NOV 30 Tuesday.

I sit down for lunch in the break room with my friends. Today has been going well if you don't count the slight worry I have rising in me.

Over the past week, things have been calm, but I haven't heard from Twilight, it sucks but I'll just have to be patient no matter how long it takes. But I've also tried my best to not let it affect my life, even if I didn't like her back I still don't feel good about hurting her.

I shovel some food into my mouth as Blaz gives Daisy a few bits, I swallow and raise a brow at the sight. "What did you two bet on now? The snow?" I ask with some sarcasm as Blaz grumbles at Daisy, there two never stop. Maple smiles a bit and Daisy just looks pleased.

"Maple cheated at dice, somehow." He mumbles out begrudgingly as Maple continues to smile and Daisy laughs a bit.

"It's not my fault you took the bet, but to be fair you should know not to bet against her by now," Daisy responds before turning to me. "They played to see who could roll the highest with three regular dice." I cracked up a bit at my friend's misfortune. "Good news, he lost somehow. Bad news Maple added it to the scoreboard." She admits and my mood switches quickly to a groan.

Daisy chuckles. "Yup, it doesn't help, but it was worth it to see Blaz lose, and the bits don't hurt." She teases Blaz a bit only to have another bit thrown at her a moment later. "Owe! Hey! No throwing things." She tries to scold him but he's unaffected and just chuckles.

"No, you embarrassed me in front of the Colt, I did the same. Speaking of the glorified secretary." Blaz holds no heat in his tone and looks over at me. "You mind helping me make a gift?" I'm a little surprised at that but nod immediately.

"Sure, why not? What do you need?" I've been thinking about gifts for the holidays myself, a few ideas have come to mind but I'm still working on them. "Although, keep in mind that I'm not the best at some things."

He nods with a thankful smile. "Nothing fancy Colt, but I'd like you to make a cuff like last year." He taps it to emphasize his point. "Think that's doable in the next few days? I know that's pretty short notice." I pause at that. I carved them by hoof last time but if I use my life magic it should be easy enough to complete quickly.

I nod again. "I can, but the intricate engraving isn't something I can do that fast. Tell you what, pick a wood type and a basic style for it then tell me tomorrow and I should be able to get it done before Monday." I offer and he nods happily before going back to his food, I do the same as Daisy and Maple start a discussion on baking.

The rest of my work day goes as planned and I end up walking back home with Daisy, the snow proved to be a bit deep but at least I had company to joke with. I relax a little and take off my saddlebags as I finally enter my apartment, at least for a bit I can rest.

I have a meeting with Celestia later and that needs my attention, but for now, all I want is a shower and some food. The shower is nice but a warm meal proves to be even better on this cold day. With those things out of the way, I head to my workroom and start to think for a while.

I've been looking at gifts for my friends for a few weeks now, and I have everything already picked out, but it's not all complete yet. Let's go in order, for Daisy, I got paint, brushes, and a few canvases. I also solved a very old mystery that I think will make a special gift for her.

A very long time ago I bought an enchanted painting, it's a beautiful scene of a forest at night and the painting itself emits a slight glow from the fireflies and moon in it. The specific spell that does this is a mix in between an illusion and a basic light spell, honestly, it's surprisingly well-made.

It took a while to study the spell matrix and find the runes, but I have reverse-engineered the spell and am planning to give it to Daisy. I think she'd like it, and while researching the spell I found a few interesting runes as well. Now, moving on to Maple, our resident game master and manipulator of luck itself.

Beyond some sweets I bought her a nice blanket, it's pure cotton and has a design of a night sky on it. It may seem like a smaller gift than others, but honestly shopping for Maple is like shopping for me, a bitch and a half on the best of days. So, I'm also adding a homemade coupon for three pies of her choice that I will make for her.

Next up is Blaz. He gets some puzzles like always, but also a puzzle box I myself made with my ability to grow wood. It's made from thirty interlocking pieces and I got the design for it after asking Celestia for a little help in a letter, which she was happy to provide me with. Again it might not be the best, but I know he likes things like this and it might give him a challenge considering Celestia said it was tricky, plus I'm now making him a gift for somepony else on top of that.

Cadance, I'm honestly not sure what to do with her. So I'm giving her a bunch of bits and demanding she do something with it to make herself and her stallion happy. Along with a few good horror books to pass onto Shining, mostly to try and placate him a bit for whatever he is going to do with me the next time we meet.

Last but certainly not least, Celestia. This one proved difficult like always, so I went for something small but personal like always. I chose to make her some wooden jewelry, specifically a necklace. I'm going to give it a very basic enchantment, I'm going to embed the Sunstone I have into it and enchant it to release sunlight. As I said, small and personal.

As I'm double checking my things for the meeting Philomena appears in my apartment with a letter. I feel my heart quicken as the only other time she sent a letter like this was an emergency, I quickly rake it and read through it before becoming even more concerned.

Shade.

Cadance and Shining Armor will be joining us, you may want to bring your armor.

Signed Celestia. :)

I stare blankly at the smiley face for a few moments. "Oh, shit."

POV shift Cadance.

I chuckle a little with Aunty as Philomena returns with a simple piece of paper with a frowny face drawn on it. "It seems Shade has guessed what's coming already, or maybe not, that's not exactly detailed." I turn to Aunty to see the amused look on her face and that smile once again in place.

She nods in response before placing the paper on her desk. "Yes, he is rather good at being prepared, even if he's not the best at enacting those preparations." She turns to Shining as he stands at attention next to the door. "Are you sure about this?" She asks again.

The past week has been a little trying on my little knight, Twilight took everything about as well as she could. I've talked to her a few times, and honestly, It went both better and worse than I'd expected. She is upset, but not completely ruined, the love she had was young and while it hurts she will be ok.

Maybe I could have tried to intervene more, coached Shade a bit, or walked him through it in more detail. But love is not so simple, and meddling too much could end up much worse than doing nothing at all. While Shade didn't do too well, his words were only his own and all genuine.

My little knight though took the news differently, on one hoof he's not really that mad at Shade, but on the other somepony just hurt his little sister. Shining nods to Aunty, "Yes Princess." A stallion of few words when on duty, I can't say it's not attractive but that's not important today.

Aunty decided the best method to solve this was a sparring match, it lets my knight get everything out and Shade is a complete training fanatic from what he's told me, so a win-win. Aunty nods again, "I wish you the best then, and try not to take your eyes off of him." She holds no humor in those words.

He mostly keeps a stony face but I can see he's confused about the warning. "I've seen him fight before, Princess." He says with a little confidence. Oh, my little knight. I still remember the reports from that event, and the pictures as well. I suppress a light shudder.

Aunty just smiles at him knowingly. "No, you really haven't. That's why this is only a sparring match. Now get going you two, we'll meet up later." She dismisses us both while moving a few pieces of paperwork over to her.

POV shift Celestia.

I watch as my niece and her poor stallion friend leave my office. "Oh, Shining." I let a chuckle escape now that I'm alone. I'm not too up to date on their individual skill, but I'd say there are comparable weapons skills. Outside of that however, well Shade is an expert at modifying spells for his own use, so magic is a bit advantageous for him.

But the thing that really sets them apart is mindset, Shade seems to see everything in a different light when it comes to combat, at least from what I can tell when we talk about it. It's hard to pin down, but sometimes when we discuss magic I feel he has a way to weaponize everything, and I've seen just how far he will go if he finds an actual threat.

That Changeling was able to recover, with some slight phobia of vines and thorns. Sometimes I do have to remind myself just how much Shade is, well, Shade. He is both profoundly kind, and scary when angered, it is an odd contrast. But even with that, he continues to grow as a pony.

Recently he revealed he confided a big secret in a friend. Even if it was an accident the fact remains he could have said nothing but still told her, it is both a slight weight off of my shoulders and a point of slight concern. I was worried he'd never be able to tell others and just only talk to me about it.

That's not to say it's bad to keep such a thing secret, but to a point, there is only so much advice I could give. Trusting in his other friends and getting more ways to get perspective on it all can help greatly, and it also makes me happy to see. As for my concern, well I suppose it's just that Shade could be in actual danger from his alias now.

In the past it was fine, but now that his inventions are intertwined with the Changeling war that is different. Still, this is just some slight worry, I find it unlikely that his friend will do anything. I stop my thoughts and put down my work as my door starts to open. I smile widely at the pony standing there.

POV shift Shade.

I pack the last piece of armor into my bags and even fit my helmet inside so nopony can see it and recognize it later. I decided to bring my eyeless helmet, if I'm going to fight a decent royal guard I want to actually enjoy it. Plus this is a good opportunity to learn and improve.

After everything is packed away I lug it onto my back before securing it to myself properly. I turn to Entropy a moment later and whistle. "Time to go Girl, we have an angry stallion waiting for us and he's going to kick my flank." I joke at my own expense.

She just tilts her head confused about my smile before taking us to the Palace. Like always a guard leads me where I'm needed when I arrive, and not long after that, I arrive at Celestia's office. I can tell she's alone inside so I walk in without any fear of an ambush.

When I walk inside I see her staring back at me with a wide smile. "So, today is the day I get to visit a hospital?" It's a bit of a dark joke by pony standards but she's able to take it in stride.

She huffs out a laugh. "I should hope not, but if it comes to that I know enough healing spells to take care of you." I roll my eyes at the teasing and I drop my saddlebags onto the floor with a loud wooden clank. She raises a brow at that. "Your armor then? I will admit I am curious as to what you brought." She asks curiously while eyeing the bags.

I've told Celestia about my armor, but only ever in passing, she doesn't even know what type of armor it is. I flop down on the couch, "Don't get your hopes up. I made it myself so it's not very good." My armor may look decent but it is just wood, magical wood, but still wood. "Anyway, how is this going to go down? Also, where are my tormentors?" I joke more to try and remove a bit of my nervousness.

She chuckles a little and finishes whatever she is working on before taking off her glasses and joining me on the couch. "Well, Cadance is finishing up some work and Shining is guarding her, as for what will happen." She pauses for a long moment to nab the chess set out of my saddlebags.

She makes me wait as she sets up the entire game, I know she's just messing with me, but come on! Now of all days?! She smiles mischievously at my impatient stare, "For now we'll have our normal meeting, and later will be some sparring with Shining in armor with practice weapons. It should be fun to watch." She teases me again but my mind has already run with that information.

A sparring match? I honestly don't know what I expected, but that seems reasonable enough. It doesn't take a genius to know he's probably mad at me, my best bet is to talk to him after we beat the shit out of each other. "Hmm, how mad do you think he is? Because I need to know how I should go about this." I ask, dropping my humorous tone.

She looks unsurprised at my question. "Honestly? I'm not sure. Say what you want but he can be rather hard to read when he wants to be." I contemplate that for a moment. "If I had to say though, not as much as you'd think. He knew this was a possibility after all, and probably just wanted to fulfill his duty as a brother." She reasons.

I'm not sure if I agree with her on that, but then again my last experience with this was in my last world. Humans can be violent, and extremely violent when it comes to family. She smiles at my face and moves a piece to start the game, "It will be ok you know? These things can be worked out, even if it takes time and effort." She reassures me.

I nod after a moment. "I honestly don't know, but I'll trust you on that." I'm truthful as I've seen a lot of situations like this end badly in my last life. I sigh and move my own piece. "Any other topic on your mind? I could use something to distract myself."

She keeps her reassuring look. "Very well, but, are you not going to ask about my student?" She holds nothing but curiosity and kindness in her tone, even now she tries to make sure I'm doing ok.

I slowly shake my head after a moment. "No, I don't think it's my business to hear that from you, I'll just wait for her on that." I can't lie, I am tempted but it's not worth dragging her into this more than absolutely needed. "Now, pick a topic, please," I demand with a little sarcasm.

She doesn't change her expression at my answer, she just nods in acceptance of my answer. "Ok. Well, have you heard about the recent situation abroad?" She faintly changes the subject and her words pique my interest. "There has been an expanding conflict in the city-states near the wild lands."

I pause at that as a thought comes to mind. The Wild Lands is a large stretch of the continent past Griffonstone, it mostly consists of alliances of city-states and small kingdoms over varied environments. Conflict is a bit more common there, not massively so and nowhere near human level, and much like with Griffonstone most of the conflict is small in scope.

I shake my head a bit but motion for her to continue. "It's nothing massive, but a city there recently got a new king and he's proven to be rather, expansionist." I listen intently as this sounds a little familiar. "His victories have been mostly quick and decisive, but his speed of expansion has raised a few concerns." She's talking about it like it's not her problem, which it isn't considering this is all happening more than a continent away.

"Huh, sounds a little worrying honestly. But I suppose it is far off, still..." I can't help but feel like this fits in somewhere, I just can't put my hoof on it.

She nods with a smile. "True, it is very far off and it's unlikely to spread out of the Wild Lands, but it is interesting that it's happening so quickly. In fact that king has nearly doubled his land in a few months after becoming king, he's gained a bit of a reputation for his speed in fact. The press there are nicknaming him the Storm King, a little presumptuous honestly." She jokes a bit as I just freeze for a moment.

:Ah, so that's why it sounded familiar. FUCK!!:

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 994

So, Shade will be having an interesting time, as this will be directly continued in the next chapter. Also, I watched the movie a long time ago so my memory about the Storm King is foggy, so I might be making up a fair amount in regards to him. Although I don't think we are actually shown much in the first place, either way please call me out if I make any major mistakes with him.