JAN 10 Sunday.

I slowly work my way through the many numbers used in my newest spell while I try to keep everything working together properly without breaking anything.

The spell I've been working on for over a week has been more difficult than I originally presumed. Targeting a single spell among many other spells at the same time is a tricky thing, I solved it by simply adding a number to each page and scanning for that instead.

Changing my approach did set me back some but after a few days of light work I've gotten most of the problems resolved, I'll still need more time to properly finish it fully though. Still, in a week or two I should have it done and then I can start work on the more complicated spell.

I need this spell to copy illusionary pages to new illusionary books and I need the second spell to move the spells themselves. It might seem odd to have the second spell but it's mostly about preserving the information in case of accidents or damage.

When a gem breaks or shatters the spells enchanted inside aren't fully lost, it depends on the spell and how complex or powerful it is, but a decent amount of the time the spell stays mostly intact inside what remains of the broken gem. But casting another spell to scan what remains and copy it might just cause more damage, so it's better to move that spell somewhere safe and try to recover what I can then.

The spell is probably going to be much more complex than this one, so in the meantime, I'll be copying all my notebooks into illusionary notebooks. I could make something to copy the paper notebook pages into my illusionary books, but this is for more long-term storage so the notes should be much better organized than how I normally keep them.

Don't get me wrong, I keep my notes in order, somewhat, but they could use a lot more work. That means I'll need to redo them anyway so I'll leave that other copy spell for now and just slowly write everything into the illusionary books. My mind starts to wander as it often does while I slowly work on something.

Daisy has been... Not the best. I'm still not sure exactly what connection she and Willow had, but it's weighing heavily on her right now. Still, she's doing better than I expected, and Blaz told me they talked about it a little, which seemed to have helped somewhat as she was more lively the next day.

For now, though, we're all just trying to be there for her and we are making sure to check on her every few days, mostly me because we live a few dozen feet away from each other. I go over and play a few card games while making us tea, it might be small but I can see how much it means to her every time I do it.

I stop working and leave my thoughts as Entropy flies in with Philomena close behind her, Philomena holds a letter in her beak that I take from her in mid-flight before they can damage it with their play fighting. I chuckle as Philomena steals a rope toy from a shelf before teleporting out of the room. "Mean!" Entropy caws out before also teleporting away.

I open the letter while listening to the sounds of two birds fighting in my living room.

Shade, I'll be at your camp at around five in the afternoon, I hope to see you there.

Celestia

I flip the page but find nothing more, of course, she would send an entire letter for less than twenty words. I burn the letter into nothing before checking the time, it's twelve so I have five hours left, might as well be productive and have some fun. "Entropy," I call out while walking out of my workroom.

I turn to see Entropy and Philomena still fighting over the rope toy. "Come on girl, we need to head to Gaia." I walk over to them and take the toy, earning me a squawk from Philomena and a small glare from Entropy. I roll my eyes at the indignant birds before growing a few large Juniper berries and giving both of them a few.

A moment later Entropy lands on my back and we both vanish, I feel my thoughts stretch out as the Void greets me before everything comes rushing back again. I feel Entropy hop off of my back and fly over to her perch as I reorient myself from the abrupt change of scenery.

A second later I notice that Philomena appears inside the shack with us. She came here a few times and I'm not sure how she learned about Gaia's Eden, but it was probably Celestia. I turn to Entropy, "I expect nothing in here to break, otherwise I'm grounding you, literally." I warn slightly as Philomena carries over another of Entropy's toys that she's stolen.

I smile as instead of fighting, Entropy starts to preen Philomena’s feathers before moving back to my rough plan. I have time so I'll be spending it messing around with something I need to be very careful with, space magic. I rummage through a few shelves and grab a few normal Oak acorns before walking over to a completely empty area of Gaia's Eden. I make sure to be at least one hundred feet away from anything just to be safe.

I take my acorns and drop one before growing it into a small tree and backing several feet away from it, then I start concentrating on the space around it. I'm not entirely sure how to go about this but I have an idea, so I start by imagining four points is space around the sapling and pushing a small amount of my space magic at those points.

I then imagine those four points connecting to form a flat square, now this is where my probably bad idea comes into play. I try to will the space at the points to anchor them to the space around them, the only reason I know anything is happening is the feeling of my magic draining slightly and the slight vague difference in the space itself.

Anchoring those points doesn't seem to take much magic, but I do feel a slight consistent drain on my magic, and filling this imaginary square in seems to just take a little more magic to maintain. I hesitate for a moment before taking one of the points and start trying to cross it over to the opposite point while keeping the mantel image of folding a piece of paper from corner to corner in my mind.

I watch as the space shimmers very slightly and watch the light bend a little, doing this takes much more magic, and the result is odd. I formed the flat square over the sapling's tiny trunk and I watched as the part of the tree that was inside that imaginary piece of paper moved and bended with the space outside of the trunk itself.

After a moment I let go of the space and watch it snap back into the correct shape, but as I walk up to the sapling I see that that's not entirely correct. I can feel that the space has returned to normal, but the physical material of the tree seems to be slightly deformed.

The bark has an inconsistent pattern and seems to be partly intertwined with the wood that should be under it, and on the other side, some of the wood seems to be missing from the trunk. After looking over the tree I removed the section of wood and saw that the material was deformed halfway to the side I bent it in.

It seems that physical material does return to normal, but not as quickly as the space does, and that results in the material fusing and blending as the space snaps back faster than it does. It's yet another terrifying aspect of space magic, but I leave that for now and start to test more things.

I redid the same experiment but carefully folded the space back to normal before letting it go, this resulted in no damage or side effects as far as I can tell. Next, I tried to twist the imaginary piece of paper and this resulted in a different pattern of deformation and compression.

The material isn't smashed to one side but instead seems to roughly mirror the same pattern I twist the imaginary piece of paper in. Even if it's imprecise I can control this reaction to some degree and that gives me options for advancement with my space magic.

This lets me roughly mesh materials together in a way that should be impossible otherwise, and that needs much more experimentation. I was doing this on a whim and I don't have anything to take notes with, so I'll just do one more basic test for now.

The last test I want to do is to try and speed up the process. I fold the space once again, but this time I try to snap it back to its original position even faster than it normally does, and I watch as the space seems to ripple slightly from some form of recoil that results in the wood shattering and cracking violently.

I keep my distance and watch for any other side effects for a few moments, but nothing else happens and I walk over to the splinters after waiting a minute. I pick up the largest splinter to see that what little material remains intact is much more thoroughly fused than before.

The first two times I could distinguish between wood, core wood, and bark, but this is more mixed than that, it's much harder to tell them apart. And at the center, the point where it was bent and compressed the most, it's so blended and fused that it looks like something new altogether.

While I'm holding it I watch as the new material seems so weak that even in my field it falls apart, whatever I've made isn't very strong or stable. I stop the tests here for now, I've already made a big discovery and the ability to fuse materials to such a level will need a lot of research to see what it could be used for.

I decompose what's left of the sapling and walk back to my shack with the fragile splinter of fused wood. I leave it on a shelf and check the time again, I still have two more hours so I might as well use them. I grab my blindfold and wooden weapons before walking outside to continue my endless training.

time skip

I nearly trip over my legs when I sense the violent rending of space near my location, normally I can't sense space at that distance but something that big is hard to miss. I drop my weapons and leave them on the ground for now.

I smile while closing the distance with my blindfold still on, as long as I'm not swinging a weapon it's relatively easy to walk around with just my magical senses. I feel the slight tremors in space as the steps of a large pony get close to me. "Hello Celestia, It's good to see you again, I hope today has gone well for you." I greet her while staring at her face with a large smile.

I can't make out any details, but I can still look at where her head is. I keep my smile as she stops for a moment and even waves her hoof to her side. "Why the wave? I'm right next to you?" I play innocent and pretend like nothing is wrong.

I hear an exaggerated sigh. "I leave you alone for a few weeks and you start doing things like this, because why not? Also, what is that tree?" She greets me with the same casual attitude and asks about the Gold Oak while pointing in its direction.

I chuckle while taking my blindfold off, Celestia looks the same as always and greets me with a smile. "Well, I need to train my ability to sense life and space magic somehow, so blindfold. That... Thing is the result of the seed you told me sprouted." I explain while walking over to the shack, I need my teakettle.

She starts to walk alongside me. "You never stop, do you? Always something new to train or improve. Mmmm, that is not what I expected when I saw the tiny sprout, I presume you've been growing it then?" Celestia seems to be in a good mood.

I huff a little at the thought of growing that tree. "Not really, I've only grown it around two inches over the past few weeks." She raises a brow with clear confusion. "I'll just send you my notes later, but you never answered me, how are you doing?" I decide to leave that damn tree alone for now.

She smiles and lays down on my shack floor as I start to make some fresh tea. "Well, I guess my curiosity will have to wait then, a true shame. But to answer you, I got to use your new spell, I must say it really is good at getting stains out of your coat." I hear a slightly playful edge to her words and put it together a second later.

I start to chuckle, and then full-on laugh as Celestia's perturbed face proves my guess right. Once I've recovered I try to tease her for some extra revenge. "Well then, I hope Cadance got pictures, we spent two hours planning that." She smiles in a way that never ends well for me.

"I didn't know you wanted pictures of me showering." She asks in a far too innocent tone.

"W-wait?" I stutter out in shock and confusion as my damned blush starts to consume my face as certain thoughts flash through my mind, while Celestia's smile only grows at my reaction.

"Yes, she added whatever that dye was to my soap, it got everywhere. But that spell did remove it, good thing too, I had a meeting that day and didn't want to attend it as a strawberry." She jokes, but I don't respond as my mind can't keep up with the teasing she's just subjected me to.

I want to both laugh at the image that pops into my head and also bury my face inside my hooves from the embarrassment. After several moments I get my mind and body back on track enough to speak. "I... You're just not fair are you?" I sigh and just slump a little as she chuckles. "Well, you've gotten me good and embarrassed, and you haven't even asked me about my day yet, shame on you." I make a weak attempt to fight back.

She laughs right in my face for a moment. "Ok, I'll let you off, for now. How have you been? I hope well." She shows a little mercy on me.

I focus on keeping my blush under control and distract myself with something to bring my mood down a little. "I've been so and so, I've made progress in several things, gotten far too much mail, and..." I trail off, I'm not sure I should bring Daisy's life into this.

She gives me a curious and mischievous look. :fuck it: "A friend, Daisy, I'm not sure how much you remember about her. Anyway, she recently lost somepony important to her, I won't be more specific than that, but I've been helping her with that for a bit now." I keep it vague but don't hide things that aren't needed.

Celestia's look immediately softens and whatever she was about to say changes. "I'm sorry to hear that, is she taking it well?" Her tone is soft and she drops any teasing she had planned before. "Were you close to them too?" She adds after a second.

I feel a little bad using Daisy's life to distract her, but as long as I stick to how I'm doing and don't share too much I think it's ok. Why does having friends have to be so complicated?

I shake my head and take on a soft tone. "No, I only met them once, but they were a kind and nice soul. Daisy's doing, actually, pretty well, all things considered, I think she'll be fine after a while." I pass her a cup of tea. "Death is odd like that." I can't help but voice that thought.

Celestia looks a little bit concerned. "Are you handling it well? Death can be a bad thing to find yourself thinking about so often."

I smile at her concern. "I'm just fine, I was talking about death in a more philosophical way. It's one of those things I ponder from time to time, just another mystery of life. But you are right, so got a better topic?" I decided to take my mind off of death for a while.

She nods and loses her concerned look. "Yes, it is. Maybe not a topic, but I have some important news." I perk up more at that. "I've been so busy recently because we've made contact with a group of Changelings." That brings my mind back from any other stray thoughts.

"Really? That… That is certainly big news. How did it go?" I eagerly ask while going through my shelves to find some paper and a quill.

She smiles again at my actions. "It took several weeks to even get a meeting, they are very isolated and distrustful of others, and their war didn't help with that. But after many promises and overtures, we had two representing a small independent group meet with us."

I take notes of everything she's saying and write questions I have for later. "They were predictably wary of us, but after finding out that we already knew about what and who they were, they became a little more open to talking."

I decide to interrupt at that. "It won't take long for that to slip out into their communities, this could get bad." I summarize my worry and she gives me a reassuring look in return.

"Yes most likely that will happen, but it would have anyway, and at least we have some control over the situation if we act first. The meeting went... It was tense and it took a while to get anywhere, but after a lot of negotiations they agreed to tell us more about what the situation is like."

Her tone is now more official and reserved. "It's complicated, to say the least. So I'll keep it brief, the war is still happening and it's escalated some as apparently the newer hive is nearing some form of victory." She obviously doesn't want me involved in this and is just answering the bare minimum to satisfy my curiosity, but that's more than I expected already.

That is important information, if Chrysalis really is winning then the situation could either get much better or much worse. It really depends on how badly the war has gone and just how powerful her hive is right now. "IF that's true, then it changes a lot." I give a vague but true comment while keeping my inner thoughts to myself.

She nods. "Yes it does, but for now we've started a small trade with the group we met. Both hives seem to be demanding a lot of them right now so their food situation is not the best even with their small numbers, so we're using the emotional collector you made to supply them with something that they can eat in exchange for information."

I tilt my head and nod my agreement after a moment. It's a good way to learn more and build a little trust while things are still relatively calm. "I'm glad to hear that it's proved useful, and just to update you a little it's going to take a long while to make something better than that, even if I had the rune already." I lament that a little as it's plain to see that Changelings not even involved in the conflict are suffering because of it.

Celestia's able to see my mood change in an instant. "It's not your fault, you've already done more than any other has and what you've made will save many lives, and you don't carry this burden alone. So how about we change the subject? Both of the previous ones are rather subdued for a talk between friends."

I chuckle and nod after a second. She's right, as always I'm overthinking things and putting too much on myself. "Thanks. Yes, that sounds nice, take it away then Miss Princess." I try to joke and fail like a seasoned pro.

She smiles again. "Well, about that prank, what did you convince Cadance to lather me in?" I can already feel my face heat up at the wording choice. :Magic damn you Celestia, magic damn you:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I'm not sure if I'll continue this to another chapter but we'll see how it goes.

Also, I'm in no way an expert on the fabric of space and how it works, so I'm just making things up as I go and it probably won't make much sense to anyone who dose understand how space works.

Also also. 350k YAY! :}