JAN 1 Friday.

I walk out of the library and step into the cold snow as the sun greets my eyes.

It's a new year and it started with me and Avalon finding a little time to work on our project. It wasn't very interesting and I spent most of the time explaining and teaching Avalon the basics of spell creation and modification, specifically about how to go about it safely.

He stayed behind to read a few books I recommended while I went about my day as planned. For our first planned meeting, it was nice and even a little fun, mostly from Avalon's endless excitement over magic and all that comes with it. Along with the fact that he's now a new friend made the whole meeting enjoyable.

Speaking of meetings my meeting with Celestia is set for January tenth and I'll be excited to see her again. I temper the bad thought that appears in my mind for a moment. I don't know what it is but my mind and body have been more rowdy than normal and I find myself being a little annoyed despite my best efforts.

But that's fine, I can deal with all of that, what I can't deal with is the mares in my life. I keep finding myself looking and I would rather not insult my friends by eyeing them up, so I've tried my best to not let my eyes linger and keep them controlled as best I can.

I huff and force my mind to something else, something like the weird tree I have in my garden. For now, I've named the odd tree the Gold Oak, mostly because the only thing I can link the tree to is an Oak. Anyway, I've tested several things with some odd results.

Over the week or so Celestia hasn't left any notes on the board so she doesn't seem to have seen the tree yet, so I'm definitely bringing it up at our next meeting if she doesn't visit first. I stop my thoughts as I enter my apartment and smile at Entropy, she files right over to me like most days. "Hello." She greets me before flying off again to go right back to her nap.

I just chuckle at her antics. "Crazy bird." I find myself using that to describe her a lot. I make her a quick meal and leave it out before heading into my workroom and sitting down at a desk. I place an open notebook down and start organizing some information.

I've tested several things with the Gold Oak and sadly haven't learned all that much yet. I tried to saw the wood instead of cutting and the result was the same, with no damage. I tried to simply rip or snap a piece off, again with no luck, then I tried to collect some of the dust the leaves disintegrate into with a jar.

This at last was a slight success. Whenever I tried to pick and capture the leaves they'd vanish into nothing at all, something that confuses me for several more reasons, but when I captured a falling leaf I didn't pick it resulting in a very tiny amount of golden dust being collected.

The only thing I've found out about this dust is that it holds a decent amount of life magic in it and doesn't dissolve in water at all. I'm not sure if it's a metal of some form, it does float and seems buoyant enough so I don't think it's metal, but I'm not an expert on that. I've not done much beyond that for now but I'll probably try melting or burning it later.

But like I said it does hold a decent amount of life magic for being such a small amount of material and it also doesn't block my senses like the tree does. I've tried to give this gold dust more life magic, but that didn't do anything and the dust didn't even absorb the life magic, let alone do anything with it.

Back to my tests on the tree. Without a way to gather anything else from the Gold Oak, I started seeing if there was anything I could do with my life magic. First I must point out another odd thing, despite the Gold Oak seemingly growing a few feet in two days it hasn't grown naturally besides that,

I say naturally because for the first week, the tree didn't change in the slightest but when I dumped all of my life magic into the Gold Oak it grew very slightly. It was barely anything and I had to measure the tree with a ruler to even notice, one-tenth of an inch from draining myself completely, I could grow a thirty-foot oak with that much life magic.

But it still does something, and after that, I tried to gain a little more control than just letting the tree grow by itself. I started with the leaves but they were just as resistant as the Gold Oak's trunk and branches, so I went down and tried to connect with the roots, only to face the same result.

I could see the roots underground because of the lack of life magic leaving a noticeable void. Sadly they provide the same result and now I'm at an impasse with this route, I'm stuck and can't do much beyond simply growing the tree further with more life magic and just hope it knows what it's doing.

After organizing my notes I started on something new, a new idea that struck me today. I keep all of my information in books filled with notes, but that is limited in several ways and I have a better idea for long-term information storage.

I've made a way to store a lot of information in a small area with my illusionary books, but they have a big drawback that I need to solve before I start using them for more than what I already have. I need a way to copy that information and move it to other illusionary books.

So what I need is some way to move a spell from one gem to another without breaking it and I also need a way to copy that spell along with its stored information. The first seems more complicated so I'm starting with the second idea as it should be easier and will be helpful when I loop back around and work on the first idea.

So for now all I really need is the copying rune and a scanning spell to find and copy the specific thing I need. I start with the copying rune and then take the scanning spell I have before taking it apart. I'll need to add more to this scanning spell with something to target spells without detecting itself.

The rune I add is a broad and somewhat vague rune for the concept of magical spells. I slowly work my way through math equation after math equation before finishing something that's good enough for a base to improve upon later, I move a single small ruby over and start enchanting it.

I start with the spells to gather and hold magic, then I add the illusionary spells to make it a small illusionary book before placing it to the side and continuing my work on the spell. After another two hours of fiddling with the math, I only solve a few of the hurdles I need to overcome before I hear a knock on my door.

It's quiet and I almost miss it, I don't have anything planned and I'm not expecting a visit, so needless to say this is out of the ordinary. I stand up and walk into the main room before casting an illusion over Entropy and slowly opening my door, only to see Daisy. "Hello, Shade." I'm immediately on edge a little as her tone is not the normal happy tone she has.

Her tone is somber and subdued, I immediately open my door fully and look her over. I saw her earlier today and she was fine, but now her mane is a little messed up and her eyes are a little red, she's been crying recently. "Daisy? Are you ok? Come in." I step aside and motion her in.

She shakes her head a little and shows a flat smile. "No need, I'm ... fine. I just came to ask if you could take care of my apartment for a few days." Her tone is anything but fine and it's obvious she's avoiding the topic.

I nod after a moment. "I can do that, but... Look I'm far from the best pony to talk to but anypony can see you're not fine. I won't pry, but if you need to talk I'm here." I offer gently. I don't know what this is but Daisy needs some help and I'm not going to leave her hanging.

She stares at me for a moment. "I... It's complicated and something I shouldn't burden you with. But, well, it's Willow... She passed away." Daisy is talking in a whisper as she finishes and her mood now makes a lot more sense.

I stop and go through my memories of Willow quickly. We only met once for a few days, but she was very nice and it was clear she meant a lot to Daisy. My smile drops and I give her an understanding look. "I... I'm sorry Daisy, my condolences." I've had relatives pass before and it's never an easy thing.

I'm silent for another moment as I can't think of anything to say to her. "Seriously Daisy, I'm here if you need to talk, same with Blaz and Maple." I give the only small comfort I can to her. I'm also taking a page out of Celestia's book, don't push and simply wait until they are ready to talk about it.

The mood has definitely taken a dive, but I still see a small smile on her face after a moment. "Thanks, it means a lot, and I'll be fine. I just need... Time, I need some time. But first I need to go to Ponyville." She's taking it well, or at least better than I've seen others who've had similar things happen to them, I can respect the strength it takes to carry on through things like this.

I nod again, "Understood, I'll take care of everything so don't worry. Take all the time you need and come back when you're good and ready." I keep a gentle tone and try to give her a comforting smile.

She also keeps her own very small smile. "Thanks again, here's the key." She passes me a simple key before backing out of my doorway. "I should be back by Monday. Have a good night Shade." It's obvious she's done talking and just wants to leave, and that's perfectly understandable.

I nod and take the key from her. "Same to you, and try to get some sleep, Daisy." She just nods before turning around and walking away. I notice she picks up a suitcase in the hallway before walking out of sight as I close my door and simply stare at it for a minute.

I've seen my fair share of loss in my past life, a few distant relatives and even a few dear uncles and aunties. I'm lucky that everyone really important to me was alive by the time I died if that can even be called lucky. My mind takes a darker path as I remember all the faces I'll never see again.

You know what's the worst part about never seeing someone again? It's not forgetting how they look or sound, it's when forgetting them lessens your pain. To lose even the pain of loss brings a new pain all its own, one not so easily forgotten or ignored by the mind.

"Hhhhh." I sigh and let those feelings wash over me for a few minutes before picking myself off of the floor and placing the key I was given on the countertop. I don't feel like working anymore so I just close the door to my workroom and start to make myself some tea.

I lay down and stare out my window as the snow lightly falls past, winter is already clearing a little and spring won't be long now. The season of new things and new beginnings, I hope Daisy finds both this year. "A saying comes to mind on days like this," I speak to nopony but the wind and a sleeping Entropy.

"You die twice, once when you are buried, and once when your name is spoken for the very last time. I think that's how it goes, maybe I'm wrong, can't remember." I lapse back into silence and take a deep drink of my tea as I am reminded of an old grizzled man I knew once, he was a neighbor when I was in my teens.

He was old, late nineties if I remember correctly. He was a grouchy guy but he was always willing to talk to me when I needed to vent a little about life and stress. He didn't have anyone left, he had outlived all the important people to him and when he died I heard there wasn't even anyone that was going to be at his funeral, besides me.

The funny thing is I don't even remember why I wanted to go, we barely knew each other, but something told me it was the right thing to do. At his funeral, the pastor read some words that the old man had asked to be read out. It was only three words but they've stuck with me.

I walk free. I never knew why he wanted them to be read aloud, or who those words were for, but I do remember those words, I remember them well. I think for a moment before casting a single candle flame spell to light up the room as the sun lowers from the sky, I sit there for a few moments staring at the small flame in the dark.

"Walk free Willow Bark, and may you find your well-earned rest." I let the flame fade into nothing as the moon rises into the night sky.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :)
Current year is 994

Death is truly an odd thing, but the oddest thing about it, is how peaceful death is.

I was in an odd mood and decided to see how it would feel to write during it, sorry if this was less upbeat then normal. Still, I think it came out decently. I've been trying to think of a time to have Willow pass for a while now and this lined up well enough.