made a good call giving you that card, let me grab the contract." She chuckles a bit and keeps her smile while pulling out a few papers. "Same as last time, and this is for the coin." She passes me a contract and a slip of paper.

I read the contract anyway as she looked over the papers again. "Hmm, this is a bit more strict, how much do you want me to meddle? Because this looks ok for a blade, but it could be better with a few changes. Ah, and you think'en of a style for this beauty?" She asks and I think for a moment before signing the contract.

"The size needs to be the same, but the style is not really important." The blueprint I gave her was one I used to make my wooden practice weapons, but it's very plain and basic in look. "I'll trust your judgment, as long as it works well and incorporates what's stated to make it."

I don't know much on this topic and I trust her to at least not make a decent weapon. "Just make sure it can actually be used, it needs to be practical, not fancy," I added after a moment. "That said, if you want to make it look nice in some way go ahead." I can see she wants some creative freedom here and I don't mind giving it.

She gains a look that shows a larger smile and a little respect. "Good, a shame for something like this to look so plain, or be a useless hunk. I'll get it to you in time, and thanks. I don't get to work on something like this nearly enough." She smiles up at me and copies our contract.

I take that as my cue to leave. I nod, "Thank you, Miss. Quake for your work, send it to the same place. Have a good day." I say and move to the door, she doesn't answer seemingly absorbed in the blueprints I left. After leaving I head straight to the bank to make the transfer.

Metal Quake shouldn't sell me out or cause me problems, she knows I have the money for this and that means I have the money to sue her into the grave. Plus she looked pretty happy to work on something like that and I can read her well enough to tell she's not the type to play politics.

Then again you can never be too careful, that's what the contract is for though. I whistle a bit along with my Shadow while walking through the evening streets.

POV shift Rarity.

I sip my cup of chamomile tea while slowly going through the snippets of news I've been sent.

It's a lovely little service that compiles and sends out all the interesting news from Canterlot's high society. I rather enjoy the... Entertaining and thrilling stories. But it can take a while for news to spread here, as much as I love this town it has some rather dreary culture.

But that's why I have this. "Oh, Noble Brick and his brother's second wife? How scandalous." I giggle a bit and drink more tea while flipping to the next page. "I should get another roll of that lovely gold trim from Canterlot, yes that will be perfect for spring," I say to myself and look down again.

I look at the front page of another addition of Canterlot Daily, only to blink not quite realizing what I'm seeing. I've seen the news cover The Princess dancing with others before, it always makes good small talk. But this time is different because I recognize something in the picture.

The picture lacks color and is not at the best angle, but it is of high quality. Good enough to recognize the patterns sewn into the large earth ponies suit as he stands hoof and hoof with The Princess. "I- what?" I mumble out and stare closer at the stallion's face.

"O-Oh, oh my." I hear the teacup slip from my magic and clatter to the floor. I feel a little lightheaded before fainting on my couch with one last thought. :IT'S HIM!:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 995

Ok I have a few things to say. First, I decided to add in Shade getting new weapons as he needs them and just having him improving his armor and the bit with Rarity seemed a bit light. So if you liked Metal Quake here you go.

Any suggestions for how Shade's weapons should look? You all have some pretty good ideas and I thought you might have some fun with suggestions. And it gives me some inspiration.

As for Rarity, I wasn't entirely sure how to write that part, but as cliche as it sounds I thought her fainting just fit too well not to do. So here something a bit out of the ordinary to be silly and fun.

Also, I didn't say it in the chapter but I'm going to have him add the voice changing spell to the Armor. And is just occurred to me while writing this that I've created a nightmare.

With the voice changer Shade is now some unholy mix of Dr. Strange, Batman, and Dare Devil. Oh God.

And yes I like comic books, how could you tell?

Chapter 233

OCT 19 Thursday.

I delicately wrap the wounded hindleg with a clean bandage and make sure to keep a steady hoof while I do it.

I also do my best to ignore the mare I'm working on. She's laying on the bed and because of the height and angle, she has a pretty open view of my flank and underside. "There we go, Miss. Make sure not to put pressure on it for a few days and come back if you need the bandages changed." I use my professional tone and pass her a few forms I was given for her to sign.

She smiles a little too much and I move a bit further back pretending to focus on some other task while she deals with the paperwork. "Thank you, will do. So, what's a stallion like you do-" She starts to use some pick-up line and talks to me like a mare before her, but it cuts off as a nurse quickly walks up to me.

"How much magic do you still have?" The mare asks quickly and with some urgency. I've seen the staff here have to act quickly before and they always have that tone when they do so it immediately gets my attention. "We need anypony that knows how to cast the B.L.P spell, you know it right?" They quickly flip through a few pages on a clipboard.

I nod quickly and straighten up. "I have plenty left and yes I can," I answer simply and they nod before motioning for me to follow and quickly walking off. I don't ask anything else and just start to follow them out of the room and down a hallway leaving the mare on her own looking a bit perturbed.

I pass a few other quickly moving ponies and we eventually stop outside a room. "Bracelet and necklace. We have three ponies that just came in bleeding badly and most of our nurses are out of magic." She motions to my jewelry and holds out a hoof.

I'm not comfortable taking them off, but this is hardly the time to let that get in the way. I quickly use my space magic to take both off and pass them to her while making a note of her name on the badge she has. She nods and opens the door to let me in before walking off somewhere else.

The room is quiet with hushed voices talking over three ponies receiving a lot of attention. It's near the end of the day and today has been busier than normal. It's not the busiest day I've seen but a lot of the ponies are probably low on magic at this point even after trying to conserve it.

A stallion wearing a doctor's uniform walks up quickly and notes my badge. "A volunteer? You know the spell? Doesn't matter, quickly that patient over there." They point to a mare with several bleeding bandages on. "The other two are worse off, we need to prioritize." He adds some form of explanation and then quickly moves back to work and I do the same.

I make sure not to disrupt the others but quickly make my way to the pony and cast the spell after joining the nurse bandaging wounds. The wounds are deep and seem very inconsistent, mostly having splinters of wood that look like shrapnel. I have no idea what did this but I make sure the spell is working correctly by checking a few wounds.

The mare nurse working on bandaging them looks over at me. "You have the focus to help too?" She asks while offering a roll of bandages to me. More complex spells like the B.L.P spell can take some mental effort on the part of the caster to power continuously and I need to control it to deactivate parts as she continues to bandage the mare's wounds, but it's barely noticeable to me.

The control I have on my magic and the mental strain from it I can endure is much higher than the vast majority of ponies. Mostly from all my constant improvement and practice with things like space magic where I have to keep several tasks in mind at once.

I take the bandages with my space magic and quickly start working on a few wounds delicately and slowly removing splinters of wood. The splinters aren't hard to remove as they are mostly small and only go a bit in, I leave the larger ones to the nurse. "Yes, tell me if you see any gaps in the spell." It's unlikely but being warned about it might just make all the difference.

The nurse nods and we both work in silence trying our best. I pay more attention to the mare we're working on and I see she's not in good shape, but she's still awake at least. She keeps wincing and twitching each time we do anything to bandage her and seems to be in a lot of pain. "Ah!" she calls out as we flip her over as gently as we can to get to other wounds.

I pause as the mare calls out and I notice something bad, after we flipped her over we can now see the other side of her body. At the top of her side, I notice a small item sticking out of the mare like many others, but it's not wooden splints, it's a tiny piece of metal. "Did anypony scan her insides?" I ask just to be safe and motion to the metal.

The other nurse looks up at me away from her work and up to me. "Just her lungs wh-" She stops after noticing the piece of metal as well. "Buck! Doctor Sick!" The nurse calls out and I quickly step back to let the same stallion doctor from earlier take my place as he rushes over a moment later.

He spots the piece of metal without us saying the things and looks at me. "Drop the spell." I don't question him and do just that before he can even fully turn back. His horn lights up and despite the tired look he has he casts what I presume are some scanning spells.

A moment later he pulls out some paper from his coat and looks at the results, only to look back at me with more concern and urgency. "Cast the spell again." A matrix flashes immediately and I recast the spell. "How long can you hold that?" He asks while looking at the other ponies in the room.

The B.L.P spell isn't that draining and I have plenty of magic left. "A few hours if I'm not casting anything else," I answer honestly, not holding back at all after sensing the urgency of the situation. He copies the papers quickly and clips the copy to a clipboard at the end of the bed.

He looks up surprised but shakes his head a bit. "Don't bandage her anymore and just keep her under the spell as long as you can. Don't give her anything either." He quickly moves back to the other bigger group to help with the other injured ponies. I don't know what he found but he knows better than me so I focus on the spell and keeping the whimpering mare stable.

The mare is mostly keeping her eyes closed and seems to be pretty out of it from the pain. But the mare opens her eyes to glance at me. "Are, they, ok?" She struggles to say and I look to the nurse for an answer, but the nurse just glances at the other injured pony's uncertainty. I have no idea what to say but the nurse seems to find the words first.

"They are being taken care of. Just try to endure a bit longer, you'll all be fine." The nurse uses a calming tone but looks a bit sad with her ears drooping, but the injured mare closes her eyes again and breathes out seemingly satisfied, and now trying to relax and control her labored breathing. I can't do much to help her right now but I do get an idea.

I turn back to the nurse. "I could cast a foal sleep spell?" I suggest uncertainty. "She can at least have some quiet." I offer the only thing that might be able to help with things hoping she knows what spell I'm talking about. The nurse perks up a bit and quickly walks over to a pony I've noticed watching everything happening in the room, head nurse Dr. Mellow Meadows.

She came in but has just stayed to the side and watched, probably here to swap out with a different doctor when they run out of magic. The room regularly lights up with light from spells being cast every minute or so as the doctors work. The nurse probably asked Dr. Meadows instead of any other doctor because they are busy with the patients.

They talk for a moment before Meadows comes over and the nurse goes off to do something else. She glances at me before looking at the clipboard the doctor updated. "That spell still lets's sound out correct?" I nod. "Do it." I quickly cast the spell over the mare and noticed she relaxed a bit more a moment later.

Dr. Meadows moves her hooves into the silenced field and claps them a little to hear the sound before nodding. "Good. Drop it if you aren't relieved in an hour, the other spell is more important." With that, I'm left alone for a moment before a different nurse joins me to watch over the mare.

It takes them nearly forty minutes to finish with one of the other patients and move on to the poor mare. By this point, Dr. Meadows is directly helping and I'm told to cancel my spells before moving back to let them get to work on the mare. After that, I just sit to the side for a few moments and look over at the other two ponies.

They also don't look great but seem ok now, or at least stable. As I sit to the side a very tired pony moves over to the same area and lies down to rest. It's the same stallion doctor From before. His badge has his name on it, Dr. Sick. :I hate pony names:

He looks over at me and gives me a tired nod. "Good job, there was some metal deep in her side. She was probably going to be fine but it helped us prioritize." His tired voice compliments me a bit and he shows a bit of respect in his smile. "You were probably supposed to be off by now, right? Things are fine now, you can go home and get some rest, you earned it." He walks off after that.

I sit there for a moment and look at the injured ponies again before silently leaving the room and making my way outside. The nurse that originally came and got me gave me my bracelet and necklace back and I put them on and retrieved my saddlebags before flying home.

I receive my mail after arriving and by the time I'm finally back in my apartment it's already dark outside. I cast a magic light as Entropy leaves my shadow to stand on my back. I flip the letter I got over as Entropy looks at my head, "Ponies, be ok?" She asks with a slightly somber tone.

I turn back to her with a reassuring smile and pet her. "They will be, they just need rest and time. How about a late lunch?" I ask to distract her from that. I might need to stop her from coming with me, I would rather she not see somepony die, not that I want to either.

She wags her tail and I make both of us lunch while reading over a short-ish letter from Twilight. She has some free time in mid-November so she asked for a good time and place to meet up. The rest of her letter is the normal mix of how she's doing and talking about magic.

I make a mental reminder to send her a letter tomorrow before quickly finishing my food and getting to work on a few things. After finally finishing my new armor I spent some time painting it and making another full suit of armor that was the same as my first suit before I upgraded it.

I still need something to practice with Stone and having a second set that I can quickly upgrade if the first breaks seem like it's worthwhile. I go into my workroom and grab a few things before organizing what I worked on this morning. I finished the second armor set this morning but didn't have time to put it away before leaving.

I take a wooden crate I made and start packing all the armor pieces away to be moved, I don't plan to store this armor set here but at Gaia's Eden just like my first. Much like my staff, I don't like leaving my important things in my apartment in case anything ever happens.

After packing it away I take it with me and find Entropy on her perch. "We're going to Gaia's Eden." She doesn't even question it a moment later we both vanish before reappearing in my small shack. I immediately take notice of Celestia's presence but ignore it for the moment.

Entropy lays on my bed in the shack while I organize my shelves in the only other room. It has several crates filled with smaller boxes that have preservation spells to contain all of my seeds. My staff and my first set of armor are also here, the armor is now painted pitch black thanks to a little help from Daisy.

Last game night a few days ago I asked her about what paint is the blackest she knew of, I didn't ask it like that of course. I also got a few teasing questions from Blaz and even one from Maple, but in the end, I did get an answer. A trip to the market the next day and I had the armor painted by that evening.

The paint she showed me reflects little light and doesn't shine in the dark which is important. The only magical change I've made to the armor is a small spell to change my voice when I speak. It's good for both intimidation and to further obscure my identity.

Beyond replacing the brown bags I would strap to my armor with black bags and extend the silence spell to them there isn't much more I can do with the armor. The small diamond can't really handle much more than one more small spell and nothing as large as the silence spell, so for now this is as good as it will get.

I am thinking of Imbuing the armor at some point but that is still a ways off. I finish organizing things and move my magical light around to find a White Oak seed before leaving my Shack. As I step out onto the snow-covered ground in the cold night I spot Celestia in the distance.

She's just sitting at the edge of the fish pond watching them under the slight glow of the Stardew Blossom Trees. They have lost most of their leaves and flowers from the winter cold, but a few still remain and they are enough to make her able to see without the need of another light.

I think about joining her for a moment, but she looks over at me for a moment before turning back and her face says it all. She looks sad and somber, she also looks like she wants to be left alone for now. I know she likes to be left alone at this time of year so I give her the space she needs.

I suppress the slight pang of sadness and the want to comfort her, instead I focus on the task at hoof. I walk over to an unused area of Gaia's Eden, to the right of the Vita Tree and in between Celestia's house and the river. There is still a lot of empty space in between everything though.

I start by using my space magic to move all the snow out of a twenty-foot circle leaving only dead grass and soil. It takes me nearly ten minutes to clear it all and once I'm done I decompose any plant dead or alive inside the radius. I plant the White Oak seed I brought and start to grow out a structure.

A one-foot thick raised platform raises up, the same size as the circle I made at twenty feet around. It takes me a bit to grow it all even after massively speeding up the process, but when I'm done I take out a single small ruby and start to enchant it with a basic shield spell to keep out any snow or rainfall.

This raised platform will be the place where I assemble my first ritual. The Imbuing ritual is weak enough that as long as I don't put it next to the Vita Tree or any large magical gems it can be near a magically active area without any danger. But that still means I need to keep magically powerful items away from the ritual's immediate vicinity when casting the ritual.

This small ruby is just about the limit of what is safe and if I didn't need it to keep the snow off I wouldn't be using it. I take out my wood carving kit and get ready to begin carving. This is going to take a while, probably days actually. But it's best I carve out channels for the gem dust to rest in, it will help with stability.

I could just use my life magic but this needs high precision so it's best I do it by hoof and regrow any mistakes I inevitably make. Now, all that remains is the work.

POV shift Celestia.

I gently toss another blueberry into the pond and watch a fish gobble it down in the soft white light of the trees around me.

The small sounds of the mostly silent night are soothing to my nerves and calming to my weary mind. Out of all the gifts Shade has ever given me this place has been the biggest blessing in my life. A place where I need not be watchful or worried, a place where I can simply relax.

Who knew I would find such peace in one of the most dangerous locations in Equestria? The depths of a wild and untamed forest. I think that would have some poetic irony to most, but I disagree. Many of my ponies may see such a place as wild and dangerous, and they are not wrong.

But there is peace and beauty in a place without others, a place not controlled by anypony. A place that rules itself and is left to grow untamed. Well, it was at least, until some mad colt decided it would be a nice place to be left alone and take a nice break. I softly giggle leaves my muzzle despite my mood.

She would love this place, to have somewhere to be away from it all. My amusement falls away quickly at that thought and I look up as a light blue, glowing cherry flower falls into the water in front of me. A few fish nibble at it before I gently pick it up to look at it closely.

Yet another marvel of magic made by Shade, another to add to the ever-growing list. I find it odd that he does such marvelous things and could never forget one of his achievements, yet he does. I see it from time to time ever so often when we speak of the things he's made.

He will gloss over some of them or not even mention them at all like he considers them to be nothing but a small helping hoof. He's improved so many lives, but I don't think he can fully see it. As an example, I have lived with a slight fear of running out of food during winter for a long time now.

It is not something I or my ponies experience often now, thank magic for that. But in days long gone it was a constant and very real fear, that's why his frost crops stand out to me so much. To grow food in a wasteland of cold and ice is a feat countless beings have tried and failed to do for millennia.

Yet, he barely even mentions it. He looked a bit surprised when I mentioned the expected progress of its cultivation this year at one of our meetings. He sees solutions to so many problems others can not, yet he fails to truly see the absolute good he does every time he makes something for others.

Neither fame nor gold, nor even simple recognition interests him. So why? Why do so much for seemingly nothing? I believe my ponies are kind, but even they very rarely help out of pure altruism. Unseen or otherwise they normally get something out of it, yet he gets so little.

I pay him a small bit of what he could ask for, but it seems so... Lacking to reward him with only that. Yet I know he will not take anything else, for he doesn't need it. I think back to the worrying answer such questions have sent me to before. Fear, why fear?

Out of all the things that could drive him, why fear? I am a bit ashamed to admit I thought he may fear me at first, but he made it clear that is not the case though. But, then what? What does he fear so much that all of this is reasonable? An appropriate reaction. I don't know, and it makes me worry for my friend.

I place the flower on the water's surface to float slowly. He is kind enough to see my pain, and kind enough to give me space here. Even when I am the one intruding into his space to be alone, I am sure he would just say it's my space as well. That is what it is, isn't it? A home away from home.

I have had so many homes, but this one is so peaceful. I crane my neck up and look past the patches of glowing leaves and flowers to look at the stars and moon.

Yes, I think she will love this place.

Author's Note

Thanks fore reading. :]

I was planning to add a longer then normal part about Shade at the hospital, but it was longer then I liked so I cut Shade's private time a bit with Celestia thoughts.

From what I understand, and I am no expert, metal shrapnel can be a lot worse than wood because it penetrates deeper instead of breaking apart. Again I’m no expert so take that with some salt.

Also, I'm starting to write these faster, and at this point I might be able to make them 4k each. I decided not to, mostly because I feel that is really pushing the limit of an enjoyable read.

And I've already gotten myself to the point of writing 3k in less then three hours, so I don't think I'll reach for 4k yet.

This all has no bearing on the story, I just thought you might find my not so humble brag interesting. See you all next time.

Also last thing I swear. Here, have an updated map of Gaia's Eden.

Chapter 234

OCT 30 Monday.

I quietly stand in the snowy field and focus on the wooden post I'm using as a target right now. A slight twist of space later and the log is cut cleanly at the midsection, the top half falling to the ground with a few other sections of the log.

The past two weeks have been one of silent work for me. I've spent some time over the last few days working on Luna's garden again and I think it should look beautiful tomorrow. But today is for other things, specifically the ritual that is now completely carved out and ready to be used.

Actually, I finished it a few days ago but I wanted to wait for Celestia to have some time to observe. Over the past week, I've seen Celestia more and more but only I talked to her a bit. Mostly us chatting a little as I go about doing chores, breeding plants, or practicing. On that topic, I've started breeding more varieties of frost crops, but that is slow going as always.

I could use Guided Evolution to speed things up but my life magic is better spent on other projects at the moment. So I'm just going with the slower method for now, and I feel like using a method I haven't mastered to create something others will be eating is a bad idea.

I know the process doesn't always follow my will correctly and I know the old method does work. There goes my mind getting distracted again, back to the topic at hoof. Celestia has been distant but asked to meet today and tomorrow. Tomorrow's plan is obvious enough and today we'll be using the ritual to Imbue Entropy's band.

I myself have spent the last two weeks focusing on a few things, mainly Luna's garden and training to be ready. I know things are still happening in the background even if I can't see them so I've focused on bringing some new cards to the table in case I ever need them.

I've improved and learned a new lightning spell as well. I've mastered the Lightning Bolt spell and it is great for ranged attacks, but I needed something with more of a punch to it. So I learned the Lightning Strike spell, which is basically the same spell just a few dozen times more powerful.

It's able to blow apart a one-foot-thick tree log without much difficulty and has some significant range. As you can imagine though the spell takes a lot of magic to cast, even after improving and optimizing it I can't just throw the spell around wastefully.

Beyond the new spell, I've also been working on my Spatial Cut ability, mostly its speed. I normally take a few seconds to form the spatial field and compress space properly, I've already gotten that down a little. I don't think it's fast enough for combat right now but with more practice, I can get it there.

It's worth the work for an attack that can't be blocked or even defended against. It's pretty terrifying actually but much like the new spell it takes a decent amount of magic so I can't just use it for everything. I stop my practice as I notice the sun dipping below the horizon.

I was asked to meet her after sunset so Celestia should be here shortly. I breathe out slowly while casting a light spell to beat back the darkness before making my way over to the ritual site to make sure everything is still in order. I step onto the platform and wipe the snow off of my hooves to not tack it onto the ritual.

The ritual itself consists of four concentric rings all filled with runes and mathematical equations in between them. The entire magical structure is around eight feet wide and has a small one-foot clear space at its center for the object to go. All the carved wooden channels are filled with a dust that sparkles in the light of my spell.

Getting gem dust for the ritual turned out to be much easier than I thought. Gems are very common and even with the Fire Starter I made there are many small slivers of gems left over when cutting a gem into the shape or from broken gems. Many of those tiny pieces are used for other things.

I went to a high-end arts and crafts store and was able to buy gem dust in fairly large quantities with ease. It's used in many products and fashion pieces so it wasn't hard to find in bulk. I was able to buy a small barrel of several types of gem dust for a decent price, I didn't need too much though as the ritual lines are very thin and don't take much dust to fill.

I bought a few types of gem dust because depending on the ritual a weaker or stronger type might be preferable, even if all of them would work just fine. This Imbuing ritual is made from a mix of topaz and ruby dust, the ruby to hold the shadow magic and the topaz to let the magic move slower.

Topaz can't move magic as quickly as Ruby which lets the ritual stay more stable as the magic will slowly spread more evenly instead of rushing at certain points. Everything is ready, all that remains is doing the actual ritual itself and that can wait. After checking over the ritual again I walk over to the pavilion lit by Moon Glow Vines and start to make some tea.

I've still been slowly improving the Blood Leaf Tea for a long time, but the plant makes it very difficult to do. Guided Evolution takes a monumental amount of life magic to affect the plant's magic as well so for now I can't use it on the Blood Leaf Tea, but even with the slow progress the tea has been improving.

While I wasn't able to improve the Blood Leaf Tea's magical effects with Guided Evolution, I was able to change its flavor relatively easily. I may like the slightly lemony taste it normally has but it can get tiring after drinking it so much. Sometimes I have to force myself to drink it if I'm using it a lot.

So I made a variant that tastes like juniper berries, a nice change of pace that I think Celestia will enjoy as well. Speaking of Celestia, I feel space shift and warp as Celestia appears out of thin air next to the pavilion only a dozen feet away. Her appearance gets Entropy's attention as she flies off of her perch on the Vita Tree to join us.

I move a little to turn to her with a smile as Entropy lands on my back. "Tea?" I offer softly noticing that she's not in the best mood, rather down as is normal for this time of year. "I have a little surprise, and no I didn't spike the tea." I try a bad joke to help the mood.

She looks over to me with a sad smile, a look that shows just how much this time weighs on her. A smile that doesn't try to hide the pain of loss or her low mood. But my jokes seem to do something and she lets out a chuckle mixed with a huff. "I would hope not, but I wouldn't put it past you for a prank." She jokes back softly while walking over to lie down with me.

I move over a cup of fresh tea and smile more to try and help in whatever way I can. "Speaking of pranks, I think I know what I'm going to do to Cadance, might need your help though. But that's for a different day." I go silent for a long moment. "Feeling ok?" I ask a stupid question.

She looks at me and nods slowly. "No, But I am better than many years before this, if you can believe that." She makes a rather morbid joke, or at least morbid for her. Her ears fall a bit and she sags, fully discarding any mask she had in place. "I am well enough, thank you for asking. Are all your preparations done?" She says changing the topic while looking ready to stand up.

I nod and leave that topic alone. "I would like you to look it over to be safe, but it seems to be ready and correct. We have plenty of time to talk if you'd like though?" I offer gently hoping to have a more thorough conversation with her, but also not wanting to push her into it.

She pauses for a moment before nodding and smiling a bit more. "I think I would like that. But sadly I'm not the best at picking a topic right now. Hmm, my question, did you come to an answer?" She thinks for a moment before picking something I was planning to bring up after Nightmare Night.

I wanted to wait until it was out of the way so it wouldn't weigh on her. I can see she's struggling to find a good topic but still wants to talk with me. I nod slowly and motion to the tea, "Yes, but tea first, I want to know what you think. And, you look like you could use it." I push her untouched teacup closer.

She looks interested in my answer but does as I ask and drinks the tea. "Hmm, juniper? Not a common tea ingredient, although I suspect this is not so simple?" She gives me a knowing look while drinking some more tea. "It is very good though, thank you."

I smirk a bit. "Kind of? You know I'm creating new plants so I thought a new flavor of Blood Leaf Tea would be nice. So now I have a variant that tastes like this." She raises a brow at that and gives me an odd look. "What, it's easier than adding juniper to the tea itself, and tastes the same."

She chuckles a little bit. "There it is. I suppose you can make any flavor you like then?" She makes small talk and I'm getting the feeling she's just trying to not think about other things.

I nod. "As long as it's from a plant I can do it. Tell me if you'd like a flavor made or even several, it's not too hard to change something like that." She smiles more and we lapse into silence for a moment. "I'm willing to get as involved as possible with this, but how much are you willing to let me be involved?" I finally answer her.

She stops for a moment before nodding, looking unsurprised. "I gave the option for a reason, and I will respect your choice. I also suspected you'd do this, no point in trying to stop you. I'm guessing you will be disguising yourself? If not I rather you do, this is not something I think you want linked to your life." She advises me calmly but also just accepts my choice outright.

I'm again reminded of just how kind she can be, even with me wanting to get involved in a war to some extent she's willing to let me make my own choices. She even offers me advice on how to best go about it. "Yes, I will be. I have just the thing, wait here." I stand up and she watches me quickly trot off to my shack with a curious look.

I make quick work of putting all my armor on from all the practice I have. After everything is on I decide to have a bit of fun to entertain her and activate the enchantments from the silence spells and my voice changer on my armor to show them off.

I cancel the light spell I have with me and walk out into the pitch-black night, she turns to me but can't really make it out for a moment until I get closer. When I step into the light silently she perks up paying far more attention. "I made some improvements," I say in a far deeper tone while walking over to sit down again.

Her eyes widen at my tone and she looks around my armor for a moment. "It seems so. Look at you, full knight armor and all." She slowly teases. "It is certainly impressive though." She says while closely inspecting the armor as I stand there.

"You do know a meeting would be diplomatic, right? This? Is frankly intimidating." She points out seriously but looks somewhat amused. "Why the silence spell? If I remember correctly that works as a sound barrier and blocking out noise at an event like this is unwise." She adds some more advice.

I take off my helmet and look at her. "Different spell, this silence spell only affects the armor and nothing else, I can hear and speak just fine. As for the intimidation? That's part of the point, a scary guard can be rather useful." I say while getting comfortable sitting down in my armor and drinking some tea.

She looks interested. "Guard? Elaborate." She asks with a more level tone.

I nod and continue. "No matter how we go about this the meeting will probably be small. A few dozen on each side at most?" She nods. "Then even if I'm disguised I'll draw attention anyway just by being there. So why not instead provide some extra protection while having a much more thorough disguise?"

She raises a brow with a small smirk. "A guard like that would draw much attention, but that would be focused on the potential threat. You want to hide under the spotlight, to blind them to the truth." She uses some more fancy words but she's completely correct.

I smile back. "Yup, but it is also simply practical. Trying to find out who I am under all this will be a challenge, that's why the horn is there." I stand up and start to remove the armor as she's gotten a good look at it and it's a little uncomfortable to sit in. "And, to go with it I commissioned some actual weapons."

She again doesn't look surprised and just nods. "If you're going in that it will be fitting. I'm also willing to bet you bought something out of the ordinary? You're not the type to get subpar security." She chuckles a bit when I pause and stare blankly for a moment.

I laugh a bit too. "A full mithril greatsword and dagger made by a master smith," I answered bluntly after removing the last piece of my armor. "They should be done in a week or two and then I am obviously going to enchant them," I say while lying down again.

Her eyes widen some and she goes silent for a moment before laughing. She lets out the first full laugh I've heard from her all mouth and while I'm confused it's good to hear it again. "Of course. The MOST expensive thing you ever buy is a weapon, do you just like sharp things?" She teases me again.

I try to think of a rebuttal, but she's correct, this is by far the most expensive single thing I've ever bought. I just stay silent and let her enjoy the moment, once she's done I continue with a larger smile. "What do you think? Is my plan half decent? Or good enough to convince you to let me be at the first meeting you will have?" I ask bluntly as being vague won't help here.

She takes a deep breath and gets a more serious look. "The first meeting? ... It's not a bad plan, far from perfect but such a thing is not really available in this situation. You do know things could go very wrong at the first meeting?" I nod back seriously. "Then yes, but only if you bring Entropy and promise to not be dumb." She says that with a dead serious tone.

I chuckle a bit. "I promise, but I will also promise to actually try and be a guard. You won't need my protection but others will if things go wrong." I will be a bit firm on that point because I probably am dumb enough to disobey her and help others. She just looks a little proud of that.

"I won't disagree with more protection for them, I'll get things set up for you to attend like, THIS." She motions to the armor. "Are you going under your alias? It would be good to have Veil Winter at the meeting if you are still planning to take credit for this invention. Having Veil Winter be like this will raise questions."

I told Celestia of my plan for Veil Winter to take credit for the Love Gatherer and Love Cell. But do I want Veil Winter wrapped up in all this like that? It would simplify things but my weapons draw too much of a link in between that alias and me to make it work well.

I speak after a moment. "Take credit? Yes. But it's best I don't take up the name for this meeting, it might complicate other things and several guards know my weapon choice, maybe an expert of spells though? There is more then one. How are your efforts going? Got any response yet?" I'm happy that she's agreed to me being at the first meeting and going with my plan. I guess I have to get used to her letting me do dumb things more, yay.

She tilts her head a bit. "Somewhat. We've made contact and have actually gotten a response, but keeping things secret is really slowing it all down. A meeting might not happen for a few more weeks, most likely a while longer. Before the end of the year seems likely though." She answers with some slight uncertainty.

I nod and go silent for a long moment, after some stifling silence, I speak up again deciding to change the topic to something different. "I find that I get oddly philosophical when in low moods, and you're spreading the mood." I use a very joking tone to show I'm not serious. "I find myself asking questions that have no real answer when like that, and yet I ask myself them all the same," I say abruptly.

She seems to catch on that I'm being philosophical with her to keep things going. There is a long beat of silence, "I do something similar. I find myself thinking about what could have been." Those words seem to hold a weight of their own. "But I find it often leads me to think about what can never be. What question comes to mind?" She smiles sadly and engages in some philosophical talk with me.

I brought up this topic because while it may make her sad she does find things like this interesting and she needs a distraction. "Bigger questions I suppose. Those mysteries that no pony has ever been able to solve. Does time end? Is there an edge of existence when things just end?"

She smiles a tad more. "Things like the origin of life? Or magic?" I nod. "I like thinking about those things when truly alone, to let those stray thoughts play out. You are right though, such questions don't really have answers, or at least answers we shall know easily." She stands up a bit abruptly.

I raise a brow but stand up with her. "Thank you, Shade. It is nice to just, pretend it's all not there for a bit." She closes her eyes for a moment before exhaling slowly. "But we have a ritual to do and... I think I'd like to be alone after that, sorry to cut things short." She adds the second part with an apologetic tone.

Her blunt statement throws me off a bit but I don't bat an eye in following her lead. "Nothing to be sorry for, I am always here to talk when you need it. Now, are you ready Entropy?" I ask Entropy as she flies from my back to Celestia's. Entropy rubs Celestia a bit with her wing to comfort her.

Celestia gives her a thankful look as we walk over to the ritual circles edge. Entropy turns back to me with an excited posture and a quickly nodding head. "Yes. Dress, makeover!" I raise a brow as I don't remember teaching her that word, but I'm happy she brings her upbeat attitude to this somber mood.

Celestia chuckles a bit, she then takes a moment to look over the ritual. "It seems to be in order, all we need is the band and her magic." She picks up Entropy and places her down next to the outer ritual line. "Just push your magic into the line when he says so. If we tell you to teleport back to us do so, ok?" Celestia explains simply.

I nod in agreement and Entropy bobs her head excitedly. I take out the band and place it in the center of the Ritual Matrix before me and Celestia back to the edge of the ritual platform. "Go for it," I call out to Entropy as she impatiently waits next to the ritual. She quickly reaches out a shadowy wing and moves it over a line of gem dust.

I don't think Entropy is skilled or smart enough to utilize her magical affinities in other ways beyond her natural abilities. At least not right now, maybe someday though. Luckily all she needs to do is push her magic out and into the dust, and that is something I was able to teach her easily enough.

I cast a magical light to light up the ritual area so we could watch clearly. A beat later shadowy wisps start to twist and seep into the lines of gem dust from her wing. The light is blocked and the complex channels are filled with a spreading darkness slowly seeping out through the lines.

It takes a few minutes for the darkness to fully cover all the lines and at the same moment, the last of the dust is covered in darkness. All the lines flash with light and the shadows converge on the center all at once. They move very quickly, twisting into each other as they all seep into the tiny band sitting on the ground.

After the shadows are all absorbed we walk over to Entropy. Entropy slowly waddles over to me and I pick her up before placing her on my back again. "Tired?" She nods her head slowly. "Well, it worked, so how about we test it and then you can get some rest?" That causes her to perk up despite the exhaustion.

I bring the band, it looks and feels the same, I attach it to her leg. I don't even have to say anything as she slips into a shadow, the band goes into the shadows with her and she comes out a moment later before looking at her leg. "Yes! Work!" She celebrates a little before looking at me. "Sleep, keeping dress." With that, she slips back into my shadow before I can say anything.

I laugh a bit and smile. "Rest well girl, you earned it." I turn to Celestia as she smiles slightly, but I can tell she wishes to be alone. "Thank you, this was a large help, and you got me into rituals as a bonus." I made one last joke. "Good night Celestia, I'll see you tomorrow," I say softly intending to give her the space she needs.

She smiles down at me before looking sad again. "She most likely can't take you home, yes?" I nod. "Sleeping here then?" I nod again and she looks a bit uncertain. "Would you mind if I sent you home? I think, I would like to be here alone." She has a slightly guilty tone but I wave that off.

I smile wider. "Please do, and take all the time you need. I'll be here in the evening tomorrow." I answer immediately as I don't mind her kicking me out for a bit, it's her home as well after all.

She looks off into the distance for a moment. "Thank you for letting this old mare be alone with her thoughts. Good night, Shade." Her horn lights up and a moment later I stumble a bit now back in my apartment. I stand there for a moment before deciding to get some sleep, I'll need to be rested for tomorrow.

I sigh tiredly. As much as it hurts seeing her like that, I must remember that it will get better. Because it will be ok in the end.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

Not much to say here, see you next time.

Chapter 235

OCT 31 Tuesday.

I walk up the stairs after some shopping and make my way to my apartment with Entropy on my back. As I walk down the hallway to my apartment I see Daisy leaving her apartment. "Hey, Daisy." I greet her and she smiles at both me and Entropy.

"Hello to you as well. She seems happy, you feed her something special?" Daisy comments as Entropy happily sits on my back chirping a tune. I nod in agreement and chuckle. "I'm heading to the party with Blaz, you can still come if you like?" She offers again with a tone that shows she's trying to not pressure me.

They invited me and Maple to a Nightmare Night party last game night, but we both declined. I shake my head, "You know those things don't interest me. Have fun though, and keep the drunk out of trouble." I turned her down again as I already had commitments.

She just laughs some and starts to walk away. "At least he can hold his cider. Have a good night, Shade, and try to have fun." She jokes before walking down the hallway and leaving me alone. I sigh a bit and Entropy chirps at me before rubbing her wing against my neck.

"Ok?" She asks me in her own unique way, making sure I'm fine. I smile at her and pet her a little before walking into my apartment. As soon as we're inside she pecks her band and turns off the illusion before flying over to her perch. She's really enjoying her band.

Today we spent some time shopping and in the park, normally that would mean she'd ride in my shadow before I cast an illusion over her somewhere discreet when we arrive where we're going. But she's able to do that part herself now, so she's just been riding me a lot more once again.

It's given her a larger freedom and now she can explore the same as she did when she was young, before she transformed. She can fly around buildings without me being nearby and as long as nopony touches her she could even go out on her own. She hasn't expressed a desire to do that but the fact she can is important.

The freedom she is finding once again is good for her, and it makes every bit of work to accomplish this worth it. She hasn't really taken it off, in fact I had to bribe her with some treats just to get her to let me inspect it for a few minutes this morning.

The band itself doesn't look all the different, I think it's a tad bit darker but it's really hard to actually tell. It is working as intended though and the shadow magic inside should last a very VERY long time. The band is mithril which is magical enough to have absorbed a lot of the shadow affinity magic.

The desired effect here is to just keep the shadow magic in the band as long as possible, so because it's not being used in some type of active effect it should last decades or more. For now, I've made her a box I keep in my room whenever she wants to take off the band to store it, mostly because I need to establish some boundaries with her. Not boundaries for her, but for me. This band is hers to do with as she wishes and I shouldn't have control over it unless I ask.

In the past, I kept control over it because she could lose it. Now that the problem is fixed, I want to show Entropy that it belongs to her. I want to teach her more about respecting others' property and respecting her own property, which is slow going but she at least knows the band is hers and no one can have it unless she agrees, even me.

I place the last of the groceries away in my cabinets and check the time. It's around an hour before sundown and I think I'll head to Gaia's Eden once it gets dark. I actually haven't been back there since last night, so I decided to just leave Celestia alone for the entire day.

I did have Entropy take me to Luna's garden earlier today to make sure everything is looking right and not out of order. It should be perfect for tonight, or maybe not my mind really can't decide if I fucked something up and didn't notice. I'll just have to bear with it until later.

I still have some time to kill so I make myself and Entropy an early dinner, I don't want to be hungry while helping Celestia, she'll need my full attention. Honestly, this time of year makes me feel like I should be doing so much more to help her, but in truth I already am.

The best thing I can do is to be with her until this situation improves and Luna returns, at least won't take more than a few years. After a meal with Entropy and a bit of drawing the view out my window, I watch the sun fall from the sky as darkness descends, the sun's light quickly fading away.

I have Entropy take me to Gaia's Eden right after that. I leave my saddlebags at home but decide to take my scarf with me as it looks like a cold night. When we arrive I'm greeted by the sounds of a distant piano slowly being played, a winding and slow melody.

I don't waste time and just walk through the thick snow over to her house. The inside is lit up with Solar Vines that stream a warm light through the windows into the darkness. I knock softly and the music sadly stops. "Come in." I push open the door to see an empty room, but I notice the door to her workroom is open.

I walk inside to see her working at her desk. "Shade, thank you for coming." She says softly while not turning from her work. I walk up to her side and stand on my hind legs to see what she's working on. I've filled a few orders for different wood types for her so I'm curious what she's been working on.

It's a small round disk of White Oak with an interesting symbol on it. A crescent moon overlapping with a blazing sun is beautifully carved from different colors of wood. Black Palm for the moon and Golden Oak for the sun, with paint added for color. "What is it?" I ask while turning to her face.

She looks like she's been crying at some point, but there is this odd mix of happiness mixed in as she stares at her work. "I don't know." I raise a brow at that. "I just wanted to make something, or maybe anything? In the end, this was the result." She picks it up looking a little lost.

I smile a bit. "I know that feeling all too well, the amount of times I've found myself drawing or making something only to stop myself realizing I don't even know what I'm making anymore." I look at it closer, the woodwork isn't the best but it shows a lot of love. "To draw for the sake of drawing. It's beautiful."

She lets out an almost hollow chuckle. "You and your odd words of wisdom. But you are right, to make it for the sake of it and nothing else." She places the disk of wood on a shelf above her desk. "It is rather pretty, isn't it? I wonder if she would like it?" She voices a question I could never answer.

She takes a deep breath. "No, I'm not sure she would. Or maybe that's just how she was by the end?" I can see her darker thoughts are peaking through and reach out to place a hoof on her side. She looks down at me with a few tears, "You know, in the end, I found it... Hard to forgive her." She says those words with some shame.

I rub her side a little more and let go. "It can be hard to forgive others, no matter how close you are with them. It takes time and effort, but how long it takes is unimportant to me. What matters is that you did forgive them." I try to give some advice to pull her out of that thought as it's clearly not helping her.

Celestia tries to smile a bit but fails mostly. "I- I still have doubts, fears. What if, I never see her again? Would she even know I forgave her? ... Would she forgive me?" Her tears fall more freely now and I'm not sure there is anything I could say to help.

So I just give her a hug, one she returns a moment later. "I don't have answers for you Celestia, nopony does. But, maybe you can get those answers yourself?" I try to hint at the fact Luna will return, without letting on that I know more than I should. "Either way, things WILL be ok."

She sniffs a bit and rubs her eyes with a foreleg. "I'm sorry, you don't need to be worrying over my fears." She apologizes to me for something she should never have to.

I try to lighten things and drag her out of this particular line of thought. "I am the last pony you need to say that to. Do you know how many times you've helped me with my fears? Because I sure don't." I say with a smile. She's been there for me and I will be here for her.

Her crying has slowed and she seems to have gotten more control over herself. "I suppose so, still it's not a weight you need to bear." She stands up and I follow her out of the workroom. "I don't think sitting here will do me much good. To the Castle? I am rather excited to see the garden again." She changes the subject abruptly and I drop it as well.

I pause as she turns to me. "If that's what you want then sure. Are you sure though? We can spend some time just talking or doing something else if you want to." I know what it's like to make snap decisions to avoid a topic so I give her an easy way to change her mind.

She looks a bit tempted but takes a deep breath and shakes her head. "No, I- If I did I wouldn't have the strength to go there." She admits slowly. I just nod silently and move to stand next to her while Entropy jumps onto my back again. She takes another breath before her horn flashes brightly.

I expected us to appear outside like the times before, but instead, we appeared right in front of the throne room doors. And quickly see the first of the small things I did, the wall next to the door is partly fixed. Before the wall had collapsed partly and a small pile of stone rubble was covering half the double door.

I used some of the larger stone brick chunks and put them back as best I could before binding them all together with tree roots that I grew and dried out. She notices it but just smirks a little and moves to open the doors to enter the throne room. She doesn't stop though, she stares at the throne but we leave the room down a side hallway quickly.

As we walk she stops to stare at a stone symbol carved into the wall. "Thank you, Shade." She says abruptly and I raise a brow as we continue to walk towards Luna's garden. "For giving me the strength to see this place again, year after year." I look a bit more confused at that.

"I'm not really sure I did anything there. You're the one with that strength, I just help by trying to listen and understand." I don't really know what to say to that and just throw out some kind and honest words.

She turns to look at me with a soft smile as we keep walking. "Exactly. I used to come here every few years, a decade or so between each visit." I keep my brow raised and she frowns. "I would sit in the throne room before crying and leaving, always the same. But you." She sheds a few tears, her happiness quickly being mixed with sadness.

I stay silent as we walk, every so often passing another part of the wall I slightly patched up to make the journey to the garden easier. "I wished to show you this place because you found it, and I... I didn't want to be alone here that year. And every year since we've come back, so often." She lets out a little sob.

She stops before entering the area with the garden to turn to me. "I saw the amazement you had when looking at this place that day and... It made me come back the next year. To see this place as more than just the pain it caused so long ago." She envelops me in a hug while continuing to cry softly. "Thank you so much."

I'm both speechless and shocked by that point. I never knew she didn't come here every year, but it seems my presence has done some more good than I thought. I hug her back, "And thank you for letting me help my friend. To let you not have to bear this pain alone." I try to use words that could mean as much to her as those words meant to me.

We sit embracing in silence for nearly a full minute before she backs off and is again more in control of herself. "Silly stallion, I'm thanking you not the other way around, stop being so nice." She jokes to hide some of her emotions and pain, or maybe to just distract herself from them. "Enough tears. Let's see what work of art you've made this time." She picks herself up and takes a deep breath before walking again.

I smiled and followed her content that she was able to stop crying again. A moment later we walk into the garden and she stops to sit and stare at it all. "It's perfect. Like every time before." She slowly says with a smile while looking over the crafted scene I made.

The tree at the center of the garden is no longer alone and to the sides, there are a few small Stardew Blossom Trees standing to fill some of the empty space that was there before. The new trees are also covered in Moon Glow Vines along with their glowing followers and leaves.

The walls are still covered in Star Moss but I've added to it by changing the color of the Star Moss from a green to a pitch black so the points of light look like actual stars. The stone walls around the area have all been fixed by moving back what would fit and growing it over with more Moon Glow Vines and Black Star Moss.

The stone pathways to either side of the garden now have a floor of Black Star Moss to make it look like you are walking in the night sky. The small Water Tree and the Night Poppies have been regrown and I've changed the color of the Night Poppies to be more than just their normal white.

A mix of deep blues makes up the petals of the flowers now. The grass that covers the floor has been changed to a very dark green which makes the glowing plants and the snow stand out much more to give some contrast.

The entire area is now well-lit enough to see easily and as a final touch, I made a bench at the base of the only tree that has stayed the same since the first year we came here. I smile and walk into the garden while Entropy hops to keep up with me, she's been following us from a slight distance this entire time as I asked her to earlier.

Celestia follows me a moment later and I sit on the bench. It's made from twisted roots with a cushion of regular moss. "Take a seat, I hope you don't think me adding the bench was too much. But I thought a garden needed a good place to sit." These are the main things I thought she might not like as it sort of breaks the pure nature theme of the garden.

She giggles and shakes her head while looking over the various plants. "Not in the least, in fact I think something similar was here before." She pauses at that while looking at a clump of Black Star Moss she brought over to look closely at. "Your abilities are truly amazing. How long did this take you?" She asks softly while getting comfortable on the large bench.

I can sense the mood is taking a good turn so I answer while hoping to keep her calm and more upbeat. "The planning and all the choices took a few days, a week at most. But the plants only took a few hours." I caught a falling cherry blossom. "You are right though, it is rather amazing."

We lapse into silence and she looks at the clump of moss again. I motion around us, "You know, I find great joy in creating new plants. These plants are more than just modifications, they are each a new species. They are the only members of their kind in the world." I pick something as a topic off the top of my head.

She smiles a bit and nods. "Yes, the ability to create new life... Does it ever scare you?" I look back at her. "The power to change so much, does it ever scare you?" She asks and I can see my efforts aren't really working to improve the mood. I sit for a moment thinking about that.

"Yes, in a way. But a few words come to mind, kindness will always be. No matter what happens to anypony, there will be kindness, and I think there is some beauty in that." I try to give advice but sort of fail. "No, that was shabby, I need better words, I'm losing my touch." I make a joke of it.

She keeps her small smile and giggles. "Maybe, but all words are useful to somepony somewhere." I chuckle as she outdoes me in my own game. She looks up to the moon hanging above us in the sky. "You never ask about her, even on this day, why?" She says abruptly.

She's doing better and is calmer than before, she's even making a few jokes now. I think on it for a moment, "She is, well, you know." I look at the moon. "Up there, because something was wrong?" I word it carefully, she gives me a nod the wipes away her small smile. "Then she can tell me herself when she gets better," I say with certainty.

She looks back at me surprised and I show her a confident smile. "You said something took control, but that doesn't mean it will be that way. It hurts you to talk about her, so she can tell me herself when she's back to normal." I word it vaguely but I mean every word.

She looks like she wants to cry again but keeps calm. "I, yes we can only hope so." She reacts with happiness and surprise. "She would tell you so many stories, she was always better at telling them than me." She takes a breath. "Dreams and the night, that was her domain. One she took pride in." She smiles again at the sky.

I take notice of her reaction. I never knew for sure if she knew that Luna would come back, but that seems like a decent confirmation. "Luna Lunae." I raise a brow as she says the name with some pain in her tone. But she chuckles a bit seeing my expression. "Her full name, and yes I'm serious. She doesn't really like that last name and she insisted on Lunith instead." She seems to think about that with both fondness and pain.

I find that interesting and make a mental note of it. "Why keep it then? She was a princess, just change your name." I ask the obvious.

This seems to amuse her a bit more. "She did and others forgot it. But she would get so annoyed when I used it, and she'd try to hide those little smiles from me." The more she talks the lower her tone gets as it all crashes into her again. "I miss those days, so, so long ago." She sighs heavily.

I stay silent and bring over a Night Poppy. "I'm young, I can hardly imagine life five years ago let alone centuries. I can't imagine your pain, but I understand it, I think." I pass the flower to her. "I have no advice to give, no good words to say. But I'm here to listen." I run out of words to say as the mood gets to me as well.

She smiles softly. "You don't need to say a thing, being here is more than enough." She pauses and takes a deep breath yet again, she's now holding up much better. "I never told you what I question when I'm alone, did I?" She asks about our last conversation and I shake my head. "What lies at the end? At the end of all what still remains? That is the question I ponder the most." She says while looking up to the sky again.

"Silence." She tilts her head to me a bit. "At the end, there is silence, and nothing else." From what I know of reality the universe enters a state of entropy, of silence. "Because what else would there be but silence?" I ask getting philosophical with her.

She looks up fully again. "Maybe, but silence is the opposite and it needs noise." Her tone is now steadier as she seems to have relaxed and taken her mind off darker things for the moment. "Can, you stay until I raise the sun?" She asks hesitantly.

I smile and look up at the stars with her. "To see a view like that again? I wouldn't miss it for the world." I agree immediately as the night grows deeper. "Thank you for showing me this place, it is amazing." I think of her again as we stare up silently.

She nods without looking at me. "And thank you for caring... How many of those stars can you name?" She asks.

I shrug. "Not many, a few constellations though." I don't know any of the stars by name but while drawing star maps I read up on a few constellations.

She points at one. "Then let's fix that. That one is the bull." I listen silently as she points out stars and constellations, while I feel happy at getting her comfortable enough to relax here of all places and listen intently as the night goes on.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

I thought it would be more interesting for Celestia to talk about her fears more, not sure how I did with this chapter actually. I feel like it's a bit disjointed, but maybe that fits the mix of happiness and sadness that make up the mood.

Also, I thought I'd have a day or two until we hit 1k likes, you all decided to surprise me apparently and I wake up to us being ONE AWAY. IS what I was going to say! But then someone tipped the scales while I was editing this. You people are just the best.

I also just noticed this puts us at 700k words. What the fuck is happening today?!! Did I just use all my luck?!! I couldn't be more thrilled right now!! :D

I have nothing for this milestone sadly, so I'll just say it's a Q&A, ask whatever you like.

Thank you all, It means a lot seeing how far I've come in a year.

Chapter 236

NOV 6 Monday.

I drink some tea and let the taste roll around my mouth for a moment before swallowing it. "Hmm, not quite right," I mumble and move on to the next seed as I grow a new Blood Leaf Tea plant.

After my talk with Celestia a week ago and her Enjoying the Juniper flavored tea, I decided to make a variety of flavors. I need to send her another shipment of tea anyway so I've been working on several flavors for both of us to enjoy, so she gave me a few requests.

We talked until she rose the sun to end Nightmare Night. We mostly talked about the normal topics we enjoy and I'm happy to say she seemed to actually enjoy her time, just there a bit. And considering what that castle means to her, is nice to see.

As a small topic, I asked what flavors of tea she'd like and I've been working on those along with some flavors for myself. She requested, mint and lemon, ginger, and strawberry, odd choices but I think one or two of those might be for Cadance. As for myself? I went with apple and raspberry.

Most of the flavors were very easy to make but the mint and lemon are proving to be more challenging as I need to mix two flavors properly. But I'm getting close now and it shouldn't take me all that long to finish it as well. It really is nice to drink more than just the same thing again and again.

Beyond the meeting with Celestia and my regular work I've also been working on enchantments and spells I'd like to add to my new weapons. They should reach me today as I got a very short letter from Metal Quake saying she was sending a courier to deliver them to me directly and to meet them in my apartment building's lobby today at a specific time.

That is soon but I still have time to try a few more seeds from my first attempt at this new flavor of tea. Honestly, I've been thinking about my collection of plants in new ways after getting the ability to change them more accurately. Specifically a small plant I got a very long time ago, Salty Seaweed.

I got it years ago but never had much of a use for it and its properties. It's able to gather a large amount of salt from the water around it and grow it into salt crystals on its stalks that reach up from the seabed. They do this as a form of defense as eating raw salt is unpleasant to many creatures and could injure them when trying to eat the plant.

The plant is valued because it's an easy source of very pure salt, but it's not as easy as that. The plant isn't too common from over-harvesting and because it's rare to gather seeds. It's also almost impossible to farm because the plant doesn't take well to different environments than the one it's used to.

I think I could improve the plant's adaptability and survivability along with its seed count to make it a viable crop. It would make salt cheaper which is always helpful in one way or another. That plant isn't magical so with some work I should be able to make the needed changes.

For now, though I'm just filing away any ideas with my plants like that for another time. I need to focus on the Changeling situation and being ready. So back to my weapons, I've mostly been looking into enchantments commonly used for weapons, but I was disappointed as most of it is nothing new. I should have seen that coming honestly, considering this ponyland.

I already have a great sharpness enchantment from my woodworking that I'll be adding. But I also want to add something to improve the weapon's durability to damage and the ravages of time. But I can get more creative than just that so I've been thinking about elemental spells.

It would be great for dealing with armored opponents as most armor is metal and that is a winning combination for me, pun intended. A lightning spell is easy enough to work with, I just need to be careful with it to not hit myself. I also have been thinking about the sheaths.

I need a good way to attach them to my armor so I've employed the ever-useful sticking spell for a nice and simple enchantment. I also decided to use an intent-based rune for once, mostly because the task I want it to do is simple but needs to be done quickly.

My armor had room for one last small enchantment on the diamond so I added it in after some thought and testing. When it's working my weapons will stick to the side of my armor and when I mentally will it the sticking enchantment will turn off letting me detach the sheath and weapon literally as fast as I can think it.

I can still draw my weapons without needing to do that as the sticking enchantment is attached to the sheath, but it lets me detach the sheath to work as something to deflect blows or act as a weapon if absolutely needed. It also makes taking off my armor easier as with a simple thought I can detach my weapons and disarm myself.

A single moment can make a world of difference in combat so the mental spell is for the best, even if I need to be careful to not activate it by accident. I've been practicing with a fake wooden sheath and sword just to be safe and to get used to moving with a weapon attached to my armor.

I leave my thoughts as Entropy flies down from the kitchen table to her perch with a content chirping sound. "Enjoy yourself?" I ask as she gets comfortable. I fed her a full meal after she finished practicing with her words again. She gives me a soft thrill in response while I stand up as it's around the time for my delivery to arrive. "Good, I'll be right back."

I leave Entropy to rest while leaving my apartment and descending the stairs to the building's lobby. I decided to check my mail quickly to kill some time and saw a letter from Avalon. I smirk a bit at it, after we met a few weeks ago we've met at the library a few times to simply hang out and research things.

I gave him more book recommendations and plenty of advice as he jumped into learning how to make his own spells once again. He's got some talent, it's not immense but it is there and he's making progress. I have high hopes for how far he might be able to go. I open the letter to see neat and simple words.

Hey Shade.

Just wanted to say I'm visiting family for a few weeks and will be back around the new year. Sorry I couldn't tell you face to face but I've been busy with some things. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the holidays, I'll be sure to bring you back something nice.

Avalon.

I chuckle a bit. Despite how shy he can be in person he really shows how excited and energetic he is in his letters. I fold the letter and put it in my saddlebags as a pony walks into the lobby with a package. It's common for ponies to use couriers or have furniture delivered so none of the other ponies around even pay attention to them arriving with a package.

I walk over to the pony and get their attention. The pegasus lifts the heavy box and looks up at me, "Ugh, Mr. Evergreen?" I nod and they pass over a clipboard. "Sign here." I look it over and it's just a waiver saying I am who I say I am. I sign and they smile. "Thank you, and have a good day." They hurry off after passing me the large and heavy package and I quickly make my way back to my apartment.

I close the door behind me and start to remove the thick brown paper that's covering the plain-looking wooden box underneath. I place the heavy wooden box on the floor and open it to see two cloth-wrapped weapons and a letter inside. I go for the letter first as you should always read the instructions first.

This work is some of my absolute best, and worth every bit you paid for, I promise you that. I was able to get all the diamonds you gave me properly embedded and they should work just fine if you have a good enchanter around. Also inside is a card, keep it if you ever visit again and they'll take you right to me, no more fees or waiting.

Don't be a gray rock in the mountains and come back when you need anything forged, ya? And don't you dare take this to another smith if it needs fixing, it'd be a shame to have some amateur mangle this beauty.

I chuckle at the informal and blunt note she sent me. I look at the red card that was with the note and place both to the side for later. It is useful to know a good smith that can work on things when needed so I think I'll be keeping that card close. I reach out a hoof and decide to start with the dagger first.

I remove the cloth covering it and see the greenish metal shine in the sunlight. The sheath is a simple smooth metal with a diamond embedded right next to where the dagger's hilt and the sheath meet. The dark wood handle of the dagger is a simple piece with a slightly pointed pommel.

Right at the cross guard of the dagger's hilt and blade is another embedded diamond that sits near the one on the sheath when they are together. I draw the dagger to see an interesting design. The blade is a bit jagged with an inward curved blade that tapers off to a sharp point.

The front inner edge is almost serrated with how jagged it is and it's clear it's to be used more for cutting and less for stabbing, while the back edge is slightly smoother but still choppy. I asked for this design as my fighting style mostly cuts or parries with the dagger and this will cut deep.

The blade itself comes from the simple cross guard of two lengthy squares and goes from there. The designs engraved into it are very nice and catch my interest. Simple runic matrixes are overlapping and engraved down the blade in small circles seemingly with random designs to form complex chains that travel the blade.

I can tell the matrixes wouldn't actually do anything as the symbols used are fake and the circles cut off when intersecting with each other, they won't do anything even with magic saturating the weapon. Still, it's fitting and I can guess where she got the idea, namely my cutie mark. I note that the dagger has two diamonds in total as it has one embedded on each side of the cross guard, deep enough to not stick and also not deep enough to weaken the blade too much.

This is a magical metal though so even with the design introducing some weaknesses it should hold up just fine. And that's without the enchantments I have planned.

Combined with the dagger’s sheath, they have three half-inch-wide pure diamonds in total. The entire thing is nearly seven inches long and is an impressive piece of work. I sheath the dagger and place it to the side before unwrapping the real prize, the white cloth wrappings around the large blade fall away easily enough as I stand it up to get a good look.

Unlike the dagger, this sheath has engravings of its own. The surface is covered in more fake runic matrixes that nearly cover all the otherwise smooth metal in completely random spots. Metal Quake really earned that bonus and is definitely somepony I'll hire again if I need something, this work is amazing. I smile widely at this beauty.

The entire greatsword is around four feet tall and really is a true beauty. While standing up it came up my chin and was a heavy piece of metal weighing a lot. I see Metal used the same placement for the diamonds on this sheath and blade as well, with the sheath having two diamonds embedded on one side near the point where the sheath and the hilt of the blade meet.

The greatsword has a plain metal handle with the same slightly pointed pommel and a square-inch thick cross guard that has an upwards turn towards the point of the long blade. Embedded in the middle point of the cross guard are two diamonds on each side of the blade for a total of four and six with the sheath included.

The greatsword's blade is covered in runic matrixes that interlink into long chains that flow from the hilt to the tip of the blade getting smaller along the way. It makes an impressive weapon, with the mithril and gems I'll be able to really enchant these to a high degree.

The blade itself is nearly six inches across at its base coming out from the cross guard, but it quickly thins to four inches and keeps that width all the way to the last few inches where it thins to a sharp point. It has an interesting look and the greenish-colored metal shows off the runic engravings more in the light.

I move the box to the side and bring both weapons with me, excited to finally get to work enchanting them so I can test this new toy- Tools, so I can test these new TOOLS out. I move to my workroom with an excited pep in my step and place both weapons on my desk before bringing over a few gems that contain all the notes I'll need in illusionary books.

I start by taking full count of what I have to work with and bring over the dagger. Its sheath has only one gem on one side and is plain on the other, probably to allow it to be equipped to a pony's side which is the most common place to have it. And the dagger has two gems I can work with.

The greatsword's sheath is much the same with two diamonds on one side of the sheath with the other side being blank. And the greatsword has an impressive four diamonds. I make a mental count and start to think up different combinations of spells I could add to all of this.

I used half-inch pure diamonds for my armor as well so I have a good idea of what spells can be powered with one. I could use each gem one or two smaller spells, but these are meant to be my main weapons so it's better if I dedicate the entire magic of a gem to each enchantment for the greatsword.

For the dagger, I'll probably need to mix different spells on a single gem as it has less to work with. I decide to start with the obvious and enchant everything to gather and hold magic before enchanting both sheaths and both weapons to be much more durable. I dedicate a full gem on each item as this is a very important thing.

I also enchant the metal body of each item to be even more durable on top of what the first enchantments provide. It gives me less room to work with but I want these weapons to be able to ride out anything I do to them so it's worth it to me. Sadly that means I can't do much else with the dagger's sheath with both its diamond and body now enchanted.

After that, I enchant both blades with a powerful sharpening enchantment. On the greatsword, I use another full diamond to power the enchantment as it's my main damage dealer. For the dagger though I only used around half of the other diamonds' capacity and used the other half to add a different spell, the same spell used in my old frost dagger.

The dagger is mostly for small opportunity attacks and to parry blows so giving it a magical effect is useful. And unlike the original frost dagger, this spell is improved and has a better magic source, causing the spell to be powerful enough to form frost crystals on the blade just by being active.

I pause for a moment and use the dagger to cut a piece of maple wood I had lying around, the combination of enchantments cut the wood like it's not even there and leaves frost that creaks and cracks as it melts. With that, the dagger is done and I sheath it after making sure the protection enchantment on the sheath is strong enough to fully resist the sharpness enchantment and turning off the frost enchantment.

This is the main reason I used the full capacity of the dagger sheath to make it durable, I don't want my magically enhanced blades to damage their own sheaths. With the dagger done I move on to the greatsword, two of its four diamonds are already used so I think for a moment.

I use the third diamond to enchant the lightning spell I've been working on into the blade. The spell came from the frost dagger and I just modified it for lightning instead of frost. After I'm done I don't activate it to test it, I'll do that somewhere else as I would rather not wreck my workroom by accident.

There is still a diamond free on both the greatsword and its sheath but I already have everything I wanted so I'll leave those free for now. I pick both blades up and practically skip out into the main room before whistling to Entropy. She turns to me attentively. "I need to get to Gaia's Eden," I say and she flies down to take me immediately.

When I arrive inside my shack she watches me curiously as I quickly put on all my armor. After everything is on properly I move the greatsword's sheath to my upper right side, more near my back really, to a certain plate of armor. I will the spell to activate and a moment later the sheath is firmly stuck in place on my side as the sticking spell mentally activates.

I smoothly sheath the greatsword into its place on my side and test the weight of it by walking around a bit. The silence enchantment on my armor spreads to the weapon it's in contact with and as I walk I'm still completely silent. After making sure it's in place I move the daggers sheath right under the larger sheath and it also sticks in place.

I take a few more steps to confirm the diamonds in my armor can handle silencing the extra items and they seem to and the sticking spell. I move outside before breaking into a full run into the snowy field, yet my full run produces no noise except for my soft breathing. I stop running and stand in front of the standing log I often use for practice.

Entropy is now far behind me and lands in the snow before looking up at me. "What do?" She asks and I reach out an armored hoof to scratch her a bit.

"Just watch, and back up a bit." She hops a few feet away and I quickly unsheathe my dagger with some practice and activate the frost enchantment. I stand in front of the log and quickly slash it several times, each time I leave a deep gash in the thick Oak log, and I also see frost start to spread a bit from the cuts.

I tap one of the dagger's diamonds twice and the frost effect quickly fades while I test the dagger a few more times. The Frost and lightning enchantments are mostly passive but I included a way to switch them off because it's not always needed or optimal to have active.

These versions of the spell are also much more powerful than my old frost dagger and as such need to draw magic actively. It doesn't take a large amount of magic but after hitting something with the enchantment enough times the diamonds would use all of their stored magic and stop working.

I sheath the dagger and draw my greatsword while regrowing the damage to the log. I do one quick swing by twisting the handle with my space magic and in a moment the blade cleaves straight through the entire one-foot-thick log, I don't even have any resistance.

I hold up the blade and deliver a few more slashes, each time the log is cut shorter than before with a clean cut. Entropy chirps excitedly, "Shiny! Pretty! Sharp." She says while staying back and I can't help but chuckle at her reaction. I bring the hilt of my greatsword to me and tap a diamond twice to activate the enchantment.

In a moment small currents of electricity start to jolt around the blade at random, arcing a small bit sometimes. I regrow the log fully before taking a swing, the slightly loud sound of the discharge crackles against the wood and I once again cut through the log this time leaving some blackened and smoking wood.

I see streaks of blackened wood near the cut and while the effect doesn't do much to this log it would certainly do a lot more against a living thing. I tap the diamond again before sticking the greatsword's blade into the cold earth to prop it up. Entropy takes the opportunity to fly over and perch on the greatsword's crossguard. "Like?"

I nod with a smile and look over my new weapons again. "like? No. Love? Absolutely. but I'm going to need a lot of practice with these." She moves to my back as I move the greatsword and notice the dirt and snow now on it. "looks like I’ll need cleaning enchantment. Can I fit that? probably." I mumble while whipping off the blade and sheathing it.

I turn to Entropy and pet her. "Up for a visit to the park? Today seems nice." I ask, deciding this could all wait as I need some relaxation. Her excited caw of agreement makes me laugh as I slowly walk back to my shack.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

I thought something more slow-paced and less emotional would be nice. And it let me go into detail about the new toys Shade has. With that in mind if anyone wants a better idea of what the weapons look similar to, look up the Abyss Watchers weapons from Dark Souls 3. They are different but that's what I based these weapons off of.

The dagger in this story is meant to be similar except it being less jagged overall and more uniform.

I also liked the idea that Metal Quake would be inspired by Shade's cutie mark for the engravings. I think fits well for him.

Also, two questions for those interested. How do you think Shade should go about changing the look of the weapons normal metal? I'm no expert so I just thought paint but tell me if you got a better idea.

And second question. Names? We have two very fancy death dealers that I'd rather not just call dagger and greatsword. So any suggestions?

Chapter 237

NOV 25 Saturday.

I swing Storm and Frost as the snow around me swirls in the rush of air created by my actions. The names I chose in the end were simple and plain, but I believe they fit my new weapons well. Frost for the dagger and Storm for the greatsword, again they are simple names but I've never exactly been the best at names to begin with so simple is best.

Everything over the past three weeks has smoothed into a nice calm of normal everyday life. I've been practicing with my new weapons as much as I can without burning myself out and I'm getting comfortable with them. It will still take some time to fully get used to them but progress is progress.

I stop after another swing and stand still in the snow as it slowly falls around me. I look at my blades and their new dark color I've given them with a little work. Turns out you can buy metal dye, it's made from a few things and you heat the metal a bit before applying it.

It was easy to do with a Candleflame spell, but it did make me question how it works. But I don't think I should throw myself down the rabbit hole with everything else going on right now. Yet another curiosity to look into down the road, but either way it did work.

They look the same as before but the metal is now a really dark gray or faded black. It will be obvious to others they are dyed or painted but it hides the metal's real color and that's enough for me. I look around at the snow now covered in hoof prints.

Winter has been snowier than normal and things are truly starting to slow down. The titanic flows of the world's life magic also slow with the cold and even the plants in Gaia's Eden have succumbed to the cold finally. I've taken to studying what little I can sense of those flows, but that is just observations for now.

I take off my helmet and start to walk over to my shack to remove my armor and get home for a nice warm shower. I cast a cleaning spell over all my equipment before I place each piece of armor in a wooden crate and my weapons into a Steel Wood box that I grow shut.

After everything is put away I turn to my shadow with a whistle, a moment later Entropy leaves my shadow with a yawn and a stretch "You feel a bit better?" She bobs her head still looking a bit tired. "Think you're fine to take us home?" She nods again before teleporting both of us back to my apartment. A few days ago I had a thought about something I was too occupied to really notice at the time.

The night before Nightmare Night Celestia teleported us both back home, but Entropy was in my shadow at the time it happened. I didn't even realize and I actually got a bit concerned when I finally remembered it happening, but Entropy seemed to be just fine after I inspected her. When we reappear home I go to the bathroom to clean myself off.

I turn on the shower and let the warm water wash over me while I get lost in thought. As far as I can tell when Entropy is in a shadow she is linked to that object in some way. I came to the theory because she's able to stay with me in my shadow even if I'm in a completely dark environment.

It's either that or she can inhabit a shadow no matter how faded it is. Even in the darkest night, there are shadows, our eyes just aren't capable of seeing them and picking them out of the darkness. So she might just be inside a shadow I can't see but she can sense with her shadow magic.

Either way, I do think she is linked to a shadow when in that form, and I might have a way to test it. If nothing else she can manipulate shadows a bit. She can form herself standing on them and that odd effect I noticed of the shadows stretching a bit when she leaves to another shadow is still there. It hasn't changed but she also still isn't really able to do anything with it right now.

She can also keep her band attached to her own shadow form as she travels with it, I've seen it on her when she's in my shadow. I think she was linked to my physical form through my shadow and because I was teleported so was she, I guess she could be forming a temporary likeness with myself with her shadow magic.

I leave the shower and cast a spell to quickly dry myself off and leave the bathroom. I can't really do too much with most of this information right now, but it gave me an interesting idea that I can test. If she can form links between my shadow and herself and a link between herself and her band, then can she link an object to me?

If I Imbued another item with shadow magic and had her link it to my shadow could it just stay in there? A sort of shadow storage that keeps an item in a different state. It's a possibility so I've been meaning to do the Imbuing ritual again with something simple to test this theory.

The ritual doesn't consume the gem dust used or need to be changed so I can just have the entire thing activated again with Entropy's help. But Celestia isn't going to be there in case anything goes wrong so I took things slow and double checked all parts of the ritual before using it again.

After doing that over the past few days I sent a letter to Celestia. Both to see how she's doing and if there's any news, and to ask if she's fine with me doing my own rituals now. I could just do it without her knowing or just do it and tell her later, but that's not needed and I don't want to be scolded again.

Although she's willing to let me get involved in a mess of things so this seems like a given, and earlier today I got a letter back basically saying don't be stupid and have fun. So before I started practicing with my weapons I had Entropy do the ritual again, this time on a small ruby.

Interestingly enough, Imbuing an object stores the magic used in a different way for how gems normally do so. It's more like I'm saturating the gem itself without just feeding the shadow magic to be used like the other magic that is gathered by the gem naturally or with a spell's help.

After a little looking I found that a few runes in the ritual actually impart this effect for safety. When rituals like this were more common filling a gem with magic was hard so messing with the enchantments on a gem by adding unstable ritual magic to its stored magic was not desired. So their protections were added to the ritual.

This is all to say the Imbued shadow magic won't just be consumed by the gem. I look over to see Entropy sleeping again, she's resting after expending so much magic. After we did the Imbuing ritual I fed her and let her rest while I did my practice. After an hour or so she recovered enough to take us home.

But for now, I don't want her to test my theories while she's tired like that, so things will have to wait for another time. But if my theory is right then she could store things in a shadow which would help me with a problem I've had for a long while. A certain gem is currently hidden in the pavilion at Gaia's Eden.

That gem has very important information and being able to store it somewhere safe like a shadow would put my mind at ease a great deal, at least for this problem. I look at the ruby we Imbued and see no difference from before, it looks the same and the enchantments to gather magic also work fine.

I place it in my workroom before grabbing my saddlebags and a few other things that I'll need. Once I have everything I turn to Entropy on her perch and gently shake her awake. "Sorry to wake you Girl, but I got something to do, you want to stay here?" I ask and despite how tired she is she slips into my shadow without a word before presumably going back to sleep.

I smile and nod. "Alright then." With that, I make my way out of my apartment and down into the streets of Canterlot. The weather is a bit too messy to make flying a good idea so I'll have to just walk. I wrap my scarf around me and put on my cloak before I start to head towards the library.

As for why I'm going there now? Well a week ago Twilight sent a letter asking to meet at the library today, and it's a meeting I look forward to. She's a busy pony and we don't really get to meet often, every few weeks at best and sometimes more than a month.

But that's just how some friendships are, some you see daily, some every week, and some every year. But that doesn't mean you aren't friends and you don't enjoy each other's company. As I reach the library I take off my cloak and enter the library.

It's a really snowy day so the library is quieter than normal and there are only a few ponies inside. I came a bit early so I spend a while finding some books and sitting down to read and wait. I arrived a bit earlier than needed because I wanted to read a bit without distractions.

Right now I'm looking into more scanning spells for different organs and parts of the body. After that one time with the metal shrapnel, I thought it was best to learn them as a lot of a doctors work uses them as a base for a lot of things. I don't have to read too long before I sense a pony walking over with a small dragon on their back.

I look up and see Twilight walking over with a smile and a curious Spike. "Hello Twilight, been a while, have you been well?" I ask as she joins me with a few books of her own. I notice that Spike has once again grown some since I last saw him, both in terms of size and intelligence.

She smiles and Spike climbs her back to reach out and climb on the table. "Shade, nice to see you too. I'm well, how are- Spike, you know not to do that." She stops him as he tries to open one of her books but doesn't seem to have the best control over his hands and claws, which really seem to have grown a lot since I last saw them.

He does as asked. "Sorry, Twi." His adorable voice says before he looks at me with his overcurious eyes. "Helloo." He waves a bit with a small smile and some hesitant words and I nearly laugh at how adorable he is. "I'm Spike." I smile back as his squeaky and slightly off words greet me.

I wave back. "I'm Shade, nice to meet you, Spike. Would you like some berries?" I ask abruptly and I smile more as his eyes light up a bit. I glance at Twilight looking for permission, she looks a bit surprised but nods to me silently. I take out a bag filled with berries normally for Entropy and give some to him. "Enjoy."

He looks at me like I'm now his friend and happily takes the berries into his outstretched hands. "Thank, yoou. Mmm, good reds." He says his thanks to me while happily eating the berry's and taking a particular interest in the raspberries.

I turn back to Twilight. "Well, he seems happy enough. Your dam having you watch him?" I ask happy to have made a good impression on the small dragon. I do keep an eye on him to make sure he's fine after eating the berries, I don't think any of them should be a problem but better safe than sorry.

Twilight smiles more and giggles a bit. "Well, you figured out how best to make friends with him, I swear his stomach is a pit." I chuckle at that and make a mental note of it. "Yes, dam said she needed to do something so I'm watching him. It was, sudden." She sounds a bit embarrassed but I could care less.

I nod. "I don't mind, I find dragons really interesting. Although the last one I met was much bigger." I joke a bit and notice most of her books are about different spells and spell theory, more of the usual. "Anyway, I'm doing just fine. Mostly volunteering-"

I'm cut off as her eyes widen a bit and she quickly pulls some paper and a quill over to her. "You met a dragon! Where?! When?! What were they like?!" She gets a bit closer and focuses intently on me while throwing out questions. "What did you learn about them?"

I smile at her and decide to cut her off before she asks too many questions. "I was taking a small trip and stopped at a really small town. Their name was... Andradite? That seems right. And they were, well, interesting. It took a LOT to get them to actually talk about anything though." I pull out a notebook and start writing.

Twilight looks even more interested while Spike just entertains himself after finishing his treat by playing with some type of toy he apparently brought with him. "Andradite? Isn't that a gem? Are gem-based names common then? They do eat gems so it's possible." She starts to rapidly make theories.

She actually has a point so I make my own note of that. "I'm not really sure. But she was not the best at explaining things in detail. I learned some interesting things though, like a few short words of their language." I flip through my notebook. "I don't think this has those notes though." I enjoy talking to Twilight about theories so I keep going.

She looks a bit disappointed about that as I continue. "I can find them for you though, might help with this cutie." I smile at Spike who looks at me when I address him. "Another interesting thing is why she was there, she was trading raw gems. I even bought a few." I explain while leaving out a few things on purpose.

Her ear tilts a bit and she looks curious. "Right, they have a language." She rapidly flips through a few notes. "I think a few books say they did, but none had any actual information." I nod in response as I've looked and also found nothing. "Wait? She was trading for bits? Why?"

I pause for a moment and almost answer as she's almost an adult and she can handle something like that. But I think Spike is slightly following our conversation, even if he's off in his own world. So instead I write down the answer and pass it to her, "This, or at least that's what she said, she didn't know much on this topic though."

Twilight picks up the paper confused. "Why did yo- ... Oh ... oh" She gains a slight blush and folds up the paper before taking a breath. "Ok, that's, hmm." She thinks on it for a moment but is interrupted by me not being able to hold in my laughter. She looks embarrassed and glares a bit, "What did you expect when passing me, THIS." She defends herself to my continued amusement.

I stop and smile back. "I know, still, that face. Plus you got the less flavorful explanation, I used much more direct words than she did." Twilight looks a bit perturbed. "Anyway, she was getting gold to trade with older dragons, which is interesting as it means they have some form of courting." I use clinical words to keep things clean.

Twilight nods a bit but stops and looks hesitant for a moment. "Y-Ya, so about the Gala." She used more informal words and I can tell she's digging into it more. To be fair I didn't go into too much detail in my letter. "Are you doing ok? I-I mean with the news and ponies not leaving you alone!" She quickly adds.

I nearly laugh again but just nod. "I'm fine, most ponies stopped caring a while ago. I do get the occasional question though. Honestly, that entire night was surreal, I mean ME dancing with THE Princess." I act up my role to make it seem like I'm reacting like she expected.

She giggles a bit and then pauses before full-on laughing. "Wait." She keeps laughing more. "Shade? Di- Did you get more practice after... You know, we danced?" She hesitates and looks a bit uncomfortable bringing that up. Not that I blame her, we all look back on things with clear eyes and new perspectives, causing discomfort sometimes.

I go silent and stare a bit blankly which is enough of an answer on its own. "Maybe?" She laughs more and Spike giggles seeing Twilight so happy. I can't bring myself to glare at her as she's not wrong with how silly it is. "In my defense, I was NOT exactly preparing for something like THAT."

I huff a bit as she keeps laughing for a few moments, once she recovers she looks back at me with a smile. "That's even better than the jokes my sire makes." She giggles again. "Sorry, sorry, it's just." I wave it off despite the reaction and there is a moment of awkward silence. "Are you reading up on more healing spells?" She asks to obviously change the subject.

I push over a book that I've already read through. "Yes, mostly scanning spells right now. They are used a lot but can take up a decent amount of magic, so I'm thinking that having them means I can help out in more ways." I answer simply and flip to another page to continue reading.

She watches me move over a book with my space magic and gains a look of epiphany. "Right, I did that!" She smiles widely and I look back at her with a raised brow. In response, she looks a bit bashful but keeps her smile, "Well, that field thing, did you ever name it?"

I shake my head. "Oh, hmm. Anyway, I tried it, and well nothing actually happened for a LONG while. I didn't really get it to do much though, but I'm not the Princesses student without reason." She brags a bit and holds out a hoof, she then lifts up the book from the table without using her horn.

I smile widely at the action and look a bit surprised. "Wow, not bad, getting even that far can take a while." I compliment her honestly as I still remember how it took me months to get that far, I was a small colt at the time but my point stands. "Thinking of using it more? It can be useful but I doubt you'd get too much use out of it."

The proud smile she has falters a little and she looks down at her book again. "Not really, I kind of, gave up already." She admits slowly with some guilt and I chuckle a bit, she just huffs a bit at that. "Well you're right, it's not like I could do anything new with it. And it took WEEKS to get just this far." She defends herself.

I pick up three books and start to float them in a circle before placing them down again. "And that took me five years of constant everyday use." She looks a bit incredulous at that and I nod. "Yup, trust me, with a horn my method is just not worth the time commitment. To be honest, even getting that far takes some impressive dedication." I compliment her again to dissuade any doubts about her ability she might have.

Her ears perk up again and she smiles more. "I guess you're right, but it just feels so, lacking to just stop here. I do have my studies to focus on though." She sighs a bit and moves the book I originally moved to her closer. "Thanks, for showing me it, I even got to surprise the Princess with it." She giggles a bit but stops and looks at me, "Please, don't tell anypony that."

I nod with another laugh and move over to my book. "Sure, as long as you can help me find which of these books has a scanning spell for the liver. I've been through six books already." I bring the topic back to something more productive and she looks over the books I have before bringing one over to look through.

"There's a lot here. How many scanning spells are you learning?" She asks while looking over to check on Spike for a moment. The little dragon apparently decided to take a nap on top of the table and curled up to sleep. I smile a bit and move over my scarf as the library is pretty cold. "Oh, thanks." She smiles back and uses my scarf as a small blanket for him.

I nod again and keep my tone at the same volume so as to not wake Spike. "No problem, I just need it back when we're done. Today? Two so far, one for the heart and the other for the stomach." I answer and she flips through pages with me. "So how about we find a third to add in?"

She keeps her smile and nods with some determination. "Agreed, OH! I think this might be close." She brings the pages closer to her face and I go back to my own book. I settle in and enjoy the snowy day of research with a friend.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 995

A few things. I still have no idea how to write Twilight, but I think I'm getting better. She's smart and curious but also a bit introverted to those who haven't broken into her little bubble, or those who fell out of it.

Now onto the weapons. Most of the names focused around their elements so I decided that Shade would continue his history of obvious, simple, and very blunt names.

The main reason I wanted to name them at all is because it simply makes writing about them more simple and smoother. Thank you to everyone who suggested something. :D

I had a pretty hard time picking names for the weapons and honestly, I felt a little bad for going with something so simple. In my defense, I did need to pick and I mostly try to include you guys by asking for suggestions so I hope you are fine with my choices whenever I ask something.

One final thing. Metal dye I found out is a real thing. But I rather not go down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out how it works in real life and if ponies could make it. So for now let's just say this mystery dye is from some slightly magical plant that Shade may or may not encounter in the future.

PS, taking tomorrow off, see you all Monday.

Chapter 238

DEC 1 Friday.

I look over the small list of things I've been thinking about for gifts. Hearth's warming isn't too far off and I'll need to start buying the more difficult gifts soon.

I wonder if Blaz will be joining us this year? Probably not, he did last year so he's probably excited to go see his grand foals this year. I think for a bit longer before deciding to work on something to give me a break from this. Honestly, most of my friends are easy enough to buy gifts for, with some glaring exceptions.

I'm getting Avalon a nice satchel, it's a small thing but I think he'll like it. Twilight is getting a few books I have from the small collection I own, none of them are that valuable but a few of the old journals are interesting and unique. My close friends are getting the normal things.

I already have some puzzles for Blaz. A few new sweets for Maple to try that I got while training Entropy's teleportation range. At this point she's able to move me across nearly half of Equestria in one jump, it does exhaust her though. Anyway while on a trip I stopped in a city and found some odd local treats for Maple.

For Daisy I got paints, along with a small spell I found that's supposed to help you clean off paintbrushes. Then I have the ponies that are more difficult to get gifts for, Celestia and Cadance. I do consider Cadance a friend after all the time we spent together, I should find a way to talk to her more now that we're done with our project.

Something to ask Celestia later, maybe we can meet just to talk from time to time? Not as often as me and Celestia, Cadance is also busy but much like Twilight it would be nice to spend time with her every once in a while. As for gifts for these two princesses?

It's not easy. For Celestia, I have an idea that should make a nice addition, but I'm still not sure about that one. I am making her a small bonsai of a Stardew Blossom Tree, I also grew a tiny Companion Vine on it to help it stay alive and look interesting.

Then there is Cadance, I'm kind of clueless here but I did have one idea. Last year I just threw a bunch of money at her but we're closer now and that seems too informal. So I've been looking at it from the angle of magical spells and enchantments I could make her.

In the end, I did have an idea that is pretty small, but they both might appreciate the sticking spell with an intent rune. I've seen the royal regalia that Cadance and Celestia wear and I know for a fact it's not all that enchanted. I asked out of curiosity once and it only has an enchantment to keep them clean and make them durable.

Now I can't add any advanced spells to that, but a simple sticking spell to keep them more firmly in place so they can make quicker movements without them falling off is easy enough and should fit. I added the intent rune so they could just will it and take it off with ease when they want to.

It's a small thing but it can make them both more comfortable while working so it's a decent gift to me. I'm also making her a plant, and it's proven to be a fun little project. It's not ready yet but I've really gotten to test my limitations with the little plant, I made a strawberry tree.

Yup, it's what it sounds like. A tree that fruits strawberries the size of an apple, it's been fun to make and taught me a few small things while doing it. I have no idea where she may want the tree itself but I can just grow it anywhere she wants so she doesn't have to wait for it to grow.

I grab an item off my shelves and glance at the ruby sitting on its own to the side. I haven't gotten around to testing the shadow Imbued gem yet, mostly due to a mix of game night and my decision to focus on learning more scanning spells for my volunteer work. Maybe something for later today?

I leave those thoughts and focus on the diamond that is normally inside my necklace pendant. I've been thinking about anything that could help me at the Changeling meeting when it finally happens, and this is a small but very important thing that I wanted to improve. Basically, I remade the emotional shield on my necklace again over a few days.

I've done this several times now and have slowly improved it as I've improved my own skills over the years. I was giving myself a break after I finished improving it by thinking of gifts, the improvements to the enchantments are mostly small with one exception.

Normally when I wear my necklace it makes Changelings think I have very muted emotions, they can still sense some emotions just not all that much. But showing any emotion at a serious meeting is a vulnerability, so I added a second mode to the enchantments.

If I tap my necklace twice it hides my emotions to a minimal level while still showing them, if I tap three times it blocks all emotions. The idea here is to just make it harder for them to learn anything about me or manipulate me in any way. I finish inspecting the enchantments and making sure it's working before putting the gem back inside and putting the necklace on.

As I slip my necklace back on I notice space bending and melting, I quickly make my way out of my workroom with a smile seeing Philomena on my countertop with Entropy. I scratch Philomena a bit before taking a letter she has in her beak, "Thank you, here." I give both of them some treats before opening the letter and reading it.

Shade.

I apologize if you had plans but things have progressed and your presence is needed. I received word this morning that a meeting has finally been agreed on and we need to speak about preparations for it. The meeting has been set for tonight so we must meet quickly.

Please arrive as soon as you can and make sure to bring anything you think you may need for this event. Also don't have Entropy take you to the mail room, have her take you to my office directly. It's best you aren't seen outside your armor at the palace before this meeting so bring it as well.

Celestia.

I feel my eyes focus and my mind goes a little crazy with thoughts. A few things about this seem... Off, the suddenness of the meeting is the most prominent. But we are trying to hide our meeting from another force so quick action would make it harder to intervene or learn about.

:fuck it, these questions can be answered by Celestia, it's best I get moving: I turn to Entropy and give her a serious look. "I need to get to Gaia's Eden. It's time for the meeting." I've told Entropy about the meeting because she's coming with me, and to tell her the rules of how she needs to act.

She basically can't show herself unless I tell her to, mostly as a hidden way to retreat. She snaps to attention hearing my words and a second later I'm at Gaia's Eden, I grab my armor and weapons quickly and have Entropy take me right back home. I take off my saddlebags and get my armor on before attaching my weapons and going to my workroom.

I fill the small pitch-black bags that I have on my armor with medical supplies and some emergency food. Along with a few small gems just in case I need them. With everything ready I turn to Entropy, who's been following me this entire time. "We need to go to Celestia's office, you remember it?"

My deeper-than-normal voice asks and she bobs her head. "Good, once we arrive, stay in my shadow and don't come out unless I say so." She again bobs her head agreeing without question with my serious and slightly rushed tone. A moment later the Void greets me again and I take a moment to let the silence wash over me.

I can already feel my nerves getting all jumbled and frayed, I suppose that's to be expected after waiting months for this meeting. When I reappear inside Celestia's office I take notice of Celestia and Cadance both in the office, I also notice Entropy immediately slips into my shadow. Such a good girl.

They both turn to see me and I nod to them both. Celestia smiles a bit and opens her mouth to speak, but anything she is about to say is cut off by Cadance. She looks pretty startled at my appearance and sudden arrival, jumping back a bit. "Shade?!! The buck is this?!!" She asks incredulously.

I laugh after hearing her curse, my deep tone seems to throw her off even more. Although I can't really tell what her expression is exactly. At this point, I'm good enough with my space magic to see things like smiles and other more noticeable expressions, but more subtle things are still beyond me.

I straighten up a bit and walk closer. "This is my new armor and weapons." I detach Storm from my side for a moment to show them. "Anyway, what's the situation like? Because this honestly seems like a trap from your letter." I turn to Celestia and ask while ignoring Cadance.

Cadance moves to my side and looks over the armor but turns back to me after I ask Celestia my question. "No, no, NO. You don't get to appear here looking like THAT and not at least explain. And no, this is my new armor Is not an explanation." Cadance says back a bit annoyed. "You look like you stepped out of a storybook." I nearly laugh at the irony there.

Then again I really want details on everything that's happening so I just turn to Cadance. "My new weapons are pure mithril and were made by a master smith before being heavily enchanted by me. And no you can't hold them. The armor is to hide who I am as I'm basically coming along as a guard." I explain quickly and bluntly.

I shake my armor a little to show it's silent. "The armor changes my voice, makes everything completely silent, and is made from a very special type of wood." I dump all that on her in two breaths before turning back to Celestia, who now has a larger smile and probably an amused look. "Now, about the meeting."

Cadance is probably annoyed and glaring at me but sighs and lies on the couch. "Why was I expecting a better answer? I'm also not even going to try and question you any more. You'll just give me a headache for all your, you-ness. At least Aunty will have her strong knight to protect her." She teases me a bit and I'm glad my slight blush is blocked from her sight.

Celestia moves over a few papers to read them while giggling a bit. "I did say I'd have adequate protection, not that it's truly needed." Celestia takes off her glasses and sets them down to address me. "I can't fault you for thinking it's a trap, but it's unfortunately not so simple." She has a less joking tone than me and Cadance.

I nod and stay standing while moving to the side so I'm not blocking Cadance's sight. Celestia looks at me over for a moment with a smile and motions to the weapons. "It seems your new weapons fit you well. May I see them?" I wordlessly disconnect them and pass both over without hesitation.

Cadance snorts while watching me. "Of course you let her see your mighty blade." I look over at her as she's a lot more blunt than she normally is. I look back to Celestia with a head tilt asking a silent question.

She smiles. "She's just worried, this is new for her as well." Celestia holds my blades and unsheathes both to inspect them for a moment. "A master smith indeed, these are very impressive works. Make sure to be careful with them." She passes them back and moves a few things around on her desk while I reconnect Storm and Frost.

I huff but nod respecting her advice. "I think I've had enough practice to not hurt myself with my own weapons. But I'll take your advice all the same. Back to my question though, if this is not a trap then why so suddenly are we meeting?" I ask again and shift in my armor a bit.

She keeps her smile and gives me what I think is a deadpan look, it's hard to tell. "I wasn't referring to you, I still remember that Changelings leg." I pretend not to feel embarrassed as my reckless actions of the past are brought up, she probably knows anyway. "We have time so you may wish to get comfortable, but I presume you are not taking that helmet off?"

I just nod as it's best I don't, keeps me less connected to my real self overall. She nods back, "To begin with, we are doing things so suddenly because they requested it, apparently Queen Chrysalis isn't entirely sure all her own Changelings are on her side." I pause at that.

I'm thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm, that would do it. Spies within a species of spies, I shouldn't be surprised." It does make sense to a degree that this war would have spies on both sides feeding information back and forth. Changelings are particularly good at that, but it also makes them susceptible in a few ways.

It still leaves the possibility of a trap, but it's also not a completely unreasonable explanation. "So both sides of this meeting are timing things to make it look like nothing is happening at all? I presume it's going to be a small overall meeting with them?"

She smiles at me and nods again. "Correct on both accounts. Both sides will only bring six members, no more or less. We'll be meeting an hour outside of Canterlot right after dark and the meeting will have to end before sunrise." She shuffles through more papers.

I still have some distrust with the meeting and I voice it. "That's risky, did we pick the location?" She shakes her head. "I don't like them picking the location either. Although if they probably know you can teleport they would be more hesitant to try and do something like trapping you. They might try to target the other ponies you bring though."

She hums for a moment in thought. "This is a diplomatic meeting, though one in the middle of a war. I suppose it's a possibility, but with how close the location is to Canterlot I can bring us all back easily. That spell does take a few moments though, how far do your senses reach?" I can see where she's going with that line of thought.

I think for a moment. "If I'm going for detail over range? My best would be seventy feet. I'll probably keep it even more limited though to look out for anyone or anything trying to hide. I can definitely buy us enough time for an exit though if we need it. And we have Entropy as a backup." My shadow chirps a bit in agreement.

I pause for a moment as a question comes to mind. "Speaking of me, I know we discussed I'd have some story behind me. What is my actual role going to be here? Who will I be playing the part of in this dance of politics?" I say with some blatant sarcasm.

We discussed a few details of what my cover is going to be in a few letters. It's inevitable that Ponies and Changelings will connect Shade Evergreen with me as I am right now at some point in the future. But what we really need to avoid is them connecting Shade Evergreen to Veil Winter, that would cause a lot more problems and be much more dangerous for me.

As it is they are going to look into me and find an odd earth pony, but it makes sense from an outside perspective. A gifted young earth pony that was taught by a former guard and has unique skills. It's going to draw attention undoubtedly, but not the wrong kind.

They will see me as some elite guard and not an all-important inventor, they will find me and put it together before hopefully not looking all that much after getting answers. And I'm unlikely to be targeted with violence as an elite guard because I'm close enough to Celestia and dangerous enough to not be worth the effort and risk.

Celestia speaks after a moment. "Well, we need somepony that knows about the Love Gatherer enough to explain it in decent detail and we'd look like fools to bring Veil Winter with us to the first meeting. So you will be posing as somepony who's helped him with his work. After all no pony works alone on something so important." She keeps a more level tone despite my attempts to keep things light.

I chuckle a bit. "So I'm officially my own colleague now?" I joke before thinking about it for a moment. "It's still far from perfect, and it makes me a slightly bigger target. But we can say I don't know anything about the rune and everything else in the spells is something they could potentially learn with a lot of effort." I have reason to reassure myself.

She nods and looks a bit guilty I think. "Yes, it is not ideal. But an expert on the magic used is needed for them to take us seriously. We at least have to tell them how it roughly works for them to believe us and demonstrate it. It also gains some trust with them that we'd bring somepony with such knowledge."

She drinks some tea and takes a breath. "We can still have somepony else take up the role, but the more lies we use for this the shakier any future relationship will be." She sounds a little resigned.

I know she doesn't like me being in danger, but it is needed to make things work with as few fuck ups as possible. We can just have some pony lie about working with Veil Winter but that cover might not work as well for them as it would for me. I'm known to have an interest in spellcraft publicly and my life already has many secrets.

We need their trust and to do that we can't just lie about everything. So even if it's only truth adjacent it's better than an outright lie. Especially considering this new relationship is based around an invention, if we lie about the inventor and the work involved it could come out very badly.

The Changelings are a paranoid race from what we know and would start to question all of our intentions if that happened. To simplify everything, it's best we try not to lie, even though we need to lie. This is the best of a shitty compromise and I already feel a slight headache from all this secretive stuff I'm now dealing with.

I nod my agreement after a moment. "I can do that, it won't be too hard to give them a simplified explanation. The plan will have to work, and if worse comes to worst I'll just be fully unmasked." I say whole tapping my helmet. I get a silent answer as my joke falls flat.

Cadance turns from a book she was reading while listening in. "Boo, use more effort." I turn to her and silently use a sticking spell to trap the book she's holding in her hooves. She notices quickly and turns back to me, "Hey! No pranks while you and Aunty are doing something important." She says using a scolding tone.

I smile despite her not seeing it. "Good thing I didn't hear your name in that reasoning." I turn back to Celestia and cancel the sticking spell. I really hope my fake identity stays intact but It's partly out of my hooves now, and I knew that when agreeing to all this. "So, what now?"

Celestia gives me what I think is a reassuring look. "Things will be fine, Shade, and even if they do learn you're Veil Winter I find it unlikely they'd try to anger you by telling that to others. You did invent a new food source for them, in fact, I've gotten no less than five requests from Miss. Cricket to meet Veil Winter." I hear the slightly teasing tone she has despite the mood.

I remember the look Cricket had when we last spoke. "No thank you, I really don't need to meet my... Fans." I slowly say the last word with some fear. I can deal with a lot, but meeting my fans is past my limit by a large degree. My response just gets a giggle from Celestia and a Laugh from Cadance.

Celestia stops giggling quickly and answers me. "As for now? First, we need a fake name for you to use. A code name is probably better as it leans into your disguise." She smiles again. "I vote for Night Sky." I do a double-take and look back at her quickly. "What? It fits, doesn't it?"

Cadance gets over her laughter and pops up with a large smile. "Boo, no puns. And no! The Dark Knight, he is one of your knights after all." Cadance brings another option for the table and I'd give them both glares if they could see it. "And don't you deny it! You're the one in FULL plate armor." She points at me.

I let out a long-suffering sigh and drooped a bit. "Rejected, both of those are far too... Much. Shadow, just Shadow, it's a play on my name and fits the colors. By magic, both of you." I stomp a silent hoof to emphasize my point but it doesn't make a sound much to my annoyance. Celestia just nods and writes it down.

Cadance pauses for a moment and also nods. "You know what? That fits. A knight in the Princess's shadow, it's so... Story like." I can hear the teasing tone and sense that damned smile on her face as she walks over to me. But that smile drops as she levels her head with me. "Keep her safe, she needs protection. Even if she disagrees." Cadance's tone is much more serious and she looks right at me.

Her tone change throws me off but I stand straight and nod. "I promise. Just don't scold me if I come back injured from doing something stupid." I say with equal seriousness.

Celestia looks at us both and sighs a bit. "I'll be fine Cadance. Here, this is everything you'll need." Celestia passes Cadance a stack of papers that probably contain plans for if things go wrong if I had to guess. "Now get going, the meeting won't be long now and we need to focus." Celestia dismisses Cadance.

Cadance gives Celestia a quick hug and takes the papers. "I love you. You better stay safe. Good luck, Shade, and nice seeing you." She nods to me and I nod back as she leaves the office.

I turn back to Celestia. "So, let's get into the details." She smiles a bit in response as I settle back in.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 995

And so it begins. I have no idea if this plot even makes sense but let's see what trouble I can get myself into. Also thank you again to the lovely person that spotted the massive mistake I nearly made with this plotline.

Anyway, have a good day and eat fruit. Also, a nice and even chapter word count, hmmm.

Chapter 239

DEC 1 Friday.

Celestia stands up from behind her desk and moves over to the couch to lie down as I watch Cadance close the office door. I turn back to Celestia as she looks me up and down again. "Hmm, you know? You really are such an odd pony." She says a bit abruptly.

Unfortunately, her expression is too subtle to sense so I tilt my head as it's the only way I can really show my confusion. "Should I be insulted? Because I've accepted that I'm very weird, and I did it a long time ago." I use a joking tone to show just how unserious I actually am.

She giggles a bit and smiles at me. "No, it's far from an insult." She brings over her tea from the large desk. "I've often said you see the world from a different perspective. To place yourself in the place of others and to see the less... Peaceful side of things." I'm a bit confused about her actual point here.

She turns to me and motions to my head. "That helmet is a great example. You gained extra senses and instead of combining them with your sight, you replaced your sight. Why? More is often better when it comes to gathering information, is it not?" She reasons.

I'm still not sure where she's going with this but I go along with it all the same. "I suppose the loss of my sight temporarily was better than potentially losing it forever in a fight. I could always just take the helmet off if absolutely necessary." I reason back and decide to lie down on the floor.

She smiles more and nods. "That right there, is what I mentioned. Your reasoning was sound, but it was immediately about what could go wrong, it's something I've often noticed. Like I said, you notice the less peaceful things in a situation. I suppose that is useful in situations like this though." She chuckles a little bit.

I don't really have a response to that so I just nod. "I guess so, but I would rather my worrying stay inside my own head." I shift a bit as one of the armor plates is poking my side "Speaking of the situation, how are we actually going to be doing this? What's the actual plan here."

She straightens a bit and nods again. "Well, the entire meeting should be simple enough. We, along with a few of my other elite guards will be heading out in a flying carriage, you will probably be the first pony on the ground when we arrive, I'm hoping you can check the area." She has a more professional tone while explaining all that.

I nod my agreement. "I'm probably the most heavily armored and the only other pony that can teleport out if it is a trap. Although I think Queen Chrysalis is smart enough to avoid that. I've noticed that Changelings might be a bit like me and may tend to think in a similar way."

I move over some tea from her tray and awkwardly drink it with my helmet on. "They will notice just what you're capable of and take that into account while thinking about starting a fight." I base that off of the interaction I had with Cricket when I tested the Changeling disorienting spell I made on her.

She goes a bit silent for a moment. "Do you think I'm to be feared?" The question somewhat blindsides me and I'm reminded of that time I nearly hurt her. But her tone is level and it's more curious than sad or hurt. "I know you don't, Shade and I believe that. But would they fear me at this meeting?" She adds to reassure me after I don't answer for a moment.

I stay silent for a moment longer. "If they were smart they would." She raises a brow at that. "Celestia, you are an extremely powerful being, plain and simple. They are feeding off of the very beings you rule over, I'd be terrified if I was in that position and really trying to make friends." I stay silent and drink some more tea.

"But I doubt even many of them truly realize how strong you are. So I'd still expect some arrogance or foolish hostility from them at some point, a misunderstanding at a minimum." I take a breath after being so utterly blunt. "That's not to say it's bad, everypony is feared by somepony for some reason. The details are what matter." I try to put some reassurance in my words.

She nods slowly. "I'm not blind, I see all too often how others may look at me. We've gotten off topic though." She changes the subject and I'm a bit saddened to hear her words but I try to focus on the important things for now. "After we make contact and start the meeting you won't be talking much at the beginning."

I make a mental note to reassure her later and nod. "And I'll be keeping an eye out for anything that shouldn't be there. What happens if I do find someone nearby? Would you just want me to tell you or point it out?" I ask moving us along further from that saddening topic.

She thinks for a moment. "They wouldn't look good bringing others along, so presuming they don't and it's also not a trap... Leave the meeting and subdue them before telling me if you can't tell me first without alerting them. I'll handle things from there." Her tone has a slight edge to it at the end, and I notice she puts emphasis on subduing them.

She opens her mouth again but a knock comes from the door and Celestia looks up at a clock on the wall. "It's time we go and I lower the sun, we'll leave right after that." She stands up and moves to the middle of the office with me while I stand up straight.

"You may enter captain," Celestia calls out after cleaning her appearance up a bit. A moment later a pony I recognize opens the door and walks inside with regimented steps. Ash Mark, captain to Celestia's guards if I remember correctly. Once she enters she takes notice of me.

I stand a lot taller than her even while she's in her armor and has a well-built body. I nod in silent greeting before turning my gaze back to Celestia. Ash looks a bit startled by my appearance but is professional enough not to say anything and bows to Celestia. "Your Highness, everything is prepared."

Celestia nods and Ash stands back up quickly. "Thank you captain. This is Shadow, he'll be added protection, make sure to take him seriously. He is more than capable." Celestia uses a far more formal and ordering tone before looking at the clock, a moment later a blinding light fills the room.

I don't feel nor can I see the difference, but I know she just lowered the sun. Me and Ash fall in behind Celestia as she walks past us and leaves the office. We all start moving down a hallway. I sense the older unicorn mare captain looking over my armor and weapons as we walk.

Ash Mark is not the only one either, it seems like every guard we pass can't help but react a little to the sight of me after Celestia passes by them. When we arrive outside, near the gardens I think, we see a carriage and three other ponies waiting for us. And to my surprise, I spotted Cricket among them.

She's in her disguised form but it's definitely the Changeling. The other two are armored Pegasi guards already linked to the carriage. I cast a lightening spell on myself so I don't weigh down the carriage before following Celestia and Ash Mark inside with silent movements.

Cricket is the last to enter and looks concerned about me. It's clear that not having emotions is throwing her off along with my appearance. Celestia turns to Cricket as she enters the carriage, "Thank you for coming Miss. Cricket. This is Ash Mark my guard captain and that is Shadow."

She looks a bit stiff at interacting with all of us, but as the carriage takes off she keeps her face schooled. "It is an honor, Your Highness. A pleasure to meet you both." She takes this moment to remove her disguise in a small burst of green flame. The guard captain doesn't react and neither do I, it seems she's used to that.

Ash Mark just nods in greeting. I do the same but actually speak, "Likewise." My very deep tone seems to throw them both off a bit and Cricket seems even more uncomfortable in my presence. I take a moment to note the carriage's layout in case I need to get out quickly.

Celestia just nods and gets our attention again. "Shadow will be the first to land and clear the meeting location, he'll shine a light once it's safe." I can tell that's more of an instruction for me than an explanation. "After that things will go as we've discussed. Miss. Cricket, did you do as I asked?"

Both just nod in agreement and Cricket takes out a pair of small gems from a small satchel she has on her. "Yes, Your Highness, the two Love Cells have more than enough in them." She shows both gems. "I'm not entirely sure how much they really have, but I tested it as you asked and it's a large amount."

Celestia takes both gems and moves them under a wing with a smile. "Thank you. Please make sure to stay calm during the meeting, although I do believe things will work themselves out." She speaks with a confidence that puts Cricket at ease. I can tell she's on edge for being involved in all of this, I am curious as to why they picked her? Maybe because Cicada is louder and less calm?

The next while is spent in silence as I focus on our surroundings and making sure nothing is flying anywhere near us without me noticing. A few minutes later we finally arrive and the carriage starts to circle the area. Celestia turns to me with a nod, "Shadow, if you would please." I nod back silently and open the door before stepping right out.

I catch a look of surprise and shock on all their faces for a moment before I focus as I start to plummet through the air quickly heading to the ground. The wind rushes past me quickly and I extend my senses to see where I'm landing and how far down it is

I laugh a bit to myself thinking about Celestia's face before focusing again. We are only a few hundred feet up so before I can accelerate too much I cast a more powerful lightening spell to make myself much lighter and I add an overpowered levitation spell.

The simple combination of spells slows my descent quickly and I land on my hooves a few moments later, softly and without a sound. :She's going to hit me for that, but it's so worth it: I sweep my senses around the area several times quickly, each time focusing on a smaller area with more detail.

I'm in a large clearing that's inside of a thinly wooded forest, everything is covered thickly in snow almost a foot deep and it's pitch black. After making sure there was nothing nearby, and double checking again just to be sure, I cast a light spell several feet away from me. A minute later the carriage lands in the snow with the guards dragging it giving me odd looks.

I start to move the snow and clear out a several dozen-foot area before standing still in the darkness. A second later a much more powerful light spell lights up the area as Celestia steps out of the carriage, the look she gives me before the others can see it says everything I need to know, it was still worth it.

Dropping like that was a hell of a rush and I'm now adding that to my list of things to train. I nod to her, "Nothing here, everything is clear, best to stay alert though." I add some advice but keep my words simple and concise, it's best I don't talk more than needed.

Ash Mark seems to totally reevaluate me as she steps out and Cricket looks more frightened and stands with Celestia in-between us. With a flourish of magic a long table appears in the area I cleared of snow along with mats to sit on, "They should be here soon, warn us?" She asks while looking at me.

I nod and sit at one end of the long table with Celestia to my left, to Celestia's left is Ash Mark and then Cricket. There is silence as we all wait and the tension builds slowly, a few minutes tick by, but after a time I sense them. Winter makes it much easier to sense life magic movements so I quickly notice six masses of life magic closing in, and one is much brighter than the rest.

They are flying just above treetops and are heading right to this spot. I spend more life magic and sense even further in that direction, but there is nothing else flying or moving quickly on the ground. "Six flying in at our front, no others." I again keep my words simple as we hear a quiet buzzing noise a minute later.

I back away from the table a bit as I will not speak first and I'm more of a guard than anything, I stick close to Celestia's side though and only move two feet back. As they get close I can clearly make out Queen Chrysalis as she's much larger than the other five and her life magic is much stronger than most ponies, but nowhere near Celestia. "It's definitely her."

I don't know if they can fake life magic but I doubt it, and seems unlikely considering there is still nothing else but the six in my senses. Cricket and Ash give me odd looks but quickly look forward as the changelings land. Five all look mostly the same with slight size and probably color differences as well, but one stands out.

Standing on spindly legs full of large holes and closer to Celestia's height than any of us she strikes a towering figure. I can't see colors but she's definitely the right Changeling and I can already picture her in my mind. I notice they spend a moment looking at all of us after landing next to the table, and we stare back.

I sense Chrysalis's face twitching a bit at seeing Cricket, but she and her Changelings mostly stop at me. I stare back completely silent as they look, probably a bit disturbed by my appearance and my apparent lack of emotion. They approach the table and take opposite seats to us.

Celestia straightens herself and stares down Chrysalis with a royal figure. "Queen Chrysalis, a pleasure to finally meet you," Celestia says in a royal tone. The tension rises higher for a moment as there is no response, but it is broken when Chrysalis responds.

She shows her teeth in a smile, neither large nor small. "Likewise Princess Celestia. You have been rather, insistent on meeting us. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Her voice is level and friendly, but not in a true way. It holds an authority to it and it's clear to me she's is a bit on edge.

They don't know the exact reason they are here and that probably hasn't helped with any fears. Celestia smiles back, not the least bit perturbed by the bluntness. "Of course, but first allow me to introduce every creature." She motions to us one by one. "Miss. Cricket. My guard captain Miss. Mark. And Sir. Shadow."

I ignore my feelings at being called sir. I notice most of the Changelings seem to linger their eyes on me for a beat longer than the rest yet again. I just nod in greeting to them and stay completely silent, a few of the Changelings twitch when I move. Chrysalis controls her face well and I notice her forelegs shift a bit under the table.

She doesn't do anything with them, a hidden reaction most likely. "A pleasure, I see you have brought Interesting company for us." She glances at me and I stare back. "But this meeting has put us in a rather, exposed position." Her tone remains the same mix of bluntness and authority. Unlike the show she is very collected, it remains to be seen if she's crazy but this is a good sign.

That line is also very, diplomatic. Fancy and non-offensive words with a clear meaning, but I notice it's also a bit short and impatient. Not massively so but it's there underneath it all. Celestia nods slowly after a moment, "Yes, we are aware. We are also very aware of a lot of things about your, feeding habits."

The tension spikes abruptly at that and a few of the Changelings look uncomfortable. Chrysalis stills for a long moment, "Yes, we are a rather odd race." She sounds slightly reluctant to say that. "But I can assure you we have done you no harm." That one is hard to determine, I honestly can't tell if it's a lie or the truth.

Celestia keeps her polite smile. "I never presumed as much, our research has shown just as you've said. But your rival is not so well-intentioned. So forgive me if my words came off as too harsh." It's all just theater at this point as the questions meld into a dance of trying to get information from the other party.

Chrysalis shifts a bit and nods, keeping up the niceties that cover the tension. "I am sorry to hear that. Yet another reason to oppose the Mad Queen though." That sounded like blatant propaganda, but it still has some truth to it probably. "I am rather curious as to why you have asked for this meeting?" Chrysalis pulls things back to the main question rather bluntly.

I get the feeling Chrysalis isn't the best at playing politics, or at least isn't used to it. But she's far from dumb or crazy, I can tell that much already. Celestia adjusts her wings, "Ah yes, of course. You see many of the ponies that work for me know about, well you." That again raises the tension.

Chrysalis finally seems to lose a little patience and takes a slightly more impatient tone, along with the other Changelings getting antsy. "That too I am aware of. But it hardly answers the question you are, providing a lot of context for." Her tone is even more blunt and it's really starting to show she's not the most experienced at this sort of thing.

Celestia moves a wing and a few Changelings tense up. "Yes. Well, one of my more talented researchers made something rather useful." She brings a Love Cell from under her wing and places it on the table as one of the Changelings hisses a small bit, only to be silenced by a look from Chrysalis. "This is why I called a meeting, along with formally meeting you of course."

Chrysalis looks at the small gem for a moment. "And this is what? A, threat?" It seems my guess was right, they do think a bit like me, or at least closer than a pony does.

Celestia shakes her head. "No, we have no reason to make an enemy out of you or your hive. But we also find it difficult to make friends." She moves the gem to the side near me. "Shadow, if you'd be so kind as to explain. Shadow is an expert we have brought for this meeting." Celestia explains without really telling them anything.

I step forward and I feel a few of them twitch at my approach. They all turn to me and I stare at Chrysalis, "With the help of a talented pony we've developed this to store a certain type of magic." I pause to emphasize my point but they only seem to get more impatient at my wording.

Chrysalis looks closer at me. "So this... Being. Knows more about the gem than you?" Her tone is not disdainful but it's clear I make them a bit uncomfortable. I was going to be a bit dramatic to wow them, but I couldn't care less after that so I just reached out and tapped the Love Cell twice.

I move the gem with its expanded shield over to them. "This is used to store love magic with a purity of around ninety percent," I speak in place of Celestia mostly ignoring Chrysalis's earlier words. A few of the Changelings snap their heads back to me and I can tell I have their full attention now.

Chrysalis looks at me for a long moment. "What? What are you talking about?" She says with some clear interest and she lets more of a demanding tone slip through. I let it go as we had been annoying her for a bit now with how slow we were going.

I move the gem close to one of the Changelings. "The shield contains the love magic and keeps it pure from being contaminated with other emotions around it. Just put your foreleg inside." I back up a bit to make them more comfortable as it's clear they don't really like me.

I can sense the confusion on their faces growing as they twitch and look at each other. But after a long moment, Chrysalis nods to a Changeling, "This better not harm my Changeling." She says with a bit of sharpness to Celestia, and her easier mask of royal grace slips more before she sets it back in place. "We are showing you a lot of trust after all." She plays her earlier words off as something besides a threat. :She's getting more comfortable with this, good:

The Changeling hesitates a little looking at me again, but they do reach out a foreleg and put it inside the shield. "Hissss." We hear a slow hiss that sounds vaguely like satisfaction and the Changeling puts their foreleg inside more before remembering something and pulling back quickly. "M-My Queen. It- It appearesss they are, truthful."

She sees the reaction and her eyes widen more, I'm guessing she sensed the new love they absorbed. She reaches out a foreleg but takes it back before jamming it inside, instead, she only puts a small amount inside and her wings twitch in surprise before she moves her foreleg in deeper.

We all sit in silence as she presumably absorbs what is left of the love magic inside. I take note that the other Changelings are looking more and more interested and focused as they watch what is happening, they are realizing we're telling the truth. But in that moment of silence, I feel something concerning.

I've kept my spatial senses around us to watch these six closely, while my life magic senses have been spread around a much larger area to keep watch. A few living things just entered the area a few hundred feet away. They are moving slowly, deliberately, and in an organized line.

:FUCK!:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 995

I'm obviously continuing this next time, so, ya.

In the end for Chrysalis's personality, I tried to go for a mix of a few things. Mistrust for her being in a war and just how Changelings act. Inexperience as she's a new ruler and is not the best at several things that are involved. Along with a mix of greed, desperation, and opportunism that we'll see more of next time.

I want her to be smart, but not a mastermind. A new ruler both dealing with a war and trying to figure out how to do unfamiliar things like diplomacy. I also don't want her to be completely crazy, but also not fully sane from having to deal with a war and all.

I might not do that all too well but I'll certainly try my best.

Tell me what you think?

Chapter 240

DEC 1 Friday.

I sweep my life magic senses over the area and use more of my magic to pick out whatever details I can. Seven beings in total, moving slowly in this direction while in a single file line. They are on the ground and walking, but beyond that, I can't make much else out at this distance.

While my mind gathers information on my new priority Chrysalis removes her foreleg from the Love Cell's shield and looks, both confused and satisfied I think. It's still hard to nail down Changeling expressions and using my space magic to see them isn't helping with that.

She goes silent for a long moment before turning back to Celestia. "You found a way to gather love magic, didn't you?" She quickly reasons out our source of love magic. "That one with you wouldn't be able to make something that pure. So this is why you wanted this meeting." I'll give credit to Chrysalis, she's not stupid.

Celestia nods a bit and keeps her smile seeing the more subdued and interested Chrysalis. "Correct, through a great effort a few of my ponies have made it possible to gather and store love magic through enchantments alone." Celestia takes a more revealing approach and seems to copy me in being a bit more straightforward.

The Changelings are dumbstruck, but the conversation is interrupted by me standing up and turning to the Changeling opposite of me. "How well can you see in this darkness?" I ask already forming a plan inside my head and needing more information. My talking catches everybody else's attention.

The Changeling twitches slightly at being addressed and glances at Chrysalis, she nods a bit but looks more on edge again. The Changeling looks at me and seems to shrink a little as I continue to stare at them, "Not well? We can see but not very far. A dozen feet at best in this darkness." The female voice answers with some hesitation.

I nod and turn to Chrysalis. "Did you bring others?" She looks surprised at my blunt question.

She looks me up and down before answering. "I can assure you I didn't. Why?" She sounds believable and my question definitely wasn't expected.

"We have trouble, I'll be back shortly, Your Highness." I won't explain more as they could spot us with magic or an affinity and decide to have one of them run off and report things. I quickly walk away from the table before breaking out into a silent full sprint into the darkness.

I sense the Changelings and Chrysalis standing a bit and looks around quickly. "What?! What did he mean by that, are we under attack?!" She says a bit loudly but I don't catch the rest as I run through the thick snow, the lightening spell being the only reason I can run at all as I'm not fully sinking into the snow.

The seven beings become more clear as I get closer and it's painfully clear they are trying to be stealthy. They hide behind trees and rocks and make sure to move slowly through the forest as I near them. For my part, the plan is simple, ambush them before they can run.

I go through my mental library of spells and pick out a few that could work before deciding to take a more physical approach, it's best I hold back I would rather not kill someone. I try to pull my mind away from any doubts as I near the being's location, around a hundred feet away I get a better look at them.

They are all Changelings, none of them in disguise probably to use their natural color to blend into the darkness. They also all have weapons, small daggers, and a short sword, nothing long-range or large though. I change my direction and start moving around to the back side of the line they are in.

The trees are thicker here and without my senses, I'd never be able to see them all. I slow down a lot, take a moment to steady my breathing and start to creep closer to them, the closer I am the better this will work. I'm less than twenty feet away and I can finally pick them out from each other with good detail, they have small bags along with the weapons on them and are staying completely silent.

After some hesitation and thought I keep my main weapon sheathed as I want them alive, and they shouldn't be too threatening. Better safe than sorry though, so I ready my dagger to block blows when needed. I take a breath and move forward in another full sprint.

I target the second to last in line as I want them to be driven to the others if they try to run. I see the back three notice me after I'm less than a few feet away. "ATT-" That's all one is able to get out before I'm able to reach the back two in the line. I tackle the one who screamed out with my body and grab the other in my field.

I hear both call out in pain as I slam the one I tackled into the ground while the other was slammed into a tree before I cast a sticking spell on both in quick succession. A beat later I cast a large-scale silence spell around the area, it will prevent any sound from escaping.

The flash of the runic matrix lights things up for a moment and the other five turn back to see me before everything goes dark again. I quickly turn to the others as they draw weapons, "The the fuck is that thing?!! Shit kill it and run!!" The one closest to me calls out.

I don't give them time to prepare more and dash for the next one in line. The first two are on their backs and unable to do much while being stuck, the one I stuck to the tree seems to have been knocked out from the blow as well. The one I move towards doesn't draw their dagger in time and I'm able to grab them first. I slam a hoof into a foreleg and hear a crack, I then slam another hoof into his other hoof before tossing him to the side.

I cast a sticking spell as he lands on the ground and stops abruptly stuck in place, but then I feel some heat as a fire spell of some kind hits the faceplate of my armor. Two more changelings charge me when I get hit and the other two sling spells at me from behind them, I tilt my head to avoid a water spell of some type. "Fuck!" The Changeling I just downed coughs out in pain.

I ready my dagger and move quickly to avoid one of the two charging me while sticking the hindleg of the other to the floor to delay them. I grab the first Changelings dagger in my field and just pull it away from them as hard as I can, it's pulled from their magic, and I hit them in the face before also sticking them to the floor when they land from the blow.

I sense something at my back as a downed Changeling I trapped sends a spell at my flank, I move out of the way and the Changeling with a trapped hindleg falls over dodging it after it passes me. I cast a weak lightning bolt behind me aimed at the Changeling behind me who's still stuck and see the Changeling I just hit in the face is also knocked out.

I move on and use my field to break both forelegs of the Changeling with his hindleg stuck with a twin snapping sound before and charging them. "RUN!!" One says to the other, only for me to use my field again and break a leg on each of them. "AHHH!" The continuous cries of pain come from any of them not unconscious.

I catch up with the two trying to run quickly as they only make it a dozen feet, and tackle one while throwing the other at a tree like before. The one I tackle has the sense to cast a spell and a torrent of fire washes over my top half before I can raise a hoof and hit them in the head as well. I take a moment to move my head away from any smoke created by the spell and check I'm not on fire, while also sticking the last two Changelings down.

I feel so many feelings and thoughts go through me, but right now is not the time and I need to get moving before things go bad. I unstick the two I just captured and the one I threw at a tree looks fucking terrified of me, "W-Wait, you won't be taking m-" I cast a very weak lightning bolt on them to shut him up. "FUCK!! AHH."

I move them both with my field over to the other five, who are all still dealing with their broken legs or trying to escape. "Try to run and I'm taking your limbs." My cold and deep voice threatens with as much seriousness as I can muster. "Don't resist and you will live," I call out to them.

My voice doesn't seem to help with their fear, but most of them seem smart enough to realize fighting me more is a bad idea. I move quickly and because I can't pick them up with space magic without them seeing the effects of space bending, I have to get creative with my field.

I take the two I'm carrying in my field alone with one of the unconscious ones and stick them all together as one item. I do the same with the other four, having to use a lightning spell on two of them as they resisted my efforts causing them more damage. When I'm ready I have all seven in my field suspended in the air, along with collecting everything they dropped.

It only takes me a minute and once I'm done I start moving back to the meeting. I spend a moment silencing them all so they can't make noise or hear anything, I also cast an opaque shield around their heads preventing them from seeing anything. It all takes a bit of magic to make the spells last for a few hours until we leave, but it's worth it.

As I walk back into the clearing I walk into the light slowly and they all stop talking to look over at me. I drop the Changelings in the small snowless area and everyone jumps a bit. "We had uninvited guests," I say as Ash Mark quickly moves over to me and looks at them, I nod to her and let her deal with them for now.

I sit with them at the table again and ignore the shocked and fearful looks a few Changelings are now giving me. "I apologize for my abrupt exit. Have I missed anything important, Your Highness?" I ask, deciding to just get my role in this over with as that fight has given me a lot to process.

I was running off of adrenalin the entire time and now I'm starting to feel bad. I know they were threats and had weapons on them, but it still doesn't make me feel great about hurting another being. All the injuries I inflicted can be healed and none of them died though, so I'm doing better than I thought. :By magic, am I getting used to this shit?:

Celestia keeps her mask in place and nods at the sight. "No Sir. Shadow, I've just been asking about who they could be." She looks at the injured Changelings. "Is that all of them?" I have everyone's attention right now and they have probably noticed the slight damage to my armor.

I nod. "Yes, seven in total, mostly daggers and a sword." I turn to Ash Mark. "They also know some combat spells." Ash Mark nods in response and the other two guards come over with some rope they apparently had with them. "None got away and they seem to be alone."

Celestia nods. "Thank you." She turns back to Chrysalis. "It seems your rival is paying attention to this more than we thought." She says, implying a few questions behind her words. The Changelings and Chrysalis look torn between a fear of me and some form of amazement.

Chrysalis stares at me for a long moment. "I must agree, thank you, Sir. Shadow." She sounds actually honest with her words as well and I nod back in recognition. "I can assure you if nothing else they are not with us. I have no intention of attacking you, especially when you have brought something so important."

I do think she's telling the truth, from what we've seen she has been reasonable so far. Something like seven Changelings is nowhere near enough to fight someone like Celestia, even with Chrysalis and the other five included. I think it's just not something she's dumb enough to do.

Celestia keeps her smile and nods. "I didn't think so, but it is good to know. We don't wish for any hostilities with you as well. I am curious if you may know how they found us though?" She asks and Chrysalis hisses a small bit.

She looks at the injured Changelings before turning back. "My hive is large, and we do bring in the hiveless to help with numbers. It seems someling close to me has provided information they should not have." She looks annoyed and also a bit angry, not that I can blame her.

Celestia nods. "It is an unfortunate thing that such happens. Back to the topic at hoof, would you mind explaining the Love Gatherer and Love Cell, Sir. Shadow?" I nod and step up to be closer to the table. I do take note of the Changelings being tied up and bandaged, the guards are also using bandages as blindfolds.

I notice that Cricket seems legitimately terrified of me while Chrysalis's Changelings are just fearful, she's not a combatant though so it makes sense. "The entire system developed consists of two parts." I start to explain like I've just done nothing of interest.

"The first is a larger gem that gathers ambient love magic, because it only gathers love It is very pure, this is the Love Gatherer. The Love cells are a small gem that can store the collected love. Both effectively copy what you all do naturally." I explain concisely without giving much detail.

They looked shocked when Celestia told them we had such a thing, but having it explained even in simple detail seemed to have let it sink in for them as they looked shocked again. "It, copies our abilities?" I nod as that was the original idea behind the spells involved. "If it only takes gems, then such a method could be scaled, endlessly." She says and they all start to realize just what we have to offer them.

Celestia shifts herself a bit closer. "Correct, it is also the main reason we have been so forward with our attempts at a meeting. We do not wish to be a part of this war, but it seems your rival has given us little choice. But to openly do so isn't an option." Celestia hints at what she wants.

I notice Chrysalis tense a bit. "I see. So you wish to provide help to us instead?" She goes silent for a moment. "Let me be frank, I do not like the idea of my hive being used in a proxy war." She states clearly and the mood shifts a bit as a lot of the fancy words seem to be tossed away finally.

Celestia straightens a bit. "And I do not like the idea of somebeing taking my ponies. To be frank, we have a common interest." Celestia says in a more authoritative tone, but then relaxes it some. "I see no reason we should threaten each other though, not when we both have subjects at stake."

The meeting has taken a much more serious turn very quickly and the tension rises more as things progress. Eventually, Chrysalis nods slowly. "I can agree that you are not my enemy, and I am not yours. What exactly do you want out of this then?" She says more levelly but the earlier illusion of subtlety is now gone for both of them.

Celestia brings out a few papers from under her wing. "Well, to start. A better way to communicate, and an agreement to not attack the other." She moves over the papers to Chrysalis. It's a small start, and that agreement is probably not that robust from how thin it is.

But at least getting a better way to communicate and an agreement to not kill each other on sight gives us a starting point. We're basically tempting her with the idea of more cooperation and maybe us sending them a good amount of love as support for their war.

It definitely means we're involved in this, but it means we aren't jumping into a full agreement for support at the start. Chrysalis spends a few minutes closely looking over the papers and glancing at me from time to time. I think I've made an impression on her.

She puts down the papers. "I'm willing to agree to this, after some revision. A few of these points are simply not practical." She says in a level tone as she starts the real negotiation. That was also expected, "I am fully willing to have better channels of communication though." she says in a tone implying those two things are dependent on each other.

Celestia smiles and moves over to the other Love Cell she brought with her. "Consider this a gift then, to our communication." That might as well have been a small bribe. "Of course, we may discuss the terms, I suppose a few of them could be out of reason." Celestia moves a quill onto the table and passes it over.

Chrysalis looks at me. "Wonderful to hear, but if you wouldn't mind I am rather curious as to what type of expert Sir. Shadow is?" She digs for information and stalls for time to think at the same time. I look at Celestia without turning my head but she seems fine to let me speak for myself on this one.

"I am an adviser in spellcraft," I answered unhelpfully. "I am also here as a protector for her Highness," I answer with some half-fake pride, I want them to get the wrong idea after all. My blunt and simple answers seem to not surprise her, she just nods in acknowledgment before passing the papers back to Celestia after changing a few things.

She looks at me with a smile that shows her teeth. "You truly are skilled then Sir. Shadow. To take down so many Changelings so quickly, I didn't even hear anything." She compliments me and again she digs for information. While Celestia quickly reviews the edited papers that were passed back to her.

Celestia speaks up. "Yes, he is. These terms are agreeable to me, with a few small changes." She passes it back to be reviewed yet again. "Shadow, can you please help them with the captives?" I can tell she wants to stop me from being questioned more, so I just nod and do as asked like a good knight would.

I move over to the Changelings and start to look over the wounds I made as they continue to talk. It goes into talks about the wording and details of the agreement and there are a few points they seem to be arguing for or against. Chrysalis proves to be a half-decent negotiator as they continue while minutes stretch on.

I look over the Changelings I fought, well not really it wasn't much of a fight. All of them have some form of mild head injury, broken and checked chitin, or several broken bones. I used a scanning spell on them and I can confirm they have bones, yet another reason to consider them an offshoot of pony kind.

Still, I feel a mix of emotions looking at them. Most are awake but they won't be going anywhere, I'll make sure of that. I keep my senses on them as the meeting finally comes to an end, earlier than anyone expected it would I think. I guess me beating these Changelings into the dirt and the temptation of what we have to offer really sped things up.

With how careful they have acted I'd expected that getting even a simple agreement would have taken the entire night. They both sign the agreement and Chrysalis is the first to stand up, she nods to Celestia. "Princess Celestia, until we meet again. Same to you Sir. Shadow." She says suddenly looking at me on the sidelines.

I look at her for a moment and raise an armored hoof to my chest in a simple salute. "A pleasure to meet you, Queen Chrysalis," I say back, fully turning to face her as I do so. I can respect a ruler who at least cares for their people enough to stare down Celestia, and there's no reason to make a bad impression at the end.

Chrysalis and her Changelings quickly take to the air and disappear into the night sky without another word. This was certainly interesting if nothing else, and even a bit productive. Celestia moves over to the carriage, she casts a spell and all the Changelings go to sleep instantly. "Take them back in the carriage, I'll bring them back with me." She instructs the two pegasus guards.

I'm tempted to stay with them, but they are bound, sleeping, and will be in transit for less than fifteen minutes so it should be fine. Celestia turns to me, Cricket, and Ash Mark. "Please stand near me." We do as asked and a minute later we watch the carriage leave.

We vanish in a flash of light and reappear inside Celestia's office once again. She turns to Ash Mark and Cricket, "Please leave us, and thank you both for coming." Celestia still has her royal tone and both nod back, each glancing at me as they leave the office.

Once the door is closed Celestia very quickly casts a few spells on me and pulls out some paper to look over the results. I wouldn't mind being checked for injuries so don't even question it, and it will put her mind more at ease. She sighs a bit and lays on the couch after seeing the results. "Are you fine, Shade?" She asks with an informal and concerned tone.

I nod and take off my helmet, noticing a black scorch mark where that fire spell hit me. "I feel fine, a few light bruises though." The Changelings didn't put up much of a fight and the hits they did get in did very little to me. "Please make sure that carriage actually arrives," I added a small worry of mine.

Celestia smiles softly at me. "I will, and that carriage is tougher than it looks. And I assume Ash Mark is already preparing things as we speak." She levels her head with mine. "But that's not what I meant, are you ok?" She asks gently and I get what she means.

I sigh a bit and nod. "Things went well, and while I don't like doing that things worked out. Like you said they would. Right now though I just want some sleep, and time with my bird." I answer honestly to reassure her. I am feeling decent overall, but I'm tired and need time to think.

She nods and smiles more. "You played a large part in that, she was more reluctant before you came back." She stands up again and gives me a kind stare. "Good night, Shade, go get some rest. I'll send you a letter with details later." I nod with a smile of my own. "And send me a letter if you need to talk, I'll be sad if you don't." She half-jokes.

I chuckle softly. "I will. Good night, Celestia." I turn to my shadow. "It's time to go home Girl." Entropy slips out of my shadow and Entropy waves a little to Celestia before teleporting us home.

I spend a moment in the silence of the Void. :What a day:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 995

I decided to speed things up a bit, not sure how I did on the politics side of things but I think it makes sense. They signed something to prevent an immediate fight if something happens, and agreed to talk more.

As for Shade? Well last time he got in a fight with a Changeling the horror was more slow, building up over time. So this time I made the combat more brutal, short, and... Snappy.

Chapter 241

DEC 7 Thursday.

I breathe out slowly while sitting inside my apartment, snuggling with Entropy and drawing the view of an afternoon snowstorm outside my window.

The last week since the meeting has been quiet for me, I spent some time with my friends but have mostly been unwinding. I did end up getting some more details from Celestia the day after along with her insisting I write to talk if I need to. But I'm doing better than I thought I would.

I feel some sadness, but that's mostly due to harming others. I don't regret it though, those Changelings were a threat to my friend and innocents and I do actually know for sure now that they were. The letter sent by Celestia said one of the Changelings admitted they worked for Cascadia.

Apparently, I scared one of them hard enough for them to not need that much convincing to talk, the others have been much more silent. All they knew was that there would be enemy Changelings they needed to ambush at that location, they hadn't said anything about knowing of the meeting.

Beyond that information, I got to look at the contract Celestia and Chrysalis signed at the meeting, and it's about what I expected it to be. I am very glad there was a positive outcome of this meeting, it's made me pretty content actually. I did a good thing, even if I did it in a violent way.

The contract itself basically just agrees that they won't outright kill each other and at least will talk before any hostile action happens. It's far from comprehensive and could be broken by either side without too much effort, but it is in place and it forms a foundation for future relations. That's what Celestia said at least and she's the expert here.

My feelings for most of the meeting are positive, but it's still taking me time to unwind and put the injured screams of those Changelings out of my mind. I really don't enjoy doing that, but I need to harden myself to do things like this, sadly. I never want to take satisfaction in this, but I will need to do it again so it's best I find some form of cooperation with these feelings.

On a more positive note getting all the Hearth's Warming gifts ready has been a nice way to spend my time. Along with repairing my armor. The damage was mostly to the paint and the bark, both things were fixed in an hour along with some extra time making sure it's all fixed up properly.

Let's start with Cadance's gift, the aptly named Strawberry Tree. I finished it and even changed the color of the leaves to reds and pinks to fit the style better. I couldn't think of much beyond that so I'm throwing in a few more different kinds of tea for her to enjoy.

I got a nice satchel for Avalon and already sent it off through the mail. He should get it when he comes back home from his trip. Twilight still gets the books along with a few more books I managed to find at a bookstore. My friend's gifts are all ready and the only one left is Celestia.

I made the small Stardew Blossom bonsai and I'm also going to give an old creation of mine to her. For a long time now I've had a medium ruby floating above a pyramid of Steel Wood inside my workroom. The little illusionary planet that I made years ago.

I honestly forgot about it after all this time, it was sitting at the back of a shelf and wasn't even active. Equestria has globes and knows a decent amount about how the planet looks so revealing this to her is not going to show I know more than I should. I also think it makes a good gift.

I chuckle a little to myself. The me from a few years ago would never take even the tiny risk of giving this to Celestia, but I've changed with time, haven't I? They really have ground down my paranoia. I suppose that's not the worst thing, as long as I don't lose it entirely.

I leave those thoughts for a moment and bring the small ruby I've enchanted into an illusionary book to draw inside close to me. After relaxing for a while I decided to finally test out the shadow-imbued gem that Entropy and I made a few weeks ago, so as a first test, I'm drawing in it.

I don't know if taking the gem into a shadow would mess with the information stored inside the illusion or the enchantments in the gem, so that's where we'll start. I've been drawing a basic sketch of the outside and once I'm done having my fun I turn off the illusion and turn to Entropy as she rests between my forelegs. "You awake Girl?"

She chirps a bit and looks up to me. "Good, we have something to test out, if you're up to it?" I move over the gem for her to see and she tilts her head a bit before moving over to stand up and take a closer look. "Remember that last ritual we did? Try to take this into a shadow and back out again."

I move the gem over to her and she places a talon on it. "Ok, test time!" She says and a moment later slips into my shadow. I chuckle a bit as she comes out of my shadow with the gem. I check and both the drawing and enchantments are completely fine, so next I leave the spells active and nod to her.

"Again." She does the same motions again but this time the magic of the illusion runs a bit wild before disappearing. She brings the gem out and the spells aren't active anymore. I activate it and see that it's working fine, it seems the magic of the illusion was cut off.

It makes sense though, the gem was taken into the shadows, not the magic going outside of the gem. Once I'm sure it didn't break I pass it back to Entropy. "Ok, Girl. I want you to try and leave this in my shadow, just move it inside and don't bring it back when you leave." She tilts her head as if considering it before nodding her head.

A moment later she goes into my shadow with the gem again, I see both her and the gem standing atop my shadow. She looks at the gem and breaks contact before leaving the shadow. She leaves and also turns to look at my shadow, we both stare at the gem as it sits atop my shadow alone. "Well, I'll be damned."

I stand up to walk around and it stays on top of my shadow as I move. I walk into my pitch-black bedroom and out again and it still stays on top of my shadow. I turn back to Entropy and sit down again, "Can you put it inside my shadow?" She goes back inside and the gem on my shadow vanishes inside while she comes back out again. "Take it back out please."

She looks excited about this discovery as well and leaves my shadow with the gem and a soft caw. "Test, fun." I laugh and pet her a little while activating the gem's illusion spells again. Everything is still working as intended and the drawing is completely fine.

I think for a moment and bring over a plant pot before placing it down to cast a shadow. "Place it on top of that shadow," I instruct and she once again does what I ask, she leaves the pot's shadow and the gem is now on top of its shadow. I'm not sure how long this effect could last so for now I'll keep an eye on it and wait to see.

I don't feel like testing it on my shadow long-term so this will have to do until I know the effect at least lasts more than a few days. I activate my bracelet's illusionary notebook to take notes and start asking Entropy questions. "Did that feel like it took more magic than normal? Do you feel anything like a link from the gem?"

She tilts her head and bobs her head. "More? Yes, small." So she is using more magic to do it but it doesn't take much more. "Feel? No." Interesting, normally she can sense shadows but there doesn't seem to be a firm link to her from the gem she added to the shadow.

I nod before a thought strikes me. It's something I don't feel like testing now because we're still uncertain if this effect has some time limit or side effect if it stays inside a shadow too long. But it might be possible for Entropy to store things in her own shadow, like her band.

She might have her own pocket storage, that's certainly something worth testing later at least. Even if we need to Imbue any items she's still able to store things in a shadow and act like a moving storage box. We could even store things in the Shadows of other living beings. I smile and pet Entropy while giving her several treats, "Thanks for the help, Girl. Enjoy."

She happily takes the treats and I move over to my workroom to organize these new notes and work a bit more on my theories. Entropy never ceases to amaze me, and she might actually have more overpowered abilities than me. I may control life and space, but she is part of the abyss.

Darkness is everywhere and trying to run from it is a fool's errand. I suppose she lives up to her name, both with the human meaning of the word and the Dragon meaning as well. She is an empty shadow, entropy, a lack of everything, and that sure sounds like death to me. Although, I don't think Death likes glitter as much as she does.

I look over the other notes I've made recently, most about the fight I had and possible avenues for improvement. I don't have much practice when dealing with group fights but when dealing with Changelings they will probably outnumber me in most fights I have. It's something I need practice with, Stone might be able to help me, maybe.

Beyond that I also need something else to take down Changelings without just hitting them really hard, so I've been looking into spells. The Lightning Bolt spell I used in the fights was a bit too much and injured them more than would be preferable, it would have been a much worse injury if it was a pony as well.

I have several options to do this but in the end, I've come up with three good ideas. I can use a lightning spell, and I'll be making a spell to deliver a strong but non-fatal shock to something, I do need to be careful though as overdoing it could kill. My medical knowledge is actually helping with that though and I have a good idea of what that amount should be, testing is a problem though.

I also thought about weaponizing shields, specifically the ones that aren't see-through. I first thought about using it to form shields in front of the eyes, just a small distance to block out all light and disorienting opponents. That was easy enough to make and test, as I don't need my eyes to see.

I just needed to modify the shield spell with a scanning spell and some additional runes to make sure they form properly no matter the creature it is used on. I even added a nice touch by making the shield only block light, you can rub your eyes just fine but wouldn't be able to feel or see the shield on you.

Beyond blinding those in combat I can use this spell and another spell to block any sound to make a Changeling or unicorn unable to fire spells at me. They can't fire spells at me if they are rendered blind and deaf, at least not the vast majority of them.

A few may have an affinity that lets them sense me, but those should be far and between. My last idea is less about keeping others down and more about hiding myself even more, I'm finally looking into an invisibility spell once again. By magic is it a bit of a mess.

The runes Celestia provided me awhile back and even a few I found myself aren't perfect for what I need. They'll work but making the invisibility spell will take me some time, so I'm just going to work on it slowly as I get ideas. I have the time and it's not urgently needed so no need to rush things.

After I'm finished with my notes I move back to the new lightning spell I want to make. It will take more time as well but is relatively simple all things considered so it shouldn't take me too long to make. The problem is how I want to test it, could I try it on animals?

But the sapience of creatures in this world is much more suspect and blurry than in my last world. I don't want to kill something that is even slightly sapient, but I still need something to work with. Bugs? I am making it for Changelings and while a bug is very different from a Changeling there is some consistency, and bugs have never been shown to talk.

I could start small and scale it up to a Changelings size, I'd need to be careful but it's a place to start at least. Now, where the hell am I going to get so many bugs?

POV shift Chrysalis.

I sit in my private chambers and slowly go over the agreement I signed not a week prior. The memories of that night are still very fresh in my mind. Honestly, the past few years have been so much less simple than before. Oh, to find irony in wanting the simpler war I once found myself in, it's not like I asked for all of this though.

I shake those memories away and focus on writing down and documenting even the smallest bit of information I can remember that may help me in the future. Just as I have done for several nights over the past week when I had the rare free time available to do so.

When I first learned that the ponies had found out about us I nearly had a panic attack. If they wanted to get involved my entire hive could not stand against Equestria, even if I allied with that monster of a so-called queen we'd lose. I take a deep breath to remain calm and look over the small gem floating in front of me.

Things oddly worked out though. The Princess of the Sun, Celestia, proved to be as peaceful as I'd heard. I tried to buy time with the ponies by sending little messages and small bits of information. I hoped to finish this war before dealing with that looming problem, things did not go to plan, at all.

On the war front, despite my best efforts I needed to recall some of my little Changelings to help spy on the ponies, which gave the monster time to wriggle. A mistake in hindsight, but we are still winning this war, even if it's slower than before. That plan to stall the ponies also seemed to work, as there was silence for a long time as I stalled them with little things and shallow talk.

Then they got very insistent about a meeting, and at first, I assumed the worst was an attack or trap. I am not blind to the fact the monster has resorted to taking ponies, FOOLISH. She really is mad to think that the pony's rulers wouldn't notice such a thing, or take action.

In the end, though it seems her madness works in my favor yet again. I study the contract closely before bringing over a small gem. We've found basically nothing of use in this gem so far as the enchantments are too strong to get through. With time we could crack it, but we don't have the resources for such a thing at that moment, and this is the less valuable piece to the puzzle anyway.

My efforts in stalling the ponies seem to have been more than skill or luck in the end, they were stalling as well. Until they had something so valuable that we'd need to at least come to the table to negotiate. It explains why they became so utterly insistent on a meeting recently.

I feel some anger over the betrayal I suffered at that meeting, but it is tempered by the fact things worked out. My cover story to the hive was that I was meeting with a group of hiveless Changelings for some reason, something I did do right after the meeting with the ponies.

I stopped at the pony meeting on the way with the excuse of resting there, those Changelings were most likely sent to kill us in our sleep as we camped, but they were regular troops though so maybe a rushed attempt. A commander seeing an opportunity perhaps? Maybe I can negotiate for any information the ponies get out of those Changelings?

Either way, they did not expect a direct attack. I place the gem down very gently on the table I had made from the solid rock carved from the tunnels. The princess practically gave me no choice but to sign these papers, I'd be an utter fool of a queen to ever consider turning down such an opportunity.

The ability to gather incredibly pure and filling love with nothing but a gem, it is a dream come true for all our kind. The irony of a pony making it is not lost on me, but if the price of even the possibility of trading for such food is not harming the ponies and playing nice, then I am glad to take such a deal.

It also puts my mind at ease a bit. I do not trust them and was worried about retaliation of some kind for the ponies taken, but they have made an effort for peaceful relations, and hiding away is no longer an option for us anyway. We must adapt to the changing world, and friendly relations with those we live off of are a necessity for that. It also lets me focus more on the war effort once again.

This contract may be simple but it lets me fight without needing to constantly watch my back, now I need to merely glance every once in a while to make sure they don't stab me in the back. The idea of getting a truly steady supply of food though is worth such a risk, no more hunger may become more than just a rallying cry to my Changelings, it may become a reality.

But I must be careful, the ponies are crafty and I will not let my Changelings be used by them. I must also be careful of the pony's power, I still remember that knight, the one with neither emotion nor sound. He walked silently and was a very capable fighter, it seems I underestimated them a bit. Plans will need to be adjusted.

The fact he sees without eyes and barely makes himself known along with his height and clear strength. I saw those wounds on the changelings, while he was barely scratched on his armor. He took out seven Changelings without his weapons, none of them even had a stab wound, it's as if he beat them into submission.

It's so... Ruthless, this Shadow is a conundrum. I have never heard of him, not even in any of our records on the ponies. Yet, it has become clear I do not know many things about what the ponies have been doing recently. I tap the gem the same as that admittingly intimidating knight did and watch the shield expand.

I place my hoof inside and shudder while my wings spread out and twitch. Even to me, the feeling of such pure love is enjoyable. I absorb some of the love inside but leave the rest before writing down the experience to collect information to review later.

Then there is the inventor of this new miracle the ponies have made. To invent such a thing that could help my Changelings so much, who? Who has such capabilities? We have tried such things before but always failed, was it their other princess? Did the princess of love help make such a thing possible? Something to look into later.

Its creation would also need to have been started in the last year or two, three at most. Such a short time to make this? We need to investigate thoroughly, but we must not anger the ponies, not when things have started off so well. They hold too many cards over us and cooperation is an option that has a better chance of survival as it is, than war is to be avoided if it can be.

I finish a small sketch in my notes of the odd knight I bore witness to. Who are you? And what made you into this?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

A few of you wanted a pov change, and I agreed. It might be a bit early as we don't know her too much, but what better way to know her then this? So here, have a smaller chapter with some of Shade's plans and thoughts, along with Chrysalis's ponderings.

Chapter 242

DEC 17 Sunday.

I cast my spell again only to have the smell of burnt fish meat and guts in my nose again, it's not pleasant to be around.

After a while of thinking through it this was the best way I could think of to test out this new spell. Over the past week, I finished what I'm now calling the Stun spell, all it does is deliver a fairly powerful shock at close to medium range. I needed to test it though.

So after a little thinking, I decided to buy some dead fish, it was a bit of a hassle buying the fish itself instead of just the meat as not many places sell whole raw fish in bulk. I knew a place though and it's proven to be the best compromise for a testing subject I could find.

I still need to take other things into account, like a Changelings chitin and their size, but this has provided me with the testing data I needed. This is why I'm currently standing in Gaia's Eden in a field blowing up dead fish. By magic do I need a shower.

The good news is that was my last fish and I'm done with this for the day. I turn to see Entropy eating through a half-cooked fish I exploded with an overpowered Stun spell. At least she's happy, but I'll need to clean her as well now. I start to gather all the fish pieces and move them to the river before dumping them inside.

I turn to Entropy, who has a decent amount of fish bits on her along with blood. "Yup, we definitely need a shower, time to go home." She ruffles her feathers but I gave her a stern look. "We ARE taking a shower, or you are sitting out the party," I warn her, and she deflates a little before teleporting us back home silently.

When we arrive I pick her up and head straight to the bathroom so we can get cleaned up from this utter filth on our bodies. As we shower I go through my mental checklist of things I'll need to get done today, as a start I need to bake some sweets for the get-together later today.

A week ago my friends and I had another game night, and Blaz said he'd be leaving to visit family for Hearth's Warming I suspected. So just like the year before last, we'll all be having our Hearth's Warming party earlier so he can still join in with the fun.

That party is today and I need to get a few things ready for it. I already sent off Cadance's and Celestia's gifts, I decided that if I'm getting my gifts early so could they, I do hope they like their gifts. After getting me and the ball of shadows cleaned off I leave the bathroom and find my mortar and pestle. I also grab some Rocky Wheat grain I have around and start to make bread dough, along with some cookie dough using normal flour.

I glance over at a single empty plant pot sitting on my countertop, specifically I look at its shadow and spot the gem sitting inside of it. The gem has remained stable since Entropy placed it inside but a problem has shown itself pretty quickly and it should have been obvious in hindsight.

For some context, Entropy can shift into a shadow at the cost of some magic, but it also takes more magic to keep her in a shadow. This is a small amount and Entropy has more than enough magic regeneration to counteract the cost of letting her stay in a shadow for as long as she likes.

Now I can't check how much shadow magic is still Imbued into the gem, but Entropy can because she can sense shadow magic. So after a week we checked the gem only to find out some of the shadow magic imbued inside the gem has been lost over time.

The gem can't take shadow magic from Entropy to stay in a shadow so it can only take it from another source, namely itself. Entropy's band doesn't have this problem though, it is completely passive, and that's because it's in constant contact with her.

When she pulls the band into a shadow it still has a link to her and doesn't need to use the Imbued shadow magic inside itself. If the band was left in a shadow by itself I presume it would also slowly lose its shadow magic over time. But how do I fix this? I can't.

Not unless I find something that's able to naturally hold shadow magic like a shadow affinity gem. Anything I Imbue will simply not be able to stay inside a shadow forever. I could make a better Imbuing ritual to Imbue much more shadow magic into an item, letting it stay inside a shadow much longer, it's an option to keep in mind.

I tried to find a way around this limitation by having Entropy store the gem in her own shadow, just like I thought about. That didn't really work out, she was simply unable to add it to her shadow while she was also a shadow. She can still put it in her shadow when she's in her physical form, but it is removed from her if she becomes a shadow.

I think it's like layered pieces of paper, one piece is our plane of existence, and the other is the shadow's plane of existence. So when she moves something into a shadow like she does with herself it becomes solid there, just like I can't overlap blocks of wood inside each other with my hooves she can't overlap shadows of physical objects turned into a shadow.

She can move inside the shadows of physical things because they aren't the actual objects themselves. When the gem is a shadow it is both its own shadow and the physical object at the same time. They look the same but there are two different types of shadows at play here. So I've named these new shadows, Real Shadows, it simplifies my notes because I don't want another Gold Tree incident.

This limits my options somewhat when it comes to Imbuing items to put them in shadows. As long as Entropy is with an item when it's a Real Shadow then it can stay that way forever but that isn't favorable for storing items long-term. I've also been looking into anything that might have a shadow affinity or the possibility of a shadow affinity gem, but I've found little.

I stop my mental rant and also stop petting Entropy, much to her displeasure, and move over to check on the baking bread. It's ready so I take it out and start on the cookies, they shouldn't take that long to bake properly. I cast a Heat Retention spell over the fresh bread to keep it warm.

For now, it seems my ambitions of convenient shadow storage will have to wait a bit. I do think the ability is still useful though, from what Entropy can tell the gem has lost only a small amount of the shadow magic inside it. It probably will stay in that shadow for months, maybe even a year or two.

I have no idea what happens when the magic runs out, but I think the gem would just return to its normal form as it does with Entropy's Real Shadow, I'll be testing this gem to see what the actual result is and plan from there. I'm still thinking of Imbuing that one gem I have hidden in Gaia's Eden.

Even if it only lasts a year that just means we need to do the Imbuing ritual once a year to keep that gem safe from others. This method isn't practical to do for more than a few items as both the ritual and Entropy recovering from the ritual take time, but it's worth it for a few selective items.

I continue to think and slowly draw inside my sketchbook while waiting for the cookies to bake. Once they are done I check the time and start to gather everything I'll need, mainly the food and gifts. Once it's all ready I turn to Entropy as she preens herself on her perch. "Get your dress on, it's time to go."

Her head snaps to me and she quickly activates her illusion before flying over to ride on my back. "Friends! Gifts?" She asks excitedly. Last year she got a small gift in the form of a scarf, I got one as well and am wearing it right now. That thought gives me an idea and I go over to the box that contains all of Entropy's toys.

She watches as I take out her scarf and place it around her neck. "There we go, now we can leave. As for gifts? You'll just have to be good and wait." She shifts from leg to leg happily as I put the scarf on and positively vibrates in excitement as we leave my apartment and move across the hallway.

I knock on the door and a moment later Daisy opens it with a smile. She opens her muzzle to speak but stops after seeing Entropy. "Oh, by Celestia. She's adorable!" She squeals a bit at the sight of Entropy before stepping to the side. "Get that lovable fluff ball inside my apartment, right now!"

I chuckle a bit at her excitement and nod in greeting while closing the door behind me. "You think you're happy? She was thrilled a moment ago to put that scarf on. Not that I'm disagreeing, she is adorable." I joke back a bit as Entropy wags her tail feathers excitedly, she just loves the attention.

Daisy brings over a few pieces of fruit while I place the bread and cookies on her countertop before setting up my gifts under the tree she has. "So, when is your stallion going to show up? He shouldn't be long with how often he comes around." I tease her a bit as I sometimes see Stone around the apartment building with Daisy.

She glares a bit at me teasing her. "He was here with Maple a bit ago, but they left to get some things. I think Maple went to get some pie and he joined her because I needed some more sugar." It seems I wasn't the first to arrive then. I nod and take a seat on the couch as Daisy brings over some small snacks.

I smile at her mischievously. "So, did he come over early or just wake up here?" I tease her more and she throws a small pillow at me, I just catch it and rest my forelegs on it. "Thanks, my forelegs were pretty tired." I continue to mess with her for a moment.

But it seems I went too far as she smiles back while bringing over some hot chocolate. "And what about you, hmm? Dancing with a princess, you know I'm starting to think that there is more going on than you're admitting." She teases me back and I blush a small bit.

I don't rise to that one as it's a losing battle. "How have you been recently? It's been a while since I've heard anything about the library." I ask out of curiosity. They don't talk about work too much with me, mostly because I know they complain about it to each other in the breakroom like I once did.

She smiles in victory and smiles a little. "Same as always, a whole lot of nothing, with a dash of politics." I cringe a little at the mention of politics, I've been in too much of that recently. She chuckles a bit and nods, "The only news I can say is that Maple is no longer an apprentice, she is a full-fledged librarian."

I blink a little but nod in agreement. She started working around a year after me so while it's a bit early, she might have had a more relaxed contract that let her be promoted now. "Good for her, it's a good job. The pay bump is probably nice as well. What does she do now?"

She's about to answer but there is a knock on the door. "Maybe you ask them yourself. Come in!" The door opens to show both Stone and Maple with several items. They walk in and I nod to Stone as he goes to Daisy, he nods back before nuzzling against Daisy some.

Physical contact like nuzzling and kisses are more common for ponies than humans, at least in public they are, it's yet another small thing I've gotten used to. "Friend, hello." Entropy happily greets them both from the arm of the couch next to me that she's sitting on. Maple smiles at her and puts a few things in the kitchen before walking over to steal some snacks.

I smirk at her. "So, Daisy said you got promoted congrats. What do you do now?" She eats a few more snacks before turning to me with a simple nod.

"Thanks. I review new books to be added to the library." I nod as it's a common but somewhat complex job. You need to know the laws and rules about what can and can't be in the library and then read through a text to make sure it follows all of them. It's tedious work but Maple seems happy enough with it.

Stone joins us and I notice he looks me over a bit. "Colt." A simple greeting which I return with another nod as he lays down on the carpet with a book to read. Turns out Stone is a bit of a bookworm, not like me or Daisy and certainly not like Twilight, but he still enjoys reading.

Maple takes another snack and asks me something. "What have you been doing?" She asks in her normal blunt manner as I look at the cover of the book Stone is reading. It's something about military history and events, maybe a good gift idea for him next year.

I wasn't able to get him anything as I was only told he'd be joining us a few days ago. I turn back to Maple, "Not much, I'm still volunteering and learning. I am dipping my hooves into spell crafting a bit more, working with the more complex stuff." This is the normal answer I use these days.

It's not a lie, I still am doing both of those things. But I've been showing my knowledge and skill a bit more often as time goes on, eventually I'll need some other answers but this works for now. I chuckle a bit, "So basically nothing different from any other day."

She smiles and nods. "You have dedication. More than me." She compliments me in her odd way and I settle in as another knock breaks the silence. "It seems Blaz is here. Did you bring cookies?" She asks abruptly and I nod before motioning to the kitchen and looking at Blaz as he walks in with gifts.

He says hi to Daisy and moves over to Stone and me to place his gifts under the tree. "Hey, the drunk found his way here. Are you up for a drinking contest? I promise to let you have my drinks as well." I joke at his expense right off the bat and he huffs out a chuckle.

"Says the colt who still doesn't have a mare friend. Or maybe you just like stallions instead?" He jokes right back after putting his gifts down and joining me on the couch. "So what miraculous things have you brought to outdo our heartfelt gifts this year?"

I see Stone listening in but ignore it as he's still a bit new to our group. "Sorry to disappoint, I just got more of the normal stuff this year. Couldn't really think of something good enough, I think I outdid myself with the jewelry." I shrug a little as I honestly couldn't think of exceptional gifts for them this year.

He smiles a bit softly. "Don't feel bad, you're just on our level now, seriously though you did outdo yourself. The amount of conversations I've started with mares by showing this off." He chuckles showing his piece of wooden jewelry and I roll my eyes.

A moment later Daisy and Maple join us stallions and we're finally all together. "So, are we all ready?" Daisy asks and I nod, it's become a bit of a tradition at this point to start with the gifts and just hang out afterward. Everypony else nods as well and she happily bounces over to the tree and starts passing gifts around.

Most of the gifts are small normal things, but a few catch my eye. Daisy got a nice set of glass cups, Stone got a scarf for himself, and I got a mug. I turn it over and look at all of them with a glare in my eyes and a smile on my face. "Where did you even find this?" I ask them slightly bewildered.

I get several laughs from them as they look at the mug. It says, I garden like an earth pony in plain text. I look at them and see the smile on Stone's Face. "No, really? You?" He just smiles more and nods. "Great, now I can't even be mad because I expected literally anypony but you. Well played." I admit, dropping my fake annoyance and keeping the mug.

Blaz looks at his new puzzles and nods in satisfaction like some dragon with its horde. "Now this, is what I love. No complicated games or tricks. Just some nice puzzles." He says with blatant satisfaction. I also notice Maple doing much of the same as him with her pile of candy and treats.

The last gift to be passed out is once again for Entropy. Inside was the Absolute last thing I'd ever expect them to get her. I look at all of them again as Entropy struts around showing off her new item, "Are you all trying to turn her into a fashion icon, because you might succeed." I admit in a slightly joking tone.

Entropy looks thrilled and hops over to me with blatant pride. "Hat!" That's all it takes for Blaz to start laughing, and soon enough we all start cracking up as Entropy looks to be on top of the world. Even Stone looks amused at the display. Entropy just wags her tail happily while wearing her new fancy top hat, which is just the right size.

I look around at my friends and Entropy with a fond smile. This is what makes everything I do worth it, these moments and these ponies. I wonder if Celestia is enjoying her gifts?

POV shift Celestia.

I sip my tea slowly with some mild impatience, not that I'd let such a thing show. It doesn't change that the gifts in front of me are rather tempting to open right away, but Cadance is still yet to join me.

It was a bit of a surprise to get Shade's gifts early, but I am certainly not complaining about it. It is good to hear as well that he's doing fine after the meeting, I was a bit concerned afterward. My concern wasn't unwarranted, he did do something rather unpleasant that has left an impression on him.

He sent me a letter to talk about it and I sent back what advice I could give him. Time with his friends is best though, it will give him a sense of normalcy and calm, I should visit when I next can though. I think for a moment going over the memories of that meeting yet again.

It was a success in many ways. We made contact, got a basic non-aggression agreement signed, and even got a better line of communication through a new guest. The palace now has a messenger who will send letters to her when needed and bring a response back.

I am having them be watched and tracked, but they have acted well and I've already sent a letter and received a response. It will still take a lot of time to make more progress, we need to build trust, look out for problems, and form deeper agreements and relations all at the same time.

The first step is often the most crucial though and it went well, in no small part because of Shade's actions. His invention and actions tipped things in our favor quite a bit, I really wish I could reward him more for it. Still, he was rather blunt in his approach to the problem that arose.

Not that I truly expected anything different, and despite the brutality he did good work and the right thing. I also find Queen Chrysalis to be an interesting individual, if a bit more blunt than I'm used to. I remember the days when politics were so much more simple and clear, that meeting was a bit nostalgic actually.

She seems competent and intelligent, but unused to negotiation and how to properly act as a ruler. At least from a pony point of view, it is something to ask Shade about as he has a perspective that would be helpful in that area. All around though Queen Chrysalis is someone I can work with.

Shade has prepared me a bit for dealing with such paranoia, and as long as I'm mindful our future relations are looking hopeful. I leave my thoughts as a knock comes on my door, I open them and my smiling niece walks in and closes the door behind her. "Hello Aunty, so yet more gifts from Shade then?"

I chuckle a little and nod. "Yes, it seems he's yet again determined to wow us, or just be nice I can't tell. I might know about a few of the boxes though." I motion to several larger boxes that have been placed to the side. She raises a brow as she sits down to join me. "He was able to change the flavor of the Blood Leaf Tea, so I asked for a few new flavors for us," I explained.

She smiles wider and starts to look over the boxes, each marked with a different flavor. "Yes! I'm tired of the same tea every day. I mean it's amazing and beyond luxurious, but it gets bland." I can't help but agree, the normal Blood Leaf Tea is helpful in several ways but it is not the most interesting of flavors.

My niece and I use the tea to let us more freely spend our magic. It's more of a problem for her, but It is helpful to me as well as I can teleport more often if needed and more efficiently spend my time when I practice magic. "Yes, I can agree. But first, our more personal gifts." I push a box over to her.

Another two are moved towards me and the last stays in the middle. "It seems he got one for both of us as well." She says reading the names on the middle package. "Do you want to start with this one?" I nod, because why not? "Perfect." She happily opens the wrapping paper and pulls out a few sheets of paper. "What?" She is confused by the sight and so am I.

She spends a moment reading it before smiling widely. "You know? He gets us the BEST gifts." She passes over the papers and after I read them I can't help but agree. It's a simple enchantment to help us deal with our royal regalia and jewelry, a small but very much appreciated gift.

"I couldn't agree more, well go on then," I say with a smile and she rips into her gift like an excited filly. Inside is a piece of paper, a few fruits, and a bag of seeds, on close inspection they aren't normal fruits but giant strawberries. "It seems he got creative this year." I chuckle a bit while she smiles widely.

"Ten thousand bits, and then a literal Strawberry Tree. He even offered to grow one somewhere for me." She seemed very happy with her gift and I started to open the larger gift I was sent, the one instructed to only be carried one way up. Inside is a thing of simple beauty. "Although, it seems he saved the amazing things for you." My niece teases me a bit.

The small tree is a miniature Stardew Blossom and it is beautiful to look at. "He does." I place the tree to the side for a moment and open my other gift. Inside is a wooden pyramid and a medium ruby along with instructions. It shows a small drawing of what to do.

I always found the little sketches in his notes cute. I tap the wooden base twice after laying it down and let go of the gem in mid-air above it, the gem floats in midair spinning slowly. I tap the gem twice and watch an illusion take form to cover the gem from sight.

In mid-air floats a little world, with clouds, rivers, weather, and even the night and day cycle. It floats and spins in a beautiful way and it is unlike anything I have seen before. I smile widely at the illusion, watching it with great interest, "Yes, he really does get me great gifts." I choose to ignore the suggestive and teasing look she shows me, too happy with my gifts to care.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995, for now.

Not too much to say, I added in some downsides to shadow storage and thought it would be nice to get the gift-giving out of the way. I didn't have any interesting gifts for Shade and friends so I came up with a few jokes and just had them hang out.

Also, a crow birb with blood red scarf, wooden band, and black top hat. You fools, you thought this arc was about the Changelings? NO! It was about birb fashion!

Chapter 243

DEC 25 Monday.

I sit under the pavilion and slowly inspect the medium ruby me and Entropy Imbued with shadow magic yesterday.

I fished this gem out from the fake stump in the pavilion as it was time to finally find a better location to store it. So we Imbued it yesterday and spent the night here to let Entropy rest and Recover from the ritual. After waking up and going about my normal activities I'm ready for the next step.

I need a shadow to store this gem inside, and after a lot of thought, I think I've found a good one. Inside my apartment is the wooden carving of Luna that Celestia gave me. It's both unique and memorable so me and Entropy are unlikely to ever forget its location.

I also plan to put the carving inside my shack here just to be safe, I don't want anything to mess with it so it's safer here, which is why I'm currently holding it in front of me and second-guessing myself a little. I want to make sure I pick a good location so I've been rethinking it a bit more before committing.

I could change the location from time to time but I think complicating its hiding spot is a little dangerous, this gem is very important in case anything happens to me. After a little more thought I nod and turn to Entropy, "Place it in this shadow Girl." I make my choice and she does as I ask.

Once she's done with that I walk back and place the carving on a small table inside my shack. It should be safe here, that won't stop me from being paranoid and checking on it from time to time though. I leave the carving alone and move over to the other items on my small table.

It contains my efforts in this winter's crossbreeding. I've made both the Frost Tomato and the Frost Leek, nothing groundbreaking but it's yet another crop that can be grown during winter so it's worth the effort. Right now I'm collecting enough seeds to pass off to Celestia so they can be added to the others.

I tie another bag shut and add it to the small pile that will have a few pounds of seeds for each plant. But my work is interrupted by the familiar feeling of space bending and shifting. A moment later Philomena appears inside my shack with two wrapped boxes. "Thank you, Philomena." I thank her with a few treats and scratches before moving the boxes over to the small table.

The two birds play fight like normal and teleport to a different place a moment later, leaving me alone with my gifts. I look at the tags and see that one is from Cadance while the other is from Celestia, it seems I have another pony that will be sending me gifts this year.

I did end up getting a small gift back from Twilight, it was a few stacks of notes on runes that she copied from the royal library. I think she meant to send me more advanced knowledge of runes, but I'm already more advanced than most of what she sent me.

Still, it's a nice gift, and a few small things in the notes that were of use to me, and as corny as it sounds it's the thought that counts the most for me. It's not like she could have known the information would be of little use to me, I'm still happy with the gift anyway.

After a moment I decide to open Cadance's gift first as I'm rather curious what she got me. Inside is a complexly cut ruby in the shape of a heart, very on-brand. I also noticed a small note inside, I'll tell you where to plant the tree later, for now I hope you like this, it's a nice trinket I thought you might like. Happy Hearth's Warming.

I smile at that, she probably struggled to get me anything, I know I'm not the easiest pony to gift shop for, but it's a nice gift regardless and I can think of a few fun things to do with it. Maybe another illusion like the planet? It might be fun to mess around and make something for the sake of it looking cool.

I move over to the other box and open it to see a smaller box and a singular book. I pick up the book and look at the cover, only to smile like a maniac while seeing just what she sent me. Gem Cutting By Sunny Solis. I flip the cover open and see a signature in neat careful writing on the inside.

I smile widely as it seems I've gotten yet another book from Celestia, once again written by her. The signature has a message under it as well. This is the original copy that I wrote, I hope you like it. It seems I've gotten Celestia to join me in the madness of having a fake identity, or depending on when she made this I could be joining her. Either way, I got the master copy of the book Twilight would be so jealous.

It is an amazing gift from her, to give me another book she herself wrote, it's also a very thoughtful thing to give. I'll need to see when she actually published this book under this fake name. It was probably a while ago though so it might be hard to find information on it.

I'll have to ask about it next time we meet. I gently place the book to the side, careful not to damage it as a master copy signed by the author, and is a true treasure to cherish. I move onto the small box and open it to see a necklace that makes me smile like an idiot.

The chain is a simple chain of interlocking rings that has a pendant hanging from it. All the metal looks like silver but the color is a bit off and I'm not sure if it's right. The pendant is of a tree and is a bit thick, with a good amount of weight to it, the trunk has a few tiny topaz gems embedded in its surface while the tree top has emeralds.

I smile at the beautiful craftsponyship of it and I can tell it's very high quality. I notice another note in the small box and unfold it after marveling at the necklace for a while.

Happy Hearth's Warming Shade.

I've seen you with that necklace you've had for years now and thought it was about time to get something more fitting for you. I also know you have some important spells on the diamond in your necklace pendant, so I had this necklace specially made.

It's made from magical silver and that by itself should hold a decent amount of magic, but maybe not enough. So I also cut a diamond to form a flat square piece that has been embedded inside the pendant, it's already enchanted and linked to the necklace so you can just add whatever enchantments you like to the pendant itself.

I hope you like it as much as I liked the necklace you gave me, and thank you for the lovely gifts you sent. The tea is amazing and the illusion is beyond even the wild expectations you've set for yourself over the years. I'll be a bit busy after the new year but I'll send a letter when we can meet next.

Your friend, Celestia Solis.

My eyes widen along with my smile as I read through the letter. Magical silver has a few names but it is known to be a great metal to gather magic, but it's structurally weaker than mithril which is why I didn't use it for my weapons. I take a closer look at the pendent after putting the letter away carefully.

The pendant is three inches tall and two inches wide, along with being a quarter inch thick. It looks like somepony took a metal plate and cut out a tree shape from it, with a trunk, treetop, and roots mimicking the treetop shape at the bottom. It has those small gems I noticed to add some color but it doesn't use many of them.

Five tiny emeralds and six tiny topaz gems give color and a theme to it without looking overly flashy or expensive. The entire necklace looks like something you can buy from a slightly more high-end jewelry store, but not something that you'd spend an absurd amount on.

Basically, it looks cheaper than it actually is, the magical silver alone would cost a good amount but the jewelry work also costs a premium. But the result is something magically powerful and nice to look at without drawing too much attention from other ponies.

I can't help but smile widely and feel a warmth in my chest while looking at it again. She really knows how I like things, simple and effective while not being loud. I take off my old necklace and put on my new one, feeling the lighter weight and the better-built chain that rests comfortably on my neck.

It seems I might have actually been outdone by her this year, then again I think she cheated with the magical metal. Still, I absolutely love the gift, it has so many good thoughts and feelings behind it that just make me happy to have it. I'm also excited as it genuinely looks nice and is helpful to me.

I activate my bracelet to look through a few notes and find the spells I normally have on my necklace. I quickly find what I need and enchant my new necklace with the same spells as my old one had before taking the old necklace and putting it in the box the new necklace came in.

The new necklace definitely has more magic than my old one so there is no concern bout it not having enough magic for the Emotional Shield spell. I can also now add more spells to this necklace as well, it's something I'll need to think about and test but it should be an interesting project.

I smile happily and start to grab the things needed to make some tea so I can spend some time reading through the new book I have. It's not a subject I can see myself needing to do all that often, but knowing the theory behind gem cutting could be useful at some point so why not?

I get ready to head home to be somewhere more comfortable, but I quickly remember Entropy is somewhere else. I stretch out my senses and notice her and Philomena in the Vita Tree. I whistle loudly and a moment later she appears near me, "Hey Girl, can you take us ho- ... Actually, can you take us to Ponyville? I think we could use some lunch."

I make a snap decision to go and visit the small town for the first time in a few months. After my last trip, I decided to stay away for a while but it would be nice to visit and I wouldn't mind having lunch instead of cooking. She tilts her head and bobs happily. "Hungry." She agrees and a moment later the Void greets me.

When we reappear it's at the new spot I found during my last few visits, it's overlooking Ponyville a little from and an out-of-the-way area. After a moment I cast the wing spell while Entropy activates her illusion and takes flight, with me doing the same a moment later.

As I fly to the town I notice another pony flying above Ponyvile, I can't really make them out but I'm going to guess it's probably Fluttershy as not many pegasi live here. I leave the thought alone and land at the edge of the town before deciding to look around for somewhere to eat, I could just go to Sugar Cube Corner but I don't feel like dealing with Pinkie at the moment.

After a bit of walking, I end up at a tea shop, it's smaller than a lot of restaurants but looks well-kept. I walk past the windows and see an earth pony slowly reading something behind a counter while a scant few others are drinking something and talking to each other. Maybe someplace for next time, I need something more filling than tea.

I continue down the street for a while and eventually decide to just buy some fried bread from a food stall, maybe not the best for a full meal but Entropy and I both enjoy it. Eventually, we find ourselves in a small park area, it's mostly just a playground with a bench along with some grass and trees surrounded by buildings.

I take a seat on the bench and happily eat my food with Entropy as I slowly and carefully flip through my new book. There is some snowfall right now that I block with my wings as I enjoy the cool air. And the peaceful feeling of ponies going about their day in this sleepy town around me, but much like many other park visits, the peace never lasts long after I arrive.

At first, it's not that noticeable, but then the weather goes from cloudy to much more clear skies pretty quickly. After a few minutes I notice what's causing it, a very fast light blue pegasus is flying around quickly gathering clouds and moving them. It takes them a few passes for me to get a good look but what I see nearly makes me curse a bit.

I've had an accident-prone history with parks, I've met several ponies I wanted to avoid while in a park, and it seems like fate isn't changing that any time soon. The light blue and rainbow maned Rainbow Dash files around above me quickly changed the weather around.

After a few minutes, I decided to just stop paying attention and focus on my book instead. I have a feeling that much like the times before this I'm not going to need to go and seek her out, and if she doesn't bother me why worry about it? It's not like I need to meet her for any reason.

It is interesting to see her here though, and it's something I make a mental note of. It seems my little visit and check-in was well timed. I guess that means I've seen all six of them as well, and that time is still marching forward. On the topic of time, I've been thinking about a trip I could go on after the new year, I'm not sure where to go though.

I know I'm not going with Cadance again, I've had my fill of politics and I really don't want to deal with that stuff right now. So I've been thinking about an odd option and a potentially dangerous one. I've been thinking about going to the Dragon Lands.

It's definitely not a simple choice but I think it could be useful in several ways. First and foremost is my overwhelming curiosity about Dragons, we know so little about them and I'd love to learn a lot more. There is also the fact that they may have some useful gems and resources to buy or trade for.

It could also be useful to know a few dragons in general as they are powerful beings that could prove to be good allies. That's not to say it's as easy as befriending them, but it's possible and I know I can at least get along with a few of the younger dragons.

I will need protection though as they are dangerous and I could get hurt if I'm not prepared and careful. Still, it's something to think about and I could also try to pay back that one dragon if I find her, she was rather chill after all, and helped me a lot. My thoughts abruptly cut off as I noticed something.

Turns out that while I was thinking a certain pegasus had decided that this exact park I'm currently in is a great place to take a breather. As Rainbow Dash lands in the park looking a bit out of breath and taking gulps from a flask while resting herself and stretching out her wings.

She's less than a dozen feet away because the park is very small, and because fate has had it out for me for years now she apparently decides to take a rest on the same fucking bench as me. :Fuck you too fate: I just ignore her for now and try to be positive, it is interesting meeting another element bearer and it's not the worst thing to meet her.

Entropy apparently agrees as she looks at Rainbow Dash from atop my shoulder and tilts her head curiously. "Hey, nice bird. I know a pegasus with one just like it. What's its name?" Her confident tone says abruptly and I force myself not to sigh out loud. :Looks like I'm doing this then, fuck it:

I stop slouching and sit up to my full height before turning to her with a neutral face. She's larger than normal for a Pegasus but is still much smaller than me, she does have a well-built body though, and clearly stays in shape. She also has this very relaxed body language.

It's at this point I remember that I forgot to dismiss my wings and that Rainbow Dash might have started a conversation for other reasons beyond Entropy. She looks me over with focused eyes when I turn to look at her and I'm once again questioning my own intelligence.

She blatantly looked me over and I even noticed a very quick glance between my hindlegs. :I'd say fuck today, but I've gotten some good gifts so I can't: "Shadow, or Entropy. Either works, Miss." I say softly with a level tone, I turn back to my book but she keeps staring at me. "Can I help you with something?"

She blinks for a moment and then gives me a confident smile. "Nope, I just don't recognize you. I may be new but I'd remember another pegasus around. Especially one as large as you, you're built like a wall. Are you visiting?" She seems intent on starting a conversation, and I see the familiar signs of a mare talking me up.

I nod after a long moment of silence. "Shade, Nice to meet you." I decided to start off with a proper introduction. "And yes, I pass through from time to time. I'm just visiting for the day." I cancel the wing spell after a moment of thought. "I'm not a pegasus though," I add hoping she'll stop trying to talk to me with such blunt interest.

Her eyes widen as my wings vanish. "Rainbow Dash, the best flier this side of Cloudsdale. And wow! You can do that? Wait, you're an earth pony? And you can do, that?" She asks curiously but seems to drop the questions immediately. "Pretty cool either way, I don't think I've ever seen an earth pony fly before, at least not with wings." She chuckles a little to herself.

I just shrug a bit. "Magic is an amazing thing, and there are many useful spells. Flying here takes a lot less time." I say answering the question even if she looks like she doesn't really care about an answer all that much. "Were you the one fixing up the weather?" I ask knowing the answer and just hoping to make some small talk.

She gives me a slightly cocky smile. "You bet I am, I could have done it faster though." She brags a bit and I just hum in agreement. "Have you ever gone racing? With those wings I mean. I could use a good challenge, even if you might be a bit slower than me." She sounds confident and a bit arrogant, but her words come off as more of an observation than an insult.

I can see her words insulting other ponies but I've dealt with far worse than a few badly worded observations so I just nod. "I haven't and I am pretty slow anyway. I didn't have the best teacher, but I don't really need to go all that fast, I just use them to travel and endurance is more important than speed for that."

She seems a bit disappointed but shrugs like it doesn't matter. "Sure, but if you even want to try your luck I'll be around. Not that you'll be winning." She jokes a bit and I chuckle a little at the idea. I'm sure as hell not racing her, if I want to lose something I'll go gamble with Maple. "Anyway, I got clouds to move, nice meeting you. Happy Hearth's Warming." She salutes with a wing and a smile.

She doesn't even give me time to respond before she kicks off of the bench and in an admittedly impressive display flaps her wings to get into the air immediately. I do take notice that she moves her tail to the side unnecessarily, and I have to look down quickly. She's out of sight a few moments later leaving me a bit stunned at the quick end to our conversation and the display. :I guess that makes an even six:

She was about what I expected, a bit boastful but not unfriendly and always one to take up a challenge. Still, even with my luck springing another interaction on me in a park, it was nice to meet her. I don't really have much to say about her though, like I said she's about what I expected.

Entropy turns to me. "Fast. Rude?" She caws out as more of a question than anything. I'm honestly not sure myself, I don't think she's trying to be mean, she kind of reminds me of a Griffon. Griffons can be very blunt and while it may come off as rude they normally don't mean much by it.

I wonder if Gilda rubbed off on her that early in life? I'll have to check my notes but I think they knew each other from relatively early in life, at least before Rainbow Dash moved here. I don't suppose it really matters to me, I'm more than capable of dealing with her words and how she talks.

I sigh after a moment and open my book again to find the place I left off at. :Well, if nothing else fate can't surprise me with meeting important ponies anymore... I just fucked myself didn't I?: I sigh again and try to enjoy the rest of my day. "Yes, she might be like that, but she is very loyal." I joke to entropy, who fails to get my joke.

I smile at the interesting book and spin the pendant of my necklace a bit. Today was certainly interesting.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 995

Well, there we are, all six at last. I decided to add in Rainbow Dash here because I wanted to finally add her to the mix. We probably won't see too much of her like the others though.

I also decided to make it a short little meeting as I like the idea of Rainbow Dash knowing the least about Shade, it make things fun someday. Tell me what you think, I might have made her a little too arrogant here.

Anyway, I'm taking tomorrow off, I'll see you all Monday.

Chapter 244

JAN 2 Tuesday.

I put on my saddlebags as I finish another day volunteering at the hospital. Today was like many others with the exception of me informing the hospital I'd be going on a trip for a while.

There is basically a probationary period for the volunteer program I'm in. You just have to show up enough in the first few months and you can then tell them you'll be gone for a while without anything happening. You're likely to lose your place in the program if you just rush off, so I decided to inform them I'd be gone a full month before I actually plan to leave.

I have officially decided to go on a trip once January is over and I'm going to the Dragon Lands, or at least that's the plan. Things seem to be falling into place and when I told Mellow Meadows I'd be gone for a few weeks she just nodded and passed me the needed paperwork.

I take to the sky with Entropy after we leave a restroom next to the hospital, and we start to fly home. My plans for the next few weeks are to make some preparations for my own safety and also try to get a meeting with Celestia to inform her I'll be gone for a while without just sending a letter.

Because my only responsibility is to the hospital I'm going on a full month-long trip to the Dragon Lands. I'll get there by taking the railway to Griffonstone and flying to the isolated landmass from there over a day or two. The entire journey there will take four days by itself.

I plan to have Entropy shorten the trip back to Griffonstone so we'll get back quicker than we arrive, but my timetable is also a bit flexible so I could stay a few more days if needed. Beyond that, I have some actual goals I need to better plan out, something I'm still working on. I at least want to find out more about the Dragon language, mostly out of curiosity.

Bringing along a good amount of bits for trading isn't too hard, I just need to lighten the weight of the coins and they don't take up much space with how small they are. Food isn't a problem at all, I'll just carry seeds, and water is much the same. Which really just leaves protection.

I land on my apartment building and head inside to get out of the snow. Once I'm in my apartment I go to my workroom and get back to work on my newest project. After deciding that I wanted to take this trip my immediate thought was about how to deal with the less friendly dragons I'll encounter.

I don't think I'll be attacked outright as some ponies and Griffons trade with Dragons, but I'm not fooling myself into thinking that it won't happen. So I need a way to deal with that, and that mainly consists of a combination of training, spells, and preparation.

Like most predators Dragons probably won't try anything unless you bother them or are food. I literally couldn't find an accurate record of a Dragon eating a pony, or any race for that matter. That could just be because ponies don't like documenting such bloody things, but even then if it does happen I don't think it's a common thing for a Dragon to do.

It just makes logical sense for them to not eat other races. You gain a small amount of food and now a lot of creatures might want you dead, it's just not worth it. For myself, I plan to just make it clear to any Dragon that bothers me that I'm not worth the effort of fighting or robbing.

To do this I have two main strategies. One, flame-resistant magical shielding. Two, Spatial Cut. Let's start with the first one. Magical shielding against flames is a common enough spell that is used in several ways, the best spell of this type that I've found is for firefighter ponies.

It's made to keep out flames and keep the air breathable, mostly to get inside flaming buildings or to traverse forest fires. The spells aren't too advanced but takes a decent amount of magic, so over the past week I've been remaking the spell for both my own use and because it would be a nice spell to improve and give to firefighter ponies.

My version isn't done yet as I'm not rushing it's recreation, but it's looking to be another improved spell. It's functionally the same in effect, the original formed a small dome shield that can just about fit a single pony inside, it also moves around with the caster. It also keeps the air clean like I said and protects against both the flames and the heat itself.

My version has a shield that conforms to the body to use less magic, but that's the only large change I made. I just improved the other aspects with better runes and math. It should be done in a week or two, I'm just not sure how effective it will really be.

I'm guessing Dragon Flames are magical to some extent, especially considering that Spike can send messages in the show with his fire as a baby Dragon. So I'm not really sure if a spell like this will do all that much for my protection, but it will at least give me a second or two and that's enough to have Entropy take me far away.

If I'm in a situation where a Dragon is trying to burn me alive it's time to leave, so while the spell is probably not great it will serve its purpose. It's also just nice to have in general because fire can be a problem in any fight. Now onto what I've been doing with my space magic.

Dragons are known to be very strong and tough, along with having magic-resistant scales, with emphasis on resistance, not magic proof. Nopony is sure to what degree the scales protect against magic but the generally agreed-on idea is that the older the Dragon the tougher the scales will be and the more magically resistant.

My theory is that a dragon's magic toughens their scales and makes them more magic-resistant with time. This is why I've decided to focus my offensive efforts on my space magic and Spatial Cut in particular. Dragon scales won't be stopping me from bending reality itself to cut them in half, at least I don't think so.

In theory, a dragon's scales can defend against all magic to some degree, but that depends heavily on the type of magic being used. Something like fire magic would obviously be worse to use but another type of magic might be able to go around their scale's magical defenses more, like water magic.

I'll probably face some resistance while trying to cut through a Dragon with space magic, but if anything is getting past its defenses it's space magic. To further this goal I've stepped up my training with Spatial Cut, I was just training to cut quickly and it now only takes me around a second to form the magic structures needed and complete a cut.

But that's on a roughly pony-sized target as I had Changelings in mind when I started to train this ability more. So now I'm using some of the large empty space in Gaia's Eden to train large-scale Spatial Cuts, cuts that take both more magic and more concentration but not too much more time.

At this point, I can make around ten large cuts that would be able to at least behead or cut the wings off of a Dragon. I don't think I'll get more than ten as it is without a lot more practice, but if I'm smart I won't need more than one or two at most. And it's not like I'm going there to fight them as I want to at least try and be friendly, so for now I'm still focused on cutting speed.

Maybe that's the pony side of me? Or maybe the Human side just really wants to chill with a Dragon, it's hard to tell. Either way serious combat where someone might die is going to be the last resort, before that I'll try several things. First talking, then bargaining, then non-lethal fighting, then dismemberment, and only as a last resort will I get deadly.

Plus I find it more likely I'll just need to show some strength for them to leave me alone. I stop my work a bit abruptly when I sense someone at my door, but smile after I recognize them in my senses. A few days ago I got a letter from Avalon saying he was back and would visit me today.

I stand up as he knocks on my door and walk into my apartments main room to see Entropy already has her illusion on and is also wearing that damned hat again. Turns out she really likes clothes, how I got a bird that likes clothes in a world where most sapient beings are naked most of the time I will never know.

It is a rather cute thing to see though, not that I get much of a choice as she likes wearing it around the apartment. I even added my simple sticking spell to it with a mental rune as well, just so she wouldn't have it fall off all the time anymore. It does mean I can't see her picking up the little hat each time it falls off, I made sure to make several drawings of just that.

I walk over and open my door to see a smiling Avalon sitting there with a gift, and have to pretend to be a bit surprised at the sight as I sensed as much already. "Happy Hearth’s Warming, Shade. S-Sorry I couldn't be here." He says slightly embarrassed and in a weirdly subdued tone, I just wave it off before letting him inside and taking the gift from him.

I chuckle and look at the brightly colored wrapped gift he gave me. "No problem, I hope you had fun on your trip," I say while placing down the gift and bringing over my teapot to make us something to drink. I also noticed the satchel bag he has is the one I recently got him. "Does the satchel work ok?"

He joins me at my table and nods with a smile. "It's great, thanks I needed a, new, one." His words trail off as Entropy flies over and sits on the table. He looks confused for a moment before a small building laugh escapes his beak, "Umm, w-what?" He asks both amused and confused at the sight of Entropy.

I crack up a bit and smile at him. "Apparently my friends decided she needed a nice gift. And she literally won't let me take it off, so she has a hat now." I laugh fully as he just looks more baffled by my words. "I know right? I don't even know how they got a hat that small." I still remember my friends refusing to tell me where they got it, apparently they are the only ones allowed to buy her clothes now.

He just breaks down laughing after trying to hold it in for a few moments, while Entropy looks a bit offended at the reaction to her clearly fabulous hat. "Hat good, stop!" She demands and ruffles her feathers, which just makes us both laugh harder at her reaction.

I pet her a bit and smile while Avalon recovers. "Oh, thanks Entropy. I needed that." He says in a less level tone. I noticed that he was a bit down when he came in, not massively but it was there. "So, are you, ah, going to open your gift?" He asks without sarcasm but instead just genuine curiosity.

I smile a bit knowing damn well he'd take no for an answer and not complain, he's just like that. I bring the gift over to me and start to rip through the colorful paper before opening a simple box, inside is a bag of seeds. I raise a brow and look up to him for an explanation.

He smiles bashfully. "Well, you like plants so I got you some seeds my, f-family had. They are Redwood Tree seeds." He keeps his reserved smile when I blink in surprise. I've heard about a few shops that rarely have Redwood furniture for sale but it's not a common wood type in Equestria.

I can't remember anypony selling the seeds either, it's just not the right climate for the tree to grow naturally. There are probably a few around in farms or private gardens but they aren't an easy thing to just get. He scratches his neck after I don't say anything for a moment. "Ya, I-I know it's not really the best thing for an apartment..."

I smile widely and shake my head quickly. "No, this is amazing. If nothing else I can grow a small one in here. And it's a pretty rare plant to add to my collection. Thanks, I love it." He perks up and I place the seeds back in the box. I was being honest, it is a great addition to my collection.

Redwood Trees can get absolutely enormous and their wood is pretty decent at a few things. I already have a few simple ideas for the tree and that's not even considering the possibilities with crossbreeding it or using Guided Evolution. He smiles back, "Great! I- I'm glad you like it."

We lapse into silence for a moment as I pass him some mint tea. He looks around a little and spots the necklace I have on after a moment. "Is that a gift you got? It looks nice." He compliments it and I get the feeling he's trying to make normal small talk.

I nod and smile before broaching the topic somewhat hanging in front of us. "So, how was your trip? You said you were visiting family, are they doing well?" I ask thinking things might not have gone the best considering his earlier hesitation when mentioning them.

He pauses a bit and nods with a slightly thinned smile. "I-It was nice. Just a bit... Never mind, it's an entire mess you don't need to hear about." He dismisses it and I raise a brow a bit before tilting my ears a bit.

I give him a reassuring look. "I'm willing to listen if you want to talk about it. Family can be messy at the best of times from what I've seen, so if you need to let it out, go for it. Or don't, it's only my business if you want it to be." I don't mind listening to others' problems and giving what advice I can, plus he really does look like he wants to talk about it.

He avoids my eyes for a moment before sighing a bit. "T-Thanks, I don't have many... Friends, to ya know, listen." I keep my comforting smile and nod. "H-Honestly, it's so, small. It really shouldn't bother me after all this time, b-but it does." I bring over some snacks from a cabinet so we have something to eat while we talk.

He goes silent for a moment and looks a bit tired. Not really sad or angry, just resigned in a way. "It's my g-grandfather." He uses the Griffon word for Grandfather as ponies use grandsire and the word sire can have different meanings in Griffon. "He doesn't really approve of, t-this." He holds up his wooden limb after some hesitation.

I narrow my eyes a bit and he quickly shakes his head seeing that. "N-No, no. D-Don't get me wrong. We b-both love each other, but he's just one of those Griffons who sees it as... A different form of w-weakness." I nearly sigh in frustration, Griffons can be stubborn bastards.

Most Griffons respect personal strength and prosthetics are normally considered a sign of slight strength. To be able to overcome the loss of a limb and not let it hold you back, and working to fix the problem as best you can. But that is a general rule among Griffons and doesn't apply to all of them. "Well, that is certainly a mess. He ever say why?" I ask making sure to keep a reassuring but not pitying tone.

He shrugs a bit. "K-kind of? It's just an old belief from his grandfather. A tradition he keeps going, n-not that many others agree with him." He reassures me but I can tell at least a few do agree with his grandfather. "I-It's just, tiring when I visit. Sometimes I'm w-weak from having lost, it. Or having replaced it. I j-just don't know anymore." He admits quietly while looking down.

He takes a deep breath and looks back up at me. "It was nice to see my clutch mates and my parents though." He adds more upbeat. "They are always nice and fun to be with, t-they travel a lot though so I don't see them much. Sometimes on my deliveries, I do though." He adds after some thought.

I nod and think for a moment. "I'm not sure I can give much advice, never had a family. But, does he love you? I mean that genuinely, as a question. Do you feel loved by him?" I ask for more context hoping to understand my friend's pain a bit more.

He stops for a moment in thought. "Y-Yes, he doesn't show it a lot, but h-he does." I can tell he's being honest as he's terrible at lying. "He still does these small things for me when he doesn't think I'm looking." He says softly and smiles a bit more as we focus on the more positive parts.

I smile more at him. "Good, that's something to focus on. You have disagreements and problems, those are never easy to fix. But you're still family, and that's a great place to start." I drink some tea. "I'm not telling you what to do, you know your family more than me."

I take a long drink of tea so that it really sets in first. "So, if you haven't, maybe you should talk about how much you've struggled, it's not going to be pleasant but it might show him what you've risen above," I say trying to think of good advice in a situation where I can offer very little.

He looks thoughtful and blinks a bit before nodding slowly. "I-I don't think we ever really talked about that, a-a least not much." He admits as if just realizing it. "Thanks, Shade. For listening." I nod with a smile. Everybody has things that stare them in the face and yet they fail to see it, I'm no different.

"No problem, that's what friends are for." I pause for a moment and let the silence hang for a moment. "You want me to change the subject?" He nods slowly after a moment. "I do have some news I can share, I'm going on a trip to... Griffonstone." I say the last word slowly realizing it's not the best topic a bit too late.

He actually chuckles a small bit and seems to be doing better already. "It's ok, I-I actually love that city. It's beautiful this time of year. It might be my second favorite city, r-right behind Canterlot of course." He says smiling more and taking my words in good faith. "Decided to go back after your last trip?" He asks and moves us a bit further from the previous topic.

I nod. "Still, sorry for the bad phrasing." I apologize to him before deciding to move on quickly to the new topic. "I like it too, that tree, what a sight it must have been when it was alive. Although it's closely ranked with Feather Falls for me, it's a bit more out of the way but that city is something else."

He looks surprised. "R-Right, you went there. I've never been myself, the Wild Lands can get, n-nasty." He looks at his arm a bit and I nearly curse myself again. "So, what are you planning to do? Griffonstone can be a bit of a, well, dull city" He asks slowly after looking back up at me.

I shrug a bit. "Well, a few things. My trip is going to last a full month so I have time." He tilts his head and I smile. "I don't have a job anymore, and my other profession doesn't need me around that much. So I have plenty of time on my hooves." I summarize.

He sighs and looks wistful. "I-I wish I could do that." It's my turn to raise a brow at that and he notices. "Well, I still have my deliveries so I don't have many vacation days." I give him an even more confused look and tilt my head to the side. "W-What? I don't get many, even as a contractor." He explains.

I just laugh for a moment as he grows confused. "Avalon, you do know you have an absurd amount of bits now, right? I only worked because I had a contract, why are you still working your job?" I point out the obvious and he just sort of blanks out for a moment and stares at me.

"I. Huh. I forgot?" He shrugs a bit and looks embarrassed. "I m-mean not really but, I have my work. Although, I-I guess can do less now, couldn't I?" It seems I've pointed out another obvious thing he's missed. He looks hesitant though, "I- I'm not sure I want to just, stop though. I do like it." He seems to temper his thoughts after a moment.

I laugh more and shrug again. Having complete financial freedom is probably something he's not really adjusted to yet, I still remember haggling over prices when having more money than I could ever spend. I smirk at him, "Well, you have the room to do whatever you want. Work, don't work, sometimes work, do what makes you happy." I give him some more advice.

He looks at the desk we built his arm on. "Happy... Well, hmm, right now? I'd like to work on magic, I-If you feel like it?" He adds quickly and I chuckle before bringing out my notebook with a smile seeing that familiar look of determination in his eyes. I get the feeling he's reluctant to stop working, maybe a bad past experience?

I place it down and nod. "Just think about it, you have all the time you need. And with pleasure, let's see if we can't get you to learn a decent shield spell. Never know when you may need one." I smirk at him as we delve into our normal routine of spells and magic.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996. YES!!

Ok, I thought a bit of preparation for his trip and a bit of time with Avalon would be nice. I'm trying to farm it as Shade giving advice, but I think it may come off a bit strong here, might tone it down in editing.

I also took the opportunity to show a Griffon-like perspective a bit more along with fleshing out Avalon more.

Also also. Why is fleshing out a saying? It seems so normal to say but it's pretty morbid when you think about it. Just something I noticed, please excuse my random madness and have a good day.

Chapter 245

JAN 19 Friday.

I sit in Gaia's Eden amongst the slowly defrosting snow and look down at the fish as I feed them a few more berries.

Winter Wrap-Up happened a bit early this year due to winter starting earlier than normal. The city has no more snow and the warmer weather is already melting the snow out here, it probably won't be fully melted before I leave though. Not that the newly sprouting plants are waiting for it to finish.

Over the past two weeks, I've completed my new fire shield spell and sent a letter to Celestia to ask for a meeting. The earliest we could meet was today and that's part of the reason I'm in Gaia's Eden at the moment. The other is to experiment with some plants.

Two weeks ago Avalon gave me Redwood Tree seeds and I've been thinking about them for a while now, specifically I want to try and create something interesting with them. I don't really have much of a reason but I feel like my idea could be useful someday so why not at least try to make it? And it helps that I don't have many other projects going on right now.

I have my normal training, breeding the Copper Lilly, crossbreeding the Iron Oak and Fire Blossom, and improving the Blood Leaf Tea. Not much beyond all of that though, the main thing I really focused on the last two weeks is my Spatial Cut, specifically its formation speed.

To do a small pony-sized cut can take less than a second if it's near me. A Dragon-sized Spatial Cut is much more draining and demanding though, I have less range with it and it can take several seconds to do. It's still viable though and will work as long as I'm careful, and it's also improving continuously so I have time.

Past the training, I was able to accomplish something important recently, and it has to do with my staff. For a while now I've been searching for a Life rune that can allow me to make a spell to let the Life Gem collect life magic automatically. I FINALLY found one that works, somewhat.

It's not a very good rune, it's actually pretty shit at what it does, but it works and that's enough for the moment. Its runic context lines up with gathering life magic to an extent and after a day or two of messing around with the spell, I got it working this morning and enchanted the Life Gem on my staff.

I haven't really tested it yet as I decided to feed the fish for a moment to take a break, but I can feel the spell slowly pulling in life magic to charge itself so it definitely works. I stand up and walk through the thin snow over to the Vita Tree to make the setup I envisioned. I take out a small gem from my saddlebags as I approach the golden-leafed tree.

The area around the Vita Tree is completely clear, with the exception of the gem and barrel that collects gold dust and those are resting around twenty feet away from the tree itself. The Life magic gathering spell will work better depending on the life magic density so the closer it is to the tree the faster it will charge.

With this in mind, I want to make a charging pedestal that can hold the staff for it to best charge, and also have some fun. I take out a Redwood Tree seed and toss it right at the base of the Vita Tree, only a foot away from the tangled roots that form into the trunk.

I start by growing out the Redwood without bark or leaves, while also controlling the roots to not harm the Vita Tree by accident. I grow out a two-foot wide circle of Redwood that raises a few inches above the grass and grows a single thick root straight down to anchor it in place.

Next, I hollow out a hole in the middle a few inches deep and remove the soil from decomposing the wood. I take the small sapphire I have and place it inside the hole before activating the enchantments and growing it over with wood so it's completely unseen.

I move over my staff and hold it near the wooden stand I've made, I feel a weak pull on the staff that I could easily overpower to take the staff back if I tried. Instead, I let go of the staff and watch as it slowly floats up into position, standing straight up at the center of the wooden circle.

It floats a few inches in the air and slowly spins around as it sits in place at the center of the wooden slab. I smile at my little creation and the pretty cool display. The gem inside the wood has a few weak spells, a scanning spell to detect the staff along with a floating spell and a movement spell.

It comes together to make the staff sit in place at the center of the wood where the gem is while looking pretty cool. I do need the staff close to the tree and raising it up a bit to be closer to the trunk will help it absorb more life magic from the Vita Tree, honestly I could have just stuck it in the ground.

This is much better though, both in looks and because it was simply fun to make. I mean, what's the point in magic if I can't make stupid things that look cool? It's stupid, yes, but I enjoy it. But like I said it is also slightly practical, just a bit, the more the staff is exposed and away from obstructions the quicker it will refill.

I take a moment to note how full the Life Gem is and the time I placed it on the stand. The spell is not like the others I use on my gems, it will take a decent amount of time to charge fully even while sitting next to the Vita Tree. I can't make a perfect guess but I think it's going to be at least a day, probably more.

That's to go from around half charged as it is right now and full. From empty to full it might take two or three days in total, which is not ideal in the least but without a better rune, this is the best I got. I base this on the rough rate of absorption I feel right now, still I'll have to test it for better information.

Even at that speed getting any tiny amount of life magic without effort on my part is amazing, it is so nice to finally move beyond the entire gathering process needing me. I finally have a way to gather life magic without my direct action, the closest I came to before this was the gold dust.

With that done I moved onto the other thing I wanted to experiment with. I want to create a new type of Redwood Tree with only one single goal, I want it to be the largest tree possible. Why? Because I know it's possible to make something truly titanic and because I'm curious if I can do it.

The dead tree that Griffonstone was built on is a true mystery and I'm wondering if I can do something similar. I have no practical reason to do this as I said, but it could have some advantages, it'd make a lot of wood if nothing else. But again it's not exactly a practical thing.

I even have an idea on how to go about it, as a starter I'm going to be crossbreeding the Redwood Tree with the Iron Oak to give the Redwood Tree some more durability. I want this new Redwood to use the Iron Oak's ability to strengthen itself to grow much more than normal.

Normally Redwood Trees can grow to be absolutely massive, but they fall under their own weight as they simply grow too large to sustain after a point. The problem is that the Iron Oak's ability to strengthen its own wood rather than growing larger, I'll need to breed a tree that only strengthens itself when needed and not as a first priority.

So, I'm going to try and use Guided Evolution on the Iron Oak's magical ability, which is probably going to be pretty hard. I've tried this same thing with a few other plants, but it never worked out that well and the sheer amount of life magic needed to make any change was ridiculous.

But I noticed that those attempts were mostly me trying to improve those abilities even further, this attempt is me modifying the ability in a different direction. The ability will be just as strong or weaker and it will be a relatively small change, so I'm hoping the cost is going to be much less and the process faster.

This does bring up a problem, how am I going to test this? The shield around Gaia's Eden extends a few hundred feet into the air, but that might not be enough to test this new tree properly. I'm growing a tree that might be over four hundred feet tall, probably more. The only spot here with that headspace is the center and that's taken up by the Vita Tree, so no luck there.

I can't really grow something like that anywhere either because ponies will notice something like that very quickly. So, I'll be doing that in the Dragon Lands, probably at night. It's not perfect and I'll need to leave quickly if a Dragon notices, but they will most likely ask far fewer questions than anypony would if they find a very big tree suddenly.

At a minimum, I can set fire to the tree without starting a forest fire of some kind. With my goal in mind, I plant a seed of both trees and decide to also test another idea I've had. I grow a seed on the Redwood sapling that was pollinated from the Iron Oak sapling and I start to focus my life magic and will.

I normally make a change to a seed and then plant it, but what if I just kept changing the seed more and more while keeping it on the plant? Well, let's see what happens if I focus on a single seed until I leave for my trip, it should be an interesting experiment as well. I spend the next hour like this before I feel space bending as Celestia arrives.

She appears inside the pavilion basically right next to me and looks around for a moment before looking at the plants in front of me. She looks around and nods, "Shade, busy as always I see, what is it this time? A lemon bush?" She asks jokingly. "Then again, I wouldn't be too surprised after the Strawberry Tree." She says happily sitting down with me.

I chuckle a bit and nod. "Hello to you too. I got my hooves on a Redwood Tree, so I'm messing with that, tell me if you want any wood it looks great." I motion to my staff still floating in the air on its new stand. "I also did that, and yes it is silly. I hope you liked your gifts by the way." I add after a moment and notice she's wearing the necklace I gave her.

She also notices I'm wearing my new necklace. "I loved them, just as much as I hope you like the necklace." I smile a bit and try not to blush at that. She takes off her crown and looks at it, "My favorite is the spell though, it's so small but so much less work. Aren't you just spoiling me?" She teases me a bit more.

I try not to blush more and roll my eyes. "Says the pony who got me a necklace made from magical silver and gems. I loved the book by the way, I am curious when you published a book though? I didn't find any record of it either." I ask to stop her from teasing and to answer a small question I've had knocking around my head, I went looking and found nothing about that book.

She pauses for a moment and looks a bit bashful, much to my amusement and confusion. "Well, it's not published, yet." She says after a moment and my mind sort of blanks. :She gave me the original copy of a book she hadn't published? Wait, yet?: I raise both my brows and give her a look that demands answers.

She blushes a small bit for a moment and I chuckle. "You did like the last book, so I spent some free time writing again. I enjoyed taking up that hobby once again, it has been a long time." She looks a bit less shy as she talks, I just nod as I'm not used to seeing her a bit shy. "Anyway, I thought that I might as well publish it. I never did before and it sounded, interesting." She says adorably like it’s some defense.

I recover quickly from my shock and give her a beaming smile. "Twilight would lose her mind." She snorts a little at my comment, not expecting it. "Still, thank you, and congratulations. I think it will go well, I liked it at least and I don't even have a large interest in that craft." I say with full confidence.

I'm still surprised she actually published a book now of all time, I guess I really did affect things huh? But seeing her smile it seemed to be for the better in this small case. She brings over my teapot and takes a cup out from under her wing, "Thank you, and yes I'd hope a few find it helpful if nothing else." She says back happily, hiding her slight bit of shyness again.

I enjoy the moment of silence before deciding to change the topic as I have a few things to get through. "So, how is the whole Changelings situation going? Anything I should know about? Or that I can help with?" This is something I wanted to talk to her about as my presence might be needed on my planned trip.

I know I made a lot of plans already but worse comes to worse I just delay my trip by a few weeks. That's why I was happy to get a meeting with them more than a week of time before I was planning to leave so I could adjust my plans to her plans. She hums for a moment and drinks some more tea, before looking at her cup. "Just like lemon and mint, I can barely tell the difference."

She comments before looking at me. "Not much, mostly just letters of slowly talking back and forth." She thinks for a moment longer and continues. "I believe Queen Chrysalis is investigating things before committing more, while also focusing more on the war from what we can tell. It seems she considers us less of an immediate priority." She explains with a relaxed tone.

I nod slowly in response after a moment. "She didn't know if we were a threat before, she probably had some resources tied up in preparing for a potential fight with us." It's what I'd do, in her situation. "She probably still is doing that to some extent, maybe just a lesser amount. It is good she has more to work with though, it means she can win faster." I give my thoughts.

Celestia smirks and nods back. "A possibility indeed. Probably also to spy on us more, and figure things out considering how much we surprised her. We've also been more focused on Cascadia for now, making sure she can't surprise us. Not much else has happened though, but we've made amazing progress as it is so nothing to complain about really." She assures me and I nod again in agreement as Cascadia is now definitely the largest threat to us.

I look a bit less serious. "Well, I have two things of importance from my side. First, have more work," I say cheerily and pass her some papers from my saddlebags. "Second, do you think I'll be needed for the next month and a half at most?" I ask and change the topic somewhat.

She raises a brow but looks unsurprised as she starts to read through the papers. "Hmm, a good addition to your inventions, and more crops as well." She drinks some tea and shakes her head. "No, I don't believe so. Queen Chrysalis won't ask for another meeting so soon, and there have been no problems with the Love Gatherers. Why do you ask? Am I blessed enough for you to be taking a vacation willingly?" She says jokingly.

I nod and her brow raises higher in surprise. "I've been taking trips once a year for a while and I wouldn't mind seeing some new sights and taking a break. I'm planning a full four-week trip." She smiles widely and looks ready to celebrate. "To the Dragon Lands, and yes I know how this sounds," I add and nearly laugh a bit as she abruptly shifts to a long sigh.

I don't think she'll try to stop me, but I can tell my choice worries her a bit. After a moment she nods slowly and looks at the papers again, "That at least explains the spell choice." She chuckles a bit and smirks at me. "Really? You want to take a vacation, there? That is the best you could come up with?" She asks more curious than anything.

I shrug a bit happy she's being relaxed about things. "Yes? The last Dragon I talked to got me curious, and it would have some impressive sights from what few records I've found. I also just want to learn more about Dragons in general." I say and notice that Entropy has woken up from wherever she was sleeping and flew over to us, sadly she left her hat at home today.

I scratch Entropy a bit as she gets comfortable with us. Celestia smiles down at me with a mix of concern and care. "I won't stop you, you know how to stay safe, and Entropy is more than capable of getting you out of any danger you get yourself into." She teases me, I don't try to fight that point either, I know when to quit.

I nod in thanks after a moment. "Thanks. If it makes you feel better I do have a way to defend myself as well." I bend the space a bit to emphasize my point. "Not that I want a fight, but I am ready for one," I reassure her and she thinks a bit before nodding and smiling more. "Any advice you can offer? I suspect you at least talked to a few Dragons before?" I ask hoping to make her feel more comfortable with the idea and actually get good information.

She thinks again for a bit. "Somewhat. I've talked to a fair few Dragons, but I've only ever been to the Dragon Lands a few times myself." She shifts to get comfortable and has the teacher look on her face so I pay extra attention. "There was an incident with an older Dragon a few centuries ago, and I had to go there to sort it out." I raise a brow as I don't remember reading about this.

She sees my confusion and elaborates. "It was a relatively minor incident during a Dragon migration, on the edge of Equestria at the time. I ended up talking to the Dragon Lord at that time, Valdus I believe." A different Dragon Lord is interesting, I wonder if the dragons have records? "In the end, she agreed to keep her Dragon under control, at least the older and larger ones." I've never seen the Dragon migration itself as it's only every few decades and can be inconsistent.

She continues after Entropy demands attention from her hoof as well. "It was a very simple affair actually, we made a deal to stop any aggression on both sides and I visit each new Dragon Lord to remake that deal, the current Dragon Lord is Torch, who has been the Dragon Lord for around a century now." I take out my notebook to take notes on the valuable information as she continues.

Celestia shrugs a bit. "Still, I only see them every few decades or centuries. Lord Torch is a rather reasonable Dragon actually." She comments and I take note of several things. "I didn't speak much to the others though, you will have to tread carefully." She looks at me more intensely and locks eyes with me. "And if you don't, I will lock you in a room with Cadance." She says dead seriously.

I blink a bit trying to decipher if she's joking or not, but she just stares back. I nod quickly, "Understood, try not to die. In my defense though, life has a tendency to throw unexpected things at me." I add in a half-joking way before drinking some tea and bringing out my chess board. "Well, I have questions. First, what's our score now?"

"Seven hundred and thirteen to eleven point five. I'm still amazed you made it into double digits." She says without missing a beat and teases me at the same time while she makes the first move after I set up the board. "I don't know much but ask away. Actually, would you mind asking about baby Dragons if you find a safe opportunity to do so?" She asks with a more relaxed tone once again.

I'm happy she's still respecting my choices, even the stupid ones. I also notice the care she has in her tone when asking that. I nod in understanding, "Right Spike, I could ask. I'm not really sure how a Dragon would react though, so a solid maybe. I'll try my best, and I will try to stay safe." I answer as she reminds me of another thing to ask the Dragons about.

She gives me a thankful look. "Thank you, and please stay safe, use the paranoia for something productive." She jokes again and passes Entropy back to me by placing her on my head. "Now, let's see if you can't snag another lucky victory." She teases me again, she's done a lot today, it's probably just her worry getting the best of her.

I sigh as Entropy happily sits down to sleep on my head. "You know, I think you should play against a friend of mine. Her luck is like mine, except actually good." She giggles a bit and I lose yet another game. I'll pull ahead of her someday, I just need more practice.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

Not too much to say, next chapter we start the new adventure, or maybe the chapter after that. I haven't decided yet.

Chapter 246

JAN 29 Monday.

I sit inside my workroom double checking that I have everything I may need for this lengthy trip.

After a bit of thought, I realized my train ride might be longer than ideal. The last time I went to Griffonstone I was on a fast-moving train and it still took two days, so with a normal train ride it will take around three days. That's why I'm leaving a bit earlier than maybe necessary.

Right now I'm busy gathering everything I'll need, which is probably a lot less than expected. I can make a lot of things with my life magic and spells so I only really needed a few simple items and supplies. I'm not even bringing a tent, just a bedroll that I can place down when needed.

Most of the empty space inside my saddlebags is actually taken up by bits, I'll have to keep applying an overpowered Lightening spell to them every day or two but that doesn't take much magic so it's fine. With my list done and everything packed away, I make my way to my apartment door in the early morning and leave.

My friends already know I'll be leaving and we even had a game night yesterday to send me off. I've asked Daisy to watch my plants and everything else can take care of itself just fine. I let Entropy ride on my back as I started to walk towards the train station through the busy streets.

I spent the last two weeks like I've spent most of my time this month, practicing Spatial Cut and preparing. I've also completely cleared out the backlog of notes I normally keep in my illusionary notebook inside of my bracelet. I have plenty of space to make notes when needed now.

The only other things of note were the Redwood Tree seed I've been slowly working on and my staff. After timing it a few times the staff takes around three and a half complete days to charge to full from empty, not the best but still pretty decent all things considered.

I stop my thoughts for a moment to find the right train, and after a bit of walking, I find the right one and buy a ticket before boarding it. I bought a full trip to Griffonstone so I find the compartment with the same number on my ticket and quickly make myself comfortable inside, while Entropy looks around curiously and does much of the same.

As for my little seed project? Well even after two full weeks when I try to improve the seed with my life magic it still consumes a large amount of my magic. So something is still happening, if it will work is still unknown but I picked all the seeds to test when I get to the Dragon Lands.

I settle in with a book I bought for some reading as the train starts to slowly shift out of the station. I look out of the window as Entropy sits to my side and I flip open my book, it seems I'm in for a boring few days.

time skip

FEB 1 Thursday.

I pass Entropy a slice of apple I just grew from a seed and look out the window again while putting down the book I've read through a few times at this point. The book was supposed to be a complex story you have to unravel over time, it was disappointing and the last few days have been more boring than anticipated.

At last, though I can finally see Griffonstone in the distance, it's been a little less than two years since I've been here, yet it feels like forever ago and yesterday at the same time. I slowly exhale and start to gather my things so I can disembark quickly, while also pondering something I've been thinking about for the duration of my trip.

After some thought, I decided to take a very specific dagger with me, a dagger with a Griffonstone royal seal on it. At first, I thought I'd take it just in case it was needed, but considering it's already almost dark I'm probably going to spend my night in the city, and if I'm doing that I might as well visit some distant maybe-friends.

I know it's a vacation, but it can't hurt to strengthen relations with Griffonston's king by accepting the invitation he gave me last time. I am tempted to just ignore this option and find an inn, but if the king finds out I just passed through without saying hello he might be a bit miffed. I just don't want to deal with that potential mess.

I never got a great feeling for him and I'm not sure how he'll react, so I'm once again taking the safe option that also makes me uncomfortable at the same time. I sigh a bit but smile as while it was draining at the time I did enjoy my last interaction with the royal family. I cast my wing spell while leaving my compartment and left the train before flying up into the air.

I can't fly to the top branch directly so I stop at the second to last, with Entropy enjoying the evening flight as we fly up higher and higher. When we land on the second to last branch I put on my cloak and start to ascend the stairs even higher. "Pretty, view," Entropy says as we come out onto the tallest branch.

I turn to see the sun setting over the distant land that stretches out far into the unseen world. I pet her, "Agreed, now remember the rules. No stealing food and be nice." I remind her again as I walk over the gate guarded by armored griffons.

One walks forward at attention and looks me over for a moment. "State your name and your business here." The blunt and short question is about what I expected and is asked in slightly rough Pony.

I take out the dagger and give them a clear view of it while shifting the dagger so others can't see it. "Shade Evergreen, I'm here to visit." I speak Griffon and be just as blunt while leaving out unnecessary details, I also speak quieter so the other Griffon guards can't hear us.

The Griffon's eyes widen a bit before he nods slowly as I put away the dagger. "Follow me, Sir." With that I fall into step behind him as we quickly move past the gates. I get a few interested looks from the guards but most just don't seem to care as we move down the street and approach the palace.

Unlike last time most of the area is lit up with magical lights, it seems trade has been booming indeed for them to import so many. We quickly make our way into the palace and through some hallways leading to a large pair of double doors. "Wait here, Sir." I nod and a moment later the guard enters the room quietly.

After a minute they come back out with a more respectful stance and look more professional. "You may go in, Sir. His Highness wishes you to join him for dinner." I blink for a moment as they walk off and leave me alone. :It seems I've interrupted them, fuck it lets see how this goes:

I steady my body and mind, I then take my cloak off and push the door open to see an elegantly decorated dining room with a wooden feel to it. I spot three beings at a table sitting next to each other and eating, two Griffons and a small Hippogriff. I give them a quick bow, "I apologize if I was interrupting you all." I greet them.

Phelix looks me over with a blank face for a moment and nods. "You've grown. Come, eat." The gruff old Griffons motion me over with a calm look and I turn to King Thelis for a moment to also get his permission. He has a large and noticeable smile on his face as he inspects me before also motioning me over.

I pause for a moment while walking over to place Entropy on my upper back so I can sit. "Shade Evergreen, it's been a long time now. It's good to see you remember our invitation, he is right, come join us and your friend there too." He greets me with a warmness that is surprising to me while still keeping his royal feeling.

The last member at the table looks me over for a moment and tilts her head as if trying to remember me. But her eyes light up after a moment and she lets out a slightly excited chirp. "Grandsire's friend! Hi!" She waves happily and stares at me tiredly as I join them at the table. "Do you like fish? We have some really good salmon. What's their name?" She excitedly asks me questions but seems to be tired and is silenced by a look from Phelix.

I take a seat at the table and smile politely at the filly who's grown a fair bit since I last saw her. "Thank you for the hospitality Kin-" My words are cut off by Thelis giving me a slightly sharp look. "Thelis, it's good to meet you again." I quickly correct my tone and use his name to something a bit less formal while trying to relax more.

He smiles in response and nods approvingly as I turn to Silvis to quickly answer her questions. "Hello Silvis, you've grown like a tree. I'd love some salmon, this is Entropy and she'd also love some salmon." I answered her, enjoying the adorable happy expression she showed me afterwards.

I sit there for a moment before taking a few dishes from the table and making a small meal for me and Entropy. All three seem curious about me eating meat so happily, but the salmon is actually pretty good so I can't complain and they don't question me. Thelis looks to me after finishing the last of his food. "I wasn't aware you had a companion, did they join you recently? An interesting name as well." He says while settling in and making some small talk.

I expected questions but I didn't mind too much. Things are already going well and I've gotten a very warm welcome from them, it's like I am an old friend. I guess that's just how this family acts to those it considers friends. "I raised her, she's been with me for around four years now." I answer simply.

Phelix looks at me and Entropy again and seems to really study me for a bit. "Hmm, you hold yourself well, better than before." I'm not really sure how to take those words, but his tiny smirk is enough to know it's a compliment of some type. "What brings you here?"

Thelis also pays attention to our words. "Nothing official, I'm just on vacation. I was passing through so I thought to say hello." I tell the complete truth as lying will do little for me. "I'm heading down the coast after this, I'll probably set out tomorrow actually." I say getting the feel for this far less formal conversation than the last time we talked.

That seems to satisfy Phelix as he nods and goes silent before smiling a bit more as Silvis finishes her food and brings out something to draw on. I notice she's improved a lot in her drawings since the last time I was here, they are still pretty simple overall though as she's probably six or seven years old at most.

Thelis also smiles again before looking at me levelly. "Well then, I insist you let us provide a room for you. I won't have a friend sleeping out of my home when they come to visit." I can tell he won't take no for an answer so I just nod in silent agreement. "Good. So, where are you headed? Escaping the cold of winter?" He asks curiously.

I pause for a moment and tilt my head a bit. "Not really anywhere specific, just south." That's a half lie as I don't really have a specific destination besides the Dragon Lands. "Thank you for the meal, it seems we both enjoyed it." I finish my small meal and give the last piece of salmon to a happy Entropy.

He nods seemingly satisfied. "You are a friend, and are always welcome." He stands up and nods to Phelix. "I apologize for the short talk, but I must get this little one to bed, Father if you wouldn't mind?" We both nod and Silvis looks displeased at this and gives her uncle a pleading look. "No little feather, it's time for bed." He says a bit firmly.

She sighs and looks at me with a happy and tired stare. "Nice to see you, and you too birdy." She smiles at us both and starts to gather her little drawings. She's still very friendly and energetic, but it seems she's tired enough to not put up much of a fight. "Goodnight." She waves to me as her uncle picks her up and carries her out of the room.

After they leave Phelix stands up before motioning for me to follow him, so I fall into step as we leave the room and move down a few hallways. "She's had a big day, wait until tomorrow. She'll be much more to deal with." He says seriously and I chuckle a bit while nodding. "Got that game with you?" He asks while leading us into a smaller room.

The inside is a mostly plain-looking bedroom with a large bed to one side and a few empty shelves, a guest room I'd guess. I nod once again and take out my chess board as we sit at a small table to one side. "I think I might be more of a challenge as well, I've had a good opponent to practice against." I say while setting up the board with my hooves as Entropy moves to sleep on the bed.

He eyes her a bit and looks a tad bit curious. "You trained them well, as you've trained yourself." He looks over my form again. "How old are you?" He asks a bit abruptly while I make the first move of our chess game. I notice he looks a bit older than the last time I saw him, with a few more silver feathers here and there.

"Fifteen, sixteen this year." I answer bluntly as it's not a hard thing for him to find out if he wanted. "I think so, but raising anything can be a mess, bird or filly." He huffs out a dry chuckle at that and hums in agreement but looks a bit surprised at my age. The silence stretches out for several minutes until I checkmate him in our first match.

He looks curiously at the board as I've beaten him much faster than I did the last time we met. "Hmm, you got better. Good, this is a proper challenge." He says to me and resets the board before moving his piece first. "Who did you train against?" I thinly smirk back a bit at his blunt nature of speaking.

I always liked how blunt and straightforward he was with me. I shrug, "A friend back home, she is much better than me. Last time we played the score was Eleven point five to seven hundred and twenty-three." I answer back bluntly without giving much context.

He knows I'm not giving him details on purpose, but he just nods in acknowledgment and laughs a bit, breaking his mask again. "Good, you earned that skill then. I'll have to try more." He says with a level look as we settle in for a few more intense and focused games of chess with very few words in between each game, just like all those years ago.

Eventually, it gets late enough and he leaves with a simple nod and a larger smile than normal. I just finally went to bed, happy that things went well enough.

time skip

FEB 2 Wednesday.

I'm woken up at the crack of dawn by the sound of a knock on the door. I spend a moment gathering my things and waking up Entropy before answering it to see Thelis standing there with a friendly expression. "Good morning, sorry to wake you, but I thought you might like to join us for breakfast before you set off?" He asks in fluent Pony and makes an offer we both know I won't refuse.

I'm curious about the change in language but nod and follow him down the hallway, ignoring how a few Griffons look at us as we walk. "It'd be a pleasure to join you. Thank you again for letting me stay the night." I say while trying to drag my mind from sleep quickly enough to not act like a fool.

He walks next to me also ignoring any stares. "It was no trouble at all. I rarely get friends as guests and it's a pleasure to host them." He says with seemingly genuine intentions. "And I don't get to practice the pony tongue too often either." He adds as we enter the same dining room as before.

I see the hyperactive filly is much more attentive than before and smiles widely at me while sitting on the other side of the table this time. "Good morning! sleep well?" The filly asks while already drawing something as a few staff Griffons bring out different types of food.

I look around and notice Phelix is absent from the table this time, it seems he has other business. I give her my best smile in return and nod exaggeratedly. "I very much did, thank you for asking. What are you working on? A mountain?" I guess while sitting near enough to her to see what she's drawing at the moment and switching back to Griffon.

Entropy hops from my back to sit on top of my head and the little filly giggles at the sight while Thelis watches us interact. "She's funny." Silvis says bluntly and Entropy chirps in agreement making the filly giggle more. "It is a mountain. But the shadows." She mumbles the second part to herself while holding up the drawing for me to see.

It's good for her age and I see what she means as the shadows of the mountains don't line up with the rest of the drawing. "Here, let me show you another trick." I say helpfully and she passes me a quill with wide and attentive eyes watching me draw out and explain what I mean. "What do you think? Better?" I ask once I'm done demonstrating it to her.

She beams like a damned sun and her smile splits her face to a comical degree. She moves very quickly and takes her half-finished drawing on the table from in front of me. "It's perfect! Thank you! It looks so much prettier!" She says happily going to her very important work.

Thelis just smiles while passing her a plate of food and an empty plate for me to fill myself. "Yes little feather, our friend here seems to be the helpful sort." He compliments me while showing an approving look. "So, Shade, you are still leaving today then? I can't tempt you with a longer stay?." He actually jokes a bit and continues with his hospitality.

They have been much more friendly to me than I expected, and I'm a bit overwhelmed even with a good rest in between meetings. I shake my head, "Sorry to say I want to spend my trip wisely, I have much to see. I'm more than willing to talk over a good meal though." I say back and fill my plate more.

I notice Silvis glance at Entropy and study her every few moments before drawing more, I can see she's trying to draw the crow to some success. Thelis smirks at me slightly, "Well then, how about this? You are going to have to come back this way right?" I nod. "Perfect, then you can spend one more night here on the way back home." He says like it's already a done deal.

I'm starting to get a better picture of Thelis and his little family. He's a strong ruler, I've seen that before, but he's also very kind and happy with those he considers friends. I don't think I deserve such hospitality and friendliness so quickly, but it seems to just be natural for him.

I eat a well-made waffle with some cooked fish before turning back to him. "I'd be happy to, I'll make sure to stop on my way back then. Not that I wouldn't have anyway, you are the only place I can get some decently cooked fish. My compliments to the chef." I say with honesty as the fish is really well made.

He chuckles a bit and starts to talk more as we descend into a conversation about different meat dishes as we eat breakfast. But after we finish eating Thelis stands up and nods to me with a smile, "It was a pleasure to see you again but I must attend to my duties. I'll hold you to your promise as well, come back soon." His happy tone keeps the relaxed mood as I also stand up.

"It was a pleasure as well Thelis, and I'll make sure to do so. Goodbye, you as well Silvis." I say to the filly as she looks up at me with a slightly sad look.

She stands on her back hooves and holds up a drawing she's worked on while nibbling on her food. "Uncle's right, you, come, back." She says in an adorably bossy tone that nearly makes me laugh and gets a small chuckle from Thelis. "And... Here, for her." She says a bit shyly while passing me a drawing.

Me and Entropy look at the hastily made but interesting drawing of Entropy. The long thick strokes of black ink wind into a crow and remind me more of Entropy's real form, but it seems to just be artistic flare from what I can tell. It makes for a pretty interesting drawing. I'm about to thank her but am beaten to it, "Pretty, happy." Entropy caws out in Pony.

Silvis looks up with wide eyes and it looks like her entire day was just made with those two words. I smile down at her and nod in agreement, "She's right, it's amazing thank you. Goodbye, Thelis, Silvis." I say to both of them again as Silvis is picked up by Thelis, still looking a bit stunned and chatting insistently with him about Entropy as I move to a different door.

I scratch Entropy a bit as a reward and spend a few minutes leaving the palace before making my way outside and down from the tallest branch. Once I'm down to a lower branch I cast a spell and open my wings wide before jumping off and taking to the air, my destination waiting in the south.

As I fly away from Griffonstone I feel pretty good, it seems I'm in better standing with them than I thought, good to know. It’s always good to have more friends in the times to come.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

So, I know it's a lot more jumpy and quicker than normal and some wow considered fast paced by my standards, but it was the best I could do without dragging this pre-trip-visit on for two full chapters. I'm not sure if I'll do another one for the end of this trip because it's looking to be a lengthy arc, but we'll see.

I envision the Griffonstone royal family to be like those relatives many people have. The ones who, if your within a hundred miles, you are invited to dinner and WILL be attending. And while there you ARE family, so ya the real friendly type to those they consider friends and family.

Chapter 247

FEB 2 Friday.

I look down as the sea stretches out to my right and the land to my left as I fly along the coast.

I've been flying for almost six hours now and my direction of travel has changed to be more southeast than directly south. The land curves inwards here before curving out again at a point that forms a land bridge with the Dragon Lands, something I find odd.

I've been flying with a Lightening spell on myself to conserve energy and just glide along the way. I do need to pay attention to sudden gusts of wind as they can move me around pretty quickly while being under the effects of the Lightening spell. Honestly, the travel so far has been pretty boring but bearable.

Much like with many forms of travel, it is just moving forward while having to keep alert and pay attention. At least I have someone to fly with and keep me motivated, namely Entropy as she's been thrilled with our long flight. It's almost noon now though and I need a break from flying so much.

As I start to descend from the sky my thoughts wander to the Griffons I spent time with this morning. I'm still a bit surprised at the sheer hospitality I was shown despite basically being a complete stranger. It is nice though and I'm far from complaining about it, although my paranoia can't help but think the worst.

Mostly my paranoia wonders if they could want something from me. It is unlikely that they would because they simply have more than me, at least if they don't know something they shouldn't. I also find them knowing any of my secrets unlikely as well, so is it a possibility that they want something else?

If nothing else they know I have some connection to the Equestrian crown, even if that's just working for the crown once. So being good hosts to me might score them some extra points with a valued trade partner, it's a bit far-fetched but it wouldn't cost them all that much to be nice to me.

It reminds me of a saying. Kindness costs little and anger costs more than you ever intend it to. Or something like that, I don't really have a good memory of that saying though. After circling the area for a bit I landed on a seaside cliff with a road next to it.

Many things are shipped by sea but these roads still have a fair amount of traffic. I've seen several dozen bands of traveling creatures from the air over the past few hours. Entropy lands on me as I lay down and rummage through my saddlebags before taking out an apple seed, I toss it on the ground and watch calmly as an apple tree quickly grows large and fruits many apples.

I pick several apples and cut them into slices with my regular steel dagger before passing some to Entropy and digging into our simple meal. Having life magic makes getting food a non-issue for me, at this point I can regain the magic I just used in less than an hour without needing tea or Mana Mimicry.

I should check what my magic capacity is when I get back, it's probably significantly larger than the last time I measured it. It also helps that I simply have much better control over all forms of my magic, from neutral to space and life. With better control comes less waste and increased effect.

Interestingly enough my control might be the skill I've developed the most and the area I stand out the most in. I have a vast amount of control from using my affinities so much and I'm even a bit better at my control than Twilight is from what I've seen when we study together.

She probably has more magic than me though, maybe because of her fate or cutie mark, but she has the ability to practice magic for a long time so she at least has a large capacity. Actually, could I get her to measure her magic as well? It would be an interesting thing to compare.

Again something for later. I leave those thoughts as I sense movement down the road a bit, they are around a bend and can't see me yet so I just recast the wing spell and Lightening spell to get back in the air and keep moving. I decide to leave the Apple Tree there as it makes no difference if it's found and I would rather that no one spot me.

I fly high and make sure to adjust my course again as I continue to follow the coast. I don't really mind talking to the Dragons as they probably won't care that much if I act weird or really question me all that much. Other races and beings in this area might be more curious as to why a single pony is all the way out here and take notice, so it's best to avoid them.

As I fly I take out a map and start trying to look at the coast for landmarks to find out where I am. After a few minutes, I get close enough to know I'm already a third of the distance to my destination. It's the early afternoon so I could actually make it to the land bridge before nightfall.

That's faster than I thought, but then again I'm no expert at judging distance and it makes this journey quicker than expected. I sigh and start to beat my wings faster to pick up some more speed, I still have a long way to go and if I get there before dark I can set up a proper camp for the night.

Over the next few hours, the coast bends back to the right and leads me deeper into the sea with another sea visible to my left past the land. That strip of land thins more and more as the roads became little more then dirt paths instead of the cobbled roads I'm used to.

The land itself loses more and more of its plant life and gets warmer as I continue to follow along. Eventually, I see my destination as the sun dips low, soon to set completely. The terrain is rocky and sandy as the two or three-mile-wide strip of land that separates the two seas starts to abruptly widen again in the distance.

The terrain past this point looks far more hostile and rugged, I already see a volcano in the distance and the gray stone gets darker in color. It's a striking contrast that makes me wonder how natural this entire area is. The continent I'm on just dips inward to this bridge with a very straight land bridge that opens up into a much larger land mass at the end.

It makes the location basically unassailable as it's the ultimate defensive location for any land-based war. I land on the craggy and rocky hills that make up this final stretch of the land bridge before fully entering the Dragon Lands. The strong smell of the sea is everywhere and there is a layer of sand on the rocky ground.

There are more desert-like plants here but the area is far from devoid of life, at least wildlife. There are only some small paths at this point and no signs of other sapient life. I find a rocky outcropping that works well enough for me and I start to gather firewood from around the area, something that takes a while.

Once I have a fire going I settle in and watch the sunset while looking around me. The area I'm in is a small clearing surrounded by rock outcroppings and hills with the sound of the sea being omnipresent. I spend a bit of time growing some fresh fruit and taking out some dried meat from my saddlebags to make us a small meal.

I pass a wooden bowl with the simple meal to Entropy who wags her tail a bit before bobbing her head in thanks. "Thank, love." She caws out before happily digging into her food. I chuckle a bit and pull out my sleeping bag to unroll it so I have something to sit on.

We quietly eat our food and I call it an early night by curling up in the sleeping bag next to my fire and with Entropy snuggled up against me. I stare up at the stars a bit before drifting off to sleep after a long day.

FEB 3 Thursday.

I slowly wake in the dark to the sounds of incessant waves crashing against stone cliffs in the distance. I stretch a bit and crawl out of my sleeping bag in the darkness of night while casting a light spell. I check the time and see it's about an hour before sunrise, the perfect time to do what I have planned.

I spend a moment making some fresh tea on my campfire's embers before taking out a single small seed from my saddlebags. This is one of the seeds from the Redwood pine cone I've been working on for the past few weeks and here seems like as good a place as any to test it out.

Others will definitely notice it, but connecting it to me would be basically impossible so I can just leave it here as an unexplained mystery like many other things in this world. Also the idea of messing with others by leaving this tree here without explanation is somewhat appealing to the part of me that likes pranks.

Entropy slowly wakes up as well and hops on my back sleepily as I gather my things and thoroughly destroy my campsite. I stand in one of the larger flat areas this location has and take out the seed. It's mostly sandy and rocky soil so this is a subpar location, but I have enough magic to bypass that.

The area is a few hundred feet wide and I place the seed down at the center before stretching out a hoof and activating Mana Mimicry while drinking some tea I just made from a flask I filled. I start off by using a spell to give it plenty of water and simply trying to grow the seed, and watch as a small Redwood Tree sprouts and takes root.

I modified a full pine cone so I'd have many seeds in case one was a dud, it seems I got lucky at the start though. The seed continues to grow more and more as my magic drains away consistently, it costs less magic than I expected, probably because the magical abilities of the tree haven't been activated yet.

The tree goes from a sapling to a ten-foot-tall tree quickly, then twenty feet, then forty. Taller and taller it grows while I watch my magic closely and study the magical flows of the tree as it grows. I also keep a hoof against the tree while backing up as the trunk grows wider.

After ten minutes of steady growth, the tree hits roughly one hundred and fifty feet and starts taking more magic than before. Its massive roots spiral into the rocky ground and spread out around the area, spilling down the rocky ridge I'm on and covering everything.

After another ten minutes, the Redwood Tree is over three hundred feet tall with me adding some more magic to speed things along a bit. After yet another ten minutes I'm nearly out of magic and stop the process to conserve what I have left in case I need it.

It's hard to get a perfect picture or exact measurements, but the Redwood Tree is around four hundred feet tall and has a titanic appearance to it. The trunk is dozens of feet across and I'm surprised my magic was able to grow this size of tree without needing a break.

I was using a few things to increase my magic regeneration and also grew the tree over nearly forty minutes. This type of tree has also evolved to grow to such size so that probably helped. Still, this tree is mind-boggling and almost hard to describe with words alone.

I move back and Entropy and I look up to the tree that sticks out like a beacon as the sun rises into the sky and casts the tree in sunlight. I'm not entirely sure if this tree got the correct magical ability from the Iron Oak as I couldn't grow it enough, but it is standing strong in the face of the strong ocean winds despite its size and the little soil it has.

"Big, go up?" Entropy asks while looking excited at such a sight. I'm tempted to grow the tree more and see how far I can push it, but it's day now and others will notice this thing, so it's best I get going before anything happens. So after gathering some seed I pet Entropy a bit and shake my head before I start to walk down a path towards the Dragon Lands.

"Not today, maybe when we come back though. If it's still here." I tell her while walking down a dirt path through the rocky terrain. I could fly deeper into the Dragon Lands but I'm much more vulnerable when flying and many more dragons will notice me, so I'm in for a long walk ahead of me.

As I walk I notice a Dragon fly by far above me in the air, it's hard to see any details but they seem to be large enough to be an adult. The ground gets more jagged as some lava rock starts to make up more and more of the terrain. I see another Dragon flies past about an hour later when I finally cross the last of the land bridge and make it to my destination.

A mix of black and gray stone stretches out into mountains and cliffs that stretch far away as I crest a hill and look around. I turn back for a moment and see the tree I grew, it stands in opposition to everything around it. A titan with seas on both sides of it, clinging to a stone hill and standing like a beacon in the dark.

I turn back and look into the distance sorting through the terrain trying to get some sense of direction. There are many smoke stacks from volcanic activity and few plants in the area, but there is more activity. It starts with a Dragon seeing me from atop a hill they were sleeping on as I continue walking past.

They look to be an adult, maybe a hundred feet from head to tail. They look at me for a moment and then they just go back to sleep seemingly not caring about me, and I'm fine with that. I notice more dragons flying around the sky as I keep walking and the smell of sulfur grows stronger with time as volcanoes become more common. "Shadow." Entropy caws before slipping into my shadow.

I was about to ask her to do just that so I don't mind. "Just stay awake, you remember the base of the tree right? Take us there if I say so." I get an affirmative chirp in response. Finally, after another hour of following a shabby path and being careful of the terrain, I see something more significant, a few Dragons bathing in lava.

They see me as I walk and I stare back unbothered, a few are small and look to be teenage Dragons. Again they don't seem interested in me. But I need some direction in this place, so I slowly walk over to them after casting the Flame Shield spell on myself and mentally readying myself for things going wrong.

A red and orange scaled Dragon is closest to me and is just lying in a pit of lava. "Pony." The female voice rumbles out of the Dragon, who's a bit bigger than the others, her head the side of my entire body. When I stop near the pool of lava with her in it she stretches her neck to better face me from her lying position. "Trader?" She asks bluntly, seeing my bags.

Her tone is uninterested and bland, seemingly far from curious about me. I nod, "Yes, anywhere I should be going?" I ask with a blunt but neutral tone, while studying the first adult Dragon I've gotten a good look at. Her size and looks are a bit intimidating but I don't show it.

She shows her teeth a bit and huffs some smoke out of her nose. She has a ridge of red spines running along the back of her head and down to her tail tip, a seemingly common trait amongst dragons. But unlike Spike, her spines are much more patchy and less consistent.

Her eyes focus on me before her tail points in a direction. "That way." She says before slumping back down into the lava and seemingly ignoring me. For a first interaction that seemed to go well enough and no Dragons seemed to really care about me so far, so I took her advice and started to walk in the direction pointed out.

I walk for a while and take a mental note that my magic has recovered by this point before cresting yet another hill of stone and seeing something unexpected. It's a much larger gathering of Dragons than before, several dozen all in a large area, most of them are adults but a few are younger and vary in size.

Interestingly enough it seems to be a trading area of some sort, many Dragons trading gems and gold with each other. It's hard to see it in too much detail, but it seems the larger ones trade in larger amounts or items. The larger Dragons lay curled around their pile of treasure to prevent theft while others walked up to trade with them like I would a trading stall.

After watching for a few minutes I notice another few Dragons flying in and decide to get more involved. There seem to be at least some rules with all of this and that is my priority here. I need to learn what to expect and how to act before I get myself in some kind of trouble.

Interestingly enough I spotted a few Griffons flying into the area while closing the distance, it seems I'm not the only outside trader here, as good a sign as any. As I walk close, several large Dragons lying on hills overlooking the area take notice of me, but have the same lack of care as many others, I just focus on looking around.

Younger Dragons carry things in their arms and seem to like trading with the older Dragons for larger gems. Sometimes using smaller gems or gold shaped in various forms. The very large area is just flat dirty stone that seemed to have been made for this, with Dragons all around the place with little actual structure or coordination to it all. "What have you got, Pony?"

I turn my head to see an adult Dragon lying around his small hill of gold and gems staring at me as I walk past. We're on the edge of the trading area and I think I saw this dragon flying in recently, it seems the later you come the further away you set up from the center.

I was just planning to head deeper in but this large male Dragon seems to have some interest in me. He huffs as I stare at him, "Well? What do you have to trade?" The gruff male asks again with a bit less patience, seemingly trying to force me into trading with him before others through some light intimidation as he smiles at me.

I raise a brow and stare right back at him after a moment. "I've noticed a few of the larger Dragons here don't seem to be trading, just watching everything. Are they keeping the peace for a cut then? Also, I'm guessing this place has some rules?" I reason out having noticed that a few of the larger Dragons just seem to watch and stay to the side at higher elevations to look over everything.

My calm and steady tone seems to throw him off a bit as he looks at me again before tapping a claw on the stone ground. "New then, great. Not many of you ponies here either. I'll answer you, for a price." He says back bluntly and with some amusement in his tone, along with some cockiness.

He's nice enough to deal with though so that works for me. "Ten bits, I could just go pay them to answer me if I wanted to." I haggle right back at the start. He hisses for a moment in what seems like consideration before nodding to me slowly. I take out the bits and show them all before chucking them at the pile he has.

He huffs again seeing such a small amount. "Fine. Yes, they are." He looks to one of the guard Dragons. "Rules, no fighting. Obviously no trying to kill, unless you want the Dragon Lord after you." He chuckles out at that. "Not that a pony like you is a threat." He says like it's another obvious thing. "No stealing, and you pay what is agreed." He says blandly. "See Pony, nice and simple."

I can guess there is more context to those rules, especially the last one, but that was worth a few bits. He smiles again and brings his head, which is even larger than the last Dragon I talked to closer and smiles widely. "Now, how about you look at what I have to offer, little pony." He says with some blatant greed.

Honestly, this isn't the worst Dragon to start with. He might be arrogant and a dick, but his greed is easy to work with for me. I huff back a bit and nod. "Sure, but I'm not agreeing to buy anything, yet," I say and he just backs up his head some and moves his tail out of the way.

His whole body is curled around the pile of loot with his tail and head drawing a border at the front, letting others see his goods without being close to it. Also letting him control who gets close to his things to keep a very close eye on them, as he is doing with me right now.

I steadily walk over but make sure to stay in full view of him and to avoid any misunderstanding as I look over the items. It's a rough pile with many items, mostly gold items and gems but there is also some silver and a few other random things inside the pile. After a little looking I spotted a large uncut emerald that is very clear and well-formed, it's nearly a foot across and rounded.

It'd be heavy but I'm interested in it for a different reason so it's worth it. I hold up the gem to him and he looks at it for a moment, bringing his eyes close to me. His iris widens from a slight slit, "Ssss, one hundred." He says with a no-nonsense tone.

I raised a brow nearly looking shocked at the price he offered. I might as well be scamming him, or maybe the price is just that low here? Something else to investigate. "Seventy." I counter not even blinking as the large Dragon states me down from only a few feet away, showing off his teeth more.

His eyes narrow more and he huffs smoke out once again, nearly hitting me with it. "Ninety, or you can move on, little, Pony." He says with a slight rumble to his voice that conveys he's not happy about being bargained with.

I look at the gem again and back to him. "Eighty-five, and you tell me how old you are." I counter with a slightly different offer and the same unbothered tone as before. I'm not letting these Dragons push me around, I can have some pride, just not arrogance.

He raises a scaled brow but nods after a long moment as I move further away from his pile of loot so others can see our transaction, moving slowly to make sure he doesn't take it as me running off. "Eleven hundred and sixteen. Gold, now." He demands with his eyes still somewhat narrowed.

I've been moving the gem with my field as these Dragons are unlikely to care or even know it's odd, so I can move things this way freely. I place it down and start to slowly count out the bits in full view of him before leaving the bits in a pile for him to take. I don't even respond as he takes the gold and I walk deeper into the odd market.

I'm still a bit on edge around all these Dragons, but it's getting more comfortable as time passes, I still keep my senses sharp though. It feels odd to deal with beings like this after being a pony for so long, it's kind of nostalgic. That was also a pretty good start to my trip as well, so let's see what else I can find here.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 996

The Dragon Lands is sometimes an island or connected to the Eastern Continent in a few different ways depending on the map. So, I'm just doing my thing and changing some stuff up, it might deviate from the show a bit by doing this but it seems to fit well enough.

Here, have some stupid art I made with all my artistic skill to better explain what the whole land geography looks like. Please excuse my less-than-staller drawing skill.

Chapter 248

FEB 3 Saturday.

I slowly step through the flat stone area looking at all the different Dragons trading and talking to each other.

I wouldn't call it bustling but things are happening and everyone seems to be behaving themselves well enough. I do notice a few Dragons arguing over price with each other, but they never come to blows about it, just some snarling and threatening voices.

I also notice several younger Dragons seem to make it a small challenge or game to rile the adult Dragons up by bargaining with ridiculous demands. Often with other young Dragons cheering them on from the sidelines. Still, the entire market is much more calm and civil than I was expecting.

That's not to say I was expecting them to be incredibly violent or anything but it is still better than I hoped for when coming here. I attract a fair amount of attention from the Dragons around me while moving the large emerald I bought, but none seem willing to bother me at the moment.

I do get a few greedy looks from some of the younger Dragons, so I make sure to try and stay within sight of the Dragons guarding the market. As I've been observing others trading I've noticed something interesting about how the Dragons seem to trade with each other.

I've only gotten a rough feel for it but a lot of the trading works more like bartering than anything and I don't think that the gold used really matters that much. That's to say that the gold seems to be valued as a commodity rather than a currency. Let's take a standard bit as an example for this.

In Equestria, a single bit won't buy you that much, maybe a simple bun of bread or some drink. But the value of that bit is based on several things, like interest, society, and the markets in general, on top of the price of gold. None of those structures really exist here.

Gold is simply valued based on the amount from what I've observed, basically the amount of gold is more important than anything to do with an imagined price of that gold. They trade with gold as a resource not necessarily a currency, or at least that seems to be how the Dragons treat it.

I do see the Griffons from earlier talking and trading with a few Dragons and they notice me as well. But much like the Dragons they show little interest and focus on buying things and getting the hell out of here. The Griffons seem really on edge being around so many large Dragons and mostly trade with the younger smaller adults.

After a little walking I stop, seeing an interesting sight closer to the center of the market that seems to get increasingly busy as more Dragons show up to trade. Or seemingly relax and shop after they are done with their other business. The interesting thing I find is from a smaller adult Dragon.

They are around sixty feet from head to tail and have something of a space set up. A few of the Dragons have had stone slabs to put things on or even large stone bowls, but most of them just use the stone ground beneath us. What is truly interesting is what this Dragon is doing.

They sit curled around their things like many others, a few small stone slabs with carved gems on each of them and uncut gems sitting around the slabs on the ground sit on display. They hold a gem with their claws and slowly carve away at it with their other hand's claws to shape it as desired.

I never really thought about it but other Dragons do have cut gems in their piles so someone had to be doing it. The stone slabs have different cuts of gems on them and even some pretty intricate carvings made from different types of gems. As I walk closer the Dragon cuts off a piece of gem and uses it as a snack while they continue to carve away.

They spot me and I look over the Dragon for a moment. Dark purple scales cover most of her body with gray scales covering her belly and underside. Her spines are a slightly deeper gray than her underbelly and her wings have an interesting color to them, that seems to reflect light a bit while in the sunlight.

Her eyes look me over and she smirks with fewer teeth than others have shown me. "Pony, interested in getting that carved?" The female voice is lighter than others I've heard but still has a slight rumble to it. Her words are also less pushy than the others I've heard as I walk around, there is still some inherent impatience there though.

I looked at the emerald that I bought for a very cheap price. I've seen much larger gems being traded here but this is all I really need for my plan, it would help if it was carved though. I need to make a camp somewhere and I need protection while I'm sleeping, that's why I bought this gem in the first place, to make a shield with it for my campsite.

Even while uncut a gem this large would be able to protect me after being enchanted, cutting it is an unexpected but welcome choice though. I take out a bit of my saddlebags and show her. "How much for a cube shape? Preferably without losing too much material." I ask back and decide to be a bit more polite to her as she's done the same so far.

She holds out a claw and places the other gem to the side while looking at the emerald after I pass it over to her. "Hmm, how clean do you want the cuts? Those can take a while to get right, and I won't be here all day." She says with some professionalism while inspecting the emerald closely.

I notice her claws seem longer than other Dragons, maybe an adaption? Or just her growing them out? I shrug a little. "Rough is fine, but I'd like it to be decently clean," I answer back after a moment of thought. If this doesn't go well I can just go buy another gem, it's not like it will cost much.

She tilts her head a bit and some smoke slowly flows from her nose. "Fifty, and I keep all the extra gem bits that I cut off." She says with more firmness than her last words. Her claws run over the gem a bit, each claw nearly a foot in length making it impressive that she was working with such small gems accurately.

This seems to be one of the more friendly dragons I've seen so far, but I am here for information so after some thought I take out a notebook. She raises a brow at my actions and looks curious. "Seventy, and I get to watch you work while asking some questions." I offer with calm and level words while keeping a friendly enough tone.

She looks more curious now but nods slowly after a few moments. "I won't always answer, but you have a deal, Pony." She says with a larger smile and I start to count out the correct amount of bits before giving them to her. I dump them in her outstretched hand and she places them to the side in a pile. "Good, ask away, but let me work." She says simply.

I look around a bit before moving a little closer to her and take out my sleeping bag along with my tea kettle. I make myself comfortable on the ground while she watches me for a few moments with her eyes narrowing somewhat. "You have any good tea? I'm willing to trade?" She offers a bit abruptly with clear interest as I start to fill my teapot with water.

I raise a brow but nod. "A few types, and maybe. But why do you want tea? No offense but it's not what I'd expect you to want." I ask back genuinely curious about her reasons. It would take her a lot of tea to make a drink after all and it's just not something I'd think they would want.

She moves the emerald closer to her eyes and brings out a single claw while holding the gem steady. As she slowly moves her claw down I watch with curiosity and amazement as her claw just smoothly slices the gem like it's made of clay. If that's not some form of magic I'll eat my damned cloak.

The first cut is pretty smooth but not perfect, it does let her sit the emerald on the now flat side to better work with it. "Food." She answers bluntly with a chuckle. "We may be Dragons, but we also like good-tasting food, and it lasts longer. Anything that can spice food up is worth its weight in gold, and tea works like just another seasoning." She answers with a focused voice.

I open the only paper notebook I took with me and start to make several notes on that. I also ignore her last words by focusing on the interesting information. Again tea is not something I'd ever really think about for a dragon, but with the lack of plants in the Dragon Lands spices would be hard to come by and they can't really grow them either.

After making some notes I answered her. "Well, I have some actual seasoning, I'm willing to look after you're done." I don't commit fully as she continues her work but she seems a bit pleased with my answer. Like the other Dragons, she doesn't really hide her expression. "What are the best seasonings to trade, anything of particular value?" I ask as it could be helpful.

I like seasonings as well and brought several seeds with me to grow whatever I needed. Trading with spices might be a good alternative to gold considering it costs me nothing to make. She keeps making small cuts on the gem, shaving off material while snacking on the pieces that are cut off.

"Ssssss, not really? You Ponies complicate things." She chuckles softly like it's a joke, which it might actually be for her. "The stronger the better, it means we need less to taste it. It depends on the Dragon though." I've noticed that she's been pretty relaxed with me and is actually being helpful with her answers, but still has that slight tone that makes it clear she rather be working in silence.

I make some more notes on that and start to work on a sketch of her as she works. "Ok, what are the actual rules in the Dragon Lands? Do you have any firm ones, or is it more just depending on the individual?" I ask wishing for clarification on how things work here.

You can learn a lot about a place based on the rules alone and I'd really like to stay out of trouble here. She pauses a bit and looks at me as I relax, drinking tea while drawing and watching her. "You are an odd one, look at you, you don't even bother to look afraid." She laughs a bit and smiles more showing her teeth and I smile back politely.

She goes back to her work and continues. "Well, officially? No killing, ever." She says seriously. "That one is Dragon Lord Torch's main rule. Even ponies like you can't be killed." She cuts off a larger piece of gem and eats it for a moment. "At least, inside the Dragon Lands, outside is not his territory." She explains blandly.

I pick up on the meaning right away. You can't kill here, but in another nations territory is a different story. "I presume that's not commonly done? I don't think even you all want to anger a nation, or more than one." I reason and she nods after raising a brow at my calm reaction.

"Correct, it's dangerous and not really worth it. The other rules are less actual rules and more, understandings. You steal a Dragon's hoard and they will come for you, or they and their family will." She heavily emphasizes family and it catches my attention. "So, what is a pony doing here? Not many of you are brave, or foolish enough to come." She asks casually.

I look confused at that for a moment before smiling. "No killing, I guess a fight is still possible then, maybe even some more minor injuries," I say and watch her eyes flicker to me in surprise before going back. "A bit of trading, and learning more about you all. Is family important to you?"

She nods and ignores my first comment. "Very. You can't trust others, but family is family. Blood runs thick." She uses some words I don't understand. "Blood runs thick, it means family is more than just who you know." She flips the emerald and I can see she's leveled off a second side of it very accurately for using claws.

"Wrong a Dragon and you have an enemy, wrong a dragon and you anger a family, or at least part of one." I quickly add several notes and remember to keep her words firmly in mind. It seems there is a form of structure and law here, even if it mainly comes from consequences and violence.

It does make some sense as they have to at least function as a whole to keep this territory to themselves. Others might not want this land for anything but its resources, but that is more than enough for a war to happen. I'll need to be careful who I deal with then, and how I deal with them. "What is considered wronging a Dragon?" I ask after a few minutes of making notes and finishing up my rough sketch of her.

She scratches her neck a bit in thought. "It depends, it is not so... Rigid. Some things matter more to others, or an elder said that once to me, seems right though." She shrugs a bit. "No stealing and no large injury is good enough for a Pony though." She answers with a slightly shorter tone. I can see she's getting a bit tired of my constant questions by now as she works faster.

I could ask more, but she's been much more helpful than other Dragons so it's best not to push my luck. "Thank you, last few questions so I'll just say them all. Your name and age? Do you know of any elder Dragons that might be willing to talk to me? And when is this market open?" I give her a sincere thank you as she has been very helpful to me and I'll probably try to talk to her again if I can, before just laying the rest of my questions out for her saying things bluntly.

She finishes a third side of the emerald but again pauses to look at me while tilting her head. "You are by far the weirdest Pony I've met. Talking to an Elder? You?" She laughs a little but it doesn't come off as insulting, simply humorous to her. "I can't help you there, all the ones I know are lowly bastards." Despite her words, she puts some respect to the word elder.

She motions with a clawed hand. "This mess is open every day, not everyone comes through." She looks around and I notice that the gathering has grown to a few hundred Dragons by this point. "I'm here every few days or so." She moves to the fifth side of the emerald, speeding up her work. "Six hundred and eighty-two, Aurora, and you Pony?" She introduces herself after a fairly long pause.

I mark her age and nod my thanks. "Nice to meet you, Shade," I answered before putting away my things after standing up with a stretch. "I have some pepper I could trade, some of your carvings look well done." I take out a small bag of ground black pepper I brought for seasoning.

I have a few peppercorn seeds to make more as they can be good fresh as well. She looks inside the bag after I toss it to her and sniffs the inside before moving back with a snort. "Ah yes, this one is nice. Take any of the smaller ones, only one though. This is a more common one to pass through." She explains before moving her tail out of my way.

I walk up to the stone slabs and start to look at some of her carvings. After a little looking I find a Griffon Carved from ruby about the size of my hoof, I marvel at it for a moment. "You are really accurate with those claws, how long have you been doing this?" I compliment her honestly as the ruby carving is small and yet she is very accurate.

The carving is still a bit rough, but it has all the limbs and even the wings carved out of red gemstone, forming a Griffon lying down. She finishes the emerald and keeps the bag as I put away the carving in my saddlebags. She blinks a bit hearing my compliment and nods slowly. "A few centuries." She says with a confused tone my compliment having seemingly surprised her.

I nod and pick up the cube-shaped emerald. The sides aren't perfectly smooth but it's still very accurate and well done, forming a very even cube with the sides properly lined up, worth every bit I paid. "Looks good, you do good work. One last thing, how do I tell if a Dragon owns a cave? I don't want to walk in on a sleeping Dragon." I ask seriously.

She again looks slightly unreadable at my kind words. She raises a brow at my question though and shrugs, "Check? Many leave markings, an x in the wall, that sort of thing. But ya, just check." She moves back to her earlier work and it's clear we're done with our deal.

I make a mental note of her appearance and name for later and start to move to the edge of the market again. The emerald is now cut more than well enough and I have a lot of new information so I leave for now. As I walk out I notice that the newer Dragons are trading different things.

Some trade food, mostly fish but also a few animals. None of them are sapient from what I can tell, there are a few odd creatures I don't recognize though. I also see some selling trees and wood, or carved slabs of stone of different types, even some marble.

One is even selling ore, I don't know what type though. I do get to watch for a minute as a Dragon melts some ore in a large stone bowl with their fire breath, the larger adult apparently smelting it down. I want to watch more but they glare a bit at my staring and I need a campsite before it gets dark. I can come back another day for something like that.

I start to make my way out of the large valley this odd market is in and start looking around the area from a rocky hilltop. With many valleys and mountains of rock in every direction from where I am, many lava tubes and caves around as well. Most of the larger ones have obvious signs of someone living there though.

By large I mean LARGE, big enough for the adult Dragons. I suppose such large caves are much rarer to find so are more commonly occupied, but scattered around are uncountable small caves and crevices. After walking along a rock ridge for around half an hour I find a smaller valley.

Its caves are too small for an adult Dragon so I started looking around for a suitable place. The reason I want to camp in a cave is simple, it is much safer to do so. I can't be easily spotted and with this gem, I can easily make such a location very defendable and safe enough to sleep in while letting my guard down a bit so I don't stress myself out.

The first cave I find has a few markings, and I can sense a source of life magic inside it deeper inside. I move on and find a cave that will work perfectly for me after looking at several others. It's behind a few rock outcroppings and mostly hidden from sight, the entrance is also only twice the height of a pony.

I see no markings and can't feel anything alive inside so I cast a light spell and walk in. The inside is very simple, a roughly two dozen-foot tunnel that descends at an incline before opening up into a flattish cavern. It's around twenty feet across and is a rounded cavern that a Dragon probably dug out sometime in the past, considering the claw marks around the walls.

It seems dry and there is a layer of dust covering everything so it appears to be completely unused. I turn to my shadow after deciding on this cave for a camp. "Up for lunch Girl?" I ask and Entropy leaves my shadow a moment later looking a bit on edge.

It only takes me a moment to realize she might not have liked being that close to so many Dragons for so long. I give her a reassuring look, "It's ok Girl, they just look scary, they aren't that bad." I sit down and start to pet her while feeding her some treats. "Thank you for being brave and watching over me," I say while smiling at her.

She leans into my pets. "Scary, teeth." She ruffles her feathers before hopping up to sit on my back as I lay down in the cave I'll be calling home for a few weeks. "Green, pretty." She looks at the large emerald as I place it down on the floor, I keep petting her for a minute to comfort her.

"It certainly is, and that Dragon was nice enough to make it pretty for us." I try to get her more comfortable with the idea that Dragons aren't too scary. She stays silent but tilts her head a bit so I leave her alone to think about it and start enchanting the large emerald.

My goal is simple for now, I'm going to make a shield over the cave entrance and probably set up a better camp as well. I might as well be more comfortable while I'm here. I look around the small cavern and start to think of ideas while carefully enchanting the emerald to hold and gather magic.

The shield is simple enough to enchant the emerald, and I walk to the entrance of the cave before placing the gem behind some rocks so no one can see it from outside. The shield is invisible to sight but I don't think a Dragon will be trying to break in, at least not without good reason.

I walk back a bit to the midsection of the small tunnel and take out a Razer Vine seed before dropping it near a wall. I grow the vine without needles and have it cover around ten feet of the tunnel ceiling. That and the shield should be good enough for most threats that could bother me.

I walk back down into the cavern and start to plan out the area more in my head. I wonder if I could fit a fireplace in here? Maybe a spell for the smoke?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I like the idea that Dragons are rough and tough, but not cruel. They may be a more primitive and brutal society, is STILL a society. It needs some structure, consequences, and rules to function.

It doesn't matter if those rules and consequences come from social interactions or an authority figure doesn't matter really. It just needs them to actually work well. But that's just my thoughts on all this.

Anyway, someone gave me an idea for Aurora, so thank you very much to that person, I hope you liked how I did them, and have a good day.

Chapter 249

FEB 6 Tuesday.

I sit on a rock hill slowly drawing out a few Dragons as they bathe in lava not too far away. They know I'm here and glance at me but like most others don't seem to care about my presence.

Something interesting about Dragons that is becoming more and more obvious is their general lack of care. As long as something isn't affecting them they are fine with ignoring most things and just going about their days. This has worked out well for me as I can observe them without causing offense.

I've spent the past three days in a much less involved role, mostly surveying the area and watching the Dragons as they live their lives. Many know I'm watching but simply don't care and none have tried to talk to me without me going to them first, at least none so far.

I have also avoided going into the market for the past few days to get a better feel for Dragons from observation before trading more. I've learned several things of interest, a few less savory than others but all of them I've been adding to my bracelet's illusionary notebook. I'm trying to save my single paper notebook for my drawings.

I've been using my bracelet in full view as the Dragons wouldn't even know it was special so there is no reason to inconvenience myself. I don't use it when they are closer to me though, as my paranoia won't allow something like that to get their attention.

One thing I really can't get a read on is the language. I've listened to several conversations and Dragons have both an interesting way of speaking and use the Pony language primarily. It's like Celestia said all those years ago, they have their own language but most of them only seem to know bits and pieces of it.

The older and larger Dragons seem to know it more but it's been hard to nail this all down by just eavesdropping. I will need to actually talk to them more to get better information on this mystery. It's still odd though that they use the Pony tongue as a primary language.

Anyway, beyond that I've seen that Dragons are both more and less private than ponies. Many don't like anyone going near their cave or hoard, I've seen some fights about that, but in a few ways, they could care less who's watching. Basically, it turns out they aren't the most concerned with where they mate, as I found out by accident.

I was watching a group of Dragons and two split off a bit, not really even hiding, just moving away from the group a little, not even out of earshot. Then they just, went at it... I left very shortly after seeing that start happening. I'm still a bit uncomfortable with ponies being naked all the time, let alone THAT.

I'm not sure if that was a unique circumstance or just some VERY open Dragons but I luckily haven't seen anything else like that since then. In the end, I had to find a solitary place to calm down before my body yet again fucked with me, no pun intended.

I finish my drawing and put away my notebook before starting the short walk back to my campsite. Beyond that particular incident I got the opportunity to see some young dragons fight, it was pretty disappointing actually. The dragons were around twice the size of me and clearly young as the fight was really just them hitting each other without skill.

They didn't use their claws much though and it wasn't very bloody either, a few cuts and bruises here and there at most. Like all the other races in this weird-ass world the Dragons are more peaceful than I expected them to be, they are still by far the most violent I've encountered in this world though.

Overall the Dragons seem like a less violent and less organized human, if a little dumber. That's not to be insulting either, it's not like the Dragon race is stupid, I mean look at Spike he's a young Dragon and turns out to be very intelligent. But the Dragons here simply lack the need and ability to attain higher learning here.

The best a young Dragon can do is to talk to an older Dragon to learn a few things they may have picked up, not that I think many of the older Dragons would be too interested in teaching them. I did notice older Dragons never seem to fight the younger ones, it seems like something of an unspoken social norm to not fight those much younger than themselves, or maybe it’s just not a good challenge.

I've seen the bigger ones pacify a young Dragon if they are annoying them, but that's about it and it's never a real fight. I haven't really seen any truly young Dragons yet either, but I presume they don't leave their nests much for fear of getting themselves hurt.

Overall I'd say Dragons are a much less emotional race that tends to be more violent, but that doesn't mean they have no emotions or ignore them completely. Those two Dragons I saw fuc- Being intimate, were very snuggly before and seemed to care about each other at the moment.

Like any sapient race Dragons are far more complex beings than many may first assume. I leave my mental rant and approach the cave I've been calling home so far. I pass the shield and descend down the tunnel while Entropy leaves my Shadow to go sit down somewhere.

She's been doing better, time around Dragons from a larger distance has made her calm down more, but I know she's still afraid of them because she always stays in my shadow when we leave. I take a moment to look around my camp to make sure everything is fine.

I've made several extensive changes to the place and it looks far different from before. The ceiling is covered in Companion Vines for some color and to keep loose rocks from falling on me. I've leveled the cavern floor by growing a piece of White Oak wood to form a solid wooden floor. I also grew it into an actual bed to put my sleeping bag on and a desk to work at.

The walls I have covered in moss and as a final addition I left a third of the cavern floor exposed on one side of the cavern. In this area I've set up a garden bed of soil I made and a firepit made from a ring of piled stones. I had to add a modified Cleaning spell to deal with the campfire smoke to the emerald but that was simple enough.

The moss is actually interesting as it is the first plant I've come across in the Dragon Lands. It is a deep green moss that grows in the heat with little water, it is very resilient and can grow on basically any rock surface. I spend a few moments looking over a bag of chili powder I've grown and dried out earlier today before grinding it down.

I had some peppers and I thought I'd make some of this as a trade good. I don't really need to do this as I have more than enough bits apparently, but it could prove interesting to sell, and getting interesting interactions is part of the reason I'm even here. It's also my vacation, I can spend some time messing around with spices for fun.

After tying the bag shut I put the ten-pound bag on my back and pet Entropy a bit while throwing a log I grew into the fire to keep it going. "We still have more to do, Girl. You want to stay out this time?" I offer gently trying to encourage her to not be afraid as much while also trying to not pressure her into it.

She chirps a bit but slips inside my shadow after a moment. I nod and smile regardless, "Ok, thank you for coming with me, Girl." I stay positive as I walk out of my cave and she chirps back happily at that. As I walk up the tunnel I notice movement in my senses not far from the cave entrance.

It's not next to it but close enough, and after getting a bit closer I notice a few younger Dragons outside, three to be precise. I've seen other Dragons nearby enough to not care though and just leave my cave while heading in the direction of the market.

As I leave I see the Dragons, three of them around twice to three times my size. I keep walking but I notice them turning to look at me before following after a few moments. "By magic..." I mumble under my breath and just ignore them while walking up the rocky terrain at a steady pace.

After a moment though they pass me a few dozen feet to my left, hidden from sight by some rocks but making enough noise to notice them without my magical senses. I'm not sure what they have planned but they are trying to be stealthy at a minimum, so I cast the flame shield on myself and check my dagger. As I move past a rock formation I sense them getting in my path after moving around and ahead of me.

Two of them are a bit off to the side hiding and another is hiding behind a rock I'll pass by, none of them seem to be a large threat so I decide to see what they have planned. I walk up to the rock and a moment later the singular Dragon pops out, the two to the side show themselves to watch as the third jumps out in front of me. "ROOOORRRRR!!!" The admittedly ballsy Dragon roars loudly right in my face with only a few feet in between us.

The other two start to laugh as the one in my face does the same after backing up a little. I take a moment to look over the Dragon and notice I actually recognize him. Deep red scales and sandy-colored underbelly, orange spines along their back, and a mocking laugh.

Garble, an interesting Dragon from the show, already living up to his name by being a little shit. Their collective laughing starts to die early though, because I didn't react. It's not that I froze in shock or panic, I didn't even flinch and just stared at Garble. "You three should get better at ambushes, they can be effective if done right." I quickly decide that it's fair to turn about and start to fuck with them in turn.

I didn't attack first because they didn't really seem to be setting up a true ambush. Garble was sitting behind that rock trying to not laugh, and his claws stayed on the ground away from me. I wasn't certain, but this seemed like a prank, and now it's my turn to return the favor.

I give them that advice with as wide a smile as I can manage. "RGAAAA!!" I move forward a bit and scream right back in his face. He flinches back in surprise and his eyes widen as his irises narrow, as he's backing up quickly he trips on a rock and stumbles a bit before falling on his rear end.

There is silence for a moment before the other two Dragons start to laugh even harder, this time not at me but at him. He looks between me and them for a moment and growls at all of us, "Shut the fuck up you two!" He shouts at them and looks at me with a snarl showing all his teeth.

He closes the distance between us and stares me in the eyes with barely a foot between us. "You! You fucking Pony!" He screams with a snarl trying to intimidate me. I stay silent and keep my massive smile while staring at him unblinking for several long moments.

He looks at me but I don't give an inch and move even closer, feeling his hot breath on my muzzle as he stands above me. "Yes? What can I do for you?" I say cheerily to him and still refuse to blink. He growls again but after a moment his eyes start to dart around before he blinks.

Something in his eyes changes and he backs up a bit as I remain unmoving or blinking. Interesting fact, many predators don't like something else staring at them intently for prolonged amounts of time. It seems he realized this felt wrong and backed off more, still holding his angry expression, but also looking a little put off.

I just stare at him silently and still refuse to have my massive smile falter or blink, despite my eyes wanting to by this point. "I... Oh! Just fuck off!" He grumbles and moves to the side walking over to his little gang, who are whispering about my weird reaction. As he walks away I track him with my head and do so for nearly a few minutes as they walk away, catching my eyes when they glance back occasionally to see me staring them down.

Once they are gone out of both sight and earshot I blink several times while laughing loudly at the absurdity of what just happened. I was ready to use my space magic to throw him away if he actually tried anything, and he was unlikely to have been a threat at all. Still, it was funny as hell to creep them out.

It is also interesting meeting another recognizable face from the show, it's not really worth worrying over though. He's a minor character at best and me messing with him is unlikely to do anything at all. I wonder if he'd like glitter? Then again, what I did was enough for now, best not to push my luck.

I start to whistle a tune as I continue my walk toward the market while enjoying the decent weather. It doesn't take me long to make it to the market as I stop on a hill overlooking the busy place, spending a few minutes writing down anything interesting I notice for more observations.

I quickly notice a larger Dragon, more than a hundred feet long, moving closer to me from the side. Walking slowly over in clear sight, but keeping their eyes on me. I deactivated my bracelet and noticed it seems to be one of the guards of the market. I've been here several times over the past days to observe the market from a distance and I remember seeing them before.

I turn my head to them as they get close, I nod in simple greeting as the massive Dragon pauses before nodding back a bit. "Hello, need something?" I greet calmly, still in a good mood after having my fun. They raise a brow at my chipper mood and calm voice, apparently expecting a different reaction.

"Why are you here every day?" The deep male voice asks slightly impatiently while motioning to the area with a clawed hand. "You've shown up for a few days, keep writing things. Why?" He demands simply while showing his teeth like many others have done.

I nod again. "Well, I came here to trade and learn things about you all." I motion to the market and turn away from him, showing no fear while turning my back to him. "I was marking down different observations, population size, trading habits, things like that." I be completely honest with him. "So, you're one of the guards here?" I ask curiously.

He huffs and rolls his eyes at me. "Yes. Just don't get killed, I don't want to deal with that." He says with a short tone and walks right off. I shrug a little and move towards the market again, used to the curt and blunt attitude already. It's not too much of a surprise I'd be questioned, it's more of a surprise how little it has actually happened though.

I looked around the market after getting close but couldn't see Aroura anywhere, so I just started to walk around for a while to see if I could find anything of interest. I stop at a thicker-than-normal Dragon who's selling food, mostly fish but also some spices as well. Nothing I don't recognize though so I move on for now.

Eventually, I stop near a dragon with an assortment of large stone or metal bowls and ore sitting in their trading area as they rest with their head against the ground. I don't have much use for metal right now but I am rather curious about them and how they practice this craft.

I walk over after a little thought and catch their eyes. "Do you shape metal as well?" I ask bluntly and they just nod silently while grimacing at me, showing an annoyed face. I don't think it's good to pester this one so I just nod at them, "Thanks." I walk off having gotten an answer to at least one question.

:Well, not all of my attempts work out, I can get answers somewhere else though: After more walking, I notice a very large Dragon flying in, they are at least three hundred feet long and are pretty massive. They are carrying a very large metal bowl filled with items.

They touch down at the edge of the market and I start to make my way over there quickly, very interested in the sight. One thing I've really noticed about Dragons is the size inconsistency. They look younger but are larger than older-looking Dragons, this massive Dragon looks old, truly old.

I've gotten better at guessing their ages based on looks, but I'm far from perfect at that. There are some easier signs though, faded scars, horn damage, and scale quality are the big ones to look for. The first Dragon I ever got an age from was large but in hindsight looked to be older than many others.

Yet others are larger and younger looking, so it seems size isn't always a good indicator of age. I'm still trying to figure out how that works. I walk over and step into the shadow of the massive Dragon as they lay down like all the other Dragons interested in selling things, in a circle head to tail.

A few others look interested but I'm the first to actually walk up to them as they settle in. They have an assortment of gems, gold items, and other bits inside the metal bowl. They glance at me with an eye as I walk right over, having to walk near the base of their neck as their tail is too tall and blocks my sight from looking at the items they have.

Some of the gems they have are massive and I spot a small ship as well, like an entire boat. It looks very old and damaged, probably a shipwreck. "Pony." The abrupt greeting is in a very deep female voice. She smells the air for a moment and looks closer at me from right above by turning her head. "What have you brought to trade?" She asks.

The tone is not expressive or loud, it's simply blunt and relaxed, she's even quiet to a degree with her voice carrying well. I back up a bit to not have to crane my neck up, an action that takes me several moments. I stop backing up and face her as she lowers her head some to stare at me, and at this close distance, I can truly appreciate the size of this Dragon.

Her main scales are a deep blue sapphire color with her underbelly being a blue so dark it almost looks black. Her spines are a slightly brighter blue, her black horns curving inward on either side of her head that holds a pair of pairing ocean blue eyes that stare me down.

Her size is so large that one of her teeth is larger than me and her claws dwarf me in size, but what strikes me more than that is her obvious age. The weathering on her scales, several large faded scars, and the large crack in her left horn. The general feeling of age she seems to carry with her shows just how long she's lived.

Her voice isn't as loud as I expected and she seems calm enough for me. I ignore a bit of fear and take off the bag on my back, "Chili powder." I take a little powder out and throw it in the air so she can better smell it. She tilts her massive head a bit and smells deeply after moving her head closer.

Her eyes never leave me and she looks completely expressionless. "Ssss." Her tongue flicks out to taste the air I think and she moves her head back. "Strong flavor, see anything of interest to you?" She keeps her eyes on me and watches my movements closely, showing no curiosity about my relaxed stance and words, just watching me.

She shifts her tail out of the way and I move close to look over the literal hill of things inside the massive metal bowl. The small hill seems to be organized in some way, with familiar groupings of items visible, but it's hard for me to really make anything out. I think for a moment and turn back to her, "Do you have any books or texts, Elder?" I decided to add that out of some respect for her age and to not be rude.

She doesn't react to the title but nods her head. She reaches out into the hill with deft claws and very gently picks up a wooden crate from some point beyond my sight before bringing it over. She brings it close and drops it near me very gently, her control of her moments is impressive.

I keep my magic ready in case anything goes wrong, but she seems reasonable enough. I look inside the medium-sized crate to see several dozen books and a few scrolls. "For that bag, you can take five, your choice." She says still keeping her level of tone and not giving anything away.

By this point this Dragon has got my undivided curiosity, she's much less abrasive than others, and gives much MUCH less away with her actions and words. It reminds me of myself in a way, she's also pretty nice all things considered. I wonder just what she could teach me?

I look away from her and she watches me as I quickly look through the books and items inside the crate, I decided not to try and bargain for this trade. Most are Griffon texts, and everything has a large amount of wear and tear to it. I do find two books in ancient Pony, they are so old in fact I can't even read them, a good souvenir for Celestia.

I take a pair of older-looking Griffon books and one scroll that seems to be a rough map of an unknown location that I find interesting. She sees me make my choices and moves the crate quickly when I step away while holding the items next to me. "Will that be all, Pony?" She asks while keeping her eyes on me even as other Dragons wait at a distance for us to be done.

I think for a moment and decide to take a slight risk as she does seem calm enough that I can backpedal if needed. "Actually, I was wondering if you'd be willing to let me pay you to answer some questions." I offer back with no-nonsense as I do not want to insult her in any way.

I see her eyes narrow at me a little and smoke drifts from her nose. She is silent so I just nod and turn around to leave her alone. "Maybe another day, Pony. But for now how about this? Two questions, for two questions." The offer makes me stop mid-step and look back to her, as she stares back expressionless.

She really is an interesting Dragon, but I can tell her words have some meaning deeper underneath. She's not as simple as she looks. I nod again after pretending to think for a moment. "Deal. Name and age." I ask simply deciding to be very blunt about my questions and stop bothering this Dragon for now in hopes of talking to her more later.

She looks at me and for the first time, she shows a little of her teeth, a very slight smirk. "Larimar, and I don't know." She says with a small bit of amusement in her tone, maybe, it's hard to tell. "What is your job?" She asks and nearly throws me off with the odd question.

I shrug after thinking for a moment. "I do a lot, but I don't have an official job. If I had to pick? I'd say a researcher is the closest to what I do." She seemed honest when she admitted she doesn't know her own age, something I find interesting in and of itself, so I was honest as well. It's not like my answer really tells her much either.

She stays silent and maintains eye contact with me, almost like she's searching for something. "I wonder, what makes you look at me like that, like I am prey." She says without really asking anything, her tone calm, curious, and quiet. I tense a little at that but hide my reaction from her, keeping the polite mask up as I wonder what she means. Another long moment of silence before she asks her question. "Why do you feel like a predator?" She asks bluntly.

I stare her down for a long moment. I shouldn't be too surprised honestly, Phelix knew something was up with me, so why wouldn't a Dragon? Especially one this old and experienced. I smile at her softly after several seconds of silence, very much aware of the other Dragons looking at us talking from the sidelines.

They are too far away to hear us but some are watching us talk. "My name is Shade. It was nice to meet you, Elder Larimar." I put the books away and looked back up at her. "I find that being a predator has more to do with mindset than anything else. And I am a predator." I answer her while still being truthful. "May we meet again." I turn and start to walk away still smiling.

She watches me leave silently, pondering something unknown. I was being honest, I feel like a predator because I am one, nothing less or more, it's not my fault most others can't see past this body. I walk away thinking that I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for her, I feel like she'll be interesting if I can get a proper conversation going.

Larimar. I wonder, what have you seen in that long life of yours?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

Not too much for me to say here. I guess... Any interesting plant ideas? Ones he could find in the Dragon Lands, maybe magical?

PS, taking tomorrow off. You the know the drill, see you all Monday.

Chapter 250

FEB 10 Saturday.

I hold up a slightly jagged piece of obsidian and use a lava rock to try and blunt any sharp edges it has, before placing the obsidian inside my saddlebags as I continue to collect more.

The past few days have been much of the same for me, mostly just trading and gathering information. I've spent a lot more time at the market over the past few days. Right now I'm closer to one of the larger volcanoes collecting obsidian for an idea I had, I'll get to that in a minute though.

I pick up another piece and fill my saddlebags enough to be satisfied. I start to slowly make my way back to my cave while being careful of the terrain. I've spent my time at the market trading a mix of spices I've grown and bits for gems of large size, or some fresh fish.

I always try to ask a question or two while doing any trade, but I only get an answer around a quarter of the time. Those answers are also normally very short and simple, but it's let me piece a few more things together. As for the gems I've been buying? Well, I have a plan for them.

Most of the gems I just trade back to other Dragons to try and get more information, making as many deals as I can to that end. But a few of them I've kept safe inside the cave until I'm ready. I also got to talk to Aurora again, only for a few moments though as she wasn't in the mood to talk much at the time, or at least that's the excuse she gave me when I asked.

I didn't even get some good answers, but I did get another large gem cut into a decent cube, I also asked her if I could have her do a batch order. I need her to cut several gems, so I offered to bring them all to her today to be done at once, again I need it for my plan.

Most of the questions I've asked random Dragons have been simple things, food preference, age, or any number of other random things. But, It's very slow going and the few answers I got were basically unhelpful to me, I did learn a few interesting things though.

The market I've been at is actually one of the only three in the entire Dragon Lands, this one being the closest to the land bridge and the rest of the continent. The other one is on the furthest tip of the land mass, right next to the ocean, and the last one is in the dead center of the Dragon Lands.

I'm not sure I want to go to those markets, I am very curious but they are far away and flying seems like somewhat of a bad idea. I've seen a few Dragons get territorial about others flying near their homes and I do not want to deal with all that shit, and I'm not even sure if those markets are anything different from this one, just that they exist.

I leave my thoughts for the moment and step into my cave before traveling down and placing all the obsidian in a pile I've made over several trips so far. As for why I need all of this? Well, I wanted to test something and also train my abilities at the same time.

Obsidian is a type of volcanic glass and I want to see what would happen if I enchanted it. Would it act like a gem? Can it hold more magic because it is a silicon structure like some gems are? I have no idea, I don't remember reading or learning about anypony ever using it like a gem, so I'm curious.

Another thing that interests me is a possibility I was thinking about after I last visited Aurora. My control with space magic, and especially Spatial Cut, has continued to improve with time and practice. And with all my practice I've been able to deal with the Rebound from a Spatial Cut much better.

I haven't eliminated it but it's far less than before, barely making any noise when I cut a one-foot area. Larger cuts have more Rebound and I'm still working on doing them quickly, but the smaller cuts are nearly instant and make only a small popping noise now.

The form of Spatial Cutting I settled on, and the method I've continued to use, is one of compression. I make a very thin spatial plane overlapping an object, then I pull one flat side of the plane to the other flat side. It's like taking a piece of paper and somehow compressing it to be even thinner than it normally is.

The result is a paper-thin gap being formed when I let go of the space magic and it moves back into place. The physical matter tries to move back but I do the action so fast it can't keep up, the result is a perfectly smooth cut along an object with minimal damage.

Because the more control I have over the space magic while doing this the less magic it takes. I've been extremely focused on speed and control over my efforts. More control also reduces Rebound, which is why I have all this obsidian, it's a fragile material similar to gems in durability.

I have almost no Rebound on a one-foot wide, one-foot deep, square-shaped cut. So, what if I get enough control to cut a gem without any Rebound to damage it? I wouldn't be able to make any elaborate gem cuts, but a basic cube shape should be easy enough to do then.

All this means I need practice though, I'm going to use obsidian so as to not waste gems, I may be rich but burning money like that while surrounded by a usable alternative is just stupid. Most of the pieces of obsidian are smaller than one foot, around six inches or so on average, I mostly picked out rounded ones as well.

I pick one up and move it over to my desk to test my theory out before I need to leave. I float the gem in the air with my space magic before forming the Spatial Plane for a second and compressing the space, it snaps back with a very soft pop. One side of the chunk of obsidian falls down onto the desk.

I look at the obsidian and see that it's still in one solid piece, a perfectly flat and smooth cut now on one side of the chunk. The piece that fell down shattered, and the larger chunk does have several cracks from the Rebound, but despite the fragile material, it is still intact.

I smile and quickly make a note before doing the same action again to another side of the chunk, it cuts but cracks the chunk in half this time. I'm not surprised as the Rebound is still too much, but it did prove it's possible. This is only for six-inch cuts though, one foot sized cuts may not be possible with only a little practice.

I sweep the shards into a pile and start to gather everything I'll need for my meeting today. I've managed to buy a total of seven one-foot-wide diamonds, only one of them has been cut so far. All of them aren't perfect, one has a crack and three are cloudy on the inside and not very pure, the last three have particulates inside them.

I don't need them to be perfect, I just need them all cut good enough and ready to be enchanted. Over the past few days, I've been thinking about how to entice an elder Dragon into talking to me, specifically Larimar. She seems like my best bet for some good accurate answers.

She was nice enough and even considered my offer, but it was clear those answers wouldn't come without a cost. She seems like a deal-maker, that's probably the only solid thing I was able to take away from her personality. But what can I offer her?

Well, there are few things more valuable to a Dragon than their hoard, so what if I gave her a better way to protect it? Seven large cube cut diamonds, all in an Array powering a shield spell. It outclasses even the shield around Gaia's Eden and would stand up to a LOT of damage.

I'm not sure if it could stand up to a large Dragon for long, but it could at least take some hits and buy you time. So it seems like something a Dragon would be willing to trade a lot for, or at least answer a bunch of questions from a nosy pony. We'll see though.

I gather all six gems by sticking them together and lifting the whole thing in my field before making my way outside again. The day is cloudy and I even see some rain in the distance so I put on my cloak, rain is something less common here but it does happen. I turn and start the short walk to the market in the afternoon sun.

The rain reminds me of something interesting I learned. Interesting question for you, what do Dragons drink? I know they need water to live, so where do they get water in a place like this? I've been able to find out two answers to that question so far. One, although it is unpleasant, a Dragon can just straight up drink sea water.

I learned this from a Dragon complaining about it while I was shopping. It doesn't seem like a pleasant thing for them to drink from what I heard, but they can do so just fine if needed. I presume they prefer pure water, and springs seem to be one of the few good sources here.

I've seen a few very small streams of water from cliffs and other places, but no larger ones so far. It turns out that is for good reason, Dragons hoard them. They literally guard or live next to them while charging other Dragons for its use, an interesting part of the weird economy here, if you can even call it that.

I make it to the market and notice that a few Dragons are eyeing both me and the gems I have, not an uncommon thing so far. Many Dragons have shown more curiosity as I've continued to consistently show up day after day. None have really bothered me so far, but that might not last forever.

It doesn't take me long to find Aurora carving a gem while a young Dragon sits next to her watching the process. I place my gems down and Aurora looks over at me with a raised brow. "Huh. You did need a lot done, same deal as last time?" I nod, I agreed to pay her for the gems and my questions, just like the first time we talked. "Give me a bit, I'm busy." She motions to the other Dragon.

I turn and get a look at the other Dragon waiting, and to my pleasant surprise, I see a Dragon I recognize. White horns, light blue and deep blue scales, and a bored look. I nod in greeting, "I'm not sure how to address you, I'd say Princess Ember, but you all probably don't do that. Either way, it's a pleasure to meet you." I say in greeting, making sure to have a polite tone.

I've found that Dragons are not ones for formality, especially the young ones, so I take a direct and relaxed approach. She raises a brow at that and faces me more to look me over. "Ya, we don't Pony." She answers shortly and looks at the diamonds. "What are you even going to do with those?" She asks, sounding pretty bored.

She looks mostly the same as in the show, maybe a little smaller, it's hard to tell. I shrug, not really seeing a reason to lie to either of them. "Waiting to bother her with questions, and making a deal with an elder," I say casually while watching as Aurora continues to work away on a piece of emerald.

Aurora just huffs a bit, more used to how calmly I act now, but both look at me surprised at my words and Ember laughs after a moment, "You think an Elder will want that stuff?" She asks thoroughly amused. "That isn't even a snack to some of them."

I notice a lack of real mocking in her tone, she's just making banter and being relaxed about it, something I find to be a good sign with a Dragon. I smile back and lay out my things to make some tea, ignoring the look Ember gives me. "Now? No. But after enchanting them? Yes." I answer smoothly and make myself comfortable.

Both look surprised again, Aurora less so. There is a stretch of silence and I take that time to cast a spell to gather water and fill my kettle, both watching me with slight interest. I turn to Ember as the water starts to heat up, "So, how hard would it be to talk to your father?" I ask curiously not even bothering with small talk.

Aurora snorts at me and laughs a bit. "You really are a crazy Pony, first Larimar, and now The Dragon Lord?" She laughs harder while I and Ember share a look of confusion. Aurora sees that and huffs out smoke, "Dragons talk, and you just walking up to her like it's the most natural thing is a pretty decent story." She explains bluntly while going back to her work.

Ember looks interested and I just shrug. "Larimar is definitely knowledgeable, and decently nice to talk to," I say not giving anything away. "Plus, you all aren't too scary. No offense." I say truthfully as they don't scare me all that much. I can defend myself just fine and they wouldn't be able to stop me from running away if I wanted to.

Aurora just laughs more while Ember looks thoroughly confused, and maybe a bit impressed. Before she can say anything though Aurora gives her the finished carving. She takes it and stands before looking at me for a moment, "If you're actually going to try and talk to him, bring something interesting." She gives me some advice surprisingly, before smiling at me and showing her teeth. "I want to see if that confidence stays strong when meeting him." She says while walking away with a chuckle.

She seemed more level and chill than I thought she would be, or maybe I'm just used to the adult Dragons. I turn back to Aurora and pass her a bag, "All cubed." I instruct and move over the gems for her to work on. "Now, what can you tell me about her?" I ask while bringing out my notebook.

She spends a while counting out the bits, slowly making sure it's all there. "Not much? You know she's the Dragon Lord's whelp." She says before going silent and focusing on counting. After a few moments, she finishes and moves a diamond closer to her. "You actually making something out of these?" She asks while looking the diamonds over.

I nod and think of more questions. "Yup, it works better if they are cut though." I give her a bit of knowledge for free. "Ok, first. How much do you eat? And how Often?" I ask trying to get more basic information on Dragons and how they work. I've noticed many eating different things but always in different amounts.

She starts to cut a diamond while answering. "A few dozen fish every few days? And maybe, like around this much in gems a week." She holds up the diamond she's working on. I stop and give her an odd look as that is far less than I would have thought. "What?" She demands.

I shrug and write her answer down. "That just seems like a lot less than I expected. Is that about normal for a Dragon?" I ask, now thoroughly intrigued about the odd amounts.

She tilts her head. "Yes? I mean for an adult, yes. Ugh, ok, Look, it's not complicated. The young eat a lot, the older we get the less we eat." She says seeing my increasingly confused face. "And no I don't know why. An elder would eat more than what I do, maybe five, or six times more? I don't know how often." She answers a bit shortly, apparently finding the topic annoying to explain well.

How? That literally makes no damn sense. The bigger they get the more they would need to eat to function, you can't just ignore biology! Well, actually, magic. Dragons live a long time, and even if they don't use their magic like us their magic would grow over time with their bodies.

If a portion of that magic could be used to sustain their bodies it would cut down on food costs a lot. I have no idea how that would work, but Changelings also feed off of magic so it's totally possible that Dragons do the same, and it would also make some sense. "If you eat more gems do you feel full for longer?" I ask, having a hunch.

She nods silently and I make more notes, getting a decent theory going. A Dragon probably doesn't have that much magic, both because they don't practice with it actively and because it seems to be used for the body. From the way Dragons take strong blows and lift heavy things it's clear their magic improves their bodies, much like an earth pony actually.

If they can absorb some magic to feed themselves then eating gems, which naturally contain more magic than other things, would fill them more. I watch her slice off a piece of diamond and point to it. "Can I see that for a moment?" She raises a brow but tosses it to me. "So, what do you know about the Dragon language?" I ask while working.

I quickly enchant the gem slice to hold and gather magic before filling it completely with my magic. She watches me closely as I work but doesn't seem to understand anything I'm doing. "Again, not much. Never learned more than a few things, only the elders really know it. It's really annoying to learn it" She complains as I pass her back the gem. "What's this?" She asks slightly suspiciously.

I make some more notes. "I filled it with magic, it might make you more full than normal. Or maybe not, I'll pay you if you don't want it anymore." I don't ask her to eat it directly as it could be dangerous, I do doubt it would be though. She is a large Dragon and that gem slice doesn't have much magic in it, even with me filling it completely it's a tiny sliver.

She sniffs the gem, and her eyes turn to slits before she quickly devours the small gem's slice. "Sssss!" She hisses loudly in blatant satisfaction. "How, did you do that?" She half demands, looking for more interest in our conversation. "That tasted just like a Pure Gem." She says more to herself than me.

I raise a brow and tilt my ears. "I just filled it with magic, nothing else. What is a Pure Gem? And what does it taste like?" I ask back while making notes on her reaction and making sure to be even more vague about what I just did.

She takes a deep breath and blows out some flame from her maw. "Sometimes a gem smells really good, like the one you gave me. They taste great, like, charred meat. I always liked them." She doesn't seem to be able to explain all that well. "You think you could do that again?" She has a more focused tone and expression now.

I decided to lie for the first time and shake my head after seeing her reaction. "No, it will take me a while to do anything like that again. It takes me time to regain the magic I put into the gem." I half lie to downplay the facts. I don't want her to have too much of an interest in me.

Her reaction was interesting, and so was her explanation. Some gems fill with more magic than others, it depends on the location and the time they sit there. Natural gems that are already full of magic are rare, not as rare as an affinity gem but still up there.

Gems naturally leak out their magic, very slowly though. When being formed in an area with high amounts of magic they will absorb it over time, if they sit long enough they become an affinity gem, but if they are dug up sooner they are just a gem filled with magic.

Magic changes location often which is why affinity gems are rare. Those you do find are often drained of all magic, having formed in a magic-dense area but then having the magic move away leaving the gem to drain. It seems I have another thing I could trade with them.

Probably not actually, I don't need some greedy Dragon messing with me for a good meal. I finish several long notes and look back at her. "Do You know why you use the Pony language, and does the Dragon language have a written form?" I ask, deciding to leave the other topic alone.

She looks disappointed at the change in topic and my answer to her earlier question, but seems pleased at the snack, smiling more now. "Fine, but if you make another, I got some things to trade." She uses an actually nice tone, too nice to be anything but an attempt to encourage me to come back with more.

She seems to think for a moment and pauses in her work to draw something on the stone floor with a claw. It's six circles and two lines, it doesn't mean anything to me. "I think that means... Sun? My Sire tried to teach me, not that I listened to that cranky bastard."

She finishes the second gem and places it to the side. "It's easier, Dragon words are, messy." She motions to the symbol she drew as I copy it down. "I mean look at that? For sun?!!" She complains. "Pony is just easier, and the young ones always go to you Pony’s to trade gems. You all pay better, and the young ones always stay with each other so they talk a lot." She says dismissively.

I rapidly copy down her words and try to piece them together. "Ok, so it's just easier to trade with us, and use Pony? What about the Dragons who don't speak Pony?" I ask curiously while she snacks on more gem shavings.

She shrugs. "Ya, the Griffons and all them get pissy when we go to their damn cities. So, you ponies are the closest good option. It's just a flight that way." She points with her tail. "And? They can just learn Pony, like I said it's easier." She again seems pretty dismissive.

I never really thought about it, but I've never seen a Dragon in Griffonstone, or Feather Falls. I mean, Griffons are more predatory and might react worse to the presence of a Dragon than ponies, or maybe it's a locational thing. These cities have probably had bad interactions with the larger Dragons more often than Ponies. Also, Ponies may be scared, but they already deal with other predators like Griffons so they might be more used to it ironically.

If they aren't allowed to just go to those cities then the next best option is Equestria, it's straight across the sea and only a day or two's flight, and there are also many islands to rest on the way. We use a lot of gems and pay well for them from what I've seen, and if you're going to learn a language why learn one that's more time-consuming and doesn't get you anything?

It's not like Dragons give a shit about tradition from what I've seen, they just do what is easiest and most effective. And if the young ones are doing it then why not do the same? It's not like those younger Dragons are going to stop using Pony suddenly and spend a bunch of time learning Dragon. "Do you know when this started happening?" I ask curiously.

She tilts her head. "Ugh, no, before my time at least." I do know there are records of Dragons trading on the coasts of Equestria for a few centuries, but for how old she is. "Maybe a bit before me? My Sire knows a lot of Dragon, not everything though." She says while finishing the third gem.

This explains it somewhat, but it still leaves several unanswered questions. I feel like there is more, would they really just abandon their old language? Maybe it's more about mindset than I thought it was. I'm lost in thought for several minutes. "Well, how about this? just teach me everything you can about the Dragon language for the rest of our time." I offer simply.

She raises a brow but nods. "Sure, it's easier than your incessant questions." She shifts her weight and looks at the diamond in her claws. "Wait, where do I even start?" She asks herself.

I nearly sigh at that. This might take a while.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I thought this might be an interesting difference for Dragons. The idea that they don't really care about any from of culture, they just do what is best from them as individuals. If another Dragon can't speak pony why would they care? It's not their problem.

I'm note sure it fits perfectly though, and I have an idea on how to add to it. A moral quandary that may give you some thought, but that's for another day. Anyway, give me your thoughts on it, if your willing to that is.

Also I'm sorry I made yet another Chapter about boring talking, but I really like fleshing the Dragons out.

Chapter 251

FEB 13 Tuesday.

I study the odd words in front of me while petting Entropy as we rest inside my little underground haven.

The past few days have been more of the same as it is becoming a trend. I've been mostly exploring the area more and waiting for Larimar to show up. I check the market from a distance once or twice a day. So far she hasn't shown up, but I still have plenty of time to wait.

I've also spent a good amount of time over the past few days working on the magical shield for Larimar and studying the odd Dragon language. Aurora was only able to teach me a few dozen basic words, and only able to write out seven of them so I have little to work with so far.

The writing language is something else entirely and is both complex and simple at the same time. The words are made up of only two things, overlapping groups of circles and lines, that's it, nothing else. Some lines have curves and the circles can be a bit off, but that's all it seems to be.

From what I've seen and experienced the circles are the main component here. Where they are placed, their size, and if they are overlapping is also important. I don't really have enough to do anything but copy them for now, as I only have a few examples to work with.

The written language does make sense to a degree, it takes time to write anything down but a Dragon has no shortage of that, and being so simple makes it easy to write out, just time-consuming. Each word also has several circles and lines in it, it is built with simple pieces but is a complex language to learn to read, there again the time investment doesn't really matter.

If you are going to live for centuries or millennia, why worry over spending an extra few years learning to read properly? It does mean it would take me a long time to really learn the language. Luckily for me, the spoken language is much more manageable and doable.

I'm able to make all the sounds needed for the words I've seen so far and it isn't as complicated to do. It's a very blunt language, from what little I've managed to put together, but it's relatively easy to learn about. It's not looking to be too much harder than learning to speak Griffon at least.

It might actually be a bit easier with the experience I got from learning Griffon. I don't have an unlimited amount of time though and I'll need to leave in a while, so how am I going to learn the language? Well, I just have to translate and copy as much as I can before I leave the Dragon Lands, and I need someone versed in the language for that.

As for why I even want to learn the language? Well, a large part of me wants to copy and preserve such knowledge. I was a librarian for years and I find it sad in a way that such a language is just being forgotten and erased with time. Especially when it could be recorded and preserved so easily.

Another part of me simply thinks it would be interesting to learn. It could also be interesting if used in Chanting, the practice of adding words to the spells you use to improve the effect. It is known that different languages affect Chanting a word during spell casting in different ways.

No one is sure why, hell we barely know why Chanting helps with magic at all. I could attribute it to several things, collective will, or Harmony, but it doesn't really matter why. The reason I didn't use casting in the past was that I saw it as a risk not worth taking.

Chanting can go horribly wrong if done improperly and has some less-than-pleasant effects on the caster. But they are useful to have and can improve a spell significantly if done right. Back to my theory though, I think a language's source can also affect a spell when Chanting in that language.

It's not a massive theory, and I don't have a great way to prove it, but I do find the idea interesting. If nothing else, being able to Chant in Dragon would eliminate a danger of Chanting, namely your opponent overhearing your words and predicting what spell you are going to cast.

If they can't understand me I can speak as much as I like, but honestly, Chanting is more of a side effect of learning Dragon. I'm mostly driven by curiosity and I want to preserve it, I also am not going to be testing Chanting in Dragon anytime soon, or maybe at all.

Mispronouncing words while Chanting can end very badly, and this language is literally dying and knowledge of it is somewhat incomplete. I could mispronounce a word and not even know I'm doing it, fuck that, Chanting is a risk as it is and I don't need to add that into it.

I close my illusionary notebook and decide to check on the Array I finished yesterday, and that I've had charging for a few days now. This shield is not just an item I'm making for myself and as such I've spent my time making it more interesting and impressive to look at, I am selling it after all so it needs to look good.

In my cave, floating several feet in the air, in the full gem Array made from seven one-foot diamond cubes. I decided to make an interesting design with the knowledge I've gained about Dragons. As a start, I've used a modified Stasis spell to have the central gem anchor in a location and not fall or move unless desired.

Six of the diamonds float in a spinning ring around the central diamond and a five-foot wide ball-shaped shield surrounds them all. A dragon can pick up the shield like a ball and move it around to anchor it anywhere they want to. This small shield also blocks any magic from leaving out but allows magic to move inside.

It's a solid shield but won't stand up to much damage, its only purpose is blocking the magic and letting a Dragon move it instead of grabbing the delicate gem directly. I blocked magic from leaving so a Dragon doesn't smell the magic-filled diamonds and decide that it's a good snack.

Beyond that it's a simple thing, you tap the shield twice and a shield covering a four hundred foot radius area is covered in a powerful magical shield. Only the owner can pass through the shield, and I control that by adding a very simple magical link from a modified linking spell, just like the one around my apartment.

My last problem is actually transportation, I'm not really sure how to move this thing without a Dragon getting too tempted for their own good. I could just be honest with Larimar, I could tell her I have something to trade but can't bring it there? That's probably my best bet actually.

The Array is basically full now and everything is good to go. I finish checking the Array one last time before turning to Entropy. "We're going, Girl." She chirps and melds into my shadow seamlessly. I've made sure to spend more time with her inside the cave, poor girl is still too scared of the Dragons.

She is getting better though and when we come back from the market she's no longer on edge, I'm taking things slow with her for now. I exit my cave and start to make my way to the market, on the way I have to pass a few areas that Dragons seem to frequent more often than others.

Dragons may not be the most social, but they still are to some extent. They seem to like telling stories the most, old ones or new ones. It is a consistent topic that I've overheard. Who would have guessed that Dragons are the type for gossip? Then again there is not really much to talk about here.

As I move through some rocks I pass a grouping of lava pools and sense several young Dragons there. I pay them no mind but still cast a flame shield over myself just to be safe, and it seems to have been a good decision. Seeing the Dragons come into view I see a few I recognize.

Garble and his two friends, along with a smaller orange Dragon and a few others I don't recognize around the same age. I've seen Garble's two friends a time or two after our first meeting, I think they all live close to this area. I really shouldn't be surprised to run into them again actually, but I'm not here to cause trouble so I just keep walking after seeing them.

They spot me as I move through the relatively flat and clear area, and apparently, Garble has something to say about that. "HEY! It's that fucking Pony!" He yells, more to himself than the others with him while standing up and pointing at me. I look over at them again and see them all staring back, so I smile and wave, having a bit more fun acting overly friendly.

They all give me odd looks and I notice that the smaller orange Dragon is who I thought it was, Smolder. She laughs a bit and looks at Garble, "You mean the one you wussed out of fighting?" She asks in a taunting tone, giving her brother a knowing look, and a few of the other Dragons laugh as well after hearing that.

I stopped walking as this seemed like a problem. Garble goes from glaring at me with narrowed eyes to glaring at them and me. "Shut it! This fuck is creepy! Look at them!" He demands while pointing at me, I just keep my smile and wave a little more at them. "OH! You think that's funny!?" He snaps his head to me and bares his teeth.

I tilt my head a bit. "Somewhat, but you're not wrong. I am acting creepy." I yell back over the distance between us in a friendly and relaxed tone, enjoying getting to mess with them a little more. "Anyway, have a good day, I have things to do," I say and turn to start walking off. But that seems to have come off the wrong way with him.

Apparently, Garble took my relaxed and friendly mood personally. "You smug fuck! Get over here!" I turn on a dime as he starts moving towards me quickly. I turn and see he's now running at me with a snarl and his teeth bared, his claws digging into the stone as he runs on all fours, I really don't want to deal with this shit, but it is kind of my fault now. :I pushed his buttons too much, fuuucck:

I could do several things, but this is partly my fault, so I keep it simple and not serious. He's a few dozen feet away so I have time to act, I pick up a small rock with my space magic and quickly move it. I cast a very overpowered Sticking spell on it and placed it directly on his back, right in between his wings.

He feels it but doesn't react in time, I cast an overpowered Stasis spell on the rock as well and it is locked in place. His forward momentum is stopped with a hard jerk as the small rock stops him from being able to move, his strength not enough to move the rock. "What the fuuuuu-!"

His words are cut off as he's suspended in the air with his legs a few feet off the ground as I move the small rock into the air. I leave the rock like that, with him now trapped in midair. I smile at all of them again, the other Dragons looking varying degrees of confusion and shock. "That will stop working in a bit. Don't even try your fire." I say with a completely dead serious tone and a stone-cold expression to match as I lock my eyes with Garble.

Garble tries to move, flailing his limbs and flapping his wings, but that rock is not moving. His lack of traction or anything to push against makes it certain he can't overpower the spells on the rock. He glares at me but falters at seeing my abrupt shift in mood and expression.

I stare him down for a moment and shift to a neutral expression after he doesn't move. "Appearances are deceiving, and you made the right choice last time. Have a good day." I switch back to my friendly tone and continue to walk to the market like nothing just happened.

"Hey, Hey! Pony! How the hell am I supposed to get down?!" He tries to get my attention but I ignore him and watch as he tries to reach for the rock. It's out of his reach though, and the other Dragons seem a bit too occupied laughing at his misfortune to help. "By fire, what is this bullshit!" He complains, still very angry.

I don't hear any more shouting after that as I make some distance between us and start to chuckle, I do feel a little bad though. Not a lot, he made the choice to run at me with his teeth bared, but I did sort of push him a bit far there. Maybe next time I'll be more myself, and not some creepy overly friendly pony, then again it is funny.

Still, it's not like I hurt him. Those spells won't last too long, half an hour for the Stasis spell. I overpowered the Sticking spell more because I wasn't certain if his scales would make it ineffective. It should wear off after a day at most though, he'll be fine and the only injury he suffered was to his pride.

I put that all out of my mind for the moment and crested a hill overlooking the Market, and to my excitement, I spotted Larimar on the outer edge of the market selling things. I quickly make my way over and wait a few moments for a different Dragon to trade with her before approaching. "Hello, Larimar." I greet her while walking up to her.

I approached from her side and she shifted her body a little to crane her neck and look at me. She's silent for a moment before nodding in greeting, "Pony." She knows my name, yet doesn't use it. I'm sure that's another thing about Dragons so I don't react to her not using my name. "Not many of you come back to the Dragon Lands so quickly." She says with her normal neutral tone.

She moves her tail silently and I look at the hill of things she's brought with her. "Oh, I never left. Spent a few days doing other things." I say back and spot a few things that seem interesting. "Either way, I came to make a deal with you." I will be blunt with my intentions.

She tilts her head a bit, showing some reaction to my words. "And it is even less common for any to stay." She adds before going silent for several seconds. "Information is no cheap thing, and I've heard about you from a few others, you are very persistent." I nearly question her in confusion but chuckle after a moment.

She just tricked me into confirming I've been staying by asking me a question she knew the answer to, it's a small but noticeable thing. "You are an interesting Dragon." I compliment her and point to something in the pile. "Yes, information is very expensive. How much for that?" I ask pointing to a bundle of cloth in the pile, it seems to be in decent condition and would be nice to have for my little cave camp.

She looks at the cloth and moves it over with her tail. "Two hundred." She says plainly and I start to count out the bits without much hesitation. It's not a large roll, but it's not going to be cheap here of all places. "So, what do you have to offer for the information you want?" She asks while taking the bits from me.

I nod. "Something that should cover it, but it's large for me and not something I want to parade around, definitely not here," I say truthfully, getting into the feeling of dealing with this Dragon. She's straightforward, but more intelligent than most others, something I can respect.

She breathes out some smoke slowly. "So you wish to have me go somewhere else for this deal?" I nod as it would be easier. "Ssss, tell me this, Pony. How dangerous are you?" She asks after a beat of silence.

I shrug after thinking for a moment. "I'm not one for violence, as long as it's not needed," I answer vaguely, not giving much of anything away with my tone. "Tell me Larimar, what have you had to do to get to this age?" I ask a question back, both out of curiosity and because it seems right to ask a question of my own.

She locks eyes with me and smiles a bit. "A great many things." She answers just as vaguely as me. "Where and when?" She asks while I pick up the bundle of cloth and stick it to my back with a spell. "Oh, and don't try anything Pony, for your own sake." She adds with that same unchanging tone.

I nod seriously. "I need information, conflict is a bad way to get that." I think for a moment. "Whenever you have time today we can meet here. I don't know any good landmarks, but it's not far from here." I explain while looking over the white cloth for any imperfections or holes.

She again goes silent for a while before nodding. "Agreed. It won't be too long, but you will have to wait." She says and I just nod again before walking away to sit down in an empty space not far away. I take out my deck of cards and just start practicing card tricks with my magic to pass the time and train my space magic more.

She's right and it doesn't take long, around an hour later it's nearing the end of the day and she picks up her things and flies off somewhere unseen. She comes back half an hour later and lands at the edge of the market, I walk over and look up at her. She's no longer lying down as I walk over to her and towers over me in every imaginable way.

Several other Dragons notice us but seem wise enough to realize this is not their business. She moves her head down to look at me. "Well Pony, lead the way." She says calmly and I start to trot, moving quicker than normal. Even at my faster-than-normal pace she barely needs a steady stride to keep up with me.

I make sure to take a slightly longer route to avoid where I stuck Garble and it doesn't take us long to reach the little valley. "I'll go grab it," I say and she just stops without saying anything as I head down and find my cave quickly. I drop the cloth and I have to maneuver the Array for a bit to get it outside, but once it is I move it with me back to her.

As I walk up to her I notice she's lying down on her belly and I watch her eyes track both me and the Array with focus, now showing more interest in all this. "It seems you do have something to trade for after all. Good." She moves her head closer as I approach her. "So, what do you want? And why do I want that?" She asks, sounding more invested than before.

I move the Array closer between us. "I want to learn a great many things. From how you all live, to your language, and many other things. But nothing really secretive, at least I don't believe so." I answer her and then I tap the shield twice after walking next to where I placed it. "This is what I offer."

Her eyes jerk a bit but she doesn't react as a shield forms around both of us, large enough to even encompass her curled-up body. She studies the shield for a long moment and I point to it. "Hit it." A second after I say the words her tail springs from its position and slams into the shield like a whip.

SNAP The sound of the impact is fairly loud, but the shield remains unmoved and undamaged by her blow. Before I can even say anything else she lashes out with a clawed hand, slamming into the shield again and dragging her claws along the barrier wall.

Her claws do more damage, but it amounts to some slight warping of the shield before it moves back a split second after she pulls her arm back. "A shield, and not a weak one." She looks back to me and the Array. "It is not often I am, surprised by something new, something interesting." She says while moving her head close to look over the Array.

I'm surprised at her actions but brush it off as I did give her permission. "It is a shield, nothing truly extraordinary though." I point to the diamonds in the Array, that have now lost a little of the glow they were giving off. "That took a small chunk of the magic inside, it will take an hour or two to recover that much, and it won't last too long against someone like you. So, are you interested?" I ask knowing the answer is probably yes.

She smiles a bit and nods slowly. "I need more details, but yes, you have my interest." She doesn't immediately agree and I can once again see that sly side of her. I'm getting a better feel for her and it's becoming clear why this Dragon has lived so long, she's a trickster, or simply a good liar maybe?

She doesn't rush things and age has clearly taught her well. "Sure, the shield is simple, no one but you can move through it, not even me when I'm done," I state that part clearly as I am able to pass through as it is. "That's the Array, you move it and place it anywhere, just tap it twice to turn it off or on. There's not much else to say actually." I explain quickly.

She reaches out a claw and taps it gently, turning off the shield. She moves it around for a moment, letting it float midair a few times. "And how do I trust you? Many have come for my hoard with many tricks before." She still has a flat tone, but it's clear she's making a threat, just a subtle one.

I nod, having expected as much. "Nothing but my word. I have everything I need and anything you have I would rather just trade for. I don't need enemies after me, I deal with enough things as it is." I smile at her, somewhat enjoying the way she is dealing with me. "I could say the same about trust, I can't do much if you just take that right now." I reason.

She huffs out some smoke. "No, we both know that is untrue." I raise a brow and she looks me right in the eyes. "You said it yourself, you are a predator. Stealing from a predator is, unwise." She moves the Array back to where it was. "I agree to a deal, what are your specific terms?" She asks to get right down to business.

I just keep my smile and don't acknowledge her words. "I'll be here for a few weeks, I don't have a schedule though. How about this, for the duration of my visit you spend your time here, answering anything I ask whenever I ask it. You can also refuse to answer as long as it's within reason." I make my offer.

She titles her head in apparent thought. "This, for a few short weeks?" I nod in the affirmative. "You are horrible at deals." She states matter of factly and I nod again. She's silent for a few minutes before slowly nodding, "Very well, but I will not be here at night, from sunrise to sunset, and no more." She states her conditions.

"Deal," I answer immediately, I thought she was going to have me meet her somewhere or try to limit our time more than that. Getting to talk to her this much is more than enough, and I can explore at night just the same so this won't really hamper me.

I motion to the valley. "A few others live here I think, there is a larger valley next to this, you can probably see it from up there." She looks to where I am pointing and nods again. "That will work, and I'd appreciate it if you don't mention what I traded you until I leave." I don't make it a demand as it's not really too important, just something I'd like.

I move the Array close and modify the spells a small bit, removing a very small link that attaches to me and attaching it to her. "It's now only linked to you. It's late, you can meet me there tomorrow if you don't have anything pressing to do." I offer and look to the evening sky, as it is almost night already. "It will be a pleasure to speak with you, Larimar," I say as a temporary goodbye.

She keeps that slight smirk. "Sssss. Maybe. Shade." She uses my actual name this time before picking up the Array and holding it for a moment before flying off into the distance pretty quickly. I feel the strong wind from her wings and smile in anticipation.

It seems I have a lot to look forward to tomorrow.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. :]
Current year is 996

Not too much to say about this one, I tried to spice it up with a bit of Garble, but it's mostly setup.

Chapter 252

FEB 14 Wednesday.

I walk through the darkness of the predawn night and focus on my magical senses.

After my talk with Larimar, I practiced with my space magic, and went to bed early. My reasoning is simple, I still want to explore so I'd need to get up before sunrise. Right now I'm walking around the area and stretching out my senses in search of something specific.

Normally I just spend my time looking around in the day and not really using my magical senses in any large way, but at night I'm afforded an interesting opportunity. Most Dragons make their homes in cliffside caves, or in caves at the top of volcanoes and mountains, in contrast, not as many live inside of valleys.

Some still do but it's far less than other locations. With the absence of most living things, I can stretch out my life magic senses to sweep over a large area to pick out different sources of life magic without much interference. I can tell what is an animal or Dragon by the complexity of their life magic which means everything else is not an animal.

I've already found a few interesting pieces of life in this hostile area of the world. A few caves with small lakes with fish in them, and a few small plants as well. Most of the plants are just hardy shrubs and bushes without anything of much interest about them, I still collected seeds from each of them regardless though.

At the moment though I've sensed something odd. I'm at the base of a large and very active volcano. I've had to maneuver around several pools of lava and a few lava streams just to get this close to the area. But somewhere nearby there is a source of life magic, and this location is much more hostile than others, so what is living here?

I can tell it's not an animal or Dragon, most likely a plant. Which is why I've followed it, a living plant right next to a volcano is bound to be interesting in some way. From my previous distance, I couldn't tell how much was here, but I'm closer now and can make out its location better.

As I close in I notice a small cliff in my path, I just cast a Lightening spell on myself and jump up quickly. Once I'm on top of the cliff face I see a large lava river a few dozen feet in front of me, the river is several dozen feet across, and even with my shield the heat is palpable. What really catches my attention though is the source of the life magic, it's inside of the river, FULLY inside of it.

In fact, I can't see it, it's submerged completely and I can't tell where it is beyond its life magic source, but my life magic is certain there is something living in there. I'm not sure what it is, but it now has my undivided attention and curiosity. I reach out with my life magic senses and try to get a better feel for whatever this is.

Its magical flows are too slow for anything but a plant, the amount of live magic it has is above a lot of other plants I've seen. Nearly three times that of a normal Pony's life magic, a decent amount for any plant. This plant is probably magical in some way, it has to be to live inside there, but how to get it out?

After a little thought, I use my life magic to guide my field and try to grab onto the plant to drag it out. I may damage the plant but I can heal that, it needs to be brought up regardless. After some concentration, I pull with my field, first slowly but then using more and more force as it stays firmly in place.

Eventually, something gives with a snap and I'm able to start pulling the plant up through the lava, taking my time to not lose it by accident or damage it more. I pull it out and move it over to me to get a closer look at the light of the lava, and what I see is not what I expected.

It's a gem, but also very much alive. The plant is a single stalk, with jagged shard-like leaves protruding off of the main foot-long stem-like structure. The base is only an inch or two wide and the stalk extends in a straight line to the tip, with the spiky leaves-like protrusions all along its length in a spiral pattern.

The gem is a mix of colors, a completely see-through gem with no imperfection that seems to cover the plant like an outer layer, and a core of blood red seen throughout the inside of it. The mostly see-through leaves have tiny red lines zig and zag throughout the leaves branching off from the red core. It's like the core wood of a tree, but this is growing tentacles throughout the rest of the weird plant.

I immediately have a million thoughts on this new discovery. A plant without any organic matter, at least as far as I can tell the entire plant is made from crystal, I flip it over and see I broke this stalk off from the roots, and I can see inside the plant. It is definitely pure crystal all the way though.

I feel some heat coming from it, and I can tell it's rapidly losing what life magic it had in itself. I reach out with my magic and feed it some to keep it alive, which it absorbs without issue for now. It seems I can keep whatever this thing is alive at least, but its demands aren't small though. It grew in lava and is dying outside of it quickly, I need something more stable than just keeping it alive with my magic.

I take the stalk and place it on the bank of the lava river, submerging half of it inside the lava while resting it against the more solid stone underneath the lava. I have no idea what this is, or how it works, but I don't think it will be an easy task to keep it alive as it is, so my best bet is making seeds.

Seeds are made to be durable and hardy, and I might be able to keep them alive much easier than this plant, which is quickly losing life magic. I dump some life magic into the plant and try to make it take root, luckily it does after a moment and I'm able to have it stabilize and stop dying.

I don't take notes and just quickly try to grow seeds from it while forcefully stopping any other growth to do this quickly. I don't want anything to happen to the plant before I get some seeds, and my luck is not the best sometimes so speed is key. A moment later the stalk starts to grow a large bud on top, the sound of creaking and crunching crystal is audible as it quickly grows out of the stalk.

The small bud is mostly red with a thin layer of clear crystal on the outside, It opens up and unfurls into a large red flower, around the size of my head. But instead of acting anything like a normal flower, the innermost petals start to grow thicker and thicker as I add more life magic.

I've drained almost all of my magic by the time it finally stops, and the result is five shards of gem the size of my hoof. Each is a deep blood red with a thin clear crystal coating like the rest of the plant. It takes a little force, but I'm able to detach what I presume is a seed easily enough.

The shard is in a natural diamond shape and I feel it's life magic for a few moments. It may be very different from normal plants, but the magical flows in the seed are stable. Like other seeds it's able to be detached without dying, so after confirming that it is able to exist fine I pick the other seeds tiredly.

With the seeds collected, I delicately break off the flower and then break the entire plant from its roots again. Once I have it all gathered I quickly move away from the boiling river, exhausted from both the magic use and standing next to the extreme heat that is highly uncomfortable.

I look up and have to adjust my eyes as the sun rises into the sky while I chug from my flask. "Seems this will have to wait then," I say tiredly. I really REALLY want to test and experiment with this thing, but I have a meeting to get to. I rest for a few minutes and decide to just fly back, I'm tired, and making it home quickly is important.

This plant seems like something rare and potentially valuable to a Dragon, and Dragons can smell magical gems. The plant is too big to store in my saddlebags so flying back quickly is my best option, despite the risks. I sigh and drink more tea before standing up and casting the Wing spell to quickly fly back to my camp.

POV shift, Larimar.

I slowly move my large claws to move another gem into the correct place so it's not broken by the larger gems accidentally.

Many may find it slow to sort their horde even a little, letting it lay around, but I prefer something a bit more structured. Not completely sorted, but gems in one area of the large cavern I call home, and gold in another. Yet, now I have something I can't sort anywhere.

I use my tail and bring down the orb floating in the air above me, bringing it close so I may once again inspect it. I have slept, eaten, and bathed, yet I remain both thoughtful and annoyingly undecided on this particular object. Who is that pony? And just who have I made a deal with?

Many of the young do not remember what I do, many do not think about how dangerous some things can be. I have a few scars that prove that only fools ignore the magic and its power. But despite the danger of magic, one must recognize what it means to have that power work for you.

This small thing, this shield, is an immense tool or weapon if used properly. When I first tested this I put a good amount of my strength into two blows, intent on seeing what that pony would think if I broke his shield. But it didn't break, it withstood my blows without difficulty.

To have something that takes such blows for me is, powerful. I could simply keep the shield on while with me and be able to ignore danger from many things, but it is much better used here. It can defend my hoard without me, no young one would dare steal from me, but other elders are more... Annoying.

I huff out and place the shield in the air in front of me, intently watching it spin slowly. I do not trust that Pony, but this deal is worth a little risk. I place the orb in a far corner for the moment and make my way out of the cavern, moving down the lengthy tunnel and out into the sunlight of dawn.

That Pony, Shade. An odd name, but all their names are odd. He is not what he seems to be, he is a lie, a lie so blatant it's a wonder it hasn't fallen yet. Yet, even I can't tell what the truth is, but I know a hiding predator when I see one, and he hides himself well.

At first, he was nothing but a slight oddity to me, a pony that would walk right up to me without fear or hesitation. But those eyes, they looked wrong, so very wrong for a pony to have. He looked at me, studied me, and ripped me apart piece by piece, searching.

A predator is many things, but most important is what they are hunting, what draws out a predator's appetite. For this pony it seems to be knowledge, nothing has truly interested him from what I've heard. The few Dragons I asked said he's been at the market again and again, always with questions.

Our teeth, claws, size, powers, none of that discourages him. He asks more and more, learning and growing, and his eyes do the same thing. They look at you and see your weakness, and despite my size, I feel as if he is... Dangerous to deal with, a threat I can't fully see.

I look to the sky for a moment and unfold my wings before taking flight, heading to a specific destination that I will spend time at. Not long though, the days will pass quickly enough and I will be able to move away from this pony unscathed, if things go to plan.

My lack of sight is what makes me so curious, he has stood in front of me but I can't tell why he seems dangerous. To have the confidence to stare me down with such eyes, and show nothing but a small weak pony on the outside. What kind of predator pretends to be, that?

It matters little though and answers will not help me here. Whatever this pony is underneath it all, it doesn't seem to be an enemy, and that is enough for a deal. It helps that I am taking the larger share of our deal, despite my mistrust of the shield, it is very valuable and clearly powerful.

Something I find more interesting is where he got it, you don't just have something like that with you. This means he brought it with a deal in mind, a deal with someone like me, he came prepared. Maybe it is a good time to talk to the young ones about the ponies, and learn about how they have changed since the last time I looked at them.

I land with a thud in the small valley I've been asked to stay in for my days and notice he has not arrived yet. I smell the air and look for any signs of a trap, but it is untouched and calm. It seems I wait then, not that I mind being paid so much to do so little.

Even if he came to our lands searching for information I was lucky enough to strike a deal first, benefiting well from it, and maybe I will be able to get more than just this. Caution first though, let's see what this pony wishes to learn about.

POV shift, Shade.

I carefully wrap the odd plant stalk I got today along with the flower I grew from it, both now thoroughly dead.

The seeds are fine, sitting alive and intact on my desk with seemingly no problems. The same is not true for the plant itself, shortly after I took flight it started to rapidly lose its life magic and died. I already drained most of my magic to grow the seeds and sadly didn't have any to give it to keep it alive.

The good news is the seeds are fine, and if needed the roots and base of the original plant are still under that river of lava. I can go back if I truly need to but I hope I don't need to. Either way, after putting everything away and taking a break to have breakfast with Entropy and recover more I set out to meet Larimar later than intended.

I gather my things and Entropy actually stays on my back as I walk through the small valley, but once we leave the valley she goes back into my shadow after I give her a treat. She's improving, but all things take time, especially with children. As I approach the larger valley next to my camp I see Larimar already waiting for me.

I wasn't completely sure if she'd show up, but it seems I made a good choice when making my deal. She's sitting in an upright position, which gives me a pretty detailed look at her underside, including more private areas. But I'm mostly unaffected by the sight, not even glancing at it.

Many Dragons in the market lay on their side with their belly exposed, so I've seen that particular area of a Dragon plenty of times before now. Dragons are also not shy about that sort of thing, and I'm lucky they don't have much to really see, everything being internal for them.

I do find it biologically interesting that they don't have a cloaca, as I can make out two separate patches of smaller scales on all of them. I shake my head to get those thoughts out and walk over to Larimar as she lies down. "Hello, thank you for coming." I be polite out of habit than anything and take out some cloth I cut to lay down on.

Some smoke slowly drifts from her nostrils and she nods slightly while moving her head closer to me. "A deal is a deal, and this one I intend to keep." She stares at me as I take out my teapot and start to make tea while getting comfortable. "Ask then." She says, sounding a little bored.

I bring out my notebook and start to think, flipping through a few notes before finding a topic she might actually know something about. "What does the word Entropy mean to you? I believe it's in reference to some religion or god, but I'm not sure." I open with a more complex topic.

She goes silent for a while. "A god is an, inaccurate term to use for such a word." She lays her head on the ground near me and keeps talking. "Entropy. Is a very old belief, many have forgotten it. Only us elders really remember anymore, and I am no expert on it. It holds little interest to me."

I make notes on the Dragon word used and wait for her to continue. "Entropy, a very old Dragon word for death, but it also means more. Rest, or silence, maybe an end where one is needed. I have heard it used in many ways, but those who worship it see it as more a destined end." She says slowly, going through her knowledge with thoughtful words.

It's not uncommon for the meaning of words to change or mutate over time. "Do many worship this concept? And how do those that do actually go about it? Honoring the dead? Tribute? Sacrifice?" I ask multiple things as she actually seems interested enough to follow along.

"Ssss. An interesting last choice." She points it out, as sacrifice is not commonly used in this context. "Tribute to the dead, to family lost, or to those taken too soon. No, I know of only a few who even pay it any mind, but many give them a certain respect for their knowledge on such things." The more she says the more interesting and odd it becomes.

I didn't expect the Dragons to have anything like a unified religion, or a large-scale one either. It seems like many other things this religion is in decline, or maybe it fell long ago and only small bits even remain now. "Are there any other similar practices you know of among Dragons? Worshipping any other beliefs?" I ask, trying to get more context.

She shakes her head. "A few of the younger ones learn of them and some even adopt different beliefs. It normally fades away with age." She says not really giving me much to work with. I guess there's not much to say to begin with though, maybe something to ask a younger Dragon then?

I finished making more notes and switched things up for now. "Ok, so how often would you say a Dragon lays eggs? How old are they when they do so? Anything you know along those lines." I give a more vague question to see how she'll react and answer. She could give me little and force me to ask specific things, hopefully not though.

She puffs some smoke out and lets out a slight rumble. "Dragons are protective of hatchlings, even more so than any horde. No Dragon would ever harm a hatchling before they could stand on their own." Her eyes narrow a bit. "And if a fool did, they will find many Dragons ready to, hunt, them, down." She half threatens me in a very plain-to-see manner.

I nod understanding her intentions. "I don't even want to be near a mother Dragon protecting her young. I ask more to understand your life cycle, how you are born, live, and die." I answer very clearly and seriously, I do not want a pissed-off mother Dragon after me for any reason. "And, just to be clear, such a fool would find me hunting them as well," I add just as seriously.

I don't like the idea of others harming the young, that part of me is still very much human. She stares me down a little, "Good. A dragoness normally doesn't find a mate until later in life, around one hundred years old, normally more though." She says with her normal tone.

I note that quickly and sip some tea. "Does a Dragoness only have one mate? More? I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, but Ponies can form herds. One stallion and a few mares, although it's not nearly as common as a single mare and stallion." I explained to her.

"Not the details, but yes I know about it." She shifts her tail in the distance and moves some boulders out of the way to be more comfortable. "It is known to happen with particularly strong Dragons, but it is also not common. A Dragoness can have many partners throughout life, and we are less, strict than you are when it comes to mating."

I nod having seen exactly that personally before. "It takes a year, sometimes more to birth an egg. Normally only two or three eggs in each clutch, sometimes more though. Although, it becomes difficult for us larger Dragons." She hints at the blatant size problem. "But even I can lay an egg, with difficulty."

I try to keep any images out of my head and quickly mark down her answers. "It can take a long time for a Dragon to hatch, often years, other times decades. Sometimes, never." I see a very slight hint of emotion in her, but only for a moment. "Some eggs simply lie dormant, never hatching. No Dragon ever knows why." She says after a short pause of silence.

I'm friends with Celestia and I know the weight age can put on you, so I don't ask anything about eggs and let her continue. "After hatching, a Dragon will normally be a hatchling for a decade or three, they become a whelp when they get their wings." A few things come to mind when hearing that.

I know Spike wouldn't be an adult by pony standards at the age he got his wings, so something a teen then? "Why the physical difference then? Some look far larger than others, despite the age." I ask while quickly writing down several relevant things.

Her spines flex and shift a bit. "I don't know, some Dragons grow quickly, and others very slowly. I've seen whelps smaller than you be older than ones larger than that rock." She looks at a large boulder several times my size. "Some are very old, yet never grow too large at all, it is another mystery." She blinks her eyes and I watch the interesting movement of her eyelid.

I do have a small theory about that, and it has to do with magic, but that's uncertain and not important at the moment. "What do hatchlings eat? Anything out of the ordinary for Dragons?" I did say I would try to learn more for Spike's sake and I intend to do just that. "Do they have any special needs outside of a Dragons norms?" I added after a moment.

She stretches out her wings to lay them out in the sunlight, sunbathing her wings as we talk. "They eat everything we do just a lot more, much more as a whelp, and mostly that amount for a great many years as they grow larger. Hatchlings prefer to be warm, not excessively though." I can hear a slight bit of understanding and weight behind those words.

It's likely Larimar has been a mother before though, that's a little too personal to bring up though. "Well, moving on. What makes an elder, well, an elder? Is it about age? Or hoard size?" I'll need some more information on older Dragons if I really wish to talk to Torch.

She moves her head, lifting it to look at me. "This is going to be what our next few weeks are like, yes?" She changes the subject abruptly, but I nod in agreement as this is what we'll be doing. "I expected less simple questions." She comments with neither annoyance nor emotion, just fact. "You really did overpay me, that is a good way to get on the side of many older Dragons." She gives some actual advice, which I take as a good sign.

She puts her head back down with a thump. "Age, strength, and then hoard. All are important though." She smirks a bit at me. "Settle in, this one is not so simple."

I do as she says and shift to lying on my side. "It's good we have time then," I answer back with a smirk of my own. It seems I still have much to learn.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

Ok, a two things. First, you will all be getting a chapter for Thanksgiving, but not on Friday, then you'll get one more chapter on Saturday before I take my normal day break, and then I'll see you all Monday.

And secondly. I want the new plant to have some magical effect, and we also need a name for it. Any suggestions for either of those would be much appreciated.

Chapter 253

FEB 18 Sunday.

I study the flow of the life magic inside of the gem seed floating in front of me while in deep meditation.

Meditation is a practice I've kept up for years now and it is second nature to me by this point. It's also been very helpful for relaxing and centering myself, even in more chaotic situations. It's not something all-powerful but it is a helpful thing and I've kept up my practice for good reason.

I've spent a good amount of time over the past few days silently meditating and intently studying the small flows of life magic inside these odd seeds. I went back to check on the roots, but they apparently died as well and now the seeds are unfortunately all that remains of the plant.

I was able to basically confirm they are seeds or at least offshoots of the plant that can grow on their own. The magical flows have a similar structure to other seeds I've found. I also experimented by very gently feeding the seeds magic and like other types of seeds they absorbed the life magic and became more active.

I've also tried to find out what type of gems the plant is made from, but my knowledge of identifying gems is shoddy at best. The clear outer layer looks like diamond but a few other gems are clear and see through so I'm basically just guessing here, and I have no idea what the core could be made from either.

The plant's structure is interesting and I think this specific specimen of this plant was young. The flower I grew was large for such a small plant and it seemed to still be growing out of its roots. Gems may be delicate but they are still strong and the fact I was able to break this plant from its roots so easily may be a sign it was young, but again I'm mostly guessing here.

What I have been able to study is the seeds, and they are a very interesting thing. The seeds themselves are around six inches long, and three inches wide, while being identical to a diamond shape. Not to be confused with a shaped diamond, it is also pretty heavy, a single seed weighs around seven pounds.

The clear gem makes up a very thin shell, maybe an eighth of an inch thick at most, while the rest is the same bright blood-red gemstone. They seem to be dormant, their flows of life magic moving very slowly to conserve themselves like many other seeds do to stay alive longer.

But what really caught my eye is the magical flows themselves. In all other forms of life, I've observed the flows make strands and streams that twist and turn throughout a living thing's entire being. They combine and separate and grow like wild untamed vines without limit or direction.

There is logic to the different flows, but it is very chaotic and disorganized, as is normal for all forms of life. The seed's flows are also disorganized and wild, but the form they take is vastly different from anything else I've seen so far. Instead of vines and streams, it looks more like a crystal lattice.

The flows follow straight lines that turn at even and consistent angles, like the life magic in flowing along carved-out channels in the seeds themselves. The flows are still messy, combining and separating at seemingly random while the flows change direction at different points, but it looks like the flows are almost being conducted by the gem to flow along a lattice.

It's odd to study something seemingly so alien. It makes me wonder what conditions are even needed for something like this to come into being. Was it just random chance? A fluke of evolution like so many other things? Or was it made in some way, but later deviated from what it was over time?

I simply don't know, but I do know that if someone made this they are far beyond me. I don't even know where to begin to make something like this, it is a thing of beauty and endless questions for me. So I've taken a good amount of time just studying these seeds to expand my knowledge of life.

I've not learned much beyond its flows and a few interesting observations, but I will be very excited to grow these properly when I'm ready to do so. On that topic I found out something interesting by accident, I was in my cave and brought a seed near the fire to see it better in the light.

The magical flows of the seed sped up slightly, not a lot but it was noticeable. Considering where it was living it makes sense that one of the conditions to grow it properly is extreme heat, and probably lava as well. I'll need to make a custom setup to properly grow this back home.

It shouldn't be too hard though, heating things up is easy enough with magic and I'll just need a source of rock to feed the thing. That's all for when I get back home though, for now I'm focused on studying these seeds and learning from Larimar, speaking of her our last few days of lengthy conversation have been particularly enlightening.

I've learned more in the past few days than I have while talking to every other Dragon combined. It's not a perfect satiation as some topics Larimar is not knowledgeable about, but it's still a massive improvement over the two weeks before our deal started.

I've learned a lot, and I even got her to spend the entirety of yesterday just teaching me the Dragon language. She's fully fluent in it and because I can't learn it in the next two weeks I've focused my efforts on recording it all for later. I can always learn from my notes later on, which will have to be good enough.

Beyond the language, she's knowledgeable about a lot of things, particularly the switch to the pony language. She lived through it and still remembers when all Dragons primarily spoke Dragon, she ended up basically stating the same reasons as Aurora as to why it died out for the most part.

It seems to have simply come down to practicality and advantage. Dragons who didn't speak Pony had a hard time trading with Ponies so learned to do so and just kept using it. In the end, it seems apathy and practicality won out, something I found interesting is that even Larimar had no real attachment to the Dragon language.

It seems to be viewed as a tool for the most part and a Dragon doesn't really care what language they are speaking as long as they can talk with whoever they need to. I still feel like it's very sudden and abrupt for them, Larimar said the change happened in less than a century.

That's not a lot of time for that level of social change, by Pony standards, let alone Dragon standards. I didn't point it out to her at the time because I wanted to think about it more, but she told me about several other changes to Dragon life that took far longer than a century and had way less impact than changing the primarily used language.

I have no idea what happened at the time as it was centuries ago but it still seems odd to me. But I don't think Larimar or any other elder Dragon will have any good answers for me, they just accept it as the way things went and stop caring. I do enjoy how unbothered Dragons are about a lot of things, but by magic, they are also so fucking lazy.

I don't like straight-up insulting them, but come ON, you can't just see something like this happening and not care. Dragons seem dedicated to just that though. The young Dragons don't care about listening to adults or elders ramble on about seemingly useless things, at least useless to them, and the same can be said about the adults and elders themselves.

Moving on, I've learned a large amount about two interesting subjects. Mating habits, and raising young Dragons, let's start with the latter. Raising a Dragon is actually much simpler than you may first assume, but like many things, Dragons tend to prefer simple.

Most hatchlings are fed a mix of gems and meat and taught to an extent by their parents. This teaching mostly consists of play fighting with siblings or other Dragon hatchlings, being taught how to gather food, and knowing where to sleep. Then later in life, they are taught about social interactions, and that brings up The Dragon Hierarchy.

The Dragon Hierarchy plays a small but interesting part as a social structure and concept that Larimar took a great deal of time to explain in good detail. Depending on several factors, age, strength, hoard size, family size, and relation, along with past achievements you may end up in different standing.

It's not a firm structure and tends to change often, and many Dragons ignore it entirely. The basic idea behind it is that depending on those factors you may be seen as a more powerful Dragon, many care about this perceived image of power and many others don't.

It depends on the individual a lot. And for those that do care about The Dragon Hierarchy, it often varies by age. A young Dragon, they may only care if another Dragon has powerful family members or are powerful themselves. For adult Dragons it seems to be something of bragging rights and can be important to get a mate, many fight and compete at this age because they want to show themselves as more powerful than others.

For Elders it is more about what they have done in their lives, their achievements, and such, they rarely tend to fight each other and leave the fighting to the younger Dragons. Interestingly this social structure is mostly relevant to larger or more powerful Dragon families, most Dragons outside of that could oftentimes not care less.

It's like an odd form of royal houses and nobles, but very importantly these families only have power in the tangible sense. There is little to no social power from it and what little is there is often ignored by everyone but the adults. And they have no political power of any form outside of their family, the Dragon Lord holds all of that power uncontested.

This means little to me, I just don't need to attack a large family and it won't matter, and I do mean the entire family. Attacking one member is considered more a personal issue than a family issue, and conflict between families is pretty rare in general due to how individualistic Dragons are.

Like I was told a while ago you really have to wrong a Dragon to get their family involved. Now, moving on to the second thing I learned about, mating. That is actually far more simple and more complex, it really depends on the Dragons involved in the process and how they pick a mate.

It mostly has to do with hoards. A mate will normally offer some of their hoard to a potential partner, and that potential partner either accepts it and they become mates or they don't, that's the simple part. The complicated part is what hoard is best and the other potential factors involved.

Gold and gems are pretty much universally liked though and are always preferred, that's another reason they make hoards, beyond their greed. Hoard size is one of the most important factors for attracting a mate, gold being very flashy and shiny makes a very attractive hoard.

Interestingly it's more common for a dragoness to approach a drake and make the first move by offering some of their hoard to a drake. It goes both ways but it seems dragonesses are more inclined to actually seek out a mate, and often are more driven to make a larger hoard to do that.

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, Dragon greed isn't something I've asked anyone about. That is something else I should talk about with Larimar, Dragon greed is an interesting thing, and there is the entire thing with greed growth.

I check the time and see it's near sunrise, time for me and Larimar to meet again, perfect timing. I stretch a bit and Entropy jumps on my back to ride along. "Feel up to meeting Larimar Girl?" I ask as I have the past few days. I'm hoping Entropy can relax around Larimar after enough time and not be so afraid.

She shifts on her feet for a moment and shakes her head. "No." I don't push her and get to pet her with a reassuring smile before grabbing my things and making my way out of the cave. But as I'm walking out I quickly spot something, a Dragon outside of the cave.

I was too focused to notice them, but it was only one Dragon, a young Dragon at that. Sunlight is barely streamed into the valley so I can't see them very well.

They aren't that large, smaller than me by a fair amount, and they are sitting down looking at the floor while scratching the shield and looking thoughtful. I knew someone would find this place eventually, it's not massively hidden after all, either way, it seems I have an uninvited visitor.

I sigh a bit but put on a small smile and turn to Entropy, "Shadow please." I whisper to Entropy and she bobs her head, immediately moving into my shadow. I walk through the dark and move up the tunnel while also paying attention to anything unexpected.

I walk closer and as the outside brightens with the sun rising a bit higher I make out the Dragon while walking towards them. :Huh, that's suspicious: To my surprise it's Smolder, looking both bored and intrigued while inspecting the shield by placing a hand on it. "Hello again," I say evenly while still a good few feet away from her, I don't want to get close and then startle her.

Her head snaps up to look down the tunnel as I come into the light for her to see. After squinting a bit her eyes widen much more before she stands up and takes a step back. "Oh, shit!" She mutters seemingly caught off guard by my presence. "I, ahh. I'm just leaving?" She offers with some slight hesitation.

I stop and give her a more relaxed smile than the last time we met. "It's fine, you've done no harm," I say with a somewhat reassuring tone. "I'd ask you not to tell others I am here, I don't want to have to deal with that red Dragon again." I take a pretty relaxed and chill tone as she's done me no harm and is just a child.

She blinks slowly after a moment and nods. "Ok? Ugh, your way more, calm?" She asks in an odd way before shaking her head a bit. "I-I mean, ya, I won't tell." She quickly adds after a moment. "You're ah, not going to stick me to a wall or anything, right?" She asks slightly nervous.

I shrug. "Not unless you attack me. That red Dragon got a little too aggressive, not entirely his fault, messing with him was fun though." I admit, deciding not to lie when it comes to her brother. "Anyway, I got things to do, have a good day." I walk closer to the shield and she moves to the side so I can pass.

She breathes out a bit of smoke, seemingly in relief while I walk past her. "Hey?" I turned back to her with a raised brow, "Ugh, do you, want to talk?" She asks, gaining a bit more confidence after seeing my relaxed attitude. "I mean, I've never seen someone do THAT before, and you got me curious so..." She trails off as I stare back silently.

I'm a little suspicious that she may have tracked me here in some way. But honestly, the worst she could do is bring a parent, which is unlikely, or Garble, who I can deal with easily enough. After a few seconds, my curiosity wins out, "Sure, but I got someone I'm meeting, and you'll leave when we get there." I say in a firm tone before continuing to walk into the valley.

I hear her steps quicken to catch up to me after a moment and she walks up beside me. "Cool, so, what is a Pony doing, well in a cave? No wait, what are you doing here at all?" She asks with more energy and calm than I expected. She's going with the flow as it were and just acts like she wasn't scared of me a moment ago.

I shrug again. "I'm camping. And a few things, mostly trading and learning." I answer without really answering. "So, who is the red one?" She tilts her head a little. "I never got his name, he decided to mess with me, so I did the same thing." I give her an actual reason for why I antagonized Garble a little and try to get some more information.

She chuckles a bit, finding humor in the memory. "I know, he wouldn't stop complaining about the weird Pony." She laughs but trails off quickly and looks at me again. "Ugh, not that you're weird or anything." She adds with a slightly wary look, but I just shrug once again. "So, what did you do to Garble? Ya. that's his name." She asks curiously.

I chuckle as well. "I'll admit I am a bit odd, weird might be a bit much though." I take her words with some humor, enjoying being able to speak without being as serious or focused. "A basic Sticking spell and a Floating spell, any decently skilled Pony can do that." I half-lie as the Stasis spell is a bit different, it really isn't that impressive when you think about it.

She snorts at that and shakes her head a bit. "Really? You just left him in the air for, I don't know how long." She laughs a little more. "Wait, what else can you do then? Is that not, like, impressive?" She asks curiously and I think for a moment on how best to prove my point.

She might not tell others where I live, but I see it as likely she'll tell others about our talk, and that I can work with. I motion to a large boulder a hundred feet away. "The spells are easy, it's how you use them that really matters. As for impressive? You see that boulder?" I ask calmly while we reach the top of the valley.

She looks at it and nods. "Ya, wh-" She's cut off by a loud cracking sound as an overpowered Lightening Strike spell deafens both of us for a moment. The spell is overpowered more than necessary and slams into the boulder in the blink of an eye, blasting some rock away in a shower of dust and cracking the boulder into several large pieces. "The fuck!"

She jumps back and her eyes go wide as she stares at the bolder mouth agape in shock. "That is something more impressive." I smile at her reaction. "Not the most impressive thing, but it's up there when it comes to attack spells." I keep walking as she looks in between me and what remains of the boulder.

She stands there for a moment but quickly catches up again. "That, was, awesome! You can just do that?!" She gains a slightly excited tone but her face looks thoughtful after a moment. "Oh, you can just do that." She mumbles after a second and looks back at me. "You really let him off, really lightly."

I shake my head a little. "Spells like that are a lot less common to see in use, but yes I can do that. As for Garble?" I ask and she nods. "Not really, he got humiliated and had to spend a while in the air, that's enough. He was never really a threat so no reason to really hurt him." I am blunt and honest with her as I don't want her to think I'd have actually hurt her brother.

She looks down at the ground and we walk in silence for a while, but I stop after spotting Larimar lying in the valley. I see her look up confused but watch her eyes go for a third time after seeing Larimar waiting there. "It was nice meeting you, but I have things to do, and it's time we part ways." I give her a polite but firm dismissal.

She looks between me and Larimar for a moment before nodding. "Ok, and hey, umm." She seems to struggle with her words. "Thanks, for ya know, not blasting him." She surprisingly thanks me and I'm reminded of a time still yet to come.

I nod with a smile. "He didn't deserve that, and there is always room for a little mercy and restraint. Have a good day, and if you stop by again, knock, it's only polite." I give some random advice to be nice before turning and walking away before she can say anything else to me. She was interesting, and even now I can see a little of what she may one day become.

She watches me walk away and turns to leave after a moment, again looking thoughtful about something. I nod to Larimar when I get close enough and start to take out my things once again to start another conversation with her. "Hello Larimar, doing well I hope?" I greet her in a friendly manner.

She looks behind me a little and watches Smolder in the distance. "It seems even with me here all day you find time to talk with others. I am fine, you?" She asks back as more of a formality than anything. Over the past few days, I've noticed that she's gotten a bit more relaxed and less uptight with me.

She's not all friendly or anything, but things are more relaxed on both sides by this point. "They found me actually, and I'm fine. Anything interesting to talk about? I never really asked what you all consider interesting news or events to be." I commented while bringing out my notebook and flipping to where I left off.

She moves her legs a bit to cross them and nods. "If a massive tree counts." I nearly tense up at hearing that but stay relaxed and react as expected by looking up at her with a raised brow. "Apparently it appeared out of thin air. An elder actually ended up just taking it, it is interesting." She comments slowly as if pondering it.

To the best of my ability, I'm pretty sure she isn't suspecting me. She is just sharing some interesting news, it's hard to tell though. "Really? Big by your standards or mine?" I fake ignorance but not my interest as I am curious what they figured out. "And what do you mean by, appear? Does that just happen here?" I add some more questions to throw any suspicion off.

She blinks slowly, still giving no indication she suspects me and acting like normal. "Just that, you passed the land bridge, yes? Did you see anything like a few hundred-foot-tall tree?" I look more confused and shake my head. "Either way I saw it myself when a different elder dragged it back home. And no, it is not something I have seen before."

I pretend to think for a moment. "I observed several Dragons from the edge of the Dragon Lands for a week before heading inwards. I don't remember a tree like that, I guess Ponies aren't the only ones with weird events. One for the history books then." I joke a small bit and start to take notes on it as further cover.

She snorts a bit. "I am most likely older than any history book you have read." She says back plainly. It is nice that she's more relaxed, or at least very good at pretending to be relaxed, it's hard to tell. I'm just not sure how genuine she's being with her small talk. "News that interesting is not so common."

I nod and look over my notes for a moment to think of a good question. "Actually, while on this topic, do you know of any interesting plants in the Dragon Lands? I've come across some but they are few and far between." I ask while thinking of the crystal plant I found recently.

She thinks silently for a moment. "A few I think, plants are not a common interest for Dragons." She answers bluntly. "I think a few are magical..." She goes silent again and thinks more while looking off into the distance. She does this often with more obscure and complicated knowledge, she goes silent and thinks before answering me.

"I can't seem to recall, I think there is one that is prized?" She seems to draw a blank before looking back at me. "You're better off trading with another Dragon for that, plants are not my interest." She advises simply and I nod before making some notes. Larimar is knowledgeable but even she doesn't know everything.

"Are there any plants you eat that you can think of? I haven't seen any in a market but with how long you all live it seems like a good thing to do with your time." I reason out as it is true.

She nods. "I know of one, Burn Weed. It's a rather strong spice, I think a few grow it, not sure though." I quickly make a note to try and find some of that plant. I look at my notes for a bit and decide it's best we move off of this topic, no need to raise any suspicion now.

"Ok, let's work on Dragon words then, you still know more written words, right?" She nods and brings a claw forward before she starts writing in the loose soil and rock as we've done before. I smile at her slightly, "Perfect."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 996

Not too much here, hope you like it and I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving. I'll see you all Saturday.

PS. I'm posting this before I go help with preparations of my own, I probably won't be responding quickly, and I'll also probably be fixing any mistakes later. It really depends on how things go though.

Chapter 254

FEB 21 Wednesday.

I feel the hot sun on my left side as I stare over at Larimar.

Over the past few days, I've continued to spend a lot of my time with her, trying to learn as much as I can with the time I have. I've also started to make some preparations for leaving the Dragon Lands in a few days. I have to be back in Canterlot by the first of next month so I need to plan out my trip back carefully.

With the time I've had with Larimar, I've managed to copy most of the Dragon language. I didn't learn it as we literally just went through each word she knew and I copied them down one by one. We've definitely missed a fair few of them but this is enough to preserve the language so it won't be lost.

I have enough to translate any written words I don't know by working backwards from there with what I do know, and any words we missed are less used to begin with. It's far from perfect in many ways, but now the language can live on past those who have spoken it for so long.

While we have heavily focused on the language we mostly finished it, so now Larimar has taken to adding any words that pop into her head while we talk about other subjects. I just added another word she thought of and have been thinking for a few moments about a good question. "What do you consider strength to be?" I ask about something with a slightly more personal perspective.

Larimar has continued to become more relaxed with me as we spend time together, and while we aren't friends there is a sense of mutual respect. She doesn't call me Pony anymore and always uses my name when talking to me, she also takes a more relaxed tone, even showing a bit of emotion now.

She breathes out slowly and with a slight hiss. "Sss, for me? Strength is the amount of power you hold over others. Whether through respect, fear, or simply power." I'm not too surprised by that as she has been very pragmatic while talking with me. "Others tend to see only power, and even then only physical power." She adds after a moment of thought. "What do you consider strength?"

I nod as that's about what I expected to hear. She also phrased it in an interesting way, drawing clear lines between options but not dismissing any of them. "The ability to affect the world around you, for good or bad. Even the smallest action can ripple out into unseen change. Some have immense strength in that way, but never know it." I am a little philosophical because Larimar might be one of the few Dragons to appreciate that, maybe.

She shifts a bit and picks her head up off of the ground to look at me. "Maybe, but there are those who think they have such power, even when they don't." I nod having seen that a fair few times myself. "I believe your kind are very proud of your ruler, a princess, yes?" She asks, taking the initiative to ask about me instead of me asking about her, something she doesn't do as often.

I think for a long moment, Larimar being more than willing to wait for my answer. I take a moment to look at Entropy as she rests next to me, she occasionally looks up at Larimar with focused eyes. After some more time talking with Larimar, Entropy finally joined us for our meeting yesterday, and Larimar didn't even question it.

Entropy has just been sticking to my side without talking, but I can see she's gotten a bit more comfortable after the first day. I shrug, "It depends, the vast majority have a positive view of Princess Celestia, but that isn't universal. And I find that feelings for Princess Cadance are more varied." My words seem to get her more interested as her eyes focus a small bit.

"I was not aware you had another ruler, are they like the one of the sun?" She asks curiously and I pause as a thought occurs to me. That title is also interesting as it's not one I recognize. She sees my curiosity and elaborates. "I have seen her before, a few times actually, when she's come here."

I'm very intent on learning more about her thoughts on that but answer her first. "How much do you know about Alicorns?" I ask and she just shakes her head. "Ok, quickly then. An alicorn is a combination of all types of Pony, having all the advantages that come with that along with agelessness."

Her eyes focused more as she stayed silent in thought. "Princess Celestia has been the ruler of Equestria for over a thousand years, and no one is sure how old she actually is." That seems to take Larimar a little off guard, looking very thoughtful now. "Princess Cadance is much younger and ascended to the throne a decade or so ago."

Larimar looks directly at me and speaks after a moment. "I know of the power your Princess has, even I know she raises the sun, even if I fail to see how or why." She states with an interesting tone. "Is this other Princess similar? Having two beings of such power is... Well, that much power speaks for itself." She reasons.

I think for a moment, not wanting to give any sensitive information away. "Yes and no, it depends, I guess. Realistically Princess Celestia is older and more powerful, but Princess Cadance rules over Love." I see her tilt her head a bit and I try to think of how best to explain the horror in that statement.

"Princess Celestia has more raw power, I am speculating by the way, but this is widely seen as accurate," I add a warning to make it seem more vague. "But Love is, have you ever loved something, someone?" She doesn't answer that but still pays attention. "Imagine a being that can twist that love however it wants," I say seriously.

I see her eyes grow more focused as that information sinks in. "Power over the world is dangerous, power over another's mind." She trails off slowly getting the point I was making. "Do such things, happen?" She asks, in an almost cautious tone.

I quickly shake my head. "No, no, that was mostly the more, cautious side of me talking." I be honest as that is not what she is like and reassure her with a quick denial. "From what I know she is just as kind and elegant as Princess Celestia. But the hypothetical possibility exists, and few things can be scarier than love." I add with a calm and non-serious tone.

She's very thoughtful but her eyes return mostly to normal. I wanted to see what her reaction would be to a more abstract threat, and to a Pony being that powerful, it seems that like me she's better able to see the danger in such things. "So, when did you meet Princess Celestia? I didn't know she came here at all." I lie bluntly.

She slowly breathes out some smoke before settling down again. "A few centuries ago, she was visiting the Dragon Lord of that time. We did not speak much, a few words at most when she was looking for directions. She was, powerful, that may be the only word I can use to describe her." She shares freely.

Something to ask Celestia about then. "Huh, I guess it makes sense we have some contact with the Dragon Lord, still it seems odd." I lie again and move on. "So, you used a title for her, is that common for Dragons? Are you all aware of who she is?" I ask curiously.

She tilts her head. "Somewhat. Many elders remember a time or two when a Dragon decided to cause her trouble when she came, it did not go well for them." Oh, I am definitely asking Celestia about that. "That title though is older, I think around five centuries ago? Me and many other Dragons were gathered for a meeting by Dragon Lord Valdus."

I remember Celestia talking about this actually, something about an incident in Equestria. "Dragon Lord Valdus didn't want to make a deal with your Princess, said she was weak." I snort a little and Larimar chuckles as well. "Yes, a foolish thing indeed, and a few other foolish elders agreed. but what happened next quickly changed their minds." She says with some slight humor in her tone.

She cranes her neck up to the sky, "She set the sun in front of us, slightly before it would normally rise." I hold it in for a moment but let out a full laugh for a few moments. It seems Celestia can really be intimidating if she needs to be. "Needless to say, a deal was reached rather quickly, it was, an interesting thing to witness." She seems to think about the memories for a moment.

I nod in agreement as it's one hell of a way to make a statement. "Definitely. I am surprised she'd go so far, there's probably some reason though." She nods but doesn't give any suggestions. "So that's where the title came from? A fitting event, and something interesting to add." I take a few notes on that as the silence stretches on.

After a few minutes, Larimar looks directly over to me from her lying position, moving her head a little closer to look at me. "You are odd, very odd." She states something she's told me many times before. "I have met many Ponies, but you are just so, different." She points out the obvious.

I shrug a little at the change in topic. "Maybe, but there are many ponies and we tend to differ a lot. Part of it is definitely the fact that I've seen many things in my short life, some far more scary than any of you, no offense." I say truthfully, enjoying the fact I can be more open about my predatory side with her.

I am open about it around ponies, but it's very different when they know about it while talking to me and can't see it in me. She doesn't look annoyed and just nods, "Maybe you have, there are many things in the world and even we die." She agrees a bit but smiles a little a moment later. "That doesn't mean we aren't scary though, you just don't have that fear." She states this as a fact.

I shrug and start to pack my things up as I plan to head to the market and look for more things to buy while I still have time. "Or I'm very good at hiding it." I joke a little and stand up. "I'll be doing some other stuff today, you do what you want. Have a good day, Larimar." I wrap things up quickly as I don't really need to be overly polite with her.

She nods without questioning me and also stands up, stretching out like a cat for a moment. "Very well, Shade, try not to die." She surprisingly makes a joke back and I chuckle after a moment of stunned silence. She flies off without another word and Entropy jumps on my back as I start to make my way back to my cave.

As I walk back Entropy moves back into my shadow and I pass several Dragons, a few I've seen around the area before. They are far less curious about me after all the time I've spent here, like many things they just accepted it before moving on. I quickly make my way inside my cave and grab two large bags I've filled with chili powder for trading.

I look over at my desk and see five simple boxes made from Iron Oak wood. Each box contains a seed from the crystal plant I found, each seed wrapped in cloth and the boxes securely grown shut for transport. I've also named the plant, I even took my sweet time to think of something half-decent.

I'm calling it the Mantle Bloom, I've had a lot of free time to make notes and I ended up not being as lazy with a name for once. If you can really call such a name well thought out, it is literally just earth bloom with a fancy twist, but it's good enough for me.

I picked bloom because of the large flower it grew, something I've also kept with me. I stare at the boxes a moment longer and turn to leave the cave, making my way outside and up the small valley. I crest a hill not long after that and start to make my way to the edge of the market.

Something I quickly notice is that Larimar is here, just trading like she normally does, it seems she thought this was a good use of her day. I decide not to go near that part of the market and just look for a different Dragon I know, and luckily I spot Aurora not long after I arrive.

I make my way over and she looks up from organizing a few carved gems on display as she hears me approaching. "Hello, Aurora. It seems you're still doing well." I greet them amiably as she looks at me. I move one of the heavy sacks off of my back, "Up for some trading?" I ask a stupid question.

She looks me over for a moment and smiles back, showing more emotion than Larimar ever does. "Pony, it seems you're alive after all, good for you." She chuckles at her own joke and smells the air deeply while looking at the spice-filled sack. "And it seems you brought more than gold, anything of interest?" She moves her tail out of the way and lets me look over her inventory.

Aurora and I aren't friends, in fact I know her less than I know Larimar, but she's been nice and I promised some friends souvenirs. I walk over and start to look through the various carved gems while continuing to talk to her. "I agree, being alive is great." I joke back by being a little sarcastic.

She has many interesting carvings on display, more than the last time we met. "So, you end up striking some deal with Elder Larimar? I haven't seen her for a while now, at least not as much as normal." She asks casually while I pick out my first choice. I hold it up and she looks at the bag, "For that, you can take whatever you want, we can finish up with gold if needed." I nod and continue looking through the gems.

I shrug. "Maybe, or maybe not, who's to say?" I be very blatant in the fact I won't be giving her much of an answer. She just shrugs as well and continues to smile a bit while I pick out gems. We both go silent as I look through gems but I notice another Dragon getting close after a few moments.

I turn to glance at them and see a Dragon of similar size to Aurora, maybe sixty feet long at most. Black scales cover most of their body with deep red scales on their underbelly and wings. Their eyes are a bright red with horns that curve back behind their head, and lighter red spines running down their back.

I note their presence but ignore them as I've traded with other Dragons while shopping before so I just go back to looking at gems. That changes a few moments later when Aurora looks over and spots the Dragon as well and narrows her eyes to needle points.

I see and hear her claws dig into the stone beneath us a bit and her body shifts to be taller as the other Dragon walks over. I don't like such a reaction to begin with but the deep frown, almost a snarl, that Aurora has makes me more concerned. I don't turn but speak before the other Dragon gets close enough to hear us. "Are they going to be a problem?" I ask in a calm but firm tone.

Her eyes switch over to me and she looks confused as I don't turn around. "Probably, he's a... SSS." She just hisses loudly after a moment, seemingly not finding words to express her displeasure. "Just don't talk to him, he will try to be a fucker but won't do anything here." She says with surprising venom in her tone, it seems she really doesn't like that Dragon.

As the black Dragon gets close he smiles widely as he gets close to us, showing off all his teeth and stretching out his wings a little, as if displaying them. "Aurora, still doing your little doodles?" The cocky voice is deep and baritone, and I already don't like him for that sentence alone.

Aurora literally snarls at him. "I told you to FUCK OFF Obsidian." I now have a name for this Dragon, it fits if nothing else. Aurora's words are a little strained, she looks and sounds pretty pissed at his presence alone, but she just uses her words without acting physically.

I pick out a few more gems and finish up quickly. "These will do, are we good?" I ask, interrupting him as he opens his maw again to speak. She looks back at me and the items I selected, she looks at them for a moment and nods before reaching out for the bag of spice I left on the floor.

A second later a black tail quickly reaches out and takes hold of the bag before dragging it out of her reach. She snarls loudly and snaps her head to look back at him, "That is not yours to take! Give it back, NOW!" She demands of him in a yell while standing up to face him as he's only a dozen feet away from her.

That smile on his face lessens a bit and he stares at the slightly shorter Dragon. "Why? It was sitting on the ground, clearly unclaimed, who's to say it was yours?" He asks back in that same cocky tone. He brings it close and sniffs the bag before his eyes narrow a bit at the smell. "And such a nice thing I've found, truly a shame someone lost it." He says in a mocking tone.

She snarls more and steps close but he just smiles and looks down at her. "That would be mine actually, I even have a second bag of the exact same thing on my back. And I don't appreciate someone taking my things." I hold up the second bag as proof and stare at them as they both look over to me.

Obsidian looks at me with clear distaste at my interruption. "Really, Pony?" He asks me while moving closer to me. "And what are you going to do about it if I say it's not yours?" He asks while closing much of the distance between us, "Are you going to complain about me? To who?" He asks in another mocking tone.

He's standing less than ten feet away and I have to look almost straight up to maintain eye contact. I don't flinch, move back, or even pretend to look threatened, I just stare him down. "Well, I can't do the easy thing and just kill you." I start off and that gets both of them to blink, seemingly throwing them off.

Aurora looked like she was ready to intervene but stopped after hearing my words. "So, I'd have to get creative. Hey, Aurora, what do Dragons think about a Dragon that's lost their wings?" I ask while continuing to stare at Obsidian with a calm cold expression.

Obsidian looks both confused and a bit pissed at how I'm acting. "The fuck are yo-"

He doesn't get to finish before I'm answered by a confused and on-edge Aurora. "It's considered a great loss, and a pretty big humiliation if it happens in a fight, why?" She asks while sounding uncertain about my reaction before looking back to the other Dragon. "Obsidian, this is not your business, leave the bag and fuck off." She states in a slightly more calm but equally firm tone.

He looks at her and snaps his jaw shut, making a snapping sound. "Shut up! Both of you!" He turns back to me and I raise a brow. "So what PONY, you can't kill me! Why does that fucking matter?!" At this point, he's somewhat incensed and is also snarling. I notice in my senses a few of the Dragon guards have noticed the commotion and are moving over while watching us.

I shrug. "Well, like I said it means I'd have to get creative." I pretend to look over his body for a moment. "I'm thinking I'd start with a Sticking spell. A few of those and your feet would be stuck to the floor while your top and bottom teeth would be stuck together, preventing you from running or screaming for help." I start to say in a deadly serious and calm tone.

My utterly unhinged reaction and escalation really seemed to make him stop and think, as he blinks and moves his head back a little while looking confused. "Wha- What?" He sounds confused, lost to the danger he's now in. I really don't like this Dragon at the moment, he's been rude, taken my things, and is trying to bully me into compliance.

I could be nice, blend in, and back off, but that might be even more trouble for me. Dragons will notice if I act like a pushover, and that means they may try to do the same and I'll have to deal with that. And above all else, this Dragon is being an utter asshole, basically, fuck him.

I keep my dead serious tone and expression. "Yes, that would work, after that, it's just a matter of a few simple Cutting spells and backing up a little so you can't reach me." I looked him over again. "I think I could get your wings cut off easily enough, I'd have to heal you so you wouldn't bleed out, can't have you dying so soon after all." I chuckle a little as my own morbid joke.

My words aren't completely accurate as I don't have a Cutting spell, but I have something close enough. My serious tone and the insanely fucked up nature of my words seem to distract him well enough, which is the entire point as the Dragon guards get closer and closer to us. "You, the fuck?" Obsidian looks a bit perturbed at the thought.

I raise a brow at him pretending to look confused. "What? It's not like you'd die, I assure you I'm perfectly capable of healing any missing limbs, at least enough to not kill you." I tilt my head in apparent thought. "I wonder if I could reattach your wings afterward? I mean it's possible with ponies, something worth testing." I think out loud.

He takes a step back as that seems to be too much even for a Dragon, they may be violent but they aren't sadistic. "This- This is- You can't do anything like that here." He counters in a much more sober and less arrogant tone. He backs up a bit more, now noticing that a Dragon guard has arrived next to us.

I shrug and turn to the Dragon guard, a Dragon much larger than both Aurora and Obsidian. "Can you get him to give my shit back, he's being very annoying," I shout to them and address them directly as both Aurora and Obsidian turn to look at the much larger Dragon when they get close to us.

The older Dragon looks at all of us and turns to Aurora, "What is this about?" The deep female tone is obviously annoyed at us and seems to already be eyeing up Obsidian.

Aurora nods and looks at Obsidian with a glare. "I was trading with the Pony and this fucker took the Pony's goods." She says and at this point, Obsidian looks far less confident or certain about things. He goes from shock at the large Dragon that managed to get close to us without his notice because of my distraction and wariness at the large dragon's clearly annoyed tone.

The large Dragon turns to Obsidian and looks at the bag of spice still held in his tail. Obsidian opens his mouth to talk but is quickly cut off once again, "I can smell the spice on the pony, and I can see the second bag. Give it back and, get, out." They say with a threatening tone and absolutely zero patience for this shit.

The older Dragon has probably seen this exact thing play out before if she's been here a while, so it's no surprise that she figures him out quickly. Obsidian looks at all three of us but eventually throws the bag on the floor with a frustrated snarl, "Fine! Fuck this, and fuck you!" He stares at me before turning and flying off quickly.

I sigh after he flies off and the large Dragon guard just leaves after Obsidian flies a little ways away from us. I turn to Aurora and pick up the spice bag before giving it to her, "Thanks for the carvings, sorry if that caused you some trouble." I say genuinely and change my tone back to a friendly one.

Aurora still looks pretty annoyed but just puffs out some smoke before shaking her head. "He can't do anything beyond mess with me now, and it was worth it to see that look on his face." She laughs and seems to revel in his misfortune a bit. I am curious but it's not my business so I don't ask her about Obsidian or why she clearly dislikes him, not that I disagree.

"You may want to watch out though, he's an utter fucker." She warns while looking me over, "Then again, he might not want to mess with you." She takes the bag with a small smile and nods to me. "I suppose I should thank you, so ya, thanks." She gives an awkward but truthful thank you. "I am curious, were you serious about, all that?" She asks after a moment.

I pack away the little carvings I bought. "No problem, that Dragon is something else." I pack away my things and move away so she can lie back down. "Hmm, it depends, but if you see him without wings, it wasn't me. Have a good day, Aurora." I answer vaguely before walking off without another word.

Missing the look of slight respect, and interest she has as I do so.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I decided on Mantle Bloom, I wanted something more complex and less simple, but also still simple enough that Shade would come up with it. Thank you all for the absolutely lovely suggestions and names.

We've been in the Dragon Lands for a bit, and I decided we needed at least one more asshole. So introducing, Obsidian, an asshole.

I hope you all had a lovely Holliday, see you all on Monday.

Chapter 255

FEB 23 Friday.

I look over the large gem with a critical eye, making sure everything is as it should be and it won't explode by accident.

It's been two days since the incident with Obsidian and I'm happy to say I haven't seen him again, I even checked in on Aurora again yesterday for a little while to have her cut one last gem for me. A two-foot wide and three-foot-long diamond that thins by a few inches at one end making an uneven rectangle.

It took Aurora a few hours to carve it out and I had to lug it for a while, the diamond is also not the best quality. It has a few large cracks in it and is cloudy on the thinner side, but it's more than powerful enough for my needs. I've been spending a little time since then working on my gift for Torch.

I plan to ask Larimar about how to actually try and meet him, but that's for later today. As for what I'm making? Well, I had to think for a while what a Dragon like Torch would even want. I know he's massive in size and probably has a fair few things of his own so after a lot of thought I've decided on making something a bit more creative.

I could have made a shield like I did for Larimar, but protection from other Dragons is one of the few things Torch doesn't need. So, like I said I got more creative with my ideas and decided to make something very simple, almost mind-numbingly simple in fact.

Water is a bit or a problem in the Dragon Lands, and it's a bigger problem for larger Dragons, as I learned from Larimar a few days ago. Turns out that while magic helps stave off hunger, it doesn't give the body water, meaning large Dragons actually need large amounts of water to stay alive.

My best theory is that magic can provide energy but not physical material. A dragon still needs to eat actual things and still needs water to live, and as a very large Dragon water is probably a bit of a problem for Torch. I expect he has his own private water source to drink from but that's not perfect and it might be a distance away from his home that he has to travel to very often, and that makes it a minor annoyance.

That is why I wish to provide a solution for him, I plan to gift him an easy-to-use endless source of water to drink from. It also is a very easy thing to set up for me, only taking a few hours of spell modification and a little enchanting. The result is the massive gem in front of me, slowly floating in the air.

I went with a similar design philosophy as I did with Larimar's shield. A large ball shield with the diamond floating in the middle of it, along with the ability for the diamond to be placed in midair wherever needed. This makes it easy for him to grab and move around along with simplifying the usage of the main effect.

The gem in the center will pull air inside the shield in large amounts before condensing it, and with the same water gathering and purification spells I used for the water flasks, it collects water inside the shield. The water that is produced will pour out of the shield from several small holes that I've made always appear on the bottom of the shield using a Down rune to tell the spell the correct direction.

It produces a pretty decent amount of water every second, it can generate a large amount of water if left somewhere where the water can pool together and gather below the floating gem. I inspect the spells one last time before nodding to myself and standing up with a stretch, Entropy hops over to me and merges into my shadow as she already knows the plan for today.

I normally spend a little of my time planning out things I need to do, and I often share those plans with Entropy so she knows as well. I pack up a few simple things and go through my mental schedule again, planning to leave the Dragon Lands for almost four weeks here.

I still have several things I want to do but it is nearing the time to leave, I have five days left before I plan to leave and make my way back to Griffonstone and get on a train. There is some good news, which is that the distance between the land bridge and Griffonstone is short enough for Entropy to travel in one teleportation.

With that, I can cut a day off of my travel time. I need to be back in Canterlot by the sixth of next month but the next train from Griffonstone to Canterlot leaves on the third of next month so while I could technically spend another day or two in the Dragon Lands I think it's best to wrap up this trip so I don't get delayed by something.

So I plan to leave the Dragon lands on the first of next month and make my way back to Griffonstone before spending two days there and getting on a train back home. That should get me home just in time to not miss anything important, and if something does delay us it shouldn't be too bad.

I spend a moment checking on the five seeds I got and making sure they are still alive. They seem to be and have stayed stable and dormant since I grew them, I'll just have to see if they work when I attempt to grow them. I grab my saddlebags and start to leave the cave, but stop for a moment when I hear something.

It's a small banging sound and after focusing my senses I notice a small Dragon knocking on the shield at the entrance of my cave. It doesn't take me more than a moment to put together that Smolder seems to have taken me up on my words of wisdom.

I said she should knock as more of a joke than anything, but she was very curious about me before so it's not too much of a surprise that she's trying to learn more about me. I stand still and think for a few moments. Smolder is far from a threat to me, the most she could do is tell others where I am, and after my demonstration I don't think she would do that.

I was planning on talking to Larimar again but getting a young Dragons perspective would be nice and changing things up a bit doesn't sound too bad. After some thought, I nod to myself and start to walk up to the entrance of the cave with a relaxed smile and a good mood.

I check if there is anyone else outside the cave, but it is just her alone, so I walk up with steady steps. As I near the shield I see her knocking on it and looking inside curiously, her eyes moving to me as I walk close enough for her to make me out in the darkness. "Hello again, thank you for being polite and waiting." I am also polite myself as I have no reason to be rude to her.

I see her back up a little from the shield after I get close enough for her to see me clearly. "Sure? Is that really all it takes for you to be so, nice?" She asks seriously and seems interested in ponies to an extent. "Oh ya, I heard you stood up to an adult Dragon, is that true? Because that sounds badass." She adds after a moment with a surprisingly relaxed mood.

I chuckle a little at her slightly energetic and pretty chill attitude, but also take notice of her gossip. I can tell she's a little nervous, occasionally looking at other things but also making sure to keep me in her vision at all times. Not that I blame her, I'm mostly an unknown and this is the Dragon Lands.

I nod slowly after a moment. "For me it is, politeness can get you a lot further than you may think, at least with the right creatures. As for that mess? In a way, I mostly just told him what would happen if he crossed me." I answer with a shrug of my own. "So, what brings you here?" I ask, moving past the topic quickly.

She seems smart enough to notice what I'm doing, and also smart enough to not press me on it, but she isn't very good at hiding her expressions. She frowns a tiny bit, but it quickly leaves, "Huh, good to know?" She sounds a bit uncertain and shakes her head a little after a moment. "So, you fine with, talking some more?" She changes the subject and asks me with some trepidation and awkwardness.

I did say a change of pace would be nice, and Larimar can wait a little longer. I nod after a moment and her face lifts into a small smile after my agreement. "Why not, lets go outside though, I need some air." I give a blatant excuse to not meet inside the cave and walk through the shield and past her.

It's the early morning and the sun has only been up for a little while, the small valley we're inside is still mostly shaded. I pick a random spot a little away from the cave and place some cloth down to lie on while Smolder follows from a few feet behind me. I lay down and turn to her, "So, anything in particular you want to talk about? I don't have too long so we might have to be quick" I ask while bringing out my teapot. I do want to talk to her but I have a time limit and it's fairly strict.

She looks around for a moment and eventually decides to just sit down on the rocky ground in front of me. "Umm, mmm." She doesn't answer immediately and instead looks around a little, eventually looking at the teapot I'm filling with water, "What is that? And what are you doing with it?" She points a claw at me and the teapot.

I smile a bit and activate the enchantment on the metal teapot to heat the water inside. "You're not the only curious one, I'll be asking you questions as well, deal?" I offer while taking out some tea leaves. She just nods immediately without saying anything, "It's a teapot, and I'm making tea." I answer bluntly, a little surprised she doesn't know what it is. "I'd think you'd have seen this in a Pony city?" I ask back, curious at her lack of knowledge.

She looks at my saddlebags with attentive eyes and watches as I make my tea. She looks a bit bashful at my words and scratches the back of her neck, "Ya, I haven't gone to Pony Land, yet!" She adds the last word quickly. "I, well, I haven't gotten to go yet, my Mother won't let me," I note the use of a Dragon word along with the rather amusing name Dragons have for Equestria.

It takes me a moment but I'm pretty sure she meant her mother. "Hmm, well, she must have her reasons," I comment and pour myself some tea before taking out a second teacup and filling it as well. She raises a brow as I pass the filled cup to her, "I thought you might like to try it." I offer neutrally.

The tea is the mint and lemon variant of Blood Leaf Tea, and while normally I wouldn't give it to others I see no harm in doing so here. She seemed genuine when she asked what a teapot was, it's doubtful she'd know that this tea was special. She stares at the cup for a few moments before taking it gently and spending a moment getting a finger through the small handle. "Oh, ok? So I just, drink it?" I nod while sipping my own tea.

She brings it up to her maw and tastes it by dipping her long tongue in the tea first. She tastes it for a few moments before shrugging and dumping the entire cup in her open maw like a shot. "Ssss." The quiet hiss sounds pleased, and the smile she has grows a bit. "That's, pretty good actually, what is this?" She seems more intrigued and passes her cup back to me.

I chuckle a bit at her confusion while I refill her cup slowly, "Normally you take sips and drink it slowly, it lasts longer and you get to enjoy it longer as well." She just looks confused at the idea but nods regardless. "There are an endless number of tea types, made from many things. But in the end, tea is just flavoring water using different plants or spices." I give her a painfully simple explanation of tea to move past the topic. "So, how'd you hear about me and that one Dragon?"

She takes a slower sip of the tea but also breaks the delicate teacup's handle in the process as she grips it a little too tightly. "Uhhh, shit." She looks hesitant and I just laugh a little at her predicament as she manages to keep hold of the cup before it can fall, while the handle breaks off entirely. "I, I'll just hold this thing like... This." She puts the cup in her palm.

I nod and don't make a problem out of it, I can always get more cups and these ones are just some I bought and aren't special to me, that was also pretty funny. She shifts on the ground a bit and takes another drink while thinking, "I first heard about it at the market, I was buying gems." She starts to explain.

I'm tempted to take notes, but I do need to relax a little so I just remember things as I listen. "Something about a Pony and this Dragon looking pissed? Obisodi- No." She seems to draw a blank on the name and shakes her head a little. "Doesn't matter, I heard you really pissed them off about something, he was complaining to others about it I think." She moves on from her attempts to remember.

It seems Obsidian is madder than I thought he was, then again some Dragons value their pride quite a bit. I nod and refill her cup again as she holds it out, the handle broken off on the ground excluded. I refill it as I have plenty of tea, "They say anything interesting?" I ask curiously. I was expecting something like this honestly, but it's still a little annoying to hear about.

She thinks for a moment, scratching her arm a bit. "Yes? I think that Dragon you angered was asking about you." I feel myself focusing more as it seems this might be more trouble than I thought. She huffs a little smoke out, "I don't know, I think I saw them paying others to find things out? I guess you might want to prepare? Or run?" She offers in a relaxed tone.

I can tell she's not really worried about it, and that makes sense, this isn't her problem and she's already been helpful with the warning. I nod my thanks, "No need for that, a warning is enough." I say vaguely, already planning out a few things in my head. "So, anything in particular you wanted to ask about?" I ask as she doesn't seem to know all that much about Obsidian and his plans, I'll have to ask Larimar to see how serious this all is.

She blinks a few times and stares at me before nodding. "That whole, lightning thing was magic, right?" I nod. "Ya that, I want to learn about magic." She says bluntly and I'm again not too surprised. "So, how? Like do you just know how to do that? Does it take a long time to learn?" She drops a few vague questions on me.

I again chuckle a bit, finding her curiosity and ignorance a little refreshing. "How is a very complicated question, and yes I had to learn how to do that. It's the accumulation of over a decade of study and constant training." I say, trying to prove a point on how time-consuming it is.

She tilts her head a little, nodding. "Ok, so? Like, all of you know how to do that? I mean I could have learned that if it's that quick." She reasons and I nearly sigh as I realize my mistake. A decade is a lot to a Pony, it's basically nothing for a Dragon, even a young one.

I think for a few moments and shake my head. "There are a lot of very complicated reasons, but to simplify, you are half correct. I'm not sure a Dragon can learn magic but it should be possible. The problem is everything else you need to learn first." I explain as she quickly drinks through another cup of tea.

"You need years of dedicated study and practice, along with the actual knowledge itself, something that's really hard to find here." I motion around us. "So maybe? It depends on a lot of things, and I'm no expert in anything like this." I am blatantly honest with her as I honestly don't know.

I can't see a reason why a Dragon couldn't learn runic magic, but I also don't know if there would be problems and differences in trying to do so. I let her finish the cup of tea and stand up to pack up my things. "I probably should get going, I still have someone to meet." I decided to end our meeting a little abruptly despite the shortness of it.

She jumps out of her thoughts and looks up at me, she just nods and stands up as well not questioning me. I decided to end this early as I do have things I need to do and she doesn't seem to know much. I also don't really feel like diving down the rabbit hole of explaining magic to her in detail.

She picks up the broken cup handle and awkwardly holds it out to me with the cup. "Ya, sorry about, that." She looks away a bit and that nearly makes me chuckle again at her tone. "The, tea? Ya, that was good, so, thanks." She tries to improve the situation, and I notice she looks at the small broken cup curiously as she holds it out to me.

I think for a moment and shake my head. "You can keep it if you like, I don't have any use for it now. Consider it thanks for the warning." It's a very small payment for the warning she gave me but she seems happy enough and smiles before retracting her hand. "By the way, my name is Shade, nice to meet you."

She tilts her head a bit and nods again. "Smolder, see you around, and ahh, try not to die?" She looks uncertain and shrugs once again. "That black Dragon really did look angry, he might do something about it." She gives me a clearer warning in a more clear tone, as she knows from experience, which she probably does.

I finish packing my things and nod back, "I'll be fine. Have a good day, Smolder." I keep my goodbye short before turning and starting my walk outside of the valley, I still have a meeting to get to after all. I do find Smolder interesting, she's the only young Dragon who's been curious enough to seek me out.

We honestly didn't have much to talk about, and what she wanted to learn would take me far too long to explain. Maybe I could bring her a few books if I even come back here? I am curious if a Dragon can actually learn magic. I leave my thoughts as it doesn't take me long to find Larimar sitting where she always does.

As I approach she looks at me with those slightly attentive eyes. She waits in silence as I set my things down and start on some fresh tea as mine has gone cold while walking here. "Larimar, good to see you as always." I start things off like I normally do.

She nods slowly and lies her head back down. "Shade, it seems you've caused some trouble." She hints rather bluntly and I sigh slowly. It seems I really do have a problem if even she knows about this. She chuckles a bit at my reaction, "As if that whelp could threaten you. It is rather annoying dealing with whelps though." She agrees with my growing annoyance.

I rub my nose a bit and just sigh again. "I would rather not have to deal with it at all. Do you think it's likely he'll try something? I could just avoid him completely if I tried." I say that second part more to myself but also wanting to hear her thoughts. I take a long drink of my tea and try not to stress and worry too much over all of this.

"Ssss. Possibly." She remarks in a rather simple way. "That whelp may try something, just put him in his place. Or do that now, but from what I've heard about that one he's very stubborn, he may just get back up again." I take out my notebook and just nod, taking her words to heart. "What did you even do to make him like that?" She asks.

I shrug and be honest. "Threatened to cut off his wings, and heal them back on to do it again." My mood has taken a bit of a downturn at the confirmation that Obsidian might be an actual problem for me. Larimar stays silent to my words, but her eyes focus a bit. "What should I expect from him?"

She moves her tail a bit and thinks for a moment. "You really don't act like a normal predator, you're more, vengeful." She makes a blatant observation yet again, striking close to the truth. "A fight is pretty obvious, probably where others can watch as you made him back down in front of many. It's a matter of pride for him, I assume, foolish." She seems to disapprove of his pride and shows it slightly in her tone.

I chuckle a bit and nod despite the slightly bad mood I'm now in. "Pride before the fall." I use a saying from my old life as it comes to mind. "If I wanted to meet the Dragon Lord, how would I go about doing that?" I ask changing the subject while making more mental plans for later. It seems I'll need to keep my senses sharp and prepare for this asshole.

She chuckles a little, the heavy vibrations felt through the ground beneath me. "Yes, I expected you'd ask something like that eventually." It seems Larimar has me pinned down a bit, she's starting to actually figure my personality out a little. "What are you hoping to gain from meeting him? What answers do you seek?" She asks with a neutral tone like normal.

I think about that for a few moments. I could ask Torch about a lot, but one thing truly stands out a little above what he could tell me. "It's said he wields a powerful magical artifact, supposedly to control other Dragons. I don't even want to touch that thing if it's even real, messing with powerful magic like that is a bad idea." I am truthful and quickly add the second part so she doesn't get the wrong idea. "It is a very interesting thing, and if anyone would know anything about it, it's him."

She stays silent and eyes me for a few moments. "Hmm, good, many have tried in the past and it never ended well." She seemed very certain about that and I raised a brow in surprise not knowing if the item was actually real. "Yes, it exists. I have seen a few others try to take it, it only accepts one master at a time." She says like that explains everything.

I make several notes quickly. "So what do you know about it? All I've been able to piece together is that it's a powerful item and the reason a Dragon Lord has such power. Even then my sources disagreed on basically everything so I'm not sure that's even correct." I half lie as I really don't know much about the item in question.

I blindly guessed the Bloodstone Scepter lets the user control Dragons in some way, but the show never fully stated that so confirmation would be good. I watch her large eye blink, a second transparent eyelid moving over her eye slightly faster than her outer eyelid.

It's a small but interesting thing that lets a Dragon keep their eyes open when breathing flame, keeping the eyes safe from the fire while still being able to see. They also use it when bathing in lava, although it doesn't let them keep their eyes open when their head is inside lava, it's too fragile to protect them fully, and doing that can damage the eyes.

She blinks her eyes and keeps talking. "Little, I've seen it many times. I know it can control other Dragons, and I do mean that literally." She emphasized to me and I made more notes while feeling a little shocked that I was actually correct. "Beyond that, I know it is called the Bloodstone Scepter, and that it reacts, violently to others trying to take it." She finishes with a certain finality to her tone.

Well, that's concerning. I only knew that the staff existed and guessed it was magical, I actually know very little about it. For all I know it could have just been some staff the Dragon Lord used as a prize for his gauntlet, but it seems to be much more than I thought it would be.

Yet another reason to investigate then, an artifact like that is something that should be watched closely. At least it can't be stolen easily, well not by a Dragon. I make several notes and try to plan out how to approach the Dragon Lord. "Do you know where he lives? I would rather not get lost before walking into his home and trying to talk with him." I joke a little bit.

She huffs a little smoke out. "Yes, and I can give you directions easily enough. I will warn you, it's best to bring a gift. Call it a, tradition, a bribe, or whatever you like." She says with a small bit of humor. "Many have spoken to him before, so just bring something good and you will at least be heard." She gives me some simple enough advice.

I nod as I was already planning to do just that. I flip through my notes trying to find something else to ask about, and eventually, I find a topic I remembered recently. "This is another vague one. But what do you know about greed growth? Or greed increasing the size of a Dragon?" I ask as a change in subject.

I look up from my notes quickly as Larimar snaps her head and looks at me, now much more focused on our conversation, far more than I've ever seen before. Her eyes heavily narrowed and with an intense stare, her body actually tensing slightly as she eyed me in a whole new way. "How do you know of that?" Her tone is deadly serious and slightly, excited.

I look up at the large and VERY focused Dragon with one thought. :Fuck:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 996

I couldn't dedicate too much time to Smolder, so I thought I'd at least add one more small encounter with her. We might not see her again on this trip though. Also, I thought Obsidian being open about his actions makes more sense, so ya.

Also, this one will be continued.

Chapter 256

FEB 23 Friday.

I tense my body and nearly try to back up or move my eyes away from her, but the look in her eyes isn't hostile, just extremely focused.

I try to run through all the different things that could cause such a reaction but it doesn't make much sense. Dragon greed growth was something plainly shown in the show, but now that I'm thinking about it no Dragon has mentioned it while I've been here.

Not a single reference or even a hint of greed growth. I try to quickly search my mind for the slightest hint but I come up empty after a few moments, nothing at all. I look up at her after a long few moments of silence, not entirely sure how to go about answering the massive Dragon.

Her look alone tells me she's not going to take no for an answer, her eyes still highly narrowed and focused as I gather my thoughts. I'm also not one to just tell her the truth about this situation, and her extreme focus is making me a little nervous about revealing anything.

It never really occurred to me that greed growth could be something desired by Dragons, a trait they might value for the power it can bring. Is it rare? An ability not many have? I haven't seen anything like it while here and Larimar's excitement makes it seem likely.

So what to tell her? Maybe a half-truth then, she's too smart and focused not to notice a full lie. The silence stretches on for a while as I finally speak again, "I came across it from a storybook." Her eyes widen a bit and she moves her head back a few feet, not changing her expression. "It was very basic and not detailed in any way, but it was about a very young Dragon Growing into a massive Dragon from Greed," I explain after a moment, making sure to sound caught off guard.

I watch for a moment as she seems to think over my words. "I suppose there is more to that story than just entertainment than?" I ask, keeping my calm as best I can. I chuckle a little, "If so then you Dragons have a truly amazing amount of abilities." I say truthfully to try and sound just as relaxed as normal.

Her eyes are less focused, but she's still giving me her undivided attention and I can tell she doesn't fully believe my words. "An odd story for a Pony to read." She comments before lapsing into silence for a long time, nearly a full minute. I think she's trying to stress me so I just remain outwardly calm and try to center my mind.

"Yes." I raise a brow at her simple answer. "It is real, and it is amazing and terrifying, in equal measure." She answers very deliberately, not making it known if she can tell I'm not telling the entire truth. "There has only ever been two wars amongst us Dragons, that I remember at least." She lays down a topic that complexly throws me off balance again,

I make a few notes quickly and she keeps her eyes firmly on me as the tension rises while she speaks. "The Dragon Lord rules uncontested, no Dragon is able to resist the scepter's power, but greed is a powerful thing." At this point, I am both extremely fascinated and also a bit concerned.

She takes a long breath and blows out some flame and smoke before focusing on me once again. "Sometimes, very rarely, a Dragon is born different. They don't look different, in any way, but they are. Those Dragons gain power from greed, and greed is not so limited." She starts to get a little vague about her explanation and I know she's holding back.

We look at each other for a few moments and I sigh before letting out a long breath, not really interested in playing this game. "Look, we've been relaxed and calm. I honestly don't know much about this, barely anything, and I did learn about it from a foal story." I say in a far more blunt and level tone, dropping any pretense.

She raises a brow as if to challenge my words. "How about we just be blunt here, not honest just blunt, fuck the fancy words and avoiding the topic like it's made from molten metal." I stare down the massive Dragon and do just about the most stupid thing I can, I bluff. I cut off her being vague and tried to push the topic.

She stares at me silently for a long few moments, before finally smiling, showing off her massive teeth in the largest smile I've ever seen her have. She laughs, not chuckles, full-on booming laughter. "Good, I'd be disappointed if that was enough to make you back down. Keep your secrets, I haven't paid for them after all, but you did pay for me to answer you." Her tone is less serious and her eyes return mostly to normal as the building tension breaks.

"You are talented, even I can't tell if that was a lie." She says honestly. I don't give any indication one way or the other and after a few more moments she lays her head back down to relax again. Internally I'm very surprised that it worked, and surprised she's so open about things, but she's a Dragon after all. "Very well, let's be honest in our lies." She says before shifting her large body while I finally feel my body relax a little.

The mood has abruptly shifted and it's now clear Larimar was doing more than just questioning me. She was testing my limits, seeing how far I would go. "Greed growth is a very rare ability some are born with, and it is very rare. I only know of three in our history." She uses her normal tone and starts to explain properly.

I nod slowly and smile back, deciding to take her words literally and be honest with my lies. "Great, I'm getting tested by Dragons now," I mumble and she just keeps her now small smile. "So, I'm going to guess that the power of greed growth is just about the only thing that can stand up to the Dragon Lord? And when there is no clear leader, war." I summarized what I picked out from her earlier words.

She blinks and nods a small bit. "Yes, it's only happened twice, the other Greed Dragon, yes that's the name for them, they became the Dragon Lord through a fight with the reigning Dragon Lord." That actually makes a decent amount of sense. "That was before my time though." I flick my ear and let that sink in.

Even Larimar doesn't know how old she is, and if this happened before she was born then she'd be one of a very few who even remember it at all. I make notes rapidly, "So what is a Greed Dragon? The names make it obvious, but what is the actual ability like? And what about the other two?" I don't try to phrase my question as something else and just be forward with her.

She flicks her tongue as I drink some tea to help calm down more. "Like I said, they don't look different, it all comes down to greed. When a Greed Dragon is filled with greed they magically grow in both size and strength, often at the cost of control, but it's said that the downside can be overcome." She explains and seems mostly back to normal. "Tell me, how greedy do you think a Dragon can get?" She asks back.

I shrug a little. "I'd guess there was no limit. Loss of control can also feed into more greed, a loop." I guess and she nods. "So at least two wars, probably from those two you haven't mentioned. I guess it's cause for concern, a Dragon like that is a dangerous thing." I keep up the tempo of the conversation and piece her words together with guesses.

She lifts her head and scratches her neck for a moment, the sound of her scratching loudly echoing around me. "I know little about the first war, it may not have even been the first for all I know. It started when a Greed Dragon declared war on the Dragon Lord, and in some way protected those under them from the Bloodstone Scepter's control."

I pause again at that. It would definitely do it, a direct challenge to a Dragon Lord's power is a mess waiting to happen. "The second is the one who took over by fighting the ruling Dragon Lord, she won and ruled for a long time. She died when I was young, a volcano erupted where she was sleeping." She seems to think for a moment and bears her teeth a little.

I keep writing everything down and start to get a little concerned for a certain small green Dragon. The good news is that they can't tell the difference between Spike and a normal baby Dragon, but I really need to inform Celestia about this when I get home. On the upside it does mean Spike might be able to control his ability to his benefit, having such power is no small thing.

She blows out a puff of fire from her nose and I see her second eyelids move over her eyes for a moment. "The third is the most recent, and was around when I was young." Her tone takes a slightly dark turn to it. "Dark, Dragon Lord of greed." She uses a title and I flip a page to add to my already extensive notes.

"He waged a war against a particularly ruthless Dragon Lord, one not well-liked. So, Dark waged war on him, and won after a long battle. He led us into that battle, me included." She relives and her eyes move to a large scar around the base of her neck. "Dark dethroned the Dragon Lord in that battle and took the scepter through combat." She has a little sadness in her tone, just a bit and it quickly leaves.

I stop taking notes and just started copying down her words for later while making mental notes for later on certain things. "I honestly don't have the context to understand," I say truthfully. "I can agree to overthrowing bad leadership though, and war is never a pretty thing." I sympathize with her a little as war takes much from everyone involved.

She looks back at me and nods slowly. "Yes. After the war Dragon Lord Dark reigned for a long time, but the greed was too much in the end. Ssss, he went mad." She says with a loud hiss and narrowed eyes, staring off into the distance behind me. "That's all I really know though, a few others might know more, but it was a very long time ago and greed growth is far too rare to be understood well." She seems to cut her explanation short.

I think I've hit a nerve, something in her past that she would rather not talk about more. So I just take what I've gotten already and end the topic. "I guess so, not that it really matters. I'm not going anywhere near a Dragon with such an ability, I'm not that foolish." I lie and joke at the same time while moving on from the topic.

She doesn't react to the joke and just waits for me to keep talking, to ask something else in our seemingly endless conversations. "Let's talk about where you all live. What is a Dragon's home like?" I ask something completely unrelated as I settle in again, my mind thinking through several things.

She keeps her slight smile as she speaks. "This is what I like about Ponies, you just drop a topic when asked, I don't even need to hit you." She points out my changing the topic as some type of compliment. "It depends, many younger Dragons carve out homes inside caves. Rooms are more pleasant than a simple cavern."

I've seen a few unoccupied caves with some rooms carved out inside them, the cave I'm staying in seems to have been carved out as well from what I can tell. "So not too different then, something similar, how sharp are your claws? And is there a way to make them sharper? Do you sharpen them? Cutting through stone isn't an easy thing." I've seen many Dragons rubbing claws together as if sharpening them but I was never sure.

Larimar moves one of her own claws over and digs it into the stone ground with a smooth motion. "The more a claw is used the sharper it is, I believe it may be a form of magic actually. If it is then it's not done on purpose, but some train by scratching and carving hard things, like gems or hard stones." She explains while moving her hand again and smoothly slicing a boulder in two.

So it's like my TK field in a way, through practice they can train their claws to be sharper than before. She's probably right that it's passive magic of some form, but it can be trained, an interesting avenue of study. It's not too uncommon though, earth ponies are the same with their strength and pegasi with their speed.

"So, do you decorate your homes? Anything interesting that stands out?" I ask and flip to yet another page to make more notes.

time skip

I watch the sunset as I walk back to the cave I've been calling home.

I wonder what I should do with this place after I leave? If I ever come back to the Dragon Lands I don't really need this specific cave so I can just abandon it. It's not like the Dragons would care if they found it, especially the young ones, who are most likely to find my cave after I leave.

I shake my head a little and focus my thoughts on the things I've learned while speaking with Larimar. The Greed Dragon situation is concerning but not a massive problem at the moment. I'll need to pass all this off to Celestia and Twilight as well, probably Twilight's family too.

I'll think about that later though, for now, I don't have much to worry about. The only Dragons that might hear about Spike's birth are the young Dragons that come to trade, and they are likely to brush it off as a silly story because they have never heard of a Greed Dragon before.

All those events are so old they have mostly been forgotten, so it's only elder Dragons that might be a problem and they don't have a reason to go to Equestria. Something that's more worrying is that Larimar knows I'm not telling the truth, at least not all of it.

She's fine with letting it go but it's clear from the way she reacted to my bluff that she knows I'm lying. I think she doesn't want to press me though, apparently it's not worth it at the moment. Still, I'm going to be more careful with my words until I leave and probably not mention the topic again just to be safe, she doesn't seem to know too much anyway.

It's clear she has a history with it and she would rather not talk about it, I'm surprised she shared as much as she did. She admitted to being in a war and losing her ruler, I'm not sure if they were close as she's very good at hiding her emotions, but it's not a topic I should bring up again regardless.

As for Obsidian? He's not a massive concern, he's unlikely to ambush me because he would want to humiliate me instead and that takes an audience. Even if he does try that I will see it coming from a mile away, I'll remain vigilant anyway though as that's never hurt me before.

As for fighting him? If it comes to that I'll do it, weakness is a bad thing to show here, and if nothing else I want to not go down without a fight. Also, a small part of me will admit that I want to fight him as well, because why not? That small part of me still calls for battle, the same part I feel when sparring with Shining and Stone.

I keep it tempered and controlled though, I do not want to become some battle-blind maniac that seeks out every fight they can. I sigh a little and stop holding my body as straight as I walk into my little cave home, watching Entropy leave my shadow and stand on my back as I do so.

She looks at me and tilts her head a little before moving over and starting to preen my mane. "Ok? Why not?" She asks while straightening parts of my mane a little. I smile at her and pet her a little before taking off my saddlebags, placing them down, and getting comfortable on my makeshift bed made from wood and cloth.

I pick her up and lie down on my side before placing her next to me. "I'm fine Girl. I just wish I could keep myself out of trouble for one vacation." I laugh a little at the luck that has plagued my life, being both a blessing and a curse. "Do you remember that day with the bear? The time you saved me?" I ask curiously as she snuggles into my side.

She tilts her head and lets out a few small chirps. "Yes, big bear, scared." She chips out softly with a slightly somber tone and I pet her more while keeping my smile. "Save you, love." She quickly gains a more positive tone and picks herself up from those darker thoughts.

I nod with my smile still in place. "It was scary, but you saved me. Then you did it again, and again." I move over and kiss her on the side of the head. "Thank you, Girl, you've done so much for me." I give her the most genuine thank you as she's done more for me than she may ever know.

She moves her head over to my muzzle and mimics a kissing sound. "You saved me too." She uses more words than normal and doesn't break her speech up. I laugh and move over to hug her happily, she stretches out her wings to hug me back for a few moments. When I pull back she looks at me and tilts her head a little. "Dinner?" She asks while trying to be cute.

I laugh again at the innocent tone she uses and nod before standing up off my makeshift bed. "Sure. We still have that fish so let's do some grilling." I agree happy to have my little ball of fluff to keep my spirits up and my thoughts away from darker places.

I walk over and open a wooden box I made and open it. I bought a good amount of fish from the market a few times to supplement the things I grow to feed me and Entropy. I take out a whole salmon and start to work on it with my dagger, slowly breaking down the fish so it can be cooked, all while Entropy tries to beg scraps off of me.

Once it's broken down I take the leftover bits and put them in a pile to the side before growing two skewers and placing the fish over the fire to cook while I grow a few fruits to eat as well. As I'm growing the fruits I glance at the pile of leftover fish bits, and it gives me an idea.

I have them in a pile for now and I was planning on just throwing them into the fire to burn up like I normally do. I've never really tried to decompose flesh before though, and this seems like a decent opportunity to try. I reach out to the pile containing fish bones, flesh scraps, fish guts, and the fish's head.

I do the same as I always do and visualize them decomposing while using my life magic and letting it follow my will. I immediately notice that it's taking more magic than normal, but only around double. After a second the flesh starts to wither, the scales dry and flake, the bones becoming whiter and whiter, the fish head visibly degrading away.

The flesh quickly deteriorates into the soil along with the guts and the fish's eyes. After a few more seconds the scales flake off into dirt and the last thing remaining is the bones, which don't seem to rot after a moment. I add more and more life magic before eventually the bones crack and start to break down as well, slowly turning into soil like everything else.

A minute after I started and all that remains is a small pile of black dirt, not a bone or scale remaining. It's odd that I can decompose the bones to begin with, it took much more magic but they aren't really alive and are more like rocks that the body makes. So how? Well, maybe I've been looking at this wrong?

The rotting of material normally happens from microorganisms eating things and breaking them down. I might be unknowingly taking advantage of this and making the microorganisms rapidly breed and devour the living material. Or maybe the magic is directly manipulating the material to mimic that process without the actual organisms?

I guess there isn't really a way to know for sure without some way to see microorganisms, something to maybe look into later. I take a moment to leave my thoughts and flip the fish, watching and feeling Entropy teleport over to me as I sit next to the campfire on the wooden floor.

Feeling the space bend and stretch in such odd ways from her teleportation gets me thinking, my mind already pondering about theories from before. I've made massive progress in my space magic, both in my conversion ratio and my control over it, so maybe it's finally time to experiment with teleportation.

This is also a pretty good place to do it as there are very few important things around here. After thinking for a few movements I bring over my notebook and start to think while cooking the fish slowly. First I need a method to start off with, something to base my efforts on.

I'm not sure I can copy Entropy's style right now. It's hard to keep track of while watching it and I don't have any solid information. From my point of view, while watching her teleport, it looks like Entropy rips the space apart, literally ripping the fabric of reality at a certain point.

I believe the Void overlaps with our spatial plane, and she's basically ripping her way through to another spatial plane below this one to travel through it. That's my best theory at least, but do I want to copy that method? It has the advantage of being able to just copy Entropy, and potentially having her retrieve me from the Void if I get stuck there in some way.

On the downside it seems like a big first step to just start ripping apart reality, I might end up somewhere else entirely and be lost forever. So if I'm going to do this I should start by only using this spatial plane before moving on, but then how am I supposed to go about this?

In theory, there are a few different methods, but my best bet is probably to just try to shorten the distance between two points in space. I sort my thoughts and move over to the mostly empty side of the cavern, having only my bed near me, I bring over a small pebble from the cavern floor by the campfire.

I start by doing something simple, I form a tube shape with space magic, three feet long and five inches wide. Then I take it and simply compress the space along the length of the tube, pulling both flat sides to touch the other in the center. The space stretches where all the space is compressed, but it's odd.

I take the pebble and feed it to one end of the tube, but nothing happens, it moves normally through the space where the tube was before I compressed it. I let the Spatial Structure collapse with a small pop and think for a moment. That didn't work like I expected it to.

The Spatial Fabric is very stretchy, when I compressed the tube it filled that formally normal space by stretching the space around it so that there was no void, no clear break in the Spatial Fabric. It's like bunching up a stretchy fabric at one point, the fabric around it just stretches to fill the gap. After some thought, I formed another tube the same size as the last one.

Instead of moving the walls of the tube, I move the insides while keeping the Spatial Structure the same. I compress the space as much as I feel comfortable with, the area of the tube bending space a very small amount but otherwise looking mostly normal.

I take the pebble and move it through one end, and I feel as if I keep moving it through the space, but I only need to move it an inch or two before it appears on the other end, three feet away from its original location. Visually all I see is a slight brown streak as the space stays a little bent.

I toss the pebble through without holding it in my space magic and it comes flying out of the other end a half second later. I then drop it from above at the middle of the tube and it comes out the other side on the bottom a fraction of a second later.

I feel the Rebound building and move the space back to normal before letting go instead of just letting it snap back, this action removes most of the Rebound but consumes more magic. I make a few notes while looking at the small pebble with a smile on my face. :It seems I'm not as far away from this as I thought:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

Not too much in this one, mostly just more talking.

Any ideas on how Shade could learn to Teleport? Spatial compression is only one way but I'm no expert and wouldn't mind any idea if you have them.

Chapter 258

FEB 26 Monday.

I slowly wake up from a deep sleep to the soft sounds of the campfire and the small cavern I've been living inside.

I stretch my body and spend a few moments looking over my wound from the previous day. That fight was both exciting and messy, a bloody mess that took me almost an hour to scrub out of my fur. Still, it went about how I expected it to be considering the circumstances.

The fight was never going to be to the death, the Dragon Lord's rules on that were clear and I remember a few of the market guards watching everything closely. I presume that's why Obsidian was only trying to grab or bite me instead of just blasting me with all his fire full force.

He did use his fire, but never very much of it and I've seen Dragons of his size output a lot more than what he used. He was trying to injure and disable me with flame, but not kill me outright. With so many witnesses he'd be in very big trouble if he did actually kill me in that fight.

Still, there was a good amount of risk to everything I did and I could have come out much worse. My wound was very shallow and was pretty easy to clean and treat, I used a skin healing spell to cover the wound with new skin instead of stitching it closed, it will prevent a scar from being formed as well and it also means I don't need a bandage.

The flesh underneath is still tender and regrowing, but I've been feeding that part of my body a little life magic over time to speed the healing up. I don't have the confidence to fully heal it in one go, even though I think it's well within my ability at this point, I decided to take things slow so nothing unexpected happens.

I cast a scanning spell on myself to check the wound and bring over a piece of paper to see the results. I focus my eyes on the paper for a moment and blink before recasting the spell again, I expected the wound to have healed at most a quarter from the life magic I added to it.

The scan seems convinced that it's over a third healed already, which makes no damned sense. Ponies don't heal faster than humans and that small amount of life magic shouldn't have been enough to cause this much of an effect. I press on the wound through my skin and start to inspect it myself through the layer of skin.

After a few minutes, I keep my confused and thoughtful face as it seems the scan was right, my wound is already far more healed than it should be. I see Entropy wake up and immediately fly over to me, inspecting the area where my wound was visible the day before. "Ok?" She asks with some concern.

I nod with a smile. "Much better actually, I'll heal right up. Let's get some breakfast." I say and she rides me while I move around to gather a few things for a good meal. While making breakfast my thoughts wander to this conundrum but I stop for a moment as a thought strikes me.

The amount of life magic in my body is a lot higher than a normal Pony, several dozen times higher in fact. It's nothing like Celestia, Philomena, or even Entropy. It's still much higher though and I think that having that much life magic will extend my lifespan to a degree, no idea how long exactly but several other life magic practitioners lived a lot longer than normal so it seems likely.

I also know that Celestia can recover from wounds she considered fatal, if I had to guess my abundance of life magic is boosting my healing to an unknown degree. I don't really get injured often and I normally recover using healing spells when I do, I probably just never noticed.

It's not massive and even with several hours of rest and recovery, along with extra healing from life magic and a spell to heal the skin, I'm only a third healed. Still, it seems I'm a little more durable than I first thought I was, I'm not going to be throwing myself into danger though, and would rather not have something like this happen again.

I finish my food and enjoy a mostly peaceful breakfast if I don't count Entropy fussing over me like I'm a foal again. After breakfast, I spend some time gathering the things I'll need for today. The plan for today is different from the days before it, I'm going to be visiting Larimar so she can direct me to the Dragon Lord's home.

I just fought one of his subjects and mutilated them temporarily, he might have some words for me so it's best I get this over with quickly. I don't think he'll be extremely mad, many Dragons do this exact thing to each other and he doesn't seem to care in the slightest unless someone dies.

Then again I'm a Pony and an outsider causing trouble for his Dragons. Either way, I expect him to have heard the news of what happened already, it was far too public to not have spread like wildfire. I very slowly add a little more life magic to my wound to let it heal more and put on my saddlebags before leaving my cave.

Interestingly enough it seems my slightly reckless actions were finally enough for Entropy to work up the courage to not just hide in my shadow. She activates her band and stays on my back as I walk out into the small valley and start to make my way to Larimar in the dawn of a new day.

I am surprisingly relaxed at the moment, I have several things on my mind but nothing that's really stressing me. Most Dragons that see me as I walk look at me in a very different way, most with normal curiosity but some with respect. Even the small fact that my chances of being attacked again are much lower makes me pretty happy.

That whole fight may have been very unpleasant, but I don't need to be as paranoid or as attentive to the Dragons around me. I still pay attention but to a lesser degree, it gives me a nice bit of breathing room. I shake my thoughts away as I move through some rocks and spot Larimar waiting for me like normal.

She looks over at me, as unexpressive as ever, but she seems to be more relaxed than before. Laying on her side where her belly is a little visible but still giving me a look as intense as ever. I walk up to her and nod, "Larimar, enjoy the show? I certainly didn't." I make an honest joke about it all to not be as serious.

She lets out a small chuckle and snorts some smoke. "I only came after I heard the loud booms, by the time I arrived I only saw the very end." She reveals in a slightly relaxed tone, another change from her previous moods of level tones. "I do wonder why you seem to have dragged it out, it is rather dangerous." She reasons.

I don't care about how she sees this mess all that much, she knows why I did this and now knows a little more about how I fight. I shrug, "To make a statement, I doubt others will bother me now." I had a few reasons for not just cutting him up from the start and that was a big one.

I could have made a statement by just cutting off his legs instantly, but I needed a more flashy example for the others to see. It did backfire a bit when he lunged at me but that's the risk I took, and it's not like he left me much choice but to fight him so backing out wouldn't really work well.

I really doubt he'd keep any promise he would have made. I also did it to test out my lightning spells against a strong opponent, it turns out they work decently well against a Dragon. Larimar huffs a little more smoke and looks at me, "It seems you are also a skilled healer as well. A powerful combination." She takes note of my lack of any visible wounds.

I just nod as I've mentioned my healing ability before when talking about Obsidian so this is just confirmation for her. "I'm decent. Anyway, I didn't come here to talk much today." I get to the point as I want to deal with the Dragon Lord before anything else. "How do I get to the Dragon Lord's home?" I ask simply, making it clear we’ll talk about this another time.

She smirks a little at me and stares at me for a moment. "Clever." She doesn't elaborate and keeps her small smirk. "I will do one better, I'll lead the way there, it will be a long walk from here." She stands up and I pause hearing her words. I don't have much of a reason to mistrust her at the moment, but I still think it through before answering her.

"Sure, but we aren't walking all that way." My wound is near the bottom left of my chest and that means I can luckily use my wings without a problem. A few moments later after casting the Wing spell the wings fully form on my back as Larimar watches me curiously. "We need to stop somewhere, I'll lead the way." Me and Entropy take flight a moment later and fly up above her.

After we gain some distance and height from her Larimar opens her massive wings and also takes flight, flying in a direction while I quickly fly in front of her. I cast a Lightening spell to make flying easier and lead her back to the valley my cave is inside, while keeping an eye open to make sure no other Dragons follow us.

She just hovers in the air as I fly down and collect the gift I have for Torch, casting an opaque shield around the water-gathering gem to hide its true nature. When I fly back up with the shield ball being moved beside me Larimar looks at it and me, but she doesn't comment on it before nodding and turning to lead me to my destination.

She doesn't fly quickly so I'm easily able to keep up and mostly just glide along behind her as we fly. I watch the landscape change over the next hour of silent flight, neither of us talking as it would be hard to do so without yelling. The land becomes more uneven and mountainous than before.

Many more rivers of lava as the volcanic activity seems to only increase as we get closer to our destination. I see many larger Dragons as we fly, not all look old like an elder, but it's clear this area has more of the larger and stronger Dragons. Eventually, a large peak comes into view.

Land stretches out to my left and right with a sea splitting the middle of the area, the coast forming a v shape. Right at the point where the two coasts meet in the middle is a large mountain with several smaller mountains next to it. It stands on the ocean coast and it doesn't take me long to put it together that this is probably Torch's home.

Larimar stops flying forward and simply hovers for a moment before looking at me, she gives me a single nod before turning around and flying off. I don't need words to understand that she's taken me as far as she is willing to go, and I also don't really need more directions.

The large mountain is an active volcano but it seems more stable than others I've seen. A few small streams of lava and some smoke, but nothing more. At the base of the mountain, there is a large cave entrance with a lava river flowing out of one side of the cave and flowing into the sea nearby.

I look over at Entropy as she flies next to me. "Shadow." I give the simple instructions and start to descend from the sky. Entropy slips into my shadow immediately and I land outside the cave without issue. It's easily over a few hundred feet tall and wide and looks daunting.

I dismiss my wings and bring my gift with me, floating behind me as I walk inside. The ground is carved into a smooth surface and the walls have scattered carvings on them, most look to be very simple things and don't have any pattern to them.

The lava river flowing to the entrance flows along the tunnel to the left side in a carved-out channel, providing light as sunlight is blocked by the rock ceiling. As I walk deeper the tunnel looks less and less like a cave and more like a building. The walls had sections that bulged out in rounded pillars to support the now evenly arched ceiling, the walls caverned in an uncountable number of small carvings.

After a few hundred feet of walking with a consistent incline as I walk, there is a bend and a split, a smaller pathway going off to one side. I ignore that and continue to follow the large hallway-like tunnel as that seems like my best option. I continue to follow deeper and deeper, passing more offshoots before finally arriving somewhere.

The hallway opens up into an utterly massive cavern, dwarfing anything else I have seen in the Dragon Lands. The cavern is supported by eight massive stone pillars, each over a hundred feet thick and spaced a few hundred feet apart from each other, and all of them stretch a few hundred feet up. They form a perfect circle all together to support the cavern ceiling.

I stare up at the admittedly impressive display of carving and planning, after a moment I look forward and see what I came for. The walls of the cavern have a large moat of lava that wraps around the room and flows out down the tunnel I came from, lighting up the room well.

The mighty pillars sit on the edge of this moat and the circle of space in between the pillars is a flat and smooth platform. Near a small mountain of gold, gems, and a great many other things, lies Dragon Lord Torch looking over a ship in his hand. He sits there on a bed of gold at the foot of his hoard of wealth and just studies the ruined ship.

His wings are slightly splayed out, showing the small tears in his wing membranes and the scars that cover a good amount of his body. Several dozen spots have misaligned scales from old wounds and many more signs that he has seen a large amount of battle.

His dull blue scales cover his body and I see a band made from gold and some other metal on his right horn, what's really eye-catching is his chest piece. I've seen a few dragons with jewelry or armor, but not to this degree. The piece of black metal that covers his upper body looks titanic on his form.

He's easily the biggest Dragon I've seen so far, able to hold a very large ship in his clawed hand comfortably. After a long moment, I start to walk closer, casting a Flame Shield to deal with the heat of the room. As I walk close my hoof steps echo out and Torch turns his head to me.

His eyes focus on me and the item I'm carrying with clear interest, unlike Larimar he makes no effort to hide his expressions. He smiles at me as I close the distance, I stop before I get near his hoard and keep a respectful distance from it. I give a quick bow, breaking eye contact before standing up again. "Dragon Lord Torch, I have come with a gift and to speak with you, if you'll allow it?" I am polite and formal just to be safe.

There is silence for a long moment as Torch looks at me, a single one of his claws being multiple times the size of my entire body and then some. He looks at me and eventually, he laughs, loud and clear his laughter echoes throughout the cavern. "A Pony with some courage, to walk right into my home with a gift." He laughs more at his words and looks thoroughly amused.

His tone doesn't sound insulting, he simply seems to find the situation funny like other Dragons I've met. He stops laughing after a few moments and looks at me, lowering his head to be closer to the ground so I don't have to look up as much. Even then his size makes it difficult to find a comfortable way to look at him.

"I heard you put a whelp in their place, a bloody fight from what I've been told." He mentions the fight right away and seems, with an oddly cheery tone. "You are either mad or strong. Let us speak, show me what you have brought as a gift." He smiles widely and apparently has a jovial mood.

I am reminded of the king of Feather Falls for a moment, but Torch is much more than just hospitality. I take off the shield obscuring his gift and move a little closer while holding it up for him to see clearly. "I am sorry if fighting him inconvenienced you, but it was a good fight," I say honestly and try to take up a similar mood to him about the fight in hopes of keeping things friendly.

His tone is relaxed and confident, but not hostile or wary in any way. He chuckles loudly, "No, from what I heard the whelp started it, he should have known better." He says back and laughs at his own words. "Something magic? It is not often I get a gift like that." He reaches out a hand and taps the shield covering the floating gem with a claw, inspecting it slowly.

I start to relax more as I get a better feel for the ruler, he's far from formal and reminds me of a more outspoken Stone. An old warrior who likes to talk and boast about battles. I move it closer. "It floats wherever you want it to, just leave it in the air. All it does is produce water, pure drinkable water." I explain quickly as I don't think he will care about the details.

I move it back and tap it twice before moving it close to him. He doesn't move back or even look suspicious, he just watches as the gem activates and starts to gather water, the water simply falling down and splattering on the floor. There is another moment of silence as he watches the gem work for a few moments.

He raises a brow and with a calm and curious look moves the gem closer to his mouth before slipping his tongue out and lapping at the falling water. "Ssss, it is pure." He seems satisfied with it and turns back to me. "How does this thing work?" He turns it in his hand while holding it like a large marble.

It seems like he's at least somewhat satisfied with the gift so I quickly nod. I don't go into specific detail and instead give him basic information as I think he'd prefer that. "To turn it off and on, just tap it twice. Beyond that it will gather an endless supply of water from the air when active, it doesn't need anything else." There really isn't much to say about the gem beyond that,

He taps the shield very gently twice and it turns off. He smiles at the small item in his claws and moves his tail quickly to grab something from his immense pile of loot. He brings a metal bowl into view that is over thirty feet tall, he places it down to the side and puts the gem in the air above it before activating it again, letting the water fall into the bowl to pool.

"So this will just work?" I nod as it doesn't need anything else and he understands it well enough. He lets out another laugh and smiles widely. "A Pony who knows my needs well, a good gift indeed." He celebrates and shows no suspicion over the gift or any potential danger from it, whether he is blind to that or simply uncaring is unknown to me.

I decide to rest my legs a little and lay down on the smooth stone floor, which he sees and nods in agreement. "Yes, sit! Let us speak of your battle, I heard you cleaved his tail right off." He speaks with another laugh and I relaxed even more at his reaction. "I should have been there to see it, I haven't laughed this much since your Princess threw that one fool through a rock." He laughs harder at the mention.

I laugh a little to fit in, and because the idea of Celestia throwing a Dragon through a rock is pretty humorous. "I did, I even made him ask nicely to reattach it afterward." I boast some to get into a similar mood and because I do have some pride in my victory, not my actions though as I do not like hurting others.

He laughs harder and keeps his smile. "You really are a warrior, good!" He says happily. "So many of you have met me, all with fancy words and fearful faces, not you though. I am Dragon Lord Torch, who are you Pony?" He greets me with a good mood and surprisingly a little respect.

It's not massive or too noticeable, but he's being friendly about things and nicer than many other Dragons. "Shade Evergreen, and I'm less a warrior and more a researcher than anything else." I think for a moment and try to use less formal words while tempering his expectations of me.

He moves the metal bowl into his hand for a moment and drinks down what water has been collected quickly. He places the bowl back and looks at the floating gem with a satisfied look. "No more seawater or flying to springs. You picked a good gift, Shade." Even with his casual attitude, I'm a bit surprised that he used my name so freely. "A researcher?" He chuckles again. "No matter, you fight like a Dragon, even more than some actual Dragons." He makes another joke and laughs.

I once again laugh, his happy attitude is actually rubbing off on me a little. "As good a compliment as any other. I am also glad you find the gift useful, Dragon Lord." I take the compliment with good spirits and take out my teapot to make something to drink while we talk.

He watches the water fall into the massive bowl slowly. "My daughter got to see your fight, even if she shouldn't have." He looks a bit annoyed for a moment, but it's not directed at me. "She told me about some of your fight, and that you ask many questions. A researcher indeed, you have brought me a good gift, let me hear of your fight in more detail and you may ask what you wish." Torch shows some of his intelligence by guessing my intentions for wanting to speak to him.

I'm once again pleasantly surprised at the fact that I didn't even need to ask for him. I think for a few moments and sip some tea while trying to find the best way to tell this story. "Do you know how it all started?" he shakes his head a bit. "He tried to take something of mine while I was trading at the market, so I threatened to cut his wings off, he took offense," I explain simply as I have a decent idea of what his reaction would be.

As expected he laughs more. "Good, whelps always start trouble." He huffs a bit of bluish fire from his nose. "He got pissed like a hungry hatchling?" I smirk at the insult and nod. "Pride has its place, and that place is not in any fight." He gives some surprisingly wise words. "So, how did you humble this whelp?" He bluntly hints for me to recount my fight.

I sort my thoughts and make some small adjustments to the story in my head before speaking. "It started with me throwing a rock at his face." I start to recount the fight for him.

I think I can get along with Torch, he's a bit more brash than what I'm used to but he's a good host so far. As I speak I notice something in his crown, the band of black metal is filled with massive jagged red gems that show his authority, and among all the red gems on it, one stands out.

Embedded inside the largest gem is a staff with a faint red glow to it, I take notice and study it a little while continuing to talk to him.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

Not much in this one, but I will be continuing it next chapter. I plan to wrap up this Dragon arc in two more chapters so we can spend a chapter in Griffonstone and head back to Equestria.

I tried to make Torch come off as a guy who likes a good fight, but a good clean fight. Anything goes, but only to those in the fight, no dragging others into your shit. I also wanted him to act as the stereotypical Viking, loud, boastful, and friendly to those he respects.

I'm not sure I got that completely right here, but it's close enough I think, and I think it fits him well. Any ideas for conversation topics? Things you might want to see them talk about?

Chapter 259

FEB 26 Monday.

I finish my last few words as Torch laughs again, enjoying my retelling of the fight I had with Obsidian.

I spent several minutes telling him about the fight in decent detail. I left out several things and changed a few facts, like saying that I used a spell to cut off Obsidian's tail instead of my space magic. I also downplayed my ability in the fight and was a little honest about having some anxiety over the fight.

He stops laughing after a few moments, he glances over and picks up his large metal bowl to once again drink the collected water. Enough time has passed that he needed more than one swallow to drink it all. "Ssssss." He lets out a slow and satisfied hiss after placing the bowl back.

He looks back at me with a smile. "You picked the perfect gift, I don't need to leave my hoard, I can just sleep." He celebrates his new gift a little more. "You fight well enough too, and can tell a good story." He praises me more and I actually feel a little bashful, not used to such blatant compliments. "Now you must have questions, ask away." He encourages abruptly.

I smile back at him in thought. I really am starting to like Torch, he's nice enough, and even when I did something in the fight he thought was dumb he simply pointed it out with some humor. He never insults me and tries to make light of my failures in a good-natured way, he's not what I expected.

I've also had time to look around the room and his hoard more while telling my story. I've noticed several things and a few are really interesting to me, one of particular interest is the eight pillars supporting this room. Each is covered in Dragon writing, sadly I can't translate it without spending a long time in this room working on each word.

Another interesting thing is the back wall of the massive room, it has several dozen shelves carved from stone with other various items of note. One shelf has a gold ingot the size of a house and is a frankly absurd amount of gold. Another shelf holds over a dozen ships on stone stands, all in various conditions.

The final thing of real interest is the fucking massive sword sitting on one of the shelves. It looks to be over one hundred feet long and ten feet thick, the entire piece is cast from a single piece of solid metal. It looks sharp as well but is rusted in a few places and clearly showing its age. "Would you care if I take notes?" I ask and he shakes his head. "I see you have several ships back there, do you collect them?" I ask curiously.

He glances back at the ships, along with the ship he was inspecting when I arrived, which he placed on the ground nearby. He picks up the previously forgotten ship and shifts his massive body to place it back where it belongs with the others. "Yes, I find them to be interesting things. For such small creations, they cut through the water as good as we do." He shows a slightly excited tone at getting to talk about his collection.

I nod and start to sketch out a few of the ship's forms quickly while also taking notes of his words. "It is an impressive craft, not that I would really know, I've never even been on a ship." I joke slightly. "You seem to have a few older ones as well, where did you find them?" I ask as engaging with his interests is a good starting point.

He nods in agreement and picks up a different ship, a small wave of loose gold moving around his hoard as the gold is shifted while he moves. I feel the vibrations from his weight through the stone underneath me as he takes a step. "Yes, a few I got from the sea floor, they took a lot of work to drain. And you are right, I have met a few sailors and they work hard to move such things around with nothing but the wind." He says with some slight admiration.

I'm not entirely sure why he thinks that as most Dragons wouldn't care about sailors at all, I guess it's just one of his quirks. He holds up the ship close so I can see it, this ship looking much more intact and less degraded. "This one I bought from some Griffons, it only took some gold, and showed my teeth a little." He chuckles at that.

That reminds me of an interesting fact about Dragons. While they eat gems their largest source of food is the sea, and Dragons are well accustomed to the ocean and swim often. They can dive very deep underwater and hold their breath for a long time, it's something I found odd as they have such an affinity to fire.

In the Dragon Lands though the only reliable source of food is the ocean, so despite their normal environment Dragons are very used to the sea. I wouldn't be surprised if many treasures in Torch's hoard are from wrecked ships and their lost loot, which is pretty clever actually.

I make a few small notes and move on as he places the ship back. "That sword is also interesting, it makes sense I guess. I do find the fact that Dragons work with metal to be interesting. It's not something I expected, any good story behind the weapon?" I share a few of my thoughts honestly to see what his reaction would be.

He looks at the weapon but doesn't move to pick it up, instead he lays back down facing me before answering. "You're not the first to say so, we may not do detail, but we make our own impressive works." He gives a less interested response. "As for the sword? It is a reminder in a way, of madness and fools." He huffs a little smoke out.

I wait for him to continue as his tail buries itself in gold being him, almost swimming in it. "You have talked to many Dragons, have you ever heard the tale of, Dark, Dragon Lord of Greed?" My ears perk up not expecting that topic to come up, but it is something I am very interested in.

I nod and think for a moment. "A few weeks ago I made a deal with Elder Larimar, I wanted to learn about Dragons so I've been learning from her." My answer makes his brows raise a good amount as he gains a look of slight surprise. "She has been, interesting to talk to," I add.

He nods slowly. "I have been seeing less of her recently, to think you spent so much time with an Elder." I notice that even he puts some emphasis on her title. "A good choice as well, she's lived longer than most and has seen much. She is rather cold though, never one to tell a good story." He complains a little as if they were old neighbors.

He doesn't sound close to Larimar, but I know there aren't many elder Dragons so they mostly likely know each other after living so long in the same area. I nod and continue writing, "She is rather factual with things, but she knows a lot. She ended up talking about the Greed Dragons, and Dark came up." I move us back to the topic so we can continue.

He nods and looks back at the sword. "Not much to say, he went mad from greed. Made that to fight and challenge any Dragon he thought might be after his hoard. A few Dragon Lords have used it after that, but it makes fights so much less entertaining." He seems to speak from experience and holds some disdain for the weapon.

The small bits of information are interesting but not really useful, he doesn't really seem all that interested or knowledgeable in the topic. I decided to change the topic again as this seems like a dead end, "I am curious how old you are? I also noticed the pillars, and all the Dragon words. What do they mean?" I keep my casual tone and try to ask something more personal.

He looks at the pillars and looks a bit more interested in this topic. "Two thousand and... Something, I lost count after a while and a few good hits to the head." He laughs and makes another joke. His eyes linger over the pillars, "Those hold the names of every dead Dragon Lord, supposedly, no one is really sure how true that is." He adds the second part after a little thought.

I can see why he might be doubtful about that fact, all the pillars are half full of writing in many different sizes. It's hard to make sense of anything in the mess and while I think there is some truth to his words it might not be fully accurate. "Hmm, I actually wanted to ask about that, how long have you been the Dragon Lord? and how did you become Dragon Lord?"

He smiles again and focuses back on me. "Now that is a good tale to tell, it was a fire of a fight." He says excitedly and settles in fully. Moving his head down as he curls up to be more comfortable while talking. "I have been Dragon Lord for two hundred and fifty-three years, and I took the crown from Dragon Lord Brim." He starts his story and seems happy to tell it.

I start to transcribe his words as a first hoof account of the story. "I still remember that day, Brim had always been a stubborn bastard, he didn't even take on challenges often." He huffs in annoyance. "A good Dragon Lord lets others challenge them every few decades, keeps you sharp, and if they win they earned it." He explains when I raise a brow curiously.

I've seen several mentions of Dragons challenging for the title of Dragon Lord. Larimar shed some light on how the process normally works, although it really depends on the Dragon Lord in question. It's one of the few traditions almost every Dragon actually does care about.

The right to have the opportunity to fight for the crown in some way, sometimes that means a duel, or a difficult task, or a gauntlet, anything really. A Dragon Lord normally only reigns for a few centuries before someone else takes over, and while problems arise it mostly seems to work itself out.

And it makes sense that a former Dragon Lord wouldn't start too much trouble, I think they could just force the issue with the power of the Bloodstone Scepter, they don't seem to though. Most former Dragon Lords also don't start conflicts, why wage a war when a former Dragon Lord can just challenge the new Dragon Lord at a later date? It's not like they need to worry about dying of age in the meantime.

Torch blows out some small flames. "I was tired of Brim, he talked and talked but feared fighting others. He was not weak, just cowardly, he would never intervene when others needed a hit to the head." He continues his tale. "One day I bet him some gold in a flying contest, just to show him up a little. He was more confident in his flying skills, he was a good flier and I insulted his pride to get him to agree." He explains as he seems to look off into those memories.

I've noticed that Torch isn't a fool, he likes strength in all forms. Trickery is a valid strategy that several Dragons I've met never seem to really consider, Garble is actually an exception to that funnily enough. "A trap? If you could pick the location or train before it happens you'd be better off." I reason.

He nods enthusiastically. "Yes! He took the bait like a shark with fish guts. He was smart enough to pick the location though, he did not suspect I'd train for it day and night. So in the end I barely beat him in the flight, but he was a bastard and backed out of the bet." He grumbles that last part.

I continue to transcribe the story as he speaks. "I got angry at that and formally challenged him for the crown, and with so many around watching the contest he would be an open coward and deny me." He exclaims with pride and I have to agree it's not the worst strategy to force him into a fight.

Torch continues his story. "He was arrogant and accepted. He fought me on a mountainside for hours, back and forth with wings and claws, but then I rolled a boulder right into his face! It seems we have that in common." I chuckle a bit as it is kind of funny while he laughs like normal. "I used that opportunity to get on top of him, got some good hits in and he finally gave up." He continues.

He moves closer to me and smirks. "I even kicked that bastard right in the slit." He says in a lower voice like he's trying to tell a secret, I spit out my tea trying and failing not to laugh at that. "It was a glorious day indeed! I wish a better fighter would challenge me though, the recent ones have been so boring. Maybe you will take my crown?" He says as a clear joke.

I slowly recover from being completely caught off guard by his words and laughing much harder than before. After I recover I look back up at him, "Sorry to say I have no interest in a crown, any crown actually." He raises a brow. "I'm not good at dealing with others, I find you Dragons are actually much easier to talk to than many Ponies." I give a truthful but vague excuse.

He snorts. "I do not blame you, you Ponies are normally much too nice, no spine." He agrees and tips his crown a bit to adjust it. "It comes with great power, but it is annoying as well. So many always asking about so much, at least your Princess kept things simple." He said with an amused voice.

I tilt my head a bit and look up at his crown. "Now that sounds like a good story, I've heard Larimar mention Her Highness has visited a few times. Never got much information on why though, from what I pieced together I think she was making a deal with you?" I ask pretending to know less than I actually do.

He drinks from his bowl again, really enjoying the fresh water. "It is a good story, I mentioned the one fool with the rock, right?" I nod and flip a page to make more notes. "She came to meet me shortly after I took the crown from Brim, but some fool wished to meet me first." He starts another story.

He thinks for a moment and shrugs. "I don't remember the fool's name, but she got angry at your princess for being there first and meeting me before her. So, the fool tried to breathe fire on your Princess." I feel my body tense a little as the idea of that does make me a little annoyed at such a brazen Dragon. "I watched the fool open their maw and was sent flying right through a rock a second later." He laughs at that and I just smile silently.

I am definitely going to be using this information at a later date. "As for our deal? She lets the migration pass through when needed and we leave her and the Ponies alone, the same deal she'd had with every Dragon Lord for a while now, it's simple. Those Griffon cities still try to make all sorts of deals with me, they make things too damn complicated." He huffs in clear disinterest.

I can see Celestia taking the simple approach with these Dragons, and it seems to have been working well so far. I spend a moment noting a few more things before deciding to try and get some more delicate information. "I also wanted to ask about the Bloodstone Scepter, if you're willing?" I ask in a relaxed tone.

Torch just licks the air with his tongue and stares at me for a moment, his eyes a small bit more narrowed but still calm and relaxed. "I will, but I will not be taking any challenge from you anytime soon if I tell you." I'm a little confused but have no interest in the crown so I nod in agreement. "Good, this is an interesting and ancient tale!" He smiles and starts yet another story.

I raise a brow but let him continue. "Long ago there was the First Dragon Lord, their name lost now. It was said they dug deeper than any Dragon before or since and pulled free the Bloodstone from the earth." He reaches a clawed hand up and taps his crown. "Giving them the power to command all Dragons."

I've never heard this story before, even Larimar didn't mention it. Although Larimar is a Dragon that seems to like facts, not stories, she might have considered this story irrelevant because it is likely untrue. Still, folklore and stories can tell you much of the past, there is a kernel of truth to everything after all.

"The First Dragon Lord reigned, strong and dominant, but another Dragon saw the power of the gem and tried to take it for themselves from The First Dragon Lord's hoard while they slept." He continues and I transcribe every word diligently. "When the Dragon Lord woke to find the thief there, a titanic fight ensued!" He recounts the story, dramatizing his words as he goes.

"The Bloodstone was split in two in the chaos of the fight, the thief taking one half and the First Dragon Lord the other." I can already see the problem that was about to happen in this tale. "War! A war consumed all the Dragon Lands and countless fell on both sides." He adds after a small pause for some suspense.

"In the end, the First Dragon Lord won the war, but only at a great cost in lives, even their mate was said to have died. So the First Dragon Lord set out to ensure that such a thing would never happen again." He takes off his crown and places it in his hand, bringing it a little closer so I can see it. "He carved the Bloodstone into a scepter and used unknown power to change it."

He holds his crown as he continues. "Now, when someone wants to challenge a Dragon Lord, the Dragon Lord must give us his claim to the Bloodstone Scepter." I get a good look at the scepter for a moment as he holds it. "If the Dragon Lord does not give up their claim no one else may command the sceptre's power." He finishes his explanation and puts the crown back on.

For the first time in a while, I speak again. "So you need to sever your connection from it to transfer ownership?" He nods quickly and smiles as I keep up with his story. "Then one of the only things that could force a change of Dragon Lord is a Greed Dragon? The challenges are only voluntary." A few things fall into place for me.

He nods. "Yes, without the challenges a Dragon must earn and keep the right to rule us." He seems to speak from experience. "To become Dragon Lord you must make a challenge and it must be accepted. When the staff glows you know that the Dragon Lord is being honest when they accept the challenge." He explains as I piece it together.

I don't know how something like the Bloodstone Scepter came into existence, but its basic function seems simple enough. A Dragon Lord gives up their connection during a challenge so they can't back out or lie easily, there are also protections against it being taken by force from a Dragon Lord.

There is definitely more to it than that but it explains several things. A Dragon Lord can just refuse all challenges but that doesn't mean they can't be killed in their sleep if the Dragons get angry at them for doing that. There is just enough structure from this to make the Dragon Lord's position stable but not unchangeable or stagnate.

It makes me very curious about the staff, but it's not something I want to go near, you just don't mess with artifacts that powerful unless you have a good reason to. I make more notes and notice I'm running out of pages after the last few weeks. "I'm also going to guess the Bloodstone Scepter can't be split or damaged?" I ask while thinking about the magic that could be behind this thing.

He nods immediately with a knowing smile. "Yes, I like many others, have tried and it remains as durable as us." He laughs a little and looks at me with some curiosity. "What are you going to do with all the things you've learned about us? Most Ponies don't see much of who we are." He again shows some wisdom in his questions.

I think about his words for a long moment, not really finding a good answer. "I might have it published I guess? Let other Ponies understand you all more so there are even fewer problems between us all. Honestly, I haven't given it much thought." I am blunt with my intentions to not offend him by accident.

He raises a brow and gives me a satisfied look. "Good, others can hear our stories, but even for a warrior like you there is danger here, so why do this though? Come here and risk danger for some answers?" He asks me bluntly while I start to flip through the notes I just made to not miss anything.

I shrug, not really having a reason. "I was curious." He laughs a bit at my simple answer and I elaborate. "I heard many things about Dragons but when I tried to look for more information I found basically nothing. So I thought that I could get my own answers, and ask some questions, it's now clear we don't know much about Dragons. It's been an interesting vacation." I am once again honest with him again as I haven't made my reasons a secret to others.

He reaches out a hand and taps the gems shield to stop it from generating water, then he drinks what has collected in the bowl once again with a tooth-filled smirk. "A vacation!" He laughs hard once again at my words. "You really are something else, you act different from any Pony I've met, even the one of the sun was more, pony-like." He makes a blatant statement about me like many others have.

At this point, I'm low on space to write things and I also am a little tired of his very loud voice and attitude, he may be friendly but he is also a lot to deal with. So as I talk I start to pack away my things. "I am different, Larimar was actually the first to really notice. Apparently, I feel like a predator." I give it away, curious to see his reaction.

He goes silent for a long moment as we lock eyes, his eyes narrowing a little as he seemingly searches for something. "She is old, even to me, and she is that old for a good reason. She is strong and skilled, I believe she even challenged a Dragon Lord for the crown once." He doesn't comment on my words, hinting at Larimar's knowledge as if to agree with her.

I nod after a moment and stand up. "It was a pleasure to speak with you Dragon Lord Torch, but I do have to be going." I give a friendly goodbye and excuse myself from the situation. My words seem to snap him out of his intense inspection of me.

He blinks and gives me one last large smile. "You tell good stories, Shade. You make me laugh more than most of these bastards, and you spread our glory to the world!" He motions to the exit with a hand. "If you ever find yourself growing tired of the Ponies again come back, share more good stories." He gives me a surprisingly warm goodbye and an offer for a future visit.

I smile back and nod. "I will, have a good day Dragon Lord Torch." I keep my last words simple before bowing a little bit and turning to leave the large cavern. He watches me for a few moments before turning back to the floating gem next to him with a curious look. I walk down the large stone hallway, my mind busy with many different thoughts.

Author's Note

Thank for reading. :)
Current year is 996

Not too much to say about this one, I thought it would be nice to jut have a mostly casual conversation. I'm not sure this chapter is all the interesting as I couldn't think if that many good topics.

Still, I tried to deepen the world building of the Dragons some to not make it completely boring.

Chapter 261

MAR 1 Thursday.

As the wind rushes past me I spend my time flying in deep thought, mostly thinking over the events of the past month, and what I just did earlier today.

I will admit it was a bit rash to show Larimar my ability to cut things with space magic so close up, but a part of me was very interested in seeing her reaction. Or maybe I wanted to show off a little? It's not something I can do often and not something I should make a habit of.

At least in this situation, I showed someone that I slightly trust to not tell others, not because we're friends but because I know Larimar somewhat. She doesn't seem like the type to give away information like that easily, or without some price tag attached to it.

I paid quite a bit for the information she's given me and it took a lot of questions to get some good answers. Still, I think being in the Dragon Lands has made me drop my guard a little. The Dragons are simply too relaxed and calm about things, I can slip up and they won't care or really even notice.

Ironically I think that's what makes it such a good vacation spot for me, as despite the fight with Obsidian I enjoyed my time in the Dragon Lands. It was very relaxing and nice not to have to lie as much or hold my tongue around others either. I could be more of my human self, for the first time in a long time I could stop pretending, just a little.

That's not a good thing to keep up though, I am a pony and I should act like one. Not just from fear of my secrets being noticed, but also because it is part of who I am now. I have those same impulses, maybe it's from living in this world so long, or part of being in this body, but I feel less human with the passage of time.

No, maybe that's the wrong way to say it. I still am me but it's just not the same as it was before, Pony life has been slowly grinding me down to something else. Who knows what I am at this point, I'm certainly still human, but I'm also not completely human anymore. How much of being human is tied to our bodies?

That old debate, nature versus nurture, how much have I actually changed? It's hard to tell if I've changed at all, but I know I have. I shake my head a little and start to descend from the sky. I can be a philosophical insane pony later, I have things I want to do today. I am pretty excited to go home, the Dragon Lands might be freeing in one way, but they are also stressful.

I might not need to be on the lookout for nosy Dragons, but I do still need to pay attention to my surroundings so I don't get killed. I land with a soft thump on the dry rocky ground while Entropy lands on my back a moment later. Both of us looked at the interesting sight before us.

I'm standing in front of a massive tree stump, all that remains of the gigantic Red Wood tree I grew here a month prior. The stump was cut in a haphazard way, as if someone took a massive blade and just hacked away at the base of the tree until they cut through. It's probably from some Elder Dragons claws as they cut the tree down to take it away.

I stare for a few moments before turning to Entropy. "You remember where you are taking us, right?" I ask to make sure she remembers the way. I could just fly back the way I came, but while I was leaving Griffonstone a few weeks back I took a moment to have Entropy remember a location not far from the city to hopefully teleport to.

I wasn't entirely sure how long the journey would be so I didn't know at the time how much of the travel time she could cut down on. I decided to do it anyway as it would still shorten the journey regardless as long as I plan things properly, if I measured the distance right while flying here Entropy should be able to take us to Griffonstone from this location.

Entropy is silent for a moment and closes her eyes to concentrate, I brace myself for what I know is coming and embrace the Void a moment later. As we move through the spatial crack Entropy opens, I pay far more attention than I normally do to what she's doing when she teleports.

I try to follow along with her process, and it is blatantly simple from what I can make out in the fraction of a second I have to observe it. The fabric of space rips open like a zipper and in an imperceptibly fast moment, the crack spreads far enough to consume both of us, the sight and feeling of space being destroyed in such a way throwing my senses off like always.

Even with my space magic, I can only vaguely tell what's happening, while my eyes are so incapable of keeping up that I don't even see anything at all. The Void is something I also try to pay attention to, I barely catch the crack in space snapping shut before another one opens and we are now standing on a rocky cliffside in the mountains, barely a breath in between each action.

I wasn't really able to learn much from that, just like the last few times I've observed her teleporting, but it is interesting to watch and gives me a small idea of how I might be able to do the same. I take a moment to check on Entropy as she looks tired, but not overly so and she just sits on my back as I take flight again a few moments later.

As I fly I distract my mind from those earlier questions by thinking about my recent experiments with space magic, specifically Spatial Cutting. During the fight with Obsidian, I noticed something interesting, it was chaotic and I nearly ignored it entirely, but while cutting off Obsidian's tail I'm pretty sure I encountered some resistance to my efforts.

It wasn't a lot, but it was there and after a little more thought I might have an idea as to why and how. The more magic a being has inside of them the more likely they are able to defend against magic, a Dragon's scales can block spells better than a lot of things.

I think that while the physical material of a Dragon, the scales, flesh, bones, all of that. It can't help defend the Dragon from Spatial Cutting, but their own internal magic probably would give them some resistance to it. Space magic is still magic, even if it's a rare form it can be defended against in the right conditions.

The main problem for me comes from the fact that I need to form a simple but delicate magical structure inside a living being to cut them, the more magic they have inside of them the more difficulty I would have in forming the needed structures properly. As a test of this theory, I decided to try and cut a gem and a gem filled with magic.

While waiting through my last few days in the Dragon Lands I got two gems that were as similar as I could find. Roughly the same size, shape, and quality. I then enchanted one to hold magic and filled it completely, when I tried to cut both with Spatial Cutting the gem filled with magic gave me some very slight resistance.

It wasn't much but the gems I was using were only an inch wide for safety while experimenting with them, so the amount of magic inside was pretty small. Things with more active and fast-moving magic, like a Dragon or Pony would probably have even more resistance to them. This test also made me look at the experiment with the Vita Tree differently.

I once cut a branch off with Spatial Cutting, at the time I was so busy making sure the Vita Tree would survive that I never questioned how much magic it took to cut that branch off. I think with something magical powerful enough I wouldn't be able to cut it at all, the magic would simply be too strong for me to make a stable Spatial Structure that I need to be able to cut things.

I have no idea what that limit would be, and most things are still very easy to cut though, but it is something I should keep in mind for more dangerous foes. I leave my mental rant as I slowly fly past another mountain and see Griffonstone come into view through the light rain that is falling around me.

I'm already soaked from flying through the rain so I decide to find somewhere to land quickly. I look around the city before landing on an open street, the few Griffons around giving me little more than a glance before going back to their business. I've been living off of my own meals for a few weeks now and a good-tasting lunch without me having to cook sounds nice.

I wander the streets for a while and look around at the buildings, interestingly I notice that they have changed a bit since the first time I visited Griffonstone a few years ago. Griffonstone has had a rough time over the past two decades, with a few failed military ventures and some economic troubles combined with a not-so-competent king.

I still remember the city being a bit more degraded when I first visited, if things had continued on as they were then the city would probably look more like what the show was like. Yet again it reminds me of just how much I've changed things, how far fate has bent to the will of a mad pony.

Some combination of my intervention in the assassination plot in New Trotten, my presence at the trade negotiations a few years ago, and increased trade from my inventions. All of it has changed the city, I notice many buildings undergoing various forms of construction or repair, and many others that look rebuilt already.

Thelis did say that the trade deals he signed have worked out very well for his Griffons, and I see why. Even in the rainy afternoon, there are many vendors selling goods, and not just Griffons ones, there is a small splattering of many different races trading different things on the streets.

It is both an uplifting and concerning sight for me, to know that my actions have changed things so much from what they once were meant to be. The entire fate of a city-state changed from some random ass orphan Pony, and the changes from this alone will ripple out into endless unknown things.

It makes me question if I did the right thing, just as I have many other times before. Sure I helped this place, and its residents, but I may have changed things so much that it might just kill us all. Then again, another part of my mind thinks that the world can adapt and overcome what is going to happen, it sounds naive.

I sigh after a moment and spot a place to eat, a small restaurant like many others. "Come on Girl, let's get some food." I smile at her slightly tired and excited chirp as I walk closer to a decent meal.

time skip

I slowly draw out another line as I sit on a bench in the evening sunlight. After getting a good lunch me and Entropy have just walked around the city for a few hours exploring things, seeing the sights and getting a few snacks from the many food stalls we came across. After a while, I found this park and have been simply sitting and drawing out the statue fountain at the center of the park.

I didn't even read the small plaque at its base to see who the Griffons they made a statue of are, I've just spent my time relaxing and drawing it. The clouds and rain blew away a few hours ago and the sky is mostly clear now, with the exception of many Griffons traveling around the busy city as night approaches.

It's near the end of the day and it will be dark in an hour or two, so with that in mind, I finish my drawing and turn to Entropy as she sleeps on my side. "Girl." She jolts awake and looks at me. "Sorry, we have to get going though. Hop on." I chuckle a little at her annoyed look while casting the Wing spell on myself.

A few moments later I'm flying through the air, climbing higher and higher to reach the second to last branch of the massive stone tree. After landing and dismissing my wings it's just a short walk to make it to the highest branch and the gate to the Blue Palace, and here as well I see the growing prosperity of Griffonstone.

A section of the stone street is being repaired and maintained by several skilled Griffon crafters. I move around them and walk up to the gate, a guard approaches me just as before. "Sir." The female guard simply nods and lets me through after inspecting me for a few moments, much to my surprise and confusion.

I don't show that though and just nod before walking past the guard and continuing down the gated street to the palace, the guards at the gate not guiding me. It only takes me a moment to realize I did tell Thelis I'd stop by on my way back, it seems he gave the guards enough information to recognize me.

I'm not entirely sure what to do when I arrive at the palace doors, so after a moment I just knock on them. A few seconds later a well-dressed Griffon opens the door and looks me over for a moment. "His Majesty is working in the study at the moment, I can take you to Lord Phelix if you wish, Sir?" They also recognize me.

I knew Thelis was likely to be busy, he may not have an entire kingdom but he still rules over a city and is most likely busy very often. I was expecting to just be given a room to wait in until I could meet Thelis, but I don't have anything better to do so I nod after a moment. "Very good Sir, please follow me." They move to the side and I'm let inside as they close the door behind me before walking off with me following them.

I try my best to learn the layout of the palace as we walk and stretch my senses a good distance to feel out the area more. It's not nearly as large as the palace in Canterlot and is more like a very large mansion, I do sense a good amount of Griffons moving around inside and going about their work.

After following the Griffon down several hallways and up a few flights of stairs we stop on one of the upper floors of the palace at an ornately carved door. "Lord Phelix is inside, please inform us if you need anything." The Griffons use a bland but somewhat respectful tone before walking off, clearly being professional despite my lack of status.

I knock on the door and an old gruff voice answers instantly. "Enter." I open the door and look around the room for a moment. It's a study, a large fireplace at the back wall with several large bookshelves lining the walls, all filled with many tomes and other reading material.

At the center is a large carpet with several seating areas, a pair of couches, and a few chairs, along with a coffee table in the middle of it all. I notice Phelix lying on a couch with a book in his talons, slowly flipping through pages. He looks up at me and pauses abruptly, seemingly surprised but not showing it in any way.

He looks me over for a moment and at Entropy as well as she inspects the room, I close the door behind me and walk a little closer. "Hello, Phelix. Nice study, this place has a rather good theme." I say honestly as the many shades of blue that decorate the palace give its name credence.

He just nods and shows no expression beyond a tiny smirk. "Shade, sit." He motions to the room and encourages me to sit wherever I like. "Have a good trip?" He asks while going back to his book. I look around the room for a moment and decide to just sit near him in a nice and comfy chair.

I try to ignore the human thoughts that point out I'm naked and sitting upright, so I take out a book of my own to distract myself. This is one of the older Griffon books I got from a Dragon and an interesting one as it talks about different methods for treating chronic conditions with herbs, although it is very out of date. "Well enough, it was certainly interesting." I give a non-answer.

His eyes glance over at me and the book I'm holding for a moment. "Hmm, I used to be like that. I never sat still for a day." He reveals in his normal blunt manner. "Get the set out." I raise a brow at that and his small smirk returns. "Let's see if you can still play while reading, a good challenge."

I chuckle a little at his rather dry humor, but still do as he asks and bring out the chess set I've neglected for a while now. "I'm sure you have a fair few stories to tell, but I'm rather burnt out on stories at the moment. I've spent days getting my ears talked off." I did enjoy what I learned but talking constantly can get tiring fast.

He shifts over to the floor as I stay in my seat and bring out my chess set before placing it on the small table with my space magic so we can play. He raises a brow at my odd saying, saying your ear will fall off is a little dark for a Pony. :Shit, I really need to watch that: I curse at myself as I normally wouldn't be so overly grim with my words.

He nods after a moment staying silent as he makes the first move on the board. There are a few moments of silence as we both take turns reading before making a move while the other waits for their turn to come again. "What do you do? For work?" He asks after a while, slipping into fluent Pony.

It's my turn to raise my brow a bit as they seem to like speaking Pony when I'm around, maybe they just to make me feel more comfortable? I think for a moment trying to remember if he'd know about what my job used to be. He never got access to my file but Thelis did, did I ever tell him?

I think for a moment but can't remember any clear answers. "I used to be a librarian apprentice, it's the reason I ended up coming along on the diplomatic trip as a scribe, they needed someone who spoke Griffon and wrote on short notice." I use my cover story even though I know he will see through it to some extent. "As for now? I'm volunteering at a hospital, learning to heal others." I say simply and leave out the rest of my life.

He looks up from his book to me once again, his face mostly passive but a little bit curious. "An interesting path, why healing?" He asks in his usual short manner, but I also notice he's more relaxed around me than the last time I visited. Maybe spending time with me last time made him more comfortable.

I shrug a little and feel myself relax more as I try to get used to talking to creatures that aren't Dragons. "I always had an interest in it, during my years at the library I'd read about it often. It is nice to be able to help others." I give an honest but vague answer, like I often do with those I sadly can't fully trust.

He looks me over for a quick moment, putting his book to the side and eventually looking at the title of my book. "Healers are respected for good reason, it is not an easy job. Dated almost five hundred years ago, a good find." He points out the date on the back cover with some interest.

I nod almost absent-mindedly at his words, knowing that he noticed something like that when I took the book out. "It was, I got it from a collector." I half lie as all Dragons are collectors, just of a different sort to the type most think of. "A lot of the books in here are old, I noticed a few that looked like they were falling apart." I motion to a few on the shelf to change the subject a little.

The old Griffon keeps his smirk and turns his head, keeping his body in the same position while nearly turning his head completely around. "Hmm, no, just damaged. The fledgling is rather wild, I've seen manticores who can't cause damage like her." He huffs out a dry chuckle.

I smile at the mention of the adorable filly who I'll undoubtedly see on this visit. "Tea?" I ask while bringing my teapot out from my saddlebags, along with some regular juniper berry tea. He nods and I cast a quick spell to gather water, the small droplets becoming a small stream and filling the teapot quickly while the enchantments on the teapot heat the water in mere moments.

There are another few beats of silence as I take out a pair of teacups and let the water boil before adding the tea in. Once I pass over the small filled cup he nods his silent thanks and takes a long sip from the steaming cup, "Hmm, it needs to sit more." He comments and simply places the cup down for the time being.

I don't say anything to his comment and simply continue reading as he focuses more on the board and his next move. "You are a skilled caster, why settle for healing? Why not something more notable?" He brings the subject back in a different way than before.

I stay silent for a long moment, sipping my tea and enjoying the mood. Phelix might be questioning me, but it's more like he's trying to get to know me, from his tone it's clear he's not demanding answers. "The same reason why I have told very few of my relationship with your family. I don't like attention, it's annoying." I am honest as I see no reason to lie about this.

He looks at me and nods with some respect. "I sought fame in my younger days, I find that fame to be rather hollow now. Now, all I want is a quiet day of fishing." He says back with a slightly wishful tone. "But, fame has its uses and its place. Losing any advantage is a good way to never win." He offers some words of wisdom and starts to speak more.

I find that Phelix is not the type to speak without reason, like Larimar in a different sense. He often speaks little when he speaks at all, but when he does speak it is mostly good advice. "It is also good to know when to cut your losses, and simply walk away." I offer my own advice and topple my own king piece, conceding the game as I was already about to lose the match. "What would you do with an impossible choice?" I ask after some thought while resetting the board.

He raises his weathered brow a little and motions for me to elaborate. I close my book and put it away, focusing fully on him. "A choice where there is no clear good or bad. A situation with no right answer. Damned if you do, damned if you don't." I am reminded of an old saying from my far-gone home.

I asked him this as my walk around the city had got the topic on my mind. It's not tearing me apart inside, but a new perspective would be nice and Phelix does have wisdom from his age. He picks up his tea and drinks for a long moment. "Don't pick, just do something." He says after a long moment of silence.

I ponder that for a moment and he continues. "Sometimes we think too much, we get so lost in those thoughts." He places the tea down and makes his first move, starting our game once again. "In battle, sometimes you must stop thinking, and simply DO. All the choices are bad anyway, so it doesn't matter how much you think about them." He gives me a view that I don't fully agree with.

I am the type to think about everything, constantly, and the idea of simply ignoring it is unappealing. Even after I stopped caring about making changes to the timeline as much I still didn't ignore my actions and their potential changes. Or maybe his words of advice don't work as well when not having all the context?

I sip my tea in deep thought as our game continues into the night.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

Something nice and relaxing for today, nothing too much happening though.

Any suggestions or ideas for this small visit to Griffonstone before we leave?

Chapter 262

MAR 2 Friday.

I flip to another empty page of the new notebook I've spent two hours writing in.

Yesterday while exploring the city I bought a pair of blank notebooks so I could categorize and organize all the information I obtained during my trip to the Dragon Lands. I've got a lot of information to go through and even with a very boring train ride ahead of me, it will take me a week or two after I get home to finish all this.

It will take around another full month of work after that to get it all together and ready to be released in some fashion. I'm definitely not releasing this research under my name, I don't think I can release it under Veil Winter either, that could be traced back to me with enough effort.

I could just ask Celestia to say it was a combination of several ponies traveling to the Dragon Lands over time? It would make it seem less suspicious and notable to be a combined effort over a longer span of time like a few years, either way, I have time to think about a plan.

This notebook will have an edited version of everything I've learned, it will be for the public and as such I'm omitting several things I learned while on my trip. Things like anything I learned from my fight, and the true nature of the Bloodstone Scepter, I don't want anyone getting some stupid ideas from this.

Even with all the edits I'm trying to portray Dragons as much more than what ponies normally think of them. I do make sure to heavily emphasize that Dragons are still very dangerous and you can get into some very bad situations if you don't handle interacting with them properly.

A main focus is actually on the younger Dragons, the ones who visit Equestria to trade with ponies often, it seemed like the best area where a thorough explanation could do some good. The other notebook I got I'm going to be filling with a far more comprehensive version that also contains a few guesses and theories on my part.

This second notebook will be for Celestia and probably Twilight as well. I'm not going to be giving a book to Twilight though, I'm going to run everything past Celestia first so she can remove or change anything that she wants. Twilight is not great at secrets and I don't think she should know a few things about how Dragons live until she's older.

I am the furthest thing from an expert on raising foals and Dragons though, so that's why I'm using the tried and true method of dumping the responsibility onto Celestia. This second notebook is much easier to work on as I can use the copy spell to copy from my notes directly to speed things up.

Speaking of Celestia, I've been thinking about how to talk to her about everything that happened in the Dragon Lands. The main point is the fight I had, but I don't think that will be too much of a point of contention between us. She knew the risks I was taking and knew I was probably going to get into at least one fight, then again she's still going to be displeased.

What I really need to explain is the need for me being so, brutal. I drew out that fight and made it bloody to prove a point and make a statement, the Dragons understand and respect that as they have done just that for as long as they can remember. Ponies are different and Celestia is likely to not see it that way.

At least I have today to think about how to go about that, and a few more with my train ride. On that topic, I've confirmed my train ride will arrive tomorrow in the early morning. After that, it will be a four-day ride, mostly because the train track we need to go along is busy this time of year.

I should arrive on the sixth in the morning if things go as planned. My writing and thoughts come to an abrupt halt as I hear a knock on the door. After playing with Phelix for a while he led me to the same room as last time and I was brought dinner, today seems to be more interesting already.

I sense outside while putting my things away and notice a single Griffon outside the simple room. "Come in." A second later I'm a little surprised as Thelis opens the door and greets me with a small nod. I stand up a bit and give a quick bow, something he waves off immediately. "Thelis, a pleasure to see you again, thank you again for letting me stay." I greet him with a happy and slightly surprised tone.

He chuckles a little and shakes his head. "You don't need to bow, you're a friend and a good one at that." He says in fluent Pony despite my Griffon greeting. He turns and looks at Entropy as she rests on a bedpost, watching everything silently. "I came to get you for breakfast." He doesn't even seem to consider the possibility of me saying no and looks over a few things I took out of my saddlebags and placed on the bed.

It's a few of the gem carvings I got from Aurora along with a few of the books, which I was doing some maintenance on to make sure they would stay intact during my journey home. "It seems you passed near the Dragon Bridge then." He comments while looking at the carvings with some interest.

I tense a little but calm down quickly, several cities near the land bridge to the Dragon Lands trade with Dragons and you can sometimes find goods from the Dragons there, at least that's what I believe from listening to the Dragons at the market. I nod, "I did, it was an interesting sight. I didn't know there was a name for it though, it certainly fits." I agree without providing any context to lie by omission.

He eyes me for a brief moment and nods back slowly, agreeing silently while looking over a few of the books, careful to not touch them. "A few really old ones, I don't even understand most of that Griffon." He remarks while looking at the really old Griffon book I got from Larimar, so old I couldn't read it beyond a few recognizable words.

I finish putting my things away quickly and Entropy jumps on my back in anticipation for a meal. "So, breakfast then?" I ask, to change the subject from the previous one. I would rather not deal with so many questions from him, but it seems my hopes are in vain.

Something in him shifts and he gives me a knowing smile along with pointing to a certain book I have. "Magical Herbs and Remedies, a very rare book." He points out very bluntly while chuckling. "Breakfast? Yes, a few of my traders came back from the Dragon Lands a few weeks ago with some rather good spices to try, they also saw something rather interesting." He says with a slightly amused tone.

:Shit: At this point, I know I've been made, I remember that small group of Griffons trading in the Dragon lands when I first arrived at the market, and it seems they unfortunately remembered me. It's clear he knows but he is not holding it over me, what does he get from bringing this up?

I stay silent for a moment looking over the Griffon king that's caught me. I just nod slowly, "I think I've told you I don't like attention, I make it a habit to not mention my involvement with things unless I need to. I mean no offence to you, or your hospitality." In the end, I decided to be blunt about not admitting anything, instead explaining why I wouldn't be telling him anything.

He keeps his smile and chuckles a little as I blatantly don't answer him. "Neither did I, you're a guest and I should leave your private business alone. I was merely curious, not many earth ponies go to the Dragon Lands, it is a dangerous place after all." He surprisingly takes it in good faith and drops any tension rising between us, but he also shows he knows the unspoken truth of the situation.

I'm not really sure how to react to that, so I stay silent, still not admitting to a single thing. "It is interesting, I have met a few Dragons in Equestria, and they were interesting, not very friendly though." I bring up a related but different situation to move us along. I also want to gauge his reaction around Dragons as his city is near them and his perspective would be interesting to see.

He opens the door and starts to lead me down the hallways to the dining room while nodding in agreement. "They are just as elusive as they are dangerous. If you know how to deal with them they can make for a great problem solver, sometimes we give them permission to hunt some of the larger predators if their population becomes a problem."

He turns down a hallway and looks out a window as we pass by, the serene scene outside proving to be very majestic. "That hasn't happened in a few decades though." His tone shows some interest but neither disdain nor any likability and he drops the previous topic without a fight, thankfully leaving it alone.

He seems mostly neutral to Dragons, which I suppose makes sense. Dragons have had a no-killing rule for over two hundred years, with Torch introducing the rule not long after he took the crown. And even before that, most Dragons would rarely become a problem for other races.

Still, the idea of offering Dragons a place to hunt to deal with a high predator population is interesting and an inventive solution to the problem. "Huh, that is interesting. In Equestria, we get a fair few coming across the sea to trade, mostly the young ones though." I share a little knowledge in return as we enter the dining room with the table already covered in food.

As we enter the room I notice Phelix is watching Silvis draw on the table and they both seem to be waiting for us. "Eat until you can't walk, your journey must have taken a lot out of you." He offers, again hinting at my trip, and takes a seat at the table while Phelix greets me with a smiling nod, which I return in kind.

Silvis is a bit more vocal when seeing me, and once she spots Entropy her eyes light up. "Hello, Entropy!" She greets very happily and holds out a piece of fish. "Want some?" She says while putting a different piece in her beak and seemingly remembering I exist. "Hi, Shade." She adds after a moment while chewing.

I slip into Griffon and smile at the excited Filly. "Hello, Silvis. And I think she'd love some, just a warning, she doesn't like being touched." I encourage the excited filly and place Entropy on the table, who promptly runs over to the side with Silvis and takes the offered piece of fish with a few soft chirps.

I start to pile a few things on my plate and glance over as Silvis watches Entropy eat from her talons with a massive smile, seemingly on top of the world. Silvis places the piece of fish down and brings her paper close so she can draw Entropy just as she did last time.

I start to eat and things stay pretty silent for an amount of time, the silence occasionally broken up by Silvis asking a question to one of us, Entropy included. Entropy just caws or chirps in response and plays dumb with the filly, I should try to find a way for Entropy to talk to someone besides me, maybe Celestia?

By the time we're done eating, Thalis is the first to stand up, he walks over and gives Silvis a hug and a large smile. "I have work to do, and you have lessons my little feather." Thelis reminds her in a slightly amused tone as she pouts a little. "None of that, you can draw later but your lessons are important." He uses a little more of a firm tone but he also offers a pastry of some type as a bribe to her.

Silvis looks reluctant but puts down her drawing supplies and shoves the small pastry in her beak before sitting up with a nod. I hold in a chuckle at the small filly's adorable pout as she holds the pastry in her mouth, I nod to Thelis as he looks at me. "I believe my father has some plans, something or other, I hope to see you at lunch." He gives me a casual goodbye and walks out of the room.

I turn to Phelix as he stands up from the table, I follow his lead silently as he picks up Silvis to ride on his back and starts to leave the room. Entropy jumps on my back as I follow behind him, we pass through a few corridors and arrive at a door in a few minutes. Phelix turns to Silvis, "Say goodbye, I'll see you later." He gives her a small smile and shows some gentleness in his tone.

Silvis has already happily devoured the treat she took with her and smiles at me with a few crumbs visible in her feathers. "Bye! I'll see you both later." She shows one of her beaming smiles and slides off of Phelix before walking into the room and closing the door behind her.

Phelix turns to me and motions with his head. "Come on." He doesn't elaborate on where we are going but I have nothing better to do and Thelis's words have made me curious as to what Phelix has planned. We move through several hallways and down a few flights of stairs before going through a large door and walking out into the morning sunlight and fresh morning air.

We're at the back of the palace down in a very large courtyard-like area. The branch the palace is on top of continues for a few more hundred feet past the palace and that extra area stretches out in front of me. The space to the left and right is taken up by two large paths that extend to the end of the branch.

The paths are lined with plant pots and stone garden boxes, breaking up the stone's gray color with different flowers and bushes, even some small trees. At the very end of the branch, a few hundred feet in front of us is a large flat balcony with a railing to look out over the world from the tip of the branch.

At the center of it all is a large stone reservoir, filled with water and dirt forming an artificial lake at the high elevation. Phelix pauses for a moment to let me look around before descending some stairs to enter the courtyard. "Have you ever been fishing?" He asks as I catch up with him a moment later.

I shrug a little as I did do it on occasion when I was younger, but that was literally a lifetime ago. "A few times, but it's been a long time since then." He doesn't question me more and nods before leading me to a side area with a small storage shed made from stone.

Inside is a box of fishing supplies and a few rods, I take one when he offers it and start to look it over. The rod is mostly made from wood and it is not as complex or engineered as the ones in my last life, but it seems to work the same beyond that. "A private lake for fishing? I got to admit this is one peaceful place for it." I say while following him over to the artificial lake.

It's not a massive lake but it's more than big enough to fish in and I can sense plenty of fish swimming around inside of it. He leads me to a bench placed right in front of the edge of the water and takes a seat while inspecting his rod. "It is, and if you throw the fish back they learn not to be caught as easily, it makes it more challenging." He explains while looking through the box of supplies.

He spends a few minutes explaining how to work with the fishing rod he gave me and not long after I cast my line out into the water. Once it's inside the water I just hold the fishing rod in my magic and start to relax, enjoying the peaceful and quiet location.

After a minute Phelix also casts his rod and settles in. He turns to me and looks me over for a moment, "That day in New Trotten. How did you know?" He asks a little abruptly, suddenly speaking Pony. I wasn't expecting such a serious topic and for the second time that day, I am surprised by this family.

I shrug a little, hiding my slight nervousness at the sudden change in topic. "I have good eyes, and I'm told I can be a bit paranoid, I tend to keep my eyes focused on the world around me," I tell another half-lie and joke a little to keep the light mood. He just keeps staring at me for a long few moments before looking out into the water.

He takes a breath and huffs a little. "I can't tell if you're telling the truth or not. I can't even tell if you are a threat" I can't help but raise my brows as that seems completely out of nowhere. "It's a guessing game with you." He states and keeps his friendly tone along with a small smile. "Are you a threat?" He asks, looking back at me slightly more serious but still oddly friendly.

I'm a little overwhelmed form the unexpected topic and stay silent for a few moments. I knew Phelix had had some suspicions of me for a while, and Thelis also seems to have some now. I keep eye contact with him for a moment, "No, I am not a threat to you in any way." I keep a level expression to match the now noticeably more tense mood.

He nods and seems to stay completely relaxed, once again looking out at the water. "Thelis doesn't like prying into others business, but family comes first. He talked to you I assume?" He keeps his less serious tone and cuts down on the rising tension by being clear and none hostile with his tone. I nod slowly in response. "You have done us good, but you have many secrets, you can't blame me for being concerned." He smirks at me knowingly.

I feel a few things at the sudden confrontation, but I suppose it's overdue in a way. They have always had questions about me and they never forced out any answers, even if they could have, something I am grateful for. Even they can't go forever without real answers and I have been staying in their home so it's within their right to question me even if it makes me uncomfortable.

I reel my line in a little while thinking, Phelix staying silent and not pressuring me to answer. "I do have a lot of secrets, and I'm going to give few answers. I am sorry if that feels deceitful. Entropy spotted the two following us in New Trotten, she's very well trained." I give him as honest an answer as he's ever likely to receive.

He looks me in the eyes, his expression just as unreadable as mine. "Good enough." He reels in his line and puts on some new bait. "You are a good friend to us, haven't caused trouble or asked for anything but hospitality. But if you bring trouble here, you tell us." He seems to accept that he won't get many answers from me.

I stay silent before trying to relax and not feel as uncomfortable. I really should have expected something like this, they learned I've been to the Dragon Lands and have connections to the Equestrian crown. For all they know I could be bringing trouble to their door by staying here. "I don't like trouble myself, and I know what it's like to be dragged into it. I'll do more than tell you, I'll drag you back out." I say with a serious but more relaxed tone.

I don't blame Phelix for confronting me like this, he's just trying to keep his loved ones safe from the unknown. I am also being completely honest, I don't like dragging others into my problems and if I do I have a responsibility to drag them back out again.

He nods and we both look over as my line goes tight and the fish is hooked, I spend a moment fighting it. The fish isn't large and is easy enough to reel in, I look at the bright red-scaled fish and unhook it before tossing it back. "That's all I ask. That, and keeping Silvis entertained, she spent days talking about your friend there." He breaks the tension completely by changing the subject.

I chuckle a little at the reminder of the little filly and her personality while casting my line out again. "She certainly is energetic. At least your little fledgling doesn't enjoy bathing in glitter." Entropy lets out a caw in protest and Phelix laughs as the lingering tension is shattered.

As we fall into silence I gather my thoughts. They may have their suspicions and worries, and I may have mine, but I can trust them enough to not trouble me and I am more than willing to do the same for them. After all, I think I'll need all the friends I can get in the days to come and the uncertain future they hold.

Time stretches as I sit on the bench and talk with Phelix in a much more relaxed manner, my mind occasionally thinking of my life. After a few hours of occasional talking and calm fishing, along with many caught fish, he looks at the position of the sun in the sky. "Time?" He looks at me and asks.

I look up as well and cast a Temporis spell. He looks at the time and nods, "Silvis will be done soon, lunch?" He offers in a happy tone and I nod as he picks up the box he brought. I turn back and look out at the calm water and distant mountains. I think I might visit here more often, this view alone might make it worth the trip.

I shake my head and stand up to follow him for lunch. Friends may have problems, but all friends do, it's how we deal with such problems that matter most.

time skip

POV shift Thelis

I stand up from my seat and glance at the clock before looking out of the large window in my office. Outside, down on the branch, I see Shade and Father gather their things and head back inside. I put my quill down and grab a single piece of paper before quickly leaving my office, heading for the room adjacent to this one.

I pass through the room and move to the window, the closest window that can open and let me fly outside directly. I spread my wings and glide down to the ground a few minutes after I'm sure they are inside and not near this side of the palace, the dining room is near the front so I shouldn't be seen.

I land next to the bench they sat on and move to the edge of the lake, reaching a talon inside I push it into the muck right under the water. I make sure I have the right spot and a moment later I grab hold of what I'm looking for, I pull it out and shake it around the water to clean off most of the mud.

I pull it out and see a small blue gem, the size of my clenched talons. The gem is covered in intricately carved gold that flows in vine-like structures over the surface and a ring that lets the gem float in the middle of it. It is something my family has had for generations, but that we rarely ever had a use for, not that it would do much good regardless.

I sit on the bench and place the piece of paper down before placing the artifact on top of it, waiting with slight impatience as it works slowly. Shade Evergreen, is a mystery Father and I can't seem to unwind no matter how much we try, and a mystery I am somewhat concerned over.

So many things about him make little sense, but despite that, he has been a curiosity that has popped up time and time again. First, he stops an assassination, something I am very thankful for, then the trade deal, and now the Dragon Lands. I am curious and this may provide an answer, of a sort at least.

I do not hold a grudge against him, but after what the last friend we let in did... I miss you, Vella, if only you could see Silvis now. I let out a long and slow sigh as I feel the weight of the past for a moment. I glance over at the piece of paper and see what I expected, three words.

It's only ever three words, no matter what creature the artifact is used on you only get three words, never more or less. Those three words, a glimpse into who they are and what they mean. It can be so many different parts of them, a belief, a past tragedy, sometimes it seems to show what may come in the future, it is very inconsistent.

It has always been something of an oddity for my family, a mostly useless but interesting thing we kept secret. And now I have the three words of Shade Evergreen, a tiny fragment of who he is without all the lies in the way, a way to try and understand him better even if just a little.

I look away for a moment taking a deep breath. I hope he would understand if he knew, I must protect my family.

I hold up the piece of paper and read three simple words.

Change. Fear. Earth.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

In the end, I couldn't come up with too much for them to talk about, so I added a POV shift and some interesting magical stuff. I like the idea that there are many magical items out there, different in so many ways, both weak and powerful.

I'm not sure I gave Thelis's thoughts enough difference to make him feel different from Shade, but I tried. Tell me what you think, if you like.

Chapter 263

MAR 3 Saturday.

I watch silently as the sun rises into the sky outside of the window. The light casts shadows in the simply decorated room I've spent another night in.

After the small confrontation I had with Phelix it was admittedly relaxing to simply fish in front of a beautiful scene. After that, we had an entertaining lunch with Silvis and mostly talked for another hour when Thelis joined us for the meal. After lunch, I was left to my own devices for the rest of the day until dinner.

They all avoided other topics and seemed fine to let things lie for the moment being, although I did notice that Thelis was looking at me in a different way than before. I'm definitely not sure though, I haven't spent enough time around any of them to do more than guess what they are doing.

I think Phelix told him about our conversation and he was thinking about it at the time, I would do the same so it's not much of a stretch. As for myself, I feel the same when it comes to them, we may not fully trust each other but we are not enemies and that's enough for me, I'm just not sure about them.

I place the last item in my saddlebags and turn to Entropy, "You ready?" She caws softly and jumps on my back so we can get going. My train leaves early and I have to get there on time so I have to leave very early, I said my goodbyes last night at dinner so there is nothing left to really do.

I feel someone walking down the hallway as I leave the room and turn to see Thelis, I'm not massively surprised he'd try to see me off before I leave. This family is the type to be good hosts and from the smile he has it's clear that extends to saying goodbye. "Thelis." I give him a basic greeting and nod, not bowing as he has made it clear he doesn't care if I don't bow.

He looks a little tired, maybe he's not used to getting up before dawn? He looks surprisingly focused after seeing me though. He nods in return, "I can't have a friend leave without a proper goodbye, and someone needs to show you how to find the front door. Last time we had a guest get lost for nearly an hour because he couldn't find the exit." He chuckles a little at some memory and I take note of the excuse to walk with me.

I think something is still on his mind, but I don't question it and just nod. "I would, thank you. You have all been good hosts." I give him a simple compliment to be polite as I start following him. Talking to them has gotten me to be a bit more reserved after being in the Dragon Lands for a few weeks.

He nods politely in return and it's clear there is something he wants to speak about before I leave, So I wait for him to speak to ask about whatever is bothering him, but he doesn't. We just keep walking in slightly impatient silence before arriving at the front door to the Palace. I turn to him and smile, "It was a pleasure staying here Thelis, I hope to see you again someday." I give a basic but truthful goodbye.

He looks at me, his eyes focused slightly but showing some uncertainty. "And I hope to see you return again, my family has very few good friends left." He looks past me for a moment to the outside. "I have a question, a curiosity, what do you fear most?" His question is a little odd.

I have no idea why such a question would come to mind for him, it seems so very off-topic. Although I've had him and Phelix ask me many odd questions, they often ask about random thoughts that come to mind. It's something more common in Griffons than Ponies and while they don't always do it I find it a little refreshing.

Still, it's clear he's given this a lot of thought, far more than I would assume he'd need for such a question. After a few moments I give him an answer, "A lot, I guess? If I had to pick something? Large-scale conflict, it just seems terrifying to go to war, I almost didn't come to Griffonstone due to rumors of The Storm King." I give an answer that helps with my worries about the future, and it is a genuine fear of mine.

The Storm King will eventually come to Equestria and Griffonstone is almost directly in that path, having him even glance at the Storm King a little more seriously would be good. He looks thoughtful for a moment, I don't know if he got the answer he wanted. "Yes, war is far from a pleasant thing. That is all far off though, but still something to worry over. Thank you, goodbye, Shade. I wish you a safe trip home." He gives me a warm send-off.

Before I can turn away he continues. "And here, Silvis was insistent you have another of her drawings, she finished it last night. The wind knows she's not the type to wake up early." He holds out his talons with a folded piece of paper and I take the folded paper with a smile and another nod.

As I walk away his questions and reasoning still eludes me, why that question? I ponder it a little as I walk down the stairs and out onto the next lowest branch of the stone tree. I shake my head a little and decide to leave it be, sometimes life doesn't have some great mystery, sometimes it's just as it is.

I cast the Wing spell and a few minutes later I arrive at the train station just in time to go through a line and board the proper train. Half an hour later I'm situated inside my compartment as the train slowly starts to pull away from the station, leaving Griffonstone behind.

I take out a few of my notebooks to continue my work of organizing all the information I've gained over the past few weeks. Progress is about what I expected and to break up the monotony of the work I'm also slowly working on my invisibility spell. It is also going slowly, but soon enough I might have something to work with and expand on, the information on Dragons is my priority for the next few weeks though.

As I sort through the papers and notes I've made I glance over at the small folded piece of paper Silvis gifted me. I still have the first drawing and after a little searching, I'm able to find it in a less-used pocket of my saddlebags. Entropy sits with me on the bench as I unfold the first drawing. "Pretty." She states it like an irrefutable fact while we look at the drawing.

I nod in agreement and pet her. "Yes, she got fairly close to how you actually look." I did find the fact that her creative drawing was close to the real Entropy interesting. It is funny that the closest anyone has gotten to guessing Entropy nature without us telling them was a filly, even if it was unintentional.

I move the older drawing to the side and pick up the second one. Silvis is proving to be a good artist from the other things I saw her drawing yesterday and I'm excited to see this. "Let's see what the filly came, up, with... The fuck?" I whisper the last words to myself as we both stare at the drawing in confusion and shock.

I've seen several of Silvis's drawings at the meals we've shared, she's always excited to share and get my thoughts on them. She is pretty creative with the drawings, sometimes I can't really make out why she's drawing in a particular way, but she is just a filly and certainly thinks like one so that's not really out of the ordinary.

This is very different. The first drawing was just a rough depiction of Entropy on an otherwise blank piece of paper. This one is different, there is a colored background with a sky, a few mountains, and a rocky landscape, it's simple but very easy to make out. In the center, there is a small rock with Entropy sitting up on it and spreading her wings out.

All of this would be nothing but an interesting drawing from a filly and it matches what I saw her drawing yesterday, but it's too accurate. Entropy has always been under an illusion around Silvis, yet the drawing clearly depicts Entropy in her full shadowy glory. The detail of the loose wisps of shadow on the drawing is far too distinct to be anything but intentional.

Me and Entropy stare at what should be an impossibility. I try to make excuses in my mind, to make it so that this drawing makes sense in some way. As I look closer I see this drawing of Entropy is simply too accurate to be anything but the impossible.

I am reminded of the words of advice I gave Phelix a few days ago. After a long silence with my mind running through every possibility, Entropy speaks first, "Very pretty. But, how?" She voices the same question I have. It seems the royal family of Griffonstone is not really as simple as they seem.

How could a filly see past an illusion? Do they all know about it? My mind spirals a little bit at the idea that a secret I've kept so close could be revealed. I feel my body tense and my mind starts to race as my magic starts to act up slightly at my internal panic.

I feel my magic moving around as I prepare to cast a spell without any real intention of doing so. I'm pulled out of it by Entropy pecking me, "No! Safe!" She seems to see that I'm panicking as my breath quickens and quickly gets my attention. "Ok? Worry." She tries to keep my attention with her questions.

I breathed out slowly and rained my mind in, suppressing the panic that was rising within me as best I could. I nod after a few deep breaths, "No, but we'll be ok. We will." I say more to myself than her. She just cuddles up next to me and makes demands for attention to continue to distract me.

I take the moment to attend to her needs and try to regain my calm, to think things through rationally. There is no immediate danger, and I'm not even sure I'm correct. I make some tea and meditate while trying to calmly think things through, it seems I have a lot to think about while on this train.

time skip

MAR 6 Tuesday.

I slowly finish another batch of notes as the sun rises into the sky, my mind occasionally distracted from the work by a conundrum that still worries me. A single filly has caused me more panic and stress than the entirety of the Dragon Lands, combined.

Silvis, just what made you draw this of all things? What lets you see through the illusion I took so much time to make? Basically, how the fuck? HOW!!! It makes no sense that a filly is able to see through Entropy's illusion. If it wasn't for two separate incidences of it happening I would just brush it off, hell I did at first.

The first day on the train I spent time trying to think through every possibility and I eventually calmed down enough to focus on the facts. My reaction at the time was similar to what happened with Daisy and Philomena, I got truly scared and panicked for a while.

Entropy is the closest thing I have to family and I will NOT let her come to harm as long as I am alive. Her safety being jeopardized is something that made me full-on panic, luckily Entropy was able to pull me out of it. I feel a little bad about that actually, and also oddly happy.

I didn't think Entropy had noticed or understood enough to predict how I would react and put it together herself, she really is a smart girl. After two days I had mostly sorted out my thoughts and now I have a more measured opinion on the situation, which is that things are out of my control but not as bad as they may seem.

At first, I thought that this might be some form of acknowledgment from Thelis that he knows about Entropy, but I'm not sure about that. The first thing I thought about was how Silvis knew, I have no concrete ideas but my best guess is she can somehow bypass illusions.

I don't know if that's something to do with their family or something only she has, but considering neither Phelix nor Thelis have even hinted anything about Entropy's true nature. So for now I'm going to work off the idea that Silvis is the only one that has this particular ability.

Working with that I'm not even sure the adults know anything is different with Entropy, they might just think Silvis is making interesting art and being her usual self by gifting it to me. She also never mentioned it to me or Entropy, despite meeting us in private and not really having the best impulse control over her words.

If Silvis can see Entropy as she truly is, why wouldn't Silvis say anything? I guess it depends on what she actually sees, can she just see through the illusion or is it something else? These questions are something I thought about for a few hours before mostly giving up.

I can't ask as I don't even know what they might know and asking could reveal more. It puts me in an unpleasant situation as I have no idea what is happening, all I know is that one of my secrets has been revealed in some capacity, and that scares the hell out of me.

The good news is I don't have the closest contact with them and I can't see them gaining anything from revealing such a secret to others. I guess they could sell the information to another for something, but that would make an enemy out of me and I don't think they would do something like that.

In the end, I just had to sort of accept the situation, no matter how uncomfortable and on edge it makes me, I simply can't do anything about it. If nothing else it's now something I need to keep in mind when interacting with them in the future. I sigh a bit and Entropy coos to me softly as I gather my things in my saddlebags to leave the train.

Entropy has kept an eye on me and insists on trying to make me feel better about things, she really shouldn't need to deal with me and my paranoia. I scratch her and smile, "I'm fine. Thanks, Girl." I reassure her. I am doing better after the past few days. The train ride actually proved to be a good place to clear my thoughts and find my calm again.

On the flip side, I didn't get much work done on the information from the Dragon Lands, I was too busy worrying over a family of three. I step off the train and look around the train station for a moment before leaving to make my way home, if nothing else it's nice to be back home after so long.

I slowly hum a tone and decide to walk to my apartment, it's odd to be back on the streets of Canterlot after weeks in a landscape of fire and stone. When I arrive at my apartment building I take a moment to check my mail, finding nothing, not surprising considering I told all my friends I'd be on a lengthy trip.

I ascend the stairs and reach my apartment with no disruptions, and as I walk inside I immediately notice that things are dusty. There is a small layer of dust on everything, the plants seem fine though so Daisy seems to have done well it watering them. I take a moment to look around as Entropy practically dives into her birdbath with an excited caw after turning off her illusion.

While looking around I notice a letter left on my table, there is only a little dust on it. I smirk at the name signed on the outside, it's from Celestia and it's dated from two days ago. I pop the seal on it and read through it while walking around and casting a cleaning spell to clean up my home.

Shade.

I remember you saying the date of your return might vary a little, so I sent this letter a little early in hopes it would arrive first.

A few things have happened since you were away and while nothing is urgent we should meet. I am also very curious as to what you have learned on your trip. Unfortunately, I am a little busy with a small incident right now, two larger nobles are arguing over farming rights on some land and it's gotten a little out of hoof.

The area is not normally used for farming, but with a certain type of wheat, Rocky Wheat to be specific, it should make a decent area for crop cultivation. The area wasn't wanted before but the two closest nobles are now both trying to back the project and gain a share of any future profits.

It almost ended with them arguing with each other at day court when it was brought before me, and now they are trying to drag other nobles into it. I thought you might find the idea humorous, I will admit they did look like impatient foals for a brief moment before calming down.

You will probably be reading about all this in the papers soon enough though. I should be able to solve this shortly, so settle back in and we can talk on the twenty-first around noon, my house. Also please send a letter after you read this so that I know you are ok, I will fill your apartment with glitter if you don't.

Signed your friend, Celestia Solis.

I smile widely at the letter and laugh loudly at the way she describes the nobles. I didn't think I'd ever get to see Celestia describe nobles as impatient foals. I take off my saddlebags and drag them into my small workroom, before I start to unpack and sort everything I spend a few moments writing a letter.

Dear Celestia.

I am alive and intact. See you soon.

Signed Shade.

I could give her a bunch of information but it seems like she's already dealing with something and nothing I have to say can't wait two weeks. The most pressing thing is about Spike's true nature and he's happily lived for years without a problem so things should be fine.

I take the letter out of the workroom and place it down on the countertop while Entropy jumps out of her birdbath with a satisfied chirp. She really didn't have a good place to clean herself during our trip, I personally just used cleaning spells on us the entire time to stay clean.

She looks over to me and with a quick teleport appears next to the letter. "For friend?" She asks and looks down at the letter for a moment. I nod and not even a second later she's gone along with the letter. I chuckle and decide to take a well-deserved hot shower.

I take a long while to simply enjoy the feeling of the hot water and the feeling of being home after a long journey. By the time I've given myself a deep scrub and dried off I return to the main room to see Entropy look at me expectantly with the bowl she considers hers. "Lunch?" She asks and tilts her head a bit, having turned on her illusion to better show her features so she could beg for food more effectively, a smart girl indeed.

I smile at her and nod. "Yes, lunch. How about som-" My words are cut off as someone knocks on my door. I raise a brow and sense outside to see a single pony, from the body shape it only takes me a moment to recognize Daisy. I smile wider and glance over to see Entropy already wagging her tail.

I flip a switch under a plant pot to open the shield of my apartment around my door so Daisy can come inside if needed, I also spend a quick moment severing her link to the shield so she can't just walk inside anymore. I open the door to see the all too familiar sight of the lime green mare. "Shade! Welcome back." She says excitedly and reaches out to hug me for a moment.

I'm a little taken off guard but quickly return the hug before separating from her. "You would think I'd died with how excited you are to see me." I joke but quickly realize I chose my words poorly. :Fuck! I need to keep that in check, I do not want to deal with this shit: I curse myself out while watching Daisy's reaction.

She scrunches up her muzzle at that and shakes her head a little. "By Celestia, I hope not, and I won't have you mentioning the possibility around me." She takes it with good humor but clearly doesn't see any amusement in the words. "Can I come in?" I nod and step to the side to let her inside.

I move over to my table and sit down with her to talk about everything. "So, where did you end up going? I know you said you'd start at Griffonstone and maybe travel around, get to see any other cities?" She dives right in and turns to Entropy when she jumps onto the table. "Well hello beautiful, did you enjoy your vacation?" Daisy greets Entropy with the same excited smile.

Entropy chirps happily and sits down on the table to listen to us, I smile and feel comforted about being around a friend after so long. "I spent most of my time there actually, I did travel down the coast a bit, I even saw the Dragon Bridge, it was certainly something to look at." I start off with a mostly blatant lie.

When I left for my trip I told them I'd be spending most of my time in Griffonstone and maybe visiting a few other nearby cities if I decided to. I smile and glance at my workroom before standing up, "That reminds me, I got you all souvenirs." I move into my workroom for a moment and grab an item from my saddlebags before bringing it back and placing it on the table in front of Daisy.

I bought gem carvings for each of my friends from Aurora. The one I placed down was a four-inch emerald carved into a Manta Ray, like all of Aurora's carvings it's a little rough but well made. Daisy blinks at it for a moment and smiles wider somehow while picking it up and looking it over. "You bought a gem sculpture for a gift, and got scammed on the detail work?" She asks tauntingly.

I stare at her for a moment before rolling my eyes with a chuckle as she giggles. "Laugh it up, there is a good reason it looks like that." She raises a brow. "Some Griffons trade with Dragons in the Dragon Lands, apparently for cheap gems. That, was carved by a Dragon, likely with their claws." I reveal with some smugness.

She looks confused before laughing more, but I just keep my smug look. "Wait, you're serious?" I nod and point to a few points where you can see some small scratches on the carving that are claw marks. "Ok first, I love it no matter the quality." She smiles happily at the gem and holds it up to look at it in the light. "And second, you find the most awesome and odd gifts." She adds, sounding completely serious.

I chuckle at her dead-serious addition. "I'm glad you like it, I think everypony else will like them as well. And while I'm technically not completely sure they were made by a Dragon, it seems likely. Every merchant I asked about said they did exist and that was repeated in a few different cities." I explain telling a half-lie.

She tilts her ears a bit and nods after a moment. "I would have never thought a Dragon of all things would spend time carving, I mean I guess they have the time for it." She seems more disbelieving than anything and I can't blame her, Ponies are woefully uninformed about Dragons, just another reason my trip might do some good.

She places it down and looks up again. "So did you actually enjoy your trip? Or did you spend all your time in a library reading anything you could find?" She teases me again and I just give her a deadpan stare. "Good, you needed an actual break." She says seriously.

I ignore that last part as I did a lot of things, an actual break may or may not have been part of that, I'm certainly not saying. "I had an interesting time if nothing else, it was fun at points as well. Now, what did I miss in our ragtag group of brave librarians?" I ham it up and enjoy the joking and relaxed atmosphere.

Daisy smiles widely and doesn't miss a beat. "I'm getting married." She says it so seriously I can't tell if she's lying. I wait in silence for a moment and my face slowly shifts to shock as she keeps her same smile. My eyes go wide and she starts to laugh, causing my surprise to be wiped off of my face. "I got you! Welcome back, Shade, we missed you so much." She says with a far too cheery tone of voice.

I cast a spell to throw a marble-sized ball of water at her, one that barely misses, much to her amusement.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I thought using the long train ride as a way to speed up Shade's processing would fit decently, maybe it takes away from the event but I didn't feel like I wanted to end this trip on him just lost in thought about his worries and if I didn't speed it along that would have been the whole chapter.

Finally, this eighteen-chapter arc is over, all that for less then six weeks in the story. Wow, that went on longer than I thought it would, it was fun to flesh out the Dragons so much and I feel like I did them well in how I built them up as a species and collective.

Chapter 264

MAR 11 Sunday.

I slowly look over the fish swimming around in my small pond, I take a moment to check and make sure they are healthy.

The past days have mostly been me slowly settling into my calm routine once again. My volunteer work at the hospital continued with little fanfare, I just checked in with the right ponies and got back to work. In a way, it's as if nothing at all has changed in the time I was away.

I know that's not true though, I have a game night later today with my friends so I'll get all caught up soon enough. For now, I've spent my time editing the notes I gathered and practicing like normal. I did get to see Stone again and have my usual fun of getting my shit kicked in for a few hours.

I didn't talk to him much about my trip as he's not really the type to ask anything about it, especially during training time. Beyond game night I sent out a letter to both Twilight and Avalon to talk about my trip a little, mostly about the ocean and Griffonstone.

I obviously didn't go into much detail about everything and tried to make it come off as fun but mostly uninteresting. Along with the letter I sent each of them a gem carving and explained where it came from, using the same excuse I did with Daisy. Avalon got a topaz bird of some type I didn't recognize, and Twilight got a building carved from amethyst, both mostly on theme and half-decent gifts.

I even got a letter back from Celestia, blatantly telling me that my last letter was not exactly informative, but thanking me regardless and confirming she'd see me on the twenty-first. I am both excited and a little worried about what she's going to say when we finally meet again.

I can't do much but wait and while I am a little concerned it's not all that much, the worst she can do is ground me and I have no intention of going anywhere for a few months at least. I also trust her not to be overly harsh, she knows me well enough and I think she'll understand my reasoning when she hears it, either that or I'm about to be locked in some tower at the palace.

I shake my head a little and push my mind away from that particular thought, moving away from the fish pond to look around for a while. Everything in Gaia's Eden seems completely untouched by the passage of time, the only exception being the growth of plants.

Everything is healthy and working properly though so I'm not one to complain, it is nice to be back home but I haven't spent too much time here, I find myself spending more time in the Canterlot Park. I guess I just missed the busy feeling of Canterlot, even if it can be annoying at times, another thing I've found interesting is a very long-term project of mine that is nearing some major developments.

After a long LONG time of selective breeding and no small amount of work, the Copper Lily is now almost at the right size to begin working on it in new ways. Right now the flowers are around two inches in size and I'm hoping to get them to one inch before starting to breed them for other traits.

This brings up the obvious question, what should I breed them to do? I know they can extract copper from an environment so I could breed them to potentially do the same with other metals beyond copper. This is mostly me theorizing for the moment as I have another more pressing thing I need to breed the plant for, survivability.

Once the flowers are at the correct size I'm going to spend some time trying to make the Copper Lily grow without the need for copper while keeping its ability. As it stands the plant requires an environment with strict conditions and I'll need to make it more durable so it can grow wherever it's needed.

Not only does the Copper Lily need copper to be in its environment, it needs a high amount to even attempt to grow, so I need to breed out these traits. If I succeed then the result would be a plant that could sit in a stream or lake for a long time and just slowly gather metal from the water.

Still, starting that project is at least another month out, from my previous rate of progress that is my best guess on how long it will take to shrink the Copper Lily flowers enough. At the moment I've been wanting to experiment with my space magic and my life magic, and now that I'm home and safe, I can start testing.

I pass by the Vita Tree and glance over before abruptly stopping, my life magic staff has stayed where I left it on the charging pedestal I left it on, but over that time its life gem has obviously filled up and I can now see a slight side effect. Turns out that placing a staff made from living wood next to a tree that gives off an insane amount of life could cause the wood making up the staff to start growing, who could have guessed?

I take the staff down and notice small branches trying to grow off from the main piece, most are just twig-sized branches but a few are larger. I move my life magic and decompose the extra parts that have grown before taking the staff with me as I continue to walk around. Back to my experiments, my space magic has been something I've always been curious about and I need to test a few things.

I have mostly been wanting to experiment with Spatial Strings, so I quickly take out a notebook and gather what I will need. As a start, I spend some time finding and gathering large bugs with my life magic from around Gaia's Eden, and then I form a short Spatial String before throwing a few inside, they drop out the other end no worse for wear as I expected.

Next, I threw them inside and while they were moving through it I let the Spatial Structure collapse in on itself. A moment later I'm greeted by a large Centipede writhing on the ground with a few of its legs looking to be broken or missing, I repeat this test several times and try to understand what is happening.

After a while I put together that they are mostly being harmed by the rebound, the space doesn't need to move much to move back into place. The space moving back was still enough to do a little harm, it pulled on the Centipede, the Rebound broke a few of its legs, and the space returning to normal pulled a few off. The force of the space itself moving back to normal doesn't seem too extreme as even a Centipede survived it.

At this point the Centipede is pretty damaged, having been thrown into unstable space a few times, but the Centipede is still alive and that is a good sign that Spatial Strings aren't too dangerous. Its damage mostly seems like several broken or lost legs, and a few large cracks on its exoskeleton, so after a moment I reach out with my life magic after getting a new idea.

I don't really have a good way to test out the healing power of my life magic on living things, so why not just use bugs? They repopulate fast and I've seen no evidence that they are as intelligent as other beings. I have to train on something and at least with bugs the chances of me hurting something near sapient is less likely.

From what I've learned and seen, bugs are basically the same as they were in my last life, they don't act more intelligent like the larger animals. I think for a few moments and eventually, my curiosity wins out, I move my magic into the weakly struggling Centipede, the life magic I use is far more than necessary.

I give it roughly five times its total life magic and watch closely to see what happens. For a moment it stills but after that it starts to squirm even harder, thrashing about as its body starts to rapidly heal. The broken legs seem to shift back into place on their own and the missing ones rapidly start to regrow.

The cracks in its exoskeleton seal and heal in the blink of an eye, barely a few seconds after I give it all that magic it sits completely healed and intact. I blink and take a few notes as the effect is far beyond what I expected it to be, sure the amount of healing magic was a little bit much for a Centipede but the effect is still amazing to watch.

I place the Centipede down on the ground and watch it quickly move away and try to crawl into the grass and escape me. It seems to be fine overall and acting normally, it's life magic seems more healthy than when I first caught it and it is definitely healed to a degree. I get an idea and pick the Centipede up again before moving one of the other smaller bugs I caught near the Centipede to test a theory.

I move them close and for a moment it seems like the Centipede is getting its bearings, but once it finds the smaller bug, a small Grasshopper, it immediately attacks. I raise a brow as I expected it to take more work than that, but the Centipede just digs in with its jaws and starts eating the Grasshopper after it kills it.

When I was healing myself a few weeks back I did experience a slight increase in my hunger, I assumed it was from my wound rapidly healing and my body needing more food to replace what it lost. I just had this bug regrow a lot of damage and the hunger is probably pretty extreme.

I'm not sure how much pain it felt or how hungry it got, but it's definitely something to keep in mind if I ever want to heal others from extreme injuries. I wonder if I could accidentally kill something through starvation? This method of healing is all based on my will so if I'm more focused on healing an injury than keeping them alive it might be possible, something to watch out for then.

I sit next to the floating Centipede as it devours its prey, I'll need to do a lot more tests to make sure I know what I'm doing if I ever need to heal somepony. Something positive of note is the fact that the Centipede grew back missing limbs, when comparing our to sizes it's not much of an accomplishment, but the possibility of regrowing missing limbs is highly interesting.

I take the Centipede with me and move over to the pavilion, I grow a box from the wooden floor and fill it with soil by growing wood inside and decomposing it. I place the Centipede inside, planning to keep it here for the time being so I can keep an eye on it and make sure there are no other side effects.

I drop the other bugs inside before growing over the top of the box with a very thin wood mesh so I can still see inside. It doesn't take long for the Centipede to start hunting the other bugs. It seems I have yet another thing to train with, back to the grind then.

I spend the next few hours working on notes in between practicing with my life magic and Spatial Strings. I heal wounds from the various insects I use as test subjects and train my Spatial Strings by forming them as far away as possible while limiting my senses to only a short distance.

Through several tests I can say nothing bad normally happens when something crosses the path of a formed Spatial String, they just pass through the space without any difficulty. And I’ve confirmed that this is because of my will and thoughts, I want nothing to come to harm when it passes through, so it isn't harmed.

I base this on the fact that when something moves through a Spatial String it causes me to need to use a small but noticeable amount of magic to make sure nothing happens when something crosses over a Spatial String. So naturally I tried to remove this restriction from my will and tested it again, keeping in mind the idea that I wanted to remove this protection while testing, the result was a few scattered bits of the insect coming out both ends of the Spatial String.

I think the compression of space caused it to be ripped apart and spat out both ends, so I am now always going to keep that earlier thought of nothing bad happening FIRMLY in mind, I do not want to blend something by accident. I am also able to form a pretty long Spatial String, my best so far has been over fifty feet long, but the cost is increasing from that point.

The larger it gets the more magic it takes to simply maintain and keep it stable, still moving a few dozen feet in a split second is a massive achievement. I was also able to make an interesting discovery, while forming one of the Spatial Strings I had another interesting idea.

I dumped more magic than the normal amount of space magic into the Spatial String but I didn't use that magic to expand it further, I just let the magic stay inside the formed Spatial Structure. When I let go of the Spatial String, letting it slip from my control completely, instead of immediately collapsing it persisted for nearly a full minute before collapsing in on itself, that did take a large amount of my magic though.

It does open the door to a few interesting possibilities though, I can keep any Spatial Structure stable without constraint attention as long as I provide extra magic for it to persist on its own. I don't have much of a use for it beyond Spatial Strings at the moment but it helps me understand my abilities more and will likely have other uses.

As I lay in the pavilion I spend my time slowly thinking of new tests and theories about my abilities. I know normal living beings have no problem moving through a formed Spatial string, but eventually I'll need to take the next logical step. I'll need to test it on myself and see if I can actually move through unharmed.

I'm not going to be doing it today though, I remember Celestia asking to be present when I do make any attempt at teleportation, and I don't need another reason for her to ground me. So for now I just make some notes on the theories I have and end the experiments for today.

After I'm done with my notes I pack everything I'll need away and whistle over to Entropy, she pops her head out from the golden leaves of the Vita Tree and flies right over to me. She lands on my back and wags her tail feathers, "Friends? Go?" She asks excitedly.

I nod and not even a second later we are back in my apartment, I chuckle at her excitement and put several things away before spending a little time copying information into a notebook. This notebook has the copy of the information I'm giving to Celestia about the Dragons. It should be done by the time we meet, the public copy is going to take more time as it needs more editing.

After I'm done I spend my time cooking, I'm hosting tonight so I'm also the one making the food. I bake several Spicy Roots and also make some pan-cooked fish, along with some pan-fried squash for anypony that doesn't enjoy having some meat in their diet.

Daisy sometimes likes eating meat and Maple seems fine with it, Stone and Blaz are against it though, and have no interest. By the time I have everything but the squash done, I hear a knock on my door, "It's open, come in." I shout a little and glance over at Entropy to make sure she has her illusion on, which she does.

A moment later the door opens and I see Maple walk in alone, the first to arrive. I smile at her and put down my cooking for a moment to walk over to greet her properly, "Maple, good to see you, I'm still cooking, sit where you like." I give her a happy greeting and move back to the kitchen so nothing burns.

She smiles a bit and nods silently while looking around, "Shade, enjoy your trip?" She asks in her normal blunt manner while immediately making herself at home. I've had them all over for many games nights before and this is nothing new for any of us. "Entropy." She adds after spotting Entropy on her perch.

I shrug a little and continue to cook with her to my back. "I did, it was an enlightening experience. although, Griffons can be a little blunt sometimes, kind of like you actually." I turn to look her over, "Are you sure you're not part Griffon?" I ask in a clearly joking manner.

She just gives me a deadpan stare while I turn back to the food and take it off of the stove to cool down. "In all seriousness, they do tend to be a little more blunt with things. I even ended up taking a few of their sayings back with me, so don't let me talk your ear off." I deliberately use one such saying to mess with her a little.

In response Maple cringes a tiny amount and turns to Entropy, giving her a very slightly pitying look. "I'm sorry you have to live with him." She says seriously and for a moment I stare at them both before chuckling. Maple smiles a bit again, "It's good to see you, Daisy and Blaz are too loud." She jokes about our other friends.

Not a moment later we both turn as another knock comes from the door. I open it with my magic to let them in while smirking at Maple, "Now look what you did, you summoned them with words alone. You have a true talent." I continue to joke with her a bit before turning to Blaz and Daisy as they walk in, "Come on in, I just finished cooking." I greet them both with some slight excitement.

Daisy just nods and places some cookies on the table for Maple and Entropy to enjoy while Blaz greets me with his normal self. "Hello Colt, enjoy your trip? You better have, I had nopony to joke about for weeks, it almost made work boring." He immediately starts to joke at my expense.

Like always I swing back with barely a beat of hesitation. "Really? You still haven't retired? Your poor body, a true shame to waste your golden days behind a desk." I come out swinging a little hard, but he just starts laughing after a moment of stunned silence and I am again taken a little off guard as one of my friends hugs me.

He only does it for a moment, but it is nice to see just how much they care about me, it is something I'm happy to see again. "Oh, I missed you, Colt!! Come on, let's play some games and forget every problem we have for today, or at least the next few hours." He says happily and walks over to the table to join the mares.

I nod but walk over to my workroom for a moment and retrieve two more gem carvings and a few of my sketches. I walk back over and place them down on the table, a whale carved from onyx for Maple, and a turtle carved from ruby for Blaz. I smirk at them, "Sorry I couldn't get you all anything more personal, to be fair I don't think a Dragon would carve something a Pony would like." I explain as they all look at the gifts.

Maple picks up the carving with a smile and nods in satisfaction." I like it, thanks." Ever the mare of few words she says nothing more on the matter and occupies her muzzle with more important matters, like eating more cookies while sharing with Entropy.

Blaz looks over the carved piece of ruby and nods slowly after a moment. "Right, Daisy did say that a Dragon carved these. I'm not sure I believe this was carved by a Dragon, but I like it regardless. A good gift as always, Colt. Thanks to you I now have something else I can weigh down my paperwork with." He smiles at the slight jab and places the gem back down close to him.

Daisy looks over the gems as well and I take a moment to enjoy the happy faces of my friends. "Well, I don't remember if any of you have been to Griffonstone, but let me tell you about it. There were some actually interesting things going on in the city." I comment in a more grounded tone as we all settle in and I pass a well-used deck of Uno cards to Daisy.

She starts to shuffle and hand out the cards so we can play while Entropy hops across the table to sit next to me. Blaz Chuckles and gives me a knowing look, "Interesting to you? Or us? Because the last time we talked about something interesting to you, you started blabbering about chess moves." He continues to mock me without any heat.

That earns him a giggle from Daisy and a smirk from Maple. I huff a bit but continue on anyway, "Well, Griffonstone seems to be prospering, when I was there it seemed like every other building was under construction. But I'm going to go out on a lim- Branch here and assume you want to hear the interesting things?" I catch myself from the mention of limbs, it might not be that bad here but I need to break this habit.

They do look interested and their silence is as good an answer as I need to continue. "Well too bad, I spent most of my time in Griffonstone and not much really happened. I did pass by Dragon Bridge though, it was an amazing sight." I think for a moment and bring over one of the sketches I made a few weeks ago.

They look it over with curiosity and I shrug. "It's not the best, pretty basic," I explained as the drawing turned out to be a little rough in the end, I was doing it from memory to be fair. "So beyond Daisy getting married, anything actually interesting happen while I was away?" I changed the subject as I don't have much to talk about.

Daisy smiles at me and nods. "Yup, me and Blaz found a new bar to drink at, the place is pretty nice." She thinks for a moment. "I'm taking a trip to where I grew up." I give her a slightly surprised look. "I had no idea where to go this year, I won't be gone that long though, at least not as long as you." I just nod and leave the topic alone, not wanting to dig up old memories any more than necessary.

Maple speaks up after a beat of silence. "I'm taking my two weeks off, I'm going to bake things." She says simply and none of us are really surprised at that, Maple has done that a few times now. "I am also joining a baking class to learn." She adds after a second.

I give her a knowing look. "I'll give you my cherry pie recipe then. It's easy enough and a good place to start." Maple's smile widens a notch and her eyes nearly sparkle in excitement while she nods in agreement. I turn to Blaz, "And what about you? Retirement home selection?" He snorts as he eats a cookie and coughs out a few laughs.

He gives me a glare without any heat. "No, in fact I've been thinking about dating, something you should do as well. Unless you already have a mare in mind?" He says in an oddly sultry voice. I ignore the slight blush I get from the outrageous tone he uses, I also ignore the giggles and laughs that erupt around the table from them all at my reaction.

I sit there, and despite my slight embarrassment, or maybe because of it? I enjoy myself, and the simple feelings of being home and back with those I know. :I missed this, and I missed them. I also missed her... Nope, ignoring that for now: I take a cookie to hide my embarrassment more by filling my muzzle.

It's at this point Entropy decides to join in. "Funny." That's all she needs to say to have them all descend into small laughing fits once again. I glare a little at Entropy as she looks back smugly. I sigh, " I raised you well, good job." I praise her regardless as she is being both smart and social. "Ok, enough joking at my expense, let's all lose to Maple instead. We have a futile score to maybe even out." I add some more humor and pick up my cards so we can finally start our game.

Maple just smiles at us all. "Bring it on." And so we once again start to descend into a night of games and poor jokes. :By magic, it's good to be home:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I wanted to delve more into healing and the fact that space magic is more based on will, both deliberate and subconscious. Something he'll need to keep in mind when working with both his space magic and life magic.

Have a good day.

Chapter 265

MAR 21 Wednesday.

I watch as the fish eat what is left of my last test subject. I will admit I feel slightly bad about accidentally blending and killing a fair few insects, but I don't really have an alternative here. I leave the fish alone and start to look around for something to do to pass the time. Celestia didn't mention when she'd arrive at Gaia's Eden so I've just spent my time practicing and experimenting a little.

I've mostly been practicing with my Spatial Strings, trying my best to grow them longer and faster. I'm admittedly pretty excited today, and nervous as well. I really want to test this out so I can start practicing teleporting around, to finally have the ability would be absolutely amazing.

I am pretty sure by this point that nothing will happen to me when I move through a Spatial String, I just need to take proper precautions and not be stupid about it. Then again that's asking a lot from me, I tend to do stupid things when I'm excited and impatient.

After a little thinking I walk over to the pavilions and lay down on one of the carpets I added a while back. I lay there for a moment and simply enjoy the sounds of the forest around me along with the gentle wind of today. It's a nice sunny day and things have gone well so far, even with the reminder of this meeting waiting in the back of my head.

I spent my morning at the hospital and had little to actually do, it was a slow day, so in the end, I just ended up asking some medical questions to a nurse who was working with me. My knowledge of medicine and healing, both practical and the theory has continued to grow with my studying and volunteering.

As I lay down in thought I start to meditate, to focus more on the world around me. I focus on my space magic and try to remember an interesting experience I had a few years ago when I first unlocked my space affinity. At the time I heavily over-exerted my magic and expanded my senses to an absurd degree.

For a very brief moment, I thought I felt the world turning, or maybe just it moving through space? It was hard to make anything out at the time and I don't really remember it all that well. The details get fuzzy at that point and even when doing it my senses were so overstretched I could barely make out any detail at all.

It was something I never tried again after that, my control and conversion ratio was simply never good enough to try anything like that without harming myself. I really got lucky about that and I'm honestly surprised I didn't get more injured from the entire fiasco.

I could try it again now? My control and the amount of space magic I can use is far superior to back then. Maybe not today though, I have a mare to deal with and I need to focus on that. So to continue to pass the time I take out my deck of cards and start to practice my control over my space magic.

I keep my eyes closed as I shuffle the deck, trying to keep one specific card's position in mind as I attempt to pull off a magic trick. This one is very simple and just involves me keeping a card where it needs to be so I can have it end up on top of the deck when I'm done, the tricky part is making sure nopony else notices me doing it.

It's a classic trick, pick a card any card and I will shuffle it around only to have it end up on top once again. I've learned a few smaller tricks so far, things like how to splay out a deck evenly and how to move cards around without others noticing. It's proven to be both a fun and effective way to train my control.

After a while of practicing and occasionally failing, I feel space start to shift around a dozen feet away from me, right next to the pavilion. I pay more attention than I normally would and try to feel out what is happening as Celestia teleports to my location.

I watch as a bubble of seemingly stable space seems to stretch to this location from some far-off direction, the space around the stable bubble being heavily stretched. A moment later it snaps back to wherever it came from and I can tell it's not as violent as when I do it, maybe magic is being used to prevent Rebound? Something to ask about at some point.

I open my eyes but keep practicing there is a flash of light, and a second later I blink to see Celestia standing there. She looks the same as always, wearing only the necklace I gave her and having Philomena sitting on her back. I smile, excited to see her, "Celestia, It's good to see you again." I greet her happily and bring out my teapot.

She glances around for a moment and we both watch as Philomena excitedly flies off to join Entropy in the branches of the Vita Tree. She raises a brow for a moment while watching me shuffle cards and make tea at the same time, she holds it in for a moment but eventually lets out a few giggles. "Shade, It's good to see you as well. Why?" She greets me with a mix of humor and curiosity.

I smile more when hearing her voice, it is really nice to see her again. "Magic tricks, the non-magical type, are complicated and require precision, they are a great way to train both control and movement. How have you been by the way?" I explain before putting the cards down in a neat pile and taking out two teacups from my saddlebags. I then take off my saddlebags and put them to the side to be more comfortable.

She gives me a gentle smile, but something is, off. I can't tell what but a few of the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as she lays down across from me on the carpet and looks me over with focused eyes. "I have been well, and things have been going well too. I even got those two nobles to agree to split the land." I nod, having seen something similar in the newspaper not long ago.

I pass her a cup of apple-flavored Blood Leaf Tea and she takes it. "Now, Shade. Read this." She gets my attention and takes out a rolled-up scroll from under her wing before silently passing it to me. At this point I'm a little more concerned, she's acting a bit odd and her short-worded demand is out of place.

I hold the scroll for a moment and raise a brow. "If this is about my letter-" I start but she shakes her head immediately. I'm now a bit concerned as her eyes show some worry in them and a little sadness.

She chuckles a little despite the look in her eyes. "Somewhat, despite your rather lacking letter this is something else, now please." I'm a little worried at how gentle yet insistent she's being, but her eyes show just how much she needs me to read the scroll. I take a moment to undo a binding on the scroll and unravel it.

To The Sun Princess, from Dragon Lord Torch.

:Oh... Fuck!: I glance up for a moment but Celestia stays silent as I quickly go back to reading.

It's been years since I've sent a letter, or maybe more than that? I'm writing to thank you for sending me such an interesting Pony. I haven't laughed this much in decades, he even brought some good stories to share! He fit right in with my Dragons!

Even down to the bloodshed and fighting he acted more like a Dragon than many Dragons, Imagine that! He even offered to share my stories with your Ponies. I like him, he's fun, send him back whenever you want. Just make sure he keeps his fighting in check, I don't need a dead Dragon because they didn't know better than to leave him alone.

I stare at the somewhat uneven writing on the rough paper scroll. I have many thoughts in my mind, the main one being, what the FUCK! He can talk with Celestia? since when? Actually, if she set up the same letter system as she does with Spike it would be very easy to communicate, well shit.

I also find it a little funny how blunt and honest Torch is in his writing, it fits him. It is also interesting to see his view of me from a different angle, but right now my main concern is Celestia. Who is now staring at me with a concerned yet demanding look. "Shade, what did he mean by bloodshed? And are, you, OK?" She demands gently as I pass the scroll back.

I think for a moment and take a notebook out of my saddlebags, this notebook contains everything I found out about the Dragons in an edited and sorted format. I place the book next to me and sigh a bit, "Well, I... It's complicated. I AM fine! I got a little hurt but it healed within a few days." Her eyes focus more and she almost looks like she'll say something but stays silent.

I push away any lingering fear or worry as this is my friend, and I have nothing to worry about, even if my mind disagrees sometimes. "It really is complicated. The Dragon Lands aren't safe, and this incident is messy." I give some excuses while trying to think of how to explain properly.

She stares at me for a long moment and drinks some tea. "I am relieved to know you are ok." She drops some of her seriousness for a moment but it's clear she's going to want to know what happened. "I know the Dragon lands are dangerous, and I'm not mad, but I want to know what happened." She gives me an understanding look but again makes it clear I'm not getting out of this, while also keeping her gentle tone.

I smile a little despite the unexcepted turn, happy she's being understanding with me, but also a little confused about why she's being so gentle. "Well, first we need context." I stop on a page that describes Dragon society in more detail along with how they view things like violence. "This notebook is everything I learned, not the raw notes but an edited version for you," I explain and pass it to her.

She takes the notebook and starts reading through a page. "To explain, you probably know that Dragons can hold grudges, right?" She nods but shows a little amount of impatience at me not getting to the point, while I try to rapidly think about how to explain in a delicate manner, before giving up. "Ok, no more beating around the bush." I drop my attempt at explaining slowly as this is not working for me.

She snorts and nods before closing the notebook, not having read much. "Agreed. Shade?" I look up at her. "Are you ok? And I mean more than just physically? Death can be a rather, heavy thing." Her tone drops all seriousness and I see my friend legitimately concerned over me. I raise a brow at the mention of death and nearly chuckle after a moment.

She sees my eyes going wide and me holding in a little amusement and reacts with more concern. "I am serious Shade, something like this... I know you see things differently, but-" I hold up a hoof to cut her off. She looks really confused at my reaction and I nearly laugh again. "What? Shade?" She asks, sounding even more confused.

I shake my head. "Ok, so his letter probably came off wrong." She looks at the letter again. "I didn't kill anyone, I did get into a fight and it got bloody, but that's it," I say in a more relaxed tone now understanding her perspective. "I was trying to explain why I had to cut a Dragons tail off." I decided to drop the largest pieces of information so I could get them out quickly.

Her face quickly shifts from confusion and worry to relief and shock. She lets out a breath and seems to slump a little, relaxing fully while closing her eyes. "You thought I killed someone? I mean, Torch wasn't exactly clear." I give her the benefit of the doubt.

She nods slowly, looking a little ashamed. "He was rather vague, and your short letter also didn't help. I thought a fight could have gone wrong, or simply too far." She looks like she just got a weight lifted off of her. "If that really was the case I thought it best to let you settle in before asking." I feel a little warmth at her thoughtfulness. Her eyes snap open abruptly and she looks at me. "Wait? What do you mean cut off a Dragons tail?" She asks with a new wave of concern.

I nod slowly and pick up the notebook again, happy that we quickly moved past that. "Like I said, it's complicated. To be blunt and to the point though." I take up a lighter tone and try to improve the mood from the odd situation we're in. I Guess her reaction and demanding concern were more about my mental health than physical.

I drink some tea. "So, I was at one of the markets in the Dragon Lands, I was trading and got caught up in the middle of two Dragons who didn't like each other." I start to explain and as I do so Celestia changes her stance, she still looks concerned but also less gentle and more ready to chastise me.

"I was just trading, I got what I wanted and just needed to close the deal so I could leave. Then the Dragon that was bothering the Dragon I was trading with, took the item I was trading with, and they stole from me. I took offense to being stolen from, they took offense to me wanting it back." I give a short and vague recount so we can move past this topic quickly.

She interrupts me at this point. "I never went myself, but I believe that there are guards of some sort, yes?" She asks the obvious question and I nod. "Did you not think to get their attention?" She does sound a little judgmental, but I can't blame her as I did do something similar in the past.

I pick up the notebook and pass it back to her. "Didn't need to, the guards noticed soon enough I was just stalling for time so the Dragon, his name is Obsidian. I just needed to keep him talking." She nods with some approval while continuing to read the section on how Dragons react to insults. "And it worked, a guard came over and Obsidian was forced to give me my things and leave, also being stood up by a Pony in full view of everyone." I hint at the main problem.

She looks up from the notebook after reading a little. "And considering that this section is about the dangers of slighting a Dragon, I assume this, Obsidian, didn't leave it at that." I nearly raise a brow as she says his name with some slight disdain, I just nod in agreement.

"Yes, and while the Dragon guards keep peace at the market, anything outside of that is very much different." I think I see a hint of anger on her face for a brief moment, but it's quickly gone. "Because he couldn't find out where I was camping, he just sat at the market waiting for me, and avoiding him wasn't really an option." I continue.

She gives me a look saying the opposite. "You very much could have. The incident might not be your fault, but you could have just walked away." She sounds a little annoyed, and I don't entirely blame her. I flip through a few more pages of the notebook and land on the section about violence.

"Sadly not really." I disagree and point to the notebook so she can read. "Dragons aren't like that, simply letting it go is not something he would do. Me being seen as weak is a much bigger danger, it would show that more Dragons could do the same, and they very much would try." I am very honest and blunt with the unfortunate truth.

She still looks like she disagrees but sighs after a moment and starts reading through the section. "It's also worse with Obsidian, if I didn't go to him there is a large chance he would try to find me eventually or take it out on others if he failed to find me. I took no pleasure in it, but it did need to end and it needed to end quickly." I finish my little speech and we are both silent for a moment.

Celestia continues to read for a minute before putting the notebook down, she stands up and picks me up with her magic, she closes the gap between us and gives me a hug. It's a long hug and she lets go after nearly a minute, "Why do you put yourself in danger? You stupid, stallion." She chastises me in a soft voice before separating from me and laying back down in the same spot as before, I try not to enjoy the hug too much.

I thinly smirk seeing her look more relaxed but also tired and sad. "To answer your earlier question, I had to get a little serious in the fight. You've seen me cut things, and after... Removing his tail, I got him to surrender." She again looks a bit sad but also looks a little understanding. "I was able to heal it back on, so no permanent injuries for either of us." She actually smiles a little hearing that and looks surprised.

She drinks her tea and reads more of the notebook, flipping through a few pages. "You do work for the crown, and me. So, you are going to make a full report, names, incidents, and actions." She states after seemingly picking herself up from the slightly hard reality I dropped on our conversation. "Now, what else did you learn on your trip?" She asks and just drops the topic entirely.

I nod without argument, this may come up again but at least she understands and accepts my reasoning for what I did. "I can have it done and sent to you by tomorrow. And, I know it seems frankly messed up, but thanks for understanding." I say after some hesitation, she's always been understanding and I can't just say nothing.

She smiles at me softly and nods. "I may not agree, but it's clear you didn't act recklessly, at least not completely. And you did it because you thought you needed to, just please remember that violence doesn't solve as much as it seems to." She keeps her understanding tone and gives some advice as she normally does.

I nod seriously. "I know, and I would have been nicer if I thought it would work. I will add that I did antagonize Obsidian, mostly to buy time, but also to not look weak. Probably an oversight on my part." I be honest and admit my fault as I intend to add it to the report I'll be making and don't want to seem like I'm hiding it.

She again nods and I fully drop the topic. "Well, I'm not sure how much you know about Dragons. I did hear a few interesting tales about you though." I add with some slight teasing, trying my best to lift us up from the lower mood. "Did you really throw a Dragon through a rock for trying to breathe fire on you?" I ask abruptly.

She pauses while taking a sip of tea and gives me a slightly embarrassed look. "Yes, it was a, complicated incident." I smile but don't comment on her similar use of words to me. She flips through pages of the notebook with clear curiosity and some amazement. "Did you translate their language?" She asks, sounding genuinely impressed.

I tilt my ear and half nod. "Yes and no, I just transcribed it. If you flip a few pages I got the written language as well, but that's not everything I got on the language." she quickly does so and stares at it with focus. "I made a powerful but simple magical shield with a gem array, I traded it with an Elder Dragon, a very old one named Larimar. For nearly three weeks I spent every day learning everything I could from her." I remember Larimar and the sort of time we spent together.

Celestia starts to smile and our moods take an upturn as she gives me an impressed look. "This is extensive." She flips to the back where I included a chapter list. "You got all of this?" I nod as she looks genuinely excited about all the new knowledge. "From eating habits all the way to, burial rites." She flips to the chapter in curiosity as I'm reminded of an important topic I need to talk to her about.

"That reminds me, this notebook has several things I won't be including in a public release." She stops reading and looks up at me with a surprised but even more excited expression. I roll my eyes, "Yes, I'm publishing it, we'll need to find a good way to do that. That's not entirely important though, flip to the section on greed." I take a more serious tone.

Her eyes focus and a moment later she finds the right chapter and starts reading, she looks back after a minute with a slightly confused look. "Spike," I say simply, her face falls into very slight worry as she starts rereading the section again. "I remember how he was born, and while it could just be Twilight's magic, if it isn't." I trail off and she puts it together immediately.

She stays calm and simply nods. "Possibly, Twilight's magic is powerful. I'll look into it but I'm not sure how real this may be, I have never paid too much attention to the Dragon Lands but I do not remember anything like this." She shows her wisdom and shares a few doubts.

I don't argue as that is something I knew I was unlikely to fully convince her on, even though I'm not sure if Spike's birth had anything to do with greed growth. "Good, if you flip a few more pages it has everything I was able to get on raising Dragons, although that's not much. There is another important theory I have on a Dragons diet." She flips a few pages and continues to read.

After reading that she just puts the notebook under her wing and it vanishes. She notices me watching and smirks, once again holding it over me. "Keep that book safe, maybe in a vault, there is a lot in there that probably shouldn't be well known," I advise her seriously. "Also, keep your tricks, I have my own."

A moment after I say that my teacup vanishes from view as I drop it in mid-air, a moment later I catch it again as it falls down from above us. It only took a moment to move it through a Spatial String and there is barely any distortion as it happens so fast. She jumps a little and I chuckle. "Got you," I say with some smugness.

She gains a massive smile. "Of course, you'd learn to teleport things while on vacation. If this can even count as a vacation. Congratulations, you are now in the same realm as Starswirl. You did it!" She beams with pride and looks over the teacup, taking it from my grasp. "How did you do it?" She asks excitedly.

The mood has now recovered fully from earlier and I feel some pride at her praise. "It's not really teleportation. I'm moving the teacup through a tunnel of compressed space to shorten the distance." She just raises a brow, "I know, that doesn't really make sense. It works about the same though, and before you ask, no I didn't try to teleport yet." I add knowing full well she'd remember my promise.

She just chuckles a little. "Good, I wouldn't want to ground you again." I can't tell if she's serious or not, but I'm sure as hell not testing that. "What is the range like? Is it dangerous in any way? Because I would very much like to know before we try it." She asks excitedly and takes out some paper to make her own notes.

I smile and once again remember just how similar we are. "The magic is based heavily on my will, so as long as I actively try not to die, I shouldn't, I hope." I joke a little and chuckle a moment later, she just gives me a concerned look. "Sorry, I spent weeks with Dragon humor, it can get morbid." I quickly stop and explain.

She sighs once again. "Because why wouldn't it? You really do have a talent for getting to know other races, maybe you would make a good diplomat." She teases me and I give her a deadpan look in return as she giggles. "Well, go on then, you held back for weeks and I'm curious. Take things slow though, we have time." She reminds me happily.

I stand up and stretch a bit while grinning like a fool. "With pleasure."

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I'm not sure I did this perfectly, it's ok but it somehow feels a little off. I think it's decent though, tell me what you think. Also, this will probably be continued, it depends on how you all feel about it.

I think Celestia misreading this a bit works well enough, it felt like we needed something like that to be added to their friendship, even if it's quickly cleared up.

Chapter 266

MAR 21 Wednesday.

I stand up and Celestia follows me while bringing the teapot and her teacup along. "So, do you have an actual way to describe what you are doing? One that makes sense I mean." She teases me a little more and I can tell she's also trying to improve the mood.

Our conversation is still not completely like it normally is when we talk, but it's getting closer. I think for a moment while walking out into the grass field to give myself some space. "To massively oversimplify it, I am shortening the distance between two points, I'm still moving through space, it's just shortened to make it faster." I try again to explain my method again.

She follows behind me and stops around ten feet away. "Hmm, I suppose that makes sense, if you don't think about how it is being done." She takes some notes and sits down while I start to concentrate on my task. I move my space magic slowly and double-check everything as I work.

After a few moments, I dump some extra space magic into the Spatial String in case I'm unable to supply magic from the inside for whatever reason. The Spatial String will only move me twenty feet from my current location and should only take a moment to move through. "If I get hurt, get the staff, or get me to a hospital," I say seriously just to be safe.

She nods and watches me very closely as space starts to visibly bend in front of me and I open up the Spatial Doorway. I walk in without pausing and keep my eyes open as I move past the threshold. The inside is a tube a little larger than my body, and for a brief moment, I see the inside.

All I can make out is swirls of colors blended and mixed to nonsensical degrees and the tube from the space that is bent around me. The space warping from the tube seems to distort light and make it hard to see the outside. I can still roughly tell where the ground and sky are but any detail is completely lost.

My senses aren't affected much as I'm used to the bent space, and I'm even able to sense things outside the tube as I move through it, although it's a little more difficult. Physically all I feel is a hard pull as I'm moved forward to the other end of the tube in less than a second, only to promptly faceplant as I exit the other side and trip from moving faster than expected.

I groan a little as I right myself from laying belly up in the grass and shake my head a little from the disorientation. "Good to know, I need to brace when exiting," I comment to myself and hear Celestia laughing a few dozen feet away, I turn to her with a slight glare. "For your information, I'm fine," I say with some sarcasm.

I stand up and hear the Spatial String collapse a moment later with a loud pop, I'll need to test if I can supply magic from the inside later but for now, I know it works. I look over at her and concentrate for a moment, I step forward as I open a Spatial Doorway faster than before and step through, half a second later I brace my legs while teleporting again.

I once again faceplant as while I do brace myself, the pull from my space magic to move me through the tube being fairly strong. I blush as Celestia is now next to me, holding in her laughter while looking down at me with a mix of amusement and pride. "If it makes you feel better, it took me several attempts to get it right, and to not teleport a few feet off of the ground. I think I better understand your method at least." She shares some of her own embarrassment to lesson mine.

I once again pick myself up off the ground and try to ignore my embarrassment altogether. "It does make me feel better, thanks." She just smiled down at me as we both walked back to the pavilion to lay down again. "I guess it's something else I'll have to learn, still I am happy it ACTUALLY works." I show some pride as this is the accumulation of years of training.

She keeps her smile and nods while lying down and passing me the teapot to refill my cup. "It is an amazingly impressive feat, very few Ponies have ever accomplished teleportation, let alone inventing a new way to teleport. You'd be celebrated as a genius, if you cared to tell anypony that is." I roll my eyes at that but try not to blush again as she keeps complimenting me. "I am amazed how far you've come in only a short few years." She says with that damned smile.

I wave a hoof and just shrug. "I'm just obsessed with training and practice, honestly I find it more odd that other Ponies don't experiment with their magic more, but you've already heard all that." I downplay the praise as a more competent human would be able to do a lot more than I have. "So, any news I should know about? The Changelings?" I suggest, trying to move us past my accident.

She sips her tea and nods. "I do enjoy the apple variant by the way, I wonder if you could do pastry flavors with some vanilla beans?" She ponders out loud and I shrug while smiling, knowing full well she might be serious. "As for the Changelings? I do actually have some news about that." She focuses more while keeping her relaxed tone.

I stay silent but bring out my chess set so we can have something to do while talking. "I have started to place Love Collectors in different cities, nothing massive but a start to build up a stockpile and get some love to do things with." I nod in agreement as that sounds like a good call, "I also took your advice and invested in a few things to improve gem production. It will be needed for this." Again I'm happy to see my advice doing some good.

She takes out a letter from under her wings. "As for the war? Things have mostly remained unchanged for the moment. Chrysalis has been trying to form some better relations with us, likely to get access to more love. She's been sending some more information on the war and helping to actively keep innocent Ponies out of it." Celestia's tone shows some slight respect, not much but it is there.

I sip my tea and move the first piece on the board. "A good place to start on her part, it shows she at least pretends to care about innocents, and it does help us." I voice my agreement as it is a good strategy on Chrysalis's part. "I wouldn't recommend acting on the information though, it's unlikely to be too accurate," I add a warning after a moment of thought.

Celestia nods in agreement. "My captain of the guard said much the same, for now we are trying to simply keep lives safe by discreetly moving them out of the way. It will likely be noticed by both hives, but they will probably suspect a defector or us sending our own spy in instead of collaboration."

She flips through the letter and passes it to me and I read it while she moves her pieces. The letter is from Chrysalis and is mostly just blatant and blunt information, but there are a few kind words and a recommendation to meet again to discuss some plans in person in case Queen Cascadia ever finds out about our cooperation.

It's a pretty blatant attempt to meet with Celestia again and try to convince her to supply love or help more in general, but Chrysalis isn't wrong either. "Are we actually supplying them yet? She's definitely pushing hard for it either way, not that I expected anything different." I move a piece on the board and pass the letter back.

Celestia shakes her head. "Not really we have sent a few more Love Cells but not much, it's given her a bigger taste of what we have to offer." I give her a deadpan stare at the pun, she just smirks. "At the moment we are using what love we aren't storing to entice other hiveless Changelings and trying to build good relations with the various groups, there are many though." She reveals after her train wreck of a joke, that it's not like I'm better though.

Hiveless Changelings are the largest rogue element in this conflict, their reasons and loyalties are complex and unpredictable. "How are you feeding them? It is good to get their loyalty but if we have a leak on the Love Gatherer it would be bad, no matter the timing." That knowledge will come out eventually but the longer it doesn't the better.

Celestia smiles. "That is a concern though, we are trying our best to take precautions but it won't be a secret forever no matter what we do." She reassures but is honest as well. "To that end, a few of my trusted Ponies came up with an interesting solution to that. The shield spell you made prevents emotion magic from leaving or entering. We simply activate it and flood the room with love we gathered." She trails off.

I blink and smile. "And then they just walk in, eat their fill and walk out. Huh." It's a very simple but effective solution to not letting unknowns see the Love Gatherer or Love Cell. I think for a moment, "That does mean the shield is put on a room with emotional magic already in it, it would degrade the quality of the love slightly. I'll make a variant of the shield spell to expand from a point so it doesn't happen." I spot a concern and make some mental plans to fix it.

She gives me a knowing look while smiling widely. "I guessed as much, thank you. The feeding is actually very easy to do, no Love Gatherers are on site and the Love Cells are heavily guarded so no one sees them. And as a requirement for getting love from us, we make them write down their name and age." She adds.

I hum in agreement. "A good way to get a rough estimate of the population of Changelings. A lot of them might not trust that, but it will work overtime to build up trust between them and us, it also makes us look good as we're treating them better than the hives." I lose our first game of chess with little fanfare. "Are you thinking of accepting Chrysalis's meeting?"

She looks uncertain at that. "I am tempted, it would be a good step to meet again and build more trust with them as well. If they get too demanding though and we give them too little in return, they may get impatient and feel they need to act." She points out a problem. "If we do meet I will ask that you join me again, your presence helped greatly last time." I nod my agreement immediately.

"No problem, I should probably get some more practice in my armor as well. And with healing too, I've gotten to the point of actually healing wounds now." I shift our subject to move away from the topic of war. "Although, I'm taking it slowly, making sure nothing goes horribly wrong." I reset the board and noticed Entropy and Philomena sitting on the pavilion railing watching us from the sidelines.

Celestia looks at my saddlebags, "Do you have any lemon and mint?" I nod and just point to the right pocket of my saddlebags, she retrieves it and starts to make fresh tea. "I remember you mentioning reattaching that Dragons tail. Actually, how large was this Dragon?" Her voice carries a curiousness while clearly trying not to judge me more.

I know the topic might make things a little odd again, but the more we talk about it the less it will affect us "Around sixty to seventy feet from snout to tail." I answer without missing a beat and her eyes go wide. "Reattaching his tail took a lot of my magic actually. I also never tried that before then, it seemed to heal fine from the way he was immediately able to move it around again." I continue to explain while her shock deepens.

She takes a deep breath and sighs. "I don't know why I should have expected differently. Really though? An ADULT Dragon?" She asks incredulously, her tone more dumbfounded than angry or mad. "I won't even say anything about testing an unknown ability on them. I suppose you didn't really have an alternative there." She just seems to give up on chastising me at all by this point.

I nod and don't take any enjoyment from her being stressed over my safety. "I could have just healed the stump, but I wasn't willing to leave him like that, not when I could do something about it." I continue to be honest with her and take the valid criticism head-on.

She chuckles a bit and nods. "Because that's who you are, a Pony that will fight an adult Dragon and heal them once he's won, and you won't even brag about it." She finds some humor in my actions and I can't really disagree that it's odd. "You make me worry you know? I can never tell what you will get yourself into." She is also honest for a moment and her ears lower a bit.

I let out a breath slowly, feeling bad about putting her through all this. "I wish I could tell you I'd never do anything like it again, but that's not who I am. No, I'm the stupid stallion who just has to do what I do, and often even I'm not sure why." I joke a little and watch her chuckle a little more.

She shakes her head and smiles at me. "I know, and I accept that. Yet you seem determined to worry over every little thing except for yourself, and so I worry over you, for you." She jokes back a small bit. "Enough of this though, say something happy or crazy to change the subject, like you always do." She forces the topic onto something else.

I grin seeing that she's noticed that I do that often. "Well, I think I met a filly who can either naturally see through illusions or something more powerful, I'm not really sure." I do as asked and make an absurd claim with zero hesitation and a larger smile as she full-on laughs at my words. After a minute of her laughing, I continued. "I am serious though." I drop the joking tone.

She stops laughing after a few more moments and looks at me expectantly. I was going to mention this to her as she is one of the few creatures in this world that might actually know what this is. Or at least to get a second opinion to put my fears to rest. "You remember the filly I saved in New Trotten? The royal from Griffonstone?" I ask while taking out two drawings from my saddlebags.

She nods. "Well, both on my way there and when I was traveling back, I spent some time enjoying their hospitality. On a side note, they are lovely hosts." I shrug a little with a grin. "Who would have guessed? Anyway, Silvis drew this while we were eating. And keep in mind Entropy was always under an illusion." I emphasize and pass her the first drawing.

She unfolds it and looks it over for a moment, glancing at Entropy when she flies over, apparently curious about her name being mentioned. I pet Entropy as Celestia tilts her head a bit, "I can see what you mean, but I hardly thin-" I cut her off by passing the second drawing to her. Her eyes focus as she looks between the drawing and Entropy. "Hmmm."

I nod. "The first is from when I was passing by, and the second was when I was heading home. Entropy was either under an illusion or my shadow the whole time. I didn't even see the second drawing until I was on the train leaving, I spent my entire train ride going from... Well, worrying over it." I admit slowly not finding a way to skip over it.

Celestia gives me a sympathetic look. Entropy interrupts us at that point, "Very scared, made stop." She says with clear pride and Celestia looks back at me more concerned.

I sigh. "Entropy is family, and if others knew about her... I full-on panicked, Entropy snapped me out of it." I admit after a moment while Celestia looks both concerned and reassuring. "The good news was I just needed time to process everything, and the train ride did that well. I'm fine now, it's not really that bad. I'm more curious about how this happened at all." I reassure her with a calm tone.

After coming home I was much more calm about everything that happened. It's not too bad and if worse comes to worse I will just deal with it. Celestia stretches out a wing and pets Entropy, "Good job, you looked after him well." Celestia praises Entropy, who looks very proud while sticking out her chest, before turning back to me. "I expect you to send a letter if you need to talk, and as a friend I will be very annoyed if you don't." She is firm but adds some humor at the end.

I nod and she goes back to looking over the drawings. "I have encountered a few things of similar nature before. It really depends on what she's actually doing. I've known some magical creatures to be able to see through illusions, it could be something in their family line." I think on that as I suspected something similar but wasn't sure it was possible.

"If it is something more akin to soothsaying or truth-seeing then it is much less simple." She takes a large drink of tea as we have been talking for a long while. "I can tell you for certain some beings can see the truth even when their mind doesn't recognize it. Such as an artist drawing a hidden truth while never knowing of it, not even a bit." She moves a piece on the board as I listen.

I think about that and nod as it could very well be the case here. "It might be possible, the details are so accurate though? I can understand the feathers and general look, even the wisps of shadow look to be moving the same way." I voice my thoughts and ponder aloud. "I guess something like that is rare though, they might not even use an ability like that often."

Celestia shakes her head a little and I raise a questioning brow. "I find that beings with such an ability use it often, but using it and harnessing it are two very different things. Much like your magical affinities, the first step to controlling them is recognizing that they are there at all." I find myself nodding in agreement with her logic.

"In this case, neither of us has enough information to truly know anything, and as much as I also wish for answers we are unlikely to get any easily. You may wish to simply try and let go for now, keep thinking and theorizing, but also live your life at the same time." She says the same conclusion I myself have come to.

I nod in agreement and look off into the distance of the dark Everfree Forest. "I thought the same, I ended up at that very answer after the train ride. Thank you though." I thank her once again. "I'm just not really sure what I should do about it in the future? I could try and be creative and test for it, but they have been nice and welcoming." I am reluctant to cause a problem for someone who's been so kind.

Celestia looks pleased at the answer. "Hmm, maybe it is something that is better left alone then?" I continue to look at the board as she talks. "It might be best to simply do nothing, if it becomes a problem deal with it then. As you often do when inventing things, it seems to work well for you." She gives more advice.

I stay silent and simply think about her words. My paranoia and fear aren't unwarranted, but it seems I continue to learn this same lesson over and over again. She is probably right, but that doesn't mean I won't prepare for the future now. "Maybe, but I think it might also be time to dive a little more into illusions, would you be so kind as to teach me? I suspect you know a little." I ask knowing full well how much she likes teaching others.

She smiles happily and gets the familiar look of a teacher. "As you said earlier, with pleasure."

POV shift Chrysalis.

I watch silently as another cold body is dragged across the grass. Why did this clash have to be in the day? We must hurry to clean things up before it was noticed by others. This may be a remote area but I know better than to assume none may pass through on a whim, I've nearly made that mistake before and learned my lesson well.

I look over at the twelve bodies and six injured drones, my drones. I turn to another drone who is tending to the injured, "How bad?" I do not waste words and demand an answer as fast as possible, my drones also know the urgency and are working as quickly as possible.

They don't bother to bow as we do not have the time. "Two must be carried, but the rest can fly my Queen." The answer is quick and only uses a minimal amount of formal words. I nod and move over to look at the bodies closely as they are being moved to a hastily dug grave for them, made by a pair of drones casting earth spells.

It was a small clash that unfortunately was interrupted by a wild predator, drawn in by the noise most likely, or the smell of blood. The small forest clearing is stained with splashes of greenish-red blood, it stinks up the otherwise peaceful clearing. What a waste.

I lost four drones in a useless battle, one neither side planned to have to begin with. It seems that the monster is still gathering food in the nearby city, I'll need to increase my attempts there, I can't have them causing too much trouble. I look over the pile of things the enemy drones were carrying with them.

Everything is mundane, basic daggers and a short sword, along with a few flasks and jars filled with fluids of various colors each representing a different emotion. If nothing else I have taken some more food from that monster and more of her drones were lost than mine, still these drones shouldn't have died for so little.

I watch as my other drones finish burying the dead and start carrying the wounded as they all prepare to fly off. I only came here because I was nearby when I was passing and a runner from the group was able to find us in time to get help. I glance over at the large corpse of the dire bear being prepped to move by a dozen drones, it took more magic than preferable but it is no longer a problem.

This part of Equestria is remote, good for moving things around unseen but also much more dangerous. I take flight after a few moments along with the rest of my drones, making sure we are all low to the ground and all in disguise in case we are spotted at a distance.

As I fly my mind drifts to thoughts of the Ponies once again. I know that Princess Celestia is tempting me, and it is working. The little amount of love she's sent has been a larger boon than she may have expected, it has given the hive more energy, even if it doesn't give us much to quell our hunger with.

It risks the monster finding out, so I am simply telling the hive it is love that we gathered in a new secret location only for the elite and trusted love gatherers, not a perfect lie but good enough for most of the hive. That idea of more food is improving the morale of many, and by this point it is desperately needed.

I still remember how spirited and determined those who first joined me at the start of this war were, but that has dulled with time. War grinding away their will, but they now see a light, a way forward, and that we are still winning. The Ponies are being stubborn though, not fully backing us but giving us a taste of what they could offer.

The price though, I have disturbingly little to offer in exchange at the moment, beyond some less important information. Still, I can not walk away from this after the improved fighting spirit of the hive, if I try it might be the breaking point for many.

A meeting first, I must get a meeting and try my best to find something to offer and entice them. I wonder what my drones have found out about that knight? He seems to be very trusted by Princess Celestia, he was allowed to deal with a problem without even really informing their group at the meeting.

I sigh and look out across the sky at the setting sun. Later, I must deal with this mess first.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 996

I had fun adding to the conversation, and I decided to add a bit more humor. I didn't really know how to end it though so I thought checking in on Chrysalis would be fun, I might do that occasionally, I'm not sure yet.

Second thing, Shade's birthday. Any ideas? Things he or his friends could do? Keep in mind they aren't too big on Celebrating and normally keep it simple.

Ps, day off. See you all Monday.

Chapter 267

MAR 29 Thursday.

I move my hooves slowly as I carve out another small chunk of wood, making sure I don't damage the small sculpture as I work.

Today is one of those days where I have little to do, my practice is done, my volunteering was completed this morning and I don't really have much to fill the time. So I do what I normally do on these days, I spend that time enjoying a simple hobby or craft, in this case wood carving.

The past two weeks have been a nice calm, mostly filled with me dealing with my friends and life as normal. My meeting with Celestia is still fairly fresh in my mind, the topics may not have all been cheery but I enjoyed spending time with her once again.

That line of thought makes me stop for a moment and sigh a bit before cutting the wood piece again. Celestia, a topic I try not to think about in the wrong context, it really does feel weird to have thoughts like that about a close friend. I can't say the idea is unappealing though.

I shake my head a little and focus on my work again to distract myself. After our conversation, Celestia did ask what I was planning to do for my birthday, and I honestly have no idea. Normally me and my friends just wish each other a happy birthday and maybe give a small gift before moving on with the day.

The problem being that Celestia has shown just how willing she is to celebrate my birthday, so after some thought I decided to ask my friends to have a normal game night on my birthday and just relax. This way I can enjoy my time with them and probably celebrate earlier in the day with Celestia, a nice win-win situation.

When I said this Celestia just nodded so I guess I'll see what kind of surprise she has for me then. It would be nice to have another little party at Gaia's Eden, I did enjoy the last one quite a bit. I look over the sculpture I've spent an hour carving away at with my enchanted knife, something I've enjoyed doing.

The sculpture is made from Redwood and is a very simple one, it's just a carving of a Griffon. There's no real reason why I picked this combination, I'm mostly just bored. I pause again and think for a moment before shrugging to myself. :I could walk around the city? Why not?: After a moment I silently agree with myself and stand up.

I find myself not leaving and getting out as much the past year, I just don't have much of a reason to do so beyond my normal schedule. As I reach for my saddlebags another thought comes to mind, I've been low on medium gems for a while and it's the right season for caravans to visit Canterlot.

I put on my saddlebags and head into my workroom, looking around my shelves for a few moments until I find what I'm looking for, a small metal pendant I was given a long time ago. I pack it away and whistle to Entropy as she sits on her perch, who looks up to me curiously. "We're going out, come on."

She pecks at her band and turns on its enchantment before flying over and landing on my back while I leave my apartment. As I walk I make my way to the bank, spending a while taking out enough bits for the purchases and also getting a receipt, before flying towards the outskirts of the city.

It's not a long flight and I enjoy the sunny afternoon day. I have to land by the city walls as Ponies aren't allowed to fly into or out of Canterlot, even with wings you have to land and check in at a gate like everypony else. It takes another few minutes to get through but eventually I arrive outside the city gates.

Like other times there are several caravans all trading goods outside the city, set up at different locations around the area. It's been a few years since I last bought from the Diamond Dog caravan I did business with, but I'm still able to spot the banner above one caravan camp not far off.

I'm not sure if this pendant will still mean much, the leadership of a caravan can often change depending on who is leading or backing the caravan, so this might take a little more time. Still, compared to last time I'm an adult, and that means no extra suspicion or using my card.

As I walk closer my mind drifts to something I had mostly forgotten about, the place I grew up in this life. I've stopped by once and passed by a few times, maybe I should visit? I may not feel too much of a connection due to not actually being a foal while I was living there but it still means something to me.

I leave my thoughts as I approach the caravan and see a few guards walking around, like I did once long ago I simply sit and wait for them to take notice of me. It doesn't take long for a Diamond Dog guard to walk over, they eye me with a little suspicion as it is their job, but they just nod in greeting after a moment. "Sir?"

I nod back and hold out the pendant with my hoof, "I'm here to trade, it's been a while though so I may need to talk to whoever is in charge." I notice they have more respect for me than last time, then again last time I was some random colt walking around alone, I have changed since then.

I look them over as they inspect the pendant. Diamond Dogs are taller than Ponies on average but have a thin build, most having lengthy limbs that seem well adapted to digging and reaching ledges for climbing out of their subterranean homes. The Diamond Dog guard takes the pendant and looks it over closely, eventually passing it back to me with another nod. "Follow me."

I do as asked and we walk into the camp, me keeping a closer eye on things around me than the last time I was in a caravan camp. I watch as a few Diamond Dog pups play and others go about the business of maintaining a camp like this, cooking, cleaning, or moving crates of goods around.

I do notice that the caravan seems larger than before, but from what I've seen in the newspaper Celestia's attempts at securing more gems have already picked up some steam. More traders from the Diamond Dogs specifically and I think Cadance might try to secure more trade with them as well, that's just a hunch with no proof though.

Eventually, I'm led to a large tent, inside is filled with a large table where a few are eating and a single Diamond Dog is doing paperwork to one side. I think for a few moments and search my memory as I recognize this individual. Grey fur, red eyes, Beryl Granite, the first Diamond Dog I ever met in this world.

As we approach she looks up and her eyes look over to me with some confusion, focusing for a few moments before showing recognition in her expression. She waves away the guard and looks me up and down for a moment, me now being a few inches taller than her from the last time we met. "Well, this is certainly a surprise... Shade? Right? It's been a long time." She greets me with a relaxed but professional attitude and holds out a paw.

It has been a rather long time since we met and I'm surprised she remembers me at all. I shake her paw with a small smile and a nod. "Beryl, it has been a long time. After a long time, I'm once again looking for gems, and I happened to remember I was given this." I take out the pendant for a moment. "I am surprised to see you though, is your father around?" I ask as he was in charge last time I was here.

She looks at the pendant and nods again. "Well, you've come to the right dogs then." She looks off for a moment. "No, actually my father retired last year, I'm in charge now." She says simply and I accept it without question as It's not my place to dig. She moves further away from the table, "You also came at a good time as well, we brought a large stock with us this time, care to see?" She asks, getting right down to business.

I don't mind, I would like to ask more questions about Diamond Dogs but I can understand that she's here to work and I'm taking up her time. "Sounds good, I'm not sure I brought enough, we could do a receipt if you want? Or the same way we did things last time." I offer something I wasn't able to before.

When I was still a colt there were a few things I couldn't do easily. One of them involved receipts, a way to transfer bits from a transaction without lugging around so much gold. It's a fairly simple but effective method and it is much more convenient, as long as I remind myself I can actually use it.

When I was a colt I couldn't use receipts for transactions, I'm no expert but it's not illegal, it's just that no bank would take the risk of a colt handing out receipts as they might be liable to pay even if that young pony can't. The receipt is basically backed by a bank and giving them to young Ponies is a bad idea.

Beryl nods after a moment of thought. "I can do that, you are an adult now, right?" I nod and take out my card, which while no longer needed for everyday use still has my date of birth. "We'll do a down payment with the rest on the receipt." I nod in acceptance. "Anything in particular you are looking for this time? We have a lot to offer." She says while leading me out of the large tent.

I think for a moment as we move to the center of the camp, an area much more guarded as it holds all their trade goods. "Only gems above medium size, and preferably diamond, the purer the better." I shoot high as I have no shortage of funds for this.

She raises a brow but nods with a small smile, showing she likes what she's hearing. "Most of our small gem stock is gone already anyway, business has been prospering." She makes a comment as some small talk while we move past several carts with crates in them. "Are you interested in affinity gems as well?" She offers in a friendly tone.

"Very." I agree as she waves over a few other Diamond Dogs and they start opening crates. As a last thought before we begin I realize that this all might weigh a large amount and I would rather not lug it through the city. "How much to have you deliver it all somewhere later today?" I ask, guessing that they would be willing.

The small twinkle in her eyes is all the confirmation I need. It takes nearly two hours to look through their stock and by the time I'm done, I have a large collection of gems that will be delivered to a location I've specified. I turn to Beryl and hold out my hoof, "pleasure doing business with you." I pass her a large bag of bits to cover the down payment.

She takes the bag with a nod and shakes my hoof. "Agreed, here." She passes me a piece of paper. "It's our route, it's never perfectly accurate but it should give you a good idea of when we're at Canterlot." I take it with a smile and pack it away before taking out a receipt and writing down the needed information before passing it over as well.

After a moment of her looking it over she turns to one of the guards and motions them over. "Anything else you might be interested in?" I shake my head silently. "They can lead you out then, have a good day." She ends our conversation bluntly and I just start to follow the guard, not seeing much of a reason to say anything more.

After a little walking, I'm back inside Canterlot's city walls. Entropy has been sitting on my back silently this whole time but speaks up as I walk through the outskirts of the city, "Lunch? Hungry." I nod and chuckle a little at her regular cute act, or maybe she's just like that? With how smart she is I honestly can't tell sometimes.

I walk for a while and I end up at a building I remember using once long ago. The area is just a large building for renting storage space and I spent a few minutes with a Pony working there. I rent a storage room and specify that the Diamond Dogs will be delivering here and to expect them.

I didn't want them delivering so many gems to my apartment so instead I'm renting a space to retrieve them from. After that's taken care of Entropy and I spend a few more minutes letting her memorize the inside of the storeroom so she can teleport here before leaving to find some lunch.

After a little walking, I found a decent-looking cafe. The building looks a little old but it's clean inside and neither Entropy nor I care too much where we eat. I head inside and see mostly tables with a few more secluded areas off to the left side against a wall, I head over and sit down letting Entropy jump onto the table top as I do so.

Entropy snuggles right in by lying down on the table and becoming a new decoration for the little cafe. I pet her, earning me a few adorable chirps in return before taking out my sketchbook to draw as we wait. After a while, we're approached by a mare with a pad and quill. "What can I get you?" She asks with a cheery disposition common among most Ponies. I take a moment to look past her at a menu on the wall.

"Some ginger tea and a few pastries, anything's fine." I decide to leave it up to chance, I turn to entropy, hearing a squawk from her. "And some diced fruit if you can." I chuckle a little at the demanding fluff ball. The mare looks oddly at the crow as it's not the most common pet, but nods and walks off leaving us alone again.

As I sit I start to flip back through the sketchbook, looking at all the drawings I've made over the years. I have a few sketchbooks but this one is special as it's my oldest one, actually? Maybe not, I think I still have a sketchbook or two from when I lived at the orphanage.

I wonder where I put those? If I even still have them, then again I'm not the type to throw them away. Again my mind drifts to the place I spent the first eleven years of this life. I wonder if it is doing fine? Maybe old Magree is still in charge, she seemed like the kind of mare who would never really retire.

I think and doodle in my sketchbook until our food arrives, Entropy digging right into the fruit and eyeing my pastries already. "Finish your food and you can have some... Oh, who am I kidding? You'd never not eat everything I give you." I mumble to her and receive a happy chirp in return.

I sip my tea and munch on some type of apple pastry while enjoying the small moment of quiet in this ever-busy city. I should do this more often, I do go out and eat with my friends every few weeks but this is different, it's calm and gives me time to just... Enjoy, to enjoy this city and everything in it.

Again my mind goes to the place I grew up in this life. I never felt too much from the orphanage, I suppose it was home to some degree, but not in the same way as my apartment or my room at the library. I enjoyed my time there, but it felt more like visiting family and staying with them, sure you have your own space but it's not really yours.

I was never treated badly, well a few of the other foals could be rude, but they are foals so it's to be expected. You know I think that place saved me in an odd way. I've never had any close family and the idea of growing up in my second life with a mother and father seems weird, or maybe just off-putting.

If that was my reality I'd feel bad for them, they probably would just want a foal and they'd get me instead. Oddly I'm also glad I got to grow up again, to spend so much time simply playing and enjoying the days as they pass by. Without it, I'd still be thinking about and maybe even looking to return to my old home.

I do miss many things about Earth, but it's all so distant now, it's been nearly sixteen years since I died, and isn't that an odd thought. My time growing up let me accept this life as my one, a continuation. Maybe I really should visit? I don't really have much of a reason, but I am curious about how it is doing after all this time. I think for a few minutes while enjoying my treats, and feeding pieces to Entropy as she also relaxes.

After I'm done I just sit for a while, thinking. I'm reminded of a thought I had earlier today and repeat it once again. :Why not?: I smile at Entropy. "Do you want to see where I grew up? As a little foal." I ask abruptly and she tilts her head a little before shifting her weight from foot to foot and cawing in excitement. I stand up, "I'll take that as a yes."

I spend a moment paying a Pony behind the counter before heading back out into the afternoon streets. I could fly but I take my time instead and slowly walk down several familiar roads before finding the right one. I look up as I approach the large building.

The building is old, weathered in several places and showing its age, but it is clearly well-kept. I feel a little odd as I look around, it seems as if nothing has really changed at all, even the garden boxes where they grew some fresh produce are still in the same spots.

I notice several foals playing in the yard behind the brick wall, just tall enough to make foals have to climb it but still short enough for a Pony to see if a foal is running off without permission. I always found that a little odd, why not just make it taller? A particularly adventurous and capable Pegasus foal reminded me that they very much can fly short distances.

I chuckle a little at the memory and walk over to the gate, pushing it open and walking into the front yard. The building was some old nobles mansion I think, large with many rooms and fairly opulent even after it was converted into an orphanage. There are definitely worse places to grow up.

As I walk closer I see several playing foals watching me from the side, a few pointing to Entropy and talking with each other about her. There is a caretaker off to the side but they don't come over to me and just keep their eyes on the foals, which is good considering how often they tend to get curious and wander off.

Sitting on the front porch in the shade is an old mare, Magree Limestone, looking as if the years have caught up with her a little more since the last time we met. Although, that was a brief meeting and I wasn't paying too much attention to her appearance at the time.

As I walk over her head tilts up from a little toy animal she seems to be knitting. As I walk closer she adjusts her glasses, still having to squint a little when I get close. After a moment her eyes widen a little bit, and she looks me up and down for a few seconds.

"I knew you'd grow, you were a quick one even for an earth pony, walking so soon after you were born, I never thought you'd grow this much though." She shows a rare bit of humor, something I did not often see. "Shade Evergreen, come sit." She offers with that kind but firm smile.

I look at the bench opposite of her and take a seat as asked, Entropy sitting next to me as I stare at the much shorter unicorn mare. "Miss, Magree. It's been a long time, sorry I didn't visit sooner." I do feel a little bad as I basically never came back here after I left nearly six years ago.

She keeps her smile and waves me off slowly, her hoof taking its time. "Few ever do, they are out living their lives and that is more than enough. You look well, are you still working at the library?" She starts up some small talk and I settle in. She looks at Entropy as well, "And who is this?" She smiles at Entropy, seemingly happy to have more visitors.

Entropy caws quietly at her in greeting. "I guess, life can certainly be busy at the best of times. This is Entropy, she's been with me for five years now." I carefully scratch Entropy and make sure to not disrupt the illusion. "No actually, I finished my apprenticeship last year. I'm studying spell work and I also volunteer at a hospital." I am mostly honest, not seeing much of a reason to lie.

She raises a brow and giggles a bit. "A spell crafter? And healing as well? Fitting, you always did love any bit of magic you found, sneaking off so often to practice when you thought we weren't looking." She says with some humor. I raise my brows in slight shock and she just smiles more. "I have seen many Ponies grow up, I know how to keep my eye on them, but sometimes they need the space." She gives a bit of wisdom with some humor in her tone.

I chuckle a little and let go of any lingering fear that tries to rise up. There is no need to panic, if anything was going to happen it would have happened years ago. "I guess I was just a colt, and stealth is one thing my size doesn't help with." I joke back a little. There is a beat of silence as neither of us talks.

After a moment I take out my teapot, "Would you like some tea?" I break the awkwardness as best I can. She nods and watches curiously as I cast a spell to gather water before letting the teapot heat up. "Any flavor you prefer? I have a few here." I add while looking through my saddlebags.

She watches the spell matrix flash when I start to gather water and she jumps a little. "Oh my, you really have taken to magic. A Journeypony caster at your age, congratulations." She compliments me with that firm but genuine tone. "Any will do, is the teapot Enchanted?" She asks as the water starts to rapidly boil.

I nod and take out some regular ginger tea I keep with me, mostly for situations like this where Blood Leaf Tea is not an option. "It is, I enchanted it myself a while back, it took a while to find the spell though." I'm somewhat more open about my skills as at this point it's interesting but not immensely out of the realm of possibility for me to do these things.

She nods and looks a little proud as I take out two teacups and fill them before passing one over. "So, what brings you here? I am glad to see you visit but you must be busy." She asks while taking a sip of the tea. "Hmm, ginger works well for a day like this." She says approvingly.

I think for a moment and shrug a little. "Nothing I suppose, I was having a slow day and thought about this place for the first time in a long while. I thought I might as well visit, see how things are. How are things?" I dive head first into the polite conversation and try to enjoy it.

The old mare gives me a happy smile and seems more than willing to talk my ear off for a while. I listen intently as she talks and enjoy the change from my normal days. Maybe I should visit more often?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I know we've had a lot of calm chapters without much happening, and the next one is likely to be like that as well, but I got in a mood and this was the end result.

This is a small thing, but one or two of you have asked about a Discord Server, and after a lot of thought and some encouragement, I made one.

https://discord.gg/MnY2K9QtAy

I'm not sure how often I will be on there, so it might take more time for me to respond. But if it's something you're interested in, it's there, if not ignore me. Also, I'm not the best at using Discord, so if you find any problems that is why.

Chapter 269

APR 11 Wednesday.

I slowly turn a page of the book I'm reading and wait in patient silence for my friend to arrive.

I've sadly not gotten to see either Twilight or Avalon for a while now, but Avalon did send me a letter asking to hang out recently. So I agreed and said he could meet me at the library, mostly so we could both check out some books before heading to my apartment where we could relax in private, something he and I prefer.

I'm just happy to get to see my friend once again, I should really try to set up a meeting with Twilight. She did send me a letter recently but it seems she's pretty busy with her studies at the moment, I guess I'll just send a letter back and see when she can make some time.

I smile a little thinking about friends as the memories of my recent birthday resurface in my mind. It was fun and I enjoyed myself quite a bit, if you don't count Celestia outing my adventures, not that I didn't have it coming because I did in all honesty. I did manage to ask Celestia about when the book will be published.

She isn't entirely sure but it shouldn't take more than a few weeks, and Celestia also made an edited version of the notebook I gave her. She's planning on giving it to Twilight a little before the public book releases, hopefully that helps Twilight and her family to some degree.

As for who will take credit for the book? Celestia decided to credit it to the crown itself with several Ponies that aren't named and combined them while adding a part to the book explaining that it is a combination of years of different Ponies studying Dragons.

It's far from a perfect solution but the vast majority of Ponies will never even try to look into it, most probably won't even notice that no Ponies are named as authors. Those that do will see it was the crown and likely stop questioning it, sometimes the extreme faith Ponies have in Celestia is rather useful.

I am excited to see the reaction the general population of Ponies will have to such a book, it's not often anything is published on Dragons so I suspect it will at least get a decent amount of attention. Or maybe none at all, it is a rather uncommon subject and sadly many Ponies don't think too much about races they don't interact with regularly.

I flip another page of the botanical book I'm reading, specifically I'm reading about the Prismatic Rose I was given as a gift. I'm mostly just interested in if I can do anything with the plant, but like I previously thought there's not much I can do with it. It is mostly just a rose, but I am still reading up on its preferred growing area and habits.

I stop reading after a moment and look up, sensing Avalon walking closer with a few books in his arms. I notice a few pieces of his wooden arm seem to have been swapped out, maybe from damage or simply because they wore down over time. I smile widely as he walks up to the table but Entropy beats me to it, "Hello!" She caws happily, excitedly wagging her tail at seeing him again.

He smiles in return and looks happy to see us. "Hi, Entropy." He sets his books down and takes a seat at the table with me. "Shade, I hope the trip went well, I-I mean, did it?" He slips into his regular slightly uncertain way of speaking. I did notice that the last time we talked he was a bit more put together than when we first met, I think the new arm has done his confidence a little good.

I smile and close the book I was reading. "I loved it, Griffonstone is an amazing city. The view from the top of the tree is absolutely stunning. How have you been? You end up making a decision on your work?" I ask, remember it was a topic he was very uncertain about the last time we met up.

He pauses a little and scratches the back of his head. "W-Well, I'm trying?" He says before nodding to himself. "I tried to just take a few more days off, work a little here or there, you k-know?" I nod as it seems like the logical place to start. "Anyway, I've been doing it for, six weeks? S-Somewhere around there." He finishes and smiles a bit more.

I look at some of the books he has, mostly things on basic spell crafting and on magic in general. "Well, you seem to have kept up your self-studying. I'm also guessing you used the extra free time to learn more magic." He nods after a moment and I laugh a little. "I did the exact same thing, still getting used to the change?" I enjoy talking with him again and settle in.

He nods again, chuckling a small bit as well. "I-I did, I've learned so much recently, I h-had to slow down actually." He looks a bit ashamed but I wave him off with a look of approval. "Ya, sometimes I take more deliveries to fill the time, I-I mean, what else would I even do?" He shrugs a little and seems to be facing the same problem as me.

I give him a sympathetic look. "I know, it feels like you should be doing something with your time, but there is just too much of it. I remember going a bit overboard, locked myself away for nearly two weeks on a project before I realized that I needed to slow down." I chuckle a little as while it was important it was also a little stupid.

My agreement seems to improve his mood further. "R-Really? I thought, well, that I was just being, lazy." I shake my head and he sighs a bit. "OH!" He seems to realize something and nearly jumps in his seat, his entire body perking up to show his excitement, only to realize where we are and stop short. "S-Sorry, I ahh, I have news? Not here though. Do, hmm, do you know anywhere we could practice spells? N-Not your apartment." He quickly adds after a moment.

I raise a brow but realize he might not really know anywhere he could cast some more dangerous spells without breaking some law, or something. I expect he learned some basic combat spells, maybe Firebolt? I suppose we'll see. He sees me thinking and shakes his head, "N-Never mind, we can do that some other day, we're going to your apartment, r-right?" He does his usual thing and drops his idea for our plans.

I don't let him though, whatever this news is he looked very excited to share and I'd be a poor friend for not catering to his wants. "Nope, come on, we have somewhere to go." I keep it vague to surprise him and pick up my books before standing up and having Entropy jump on my back.

He looks a little shocked and confused, but also a little bit excited as he picks up his books and follows after me. "W-Where are we going?" He asks in a confused tone as we walk over to the receptionist's desk and start to check out the books we want. I just turn and smile at him silently while filling out some information for the Pony behind the desk.

Once I'm done we both grab our books and I turn to him as we walk out of the library. "A good place to practice, I think you need one if your going to be learning any spells with larger or more destructive effects. We can walk, it's not far from here" I explain but still keep our destination secret.

He looks curious as we walk onto the busy streets and he closely follows me. "W-Well, it's not that important, we could go-" He's cut off by me shaking my head with a smile and denying him outright. "Ok, umm, it would be nice to have somewhere to practice, my apartment isn't that big." He smirks softly at me being so insistent. "T-Thanks." He adds.

I nod as we approach a large building, the same building me and Stone train at and the same building where you can rent a practice area. I tilt my head a little, "You could rent somewhere better, you have the bits for it now." I remind him that he has money now as we both seem to forget that sometimes. "Actually, where do you live?" I ask curiously as we move to the front door of the building.

He looks up and reads the sign, realization slowly forming on his face. "Umm, I live on the east side of the city, a little far unless you fly." He says with a distracted tone. "T-They let you practice magic here? I mean, this is a unicorn city... Huh, I- I never thought of that." He seems to put it together as we walk inside the building.

I let out a small chuckle. "Yup, a lot of guards actually come here to practice, it's pretty helpful if you don't have your own space." I leave out that I don't practice magic here, I have Gaia's Eden for that. I walk over to the desk and quickly rent out a training field for a few hours before motioning with my head to follow me while Avalon stops looking around the building's interior and catches up with me.

He's more focused on taking in the sights than talking and we reach the right area without a word spoken between us. I rented a larger training area, a field with sky access rather than a room, it's a bit more expensive but I could not care less. "W-Wow, all this?" He asks while looking around the field.

I see that there are already a few dummies set up, which would work just great for what I think he's going to show me. I move a little to the side and look at him expectantly. "Well, go on. You've got me really curious and I want to see how much you've improved." I try not to pressure him and use an encouraging tone.

He looks hesitant about being put on the spot, but after looking around he relaxes a bit as we are alone. He takes off his satchel and places it to the side. "Right! U-Umm, I'm not that great at this yet, b-but." He looks very uncertain so I give him a smile and a reassuring look. "Ok, here goes?"

I see his determination and his excitement come back a lot more after he closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths. A moment later he starts to draw out a spell matrix with a single talon, it's an easy-to-recognize spell for me, the very same Candle Flame spell I gave him to start off with.

After a few moments, he finishes and the matrix flashes before a small ball of flame is produced, around four inches in size. He seems to concentrate even more for a moment and then the spell matrix dissolves, yet the fire remains in the air, still burning and showing no signs of disappearing.

I wait a moment yet the fire remains there, despite it normally needing the spell matrix to keep it going. I raise a brow and gain a look of both shock and excitement as the realization clicks in my brain. "You unlocked your fire affinity!" I state matter of factly while he looks over to me, only to have the small ball of fire quickly disappear into nothing within a second. "Oh, sorry." I apologize as my outburst broke his concentration.

He looks a little tired but has a bashful and slightly proud expression on his face. "Yup, it took so long to do. But I, I did it! I spent hours staring at a fire and reading about them, b-but I did it!" He repeats letting his excitement through with a massive smile. "That method you recommended was really hard though." He complains a little, which is understandable.

I respond with a chuckle, remembering how long it took me to unlock my space affinity. I am glad to hear he used the difficult method of unlocking his affinity without forming a mental construct. "Well, I can now say with certainty that you're one of the few who have unlocked their affinities. Not many do." I voice some of my pride in seeing my friend come so far from where he once was.

He scratches the back of his head and continues to look bashful about the praise he is getting. "W-Well, thanks for helping me do it." He defaults to thanking me again but I can tell he's happy about his achievement. "I only unlocked it two weeks a-ago, and I can't do much right now, only keep a flame burning or move a candle flame a little." He explains slowly while walking over to sit down next to me.

I think for a moment and pass him my flask, he raises a brow. "Drink, it will help." I give him a little Blood Leaf Tea but keep things unsaid. "Well, fire is one of the more well-known affinities so you should be able to find a few things on how to train and use it. You are already doing what you should be by training, the more you use it the less magic you will lose during the process." I encourage him and remind him of what he could accomplish in the future.

He looks a little uncertain about that and sighs, showing signs of slight magical exhaustion. "I- I know, but I don't have the best reserves, it's just hard to train so often, I feel tired a lot." He has some frustration in his tone and I can understand why, training an ability is no easy task. "I-I'm not giving up!" He says with that familiar look of determination while standing back up. "But..."

I nod at him and take the flask back after he's done taking a few more drinks. I'm silent for a few moments as I think about something, I've kept a lot of secrets from Avalon and my other friends. Maybe I can show him what that hard training could get you eventually?

I'm not revealing my space magic to him, but my life magic... Avalon is not the type to spread around secrets and I've gained a good amount of trust in him. He stays silent and humble in the face of his newfound wealth along with him turning down the possibility of being known as an inventor of the new prosthetics.

Even when he got all that new wealth he insisted on giving me a share, even when he could have kept it all with zero complaints from me or anyone else. I feel as if I can really trust Avalon when it comes to some things, but to reveal a secret like this? It's not something small.

He looks at me and seems curious about what I'm thinking about, but lets me think without interruption. What is the worst that can happen if I tell him? Well, I trust him enough to not tell others but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be in danger from knowing about it.

Then again if someone is already going after my friends to get to me or because they know things about me, then the reason why isn't too important. I struggle with myself for a good few minutes as we sit in silence and Avalon recovers from his slight magical exhaustion. He already knows I work for the crown in some aspects as well.

I don't tell my friends things about me because I really don't want it to get out, I also don't want them to deal with any enemies I will inevitably make. Can I justify it to myself? Telling Avalon but not telling my other close friends? Then again I trust them in a different way.

I don't think any of them would intentionally reveal things, but Blaz has a tendency to talk when he's drunk and Daisy likes knowing things others don't and holding it over them, from time to time she's hinted at my other occupation but has kept the secret well. Maple, I can basically guarantee she won't say anything as she talks very little as things are.

Avalon's situation is also different from theirs though, he also has a large secret he wishes to keep hidden from the world, we are very alike when it comes to that. Daisy is something I worry about from time to time as she actually knows I'm Veil Winter, but the situation around that is complicated.

Can I justify this to myself? Maybe, but if I did I feel like I'd need to tell my other friends as well. Maybe not everything at once but I could at least tell Maple and Daisy about my life affinity as a start? I would really like to keep a few fewer secrets from them but it's all a risk.

"H-Hey, you ok?" Avalon's slightly concerned tone breaks through my thoughts and I look at him for a moment before sighing. I don't really have a reason to reveal my affinity to him, sure it could help him as a form of motivation but that's about it.

I look at his face for a moment. "I'm thinking about telling a friend something, a secret. I'm not sure though." I am honest but word it like I'm not thinking about him at the moment. I pick myself up from my thoughts, "I think it's something I should sleep on and think about more. Sorry for bringing down the mood a bit." I joke to lighten things up again.

He nods after a moment and he also lets out a sigh. "No, I-I get it." I raise a brow at that and he looks at the training dummy across the field. "I, well, I had- Have, I have a few friends that I saw when I visited my f-family. I didn't tell them about, well." He holds up his arm. "I don't know, it just didn't feel right." He finishes with clear uncertainty.

I nod in understanding before looking at the dummy as well. "Secrets can be a hard thing to bear, but we keep them all the same." I give some advice and stand up before walking a few feet forward. Half a second later there is a flash of light that makes Avalon jump to his feet, only to be deafened by a loud bang and a second flash of light.

I cast a sound shield around the area so nopony else would hear anything and half a second later I drained a large amount of magic into a single Lightning Strike spell, aimed right at the dummy. Avalon blinks a few times from the flash of light and is a little disoriented but eventually looks at me and the dummy.

I used nearly a third of my magic in that single spell and the results of that show plainly. The dummy was a pony made from straw and wood, the same size as a Pony as well, now there is nothing there. The blast of lightning was so violent and powerful that it flash-burned or simply obliterated everything in its path, hitting the stone wall behind the target and leaving a few cracks in it.

All that remains of the dummy is the wooden post that stood it up and some scraps of smoldering wood splints and pieces of straw. I turn back to Avalon and look at his face, seeing a mix of shock and awe. "Wow." That single word said under his breath is all he says as he looks in between me and the dummy's remains.

I chuckle enjoying his face for a moment before walking back over to him. "I find that magic is really hard, it takes practice and dedication, but with the right mind and the right will you can do great things. I don't have a lightning affinity, that was just a spell. Think about how far you can get with a fire affinity." I say as encouragement.

A moment later I see that familiar look of determination come back stronger than ever, a large smile stretching across his face. "I-I brought a book on fire affinity methods. And I'm fine now, want to head to your apartment?" He asks with a more steady and focused tone, while also giving me an impressed look.

Happy to see that my attempts to give him some needed motivation worked even if those earlier questions still remain in my mind. I leave those questions alone for now as he is right and we've been here longer than intended as it is. "Sounds good," I say while walking through the door with him following to my side.

Once we're outside we quickly take flight and fly for a short few minutes before landing on the roof of my apartment building. As Avalon lands after me, with Entropy landing on my back a second later, a question comes to mind. "Have you thought about any ways to use fire? For when you have better control." I ask to start our conversation back up again.

He titles his head a bit in thought. "Hmm, not really? I mean it is just fire. I'm not really sure what I could do with it." He says slowly as we make our way to the door of my apartment. "I guess I can make things? L-Like, that requires heat." He seems to be struggling a bit.

I nod as it's not a bad place to start with. "You definitely could, you could also move or put out existing fires. I recommend that second one actually, you're going to literally be playing with fire, it's a good thing to know how to stop it when needed." He looks thoughtful and nods along with me.

I open the door to my apartment and flip a small switch to let him in but stop right after as I notice a letter sitting on my countertop. I walk inside and open it, making sure he can't see the writing as he comes in after me. He looks a bit curious but doesn't ask about it and simply waits for me as I read.

Dear, Shade.

After some thought and a little planning, I've agreed to and scheduled another meeting with Queen Chrysalis, tonight at midnight to be specific. Your presence is not required but I would ask you to come, if you receive this letter late do not worry we aren't traveling far and as long as you are home before ten you will have time enough to get ready.

I hope to see you soon, and please prepare properly.

Signed, your friend Celestia.

I feel a little urgency rise in me as I fold the letter and put it down, but shove it down as it is still an hour before sundown, good thing I came home when I did. I turn to Avalon, who looks a bit concerned as I'm now frowning a little. "A-Are you ok?" He asks and I nod, causing him to let out a small breath in relief.

"I'm fine, but it seems I have something I need to urgently do. Sorry, we're going to have to reschedule for another day." I do feel a little bad about cutting my time with him short, but it can't be helped as I need to focus on this. Celestia did warn me that sometimes I'd have to leave on short notice and drop what I was doing.

Contrary to my concern he just nods with a slightly curious expression. "I-Its fine, I've had enough rushed deliveries to know it can't be helped... I-Is, is this about..." He hints at who I work for in secret.

I nod. "Sometimes I'm needed to help on something I've worked on before, if it has problems for whatever reason. It's not often I need to go so suddenly though." I make up an excuse that will work for what I've told him and he nods in acceptance before heading to the door again. "Goodbye Avalon, I'll send you a letter as soon as I can, we both have more free time now so it should be soon," I reassure him while still feeling a little bad about this.

He walks out of my still-open front door and waves it off with a smile. "It's fine, have a good night, Shade. And please do." He leaves quickly, apparently understanding the need for urgency from experience.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

There you go, things. I thought this would be a nice way to show Avalon's progress and meet up with him again, while also letting Shade think about his secrets. I also thought the idea of his meeting being cut short would show that being involved in all this Changelings stuff is going to disrupt his life a little.

Tell me what you think. Also, any ideas for this meeting?

Ps, the holidays are near and that complicates my posting, I'll try my best to keep on top of it but I might miss some days, hopefully not though.

Chapter 270

APR 11 Wednesday.

I drink my tea slowly and meditate to pass the time, trying my best to not let my nerves get the better of me.

Something about war that many forget is that a lot of it is just waiting around for something to happen and then reacting to that something. Then again I'm not really in a war at the moment, at most I'm near the war and I might get involved if absolutely necessary.

That leads my mind to a different and darker thought, what would I feel if I actually killed someone? A living thinking being? I'm not entirely sure I guess, maybe no one is sure until they actually do it? I do know it's not the end of your life as you know it, but it is something that will affect you in some way.

For me though, I feel as if I'm ready to do such a thing if necessary, or maybe that's just me trying to make myself feel better about being in such a situation. If I ever did kill someone I think the best thing to do would be spending time with others, to talk about it.

That's the rational part of my mind though and I know all too well that that part isn't always in control and emotions don't help with that. I sigh and reach up to scratch my neck with an armored hoof, shifting in my spot on my apartment floor as I wait for the right time.

I leave those darker thoughts alone for another day and check the time, ten-forty-nine, I should get going then. After Avalon left I spent my time meticulously going over my equipment and getting ready for whatever I may face tonight, I'm not dropping my guard after what happened last time.

I have my weapons ready, my magic is full, and I'm in my armor after double-checking that it is all working correctly. I stand up silently and reach out to pick up my helmet, putting it on before turning to Entropy on top of her perch. "It's time to go." My suddenly much deeper voice calls out to her.

Entropy chirps a little and flies right over to land on my back. Celestia didn't say where to teleport to this time, but I don't think the mailroom is a good idea so her office will have to do it. If there is anypony else in the office I can deal with that, it's better than linking me to the mailroom.

"Celestia's office, get inside my shadow once we arrive, you remember the rules?" I ask again even though I've made them very clear to her several times now. She turns on her illusion so no one sees her and nods before going still for a moment, and I feel the familiar emptiness of the Void.

A moment later I'm inside of Celestia's office, an empty office to be precise. :Hmm, well shit, what now?: I think for a moment as Entropy merges into my shadow and I decide to sweep my senses throughout the palace. I can't pick out too much detail but it's not hard to find Celestia as her life magic is very noticeable.

She's somewhere outside right now, maybe she did leave a guard at the mailroom to guide me? I think for a moment before heading for the door and exiting, it seems I'll need to catch up then. As I leave I sense both guards outside the door tense up and look at each other.

They turn to me and seem both confused and surprised, but keep their professional calm. Both look at me for a moment but make no move to stop me as I walk past them and make my way down the hallway. "That him? Did you see that sheath piece?" I'm able to catch one mare guard saying to the other before I'm thankfully too far away to hear them, I don't need that right now.

I may not know the layout of the palace in detail, but I know it well enough to find my way to Celestia by following her life magic and using my spatial senses to make sure I don't hit a dead end. I'm able to move through the hallway steadily and try my best not to look lost or confused about the layout.

After a little more walking I notice a Pony moving in the same direction, both of us walking to a doorway through separate hallways that combine. I pay it little mind as the guards and staff I've been walking past all seem to know I'm not some intruder, I guess they were told I was coming, but that still doesn't stop them from staring at me.

I reach the door a little after the Pony and notice that I recognize them, Ash Mark, Celestia's captain of the guard. As I silently step closer while she seemingly waits by the door for something, only turning around after I've gotten a lot closer to her.

She jumps a small bit and her eyes focus on me for a moment, I stop walking as she's still in front of the door and give her a nod as a greeting. She looks me up and down before slowly nodding back. "The Princess said you were coming, they are still preparing the carriage and will take some time." She says in a tone that shows a little recognition.

She still doesn't move so I take that as a sign we are waiting for a few minutes and step to the side of the hallways so I'm not in any pony's path. Ash keeps her eyes on me and seems very curious, and is mostly hiding it well, I have experience with reading expressionless Ponies though, and can tell.

It is hard without my sight but the small twitches of her face and the way she keeps staring at me even as I'm not facing her makes me think my guess is accurate. "Shadow, yes?" She asks after a few long moments of silence, I turn to her and nod. "Are those enchanted?" She asks with a tone showing her curiosity, seemingly trying to not come off as intrusive.

She points to my weapons and I think for a moment. I can understand her suspicion of me, hell I approve of it, a Pony like me stands out in several ways, but I would rather not have Celestia guard captain suspicious of me. I nod after a long moment and slowly draw out my dagger, making sure she can see it. I activate the frost enchantment for a moment by tapping it before turning it off and putting it back.

It's not really much of a display but I can't see any harm in answering her question honestly. Enchanted weapons aren't new in any way and elemental enchantments are the most common kind when it comes to the more flashy types of enchantment. "And the big one as well?" I just nod and leave the greatsword in its sheath.

I can tell she's just passing the time a little by asking a seemingly random question and trying to figure me out more. Not that I mind, she's the captain of the guard and it's not out of her job description to get to know who she might be fighting side by side with.

She nods and looks down the hallway after a moment, spotting the Ponies I've felt coming our way for nearly a minute now. Three in total, two guards and Cricket in her disguise. I'm not entirely sure why she's coming with us again, maybe to just have a Changeling on our side at the meeting? It might make the other side a little less wary of us.

The guards and Cricket look at me as I turn my featureless helmet to them as they approach. Ash nods to the guards, "Get back to your posts." They nod and do so while Ash opens the door behind her and turns to Cricket. "Follow us, Miss. Cricket." She instructs the Changeling.

Cricket for her part looks a little intimidated by being near me once again, I guess my last display really made an impression on her. I just silently follow Ash as we're led out into a familiar area, the same place we all left from last time. Celestia standing there with two guards waiting for our arrival while looking over the carriage.

She turns to us and smiles a bit, keeping her mask on as this is no time for it to slip. "Thank you all for coming, everything is prepared and we must be going if we hope to be on time." She keeps her words a bit more blunt than last time but we all already know what we're doing here and she keeps her regal tone firmly in place.

Celestia gets in first with me going last and sitting across from her. Celestia looked me over for a moment, "Sorry I couldn't greet you, we nearly had a problem with the carriage's enchantment, something broke." She hints that she fixed it to save time and it would make some sense.

I don't know any details but I assume the carriage has some magic to defend it, and if it was broken then she could definitely fix it quickly with some magic. I think for a moment, "Was it intentional?" I doubt a Changeling could have done something like that but I need to cover my bases.

She shakes her head quickly. "No, it was a storage problem, one of the gems was cracked and needed to be re-enchanted quickly." She eases any worry and turns to Cricket after a moment. "Thank you again for joining us, Miss. Cricket. Things should largely be the same as last time, the unpleasant incident not included." She explains in a reassuring tone.

Cricket does look a little on edge, glancing at me from time to time and also still nervous about being near Celestia. There is some green flame as she drops her disguises and nods slowly. "It is a pleasure, Your Highness." Her words seem truthful if a little uncertain and things descend into silence after that as we all wait while the carriage takes off.

I didn't cast a Lightening spell on myself but it seems to be fine for now, I'll take a look at the guards when we land to make sure I'm not weighing us down too much. Then again this carriage is designed to move Celestia and probably Cadance as well and neither of them are light, still better safe than sorry.

There is a long while of silence as we fly for nearly thirty minutes before the carriage starts to circle a spot and Celestia turns to me. "Shadow?" I nod and extend my senses down to the ground below us. I'm not able to make out any good detail, but I can sense five beings in total, a group of four below us and one far off to the side of the group.

"Four in a group, one off to the side, wait..." They look a bit concerned at the second part and I quickly overpower my spatial senses as the singular source of life magic starts to move towards the group rapidly. I can't see it well, but it's a lot bigger than any Pony or Changeling. "Does this forest have any dangerous monsters?" I ask and stand up from my seat quickly.

Monsters are commonly aberrant beasts or any particularly dangerous animal, nothing really separates them from normal animals beyond the moniker though. Ash is the first to catch on and quickly answers me with a serious tone. "Rarely but yes, even some more dangerous ones."

That's all I need to hear before opening the carriage door and walking out, plummeting through the air immediately. This meeting might not be as important as the last one, and they might be able to handle the threat, but if one of them dies it would not be a good way to continue our relationship.

Even if we are not at fault it's a bad look and might cause some unneeded tension, while me helping and maybe saving lives could give us just a little more goodwill. Though I also know I would have helped them anyway, they don't deserve to die and I won't sit by and just watch that potentially happen.

I will need to keep my more extreme abilities to my chest though, I need a few of them in case things go wrong with Chrysalis and her Changelings, probably unlikely but I'm not ignoring the possibility.

I force my mind away from my thoughts and focus my senses as I get closer to the ground, getting a better look at the situation. The Changelings have stayed where they are and I can clearly sense Chrysalis, all of them sitting in a small clearing in the forest, maybe a few hundred feet wide at most.

However the other source of life is much closer to them as well and its life magic is a lot stronger than I thought, It's slowed down and seems to be slowly moving towards them now. I'm roughly right above the Changelings and by the time I cast a Levitation spell and a Lightening spell to slow down, I get a good look at what's near them. :Oh, what the fuck?:

A wolf, at least twenty feet long and ten feet tall is standing crouched just out of sight in the woods, stalking them and sneaking closer as I fall. I start to slow my descent more and pull my greatsword and dagger from their sheaths, readying both for what might be the first fight they ever see.

I take a split second to tap them both and activate the elemental enchantments before placing them above me so the small arcs of electricity don't give me away. As I reach fifty feet above the ground I cast an overpowered Lightening spell on my back so it's also out of view, along with pulling myself with my space magic to keep me thirty feet in the air, I prepare to land and cast a shield spell around them, but I run out of time.

To my left are the Changelings sitting in the middle of the field, a magical light coming from a gem lighting the area up, and to my right just past the tree line is the massive wolf. I sense fast movement as the wolf dashes from the trees in a burst of immense speed, rapidly closing the large distance.

I no longer have time to land and get solid ground under me, so instead I do the only thing I can think of, I cancel all my Lightening spells and start to fall straight down. I'm only twenty feet from the ground and as I fall I sense that I'm going to cross trajectories with the wolf as it passes under me.

"WATCH OUT!!" The Changelings notice the wolf a moment too late and can only turn as it gets within a few dozen feet of them. I brace myself by pointing down my greatsword and casting another Levitation spell to not make the landing rough enough to hurt me as I impact the wolf's back.

The force of the impact takes some air out of my lungs and I force myself to focus through the slight pain, taking my greatsword and stabbing it into the wolf's back. The enchanted blade easily pierces the skin and fur with only slight resistance as the blade sinks two feet into the wolf's back between a pair of ribs, small arcs of electricity flickering off from it as a putrid mix of blood, burnt flesh, and smoke pouring from the new wound.

I land on its back and try to keep hold with my field as it bucks hard from the sudden pain. My weight lessened from the Lightening spell is not nearly enough to fully knock it off balance but enough to force it to stop its charge and focus on the pain. The changelings are stunned for a moment but quickly run back away from the wolf to gain distance as it thrashes about.

"GRRRR!!" It makes the first real sound as it snarls at me. The massive wolf bucks its back right into me, letting me sink the greatsword deeper into it but also letting its spine and body slam into me and my armor taking even more of the air out of my lungs and making me jerk around hard. I hold on for a moment longer but quickly let go as it moves to buck again, not wanting that force to hit me another time.

I let go and push off the wolf with my hind legs to jump away from it, leaving my greatsword stuck inside as it continues to electrocute the wolf's wounds as it gushes blood. I feel the wetness of some blood that splattered on me seeping through the small gaps in my armor but ignore it and try to land on the ground.

The Lightening Spell gives me enough time midair to orient myself with my space magic and land with a slightly rough impact on the ground several dozen feet away from the wolf. I really just want to scare this thing off so I reach out with my field as it reaches around with its maw to try and pull the blade in its back out.

Before it can get close I grab the greatsword's handle with my field and pull it from the wound, widening the wound in the process before quickly moving it to my side again. "GRRAAA!!" The wolf growls so deeply that it almost sounds like some other form of creature entirely, sounding completely unnatural to any wolf.

Its head snaps to me, and in the light of the magical gem now a little away from us it can clearly see me. A moment later a fairly powerful spell slams into it from the left side as Chrysalis sends some type of water spell at its head. It does very little to damage it but does buy me a moment of time and cuts one of the wolf's ears halfway through, blood seeping down the side of its head.

I was hoping that it would run after seeing that we aren't easy prey so I wait for a moment, letting it look at both of us, back and forth its head turned between us. :FUCK!: I curse mentally as the wolf decides that it's not running and bolts at me in a very quick burst of movement, so fast I can't move out of the way in time even with dozens of feet between us.

Its speed is unnatural and I have to think quickly as it dives at me with its jaws open wide, revealing a maw bigger than my entire body. I grab myself with my space magic and pull to the left while bringing my greatsword close to me, barely moving out of the way in time as it dives past me with a snarl.

As it passes I roll while swinging my greatsword as hard as I can into its front right leg as it plants its paws in the grass to try and slow down. The added momentum of the wolf's movement and my greatsword enchantments cut deep into the two-foot tree-thick tree trunk-like leg.

I can hear the bone snap and shatter as the greatsword nearly cleaves through the entire leg, a massive spray of blood and viscera covering some of my armor and much of the ground as I get up. The wolf whimpers and collapses on its now mostly useless leg as its head turns to me again as I bring my sword back.

I only get a moment though as it closes its large jaws further. "Owooo!!!" It howls and a moment later I feel a sudden burst of strong wind hit me like a wall. I try to keep my hooves on the ground but quickly start to lose my balance, I feel the wind get even more intense as it blows harder and I'm thrown from my spot and into the air for a moment, I only have time to move my weapons out of the way so I don't hit them.

I feel weightless for a moment before I land on my side and I start to skid along the ground. I cast a sticking spell a second later and feel my body rattle and jerk about painfully from the sudden stop, but I power through it and cancel the spell before standing up again.

The wolf is standing again and it moves to me quickly on three legs as I stand up slowly, mostly defenseless. I do have enough time to stand up again, its running slowed down a lot from losing the use of a leg to attack, yet it still tries to move quickly and attack me again. A flash of light and a bang rings out as a Lightning Strike spell hits it in the other front leg.

It falls face-first into the dirt only a dozen feet away from me with a thump that shakes the earth a little before sliding to a stop while kicking up dirt and grass. I don't have time to try and injure it more to scare it off, this thing has proven its willingness to go after me even after losing a leg and I can't let this go on until it decides to use its wind magic again.

While it's trying to get up once again, I use my field to move my greatsword quickly, slamming it into the side of its neck, cutting off another growl from it as a gurgling noise comes out instead. My field lacks the strength so I run at the wolf's head as it kicks its back legs and drags itself on the ground a little while trying to move again.

I pass its head and move to the side before grabbing the hilt of my greatsword with my hooves and pushing it while pulling down, dragging the greatsword through more of its neck as everything is drenched in thick blood. For good measure I use my dagger and slash both of its eyes in quick succession to blind it before quickly backing up as it thrashes about and struggles, biting it in my direction as I quickly back away.

I stand a few dozen feet away, panting quick breaths while watching the wolf bleed out and slowly struggle less and less. It tries to stand but drops back down as its front leg fails it and after a minute it stops moving, its breath slowing more and more as it eventually dies.

I sit there for a few more minutes to be sure before casting a red-colored Light spell to signal the carriage to land while checking myself for injuries and retrieving my greatsword from the wolf's neck, the greatsword no longer sparking as the gem has run dry. I avoid the massive pool of blood and bloody mud as I walk by the corpse and retrieve my greatsword.

As I walk over to the Changelings and the landing carriage I have only two thoughts. :By magic, I need a bath and some alone time. Who would have thought this would be my first kill?: I sigh slightly and force my mind to the task at hoof, I'll think more later.

POV shift Chrysalis.

I watch silently as the black knight sits there and motionlessly watches the massive wolf bleed out through its slit throat.

When that beast first jumped at us I was caught off guard, but quickly tried to prepare for a gruesome battle like many times before. Its speed was immense for its size and I know it would have torn anything it could get its jaws on apart in moments. Not that its speed seemed to do much for it in the end.

The knight seems to have jumped out of their flying carriage, most likely using magic to slow his descent down to make a soft landing. He had good timing though, while I would have been able to kill that thing it wouldn't have been easy, even if the three guards with me are elite they could only buy me time to cast a few powerful spells to kill that thing.

I didn't even know about its wind magic, if we tried to fly away and escape... Well, it would have most likely ended very badly for us. I feel my wings twitch at the thought but suppress it quickly. Yet, this knight. Nothing but his blades and a single combat spell, that's all it took to bring this thing to a bloody end. My elite would have a hard time attempting such a thing and staying alive, let alone succeeding at such a challenge.

He took only one blow and seems no worse for wear, it's hard to tell though. My Changelings and I watch in silence as he waits for the beast to die, silent as always. I didn't even hear anything when the blast of wind dragged him on the ground, it is definitely some form of enchantment.

His weapons are obviously enchanted as well, lightning on the greatsword and probably something on the dagger too, I couldn't see it that well in the fight. That Lightning spell as well, strong but an uncommon spell type, lightning magic is fairly magic intensive.

One thing really stands out though, Runic magic? Why? I know only some of it but it is odd for a unicorn to use it. It does have the advantage of being able to cast from unexpected directions as the spells don't come from a horn. Did this knight really learn runic magic for such an advantage? Maybe it's best I look into runic magic a bit and see what other reasons he might have.

Either way, there is no doubt that this knight is anything but normal. I'm reminded of the investigation I have going on to find leads on him, it seems that was a good choice. Although I have found worryingly little, males of his size have to be uncommon, getting spies in the palace is not easy though, especially now.

The messenger I sent to personally relay letters has brought back some information, but I know they aren't foolish enough to be blind to the messenger doing that. Kalis turns to me from the gruesome sight and speaks quietly. "My Queen, I think it best we investigate that knight more, this is..." He trails off but I nod silently in agreement.

He has always caught onto my thoughts quickly and I agree with him, this can't be ignored. I could try to talk to him? It is possible if I word it right, maybe I can get him to reveal how he dealt with those Changelings? Some new ways of attack or strategies would be welcome to our war effort.

I did try to help him fight the beast, sending a water spell as a distraction. He did not take the opening though, why? I guessed he had some plan and didn't need my interference, so I waited until I thought I was actually needed to lend assistance, but he ended things long before it got to that point.

I also wished to see what he was capable of, worse comes to worse I can always offer an apology for not helping and say we did not want to distract or hit him by accident. Yes, I believe that excuse will work well enough for a Pony, or maybe not, this is obviously no ordinary Pony.

I watch the knight move for the first time in a while, casting a light spell to signal the carriage above and retrieving his blade before sheathing it and moving towards us as the carriage lands nearby. "None of you talk to him unless spoken to," I order not wanting them to accidentally offend the knight.

Good soldiers they may be, but diplomacy is not something they are good at. It seems this meeting will be even more interesting than the last. Maybe I can get him to help in another way? He is a strong knight and would be welcome. Maybe, but not at the risk of offending Princess Celestia, not when things are already going so well.

I nod silently as the knight walks closer, his back armor wet and glistening with blood. It seems I owe this knight a little gratitude, he did help us after all.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I wanted some bloodshed and a way to show off Shade's abilities to Chrysalis, but I thought that another Changeling run-in wouldn't really fit well. Then I realized this was happening in the woods, so obviously that means animals, and aberrant animals.

I'm not sure I did the fight as well as the last one, but I think it's ok and makes sense. Shade wants to hold back, and Chrysalis wants to watch and observe.

Also, this gave me flashbacks to Dark Souls. I'm so sorry Sif!! You are the best girl!!

I will also note, that I forgot I did gore warning the first time we had some. I'm not sure if I should add those in this and the Dragon fight. Tell me what you think.

Chapter 271

APR 11 Wednesday.

As I slowly walk over to the carriage I bring my focus to a few things, the first being the overwhelming smell of blood.

I see Celestia looking at me, hiding her concern well. She's definitely going to have words with me later, but I can accept that and honestly, I'm too high on adrenaline to really care at the moment. Right now I'm just trying my best to not think about what I did and save it all for later.

I take a moment and form a small spell matrix inside my armor, casting a cleaning spell on myself to remove most of the blood and other bits of gore that are covering me. I sit a little away from the rest as they all watch me for a few moments before turning to each other.

The two guards pulling the carriage seem the most shocked at the sight of the wolf and I get some stares from them as I take a moment to breathe. Cricket doesn't look all that confident either, now openly giving me a wary stare but turning to Celestia as she casts two spells at once.

A moment later I can't smell blood anymore and there is a shield around the area, probably to keep the smell out as we talk. A table is conjured between the two groups and they all move to take seats. I don't move for the time being and try to feel around my body for any injuries.

I can feel some fairly large bruises but I wasn't cut and I can't feel anything broken so I'm mostly fine. Limiting myself like that was risky but I'm sure as hell not going to show off all my abilities around someone I don't fully trust, not unless I really need to at least.

That wolf was dangerous and took me by surprise with its magic, but compared to an adult Dragon it's a small foe to battle. I do feel a bit like shit honestly, the adrenaline is wearing off and the reality is sinking in, this day has been a fucking mess. I move over to the table after a few more moments and notice things have already started.

I've killed animals in my past life, mostly from fishing, and I've seen Entropy do it many times when we'd visit forests, but that seems different in a way. I don't know how intelligent this wolf was but with its ability to use magic and its obvious aberrations, I just don't know if it was sapient, and I never will know I suppose.

I move those thoughts to the side and sit down on the grass, staying a few feet further from the table than everypony else. There is a beat of silence before Celestia turns to me. "Are you alright, Sir. Shadow?" She shows a little concern but I can tell it's a lot more than she's letting on.

I nod. "A few bruises, nothing more." I am vague but truthful keeping in mind the company we have, she stares at me a moment longer before turning back to Chrysalis. It's roughly at this point that I focused enough to notice something odd, they have a tied-up Changeling with them being carried by one of them.

I thought she brought four guards but it seems this meeting really won't be a simple one. I notice the tied-up Changeling looking at me, clear fear on their face. Chrysalis is the first to speak up after a moment, she also turns to me. "Thank you for the help, Sir. Shadow. An impressive display." She is less formal than last time but seems to be truthful with her words.

I just nod back silently as I don't have much to say about helping them. I did notice she only tried to help once, maybe letting me weaken it and going for the kill if I failed to win? It's something I'd do in her position and not a bad strategy if done right.

Celestia shifts a bit and seems to finally start the meeting. "It is a pleasure to see you again Queen Chrysalis, you already know all of the ponies I have brought. And I assume this meeting is partly about your, guest." Celestia uses a slightly less formal tone than last time, taking a bit more of a direct approach.

The last time we met Celestia eventually ended up with a very blunt approach and things went well enough, it seems she's taken that as a lesson. Chrysalis looks over at them and smiles a little as the mood shifts to tense but not oppressive. "Yes, to an extent our guest is part of why I have asked for a meeting. Another is to improve relations, I find it difficult to do so through letters alone." She blatantly appeals to our tendency for friendship.

It does work for us though as that is our goal in the first place. Chrysalis takes out some papers from one of her guards, who has a small saddlebag on them. "There are a few things I thought were too important to discuss over a letter as well. We have been, observing some interesting movements among Hiveless Changelings. Along with who we assume are your guards." Chrysalis drops a good amount of her formality and speaks more plainly.

I can't read the papers but Celestia looks at them for a few moments. "Yes, it seems you came upon an aid mission." The two things click quickly and I realize this is about us feeding Hiveless Changelings. Celestia words it as aid and that seems to make Chrysalis pause a little. "Is there a reason you have taken note of it? I assumed none of them were your Changelings?" Celestia plays a little innocent.

Chrysalis takes the papers back after a moment, keeping her friendly expression even though she was given little context. "They aren't as far as I am aware, but a few of those groups are part of an agreement we have, they supply some food and we protect them from outside threats." She says and doesn't seem to have a problem with it.

Then again, why would she? Some of that love we are giving the Hiveless is probably ending up at her hive, but the Hiveless might drift away from such a deal if they don't feel like they need the protection anymore. Celestia nods and both seem to drop the topic for now, with the silent understanding that it will be something of a point of contention in the future.

Chrysalis turns to one of her guards and they bring the tied-up Changeling over with them. "It may be rather, unappealing, but this." She motions to the captured Changeling. "Is a captain of a smaller force inside of Cascadia's army. A small but better-trained team, not an elite though." She uses the name with no small amount of disdain.

The captured Changeling by this point has seen all of us and looks pretty scared. Chrysalis motions with her head, "We have been unable to, convince them to join us. We think they have useful information, but they remain quiet. I thought you may be interested in a trade, information for information along with another matter." She says slowly and I get the idea quickly.

It might seem a little messed up to use a living being as a bargaining chip, but Chrysalis has no use for them and it's likely they would just be executed. Both hives have food problems and feeding a useless prisoner is a bad idea, and if you can't recruit them or find someplace to send them you really don't have many other options.

War is a bloody and messed up thing, I see that the only Pony that looks at all disturbed is Ash Mark, and even then only a little bit. Celestia has lived long enough to have seen worse and Cricket came from this war. There is a long moment of silence as Celestia seems to think.

She nods to me and I look over at the Changeling holding the captive, The Changeling moves the captive over to me slowly and I bring them over with my field. "I can agree to something along those lines, although there are things I will not speak on, and an uncooperative captive is not likely to speak much. Shadow, please secure them."

She turns to me for a moment and I notice that her tone is more serious now, making it clear this captive isn't worth too much, I can see the hints of Celestia's harder side come through. Celestia may be the kind and loving Princess, but she's been around long enough to see worse and knows how to negotiate in a grim deal.

Honestly, this is not a bad outcome, this Changeling is probably going to be interrogated by us, but that's better than being executed. I do feel a little bad about them being in this situation, but I don't know them and for all I know they could have committed some pretty terrible crimes, if nothing else their hive has been ponynapping others.

I don't really know what to do with them, I just hold them in the air as they stare back at me, fear evident on their face. I think for a moment and pick up a pebble off the ground, I walk a few feet away and reach out with my hoof. Grabbing the Changeling and making a slight show of lifting them high in the air before sticking the pebble to them.

I do the same thing I did to Garble and stick them in the air with a Stasis spell, using my hoof to cover up the use of the two spells from sight. I walk back to the table and leave them there while both sides watch with some morbid curiosity, I make sure to keep my sense partly on them just in case they try anything.

Chrysalis turns back to Celestia and passes a second piece of paper over, seemingly anticipating Celestia's reasoning. "This is a list of a few locations we believe might contain a few gathering spots for Cascadia hive." Not the most useful, still something of value. "As for what information I want to trade for? I'd like any location you may have found, and I believe Sir. Shadow would be able to answer a question for me." She unexpectedly turns to me.

Celestia's face gets a little bit more focused at that, but she simply thinks about it for a few moments before continuing. "If, Sir. Shadow is in agreement." We didn't get a massive amount of information, but what we did get is useful to us so I nod in agreement as I can refuse to answer.

Chrysalis smiles a bit more and the mood is a mix of grim and tense now, with the Pony side being a bit more uncomfortable from what I can tell. "I also wish to inquire about what you learned from the captives of our last meeting. As for you Sir. Shadow, I am curious how you incapacitated them." She gets right to the point and I can tell what she wants.

I stay silent for a little bit and think on how best to answer her while Celestia pulls some papers from under her wings, probably the other information Chrysalis asked for. "Sticking spell, easy, quick, good for pinning an enemy down during a sneak attack." I once again be vague but honest about what I did.

Chrysalis looks a bit thoughtful at that, blinking as it seems to settle in. "Hmm, an interesting method, thank you. I was also curious about your ability to be aware of your surroundings without sight? It is rather impressive as well." She again digs for information in a polite way, while looking over a few papers Celestia passes her.

There is a long moment of silence before I answer. "I can see you just fine, Queen Chrysalis," I answer back, being honest as I can see her, in a sense of the word. Her face shifts a little as I basically give her a false answer, but she doesn't press the matter and turns back to Celestia.

Celestia glances at me but says nothing, probably just her checking on me, before turning back to face Chrysalis. "You mentioned a second topic?" Celestia seems to want to move us along as this isn't a very savory deal. Honestly, things have been a bit unproductive until now, all of us dancing around the actual reason she called for this meeting.

I think Celestia just wants to interact more, this meeting was never going to be as productive as the first, but relationships aren't built off of one meeting alone. Chrysalis passes the papers to a Changeling, "That involves something of a worrying situation." She seems to compose herself more.

She brings over a simple piece of paper and passes it. "A week ago, we raided a base, small and out of the way. And we recovered three captured Ponies." The news makes us all go silent, Celestia is now much more focused than before and Chrysalis now has our undivided attention.

"They are fine, but very, uncooperative from what they have been through. Holding them and keeping them safe has proven, difficult to work around and if we just release them, they will most certainly talk." I can sense Celestia's mind running a mile a minute as she tenses a bit. It seems Chrysalis has found something that does interest us.

Celestia has mentioned it before, but occasionally Ponies go missing, we're not sure if that's all Changelings but it definitely is them to some extent. Getting a few of them back is a great thing, and if Chrysalis gives them back willingly it goes a long way to building some trust.

I can also see why she wanted a meeting now, she's caring for some very hard-to-care-for guests and can't just release them. Celestia is silent for a long few moments, "I see, then I thank you on behalf of Equestria. I assume you need some assistance in keeping things quiet and bringing them home?" Celestia's voice holds a little edge to it, her tone getting defensive over her little Ponies.

Chrysalis knows as well as we do that her next words are very important, she tries to pull something... Celestia won't be happy, and neither will I. I spot that Ash Mark is tense and ready to move if needed. Chrysalis nods, "We do, this is the location we have them at, some guards to retrieve them would be sufficient." I nearly let out a sigh of relief as she didn't outright demand anything in return.

She could have demanded love, or something else, but that would not have gone well long-term. Celestia's face calms a bit at that and she nods, "It would be a pleasure, is there anything else you would need?" Chrysalis shakes her head. "Perfect, then I believe there is some, potential for cooperation here." She takes out a piece of blank paper and a quill.

Throwing Chrysalis a bone, or any reward really is a good move. Even if that's what Chrysalis was counting on to begin with, she still did us good, and building on that is a good idea. "We have been, improving our capability to gather love, but such things are far from being viable." She takes love out of the negotiations as a start but moves the paper over.

Chrysalis's face twitches a bit but she reads the paper, smiling more after a few moments before taking a quill a Changeling gives her and writing on the paper as well. What follows is a very close match to our first meeting, then swapping this new contract back and forth. "I will also be sending a message in the future if we find any more lost Ponies," Chrysalis adds more to bargain with while passing the contract back.

Celestia looks it over and again and changes things. As they do this I spend a moment looking over at the captured Changeling, I wonder what we'll do with them? Torture is not a common thing for ponies to do and I know for a fact that Celestia won't do it, but they could actually have useful information.

I don't think I'll be doing anything with them, that's not my specialty and I really don't like the idea of trying to convince someone to talk to me and spill secrets. I turn back as both of them sign the contract and reach an agreement. "I have nothing else to add if you have any questions or topics to bring up?" Chrysalis keeps the polite tone but is blunt about it.

There is a pause and I step forward, all eyes turning to me as I look over at Celestia, she nods and I speak up. "A few facts about this war have been hard to find. If you are willing to answer, Queen Chrysalis?" I ask as there is one fact about this war that I want some answer to.

She looks thoughtful for a moment and nods her agreement. "Why did this war start? What was the event that began it all?" That is something that no one has given us details on, only scraps of information and a few possibilities. A few of the other Changelings looked confused by the question, almost as if it was obvious.

Chrysalis is silent for a moment. "It is complicated, to simplify. The Monster, Cascadia, took more and more from her hive and the Hiveless, eventually I was born and took a few Hiveless under my rule. From that point on she started attacking us, and has never stopped. The original battle though, was in the Monster's hive." She does not go into detail but at least I get something of an answer.

That does bring up the question of where Chrysalis was born? Inside the Cascadia Hive or from some random Hiveless Changeling? Maybe she has parents still around? That's an odd thought. I nod and take a step back, "Thank you, Queen Chrysalis." I say without emotion.

After a few moments, Celestia brings out a map, simple but detailed enough. She marks a few locations and passes them over, "We have seen a few Changelings at this location, organized. We do not know if they are under Cascadia though, it is best to observe them first I believe." She gives them the last bit of information they bargained for.

It's clear that things are coming to an end for this meeting, both sides having walked away with something they wanted. It seems this was more productive than I thought it would be. Chrysalis seems happy enough with the unknown agreement they signed and the small bits of information. "It seems we are finished then, Princess Celestia. It has been productive, may we meet again." She shows a smile and keeps most of her teeth covered.

Chrysalis is even blunt now and even her formality is mostly slipping. Unlike last time though she didn't get frustrated about Celestia, she handled this meeting well enough. I can also see her intelligence again, getting some form of agreement by actively improving our relations, even when we didn't come up with the idea of a second agreement.

Using the recued Ponies and a captive as a way to get something while looking like they are helping us. And if Changelings ever become known to the public then it would be a good way to get the public on your side. To show them that you care about the innocents caught in the war.

Celestia smiles widely. "It was a pleasure, and I wish you safe travels home, Queen Chrysalis." A polite but standard way to say goodbye. Chrysalis doesn't waste time after that. She takes flight with the rest of her Changelings and we all wait in silence as they fly away.

A few minutes later I turn to Celestia, "They are gone, north, probably a fake direction, following them is unwise." I share my thoughts and look over to Ash Mark before motioning with my head to the captured Changeling. Celestia takes a glance at me and the large wolf as I take down the Changeling and pass them to Ash Mark.

Celestia looks at Cricket, who's been silent this entire time, mostly just here as a reassurance and a silent statement of cooperation. "Miss. Cricket. Please ride back with Captain Ash, I will be returning shortly." She says in a voice that leaves little room for argument but is not unkind in its intentions.

Cricket bows a little. "Yes, Your Highness." She turns around with one last glance at me and the dead wolf while I sit still, keeping my senses alert. There is a long stretch of silence as Ash Mark moves the Changeling into the carriage and is joined by Cricket before it takes off and leaves.

Only once it is out of my senses do I feel myself relax, finally in the presence of a Pony I trust and nopony else. The obvious question lingers unsaid as she walks over to me while I stare at the dead wolf. I reach out with my magic and grab the small gem the Changelings left to light up the area.

I bring it to me and throw it on the ground, cracking it and making the light go out. Celestia casts a light spell and raises a brow as I take off my helmet and sigh. "I don't think that could listen to us, but I'm in no mood to find out. Today has certainly been, something." I say and start to walk closer to the wolf.

A mix of brown and grey fur, a body that dwarfs mine in every way, and a lot of blood. The ground is seeped through with it and at this point the smell overpowers everything. Celestia walks up next to me and just sits, silently being there for me as I finally let myself think.

Death is an unpleasant thing, something many fear, and that I personally got to experience. I wonder if this wolf had something like a soul? If I do as well? Maybe it too will find itself waking up in a new life, somewhere so very different from everything it has ever known or seen.

I didn't have much of a choice, this thing was really aggressive and I doubt it would refrain from attacking others that wandered into this forest. Even in a land as peaceful as Equestria, there are places where the wild rules, uncontested and untamed by all.

Ponies mostly live in towns and cities, it's not common to build new ones and not often needed due to the small population in relation to a large amount of land. Ponies also tend to explore less than humans, they still do but it's far more likely that they find out that a location is dangerous and just avoid it from then on.

So throughout Equestria there are locations like this forest, and the Everfree Forest, places where nopony goes and where nature is the only ruler. Even then things like this wolf aren't commonly encountered, they normally stick to their territory unless disturbed or forced out by something bigger.

I look at the eyes of the wolf, cold and lifeless and also bloody and cut open from my dagger. I'm reminded of a simple custom among humans, sometimes it is dramatized but it feels, right. I walk over to the head, walking through the bloody quagmire that surrounds it.

I stand on my hind legs and reach out, lowering the eyelid closest to me and closing one of the dinner plate-sized eyes. I move to the other side and do the same thing with the other. Celestia watches with interest and worry, but doesn't interrupt me as I go about my simple ritual.

As a last part, I walk to its maw, partly open from when it died. I reach out with my space magic and with a soft pop one of its large canine teeth separates smoothly at the base, I catch it before it can fall to the forest floor. I look at the tooth the size of one of my legs and move it back with me, ignoring the blood leaking from inside it.

Taking part of a kill, to remember what they offered in death and who they were in life. A tradition so old no human could really name when exactly it started. Celestia looks a little disturbed and downright concerned by this point as I move to stand next to her again. I sit a little closer than necessary as I look at the wolf and close my eyes for a moment, trying to think of something to say.

"Some say the eyes are the window to the soul, that window should not be left open. Some Griffons and even Dragons take a piece of a hunt, to remember and learn a lesson from it all." I try to give some explanation to her before falling silent for a moment and taking a deep breath. "There is peace in silence, and silence in death. Your hunt is over, rest well." I finish my word to a foe already dead.

A moment later Celestia stretches a wing out and around me, pulling me a little closer and trying her best to be comforting. I smile a bit despite everything, because things will be ok.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

First, I am continuing this next chapter. Second, I struggled a bit more in this one, I wanted to show that while Chrysalis wasn't an amazing diplomat, she at least has some experience frow dealing with Hiveless Changeling.

She may not fully know how to deal with Ponies, but she's at least somewhat capable and can pull off some political maneuvers. Or at least that's what I tried to do, not sure how it will come off.

Chapter 272

APR 11 Wednesday.

There is a long moment of silence before I move away from her wing, noticing a small amount of the blood remaining on my armor is staining her feathers.

I quickly cast an overpowered cleaning spell on her as I don't want her coming back to the castle with blood on her. She smiles a bit at my action, "I do wonder some days why you do things like that, small gestures that are rarely acknowledged. I find that many Ponies do it for vastly different reasons." She asks softly.

I can tell she's just trying to make me feel better with some small talk and normalcy, something I appreciate. "It costs me nothing but a small bit of my time, and it can mean the world to somepony when they have so very little good in their life," I remember several times in my past life when the random acts of kindness I received meant a lot to me.

She looks thoughtful as a question comes to my mind. "Why do you do it? You often visit things like the library, or sometimes random towns, why spend your time there?" It's something Celestia does seemingly at random, just showing up rarely at some celebration or event.

It's not truly random as such things need to be planned out, but I've read about her visiting places for some small celebrations. I think a small town celebrated being a hundred years old a few years back, and she was there. I follow her eyes as she glances at the moon for a moment.

She smiles back down at me. "You are right, even a tiny act of kindness means much to those who desperately need it." I realize I may have accidentally struck a nerve with that one. She sees my expression and gives me a reassuring look. "I do it for much the same reason, kindness costs so very little, and means so very much."

I nod silently as she turns to the wolf. "You have an interesting view on death, where did it come from?" I raise a brow at that. "Books? Other Ponies? Your own mind? Last time we talked about it we were more, philosophical, I wonder about your thoughts on the reality of it." She uses a gentle but genuinely curious tone.

I still have a fair amount of complicated feelings about my actions, so I try to sort through them and express how I feel about it all. It takes me a minute or two to even find the right words. "All of the above. The dead are dead, that doesn't mean they don't deserve respect from the living." I am a little philosophical.

I turn to the wolf again. "This wolf had its reasons. I don't know how smart it was, if it was after something or just, hungry. However, I know that nature doesn't really care." I am more morbid and shake my head. "No, vague words won't help me right now. I'm wondering what I should do with this wolf's body and how to respect its death. That is most important, respect." I say bluntly.

Celestia looks a bit put off by the blunt word but nods in understanding. "I suppose it is only natural, every hunt is dangerous, and not all hunts go to plan." Celestia may be a Pony, but she understands nature and its wild laws better than most. "Do you need help?" She offers after a beat of silence.

I smile at my friend offering to help with such a bloody job, and an idea occurs to me. "No, I don't think I do. Maybe we don't need to do anything at all." She once again raises a brow. "This wolf lived here, it might have even been born in this forest, so let it return to the forest." I take the tooth I have and stick it to my armor. "As for this? Like I said, it's to remind me."

I could harvest the wolf, but I have no need for its body, and even more still if I tried taking anything it might go to waste as I have no skill in harvesting pieces of an animal. She looks at the wolf solemnly, "Some parts of it may be of use, but I think you are right, this seems like a good place for it to, rest." She mimics my words from earlier.

I can already see a great many insects and a few small animals that have come to feast on this fallen giant. "I think the dead should be respected with a burial, no matter what form it takes. We do actual burials, Griffons often do Cremation, even Dragons have a burial." I comment and stand up fully again.

She looks curious and I smile a bit. "Haven't gotten to that part of the book then? They can't cremate them, burying them is hard in the Dragon Lands, so they are left to the sea. To sink away beneath the waves and never be seen again, same with eggs that fail to hatch." I start to walk a little further away from the wolf's corpse and she follows, walking side by side with me. "You can go back, I think I'm going to go for a late-night stroll, I need the air." I decided after a moment.

She looks around for a moment and smirks. "There is not much I need to do for tonight, and Captain Ash has it well in hoof. So it seems you won't get rid of me that easily." She jokes a small bit as we simply start walking into the forest. "Why a tooth? Not the fur or a claw? And a reminder of what?" She asks with a little bit of morbid curiosity.

I think about that for a few moments. Why a tooth? I suppose the original intent is that they are easy to take out and last a long time, but for me? "It tried to take my life, and I took its life. I think a tooth fits best, a reminder that the wild will always be there, and that it should be respected for all it is." I say while we step in between some trees and out of the clearing.

Nature may be weakened, but trying to tame or kill all life is a futile thing. She looks at the forest as we walk through it. "I don't remember the last time I have simply walked through a forest, with no destination or need to hurry. Are you ok? I mean that in both senses of the word." She adds quickly and I can tell she's being gentle with me.

I smile and nod. "Physically I did only get a few bruises, I'll add some life magic to them and cast some healing spells when I'm home. Mentally?" I go silent for a moment. "I feel sad, not massively so, but sad." I sigh slowly. "I picked this path and I knew it was only a matter of time, maybe I'm lucky it was a beast first?" I ask, more to myself.

She is silent for a bit. "My first kill was, well, partly an accident. I was attacked and, it went too far." She holds some clear regret in her tone but seems at peace with it. "That was long ago, and I know accidents happen. As for all this? Why put yourself in such danger? You could have ended it in a moment." Her tone is simply concerned and a little exasperated.

I nod in agreement as she's right. "You know me, I always hold back unless needed. For this, I had several things to fall back on and I didn't feel it was worth showing Chrysalis my abilities, especially if we become enemies in some way down the road." I share my reasoning openly.

She looks at me for a moment. "That is what makes you so frustrating sometimes." She chuckles a bit and I look at her confused. She gives me a knowing look, "You do the most crazy and foolish things, and you do them for reasonable, logical, reasons. At least most of the time." I chuckle a little as she's not wrong about that.

As we walk I keep my senses sharp, but anything close and large seems to want nothing to do with Celestia and move away quickly as we walk. We're now slowly walking down a slight decline in the forest, following no real path. I notice that her hooves and legs are getting dirty, but she doesn't seem to mind.

There are a few minutes of silence as we walk undisturbed through the woods, enjoying the cool air. "Do you regret it? Protecting yourself and them?" She asks abruptly and I once again have to think about it. I know I would have done the same thing again if needed, but do I regret it?

I slowly shake my head. "Not entirely, I regret it had to happen, and that the wolf didn't just run away, I did try to let it. But no, while the wolf deserved to live, so did I and the Changelings." I say with some conviction. In a situation like this, it is hard to tell right from wrong, or maybe it was gray from the beginning?

She nods in slight approval. "It is unpleasant, but that is the truth. Both deserve to live, and yet reason fails and one dies. If only the world were so kind as to make such a thing unnecessary." She agrees, with some reluctance that even a human would share. "You said you were sad? Why? What makes this sad to you?"

I know she's just trying to get me to think about everything, and it is working as her questions are a good mix of distracting, comforting, and making me confront my feelings. "That it had to end here. Out of all the ways that beautiful and powerful wolf could have died, old age, a peaceful death in its sleep, any quiet death truly. Yet it was blood and pain. I am sad it suffered in the end." I say after a few seconds of thought.

We stop as we reach the middle point of a small valley in the forest. A little brook slowly flows over and down rocks as it cuts a line that separates the two slopes of the valley. "You once said that death may be a kind being, something that waits patiently for you. What makes you think that?" She again somewhat changes the subject.

I shrug and remember my last day on Earth. "why would it need to hurry? Eventually, everything dies, so why chase after us to kill us faster? It can just slowly walk behind us, and when it is time it will catch up with us all as we slow and age." I elaborate on my perspective more, feeling oddly philosophical about everything.

She nods and I just stop by the small brook of flowing water, watching moonlight reflect from in between the tree leaves above us. "A grim and hopeful thought, you are rather skilled at mixing those two opposites together. I saw some of your fight, not how it began though." She takes a more serious tone.

I nod having expected this for a bit now, happy she let me settle down before mentioning it. "When I was floating down it started to run at them, an ambush, and considering its speed I had no time to land. So I fell on its back, stabbed right in, and got bucked off. What did you see?" I ask curiously as I wasn't paying attention to her at the time.

She shakes her head a little. "I can't say you aren't brave. You may wish to invest in some better, or knowing you, custom spells if you're going to make a habit out of that. Levitation and Lightening aren't infallible, they are simple to cast and simple to disrupt." She gives a little criticism and I do agree I probably should do that.

I don't remember if I told her the spells I used the first time I did that, but it wouldn't be hard to guess I used those spells or see the flash when I casted them from above me as she was looking down from the carriage. "I will, it is effective though, you'd think most would keep an eye on the sky. I do." I add with a little humor as many can forget to do so.

She thinks for a moment and continues. "I saw mostly the end, you running up and, finishing things." She puts it simply. "I do wonder what makes you so willing to take on traits from other races, the Griffons, Dragons, I could say the same about the Changelings actually." She adds with some humor.

I shrug as I don't have a great explanation myself beyond being human once, and I can't say that. "I think Ponies are a little too limited in their worldview. It helps in some ways, Ponies are very peaceful and war is a distant thing, but it also makes us a little slow to change and accept new things." She shows a look of recognition but not agreement.

I let that hang for a moment and return to my fight. "After getting bucked off it charged me, I got out of the way and nearly cut its leg off, but it just kept coming. After that, it blew me away with some wind and I stopped trying to scare it off, I just went for the throat." I finish a little softly and look up at the stars shining through the leaves.

She nods and also looks up, but looks down a moment later, like the sight itself hurts her. "What was the agreement you made with Chrysalis about? I'll admit she made a good move with the rescued Ponies, she seemed pretty happy with what she got in the end." I ask curiously to move us away from the sight of the night sky.

Celestia smirks. "She did, and I am happy to say that this has helped my little Ponies." She seems happy, but there is an undercurrent of anger about her Ponies even being in such a situation. "It was a part of our plans to save the taken Ponies, but it happening this soon was an unexpected boon." She tried to look on the upside of it all.

"I gave them the right to send a limited number of Changelings into select Pony cities, to collect and gather emotions at scheduled and predetermined times we would agree on." My eyes widen a little and I let that sink in. Even if it's a slight risk it is a good step, and it is a way to give them food less directly.

Cascadia probably won't even realize we're helping them gather food, or at least it would be hard for them to piece it together if it's done right. "Put more guards around the area when they are around, but don't let the guards guide them, if we do it right no outsider Changelings will even know we're doing anything," I advise and she nods in agreement after a few moments.

I take notice that it is very late and Celestia still has things she probably needs to do, and some sleep if she can manage that. I put my helmet back on. "We should go, it's late as it is and you need to get some sleep before sunrise, day court is already looking daunting I'd guess." I tease her a little in an unnaturally deep tone.

She glares at me a little but keeps her smile. "Yes, just remember to make a report and send me regular letters to say how you are doing." I tilt my head in confusion and she smiles wider. "What? This was an official mission from the crown and as a guard that dealt with a dangerous incident, I expect to receive a full report on it. And if you miss a letter I will have no choice but to invite you to the palace." I glare for a moment under my helmet but nod nonetheless as she takes her revenge.

"Would you like me to teleport you home?" I think for a moment and shake my head. "Very well, I wish you a good night Shade. Oh, and, you are grounded from work for two weeks, get some rest. And yes that's an order from your princess." She giggles and a moment later vanishes in a flash of light.

I sit there stunned for a few moments before letting out a long sigh and committing that fact to memory. As I sit in the dark for a few moments I find my voice, "Entropy, you can come out now Girl." I say and a moment later she practically flies out of my shadow and lands on my back. "Home pl-"

I don't get to finish my words as Void envelops us both and I am now standing in my apartment. I sit there and look down as a small bit of blood drips from my armor. The cleaning spell I used wasn't that strong as I didn't want to use that much magic and just removed most of the blood.

I reach out with my field and bring over a towel from my bathroom, laying it down before dropping piece after piece of still bloody armor onto the towel. Entropy watches with a nervous energy as I take my armor off and I smile at her after removing my helmet again. "I'm fine, Girl." I use a reassuring tone.

She doesn't look fully convinced about that and coos a little. "Bad danger, bad wolf. Worry." She effectively shows how much she cares by pecking at me as I remove the last piece of my armor. I raise a brow as she grabs a beak full of my bloody coat and starts trying to pull me.

I chuckle a little and follow along with her as she drags me into my bathroom before letting go. "Clean, always feel better." She demands and I start laughing after a second, a full belly laugh that's mixed with so many emotions. Above all, I feel loved that Entropy cares so much, and that my family cares about me no matter what just happened.

"Ok, but only if you get in as well." She looks reluctant as she dislikes showers a good amount, but that only lasts for a moment and she gets in the shower and caws at me to do the same. I get in and turn on the warm water, letting it and my emotions flow out over me.

I feel several things. Some pride and accomplishment in the fact I helped others in danger and may have even saved a life or two. Also, a little guilty, that I didn't think of a better solution, that I didn't find some way to spare the wolf's life and simply let it go after everything.

At the time that thought never even occurred to me, or at least not enough to make a plan and implement it. That's not entirely my fault, it's not like the wolf was cooperating with me. I guess that idea ignores the reality of the situation. This entire day has been a mess, from seeing new and old friends, to dealing with enemies that I never expected, all the way to killing for the first time.

Maybe I should stop thinking about this for tonight? I can't ignore it, at least not forever, but maybe for just the rest of tonight, I can pretend there is nothing bothering me. I slowly clean myself, taking my time and using an overpowered cleaning spell to remove all the dried blood on my armor, along with cleaning an overprotective Entropy.

Once we were clean and dry I walked back out into my main room, only to scrunch up my muzzle as the overwhelming scent of blood pours off of my armor. "Right, shit," I mumble to myself and think for a few moments before heading into my work room to grab several rags along with filling a bowl with water.

I sit down next to the pile of armor and my weapons and simply pick up the first piece, using water, rags, and a spell to loosen any dried blood off. I could cast a cleaning spell to just remove the blood instantly, but I need something to do, and this is a good simple task.

As I slowly and methodically clean my armor I grow a large amount of Juniper berries for me and Entropy to eat as I go about my work. I was planning to just cast a cleaning spell to remove all the blood on myself as well, but Entropy was right, that shower did make me feel a bit better.

Maybe better is not the right word, more normal I suppose. As I clean I use some life magic to aid the healing of my wounds, deciding against the healing spell as I could use the practice and my injuries are light all things considered. The large bruise on the side of my midsection being the worst, that wind really caught me off guard.

Maybe I should look into something like a modified sticking spell for my armor? Something to make sure I can't be easily knocked off of my hooves in the future seems like a good idea. I am also going to be looking into a better spell for falling like I did, or another enchantment for my armor that does the same thing?

Then again, an enchantment is far less adaptable, and falling is never a very uniform process. I slowly lose myself to ideas and plans yet to come as I slowly clean my armor with a small smile, happy to simply be home again.

POV shift Celestia.

I reappear inside my bedroom with a flash of light and a long tired exhale. Tonight has been trying in a few different ways.

The meeting with Chrysalis was surprisingly productive. I will have to be careful about the Changelings she will send, but it is a useful way to delay giving them love directly and it won't cause Cascadia to have much suspicion if any at all. But as Shade pointed out, it must be done very carefully.

That stallion, he never ceases to amaze and concern me in equal measure. I have seen a great many Ponies deal with ending a life, and the many ways it can affect them. I'll need to send letters often and check in on him, maybe give Twilight a little time off so they can meet up again as well?

He needs time with his friends, both distant and close, and time to simply be normal. Though he is taking the entire event better than I thought he would, or maybe not. Looking back I can see that he's known this was a possibility for a while, he's made and learned several spells that can kill, and I know he's understood that from the beginning.

Still, such things bring out the unpredictable side in Ponies. Maybe his views on death are a part of that? I will admit his method of showing respect is interesting, if disturbing. Touching the dead, a job many grave diggers have that causes them much distress, there is a reason that profession has always been paid very well.

He shows great respect for the fallen though, even to the point of caring about the last rites of a beast that may not have even had a mind of its own. And if nothing else it means that the wolf can not hurt others that could have accidently or otherwise wandered into that forest.

I'll need to remind my guards to scout the next meeting spot more thoroughly, that may make it hard to remain undetected though. I stare down and notice my legs are covered in dirt and some slightly red mud, but I smirk anyway. It was really nice to simply be in a forest, for no reason other than for a walk and a conversation.

It would be nice to do something similar again in the future. I walk over to my bathroom and start to remove my regalia, deactivating the sticking spells that have kept them in place without my usual effort. Shade is many things, but I still fail to see it.

I fail to see what he fears so much, that everything he has done, all that effort. The spells, the training, the never-ending drive to improve and build higher. All that from fear, is it really a victory for anypony if he makes all this out of fear?

Is all the good he has done worth the fear he seems absolutely determined to endure alone?

I don't know, maybe I never will. However, I know I will be there for my friend, and that will have to be enough... No, I will make it be enough.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

I've written and edited this in only one day because I have some holiday stuff in the morning. It might take me a while to fix any mistakes and there might be more than normal, sorry in advance.

PS, thanks for eleven hundred, and I will see you all Monday.

Chapter 273

APR 22 Sunday.

I breathe out slowly as I sit inside the pavilion at Gaia's Eden and meditate.

I have plans for later today but for now, I'm just spending my time relaxing and enjoying the good sunny weather. Especially after the events of that one night. It's still fresh in my mind but I've found myself being very calm about everything that happened, at least to some extent.

For the first few days, I spent a little more time with my friends than normal, going out to eat, and game nights, along with getting a study session in with Avalon. It all helped me unwind and gave me time to think things through slowly while also giving me some distractions from my own thoughts.

After that I started getting letters from Celestia, every other day I got a letter like clockwork. Normally it is short and just asks me to write out and talk about my feelings on what happened, along with questions for me to think about. At first, I found it mostly a little amusing how much she worries over me, it has helped me get through my thoughts on everything though.

She's already sending a few but I think it will slow with time, it is nice to see my friend making such an effort to make sure I'm ok with her limited time. As for my thoughts on everything? Well, they haven't really changed much at all, I'm just sad it ended as it did, but that will fade with time.

On a more positive note, I've also spent my time going about my normal life and projects. First and foremost I've started preparing to crossbreed the Copper Lily with a new plant I got recently, a normal Water Lily. I picked this because I realized I have a better way to go about strengthening the Copper Lily.

I was planning to just crossbreed it with several other water plants that are more durable, but that has a small problem with it. It takes a lot of time to do that and as a result, the resulting Copper Lily would also lose some of its magical ability, which has happened with all other crossbreeds I've made.

That probably happens because the plants I'm crossbreeding are so different, either way it means I'd need to spend even more time working on the Copper Lily to improve its abilities back to where they were. So instead, I'm going to be selectively breeding a regular Water Lily.

Using regular selective breeding along with Guided Evolution I will make a very survivable and adaptable Water Lily, then I will just crossbreed that with the Copper Lily. It should work better than crossbreeding the Copper Lily with several other plants and my hope is that only a little of each plant's abilities will be lost as both are very similar types of plants.

As for why I'm currently meditating, I needed time to simply clear my head before dealing with other Ponies. A few days ago I got a letter back from Twilight, having sent her a letter of my own a little after the wolf incident, and we agreed to meet later today at the park.

Apparently, she also needs to watch Spike so he's once again tagging along with us. Not that I mind after all the time I spent with Dragons I am beyond used to them, but then again Spike is no ordinary Dragon. I did get a few small gem shards so I can surprise him with a little snack, but all that is for later right now it's just me and the wind.

Well, there is also another small but slightly concerning thing of note. The Timberwolf pack that moved in right across the river a while back is still there, having grown to nine adult members and three pups. It seems that the presence of Celestia has caused most large predators to leave this place alone.

It's given the Timberwolves room to hunt and grow without too many threats, they have even ventured to this side of the river a few times. I caught a small group of three hunting on this side and inspecting the shield around Gaia's Eden a little, but they didn't get close or do anything to it.

I do find them very interesting and I have a rough understanding of how they operate as a pack, but I am missing a lot of the finer details that can't be caught from far away. It doesn't help that they have the ability to blend into the life magic of the forest forcing me to rely on my Spatial Senses.

I have been working on something that might make close observation more practical though. For several months now I've been slowly making an Invisibility spell, and there is a good reason it's taken me that long to build something that really I could have done in two or three weeks.

One, I didn't really need to rush it as I have little demand for an invisibility spell, sure it's useful but not actually needed. The second reason is that I went way overboard on the spell itself, taking my time to push my spellcraft to its limit and really see what I could do.

For some context, the B.L.P Spell was the most complex thing I've worked on before, a spell with a total of three matrix rings and several runes, while the Flame Shield spell I made was less overall complex but still an Advanced spell. This Invisibility spell has four rings, twelve runes, and probably some of the most complex math I've worked with yet.

It doesn't need to be nearly this complicated or well-built, but I made it like this for good reason. An invisibility spell normally consists of two main parts, the part that makes you invisible from sight, and the part that makes you invisible to detection spells.

The second one of those is much rarer among Invisibility spells like this, but I really wanted to add it in as I didn't want to deal with that in the future. I also wanted my invisibility spell to be very robust and be able to stand up to even advanced scanning and detection spells, which meant I had to really make a powerful spell.

The magic cost is obviously higher than preferable but I have more than enough magic and this is really only for personal use so it doesn't matter as much. The spell itself works by forming a body-tight shield around the caster that hides them from both sight and magic.

Combined with a few other spells, like the Sound Canceling spell and the Scent Shield spell, and without an affinity it would be very hard to detect me. Overall it's the fourth advanced-level spell I've worked on and some of my best work yet, it's also let me dive more into advanced magics.

I once again breathe out slowly before standing up and opening my eyes, letting them adjust to the light for a moment before looking over at Entropy as she looks back from atop a railing on the side of the pavilion. She's been great the past week and seems determined that I take care of myself, and is very vocal if I even look like I'm not doing so.

I smile as she flies over to me while I check the time. "Time to head home." She bobs her head and a moment later we are gone, with me looking around my apartment for a moment and going into my workroom after not seeing any new letters. I walk inside and look over the new additions to my collection of gems.

The Diamond Dogs delivered the gems to the storeroom I rented and I got them all back here with little difficulty. After counting and reorganizing everything I can tell you I have quite a collection of gems. I bought eight medium Diamonds, and three large diamonds as well.

I was able to get a two-foot-wide sapphire with some great clarity. I also got twenty more medium gems, half ruby and the other half sapphire, along with five large rubies and six large sapphires, and finally a three-inch wind affinity gem. A truly insane amount of gems to have lying about on my shelves.

I am definitely going to be getting my uses from them though as I have a somewhat insane project I'm planning for. On a certain shelf are a few boxes containing the gem seeds I got from the Dragon Lands, I did try to research it but predictably I came up with nothing.

To even begin making a place to grow the seeds I need a magical shield that can withstand and contain the heat that I will need and that's a small project all its own. I also want to use some of the Fire Gems I have to generate the heat needed as they will be the most efficient, but doing that means I need a source of fire affinity magic.

I could just use normal magic but I have the fire affinity gems needed and it would take way more gems to get the same result as me just using the Fire Gems. I also think it would be a good way to use them, luckily I do have something that might work. The Fire Blossom Tree actually makes Fire affinity magic, so I've started breeding them to convert more natural magic into fire affinity magic.

The problem is I don't have a way to sense fire magic, so I've been temporarily using my smallest fire affinity gem to test the amount of fire magic. A simple spell that just makes the Fire Gem glow brighter the more fire magic there is near it, nothing that accurate but it works well enough for my needs.

I'll need to make the Fire Blossom Tree efficient enough and then plant several before funneling it all into a Fire Gem at the center. It should make for a good project and a great way to generate the rock melting temperature I'll need to grow those seeds.

I make a few notes about the Water Lily I was breeding earlier today and store the newest batch of seeds away before heading to the bathroom for a shower and to clean myself up. It doesn't take me long to make it look like I haven't been messing around with plants and magic all day.

I gather a few other small things and as I'm moving to the door Entropy lands on my back with her illusion already on. Entropy really has been more active and happy since that band was made, I should look into rituals a little more when I get the chance. I make a mental note of that as I leave my apartment.

I could fly but I feel like enjoying city life a bit and walking, and it seems good that I did because not long after leaving I see a newspaper stand. I normally only pay some attention to the news, enough to know the general goings on but not be caught up in it all.

I nearly walk past but stop as I notice the unusual number of Ponies reading and glance at the cover of one of the newspapers. NEW, A book on the lives of Dragons? :Oh, OH SHIT!!: I quickly move over to buy one and spend a moment moving out of the way and continue to walk while reading.

It's on the front page but isn't the headline still, this is more attention than I thought it would get right off the bat. I wonder if Celestia did this? No, she might be... Well, herself, but I don't think even she would, do, that... No, she would, actually she definitely would if given the chance. I chuckle a bit at the thought as I start reading.

A book about the lives of Dragons? Rarely seen outside of the coastal regions, Dragons have long been a source of fascination for many Ponies. Little has been known as they rarely speak and often don't interact more than necessary, but this inventive new book provides a look into their lives and sheds light on many things previously unknown.

I have had the pleasure of getting an advanced copy from the crown and the opportunity to review it before it was even released. To be blunt, it is by far one of the most comprehensive books on Dragons ever made and provides a great many insights into questions that remained unanswered for centuries if not longer.

From the Dragon's home lands all the way to their lifestyles, written and laid out in detail. A combined work of many Ponies working under the crown and what will surely be a new popular text for many researchers and those wishing to learn about Dragons and their lives.

However, many Ponies may find the book to be fairly graphic so readers are advised to keep in mind the content of the book. In conclusion, this is yet a book that very well may be referenced and studied, and read for centuries to come and is a landmark achievement of all the Ponies involved.

Article written by Page Light.

The article wasn't very long but the topic itself isn't massively interesting beyond those researching it and those who are curious about Dragons. I think it being published by the crown will give it some more popularity as the crown only directly publishes books every year or two. There are plenty sponsored by the crown but few are published directly from the crown.

I fold up the newspaper after reading a few other things and stuff it inside my saddlebags as I approach the park. It doesn't take me long to find Twilight but I notice something a bit more upsetting by the time I arrive. I see Twilight sitting alone on a bench with Spike, and a few other Ponies in the area looking at them from afar.

As I approach closer I notice that Twilight seems a little uncomfortable with the stares and I can't blame her. It seems my publishing that book has caused her some trouble unintentionally. "Hello, Twilight, Spike, it's good to see you both again. Too many eyes?" I ask in a friendly tone as I walk over.

She jumps a little and snaps her head in my direction with wide eyes, but smiles widely when she sees me. "Shade!! Sorry it's been so long, I've been dealing with my studies and my brother moving away. I also had to read through a few books for a big test. Anyway, did you see the news?" She rambles off quickly in an excited tone.

I can already tell she's trying to ignore the looks of others by talking to me, and I start to feel worse about putting her in this situation. Spike's eyes also light up when he sees me and he waves happily, completely ignorant or uncaring of the stares. I wave back a little as he chews on some type of snack.

I smile back and nod slowly. "I did, I haven't gotten the chance to read it yet, if I could find one, I think they will sell out for a little while." I lie to avoid commenting on it. "You ok? I know what all their stares can feel like, and it's not pleasant." I start things off a little heavy but it is important she's ok.

I see her try to look strong for a moment before sighing and sagging down a little. "Right, the whole dance thing. I- I'm fine, it's kind of like when he first hatched, just without my dam, or brother." She looks around for a moment and huffs. "I couldn't even read at the library without, them!" She lets her frustration out a little before shaking her head. "Oh, sorry. How have you been?" She drops it as she seemingly doesn't want to vent to me.

I nod and give her an understanding look. "I'm doing well enough. And, we don't have to stay here, we can go somewhere else if you want? Or even just pick a different day?" I offer as she's a little tense. I'm not the type for attention but I can handle it with my age and experience, Twilight is actually a young mare of fifteen and will likely not do as well.

She shakes her head after a moment. "No, I can ignore a few nosy Ponies, and we haven't met for months. They will just stare wherever we go anyway. At least I got to learn more about Spike, did you know Dragons have markets? Like to trade? And even a language!" Her tone is still a little bothered but she seems happy with seeing me again.

I smile as her excitement increases over the topic, and then an idea strikes me. "How about going to my home then? Or better yet yours?" She pauses and looks confused for a moment before smiling. "Off to your home then? I'll admit I'm curious about where you live." I say and she gets off the bench with some quick movements, picking up Spike and placing him on her back.

"That's perfect we ca-..." She takes a step and stops, looking a little embarrassed. "Right, umm, my dam and sire are busy right now, remodeling. Sorry, I forgot." She tilts her ears down but pecks back up. "Wait, let's go to your home then! I-I mean, if that's fine with you?" She questions and I chuckle a little, increasing her embarrassment.

Twilight seems to have grown some, both physically and mentally. She seems more, sure of herself, at least at a surface-level glance. I nearly asked about her telling a family member, but she's an actual mare now. "Sure, it's not far from here, a short walk. Hello, Spike, how are you?" I ask the little Dragon as we start to walk side by side.

Spike looks back up to me and smiles widely, showing off his teeth and looking absolutely adorable. "Hi, Shad, Twi gave me co-cookies!" He says happily and seems more vocal since the last time we met but still hasn't gotten his speech perfect, missing a part of my name. He looks up at Entropy on my back, "HI! Birb!" He somehow smiles even more at the sight of Entropy.

Twilight giggles a little and I just laugh at the little hatchling. "Hello." Entropy caws back and uses a small bit of an excited tone, not something she does often with others beyond me. "Little." She caws out while flapping her wings a little and jumping onto Twilight's back.

Spike looks thrilled at being close to a crow two-thirds the size of him and tries to reach out, Entropy keeps her distance though, and just starts chirping tunes at him. Twilight keeps an eye on them as we walk and after a minute of Entropy entertaining him with bird calls I pick her up and move her back. I laugh again, "I never knew she liked foals. who knows?"

Twilight seemed to be happy but reacted with the care and caution I was expecting of her when taking care of a baby Dragon. "She really does, you trained her right?" I nod as I've mentioned it a few times before. "Entropy, wait?" She takes a moment and pulls a plain-looking book out of her satchel as we approach my apartment building.

I raise a brow and she looks nervous for a moment. "Umm, it's, well..." She leans in a bit. "The Princess gave me a book on Dragons," she says quietly as we pass into my apartment building. She looks around the lobby forgetting the book for a moment. "You live here?" She asks with such genuine curiosity that I laugh a little again. "Hey, I was being serious?!" She complains.

I nod and smile more. "I know, that's what makes it so funny." She just glares a little, but it has no heat to it. "I do, we still have to get to the third floor, I hope you like stairs," I say and continue to lead us. "So an early copy? I guess being the Princesses student does have some benefits." I tease her a little but react with a calm tone.

Twilight seems pleased at my calm reaction and starts to flip through the book. "She is the best! I even got... Well, it's a new copy." She says vaguely, trying and failing to brush it off as unimportant. "But, Entropy, I think it's a Dragon word." I raise a brow and show a little shock, both that she remembered that and that she read that much of the book so quickly.

Either way, it helps me cover up my unsurprised face at the information though. "Huh, I just thought it was a nice-sounding name. Who could have guessed? Does it mean anything?" I play along as we reach the door to my apartment. I flip a little switch and deactivate my apartment shield fully, not taking the chance she might detect it in some way as I have no idea what Celestia may have given her.

She flips to the right page and nods. "It does, apparently it's... Oh. A god? Of d-death?!" She seems a bit perturbed and closes the book shaking her head. "Sorry, I guess that's not the best comparis- ... Wow!" She trails off as she follows me inside my apartment and looks around.

Her eyes are drawn to the few small things I have around my home, but mostly to the plants I have, especially the glowing ones. "Make yourself at home, I'll get some tea ready," I say while Entropy flies off my back and lands on her perch. Twilight closes the door a moment later and continues to look around.

She looks at the small birdbath and the plants growing on Entropy's perch with curiosity. "I- I like your home, I didn't know you liked plants so much, are these magical?" She is drawn to the obvious magic in the room immediately and I chuckle quietly as it's very on-brand for her.

I bring out my teapot and a pair of cups before getting some normal mint tea from my cabinets and sitting down at my small table. Spike reaches out a claw as he stares at the glowing vines wrapped around the perch. "Pretty." He mumbles and Entropy caws above in agreement.

I chuckle as this little dragon proves to entertain me time and time again. "I do like gardening, those are Solar Vines, A desert plant that absorbs solar magic to expel at night." I share a little of my expertise and point to the small tree I have. "That is Iron Oak, very durable and it gets more durable with age, not as flashy though," I explain and enjoy the look of genuine curiosity Twilight has while listening. "Tea?" I offer and activate the enchantment on it.

She nods and stares at the plants for a few more moments before hearing the water boiling inside the teapot and looking curious about that, locking onto a new discovery. "Did you get an enchanted teapot? What type of tea do you have?" She asks and moves over to the table while glancing at the bookshelf behind me.

I tilt my ears and shake my head. "Just normal mint, I'm not sure you'd like the stronger flavors I do. As for the teapot, I did that myself, it's actually a spell I modified to work a bit better for this purpose." I've been showing my skill a little more even to my more distant friends, mostly so I don't have to lie as much.

Her eyes light up and she pulls out a quill and some paper. "Really?! That's awesome! Do you think you can write it down? I've been looking into spell modification but its, really hard." I smile at the slightly tired look she has at the thought. I take the paper and instead of giving her the actual spell just make one up.

The warming spell I use is a little too advanced, so I make something better than normal but not too impressive. It only takes me a minute or two as a subpar warming spell is far below my skill level by this point. I rub the back of my neck as I pass it over, "Thanks, but it's not that impressive, mostly a rune swap." I downplay things regardless as I don't need more praise.

She happily takes the piece of paper and looks it over. "I don't recognize that rune. Hmm, can you-" I get where she's going and write out the Runic Context. "Thanks." I just nod and pass it over. "Oh, this is a really old rune, where did you find it?" She asks something else as we settle in and I relax with a friend to nerd out about magic.

As I settle in I put all other things aside and just enjoy myself, and enjoy the time I have with the ponies around me. Death is hard, and everything ends, but that doesn't mean the points between the beginning and end don't matter.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

I'm not sure I'll continue this one, we'll see. I do still find it a bit hard to write Twilight, but that will come with practice.

Also, I have achieved my ultimate goal in writing. I got one of my characters to say birb and make it actually fit and make sense. I am very happy.

Chapter 274

APR 22 Sunday.

I slowly sip my tea as Twilight continues to look around. "So, how have your studies been recently? I've mostly been improving on healing spells myself." I half lie as my work at the hospital has made me learn more about healing in general, although I am mostly just doing the same things again and again.

She sips her tea as well and tastes it for a few moments before taking another sip. "Well, The Princess has had me learning more about multi-casting. I won't be able to do it for another year or two, it's really complicated, have you tried it?" I nod as I have and can understand her complaints. "Wait, you do runic casting, that must be so annoying."

I chuckle a bit and nod again. "Maybe, but I find that runic casting can have some advantages over normal casting. As an example." I cast a spell under her teacup on the table and she fails to notice as the spell matrix is small enough to fit under the cup. She raises a brow and looks around confused as I lift my teacup and drink.

I see her horn glow and reach out and try to move her cup, only to fail. She looks further confused and tries again to the same result, "What?" She reaches out a hoof but still fails to pick it up and looks at me with a mix of curiosity and a silent demand for an explanation.

I smile and cancel the Sticking spell. "You don't need to cast a spell from a horn with runic magic, any direction is perfectly valid, even underneath something as long as there is a small gap. And for the simple spells, the size of the spell matrix can vary a lot." I pick up her teacup and show her the small round indent underneath it.

She looks a bit shocked but then gets an excited and impressed look. "You'd have to visualize the entire space underneath the cup though! And then not miss anything with the spell matrix while forming it blindly!" I pause for a moment and quickly realized that I just fucked up a little bit.

I used my magical senses to sense underneath the cup so she's right that from the outside what I did was much more impressive than you'd expect and blindly forming and placing a spell matrix is much harder. I nearly freeze a bit but recover and shake my head a little while desperately thinking of a logical explanation.

"Correct however, that's only if you have no practice." I throw it out as it's the only thing that fits well and I can come up with quickly. "Many cups have that indent, and that makes it great for pranking your friends. Let's just say I spent several hours with these cups getting that down right, and even then I still don't get it right half the time." I quickly add onto my early accurate but bullshit explanation.

I'm not lying that the form of training would work, I just never did that. She looks a bit confused and starts giggling after a moment, "You spent that long, to prank somepony?" She asks as she breaks down into some short but full laughter. "How long did it take you? Did it work?" She adds after recovering from her laughter.

I laugh as well, mostly from relief at dodging that pitfall. "Several hours, but me and a friend were also researching things at the time so I wasn't just doing that. Back to my point though, while runic casting is hard it lets you do some odd things, how about another example." I pause and simply draw a line of magic in the air.

She again looks confused at the odd display of magic as I do nothing more. "How long do you think I could hold that line of magic in the air? Well, with my capacity it's there as long as I concentrate a small bit and am near it, it's an easy endless source of dim light." I explain and give her a less impressive but still inventive idea.

She gains a look of realization and actually takes out a notebook to make a note of that. "I, I never thought about doing that. Hmm, it's not as bright as a spell, but it really would last as long as you want." She thinks for a moment and draws with her hoof creating her own line of magic in the air. "You don't even need to form it outside the body so even a novice could do it." She happily discovers something to add and writes that down as well.

I smirk and settle back into place while silently agreeing with her addition. Twilight may sometimes have trouble seeing the obvious, but she knows how to add onto things and use them in new ways. I turn to see Spike looking up at the magic lines with wide eyes. "Pretty."

Twilight gives him a soft smile and nods. "They are, do you need anything?" She asks and he shakes his head and goes back to looking at the lines, I keep mine in place with a little will so he has something to distract him. "Hey, you said you enchanted the teapot, right? How good are you at enchanting?" She changes the subject a bit.

I think before answering and taking out a small gem shard from the bag I have, both Twilight and Spike look at the gem with interest. "I brought a few in case your brother wanted a snack. But to answer you, I know how to instantly cast the spell to enchant something, but I still need to take more time with the actual spell I want to add." I think for a moment and cast three spells in slow succession.

One to enchant the gem shard to hold magic, another to gather magic, and a third to create light using the subpar Light spell I gave Twilight earlier. She looks a little impressed but not massively so, I've been a Journeypony caster for a while now so this is roughly expected for a decent spell caster of my level.

I fill the gem and move it close to her, I tap it and a small gentle blue light glow comes from the gem sliver. "Impressive, you really made it this far on self-study alone. If you had gone to The Princesses school or even another magic school when you were, a, colt... Sorry." She looks embarrassed and coughs a little.

I wave it off with a smile. "It's no problem, I grew up how I did and that's far from anyponies fault." I quickly reassure her as I honestly don't feel offended. "So how far are you along with multi-casting? I've tried a few times but I don't have the control yet, maybe in a few years though." I say and look over as Spike licks his lips and looks at the glowing gem.

I smile and give him a different sliver. "Thank you." He says happily and devours the small gem sliver with no hesitation. His teeth seem to sink into the solid gem and break it apart with ease, I wonder what his bite force is? Or maybe magic helps in breaking it apart in some way?

Twilight nods slowly but still looks a little apologetic. "I'm, not close, or far away. Keeping it all in mind just takes so much, effort! I know it's important but it takes so long as well, I did succeed but it took me nearly three minutes to do it, three!" She hams up her words a bit and I nod in agreement once again. "So, what type of healing spells have you been learning?"

I think for a moment and pull out my own notebook before flipping to a page containing some of my notes on a healing spell to help deal with inflammation, although it's a less used spell by most healers as most prefer herbal remedies for such things. "It's a bit more complicated, not overly so though, I'm hoping to get it done soon."

She looks it over curiously. "You know, I never asked, but why healing? You said you wanted to go into spellcraft right? Is this for a job or..." She trails off and I think for an appropriate response. I can't say the real reason which is my life affinity, but to be honest, I haven't given it much thought myself.

In truth, I could have moved a bit further than just the volunteer work I've been doing. I could properly shadow a nurse to try and pass the test to become a nurse, or even a doctor if I invested my time into it. I'm just not sure if that's what I want to do with my time, I mean I already do so much good with my inventions and my healing will improve more with my life affinity than any spell.

I could see what she thinks. Be honest and see where that gets me. I speak up after a beat of silence, "I'm not sure, I like healing others, but making it my job doesn't seem right. I want to make spells and I'm honestly getting closer to the point of actually being able to do it, to pick one or the other seems, extreme I guess?" I am fairly honest with her as I am having trouble deciding.

She falls into thought and also seems lost at my decision. "Oh, huh. I'm, not really sure I can help? I mean, I would love to, but." She seems uncertain and stops herself. "I don't know. I really like doing and learning magic, the spells, the research, the books, I couldn't see myself doing anything else." She gives her own view in lieu of any actual advice.

I smile and give her an understanding look. "It's fine, not like I expected you to have all the answers. What do you plan to do?" I ask curiously and she looks confused at the questions. "After learning from The Princess I mean, it's not like you'll be a student forever, so what do you want to do after that?" I repeat my question.

She goes still for a moment and just sort of zones out a bit. "I, ahhh, I'm not sure?" She eventually says with clear uncertainty in her tone. She giggles a little awkwardly, "I guess neither of us really thought it all through, huh?" I chuckle a little as well, mostly from her reaction.

Like before Twilight can miss many obvious things, but then again I never really found any records on how long Celestia keeps her personal students, for all I know they work but still remain her students their whole lives. Something to ask Celestia later, and maybe have her ask Twilight what I just did as well.

I nod and look over to see that Spike looks a little bored, our magical lines no longer holding much of his interest. I think for a moment and reach out with my field to grab a small ball and move it over to us. "This is a little something I picked up at a Griffon market in Feather Falls." I demonstrate it by throwing it and catching it as it curves and flies right back at me. "You think he's big enough?" I ask.

She looks at the ball and motions for me to pass it to her, and I do. She looks it over and tosses it before letting it come back and hit her chest, the ball only coming back with minimal force and being harmless. "Hmm, ok, thanks. Here you go Spike, just remember to be careful and don't break it." She reminds him with a bit of sternness but a smile.

He happily grabs the ball and holds it for all of two seconds before throwing it with his little arms, only managing to throw it a few feet off of the table. A second later it comes back and bumps softly against his head before falling onto the table, Twilight almost says something but is cut off by happy giggles from Spike. "Thank you Shad, Twi!" He squeals out and throws the ball again.

I chuckle at the slightly tired sigh that Twilight breathes out while Spike entertains himself by trying and failing to catch a wooden ball. Entropy keeps an eye on him as it is one of her favorite toys, but seems ok with him using it for the time being. "Ahh, foals. You can tell them it's foolish or dangerous, to them it's just fun." I voice my thoughts and laugh a little more at the cute and determined expression Spike has.

Twilight smiles a bit and nods, keeping an eye on Spike. "You wouldn't believe how hard it's been keeping him out of things, do you know how easily he can cut his way out of anywhere? We went through cradles like nuts for weeks after he started crawling around." She says and giggles while my laughter comes back even harder.

Entropy flies over and lands on the table, laying on my side opposite of the table from Spike while watching us and seemingly enjoying being a silent observer. "You think that's bad? imagine trying to deal with a bird that loves flying, any time I go outside she can just take off, not that she does but it's still something I always have to remember." I joke back and continue with the light mood.

She snorts at that and looks over to Entropy. "Maybe, but does she speak to every stranger you meet? Because Spike seems basically obsessed with meeting anypony we come across with a wave and a hello. Every, single, time." I smile at Spike as he listens in and waves, only to get hit by the ball softly as he isn't paying attention to it.

When I stop laughing from that I speak up again and admit defeat. "Fine, you got me there. Entropy may know a lot of words but she doesn't speak much, she is a clever girl though." I see Entropy's tail feathers wagging at that. "Anyway, where do you live? I'm going to guess somewhere more fancy." I tease her a bit and change the subject again.

She blushes a little and nods after a moment. "Kind of? I wouldn't call it fancy, but compared to here it- Epp, no! That came out wrong! You have a lovely home!" She quickly corrects herself and I just smile at her. "It's in the upper city, east side." She gives me a vague area and blushes a bit more in embarrassment.

I tilt my head and lean back a little, standing more straight and stretching a bit. That side of the upper city is more fancy, but not massively so. It's mostly made up of high middle-class Ponies with a good amount of wealth but nothing too extreme. "It's fine, I actually prefer this little home of mine to a lot of other places," I say honestly.

She still looks embarrassed but takes a few breaths until her blush goes down. "I can understand that, some of the Ponies I've met can't really move to better places as well." She comments and I raise a brow while she looks more embarrassed. "Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean it like that, but, well, I'm not sure what you do for work anymore." She explains and I can understand the confusion.

I think for a few moments but I can't see much of a reason to lie about my wealth, or at least having enough to get by where I am. "I actually don't have a job." Her embarrassment is covered by growing confusion. "When I was starting out at the library I didn't pay for much so I invested most of my bits, those investments went well enough, I don't really need to work," I reveal with a casual tone.

She blinks a few times and gains a look of epiphany. "Ohhh, that, explains a lot actually." She mumbles and I show a questioning expression and she looks a bit less embarrassed. "Well, you are really good at magic and study a lot, but also would need to work and do other things, it never seemed like enough time." She reasoned and I nodded as it made sense from an outside view. "Wait, why stay here then?" She adds after a second.

She doesn't have much of a reaction to me having more money than she assumed, she did grow up in a decently well-off home and has been interacting with nobles for a few years so it's not too surprising. I shrug, "I like it, it's got enough space for me and is close to the library, the park, and importantly my friends." I give my main reason, leaving out my paranoia.

She tilts her head a little. "I mean, sure? Still, I would think there are other larger places nearby." She argues a bit but drops it as I just shrug again. "Well, tell me if you move, I don't want to be sending letters to some random Pony." She adds and glances out the window behind her.

We've been talking for a while now and it's a little later. I cast a Temporis spell and see that it's almost time for a training session with Stone we agreed on last game night. I'm sure as hell not going to be late to that as he will kick my flank for it. She looks at the time as well and I look back to her a moment later.

I give her an apologetic look. "Sorry, I have something planned and need to get going soon, thanks for coming over though, we should do this again." I don't drag things out as I have no reason to and would rather just be blunt. She looks a bit disappointed but nods without complaint and picks Spike up while passing me the ball back.

She smiles as I walk her over to the door. "It's fine, and we should. Your apartment is, cozy." She gives it a compliment despite her earlier words. "Have a good day, Shade, or night." She adds as it is nearing the end of the day. Spike also makes his presence known by standing up on her back.

He waves at us again. "Bye Shad, bye birb!" I wave at both of them as they leave down the hallway before closing my door with a smile and flipping a small switch. I sigh and turn to Entropy, happy with how things went but also a bit more tired from all the talking.

Entropy looks back at me and I smile. "I think that went well, thanks for sharing by the way, you get some extra treats for that." She flaps her wings and caws happily while I move to my workroom to gather things I'll need for training. As I gather my things a few distant memories come to mind.

I had a few friends in my last life, not many but a few, and even after all this time, I miss them to a degree. It's odd to think about, they were mostly around my age and would all be nearing their forties right now. It really has been that long hasn't it? Almost time for things to kick off as well.

I'll need to start planning a few things, I have some rough ideas on paper but I'll need actual contingencies eventually. The difficulty lies in those contingencies not needing me, if they did I could die any day and it would all go up in smoke with me. So much to do and so little time.

At the moment the biggest problem and concern is the main six actually becoming the elements of harmony, without that things will get a lot more uncertain. If it does still happen then a lot of things can just be fixed by them like normal, with me and others helping with any unexpected problems.

Beyond making sure Twilight gets to Ponyville I'm not really sure there is anything I could do, and trying to fix the smaller problems before they happen is a danger in a very different way. Sure I might make things better but trying to fix a problem that doesn't even exist yet is a complicated thing.

Let's take Starlight as an example, let's assume she goes off to found her town, or did she take it over? See that's what I mean, as a start I don't even know if that town exists yet, let alone where it is. I don't even remember if it had a name, if it did it's one of the things I forgot over time.

So in trying to prevent that mess from happening, I'd need to find a town that may or may not exist. Determine how to handle a delict situation with several dozen or more Ponies, and that situation could be vastly different at this moment in time. And then somehow help with a Pony's emotional problems when I have zero skill in anything like that.

I'd be wasting valuable time while doing all of this as well, time I could be using to prepare for greater threats or inventing things to help others. To be blunt, it's better for me to not do anything, and when it becomes a problem I will help how I can from the back.

A lot of these smaller problems are like this, things that I could solve but really aren't worth it. The larger problems are a completely different thing entirely. Discord, Tirek, The Storm King, and whatever the fuck the later seasons had. Honestly, I'm doing pretty good already just by dealing with Chrysalis, and that's just the start.

It's not a guarantee, but things are going well and there is a good chance we could have Chrysalis and her hive on our side for everything to come. An ally like that is nothing to sneeze at, it means we have a lot more ways to deal with the coming problems.

Despite all these facts though I still feel a little bad, I know the troubles others will have in the future and I'm choosing to not help. Celestia's words ring true once again, no Pony can do everything themselves, it's just not how it works. All there is in the end is the need to move forward, to keep doing what I can.

I sigh again as I pack everything needed in my saddlebags and head for the door, Entropy landing on my back as I walk out into the hallway. :I wonder how Celestia is doing? Probably laughing at some poor fool silently: I chuckle a bit at the thought.

POV shift Cadance.

I look over yet another paper before softly glaring at Aunty across the dining room table, she's laughing at me silently, I know she is.

After my first attempt, I've continued to try and find where Shade and Aunty go, I still have no plans to barge in but Shade challenged me and I'm not letting him win. But after so long I've still found nothing, NOTHING. "I do not like you at the moment," I say and glare at her a little more as she sips her tea to hide her growing smile.

It doesn't make any sense! I've looked through every form of documentation that could point to a location. But I know he owns something, yet nothing. I even looked through laws on such things and even ways you could try and hide such records through loopholes.

Admittedly that did let me find and close a few of such loopholes but it still frustrates me. I sigh and pick up another page to look through for anything I might have missed. Looking at laws might have been a waste of time, the only law that even lets you live on land without documentation is unclaimed land that you settled.

There are very few locations like that, land where as long as you follow the law you don't even need to pay tax on the land for a few decades while you settle it. The downside is that it's normally highly dangerous land. The law itself is very old and only still around because some land is designated for it.

I ruled all that land out early though, it normally has monsters and all manner of things that make it deadly. You'd have to be either crazy, brave, or strong enough to take down anything dangerous there. I stop my mind for a moment as a recent memory flashes past.

He's strong enough to fight an adult Dragon and willing to spend two months in the Dragon lands. :Wait: A moment after my mind forms the connection I put down the page and look at Aunty. I also remember the report about the wolf, I should send a Letter to Shade to make sure he's well. :He didn't! DID HE?!!:

Aunty raises a brow as I stare off at the wall. "He's not in the registry, any registry," I mumble out as the idea sinks in. He would more than be able to make protections and he's paranoid enough to stay safe, he's also strong enough to deal with anything out there.

I glare at Aunty again as she smiles openly, remembering the exact words she said to me the last time I asked about this. "You never said he was. You tricked me! For months!" I shout at her and she just smiles more, I throw an apple at her but she just catches it and takes a bite.

I glare for a moment longer before slumping down. :At least I know where to look now, but how the buck am I supposed to find this place in some random forest?!!:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I was planning to just skip forward and move on, but then you just had to say you wanted more. However, I already wrote the first half of the next chapter with a time skip instead of a continuation, so what was I supposed to do?

Well, obviously I was supposed to binge-write for three hours and write the entire chapter with half the usual amount of time. So, I did that, and this was the result.

Funnily enough, this means I still have the first half of tomorrow's chapter already written, so I guess for once I know what I'll be writing about tomorrow. Does that mean I actually have a plan? YES! For exactly one hour ahead of normal.

PS. Happy holidays to you all, have a lovely day and know there is someone out there happy to see you.

Chapter 275

APR 30 Monday.

I slowly draw out another line of the spell matrix without moving my hooves from the cup of tea I have, taking my time to design and make sure everything is coherent.

Over the past week, I've been making the heat shield I will need to grow the crystal seeds I have. It's slow going though as I see no reason to rush and cut corners with what is definitely going to be a dangerous project when completed. I really don't want molten rock spewing everywhere if something goes wrong.

At the moment I'm just working in my apartment and enjoying yet another day with little happening, I did end up doing a little work in the form of remaking a combat spell. It was a basic Ice Spike spell that I learned and that I decided to remake, so Celestia's guards have something new to play with.

I sense Entropy teleport suddenly and toss a ball at me before vanishing again, a moment later I form a Spatial String and send the ball through it before letting it fly out the other side in a different direction. Only to be caught by Entropy a moment later as she teleports into its path.

We repeat this process several more times as I switch between redirecting the ball and designing the spell I'm making. This all started with Entropy throwing a ball at me and me getting inspired to throw it back with a Spatial String, starting a new game for us.

It's proven to be both good practice and a new way to use my ability, namely redirecting spells and other harmful things thrown at me. Actually, I could just redirect an entire Pony, but they might thrash around inside and get themselves killed so maybe not.

I have also kept up with my control training and by this point, I can move ten items independently of each other all at the same time. Spatial Strings also take more space magic from my other abilities, especially the larger ones, and at this point I can only teleport a collective five teleports before needing to rest, so only around a few hundred feet.

It has proven to be an amazing way to train my space magic though as it drains it quickly, it has been pushing me forward a bit faster than my other methods so far. To be fair my other abilities rely more on control than sheer power and even Spatial Cut doesn't need that much magic for anything beyond large targets.

On a similar topic, I'm reminded of the experiments I did with obsidian in the Dragon Lands. Back then I quickly found out that obsidian is not that great at holding magic, the simple fact is that it's an incredibly impure type of crystal and doesn't work well for holding magic.

It still can but finding and working with obsidian simply doesn't seem all that practical. On the other hoof, I think I've gotten to the point where I could cut some small gems into cubes with just my space magic, I should buy some rough gems soon and test that actually.

I still have the affinity gems I got from the Dragon Lands and none of them are cut, something I might be able to do myself now. On the plant side of things, nothing much has happened. I filled a barrel with some contaminated water I made, mixing in several things before planting a Water Lily inside and trying to grow it.

With some gold dust, it grew quickly and with my staff and Guided Evolution it shouldn't take me too long to make a Water Lily to crossbreed. There are also my attempts at crossbreeding the Fire Blossom Tree and the Iron Oak Tree for better bark, which has been slow but easy going and soon I might have to remake my armor with more fire-resistant bark.

I stop working on my spell and let the magic lines dissolve while writing down a few notes, Entropy landing on the floor with a slightly tired but happy caw. She drops the ball in her toy bin like a good girl and moves over to sit with me, "No practice today, maybe some lunch though?" I offer and she chirps in response.

I move my things to their proper spots as I stand up and walk over to the kitchen to cook a simple lunch. Over the past week I've started trying to teach Entropy how to read, she's over four years old now and I know she's smart enough to learn to read, I didn't think I needed to put it off anymore and decided recently to give it a try.

To my surprise she already knew a few simple ones, turns out she pays attention when I occasionally read things out to her and figured out a few on her own. I took that as a good sign and am spending a little time each day just teaching her a few words or explaining different things to her when she has questions.

She's definitely having a harder time with reading than when learning to speak, but she's making progress and that's more than good enough for me. I'm honestly a little proud of her, and that led me down an interesting thought. I do consider Entropy to be my family, but what form of family?

I never had a family so it's hard for me to really place who she is to me in a more traditional sense, but I'd say she's like a baby sister. I teach her and she makes me happy with life, as for her? I don't actually know, maybe I should explain families to her at some point and let her decide what she thinks after learning about it all.

As I'm cooking some fish and Red Root along with a few other greens I hear a knock on my door. I still a little and raise a brow at that before focusing my senses in that direction. I keep my senses active at all times of the day, but most of the time I'm not paying constant attention to every small detail.

I know when somepony is walking through the hallway, or even when they enter the apartment building at all, but I don't pay that much attention to it happening. It's like seeing somepony out of the corner of your eye in a shop, sure you take note but you just glance at them before ignoring them and going about your day.

My curiosity quickly turns to slight concern and focused attention as I realize that there isn't a Pony at my door, but a Dragon. Several thoughts quickly flash through my mind but one stands out, there is only one Dragon I ever told my actual address to, one I met a long time ago.

I glance over as Entropy puts on her dress and sits atop her perch while I walk over to my front door, opening it a crack before realizing my guess was right and opening it fully, still keeping the shield in place just to be safe. "Andradite?" I look the ash-colored Dragon up and down a little.

She looks the same as the last time we met, with the exception of a backpack slung on one shoulder and a deep frown on her face. "It's Andra Pony, or ... Shadow?" She puts forward and frowns more after realizing it was wrong, "Fuck I forgot... Can I come in?" She seems very annoyed but not mad so after a moment I deactivate the part of the shield around the door and walk back to let her inside.

I have several thoughts on the situation, but I had a decent experience with her the first time we met and she gave me something of immense value as well. The Life Gem has been one of the best things I've gotten and has opened many doors for me. I may be paranoid but I'm not going to forget that she helped me, and even if she tries something she's not really a threat to me.

She looks annoyed but makes sure not to drag her feet on the floor and damage the wood. She takes a deep breath after a moment and looks around confused before spotting the fish I cooked. "You eat meat? Damn, you really are a weird Pony, trade you for some? I haven't had anything but gems in a while." She offers while pointing to her backpack.

I made more than needed because I was planning to eat some for dinner as well, so I just shook my head and brought over a few plates before moving half the fish onto one of them. She looks a little disappointed at me shaking my head but smiles when I slide a plate over. "It's, Shade, and Just take some, you look like you need it more than me." I get us off on a good hoof as she's at least owed some hospitality.

She smiles more and wastes no time in digging in, while I make me and Entropy each a plate. Entropy for her part watches Andradite with some caution but she also knows I can handle anything and mostly relaxes. I sit down and look at Andradite as Entropy flies over. "So, what brings you here? And the fuck got you looking like someone's pissed you off again?" I enjoy the use of a few more colorful words and the company of someone who won't care about them.

She brings the plate she was holding over and sits down with me, glancing at Entropy but seemingly ignoring her. "Shit, this is good, I didn't know a Pony could cook like this." She surprisingly compliments me and from what I understand that's high praise from a Dragon.

Because Dragons use seasoning a lot and they are actually very good at cooking with them, I had a few pieces of seasoned meat in the Dragon lands that I bought and it was pretty good. "I try, I find that a lot of Ponies keep it bland, the Griffons do it pretty well though. You didn't answer my question." I am as blunt as she is and enjoy talking to a Dragon once again.

She huffs out a little smoke and I cast a spell to remove it quickly, she raises a brow and looks up before realizing the problem. "Right shit, I know, no fire inside. Why do you Ponies use so much damned wood?" She asks more to herself than to me. "That fucking book, it's got a bunch of damn Ponies asking me all kinds of shit, I needed someplace quiet." She grumbles with a slight snarl.

I nodded as I knew this was a possibility when writing the book. Ponies may not be as interested in such things but they still are curious and will seek out answers. I laugh a little and she rolls her eyes. At least I know why she came here, most hotels or inns would just have more Ponies.

"Well, I can't say I have many questions for you, at least not like they probably do." She seems to slump in slight relief. "I guess you're here to sell more gems as well." I motion to her backpack and she just tosses it at me wordlessly. I raise a brow but open it to see what I expected.

Several smaller bags with gems visible inside some and a few other things common for travel. I toss it back and she catches it while feeding herself the last of the fish I gave her. "I got a few good ones if you want, at least with you I know when I'm getting scammed." She half-jokes and seems to be pretty relaxed while sitting on the floor with her tail laid out flat, her sitting body standing as tall as me.

I think for a moment on the offer. I don't mind giving her some bits and I could use some rough gems to practice with, it's convenient timing actually. "Sure, but I still owe you as it is so I'll have to get the bits to pay in full before we trade." I agree but try not to owe her more favors.

She raises a brow and gives me an odd look. "You were serious about that?" She asks a bit confused and I nod firmly as I try my best to pay my debts. She looks happily surprised. "Well shit, guess I really lucked out when dealing with you." She chuckles but I notice her eyes are more attentive.

I shrug and bring over my teapot to make something to drink. "I pay my debts, and what you sold me was worth what I paid many times over. Although I'd appreciate you not spreading knowledge of our last deal around, I don't like attention." I add and she nods a little too quickly.

"Sure, no way in fire am I getting on your bad side." She quickly agrees with a slightly joking tone and makes the idea itself seem stupid. I give her a confused look and she shrugs. "Not many Ponies have ever tried to fight me, so when I heard about some crazy Pony in the Dragon Lands when I went back I asked around for what they looked like." She reveals almost dismissively.

My eyes narrow quickly as I realize she's put two and two together, which could be a very big problem if she told anyone in Equestria. She sees my slightly more intense look and quickly waves her hands in front of her while looking surprised. "Hey, I haven't said shit to anyone!" She backpedals quickly as my eyes narrow more and she actually looks a little concerned.

I take a deep breath but lessen my gaze some at her words. She looks a bit on edge and looks me over again. "Look I'm not stupid, you beat the shit out of a full Dragon with ease from what I heard. I know when to shut up and not piss off someone I shouldn't." She adds and genuinely seems a little nervous about me now.

I'm silent for a moment as my mind works on the problem internally. It's not the worst situation I guess, and I knew this was a possibility, I just didn't think it would be this sudden. She also seems very truthful about not saying anything, she seems to know what I'm capable of and she's a smart Dragon from what I've seen to know not to anger me, she said so herself as well.

I give her a very intense look after a moment and I see her tense up and move back a bit. "I'm not the kind of Pony to hurt others, even that fucker had to anger me first. To be blunt, you will not tell ANYONE, and we won't have any problems. Clear?" I ask in a dead serious tone with no room for argument and she seems taken aback that I'm so suddenly serious.

She again nods rapidly and looks a little relived. "Very fucking clear... Shit, you are scary." She mumbles but doesn't look as on edge as I drop the serious look and show something more neutral. "Like I said, fuck getting on your bad side. Did you really cut his tail off?" She asks after a moment in a rather brazen way seemingly lost in open thought as she realizes what she said a moment later and backs up a little more once again.

This is part of the reason I like Dragons. She knows damn well I'm dangerous but she grew up in a land where the older generation were hundreds of times her size, she knows how to shut up when it comes to dangerous beings. "Yes, he really pissed me off, but he apologized so he got it back... Now, how about we drop it and move on?" I ask as I once again try to relax.

I find it very unlikely she'll say anything, she doesn't even like Questions from random Ponies as it is, let alone questions that could get her in trouble with me. She gave me a look showing some respect with less concern and fear now, "Damn, you took it easy on me back then. As for right now?" She shrugs and takes out a bag of gems before placing it on the table. "You pay well and I don't want to deal with stupid questions, I just want to leave this city but need to sell this shit." She says honestly.

I nod after a moment as I am likely to ask a lot fewer questions about her than other Ponies would while trading. "Sure, like I said though I'll need to go to a bank for this." She shrugs with a nod and just moves the bag closer to me while taking out a second one. I slowly open it and start to take out gems of different sizes and colors.

Most were good quality but uninteresting gems, none are magical from this bag. Still, I do need practice and I can keep the gems around for other things I might need, the gem plant might also need something like soil, and ground-up gems seem like my best bet combined with molten rock.

The second bag I look through is also mostly normal, with the exception of a small magical gem. It's a very small one-inch by half an inch gem, a brown glossy color, and is some form of ground affinity gem. It can be hard to tell at first glance because it could be one of several types.

Affinities can be very vague or very specific, this one could be for simply rock, or earth, or some other type. It can be hard to keep track of them because the magic changes depending on what type of magic this gem was near. The final bag proves to not have any magical gems either.

All in all, there are a few dozen small to medium gems but none of them are bad quality. "Well, this one is worth a bit more." I move the magical gem forward. "How about fifteen hundred for the entire lot?" I offer and her smile widens as she perks up instantly from her earlier slightly wary mood.

I am overpaying by a good amount, probably ten percent or more, but making her happy works in my favor and I didn't need to go shopping to find these so it saved me time. "As for that favor, I won't do absolutely anything, but it's still there when you want it, even right now," I emphasize as I do intend to keep my word.

She smiles widely at the offer, showing off her teeth, and reaches a clawed hand out across the table, which I shake. "Deal! See, easy, other Ponies make it so damn hard." She nearly huffs out some smoke but stops herself. "I don't think I need anything for that favor, not now at least. Plus keeping a favor with someone like you seems like a good idea." She openly shares her reasoning.

I can't fault her for that as from her point of view she took a risk even seeking me out to trade and talk. I nod and stand up, "Ok, I'll go to get it now, do not touch anything, she will let me know if you do." I motion to Entropy before grabbing my saddlebags walking to the door and quickly leaving my apartment.

I don't feel great leaving Andradite with Entropy but there is little Andradite could feasibly do to Entropy. Worse comes to worst Entropy teleports Andradite to some random mountain, or the Void. I don't waste time and walk to the roof to quickly fly to the bank.

I get the bits withdrawn and get back within half an hour, and when I land I can sense that Andradite hasn't moved from her spot at my table. I quickly walk down the stairs and open my apartment to see that she looks bored, seemingly having waited without doing anything at all. I offer the bags to her, "Your bits, who are you selling the gold to by the way?" I ask out of curiosity.

She happily takes the three bags of bits I offer and puts them away, her mood now massively improved from when she arrived or when I threatened her. "Any Dragon at the market I guess, I did get a few good gems from some elders, I tend to eat those though." She jokes a little awkwardly and I smile back with a small chuckle.

Her knowing things did put me on edge but I think I have it handled and without getting contracts or violence involved there isn't much else I can do to make her stay quiet. I nod and sit back down as she puts her bits away, not even bothering to count them. "If you are ever back here I'm willing to see what you have to offer, any gems will do." I offer before she can leave.

I don't want her around too much but every once in a while getting some gems from the Dragon Lands would be nice, and who knows what I'll get next time? I already got a Life Gem and that's enough for me to pay her for whatever she brings me for the rest of my life on the small off chance she brings something even a tenth as good as that.

She stops and thinks about it before shrugging slowly. "I don't normally come this far inland, too many Ponies in big cities. But fuck it, sure. If I got gems and pass near I'll stop in. And ahh, I really won't say anything, just being clear. Whatever you do I couldn't care less, you pay well and that's enough." She says in a very blunt way.

Dragons may be blunt and rude, but they tell it to you straight most of the time. She wants me to buy gems from her and not get in trouble for what she knows about me, and I want her to stay silent. It seems we have something of an understanding. "Well, back to dealing with these annoying ass Ponies and their, book..." She trails off and looks at me again.

I think she pieces it together but she doesn't say anything for a few moments or react more as I keep a completely neutral face. "That book was made by your damned Princess." She voices her thoughts out loud and looks back at me with a new level of wariness, while I raise a brow. She goes silent again and shakes her head after a moment. "Nope, fuck touching that." She says and grabs her bag.

She stands up with a stretch and makes her intention to leave by picking up her things. I just motion to the door, "If you do drop by again, make sure not to bring trouble with you, I don't need that. Have a good day, Andra, it was nice seeing you." I give her a simple and honest goodbye.

She walks to the door with a wave. "Sure... Shade?" She guesses and nods to herself. I chuckle a bit as she opens the door and takes a deep breath. "I need to get the hell out of this city." She mumbles to herself while exiting and closing the door, leaving me alone in the apartment.

I watch her leave with several thoughts on my mind and a few more things to worry over. It's not the end of the world but it sure as hell is annoying having to deal with more creatures knowing things about me that I would rather they not know, but there is only so much I can control that.

It will be fine I think, she's not the type to spill secrets from what I can tell, and she's also a little fun to talk with. I stand up and look at the gems on the table. "It seems I have some work to do after all."

POV shift Andradite.

I walk to the roof and quickly spread my wings to get the fuck away from this building and the Pony inside it.

I thought it was just a funny guess, a similar Pony to him that went to the Dragon Lands that I could joke and talk about. After all, a brown Pony is so common it might as well be like finding a rock, I thought it was just a close match. So I come here to trade and get away from the damn stares, only to find out my guess was FUCKING RIGHT! HOW?!!

Who did I piss off to accidentally threaten a Pony crazy enough to fight an adult Dragon? AND WIN!! I thought he was just messing with me or taking credit, but him knowing about the tail being reattached was completely accurate. News like that doesn't travel fast, especially among Ponies.

I just about dived out the damn window when he gave me that look, it's like dealing with an elder in a completely different way, fuck that! Then there is whatever the fuck is going on with that book, and I'm not going ANYWHERE near that shit, SERIOUSLY, FUCK, THAT!

Still, he's got gold and spends it well, he paid me a lot for that stuff. I narrow my eyes as I'm forced to land at a city gate to leave, I nearly glare at the stares I get. I keep telling myself the gold is worth it, I'm really starting to question if it is when dealing with that Pony.

Why the fuck couldn't I have just been wrong? Why couldn't he just be a normal crazy fucking Pony?!

Author's Note

Thanks for reading :}
Current year is 996

I decided to set things up like this as it means I can have Andradite appear whenever I want. We probably won't see her too much though.

Chapter 276

MAY 8 Tuesday.

I watch as the small sapling in front of me grows from the ground and quickly becomes a ten-foot-tall tree within minutes.

This is another of the attempts at a more fire-resistant bark for my armor, and it is slowly but surely working as I selectively breed the tree again and again. I never gave it a name as the tree itself is just a modified Fire Blossom Tree so there really wasn't enough of a difference to warrant a new name, yet.

After it's grown I cast a few Firebolt spells at the trunk and mark down the results before closing my notebook and dissolving the tree back into soil. I check and see that my staff's life magic reserves have been mostly depleted so I walk over to the base of the Vita Tree and place the staff on its stand to refill.

After a moment of thought, I stop abruptly as I sense something large moving nearby, only to stop caring a moment later as I recognize a Sea Serpent swimming upstream. Steven passes by through the river on some rare occasions but hasn't approached me since our first meeting years ago.

I do wonder why sometimes, but it seems he is simply content with leaving me alone, so I've done the same and will continue to do the same. I take a moment to sweep my senses around the area regardless as I tend to do when something large nears Gaia's Eden.

Nothing stands out though so I go back to my regular activities. Selectively breeding the trees was the last thing I had planned on my list of daily chores so I think for a moment before shrugging and walking over to sit down in the pavilion with some tea to draw for a while.

The days are once again blending together and not much out of the ordinary has been happening. Even my feelings about killing that wolf have faded a bit already, not that I'm complaining about it. It does make me wonder what I should do with the tooth I took from the wolf.

I took some time to decompose all the leftover flesh inside of the tooth with my life magic. Which turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be, apparently highly magical beings take more magic to mess with, I think, it's not like I have a large sample size to work with.

The tooth is clean and sitting inside my spell shack on a shelf, I really do want to do something with it as a reminder. I could just hang it up somewhere? But that seems too simple for such an interesting item from such a powerful beast. Or maybe that's just the human in me being weird again?

I start to sketch out a few ideas as I sit there and enjoy the afternoon sun and air. I've also been thinking about another problem I have, lack of proper storage for my ever-growing collection of items, especially seeds. If you include all the different plants I have a few hoarded by this point.

While most of those are common plants like herbs and crops they are still important, but are also taking up my time. A seed under a preservation spell can last for a few months but still needs to be replaced. So I constantly need to check the dates on my seed boxes and replace the ones that are getting old.

It's only about an hour of work even a few days but it is still annoying and I should do something more effective. I could just make some spells to keep the seeds fresh longer but I think I want to go a different route, mostly because preservation spells look like a mess to deal with. Instead I want to build a combination of a greenhouse and something like a garden.

I have so many plants and variations of plants yet I keep them as seeds, wouldn't it be better to have them actually growing around what is supposed to be my sanctuary? I still intend to keep seeds as backups and make more long-term storage for them, but I feel like this is a good thing to do, even if it's just to fill this place in some more.

It will also give me a place to store seeds exclusively as opposed to having them lying around my small shack. As the idea rolls around in my head I like it more and more, starting to sketch out several ideas for how it could be made. The first problem is keeping all the plants alive.

The best answer comes from the Vita Tree. Because of my staff being able to also gather life magic, I've been able to give more to the Vita Tree each day so it could grow faster, and it has. It's nearly twenty feet tall with a two-foot-thick trunk, but more interestingly its field has also grown.

It's even grown faster than before, it used to be about the same radius as the tree's height and centered around the base of its trunk. But now it's almost twenty-five feet and has grown larger than I expected, surpassing the Vita Tree's growth. Which gives me an opportunity to make use of all that space.

The life field of the Vita Tree makes anything inside it flourish due to the life magic density, I even have to decompose the grass often so it doesn't grow too long around the tree. Combine that with the gold dust and you have an interesting environment that can help any plant grow even in winter.

Last winter the grass around the Vita Tree never even died, it just got covered in snow and trampled by the added weight, it recovered immediately when the snow melted away. So, if I set up my plant greenhouse around the Vita Tree I'll basically never have to worry about any plant dying there, it will grow and stay alive just fine all on its own.

However, I'm going to need a lot of space and the life field isn't large enough to cover a building like the one I want to make, at least not yet, but it could cover a small building where I can store my seeds for now. I know seeds will also stay healthy inside the life field, I did some tests and it should make them last a lot longer but I never actually tested how long that precisely was.

I sketch out something that will work for the time being and stand up to gallop over to my small shack and gather the things I'll need. After a little thought, I decided to use redwood as nothing here besides my staff stand is made from it, and the wood itself looks very nice.

I grab a few of the modified Redwood seeds I have for extra stability and spend a moment moving ten heavy wooden crates at a time out of my shack. Nearly half of one of the two rooms inside my shack was just wooden crates filled with smaller boxes of seeds. I can move ten at a time so it only takes me a few trips to move it all to the pavilion.

Me carrying something so heavy with space magic does cause some slight visual warping of space, but so I try to limit the effect as some practice while moving the crates. Once they are all next to the Vita Tree I look around and pick a spot on the other side from the staff stand, with the trunk separating both of them in the middle.

I toss the Redwood seed down and walk around as I grow and shape the wood. I grow a ten-foot by five-foot foundation with three-inches of solid wood as a base. It's not a large building but I don't need too much space for what amounts to a bunch of boxes and probably shelves, I just need enough space to store and access them when needed.

I grow six posts, one in each corner and two at the halfway point of the building. I root them deeply and grow them to be seven feet tall before growing them at an angle to meet in the middle, forming a slanted roof support beam. I stop just short of hitting one of the lower branches of the Vita Tree and actually have to move a small branch out of the way a little, leaving it pressed against the wooden beam it was near.

I do the same thing I've done with my other buildings and make a roof by growing a flat plane of wood before covering it with a dense layer of bark. Finally, I added walls and a door, which all have a nice look to them along with a rich red color. I even spend a little more of my quickly dwindling magic to add some texture to the wood floor.

I open the Redwood door and walk inside, growing out the walls into long tall shelves on either side of me, then I grow one tall shelf rack with supports that takes up the center space with two hallways in between. It's a little cramped in the hallways but I can store far more boxes in here and this will let me see all of them to easily check. Each shelf is only a few inches apart vertically as it doesn't need much room in between.

Once it's done I rest for a moment to drink some mint-flavored tea and activate Mana Mimicry before taking out several seeds and placing them all around the base of the new storehouse. In total I plant ten Companion Vines around the building and grow them to cover the walls and roof, looking like they have overgrown the building completely by the time I'm done.

The Companion Vines are nowhere near as good as the Vita Tree, but they should still help a bit to add even more life magic to the building. Once it's all in place I end by killing off the living wood of the new building, taking away its ability to grow and my ability to grow it as well.

Killing the wood does mean I can't repair it instantly, but if I left it alive around so much life magic the building itself would start growing over my seeds and boxes inside. I bring a few crates next to the new building and start to unload the boxes inside of them, each box only three inches tall and five inches long, all rectangle-shaped.

They have sharp corners to fit more inside a crate and they all open with a simple lid that sits on top of the box and is opened by lifting it. The only thing that distinguishes them from each other is the text on one end of each box. It has the date the seeds were harvested and what type of plant it is, along with denoting if it's a subspecies I made of another plant.

I bring a crate inside and place a box on the shelf, it fits well with only a one-inch gap between it and the shelf above it. I spend nearly an hour with a few pieces of paper and a quill writing down a collection of every plant and the information on its box so I have an easy-to-access list, something I should have done before in hindsight.

When I'm done I've only filled a few shelves with boxes and still have plenty of room. I place the list of information on a shelf for when I need to come here and quickly check if I have a plant or need to replace the seeds. I walk back outside and take a breath while looking over my newest addition to my home away from home.

The rest will have to wait for the Vita Tree to grow more, but with its new growth rate that should be too long from now before I can start on something, a year at most. I sit there for a few moments longer before nodding to myself and moving on to something else for today, and by that, I mean going home and recovering my mostly drained magic, making buildings always takes it out of me.

I whistle and a moment later Entropy teleports onto my back from the branches of the Vita Tree. "Home?" She asks, and I nod in agreement. Once again I pay attention to the process of her teleportation and try to feel out the Void with my senses, I find nothing but empty space in all directions for as far as I can sense, just like every time before now.

If there is anything here it's so far away that I can't sense it. I can at least tell there is ambient magic and space itself, along with time of course. Honestly, this place only seems to lack physical substance, I wonder if I could leave something here? Definitely, something to try when I get the chance.

The only reason I haven't tried to do the same thing as Entropy yet is that my reserves of magic and the conversion ratio to space magic aren't enough yet. I think it's enough to get there, but if something went wrong I wouldn't have enough magic to come back on my own immediately, which is one hell of a risk.

I could rely on Entropy to do it but this is uncharted territory and that is an unnecessary risk that I don't want to take at all. My training is improving things as is and eventually, I'll make it to that point of being able to bridge this gap. When I reappeared inside my apartment things were quiet and I relaxed after sweeping my senses around the building, finding nothing. "Thanks, Girl." I scratch her for a minute and walk over to my bookshelf.

I have a few interesting books I've collected and there are many romance novels I've gotten from Cadance and on my own. There is also a smattering of many other random types of books, so after picking one out, I sit down and simply cozy up with my bird and some tea.

I open my book and nearly start reading when I notice a Pony walking down my apartment building's hallway, unlike last time I paid some attention to it. They are a stallion and after a moment they walk over and knock on my door. I sigh after a moment and stand back up, readying myself for whatever the hell this will be.

Entropy does the usual and I place my book back before opening the door with a little caution, only to see a Pony I wasn't expecting. "Hey, Shade. Mind if I come in?" Shining of all Ponies greets me with a smile as he stares up at me. I pause for a moment before flipping a small switch and opening the door.

I'm not on edge as there are much faster ways to get my attention than Shining coming here, so it seems today is going to be yet another interesting day. "Ok, not that it's not nice to see you Shining, but why?" I ask rather bluntly as he walks inside and looks around curiously. I've met up with him and Cadance a few times after my birthday to hang out but those were short and simple meetings.

I close the door as Shining gives Entropy a nod. "Hey, Entropy." She caws back and deactivates her band as she doesn't need to hide from Shining. He only has a necklace and a pair of small saddlebags, overall he seems to be in a relaxed mood. "Well, officially I'm here to try and trick you with this." He takes a small letter and passes it to me. "But I thought we could just chill, if you're not busy?" He asks with a smile as I carefully take the letter.

I did get a letter from Celestia saying that Cadance figured something out, but as usual, Celestia was vague when it came to the possibility of me getting pranked. I look at the letter and back to him, "Do you think she made it fireproof? Actually, she'd just send more if I burned it." I decide and shake my head a bit.

I look at the letter and place it to the side for now. "Sure, I was just going to be reading anyway. Did your wife send you to try and get information?" He blushes a bit at the word wife, much to my silent amusement, and looks a small bit surprised at my bluntness. "I just need to know if I'm watching my words here or not," I say in a humorous tone as I know damn well those two share everything.

He sighs a little and tilts his head and ears. "Not really? She did say to tell her if I figured anything out, but didn't make it a mission." He answers honestly as I walk over to the floor again and grab a few things I need. Mostly tea and some small snacks for us. "I like your home by the way, Twilight didn't really do it justice." He says while looking around.

After a moment he takes his saddlebags off and places them to the side before lying down opposite of me on the floor. "I think me and you have a different definition of nice than her. Cadance told me your room used to look like nopony lived there, I can see that. Also, I heard you were moving?" I joke at his expense and settle in for a nice talk with a friend.

He huffs and rolls his eyes. "I moved to the palace to be there faster in case I was needed. And that's not true, I had several posters and a few collectibles. It's not my fault her room looked like somepony painted every inch with hearts and pink glitter. By Celestia am I happy she stopped liking glitter as much, I think I have you to thank for that actually." He says honestly and I cringe a bit at him using Celestia's name while laughing.

He gives me a knowing smile and just chuckles. "Sorry, I kind of know how you feel. Do you know how odd it is to listen to mares talk about Cadance? Or stallions for that matter. Then again at least the stallions aren't so, forward." He also cringes a bit at the thought. "Speaking of you and Celestia... Any news?" He asks in a teasing tone knowing damn well he's just messing with me.

I sigh a little as I can't deny that I have thoughts along those lines, but nothing has really ever gotten to that point yet, even in my mind. "No. And I don't think it will, I mean, come on, really?" I ask the obvious as there are definitely problems that a relationship would cause.

He just shrugs and smiles. "I'm with Cadance, and I'm not even YOU." He says as if to prove a point. I raise a brow and he gives me a deadpan look, "Shade, you've fought Dragons and a massive buck-off wolf, whatever you are doing with that black armor and I know you're still holding back in some way." He flatters me and I can't really deny him, as much as I want to downplay all that.

During our last meeting I informed Shining about my involvement with the Changelings, he doesn't know a lot of details though. He knows I'm involved as extra protection and that I've been helping with things, but that a few things are so sensitive I can't even tell him about them. Still, he's more up-to-date on the situation from a few reports he read, including mine apparently.

I nod slowly. "I did, and I was scared out of my mind both times, I'm just good at handling it. Now shhh, I don't need to think about that right now." I make him drop the subject as I really don't think talking about it when I'm still thinking about it all again will not do me much good at the moment. "You get a chance to read the book?" I changed the subject.

He just nods but gives me a smile that says it all. "Yup, I even got to read the reports you made about the wolf and Dragon. I know you can handle yourself, but, why?" He asks with genuine confusion. "Why do you have to steal the spotlight and then be the only Pony to run from it?" He asks with humor and even more confusion.

I yet again ignore the praise and think about how to explain things. Shining knows enough of my secrets that just saying I don't like attention won't really work. Then again, I don't really need to lie as I know he won't dig if I ask him to. "I don't like the attention, you know that."

He looks like he'll interrupt but I stop him by placing down my chessboard. "But, I also really like being normal." He raises a brow and I motion around me. "You know well enough how much I have, I could probably live anywhere I like, do you know why I live here?" I ask and he looks around again.

He genuinely thinks for a moment while I set up the game. "Well, good cover, who would expect Veil Winter to live, here? But knowing you? I don't know, it's cozy and you lived here before you got famous, so why move?" He guesses and gets closer than most ever get to the truth.

I smirk. "Yes to both, but I'm also near my friends. And honestly? What more do I need? This is home to me, maybe it won't be forever, but it's home and I'm not moving unless I really want or need to." I agree with him but be more honest with myself as I continue. "I also don't really like the idea of this all not affecting my nice little life too much, keeping things separate seemed so easy back then," I reveal with some melancholy.

He snorts at that. "Ya, keeping the secret of Veil Winter, easy as pie." I glare at him a little and he smiles back. "Hey, I'm not one to judge, Twilight doesn't even know I'm dating a princess." I never did get confirmation if she knew, so I raised a brow and gave him an 'Are you serious' look. He chuckles awkwardly, "Ya, not sure how to go about it honestly, my dam and sire know though."

I can already see the slight family drama from here and just laugh in his face. "I'm not going to say you're stupid for keeping secrets, I try not to be hypocritical. But, I will say I have my reasons, and you should have yours. Remember why you lie, because when you forget then it becomes a whole new problem." I give the only advice I can as we both struggle with this it seems.

He rubs the back of his neck and nods. "Honestly, I have no idea how you keep so many secrets." He looks down at the board as I checkmate him and gives me an unimpressed look. "You got anything better to play? I would rather not do nothing but lose over and over again." He says with a knowing stare.

I move the chess set to the side and bring over a simple deck of cards, moving ten simultaneously and shuffling the deck in an impressive display. He gives me a blank look, "If Celestia wasn't an actual option I'd really question why you don't have a mare friend already. Just, how? I can only move three things at once, and I practice." He asks a little incredulously.

I smirk and give him a completely truthful answer while ignoring his comment about my other friend. "I manipulate the fabric of space to pull each card a tiny amount every moment, it just looks smooth when not slowed down." I am honest, knowing that he wouldn't be able to figure out if I was being truthful or not.

He sighs and deflates a little as I pass him two cards and we start a basic game of twenty-one. "You know, if I didn't know how much you practice, I'd struggle to say you didn't cheat at life in some way." He keeps the joking and teasing going with a smile as we both enjoy each other's company. "So, what else did you get up to in the Dragon Lands? Didn't the Princess mention something about the Dragon Lord?"

I think for a moment and nod. "I met quite a few Dragons, most either indifferent, grouchy, or impatient. But a few were actually pretty chill, they tend to care a lot less and ask fewer questions than Ponies, it was nice. As for Torch? He was interesting and mostly wanted to share stories, I even got his blessing for the book." Shining gives me a disbelieving look.

I shrug. "Like I said, he likes stories. Apparently, he approves of me spreading information and Stories about Dragons, there is a section about Dragon mythology for a reason." I mention the fact I included a few Dragon stories I found, except the one about the scepter.

He nods and actually takes a copy of the book in question from his saddlebags to look through. "Huh, what do you know, I haven't gotten this far yet." He finds the right section with interest and looks at his cards for a moment. "So what was he like? Scary, I'm guessing? If you actually feel fear that is." He adds with a teasing smirk.

I roll my eyes. "I assure you, I do very much feel fear. And Torch can be described in three words, big, boastful, loud. A claw of his was dozens of times larger than me." I say with a chuckle as I remember him. "He was actually one of the calmer and nicer Dragons though, was pretty understanding about me fighting one of his subjects actually." I share a few thoughts idly while playing my cards.

Shining laughs at that and shakes his head. "Because of course, you befriend the massive buck off Dragon. I'm still stunned you even decided to fight an adult Dragon, you didn't even start with a smaller one." He says with humor and partly fake exasperation.

I think for a moment and shake my head. "Second actually. I did start with a smaller one." I say with a large smile.

He looks up at me with a tired and morbidly curious look. "What?" He asks in a level tone, not even sounding surprised anymore.

I smile even more. "Let me tell you about the time I fought a dragon with only my hooves."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

Two things, one, I'm sorry of this feels to similar to the last chapter but I honestly could come up with a better location at the moment. Two, any ideas for the design of the larger building in the future or what Shade should do with the tooth?

Chapter 277

MAY 22 Tuesday.

I look over the large tooth with attentive eyes as I try to envision what I want to do with it.

After some thought I realized I could do more with the tooth than just make decorations, it's a magically attuned material and a high-quality one at that. It's one of the primary fangs from a predator that was very capable of using wind magic, and even more interestingly I also have something to go along with it.

I'm sitting in Gaia's Eden with the wolf fang and a small cloudy white gem, the Wind gem I got from the Dragon Lands. Both would work very well together and could create a decently powerful artifact, but that's where I got stumped by everything. What should I make that uses wind magic?

I could make something to help me fly faster? But I only fly when convenient or needed so I'm not sure how much use I'd get out of something like that. I could also go with something more offensive? I don't need that either though, I'm more than capable of defending myself and dealing out damage.

I try to come up with anything that might work, but am interrupted by the sensation of space bending and flexing in an odd way. A moment later I sense Celestia teleport into her home and seems to slump a little bit when she arrives, I guess she's been dealing with something or other.

I think for a long moment and shrug to myself. :Maybe she has an idea? I could use a second set of eyes: I grab the gem and tooth along with my carving tool set. The tooth is the size of one of my hindlegs so I don't need to use all of it on one item, and with the right tools I can carve it however needed.

As I walk over I watch as Celestia seems to look at me through a wall after moving things around inside, somehow detecting me as I near her house. She seems to really focus but doesn't do much else as I knock, "Come in, watch your hooves." I raise a brow and open the door, only to see several documents all lying around along with a few boxes and folders.

I glance over and see all her regalia on her table with her laying on the floor and looking at a document. She smiles but it falters a little as she sees the tooth I'm carrying. "Well, you seem to be up to something. As always." She teases me a bit. "I'm sorting some paperwork, the castle was a bit too loud so I thought why not." I look at some of them and notice most are simple stuff.

I nod and move to sit down not far away. "I'm trying to figure out what to make, I have a good Wind gem and this tooth, I was thinking maybe something to fly faster? I could just store a strong attack spell, but that seems unnecessary." I share my thoughts quickly while watching her.

I see her magic reach into a pocket of my saddlebags and take out some tea, I never change the spot so she knows it well. "I ran out of mint." She explains and finds the right flavor before putting the rest back. I don't mind as she is welcome to help herself to it.

She looks at the tooth with a slightly somber look but does seem intrigued by the prospect. "You use a Partial Pegasi Transformation spell, right?" I nod and show the matrix in the air, she looks at it for a moment and snorts. "Of course you remade it. It doesn't let you manipulate clouds though, maybe something along those lines?" She suggests and settles right into helping me.

I can't see much of a use for that, but I don't really have any better ideas. I take the Wind gem out of my saddlebags and she looks at it with clear interest. "No, then, that is far too large for something so simple." I try my best to ignore her wording and pull my mind away from the thoughts it brings up.

Cadance really got me good with that damned letter. I expected something like glitter or fire, but what I got was so much worse. It was a highly detailed description of Celestia's cutie mark, using many words that sounded fine, until you thought about it in a less pure way. Needless to say, I burnt that letter to ash.

She looks at me expectantly and I pass the gem over for her to inspect. The cloudy white and light blue gem is already roughly cube-shaped, it would be relatively easy to cut into shape for me. "Wind, there are several uses." She takes out some blank papers and I look down at her document for a moment.

"Storage index?" I ask and as expected she passes me a piece of paper after a moment. I look it over and she's mostly sorting them by location and importance, with a list of names denoting both. I just silently start to pick up a letter and read the name before placing it in the right folder, helping her just as easily as she helps me.

I see her smirk from the corner of my eye as she sees what I'm doing. She brings a teapot from under her wing along with a pair of cups and just starts making tea for us as we both settle in. "Wind could be a good combination with other elements, definitely fire, but that also seems like a waste of such a good combination." She reasons and I nod along in agreement.

I enjoy the feeling of spending time with a friend spontaneously instead of on a schedule. "Wind is honestly not that useful to me, I mean I am an Earth Pony. Also, how did you know I was coming?" She raises a brow. "I sensed you turning your head when I got close, a new trick?" I explain with some curiosity.

She gives me a teasing smile that I know all too well. "Well, a curious stallion looking at a mare in her own home, for shame." I just give her a deadpan look and try to hide a slight blush behind my expression, while also trying my best to forget the letter Cadance sent me as she giggles. "You inspired me, I thought it would be interesting to use my own affinity a little more." She reveals with a smirk.

I blink at that and remember that her only affinity is Solar magic. "Wait, how does- Oh, I was in the sunlight." She smiles more and nods. "Were you tracking the sun's rays and sensing when I moved through them?" I quickly came up with a more obvious way to sense someponies presence with just sunlight.

She stops and looks up from the paper she's been scribbling on, showing that she's sketching out ways to carve the Wind gem and random ideas. She looks intrigued again and also a little annoyed. "Half right, I'm sensing the lessened sunlight from a shadow being cast. I wonder." She turns to look out the window and outside I see a few small rocks float up as she closes her eyes.

Her eyes stay closed for a minute as I continue to sort documents and letters, when she opens her eyes again, I notice they have a golden glow to them for a few moments. The glow is quite striking and I'd be lying if I said it didn't look awesome. "It seems I get to thank you yet again." She says with a smile and a slightly excited look in her eyes as they return to normal.

I wave it off and she looks at the small floating rocks outside for a second before letting them fall down. "Hmm, what about air trotting?" She recommends and I tilt my head a little. "It's not perfect, but it is useful in several ways and you could make a good artifact for it. Maybe a little simple for this gem, but an idea." She explains with a teacher's tone.

It is a bit simple, but so were my ideas and she's not wrong about it being useful. Sure I could make a spell to do the same thing, having the ability to not only walk on air but to give that ability to others could be nice. "Sure, I could even let others use it if needed, or make it give the effect to everypony in an area?" I take a notebook to make some notes of my own.

She tilts her left ear. "Possibly, it wouldn't last too long depending on the amount of creatures. You are right that wind doesn't fit you too well, even your armor and fighting style are best with solid ground beneath your hooves. Actually..." She starts to sketch something else and moves the page over to me.

The sketch is simple, a hoof standing on a magical barrier. "Why not instead make something to always have under your hooves? It would be about as versatile and would let you fight better on uneven terrain." She explains and I notice she's actively trying to help me fight better.

Like nearly every Pony Celestia is not one for violence, but it seems she's willing to help me be more effective if it helps me remain alive. Air walking spells take several forms, some simply provide enough upward thrust to keep you in the air or let you stand on something semi-solid, and some even let you ice-skate on air.

Most don't make actual solid platforms, mostly because that means the spell is relying on them not accidentally slipping. It's not unheard of but not the preferred method either. I nod in agreement and form a few spell rings in the air, all blank in between, before opening my bracelet's illusionary notebook to look at some runes to figure out a good place to start.

I see Celestia jump a bit and it only takes me a moment to realize I never showed this to her and it seems I got a little too relaxed, fuck. In the past, I never had a reason to show her this, and I guess the thought never really came to mind, at least not for a long time now. I did have a few reasons for keeping it private though.

Well, the cats out of the bag now, and it's not like this is some world-ending thing, I just need to be careful about how it gets used. I turn to her curious and highly interested face. "I never did show this one, did I?" I ask, trying to show the very real forgetfulness I had.

She shakes her head. "Well, it's simple really. You know those illusion spells that let you paint?" She nods. "Well, this is that." I still have no intention of releasing this spell to the public, but I can't see a reason to not tell her about it. "Here, just don't write over anything already there." I move her over to a mostly blank page as I pass her the bracelet.

She looks at the wooden bracelet before reaching out a hoof and drawing a circle on the illusionary page. She looks back at me looking thoroughly impressed, "You used an illusion as a base to make a page to write in. That's, genius!!" She says, being a little louder than expected. "How many pages does it have?" She asks and starts to draw more.

I didn't really expect her to be this excited, but I just shrug a little and try to remember. "The bracelet has a very pure diamond, less than an inch big, I think? It holds about seventy pages and each can be filled completely, no colors though." I explain and she gets more excited hearing the number.

She played around with it for a few moments and wrote progressively smaller words. "This is amazing, so much information in such a small place. You could fit a library in a house if done right." At this point, she's kind of nerding out about it. "When did you make this? And how does it work?" She asks and starts to just draw things.

I pause for a moment and she looks at me as I tense a little, I sigh. "I originally made it to safely store more sensitive information. I can easily lock it with spells and rig it to self-destruct. I made it a few years ago, and there are several reasons I never intend to publish it." She blinks a bit as the reality of my invention seems to settle in more.

She looks back at the bracelet. "Ahh." I nod as it seems to occur to her. "Libraries, so much would be disrupted. And the amount of gems needed for such a thing to be wide scale, along with the many other possibilities." My words and her conclusions dampen her excitement a large amount. "Still, the good it could do." She says almost wistfully.

I nod but keep a smile and a lighter attitude. "That and things like crime. Mostly gem supply though, a decent medium ruby can only hold about four times that diamond, it's just not efficient enough, books are superior still." I am glad in a way she realizes the problems easily, but I can tell she won't just leave this discovery alone. "Combine that with the gems we need for the Changelings, and the war, and my other inventions..." I trail off as I break it down in detail and she nods slowly.

She holds the bracelet after drawing a little more, looking over the design of winding roots. Despite the problems, she keeps her large smile and seems to fully perk up again. "I've seen it many times, inventions that the world still needs to catch up to. I would like a copy of those spells if you are willing?" She asks and I can tell she's giving me a way to say no and keep it fully secret.

I think about it for a long moment before eventually nodding. I can't see how this would go too wrong, it is likely I would have released it eventually when things were more stable. She's right in that the spells could do a lot of good, but at the moment they would be disruptive at a time where that is dangerous.

I sigh and decide to just share my fears for once. "As a start, I am really reluctant to give it out. Just with the Changelings, it could go wrong, they would be able to store and move information in new, unseen ways. That could do a lot of damage." I share a big fear but not the only one.

Celestia gives me a reassuring look and nods, seeming to take my concern seriously. "Shade." I turn to meet her eyes. "This is something you made, I won't let anypony take it without permission, not even me." I'm a little shaken by the firmness she has in her tone and the serious look in her eyes.

She smiles and gives me the bracelet back. "I have seen many problems arise in new inventions, you do better than most in thinking about how to prevent such things." She shares more wisdom and keeps a kind stare. "So yes, it may be unlikely, and it is a valid fear. There will be problems, there always are."

I smirk and try to break the silently more tense mood. "That's why I send them to you, I don't like dealing with those problems, and you're much more qualified, and no paperwork." I give a genuine compliment but use a joking tone that earns me a roll of the eyes and a small giggle.

She moves her neck down to stare at me at the same height. "I know, and I am happy you trust me with them. This is YOUR invention, I will do nothing more than ask, the choice is yours alone." She insists with a firm and kind tone. This mare, she never stops reminding me how good of a friend she is.

I smile and think for a minute. "I will give it to YOU, for now I think it's best we wait a while to release it. Hmm, better yet, I'll let you decide when the best time is, you will have all the time needed after all." I say with a bit of hesitation, and the beaming smile I get back almost makes up for any worries I have in agreeing to do this. "Do be careful though, gems can break and when they do everything inside will be lost." I point out the main downside in a serious tone.

She nods and doesn't look dissuaded. "Then I will wait, and ask you again when the time fits better. I promise." She adds after a beat of silence and I take that promise seriously. She's never broken a promise to me yet, and I don't think she will. "So, how does it actually work?" She asks, her curiosity reigniting as I copy over a few runes to my paper notebook.

I give her an appreciative and grateful look before putting my bracelet back on. "Each page is just a different enchantment, a very simple and modifiable illusion." I move a few pages and show some of my notes on the Dragon Lands that still remain inside. "Beyond that, it's just a frame spell to hold them together and a few small things," I say while writing out the spells needed.

It takes me a moment to write it all out and I include the illusionary page copying spell for good measure. I pass the papers over but she doesn't take them immediately. She looks me in the eyes once again, "Are you sure?" I nod with some confidence as I believe I can trust her. "Then thank you, I will keep it a secret." She states again.

She places the notes under her wing and I sit in silence for a long few moments. I'm not sure if that was the right choice, but my friend has earned my trust. I turn back to my earlier notes and remind myself of what we were talking about before. "Moving on before I can succumb to my worries, what shape of the gem would be best for this project." I try to force my mind from my worries by changing the subject.

She knows full well what I want to do and follows right along, not missing a beat. She passes me the paper she's been drawing on. "A cube is fine, and with the rough shape it already has it should be easy enough." She smiles happily as I move on to one of her favorite subjects.

I nod as I form an idea and motion for the gem back, she raises a brow but passes it back as I suspend it in the air in front of me. I take a deep breath to make sure I am calm and start to focus solely on the gem, sensing it thoroughly with my space magic to take in all its features and curves.

It takes me a minute, but I'm able to map out six sides that will make a perfect cube while losing the least amount of material. I slowly and firmly control my space magic to make a cut, a quick and very quiet pop sounds out and Celestia's brow jumps in surprise while she looks a bit worried and annoyed.

It only takes me a fraction of a moment to repeat the process, another pop and another side cut. In a short few seconds, every side is cut perfectly, with me keeping the six cut-off sides in place with my space magic. "What did you d-" She's cut off as I pull away all the sides, leaving only the center.

Overall we lost about half an inch on the sides of the gem, pretty good from my understanding. The two-and-a-half-inch cube is perfect on all sides and completely consistent, turns out measuring things with the fabric of space can be very consistent when you form magical lines denoting length from memory.

The end product is a perfect cube, or as close as I could get which is pretty damned close. The edges look very sharp and the points could probably stab you. The gem is a little more clear but still has a cloudy bluish appearance like someone filled a glass cube with the sky.

Before I can bring it to me a hoof reaches out and snatches it away, Celestia bringing the newly cut gem close to her face with an extremely critical eye. She looks it over for a long moment and looks back at me with a mix of annoyance and surprise. "If you broke a gem like this in front of me, I would give Entropy something to CREATE glitter." She threatens and I give her a shocked look.

Celestia has rarely threatened me, and she only does so with full intention to carry the threat out. I nod quickly and she drops the look before clapping excitedly with her hooves. "I've never seen a gem cut like this!! It's beyond smooth, I feel as if trying to polish it would only tarnish it. How?" She demands, seemingly lost in her love for her hobby.

I quickly answer as it seems I've found one thing Celestia takes seriously, her former profession that she's written two books on... I should have seen that coming in hindsight. "Spatial cutting. It took a while to get it stable enough to do it without... Breaking, anything. It works now though!!" I add as she glares a little bit.

She huffs and I make a mental reminder to not disrespect a gem cutter, or the profession at all, especially around her. She nods and looks at the small gem for several more moments, "It doesn't seem to damage the gem at all, can you make more cuts? As in diagonal ones?" I nod and she smiles widely. "Perfect."

She doesn't elaborate as I passed back the gem and she looks down at the documents still on the floor. "Later." She decided and all of them are levitated in an impressive display, all being placed inside a box and moved to the side. She looks at the tooth I have next to me and the gem. "So, how do you wish to do this?"

I once again try my best to ignore her word choice, pretending to not see the smile she has at my slight reaction. I pick up the tooth and flip it around to get a good look. I didn't pull out the entire tooth so the somewhat hollow inside where nerves and flesh once were is exposed.

The inside of the tooth is hollow for around half the length of its length, and staring at it gives me an idea. I lay it down with the tooth’s pointed end aimed at the ceiling so I could rest it on the flat side I made when cutting it off the wolf. I focus on my space magic once again.

The very base of the tooth is around eight inches in diameter, which should work well for my idea. There is another small pop and I feel my recovering magic supply dip again as I cut off one inch of the tooth from its base. I move the tooth out of the way and see a one-inch thick and eight-inch wide ring of white material remain on the floor.

I have an interesting idea for this artifact but I want to save the largest ring of the tooth for something else down the road, so I spend a moment moving the first ring to the side and cutting another ring off of the tooth. The second ring is a bit smaller and I cut it into four even pieces with two quick cuts, I place three pieces to the side and leave the remaining one.

The piece is four inches long and an inch thick along its curved length. "This should be enough, I'm thinking of making this gathering more air magic, it blasted wind from its mouth so it should be good at channeling it," I explain and leave it open for advice.

She nods and looks at the gem again. "For that, we want to leave some of the gems partly exposed as well, maybe embed it?" She offers and I lay out my tool kit while she happily starts to look through them. She stops after a moment and looks around before turning back to me. "Thank you." I look back at her confused. She just looks happily down at me. "I don't remember the last time I got to do something like this, so thank you. Now, let's make an artifact."

I can't help but smile at the happy and cheerful tone she has, far away from her normal royal one and seemingly free. "Then thank you for helping. Hmm, have you worked with bone? I heard it can be tricky, ahh, who cares, we have more anyway." I say with some excitement and settle in for an interesting time.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

I started this wanting to take a trip to Ponyville, then these two took over the entire damn chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 278

MAY 27 Sunday.

I look over my desk as I sit in my workroom with an odd expression on my face, a mix of trepidation and some uncertainty.

Over the past week, a few things have been on my mind, two main ones being the upcoming Gala and what I want to get Celestia as a birthday gift. I already have a few ideas for the second dilemma, but the first is a bit more complicated and is also the reason I am staring intently at my desk.

My suit sits on my desk and I can already tell it's not going to fit perfectly. Over the past year I've grown a bit, not as much as in past years but still enough to make the suit too small for me. I might be able to squeeze in but it wouldn't look very good and if I'm going to be at the Gala I would rather not embarrass myself like that.

Which means I need to get it refitted, that's not that difficult, but that means I need to go see Rarity. After the last, incident let's call it, I haven't seen her since. To be fair it's been a long time since I've gone to Ponyville at all, I've been busy with my own life and problems.

Still, I don't feel like it would cause any hurt feelings. It should be normal for a fashion designer to not see a customer until they need something. Then again, this is Rarity and I can bet every bit I own on her seeing the newspaper of me dancing with Celestia.

I need a suit though, at least it won't be as many measurements this time because I just need to get the suit adjusted. :I hope so. Please? Can I just have that?: I sigh and look over at the other object on my desk, sitting next to a pile of notes from my and Avalon last study session a week ago.

He's doing fine and is progressing about as much as I expected, mostly trying to gain better control over his fire magic. I reach out with my space magic and pick up the small trinket on my desk, it's made from white tooth and the Wind gem embedded in the middle.

The piece of the tooth was thick enough that we were able to cut a square hole in it and perfectly embed the gem inside, leaving only two of its faces open to the air on either side of the white material. After that, we mostly spent our time making a design for the carving.

In the end, we went with a simple but meaningful design, a tooth, yup. The piece of tooth was carved into the shape of a smaller tooth, with it being more flat on two sides to make the gem's faces flush with the surface. After that, we spent time engraving it and doing paperwork.

It was mostly just sorting the paperwork for me but I knew enough to help with some more simple ones as we took turns carving. Each semi-flat side of the tooth has a wolf silhouette engraved into it, one howling at the moon and another sleeping in the sun.

I was the one who added the sun and moon as I felt they fit well, Celestia just smiled when seeing the moon half, but there was some underlying sadness there. In the end, there was only one thing we couldn't really figure out, what to name this new little artifact we've made.

We decided to leave it for after I enchanted it with the proper spells. At the moment all it does is look nice, so after getting home with it I made one last modification before leaving it alone. I drilled a small hole on the top end where the base of this carved tooth is, just so it could be hung or attached to something if needed.

The spells themselves shouldn't be hard, I just need to find a few Wind runes and modify other spells I have. I decided to go with her last idea of solid magical platforms that I could walk on to move around. It is a nice addition and a good utility tool, so for now, I'm just going with it, it's not like we came up with anything better and I can always disenchant it if I want.

The rest of the tooth and the pieces I cut off are still at Gaia's Eden, I have plenty left so I'll need to think about other things I could make. I shake my head and push all that to the side as my mind tries to distract me with a mental rant, I sigh knowing full well I can't ignore what needs to be done.

I could go to a different Pony but I know for sure that Rarity would be the best at refitting my suit, and she's not likely to spread information about me. At least, not as likely as some random tailor in Canterlot, plus being in Ponyville makes it much more relaxed.

I take the suit and put it inside my saddlebags, while also grabbing a few bits to pay for things I may need. I head out into the main room of my apartment and chuckle as I see Philomena and Entropy together, both just lying on her perch side by side napping peacefully, they played quite a bit today.

I need to get going though so I pick up Entropy and she opens her eyes to look at me, or at least I presume she does as I'm unable to see them through the shadows that surround her. Over time they seem to have gotten a little bit thicker, nothing like her initial transformation but still an interesting change. "Yes?" She asks, sounding a little sleepy as I set her on my back.

I smile at her. "Sorry Girl, but I need to get to Ponyville, you can sleep in my shadow." I offer and she doesn't respond before the Void greets us both. A moment later I blink my eyes and adjust to my new surroundings, the forest I'm in is a thick mix of trees, bushes, and sunbeams.

Entropy slips into my shadow as I cast the Wing spell and take flight a few moments later. I notice a rainbow-colored thing flying quickly from one cloud to another before stopping, it's far off but it seems that Rainbow Dash is still around. I ignore it for now and glide down to the edge of town.

I try not to stare and look around too much as I really want to just get this over with. After dismissing my wings and a few minutes of walking I arrive at an all too familiar building. I stand there for a moment and take a deep breath before walking over and opening the door, hearing a small bell flick above me.

The inside is what I expected it to be, a little more decorated than the last time I was here but otherwise the same. Unlike a few times before I'm not alone though, there is another Pony inside and I also recognize them. Pear Butter looks all smiles as she glances over a few different fabrics displayed on the wall.

What really catches my eye quickly though, is her right foreleg. No longer is it just missing but a slightly worn out prosthetic limb is in its place, the wood a deep brown that contrasts her coat. I smile a bit at the sight knowing that she was able to mostly regain her ability to function with a missing leg.

After a moment I move my senses and sense that Rarity is in a back room, working on something from what I can tell. I think for a moment and slowly walk over to the Pear, making my steps a little louder than needed so I don't startle her. As I approach her ear twitches and she turns to look at me.

It takes her a few seconds of inspecting my appearance to recognize me, but when she does she smiles widely. "Shade?" I nod as it has been a while. I glance at her wooden limb and notice a few small words written into it, she chuckles and holds the limb up. "My fillies idea, she thought it would be nice to decorate it today."

I notice some small and slightly messy writing in a few colors, most of them being some variation of kind words. I smile at the odd sight. "Creative. It's good to see you, Miss Pear. It seems my words did a little good after all, I hope it's been working well for you." I be polite, and try to start some small talk so I can relax more and ignore my last memories of this place.

She nods and places her prosthetic down, still showing me a large smile. "I am more than well, I am great. I only got this a few months ago but... It's made a lot of difference. Thank you again." I shake my head a little as I don't need thanks for doing so little. "So, visiting again?" She asks while continuing to look at the fabrics.

I shrug a little. "Yes, I also need a suit refitted, and Miss Rarity does very good work. I'm glad to hear it's going so well, makes me glad we live in the times we do." I share some odd wisdom and use a few idle words. "And thanks for the recipes, they were a big hit at parties," I add to shift the topic away from her limb.

I can't imagine the will it takes to look at an event like that and smile in the end. Or maybe that's just how all beings are? Sure we get sad, but all things heal in time. No, maybe it's better to say all things fade with time, the pain is still there, just dull and more distant.

She still keeps her smile, even as her eyes linger on the wooden limb for a long moment. "Good to hear, and that invite to dinner is still open. Actually, why not stop in later today? If you have time?" She offers kindly and I get a similar feel to the royal family of Griffonstone.

I let that sink in for a moment. I could, but I'm not sure I want to deal with being in somepony else's home. I'm not that against the idea as it doesn't sound too bad, but I'm also not really that in the mood for dealing with more ponies today. She looks at my face, seemingly studying it, and smiles knowingly. "I'm not sure-"

I'm cut off by a small chuckle. "No need to be polite, I can tell when a pony wants to be left alone." She seemingly finds it humorous and unlike many others sees through my mask, at least a bit. I nearly give her an apology and she holds a hoof up to silence me and smiles more. "I'm not having a Pony uncomfortable in my home, you come when you are good and ready, you hear?" She says with the same light tone but a more firm expression.

I'm not too sure what to say so I just nod in agreement and turn as I sense Rarity coming back to the front of the store. A moment later she comes through a door and Pear nods to me. "Remember to drop by when you feel up to it." She reminds me, her tone sounding more like a demand than anything.

"Sorry for the wait dear. The fringe was being so uncooperative." Rarity's voice sounds out as she passes a bag to Pear. "Oh! Sorry, I co-" Her eyes flicker to me for a moment and she tries to greet me but stops a little short as she looks back to me, doing a double take as she looks me over. A large smile forms on her face as she recognizes me, "Shade! It's fabulous to see you again!" She greets me a little too cheerfully.

I hold in a blush as I try my absolute best to ignore my memories, I just nod back after a moment. "Rarity, a pleasure," I say nothing more and stay to the side as Pear counts out several bits and places a small pile on a Bit Counter, a moment later the number shows up above it.

I've seen that particular invention of mine more and more over the past few years. Most ponies have been using it as a way to not have to count out the bits they are given from a sale, it saves time. Rarity keeps a large smile on her face as she attends to Pear. "Agreed, I'll be with you in a moment. Thank you, Miss Pear, enjoy." Rarity keeps her excited energy as she collects the bits given to her.

Pear nods, collecting the bag handle in her mouth and nods to me as she walks past and leaves the shop. I turn back to Rarity and see her already giving me an excited stare. I suppress a sigh and walk over before placing my suit on the table, "I came to get this refitted, it's a little tight." I have a friendly but slightly awkward tone.

Rarity looks at the suit for a moment, holding it up and unfolding it, her smile only growing at the sight. "Of course! One of my favorite creations! I must say dear, you looked fabulous at the last Gala, I assume you're taking this to the Gala again then?" She seems very excited at the idea and also bluntly reveals she very much saw the newspaper.

I try to think of a way around talking about it, but come up with nothing and instead show a slightly tired look. "Yes, hopefully, it won't be as eventful though." I calmly reveal my dislike of the event and her brows seem to twitch before she stops it. "Who would have thought huh? One moment you're talking to some Pony and then THE Princess walks over to talk to them, and me." I chuckle a little and be honest about my surprise while telling half-lies.

Rarity giggles a bit, enjoying the gossip I'm giving her. "I can sympathize, Shade. I dropped my tea when I saw the pictures, although you did look rather dashing in the suit." She compliments me and I again force down a blush as my mind tries to pull me to certain thoughts. "Now a refitting will be nothing but a snap! Follow moi please." I almost feel like it's a trap as I'm led into a familiar backroom.

As I do so I notice it is a bit more cluttered around the room, still organized but definitely more filled in. "Thank you, you can send it to the same place as last time," I say to get it out of the way and reluctantly step on a raised platform as she motions to it.

I notice she does dart her eyes to the lower end of my belly but that's not rare among mares that are near me, hell some do it in public and don't even try to be subtle. "No problem at all, I do wonder how you sitting next to the Princess ended up with you dancing with her, it seems rather story-like." She subtly digs for information and takes out a measuring tape.

I wait a moment and notice she's moving a bit slower than last time, seemingly taking my sensitivity into account by making less pressured moves with her hooves. Still, it takes some concentration to keep my mind clean, knowing what's coming helps a large amount though, and talking also helps so I keep our conversation going.

I huff a bit in amusement. "Well, I had the pleasure of meeting the Princess student, mostly just some small talk." I start retelling my story, hoping the memories of my embarrassment from that event counteract the slight thrills from her hooves moving across my coat. "After Her Highness joined us her student left, leaving me alone. It was, I don't think I can really describe talking with her actually." I am mostly honest as I can't in so few words, but that lets me skip over it as well.

Rarity hums in agreement while continuing her work and paying rapt attention to the tidbits of gossip I'm feeding her. "I assume so, I've had the pleasure of hearing her speak at the Summer Sun Celebration, but to talk to her?!" She says and lets her excitement overcome her professionalism for a moment.

I nod in agreement as it can be pretty interesting to talk to her, both in private and public. "It was very interesting, at the end the dance came and she made the offer. As much as it's a little embarrassing to admit..." I pause to get her some suspense. "I panicked and agreed, I barely even knew how to dance, and I still don't." I make a joke out of it as even I find it funny.

She actually fully laughs at that, only for a moment but it seems to break through her lady-like mask for a moment. "Don't worry, I take the secrecy of my clientele very seriously." She reassures me after regaining control and looking a bit embarrassed at her outburst of laughter. "All done. The fix should be easy, I can have it to you in a week or two." She moves back with her measuring tape and I breathe out in relief as I step down.

She looks over the suit she brought with her and nods to herself as if confirming the time frame. I hum in agreement and before she can stop me I take out a bag of bits and pass it over, one hundred bits to be precise. "That should cover it, please keep the rest, I can't be bothered with counting it all out." I give a very lame excuse and literally place it on her back.

Her eyes snap away from her notepad and quill, but she closes her mouth a moment later as she now has the bits and I show a look that leaves little room for discussion. "Well, thank you. Maybe I could interest you in something else?" I can already see her trying to give me something for free so I shake my head. "A shame, thank you for the generosity." She gives a very slight bow.

Successfully evening the scores a bit I nod in satisfaction. "And thank you for doing the work, I barely know a thing about sewing." I share some useless information. "Anyway, I must be going as I have some other things to take care of. It was a pleasure to meet you again." I quickly try to get the hell out before she starts asking for more gossip about me.

She again focuses her eyes but smiles widely and walks me out to the main room again. "Like I said, not a problem. In fact, it's a dream of mine to have one of MY creations in the Gala! Let alone with Her Highness! I believe I owe you a thank you for that, hmm. Oh! I know just the thing." I fail to speak up as she lays out a trap and catches me in it.

She reaches under the counter and takes out a cloth bundle, one I know was there from before I even entered the building. She moves it over to me, "Consider this a small token of my appreciation, for making a dream of mine come true." Her tone and expression also leaves no room for argument here. This little back and forth is also a little tiring, if entertaining, so I just pick up the small roll of cloth with my hooves and take it with a smile.

I unroll it to see that she's had this planned from the damn start. A small cloth, three by four feet, depicting an interesting scene. It's a tapestry of the photo from the paper, obviously not as detailed but still there in its full glory, and unlike the photo it's in the proper colors.

The background of the Gala is a simple white color with a purple rim around the tapestry like a picture frame. The features of me and Celestia are simplified, but detailed enough to be obvious. She even added my cutie mark to it, even if the placement is a little off.

I'm a little blown away by the work Rarity has put into this gift and honestly, I'm a little touched. Being generous with bits and business is one thing, but making something so specific for another is something else entirely. I gently fold it up and try my best to sort my thoughts.

Rarity may like to gossip and might also be a little high and mighty with others, even if I haven't seen it yet I can tell it's there. But she is a kind Pony and despite the awkwardness I've had for a good amount of my time here I give her a large smile. "Thank you, it's a very kind gift," I say with complete honesty in my tone.

Rarity seems satisfied with my tone and words, nodding happily. "Of course, and please come back anytime you need some work done. I am more than happy to do so, have a good day, Shade." She says with a happy and less professional tone, lifting the mood above just politeness.

"You as well Rarity, and I will make sure to do just that." I turn and walk to the door, not having anything more to say. I step outside and take my cloak out seeing the heavy clouds above. I put it on and started to wander down the street. My thoughts pointed towards the gift I just got.

This gift was unexpected, but not unappreciated. I do feel a little odd about it though, I mean, what am I supposed to even do with it? I can't hang it anywhere but Gaia's Eden and it feels a little weird having it around there, especially when Celestia would inevitably come across it.

I guess I just keep it in a box, a keepsake to remember the entire story? I shrug a little to myself as I walk down the street at a slow pace. The rain starts to fall abruptly and heavily a moment later, and I can see several homes light up inside, almost as if to beat away the unpleasant weather.

After a little walking, I happen to cross paths with a place familiar to me, The Golden Oaks Library. I stare at the odd tree and notice the lights are on and there is an open sign on the door. After Willow's death, I didn't check who was running it, I guess I could, I can sense a single Pony inside so somepony does work there. I think for a moment and not having much else to do I walk over and open the door with a slightly muddy hoof.

I try my best to wipe off my hooves on the doormat before I enter and once I'm inside I see it's changed a small bit. Somepony has hung a few magical lights from the ceiling, even with the lack of sunlight from outside everything is bright and relatively well-lit.

As I look around I turn my head to a single Pony I sense inside, I blink in surprise as I take in the mare's appearance and try to place the familiar look. A very light brown coat, almost like sandy dirt with an off-white mane and blue eyes, all so familiar yet distant.

It takes a few seconds but I eventually place the Pony in my memories. Mayor Mare, I think? Did she have a full name? I don't remember. She's currently resting on the counter next to the entrance with a bored look as she reads from a book, eventually taking note of me and looking up. "Oh, hello, welcome. Tell me if you need help finding anything." Her tone is level and slightly disinterested.

I fold up my cloak so it doesn't drip inside and glance around the room, taking in its features before spotting a section many libraries have. Most libraries have a section where you can buy some books, just more common ones but still some of interest depending on where you are.

I look around for a moment and eventually find an interesting book on the weather and how Ponies create it. It's not a skill I need but it seems like a fun read and I'm already here so I might as well buy it. I take it with me back over to the counter and place it down. "Miss? This please." I get her attention and place the book down.

She nods and takes it with a neutral look. I break the short bout of silence as she inspects the book, "If you don't mind me asking, when did you start working here?" I ask curiously, trying to find more information on the little town and the many things the show has left out.

She looks up and me and smiles a bit, looking happy at the polite tone I use. "A year or so ago, the last mare who ran it passed away I believe. I actually came here looking for something more interesting, but this was all I could find." She shares openly like many Ponies tend to do.

I find it interesting that she moved here, and that she's not the mayor yet. I guess I'll have to see what becomes of all that down the road. She places the book down, "Fifteen bits please. I don't recognize you, what brings you into town?" She asks back with the same slight interest and politeness I had.

I shrug a little and pay her before putting away the book. "Not much, I pass through here from time to time, thought I'd see if anypony was working here again." I am honest as I have no reason to lie. She just nods after looking me over, trying to recognize me but failing.

"Hmm, well, have a good day Sir." I nod and turn before putting my cloak back on, ignoring the glance she throws at my flanks. That glance proves to be the point that makes me end this trip. I got what I needed, and didn't embarrass myself again, it's time to go home and relax.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

Not much in this one, just some simple talk and checking in on a few characters, along with setting up needless backstories for others. Honestly, I remember very little about Mayor Mare, so let's see how much I can make up before contradicting the show on accident.

Taking tomorrow off, see you all Monday, where the endless grind will continue.

Chapter 279

JUN 5 Tuesday.

I look over the injured stallion's side and try my best to ignore the current placement of my sight. The wound is fairly close to his crotch and on the inner side of his left hindleg.

An elder stallion, around sixty or so years old with a mild infection from a puncture wound. He didn't say what caused it but I don't really care all that much. It's around three inches deep from what my senses can tell me and it doesn't look too bad all things considered.

The infection seems to mostly be on the outside of the wound, it having been bandaged but not stitched closed. The nurse shadowing me keeps an eye on my actions but seems content to let me do my own work knowing I have done so several times before. "Alright, Sir, I'm going to get you something for the pain and clean it out with a spell, if that is fine with you?" I ask just to be thorough as he obviously needs treatment.

He nods his head slowly and shifts a bit while he continues to lie on his side atop a bed. He lets out a small wince at the motion, "Ya." That's all I get from him so I nod and walk over to the herb cabinet, taking out two doses of a herb for more mild pain, a plant called Pain Throb, and marking it down on a clipboard.

I walk back over and pass it to him, letting it sit in his stretched-out hoof. "Chew it for a while before swallowing," I instruct and he nods before putting them in his mouth and starting to chew. "That should take a few minutes to take effect, I'll check on a patient for a moment and be back to clean out your wound," I explain and he just nods again before laying down fully.

I leave the old stallion alone for a moment and walk over to a different patient, a young pegasus mare who looked at me a little too much earlier before falling asleep. Luckily I don't need to wake her and just look over the strings that are hanging down from the ceiling to keep one of her wings elevated and limit its movement.

A fracture with a wing bone is an unpleasant thing, especially considering many pegasi can be impatient and often don't like being confined to bed rest. That's not to say every single pegasi is like that, far from it as I've had several who were exceptionally patient, but my point stands.

The different tribes of Ponies may act as a single whole most of the time, but there are important differences between them, and doubly so when healing them. So I've taken the opportunity to study the flows of life magic in Ponies while working here, I obviously can't pay full attention but I am noticing some differences.

Life magic flows in many different ways, and even individuals of the same species can have variations in their flows. Most structures and flows remain consistent overall though, and that lets me study and memorize certain parts of a pony's life flows, it is a very slow process though.

The things I've memorized are very small and the sheer complexity of it all is hard to put into words. The magical flows of fauna and anything made of flesh seem to all be much more complex than plants. And complexity isn't the only problem, flora also have much slower flows than fauna.

I can watch a plant's flows in real-time and keep up easily, the flows of a Pony are a few times faster and take more effort to track and observe. Still, my observation should prove to be useful in time. Simply put, it should in theory let me heal a Pony more effectively with my life magic the more I learn, similar to plants just in a different way. I have to actually start healing Ponies with my life magic first though.

I walk back over to the old stallion after a minute and see that his breathing is more steady along with his body being more relaxed. He tilts his head up as I walk over, "I'll be casting a cleaning spell, you might feel some pain but it should be minimal, please tell me if it's not." He nods again and there is a small flash of light.

I see him jump a little bit at the sudden appearance and disappearance of a spell matrix, his breath hitching as the spell takes effect and the wound is mostly cleaned out in a moment. That's the problem with infections, cleaning spells can only get you so far unless you want to drain an insane amount of magic.

All cleaning spells aren't one hundred percent effective, even the one I made has some limitations. My cleaning spell may clean things but that's only to a certain degree, the more magic added the better the cleaning spell but at the lower end, a cleaning spell can miss small things, like bacteria for example. I just cleaned his wound of most dead flesh and infected bits, but I can't clean out every last microorganism.

The runes used in my cleaning spells and all other cleaning spells, also have no information about bacteria and that makes it harder for them to clean it up. It's not impossible, in fact you can do it fairly easily as long as you have enough magic. Because the spell isn't made to specifically kill and remove bacteria you need to heavily overpower it to do so, and that's to kill most, not all.

Magic has no limits, but the structure we gave magic to use with more ease does have more limitations. I could look into making some runes to specifically target bacteria, but that's very time-consuming and I'm not sure I even know enough to do it well. Wasting all that effort to make a bad rune might end up with it being so ineffective that overpowering a normal cleaning spell would cost less magic and be better.

I take a swab and apply some tincture, a simple mixture of pure water, and some herbs to help wounds heal and deal with infections, before applying it slowly. It takes a few minutes and by the time I'm done the old stallion has really relaxed as the herbs take full effect. I can't do much more beyond this so I just take some bandages and start bandaging his wound.

I can't really heal the wound, mostly because I could trap the infection inside him and that will completely fuck things up even more than normal. For now, all I can do is recommend him some rest and send him to a doctor to get him a prescription. "You can rest here if you wish, Sir. And here is a recommendation for something that will help it heal." I write it out on a notepad and pass it over.

I've been keeping both a notepad and a quill with me as it has proven very effective. He takes it with another nod, "Thanks." He promptly lays his head down and I leave him to rest while walking over to a nurse I'm assigned to for the day. I've learned a few of their names but with so many, I often just read their badge.

The mare nurse nods a bit at me to acknowledge my presence as she cleans out a pony's cut, a small moment of silent concentration on her face as a spell matrix forms in front of the cut a second later. This is one of the nurses I've learned the name of, nurse Blue Stone, an interesting pegasus mare.

A deep blue coat, aquamarine mane, and cobalt-colored eyes. She is one of the few other runic casters I've encountered at the hospital, being around thirty I think and like me, she is a Journeypony Runic Caster. Although from what I know she actually went to a smaller magical school unlike me. "I'm done with my patients, anything else that needs doing?" I ask as she's supposed to be in charge of me today.

She thinks for a moment after casting her spell, taking a little longer than I normally do but seemingly proficient in her magic. "Good, we need to check on a different patient before you go, it shouldn't take long as we just need a basic check-up, they are in ward B Six." She says while finishing wrapping the wound and standing up. "You should be fine now Miss Lever, just keep any pressure off of it." She informs her patient and turns to me fully. "Let's get going, big guy."

Blue Stone has proven to be an interesting mare, not too talkative or silent, and mostly only interested in her work. But she has proven to be friendly enough and we share an interest when it comes to the magic we use. I haven't run into too many other Ponies that are full Runic Casters.

Most Runic Casters never get very far into it, but those that do are normally fairly dedicated to it. I've only come across a few as in all of Equestria there are probably less than ten thousand Journeypony Runic Casters and most aren't in a predominantly unicorn city. There aren't particularly unheard of though as there are far more Apprentice Runic Casters.

There are even small communities that use it more often, never the truly advanced stuff, just basic spells to improve quality of life. She stands up and starts to lead me, her head only coming up to nearly half my height being the reason for my nickname, a nickname several others have used.

I am tall by most standards and even if my growth is leveling out pretty hard I've still grown from the time I started here. As we walk she turns her head to me, "So, thinking about taking the nursing tests? They are in July so if you are, you should study up, maybe volunteer less?" She makes some small talk and tries to be helpful.

The test she is referring to is more of a course, it lasts three days and if you pass you can become a nurse or apprentice healer. It's not so simple but like Blue Stone, I could become a full nurse if I passed, not that I'm sure I want to do all that. I'm still on the fence so far. "Not sure, I'm feeling pretty comfortable with things as they are." I am mostly honest as she might have some actual advice for me.

She nods, showing a slight frown at my seeming lack of ambition. "True, but with your skill it would be a waste." She shows a small amount of bitterness but doesn't direct it primarily at me. "Anyway, you should think about it, it's not like you'd need to work the whole time, you could still just volunteer." She says as we enter a different patient ward.

I'm not sure that really helps with my dilemma so I just nod, I wasn't expecting too much from a mare I don't really know beyond her name and skills to begin with so I move on quickly. I do wonder why she seemed a bit unhappy, I guess I can see how she might feel that my current use of my magic skill is a waste, at least from her point of view.

I move that all to the side as we enter another patient ward that is both more and less busy, with more staff members but far fewer patients moving around inside. I raise a brow and turn back to Blue Stone as we sit near the edge of the group, all of them centered around a few Ponies on beds with flashes of magic going off every minute or so. "I assume this was not what you meant?" I ask in a calm tone.

Her expression is more worried and focused now, shaking her head slightly in answer. "No, I meant a Pony I treated for a broken leg a few hours ago, looks like they moved them to a different ward to make space." She looks around and spots a tired-looking doctor to the side. "I'll go check." She moves without me giving an answer and I instead focus my senses on the injured Ponies in the middle of this controlled chaos.

I can't tell too much with just my senses, there are three in total and all seem to have skin damage. Two have most of their fur missing from a leg or their hips, but one seems much worse and it is also who most of the hospital staff are working on. As far as I can tell the entire left side of their chest along with both forelegs and their belly have no hair at all.

It could have been shaved off, it is done sometimes to help with operations so the fur is out of the way. But the skin underneath seems uneven and this is too much fur for an operation, it's hard to tell but I can at least say something happened to their skin, likely burns if the slight scent in the room is any indication.

I stay to the side of the other wall of the long room of the ward we are in, keeping my calm and just waiting while they work. Maybe it's been all the less pleasant things I've seen, or maybe the human in me, but I'm able to mostly remain calm even here. I do feel some worry for them and wish to help, but it's best to wait until called upon.

I take note of another Pony rushing over, one I recognize and have seen a few times but rarely had a reason to speak to. Dr. Stick, I don't actually know his full name. A unicorn stallion on the taller side but still a decent bit shorter than me, with a brown coat similar to mine with a darker shade, a light red mane, and deep purple eyes.

He's been interesting and I've seen him around from time to time, we haven't really talked much though, the only reason I remember him was that shrapnel incident. He moves his dark-rimmed round glasses up his muzzle a bit while looking through some papers and walking over to the group.

He abruptly stops as he glances over at me for a moment, seemingly recognizing me. He looks at the papers again and gives me a focused look. "Mr. Evergreen, correct?" I raise a brow and nod while sitting a little straighter. "I remember you have a good magical capacity, how much do you have left and do you know any spells for burns?" He asks quickly not mincing too many of his words.

I don't remember telling him my name, but we all wear badges and I'm on the schedule like everypony else so it wouldn't be hard to find my name out if he got curious. I nod and stand fully to move quickly if needed, "Full, and I know two, one to heal flesh and the other for skin." I answer back just as quickly.

He nods and motions me to follow him before moving over to the two patients with the least amount of Ponies attending to them, sitting side by side on different beds while the rushed hush comes from a few beds further away as they try to heal the worse off Pony. Two nurses who are cleaning the wounds of the patient we approach, and getting closer let me confirm my suspicions as I see a Pony with some fairly severe burns on them.

The nurses move out of the way as Dr. Stick casts a scanning spell on the pony, a mare that thankfully seems to be either unconscious or sedated. He looks over the results for a few minutes with tired eyes, he seems to be pretty exhausted at the moment and I'm not sure how much he can do in that state.

He surprisingly looks at me after a moment. "They need treatment and I don't have the magic, you work on them while I supervise, heal as much as you can but start with the flesh damage. If I tell you to stop do so immediately, understood?" His voice has a slightly odd accent to it, a small blandness that seems to seep into his words making him sound more calm than he looks.

I'm a little surprised as I've never healed something like this in the hospital before, but the calm and serious tone he has along with the opportunity to help makes me push the surprise to the side.

I nod and step closer to look at the poor mare. Her left foreleg has most of its fur burned off with heavy skin damage from her hoof to the top of her foreleg. The damage is mostly on one side but the limb is not looking good overall. "Cleaned already?" I ask knowing I can't heal her before that happens.

He looks to the nurses who nod silently. I take a moment to lift the limb from its resting position on the bed and glance back at Dr. Stick for permission just to be sure. He nods and I quickly form a spell matrix, this being an active spell I need to continually supply.

I need to heal the missing and raw flesh before the skin, the good news is I have plenty of magic. I overpower the spell a bit and the flesh is slowly regrowing at a visible rate, still it takes a few minutes to fully regrow what little was missing and I have Dr. Stick's eyes on me constantly.

I keep my calm look and I think he's a little intrigued by my lack of reaction. Even the nurses look a bit squeamish about the wound and I'm intently watching the healing process without showing any discomfort. I do feel a little discomfort but I can ignore that without issue and not show it, being human has made me mostly indifferent to the sight, the bloody mess after fighting that wolf only reinforced that.

I'm able to heal the flesh while only using a fifth of my magic, more than enough to fully heal her skin. I pause for a moment as a question comes to mind, what happens if I add some life magic to my spells? Not even fill them completely with life magic, just adding some.

I can't see how things could go wrong if I tried, I'm not directly controlling the life magic, I would just be adding it to boost a healing spell. It's one of the most basic things somepony with a life magic affinity can do, but something I've never done myself.

Every last thing I read says all I need to do is add my life magic when forming a spell, just like anypony else would when using an affinity to boost their spells. Still, it feels a little unprofessional to do it, but it could also heal them both faster and better.

I go back and forth and try to decide. I think it over for a few moments and decide better, just moving my natural magic to heal the patient. As much as I want to find out, and as much as it could actually do some good, it's best not to mess with the unknown like this.

The next spell I cast hangs next to the limb in the air, having a slightly deeper green color to it due to me overpowering the spell with my magic. Dr. Stick doesn't seem to react and just watches as her skin heals over the regrown flesh, this time much quicker than before as I added more magic than needed to speed along the healing and skin can be healed faster.

The effect is a little more than I wanted as the skin only takes a minute to regrow and I have to force myself to look more tired than I am as Dr. Stick glances at me. I sag a little and let out a slow breath as I stop the spell, the foreleg is still hairless but now healed back to what it was before.

I can see a bit of caring but she can get that taken care of at a later date. Dr. Stick nods in relief. "Thank you, how much magic do you have left? The second patient could use some healing as well if you can manage it." He asks, still in a very professional tone while looking at the other less injured patient.

This stallion has his back hindleg and some of his underbelly burnt, it looks like a lot of the flesh damage was already healed but not his skin. "Enough, I could do his skin but I can't do much after that." I decide to half-lie, I have plenty of magic left but both Ponies will be healed regardless, it's just a matter of now versus later.

I don't feel good lying in this situation, but I take some comfort in still helping others while trying to keep my secrets. All three of these Ponies would have survived regardless from what I can see, they are all stable and just need healing, so my lying won't kill somepony.

I move my mind away from that as he nods and motions for me to act "Do it, and thank you again." He says in the same calm, almost cold way. I don't hesitate and cast the spell, watching the skin close at a slower rate than before as I didn't overpower it as much. A minute later the skin is healed and I have to pretend a little less as I've used a quarter of my magic and feel the drain slightly.

I have to continue to pretend that I'm a lot more drained than I actually am, as I nod to Dr. Stick and move to sit on the side of the room where I was earlier to rest. Dr. Stick ends up following me, sitting down as his exhaustion seems to deepen some after the patients are taken care of. "Thank you, sorry to keep you here longer again." He says with that same odd tone, so professional it almost seems cold, but not emotionless.

I shrug as I didn't even notice I was supposed to get off a few minutes ago. "It's for the best, I was just going to go home and read, using the magic now does more good." I try to assuage his concerns away. "What even happened? If I'm allowed to know?" I ask curiously but don't pressure him.

As I signed several confidentiality agreements I can't talk about patients' health outside of volunteering, I'm also not privy to all information. He gives me a nod that turns a little blank at my question, "House fire, not sure why but I think a few said it was the oven. They should be fine, we'll need to keep a close watch though." He answers with a bland tone, one used to this line of work.

He shakes his head a little and turns to me, while I continue to pretend to look tired. "You have impressive reserves of magic for your age and with no official schooling, fifteen right?" I shake my head and he nods. "Sixteen then. Sorry just remembering when I last looked at your file." I raise a brow in a silent question after hearing that.

He gives me a tired look like he realized I might take offense to that. I give him a smile and just take the compliment, "Thank you, I've practiced a lot. It was good to put that all into practice, thanks for the opportunity." I do actually appreciate the opportunity as I rarely get to practice my healing spells, I even got to see what burns were like in my senses.

He smirks a tiny bit, still pretty tired from the looks of things. "No thanks needed, I must get back to it though, have a good day Mr. Evergreen." I nod as he tiredly walks off and I leave the ward after looking at the Ponies in the beds one last time.

I really need to test boosting healing spells with life magic. I guess I need more bugs, time for some research then, I think I still have some notes on bugs from a while back. I think? My mind buries itself in plans as I walk through the hospital and make it to the main staffroom.

I ignore the sideways glance from Bristle as he sits behind his desk working in his office. I actually don't blame him too much, turns out running the cleaning staff for a hospital can be stressful, he's still a bit of a condescending prick though. I grab my things and close the locker before heading outside.

I stop at the door and look at the overcast sky with the seemingly never-ending rain. I heard we're going to get some rogue weather as even the weather teams failed to control everything that happened, an inconvenience to many. I happen to like the rain though.

I put on my cloak with a small smile, happy to have helped a few more Ponies and have something good with a bit of my time. Maybe that test is something to think about?

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 996

A little less going on in this one, but I thought it would be nice to see a little more of the hospital.

Chapter 280

JUN 13 Wednesday.

I look over the small pot as a sprout of a small plant starts to rapidly grow and form into a twisting bush.

Over the past few days, I've been trying to think of what I should get Celestia for her birthday, and it has proven as difficult as always. Getting something for a Pony that has anything they want is never easy, so I've once again gone back to a good starting point, plants.

One of the few things Celestia can't get easily is custom plants and that I can do, so I've been working with something I've been neglecting for a while now, the Prismatic Rose. I got it as a gift but haven't had much time to really grow or experiment with it, until now that is.

I started by using them as some much-needed decoration, specifically I've grown a large amount of them on the outside walls of my little shack in Gaia's Eden. The walls are now caverned in bushes that grow up the walls on all sides, deep green leaves, and a never-ending variety of colorful roses that all shine in different ways.

As for my gift? Well, the idea is very simple and should be great. I've spent some of my time over the past two weeks using Guided Evolution to change the Prismatic Rose, I made it so that not only would the flowers be a random color, but the stems and leaves as well would be random.

This little pot with a now one-foot-tall bush is the result. A plant that looks more like a rose bush that somepony spilled random paint over, it looks like a shattered rainbow. There is a pattern on the bark, while each leaf and flower is random the stems are a more controlled chaos and something that took some extra time to add.

The colors are still random, but they are constant in a way. The base of this bush is red for an inch before shifting to blue, green, and pink. Every few inches and every time a branch splits off the colors smoothly transition to something else and the never-ending color just keeps changing with no order, but always in a smooth gradient.

I've decided to name it the Rainbow Rose, for obvious reasons, like always it's not a complex name but it fits well. Beyond the new plant I've also been trying hard to make something a little more personalized, but it's proven to be a mess and is taking longer than I would like.

I went out and bought some Vanilla seeds, it was pretty easy as a few shops sell them to add to baked goods or certain foods. After that, I spent some time tracking down Cocoa seeds, otherwise known as chocolate, and that actually proved to be much more difficult.

The climate here is not suited for Cocoa plants and most chocolate comes to Canterlot as a finished product and not as seeds, often grown and made in the lower parts of Equestria. It took me three fucking days to find somepony who sold them, but only after finding several places that sold roasted seeds instead of live seeds.

After gathering both of these I've been trying to breed them together to make a Vanilla chocolate taste. That proved to be a fucking mess as well, at first all my results would just make something that tasted so strong I nearly threw up when smelling it, or other times the smell just came out fucking disgusting.

That's something I've noticed about smells and tastes when it comes to breeding plants, even with Guided Evolution they are so delicate that you more often than not get a bad result. Mixing different flavors is also harder, and that's without trying to crossbreed a tree and a vine.

It took a WEEK of constant trying, even while not breeding other plants, to make something that had both tastes without either being wrong, and even then they aren't perfect. Right now they are combined, the vanilla taste is a little light and needs to be increased while the chocolate taste is too strong, but the plant is done and I should be able to make the finished result in time.

Once I have the flavors down, I'm trying to get close to a vanilla chocolate cake flavor, and am getting there. I've been breeding the taste into the bean of a modified Vanilla because it takes less magic and is easier to taste when needed than a Cocoa Tree. Once I get the taste right I just need to add it to a Red Leaf Tea bush and bam, chocolate cake tea.

All this shit for some cake-flavored tea, but it will be worth it to see how happy she'll be with her gifts. I'm not sure how much she'll actually like it as making this tea is a little odd, but I do know chocolate and vanilla is one of her favorites so I think she will enjoy it. I refocus and harvest a few dozen seeds from the Rainbow Rose bush in the pot in front of me and pack them away in a bag.

I check the time and see that I need to get going soonish. After the letter Cadance sent me, I've been thinking about my revenge, and it just so happens that we have a nice little get-together planned for today. With an admittedly odd twist to it, an amazing prank was planned thanks to Celestia's recommendation.

Celestia gave me a small but wonderful idea on how to prank Cadance, and it goes back to an idea we came up with that we never ended up using. I spent a little bit of my time tweaking one of the spells I've made before, the spell that I used to make Celestia's invisible grape illusion.

This time, I swapped the idea and made an illusion that everypony but the one it's cast on can see. Leaving me with only one thing to do, picking an appropriate illusion of course. In the end, I went with something harmless but funny as all good pranks should strive to be.

It will only last for an hour or two, but in that hour everypony will see an odd thing, a nice red heart spinning around Cadance's head. It takes on the classical shape, I even made it a lovely shade of red just for her. I'll have to wait and see what her reaction will be but I am excited to find out, not that I'll see it as I expect a letter not long after our meeting.

For the moment though I spend some time checking on a few of my other projects, specifically the Fire Blossom Tree I'm breeding and the Water Lily. I walk over to a barrel placed next to the pavilion and look inside, seeing a slightly withered Water Lily that seems to still be struggling.

The process is actually going a bit slower than I would have liked, this being my latest attempt to strengthen the Water Lily's ability to survive. It's taking longer because I underestimated how much time I'd have to spend just watching a plant sit in water and see if it survives longer than the last one.

My gifts to Celestia have also taken up a lot of my time over the past two weeks and even with Guided Evolution this is probably going to take longer than just two months. The main problem is that I can't really speed up this process, giving it life magic will just have it heal unnaturally and will skew my results.

I make a few quick notes and move on to a single lone tree with a patch of ash under it. This has been the result of my using a mixture of Guided Evolution and simple selective breeding to increase the amount of fire magic a Fire Blossom tree can convert, it has actually been going very well.

I've gotten lucky and am reaching my goal a lot faster than I thought I would, doubling the tree's output in a few short weeks, it will take more time but it is going swimmingly. I've mostly completed the shield that I will need to contain the lava needed as well. Now I'm looking into fire and earth runes to make a good enough spell to increase the temperature and melt rock.

I again make some notes while moving around a small Fire Gem to get a rough estimate of how much fire magic is being produced. With those last two things done, I spend a moment walking over to my shack and putting a few things away before looking for Entropy.

I can sense her and to my amusement she's once again inside the fish pond, apparently she now enjoys playing and bathing in it. I walk over and spot her lying belly up in the pond, her wings spread wide as she floats in the water. I look up and watch the small streams made by the Water Tree flow down and add to the pond slowly, an admittedly very peaceful place to relax.

The fish are actually not avoiding Entropy, maybe it's because she doesn't really look like a bird or because she's just floating in the water, but they swim near her without any panic while keeping some small distance. Most of the larger fish come over to me as I approach the pond, them now being used to Celestia or me dropping in berries whenever we get close to them.

I smile down and chuckle quietly as I notice that Entropy is actually asleep, it gives me the perfect opportunity to have some fun. I pick a few barriers from the plants nearby and walk over to the side of the pond Entropy is floating in, crushing the berries as I do.

I take the bits and pieces of berry and gently place them all right next to Entropy in the water, at the base of her outstretched wings and neck to be specific. It only takes a moment for the fish to notice and come swarming over to eat, which has the truly unintended and unfortunate side effect of them trying to eat the bits of berry from the feathers of Entropy.

After a few moments of me watching I see the fish start to nibble on the spines of her feathers as she stirs from her rest. I see her twitch and a moment later a particularly hungry fish starts to nibble on her feet and talons, which proves to be enough to wake her. "Wha- CAW!!" She flaps her wings in surprise as her head bolts up and she looks around.

She thrashes around for a moment as the fish keep trying to eat, she loses a bit of her buoyancy and sinks leaving only her head above water. The fish scatter from the movement, giving up on the food as Entropy speaks up and I laugh. "No! Not food, bad fish!!" She caws and moves her wings around the water to scare off the fish that stubbornly remain.

She gets over her shock after a moment and looks up at me as I sit there still laughing, enjoying the sight. "Help, bad fish!" She complains and moves flaps around the water looking a little helpless. "Wait... You make fish bad!" She accuses me and I laugh harder while she teleports away.

A moment later I sense as she and feel some water vanish, only to feel in a different way when a small ball of water drops onto the back of my head before I can dodge it as she teleports above me. My mane and face are suddenly drenched in cold water and much like the expression, I go silent and abruptly stop my laughter.

She drops onto my back a moment later glaring at me while I glare back, both of us wet and trying to pretend that this wasn't funny. "Mean, fix." She demands and I keep my glare strong for a moment before chuckling and nodding. She drops her glare as well and chirps, "Revenge later, friends now?" She makes a frankly ominous statement and asks if it's time to leave.

I cast a drying spell on both of us and a moment later she puffs her suddenly dry feathers out and starts to preen them back into their proper placements. I nod again, "Yes, we get to go see Cadance again, I even got a little prank planned. And if you spoil it I will start giving you showers again." I threaten as while I'm ok with it and even a little proud she wants revenge, I don't want her to ruin my other prank.

She chirps out excitedly. "No mean. Wouldn't anyway, funny." She doesn't hide the fact that I raised her, and we both have a bit of a thing for pranks. I chuckle a bit and shake my head as I walk back to my shack, I spend a few minutes gathering the armor I'll need to spar with Shining and take the time to grab some more tea as well.

I nod to Entropy and a moment later we're standing in the workroom with Entropy looking at me attentively. "Go see fire friend?" She asks and I chuckle a little more before nodding, watching her quickly teleport away to go bother Celestia by playing with Philomena.

I spend a moment making sure my saddlebags are on correctly before leaving the room, meeting a guard on the other side like many times before. I silently follow them through the palace and arrive where I was expecting to be with little delay, entering a guest room with Candace waiting inside it.

As I close the door behind me I see Cadance sitting there with a far too smug smile and a knowing look. "Hello, Shade, did you enjoy my letter? I thought it was interesting to discuses the oddities of cutie marks in detail, didn't you?" I glare at her silently as I walk over and try not to blush at her words.

As I sit down I cast a spell immediately, right in front of her face, and smile a bit as she jumps. "Wouldn't know, sorry I burnt that letter, I even turned the ash into soil for my plants, thank you for that," I say with a fake sweet tone, ignoring the floating heart she can't see while not providing any explanation for the spell I just cast.

I enjoy her shocked expression while she quickly looks over her body for a moment before pulling a small mirror out from under her wing and looking at herself from other angles. But she finds nothing after a moment and looks at me with narrowed eyes. "What did you do?" She demands as I continue to smile.

I give her my best innocent look and shrug. "Nothing permanent, enjoy." I don't give anything away and enjoy getting my revenge for the moment. "So how have you and your husband been?" I ask, changing the subject and using a more normal tone, while silently enjoying her more intense glare and the cute heart floating around her.

She huffs at my first words but actually looks bashful about me calling Shining her husband. "You do know we're not married, right?" I nod and she sighs while dropping her glare. "Worth it, so so worth it, even with WHATEVER you just did. And don't think I'm not onto you, you are not in any registry and I know it now!" She suddenly exclaims.

I blink for a moment before the memories of her trying to find Gaia's Eden pop up in my memory, and I can't help but laugh. "Took you long enough, I almost started giving you hints." I tease her more as her eyes focus on me, not a glare but a silent promise of revenge. "Also, he's not your husband, yet." I tease her a little more.

She stays silent for a moment and looks at me. "I'm going to start taping pictures of Aunty to the inside of your kitchen cabinets, very suggestive pictures." She threatens with a level tone that almost makes me think she is serious. I roll my eyes but she stays silent and maintains the same stare as I grow more concerned at her growing smile.

My ears pin back and I shake my head. "Please don't, I do not need to see that." I insist as my body tries to form ideas that I ruthlessly crush. I try my best but a slight blush comes through and she smiles more before nodding as if satisfied that she got a reaction out of me.

She relaxes more and also takes a less teasing tone. "Maybe, but you can't lie to me and say you wouldn't want to see them." She adds after a second and my blush deepens. I really try my best not to think of Celestia like that, but just like everypony else I do in fact notice the mares around me, just as mares seem to.

I huff and shake my head. "I'm not answering that, and if you trick me into answering it I'm making you volunteer at the hospital for good press, and you know Celestia would love the idea. I WILL do the work to make it happen." I threaten back and her ears also pin back a bit.

There is a long moment of silence as we let our threats hang in the air, but after a few seconds we both start chuckling, and then laughing, it lasts for nearly a minute before we calm down again. "You didn't answer my questions, how have you been recently? We didn't really talk about you last time we met." The last time we met I was mostly talking about my trip and the wolf.

She rolls her eyes. "As if I'd let you derail the conversations from you fighting Dragons to how my day was. It's been great, Shining has moved into the palace on a more permanent basis, he used to go back and forth a lot but Twilight is older now so he's going to be around here more. And you?" She seems very happy and I nod as I remember hearing something similar from Twilight.

I think for half a second and smile before taking out a piece of paper and starting to copy a spell I made for her as a gift. "Things have been going well for me, as well as normal at least." She raises a brow at the paper and my statement. "I haven't gotten into any fights, and I've been thinking about going further into healing, maybe," I say while drawing out a spell matrix.

This spell is a small modification I made to the Silence spell I made long ago. It basically just makes a sound shield that only lets sound in and not out, a similar design to the spell I made for foals. The difference is that this is more heavy-duty, capable of blocking much louder sounds, and is made to conform to the walls of the room you are in when you cast it.

I prefer the smaller version I've made that just makes a bubble around me, but this one wasn't made for me. I move the paper over along with instructions on the spell, "Here, I have no idea when Shining's birthday is and I missed your last two, so consider this an apology. It should help now that you two live so close together." I say with a knowing tone as she reads the paper.

She looks both confused and apprehensive for a moment as she reads. "Silence Spell?" She mumbles and I see her blush a moment later as it clicks in her head, blushing harder than I've ever seen her before, getting a laugh out of me. She looks at me with an odd expression, like she's not sure if she needs to glare at me or thank me.

In the end, she sits there blushing for a minute before smiling as an idea seems to pop into her head. "I think Aunty could use a copy of this." That stops my laughter as it starts to trail off. She places the papers under her wing and they vanish. "That's for later though, so, what have you got planned for Auntie's birthday?" She asks and changes things before I can stop her.

I think for a moment but just take the small victory of making her blush, for now at least. "A few things, and maybe something extra, can't have you dropping hints. As for you? I do have one more gift." I use my last card, this one less about embarrassing her and more about annoying her.

I place a book in front of, a book about the philosophy of love. I smile happily as she looks back up at me. "I dislike you, a lot. But I found the place I want my Strawberry Tree, so you get a pass." She states but still opens the book. "How about you read it with me? Can't have you misunderstanding love after all." I perk up at the mention of the tree, but once again, my attempts backfire on me.

POV shift Celestia.

I hum a tune softly as I go through another document, yet another about the supplies and preparations needed for the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. It should prove to be a merry day like the many MANY years before it, yet another part of me is excited for something else.

I don't really remember the last time I felt excited like this, excited that I know my friend will have something planned for me on my birthday. Right, Shade and Cadance should be meeting sometime around now. I could stop in. There is still much work to do though, maybe another day, plus it is good that they get to talk on their own.

I sigh a bit and stop abruptly as I see the floor not far away from me fill up with a shadow. From underneath a bookshelf, I notice a shadow grow larger and larger in a mere moment, before springing up and taking full form. Sitting on my floor Entropy caws a little and flies over to my desk. "Hello." The cute and pure voice greets me with a happy tone.

I smile widely at the sight of the bird, the dark hole in reality itself acting like a friendly filly. That's what Entropy is though, a cute little filly who's nice and despite her looks is a very good girl. "Hello to you too, Entropy. I suppose you came to find Philomena?" I ask as I move another document to the side.

They may be the oddest pair I have ever seen, but Entropy and Philomena have been good friends for years, or at least as good as friends can be when one of them isn't fully sapient. Entropy bobs her head, "Well, she's in my bedroom at the moment, you remember the way?" She bobs again. "Good, don't break anything." I remind her with a small bit of sternness.

She fully nods. "Won't, bye friend." She says happily and disappears from my desk a second later. I let out a small laugh at her cute attitude before picking up a new document. I start humming again as my thoughts drift back to where they were a minute ago.

I'm excited to see what he's done, maybe another party? Then again he can be rather good at surprises when he wants to be. I idly glance at the necklace I have on, a familiar one made of wood and a single gemstone, one I wear a fair amount. He is also very good at gifts.

My thoughts drift more to the stallion in question and I chuckle knowing he's dealing with my niece right now. She can be very effective with her teasing and taunts, I can even name a time or two when she got me with them. But for Shade, it is so much more amusing to watch.

It is rather odd that she uses me to do it so much, not that I can't see why she does so, it just feels a bit odd to me. I know Shade may look from time to time at me, but I can't blame him for that, he's far from the only one and he makes an effort to not stare too much. And I also... Well, he's not alone in staring. I am willing to admit, even if just to myself, that he is a good-looking stallion.

Tall, healthy, and he takes care of himself. I shake my head as my thoughts go a little too far and I find myself thinking a little too much about his appearance. I really need to stop doing that, he is a very good friend and I am very close to him but I... My thoughts stop as I try to find a way to end that thought that makes sense.

Instead, I just stop thinking about it and move the entire line of thought to the side and focus further on my work. I have things to do and if I want to be able to spend the rest of the Summer Sun Celebration away from my little Ponies I will need to get it all done in time.

I do wonder what he has planned? Either way, I think I will be enjoying it, I always do enjoy the time we spend together. I again stop my thoughts as this seems to steer in the same direction I just moved away from. I force my mind away from it entirely and just focus on reading the documents.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 996

I thought seeing Cadance again would be nice and going with a more simple approach for gifts would be nice. As well as adding a little more of good old Celly, just a bit.

Also, depending on the time zone your in, happy new years everybody!! I hope you all get read for another year of earth and all in entails.

On a different note, if this was timed right, (it might not be) This story might pass the mark and be in or very near the top 100 for word count. I just wanted to point that out to say I appreciate all the kind comments over the months that have kept me writing, it really dose mean a lot to me.

Chapter 281

JUNE 21 Thursday.

I slowly sip my tea as I wait and zone out a little at the odd experience. Turns out drinking cake-flavored tea is a little odd, not completely unpleasant though.

I only got it right two days ago, and I had to buy three cakes to taste test it against, but the tea is done and tastes pretty similar. It's not exactly the same as that would be a lot more difficult, but it's about right and is more than close enough considering what I attempted to do.

I smile and put the cup down, continuing to wait in my apartment for my friend to arrive. I sent her a letter asking her to meet me in my apartment after she was done with raising the sun, and her other duties, which should be soon as the sun rose around an hour ago.

I slept early and woke up before dawn, I decided to not go and watch her raise the sun this year, instead I spent my time planning out everything. I have a small surprise for Celestia that goes beyond gifts, but that's for later and I can't wait to see her reaction to what I've already done.

I stopped by a few markets over the past week and was able to get a birthday banner that's now hanging from my ceiling in full view of the front door. I've also added a few basic party streamers all in orange and yellow, along with the cake I made of course.

It's maybe a little too much like a foals birthday party, but I think she'll find the experience novel. When she was a filly, celebrations for birthdays looked far different and she's probably never had one like this. I shift a bit as I get a little impatient while waiting.

I really do hope she likes everything, but I'm also partly just throwing things at a wall to see what sticks so I have a small bit of uncertainty. Well, maybe more than a small bit if I'm being honest with myself. I feel myself focused as I notice that Celestia has arrived, space warping in a small flash.

I didn't tell her how to arrive, so I guess she took the more obvious route. I flip a small switch and activate a second shield on my apartment to block out sound, I don't want others overhearing anything. I am glad I added that a while back, it really does simplify things.

As she appears I quickly notice something both lucky and unlucky. She teleports in facing the wrong direction, looking at the door and unaware of all my preparations while also having her backside facing me without any warning. I blank for half a second before forcing myself to act to distract my quickly wandering mind.

"SURPRISE!!" Both Entropy and I yell out at the same time, her sitting on top of my head and spreading out her wings as she yells. I see Celestia spin on the spot quickly and look around in surprise, only to stop as she reads the banner hanging above my head. Happy birthday Solis.

I sadly couldn't get one with her actual full name, but I felt the second name was good enough. I see her blink in confusion for a moment and look around, taking it all in, before grinning widely.

POV shift Celestia.

I feel myself jump slightly as I appear facing a doorway I haven't seen in a while. The loud and sudden shout made me turn on the spot, only to stop a second later at the sight.

Sitting in the middle of his apartment I see Shade and Entropy, both with large smiles and Entropy spreading her wings like some popup book. I look up to see a string on the ceiling, the string holding colorful letters made from paper. I read it for a moment and feel a smile forced its way past my earlier surprise and onto my face.

I focus more and my smile nearly becomes a laugh as I see Entropy is wearing a small birthday hat, along with Shade having his own hat around his neck so she could stand on his head. I look around at the room, his small table having a few gift boxes and a large cake, along with paper streamers of various hues of yellow and oranges hanging just about everywhere around the small room.

All in all it looks as if I took a wrong turn and ended up at a foals party, but I know it's for me and it feels so... I'm not sure. It feels festive I suppose, a change I was not expecting but am not against. I smile widely at him and can't help but laugh a little, "What is this?" I ask, trying not to dampen his mood but also too curious not to ask.

He takes Entropy off of his head and happily puts on a simple birthday hat. "As your friend I have decided that you are far too serious, you need some silliness. Happy birthday Celestia Solis! Would you like a hat?" He offers one of the simple cone hats covered in colors like it's the most natural thing in the world.

I look in disbelief for a moment before laughing even harder, a laugh mixed with both joy and utter bewilderment. I knew he would do something to surprise me, and it seemed every guess I had was never even close to the beautifully simple reality. And despite the odd choice I can't help but silently agree with him.

Many Ponies don't see it, but I do enjoy just being silly sometimes. I've heard a few of my more trusted Ponies who did know called it my way of relaxing, and maybe that is right. I just enjoy being fun and less serious sometimes, as all other Ponies do. I take the hat after a moment as my laughter dies down and I grin as much as I can. "I would love one."

I happily place the hat in front of my horn as he chuckles, both of us knowing that this was in part him trying to get me to look silly. And I do intend to look silly, because why not? It's not like it will hurt anypony. I smile in a different way, feeling some warmth knowing my friend has given me a place to just be... Silly.

He looks happy as well as he takes a kazoo of all things and hums into it, creating a long note. "And just like that, I've gotten you to do something new! Have you worn a birthday hat before?" I shake my head a little. "Then enjoy pretending to have a horn, just like everypony else. Now come on birthday mare, we have gifts and cake." He jokes with me a little while walking over to his table, I can't bring myself to roll my eyes at how happy I am.

In all my years I've had many MANY birthdays, but never like this. It seems he's once again taken the opportunity to completely blindside me with something I never even considered. I walk over and turn as Entropy lands on my back. "Happy birthday." She caws out, using larger words than she normally does.

That gets another chuckle from me as I move her off of my back and onto the table, glancing at the two gifts as I do so. Both being fairly large boxes, it seems he went with something different this year. "I never thought I'd be getting, this. You really are good at finding the most overlooked ideas." I compliment him a bit as I settle in. "Actually, where did you get the idea?"

He smiles a bit and shrugs, brushing off the compliment even though he should be taking it. "I do try, as for this? Well, have you ever had a party like this? Or even attended one?" He asks and I shake my head, causing him to nod in satisfaction. "Then I have given you the best gift I could, something new and interesting to do." He says with more flair than needed.

I pause a little, I just had the same thought a moment ago, but he really does know me well. Few know the weight of a long life, and fewer think about it often, even though I see new things it is not too often. This is, by far, the largest break from my normal life I've had in a long while. I giggle a little and nod. "It certainly is. Thank you, Shade. It's silly and, perfect." I say with honesty after a second of thought.

He beams with no shame at his reasoning for throwing a very old mare a filly's birthday party and moves over the large cake he brought, the smell of strawberries and cream wafting around. "No problem and this is just the start of today, I have something else planned. But first, you get a wish." He says while casting a series of flame spells to light the ten candles on top of the cake.

I can't help but laugh at his attitude, showing just a bit of his younger side and doing the same for me. Despite the parade and speech earlier, I feel relaxed, completely fine with doing something so utterly foal-like, even enjoying it. I take a deep breath and make a silent wish, a wish I have had for a very long time. :I wish, that you are well, sister:

Even with the sad thought I am beyond happy, happy with my friend and the joy he has brought me. He claps with his hooves and really makes a spectacle of this all, as if trying to make me feel like a foal again. "YAY! ... I would sing happy birthday, but only if you want, I am terrible at singing." He makes a silly and absurd joke.

I roll my eyes but still chuckle at the horrible joke that really shouldn't work, but does anyway. "Fine, be rude to the birthday mare." I use a slightly snooty tone to play alone before quickly dropping it as he laughs, my goal accomplished. "At least give me my gifts so I can be utterly amazed again." I am completely honest and enjoy his slightly bashful reaction to my words.

How a Pony so good at gifts could be surprised I'm excited for them is beyond even me, but I feel my excitement rise more as he moves a gift over, looking excited as well. "Fine, start with this one though, it's the less impressive gift. And keep it upright." He reveals as if it being less impressive would even dent my anticipation.

I move the box wrapped in daisy pattern paper over to me, it seems he even remembers that after a few years. I start to just rip it off, feeling no shame in acting like a filly for the moment, it is my birthday party after all. I'm met with a large box once the wrapping paper is off, a foot wide and nearly two feet tall.

I pull a string that loosely ties the top of the box together watching as all four sides come apart and fall outward. Sitting in the middle, now uncovered, is one of the oddest plants I have ever seen. The colors clash and bend in impossible ways as the beautiful and frankly confusing rose bush sits in front of me drawing my undivided attention.

I pick up a small card at the base of the pot. Rainbow Rose. I raise a brow and look over to Shade for an explanation. "I modified the Prismatic Rose you gave me, I did my best to make it look unique for a good gift. I thought you might like something that truly stands out for the royal gardens, or wherever else you want it. There are also some seeds in there." He points to a small bag that is with the pot at the base of the box.

I smile widely at his thoughtful and definitely unique gift. "Thank you, Shade. It's lovely." I get a smirk in response as he moves over the second gift. I waste no time in moving the pot to the side and opening the wrapped present, deciding to inspect the plant later. I open the second box to see a large amount of familiar tea leaves, I look curiously at him as he brings over his teapot, "New tea flavor?" I guess as it seems obvious.

He nods and brings a few leaves over and spends a few moments cutting up the cake while the tea is boiling. "Yup, this one is a little special though, it might actually go well with the cake too." He hangs the truth over me and passes me a large slice of cake and a fork. "Enjoy."

He also serves himself a slice and I take a bite, enjoying the mix of strawberries and cream while he pours some tea for me. He moves a cup over and waits for me to drink it, visibly anticipating my reaction. I decide to make a show of sipping it slowly but stop as I taste something completely and utterly out of place.

He chuckles at my confused look while I take a few more sips, each one remaining the same but still being so very odd. I give him a demanding look as this is far too odd not to have an interesting answer. "Did you add this to the tea leaves? And if you did, why cake? How cake?" I ask, sharing my befuddlement after placing the flavor. It's the perfect but still startlingly accurate for tea of all things, it also does go well with the cake.

He just laughs and takes a big bite of cake, refusing to answer for the moment. I huff and take a deeper drink of the odd tea, something that tastes far too similar to chocolate and vanilla cake. What has he made now? I wonder as we eat, my eyes trailing to the side in amusement as Entropy digs into her own piece of cake in a messy display.

POV shift Shade.

I hold in my amusement at not telling her immediately and letting her try to figure it out as she continues to drink the cake tea and I enjoy the regular cake.

Once I'm done with my piece I finally answer her, no need to hold it over her too much after all. "Actually, I used my method. I got some Cocoa and Vanilla plants, the tea is that flavor now, even if you grow it. You can have dessert without eating it and not feel guilty." I say with a slight bit of pride, it was hard getting the flavors right but it seems to have come out well.

She gives me an amused look for a moment and just laughs once again. I can safely say the party has been a success as she seems to have enjoyed it. She's been smiling basically nonstop and as far as I can tell she's thrilled with her gifts, and I'm thrilled to make her day.

She finishes her cake as well before speaking up again. "Because of course you'd make a plant for cake-flavored tea, I can't even imagine where you got the idea. Not that I'm complaining." She looks at the ten-pound box I've given her for a moment. "You do get the best gifts, two seemingly impossible plants, and a fun little party on top of it all." She says happily while moving the tea over to her.

I shrug a little and move past the compliment. "It's not hard for me, and I thought you might like something out of the ordinary for once. And that's where the second part of today comes in." I say vaguely as I move my plate to the side and stand up. "I need to grab my things, if you want more cake go for it, it's your birthday and I demand you don't feel guilty doing so." I walk away as she looks curious while laughing at the bad joke.

I do see her pile two more pieces of cake on her plate as I walk into my workroom and put on my saddlebags, getting ready for our little trip quickly. A few minutes later I'm ready and I walk back out to see she's already finished her second plate of cake. She is standing up while looking over to me as I walk back over. "So, what do you have planned? Something at Gaia's Eden?" She guesses.

I take my party hat off and she does the same, placing it under her wing and moving it wherever she puts things. "Nope, get your disguise on, we're going somewhere." I give her some vague instructions as Entropy activates her band and flies over to my back after throwing her hat somewhere, or losing it when devouring cake.

I watch as she raises a brow before doing as I asked. Her horn glows for a moment as there is a small flash of light, a second later a different mare stands in front of me. The same color coat, but a light blue mane and a cutie mark of the sun in a different form, along with her wings being gone. "Is that an illusion? Or some type of transformation?" I ask as my curiosity gets the best of me.

I mainly ask because she's now a fair bit shorter, shorter than me by a few inches actually. She looks up at me and smiles, "The latter, it's a very complicated spell. I am basically a powerful unicorn at the moment, even my wings are absent instead of unseen." She ruffles the fur on her back with her magic to demonstrate. "It is very complicated though, and horribly inefficient." She adds as I lead her to the front door.

I nod and open the door. "Can you use that one spell? The one to make sure we can talk without others understanding us?" She nods and a moment later I walk over the door. "To finally answer you. We're going to the park to do... Well, whatever you want." I reveal and she pauses for a moment, stopping mid-step. I look a bit concerned, "If that is fine with you?" I ask gently.

She smiles widely and nods. "Very much so, I rarely get to simply, sit, especially in public." She agrees but I can tell this is a surprise to her. "It has been a long time since I've just walked around, thank you." I raise a brow as she could do this without me, but I choose not to question it as we walk down the stairs.

As we step out onto the busy morning streets Celestia just looks around for a moment. "Actually, I think the last time I walked around disguised was the first time I came to your apartment." She comments and smiles as we see a few foals run past playing some game. "It really is nice."

I nod as I can see how hard it would be for her to find the time, or even the will to do so. What's the point in walking around in public if you are in disguise and have nopony to talk to beyond strangers who can't know who you actually are? Sure it could be fun but I feel as if she would instead spend her time doing something more private. "I thought you might like it, you don't seem to get out much." I am honest with my reasons.

She nods slowly as we walk through the streets. "Yes, I try my best to connect with my little Ponies, but it can be rather hard to keep up with them, they move rather quickly." She is also honest with me as we see the edge of the park a minute later. "I do prefer quiet places though, I often get my fill of celebration at events." She gives me some interesting information about herself.

I nod and give her a slightly apologetic look. "I didn't mean to drag you out, but time outside does me some good." She shakes her head and waves away my concern. "I hope you liked the little party, I did try to make it all new, but it is rather silly and maybe even stupid," I admit with a relaxed tone as we enter the park.

Celestia watches a few other Ponies filling a pothole in the cobbled road, watching them as we pass by. "Maybe, but I think silly is what I needed today." She seems content as we walk down a path in the park, ending up in a familiar area that I can't place. "How about we just sit? I think it would be nice to watch things up close for a while." She offers and I nod.

We both take seats on the closest bench, one that's overlooking a small pond. I think for a moment and chuckle as I remember where I am, breaking our short silence. She turns to me with a questioning look and I shrug. "This bench is where I met Shining and Twilight, both by accident. It's been a long time since then." I find some humor in this spot being where we ended up.

She looks around, eventually settling on watching a few ducks swim in the pond. "And such a short time all the same, it's only been five years." She states and I nod, letting that fact sink in. "You really have changed so much so quickly." She says with a little pride, hinting at my inventions as well as my personal growth.

I try not to let my mind drift to thoughts of an uncertain future and just enjoy the day. "Maybe, but the world has changed infinitely more than anything I've done." I get a little philosophical as I don't have a good response to her words. "I do wonder sometimes what life would be like if I never sent you that light spell, what would I be doing now?" I ponder as we both simply sit and relax as Ponies walk around and have fun on this lovely day.

She giggles. "Knowing you? You would still be involved somehow, you truly have a talent for finding yourself in interesting and crazy situations." She teases me slightly. "Or maybe it's your luck? Who knows?" I shake my head with a chuckle and lean back on the bench fully, letting Entropy jump on the bench in between us.

I roll my eyes at her last words. "My luck is some forsaken mix of wealth and misfortune. I got a Life Gem, but only after I agreed to hoof fight a Dragon by trying to help. Or maybe that's just my choices?" I voice my thoughts as a Pony walking past, carrying a pet hamster. I shake my head, "No, definitely my luck." I say with a confident tone.

She just giggles. "That is an old question, far before my time at least. Ponies have always wondered what was behind the events in their lives, or if anything was behind it at all." She looks down as a few ducks apparently think we have something to give them to eat and waddle over to the bench. "Maybe these ones have it all figured out, swimming and eating all day." She adds to what is becoming a lightly philosophical conversation.

I actually think about that for a minute, deciding that some philosophy is just what we need for her birthday. "Maybe, but they probably look at the world with a far different view. Sapience can be a gift and a curse, to see all the beauty in the world, along with all the sorrow." I add some beliefs from my past life that may hold more meaning in this world than my last.

She stays silent after that, simply staring at the Ponies and animals in the park. After a minute of silence, she looks at me with a very content smile. "Thank you." I just nod. "This is nice, to just be. Maybe it's something I will do more often. If I find the time, of course." She jokes slightly at her own busy job.

I scratch an itch on my back leg as I answer. "Well, if you do, you can always stop by my apartment, even if I'm not home." She raises a brow at that. "You are already keyed in the shield around my apartment, just in case you ever needed to enter without teleporting for some reason," I reveal a change I made earlier this week.

I realized it would be good for her to be able to get inside if needed without teleporting, so I made the change a few days ago. She smiles softly at that, "Then I have another to thank you for. Seriously, Shade, today was amazing. You once again outdone yourself, I can't wait for next year." She says with such a genuine tone that I can't help but grin widely.

I take the opportunity and reach out to hug Celestia while she's smaller than me, accidentally sandwiching Entropy between us. Entropy just joins in and hugs Celestia as well. Hugging this form of her is odd as I'm able to fully reach my forelegs around her, but I'm just happy as she hugs me back.

I pull back after a few moments, "Well, Sunny." I use a little nickname. "We have a few hours still, anything you want to do?"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

Happy new year!! And here, have a nice long Celestia perspective to celebrate.

Chapter 282

JUNE 21 Thursday.

I see Celestia grin at my question and she looks around for a moment. "I'm not sure, any suggestions?" She asks after a minute of thought.

I pause a little and think, trying to come up with something she would enjoy doing. "You have endless options really. We could go to a range and throw spells around, that's more my thing though. There are a few good places to eat nearby, I even know of a game club and a few tea shops." I just laid out some decent options after not thinking of anything that stood out.

She tilts her ears and head to the side, before shaking her head. "No, today has been far too silly and spontaneous for something so, normal." She leans forward a bit and stretches a hoof out to the side so she can scratch Entropy. "Anything truly out of the ordinary, somewhere you wouldn't normally go maybe?"

I smile a bit, happy that she wants to do something fun and odd, it seems I got her in the mood for some adventure. I sit silent for a minute and stop as an idea pops into my head, a very odd idea. I'm not sure it would fit perfectly but it should work and I can see her enjoying it.

The last time I visited the orphanage I grew up in I talked with Magree Limestone and she mentioned a few things I had mostly forgotten. I still want to donate to them, and have even looked into it some, this would be a good opportunity to ask Celestia actually. However, my idea revolves around a different oddity.

You can volunteer at the orphanage to entertain the foals there, Magree talked about a few Ponies who would come with interesting pets or puppet shows. It's maybe a bit off base for a birthday party, but I know how much she likes interacting with Ponies and I feel like she would enjoy it.

Worse comes to worst and she doesn't like it, not everything is perfect after all. Plus it's not like it would ruin today, things have already gone very well. I threw her a nice little party, took her to a lovely spot in the park, and hell I could end today by buying, lunch.

I sit there as those thoughts repeat in my head a few times. Why does this sound like a date? It's very obviously NOT one, but it's still an oddly accurate comparison. I don't think either of us thinks this is anything but us hanging out. Still, I feel a bit off now. I shake my head and force my mind to ignore this thought ruining my day out with a friend.

If I remember right we don't need advanced permission as it's mostly an informal thing, we just show up and make the offer to any foals who aren't busy which is most of the young ones. I ponder for a moment before deciding it would be a nice little experience. "Well, I do have one thing."

She turns to me again and looks away from some Ponies talking in the distance. "Let me guess, it's a surprise and I'll know when we get there?" She asks with a humorous and joking tone. I roll my eyes and stand up, taking a moment to make sure I don't step on any ducks.

I nod enthusiastically. "I most certainly am now, shall we get going? It might be a bit of a walk." I let her joke backfire on her as she giggled while standing up to follow me. "I think you'll enjoy it though. Actually, how often do you play with Spike when he and Twilight are around?" I try to bring up something similar to gauge her reaction.

She looks curious, I can see her trying to figure out how this relates to where we are going, but she seems to give up after a moment. "Often, although I heard he was very excited to visit you again, something about a ball?" She asks back as we leave the park and once again walk though the streets.

I chuckle at the memory and try to ignore the idea of Twilight talking about me to Celestia. "I really should find out what that enchantment is. I got it in Feather Falls, it's a ball that flies back to you when you throw it. He kept trying to catch it and every time he failed he'd get this determined look, absolutely adorable." I remind myself of the memory to stay focused as we pass into a smaller market area.

Unlike the market district, this is just a few dozen stalls along a street, small but interesting. She laughs as well and nods. "I can almost picture it, he can be a little stubborn when he wants to be. Recently he's started more schooling, mostly me and Twilight teaching him more words. The book has been very helpful." She adds with a grateful tone.

I nod as I am curious about that, I remember that the mental development of a Dragon seems to vary. Spike is still young and is doing well from what I've seen, he's at the age where he should do well with more schooling. "Good for him, you know. I wonder if a Dragon could learn Runic Magic? What do you think?" I ask a question I never got an answer to.

She also looks thoughtful for a minute. "I have encountered a few who have shown interest in magic, none seem willing to actually try all that much through, to my knowledge at least. I assume you found none on your trip?" I nod. "Well, considering the culture I'm not too surprised, but it might be possible. It is best to be careful though, magic can be very temperamental when dealing with the unknown." I can see the wisdom in that and hum in agreement.

"Hmm, well, my trip and fight might have made a few curious enough. Maybe I should test a little with Larimar if I ever get the chance, she has proven to be a decent Dragon to deal with." I don't hide the idea but make it clear with my tone that it's more a random thought than any form of plan.

She looks over at a stand selling something like peanut brittle with a red color to it and a lemony scent. I know she probably isn't carrying bits as her wings are hidden and pulling things from nowhere is a bad idea. I just smile and walk over, quickly buying two small bags and continuing to walk with her after passing over a bag.

I try a little and it's a crunchy sugary mess that seems to be a mix of lemon, pine nuts, and raspberries. "Thank you." She happily eats the odd treat. "You never did talk about Larimar much, even in the notes you gave me. What was she like?" I move out of the way of a few Ponies carrying some boxes as we near the other end of the little market.

I think for a moment. "You remember how I am with Ponies I don't know? Unexpressive, reserved, secretive, but generally polite and to the point?" She snorts and nods. "That, she is that, and I now know how everypony else that deals with me feels." I joke and she once again laughs. "She was honest though, as far as I could tell, and honored her end of any deal. Also more well-spoken than a lot of other Ponies, let alone Dragons."

She hums and looks far off for a moment. "I did try to remember her, I haven't spent much time in the Dragon Lands, let alone talking to a Dragon polite enough to answer me. I do think I remember her, I was rather busy at the time though, and in a hurry." She sounds mostly uncertain but I can understand why as the interaction seemed to be very minor.

I tilt my ear in thought and look forward again, seeing the end of the little market, and remember the directions. A half second later though my eyes drift to a very familiar Griffon only a dozen feet away. Avalon is buying something or other from a stall at the very end of the market where the crowd thins out. :Shit:

I stop mid-step and I see Celestia look confused before following my eyes. And worse still Avalon turns his head and also recognizes me, looking a little excited but then stopping as he spots Celestia to my right. "Uhh, h-hello?" He squeaks out a little louder than needed to be heard properly. :Fuck:

I can't decide whether to chuckle or curse my luck because, of course I'd run into one of my friends today. :WHY NOT?!!: I stay calm and silent for a moment and Celestia actually takes the initiative to close the gap and walk closer to the Griffon, giving him a calm smile. "Hello, nice to meet you, I'm Sunny Skies." She says happily but keeps her voice down so as to not startle him.

I quickly follow after her and see Avalon giving me a confused expression, before looking bashful at Celestia's warm greeting. "Y-Ya, hi... Avalon, I'm Shade's f-friend." He looks a bit uncomfortable like I expected, but not overly so. "Hey, Shade, n-nice to see you. W-What are you doing?" He asks but quickly looks like he just said something he shouldn't have.

I know for a fact that Avalon would have a hard time even trying to insult either of us if he tried, so I wave his concern away. "Hey Avalon, I'm doing well. Sunny here is a good friend, and it's her birthday so we're heading somewhere to celebrate." I'm a bit vague but mostly truthful, praying to Harmony that Celestia doesn't involve him more.

He blinks and looks at Celestia with more attentive eyes, taking in her appearance. Celestia just keeps smiling at Avalon, "Yes, Shade has made today rather enjoyable. It's nice to meet another of his friends, did you enjoy the celebrations today?" She asks, making small talk.

He nods slowly and smiles a bit. "Yes, I even got to see the P-Princess raise the sun." I nearly slam my hoof into my face at the irony on display and I can tell Celestia is enjoying every bit of this interaction. "A-Anyway, I need to... Get home, I have mea- Things, that need to be put away." Avalon gives a valid if obvious excuse to avoid this conversation, lucky bastard.

In his normal nervous way, he tries to avoid saying meat to upset anypony, all while I sweat in the background and nearly cry in relief at his words. Celestia nods and even steps out of the way a little. "Of course, meat can go bad fast, don't let us hold you up. It was nice meeting you Avalon, maybe I'll see you around." I feel some pity as Avalon is blind to the depth of that statement.

He again looks surprised at her casual attitude but takes it in stride and nods. "Y-Ya, it was nice to meet you. Goodbye, Shade... A-And you too Miss Sunny." He walks by us and adds the second part quickly before moving away quickly in slight embarrassment at the long pause in between his goodbyes.

We watch him take flight a few seconds later and I turn to Celestia, watching her break down into giggles. "I normally don't get a reaction like that out of this form, and don't worry, nopony can hear us again." I slump in slight relief. "Although, it seems your luck strikes again." She teases me as I start leading her down the street.

I huff out slowly and take a deep breath. "You're not the Pony who will be answering his questions, and he will have questions." I lament as she just looks more amused. "Fine be mean, at least you got to see him. He's doing well actually, unlocked one of his affinities not long ago." I try to perk up and shove away my worry over the encounter.

It's not too bad, but now I have to lie about Celestia to my only friend who's personally met Celestia and talked to her. It should be fine though, as long as he doesn't talk to Maple, or Blaz, or magic forbid Daisy. I just shove all of that out of my mind for the moment and try to enjoy things.

It's not too much of a problem, Avalon is very unlikely to realize that this is Celestia, but it still means questions that I would rather not answer. She chuckles and shows an interested look, "Really? He really has made some great progress then, are you still teaching him?"

I nod as we move to a less busy street, less being the keyword. The celebrations are still in full swing and we've passed several large parties already. "It's not really teaching. I mostly just give him reading suggestions and answer questions, maybe explaining something when needed. But he is doing well."

She gives me a deadpan stare. "That is basically the definition of teaching, now stop being so humble." She ends with a cheery tone as we pass onto a street that only has a few Ponies on it, the street the orphanage is on only has houses, and not many Ponies seem to be home at the moment.

We're near the far end of the street so it will be a while yet before we arrive. I shake my head, "No, I think I need to try and be as humble as possible honestly. I do not want to get arrogant, that never ends well for anypony." I have had some more arrogant thoughts over the past few months.

Nothing big, but things I need to keep an eye on and keep firm control of, I refuse to end up as some arrogant asshole who can't see reason through his ego. My more serious tone is noticed and she smiles softly, "Walking the line between pride and arrogance is tricky." She agrees in a less direct way.

That actually gets me curious. "What do you do to deal with it then? I personally try to spend some time doing simple things, gardening or just reading a book. Things to keep me grounded, remind me that I am just a Pony." I offer my little bit of insight.

I catch her eyes glancing at the sky for a second, as if looking for something. "I find that failure is a good reminder, and I have failed many times before." Her tone is still happy but we've taken a slightly more serious turn in our conversation, and I feel a bit bad at the turn it takes. "How do you deal with mistakes? Mentally I mean." She asks back with her own curiosity.

I feel the weight of her words for a few beats more before giving her question some thought. I shrug, "Not well, I tend to panic and stress a lot, even if that mistake affects me but isn't my fault." I am just as blunt and honest as her. "But that all fades, and after I am calm there are only two things to do. Fix it as best I can, and continue on, always moving forward, never forgetting a single misstep." I once again go to the more philosophical side to be more vague.

Things that really help keep me humble are my understanding of the truly powerful beings in this world and my death. She keeps her smile, "Then you are already doing better than many others. It is startlingly easy to lose sight of the fact that things will be ok, especially when they don't feel like they will." She adds to my words in that always upbeat attitude.

I try to think of somewhere to go from here, a way to keep talking as we still haven't arrived. "We've talked about a lot of interesting things, but to add to the last one. Size. I think my best example is being on a mountain, have you seen how big the world actually physically is?" I still keep it vague as she probably knows something I don't about this odd-ass world.

She grins at that and laughs a little. "I know it all too well, I can fly you know?" I blush a bit in embarrassment as that slipped my mind. "The world is vast, and much of it has been unseen. It is a good way to be humble, to know that everypony is in fact very small. Maybe then it's best you just be more selectively humble." She suggests but I don't answer as we finally arrive.

I know what she means, I'm not the best at taking a compliment, but I don't think I really need to be. Something to think about later. As I stopped she looked around, spotting a sign for the orphanage, and tilted her head in confusion. "Wait, is this?" I nod and she looks even more confused. "Why?"

I smile widely. "Well, first I had a bit of a question. I want to donate to them, and I have no idea how to do that properly. So, how?" I mimic her a little for my own amusement while her face rapidly shifts. She looks excited at my questions, but there is an undercurrent of understanding.

She looks at the building for a few moments, the silence stretching just a bit too long. "What do you feel for this place? I know you said it was never really home to you, but what was it then?" I remember telling her that I never felt too strongly about where I grew up, I don't think I gave her much detail though.

I can see plainly why she's asking such a thing and answer clearly. "Not much, I liked the other foals and the caretakers, but they where just foals and caretakers. It was never home, it was... Like staying with a friend I suppose, you know them, but it's not home. The only reason I even want to donate is because I can, and it will do some good for others." I try to put words to the complicated feelings.

She gives me a soft and comforting smile, even though it's not really needed, and mostly drops the topic. "Even now I'm surprised how mature you are." She looks at the building more closely and spots an old mare on the porch. "It depends on a lot, but if you want to remain unknown." I nod in agreement.

She just shows a knowing stare. "It's not hard, most such places have a charity to accept donations by law, they need it to accept any monetary donations at all." I have heard that but I didn't know the details. "For things beyond bits, it's just a give-and-take informal system."

I can see the logic. Keep track of the money to prevent scams, a less common but still very real thing in Equestria. "So I just find that and send them bits?" I ask and notice that a caretaker has spotted us, I wave as we'll be with them shortly. Celestia does the same and smiles more as some foals are led outside to play.

She shakes her head. "Yes and no. Giving too much can be harmful, for a place as large as this? Five, maybe six thousand. That's probably a few months of expenses and enough to fix things without giving them too much." I take her warnings seriously as I'm not the best at knowing the value of things, I've sadly become rich and out of touch. "You never did answer me, why are we here?" She asks again and brings us back to the main point, dropping the last subject altogether.

I spend a moment opening the gate, leading her into the large yard with a simple stone brick path to the porch. "I'll keep that in mind, thanks. As for us? Well, how would you like to spend some time volunteering and entertaining a bunch of bored foals?" I ask, knowing the answer within seconds.

She blinks and glances around, grinning like a fool. "Really?" I nod and she looks downright excited, even shifting on her front hooves a bit. "I would love to! Do we need an appointment? Or do we just speak to the Pony in charge?" She quickly asks as we get near the porch. "And what type of entertainment can we do?" She asks rapidly.

I see for a moment a side to Celestia that doesn't often come out, the side that is so much like Twilight. I chuckle, "The second, which is what we are doing. I was thinking of magic tricks." I step up the few stairs and look over to the old mare reading something. "Hello again Miss Magree." I catch the old mares attention.

The old mare doesn't startle, she just squints a bit and smiles at us. "Shade, Entropy. And a new friend as well, welcome." Celestia gives her an excited nod while Entropy bobs her head. "Please, sit. So what brings you two here?" She asks while closing her book and placing it to the side. "I am Magree Limestone, a pleasure to meet you." She greets Celestia warmly.

Celestia and I take a seat across from her and I can see Celestia practically glowing. "Sunny Skies, good to meet you, Ma'am. And that would be my friend's doing, he said you let Ponies volunteer to entertain the foals, if that's actually allowed?" She asks to be cautious, something I was planning to do that she beat me to.

Magree smiles widely and looks at me, I nod in agreement and she slowly rises from her seat. "It is more than welcome. We don't often get volunteers today and so many of the foals can't go to celebrations." She shows some emotion in a slightly low tone. "Most are out back right now, I think a little show would be great before lunch, if you have the time? Anything in particular you want to show?" She says while slowly walking us inside through the large doors.

Celestia looks at me and I take out a deck of cards after a second of thought, seeing that things are moving faster than I thought they would. "I know quite a few magic tricks, the non-magical ones I mean." That gets me a slightly amused but silent look from Magree. "I also know a few small spells, and Entropy is quite good with foals. What are you thinking?" I ask Celestia.

She answers without hesitation and with an excited tone as if she's been waiting days for this. "I know a few entertaining illusions, they should be fun. Thank you for letting us do this, I promise we'll behave ourselves." She adds to reassure Magree. It's not really needed though, several caretakers will be watching us at all times and we'll all be outside in plain view.

Magree just smiles calmly. "I know you will, Shade always was a well-behaved colt and you seem like a friend he trusts." I try not to see that slightly knowing look she gives me. :At least it feels less like a date, NOT THAT IT WAS ONE!: As we walk out a door we're greeted by a familiar sight, the backyard of the orphanage. A mostly grassy area surrounded by the sides of buildings.

To one side there is a small wooded area that mainly has bushes and a few small trees, a place I practiced at when I was young. On the other side, there is a play area with a playground and a sandbox along with plenty of open grass to run around on. Magree walks over and speaks to a few caretakers for a moment and they all disperse, starting to gather the foals.

In total, I'd say around a hundred young Ponies, a bit less than when I was here but still a slightly sad sight. I keep a smile though as I see Celestia grin widely at the little Ponies as they are gathered into groups of roughly the same ages. Magree steps up and speaks to them all. "Alright, quiet down you all." Her tone is more firm, reminding me of how she was when I was younger.

The colts and fillies all settle after a few moments and the crowd stares at us curiously, with me and Celestia standing behind Magree and in front of them all. "Now, we have two guests who have agreed to put on a little show for you all. Miss Sunny and Mr. Shade." The little ones all turn to us and speak in excited whispers.

I remember days like this as well, my favorites being the days a Pony would come and show us magic, but I focus on the moment for now. Being the focal point of so many eyes still feels odd, but after the Dragon Lands, it's not really anything but annoying, turns out being watched by hundreds of Dragons can help you stay calm.

"Behave yourselves and treat our guests well," Magree warns them and turns to us. "Well, begin whenever you are ready." It's a quick and simple thing, but I don't mind and step forward while taking a deck of cards out of my saddlebags. Celestia walks over to one side of the large group, who are standing in a messy line. She stops near the younger foals, around five and under.

While the ones in front of me are in the six to eight-year-old range. I smile widely and make a show of taking apart and shuffling the deck of cards with ease. Originally they seemed more interested in Celestia as she started to cast a few illusions, making little animals in bright colors and having them hop or dance in silly ways.

As I start my display, their eyes shift back to me. Once I'm done I spread the deck out in a wide ark, "Pick a card from my deck and magic you will see for I know which card you took from me." I instruct with a rhyming and showpony-like voice. A large smile on my face while moving the deck near them and letting them pick freely from it. Little did they know these cards aren't perfectly flat, the ink just jutting out enough to be picked up by my senses if I really concentrate.

I glance over and notice the beaming smile Celestia has as she entertains the little foals, enjoying the looks of wonder several of them have and seeming to be on top of the world. It seems I made a good choice after all.

After every foal has taken a card I take out a small bag, holding the odd candy I bought earlier. "Now shall we see if you win a prize from me?" My only answer is the excited crowd of sugar-crazed foals.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I was just going to leave it as it was, but then I thought about them running into Avalon, it may have been short but I enjoyed adding it. And taking Celestia to the orphanage was just too perfect not to do.

Ps, 900k LETS GO!!!

Pps, I started off the new year by getting sick as a dog, good news is I have more time for writing now.

And I mean, come on! Like I'd pass the opportunity to have Shade be a literal magician! It's too good to pass on.

Chapter 283

JUN 30 Saturday.

I slowly look through the documents in my hooves as I sit inside the pavilion at Gaia's Eden.

I stop reading for a moment and smile a bit at the memories of Celestia's birthday. Despite how it could look from the outside, it was a fun time and I did enjoy the day. Celestia and I spent an hour entertaining foals before she had to go and I just headed home.

I did get a rather enthusiastic invite from Magree to come back and perform again any time I wanted to. Turns out the combination of me confusing them with card tricks and my magical senses, along with Celestia's illusions, were very much appreciated by the foals.

I wouldn't be opposed to going back either. Sure it's not something I'd do every day but I found their happy faces to be a good distraction and break from my normal life. By the time we left, Celestia looked beyond content and pleased, so I guess I did something right.

Entropy ended up joining in as well, mostly by flying around and retrieving the cards when I called them out and guessed them correctly. She would let out a caw but keep it gentle so she doesn't scare them before plucking the card away with a quick dive and delivering sweets. I didn't give out too much, but I let several foals who looked like they could use some cheering-up win.

I still feel a bit weird about accidentally sending us on something so similar to a date, but I go out with my other friends so I can't see much of a reason why this is any different. Speaking of my friends, we have a game night tonight and I've been spending my time researching and working on a few things.

After my talk with Celestia, I ended up finding out what charity I'd need to send bits to, which was actually easier than expected. I just asked a random caretaker if they had anything like a pamphlet, and they did, and from there it was an easy trip to the bank to have the funds transferred anonymously.

I did end up waiting a few days as I didn't want to tip them off too much, and as far as I can tell it won't be tracked back to me easily. And if it is then anypony looking will just find an orphan giving back to the place that raised him, a completely normal thing to do and easily ignored.

The other thing I've been looking into is the tests Blue Stone mentioned a while back. It's all held in one place but it's really two different kinds of tests, one to become a nurse and the other an apprentice healer. The second requires some more explanation of what healers actually are and what they do.

I knew healers were basically magical doctors, but that description really doesn't paint a full picture. It was easy to find a few books on healers though and I've spent the last week reading through them to see if the profession interests me. It did not take long for me to become interested.

The health care system in Equestria can roughly be divided into a few professions and a lot of sub-professions under those. Nurse, healer, doctor. All of these have many specifications under them and there are less well-known professions as well, but this is enough for some context.

Nurses mostly support healers and doctors along with taking care of patients, they need to know some basic healing spells and have some medical knowledge but it's not that hard to do. Doctors need to know a lot more healing spells and a much larger amount of medical knowledge, that heavily depends on their specialty though, things like a surgeon or dentist are obviously different.

Then there are healers. A doctor only really uses healing spells when needed as a fallback, relying more on practical means to heal others. A healer only uses healing magic and has less practical knowledge than a doctor, allowing them to focus solely on their magic.

Why do this though? Why not just have doctors learn this as well and combine the roles? A few reasons. One the average Pony takes too long to learn both sets of skills, it takes decades to master one let alone both. It has been done before but it is exceedingly rare and not something most shoot for.

Second, not many Ponies have the skill in magic needed to become a healer. You need a large amount of magic reserves and also need to learn many complex spells to heal many different things. And if you have that skill in magic why not go into a more lucrative profession like enchanting or a different craft? It's not the first thing that comes to mind, so fewer Ponies go into the profession.

Third, you need magic to become a healer, by default that rules out the vast majority of Earth Ponies and Pegasi. In the end, there are simply few Ponies with both the interest and the skill to become a healer, and that's amongst unicorns in other tribes even less so. But healers are very much needed and valued as they can be irreplaceable.

Because the requirements are so strict the vast majority of healers are very skilled at what they do. They can heal wounds that would take weeks normally and stabilize patients on the brink of death faster than any doctor ever could. The hospital I volunteer at has one of the very few Master healers and they are instrumental to operations there.

As an example, I can think of the very burnt Pony I saw a while back. I didn't work on them but I found out later by reading their file out of curiosity that they had actually been very near death when they were brought in and no doctor could save them.

They just didn't have the time. The patient had massive blood loss along with extremely severe burns to their throat and face, their forelegs were nearly burned off completely and there was apparently even bone showing. Though that last part lacked detail in the file, I think the Pony writing it got uncomfortable. On a side note, I can actually look at patient files, but only if I do so to ask questions about the procedures done to save them and learn new things, something I do on occasion.

Without that healer, they would have died, that Master healer must be impressive to stabilize them in such a condition. After they had stabilized the patient the doctors mostly healed the skin and some flesh, the healing would just be wasting magic to heal something the doctors can do just fine. This is another reason healers are so valued, they don't need much if any equipment and can be deployed somewhere basically instantly.

A healer can arrive and start healing Ponies immediately, that speed is a literal lifesaver. Healers can also go to isolated places to heal others quickly and without needing to bring equipment that would slow them down. That's not even adding in that the Equestrian guard loves having healers. Somepony that can get a guard back up in minutes is a massive advantage and highly valued.

This all leads me to the paperwork in front of me. Two days ago I was given the forms I'd need to fill in if I wanted to take the test to become an Apprentice healer or nurse, and I'm seriously considering becoming a healer. Healers are always in short supply and you can never really have enough of them so they have a few more freedoms than others.

As a healer, you are given a license to practice anywhere you like in Equestria. There are laws and rules of course for things like a dead patient and many other situations, but overall a healer can go anywhere and heal others. The main limitation of this comes from the license you have.

There are four ranks and they are the same as casting ranks. Apprentice, Journeypony, Master, and Grandmaster. An apprentice can only heal non-life threatening wounds unsupervised by a doctor or higher rank healer unless it's an emergency.

Journeypony can heal most wounds but aren't allowed to open a practice of their own, like a small healing clinic. Masters can do that as well as heal anything they find wrong with a patient, there are less than a hundred in Equestria though, and most work for some organization instead of themselves.

There are only three known Grandmasters at the moment, and they all work for the guard. A Grandmaster can basically go anywhere they like. So yes this profession is very interesting to me now that I know what the hell it does, I really should have looked into it sooner.

Even just being an apprentice gives me some pretty big freedoms and being able to heal others of most wounds is an amazing thing. As a bonus, most healers are on contracts with employers and aren't completely beholden to their employers. I could work with the hospital without actually being a worker there.

The paperwork I was given also has a list of skills and spells I would need to qualify for the healer's test and a list of laws I must know in detail. On the practical side, I know far more than needed to become a healer, and on the magical side, I would just need to learn a few more healing spells to fill in the gaps.

I have been cramming the laws I've needed to learn but most of them are pretty straightforward. My time doing paperwork made them a lot easier to understand and most of them seemed to have been made to be very easy to understand. Probably to make the process of becoming a healer a small bit easier without sacrificing quality.

The more I learn about it the fewer reasons I can see to not go through with it. On top of everything else, I can also start using my healing magic to help others, mostly because I will have the skills of a healer and stand out less by using it. Actually, I've been testing my healing magic recently.

In the past when I was testing my teleportation and life magic I made a box filled with soil to keep large bugs in. I let them go after my initial testing but now I've filled it with a large amount of bugs. Mostly centipedes for their size and many legs that can be healed.

I've tested all the healing spells I could on them and as far as I can tell there are no side effects to adding life magic to my spells. Depending on how much neutral and life magic I add the effect can be boosted by different amounts. At one point I literally regrew every leg on a centipede along with some extensive damage to its exoskeleton.

The tests happen at the end of July but I need to send in the form less than two weeks from now. I still haven't fully made up my mind but I am learning all the knowledge I'm missing in case I do decide to go through with this. The only thing really holding me back is that I will get some attention from this.

An Earth Pony healer is NOT a common sight and Ponies will notice it. On the other hoof, it wouldn't stand out too much in my life from the perspective of others, I have been studying healing for years and volunteering for over a year. I'm just not sure, I still have two weeks to think about it though so I'm sitting on the decision for now.

I stare at the list of spells and mentally check another one off while closing the book next to me. I look over and notice that it's almost sunset. "Party time then," I mumble to myself, excited to see my friends again. Our last game night was over three weeks ago because we couldn't get the scheduling right.

I stand up with a stretch and watch Entropy chip down at me from above, sitting on the gem array that protects Gaia's Eden. She flies down and looks at the book's cover for a moment. "Med-dicle." She tries to read out a word that seems to catch her eyes and I scratch her as a reward.

"Medical. Good try Girl." I encourage her as she's been doing decent when it comes to reading. It's slow progress but over the past few weeks, she's learned quite a few basic words. We're far from done but progress is progress and she has shown the ability to comprehend words with some difficulty.

To be fair she's only five and a half, given time she might become more of a reader than me. I see her tail wag in excitement and smile, "Now, we need to get home. We have friends visiting, remember?" Another thing I've tried teaching her is time scales, such as the days of the week.

It's a simple but important skill and it lets me also give her some practice with math, if even just a little. "Friends?" She chirps in a confused tone before starting to count on her talons and chipping excitedly. "Sunday! Friends!" She mixes up the name but before I can correct her we both vanish.

I spend a moment in the Void, letting the peaceful silence consume me for a fraction of a second before appearing inside my apartment. I pet her again as she activates her illusion in excitement, "Saturday, not Sunday. And thank you." I give her a treat and move over to a cabinet where I prepare the sweets I'll be bringing today.

Maple said she'd be bringing pie so I decided to just make some peanut brittle. After the odd abomination of pine nuts and raspberries, I got a craving for real peanut brittle so that's what I'll be bringing along to Daisy's. I take down the plate and cast a spell to check the time, noticing that I'm almost late.

I spend a second grabbing the two games I bring and whistling to Entropy. She flies over and I walk across the hallway before knocking on the door. I only knock twice before Daisy runs over and opens the door with some surprising speed. Once the door is open I stop as I see Daisy's expression.

Calling it a wide smile doesn't really do it justice as she practically grabs me and pulls me inside what I'm quickly realizing has become a trap. I don't resist but give her a confused look, looking at the other two Ponies and seeing that Blaz and even Maple have larger-than-normal smiles. Daisy takes the plate from me and places it down as I finally speak up. "Ok, what happened? You are far too excited." I demand in confusion.

Daisy smiles even wider, somehow, and pushes me over to the couch. "What is happening? Oh, you know what is happening, mister!" She says as she pushes me over to a couch and all three look ready to interrogate me. "So, you going to fess up? Or do I need to start revealing embarrassing stories?" She demands as I grow even more confused.

I feel my ears pin back a little as my mind tries to come up with what they are asking about. Did they see Entropy? Shit, did they find out something worse? Did Daisy blab on accident and now I need to spill my guts and how they don't get angry for hiding things? "What? You can't just be vague with demands. Specify?!" I demand back as the sudden stress gets to me.

Blaz chuckles and smiles at me. "Daisy, we're all excited but give him room." For once Blaz is the voice of reason and that doesn't help my panicking mind. Daisy backs up a bit and I finally get an answer, "What she means Colt, is who was the mare you left home with a few days ago? Finally, find yourself a marefriend?" He asks in a teasing voice.

I feel relief and a new form of panic swap places to the front of my mind. Daisy gets impatient again and moves close to my face. "Who is she? Did you like going out with her? What's her name? Where did you go? OH!! Are you planning another date with her?" She rapid-fires questions faster than Twilight as I sit frozen in shock.

The situation is both better and much worse than I ever thought possible. I feel a blush force its way onto my face at her words and shake my head rapidly while fighting my blush. "N-NO! NO, it is NOT like that! She's just a friend! I was helping her celebrate her birthday!" I blurt out the truth as I'm too panicked to lie to them.

I see a look of realization from Blaz as he chuckles at my reaction. "Well, well. This is the friend you play games with then? Boo, go get her then Colt! By Celestia, from the way Daisy described her, she's a good-looking mare, and you can't tell us that blush is for nothing." My blush paints me red at his words and he starts to full-on laugh as I nearly cringe at the name used.

Maple just nods happily, keeping her small smile. "Good luck, you can do it." I glare at her and try to look up to hide my deepening blush at their relentless onslot. "So, what did you do to celebrate? That was the Summer Sun Celebration, right? You take her out to eat?" She adds and I look back down to glare harder as she smiles.

Daisy doesn't look the least bit perturbed and nods along. "Ya, what did you do?! That mare was smiling like the sun after you two left your apartment." She uses a slightly suggestive tone and I retaliate by throwing a pillow on the couch at her, missing by an inch. "That doesn't answer my questions, Shade, and I still have that one story when you first came to my office to work with me, you know the one." She teases me and makes a threat at the same time.

My blush gets much worse at the memory. To most Ponies such an event is hardly embarrassing, but she knows I consider it embarrassing and that's enough. From their looks and tones, I know I'm not getting out of here without answering them, and for a moment I even considered just teleporting away, but I crushed that thought.

This may be an embarrassing shit show, but revealing other things like that won't help. I know my friends and they will just take turns camping outside of my front door until I answer them, and that's if I got out of here without answering them. I glare at them all for a long moment, "Fine! But that's all I'm answering!! NO MORE!" I insist and that is enough to have Daisy back up a bit.

Daisy is bouncing from hoof to hoof as she waits for me to settle my mind with an impatient look. At least it's nothing too bad, but it does bring to mind my thoughts from before. I nearly had a heart attack because they said they knew something, I really don't like the way that feels and what it does to me.

I take a few deep breaths and try to relax, the game is over and I lost, the least I could do is lose with some grace. I sigh and rub my face, trying to force away the blush I have. "Her name is Sunny, no I'm not telling you her last name. And I held a small, birthday party for her." I say the last part in a reluctant mumble.

Daisy opens her mouth but I put a hoof over it and glare softly. "I said no more questions!" She shuts her muzzle. I take a deep breath and just get it over with. "We went to the park and then spent some time volunteering to entertain foals where I grew up. Yes, it was fun, no I don't know if we will do it again. And it WAS NOT A DATE." I insist but they all look unconvinced.

Blaz stops his laughs and nods sarcastically while grinning like a fool. "Yup, a private party, a walk in the park, and entertaining foals, definitely not a date." He says with a knowing look that I want to wipe off his face. "And considering that smile I bet she was just thrilled to spend time with you, and you seemed to have liked it as well." I use all my will to fight off another blush after hearing that.

Maple nods in agreement and Daisy just beams. "Fine, I did the same thing with stone. But I'll meet her one day." She promises and I face hoof in exasperation. "For now I'll settle for that adorable face that looks like a red balloon and is totally not attracted to that pretty white mare with the blue mane." She teases me more and I try to ignore her as best I can as Maple picks up the deck of uno cards.

I sigh and bury my face in the couch cushion with a groan as even Entropy starts letting out some amused chirps, being careful not to be too loud. I take my cards from Maple and glare at them all again as my blush finally goes down, "I will have my revenge, and it will be sweet." I treated them with a deadly serious tone

"Worth it! Go get that mare Shade. OH! You could invite her to game night!" Daisy proves too powerful and I feel my blush come back while I make her draw four cards. She keeps her smile and huffs, "Fine, but don't hesitate to come to us for advice if you need it." She uses a less teasing and more genuine tone.

I sigh and lessen my glare, not having the heart to be too mean when she's actually trying to be nice. This may have been an unpleasant surprise but at least they know now, fuck my luck. And they also respected my wishes and stopped asking more questions for the moment, so I can at least be happy about that, I guess.

I know more questions will come but it's nice to know they can restrain themselves. Maybe this would be a good test of if I can tell them other things? Maybe. I play another card and smile thinly. "Please don't, I will flood your apartment if you do." I give them a threat and they roll their eyes at me.

I settle in as Entropy snuggles up with me, my mind busy with the game and my suddenly tumultuous thoughts. All the while I try to ignore my three friends crafting theories about Celestia. :Fuck today... I don't care if it looked like a date, it wasn't! At least this is all over now. Wait... Cadance. FUCK!!! FUCK FUCK FUUUUCCCCK!!!!:

POV shift Celestia.

I move another form to the side and whistle a happy tune as I fill out the endless paperwork that needs to be done properly to keep things running. Enjoying the night air that blows in from my open bedroom window as I do so.

I cast a quick spell and copy the document in a moment flat, something I have done for a long time but not with such ease. I do wonder just how much time he has saved and cost me. The spells for paperwork and other simple inventions have made a large amount of work, but it has been cut down again by the added efficiency.

I normally finish my work half an hour earlier now, a true blessing and an amazing gift. I hope he is doing well, I did worry quite a bit after the wolf incident but he seems fine so far. At least fine enough to make my day and send me on an adventure I couldn't have ever predicted.

The party was a silly thing, but I loved it for that reason alone. To just be silly, when was the last time I did that? A few decades at least and that was much more tame. The park was also very nice, even if we spent only a little time there, the same with the walk through the city.

The best by far though were the foals, seeing and listening to so many pure souls having fun and enjoying life makes me feel, young. The opportunity to do something so small as making them happy is just so different, so removed from this all that it feels unreal.

The Princess Celestia entertaining foals, which would normally be a wall of paperwork and preparations just to attempt and it would also be far more controlled. That might just be the best gift he gave me. It seems I'll have to try quite a bit harder next year when his birthday comes around. It would be nice to make him just as happy as I was, but how?

He's a tricky Pony to get anything for and planning anything big is basically futile as I know he'd infinitely prefer something small. All that is for another day though, for now, I intend to do the same thing I did every night since my birthday. Smile and feel happy.

I can't seem to stop smiling, it has proven to be a tic that won't go away. No matter where I am I only seem to drop the smile when in meetings, through great effort on my part, and it remains when I am alone in my office and even when I walk through the hallways. I tried to be annoyed at him for causing this but I can't seem to do that either, not that I would if I could.

I know a part of me is excited, wanting to do it all again, but that must wait. I have work and responsibilities, but still, having a new possibility such as this available makes it all more... I'm not sure. I shake my head as the thought seems to stop at a dead-end. Looking up a moment later as a Pony knocks on my door.

I can already tell who it is, and I know that this will prove to be a fun conversation. I open the door and watch my niece practically slam the door open before quickly walking in and closing it. "Aunty!" She greets me in an extremely excited tone and smiles widely. "How did your birthday go?" She demands an answer as she walks over.

She had to attend a function in a distant city and in the end, only arrived back today. I smile at her and she raises a brow while looking at me with focused eyes. "It was fun, I had quite a good time," I answer shortly as I want to hold it over her, hoping to see her pout. "So, how was Manhattan? I assume-" That's as far as I get before she gets much closer.

She looks at me critically as if looking for something. "You look more than just happy. So, what did you two do that was so much fun?" She asks with a suggestive tone. Something I ignore as she often makes a game of trying to tease me.

I roll my eyes but keep my smile all the same. "A small party at his apartment, he even got birthday hats." I giggle a little at her confused and shocked look. I thought it would be harder to get a reaction out of her, it seems she really is excited. "Along with a walk in the park and spending some time volunteering to entertain foals, it was quite the day," I add the less humorous facts quickly as they probably won't give me much of an amused reaction.

Her shock deepens quickly. She sits there mouth agape for a moment before smiling more than I may have ever seen before. "A walk in the park? And entertaining foals?" She asks as if I'm joking, with me now the one confused at her odd reaction. "So, what you're saying is that he threw you a birthday party. And took you on a date?" She asks in a quietly excited tone.

I blink for a moment and give her a shocked look, but as the thought passes I can't help but realize how such a meeting looks from the perspective of others. I feel myself do something I rarely ever do, blushing in embarrassment for not seeing such a thing earlier and being clear with her. "What? No-" I hear my royal voice for a moment and move back in shock.

However, I'm cut off again as she moves inches from my face with a smile that seems impossible and a tone more focused than I have ever heard from her in her entire life. "Shhh, I can question him later, it is good to know he’s good with foals. Now." She gets even closer to my face. "Tell, me, every, last, detail."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I needed a way to add the context around healers and didn’t have enough to finish the chapter, so you all got your wish, it might be short but it fits and I liked it. I ran out of ideas with Cadance though so no continuation this time, sorry.

Chapter 284

JUL 12 Thursday.

I sigh as I look at the letter on my counter, a letter I have been hesitating to open for three hours now.

My friends have done as I expected them to do, bothering me with questions and teasing me as much as they can. At least they are taking no for an answer, even if that doesn't stop them from asking again and again. Even Stone made some jokes at my expense when we were training, although he seemed uninterested in digging into my life with questions, thank Magic for that.

After the rather embarrassing events two weeks ago my head has been running through a topic I've thought about before., and it's safe to say I have some confusing thoughts about everything. I did enjoy the event and I know there is something in me that wants to do it again, I'm just not sure what that means yet. I don't think either of us thought of it as a date at the time, but the idea still lingers in my head and I'm not sure how she feels about it.

I do very much care for Celestia as a friend, but the idea of that going further is both terrifying and persistently intriguing. I really don't know what to think at this point. On one hoof I don't feel like I can just, do that, take such a step. On the other hoof, I can think of several logical reasons why it's not impossible, which really hasn't helped me get my mind settled.

And bringing it up to Celestia is not something I want to do, even if it involves her this is my own thoughts messing with me. To be blunt, I'm confused as hell about everything involving this, and I can't seem to bring myself to do anything at all in the end. Maybe that's for the best though, it gives me time to think instead of acting.

I want to just throw the very concept into some deep corner of my mind, but it's fucking persistent, and ignoring it isn't really helping. For now, I guess I'll just live and keep thinking over it again and again. I really REALLY don't want to mess up what I have with a great friend for something that I'm not even sure I would want, let alone whatever she would want, but something about going further is so... I don’t know, I guess I don't have a word for it.

I take a deep breath and bring my mind back to the letter sitting in front of me, a letter from Cadance. There is nothing that terrifies me more than whatever the hell Cadance has sent me. I never heard anything about my prank, I'm not even sure if it was noticed, but considering the last letter I got from Cadance, I'm concerned to say the least.

I sigh knowing full well that Cadance will hound me at our next meeting if I don't read it, and ignoring her doesn't really work that well no matter how satisfying it is. I bring the letter over and open it with some hesitation, slumping in relief as nothing happens when it is opened. I take out the letter and start reading it.

Dear, Shade.

So, Aunty and I had a lovely conversation about the little party you threw for her. I will say she's been smiling for a week straight now, thank you for that, it's good to see her so happy. From the way she talked about everything in detail she seemed to have loved the entire day, you even got her out of the palace and let her be a normal mare for once. I love it!

I smile as that is more than I thought I'd ever do, it is good to know I made her life a little brighter even if just for a day. "Wait... Fuck." I mumble as I read it again.

Now, how was your date? Oh, I know you and Aunty will deny it every day of the week, but come on, really? You took her on a trip to the park and to the place you grew up, if I didn't know how dense you were I'd be celebrating. You should have seen that shocked look she had when I called it a date, it made my week.

In all seriousness, I have questions for you, don't even try to run. But also some advice, whatever you think about all this in hindsight, GO SLOW. You have the time, so take a deep breath, hold it in, and think about just how much you like her. Because if you do something rash, so will I.

Now, keep those happy thoughts in mind and think things through like a good paranoid stallion. And if you need any advice AT ALL, I expect a letter immediately. Beyond you looking like a tomato while reading this, how have you been doing? Are things going well? Are any new inventions in the works? Any thoughts you want to share?

By the way, I know what you did, and I will give you points for getting creative. I WILL have my revenge, I'm busy right now though so you'll have to wait, enjoy the uncertainty.

Signed, your confidant, Cadance.

I glare at the letter as I blush, thankful that I am at least alone with my embarrassment. She is far too good at hitting my buttons, in my defense she goes for cheap shots. Again the thoughts I've been trying to control pop up as I fold up the letter and hold it in thought.

Well, Celestia at least knows it looked like a date, isn't that thought terrifying? By magic our next meeting is going to be a shit show, how do I bring it up to talk about it? Do I even want to talk about it at all? Magic damnit Cadance you just had to drop this shit on me today.

I place the letter to the side after resisting the urge to burn it to ash and take a few breaths to calm down again. I need something that isn't this to think about and luckily for me, my day has plenty of free time to mess around with. First and foremost though, is my newly finished artifact.

I walk into my workroom and look at the small artifact on my desk, something I still don't have a name for. I took my time as I was in no rush and after a few weeks, I finally got it fully enchanted and finished. The end result still needs testing but should work well.

For the time being, I've attached the artifact to a loop of twine so it can hang from my neck. I pick it up and look it over for a moment, the carvings of the wolves trying to pull my mind to the previous topic again. I shake my head and put the necklace on while walking back out into the main room.

I don't need to test it at large heights as it will work the same at any height so doing it here should be fine. I take a deep breath and move a foreleg forward, bringing it down onto empty air. A second before it can move too far the artifact kicks in and I feel my hoof come into contact with something solid despite my hoof being several inches off of the ground.

I move my other foreleg forward and do the same, now having my front legs standing on nothing but air. I can see wisps of what looks like white mist around both hooves as I stand on them. I lift a hindleg off of the ground to a similar height, stepping on another platform of air and lifting myself up into the air fully.

I move my last leg up and step on a fourth platform, taking a moment to get a closer look at one of the air platforms by craning down my neck. Somewhat transparent platforms are only slightly larger than my hoof and made from swelling streams of air that seem to condense and flow away at random. It's an odd feeling to be standing on seemingly nothing and it is seemingly solid, something my brain is making very clear with some worry as my instincts fight me.

The spell to make the small platforms of air is actually very simple, and as far as I can tell the spell will use far less wind magic than the artifact can provide, making it passive. I could actually add something else to it if I wanted to, but for the moment the main feature I wanted is working.

I try to keep my balance as I stand several inches off the ground. After a moment I take another deep breath and take a step forward, hoping I won't faceplant into my floor. I take a step and feel another platform appear as the old one under that hoof vanishes. Then another hesitant step, and another.

After a moment I start slowly walking through the air to one side of my apartment. Each step I take with more certainty and after a minute I smile as I walk steadily through the air at a normal pace, the platforms keeping up just fine. It seems everything is working, even the Intent runes.

When I first started making this artifact I didn't want an artifact that would just let me walk through the air, I wanted a platform I could walk on and move off of as needed. But I had a hard time finding a way to implement that properly so they would always appear where needed, in the end, I got creative.

I don't normally use intent-based runes, for several reasons I've laid out before, but in this case, they ended up working the best for this task. I needed the platforms to appear when wanted while also allowing me to not make one at all when needed. The spell I made was an attempt at doing that, and it is a combination of a few runes.

Every time I have the intent of stepping on something solid it will make a platform, it's as simple as that. On the upside, this means it's basically an unconscious action that won't take my focus away from anything more important. But that also means it could be activated unintentionally if I don't pay enough attention.

It's a balancing act I'll need to keep in mind but it should prove useful. Running over terrain no matter how rough is now something that won't even slow me down, and I can even climb stairs that aren't there to reach high locations in narrow spaces.

Honestly, most of this thing's uses are pretty specific and I knew from the beginning that this was not going to be some groundbreaking artifact. I really just wanted to make something and this was the best idea Celestia and I could come up with at the time.

If I ever have a better use I can just disenchant it and make something new. I spend a few more minutes just playing around with my new toy as Entropy watches from her perch with interest. Eventually, I get tired of just walking around and step back onto the ground before walking back into my workroom.

I take the artifact off and spend a few minutes making notes on things that I could use this artifact for and other ideas for the rest of the tooth I have. Another good thing about this artifact is that anypony can use it, it might actually make a good gift if I can explain away its origin, or a useful tool to give out when needed.

Once I'm done with that I sit at my desk for a few moments before checking the time, still seeing that I have a few hours before my shift at the hospital. More than enough time to think up some ideas and try to come up with something to improve or invent.

I haven't made anything for the public for a few months now and I think it's time I get back to my job. But like many times before I have trouble finding something to make, it's not as easy as picking at random after all. I could go with a plant? But that would take a while and would only give me time, it's not a great distraction.

I have been learning a lot of healing spells recently, there are actually a few in there that could use some improvement now that I think about it. I shrug, bringing over a different illusionary notebook and start to look through my collection of healing spells. After a while, I note many spells that could use improvement, but one stands out as particularly bad.

The spell itself is pretty simple, it's made to help with swelling and inflammation, the name is honestly the most interesting part, and not for a good reason. Reversed Swelling spell, yes, really. Beyond the name, the spell is not the best, out of its six runes three don't really fit that well and parts of the math are just sloppy.

I have no idea who made this but it seems like something I'm better off remaking than just improving, and with little else to do I get to work. This spell is actually pretty interesting in function, it's odd but it seems effective. Like many healing spells it basically brute forces things with runes and magic.

There is room to fix things though. I remove all the math and copy the runes to the side, keeping the three that work well and trying to remember any runes that would work well as replacements for the other three. The math is bad enough that just rebuilding things from the ground up is preferable.

The spell works by using a rune to target swelling and then using a rune of Shrinking to very literally shrink the problem away. It's an odd solution but it seems to work well to cut down on swelling without actually changing the body itself, just manipulating its size. Shrinking spells are actually interesting in and of themselves.

They normally cost a lot of magic and can be temperamental, but the idea behind them seems closer to space manipulation than anything else. I know it's not because I would be able to sense it if it was, maybe it's just compressing the physical matter? That could be its own problem though and trying to figure that out is a whole different thing.

I'll need to look into other shrinking runes to see what I can find. The shrinking rune used here is subpar at best and that's being generous. I could also use some math to make the parameters while still making the spell more magically efficient. Another component of the spell is a Protection rune that keeps the magic from shrinking anything it shouldn't.

That one is too vague and widespread to make the parameters with just math so I will need to also find a different Protection rune to replace this one, it's not too specific so it shouldn't be hard. The last rune is one that just confused me for a while, but by the time I figured it out I nearly face hoofed in annoyance.

Some healing spells are given much more attention than others, a spell like this is used far less often than something like a herb to do the same thing. This spell is mostly used by healers, the same group that's far less likely to complain about higher magical costs.

The last rune took me a while to find and it's a damned Anti Theft rune, it's effectively used to hamper anypony without permission from using the spell by upping the magic cost. Because only the creator would have the runic context it's a somewhat effective way to prevent theft by making it less worth it.

I don't know when or why as I don't have any information on how old this spell is or who made it. It seems that at some point the runic context for this rune was either lost or the spell was just stolen before it ended up becoming public, and instead of remaking the spell they just tanked the extra magic cost and changed nothing.

It's honestly stupid that no Pony has fixed this yet and this alone is enough of a reason to remake this damn thing completely. I sigh in mild frustration and get to work, starting off with the basic math a lot of these spells use to function at all. Things like parameters for how the spell is cast, and how much it can vary depending on the caster's will.

After that I start to flip through my library of runes, my collection having grown more and more over the years. Learning more advanced spells also takes learning more runes so over time I'm not just collecting more runes I'm collecting them faster. At this point, I have well over a thousand and I've even started organizing them into categories.

I spend an hour going through rune after rune and in the end, I can't find any good shrinking runes, so it seems I will need to go and find more of those. I did find a Protection rune that will work well so that's at least some good news, but I should also look into a few similar spells to this type to see if I can find a perfect fit for this spell.

I spend another hour finishing most of the math for the spell, saving a few larger parts for later as I'll need to come up with some formulas and find the right shrinking rune for this. Once I've done everything I can for the moment I make meticulous notes on everything, you do not want to forget anything when making a spell, that's just asking for trouble.

After I'm done with that I stand up and stretch, feeling a few joints pop as I walk back into the main room and see Entropy happily sleeping on her perch. I still have a little time left but I don't feel like starting up yet another project on a spell or invention.

I look around my apartment for a few moments, I may have a decent amount of decorations but my apartment is still fairly empty. My walls only have a single painting. My furniture consisted of a carpet, one bookshelf, and a small table with seating cushions. My little statue of a Griffon carved from ruby, and also my plants.

My original Iron Oak Tree. My cactus and fern, each in their own mini climate. My juniper bush and a small Moon Glow bush. It's not all that much and I just keep them around as mementos of my early days of plant breeding. I could add to it though.

I still have plenty of space and adding something with more color would be interesting, it would also liven things up even more. I think for a few moments and remember I kept some of the Prismatic Rose seeds Celestia gave me in my workroom, I only took one to Gaia's Eden as that's all I needed to make more.

I nod after a second of thought and walk back into my workroom, looking for a way to add something to my home. I still have a few large blocks of maple wood from years ago along with paint from several other projects. I can also be more crazy with my ideas than before.

My friends now know more about my skill in spells and enchanting so making something stand out wouldn't be too odd or out of the ordinary. I smile a bit as several ideas come to mind, but I start with the Prismatic Rose. I fill a larger pot with soil before grabbing a seed and heading back to the main room.

The right corner of my apartment near my front doorway is completely empty, being a small area in between the wall and my kitchen. I place the pot in the corner and plant the seed before adding some water and life magic, controlling its growth with practiced ease.

It only takes me a short minute to grow the Prismatic Rose into a bush, one foot wide and three feet tall with a cylinder shape. It looks like something you'd buy at a high-end plant shop, with its many colored roses sitting on the outside and the plant having a very well-trimmed look.

I'll have to trim it occasionally but I think it looks nice, a little addition to this empty spot in my home. I already have a few other ideas for things to make or add, if nothing else I should get a couch for more seating. Normally my friends and I just use the table or floor but I can do better than that.

With that done I decide to leave everything else for another time and get ready for my volunteer work. I grab my saddlebags and spend a moment collecting some important paperwork. After two weeks of thought, I eventually decided to take the test to become an Apprentice healer.

Sure I will get some attention but I realized that being able to heal others legally and having a legitimate excuse to heal others could be very useful for future events. I have no idea how the future will go anymore and even if things stay the same this is not a show, Ponies can and will get hurt as things happen. Being able to heal them is a valuable tool that I can't walk away from just because I will have some more attention on myself, I'll just have to deal with it I suppose.

I've studied everything I need to know and at this point, I'm just trying to learn the laws I'll need to follow in more detail. I might not get anything like a perfect score, but if I focus over the next two weeks I should be able to pass any written test with a decent score.

After I have my things gathered I gently shake Entropy awake from atop her perch with my space magic. She looks at me tiredly, "Time to go Girl." She already knows where I'm going so she just merges into my shadow a second later to continue sleeping and I head out.

I make it to the roof and cast the Wing spell to take flight and get there in time. It's a bit of a rainy day, and my coat gets a little soaked by the time I arrive. I land at the back entrance of the hospital and cast a drying spell on myself and my things as I walk inside and move over to the lockers.

I arrived early as I needed to pass off this paperwork, so instead of meeting up with the nurses, I headed to the offices. A few minutes later I arrive at the office of Mellow Meadows, a mare I haven't interacted with that much. To be fair I've just been doing the same thing my entire time here so I haven't really needed to meet her much.

The only times have been when asking for patient files and when I went on my trip to the Dragon Lands. She's mostly been a very professional mare, not very friendly or unfriendly but very much willing to help out and get work done. I sense the inside of the room for a moment to make sure she's here before knocking on the door. "Come in."

I open the door and see Dr. Meadows doing paperwork, not uncommon for a Pony in administration. She looks up at me and nods in greeting while waving me inside. "Ah, Mr. Evergreen. What can I help you with?" She looks fairly busy so I don't mind the blunt attitude.

I nod back in greeting and pass over the forms I've filled out. "Just here to turn these in and ask if there is anything else I should know about the tests." She stops for a moment and looks over the papers with a bit of surprise, then shifts to a happy look a moment later.

Despite her very professional attitude, she's not the best at hiding her expression. She reads through the documents and smiles a bit while placing them down and looking fully at me. "It is always good to see an aspiring healer, and from what I heard you might be a good fit for it." She says with a pleased tone.

I've heard a few staff members talk about me, more office gossip than anything, and something I just ignore, but a few have taken notice that I'm skilled for my age. She seems to think for a moment, "Hmm, I can't give you much advice beyond studying well." She says levelly.

"However, I will compliment you on the work you have done and encourage you to try your best." She continues after a pause. "A Pony with the magical skill you have is a great thing to see in our field, and I hope to see you go much further in the future." She is surprisingly kind with her words.

I brush off the kind words. I know she's probably part of the grading for the tests in some way, she probably can't tell me much without crossing a line. I just nod as I wasn't expecting much. "Thank you for the advice and the kind words. Is there anything else I need to fill out?" I ask just to be sure as I know little about the actual process.

She shakes her head and writes something down on some paper. "No, everything seems to be in order. The test is on the thirty-first at noon so please try to be here early. It also lasts three days, you have made arrangements, yes?" I nod and she smiles more.

After a second she moves a few papers to the side and focuses on me for a long second. "You have been a good volunteer in your time here, and have helped a lot from the reports I've gotten. No matter where you end up, thank you for your time with us." I am again taken aback by the much more emotional tone and genuine words.

I smile back after a moment and nod, not knowing her well but still appreciating the encouragement. "And thank you for having me. It was a pleasure helping so many." I am genuine as well but keep my response short. "Have a good day Dr. Meadows." I give her a simple goodbye as I turn and leave the office.

She does the same as I walk away. "You as well Mr. Evergreen, I wish you luck."

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. :]
Current year is 996

Not too much in this one, but I have noticed that I haven't really made any standout characters in the hospital. I think I just never had the time to flesh them out enough, but at least I added a few for later.

Also, any ideas for furniture?

Ps. I'll see you all Monday, have a good weekend.

Chapter 285

JUL 22 Sunday.

I carefully move my magic, drawing out a spell matrix with precision and speed, while also doing the same once again to my side.

Over time as my skill in magic has grown I've gotten deeper into more advanced things. The Healer's test made me learn a few advanced healing spells and I'm building a good library of them so far. But the further I go the harder progress becomes and the more time it takes to make any progress.

At the moment I'm trying to draw out two spell matrixes at the same time, a feat that's proven frustrating and difficult in the past and continues to be. Then again advancing to a Master Rank caster in either type of casting method is no easy feat and something very few ever accomplish.

Ironically enough I could somewhat be considered a master in spell crafting because I've made a rune, almost, it would be on a technicality as that is true but lacks context. For most things becoming a master isn't really that clear cut, it can be tricky and depend on interpretation.

There are good ways to measure what rank you are but those are more milestones than anything and often are treated as accomplishments that need substance to back them up. That's to say that it's not as easy as casting two spells at once to become a Master Rank caster because while that is technically the main goal it's not so simple.

For perspective, different professions are more and less strict about what a rank really means and how you fit into one. Healers have very firm ranks and to be considered a master you need to know and be able to cast a massive variety of healing spells, you also need to pass an actual test to advance and prove what you can do.

For something like a carver it can be a specific type of carving, things like feathers and other details that are far out of reach of a normal craftspony could be considered Journeypony rank skill. For Runic Casting the ranks have some hard milestones, like multi-casting spells, but also other things like your knowledge and skill in casting.

For these ranks they aren't based on a test like healers, but instead skill and knowledge, along with others agreeing to the fact. Sure you could focus really hard and learn to cast two simple spells at once, but a master who can only barely cast two spells wouldn't be recognized by others. You would be a master by technicality and while you may have the rank you would not have the recognition.

And that's if that was the only requirement, which it is not. A master not only needs to be able to cast two spells but ANY combination of two spells, you need to master multi-casting. At this point, I can cast two basic Candleflame spells without too much difficulty, but I can't do that with advanced spells, let alone master spells.

A spell rank is also up to a lot of interpretation, but the general rule for spell ranks mostly has to do with the number of rings a spell has. Novice spells are one to three, advanced are three to five, and master six and up. And Grandmaster spells are so far beyond anything else that you can't really measure them this way.

To become a true master spell crafter I would simply need to make a Master Rank spell, and I could probably do that actually. I also have the knowledge for the rank and with the Love rune most would probably agree with me having it if they knew and I made a Master Rank spell.

To become a true Master Rank Runic Caster and be fully cemented into the rank, I would need to cast any two spells and need to be able to cast a Master Rank spell. This entire thing varies from Pony to Pony though and this is just what's commonly agreed on by others. Ponies are just too varied and magic too wide a thing to make a firm rank for casting it, but this is the best we have.

I started practicing a few weeks ago, mostly light practice trying to get the magic split right and get used to the motions of it all. With a month or two of practice time, I probably could cast two advanced spells, it would still take a dozen seconds to draw them out but I could do it if I trained for it.

I've started my journey to becoming a Master Rank, it will be slow and time-consuming but I've reached the point where I can start to walk down this path. I can't just learn to cast everything though, I need to be slow and build up this skill which will take a long time.

I also don't even know a Master Rank spell, mostly because there aren't any in the public library for obvious reasons. If I wanted some I'd need to either join a group that has some, not very appealing, or I'd need to buy them for an extreme price. Master Rank spells are expensive and rare, mostly because they are hard to make.

Luckily for me, I have a different source, asking Celestia for some, or at least asking her when I'm ready. This is where the last part about being a Master Rank caster comes into play, skill. Small spells don't need much control over your magic to cast as they use little magic and it flows into a spell matrix easily.

Advanced spells can be a bit harder to control as they use much more magic. The magic can fight against its bonds and even losing a little control can cascade through the spell matrix and end very badly. With how much magic a Master Rank spell has you need extreme amounts of control over your magic to cast them without exploding.

Learning Master Rank spells, having enough control to cast them, and then also learning to cast two spells at once. All of this while also having the knowledge to back up the spells used, makes a master a true master. It also explains why there are so few Ponies who make it this far, and Grandmaster Rank is even more terrifying.

One of the milestones for them is casting a Grandmaster Rank spell instantly, something very few have ever done. I sigh as I feel my magic run low, slowly drinking some apple-flavored tea to recover. I've spent the past hour just trying to get better at drawing out two basic spells at once.

Casting two spells is a large leap in difficulty from just one. I need to form a complex magical structure without using my hooves and then fill them with magic while making sure nothing slips from my control, and that has happened a few times already. It's why I'm practicing with the basic Light spell so that the uncontrolled magic is small enough to just dissipate instead of killing me.

That is a large risk when learning to cast two spells at once, losing control, because the only thing worse than one exploding spell is two at the same time. I stand up with a stretch and look over to see Entropy grooming Philomena as they sit on my new couch, after my decision I bought one to add to the apartment.

It's a normal cloth couch with some nice comfy cushions, all in a deep brown, and I set it up near the back of the main room near my window. It's facing the outside so I can have a nice view but after three days of owning it, Entropy has gotten more use out of the thing than me. She splays out on one side on her back and just sleeps like a log, it is cute though.

I smile at them and whistle, Entropy turning her head to me. "Almost done." She caws out and I nod before going to grab my things and she continues to clean Philomena. Philomena has been visiting often again, she did show up less for a while but something has brought her back.

I need to regain my magic, and I've spent the last few weeks studying hard for the upcoming healers test, so I think it's about time I got some fresh air. I grab my saddlebags from my workroom and glance over to a box on my shelf, one containing my now-refitted suit courtesy of Rarity.

She took some extra time it seems and really resized it well, it fits perfectly and it should be great for the Gala in a few weeks. I put my saddlebags on and grab some treats along with a notebook in case I need it before walking back out to see Philomena dozing off on the couch and Entropy sitting on top of it waiting for me. "Up for a trip to Ponyville?" I ask her quietly.

She tilts her head a bit and nods before flying over and landing on me, only waiting a short second before teleporting us away. I brace my legs a bit as we reappear and I feel the cool summer grass underneath my hooves. I spend a moment just standing on the forested cliff partly overlooking Ponyville and enjoying the quiet.

After a minute I open my eyes and cast the Wing spell before taking flight, Entropy right behind me as we start to glide down to the small town. I don't have much of a reason to visit Ponyville, I guess I could check in on one of the mares? Or just chill and enjoy the afternoon. Both?

I think as I fly down and after landing and dismissing my wings I shrug and just decide to do both. I haven't seen either Pinkie or Fluttershy in a long while, but out of the two, I think I'd prefer some quiet conversation. The city might be fun but sometimes it's just too much to deal with, much like Pinkie.

As I walk through the small town I keep to its edge, making my way closer to the Everfree forest and eventually stopping at a path that seems to have been renovated even more since the last time I was here. I came here over a year and a half ago to give Fluttershy a crow, it really has been a while, I wonder how that crow is doing?

The path now has some bricks embedded in the soil at the center for a smoother walk and a few more railings at sections that have drop-offs, even small ones. The path is peaceful enough and I can't help but agree with Fluttershy's choice of location, she really did pick a nice place.

It is kind of interesting that such a nervous mare would pick a location so close to the Everfree, I could tell from being in the air that there are only a few miles of regular forest before it becomes much more wild. A few more miles after that and you enter the Everfree, I guess she's more capable than you'd assume at dealing with nature.

After walking for a while I arrive at a small bridge, now with a nice railing and some better floorboards, and Fluttershy's cottage just beyond it. I can sense many small living things inside including who I presume is Fluttershy, along with... Wait, is that a raccoon?

I nearly stop walking as I notice the largest animal she has, a raccoon of all things, I wonder where it came from? I leave the thought alone as I walk up the steps to her porch and knock on the door, stifling an amused smile as I sense her jump a bit at the sound.

There are several moments of silence before she walks over and opens the door a bit, eyeing me for a few seconds through the crack. I smile at her, "Hello Miss Fluttershy, it's been a long time hasn't it?" I use a soft and friendly tone as I don't need to startle her more.

She blinks and smiles shyly before opening her door more. She's grown since we last met, not by too much but a few inches, I still tower over her though. She's also changed in appearance, looking less like a young mare and more like a proper adult, her body changing in some more subtle ways to reflect that.

"O-Oh! Shade! R-right? I didn't forget that, did I? I'm so sorry if I did!" The nervous pegasus is about how I remember her to be. I nod in agreement with an unoffended expression as it has been a long while. "Good, umm, it's nice to see you too... Do you need anything? Hello, to you too little one." She is less nervous when greeting Entropy.

Entropy flaps her wings a bit, "Hello pretty." I chuckle a little as Entropy seems to still remember her nickname for Fluttershy. Fluttershy smiles more and moves some of her mane behind her head before looking at Entropy, inspecting her as if looking for an injury.

I can guess that she probably has some form of training when it comes to handling animals but even if she sees something in Entropy's illusion that isn't right I can just brush it off with an excuse, she's very unlikely to push back on it. "Not much, I was passing through town and thought I might come and ask what happened to the crow I left in your care, and see how you are doing." I am mostly honest as I am curious but I'm mostly here to check up on her and maybe learn more about her.

She keeps her shy smile but her ears perk up some at the mention of the crow. "Her? Oh, would you like to come in? Is it more comfortable?" She offers uncertainty but seems to settle down a bit more after learning who I am and why I'm supposedly here. I nod gratefully and she steps back when opening the door.

I notice that her home seems even more furnished than last time. Several new paintings, a few drawings, and a good amount of potted plants around her living room. It's not a massive space but it's cozy and she's set up several places to sit and relax.

She leads me over to a table and looks nervous about me being in her home, or maybe she's just this nervous normally? I honestly don't know enough to tell. Still, I am respectful and even slump a bit to appear shorter as I sit down at the table. "I can get some tea if you like?" She again makes a kind offer.

I shake my head as I don't particularly need it at the moment, which ends up with her sitting across from me in a slightly awkward mood. "So how is that crow? I hope things went well, I still feel a little bad about not being able to find them a home myself." I break the awkwardness quickly.

Again her ears tilt upward a little more and she nods slowly. "She was, for a while the poor dear just wouldn't interact with other birds." She looks genuinely sad about it but keeps smiling. "She was very well-behaved though, and I found her a home with a nice caravan." She says happily, a small bit of pride buried under everything.

I nod and settle in more. "That's good to hear, I really did worry for her for a while, but it seems I picked the right Pony to leave her with." I compliment her and she shifts on her hooves a small bit, looking bashful but not disagreeing. "I am curious if you don't mind me asking. What do you actually do here?" I ask curiously trying to keep the conversation going.

She raises a brown very slightly. "Why bring her here if you... sorry, that came out wrong." I wave it off. "I rehome and rehabilitate animals for release. Along with studying them, kind of." She keeps her words very humble but it catches my interest regardless.

I guess it's not a massive surprise, she works with animals and takes care of them. Plus she has to have some form of income, I just never would have guessed it was from research. "Really? It sounds impressive, I've researched a few things before, and dealing with animals seems like a hoof full by itself."

She again looks bashful. "It's really nothing like that, I just send drawings and notes to some Ponies who actually research them... Thank you though." She adds softly after a second. "S-So, what do you do? For work I mean." She asks as we both settle in for a longer conversation.

I notice a few animals in the cottage with my senses, most being out back in a smaller area with a grass field. However, a few are upstairs and I also notice one or two nearby in other rooms. "I've done a few things, not anything in particular at the moment though, I'm volunteering at a hospital as well," I reveal, not seeing any reason to hide that fact.

She looks a bit shocked, but not massively so, smiling widely for a small moment. "That's amazing, I know an uncle who went into healing." I make a mental note of that. "It's a really brave thing, from what I heard-" She tries to compliment me but is cut off.

I knew it was there but I wasn't sure if she would notice it. On the stairs to her second floor is a small bunny trying to work its way down the stairs to the main floor, struggling to fall down each one. "Oh no! Angel, don't do that." Fluttershy quickly leaves the table and hurries over to the stairs as the tiny thing falls down another one.

I guessed it was Angel but wasn't sure as the bunny is tiny, much smaller than he was depicted in the show. I feel that his life magic is fine, I think he is probably just a baby then. Fluttershy scoops up the tiny bunny in a wing with a worried expression, "Oh, not again. You poor thing, you can't keep doing this." She quickly starts to inspect the bunny in worry.

The tiny bunny for its part seems pleased that it got the mare's attention and just grabs onto her fluffy wing. I chuckle a small bit and Fluttershy looks back at me slightly embarrassed. "Let me guess, he won't sit still for a moment will he?" I ask with some humor and Fluttershy nods slowly while hiding some of her face in her mane. "I know that all too well."

Entropy chirps in indignation at my words and I just roll my eyes. "Shush you, I'm not the one who found out how to break into the leftovers cabinet now am I?" I tease Entropy a bit and get a soft peck to the hoof in response, something I don't even react to. "Brood all you like, you're just mad you can't have them all to yourself," I say with a laugh.

My little routine with Entropy gets Fluttershy out of her embarrassment, getting her to walk back over as we talk. By the time she's back to the table, she actually giggles a small bit. "I've had a few like that, even a raccoon who can open jars." She adds her own bit and seems more relaxed.

I grin, enjoying the unserious and simple conversation, it is a nice change of pace. "You should see the pet my friend has, they go absolutely crazy for grapes." She gives me a confused look. "A Phe... Dove. It will fully dive at you if it sees one. So, what trouble is he in?" That gets a mix of amusement and mild concern from the kind mare.

She keeps a wing to her side as she cradles Angel and the rabbit spots us. Curiously, and living up to his future reputation, he's not that frightened by Entropy. The tiny thing just stares at Entropy for a moment before burying itself in feathers, almost looking smug.

Fluttershy holds the rabbit close and glances at the stairs. "N-No trouble, just, well." She uses a hoof to pet the tiny white ball of fluff, something I would try if I didn't know better. "He just won't stay in her room, he keeps following me everywhere." She says with some concern in her tone.

I nod as that seems about right. "I can understand that, Entropy very rarely leaves my side. She sticks to me like glue, don't you Girl?" She chirps and flaps her wings to hop up and sit on my head, almost as if to one-up Angel. "She also won't stop doing that, she makes a good shade hat though." I joke and Entropy gets in on it by fluffing out her wings like a hat.

That earns me another soft giggle. "It shows." I tilt my head at that, just enough to not knock off my new hat. "I-I mean, that she trusts you so much. You raised her, right?" I nod, remembering mentioning it to her before. "Most of the young ones I get also stay close, although many can't go back to the wild."

Interestingly her tone is not completely sad at that, despite her kind nature she seems to understand nature better than I'd expect. "Ya, I'm honestly amazed I even ended up with this beautiful girl, I got her egg from a seller saying it was... Not viable. It's also impressive you run this place by yourself" I chose a more delicate word after a second pause.

She smiles at Entropy and mimics a few bird calls, an impressive skill I myself was never able to get down. Entropy tweets a tune back in response, "You really taught her so well, she even sings!" She gets some more excitement in her voice. "What else does she know?"

Entropy takes that as a cue and to Fluttershy's surprise flies right out a nearby open window in seconds. "W-Wait! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to give her a command!" She starts to panic a little. She makes a few bird calls but Entropy still doesn't come back. "I'm really really sorry! I-I'll go find her!" She says quickly.

I hold up a hoof to stop her. "Don't worry about it," I say with a steady but firm tone, trying to stop her from panicking as much. "She can get very energetic when something catches her interest, she'll be fine," I say in a reassuring tone while watching Entropy in my senses. I see her fly around and quickly find a plant of some type.

Fluttershy doesn't look convinced and looks out the window, whipping her head around trying to see Entropy. "B-But, we're near the Everfree, if she goes far it could get dangerous." She sets down Angel on the table and actually looks determined under that mess of nervous worry. "I- I'll go get her!" She starts to walk over to a back door.

Before I could stand up to stop her and insist, and before she could open the door. Entropy comes flying back in through the window, swooping quickly through and landing near Fluttershy. "EEP!!" The mare jumps and covers her face with her wings as Entropy lands very quickly in front of her.

I smirk at Entropy and just start chuckling, trying my best to not fully laugh at Fluttershy's reaction and Entropy's actions. Fluttershy hears me and peeks out of her wing feathers, looking around before hearing a soft chirp and looking down to see Entropy, happily standing there with a flower in her beak.

Entropy places it on the floor at her hooves, "Pretty." She caws out before hopping back over to the table and flying up to sit on the tabletop again, she and Angel eyeing each other. I hold in my laughter as Fluttershy looks a mix of stunned and confused while looking at the flower, slowly picking it up with a hoof over a few beats of silence.

"It seems she wanted to find something nice for you, good Girl." I scratch Entropy and see Fluttershy look more embarrassed after she realizes what just happened. The flower she has is a simple Lilac flower, the deep purple standing out in the room. "Sorry if she plucked one of your flowers." I apologize as I'm not entirely sure if the flower was hers.

She smiles very softly and shakes her head slowly, the embarrassment quickly fading to an off form of relief and happiness. "No, it's fine. Sorry for overreacting." She mumbles and walks back over to us. "T-Thank you Entropy, it's lovely." She says sweetly and gets a happy caw back in response as she picks up Angel again and sits down at the table, the panic quickly fading.

I nod and after a moment take out my teapot. "I have some tea that's good for calming down, do you like mint?" I ask and she nods slowly. I cast a spell to fill the teapot with water. "And no worries, it's far from the first time she's gotten somepony worried, normally it's just me though. But she's too cute to stay mad at." I joke to relax the mood.

Her ears flip up quickly. "Y-You don't need to be mad, she was being nice." I can't hold it and just chuckle at her, smiling widely.

I take out my teacups and fill one before passing it to her. "Yes, I suppose you're right." I glance out the window and see a few small animals milling around, watching her drink the tea with some hesitation. "You know? That reminds me of all the pranks she's pulled on me." I say and start to dive into the conversation to relax her.

Again it seems animals are the best way to go, as she relaxes a bit and smiles more as I start my tale.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I decided to check in with Flutters, it was fun to write even if it’s not too interesting of a chapter. Any ideas to add to the test? I have a good idea of what I'm doing but some impute would be nice, only if you what though.

Chapter 286

JUL 31 Tuesday.

I look over myself in the mirror and spend a while making sure I look decent.

I don't need to look perfect or anything but I should at least look like I care about myself. I've shaved the tuft of hair I have on my chin down to match my coat and I've cut back my mane once again. I've kept it short for a long time now, pulling it back, but I decided to change it up a little this time.

I left it just a bit longer when tied back, and completely cut out my bangs. I don't need them getting in my way on accident and they were getting too long for my liking. Finally, I have to shave my belly some, cutting down on the fur a bit to even it out fully.

It's not a noticeable thing but it is nice to look very trimmed up for once. My normal retinue when it comes to looks is just having shortish hair and trying to not look like complete shit, so this is an improvement overall. With the last of my self-care done, I leave my bathroom and replay the plan for today in my head.

I wasn't told much of anything about the test, just that it would last for the normal amount of time I'd spend volunteering and would be carried out over three days. I'd guessed the written tests would be done the first day so I've spent a large amount of my morning rereading some things, I could be wrong but the extra studying couldn't hurt.

I'm a mix of slightly excited and slightly nervous about it all, I'm really not used to taking tests as the last time I had a big one was in my last life. Still, I think I'll be fine as long as I'm not stupid about anything and actually listen to others. When it comes to things like this, paying attention is by far the most important thing to do.

I walk over to my table and look over the items I have laid out, I can't bring anything into any test but I'm still bringing a notebook to write down things afterwards. I grab it along with my saddlebags, some tea, and a flask of premade tea to recover afterward if needed.

After everything is gathered and put away, with me checking once again that I'm not bringing anything I shouldn't or forgetting something important, I look over to Entropy. "It's time to go Girl," I call out and she turns to me from her spot on her perch, flying down and moving into my shadow in one swift yet smooth motion.

I am still a bit early but I can just wait a while if needed, plus it's not the worst to be early for some things. I open my door and notice the Pony I sensed walking outside, Stone having just left Daisy's apartment and heading somewhere, the sight of him makes me feel a little awkward internally.

Turns out that being able to sense what others can do in their apartments is not always pleasant. Sure I try my best to not focus on the inside of apartments as it's not my business and all that, but sometimes my senses sweep about and I see more than I'd like to.

After a small incident two days ago with me glancing at Daisy's apartment and seeing something rather, intimate, I've been more strict on blocking out Pony's homes. I really don't need to deal with that again, the most awkward interaction I've had in my life, and that's saying something considering what happened with Rarity.

I shake my head as I walk up the stairs to the roof, my mind partly getting lost in thought as I go through the familiar trip to the hospital. The past week has given me a decent amount of stuff to think about, mostly to do with the Ponies I've talked to, I still remember my meeting with Fluttershy.

She was nice, and after the little scare with her, we ended up mostly talking about plants and animals for a few hours before I left and headed home. She may be shy but she knows her stuff when it comes to animals, she even had several bestiaries and I flipped through a few as we talked about different creatures.

Beyond that, I had another game night and I also got a letter from Celestia. It basically just apologized for not meeting recently as she's been very busy, but she'd try to make time soon. And she really must be busy because she hasn't even been at Gaia's Eden for a while now.

That meeting should prove interesting to say the least, I hope it goes well, or at least isn't too awkward. I think it will be fine, we've dealt with far worse things than something like this accidental situation and we're still friends. There is the clusterfuck that is my feelings about the situation, which are still jumbled as hell and making no sense.

I shake my head and try to move those thoughts to the side, I don't need that on my mind when dealing with a big test. I focus on a different piece of good news, I finished the spell I was making and sent it off to Celestia. It might take her and Cadance a bit to get to it but it's finished and working much better than before so I'm pretty happy about that.

It was also interesting looking into and messing around with shrinking runes. They might not be the most practical way to solve a problem like swelling but it does work so I'm not complaining. Another thing I finally decided to look into was metalworking spells.

I've had them in my mind since I saw Metal Quake working with them and I think I might be able to improve on them, to a degree at least. Metalworking spells are actually very well developed and well made, mostly due to how useful the magic is and how many blacksmiths use them.

There are several spells, some making metal harder or softer to aid in shaping. Some to help pour metal into molds properly and cleanly. Others shape metal directly, even while unheated, but those are by far the most advanced ones out of them all.

While they are much more developed than many spells there is still probably room for improvement, mostly with the more advanced spells. They tend to use math that is more or less complicated than it needs to be and while I can't really do much with the runes I can probably make the spell more magically efficient.

That means a lot when you're forging something, after all the less magic you use the more metal you can work. The runes are a much bigger problem though, mostly because their spells are not commonly seen outside of a blacksmithing guild of some type.

The few I've found are mostly simple and I got much more information from a few studies on metalworking spells than actual spells themselves. It's still something I think would be a good thing to work on, it would help a lot of Ponies and even maybe bring down the price of metalwork a small bit, probably very little though.

I leave my thoughts as I near the hospital and start to circle around the outside, making my way to the back entrance before landing in a relatively clear spot and dismissing my wings. I notice a few Ponies around, mostly hospital staff who seem to be on break at the moment and come outside for one reason or another.

After I land I open a back door and head inside, ending up in the large room that holds the staff lockers and connects to the storage room. The area is normally fairly empty but there are actually a fair few Ponies inside at the moment, around forty or so in total with another one coming in not long after me to join the crowd.

I have no idea where the test is being held but the gathering point being here actually makes a good amount of sense, it's out of the way and also has room for plenty of Ponies to gather. It is interesting that we'd be tested at the hospital, but it probably makes organizing the practical test much easier.

I ponder that as I walk over to the lockers and see a new sign handing over a section of the lockers. For guests, please leave all effects including jewelry and clothing inside. I nod as having our stuff separate seems about right, still, it's not ideal. I suppose the Ponies here could also be from other places, maybe smaller clinics and other hospitals?

I could see them coordinating it like that, making the testing a bit easier to access and organize for others. I spend a minute taking off the straps and putting away my saddlebags, taking off my bracelet with a little hesitation along with my necklace.

After I'm done I walk back over to the crowd and notice somepony has moved over a small stage, just enough to stand above us and give directions without being too large to move easily. I note the time and see that I still have a few minutes to wait, I guess I'm not as early as I thought I would be, then again I did fly rather slowly while getting here.

As I stand at the back of the crowd I zone out and instead of doing nothing just start looking over Ponies with my life magic senses. Studying the flows like I have done for a few weeks now, I'm still memorizing even basic parts but they are starting to be a bit more recognizable and easier to see.

The flows have smaller sections, one of which I've found to be much more recognizable as it's often mostly the same among different individuals. It's not perfect but the fact I'm even making any sense out of the mass of life magic is progress and with time I think I can memorize it all.

To be fair I'm not exactly doing it often, I just do it when waiting for a new patient or sometimes when I'm doing a simple task. Overall it shows promise though, learning a plant's magical flows helped me grow it, so learning a Pony’s flows might help me heal them as well.

After a while I look to the stage as a recognizable Pony steps up, Dr. Meadows in her doctor outfit. She looks around the room and moves over a clipboard and quill as the crowd grows quiet. "Hello to you all, before we begin I'm going to make sure you are all here. Please raise a hoof when your name is called." Her tone is more strict than normal but not unfriendly.

It takes us a few minutes to get through the crowd and two names don't answer, but at the end, she puts the clipboard down and addresses us again. "Good. I am Dr. Meadows, and I will be in charge of your testing today, along with several other colleagues." She motions to a few other Ponies sitting to the side.

"Now, before you are led to the test, a reminder of the rules." She says with a very firm tone and stare. "During the duration of the test, you are not allowed to use any form of magic or bring any item with you. There will also be no talking to others once the test begins. Understood?" A chorus of nods and voices of agreement sounds out. "Perfect, then please follow me and don't wander off."

She and the other staff start to lead the group through the double doors into the hospital and down a hallway. The hallway is a bit packed but it seems everypony worker was notified and we kept a good pace. I take notice that every Pony leading us seems to have some piece of jewelry, all with a gem in them, maybe something to do with cheating? Eventually, we turn and I recognize that we are in the office part of the hospital, an area I'm not too familiar with.

Eventually, we're led to a room I've never actually been into before but have sensed a few times, a set of double doors opening up into a fairly large room as we're herded inside. A wall with several windows on one side and a neat arrangement of seating areas laid out on the floor. Every seven or so feet there is a cushion to sit on and a small desk to write at, a simple setup. And to the front of the large room, there is a raised platform, fairly large and three feet high.

Dr. Meadows motions to the room and turns back to us as we all enter, a pony closing the doors behind us. "Once everypony has taken a seat a staff member will pass you each a test, do not write on it until the test has begun." She looks at the clipboard for a moment. Reading off several names including mine. "Would you all please sit at the front? Thank you." She instructs us as we look at her.

I notice the other seven Ponies named and I raise a brow at being singled out but go along with it, ignoring the curious looks from others. I can guess that we were singled out due to our testing to become healers, but only eight? Out of the fifty Ponies here we seem to be the only ones. That ratio seems about right but really does put it into perspective, and this is just the testing. Who knows how many of us will actually pass?

Healers are less common though and not many new ones take the test until they are ready, or I would hope not at least. As we eight move forward I draw a few more eyes than the others, mostly due to standing higher than anypony else here and being the only Earth Pony.

I do see a few tests to be nurses but I'm the only one trying to be a healer, again not really a surprise. As I take my seat I note that each desk has a single bottle of ink and a quill. The next few minutes of silence for me are mostly me watching others shift in their seats impatiently as they pass out tests one by one starting from the back.

I do see the other aspiring healers eyeing me, including a mare who's looking a little too intently at my flank, but I let that go and focus. I look forward almost blankly as Dr. Meadows and a few other staff members move around, placed in parts of the room so they can all see if anypony does anything they aren't supposed to. I also notice there are a few large cubes above us in a smaller room, maybe gems?

They are taking things fairly seriously, which makes sense I suppose. Any medical profession is taken seriously by Ponies, in that way they and humanity are very alike, or at least they are on paper. For them it takes on a different role as well though, the practical tests are probably going to be even more closely watched and monitored.

Eventually, they got to the front row and I was passed a test, a stack of papers that looked like it might take a while to get through. "Does everypony have a test?" There is a beat of silence and Dr. Meadows nods. "Very well." She casts a spell and a moment later a clock appears. "You have one hour, your time begins now." It's a simple and short set of instructions but it kicks us all into action.

I look through the first page, mostly a mix of questions on basic things about healing, easily answered. The next is a page on how to identify wounds and what scanning spells to prioritize casting to find injuries. The one after that was filled with questions on proper spell usage when using slower-acting spells. After that, it's several pages of mixed questions on a lot of things.

None of that is too hard, mostly just things that take a few moments to get through. Then there comes the more tricky things, questions about why one spell is better than another in some situations. The next three pages are just about spells, everything from how to time their casting on patients and how to avoid problems that could crop up.

Eventually, I'm given something that is actually much more interesting to me. They give me a spell matrix to look over, one you are supposed to try and point out a flaw in. I would guess this is to show you can spot your mistakes when casting a spell, but it proves to be a fun little game to me.

They wanted me to find all five defects, I found seven, I guess they added more to see if you can catch them. I move on and get a different topic, this one asking to heal six injured patients while prioritizing magic usage, giving you a space to make up your own answer. That actually stumps me a bit, but after some thought I try to be logical about it.

Life-threatening wounds first, each patient having their own page to show exactly how they are injured in this question. It's not easy though as I have to get creative, they make me use my own knowledge and add what spells I'd use to heal what from a list while adding a limit on the number of spells I can use.

It's inventive I'll give them that, but I eventually get through it and reach the final section. This one asked me to name every spell I learned from the list they gave me a few weeks ago. It's a bit odd to add something so simple but I guess it covers their bases further.

I fill out a few more pages of mixed questions, these ones being harder along with the final section and put down the test. I signed my name and a small section at the bottom that promised legal trouble if I was found to have cheated on this test. I glance back up and see it's been nearly forty-seven minutes, a bit under the time I was given.

I kept my senses sharp even while I focused on the test, and I knew four of the Ponies taking the healer test finished before me. One a full fifteen minutes before me, but considering that I was only studying for around a month I'll take that placement with some pride.

I don't even have actual schooling either, I've just been learning things and hoping for the best for years now. That one question with the six imaginary patients was actually pretty hard. I had to go back twice and adjust things because the spell limit got in the way and I really did have to get creative with the spell use.

The limit was in a point system format and had a total amount I couldn't exceed. One needed to have a ripped neck muscle healed but the spell used for that took up three points, so instead I just used a lesser spell meant for healing any muscle two times. It might take a little more time but the injury wasn't life-threatening so it would achieve the same result for less magic used.

There were several similar situations and on the last patient they just gave me a limit of ten spells and told me to add any spell I thought would work best, but I had to add an explanation as to why I used those spells. That one was easier as the hypothetical patient was suffering mostly from heavy bleeding so I just used the B.L.P spell and two others to slowly but effectively heal the wound with the time I had to stop the bleeding.

I'm not sure I did well on the test, but I think I at least passed, I hope. You know I really have no idea how Ponies grade tests, I never did go to schooling after the orphanage and I don't think this would be like that. Hell, I could be fucked and not even know it.

I chuckle a bit to myself but try not to stress over it. At the end of the day, this is nothing but an ambition for me, something I'd love to do but don't really need to do, I don't need to stress over it too much. I watch quietly as the last seconds of the time we had fades out and Dr. Meadows slams a hoof into the floor, acting like a gavel to stop us. "Time! Please put your quills down."

No sooner had she said that than the other staff members started to look more awake, most of them taking the time to watch us and relax a bit. To be fair this is much more calm than their normal work day so I can't blame them, I'd probably do the same thing if I worked here five days a week. I noticed Dr. Meadows paying close attention to the Ponies taking the healer's test, probably because we have the best magic skills.

The staff start collecting tests and moving them up to the front to all be gathered. Dr. Meadows actually walks over and takes the eight tests from us aspiring healers, I swear I see a small smirk thrown my way but it's really too small to tell for sure. Eventually, once everything is collected two Ponies leave with all the tests.

"Thank you all for your time, for the remainder of our time we're going to be showing you around the hospital wing you all will be taking your practical tests in." She motions to the door and everypony stands up to move over there, many talking to each other in hushed tones. "After the tour, the practical will be held here tomorrow from noon till five for the next two days. Please follow me and stay close behind." She instructs as she leads us back into the hallways.

I already know every wing of this hospital inside and out, literally. After spending nearly a year here I have a better understanding of this place than most of the staff do, mostly due to me being able to sense through walls. But this is mandatory it seems so I just zone out and follow along.

The tour lasts another hour and a half. It's not a large area but Dr. Meadows takes time to go into very clean and firm detail on who to talk to if things go wrong, and what to do around staff and patients. By the time it's done, we are all led back to the staffroom we started in and let go for the day.

As I walk outside with my things I feel a little bored, sure I'm excited to see my results but that's not until two days from now. I guess the practical will be fun, I can't say for certain but with the tour we got and the way it was worded we're probably going to get a mix of real patients and simulated situations, or maybe volunteer patients? I guess I'll see tomorrow.

I don't fly home immediately as I have little need to hurry, and I find myself only really walking around the city when I go on my morning runs, it's nice to just walk around and enjoy the day. I look around for a moment and just pick a direction, not really planning to go anywhere as I feel like doing something to celebrate.

I may have not been overly stressed, but I still feel some tension leave me now that the written test is over. Studying for something for a few weeks can make you a bit tense about the outcome, but whatever it may be it's out of my hooves now. Actually, that sounds less desirable than I thought it would be.

I don't like something being out of control, especially mine. Maybe it's been involved in conflict, or just me changing a bit, but it doesn't feel completely negative right now. I felt more nervous about taking off my necklace honestly, I don't like doing that. I should ask Celestia about that deal she made with Chrysalis next time we meet, I hope it's going well.

I should also get a list of cities they are gathering emotion in, I do not need that type of surprise. After a little walking, I notice Entropy on top of my shadow and stop at a restroom to let her out. She emerges and chirps a bit before activating her band. "Go well, happy?" She asks curiously as we are alone at the moment.

I pet her and smile at the cute question. "Who knows? We'll find out in a few days if things go well. Can you tell me what day is two days from now?" I ask as she hops onto my back. She goes into thought for several moments and tilts her head in concentration.

"Thursday?" I smile wider as she guesses right, something she's getting better at. I nod and she chirps happily, going silent as we walk back out into the busy streets.

"Spot on. How about we go out to eat? It's been a while and I want something nice." I decided to celebrate both of our little victories with an age-old tradition, a victory meal. The excited caw is all the agreement I need as I start walking down the street again, enjoying the ever-busy but ever-interesting city.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

I had no idea how to make this more interesting, it is literally a written test after all. But I tried to add a few little things and some world-building, with a sprinkle of cure birb at the end. The practical should be more interesting, maybe, we'll see.

Chapter 287

AUG 1 Wednesday.

I quickly glide through the air and let the wind blow past me in a quick rush.

This morning was interesting, Philomena decided to show up and she and Entropy had a very fun time as always. But I saw that Entropy was a bit sad to leave her friend and head out with me, so I let her stay after some thought. The days where I need her to get me out of trouble are gone and if I need to teleport away I can do that myself.

Sure I can't go anywhere near as far but this is a major city and fifty feet is enough for me to get inside a building or to another area away from any danger. While I do like having her with me it's not absolutely needed anymore, plus giving her some private time seemed like a good idea.

I did make it clear I'd ground her if she broke anything, or at least I would try my absolute best to ground her. I could probably just take something away as an extra punishment to discourage her just going places regardless. I'd need to be careful not to go too far though, parenting is a balancing act and it's hard at the best of times.

I leave those thoughts alone for the moment as I make my way down from the sky and land in the same place I did yesterday. As I walk inside I dismiss my wings and I count out the Ponies inside. I can sense we are only missing a dozen or so, I am once again a little early but it shouldn't take long for everypony to arrive.

The scene I walk into is about the same as the day before, all the Ponies here to be tested are in a large group and talking to each other as we all wait for everything to begin. I spend a moment putting my things away and once again feel a little uncomfortable about taking off my necklace and bracelet, it can't be helped though.

After a short while of waiting, I once again just zoned out, spending the time in my mind going over a spell matrix for an elemental spell I was improving this morning. I needed something to pass the time so I was learning and improving an Ice Splinter spell, it's simple but interesting.

After a few minutes, I focus up as Dr. Meadows appears in front of us and looks over us again, looking at her clipboard and seemingly checking we are all here. "Hello, everypony. Before we begin, just a reminder to follow all the rules laid out yesterday and to please ask us if you need any form of help." She instructs as a different pony starts walking up and handing out cards of some type.

"These will be your identification and will also list who will be observing you today, ask them whatever you need." I'm passed a card and my mind drifts to the instructions we learned at yesterday's tour. Each of us will have a Pony directly working with us for the day and giving us our tests while marking results down.

I can guess they will also be adding in questions while we do our practical and making sure we don't really fuck up. I look at my card and see a name I recognize, Dr. Stick, full name Black Stick. A little odd for a Pony name but not the oddest one I've heard, he's good at his job from what I know so this should be interesting.

"All right, everypony follow us, again I remind you to not stray away." With little else to say she leads us to the ward we'll be working in, well, it's actually four wards that we'll be split throughout but they are all identical so it doesn't matter. When we arrive at the first ward Dr. Meadows calls out names and moves us along to the next ward.

At the next ward, she does the same, the group being cut down more and more over time, and eventually reaches the last patient ward with only eight Ponies remaining. It seems we're going to be doing things separately from the Ponies becoming nurses. "All of you are expected inside, be respectful and remember to behave." She opens the door and we walk inside, I sense her walking away somewhere else soon after.

The inside of the patient ward is the same as the many others the hospital has. A lengthy room much longer than it is wide with beds on both sides and a few side rooms for more private things. Inside the room are nine Ponies, all dressed appropriately but one stands out a bit.

An older mare is sitting off to the side and just marking things down on some paper, probably some form of legal overseer or something of the sort. As we walk inside one doctor steps forward to greet us, "We all know why we are here, and we have patients that need treatment, so I won't waste time." The mare doctor is blunt and to the point.

"You all know the names of who you are assigned to, read the badges and go to them, they will line up a mix of questions, questions from the tests, and patients for you." The mare moves past us and checks the time with a spell before opening the doors behind us and leaving them open. I don't waste time and head to Dr. Stick quickly.

He smiles a bit and motions for me to follow him, "We have most things planned out, and there will be some volunteers who are patients, we won't be telling you though. Just heal the patients as best you can with only magic, no need to prescribe anything either." He instructs and I nod as we step by a bed, several Ponies being wheeled in by nurses and set on beds quickly.

I notice there are eight color-coded sections in the room, one for each of us, and an easy way to make sure a patient is actually yours. A few moments later a pair of nurses drop off an injured Pony who looks to be a bit loopy, probably from pain considering his leg.

I quickly moved over to him. "Can you hear me, Sir?" I get a mumble in response and cast a pair of scanning spells, one on his leg as there is a bloody bandage on it and another on his head. His head is fine and I glance at the short document the nurses left on the bed with him, it seems he was given a fairly strong medical herb for pain and he is a bit out of it as a result.

He has some mild blood loss but it's not bad, his leg is the problem as he has a deep gash near the base of it from something. I take off the bandages and look it over for a moment before casting a cleaning spell and adding a spell to help it heal. I also add a sticking spell to keep his leg firmly in place on the bed in case he tries to move it in his state.

His bleeding is slow as no large veins were hit so a slower working spell will work just fine. I leave him be for the moment as the wound slowly grows shut and I see Dr. Stick nearly raise a brow as I move over a bit and stand near the front in case another patient comes before this one is fully healed.

None do and by the time the flesh is healed I cast another spell to regrow the skin after making sure it healed properly. I leave him in the bed to rest and Dr. Stick walks closer to me. "Why stand a bit away? He could have moved while in that state?" He sounds neutral but is serious about the question. "What is the benefit of healing the wound slowly?" He asks even though it's obvious.

I motion to the leg. "A Sticking spell, he couldn't move his leg off the bed at all." I am short and concise with my answer while he nods and marks that down. "As for the speed, it takes longer and costs less. I'm here for a few hours and need to keep a reserve if I can." I again am completely honest as lying wouldn't help.

He just writes something down and a new patient is moved over to us, this one fully awake and looking uninjured. I walk over and look at the clipboard, it says he has an unknown problem with his breathing. I turn to the Batpony stallion. "Hello, Sir. Can you please describe where the problem is and if it is painful?" I ask in a polite but neutral tone.

He nods with a smile and breathes before being overcome with a fairly hard coughing fit. "That would be the problem, mostly in my chest, upper half I think." I notice the somewhat vague answer, it could just be a bad description from the patient or he might be a volunteer, either way, I have something to work with.

"Do you mind if I cast a few spells on you?" He shakes his head and I immediately scan his lungs, using some paper from a small table probably holding paper for this exact reason. The results show it's not his lungs, at least not fully, they are irritated by something. They seem fine though so next I go for the throat, finding the problem pretty quickly.

He's sick, plain and simple. I cast a wider-scale cleaning spell over the area around us and a small shield around the bed he's in. "I'm afraid I can't help you much sir, you're sick, most likely something unthreatening." I turn to Dr. Stick, "Can you transfer him to a different ward so he can get proper care?" I ask as I have no way to cure him.

I do the only thing I can think of and cast a Cleaning spell to help clean out his throat so he can feel a bit better, even just temporarily. "That's about all I can do for you, unfortunately. Please wait until we can transfer you to a different ward for some proper care." I instruct him and stretch my senses to see Dr. Stick talking to some nurses about the patient.

The stallion looks pretty happy with my little action and nods before lying down on the bed. I leave him alone and check on my first patient, him having fallen asleep as whatever he was given got him relaxed enough to do so. I cast a silence spell to let him sleep quietly and go back to waiting.

I cancel my shield spell as two nurses in masks take the second patient away and Dr. Stick walks back over to me. "Ok, give me a rundown of the spells you just used." I do so quickly and he marks them down, actually raising a brow at me cleaning out the pony's throat with a spell.

After that, he asked some questions about why I didn't use other spells or try other things, and then he just gave me a test filled with questions asking me them one by one. Once he's done I take a moment to look around, seeing a lot of the Ponies being tested are waiting around, it makes sense as healing doesn't take as long as finding new patients.

The few that are healing others seem to be making quick work of things, casting scanning spells, and healing problems quickly. I do notice that one of them is being a bit short with their patients, barely asking them what's wrong and just scanning them without permission.

It's completely legal as they are in our care and agreed to heal, but it's still rude and somewhat unprofessional of them to do. Everypony seems to have had a similar number of patients, and none has been too severely injured so far. I glance at a clock and settle in for the long haul as another patient is brought over to me.

The next hour proved to be much the same, with one of the other testers looking a bit tired. The entire time we were asked questions about our choices and the patient's injuries and treatments, while also being quizzed. I keep my spell use as low as I can while trying to provide the best care I can.

Sometimes that means wasting a small bit of magic on letting a patient sleep in silence, but that helps in other ways and I'm not just here to heal Ponies, I need to actually care for them. I don't get many large injuries and most things can be solved by a simple spell or two.

The third and fourth hours prove to be where things start getting difficult. First, a few of the others start to look tired and stressed, not just from magic use but also from general exhaustion from focusing so much and not relaxing for hours on end. I'm used to the wear and tear of long training sessions though and my well-built body makes it pretty easy to stay energetic.

There are times when my magic can increase somewhat, but over time my reserves start to dip and drain despite my best efforts. By the end of the fourth hour, four testers look pretty warn out and we are all given water and a quick bathroom break. I don't decline as when you have the opportunity you should take it even if it's not fully needed.

While walking back to the patient ward from the bathroom one of the other testers walks up beside me, looking a fair bit worse off than me. "How the hay are you still so awake? It's been hours and I feel my legs getting weak." I think the unknown mare is more just venting than anything but she seems genuinely curious as well.

The Unicorn mare is a fair bit shorter than me, I take in her appearance but don't take the time to really get to know her as we still have more to do. "I exercise, it helps with this stuff, you could try taking runs, it's a good place to start." I don't waste words and just keep walking while the mare gives me an unamused look before falling back behind me and staying silent.

I hope I didn't come off as too short or rude but by this point, I'm very focused and trying to do my best. The small break was nice and I made a mental note that I'm back up to half of my magic capacity, not ideal but it will have to do. I step back into the patient ward and notice a change immediately.

I can see one of the doctors actually helping one of the testers and said the tester is straight up crying, while also looking distressed. I quickly walked over to Dr. Stick, "What happened? Anypony injured?" I ask as keeping tabs on the Ponies you work around feels like the right thing to do, and curiosity is a bitch.

He looks at me and adjusts his glasses while sighing. "Poor mare got a little too stressed and failed to cast a spell. It's not bad, just some minor bleeding, but she got sprayed and panicked and... Ya." He coughs and looks over at the doctor working on the patient while another helps the mare calm down.

I'm honestly impressed it took this long for anything like that to happen, a few of the other testers looked pretty stressed by the time I took the short bathroom break. I nod and watch Dr. Stick wave another patient to us by gesturing to the nurses, the patient seemingly having been lined up for the panicking mare.

They bring them over and I quickly notice a very old mare, looking pained but keeping surprisingly calm about things. The old unicorn mare has a large amount of wooden splinters in her foreleg, most are small but several are fairly large. I smile trying to reassure the old mare, "Hello Ma'am, would you mind me casting some scanning and healing spells on you to remove the splinters?" I ask quickly but speak a little louder so she can hear me clearly.

The old mare surprised me by smiling despite her ears being pinned back and jaw being a little clenched, the mare's faded and graying coat shifting a bit as she moved her foreleg closer to me and held it out. "Go ahead dear, no need to worry over the pain, I've had worse. I wouldn't mind having these things just pulled out, if you can?" The kind and steady voice actually tries to reassure me.

I nod firmly and just start to pull splinters after casting a scanning spell, using my field to pull three at a time. If anypony wanted to know about my field they could ask the many nurses who have seen me use my field, it's not exactly a secret. Dr. Stick raises a brow at the sight, seeming to take more note of the ability than before.

It may make me stand out a little more but they already know I can do it so this is not too much. Once all the wood is out, with the old mare only making a few small sounds of discomfort on her part, I heal the flesh and skin easily enough. "Everything feels fine Ma'am?" I ask while casting another scanning spell.

The old mare moves the foreleg around with a smile and nods happily, glancing over at the mare who's now recovering from her panic and is actually sitting to the side to relax. "Better than ever dear, thank you for your work. Oh, I hope that poor dear is fine, nothing like an accident to get you all panicked." The kind mare seems to speak from experience.

I nod and turn to Dr. Stick as he moves over and a nurse leads the old mare away. "Well, first, I don't think I even asked how you actually move things. I always thought it was your bracelet or necklace." He says honestly and I spend a while explaining what the field actually is over the final hour while dealing with two more patients.

I know Celestia never published what I gave her on it, I think it was mostly used as research material or maybe sent off somewhere for testing? He finishes writing my explanation down looking fairly impressed, "Huh, it's a pretty interesting trick. Well, the time's up in a few minutes, not enough time for a patient though so you can head out. Good job and have a good day." He gives me a pretty simple dismissal and I just nod silently.

I've told a few Ponies who have asked about my ability, mostly because I never made a secret of it in the first place and have been here for over a year now. I always give a very generic explanation though and don't give much detail, I also claim it was taught to me by somepony else when I was young and not my discovery.

I leave the room to make sure I'm not in the way of anypony still working. I stretch in the hallway and make my way to the locker room to head home. It was nice being able to heal so many and be challenged more by the need to conserve magic, heal, and answer questions all at once.

It makes sense though, being able to do all that and more at the same time could happen in the future and how I react to it is important. I think over my choices and try to come up with ways to improve as I fly back home, happy to get back to my ball of fluff.

POV shift Mellow Meadows

I look around the office that has had seven Ponies come and go already, all were here to go over everything they learned and check that everything is recorded properly. It's just me and Dr. Stick, him being the last to arrive. "So how did Mr. Evergreen do?" I ask as he moves over with a stack of notes and papers.

I already had another Dr speak about the accident and I would hope that was the only one, but one can never be sure until everything is accounted for. Dr. Stick moves his glasses up and looks as tired as he always is, "Well, a few oddities but nothing bad and a large amount of good as expected."

I flip through a few papers and quickly notice what he means. On most patients, he prioritized stabilizing wounds and healing them slowly, a good way to conserve magic and a good choice overall. But there are also completely unnecessary spells added in for logical reasons.

Just simple things that would cost little magic but make it a little easier on a patient, a good attitude to have. Dr. Stick sits down and turns the pages over some and shows me a much longer note, a note on something pretty interesting. I read through it with a slowly raised brow and looked back at him. He shrugs, "Who knew, right? It's pretty creative and actually raises some good questions, I do wonder who taught him though." He adds curiously.

I can't help but nod in agreement. I've seen Mr. Evergreen move things before but I never would have guessed that the ability was completely natural, it may prove to be an interesting avenue for research, if we can find whoever has the rights to such a discovery. This explanation is a little vague though and doesn't help us narrow it down, actually a few Ponies could already be working on it for all we know. Still, it's an interesting skill, if mostly unimportant.

Mr. Evergreen is proving to be a far more capable Pony than I expected him to be and in more ways than just his ability with magic. At the end of the report I notice that he handled the mental and physical toll with relative ease, even if he gained some experience with his time with us remaining that calm is again an impressive thing.

A clear mind, strong body, good magical ability, and even a large amount of knowledge on practical healing. All without any backing and seemingly just self-study, it's not often we find a Pony like this in our field. Dr. Stick looks at me and I raise a brow knowing that face, "Did we find out what was up with the spell matrix problem?" He asked, seeing my reaction.

I nod slowly as yet another surprise from Mr. Evergreen comes to mind. "We talked to the doctor who made that part of the test, it turns out he broke two other parts of the spell by accident, it was subtle and they are no experts so nopony noticed." I flip a page and look over another of the impressive stallion's patients.

"Out of the two accidental mistakes one other of the eight testers found one of them, the second accidental mistake however... Well, it took three of us nearly an hour of research to find out if he was even right about it being wrong, and he very much was." That might be his most impressive feat out of all of this as it stumped us a fair bit, to be fair it's not our field of expertise.

"The mistake was so small that nopony else even noticed, including us, and even with it pointed out it took us an hour to find out if it was wrong, and another hour just to figure out why it was wrong. I was watching him and he did it in less than three minutes, the fastest time for that portion out of all eight testers." I explain in thought.

It also didn't seem like luck as he was very calm when picking it out, as if it was as obvious as the sun. Dr. Stick whistles slowly and nods, "Wow, he's certainly got an eye for detail then, not a bad thing to add to his file." He says with a rightfully impressed tone.

I nodded as I thought much the same. "Yes, then there were his results on the hypothetical patient test, that one was also impressive. Add today's performance in and he's on strong ground." I can't help but feel a little pride at such a Pony doing so well.

I am interested to see what his third day will be like.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

Again not the most interesting but I was able to make it somewhat more interesting. We even have our first POV shift to an OC pony, an oddly specific but notable thing that I'm pointing out for no reason.

Also, we passed 1,000,000 total views, I don't know what to say to that, just, wow. Thank you all for the support. :D

Chapter 288

AUG 2 Thursday.

I slowly trim away at the Prismatic Rose bush with a pair of small scissors.

I could just use my magic but I find the process of doing this by hoof to be very refreshing and something to do to let me relax. Unlike a lot of my work it's a very simple thing to trim away at a plant and enjoy taking care of it.

After yesterday I decided to do something to unwind for a while, so I've spent the first half of this day just reading and doing small things. I also spent a long time playing with Entropy and teaching her a few new words, something she's still improving on.

Over time her mental abilities have been improving, and that ability is rising faster this year than the years before, at least as best I can tell without being an expert. I even spent some time going shopping with her at the end of yesterday to buy some foal books, very simple things that she can practice reading from.

She's currently on the couch flipping through one of them and occasionally sounding out a word while I give advice whenever she asks for it. As if on cue she speaks up, "Fire?" She asks and I walk over with the small watering can I bought yesterday as well, something completely unneeded but I thought would be fun to have.

I look at the book and shake my head a little, getting a slow thrill of disappointment from her. I pet her and smile, "No, but close. That's 'fine' A pretty similar word so good guess." I am encouraging as I want her to have the confidence to not just learn from me but learn on her own as well.

That's the main reason I got her the books, so she could learn extra outside of our lessons if and when she wanted to. She ruffles her feathers, "Silly story, but cute." She points out the rather silly story in her new book but I just smile as she is cuter than every book I got her from that single sentence alone.

I cast a spell to tell the time and pause as I see I need to go soon. "Looks like I need to go, do you want to stay here?" She jumps on my back quickly and leaves her book alone. I nod and walk over to grab my saddlebags while my spell disappears in green particles.

Casting a spell to see the time is easy but maybe I should get a clock, or anything really so Entropy can tell the time when she wants to. She can already read a clock and a decent one would be a nice addition to my empty walls. I think that over as I leave my apartment with a disguised Entropy.

The flight there is about the same as it always is, Entropy going into my shadow before we land and me dismissing my wings as I walk into the hospital. Putting away my things I'm a tad bit more comfortable being naked, I still don't like it but I have work to keep me from thinking about Changelings.

After that, I join the crowd like the last two times, and not long after Dr. Meadows greets us and does the same thing as before. We all get led to our different patient wards and I'm once again greeted by Dr. Stick as we settle into what looks like the same routine as yesterday.

I nod in greeting to the doctor as he looks me over for a moment and nods before marking something. I raise a brow and he smiles, "You would be surprised how many are so tired from the last day they forget to clean up before coming here. A single spell will solve it now but why waste the magic?" I nod as I've had days like that in the past. "So, how are you feeling? You seem well enough." He starts off with the questions quickly.

I notice the other seven testers look a little worse for wear, not a lot but you can see it in the slightly tired eyes. It seems more like mental exhaustion than anything, I don't know what they did before now but it probably wasn't volunteering and I think they are new to the sights and work.

At least most of them are like that, two others seem better off and more stable than the rest, both being Ponies who held up the best yesterday as well. I shrug, "I'm fine, I'm more than used to this. It's also just nice being able to actually heal others and not just clean or stitch wounds, sure it works but it feels slow when you can fix it in a minute with a spell." I am honest with him as the questions aren't too personal.

He nods and gives me an understanding look. "I can sympathize with that, but hey knowing how to do both is better as well." He points out to keep spirits high. "Anyway, before one of us opens the doors we need to tell you things will be a bit different today." He keeps a calm tone and I notice something similar being talked about with all the doctors and testers.

I show some curiosity and he elaborates. "It's not a large change, but today we're mostly only going to get patients with wounds, and a few rare lesser cases." I take that as confirmation that a lot of the smaller things were planned out in advance yesterday. "But that means we're not keeping a firm schedule, you might wait ten minutes with nothing to do or get three patients quickly." He says seriously and I get what he means.

I'm not sure but it seems that they padded out yesterday with a bunch of real patients that only had small injuries so we all had consistent things to do. Now we're getting the real flow, "So they will balance them between us eight, but what we get is up in the air." I guess and he nods before making another thing. "Ok, ready whenever," I say and spend the remaining time going over the six beds I have in front of me.

He and the other doctors eventually finish talking to every tester and open the doors while I fix up the beds. Not a moment after they are open a nurse comes in with someone floating behind them and being loud, a trickle of blood falling on the floor with them. And with me being one of the two testers closest to the door, I get the patient.

They are laid down on a bed with some blood spilling on the sheets and floor. This is a lot more blood than yesterday and all the other Ponies take notice, a few of the other testers look uncomfortable about the amount of blood. I just cast a spell to remove most of it from the floor so I don't slip as I move to the patient.

A Griffon of all things, less commonly seen but still something I can handle. "Shit this hurts!" The female tone complains as she speaks Griffon and I look over her wound, her foreleg is broken and the bone is sticking out, while it is bleeding fairly badly. I open my mouth but she cuts me off as she sees me get close. "I don't care, fix it!" She demands with narrowed eyes and she clenches her beak and makes keening noises like an angry bird.

I nod and take hold of her foreleg while laying her down before casting a scanning spell. The break is fairly clean all things considered but I need to get this bone back in place quickly as she is still losing blood, including some getting on my hoof holding the misaligned limb for inspection.

I can think of a few ways to solve this, but mainly I need that bone back inside of her, it's only sticking out half an inch so It shouldn't be hard. "This will hurt, a lot. You want me to make sure you can't move?" She just glares at me not already doing something and nods. I cast an overpowered Sticking spell and pin most of her body to the bed.

She squawks in surprise but doesn't fight it too much, still moving due to the pain though. I need the strength in my hooves for this and I need to be able to feel the movement. I take hold of her bleeding limb with both of my front hooves and start to painfully move it back into place. "SHIT! AAA FFFF!" The Griffon's pain shoots up and she thrashes on the bed pretty hard.

I can't silence her so I ignore it and just try to move as quickly as I can while being careful. I get the bone back inside and realign it inside the limb by feeling around, as I have done with many others while here. A few seconds later I'm able to hold the limb still and stop moving it.

The Griffon flops back a small bit out of breath from her shouting and she already looks tired. "F-Fuck, please tell me that's it?" I shake my head as that is by far the worst part over but not everything is done. I cast a spell to start healing the bone and she winces at the new pain. "Great, how long will this last?"

I cast the B.L.P spell to stop the bleeding of her wound and let the bone heal first, casting scanning spells every ten seconds to make sure it was working properly. "Not too long, after that I can get the flesh and skin healed and you can rest. They can get you something for the leftover pain." I slip into Griffon so she might feel a bit more comfortable.

She blinks in surprise but again flinches a bit in pain as I hold her leg still. I look around and cast a cleaning spell to remove most of the blood, watching as most Ponies in the room are taking glances at us due to the shouting while dealing with their own patients as more and more are brought in.

It takes a minute but the bone is mostly healed. "Ok, don't move it quickly, it's still delicate." Dr. Stick walks over and passes me a herb, "Ingested?" He nods and I move it over to the Griffon's beak. "This will help with the pain, just sit still and let the spells work." I explain and she starts to chew.

Before I can turn to Dr. Stick and answer his questions, another patient is dropped off with me and I walk over while keeping concentration on the spells healing the Griffon. This patient is a middle-aged unicorn mare, with a broken tailbone being the suspected problem. I put down the clipboard and looked at the mare. "Ok Ma'am, I'll need to use a few spells on you if that is fine?" I ask calmly.

My cleaning spells got most of the blood but there is still a little on the Griffon's bed and the mare looks pretty squeamish about it. "Y-Yes." She doesn't elaborate and just looks away from the bed and uses a hoof to cover her nose, mostly to block out the smell of fresh blood.

I cast a Scanning spell and see that there is a small crack in one of her tailbones that is pinching some flesh, but not too bad and easily fixed. I move her tail a bit and try not to look too far down while casting a spell to heal the bone, this one only takes a few moments due to its small size.

With her done I walk over to make sure the Griffon is fully healed before walking over to Dr. Stick. He nods as I pass him the scans I took, "Good work... Do you need, ahh, time to clean up?" He asks while looking at my still slightly bloody hooves. I shake my head and cast an overpowered Cleaning spell to fully clean myself up. "That works, ok, so what did you do and how?"

We dive right back into the questions as I go through everything and treat another patient, the same cycle as yesterday repeating itself. After three hours I get time to rest for a good twenty minutes, but by the time that's over a Pony is brought in by two nurses and already has some bandaging.

I jump up and help them move the pony as they look badly hurt, with one problem standing out as they place the Earth Pony mare down on the bed. The bandages are wrapped around her back right leg and this one looks bad. I remove them to see what I'm working with and have to suppress some concerns.

I am beyond thankful that the mare is out cold, her leg is a complete mess. The bottom half of her hindleg seems to have been crushed and just from a glance I can tell the inside has been broken in dozens of places. I scan it and don't even hesitate to act, flipping her on her back and moving the hindleg so it's in mid-air and not resting on its own weight.

Even doing just that causes a large chunk of one side of her hoof to fall off onto the bed. I'm also thankful for whichever Pony put a makeshift tourniquet on her upper hindleg to stop the bleeding. The bone is in so many pieces and I set to work moving each one back into place trying to get them all aligned as fast as I can.

Dr. Stick is on standby right next to me which gives me some comfort. But all the movement loosens the tourniquet and blood starts pouring out from her. "Do you need assistance?" I shake my head as I know I can heal this patient, I just need the bones aligned. I can't even stop the bleeding with a spell though as I need to fix the bones.

It takes me a few minutes and one of the other doctors also comes over to be on standby. I feel my fear and anxiety rise but keep calm as I get the last large bone fragment in place. The spell to fix bones can move the smaller fragments into place, I just needed to move the big ones first.

She's bleeding a lot and looks a little pale by this point so I stop going slow and dump nearly ten percent of my magic into a single spell. The flash blinds the two doctors for a second and we all hear several rapid snapping sounds as bone fragments and pieces scrape against each other. The sound was added to by the small sounds of the rapid regeneration and reconstruction of her leg bones, luckily the process was over in less than a minute as the doctors looked impressed and disturbed at the sight.

I cast a Cleaning spell and a spell that takes even more magic as I lose another ten percent in a single moment. The flesh was torn in several places and it starts to rapidly regrow as I move fur out of the way and try to make sure it fully regrows properly, still, it takes two full minutes to regrow the flesh as well. And finally, I fix her hoof with a slower spell to finish off my work.

I sigh and move back, casting a cleaning spell to remove yet more blood from my hooves and the bed, pausing for a moment to throw away the hunk of hoof that fell off into a trashcan. That was a bit close, if it was worse I might have had to use my life magic. Reminder to self, I need to find a spell for aligning bones, or make one.

The doctors also look relieved and Dr. Stick nods slowly as he casts his own scanning spell on the patient, intervening for the first time. "Are you ok? That must have taken a lot of magic and will to get that effect, feeling worn out? Things like that can be very... Stressful." He asks with some concern and moves his clipboard to the side.

I take a deep breath as the worry fades quickly. "I'm fine, it didn't take too much out of me. I still got around a third of my magic left, probably more actually." He raises a brow but nods and passes me a flask, I drink from the cool water inside. "Thanks. And I'm good to keep going, I might not be able to take any big cases though." I reassure him to release any worry.

He raises a brow at my calm attitude but nods. "If you are sure. It was impressive you are able to overpower a spell that far and keep control." He starts and brings his clipboard over. "That's the same spells you have used a few times already, right?" I nod and shrug off the compliment. "You sure you don't need a minute?" He asks with some concern.

I shake my head. "It was a bit worrying for a while there, but it's fine and I had you two on standby. But if you insist, just give me something easy and I can go slower for a patient or two." I reason and that seems to satisfy him enough to drop it, walking off to the nurses.

A minute later a Pony walks over to me, this patient is actually able to move under their own weight, being one of the rare patients today who is not wounded, although they seemed to be in some mild pain. I walk over as the pegasus stallion sits down on the edge of the bed. "Hey doc, I'll save you the trouble, something in the chest is hurting a little. I think it's fine but it's a little annoying so I came in." He explains like he's done this a few times now.

I nod my thanks as that simplifies things. "Ok, I'll cast a few Scanning spells and we can work from there," I responded calmly, casting the spell over his chest and grabbing some fresh paper to see the results. Oddly nothing comes up on the scan, I raise a brow and try a different one for his lungs.

I know a scanning spell for at least one of every large organ, but I have a general one for the chest area to narrow things down. Again nothing, I start to cast Scanning spell after Scanning spell for different organs but nothing pops up. By the time I'm done, I'm trying to decide if I need to ask for help or if this stallion is lying for whatever reason.

A thought occurs to me and I mentally shrug before casting that spell as well, a spell that I learned more on a whim than anything, and in a second flat my calm is gone. This scanning spell is far less used as the actual detection of anything is rare, yet there the rarely is, staring me in the face. A positive test for an internal infection somewhere inside his chest.

I have no fucking idea how it got there but this is bad, beyond bad. I nod like nothing is wrong and turn to the stallion, hiding my growing panic. Without using pure life magic I can't do shit for him, most Ponies here can't do anything for him, but I still need help. "Ok, Sir. I need to show this to a few others, please relax and wait." I say, my tone is as calm as I can get it but still sounding a tiny bit on edge.

He looks confused but nods, and no sooner do I turn away and head for Dr. Stick. My face drops its calm look and goes deadly serious as I can't be wasting time looking calm. I struggle to walk and not run the short distance to him, but I still walk quickly over to him. He looks concerned as I quickly walk over. "Mr. Evergreen do yo-"

I shut him up by shoving the result in his face and he reads it for all of five seconds before grabbing the paper and running past me, heading straight for the only Pony in this room I've seen doing nothing. The older-looking mare has sat in a corner for all of both days and done nothing but take notes.

The unicorn mare is average in height and has a deep red coat, a velvet mane, and a pair of light red eyes. She looks to be in her late thirties, maybe mid-thirties actually. She looks up as Dr. Stick runs over and quickly passes her the scan and the old mare is moving only a second later.

Unlike Dr. Stick, the older mare is a lot more calm but still acts quickly and has an expression that shows some worry. She moves to the patient, who is obviously confused and seems to just start taking over my job for me while I watch. Not that I mind, if she's qualified and can help the patient then I couldn't care less who she is.

I sense Dr. Stick walks back over to me. I and a lot of other Ponies present raise a brow as I see three spells cast at once and all of them look fairly powerful. Three at once would place her firmly in the master rank of a caster and isn't that a shock. :Why the fuck was she in here with us?:

My mind catches onto that thought as I try to take in her appearance more, trying to make sense of her being here and then it clicks. There are two Master Rank Spell casters in this hospital, and only one of them would need to be in this room taking notes. "Figured it out yet? It always takes a while for anypony to notice." A more rattled sounding Dr. Stick says to my side as we watch.

I nod as it's now obvious who she is, this hospital's resident Master Healer. I watch her cast a few more spells and summon a knife with conjuration, the knife having an odd design to it. Very thin but also very short, something like a primitive scalpel and a tool I've seen referred to as a Surgical Knife.

Having a spell for just that seems a bit over the top, but it would give you a tool you can remake if needed, and do so anywhere you want. I watch as she puts the stallion to sleep and starts to make a cut, deep enough to get into wherever that infection specifically is.

In a world with mostly only herbs to help with infections an internal infection is really fucking bad. From what I understand though this stallion got really lucky, as there are spells that can help an infection. The problem is that they are all high-level spells, Master Rank spells mostly.

I'm honestly surprised I didn't pick up on it before, but her being there seemed normal so I didn't really question it. I'll need to pay more attention to things like this in the future. "She's been making notes on us the entire time as an expert, a good way to observe our skill without pressuring us with her presence." I reason out and he raises a brow before nodding. "What do I do now?" I ask while continuing to watch.

The Master Healer casts what is definitely a Master Rank spell from how much her horn glows, a deep red spell shooting into the stallion's chest for a moment, and after that, she casts another spell to quickly seal up the cut she made. Dr. Stick looks at his clipboard.

"Well, this won't be marked against you, you couldn't have done anything against something like that. Good catch with the spells by the way, we missed that when we checked." He shakes his head a bit in dissatisfaction. "For now we wait for her to finish up and we can get back to it. And I can catch up on questions." He encourages me and sits down next to me on the cold floor.

"I did have one question that's more of a curiosity if you're fine with that." I continue to watch the mare work and just nod to the doctor. "What is your special talent? It wasn't listed and I honestly couldn't figure it out." He says as he glances at my flank.

I raise a brow at the odd question and its odd timing, before realizing he's probably trying to distract me so I don't stress out. I've told others who have asked so I am blunt, "It helps me with all runic magic, at least to some degree. It's not a large effect though, more so just a nudge in the right direction." I say almost disinterestedly, too focused on watching the mare work.

The mare ends up casting over a dozen spells on the stallion before eventually talking to a doctor and heading back our way. I take my cue and start to head over to receive another patient as I'm already behind. As I walk past her I nod in thanks and with respect for her skill, I can see why she has the rank she does.

I walk past her but I feel a tug on my fur and turn away as she grabs my coat with her magic to stop me. She looks me over for several long moments, "You the one who caught that?" She asks in a fairly gruff voice, sounding straight to the point. I nod after a second, "Hmm, not bad." That's all she says before she walks back to her corner, now with more eyes on her.

I am happy at the compliment but keep my face professional while moving over to the beds and a patient waiting for me. She seems interesting, but even with me knowing she's watching me I don't really feel all that different. I've had Celestia watching me for years, a single strong Pony is bearable for a few hours.

I smile a bit at spotting something and maybe saving a life, and if I did save a life then come what may, but this was all worth it. I shake my head and get back to the next patient.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

Ya know, sometimes I forget just how much I actually write, I know entire stories with fewer words then this three-day arc, it's just sort of surreal to think about for me. Enough of my blabbering though, have a good day.

Chapter 289

AUG 3 Friday.

I sit not far from the hospital and enjoy the day with Entropy resting on top of my head.

After yesterday was concluded Dr. Stick said that they would give me the results of the test the day after. Normally results are mailed out but for the healers test they give out the results personally. If I had to guess they are trying to build up their network of healers and maybe get one to work with them.

I don't really mind listening to them give me an offer, especially if it means I get my results so soon after the tests. I'll admit to being a little nervous about my results but I don't think I'll be failing, not after seeing the other testers at least. If they can pass then I definitely will.

Then again arrogance rarely ends well so until I have the results I'll plan around failing the test. It might not be the most pleasant thought but ignoring the possibility will do me no good at all. I'm still thinking over my actions and the things I revealed in the test.

As a start I really revealed just how much magic I had, and my true skill at casting magic as well. It's been more of an open secret as I've never hidden some things like my casting speed, but they probably have a good idea of my magical control now as well. It's unlikely to affect me but I don't like the attention it will inevitably bring.

After the Master Healer intervened a few of the other testers kept closer eyes on me and I didn't enjoy it one bit. I don't think acting so calmly helped me blend in either, but I'm not going to pretend to panic and put a pony's life in danger. Overall though I revealed about as much as I expected I would need to and even a little less.

And it's not like their records will be available to just anypony, they are held by only the hospital and the city government, probably the crown as well. And while several Ponies probably are talking about me I can weather that storm, just like I did with the dance at the Gala.

Overall though I think the experience was worth the effort and small secrets. I learned a fair amount and helped a great many Ponies while doing it. I also got to see an actual Master Healer at work up close and that in and of itself is not something many get to see.

I even got a small compliment from her for which I have some pride over. Sure I mostly got lucky with my timing but luck is a factor all its own and I'm pretty happy I've made it this far on my own. Just with time and effort, I've gone from some random Pony who couldn't heal a stab wound to somepony capable of fixing crushed limbs in minutes.

I think this was worth it. I check the time and see that I'll finally have my main question answered. Did I pass? Let's find out. Entropy slips into my shadow as we leave the small park and I walk the short distance to the hospital, taking the back entrance like the days before.

Unlike the other times, I don't take anything off and just make my way to the office areas, finding the office of Dr. Meadows with ease. I knock on the door and it opens on its own, the mare sitting inside waving me in and smiling. "Mr. Evergreen, come in, please make yourself comfortable." She says with a slightly cheery tone.

I raise a brow at the happy greeting but just take it as a good sign and walk into the office, closing the door behind me before sitting down across from her. "Hello Dr. Meadows, I was told to get my test results from you?" I ask bluntly and let my excitement through a little as I really want to know if I passed.

The mare smiles knowingly and moves several papers around on her desk. "That is correct, but there are a few things first. Nothing to worry about but I wanted to ask a few things if that is fine with you? And I also have the report on your testing I wanted to ask some things about." She asks calmly and I feel myself shift internally, suddenly more on guard.

I knew I would raise a few questions and a lot of them I don't mind answering. In cases like this, it's better to answer with little information than to not answer at all. I nod slowly and she smiles, "Thank you, I'm mostly just curious about how you learned to become a healer and why you wanted to become one. Sorry if that's too personal." She asks in a friendly tone.

I let her words sink in for a few moments, I've never made it a secret that I've self-studied but I also was never too clear on that. "I live near the Canterlot Library, I go there often and they have more than enough knowledge to work with. As for why? I thought it would be nice to have the license in case I ever needed it." I choose to be mostly honest as I can't really see a reason to hide these two things, still, I leave out some details.

She finishes moving the papers and turns to me, her head tilting a little to the side. "Does that mean you are unsure if you will continue to practice being a healer?" She asks and I shrug as I haven't had too much time to think about it, before raising a brow at her wording and feeling more excited. "Yes, I just let it slip it seems. Here." She admits.

She passes me a few papers and I read through them with a smile. They are the forms I need to fill out to get my healer's license, after today I will officially be an... Wait. I look through the contract again and turn back to her confused. "I think this is the wrong form, this says Journeypony." I point out and pass it back over.

She just smiles and again passes it over to me. "That would be correct. Are you aware of what the actual requirement differences between an apprentice and a Journeypony healer are?" She asks as I sit there a bit stunned, I shake my head slowly as I never looked into the higher ranks closely, and feel some growing recognition of what she is doing.

She smiles more and leans forward. "It's not as much as you'd think. They need a slightly more robust amount of knowledge, but that's not too much more than what an Apprentice knows. A Journeypony needs to also apprentice under a Master for a full year at a minimum, or another Journeypony for three years minimum. While also knowing how to cast advanced spells, something you seem already capable of." She says and moves a test over to me.

It's a few notes on my testing and an observation from Dr. Stick about me overpowering a spell to a high degree. The thing is that you only really need better control and more magic to cast advanced spells. I showed them I had both without actually using an advanced spell. "I also remember you cast an advanced spell when we first met." She hints at something I hoped she would have forgotten.

I feel my own internal worry increase as she's noticed more than I hoped she would, but it's nothing too bad and I knew the risks when taking the tests. After a long moment of silence, I slowly nod, "I suppose I do have the skill to cast them, at least the lower-end advanced spells." I reveal as there is no point in hiding it now.

She smiles and takes out some other forms while bringing the first ones back. "Fantastic to hear, you have some impressive skill in magic. Not only that but you are very good at the spell work needed and all around you are basically nearing a Journeypony Healer already." She moves a stack of papers over to me and I read through them quickly.

It's a list of notable things about my actions in the tests, and the more I read the more uncomfortable it makes me. They even noticed me pointing out the flaws in a spell matrix during my test, remarking that I surpassed all others in that particular part.

I feel my mouth go a little dry as I realize I showed more than I ever intended. Sure it's not too bad, but them knowing this much is already messing with me. "You can keep that, we make one for each Apprentice Healer so they know how to improve. We also don't keep records beyond the written test results so you don’t need to worry about that." She adds, apparently seeing my concern despite my best efforts.

I still don't like it but I literally can't do anything about it and if they tried to tell anypony else I could probably sue them into the ground someway. I calm down quickly, suppressing my panic for later with a few internal words. :FUUUUCCCCKKK!: And trying to remain happy-looking. "Thank you for the kind words, I never outright asked, but did I pass? And are those the proper forms?" I ask to change the subject quickly.

She nods and moves them over to her. "Yes, they are, once you sign these you are officially a healer. And you did far more than just pass, you got third place in the written test and by far first place in the practical testing." She reveals with some pride and I feel a little bit better knowing this was all at least worth it, but also try to brush off her compliment. "However, I have something, more to add."

I hesitantly raise a brow. "With your skill already being near a Journeypony Healer all you would really need to do is pass a written test, learn a few advanced healing spells, and apprentice for a year." I nod slowly. "If you had the option, would you do that? More interestingly, would you accept this?" She moves over two sets of documents.

I keep my brow raised as I slowly pull one document over, this one asking me to fill out some basic information to get my Apprentice Healers license. I decide not to delay this and quickly take out a quill to fill out the document, completing it quickly as she watches with a smile.

As I fill it out I try to guess what she has planned. It's clear she wants something, but I don't feel like she's malicious to me, she just doesn't have a reason to be. I think she's trying to get me to work for them for a while, maybe by dangling the future opportunity to apprentice here under the Master Healer?

It's not particularly bad, but I still feel off about getting into this situation. But if nothing else I am now officially a healer, and that can mean a lot in the future. Being able to help in a crisis without dealing with it being illegal or having to hide that I'm healing others makes it all so simple.

Being a Journeypony would be better but it's not needed, something to maybe look into later. However, fulfilling the apprenticing requirement can be hard. Am I willing to make a deal if it means I can apprentice under a Master Healer? I'm not really sure.

Eventually, I pass her back the contract and she goes through it for a moment before taking out a small box and passing it over. She smiles widely, "Congratulations Healer Evergreen, you are now officially an Apprentice Healer." She actually seems pretty happy to announce the news regardless of her other intentions.

I look at the small box and decide to just open it as it's not even wrapped, inside is what I expected but was still pleasantly surprised to see. A card, two inches by three inches and as flat as a few playing cards added together. Made completely from some form of copper alloy that gave it a light bronze look, and felt very solid and durable.

I flip it over and read off some basic information, my name, place of birth, and rank. It's pretty simple but the card seems well suited for something you'd carry every day, it's also not enchanted from what I can tell. "Thank you." I offer, not really knowing what else to say in response.

I put the card back into the box and shove it into my saddlebags before turning to the second stack of papers. I start to slowly flip through it and my eyes widen more and more as I read through it. It's basically an offer to start apprenticing under Master Healer Clear Water, immediately.

I would need to take the Journeypony tests one year after signing this contract and I would also need to learn the required advanced spells while apprenticing under the Master Healer. I stare at the paper blankly as Dr. Meadows fails to hide her amusement at my reaction.

I was expecting something... Probably far less than this. "Can I be frank with you?" I ask not really having another way to figure this out. It just doesn't make sense to offer me something like this off the bat, I passed the damn test TODAY for fucks sake. She nods and continues to look amused, something I can't blame her for. "Why? I'm self-taught, and honestly, this is, a lot." I speak much more bluntly with her.

Dr. Meadows just nods as if she was expecting this. "It is done every few years, whenever we find a Pony with enough skill and ability to warrant it." That tampers down my growing suspicion over the offer a little. "And to be frank in turn, why wouldn't we?" She asks with some amusement.

I tilt my head. "You are the youngest Pony to take the test this year, and the lower end for Ponies taking this test in general. Yet you passed with more certainty than most ever hope to have. You basically passed the test after the second day alone. And yet you are far more skilled than that." She praises me as I sit silently, not sure how to react.

She moved a few papers over and copied the paperwork I just signed. "Those are documents you should keep for proof of your rank if it's needed beyond the card." She explains. "You remained completely calm when most others would and DO panic. And that's not even including all the other positives." She continues on.

I nearly speak up but she just keeps going. "And, you are basically a Journeypony already, a year of training, and at seventeen you could hold a rank most hold at twenty to thirty-five years old." She continues happily. "And finally the simple fact that you have made it this far without even the schooling most go through. Why wouldn't we want you to improve further?" She asks, sounding genuine.

I sit in stunned silence for a few moments, lost in thought. What was unsaid is that it would also look good for them. Sure having me around would also be legitimately useful and to a degree I think at least she wants me to actually improve. But it's clear they are also getting something from this arrangement, just not anything from me directly.

There is also the basic logic of having me as a contact in the future, showing me some favoritism now, and building a better future relationship with what they see as a talented healer. Logically the choice makes sense and they aren't wrong either, I already have basically all the skills needed.

From the way this contract is worded the main difference between an Apprentice Healer and a Journeypony Healer is less about knowledge and more about skill. I have the magical control and skill needed to advance, a hurdle other Ponies would normally still be stuck on by this point. If I learned the advanced spells it really would just be a written test and apprenticing under a master for a year, it would be pretty easy.

But do I even want to go that far? To dedicate even more time to this when I have most of what I need? Sure it would be nice but I can live without it and with canon getting closer a year is a large commitment. I stay silent as I read through the entire offer in front of me.

It's a very simple contract all things considered. It's really as simple as taking the written test at the end and making sure to learn what is needed, which is not as much as you would think. A good amount of spell knowledge, something I am already far beyond, and some healing knowledge that is pretty light all things considered.

The advanced spells I would need to learn are also going to be provided by them, I just need to learn them and demonstrate their use when it is time. The only thing that might be hard is actually apprenticing under a Pony, but even there I'm getting a good deal.

As part of becoming Master Healer Clear Water's apprentice, we would be signing a two-way non-disclosure agreement. Apparently, many healers work under them to protect knowledge they have if they are from a guild or fancy school, it's basically standard practice. For me, it would prevent Master Clear Water from spilling any of my secrets, and the same on my end.

I read through the entire document before looking back up to Dr. Meadows. I place the document down, "I'm not sure I'm interested in this." I see her ear twitch a bit. "I have other plans in life, and this would take up time. I need more details, as a start, how much time would I be here for?" I asked, voicing my uncertainty.

She nods and quickly brings out some documents. "We thought that could be the case, and with how much you already know we think you could just continue with the volunteer schedule, same time frame, and everything. As long as you still study it should be enough." She explains and I can tell they did prepare for this to a degree.

That doesn't sound bad, and I'm happy to learn the more advanced knowledge they could provide me. But still, is this really what I want to dedicate all that time to? I probably would have quit volunteering after this so I could have some extra time to try new things, I had nothing left to learn volunteering here anyway so why stay?

I go back and forth for a while in my own head before deciding I needed more than just a few minutes to think about this. Apprenticing under Master Clear Water will also draw more attention I don't need, the same can be said with advancing my rank at my age. I look thoughtful, "Would I be able to take some time to think this over?" I ask after more silence.

She smiles and nods. "Absolutely, but we would need your decision by the end of August. Here, this holds the scheduling information and what would be expected of you in more detail. Take the contract as well and turn it in to me anytime if you are interested." She offers kindly while clearly trying to be nice and convince me.

We're not close so I don't take any offense to her words and actions. I nod slowly and gather the pile of different documents she's given me, "I will, thank you, Dr. Meadows. I am probably going to not be volunteering anymore, is there anything I need to sign?" She doesn't look surprised at that and takes out some paperwork quickly.

It basically just says I'm leaving the program, something I planned to do and feel like is a good choice. If I stayed in it I would have gone back to healing Ponies the old way, because even if I'm a healer that program wasn't made for a healer. "Thank you for the offer, I'll make sure to think it over. Have a good day Dr. Meadows." I am polite and truthful as even if I reject it this is still a big offer from their end.

She smiles as I stand up and offers me a hoof, one I shake happily. "And thank you for all the good you've done, I hope to hear from you soon. Have a good day Healer Evergreen." She says while sounding just as truthful as I am. I pause at the use of my new title but leave her office in thought and quickly make my way back home.

I spent the short flight home in deep thought, I really can't decide what to do. It would mean dedicating so much more time to this, but is it worth it? When I land I walk down my stairs and am greeted by the sight of my three friends in the hallway around Daisy's apartment door. I raise a brow and walk over curious and happy about the distraction they give me.

As I walk to them they turn to me with smiles. "So what's all this, you all planning to go out drinking again? Or just a friendly meeting in a hallway?" I start to joke around immediately as a way to calm myself further from the odd meeting. I receive a chuckle from Blaz and an eye roll from Daisy, with Maple just smiling a little and nodding in greeting.

Blaz stops and shrugs, "Maybe later Colt, but me and the mares were actually talking about you. And the ever so interesting fact that Daisy has barely seen you for three days, even on Friday you weren't home." He smiles more and gives me a knowing smirk. "Spending too much time with your mare friend, are you?" He asks, teasing me.

I blush a small bit at the insinuation and shake my head, only for Daisy to pile on. "Yaaa, did you go see the pretty mare? She really does look nice." I roll my eyes and fight off a stronger blush. Daisy giggles and drops the tone, "Seriously though, what have been up to?"

I huff a bit but pause as a thought strikes me, I never told them about the test. Sure I talked about it with them a little but it seemed rather morbid to bring hospital stuff up on game nights so I don't bring the topic up often. I smile as the idea roots in my mind to get some revenge, "Taking a test." I answer unhelpfully.

They all blink as they all look confused. "What?" Maple asks with a pretty funny tone, one I start chuckling at. "No, seriously, what? You don't go to school, right?" She asks as they all grow more confused, while I just start laughing and enjoying their reactions. "This sounds impressive, stop laughing and explain," Maple demands with her flat tone.

I tail off my laughter and they all give me curious and demanding stares. "Fine, ruin my revenge, I tested and passed. To get this." I pull the box out of my saddlebags and it is snatched away immediately by Daisy. "If you break that I will be very mad, and you might be in legal trouble," I say honestly as she looks at the small box.

She pauses at that and glances at my serious face before carefully opening the box, both Maple and Blaz leaning over to see the inside. Daisy looks at me and the card, back and forth a few times. After several beats of me smiling at their shock, Blaz speaks up. "It has been TEN days since we last met! What the buck Colt?!!" He says with both excitement and utter bewilderment.

I just smile widely at their shock and enjoy the moment. "Congratulations! I can't believe you did this!!" Daisy celebrates and immediately closes the gap between us to give me a hug. "A healer!! When did you even do this?!!" She asks with a large amount of joy as she backs up from the quick but strong hug. I blink at the sudden hug but keep my smile as they continue to amuse me.

Maple looks over from the card and smiles widely, a rare sight from her. "Congrats, so when did you plan to become a healer to give us the news to mess with us?" She asks in a serious tone like it makes perfect sense. "Because you either planned all of this, or you forgot to tell us." She guesses and my smile falters a bit, causing her to chuckle. "Called it." That gets a laugh from the other two as well.

I sigh and glare at her a bit. "You all know I've been learning for a long time, and I studied for a few weeks to prepare. It took three days to get it all done though. But hey, I can at least now heal Blaz whenever he drunkenly hurts himself." I make a joke out of the mood to move past the very sudden celebration.

Blaz lets out a hard laugh. "Ha! Like you're getting out of this with a joke Colt. You've done some impressive stuff, but this, it's second best." I raise a brow. "The dance." I glare at him a bit as he smiles more. "Ok, plans changed. We're taking him out to celebrate, he's not getting out of this one." He says with complete confidence while my other two friends nod in agreement.

I blink and almost decline, but they give me looks that tell me just how much of a choice I have in the matter, that being none. I sigh, "At least let me take a shower and grab Entropy." My defeated tone earns a chuckle as they all nod. "I'd say thank you, but no," I add to mess with them.

Daisy smiles brightly. "Well, when you learn to stop being so humble that you SOMEHOW forget to mention that you're becoming a healer! Maybe we'll go easier on you." She jokes back. "To be honest though, it's so amazing! You didn't even go to school for it!" She gushes some more.

Blaz nods. "After apparently becoming a HEALER, for a reason I WILL get out of you. Sure, you get a shower, make it quick though." Blaz jokes back as I walk over to my apartment door. "And don't even try to lie, we're getting EVERY detail, Colt." He adds as I walk inside and start to prepare for an unplanned celebration.

Once I'm inside I feel my smile shift, happy that my friends are willing to celebrate all this, even if I would rather just sleep. I guess I will be explaining everything, after all, just got to tone it down a little.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 996

I wanted a chapter as something of a finish to all this, but I didn't want to make another chapter just for his friends to find out. So I mixed them, it might not be a long reaction, but it fits well and lets him explain the details without us having to hear them yet again.

Also, what do think of the offer Shade got?

Chapter 290

AUG 10 Friday.

I slowly sip my tea as I wait for my friend to arrive. I look up and out of the pavilion in Gaia's Eden, looking across the grass field to see Entropy and Philomena playing.

The past week has been a nice calm from my normal time at the hospital and a nice reward to myself for all my hard work. The past week has also given me time to reflect and think about the offer I was given. To be blunt I am conflicted about it for several reasons and spent some time researching things to help me decide.

I was able to get some books on how healers have historically been treated in modern times, and the general thoughts about them. Healers are like a lot of other medical professions, you don't notice or think about them too much unless you need one for something.

Healers are generally respected by Ponies but like anything else they need to make a name for themselves before others will really notice them. And the public at large will often not notice them, or at least they will notice them far less than somepony working in the medical field would.

As for me, well if I apprenticed under Master Clear Water it is unlikely many outside of the medical field will care all that much. Sure some will, but it would be a lot less attention than the last Gala and it is highly unlikely anypony would be stopping me in the street to talk to me.

I don't think I will draw much attention overall and I can prove that with a simple example. Me and several other testers, all pretty knowledgeable about healers, didn't notice the Master Healer sitting in the room with us for two days. And from what I've found healers are not known for their want of the spotlight.

Some stand out but most seem to just do their work and remain unknown to the public. I spent a year at this hospital and the only reason I bothered to learn Master Clear Waters's name was because I was interested in the profession. I think I won't stand out as much as I assumed.

At least not to the average Pony, however, I still stand out even more to those in the medical field. It's a trade-off but also some good cover, I'd be known as a healer but it would be very hard to tie me to my other identities. At least it's a better cover than being an elusive aspiring Spell Crafter who is totally not Veil Winter.

Splitting your focus like that would be stupid to most others and from an outside perspective most would assume I focused only on becoming a healer to get this far at my age. And while I am good at picking out mistakes in spells, there is a lot more to creating and inventing things than that.

On top of this, they are giving me an NDA. That's not foolproof but it covers my flank a lot and on top of that the hospital is very unlikely to push anything with me. They have a contract with Master Clear Water, and if she feels they don't respect her by digging into things she might just leave the hospital.

On the other hoof, I have my reservations about taking the offer. Learning not just how to heal others better, but learning from a master caster is great. She might see past some of my lies though, but that's a risk I'd have to take when learning from literally anypony at all.

The time loss is actually not that bad after I thought it over. A few hours every day for three days a week, the same amount of time I was already giving up on volunteering. I could use that time for my projects as a few of them could be done faster, but the difference would be only a week or two. And with four years left till canon, I have the spare time.

It's also not in their or any other hospital staff's best interest to blab about me. I checked the law on that actually as this entire industry is steeped in laws to protect spells and the ones who own them. Just about the only thing they can force me to tell them is what a spell I cast does to a patient, not even how, just what.

I can also very much sue them if any of that were to get out without my express permission. So I don't need to worry over theft or them messing with me, mostly cause I think they would gain little to nothing and lose a lot. Still, I also need to take into account the fact I'm not sure I even want to do this.

As it stands I'm legally allowed to heal most wounds, but nothing involving reattaching limbs or dealing with head trauma, along with a few other things, a big one being fatal wounds which is a list that covers several things. And while I can heal such things in an emergency, I am liable when doing so.

Advancing would solve this, but do I need that? I can heal almost anything as it is and if things are so bad I need to break the law regardless... Then again breaking the rules is a great way to have even more eyes digging into my secrets. It's a coin flip in between potential future problems.

Another thing I had to look through the information I was given to figure out, was sudden absences. I could still get called into the war at any time and that can be a problem. I am allowed to not show up for one week, but I know that I will be expected to explain why. After two weeks I'd get a warning, three, and the contract is voided.

It's a little strict but not unreasonably so for a Master Healer's time, it's not the most appealing though. Honestly, at this point, the NDA is a large reason why I'm hesitating. It might protect me but not really in the way I'd like it to, it's more centered around protecting information and while that is nice I would rather it be more specific.

That is some good news, if I void the contract not much actually happens, the NDA would still be in effect but I wouldn't need to pay them anything. I shuffle the papers and continue to look over them in uncertainty, putting them away a moment later to let my mind think about something else.

It's not an easy choice, but I can get advice and that's why I'm a little excited for Celestia's visit. Over the past few days, I've seen her around Gaia's Eden more and she sent me a letter to meet today. I pause that thought as the mare herself teleports into her house.

I stay where I am and wait, spending a moment to take off my saddlebags to be more comfortable. As I see her leave her home and start to walk over, the only thing on her is the necklace I made her. For a moment I'm reminded of the last Gala and the last time we met up. I shake those thoughts away. "Hello, have you been doing well?" I greet her happily as it is very nice to see her again.

She walks up with a smile and nods to me, the unspoken awkwardness there but distant. "I very much have been, although things have been rather busy. Sorry, it took so long to meet up again." She apologizes genuinely and I wave it off. "But all that is just paperwork, what have you been working on?" She asks while sitting down opposite of me.

I pass her a cup of tea. "Paperwork, and thinking about paperwork," I say honestly, getting a raised brow and an amused smirk from her. "Apparently I decided to take a test, and things went. Well?" I shrug and she just gives me a confused look. I smile knowing she will react as she always does when I accomplish something. That doesn't mean it won't be funny to watch. I take out a small box and pass it over silently.

She can tell I'm messing with her but takes the box anyway. "If this is a prank, I'm keeping whatever is in this box." She threatens, but I just laugh as she might be the only Pony in Equestria allowed to take my healer's license away. "Laugh all you like, I'm serious." She says smugly before opening the box.

She looks inside for a moment and blinks, taking out the metal card slowly as I start to really crack up. Her face is a mixture of surprise and confusion that morphs into joy and excitement a moment later. She beams and looks back at me, "You're a healer now?!!! Congratulations!!!" She says happily. "I am so proud!" Those words surprise me but I can't help feeling happy to hear them.

I should have seen it coming but the hug still envelops me quicker than I expected. I blush a little as the hug reminds me of several things, but I crush any response my body tries to have. She pulls back a moment later and smiles at me, before realizing my odd expression. I brush it off and enjoy the good mood instead of mentioning it, "Thanks, it was certainly something. If you don't count them noticing more than I hoped." I say, trying to distract myself from the previous thought.

She can see the awkwardness but nods and ignores it as well. Instead, she takes the card out and looks it over, "Because of course that is your concern. I should just make up some record you probably broke while getting this and put your name in a newspaper, it would make a good celebration gift." She jokes to move us away and to tease me a little.

I roll my eyes. "I would just move to the Dragon Lands for a while, at least they keep to themselves there. For the most part." I joke back and feel myself relax again. "Anyway, to answer the inevitable questions. I started preparing about five weeks ago, and it was more of a 'why not' kind of thing." I drop the joking tone and just start talking.

She still looks very happy and excited as she gives me the card and box back. "Oh yes, the inventor, worrier, friend to several forms of royalty. And then you add being a healer, because, why not?" I shrug and nod. She just starts laughing, "You really do fail to make any sense some days. I bet you were too humble and didn't tell anypony either?" She guesses before laughing harder as I stay silent. "You did?!"

I glare a little. "Hey! I was busy, with, things. Interesting things! And it took three days to test anyway, it's not exactly a long time." I defend myself as she just continues to laugh. "You know, I really don't think you should be laughing at the healer, it's generally a bad idea." I am trying to get her to stop laughing.

She does stop after several moments but just smiles widely. "Like you would not heal a Pony. That is the reason you did this, right? Or at least a part of it? To heal anypony you like?" I glare a little more as she once again guesses correctly. "Did you enjoy it? Healing others like this?" She quickly drops the teasing tone and asks happily.

I can't hold my glare and smile a bit and nod. "Yes, I did. It was nice to just get to heal others and see the results so quickly." I admit that I genuinely did enjoy patching others up and helping them. "Then they just had to repay me by making things complicated," I complain a little as the offer they gave me is still on my mind.

She raises a brow and I take out the contract I was reading before putting it back. "It's honestly not that big of a deal, and you have enough without my proble-" I try to move us past it quickly but before I finish she grabs the contract and starts reading it. "Really?"

She glares at the contract a bit, "I'm not letting somepony take any form of advantage over you." I raise a brow at her suddenly firm tone as she quickly goes through the contract. I just take out my chess set and set it up so we have something to do. I really should have seen this coming. "What do you think about this?" She asks as she moves the first piece on the board.

I shrug. "Conflicted? It's not bad, but also has a few problems for me. Secrets alone might be reason enough, but learning from a Master Healer..." I trail off and she nods, letting the silence sit for a while as she reads the papers. When she finishes she looks calm but focused. "Thoughts?" I ask slowly.

She passes it back to me. "It's not bad, I can see why you would be tempted. And good work, by the way, getting them this excited takes a lot." She smiles and I just shift not knowing how to ignore the compliment. "I do see one problem, the NDA." She flips through the papers to the page she is referring to.

"You will probably get some attention in the medical community, at least in Canterlot. But the NDA is a problem if you want to use what you learn." She explains and points to a line about inventors' rights. "You can modify and use anything you learn, but not share it in any way." She explains and I nod along.

"So I could make a great healing spell, and never be able to teach anypony else or release it?" She nods. "Hmm, I mean. For a lot of things I can probably find public alternatives, still..." I put away the contract as she moved another piece and took my rook. "Is there anything I could do about it?" I ask as this NDA is a fairly annoying problem.

She smiles and nods. "Get it modified or removed." I raise a brow and she chuckles. "You hold a fair bit of the leverage here, not a massive amount but it's there. Are you even interested in learning her secrets? Or just what she can teach you that is public but less known knowledge?" She questions and I have to think for a minute.

Not being able to use the knowledge gained is a big problem, mostly because it would be very hard to separate knowledge that is public and private. And I can't just ask when I need to find out and they sure as hell won't give me a list. The knowledge they have isn't too valuable to me though.

"I guess I don't really care. I can make anything they have with enough effort, so yes I'd be fine with just having a Master teach me what is public." She nods neutrally and I get the idea she has. "So, just have an NDA for personal secret stuff and give up on any private knowledge entirely?" I ask, it makes sense but seems like a way to make this entire thing less worth it.

She shrugs a little. "I can guess you want nothing to do with the politics involved." I nod quickly. "This would let you mostly stay out of it while still learning a lot, not as much as before, but a lot. It also leaves you free to do anything you want with what you learn. It shouldn't be hard to get them to agree either, as you are actively asking for less." She shares her wisdom on the matter.

Honestly, without the NDA getting in the way things would be more agreeable, but just removing it entirely is a bad idea in a different way altogether, a middle ground does seem best. "I guess my only other fear is being too involved. I will be noticed, but to what degree? I have a guess but you’d know better." I question both myself and her.

She gives me a knowing smile. "More and less than you think. As you will be exposed to those who might be envious or curious, most will likely not care though. You aren't even a permanent or hoof-picked apprentice, you're one offered to the Master from the hospital." I pause at that.

I never did know what Master Clear Water actually felt about all of this. "Good point, she might not even be that invested in teaching me. I could add that as a condition, meeting her first and seeing how she feels." Celestia fiddles with her necklace a little and nods approvingly. "I do need to be careful with what I make though, can't have them putting it together," I add as the thought pops up.

She gives me a reassuring look. "Getting them to keep your life private would actually be easy, it's not unheard of for healers to want their privacy. Sometimes for their own protection." She says levelly. "There is one very important question though, one you need to ask yourself. Why did you become a healer?" She asks gently.

I let that sink in, really thinking it through. "I thought it would be useful, and with my life affinity, it is doubly so. I also like just healing others, it's nice." I am honest as I've always enjoyed that part. "I guess it's also a reason I'm thinking about accepting, it would let me help more," I add.

She smiles softly at me and giggles. "You... You have helped more than some of the nobles that run the country, maybe more than many of them. And yet, you try to help more. What makes you so selfless?" I open my mouth as I am far from selfless but she raises a hoof, "You don't get to claim you aren't selfless after all the good you've done. That's the price." She insists with that same kind smile.

I sigh and just ignore that as it's a losing battle. She nods in satisfaction and continues. "If you get a better NDA, and meet the Master Healer, how about then? Sure you will reveal some things, but is that so bad? And even if somepony tries to connect you to Veil Winter, do what I've seen many times, just deny and wait." She says and I chuckle at the familiar statement.

She's not wrong, even if I am linked in some way I can deny it, and getting proof is going to be very hard for them. I do really like healing others, and with a few fewer restrictions in one place and a few more in another but still. It's not as unappealing but is it what I want? "I could try? I also could do all that before deciding. It's not like I can't back out." I reason as I'm still undecided.

I know to an extent she's trying to break me out of my mindset more, making me less paranoid. But she's not wrong, if I got just those two things I'd feel a lot better about everything. "Do you think I could find a way to distance myself from being Veil Winter? This is a bit close and if I can throw them off it would be nice."

That really is a main concern. If anypony connects the dots I can deny it, but if anypony gets proof I have much bigger problems. The changelings would definitely go looking and my friends would be in danger, not even to mention it would mess up my quiet life in a big way.

She again gives me a reassuring look, one that shows she is taking the idea seriously. "Yes, that would be a problem. An improved NDA would be nice, in fact, I'll make one myself for you to take with you. Or, I could have a talk with Healer Clear Water." I raise both brows and feel a little warm at the kind gesture.

A good NDA made by Celestia would be thorough and hard to get around, and that's without her name on it. If her name was on it for some reason then it might as well be LAW. "Wait? No, you really don't need to do that second one." I suddenly insist as I realize what she said. She raises a questioning brow, "Ok, yes it might work. But maybe don't drag her into, this." I say not really thinking of a better reason.

She looks unconvinced. "Hmm, I feel like she would be far more… Aware, of such an NDA if I did, very well. I'll just draft an NDA, but we need to go over details later, in a letter or when we talk next. I'll send two copies to you when we work it all out." I give her a thankful look as she continues, "As for Veil Winter? You could make a public appearance?" She suggests and I just about shut down from surprise.

I give her a 'what the fuck' look and she just smiles. "Hear me out. You could make a small but notable public appearance in disguise. Everypony looking for you would be completely thrown off of the trail, and if you look like a unicorn, I wish them good luck trying to narrow things down." She says and brings up some stupidly valid points.

It is against basically everything I have ever done, but she's not wrong. "Ok, that is... I'm not exactly small here you know? A unicorn this tall would raise some questions and while I can change my voice illusions can't shrink things." I try to come up with a few reasons.

She snorts at my words. "That's if you are disguising yourself." Her horn lights up and I blink, a moment later a smaller unicorn mare sitting in front of me. "Or did you forget that I had this spell? Because while you can't cast it, I can for you." She reasons smugly.

I stare blankly at the smaller mare for a moment before blushing a little and feeling pretty awkward. There is a long beat of silence before she nods slowly and undoes her spell, "Sorry. It's a little. So look. I kind of realized that your birthday might have come off, differently than intended." I start awkwardly.

Celestia just nods again after a moment, looking awkward as well, an expression I'm not used to seeing on her. "Yes, I realized much the same... I know you Shade, so to be blunt." She trails off a little and actually looks uncertain for a moment. "That was a lovely birthday party and a friendly day out, right?" She also is a bit awkward and looks down at the board as we keep playing.

I nod vigorously. "no! I mean, YES! It was just a nice day out, the same as with my other friends." I quickly stumble my words out and try not to blush in embarrassment. "You, ummm, what did you think it was?" I ask as the awkward tension lingers longer than either of us would like.

She nods quickly as well. "It was a lovely gift, I rarely go out, and even then not normally like that." She speaks a little quicker than needed but answers truthfully. Looking unreadably at me for a few moments. "Would you like to do something similar again? Or maybe not completely similar." I feel completely uncertain when hearing that, a mix of anticipation and wariness.

I take her agreement with me as the topic being settled and try not to be weird about it as it's now resolved. "Sure, we're always welcome back at the orphanage. There are also plenty of fun places, I think Blaz still goes to a game club. I was only there once though, I got involved in a chess tournament." I change the topic and she smiles more, returning us closer to the previous mood.

She smiles happily and also seems to ignore the previous topic. "Wait? You were in a chess tournament?" She asks amused and I nod. "By magic, every time I think I know about what you are up to. When did you even find the time in between your life and becoming a healer?" She questions as we fall back into our normal conversation.

I shake my head. "I feel like I mentioned this before. Or maybe I didn't? Hmm. Anyway, I didn't do this recently, this happened like four years ago?" She gives me a questioning look and chuckles. "Let me tell you the story of how I lost at chess, and got yelled at by some random stallion." That suddenly gets her undivided attention. "It was an odd day."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I am so tempted for the NDA to just be Celestia vaguely threatening and not so vaguely threatening Clear Water. I have a plan though. On that note this choice has gotten a lot of people more invested than I thought it would.

It has been an interesting conversation, and one that will probably continue as we get closer to him making a choice. Thank you all for your perspective on things. As for what he will pick? Who knows? I don't have a clue.

PS, see you all on Monday.

Chapter 291

AUG 21 Tuesday.

I slowly look over my appearance in the mirror and make sure I look decent. My new suit fits well on my body and looks quite good.

It may have been embarrassing to get but I have to admit the suit works well for me. I stop admiring myself after a few moments and leave my small bathroom. The past week has been an odd mix of me and Celestia sending letters frequently and preparing for whatever this Gala will bring.

I'm not nervous but I have things on my mind, a big one being the NDA Celestia is making. First things first we had to determine what I actually wanted to keep from others, and that turned out to be a long thought process for me. To be blunt I'm not entirely sure how I need to go about this.

I might be jumping the gun a bit as I'm not even sure they will take a modified NDA, but Celestia said it was not uncommon. It will probably raise a brow or two but that's about it, and my request to meet Master Healer Clear Water is standard for apprenticeships.

I'm still thinking it over but after laying it all out with Celestia in a few letters I'll be sending the new NDA and a meeting request when Celestia sends me the finished NDA. That should give them plenty of time to respond and hopefully set things up so I can see if I even want to do this.

Celestia leans more towards me accepting but made it clear that it is my choice, mostly because an opportunity like this is rare. Plus if I even want to do this at a later date it would be much harder to set up and I might have to apprentice under a Journeypony Healer, which would take three years. That still leaves me undecided on what I should share with this Master Healer.

The NDA we've made will basically be much of the same, but more geared to personal matters and more thorough. She can modify and use anything I teach her, but only with permission, and I can do the same. The main differences come into play around private knowledge and inventions.

It will basically tell Master Clear Water that she can teach me anything she wants to, as long as it's owned by her or public information, so she literally can't tell me secrets. And I can't give her any private information either, for all the good that does. It also gives me the right to make things with anything she teaches me.

That might seem like a dead give away but Celestia said she would word it like it's just me covering my bases and being a little excessive, basically it will look like whoever wrote the NDA was just being paranoid. Another thing Celestia tried to convince me of was revealing more of my skills, something I'm not sure about.

She didn't push it but pointed out a few advantages that I can't really disagree with. At present I'm going to be doing something I normally would never do, I'm going to stop holding back to a degree. Celestia is making the NDA as thorough as steel and that gives me some reassurances.

I'm still going to hide a lot but I won't be hiding my skill in spell casting, at all. It's pretty far outside of my comfort zone but Celestia made a damn good point. If I hold back we'll just spend the entire time learning things I already know, and I'll learn even less than I already am.

Celestia is a teacher and she said a teacher needs to know the capabilities of a student to actually teach them, logic I can't really argue with. Sure I could lie and just learn the bare minimum, but that feels like a waste. And it's not like I'm just shouting out my secrets, I'm getting them under a strict and extremely well-made NDA before telling them anything.

On top of that they already know some of my capabilities in spell casting so lying would do little more than hamper me. So if IF I agree to apprentice with her, and IF she signs everything, I will try my best to be honest about this one thing. But only that for now, while Clear Water might be able to help me with other things I don't know her, let alone trust her.

I can't just ignore the possibility altogether though, I need to at least keep it in mind. On that same front, I've been thinking about my friends more often, and how much I lie to them. Over time it's becoming more apparent how little they would really care if I told them some secrets. The learning I was a healer was always going to happen, but their reaction made me less nervous about other secrets being revealed.

I may fear their reaction but I fear the potential consequences much more, getting my friends hurt is something I really don't want. I sigh a bit as I shake my head and turn to Entropy as she sits on her perch, wearing a tiny birthday hat she kept from Celestia's birthday party. I raise a brow at that as I walk over, "Why the hat?" I ask amused.

She tilts her head and takes it off for a moment. "Celebration hat." She says like that explains everything, but from her perspective, I guess it does, that is now the celebration hat and it will be used for its namesake. That thought just makes me chuckle. She puts the hat down and flies over to me. "Go, celebrate?"

I nod and she slips into my shadow without another word. I don't fear her being detected, I tried it out myself but even with her band active, she isn't detected by my bracelet, which probably has something to do with being inside a shadow. Over time I've been looking into my older spells and improving them, the illusion detector and the illusion Entropy uses being big ones.

I've been wanting to remake Entropy's illusion more and more recently, mostly because I want to achieve something specific. Entropy's illusion is complex and simple, with one main flaw, it can be disrupted by it being touched too much or something going through it.

That leads me to a small project that I haven't started yet, a physical illusion. It's basically the same thing but it mimics touch and feel while making the illusion solid to the touch. I mainly want to make it so there is no possibility of any accidents, there have been a few close calls with others trying to touch her in the past.

It still needs more work and it will take time to get right, but seeing her act more carefree would make it all worth it to me. And letting my friends pet her so she can get more love is a nice bonus. I leave my thoughts as I leave my apartment and head up the stairs.

I pull back some of my suit so I can form wings and take flight a moment later, heading straight for the Gala and making good time as I do so. I scouted the area a few days back so I landed on a building nearby but somewhat out of the way before dismissing my wings and heading down to the street.

Nopony sees me land and it doesn't take me long to walk through the busy streets, on the downside I get more attention than I would like as I walk the Gala. As I walk through the street I see several Ponies point me out and it seems I've been recognized from my suit, I pay it no mind.

I make it there mercifully uninterrupted and start to head to the entrance, ignoring the slight chill in the wind as fall has set in. I do the same thing as all times before, passing off my invitation and being let in with little delay. I notice the greenery around the Gala withering a bit, dying from the coming winter. It's not fully Fall yet, but soon it will be.

As I walk inside I see that I'm neither late nor early this time, I also see many more eyes on me than last year.

N.S.F.W starts here.

As I enter the large room I notice something though. I nearly trip as a few stallions stand in more uncomfortable positions. Several of them hanging low in a rather blatant way, their cocks hanging and bouncing about. For once I am very grateful I don't need to look around and stare to see things, I'd rather not stare. As I walk in more I notice many other stallions in similar situations.

An interesting fact I've learned is that much like the Ponies from my last world, mares here have their heat cycle varied and they lasts from two to three weeks. It's most coming to happen around Spring and especially Fall but it can be very random, how a mare deals with their heat is another matter entirely.

In more public places they will just go about normal life without much of a care, and stallions just deal with it as that is normal for them. However, it is not uncommon for a mare to just take two weeks off and stay home, with all jobs giving that mare time off by law, although it doesn't need to be accepted.

It's not exactly hard to prove you are in heat either so it's a pretty common thing to take that time off. And employers are fine with that as often while stallions getting excited is ignored, a mare in heat can get, insistent. They don't want a mare trying to fuck a customer or coworker so they just give them the time off.

Still, what is less common is a mare in heat coming to the damned Gala. It's not against any rules, and I can remember a time or two when a mare in heat came to past Gala's. They were at the end of their heat though and less of a problem. Coming here like this is just a rude thing to do. As I walk into the party I see many stallions in various states of arousal, a few clearly affected more than others. And as I step in I smell that odd scent as well, a mix of too sweet and too strong.

I think fast and flip a switch on my bracelet, sure I won't smell anything, but on the other hoof, thank magic I can't smell that. I quickly take a few deep breaths to get what little scent I inhaled out of my lungs, continuing to sense around and figure things out. As I look around I realize the problem is a bit worse than I thought.

I see several mares, at least a dozen maybe more who are clearly in heat. They are dressed well but the unmistakable sight of their tales hiking up when a stallion is passing behind them or sometimes just at random. I have no idea why the fuck they decided to all come here, and it's really awkward to see.

It's one thing to get an awkward reaction in public, but it's another thing entirely to be in a room full of very aroused stallions and mares. A few actually have their bodies more under control, mostly older-looking stallions. Their members are still inside their sheaths or only halfway to being at mast.

Others, not so much. I hear a smacking sound ring out not far away and try not to blush or think about the scenario around me. I am beyond thankful for the spell I made, as my sheath is mostly still for the moment, but I find my thoughts and eyes wandering a little too much.

I can't exactly ignore it all and while I'm not dealing with the mare's scent I can still see and I have eyes along with a working brain, unfortunately. On top of all of that, Ponies are taking notice of me as I walk into the party, their faces changing as they recognize me. And the worst part is how blatant Ponies are.

I'm probably one of the tallest Ponies here, if not the tallest, and that height difference is taken swift advantage of. I see a fair few mares, and stallions for some reason, taking a peek under me and to my backside. Staring openly at my sheath and balls as I walk, that proves to be a little too much as my cock slips free a little, the head peeking out.

I feel a slight blush trying to appear but I suppress it with all my will. I feel my sheath stirring some, trying my best to walk without interruption or pause. I ignore the stares and whispers as best I can and walk over to the food tables to give me something, anything, to distract myself with, and a place to sit so they stop staring at my slightly exposed self.

As I move through the Ponies I see a lot more take notice of me as I get deeper into the crowd, and then a mare I'm walking past hikes her tail up suddenly. I have the misfortune of being behind her and sensing the smile she has, she knows damn well what she was doing.

I look away like it's not bothering me and try to focus more, desperately making spells in my head and just walking through the room. Eventually, I arrive and immediately sit and start eating something, feeling my body relax more as what little scent I breathed in loses its effect and my member retreats into my sheath fully.

N.S.F.W ends here.

I sigh and retract my senses a little, trying my best to not think about the situation and not get certain thoughts stuck in my head, I already feel embarrassed and don't need to react now. It doesn't solve the problem as everypony else is still dealing with things, but I just focus on feeding Entropy under the table.

I don't have to sit for long though as evidently I arrived just in time for Cadance and Celestia to walk out in their full regalia. I stare at them both and after a few moments I look away, the sight of a very dressed-up Celestia proving to be a bit much at the moment, I focus on taking deep breaths instead.

I'm not alone in that as several stallions, and a few mares, have a reaction to the two princesses showing up. I promptly stop thinking about that as well and try to block this all out of my memory, if I'm lucky I won't remember anything about tonight. At least I made this spell if I was like them... I'd probably run.

After taking a minute to calm down and center myself more I look back to the princesses and try my best to ignore the lower half of everypony. Celestia is all dressed up, looking... Pretty, or... Not thinking about that, she looks good. And I noticed she once again decided to wear her necklace, the one I made her.

I think I remember something about it from Cadance, apparently Celestia wearing it last year causing a slight fashion trend around wooden jewelry, I can even see a few Ponies with wooden bracelets. I guess that's two fashion trends I've caused now, I wonder what Rarity would think about that? I chuckle a little to myself at the idea. "What are you chuckling about?"

I already knew the mare was sitting next to me, but she was a stranger so I ignored it. I turn and look down at the small Batpony mare sitting five feet away, she's maybe half my height at best. "Oh, didn't mean to interrupt your thoughts, my bad." She apologizes. "So, what do you do? Must be pretty important to be here two years in a row, huh?" The mare dives right into the conversation in a calm but slightly broad tone.

I raise a brow at the rather bold attempt to drag me into a conversation, but at the moment I really could use distractions of some kind. I turn back and take a bite of a roll, ignoring the mare as she glances down between my legs. "A joke I just got, and I don't do much, just investing." I am honest and vague along with keeping a calm tone, keenly aware that this mare is at least smart enough to point out I was here two years in a row.

That again, that's a pretty easy thing to notice. The mare nods and smiles, "Hmm, sounds interesting. Was it a good joke?" I shrug. "Not one for words are you?" I shake my head and pay close attention to her outfit. I can't sense anything like jewelry and my necklace isn't heating up, she's not a changeling then. "At least you're polite enough to be quiet."

I raise another brow at that and give her a sideways glance, silently asking what she means. She sighs, "Those mares in heat are getting, rowdy. They kept being very persistent and even interrupted a conversation I was having, that poor stallion." She mumbles with some annoyance. "You seem fine though, keeping it together rather well." She says in a friendly tone like that is a completely normal compliment.

For a Pony, it might be a normal thing to compliment someone over, but it's just odd to me. I may have become a Pony in my mindset, at least to some extent, but this part of me is still human. I shrug again, "You are quiet, I like that." I nearly give her another look but just stay silent.

She spends a moment drinking something from a glass, non alcoholic as it's not allowed. "By Celestia this is boring, so what does an investor do to look like they ate a wall?" She asks in a mostly serious but also joking tone. I turn to her and for the life of me I can't pin this mare, she's a little blunt but polite, she looks bored and excited, it's all over the place, and maybe she is drinking something she's not supposed to.

I don't answer for a long moment. "Exercise, mostly running, it's like walking but faster." I again am honest but vague, keeping things simple so I don't need to lie, while also adding some dry humor. "What do you do?" I ask back as this is proving to be a decent distraction. I keep my senses on the party and Celestia, trying my best to ignore the lower parts of each Pony in the room.

I can still sense a large number of eyes on me, I do literally stand out from the crowd so it's not odd, still uncomfortable though. She snorts, "Huh, you can make a decent joke, and take one. I make flowers, anything to do with flowers really." She gives me about as much detail as I give her.

But it's at this point that another Pony comes over, a stallion with the same problem as many other stallions in this room. I glance at them while they are still a little further away and see something that changes my mood. :At least this will be interesting: Walking over in a white suit that blends with his coat, and a blond mane, is Blueblood.

He is an interesting character as I actually know a little about his bloodline. From what I know his family are adopted nephews of Celestia, but only in name more than anything. I haven't talked about it with Celestia, but from the records I could find, around three hundred years ago Celestia started looking into her family.

None of the actual records around it are public, but Celestia backtracked her family line to her parents and their relatives. Their names are unknown to anypony, maybe I should ask about that someday? Anyway, everypony knows that Celestia was born from Ponies, we just don't know anything about them, it is also a common belief that Celestia and Cadance were born alicorns.

That last one is a point for much MUCH debate, there are some way more wild theories around it. Anyway, Celestia backtracked her lineage and found out she still had a few relatives around, her family line mostly having died out but leaving behind one family. And thus, Prince Blueblood, a title that means little.

His family has wealth and influence, but everypony knows that the prince title is more of a ceremonial thing. I watch as the stallion, being a fair bit shorter than me, walks over. From the fifth appendage he has I can tell the mares in heat have gotten to him.

He looks to be around twenty, maybe a little younger but it's hard to tell. He's well-groomed and is wearing a clearly expensive suit. He keeps walking to us with a smile, but it falters a little as he gets close and sees me. His eyes were locked onto the mare next to me and moved over to my large frame.

I stare back and the mare raises a brow before following my gaze. "Oh no, not him." I hear her quietly mumble. "Why by Celestia does he have to look half decent?" She continues and I nearly look over at her, it seems she's not unattracted to him, just seemingly annoyed.

As Blueblood gets close I nod in silent greeting, and from the look of slight awkwardness he gives me I can tell he recognizes me, probably from the paper. "Well, hello my good Mare." His surprisingly deep tone doesn't fit his appearance all that much, but he holds himself well enough, I can already tell he's a charmer. "And hello to you too, Sir?" He trails off.

I nod again, "Shade." I give a single name and don't bother with a last name, I don't need him looking into it. I stay silent and there is a long moment as he seemingly waits for more, but I just continue to look down at the smaller stallion. "Nice to meet you." I eventually say before turning back to the food, not really in the mood, I'm trying not to get embarrassed, and sitting next to a stallion with a stiff problem makes that hard.

As we speak I see the mare glance under him as well, being as blatant as every other Pony here, she shows no reactions to the sight though. "Hello Prince Blueblood, I hope things have been well since the last time we met. I think the flower decorations for it were one of my favorites to work on." The mare says in a far more formal tone than with me, I guess she thought I was more of a blunt Pony to talk to, she guessed well.

He smiles in a slightly cocky way, no pun intended. "They were, I truly loved the White ones, they matched my coat so well." He says in a happy tone, I nearly snort as a distant memory comes to mind. "So Scarlet, how are you enjoying the Gala? I think it could use a more energetic mood, a mood I am happy to bring."

I continue eating and basically ignoring him, keeping an eye on the mare just to not fully ignore her. She narrows her eyes at him a little and I notice that he seems to be reacting less, I spot Celestia casting a spell in the crowd. If I had to guess it is to cut down on the scents in the room, not that I can tell.

She looks him up and down for a moment. "Yes, it really is a bit slow. And it really is a shame nopony could lighten it up." She agrees in a happy tone, one I can tell is more of a mocking tone than anything. But the stallion seems completely unfazed. "I was just having a great conversation with this stallion here." She turns back to me, "So, like I was saying."

I nearly ignore her as I notice a few stallions having their problems lessened, but the effect seems limited at best, probably some air-cleaning spell. It will cut down on it all but the mares in heat are still around so the problem will continue. I nod slowly at the small mare, "Yes, please continue." I agree as I've been with Blueblood for all of five minutes and I think that's enough, I also nearly flinch as I hear a small smacking sound come from his lower body.

She nods and I can see Blueblood looks a little confused, but still doesn't seem to realize he's being snubbed. "Right. I do flower decorations, mostly roses, you would be surprised how many we go through. Have you ever seen a flower farm?" She starts talking and I'm somewhat interested.

I listen as I notice a large mare getting closer, a very recognizable mare to me, Cadance. I can sense the polite but barely contained smile she has as she gets closer to us. "Oh, yes! You did have some rather vibrant roses, they went swimmingly with my tie." Blueblood just inserts himself into the conversation.

I smile politely and in anticipation, all the while Cadance gets closer to us. She's coming towards us from an angle where out of us three I'm the only one that notices her, with Blueblood and Scarlet too busy staring at each other. "Right, I think I remember that. The tie clashed in a very, unique display." She again gives him a vague insult.

This time though he actually notices, a bit. His smile falters a tiny amount, but it is hidden well. "I suppose so, although I think that the rather, creative dress you wore was much more complementary." I find myself enjoying things and struggling not to chuckle as the two subtly insult each other.

Before Scarlet can retort him, I stand up straighter, bowing down in a more formal way than normal for me. Both look confused for a second and Blueblood smiles while standing a little straighter, "Oh my, I wasn't expecting thi-" That's as far as he got before Scarlet also looked in the direction I was.

Her eyes go wide and she also bows, pretty deeply as well. Finally, Blueblood turns around and comes face to face with Cadance, standing a few short feet away. "Hello, cousin."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

Don't panic, this will be continued. I really wanted to add a NSFW scene as it's been, over 70 chapters, damn. Oddly, while I was finishing with it I thought it might be a bit much, as it felt awkward to write about.

It just feels really weird, but that makes sense. This is a Pony world and they don't care, and I think the fact I as a human got the same feelings as Shade from it all, fits rather well. Still, there is nothing important inside the scene so feel free to skip it.

Also, there will be teasing next time.

Chapter 292

AUG 21 Tuesday.

I nearly chuckle at the sight as Blueblood's ears shift back a little, while he quickly bows.

His bow is short and more of a half bow than anything. "C-Cousin Cadance. It's a pleasure to see you again." His tone is slightly nervous but still friendly. Cadance just nods in greeting and moves over to sit on the other side of me. "Like you were saying, Scarlet?" He asks.

I can see the blatant trap he's placed, trying to get Scarlet to continue saying what she wants to while Cadance is next to us. "A pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty." Her tone holds a respect for Cadance as she gets over her shock. "Yes, I was just about to say that the last party we attended was rather fun, I'm glad you made it on time." I feel as if there is something unspoken there, a joke I don't get.

Cadance looks at them both and starts moving some food over to her, all while the Ponies around us take note of her sitting next to me. I nod to Cadance, "A pleasure Your Majesty, I hope the Gala is going well for you." I speak in a tone that is far too formal for my liking.

She smiles at all of us and makes herself comfortable right next to me. "It's good to see you all, I hope things have been going well for you." She asks me in a way that shows she's being polite. "It is good to see you Cousin, enjoying the Gala I hope?" She asks with a slightly teasing tone.

He's not the least bit shy about the mostly resolved problem between his legs and nods, even puffing out his chest a bit and spreading his back legs to stand straighter. "It's fabulous, and even more so with this, crowd of Ponies to liven things up. That's why I dressed well, after all, to bring everything together." He brags yet again,

Cadance looks him in the eyes for a moment, his smug smile faltering just a bit. "I can see that, though. Hmm, that tie is a little off-center, maybe something to adjust? Or you could have gotten your hooves fixed up a bit? Don't worry though you fit right in with everypony else, so I don't think others will notice." She gives something of a mix of advice and very light teasing.

Blueblood looks even more proud, but the imperfections pointed out make him look down in slight concern for a second. He adjusts his tie and looks even more pleased about how he looks. Opening his muzzle only to be cut off by Cadance, "You as well Miss Scarlet, are things well?" She asks, Blueblood raising a brow but looking around and smiling at all the Ponies staring our way.

I just nod once again and Scarlet takes the opportunity to talk to a princess with vigor. "Beyond well, I've had a good amount of business recently, I even did some of the decorations for the Gala this year." She brags but has a thankful tone to her words. "I was just talking with these two, they are rather interesting." She says with a seemingly happy tone.

I notice that Cadance is very much aware of the situation with the mares in heat, glancing around from time to time. "Hmm, yes my Cousin can be rather interesting indeed." She says with a slight tease thrown his way, hidden by a mask of politeness. "So how have you been with your work recently?" Cadance focuses more on me as she takes a bite of something.

I turn to face her and nearly glare a little, knowing full well she's trying to get some reaction out of them or me, probably both. "Not very different, the same as always I assume." I give a short and very vague answer, letting the other two try to figure things out on their own.

Scarlet stays in place as Blueblood sits down behind her to actually take a place at the table. "Yes, Scarlet seemed interested in his work Cousin, investing is a rather interesting subject. Well, as long as you know about it like I do." He again almost insults me, something I just find funny.

Scarlet narrows her eyes a bit and turns to him. "You're right, I just wish there was a Pony here who didn't know about it so we could teach them. I have to assume Mr. Shade and Her Majesty know as they seem competent, and I even know about how to invest my savings. I guess that just leaves you." I nearly raise a brow as she's a fair bit more blunt with that insult.

Cadance like me just eats and listens. Blueblood scrunches his muzzle a bit and shakes his head, "I can assure you I know more than anypony else. In fact, I'm rather gifted at it." He brags and I nearly laugh again, these two are proving to be a great distraction. "As for my Cousin? Who knows how much she has learned about it?" He emphasizes the word cousin.

I can sense the small twitch in Cadence's face as she smiles more, holding in a chuckle, I guess I'm not the only one finding this funny. Scarlet glances over at us but we are both just eating silently. "I suppose Her Majesty is the only one that can really answer that, sadly we don't have anypony that knows her well enough to say for certain." She says with an increase in focus.

I cough a little to remind them we are still actually here, and that we aren't deaf. "So, Your Majesty. Can you make it so they can't overhear us?" I whisper to her and a moment later she nods. "So?" She nods again. "I'd just like to say, those two are like quarreling lovers." I chuckle a bit and she smiles back.

She glances at them, "That's because they are, to a degree." I give her a surprised look and she giggles. "They dated when they were younger, I'm honestly confused by whatever they are doing now. They always do this and yet, well, they meet up in less busy times." She hints rather bluntly, getting another small blush from me as I try not to think about that too much.

As we talk I keep listening to the two talk. I take a second to look over the mare's appearance. A deep red coat, a two-tone mane of black and red along with rather dark red eyes, a very similar combination all over. She looks to be around twenty years old as well. It's not all that often you see a Pony with mostly matching colors.

I listen to them and notice that while Scarlet is vaguely and subtly insulting Blueblood, he fails to see that it's an insult. Meanwhile, Blueblood seems to be insulting Scarlet and others almost by accident, normally while boasting a bit at the same time. "So, they are together? Or is it just a sometimes thing?" I ask out of morbid curiosity.

Cadance smiles. "No they aren't, but they do rendezvous sometimes. I know they don't love each other, but there is still something there, it's just odd." I feel a slight chill at the idea that she can sense love, and she takes note. "What? Afraid I'll sense something?" She asks with a teasing tone.

I just bite into something and fight down the small blush at her accurate guess. "And this is why gods fear love," I mumble and she looks confused. "I would rather fight Celestia than you," I say completely seriously and she just laughs again. "I am serious, but they seem about done, you should probably drop the spell," I advise as I turn back to the pair of Ponies.

Scarlet looks a little frustrated and stands up from the table. "Well, I must check on a few friends and I think there are some rather interesting Ponies to talk to. It was an honor to see you again Your Majesty." She says to Cadance and gets a simple goodbye in return, Scarlet walking off a moment later.

Blueblood seems to be in a good mood, being oddly ok with her not even telling him goodbye, he's either very good at hiding his expression or something odd is going on. "I suppose I should be on my way as well, maybe I'll go find those mares causing this all, they could do with somepony interesting to talk to." He says and walks off before either of us says anything.

I turn to Cadance after a moment and she smiles wider, "I put it back on. So, investing huh? A great way to get a mare's attention." She starts off with some teasing and little warning. "But I think you'd like to spend time with a different mare." She continues and I blush more again hearing that, the situation in the room making it far too easy for her.

Cadance can see my struggle to remain calm and silently enjoys it. "First, she started talking to me, I just barely responded. It did keep my mind off of, THIS. Why are they still here? It's not illegal but it's still annoying to deal with a few mares in heat." I ask as I have no idea why they are still in the room.

She raises a brow and glances down. :D-Did she just?: She shrugs, "They are a group of mares with some political influence, and they are behaving themselves, so there isn't much of a reason to remove them. What I'm curious about, is why you are fine and unaffected, I didn't think you had this much control. What, are the thoughts of another mare not enough?" She speaks about it all like it's the most normal thing, which it probably is to her.

I sigh and keep my back straight while blushing more. "I made a spell to clean the air around me, I can't smell anything at the moment." She raises a brow in surprise. "What? It's annoying to deal with and, well, embarrassing." I admit and she just starts giggling. "Oh what now?!" I demand, adding some of my annoyance into my tone.

She stops after a moment and gives me a highly amused look. "Oh, I don't know. The fact that a stallion capable of staring down an adult Dragon is embarrassed about being seen, don't worry. With your body size, you have nothing to be concerned about." I feel my blush deepen quickly as she is pretty blunt about that. "Wait? You can't smell, anything?"

I rub my muzzle a little to try and maintain a normal-looking expression. "No I can not, and I'm just going to ignore that part." I bring over some fruit juice and take a few gulps. "I invented it years ago, as long as I keep calm I'll be fine," I mumble out, trying to not think about the subject more.

She laughs fully for a few moments. "You really are embarrassed about this?!! OH, Aunty would love this!" I have to stop myself from glaring. "Also, never publish that spell, please. We do not need to deal with a population problem." She says a little more seriously after a few moments.

I nod as I myself guess that could be a problem. "Seriously though? Giant wolves, Dragons, a literal war, and this is the thing? Getting a little excited?" I give her a glare as my blush comes back. "Don't worry, I won't tell Aunty. It would ruin the fun of you never knowing if I would tell her. And yes, that's for the heart." She says hinting at a past event. "How did you do that anyway?" She asks curiously.

I sigh a little at the face she makes, a smile that shows me how annoying she is. "It's the same thing as the Grape spell I gave Celestia, just reversed. Everypony but you can see it, I thought it would be a good one. And hey, you didn't even notice, I really had to hold in my laughter when we were talking though." I explain with some humor as I sit in slight embarrassment.

She rolls her eyes, "Fine, I can admit it was clever. But do you know what's even more clever?" I shake my head. "Me trying my absolute best to get you to think about Aunty, I mean, you said yourself, you just have to stay focused. Have you seen how she looks right now?" She asks with a smile I know all too well.

I try not to look over but still glance in the direction of Celestia. She's wearing a very nice dress, a mix of yellows and whites that blend well and draw the eye. I feel my sheath react a bit and turn away to focus on Cadance. "I swear to magic Cadance, I'm already annoyed, don't push it." I half threaten and half beg her to leave it alone.

She giggles again but nods. "Fine, always ruining the fun or making it. I will say that Aunty has been rather happy since her birthday, but winter is getting close." She actually looks a tad bit sad at the idea. "You do make sure to check in with her during this time, right?" She asks and finally drops the teasing for the most part.

I feel the mood rapidly shift and nod a little. "I do, and she has plenty of space at her home. She's taken up carving a lot around that time of year, she mostly makes mundane things but I think it helps." I share as I want her to have some reassurance with her concerns. "And she's not alone on that night, it's small but well, it's all I can really do." I also share something more personal just because I feel as if she should know.

I've grown to trust Cadance, she is a friend and a pretty close one at that, she's even the only Pony I've ever asked for relationship advice. She nods slowly, "Good, she doesn't deserve to be like that. Honestly, I think you help her more than I can when it comes to all that, every time I've tried she just smiles and tells me she's fine." She laments.

I pass her something, a small pastry of some type. "She tried the same thing on me... I think it's because of your family." I give my best guess before shaking my head a little. "Sometimes I have no idea how I ended up here, in all this," I say as distant memories of a children's show flash through my mind.

She smiles at me and looks around. "I think you work too hard." I give her a confused look. "Effort is often noticed, maybe not always acknowledged but noticed. Tell me, how many projects do you have going at the moment?" She asks, slightly amused at my words, helping to move us past the previous topic quickly.

I think for a few seconds and she chuckles again. "The FACT that you actually need to think about it is almost an answer by itself. How do you even keep it all going at the same time? Do you just make a schedule and go with that?" She asks more things before I can even answer.

I hold up a hoof to stop her. "Six, and a few others that I haven't started yet, just research for now. And yes I have a schedule." She just giggles more. "You know, I wonder what the alicorn of love actually does in her free time, I assume that just means doing Shining but you must have some hobbies." I try to tease her back and her laughter ends a little short.

She keeps her face under control but looks at me a little shocked. "What? The only reason I don't swing back as much is because Ponies can be a little too, sensitive, Dragons are so much better." I am completely honest as a way to add to the teasing.

She huffs a little but keeps her expression happy. "Well, since YOU want the details, I could give you some advice in that area. I am the alicorn of love after all." My eyes widen a bit but I just raise a brow at her in silent challenge. "I WILL if you don't say sorry." She says in a very serious tone. "And I like reading, along with knitting."

I sigh a little and just move on. "Sorry." I say in Dragon, causing her to look confused. "I made the book, you can at least try and learn some Dragon with your immortal life," I say with a smile. "Enough teasing me though, anything actually interesting going on recently?" I ask to finally move us away from the topic.

She just smiles back. "Maybe I will. As for leaving you alone? No. But I have some actual news about Griffonstone." She agrees after a moment and I nearly thank her. I'm still trying my best to ignore the situation in the ballroom, which has remained mostly unchanged. "I'm going to be making yet another trip there, for another trade deal, it should be even more productive than last time." She revealed with some slight annoyance. "I blame you."

I raise my brows at that. "You made the first trade deal too good, with the things you invented there was just too much profit, and now I have to go back, AGAIN." I chuckle a little at that but nod in thought. "You went through there on your trip, how was it?"

I shrug and grab an apple. "Not bad, they are very good hosts. Also, the youngest one of them might have the ability to see through illusions or just prophecy." She turns back to me quickly from her food with a demanding look. "Turns out that Silvis could see what Entropy actually looked like, no idea how and no idea if even she realizes herself, but she can in some way see her."

Cadance looks throughfall for a long minute before speaking again. "That is, huh. How did you even figure that out? If she really does have such an ability then it's something to keep an eye on." I approve of her slight caution, even if she looks more curious than anything.

"Silvis gave two drawings she made, little gifts from a little filly, both depicted Entropy as she really is." There is a quiet chip from underneath me that we both hear. "You can speak up Girl, just for the moment though," I say while looking down at one of my shadows, all being cast from the many lights in the room.

"Hello." There is a caw and Cadance smiles wider after hearing it. "Look pretty, pretty princess, need be less mean." Entropy caws out before her shadow turns to me, "Sleep." She finishes and I know what she means. I nod and a second later she's gone from my shadow entirely.

Cadance looks both amused and flattered, "She's really getting talkative, have you been teaching her more words?" She asks as I keep my senses trained on the room around us. Celestia seems to be walking closer to us but isn't here yet, I'm not sure I should talk to her because it would add more attention to me, I don't think I get much of a choice though.

I tilt my head back and forth a little. "Yes, but I've been doing that for years. I'm not sure if she just needed to grow more, or if she just liked talking shortly. At the moment I'm also teaching her how to read, she's doing well, mostly reading foal books at the moment." I compliment Entropy as I know she's listening in.

Cadance blinks. "She can read?" I nod firmly. "Wow, I never would have thought, I knew she was smart but actually reading. Do you think she'll get as smart as a Pony?" I think about that for a few moments before slowly nodding. "Huh, I guess you are good with foals, you are basically raising one already." I give her a deadpan look but take the compliment while ignoring her teasing.

A few seconds later Celestia gets close enough to us that we can't ignore her anymore, I turn to her and smile while bowing. "Princess Celestia." I use a somewhat formal tone and really try my absolute best to keep my eyes to my damned self. I doubt she'd care but I would, it feels weird to look too much.

Celestia smiles back and takes a seat on the other side of Cadance, Cadance now wedged between us. She looks to Cadance who nods, I guess the spell to hide our words is still active, "Hello Shade, I hope things are going well tonight." She greets me with a friendly and non-formal tone but stops as Cadance fails to hold in some laughter. "What did he do now?" She asks amused.

Cadance waves her hoof a bit and I feel some dread as I realize what she's laughing about. "Oh, nothing much. He's just being himself." I stop my dread as I'm surprisingly not embarrassed by Cadance, she just moves us past it. "So, you two dancing again?" She asks excitedly, it seems that while she kept quiet about one thing, she is happy to embarrass me on another.

Celestia keeps her smile and expression unchanged but I feel my face heat up at her words, my blush again coming back. I quickly speak up to put an end to this idea. "Preferably not, I'm already getting far too much attention. Maybe dance with some other Pony though, or nopony, just NOT ME." I insist, much to their amusement.

Celestia nods and actually looks uncertain herself. "I do have to agree, two years in a row is a bit much. Maybe next year." :Wait, what?: "So how much have you been teasing him? He looks mostly alright, maybe a little red." I can't glare at Celestia with all the Ponies watching us but I can stare at her rather intently.

Cadance looks like she wants to push the idea, but doesn't and lets it go. "Hmm, well. Did you know he has a spell to block out the scent of those mares?." Celestia raises a brow and I feel myself blush much harder, I try not to look embarrassed but that's basically futile. "Apparently he finds it worth blocking out. It does fit, apparently, he made it years ago because it's annoying." She says with a laugh.

Celestia keeps a calm look but laughs quite hard as well, seemingly finding humor in it just as Cadance did. I really don't understand Ponies sometimes, what's confusing about not wanting to be like that in public? "That might just be the oddest thing he's ever made, Really?" I want to hide my face but just nod. "You never cease to amaze and utterly confuse me, you also never answered my question." She looks at me expectantly.

I try to remember and look around again. "I'm fine. It's the Gala, it's big, flashy, and louder than it needs to be. I prefer the other rooms and the garden." I remember the air room I've been to a few times now. "I wonder if that one room where they practiced music is still around?" I question out loud.

Celestia smiles and looks to the side doors. "A good question, I haven't really checked what they do in the side rooms recently." She thinks about it for a few moments. "Well, maybe next year we can make them more varied? Add something new to the Gala?" She suggests.

I shrug as Cadance just sits there silently listening to us. "I'd just go for some games, maybe a game room actually. It's not like it could hurt, well, unless you pick the wrong kind of games." I chuckle and neither of them really gets the joke, but Celestia does nod at the suggestion.

"It's not the worst idea, maybe." She teases me and I just give her a blank stare. "I wouldn't mind reacquainting myself with all the little things at the Gala, let's go then." She stands up like it's decided and I can tell she's doing this to mess with me a bit.

But I don't overly mind, a walk around with Celestia doesn't sound bad, and it means I can leave this damn room. "Sure, let's see what mayhem we can get up to." I agree, Ponies have already seen us talking and will gossip like mad, I might as well try to enjoy the rest of tonight.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I really tired, but I couldn't think of anything big to do for this Gala, so I hope you enjoyed the horrible jokes and half decent dialog.

Chapter 293

AUG 27 Monday.

I watch as the tree in front of me grows rapidly, while I continue spreading some gold dust over it every few moments to keep its rapid growth going.

The past week has been mostly quiet, with a few things thrown into my life to mess with me as always. The Gala is still a fresh memory in my mind and despite the downright awkward feelings I have about it, it was fun. Spending time simply walking around with Celestia and talking was nice even if it didn't last too long.

I knew it would draw some more attention to me but it was far less than the last Gala, mostly because there were no newspapers spreading the event about. Sure a few at the Gala tried to talk to me after I finished walking around with Celestia, but they mostly saw my presence as gossip.

While we were walking around I'd even fall back sometimes and let the other Ponies walking with us talk to her, letting it all shift about and pretending I was just following Celestia like everypony else. And a fair few did follow her, just talking with each other and observing things.

Celestia even ended up dancing with some mare which helped overshadow what I was doing. There is definitely a rumor or two floating around now, but that's all they are likely to amount to, a rumor that will come and go. I'm still keeping a low profile by spending more time in Gaia's Eden but it all should pass shortly. I really don't like the attention, but it's not nearly as bad as last time at least, and I did agree to do it so I can't complain too much.

Oddly enough my talking to Blueblood got a little more attention than anything else, mostly from mares. You can say what you want about his personality, but he does look attractive, at least to them. On my end this past week has been interesting for a few other reasons, mostly me sending off the new NDA and my request to meet Master Clear Water.

I've also been really thinking about what I actually want out of all of this, really sorting through what I'll gain or lose from it all. I'm still not going to make a decision until I meet Clear Water, which should be happening soon. I got a letter back yesterday saying the NDA was acceptable and that they would line a meeting up.

I thought about what Clear Water could give me that would make this all worth it, and what precautions I'd need to take. As a start, while I am not going to hide my ability to learn and cast spells, I'll be very careful about anything to do with making and modifying them. There is a large difference between the two things and I can play dumb about one of them fairly easily.

I just need to avoid doing anything to any medical spells for a year, which is a small inconvenience but I have plenty of other things I can work on before going back to that later. As long as I don't show much talent in modifying or making spells I should be fine, it's also unlikely to come up as she's going to be teaching me something completely different.

As an extra precaution, I'm not even going to be using any of the modified spells I have, as I can't see a reason I will need them all that much. The main modified spells I use for healing are spells I released to the public so there should be no problem there, I'll also avoid asking about the specifics of a spell if I think it will be too much.

As for what I get out of this? A few things actually, to start I get my Journeypony Healers License. It does the obvious and lets me heal others, but it also lets me go places I normally wouldn't be able to in an emergency. By law, I can heal anypony who needs it in any areas, with very few exceptions. In the future, I can think of several times that should be useful.

Another thing a Master Healer can teach me is how to heal wounds with spells properly, something I really need to know in more detail. I may be a healer, but I'm self-taught and a lot of things simply slipped through the cracks, small things that could help me save lives. And it's more than just casting spells in this case.

There is no perfect Scanning spell and even a healer needs to know how to identify wounds, and they need to do so quickly, something I've gotten better at on the low end through volunteering. But less common things I have no idea how to spot, and I will waste time Scanning spells or even just miss something entirely while failing to see the problem, both of which can be fatal mistakes. She can teach me how to see and recognize those wounds better.

She might be a Healer and not a doctor, but she's still a Master and will know far FAR more than me. I can get somepony else to teach me magic and help me get rarer spells, but she can teach me how to be a better healer. On top of that, she can save me a massive amount of time.

Finding the right healing spell for something can take a long time, as an example I looked into a spell to straighten broken bones inside the body. After my tests I realized it would be good to learn, it took me two weeks to find one and many hours of searching. Clear Water probably knows a spell for this and could point it out quickly, massively cutting down on research time.

Even if she can't teach me private spells there are so many good healing spells open for the public, it just takes so long to find them. Having somepony I can just ask to point me in the right direction would help with that a lot. And it's not like I can't get the more private information in other ways at a later date.

While learning under her will take time she has knowledge that will save me even more time. On top of that this opportunity is pretty hard to ever get again, declining would mean trying to find all those spells when and if I need them, and by that point it might be too late and I might not have the needed time.

Healing others is treated seriously by Ponies, especially when it comes to magic. If some random Apprentice Healer healed somepony wrong and got them killed you have a bad problem. Worse than that they could heal something improperly and make everything so much worse.

So, if anypony is caught healing another illegally, they are faced with a full investigation and probably jail time, and that's if you're an Apprentice Healer. While revealing something to Clear Water is a risk, somepony dying because I can't heal them properly or me getting investigated is again far worse.

That all relies on me doing something desperate or stupid though, but with my luck, it's not impossible. I still have reservations about doing this, but it's looking to be a decent investment for me. Sure it may suck a bit but I can make do and I think it's worth it.

I did realize that I could just focus fully on my life magic, but I decided to not go all in on that. To put it simply, boosting healing spells takes less magic than just manipulating life magic to heal others. And the more magic I use to heal, the less I can heal, again something that could get others killed.

The final thing that she could teach me is simply how to be a healer. Sure I have the skills, and the knowledge, but no real experience with the profession. Apprenticing under her will let me see how it all works and how I will need to act when I act as a healer, which is important as well.

There are things I can learn from other sources though, Celestia could probably teach me more about magic than anypony else. But those also come with problems and things I'd need to look out for, plus there isn't really a better option than Clear Water when it comes to learning about healing.

As for why I think I need to learn more about healing? It's simple, this is not a show. The timeline seems to be altered to some unknown degree and Ponies will get hurt, hell one of the main six could just die at some point for all I know. And I remember what my original goal was, the same goal I've kept to, being a background character and helping when I can.

I may not want this to be my main profession, and it may be a risk, but it gives me a safety net later on when it comes to much more risky things. I hope what I learn is never needed, but better safe than sorry is a saying for good reason, and with the stakes this high I can't ignore the offer easily.

In the end, I'm leaning towards accepting the offer. There is uncertainty and risk, but that can be managed, and while I won't learn anything groundbreaking it is still potentially life-saving. I leave those thoughts alone as the tree in front of me finishes growing, this being my newest generation of Fire Blossom Tree.

After many generations, I've made the bark much more fire-resistant and by adding in the Iron Oak I've made it a fair bit tougher, at this point this project is done. This is all in perpetration for the mark three version of my armor, which is still being worked out, there will be a few upgrades though, mostly to defense.

I want to graft this newly improved bark onto my armor, and then I want to improve the wood the armor is made from. At this point, it's made from Mithril wood, the third rank of Iron Oak Wood, and I want to see what else I can do to it. I don't think I have the ability to push the wood too much further, at least not yet.

However, I might be able to with a little help. I don't think I can push it to the point of calling it something new, like a fourth rank to the wood, but I can still improve it if I do things right. I walk over to the Vita Tree and grab my staff, already having my armor in a box with me.

When I turned my armor into Mithril wood from Steel wood, I did it while inside my apartment. I think by trying to toughen the Mithril wood while inside of the life magic field of the Vita Tree and using my staff I can improve the armor even more. It will take time as the process will be slow, but I can get it done.

I drop down the box of armor and spend a moment checking on the Water Lily inside a barrel next to the pavilion. Over the past months, it's gotten a little better at dealing with the harsh conditions I'm putting it through, and I've found a way to speed up the process slightly.

Through some trial and error, I found out that by using small amounts of gold dust I can increase growth without healing the plant all that much, it still varies things but it works well enough. It seems that the gold dust is better at causing growth than healing plants, it even seems to prioritize it in fact.

My best guess as to how is simply the source of the gold dust. I think the Vita Tree evolved to help others of its kind grow, but not necessarily heal, something of an evolutionary oversight or quirk of the tree. It could also just be some form of intent inside the magic itself.

I'm not sure if plants have a will per se, but they might be complex enough to influence the magic they wield, at least the highly magical plants might. Either way, it's sped up the project to improve the Water Lily a little so it works in my favor, still it's something to experiment with more.

I glance over at my other project, the Fire Blossom tree I've been working on to improve its ability to make fire affinity magic. Things have been going well on that front, the tree is almost done and I've spent some time tracking down and finding the Fire runes I need for heating and shielding.

The shield is already made, it will keep all the heat inside the area so nothing bad happens. I'm still working on the heating spells and if things go well I should be ready to try this all in a month or two. It might take longer if I accept the deal but it shouldn't be a long delay if I do.

I've taken this and my other spell project slow, not really working on things as much as I normally would. I needed the extra time to relax and think through other things. The other spell that is actually complete now is my invisibility spell, something I am proud to say it came out very well.

It took a while to find the right illusion runes and a few others, but once I got them I really went slow and made possibly one of my best spells yet, at least in terms of quality. It's very thorough and its only real defect is that it takes a decent amount of magic to cast and maintain.

I still need to test it in several ways but the spell should protect me from basically all sight and Scanning spells, you'd need a powerful spell or one enchanted on a powerful gem to detect me while invisible. I think I might actually send it to Celestia, I'm not sure I want her giving it to anypony though.

It's a high-end Advanced spell and I really don't want it getting out. I make a few notes on the Water Lily and the Fire Blossom Tree before sitting down at the base of the Vita Tree. I move a piece of my armor over and lay out my enchanted woodworking tools.

I need to remove this old bark first and while I could do it with magic this project is already going to take a while with me dumping magic into it, best to not waste even more when this works just fine. I settle in for the long haul and whistle a tune as I start my work.

time skip

I stretch out my back as I settle onto my couch in my apartment, watching the sunset outside of my window. I bring over my teapot and start to make some apple-flavored tea while waiting for my guest to show up.

Oftentimes I just spend my time with my friends on game nights, but sometimes we meet up to eat, and other times they just drop by and talk for a bit. Daisy is the one who does that last one the most often, but Maple and Blaz also stop by from time to time.

We mostly just end up talking at my door or inside for a while, the visits never last too long, and overall it's just a simple joy of my life. Tonight I invited over my friends for some time, sadly out of the three I asked, only Maple was able to make it so that's why we are alone this time.

It brings up those same thoughts about telling my friends some things they don't know about, I'm not sure now is a good time to go about that though. I'm already thinking about taking some risks in other ways so I don't think now is a good time. I'll let it lie and see where that gets me.

I stop my thoughts as I hear a knocking on my door. I flip the hidden switch and open the door, "Come in. And wipe your hooves." I say loudly as Maple walks inside while looking around. Recently I've added a few more decorations to my apartment, a doormat, a clock, and I even hung up some paintings I bought while I was shopping.

They aren't fancy, just a few paintings of the wilderness really, but they do add something to the room. The clock is actually fairly interesting, being what is commonly referred to as a grandsire clock. Tall with a cabinet space under it, the clock on top being the main showpiece.

It's made from a deep brown wood I don't recognize and it cost a fair amount, not too much but still more than you would think. Clockwork in this world is still made from forged pieces so it makes sense I suppose. I ended up placing the large clock near the far side of the main room, that being the right side of the room next to Entropy's birdbath and perch.

I filled the little cabinet space under the clock with a few trinkets, things I had that were too small to be left out but could be displayed. I turn and put down my book to look at Maple as she walks inside. "Hey, like the new look? I decided to not live in a blank room anymore." I joke a bit and let her look around.

The last two game nights have been at Daisy's apartment so none of my friends have seen my more decorated home yet. She looks around curiously as Entropy chirps in greeting from atop her perch, sitting happily under her disguise. "I would say it looks good, If I didn't know that was a joke about me." She comments back bluntly and walks over to the far side of the room where I am on the couch.

I chuckle a little at her dry and flat tone that makes her comments have a comedic timing I rarely match. It's a well-known joke among us that Maple and I fail at decorating our homes, "At least I'm trying to fix the problem, I bet you still have the same sheets I helped you buy years ago." I jab back while she continues to look around.

She stops and pauses for a few moments, causing me to laugh a little as I get my guess confirmed. "I suppose it's at least good financial practice. As long as you saved right you are probably sitting on a fair amount of bits, or you spent everything on sweets. You're still working with Blaz in book reclamation?" I ask knowing she works at the library but not keeping close tabs on what she actually does, and last I heard that's what she was doing.

She gives me a small glare but it barely shows. "I do, and no." She walks over and sits with me on the couch, I pass her some regular tea a moment later. "I learned yak and do translations now." I blink and raise a questioning brow. She just smiles a bit, "Are you still talking to that mare you went on a date with?"

I blink at the odd language she uses, but give her a small glare back, leaving out any real heat. "Ok, I know that was at least insulting, probably more teasing actually," I say with a deadpan tone and she just smiles slightly in response. "Well, I guess congratulations are in order. Congratulations." I use a Dragon word to mess with her as well.

Over time I've gone over the notes and learned a fair few Dragon words, but a lot of the more complex ones are out of my reach and I'm probably pronouncing things wrong. "I had some time and thought reading up on Dragons would be fun, I bought that new book and tried out some Dragon words," I explain away, feeling a little bad that I had to half lie to her.

She just nods and keeps smiling a little. "I asked you if you have seen that mare again." She suddenly says after a long moment of silence, I blush a bit and she smiles more. "I see." I sigh and give her a deadpan look while she remains unaffected. "Look on the bright side, Daisy will be happy to know that." She teases me in a whole different way.

I could be annoyed but I just shake my head and sigh again, "You are all relentless. What about you? Any stallions or mares catch your interest? Because it seems like you are the only one not getting their life aired out. What are you hiding?" I question her back with an exaggerated detective voice.

I see her lip twitching at that along with her hindleg, but she stays silent for a while while looking out the window at the city all lit up. "And if I did have a secret?" She asks back, still smiling a little. I just shrug and take a sip of tea, "Of course, you would let it go." She mumbles out.

I am curious what she means, but it's not my business. "Every pony, every being, we all have secrets. Keep them hidden or share them around, somepony else will find out eventually. I have my own secrets, the same as everybody else. You leave mine alone, and I do the same, at least until it all comes out. That's what friends are for." My mind gets a little caught up in my own struggles and I give out some advice.

She nods slowly while sipping at her tea. "I guess." She looks up at Entropy as she sleeps on her perch. Entropy and I teleported to a new location earlier today to again increase her range and is still tired, I should try to measure that soon. "What have you been up to?" She asks, changing the conversation from the odd place it was in.

I shrug after a long moment. "I'm thinking about possibly being a healer at the hospital." She raises her brows, at the half-lie I'm making to cover myself if I apprentice under Clear Water. "I'm still very unsure, I like the idea of making spells more, but I do have some talent for healing," I admit hoping for some advice.

She goes silent again and puts down the tea, "Do you like it?" I nod hesitantly. "You don't look sure, so do it anyway." I give her a surprised look. "You worked hard to get this far, see where it goes. It's not like you are old, or maybe you secretly are?" She offers some very simple advice while joking a little.

I blink at the far-too-accurate joke and smile before deciding to mess with her again. "Yup, you got me, I'm actually over forty years old," I say with a completely serious face, she just giggles softly. "I'll think about it, it can't hurt to think a little more. So what have you been up to? Have you finally gotten a hobby? And no pie doesn't count for you." I changed the subject not having much else to say.

She looks a little bit amused. "You are too humble." She states as a fact. "You are a healer and act like it's nothing." She states, sounding genuinely a little confused. "I bake more, and I also took up making cards, or started to." I raise a brow at that and she pulls something from the small bag she has with her.

It's a little crude, but she's made a pony standing on a hill with a sword, all drawn on a blank card that has no markings. "Huh, who could have guessed? Does this go to any game or is it just for fun?" She shrugs and makes a face that points to the latter option. "Fun it is, and it's not bad for a start." I take it and flip it over to see a basic spiral drawn on the back. "Have you thought about making it a game? Or making something to do with them?" I ask curiously as this is an interesting hobby.

She tilts her ears a bit, as if the idea was never given much thought. She lapses into silence and I just let her think as I look over the crudely drawn card, passing it back a moment later. "I can give you some tips for drawing or maybe recommend some books for it?" I offer, I am actually happy she's found something to add to her life and feel like I should support that.

She smiles wider than she has at any other point so far and nods a little quickly, showing some of her excitement at the idea. "I would like that." I nod back and actually reach over to my bookshelf with my space magic. I mostly keep my normal books on it but I also store my sketchbooks here, at least the sketchbooks with nothing I can't show in them.

I bring it over and pass it to her, and she opens it with curious eyes. "No problem, you can also use this as inspiration? I've drawn my fair share of odd things and they might fit well. You can even copy them if you like." I offer while trying to think of anything else I can do to add to her new hobby.

She keeps flipping through pages and looks a tad bit amazed. "You still draw?" I nod as while I don't really show it off as much I still draw a lot when I find time. My notes are filled with drawings of whatever I'm working on at that moment. "I can take this? Do you want to copy them instead?" She asks in a slightly hesitant tone.

I appreciate her trying to be nice in return, but shake my head. "I already have backups, just to be safe and to sort them all," I reveal, not mentioning the backups are stored on gems with everything else. Every time I make notes or a drawing I back them up while keeping the original just in case. "Just bring it back when you are done, take your time though, that book is already full so it's not like I can do much with it."

She looks at the worn sketchbook, one of the oldest ones I have, and keeps that smile. It's hard to break past that stone face she has, but it's always worth it. "Thank you." It's spoken softly, but with some conviction that seems to hold a deeper meaning to it.

I smile widely in turn and take the small victory. "That's what friends are for, now, let's see if I can beat you in chess. Probably not, but who knows? I might get lucky." I joke a bit and settle in for a night of quiet conversation with a friend.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I thought a nice change would fit. Shade thinking about the offer more, and updating his projects, finishing it off with a little Maple. A good day.

Chapter 294

AUG 30 Thursday.

I slowly read through another page of the book I was recommended by Twilight. We don't meet often but I had a study session at the library with her two days ago.

It was about what I expected it to be, I didn't see Spike though as apparently Celestia was watching him at the time. It was nice to talk with her for a while and catch up, I didn't tell her about becoming a healer but I did explain that I was learning more about it all and we ended up looking through some books on healing.

She mostly worked on some advanced spells, it seems she's really upped her skill over the past year and is getting into the more advanced spells. Her talent is starting to show and honestly, the only thing I surpass her in is my magical control, she's likely got me beat in both magical capacity and the amount of spells she knows.

I study magic a lot but I also spend a lot of my time making things and working on other projects, she's simply dedicated herself to that part of the craft more than me. It's not really a surprise though, she can literally become the alicorn of magic so I was never going to stay ahead in this.

I did notice that Twilight seemed a bit more assertive with her statements, it's not really that noticeable but I'm starting to see some more of what makes her as she is in the show. That part of her that can be very stubborn about being right even when she's not, but we all have flaws and it doesn't really bother me all that much.

After our meeting she actually suggested an interesting book on healing she found, it's not bad and is about wing bones and how to deal with burned feathers. It's been an interesting read and something to do to pass the time over the last few days as I wait for my meeting.

The day after Maple and I hung out I got a letter lining up a meeting for today. It's supposed to be at the hospital at twelve, so I've just spent my time relaxing and reading for a while to keep myself calm. I've also been meditating while using Mana Mimicry to give myself something to do.

After such a long time of using the ability, I've started to improve it again, slowly though. In the past, I stopped trying to improve it because I didn't have the skill, but spending so much time observing the much more complex and fast-moving magical flows of Ponies has given me some good practice to improve.

It's proven to be another interesting thing to work on, and a skill I want to try and improve more, but with a different direction of improvement. I want to try and hide the magical flows of life magic that show up when I use the ability, and I've made some progress already.

Question, all forms of magic, from spells to horns levitating things to affinities, everything. Why does it all glow? Well, it's actually a side effect of using magic at all. There is magic in the air, why don't we see it? Because it's completely stable and thus doesn't glow as a side effect.

Most stable magic can't be seen, and there are only two ways magic actually becomes visible. The first is when it is used by a being in any way it is... I guess excited would be the best word for it, or maybe disturbed. Anyway, when used by a being it starts to glow as some very tiny amount of the magic escapes control and goes wild. The second way it glows is when there is a sufficient quantity of magic in a single spot, causing it to condense enough to be seen, much like a gas actually.

Now normally most would have no way of stopping this glowing effect from happening, you would need an insane amount of control to even attempt it. Even though I don't have enough control to hide my spells, I don't know if even Celestia can pull something like that off.

The problem with spells is that you don't have as much control over the magic when you place it in a spell matrix, even my impressive magical control can't hide a simple spell matrix when I cast it. But when I use my affinities I have much more control over what the magic is doing.

I've been trying to improve the ability of Mana Mimicry to gather magic as well, while I'm also trying to control that magic from slipping from my grasp and making that wall of glowing flows of magic around me. It's not easy in any way and in fact, it might just be impossible altogether, but after a few days of heavy practice, I've managed to actually do a little.

In a way I have to relearn the skill to do this, keeping absolute control over all the magic used if I want to make it invisible to others. At the moment I can turn it completely invisible, but only if I use the ability to such a small degree that it costs dozens of times more magic to activate than I get back, making it useless.

Honestly, this is a bit of a dead end, the control needed to use Mana Mimicry to any useful degree is just not really possible with these conditions. Still, it's good control practice that I actually do need, so I'm just using it as training more than anything. I flip another page in my book but stop and look over at an empty space in my apartment as I feel Philomena teleporting into the room. I can also feel Entropy outside sitting in a tree next to the apartment building.

With her illusion and everything she ended up teleporting outside a week ago and sitting on top of the building to watch things. I was home and didn't stop her as she could take care of herself and was out of the way of Ponies, but afterward, I made some rules for her if she went out like that.

At the moment I can feel her presence within a few buildings of my apartment, I can't tell her exact location but I could find her with ease. So I showed her the area I could sense and told her she could explore that area whenever she liked as long as I was home and not sleeping.

She mostly seems to just like watching others and bringing home things that interest her, which are mostly just leaves and flowers. I've added all those leaves and flowers to a book so they can dry and she can keep them. She has her band on and I keep an eye on her so she doesn't stray off, something she did several times when I first let her do this.

She's been a good girl though and seems happy to explore around. I walk over as Philomena flashes into my apartment with a chirp and some flames. "Hello Philomena, thank you." I take the letter she has in her beak and pass her several freshly grown Juniper berries as a treat while opening the letter.

I smile seeing Celestia's writing and start to read through the letter.

Dear Shade.

I'm writing to you to update you on a few things, and to make sure you haven't done anything crazy, again.

First I thought I'd mention the newest spell you sent a while back. The testing for this spell was very thorough as it dealt with the inside of the body, I had several experts look over it before we even began testing actually. I'd apologize for not trusting your work fully, but you'd probably just agree it was a good idea.

It should be done testing in the next few weeks and released shortly after that, I recommend you not cast it in front of others until then. On that note, I wish you luck in whatever you choose with the offer you were given. Either way, I am happy to say the spell has tested very well so far and is a nice addition to your ever-growing list of achievements.

I also wanted to add something about the Changeling situation. It has mostly remained the same, with Queen Chrysalis slowly beating Cascadia but it has gotten a bit more heated recently. We're not sure why, probably simple desperation but there have been a few more blatant attacks recently.

Nothing against or really involving my Ponies, only Changelings, but the guard and Queen Chrysalis's hive had to cooperate some to keep it quiet due to the property damage. They have also brought another two rescued Ponies back to us, a bittersweet moment. Still, there is progress and things do not look grim.

From what little we were able to gather Cascadia hive has been having a hard time recently, the plan to give the guard Changeling detection enchantments has picked up more steam. Her hive seems to be having a harder time trying to gather food or take my little Ponies, something I am thankful to see.

We still aren't supplying Chrysalis directly but her hive has been gathering food under a discreet watch and has behaved themselves so far. We aren't making any plans to intervene directly, no need to put too much pressure on an already somewhat desperate foe.

The current plan remains much the same, building relations with Queen Chrysalis and protecting innocent Ponies while preparing. But enough of the gloom, how have you been? I would like to meet again in a week or two if possible. Things are winding down with the coming winter and I should have more time to meet and talk.

Please write back when you can to confirm a date and time, and I wish you luck.

Signed your friend, Celestia.

I let the letter stay in the air for a moment, reading it again to memorize everything, before turning to Philomena as she eats. "Burn." I use a simple command word Celestia taught her at some point and I watch on as Philomena looks over and the paper bursts into flame a second later, burning away quickly and leaving nothing behind.

I have no idea what her flames are made from, but they don't leave ash behind, and that in and of itself proves how dangerous it can be if you anger her. Not that she ever would, she's a kind bird that just loves food and attention, the same as Entropy.

I scratch her a little in thanks and cast a spell to check the time while I think through the new information. It's time for me to leave so I grab my saddlebags and start to gather anything I may need. I knew the war situation would change over time and I'm glad to see some of our preparation has worked to a degree.

I try not to think about it too much as I can't really do much about it at the moment, Celestia has it handled and as much as I know violence she knows war better than me. I gathered my things and noticed Philomena had already left, with me leaving my apartment and heading down to the ground floor.

I walk outside and whistle, watching as Entropy flies down from one of the few trees planted outside my apartment building. They have lost half of their leaves by this point as Fall is now coming in full force, winter seems to be coming a little early this year as it is a week or two early. Entropy lands on me with a curious chirp, I smile at her. "I have to go, are you staying here?"

She looks at the building for a moment before looking down at my shadow and sitting on my back. "Shadow." She caws out and while a few Ponies around us notice they just ignore it, she is far from the only talking bird after all and the clever girl made her words sound more like mimicking than speaking.

I nod and I start walking through the city, still having enough time to just enjoy a nice walk instead of a flight. I arrive not long after and stop at a public bathroom to have Entropy enter my shadow before entering the hospital from the front entrance this time.

Unlike the last few times, I'm not volunteering and I'm meeting somepony I haven't met before, so it's best I go through the front and ask where I need to go. I ask a receptionist about the meeting and where I need to go, and they recognize me before giving me directions to find the way myself.

Not many Ponies know me, or at least know my name, but they have seen me around for a year and that's enough for them to just assume I can find my own way. I head to the offices and it doesn't take me long to find the one I'm looking for, with a single pony inside behind a desk.

I raise a hoof but before I can knock the door just opens, the mare inside the room looking at me intently. I keep a straight face and don't let my surprise show as I walk inside and glance around, the office is very sparse, and beyond a single cactus on her desk and a few file cabinets, there is nothing but empty space. I nod to the mare and hold her gaze, "Master Healer." I say with respect. I may not know her but she must have earned that title for good reason.

The door shuts behind me. The older mare looks at me, a pair of glasses on her muzzle as her deep pink eyes stare at me intently for a few long moments. "Somepony is stuck at the bottom of a thirty-foot cliff, at least one broken leg and possibly more, you need to get to them quickly. Go." She instructs in a firm and demanding tone that gives away no emotion.

I nearly ask something and question it, but a test is something I can handle. "Levitation spell, jump and slow yourself down. And from a height like that, it's best to check for the ribs first, a punctured lung or internal bleeding can't wait." I quickly add, trying my best to go along with this sudden thought experiment and clear test.

She raises a brow at my answer but doesn't react in any other way. "Getting through a flooded zone, no boat, no backup, you need to cover ten miles as fast as possible." She switches things in a moment and I'm getting a feel for what she is doing. After all this meeting is her learning about me just as much as I am learning about her.

"Are we assuming the flood water is moving quickly and not still?" She nods. "A spell to fly would be best, anything to keep off the ground. A Levitation spell and anything to control wind can work if done right." I finish and she motions with a hoof as if I should continue. "If you find somepony injured, heal them and move them somewhere safe before searching further, the same with uninjured Ponies at a lower priority," I add as she again makes no sign of approval or disapproval.

"The aftermath of a wildfire. Too many patients and not enough time, who do you heal and why?" This final one has the least context to it and is the hardest to think about. Ideally, you have other methods and options to not have to let anyone die, but sometimes that isn't an option.

It's a depressing thought and a situation I don't like the idea of, but the world can't always be so kind. "The most injured first, try to stabilize them enough for others to take over, even if that means leaving longer lasting problems. Try your best to prioritize properly and keep up your magic. Not much else you can do." I explain and actually find myself interested in this conversation.

Sure she sprung it on me, but that's the point, and she is asking good questions. She goes silent for a long moment before taking out a piece of paper from a desk drawer. She writes down a few simple notes and I wait patiently. "You are right, in that situation there is little else to do." Her tone is more light now, not as unreadable.

She sounds calm, collected and somewhat cold, but not emotionless, it's an odd combination that I haven't really seen much in this life. "An accident happens, somepony loses a limb and it is lost nearby but nopony can find it," I say after a moment and think of my own situation to see how she reacts.

She thinks for only half a second before answering. "If you are alone, bandage the wound and try to follow any trail. If you have a Diamond Dog or Griffon with you, ask them to try and smell it out. Use a spell in the unlikely event you have one specific enough to work." She answers in a blunt but slightly pleased tone.

I nod, the idea of using a Griffon or Diamond Dog is not bad. Both have a better sense of smell than a Pony so it might work. She finishes writing and pushes the page she was writing on over to me, it's just basic notes about my answers and I pass it back. "Never take notes in front of somepony without showing them, if you need to take notes do so later." She shares some more wisdom.

It's slightly odd advice and frankly advice that I don't really need, but I can agree with it so I nod regardless. "Shade Evergreen, no schooling beyond the basics, seventeen years old, correct?" I nod and she makes another note. "I do not like wasting words, why the modified NDA?" She asks with a very blunt but not unpleasant or demanding tone.

I get the feeling I can not say anything if I want to, but that won't work all that well. "A friend suggested I be more thorough, they helped me make the new one. I'm no expert so I'm not too sure about all that's in it, but I trust them fully." That is a half lie, as I read through the NDA fully.

She looks at me and nods curtly. "Do you have any doubt about this friend? In any way?" She asks seriously, and I shake my head with an equally serious face. "Good, it is fine by the way, overdone for this but not wrong in any way. It's very well made." She comments but doesn't phrase it as a question.

She finishes another note and places the paper and quill to the side. "You did well at the practical, I will expect that or better every day you are with me." She lays it out bluntly, but I am thankful for that as It makes things clear and easy. "The same calm, the same level of work, everything the same or better." She really makes it clear. "What do you expect of me?" She asks and leans back.

I am much taller than the mare, but she gives me the feeling that she's not nearly as safe as she looks. Not necessarily dangerous, but not to be underestimated either. I let myself think on things for a long moment, really giving her question some thought.

"I expect to be given answers, or shown where I can learn those answers, and I expect to learn everything needed for the Journeypony Healers test." I do the same as her and lay everything out. "And I expect to have privacy, when I am here, I am your apprentice, when I am gone I am me," I add as while I don't want to outright tell her to stay out of my life, I do need a firm boundary.

She nods at that. "Again, good. Do not let others push into your life, this is work and learning, nothing else." She agrees and approves of my choice. "I also expect the same. What do you want to know?" I raise a brow at that. "You asked for this meeting, what do you want to know?" She asks again in a new tone.

It isn't relaxed, but also not firm or demanding. She's just asking, with no emotion or discernable tone. "I wanted to meet you, see what you were like, and if we can work without problems." She nods. "Former guard?" She shakes her head. "Is there a file on you I can look at?" I ask as that would be more efficient.

She takes something out of her desk and passes a folder to me, it seems she was prepared for this. I guessed she was a guard in some way, but as I opened and looked through the file I find myself proven wrong. It's very basic but it tells me a few things.

She was schooled as a healer at a school I recognize, it's a larger school but not one of the largest. The file has her name. Her age, she is forty-three. Along with her rank. It also says she spent some time under contract working with the guard, eight years in fact. "I liked the way they operate, saves time and lives." She adds as I finish reading the very basic file.

So my guess was close but not perfect. She was working with the guard, which often means some basic guard training and living as they do, but it also puts me at ease a fair bit. Her personality is something I can work with, and having ties to the guard she knows when to leave things unasked and unspoken.

Then again, it means she's smart and looks at things like a guard would, at least to some degree. "Why me? Sure I'm skilled, but I also have a less full education when compared to the others." I ask as I don't believe there is a way in hell she didn't have a choice in choosing me for this.

She stays silent for a moment and then I notice her doing something odd, she takes out a fresh piece of paper and starts to crumple it into a ball. Once she's done she tosses it right at my face with a little speed, only for me to calmly catch it with a look of confusion. "That."

I place the ball of paper I caught with my space magic onto her desk. "No panic, no surprise, you saw it coming and reacted as you should. There are many things that make a healer, I think the best trait is the ability to remain calm." She states and I once again can't help but agree with her reasoning.

"Out of all the Ponies that were tested this year, only you really got dirty. The one Pony with the crunched leg, you got covered in blood and just ignored it, even after treating them you just moved on to the next patient and only cleaned yourself when actually needed."

I knew that would stand out, to be fair I've seen a few Ponies get to that level of desensitization to blood and gore, it's not common though. "So I can handle a mess and remain calm, that still seems a little simple to base an apprenticeship off of," I question her further.

She nods once again. "Yes, but it also means I can actually deal with you." I give her yet another confused look. "So many of them need time, and a lot of it, to adjust like that. I don't have the patience for that. You? You I can tell to hold down a bleeding Pony, and you will do it. That I can work with, that is somepony I can teach." She states simply.

I'm starting to realize that Clear Water is different from a normal Pony in mindset. Maybe a combination of healing work and being around the guard. The guard also deals with natural disasters and I can guess she's probably seen some much less pleasant things. Even then though her mindset is already standing out from what is normal.

The way she talks fits in more with a Griffon honestly, there is still Pony in there but she's an odd one, much like me I suppose. I was leaning towards accepting this offer already, but after meeting her I think this is even better than before. I'll still need to be careful, but I think I can get along with a Pony like this. "I accept, if you'll have me. But I do have one last question."

She gives me a satisfied look, still keeping her calm face and very firm body language. "If I ever do something I shouldn't, a mistake or something I should know better than to do. What will you do?" I ask, keen on knowing how she deals with me messing up. It's an important trait for a teacher and it can make or break a lot of things.

She takes a few moments to think about that. "I spent eight years with a bunch of Ponies who are mostly stubborn brick walls that only listen to orders. I would deal with the problem, and then I'd spend an hour telling you exactly what you did wrong, how stupid it was, and how you WILL be better. And I lack the patience to be quiet about it." She says it like it's something she will do no matter what I think.

I find myself smiling a bit, distantly reminded of my uncle who did much of the same thing. "Good, I expect to get just that then." She raises a brow slightly at my serious answer. I take out some documents and a quill, "Let's get these signed and off to Dr. Meadows. I have a lot to learn."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

So, I thought about it and thought it would be interesting to have a Pony that is a little psychopathic. She's not completely uncaring, or without emotion, but she's more like a Dragon or human when it comes to dealing with others.

So, less overall compassion, but still some, and a general lacking in fucks given. She's not full blown psychopathic though, just a similar thing to a lesser degree. I thought it would be interesting.

Also, Peaches or Pears? I need to know for later.

Chapter 296

SEP 21 Friday.

I look across the short distance in front of me and look over the message board.

I just got back from spending some time shopping and thought I'd stop by Gaia's Eden to check in, and it seems I have good timing today. I can sense Celestia inside her home, and I can hear some distant piano music, it's rather nice. But I have a few things to do before I can get to all that.

I turn to Entropy as she looks towards Celestia's home, "You can go say hi, I'll catch up." I encourage and a moment later she flies off with a caw, heading right for the building while I walk over closer to the message board. I hear the slight crunch of what little snow is on the ground from the recent snowfall.

Winter is here, and as expected it is a bit early this year, it will also be lasting longer than normal from what the newspapers are saying. You would think that would decrease the amount of Ponies that get injured and show up at the hospital, but much like humans Ponies tend to go a little stir-crazy after a while.

I guess you can only spend so long indoors with others before problems arise. Still, there is a small downturn of patients in Winter and that will give me a little more time to learn things from Clear Water. So far things have mostly remained the same on that front, with me handling less extreme cases and mostly learning spells and how to spot different things.

It's slow going but that is to be expected. I still say that I find Clear Water's personality to be odd, she really does seem desensitized to things from what I can tell, or maybe just detached. Unlike other Ponies, she doesn't flinch at any wound, something some of the older doctors still have a problem with.

They tend to flinch but get the work done all the same, she just does the work. She is also very skilled at what she does and has definitely earned the rank she holds. I've seen her look at a patient for all of five seconds and not even touch them while still seeing what the problem was.

I'll need a lot more time to actually get to know her, but she is definitely a good teacher and knows what she's doing. I'm just happy I haven't messed up and gotten yelled at yet, which is something I'm fine with but would prefer not to happen. I leave those thoughts alone for a moment and check the note on the message board.

It's just Celestia asking for some regular oak wood for her carving, something I can get done easily. I trot over to my little seed bank and find what I'm looking for easily, my sorting system making the process a quick affair. I take the seed outside and drop it before dumping some life magic into it.

It doesn't take long for me to grow a full Oak tree with plenty of wood to use, I just use Spatial Cut and separate the trunk from the top and bottom of the tree. I let the trunk fall and decompose the rest before being more accurate and decomposing the trunk into a few dozen blocks of wood.

The log falling makes a loud thump and I spot Celestia looking out a window, I just wave and start to collect all the wood blocks, sticking them together so I can carry them all at once. I place them in a neat pile for the moment and move on to the other things I need to get done at the moment.

I walk over to an unused area of Gaia's Eden, near the fish pond and further away from the river. This will give me plenty of space to work with, as a start I place down the gems I brought with me. Three medium rubies that will be making the first part of this project.

I take a moment and clear away any snow in a forty-foot circle, placing the gems down one foot outside of the large circle I just made. I spend a moment remembering what I'll need before starting to enchant the rubies into a small gem array to combine their magical power.

It takes a few moments for me to cast the spells I want to enchant into the gems and also to add the spell to make it into an array, but once I'm done I place the gems down and start to work. I enchanted the gems to make the first layer of protection I'll have around my project to grow the Mantle Bloom.

This area will have two circles and two shields. The outer most shield will keep in any heat and flames made from the modified Fire Blossom trees. I've also named this new variety of Fire Blossom Tree to simplify my notes, it's just the Fire Tree now, but that works well enough. This shield will be the outer shell of this all, inside of it will be a ring of twenty Fire Trees that will generate all the fire affinity magic I'll need.

Then I'll make a smaller circle of twenty feet in the middle where the actual Mantle Bloom will go, along with the gems and shield used to keep the lava and heat contained. I move around the shape of the outer shield and make it into a tall cylinder with a dome on top.

That will give the Fire Trees room to grow and still keep any snow or water off of it all. Once I have the shield set up and properly placed I leave the small gem array alone and take out some seeds. I plant each one in a perfect ring around the outer area and head back to grab my staff so I have extra life magic to work with.

I activate Mana Mimicry and drink some tea to boost my magical regeneration as best I can before moving to the first Fire Tree seed and growing it quickly. I make it into a ten-foot-tall tree and move on to the next, and the next. As I work I notice Celestia walking over to watch, Entropy and Philomena both riding on her back.

She keeps her distance and sits down to watch me work. An interesting difference between the Fire Blossom Tree and the Fire Tree is that the Fire Tree makes many more flames, despite them mostly looking the same otherwise. The Fire tree's flowers don't just smolder as they fall, they full-on burn like a torch. I think the increased fire affinity magic production is the main cause of that.

I feel the area heat up more as I walk around and grow more trees, each one making the enclosed space hotter and hotter. The shield will prevent it from getting too hot but that still means it can reach a livable but uncomfortable temperature. It takes me nearly fifteen minutes to grow all twenty trees and by the time I'm done, I've nearly taken half the magic from the staff and start to refill it as I walk over to Celestia with a smile. "Hello, enjoy the show?" I ask in a happy greeting.

She smiles back and stands from her lying position in the grass. "Very much so, it is always a treat to see life grow at such a fast pace. What are you working on at this time? It seems like something to do with fire? A new spell to test?" She guesses as she looks over the trees and gem array from a distance.

I look at the Fire Trees as they slowly rain down a never-ending wall of flames, they are like demented falling cherry blossoms. I shake my head a bit and start walking to return my staff, with her walking beside me. I can tell she's getting closer to that more somber mood that consumes her this time of year, but I don't mention it. "Actually I was working on the... Wait, I never told you about that, did I?" I pause with a look of realization.

She raises a brow and gives me an amused look. "You will have to be far more specific." She says with a smile and I start walking towards my seed vault after dropping off my staff. "Ahh, a new plant then? Then again I can't think of anything that needs that much fire." She guesses correctly as she knows what the seed vault has inside it.

I nod and I leave her at the entrance as she can't fit inside. "Yes and no, I found something in the Dragon Lands. Nothing to really do with Dragons so I never put it in the book or my notes." I shout out to her and explain as I walk to the back of the storage room and pick up a larger box I keep separate from all the other boxes before bringing it outside and placing it down.

I open it and inside are two larger objects wrapped in cloth along with a few smaller boxes. She raises a brow as I take out one of the cloth-covered items. "I was exploring and I felt some life magic, I was looking for plants so I followed it. And inside a literal river of lava, I found this." I unwrap the item for her to see.

Her eyes go wide with curiosity and shock as she looks over the large flower made from red and completely clear gem combined in an impossible way. She reaches out to touch it but looks to me for permission, I pass it over and she looks at it closely. "What is this? This was alive?" I nod. "How, it's a literal gem?" She says in wonder and building excitement while I unwrap the stalk of the Mantle Bloom plant I brought back.

She holds up both and takes out a few pieces of paper and a quill to write notes. I chuckle at her reaction, "I had just about the same reaction. But it was definitely alive, I was even able to grow it with life magic, and it was also growing while submerged in lava fully. Sadly it died after I took it out, it seems it can't live anywhere else."

I see her look a bit disappointed about that and wave a hoof. "Don't worry, I got seeds and they seem to be fine." I open one of the small boxes to show one of the Mantle Bloom seeds. "That's what the fire is for, those trees will make fire magic that I'll use to make the conditions needed to grow one of these here. That's the plan at least." I explain as she rapidly takes notes and even sketches out what it looks like.

I'm happy to see her more somber mood pushed to the side as she focuses on the new mystery in front of her. She smiles widely and looks like a happy filly, "This is an amazing discovery! A plant that doesn't just gather or grow near gems, but actually IS one. I've never seen anything like it before. Do you think you can actually grow one?" She asks curiously.

I'm glad to provide a distraction and nod. "Yes. The seeds are stable and with all the life magic I have available it should be possible. I even have some of the spells ready to be enchanted on some Fire Gems. They aren't done yet though, but once they are I just need a source of rock and I can try. I can't wait, the possibility alone of growing gems." I join in on her excitement as it's a prospect I also find highly interesting.

She looks over the seed but doesn't remove it from the box, almost looking afraid to break it. "Agreed, I wonder if they would work well for enchanting? Would they have some affinity to life or fire magic?" She questions out loud not really expecting an answer in return.

I shrug but make a mental note to test just that. "No idea, but I'm definitely testing that. For now, I've left everything I gathered alone, I'll test things once I have a reliable source. I also don't think the plant is common, I never asked about it directly but no Dragon mentioned anything like it and I only found this one." I activate my bracelet and flip to a page where I still have some notes on the plant.

It shows the difference between the magic flows of a normal plant and the Mantle Bloom. "Mantle Bloom? I suppose it fits, and it's a lot more... Creative than your normal naming sense." She giggles a bit and I roll my eyes, even if I agree with her. "I would also advise you to be careful, but it seems like always you have that well in hoof." Again she teases me a bit.

I see her making a rough copy of the drawing I made and take a piece of paper from her before starting to draw them out myself. She's decent at drawing but she could certainly do a lot better, "I know you're busy, but for a mare of your age you should be able to draw better." I state back rather bluntly, making a different form of joke.

She narrows her eyes at me but they hold no heat in them, I just smile back until she drops the look. "I am hoping the gems can be enchanted, they seem to be very pure and solid with no cracks. Do you have a good way to measure purity?" I ask curiously, realizing she might have some information on this subject.

I also realize the reason she might be so fascinated by this, it's very near her old profession. She blinks and looks more excited than ever as she looks over the Mantle Bloom pieces closely. "I do not have a spell as such, but just from a glance, they look pure, incredibly pure in fact. Wait, they are grown! They might actually be COMPLETELY pure!" She says with a very excited tone while looking at the Mantle Bloom stalk.

I raise a brow and she excitedly starts explaining. "All gems have some imperfections, even if they are very hard to see, or unseen. Some of the best gems in the world might have very little imperfections, but this! This might just be actually pure!" She looks beyond happy and holds the plant like it's a little foal.

I smile widely at the excitement she has over my discovery. "Well, I know who I'm giving some to when I grow them... If I grow them, I really do hope this works." I mumble that last part as I have little idea of how to grow a fucking gem plant. Celestia just smiles widely as she seems to get an idea.

She takes the pieces of Mantle Bloom and wraps them up before putting them back in the box gently. "Then it seems my expertise can be of use here." She says happily and I can already tell where she's going with this. "I assume you have more thorough notes. Do you have them on you?" She asks excitedly and with a somewhat hopeful tone.

I rarely get to see her so happy, and I could use the help. "Welcome aboard then. They are actually at my apartment, but I have nothing better to do if you have some time?" I offer, not seeing any reason we shouldn't be able to go get what we need. I see her eyes practically sparkle and in less than a second there is a flash and we are both gone.

I blink from the light and realize we're now inside my apartment, with Entropy and Philomena looking around curiously. They quickly fly off to play while Celestia stops in her enthusiastic walk over to my workroom, looking around my apartment. "Did you decorate more?" She asks while looking over the things I've added.

I flipped a switch under a pot to activate the sound shield around my apartment, while also making sure my door was locked. I just start laughing for a moment and she looks confused, "I never thought I'd see you look like an excited foal and teleport somewhere wanting to get there faster." I say as a tease and laugh harder as she actually looks a bit embarrassed.

She lets me laugh for a minute, and despite looking embarrassed she smiles while walking around my home. "Yes, I did. I thought it would be nice to have more than just some plants." I say while walking over to the door to my workroom. I spot her looking at the Prismatic Rose bush I have in a pot, she just looks happily at the sight. "Come on, we apparently have work to do." I joke again as she quickly strides over to follow me into the workroom.

She continues to look around as I move over to a shelf filled with many different gems, each one with a sticker attached to it. I grab the right gem and move it over to my desk before tapping it twice and opening the illusionary book enchanted onto it. "Wait, are all of those?" She trails off and motions to the shelf.

That particular shelf holds all of my notes and information, the upper half of the shelf has regular notebooks and loose stacks of paper with the bottom having gems enchanted with Illusionary Books. I nod, "I make most of my notes on paper and then clean them up to add to a gem." She looks over the shelf with more curiosity.

"My own personal library, plus it lets me modify and add things instead of having to remake them every time." I share my logic and go through several illusionary pages filled with plant drawings and notes before finding what we need. "There it is, everything I know about the Mantle Bloom and my plan to grow it." I move to the side so she can see it all.

I let her look over the spell matrixes and notes with attentive eyes while I grab some fresh paper to work with. "These are impressive spells." She compliments and I feel a little warm hearing that. "you said you plan to use Fire Gems to power it?" I point to a shelf that has all my affinity gems.

She looks excited still and happily moves over to start inspecting the gems. "Hmm, several interesting ones. This one in particular, I assume you plan to get it cut?" She points to the largest Fire Gem I have. I have three Fire gems, two cube-shaped ones that are one inch big and a four-inch one that is uncut.

I nod again. "Actually, I was planning to cut it myself, but I don't think I have the skill to not break it, yet." She narrows her eyes at that. "But with you here I don't need to," I add quickly, remembering the last time she thought I would break a gem. "I plan to make an array with all three to power the shield and Heating spells," I explain to move off the topic.

She looks even more pleased and picks up the uncut Fire Gem before bringing it over to the desk and sitting next to me. I try to ignore the fact we are almost flank to flank, and watch as she looks over my notes more. "I don't think that is needed." She says suddenly after a few moments.

I raise a brow and she points to the spells in my notes. "If you were using regular powerful gems it would be, but all their spells are at least fire-related. With how much those trees burn you should have enough fire magic for it to absorb. I'm pretty sure you don’t need the extra gems." I pass her a quill and paper as she seems to get lost in thought over the ideas.

I look at the gem and my notes as well. "Are you sure? I don't want to cut this close on stability or power, more is better, and with more, I can add some more safety measures." I add my own thoughts as she looks over the mostly finished spells. "The only real advantage I can see is being able to modify them in the future, that might not be worth the risk."

She shakes her head a little and makes more notes. "Maybe, but you can also use the other two for other things if you keep them. Or... Maybe. That is an Iron Gem, right?" She points to the small one-inch Iron Gem I have, and I nod. "Perfect, just link them through that instead, with its size it would do mostly the same thing as an array and still let you change things in case they go wrong."

I let that thought sink in and think it over. The Iron Gem can't hold much magic, but it can let magic pass through it at a large rate while staying stable, and as long as only the Fire Gems are gathering magic then the magic would stay pure. "I'd need to modify a linking spell for it to be safe, I don't want to lose too much fire affinity magic while transferring it." I reason as she's right but I can add to it and make it better.

She smiles more and I see her start to write out a spell matrix. "I have just the thing I believe, it's an advanced Linking spell but it would work much better than what you may have in mind." She says with an excited and focused tone, seemingly lost in our newest project together.

I can't help but smile at the situation, spending time with a friend and getting some work done. This is nice.

POV shift Cadance.

I sip some mint tea as I flip through another map while relaxing in my room. :Maybe I should thank him when this is all over? No, I think I'll tease him instead: I giggle a little and remember I also still need to get my revenge for the last prank he played on me.

Maybe I should get Auntie's help? It would also get him to prank her some more as well. I move the map to the side after making a note of another location. I find it oddly calming to work on this little project in my spare time, it gives me something so different aside from my normal work.

I still haven't found where their little getaway is, but I've been slowly narrowing it down with some logic. As a start, it needs to be large enough that his location wouldn't be spotted easily. It is also unlikely to be up high for that same reason, that's why I've been looking into valleys and forests for the most part.

I also know Entropy is the one to take him to the location, and that limits his range. I don't know her exact range but it can't be too large, maybe two hundred miles at most, probably less. I don't have a reason for that number beyond it seeming right from what little Aunty has taught me about teleportation.

I smirk knowing full well Aunty is not in the palace at the moment. I passed by her office and felt no love inside, not even the very basic love for simple things. It's still impossible to tell what type of love Aunty is giving off, but I can at least tell if it is there. Unfortunately, that makes trying to tell how she feels about Shade much more difficult.

I've tried to cut through whatever is interfering with my senses, but it seems very stubborn and I've made no progress so far. Still, I know she's not here and that means I can pester her for stories of what they were doing when she comes back. Because who else would she be with right now?

I suppose she could just be on her own, but that's just as likely as her being with him. I sigh and put away my notes and maps, for the time being, I should be getting ready for my date with Shining anyway. I really need to find Shade a good holiday gift, those bits he gave me have paid for many of my dates and have made many happy moments.

Buying for either of them is like swimming up river though, it's hard and basically pointless. How do you shop for two Ponies who are both humble and happy to get just about anything while also having everything? I shake my head and walk over to my desk, picking up and putting on my crown and other regalia.

I do wonder what those two are doing right now? Probably something far too cute. It could even be romantic. I laugh as I leave my room to find my little knight.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

Here, some progress disguised as two Ponies hanging out. Or was it the other way around?

PS. You know the drill, I'll see you all Monday.

Chapter 297

SEP 27 Thursday.

I sigh as I continue to wipe myself down with warm water and soap after the day I've had.

Today I had the unpleasant fortune to witness a limb being reattached, it was a bit of a shit show. Turns out not all Ponies handle that sort of thing well. The poor mare who somehow got half of her front left leg cut off panicked hard when we came in with the detached limb and we started explaining what we were going to do to reattach it.

I'm not sure why she panicked like she did, we explained it to her several times and she still had a small meltdown about it. The mare was still in a fair amount of pain and obviously fear after losing a limb, Clear Water said she was probably in complete shock by that point.

After we got her calmed down enough to agree to let us reattach the limb before it was too late. However, that's why things went really sideways, halfway through the process of Clear Water healing it back on the mare panicked again. I had to make sure she was as still as possible, and in this case, I had to hold her down.

Only for a few moments to cast a Sticking spell on her, but it was still unpleasant to hold down a screaming and pleading mare who was having a panic attack in the middle of a medical procedure. And that was just the start of the day, thankfully things were much more calm after that. I even ended up getting an apology from the mare after she had calmed down again, I don't blame her for anything.

Ponies do not handle blood well and I've seen a fair few panic, I'm more surprised she didn't just faint from pain or shock like many others. I accepted the apology as it's part of the job I agreed to do and it seemed genuine. Still, I think I'm going to enjoy my next four days away from all of that, at least Clear Water complimented me, before giving me a fair amount of paperwork over the incident.

Turns out there is a lot of shit that you need to sign and write down to explain after reattaching a limb, paperwork is still less than pleasant but as always necessary. In the end I thought it was worth it to see the mare's thankful look and her relief at having all her legs back. Doing this work can be messy and fucked up, but I do good and that's something I enjoy.

I shake my head and move to more positive thoughts. Like the fact my Mantle Bloom project has made more progress than it would have normally, mostly due to Celestia's help. It was nice working on something with her again and seeing her mood be so much better than before was a nice bonus.

I leave my bathroom and move over to check on the bread I'm making for tonight's game night dinner. The last few have been at Daisy's because she got lucky, or unlucky depending on how you see it. We've decided that we'll pick game nights based on a game of our choosing and whoever wins gets to host, unless we have more serious reasons we can't host.

Last time I picked chess as the game and won, so we'll be doing game night at my apartment this time. I saw my friends once earlier this week when we went out to eat, Stone came along as always. He doesn't join our game nights as much as before as he's not the biggest fan of games and the like, but he always comes out to eat with us and sometimes tags along for game nights.

Stone's been the same as always and was pretty happy when he heard I became a healer, he even said he was proud. I'm still not too close to him though, we get along but we don't share many interests or talk that much outside of training and normal small talk. Still, I consider him a somewhat close Pony and a friend, but not like the others.

Tonight should prove interesting because I have news, that's for later though. Entropy and I both whistle a tune together as I check the bread and make sure the pasta I'm making is done. Once I'm sure it is I drain it and add it to a bowl with everything else needed to make a nice meal.

I notice a group of three Ponies walking into the building and smile knowing full well who they are from the shapes and sizes of the Ponies. It is the very late afternoon and they said they would all be arriving together. Apparently, they went shopping to grab a few things, but I couldn't make it due to having a later shift at the hospital.

I place the fresh bread out to cool and spend a moment looking over at Entropy. "They will be here soon," I call out and she chirps before activating her band. Over the past few weeks, I've been looking into Illusion runes and while working with Celestia I also asked about some she might know.

In the end, I was able to find the runes I needed to finally improve Entropy's band. It took a few days and I needed to test with several feathers I bought to get the feeling of her feathers right, but now she has a physical illusion over her. It took little time as I was just reworking a copy of the original illusion and adding to what was already there.

It's not perfect as it feels a little off, but with how small the difference is you'd need to be checking to really notice. There are also a few problems with the new Illusion spell I added to her band. It makes a physical illusion that can be touched and pressed against, it even bends a little to have some give. It mimics the sound and feel of feathers but it can't mimic the weight and it also costs too much magic despite my best efforts.

In the end, we figured out that physical illusion can only last for around four hours before draining the gems in her band, plenty of time for most circumstances but still not passive like I wanted it to be. So with it not being able to last forever, I decided to just add it to the band and keep the old illusion on it as well.

It was tricky, but I made it work and now she can pick which illusion she wants by pecking three times for the physical illusion and twice for the original. I'm not sure how excited she is to have the physical illusion though, or how much she will actually use it, but I feel it's important to have it for her.

She seemed happy that I could pet her in public without needing to be careful. However, the illusion does dampen anything she feels to a degree, kind of like feeling something through a glove. Still, I think she'll enjoy getting pets from others when or if she allows it.

I did need to remind her that when switching between illusions she needs to find somewhere private. When switching there is a moment when her actual form becomes visible, it's very short but it's still there. It's not worth the risk so I made sure to teach her well and explain everything fully about why I want her to be careful.

I see Entropy peck her band three times and raise a brow to myself, it seems she actually will try using it. I can't wait for Daisy's reaction to that, she always looked like she wanted to pet Entropy so bad but never got to. "Open up! We're hungry!" I chuckle as I hear and sense my friend outside my front door.

I flip a switch and open my front door with a smile while continuing to cook a few things. I see Daisy walk in first with a bag, but she stops after stepping in and looks around. "Wow! Maple was right, you actually decorated! I like it. Hello Entropy, you being the best Girl? Yes, you are." She asks as she walks in while looking around. "Hey Shade. Smells good." She greets me as well with a beaming smile.

I nod and see Blaz walk in with a curious look. "It's not bad looking, it could still use a little something on the walls, but it works. Hey Colt, you and that mare catch up yet?" He goes right to teasing me and I blush a little as he's not incorrect. "HA, good! You need something to do that isn't work or a hobby." I blush harder after a moment as his joke sinks in.

I turn away but sense the smiles and held in laughter of my two other friends as Blaz chuckles. "I wonder what would happen if I sent a letter of all those jokes you've said to me, right to your son. Oh, who am I kidding, he would just laugh." I sigh and act all dramatic for a moment while Blaz laughs harder.

I nod to Maple and try to get rid of my blush by pretending it doesn't exist. Daisy eventually placed down a few pies she brought on the counter before happily walking over to sit on my couch. "I do like it, that rose bush is beautiful. Ohh, where did you get the paintings?" She asks while taking out some treats she brought for Entropy.

I enjoy the nice feelings as Maple joins Daisy on the couch and Blaz lies down on the carpet at its base with a couch pillow. I finish up the last few things in the kitchen and walk over with some cups and a full teapot. "The market, they are just some random ones I thought would work. So beyond making me annoyed, how have you all been the past week?" I ask as we met up a little over eight days ago.

Blaz smiles widely and takes out a few photos, "My sonny paid me a visit, he even brought the foals. Those little springs couldn't keep still for a moment, the older one's flying already and was nothing but a menace. It was perfect." He says with a happy laugh as he lets us look through the pictures.

It's honestly adorable how happy he is being a grandsire, he will take just about any opportunity to talk about his grandfoals somedays. Daisy lets Entropy eat from her hoof with a smile, "Blaz, we said you would do this later. We're supposed to pressure him about his life first, otherwise, he won't share a thing and will just be his happy self listening to all of us." She somewhat teases me and I roll my eyes.

Blaz and Maple nod silently before all three look over at me, this is something new they've been doing. They basically refuse to talk about anything else before hearing something about my day at least. "Well, I do have some news. You remember me mentioning something I was thinking about when it comes to the hospital?" I gave in easily as I did have some news for them.

At first, I didn't want to tell them about the offer I got before I accepted or denied it. I wanted to not feel pressured about it and while they are good friends they tend to try and push me into things a little. It's not a bad thing most of the time as it gets me outside more, but I needed space for this one, and they gave it.

After I did accept the offer I just sort of, forgot? I never thought about keeping it a secret but it also never really occurred to me to bring it up as I had other things to talk about, so now seems like a good time. They all nod again and Maple speaks up, "Ya, you said it was still uncertain. So, what did you do this time?" She asked in a level tone.

They did ask about it the last time we met up, which is when I realized I forgot to tell them. But that was at a public restaurant and I didn't want to talk about it there, so I told them to wait and they did. As for why I'm not keeping this a secret? I can't see any reason to do so.

If one of them ended up at that hospital I could end up seeing them and what I'm doing there is not exactly a secret to anypony. Plus, I think it's good to be as honest with them as I feel is safe. Blaz chuckles and smirks, "Agreed, what did you do to upstage everypony else this time?" He joins in on the joke.

I smile slightly and shake my head. "Now I almost don't want to tell you." I get a demanding look from Daisy as she continues to feed Entropy. "I did well on my healer's test, fairly well actually. And now I'm apprenticing for, well, being a Journeypony Healer." I say slowly to drag out the anticipation a little more.

I nearly laugh at the faces they give me, mostly a mix between deadpan and unsurprised. "How am I not surprised? Of course, you scored so well that you can just get an apprenticeship and go mosey along." Blaz declares with a laugh and a happy smile. "Well, Colt, it looks like you beat every expectation, again!"

Maple just smiles and drinks some tea as Daisy looks all excited. "Go shade! Wait, who are you apprenticing under?" I raise a brow. "I got curious and looked into healers a bit, so I guess your apprenticing under a Journeypony Healer for a few years then?" She asks with excitement.

None of them seem too shocked and I can get why. Becoming a healer is a bit more impressive and this is smaller news in general. Her being that informed catches me a little off guard. "Umm, kind of? It's just one year and-" I trail off slowly as she looks confused for a few seconds, before smiling like a maniac and starting to laugh hard.

She laughs for a good minute as the other two look confused. "How?!! You scored THAT well?! What kind of luck or skill do you have? Was becoming a healer too easy for you?" She asks rapidly, apparently having figured it out and finding it hilarious.

Blaz and Maple give her demanding looks and she smiles widely, "He's apprenticing under a Master Healer, somehow!" She says and laughs more. "That's the only way it would last a year and not longer. Seriously Shade? This is just getting silly at this point." She says through her laughter.

They look at me and I just stay silent for a few moments as she's guessed it. " Ok, so. Hypothetically, if she's right." That's all I get out before Blaz starts laughing as well and reaches over to put a foreleg around my neck. "Ok look. They made the offer and I thought about it a lot, and it just sort of, happened, I didn't even ask for it!" I finish feeling a bit embarrassed as they laugh at my odd luck.

Even Maple starts laughing a little and I think they get a little caught up in it all as it takes them a full minute to stop. In the meantime, I try to not show my slight embarrassment and bring over the games we'll play. "I think he's just bored at this point. Are you going to actually get a job as a healer?" I shake my head as I don't think I will. "Yes, he's bored." Maple asserts.

Daisy smiles widely as Blaz lets me go. "Congratulations, and I'm just going to guess you forgot to tell us before now?" I pretend not to hear that and keep shuffling cards. "Welp, I suppose we have another celebration dinner to plan. Now let's play some games and clebra-" She trails off and we all look over at her.

She's sitting straight on the couch and is dangling her back legs off of the edge. What made her stop talking becomes obvious as we all see Entropy shifting to sit better in her lap. The large crow is now sitting on her back legs as Daisy looks down in utter wonder. "Huh, I guess she does let others touch her." I make a joke out of it to avoid questions.

They all look surprised but Daisy looks beyond happy. She smiles wider than ever and takes a deep breath. "YES!" Entropy looks up but doesn't move from her spot. "Can I pet her? Please?!!" She practically begs me and I let the thought settle in for a moment.

I shrug. "She has been more touchy lately, maybe she's changed a bit? Honestly, I can barely keep up with her some days." I half lie but also be honest. "Sure, but go slow and if she pecks you I'm not to blame." I'm honestly surprised Entropy is being that touchy already.

Then again, Daisy has always given her treats and Entropy often perches near her during game nights. Out of the three, Entropy is definitely closest to Daisy, even if that's just from being bribed with food. Daisy squeals a bit and slowly reaches down a front hoof to Entropy.

Entropy looks up but doesn't move and a moment later Daisy places her hoof gently on top of Entropy, slowly moving it alone with her fake feathers. "I take it back, we're celebrating this instead. Best day ever!!" She whispers excitedly and looks absolutely thrilled.

I just stay silent and enjoy the sight as I deal cards and settle in for a fun night.

time skip

I sigh tiredly as I look around my apartment, several things lying around from all the fun we just had.

I turn to Entropy as she sits on her perch. "You have fun Girl? You certainly made Daisy happy if nothing else." I ask while moving around to put everything back where it belongs. "Why did you let her pet you? Did you just want to?" I ask as I find her choice interesting.

Entropy bobs her head before tilting it a bit in seeming thought while dropping the illusion around her with a few quick pecks. "Yes, very. Daisy make happy. I make Daisy happy." She actually uses Daisy's name and seems a little proud of her actions. "Ok? Not break rule?" She asks back with slight concern.

I smile widely up to her as I collect a few dirty plates. "It's more than ok, I'm proud," I say with a confident tone and watch her tail feathers start to wag feverishly, the dark mist on her form wafting behind her. "And as long as you have that illusion on, feel free to do the same with anypony else you like." I encourage her happily.

She tilts her head again and looks down. "Maybe, not know others." She says simply and starts to preen herself. I know she might have some problem with being touched due to how I raised her, but she is safe and we can work on that. "Yes the big ones, they nice." She adds after a moment.

I snort at the unintentional joke she made. "Well, they get to pet you already, maybe Avalon? He's nice." I add as she can already get pet by the two large alicorns. She doesn't say anything at that but does look out the window in thought, I leave her be for the time being with some pride in my chest.

She let Daisy pet her for no other reason than to be nice, and knowing I raised her well enough to do that is something I can't help but smile about. I finish cleaning up and walk into my bedroom for a moment to place my cleaned bedding back on after I freshened it up with a few Cleaning spells.

I noticed that my bedroom is very blank. I still have the wooden cage from when Entropy was very young, along with the table it rests on. But the only other things in the room are my bed and a small bedstand with a simple bracelet sitting atop it. I tap the bracelet and see the time displayed for a moment.

A small band of metal with a few simple topaz gems embedded into it. I've had it for years and have kept it as a simple clock for when I wake up, I wonder if Daisy even knows I kept it all this time? Something to bring up another day. I leave the room after a moment and bring the dusty old cage out with me, realizing it doesn't need to stay in there.

The thing has seen basically no use for years now and actually, the last time I used it was the other crow I brought home a long time ago. Entropy normally just sleeps in my bed with me or on her perch, and this cage sure as hell won't hold her. Entropy watches as I move it into the workroom, but she doesn't seem to care about it at all.

I place it in a corner for now, maybe I'll just leave it at Gaia's Eden or something. I think for a moment and start to look over my workroom, picking out a gem I've had for a long time but never used, along with a large block of Maple wood and a small Steel wood cube.

The Maple wood is dead so I can't grow it, but I can still decompose it away and the Steel wood cube is alive and well. I keep them alive to have them on hoof in case I need one, although I only keep ten cubes around. I take it all into my bedroom and get to work on a simple idea I have.

It's not late enough to go to bed yet, and this room is far too blank even for my standards. So I place the one-foot block of Maple down in the small bedroom and start planning things out. The bedroom is actually the same size as my workroom and my bed doesn't take up much space, leaving things pretty blank.

I have several ideas popping into my head but the one that comes to mind at the moment is something for the ceiling. There is one thing about my bedroom I don't really like, there are no windows to see anything outside, and not much natural light gets in here during the day even when the door is open.

I move the maple block to the side and start decomposing material away, making a smooth small round table and sitting it in an empty corner near the back wall. With that in place I take the Steel wood and decompose enough away to form a small pyramid, taking a moment to enchant it to hold magic and to hold something above it with a Stasis spell like I did with the gem for my mini planet.

I place the wooden pyramid in the middle of the maple round table and decompose a small hole half an inch deep to place the wooden pyramid in, keeping the small wooden object firmly in place. Finally, I take out the gem I brought with me, an eight-sided diamond-shaped sapphire.

My little project won't need too much magic and the five-inch long gem will be enough for something so simple. I start by enchanting it to hold and gather magic before adding an illusion Frame spell to add more Illusion spells to. Then the real work begins.

I add several different illusions to the Frame spell, spending an hour working on each one to get them all right and to make sure they all blend together and interact properly. The shape for the illusion is simple and conforms to my ceiling and one foot down from it on all four walls.

The illusion stops there by thinning out and fading away to the regular walls in a nice smooth transition. The illusion is actually very simple, an illusion to mimic the night sky and another to mimic the day sky. Both don't take much work as I make them fairly simple, I was also able to get the illusions to give off light easily enough.

I filled the night sky with a moon and some stars, I'll need to actually map out some stars to copy over later. I also added a sun and clouds to the day illusion. I linked both together to a rune for telling the time and set it up so they move with the actual day-night cycle.

I didn't have time to add a sunset or sunrise, so for now, the illusion just shifts to the other one in an abrupt slide. It moves from one side of the illusion to the other and swaps the day and night. I place the gem I used for the illusion over the wooden pyramid to float and slowly spin in the air, looking rather cool.

The gem still has a good amount of magic capacity, mostly because the illusion is very simple despite its size. I'll be adding more detail and making it look much more natural over the next few days. But for now, I head to bed knowing I'll be waking up to something similar to the open sky for the first time in a long time.

And as I snuggle up with Entropy to finally sleep, I know today was a good day.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I thought some more decoration would be nice. I also literally just forgot to have Shade tell his friends about his new apprentice, so I just made it a joke and went for it. I think it was a nice touch.

Chapter 298

OCT 8 Monday.

I sip my tea slowly as I look down on the city far below me.

The midday sun is shining and the wind from this height is blowing pretty hard, combine that with the snow everywhere and I actually decided to wear my scarf. Entropy is sitting on my back and wearing her scarf as well, now that she can bring it with her without disrupting her illusion.

Things have been a combination of slow and fast recently, I've done little in my free time beyond train and work on my few projects. My time at the hospital has been more fast-paced though, Clear Water is now letting me cast basic healing spells without needing to ask for permission from her, as long as I explain my reasoning and scan anypony I work on both before and after I heal them.

My knowledge of spotting injuries has improved a fair amount, it's not world-changing but I can spot many things I couldn't before and it's been saving me a lot of time. Clear Water has begun giving me more complicated patients as well, still small stuff but more bloody stuff.

Her and I have gotten along well enough so far, we don't see each other outside of the hospital but I have a good amount of respect for the mare. I may not know her too well but she's hard-working and even with her blank face I can tell she cares about her job, I think, it's honestly really hard to tell with her.

She's mostly been teaching me spells to help fill in gaps and deal with more specific injuries. Things like bone fragments in deeper parts of the body and how to deal with a lot of the organs of the body. Again it's not massive but it is a lot of important things I need to learn and I'm happy to do so.

She's also not been too nosy about my life. I've asked her some about herself and have gotten some basic answers, and she's done the same thing with me. I know she grew up on the outskirts of the great plains on the edge of Equestrian territory, bordering Zebra territory. I also know she moved to Canterlot a little later in her life as a young adult.

I've told her about how I grew up and about working at the library. It's all rather simple stuff and it's clear we don't know or trust each other too much at the moment, but there is respect. She reminds me in a way of the Griffon who taught me how to speak Griffon a long time ago. I wonder how she is doing?

We have an understanding, and while we mostly focus on getting things done there is potential for us to trust each other more over time. I trust her not to press me too hard if it's not necessary, but I'm not yet sure what she would consider necessary. Still, I'm getting to know her a little and that's nice.

I finish my sketch and look down over the city of Rain River. The landscape has changed somewhat with the coming of winter, with snow now creeping down from the mountains and covering a lot of the taller land. But things are still pretty colorful due to the warmer weather here.

The continent Equestria is on is at an angle compared to what I assume is this world's equator. Then again there are some land masses that break away from any real pattern. What I do know is that this part of Equestria is a little further down on the planet and seems to be warmer as a result.

The valley isn't covered in snow, but most of the leaves have fallen away from many plants and few green ones remain, it looks more like perpetual Fall. I've come here a few times to draw and enjoy the view, but I haven't visited the city yet and that's what I want to do today. I'm taking a nice two-day trip for a break.

I found myself with nothing to do and I wouldn't mind seeing what plants a city like this would have, even in Winter they probably have a good amount stored away. I did notice that many of the plants in the city are still green, I guess they are more sheltered from the cold and enduring it just enough to not lose their leaves and color.

I pack away my book and other things before turning to Entropy as she stands up while stretching her wings. "Go? Adventure?" She asks excitedly, I've hinted at coming here a few times and she seems pretty happy to explore as well. I chuckle and nod as I adjust my saddlebags while casting a spell to form my wings.

I've decided to also bring my little air-walking artifact with me. After a lot of thought and a few letters back and forth with Celestia, we settled on the name, Wolf’s Grace. She added the grace part as I was just going to call it wolf steps, but her name fit much better and I liked it more. It seems she doesn't have the curse of a poor sense of naming anything and everything.

I smile at the memory and try something fun as I look down the cliff face. I take Wolf's Grace out and place it around my neck with my other necklace, the one Celestia gave me. There is still room for enchantments on it now that I think about it, maybe something will give me an idea?

I leave that thought alone as I hesitantly take a step right over the cliff edge, only for my hoof to land on solid air with no difficulty. It feels odd as my body screams a little at my actions, but I ignore that and take several more steps, walking out into the open air and suddenly hundreds of feet above the ground.

I feel the wind and spread my wings before jumping forward. I will my hooves to not land on any wind barriers, and so they don't. I spread my wings wide after I dive straight down for a few seconds, picking up speed along the way. I rarely fly fast and I see Entropy diving after me, keeping up easily enough.

I pull up and stop my freefall so I don't die, letting myself go into a fairly steep but less plummeting glide as I fly my way down the mountain and into the valley. I don't aim for the city but instead a road nearby, not wanting to fly into the city itself as that is not the best idea.

Most cities with a lot of Pegasi tend to let you fly in while a guard flies up to talk to you like they would at a gate, but not all of them do that. I would rather not start my day out with problems so I land well outside of the city and take the opportunity to walk a little in a new place. With the steep glide, it doesn't take me long to reach the road and land softly.

Flying around Canterlot so often hasn't made me better at flying quickly or learning tricks, but I am much better at smooth and accurate landings than before. I wait a moment and dismiss my wings as Entropy lands on my back, chirping excitedly at the dive we just did. "I'm glad you liked it, now turn your illusion on."

She does and pecks three times as she apparently wants to use her full illusion, well she knows what she wants, the clever girl. I've been looking into how to let her swap in between her two illusions without revealing herself, but that's been a bit of a bust at the moment.

Her band has basically reached its limit on enchantments, it may be mithril and diamonds but it's also very small. The fact that I've gotten two illusion spells on there is an achievement already, adding more would be a bit of a mess. Still, I'm looking into it. I could just get another band made? Or maybe it's best to just get an improved one then? Less chance of one of them being lost that way.

Looking into the forest filled with Fall colored leaves and many dead branches. Even now the forest is damp with rain and the plants around here seem well adapted to the abundance of water. The road I landed on was further down the valley than the city but I could hear the large river faintly. I start following the road and keep my eyes and senses out for any interesting plants or threats.

It's a calm walk, and it doesn't take me long to start passing some farm fields. Despite the cloudy weather, there are a few Ponies out in the fields working, harvesting what looks to be the last of their yield for the year. Most of the crops seem to be ones that grow well in water, the very large river feeding the fields through several irrigation ditches.

I walk over some planks that form a small flat bridge over one such channel for the water and see some fish swimming through it. The odd bright blue color of their scales stands out and I make a mental note that they might be interesting to add to my fish pond someday.

As I near the city wall I notice its city walls seem to be made from a mix of thick timber made from large trees and just actual trees. It seems they have grown several dozen large trees into the wall itself, or maybe they built the wall around the trees? I can't tell honestly.

The wall is large but not as impressive as others I've seen. As I get close to the main gate I notice a line as guards check you before you enter. Many smaller cities don't have as many internal resources to deal with things like smuggling, so they go with the proven method of just trying to keep such things out of the city at the gate.

I can see many Ponies, most in caravans and some within simple traveling bands. Only I seem to be traveling alone though, most likely because the wilderness around this remote area can be dangerous. I end up waiting a while, around fifteen minutes, before I'm finally at the front of the line.

I walk up to the guard and notice she has an interesting design on her armor. Sometimes guards from different cities will represent their home by modifying their armor in small but noticeable ways. These guards have taken to dyeing all the cloth padding on their armor a deep green with three stripes of sky blue.

The mare guard in front of me looks me up and down for a moment. "Reason for visit and affiliation?" The mare guard asks in a voice that shows she's done this far too many times before. I do catch another one of the shorter Pegasi guards peeking at my backside, but as always I ignore it.

"Just visiting for a day or two, probably some small scale trading as well. And no affiliation." I answer in a level and calm tone. She nods and marks it down before motioning to my saddlebags. I know what she wants and start to empty each pocket, having only brought some bits and simple things for this exact reason.

She looks over the simple items and waves me through quickly, with me putting my things away just as quickly. I don't use my field or space magic to not stand out so it still takes a minute to finish and move along. "Enjoy your stay, there are a few inns right down the main street. Have a good day sir." She says with more of a relaxed tone.

I nod and walk through the gates, one of the two large wooden doors being open enough for carts and Ponies to walk through. As I enter I look around to find a somewhat busy but calm city, most of the buildings are made from wood with thick stone foundations.

I do notice as I walk that they are far more vertical than needed, and all very sturdily built. All the buildings are also fairly high off of the ground, not having a first floor and instead having a several-foot-tall foundation of stone. I guess they don't want a flood to ruin things, they do live in a valley with a large river running through the city so it makes sense.

As I walk further into the city I see that every building has plants, the streets have many trees and bushes but the buildings have plant pots on every window and porch. Most of them are dead but a fair amount are still alive despite the cold and it gives the feeling of a city close to nature.

I quickly find a more subtle but pleasant change from cities like Canterlot, there is a large amount of life magic in this city. I feel the flows moving under the ground strongly and unlike the open fields that surround Canterlot the flows here come from the forests covering the land around the city.

I notice that the cliffs of the valley I'm in have forests on top of them, maybe some of that subterranean life magic exists there? It would partly explain why the valley plants are holding up better than other places during the winter. I walk slowly and without any destination in mind.

Eventually, I take out my cloak and put away our scarves as it starts to drizzle, which quickly becomes a downpour of abrupt and thick rain. None of the city's residents seem bothered by it and just start moving out of the street, and I notice several Pegasi in the sky working on controlling the clouds high above the city and the cloud homes.

Everywhere I walk I notice Pegasi flying about but there are also some Earth Ponies, and very few Unicorns scattered about. After a while, the street floods a little as the rain drains downhill, and just in time I finally find the place I was looking for, a market. In between several tall buildings, all raised up on a massive stone foundation, there is an alley in between them with a market sign out front.

I walk up some stone steps of the foundation and enter the twenty-foot-wide alley to see it lined with stalls and filled with Ponies. The streets did feel empty after the rain started and this seems to be one of the places they all went. The alley has several hundred large cloths hung from the building walls above us in a haphazard and seemingly random fashion, some high up and some close to the ground.

It blocks out the rain enough for me to drop my hood and for Entropy to shake herself off from being wet. Her actual form is very non-absorbent to water and she can dry quickly. The alley seems to be mostly food stalls with a few other stalls selling random things mixed in.

It's well lit with magic lights hanging all around to beat back the shadows from the location, there are many Ponies talking and eating as they seem to wait out the weather. I look around for a bit and just start to walk down the alley, glancing over the stalls selling things and eventually stopping at one with an assortment of fruit.

I see many I am familiar with, but a few stand out a fair amount. There is some type of red fruit with a very hard outside and another that has a very bright yellow color to it. The elderly mare behind the stall smiles slightly and nods. "Red Tree Nut and Shooting Star, both good for a snack." She reveals the names with a salesman-type tone. "Five for each." She declares.

The yellow fruit looks like a fuzzy orange with the same texture of skin under the fuzz. I nod and keep looking for a moment before spotting a few more baskets behind her. "What are those?" I ask at one basket that seems to have a very odd fruit inside it.

A deep black color with a good shine to its luster. There are only a few and they are about the size of my hoof, fairly large compared to the smaller eyeball-sized fruits I just got. They are very shiny and almost look to be coated in wax, they also have an odd shape. Almost like Star Fruit but with three fins instead of five.

The elderly Pegasus mare glances back and huffs, "Black Coal. Tastes horrible, the bitterest thing you can imagine, but helps with indigestion and settles the stomach. Nopony buys them though and those are getting old, so how about you buy something else and I throw them in?" She offers and I nod, not seeing no reason to decline.

I can feel that the black fruit is slightly magical, it has very slightly more life magic than most plants, but it's not by much. In the end, I just grab another one of the odd bright yellow fruits and place them all in my saddlebags after paying the mare. I move on and peel open one of the yellow fruits as I walk, Shooting Star I think she called it?

I share with Entropy as we continue shopping. The fruit is mushy inside with an odd stringiness to it, and it tastes like an odd mix between Banana and Pineapple, along with a very slight zest to it. It's not bad and I make sure to take out some of the very tiny seeds it has, they look like grains of sand, and store them for later.

I next stop at a stall that's set up a counter and some stools to sell food, offering a variety of fried vegetables and sauces to choose from. I think for a moment and considering I didn't have lunch yet I could stand to eat. I sit down on a stool and Entropy climbs to one of my shoulders to sit on it.

There is a young adult Pegasus mare moving around quickly, working with several pans over a few enchanted metal plates to cook multiple things at once. She uses her wings to boost her movement with quick flaps and hops, putting on a show of skill as she cooks.

There are two others waiting and a third eating so I wait for a bit, the mare cooking serves them and they both leave. She hops and flaps a wing gently to quickly shift down to my side of her little counter and smiles up at me as she stops just in time to be in front of me. "What can I get you? And will that be to go or to stay?" She asks while pulling out a simple menu from behind the counter.

She's smiling a little too much and looks me up and down as I quickly read the menu, she seems energetic like many Pegasi. "A stir fry and some extra potato fried up for her. And we'll eat here." I answer simply, and she takes the menu from my hooves before hopping and dashing back with her momentum, going right to cooking.

"Coming right up!" She says cheerfully as I lean back a bit. She's good at what she does, working with several hot pans and cooking utensils at once while moving around quickly. Very good control over her movements and she always seems to change her momentum and direction just when it seems she might slip or fall.

It's an entertaining show and I can say for certain I'll be leaving some kind of tip, as long as the food is as good as it smells. It's just a mix of fried vegetables with some oil and a few sauces, but it smells good and looks good. I decide to take out my sketchbook and start drawing the little stall, leaving the mare out of the drawing.

Not too long after I get a decent rough sketch finished she places a steaming bowl in front of me filled with a good amount of food. "Ten bits, and an extra five for your friend." She places a smaller bowl filled with some basic vegetables and mostly cooked potatoes.

I take out a small bag and she places a Bit Counter down, letting me drop twenty bits on it quickly. She sees the numbers and doesn't count them herself before collecting them and smiling wider. "Thank you, enjoy the food, and I have some cold sweet tea if you'd like any?" I shrug and nod because why not. "Great, that's on the house with your meal. No refills though." She says politely.

I look around as Entropy jumps down to eat her food, I grab my bowl and eat with the fork she gave me. Looking around I enjoy the relaxed mood of the alley, busy enough to feel full but calm enough to feel more like an inn or bar in atmosphere and mood.

The mare comes back and places down a wooden mug of an amber liquid. "So, what brings you to Rain River?" She doesn't have anypony else to serve and seems interested in small talk. I raise a brow and she chuckles a bit. "Not many Earth Ponies here, and I happen to know most of them." I feel like there is a story there but don't want to dig.

I shrug and don't see a reason not to have some small talk. I came to this city to relax and explore a bit, and you can't really explore without talking to a local. "Not much. Passing through for now, I thought I'd stay a night or two and head out then. It's already proving to be an interesting city." I am vague but honest with her. "Why ask?" I asked back as she seemed interested but not pushy.

She also shrugs. "Slow day, too much rain. And you got the look of somepony with a story, or maybe I'm just used to Ponies with stories to tell. This isn't the worst place to stop by, plenty of food and it's rarely anything but quiet. Just about the only thing we lack is adventure." She jokes a bit and moves back to continue cooking while talking. "What drew you here? We're pretty out of the way."

It's a little odd, but I find myself enjoying just talking to some random Pony for no reason. I may not be the most social type but even I enjoy some time outside with the unknown. "I heard it was nice, I could only come around winter sadly, maybe I'll stop by again in Spring? I hear you all do a lot of herb gathering?" I ask, not having much else to add.

I take a few more bites and drink some of the cold sweet mint tea she brought me, it goes well with my meal. She nods and motions to the spices and sauces she has. "That we do, mostly this time of year it's slow though. Everypony repairing things and bringing in the last of the harvest. I did hear about some farm higher up growing something in the snow, as odd as that sounds. What are you working on?" She glances at the sketchbook I placed down to eat.

I nearly smile at the mention of what is likely one of my frost crops, but I just keep my pride to myself. I flip the book open and show her the drawing. "Your stall was interesting, I thought it would be nice." She raises a brow and steps closer to see it properly. Smiling as she gets a good look, I place it down again when she's done. "Still needs some work. So, what's your story?" She raises a brow. "Well, I don't think many would ask that back and I'm curious," I admit.

She nods and moves over to a pan and adds some red spice to it with a chuckle. "A fair few actually do, though not that many I suppose. Not much to say, I like cooking, and a market stall is easier than a restaurant, so I picked the stall. I grew up here, I live here, and I think I'll keep living here. You?" She asks as I down more tea and Entropy finishes her meal. "Scratch that, what's their story?" She asks and points at Entropy.

I smile and think about how to say this properly. "Well, I was born in Canterlot. I was a librarian for a while, and now I do a bit more than that, mostly gardening." I be somewhat truthful, if you stretch the truth. "As for her? Got her egg from a merchant, he couldn't hatch her, I did, and she's been with me since then." I reach out and pet her a little, not needing to worry over the illusion. "You know a good inn to stay at?" I ask, having finished the last of my food.

She looks at Entropy curiously. "Huh, an odd pair. And I knew you'd have a story. A librarian and a gardener from the capital, that's definitely new. Behind you." I turn around and see a different stall against the back of a building. This one is larger and is selling drinks, probably alcoholic from the looks of it.

I turn back confused and she nods. "This is the back, circle around front and it's a proper inn. They just like serving back here during the day to keep things tidy out front. It's a bit more pricey but it's good and you are next to this cozy place." She smiles like a proper merchant and I nod my thanks before getting up. "Have a good day stranger, come back anytime." She says with a small wave of her wing.

That was interesting, if a little simple. :Great, now I'm missing all of the complex topics Celestia and I dive into, I wonder when that started?: I shake my head and flip up my hood before walking out of a side path on the alley and walking through the rain around the building.

And sure enough out front there is a sign for the Cozy Fern Inn, I actually like that name, not bad by Pony standards. I look over the front of the simple building for a moment and step onto the porch to wipe my hooves and head inside. I need a room, and I need someplace to sleep.

:I wonder if I could get a bath as well?:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I thought something of a break from normal would fit well, and I get to do more world building so obviously I'm thrilled. I think we'll spend one more chapter here before moving on, any short ideas for this visit? Something to find or do?

Chapter 299

OCT 13 Saturday.

I yawn as I drag myself out of bed, the early morning sun rays beaming in through the window.

I turn to see it's going to be a much clearer day today. I spent the rest of yesterday at the inn and at a few small shops nearby looking for anything that might make good gifts. It's still a while until Hearth's Warming but that doesn't mean I can't start now, and it saves me from rushing things later.

I look around the room I rented and chuckle at seeing Entropy splayed out across the other half of the bed. I rented a larger room as this happens to be the down season for visitors and didn't cost all that much more, not that cost is really an issue. I guess I just normally go with the simple option.

The inn doesn't sell food as it's really close to a market but they sure let you drink, with all the rain yesterday the inn was full and busy last night. Even a few floors up I had to cast a Silence spell and limit my senses to get any sleep. Beyond that though I spent most of yesterday just shopping and exploring a little around this lovely city.

It will be nice to have some clear weather though, it will let me see the city better. From the few locals I had some small conversations with, the rain is very common and oftentimes it rains for days on end. Flooding is also common and my guess about the building being so high up seems to have been spot on.

I was also told about a few interesting things the city has, and a few of the oddities as well. In the end, my shopping yesterday didn't find anything too interesting, mostly just some small things that are basic gifts at best. I'll have to look around a little more today.

I get out of bed with a stretch and walk over to my saddlebags on the floor. I sorted out a few things and spent some time making sure everything was fine after all the rain yesterday. The room I'm in is large and fairly fancy, but not overly so as this is still a regular inn.

The room is painted in a deep blue and comes with a large bed for multiple Ponies, along with a desk, a large table, some bed stands, and even a bathroom. Altogether it's nice, all the wooden furniture being well made and filled with carvings of plants, a common theme this city seems to have.

I walk over the mostly carpeted floors and to the large window, seeing a garden box hanging right outside of it filled with plants. I reach out and look over the plants closely while turning them in different ways, all of them are simple flowers or just plants that can survive the cold to look good.

I spend a moment cutting open the other two types of fruit I got and extracting some seeds from both before decomposing the leftover fruit. The Red Tree Nut had a spongy white flesh inside the hard shell and tasted similar to coconut, while the Black Coal fruit was just as dark on the inside, it took me a while to find some seeds from it.

That black fruit also tasted just as described, bitter as all hell, but she said it had some medical properties so I'll look into it when I get home. I finish my work as Entropy rises from the bed with many out-of-place feathers and an annoyed caw as she looks herself over. "You know, you keep sleeping with me and this keeps happening, maybe don't?" I suggest in a teasing tone.

Her feathers often misalign when she sleeps with me, and she always gets annoyed at it. She glares at me through the veil of shadows around her. "Mean, sleep close for happy." I chuckle again at her odd wording but walk over and help out by straightening several of her feathers roughly into the right place to speed up her preening. "Thank you."

I leave her alone to finish the job and start packing for the day. I don't intend to stay here another night I think, I don't need much from this city and I've already enjoyed the first day quite a bit. Plus I can't drop everything in my life and I think I can spend the rest of this weekend with some friends.

Once we are both done I take the key I got from the innkeeper and head out into the hallway and down the stairs, making sure my large hooves don't misstep on the smaller-than-normal stairs. Turns out Pegasi don't need them as large and they took that into account when building.

I head downstairs and enter a large busy room, a bar filled with Ponies drinking and talking with each other. Several passed out from drinking last night and most are nursing drinks and looking fairly hungover. :And this is why I don't drink, not worth it sometimes: I leave them all be and walk up to the bar counter.

Behind it is the elderly Pegasi Stallion who runs the place. He was nice enough last time we talked but now he looks pretty tired. "Here's the key back, thanks for the room." I am polite, while it may have been loud it was a really nice bed. He looks at my outstretched hoof and takes the key with a wry smile.

He nods and takes the key, "Sorry about the noise, end of harvest is here and everypony is off from the hard work. Going to be like this for a few days yet." he mumbles out with a tired tone. "Come back if you need a room, or I can give you some directions if you need them?" He offers with a sympathetic look.

I nod and look unbothered, as a simple Silence spell made it all fine. "It's fine. Good to know you all are celebrating. Actually, do you know anywhere I can find something interesting to buy? A shop that sells oddities, that sort of thing." I ask, I could use some help actually navigating this city.

It's so remote that there aren't really signs of directions around for visitors, you are either a local who knows the way or a Pony coming here for work most of the time. Unlike a lot of larger cities this one isn't even designed around Ponies visiting, it's made for the ones here.

The old Pony scratches at his thick chin fur that acts basically the same as a beard. "Hmm, I know a few places like that. OH! Old White, he's an enchanter who has been around for a while, his shop is an utter mess but he does good work. He's a little out of it though." He mumbles that last part quietly and I just nod as he passes me something he scribbled on.

The directions are basic and shouldn't take me long to get to. "Thanks." With that, I head outside and am greeted by the sunshine and the smell of rain from last night. The cobbled streets are still wet and I can see a good amount of stuff that was moved around by the water, several sticks and pots being left in the streets tipped over and abandoned.

I follow the directions I was given as Entropy sits on my back and looks around, watching the building and Ponies around us closely. A few Ponies take notice of her and a foal riding their dam's back waves happily, with Entropy chirping back without acting too out of the ordinary for a normal crow.

I think spending time with the crow I brought home helped her get the hang of pretending to be a regular crow. I stop in the middle of some street and see a smaller street turn off to the side in between some buildings. It's not quite an alleyway but it's pretty empty and shaded. I can sense a few Ponies in it and none of them seems like trouble so I continue to follow the directions.

As I walk down the side street I mostly see abandoned shop fronts, a few of them being open and serving a small number of Ponies. Eventually, I see an old building near the dead end of the side street. The only indication it's even open through the dusty windows is the sign hanging from the door and the fact I can feel somepony inside.

I push the door open and hear a bell chime, getting hit with the smell of old paper and dust. The inside has surprisingly clean floors, and a myriad of shelves fill the space all with seemingly random items on them. I turn to the Pony I sensed inside and see an elderly-looking Unicorn stallion.

I raise a brow as he's leaning against his small counter while sitting on a stool, his head in his hooves as he sleeps. I cough and try to get his attention but he really seems deep in his rest. I shrug a little and decide to let him sleep while I look around, I can wake him when I'm done.

I do notice that there are several decent-sized gems lying above the doorway on a platform, maybe magical protection? I was told he was an enchanter so it seems likely. Maybe that's why he's confident enough to sleep while his shop is open. I keep my steps quiet as I walk over to a side of the shop to look around.

It's fairly big inside and even after entering, I don't really get close to the sleeping Pony. Many of the shelves seem to have the most random items, everything from toys to... My thoughts blank out as I blush rather hard at the sight of one small section. I quickly look away from the toy that is very much for adult mares, the fact that the rather phallic toy is very accurate doesn't help.

I leave that part alone and distract myself with a small section of books. Most are just about magic, simple things really, there are even some beginner books I recognize. There is one that stands out, a cover made from wood and with a few small emeralds embedded into its front.

I open it to find a blank book, I can't sense any magic from it either. I guess it's just a fancy-looking book but I'll take it, it might be a good gift. I look over at another section and see some more foal toys, all of them seem enchanted in some way. Most just with tiny gems to make them move or shift about, nothing really interesting.

I do find a small blanket and read the tag it has. Blanket of snuggles. :What the fuck?: I look over the small blanket meant for foals and place a hoof on it, a moment later I flinch as it quickly wraps itself around my hoof and half of my foreleg snugly.

I peel it off of me rather easily and I lay it out in the air, noticing that there are no gems to be found. I wonder where the magic to power it is coming from? Maybe the cloth is strong enough to endure the magical strain by itself? I collect it and start looking around the small goldmine of random magical items.

I look to some of the lower shelves and find a few gems with labels, most seem to be simple things. One makes wind to help you stay cool, another makes water. They seem like large gems for such simple effects but it's not my work so who am I to judge?

I continue on and find a different pile of books, only a few and all with gems on their covers. I take one with a few amethysts on it and try to open it. Only to be met with resistance, the book won't open for me. I try the other four there and they all seem to have protection enchantments to make the book hold up better over time.

They seem like diaries and are mostly uninteresting to me after reading them a bit. I see something interesting on a high shelf and stand on my back legs to reach up. It's a small box, opening it reveals a simple music box with a few small gems. It's pretty obvious what those gems would do, make the box work, so I grab it because why not?

At this point, I've gathered several interesting things, mostly small things for gifts. I stop looking at the oddities and try to find something for myself, something that could give me ideas or something to work with. And in one corner of the shop, I find a section that has some life magic to it, although it's very faint.

There is a pile of boxes stacked together and covered in dust. And in one of the lower boxes I find a few seeds, large and with a deep red color. It's odd as the dust seems thick and this would have to have been here a long while, the seed's life magic looks to be struggling heavily to keep going by this point.

The small cardboard box with three of the eyeball-sized seeds is unmarked and unlabeled. I can't tell what the seed is like from just a glance but it seems pretty hardy for being in a dusty mildew-filled corner without dying. I don't know what this seed is, it could be fun to find out.

As I'm looking through a few other shelves I notice the old Pony stir, looking around a little before abruptly going still. He looks over at me, despite me being hidden from his sight by several shelves. He reaches under the counter and pulls out a dagger, causing me to tense and go on high alert.

I turn to Entropy and whisper. "Shadow." She doesn't even nod and just vanishes into my shadow, disappearing entirely. I don't know how he can detect me, but he does seem to notice Entropy being gone and looks around while slowly and quietly stalking closer.

Having her vanish is suspicious, but this has just escalated hard and I would rather have her safe than deal with such a small problem as her disappearing. I have no fucking idea why he's acting like this, but it could just be a misunderstanding, plus it's unlikely for a single Pony to be any sort of threat.

I can think of a dozen ways to end him in a second and he's obviously very weary from the way he's breathing hard and the fact he's trying to sneak up on me. I pretend nothing is wrong and keep shopping, moving over to stand in the middle of the aisle so he has to pick a direction to come from.

He pauses out of sight on one end and when I look at something on a lower shelf he walks over quickly, his hooves making little noise. He gets within a few feet and I get a good look at him as I turn my head and act startled by his sudden appearance.

A dull white coat with a yellow mane, deep yellow eyes staring at me with a mix of hard determination and some well-hidden fear. I drop the things I've picked out and act shocked, "Wow, ok. Look I'm sorry if you are closed-" That's as far as I get before he moves the dagger closer to my throat, but I nearly raise a brow as I notice something. The dagger is completely unsharpened, little more than a metal stick.

I am still mentally prepared to cast a spell and grab the dagger with my field at a moment's notice, even with my growing confusion. His eyes narrow, "Quiet!" He whispers aggressively. "They sent you didn't they, catching me off guard?!" The old gruff voice demands, a little nervousness mixed into his tone. I open my mouth to respond.

I'm quickly starting to realize things are going sideways, but I don't want to deal with all this. "Look I'm just shopping, I have no idea what is happening. How about we just calm down?" I continue to act a little frightened. I really don't know what the hell this is but I already don't want to deal with it.

He narrows his eyes more. "Don't play dumb with me! Talk!" He demands again and I quickly figure out something is horribly odd here. The way he's acting makes it seem like he has no idea who I am. Instead of an answer, I yank his dagger to the side, pulling it from his magic field through sheer force with my field.

He looks to the side in panic and looks ready to fight, a panicked look in his eyes. "Stop!" I demand in a deadly serious and flat. That seems to be enough to give him pause as I bring his dagger over to my side and give him an intense stare. "I am not here to harm you, and I don't appreciate being attacked. Now, please, calm down." I insist while wielding the dagger and straightening my back.

His expression is a mixture of fear and worry, but my words give him more pause and we both just stand there for a long moment. His breathing is hard and he looks more uncertain as time passes, while I remain a rock in expression and stance. "You, you aren't here to take me gems?" He asks while already taking a half step back, looking genuinely confused.

I don't answer, but I do lower the dagger down to be near the floor and not pointed at him. I stay silent as he fidgets a bit, "Look. Those peeving bastards after..." He trails off and while he's clearly looking confused I get the growing sense he might be more confused than I am.

:Fuck! Of course, I walk into a shop run by a crazy Pony, is he even ok?: I sort my thoughts as fast as I can. He thinks I'm here to do something to him. But what and why? This is already a mess and I just feel like running and calling the guards, but he looks more scared and confused than anything else.

No matter how this happened, I have to deal with it and I don't think violence will do any good. His demand earlier does give me a little concern that somepony might be trying to harm him. "Are you... Ok? What is this?" I ask back with a more calm and gentle tone, my question makes him tense even more.

He shakes his head slowly. "I- Y-you really aren't with them, are you? No, you aren't, I'd be tied up already if you were." He asks back with hesitation but seems to draw his own answer. He seems to have calmed down some so I nod slowly. "Oh, buck!" He mumbles and looks both relieved and then worried again. "Ok, I surrender, apologize, whatever. Can- Can we relax?" He asks, seeming more lucid but still off.

I think for a moment and lower the dagger I have to be near the floor. He sighs in relief and nods. "Look, I just messed up. By Celestia you're just some Pony, buck!" He berates himself a bit with some rather colorful words for a Pony. "My name is Marble White. I'm really, REALLY sorry about... That." He swallows thickly and scratches his foreleg some.

My mind runs through several possibilities before I focus a little on my necklace. There is no reaction, he's not a Changeling, it just seems I've been once again caught up in a mess. I could help him, or ask to help him, does he even need help? Is this some panic-fueled accident or something else?

I may be stubborn and I would like to help in whatever the hell this is, but I'm not even sure this is an actual problem. I sigh passing him his dagger. "Just, put that away. What was that? I don't mean to dig but, well." I am blunt and use an even more relaxed tone. No need to frighten him by acting all tough when he just seems like a scared old Pony. He takes the dagger with his magic slowly, still looking untrusting of me.

He thinks I'm some type of trouble, and that I'm hiding myself to do something to him. He sighs slowly and backs up several steps to give us more space. "It's a mess. I don't need more unknowns involved in my life. Look, I'll make you a deal. Half of whatever you buy is free, let's just forget, this." He waves around the aisle.

I can see a bribe when I'm given one, and it's clear he just wants me out of his shop and whatever the hell he's involved in. I don't think about it much and just nod slowly while picking up the items I already gathered. "Fine, but are you actually ok?" I ask again as I'm legitimately concerned for this old Pony. I follow him slowly over to the counter, watching him take slow and unstable steps.

He smiles at that, thinking he's got exactly what he wants, and looks over the items I've brought to the front. "None of this is too much. Call it two hundred for half." He doesn't look too closely and it's obvious he just wants me gone and out of this mess, and I can't help but agree with him on that.

I stare at him for a moment. "Seriously, are you ok?" He raises a brow and looks unhappy at another question. "I'm not one to pry either, but you just sort of pointed a dagger at me. Maybe only a little, but still. At least tell me you're not completely crazy before I leave." I explain, trying to at least get some basic information about the situation.

He huffs after a moment and looks annoyed. "Dreams." I raise a brow at that. "Some things are better left forgotten Colt, my dreams are one of them." He motions to the outside with a shaky hoof and a more tired face. "I ain't crazy. But the dreams... Just get going." He huffs which turns into a rough cough.

It's still odd to see a Pony act so violently, or at least threaten somepony else too quickly. But I've met those who've seen bad things before and emotions can make even a Pony act out, and this Pony looks like he's dealing with a heavy past. I decided to just get this entire thing behind me.

I'm not happy about this happening, but it was small and handled easily enough. I pay him the full four hundred and quickly gather my things. Walking out of the shop with no hesitation before he can stop me or say anything. I keep a close watch on him as I walk away down the small narrow street. I see him bring over his dagger and look at it confused before placing it away, laying his head down on the small counter to sleep again.

That's all I get before I turn down a side alley and breathe out slowly. "Come on out Girl," I say slowly while keeping my senses on high alert. She does so and activates her illusion quickly. I think for a moment and start to cast an Enchantment Revealing spell on the items I just bought.

That enchanter was involved in something and I don't want or need to be tracked in any way, not when I can prevent it. I look over the spells that come up and all of them look fine. I don't know most of them so I can't say much about what they do, but I can easily spot a Tracking spell if needed.

I feel a little bad for that old Pony, and whatever the hell he's going through. Still, I don't think I should let this ruin my day, but no more shopping, ya that seems like a good idea. I let Entropy hop onto my back again and start to head for a new destination, one of the large things I heard about and wanted to see, and maybe also a good place to calm down after that mess.

I walk out into the normal streets and make my way downhill through the city, heading to the large river that runs right through the center of the city. At least I found a few interesting things in that shop, even if the owner looked to be suffering from something.

As I near the river shore I see a few small docks along with a few large ropes that cross the expanse of the large waterway. Interestingly enough because the city is mostly Pegasi there are no bridges to cross the river, even though the river splits the city right in half.

Instead, there are barges that move Ponies from one side to another, conveying the few non-Pegasi Ponies to the other half of the city easily enough. I walk over to a dock with a few boats and one of the large ropes that cover the width of the river. It proves to be easy to buy a ticket and not long after I walk over to a decent-sized boat.

It's flat and mostly just a bunch of wood benches, but the few other Ponies inside of it seem calm and relaxed. Talking and doing various things to pass the time as they wait. I take a seat with them and not long after we start to move, I quickly notice the odd but simple way they move the boat through the river.

The large rope is hooked into a wooden pole with a ring of wood on top of it, and a latch closing to make sure the rope stays inside the loop of wood. Two Ponies take long poles of wood and use them to push into the bottom of the river, moving us along our guided path and through the water.

I heard about all of this and I thought it would be nice. As we push out into the river I look upstream to see the city in a whole new way. The light reflected off of the calm but massive stream of water, Pegasi flying everywhere above us, and the snowy mountains in the far distance.

I take out my sketchbook and start to draw the view as we slowly move along. Life has its ups and downs, its turns and twists, but at least the view is often nice.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I have no reason for adding any of what just happened, I got bored and it just sort of went this way.

Chapter 300

OCT 22 Monday.

I sigh and look over another of the sketches I made while on my last trip out of Canterlot.

It might have been a bit of a mess for a short time but it was fun and a nice break from my routine. Life goes on though and I've settled right back into things as is normal, I even hung out with Avalon a few days ago. He's doing about the same and has taken to his studies of magic more and more.

He's a good friend and we normally finish off our meeting by going to a cafe or a restaurant. He's made some progress with his fire magic but I was surprised to hear about his own personal project. It's nothing fancy but he's been trying to modify the Light spell Veil Winter made, something I find pretty ironic.

He's just trying to change the light's color but this is his first solo project into modifying a spell and he seems to be doing well from the notes he showed me. I offered to help but he declined, wanting to do this one on his own. I can respect the effort and dedication so I just worked with him on some spells and told him about what I've been up to.

He was pretty surprised to learn I was now a healer, but not overly so as like my other friends he knew I had a large interest in healing. Over the past two weeks, I've mostly done some work on the plants I brought back, as well as going about my regular training and the like.

The non-magical fruit was interesting but mostly unimportant, I added some of their seeds to my seed vault and also spent some time researching the Black Coal Fruit. It's a rarer fruit but is still common enough to just be pricey and not impossible to find. I do think its properties are interesting though.

The fruit helps the body filter out things from itself, and the effect seems partly magical in nature. It helps with just about anything in the body that shouldn't be there, from heavy metals to straight-up poison. It can even help the body with things like sickness and infections, but only to a small degree.

It's effect is small but I see a good amount of potential here. One part of its magical effect is that it can help clean the blood, not as much as other parts of the body but it's still very useful. And that is much more desirable when talking about Ponies who have a blood infection.

Sometimes an infection can spread into the blood and with the medicinal practices of Equestria that's normally a death sentence, even with a Master Healer your chances aren't very good. The fact that this fruit helps with that is well known but very rarely taken advantage of.

It's not the most common plant and while it can help, the magical effects of the fruit seem to fade to a large degree after a while and the effect is also relatively small. The fruit can last a week or two at most before becoming basically useless for this purpose, and that's where I come in. I want to make the fruit last a lot longer and have a much stronger effect than it does now.

I have a few things working in my favor for this. The plant may be magical but the effect is weak at the moment and that means it's much easier to change and manipulate the plant with my life magic. I've already planted a tree and am going to slowly be working on it for the time being.

Right now I mostly just want to make it last longer and then improve the effect itself, maybe also find a way to make it easier for others to grow and harvest it. The tree itself is a palm tree that has several large downfacing spines evenly placed around its trunk, each one being over a foot long on a fully grown tree.

I think this adaptation was used to defend against animals and the like that would climb the tree, but again I'm not the most knowledgeable about where the tree came from. I pause in my thoughts and look away from the Black Coal tree I planted next to my shack, glancing down at the seeds I'm still carrying with me.

These three large red seeds were the most confusing thing I've bought that day, by far. They are around a third the size of my hoof and are covered in wrinkles. Their crimson-red color stands out heavily and at this point, I've taken to stowing them in a box made from Golden Oak wood for their safety.

I've been dumping life magic into them very slowly, and I'm going slow because I nearly killed a seed by accident when I was too aggressive while first adding life magic to the seed. The magical flows inside of the seed are incredibly delicate, to a degree I have never seen in any other plant before.

The flows are also very simple, which makes me think they are so delicate because their life magic is so simple it can be disrupted easily. That's not the truly odd part though, their life magic flows are changing. When I first added some life magic I nearly killed a seed because when dumping the life magic in I overloaded the very simple flows of life magic, they seemed to be degraded and looked to be unwinding at the time.

Normally this is never a problem as the plants I work with handle the strain with no problem. Even normal plants can handle hundreds of times the life magic they have dumped into them, I've never even found a limit before. It was a complete shock to me to see the flows themselves seeming to unravel before my eyes, I was barely able to stabilize them with a large amount of effort.

The seeds were fine and after that, I tried to look into the seeds, but with only the seed's appearance, I didn't get very far and found nothing. After that, I took a far more measured approach and started by adding little bits of well-controlled life magic to the seeds, feeding them slowly.

I've also been keeping them in a Golden Oak wood box so that no stray life magic can damage them by accident. This is also where things got really odd, as I fed the seeds life magic slowly I had to wait a while each time so the magical flows of the seeds would stabilize again after being fed them again.

As this process repeated I expected the flows to get somewhat stronger and to absorb enough life magic to sprout and grow. Instead, the seeds started to grow their magical flows, increasing the amount of flows and their complexity. It makes no fucking sense to me.

The only time I've seen a plant change its magical flows is when the plant itself changes, but these are just seeds I'm feeding life magic and they are changing on their own. The good news is that this is very slowly making the magical flows more stable as they grow more complex, which lets me feed them more life magic more often.

The flows are still incredibly weak at the moment and I'm taking the time to document all the changes every day. I've also come up with a few theories as to what's going on, but it's all still really vague. My first theory is simple, the plant has the ability to adapt itself in some way, what form this takes or what it even is adapting to is completely unknown.

The seeds all have the same magical flows though, and they are all changing in the same way. I don't know if that means they are adapting to the same thing, or just recovering from the same thing. That's my second theory, the seeds put themselves into such a state of weakness.

The more complex the magical flows of a plant the more life magic it needs to stay alive, it's not a perfect or complete rule but it's a good rough rule to go by. If the seeds couldn't grow or gather enough life magic they might have basically broken down the more complex parts of their magical flows to go into a form of stasis.

Again these are both just theories and I've never even seen something like this before, so I'm just speculating at best. I put the box with the seeds in it back on a shelf in my shack and look at the time, I'm still early but I guess I can go now. Today I have a meeting with Celestia, and this time I'll be visiting the palace instead of her coming here.

She didn't say why we would be doing it this way, I think it's probably just work-related. I've heard her say she often has some free time but not enough that she can just leave the palace. I look through my saddlebags for a moment to check a few things and whistle out to Entropy.

I raise a brow as she doesn't come over. I can feel her presence by her life magic and I know she's sleeping in some shadow inside my shack. I have to focus for a moment to find the exact one and when I do I find she's sleeping in the shadow of my bed. "Hey Girl? Mind waking up?" I ask with a somewhat loud voice.

I nearly call out again but then I notice her form sitting in the shadow, awake but still quiet. I feel a bit concerned as she leaves the shadow, still silent. "You ok Girl?" I ask as I lay down with concern in my tone. She looks up at me and trills a bit before walking over. "Want to talk about it?" I can tell something is bothering her.

She looks fine but also seems to be thinking about something fairly hard. "I ok. Love you." She caws softly and moves over to sit on one of my forelegs as I lay on the wooden floor. "Worry." She admits and I raise a brow. "Always danger, I never help." She caws out in a low tone.

I go through my mind for a moment and think about the last week. I've caught her helping me with small things more often than normal recently, I thought she was just being nice. It seems she's been trying to help more because of something else though.

I smile widely and give her an understanding look. I've been in trouble many times and she's never really been involved, mostly because I don't want her to be. "Entropy, you've helped more than you can imagine." I comfort her with a firm but caring tone.

She looks up, almost confused by my statement. "I think, if it was just me going through all this, I would have broken at some point." I am honest and maybe a little too blunt. "You do something far more important than protecting me or helping me move places. You make me happy." I pull her closer to my chest and hug her a little.

She slowly wraps her wings around me and I keep my smile, while she bobs her head as we pull back. "Promise?" I nod firmly and she chirps a bit. She jumps on my back and whatever she was dealing with seemed to have faded a little. "No more sad, not help. Go see fire friends?" She seems to try and push her worries to the side and move past the topic.

I could insist on her talking about it, but I would be a pretty big hypocrite if I did that. I can't count the number of times I've pushed my emotions to the side and just moved past them. I nod slowly and give her a caring stare, "If that's what you want. We can stay and talk as well? Up to you." I make the offer but don't pressure her.

She shakes her head after a few moments. "No, don't want to sad. Fire friends make happy. I make happy." She insists on the last part and I can't help but smile more at her. "Good, work already." She says with a more upbeat tone. I chuckle a little at that.

"Ok, let's go see our friends. But, if or when you want to talk. Please do." I say with pleading eyes. I can't have my friend feeling like this, not if I can help it. I can also understand where she is coming from, at least to a degree. Beyond travel she doesn't really help me with anything, I should find something for her to do that could let her feel involved.

She bobs her head more enthusiastically and we both vanish a second later. I see her activate her illusion as we reappear inside the mailroom at the palace. I choose to ignore the box of letters left in the room for now, I'll come back for them later, I don't feel like reading fan mail right now.

I still get a good amount of fan mail every two weeks delivered to me by either Entropy or Philomena. I've collected a few hundred over time and stored them as they are actually kind letters, the rest are decomposed. Although not as many Ponies send me mail anymore.

Over the years it's lessened as I rarely if ever respond and it's well known that Veil Winter is basically a recluse. I walk out into the hallway and find no guard waiting for me, which is fine as I'm early. I just started walking through the hallways on a familiar path I remember.

With my visits and efforts, I can somewhat find my way around the palace now, although the only reason I know where to go right now is because I can sense Celestia's location. She's in her office and it seems Cadance is also with her at the moment. I do get a few stares from the staff but nopony stops or questions me as I walk around, in fact several smile at me and talk quietly to others when I pass by.

The rumor mill is truly the only thing that will outlast every society to ever exist. As I near her office I nod to the two guards outside the room and they nod back, letting me move to the door and knock. "Come in?" I hear Celestia's voice sound out, sounding a tad bit confused.

I open the door and walk in quickly, closing it behind me before turning to the two surprised mares. Cadance is on the large couch and Celestia is behind her desk like she often is, looking over some documents with her glasses on. "Hey, sorry I came a bit early, I can sit in a corner until I'm needed." I offer in greeting.

They both give me large smiles and Celestia giggles a bit, but I can tell it's muted and her heart isn't really in it. "Hello Shade, thank you for coming. I just need to go through a few more forms. I'm sure Cadance can entertain you until then." She jokes back, but again there is something lacking in her tone.

Entropy takes the moment to fly up with a happy chirp to sit next to Philomena on her perch. Cadance nods to me in greeting, "Well now, coming early just to spend more time here." She starts teasing me like normal and I can tell she's also trying to keep the mood light for Celestia.

I roll my eyes and decide to sit on the floor, finding the carpet to be just as comfortable as always. "Shhhhh." She gives me a challenging look. I just smile back, "I'm in a good mood, I don't need you making me all embarrassed. I got to mess around with some new plants and I'm too happy for it today." I make a slight joke of it but I am also serious.

She raises a brow and actually nods, which causes me to look a little confused. "Hey, you are fun to tease, but your work is too important to ruin. So what madness are you working on this time? A plant to cure every sickness?" She questions, sounding genuinely curious about it.

I'm pleasantly surprised she agreed, but I know her well enough to tell that she will just be more blunt and opportunistic with her teasing. "Wow, never thought I'd see the day you showed some restraint." I jab back. "No? I guess. I just started on a plant, but I'm also looking into Metal Manipulation spells." I reveal while leaving out a few other projects as those aren't for the public.

She tilts her head and thinks about that. "Truly riveting detail. Better metal working spells? Seems good, metal prices already took a small hit with that heat spell so bringing them down more wouldn't be bad. As long as we can get the blacksmiths guilds to sit down and not complain, or ignore them." She shares her own knowledge and I nod having expected something like that. "So, what are you actually working on?" She asks in a knowing tone.

I think for a moment and smile before quickly casting a spell on myself, and a second later she blinks and looks around the room, failing to find my now invisible form. I cancel the spell and she whistles a little, "Invisibility spell, I'll have to watch out for that. I'm just going to guess it's one you made and it's a massive improvement over other Invisibility spells?" She again uses a knowing tone.

I feel a bit bashful at the expectation but nod slowly, causing her to laugh. "I did get the runes from Celestia, so it's not all my work." She gives me a very unconvinced look. "Anyway, what have you been working on? More diplomacy? I hope so because I don't want to be doing more paperwork than you." She raises a brow. "Hospital paperwork, half as annoying and twice as bloody." I let some of my more dark humor out for a moment.

She shakes her head and scrunches her muzzle. "UGH, bad image." I chuckle at her reaction. "Yes, I am. A few smaller Griffons city-states to be exact, are going well enough and we should once again see more trade. Courtesy of a stallion who can't seem to stop working." She glares at me a little. "So what's apprenticing like? And no, don't give me details."

I laugh again at that and glance over to see Entropy preening Philomena while Celestia continues her work and silently listens to us with a small smile. "Not bad. It's mostly easy things for now and learning a lot of things I missed. I'm also making a list of healing spells to improve sometime in the future, that's a while out though."

She nods and pauses for a moment as there is a small chiming noise. "Well, that's my reminder that I have a meeting with a Griffon ambassador, and an annoying one at that. Take care of her, and make her smile." She says to me with a large smirk as she quickly stands up and happily walks out of the room, leaving me blushing a little.

I shake my head and turn to see Celestia smile a little larger, probably enjoying me being a bit embarrassed. I sit in silence for a few moments and move to the couch. After a minute Entropy flies down to me, "Can I go home?" I smile at the proper use of a full sentence, even if it's a simple one, along with her improved mood.

I shrug. "Sure, you want to get some toys huh?" She nods and I think for a second. "How about you both just go there?" She tilts her head. "I'll ask Celestia to take me home, you two can go play." I glance over to Celestia and she nods while not looking over from her paperwork. "Thank you. Now off you go." I thank Celestia and turn back to Entropy with a smile.

She caws happily and flies up to Philomena for a moment before vanishing, Philomena following her a few seconds later. After they leave I look over to a few of the shelves in the office, mostly containing books. I spot my little spinning planet along with its stand on a shelf. I reach out with my space magic and bring over a book that looks interesting before opening it.

As I read I settle into the comfortable silence, listening to the scratching quill on paper as Celestia works and the distant sounds of the palace and its staff. It stretches on more and more as we both get lost in what we are doing, occasionally glancing at the other as if to make sure we are still here.

Eventually, she takes off her glasses and looks up at me, me looking back as she smiles softly. "I don't think I've ever told you what I first thought of you when we originally met." I find the topic choice interesting but nod as while I've told her my thoughts on her she hasn't yet shared hers.

She places her glasses in a case and looks at the blank wall behind me for a second. "I thought it was so odd that you were so mature, I also thought that you made no sense. A random little Colt that could get fame and fortune with no effort, and that's with just your life affinity. And yet you chose... This." she motions to me. "Why?"

I think we've talked about similar things before, but it's clear she's in an odd mood so I just answer after a little time thinking. "Fear. I always wanted to help, anypony really, but fear held me back. So I picked a quiet little job, something nopony really pays attention to, a librarian." I am completely honest, but leave things out.

She can tell I am leaving things out, but she doesn't question or interrupt me. "I'm not sure when the idea of helping while unseen came to mind, but I liked it. It was a good compromise with myself and something I could actually achieve. Finding out how to do that was proving hard at the time though. So I started out small, a gift to the mare who kept everything running." I smiled slightly at the memory of my life at the time.

She smiles more and nods. "I can't say there is no logic to it. I can say it wasn't looking to be a very long-term secret, well as long as you did it alone that is." I nod as she is right that things would be widely different if I never got into contact with her. "Is that how you saw me? A ruler who kept things together?"

I can't quite place her tone but I let that question roll around my head a bit. "Maybe? At least somewhat, and I still do to a degree. But I also saw you as the Pony who knows better, one who could deal with more than just an emergency, but also a crisis." If things really went down she is beyond a doubt the best bet until Luna and the main six are a thing. "Things are never so simple though, and I know you are far from all-powerful," I add as I don't want to sound like I think that now.

Back then I do think I still had her on some form of pedestal, maybe from the show or maybe from living with Ponies for so long, I don't know. Now though I am more than aware she is just a mare and a Pony like the rest of us. She keeps her smile and stays silent for a second, before standing and turning to look out of the large round glass window.

The silence lasts nearly a minute but I don't break it, I give her all the time she needs. "I- ... I miss my sister." The statement has a weight to it I can't put into words, a weight I myself can't really imagine. "Do you think she would ever forgive me? Why always that question?" The words are almost a whisper and sound so... Something.

Unlike the last time she asked me this time she seems less emotional, or at least more composed for now. "In the end, when... All that happened, did you still see her as her? Was she still your, sister?" I ask gently, trying not to upset her but knowing that it shouldn't really be avoided.

She looks out the window, looking over the snow-covered gardens with a face that seems almost numb, before letting out a few stray tears and taking a deep shuddering breath to calm herself. "Yes. Even then, I- I still saw my little sister in..." She stops abruptly and takes several deep breaths.

I give her a minute to calm down, letting her breathing grow more steady before speaking. "Then yes, I think she would. I don't know much about family, but I hear all the... Pain, in your voice. And I think she would too." I try to share some reasoning, but this is far from anything I really know. "I think on that day, the world might just be very kind," I say as more of a hope than anything else.

She takes another deep breath, wiping her face with her foreleg and despite it all still wearing a small smile. "What makes you so willing to help this old mare?" She chuckles dryly without any real humor, I don't answer as she doesn't seem to need one. "Why is the world like this? What's the point?" She mumbles more to herself than me.

I shrug as she turns back and sits at her desk again, looking tired and drained. "I like to think there is no reason at all." I am honest and she looks up from her desk confused. "If there is an answer to that question, it means that the answer is no longer ours to make. I'd much rather find my own answer, or just live without one at all." I am more philosophical to try and distract her, obviously trying to move away from the previous topic.

She looks thoughtful at that and again chuckles, this time it sounds more real but just as tired. "I can always count on you to have the most interesting answers. Why did you start being philosophical with me? I know you like it but why did you start?" She asks and I'm glad to move us away from the topic as well.

I smile brightly. "It makes you happy." I am blunt. Sure I enjoy it as well, but not as much as she does. She blinks and looks a little taken aback. "I can't know all of your life, but it seems a bit lonely. And sometimes all a lowly Pony needs is just somepony to show a little interest in what they like. You make so many lives brighter, I might as well try and do the same for you."

That earns me a larger smile, the mood still low but not as depressing as before. "Because that's who you are in the end. That's all it really takes for you to help another." She adds and looks, simply grateful. "Thank you, for making it all just a bit, brighter." She says with a heavy and genuine tone.

I don't really know what to say to that, so I nod and let things fall back into silence. "Tell me about something, please?" I raise a brow at her request. "Anything, I need... Something, I don't want to think about this right now, I don't want things so, silent." She asks almost pleadingly while her ears pin back.

I nod and don't hesitate. "Well, I can make you worried over my health if that's a good distraction?" Her ears jump up but my tone is light and she just looks more focused. "I took a small two-day trip to Rain River city, if you've heard of it. It's a lovely place, even in the winter." I start to talk just to keep her mind off of the obvious.

She huffs and lets out an actually amused chuckle. "Yes, I think that will work. And yes I know of it, I even visited a rare few occasions. What trouble did you get in now? And if I hear about you not telling a guard when you should have, I will ground you here." She seems serious but I can't bring myself to mind when it's distracting her.

I shrug. "Maybe? It sort of resolved itself?" I scratch my neck and take out my sketchbook so she can look over my new drawings. "Entropy got me there, and on the second day, I went shopping. And then the Pony running the shop pulled a blunt knife on me, like no edge to the blade at all." She raises a brow and I shrug. "No idea honestly. Maybe enchanted? I saw gems on it though."

"He was sleeping when I walked in and woke up before noticing me, I think he used something to detect me as he didn't see me. Anyway, he pointed his knife at me and demanded to know who I was and who I worked for." I continue and she grows more confused. "After taking the dagger away and calming him down he was apologetic and even offered a discount. Apparently, he had bad dreams and reacted badly. I just got out after that." I show a look that is just as confused as her.

She looks off for a moment and sighs. "That is odd... Did he explain anything else?" I shake my head. "I'll ask more later, but maybe somepony should check on him." She says with worry. I think she's focusing on this to cover up her own thoughts. "On a related topic, Rain River is very far away. How many teleports did it take Entropy? I assume you have stopping points along the way?" She changes the subject quickly.

I shake my head. "One actually, a straight shot there in a second flat." Celestia looks shocked and I smile. "The distance is still increasing as well, maybe I'll be able to make day trips to the Dragon Lands in a few years? It would be nice to buy large gems." I add as a way to further distract her.

She looks down at the sketchbook as I pass it over to her, flipping through the pages slowly. "Considering her age that is beyond impressive, she might even have you beat on this one." She jokes a bit and I chuckle. She looks over a few of the drawings with tired eyes. "Tell me about it."

I tilt my head and ears a little to the side, as she once again seems to shift to a dim mood once again. "Your trip. All the little details, all the little things. The food, the weather. I just want to hear about it, would you?" She asks, sounding interested and even a little excited, but all of it is overshadowed by the tired sadness.

I smile back and give her a reassuring look. "Of course."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

So, first. I thought that Entropy could use some slight character development, just small things really. Any idea for something the birb could help with to feel helpful?

Next. Sad Celestia is interesting Celestia. I wanted to show her sad, and more open with Shade. Not just open when she's at her lowest, but also when they are simply meeting, I don't think I'll do it too much though. Sad Celestia must be used responsibly after all.

And finally. 300, just wow. I have no words, but I might later. I will say it's been a silly and fun ride, thank you all for joining me on it so far.

Chapter 301

OCT 31 Wednesday.

I sip my tea slowly and try to unwind from the morning shift at the hospital. My mind is occupied by worry for my friend and how she's doing at the moment.

After spending time with Celestia a little more than a week ago we haven't spoken, but yesterday she sent me a letter. I was worried as she normally contacts me to meet before or on Nightmare Night however I only got this letter a day before the holiday. I look down and once again read through the letter I have read several times by this point.

Dear Shade.

I'm sorry for not contacting you recently, I've felt rather... Uninterested in talking to one another since our last meeting. Nothing against you or any other Pony, I just feel the need for some privacy. I'll probably be spending Nightmare Night at Gaia's Eden, and I have a bit of a request for you.

To explain, I normally always avoided the castle this time of year, going only on rare occasions. I am beyond grateful you have gotten me to go more often, but this year I simply don't have it in me. I don't want to go there, but I would like to be close.

This is why I wish to ask if you would be willing to let me have a private day at Gaia's Eden? To let me be alone on this night? I just feel that I need some time to myself, and that I would like to be somewhere familiar that feels like home, and there is only one place that fits.

I know it might be a big favor, more so because I know you would be tempted to show up anyway and try to comfort me. But I believe I need this time to myself. I know it is short notice, but please write back with an answer when you can. And I will see you as soon as I can after Nightmare Night.

Signed your friend, Celestia Solis.

It lacks a lot of detail and she's right in saying I'd like to be there to try and help her on this night. To give some comfort as a friend when she's at her lowest. All the same, though I sent back a letter saying she was more than welcome to use Gaia's Eden for as long as she needs and I'd leave her alone for the night until she is ready to talk.

I don't know what has changed from the years before, maybe it's stress over the war, or her thinking she's putting too much of her worries on me, but it's fine all the same. She spent nearly a thousand years holding this grief and as much as I don't like not being there I know she will be fine all the same.

It does leave me in a bit of a pickle though as I don't really have anything to do tonight. The sun will set and after that, it will just be me alone with Entropy. I could ask what my friends are doing? But I don't have any form of costume and I think they are already out and about for their own plans.

I sigh and fold the letter up before walking over to my workroom and placing it in a box I use for letters from Celestia and Cadance. "I guess it's just us tonight Girl," I say as Entropy nods slowly. She also read the letter, or at least as much as she could, and asked me to read to her the rest.

She caws softly while riding my back. "Friend sad, make better, later." I nod silently in agreement. I had to explain that Celestia wanted to be left alone, and while Entropy looked like she also wanted to go to Gaia's Eden and help, she relented and settled for a determined promise to help later.

I'm a little proud she's able to care for others as she does and respect boundaries, or at least respect them with some guidance. On that topic, I've been trying to find something for Entropy to do that isn't a skill or a hobby, and in the meantime, I've been letting her help me with small tasks, mostly just asking her to grab things I need. Anyway, I've narrowed it down to a few things.

There are many chores I do that she could help with but she lacks something important, the simple ability to move things in a precise manner. Her talons work but for a lot of things, they could mess things up and otherwise not be maneuverable enough for a task.

So instead of not considering these things I've been thinking about trying to see if we can find a way for her to manipulate objects on her own, and maybe also expand her abilities to defend herself. She doesn't have anything like my field and if she does have space magic it's going to take a very long time before she gets enough skill to use it like I do.

Her use of teleportation seems instinctual and training it to hold things would most likely take a long time and a lot of effort on her part, years worth actually. But after some thought, I think her shadows might be a better place to start, even if picking something up with a shadow seems like an odd choice.

Magic is in large part about Will though, and with enough magic and Will, it should be possible to do anything with any ability. And after some more thought, I might be able to even add something of a mental crutch for her to base a new ability to manipulate her shadow magic.

Visualizing something can be very hard and she's still very young, but controlling something that is already there is much more simple. She already knows how to move shadow magic out of her body, but forming that into anything can be a very hard thing to grasp, so I have an idea to aid us.

I pick Entropy up and give her a smile, "We will, but for now I have something I think should be a nice distraction for us." I hold her and move her along with me back into the main room, setting her down on a clear spot on the floor and sitting with her.

I reach into her toy box and bring out an old toy she has, a simple wooden ball, not even a magical one. I move it over to us and place it down in between us as she watches curiously. "You control shadows, yes?" I started to try and lay the groundwork for a good way she could think about doing this.

She bobs her head. "And you remember how I explained you have shadow magic?" She bobs again. "Good. Now, what do you think all that black mist on your body is?" I want and probably need her to think about this and draw the conclusion herself, it should help with forming the connection in her mind.

She tilts her head and brings one of her wings in front of her, looking down at it in thought. She brings out one of her legs and runs her talons over the feather spines and mass of shadow mist. "Shadow?..." I stay silent and she looks down again. "Shadow magic?" I smile and nod, to which she chirps happily.

"Yes, it is. Your body gives off small amounts of it." That is only a theory in truth, I have no idea if that is actually shadow magic. I can't think of much else it would be and I don't think it necessarily needs to be true for this to work. "So, if you control shadows, can you control that mist?" I leave the question open-ended.

She again looks down at her wing and looks closer at it. "Don't know." She states simply and I nod in thought. "We find out?" She questions as she seems to realize what I'm getting at. "Can do?" Her tail starts to wag as she seems excited by the idea and looks up at me.

I shrug. "I can't see why not." I can in truth think of a reason or two that might make it hard or impossible, but she doesn't need to know that. "So how about we try?" She caws excitedly and looks up for instruction. "Try something small, focus on the mist around your wing, and pull some off to the side." I try to think about how I would do this and this seems like the first logical test.

Honestly, I'm surprised I never thought about this before, it seems obvious in hindsight, but we got there in the end. She again looks at her wing and waves it around a little, watching as the slowly sweeping mist falls from her wing to the floor only to disappear entirely a moment later.

I can't tell if her eyes are open but I wait patiently as she stops moving her wing and focuses. And to my surprise, it only takes a few seconds for something to happen. The mist falling from her wing starts to pull to the left as it falls, with no wind or other cause being visible.

It's only really shifting to the side, but after a few moments, it starts moving left horizontally and not even touching the ground before disappearing. "Girl!" I say excitedly as my slight shock wears off. I assume she opens her eyes and sees the shadow mist moving before it abruptly stops happening. "You did it!" I celebrate and pick her up for a quick hug.

Positive reinforcement is another way to help ingrain this new ability into her memory so I celebrate maybe a little more than needed. "YES! Victory!" I chuckle at her words as she hugs me back. I hold her for a moment before placing her back down on the floor. "Proud?" She asks with a hopeful tone.

I smile widely. "Beyond proud, I'm absolutely amazed." Which is not untrue as I expected this to take a lot longer than it did. I think this ability is ingrained and natural to her kind, we just never had the idea so it didn't come up. It's something another older member of her race would probably teach her when she was much younger. "Do you feel tired? Did that feel like it took a lot of magic?" I ask curiously and activate my illusionary notebook to take notes.

She hops around one of her feet in a little circle, celebrating and basking in the praise. It takes her a few moments to calm down enough to tilt her head and give me an answer. "No? Very little." She says and it's not too much of a surprise, she already has a lot of practice with shadow magic from her shadow walking and this seems much more simple.

I smile even more at her adorable display and make a note of her answer. "You want to keep trying?" She caws enthusiastically. "Ok, let's try something else. Move the shadows like before, but try to move them to a single spot." I think more for a moment and make a small dot on the floor with my quill from my saddlebags. "Try to direct it here."

She looks at the dot on the floor and nods before once again going silent. This time she takes longer and I think she's just too excited to concentrate as much. Eventually, she looks to the spot and stares at it hard before the mist on her wing starts to move over slowly.

It's not as fast as before and it seems keeping her eyes open makes it harder to concentrate on it. However, the longer she concentrates on it the faster it goes as the mist moves with an invisible force. Gathering at the dot, forming a small vortex as the shadow mist moves over to it before disappearing as it arrives and vanishing entirely.

I make another note and speak quietly as she concentrates. "Now imagine the Shadows staying there, not disappearing but gathering around the dot," I add and the only indication she hears me is a small soft chirp. There are a few seconds of inaction but then the wisps of shadow start to stay longer than they were before.

The wisps start to stay longer and longer gathering at the spot. It takes a minute for the shadows to form a misty half-sphere around the dot on the floor. After they form together I move out a hoof and touch it. It feels cold, but I can't feel anything beyond that and my hoof moves right through it.

Entropy stops moving the mist and looks up at me questioningly. "Why hoof?" She asks and I stay silent continuing to watch, she looks down and notices it as well. Despite her cutting off her mist and not giving more to the half ball, it stays in that form for nearly thirty seconds before fading away rapidly.

I keep my wide smile as several ideas rapidly run through my head. It seems she can have shadows move and condense, on top of making them last a while without her direct control. At this point, I am beyond impressed with her ability, but I can also see we need a lot of work for this to be truly usable.

I think it should be possible for her to harden her shadow mist, if she can move and condense it that also seems likely. And if she can make them solid then there is no limit to the possibilities, but there is also no need to rush things. "Did that take more magic?" I ask while making more notes and theories.

She nods. "Yes. Not much, still small." She explains simply and I write that down. "Make more?" She asks back and looks at the dot, clear excitement in her tone. It seems she's taken that from me, the endless grind has taken another generation for itself.

I pet and scratch her. "As much as you like, just don't try anything new without me ok?" I ask with a more firm tone. She may be able to take care of herself, but this is untested magic and she's still a child, I can't just leave her completely unsupervised. She can at least practice the basic things we did though, it is very unlikely for anything to happen, let alone something bad.

She nods quickly. "Promise! Training time!" :Yup seems she definitely picked a few things up from me:

POV shift Cadance.

I sigh sadly as I look over the simple note Aunty left for me this morning.

Dear Niece. I'll be back tomorrow morning, please take care of things for today.

It is simple but not much else really needs to be said about it. She always gets like this today and I'm just glad she's not in her room crying, something I have seen a few times no matter how sneaky she thinks she's being. At least she has somewhere to go and not be bothered, and it looks like I have extra work today, not that I mind helping Aunty a bit.

I look over the large desk and the equally large amount of paperwork I'll have to work through today, it's not too bad at least. Most of these seem like large documents, time-consuming but less urgent. I settle in on the couch in the office as I think about the low mood of today.

I don't mean to drag Aunty down, but her mood can be a bit distracting when it's as low as it is, and I even feel bad about how she looks when I see her. The week before and after she always looks tired and sometimes she just looks blank, those days make me feel a little helpless that I can't do more for her.

I'm not alone in my efforts anymore and I can count on Shade to help her when I can't. They really have gotten close, Aunty told me a few parts of their last talk together and I can read through the lines. They seemed to have talked about some sensitive things, things Aunty doesn't talk about much with me.

I think she just wants to protect me from it all, or not burden me with anything. It's frustratingly kind of her and I can't help but want to just make her be quiet and hug her for a few days. In the end, though, the best thing I can do is what I'm doing now, doing the work to let her have some space.

I still remember that before I came along when I was still younger and freshly ascended, she normally had a song and dance she would repeat this time of year. She often focused on her work and spent time in solitude in the small moments of free time she had, not the best but far from the worst reaction to the situation.

In the end, I got involved and insisted on taking more of her work so she wouldn't have to deal with it as much and could just do anything else. It let her just go off and cry in peace, not a great situation but much better than working through it all and holding it in until the small moments she could let it out.

I look over the documents and pick up a quill, ready and able to work through this all. "I swear to magic, you better take care of her Shade," I mumble out in worry and settle in for a long day.

time skip POV shift Celestia.

I drop another small berry into the warm water of the pond, the colorful and dull fish alike coming up to nibble and eat away at it.

I watch them in the darkness as my magical light hangs above my head. The dim moon shines faintly through a thick cloud layer as the night is silent around me. I remember the simple letter I got from Shade yesterday, an acknowledgment that Gaia's Eden was mine and mine alone for as long as I needed it.

He's always so kind, even when I am imposing on him and his space, he gives it up without a fight and gives me all the room and time I need. Where would I be without him? Without my friend? I don't know, but I feel things would be so much, darker.

His words at our last meeting ring true and in this cold and gloomy night, I am ever more thankful for having such a friend. A friend who sees my pain, something even my little Niece doesn't see fully, and yet I can't seem to hide it from him. Every time I am feeling low he seems to notice and starts doing all those little things to make me smile again.

From letting me speak on the most random topics to engaging with all the things I like, he even tries his best to distract me with anything he can. All to be kind, to try and make some light in an old life that rarely seems to find such light. I will miss him.

I quickly shake my head hard to get away from that thought, the very ideas plummeting my mood much lower. I am no fool, I know all too well how my Ponies fade with time, and the thought of Shade just being, gone? It scares me a lot more than it should. Even there he brings some hope and light.

Practitioners of life magic often live much longer, one I knew fairly well lived to be almost two hundred years old. And they all started at much later ages than Shade, he's been practicing and pushing his limit every day for more than a third of his life so far, and he's already making such great progress.

Then there is the simple fact of ascension. To help so many in so much, it's a real possibility he could ascend, but I have seen others who looked like they may ascend only to never reach such a point. I take a deep breath and move that entire thought process to the side, choosing to ignore it internally before I shed even more tears than I already am.

I feel the wet streaks on my face and watch them fall into the pond below, causing small ripples across the still surface. I would question what he would do if he saw me now, but I know what he would do. He would sit, listen and hug me when he thought it best, but I don't want that today.

He's seen me like this for a few years and I think this time he doesn't need to see it. Maybe that is selfish, but I will accept being selfish for today, and I know he would forgive it in a heartbeat. I slowly stand up, shaking the snow that has landed on me off as I start a slow and tired stride to my home.

All day, hours upon hours, I thought and I remembered, and above all else, I cried. Even now I can barely keep myself together with silent tears, holding in the worst of it only after letting it out for the entire day. The reason for my tears isn't always the same, the thoughts that bring them forth are always different.

Sometimes it is nothing but the guilt, sometimes nothing but the numbness, and worst of all is that little bit of anger. Anger at myself and at the situation, and yet I can't bring myself to be the least bit angry with her. She wasn't the fool who couldn't see her sister's pain, and worse still didn't do anything when she did see it.

That's the worst thing of all, isn't it? The what if, the regret of what could have been if I... No, I know better than to think like that. Things were not so simple and I didn't know, I didn't listen as I should have. I am a different Pony now, and I take what comfort I can from that.

"Is pain worth the good that comes from it, from learning to be better or more?" I say to myself as I near my little home. I find myself pausing a little as if waiting for an answer, but none comes, as I am alone. I walk up the few steps and open the door to the well-furnished and taken-care-of home.

I look around the dark room and feel my magic shift as a spell flashes in my mind for a moment, the room filling with several dozen soft balls of light, each a different color. I find my eyes drawn to the simple yet beautiful wooden piano sitting in one corner next to the largest windows of my home.

I stride over and while I can't bring myself to smile I feel a slight warmth in my chest. I told him I liked piano once, only once. And in the years between that time and all that's happened until now, he remembered that little off-topic question along with my answer.

I look over my work and open the top of the piano, tracing a hoof over the carvings I have been working on. A large carving of a full crescent moon in as much detail as my skill allows, along with equally large carvings of plants. Many types all grow in random directions and styles, with no pattern or reason to them.

I sit at the front and open the cover revealing the keys, stopping for a moment as something I'm forgetting ticks in my mind. I think for a moment before bringing out a very weathered book from under my wing, its pages stained with age. A book I was gifted so long ago by the only family I have left.

One of the few things I've kept all this time, and one I will always cherish. A little book where my little sister made notes to help me learn the piano when she saw I was struggling. I feel more tears well up in my eyes and fall from my face, but I don't allow them to stain the pages for fear it would damage them.

I flip through it and find a song, a song made by me and her, something I've always felt too ashamed to look at. A distant memory that I felt would be tainted if I brought it back into my life. But no more, I have the strength now, even if I cry. It's time for this old memory to live again.

I place the open book in view, reach out with my magic to the keys, and start to play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5phpqpv52gg

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

Going to the castle again felt a little too similar to the last chapter, and I wanted to try something new. I thought it would make sense for some years to be harder than others, and for it to not always be consistent.

As for Entropy? Well, shadow magic seemed obvious and a few of you even pointed it out as I was writing about it in the chapter, thank for for the ideas by the way. I only have two things to say about it really, Shadow Tentacles, and Shadow Blades.

And finally, while I sadly didn't have time to respond to you all I thought I'd thank each and every one of you for the love on 300 chapters. It's truly heartwarming to see, now please stop. My heart is already running at 153F and I don't think I can take any more kindness.

Chapter 302

NOV 8 Thursday.

I slowly turn the Diamond Dog's shoulder as I inspect it. He came in a few minutes ago with a dislocated shoulder and while that's something a doctor could normally do they were sent to me.

It's nothing complex or even that concerning, I can fix it with two spells in a few moments. However, this is my first time working on a Diamond Dog so I've been taking my time to make sure I don't mess anything up. "Well it looks to just be dislocated, I can move it back into place and heal it easily enough." I offer the male Diamond Dog as he watches me with curious eyes.

I have noticed that he's been rather focused on me since he came in, and as he opens his muzzle to speak I find out why. "Thank you respected healer." The tone has much more respect than I expected and I nearly raise a brow before controlling my reaction.

I remember something about healers in Diamond Dog culture but I can't remember it off the top of my head so I just nod back awkwardly and get to work. I first move his arm into the best position I can for this and cast a spell instantly, there is a small popping sound and a yip of pain from the Diamond Dog as his shoulder quickly moves back into place.

I think it's a little overkill to have a spell to relocate limb joints, but it seems to do the job well and I think it also helps prevent more damage if I remember the spell matrix correctly. I cast another spell to heal any remaining damage to the flesh and also cast a spell to scan his bones and make sure nothing is chipped or broken.

He seems fine and I nod before attaching the scan to a clipboard I've taken to carrying around with me as I work. He gives me a thankful look and a rather deep nod, I just nod back. "No pain then?" He shakes his head and I make it down before motioning to a nurse that's waiting off to the side. "Have a good day then." I give them a simple goodbye and start moving to check on Master Healer Clear Water.

She's resting at the moment as we had a few more extreme cases come in earlier and she went through a lot of her magic, to the point where I actually ended up helping with a lot of the smaller spells so she could focus her efforts on big ones. As I walk over I sort the papers on my clipboard and she watches me with focused eyes, something I ignore as she does it often.

I pass off the scan so she can look over my work and sit down on the small bench with her so I can rest as well. My body feels fine but mentally doing all of this can all take a toll on you. She reads through the paper quickly, "You move like a guard. Who trained you?" She asks abruptly and I turn to her maybe a little too quickly.

Questions between us often go like this, they are sudden and very blunt most of the time. I think for a moment about lying but Stone is a private trainer and I can't see too much of a reason to hide that. It would just make me more suspicious in the long run. "I've trained with an old guard for a while, mostly to defend myself if needed. It helps stay in shape too." I am casual about it and avoid going into detail.

She nods and looks over my body with critical eyes. "You sit up straight a lot, you are also very well built. The real thing that gives it away is the knees." I raise a brow as she starts explaining, which I do find a little interesting. "You bend them a little when walking, not really needed unless you are prepared to dodge something at all times." She reveals. "Not bad, it's good to know things like that in our line of work, some places you go can be far less friendly." She compliments me again.

She's not wrong, having them slightly bend even just a little helps move when needed. I nod, "That I already know, I've traveled around some, just a few places though. My trainer tends to throw a lot of things when I'm not looking, calls it situational awareness. I think they just enjoy doing it." I make a slight joke out of it, and even if she doesn't react all that much I see her face twitch a tiny bit.

"Good, they are a decent trainer if they keep you on the tip of your hooves." She reasons and looks over as another Pony is wheeled into the room. We both stand up and walk over, her casting a few Scanning spells and finding that the poor mare's hindleg has several bone breaks. "You're up." She says simply and walks back to her spot to rest more.

The mare is either out cold from the pain or something they gave her, I just calmly look over the scans Clear Water gave me as she walked back and got to work. Casting a Bone Alignment spell to get her leg bones in place and make sure to keep her leg as motionless as I can.

The spell works well enough but as a side effect, it moves the limb around as the bones are moved back into place, which means you need to keep the limb in question as still as you can. After a minute the spell is done and I cast a spell to heal the bones together and scan it again when it's done.

I nod to myself and walk back over to once again rest while I can, with Clear Water looking over the healed scan as I pass it off as I did many times before. "Good work, you're getting faster as well." She's not wrong, I'm getting faster at reading scans and making decisions on how to heal what and why. "Any questions?" She asks, knowing full well that I make notes throughout the day when I have the time.

I pass her the page on the clipboard I've used for today's notes and she looks it over quickly. "A few things, just small stuff though. I am trying to find a spell to help with a mare in heat, specifically cramps. I had one with a cracked hoof in earlier, and while it didn't interfere I don't want to find out what could happen later." I try not to blush and stay professional as I ask her this.

Being in heat can have several side effects and one of the more common ones is cramps, originating from several causes. I've been trying to find a spell to help with it as while a mare being in heat isn't a problem with my necklace It still makes working on other things harder.

If your patient is in pain and her muscles are reacting in different ways than normal then it makes a few things more messy, it's not a big problem but something I'd like to solve. Plus I'm a healer and anything I can do to help a patient is something I should do.

She doesn't look the least bit perturbed by the topic, like every other Pony except me. "I know of a few spells that might work, but most are used in foal birth rather than anything to prevent a heat reaction. Foal birth is something you'll need to do eventually anyway though, I'll mark them down and get them to you next week." She is as always very emotionless but accurate with her words.

I nod my thanks and make some more notes as we wait out the last of our time. Eventually, time is up for the day and no other patients are brought to us, it's been a thankfully slow day so it's not surprising. I stand up after checking the time, "I'll get the paperwork done, see you next week."

She nods back and motions for the clipboard full of the scans I made today and I pass it off to her. "Agreed. Make sure to learn what I left for you, there is also a book you need to read for the testing, be thorough." I again nod my thanks before making my way out of the patient ward and to her office.

Things have been calm the past week with the only exception being Celestia. After Nightmare Night I went to Gaia's Eden the next day to find a note thanking me and saying we'd meet up soon. And we did a few days later, she was still rather down and didn't seem to be up to talking about how the night went for her. I only asked if she was ok and left it at that, she doesn't need me digging into it so soon.

After that, it was mostly normal with us playing chess and talking to each other about random things. It was nice, even if I still felt some concern over her. In a more upbeat but annoying display, I woke up to something annoying today, Cadance finally pranked me back.

But would it ever be that simple? No. I got a rather ominous letter today asking how I'm doing and promising something would happen to me. So needless to say I've kept my eyes and ears open today, yet nothing seems to have happened so far. I sigh as I finish the last bit of paperwork and head to the staff room to recover my things and leave the hospital.

That only takes me a few minutes and after letting Entropy out of my shadow in a restroom we both take to the skies and start to fly home. As we fly, Entropy sings a happy tune, something she's been doing a lot more recently, it seems my efforts to help her feel better have been working for now.

Letting her help with small things was a bit of an improvement but it seems giving her something to work towards and on was the real change. "Go home, go practice, go home, go practice." She sings along to her own tune and I laugh fairly hard while we fly over the city.

She's spent a lot of her time working on her shadow magic, and she's showing some good improvement in just a week. At this point, all she's doing is moving her shadow mist to a single point and trying to condense it as much as possible, which should improve her control over the process quickly.

That really seems to be what she's lacking, her other training has given her deep reserves of magic but fine magical control is what's lacking here. At her current growth rate though it shouldn't take more than a few months for her to at least start moving objects, and that is more than fast enough considering what she's training.

I have noticed I've needed to stop her sometimes and force her to take breaks, even if she doesn't run out of magic she still needs rest, and funnily enough this is something she does with me as well. It seems we sometimes only stop when the other makes a fuss about it, not that I'm complaining.

I have also seen her practicing all on her own. I did give her permission to do just that, but she still seems to mostly do it around me. I asked and she said she knew magic was dangerous. Still, I've let her grow more confident in this ability as that seems important.

I am a little concerned as she's already bent the rules I gave her, even if just a little. When she practices on her own she's taken to forming a full ball of shadows in mid-air, in contrast, she forms it around a dot on the floor while around me. It's a small thing but I've decided against stopping her.

Magic is in a large part about Will and that includes confidence in using your magic, something I don't think she fully has when it comes to this ability. So as long as she only adapts the things she's learned and doesn't try completely new things without me I'll let her experiment a little with me watching from a distance, it's also only fair, this is her ability, not mine.

It also helps that we have done several tests and as far as I can tell there are no real dangers to her current training. The shadow magic doesn't have the concentration to do much of anything if it goes out of control as it seems to rapidly disperse when left on its own.

On that topic, I think shadow magic vanishes so quickly because there is light around. I couldn't really test it myself as I can't sense shadow magic or light magic, but when talking to Entropy after I had her move her shadow mist inside a dark room she said they lasted a little longer than normal.

She can sense shadows and shadow magic so I'm inclined to believe something about light makes shadow magic degrade faster, which makes an odd amount of sense. I don't think the shadow magic is just spreading around and disappearing though, I think some process is converting into other forms of magic. Most likely when it interacts with some other form of magic while not being controlled, things like light magic or solar magic.

I make a mental note to mark that theory down later as I land on my apartment buildings roof. Entropy lands on me as I descend the stairs and make my way to the right floor. I check the corners before moving past them but stop and focus more as I notice a Pony in the hallway on my floor.

It's Daisy and she smiles brightly while walking in the opposite direction. "Hey Shade, and you too, you lovely bird." She greets us happily and smiles even more as Entropy flies over and lands in front of her, happily receiving some scratches. "Yes, you are so lovely!" Daisy adds while pampering Entropy. "You just got back from the hospital?" She asks me as I stop to talk to her.

I nod. "Nice to see you too Daisy, and to see that you are still obsessed with Entropy." Those two have been hanging out at every game night since Entropy first let Daisy touch her. When Entropy is not with me you can be sure she's getting attention from Daisy. "Yes, my shift was a hectic one. But that's messy, what are you up to?" I ask back curiously as she has a rather full saddlebag with her.

She stands up fully and picks up Entropy in her magic before placing her onto my back. "A date, setting one up to be precise. Stone and I are going somewhere a little more fancy. You should probably be thinking about the same thing with that one mare." She teases me bluntly and at this point I'm able to keep my blush down, just barely though. "Are we still on for Hearth's Warming?"

This year Blaz is spending time with his grandfoals so we'll once again be short a friend, unlike the years before this though we decided on a different method to resolve this small problem. Turns out everypony was a little busy around the day itself so instead of having our get-together on a different day we are just separating the gifts.

We agreed to cobble together every gift Blaz would get early so he could take them with him and open them with his family, and Blaz would do the same for the gifts he got us. It's far from perfect but it's the best way we came up with this year and it works in the end.

I nod again. "Yup, I still need to do some shopping, I'm also thinking about making something bigger for Maple. Maybe a nice lamp? She needs more decorations, even after you helped her." I haven't been to Maple's home in a long time but I've heard Blaz describe it enough to know it's still very basic.

Daisy nods as well. "A lamp, simple but functional, and with how little light gets in some of those library bedrooms it would work well. Maybe also something like a cardholder? She has gotten into that hobby more?" She suggests and it sounds like a pretty good idea. "Anyway, have a good day Shade, I can't be late, now can I? And go on another date with that mare already!" She adds loudly as she walks past me and down the stairwell.

Entropy turns to me as I shake my head and ignore the blush I now have. "Go see big friend? Make happy?" I nearly glare at Entropy as my blush deepens a little more. I refocus my attention on my senses as I walk into my apartment and close the door behind me, only to stop half a second later before I can even turn around and look at the room.

I turn around slowly and look up as if to confirm what my magical senses are seeing, staring at my ceiling completely confused. Entropy does the same and stares at the scene for several long moments before voicing my thoughts perfectly. "Why? How?"

I sigh slowly as Cadance's letter flashes through my mind. "Revenge and announce, I would assume," I mumble out and continue to look at the spectacle. Sitting in my apartment is a fully set table, my plates, my forks, my knives, and even some clothes for placemats. Everything you would need to make it a nice dinner scene.

All on my table, and all currently hanging upside down from my FUCKING CEILING! It looks like somepony superglued it up there, that or fucking gravity flipped upside-down. She even put it in the exact same location my table is normally in, just the wrong magic damned surface.

She even used MY things to set the table, she apparently couldn't be fucked to get some herself. I look at the table and notice a piece of paper on the floor where my table normally is. I rub my muzzle and can't help but chuckle a little at the sight. "Well shit, she got me."

I can admit I didn't see this one coming, and honestly, I'm impressed by the creativeness of it, I can also admit when I've lost and I have on this one. How did she even get in? She might be able to teleport, or Celestia helped her, that second one would actually make a lot more sense considering Cadance has never been to my home.

I bring the piece of paper over and read it with some begrudging respect and curiosity.

TAAA DAAA! GOT YOU!

I thought about it a lot and this seemed ever so perfect. Now before I gloat I'll explain so you don't come after me later too hard and because I know you're curious. I cast three spells on everything, one to stick them up there for a few hours, another to make everything really durable in case it fell, and one to slow everything when it falls.

It should all just gently drift down without damage a few hours after you get home. Now with that said, HA!! Try eating now! That's for making SEVEN guards stop me to ask about something I couldn't see! And maybe don't try to eat here, I feel like you would make a spell to walk on the ceiling just to spite me. Either way, I'll be waiting for your revenge.

PS, yes Aunty helped me. She needed a distraction and a good prank fit all too well. Thanks for giving her space by the way, she's doing better and is smiling more, a few weeks and she'll be fine.

PSS, I like your home, I only saw the main room though. You should invite me over sometime, I demand a tour!

Signed the best prankster, Cadance.

I hold it in for a moment before starting to laugh at the letter and the prank. It's more of a mild annoyance having to put things away when it's over and not having my table for a while. I can appreciate a good prank, and this one was well thought out, she even used some safeguards surprisingly.

Entropy chirps out and sounds fairly annoyed. "No mess with food. Bad!" She grumbles out which just causes me to laugh even harder at the entire situation going on around me. It seems Entropy is a bit more annoyed than me. After a few minutes, I recover and feel a bit lighter, things have been rather gloomy recently, Cadance may have gotten me but she had good timing with it.

I shake my head and put the letter in my saddlebags before placing those to the side so I can relax fully. "We'll get her back, both of them. Later though, are you up for a late lunch? ... On the couch I guess?" I add once again realizing I don't have a usable table. "You know, a wall-walking spell might not be a bad idea?" I think out loud.

Entropy also shakes her head a bit. "Yes, food now, revenge later." I snort at the dramatic tone she uses and move over to my small kitchen to take stock of what we have. "Can I practice?" She asks as I start my work, I just nod and she flies off to the floor in front of the couch, laying on the edge of the carpet and staring at a small dot I left there for her to use.

I slowly take out a few fish fillets I bought a few days ago, they are still good and I wouldn't mind a good meal after today. I find healing Ponies to be very satisfying but also very tiring, talking to so many Ponies in pain or distress doesn't help either. I take the fish meat and start to heat a pan and add some oil to it.

I also grab my pot and fill it with water before placing it on a different heater to boil. I use my space magic and while dicing a few Red Roots I move around several herbs and seasoning, doing the work of three to four Ponies by myself. At this point, I'm up to moving twelve items at once with my space magic.

It makes cooking a breeze and also makes working with several tools while carving wood as easy as pie. I pause for a moment as a thought comes to mind, I don't think Entropy has ever really helped me cook that much. I glance over and see her concentrating, forming a half-sphere of shadows on the floor.

At the moment her little balls of shadow mist are only around two inches wide and are still fairly transparent, but they have been getting a little darker with training. I add that thought to my mental list as cooking is another thing she could help with and a skill I think she'd enjoy, although, like many other things, it would be hard for her to learn with just her talons.

I keep cooking and after a while, I have a simple but enjoyable meal ready. Mashed Red Root with garlic and pan-fried fish with a blend of several seasonings that I've collected over time. My spice rack is honestly pretty impressive by this point and it takes up two cabinets by itself.

A lot of them I have the actual plant growing in my herb garden at Gaia's Eden, but many more I have no way to grow them or even seek them out. One of my newer favorites is a plant I picked up in the Dragon Lands, Burn Weed, and coming from a land inhabited by massive fire-breathing lizards, that name is very accurate.

It's a small rough shrub that seems to like a hot climate and sandy soil, it is also the spiciest thing I have ever had. It burns like a two-week sunburn that is giving you blisters, it is a fucking nightmare and I can barely smell it without feeling my nose burn for half an hour. I love it.

In the end, I just diluted the spice in some water to make a hot sauce to not always burn myself every time I use it. I'm normally not one for extreme spice but once diluted it has a very interesting smoked flavor that goes well with a lot of meats. I still find my first time cooking with it to be a rather funny and fond memory.

I made a basic meal with it but didn't know how powerful it actually was, I burned the hell out of myself and just ended up chugging milk for fifteen minutes. Entropy had a very different reaction. Turns out that like a normal crow, she literally can't taste spiciness, and was immune to it.

There we were, Entropy happily eating away and watching me run around with my mouth on fire like I was in some standup routine. Even better, once I recovered she got my plate of food as well, good times. I shake my head and chuckle at the memory while placing two plates of food on the floor and laying down.

I turn to Entropy, who hasn't moved the entire time and is still training. "Dinner time, come get it while it's hot, you little gremlin," I mutter the last part under my breath with a smile and settle in for a good meal. Raising Entropy is not what I signed up for when buying that egg, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I thought something less depressing was in order, and this lets me add in a few other things.

Like always I'll see you all Monday.

Chapter 303

NOV 19 Monday.

I look over the finished plans for three spell matrices, one to contain a large amount of heat and another to make said heat. And a last one to link gems together and share only fire magic.

After a lot of work and taking my sweet time so I wouldn't need to stress, or get myself killed when attempting this, the spells needed for the Mantle Bloom project are done. However, at the moment I have a few other things on my mind, mainly preparation for the holidays and a question I've been asking myself for a while now.

Things have been quiet, my training and apprenticeship going along like normal without any problems. Yet, a thought has been bugging me steadily for a few months now, and ignoring it or thinking over it again and again isn't really helping me that much.

I've kept and will continue to keep a great many secrets, but some I find to be getting less and less necessary to keep. Maybe it's just having Cadance, Shining, and Celestia around for me to be honest with, but it's getting hard for me to justify to myself.

I never wanted my identity as Veil Winter to be known at large, and I still don't, but at this point, the only thing that would happen when it's revealed is some major annoyance. I'm still going to try my absolute darndest to keep it a secret, but it's not as much of a risk if it gets revealed as it was a few years ago. To put it simply, I am much more capable than before.

I find it less likely than I would originally presume, that anypony would really come after me if my secret identity was revealed, mostly because of Celestia. This world is a lot more peaceful than my last and combines that with having an immortal near godlike entity at your back and the chance of someone fucking with you is lessened. All that isn't going to make me drop my guard, but it's something to keep in mind.

It's not like I'm the first in such a position either, there have been others in the past who remained hidden and when revealed lived normal lives. A really good example of that is Ponies with life-magic affinities in the past, they were beyond valued but lived mostly normal lives outside of that.

Back to the point though, I've been thinking more and more about my friends and the fact I'm keeping secrets from them. I think it was revealed that I was a healer. It really got me considering telling them the truth, well, that and what happened with Daisy and how she found out.

Telling them certainly has some risks, but that can be controlled, I think. As it stands, if anypony figured out who I was, my friends could be at risk even if they themselves don't know anything. I find the outcome very unpleasant but my mind won't let me dismiss it out of hoof.

The other thing is the simple fact that it WILL come out eventually. Personally, I would prefer it to be known after I'm dead and buried, mostly so I don't have to deal with it, but that's looking to be uncertain. My luck has proven to be messy at best and if it happened with Daisy it can happen with Maple and Blaz as well.

There is also the simple fact that I don't enjoy lying to them, at all, even if I feel it's necessary. But that's the problem, it's not really feeling necessary anymore, they have proven they can keep at least one secret as they have told nopony about me being a healer.

I asked them not to and even with Blaz going out drinking many times he's kept his muzzle shut, Maple I'm actually far less worried about her as she is a social brick wall at the best of times. My main problem with telling them stems from the fact I would be putting them in some form of danger, even if just a little.

All of that isn't even adding to how they would react to the news. Sure they were happy about me becoming a healer and didn't care about me keeping it a secret. But there is a difference between that and being fucking Veil Winter for years without telling them.

Then again Daisy was very accepting and I would like to think my friendship with them could overcome this. There is that ball of fear that lingers in me and refuses to move or change though. Once again it seems my fears and uncertainty are both a blessing and a curse.

It's an endless back and forth with myself that I've had for a good portion of this year now, and I'm no real closer to an answer, just increasingly undecided. At this point I really only have one option left, ask for another pony's opinion and get some advice on everything.

The good news is that there is no rush in any of this, I've kept the secret for years and a few more months won't hurt too bad. All that leads me to now, preparing to get some work done while thinking about setting up a meeting with Daisy when I can. Celestia might also give some good advice but Daisy knows our friends better and has a clear picture of the situation.

I stand up from the floor of my apartment and head over to my workroom to gather everything I'll need. I should do something with myself in the meantime and this project is long overdue for completion, or at minimum some thorough testing. As I gather things I stop at the beautifully cut Fire Gem sitting on my desk.

After that one night when Celestia helped with this project, she took the four-inch uncut Fire Gem and said she would work on it. It took her a while as she had some grieving to do and a few other things got in the way, but in a stroke of good timing and my classic luck, it arrived only a few days ago.

It's a rounded ball shape with a flat surface on one side, it's still roughly the same size and is a good piece of gem work, not that I was expecting anything less from Celestia. I grab it along with one of the small Fire Gems and an Iron Gem. I also gather a few piles of notes I may need before packing it all away in my saddlebags and making my way back to Entropy. She's still practicing a lot but has calmed down a little after the first few weeks.

Her progress is about as fast as I'd expect and her ability is growing steadily. She still hasn't done anything new as she needs more control before that, something I've had to be firm about when she asked, mostly for her own safety. I did explain my reasoning though, telling a child no without reason is a good way to make them just do it without you. "Ready to go. Girl?" I ask her and she turns to me as her shadow mist stops moving.

She jumps on my back with a quick flap of her wings and nods. "Can practice there?" I give her an expectent look. "Can practice there, inside?" I nod in approval as she remembers the only rule I gave her for practicing her ability in Gaia's Eden, only do it inside.

There are many different magical things in Gaia's Eden and some of them could possibly react to shadow magic, so she needs to practice in my shack when she's there. "Correct. Good job remembering." I praise her and scratch her a little. "Are you still having fun?" I ask out of curiosity.

She nods vigorously. "Keep getting better every time! So fun! Can even keep eyes open now!" She brags a little and I chuckle at her excited tone. "Go?" I nod and we both vanish in a second. I breathe out as we appear inside my shack, Entropy happily moving over to lie on my bed and quickly starts moving her shadow mist into a half ball on the floor.

I smile at the diligent attitude she's had with her ability. "Alright, I'll be working on a few things, come get me if you need anything." I remind her and walk off as she nods her head. I'll probably need Celestia's help later studying the Mantle Bloom but for now, Entropy and I have already done the preparation needed.

I slowly trot through the thick snow and move over to the shielded area I'm using for my Mantle Bloom project. The only difference from last time is a large pile of heavy boulders and a small wooden shed, well, less of a shed and more just a cabinet with a roof. I needed someplace to put the gem array that powers the outer shield and this seemed easiest.

As for the boulders? I need food for the Mantle Bloom and that means lava, which means I need stone. It was a little tricky to find but in the end, I settled for heading to a mountain at the edge of the Everfree and having Entropy teleport back boulders over the span of several days.

Fifty-three boulders all the size of me or larger and most of them weighing several hundred pounds, I only lift them with my field after adding a Lightening spell to them first, just to ease the load. I did need to look into what lava is normally made from, and it is often a mix of just about anything. Sometimes it's primarily one rock type or another but often it's just a slurry of things. In the end, I grabbed a few different rock types for testing but didn't really worry about it all that much.

This plant grows in lava and is magical as hell, I think it can deal with a suboptimal type of lava. Then again it is just a plant, so for my first test, I'll be making some lava that's a mix of everything I could find. After I have more seeds I can try and find an optimal mix but I'm not risking it right now.

I walk over to my snow-covered seed vault and retrieve a single gem seed, leaving the others right where they are. I walk back over and enter the shielded area, immediately I feel a wall of heat hit me from the air inside. Outside is nothing but snow and ice but in here the Fire Trees are keeping things blazing hot.

It's not too much to handle but I would rather not spend longer than needed being this uncomfortably warm. That is actually one thing I miss about being human, temperature was so much easier back then. Cold? More clothes. Hot? Less clothes. Having fur really makes it all more annoying.

I enter the inner circle and start to mentally plan out how I want to make this entire thing work. I start by placing down three gems and enchanting them in order. I enchant the large and small Fire Gems to hold and gather fire affinity magic, watching them start to glow a little as they pull fire magic from the air around them.

Next, I take out the Iron Gem I brought and link both Fire Gems to it, letting one transfer a large amount of magic to the other with ease. I added this Iron Gem instead of simply linking them together as it will let me add more gems as I want or need, it also makes things more stable.

Moving magic from one gem to another while keeping things stable can be hard sometimes, and even good Linking spells can be overwhelmed by a large amount of magic. The Iron Gem helps with the stability of the links connected to it, I'm not entirely sure as to why but Celestia explained it as the gem's natural magic influencing the spells I enchant them with.

Sort of like me adding life magic to a healing spell. The natural stability of the earth magic that the Iron Gem has helps keep the magic going through it and the links connected to it grounded. That's the idea at least, but we didn't finish that conversation so I don't really know much about the smaller details.

I may work with gems a lot but I am no expert, all I know is this will keep things more stable on a project I really do not want to get out of control, AT ALL. Once the gems are enchanted I take out a Fire Tree seed and grow a fire-resistant stump in the middle of the circle, placing the gems on top when I'm done. Next, I start enchanting the gems with the needed spells, a Heat Generation and Heat Shield spell for the large Fire Gem along with another Heat Shield in the smaller Fire Gem.

The smaller Fire Gem will act as a backup and help by supplying its excess fire magic to the large Fire Gem when not in use. I start to shape the shield and keep things pretty simple, a large sphere twenty feet wide sitting ten feet off of the ground. I added a much simpler Linking spell that tells the backup shield to activate if the main one fails.

I'm keeping it in the air as ground contact might make things tricky and it also means more work. Once the shield is done I activate the special additions I made to these shields. Beyond changing them to contain the heat and lava I also made them to let me designate a single spot on the shield.

When I flip the small Fire Gem upside down it will change the shield slightly in that spot, and flipping it back reverses that change. The change lets me move physical things through the shield in that small area without having to turn anything off while still keeping in the heat. It's selectively modifying a small portion of the shield to temporarily let me place things inside safely.

I even color-coded them, the regular shield has a slight purple tint to it as I didn't want anything or anyone to run into it. When active, the section that lets things move through it lights up a deep blue to stand out from anything of a similar color. I think for a moment and designate this spot to be on the very top of the shield.

It does mean I have to lift things up there but it's also the furthest place from anything accidentally falling or splashing out. With the shield set, I activate the gems and simply wait for a moment while backing up out of the outer shield and back into the cold snow.

I breathe in the cool air and clear some snow to sit down before turning back to the finished project. It's hard to tell as I'm outside of everything, but the Fire Gems are still slowly getting brighter while the new shields are active so I assume it's working correctly. I think for a moment and reach out with my field to pick up a random hoof-sized rock from among the large boulder pile, I also grab a few small ones for testing.

The last thing to know about the shield is I also made it remove any excess water or steam. Water can be trapped in rocks and if that spills out and becomes steam it could build up inside the shield and be a real problem, so with the addition of a Steam rune, it can leave the shield without a problem.

I flip the small Fire Gem over and see the deep blue zone light up in a five-foot circle on the very top of the shield. I think for a moment and cast a Flame Shield spell on myself while shaking my head. Sometimes I can be an utter fool, even after years of study and practice.

I walk back in and feel basically no heat this time. "I really need to remember things more," I mumble to myself and take out a necklace from my saddlebags before putting it on. I start to take steps into the air and climb an invisible staircase to get twenty feet in the air.

I stop when I'm at equal height with the middle of the ball shield and move the small rock to the top before dropping it in. I watch the rock fall in and in an instant there is some steam boiling off of it. The steam was vented out of the shield and moved up into the sky quickly.

I feel the steam pass me while my spell prevents me from feeling any heat. I watch with my illusionary notebook open to take notes. The rock falls and rolls around as it hits the bottom of the shield, sitting there unchanging for a second before it starts to glow rapidly.

I time it and it only takes around ten seconds for the hoof-sized rock to start liquefying into molten rock and collecting at the bottom of the shield. I blink and quickly flip the small Fire Gem over and make a note to never go into this shield for any reason. It seems I have underestimated the efficiency of the fire magic I'm using.

I look down and see the Fire Gems are still gaining magic and seem to have lost basically nothing from turning the rock into liquid. The shield is designed to heat up anything inside of it until it's a liquid, except water and gems, which actually took me getting creative with the runes used.

The reason I did it this way was because different rocks had different melting points and trying to add all that information into a spell is a mess waiting to happen. Instead, I used a Heat rune and a specific Liquid rune to get this effect, along with some other runes for stability and safety measures.

I also did it like this because I didn't want to start making fucking plasma on accident, limiting it to liquids was the easiest way to prevent anything like that. I take several notes and start the real process. I reach out with my mind to the large pile of boulders next to the project area and cast a Lightening spell on one of them at random.

Casting a spell from over fifty feet away takes much more magic but I don't want to walk all the way over there and I have plenty of magic to spare. I actually have enough to get even more creative. I focus for a moment and start to move and compress space rapidly.

A second later I push the boulder through a slight bending in the air and it appears above the shield a fraction of a second later. I make a note of the larger magic cost from the boulder's large size, before moving the lightened boulder over the blue spot on the shield and dropping it inside.

This one had more snow on it than the last rock so I paused to observe the rapidly vaporizing water create a small gust of wind as it's removed from the shield. I watch the large boulder rapidly heat up, this time it takes nearly a minute to fully melt into liquid and fills the bottom of the shield by a few inches.

The seed would normally need something to grow into, but that really shouldn't be a problem here. It won't be able to grow through the shield and the lava should have everything it needs. I chuckle as a similar idea comes to mind. This whole setup is similar to growing something in pure water inside a bottle.

I take a few steps down and see that the Fire Gems have dimmed a small but clearly noticeable amount. The Iron Gem is great at absorbing the fire magic quickly, but even it and the two Fire Gems combined wouldn't be able to keep up with me just tossing bolder after bolder inside unless the gems are full.

I check the time once again and decide to leave the gems alone for now. Maintaining the heat should only take a little magic so it will stay stable, but I need to know how long the Fire Gems take to refill and I also need to make sure the Fire Trees are providing enough fire magic.

I walk down from the air and land on the ground to start checking on the Fire Trees. The fire magic they are making should be far more than the spells need to maintain themselves, but I need to make sure and the only way I can do that is through close observation. This is where a past test of mine comes into play.

When trying to come up with ways to test if too much fire magic was being consumed, I tried something simple. I made it so the gems would gather fire magic from plants themselves if needed, the idea being that Fire Trees need fire magic to live. So if they start having it taken away they will start dying, and that I can detect. So I did a little test with a single Fire Tree a few days ago and this silly idea actually worked, the Fire Tree started dying.

The gems will only take the fire magic from the Fire Trees if there is not enough available to keep up with demand, which took a Plant rune to make work properly. Not the best solution, but it does give me some way to know things are going wrong. I can sense that the Fire Trees are fine and healthy so I make a note and just move on to do something else while I wait.

I look at the slowly filling Fire Gems and then look around Gaia's Eden. Those aren't large gems but they could take a few hours to fill. I guess I can get some plant breeding done. I should also check on how this year's frost crop crossbreeding attempts are going.

time skip

I look over the Water Lily with a closed eye and try my best to mark down how healthy it is.

This particular project has seen steady but uninteresting development. The Water Lily has been enduring the conditions I've placed it through more and more and at this point I've started to get more creative. I currently have a small shield around the growing area because I added powdered lead and some other less pleasant metals.

At this point, that and a combination of several metals are the only thing that's killing it anymore. It's really grown tolerant of metal poisoning and just general bad water and soil quality. It still needs more work but come spring or sometime after that I should be able to start cross breeding it with the Copper Lily.

I make even more notes, by magic I spend far too much time making and organizing my notes, but I need them so I make them. I walk away and near the Mantle Bloom project, marking down the appearance of the Fire Gems. Seeing that they still haven't changed in the past half hour it seems they took around six hours to fully recharge.

The Fire Trees are still fine so I guess they really can provide more fire magic than the gems can absorb. I start the next part of the plan, I flip the small Fire Gem over and start moving boulders to the top of the shield. It should have more than enough fire magic stored to get things started without causing problems.

As I drop them inside I look up and watch the large bolder splash and sink into the lava already there, adding more and more to the pool. After adding several large boulders I see the glow of the gems decrease by half, and after filling the shield by a third with lava I stop as the Fire Gems have around a quarter of their magic left.

I mark the results and once again walk up into the air up to the shield's side. I stare into the mass of bubbling stone and take a moment to enjoy the interesting sight. After a few seconds, I bring out a small wooden box from my saddlebags, feeling the seed inside stir as I take it out into the hot air.

I look at it for a moment before moving it up to the top of the shield and letting go, watching it drop down before splashing into the lava. I keep my senses on it and immediately notice that its flows of life magic speed up to nearly three times their normal speed.

I feel the seed sink deeper and deeper before settling at the lowest point of the ball-shaped shield. I feel its life magic shift and move like many other seeds when they start to sprout, yet nothing happens. That's to be expected though as plants aren't known to be very fast-moving, especially ones made from gems.

At first, I just wait a few minutes to make sure nothing is wrong, and the seed continues to be much more active and stable. After making sure nothing was immediately wrong I reached out with my life magic and started to slowly add some to the seed. While doing this I walk back down and look at the shield from the bottom, seeing the gem seed resting against the shield.

I watch in interest while taking notes. I watch as the seed starts to grow very thin tendrils of crystal that root off from the seed, growing along and conforming to the shape of the shield it's up against, like a plant growing in a glass bottle. I keep adding more and more life magic and watch as the roots thicken and spread along the shield's bottom further and further.

The roots are odd, formed triangle-shaped rods that split and branch off from each other at even forty-five-degree angles. My eyes can't see more than the roots hugging the shield but while this close my life magic senses can make out plenty of detail. The plant seems healthy as it grows and I once again walk up into the air as I let it grow without instruction.

I walk up to observe from the top of the shield, watching the plant's main stalk grow out from the three-foot-deep pool of lava. At this point I'm basically out of magic and have to force myself to stop growing the plant, ignoring the slight headache I now have. Only an inch or two of the main stalk is peeking out above the lava, but its deep crimson gem core and completely clear outer layer are unmistakable.

I smile to myself and settle in to draw a sketch of the sight next to my notes, while drinking tea and activating Mana Mimicry. "I did it. Celestia is going to be over the moon." I chuckle a little at the idea and smirk. "Let's see if I can't get some seeds from you."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

So first, we got the gem plant done. So, any ideas for what the gem's properties might be?

Also, as you have probably noticed, I've had Shade thinking about telling his friends for a while now. I think it would fit well to add it in at this time and it's honestly about time they found out.

However, I'm still undecided on two things. What will give Shade the last little push to reveal it, and how to reveal it? So any suggestions? I could use a little inspiration and you all are certainly good at making up some rather... Creative Ideas.

Chapter 304

NOV 30 Friday.

I glance over the wrapped package and make sure it's ready to be moved safely.

It might be a little overkill to have put them in a nice wooden box I made, but I think this is something of a gift and I always did like some presentation. Inside this Steel wood box are two Mantle Bloom seeds, both wrapped in fabric just to make sure nothing breaks as I move them around.

After successfully growing the Mantle Bloom I didn't do too much with it. I grew it tall enough to stick out of the lava by a foot and had it grow more seeds. I harvested two dozen by draining my staff's stored life magic and basically left the plant alone after that.

Now that I have more seeds I'm fine with experimenting and as a start, I'm trying to learn the magical flows of the Mantle Bloom. I never got to do it before and the plant has a very high magical cost, just growing a small four-foot stalk and some seeds took nearly twelve times my magic capacity.

Beyond that I was able to confirm you can in fact enchant the gem seeds, I enchanted a gem seed to make a small magical light through, so I at least know for certain now. Although I'm not sure how to tell how good they actually are as gems. Which is why today is going to be interesting, to say the least. I have a double meeting at the palace and it starts with Shining.

Cadance sent me a letter a few days ago saying Shining wouldn't mind a spar but that she might not be able to stop in and chat with me as she normally does. So I decided to check with Celestia and it turned out to be a great bout of timing. I can meet them both today, it will be nice to see my friends.

Speaking of friends Daisy apparently decided this week to focus heavily on something and said she'd meet us afterwards. I asked about it and all she said was that she was going to be very focused on shopping for the holidays and also getting a small backlog of work done so she could relax more. I decided that I could talk to her in a week or two so I didn't disrupt her plans.

I place the small but heavy box inside my saddlebags and stand up from my desk, spending a moment making sure all my armor is properly packed away in my saddlebags as well. It will be nice to spar with Shining again and better yet I don't need to endure Cadance's teasing attempts this time.

That mare really is good at teasing me, I wonder if that's part of the reason we became friends? Her teasing me and me getting her back in any small way I can. It's all in good fun though and neither of us ever takes it too far, which can be kind of hard for me honestly.

Being formerly human gives me a plethora of insults and jabs that a Pony would find to be grossly over-the-top and downright insulting. I shake my head and leave those thoughts to the side for now, standing up and making my way out into the main room where Entropy is practicing as she often does. "Come on Girl, we need to get going," I tell her as I walk over.

She looks at me and chirps a bit, letting her concentration slip and letting the shadow mist disappear quickly. She doesn't say anything and just jumps on my back before teleporting us away in a moment. I feel the void and a thought occurs to me, I might be nearing the point of actually trying this form of teleportation myself.

It's still far from a guarantee but with all my training and practice with my short teleports my control over space magic has continued to improve more and more. It's still probably a little way out though, I really don't want to risk that and I have the time so no need to rush things.

As I reappear inside the mailroom I quickly get my bearings as Entropy sinks into my shadow. She stayed up fairly late last night practicing and is probably still tired, maybe I should give her something of a bedtime? Not a hard limit but just something to make sure she sleeps well enough to be healthy.

I let her get some rest and head out of the room, and like last time there is no guard waiting outside to guide me, but that's on purpose this time. After my last visit here I told Celestia she didn't need to send a guard to guide me unless it was important or somewhere I'd have trouble finding.

I need to learn the layout of this place more and there is no better way to do that than to get a little lost. I won't be getting lost today though, I've been to the training area more than enough to know how to get there. So with steady steps, I start to make my way through the palace.

I'm still a little early but that means I have time to practice before Shining shows up, if he didn't also arrive early. Sometimes he's done that, apparently, he really doesn't like being late to things, I think that's just part of being a guard though. I get the usual looks from the staff and guards but I'm not concerned about that in the least.

The Ponies working at the palace have kept their muzzles shut for several years now and I don't think that's changing anytime soon. Sure they gossip a hell of a lot between each other, but they follow the law and say nothing when outside of the palace.

As I walk through the large and opulent hallways I chuckle a little. I've asked Celestia before and she was pretty insistent that she didn't design this place to look so fancy. From the way she said it a lot of her Ponies just got very... Enthusiastic when building this place.

That and the fact that all the extensions added to the palace over time have only been made with better and better materials makes this place one fancy house. Ironically I think Celestia prefers her little cabin in the woods back at Gaia's Eden, something I can sympathize with.

As I near the training ground there are more guards around and smaller hallways, less visibility of who's around me. I can sense them fine but color is still my biggest problem, something I still have no idea how I could begin to get around. Maybe it's just not possible at all? Actually, Celestia might be able to because her ability is partly about light, something to ask about later.

As I pass through a junction in the hallway I sense a Pony without armor glance down a hallway and spot me from the side. I ignore it and keep moving as I have the practice to get to, but second guess that as the Pony starts moving over to the junction after I pass through it. They stop at the junction and look down the hallway I'm in to continue and stare at me.

I sigh a little as it seems like yet another Pony deciding to check me out a little too closely. They may be a stallion but I've gotten many looks from both sides alike and it's not even the first time something like this has happened. I decided to glance back at them just to see who it was and stop dead in my stride.

I was expecting some guard out of their armor looking back, maybe a slight bit embarrassed they were caught staring so much. Instead, I look down the hallway and widen my eyes as I see an all-too-familiar stallion. A black mane and a deep gray coat, the yellow eyes staring back in curious confusion.

:FUCK! WHY ARE YOU HERE?!!: I feel my internal panic rise sharply and have to force it down as I can't panic in a hallway where anypony could stumble across this quickly developing mess and start asking more questions. I turn fully and no matter how much I wish it were untrue, Stone Mace stares back at me with a confused and somewhat surprised expression.

He looks to have cleaned himself up for this visit. He often keeps his chin fur a little long but he's cut it back and also seems to have thoroughly combed out his mane and coat. He even has a nice metal bracelet, I remember him wearing bracelets a few times and I think Daisy mentioned he likes doing it when on dates.

He starts to walk over as I stand stunned and panicked, but outwardly still and unexpressive. This is already a fucking mess, but maybe not too bad. How does shit like this keep happening? Am I truly fucking cursed or some shit? No, those thoughts won't help, FOCUS!

Stone is a former guard and honestly, he might have heard about me in the palace before, the fact he hasn't is fairly surprising. He's also a friend I trust, maybe not fully but certainly more than many others I know. I take a deep breath as he walks up to me with a raised brow. "Shade?" He asks confusedly and looks me over. "What are yo-"

I cut him off and ignore the use of my name as I quickly make a quick plan to get us out of this hallway before others see us here, I don't need him seen with me. "Not here, come on," I say with a firm and serious tone before turning on the spot and walking off quickly. He still looks confused but quickly falls into line behind me, acting like the guard he once was.

I try to stay calm and collected as we quickly walk over to the training room Shining and I use and walk inside. Shining is thankfully not there when we arrive, there goes my luck again. While walking I'm able to calm down a bit more, focusing on how to explain this shit and not drag him into it.

He is honestly one of the best Ponies to run into in this situation, I can't imagine what I would do if I ran into Twilight. This is still a problem though, especially because it's yet ANOTHER of my friends that have stumbled into my secrets. I sigh and turn to him while he looks around, I open my muzzle but he cuts me off with a hoof. "How much can you say? I don't need somepony breathing down your neck for saying something you shouldn't." He asks with a surprisingly understanding tone.

I pause at that and even with the stress and lingering panic I chuckle a small bit. Stone was a guard, he knows when some things are above his pay grade or are things he really shouldn't know about. And he's definitely smart enough to know I kept this a secret for a reason.

I nod and take off my saddlebags, placing them to the side. "Well, first off. Sorry I never brought this up, all I can really say in my defense is I thought I had some good reasons." I start off with an apologetic tone as I did lie to him in several ways, at least he seems to be taking it well.

He looks at me for a brief moment and nods, seemingly accepting the situation immediately, I raise a brow at him and he smirks back. "Shade, I trained guards for three decades, I know a lot more than I probably should. And have more than one contract I can never talk about." He says with some humor in his tone, laughing a little harder than I expected. I do notice he's acting far more formal than normal, but then again we are in the palace.

I feel some relief from his words, even if this was somewhat expected it is nice to see him so unfazed. "You said you think you did it for a good reason?" I nod slowly, and he nods back in approval. "Then I could care less, it's not my business. But, you said something about answers?" He trails off with a hinting look, leaving me a way out.

I tilt my head a bit. He really is taking it in good humor, I mean he's probably spending a lot of time with Daisy shopping so it makes sense. "Look, I have something to do, and I'll explain more another day, for now, let's... Let's just say I have a friend in the guard. Sorry if that's vague." I decided to be blunt and not go into much detail at the moment as I would rather not do that while at the palace.

Sure I have silence spells and everything else, but I would feel safer talking about this somewhere less open. That and Chrysalis still has a messenger Changeling in the palace that I haven't met yet, I don't want them getting any ideas about me. Stone nods a little and keeps his good mood. "Fair enough Shade, I'll get going, we'll meet up later."

It's a pretty blunt goodbye, but with Shining arriving soon I would rather not deal with explaining even more things without some time to think it all over and calm down more. I am thankful he's willing to give me the time and space I need, this may be a fucked situation but he's a good friend.

I also feel like this will all be easier to explain when we are somewhere more comfortable. "Sure, I'll see you like usual, and thanks for waiting. Actually, why are you here? I thought you retired? Or is this more of a social visit?" I ask curiously as the thought of why he's here once again crosses my mind.

He nods a little. "Yes, that's about right. An old guard I worked with is also retiring, so I thought I'd come in and see how they are doing. And before you ask how I've trained at least half of these guards, they couldn't keep me out if they tried." He says with a chuckle as he moves to the door and nods one last time. "See you around, Shade."

I nod back silently in thought. He was definitely more formal than normal but I've never really seen him in a formal place like the palace, and he's a guard so he's probably just acting the part. On top of that, his old friend might be a higher rank so there might be some type of respect there. I sigh as he closes the door and I watch him walk away in my senses.

I relax more and take a few deep breaths. The good news is I can probably just head over to Daisy's when we find time and talk to them both, it might be intruding a bit but considering the circumstances I think they will settle for answers. Although, Daisy will probably just be happy to get more gossip.

I also know he is likely to be there, they were both there earlier today and left together. They probably split up so Daisy could shop and Stone could say hi to an old colleague. I sit there for several minutes lost in thought as I sense another Pony nearing the room.

I know Shining enough to tell it's him and I start taking out my armor pieces one by one and putting them on as he enters the training room. I turn to him with a smile. "Hey, took you long enough, I nearly had to start without you." I make a jab to distract myself a bit. At least I can beat on Shining to settle my nerves and get my mind nice and focused for later, by magic I really need to talk with Celestia about all of this, she'd give some good advice.

Shining smiles back and huffs while wearing his full armor. "Oh, who would you even practice with? Yourself?" I raise a brow and he looks a little more uncertain. "If you tell me you have a way to actually fight yourself, I want in." He decides and moves over to the weapon rack to pick out his normal shield and short sword.

I chuckle and shake my head, relaxing more in the presence of something familiar. "I don't... Well, I don't right now." He gives me a curious look. "I could definitely make something like that, actually that might be nice to have," I mumble and further distract myself with thoughts on how I could go about doing that.

I twist my body to the side a little as Shining throws a weak water spell at me. "No spacing out, I came for a good flank kicking and I'm not having you making spells in my free time." He demands and double-checks his armor before we start. "Speaking of that, anything new you're working on?"

I take a moment to get my chest plate on and double-check the placement of it, like all times I practice with Shining I only bring my practice armor, the same armor I use with Stone. "Mostly plants at the moment. A few new frost crops, and many other things that will remain unnamed." I am blatantly vague but also honest.

He chuckles knowingly. "Always the paranoid Pony. I'd say it's bad for you but considering the whole... War situation, and the Gala two years ago..." I nod in agreement and try not to let the topic drag my mood down more. "But that's why we practice, or at least why I do. I don't think this even counts as a warm-up to you." He gives me a surprise compliment.

I shake my head and place my helmet on. "It may not be good practice for magic, but my skill with a blade could still use a lot of work. Stone still regularly kicks my flank with nothing but a wooden short sword, the same as yours." I softly laugh at the memory of last week's training and try not to let other more recent thoughts get me down. "Be glad I don't train like him, he's just unfair."

Shining laughs as well while tossing over a wooden greatsword and a dagger to me before moving over to the dirt floor. "I would say I don't envy you, but I do. Seriously, your luck is just utterly ridiculous. Now enough talking, I want to get some actual training in." He puts on his helmet and readies his weapons.

I smile from under my helmet and bring my weapons into position after catching them. "You don't need to tell me twice, but fair warning, I need to get out some emotions and you're going to feel it." I smile more as his face shifts from excited to slightly concerned. "Too late to run now."

time skip

I hold in my laughter and just take deep breaths as I look at the broken wooden dagger I used earlier. I glance over at Shining as he lies on the floor breathing heavily. "I, should, have, taken my chances, and just ran." He says between heavy breaths.

I chuckle despite myself and move over to help him stand back up, noting a few scratches on my armor as I take my helmet off. "Well, look on the bright side. We once again broke a few wooden weapons and somepony is going to be annoyed replacing them, is there paperwork for that? I hope so." I say in a slightly mocking tone.

Shining seems a bit more tired today and with my added motivation of wanting to calm the hell down, I really got into it. It ended up being a little one-sided at the beginning but finished up in a decent match, one I ended up winning. And I do feel a little more calm about everything now.

It's still a problem but one I know can be dealt with and one that isn't all too bad. I ignore the line of thought for the moment as Shining stands up with a little help. "Buck, you really did go hard. By Celestia what got you so riled up?" I cringe a bit at the name use and he laughs tiredly. "Oh, Celestia, HA!"

I glare at him a little but just sigh once again. "Just go get a shower before I have your mare complaining to me about dirt in your coat. I don't need her pranking me more." He looks down and sees he's got a lot of dirt on his underbelly. He looks me over for a moment and sniffs the air.

I raise a brow and he smiles back. "Want to join me then? I don't think your mare would care for you arriving all dirty either." I feel myself blush a bit and glare harder at him while taking off my armor piece by piece. He's not wrong though, I may be wearing full plate armor but plenty of dirt still slipped through and I could use a wash.

I could just use a Cleaning spell but it's still two hours until I need to meet Celestia and a shower to calm down even more sounds nice to me. I shake my head and try to get rid of my blush, "I'll just head home for a shower. I could use some lunch too." I add the second thought and see my shadow shift as Entropy pops out looking at me expectantly. "And it seems I'm not alone in that."

Shining nods with a smirk and moves over to the door. "Ya, go eat and get pretty for your date. I'll see you next time, Shade." I just give him a deadpan glare as he walks off with a large smile and closes the door behind him. I take a moment to finish packing away my armor and turn to Entropy.

She knows what I want and hops onto my back without a word. A second later I am standing back in my apartment, I quickly check and notice that Daisy still isn't home. I turn to Entropy and smile, "I'll wash up first, how about you go practice?" She happily chirps and flies off while I drop my saddlebags and head to my bathroom for a nice warm shower.

I take my time in the shower and scrub myself thoroughly with some soap and warm water, mostly so I don't smell. A cleaning spell may get rid of everything, but it doesn't stop things from smelling again shortly after. By the time I'm done, I dry myself and walk out into my main room with a much more calm mind.

I'm not sure what it is, but a shower always seems to help me clear my head. I start walking over to the kitchen to start on lunch but stop as I notice two Ponies walking down the apartment building hallway together. Normally I wouldn't be able to tell, but with them being together I can easily pick out that it's Daisy and Stone.

I sigh after a moment and walk over to my apartment door. It's some decent timing and I can ask them to set up a time to talk soon, at least that means I don't have to spend more time feeling all uncertain about things. A plan can really make it all feel more stable, even if it's a bad plan.

I open my door and try to be upbeat as I look down the hallway and see Daisy and Stone walking my way with several bags. I nod as they walk close and give them a small smile, "Hey Shade! Trying to get a peek at our gifts? Well too bad, no peeking." Daisy greets me with a happy tone.

I chuckle despite my odd mood and shake my head. "No, I just have something I wanted to talk to you about. And I owe Stone a few answers after earlier, you have a few hours free soon?" I try to be casual but some of my uncertainty and slight nervousness seeps into my tone.

Daisy notices it and immediately nods without hesitation. "Sure, tomorrow works, I need to do some shopping later in the day but we can talk in the morning?" She offers kindly, and she seems to know this is going to be a little more serious than normal. "Wait, what happened today?" She asks after a second and turns to Stone.

I also turn to Stone and notice he seems to be far less formal now, more like his normal self. Stone gives me an odd look and raises a brow. "Colt? I've been with her all day, did you see us in the market or something?" I feel my body freeze and my thoughts move to a standstill.

His tone, even with his blunt nature, he sounds so genuinely... Confused. Like he has no idea what I'm talking about. I feel concern for him well in me and open my muzzle to ask him something, but it dies in my throat. I really looked him over for a second.

He looks normal, his fur slightly messy, his mane a little longer than needed. And his chin fur is in a slightly longer state than before. His appearance from earlier flashes in my mind, his mane was cut shorter, and his chin fur trimmed down. I feel my stomach drop as a cold sense of realization hits me.

I look down almost frantically and notice he has no bracelet, in fact, he's not wearing anything at all.

That wasn't Stone.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

So, someone gave the idea of Shade running into stone at the palace, and I thought it fit really well. Another person pointed out Shade's reasons for telling his friends he was Veil Winter where a little weak, and suggested something with the changelings as motivation.

I promptly realized half way through writing this that those ideas worked really well together. This should be interesting to write.

Also, thank you all for the lovely suggestions, and the welcome advice. :D

Chapter 305

NOV 30 Friday.

I feel my body tense hard and my mind goes absolutely wild with ideas for a moment.

A mix of worry, fear, and concern floods through me, and it takes me several silent seconds to regain control of myself. My eyes snap back to Stone's face, and my expression must have been pretty intense as he raises a brow and looks me over as well. "Colt? Are you okay there?" he asks with a slight concern clear in his tone.

I feel my panic try to set in and break me down, but I know there is real danger here, and I can't panic. It's not a want, it's a need. Things are not just bad; they are potentially dangerous, and I can't afford to panic. I focus on my worry as a way to beat back anything else and look directly at Stone with an intense gaze. "When was the last time we met?"

My tone is so serious it throws both of them off, but Stone seems to realize this is something serious. His training as a guard serves him well as he stands a little straighter and answers quickly. "Last Monday, like always. Colt, what is happening? Are, you, ok?" He asks with more concern and I take a second to take a deep breath.

My mind is in overdrive trying to take this all in, and it's bad, maybe even fucked. I feel my bracelet and there is no reaction from the illusion detection enchantment, then again there was none earlier. The most important question of all is simple, is this Stone?

If not then Daisy is in danger and I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT, but what if it is him? My mind nearly flips to my personal fears about revealing things to a changeling, but I rend my mind away from that and focus on my friends. They are more important than that mess.

As for Daisy? She is wearing a small bracelet but it doesn't even have any gems in it, I also find it unlikely she is a Changeling. The only reason would be to get close to me and I'm not even sure that's what the other Changeling is trying to do. Still, I need to keep her somewhere safe but limited.

Two Ponies both claiming to be Stone, so how do you tell the difference? I remember something I noted earlier, a passing thought that has a whole new meaning now. The Stone at the palace had a bracelet, and I also wasn't really paying attention to whether he had any other jewelry on.

My spell to detect Changelings works well because it has several pure diamonds to power it, but it can be beaten by another magical item with more magic in it. And if a Changeling is trying to break into the palace they would come prepared. Wait, the palace... FUCK!! Ok, add that to the list of fucked things.

Stone is a relatively respected Pony among the guards but also not one that draws much attention. It makes a pretty convenient disguise to get into the palace, even I only questioned it for a few seconds. No guards would really think about it much either, after all, he's trusted by many of them from what I know.

Then there is the difference in appearance, this Stone looks far less groomed and maintained. That might make him seem like the Changeling but a Changeling would have little reason to go shopping with Daisy unless to maintain cover, and I can sense for a fact that this Stone isn't wearing anything, let alone a magical item.

If he is a Changeling he could be here to spy on me? His ignoring the fact we met earlier wouldn't help them in that case. Actually, if this Stone is a Changeling it's in their best interest to agree to meet me and talk about what happened. Instead, this Stone is just confused.

I need to tell Celestia, and fast, but Leaving him out of my sight isn't something I want to do, one Changeling has already tricked me and I can not allow that again. Out of the two possible Changelings, it makes far more sense to break into the Palace, that place has many documents and other things that could be useful.

On top of that, I did find Stone's tone with me at the Palace to be odd, it might just have been him being formal but I can't take a risk like that. My deep thought is interrupted as my prolonged silence seems to make both of them more concerned. Daisy looks worriedly at me, "Shade! Are you ok?" She stresses the point more.

I look at them both and decide what I often decide while in a bad situation, fuck it. No matter what I think they are both in danger and I can't let one of them out of my sight. "Daisy." I get her attention with a deadly serious tone. "This involves my second job, both of you follow me, now." I leave absolutely no room for argument and turn the spot to move back to my apartment.

Entropy seems to have been listening in, as I walk to the door she activates her illusion while I flip a small wooden switch. I open my door while a concerned Daisy and Stone sit for a moment before quickly following. Stone turns to Daisy for answers, "Second job? Do you know what's got him like, this?" Stone asks with a relatively calm tone.

She opens her muzzle as I let them into my apartment and practically slam the door behind them. "No time. I'll explain later." I say seriously and quickly move over to grab my saddlebags and put them on. "Look, we don't seriously have time. Daisy, stay here and don't let anypony in until we get back." I instruct bluntly with the same tone.

Stone seems to realize I'm dead serious and shows his concerns in a slight frown, while Daisy looks a little afraid. "Colt, I don't know what this is, but are you ok? And what do you need help with?" He asks quickly as his training seems to kick into a higher degree. Entropy seems to know something is wrong and flies over to land on me after I get my saddlebags on.

I stop for a moment as I realize I'm probably scaring both of them with my reaction and actions. I take a breath and give them a serious but comforting face. "Something bad has happened, yes I need your help and I don't know if I'm ok. Time is of the absolute essence here, I need you to tell me you understand my instructions, Daisy." I say in a more calm and friendly tone.

Daisy still looks somewhat panicked and worried, but also takes a breath and nods slowly. "Good. Thank you. I can explain later, but this CAN NOT WAIT." I stress heavily. After a second of thought, I take out the simple dagger I hide in my saddlebags and toss it over to Daisy. "Keep that close," I add.

She looks shocked and Stone looks about ready to fight something. He looks at me and with a silent demand for a second before speaking up. "Colt, really?" I nod. "Ok, what do you need?" He doesn't mince words and the old guard in him comes back full force as he stands up straight.

I think for a moment on how best to handle this quickly developing shitshow. "I'm taking you somewhere, don't panic! Stand to the side until you are asked otherwise and remain calm above all else." He nods firmly as his face becomes more firm, he almost looks to be at attention.

I turn to Daisy and make the snap decision to keep her here. The apartment is shielded and she can't leave without my help or breaking the shield, both would get my attention if she is a Changeling. "Daisy, things will be fine, we're going somewhere safe, I just need him with me," I reassure her some more as she looks like she needs it.

Daisy still looks highly worried but does bring the dagger closer to her. Despite the mood, she looks mostly collected, if shocked. She nods a little, "O-Ok, you promise?" I nod seriously as I can't think of anywhere more safe than next to Celestia. She takes another few breaths. "Do you need me to look after her?" She motions to Entropy.

I shake my head and move over to Stone's side. "No, she's coming as well. Don't worry the apartment has a shield on it so you should be fine, just stay inside." They both look a bit shocked at that but it doesn't cut through the worry. I turn to Entropy on my back. "Me and him, her office, now. My shadow right after." I instruct quickly.

Stone looks confused once again but that turns to shock as we both vanish. The Void gives me no comfort, only a moment to worry over what I might find when I arrive on the other side. A heartbeat passes and I feel my hooves land on solid ground again as Stone stumbles and looks around, clear shock breaking through his stony expression.

I'm standing in a corner of Celestia's office and turn to watch as two sets of eyes snap over to us in shock. One is a mare with a clipboard and the other is Celestia sitting behind her desk. :Thank magic she's actually here: At the moment before anypony noticed us Entropy swiftly moved into my shadow just as we appeared, I don't think anypony even saw her.

Celestia takes one look at Stone and me before promptly standing up fully and locking onto me with focused eyes. The other small unicorn mare looks shocked but doesn't panic and turns to Celestia. "Out." That's the only word the mare needs to hear before very quickly leaving the room.

In the few seconds it takes her to sprint out of the room, Stone gets his hooves back under him and turns to face me with a questioning look. That look is again replaced with shock as he hears and realizes who he's in a room with. He snaps to attention with a familiarity gained through years of practice and training. Standing as rigid and still as a statue.

Celestia promptly ignores him as her eyes looks me over as I walk to her desk quickly. I barely spend a moment casting a Silence spell around us before speaking. "There is a Changeling in the palace." She goes from concerned to utter concentration in a second flat. "Do you need my help for that?" I don't know if she has plans for something like this but asking is a waste of precious time.

I see her horn flash brightly and I sense one of the two guards outside the office door break into a full sprint immediately. "Are you ok?" I nearly raise a brow as that's not really important at the moment, but nod firmly. "Good. And no, I need an explanation, what happened?" She asks with focused concern while she glances over at Stone.

Stone is just standing at attention to the side and has an utterly blank face as he stares intently forward at a wall. I sigh and feel some of my worry and fear lesson as it seems she has something of a plan for this situation, thank fuck. "First. Is that guard going to lock down the palace?" She nods. "If anypony asks, tell them to look for him." I motion to Stone in the corner.

She raises a brow before gaining a slightly grim look, it seems she figured it out already. "You mean?" I nod and show a little more of my actual emotions on my face. "Is he, the original?" She asks with a more gentle tone, clearly worried for me even when we have much bigger problems right now.

I tilt my head a bit. "I think so." I gather my thoughts for a second and sit down to actually explain. "I'll make a report later, but to simplify. Earlier today I went to spar with Shining, and ran into Stone in the palace." I start off and make sure to be quick about this. "I was a bit panicked about him seeing me at the palace and didn't question it too much at the time," I add with a somber tone.

I feel some regret at that and she gives me an understanding look. "After that, I just talked to him a little and went about things normally, I thought I'd just deal with it later. I go home to rest a bit and meet Stone again, with an untrimmed mane and chin, along with no idea we met earlier. The other one was well groomed and said they were visiting an old friend in the guard."

She takes out some paper and rapidly writes on it, marking down what I explained. "Has there been any difference in him recently? Anything that would point out him being... Replaced, IS this the original?" She says the one word with a little anger, a reminder that she's probably very unhappy about this happening.

I think for a moment but nothing comes to mind, he's acted completely normal the past few times we've met. "More sure than the other one being the original. And no, we normally only see each other once or twice a week, but nothing out of the ordinary so far. I could ask Daisy, but she wouldn't really be looking for that, so..." I trail off and look over to Stone again.

She gives me a smile despite the mood along with a reassuring look. "Don't worry, we'll solve this." She states it with more confidence than I'd have in her place, and that does help calm me some. "I can guess you will want to do something, and I would rather not have you running off." She continues and I open my muzzle but she stops me with a look. "You are in charge of keeping an eye on him." She says bluntly.

I can see she's trying to keep me calm by making me focus on something, and I'm thankful for that. I would be helping to track down that Changeling if I could, but even if I want to do that I know I wouldn't be able to do all that much. I may have many abilities but letting the guard sort out the palace is by far the best plan.

I just feel a little, useless sitting here. I nod after a moment, "Fine, but if you need anything I'll be pretty annoyed if you don't ask." I try to add some humor. At this point, my mind is a mix of anger and immense concern. I'm angry my friends got dragged into my mess and I'm very worried about their safety, I'll need to check in on Blaz and Maple soon.

Celestia gives me a smile and nods. "Of course. I know what this feels like, the waiting, the not knowing. But we have prepared many things for a situation like this, and the guards know very well what they are doing." She repeats what I already know, letting it sink in for a moment. "Now how about you use that drive for something else? Like Sir Stone here." She reminds me that he's still in the room.

I look over and see he's still at attention. I nod, "Right. Oh, I'm going to have to explain so much to them when this is over, fuck." She raises a brow but doesn't say anything as I take a few breaths. "Ok, how do we do this?" I ask, needing something of a rule book to go by.

Sure I have ideas but Celestia knows best and I won't let myself ignore that advice now. "By asking, he may be a Changeling, but it is unlikely he knows everything about the original. I added my own spell, he hasn't seen us be so casual. Hmm, I think it's best I help with securing the palace's magical defenses, and you try to find out if he actually is who he says he is." She says slowly.

She's not wrong, and I can think of a few questions that would work well. Still, I look at her with uncertainty and confusion, and she stares back with a reassuring smile. "You know Changelings better than most, and you are the only Pony here who knows him well. I also know he will be safe with you, or unable to escape if he is... Not himself. Just to be safe though." She tries to be more gentle as she explains her reasoning. Her horn lights up again and she casts some type of shield spell on me.

While I don't like her leaving she is the best equipped to deal with any form of magical defenses around the palace. I sigh slowly, letting the breath hang in the air. "Ok, I can do that. Just be safe, I really do not need anything more to happen today." I try to make a joke to not panic about several things on my mind. "And what can I actually tell him? A lot of this is not exactly common knowledge."

I don't even know how many of my secrets were just revealed, or how big of a problem this truly is. I can't let those thoughts distract me though, there is work to do and it needs doing. She stands up and slips on her royal mask, looking much more like a princess.

"I think it best you be blunt in your dishonesty, guards tend to understand that well. Thank you, I know it's hard, I truly know. But we are going to be ok, I promise." Her tone is firm and certain. She really does handle things like this better than me, at least when it comes to remaining calm.

I stand up as well and look over to Stone. "Drop your spell please." I nod and try to put on a professional expression like I just talked to my boss and not a close friend. I drop my silence spell and Celestia clears her throat a little, "Sir Stone? At ease." She says in a very formal tone.

Stone brings down his left hoof from his chest and turns to us, his eyes full of respect and expressionless like many guards. "Stone Mace, former commander of a guard regimen and guard trainer, Your Highness." His tone is just as formal and he keeps himself straight and tall as he turns his body to us, giving Celestia a quick bow. He also doesn't add unneeded names or words to his introduction.

Celestia nods and moves out from behind her desk. "I apologize about you being brought here without warning, but things are... Complex. I have duties to attend to and hope you can answer any questions Sir Evergreen has for you while I am indisposed." Her words may sound like a request, but it isn't, and Stone seems to know that.

He glances at me and nods deeply. "Yes, Your Highness." He agrees as Celestia stares at him a moment longer. She stops after a moment and nods to me before walking to the door and leaving the office, I watch her walk away and make a mental note to keep an eye on her through my senses.

I look over to Stone after Celestia leaves and see his confusion once again breaking through on his face. I feel more guilt, mostly for getting him into this mess. I sit down after a moment and take out a flask from my saddlebags, taking several gulps of water. "This is going to be, a long day," I say, not really knowing how to start this.

He looks me up and down as I pass him the flask, which he takes after a few seconds. I feel my mind focus more on what I'm about to do. I need to get some answers and avoid answering anything for the moment, my only solace is that he's a guard and might be more understanding. If this is actually Stone.

I think it is him. A changeling stealing his identity to get into the palace makes more sense than just living his normal life, and he seemingly hasn't been replaced but simply copied. Or they are both Changelings... Fuck. He takes a few drinks and looks at me while relaxing his stance a little. "You can say that again Colt, just, what? THAT..." He voices a question with far too many answers.

I look him over for a second and sit up straight while putting away the flask. "I can't answer that. Not, yet." He raises a brow but doesn't press. "I'm going to ask you some questions, I need you to answer them fully." I am blunt as the Stone I know prefers things blunt.

I keep a close eye on his face and body language. He nods slowly, still clearly confused, or just faking it really well. "How much have you talked about me to other Ponies, who have you talked to? And where have you done it?" I ask the most burning question in my mind, not able to help myself.

He continues to look confused but thinks for a moment. "Nopony really. I talk to Daisy about you, small stuff though. We talk everywhere, dates, her apartment, shopping. Daisy doesn't ask about training though, and I don't talk about that to anypony." He sounds sure of himself and is keeping his answers calm. I let that sink in but now I can't fully trust the answer.

I think for a long moment and speak again. "When was the first time we met? When did I come back to find you and hire you? And when did you teach me to use a staff in combat? And what did you get me for Hearth's Warming last year?" I ask a few questions. Two of them being partly incorrect in nature. A changeling couldn't have been him all along so the old memories are the best to ask about.

He gives me a slightly odd look but answers anyway. "The training range, you kept firing spells and were pretty good for your age. You hired me the same day, you didn't come back. I never taught you to use a staff, you only tested using one a little. And I got you a stupid mug Daisy insisted would be perfect. Colt, what's with the tests?" He finally asks something back.

His answers are completely correct and my illusion detector is still doing nothing, he also still doesn't have anything that could hide him from magical detection. I think for a moment and get a grim but possibly necessary idea, I'm not sure it will work but it's a good test.

Changelings' illusions work very well from what I've seen, but they are still illusions. They might also be an alteration to a degree, but I find it unlikely to be a full-body alteration. If that was the case it wouldn't be an illusion, it would just be real in a different sense.

I quickly take out some paper and start casting several Scanning spells on him, one after the other. I go through every single one I know and by the end, all of them come back normal. I put the paper away and looked him in the eyes. "Hoof," I demand and hold out my own.

He does as asked after a moment. "This will hurt, ok?" He again looks uncertain but nods. "I'll heal it right after." I reassure him and he opens his muzzle to reply but I act first. I flex space and a second later there is an inch-deep cut on the foreleg he moved to me.

He yanks back hard but I forcefully keep his leg in place. "Buck! Colt!" He says through clenched teeth hard, he actually remains still. "What are yo-" I watch as a good amount of normal-looking blood pours from the new wound and cast a spell to immediately heal it. I overpower the spell and it heals in a few seconds, I let go as he quickly pulls back his foreleg and looks very concerned. "Colt, why?" He demands.

I cast a spell to clean up the blood and remove the smell. I sigh in relief and turn to him with an extremely apologetic expression, "I'm sorry, I'm really REALLY sorry." My words seem to stop any larger reaction as he rubs his foreleg slightly. "I needed to make absolutely sure. Any pain?" I move some life magic into him just to be safe.

He moves his hoof down and tests it for a few seconds. "No. Colt, sure of what? This..." He looks around the office. "That was THE princess, and with how we got here, and apparently something happening. What, is, happening?" He asks and at this point even he seems a little rattled by it all.

I think for a moment and cast another healing spell on him to regrow the small line of missing fur. "A lot is happening. And I can't tell you much, this is all very VERY classified." I stress the point and he doesn't look surprised. "What I can tell you is this, earlier today, you were at the palace and I met you here by accident."

He blinks at that and tilts his head a slight bit. "What? I wasn't though." I nod. "Oh." I nod again. "Wait? Who would even?" He seems to get it in a moment and looks at me with a concerned face. "To try and break into the palace... Your reaction in the hallway, those tests, that cut." He looks down at his foreleg. "How bad is this?" He asks seriously. "Is Daisy-"

I shake my head. "I don't think she's in danger, but I left her in my apartment for a reason. It has a shield powered by several medium gems, not much could break through without us noticing very quickly." I try to reassure him but make a mental note to check on her if too much time passes. "As for how bad? Maybe not too bad, and maybe really really bad." I say with some fear in my tone.

He looks down at me and reaches out to place a hoof on my shoulder after a moment. "Colt. I'm not new to this stuff, but you. Actually, I don't know how new you are to it, still, you holding up?" He asks and his concern for me grounds my mind once again.

I sigh and look him in the eyes slowly. "No, but this takes priority. Sorry about the cut, but illusions don't go that deep. Look, I have a lot to tell you, and Daisy, all of you actually. A lot I've never talked about, for good reason. I'll be fine, we just need to deal with this mess first." I explain and he nods back, seemingly not judging me for anything.

He looks around the office again, his eyes trailing over several things. "So what can you tell me? Because I'm not getting blindsided when it comes to my Daisy." There is a deep determination in his tone.

I straighten up and nod, once again trying my best to deal with the stress of this all happening, while also ignoring a great many thoughts. "Where do I even begin?"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

So first. This will all probably be fairly simple in execution. It's mostly just everypony trying to figure out what the fuck just happened, and I thought it best to go with the more boring but realistic approach.

With that out of the way, this may get a little long.

So one million words huh? A full seven digits. I could scream and shout about it, but instead, I wanted to talk a little. So settle in for me rambling or just scroll on past and have a lovely day.

When I started this I was, well, shit at it. No two ways about it, it also didn't help that I knew that I didn't have much faith in my ability at the time. But something odd happened, someone actually cared about it.

Even with how rough and full of mistakes it all was, someone out there saw what I did, a possibly interesting story to read. I'd say a diamond in the ruff, but it was more like a sand-crusted coin, interesting but very flawed.

But that fact, the fact that someone actually liked it, it was and still is wild to me. And even with how bad it was it convinced me to make one more chapter, another on top of the first five that were published together.

Yet again some enjoyed the flawed work, and amazingly some offered advice. To be kind enough to just, help. No reason was given, just a little kindness to a stranger. So I thought, why not? What could one more chapter hurt? I had the time and it might be fun.

And every time, again and again, always the little bits of kindness. The simple corrections, the advice, the suggestions, the amusing ideas you came up with while trying to predict things. All of it.

It made me think, why not one more? And so it went, day after day, and I fell into the rhythm of it all. I never tried to write before this all, and I found that I liked it quite a bit, and it was the small bit of kindness that is what kept me interested in this.

I mean, I never even asked for anyone to correct errors, you just did, and you still KEEP doing it! That! That kindness, it means a lot. Over the past year, things got rough several ways, in several ways.

But there was this, a small little corner where I made someone happy. Maybe just a little, but it felt nice, it made me happy. In the end, it helped more than I may ever know and more than I can put into words.

A picture is worth a million words, a happy feeling is worth them all. It also gave me more confidence in simply doing better. To not just make something, but to improve in making something. To make it more than the last time.

My improvement may be slower now, but in small ways, I get just that little bit better each time. I like that, it's nice. I think I'll enjoy writing for the rest of my life, no matter where that takes me.

So, a million words, three hundred and five chapters, and just a few days under one year. I have no idea how I've made it this far, but I know I have you all to thank for that.

Thank you.

Chapter 306

NOV 30 Friday.

I take a deep breath and Stone gives me a moment I really need.

To say this day has been a mess would be a massive understatement. I'm just trying not to freak out or bury myself in regret and worry while everything is dealt with and resolved. There is at least some light in this situation, mainly me catching onto it in time.

Who knows what that Changeling is after or what they are doing, so my being able to spot it quickly and possibly catch them is a stroke of luck. My luck really is a mess, though, huh? One moment, I'm exposed in a way I never wanted, and in another, I might have caught something before it could really get bad.

I once again let my mind flash through an uncomfortable fact, that fact that I'll be telling my friends a great many things soon. Oddly though there is a small part of me and it is a little, I don't know... Content, or relief maybe? This is out in the open now.

I never wanted it to come out like this, but I never enjoyed all the secrets, and assuming I still have friends when this is over it will be nice to not hide as much. Sadly that thought doesn't bring me much comfort. I look over to Stone as he waits with a mostly calm expression. "Ok, I have a few things that can wait for later, and I can't answer a lot right now, we still need to deal with this after all." I start off with a more calm tone than before.

He nods back in understanding and waits silently. "To start off with, I've worked under the crown and Princess Celestia for a few years now, before I met you actually." He raises a brow in surprise and I shrug. "Like I said, not much time to really get into it, but I have skills that are considered pretty valuable." I am a little vague but make that clear in my tone.

He seems to think for a moment. "I did find it odd how determined you always were." He points out and I tilt my ears. "Colt, most guards would have stopped long before the point you are at. The palace guards are definitely a lot better than you, but you're still above a lot of regular guards. So, what do you actually do?" He asks the main question bluntly. "No need for details, just a clear answer." He adds.

I shake my head a little and chuckle. "Actually I'm like that with just about anything I do, I just like improving." I am honest as a start to try and ease my self-doubts, I pause and decide to just be very forward. "Ok, quickly. I do several things, but mainly it's spell development and improvement. You know how nopony ever figured out who... Veil Winter was?" I ask slowly and with hesitation.

He stares down at me for a long moment before it quickly clicks in his head. His eyes widen a bit and he looks me up and down before chuckling, which develops into a full laugh that lasts a few seconds. "By Celestia! Why does that make sense? Really?" I nod. "Colt, that. That is one large secret, I would have never..." He seems to quickly realize everything.

I'm a little surprised to see some pride in his tone and on his face. "So that's why you never told me. Second job? Daisy knew?" He really put it together quickly, I nod in response. "Wait? You would have to have been what, eleven? When you first made a spell?" Again I nod and he whistles. "Well, that explains what you meant by skills." He adds with some certainty.

"Again I'm sorry about lying, but... Later. Yes, I find it very, easy, to work with spells. Daisy found out by accident, and you know me well enough to know I don't trust easily, or like sharing things about myself." He rolls his eyes a bit. "Part of that is just who I am, I hate attention. Another part of that is my secrets, I like my quiet life." I emphasize that last point.

He gives me a knowing look. "Understood, and don't worry." He pats me on the shoulder with a kind look. "I've worked with the guard long enough to know when to shut my muzzle. That and your identity might actually be classified, it’s not worth it. Seriously, Veil Winter, nopony even got close, HA!" He states plainly and I feel a slight weight come off of me.

He didn't use fancy words or the like, he simply said he wouldn't and pointed out why. It helps, having not just a promise but an actual reason to hold him back from telling others. "So, what's with somepony making themselves look like me? Why break into the palace of all places?" He moves us right along and I also appreciate him keeping us on track.

He took the news in stride but I honestly expected that from him. Out of my friends, he's the one least likely to react all that much, after all, he was a guard for a long while and has likely seen things like this before. He's also just the type to roll with things and keep going.

I think for a moment and take another of the many deep breaths I'll need to deal with today. "I can't tell you much about that, very little in fact. But, there is a... Group, that would try something like this." That gets his attention and I can see him thinking about it. "I can not stress this enough, do not talk about that with anypony, there is real danger in knowing just that. We will have to have Daisy keep it a secret too, or just lie." I sound remorseful about it as I don't like the idea.

Daisy is a sticking point. Her knowing about me being Veil Winter is one thing, but her knowing about Changelings is something else altogether. Just knowing about them could make your emotions off and catch their attention, and that puts you in more danger.

He gives me a hard look, not angry or anything just very intense. "How dangerous?" In response, I motioned to the office. "Right, just you hearing about it and you get us here as fast as possible secrets be damned. This is bad." He states the last part as it seems to sink in more. "Don't lie, just say it was classified and you can't tell her. I'll do the same. As for the whole Veil Winter thing though." He trails off. "Are you in danger?"

I stay silent for a long moment before nodding. "Maybe, but I've trained a lot for good reason. To be blunt, I hold back, a lot. Not in bland skills, but in many other ways." He glances down at his foreleg, likely realizing he didn't see me cast a spell to cut into it. "I'll need to tell Maple and Blaz about Veil Winter though," I add, hoping that saying it out loud would help me deal with the idea.

He tilts his head a bit. "Why? I get having to explain this to me and Daisy, but why them? You could just keep quiet." He offers some advice and while he's right I can't do that. Well, I can, but I absolutely refuse to. I take a second to feel around the palace and beyond, a lot of Ponies moving around and Celestia is somewhere outside, but things seem calm.

"Because we have no idea what they were here for. And if they know who I am, my friends aren't completely safe anymore." I say rather somberly and he also looks concerned about that. "If I'm Veil Winter I can make them things to keep them safe. Although we don't know if they found anything on me, they did know my name and seemed surprised that I was there though. You know anyway, they could have learned that from you?" I ask, trying to figure things out.

I don't think my friends are in a large amount of danger yet, but I just don't know, and Veil Winter would be able to put up some good defenses for them. He goes silent and seems to think very hard for a few moments, "There are a few ways somepony could learn about my life, at least enough to fake walking into here." He mumbles in thought.

He takes a moment to sit down for the first time. "You'd have some paperwork at the training building we use, not much but if somepony wanted to learn about who I work with as cover, or my background. Your appearance and name would be listed at least, mostly so you can't skip a bill." I take out some paper and make a note of that, along with writing down what we've talked about so far.

"There are also my old colleagues, I may not talk much but a lot of guards like to banter about smaller stuff like an older retired guard." I again mark that down for later and feel a bit better hearing that. "Can you think of any reason they would be looking for you? You said they acted surprised, right?" He asks back and brings up a good point.

The Changeling I encountered was all too willing to let me go, to move on and do something else. If a Changeling was trying to learn about Stone enough to copy him and get a meeting with somepony Stone knows, they are likely to at least learn about me. "They did, in fact, they followed me for a bit as if to confirm it was me."

That could be seen as them looking for me, or just them being actually surprised that a Pony they had copied had a friend inside the palace. "We can't really know if they were here for you, huh?" I shake my head slowly as he is correct. "Well, what do we know?" He asks and I shrug a little.

"Not much. They might be here for several things, if I remember right Cele- Princess Celestia doesn't mark my actual name on anything unless absolutely needed. I'll need to ask about that later." I slip up a little and his brow twitches, but he doesn't comment on it. "They said they were meeting an old friend, can you guess who they would be trying to meet?"

He again sinks into thought before answering. "I've trained a lot of guards in my time, many ended up as palace guards or higher-ranking guards. I think old Lump would be a good guess though, he always liked to ramble and I think he's still a quartermaster for the guards here, he'd have a lot of documents. Me and him also go far back, all the way to enlistment actually."

I make a note of that and try not to react to the name, to be fair humans aren't that good at names either. Still, Lump? He chuckles at my expression and I roll my eyes while trying to enjoy the slight bit of humor. "Ok, I know you are you, but can you think of anything out of the ordinary recently? A feeling of being watched? Things going missing?" I try a different topic to focus on.

He shakes his head but then stops short. "Maybe, I train other Ponies and I had one sign up not long ago, two or three months back now? A unicorn stallion. He books a lot of days actually, even paid one of my other trainees to take their days." I raise a brow as that seems very out of the ordinary.

He sees my look and shrugs. "He was well built and trained hard, his skill was what was lacking, not his body. I thought it was just another guard recruit who slacked off a little too much and needed to go hard for a bit. I am a good trainer." I nod as that does make some sense. "I'll get anything we have on them when I can, I do remember their name, Lemon, probably fake if it was our intruder." He reasons and even if he's probably right I add it to my notes.

I pause as I feel space rend inside the room. I blink as there is a flash and Celestia reappears inside the office. Stone once again lives up to his name by standing at attention and acting like a statue. Celestia motions for him to stand down and for me to move over to her desk. As I get close she seems to relax a small bit. "We are free to speak, is he, himself?" She gets right down to the important question.

I nod firmly and feel myself slump a little. "Definitely. I even drew some blood to make sure." She raises a startled brow and I shrug. "We NEEDED to make sure. And even a great illusion won't work perfectly on an injury. I healed it in a few seconds anyway. Here, a few things I've learned and a few things we need to check on. What happened out there?" I also don't stand on formality or familiarity and be blunt.

She reads through it quickly before refocusing on me. "The guards are still looking into it, but it seems Sir Stone somewhat guessed already if I'm reading your note right. Lump Sum. He was found to have met this fake Stone briefly." It seems Stone's guess was good then, maybe I should ask him some more things when I get the chance?

"However he seems to not remember anything out of the ordinary, despite several of his files also being missing from his office. We're not completely sure what was taken, but we are going through records to find out." I feel my blood run cold at that and she gives me a smile. "Nothing involving you, at least not directly." She adds quickly.

I slump even more and feel the tiredness from everything wash over me before I collect myself. "It seems the target of this was to find out more about the Love Gatherers and collectors, we at least know the files were about that. The quartermaster had some files on the project because of the guard transporting and using them." That news makes me frown and she nods. "It's not looking great, and worse still one of them got away." I give her a startled look as that is big news.

She motions for me to sit and I realize I've just been standing, so I sit down slowly. "The files are mostly statistics and only mention Veil Winter, it's likely whoever ordered this found out through one of the hiveless, or possibly another source? Either way, they tracked it back here somehow. That will be looked into later." She adds her own knowledge and my mind turns to who could be responsible.

It could be Chrysalis, but she seemed smart enough not to do something so risky when things were already going well. Plus she knows we would suspect her if she went after the Love Gatherer. "So what actually happened?" I ask again as I need a base to start with before making more wild theories.

She nods once again and takes out some papers, they look to be a very rushed report. "I was mainly working on the palace's magical defenses, I wasn't there for any of this and arrived too late to help. The intruder got what they wanted and left successfully, we're still looking for them." She sounds a little annoyed, but is calm about things, grounding my mood.

I read the basic report and there isn't much to it. A few guards spotted the fake Stone leaving and with quick action were able to catch up to them at a back alley where the intruder was meeting with another Changeling. There was a fight but the intruder seemed to be pretty good at magic and caused enough of a mess to get away, luckily the other Changeling didn't get away in time.

I pass it back and sigh, "Anything from the one captured?" She shakes her head and to be fair this is all still really recent. "Any idea on how they actually got inside? He may be a retired guard but that doesn't seem like enough to be let in and left alone." I ask another question that comes to my slightly tired mind.

She places a hoof on the desk. "On the magical side of things it was rather simple, they had permission." I tilt my head. "The wards around the palace are complicated, but to simplify, there are some points not as shielded so Ponies can leave and enter as needed. They showed an invite to the guard from Lump Sum and along with his good reputation that was enough."

She can already see my next question and answer me before I can say anything. "It's an older practice, letting retired guards be invited in so they can advise on things as needed. It makes things much more simple and helps when older problems come up again. It will be banned by tomorrow." She adds with determination.

That actually makes sense. Letting older guards in to advise the newer ones without needing to go through a lot of work to invite them in. "Lump Sum claimed he did invite Stone over at his request, it's clear he received a fake letter." She moves the papers I gave her to the side and looks me over for a moment. "Are you ok?" It's a far more personal question with a far lighter tone.

I nod as this isn't all bad news. "First, check any other document storage in the palace, just to be sure." She gives me a look telling me they already have. "Good. And no, this was all far too, close. Stone now knows I'm Veil, and I'll be telling my other friends soon, I don't really have a choice now." She gives me a sad smile, a mix of pride and reassurance. "They will need protection, but explaining why to them. That part I still haven't really figured out."

I need to protect them, but I also need an actual reason for that to happen. I don't really need to do too much, a shield around where they sleep and a good bracelet with a shield in it. I don't want to uproot their lives and this seems like the best start I can come up with to keep them safe for now.

She looks off a little. "I could have guards watch them?" She suggests, but I shake my head a little. I would be telling them if I did that and they might have a big problem with it. Most Ponies don't like having others watching them constantly. "It is an option then. What do you intend to do now?"

I paused as I hadn't really thought that much about it. "Well, Daisy is still in my apartment for her own safety, I left her there. And... I don't know. I need to check on my other friends." I let my concern bleed into my voice openly, and she kept her reassuring eyes on me. "I don't think I'd be of much help here, would I?" I say with a slightly defeated tone, it really sucks feeling useless.

She smiles more. "Sadly no, but I would like my competent rune scribe to be rested and well. That helps all on its own." She says with some seriousness and care. I huff a bit, "Actually, hmmm. If I remember right, your other two friends both live at the library?" She asks and seems to get an idea.

I nod. Blaz always said he didn't need much room and liked not having to go anywhere for work, and Maple is just happy with her home as is. "Then I'll increase the guard presence there." I raise a brow in surprise. "It protects them more and from what I remember there are few guards there normally, it would be good to have such an important place better protected in times like this."

I can see full well what she's trying to do, finding a workaround I can't object to. I wouldn't reject it anyway, she's completely right. It is a good way to guard my friends more without causing any big problems and it is a good idea to guard the library more. There are several long moments of silence, "So, I just, go home?" I say more to myself than her.

She answers anyway. "Yes, you already did a great deal. Finding them so early lets them only get away once, they won't be doing this again." There is a firmness to her tone, a silent promise. "And we actually caught one of them, they would have gotten away freely if you didn't act quickly. So go rest, recover, and deal with your friends." She encourages me and I know she's right.

Personally, I want answers and to find whoever did this, but I'm already feeling mentally tired from the stress, and leaving Daisy too long would only make her worry. I sigh and nod after a long moment, "Fine, but send me an update as soon as you can. And, maybe also send me a copy of the stolen documents if it's possible, I'd like to know what they learned."

She smiles much more and nods quickly. "I promise, and please stay safe. I will be rather... I will be angry if you put yourself in danger, don't." She says firmly, with almost a hint of desperation. I don't fight her on it as my safety is causing her some stress it seems.

"I promise, but only if you do the same," I say back to lighten the mood before turning to Stone. He's standing there, not at attention but very much ready. "Do you mind sending us back? I don't want to show Entropy's ability to be inside my shadow, more for her sake than mine."

Celestia nods and looks over to Stone, who tenses a bit. "I'll drop the privacy spell. Thank you Shade, you did good, no matter how little it feels." With that, she stands up straighter and slips on her mask, and I do the same. "Sir Stone, please come over here."

He moves with sure and quick steps, marching up to her desk and bowing a little once again. "Your Highness?" He glances at me a little and I give him a professional but tired look, trying my best to look the part. "Is there anything needed from me?" He asks simply.

Celestia shakes her head. "No, I'll be sending you and Sir Evergreen home shortly. I simply wished to stress the need for silence on some of the things you may have heard and seen today." Her tone is royal and firm but not unkind, and Stone stands at attention before he bows in recognition. "Very well, you may be called upon if needed."

With that, her horn glows brightly for a moment and by the time I blink the light out of my eyes, I'm met with my apartment again. I blink rapidly as I watch Daisy spring from the couch in surprise before running over and quickly hugging Stone. "Oh thank Celestia you are ok!" She sounds relieved as she pulls back and looks him over. "You are ok, right?!"

He smiles at her. "Yes, we're fine, or I am. You still good, Colt?" They both turn to me and I nod a little slowly while taking off my saddlebags. Stone takes a moment to kiss her quickly. "We are fine, but a lot happened. It's well, classified, highly." He adds quickly because he knows all too well how she can get when trying to get answers. "Are you ok? That seemed draining, and I'm not taking a nod for an answer." Daisy turns to me a little worried.

I place my saddlebags to the side and can sense nothing in the apartment is out of place or changed. I chuckled dryly, "Yes and no. I need to have a serious talk with you two along with Maple and Blaz." I pause for a second as my tired mind remembers something. "We have a game night on the seventh, right?"

I would normally not wait a week for something like this, but acting normal in this situation actually works out better. And while Changelings are a danger I can at least rely on one thing that is predictable about them, they are cautious. They will need time to analyze and retrieve that information before they act, so a week-long delay should be fine. Please let it be fine.

Daisy nods and walks over to me, I jump a small bit as she hugs me pretty hard, and after a moment I hug back. "I don't know what this is, but it will be fine, Shade... What can you tell me, what happened? Is Entropy ok? What was that when you left?" She comforts me for a moment and asks obvious questions.

I think for a moment and look over at Stone, he just looks curious. "Entropy is... Complicated, she's fine though." I reassure her and let go of the hug. "I need to think, and like I said, I have a lot to talk about. Something bad happened, it's not catastrophic but it's a problem. I've already told him about my second job and I'm telling Maple and Blaz as well." I use an example to emphasize my point.

Daisy's brows jump up in surprise and Stone cuts in to back me up. "Daisy, he brought us directly into THE Princesses office, it was important. I'm sorry we can't explain, but when Celestia of all Ponies says to not talk about something, we can't talk about it." He adds a good and very blunt point to really stress things. Daisy looks shocked at that and promptly turns back to me and hugs me again.

"Are we, safe?" I nod, Stone is no pushover and I live nearby. "Are you safe?" I smile and nod as she lets go once again. "Good, good. I- I'll wait until next week, probably drive Stone up the wall with questions though." Stone just huffs. "If you need anything, you will talk to me, got it?!" She demands and I chuckle a little.

"Yes. And I can give you some more answers, or at least better ones." She backs up a bit and passes me something from the countertop, my dagger. "Thanks." I flip a hidden switch with a thought. "I need rest, and I need to think. Stone? I think it's best you stay over with her, and, please check in on Maple and Blaz." I add and look at both of them.

Daisy looks at Stone as well and he nods. "No problem, I was thinking the same thing. Try to sleep some, Colt, you need it." They both seem to understand my dismissal and move to the door.

Daisy gives me one last worry and looks like she wants to hug me a third time. "I'll check in tomorrow, and you remember that promise." I smile back slightly more in response. "Goodnight, Shade." It's a simple goodbye but it means a lot that they are giving me some space even now. Daisy is definitely going to question Stone though.

They close the door behind them and I sigh before slumping and slowly walking over to the couch before flopping down on it. I look out to see the sun setting while Entropy leaves my shadow and swiftly moves to snuggle into my chest. "It's ok, safe, all safe." She chirps to me as I hug her.

I feel my mind slip a bit and know that I'll fall asleep if I stay here too long, but I can't seem to shake away my thoughts to get up again.

Everybody keeps saying that it will be fine, I just hope they are right.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

First, thank you all for the lovely words, sorry if I couldn't respond to it all, I got busy.

Second. I think this is going well so far, it at least makes some sense. I know thins isn't exciting, but I don't think this story is good at exciting in the first place. I did try to at least get across that Shade was a little helpless her, to a degree at least.

Sure he could have done some things, but he's still just a Pony. And I felt this showed that well.

Also, sorry if there is more errors than normal or I am slow to respond, I currently have some internet troubles due to bad weather. It should be fine but fair warning.

Chapter 307

DEC 4 Tuesday.

I slowly breathe out and center myself, letting the slow breeze and snowfall be my main focus as I meditate on my surroundings.

The last few days have been... Tiring. I spent the first two days locked up in my apartment just getting my head straight and barely coming out, and I'm also now all jumpy. Today I did have to leave for a shift at the hospital, I thought it would annoy me but it actually gave me something to do.

Constantly I found myself lost in thought going over everything again and again, hospital work didn't give me the luxury of time to think and made me focus. I open my eyes slowly and look down at the new notebook in front of me, nearly fifty pages are already filled up.

Beyond the hospital, I've been getting daily check ins from Daisy along with Stone dropping by to say that Maple and Blaz seem fine. It was good news to hear even if I knew it was unlikely anything would have happened to them. Still, my mind is a bit of a mess as it is.

I find myself paying far more attention to those around me, constantly checking for magical items and keeping my bracelet in mind at all times. It's tiring, in a way it reminds me of the past few times I've encountered Changelings, that familiar heightened paranoia that keeps me on my hooves.

Unlike the times before though I am somewhat calmer about things, mostly because I can deal with things better. My biggest concern is less about me and more about those I care for, they are the ones in real danger. This has added more stress to everything so I've taken some time to myself today.

That's another thing that has helped me cope better than before, I have somewhere truly safe and private I can go. I'm not just confined to my apartment, Gaia's Eden offers a safe space where I can actually feel safe. Don't get me wrong, my apartment is safe, but my mind tends to see things as threats when I'm like this, and sitting inside an enclosed space doesn't help.

I flip through a few pages of the notebook and start to think about everything yet again, just as I have several times before. I haven't really made much of a plan at the moment, but I've sorted my thoughts on everything to a degree. And honestly, I'm a little angry and annoyed at the moment.

My friends are in danger, maybe only partly but there is a threat, and it seems that one part of me is still VERY human. The part that has decided something other than the tribe is a threat and that can not be allowed to exist. That's not to say I'm violent, but if needed I would willingly become violent and it wouldn't be too hard to get me there.

It's lessening with time but I've been making sure not to bother others with my less-than-stellar attitude. I don't want to bother others unnecessarily, and I also need to actually act normal. I don't think anyone is watching me but I can't be completely sure so when I'm outside I've been acting normal, that is also why I've kept to my normal schedule.

Another thing that has helped me deal with it all is Stone, mainly him kicking the utter shit out of me. He basically demanded I come to practice with him and promptly didn't hold back in the least, he straight up humbled me. But he also let me hit back and work through my emotions.

We didn't talk much, mainly because I didn't feel like it and he seemed to accept that without batting an eye. I know he was mainly distracting me and giving me something to work on, and I appreciate that. I scribble out another idea and pull my mind to the events of that frankly shity day. I've gotten some more information from Celestia and it's slightly distressing.

As a start I now know what documents were stolen, Celestia found some backups to look through, she sent them to me along with an update to everything happening. Which has mainly been a very VERY thorough investigation of everything and everyone involved.

The documents were mostly about the Love Gatherer and some information we have been collecting about the Hiveless Changelings. Celestia mentions ordering some guards to go check on them and make sure nothing bad happens to them, they are innocent in this after all.

The information is somewhat problematic as some of it was about production, mostly transportation of items needed though to make Love Gatherers. For now Celestia settled for moving the production somewhere else entirely as fast as possible and making sure they aren't tracked while doing it. She really is working on this quickly.

The bad news is it will slow down production for a time but that can be dealt with and is acceptable from what she said. Lump Sum was also investigated and Stone was brought in for further questioning. Stone was fine but the situation around Lump Sum was concerning. I also sent a report the day after everything happened, actually, it was the first thing I did after waking up on my couch with Entropy.

Lump Sum claims to have no memory of anything out of the ordinary happening, he just spent a while talking with Stone and asking about some things while reminiscing on old times. Celestia's not sure what exactly was done to him but suspects it could be either a Memory spell of some kind or a Charm spell, both obviously illegal. That's just a theory though as she's not sure and doesn't have any proof beyond him not knowing anything.

That in and of itself is concerning but not a true problem, at least not right now. Mental magic might be illegal but since when has that stopped anyone? So, a Changeling having it is something I really should have thought of before now, luckily Celestia guessed my thoughts and sent me a spell to help with protecting the mind so I could defend myself if needed.

It's a pretty advanced spell and might actually be near a Master Rank spell and I'm focusing on learning it, it's a very complex spell though and it's going to take a while to learn fully. It also only helps protect the mind, it isn't foolproof and can fail in a few ways.

Honestly having it is nice even if Celestia thinks it is a little much. According to her, mental magic is very tricky and works best on the unaware or mentally unprepared, just knowing in advance makes such spells less effective on you, but she sent it to me anyway.

I'm not taking a single fucking chance and am very thankful she sent the spell with her message. Actually, I think she sent it so I wouldn't spend three weeks with little sleep trying to make one myself, it seems like something I would do right now. Finally, I got some news about the Changeling we captured.

They unsurprisingly have been uncooperative with questioning, but have claimed to be from Chrysalis's hive, I call bullshit on that. Sure Chrysalis has some motivation to do it but she already has a Changeling in the palace and could have tried to get the information in a less risky way.

She'd also lose the benefits and advantages of having us as an ally in the war she's currently fighting, she's also smart enough to not make a new enemy just as she's beating the first enemy she already has. Also, we might not be helping her fight but we are giving her food and places to gather food, on top of letting her move more freely than her enemy. Cascadia on the other hoof has far more reason to go after such information.

She definitely has some food problems and getting information on a way to gather love faster would be seen as a thing worth risking a raid on the palace. Furthermore, she could try and blame it on Chrysalis to drive a wedge between us. I sent a letter to Celestia saying as much and she agreed that it seemed more likely but also made a point that it could apply the other way around as well.

As for the other things like any leads in Stone's life or the Ponies around him, those are being investigated thoroughly as well. It turns out Stone was partly right, my files at the training center along with several other files of Ponies he works with and trains are missing. And more concerningly one of the Ponies he was training is also missing.

We're not sure if they were taken and replaced or just a complete fabrication from the start. The training center doesn't ask for much information beyond your name and appearance so it wouldn't be hard to sign up without many documents. And while taking my file they learned little, they did learn what I look like and my full name.

For now me and Stone are training at a new place a little further away just to be safe. My running theory is that this Changeling was probably spying on Stone for a while to learn about him before infiltrating the palace. Their reaction when running into me still seemed a little too accurate though.

Then again this was a professional Changeling who was highly skilled in both magic and infiltration, combine that with me not paying too much attention at the time and it wouldn't be too hard to trick me. It's not like I was hiding my expressions either, they probably were actually surprised to see me there though.

If they had been learning about Stone and the Ponies around them I wouldn't stand out, and then I show up at the palace where I would logically not be while they are on an important mission. Of course, they would investigate a little. It also means some Changelings might at least find me to be a known quantity now.

That's not to say they think I'm really important, but they also won't think that I am nopony important at all. Still, they only know I was in the palace for some reason, not why or how, that gives them little to work with. Even if you combine anything else they learned from spying on Stone it would be minimal.

On top of that, I'm likely not a high priority to them. I may be interesting but I'm still a relatively young and uninteresting Pony from the outside, the most interesting thing they would be able to find in my more public records is that I'm a healer. And that might actually work in my favor.

Being an apprentice under a Master healer shows I have skill for my age and it's not a stretch to think the guard would try to recruit me. I fit the physical build as well and even trained under a former guard so it would make sense. But until they try something I'll never know what they think or are planning, and so I remain on high alert.

My senses at least make it much easier to tell if I'm safe, I can scan an entire room in a moment and tell if anypony has jewelry on them. It's made me a little more calm in public, well that and me being able to teleport away or cut an attacker in half instantly. Turns out that having those as fallbacks makes you feel more capable of dealing with a situation.

I look down at my notebook and sigh. So many unknowns and far too few answers, at least everypony is safe for now and nopony died. But this all still leaves an important question, what am I going to do about this? Because I WILL be doing something about this.

First and foremost I need something to detect illusions more accurately. The bracelet's enchantment is great, it's passive and I can carry it around without suspicion, whereas my casting Scanning spells or cutting other Ponies is a little more noticeable. However, in situations where I just need to confirm if somepony is or isn't a changeling directly I need something better.

That leaves me where I am now. I've thought about everything long enough and frankly, I need something more to do to not go crazy endlessly thinking about this. With my mind made up I flip to a new page and activate my bracelet to look through what runes I have in my notes. I'll need to head back to my apartment and look through my full library later, but this is enough to start.

I glance over and look out of the shack I'm sitting in, I see the glow of the lava from the Mantle Bloom farm pierce through the heavy snowfall. I remember that I never got to give Celestia the good news or give her the seeds. That's for another day it seems, maybe when things are more calm.

She's very busy at the moment and needs time to work. I look down further to see Entropy happily resting in between my forelegs, sleeping soundly. She's not left me alone for a moment since that night and has insisted on playing with me or making me do something else instead of just thinking about everything again.

I smile a little and take a deep breath. Life may get rough, but maybe we will make it through the waves after all.

POV shift Stone.

I look at the simple metal comb my Daisy has just passed me. "So, he made this? Wait? He made combs?" I ask, a little confused.

The past few days have been odd, it reminds me of my first deployment, what a time. Still, that Colt, what can I even say about him at this point? He went from a large but quiet colt who never seemed to stop training and grew into one strong stallion, I feel some pride in that, even if I don't say it.

He's even been working on and making his own combat style, which nowadays is actually pretty effective, if a little sloppy. And now this, a secret I would have never guessed and a danger I would have never seen. It's equal parts interesting and actually scary.

Not just because somepony tried to break into the palace disguised as me, and succeeded to a degree from what I know, that alone is a problem. To mess with The Princess like that... I may be retired but I'm still a guard and it gives me a feeling of anger, anger that somepony even got close.

That anger is tempered well by all the things I've seen though, anger won't help here, not in the slightest. The Colt though, he seems to be doing ok, I think? Honestly, I'm not sure anymore. I can't say I've ever seen a Pony grow up with a secret identity and a working relationship with the crown.

His being Veil Winter is, well, plain frightening to a degree. I spent the last few days going over what he's made and everything is either life changing or massively useful. From drinking water to the light spell I've seen EVERYWHERE, he's done a lot, more than that actually.

That's just what I could find, what he showed the world. I know that colt well enough to say for certain he has a lot more he keeps close to his chest and never shows unless necessary. Personally I just feel pride, that colt has done a mountain of good for so many.

Still, this revelation brings a lot of questions to mind, mainly, what the actual buck! To keep all this secret and just say, nothing! I'm a guard and know the risks of fame better than most and even I would at least take credit. But this colt is just sitting in a small apartment seemingly content with a single one of his friends knowing.

He lives his life as if this doesn't exist, as if it doesn't matter. I would say it doesn't but his reaction from before tells a very different picture. He's spooked and not in a small way, and I can get why. I don't know what this is but I already know enough to not ask a damn thing about it unless I'm told to.

He seems to be in the middle of it though, or close enough to it. He got us to The Princesses office without hesitation! And worse still she seemed to fully agree that it was the right move. He could have told another guard or even the guard captain, but something about this needed Princess bucking Celestia's direct attention.

He's in deep with something, at least he's taking it seriously. I got him training hard with me at least, I know he would need something to distract him, I've seen that look on too many fresh guards not to look like that to not recognize it. My daisy nods slowly and takes the comb back from me as I focus up. She smiles fondly, "I might have had to bug him a little. And it was a fashion thing so you probably missed it."

I hum in agreement, that is not somewhere I really looked when researching Veil Winter, too much of it was just gossip and wasn't of any use. "How did you find out anyway?" She cutely tilts her ears as she combs out her mane. "His second job I mean," I add and she pauses for a moment.

She looks at her mirror for a long moment. "We were just talking at his apartment, when Princess Celestia's pet phoenix teleported into the room with a letter." I blink. He has direct contact with her? Huh, he also nearly used her name when we were talking last, it might have just been stress but I wonder how familiar he is with The Princess. Daisy gives me a sad look. "He basically had a panic attack, it was, messy." She laments.

She stops combing after a minute of silence and looks at me. "I never did ask too much about his second job, his first reaction made me, well I didn't want to see him like that again," I smirk a little at her kindness. "I did ask some stuff, small things mostly. After a while, I stopped though, his answers were always vague. I don't think that's his fault though."

I nod as looking back on it, many questions he answered were always truthful but not really helpful in explaining anything. "You think he's going to hold up fine? He looks rattled but seems ok. At least at training, he was focused." I remark as she settles in with me on the carpet, resting against my side and leaning into it.

She smiles some more. "I think so, it's better than before at least. And considering how extreme this was, I think he's doing well. We'll have to keep an eye on him though. Blaz is going to lose his marbles when he finds out." She giggles a bit and I huff out a small laugh as well. Blaz always was expressive.

We let the silence stretch on for a while as we enjoyed looking out the window at the snow falling down from the sky. "Ten bits says he's going to start making you all better gifts," I mumble out still remembering some of the things my daisy has shown me that were gifted to her by him.

He seems to always get something nice for them. She giggles again and shakes her head, "That's a fool's bet and you know it, and what makes you think he's not getting you anything nice?" She says back and lays her head on top of my foreleg like a pillow. "I do wonder what caused him to choose this in life. What made him think it was all worth it." She wonders out loud.

I smile as an answer comes to mind. "Either some really good or really bad luck, probably both at the same time." That earns me another adorable giggle.

Stay together Colt, I didn't watch you grow up just to see something like this break you.

POV shift Celestia.

I watch as my guards follow along with me, all of us descending many steps to head lower and lower.

The past few days have been a mix of worry and so many other emotions I would rather not have, and just when I thought the hard part of the year was over. I do hope Shade is doing well, maybe I should ask one of his friends? No, they are already going to be dealing with his secrets, they don't need a princess reaching out to them.

I guess I will have to take Shade at his word that he is doing well, something I do not fully believe. His mind is tough and from the letter he sent his friends are taking care of him. I will check on him when I have the time needed, for now, I must focus on making sure he remains unbothered.

He doesn't need to know I had the guard presence around the area he lives in raised, it's not as if I would move them if he did know, it was close enough to the library to not stand out in comparison. It may seem wasteful to have more guards patrol there just for him to be a little more safe, but with all the good he's done and the things he knows I can not allow him to be threatened.

I clench my jaw a little tighter at the thought and dismiss it from my mind. I would just have him stay here but he needs to feel at peace and home is the best place for that. As for the ones that cause this situation, that is its own concern. I have taken some measures but much is left to be done.

For all that though I must know who I am actually working against, who has decided to threaten my friend and my little Ponies. Maybe it was unintentional to get him involved, but at the moment I don't find myself caring as much, it still puts him in harm's way. Normally I could handle that, but this time is different.

Before it was fights and battles, things that Shade could mentally deal with better than even a lot of guards. Yet, despite his mental fortitude he was not ready to have his friends put in danger, and I can tell it weighed on him heavily that day. He is not as well equipped mentally to deal with that, he is unused to it and unprepared for it.

I am not. I know what it is like to have a friend in danger and to lose one as well, and even if Shade may... Fade. I WILL NOT let that be a moment too soon. I slowly breathe out as we descend deeper and regain control over my emotions, I find myself rather upset at what happened.

I'm not sure I've ever had a friend like Shade, one so close to me, and it seems I am not used to him being in danger either. Things are not all grim though, Shade had good timing and out of the many things that could have been stolen what was taken isn't too bad.

For a moment I remember how he looked that day, the tired almost resigned face. His secrets press down on him, I just wish I knew why. I know he holds great fear for something, or maybe someone? I have never thought about it too much but his past was not really written down, I don't know too much about his younger days.

Maybe he would be interested in sharing it if I told him more about my youth? Those times were less peaceful though, more dark. He has only seen the smaller parts of war, and while he has handled it beyond well for somepony his age, he has not seen all of the horror of war.

I would rather he never see it at all, but he may have to. I had hoped nopony would have to see conflict when so young, not like I have. A few words from something I once read pop into my mind, age has a weight to it, and it does. I shake my head a little and Captain Ash turns to me. "Your Highness?" A simple question.

I look over to her and smile, a smile always puts a Pony more at ease. "Nothing, just a thought," I reassure her as we step off the cold stone stairs and start down a well-lit stone hallway. Several metal doors leading to a magically reinforced and secured cells.

I stop at one cell door and look at the number above to make sure it is correct. "Your Highness, are you sure this is wise?" The question holds no ill will, only some trepidation. I can understand her worry, I have not done something like this as long as she's lived, much longer in fact.

I nod and a second later she passes over a metal key, the diamond embedded in it powering the enchantments used to open the lock. This prisoner is truthfully not dangerous enough to normally be here, but I will not allow any accidents. "Please keep watch." My only answer is a nod and the sound of guards moving as I insert the key into the lock.

I push open the door and step inside a rather simple cell, a bed, and some other basic amenities line the stone room. On the bed I see a Pony sleeping, even after two days they have kept their disguise up. I cast a Silence spell to not wake them and move freely, I summon a table and cushion to sit on facing the bed.

I unshrink my tea set from under my wing and start to make some tea quietly. Once it's done I place a steaming cup on the other side and pour myself one before dismissing the silence spell. A single tap of my metal-covered hoof on the stone is all it takes to wake them.

They jolt up and look around the small room quickly. Their eyes lock onto mine as I sip my tea and stare down at them. "Hello, I have some questions I'd like you to answer."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

First. I still need some reason for Shade's friends to let him give them protection, but I'm drawing a bit of a blank. I could come up with some bullshit, but I thought I'd ask first what you all think.

Second. I thought we could use some more context and explanations before having Shade talk to his friends, and I also wanted a Celestia POV.

I wanted to show that she doesn't just worry over Shade's well being, but she's actually willing to do something about it. That Changeling is in for an... Tense conversation.

Chapter 308

DEC 7 Friday.

I slowly sip my tea and try my best not to let my nervousness and worry get to me. I look over and see that Daisy and Stone are still just playing Go Fish.

They came over early, and now we're just waiting for Maple and Blaz to show up. The last few days have been relaxing in how normal they were, and as a bonus, I've had something to really focus on, namely the Mind Protection spell Celestia sent me a few days ago.

With over thirty runes involved and four rings, this spell is turning out to be something complicated. She did say it was complex and hard to learn, and it also costs a decent amount of magic to cast on yourself. The large upside is the time its effect lasts, nearly a full day if you cast it properly.

The spell has a few interesting things about it and a lot of the runes are ones I didn't know, not too surprising as this type of spell is in a legal gray area. By definition, it is mental magic that is outlawed but learning spells to defend against mental magic is a specific exception and is still legal.

It's not something you can get in any library and would be very hard to impossible to buy legally. It may be legal but a lot of the runes used could also be used for less legal spells and this sort of thing is normally heavily watched when it does go up for sale, however rarely that happens.

Anyway, the spell is by far the most complex spell I've ever learned and should be both good practice and a welcome addition to my collection. That and I'm just thankful to have something that helps protect my mind, it's something I've wanted but never had a good avenue to pursue it from.

I look up from my notes as Daisy looks over to me. They both insisted on coming over early and have been staying as support, something I am silently thankful for. "Hey, before they get here, how do you want to do this? You probably have a plan and you don't need us messing it up. Also, what are you working on?" She asks kindly as Entropy stretches a little to my side.

They are on the couch while I'm lying a few feet away on the carpet. I tilt my head a little, "I was going to ask both of you to hold off on any questions and let them go first, they are the ones going to be the most shocked after all." I reason and I see Stone nod while Daisy smiles in confirmation. "As for this? An advanced spell, it's going to take a week or two." I mumble out a vague explanation.

Daisy looks curious but does a double-take after a second. "Wait, if that's an advanced spell how long does it normally take you to learn a Journeypony spell? A week." I shake my head. "Oh come on! You can't say it's even less." She complains as Stone listens silently.

I choose to be completely honest with her, mostly because I have no real reason to lie to either of them. Some of my abilities and such are still going to be secret, but a lot of things around casting I can be much more honest about. It feels a little off that I can just, say it, but also nice in a way.

I think a part of it is me just not wanting to make up more lies. I don't really need to anymore, I can just tell them I can't talk about it and that's enough. It's still a bit of a struggle though, I spent the last three days mentally preparing myself for this and I'm still hesitating to answer Daisy.

After a long moment, I answer her slowly. "For an apprentice spell I can learn it in a day, Journeypony takes a few days depending on the spell and if I'm modifying it. Anything advanced is a week and up." I am blunt and she just looks at me in bewilderment before laughing a little. "Any other burning questions to get out of the way?" I ask curiously and try to keep the mood light and myself distracted.

I have some tension in me when talking about all this, but talking about it also helps. She thinks for a moment, "Actually ya, how rich are you?" I blink at that and Stone turns to me and seems interested in my reaction. "With all the stuff you've invented it's got to be a lot by now. I mean, unless you spend it on something?" She reasons out.

I sit there for a moment and try to recall the details, honestly, I don't keep close track of that at all. "I'm not sure?" They give me odd looks. "I buy things when I need them and I know I have enough to buy them, my expenses are small so I don't really pay attention to it." I again am honest and there is a moment of silence before Stone starts chuckling and Daisy just looks unsurprised.

"Oh come on! Really, Shade?" I raise a brow. "You couldn't even pretend to care? I mean who just sits on probably more bits than a noble and decides to do nothing with them? What do you buy that's actually expensive?" She asks as if trying to find some logic in everything.

I shrug a little. "I mostly make what I need, the expensive stuff is gems and anything I need made out of metal. Entropy's little band is made from highly magical wood and mithril." I give the only good example I have inside the room. "And I have a large amount of gems for projects," I add after a second.

Daisy just groans a bit but does look at Entropy with curiosity. "I've been meaning to ask about her. Are you fine, Entropy?" The smart bird caws a little in confirmation. Entropy is still pretending to be herself for the moment because I asked her to, she did seem rather excited about showing off her true form though. "Wait, where would you even put a project? I've seen your workroom and it's not large, there are also the plants you make." She adds.

I realize we are getting a little too deep into this for the moment. "The plant thing is complicated and for later, same with Entropy. I can say I do actually have somewhere I test things and store other stuff, mostly plants." I end without any real explanation.

Gaia's Eden is best kept very vague even with them, things there are far too secret and I don't need one of them to go looking. Mainly Daisy because I know she would try if she had some motivation too. Daisy rolls her eyes but doesn't argue, "Everything about you is complicated."

I huff a bit in good humor and try my best to remain grounded. The last week has really helped me mentally prepare for this, it also helped that I was close to telling them before all of this kicked off. I just wish it would have all come together under better circumstances.

There is a length of silence as I slowly pet Entropy and study this new spell, but eventually, I feel two Ponies walking up the stairs. I'm sure it's them when they stop on my floor and start walking over, I straighten up a bit and flip a switch under a plant pot in preparation.

They knock and I open the door without getting up, they both walk in as Daisy and Stone turn to them, with me being on the other side of the couch and out of sight. "Hey Stone, good to see you joining us." Blaz greets him happily as he walks in followed by Maple.

Maple places a pie on the countertop while Blaz walks over and around the couch to see me. "Colt, good to see you are still studying when you should be having fun." He starts off with a jab aimed at me and Stone and Daisy give them both happy greetings. "So, what do you all got planned? Got to be some reason you are all cozy already." He asks while taking a seat on the couch.

I chuckle a little and take comfort in the happy mood even if there is worry welling in my heart. "Nice to see you too, you old stallion. Hey, Maple." I add as she walks over and sits on the floor near the couch, all of us in something of a circle. "And I wish we had something fun planned, it would make tonight a little upbeat," I say with a little of my worry slipping out as a joke.

That catches their attention apparently as Blaz raises a brow and Maple looks over slightly curious. "Colt?" He asks and he turns to Daisy and Stone, who just motion back to me. "Ok, well something is still up, what did you do this time you mad colt?" He makes a joke out of it but doesn't hide the curiosity in his tone.

I sigh slowly and close my notebook before sitting up and moving a little back so they can all see me easily. "I have news, but to really do this right I need proof to start off with." When thinking about everything I decided that proof was the best thing to start with. "Name a color," I state.

My words and much more focused demeanor seem to make them realize this is a little more serious than normal. "Are you ok?" Maple asks bluntly, and I nod even if I'm not sure myself. "Pink." She decides for them and I nod again before casting a spell.

In a moment flat there is a basic light spell matrix in front of us. "Most of you probably know this spell, right?" I ask as those capable of using magic nod along. "Good, then you know it makes a small white light. Now watch closely, I don't like performing and I'm only doing this once." I say flatly and start my work. Modifying this should not take long at all.

At this point, I have their undivided attention and they watch on confused as I just start taking apart the spell matrix in the air. Remaking it might have taken me longer but modifying such a simple spell in such a simple way is easy for me. Still, I decided to make it slightly more impressive to prove my point better.

"What the- ..." Blaz mumbles as they watch me take the spell apart and change several numbers quickly while adding a little more math along with another rune. They watch me take apart the spell and put in additions before putting it all back together in two minutes flat. And then I cast the spell, "Wait!" Blaz tries to warn me but that's cut short. "What?" He mumbles as a small pink light sits in front of them slowly orbiting in a small circle.

There are several stunned moments of silence as they all look at the new spell in front of them. They look at me after a moment with curious and demanding eyes, I nod slowly. "No, I did not plan that. So, this is going to take a while to explain." I start off with a very sober tone.

They slowly recover from their shock and while Blaz looks pretty happy but also confused as hell. "Colt, that... Did you just, make a new spell?" I nod. "You did it! You always said you wanted to, how?!" He asks in jubilation at my apparent achievement. I'm slumped a little and even with my best efforts my tone seemed to make him and Maple concerned. "Are you really ok?" He asks more to himself than us, after quickly dismissing his celebration.

I sigh slowly. "I'm very nervous. This is going to take a while to explain, but I just want you to... I'm not sure." I finish oddly and Maple gives me a smile as if to try and help. "To start off with, those two know more because they learned it by accident, Stone much more recently."

They keep looking at me expectantly but with patience. "I've always had a lot of secrets, you know I don't like attention, at all." Blaz and Maple both nod as they remember the whole dancing incident. "I've kept a very big secret for a long time, years actually. And I'm going to tell you today." I say that last part with some noticeable hesitation.

Blaz looks over at Daisy. "Is he ok? This seems, forced? His business ain't ours." Daisy hums and Blaz looks back at me with a reassuring look. "That was absolutely amazing, and crazy. But you don't gotta tell us anything Colt, you know that, right?" His words are kind and he doesn't make any jokes, taking the sudden tone shift seriously.

Maple nods along with him in silent agreement. "Thank you, but this is important, and while I would have liked to do it at a different time and when I'm in a better mood. I need to do it now though, it's not as much of a choice anymore. Not to me." I say seriously and sit down on my flank. "To start, I've lied, a lot," I admit slowly.

Stone chimes in at this point and interrupts me. "He had a reason to, not a bad one either. I'd say don't hold it against him but I think the only one here really worried about that is him." He makes one of his rare jokes and that breaks some of the tension as Blaz chuckles softly.

They look back at me. "I need to explain a lot of things but to start. Another demonstration to start it all." I bring over a pot filled with dirt and have a single acorn on top, something I prepared earlier. After some thought I decided to show them my life affinity, mostly because I can't easily explain the plants I made as Veil Winter and because they are going to be keeping worse secrets, so what's one more?

They actually seem excited as I start, adding some life magic to the acorn. It sprouts and rapidly grows into a two-foot sapling in a minute while they all watch on almost transfixed by the sight. "Life affinity, the ability to manipulate and control life with magic," I reveal softly before moving the plant to the side.

Stone looks very intrigued and Blaz just laughs while Daisy smiles. Surprisingly Maple speaks up first, "So this is the secret? I suppose others could want that for themselves." She hits the nail on the head and her words get Blaz to realize it as well. "How long have you been doing, this?" She motions to the small sapling.

Blaz smiles widely at me, a mix of wonder and excitement. "Colt, you make no sense! Sure, why not add the ability to grow anything to the list of many MANY amazing things? And apparently the skills of a master spell crafter." He seems to be taking things in stride, Maple as well seemed very calm about this. "You know, it's nice to see you open up Colt, good on you." He encourages me with a happy tone.

I smile a bit and shake my head slightly as she's only half right. "For a while. Yes and no. This is how everything started. So, one plant I own is Blood Leaf Tea, if you know it?" Blaz and Daisy nod and the other two shake their heads. "It's a rare and very expensive magical tea that increases magical regeneration. Very useful, and I can make an endless amount."

Maple looks very thoughtful while Blaz just mumbles something about rich colts. "I never sold it, I don't like attention and only a Pony with my affinity could do this. After a while I had too much from growing it as practice, I didn't want to sell it so, I just sent it all to The Princess." That earns me several confused and shocked looks, and one excited stare from Daisy. "I sent it on the Summer Sun Celebration as a gift like many others, I did not expect to get a letter back."

They didn't stop me this time but their reaction was about what I expected. "This was all when I was around eleven. I got an invite, turns out I caught her interest." Their eyes widen more. "That was an interesting meeting, she is more intimidating than you'd assume." I make a small joke as I do find the difference between how they see her and how she is to be funny.

Blaz gets over his shock first. "Colt, are you telling us? You've met THE Princess, because if you are I think those gossipy newspapers might have been right." It takes all my will to not react to that and give him anything to work with, instead, I roll my eyes. "So what, you help grow magical plants? I mean, doing that for the crown, ya that's a good reason to not say anything." He speculates but holds no resentment in his tone, only curiosity and humor.

His joke gets a chuckle from them all and I sigh. "Again, yes and no. Either way, this is where my other demonstration comes into play. You all know I've wanted to work with spells, make and change them, and you saw I have skill in it as well." They nod. "I've been doing it for a while now, and at a much more advanced degree than you know."

Before they can ask anything I cast a spell and vanish from their sight, they jump a little and look around for a moment before I reappear a second later. "That is an advanced invisibility spell I made, not modified, made." I once again try to stress my point across as I get ready for the final reveal.

They all look surprised, Stone more so because of the spell itself. Blaz looks at me for a long moment. "First, stop being vague, it's making me impatient. Second, you've just been making spells? Wait... Plants?" He asks himself as if he just had an idea pop into his head. I stay silent for a long moment as he may have just guessed it outright.

I smile a bit. "I know, come on, this is the real secret. And I'll be blunt after that. Just, I'm sorry I lied so much." I tell him with an improved mood but a sobering statement. They have been mostly happy for me so far, celebrating my achievements. Well, Blaz has, Maple just keeps smiling at me and seems to be in thought about it all, that's normal for her though.

I walk over to my workroom and unlock the door, leaving it open so they can follow me in. They look around and looks of shock abound again as I sit in the middle of the room. "I make plants, I make spells, and I work on several other things. Nopony knows because I use a fake name. I, am, Veil Winter." I say with a large nervous smile as I try to enjoy their faces.

Maple's normal expression of stone breaks into full shock, one of the few times she's not held back her expression. And Blaz, he just laughs, like it's the funniest thing in the world. "By Celestia's SUN, you're what?!" He asks through his laughter and laughs even harder somehow. "Why by magic does that make sense?! HAHAHA!"

Daisy giggles a little and Stone smiles silently. Blaz laughs so hard he starts coughing and Maple looks at me in this mix of amazement and realization. Eventually, Maple speaks up as Blaz recovers from his fit, "My necklace, you made it? Even the spell, just for me?" I raise a brow as that seems like something unimportant, but I nod anyway. "Why now?" She asks suddenly.

That switches the mood a bit and I sigh. "That's where things get more complicated. First though, you probably have other questions, and while I can't answer everything I will try my best." I say with a more upbeat tone than before. They took it well, but they still don't know what I dragged them into yet.

Blaz looks at me and promptly complies. "You know, it really does make some sense. You never drew attention but always tried to help us whenever you could, I wondered why you didn't do that for others. But you were! Just not like I was expecting... Damn Colt, just when I thought your life might be boring." He says with a chuckle. "I know you don't like attention, is this why? Or, is it the other way around?"

I shrug a bit. "Both? I never liked attention, and being famous secretly didn't help, at all. That was never the plan, Ponies just took notice." I move to one side of the room and grab a small ruby. "Still, you're right, I like to help, and I do. Ya know? I thought it would be simple, just never tell anypony and it's like it doesn't exist, that did not work out." I walk back over to them and look at Maple.

She is silent and her expression has mostly gone to extreme curiosity. "What do you actually do? Do you have a job from the crown? Do you just make things and send them over?" She asks a few more good questions. "What do you want us to do now that we know?" She adds and I feel some weight from that question.

I look serious for a moment. "Once again yes and no. Veil Winter does have an official job as a researcher for the crown. In truth, I'm given a lot of freedom. Unless I'm sent something to work on I just do my own thing and send in my work, actually, I don't even really track anything after that." I comment as it seems a little funny to point out. "As for the second thing? Well, this is about why I'm telling you now."

Blaz tilts his head. "Huh, so you just sort of sit here and work, that's surprisingly mundane. What is all of this stuff?" He asks while looking around the room and the various shelves. "Scratch that, what are those letters?" He points to a crate full of letters bound together.

Everypony else looks over and I sigh after a moment. "Fan mail," I admit begrudgingly. I glare at them as they give me amused looks. "Those are the actually kind ones. I get a decent amount more, I burn anything I don't like or need." I state in a deadpan tone. "Like I said, this is my workshop. It has a little bit of everything, mostly gems and notes, also don't look at any documents, they might be classified." I add seriously. In truth, I already moved anything truly important to Gaia's Eden before this.

They all nod. "Now with the old stallion not having any more questions, there was an incident," I say and start to work on the small ruby I picked up as I talk. "I can't say much because calling it classified is an understatement, but-" That's as far as I get before Maple cuts me off quickly.

"Should you be telling us that?" she asks quickly with a slight frown. "That seems, bad. I mean, we don't work for the crown." She adds and makes a decent point, her small tone makes it clear she's not worried but just concerned for me. I already asked Celestia if it would be ok to tell them about all this and she gave me the green light, as long as I am vague about it.

I nod firmly as Blaz also looks a bit wary. "Yes, I got permission to tell you. I will stress you all to never tell anyone about this, EVER. The Veil Winter thing is complicated but this is..." I trail off as I enchant the small ruby to stay locked in the air with a stasis spell.

Maple shifts a bit at that, it seems the topic is a little concerning to her. Not that I can blame her, Daisy was also concerned and probably still is to some degree. And much like me Maple seems happy in her quiet life, something I would leave alone if I could.

They watch closely and Blaz waves a hoof. "I know she's not saying a thing and I ain't either. I've seen some young Ponies be scammed out of a lot in life, and no matter what you're doing you don't need trouble like that. I'll keep my trap shut." He says with his usual flare. "And just to say it, no need to stress Colt. I might have kept this a secret too in your place, this is, a lot. I couldn't be more proud." He adds with a large smirk on his face.

I smile wider after hearing that, I'd guessed as much but hearing it is nice. Maple also nods, "I know I would, dealing with other Ponies is annoying." She states with a kind undertone. "I'll make sure to watch the drunk so he doesn't spill anything." She says bluntly with a tiny smirk.

Blaz huffs and I place the gem down having finished enchanting it. "Thank you all, but if you need to, just ask and I'll let you yell at me about it." I again make a small joke, but it doesn't really land with them. "Ok, serious time. A week ago somepony broke into a secured location and stole several documents."

That apparently was not what they were expecting, three of them gave me looks of bewilderment. "Ya, that's normally not my problem. however, they were documents for something I've been working on, and that's as much as I can say on that." I made it clear I won't answer any questions about that topic.

Daisy looks concerned as she glances at Stone for a second, I guess he waited to see what I would tell them before sharing with Daisy. "The name on those documents was Veil Winter, and that means I'm now involved. And that means you are all involved to a degree." I let that sink in as they all look deeply thoughtful.

There is a caw from the side that breaks our attention for a moment. And suddenly nopony is thinking about my statement anymore. Instead, they all jump back a bit as a large crow made from pure shadow stands there a few feet to the side next to the doorway. "Hello!" Entropy says while waving a wing.

I sigh and rub the bridge of my nose. "Wait your turn, how hard is that? Why can nothing go to plan?"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

I realized that this wasn't the most emotional or personal, it was mostly just shocked faces and explanations. And I want to do this thoroughly, so you get two chapters for this.

See you all Monday, if you'll excuse me I need to replace my celling fan, boy is that going to be fun!

Chapter 309

DEC 7 Friday.

There was a palpable moment of silence before Stone summed it all up well. "What the fuck?"

I sigh again and walk over to Entropy with a slightly annoyed face. "Really? You couldn't wait? We talked about this." My tone is a little stern and she starts to shift on her feet and look at the floor for a moment, cawing softly. "You're not in trouble, but maybe think about a better way next time," I advised in a calmer tone as now was not the time to scold her for this.

The other four in the room finally seem to get their wits together and Daisy speaks up. "Is- Is that Entropy?" She asks in a confused and shocked tone. I nod slowly and pick Entropy up to place her on a shelf, mostly so she could be even height with us. "What?" She mimics Stone's words.

I glance over at Blaz and Maple and give them a waiting look, already expecting them to have something to say about this. Maple looks profoundly confused and a little wary of Entropy, while Blaz catches my eyes and shakes his head, "I got nothing for this, Colt, what and WHAT?!" He exclaims.

I rub the side of my muzzle for a second before turning to Entropy. "Well go on," I say and she tilts her head in confusion. I smile at her, "You came in and said hello, it's only right you introduce yourself." I tell her and fall into silence. It is putting her on the spot but I need some form of consequence and this also makes her use some manners.

She looks over to the other Ponies in the room and shuffles on her feet again, showing herself to be a little nervous. "Hello, am Entropy. Nice bird, no fear friends." She uses a few fewer words than would be preferred but at least she makes an effort to actually introduce herself.

I sigh again as they look at her with more shock and confusion. "Alright that's the best I'm getting. Come on, let's at least get somewhere more comfortable for all of this. And you behave yourself, we'll be talking about this later." Entropy chirps quietly but I smile and pet her. "You at least had some good timing, a good job breaking the tension." My added words cheer her up a bit as she rides my back.

I walk out into the main room and just slump onto the carpet while my friends follow silently and I place Entropy on the carpet with me. They stand there for a moment, "Ok, so. What was that? What is she? Is that... Normal?" Daisy asks as she is the first to sit down, slowly followed by everypony else just lying on the floor with me.

I shrug. "I think so? I'm honestly not sure." They just give me looks that show my words don't really help. "Ok, this is also going to take a while. I'll explain the other stuff later when we won't be interrupted." They all stay silent and I move Entropy to be in between my forelegs so they can see her well.

"To start, you have to understand something about life affinity. Magic of that affinity doesn't just affect plants, but ALL life." I emphasize and they seem to understand. "That means I can use it to boost healing spells, yes that is part of the reason I went into healing," I add seeing a few of them open their mouths.

Two close their mouths but Maple continues. "So, do you actually like healing?" I nod as I do, I also feel some guilt from her having to ask it but she just seems curious. "I guess that explains taking up healing as a hobby." She remarks and I shrug a little while motioning with a hoof for her to continue. "How good are you at life magic?" She asks a different question.

I quickly answer. "Plants I’m pretty good at, but I'm no master. When it comes to flesh and blood beings I'm nowhere near as good, they are very different and the latter is much more complicated." I turn to Daisy before they can ask anything else. "Also while that is how I got into healing, I do actually enjoy doing it. Now Daisy, do you remember the auction where I bought an odd egg?"

She blinks not really expecting it before looking down at entropy and gaining a look of realization, while the other three look confused. "I took him to three or four auctions when he was young. One had a lot of magical items, he bought an odd black egg from there. Is that?" She trails off and points to Entropy.

I nod. "Part of my affinity is that I know when something is alive or not, I knew her egg was alive and I got curious. So after getting her egg, I started adding life magic to it, trying to hatch it. And before you say anything, yes I did take precautions." I add before they can try to scold me.

Blaz still huffed a little. "I think I'm starting to realize he might not have bad luck, he just sticks his nose in things." He makes a small joke but it helps break through the confusion that engulfs the mood. "So, what is she? Like some kind of phoenix or something?" He asks curiously and they all look interested in my answer.

"No idea." He gives me an unimpressed look. "No I'm serious, I got permission to look through the royal library to try and find an answer. I even got help to try and find one, and still, nopony has absolutely any idea what she is." That causes several brows to rise.

There is a moment of silence so I continue. "After a while her egg started getting darker, and darker. In the end, it absorbs so much light that it looks like a hole in the world itself. Basically what she looks like right now without the mist. All I found out is that she's a Night Crow and is obviously very magical in nature, and even finding that name took a lot of effort and it's a best guess that the name is actually talking about Entropy's kind." I start in my lecturer tone and they don't interrupt me.

"When she hatched she was basically a normal crow from what I could tell. She had normal feathers and everything, the only difference was that she was smarter." I reach down to pet Entropy as I keep explaining. "Around two years old she started changing, her feathers growing darker and darker over time."

They all seem fascinated and it makes sense for a group of librarians, and Stone for his part just seems curious. Daisy raises a hood and I look at her oddly but nod, "Wait, so how smart is she? The way you've been talking and her talking earlier. It's like a little filly." She reasons and she gets to the truth unknowingly.

I tilt my ears a little. "She basically is." They once again give me confused stares. "I'll get to that. After a while, I had to start putting an illusion on her just to let her be seen outside. And a while later her feathers started becoming what they are now, very much like a phoenix they have feathers made from magic with only the spines being physical." I move one of Entropy's wings to be outstretched to show them what I mean.

I reach out with my space magic and grab a juniper berry from my little bush, catching Entropy's interest as her tail starts to wag. "And much like a phoenix she doesn't just look magical, care to demonstrate Girl?" I ask before throwing the berry into the air.

A second later they all flinch a little as she vanishes from the spot and teleports to catch the berry out of midair before landing and happily eating it. Daisy and Stone look a little less confused and probably realize what happened before, while Blaz and Maple look amazed. "She can just, teleport?!" Maple asks.

I smirk. "Yup, she is very helpful when you need to get around. She is also a complete menace when she wants to be." Entropy lets out an indignant squawk in protest. "Do I need to remind you which one of us started teleporting into the food cabinet, because I can tell that story instead if you want?" I offer in a cheery tone, causing her to quickly shake her head.

That actually earns me a few chuckles from them and Daisy smiles at the cute scene. Blaz also raises a hoof, "Huh, feels like I'm back in school. Seriously, how smart is she? Because I'm starting to think it's more than a normal crow by quite a bit. Also, I still say your luck is absurd, like come on!" He asks and I chuckle for a second, happy to have him breaking the tension.

By this point things have settled into a nice calm, and the shock of all this seems to be wearing off. They are probably collecting their thoughts on it all. I look over at Entropy for a second and she hops back over to lay on my side. "She's sapient, completely."

I get a few head tilts, but none of them are really as well-versed in plants and animals as me. "First, she speaks like that out of choice, she can form full sentences and speak well enough when she wants to. And second, she's about on par with a Pony of the same age, soon to be five years old. She is, as far as I can tell, as smart as a pony, I'm currently teaching her to read and hopefully write as well." I lay it out plainly.

I let that sink in and stay silent while bringing over my teapot from the counter, I'm getting thirsty after all of this talk. Daisy looks both amazed and a little concerned, "That's amazing, she's such a smart bird!" But she stops abruptly. "Wait, huh, hmm. That's not really nice, so, she's not a pet? Oh, that's." She mumbles more to herself than me.

Still, it seems she's grasped the main point of my words. "She is family to me," I answer simply and she smiles much more at that but still looks awkward. "Don't worry about how you acted or how you treated her, she's still young and I think to a point she doesn't really care. It is best to ask though, what do you think?" I ask Entropy.

She looks at them for a moment and chirps happily. "Friends nice, all still friends. No worry, you all been nice." She again uses fewer words than needed but speaks up again after a moment. "Daisy good friend, maybe use my name more. Please." She adds slowly after a moment and I smile in pride.

She's just set her own boundaries with someone else, it's a good thing and I look at Daisy as she stares back stunned. "Ahh, sure, ok. I'm your friend?" She asks hopefully and Entropy nods. "YES!! Don't worry, I'll call you by your name as much as you want, Entropy is a lovely name after all." She treats Entropy with a more adult tone, but not changing how she normally acts.

Blaz joins in and smiles widely. "Well don't you worry little filly, we'll do the same if you want?" He asks with a jovial expression. "I didn't think I'd get to have a foal around outside of my grandfoals... Wait?" He mumbles and looks between me and Entropy for a few moments before breaking out into uproarious laughter.

We all look at him for a few seconds before I just continue while he gets whatever he found funny out of his system. "After a while, I was able to get Entropy's band made. It's enchanted with an illusion she can turn off and on whenever she likes, and more recently I made a second illusion spell, a physical one so she could be touched while disguised." I continue to explain over Blaz's laughter.

We all seem to collectively ignore him for the moment. Maple looks at the little band, "So, that's why she's letting us pet her now?" She asks. Entropy has been letting my other friends pet her, just not as much as Daisy. I nod, "Good." She remarks simply and smiles a bit more.

"Ok, well, it's a little more than just an illusion. She also gets a say in who touches her and she doesn't like strangers doing it." I add as Entropy still doesn't let anyone pet her when we are out and about. I look over with everypony else as Blaz finally calms down and tapers off, "I know I'm going to regret asking, but what's so funny this time?" I tempt fate with my question.

He gives me a beaming smile. "You have a foal, you are a sire! Congratulations!!" I open my muzzle to dismiss his words, but he's not completely wrong. I'm not entirely sure how Entropy sees me. I once explained to her what family was, or at least what I think family is, and she did say I was family but we never clarified.

His words cause the others to look at me and Entropy for a few moments before smiles and held in laughter abound among them. I blank out a bit and just sort of shrug after several moments. Daisy beams again and squeals a bit, "By Celestia that's perfect, Shade and his little filly!" I groan a bit at both the use of my friend's name and the new teasing method they have just made. "I am so proud!"

Stone just nods like any of this makes sense while Maple giggles softly. "He did scold her like a sire earlier for interrupting, do you think he's a good sire Entropy?" She asks and I have to cut them off by that point. I do feel fairly awkward about the topic as it's really not something I've given much thought to either.

I look down at Entropy and smile at her. "We're family, anything beyond that is our choice. And do keep in mind she is young." I add, it might not help my case about acting like a father, but she is young and doesn't need any pressure about this kind of decision.

Entropy tilts her head a bit and doesn't say anything for a few moments, Maple looks a little awkward as she realizes that might have been a little much. "Family, know he family, that enough." Entropy finally says and I can tell she's actually thinking about it more, something we'll need to talk about later.

Maple nods and looks at me and Entropy. "Sorry. Your family is right, you didn't need to answer if you didn't want to." Maple says the second part to Entropy and Entropy seems happy about the words. She caws a little and in a moment vanishes, reappearing next to Maple who jerks a bit in surprise.

Entropy looks up at the normally expressionless Pony and enters into some kind of odd staring contest for several long moments before walking up and rubbing against one of Maple's hooves. "Pets." She demands and gets what she wants after a moment. "Feel nice, thank you."

Maple seems to be experiencing the feel of Entropy's feathers while my other friends watch on amused. I sigh for what must be the thousandth time this week, "I guess I'll need to look into how other Ponies deal with adoption. Well, any questions that don't involve something I have no answer to?" I ask trying to change the subject.

Blaz gives me a large smile. "Ahh, I remember being a sire, the craziest thing I've ever done, no regrets though." He laughs a little and gives me a more serious look. "You ever need help with her, you come calling, I'm not asking." He states rather bluntly and I just nod. "Good, you've done well though, better than I did!" He makes a joke out of himself to lighten the mood once again.

He seems to have made that his job tonight to just help keep things light, or maybe that's just who he is. Stone speaks up, "True, I've never had foals but I have a younger brother and know it all well enough. We're all here if you need help." The others nodding as well.

I smile at them in silent thanks for their support. Stone continues, "Back to what this is all about, I can fill in some gaps for you three." That gets their attention. "Like him, I can't say much of anything, but I think it's best you take his worry over somepony stealing those documents seriously." He finally brings us back to the main topic.

His words and tone seem to sober us all up and they turn back to me. "It's not that bad, but I am concerned. The risk to you all is pretty small at the moment, but it IS THERE. Look, I'm sorry for getting you all into this, I really am. It's a mess from start to finish and I got you all in it." I just got it out as I've been waiting to say that for a week now.

I get kind looks back and it seems they have no intention of holding this against me. Blaz chuckles as he often does, "Colt, you are literally saving more lives than I can imagine. I mean, just the Light spell alone is amazing, I can't imagine going back to a candle. Now stop being so mopey and cheer up! We get to tease you in so many new ways now." He adds with a look that says he's going to do just that.

Daisy nods happily and looks over at Entropy like she wants to take her from Maple and shower her in affection. "He's right, you've done some amazing things and basically don't seem to care about the positives. So we will have to care about it for you." She decides to move over to sit next to Maple and lays down to look at Entropy from the same level. "Can I pet you?" Her answer is an excited caw and Entropy scooting over to get some more attention.

Maple leaves Entropy alone for the moment and nods along with the rest. "You've been nice and kind, and to go this far to keep it from affecting us? It shows you care." Her words are simple but mean a lot. "I am taking full advantage as a friend, I want a good Hearth's Warming gift." She demands in a tone most would think is serious but I know her enough to tell it's not.

I lower my head and chuckle to myself, feeling most of my doubts dissolve away after hearing that. "For such good friends? I would be happy to. To finish my point though, I do have something of a request. For your safety and my sanity, you all know I worry a lot, and this?" I trail off as they seem to get the point.

I move over to the small ruby I enchanted earlier and activate it. I let go and it locks in place midair while a one-foot shield extends around it. "I'd like to set up a magical shield around each of your homes and also give you all something enchanted to shield you when needed." I make the offer with a slightly hopeful tone.

Blaz shrugs. "Yup, that seems about right for you, I'd call you paranoid like before, but... Sure? I can't see why not? I'd say the shield inside the library is a lot but I'll take your word for it, it's not like it's hard." He agrees without really needing to think about it. "What will this actually look like though?" He asks a good question and I stand up for a moment to walk over to my workroom.

They watch me leave with thoughtful faces and I come back with a medium-sized diamond. "For where you live it would be something like this. The shield would protect everything in your homes and keep anything out. I could also add something small like soundproofing if you want it." I ignore the way Daisy's ears jump a little.

I show my wooden bracelet to them. "For personal protection, I'm thinking of something like a bracelet, or a necklace. I can get them done soon but I'd at least like to set up the shields within the next week. They will be simple but will need some instruction, I'll also write instructions for it." I think about it and add that as they might need it.

Blaz nods along with Stone and Maple. Daisy thinks for a moment, "Can you add anything more beyond the soundproofing? Also, where should these go? Do we need something like a specific location? Can we move them around?" She asks a few relevant questions and I just move the large gem I have to the side.

I sit up and stretch a bit while answering. "A lot, but it would depend on what you want. You can all write ideas down for when I come over. Fair warning though, I am good but not perfect at my craft, so don't expect a miracle. They can go anywhere inside, you can even embed them in the floor if you want."

A few of them glance down and I give them a deadpan look. "No I didn't do that, mine are in the workroom. The bracelets will take a little longer, the shields are mostly so you can sleep safely." That earns me some slightly concerned looks. "I know I said nothing bad should happen, but that doesn't mean I'm right. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best." I add some of my own wisdom.

That seems it and Maple stands up after a second. "Show us something." I raise a brow at that and she upturns her lips a tiny bit. "You took over our game night for this, I demand something in exchange." She makes a blatant statement and I look at her for a moment before chuckling.

I think for a moment and try to think of something that might be interesting to look at. "I have been working on my bedroom for a bit, and it's a pretty interesting sight. Come on then, let's go see my madness." I say with a laugh that has a comically evil flare to it. The mood is now about where it was before all of this began, and it's a nice comfort to see that.

They all follow me and Daisy also picks up Entropy to place the bird on her back and follow along. There are some exclamations of surprise and interest as they walk into my bedroom and stare at the ceiling. "Wow, even the gem is placed nicely." He looks at the diamond-shaped sapphire floating and spinning on its small table.

They look up at the ceiling as it reflects the twilight of the sky outside this room. This is one thing I've put a lot of work into when I didn't feel like working on other projects or stressing over the future. It's been a simple thing that I've enjoyed doing quite a lot.

The illusion on my bedroom ceiling is now basically complete. I did turn it off for a few days when I first made it because the rapid switch was something of a nuisance, I've kept it on after fixing that though. The switch from day to night and back again is now a full gradient with a sunset and sunrise mixed in.

I've also started the long process of adding in stars, mostly constellations from my crude star maps along with more from just observing the night sky. It's not accurate to the real thing but the major constellations are in roughly the right places and it all works well. I've even gotten it to have about as much detail as the real sky for both day and night, as long as you don't look at it up close.

"I want this," Maple states bluntly and stares at me expectantly. I just look back confused for a moment, "It's nice, I want one." She seems pretty set on it and actually gives me a slightly pleading look. "My room is plain, this would fix it." She reminds me of it to make a valid point.

I just shrug. "Sure? I didn't even explain though." She motions for me to do just that. "I like waking up to the sky but I have no windows here, so I made my own sky. It moves with the actual day and night and mirrors it, it only looks like this because it's near the end of the day. Actually." I cast a spell to check the time. "Give it a minute."

Time moves on as we all wait for a little, and just as expected the sun rapidly sets, and as the moon rises in its place. The ceiling above us shifts to match the sight outside and I cast a magical light in the now darker room. "There we go, just on time. I'm still working on the stars though, they are difficult."

I turn over and see Maple staring at me intently. "You are making me this, I'm not asking." She demands in a flat tone. I hold in a small chuckle, not used to her acting like this but glad she likes it. I walk out of my bedroom with them following, Maple being the last to leave the room, almost reluctant.

"I can do it, it's not hard to copy it all. It won't be much better than this one though, maybe a little off too as I have to remake the illusions." I explain as I bring over some games from a shelf. "So now that I've caved to Daisy's and Maple's demands, anypony up for some actual games?" I offer.

Maple seems to get an idea again and looks at me intently. "Or, you could make that illusion while we all talk and watch?" She counter offers and looks over to the other Ponies. They all nod and smile at the idea, and honestly, it sounds interesting and probably fun to work on something as we all actually enjoy the night.

I laugh at the united front they put on. "Fine, but I'm counting this as a Hearth's Warming gift so you are getting it then." She narrows her eyes but seems to accept that. "Good to know you like sky-themed things, now, ruby or sapphire? We'll need a gem to work with. We can even see what you'd all like in a shield." I add as they all seem open to the idea of having one.

In the end, I seem to have once again worried too much for too little, It's good to have friends.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. :}
Current year is 996

I thought it would be a nice touch to give Maple something else she likes. I also added the whole family thing so I can see where that goes later.

Next time! On, what the fuck just happened! More! SLICE! OF! LIFE!

Ps, I got the new fan in, it is much better and I am very happy. And me working with two others only needed two and a half hours to do it. We only needed to improvise twice. And most impressive of all, we only needed to take it apart again two times because we messed something up. It was certainly one of the days of all time.

Pss, because I couldn't do anything big for 1M, I updated the map of Gaia's Eden for you all.

Chapter 310

DEC 15 Saturday.

I exhale slowly and meditate with Entropy doing her best to copy me.

The last week has been a mix of talking with my friends and visiting their homes to set up a shield for each of them. Making them was easy, and even if it took a fair few of my larger gems it was completely worth it, and gems might be much less of a problem soon anyway.

The shields work the same as mine and I also added some instructions like I said I would. It was interesting to see where Stone lived as well, it turns out he has a small plain apartment a few blocks away. I'm not really surprised his home looked like it was empty, he is a guard after all.

Setting up the shield for them all was easy enough and adding whatever else they wanted only took a little extra time. Only two of them asked me to add anything, the first being Daisy with soundproofing. And Maple asked for that as well along with something to keep sound out, which was easily added.

I did also finish Maple's demand of a gift. I had a lot of spare time recently as I've decided to put any spell work to the side for the rest of the year. I'm still learning the spell Celestia sent me and the spells Clear Water wants me to learn, but anything beyond that is put off for the next few weeks.

I need time to relax and after checking in with my last friend I finally can. That friend being Avalon, who is currently not even in Equestria. Turns out much like before he decided to take a lengthy vacation to be with his family, he actually left before any of this happened and I only got his letter about it two days after I talked with my friends.

I'll need to also explain everything to him as I did with the others when he gets back, we might not be as close as my older friends that I see more often but I know I can trust him due to the simple fact that he trusts me. He trusted me with the secret of publishing the prosthetics and I think he'd do the same for me.

He should also be safe for now, nothing out of the ordinary is happening around me and I'm not being spied on. But even if I am being watched in some way, him being at a distance for now might be the safest place there is from this mess. He's taking a fairly long trip this time as well so that's even better, he said he'll be back at the end of January at the latest.

I do wish him luck, he seemed to have some problems with his family but maybe he can work those out. Speaking of family I've talked a bit with Entropy about that and she seemed understandably uncertain. She said we are family, and I agree with that wholeheartedly, but she seems to need time to think.

Not that I disagree, she should think long and hard about it. That and her continued practice with shadow magic is why we are both sitting under the pavilion at Gaia's Eden meditating. "Try to feel the shadows around you, the way they are cast, and the space they take up. Concentrate on them, how they look, how they move." I advise as I do much the same with life magic.

I find meditating on nothing to be rather hard, but meditating on something very intensely to be much easier in contrast. She sits next to me without moving and we both stay silent in the small sounds of the afternoon forest around us. Another reason we are here is to wait for Celestia.

It seems that she's finally found some time to meet up, I can't blame her for taking this long with everything she likely needed to do. It feels like so much more than just two weeks, but I suppose that's how things like this always go, much faster or slower than you'd think.

We sit in silence until a timer goes off and I open my eyes to the small chiming sound. I look over and see her still sitting there concentrating, "You should take breaks and limit your time, but if you want to keep going you can." I give some gentle advice as I stand up and look over the area.

She chirps a little and stays still so I just put on my saddlebags and move away so she has the quiet she needs. Over the past year I've been giving her more choices like that, things I don't recommend doing but am willing to let her do anyway. Much like I did she'll realize it's best to take breaks, but she seems to want to learn that on her own.

I walk over to the Mantle Bloom and put on Wolf's Grace to step into the air and get a better look at the plant. I still haven't grown it any more than when I started, it sticks a few inches out of the lava with a six-inch thick body and many small leaves covering it like a spiked bat.

I have noticed the amount of lava drop a little over time, I think the plant is using it to naturally grow bigger, if true it means it can grow here without my help and should be stable. I have taken the time to add some more boulders slowly and also collected more seeds, but most of my time is learning about the Mantle Bloom's magical flows.

It is completely different from a normal plant and the flows inside move three to four times faster than a normal plant as well. It's made learning its flows hard and time-consuming, I am making progress though, and with me growing seeds to make sure I have backups I've gotten a nice stockpile.

In the back of the seed vault, there is now another Golden Oak box with a few dozen gem seeds all packed inside. I also still have the two I planned to give to Celestia, and it seems I'll actually get to do that soon. After looking over the Mantle Bloom for a few moments I leave it alone and head to the seed vault to check on my other odd addition to my collection.

The magical items I bought in Rain River City have mostly sat inside my shack untouched but the odd red seeds I found have been a source of increasing fascination. I walk into my seed vault and grab the small Golden Oak box they are kept in before opening it and looking them over.

Over time they have continued to change in the same odd way. Their magical flows have kept growing and over time they have increased in complexity. I have no idea what they are doing and by this point, I'm almost tempted to plant one and find out, but I've kept that temptation to the side for now.

They seem to be a highly magical plant from the way they are acting and I don't want to risk them. Still, it's taking so long for them to do anything, and even with them growing stronger their rate of growth has only increased slightly. I feed each of them the right amount of life magic to help them without overwhelming their still weak magical flows before putting them back in the box.

Keeping them in the field of the Vita Tree also seems to have sped things up a small bit, but depending on how complex these seeds get it might be a while before I can try to grow one. I make a few notes and start to walk out again, pausing for a second as I feel the familiar sensation of space warping.

I do the same and in a second I compress and move space, forming a string and stepping through a Spatial Doorway. I formed the string to go through the crack under the door and lead outside. I close my eyes as the visual sensation can be a little messy and I slide a small bit as I reappear outside, now thirty feet away from the seed vault.

I open my eyes and see Celestia standing next to the pavilion with an excited Entropy already standing on her back. I walk over with a smile and hear them as I get closer, "Well aren't you happy, did things go well with your friends?" She asks kindly but I can tell she seems a little tired.

Entropy happily chirps back. "Yes! All good friends and all be nice. Even got to show them- ..." She pauses as she can't seem to think of the right word. She settles for just flashing her wings, "Show them shadows." She makes something up on the spot and I chuckle as I walk closer.

They both turn to me and I nod in greeting while taking out my teapot. "Good to see you, I hope things are still ok, well, as ok as they can be. And yes the meeting went well, there was much surprise and shock, but things are fine." I let my tone carry some relief and happiness, I really am thankful they took it all well, next game night is going to be so bad though.

She smiles back and walks over before lying down on the carpet with me while I start making some tea. "To you both as well, and I am glad to hear that." Her tone is calm and steady, with a hint of something else underneath it. "As for everything that happened?" She trails off a bit and starts to the side.

Her smile gets much wider and she looks excited as she looks over at the pool of lava suspended in the air. "Is that?" She asks excitedly and I nod back. "Hmm, it will have to wait a minute. To be quick, nothing really has happened, we were able to confirm from the Changeling we captured that Cascadia's hive was behind this. We have also not informed Chrysalis of what transpired, but she mostly likely knows something happened. And the investigation is slowly progressing." She gives me a quick update and looks at the lava intently.

She also passes me several papers from under her wing, I glance at them and just put them away for now. She looks like she needs a distraction and it seems there isn't too much to talk about when it comes to this topic. "Here, an early gift, with the condition you give me a copy of any notes you make," I say with a smile as I pass over the box.

She looks at it and barely hesitates before ripping into the brown paper and revealing the nice Gold Oak wood box. She opens it slowly and has a beaming smile as she takes out one of the seeds, "Does this mean you actually got it to grow?" I nod and she places the seed back quickly. "Show me?" She asks hopefully and I stand up wordlessly with her excitedly following my lead.

We walk side by side and as we near the Mantle Bloom, I spend a moment casting a Flame Shield spell on both of us, causing her to raise a brow. "The inside can get pretty uncomfortably warm, not enough to hurt you but not pleasant either," I explain as I cross the first shield. "It also prevents those flaming flowers from landing on you, that's not pleasant either," I grumble a little at that.

She giggles and nods as we walk past the Fire Trees and approach the underside of the inner shield. "Absolutely astounding! A full root structure along with the same combination of gem types." She says in a fascinated tone and I can tell I've done my job of distracting her. "Have you had any problems with the spells so far?" She asks as she takes out some paper to make her own notes.

I shake my head and feel the plant's life magic move in complex patterns. "None, the trees and gems seem to be holding up fine, I do have to be careful not to add too much rock at once. Also, don't be afraid to break those ones, I have a lot more." I added and she carried the box I gave her.

She looks down at it and seems curious. "Hmm, have you tried enchanting them?" I nod and take out some notes on that as I knew she'd want them. She reads over the simple notes for a minute, "I'll need to test them quite a bit to know how good they are compared to normal gems, but even doing this. It's... Beautiful!" She stares up seemingly transfixed. "Have you tried cutting one?"

I tilt my head and shake it. "No, but we can try? I have a few dozen of the things and it only takes some time to grow more. I'll go grab one, here, in case you want to look from the top." I toss her Wolf's Grace and start to trot over to my seed vault again, leaving her and Entropy alone.

It only takes me a minute to grab a seed and trot back over, and at that point, I quickly decide the snow-covered ground is very interesting. I try to not think about it as Celestia walks through the air above me looking over the Mantle Bloom, the angle not working in my favor in the slightest as she stands on very much empty air.

I take a few deep breaths and try to ignore something my body really wants me to think about while waiting for her to come back down. She does after a few moments and takes off the necklace with a smile, "It works well, a good artifact." She says and passes it back, definitely noticing my slight blush but not questioning it.

I ignore my blush as well and move the seed to float in front of us. "I guess just at the halfway point?" she shrugs a bit and I move the seed a good dozen feet away before focusing on my space magic. After a second there is a very soft popping sound, so soft you would question even hearing it.

A second later the gem is cut cleanly into two pieces and I wait a few moments. Celestia looks over to me expectantly, almost impatient to see the inside. I smirk at her improved mood, "I'm waiting to see if it would explode, I'm not taking that chance with my luck." I say deadpan and get a giggle in return. After a few more seconds I move the two pieces of gem over to me slowly and pull them apart fully.

We both look closely as the pieces are moved near as we see the inside, and it's rather odd. The outermost layer is made from the perfectly clear gem and the inside is the same deep ruby red. But below even that there is a core to the gem that is an even deeper red, much like very thick blood or maybe old rose petals.

I pass one half to her and she takes out her glasses from under her wing before putting them on. "Hmm, it is odd how it seems to make layers. Can you cut a slice off on this side please?" She motions to the side where I made the first cut and holds the gem seed still.

I flex my magic and will again and there is another quiet pop as a half-inch thick slab of the seed is cut off giving a nice section to look at. She holds it up to the light and I notice that the sunlight seems to pass through only the clear and lighter red layers, the core blocks the light completely.

"I wonder if the layers have different properties? They likely don't count as separate gems, you can see the small lines where they mesh slightly with each other." She holds in near me and after a little focusing I see what she means. At the points where the different gems meet, it seems like an abrupt shift, but there are actually many tiny crystal growths where the different layers have grown into each other slightly.

I nod and look at the section of gem I have, I think for a moment before cutting off my own piece. The gem seeds are formed in a natural diamond shape with eight sides to them, which also means that the sides are completely flat. With flat sides, it's easy to get the right angle and cut them apart.

I compress space along one flat side of the gem and try my best to cut off a pure piece of only the clear layer. There is another pop and I take the layer off before looking at it for a moment, "Welp, I guess we have to start somewhere, and one test is always the first." I take a moment and look for a small rock nearby in the snow.

The snow is thick so it takes me a moment to find two rocks but once I do I place the clear layer on top of one rock and hit the top of the flat gem with the other. Celestia glances up from her piece of gem just in time to watch the clear piece shatter into many smaller pieces from the blow.

I make a note of the force I used. "Ok, the clear layer is not very durable, seems to be about the same as a ruby from what I can tell," I say and turn to her to see Celestia's eyes narrowed at me. I blink and shift my ears back a bit, "In my defense, it is important we know how tough they are before filling them with magic." I quickly thought of a reason I decided to break something with a rock out of curiosity.

She stares at me for a moment longer and sighs while dropping her expression. "At least warn me next time so I can cast a shield around you when you break something and it goes wrong." She stated flatly and I just nod, although it's clear she's not angry and more annoyed at me breaking a gem. "You might as well test the other layers, and get me samples of each while you are at it."

I'm touched by the concern but just focused on her request so I don't make her more annoyed. I really need to remember she doesn't like me breaking gems. I spend a minute making several small cuts and start to peel back all four sides of the gem piece I have.

I cut off the other three pieces of clear gem and then cut off the ruby-colored layer, leaving the core exposed and pristine. I cut off some of the core and gave it to Celestia along with a piece of the other two layers before proceeding with the perfect test.

She actually watches closely as I place a ruby-colored piece down so it's flat and use about the same force to hit it with the rock. This time though the gem only cracks and chips some, largely staying in one piece, I do what is natural and hit it again, and again.

With each hit the gem breaks more and by the fifth hit the gem completely fails and shatters into several larger pieces and many tiny shards. "Huh, so it is more durable, or maybe just more dense?" I take a moment to hold a piece of clear gem in one hoof and a piece of ruby-colored gem in my other. The red gem feels almost five times heavier and Celestia does the same with the pieces I have her. "Definitely more dense, what about the core then?"

I repeat my test with the core and as I hold it in my hoof to move it I notice it feels like most of the weight of the gem seed must be in the core alone. I take my rocks and use the same force again, but this time there is hard resistance and only a few scratches are made. I hit it several times before stopping and picking it up to closely look over the core.

The rocks have several chips and breaks from the force used but after wiping the gem off it's seemingly unharmed beyond the small scratches. "Ok, this is really tough stuff. And heavy, does a gem's density help with anything?" I ask, not really being sure about the answer and deciding to take advantage of the expert next to me.

She also looks highly intrigued by the lack of damage and inspects the core closely, she seems to be excited in general about all of this. She's constantly making notes and that smile has barely left her face. "A few do I believe, but those are mostly nonstandard magical gems, then again I'm not sure if this is a magical gem." She pauses for a second and her horn light up as she casts a spell on the gems she has.

She takes out some paper and looks over the results of whatever she just cast. "Hmm, the result was indeterminate. If they are magical they aren't a full affinity gem, they are half attuned." I flip through my mind for a moment before remembering that term in the book she wrote.

Attuning is the process gems go through to become an affinity gem, and while I know there are ways to test it I don't know them. To simplify, over time a gem absorbs magic and changes from the type of magic around it. However, not all gems reach the point where they cross the threshold between a regular gem and an affinity gem.

As you can imagine observing something that can take decades at best is hard and the fact that most gems are buried doesn't help so little is known about the process and I haven't really looked into it either. Maybe I should look into that more when I get the chance. "Is it close to becoming one?" She shakes her head. "Unfortunate. Still, the possibility of it even being achievable to grow a gem like that is, absurd."

She nods with that same excited and focused smile. "It is. This is so, fascinating! That gem's durability alone would keep me busy for weeks of study, let alone all of this." She spends a moment wrapping all the gem pieces in some cloth she takes out and adds them to the box I gave her. "Thank you, Shade, I think you've just topped every other gift you've gotten me." She says with a beaming smile, pun intended.

I smile back just as much. "You're the one who helped me so much, so I should really be thanking you. Thank you." She rolls her eyes a little. "If you need more just ask, or just grab a few from the seed vault. You know? I don't think the Mantle Bloom stem I have has any of the really dark red gems. Is it just the seeds?" I ponder as I walk back over to the pavilion for my tea.

She follows along and also thinks it over. "Possibly, maybe the outer layers are just protection? But they are weaker, maybe something like fruit?" She puts up some loose theories as we settle back in and Entropy jumps over to sit on the small table in between us. "I'll try my best to test a few things and look into it, it will be a nice change. Now, how have you been?" She changes the subject bluntly.

I let the mood settle and take a few drinks of tea to relax before taking out my chess set and setting it up twelve pieces at a time. "Well, like I said, things went surprisingly well. Avalon is on a long vacation so I'll have to talk to him when I next can. As for everything that was talked about, it was, a lot." I sag a little and get comfortable.

She shows a more relaxed smile and sips her tea while starting our game. "It is good to have reliable and kind Ponies around. It can make a world of difference." I can't help but feel like she means that as a compliment, but I ignore that thought as it seems off. "Anything interesting happen? It seems the world likes dropping things on you while you are having an... Let's call it an interesting day." She says with some humor.

I huff but she's not wrong that it happens to me a lot. "Thankfully no. Entropy did decide to make her own introductions though." I glance over and see Entropy act a little embarrassed while Celestia giggles softly. "Things went really well, not much else to be said. Although, I do get to be a lot more fun with my gifts. Hmm, I also need to get some bracelets for them." I remind myself of the need. "And I already set up shields on all of their homes, so that's nice to not worry about."

She gives me a knowing look. "You always worry over others so much, I'd say you don't worry over yourself enough, but you can take care of yourself." She remarks and after a moment quickly ends our first game as I make a rather bad starter move. She looks over at Entropy, "And how are you doing? Doing well?" She asks in a kind tone.

Entropy chirps excitedly but goes still after a second. That only lasts a moment as her shadows start to shift into a point forming a ball. Celestia looks surprised and Entropy stops before cawing excitedly, "Shadow magic!"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I know it's been slow but I couldn't get this done in one chapter so you get two.

I have not had ice-cream in months, I'm going to go eat a ice-cream sandwich. That is all.

Chapter 311

DEC 15 Saturday.

Celestia stares at Entropy for a few moments before breaking out into a fit of giggles that becomes full laughter after a second.

I smile at the scene, it seems Entropy really does have a talent for disrupting everything while also utterly annihilating any mood present. "I think I need to teach you how to use that properly, surprises are nice but it's far more fun when you know how to make some proper chaos." I say with an amused tone while reaching over to pet her.

Celestia settles down quickly enough and smiles at us. "As long as she doesn't take anything too far, then again she is young and the young tend to be wild." She moves a piece on the board and looks up to me. "So what was that? Have you been teaching her something new? Or is that something she found on her own?" She asks curiously as she settles back in.

I look at Entropy but she seems happy with her job so far, so I sigh a little and start to explain. "Well, Entropy's getting older and she's been needing something to do. She can't really do much with just wings and talons, so I tried to see if she could manipulate her shadow-like mist to try and remedy the problem." I start to explain while Entropy seems proud of her achievement.

Celestia nods and stops me from speaking further. "You used her mist as a base then? To give something to latch onto and work off of?" I raise a brow at her very good guess. She smiles more with an understanding look, "A good place to start, with the many I have taught I find it's best to start with a visible change and move from there. Has she taken to it well?" She shares her wisdom on the matter.

I sometimes forget she's taught a great many Ponies and actually might be able to help me if I asked. "Exactly. Magic is not limited so I'm hoping she can start moving things with shadows, eventually." I add seeing the stare Entropy is giving me. "For now she lacks control though, I've even been teaching her meditation to help with that. She also took to the ability very well, I think it was always there, just not something we'd know to look for."

Celestia gives Entropy a proud teacher smile and nods. "Again a good place to start off with, and I can't see why it wouldn't be possible. I've seen a few beings with similar affinities do such things, although I'm not sure it was the same affinity, It can be almost impossible to tell at times." I perk up and make a mental note of that fact.

She looks over Entropy for a few seconds. "It would make sense for such an ability to be there unnoticed. Philomena was similar with her fire, it took time for her to have any control over it." I decided to make an actual note of that while moving a piece on the chess board. "What type of practice has she been doing?"

Before I can answer, Entropy speaks up. "Concentrate, compress, control, repeat." She says in a somewhat deadpan tone as she repeats something I said to her before. Celestia looks amused but nods in thought, "Any way to do better?" Entropy asks back after a moment.

Celestia seems to think for several moments before answering. "I assume you are taking the shadow magic around you and turning it into a ball like before?" Entropy bobs her head. "For now Shade is right that you need good control before advancing. But when you can, try to form threads, they are simple in structure and versatile in use." She advises happily and seems pleased to teach Entropy. "Her control was half decent as is, how long has she been working on it?"

I think for a moment. "We started the last day of September, so two and a half months so far." She raises a brow in surprise and I chuckle. "Like I said it seems to come naturally to her, it's just not something we tried before. On a related but different note, what are you thinking about for your birthday?" I ask Entropy softly.

Celestia smiles more and also turns to Entropy, who freezes in realization and thought. "Big fish?" I chuckle again and nod before motioning her to continue. "Need to think, don't know. What can do?" She says after a long silence and she sounds a little confused, it takes me a moment to realize I sort of dropped this on her without context.

I smile widely and pet her again. "We have plenty of time. And we can do anything you like, a party, or maybe a gift you'd like?" I make some suggestions and try my best to actually make it clear she can ask for things. "Maybe invite some friends and have fun with them?" I added after a second. "Think about it," I say softly and try to come off as patient.

Entropy looks off into empty space and it seems I've fully distracted her from what we were talking about, and after a second she chirps softly and flies off to go think. Celestia looks at me questioningly. "I normally throw her a little party with just the two of us. I make a large meal for her and give her some small gifts, but she's getting older and I need to remember that." I have a little awkwardness in my tone as I just realized I never explained birthdays to Entropy before and she's never been to one, I'll need to talk to her later.

Celestia keeps her warm smile. "You are doing very well." I look up from the board confused. "I have long since lost count of the number of parents and foals I have seen. For somepony that did not even plan for such a thing let alone at your age, you are doing very well with her." She says honestly and with an encouraging tone.

I smile a bit but still feel awkward at the praise. "Parents might not be completely correct. Entropy is still undecided about that all, although my friends took the advantage to happily point that out to me. It's odd but I never really thought about it before then, I just knew she was family." I explain slowly.

Like always Celestia doesn't judge and just accepts my words. "Sometimes we are so blind to the things in life closest to us, and family is one of the things that is often the closest of all." I can hear a weight to those words. "What do you think? If she wanted you to be her sire? What then?" She asks a rather hard question.

I continue to play the game in silence for a few minutes as I think about that, and she gives me all the time I need. It is something that has crossed my mind, and honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about it. To a point, little would really change, but it would in some ways and that is odd, not necessarily good or bad, just odd.

Being a parent to another living being, not just in action but in name as well. I am basically a parent or guardian at the moment, especially when it comes to providing for Entropy and teaching her. Yet at the same time her seeing me as a father is something so odd to me. I don't even really know what family is and being a part of that is so outside of anything I know.

"I don't know," I answered after a long stretch of silence. "I know I love her and she is family, of that I am completely certain." I say with conviction. "I don't really know about families though, what does being a sire mean?" I question myself and use her as a sounding board.

Yet she answers anyway. "I don't think it really matters what a sire means to others." I blink and lock eyes with her as she looks down at me with a comforting stare. "Family means so much in so many ways, and I think that is amazing. It means you can have a family in many different ways, all of them molded by the world around them." She gets somewhat philosophical but I get her point.

She looks across the snowy forest and the endless expanse of white and brown with small bits of green mixed in. "No, you need blunt guidance here." She drops the philosophically. "I think you shouldn't worry about what others see as family and more about making the family you have happy. If she wanted to call you sire and doing so would make her happy, would you let her?" Celestia is more blunt and forward in her words.

I let that sink in for a few long moments. Yes, I think I would. Celestia is as always good at giving advice. Entropy IS my family, no matter what names are used, and would a name change really change that much? Maybe, but would that be a bad thing? I don't know. She looks at my expression, "It seems you both have a lot to think about then, don't rush it, and if you need advice I will always listen." She makes an open-ended offer.

I take a deep breath and nod, moving the topic to the side in my mind but not ignoring it. "I really got more than I ever bargained for when buying her egg, I don't regret a moment of it though," I state more to myself than her and make another move losing the match.

She sees I'm moving on from the topic and doesn't question it further. "How have things been with Master Clear Water? From what I remember you have spoken well of her so far." I'm thankful for the topic change and remember I've told her about Clear Water a little.

"Clear Water is interesting, not very expressive or emotional, but that's to be expected when it comes to healing. She is a genuinely amazing teacher though." I am honest with my words as Clear Water has taught me a lot over the last few months. "My main concern at the moment is actually Stone. He's really ramped things up after everything happened." I complain a little.

The first week I thought he was just going harder to help me work through the stress I was under, but the training session after my talk with my friends proved that idea wrong. He beat the hell out of me and showed that he is still very much more skilled than me when it comes to a blade.

I obviously asked why the hell he's doing this and his answer was simple. You work for the crown the princess, and I won't have you slacking while doing so. And after that, he continued to beat new methods of attack and defense into me. "Turns out he took me working for you as a excuse to up my training, I blame you." I say in a flat tone.

Celestia just laughs in my face like the demon she truly is. "Oh, I think that was rather expected." I tilt my head a little. "I looked over his file as he was involved in everything, he is still respected for training some of the best Ponies currently in the palace guard. You picked a very good trainer." She takes my pain and somehow finds a compliment in there.

She's not wrong, Stone is one tough and hard bastard, but he sure as hell knows what he is doing. I sigh, "Funnily enough I didn't look for him. I was practicing spells at a range and he noticed me, after that he wanted to test me a bit and he made the offer." I explain not really having anything else to say.

She hums. "Your luck truly is an odd thing, one moment you have the most amazing discoveries or simply great fortune in finding something. The next moment you are fighting dragons and uncovering wars, and losing to old stallions." She adds with some amusement as I mock glare at her. "It makes me wonder why?" She asks but it's clearly rhetorical.

I huff. "I'd love to know as well, and then there is whatever is up with my cutie mark. You know? I never did ask about that, what do you know about cutie marks?" I ask curiously as it seems like as good a time as any to talk about it. And she cranes her neck to look at my cutie mark.

She looks it over for a moment and shrugs a little. "Not much, honestly it is one of the great mysteries and I've never truly gotten much of a hint at it." She says with a level tone. "There are many interesting things about them I know, for instance, yours is curious as it is one of the few that has more detail than most do. I have no idea as to why though." If she does actually know anything it's clear she's not going to share.

I nod slowly and after a moment start to draw out a few runes, the four runes I know match the ones on my cutie mark. She looks confused for a moment, "These aren't from my cutie mark, I found them in spells and other records, and yet they are a perfect match." I reveal slowly and make sure to watch her reaction closely.

She still looks confused but after a moment of staring at the runes, she stands up and walks to my side, inspecting my cutie mark closely. A few thoughts flash through my head as she moves her head down to get a close look but I squash them. "That... Hmm." She sounds genuinely confused about the topic.

I wait awkwardly for a minute as she actually makes a note and moves back to sit down and take off her glasses. "I will admit I've never seen something like this before. I've seen everything from various symbols and art styles all the way to actual letters, but never a full depiction of a rune." She says slowly and seems a little lost in thought. "What are these runes for?"

I take a piece of paper from her and she also holds out the quill she was using. "I can get you the Runic Context later, but I do know what the runes represent. One for wind, water, earth, and imbue. And before you ask, I have no idea what any of this is about, I do know my cutie mark helps with all runic magic, but that's the only connection I can find." I am blunt and honest but she knows I have secrets and sometimes lie.

She nods and looks over my drawings as I copy over the runes. "You just always have something out of the ordinary going on, don't you? This, I don't even know where to start, I remember seeing your cutie mark many times but I always thought it was just more detailed. Like I said you are far from the first in that category... This can't be a spell, it makes no sense at all if it was." She reaches the same conclusion I long ago did.

I am a little disappointed she doesn't know or isn't sharing anything about it, but she is just a Pony and some things are best left alone. "I did actually try to enchant a gem with it once." She raises a brow. "It exploded, didn't even make any effect, just cracked the gem and detonated," I explain calmly as I remember that rather odd experiment. "I have noticed one other thing, all the runes I've found are old, the newest being over a few hundred years ago."

She looks at the drawings I gave her again before nodding. "They do have some styles common in older runes, a few are much older than the rest. Have you tried looking for more of them? Although, I suppose it's not that simple." I nod as she answers herself quickly. "I can look into them if you like, this is all just... Odd. It seems you've given me plenty to do beyond work." She says with a teasing expression.

I just shrug. "Well I'm glad I at least make a good distraction, that is what I'm good at after all." I joke back and spend a moment looking over the game before making another move and actually win the game. She narrows her eyes a bit and I smirk back, "We'll call that another half-point, it makes everything more even." I compromised as she was distracted.

She laughs after a second. "Very well, nine hundred and thirty-one to fifteen it is." It's not a massive victory but it's another step up. "Maybe I'll celebrate at one thousand? Do you think I could find something like a large chess piece for a trophy?" It's clear she's just messing with me but I don't mind.

I reach out with my magic, growing wood up from the floor and slowly forming a large queen piece with a stand under it. She looks thoroughly amused as I decompose some wood to detach it from the floor and take out my dagger to carve a little. "Maybe not, but I sure can. You'll have to earn it though and I'm not making it easy." I say knowing damn well she is getting this thing soon enough.

I spend a moment carving some text into the square wooden base. Congratulations on one thousand lucky victories. I happily place it down on the small table where we often play. She gives me a small glare at the wording but still laughs while reading it, "I suppose I will have to win it properly then, it wouldn't be satisfying otherwise. I think it will be perfect for my office."

I can't tell if she's joking or not but it's not like I could stop her if she is serious. She looks at the floor for a moment, "Can you make a wooden mug?" I give her a confused look but nod and do as she asks. It takes little time for me to grow a mug from the White Oak floor and make it sized for her. It also looks like it's made from twisting roots just for detail. She smiles, "Even on something so small you take the time to make it look nice, thank you."

I shrug because why not? I can and it takes only a little extra effort. I detach the large mug from the wooden floor and pass it over, "So why the mug? Unless you just wanted something sized for yourself for once-" I trail off as I watch the grown mare with a baffled expression.

I watch as she picks up my mostly full teapot and opens the top before pouring the entire thing into her new mug. She smirks as she takes some tea leaves out of my saddlebags and starts to make more tea while taking a large drink from the mug. "Perfect, tea cups just don't let you truly quench your thirst."

I stare confused for a few more seconds before breaking down laughing at the sight of Celestia just unabashedly drinking from a large mug happily. Of all the Ponies I never would have thought I'd see her do that, she glares down at me as I keep laughing. "As much as I like teacups and fancy glasses, they are often, small." She actually seemed a bit embarrassed about my laughing and tried to defend her actions.

I wave it off with a large grin. "That I can agree with. I mostly use them because I got them with the teapot." I reason and don't hold it against her. "It's nice seeing you be so, relaxed," I add but stop as I didn't mean to say that out loud, I quickly recover though, and take back my teapot as it starts to boil. "I'm going to need a bigger teapot if you use that though." I tease her a little to cover up my slip.

She looks a little surprised and her ears jump up a little, but in the end, she huffs at my teasing. "I would think you could just make one, although wood may not work well for that." She changes the subject a little and takes another drink, this one more modest. "It is nice, thank you." She says after a few seconds.

I continue to make the tea and nod. "Sure, it's not hard." I brush it off and try to think of something else to talk about. "Where is Philomena? I just realized you didn't bring her with you. I can't feel her anywhere around Gaia's Eden either." She pauses in taking another drink and looks off to the Vita Tree where Entropy is sleeping in the branches.

"Her burning day is near, and I thought it best Entropy not see her in such a state. As I have done the last few times it's happened." She says softly, trying to be quiet and not be overheard. I've learned a little about a Phoenixes burning day but the topic is not well known like many other things, what I did find was rather uninformative.

She sees my curious expression and grins. "I know more about it than most, there are also a few books I could send to you that would be interesting. Either way, the point stands, Philomena will take a while to recover so you may wish to spend more time entertaining Entropy." She advises and I nod in agreement.

"She should be fine, with her nature being revealed game nights are something she can actually participate in. I'm going to teach her poker, and how to cheat at poker." She gives me an unamused look and it feels like something pinches my ear. "Ow! Hey, jokes are fine!" I defend myself.

She huffs, "Jokes in good taste, no poker." She doesn't even word it as a request. "At least not now." I blink at that and she smirks. "Having that skill can be useful, but not now." She admits and I nearly start laughing again after hearing that. "That is a good idea though, maybe try to find some games she likes as well?" She drops the demanding tone.

I reach up and rub my ear with a light glare sent her way. "I can work with that." Her eyes focused again. "If I've learned one thing, Celestia, it's that anypony will gamble on anything... Ow!" I deserve that one a little for tempting fate but she still just takes a drink from her mug while watching me rub my other ear. "Fair," I admit.

She nods in satisfaction, there is a long minute of silence as both of us just relax and focus on the game for a moment. "What was growing up in an orphanage like, if you don't mind me asking?" She says while giving me a clear way to turn her questions down, not that I would.

I tilt my head and motion with my hoof in a so-so manner, this isn't the first time she's asked after all, but I try to think of a new answer this time. "Boring, I guess? Not much to really be said about it. I think the only really interesting things were how I got my cutie mark and my field." I pick something up to emphasize. "It was peaceful though, if a little too repetitive," I answer honestly.

She slowly moves a piece. "I do find it rather inspiring and motivating that you came from such a place and rose here." She says and I look at her in surprise as if to ask her if she's serious. "I believe anypony can do anything, but for some, it is certainly easier to achieve such things. You have worked so very hard to make all of this, so yes it is inspiring to me." She says that with confidence I don't think I'd be able to match.

I just take the compliment in the end as she seems resolute. "I think that's what I don't like about fame. Something like that feels so meaningful from a friend but from others?" I trail off and leave that topic alone. "What was your early life like, if you're willing to talk about it?" I am gentle as Nightmare Night wasn't long ago.

She goes silent for a moment and shakes her head a little. "I would like to tell you about it, I will even, but... I don't think I wish to now, sorry." I shake my head in turn as she has nothing to be sorry for.

The silence is awkward for a minute before I break it. "Well, Cadance got you to help her prank me, nice one by the way. So why not do the same for me?" She perks up some and I smirk evilly. "I've been thinking about some small spells, and I have an idea."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

Just more talking, and the birb getting thoughtful.

Chapter 312

DEC 21 Friday.

I slowly look over the gift boxes and smile.

After some thought and talking with Entropy about what parties for Ponies her age are normally like she ended up making an interesting choice. She wanted to mostly do the same thing as the years before with the two of us, although she did ask for Philomena to join in.

I sent a letter to Celestia and got one back a few days later saying Philomena couldn't come over sadly. Entropy was a bit sad but I just said Philomena would visit when she can and Entropy seemed fine with that. From what Celestia said phoenixes take some time after their burning day to feel better, sometimes it takes weeks to fully recover. She also sent along a few book suggestions for Phoenixes that I'll be looking into.

As is becoming tradition I have bought and will be cooking a rather large bass, along with getting her the gifts she asked for. Most of them were small things like a few toys and it took my help for her to really think of something she would want. One thing that stood out was that she wanted a set of paints to draw with.

She might only have her talons but painting is still possible, so I was happy to buy a set of paints along with plenty of paper for her. Although I had to have Daisy look after Entropy while I went shopping for the gifts so it would be an actual surprise.

Daisy for her part was happy to play with and entertain Entropy for a few hours along with putting up decorations for the quickly approaching holiday. On that same topic, I have all my gifts ready for everyone, and in the end, I sadly didn't have enough time to make some great gifts.

For Maple, I was able to make a simple lamp like I planned. Made from some maple wood and with a cube-shaped small sapphire in the top to glow when needed. I did add some maple trees carved into the wood for more detail but it is a rather simple gift. That's made up for by the illusion I made her along with a simple card holder made from White Oak.

Daisy was actually simple, I made her a Prismatic Rose bush with a Companion Vine to keep it healthy. I also decided to get her some paints as is normal, mostly because I saw them at the market and they looked nice. I didn't get her too much but I can make something else for her when she asks or go bigger next year.

Next up is Stone, and he's getting a weapon, yup. After a little shopping, I found a rather good-looking short sword with a few rubies embedded in it. It's just regular steel and decent gems but that was more than enough to add some enchantments. I may have gone a little overboard on those.

I added my custom-made Sharpening spell along with a spell for durability on both the blade and sheath. Sure it's nothing massive but I know he'll like having a fancy weapon that actually does something instead of just looking nice. I also got him some chocolate for good measure.

Then there is Blaz, who gets a nice cloak along with an enchanted diamond. Again it's a simple gift but I thought it would be nice and convenient for a Pony without magic. The diamond is enchanted to stay in place so he can just let it sit midair and it also has a Light spell on it. I sent him off with his gifts when he left to visit family like he planned to.

With it, he can just place the thing at any angle or location he wants and light up the area. The diamond is only a small pure one but it's more than enough to make the effects passive and never need to be recharged. And the cloak is simply a slightly fancy one with good quality.

Next up is Twilight and Shining. I still write letters to Twilight every one or two weeks and while we don't meet too often we talk a lot through our writing. She's a friend if a slightly distant one, but we always enjoy the time we have when we do meet up.

For gifts, I'm sending over one of the books I bought in Rain River city. I bought two of them and one is enchanted to stay closed, I want to study those enchantments some. The other book has a gem in it but is unenchanted and blank, I thought it would be a good gift to send to her.

She can enchant it as she wishes or have somepony else enchant it for her, and having a cool book seemed like it would fit her tastes. I did also get some simple gems for Spike, and a nice wooden carving of the library building for either of them. That last one might seem odd but it only took me a little while to make and I think she'd like it and Spike can burn it if nothing else.

Twilight really is a friend but I don't know her well enough to get better gifts and with how busy she is with her studies it would be hard to deepen our friendship beyond letters and occasional hangouts. Still, I am happy to be her friend and I think to some extent I might have helped in some way by doing that.

For Shining I got a bunch of my drawings on different creatures and plants I've seen along with some horror books I thought he might like. The drawings are because he mentioned he actually runs an Ogres & Oubliettes game with a few guards he knows. Apparently, it's something the guards like as they have downtime together often enough. Either way, I thought the drawings would be a nice addition.

Finally, we have the big two. I chuckle a bit at that thought knowing full well I'd never dare to say it out loud. For Cadance I've spent a little time modifying another tree for her. This time I changed a Cherry Blossom tree to have heart-shaped leaves and flowers, all in pink and red colors. Along with a nice drawing of Shining in his armor.

It was fun to draw from a few sketches I made before when he and I were resting after training. Again Cadance is only getting simple gifts, but they have meaning to them so I think she'll like them. Finally, there is Celestia, the hardest one of all. I got her the gem seeds so that was a good start but the perfect solution ended up being the most obvious one.

I ended up growing a small Mantle Bloom flower and it was interesting to grow as I had to try and limit its size for my idea to work. It proved to be surprisingly hard to control the Mantle Bloom's growth but I was still able to do it without too much difficulty, even if limiting growth is one of the most basic methods it was still harder than it should have been. At least it proves I can control the plant's growth to some extent, but I can test that more another day.

After making the flower I took the small music box I bought and looked it over by taking off the cover. It really is just a normal music box with a metal piece that turns to make the noise as it spins, and a small gem to make it spin. The song is a simple tune and is pleasant to listen to, something I think she'd like.

I added the small Mantle Bloom flower to the top and carved out a spot in the wooded inside to place a small diamond. The music box doesn't have anything moving on the outside when it's playing and the only reason it's in a box seems to be to protect the delicate metal and gem inside.

There is a space in between the top of the lid and the musical mechanism though, just enough space to fit the small crystal flower while still being able to close the box. So with the tiny diamond, I linked it to the activation gem for the music and had the small flower spin in place when it was turned on.

It's a nice personal gift, even if I didn't make everything myself. I hum a little as Entropy sleeps on her perch with a birthday hat loosely sitting on her head. I spent all of this morning playing with her and after that, I took her to the park to play around in the snow for a while.

Because of the physical illusion, she was able to fully run around and roll in the snow, even dropping some on me as a little prank. After that, we came home and spent a while simply reading, and she demanded some time to practice her magic. She eventually tired herself out and is resting now.

I cast a Silence spell on her so I could get the food ready and set out her gifts without waking her. I get up slowly and leave her gifts on the table before moving over to the kitchen, but before I can start I sense somepony walking down the hallway. I keep an eye on it as a precaution but don't really care, I do however care when they stop in front of my door.

I pause and tense a bit, after everything that's happened I'm still on edge and I don't recognize this Pony's body shape or size. I wait for a moment before they knock on my door and I slowly move over. I open my door slightly and make sure to not let Entropy enter their sight. A mare pegasus standing there with a package greets me. "Hello Sir, are you one..." She looks at a piece of paper, "Shade Evergreen?" She asks and seems to be relaxed and professional.

I notice she has a full pair of full saddlebags along with a clipboard. I nod slowly and she smiles, "Perfect, I got a delivery from Avalon Tesis for you, direct delivery too." She adds after looking over her clipboard and I relax a little. It's odd he'd send me something through a courier but I take the clipboard and sign it silently. She takes it back with a smile and passes me a small package and letter, "Thank you, have a good day Sir." With that, she walks off and I close my door.

I place the package to the side and cast a magical shield on it while watching the mare leave the building before turning to the small package. Avalon did mention in his last letter to me that he would be sending a gift around Hearth's Warming, but I thought he'd use the regular mail system.

Then again the regular mail is imperfect and much like the mail in my last world things get lost or end up somewhere they aren't supposed to be sometimes. That's why I'm always careful about what I send through the mail, just to be safe. I keep the letter inside the shield as I open it.

Hey Shade.

This should be reaching you around the holidays, or a bit earlier if the carrier I left it with is going to be very busy on the holidays. Also don't worry about anything this courier was one I worked with before and they know what they are doing. But, I did make sure this letter didn't have anything unnecessary in it.

I just wanted to send this along as a thank you. You've done a lot for me the past few years and, well, it just means a lot. Sorry, I'm not the best at this. The gift should be to your liking though, I hope it is at least. Consider it thanks for everything you've done for me, and more.

I'll see you soon and would be happy to meet up, maybe at the end of February if that works for you? Either way, I hope you like it and have a good Hearth's Warming.

I smile at the letter and wait a moment before taking it out of the shield and placing it to the side. After a long moment, I take the package and place it in the corner under an overpowered shield spell. I trust Avalon but not the Pony he asked to deliver this, so I'll just watch it for a bit and wait, it's not like I'd be opening it now anyway.

I leave that alone and head back to the kitchen with a renewed smile and mood. I still need to think up a gift for him but I have some more time for that so no need to rush. Although, I could add something to his bracelet as a start? I also still need to do that as well.

Their homes are shielded but I'd like to get some good bracelets for my friends and I want high-quality ones. So I sent a letter to Metal Quake a week ago, well I sent it to the guild and they sent it to her, now that everything is more settled I realized she was my best option for this. I got a letter back saying she was on break until a week after the new year but could see me then and sent me a time and date.

That's fine by me as it gives me time to make a good shield spell to go along with the bracelets. I shake my head a bit and focus on the food preparation. I take out the bass I bought yesterday and start to take out the guts and descale it with a kitchen knife while also preparing a few other things like potatoes and Red Root. I get the fish mostly ready by the time something else interrupts me.

Yet another Pony at my door but this one I recognize and happily walk over to the door and wait a few seconds, once my bracelet doesn't react I open my door to see Daisy. "Hey, need something?" I ask as she glances at Entropy on her perch, Entropy has no disguise as I didn't feel the need to wake her up for that. Daisy smiles more at the sight of Entropy sleeping.

"I just wanted to ask when her birthday was." I tilt my head a little as she speaks softly. "I remember you mentioning it was soon, do you have anything planned?" She asks curiously and after a second I open the door fully while flipping a hidden switch and stepping to the side to let her in. "Thanks." she nods and walks inside as I close the door behind her.

I nod back. "No need to be quiet, she's under a Silence spell," I explain and pause a little. "Also, I'm cooking. It's messy." I warn her and she glances over at the scaled and half-cut-up fish for a second before wrinkling her muzzle. "Ya, like I said, messy. And, uh, it's today." I say slowly.

She blinks and seems to completely forget about the fish to glare at me. "And you didn't tell me?!" She demands, suddenly sounding annoyed. "I could have at least gotten a gift! You better have gotten her something good." She warns and I back up half a step as she moves close to me with narrowed eyes.

I back up more. "Sorry! Sorry!" I say quickly. "It's not too big of a deal, you can still get her something and she didn't ask for anything from you." I try to reason but her eyes narrow more. "Fine, I should have told you. Seriously though, the only one she wanted to invite was... A friend." I trail off a little and she raises a brow and I panic a bit. "Sunny has a pet dove," I say the first thing that comes to mind but nearly curse myself after realizing what I said.

At least my words stopped her from looking annoyed, instead, she now looked very interested and started giving me that damn smile again. "Well, are they coming over then?" She asks and I shake my head a little too quickly. "Well, why not?" She demands of me.

I actually thought for a second before answering. "Her dove was sick and is still recovering. They couldn't make it. It's not bad though, this is how we normally celebrate her birthday." I motion to the fish. "I spent the day doing what she wanted and with your help, I have some good gifts to go along with the fish. That's all for her by the way, she normally finishes it within a meal or two." I chuckle a little at the memory hoping to get Daisy off of the other topic.

Daisy knows what I'm doing but seems to let it go, for now. She registers my words a second later and looks at the fish with some distaste before looking at Entropy. "At least you're doing a good job, did you offer to invite others? And wait, she can eat all THAT?" She turns from the fish but points to it with a hoof.

I nod. "I did this before because she was young, this year I let her plan it with me. Normally it's just me making her a large meal and some gifts. I'm not sure she really knew what to do this year and mostly kept things the same. Like I said she only invited one other. And yes, two sittings at most, she is a monster." I say that last part in a deadpan tone.

Daisy rolls her eyes but she hasn't seen the things I have. She looks over at Entropy again and pauses for a moment before giggling, "That is, adorable! Did you make that for her?" I nod as she seems to have spotted the small birthday hat Entropy has. "Well, good job on being a sire." She teases me a little and moves to the door.

The smell of raw fish seems to be annoying her as well and I can tell she doesn't like the sight either, so I walk her to the door quickly. "You all really aren't going to give that up, are you?" She smiles widely and shakes her head while I sigh. "I'll see you in a few days, I'll be there with the gifts," I say as a goodbye.

She opens the door and nods before glancing back at Entropy. "Tell her happy birthday for me, and make sure she brings her hat." With that Daisy closes the door and I sigh again remembering the small top hat she gave Entropy. It's not something Entropy wears often but she still seems to like it.

I go back to cooking after that and let my thoughts wander to something else Celestia mentioned in her recent letter to me. She talked a little about the gems I had given her and for ease of use has decided to name them, although she said they were temporary names.

She decided to name them because as far as she can tell each layer of the Mantle Bloom seed is made of a unique kind of gem not known to anypony. She hasn't been experimenting with them much but has spent some time trying to identify and test some basic things.

The clear outer layer she's named Crystal Air, mostly due to the lightness of the gem. The ruby red layer she's named Rose Gemstone seemed fitting and works with the color. The final one she didn't have a fancy name for and just referred to it as Gem Core. She actually asked me if I had any name suggestions, she must have really just named them quickly to try and ask me of all Ponies for name ideas.

I honestly don't have anything better than what she already came up with but she seems intent on changing them later so I'll keep it in mind. From the tests she'd done, it seems that each layer is roughly ten times denser than the last and the Gem Core is about as durable as steel while also being very resistant to cracking and shattering.

The fact a gem can match up to a metal in durability is very interesting to me as it's probably a pretty stable gem, then again we won't really know until she does more tests. The Rose Gemstone layer seems to be on par with a ruby in durability but seems to be weak to forces trying to pull it apart while being more durable when trying to press on it.

The Crystal Air Layer is by far the lightest and the fact a gem can be that light is pretty interesting, the downside being obviously that it is very weak to most forces and can be broken with little effort. The last part of her letter mentioned she'd be trying to test them magically next when she found some time.

The information is small but gives me some ideas for possible uses. I stop my train of thought as I place the fish in the oven and settle in with a book to watch the food cook. An hour later I steamed the roots and mashed them up before taking out the well-seasoned fish from the oven and placing it out to cool.

The smell finally seems like enough to get Entropy to wake up from her long nap. She stretches out her wings and straightens her hat with her wing for a moment before looking over at me and cawing softly. I smile at her and close my book, "Daisy stopped by, she wished you a happy birthday." I say to get her attention and look over at the fish. "We can eat in a bit, it needs to cool," I add.

She caws again with more energy in her tone and flies down to land on the countertop next to me. I reach out and she leans into my hoof as I scratch her, "Daisy nice, could have woken." She caws out and I take a second to sort that in my head. "Food or presents?" She asks and looks between both excitedly.

I smirk. "I could have, but you seemed so cute while sleeping, and rest is important." She fluffs her feathers a little and starts to shift from leg to leg in impatience. "It's your birthday, you get to pick," I say while I do something a little odd and place five candles on the same platter as the large fish.

I asked about cake but she insisted fish was better so this will have to do. "Presents!!" She teleports instantly to the table and I chuckle as I bring over the food and place it down before settling in. "Go?" I just nod with a happy face and she descends on the small pile of gifts.

The first three she gets to are the smallest and mostly consist of a few toys to add to her box. Her response was to rapidly pick them up and teleport over to her box to toss them in with a caw. "YES!" I continue to watch from the side as she teleports back and starts on the two larger gifts.

She opens the first and inside is a collection of colorful jars filled with paints along with several brushes and a painter's book. She looks at it all for a moment before turning to me and in a waddle runs up to me before wrapping her wings around my chest. "Thank you!!! Love! LOVE!"

I slide back a bit as she hits me with more force than expected before I wrap my forelegs around her and give her a full hug. "You asked for them silly. And you helped me so much I couldn't just not get them. I love you too. Now go on, you still have a gift left." I take her off of me and she runs back over to her last gift.

This one is simple and just contains a large blanket and she looks back to me a little confused. "I thought you might like something to sit on comfortably whenever and wherever you like." I pick up the blanket a bit and show off the design. A deep gray fabric with an assortment of purple feathers sewn into it.

It's basic but I saw it while shopping for gifts and thought it would be a nice addition. "Can use, anywhere?" She asks and I can see where she's going with this. Still, I lay it out a little on the table and she hops on it and feels it with her talons. "OHH, comfy." She happily adds.

I give her a knowing look. "Anywhere but a bath, or any large amount of water. It if gets dirty I'll clean it for you, no bringing a muddy blanket into the house without telling me first though." I warn her but I give her a large amount of freedom over the gift. "Now come on, we have one last gift."

She stops feeling the blanket and looks up at me while tilting her head in confusion. "Another?" she hops on my back and I nod while walking her into our bedroom. This is something I've been doing that she has seen but hasn't paid much attention to, likely because it looked uninteresting when I started.

The bedroom has a lot of unused space so in the far back empty corner I placed a desk. I took some time while she was asleep and grew a few more additions, namely several stands for art canvases and a fair few wall mounts for air pieces. "What?" She questions while hopping onto the desk.

I smile and motion to the pile of canvases I bought next to the desk. "You need something to paint on, and somewhere to display your art. So this corner is now your workshop, where you can paint as much as you like." I reveal and expectedly I'm tackled by another hug a moment later.

She lets out rapid chirps and caws and seems too excited for words. She sticks to me hard and only says anything after a minute. "I love you! Best family! Make best art for room!" She declares and I laugh while picking her up off of me.

"I'd love to see it, but first we have a fish waiting. Let's go eat, ya?" She caws in agreement and I walk into the main room with a smile, a mood that can't be beat, and a sense of pride in my chest.

It's all worth it in the end, just for the little moments.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

One more chapter for Hearth's Warming and this year is over. Now, I couldn't think of good names for the gem layers, suggestions?

Cute birb is cute. And even number words is indeed, even.

Chapter 313

DEC 25 Tuesday.

I look over the pile of gifts and turn to my right as Entropy teleports back into the main room of my apartment.

"You get them all there?" I ask and she bobs her head after landing on my back. I just had her send some gifts to the palace and with that done I have a few hours left before the festivities start. I smile and pet her a little to show my thanks. "Thank you, we still have a while so you might want to do something to pass the time," I say with a knowing look.

In a moment she's gone and I feel her reappear inside of the bedroom on her desk. After getting her gift she's been focused on painting and training, at this point she's really taking after me and working on her craft. At the moment though she is far from a skilled painter.

She is young and while she can hold a brush in her beak and talons it's not easy for her to work with it from what I've seen. I think for a moment I pick up a book on healing Clear Water recommended and headed to the bedroom as well. Clear Water really is proving to be a good teacher.

Recently she's had me learning about more permanent conditions that can be treated but never truly cured, and in that category diseases are the most common. Ponies are a fairly clean race but only to a point and not wearing clothes does make things harder to control sometimes.

Some diseases are not life-threatening but stay throughout a Ponies' life and while there are a few that can be cured with treatment many are simply something you have to deal with. Oddly enough one of the easier things to deal with is parasites, at least as a general rule they are easier to deal with.

I walk into the room and flip open the book while looking up at the fake sky above me. It's fully detailed now and I'm quite pleased with it. It may be a small thing but waking up to the sky is always pleasant and something I enjoy. It also means my room is never dark during the day.

As a nice side effect, it proved to also be a great place for painting as it provides a nice evenly lit room from the entire ceiling being a light. I look over at Entropy as she looks over the various jars of paint and starts to pick several out, after that she grabs a brush along with a canvas.

The canvas takes her a moment to drag into place on the stand so she can work on it properly, but she's proven to be stronger than expected. It's something small I've noticed many times but never really thought about too much, Entropy is both heavier and stronger than one would expect from her small size.

She's only around twenty percent larger than a normal crow, roughly as I only have some facts from books to work with. But despite that, she's able to move larger items with some ease and after seeing her drag a canvas into place the first time on her birthday I had to test it a bit.

She's capable of lifting up to eighty pounds of wood into the air while still keeping airborne and didn't that surprise the hell out of me. I knew she was heavier because I carry her often but I just assumed it was part of what she is. It seems that extra weight isn't without reason and for such a small bird she's definitely not weak.

She weighs about twenty pounds in total, not that much for me but I can see why others might find it odd. Normally though very few touch her let alone pick her up. And much like my friends when someone does pick her up they would probably assume they just underestimated what she weighed. Not that a situation like that is common.

I settle into my bed and she waves a little with her foot and starts to open jars, which are all latch jars so she can still open them. She picks out a few interesting colors and dabs some of them onto a wooden board I gave her to mix paint on, mostly because she started doing that with the desk at first.

I also found out part of the reason Entropy thought of painting when asking for gifts, Daisy. Entropy has overheard Daisy talking about painting several times and apparently was inspired to try it out as well. And at the moment she's doing, well? She's trying her best with a body that wasn't made for this.

I ended up helping her a bit by sketching out some plants on a few canvases so she'd have a starting point to work off of. Sort of like a coloring book with an odd twist, not that I'm complaining in the least. Helping and even just watching her have a hobby that she enjoys so much is amazing already, and Entropy very much loves it.

On her birthday she played around with painting for a bit and stayed up far too late, in the end, she made something both amazing and silly. She made me, or at least as close as she could her with the skill she has at the moment. The brown pony drawn on the canvas is a messy thing with a wobbly body and a background made from something even a dream would call chaotic.

However, the simple painting of me standing in a grass field with a sun, all drawn with minimal detail and no gradient to the colors, has become special to me. When she woke me up early the next morning to tiredly show me what she made I couldn't help but smile like a fool.

I spot the painting on the wall where I proudly displayed it and I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon. I settle in with my book and a cup of tea to start reading as she starts getting messy with paints and colors once again. I also noticed her new blanket wadded up under the desk like she was trying to keep it away from the paint.

She's mostly been painting in the book I got her but it seems she's going for another masterpiece this time. I might need to start making some shelves to store the paintings if she continues at this rate, not that I would mind. I should set up someplace she can draw at Gaia's Eden as well.

Thoughts for later.

time skip

I slowly maneuver the pile of gifts I have with me and make my way into the hallway, while Entropy turns on her illusion for a moment and follows me out.

I cross the hallway and knock, watching in my senses as Daisy walks over and opens the door. "Shade and Entropy, fashionably late I see." She jokes a little as we are the last to arrive, everypony else sitting around inside the apartment already. "OHH! Aren't you just the cutest thing?!" Daisy squeals a little as she moves down to look at Entropy.

Entropy decided to wear both her top hat and scarf for this and she chirps happily before waddling into the room past Daisy's legs. Daisy giggles and smiles widely while I hear the other two chuckle as Entropy walks in. "We got distracted, mostly her though. Turns out you've turned her into a painter, I blame you for the inevitable stains." I say jokingly as she lets me in.

I see Maple and Stone sitting down drinking something and they both nod to me silently, with me nodding back. I almost expect to hear a joke from Blaz but he's not here, he will be happy to have visited his family when he gets back though. "Wait what?" Daisy asks confused and looks over at Entropy.

Entropy turns off her illusions once the door is closed and waves to Maple and Stone with a wing. "Hello!" That earns her a pair of smiles from the two before she turns to Daisy. "Got paint for present. Like paint, fun." She caws out and flaps her wings to jump over and land on Maple. "Pet?" She asks and after a second Maple complies.

Daisy looks confused again but after a second turns to me with wide eyes as I chuckle. "Apparently she remembered you talking about painting, and either couldn't think of a better gift to ask for, or was curious." I walk over to the tree as I explain and start laying out gifts. "So she asked for painting supplies for her birthday, I gave her that and a space to work out of."

Daisy goes from shocked to looking genuinely touched and joyful. "Really?" I nod and she practically bounces over to Entropy before petting her. "You are now my best friend." The statement seems to catch Entropy off guard but she caws after a moment and leans into the hoof. "What have you been painting? Something fun?" Daisy asks.

I settle in on the couch next to Stone and nod to him as Daisy and Maple pamper Entropy with attention and questions about her art. Stone looks over the gifts for a moment and smirks a little before turning to me, "You really do put a lot into gifts, huh?" His tone is relaxed and casual.

I shrug after a second. "I guess? To be honest, I just like making things, combine that with the ability to enchant stuff and I get creative." I answer honestly while wrapping my scarf a little tighter around my neck, the winter is cold this year. "Or maybe I just have too much free time? I don't exactly do much."

He huffs out a small laugh and gives me a level look. "Colt you do more than enough." He states simply. "But if you think you have extra time I can up our training sessions to twice a week." I pin my ears back at that and he laughs again. "That's what I thought... Seriously though, Colt, you don't give yourself enough credit, or any really."

I sit silently for a long while and sigh a bit. "What good would it even do? It's not like I'd want my life to change a lot." I motion to the mares entertaining Entropy and Daisy showing off some of her art. "What more do I need? Credit ain't worth even a tenth of this." I am again honest with him.

He smiles wider at me and nods firmly. "Good, stick to that and you'll go a lot further than you even thought possible." I'm not entirely sure what he means by that but smirk regardless. "So what has the great Veil Winter been working on recently? Anything I should invest in early?" I easily can tell he's joking by his rather blunt tone.

I huff and drop the topic as well. "Not much, winter is a bit of a downtime for me. And after everything I'm taking some time to myself." He hums in approval. "As for Shade Evergreen? Well, I'm working on my plants at the moment, and my weapon skills as well." I am a bit more vague about that.

He seemed to get it and looked over at the pile of gifts under the tree before turning to the mares. Maple has gone back to her cup of whatever she is drinking and Daisy has Entropy between her forelegs. "So what is your favorite color? I'd guess black but I think you like purple." Daisy asks the bird.

She's not treating Entropy like a complete foal, but she is to a degree doing that and Entropy seems fine with it. She is still young and I find that Entropy often has a hard time speaking of her feelings, not because she doesn't want to say anything, but because she sometimes can't find the right words and it seems to annoy her.

While Entropy is mature in some ways she is still young and should be treated as such, to a point at least. "No, brown. Trees look nice." Entropy stares and Daisy looks up to me as if to guess Entropy actually means my coat color. "Present time?" Everypony takes a moment to look at each other before we all just sort of shrug and nod. "YAY! Presents!"

She hops up but like the good girl she is she stays in place and just looks over at the gifts impatiently. I chuckle and stand up to start grabbing gifts, something I can do with my field or space magic but prefer to do with my hooves. "Shade?" I turn to Daisy. "Save the big ones for last, I can guess those are the fun ones you brought." I nod and start with the small gifts.

I pick out one for each of us and pass it around before settling in. There is some silence as we all look at Entropy, a silent agreement to let her go first. Entropy happily rips into the paper and proves that she has sharp claws by clawing open the box at the same time.

Inside is honestly something adorable, a tiny blue sunhat. I turn to Daisy and raise a brow only to get a smile back. "Hats can be fun, and they seemed like a good option. Plus who would see a crow in a hat and be able to take it as anything but a joke?" She makes a good point and I smile as Entropy happily looks at me.

I dismiss the sticking spell I put on her top hat and apply one to her new sunhat as she puts it on. "Thank you!" Entropy says to Daisy and we all start opening our gifts. I see that Daisy got the paints from me, Maple got her illusion, and Stone got himself a nice wooden and metal mug from somepony.

I keep bringing over gifts as we happily open them and Entropy mainly gets toys and some treats. My first gift is a simple wooden box filled with several sketches of me reading in the library, I raise a brow and look over at a smiling Daisy. "I made them when you were working with me in the office, I got bored a few times." She explains.

It's a small thing but having something so personal is perfect. "Thank you," I say softly and continue to open gifts. From Maple I got a few good recipes and some spices, Stone got me a few books on fighting styles and Daisy also got me one of her paintings. Blaz got me a book on desert plants along with a book on parenting because of course he did. They are all small gifts but I like them and I prefer small simple things.

I go overboard with my gifts but am not the best Pony to shop for, it's a silent understanding that I give the good gifts. Eventually, we all get to the larger gifts and I start off with Maple by passing her a tall box. "If this is a joke gift, I will not laugh." She makes a joke of her own and I roll my eyes.

She takes off the paper and reveals the lamp I made her, taking a moment to look it over before turning to me. "A lamp? Really?" I smile at her and she smiles back after a moment. "You made this?" I nod again. "It's perfect, just what I needed, thanks." Her words might be simple but I can tell she likes it.

Next, I open the only large gift for me and raise a brow as I see a single thing inside, an entire coconut sitting on a metal plate. I look at their amused faces with confusion, "I... I can't tell if this is a joke, but I'm still going to use this for fresh drinks." I say happily as the fruit is actually useful to me. Coconut trees are hardy and their fruit could make some interesting things if done right.

Stone speaks up with a smirk. "Yes, the real gift is under it. Now stop ruining it by being happy." He says bluntly with a face that says just how serious he is, which is not at all. I huff and look under the fruit to see a full chess board and I look at them confused. "We thought you'd like a set you could enchant, all the pieces are metal and have small gems on them." He motions to the set.

Much like my other set, this one folds in half and stores the pieces inside, but unlike my last set, this one is completely made from metal. Both the board and all of the pieces are made from iron and have a soft black sheen to them with a slightly rough texture on everything but the place you play in. The pieces are all also textured metal with gems in them, mostly topaz and emerald. "You didn't-"

That's as far as I get before Daisy cuts me off. "Nope, just because we aren't rich doesn't mean we can't get you nice things. And just so you wouldn't complain we split the cost, now stuff it and be happy." Metal is expensive and this set is good work, but she shut me down instantly seeing where my mind was going.

I look over to Stone and Maple but they look just as ready to shut me up so after a moment I let it go and smile widely. "Fine, but I'll remember this kindness," I say slowly and I threaten them with an uncertain future. "Thank you, I love it. And I'm definitely enchanting it." I say as a few ideas pop into my head.

My old set was not new at the start and while it was a gift from Blaz it was a small gift, on top of that the materials used weren't amazing. The wood was just normal and while the pieces were made from stone they were not high quality. This set should last a long time and I can even add magic to it without fear of anything breaking.

I place it to the side and bring out the other big gifts, one for Daisy and Stone each, they are also the last gifts to go through. Daisy goes first and slowly pulls away at the paper to reveal the small Prismatic Rose bush, she reads the tag after a second and looks at me curiously. "What is this? Did you make it?"

I half nod. "I grew it. A Prismatic Rose, every flower is different from the last. A new color for every bud and they are never the same." I explain and look around her apartment for a second. "I'm not sure where you want it. But I can at least make it look decent." I reach out with my life magic.

In a second Daisy puts down the plant pot as the bush rapidly starts to grow. "Wow, that's amazing!" She says as it grows into a full three-foot-tall bush. "When will it-? You can do flowers too?!!" She says excitedly as the bush is covered in many different colors of roses. "It's, perfect!"

She happily picks it up and walks over to a somewhat empty spot in her apartment before placing the bush down with a beaming smile. "Thank you! And I hope you know I'm now coming to you for all gardening and plant advice from now on." She adds as she looks over the beautiful bush.

I nod and look over to Stone, he nods back and starts to unwrap his present. He's apparently the type to unwrap them instead of just ripping them all open. Once that's done he's met with a long plain-looking wooden box, he opens it and raises his brows as he pulls out his new sword.

We all watch as he looks over the metal sheath, a few rubies embedded inside of it along the lines carved in as decoration. The lines don't form any picture but they add to the look. He unsheathes the blade with a large grin and pulls it free, "Yup, the Colt definitely knows what he's doing with gifts." He says in a happy tone. "Did you?" He looks at the gems.

I nod. "Of course, I enchanted it well. I even added a Sharpening spell I made." He looks surprised at that. "It's a lot better than others, it's also enchanted to be very durable, just be careful as it can literally cut through stone." That earns me a giggle from Daisy and an unimpressed look from him.

"Then I’ll enjoy practicing with it soon, I'm sure you can explain it all then." I can't tell if he's joking, but knowing him, he isn't.

There is a long moment of silence as we all shift around our gifts and Daisy stands up again. "A fun year as always, and once again shown up by Shade's gifts." She jokes at my expense. "Well, who wants dinner?"

Entropy jumps up and raises a wing. "ME! I DO!"

POV shift Celestia.

I look down at the gifts sitting in front of me with a smile I do not often have, one filled with anticipation and some impatience.

Sadly my niece decided to take Shining on a date for the holiday and was gone when the gifts arrived. And even after waiting an extra few hours she is yet to arrive, her loss though, I'm done waiting and she can open her gifts tomorrow. I've been anticipating today for a few weeks now and won't be waiting anymore.

I happily look over the shelf I've dedicated to some of the gifts Shade has sent me that I haven't had a better place to keep. My office works but not everything needs to be displayed for others to see, and some of the things I have gotten are much better displayed in private.

I smile and let my thoughts wander as I separate my gift from the others and take it with me to sit on my balcony. As I step out I glance up for a moment, the sight of the moon hanging high brings back many memories that I would rather forget. However, tonight I have more than just my memories to focus on.

I lay down on the cold stone and sit in the dark as my thoughts come and go. Things have been complicated recently but even in times like this, there is light in it all. From a friend being freed from some of his fears and from a very young being having gained more freedom and recognition as well.

It is something I have always kept my eye on when I could, Entropy is a young being and needs proper care and guidance. Yet again I find myself surprised at how well Shade has risen to the challenge. And to think it all started from some tea and a kind act.

I believe Shade would have found some way to help others, even without me, maybe just dropping the spells he makes to some random researcher and letting them take credit. I giggle a little at the thought as it seems like something he would do with little hesitation.

I look down at the brown paper and open the single gift he sent. Even a single gift is more than enough, even though a small part of me would want more just to see what he would come up with. I remove the brown paper and inside is a simple box, the weathered wood looks old and well-used.

I open the top and see a single flower sitting inside, a flower I know all too well from my recent memories of a plant I could have never imagined. A Mantle Bloom flower, and a small one at that, sitting in the center of the box with a small note next to it. Tap the lid twice.

I leave the note where it is and reach out a hoof to tap the opened lid twice, going slow and being gentle to not damage the delicate marvel of gem work sitting in front of me. The flower on its own would have been the perfect gift, but it only got more perfect as it slowly started to spin where it sat.

Then there was a slow tune that echoed in the night around me as I looked at the flower twinkle and gleam in the moonlight as it spun. Despite the pain the moon and stars bring me with their appearance, I look up, and the soft tune plays as I stare at the night sky.

I stare up with a tired mind, but for the first time in so long the sight feels, a little ok.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

NEW YEAR WOOOOO! One more down!

How funny would it be if we made it to the first episode, and then I dropped off the face of the earth never to be seen again?

Chapter 314

JAN 7 Monday.

I breathe out slowly as I sit still inside my apartment.

December is over and with how much snow we had this Winter some Winter Wrap Up preparations have already begun around the city. It will also probably take them all a little longer to clear everything out and begin Spring. That's honestly still odd to me even after all this time has passed.

As for me, I've just spent a good part of my day split in between two projects. Namely, doing my taxes, sending a confirmation to the bank to transfer what I owe, and working on my newest project. That being Metal Working spells, although I'm starting with the low-end ones.

There are several spells like this that I was able to find in the library, it will be a little harder to find higher rank spells of this nature though, most are owned by guilds after all. But that just means I'm starting off by improving and remaking some of the smaller ones for now and that is actually a good place to start as these spells are new to me.

The one I'm working on at the moment makes hot metal more pliable to being shaped while still maintaining its form. Despite it being a simple spell it's Journeypony rank and will take me a week or two to fully remake to my liking. For the rest of today though I have something more interesting to do.

I need bracelets for my friends and Metal Quake said she'd be available today so I'm planning to pay her a visit and get what I need made. And this time I have a design of my own in mind, along with another project I'd like her to make but that should be easy enough for her to work on.

I drew a basic design and I plan to have the bracelets all be very similar or the same, I'll probably be adding some detail later though. I did have to buy a few more pure diamonds but that was easy enough with a few spells to change my appearance and a trip to a jewelry store. I let out my breath again and stood up from the floor with a stretch.

I have been doing a few other things as well. Importantly I've fully learned the Mind Protection spell Celestia sent me and have been casting it on myself whenever I go outside for anything. I have also been working on the new Changeling detections spell, but that one is proving to be a little tricky.

The goal for that spell is to tell if somepony is a Changeling, but I need more than just an illusion detector to make sure about this so I've decided to go with another idea. I'm going to detect their teeth with a rune I found in a healing spell. Combine that fact with the illusion detector on top of it and it will cut down on false detections by a fair bit by adding a second condition.

However, the main problem with the spell is balancing the magic use when casting it. I'm building the spell to be incredibly beefed up, the scan may be simple but the amount of power behind it isn't. That cost is getting annoying to me so I'm mostly working on trying to cut down the cost without sacrificing the spell's effectiveness.

The spell is done beyond that but I'll keep working on it for now. I walk around my apartment for a bit and start collecting a few things along with my saddlebags. Once I have it all I walk into my bedroom to see Entropy staring at a few paints and her opened art book.

I walk up and look at the page to see something in a rough bird shape with yellows and reds filling in the space. Recently Philomena was able to visit and they both had a lot of fun with each other so I take a stab in the dark. "Drawing your friend? It looks good so far." I compliment her even though it's rough at best.

Entropy seems to be thinking over the colors and caws a bit. "Go now?" She asks while looking at me, and I nod slowly. "Ok, need to think, colors wrong." She says while climbing onto my back and pecking her band three times to turn on her disguises. On that front, I have news as well.

With me not working for a lot of December I had more free time, more than enough to look over Entropy's band more. I couldn't get her newer illusion to be passive, but I upped the usage time to nearly six hours and by this point, it's getting hard to improve anymore.

I think that if I remove the older illusion I can up the time by another hour or two but her band really seems to be the limiting factor here. I might need something new to work with soon, but this works for now. "Hmm, maybe you can ask Daisy next time we meet up together?" I suggest.

With so much going on, we haven't had any game nights recently, but I think we have one planned after Blaz gets back in a week or two. Entropy chirps with a nod and I stand and head outside my apartment, going to the roof as I rather not walk through the snow considering how far away the blacksmith's guild is.

I form my wings along with casting the Mind Protection spell before taking flight with Entropy as we make our way through the skies and to the lower part of the city. As I fly I remember the new year and my tradition of going somewhere each year, but I'm not really sure it's worth it at the moment, not when every trip ends up with something happening to me.

I do always gain something in return, but what's the point of going on a vacation if I can't even relax? I couldn't even take a two-day trip to some random city without something happening. Maybe I could just go back to the Dragon Lands? Then again I don't have much to do there that I haven't already done, and I'd probably get into more fights.

I could visit the sea again? It has been a while since I last went to the ocean and I wouldn't mind finding some plants from there. Or I could just go camping somewhere? A quiet spot in the middle of nowhere where I will be left alone and can just relax for a while.

That doesn't sound that bad actually, maybe I just need somewhere with fewer creatures to bother me. I let the thought slip from my mind as I sat down on a street that's been cleared of snow and was quite busy. During the Winter some streets are cleared and everypony starts using them, bunching all of them closer together along the paths of least resistance.

I land a little off to the side and dismiss my wings before putting on my cloak and letting Entropy land on my back as I walk toward the guild. As I enter the busy building I draw a few eyes but with spring coming most are too busy to care that much at the moment.

I spend a minute waiting in line and showing a receptionist the invitation from Metal Quake before I'm led back into the building depths and to a simple door I've seen twice before. I knock once the Pony guiding me has left and a moment later the door opens to show a small mare looking up at me. "Hmm, still getting bigger, you a tall one ain't ya? Come on in." Her blunt and slightly warm tone greets me.

I smirk a little at her attitude but keep myself on guard. I wouldn't say I trust Metal Quake, but I at least trust her to do good business and her way of speaking is something I prefer. "Don't mind my friend, they won't touch anything," I reassure her as Metal Quake eyes Entropy while I walk past her and inside the forge.

She nods and huffs a small bit. "I know you got the bits to fix anything brok'n, now, you got more work for me? someth'en interesting?" She questions and I bring out some papers from my saddlebags while she walks over to a workbench. I do notice the small mare glance under me but she's actually a little discreet about it, which is oddly enough an improvement.

She rolls out the paper and looks it over as I nod and Entropy looks around curiously. "I do, I have a few things I need made actually, and I'm willing to pay well for it to get done quickly. As long as the quality matches up with your other work." I have a calm but professional tone as she raises a brow.

She huffs again. "Like I'd allow any old scrap to be called my work." She banters and looks over the drawing I came up with. "Five bracelets, all mithril, all with gems. Hmm, well they are all the same so casting could work." She mumbles to herself and I look around the room as I wait for her to sort her thoughts.

The room looks more cluttered and there are a large amount of metal swords without hilts neatly stacked to one side. They look like the standard guard short sword, one I am very familiar with as Stone beats me with one every week. I guess she also works for the guard to an extent, or at least contracts with them.

"This'll cost you a pretty bit." She declares and looks up at me. "The mithril is a bit pricey at the moment, and I have other work." She motions to the blades. "I can get it done though, you got the gems I'd need?" I take out two bags, one with bits and another with the diamonds.

She takes both with a nod and a smile. "I'll get the contract, the rest can be given the same as last time." She turns but I stop her with a raised hoof and pass her another roll of paper. She raises a brow but puts the bags to the side and unrolls it, whistling slowly after a moment, "Now this! This is interest'n."

The second thing I want her to make is an idea I had recently, a plan to upgrade the defenses of Gaia's Eden. The defenses are powered by a gem array but it was made years ago and I have much better materials available to me now. Which is why I want Metal Quake to make me an array plate.

The idea behind them is simple enough, a large plate of magical metal to help support an array and act as a base for more gems to be added while keeping things stable. With it, I can upgrade the shield a good amount when making a new array. My reasoning for why I'm upgrading the array is simple, I need somewhere truly safe.

Gaia's Eden is safe because it is hidden but animals still pose a threat and there are creatures in the forest that will pose a serious threat to me as well. After recent events I would rather nip such a possibility in the bud now and up my defenses, plus I can't see a downside to making them better and I have the money just lying around. "Can you make it?" I ask bluntly.

She thinks for a long moment. "Well, you want this thi'g out of magical silver, what in the sun do you even need something like this for?" She asks herself and shakes her head a bit. "I can do it, the metal is easy, but the cost. This ain't cheap, not one bit." I can't tell if that was a pun but she seems serious.

I nod after a second of silence. "Can you get me a rough cost?" She thinks for a moment longer before bringing over a quill and writing down a number. After my friends joked about it I actually went and checked on how much I own, and needless to say the number I'm given is not too bad.

I wouldn't even feel it if I was living within my means, let alone as I am now. Honestly, with all the things I've made, I have a large amount of wealth. While a noble might not be able to spend so much at once, that's because of how they live, with how little I buy I can spend this without blinking. "That works, when can you get it done?" I ask back after a second.

She blinks as if not expecting me to just flat-out agree. "Well, damn." I raise a brow and she looks a small bit embarrassed as if realizing what she said. "Sorry abo't that.... It's just that this price is the far high-end, Ah never mind. I'll go get the contract." She is a little awkward about her less-than-pleasant language, but I remain uncaring about it.

Honestly, she could curse like... Well, actually, nothing here really can match a human, I guess Dragons are close. She comes back a moment later and starts to look over the drawings while making notes as I read through the contract. "Ya know, you might be the only one who reads those themselves." She comments and I find the small talk a little odd.

However, she's not wearing anything beyond a smiths apron and I have had no reaction from my bracelet. She sees my face, "No offense of course, but most have a lawyer or some such do it." She adds, apparently thinking I might have been offended. "So, you an enchanter?" She asks after a second pause.

I tense a bit but don't show it outwardly. "No, why do you ask?" I ask back as it seems like a very good guess for somepony who doesn't know me. I think for a moment and see what she probably means as I am buying mithril with gems in it. "I am a... Well, I just procure things. The second item is not for me." I lie slowly as it seems like something vague but reasonable.

Her expression shows she's not sure about my answer, but doesn't seem to want to dig into it. "Not the first then, all manner of that come through here, at least you don't waste my time." She drops the topic and walks over to me with a second piece of paper and I raise a brow. "I need a good enchanter." She states simply.

I sit still for a moment before I nod and take the business card she gives me. "I see, I can not promise anything, In fact I find it unlikely," I state very bluntly with a less relaxed tone. As far as she knows she's just passing off a card to somepony she thinks might know an enchanter she can work with.

My part in this is just as somepony buying things from her and passing one of them off to someone else. Or to simplify, it's business and I don't think I want much of a part in it. She just nods, "About what I thought." She moves back to the bench. "Enchanters can be a right thorn." She mumbles but seems to buy my cover more.

I'm not even really lying, sure the plate is mine but I'm not an enchanter in any official capacity, I'm just some random Pony that likes magic. "Anything else you need for your work?" I ask hoping this could be over, she's rather blunt but business is something I don't need right now.

She chuckles a bit and smirks. "Sorry to drop that on ya, I need to take a chance when I can, and a normal enchant'r ain't what I need." She seems honest and drops most of her professional tone. "Well, what size do you need these all in? I have to know something rough at'least." Her accent comes out more and I do find her new tone more relaxing.

I can't blame her I suppose, and she's caused no offence so I nod and relax my tone a bit. "They are on the back of the paper, along with dimension requirements." She flips it over and nods before flipping it back. "If that's all I will going to transfer the first half of your payment," I say and stand up a bit straighter.

She nods slowly and I can tell she wants to ask something but doesn't. "Ai'tght, and don't worry, that contract is thorough, and backed by the guild." She adds as if to make sure she's not overstepped, something I appreciate. "I'can get the bracelets to you in two or three weeks, they are simple. The plate? Two months at best."

I make a mental note of that and nod my thanks. "Very well, have a good day Master Metal Quake." I use her title and give her a small smile before walking out of her forge. I do keep my senses on her for a bit as I leave the building and make my way back out into the street.

I stand in the snow for a moment before taking out a certain gift I got last minute on the holidays. I nearly forgot about Avalon's gift to me but after the festivities, I came home and opened the package he sent. Inside was something of a surprise to me, a platinum pocket watch of all things.

Watches in this world are complicated little things made with a mix of clockwork and a single primary gear normally made to spin through magic. They are expensive and while popular with non-unicorns they are much more valued and popular outside of Equestria.

The reasoning for him getting me one is sound, as even if I can just cast a spell it is a nice thing to have. And it makes more sense to get a watch from a Griffon, they rarely have magic, and as a result clocks and watches are the things they use to tell time more often than not.

The watch is plain metal with a simple inside of a watch's face, but overall it is a very nice gift and something I find to be fun to use. And it is actually useful to me, it lets me check the time without drawing any attention or surprise from spellcasting. That may not be a problem in Canterlot but when in other places the watch will stand out far less.

There is still a good amount of daylight left and I wouldn't mind some time outside. I think for a moment before turning off into an alley where we won't be seen and looking at Entropy. "Up for a trip?" She tilts her head. "I'd like some lunch and we haven't been to Ponyville in a while, if you remember it?"

She caws and looks around for a second before we both vanish with no one seeing. A second later I blink and stand on a snow-covered forest hillside. I smile at her and pet her, "Thank you, let's go get some food." She caws excitedly in agreement and I have to form my wings before once again taking flight.

The flight is a short one and as I glide towards the small town I notice a streak moving around just outside of town pretty fast, going through what look like rings of clouds. It does not take me long to guess that Rainbow Dash is practicing, and from the speed she's moving I can't say it's not impressive flying.

I glide a little longer out of curiosity but blink after a moment as she dives down and pulls up once again, unlike the other times however she goes a little too far and ends up slowing down right after. I get a little closer as she rapidly slows down and lands.

I could ignore it, but with how much speed she had and how hard she was going I can guess something went wrong. Her landing was quick, very quick, and while it could be my paranoia it seemed a little wrong. She glided down in circles while only turning right instead of just flying down and flapping her wings to land softly.

After a few moments of her being on the ground and somewhat out of my sight I sigh and start to fly over to her direction. It's probably paranoia but it's not like it could hurt and if I'm wrong I can just say I wanted to ask for a few small tips about flying, which is something I wouldn't mind too much actually as she is definitely a skilled flier.

Entropy flies with me as I near the ground and glide in before landing a few dozen feet away from her. I notice she's in the snow belly up and holding one wing out flat and stiff. From this distance I can make out enough detail to tell one of her wings is twitching pretty badly and it's obvious something is wrong.

At this point I second-guess myself. Sure I can heal her but it's not really my business and I don't need any craziness at the moment. But I am still a healer, and I have some pride in my work. And it's not like offering will do much harm, it might even be useful down the line and I can earn some goodwill right now.

Entropy lands on me as I slowly start approaching, making my hoof steps in the snow a little louder on purpose so I don't startle her. As I move through the snowy area with a few trees I spot her under a tree's shade and her ears twitch as she hears me get closer. Her head pops up and she looks over at me.

She looks surprised and tries to roll on her back to get upright, but she rolls the wrong way and goes right onto her laid-out injured wing. "BUC- Buttercups!!" She hisses and rolls back quickly with some clear pain. She scrunches her muzzle and closes her eyes tightly while sitting still and breathing a little hard.

I close the gap and stop a few feet away. "Hello, injured wing? Try to sit still." I demand and she opens her eyes to look over at me. She opens her muzzle but before she can say anything I start looking over her wing. Physically it looks fine, with no blood or bone visible, but it's twitching a lot and it seems like a painful thing from her expression.

She rolls right-side up the other way and I lean back as she swings her outstretched wing. "Hey! What are you-" Before she can continue I take out my healer's card and toss it at her. It hits her chest and she blinks before looking at it as she catches it against her chest with a hoof. "Oh..." She goes silent and I just take the card back from her hoof with my field after a second.

"Muscle problem?" I ask in the same tone I have learned to use with problem patients, the tone that says I'm going to heal you and you WILL like it. I look at her wing closely, "You fine with me casting a few spells to make sure nothing is broken?" I add another question.

She seems to get over her surprise quickly and looks at me with a determined face. "Hey look, Mr. Healer, I'll be, fine." She trails off a bit as I give her a glare that shows I am not taking no for an answer. I wouldn't normally do this but I've had enough patients like her before and I know what they are like, and I know what she's like.

She goes silent for a moment before huffing a bit. "Fine! Do the magic, thingy. But I'm not paying you anything for it! ... Wait, do I know you?" She asks and I just nod before casting two spells one after the other and taking out some paper. After a moment it's obvious what the problem is, a torn muscle.

She jumps a little bit at the magic but I feel all the practice from the last two years at the hospital kick in and just be calm about it. "A minor muscle tear, nothing too bad but it'd stop you from flying for a week or two." I passed the papers to her. "You want me to heal it? It will hurt some if I do it." I warn her and keep my level tone.

She looks at the papers confused before just dropping them on the ground and narrowing her eyes at me. "I do remember you! The weird Pony with the fake wings." She says and I just give her a level stare. "Pain? So you're saying, I can tough it out?" She asks with an oddly determined stare, and before I can say anything she makes up her mind. "Let's do it, I can take it!"

I nearly sigh but do find her reaction a little amusing, if nothing else she is brave, ironic. I just nod and point to her wing, "Try your best to stay still, it will help." I add before casting a single spell on her wing. To her credit, I've seen other Ponies handle it worse as she just grits her teeth and seemingly powers through the mild pain with will alone.

I cancel the spell after a few seconds as it doesn't take long to heal something like this. "All done." She lets out a breath she was holding in and takes a few deep ones as well. "Try to go a little lighter for the next day or two," I warn her, knowing full well she won't wait that long. "Anything else hurt? I would rather not find you in the snow again." I joke in a deadpan tone just to mess with her a little.

She looks at her wing and hesitantly moves it around for a second before suddenly moving it quickly with a large smile. "Ha! I did it!" She celebrates and I don't say anything. "Thanks... Uhhh, Dave?" I blink a little at that. :Does she actually know a Pony named Dave? That's oddly, normal sounding: "Anyway, I owe you one Dave."

She says and a second later she flaps her wings and shoots back into the air, moving around just as quickly as before. Entropy looks at me, "Who Dave?" She questions and I sigh before turning towards Ponyville.

"I have no idea... Let's just go eat." I feel good about helping, but that was just so... Some days. Crazy Ponies.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 997

Not too much to say, just some lesser seen characters and a little bodily harm.

See you all Monday.

Chapter 315

JAN 18 Friday.

I walk over to Entropy and pick her up from where she is sitting down on the wood to rest. "Feeling ok? I know that can take it out of you." I ask and carry her with me over to the pavilion.

I also picked up the medium gem we just re-imbued with shadow magic. This is the gem I've had hidden inside of my small statue of Luna for a while now, and after checking on it Entropy found that only half of the shadow magic it was originally imbued with was left.

It seems that the gem could stay inside of that shadow for roughly more than two years, but with that in mind, I thought it best to just redo the Imbuing ritual now and make sure I don't need to worry about it. I keep the gem with me and sit Entropy on a pillow to rest. "Feel ok, just sleepy." I nod and pass her a few treats.

"I guessed as much, thank you for the help Girl, rest up." I encourage her and walk away with the gem heading back to my shack. It's been a few weeks now and the snow has lessened by a third while the weather is already warming up, although it seems winter will be here a little longer than normal, as expected.

I step into my shack and place down the gem with several others to let it hide in plain sight until Entropy can put it back in the correct shadow. Recently I haven't had much to do with my time. The only thing I've completed is one more frost crop this year, the aptly named Frost Squash, it might be an odd choice but squash is a good food source.

Beyond that though I've completed something I've been slowly working on over time, upgrading my armor to being completely made from Mithril wood. I let that project fall to the side for a while but now it's done and with nothing else to really do at the moment I've been thinking about a few ideas I've had.

Namely to do with a few of my plants, specifically the Vita Tree and my New Mantle Bloom. To start with the latter of those two I've gotten another letter from Celestia and to say it's interesting is an understatement. A lot of it was uncertain though and many things she is still fuzzy about.

While testing the gem layers she's found some better names for them as well. Naming the clear outer layer is Gem Peel, the middle layer is Gem fruit, and the core is Gem Pit. I can see the theme she went for and while it's simple it works well enough and at least is better than anything I'd come up with.

The magical effects of the different gems are what is really interesting though. The Gem Peel turned out to be good at absorbing magic from its surroundings, and more than that it's also amazing at moving large amounts of magic without anything exploding.

The downside to that is that the gem is both structurally weak and also can only hold a little magic. Its a great magical conductor and a pretty good magic gatherer, but stably storing magic is something it can't really do. For now I don't have much use for such a gem but it's useful to have and I can think of a few hypothetical uses for it.

The Gem Fruit is basically on par with a regular ruby in many ways. It's nearly as dense and holds a similar amount of magic, it also gathers and conducts a similar amount of magic as well. It's a good replacement basically, and something I will be trying my best to make use of as a replacement.

The Gem Pit is the truly interesting one of the three though. It's not fast at gathering ambient magic, in fact its ability to do that is more near topaz. But it can hold a huge amount of magic for its size and its ability to absorb magic is near that of pure diamond.

The Gem Pit is so good at holding magic that it actually outperforms pure diamond, making it a step higher in some ways and pushing the limits of things. The problem with this all is obvious though, like I mentioned it is not great at actually gathering magic, so filling it becomes the problem.

Still, the Gem Pit is basically a perfect magical battery, capable of taking in, storing, and outputting a large amount of magic all at once. All this new information on gems is great and something I can see being used in several ways, but at the moment I can't do too much with it.

That's because of a discovery on my end, and one that's proving to be a thorn in my side to a lot of ideas I want to make with these new gems. I spend a moment looking around the room and picking out a seed from a box where I keep several types of seeds I used often enough to not want to walk to the seed vault.

Over the past week I decided that I learned enough about the Mantle Bloom's magical flows to take a crack at controlling the growth of the plant and trying to make a desired shape. But much like when I tried to just keep the flower small It quickly turned into a frustrating and annoying experience as the plant stubbornly refused to follow my Will.

I didn't try much before stopping but even changing the shape of one of the plant's spike-like leaves took a lot of mental effort. The magical cost was about what I expected and even less because I studied the magical flows before, but the Will and concentration I needed to make the plant change at all was so much more than anything else I've worked with before.

I walk outside and trot around to the back of my shack before tossing the White Oak seed down onto the ground and dumping some life magic into it. It takes a little mental effort to make the quickly growing tree change from anything natural and start growing into support beams.

Different plants take more or less Will depending on the amount of change I want and what I'm trying to do, but the Mantle Bloom is on a whole other level. Even after dumping half of my magical capacity into a single leaf and heavily concentrating the entire time it still took ten minutes to get what I wanted.

I grew the leaves into a flat gem plate five inches wide and six inches long, just to see if I could. After that, I felt a little tired and had to rest my mind from the mental strain I put it through. The Mantle Bloom is highly resistant to me trying to change it, even to a small degree like I did, I can't imagine what it would take to change the plant permanently.

I can still do it but unlike the extension I am now growing onto my shack I can't just force it into whatever shape I want in seconds. To make a large custom gem from the plant I'd need to work on it for a few days and take breaks to rest myself often, which would stop me from working on much else, and boy is that annoying.

I am not unused to things taking time though so I've decided to go back to learning the Mantle Bloom's magic flows, this time in even more detail. Last time I focused on the large flows but now I'm going to start picking apart the smaller ones while unfortunately having to slowly grow my gems.

Well, maybe not that slowly, making a custom-shaped gem in a week or two is massively faster and more controlled than any gem cutter could dream of. I leave my thoughts as I finish the last wall along with the roof to seal out the cold wind and snowfall from outside.

When I originally made this shack I made the wise choice of shaping it as a hexagon, with the ability to add more sections on with ease as much as needed. So with little effort I've added a third room to my shack, the original one is for storage, one is my bedroom, and the newest one is for Entropy's use.

She needed a space to paint and properly practice her magic, and this was the easy way to go about that. I make sure everything is stable and not going to collapse before leaving the room empty for now and moving on to my other priority today. I gather my woodworking tools and walk out into the snow heading to the Vita Tree.

I can have Entropy help decorate her room and add whatever she needs later, for now I have something else I want to work on. I want more Vita Tree wood, or Gold wood as I once called it. I only ever took one small branch off from the tree and I used that in my staff, and now I want more.

Imbuing the gem again brought back memories of my work on rituals. I haven't been using them but I've kept learning about rituals and expanding my knowledge on them as much as I can. I still have that idea about the sun, but that is still little more than an idea though.

Sure I've found more runes that could be used in such a thing and having the new gem types could make it easier, however the ritual would be anything but simple and I'm not that skilled yet. I could see how it would function though, at least hypothetically I could.

Back to the point, I want to imbue my life magic into a piece of Vita Wood, mostly because I am curious about what would happen. The ritual I have at the moment is for shadow magic but I made it so I just need to swap out a few runes that are for shadows and change them for life runes.

Once that's done I could imbue something with life magic, even if the runes are not the best and will lose a decent amount of the magic due to inefficiency. The thing is, I have no idea what will happen when I do this, but I can think of a few things I might be able to use it for.

I look over the Vita Tree and its branches, searching for a piece of wood I can take off while healing the resulting cut quickly enough to not kill the tree by accident. I've improved in several ways since I last tried this but the Vita Tree represents years of work I'd lose, so I need to be selective.

Eventually I settled for an offshoot of a larger branch. The smaller branch I want to cut off is three inches thick and three feet long, with a split two thirds of the way down that length. Before I start, I check on the barrel of golden dust that still collects everyday and after a moment I see the barrel is full and seal it before replacing it with an empty one.

Over time the Vita Tree has been making more and more golden dust as it grows, especially during winter as I don't have as much to use it on, and my stockpile has started to grow a lot. At this point I have twelve barrels filled with the dust and even with using it to help my projects I still can't consume everything it makes in a day anymore.

I need something to do with it, I can't let it just sit as it's an immensely useful thing, but I also have no idea what I can do with it. Sure I have more than enough for me but not enough to supply anypony else on a larger scale and giving some to Celestia wouldn't do much either.

She might have some use for it, at least she might be able to have somepony study it? I've never needed to try and find out how it works, even if I am still very curious about that. To be blunt, my time is better spent on other things than learning how this dust works, and I'm not entirely sure how to go about testing it.

I make a mental note to talk to Celestia and ask her to see if she can think of anything to do with it. I could give her some at least and she can mess with it, I'm not scared about anything happening as I'm the only Pony who can make it so her giving it to others is also relatively fine. I leave that alone and focus my Will and mind on the Vita Tree.

I bring over my fully charged staff to help myself and put on Wolf's Grace to walk into the air and stand next to the branch I want. The branch is on the bottom of the tree's larger branches and is ten feet off the ground, it should cause minimal disruption to the tree when I cut it off as it's still a small piece overall.

The Vita Tree is a being with a lot of magic moving through it, and that means I need to spend nearly a full minute just moving my space magic into the correct structure without anything going out of place. It takes concentration and time to make sure the highly magical plant doesn't lessen my control over my space magic and cause anything unwanted. Interestingly enough this proves it's harder to cut highly magical things with my space magic, something I might test more.

When it's all ready there is a small pop and the branch falls, being caught by me a second later. I press a hoof to the branch and another to my staff, watching as small streams of golden green magic spill out of the cut I have made. The cut is bigger then last time but with me dumping life magic from my staff and reserves into the tree the cut closes shortly.

It's been a while since I've done this but it takes a longer to heal this cut as well, and in the end, it's spilling magic for over a minute and a half before it fully heals and stops. I breathe out slowly and see I used around double the life magic I have to heal that, and after counting my life magic reserves the staff has lost ten percent of its stored magic.

I breathe out and walk back down while looking at the branch I just cut off. The cut point has that same golden and green flows of magic, concentrated enough to be seen easily and giving off some light. They are leaking out rapidly and after a second a thought occurs to me.

I am too late to do much as most of the magic has leaked out already, but in the future, I could try healing the cut quickly to hopefully form bark and have the branch keep some of the life magic it contains. I'm not sure what that would do but I find the idea interesting as I'm not sure how condensed the life magic inside really is.

What leaks out quickly spreads out over the area and the bark of the branch blocks most of my life sense, the main reason I can tell the life magic has been drained away from this branch is because of the leaves. Once the flow stops the golden leaves rapidly disintegrate and a small amount of golden dust moves over to the barrel and is collected.

I keep the branch with me and put my staff back before walking back to my shack. If I want to imbue this branch to hold life magic I need something to actually do with what I add. I need to add to the ritual something that would direct the life magic, yet very few things actually do anything with life magic. A healing spell would work well but it wouldn't be reliable as the effect would be cast by an object. It might heal you, assuming your injury is related to the specific spell on the branch.

I can only add one effect or spell to the ritual, and even basic healing needs more than one spell. I think as I walk back to my shack and settle in at my desk to start the process of cleaning up and debarking the branch. I cut off the small offshoots that are too small to use and put them to the side for now.

After that, I slowly remove the bark in the largest pieces I can manage, and I'm left with the familiar gold color of the wood. This piece is two feet of wood with a y split and another foot of wood split in two directions. I could do several things with it but first I want to test something.

Once the life magic had left the branch it was dead, an inert material that I can't mold with my life magic. At least not directly, while the wood is dead there is some small amount of life in the bark. Although that too is fading fast and as soon as I notice it I add my own recovering magic to help it.

The only reason I even noticed it was still alive was because unlike last time I did this I carved the branch quickly and took off the bark in large pieces right after I took it off of the Vita Tree. I chug some tea from my flask and study the bark closely from the other side. The inside has a white color to it and some parts of gold from the wood I separated it from.

I can just barely feel some life magic leaking from this side, but the other side still blocks my life sense from sensing it's still alive. This bark was containing and blocking a massive amount of life magic, and even then it didn't totally do its job and some leaked out. More importantly though, this I can work with.

I take a smaller piece of bark that is also just barely alive and line it up with the larger piece, adding life magic and watching with anticipation despite my low magic reserves. Even without my control the plant still knows what to do with life magic, grow, and it tries.

The smaller piece of bark slowly grows onto the larger piece and after a few seconds they become one. I want to take notes but growing those pieces together and pushing my life magic into the backside of the highly resistant material has me a little lightheaded as magical exhaustion kicks in somewhat.

I grit my teeth a little and shake from the familiar but normally less intense feeling before running out of my shack with the bark. In a full sprint, I make it to my staff quickly and breathe a little as I use its magic to keep the bark stable instead of using my own.

I breathe for a moment and start using Mana Mimicry to recover faster while drinking more tea. Drinking more so soon won't help much but every bit counts. After a moment I look back at the bark and try to think of some way to keep this alive, preferably before my staff runs dry.

At the moment the draw on my staff is small but it still won't last forever and even with me adding life magic to the less magically resistant inside of the bark the effort to keep it alive is constant. After a few moments of slightly panicked thought I have a stupid but possible idea.

I start to run back to my shack and hurriedly sit down with the bark and my woodworking tools. The bark is only losing its life magic from the inside, the outside of the bark is still blocking it from escaping. So I just need to stop the leakage from happening and it should stay alive.

The bark is a little thick and while it can bend it's not by enough to fold it into a two sided piece without leaving the sides to leak life magic, but a ball might work. I lay out the bark as flat as I could and take a knife to try and cut it into small shapes, driven by a goal and little reason.

It takes a few minutes of focus to cut out a shape I am familiar with from my past life. It's a slightly far off memory but the idea behind making six strips and putting them together is simple enough to remember. The bark is little so I can't make much but after some work I have each strip.

By this point, the staff only has half of its magic left and I'm cutting things close. I take my space magic and move all six pieces into the air before placing them edge to edge and bending them carefully while leaving a tiny bit of one strip peeled back so I can still add magic inside. As I add more and more magic this frankly silly idea starts to work.

Several thoughts start to pop up as I watch it grow together, mainly, why? I pause for half a second and shrug a little. The idea of actually keeping something from the Vita Tree alive was exciting, and it seems I ran with it at the moment. This could be useful though even if it's probably stupid.

All the seams have grown into place and the only gap left is the small part I kept open. I dump the last bits of the staff's magic into the ball and move the last bit into place, watching it heal and finally stop once it is done. I breathe out and feel my body and mind slump from the large magical use.

I breathe out heavily for a moment before gently placing the ball of bark on my desk. Its small, only two inches across, and as I sit there I realize it's stupid and amazing. I mean, it seems stable, I can't feel the life magic inside that much, barely any at all actually, but I can say it is alive.

"I guess it tests my idea earlier?" I mumble to myself as I question why I went so hard for this small ball. "Actually." I look over the ball closely and start making notes in my bracelet. Sure this might have been silly, but it actually gave me some interesting information about the Vita Tree.

Mainly that the bark is still alive and survives longer than the wood, maybe its ability to block life magic also helps it lose its own life magic more slowly? Either way it means my idea of healing a branch after I cut it off to keep it alive would probably work, and that leads to other possibilities.

If the branches can be kept alive I can actually study them in much more detail than before. I normally have trouble making out much to do with life magic when I'm next to the tree because even if the Vita Tree's bark blocks most life magic, the amount that it gives off overwhelms my senses to a degree.

It makes small details hard to make out and differentiate. I lie down and lay on my side for a moment to rest my head against the floor. I didn't overuse my magic by much, not to a dangerous degree at least, but directing all that magic took a lot of concentration and I have a damned headache now.

I guess I also proved the bark can live without the wood itself, at least for a while it can. I assume that bark ball is still leaking tiny amounts of life magic out. Such small amounts that I can't detect them over the ambient life magic around me, still it means my new creation will die eventually.

I sit up after a few minutes and keep Mana Mimicry active while drinking even more tea, just to keep the effect as active as I can. I also take a moment to drain my water flask and eat some fish jerky I normally use as treats for Entropy. With that done I continue making notes and look over at my desk.

The other pieces of bark are now thoroughly dead, and the branch is just as it was. The ball is also just sitting there, a mostly blurry spot in my life sense. I can tell it's alive, but for how long is a complete mystery. I check my watch and mark the date and time, thankful to my friend that I don't have to cast a spell to check the time right now.

I look over the ball and poke it a little with my hoof, the ball bends a tiny bit and it seems air tight, it is solid enough to not fall apart at least. Cutting the bark even when dead takes enchanted tools so I don't think I'm risking breaking it with my hoof without really trying to do it on purpose. I move it around and look at it from various angles.

I don't really know what to do with this. I've basically made something to store uncontrolled life magic, I could keep adding life magic and see where that gets me? Or I wonder if I could grow this? If I stockpiled enough life magic inside it might be able to actually start growing, or it might destabilize and become a grenade.

Maybe it's best I play it safe then, that does remind me that I might want to try and grow another Vita Tree, at least a sapling that I can have as backup. I don't want to grow it too much though, I'm still trying to grow my original Vita Tree bigger at the moment.

I keep the odd invention in place while letting my mind wander over the possibilities of it all. If nothing else I made something interesting to tell Celestia about.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 997

I didn't have anything to do before Avalon returned, so I thought we could do some messing around. Honestly I feel the experimentation has lesson a lot, witch I think fits better and the beginning had too much of it, but I would like to mix it in a little more when I can.

Chapter 316

JAN 27 Sunday.

I drink my tea and wait for my friend to arrive shortly.

A few days ago I got a letter from Avalon saying he was back in Canterlot and was hoping to meet up, which worked perfectly for me as I have a lot to tell him. I place down my tea and keep looking over the five bracelets sitting in front of me on my desk along with a few woodworking tools.

The bracelets were finished a week ago and I've spent the time since then working on them. First and foremost I started by adding a layer of Steel wood to each of them to cover up all of the mithril and gems. From the outside, they just look like nice wooden bracelets with some good quality carvings on them.

I kept the style simple and just added some flowers and vines to each of them, the real magic comes into play with the shield spell I enchanted into each of them. After a few weeks of work, I've made something that should fit them well, or as well as I can make it.

As a start, the shield that will be placed on them won't stop a lot of things, and that was actually the main difficulty I had with this project. Making a shield to keep everything out is easy, but that also makes going about your day like normal a complete mess and a massive inconvenience.

That goes doubly so for Blaz and Avalon as they still need to pick things up and interact with the environment with their limbs. So top priority was finding a way to determine how to let them actually do things while not getting stabbed. And in the end, I had to get a little creative like I often do.

I started by trying to make the spell more complicated by adding in a scanning spell with a rune of Threats. It's not an amazing rune but it's decent and its Runic Context works well with a shield. But that only detected what was a threat and while I tried my best to make it work I couldn't find a good balance between powering the Scanning Spell and the shield itself because tying the Scanning spell into the shield proves overly complicated.

There was just too much the spell would have to account for if I did it like that. This shield would detect any threat and move the shield to block that threat from being a problem, but it was so finicky. It also didn't help that the Threat rune turned out to be less effective against multiple threats at once while I was testing it.

With that not being enough I went another route and one I wanted to use less if possible, Intent runes. They may be unreliable in some cases but I think I got it to work well in this situation. In the end, I went with a form-fitting shield that covered the entire body of the creature wearing it and made it so the shield was invisible to the eye.

That was actually easy as it's normal for a shield to be unseen and I actually have to add in color normally. The Intent rune works off of the intent of the Pony using it and makes it so they can actually pick something up, basically when they want to pick it up it can pass through the shield, but only when they want to and everything else will be blocked.

This does have the side effect of needing you to actually pay some attention to what you are picking up and moving over to you, but it's easy enough to control, and after a while, you can just forget it's there and adjust. Then just to be safe I also added the Threat rune along with a weaker Scanning spell.

It's a smaller component but it prevents you from moving something dangerous to you through the shield even if you want to. It's a safety measure to make sure something doesn't go wrong. This Scanning spell is also much easier to make than the first one I had planned and took far less magic because the conditions were not as strict and I was scanning for much less in a closer area.

The smaller scanning spell only needs to detect things close by as spells are blocked by the shield due to it always being on. Overall the power of the bracelets isn't too great, but they let my friends remain mostly safe along with letting them do everything as they normally would. Even with the bracelets being small they are still made from pure diamonds and mithril and can block a few powerful spells or quite a few bladed strikes before they break.

I look over the last one as I touch up the wood carving and place it to the side after sanding it a little. That's the last one and they are all now enchanted and properly decorated. With my work done I start cleaning up my desk while walking over to look at one of my newest items.

Earlier today I sent a letter to Celestia with the new frost crop and my newest Metalworking spell. The spell itself was pretty simple and the only reason it took me so long was because it was my first time working with this type of spell and I didn't want to mess anything up.

It's not some massive improvement or anything, I got the magical cost down by a third and helped simplify the spell, it was an optimization and not a complete remake. If this goes well I'm going to start working on a few of the other spells used for metalworking, that should keep me busy for a while on that front.

I look over at the Vita wood branch currently sitting inside my workroom and marvel at the gold-like material. I originally just wanted to gather more of the wood for some further testing and to have it on hoof. The process of harvesting takes time and some risk, so I wanted to make sure I had some of it if I ever needed it.

At the moment I'm mostly testing how life magic flows through it, trying to study if the flows inside a dead branch mimic what the Vita Tree does when it is alive. I'm not sure but it seems like a good guess and I find studying such an interesting and magical plant to be fun.

With all my different studying I haven't had as much time to just mess around with random things. I still have some Timberwolf blood sitting around that I keep checking on to keep alive, not sure what I'd even do with that stuff. And then there is Clear Water.

We're roughly halfway through my apprenticeship and things are going very well. We're at the point where I am often left alone for a lot of smaller things along with a few bigger injuries, I've also started helping her on more serious stuff. Honestly, I do not regret taking her up on the offer.

From what I can tell I could pass the Journeypony Healers test right now and still get a good grade on it. The only thing I was really missing when going into this Apprenticeship was a rounded library of healing spells and actual experience working professionally in such an environment.

I still have more to learn, and she's consistently pushing me when it comes to spells and healing knowledge. Something she figured out early on was that I'm good at learning new spells so she basically takes any opportunity to give me more spells to learn and add to my ever-growing collection.

Though, I think the best thing she taught me was just how to act as a healer. Things like how to walk into a chaotic situation and actually get the job done without getting swept up in it all. At least she's taught me this in small ways and on paper, I still haven't been in anything like that yet, it's still very useful to me though.

I recently noticed she's been adding more work for me to do, more to read and research along with harder injuries to diagnose and treat. I shake my head and leave my thoughts before stepping out of my workroom. I look over to see Entropy sleeping on her perch.

Recently she joined us for a game night when Blaz returned, and she actually got to join in all the fun, at least to a degree. She seemed to not really know what to do and ended up only playing a little and mostly just watching like normal while asking questions and talking more.

I think she just needs time to get used to the change of it all and I'm being patient with her about it. It's not like it matters how she has fun, she could stay home if she wanted to, but for now, I'll just gently give her options and advice. At least her painting is proving to be a good hobby.

Her painting has improved a fair bit and Daisy actually ended up watching Entropy again even though it wasn't needed. Daisy had some fun and basically made the trip a lesson on how to paint, something Entropy was beyond happy about. I'll need to bake something for Daisy as thanks.

On the other side, Entropy's practice with shadow magic has been going about how I expected it to. She's still only doing the same practice, but she's much faster and more stable with it now, I think I'll start teaching her more soon. I start to make some fresh tea and lay out my new metal chess set to work on it while I wait.

I'm still thinking about what I'll do with the new set, but I have a few fun ideas. I stop though when I notice a griffon landing on the roof and I smile. I whistle softly to wake Entropy and she looks at me slowly, "He's here, try not to startle him, ok?" I remind her about our earlier talk.

She bobs her head and pecks at her band three times. "I know, feather friend too scared." I snort at the nickname but just sit in silence as we wait for him to arrive. Not long after Avalon knocks on my door softly and I flip a switch while opening the door in one go.

He peeks his head into my apartment and looks over at me before smiling. "Hey." It's a soft but relaxed tone he has as he walks inside and gently closes the door behind him. "S-So, did you like the gift? And, how have you been?" He asks with some hesitation as he walks over to the table I'm sitting at.

I smile at him and Entropy waves with her wing to which he waves back with a smile. "I loved it, and it's already proven useful to me. I'm fine." I say bluntly and pass over a cup of tea while he takes off his satchel and sits down with me. "Did you enjoy your trip?" I ask and try to make things relaxed before I dive into my mess.

He nods happily and after a second his head feathers jump a bit. "I... It was nice to see them." His tone is a little, complicated, almost like he's not sure what to say about it. "I t-talked to them about a lot of things, and well... I'm still thinking about it." He admits and I get the feeling he doesn't want to talk about it right now. "S-Sorry." He says quietly.

I shake my head and give him an understanding look. "No need, it's not my place to dig and if you need to think about it do just that." I encourage him, I often get into similar moods, and sometimes time to think is the only remedy. "Well, did you enjoy my gift, I know it's not as fancy but I hope it was helpful?" I ask and his smile jumps back some.

He nods quickly and seems thankful for me not questioning him further. "I loved it, and it was! T-Thanks!" I gifted him a few books on magic I had but didn't need, nothing amazing but still something I thought he'd like. "The notes also helped a lot, I can even... Well." He trails off a bit and rummages through his bag for a second before placing a candle down. "C-Can I?"

I smile and nod in interest, I think I can see where this is going but I want to see how much he's progressed. He smiles slightly to show his excitement and looks at the candle on the tabletop very intently for a long moment. Eventually, he raises his talons and snaps two together, a second later the candle wick bursts into flame and the candle is lit.

My brow jumps and I smile wide at the interesting method he uses. "Would you look at that, a flame in a precise location at a small point. Not bad work, great actually." I compliment him and look over to his talons, "Why the snapping though? For show or?" I ask as it seems like an odd choice when he can just do it without it.

He smiles bashfully and scratches the back of his neck. "N-No? I guess?" He says and nods a bit more firmly. "I had a h-hard time getting it to burst up like that, suddenly instead of building up." He explains and holds out his talons before slowly creating a fire that gets larger.

I do remember he had to build up his fire the last time I saw it. I nod, "So a mental crutch then, something to tie it to your mind better?" I reason and he nods back. It's not something I liked the idea of doing myself as I wanted full control over my magic, but I can understand his reasoning.

Because controlling an affinity is all about your Will and Intent, tying an action or idea to an effect you want can make the process easier. I do this to some extent by tying the idea of growing plants and their magical flows to the action of growing them, making the mental strain a little less on me. But I don't like doing that and try my best to keep my magic firmly in my control.

"I-I also got it to do this." He snaps again and both the small flame in his palm and the candle flame abruptly go out and vanish. I whistle a bit and give him a slightly proud look. "That is always so, fun! I am trying to do it without the snap, b-but, it's hard." He admits but I keep my smile.

I shrug. "It's good you don't want to keep it, things like that can work against you later on. But I'd say keep it just for show even after you overcome it, it's interesting and if nothing else it's a good party trick." I joke a little and he chuckles softly as I lean back and drain my tea before moving my chessboard to the side.

He raises a brow as I give him a more serious face after a moment. "You know I have a lot of secrets?" He nods hesitantly after a pause. "Well, I have a lot to tell you about. A lot." I emphasize and he tenses a bit while I wave a hoof. "Relax, this is just going to be complicated," I reassure him with a calm tone.

He goes silent for a moment before speaking up. "My, my family is... Y-You don't need to share." He seems surprised and I feel a little bad for dumping this on him right after he got back from dealing with some likely emotional things. I just smile more and refill my tea.

"I do," I state and raise a hoof to stop him from insisting. "It's important to you as well, and I'd like to tell you about it if you feel ok to listen?" I ask to make sure he's willing to deal with my shit today. Oddly enough I see that same determination he gets when learning magic as he looks back at me and nods.

I set my tea down and think for a moment. "You know I work for the crown, but I never really said how or why?" He blinks and focuses more as I talk. "I'll get the more concerning news out of the way first. I worked on some things I am legally not allowed to tell others about." I keep a calm but serious tone to ground him.

He holds up his wooden arm and I notice a few pieces of it are charred from fire. "Wait! Do you mean like, c-classified stuff? I don't think-" I cut him off with a hoof again and smiled at him before standing up and motioning for him to follow me. As I lead him over to my workroom door I turn back to him.

"Yes, I can tell you, yes you need to know, and no I can't and won't be telling you anything specific. Deep breath." I add as a reminder as he looks a little overwhelmed already. He pauses and does as I ask, taking a few breaths before I continue. "Now the important part, some documents on what I worked on were stolen, I can't say why or how, but they were," I add quickly.

I give him a moment to process that before I continue, my mood is much more stable than the first time I did this. "It's not directly tied to me, but it could come back to me and cause problems, maybe even some danger." Strangely his eyes seem to focus a lot more on that.

He seems to think for a moment. "Do I need to move?" I blink at the oddly calm question and he seems to have realized how odd it was as well. "I- I'm used to being on the road, I've been in a lot of d-dangerous places." He adds and I nod after a moment, realizing he is ironically equipped to deal with this. "So?"

He may not have been somewhere dangerous that often but even in his younger years he had some danger, and it seems he's decent at dealing with it despite his outward appearance. I quickly shake my head, "No, nothing like that, but I have two things to make sure you stay safe. I would rather my friend not be harmed by my actions." He looks a bit taken aback by those words as I open the door and walk into my workroom.

He follows after a moment but stops dead as he walks inside, looking around the room shocked. Avalon learned a lot from working with me and me teaching him things, and out of my friends, he's probably the only one who knows much about enchanting. Which is why it's not a surprise that he's shocked by the room's contents.

"I- Are those, real?" He points to the shelves I keep my gems on and I see his eyes light up. A moment later he looks at my illusionary library and sees all the gems filled with magic and looks even more excited. "T-Those are full of magic, what enchantments would even need that many gems? The power one, alone, provides..." He trails off after a moment and his excitement slows abruptly.

He looks over at me as I sit in the middle of the room and give him a reassuring look, both trying to keep him calm and happy to see his amusing reaction. He really looks around the room for a moment, the piles of gems, the books, the shelves filled with crafting materials and boxes. "W-What?" He mumbles utterly baffled.

I walk over to a shelf with a chuckle and take out some of the letters I've kept from others, the particularly nice fan letters. "You, work with the crown and..." He trails off again as reality seems to set in. "This, how, who?" I walk over to him and slump down so I'm not taller than him.

He confusedly stares back as I pass him several letters, he takes them slowly. "Much like you decided to do, I also have a fake name, one I use because, like you, I hate attention." I flip open one letter and put it up to his face. "And I work in much the same way, making things, trying to help others." I continue to speak.

I let him read over the proof of who I am and once he's done I move the letter away to see him looking me in the eyes with utter shock. "Y-You'r-r." I smile and nod before moving back a little bit to give him room to breathe. "I-I've, yo-u are Ve-eil." I nod again.

"I am Veil Winter, a name used to try and keep my life separate from all that trouble. Like you, I enjoy my peace, so a fake name was needed." I sigh a bit and give him an apologetic smile. "I am sorry I kept it from you, but I just wanted-" I stop abruptly as he continues to stare back in blank shock. "You ok?" I ask, a little concerned.

A moment later he nods almost by instinct. "I, I think. I." He repeats for a moment before closing his eyes and taking several deep breaths. I don't move or speak, I just wait a minute as he seems to try and regain his control. Eventually, he opens his eyes again, "S-Sorry, please."

I smile back. "No problem, I know this is a lot to dump onto you at once. I really am sorry about all of this." I apologize again to drive the point home. "Like I said, I never told anypony before this, my other friends found out a little while ago because I had to tell them as well." I bring us back to the point of the conversation.

That really seems to break him out of his shock as he's reminded of my earlier words. "The things you make, they stole, o-oh." His tone is quieter and more subdued but also much more collected. "I, i-it's fine. I. Well, I did the same thing with my, f-family." He reasons and tries to turn down my apology.

I keep my smile as I continue. "That is the reason, Veil Winter is a fairly big name, and if it ever got out that I was them, things would get complicated fast. And like I said, those documents were stolen, which means some danger is present, even if just a little." I try not to add to the pressure this must be putting on him but I am also honest.

He nods but stays quiet after a second so I continue. "Before we get to all the questions you have, and I WILL be answering those." I make a promise with a firm tone, something he smirks a very slight bit at. "This is what I wanted to give you." I move a gem from a shelf and his bracelet from my desk.

He looks at the medium diamond glowing with the magic concentrated inside it. I also pass him some instructions I wrote about both the bracelet and the shield for his home. "I- all of this? For, m-me?" He seems taken aback again and even looks slightly emotional.

I'm not sure if it's all the shock and emotions from visiting his family, but if nothing else he seems happy. "Yup, I'll need to set it up in your home, but it will keep you safe, if you want it? You don't need to if you think othr-" He cuts me off by quickly shaking his head.

"N-NO!" He quickly says and stammers a little. "I-I'll do it. I... I know what it's like w-worrying for, others." He says as if to explain and I'm reminded of his family who still roam around and could get into less than pleasant situations at any moment, he really can understand better than most. "You are really, V-Veil Winter?" He asks slowly.

I move the gem to the side and just lay down, bringing our tea cups from the table outside and motioning for him to also lie down. Which he does after a few moments. "I am, and by magic it has been an interesting mess from start to finish. I really am sorry about lying to you." I say again as the guilt is still there.

He shakes his head. "Don't be, it, it doesn't matter to me." He states and I raise a brow while he smiles back bashfully. "Y-You, never treated me differently when I did it, why s-should I?" His voice is even more quiet now but also more calm. "You said I could, a-ask about it?" He asks hesitantly and I can see that curiosity in him as he looks at the gem and bracelet I gave him.

I nod firmly and drop my smile in favor of a simple calm expression, happy to hear my friend is like the others and willing to trust me. "You can ask about as much as you like, I just might not always be able to give you an answer. So, where do you want to start?"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 997

It might feel similar to the last time, but I tried to make it more interesting. I'm just not sure if you'd all want me to add a second part to this or have them finish talking and skip it all? I feel it might get a little same-same if I do continue it but I can't fit it all into one chapter.

Tell me what you think.

Surprisedbirb.png *this is not real, just the absolutely random thing that popped into my head while writing this.*

Chapter 317

JAN 27 Sunday.

I cast a spell to warm up his tea and mine before simply sitting in silence as he thought about how to answer me.

At the moment I'm calm and just content, maybe a little nervous about how he'll react over time but not too much. Telling my other friends first really gave me some peace in telling Avalon, mostly because even if things went wrong I'd still have some friends after everything settled.

Not that I thought he would actually react that badly, out of all of them, he's probably the one least likely to tell others or react badly. Mostly because he has his own secrets and few friends, and we are surprisingly close friends for only seeing each other every week or two at the moment.

He drinks some tea after a minute of silence and looks back up to me, meeting my eyes. "Why?" I motion for him to elaborate as that's a little too vague. "Why do so much and be, h-here?" He asks while looking around my workroom, "I don't like attention either, but..."

I nod as it's a valid question to have. "Many reasons actually. At its base I really do just want to be left alone and not have to deal with things like fame, I didn't even think I'd gain fame from this in the first place." I just started rambling about it. "Another reason is that it would simply be annoying as all Fire." I slip in a more Dragon saying as it fits well.

He listens intently to my words though. "When I started out I made a simple Light spell, because candles annoyed me." He tilts his head and I chuckle. "Yup, no other reason. But I thought it could be useful and I had a way to actually give it to others through The Princess." I continue speaking.

He chirps a bit and I stop as his eyes go wide once again with realization. "Y-You..." He goes silent and looks down at his wooden limb for a long moment before looking back up gratefully. "You sent it to her, you got me that m-meeting?" His tone is a mix of realization and a heavy emotion I can't name.

I nod softly and wait a second before continuing. "I did, but to explain I need to go through a lot of details. So let me do a quick few here." I move over a pot and a simple sunflower seed I brought for this exact reason. "Watch closely," I say and place the seed inside the pot.

He looks curious and very focused as I start to move life magic into the seed and watch as a fully grown sunflower rapidly grows from the pot and nearly touches the ceiling a few moments later. He just stares at it in utter amazement before looking back at me with that gleam in his eyes, looking for an explanation.

I move the plant to the side with some maneuvering while sipping some tea before explaining. "One of my affinities is the life affinity, I assume you came across it while researching them?" His eyes widen more but he nods quickly and seems content for me to keep talking. "And that is also why and how I got into contact with Princess Celestia."

He blinks again and seems very thoughtful while looking over at the sunflower. "You can grow any plant, the magical herbs alone..." He seems to get it and trails off after a moment. "So, you just, sent h-her a letter saying that?" He asks and is pretty close to the truth.

I shrug. "A letter and a box of magical tea, something that she might have had use for and I had an unlimited amount of. I thought it would make a good gift during the Summer Sun Celebration." I go over the same details I have before. "In the end, I got a letter back and she insisted I stay in some form of contact."

He stays silent and after a moment I look at my shelf of notebooks and take one down that has something he can look at without revealing anything he shouldn't see. "Here, some old notes on a few of the projects I've done. You know, I'm very happy you've come so far in all of this. And yes, this is a bribe to make you pay attention and not ask about all of the magic involved." I say honestly to try and lighten the mood and have him be less surprised and more relaxed.

His eyes light up and snap over to the book as I bring it close. But as he reaches out for it he stops and stares at me, my words seeming to register to him. He takes the notebook and places it to the side before going silent for a few seconds and looking me right in the eyes. "W-Why help me? You're Veil Winter! An amazing inventor and-"

I smile at him and cut him off. "And I'm your friend." He stops at that. "Before and above anything else, that is what we are, friends," I state matter-of-factly. "As for why? That look in your eyes, you love magic like I do, and I wanted to see that grow." I am very blunt and honest as he doesn't need anything else right now.

He's stunned to silence once again but I don't let it sit too long. "I always hated keeping secrets from you and my other friends, but to be honest by the time Veil Winter really got famous I couldn't see a good way to tell you or anyone at all really. I was afraid." I admit softly.

He blinks at that but smiles at me, the biggest one he's had all night. "T-Thank you, for being my friend, for helping me, for... Everything." He says after a beat of quiet. "What does this all mean? N-Now that I know?" He asks and I give him a reassuring look.

"For us? Barely anything." He tilts his head again and his feathers shift up slightly. "I'm not going to change my life or anything, I am Shade Evergreen and I rather like being me." I joke and he lets out a mix of giggles and chirps in response. "I guess it means I get to really teach you things now, as long as you'd like to learn," I ask hopefully.

That is one thing I really do enjoy when working with Avalon, teaching and guiding him down the path of magic.
I don't like teaching often but with the right students, I do enjoy doing it. Avalon's eyes actually glow a small bit and I can feel a little heat from him as his magic reacts to his mood. "REALLY!!"

He's a bit loud but I just laugh as he stops and looks a little embarrassed at his outburst. "As a start, I can help you get some better control of your magic, I know of a few methods you probably haven't found yet." He blushes a bit in embarrassment as I point that out. "But yes. It would be the same as before, just with me holding back less and giving more guidance on complex things." I explain.

"I-I'd love to, I get to learn from Veil Winter!" He says to himself in a rushed tone that overcomes his mild embarrassment a moment before. I nearly groan at the use of that name but at least he seems happy about meeting his hero, although he's looking at me with a little too much admiration at the moment.

I decide to tamper that down a little from the start. "Yes, but do keep in mind I am just a Pony." I remind him and that makes him pause for a moment. "I'll admit I'm good at making spells, but my talent in magic comes in second to many others, I got here through hard work and you will get here through the same thing." I encourage but also limit his expectations.

He takes a breath and nods quickly at my words, his smile never leaving his face. "I know! I-I mean, you are just, Shade." He adds and I nod back satisfied. "Still though, all of this, you... The t-things you've made, they are amazing, is that your talent?" He asks and looks at my flank.

I tilt my hoof back and forth a little while holding it out. "Yes and no. My talent seems to help in anything to do with magic casting and anything about spells, but it's small and more like a slightly guiding hoof. Sure it helps but only to improve things slightly, the rest is all me." I explain and enjoy the slightly different topic. "Now come on, I still have one or two interesting surprises left," I say as I stand up and head for the door.

He looks around him and I smirk before picking up a few of the things I gave him as he grabs the teacup and the notebook. "Wait, um." He looks around the room like it's beautiful and seems reluctant to leave. "Can I see this again, l-later?" He asks hopefully.

I chuckle a little and he looks a small bit embarrassed once again. "Sure, but I think I have something else you'd find interesting as well. Now come on, we'll come back here when we start using it." The promise of something interesting to look at proves to be enough and he follows me out of the room.

I look over to see Entropy impatiently waiting on her perch and looking at us intently as we walk back into the main room. "Couch," I say to them both and she happily flies down as I walk over to take a seat on one side of the couch with a nice view of the city. "So this one is less my secret and more of Entropy's, she'll be explaining," I say simply while placing down the things I was carrying on the floor nearby.

The look of confusion he gives me as he sits on the other end of the couch and looks down at entropy standing in between us is amusing. "What?" He asks bluntly and a moment later he raises a brow at the sight of Entropy pecking at her band. And promptly jumps back before nearly falling off the couch as Entropy drops her illusion.

Entropy holds out a wing and caws softly while backing up a little so Avalon has more room. "Hello feather friend!" She greets him happily and his beak just falls open. I struggle to hold in my laughter at the sight as even learning that I was Veil Winter didn't do that to him. "Friend feel ok?" She asks after Avalon just sits there slack-jawed for a few long moments. Entropy turns to me after that, "I think I broke, help."

That proves to be too much and I just start laughing at the spectacle of it all. It takes me a minute to get my laughing under control and by the time I'm done Avalon is settled in his spot and looking at Entropy with narrowed eyes, "I know you probably have question-"

"She's beautiful." He says quietly and I stop abruptly. I look down to see Entropy so happy about his words she's shifting from one foot to another in a little dance. I look back up and give him my biggest smile, "I, hello?" He says as he remembers the situation and focuses more on me.

Entropy won't let such kind words go though and moves closer to him with a few happy chirps. "Feather friend beautiful as well! So pretty!" Avalon looks a little overwhelmed as she gets within a few inches of him and is basically an excited filly on a sugar high at this point. "Hey!" She caws out indignantly as I pick her up and move her back over to my side.

I give her a firmer look. "Remember what I said about personal space?" She looks over at Avalon and back to me. "Keep your own, and respect others." I remind her of a talk we had a while ago about just that. "Good job making him bashful though, he needs more compliments," I add with some pride.

I hear another chirp of indignation at that. "Hey-y! I... Thanks." He tries to defend himself and looks a little flustered with his feather crest a little out of place, but he gives up quickly and looks over Entropy with a keen eye. "She's like a phoenix, but the magic is all different." He notes and seems genuinely enthralled by the sight of Entropy. "Wait, she's t-talking."

I nod with a smirk and a happy expression. "You finally noticed, and yes she is, she's a very smart bird. I can explain things about what she is later." That seems to actually disappoint him and I smirk in amusement at the sight. "You seem more excited about her than I expected." I can't help but joke a bit as it is rather odd.

He scratches his arm with his prosthetic for a few seconds. "I really like, magical creatures." He admits and I raise a brow at that. "W-Well, it never really came up." I nod after a moment as he's right, we focus on spells and affinities, magical creatures aren't something that I remember coming up all that much or even at all.

"Huh, I'll remember that." I just make a mental note of it as considering his past if seems odd, but I don't dig into it. "Anyway, since you seem to like it I'll tell you about her another time. For the moment though the most important things about her are, that she is currently five years old, and she's completely sapient, as smart as a Pony of the same age and still growing smarter." I chose this point above all others.

Entropy chirps and hops a little closer to him. "Hello, I think really hard." She says proudly and even with the shock of my words he can't help but chuckle at her. "No laugh! I am smart!" She insists and Avalon does stop abruptly while I just laugh more. "Mean!" She points a wing at me.

I reach out and scratch her. "As you can see, she is very smart. Again I can give you details later, I think I have some notes on her you can look at. Just don't, well, don't tell anyone about her." I realize I haven't really stressed the fact he can't talk about all of this. "Actually, it's best you don't talk about or write anything about, ALL of this," I add, suddenly more serious.

He nods immediately and looks up at me with a firm stare. "I won't, I promise." His tone is surprisingly firm. He looks down at Entropy and slowly reaches out a talon across the couch while scooting over to be closer, "Can I?" I shrug and look down to Entropy, who promptly lowers her head and rubs it against his talon. "W-Wow, that feels, so weird." He mummers as he scratches her.

Entropy basically melts into his palm as he scratches along her farther spines and the skin underneath them. "Best, scratches, ever." She slowly caws out as he uses his much more dexterous talons to scratch more thoroughly than anypony else can. "Friend now best friend." She sounds sleepy from the scratches and lays down to lean into them more.

Avalon for his part just seems amazed he's touching her at all and is thoroughly looking over her form. "She's cold, is that normal?" I nod and he draws back after a moment more, Entropy popping up and almost looking ready to demand more attention. "So, E-Entropy, what can you do?" He sounds a little awkward while asking her but makes an effort.

I can't blame him, he's never met Entropy as an equal before. For my part, I'm happy Entropy likes him and happy to see that is returned in kind. She stands up and looks at his talons reluctantly before answering. "Move." She caws out simply and he tilts his head in confusion. A second later he startles again as she vanishes and reappears on her perch. He snaps his head up to her as she gets his attention with a caw. "Move!" She repeats.

He looks back at me and I just smile. "She's also learning to paint, read, and hopefully write eventually," I add some other things to really try and make sure he understands what she is. "Her teleportation is a natural ability she has, much like a phoenix. I'm not sure but they could be related, although it would be very distant at best."

Entropy flies down and lands on the back of the couch to be the same height as us as Avalon absorbs that information. "Oh, that... She's really that smart?" I nod confidently. "That's, a-amazing!" He chirps and Entropy agrees with a chirp of her own. "I can't believe I never noticed. Wait, how did I never notice?"

By this point his voice is more calm and lacks his nervousness, it seems his interest in magic and apparently magical creatures has overtaken his shock. I do know he'll have many smaller questions for me, just as the others did, but for now, things are nice and calm.

I expected this to go well, but it really did go well. I grin widely and motion to his talons. "It seems you've made a new best friend with nothing but your talons." I joke while he continues to study Entropy and smile. "And that would be through the use of illusions, there is one enchanted onto her band." I point to it.

He looks at it for a moment and thinks for a moment. "Illusions take a good amount of magic though, you'd need something like... Diamond? A magical metal? That's wood. You'd also need a good spell that you'd need, too, find... You made it, didn’t you?" He realizes and I nod. "C-Can I see it?" He asks about it as I expected he would.

I nod again. "Yes you can, it might be one of my creations but it's a less interesting illusion." He raises a brow at that and I stand up. "Come along, I promised to show you something interesting, and Entropy does not count, she's too adorable to be interesting." That earns me a peck as Entropy quickly teleports onto my back and pinches me. "Hey! No biting!" I say without much heat as I brought that onto myself.

He looks between us but unlike my friend he doesn't comment on how we treat each other, he just gets up to follow me with an excited smile. "Veil Winter. All those things he's- You, have made, do you just send them to the P-Princess?" He asks as I lead him to my bedroom.

I shrug. "Most of the time, I work on a lot of things, but most aren't for the crown." He looks understandably confused at that. "Basically I have a similar deal to you. Whenever I make something I send it off and beyond that, I have no boss or anything, I'm more of a contractor really. Sometimes I help with other things though, stuff I can't tell you about"

He hums softly in thought but switches to looking up in wonder at the ceiling as we enter my bedroom. "It. It's, beautiful." I smile at yet another reaction of amazement and surprise. He looks at the gem floating nearby and moves over to it, "A Floating spell? No, maybe?"

I smirk at the sight, his interest in how it's floating larger than the fake sky above him. "A Stasis spell, one I made. It was released but it's mostly used in construction I believe, not something you'd come across." I try to remember that information about that particular invention. "And to answer the earlier question, her band is some magical wood around a mithril core with pure diamonds in it."

He pokes the floating gem and watches it move slightly before shifting back to its slow spin, I'm not even sure he paid attention to my answer. He looks at me, "Can you teach it to me? I m-mean, would you mind teaching me that s-spell?" He tampers his excitement but I just turn around to walk out of the bedroom. "No then?" He asks, sounding a little sad.

I chuckle and shake my head as he follows me. "I can and will, not in my bedroom though, I have a workshop for a reason." I joke a bit and he looks both relieved and slightly embarrassed. "Thanks for waiting, Girl, we'll be in my room if you need us," I say and drop her off on the couch so she can do what she wants before I turn to Avalon. "Come on, I have a few things to teach you it seems."

I can admit it will be very fun to teach him things without restrictions, or at least not nearly as many of them. He quickly follows me back into my workroom and once again starts looking around. "Thank you! I-I mean it!" He says even though he really doesn't need to.

I give him a level deadpan look. "Sure, first rule. No fanning out when we are here, please? It's odd." I put down a simple rule and he has the decency to look embarrassed about that. He nods readily, "Good, rule two. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING, not unless I let you after you ask, or I tell you to." I am very firm about that rule as a few things in here are very delicate.

He nods again and I grin before walking over to a shelf as I remember something I'd forgotten about a long time ago. "Great, last rule, don't hesitate if I tell you to run." He looks at me with some concern as I bring over a large triangle-shaped amethyst inside a wooden base. "Now this will take a minute, sit as still as you can," I instruct and place the gem in front of him before tapping it twice and backing up.

This is the device I made for testing how much magic I have, something that never had much use beyond a fun project to me, and something I basically forgot about. And honestly, I'm curious to see how much he has, I don't think it will be a massive amount but it should be interesting to know and give us both more information to work with in the future.

He looks like he wants to question me as I place a small piece of paper on the gem, but he sits still as I tell him to. I also want to test my own magic as well, it should be fun, but I'll do that later. We both wait in silence as I walk around and note a few things for later while he tracks me with his eyes.

We both look over when there is a small flash of light and the gem is drained by nearly a quarter. I walk over and pick up the piece of paper, "You can move. Now let's see." 156 I raise a brow as that's a bit higher than expected. "Huh, looks like you've practiced more than I thought." I compliment the confused Griffon.

I pass him the paper and explain. "That is a rough measurement of how much magic you have, two hundred is normal for an adult Unicorn. Congrats." He looks surprised and looks at the number oddly while I smile at him. "This thing is old though, some of my early work and rough at best, want to help me fix that?" I ask as an idea forms in my head.

The best way to learn is to simply do it and learn as you go, and in this case, this project is more advanced but still within its limits, with my help of course. He looks excited, like I'd just said it was his birthday, "We're working, on t-this?" I nod and he smiles widely before he glances down at the gem, "Are you going to?" He points at it.

I tilt my ears for a moment in thought. "I was going to improve it first before trying to do it again, but sure, why not?" I shrug and motion for him to back up some, which he does as I place another piece of paper on the gem and activate it. I sit still and we both descend into silence as I have to sit still.

Avalon takes that time to look around a little, walking around the room like I did but keeping some distance from the shelves. He stops for a moment as he looks at the Vita Tree branch shining with its golden luster. He doesn't touch it but looks at it closely for a minute before walking back over to me. "This p-place is, absolutely, perfect." He says.

We wait a while more and once the gem is done I notice I drained most of the gem's remaining magic, which was still pretty full before. Once it's done he's the first to pick up the paper and look at it, before turning to me with a look of admiration. It's a little awkward but I brush it off as he passes it to me. "That's, a l-lot. You said two hundred was... Wow."

I raise a brow and look at the paper before blinking. One thousand one hundred and thirty-seven. "Huh."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 997

I thought the number for Shad made sense because it's been a few years and he's literally been focused on upping his capacity for his whole life. And I thought Avalon's would make sense as while he's put a lot of work into it, he's also a little older and started older.

Chapter 318

FEB 7 Thursday.

I read through the patient form I was just given with a calm expression.

Today has been pretty slow and nothing too bad has come through the patient ward doors, which means a boring day for me. And that is just fine, no trouble means fewer lives needing saving and fewer Ponies getting hurt. It's also just nice to be here sometimes and not have to be working quickly.

The past week or so has been a nice calm really, after talking to Avalon my worry faded for the most part and that's been a relief to have done and settled. Avalon himself was also very fun to work with as we spent a fair few hours that day working on my magic measuring device and just talking.

He had a lot of smaller questions for me about my inventions and details he found interesting when he learned about them. I tried my best to add context and things he should learn throughout it and overall things went very well, he also got pretty excited to learn more about Entropy.

I had to obviously leave some information out but what he learned made him come up with some interesting ideas about her. Nothing that's solid but he seems to have a decent grasp and knowledge of magical creatures, at least a much better grasp than I do.

Beyond that, I also had a meeting with Celestia, along with another meeting with Cadance and Shining. They are all doing well and nothing worth too much note happened. Just about the biggest thing was Cadance asking me to grow the seed I gave her into a small tree inside a pot for her.

Celestia also didn't have much to share as the investigation seems to have stalled out, unfortunately, not too surprising honestly. I did find out that Chrysalis seems to know something happened, and will probably try for another meeting sometime soonish, but that's a worry for another day as such things take time.

I finish the file I was reading and walk over to the bedside where two mares are resting, both around the same age with one lying down on her side and very obviously pregnant. They came in for a checkup and while it's small it is also something I need to learn according to Clear Water. "Hello Miss Poppy. Everything seems fine from your last visit, but I'd like to cast a few spells to make sure, if that's fine with you?" I ask in a professional tone.

I note that both of them have a matching earring, a sign some use for relationships but it depends on where they are from so I don't assume. Still, both of them might be a couple, not uncommon in a society with so many females. "That would be fine. Ya, Honey?" The one sitting up asks the pregnant mare.

The mare nods slowly and I start to cast the spells, delaying it a little to not startle the mares. Stressing a pregnant mare is never good and should be avoided if possible, even in small ways. I bring over some paper and cast a few spells in a row before looking over the results.

The spells don't give me a clear picture of what's going on inside, much like a few inventions from my last world. It at least lets me see roughly what's going on but the details are rough. I go through my knowledge on foals I've read through and from what I can tell things are fine.

Still better safe than sorry so I clip the scans to my clipboard and nod as they look over to me expectantly. "Things look fine, but I'd like to run it by a more senior staff member to be safe." This is something I often have to do and they just nod and thank me as I walk off to go find Clear Water.

I can sense her a little out of sight as she leans down by the side of a bed to get a clear look at an oddly placed burn on a pony's flank. I wait a bit for her to finish and walk up with the scans. "Things look good, but this is my first one, what do you think? Anything I missed?" I ask as she takes the papers from me.

She reads them very quickly, like always, and nods after half a second. "Nothing missed, but it looks like they weren't given a diet plan, they are having a unicorn and should probably eat some meat to balance things out." She observes before copying the notes." Not our area though, clear them and I'll have somepony do that." She advises and I nod before turning.

I stop quickly as she speaks up again. "Also, the next big patient is yours." She adds almost like a second thought and I turn back with a raised brow. She gives me that same mostly blank face but smirks very slightly, "You need something new, handle it yourself as best you can, but call if needed." She is very serious and firm about the last part.

I can't help but smile back and nod firmly before walking back to the couple and leaving them some paperwork. Finally, I sit down to wait on the side as things are once again quiet. I've handled a few larger things but the truly big things I haven't been allowed to touch yet, but it seems she thinks I'm ready to at least do it with her nearby.

Having her as a backup is a nice comfort but I do also like the idea of doing such things by myself. I take a breath and put that thought down hard, no need to get overconfident and help is always needed. Even if I think I have it well in hoof, having her on standby right next to me is something I'll call for if I think I need it at all.

Though, the day has been slow so maybe I won't even get to do anything that extreme, and it's all the better for that happening. I take a moment to close my eyes and make a mental check of my magic, it's full so far as I've done little today beyond some minor wounds and many scans.

Not a moment later I sense three Ponies carrying a fourth Pony here in a dead sprint and sigh to myself. :I just had to think it, fuck my luck: I stand up and make it look like I'm just walking over to a bed to fix it when the doors open near me and I get a clear look at the problem, and by magic is it a problem.

A Pegasus colt, maybe eight or nine, lying with his belly against the stretcher and his wings splayed out. One wing was very bloody and clearly broken in a few places, and the other next to him was fully detached. It looks to have been ripped out somehow and it's pretty messy.

One of them looks at me as I point to a bed. "Bed." My tone leaves no room for argument and they quickly move the colt over to the nearest bed to the door. They set him down and luckily he's fully unconscious from whatever the hell happened to him, the only other good news is that one of the nurses is using a B.L.P spell on them. "Who's holding the spell?" I ask as I move over and start casting Scanning spells.

One puts up a hoof and I notice they seem new, I haven't seen them before and the sight of the colt seems to be throwing them off pretty hard. "M-Me, I can hold it for, an h-hour?" The mare says slowly and with some queasiness. I nod and point to a spot next to the bed.

She might be new but at least she knows what I want, as her preemptive answer is spot on. "Keep his wings covered, drop it around his head," I instruct as I notice the poor colt also has a head wound, although it looks to be minor. She does as instructed as I read through the scans I took as fast as I could without missing anything.

Beyond his wings, he has two broken legs, a cracked knee, and a mild concussion. None of that is great but the most important thing of all is the head wound and the wings, but the head comes first as the wings won't matter if he's dead. I quickly cast a spell to bring down the swelling and start to heal the concussion first.

Healing spells for the brain are actually pretty simple as it's just flesh, however, they just need extreme amounts of control and a delicate touch. It's also best to make sure you heal such things slowly as moving too fast with a thing like the brain is a bad idea. So as that spell works I keep it active and move onto his wings, holding both things firmly in mind.

The first thing I check is the wing that was detached, pulled from its socket actually. I can still feel some life magic in the wing so they got him here quickly, still, I reach out and discreetly add a little life magic to it so I have more time to work with. After that, I start to work on reattaching the wing itself.

I quickly notice that the actual joint is not all there, a few pieces of bone and flesh are just gone and that's a problem but not a massive one. I turn to the nurse, "Drop the spell on his left wing joint, but make sure his other is still covered." I ask and notice the nurse looking a bit ill.

She seems to be concentrating a lot on the spell and the sight of my work is not helping. I need her though, I don't have the magic and concentration to waste on another spell. She nods and fresh blood starts to spurt and pour from the wing joint as I pick up the detached wing.

The wing was literally ripped out from what I can tell and different bits of flesh and veins are stretched out of place while others are elongated. It takes me a minute just to get all the pieces of bone mostly aligned and I end up needing to hold several bits with my space magic just to do it all at once.

I also notice Clear Water walk over as I do this and stop a few beds away, not interfering but keeping a close eye on me as I work and looking ready to jump in if needed. Once the wings are in place and aligned along with the bits of flesh and such I concentrate and overpower a bone healing spell.

I add some life magic to it as well, nearly fifteen percent actually, and watch as bone starts to grow out from the joint impossibly fast and in an impossible way. The bone grows past the flesh and closes the small gap to the wing, and this is where it gets tricky.

Reattaching a limb like this is messy but the hardest part is getting them to connect properly again without anything being off. I have to let the bone grow together a tiny bit and then use as much of my Will as possible to make the spell grow the bone into the opposite bone fully and correctly while replacing any lost bone.

Forcing a spell to act specifically like this is hard and even for me it takes total concentration to do it and hold my other healing spell. I notice a Sound spell of some type go up around me and block out all other noise, I glance up and see Clear Water continuing to watch intently. I nod my thanks and start work on the flesh once the bone is correct and I'm sure it has grown back right.

Thankfully, now that the two parts have the bone connecting properly the flesh is easy enough once I line up the veins and make sure they grow together right. While the wings are growing back on I nearly startle a bit as the Colt stirs and looks like he's going to wake up.

It's not fun but I can't have him moving right now, so I cast a spell and stick his body to the bed. He might panic more from that but I can't do much else at the moment. I look to the nurse after a second of thought, "Drop the spell, try to keep him calm if he starts waking up." I use the help next to me after remembering I'm not alone.

She nods shakily and I start work on the wings. Both are broken in many places so I hold them out and start by casting a spell to move all the bones back into place, I have to overpower the spell due to the number of breaks present. And then the Colt starts to scream as he abruptly wakes up.

It's not pleasant to hear and he's full-on panicking and confused while he screams hard, he shifts a bit and I need to press down near the joints with my hooves to keep them more still as he tries to flap his wings. I finally get all the bones back in place and cast another overpowered Bone Healing spell to fix them. Thankfully the Colt stills some after my spell stops as the second spell is far less painful, while the nurse also tries her best to reassure him.

She's doing ok but I don't pay much attention to their words and what the Colt was screaming, I instead focus on the task in front of me. The wings are healed and so is his head, but I really needed to overpower those spells and I've blown through a third of my magic, mostly from forcing that spell to my Will when reconnecting the wing. I add one final spell to the wings to heal any flesh damage, a few spells are needed as I go a little slower.

The wings will still be very sore and delicate for a while though, he'll need a lot of rest and food. I look over as another nurse walks by. "Do you have a duty at the moment?" They look over and shake their head, looking at my bloody hooves from holding the wings in place to keep them still. "Please get three doses of Pin Prick for my patient," I ask for a pain relief herb.

They nod and walk off while I think about my next step. The only thing left is his legs but at the moment his wings need to stay as still as possible. I spend some of my magic to remove most of the blood and put a calm smile on my face as I walk over to the front of the Colt as he breathes out and in hard while crying. "Hello, sorry for the pain, but it's almost over, you ok?" I try to be gentle as he needs that at the moment.

His face is covered in snot and tears and he's still crying a lot. He looks up at me and flinches from the pain, "It- M-My legs." I nod already knowing that both his forelegs are broken. "C-Can you fi- hic, fix them?" He sounds almost desperate and far from ok, but for his age, he's doing well.

I smile at him and lower my head to be at eye level with him as the nurse comes over with the herbs. "I can and will, and these herbs will help, I promise," I add as he starts chewing on what is likely an unpleasant taste. "I'm going to lift you up a bit and move your legs forward, ok?" He opens his muzzle but flinches from pain unseen and just nods shakily as he cries more and a nurse tries to keep him chewing. "We're almost done, I promise." I make a promise to him again.

I lift him with my field and slowly start to move his front legs forward to lay him completely on his belly. He moans out in pain but it seems my pick of medical herb was a good one, Pin Prick may not be strong pain relief but it's very fast acting. After a minute I move his legs out and quickly repeat the process.

I overpower the spells a little to speed things along, mostly because he starts shouting in pain again, nothing like the screams of before but still not pleasant. After that is finally done I smile widely at the Colt, "There we go, all fixed up, feeling better?" He shakes his head no but I expected as much. "That's ok, it will hurt less with some rest, do you need anything?" I ask while casting a few more Scanning spells to the side.

"M-My dam?" He practically tears up at that and I look over to the nurses who both shrug a little. The new nurse that's been helping me looks at one of the more senior nurses the Colt came in with and walks over to likely question them. I keep my smile and calm look up as I look over his scans.

He still has some damage in a few other areas, mostly some bad bruising and a few small cracks to his bones. Nothing the nurses can't handle and with how much magic I used it's best I leave it for them. I notice the Sound spell fall as Clear Water stands to the side and motions to me.

I nod and look at the Colt as he keeps his eyes on the door. "I'm going to be over there ok? The nurses can help you with anything you need, and your dam should be here soon." I am a little more blunt but no less kind in my tone, and the clearly scared Colt just nods silently. I walk away but keep my senses on him as I take a second glance at the scans.

I used a good amount of magic there, mostly because I was doing things so quickly, if I just let them go at normal speeds I'd have a fair bit more magic. But when it comes to things like a missing limb, speed is key and that really is what took up most of my magic. When I walk over to Clear Water she's got a very slightly proud look. "Here, good work."

She holds out a flask and surprisingly it has a familiar scent when I smell it. Water tinged blood red to make a familiar smell of a tea I know well. I raise a brow in surprise and she looks at me oddly. I just take a drink quickly, "Thank you. Well, a few dozen bits down, Blood Leaf Tea?" I don't hide my guess as she already saw my reaction.

She nods and takes the flask back. "Yes, it is pricey, but lives matter more, and you will be in top shape until we leave in five minutes." It's a blunt statement but one that shows some care from her, even if it's a slight waste with me being off in a few minutes. Honestly, I'd love to give them all that tea, but even with my abilities, I can't grow enough to support a single city, let alone more.

It's simply a problem of time, I'm the only one who can grow it and even if I did nothing but that with my magic every day it wouldn't be enough, not nearly enough. Maybe it's time to look into that plant more. "Scans?" I pass over my clipboard quickly. "How much did you burn through?"

I straighten up a little and actually smile for real when I see a mare practically run in and over to the bed with the Colt in it, it seems his dam is here. "A third, maybe a bit more. A few bits were missing, so I had to push it." I explain and after a moment of reading she nods in agreement. "Any idea what did that?" I ask, mostly because she might have seen similar things before.

She looks at the scans closely and nods slowly. "Flying accident seems likely. If he landed on his back or dragged along the ground when crashing. Definitely an accident though." She unknowingly calms down the human part of me that really doesn't like seeing a child hurt and can get paranoid after seeing that. "Come on, you're off and we need to talk." She stands up and passes me back the clipboard.

I just nod as she's done this a few times for different reasons. "Also, you missed his cracked hoof, I'm giving you extra work for that." She adds a second later as I start to follow her. I look down at the scans of his legs again to see I missed a badly cracked hoof on his hind leg. :Ahh, FUCK!: I huff and she nods as we leave the patient ward. "A small miss, don't do it again." She states bluntly.

I can appreciate her blunt and very dry tone, mostly because she doesn't let me make any excuses for myself. I nod and take the fuck up head-on, "I won't." I state to myself and her. "Yell at me if I do." She nods back. This isn't the first mistake I made, but it's also the first bigger one and it was while I was working on something I could barely afford to mess up on.

I shake away the self-pity for a moment and focus on the positives along with trying to do better. We reach her office shortly as it's close by, "I will, still, good work overall. A missing limb is a bit much for your first really risky patient, but it went well. Keep doing that." She gives her form of encouragement and I just nod as we both settle into her office.

I take a deep breath. "I'll do my best, and you'll keep me doing just that," I add some mild humor to the conversation because Magic knows she won't. She starts to move around and passes me some paperwork. "Ahh, my old friend, and my worst enemy." I chuckle a little as I take it and get to work right away.

One thing Clear Water taught me was the value of getting work done quickly and when you have time. I could do this later, but I might be needed later for an emergency, so I'm doing it now. She settles in and takes out her flask from her desk pocket again before pouring water into two cups she took from a drawer. "I have news, and something important to tell you about."

I stop my work for a moment and move it to the side while quickly giving her my full attention. She looks me up and down, "A small town has been having some trouble with monsters." I blink as that's far from the topic I thought it would be. "The guards are dealing with it, but it's taking time and more are getting hurt."

I can see where she's going but stay silent for now. "It's not really bad, no deaths, but a lot of injuries. I don't know what's taking so long but the guard thinks it will take time to solve, weeks apparently, and they need a healer. I am going." It was more of a statement than a question.

I let that sink in and think it over. Monsters aren't common here, the closest would be the Everfree, but more distant places aren't like that. Monster really just refers to anything hostile and doesn't really narrow the problem down. "So we're heading out then? When?" I ask, assuming that I'd be dragged along.

She actually smiles more but looks at me for a moment. "This will have risk." I just nod calmly. "Hmm, I was going to offer you to stay and work under a doctor, and I still make that offer." She says seriously and actually shows a little emotion by making her tone hard.

I think about it but after a moment I just decide to do it. Honestly, the things I could learn from this are useful, and more than that I simply want to help. Plus I don't think it's too serious, if it was a lot more guards would be there and that would be big news, a smaller continuous attack is odd but less groundbreaking.

It's not like I'd be at much risk either, I shouldn't act arrogantly but I am well off in terms of defense and attack. I nod again, "I'm sure, I do have a familiar I'd like to bring, a crow." She raises a brow at that. "They are well trained and can be of help for a few things." I reason.

She nods after a second without much thought. "Messengers are good to have. I won't be going until the end of this month when a different healer is rotating out. And we'd be gone for three weeks, you have until the twenty-third to back out. Really think about it. I'll get you a list of supplies soon if you still want to go." She lays it all out simply and bluntly.

I think it over more and realize she's being nice, my emotions are still a bit on edge recently and just healing a colt doesn't help. Still, this seems like a worthwhile endeavor, plus I have been thinking about a vacation. And if I can't run from trouble while on a trip, I can run at it.

I nod and she drains her water before passing me my cup and standing up. "Good, think about it. Or I WILL yell at you." She says dead seriously. She walks out with a simple nod goodbye, one that I return. I'm left to get the paperwork done and think about the offer made to me, along with the warning.

I sigh, "Always something. It might be interesting at least."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 997

I thought a nice long hospital chapter was in order, and I also thought this would make for an interesting vacation. One Shade would like both because it's a break of sorts, and because he does like being a healer. Still I'll probably have him think more on it.

What do you think?

Chapter 319

FEB 15 Friday.

I look over the letter I received a few days ago and think about the information in it.

After a few days of thought and calming down after healing that poor colt, I've had more time to think about the offer I was given, and I'm torn on yet another choice. Mostly because after writing it down and thinking about it this seems weird, mostly because of how plain off it feels.

I did get some information from Clear Water though, that would be the letter I'm once again reading through. It's nothing extremely detailed but it gives some context that makes everything seem more reasonable than my paranoid mind first thought it was.

At first, I thought about the fact that this was probably somewhere remote and the odd fact that I'd never heard of it. Sure a lot of smaller incidents like this don't become big news but I'd still expect to hear something about it, especially if it's been going on for a while and will take weeks to solve.

The letter I got was just bland information with a few things missing, obviously whatever was written was removed before I got it and from what I can tell that information is mostly about what the guard is doing. It's not surprising Clear Water can get this information, it's also not surprising that she'd have to block some information out if it is from the guard directly.

This entire mess is centered around a town named Shores Shore, by magic do Pony names mess with me. The information I found on the town listed it as a smaller fishing town with a small population and a remote location. Blocked in by mostly rugged coasts, bad water currents, and a few mountains, it is not very well known.

The town is also in a lot of wilderness and because of the fact it is located on the upper north coasts of Equestria, near the border with the snowier regions and Yak territory. And because of the terrain, the town is isolated, which makes the problem they have all the more messy.

A few weeks back a few Ponies in the town went out to forage for herbs and other things in the woods, something they do often in Spring. And they all came back injured in some way, mostly small but problematic things like cuts on limbs and small stab wounds. Nothing that would kill them, let alone kill them quickly, but also enough to need bed rest and time to recover from it.

Now there were some guards there and they tried to solve the problem, but they also came back injured. And so they called for help, more guards proved to be enough as in a larger group they weren't attacked. But they also couldn't find what was causing it, because nopony knows.

The report was pretty vague about this part but they did confirm there was something attacking others, and they claim to know it's not somepony but instead something. That somewhat helps with the fear I have of Changelings somehow being involved, but the report is simply not clear enough to really be sure, then again this wouldn't make much sense for Changelings.

The odd thing is that they also state that nopony has seen a cause yet, I don't know why the attacks are happening but I find that to also stand out a lot. Anyway, beyond that weirdness is where the real problem comes in, they have no idea how to make it stop.

They know it's there, and it's apparently still attacking and wounding smaller groups and yet they don't know how to stop it. They can't find the cause and with the location they are in, tracking it down is proving to be time-consuming, this is why they want a healer out there.

I don't know how Clear Water got contacted, maybe an old friend? Or just something she heard about and volunteered for? But with the wounds still piling up and them taking time to heal the guards are in a bind. They sent out over thirty guards originally but they can't all search the area in big groups so they get attacked when searching in smaller groups and then they are down for a week or two, and they can't just do nothing.

Thankfully nopony has died from this but nothing is being solved and getting more guards out there would help but would also increase the number of injured. It doesn't help that the remote location makes resupply and communication hard and time-consuming. Still, they are trying to solve this mess quickly.

That was the extent of the context I got, and a lot of that was from reading between the lines and making some firm guesses. The real information I got is the same with less context and this is the best I've been able to sort out myself. This leads me to what I'd be doing on this trip.

I'd be joining Clear Water and twenty more guards that would be traveling there to both resupply and reinforce them, while we are coming along to make sure they can actually do their jobs and not just be confined to a bed. This has all given me a lot to think about over the last few days.

On one hoof it seems like they need help, and not the help of another guard but a healer's help. And while Clear Water can probably handle it on her own, me coming along would help a lot as well. I'm just not sure if I want to dive into what is quickly becoming a very clear mess.

The main thing to worry about is a simple lack of information about everything going on, I don't even know what the threat is and I'm not sure the guard really knows either. On top of that, my role while being there would be as a healer and I wouldn't be going in with full armor and equipment.

I'd love to but that's just not a possibility considering what I'm going to be doing. Still, even with the risks it does sound both interesting and like something I can actually help with. Although it might not really be a good vacation, then again my last vacation had me fighting dragons and living with them for a month.

It's not like I'd be alone either, I'd be with a Master Rank spell caster and sixty other guards along with being in a small town. That doesn't mean I'd agree without reason and that doesn't mean I won't try to learn more about the situation. It might not be a massive thing, but it seems big enough that Celestia should at least be aware of it.

In some lucky timing, today is the next day we are meant to meet up and I'd be heading to the palace shortly now for a nice meeting. Overall though I'm leaning on the side of joining Clear Water, and not just because I can help, but also because this can teach me a lot.

My base goal in learning to heal others was to prepare for an uncertain future, I may have grown to enjoy the role and the craft, but that was why I started. And this would be one of the few opportunities I may have to really learn what it's like in the field, at least before things really kick off in a few years.

With the Changeling war still ongoing it would also be good practice to prepare if anything were to need me to get into a full battle. I sigh and shake my head a little as the thoughts threaten to derail me a little too much. It will be good to talk to Celestia though, she's always a good adviser.

In the end, I can also just decline, things will be solved eventually, I hope, and it doesn't absolutely need me to be involved. I leave the thoughts alone for now and stand up from my desk after looking the letter over again and folding it up before putting it in my saddlebags.

I did also get a list of supplies from Clear Water and I think I'll shop for it all even if I don't end up going. Everything on there makes a good travel kit and I wouldn't mind having it ready anyway. I leave my workroom and head over to my bedroom to check on Entropy.

The past few days have had Spring come in full force and finally, the last bits of Winter cold have faded. It really did last a while this year, but with Spring comes the rains, and with so much, I've spent more time indoors. Something Entropy and I have taken advantage of.

I've been helping her try to improve her ability to control shadow magic mainly. I walk into the room quietly and see Entropy sitting down with shadow mist from her body gently floating over and condensing into a single thread, something Celestia recommended. The thread sits in midair and twitches on one end every few moments.

Changing the shape of what her shadow mist condensed into turned out to be easy enough for her, and making it stay longer was also pretty easy for her. She just needed to add more magic into it and it lasted longer, but it also turns out her control still needs practice.

She was able to form the string and keep it stable by moving some mist to it slowly to keep it there, along with adding some more of her magic. It seems that there are three main components to how her shadow creations fall apart, lack of magic, lack of mist, and lack of control.

The magic part is also easy, much like me with my Special Constructs as long as she gives her creations magic they are stable and stay in place. Even better, hers don't need more and more magic to keep stable over time, whereas my Spatial Constructs take more and more the longer I hold them.

The second problem is her mist and control over it. Due to her still imperfect control some of the shadow mist escapes her control and disappears quickly, meaning she needs to add more back to the construct to keep it there. So those two things are what she's working on at the moment.

Another thing she's trying to work on but hasn't gotten the hang of is controlling the shadow constructs themselves. Trying to move them and such, but that's proven to be too much at the moment and she can only really make it twitch around a little. And that's with a basic one-foot thread.

I walk over to her with a smile and she stops her practice to turn over to me. "How is it going? Still having trouble with moving it?" I ask knowing full well she is, but sometimes asking can help in its own way. She cawed back, sounding a little frustrated, "Hmm, well, we need to go anyway, how about we go relax with friends instead?" I offer and she quickly perks up at that.

She teleports onto my back and bobs her head excitedly. "Yes, please! Friends make things better." She states and I chuckle a little at the innocent but true statement. "Take painting?" She asks and points to one sitting on the desk she uses. I look over and smile more as I see she's finished her newest piece.

It's much like the one she made me, but with more detail work. It's still very rough but she's made progress in the last month. "Sure, we'll need to wrap it though, is it dry?" I ask and she looks at it closely before nodding. "Alright, I think I still have some wrapping paper left."

I take the painting with me back to my workroom and start wrapping it while Entropy rides along. The painting is a simple one of Celestia lying down in a grass field with Philomena on her, it may be rough and simple but I know Celestia will love it. However, I need to wrap it up as that seems like a stupid thing to carry around with me in the palace.

I bring it back to the main room and she looks at it while standing on my back. "Gift, look good. Give gift for... Long happy night." She eventually comes up with a word and I raise a brow slightly before realizing she means Hearths Warming. "Go now?" She asks excitedly.

I spend a moment checking my saddlebags before nodding to her. "Yup, mailroom if you please," I say and a second later we are both gone from my apartment. I blink in the Void and reappear inside the mailroom of the palace. I wait a moment to let Entropy activate her band before walking out the door and heading for the gardens.

It was the place she said to meet her and while normally that would be tricky I can already sense where she is and finding my way around shouldn't be too hard with my senses. It takes me a few minutes to get outside and I take a deep breath as I step out into the lush gardens.

Spring really is in full swing as it seems just about everything is either blooming or getting ready to. I make good time as I work my way through the winding paths and it only takes a few wrong turns before I finally arrive at the correct area, a small section walled in on all sides by a hedge wall and with a dozen guards around that.

Two guards look at me as I walk past but they don't even stop me and I walk into the secluded area easily. Inside is an area I feel like I've seen before, a nice grassy area with a few trees for shade, a water fountain, and a few flowerbeds. I smile as I see Celestia sitting under one tree on a blanket.

She is still in her regalia but she seems relaxed and is reading a book as I walk over. "Anything interesting?" I ask and she turns to me with a smile as I sit in the grass a few feet away. "Hello to you too Philomena," I say as the bird in question chirps at me from a tree branch above us.

Celestia chuckles a little as Philomena drops down without opening her wings and lands on my back. She's a little heavy but I stay strong and just glare a little at her as she gets comfortable in her new spot. "Hello, Shade, it's good to see you. I hope things are well? Last I heard you were going to talk to your friend. And just something on gems." She starts the conversation off.

I sigh as the two birds on me start chirping back and forth, so after a moment I just lay in the grass. "Well, very well actually. I have something of a work partner, at least to a degree, he's still learning a lot." I did really like working with Avalon, it's something I don't think I'll do constantly but I might start seeing him more often. "And you?"

Her smile deepens and she nods. "Good to hear, maybe I'll be seeing some more creations from you soon then." I shrug as I'm honestly not sure. "Regardless, it is good your friends are all true to you, and having an apprentice can be very interesting as well." She adds with a teasing tone.

I tilt my ears at that. "I'm not sure he counts on that, he's a friend before anything else." I reason and she gives me a knowing look. "What? He is? The only reason I teach him is because I like it and he's passionate about my craft, it's nice to see." I add it as a defense.

She just starts giggling and shaking her head. "I think that is the best explanation of apprentice I have ever heard." I look back and just sigh after a moment while she smiles in victory. "I am doing much better, and things have remained calm, although we are very likely to have a meeting with Queen Chrysalis in the coming months." She adds with some slight seriousness.

Her tone is light so I just nod in thought, realizing that might conflict with my trip. "Hmm." She raises a brow and I notice her eyes go to the painting I still have with me. I look at it and Entropy, "Right, words later, first, Entropy has something for you." I say with a smile and see Entropy's head snap over to me as I look back at her. "Well? Go on." I encourage her.

Entropy happily hops off of my back and grabs the painting in her talons before teleporting a short distance to be in front of Celestia. Celestia looks amused and happy as she moves her tea set and book to the side. "Well now, brought me a gift? How kind." She says gently.

Entropy pushes the painting closer to the blanket and caws excitedly. "Made for you, make friend happy!" She caws out adorably and watches closely as Celestia giggles and opens the gift. Once it's open and Celestia looks at the painting, Entropy gets even more excited. "Like? LIKE?!" She asks.

Celestia looks confused for a moment before showing a beaming smile and surprisingly reaching out with both hooves to hug Entropy. It's not a full hug but Entropy seems to be thrilled about it from the way she hugs back. "I love it, thank you, dear Entropy." Celestia has a kind and happy tone. "I think I have just the place for it as well." She adds.

Entropy caws several times and starts to hop around. "YES! Friend like!" She hops over to me and I start to pet her. "See? Friend like!" I nod and smile widely as well while Celestia watches on looking beyond pleased with the turn of events. "Other friend! Give you gift next." She says to Philomena and hops over to the side in the grass where Philomena is to start playing again.

I keep my smile and look over at Celestia, who is looking between the painting and me curiously. "I got her painting supplies for her birthday. She has been over the moon for it ever since." I use a phrase I haven't used in a long time but I move my ears back a bit as I notice the wording. "Sorry, bad wording." I quickly say.

She waves it off, seemingly too happy to care. "No need, interesting phrase though." She looks down at the painting and I see her place it under her wing, to wherever she puts things. "It's good to see as well, I think I'll cherish this quite a bit. Thank you." She sounds, content, it's nice to hear.

I nod and remember my own painting. "I can't take credit actually, all her this time, and I know the feeling. The first one she made was of me, and I got the pleasure of hanging that one up myself." I remember it fondly even with it only being a few weeks ago. She gives me another knowing look and I roll my eyes. "No, I get enough of that from my other friends," I say deadpan.

She just smiled back like she wasn't planning to tease me. "As long as somepony is reminding you, that's enough." I glare a little and she keeps her expression. "Now, you had something to say?" She thankfully changes the subject and I nod in agreement while taking the letter out of my saddlebags.

"Yup, my luck once again strikes, at least it's not directly this time." I make a joke out of it as honestly, it's kind of ridiculous. "Although I can still back out, I did want to ask about it though." I pass her the letter and she narrows her eyes a bit. "Relax, it's nothing too serious, definitely interesting though," I reassure her as it is already being handled.

She takes a minute to read the letter thoroughly, focusing quite a lot on it, while I take my time to set up my old chess set. I'm still working on my new one and need to come up with more ideas. Eventually, she puts the letter down with a very thoughtful face.

"Hmm, I remember this." I perk my ears up and look back at her. She looks relaxed but focused, "The authorization was given already as it didn't need my direct approval, but I saw the report on it a few days ago." she goes back into thought and I let her recall it is silence.

She passes the letter back after making a copy, something I raise a brow to. "Just to be thorough. This is... You really do somehow get involved in so much." She mumbles slightly and shakes her head. "I'd have to look over the report, but from what I remember this is accurate and contains mostly the same information."

I nod in appreciation. "I'd like that, I would rather be well informed. I am curious as to why this is so, small? Sure it's not massive, but still." I trail off a bit, hoping for an answer. I do understand she might not be able to say though, there are limits to what I should know.

She nods and moves a piece on the board while passing me some well-made tea. "The truth is this all started happening a few weeks ago. We only got news about it two weeks ago as a report, it seems the guard has acted fast in contacting Master Clear Water." She reveals and that actually does help me.

If that's right then I got the information only slightly behind them. "So not enough time to really learn much about what is actually happening then?" She nods. "Any idea what it could be? Something like this, it's just downright weird." I ask as it seems very out of place, even in a world of magic.

She thinks for a moment longer and moves another piece. "Well, we are keeping it quiet for now because the village is a bit contested with a lord in Yak territory. It's not a massive problem, but it is a point of contention that has and can flare up." That makes me stop and think. It is close to the border and while I don't have context that does complicate things, and this was recent. "As for theories? Possibly an aberrant? It does seem rather deliberate though, Changelings?"

I tilt my head back a bit at that and shake it. "No, they don't fit here, wounding and not killing doesn't help them stay hidden or win. Then again, some animals act like that, but to this degree? I'm no expert though." She shrugs a little as well. "Do you think this would conflict with a meeting though? I'll admit I am thinking about the offer and it seems worthwhile." I don't sugarcoat it and be blunt.

She looks at me for a long moment and sighs before giggling a bit. "Why would I expect anything else? And no, the meeting would be after you return at its earliest." She answers me and asks something to herself. "Are you also planning to go on a hunt?" She makes a fairly dark joke by Ponies standards and I can't help but snort at that. "That was not a joke." She says bluntly.

I stop and see the slight concern in her eyes before smiling at her. "I'll admit, I get into trouble a fair bit." She just gives me an unsurprised stare. "And I maintain that's not my fault, most of the time. But I know not to be stupid, and I know where I'm best needed. I'd be a healer first, everything else second." I say seriously while keeping my calm tone.

She nods slowly after a beat of silence. "My answer remains the same as before, you may make your own decisions. Even if they are... Stupid." She looks ready to use a more eloquent word but instead is just blunt. "I'm sending more guards with you." She states flatly.

I almost protest as it seems like a bit much, but the look she gives me shuts me right up. "You said it yourself, you will be going as a healer, and healers need protection." She leaves no room for argument but sounds a little happy about making me have protection this time. I just nod and she smiles more, "Good, although I wish you would take a vacation for once." She teases a bit and things mostly seem settled.

I do appreciate that she's sticking to her promise of letting me do as I want, even if she's adding some guards to the mix. I can tell it worries her less than the trip to the Dragon Lands, plus I won't be alone and I think that's a big reason she agreed so easily. I smirk, "Well, I think this counts. A nice trip to engage in my hobby somewhere new." I reason as it doesn't sound bad to me.

She glares at me a little. "I'm adding another guard just for that." She says bluntly and I open my muzzle only to be silenced by a glare. "I can and WILL add a personal guard as well." she threatens and I quickly decide to drop the subject. "Now, about that prank on my niece, it's ready."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 997

Here you go. happy valentines day.

PS, I might get busy, not for long but for a week at most. I'll try to keep my schedule but I might miss a day or two, hopefully not though. I'll give warning as best I can when it happens.

Chapter 320

FEB 21 Thursday.

POV Cadance.

I look down at the package in front of me with a mix of excitement and trepidation.

I read the note stuck to the side once more just to try and find any hint of what he was up to. Happy Birthday, Cadance, sorry this was a bit late. I'm planning to fight monsters in the woods and Celestia is annoyed. I huff and shake my head. "Because that definitely clears it up," I say to myself and I sit back in my office.

The room is not nearly as fancy as Aunties but it's nice and I enjoy the look of it, and getting to decorate it as I wished was a fun thing back then. As for why I'm so uncertain about just opening this gift? Well, I annoyed Aunty a little by teasing her too much, and with Shade still yet to retaliate for my last prank I'm suspicious.

I look over the small brown package with a close eye and even cast a few spells on it, but nothing seems out of the ordinary to me. I did really enjoy the last gifts he sent me and I can't say I'm not tempted to just rip it open, if it is a real gift it might even be worth it to deal with whatever else is in the box.

I let that thought sink in for a moment before throwing my caution to the wind and starting to rip off the brown paper to open the box underneath. Inside the small box is some paper for packing material along with a single bracelet made from wood I don't recognize.

I gently pull it out with a smile and see the wood is an odd combination of deep red with white streams running through it. And knowing him it's not just paint, he probably changed the color of the wood itself for just this. "Hmm, I should tease Aunty more about that necklace, it is rather personal," I comment out loud as the idea strikes me.

I chuckle a little and after making sure it's not magical I slip it onto one of my forelegs, and as expected it fits perfectly. "Oh, now there's something I can tease him about, being able to make things that fit me without even needing to ask." I laugh a little to myself and look inside the box to see nothing else but packing paper.

I look over the bracelet and see it's carved or grown in such a way to make it look like it's growing hearts into the wood itself. It's a small pattern that takes me a moment to notice but with the few roses also engraved on the wood it fits well. "Always the good gifts," I mutter.

It is nice that he cares enough to send me something for my birthday, honestly having him as a friend has been nice and I enjoy the time we spend together. I wouldn't say we are best friends but we make time for each other and I always find my time with him either interesting or entertaining.

As for Aunty? Well, she's always happy to see him and that has not lessened with his most recent visit. A nice talk privately in the gardens during spring while everything was in bloom, I swear they are doing this to me on purpose. Wait... Are they? I mean, it would be a good way to get to me, but would they try that?

I let that thought sit in my head for a while before I sigh and just ignore it for now. Yet another thing I'll need to investigate, at least I've made some progress in other areas. After quite a while I've started narrowing down my search again, at least for now until winter comes back.

With some convincing I managed to get Aunty to agree it would be a good idea to do a basic survey of the more wild areas of Equestria. Nothing in-depth but enough to mark the layout, who if anypony lives there, and the powerful magical creatures. Just to get a good sense of what these much less populated areas are like right now.

This is not the first time such a thing has been done, it's been done many times in fact, but normally it's done only once every two decades and I'd be moving it up several years. However, with the situation involving the Changelings, it is a good idea anyway, so it was approved.

I know for a fact Aunty knows what I'm doing, but I'm technically right and it is a good idea so it's happening anyway. I look over to the side and sigh at the amount of paperwork I have to do. She did make it a condition that I'd need to do the paperwork, something of a downside but still worth it.

BIP I jump a bit and look around my office at the sudden and odd sound. A high pitch one that was so fast and short I barely had time to startle. It was also loud enough that I couldn't really tell what it was from. I look around but nothing is out of place and after a moment I shrug.

Honestly, my office is a little messy, but if things are now falling unseen I think it's time I get the staff to do a deep clean. I refocus on my thoughts and smile at the bracelet again before taking it off and putting it inside a desk drawer. "I do wonder what they have planned for me. Hmm."

The table prank was honestly one of my best, even if I had to get Aunty's help to get into his apartment. I did really like the interior though and I remember Aunty saying he's decorated even more since then. Maybe I should just come over the next time we have a meeting? Bring Shining along to play some games as well?

It is something to give some thought to, although it's best I actually ask first before showing up. It would be hilarious to just show up but I know for a fact that would make Shade swing back sooner and I like our little prank war as it is. Small but non intrusive, and at a slow pace, as it should be.

I giggle a little as the sudden memory of Aunty's new painting pops into my mind. Shade being a sire, or at least filling that role is not something I thought I'd get to see too But it seems Entropy is growing more and he's really stepping up for that adorable fluff ball.

I should ask when her birthday is, me and Aunty can get her somethi- BIP I jump again and look around my office quickly, but once again the sound was just too vague to make out where it came from. I narrow my eyes a little as a thought comes to me and I quickly take out my new bracelet again.

I cast a few spells this time and raise a brow as this is truly just a piece of wood, not even enchanted anyway. Still, that sound is annoying and twice it is just odd. I look around but nothing stands out so I wait for a minute, trying to see when it will next happen.

However, after five minutes of nothing I start to question myself. Sure the sound is odd but things like this happen, but the timing doesn't sit right with me. Eventually, I sigh and relax my body as I look over at the paperwork and the time of day. "Let's just get this done so I can go on a nice date with Shini-" BIP

I take a deep breath as I am once again startled by the sound. "Uggghh. Buck."

POV shift Shining.

I cast another spell at the dummy across the field and watch it catch fire as a head-sized Fireball slams into it a second later.

I let the feeling of my drained magic wash over me for a long moment before standing up and unbending my knees before sitting on my flank. I reach out with my slightly sore horn and take a flask from my bags before taking a few gulps of the far too-expensive tea inside. I wouldn't even be drinking this if Shade didn't give it out for free.

Cadance was pretty insistent I use some of the supply she gets to train and recover, not that I would have disagreed with such a luxury. Once again though I am reminded that Shade is one scary ass Pony, seriously he acts way too calm for somepony that can put you down that hard.

Recently we had another match together and I asked him once again not to hold back, mostly out of curiosity, that was a mistake. Within a second flat, he made me float into the air just slightly and just threw me at a wall before sticking me to it. Sure I could have cast spells back, but at the point where I'm glued to a wall and he hasn't even moved, it's not worth the magic I'd use for a match I'd already lost.

Seriously though, I know old Stone trained him but from what I know he only teaches basic stuff about magic. All the skill Shade has in magic, and the frankly genius and terrifying combinations he makes, are as far as I can tell, all him. By Celestia who even thinks of that?

All of this and he's not even actually trying that hard. I know for a fact he decided an adult Dragon doesn't need its tail anymore and forced them to apologize just to get it back. And weirder still he acts like it's nothing, that this is just another day in his life with nothing of note.

I chuckle at the simple madness that my friend seems to have with how he lives his life. I have to respect him for sticking to what he wants at least, even with basically no downsides he's happy to just be good old Shade and let Veil Winter remain nothing but a name.

Not that I should complain, he's firmly on our side and I think that will never change no matter what he is offered. He might just be the most loyal supporter The Princess has and that's just as a friend. I chuckle more at that thought. Those two really are either as dense as rock or blind as... Bats? Are bats blind?

I shake my head and get out of my thoughts before bending my knees again and looking over at the still somewhat standing dummy on the other side of the field. If nothing else he gives me a reason to push myself, and that always gets me pumped up.

I smile at the target and start my practice once again, hoping for a victory the next time I meet my friend and excited for my date later today.

POV shift Shade.

I whistle to myself as I walk through the market and look over the various stalls with a smile and a pep in my step.

The past week has been a calm mix of normal life while also telling my friends I'd be going on another trip. In the end, I was honest and said it was for healer work and my apprenticeship, to which I got nothing but support from them all. Including Avalon when I told him a few days ago.

Avalon and I ended up meeting again sooner than normal. We mostly just relaxed and worked on private things while making some notes on the Magical Measuring Device. That project is slow going because I'm doing it with him and he needs to learn a lot as we work on it.

In good news though he ended up completing his own little project. He modified the light spell completely on his own to change its color to orange and also added something of a brightness setting. It's a small thing but a big first step for him as it's the first spell he's done by himself.

That ended with us spending lunch at a restaurant celebrating his achievement before going back to my apartment and learning more. For my part, I've been working on the Water Lily and finally, I've started crossbreeding it with the Copper Lily, it will also be slow going through as I need to test each generation, and with my trip so close I don't have much free time.

I've mostly been shopping for supplies the past few days and making some preparations for the trip. First and foremost I got myself a good map of the area, at least the best I could find in library records, and I also did some math involving Entropy. Sadly even with her range being massive, we're still going far outside of it.

She can take us halfway across Equestria if we are just moving to an ocean, but the territory of Equestria goes more up and down than side to side. Basically, working at an angle it will take around three jumps to close that distance, something that won't work well.

That means two or three trips, but even with tea it would take Entropy a few hours to recover from one full jump. In total, that means six to seven jumps for a round trip and several hours of time. On top of that, I would rather not do that as it would be a lot for Entropy to handle and I’m not sure she’ll be fine after doing it.

Also, as a healer I need to be close and ready to act on things quickly, so unless I have a damn good reason for running off for several hours it is not really a good idea or even an option. That and Ponies would obviously have questions, on top of that bringing things with me is going to be tricky.

They have a few carriages and we'll be taking a train for two-thirds of the journey, but after that, it's going to be a decent flight. Weight along with room is a premium then. It's not like I need to bring my armor or Storm though, they draw too much attention for this.

Luckily my dagger Frost is small enough and after some paint and making a wooden cover for the sheath, it’s highly unlikely to be recognized by others. That along with my spell-casting and affinities should be enough. I'll still take obvious precautions but with my skills, I'm mostly confident, and it's not like I'll be on the front lines or anything, I'll be in the back unless I'm really needed.

I also got to look through the report on everything, and like Celestia said there wasn't much more in it that the letter didn't already show. Still, a few things stood out, like the fact that the attacks happened both at day and night, but more often at night. Not too helpful but good to know.

I stop abruptly and look over at a stand selling some good-looking donuts. I glance over at Entropy and she does the same, "Why not?" I ask and she chirps happily while I smile and walk over to continue my pleasant day with my loved one. It really is nice just spending time with family.

I get us an even dozen and pass her pieces while chewing through one and continuing to shop around. One thing I do want to find is a new tent, my old one is both a little small and fairly old, I also can afford a better one so why not? And after a little more walking I come across a stall selling a good amount of camping supplies.

The seller is a young but lazy-looking Griffon, or maybe they are just tired as they slump against the front of the stall. I get a glance from them but focus on looking through the tents they have, they seem fine just waiting to see if I actually buy anything. After some looking, I found a large tent colored a deep red with white accents.

The colors remind me of a few medical symbols from my last life and considering what this trip is about it seems fitting. It might be a bit big but Lightening spells can solve that. I move it over and place it down for the tired Griffon to see. "Uhh, fuck today." She mumbles out slowly as she sits up straight.

I snort a small bit. "Long day then?" I can't help but ask back as her attitude is pretty funny. Their eyes widen and they look shocked before looking annoyed at the trouble she seems to think this will bring. I just wave a hoof, "We all have days like that, how much for the tent?" I ask back and just let it drop.

She actually chuckles a little after rubbing her eyes for a second. "Ponies." She says amused and switches to speaking Pony. "Those ones got some silk lining for comfort, not cheap stuff. Eighty-five." I can already tell she's trying to upsell me a little. Honestly, she gave me something to laugh at internally so I just paid her the amount.

She raises a brow but happily places the bits I give her on a Bit Counter to check the amount and nods when it comes up right. "Thank you for your business," she says with more energy and I just nod back before taking the tent and walking away from the stall with an amused smile.

Griffons are so often blunt, and I think that's a reason we get along so well. I grew up in a decent-sized city in my past, and much like Griffons the humans there were blunt as bricks. That kind of Midwest blunt that comes from not giving much of a shit anymore.

For a moment I'm lost in those memories, a time that feels so long ago but that I can remember with great clarity. I do wonder some days what became of it all, how the people I knew are doing, and what's happening to them now. But it is so much more clear that I will never know, and maybe that's for the best.

I guess I have my own life now though. Friends, work, endless projects, ambitions, even a little family of my own. I start to whistle once again as I walk down the street, remembering what once was, but also thinking of what now is.

POV shift Daisy.

I smile and lean into the side of my stallion as we lay in the park on this lovely day.

He smirks a little and I pretend not to see his happy face for a second, knowing all too well he'd put back on his normal expression if he knew I saw. "Today is perfect, thank you." I thank him for the day out he planned for us, mostly because we were both busy on Hearts and hooves day.

He rumbles a bit and nods slowly, dropping that cute smile like I knew he would once I looked over. "It was, and I'm supposed to be thanking you, you're the one who made lunch." He counters and I respond by nipping at his foreleg near my head in the grass, not enough to hurt but enough to make him take the compliment.

Oh, I've come to love this stallion, even if he can live up to his name in some ways, I know he cares. "I wonder if the Colt's got his mare today? Knowing him he didn't even realize Hearts and Hooves day was recently." He chuckles and I giggle along as it seems fitting for Shade.

That talk a while ago and everything that came with it was so, well, it made me worry less about him. He held on a lot and needless to say, even I was surprised just how much he kept hidden, and I knew about several things already. And I also know there is a lot more buried even deeper.

There is a change there though and a change for the better, he still hides things from us, but he doesn't lie. When something is off limits he just says that and we leave it alone, even if Maple and Blaz like to joke and dig it's all in good fun and he knows he can ignore them. "I'd have to agree sadly, but I do know he still meets her. so maybe."

That was a nice thing to learn, and good to hear as the fact a stallion like this has no mare is surprising. I even questioned myself if he liked stallions instead, maybe not common but not unheard of either. Then again he might prefer stallions with how a lot of mares can get.

Personally, I like a strong stallion, and my big rock fits that well, but a lot prefer more traditional things. "Want to bet he's got himself involved in something more than just going somewhere to heal others?" He asks half joking about the trip we all recently learned about at our last game night.

I tilt my ears in thought. The trip did seem sudden, but a lot of things can be like that when working in the medical field, let alone as a healer. Honestly, I couldn't be more proud he's taken so well to it, doing a lot of good and even apprenticing under a Master Rank Healer of all things.

The trip though seems odd, he didn't give much detail and he gave off the feeling he wasn't being completely forthcoming. I think he has a good reason for that, he seems to anytime he lies, but it's still a little worrying. "Probably, do you think he'll be ok?" I ask with a little worry.

He huffs out a chuckle and nods with a small grin. "That Colt is tough as iron, he'll be fine." His tone is confident and I do feel a little reassured over it. "Now, what else are you thinking? I saw a few plays we could go to tonight?" He offered and I'm once again reminded of the strong but sweet stallion under that stony face.

I kiss him on the side of his muzzle. "I'd love that, and I love you."

POV shift Clear Water.

This file is far too small to make sense.

That was the first thought I had when I got my apprentice's file from the guard records. I can't get the real files with all the information but something like this I was able to request as his teacher, and even then it took a favor to do. The guard has been jumpy recently.

I asked and was told to not ask again, so I didn't. However, something still has them on edge over the last few months, lessening with time, something big happened. Regardless this file is still small for the Pony in question, maybe he just hasn't done enough of note? But he acts like he'd involve himself in things when needed.

Over the past months, I have come to notice and believe that Shade Evergreen is not what he seems. Not in some malicious way, but the simple fact he puts on a mask and lets very little show to others. A powerful and well-trained caster with a strong will and attitude, all wrapped in a mind that remains calm throughout.

I have seen moments of concern and worry from him, but never panic, and out of all my apprentices, he's done by far the best. Most who have come to me turned out to do little more than annoy me and fail to learn the very thing they came to me for. And all have not been calm enough, some were close though, and made half-decent apprentices.

Many just didn't work out well, and if I can't trust them to stay calm I will not trust them with a life. Healing is more than a practice or job, it is a responsibility to those you take into your care. I narrow my eyes as I look over the file again, an orphan, a librarian, and nothing else.

He has proven that he did teach himself well before meeting me, and he earned that knowledge he holds through effort all his own. Not even a single teacher and he came much further than so many others, something I see and continue to see potential in.

He has learned well under me, and he most importantly learns his lessons. I have seen him make mistakes, but only ever once or twice, that is all it takes for him to buckle down and not let it happen again. All of this is why I made the offer for him to come along, because unlike most I know he will at least be half competent, and actually listen to orders that he will follow correctly.

Still, the mostly empty files stare back at me with a silent question. Who? What made him into what he is? And how does that affect what he will become? I do not care for his past mistakes, or anything else, I care that he is a good healer and that he deserves and earns that title.

I put down the file and look over the pile of notes he left me once again. I suppose I shall see in time.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading. <3
Current year is 997

I wrote this on Valentine's Day/ Hearths and Hooves Day. So it counts! And I thought it would be fun to play around with perspectives. Although I don't think I'll do a chapter like this often, it's a little much.

PS I plan to see you all Monday, it looks likely but I am busy so I'll update you if things change.

Chapter 321

FEB 26 Tuesday.

I sit perfectly still at the edge of the Ritual Matrix as I push life magic into it.

After a lot of thought and several ideas, I eventually decided to start out small with a ritual involving life magic. The branch of Vita wood that I've had lying around for a few weeks was finally put to use. I'm using it as the object being imbued. I concentrate more and add my life magic into the ritual as steadily as I can.

This doesn't take much concentration, but it can go wrong if something were to mess up, so I take my time and add more magic slowly and steadily. After a few minutes, the lines of gem dust are saturated in a vibrant green color that flows along the lines in slow waves, almost like a pulse.

Everything flashes a little as all the magic starts rapidly flowing into the center where the Vita branch is. The flows are visible to the naked eye as they all rush and merge into the golden branch over the span of a few seconds, and then it is all over. I breathe out and drink some tea from a flask to recover the half of my magic that has just vanished in a few minutes.

After a lot of thought and some work, I came up with an interesting idea for the Imbuing Ritual and life magic. I looked around some and for the first time in a very long time, I looked into plant spells, spells made to speed up plant growth with neutral magic.

The reason I never did this much before was because it was basically pointless. The problem with these spells is that they don't use life magic and just use neutral magic. That means they don't inherently help a plant thrive and grow, just force them to grow by throwing magic at them.

This often leads to plants growing incorrectly or very often just dying shortly after or during the process of trying to grow them. That on top of the high magic cost makes it basically useless to me. On top of that some plants like the Blood Leaf Tea can't be grown at all with these spells if you want it to work as intended and have the correct effects.

The spell doesn't give the life magic many plants, especially magical plants, need to grow properly. Combine that together with the fact that you don't have control of the plant and just have to hope for the best a lot of the time. I did look into them when I was younger but after unlocking my life affinity it became useless to me. The method is certainly interesting and a few spells have ideas that could be of use, but with all the problems that crop up, it's just not worth it most of the time.

The reason I got interested in plant magic is actually something completely different. Those spells don't add life magic, but if I added some on my own then I could basically do the same thing as my life magic, to a much lesser extent at least. And with the Vita Wood able to store a lot of life magic I thought it would be a good combination.

Much like with Enchanting, you can Imbue anything you like with magic, but some things are much better than others. I walk over after a moment while Entropy flies back over to me with some excitement. "Green pretty." She points out and looks over the golden branch. "Shiny."

I chuckle a little and pet her with my hoof as I stop in front of the Vita Wood branch. With a very simple but pretty robust Plant Growth spell added to the ritual along with a very simple activation method of three taps, I've made an interesting creation.

The branch looks the same visually but I can feel the stable and very slowly shifting life magic now settled into the branch. I did some testing and while Vita Wood wouldn't be good to enchant, it is great for Imbuing. It's able to hold a good amount of life magic but it needs to be bound to the branch firmly to make sure it doesn’t simply flow away.

The branch is an amazing life magic conductor and when trying to enchant it the life magic just flowed right in before flowing right back out. The spell I use to enchant an object and add a magical reserve to it isn't powerful enough and I'd need to add an external source of magic to keep it all stable.

The wood was so good at conducting life magic that it overpowered the pull of the spell on the life magic, which I might be able to solve but was annoying regardless. Either way, in the end Imbuing it was the better method and it seems to have worked properly as well. I take the branch with me and move over to the grass field before stopping a distance away from anything else.

This branch is enchanted to do something simple, mostly because I need to keep the parameters as simple as I could. Imbuing an object doesn't let you get anywhere near as specific or accurate as enchanting would. I plant the stick in the ground with the y shape standing high and the pointed bottom piercing the damp ground.

I tap the branch three times and watch as a slight green glow seeps from the branch and all the grass in a five-foot circle around the branch starts to rapidly grow higher. It grows halfway up my legs but the height quickly rises and after around half a minute it reaches my neck and I turn it off.

I check the branch to see I've lost basically no life magic from what I put in, which is what I expected from just growing some grass. An interesting thing you need to keep in mind when someone adds their affinity to an Imbuing Ritual is the potency of that individual's magic.

A good example would be if Avalon Imbued his fire magic into an object versus someone who's practiced the same fire affinity for many more years doing the same thing. They could both do it but Avalon's result would have a lot less magic in it because his magic is far less dense.

I added half of my magic into this branch and with all my practice and constantly being around beings and things with high amounts of life magic I have very dense life magic. This branch has enough life magic to grow an orchard of full trees before I'd need to Imbue it again.

I smile around at my success and after cutting the grass down by decomposing it away I start to make notes on this new side project. This branch is certainly interesting but its uses are limited, sure it can grow a lot of plants but there is no way to specify what plant or in what way it should grow.

It is after all just a Plant Growth spell on a branch with life magic instead of neutral magic. And it's not something I could mass produce with any good results. The only way I could do this is by having the Imbuing Ritual gather magic from another source besides me and the only thing that would fit that is my Life Gem.

The problem is that gems act as something of a filter for magical density. When I add my life magic into the Life Gem or let it charge it will still only hold the same amount of magic no matter how it is filled. Why? Well, once my life magic is outside of my control and added to the gem it decompresses to normal density and sits in the gem and ambient magic always tries to be at an even level if it can.

So anything I'd Imbue with gems as the source of life magic would be far less potent and have far less magic inside of them. The Imbuing Ritual can only channel so much magic as well, but that is limited by the amount added, and not its density. In the end, the only way to make something like this again is to do it myself.

I look over the branch for a while and after making some notes I take it with me back to my shack, with Entropy flying off to do something, probably nap. She's been doing well with her practice and we are both just taking a day to relax in Gaia's Eden before the trip starts in a few days.

I officially asked and agreed to go with Clear Water, and it's now far too late to back out, even if I wanted to. The last time I met Clear Water she gave me instructions on where and when to meet up, that being the early morning of the twenty-eighth at a train station. I can honestly say I'm excited about the trip.

I have everything ready and packed, I even got myself a good amount of medical herbs and other medical supplies to take with me. I'm still traveling lightly, only my saddlebags and what I can fit inside and on them, but that still gives me plenty of room with a few empty pockets left over.

I wipe my hooves as I step into my shack and place the branch to the side on an empty shelf. It's not massively useful to me but it's a proof of concept that it works and I could also give it to someone. I'd say Celestia but honestly, any of my friends might like it, then again a branch that looks like it's made from gold and that grows plants might be a bit much for a gift, something to think about.

I may not have a massive use for it but if nothing else I can reuse the wood later. I leave that alone and move over to another project splayed out across my desk. I set a proper desk up here instead of just a small table when I was decorating Entropy's art room.

After some work, she now has a wall of shelves in there along with many places to hang paintings and a few tables to work on. I also converted two walls into nothing but large windows to let in plenty of light for her to see well, although she can see in complete darkness so it's less for light and more for the view.

With my shack's position the window looks right out into the Everfree and is a nice window into the forest depths. I look over the many notes I have lying around the desk, all about the Imbuing Ritual and many things involving space magic. While working on modifying the Imbuing Ritual to Imbue the branch with life magic, I had a thought, what about space magic?

See there is a lot I could do with space magic, but I have no real way to enchant anything with it. So, I asked and Celestia was kind enough to send over two Teleportation spells and a few runes for space, with the promise I would cast neither spell. That was nice of her but turns out what she sent me is just a mess. I'm surprised she can use these spells, even if she's just brute forcing it with massive amounts of magic it's amazing she can do it.

The spells are both Grandmaster Rank, and even with my skills, modifying them would take months of work and give only halfway decent improvements. It's something I might look into anyway, however, the runes she sent are somehow worse, and for all the right reasons.

Out of the five runes she sent, three had partial or no Runic Context at all. From the letter she sent, it seems these are runes that she's found through a lot of trial and error. The simple fact is that if somepony is skilled enough to make such a rune they are not going to just tell you about it and normally keep it completely private, often until they die.

So what she recovered was always minimal, and the two space runes that do have their Runic Context are absolutely horrible. They are really well-made runes, but the sheer lack of knowledge on the creator's part still makes them subpar at best, despite Celestia saying a Grandmaster Rune Scribe made them.

In the end, this world just doesn't have enough knowledge of space to make anything truly amazing with space, not yet at least. But if nothing else, out of the two complete runes one is actually useful, even with the quality being a little fucked. And that's coming from someone who has a minimal understanding of space from his last life.

I know some and I've discovered a lot but they knew even less when making this. The rune is a rune of Spatial Stability, and by magic that might have just been the best news I could have gotten, even if it still doesn't help too much. The rune is made to help with Spatial Rebound.

Celestia's Teleportation spells seem to work on the simple principle of moving space. It takes the area around her, moves it a great distance away, and lets her stay in place as that piece of space is flung back to where it once was. The reason her Teleportation spell only makes a flash instead of an explosion when she immensely stretches the fabric of reality is that there is no rebound and to keep space stable.

This rune uses magic to force space to be stable, removing rebound and letting space warp without affecting other things. To say that this is amazing to me is an understatement, but it is also far from perfect. Like I said the runes were made by someone who didn't really know what they were doing.

The Runic Context shows they understood what Rebound was, along with the fact space stretches. But it basically just takes that knowledge, along with some knowledge on what stable space is normally like, and applies the latter to the former. That means it takes a large amount of magic to use.

It's basically just using regular magic to push against the Rebound and cancel it out, but it works. That is something I can do with my space magic, but the control needed is something that is still beyond me on a small scale. This rune also gives me so many opportunities.

The other effect is to keep space stable and not let it collapse immediately without someone controlling it. To teleport you need to form a Spatial Structure, and keeping control of that is hard when you are moving through it. This rune's second effect keeps it stable and in place while you teleport, but it should work on any Spatial Structure.

The bad news is that any spell I would try to make with this rune would need the other space runes, because this one just keeps things stable and deals with rebound when it happens, that is it. The other runes are responsible for bending and moving space, and they are so fucked I am not touching them at all, the magic cost for them is a large weight to bare.

Honestly it's not worth learning teleportation spells, mostly because trying to improve them is going to be harder then just training my space affinity. I could probably cast one of these spells, I'd be pretty drained but I could do it. But to improve them I'd need to find better space runes, or make them, both very time consuming. It's easier just to train my ability as that is both less limited and has more potential.

However, while I can't add the rune to a spell effectively, I can do a ritual. The Imbuing Ritual only applies an effect that can be far more vague and flexible than a spell. And with this rune, I had an idea of what would happen if I bent space relative to an object, and then Imbued it with space magic and the simple effect of keeping the space stable with this rune.

If done right, it would draw on the Imbued space magic to keep it stable over time, letting the bent space STAY like that. The possibilities are terrifying and awe-inspiring at the same time. There is however a flaw in this idea, Rebound builds, it will only get more powerful over time. Used in this way the rune would be a dam, blocking the building pressure.

By the time that Rebound does hit the rune won't do shit to stop it. So, I need a way to deal with that, or a way to make sure it doesn't end badly when things finally do detonate on anything I make. I sit in thought and glance over to my side to look at the two-foot across and three-inch thick magical silver frisbee I got delivered to me a few days ago. I had to overpower a Lightening spell to even move the damn thing.

It took Metal Quake longer than expected but she got it done and I sent her the second half of her pay. The silvery blue metal sits quietly as I stare at it in thought. This thing is the Gem Array Base I commissioned with the bracelets and it would really let me improve the defenses around Gaia's Eden.

I do want to improve the Shield spell for Gaia's Eden a little more before I upgrade it but that will all have to wait until my trip is over. I look back at my notes before hunkering down to get some work done and try to find a solution to this problem. I don't want to but in the end, I might just need to make my own rune for this.

Something to stop Rebound from getting too bad, or at least somewhere to throw things when I don't need them anymore and before they become a literal timed bomb. I sit in thought as I get to work.

time skip

I smile as I look out across the view that stretches before me. Entropy sits on my back and also looks across the scene with a soft chirp, "Pretty view, going to be long?" She asks me.

I shake my head as we look over Ponyville from a distance atop a hill. After thinking and pondering for a few more hours we got hungry and I thought getting some lunch was in order. I could have had Entropy just take us home but I wouldn't mind a visit to the little town and they do have a few good places to eat.

At least two, I found a second place to eat last time I was here. I chuckle a little at the memory of a baffled Rainbow Dash. I stand up after a second and form my wings to head down into the small town, feeling the familiar twitch as they settle on my back. It's near the end of the day so it looks like it will be a rather late lunch already and I should get some food before everywhere closes.

Me and Entropy land at the side of the town in short order and after some thought I decide to see if Sugar Cube Corner has a dinner or lunch menu. That and I haven't seen Pinkie Pie in a very long time, over two years actually. :Would she even remember me?: I let the thought sit but I can guess well enough she would.

I take a steady and even pace as I make my way there and when I arrive I see that there is a sign out front. A simple stand-up one listing times for meal changes, and it seems I'm here just in time as they do make a few things for the evening. I turn to Entropy before we enter, "Be good, and we'll get dessert." I promise.

Her head snaps to me and she caws in rapid agreement while I walk inside the building. It's busier than I've seen it before and many Ponies seem to be inside talking and relaxing with each other. My timing is also pretty good as only two booths remain empty, with me happily taking one a moment after I walk in.

As I settle in I let my senses sweep around for a few moments before fully relaxing, letting Entropy sit on the tabletop in front of me. I drew a few eyes when sitting down and I could sense at least one group of mares motioning to where I was and talking to each other.

I breathe out slowly and really hope none of them come over to try and ask me out, or worse. It's not something that's happened too much, as while I look nice many can tell I don't look too interested in talking. But it's still happened a fair few times over the years, not that I can do much about it, unfortunately, there is no spell for that.

Nopony comes to bother me but eventually, somepony comes over with a notepad, and it's who I expect it to be. I look over and grin a little at the sight of Pinkie Pie, she also looks at me and narrows her eyes while leaning forward almost comically. "Wait! YOU!" I nearly chuckle at the reaction as she points with a hoof. "You have the cute bird! Did she get a good birthday party?" Her tone goes more level and she looks at me expectantly.

I blink as out of everything and all my mental preparation, she still manages to catch me off guard. I nod slowly, a little hesitant, "She did? I got her plenty of gifts." I answer Vaguely as the question seems far too accurate. "I assume you are doing well then, Miss Pie?" I ask back not really knowing what else to say.

She smiles widely at that and bounces in place a little. "I'm doing absolutlyfabuloshios!" The words blend in a mix that makes it impossible to sort fully. "Oh, look at you, all fluffy and solid!" She says to Entropy before looking at me as well. "What can I get ya, Shade? And what can I get Entropy?" She actually uses both our names. "And no Miss, I am Pinkie, like the color." She insists.

I stay silent for a moment and just look back slightly confused, once again her wording is, too odd. But eventually, I just sigh a little under my breath and let it go, it's Pinkie after all. "I know, but it has been a long time. Anything you recommend, surprise me, just make sure she can eat it too." I decide to go with the flow for my own sanity.

Her words are already getting in my head though, mostly because she comes off like she knows every secret and is the only one in on it. Or maybe she's just like that? The line is so thin I honestly have no idea. She quickly sucks in a deep breath and I pin my ears back in preparation, "I LOVE surprises!! That's why getting to make a surprise is the best surprise." I digest that and I can't really say she's wrong. "I'll be back with it soon, WAIT! Does she like pears?" Again her tone changes rapidly.

I just nod and a second later Pinkie is off like a rocket heading to the counter. As I sit there processing everything that just happened, I am reminded why Pinkie can be... Well, Pinkie. I do notice a mare walk to the front of my booth after a few moments and prepare to turn her down. "First time meeting Pinkie?" The mare asks.

I raise a brow as I turn and notice a rather normal-looking mare, nothing really stands out. She's eyeing me a little but is being at least somewhat subtle about it. Her topic is a little odd though. I shake my head, "No, we've met a few times, she is certainly interesting. Can I help you, Miss?" I keep a level and neutral tone with the mare.

The mare across from me blinks before showing a more confident smile and looking up at me, dead in the eyes. "Then you know she can be, a lot." Something about that tone is, off, not bad but something not quite right either. "I just wanted to come to see one of the rare few visitors our little town gets, what brings you to Ponyville?" She tries to start a conversation.

I don't show much of an expression beyond a slight smirk, and even then it's rather flat and just there to be polite. "Just passing through, getting a late lunch." I don't say much and add some unwillingness to my words. I don't mind talking to strangers sometimes, but this is not really one of these times.

She nods and looks down at Entropy, her face shifting a little. "Odd pet you have, you find birds interesting?" She continues on even though I'm not exactly forthcoming. She puts an amount of emphasis on the word odd and she's also starting to annoy me some.

It's at this moment Pinkie decides to come back with my food and save me, something I am eternally grateful for. Pinkie trots up to the other side of the booth near my side and places the food down. "Here you go, Shade. Oh, hi Peral!" Pinkie greets the other mare happily but the expression she gets back is dismissive at best.

Having had enough of this mare and seeing a few red flags already I make a snap decision at that moment and turn to Pinkie. "Thank you, Pinkie. How have you been? It's been a while and I thought we could talk a little, but I understand you might be busy. This place is like a party already." I make my tone more upbeat just to change it even more from how I was talking to the mare.

Pinkie's eyes light up at the questions but the other mare looks annoyed at both of us before slinking off past the side of the booth. I don't know what that is about, but not everypony likes everypony else so I don't mention it. I do notice that Pinkie glances at her leaving as well. "Sure! I'm on break anyway, I even brought food for my break!"

She sits down opposite of me and somehow pulls a bowl of ice cream from her mane, spoon and all. I ponder it for half a second and decide to have a little fun myself. I quickly bend space and move a card inside my saddlebags at the same time. A second later I pulled the card out from behind her head.

She actually pauses and looks at the card hanging in the air. "And I brought a card because it looked cool, and I get to do magic tricks with it." I smile back widely at her slight confusion before quickly moving the card behind her head and teleporting it back into my saddlebags before she can stop me or notice anything. "I like magic tricks," I state like it explains everything.

She shifts to look behind her and the cushion behind her before turning to me with a massive smile. "A magician! I always wanted to meet one! You make the BEST birthday parties!" I laugh a little at the happy mare and settle in for what should be an interesting meal.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 997

Jokes on you all, the chapter number is nothing but a countdown for Pinkie's return come to fruition! Did I just make an entire chapter just for that joke? .... Maybe.