OCT 31 Sunday.

I try my best to ignore the sound of one of my neighbors partying while I focus on my spell work.

Nightmare Night is something that has always been a little different from the show. Or maybe the show simply left a lot of things unsaid, either way, it's the same result. The show made this day up to be a watered-down and kid-friendly version of Halloween, but honestly, it's just like actual Halloween.

The colts and fillies spend their time dressing up and asking for sweets, while the free adults do what you'd expect. They party like it's the end of the world, not everypony does this obviously but it's not that uncommon either. Which is why my upstairs neighbor is currently pissing me off a bit, it's not even dark yet for fucks sake!

So that's part of the reason why I'm spending time at my desk working on something, it also just so happens to be a way to get some damned peace. To explain, the shield around my home has needed some upgrades for a while now, and I needed a distraction to keep my mind off of what I'll be doing later today.

I spent some time yesterday touching up Luna's garden and the weather should be clear so everything will hopefully go well and be in its correct place. As for Celestia? She's mostly kept to herself and even spent a few nights sleeping in her home at Gaia's Eden, she's also not talking as much.

I know she just needs space, she's asked for exactly that when I offered to talk, so I've been giving her that space and actually decided to spend less time at Gaia's Eden so she can be alone. In an odd way it's inspiring to me, I can not imagine the pain of having to raise her sister's prison into the sky every night.

To stare down your own failings and endure it all, it takes a will and strength I can't imagine. Even with all the time that has passed the fact that she only shows her pain for a few weeks every year instead of all year takes... Honestly, I have no idea what it takes. I don't think I could do that, but I don't even know what it's like to lose close family so that's not really a good comparison.

I stop for a moment and move my mind away from that for now. My new shield is almost done, I've spent some time over the past week working on it and improving what was already there. I used a large ruby for my old shield, so let's start with what I'm going to use to power this new shield.

In the past I used my Iron gem to make a Gem Charger, it works well but I would rather use it for something more than just that. The Gem Charger worked by channeling the combined magic of several small gems to quickly charge a single gem, I'm skipping a few things there but that's the important part.

I unlinked the gems that were used to collect magic and instead linked it to the larger ruby I used for my apartment shield that I have since disenchanted, along with a large sapphire. I plan to enchant the shield into the Iron gem instead so it can draw magic from both large gems.

This will let it still charge gems while also giving me much more magic to work with for my shield, although getting all the spells to work together properly was a time sink over the last few days and it means I need to watch how much magic I use to charge gems so I don't drain the shield. Now on to what I actually did with the shield itself, first and foremost the activation and deactivation method has changed.

I used to just have a piece of Iron Oak inside the top of a pot that I would flip, now it's a small wooden switch carved into the bottom of a wooden plant pot so it can't be seen. Much like my bracelet I just need to search with my space magic and flip it, it's both more stable and easier to hide.

In fact, the bottom of the pot has four switches that all do different things, this is also where my improvements come into play. One switch turns off the shield completely, the next only turns off a section of the shield around my doorway letting me invite others inside without turning it all off.

The third switch activates a second shield that blocks out all sound, I couldn't make it let some sound through like somepony knocking but it's still nice to have some silence. The final switch dumps extra magic into the shield, it costs more magic than the gems can collect so it can't always be active which is why it's connected to a switch.

All in all it's a massive improvement in both power and convenience. I stop my work as the light coming from the sky finally vanishes completely, the ponies upstairs get even louder as the sun sets and I'm thankful that it's time to leave and meet Celestia. She asked me to meet her at Gaia's Eden before the trip to the castle so that's where I am going.

I quickly pack away my things in my saddlebags and Entropy jumps down from her perch. "Go?" I nod to her silently as I mentally prepare for the more somber mood that will greet me. When I arrive I cast a magical light and notice that Celestia is here, but interestingly it's not as annoying as before.

Normally when I'm around Celestia using my life magic senses is difficult because of how much life magic she gives off, but with her around so often I've gotten better at tuning it out. I shake my head and force my mind to focus on the important things, like my friend.

I open the door and walk outside to see her with a magical light sitting in front of the Water Tree a fair distance away, she's just staring at the frozen ring of water in the dark. I start to walk over and she spots me not long after and stands up before walking towards the pavilion, she motions with her head and I take the hint before adjusting my own path.

I get there first and spend a moment taking out my tea set as Entropy flies off to land on Celestia. They are a distance away but I still hear them. "Sad, bad. Ok?" I nearly chuckle at the child-like innocence Entropy gives off, and Celestia does giggle a little at Entropy's concern.

"I think that is a rather good way to put it. And no, I'm not, but I will be." I smile at that and notice that Celestia seems to be doing something similar to last year, an attempt to have a somewhat normal meeting before we get to the heavy topics, I'm more than willing to help with that.

I start to let the tea boil as they both join me under the pavilion. "Just hope you're never around her when she finds glitter, it's like mentioning the word grape around Philomena, If I had to compare them that is." I joked a little, only to regret it as I didn't notice Philomena was inside Celestia's mane this whole time, and she heard me. "Oh." I then see Celestia get a look in her eye as Philomena stares at me attentively. "OH! Wai-"

That's all I'm able to get out before I'm tackled by Philomena as she tries to eat a grape that doesn't exist. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get away from her, but I know it's of no use as that grape illusion will just follow me. So instead I try to grab Philomena, but she just starts teleporting as I'm rolling around trying to deal with her. "Call her off, call her OFF!" I beg a little.

I mostly decided to play along because as soon as I was tackled Celestia started to giggle, and then full-on laugh as I wrestled with Philomena. "Ma- haha! Maybe if you asked nicely." She teases with a smile while continuing to laugh at my continued misfortune.

If it wasn't for this damned bird I'd be happy to make her smile on a day like this. "Fine! Call her off, PLEASE." That does it as Philomena looks confused and then annoyed as she stands on top of my side while I'm laid out on the carpet catching my breath. I recover after a moment and pick up Philomena while mumbling under my breath, "You're lucky your smile is so nice."

Celestia is still too caught up in laughing to really hear me but still noticed I said something. "What? Sorry, your face was too funny for me to hear you." I blush a little in embarrassment.

I huff and try to pretend I said nothing. "Nothing." I place Philomena on the ground. "That spell was a mistake, or maybe not. Hmm, how many nobles have you messed with using it? I need something to weigh this against." I try to cover up my words while keeping a light and joking mood.

She keeps her smile. "Several, including Cadance, just to throw off anypony that saw a pattern." I pause for a moment but that does get a good chuckle out of me. "I hope that you're doing well, and... Thank you again for giving me some, space." It's not a complete shift in the mood, but it hints at other things and gets me to stop chuckling.

After a moment I just nod. "You've done the same for me, plus it gave me some time to work on a few things." I pour us both some tea as it finished while I was dealing with Philomena. "Today I finished a new shield for my apartment, and that means I got to mess around with some shield spells, not too bad I'd say." I explain to keep us off of the obvious topic.

She once again looks amused at that. "You really could do with worrying less, but I suppose that's like asking a fish to walk." The jokes hide pain, but it's still funny. "But it is good to know you are safe. Any interesting spells?"

I give her a half smile. "Well, that is why I made those." I point up above us as a recent style choice. I've set up the gem array for Gaia's Eden to hang on the roof of the pavilion. "Although, there are a few things here that you have to worry about here, mostly the snake." I've told her there are a few dangers in the Everfree but never went into specifics.

She raises a brow at that so I explain. "An aberrant member of the Ruby Snake. Around one hundred feet long, some form of silence magic as it can move without noise, and it glows. That's also why I planted so much Lemongrass, I even bred it to be stronger so we'd be left alone."

I watch as her face shifts to slight concern and surprise, but she keeps her calm. "That would have been good to know about." There is no disappointment in her tone, only some slight annoyance. "Tell me if it becomes a problem, I'll deal with it." That part almost sounded... Defensive? I'm not really sure. "Any other interesting things?" She moves on quickly.

I nod. "Sure, hmm. Well, I found something odd that I've not messed with yet. A fungus of some type, I've left it alone for now because I had other things to work on, and because it's a little frightening." I drink some tea to wet my dry throat. "It steals life magic from trees."

Again she looks a little surprised, but also confused. "I'll admit I'm not an expert on plants and that it sounds interesting, but I feel as if that isn't too dangerous, at least compared to other things you've done." I don't blame her for the lack of knowledge, and just try to think of a good way to prove my point.

There is an example that both my old world and this one share. "Did you know there is a fungus that takes control of small insects' bodies by growing inside them to spread its spores while they are alive?" Oddly enough this is something that exists in both of my worlds, luckily it's just as rare here as in my old world, at least from what I've seen.

I see a look of slight disgust from her in response. "Exactly, and that fungus isn't even magic from what I know." She looks a bit concerned about that so I wave my hoof. "Don't worry, it's harmless to us, but it makes me nervous about messing with this fungus. Although, I've grown since I found it so I might start to practice on some normal fungi soon." I end my mini-lecture there.

She shakes her head after a moment. "It's true what they say, nature is endlessly creative." I haven't heard that before but it fits rather well. She drinks some more tea and I notice that her face shifts as she glances at the night sky and the moon. "But, you've distracted me long enough, thank you for that." I nod silently as I see where this is going. "I do wish to see what you've done with, Luna's garden." She pauses for a moment at saying her name.

That's only the second time I've heard her say Luna's name, normally she just calls her sister. I stand up and look over to Entropy, "Are you taking us or...?" She nods. "Then we can leave them if you want?" I offer as Entropy was mostly just standing there last time and I would rather they stay and play with each other.

She looks over as they start to fight over something neither of us understands. "Yes, they should be fine on their own for a while." She agrees before walking over to me. "You may wish to brace yourself." I do just that as her horn starts to glow, the unpleasant feeling comes as we are violently moved through space. I'm not sure if my extra senses make it worse but this is always disorientating for me.

This time we do not teleport outside of the castle but directly into the throne room, I have to take a few deep breaths and steady my legs before I can really get my bearings. I look over to see Celestia staring at the thrones silently while whatever positive mood she has vanishes like dust in the wind.

She looks like she's going to cry, but somehow she keeps herself somewhat together. I don't break the silence but move over to sit next to her and look at the thrones just like last year. There is a few minutes of silence before her soft voice breaks it, "You never asked me about her, why?"

It's a simple question, and I answer honestly. "You don't need that, at least I don't think you did. You grieve enough on this day as is and I'm not willing to make my friend cry for me." It is the truth, no matter how curious I am it's not worth making her upset.

She lets out a chuckle that almost mixes into a sob, being here really seems to have broken the dam on her emotions. "Because that is who you are." I'm not sure what to make of that and she doesn't elaborate. "I, I don't think I want to be here anymore." Her tone sounds like she is on the verge of breaking down.

I have no idea what to do as she just keeps staring, so after a moment of hesitation I tap her leg and start leading her to the door. That seems to break her out of it a little. "Have you ever wanted to talk about her?" I ask as we cross the room, it's the only question I can think of.

She almost stops in her stride but continues a moment later. "Yes, no, I... I don't, know." As we pass the thrones it's like the weight on her increases more and more, but even now she doesn't cry. Maybe it's the fact that she's not talking about the past but she holds herself together more than last year, at least until we make it to the hallway.

She just stops at a certain point and stares at the stone brick wall, she looks like she is lost in a memory before she moves her hoof. "I." She steadies her hoof and moves it to a brick that is slightly different. There is a tiny X on it that is almost impossible to see even in direct light from our spells. "I remember her, but I also forget things, small, important things." Her tone dips lower than ever.

She pulls the brick out with some difficulty to hold it, but that really doesn't seem to help as the small carving on one side finally makes tears fall from her eyes. "I... How could I forget? How?" She cries out before slumping with her back to a wall as she sits down and stares at the brick and the hole it was in while starting to weep.

I immediately do the same and sit next to her to provide whatever small comfort I can. It's a long moment of unstoppable crying before she speaks again, "Y-you probably want to know huh?" She asks but it sounds like a question more for herself then me, I try to say no but she continues. "A prank."

That gives me pause as she turns the brick so I can see a crudely drawn map on one side. "She... Luna." That name almost seems to bring a little comfort and she stops crying as hard. "She'd hide things for me to, find, and when I'd find them she'd also hide the maps."

I never would have guessed Luna would do that, but I suppose it makes sense given how the show presents her. "I found this one, whe- ... " The crying moves more from sobs to simple tears, but the longer she looks at the brick the more she seems to calm down again but also on the verge of crying even harder. "I found it right before..."

I can guess the rest and put a hoof on her side. "It's ok, I don't need to know." I try to reassure her.

She shacks her head. "But you should, you... You're dealing with this after all." She motions to herself a bit.

I nip that in the bud quickly. "No, I'm helping a friend. I will not have you blaming yourself for my choices." I probably come off as too strong there, but it still seems to make her stop that train of thought. She stares at the brick more and lets out another small sob.

"I forgot. Even something about that day, how could I?" I honestly have no answer to that, but it's clear sitting in this hallway is not helping her all that much. So, I stand up again and offer a hoof to her, she looks at it before standing on her own. "Right, yes, this. We should go, you worked hard after all." I'm not sure if that was an excuse for herself or for me but I don't comment either way.

Her tears mostly stopped as she very gently placed the brick back. "I... I won't forget again sister, I promise." I stay silent as we start to move down the hallway again. Crying seems to have helped more than I thought it would, she's a bit more collected as we walk and by the time we're finally at the garden, she's a bit better.

When she sees it she stops mid-step. "It... This..." She's rendered speechless as we both look out over my work and I see a smile force its way onto her face. The small courtyard is mostly the same, with a few key differences. The courtyard has two stone walls on either side with other covered paths on the far side.

The two stone walls to our sides are completely blanketed in a thick layer of Star Moss with Moon Glow Vines over it. The Moon Glow Vines provide a good amount of light while the Star Moss shines with countless tiny dots of light. The grass that covers the ground is lush and deep green, a different type of grass that I brought with me, it should survive here much better than the other type.

To one side of the courtyard near the left stone wall is a small boulder I moved here, with a Water Tree wrapped in Moon Glow Vines growing on top of it. It looks like a small bonsai and will provide some water when spring comes, around it is a patch of blooming Night Poppies. But in the center is the main attraction.

The simple tree standing in the middle is still covered in Moon Glow Vines that cling to its trunk and branches while hanging down. At its base is a ring of Star Moss that partly covers a ring of stone bricks that I gathered from other areas, on top of the stone bricks surrounding the base of the tree are the five Copper Lily's glittering in the light.

I see it coming this time but don't fight it as Celestia picks me up for another full hug, something I still very much enjoy despite the overall mood. "It's amazing, just like last year. Thank you, thank you so much." Her words are simple but that genuinely thankful tone makes up for any words she could ever use.

I hug her back but let go not long after as I really don't want my body to get the idea right now. "It was my pleasure." We both stand there looking at the scene. "Anything you want me to change?"

Her smile has fully shown now and she shakes her head. "No, not a thing." We lapse back into silence as we watch the wind-shift scene. "Thank you." She repeats and I raise a brow while looking up at her. "For being my friend, thank you."

I smile wider at that. "No Celestia, thank you for trusting me to help." I try to say something nice as the silence hangs over the scene, She just wraps a wing around me in another side hug. I can't help but feel content as the night goes on and we lapse into a long silence.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 994

I don't think I'll continue this one, not sure where I'd go with it if I did and this feels like a nice place to leave it.