AUG 21 Friday.

I put down my fork as Twilight asks me something interesting. "You use runic magic, right? What's the spell you think is best to start with?"

I'm a little confused by her question, I don't think she knows anypony that would need to know that, but I answer anyway. "A basic warming spell, or maybe a candle flame spell. Although that second one can be somewhat dangerous if used wrong. Why are you asking?"

She looks a little bashful. "I want to teach my brother. It would be so amazing for me to be able to teach him magic." She admits with a small smile. I'm confused for a moment, why would Shining need to learn magic? It takes a few seconds to realize she's talking about Spike.

I have no idea if a dragon could learn magic, but I can't think of a reason why it wouldn't be possible. I also have no idea what that will do to the timeline, but if he can do it, why not? At this point, I just don't care as much. It's also nice to see she considers Spike family. But I do have a responsibility as a runic caster to inform her of the dangers.

"Good, it's always nice to see other ponies interested in my craft. Just a warning though, runic casting can be dangerous if done improperly. Read any warnings thoroughly, and take them seriously." I make sure to emphasize that last part.

She nods and seems to understand my warning, but before she can say anything else we're interrupted by yet another pony. :I'm starting to get tired of ponies sneaking up on me today: "Sweetie, so this is where you've been. Who's your friend?"

We both turn and see a unicorn stallion. He has a blue coat, a deep blue mane, and yellow eyes. I decided to answer the stallion first. "Shade Evergreen, nice to meet you, Sir." I keep my introduction relatively formal.

"OH, and he's polite." He's said that while looking at Twilight, who now looks a little embarrassed. "Night Light, a pleasure to meet you." He greets me with a smile and an outstretched hoof. AH, now I recognize him, Twilight's sire, I guess he's here with Twilight.

"Sire, don't embarrass me." She mumbles to him, I'm just confused at this. All he's been is friendly.

"All I'm doing is being nice sweetie. Anyway, I'm sorry to cut your talk short, but we have to get going or your dam will be less than pleased with us." He says to Twilight, she looks a little sad but nods. "But we have a little time, so how about you tell me a little more about yourself?"

"Looks like we have to go, have a good day Shade!" She very quickly blurts out, she seems even more embarrassed and quickly tries to drag her sire away with her.

I'm surprised at how quickly she's able to drag him away, as they move away I catch a few words from Night. "So sweetie, where did you meet that Colt? You seem to like talking to him quite a bit." He sounds amused as she just drags him harder.

Well, that was something, I'm not sure what that was about, but hey at least I had some fun talking with Twilight tonight. A few good conversations and a few things to laugh about, not a bad day, if I don't count Twilight's fangirling, and Entropy pecking me, and Cadence. Seriously, that mare is the last enemy I would ever want.

Somepony able to force you to love someone is something you never fuck with, not that she would ever do that, but I'm not paranoid for nothing. I'm once again not entirely sure what to do, I'm full and out of ponies to talk to, so I take a moment to look around the gala.

Ponies are all dancing and enjoying the night, but I don't see anything of interest to me. I could go home? But tonight only comes once a year and I wanted to have some fun. So instead of staying at a table, I decided to explore the gala more than I had before.

The gala mostly consists of the main event in the large room, but off to the sides are small things. Some gardens to sit inside and even a few smaller rooms with smaller events happening inside. I've never had much interest in them but I don't really have anything better to do.

So I start wandering down some hallways while making sure to keep out of staff-only areas, and as I walk I just let my mind wander.

It's been so long since I've thought about my life and how far I've come. I still remember the days when I used to work at a gas station, it was a small out of the way place in a city like Columbus. All I ever did was man the counter, it was a boring job most of the time but at least it was simple work.

Those days seem so far away now, but aren't they? It's been so long and with every year I live it feels further away from me. I wonder if that's just how humans are? We forget what isn't needed, it's why we repeat our mistakes. I stop for a moment and try to pull my mind from that dark area of my mind.

I sit down in a walkway with an overhang that overlooks the small gardens. I sit there for a while simply enjoying the view before a far-off noise catches my attention, music? The gala has bands and plenty of music, but this sounded much more simple and singular. :Ehhh, why not?: I decided to satisfy my curiosity and find the source of the music.

It's easy to follow the sound, and after a short while, I can make out what instrument is being used, a violin. Eventually, I find a single open door, I walk over and look inside. And Inside is a decent-sized room with a few dozen ponies in it, a small stage is on the back wall while ponies sit on mats facing the stage.

After a moment of watching I looked around, but I didn't see any sign or anypony stopping me from entering. I decide to walk inside and find an empty mat to lie on, the music isn't as well done as the main bands, but it's still nice and I find myself relaxing in the quiet and calm environment.

Several ponies notice me, but nopony says anything, I also see another pony come in and look around just like I did before also finding a place to lay down. I listen quietly to the pleasant music and find my mind once again wandering. This time I don't think about my past life, but my current life.

I've started to ponder something recently. In the past, I'd avoid doing certain things to not affect the timeline, but that ship has sailed and I've started to care less and less about that over time. And that leads me to my question, what do I want?

I still mainly want to stop what is to come, but I can't do just that for my entire life. So beyond that, what, do, I, want? And I'm honestly not sure. I do enjoy what I'm currently doing with my life, I help many, have good friends, and love my work. So what am I missing?

And the truth is I don't know, I have much more than most ponies but something feels missing. Maybe that's just the human part of me coming out again. From what I've seen ponies are much more willing to simply play their role, they find what they're good at and just enjoy their life by living it, and they get complacent.

Maybe that's a downside of having your special talent on your flank. There are ponies that do something new and break their mold, but none of them act like a human does. Humans are many things, but complacent is not often one of them. We can be happy with what we have for a while, but eventually, we want more, and seek more. So where does this leave me?

It's taken years, but I'm starting to want something a little different. I don't want to upend my life, but I feel like I need to add something new to my life that is consistent, and I think it should involve some form of exploration. Why? Well, I may not know what I want, but I do know the part of me that wants something new is human.

And as a former human I can tell you one of the most interesting things to me is exploration. To go somewhere to see new sights and learn new things, it's why I enjoy the forest so much. So how can I do that consistently? Well, I think I already have the perfect answer, The Everfree Forest.

Not long ago I thought about building a camp in the Everfree to study and explore it, and that sounds perfect for me. Sure there are risks, but I find the idea worth some risk. And it will help in other ways. Sometimes I get tired of this busy city, and having somewhere quiet to go for a weekend sounds nice.

As the pony playing the music stops I start to clap with the other ponies who were listening. But for now, I think it's time I head home, if I want to make my idea a reality I have a lot of work ahead of me.

POV shift Celestia

I slump onto my bed after finally getting that dress off, it's beautiful but a little too tight for my liking.

Tonight was a whirlwind of ponies and endless talk, just like all the gala's before this. At least I had Cadence and Shade to break up the monotony some. I flip myself right-side up and smile at the memory of them joking around some.

When I started to tell my niece about Shade she wanted to meet him immediately, and I decided against that. It took me a long time to gain his trust and have him drop his guard enough to relax. That's why I asked my niece to meet him at the gala instead of one of the meetings I and Shade have.

And that's what's so surprising about tonight. I'm not sure why, but Shade was more open and warm to meeting her than I thought he would be. Not that I'm complaining, it's nice to see him act more open with others. That thought brings my mind to something else I saw that also made me smile.

Twilight is a dedicated student, but sometimes I fear she's too dedicated to learning. She still has friends but much like Shade they are few in number, but unlike Shade Twilight doesn't see her few friends as much.

Shade talked about his friends and he sees them almost every day because of his work. But Twilight's friends were mostly in school, and with her learning from me now I worry she'll lose touch with them. Which is why I was delighted that they seemed to enjoy talking to each other so much.

I don't see them becoming friends soon, Shade is too mature, and Twilight is too attached to rules for Shade to relax fully, but maybe when they grow up some. I move my thoughts from the gala to the cardboard box sitting in front of me on my bed along with a single letter.

I start with the letter and find it to be yet another spell. It's not a massive thing, but a good cleaning spell can help with a great many things. I keep my smile as I read through the spell's instructions and look at the spell's matrix, he always sends me useful things.

I carefully put the letter to the side and moved the box over to me. He was vague about this part, but considering how annoyed he looked about the glitter at the gala it should prove interesting. I open up the top and see several pages of paper and a wooden box with a lock on it.

I raised a brow and took the papers out, the top paper had a single sentence on it. I hope you like riddles.

OH, this will definitely be interesting. I smile while I start to read through the papers.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]

I had some writes block on how I wanted to finish the gala. In the end I decided on something smaller and simple, it may not be that interesting but I feel like it fit well here.

PS, I'm either taking tomorrow or the day after that off.