FEB 12 Friday.

I sit down in the breakroom with a plate of food for lunch. "Here, now spill." Before I can even fully sit down I have Daisy shove a few papers over to me.

Over the past week I've asked Daisy to tell me when the request for my vacation time was approved, it took longer than normal because the paperwork had to be sent to her before going through the library's mail system instead of me just hoofing it to her.

The whole time she's been bugging me about where I'm going, so to mess with her a little I refused to tell her until it got approved. Maple and Blaz also turn to me expectantly, "Fine, you can be really persistent you know?" I roll my eyes at Daisy.

She smiles at that. "Thanks."

I give her a deadpan look. "That wasn't a compliment. I'm taking a trip to Griffonstone, it should be interesting." I explain with my most bland tone just to take the fun out of it.

She mock glares at me for a moment. "Uggg! You ruined it. Well, at least I know where you're going, why Griffonstone though? From what I know it's not the largest Griffon city, or the most popular for that matter." She perks right back up.

I nod. "Not wrong, but it is one of the oldest cities that's still a decent size. It has so much history, and it has some easy ways to get to it." I give them two valid but boring reasons for my choice. Although I didn't completely lie, Griffonstone is one of the oldest large Griffin cities left standing and I do want to see it regardless of the diplomacy.

Blaz cuts in at that. "I've actually been once, not the most receptive to guests, but some good views. And some surprisingly good cider." He comments while eating. "Not a bad choice though, try not to insult anyone with your poor social skills Colt."

I smile at him. "Of course you have, somepony as old as you must have been everywhere at your age. Anyway, it should be fun, and I'll be back before you know it to bother you all again." Blaz just huffs and stuffs his face while Maple stays silent and smiles slightly.

"Any of you have plans for your time off?" I take a bite of the same old steamed carrot that they serve a little too often for my liking.

Maple nods. "A trip to a small city, visiting relatives." She says plainly while finishing her food and taking out a small bag of sweets. Maple doesn't talk much about her family, but I know she has at least one brother and sister.

Blaz nods at that. "Same for me, I get to see my grand-foals, they're already taking flying lessons and everything!" Few things will make Blaz jovial, and his family is one of them. "Also, I got a letter yesterday, they are having another foal!" I feel my own smile grow as he practically beams.

"Congrats! Tell them I wish them the best. Oh! Those recipes I give you ever work out?" I ask back while keeping my smile. A while back I gave him a few meat recipes for his son's wife.

He nods. "From what I hear, yes, apparently she really likes bass. But I got to say, Colt, with how much you eat meat, how can we be sure you're not a Batpony in disguise?" He asks with fake accusations in his tone.

I roll my eyes and look at Daisy, only to see her looking a little sad. I'm pretty sure she normally used her vacation to visit Willow. I smile at her and give her a gentle poke, "You thought about where you want to go?" I ask while trying to be as gentle as possible.

She gives me a half-hearted smile. "Not really, a few ideas but nothing that sounded fun or interesting." I can tell she's trying to be strong.

An idea pops into my head at that. "Have you ever been to the sea?"

She looks more confused than sad now and nods. "Yes? Not in a long time though, I went when I was only a filly." Not an uncommon thing for more inland ponies.

I nod back. "Go to New Trotten then, the same place I went to last year. The sea is beautiful and swimming can be pretty fun, plus the city has quite a few interesting restaurants." I offer with a smile.

She seems to think over it for a few moments before nodding to herself. "That... That sounds nice actually, thanks."

I give her my best smile. "Don't mention it, and make sure to have some fun there." We all descend into our usual banter after that and the day moves on.

A few hours later I'm walking through the heavy rain in my cloak as I make my way home for the day. The rainy season has started a little early and even with the weather team's efforts the rain is proving stubborn. Not that I mind, I enjoy the rain and the new life it brings with it.

I arrive home without incident and start to relax with some tea and relentless training after feeding Entropy. It's been several days now and I'm starting to get excited about my trip, I may have to do some work while there but that's fine and I should still have time to enjoy the city.

True to her word Celestia sent me a schedule yesterday and I'm supposed to meet Cadance at the train station on the fourteenth two days from now. I even got a small badge to show the guards, along with how much I'm being paid. Normally I could care less about bits, but she's not paying me in bits.

She's bought me two very unique plants, one for when this trip is over, and the other for my birthday although she wouldn't tell me anything about that second one. The first plant is a tree, yup, more trees. Specifically, a Cherry Blossom tree that can make a tea with a very unique flavor.

It's not the most interesting plant, it's not even magical, but it's still a nice plant and I don't mind a new type of tea. The letter also made a not-so-subtle hint that she'd appreciate some of the tea I make because of course she would. Still, it's a nice little reward when I wasn't expecting much.

It might not seem like all that much, but Cherry Blossom trees are not an easy thing to transport or grow, so it's worth a lot more than you'd expect. Honestly, I'm probably being overpaid, a lot, but hey I'm not one to turn down a plant and the tea should be nice.

I finish building a house of cards and stop as I've used half the deck already. I'm getting better at this and playing with these cards gave me yet another idea for training space magic, magic tricks. That's right, I found a book to learn magic tricks without using actual magic, besides the magic to move the cards themselves of course.

Some of them require quick, complex, and precise movements to do properly. It will be a good way to train both my control and my speed, although it's going to take a while to learn some of the more complex tricks that the book has, still I'm up for the challenge.

Once I practice enough to drain my magic I down some tea and move on to other things. I went shopping so I have everything I'll need, but there is something I want to improve before I leave. I want to make something for information storage that won't raise eyebrows.

I don't need that much storage, a few dozen pages are enough for a single trip. For this reason, I went to a jewelry store, and I bought a small earring and a few other pieces of jewelry. This earring was very pricy because it contained a small diamond of incredible purity and the others had three smaller diamonds of good quality, I did get an odd look from the seller when I asked them to remove the gems a few seconds after I bought them.

Still, they did as I asked and got paid in return. As you know a gem's durability and magical capacity vary in many ways, and all of them I've mentioned before. This diamond is only a quarter inch wide at any point and in the classic diamond shape that all shows used, but it has a completely clear inside and is really high quality.

After a little testing, I've found that this small diamond can hold seventy-four illusionary pages, a good amount for the size and well worth the bits. This also makes the diamond nice and easy to hide on me, all that's left is to turn it into some easy-to-access form, and I have just the idea for that.

I don't want an earring, and my necklace is too obvious, so I'm going to change my bracelet. I've used a silver bracelet with only decent-quality diamonds in it, and now it's time to change it for something better. That is why I needed the other three diamonds.

The other three have the same shape but are only a fifth-inch wide, when combined they will be more than enough for the Changeling detection spell, while like I mentioned the other diamond will hold a small illusionary book. This provides me an easy-to-access location for the illusionary book and the three gems will provide even more magic to the Changeling detection spell than my old bracelet did.

All that's left is the bracelet itself, and after some thought, I decided to make something similar to what I made for my friends. I made their jewelry out of a normal Iron Oak, this time I'm working with steel wood to provide as much durability as I can.

I sit down at my desk and I start with the gems, it doesn't take me long to draw out and cast all the spells I'll need, the pure diamond is already finished from my testing so I focus on the other three. I link them together and add the Changeling detection spell before also placing them to the side.

I grab a pot filled with soil and a single acorn to sprout a single Iron Oak tree. I start by growing a blank bracelet shape and dumping my life magic into it, the bracelet needs to be decently tough so it takes me two full cycles of draining my magic before it's all pure steel wood.

Once it's ready I use my enchanted knife to cut it off of the stem and move the pot back to its proper spot before moving the hunk of wood over to the kitchen sink. I take a few minutes to dry the wood out before walking back to my desk. I place it down and begin the slow process of chipping away material.

It's a very slow process and by the time it's dark I only have a basic outline of how it will look and a few sketches I drew out. I decided to leave it be for now and go about my day. I cook dinner and clean myself before working on a few small things and heading to bed.

But as I stare at the dark ceiling I can't help but let my mind wander. I've always been the sort to just get lost in my thoughts, ideas, and plans, they cloud my mind so often that many get lost in the jumble.

I remember my old life, and it feels like a dream now. It's odd to think of this world where there is magic and the day is controlled by a pony as normal and my last life as odd. But that's just what perspective does I suppose, I once thought this world was only a distant dream, and now the tables have turned.

I remember so many faces and people, all they were, and all they meant to me. Friends, those few I would consider family, old pets, acquaintances, and even a few petty rivals that I once hated for silly reasons. But all that feels so distant now, smoke in a mirror that only reflects at certain points, only to twist and vanish again.

I lived a simple life, even if it didn't feel simple at the time that's what it was. But now things are so complex, Changelings, diplomatic meetings, the unknown fate of this world. It can be a lot to carry some days, but it's worth it when I spend a day talking to friends and making bad jokes.

That's the irony, despite all the things that make this life so much more complicated than my last one, I feel happier here. My last life felt so small despite how much my kind knew, we knew of the seas, the turn of the earth, and even the stars, but that just made it feel small.

There was no mystery for someone like me there, just a life that could go well if I was lucky. As sad as that sounds I still liked that life, even with all its flaws it meant a lot to me and I remember that time fondly. But one can only look back so much before they see the cracks.

And I've come to realize this world is not that different, sure there are things to learn and explore, but whether it be on Equis or Earth life ticks on all the same. Friends, pets, and all the things that come with them, life just keeps going for better or worse.

A wise man once said home is where you make it. I think I've made this place my home, and I have no regrets about that. I smile before turning over and pulling my blanket over me. I should sleep, I have things to do tomorrow.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994

Not much in this one, mostly just some prep and Shade thinking about life.

Also. I'm taking either tomorrow or the next day off.