JAN 5 Wednesday.

I slowly watch as the snow falls down from the sky and covers the afternoon city.

The snow is thinner now and soon it will be gone entirely as the end of winter nears. Things have been going great, after the new year, I have gotten nothing but good news. I haven't had a meeting with Celestia yet though, but I got a letter saying we could meet later today at Gaia's Eden, something I look forward to.

But right now I'm walking through the snow with my scarf wrapped around me while nursing some new bruises. Even after three years, Stone is still kicking the shit out of me. I did end up trying to get a sparring match with him where we'd use magic, but he shot that down.

His reasons were simple, magic is not his specialty and he's taught me all he knows about it already. He taught me some things like proper casting times and aiming, but beyond that his ability to teach me magical combat is limited. He himself only uses a few spells and mainly relies on his weapon skills to fight.

It does make sense, even with all my practice he can easily beat me with a weapon, and if I use magic I'm still not actually sure if I would win. The bad news is I'll need somepony else to practice with, I could spar with Shining, but he wouldn't be able to deal with me when using magic.

I could always get another trainer? Sure my skills are out of the ordinary for my age, but getting a trainer that will sign something like a N.D.A should be possible. Something to ask Stone about next week, he probably knows somepony that's willing, or at least where to start looking.

I smile while walking up the stairs to my apartment, I reach the right floor and enter my apartment. Entropy leaves my shadow and flies over to her bath to clean herself off. She decided to watch me and Stone practice but fell off where she was sitting because of a stray pebble and got covered in dirt.

Celestia will meet me after sunset, which is still two hours away, so I have some free time to indulge in my current obsession. I move over to my window and sit down in front of it while moving a book from my bookshelf over to me. This plain-looking tome is the spell book Celestia gave me.

One thing I quickly learned was that ponies have no idea what the fuck they are doing when it comes to violence. Humans often feel that the violence they commit is unrefined and brutal, which is not an unreasonable way to see it. But compared to ponies we are elegant with our violence, we know what we can do most of the time and tend to hold back when needed or take a more nuanced approach.

It may sound odd for such a peaceful world to be so... I'm not really sure how to say it, unintentionally brutal? Let me explain a few of these spells as examples. The first thing that stood out to me is how badly made these spells are, but that makes sense for a peaceful race, whatever the reason these spells are unrefined and could use some serious work to improve them.

I haven't learned to cast any of these spells yet because they are of such a quality, I plan to improve the spells before using them. Back to the spells though, the fireball spell is a good place to start. It works by just forcing it to form with nothing but pure magic, yup.

No air moving air inside to ignite it like the firebolt, no fancy or clever tricks, just pure magic. I can not tell you the number of ways I could improve upon that, that's not really saying much though because it's not hard to improve on anything. On top of the shoddy work that I just ranted about they also made the thing terrifying seemingly by accident.

When you launch a fireball there is an explosion but it also lights things around it on fire, doesn't that seem odd though? A ball of fire that explodes but is also stable enough to light stuff on fire, and I don't mean a small amount of fire left over, I mean a full blaze is left after the explosion.

Whoever the fuck made this spell intentionally did that, it's not some side effect, it's a damn feature. They made it sustain the flames to burn things after the explosion, they made something similar to fucking napalm. It doesn't last that long as the excessive fire is sustained with some of the spell's magic, but the simple fact they made something like this while being who they are is fucked.

This got me thinking, so after looking through the book, I noticed that this fireball spell is a somewhat older modification of the original fireball spell. I couldn't find the new one, but I did learn that it doesn't have this problem and the effect was removed.

Both of these spells are only a few decades old from what I found, even if the fireball spell itself has been around for centuries in one form or another. Back to my original point though, ponies don't understand violence and they seem to unintentionally make horrifying things and use far too much violence due to their naivety, the worst part is that they don't even know it.

There are several other spells in here that on the surface seem fine but after some thought prove to be just fucked. Let's give another example. The water shield spell is self-explanatory, and it is completely fine, but a modified version of this book is not so nice. It forms a solid ball of water around the target of the spell, which is intended to be used to put out magical fires.

It's not a common problem but it does crop up from time to time and magical fires can be dangerous, the problem is that the spell can target anything, including ponies. So if you ever wanted to drown someone on land this is the spell for you, and once again it seems this is completely unintentional.

There are several more spells like this and sometimes I have a hard time believing this was unintentional, but from everything I've seen it is, even though the human part of me doesn't agree. The human part sees such violence as only something that can be done on purpose.

I sigh a bit and leave my mind, I really am good at mental rants. I chuckle at my slight madness and start to look through the spell book for something I'd like to start working on and improving. I'm not really the type to learn flashy and overly destructive spells but I will be learning fireball regardless and probably a few other spells as well.

Actually, I should learn a few spells from every element that are useful, but I can't learn everything and I'll need to specialized at some point so picking an element now is best. I still haven't decided what element I want to go for, but after some thought, I'm leaning toward two options.

Ice and lightning are my interests. I'll start with Ice, it is less used than other elements but still common enough, but it's known to be hard to use. Mostly because forming a large enough amount of ice takes more magic than other basic element spells like earth, fire, or water.

The upside to ice is that it is a very stable element to work with as it doesn't change much when left alone, after all, it is a solid material, but like I said it needs more magic to shape and form that ice into a decent spell. Overall it's an element that is hard to work with but easy to weaponize, just my style.

Now, as for lightning. It may sound contradictory because I don't like flashy things, but that's if you use lightning as ponies do, that is to say, pure destructive power. Lightning is known as one of the hardest elements to make spells with but also one of the best elements for offensive spells.

A lightning bolt is fast as hell and can't really be dodged a lot of the time. On the downside, lightning spells are horribly expensive in terms of magic, but like I said that's if I use them as ponies intended. I would use it in a more gentle way, lightning can be used in smaller more effective ways after all.

I stop my reading as the room goes dark, the sun having dipped below the horizon. I smirk at the sight and keep the book with me while turning to Entropy. "Time to go Girl." She flies down and a moment later we're gone, and a moment after that we reappear inside my shack once again.

As I walk outside I feel the space shift as Celestia appears right outside of her house with a familiar item providing her light. I feel a smile force its way onto my face as she's wearing the necklace I gave her, and using it to light the way. I cast a light before walking over to her. "Glad to see you, enjoy the holidays?" I ask while walking up to her.

She smiles at me before opening her house door and walking inside as I follow. I have to stare at the floor after a moment because of the angle I'm at while walking behind her. "I had an enjoyable time if you don't count a few balls and events that I had to attend. I hope you had a better time than that." She jokes a bit while I close the door behind us.

I nod and take a moment to look around her home. After Nightmare Night she went back to her normal amount of trips, once every two or three days. Even with those limitations, she's continued to improve her home, with a little help from me of course.

The ceiling now has a few Solar Trap Vines providing light during the night time, they also cover the ceiling of her workroom. She has a few potted plants with Sunflowers and Daisies, all of them are simple enough plants that they can survive even with the cold because of the abundant life magic and cover they are provided.

She has a few more spell paintings and two carpets on the floor, along with a plethora of wooden vases and dishes. After looking around for a moment before watching Celestia pull a tea set from under her wing with focused eyes, even now I can't tell how she's doing that, the space seems to not flex or bend in a noticeable way.

I look back up to her as she chuckles. "I had a good time, I even got some good gifts," I answered her questions and pulled out the spell book for emphasis. "I hope you like the necklace, any issues with it so far?" I ask while taking the teacup offered to me.

She looks at the necklace for a moment with a soft smile. "I love it, thank you, Shade." I nod with my own smile growing. "It certainly is a unique gift, the warming charm was a nice touch by the way." I feel a warmth inside myself at the praise. "The ponies at those events I mentioned seem to like it as well, so many asked where I got it." She teases and I stop my thoughts abruptly.

"... Wait, what? You..." I was rendered speechless and dumbfounded at her words.

She keeps her now teasing smile and laughs a little at my expression. "Why yes. This is a work of beauty and it fits one of my dresses rather well. And it rivals the quality of my other jewelry so it would be a shame to not wear it while it collects dust." I stare back at her dumbly for a few long moments before sighing slowly in defeat.

I'm honestly not sure how to feel about that news. The idea of ponies fawning over a personal gift is odd, to say the least. "I presume you have enjoyed your gift." She asks seemingly moving us past my thoughts on the matter.

I feel a little embarrassed about others seeing my work, but it's not like it really matters, I focus on the conversation instead of that. "At least you like it, and I very much do, but first, I have a question." I take a drink of the well-made tea.

"I never did ask, but what are your affinities? Because I have a theory and considering that the Sunstone looks full of solar magic I think I'm right." I had noticed that the gem was brighter than when I gave it to her, and it would have taken longer than a few weeks to charge it from sunlight alone.

She looks at my smirk with a slightly surprised look before smiling wider. "I only have the solar affinity, and your guess was quite accurate. Although, you are not the first to guess that." She doesn't explain more but I'm simply happy with knowing I guessed right, but her words bring a new question to mind.

"Wait, only affinity? Really?" I was a little surprised. Having a few affinities is common and I'm a pretty big outlier by only having two affinities. Having one seems a bit odd, I suppose she could be hiding them, but I can't see a reason she'd do that with me of all ponies, although it's possible she has a good reason.

She nods with her smirk seemingly pleased I caught that. "Yes, I won't go into detail, but it's part of being an alicorn." She is vague but even just that brings a great many questions to mind. Did she lose her other affinities? Or maybe they are simply inaccessible? Even then this is very interesting.

I nod after a moment and decide to leave that topic alone with some reluctance. I pull out the spell book and place it down to answer her earlier question. "This is both amazing and infuriating, do you have any idea how badly made these are? Because if you do and this is a test that's... Very clever." I admit having just realized that it's something she would do.

She chuckles a little. "Technically no, but also yes, that is something to keep in mind for later though. As for the spells, I would say there are of decent quality for such spells." I give her an 'Are you serious' face, which she seems to find even more amusing. "Spells like this simply see less improvement, but they are better than a lot of other spells, you know this."

I think for a moment before begrudgingly nodding. "Yes I do, and I've seen worse, but this is just shoddy work." I flip through a few spells before I talk. "I am curious though. You know me, why did you trust me with this?" I ask only half jokingly.

She again looks amused. "Because I do know you. You are more than capable of making your own spell that would be more dangerous than anything in that book. Now though you'll be so focused on improving and learning those spells that you won't make some horrifying new creation." She says seriously, having read me like a book.

I stare blankly for a few moments before laughing at the sheer confidence she said that with. "Well, you have me figured out it seems, I guess I'll need to find some new tricks. Or just make those spells anyway, I do like making things." I tease a bit but take her plan in stride.

She just smiles as she'll win either way, we both know that. "That sounds like a fantastic idea." I roll my eyes. "Any other good gifts? I'd hate to be outdone after what I received." She asks teasingly while I resist the urge to roll my eyes again.

I think for a moment and eventually shake my head while taking out a notebook to do a little spell work. "Hmm, no, not really, lucky you. I did get a nice book on sea plants. Although, I have no idea where it is from, the entire thing is hoof written." I have that book with me as well and pass it over to her.

Right now I'm just working on improving the fireball spell, I want to make it better and Celestia seems to enjoy watching me work from the look she has on her face. She seems a bit confused at the sight of the book, "Is this the book Cadance sent you? It's rather, off, for a gift from her." She says with some humor as she looks through the book.

I shake my head again. "No, she...." I trail off before quickly answering. "She got me a Griffon romance novel," I admit as she holds in a bit of laughter while I glare back at her. "That one is from Daisy, apparently she found it in a bookstore." I quickly change the subject.

She smiles mischievously. "Romance, horror, combat spells, you have some interesting tastes in literature." I blush a little at the first one but raise a brow at the second. She can definitely see my blush but just looks amused by it, she also sees my raised brow and answer my silent question. "Cadance opened the gift you gave them near me, I will be honest and say I didn't expect you to read horror, come across anything good?" She asks and seems genuinely interested in my interests.

I pause for a moment and decide to just be honest and resist the urge to hide things when not needed, the only reason my mind wants to is because horror is an interest from my last life. "Yes, but if it is in the library I have probably read it, I've gone through most of the horror section there over the past few years." That's not as impressive as it sounds as it's not that large.

She stops going through the book and looks up a little surprised but not judgmental. "You really do break many molds and standards others would have for you, good, be yourself." I also stop at the unexpected but genuine encouragement, I nod at her in response. "What do you find interesting in horror? What draws you to it?"

I have to ponder that for a few minutes as we relax before answering. "The creativity." She raises a brow at that silently asking for me to explain. "In most types of stories, you can only repeat a surprise or an event so many times before it becomes... Bland, and boring."

She nods in agreement. "I know that all too well. It is very rare that something truly new crops up, except in something like a storybook." She has lived for a very long time so it does make sense, she's probably read more books than I've seen in my entire life.

I nod. "Well, horror has that problem to a higher degree. Because everything is just trying to scare you, they need to get creative, and because of that, there is a very high degree of variation and innovation. At least in my experience." I add as I have no idea if that is truly accurate beyond my thoughts.

She looks thoughtful as she pushes the book back to me. "I'll admit that horror has never been a genre I've really looked into, it doesn't seem like my type of topic and the few times I've tried it were unappealing. But it doesn't hurt to try something and with some help, I might find something I like, who knows? Any recommendations?"

I smiled at her. This mare never fails to amaze me, it takes a strong mind to break out of routine. "It would be my pleasure, and don't worry, I totally won't start you off in the deep end." She raises a brow at my odd saying and my mischievous smile.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995, lets GO!

Ok so, I thought ice or lightning would fit Shade the best. Earth seems to on the noise. Fire is not his style. Air is too bland for him. And anything related to shadows is why we have Entropy.

So, with that in mind, what element do you think he should invest in the most? He's still dabble in the others but whatever element is picked will be his focus.