OCT 31 Saturday.

I slowly move my carving knife through the wood while trying my best to keep the cut clean.

I check the cut and move the piece to the side before cutting again, I immerse myself in the simple motions of cutting small grooves in the steel wood sculpture of Philomena that I've spent nearly a week on. It's coming along well all things considered.

I plan to carve Philomena and paint it as a gift this year, but really this is just a way to pass the time. It's the afternoon and it should be dark soon, while the Nightmare Night celebrations are in full swing. And the snow is falling hard today coating the city in white while seemingly endless amounts of ponies rush through the streets.

And earlier today I was sent a letter from Celestia.

Dear Shade.

I'll be meeting you at your apartment around seven, I apologize for the short notice.

Celestia.

That was it, a much shorter letter than normal, but considering what today means to her I can understand not wanting to mince words. I sent back a letter saying she was more than welcome and that I didn't mind. I am rather curious as to what she needs help with.

It probably has something to do with the Moon Glow Vine I made her and Luna, or maybe she just doesn't want to be alone today, I don't know. But that's ok, I don't need to understand, I just need to support my friend through a hard time, and that's what I intend to do.

I still have a few hours so I move my mind away from Celestia and put down the half-carved figure, I have something else I'd like to work on for now. I clean up the floor where I was carving and take everything back into my workroom, once my things are back where they belong I find my rune book.

The last time I tried to sharpen some Steel wood it didn't go well, so this time I'll make something to help. After flipping through my runes I find a rune that I've used before and it should work well for this. A rune for Grinding that I used on my mortar and pestle.

It still sees use whenever I make bread, but back to the point, if I combine that rune with the sharp rune I have I can make what I need. I start by grabbing a small block of Iron Oak wood that is around five inches long, three inches wide, and an inch thick, this piece is something I made in preparation for this small project.

Both sides are as flat as I could make them and after it was properly shaped I sanded it thoroughly to work out any bumps. I placed it on the desk along with the second item I made for this little project, an almost exact replica of a kitchen knife made entirely from pure Steel wood.

The spell will need a decent amount of magic so I'll need a gem to connect it to, it won't need too much magic so a small ruby will work fine. Next, I find another rune I'll need, the protection rune I've used many times now, it will protect the Ironwood block from being damaged while sharpening blades.

I write out some math for the spell and spend the next hour designing and working on the relatively basic spell. It's not that complicated so once it's done I draw it out and enchant the wooden block before linking the small ruby to it. Once I'm done, I'm left with a sharpening stone.

Well, not a stone, but something that hopefully works just as well. The Iron Oak block is reinforced with the protection rune to prevent damage while the grinding rune and sharp rune are used to form two separate effects on both flat sides of the Iron Oak block.

I also add a second enchantment to let the Iron Oak block stick to any surface to keep it properly still.

One side lets me take away chips in the edge by grinding material off, and the other allows me to hone it into a razor-sharp blade with the same effect in a weaker form. But I'm still not sure if I got the effects strength right so I have a lot of testing and tweaking left to do, so I start with the stronger side and run my roughly carved edge along the block.

The sticking enchantment works to keep it in place as I run the wooden blade along it, and it works a little too well. After a single pass, my kitchen knife now has an off-center edge from how much material was shaved off, I'll need to weaken that side a little.

I even out the edge as best I can before trying the other side, it works well but it is also a little too powerful. The spell definitely needs more work but is a good start for a first attempt. I disenchant the block and check for any damage, it seems completely undamaged so I start working on adjusting the spell, while checking the time, it's six-forty-five and the sun has set by now, shouldn't be long before she arrives.

I spend fifteen minutes working on the math a little trying my best to limit the spell a little more but before I can finish the second attempt I feel a very large source of life magic from below me. I find myself smiling at the feeling, I focus on it more and find that it's not one source but two. That's definitely her, I leave my workroom and start to make some tea in preparation.

I place my tea on the small table I use for my meals and grow some Juniper berries as snacks for us. Entropy sees me moving around and growing berries, so of course she demands some of them. "Good? Berry?"

I raise a brow. "What good? The berry?" I ask back simply.

She tilts her head before fluffing out her wings while pointing her beak at her chest. "Good, good. Give, berry?"

I'm confused before it clicks and I chuckle. "Yes, I suppose you have been a good girl. Fine, here." I would have given her some anyway, but I'm not going to dissuade her from acting good for treats. After feeding Entropy it only takes a few minutes for Celestia to reach my front door, and a second later I hear a gentle knock.

I flip the small wooden tab in a pot and the shield around my apartment flicks off, while I open my door to see a white pegasus mare with a blue mane. "Shade." Her tone is more solemn than I've seen before, damn this day must really hit her hard.

"Sunny. Come on in, I made some fresh tea for us." I walk back to my table and start to pour some tea for us.

She gains a tiny smile at the name and nods, she walks in and closes the door behind her before looking around my apartment. It's changed some since she last saw it, several new plants, Entropy's perch, and her birdbath, along with the small sculpture I have on my counter.

The large dove on Celestia's back flies over to Entropy's perch and sits down next to her. Entropy is seemingly confused for a few seconds before Philomena's illusion disappears and they start to socialize. I smile as Celestia's illusion also drops away, but my smile falters some at the sight.

She's not unkempt, but she's also not looking normal. Her mane is a little roughed, maybe tangled in some way. Her pelt looks a little messed up with a few out of place patches where the fur is misaligned, she also looks a little tired. I've seen people in my last life lose family, and while they do recover the scars never truly leave them, still, from what I've experienced she's handling this all well.

I don't say anything and simply pass her some tea, she takes the tea with that same tiny smile and drinks some before finally breaking the silence. "Sorry again for not giving you more notice, I... I wanted to be away from the palace for a while." Her tone is solemn but still friendly.

I shake my head a little and give her my best smile despite the low mood, "It's no problem. You needed some space, so please make yourself at home." I keep a slightly more upbeat tone, but stay mellow.

Her smile grows a little. "Thank you, it means a lot for you to take time out of your day for this."

"Like I said, it's no problem. I am rather curious though, what do you need my help with?" I decided to get the question out of the way quickly.

Her smile almost vanishes. "...Later, if you don't mind? For now, I'd like to talk and relax some first."

"Later it is then. Do you want to talk about… this?" I gesture to her appearance, while trying my best to be comforting, by magic I am not good at this.

If nothing else she seems to see my good intentions and smiles a little more. "I'd also like to keep that for later. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything with my visit?" I can see she wants to change the subject and maybe talk about something to distract herself, and that is something I'm happy to do.

"Yes, but it's not important just a small project, more of an experiment than anything, right now as it's not finished." She seems interested so I get up and walk into my work room, I return a moment later with the sharpening block and wooden kitchen knife. "I think I've mentioned Steel wood to you before, right?"

She nods after a second and I activate the blocks enchantment and demonstrate by attempting to balance the edge again but just like last time it takes a little too much material. "I wanted to see if I could make a proper blade from it, but forming a proper edge is proving difficult. The spell is a little too strong right now, shaves off too much, I was fixing that when you arrived."

I explain and offer her the wooden knife, she takes it with a slightly bigger smile and runs the rough edge against her hoof. "Still dull, but for wood it's very sharp. This must have taken some planning, how long have you been working on the spell?" She asks while moving the wooden block over to her side of the table.

I watch as she starts to sharpen the knife's edge with a practiced skill, I wonder when she learned that. I wait and watch for a few moments as she's able to sharpen the blade, even with the wanky sharpening block. "A little under two hours now, I started somewhere around four or five in the afternoon by picking out the needed runes, and after that, I just enchanted it and started to test it," I answer while enjoying some of the warm tea, even after all this time she still makes it better somehow.

Hearing my answer she abruptly stops sharpening the blade, she turns from the task and back to face me. "Two hours? To make this?" She looks a little surprised, I'm not sure why, this spell is simple.

I nod. I cast a spell to reveal the enchantment on the block of wood. "Most of that time was the math, but this was something simple and I took my time making it. I just need to adjust it a little and it will be properly finished, that and more testing of course." I give some more context while she looks over the spell.

I take back the blade and feel the much-improved edge she's made. She seems to think about my words for a moment before speaking again. "Do you have any extra small gems like this one?" Her tone has taken a pleasant shift from solemn to curiosity, and it seems I've successfully distracted her.

I raise a brow at her question and now. "Yes, why?"

She keeps her interested look. "I want you to try something, if you don't mind?" I'm still confused but this seems to be distracting her so I nod and walk back to my workroom to grab a single small ruby before walking back and placing it on the table.

She stares at it before nodding. "I want you to create a spell to make a red light glow from this gem, do you think you can do that?"

I decided to voice my confusion at that request. "Yes? I can if you like. but, why?"

Her smile grows a little more. "I want to see how fast you can complete it without preparation, think of it like a test if you will." She finally seems to be relaxing more and not asking if I'm willing to do something each time.

"A test? Sure, why not? Could be fun. But I want to be timed, it's no fun without a timer." I make my first small half-joke, she doesn't laugh but keeps her smile.

She nods and casts a spell, a clock reading zero appears a second later and starts to tick before stopping and resetting. I quickly enchant the gem to gather and hold magic before nodding to her. "Perfect, ready when you are."

".... Go." I don't waste a second and start drawing out the matrix. I could just modify a spell I know, but where's the challenge in that? So I start with a blank spell matrix and try my best to build a new spell off of only a single rune of light as a base.

I've never been under a timer before, and it's kind of fun. I have to think fast and even if it's not perfect I have to build a spell as best I can. The basic math for a normal white light takes only a few minutes, but the math to change its color turns out to be harder than expected.

I can't use my knowledge from my past life so it takes longer than it should to get that part right. Honestly, if it wasn't for all my speed drawing practice, mostly from me casting spells with Stone before I advanced my rank, I wouldn't have been able to draw out the spell as fast as my mind made it.

I take a few seconds to skim through the matrix and cast the spell to enchant the gem. Once it's bound fully I activate the gem and a second later a small red light forms in front of me.

Once I'm done I turn back to Celestia and look at the clock next to her, twenty two minutes. Honestly, if it was any other spell it would probably have taken me an hour or more, but this type of spell is easy though, even if I have to make it from scratch.

I turn from the clock to see Celestia staring a little dumbfoundedly at the small red light, there are several seconds of silence as she studies it. "I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure to see something quite like that." Her tone is somewhat excited and definitely an improvement from earlier.

I raise a brow at her reaction. "I know it's fast, but the spell is basic, and I've worked on a lot of light spells and illusions. Anything more complex, like making a silence spell, would have taken an hour or more at that pace, and the spell is not very good because I had to rush it." I downplay my ability. :Sure it's fast, but so are other ponies, I can't be the only one to do something like this:

That gets a chuckle from her. "An hour, like that's nothing." She even laughs for a moment before calming down. "You really don't know do you?" I shake my head and continue to show some confusion, and she smiles more. "Yes, many can make what you just did easily, but even for the spell you made it could take them hours at their fastest speed."

"It's just absurd." She chuckles more at it. But before we continue talking we both hear a chiming noise that seems to take all that excitement and wonder away from her in an instant. Her smile vanishes and she's basically back to how she was when she arrived.

The whiplash of her mood change is surprising, to say the least. "Are you ok? What was that?" I ask with thinly veiled concern.

She's silent for a moment, before letting out a long sigh. "I'm fine, it's a timer I set. It's time for us to go." I feel a weight to those words.

I don't question her, I just stand up and find my saddlebags before nodding to her. "Then let's go, no use waiting." I think she's past the point of conversation, so I keep my words concise.

She nods back. "Yes, there isn't. Please stand near me." I'm confused but do as she asks, I stand next to her and a moment later she whistles. Philomena flies over a second later, with a curious Entropy right behind her. Celestia sees Entropy land on me and makes sure Philomena is on her before closing her eyes and concentrating on something.

I see an almost blinding light come from her horn and a second later my spatial senses go haywire. I feel the space around me be cut and shifted in impossible ways for a few seconds, when it's over I almost fall over from the wave of slight nausea that hits me.

I regain my balance a second later and look up to see a somewhat concerned Celestia. "Sorry, I should have warned you, that can be disorientating. Are you ok?" I can hear a much sadder tone in her voice now.

I nod. "Fine, don't worry. That just felt very odd." I see Celestia has cast a magical light to cut through the darkness around us and start to look around, it doesn't take me long to recognize where we are, an ancient building bathed in the moonlight.

The castle of the two sisters.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 993

I though about making this an extra long chapter, but I felt this was one of my few opportunities for a good cliffhanger. So sorry to say you'll have to wait an extra day, don't worry it won't be long.