DEC 14 Saturday, it's December now and only a little over a week until Hearth's Warming, and like most ponies this time of year I'm out shopping for gifts, I've finished my gift to Celestia, and I'm planning to send it soon, I also sent her the anti-pest spell a few weeks ago and got a letter back thanking me along with telling me that she will have other ponies test it so it's ready for spring.

It will take a lot of testing and it won't be ready for mass use for a year or two but at least the spell is done, and they will be testing it more thoroughly in spring, as for other gifts I'm out shopping for Blaz and Daisy, now that I think about it, they're really the only ponies I really know as friends, but back to what I'm doing, I'm looking for decent gifts for both of them.

That's why I'm trudging through a few inches of snow in the cold to do some shopping, at this time of year very few if any stalls are out on the streets as Indoor shops cover most business for a few weeks until the snow is cleared, I find my way through the cold streets to find the hobby shop I've been to before.

I know both Blaz and Daisy fairly well, so I know what I'm getting them, daisy likes to paint so I've gotten her some paint and brushes, Blaz though is a little trickier as he likes a few things first but the thing I decided on was puzzles, yup he likes solving puzzles of all kinds so I'm here looking for any I can find.

As I walk the shelves, I find a small cube of wood, a puzzle box, and after a little more searching I find several regular picture puzzles, after paying for my things, I leave to walk back home it's dark the sun has set, so I cast a magic light to follow me as I walk home, I turn down a side street and halfway down it my hoof hits something and I tumble down to the snowy road.

After pulling myself off the street I look back to see what I tripped over, I see something lying on the street covered in snow with only some black sticking out illuminated by my light, I reach out with my field to pick it up but after a moment nothing happens the object remaining unmoved from its spot.

:What?: confused I reached out with my field again trying to move the object but just like before no response, I spend a moment feeling with my magic as if I feel nothing at all, my magic seemed convinced that nothing was there, that it's just empty space, but I can clearly see it sitting there on the street.

It's also odd for something to be on the street as they are cleaned regularly and somepony would notice something black as ink sitting in the middle of the snowy street even if it's partly covered in snow, I look around the street I'm in a small street going in between two buildings it's after dark so I'm alone the only pony in sight.

I focus back on the object placing my things to the side some distance away, I try once again to feel this with the same result as before, I change my approach and try feeling it with life magic only to end up with the same result as before, nothing, all my magic agrees that this thing doesn't exist.

At this point I'm both intrigued and concerned all things have magic, All things except this thing apparently, I don't want to touch whatever this is again, and I can't move it and I'm sure as hell not leaving it here unsupervised, I spend a moment thinking what I could do, I could find a guard to help but not many patrol this late in the day especially in back alley streets.

And that still means I'd have to leave it alone for some time, I think for a moment and decide that I should try everything I can before trying to pick this thing up with my hooves, I spend several minutes trying with my magic to feel anything but always getting the same result, nothing.

I've tried my natural magic along with my life magic so I might as well try space magic, I spend a few minutes getting in the right headspace before meditating in the falling snow, I reach out vaguely feeling the space around me and finally, I can feel this thing,

As soon as I feel it, I get a splitting headache and I barely catch myself from falling over as my head spines, what I felt can only be described as empty space crushed so hard it becomes a solid thing, I can feel the warped and crushed space like a twisted knot in the world around me.

After a while I slowly recover regaining my balance :what the fuck?: I stare at the thing I've found, and I have no idea what to do this thing is beyond my knowledge, wherever this thing came from but I can't leave it here but that means I'm going to have to pick it up, I need to get this to Celestia she's the only one who could help with something like this.

I form a basic plan in my head and empty my saddlebags before reaching out with my magic to move the snow away from the thing, after doing so I get a good look at it, it looks like a normal rock much like obsidian back and jagged, it's a little bigger than my hoof a few inches across at most.

I carefully move my bag to scoop up the unknown stone, after I do that, I grab my things and start moving back to the library holding the bag several feet away from me at all times, when I get home, I place the bag in a far corner and start writing a letter, glancing at the bags to keep an eye on it.

I don't know how long it will take to get a meeting with her especially this time of year but I'm going to try, the post office should still be open I'll have to leave this thing here, but I don't have much other choice as carrying that thing around the city doesn't seem like a good idea.

I write my letter being a little vague but stressed about needing to meet her as soon as possible, after finishing the letter I run to the post office and give it to them and run back to the library, after entering my room, I check to make sure it's still there, seeing that it is.

My letters to Celestia normally take a day or two at most to reach her and I normally get a response back the following day, she should get my letter tomorrow morning so I'm not planning on sleeping tonight, I don't know what this thing is but I'm not sleeping anywhere near it.

I spend the next several hours waiting through the night never taking my eye off the bags for long, it's five in the morning when I hear a knock at my door "It's open come in," I say turning my head to the door, I let out a sigh of relief as a guard enters my room.

"Are you here to escort me?" I ask them.

"Yes, sir I'm to bring you to the palace" I nod and grab my bags keeping them a few feet away from us as we walk, we walk through the streets as the sun rises and the moon sets, after a while we reach the palace and pass the guards, we move down hallways taking several turns before coming to a door guarded by two ponies.

As we pass the door, we enter a room, and sitting at a table in the center is Celestia, who seems to be doing some paperwork, as we approach, she looks up from her papers and turns to us with a small smile on her face, "Hello Mr. Shade, it's a pleasure to speak to you again,"

I bow before approaching the table "Same to you princess, although I wish it were with better news,"

She raised a brow and looked at the bag I still had floating near me "Yes your letter did say you needed to speak to me urgently but not why,"

I nod "It's a little hard to explain, it might be best to just show you, may I?"

She nods and I move the bag to the table and dump the odd rock on the table, it lands with a soft thud, "A rock?"

Seeing her confusion I say "Try and pick it up with your magic princess."

She still looks confused but does as I ask, her horn glows and after a moment of nothing she focuses more, her horn glowing brighter but the rock stays completely still, "Try and feel it with your magic princess" I recommend, I feel the magic in the room increases as she tries to feel the rock.

I see her face shift as she feels the stone with her magic focusing more and more on the rock having moved all her paperwork off the table, "What is this?"

I'm not sure if she was asking me or just thinking out loud but decided to answer anyway, "I know what it is just not how it exists" She turns to me and nods for me to continue, "I found it in the city literally in the street, I tripped over it, and it was just lying there in the middle of the street was a rock, I was curious and tried to pick it up and just like now nothing happened."

"I tried several things but only one thing worked, space magic."

"You can use your space magic" her voice carried some surprise.

"Somewhat, I've found that if I meditate, I can somewhat feel the space around me not by much, but I didn't need to feel much to decide to bring it to you, as far as I can tell this rock is a chunk of space crushed into a physical thing."

She looks just as shocked at this as I was when I found out she looks back at the rock "How does something like this even exist?"

"I have no idea, honestly princess, if I didn't have my space magic this would just be an odd rock, but it does exist."

"Have you touched it again?"

"No, I don't know where that thing came from, and I don't know what it can do so I've left it be until I could bring it to you princess."

She nods "Probably for the best, I will be honest I don't know what to make of this thing, I don't even know how one would go about making something like this, when you used your magic what did you feel?"

"Trying to feel it was less than pleasant, it was like having your point of view flipped upside down inside out at the same time, giving me a splitting headache too."

I see her cringe slightly at that "I've felt something similar in the past, what do you think should be done with it?"

I spend a few moments thinking it over before answering her "I'm not sure but if nothing else it should be placed somewhere secure and safe."

She nods "Yes that is probably for the best, thank you for bringing this to me."

"No problem princess."

She pulled a bag from somewhere and put the rock into it before placing it to the side, "Beyond that there's another thing I wanted to talk to you about."

I nod to her "Well I'd like to thank you again for the new spell, testing is still ongoing and early but it's promising so far" I smiled at that "The ponies working on the tests wanted me to send you a list of questions, and since you're here now do you mind?" she summons a piece of paper in front of me.

I look through most of the questions and there mostly about parts of the spell and a few about the symbols and math used, I spend a few minutes answering what questions I can and adding some notes to others before passing it back to Celestia.

She looks the page over and nods "Thank you, is there anything else you need?"

"Beyond sleep? No princess, I'm fine."

She smiles at me and gives a light laugh "Good then the guards will show you out, have a good sleep Mr. Shade."

I nod getting up and following the guard out of the palace, after leaving I walk home and fall on my bed happy to get some rest.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading, also I'm going to be a bit slower and less consistent with chapters from now on.