APR 5 Thursday.

I look over the barrel of water and see the small one-inch copper flower sitting just above the surface, after a very long time my Copper Lily breeding project is somewhat done.

I'm still looking into things I can actually do with the Copper Lilly, and I need to find some water plants that I can crossbreed with it to improve its survivability. So far I've looked into such plants a little, other lily plants as a start but finding a good one and then getting a hold of it might take some time.

I leave the small metal flower alone for the time being and go back to my little shack, pondering what will happen today. It's officially my birthday and I'm now sixteen, one step closer to the start of the show and the beginning of so many problems. I guess it really depends on how much has changed with my actions.

Each change may not have been singularly massive but there have been several and many are widespread now, the changes at this point would be completely unpredictable and unknown. I shake my head and try to not think about all that today, I should be happy and not worry for once.

As I sit down and pick up the carving I'm still working on as my mind wanders to something I've been thinking about over the last several days. My little trip to the orphanage was an interesting experience, I found myself both enjoying it and feeling surprisingly little about it.

I really never thought of it as my home, but that's not important at the moment. It was interesting talking to Magree as an adult and listening to her talk about the foals and how the orphanage is run. We talked for about an hour before I decided to take my leave and I was given an open invite to visit again.

She ended up asking me surprisingly little as well, she mostly talked about the young foals and their antics, along with how things have been in general. I think she was just happy to talk to somepony, as for me I think I might visit again, who knows? If nothing else I could do something nice and donate, or something like that. Actually, how does that work?

Magree talked a little about the fact that the orphanage is run through donations but not how they get donations, it was an off-topic comment for something else she was talking about with little context. It did get me thinking that I could do something nice and help them out, it wouldn't exactly be hard for me and I have the bits. I think I'll run it by Celestia sometime to see what she thinks, if I do this she should have some good advice on how I should go about it.

As for why I would want to do that? It might seem sudden or abrupt, but even if I don't have the strongest feelings for the orphanage I still lived there for a long time. They took care of me and I wouldn't mind too much being kind and taking care of them in this relatively small way.

Also speaking of Celestia, I still have no indication of what she has planned. I never got a letter saying to stay away from Gaia's Eden so I've spent most of my day here observing the Timberwolves pack and working on a few projects, along with some training of course.

My training is going as normal, but I've also been experimenting and found out some interesting things about my method of teleportation. I've been trying to get the hang of teleporting myself while also increasing the Spatial Strings range and speed of formation, and I've encountered a few interesting problems.

My control over my magic is very good, but not perfect. When I use any type of magic there are small mistakes, they are so small though as to be inconsequential to me. However, while trying to form a one-hundred-foot-long Spatial String it suddenly broke at one point in the middle, which made the entire thing collapse in a chain reaction as the small section falling apart caused some Rebound and destabilized more of the Spatial String.

That's never happened before so it startled me and made me stop trying to teleport myself until I found out what was wrong. After a few days of experimenting, I narrowed it down to an issue of control. All those tiny mistakes are fine when I'm just casting a spell or making simple structures out of magic.

However, creating a large magical structure while keeping it stable is very hard, and those tiny mistakes pile up until they become a big mistake and then I have a problem. This isn't an issue of the amount of magic I have or need, my control is simply not good enough to keep everything stable and working without missing something, and once I miss one thing it can pile up into a bigger problem.

Training my control to be better is no easy task and not a quick process either. My control over my magic is something I consider my specialty, the amount of control I have vastly outweighs most regular unicorns and is even above skilled casters. Pushing it further to improve can be done but not through sheer force.

My only and best method for improving control is the very same as what I already do every day, create complex magic and keep pushing yourself to improve. As a result of this it seems my teleportation range is going to be fairly limited while using this method. After figuring this all out I tried to find the maximum length I could make a Spatial String before I'd encounter problems.

At a hundred feet long I can only keep it stable for a few seconds without any small mistakes, after that they will quickly pile up and cause problems. I also can't just fill the Spatial String with more magic as that only keeps it mostly stable, mistakes will still grow the longer the Spatial String exists even through that method.

At seventy-five feet the Spatial String can stay stable long enough for me to move things through it, but I wouldn't feel safe walking through it myself. The maximum I've deemed safe for me to teleport myself is forty feet, I could push to fifty feet but it seems unwise to put myself in something that could go wrong, so forty is my self-imposed limit for now.

Another small problem I've found is that my teleportation is not instant, the longer the Spatial String the longer it takes to move through it. This was expected but is more of a problem when it comes to Teleporting myself. When I push something through a Spatial String I add some momentum through space manipulation to move it through quickly so it doesn't waste magic by taking a long time, and thus making me have to keep the Spatial String around longer.

I also do this when I move myself through the Spatial String, mostly because I don't have anything to walk on and need to keep myself in the center of the tube. However, while I'm teleporting myself I have to brace and take the impact of that momentum I add when I exit the other side.

It's a trade-off, I need to move through the Spatial String quickly to not use too much magic or lose control of it, but I also need to not go too fast and hit something on the way out or trip. I may need to use this to escape danger one day and tripping is not a possibility I can allow.

The longer the Spatial String the faster I must go to get through it quickly. It's a balancing act of speed and safety, at the moment I leave a forty-foot Spatial String I'm still slow enough to be able to land without issue as long as I'm prepared,
a longer Spatial String will present more of a problem for me and are something I need to think about.

That's further down the proverbial road though, for now I'm just trying to master quick short-range teleports. Enough to quickly move out of the way of an attack or gain some needed distance. I've also been trying to merge teleporting into my fighting style, but I need a lot more practice with teleportation before I can even get close to making that a reality.

As I continue to carve I sense the familiar feelings of Philomena when she teleports, and not a moment later the fiery bird lands on my small table with a letter in her beak. I take the letter with some curiosity and give Philomena a few treats to enjoy while I open the letter.

Dear, Shade.

Come to the palace at three sharp, don't be late.

Signed, Celestia.

I raise a brow and smile at the very short but demanding letter. "I guess I don't have a choice then." I cast a spell and checked the time, only to see it's two forty-five. I laugh loudly at the sight. It seems I'm not even given much warning either, it's definitely one way to spring a surprise on me.

I am excited to see what she has planned this time, although I am a little disappointed it isn't happening here, it makes it so much more private. Still, a day at the palace seems like fun and they always have good food, and it will be nice to have another get-together with Celestia.

I leave my desk and notice my shadow shift as Entropy leaves it with a stretch of her wings, having woken up from her nap. "Good timing, we're going to the palace soon." She immediately perks up at the news and chirps excitedly while hopping around, only to stop when she sees Philomena.

I watch the two of them interact for a few moments before walking over to my shelves in my hut and picking up a notebook that I've filled up with information. After a few more weeks of work, this is the complete public version of the book on Dragons I've put together.

I still need some way to publish it, so for that I'm just going to pass it off to Celestia today, she should be able to publish it just fine and maybe get an editor. The book's name ended up being the hardest part for me to come up with, and in the end, I only made a half-decent name.

A small look into the Dragon Lands and the lives of Dragons.

Again, not exactly amazing, but it gets the point across and works well enough for Ponies to know what they are reading. I took at the notebook over for a moment before putting it away and gathering a few other things I may need for what is likely a party. Once I'm done I walk back over to the two birds and pick Entropy up before placing her on my back. "Time to go Girl, we have a party to get to," I say with some excitement.

She lets out a caw. "Party. Friends! Cake!!" The last word is fairly loud and I wonder for a moment when she learned that word while we both vanished from my small shack. A moment later we reappear inside of a familiar mail room, and I can sense a single guard outside, most likely waiting for me.

I look at Entropy and she's being a good girl, already having her illusion in place so nothing can be seen underneath. I have looked into illusions a bit more recently but those thoughts are for another time and place. I open the door and nod to the guard, "Lead the way." I say simply and they nod back before silently leading me through the palace.

I grow curious as I'm led outside and into the gardens. It's been a while since I've been here, but it is a very pleasant sight in springtime and a good location to relax. Eventually, the guard leads me to an enclosed area, tall hedges cutting off line of sight from all directions.

I can sense three beings inside and quickly take note of Cadance, from the amount of life magic and their size it can't be anypony else. I chuckle a little and walk into the secluded area as the guard takes up their post at the entrance. Inside is a large clearing, a few trees and bushes along with several flower beds.

At the center there are three ponies sitting around and talking with each other, none of them having looked my way yet. I smile at the sight of Celestia, Cadance, and surprisingly Shining. It seems Celestia made it an actual party this time, not that I'm complaining, it is nice to see Cadance and Shining again.

Entropy flies off ahead of me and lands on the table as I walk over, all three ponies turning to look at me with happy expressions. "Hello, Shade, happy birthday. I hope you don't mind me inviting these two?" Celestia greets me with her usual friendly demeanor.

I do see Cadance and Shining from time to time, every month or so we meet up and I talk with Cadance before sparring with Shining, we may not see each other much but I consider both of them friends. I chuckle a little while taking a seat at the table, noticing a few gifts along with a cake. "I'm sure they would have found their way in regardless, nice to see you both, sorry I haven't visited recently." I apologize as the last time we met was before I went on my trip.

Shining just waves a hoof and smiles. "Happy birthday, Shade, good to see you too. Don't worry about it, you needed a break after apparently being in the Dragon Lands for FOUR WEEKS" He says with a joking and baffled tone. I never did tell Shining or Cadance where I was actually going for my trip, they just knew I would be away for a few weeks.

I turn to Celestia with a deadpan expression. "Really? You couldn't let me tell them? At least tell me how they reacted." I complained a little as I was somewhat excited to see their faces when they found out about where I went. My words get me a teasing smile from Celestia in return. "Well, that surprise is ruined. Hello Cadance, it's nice to see you." I move past the joke as I sort of cut her off to make it.

Cadance giggles a little at my reaction and nods. "Happy birthday, Shade, and she told us a few days ago. Although I guessed you went somewhere dangerous for a while because of how worried Aunty was." She blatantly teases us both and I ignore her as best I can. "Seriously though, the Dragon Lands, why?" She drops the teasing quickly in favor of getting answers to the obvious question.

Shining laughs a bit at his mare's teasing and nods. "Agreed, why would you go there? It's just about the most dangerous place you can go, let alone go for a vacation. We barely know that much about Dragons as well, who knows how they would react." He makes valid points, and both he and Cadance are confused as Celestia starts laughing.

I sigh and take out the notebook before passing it to them to look through. "Don't damage that, it's the master copy. I went because we know so little about them, I mostly spent my time there at a Dragon market or talking with Dragons I met to learn about them. They are actually a lot more relaxed than you may expect." I give them a quick explanation as I don't want to repeat all of that again.

Cadance and Shining sit head against head as they open the book and start skimming through it. "You are one brave Pony, seriously?" Shining says with a slightly defeated tone before looking at me with a raised brow. "Wait, they have markets?" I nod and he looks at the book with more interest. "I guess you have a point on learning about them, but still, really?"

I roll my eyes as he repeats himself and turns to Celestia. "See, look at what you did, now I have to answer questions instead of eating cake." she just giggles in response as I make myself comfortable by taking off my saddlebags and placing them to the side. "Whenever you two are done with that, give it to her," I instruct them and look at the three small boxes on the table curiously.

They all see me looking and Cadance passes the book over to Celestia. "I'd like to read that later, it was actually interesting. You really did go on vacation to the Dragon Lands to learn more about them, I'd call you crazy but I don't think that's a strong enough word for this." Cadance jokes about and I just huff in response.

Celestia looks over the book for a moment and nods with a large smile. "Oh, this is just the one he wants me to publish publicly." They both look surprised and curious. "The one he gave me is much more detailed, he even got a meeting with the Dragon Lord, he is a very thorough researcher and yes a brave one." She reveals rather bluntly like it's nothing, while knowing damn well it's not.

They both look at me shocked but Celestia just continues. "That's almost as impressive as him fighting an adult Dragon." I look at Celestia quickly and I realize she's taking her revenge over me worrying her for a few weeks, I just sag as she reveals my secrets. "What was it again, sixty feet from snout to tail?" She asked tauntingly.

I sigh as Shining and Cadance now look shell-shocked, staring at me, mouths slightly agape. I sag more and bump my head against the table a little as Celestia looks very slightly smug about her victory over me. "What? You deserve some praise, no?" Celestia taunts me more and I lift my head a little to give her a deadpan stare.

Shining looks me up and down for a moment, "Why the buck do I even spar with you? An ADULT DRAGON!! REALLY!" He looks both excited and completely baffled at the idea but seems to accept it without hesitation. "You really are a crazy stallion." He just starts laughing after that.

Cadance recovers later and gives me a more concerned look but keeps that damned smile. "Well, I know why Aunty was so worried now. A brave stallion going into the Dragon Lands in search of knowledge who ends up fighting a full Dragon! HA, you really are a storybook character. How bad did Aunty ground you after that stunt?" She asks in a teasing tone, not missing an opportunity like always.

I just sigh again and turn to Celestia with a small glare. "You know what? You can give them the report I made you on everything, and no more questions from you two, I'm focusing on my cake and gifts." I shut down the subject as I really do wish to just enjoy today and not deal with this stuff right now.

They can all see I don't want to talk about it and drop it, satisfied when Celestia nodded in agreement with them getting the report. "I'd love to read that, but go on, open them up." Shining encourages when Cadance nods. "An adult Dragon? How did you even?" He mumbles to himself.

Celestia moves the gift I brought over closer to me. "Consider that my revenge, now gifts. I hope you like them." She says in her normal tone and gives me a warm smile, I just smile back at her before ripping apart the wrapping paper and opening up the small box underneath. Inside is a small bag, I open it to find some dried leaves and turn to them curiously.

Shining nods in answer to my silent question. "That would be me, you've said you like cooking so I got you some spices. I'm not even sure what it's called, it's got a nice tang to it somewhat like lemons though, but is also a little sweet." He explains as I try and piece and fail to recognize the flavor.

I smile and close up the bag happily. "Thanks, I can always use new flavors to cook with. And it can be fun trying to find out what it is as well." I am curious what this is called and where I can find it, but I can try to figure that out another day. I move over to the next box and see it's a fair bit bigger, it takes me a moment to break inside and pull out the item.

It's a saddle, like a full-on saddle. It's more of a fashion thing than anything else but it can be helpful when dealing with really cold weather or when you want to tie things to it or drag heavy objects. It's maybe not something I'd normally get but I don't mind having it and I can easily tell it's very good quality. Cadance smiles at me, "There are also a few new books to read in there at the bottom, I hope you like it." She seems to get that it's not a perfect gift for me but I like it nonetheless.

I nod my thanks and smile at her. "I don't have one, and there's no harm in having one either, thank you." I look on the upside as it still means a lot to me that she got something she thought I could enjoy, even if it's not perfect, the books are nice too. I move the last box over to me, the smallest one by far, and I open it to see a single seed inside.

I take out a small slip of paper inside and read it. Prismatic Rose. My brow raises and I smile widely at the gift. This is a plant I've heard of before, a rare and highly valued type of slightly magic rose. Its magic comes from the fact that every flower is a different color, and there are an endless number of colors it could be as it is completely random.

Even on the same bush the flowers will be completely different. Each rose will be completely unique to every other rose, and that's why it has such a name. The plant itself has little use as it is just a normal rose beyond the colors, but I very much like this small gift. I give Celestia a massive smile. "Thank you, it's perfect."

Shining and Cadance both look at the slip of paper and I see Cadance giving us a look that shows exactly what she's thinking. Celestia also ignores her and nods down at me, "I thought you might like it, it is a rather lovely plant to have as decoration, they really are beautiful. Now, cake?" She offers and brings the large cake with my name on it closer.

I pretend not to see Shining looking at us the same way Cadance is and nod back to Celestia. "I'd love some."

time skip

I stare at Daisy as she sits across from me, Maple to my right and Blaz to my left, all of us around the small table in my apartment playing cards and enjoying some snacks. "Raise." I raise our small bet and Blaz matches it as the game continues. "You know today was a good day." I commented happily and continued to enjoy the small get-together.

After spending a few hours with Celestia, Cadance, and Shining I came home and relaxed for a while. I enjoyed their gifts and had a fun time simply hanging out inside of the royal gardens for a while. As for these three? Well, things have gone about how I expected them to.

They gave me a small gift consisting of a few spices and food recipes and we all settled in for a night of games and idle chatting. And since then we've talked and played and enjoyed our time together, they did all come early so the sun only set a few minutes ago, with me casting a magical light to keep things going.

Daisy smiles at me. "I'm glad you had fun wherever you were, I'm starting to think you might have a mare after all. I mean, you did spend a lot of time outside today." She teases me and I blush a small bit at the idea but hide it well enough to not be noticed while rolling my eyes at her.

Blaz chuckles and raises the bet again. "Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, but if nothing else we know he's been doing something. Maybe another crazy thing to train? Learning some new type of magic?" Blaz adds with humor as he reveals the last card for the round and we all show our cards. "Apples and bits!" He grumbles in frustration as Maple once again cleans the house.

I chuckle a little and he glares at me. "Oh, laugh it up, like you didn't make those cookies so she would take it easy on you." He accuses me in a completely unfounded way and I show it by looking appalled at the idea. Deep down though everypony at the table knew he was right, not that anypony would back him up, it's funnier if we don't. He looks at us and huffs after a moment, "Fine, another round, let's see if I can win at all tonight." He grumbles more but the happy mood stays unchanged.

I smile at him and make eye contact before raising the pot right off the bat, knowing full well he now has to match me at the start. He glares at me for a moment and sighs, "Happy birthday Colt, and buck you." He says deadpan only to receive a cookie to the face a moment later courtesy of a glaring Daisy.

There is a moment of silence before we all just start cracking up at our collective antics. It's good to have friends.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I was really tempted to have Celestia drop in, but I didn't want to continue this chapter. I was REALLY tempted though, I'll fit something like that in somewhere else though and it WILL happen eventually because the idea is too good not to use.

Also, the next Chapter will have things in it, maybe, possibly.