AUG 21 Monday.

I pet Entropy slowly while focusing my space magic on the delicate task at hoof.

I move another card into place and stop with a smile. I've not been using my TK field as much in favor of my space magic, which comes with a few benefits. I can now accurately move five items simultaneously without difficulty, and I can do eight if I concentrate on nothing but the task.

Unlike my field which has some limitations, I think it's biological in some way, either way, space magic has proven more flexible and has better potential. On the topic, I had a thought about my field when pondering why it has such limitations, and I think it has to do with hooves.

The telekinetic field ponies use to pick things up is consistent across all tribes and members of the pony race. How though? Because ponies aren't the only ones, Zebras, Deer. Yaks, and Donkeys are all races that show the same ability to pick things up with nothing but a hoof.

It's one of the odd things that is weirdly consistent across different races. I'm not sure if that means we share some evolutionary ancestor, maybe some form of life developed this ability so far back in time as to be a common ancestor for all our races?

But then wouldn't other forms of life also have it? I've never heard of an animal or creature that can do it. But I've only ever learned about some magical creatures, mostly those I interact with, and I'm not sure if others would have looked for such a thing in wildlife.

I guess that's yet another thing to research. Either way, back to the main point here, all telekinetic fields that every race uses are centered around the hooves of that creature, always the hooves. I know it can extend beyond that but the effect is strongest at that point meaning it's a safe guess to say it's the source of the TK field.

Does that sound familiar to you? Because to me it sounds damn close to a unicorn's horn. Question? What is a unicorn's horn made from? Honestly? From what I've seen it's not as complex or clear as you'd think. From my time in the hospital, I've seen a few cracked horns and studied them some.

From what I've learned horns are just bones with a core of something structurally similar to bone marrow. Sidenote, that's also why a horn is so sensitive, it's like having a bone exposed at all times, and getting hit on the horn hurts a lot from what I've heard. Back to the point though, by magic, my thoughts never keep on track.

Horns aren't magic for any reason ponies can see, I think there might be some special cells or maybe some magical element in very small quantities inside a horn. But I'm as clueless as everypony else as to why horns work as they do, but this all brings me to a theory I had.

If a horn is just the right biological material, then a ponies hooves might work the same to a lesser degree. It also explains why it's easier for a pony to draw out runic matrixes with a hoof than any other body part. This is also where I think the limitation of my TK field comes back into play.

If hooves have enough of whatever makes us conduct magic, then I expect our bodies to have a limited amount that is in our hooves while a horn would have much more. The limit I encountered is simply what my hooves can do before hitting a hard biological limit, but this also doesn't explain other things.

If the limit is biological then why is it only in this one area? All other magic castings with a horn or otherwise can continue to grow without any end, and I can channel much more magic through my hooves than the field would ever need. Those things could come from two different sources I suppose?

One for my magical changeling and another for the Tk field specifically. Honestly, this entire topic sent me down a rabbit hole with no answers. Do our bodies store our magic? Is the source physical or metaphysical? I suppose there are cases to shift it in either direction.

It makes me question if there really is any logic to magic itself? I leave that question be and look at the entire deck of cards, all assembled into a full house of cards. I manipulate my space magic to pull and start to disassemble the cards back into a neat pile five cards at a time.

Beyond all my theories and questions using space magic instead of my Tk field is going well. I have noticed that the more control I have over my space magic the less of a visual effect occurs, I think it's just me being more stable with my space manipulation.

Either way at this point as long as the items I pick up are less than ten pounds there is no visual effect when using space magic to move things around. So, with all the advantages I have just stopped using my TK field most of the time and use space magic instead.

Along with my endless practice on all these things, my time at the hospital is going well. I'm mostly just continuing to do the same things as before, treating basic wounds under watch and casting a few simple spells. A new healing spell I learned helps speed up the healing process of broken bones.

It's slow and takes patience, but it works, and healing others is a nice feeling. It's also given me an opportunity and the time to really inspect a pony's life magic, and it's proven just how complex any Biomancy truly would be. A single pony has magical flows more complex than any plant I've ever seen, a hundred times over.

It's monstrously complex, and it also pointed out something that I've not tried in years. So far I've only manipulated life by selectively growing or breeding it, but that's not the only choice I have. A lot of the higher-level ways to use life magic are very secretive though.

I'll probably ask Celestia for any books she might have, my point stands though I have limited information. Either way, I've seen references, I know it is possible to permanently modify a plant without selective breeding, to change life not through guided evolution, but instead through direct modification on a living plant.

I have no doubt it will take a lot of life magic, but with the Life Gem that is less of a concern, but having some starting point would be very helpful. For now, though I may do some tests after the Gala, and speaking of the Gala it's about time I get going. "Ready, Girl?"

She moves into my shadow without a word and I stand up to get ready. I've tried looking into how to use elemental parts from magical creatures, and I quickly hit a wall that pissed me off a bit. Turns out, to no one's surprise, many crafting guilds keep such knowledge private for their members to monopolize.

But much like with life magic, I think I'll just ask Celestia. I normally wouldn't ask her for help, but I need to really get out of that mindset when it comes to getting help. In some cases it is good, but in a case like this where getting the knowledge myself would be difficult, to say the least, I need to put my pride aside.

Honestly, if it wasn't for this rare and highly specific knowledge I need, I wouldn't need anything from the royal library. Anything truly advanced in there is still far outside of my reach and any knowledge I currently need is at the city library already.

So I've adopted a policy of asking when needed and doing my own thing otherwise, a nice balance hopefully. I smooth out a part of my suit and finish trimming my mane and chin fluff a bit. I give one last look in the mirror before leaving my apartment and making my way through the very busy streets.

A dressed-up mare passing me on the street smiles and steps in front of me a bit. "Hello there, you off to somewhere handsome? I could use a good party suggestion." From her tone, it's clear this mare is being, seductive. Or at least trying to be, I just step to the side and move past her.

"I'm going home, good night Miss." I lie curtly and speed up a little before turning off to a less busy street. Turns out dressing and looking nice has downsides, who'd have guessed? Seriously though, maybe I should just look ugly? It might actually be worth it to be left alone more often.

Mares can be, persistent, sometimes, most take a no in stride and move on, but I find myself getting more offers as I've grown. It's not every time I go out or anything, but every few weeks one will try to talk to me or make some advances, some less and some more persistent.

I sigh a bit but shape up as I move towards the Gala's entrance. I show my invite and move past the guards without a problem, and once I'm inside things are already happening. I came a little later than last year so I didn't have to wait as much or spend as much time here, but it still seems like things aren't in full swing yet.

I stand in the large ballroom and decide to just wander around the edges of the large room for a bit. The party is not completely full yet but there are still many ponies present, after a bit more time aimlessly walking I just sit at a table and start to draw.

I don't have much else to do so drawing this admittingly interesting event from a corner of the room seems like it would be a nice memory. Honestly, I've been drawing less recently, but not in the way you may think, I draw less for pure pleasure and more for study and documentation.

I drew many things while working on my notes, plants, objects, animals, and places. Most are simple but many are intricately detailed, I honestly don't remember when I started doing this. If I had to guess it started with my notes on plants, I'd draw a few flowers or fruits of a plant I was working with at the time.

As I draw the large stone room with its tall windows and drapes I notice several ponies take note of my appearance, but I also notice a certain young mare walking towards me. Twilight Sparkle, in a deep blue dress, forces me to try not to glance at her flank. She looks a tad bit awkward while walking over to me, "Hey, Shade. Enjoying the Gala? I certai- Oh, what are you doing?" She has a friendly tone and we both ignore any glances at each other's bodies.

I smile back and nod. "It's fine, things are going well so far, but we'll see when things get loud and I get annoyed about it." I joke a bit while she sits with me at the table while moving over a jug of water to fill a cup. "As for this, here. What do you think? I don't think I did the windows quite right."

I ask curiously while showing her the page I've been drawing on. She looks at it for a moment and smiles wider, "It looks great. I, well I'm not really a good artist, can't help much here sorry." I wave her slight nervousness off. "It is really good though, where did you learn to draw like that anyway?" Always full of questions isn't she?

I shrug a little. "I've been drawing for most of my life actually, so I never really learned from anywhere. Although, I do have a friend who's better than me, he helps sometimes." I explain and start to relax more, having a friend to talk to helps, even if she's not a close friend. "Anyway, how have you been? Princess keeping you busy?"

I remember Celestia mentioning something about upping her work after the Summer Sun Celebration, finals I think. She gives me a slightly tired look that makes me chuckle, she gives me a little glare in return. "I'd like to see you try. Yes, I also had to come to the Gala, I was hoping to study for my tests." She mumbles a bit and I laugh as she goes a little more wide-eyed. "Not that this is bad or anything! It's just..."

I nod in agreement as she trails off. "I'm the last pony you need to make an excuse for, if it wasn't for- Well, let's just say a friend gets me my ticket each year and they might get... Pranky." I reveal the truth in the hopes of recovering from my misstep, I really don't like having to juggle truth and lie.

She looks curious but her ear turns at the end. "Pranky, is that even a word? I think I know what you mean though. I know somepony who really likes to pull pranks, she's... I don't know, persistent?" She looks for a word that doesn't seem insulting and I have to hold in a laugh.

I'm pretty sure she means Cadance, and I have the perfect word for her. "Well, at least you don't have to deal with my friend, they are ruthless." I joke about Cadance and laugh internally at the unspoken joke. I close my sketchbook after finishing my drawing. "Well, I'd like to not spend all my time here, want to join me in the art gallery?"

I would rather have somepony to talk to and even with things remaining a tad bit awkward, Twilight is still fun to talk to. She raises a brow, "There is an art gallery?" I chuckle and she looks a bit embarrassed. "Well, how was I supposed to know, ok!? I thought this was the, The Gala." She motions to the large room and keeps a somewhat quiet if high-energy tone.

I laugh fully at her defense but don't take it too far, no need to make her feel bad instead of embarrassed. "Fair enough, it took me two years to realize the same thing. But you didn't really answer my question, maybe I should have added some spell formulas to keep your attention." I use a joking tone to tease her.

She just pouts a bit. "Yes, I think it'd be nice to get some air at least, and maybe you could?" I chuckle again as she actually takes me up on my teasing offer.

"Why not, you know anything about healing spells? I think you mentioned learning something like that not long ago?" I ask while leading her through the increasingly busy party. "I myself have a pretty big interest in healing in general, I even spend some of my free time volunteering at a hospital."

She perks up at the change in topic and nods to my question before stopping abruptly and she looks surprised. "You volunteer at a hospital? Why? I-I mean that's amazing and very kind of you to help ponies like that, but why?" Her tone has curiosity to it and I knew she wouldn't let the topic slip past.

I wanted to bring this up with all my friends, and Twilight was the only one who didn't know, and it makes a half-decent topic. "Thanks, as for why? I've always liked medical texts and healing spells, I enjoy learning about them, but getting to actually practice can be difficult. So, I volunteer."

She looks intrigued, but gives me a slightly odd look. "That sounds a bit, messy, aren't you grossed out? Also, your talent is for magic right? I mean, doesn't doing that seem, limiting in some way?" Her tone is primarily curious, and I would be a bit insulting if she wasn't genuinely curious.

I shrug a little. "It depends on the day, but I've seen a lot of messy scenes, and no not really. As for my cutie mark? I don't think that really matters all that much to me. But enough about me, what have you been studying recently?" I can tell she's a bit stuck on the cutie mark part.

It's a part of life in Pony society, many different beliefs hover around cutie marks but a popular one is simple, You are best at your talent so why do anything else? I don't give a fuck about that, I would have done the same things in this life even if not having my talent would make it harder.

She looks like she wants to debate me and keep talking about it, but that is cut off when we enter the art gallery. It distracts her from the topic, "Oh, wow! How did I not know about this?! Oh! I've seen something similar to this one, where though?" She gets excited and I'm able to avoid the topic, I don't think she'll be learning that lesson for a while yet.

One thing I've learned about Twilight is that she can be very stubborn, especially when she wants to be right. Honestly, I don't know how to help with that, I'm not even sure if I can. Convincing ponies with the right words is far off from any skill I have, any attempt from me would probably involve many colorful words. So I just drop the topic or concede to her point, it keeps the peace in our small friendship.

She walks over to a painting of a forest and looks it over curiously. "I wonder where I saw it? A museum, or maybe a private collection?" The upside to dealing with Twilight is she can get distracted if shows something new or interesting to her. She turns back to me a bit sheepishly. "S-Sorry, what did you ask?"

I chuckle again and look at the painting. "I asked what you've been studying, but now I'm curious where you've seen a private art collection. Either way, I've spent some time looking into different magical creatures, and it's proven very interesting. Did you know a Phoenix can make their fire act like actual fire?" I move our topic along and ignore the previous part of the conversation.

She tilts her head a bit and seems to make a mental note of that. "Creatures? Wait, they can? Hmm. The Princess has been having me learn about Enchantments, it's been so boring?" I raise a brow and she waves her hoof a bit. "W-Well, it's interesting magic! But come on, spells are so much more fun to learn." She complains a bit.

Now this is a topic I can happily argue over. "Maybe, but spells are also very fragile, I'd like to see a spell last more than a few days without costing a stupid amount of magic. I personally prefer enchantments, I find the process of laying spells into an object and creating a form of stable magic enjoyable." I flaunt my preference fully.

She sighs a little. "The Princess says the same thing, but it is so, slow! I have to spend so long writing out the matrices." She complains and I raise a brow, she notices and elaborates, "She insists I do it with runic magic. It's supposed to make me think about how and why the spell is the way it is, and supposedly how to change it." I nearly laughed a little at that.

I've told Celestia in the past that I often stare at a spell matrix to come up with ideas on how to modify or improve the spell. It seems Celestia took that as a good lesson, something I can agree with. I nod in agreement, "I can see how that would be useful, well, we still have some time, want me to show you a few drawing tricks to help?" I offer and her ears perk up.

Her smile is all the answer I need.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

This will be continued, have a good night.