JUN 4 Sunday.

I look through the complex spell matrix once again before finally considering it good enough for my admittedly high standards.

It's not perfect, and I had to add another rune making it consume more magic, but it works and it should be easier to learn and cast, along with costing around twenty percent less magic. Beyond that, the only other thing I changed was a small part of the spell's function.

It normally just shows no results if it detects nothing, I made it give a result of nothing. It's a small difference but I felt it was better and it wasn't all that hard to add in. I silently celebrate a bit at the newly completed spell and start to gather all the notes and information needed.

I added all the notes, things for others to test for, and a full breakdown of the spell and its component parts. I add all this to every spell I give Celestia, but this one has more than normal because it's a medical spell and I'm not willing to risk anything when it comes to a pony's health.

Once everything is ready I tie it together with some twine into a stack and turn to Entropy who's sleeping on my desk. I really pushed it the last few days to get this ready so I could focus on the Assistant Program, and in the process of doing that, I burnt myself out a bit.

I think it's a mix of curiosity and wanting to know my limits. Turns out this is my absolute limit, I really don't want to look at another rune or mathematical formula right now. I've spent the majority of my time inside my work room and only left when I needed to, my morning runs, hanging out with my friends, getting my shit kicked in by Stone, and my training.

Those things only take a relevantly small amount of time throughout the day, I really need some time outside. Funnily enough, Entropy has taken it upon herself to try and help me, much like the time I spent with her when she couldn't go out. She stayed by my side constantly.

Before she'd sleep in a shadow or on her perch, but now she just sleeps on my desk as I work and makes me take breaks by asking about different words or math. I gently shake her awake, she takes her head out from under her wing and looks up at me. "Done? Go?" She asks as I've told her I was nearly finished.

I smile at her. "Almost, last thing I need is to take this to Celesti-" I'm cut off as she jumps on the papers and vanishes. It takes a minute before she returns and when she does she gives me a demanding look and I chuckle. "Fine, let's go to Gaia's Eden, I'm guessing you want that?" She snaps to look at me and practically tackles me while trying to jump on my back. "Hey-" Before I can complain we both vanish and a moment later I have to blink rapidly to adjust my eyes to the sunlight coming in through the windows.

After I'm no longer blinded I look down at the smug and excited Entropy sitting in front of me with her wagging tail feathers. I sigh and chuckle, "You could have just waited. Well, come on." She chirps and jumps back onto me as I walk outside and take a deep breath in my home away from home.

I've only spent enough time here over the past two weeks to tend to and breed my plants, along with occasionally checking on the Timberwolves. I don't have a lot to do so I decided to just check on the fish I got a few weeks ago. I check the message board and notice a small note on it.

Shade.

I made you a herb/bird-carrying basket.

Celestia

I raise an eyebrow at that. "Bird Basket, the hell?" I look around for a moment and behind the message board is a simple basket woven together with a few sticks and something like wicker. I chuckle a little at the sight and pick Entropy up with my field before placing her inside the basket, she fits perfectly. I smile as Entropy looks up at me, "Not nest, poky." She complains before teleporting back onto me.

I just laugh. I carry the basket with me and start to walk to the Water Tree, it seems I'm not the only one giving spontaneous gifts anymore. I'm not sure I really need a basket, but it is well made and a gift from a friend is always nice. I stop at the edge of my pond and look inside.

The fish seem to be doing ok, a few of them turned out to not be baby fish, just smaller fish than expected. I learned that when one of them gave birth there are now tiny minnows swimming around inside, sadly a few of them have been eaten by the other fish but that's how things go.

Still, most of them seem to be doing well and growing, the fish are even healthy enough to breed. I spend a moment filling my basket with some berries and feeding the fish. I watch them rush up and nibble the berries as they drop down into the pond's water.

Entropy seems to have forgiven me after I give her a few berries and is just as interested in watching the fish eat as I am. "Water, bird? Swim?" She tries a few words and I spook the fish by laughing at her. She just glares and turns her head, "Mean."

I pet her a little and smile at her. "Fish, they are called fish. F-i-sh." I slowly sound out the word and hold a few more berries in the air as a potential reward.

I can see that she tries to stay annoyed at me but that lasts all of three seconds before she gives in. "Fics." A little off and she knows it. "Fiss." Closer still. "Fiish. Fish, fish!" She caws out and celebrates a little in the moment. I drop the berries back into the basket and place her in there as well. She looks torn between annoyance and excitement as she's now standing in a basket of berries.

Eventually, she turns up to me. "Cheater." She caws before burying herself in berries and feasting on them as I stop holding it in and laugh at her antics. I'm so lucky to have a friend like her, no, family like her. I settle in and whistle a little while watching the fish and Entropy. Life can certainly be fun when it wants to.

JUN 5 Monday.

I double-check everything again and make sure I have everything I'll need and that I'm not taking anything dangerous with me, I even left my dagger on my desk.

Today is finally the day and I'm setting out in the early morning to get to my appointment in time, if it is an appointment, they never did say what I was actually going to do. I guess I'll find out when I get there. "Come on Girl, we're leaving," I call out into my bedroom as Entropy quickly teleports to me. "Remember the rules?" I know I don't need to ask but I do anyway.

She rubs against me and chirps happily, she's been much more happy now that I'm getting out more and not working on spells after yesterday. "Yes." She caws before slipping into my shadow. I decided to take her with me for today, I'm not sure if I always will but it's an option to keep in mind.

My meeting is in an hour so I'm leaving a bit early, I really don't want to be late for this. I get outside and cast a spell to form my wings before flying off into the busy city and clear sky. Like last time it only takes me a short while to reach the hospital and land.

Like normal I see a few ponies notice my wings disappear, but few actually care enough to do anything but glance at me. I end up simply sitting on a bench outside for a while to pass the time until it's near my meeting time, when I do enter the hospital I move over to the same volunteer desk as before. A different mare is there and she looks up at me with a smile. "Volunteering?"

I shake my head and pass her the information I was given, she looks it over for a moment before nodding. "Hmm, let's see here." She looks through a few papers. "You're scheduled for a meeting with Dr. Meadows. Through that door, take two right and it's on the left side, her name is on the door." She points to a staff-only door and I thank her before following her directions.

The hallways are basically identical but they are clearly labeled so it doesn't take me long to find the right door and knock on it. A moment later a voice answered, "Come in." I do just that and I see a unicorn mare sitting behind a desk, the office she's in is like many others, with a few cabinets and a desk with a few small decorations.

The mare has a teal-colored coat, a blue-colored mane, and light blue eyes. She's also on the older side, forty, maybe fifty. She's wearing glasses and looks over for a moment before showing a professional smile, "Welcome, Mr. Evergreen I presume?" I nod and ignore the slight displeasure of being called that, I think I’ll have to get used to it though. "Please sit, I need to grab a few things." Her tone is lightly stern and very professional.

I do as asked of me and sit on a cushion. "Thank you. Although to be honest, I'm not really sure what I'm here for, if you wouldn't mind explaining." I ask while keeping an equally professional tone and watching her movements. She moves around and gathers a few different documents before sitting back down and nodding.

"Yes, the information they send you doesn't normally cover this, you'd normally be asked to meet on a weekend day and have a meeting with everypony else to fill out some other paperwork. But your circumstances are, interesting." Her tone holds a little disapproval as she pushes a document over to me. "You filled all this out correct?" I look it over and see the list of spells I wrote down as knowing and my current skills in magic.

"Yes, I did. Is there any problem with it?" She stays silent for a moment and seems to be judging my reaction and expression carefully.

She shakes her head. "No, it's not, as long as it's truthful." :Ah. I see, hmm: She sees me raising my brow a bit and elaborates. "You hold no background, no tests, no schooling, you did prove you know what you're doing though, and tested very well." She praises me slightly but keeps the same tone and expression.

"But I take the health of ponies and the reputation of the hospital very seriously." She gives me a long look. "To be blunt Mr. Evergreen, I'm here to test you, and to see if you're telling the complete truth." She explains bluntly after a moment.

I'm not sure what reaction she was expecting, but I just nodded in agreement. It makes complete sense to me, I am an unknown, and only a real fool would put any life in my hooves as it is. "Ok, what do you need? A practical demonstration? Or more testing?" I ask and keep a level tone.

She blinks for a moment and seems to have been caught slightly off guard at my complete agreement. "Very well, but I remind you of the legal consequences." She points to the list. "You've stated you are an Advanced Journeypony Runic Caster, and can cast these spells. So, cast them." Her tone is now more interesting and challenging.

I look through the list and nod, I have enough magic for all of them and it's an easy thing to do. "Ok, do I do it here?" She nods. I stand up and focus for a moment before casting the first spell. I have to stop myself from reacting when her eyes go a bit wide as a spell matrix flashes in the air for a few moments and I cast a healing spell on myself.

I go down the list of spells one by one and always keep the matrix in the air for several moments so she can see it clearly. It takes me a minute to get through the dozen or so spells and I take a breath as a part of my magic drains away. I sit back down and can't help but show a tiny victorious smirk as the mare stares blankly for nearly a minute before I speak up. "Is that sufficient?"

She nods slowly and I see a very small smile on her muzzle after a moment. "Yes, Mr. Evergreen. I do have another question, and a few things for you to fill out, we might as well get the paperwork done now. But that... Demonstration, is more than sufficient." Despite me proving her wrong she seems pretty happy about me actually telling the truth. "Here, to start with you'll need to outline your availability."

She passes me another paper while writing a few things down on some documents. I quickly read it and it's pretty simple, I need to state two to three days in the week that I'm available for the program. This is still voluntary so those who do this have jobs or school to attend to.

I look over the time and see the schedule can and probably will vary from week to week. I could have the evening morning or afternoon time slot so I also need to specify that if needed. I pick out Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The slots only last six hours each so it won't completely take over those days.

I also marked down that I couldn't take evening slots on Wednesdays, I rather not have a pissed Stone coming after me because of a scheduling conflict. Once I'm done I pass the form back and she looks it over, she looks curious but doesn't ask about my choices.

She nods again. "Well, for now then you'll be going through orientation. It will last for a week or two at most and get you familiarized with everything." :Good, no more bullshit: "But." :Spoke too soon, fuck: "If you wouldn't mind me asking a question." She takes a slightly less stern tone while keeping everything strictly professional.

I'm not the most comfortable with them, but I'm in the program so it's not like I can't say no. "Sure, but I would rather not discuss anything private."

She nods. "And I have no intention of asking for things like that. I'm more curious as to where you learned these spells? Specifically this one." She pushes points to a name on the list, the B.L.P spell, and her face shifts to become unreadable. "I'm not sure if you are aware, but this spell is often a requirement for becoming a nurse." The tension quickly rises for me and I notice a little too late that she's more observant than I thought.

I don't panic but I feel tense and a little worried, I've just fucked up. I could lie? But this mare has already gotten the drop on me and she might be able to see through that, and pissing off a senior doctor is not a good idea. After a long moment, I just shrugged a little. "A friend knew it and copied it for me, I honestly have no idea where they learned it, I just thought it would be good to know." I half lie instead of just straight up lying to her.

I did get the original B.L.P spell from a friend, maybe a different version but that still counts. She gives me the same unreadable look before seemingly accepting it and her face shifts back to normal. "Yes, it is very useful, I also noticed you have the new version, which is normally hard to find without, friends." She doesn't word that as a question, simply an observation.

There is a long moment of silence before she casts a spell to check the time and stands up. "Well, we have everything we need and you are expected to show up at the next scheduled time. Although, do you have anything pressing to do for the next few hours?"

I stand up as well seeing that this meeting is ending. "Thank you for your time Dr. Meadows and I'm happy to know this is all cleared up." I be polite and nearly turn when I hear her question. "No Dr. Meadows, I'm free for the day, why?" I ask back curiously.

She smiles slightly. "Well, another group is scheduled to start orientation today, in half an hour to be precise. Would you be interested in joining them? I'd let you start a bit early." She offers and I have the distinct feeling this is yet another small test from her to gauge me.

At first, she definitely thought she was catching a liar, namely me, and wanted to either dissuade or reject me. But after I proved myself truthful she changed from suspicion to curiosity and a little digging. I don't understand why though, it's an odd thing for her to be so critical of me and try to sniff things out.

I didn't know how long this meeting would last so I don't have anything I need to do today. I nod after some thought and agree to her offer. "I'm willing to, I might as well get this all done quickly," I comment while she gives me a slightly more stern look for a moment. "I'd rather get to the actual learning quickly, it's something I'm very excited about." I try to make myself come off as impatient instead of rash.

She gives me a curt nod as we leave her office and move through the hallways. "I suppose seeing somepony so young and so motivated is nice. Just temper that excitement, I don't want to hear about you doing anything reckless." Her face is a bit amused but she keeps a stern tone.

Not too long after we enter a waiting room with two dozen other ponies sitting inside. Most of them are unicorns, with the exception of a pair of pegasi and a single other earth pony. I get several stares when we walk in but I ignore them and join the crowd while Dr. Meadows walks in front of the group.

We all look at her as she seems to check that everypony is here. "Hello, I am Dr. Meadows and I'm in charge of the Assistant Program, welcome." She pauses to let that sink in. "Now before anything else, I'd like to make something very clear."

Well, that somewhat answers why she acted like that, not fully though. "This is a program to further your education and opportunities while assisting the staff in healing others, but even as volunteers, we have standards and expectations of you all. So, today as I give you a tour of the hospital's facilities I expect you to pay attention and behave yourselves, do not interfere with ANYTHING." Her tone turns as rigid and stern as an old Oak.

She watches us for a moment before nodding. "Good, we'll begin with the long-term patient wing." And with that, she turns and our group follows along after her. It is finally time to learn something if I can avoid pissing her off. I chuckle a small bit to myself as something comes to mind. She reminds me of the orphanage head, I wonder how she's doing.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

Ok first and foremost, I still have no idea what I am doing, just something to keep in mind if I fuck this arc up. Second, I really tried to not make this boring, but dealing with two wooden planks for characters makes it hard.

On to more interesting news. Ans yes I have actual news! A little while ago I was approached with a question, to witch I said HELL YES! But when the result to that question would come about was uncertain so I didn't mention it until now.

So, I'm thrilled to announce that the lovely voice of Fire Hearth decided to read this story on their YouTube channel! Yup, I'm just as baffled as you may be.

So, here's the first reading if your interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-tgy8o5OxY