DEC 25 Saturday.

I wrap the last gift for the day and smile at it.

This particular gift is some of my best work. A White Oak necklace that is larger than any normal pony would be able to wear, but it should be the perfect size for Celestia. It has intricate carvings of Sunflowers and Solar Vines, and in the pendant, I've embedded the round Sunstone in a sun carving.

It's very on-theme and I think she'll like it, beyond just its look I've also embedded two enchantments. One to release a slight amount of solar magic to create real sunlight, something I didn't need to make as I found the spell when researching uses for the Sunstones.

The second enchantment is not necessary, but I felt that it fit the theme well. It's the warming spell I put on Maple's wooden jewelry. I had to embed a pair of small diamonds to make it work, but it fits too well to not add, even though I know it will do little for her.

She probably has dozens of warming spells, but I'm still proud of my work. I place those gifts next to the others I need to send out. I have added a few things and gathered everything else required. I have Shining's horror books, Cadance I'm just giving some bits.

I sent Avalon a packet of my notes on a few spells he can learn along with some book recommendations for his gift. I'm also sending a new batch of the improved Blood Red Tea to Celestia early, it's not massively improved from the last batch but any improvement is nice and she could always use some fresher tea.

I turn to Entropy and place all the gifts needed on the countertop. "Ok Girl, all of these need to go to the palace, and don't take too long, we have to leave soon." I reward her of a few pets as she chirps happily. She's been over the moon after her birthday.

I got her a large fish and a few new toys, along with a fun hoof-made nest I found in a pet shop. It's nothing fancy but I placed it on top of her perch and she seems to enjoy sleeping in it so that's enough for me. On top of that, I also asked Celestia to send Philomena to my apartment on Entropy's birthday so they could play.

I mostly sketched out drawings of the two playing and sleeping with each other that day, I may get annoyed but I love these two gremlins. I smile as Entropy vanishes with the needed gifts, while she's gone I spend a few moments organizing all of the other gifts to be moved.

Everything is ready and all that's left is to wait and bring everything over when it's time. I walk over and put the fresh cookies onto a plate as Entropy appears back inside the room with a gift that I do not recognize. I smile at the sight and take it from Entropy while giving her a treat. "Thanks, Girl."

I should wait till later but I have a gathering to get to so I just open the gift immediately. The brown wrapping paper rips easily and I open the box with a little excitement. Inside are a few things, the first two books and a small pony figurine. The figure is a model of a guard in matching armor with a paper tag on it.

From Shining. I smile and place it to the side, the two books also have tags, one from Cadance and the other from Celestia. The first book is a Griffon romance novel, I know it's to tease me, but it's still a nice gift. The other book is even more interesting.

A book on combat spells. I quickly open it and flip through a few pages and see that most of them are elemental, but there are several interesting spells. They are not the most powerful spells, but they are stronger than anything I'd be able to find in the library.

I smile like a mad pony at the book. "Oh, this will be fun. There's even some elemental control spells." I nerd out a bit but stop as I realize I'm about to go on a mental rant. I reluctantly put the gifts away and quickly cast an overpowered illusion on Entropy, I grab the gifts and leave my apartment with Entropy hopping behind me.

I knock on the door and it opens to show that everypony else is already here. "Shade," Maple answered the door with a small nod and looked over my gifts. "Hmm, those better be chocolate, I don't like raisins." I smile at her and walk inside while closing the door behind me. Inside I see Blaz cutting up some things while Daisy cooks food.

"Nice to see you too Maple. It seems I'm a bit late, good thing I always bring good gifts." Daisy smiles and takes the gifts from me to put them under the tree.

"Yes, we know you're rich, now go distract Maple by losing until we finish cooking this, I don't feel like losing again so soon," Daisy replies with some sarcasm.

Blaz just chuckles and continues to help with the cooking. "She's got you there Colt." I roll my eyes and place the cookies on the table, which immediately start getting eaten by Maple as I sit down next to her and pick up a deck of cards.

"They are chocolate, just remember to save some for the rest of us." She just stares blankly before taking a few more cookies and looking down as I deal her a few cards. "Any fours?" I ask while taking a cookie for myself as Entropy moves into the kitchen to beg and steal some food for herself.

Maple's able to guess that game from that and passes me a four, and just like that I have doomed myself to losing another game and skewing the scoreboard even more in her favor. It's already dark out and it doesn't take long for Blaz and Daisy to finish cooking while me and Maple play in silence.

Eventually, they join us and I return the cards to the deck as Daisy walks over being the last out of the kitchen. "We doing gifts first? Dinner still needs to cool and I don't know about you all but I don't want to wait anymore." Daisy puts up her hoof casting a silent vote. Maple raises her hoof immediately and Blaz huffs out another chuckle before doing the same.

I shrug. "Why not? We can eat and play later, and I will admit I'm curious." I agree and Daisy wastes no time in looking through the gifts before sorting them into five piles. I raise a brow as she changes our normal order of gift opening giving us all our gifts at once.

"I got something for the lovely Entropy, and because I'm hoofing them out I get to say open them however and whenever you want." She says while watching Entropy jump down to the floor and join us with a wagging tail. None of us voice any disagreement and we all pick a gift.

I watch as Blaz opens the box containing the puzzle box he asked for, and he smiles at me. "It seems I have a new challenge, not too bad Colt, there are even some others in here." I take the complement with a nod as he looks at the other puzzles he got, while I open my own gift Maple looks at the pie coupon with a small smile thrown my way.

I have three gifts, and the first is a thick book. It's from Daisy so I look over at her with a raised brow, and she smiles right back. But gets distracted as she looks over the new paints and brushes happily. "Ooo, I don't know this one, thanks." She nods to the book. "It's a book I found about sea plants at a book store." I smile wider as I open it to see several hoof-drawn illustrations of sea plants.

"Thanks, huh, I don't recognize a few of these, I wonder where this is from?" That second part is more me talking to myself but she seems happy I like it. I look back up and see that Maple is now wrapped tightly in her new blanket looking content. "I'm glad you like it." I turn to Daisy as she opens the important gift I got her.

It's several pages of paper and I see her look more and more excited as she reads. She turns to me beaming, "This works?" I nod. "Thank you! This is perfect, I can do so much with this." She quickly busies herself by showing Blaz and Maple while looking through the rest of the papers.

I nod again and open my other two gifts. Some pink salt and a few other cooking ingredients from Blaz, along with a nice deep green scarf from Maple. "Hmm." I wrap the scarf around myself with a smile. "It seems we had the same idea, it even fits my theme." I munch on a cookie as Maple nods back in silent agreement.

I watch as Blaz fiddles with the wooden box and looks curious, while Daisy gets her glasses out to read through the notes I gave her. I see Entropy open her own small gift and pull out a small scarf that is a vibrant red color. I laugh a little and Daisy looks up before laughing as I use my field to wrap the small scarf around Entropy's neck. "Ok, this is just adorable." I blurt out as Entropy cuddles with the scarf looking content with her gift.

Daisy smiles widely and crouches down to look at Entropy. "I know right? I saw it while shopping with Maple and I couldn't help myself. You look adorable, don't you?" She asks in a babying tone. Entropy just wags her tail and chirps back in response to the attention. "OH, yes you do."

"Happy! Good!" She caws out and Daisy babies her more while I get a bit lost in thought. It's days like this that remind me how happy I am to live in this world. Out of all the places I could have potentially ended up in this is the best, even if there are inevitable problems.

I wouldn't call my last life lonely, but in comparison, it might as well have been. Here I have a few close friends and a few more casual friends, but they are all friends to me. Daisy, Maple, Blaz, Celestia, Avalon, almost Cadance, and even a little for Shining and Twilight but those still need time.

So many, and they all hold a space in my heart, even if they never know how much that means to me. All this and I'm not even an adult yet, time really does change so much. I can barely remember the paranoid colt that left that orphanage years ago, and I never imagined that this was where I'd end up.

I smile wider as Entropy and Daisy sit a distance away sharing a cookie, Entropy remembers not to get touched but enjoys the sweet treats. Blaz has figured out a small bit of his new puzzle and Maple is like me, just watching silently and enjoying the feeling of being in good company. But underneath all this, a dark undercurrent churns in my mind.

I've come so far, but will it be enough? Can I prevent what is coming? Can I save them? Some days these thoughts get too loud, but if there is one thing I have learned is that I will not give up. Not just for myself, but for all of them, all the ponies I have come to care for. "Hey, Shade? You paying attention?"

I blink and shake my head a little. I turn to Daisy as she holds up a familiar hoof-drawn deck of Uno cards. "Sorry, got lost for a moment there. Are we playing a game?" She nods and pushes the deck closer to me beckoning for me to take it. I raise a brow but take the deck, "Making me the dealer? After when I brought the snacks no less?" I defend myself unnecessarily.

She rolls her eyes and chuckles at my uptight tone. "With that tone? I expect a gentle colt like you to be more than willing, it's only polite after all." She responds in a smiler tone while I deal out the cards and Blaz laughs at our antics. I keep my unbreakable smile as we start a game of Uno.

No matter the dark thoughts I have, it's days and company like this that take all that away, that makes the future bright.

POV shift Celestia.

I watch as the sun dips below the horizon and move my will and magic to raise the moon.

I stare blankly at it for a few moments before forcing myself to turn away, this day is not for such solemn thoughts, instead, I move towards my bedroom table. The past few weeks have been a nice break from many things, and the highlight of it all was the sparring match I had the pleasure of witnessing.

Shining is a good guard, and he's achieved much for a pony his age, but there is only so much natural talent can account for. He has been trained, he has fought others for long hours, but he just doesn't have the mind Shade does. I can still remember that quick match in great detail.

It took less than a few seconds for Shade to form a plan and enact it, to a very effective degree. He used only a single simple spell and a unique ability he developed. I do think that such a method will be less effective after the first attempt, but in a real battle, one attempt is all you need.

Shade really outdid himself, or maybe not actually. He relies heavily on prep time for a lot of his actions, it stands to reason that he would do the same with a battle. So, how quickly would that match have ended if he had a week? No, not a week, just one day would be enough for him.

It is something that I am constantly having to think about and consider, Shade thinks differently than most, and that reaches just beyond combat. I find his insights on the Storm King particularly interesting, along with his comment at the end of that topic. He saw something that I didn't, not something that often happens, especially when it comes to conflict.

I will fully admit I considered it a possibility he would attack them, but to do something like march on a forming alliance? It's not a conventional strategy in war, but after some thought, I consider it a decent possibility. As Shade pointed out the king's preferred form of war is speed, it just makes it more likely.

I've sent a few inquiries to other nations and city-states in the area in an attempt to get more information, but that is not the point. Shade saw this, and he also proved very aware of the dangerous possibilities involving the Changelings. It all points to him being very good at not just knowing an enemy, but actively trying to put himself in their place.

In his last comment, he thinks about them not just from the viewpoint of his enemy, but he asks himself what he would do in their situation. It's something very few beings are willing or able to do, and yet he does and he's good at it, maybe not perfect but far better than anypony would expect.

I chuckle a little to myself. He really would make a decent diplomat, or maybe even a general, but I know he has no wish for anything of the sort. All those things are too big and public for him, he may excel at the job but he would not have his heart put into it.

My thoughts come to an abrupt end as a knock comes on my door. "Come in," I call out and stand straighter, only to relax again as my niece enters the room while closing the door behind her. "Niece. I thought you wanted to join Shining and his family for Hearths Warming?" I question as that's what she told me before she left not long ago.

I also see a few boxes being carried with her. "I was Aunty, but I stopped to leave our gift in the mail room and saw Shade sent us some rather lovely gifts, so I decided you get your gift today instead of tomorrow. You may now thank me." I giggle a bit at her antics, she always tries to keep my mood up after October, even though she doesn't need to.

She places a large box down along with a smaller one in front of me, she keeps the other box with her and keeps it next to her on the table with an adorably excited face. I smile at her and move the gifts closer, "Very well, you are thanked." I purposefully make it sound off but not incorrect.

She huffs a bit and starts to rip off the paper on the gift she has. I decide to join in and start with the large box, and inside is a large amount of dried red tea leaves in glass jars along with a note. This is the selectively bred Blood Red Tea, it should be around ten percent better than the normal base version. Enjoy.

I place the note back down with a large smile. The tea has been an amazing boon that I would rather not live without, it is stronger than normal and is just another bonus. Cadance glances inside and smirks. "He always gives you expensive things." I promptly ignore her teasing tone.

She opens her own box and inside are several books and a note. She picks up the note and starts to read it aloud. "A few books for Shining, apparently they both like horror books, because of course they do." She looks amused. Hmm, I never knew that was an interest of Shade.

She continues. "Something about training and scheduling. Ah! Here we go! For Cadance, I have no idea what you like so I'm throwing money at you until you go away, buy you and your stallion something nice." I laugh for a moment as her face shifts from excited to perturbed at being snubbed in a note.

That face changes when she opens an envelope to see what exactly he gave her. "O-Oh, oh." She's rendered a bit speechless and I take the piece of paper to see if it's an official bank document to transfer an amount of bits. Specifically five thousand bits, a rather large amount. I smile at her, "Yes, but it seems he gets expensive things for more than just me."

Cadance like me has access to the royale accounts, but those are for much more than just personal use and while we are paid for our roles, it's a small symbolic amount. That is to say that getting five thousand bits for personal use is no small thing for her and Shining, they could buy a home in the city easily.

She smiles widely at the paper as she takes it back from me before moving the box to the side and keeping the paperwork with her. "It seems so, and it also seems like me and Shining are going to have much more lavish dates. It also seems I'll need to think about better gifts next year."

I never did ask what they got him so I just nod. "Maybe not, he much prefers some things that are personal or useful. A good book is a sure bet." I advise calmly while moving the small gift box over to me and ripping into it.

She pauses and laughs. "I got him a book, seems I have some great luck today." She watches as I open the box and pull out a wooden object slowly. Once it's in full view we both stare at the work of beauty. "Or maybe you stole it all. Shade really does get you the best things."

I can't help but nod while looking over the necklace in front of me. The white wood is intricately carved into a chain and pendant while being covered in detailed and complex engravings. Sunflowers cover the sun-shaped pendant while vines wind up the chain and meet at the other end.

But the main part is the bright yellow stone in the middle. I look in the box and see a note that explains everything about the necklace. After reading it I smile and tap the Sunstone twice before feeling the gentle warmth of sunlight in the candle-lit room.

I place it around my neck and stare at the glowing gem. "Yes, he really does."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 994, but not for long.

A small and less important chapter, I hope you liked it. Also I'm taking the day off, maybe two but probably not.