NOV 8 Thursday.

I slowly turn the Diamond Dog's shoulder as I inspect it. He came in a few minutes ago with a dislocated shoulder and while that's something a doctor could normally do they were sent to me.

It's nothing complex or even that concerning, I can fix it with two spells in a few moments. However, this is my first time working on a Diamond Dog so I've been taking my time to make sure I don't mess anything up. "Well it looks to just be dislocated, I can move it back into place and heal it easily enough." I offer the male Diamond Dog as he watches me with curious eyes.

I have noticed that he's been rather focused on me since he came in, and as he opens his muzzle to speak I find out why. "Thank you respected healer." The tone has much more respect than I expected and I nearly raise a brow before controlling my reaction.

I remember something about healers in Diamond Dog culture but I can't remember it off the top of my head so I just nod back awkwardly and get to work. I first move his arm into the best position I can for this and cast a spell instantly, there is a small popping sound and a yip of pain from the Diamond Dog as his shoulder quickly moves back into place.

I think it's a little overkill to have a spell to relocate limb joints, but it seems to do the job well and I think it also helps prevent more damage if I remember the spell matrix correctly. I cast another spell to heal any remaining damage to the flesh and also cast a spell to scan his bones and make sure nothing is chipped or broken.

He seems fine and I nod before attaching the scan to a clipboard I've taken to carrying around with me as I work. He gives me a thankful look and a rather deep nod, I just nod back. "No pain then?" He shakes his head and I make it down before motioning to a nurse that's waiting off to the side. "Have a good day then." I give them a simple goodbye and start moving to check on Master Healer Clear Water.

She's resting at the moment as we had a few more extreme cases come in earlier and she went through a lot of her magic, to the point where I actually ended up helping with a lot of the smaller spells so she could focus her efforts on big ones. As I walk over I sort the papers on my clipboard and she watches me with focused eyes, something I ignore as she does it often.

I pass off the scan so she can look over my work and sit down on the small bench with her so I can rest as well. My body feels fine but mentally doing all of this can all take a toll on you. She reads through the paper quickly, "You move like a guard. Who trained you?" She asks abruptly and I turn to her maybe a little too quickly.

Questions between us often go like this, they are sudden and very blunt most of the time. I think for a moment about lying but Stone is a private trainer and I can't see too much of a reason to hide that. It would just make me more suspicious in the long run. "I've trained with an old guard for a while, mostly to defend myself if needed. It helps stay in shape too." I am casual about it and avoid going into detail.

She nods and looks over my body with critical eyes. "You sit up straight a lot, you are also very well built. The real thing that gives it away is the knees." I raise a brow as she starts explaining, which I do find a little interesting. "You bend them a little when walking, not really needed unless you are prepared to dodge something at all times." She reveals. "Not bad, it's good to know things like that in our line of work, some places you go can be far less friendly." She compliments me again.

She's not wrong, having them slightly bend even just a little helps move when needed. I nod, "That I already know, I've traveled around some, just a few places though. My trainer tends to throw a lot of things when I'm not looking, calls it situational awareness. I think they just enjoy doing it." I make a slight joke out of it, and even if she doesn't react all that much I see her face twitch a tiny bit.

"Good, they are a decent trainer if they keep you on the tip of your hooves." She reasons and looks over as another Pony is wheeled into the room. We both stand up and walk over, her casting a few Scanning spells and finding that the poor mare's hindleg has several bone breaks. "You're up." She says simply and walks back to her spot to rest more.

The mare is either out cold from the pain or something they gave her, I just calmly look over the scans Clear Water gave me as she walked back and got to work. Casting a Bone Alignment spell to get her leg bones in place and make sure to keep her leg as motionless as I can.

The spell works well enough but as a side effect, it moves the limb around as the bones are moved back into place, which means you need to keep the limb in question as still as you can. After a minute the spell is done and I cast a spell to heal the bones together and scan it again when it's done.

I nod to myself and walk back over to once again rest while I can, with Clear Water looking over the healed scan as I pass it off as I did many times before. "Good work, you're getting faster as well." She's not wrong, I'm getting faster at reading scans and making decisions on how to heal what and why. "Any questions?" She asks, knowing full well that I make notes throughout the day when I have the time.

I pass her the page on the clipboard I've used for today's notes and she looks it over quickly. "A few things, just small stuff though. I am trying to find a spell to help with a mare in heat, specifically cramps. I had one with a cracked hoof in earlier, and while it didn't interfere I don't want to find out what could happen later." I try not to blush and stay professional as I ask her this.

Being in heat can have several side effects and one of the more common ones is cramps, originating from several causes. I've been trying to find a spell to help with it as while a mare being in heat isn't a problem with my necklace It still makes working on other things harder.

If your patient is in pain and her muscles are reacting in different ways than normal then it makes a few things more messy, it's not a big problem but something I'd like to solve. Plus I'm a healer and anything I can do to help a patient is something I should do.

She doesn't look the least bit perturbed by the topic, like every other Pony except me. "I know of a few spells that might work, but most are used in foal birth rather than anything to prevent a heat reaction. Foal birth is something you'll need to do eventually anyway though, I'll mark them down and get them to you next week." She is as always very emotionless but accurate with her words.

I nod my thanks and make some more notes as we wait out the last of our time. Eventually, time is up for the day and no other patients are brought to us, it's been a thankfully slow day so it's not surprising. I stand up after checking the time, "I'll get the paperwork done, see you next week."

She nods back and motions for the clipboard full of the scans I made today and I pass it off to her. "Agreed. Make sure to learn what I left for you, there is also a book you need to read for the testing, be thorough." I again nod my thanks before making my way out of the patient ward and to her office.

Things have been calm the past week with the only exception being Celestia. After Nightmare Night I went to Gaia's Eden the next day to find a note thanking me and saying we'd meet up soon. And we did a few days later, she was still rather down and didn't seem to be up to talking about how the night went for her. I only asked if she was ok and left it at that, she doesn't need me digging into it so soon.

After that, it was mostly normal with us playing chess and talking to each other about random things. It was nice, even if I still felt some concern over her. In a more upbeat but annoying display, I woke up to something annoying today, Cadance finally pranked me back.

But would it ever be that simple? No. I got a rather ominous letter today asking how I'm doing and promising something would happen to me. So needless to say I've kept my eyes and ears open today, yet nothing seems to have happened so far. I sigh as I finish the last bit of paperwork and head to the staff room to recover my things and leave the hospital.

That only takes me a few minutes and after letting Entropy out of my shadow in a restroom we both take to the skies and start to fly home. As we fly, Entropy sings a happy tune, something she's been doing a lot more recently, it seems my efforts to help her feel better have been working for now.

Letting her help with small things was a bit of an improvement but it seems giving her something to work towards and on was the real change. "Go home, go practice, go home, go practice." She sings along to her own tune and I laugh fairly hard while we fly over the city.

She's spent a lot of her time working on her shadow magic, and she's showing some good improvement in just a week. At this point, all she's doing is moving her shadow mist to a single point and trying to condense it as much as possible, which should improve her control over the process quickly.

That really seems to be what she's lacking, her other training has given her deep reserves of magic but fine magical control is what's lacking here. At her current growth rate though it shouldn't take more than a few months for her to at least start moving objects, and that is more than fast enough considering what she's training.

I have noticed I've needed to stop her sometimes and force her to take breaks, even if she doesn't run out of magic she still needs rest, and funnily enough this is something she does with me as well. It seems we sometimes only stop when the other makes a fuss about it, not that I'm complaining.

I have also seen her practicing all on her own. I did give her permission to do just that, but she still seems to mostly do it around me. I asked and she said she knew magic was dangerous. Still, I've let her grow more confident in this ability as that seems important.

I am a little concerned as she's already bent the rules I gave her, even if just a little. When she practices on her own she's taken to forming a full ball of shadows in mid-air, in contrast, she forms it around a dot on the floor while around me. It's a small thing but I've decided against stopping her.

Magic is in a large part about Will and that includes confidence in using your magic, something I don't think she fully has when it comes to this ability. So as long as she only adapts the things she's learned and doesn't try completely new things without me I'll let her experiment a little with me watching from a distance, it's also only fair, this is her ability, not mine.

It also helps that we have done several tests and as far as I can tell there are no real dangers to her current training. The shadow magic doesn't have the concentration to do much of anything if it goes out of control as it seems to rapidly disperse when left on its own.

On that topic, I think shadow magic vanishes so quickly because there is light around. I couldn't really test it myself as I can't sense shadow magic or light magic, but when talking to Entropy after I had her move her shadow mist inside a dark room she said they lasted a little longer than normal.

She can sense shadows and shadow magic so I'm inclined to believe something about light makes shadow magic degrade faster, which makes an odd amount of sense. I don't think the shadow magic is just spreading around and disappearing though, I think some process is converting into other forms of magic. Most likely when it interacts with some other form of magic while not being controlled, things like light magic or solar magic.

I make a mental note to mark that theory down later as I land on my apartment buildings roof. Entropy lands on me as I descend the stairs and make my way to the right floor. I check the corners before moving past them but stop and focus more as I notice a Pony in the hallway on my floor.

It's Daisy and she smiles brightly while walking in the opposite direction. "Hey Shade, and you too, you lovely bird." She greets us happily and smiles even more as Entropy flies over and lands in front of her, happily receiving some scratches. "Yes, you are so lovely!" Daisy adds while pampering Entropy. "You just got back from the hospital?" She asks me as I stop to talk to her.

I nod. "Nice to see you too Daisy, and to see that you are still obsessed with Entropy." Those two have been hanging out at every game night since Entropy first let Daisy touch her. When Entropy is not with me you can be sure she's getting attention from Daisy. "Yes, my shift was a hectic one. But that's messy, what are you up to?" I ask back curiously as she has a rather full saddlebag with her.

She stands up fully and picks up Entropy in her magic before placing her onto my back. "A date, setting one up to be precise. Stone and I are going somewhere a little more fancy. You should probably be thinking about the same thing with that one mare." She teases me bluntly and at this point I'm able to keep my blush down, just barely though. "Are we still on for Hearth's Warming?"

This year Blaz is spending time with his grandfoals so we'll once again be short a friend, unlike the years before this though we decided on a different method to resolve this small problem. Turns out everypony was a little busy around the day itself so instead of having our get-together on a different day we are just separating the gifts.

We agreed to cobble together every gift Blaz would get early so he could take them with him and open them with his family, and Blaz would do the same for the gifts he got us. It's far from perfect but it's the best way we came up with this year and it works in the end.

I nod again. "Yup, I still need to do some shopping, I'm also thinking about making something bigger for Maple. Maybe a nice lamp? She needs more decorations, even after you helped her." I haven't been to Maple's home in a long time but I've heard Blaz describe it enough to know it's still very basic.

Daisy nods as well. "A lamp, simple but functional, and with how little light gets in some of those library bedrooms it would work well. Maybe also something like a cardholder? She has gotten into that hobby more?" She suggests and it sounds like a pretty good idea. "Anyway, have a good day Shade, I can't be late, now can I? And go on another date with that mare already!" She adds loudly as she walks past me and down the stairwell.

Entropy turns to me as I shake my head and ignore the blush I now have. "Go see big friend? Make happy?" I nearly glare at Entropy as my blush deepens a little more. I refocus my attention on my senses as I walk into my apartment and close the door behind me, only to stop half a second later before I can even turn around and look at the room.

I turn around slowly and look up as if to confirm what my magical senses are seeing, staring at my ceiling completely confused. Entropy does the same and stares at the scene for several long moments before voicing my thoughts perfectly. "Why? How?"

I sigh slowly as Cadance's letter flashes through my mind. "Revenge and announce, I would assume," I mumble out and continue to look at the spectacle. Sitting in my apartment is a fully set table, my plates, my forks, my knives, and even some clothes for placemats. Everything you would need to make it a nice dinner scene.

All on my table, and all currently hanging upside down from my FUCKING CEILING! It looks like somepony superglued it up there, that or fucking gravity flipped upside-down. She even put it in the exact same location my table is normally in, just the wrong magic damned surface.

She even used MY things to set the table, she apparently couldn't be fucked to get some herself. I look at the table and notice a piece of paper on the floor where my table normally is. I rub my muzzle and can't help but chuckle a little at the sight. "Well shit, she got me."

I can admit I didn't see this one coming, and honestly, I'm impressed by the creativeness of it, I can also admit when I've lost and I have on this one. How did she even get in? She might be able to teleport, or Celestia helped her, that second one would actually make a lot more sense considering Cadance has never been to my home.

I bring the piece of paper over and read it with some begrudging respect and curiosity.

TAAA DAAA! GOT YOU!

I thought about it a lot and this seemed ever so perfect. Now before I gloat I'll explain so you don't come after me later too hard and because I know you're curious. I cast three spells on everything, one to stick them up there for a few hours, another to make everything really durable in case it fell, and one to slow everything when it falls.

It should all just gently drift down without damage a few hours after you get home. Now with that said, HA!! Try eating now! That's for making SEVEN guards stop me to ask about something I couldn't see! And maybe don't try to eat here, I feel like you would make a spell to walk on the ceiling just to spite me. Either way, I'll be waiting for your revenge.

PS, yes Aunty helped me. She needed a distraction and a good prank fit all too well. Thanks for giving her space by the way, she's doing better and is smiling more, a few weeks and she'll be fine.

PSS, I like your home, I only saw the main room though. You should invite me over sometime, I demand a tour!

Signed the best prankster, Cadance.

I hold it in for a moment before starting to laugh at the letter and the prank. It's more of a mild annoyance having to put things away when it's over and not having my table for a while. I can appreciate a good prank, and this one was well thought out, she even used some safeguards surprisingly.

Entropy chirps out and sounds fairly annoyed. "No mess with food. Bad!" She grumbles out which just causes me to laugh even harder at the entire situation going on around me. It seems Entropy is a bit more annoyed than me. After a few minutes, I recover and feel a bit lighter, things have been rather gloomy recently, Cadance may have gotten me but she had good timing with it.

I shake my head and put the letter in my saddlebags before placing those to the side so I can relax fully. "We'll get her back, both of them. Later though, are you up for a late lunch? ... On the couch I guess?" I add once again realizing I don't have a usable table. "You know, a wall-walking spell might not be a bad idea?" I think out loud.

Entropy also shakes her head a bit. "Yes, food now, revenge later." I snort at the dramatic tone she uses and move over to my small kitchen to take stock of what we have. "Can I practice?" She asks as I start my work, I just nod and she flies off to the floor in front of the couch, laying on the edge of the carpet and staring at a small dot I left there for her to use.

I slowly take out a few fish fillets I bought a few days ago, they are still good and I wouldn't mind a good meal after today. I find healing Ponies to be very satisfying but also very tiring, talking to so many Ponies in pain or distress doesn't help either. I take the fish meat and start to heat a pan and add some oil to it.

I also grab my pot and fill it with water before placing it on a different heater to boil. I use my space magic and while dicing a few Red Roots I move around several herbs and seasoning, doing the work of three to four Ponies by myself. At this point, I'm up to moving twelve items at once with my space magic.

It makes cooking a breeze and also makes working with several tools while carving wood as easy as pie. I pause for a moment as a thought comes to mind, I don't think Entropy has ever really helped me cook that much. I glance over and see her concentrating, forming a half-sphere of shadows on the floor.

At the moment her little balls of shadow mist are only around two inches wide and are still fairly transparent, but they have been getting a little darker with training. I add that thought to my mental list as cooking is another thing she could help with and a skill I think she'd enjoy, although, like many other things, it would be hard for her to learn with just her talons.

I keep cooking and after a while, I have a simple but enjoyable meal ready. Mashed Red Root with garlic and pan-fried fish with a blend of several seasonings that I've collected over time. My spice rack is honestly pretty impressive by this point and it takes up two cabinets by itself.

A lot of them I have the actual plant growing in my herb garden at Gaia's Eden, but many more I have no way to grow them or even seek them out. One of my newer favorites is a plant I picked up in the Dragon Lands, Burn Weed, and coming from a land inhabited by massive fire-breathing lizards, that name is very accurate.

It's a small rough shrub that seems to like a hot climate and sandy soil, it is also the spiciest thing I have ever had. It burns like a two-week sunburn that is giving you blisters, it is a fucking nightmare and I can barely smell it without feeling my nose burn for half an hour. I love it.

In the end, I just diluted the spice in some water to make a hot sauce to not always burn myself every time I use it. I'm normally not one for extreme spice but once diluted it has a very interesting smoked flavor that goes well with a lot of meats. I still find my first time cooking with it to be a rather funny and fond memory.

I made a basic meal with it but didn't know how powerful it actually was, I burned the hell out of myself and just ended up chugging milk for fifteen minutes. Entropy had a very different reaction. Turns out that like a normal crow, she literally can't taste spiciness, and was immune to it.

There we were, Entropy happily eating away and watching me run around with my mouth on fire like I was in some standup routine. Even better, once I recovered she got my plate of food as well, good times. I shake my head and chuckle at the memory while placing two plates of food on the floor and laying down.

I turn to Entropy, who hasn't moved the entire time and is still training. "Dinner time, come get it while it's hot, you little gremlin," I mutter the last part under my breath with a smile and settle in for a good meal. Raising Entropy is not what I signed up for when buying that egg, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

I thought something less depressing was in order, and this lets me add in a few other things.

Like always I'll see you all Monday.