FEB 11 Friday.

I slowly draw another line as another flower falls on the ground in a beautiful shower of embers.

The Fire Blossom Tree decided to start making some flowers when spring arrived and now it's trying its best to burn everything around it to ash. I'll admit that despite the dangerous nature of the tree it is quite pretty when in bloom and I've spent some time drawing it.

The past week has been fine and I've spent it like normal, along with finishing the new spells I made. They have come out well but in the end, it proved to be a little too easy and I went a bit overboard on the quality this time as I really worked hard on the shield version of the Heat Retention spell.

I ended up making it really versatile, it can be used as a spell or enchantment, there is an option to make it weaker or stronger depending on how effective you want it to be. It even lets you make the shield visible or invisible whenever you want. The main reason I did this is because forges can take many forms and styles so versatility is needed.

It's all finished and both versions of the spell could have been sent to Celestia a week ago, but I waited and decided to give it to her at our next meeting. It's today and she should be here within the next hour or so, and to say I'm excited would be an understatement.

I have several things to talk about, mainly the upcoming diplomatic trip and the Life gem. But beyond the thoughts on this meeting, I've been thinking about something else. I've been pondering something more personal and less simple, it's about my work.

When I first decided to apprentice at the library I was eleven and signed a contract saying I'd work with them until I was an adult. My birthday is now less than three months away, and it brings to mind the obvious question, should I stay and continue to work at the library?

I've gone back and forth many times now and I think I need some outside advice and Celestia is perfect for that. I spend a lot of time talking with my friends at work and I'd definitely see them less, something I'm not sure I'm willing to do.

On one hoof I feel it could draw me away from them and I really don't want that, but on the other hoof the time and freedom I would have access to would be immense. My work takes up nine hours a day five days a week and having that as free time to practice and train would be amazing.

The amount of things I could do are uncountable, and this is not just a personal thing, the free time would let me invent more things for the good of many others. The good I could do might outweigh any inconvenience that comes of this, but lessening that connection I have just felt wrong.

Then again, it's not like I'd never see them, we still have game nights and I do visit the library a lot to read in my free time, but is that enough? I mull it over a while more before sighing and trying to put the thoughts out of my mind for the time being, but that doesn't last more than a few minutes as space rends apart.

Those thoughts came back with a vengeance as I watched Celestia appear in the grass field. I'm relaxing in the pavilion and over the past two weeks the last of the snow has melted away in Gaia's Eden while the grass is already starting to sprout as trees regrow their leaves.

Philomena flies off to join Entropy on the Gold Oak while Celestia walks over with a happy face. As she sits down on the comfortable carpet I pass her some tea, "I guess I should be thanking you for this beautiful day, even if it's a tad bit warm." I joke while pouring her tea.

She giggles a little. "Well thank you, so few notice my work. Did you know I sometimes wait an extra minute to rise the sun? Just to tease the odd astronomer." I can't actually tell if she's fucking with me or not which just makes it funnier, I crack up for a few moments and she smiles at me.

"Ok, that's now true and you can't prove to me otherwise." I laugh a bit more and enjoy the joke, but I do notice that she still has her necklace on and seems content with keeping it that way. I stare up at her and take a few pages out of my saddlebags, "I'm not sure I should give these to such a dastardly villain as you, but here." I tease her a bit in return.

Her eyes sparkle a bit at the sight as we both know I only give her things as a gift or invention. "I promise not to use it in my overly elaborate plans for misguided revenge." She plays along while eagerly reading through the papers. After a few moments, she looks back up at me with a large smile. "You always seem to surprise me, how did you even think of this?" She asked while looking very pleased at the new invention.

"The price of metal is too high, it's annoying," I say completely seriously and she snorts. "That should at least help cut it down, and with cheaper metal, a lot of doors get opened. Plus it might be useful for a few other things." I reason and she just laughs after a moment much to my confusion.

"Never change. Do you know the main problem with heating things with enchantments?" That question seems a little out of the blue but I shake my head. "Most metal that can endure high heat and have a high enough magical capacity is expensive, and gems are often too fragile to be sitting around a forge, and they can also be expensive."

I nod but keep a brow raised. "So, for larger things like a train or forge, even large bakery ovens, they all need fuel beyond magic. Some use magic but getting it enchanted and set up plus the cost of materials is a high investment. Do you know how many industries rely on burning fuel?"

It doesn't take me long to piece it together. Sure a few places could use only magic as a heat source, but a lot of smaller towns or poorer businesses can't do that and have to use charcoal and wood, maybe coal as well. "Huh." I make a mental note to run more invention ideas by Celestia.

She looks even more amused. "Huh? This." She holds up the papers. "Let's anypony with a small gem, a very light investment, improve a key component of their business, even if you add the cost of having it enchanted it's a massive step up." She looks both impressed and beyond pleased. I was mostly thinking about forges but it seems I've underestimated my work.

I give her a smile after a moment. "Next page." She raises a brow and turns to the second Heat Retention spell which is for the everyday pony to keep smaller things warm.

Her smile completely outshines mine and she looks back to me. "Do you sleep? Because you really don't seem to with work such as this." She giggles a little and vanishes the pages under her wings. "Thank you, Shade, this will prove very useful, and it's sure to be very popular, more fame hmm?" her tone is enough to make me roll my eyes.

I take out my chess set after a moment and she takes it from me, I raise a brow and she just keeps her smile. "You always play white, I'd like to go first for once." I laugh in response and nod. I watch as she sets up the board and I spend that moment to ponder my earlier conundrum.

She sees my face after a moment and drops her smile a bit. "Are you doing well? Overwork is nothing to scoff at." Her tone has rapidly changed to slight concern and worry.

I wave her off with a smile. "I'm ok, just something I've been thinking about." I drain my tea and she just looks ready to comfort and listen to me. I give her a better smile, "I'm serious, I'm just fine. I'll talk about it, but first, I have something more important to talk about." I reassure her.

She looks a little uncertain but nods and lets me move on. "Thank you." I make the second move of the game and stand up. "I'll be right back, I need to grab something, don't cheat." She smirks silently and I quickly gallop over to my shack not noticing Celestia's eyes staring at me as I walk away and retrieve a small wooden box before heading back.

As I sit down again and place the box down she looks intrigued. "Another gift? You really spoiled me." I suppress a blush at the words.

"Sorry to say this is a gift to myself. Now, Entropy is a good girl and can travel pretty far so I had a little trip around two weeks ago." She smiles as I start to tell a story and shifts to get more comfortable while I beat back a few thoughts seeing her lay on her side. "I ended up in a very small town somewhere in the Great Plains. I think its name was Good Berries or something like that."

She interrupts a little. "She can move that far?" I nod. "Hmm, it seems her training has paid off then. A very good Girl indeed."

I smile. "Oh, remind me to show you her scarf. Anyway, I ended up just relaxing at an inn and talking to a nice bartender, but then things got a little... Complicated." I hesitate a little as she might not really agree with my choices here. She picks up on that quickly and narrows her eyes a little.

I quickly move to reassure her. "I'm fine, and nothing bad really happened." Her look tells me to hurry up. "A dragon walked in, and they looked less than pleased, actually they looked angry." Her eyes narrow even more. "And I ended up talking to them, it went pretty well actually."

She looks at me with a mix of mild concern and suspicion. "Define pretty well, because I think we have different definitions here." Her tone is not angry, or even annoyed, just curiosity and concern.

I take a deep breath and just go for it. "The dragon is called Andra, she got scammed and came in for a drink. But she was being pretty rude so I asked her to knock it off and she insulted me." Her eyes narrow more and I wave away her concern. "Celestia, I can handle some words just fine." I chuckle at her concern as that is not the past she was concerned about.

She lets out a breath and I continue. "Anyway, I immediately insulted her back."

"Shade, why?" She asks, utterly confused and slightly disappointed.

I smile at her expression. "I know her type, she just couldn't deal with the whole kind and happy vibe that ponies do a lot, she wanted a blunt conversation. After a few rounds of trading insults, I said she looked like she wanted to hit something, and she agreed. So..." I see her face look both amused and concerned with a little tiredness.

"Shade Evergreen, did you... Fight a dragon?" Her tone is a little firm and my face gives it away pretty easily. "I know I'm going to ask this a lot. Why?"

I rather not get lectured and quickly move to explain. "Ok yes not my best idea, but! I laid out rules! We kept things clean, well cleanish, and we didn't take it too far. It even worked, she was much more calm and friendly after getting her anger out." I say all this in a single breath and after a moment Celestia just sighs.

She moves a piece and ends our game. "You are going to give me gray hairs." Her tone is, a little humorous and she chuckles after a moment and smiles at me oddly, I was not expecting that. "I once said I'd let you live your life and make mistakes, then help you get back up when needed, I will stick by that." Her tone holds more humor than I'd expect and she relaxes again.

"So as your princess, I can't say much as you are basically an adult. But as your friend." She reaches out a hoof and flicks it on the forehead. "You're an utter idiot sometimes Shade, a lucky idiot." She smiles a little more at that.

I move to complain but stop after a moment and nod before chuckling. "Ok fair, but in my defense what happened next made all of that worth it. Wait, do you get gray hairs?" Her eyes narrow again. "Never mind, not important! Anyway! After that, we went back inside and I was able to ask her some questions."

At this moment I take out a few more pages of paper. "This is my peace offering, please do not ground me." I half-joke as she takes the papers with a smirk and clearly fake a royal expression.

She looks through the organized notes on everything I learned with some curiosity before looking back at me. "You are pardoned, but seriously Shade, please stay safe." Her tone is more relaxed and she smiles fully again. " This is fascinating. But was this really worth all fighting a dragon though?"

I motion for the papers and put them away when she passes them back before placing the box on the table in between us while moving the chess game out of the way. "Before I left I asked about why she was angry, she got underpaid for some gems she was selling."

I don't open the box but I can see her curiosity is piqued. "So, I offered to see what she had and maybe buy any gems she had left, more out of curiosity than anything." She smiles knowing that. "I ended up giving her every bit I had on me, around sixteen hundred, and I basically scammed her at that price."

She raises a brow at that. "I told her as much, I literally said she was getting underpaid, but she took the bits. And I got this." I opened the box to show the Life gem that I've cleaned with a rag and some water, I didn't do more as I didn't want to break it by accident. She looks at me completely confused and I remember she can't feel life magic. "It's a Life gem."

She goes utterly silent and for the first time I see a slack-jawed Celestia, it's worth any punishment I could ever receive. "I... How?" I start to laugh as she utterly fails to comprehend what is happening. After a minute I'm done laughing and she's recovered enough to speak again. "You really did underpay them." She laughs with me at the absurdity of it all.

She stares at the gem in wonder. "You are by far the most unlucky and lucky pony I have ever met." She looks at me as if looking for permission and I nod. She very gently picks up the gem and looks it over, "I think this might be a record of some type, I presume you plan to use it?"

I nod with a large smile. "By magic yes, I never thought I'd even get a Life gem let alone one of this size. It's a dream come true with my affinity, it will open so many doors for me."

She nods in turn. "You'd have more use for it than any other pony. A part of me still can't believe this is real, I don't even know how much this would cost. A worthy prize for fighting a dragon, you know with your armor I think you'd make a pretty good knight." She says with some amazement and it seems her earlier feelings on my trip are gone.

I smile at that and decide to ignore her teasing. "I think it's pretty good for a fight in a back alley. But I still have a big problem before I can actually do anything with it." I start and she cuts me off quickly.

She continues my thoughts concisely. "It needs to be properly cut, and with something of this value, theft is a definite possibility. I can also guess that the easiest pony to get something like that done safely."

I see an opportunity to keep the conversation interesting and take it. "Is you. I was definitely going to show you regardless, even if just to show off a bit, but honestly, I have no idea how to go about this on my own." I admit freely and she gains the looks of happiness and slight pride.

She puts the gem back in the box and places it to the side before moving the chess game back in front of us and resetting the game. "I appreciate the trust." She smiles softly at me and I get a nice warm feeling before I have to beat back a few inappropriate thoughts.

"I sometimes need specialized gems as well, normally I have a cutter come to the palace and work under contract." She sips some tea and lets the offer hang in the air. It's not a bad idea, and I don't think Celestia is letting anypony take this from me. Plus if it's in the palace the chances of them running away with it are very slim, and stealing from Celestia is just plain stupid.

I nod slowly after some thought. "That sounds perfect, thanks. You can send me a bill for the costs, and I'm not taking no for an answer." I insist after she raises a hoof. "It would make me feel better and it also leaves less of a paper trail if the bits don't come from you." I reason that the less information known the better,

She smiles and just nods her acceptance before chuckling and giving me a fond look. "I'd call your paranoia unnecessary, but given your life maybe it has its uses. Just remember to relax every once in a while." She advises and starts a new game of chess.

I silently agree and push the box over to her. "That box blocks life magic so best to keep it in there." I prove her point and let my paranoia get the best of me again. "As for fun. Do you think I could tag along on that diplomatic trip? Because I need a trip and I have no idea where to go." I ask and her smile returns in full.

She looks far too pleased for my liking. "Cadance would be thrilled to have you, in fact, I was going to offer just this today. Did she tell you where they are going?" I don't like the teasing tone but nod regardless. "Perfect, I'll send you a schedule in a few days along with your assigned job, you'll probably be a scribe again."

I expected I'd be given a job and honestly don't mind, it'd be suspicious if I was with them but didn't do any work. But I notice a distinct lack of details about the trip as she doesn't elaborate after a few moments. I give her a deadpan stare, "You're not going to tell me where I just agreed to go are you?"

She smiles wider. "Where would be the fun in that?" I just give her a half-hearted glare before sighing. "Remember to pack your cloak and some snacks." She says vaguely and I just keep my deadpan stare.

I give her a half-smirk after a moment and admit defeat. "Fine. But if I end up in Griffonstone again I'm causing a diplomatic incident. Maybe painting the king bright pink before any meetings." I joke a little and she giggles before moving another piece and checking my king.

She rolls her eyes a small bit and I cackle at the sight to which she just pouts a bit. "I will ground you, literally, there's a spell for that." She smiles in victory as I abruptly stop laughing. "Good, now, you looked conflicted earlier, why?" She seems to have remembered that and decided to change the topic and mood.

I keep my smile but it lessons a bit. "It's probably me just overthinking it, but I've been thinking about leaving my work. But..." I trail off a bit trying to think of my next words. "I feel as if that will distance me from my friends in some way, I really don't want to lose any of them," I admit after a moment and the mood quickly changes from relaxed to something uncertain.

Her face shifts to a kind and soft look. "You're right, you are overthinking it, and recognizing it is a good thing." She compliments me a bit to make me feel better, it still works even if I know it. "Shade, am I your friend?"

I raise a brow and answer without hesitation. "Yes, the only person I'm closer to is Entropy," I admit not seeing her point.

She keeps her reassuring look. "And how often do we meet?" It clicks in a moment and she sees my look of realization. "Oftentimes we miss the most obvious things, even I do that." I hear a little regret in those words but it leaves quickly. "Would you still try to be with them if you left?"

I feel a bit stupid not realizing that parallel sooner. I only see Celestia once every other week at best and I'm very close to her, so seeing my friends for a weekly game night and on the odd encounter should be enough. "No, we have regular game nights and I read at the library all the time."

She breaks us out of the low mood with a laugh. "Shade, that just sounds like a friendship, many are friends and only see each other every few weeks." At that, I bury my face in my hoof and groan. "You may be a prodigy with runes but you are still a pony, don't be hard on yourself." She reassures me again and keeps a kind but upbeat face.

"I know what you're feeling, you don't want to lose your friends, and that's ok. Many who first make friends never want to change things for fear of their friendship changing as well, but the truth is it will change regardless, and trying to keep it the same might be a detriment. Especially when it causes you unneeded stress." She gives me some more wisdom.

After a few moments I nod, it seems I now have more to think about. I smile and pause while looking at the chessboard before laughing. "Thank you for knocking some sense into me." She looks pleased with herself and I move a piece before looking back up at her. "Checkmate." I see her smile falter a little. "Nine point five to five hundred and eighty-three, one step closer." I celebrate my victory.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

Not much to say about this one, I hope you enjoyed it.

Ps, might take the next day off.