SEP 27 Monday.

I read through another document before signing it and moving it to the side. Yet another day of dealing with endless paperwork and ink.

It's good at keeping my mind off of a few things though. I had another study session with Twilight, it was much shorter than last time because I had things to do, but it was nice. I'm trying not to think about that too much, it's just been in my head for a while, and a break is needed.

I have a tendency to fixate on a single problem until it's solved, but I'm trying to just hold out until I can talk to Cadance, which is proving hard as she's busy. I also did try to be more of a friend than anything else with Twilight, but I'm honestly not really sure if I've made any progress there.

I stopped my mind right there and shook my head a little, and just like that I nearly fell back into my thoughts. I turn to Daisy to try and distract myself from myself, she's just going through her own papers with a quill. Our normal work is the continued suffering of trees, and yes office work will make you start coming up with things like that.

Honestly, I think I need something to do. I haven't made anything new recently and a lot of my day is repetitive training and work, something I can handle fine, but a shakeup is nice sometimes. I look over at Daisy again and decide to do anything with a friend, "You have anything planned for today?"

My abrupt question makes her stop and look over at me. "No? I can't think of anything. Why? Got an idea? Because I could stand to have some fun." She asks back while cleaning up a few pieces of paper as our workday winds down.

I look at the clock before following her lead and cleaning up myself. "Nope, but I want to do... Something. Any ideas of your own?" I place a few things in my saddlebags as they lean against the side of my desk, before putting away my badge and putting on my saddlebags.

"Hmm." She thinks it over for a bit before nodding. "Well, I think Maple is free, so we could ask her for a suggestion, but that's probably going to go nowhere." I chuckle and nod, Maple is not the pony to ask for entertainment, at least beyond board games. "Oh! I know."

She packs her paperwork in a random drawer, something I will have to sort out tomorrow. "There's an art fair going on in the Night Market, not sure if it's still going, but we could just eat out if it's not." I pause and let that bounce around my head a bit. I wouldn't mind having some more decorations for my home, or a nice meal with some good old banter.

After a moment I nod again. "Sure, sounds good, I could get some decorations. I'm not sure if we can get Maple into that though, her room might as well be brand new with how little she cares about that." That gets a chuckle out of her.

"It's Maple, I'll just tell her you're buying all the food, and the problem is solved." I give her a deadpan glare. "Oh, there's that stern look, Blaz would be proud." She jokes more at my expense.

I try to stay strong but laugh after a moment. "Fine, I'll pay for her, but you're helping me pick out a few decorations and convincing her to at least get something." She just smiles wider at that and nods her agreement as I make my way to the door. "Eight at the diner nearby sounds good?"

"Yup! See you there, and don't forget to bring some bits. Some of that stuff can get expensive." Some sound advice, even if I carry around more bits than needed most of the time. It's a calm walk home and Entropy rides on my back disguised, she gets a bit of attention but most ponies have seen me enough to not really care, and most others don't care regardless.

I still have three hours before the meeting time so when I get home I unpack a few things and have Entropy take me to Gaia's Eden not long after. I spend time with my friends, but recently that's just been game nights and it will be good to go out and just relax for a bit while doing something spontaneous.

When I appear in my shack I immediately notice the small sun nearby, Celestia's life magic is shining bright like normal, it seems I'm not alone today. I smile as Entropy notices Philomena outside on one of the cherry trees, she takes off like a rocket to play with her. "Don't burn anything this time!" I shout after her.

Last time was only a small fire that burnt a little dry grass before Philomena put it out, turns out she can snuff out a fire pretty easily with her wings. I had to ground Entropy for the day though, that play fight went too far. I leave my shack and am greeted by gentle snowfall around me covering everything in white.

Winter is in full swing now and most of the trees have fully lost their leaves, some though stay stubborn and keep their green canopy despite the cold. I pull out my blindfold and spend a few minutes checking on my crop hybridization attempts for this winter.

The cross-breeding has been going well once again and I've even gotten to test something. I dusted the crops with gold dust to see what would happen, and it did work, but spreading the gold dust so widely weakened the growth effects by a large degree. The growth was only slightly accelerated, but it could be an option for speeding things up more if I really wanted to.

After I'm done checking on the crops I put on my blindfold and move over to find my practice spot, embedded into the ground are my dagger and greatsword. I could check in on Celestia, but we had a meeting a few days ago so she can come over if she likes, I want to focus on my practice right now and not think about mares for a while.

I enchanted my blindfold to stay on, maybe not necessary but it was interesting to do. Once it's on firmly I drop my saddlebags a little away from my spot and start to link swings together trying my best to keep a proper form. Building a combat style from the ground up is far from easy, but practice makes perfect.

I can feel Celestia moving around and at some point, she seems to have noticed me, but as she's walking over she abruptly stops. A second later I have to quickly move my greatsword as several dozen small objects fly at me quickly. I block a few of them but there are too many and several get through, they hit me in several spots and have a wet feel to them.

After they stop I take off my blindfold and drop my greatsword, but when I look up I just see Celestia standing there with a massive smile. "That's for the illusion and red dye!" She calls out over to me while laughing before teleporting away in a small flash. For several moments I just stood there utterly confused.

It's also at this point I look down, only to see myself covered in blotches of bright blue. "Oh, what the fu-?" I mumble before trying to wipe it off to no avail. :It's fucking dye! And it's just smearing too, what the fuck is this stuff?: I stand there for a few more moments before I burst out laughing at my new situation, and just like that Celestia has gotten my mind off of my problems, I will have to get her back for this though.

After a good laugh, I drag myself over to the Water Tree pond before casting my cleaning spell on myself and jumping into the water. It's cold as hell and half frozen, but it's better than looking like a blueberry, I float in the water for a while and scrub myself clean as fast as possible before getting out.

I cast another spell to quickly dry myself, I'm still cold as hell but it's bearable. I dry my blindfold too and put it back on with a chuckle before getting back to practice. It seems I'll need to work on something for revenge. I decided to work on my swings a little more than normal and by the time it's time to leave, I'm pretty tired.

A quick teleportation and a shower at home later, along with some food keeps me alive long enough to prepare for the night. I had to comb out my now tangled mane, but halfway through I stopped to look at myself in the mirror. My mane is shoulder length and it's getting a little annoying for me.

I normally just tie it back with a band and let the rest hang down in a ponytail, pun intended. I get an idea and tie my mane back before cutting it two inches down from the band. The rest of my mane is thrown away, not a bad look overall. I comb out any loose hair before tying it back again and gathering my things to leave my apartment.

The night is cold but the snow has stopped falling down so it's an easy walk to find the right cafe. This place is right next to the Night Market and is popular for that reason, and by the time I arrive it's already busy, I can see that the well-lit market street is bustling with ponies.

I shrink the range of my magical senses but keep an eye on the world around me. I think I'm still early so I head inside to get out of the biting cold. The inside is much better, they even have a large fireplace going in the back, I just find somewhere to sit before they are all taken.

I only order some ginger tea while drawing a few things, and right after I get my tea a familiar face enters the building, Maple. Normally she'd be looking tired and all droopy this time of year, instead she looks like her normal self, a walking block of stone that can talk.

I chuckle at my own thoughts as she sits down across from me. "What?" She asks and I just wave it off. "Ok... Thanks for inviting me. I like the look too." Her words are blunt as always but hold a very slight tone of happiness to them.

"Thanks, I wanted to cut it back. But it was more Daisy than me, I just wanted to do something different. I am paying though so get wha-" Her ears jump up and she leaves the table before I can even finish talking. I sigh as she walks back a few minutes later with a milkshake and pie. "Yup, I walked right into that one." I hold no grudge though, I have more bits than time and I don't mind paying for her.

She smiles a bit. "Thank you, again, they have good pie here." It's already cut into slices so she just takes one and digs in, I raise a brow at the milkshake as she doesn't drink it. "It's for Daisy, too cold for me." That's all it takes to get a chuckle out of me.

"I didn't know she liked bananas, heh." I chuckle again but Maple is utterly lost. "Speaking of the cold, is your bracelet still working? The spells should be but you never know." It seems to have done her plenty of good and I don't want it to break anytime soon.

She stops mid-chew and nods with a slightly bigger smile. "It is. Although, walking around in the snow while warm is, odd. The cold has always been... Tiring, it's nice not having to deal with it." I smile back at her, she doesn't speak that much that often and I'm happy to hear such a simple gift has seen good use, even if I've heard it before.

"Good, but that reminds me I need to start thinking about Hearth's Warming. It's going to be hard to top that." I enjoy some of my tea while motioning to her bracelet. A thought strikes me at the topic, "Actually. Are you planning to get anything to decorate?"

She tilts her head seemingly confused. I smile more, "Your room is more plain than my apartment, and I'm ME... I can even make my plants look organized at home." I joke around a bit, she doesn't laugh but I see the signs she shows when she finds something funny.

"Not my fault you can't decorate, my room has potential, yours is just..." She trails off letting her words play themselves out. "And, maybe? It depends, I really don't often like most art." She moves the bracelet a little. "Except this. This is nice."

I raise a brow again. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome." She says back without a hint of shame, I'm honestly not sure if she's just good at hiding it or just doesn't have any. She turns a little as she spots Daisy moving past a window, I follow her eyes and smile as Daisy enters the cafe to finally join us.

"Well well well, look who it is." I drawl out in a bad cowboy accent. She takes a seat next to me while stealing some of Maple's pie, truly a grave sin, and her milkshake. I smile as Maple stares Daisy down for a few moments before moving the pie back over to herself and sticking her fork in it to lay claim.

Daisy just smiles at her and sticks her tongue out for a moment before turning to me. "Hmm, nice choice. And sorry mister, I was with S- With my friend for a bit and he held me up." She tries her own accent and is somehow worse than me, but more importantly, she lets something slip.

Over time we haven't learned much about Daisy's stallion friend, turns out she's the type to keep her love life to herself, not that it's stopping us from trying to figure it out. I quickly turn to Maple, "A stallion, maybe a guard, and his name starts with an S. Unless they use nicknames." I summarize and Maple nods in agreement.

That's all we've been able to guess about her special somepony, not much but this was a big step up. Daisy groans at our antics, "Fine! Yes, it starts with an S, now stop asking me." She pleads good-naturedly, we all know we're just messing with each other.

Daisy takes more pie from Maple and that starts a stare-down over the next few minutes as they devour the pie like it's a contest. "Never, and you two are ridiculous with your sweets," I answer Daisy and drain the last of my tea. "Now come on, we have some shopping to do." I have to wait for Daisy to do more before standing up and paying for the meal at the counter.

They stop their staring contest and we all make our way out of the building. "So, anything in particular you want to get?" Daisy asks as we enter the Night Market. "Because if we have time I'm getting something for Maple, she needs it." She doesn't joke in the slightest at that second part.

Maple actually rolls her eyes a little. "He already offered, I still don't see why I need anything. I already have a bed and table, that’s enough." I don't think either of us can tell if she's serious or not.

I shake my head. "No it’s really not. If nothing else we're finding you a plant, or even just a colorful pot, maybe a vase," I demand.

Daisy nods. "Agreed." She chuckles as we move past a few stalls and stop at the first one with several small sculptures and paintings. As we look through them I try to find something that I like, but most of them are relatively plain and uninteresting.

I see the smile on Daisy's face widen as she helps us look. "This one is not bad." I show it to them, it's a basic painting of a snowy forest. "I think I'll take it, Maple doesn't need a reminder of the cold." I joke a little as I pay the seller and we move on. Maple is quiet like normal but actually seems to be looking through stalls for something she might like.

As we walk I turn to Daisy again. "I don't think I've asked, but where did you learn to paint? Some of the ones you make are really good." I compliment her, her paintings are actually really good.

I see her smile flatten a little, she looks bittersweet. "My dam taught me." :Well, fuck:

I look apologetic, "Oh, sorry." I try to correct myself and drop the topic quickly.

But she waves me off. "Not your fault, and honestly it's something I'm ok with." Her smile returns to normal. "It... Well, it brings me close to her in a way, a few of the ones in my apartment are actually hers." I think she's told me something like that before, but it's been a while.

I'm a little lost for words. "Well, they are rather nice." I give a vague compliment. "Anyway, we should look for a few more. I still have several blank walls and Maple lives like a spartan." I joke to try and get us out of this mood.

They both looked confused for a second. "Spartan?" Maple asks the obvious question.

My mind blanks again and I just say the first thing that comes to mind. "It's a Griffon word. What about those?" I point to another stall. That seems to work and we dive back into the busy market, and from there, it is thankfully as planned. In the end, we do end up finding what we wanted.

I found another painting, this one of a forest in the day, it should go well with the one I have of a forest at night. I also found a small sculpture of a crow, something Entropy is sure to enjoy. Beyond myself we found Maple a pair of cactuses, they are simple but they are also low maintenance.

All in all, I enjoyed the night out, it's good to have friends.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

I wanted to make this one a bit longer but something came up, I'm fine but I'll be busy tomorrow so you might have to wait two days for the next Chapter, hopefully not though. Sorry in advance.