OCT 25 Sunday.

I walk through my vegetable fields as a gentle snow falls around Gaia's Eden, the shield doesn't keep out the snow and I watch as the small flakes fall in uncountable numbers.

Winter is finally here and the Everfree is mostly unaffected, snow has started falling but it's much less than Canterlot and the plants have only just started changing. Some trees have finally started to lose leaves and change their color, but even now most plants are fine.

I feel like some plants will die from the cold and lack of sunlight after being covered in snow, but with the amount of life magic here I think most will survive. It's odd, normally I feel the life magic around me lessen and retreat during winter, but here it still moves around, everything is still alive.

Gaia's Eden has seen some small changes over the past week, with the largest being the Moon Glow Vine. I planted it next to my shack and let it grow in through a window, I had it split after that. One vine went to the roof and grew leaves to keep itself healthy, the other grew to cover my ceiling and bloom flowers.

I've also planted a field of Frost Bloom to study and see if I can cross-breed it with some crops to make a cold-resistant crop. It's not a priority for me but if I succeed it should be useful to Equestria's food production during winter. That's the hope at least.

Beyond that, I've made a change to the seed in the middle. I was concerned that the snake might notice the seed if I kept feeding it life magic, so I used the Golden Oak wood to place it inside a one-foot-thick box. I basically grew a stump and formed a box around the seed.

It blocks almost all of the life magic and it's well hidden now, one less thing to worry about. I've also been trying to find a way to gently repel the massive snake, preferably without fighting it, but most things I've found are about different concoctions you can make with different plants.

I could make those, but they don't last long and I'd need to sink time into it. So after a little more looking I found something of a partial solution, Lemongrass. It's used as a slight repellent to snakes, I have no idea if this will be effective in any way, but it was easy to grow some inside the wall of Razor Vine's.

It's better than nothing, but it does give me an idea. The reason Lemongrass somewhat repels snakes is because of its strong scent. So I'll be selectively breeding a stronger version of Lemongrass and see if that works better. I stop walking and make sure my saddlebags are secure, and that Entropy is ready before walking to the edge of the shield.

It's noon right now and I'm taking some time to go on my first expedition into the Everfree. I've prepared, I have my bracelet that I've enchanted with the same shield I made for the Apple family, it should work against anything normal that I come across, and if anything big finds me I have Entropy to get us out fast.

I have two daggers, the frost dagger and my normal one, along with some medical supplies and food. I decompose the wall of vines in front of me and take my first steps into the cold forest. The tree canopy is still thick so not much snow is on the ground, and even in the day, the forest is dark.

I should make some way to see in the dark, it could prove useful. I make a mental note of that and regrow the wall of vines before continuing, it's quiet beyond the few small animals that I can hear, and feel with my life magic. I try not to stress too much, and try to enjoy the simple exploration.

The forest may feel empty to most, but I know how to spot the small plants that grow through the brush and in between tree roots. I find a few herbs I recognize but mostly it's normal plants that can be found in many places. At least that's what I thought but after an hour of mindless wandering, I came across a nearly dead tree.

The tree seems to be dying, with withered leaves and dried-out bark. I feel the life magic it holds leaving, being pulled away from it, but what interests me is where it's going. I feel the life magic being very slowly pulled into the ground out of sight, I haven't seen something steal life magic from another being before.

It's a very VERY slow process, but whatever is doing this is slowly killing the tree. It's also not a consistent thing but comes and goes in bursts, it's death by a thousand cuts. I am curious now so I place a hoof on the ground and push my life magic through it with some effort, and for a second I see the world under my hooves.

I feel the tree roots stretch out from the topsoil and into an endless network. And in the web, I find the cause of this tree's slow demise, an even smaller web of mycelium of some form is attached to the roots and it takes small amounts of life magic, and probably other things as well.

Its magical flows are both complex and oddly simple. There aren't many large flows, but even from here, I can tell those large flows are very complex once you start dividing them into smaller flows. This mycelium is deceptively simple for what it's doing.

I've encountered a few myceliums like this before, but all of them just took nutrients from plants, this one takes more than that. I use my field to dig into the forest soil and after some effort find some dirt filled with uncountable strands of white. I take out a bag and fill it with the soil before moving on.

Not sure I want to mess with this mycelium too much, it could prove dangerous considering its effects, but I'll take some for research. I continue to wander for two more hours but don't find anything of interest to me. I'm about to call it a day and head home, but before I can I hear a noise behind me and quickly turn while drawing my dagger.

Only to see a normal fox running away at my sudden movement, I nearly laugh at myself, but I don't. I re-sheathe my dagger and continue looking around, it's surprisingly calming here once you get past the darkness. I don't end up finding anything else of interest to me, but for a first quick trip, this is a good place to end it.

Plus it's getting later in the day and I have places to be. With that in mind, I turn to my shadow, "Hey girl, you awake?" She comes out of my shadow a second later. "Good, back to Gaia, and then home." Even with her ability to understand speech I make sure to simplify my instructions just to be safe.

"O-K." She has an odd pause in between with that word. A second of endless darkness later I'm back at Gaia's Eden. I drop off a few things and make sure to place the mycelium I found inside a pot, I decide to carefully feed it some life magic and it grows normally with nothing happening to me or my life magic. I give it more water from my flask and head home to clean up.

A nice shower later and I'm ready, but I still have time before my meeting at the park, so I spend some time practicing Mana Mimicry. My meeting with Shining is going to be interesting, he knows something is up and will probably have some questions for me.

And I'm not exactly sure how to answer. Many guards have probably noticed my continued presence, but they probably just assume it's something out of their pay grade. What makes Shining different is that I know him and his family outside of work, and they know me, even if none of us are close.

I don't want him to push me away by being vague, as that could damage any relationship I have with him. He could even ask his family to stay away from me if he thinks I'm part of something that could endanger them. That's not likely to happen, but unlikely things seem intent on happening around me, I'm not taking any chances if I can help it.

So to prevent that I'll need to give him some answers, but which ones? If I tell him about making spells for the princess he'll ask me what spells, and if I answer that he will find out or guess that I'm Veil Winter. And if I just tell him I'm Veil Winter he's likely to presume I'm full of shit, and not without reason as I am still a colt.

I could just say I'm Celestia's friend, but that raises even more questions. I ponder this while practicing and after a while, I'm out of time. I take my saddlebags and Entropy with me and leave my apartment, I put on my cloak seeing the light snowfall, and start walking through the streets.

As I think more on this conundrum I come up with something that might work. There is one other thing that would make my presence less suspicious, my life affinity. As I walk through the streets I stop at a food stall and buy two small bags of hayfries, snacks always help, not long after I reach the park.

The park has a nice blanket of fresh snow, and on the same bench we first met I see Shining Armor. He sees me and nods, I return the nod and walk over, he seems a little wound up and is obviously a little impatient, he has been waiting a week so it's not much of a surprise.

"Hey Shining, thanks for coming. Here." I offer the heyfries, and after a second he takes them. I sit down as a slightly awkward mood sets in.

"Thanks, and no problem. It's not often I spend time here, I miss the view." I can tell he's trying to be polite, but it's clear his curiosity is getting to him.

I want to try and actually enjoy this, and that won't happen with his curiosity getting in the way. So after several moments of silence, I sigh. "Just go for it, I'll tell you what I can." I keep a relaxed and friendly tone while getting my story straight in my head.

He stays silent for a moment. "Who are you?"

I laugh a little at that, and he just gives me a confused look. "Sorry, that was just more blunt than I expected." He looks a little embarrassed but I continue before he can say anything. "But that is the question, isn't it?" I smile at him. "Last time we met I told you I work for the Princess."

He nods. "Yes, and you said it was a secret. So why answer me now? What changed?"

I keep my smile, at least he's being forward with me. "Two reasons. First, we'll probably see each other again and maybe even work together, when that time comes I would rather you not distrust me for a silly reason. And that brings me to reason two, I've met your entire family." He raises a brow and nods, he's not defensive so that's good.

"Yes, my dam and sister have mentioned you, even my sire." I feel like there is something I'm missing with that last part. "But that doesn't answer the question." His tone is getting slightly more relaxed as we talk.

"You and your family are good ponies, and I'd rather not taint any relationship by putting up walls. Or to be blunt, I want to be able to call you a friend, and keeping unnecessary secrets doesn't help with that." I show him a smile while chewing on a hayfry.

He looks a little shocked at my intentions, we haven't really talked much so this does come a little out of the blue. "Well. I would have thought... OH! ohh." I raise a brow as he seems to trail off and realize something before smiling widely after a moment.

"What?" It's now my turn to be confused.

He just keeps his smile and shakes his head. "Oh, it's nothing, just something my sister told me about you. So back to my first question." He shifts to being much more relaxed and friendly. :What the hell does Twilight have to do with this?: I'm just confused, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, pun intended.

This is where my plan comes into play. I look around a little, no pony in sight, I move some of the snow on the ground off of the dead grass underneath it. "How about I show you? Also, I'd ask you never to say anything about this." He again looks confused but nods seriously.

"I know how to keep a secret, and doubly so if it's for the work you do for the Princess." His tone is still friendly but very serious. I smile again and nod my thanks before ripping a small clump of grass from the ground.

I push a little life magic inside and watch as the lump of grass regains its green color and starts to grow even as it's suspended in my field. "Have you ever heard of Rocky Wheat?" He seems very intrigued by my display but not very shocked, magic can do many things and he probably isn't that well-versed in magical affinities.

He thinks for a moment before slowly nodding. "Somewhat? I vaguely remember one of the other guards talking about it, something about farming from his family." I feel a little pride at that but ignore it for now.

"Rocky Wheat is a type of wheat specifically bred to grow in colder and rocky soil, mostly for places that can't grow normal wheat. To make it somepony had to selectively breed thousands of generations of regular Wheat and pick out the ones that survived the best."

"As you can imagine this takes a very long time because you can't speed up plant growth that much. It can take decades to finish such a project, and I'm the reason it only took a year." That makes him even more confused. "What do you know about magical affinities?"

He seems to see where I'm going with this. "Enough to guess you have one that helps grow plants faster? That would definitely be useful for a project like that."

I nod, it seems he's making just the conclusion I want him to. "Yes, and much more. I have the life affinity, something that only a few ponies have had in the last thousand years."

And finally, I see understanding dawn on his face. "You make and grow new plants for the Princess? huh, not what I expected. And if it's that rare then I can understand keeping it tight-lipped, you won't have to worry about me saying a thing, I promise." I was expecting to have to ask for that promise, but it just shows what type of pony he is that I didn't need to.

"Thank you, it means a lot. But I want you to fully understand why, if nothing else to better explain myself. My affinity lets me grow and manipulate all plant life to a significant degree, which would normally take months for others. I can do it in seconds. As an example, what's the most expensive herb you've seen before?"

He seems to be getting my point now. "Ummmm, I think some type of magical flower, don't honestly remember, but I do remember it being way too expensive."

I smile. "If I had a living plant that herb comes from I could grow as many as I like, all I'd need is a few hours." I smile as I see understanding on his face again. "As you can imagine, many would like to have something like that, so it's for the best that the world never knows about me having this ability."

He once again goes serious, and there is another stretch of silence. "Why trust me then? Even if you like Tw- want to be friends with me, wouldn't this be too much of a risk?" I can now clearly see the part of him that makes him a good guard, he's more concerned about me than any answers he's gained.

I answer with complete honesty. "Because I feel I can trust you. You've been nice to me, and from what I've seen are a very good guard." I give him a large smile while he is once again a little stunned. "Now anything else to ask?" After his shock wears off he shakes his head. "Good. I think I remember you liking comics, what's your favorite?"

He smiles after a moment. All friendships have to start somewhere, and I did enjoy comics in my past life, I think it's time to see what they're like here.

time skip

POV shift Shining.

I wipe my hooves on the doormat and walk inside to see my lsbff sitting on the couch. "What are you reading about this time?"

She smiles and looks up from the book. "Light runes, why?" She can already tell I'm up to something, too bad it's too late now.

"Well, I took a trip to the park and ran into a certain somepony." She gives me a suspicious look at my smile.

"Who?" She asks slowly.

"Shade..." I see her face shift to one of slight excitement, seems I guessed right. "So.. do you like him? Cause if you do I can see why, he's quite the Colt."

As soon as she hears me her face goes red, "WHAT!? NO! YOU-YOU!" I start laughing as she sputters, and I laugh harder when a cushion is thrown at my face. :OH this will be fun:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 993