APR 5 Monday.

I happily bounce out of the library as Daisy lets me off of work several hours early because it's my birthday.

That's actually something interesting about my friend group, we don't really celebrate birthdays all that much. I know their birthdays and they know mine but none of us ever really expressed an interest in having a party or getting gifts, I normally just give them a few bits and tell them a happy birthday before leaving it at that.

They mostly do the same, we all agreed that gifts are a Hearth's Warming thing. Still, Daisy didn't have much to teach me or have me do today so I was let out of work really early, and that's the best kind of gift. Also while on that topic, I've been both hating and enjoying my new job.

I've spent the past week doing nothing but sorting so many magic damned files, there were twenty-six full cabinets and several more half-full ones and all of them were a mess. The files did have some form of order to them, basically just similar files in the same cabinets, but it still took a long time to fix.

I also bought a bunch of blank stickers to make labels, and I started with the cabinets themselves. I got Daisy to tell me how she normally organizes things if you can call it organized at all, and then I just cleaned it all up and sorted it by date and alphabetical order.

I've been spending half my workday sorting things and the second half learning what documents do what and how to properly read all the odd terms and meanings. It seems that paperwork is always confusing and pointlessly convoluted no matter what world you're living in.

I leave those thoughts alone as Entropy moves in my shadow and looks at me, she's started to come to work with me sometimes. She mostly just sleeps in my shadow or I cast an illusion on her and she grooms herself and naps as I work, Daisy was perfectly fine with having the cute crow around the office to quote, spice things up.

I take my time walking home and stop at a food stall I occasionally go to when I want a good snack, it sells those lovely maple buns that I had years ago. I pick up an even dozen and tip them a few extra bits just to be nice, although tipping isn't a common thing in Equestria.

Entropy noticed the food instantly and I quickened my pace to return home so she wouldn't leave my shadow to demand some immediately, I made a quick stop to check my mail and find a single letter. When we enter my apartment Entropy practically jumps out of my shadow, "Food! Sweet!" She caws happily and gives me her best puppy dog eyes, although it's hard to actually tell because of her appearance.

I smile and throw a bun into the air, and with two quick teleportation's she moves to it and catches it out of mid-air before moving back the the ground and devouring the bun as I also enjoy one, we both really like this particular treat. "Good! More?" She caws as I look at where the maple bun once was a few moments before.

"Fine, but only three in total." I pass her two more before eating another and putting the rest away for later. I place the letter I got from my mailbox down and I also notice two more letters sitting on my kitchen countertop. "Seems those two remembered." I muse out loud.

I start with the two letters that Philomena must have delivered, they look mostly the same, with one being a bit thicker so I start with the smaller letter. When I open it the text is in a neat script with a little flourish to it.

To Shade, I bet you're thinking about mares aren't you? Evergreen.

Regardless, I'm sorry it took so long for me to respond to your lovely gift, but it seems somepony had to give me a lot of work very suddenly. Did you know Aunty decided I can help with implementing your new inventions? It did give me a great chance to test the quill, and I must say you definitely weren't exaggerating.

Seriously though, thank you. It's been a huge help to not have to wrangle with nearly empty ink wells and it looks fantastic! It's just like I asked for! But I also kind of hate you right now for dumping two inventions on us, during tax season of course! You meanie!

Enough of that though. Happy birthday! I hope you enjoy it, I didn't have enough time for a gift but Aunty seems to have that covered. Make sure to enjoy the day, maybe go find a mare, or go bother Aunty. Whichever makes you happy.

Signed, Cadance.

I blush a little at the letter but laugh at the chaos I've caused her, I really should watch my back around her after this, but for now, it's nice to know she likes the quill and magical ink well. I wonder if the unintentional timing on my part can be counted as a prank? I guess it depends on how I phrase it.

I also feel some excitement at the mention of the gift from Celestia. Celestia also teased me about it before that trip started but stubbornly refused to tell me anything about it since then. I fold the letter from Cadance back up and put it to the side before opening the second letter.

Inside are a few papers and a small seed that looks like a brown ball, barely an eight-inch in size. I smile at the neat and elegant script, me and Celestia last met a week ago for our meeting but it was mostly just us playing chess and talking. I start with the papers and start reading with a smile.

Dear, Shade. I hope this letter finds you well.

First I must once again thank you for your efforts and contributions to Equestria. The Frost Carrots are far past my already sky-high expectations, as I send this they are already being planted and I expect the news will spread over the coming months when they start to be harvested and distributed.

All while the crafting guilds are practically fighting over the chance to be a producer of the new Fire Starter, that news should break much sooner. Also, I must compliment you on the ingenious simplicity of this invention, I expect that you'll be getting a lot of mail soon, don't worry I'll give Entropy treats to bring it right to you quickly.

With that out of the way though, happy birthday Shade. I can hardly believe it's only been three years since we met, so much has happened in such a short time, although I suspect it feels much longer to you. Still, I wish you the best and hope you enjoy today, and I hope the gift I have for you helps do just that.

Over time I've collected a great many things, although I'm sad to say plants were more my sister's interest so I don't have much to gift you there, but I do have this one exception. The small seed I gave you comes from a plant called the Copper Lily, I won't go into too much detail as the other pages in this letter have more information on it.

For now, the most important fact is the plant's history and how I came to have it. Firstly, the Copper Lily is extinct, and it has been for over a thousand years now. To oversimplify it, the Copper Lily grew in a special river that was very copper-rich and was over harvested to extinction.

Around that time, so very long ago, my sister was able to bring back a large amount of seeds in the hopes to grow for her own garden. But even with her skills in gardening, she could never grow it properly, most likely because none of us were aware of the plant's need for copper at the time.

In the end, she only had one seed left, and not knowing what to do with it or how to grow it she gave it to me. I kept it under stasis for a very long time, mostly as a keepsake. I also never saw much of a reason to give it to either of the other two life magic practitioners I've met, but I believe you could find some use in it.

And I think she'd be happy to have somepony finish what she could not, so if you do succeed in growing the plant as a friend I ask that you show me. But that is only a request by a friend, nothing more, it's yours to do what you want with.

But for now, I once again wish you a happy birthday. Make sure to have some fun today instead of just working on different things, and yes that's an order.

Signed by your thankful friend, Celestia.

I smile widely at the letter but stop as I read through it, I have a warm feeling at the trust she's once again shown me. Even if it's just a seed that she could never use it still means a lot for her to give it to me. I hold the small round seed with a very gentle touch in my field to not damage it.

It's clear that she was melancholic while talking about her sister, and now that I think about it this is the first time I've really had her refer to Luna as sister. It gives me a bittersweet feeling, I've been given an amazing gift but at the same time, I've been entrusted with something from a cherished and missed sister.

Beyond the warm and bitter feelings I get from the trust and history she showed me, I feel extreme excitement. I quickly read through the information she sent me while smiling like a madman, It takes several minutes to read and reread the information to piece it all together in my mind.

The Copper Lily is a type of water lily that looks almost the exact same as a normal water lily, with large flat pads with long stems underwater and widely recognized flowers. But the flower is where this plant gets unique, to explain I need to talk about the Copper Lily's native environment.

They once grew in a river that once flowed down from the mountains near where Canterlot now is, and this river came from a spring that was inside of a massive copper ore vein. This led to the small river formed by this spring and a few other sources having a very high content of copper.

At some point long before ponies were around the water lilies in that river mutated from either evolution or magic, probably some mix of both, and as a result it started to absorb that copper for its own use. This continued for an unknown amount of time until it became what it is now.

The Copper Lily was named because all the copper it absorbs is used to make its flowers, that's right this plant makes pure metal flowers, somehow. That is some feat of biology and magic that I never would have expected, but back to my explanation. These flowers were discovered at some point and immediately exploited.

A free way to gather a useful metal? Sign me the fuck up, and ponies at the time agreed with that statement. So they started to mass harvest the abundant metal flowers and smelt them down for amazingly pure copper, but that was The Copper Lily's downfall. It only grew in this one river so after most were harvested the remaining ones were protected and farmed.

Ponies tried to grow them in other places but they never understood that the plant literally needed copper to live and without it, the plant wouldn't grow, they were also unaware of the source of the plant's copper at the time. So greedy beings harvested the last of them and eventually, the plant went extinct and was forgotten about.

I know that explanation leaves a lot out and that's because the information Celestia sent me was incomplete. A note in the information mentioned that most information about the plant is lost to even her and her library so she honestly can't help beyond what she gave me already.

Still, this is enough to grow it, and I can grow it. The first thing I did was feel it with my life magic senses, and even though it's very weak there is still some life in this ancient seed. I immediately give it a very small amount of life magic while making sure it doesn't grow before securing it in a small cloth bag.

The Copper Lily is a plant I could have never thought possible and opens so many doors for me, right now it's not that useful but it is a natural way to extract and refine metal. Even if it's just copper it proves this is possible and that gives me so many different ideas, but first I would need to grow this seed.

I don't have anything to do today, but my friend who's also a princess ordered me to not work so I won't be growing this seed today, I placed it in my workroom in a stable spot where nothing can mess with it. For now, though I think I want to take another little day trip to Ponyville, I've come to like the town and honestly, I just think it would be a fun place to spend the rest of my birthday.

I'm about to just grab my saddlebags and leave but stop as I remember the third letter I got, which is odd because not many send me mail to my mailbox, all the mail I get is normally for Veil Winter and that is delivered by Entropy. The only one is Avalon but I don't think it's him because he normally signs his letters on the outside and this one is blank besides the stamp.

I slowly open the letter to see a single page with... Is this ink pink?

I raise a brow and start reading.

Shade, I don't know your last name.

I wish you an absolutely super duper HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Eat cake, party, and have an amazing day!!! Next time you stop by Ponyville I'll give you a cupcake and some pie!! On the house of course!!

Pinkie Pie!

I stare blankly at the page and a hoof-drawn coupon for several moments dumbfounded, I close my eyes and take a deep breath before signing. Ok, either Pinkie knows where I live or somehow got this to me, without knowing anything but how I look and my first name, is Pinkie some kind of super stalker?

My mind tries to think of some way that explain how she got this to me, but nothing makes sense and I'm just getting more and more confused. After a few minutes, I have to stop and take another few deep breaths before putting the letter back in the envelope. "It's Pinkie Pie, just, don't think about it." I tell myself out loud and put the letter down.

I stare at the coupon for several more moments before shrugging. "Why not? It's my birthday." I voice my logic to Entropy as she stares back at me confused. "You remember Ponyville girl?" She tilts her head for a moment before nodding. "Good." I put on my saddlebags and smiled at her. "Are you up for a trip?"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

A bit of a shorter one this time but I'll be continuing it in the next chapter because I got very busy today and deiced to not make this a several thousand word chapter by cramming. Anyway, have a good day y'all.