MAY 15 Saturday.

I make a few notes in my illusory notebook as another golden leaf falls from the Gold Oak only to get caught in mid-air.

A ball of slightly blue-tinted see-through magic forms around the leaf as it falls and contains all the gold dust as the leaf disintegrates. The small ball-shaped shield then moves over to a singular point and lowers right onto the top of a barrel before deactivating, the dust falls to the bottom of the barrel and joins the slowly growing pile of dust.

The past few days have been busy for me, but I am happy to see that this worked well. I was nearly done with the gold dust collection shield when Celestia disrupted my plans with a poorly worded note, I got my revenge though. I chuckle again at the memory of a partly pink Celestia.

I take a moment to double-check that everything is working correctly. The gem I used for this project was one of my medium sapphires, and the enchantment itself is fairly simple in effect. A scanning spell detects when a leaf falls below the tree's branches so it doesn't detect leaves still attached to the tree.

Then a small shield envelops the leaf as it falls, sometimes the leaf is already disintegrating by the point and some dust is lost but that's fine. Once the shield envelops the leaf it moves it to a preset point and lowers a preset distance, which leaves it right above a three-foot tall one-foot wide barrel I grew out of white oak.

The barrel has its own enchantment, a shield that lets dust fall through it but doesn't let it leave the open top of the barrel, a simple one-way shield. Now I have a slowly increasing amount of dust, and nothing to really do with it, which is part of the reason I'm here right now.

It's still early in the morning and I decided to take some time to set up this shield and spend a little time experimenting as a break from my constant spell work. Not too much has happened on that front, I've just spent my time working on the requested spell.

Modifying the spell to block emotional magic from inside and outside isn't that hard, but converting the shield to a large area and keeping the effect's strength is more tricky. It's not just a matter of using a bigger gem, I need to adjust many things and even rebuild a few parts of the spell.

Still, it shouldn't take more than another week to finish it, and while working on this I had another idea. Why not make a small bracelet that disables a changeling's ability to detect emotions? It's an idea I thought about in the past, but that was before I knew for sure that the emotional shield worked.

Now that I know it works, and because I can now see some use for it, I decided to look into that as well. It's less of a priority than the new emotional shield, but it is something I will make right after it, and it should be very easy to make as all it really needs is some modification on the base emotional shield.

So to summarize. The base emotional shield protects you from Changelings reading your emotions, but doesn't block emotions from entering it as that's not needed and would just cost more magic. The two-way emotional shield blocks magic both ways and will come in a large shield that covers a room or a small version that can be put on a Changeling to disable their ability to sense emotions, at least that's the plan.

I stop my internal rant and look over to see Entropy looking at the barrel with the small amount of golden dust in it. "Nooo, don't you dare." She looks at me and back to the gold dust, a moment later I react just in time to grab her in my field as she tries to dive into the barrel. "I said, no." I give her a more stern tone and she looks back defiantly.

"No! Pretty!" She complains to me while I keep her with me as I walk back to the pavilion.

I smile at her reaction. "Fine, I can make you pretty. But you have to behave." I keep my slightly stern tone but try to encourage the things she likes. Saying no without reason doesn't work on children, it's better to bribe and compromise with them or at least explain why you say no.

She stops trying to break free, not that she was trying all that hard, she could have teleported out if she really wanted to. But she knows that would just get her in more trouble with me. "What?" She is also smart enough to not agree to something instantly.

Another thing I've been experimenting with in my spare time is my new color illusion spell. It's not hard to change the color or copy a material's look, so after a bit of testing, I was able to make it mimic metal, and immediately copied the most popular metal. "Magic," I answered with a smile and quickly cast the spell on her before she could fly away.

In an instant Entropy is covered in what looks like a layer of pure gold, it does look odd because unlike her crow illusion, it doesn't have much detail. It reminds me of those games that let you put textures on something never intended, she looks like a moving mound of gold roughly shaped like a bird, but Entropy seems thrilled with her new golden look.

I let her go and she landed on the floor before looking at her body and wings. "Pretty? Pretty!!" She caws out before hopping around like a jumping bean a few times and flying off to the Gold Oak. I watch as she starts to compare her wings to the leaves and continues to hop around the branches excitedly.

I chuckle and leave her to her fun while taking a small wooden bowl off of a coffee table I added to the pavilion. It's made from pure Black Palm wood and provides a good contrast with the White Oak wood floor and the red carpet, while also being insanely expensive if I ever sold it. I take the small wooden bowl I used for breakfast and walk over to the barrel.

There's not much gold dust inside, it's been working for an hour and I only see an ounce or two so it will take a long time to fill up completely. For now, I just turn off the enchantment for a moment and take what's there before turning it back on and walking to my shack.

I grab two pots and two Blueberry seeds before sitting down at my desk, my experiment comes from something I've observed over time. First, the gold dust contains a decent amount of life magic in it, not a large amount but more than most plants have if compared by weight.

Second, I've noticed that the dust seems to help plants grow. The Gold Oak increases life magic density for a dozen feet around it so the grass is taller and healthier, but downwind from the tree where the gold dust blows the plants are also healthier, even though they are outside of the Gold Oak's effects.

In retrospect, it's obvious plants could probably eat this stuff, but I'm thorough and I still want to test it. I take half of the gold dust and mix it into the soil of one of the pots thoroughly before planting a Blueberry seed in both pots and carefully giving them the same amount of life magic.

I watch as the pot with the gold dust does grow the Blueberry bush faster, it's not massive but any increase in growth rate is more than welcome. I stop supplying life magic once the Blueberry bushes reach a few inches tall, but then things get a little odd and I quickly flip a switch in my bracelet and activate the illusionary notebook inside to take notes.

The pot with the golden dust is now radiating a decent amount of life magic and the bush continues to grow at a slower pace than before, but still fast enough to see with the eye and watch in real-time. I've stopped supplying any life magic so the only source it could be coming from is the gold dust.

After roughly one minute the effect stops and I start to look over the Blueberry bush that is larger than the other bush and double the size I intended. The plant is normal but I notice that the soil lacks any of the gold dust I added to it, even deeper in the pot's soil, after taking a few notes I immediately start to test this again.

The dust didn't react like this in the past when I tried to add life magic, but I tested that again just to make sure. I move life magic into the gold dust in the bowl, but just like last time the life magic doesn't do anything and just disperses a few moments later as the gold dust doesn't react.

It seems I'm missing some third element here, I take a few small branches of the Blueberry bush and place them in the bowl before covering them in some gold dust and trying to add life magic and make it grow. I give a quick burst, but beyond my own life magic, nothing happens yet again.

I remove the branches and just scoop some soil into the bowl and mix it a little. When I add some life magic the reaction does trigger this time, the gold dust gives off a very light sparkle and looks to be degrading away into what looks like charcoal, or some other form of black substance, while all the stored life magic in the gold dust was released into the soil and air around it.

It seems that a mix of high amounts of life magic and something in the soil triggers the release of all the stored life magic, I have no idea what it could be because the soil has so many different parts to it. It could even be a specific element that is present in tiny amounts, amounts so small I can't even separate or find them.

I rapidly take notes for a while but a timer cuts off my focus and reminds me I have something to do today. I deactivate the illusionary notebook after taking a few more notes and pack everything away for now. This discovery raises a few more questions about the Gold Oak.

It seems that the Gold Oak specializes in creating and spreading life magic, but I'm not sure why it would do that. My best guess is that this helps its seeds hatch, it took a lot to grow a single Gold Oak so if it wanted to reproduce it would need an environment insanely rich in life magic.

I can't think of any environment that could be like that normally, so the tree might make its own environment. I add that last theory to my notes before leaving my shack and calling out. "Entropy!" My voice carries clearly and a moment later she flies over to me and lands on my back.

At this point, the magic has worn off and she's back to normal. "Did you enjoy being pretty?" I ask with a little humor.

"Again! Again!" She demands and I just chuckle as she tries to look cute while demanding to be gold-plated again.

"Maybe later." She gives me a long look. "Fine. We can later, I promise. But for now, we need to get home." I scratch her a little in compromise and she seems to accept my promise, and a moment later I'm standing in my apartment. "Thanks, girl." She gets some more scratches before flying off and leaving me to get ready.

I don't need much but I do grab a few things before leaving my apartment and walking down the stairs. I'm going to be helping Daisy with game night today and she asked me and Maple to meet up at the markets and grab a few things for tonight.

As for why we're both going? Well, according to Daisy, Maple knows all the best sweet merchants, and I'm coming because I have the bits for the expensive ingredients. Originally she wanted to pay Maple to get them, but I insisted I pay for it because I always love her cooking and I literally have too much money.

In the end, she let me do it but insisted I don't go overboard and just get what she needed. I also got first dibs on all of the leftovers when we were done, which I accepted. After a little walking, I found the cafe where I and Maple had something that could have been an accidental date, although neither of us would ever admit to that.

I can see her inside eating a donut and waving to her, she sees me and nods back before finishing her donut and walking outside shortly after. She walks right up to me and I see a very slight smile on her face. "Shade. You have the bits? It is why we keep you around." She jokes in a very blunt way.

I chuckle at her unique brand of humor. "Yes I do, but we should get going, rain seems to be on the way." I point up to a weather team flying past, a common sight before hard rain. She nods silently and I start following her to the markets, it takes a while and in the meantime, neither of us really talks.

I'm not blind to how odd Maple is, she talks little about her past, but so am I. In truth, I've never seen much of a reason to bring the past up, but I've always had some curiosity, and asking probably wouldn't hurt. After a moment I decided to just ask and see how it goes. "Hey."

She turns to me with a mostly blank look. "I've never really asked, but I am curious. So shut me down whenever you want." Her face becomes a little more blank as I speak, but I still emphasize that she doesn't need to answer. "But, do you mind if I ask something personal?" I give her a friendly but gentle tone.

Her face is like a stone for a few moments, I'm about to break that silence and just drop it but she speaks first. "Ok, but... I want to do the same." She says a little slowly, but I also hear a hint of trust.

Honestly, I didn't expect her to agree, but it shows she's put some trust in me, and I won't be taking that lightly. "Agreed. You want to go first?" I offer while keeping a gentle tone.

She nods again and seems to think it over as we enter the market and start moving through stalls. "You grew up in an orphanage right?" I nod. "What did you not like about it?" She's still blunt, but there is a gentle undertone to her words.

The question is one I haven't really gotten before and one that makes me think. "Well, I never had that much to do. I did leave early, but still, it often felt boring in a way. That and I always felt... Older? No... More mature than the other foals, made it hard to make good friends." I decided to be honest with Maple and open up a little.

I did feel a little lonely at the orphanage, there were ponies I did like. But I never had real friends there, just playmates. Her look actually softens a little at that. "Oh... Your turn." She answers after a moment.

I know my question and hope it doesn't bring down the mood more. "This is a bigger one, but where were you born?" I ask back after a moment of consideration.

She seems hesitant but still answers me. "A small town, it's far out. Ilinalta It's, well, It's not much." Her answer is vague, but it sparks a memory.

I smile a bit at the odd events that made up my first vacation, and the fact I made my way through that town while there. "Actually I've been there." She keeps her mostly blank expression but I can see that she tenses slightly and quickly tries to put her at ease. "But I barely saw it sadly. Only stopped there on my first vacation." I'm once again truthful with her and she does seem to relax a little.

We stop at a stall and she picks out several foods and seasonings before I pay for them and we keep walking. "Your turn," I say to change the subject.

"What did you think?" I raise a brow at the odd question. "About Ilinalta, What did you think of it?" She asks back with a tone that has something I can't pin down.

I strained my mind and tried to remember anything, but it was mostly like another small town. So in the end I just shrug, "Honestly? I don't remember it much, but I did love the White Tree Valley, it was an amazing place." I smile wider at my memories of camping there.

She almost trips a little but recovers just fine, I have to stop myself from chuckling a little at her slightly shocked face. "You... Why there?" She seems a little shaken, but also oddly happy at my words.

I can't say the real reason so I just shrug and tell a half-truth. "I like camping, and I read about it. So when I got the chance I took it, I can't say I regret it either, the place was so much fun. Have you ever been there?" I ask back as she buys another thing we need and I drop a small bag of bits on a Bit Counter.

She nods slowly and smiles a little for the first time during our conversation. "I have, and yes... It is… Beautiful." She still has that undertone of something unknown that sounds mixed in a way, but I don't push it and just take the small smile as a win. "This is everything, back home then?" I nod in agreement and we start walking again.

I think this went well, and it's nice to see her smile more. It also just makes me more curious about her, but I'll be patient, just like Celestia was with me.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

So, should I continue this one and show the game night, or just move on? I'm not sure so it's up too all of you now. Hooray for moving my decisions onto others!!

Also, gold birb.