MAR 3 Saturday.

I watch silently as the sun rises into the sky outside of the window. The light casts shadows in the simply decorated room I've spent another night in.

After the small confrontation I had with Phelix it was admittedly relaxing to simply fish in front of a beautiful scene. After that, we had an entertaining lunch with Silvis and mostly talked for another hour when Thelis joined us for the meal. After lunch, I was left to my own devices for the rest of the day until dinner.

They all avoided other topics and seemed fine to let things lie for the moment being, although I did notice that Thelis was looking at me in a different way than before. I'm definitely not sure though, I haven't spent enough time around any of them to do more than guess what they are doing.

I think Phelix told him about our conversation and he was thinking about it at the time, I would do the same so it's not much of a stretch. As for myself, I feel the same when it comes to them, we may not fully trust each other but we are not enemies and that's enough for me, I'm just not sure about them.

I place the last item in my saddlebags and turn to Entropy, "You ready?" She caws softly and jumps on my back so we can get going. My train leaves early and I have to get there on time so I have to leave very early, I said my goodbyes last night at dinner so there is nothing left to really do.

I feel someone walking down the hallway as I leave the room and turn to see Thelis, I'm not massively surprised he'd try to see me off before I leave. This family is the type to be good hosts and from the smile he has it's clear that extends to saying goodbye. "Thelis." I give him a basic greeting and nod, not bowing as he has made it clear he doesn't care if I don't bow.

He looks a little tired, maybe he's not used to getting up before dawn? He looks surprisingly focused after seeing me though. He nods in return, "I can't have a friend leave without a proper goodbye, and someone needs to show you how to find the front door. Last time we had a guest get lost for nearly an hour because he couldn't find the exit." He chuckles a little at some memory and I take note of the excuse to walk with me.

I think something is still on his mind, but I don't question it and just nod. "I would, thank you. You have all been good hosts." I give him a simple compliment to be polite as I start following him. Talking to them has gotten me to be a bit more reserved after being in the Dragon Lands for a few weeks.

He nods politely in return and it's clear there is something he wants to speak about before I leave, So I wait for him to speak to ask about whatever is bothering him, but he doesn't. We just keep walking in slightly impatient silence before arriving at the front door to the Palace. I turn to him and smile, "It was a pleasure staying here Thelis, I hope to see you again someday." I give a basic but truthful goodbye.

He looks at me, his eyes focused slightly but showing some uncertainty. "And I hope to see you return again, my family has very few good friends left." He looks past me for a moment to the outside. "I have a question, a curiosity, what do you fear most?" His question is a little odd.

I have no idea why such a question would come to mind for him, it seems so very off-topic. Although I've had him and Phelix ask me many odd questions, they often ask about random thoughts that come to mind. It's something more common in Griffons than Ponies and while they don't always do it I find it a little refreshing.

Still, it's clear he's given this a lot of thought, far more than I would assume he'd need for such a question. After a few moments I give him an answer, "A lot, I guess? If I had to pick something? Large-scale conflict, it just seems terrifying to go to war, I almost didn't come to Griffonstone due to rumors of The Storm King." I give an answer that helps with my worries about the future, and it is a genuine fear of mine.

The Storm King will eventually come to Equestria and Griffonstone is almost directly in that path, having him even glance at the Storm King a little more seriously would be good. He looks thoughtful for a moment, I don't know if he got the answer he wanted. "Yes, war is far from a pleasant thing. That is all far off though, but still something to worry over. Thank you, goodbye, Shade. I wish you a safe trip home." He gives me a warm send-off.

Before I can turn away he continues. "And here, Silvis was insistent you have another of her drawings, she finished it last night. The wind knows she's not the type to wake up early." He holds out his talons with a folded piece of paper and I take the folded paper with a smile and another nod.

As I walk away his questions and reasoning still eludes me, why that question? I ponder it a little as I walk down the stairs and out onto the next lowest branch of the stone tree. I shake my head a little and decide to leave it be, sometimes life doesn't have some great mystery, sometimes it's just as it is.

I cast the Wing spell and a few minutes later I arrive at the train station just in time to go through a line and board the proper train. Half an hour later I'm situated inside my compartment as the train slowly starts to pull away from the station, leaving Griffonstone behind.

I take out a few of my notebooks to continue my work of organizing all the information I've gained over the past few weeks. Progress is about what I expected and to break up the monotony of the work I'm also slowly working on my invisibility spell. It is also going slowly, but soon enough I might have something to work with and expand on, the information on Dragons is my priority for the next few weeks though.

As I sort through the papers and notes I've made I glance over at the small folded piece of paper Silvis gifted me. I still have the first drawing and after a little searching, I'm able to find it in a less-used pocket of my saddlebags. Entropy sits with me on the bench as I unfold the first drawing. "Pretty." She states it like an irrefutable fact while we look at the drawing.

I nod in agreement and pet her. "Yes, she got fairly close to how you actually look." I did find the fact that her creative drawing was close to the real Entropy interesting. It is funny that the closest anyone has gotten to guessing Entropy nature without us telling them was a filly, even if it was unintentional.

I move the older drawing to the side and pick up the second one. Silvis is proving to be a good artist from the other things I saw her drawing yesterday and I'm excited to see this. "Let's see what the filly came, up, with... The fuck?" I whisper the last words to myself as we both stare at the drawing in confusion and shock.

I've seen several of Silvis's drawings at the meals we've shared, she's always excited to share and get my thoughts on them. She is pretty creative with the drawings, sometimes I can't really make out why she's drawing in a particular way, but she is just a filly and certainly thinks like one so that's not really out of the ordinary.

This is very different. The first drawing was just a rough depiction of Entropy on an otherwise blank piece of paper. This one is different, there is a colored background with a sky, a few mountains, and a rocky landscape, it's simple but very easy to make out. In the center, there is a small rock with Entropy sitting up on it and spreading her wings out.

All of this would be nothing but an interesting drawing from a filly and it matches what I saw her drawing yesterday, but it's too accurate. Entropy has always been under an illusion around Silvis, yet the drawing clearly depicts Entropy in her full shadowy glory. The detail of the loose wisps of shadow on the drawing is far too distinct to be anything but intentional.

Me and Entropy stare at what should be an impossibility. I try to make excuses in my mind, to make it so that this drawing makes sense in some way. As I look closer I see this drawing of Entropy is simply too accurate to be anything but the impossible.

I am reminded of the words of advice I gave Phelix a few days ago. After a long silence with my mind running through every possibility, Entropy speaks first, "Very pretty. But, how?" She voices the same question I have. It seems the royal family of Griffonstone is not really as simple as they seem.

How could a filly see past an illusion? Do they all know about it? My mind spirals a little bit at the idea that a secret I've kept so close could be revealed. I feel my body tense and my mind starts to race as my magic starts to act up slightly at my internal panic.

I feel my magic moving around as I prepare to cast a spell without any real intention of doing so. I'm pulled out of it by Entropy pecking me, "No! Safe!" She seems to see that I'm panicking as my breath quickens and quickly gets my attention. "Ok? Worry." She tries to keep my attention with her questions.

I breathed out slowly and rained my mind in, suppressing the panic that was rising within me as best I could. I nod after a few deep breaths, "No, but we'll be ok. We will." I say more to myself than her. She just cuddles up next to me and makes demands for attention to continue to distract me.

I take the moment to attend to her needs and try to regain my calm, to think things through rationally. There is no immediate danger, and I'm not even sure I'm correct. I make some tea and meditate while trying to calmly think things through, it seems I have a lot to think about while on this train.

time skip

MAR 6 Tuesday.

I slowly finish another batch of notes as the sun rises into the sky, my mind occasionally distracted from the work by a conundrum that still worries me. A single filly has caused me more panic and stress than the entirety of the Dragon Lands, combined.

Silvis, just what made you draw this of all things? What lets you see through the illusion I took so much time to make? Basically, how the fuck? HOW!!! It makes no sense that a filly is able to see through Entropy's illusion. If it wasn't for two separate incidences of it happening I would just brush it off, hell I did at first.

The first day on the train I spent time trying to think through every possibility and I eventually calmed down enough to focus on the facts. My reaction at the time was similar to what happened with Daisy and Philomena, I got truly scared and panicked for a while.

Entropy is the closest thing I have to family and I will NOT let her come to harm as long as I am alive. Her safety being jeopardized is something that made me full-on panic, luckily Entropy was able to pull me out of it. I feel a little bad about that actually, and also oddly happy.

I didn't think Entropy had noticed or understood enough to predict how I would react and put it together herself, she really is a smart girl. After two days I had mostly sorted out my thoughts and now I have a more measured opinion on the situation, which is that things are out of my control but not as bad as they may seem.

At first, I thought that this might be some form of acknowledgment from Thelis that he knows about Entropy, but I'm not sure about that. The first thing I thought about was how Silvis knew, I have no concrete ideas but my best guess is she can somehow bypass illusions.

I don't know if that's something to do with their family or something only she has, but considering neither Phelix nor Thelis have even hinted anything about Entropy's true nature. So for now I'm going to work off the idea that Silvis is the only one that has this particular ability.

Working with that I'm not even sure the adults know anything is different with Entropy, they might just think Silvis is making interesting art and being her usual self by gifting it to me. She also never mentioned it to me or Entropy, despite meeting us in private and not really having the best impulse control over her words.

If Silvis can see Entropy as she truly is, why wouldn't Silvis say anything? I guess it depends on what she actually sees, can she just see through the illusion or is it something else? These questions are something I thought about for a few hours before mostly giving up.

I can't ask as I don't even know what they might know and asking could reveal more. It puts me in an unpleasant situation as I have no idea what is happening, all I know is that one of my secrets has been revealed in some capacity, and that scares the hell out of me.

The good news is I don't have the closest contact with them and I can't see them gaining anything from revealing such a secret to others. I guess they could sell the information to another for something, but that would make an enemy out of me and I don't think they would do something like that.

In the end, I just had to sort of accept the situation, no matter how uncomfortable and on edge it makes me, I simply can't do anything about it. If nothing else it's now something I need to keep in mind when interacting with them in the future. I sigh a bit and Entropy coos to me softly as I gather my things in my saddlebags to leave the train.

Entropy has kept an eye on me and insists on trying to make me feel better about things, she really shouldn't need to deal with me and my paranoia. I scratch her and smile, "I'm fine. Thanks, Girl." I reassure her. I am doing better after the past few days. The train ride actually proved to be a good place to clear my thoughts and find my calm again.

On the flip side, I didn't get much work done on the information from the Dragon Lands, I was too busy worrying over a family of three. I step off the train and look around the train station for a moment before leaving to make my way home, if nothing else it's nice to be back home after so long.

I slowly hum a tone and decide to walk to my apartment, it's odd to be back on the streets of Canterlot after weeks in a landscape of fire and stone. When I arrive at my apartment building I take a moment to check my mail, finding nothing, not surprising considering I told all my friends I'd be on a lengthy trip.

I ascend the stairs and reach my apartment with no disruptions, and as I walk inside I immediately notice that things are dusty. There is a small layer of dust on everything, the plants seem fine though so Daisy seems to have done well it watering them. I take a moment to look around as Entropy practically dives into her birdbath with an excited caw after turning off her illusion.

While looking around I notice a letter left on my table, there is only a little dust on it. I smirk at the name signed on the outside, it's from Celestia and it's dated from two days ago. I pop the seal on it and read through it while walking around and casting a cleaning spell to clean up my home.

Shade.

I remember you saying the date of your return might vary a little, so I sent this letter a little early in hopes it would arrive first.

A few things have happened since you were away and while nothing is urgent we should meet. I am also very curious as to what you have learned on your trip. Unfortunately, I am a little busy with a small incident right now, two larger nobles are arguing over farming rights on some land and it's gotten a little out of hoof.

The area is not normally used for farming, but with a certain type of wheat, Rocky Wheat to be specific, it should make a decent area for crop cultivation. The area wasn't wanted before but the two closest nobles are now both trying to back the project and gain a share of any future profits.

It almost ended with them arguing with each other at day court when it was brought before me, and now they are trying to drag other nobles into it. I thought you might find the idea humorous, I will admit they did look like impatient foals for a brief moment before calming down.

You will probably be reading about all this in the papers soon enough though. I should be able to solve this shortly, so settle back in and we can talk on the twenty-first around noon, my house. Also please send a letter after you read this so that I know you are ok, I will fill your apartment with glitter if you don't.

Signed your friend, Celestia Solis.

I smile widely at the letter and laugh loudly at the way she describes the nobles. I didn't think I'd ever get to see Celestia describe nobles as impatient foals. I take off my saddlebags and drag them into my small workroom, before I start to unpack and sort everything I spend a few moments writing a letter.

Dear Celestia.

I am alive and intact. See you soon.

Signed Shade.

I could give her a bunch of information but it seems like she's already dealing with something and nothing I have to say can't wait two weeks. The most pressing thing is about Spike's true nature and he's happily lived for years without a problem so things should be fine.

I take the letter out of the workroom and place it down on the countertop while Entropy jumps out of her birdbath with a satisfied chirp. She really didn't have a good place to clean herself during our trip, I personally just used cleaning spells on us the entire time to stay clean.

She looks over to me and with a quick teleport appears next to the letter. "For friend?" She asks and looks down at the letter for a moment. I nod and not even a second later she's gone along with the letter. I chuckle and decide to take a well-deserved hot shower.

I take a long while to simply enjoy the feeling of the hot water and the feeling of being home after a long journey. By the time I've given myself a deep scrub and dried off I return to the main room to see Entropy look at me expectantly with the bowl she considers hers. "Lunch?" She asks and tilts her head a bit, having turned on her illusion to better show her features so she could beg for food more effectively, a smart girl indeed.

I smile at her and nod. "Yes, lunch. How about som-" My words are cut off as someone knocks on my door. I raise a brow and sense outside to see a single pony, from the body shape it only takes me a moment to recognize Daisy. I smile wider and glance over to see Entropy already wagging her tail.

I flip a switch under a plant pot to open the shield of my apartment around my door so Daisy can come inside if needed, I also spend a quick moment severing her link to the shield so she can't just walk inside anymore. I open the door to see the all too familiar sight of the lime green mare. "Shade! Welcome back." She says excitedly and reaches out to hug me for a moment.

I'm a little taken off guard but quickly return the hug before separating from her. "You would think I'd died with how excited you are to see me." I joke but quickly realize I chose my words poorly. :Fuck! I need to keep that in check, I do not want to deal with this shit: I curse myself out while watching Daisy's reaction.

She scrunches up her muzzle at that and shakes her head a little. "By Celestia, I hope not, and I won't have you mentioning the possibility around me." She takes it with good humor but clearly doesn't see any amusement in the words. "Can I come in?" I nod and step to the side to let her inside.

I move over to my table and sit down with her to talk about everything. "So, where did you end up going? I know you said you'd start at Griffonstone and maybe travel around, get to see any other cities?" She dives right in and turns to Entropy when she jumps onto the table. "Well hello beautiful, did you enjoy your vacation?" Daisy greets Entropy with the same excited smile.

Entropy chirps happily and sits down on the table to listen to us, I smile and feel comforted about being around a friend after so long. "I spent most of my time there actually, I did travel down the coast a bit, I even saw the Dragon Bridge, it was certainly something to look at." I start off with a mostly blatant lie.

When I left for my trip I told them I'd be spending most of my time in Griffonstone and maybe visiting a few other nearby cities if I decided to. I smile and glance at my workroom before standing up, "That reminds me, I got you all souvenirs." I move into my workroom for a moment and grab an item from my saddlebags before bringing it back and placing it on the table in front of Daisy.

I bought gem carvings for each of my friends from Aurora. The one I placed down was a four-inch emerald carved into a Manta Ray, like all of Aurora's carvings it's a little rough but well made. Daisy blinks at it for a moment and smiles wider somehow while picking it up and looking it over. "You bought a gem sculpture for a gift, and got scammed on the detail work?" She asks tauntingly.

I stare at her for a moment before rolling my eyes with a chuckle as she giggles. "Laugh it up, there is a good reason it looks like that." She raises a brow. "Some Griffons trade with Dragons in the Dragon Lands, apparently for cheap gems. That, was carved by a Dragon, likely with their claws." I reveal with some smugness.

She looks confused before laughing more, but I just keep my smug look. "Wait, you're serious?" I nod and point to a few points where you can see some small scratches on the carving that are claw marks. "Ok first, I love it no matter the quality." She smiles happily at the gem and holds it up to look at it in the light. "And second, you find the most awesome and odd gifts." She adds, sounding completely serious.

I chuckle at her dead-serious addition. "I'm glad you like it, I think everypony else will like them as well. And while I'm technically not completely sure they were made by a Dragon, it seems likely. Every merchant I asked about said they did exist and that was repeated in a few different cities." I explain telling a half-lie.

She tilts her ears a bit and nods after a moment. "I would have never thought a Dragon of all things would spend time carving, I mean I guess they have the time for it." She seems more disbelieving than anything and I can't blame her, Ponies are woefully uninformed about Dragons, just another reason my trip might do some good.

She places it down and looks up again. "So did you actually enjoy your trip? Or did you spend all your time in a library reading anything you could find?" She teases me again and I just give her a deadpan stare. "Good, you needed an actual break." She says seriously.

I ignore that last part as I did a lot of things, an actual break may or may not have been part of that, I'm certainly not saying. "I had an interesting time if nothing else, it was fun at points as well. Now, what did I miss in our ragtag group of brave librarians?" I ham it up and enjoy the joking and relaxed atmosphere.

Daisy smiles widely and doesn't miss a beat. "I'm getting married." She says it so seriously I can't tell if she's lying. I wait in silence for a moment and my face slowly shifts to shock as she keeps her same smile. My eyes go wide and she starts to laugh, causing my surprise to be wiped off of my face. "I got you! Welcome back, Shade, we missed you so much." She says with a far too cheery tone of voice.

I cast a spell to throw a marble-sized ball of water at her, one that barely misses, much to her amusement.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I thought using the long train ride as a way to speed up Shade's processing would fit decently, maybe it takes away from the event but I didn't feel like I wanted to end this trip on him just lost in thought about his worries and if I didn't speed it along that would have been the whole chapter.

Finally, this eighteen-chapter arc is over, all that for less then six weeks in the story. Wow, that went on longer than I thought it would, it was fun to flesh out the Dragons so much and I feel like I did them well in how I built them up as a species and collective.