JUN 30 Saturday.

I slowly look through the documents in my hooves as I sit inside the pavilion at Gaia's Eden.

I stop reading for a moment and smile a bit at the memories of Celestia's birthday. Despite how it could look from the outside, it was a fun time and I did enjoy the day. Celestia and I spent an hour entertaining foals before she had to go and I just headed home.

I did get a rather enthusiastic invite from Magree to come back and perform again any time I wanted to. Turns out the combination of me confusing them with card tricks and my magical senses, along with Celestia's illusions, were very much appreciated by the foals.

I wouldn't be opposed to going back either. Sure it's not something I'd do every day but I found their happy faces to be a good distraction and break from my normal life. By the time we left, Celestia looked beyond content and pleased, so I guess I did something right.

Entropy ended up joining in as well, mostly by flying around and retrieving the cards when I called them out and guessed them correctly. She would let out a caw but keep it gentle so she doesn't scare them before plucking the card away with a quick dive and delivering sweets. I didn't give out too much, but I let several foals who looked like they could use some cheering-up win.

I still feel a bit weird about accidentally sending us on something so similar to a date, but I go out with my other friends so I can't see much of a reason why this is any different. Speaking of my friends, we have a game night tonight and I've been spending my time researching and working on a few things.

After my talk with Celestia, I ended up finding out what charity I'd need to send bits to, which was actually easier than expected. I just asked a random caretaker if they had anything like a pamphlet, and they did, and from there it was an easy trip to the bank to have the funds transferred anonymously.

I did end up waiting a few days as I didn't want to tip them off too much, and as far as I can tell it won't be tracked back to me easily. And if it is then anypony looking will just find an orphan giving back to the place that raised him, a completely normal thing to do and easily ignored.

The other thing I've been looking into is the tests Blue Stone mentioned a while back. It's all held in one place but it's really two different kinds of tests, one to become a nurse and the other an apprentice healer. The second requires some more explanation of what healers actually are and what they do.

I knew healers were basically magical doctors, but that description really doesn't paint a full picture. It was easy to find a few books on healers though and I've spent the last week reading through them to see if the profession interests me. It did not take long for me to become interested.

The health care system in Equestria can roughly be divided into a few professions and a lot of sub-professions under those. Nurse, healer, doctor. All of these have many specifications under them and there are less well-known professions as well, but this is enough for some context.

Nurses mostly support healers and doctors along with taking care of patients, they need to know some basic healing spells and have some medical knowledge but it's not that hard to do. Doctors need to know a lot more healing spells and a much larger amount of medical knowledge, that heavily depends on their specialty though, things like a surgeon or dentist are obviously different.

Then there are healers. A doctor only really uses healing spells when needed as a fallback, relying more on practical means to heal others. A healer only uses healing magic and has less practical knowledge than a doctor, allowing them to focus solely on their magic.

Why do this though? Why not just have doctors learn this as well and combine the roles? A few reasons. One the average Pony takes too long to learn both sets of skills, it takes decades to master one let alone both. It has been done before but it is exceedingly rare and not something most shoot for.

Second, not many Ponies have the skill in magic needed to become a healer. You need a large amount of magic reserves and also need to learn many complex spells to heal many different things. And if you have that skill in magic why not go into a more lucrative profession like enchanting or a different craft? It's not the first thing that comes to mind, so fewer Ponies go into the profession.

Third, you need magic to become a healer, by default that rules out the vast majority of Earth Ponies and Pegasi. In the end, there are simply few Ponies with both the interest and the skill to become a healer, and that's amongst unicorns in other tribes even less so. But healers are very much needed and valued as they can be irreplaceable.

Because the requirements are so strict the vast majority of healers are very skilled at what they do. They can heal wounds that would take weeks normally and stabilize patients on the brink of death faster than any doctor ever could. The hospital I volunteer at has one of the very few Master healers and they are instrumental to operations there.

As an example, I can think of the very burnt Pony I saw a while back. I didn't work on them but I found out later by reading their file out of curiosity that they had actually been very near death when they were brought in and no doctor could save them.

They just didn't have the time. The patient had massive blood loss along with extremely severe burns to their throat and face, their forelegs were nearly burned off completely and there was apparently even bone showing. Though that last part lacked detail in the file, I think the Pony writing it got uncomfortable. On a side note, I can actually look at patient files, but only if I do so to ask questions about the procedures done to save them and learn new things, something I do on occasion.

Without that healer, they would have died, that Master healer must be impressive to stabilize them in such a condition. After they had stabilized the patient the doctors mostly healed the skin and some flesh, the healing would just be wasting magic to heal something the doctors can do just fine. This is another reason healers are so valued, they don't need much if any equipment and can be deployed somewhere basically instantly.

A healer can arrive and start healing Ponies immediately, that speed is a literal lifesaver. Healers can also go to isolated places to heal others quickly and without needing to bring equipment that would slow them down. That's not even adding in that the Equestrian guard loves having healers. Somepony that can get a guard back up in minutes is a massive advantage and highly valued.

This all leads me to the paperwork in front of me. Two days ago I was given the forms I'd need to fill in if I wanted to take the test to become an Apprentice healer or nurse, and I'm seriously considering becoming a healer. Healers are always in short supply and you can never really have enough of them so they have a few more freedoms than others.

As a healer, you are given a license to practice anywhere you like in Equestria. There are laws and rules of course for things like a dead patient and many other situations, but overall a healer can go anywhere and heal others. The main limitation of this comes from the license you have.

There are four ranks and they are the same as casting ranks. Apprentice, Journeypony, Master, and Grandmaster. An apprentice can only heal non-life threatening wounds unsupervised by a doctor or higher rank healer unless it's an emergency.

Journeypony can heal most wounds but aren't allowed to open a practice of their own, like a small healing clinic. Masters can do that as well as heal anything they find wrong with a patient, there are less than a hundred in Equestria though, and most work for some organization instead of themselves.

There are only three known Grandmasters at the moment, and they all work for the guard. A Grandmaster can basically go anywhere they like. So yes this profession is very interesting to me now that I know what the hell it does, I really should have looked into it sooner.

Even just being an apprentice gives me some pretty big freedoms and being able to heal others of most wounds is an amazing thing. As a bonus, most healers are on contracts with employers and aren't completely beholden to their employers. I could work with the hospital without actually being a worker there.

The paperwork I was given also has a list of skills and spells I would need to qualify for the healer's test and a list of laws I must know in detail. On the practical side, I know far more than needed to become a healer, and on the magical side, I would just need to learn a few more healing spells to fill in the gaps.

I have been cramming the laws I've needed to learn but most of them are pretty straightforward. My time doing paperwork made them a lot easier to understand and most of them seemed to have been made to be very easy to understand. Probably to make the process of becoming a healer a small bit easier without sacrificing quality.

The more I learn about it the fewer reasons I can see to not go through with it. On top of everything else, I can also start using my healing magic to help others, mostly because I will have the skills of a healer and stand out less by using it. Actually, I've been testing my healing magic recently.

In the past when I was testing my teleportation and life magic I made a box filled with soil to keep large bugs in. I let them go after my initial testing but now I've filled it with a large amount of bugs. Mostly centipedes for their size and many legs that can be healed.

I've tested all the healing spells I could on them and as far as I can tell there are no side effects to adding life magic to my spells. Depending on how much neutral and life magic I add the effect can be boosted by different amounts. At one point I literally regrew every leg on a centipede along with some extensive damage to its exoskeleton.

The tests happen at the end of July but I need to send in the form less than two weeks from now. I still haven't fully made up my mind but I am learning all the knowledge I'm missing in case I do decide to go through with this. The only thing really holding me back is that I will get some attention from this.

An Earth Pony healer is NOT a common sight and Ponies will notice it. On the other hoof, it wouldn't stand out too much in my life from the perspective of others, I have been studying healing for years and volunteering for over a year. I'm just not sure, I still have two weeks to think about it though so I'm sitting on the decision for now.

I stare at the list of spells and mentally check another one off while closing the book next to me. I look over and notice that it's almost sunset. "Party time then," I mumble to myself, excited to see my friends again. Our last game night was over three weeks ago because we couldn't get the scheduling right.

I stand up with a stretch and watch Entropy chip down at me from above, sitting on the gem array that protects Gaia's Eden. She flies down and looks at the book's cover for a moment. "Med-dicle." She tries to read out a word that seems to catch her eyes and I scratch her as a reward.

"Medical. Good try Girl." I encourage her as she's been doing decent when it comes to reading. It's slow progress but over the past few weeks, she's learned quite a few basic words. We're far from done but progress is progress and she has shown the ability to comprehend words with some difficulty.

To be fair she's only five and a half, given time she might become more of a reader than me. I see her tail wag in excitement and smile, "Now, we need to get home. We have friends visiting, remember?" Another thing I've tried teaching her is time scales, such as the days of the week.

It's a simple but important skill and it lets me also give her some practice with math, if even just a little. "Friends?" She chirps in a confused tone before starting to count on her talons and chipping excitedly. "Sunday! Friends!" She mixes up the name but before I can correct her we both vanish.

I spend a moment in the Void, letting the peaceful silence consume me for a fraction of a second before appearing inside my apartment. I pet her again as she activates her illusion in excitement, "Saturday, not Sunday. And thank you." I give her a treat and move over to a cabinet where I prepare the sweets I'll be bringing today.

Maple said she'd be bringing pie so I decided to just make some peanut brittle. After the odd abomination of pine nuts and raspberries, I got a craving for real peanut brittle so that's what I'll be bringing along to Daisy's. I take down the plate and cast a spell to check the time, noticing that I'm almost late.

I spend a second grabbing the two games I bring and whistling to Entropy. She flies over and I walk across the hallway before knocking on the door. I only knock twice before Daisy runs over and opens the door with some surprising speed. Once the door is open I stop as I see Daisy's expression.

Calling it a wide smile doesn't really do it justice as she practically grabs me and pulls me inside what I'm quickly realizing has become a trap. I don't resist but give her a confused look, looking at the other two Ponies and seeing that Blaz and even Maple have larger-than-normal smiles. Daisy takes the plate from me and places it down as I finally speak up. "Ok, what happened? You are far too excited." I demand in confusion.

Daisy smiles even wider, somehow, and pushes me over to the couch. "What is happening? Oh, you know what is happening, mister!" She says as she pushes me over to a couch and all three look ready to interrogate me. "So, you going to fess up? Or do I need to start revealing embarrassing stories?" She demands as I grow even more confused.

I feel my ears pin back a little as my mind tries to come up with what they are asking about. Did they see Entropy? Shit, did they find out something worse? Did Daisy blab on accident and now I need to spill my guts and how they don't get angry for hiding things? "What? You can't just be vague with demands. Specify?!" I demand back as the sudden stress gets to me.

Blaz chuckles and smiles at me. "Daisy, we're all excited but give him room." For once Blaz is the voice of reason and that doesn't help my panicking mind. Daisy backs up a bit and I finally get an answer, "What she means Colt, is who was the mare you left home with a few days ago? Finally, find yourself a marefriend?" He asks in a teasing voice.

I feel relief and a new form of panic swap places to the front of my mind. Daisy gets impatient again and moves close to my face. "Who is she? Did you like going out with her? What's her name? Where did you go? OH!! Are you planning another date with her?" She rapid-fires questions faster than Twilight as I sit frozen in shock.

The situation is both better and much worse than I ever thought possible. I feel a blush force its way onto my face at her words and shake my head rapidly while fighting my blush. "N-NO! NO, it is NOT like that! She's just a friend! I was helping her celebrate her birthday!" I blurt out the truth as I'm too panicked to lie to them.

I see a look of realization from Blaz as he chuckles at my reaction. "Well, well. This is the friend you play games with then? Boo, go get her then Colt! By Celestia, from the way Daisy described her, she's a good-looking mare, and you can't tell us that blush is for nothing." My blush paints me red at his words and he starts to full-on laugh as I nearly cringe at the name used.

Maple just nods happily, keeping her small smile. "Good luck, you can do it." I glare at her and try to look up to hide my deepening blush at their relentless onslot. "So, what did you do to celebrate? That was the Summer Sun Celebration, right? You take her out to eat?" She adds and I look back down to glare harder as she smiles.

Daisy doesn't look the least bit perturbed and nods along. "Ya, what did you do?! That mare was smiling like the sun after you two left your apartment." She uses a slightly suggestive tone and I retaliate by throwing a pillow on the couch at her, missing by an inch. "That doesn't answer my questions, Shade, and I still have that one story when you first came to my office to work with me, you know the one." She teases me and makes a threat at the same time.

My blush gets much worse at the memory. To most Ponies such an event is hardly embarrassing, but she knows I consider it embarrassing and that's enough. From their looks and tones, I know I'm not getting out of here without answering them, and for a moment I even considered just teleporting away, but I crushed that thought.

This may be an embarrassing shit show, but revealing other things like that won't help. I know my friends and they will just take turns camping outside of my front door until I answer them, and that's if I got out of here without answering them. I glare at them all for a long moment, "Fine! But that's all I'm answering!! NO MORE!" I insist and that is enough to have Daisy back up a bit.

Daisy is bouncing from hoof to hoof as she waits for me to settle my mind with an impatient look. At least it's nothing too bad, but it does bring to mind my thoughts from before. I nearly had a heart attack because they said they knew something, I really don't like the way that feels and what it does to me.

I take a few deep breaths and try to relax, the game is over and I lost, the least I could do is lose with some grace. I sigh and rub my face, trying to force away the blush I have. "Her name is Sunny, no I'm not telling you her last name. And I held a small, birthday party for her." I say the last part in a reluctant mumble.

Daisy opens her mouth but I put a hoof over it and glare softly. "I said no more questions!" She shuts her muzzle. I take a deep breath and just get it over with. "We went to the park and then spent some time volunteering to entertain foals where I grew up. Yes, it was fun, no I don't know if we will do it again. And it WAS NOT A DATE." I insist but they all look unconvinced.

Blaz stops his laughs and nods sarcastically while grinning like a fool. "Yup, a private party, a walk in the park, and entertaining foals, definitely not a date." He says with a knowing look that I want to wipe off his face. "And considering that smile I bet she was just thrilled to spend time with you, and you seemed to have liked it as well." I use all my will to fight off another blush after hearing that.

Maple nods in agreement and Daisy just beams. "Fine, I did the same thing with stone. But I'll meet her one day." She promises and I face hoof in exasperation. "For now I'll settle for that adorable face that looks like a red balloon and is totally not attracted to that pretty white mare with the blue mane." She teases me more and I try to ignore her as best I can as Maple picks up the deck of uno cards.

I sigh and bury my face in the couch cushion with a groan as even Entropy starts letting out some amused chirps, being careful not to be too loud. I take my cards from Maple and glare at them all again as my blush finally goes down, "I will have my revenge, and it will be sweet." I treated them with a deadly serious tone

"Worth it! Go get that mare Shade. OH! You could invite her to game night!" Daisy proves too powerful and I feel my blush come back while I make her draw four cards. She keeps her smile and huffs, "Fine, but don't hesitate to come to us for advice if you need it." She uses a less teasing and more genuine tone.

I sigh and lessen my glare, not having the heart to be too mean when she's actually trying to be nice. This may have been an unpleasant surprise but at least they know now, fuck my luck. And they also respected my wishes and stopped asking more questions for the moment, so I can at least be happy about that, I guess.

I know more questions will come but it's nice to know they can restrain themselves. Maybe this would be a good test of if I can tell them other things? Maybe. I play another card and smile thinly. "Please don't, I will flood your apartment if you do." I give them a threat and they roll their eyes at me.

I settle in as Entropy snuggles up with me, my mind busy with the game and my suddenly tumultuous thoughts. All the while I try to ignore my three friends crafting theories about Celestia. :Fuck today... I don't care if it looked like a date, it wasn't! At least this is all over now. Wait... Cadance. FUCK!!! FUCK FUCK FUUUUCCCCK!!!!:

POV shift Celestia.

I move another form to the side and whistle a happy tune as I fill out the endless paperwork that needs to be done properly to keep things running. Enjoying the night air that blows in from my open bedroom window as I do so.

I cast a quick spell and copy the document in a moment flat, something I have done for a long time but not with such ease. I do wonder just how much time he has saved and cost me. The spells for paperwork and other simple inventions have made a large amount of work, but it has been cut down again by the added efficiency.

I normally finish my work half an hour earlier now, a true blessing and an amazing gift. I hope he is doing well, I did worry quite a bit after the wolf incident but he seems fine so far. At least fine enough to make my day and send me on an adventure I couldn't have ever predicted.

The party was a silly thing, but I loved it for that reason alone. To just be silly, when was the last time I did that? A few decades at least and that was much more tame. The park was also very nice, even if we spent only a little time there, the same with the walk through the city.

The best by far though were the foals, seeing and listening to so many pure souls having fun and enjoying life makes me feel, young. The opportunity to do something so small as making them happy is just so different, so removed from this all that it feels unreal.

The Princess Celestia entertaining foals, which would normally be a wall of paperwork and preparations just to attempt and it would also be far more controlled. That might just be the best gift he gave me. It seems I'll have to try quite a bit harder next year when his birthday comes around. It would be nice to make him just as happy as I was, but how?

He's a tricky Pony to get anything for and planning anything big is basically futile as I know he'd infinitely prefer something small. All that is for another day though, for now, I intend to do the same thing I did every night since my birthday. Smile and feel happy.

I can't seem to stop smiling, it has proven to be a tic that won't go away. No matter where I am I only seem to drop the smile when in meetings, through great effort on my part, and it remains when I am alone in my office and even when I walk through the hallways. I tried to be annoyed at him for causing this but I can't seem to do that either, not that I would if I could.

I know a part of me is excited, wanting to do it all again, but that must wait. I have work and responsibilities, but still, having a new possibility such as this available makes it all more... I'm not sure. I shake my head as the thought seems to stop at a dead-end. Looking up a moment later as a Pony knocks on my door.

I can already tell who it is, and I know that this will prove to be a fun conversation. I open the door and watch my niece practically slam the door open before quickly walking in and closing it. "Aunty!" She greets me in an extremely excited tone and smiles widely. "How did your birthday go?" She demands an answer as she walks over.

She had to attend a function in a distant city and in the end, only arrived back today. I smile at her and she raises a brow while looking at me with focused eyes. "It was fun, I had quite a good time," I answer shortly as I want to hold it over her, hoping to see her pout. "So, how was Manhattan? I assume-" That's as far as I get before she gets much closer.

She looks at me critically as if looking for something. "You look more than just happy. So, what did you two do that was so much fun?" She asks with a suggestive tone. Something I ignore as she often makes a game of trying to tease me.

I roll my eyes but keep my smile all the same. "A small party at his apartment, he even got birthday hats." I giggle a little at her confused and shocked look. I thought it would be harder to get a reaction out of her, it seems she really is excited. "Along with a walk in the park and spending some time volunteering to entertain foals, it was quite the day," I add the less humorous facts quickly as they probably won't give me much of an amused reaction.

Her shock deepens quickly. She sits there mouth agape for a moment before smiling more than I may have ever seen before. "A walk in the park? And entertaining foals?" She asks as if I'm joking, with me now the one confused at her odd reaction. "So, what you're saying is that he threw you a birthday party. And took you on a date?" She asks in a quietly excited tone.

I blink for a moment and give her a shocked look, but as the thought passes I can't help but realize how such a meeting looks from the perspective of others. I feel myself do something I rarely ever do, blushing in embarrassment for not seeing such a thing earlier and being clear with her. "What? No-" I hear my royal voice for a moment and move back in shock.

However, I'm cut off again as she moves inches from my face with a smile that seems impossible and a tone more focused than I have ever heard from her in her entire life. "Shhh, I can question him later, it is good to know he’s good with foals. Now." She gets even closer to my face. "Tell, me, every, last, detail."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 996

I needed a way to add the context around healers and didn’t have enough to finish the chapter, so you all got your wish, it might be short but it fits and I liked it. I ran out of ideas with Cadance though so no continuation this time, sorry.