SEP 16 Saturday.

POV Celestia.

I watch Shade move the chess pieces back into place as he resets the game quickly. Six pieces at a time in fact, "Developing that field of yours more?" I ask to change the topic to magic so we can move away from the serious things for the time being.

He smiles a bit and does what he does anytime I show interest in his achievements, and downplay things while also making himself more impressive. "It's not my field actually, that still has a hard limit. I've found that space magic doesn't have such a limit, It's still growing." He says that like it's the most normal thing in the world.

From what I understand, and from what he's told me. He is pulling on the space in complex ways to move an object, that still feels odd in a way, magic is ever so creative though. Still, to do such a thing with six objects at once while being that accurate is equally as impressive if not more so.

I smirk down at him, but not as far down as I do with most other ponies. "That is much more interesting then, I still don't entirely understand how that works. Empty space is empty, manipulating it seems like a contradiction." I get the idea, but it still sounds like nonsense.

He just shrugs a bit and moves the first piece of another game of chess. I return my attention to the shortlist he passed me a few moments ago that has some interesting ideas on it. They aren't that complicated, mostly theories on the Changelings, but also some suggestions for preparations.

A few of them are odd. "Interesting theories, they need a little more thought though. But, Improve gem production, increase document security, and improve food security. This is a little unclear though, I may need some context on these." I read them aloud with a slight smirk and look back at him while trying not to giggle a bit at Entropy as she sleeps atop his head.

He raises a brow and nods slightly careful to not trouble Entropy. "Fair enough, gems are needed for just about everything I can make to help in this situation, they will be an integral part of any conflict that happens. So get more, I'd assume we have a good amount of funds from all the trading my inventions have brought in, so if there is some left work on this quickly." He advises bluntly.

I tilt my ear a bit and nod slowly before making a mental note about that. "We do have a rather large influx of funds from the last three years, and it's only increasing. I'll look into it, maybe subsidies for a few new rock farms." I voice my own thoughts so he can continue to advise on them.

He smiles and continues. "The other two are much simpler, if this war does happen infiltration and sabotage is likely. And if it was me? Food and information are the first things I'd hit, burn down every record building and crop field." He chuckles a bit at the end, seemingly finding some humor in the idea.

He continues after moving another piece. "You can't exactly pay others or collect tax if every record office burns down in one night. It's not like Changelings would need them so they could just burn it all indiscriminately. Same with bank records, nothing causes chaos like nopony knowing how much money they have just lost."

I raise a brow a bit at the seemingly simple plan to burn a government from the inside out he just came up with. He's not wrong, far from it, he's entirely correct that such a thing would be a nightmare to deal with. The possibility of some officials deciding to manipulate things in the chaos would also be a massive problem.

If all the records are burned in a span of a few days then nopony would be able to accurately say who owns what or why, and a census can take years to do accurately. It would be a disaster, and they aren't part of our system so this wouldn't affect them. I sigh a bit, "Great, now I need to create protocols and backups for every document storage facility, you just pile work on me don't you?" I glare down a bit without heat as while it's more work for me it's work I'm glad to have.

It's better to know about this now and prepare than to be caught unaware. He smiles, "Better now than later. Food is something I might be able to help with more, I think I still have some notes about better food preservation. That might take a while to implement though, and take even more gems." He voices my thoughts accurately and comments on another small thing to help further.

I can't help but laugh a bit at that. Because of course, he's already looked into that, he never seems to actually rest. I am a bit glad he actually quit his previous work, it took up a lot of time on top of the training he does day in and day out. Not to mention all the things he invents on the side.

He does the work of several dozen ponies with his inventions alone, but that's just who he is. "How is your volunteering going? Last we spoke you were talking about cleaning wounds I believe." I bring it up and move the paper to the side for later, I think it's best we fully move away from that topic for the time being.

I can tell he knows I'm changing the topic, and even though he's still thinking about it he follows my lead. "Well, mostly more of the same. Sewing ponies and casting a few spells to speed things along, I'm also doing more with herbs and some chronic conditions. I've definitely learned a lot, even if the ponies there give me looks as well." He grumbles out that last part.

I can't help but show a small bit of pride, he never stops. With that determination to improve and help others without pause, he's been helping others for years with little recognition. I do hope he finds more of that in this new venture of his, he deserves it. "You never cease to amaze me, you know that?" I compliment him and giggle a bit at the slight blush he gets.

He is far too easy to compliment. He deflects my words with a slight eye roll and I take another of his pieces on the board. I try to contrast the bashful and embarrassed expression I see on his face to the look he had earlier, the same look that shook me a little bit, not that I'd let him notice.

When I mentioned ponies going missing I saw the anger he held, and it is not misplaced I was angry as well. But when I speak of my ponies being taken I feel an anger of indignation and worry that blends into my concern over other matters. In fact, I find most ponies react to such things with worry and fear and much less often with anger, so we are outliers in that way as well.

But his look? That same look rests in him hidden just out of sight, it's so very different from the anger I've seen before. Few have the experience I do, most would not recognize that look in his eyes. I've only seen it on rare occasions in other races, and in ponies very rarely, but I recognize it all the same.

What drives him to have such a look? What hides there that demands such a look? A look that shows not just anger or rage, but a silent promise of something right below the surface, glinting at consequences unspoken.

A look promising only one thing, retribution.

POV shift Shade.

I move and look at the board as the game continues, with me losing of course. But it gives me time to think about the situation more, and what a situation it is.

I am glad Celestia took my suggestions seriously and will be making some plans for them. Dealing with the Changelings is going to be a massive undertaking, and we'll need to prepare as much as we can. With that in mind, I change the topic and bring over the stack of papers I gave Celestia earlier.

She looks curious as I flip through the papers and bring out a few specific pages before putting the rest back. "No matter how we go about this, we'll most likely be making a lot of my new inventions, so I've made some protections." I move over the information relating to my topic. "I don't think it's enough though, what do you think?"

She reads through it quickly. "Hmm, creative as always aren't you? This will prevent a lot of tampering or anypony trying to easily make their own. But it is a bit drastic, the gem will probably get ruined and the collateral damage would be, very messy." She scratches her foreleg with her hoof before nodding. "I can think of a few ways to get around such a spell, not easily but it is definitely possible."

I smile and take out some paper from my saddlebags. "At a minimum, we need to hide the Love Runes Runic Context, but I'd like to just encode the entire thing. It'd make things a bit harder to crack and it would take some time to do. We could also heavily restrict the production to secure areas and ponies." I explain with a relaxed mood while putting down my teacup.

She smiles and chuckles a bit. "Like I said, you amaze me." I ignore my slight blush once again. "Encode it? I've seen similar things with a few spells, and particularly paranoid ponies." I roll my eyes again. "It is a good base considering it doesn't cost us anything, but I think I have just the thing to improve this." She takes out some paper from under her wing and I try to once again sense how she does that.

"Not space magic, but they are physically there? An invisibility spell? No, that doesn't fit." She gives me a slightly smug look while not saying anything. "Fine, keep your secrets for another day. So what miraculous spell do you have to burn my feeble works to the ground." I say sarcastically.

She huffs a bit and passes me some paper she wrote on. "I'll need to look into the exact spells again, and you may actually want to make one of your own while we prepare for production. An Anti Scanning spell should fit perfectly, it draws varying amounts of magic to prevent scans or Enchantment Revealing spells." She again acts a bit smug in retaliation for my tone.

My brow raised higher and higher as I read over some of the information she wrote down. It seems to just be something she remembers off the top of her head, but it looks like just the things we need. "Yup, completely upstaged my work." I laugh and commit the information to memory.

She drops the slightly smug look and I continue. "I'll definitely need to study a few of the spells, and improve them. But I'm going to guess the runes used in these spells aren't well known?" she nods. "Perfect, it will take away some magic from the love-gathering spell but that's worth it."

A thought strikes me a moment later. "Wait? Do these spells normally interfere with other Enchantments from being added after this spell, or just scanned and seen?" I curiously ask while getting an idea I might be able to work with.

She thinks for a moment. "The spells themselves are not common simply due to lack of need, another small thing to slow down anyone trying to learn our secrets. Again I'll need to do a little research, but I believe it depends on the specific spell, some do and some don't. Why? Are you about to shock me with a new invention?" She asks playfully while I reread through the information I was given.

I nod slowly, still thinking it through. "Nope, just production streamlining. I'm definitely making my own version then. We can teach some ponies how to enchant the anti-scanning spell into the gems and then take them to be enchanted with the Love Gathering spell, another thing for the pile." I reason and start to make some notes on the paper.

I take Entropy off my head finally so I can fully turn my head down to the paper. She smiles, "I suppose it wouldn't be hard for you, we really are just piling it up, aren't we? Hmm, if you link the Anti Scanning spell into the spell you have to destroy the enchantments you won't need it to scan for itself and could save on some magic." She adds while stretching one of her wings a bit.

I immediately made a note of that. "Good point. I also need to make something more convenient to store and move the love magic we gather without using medium gems. That should be easy though, just a small gem and an emotional shield with some scanning spell for targeting should be enough." I ramble my thoughts to see if she has more ideas, I spend a few minutes writing more notes while glancing at the game board.

She leaves me be and pulls a few crackers out from under her wing to spoil Entropy while I work. I finish and notice her feeding Entropy, "You have snacks under there? That's just unfair." I complain with a smirk as Entropy devours another plain cracker. "Not that she'd agree with me." I chuckle a bit.

Celestia gives me a slightly annoyed look. "I'm not the one who sent their bird into my office while I was working, I had to send for some treats to get anything done without her asking me questions." She gives me a deadpan look and huffs a little. "The next time she showed up unannounced I decided to be prepared."

I put away my finished notes and just laughed. Several times when me and Cadance would work on the Love rune I'd send off Entropy to go to Celestia's office to see Philomena. "I'm so proud of you." I reach out and scratch Entropy while reaching into my saddlebags to give her another treat.

"In my defense, Philomena has broken several things in my apartment, they play a lot," I say through my laughter. I look around for a moment. "Actually where is Philomena? She's not normally one to miss out on a playdate." I notice her odd absence.

Celestia shrugs a little. "I'm not sure, sometimes she has a mind of her own. She wanders off for a day or two before coming back. One time she was gone for three days and I got a bit concerned, she was inside the palace pantry eating herself into a stupor." She giggles a bit and I snort slowly succumbing to my laughter again. "That is also why guards are ordered to check it every evening."

I lose my fight and break down laughing again while Entropy looks at both of us. "No, friend behave." She defends Philomena much to our continued amusement.

I recovered after a moment. "At least your bird isn't smart enough to realize she can just become a shadow to get inside the kitchen cabinets. She got a full talking-to after that one, and don't even get me started on the- Hey!" I'm cut off by Entropy flapping her wings and jumping on my head to nip my ear.

I roll on my side and she just decides to stand on me anyway while her shadowy form glares down at me, I can't tell for sure because of her form but it feels like a glare. "No! Be nice, no talk." She caws out in an embarrassed tone, a tone she has not used before. Despite being on my side I start laughing at her again. "No! Stop!" She demands as Celestia also can't hold in her laughter anymore.

After a minute of us laughing she ruffles her misty shadow feathers and hops off of me to sulk on the floor. I right myself and pet her a little with a large smile, "Oh, don't pout. You're a good Girl, we're just being silly." I try to improve her mood. "I never signed up to raise her, but I love it all the same." I joke a bit and continue to pet Entropy.

Celestia recovers from her own laughing fit and smiles down at Entropy before giving her another cracker. "I can imagine it would be, you've done a good job in raising such a good Girl." Entropy pretends to look annoyed but her tail wags at our words and the treat.

I look down at the board and move another piece. "You know, I did have another thing I wanted to ask about." She takes a few breaths to recover and nods silently. "Her band has a bit of a flaw, she can't take it into a shadow with her. I found out from a little testing that only something with shadow affinity magic can move with her, so I need to figure out how to apply that to her pretty little dress." I explain while pondering my next move and teasing Entropy more.

She raises a brow looking at Entropy. "Do you mind if I see your dress for a moment?" She smiles down as Entropy does as asked after a moment and stands up to take her band off. Celestia gently takes it and looks it over, "Hmm, interesting look. How does it have enough magic for the illusion?" Her curiosity shows quickly.

I give Entropy a proud look, she trusted Celestia enough to give her a prized possession, I'll talk to her about that later. "I got a smith to embed several tiny pure diamonds in mithril, and then coated it in Steel Wood," I explain as she casts a spell to reveal the enchantments on the band.

She studies them for a moment before dismissing them. "Hmm, an interesting illusion spell. As for your problem, there is one thing I can think of, but it is a bit complicated. Have you ever done a ritual? Because you may wish to read up on them a bit." I perk up at the question.

Rituals can come in small and very large forms, and while I've studied them I never did have a need to use one. "No, I know a decent amount about them though. You have a ritual that could help?" I question and take out my notebook to write things down. "It would certainly be interesting to finally dive into that branch of magic, with a little help," I say with excitement.

She gives me a knowing look. "It's a complicated ritual, and I'd ask you to let me oversee things when you use it, just to be safe. But the specific ritual is used to saturate an object in high amounts of a magical affinity to imbue it, that means beyond the ritual itself you need a source of shadow affinity magic." She looks down at Entropy.

She pets Entropy more. "That would normally be hard for a familiar to learn, but this beautiful girl is smart enough to do that part easily enough. You'll need to create the ritual by saturating the gem dust in shadow affinity magic and then activate it with the focus being this band." She passes it back to Entropy as we both listen to her attentively.

Entropy puts her band back on and chirps happily. "Yes! Do?!" She turns to me and I just nod with a smile. "YES! Thank, happy." She caws out to both of us and moves to sit in between Celestia's forelegs again.

Celestia smiles back. "You are quite welcome." She reaches out for my notebook. "Here, let me write down a few books to read, I'll also send you some books to read from my library." She says kindly.

I smile with barely hidden excitement. "Thank you. But I think it'd be more fun to discuss it, we have time and you have to know a lot about rituals right?" I ask seeing an opportunity to learn from a true master of the craft. The teacher-like look I get in return is all the answer I need.

She smiles widely. "With pleasure, now, where to begin?"

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

I did continue this, mostly because I thought giving Celestia's preceptive would fit nicely and Shade had some other things to ask about.

Not much else to say though, have good day you all.