NOV 19 Monday.

I look over the finished plans for three spell matrices, one to contain a large amount of heat and another to make said heat. And a last one to link gems together and share only fire magic.

After a lot of work and taking my sweet time so I wouldn't need to stress, or get myself killed when attempting this, the spells needed for the Mantle Bloom project are done. However, at the moment I have a few other things on my mind, mainly preparation for the holidays and a question I've been asking myself for a while now.

Things have been quiet, my training and apprenticeship going along like normal without any problems. Yet, a thought has been bugging me steadily for a few months now, and ignoring it or thinking over it again and again isn't really helping me that much.

I've kept and will continue to keep a great many secrets, but some I find to be getting less and less necessary to keep. Maybe it's just having Cadance, Shining, and Celestia around for me to be honest with, but it's getting hard for me to justify to myself.

I never wanted my identity as Veil Winter to be known at large, and I still don't, but at this point, the only thing that would happen when it's revealed is some major annoyance. I'm still going to try my absolute darndest to keep it a secret, but it's not as much of a risk if it gets revealed as it was a few years ago. To put it simply, I am much more capable than before.

I find it less likely than I would originally presume, that anypony would really come after me if my secret identity was revealed, mostly because of Celestia. This world is a lot more peaceful than my last and combines that with having an immortal near godlike entity at your back and the chance of someone fucking with you is lessened. All that isn't going to make me drop my guard, but it's something to keep in mind.

It's not like I'm the first in such a position either, there have been others in the past who remained hidden and when revealed lived normal lives. A really good example of that is Ponies with life-magic affinities in the past, they were beyond valued but lived mostly normal lives outside of that.

Back to the point though, I've been thinking more and more about my friends and the fact I'm keeping secrets from them. I think it was revealed that I was a healer. It really got me considering telling them the truth, well, that and what happened with Daisy and how she found out.

Telling them certainly has some risks, but that can be controlled, I think. As it stands, if anypony figured out who I was, my friends could be at risk even if they themselves don't know anything. I find the outcome very unpleasant but my mind won't let me dismiss it out of hoof.

The other thing is the simple fact that it WILL come out eventually. Personally, I would prefer it to be known after I'm dead and buried, mostly so I don't have to deal with it, but that's looking to be uncertain. My luck has proven to be messy at best and if it happened with Daisy it can happen with Maple and Blaz as well.

There is also the simple fact that I don't enjoy lying to them, at all, even if I feel it's necessary. But that's the problem, it's not really feeling necessary anymore, they have proven they can keep at least one secret as they have told nopony about me being a healer.

I asked them not to and even with Blaz going out drinking many times he's kept his muzzle shut, Maple I'm actually far less worried about her as she is a social brick wall at the best of times. My main problem with telling them stems from the fact I would be putting them in some form of danger, even if just a little.

All of that isn't even adding to how they would react to the news. Sure they were happy about me becoming a healer and didn't care about me keeping it a secret. But there is a difference between that and being fucking Veil Winter for years without telling them.

Then again Daisy was very accepting and I would like to think my friendship with them could overcome this. There is that ball of fear that lingers in me and refuses to move or change though. Once again it seems my fears and uncertainty are both a blessing and a curse.

It's an endless back and forth with myself that I've had for a good portion of this year now, and I'm no real closer to an answer, just increasingly undecided. At this point I really only have one option left, ask for another pony's opinion and get some advice on everything.

The good news is that there is no rush in any of this, I've kept the secret for years and a few more months won't hurt too bad. All that leads me to now, preparing to get some work done while thinking about setting up a meeting with Daisy when I can. Celestia might also give some good advice but Daisy knows our friends better and has a clear picture of the situation.

I stand up from the floor of my apartment and head over to my workroom to gather everything I'll need. I should do something with myself in the meantime and this project is long overdue for completion, or at minimum some thorough testing. As I gather things I stop at the beautifully cut Fire Gem sitting on my desk.

After that one night when Celestia helped with this project, she took the four-inch uncut Fire Gem and said she would work on it. It took her a while as she had some grieving to do and a few other things got in the way, but in a stroke of good timing and my classic luck, it arrived only a few days ago.

It's a rounded ball shape with a flat surface on one side, it's still roughly the same size and is a good piece of gem work, not that I was expecting anything less from Celestia. I grab it along with one of the small Fire Gems and an Iron Gem. I also gather a few piles of notes I may need before packing it all away in my saddlebags and making my way back to Entropy. She's still practicing a lot but has calmed down a little after the first few weeks.

Her progress is about as fast as I'd expect and her ability is growing steadily. She still hasn't done anything new as she needs more control before that, something I've had to be firm about when she asked, mostly for her own safety. I did explain my reasoning though, telling a child no without reason is a good way to make them just do it without you. "Ready to go. Girl?" I ask her and she turns to me as her shadow mist stops moving.

She jumps on my back with a quick flap of her wings and nods. "Can practice there?" I give her an expectent look. "Can practice there, inside?" I nod in approval as she remembers the only rule I gave her for practicing her ability in Gaia's Eden, only do it inside.

There are many different magical things in Gaia's Eden and some of them could possibly react to shadow magic, so she needs to practice in my shack when she's there. "Correct. Good job remembering." I praise her and scratch her a little. "Are you still having fun?" I ask out of curiosity.

She nods vigorously. "Keep getting better every time! So fun! Can even keep eyes open now!" She brags a little and I chuckle at her excited tone. "Go?" I nod and we both vanish in a second. I breathe out as we appear inside my shack, Entropy happily moving over to lie on my bed and quickly starts moving her shadow mist into a half ball on the floor.

I smile at the diligent attitude she's had with her ability. "Alright, I'll be working on a few things, come get me if you need anything." I remind her and walk off as she nods her head. I'll probably need Celestia's help later studying the Mantle Bloom but for now, Entropy and I have already done the preparation needed.

I slowly trot through the thick snow and move over to the shielded area I'm using for my Mantle Bloom project. The only difference from last time is a large pile of heavy boulders and a small wooden shed, well, less of a shed and more just a cabinet with a roof. I needed someplace to put the gem array that powers the outer shield and this seemed easiest.

As for the boulders? I need food for the Mantle Bloom and that means lava, which means I need stone. It was a little tricky to find but in the end, I settled for heading to a mountain at the edge of the Everfree and having Entropy teleport back boulders over the span of several days.

Fifty-three boulders all the size of me or larger and most of them weighing several hundred pounds, I only lift them with my field after adding a Lightening spell to them first, just to ease the load. I did need to look into what lava is normally made from, and it is often a mix of just about anything. Sometimes it's primarily one rock type or another but often it's just a slurry of things. In the end, I grabbed a few different rock types for testing but didn't really worry about it all that much.

This plant grows in lava and is magical as hell, I think it can deal with a suboptimal type of lava. Then again it is just a plant, so for my first test, I'll be making some lava that's a mix of everything I could find. After I have more seeds I can try and find an optimal mix but I'm not risking it right now.

I walk over to my snow-covered seed vault and retrieve a single gem seed, leaving the others right where they are. I walk back over and enter the shielded area, immediately I feel a wall of heat hit me from the air inside. Outside is nothing but snow and ice but in here the Fire Trees are keeping things blazing hot.

It's not too much to handle but I would rather not spend longer than needed being this uncomfortably warm. That is actually one thing I miss about being human, temperature was so much easier back then. Cold? More clothes. Hot? Less clothes. Having fur really makes it all more annoying.

I enter the inner circle and start to mentally plan out how I want to make this entire thing work. I start by placing down three gems and enchanting them in order. I enchant the large and small Fire Gems to hold and gather fire affinity magic, watching them start to glow a little as they pull fire magic from the air around them.

Next, I take out the Iron Gem I brought and link both Fire Gems to it, letting one transfer a large amount of magic to the other with ease. I added this Iron Gem instead of simply linking them together as it will let me add more gems as I want or need, it also makes things more stable.

Moving magic from one gem to another while keeping things stable can be hard sometimes, and even good Linking spells can be overwhelmed by a large amount of magic. The Iron Gem helps with the stability of the links connected to it, I'm not entirely sure as to why but Celestia explained it as the gem's natural magic influencing the spells I enchant them with.

Sort of like me adding life magic to a healing spell. The natural stability of the earth magic that the Iron Gem has helps keep the magic going through it and the links connected to it grounded. That's the idea at least, but we didn't finish that conversation so I don't really know much about the smaller details.

I may work with gems a lot but I am no expert, all I know is this will keep things more stable on a project I really do not want to get out of control, AT ALL. Once the gems are enchanted I take out a Fire Tree seed and grow a fire-resistant stump in the middle of the circle, placing the gems on top when I'm done. Next, I start enchanting the gems with the needed spells, a Heat Generation and Heat Shield spell for the large Fire Gem along with another Heat Shield in the smaller Fire Gem.

The smaller Fire Gem will act as a backup and help by supplying its excess fire magic to the large Fire Gem when not in use. I start to shape the shield and keep things pretty simple, a large sphere twenty feet wide sitting ten feet off of the ground. I added a much simpler Linking spell that tells the backup shield to activate if the main one fails.

I'm keeping it in the air as ground contact might make things tricky and it also means more work. Once the shield is done I activate the special additions I made to these shields. Beyond changing them to contain the heat and lava I also made them to let me designate a single spot on the shield.

When I flip the small Fire Gem upside down it will change the shield slightly in that spot, and flipping it back reverses that change. The change lets me move physical things through the shield in that small area without having to turn anything off while still keeping in the heat. It's selectively modifying a small portion of the shield to temporarily let me place things inside safely.

I even color-coded them, the regular shield has a slight purple tint to it as I didn't want anything or anyone to run into it. When active, the section that lets things move through it lights up a deep blue to stand out from anything of a similar color. I think for a moment and designate this spot to be on the very top of the shield.

It does mean I have to lift things up there but it's also the furthest place from anything accidentally falling or splashing out. With the shield set, I activate the gems and simply wait for a moment while backing up out of the outer shield and back into the cold snow.

I breathe in the cool air and clear some snow to sit down before turning back to the finished project. It's hard to tell as I'm outside of everything, but the Fire Gems are still slowly getting brighter while the new shields are active so I assume it's working correctly. I think for a moment and reach out with my field to pick up a random hoof-sized rock from among the large boulder pile, I also grab a few small ones for testing.

The last thing to know about the shield is I also made it remove any excess water or steam. Water can be trapped in rocks and if that spills out and becomes steam it could build up inside the shield and be a real problem, so with the addition of a Steam rune, it can leave the shield without a problem.

I flip the small Fire Gem over and see the deep blue zone light up in a five-foot circle on the very top of the shield. I think for a moment and cast a Flame Shield spell on myself while shaking my head. Sometimes I can be an utter fool, even after years of study and practice.

I walk back in and feel basically no heat this time. "I really need to remember things more," I mumble to myself and take out a necklace from my saddlebags before putting it on. I start to take steps into the air and climb an invisible staircase to get twenty feet in the air.

I stop when I'm at equal height with the middle of the ball shield and move the small rock to the top before dropping it in. I watch the rock fall in and in an instant there is some steam boiling off of it. The steam was vented out of the shield and moved up into the sky quickly.

I feel the steam pass me while my spell prevents me from feeling any heat. I watch with my illusionary notebook open to take notes. The rock falls and rolls around as it hits the bottom of the shield, sitting there unchanging for a second before it starts to glow rapidly.

I time it and it only takes around ten seconds for the hoof-sized rock to start liquefying into molten rock and collecting at the bottom of the shield. I blink and quickly flip the small Fire Gem over and make a note to never go into this shield for any reason. It seems I have underestimated the efficiency of the fire magic I'm using.

I look down and see the Fire Gems are still gaining magic and seem to have lost basically nothing from turning the rock into liquid. The shield is designed to heat up anything inside of it until it's a liquid, except water and gems, which actually took me getting creative with the runes used.

The reason I did it this way was because different rocks had different melting points and trying to add all that information into a spell is a mess waiting to happen. Instead, I used a Heat rune and a specific Liquid rune to get this effect, along with some other runes for stability and safety measures.

I also did it like this because I didn't want to start making fucking plasma on accident, limiting it to liquids was the easiest way to prevent anything like that. I take several notes and start the real process. I reach out with my mind to the large pile of boulders next to the project area and cast a Lightening spell on one of them at random.

Casting a spell from over fifty feet away takes much more magic but I don't want to walk all the way over there and I have plenty of magic to spare. I actually have enough to get even more creative. I focus for a moment and start to move and compress space rapidly.

A second later I push the boulder through a slight bending in the air and it appears above the shield a fraction of a second later. I make a note of the larger magic cost from the boulder's large size, before moving the lightened boulder over the blue spot on the shield and dropping it inside.

This one had more snow on it than the last rock so I paused to observe the rapidly vaporizing water create a small gust of wind as it's removed from the shield. I watch the large boulder rapidly heat up, this time it takes nearly a minute to fully melt into liquid and fills the bottom of the shield by a few inches.

The seed would normally need something to grow into, but that really shouldn't be a problem here. It won't be able to grow through the shield and the lava should have everything it needs. I chuckle as a similar idea comes to mind. This whole setup is similar to growing something in pure water inside a bottle.

I take a few steps down and see that the Fire Gems have dimmed a small but clearly noticeable amount. The Iron Gem is great at absorbing the fire magic quickly, but even it and the two Fire Gems combined wouldn't be able to keep up with me just tossing bolder after bolder inside unless the gems are full.

I check the time once again and decide to leave the gems alone for now. Maintaining the heat should only take a little magic so it will stay stable, but I need to know how long the Fire Gems take to refill and I also need to make sure the Fire Trees are providing enough fire magic.

I walk down from the air and land on the ground to start checking on the Fire Trees. The fire magic they are making should be far more than the spells need to maintain themselves, but I need to make sure and the only way I can do that is through close observation. This is where a past test of mine comes into play.

When trying to come up with ways to test if too much fire magic was being consumed, I tried something simple. I made it so the gems would gather fire magic from plants themselves if needed, the idea being that Fire Trees need fire magic to live. So if they start having it taken away they will start dying, and that I can detect. So I did a little test with a single Fire Tree a few days ago and this silly idea actually worked, the Fire Tree started dying.

The gems will only take the fire magic from the Fire Trees if there is not enough available to keep up with demand, which took a Plant rune to make work properly. Not the best solution, but it does give me some way to know things are going wrong. I can sense that the Fire Trees are fine and healthy so I make a note and just move on to do something else while I wait.

I look at the slowly filling Fire Gems and then look around Gaia's Eden. Those aren't large gems but they could take a few hours to fill. I guess I can get some plant breeding done. I should also check on how this year's frost crop crossbreeding attempts are going.

time skip

I look over the Water Lily with a closed eye and try my best to mark down how healthy it is.

This particular project has seen steady but uninteresting development. The Water Lily has been enduring the conditions I've placed it through more and more and at this point I've started to get more creative. I currently have a small shield around the growing area because I added powdered lead and some other less pleasant metals.

At this point, that and a combination of several metals are the only thing that's killing it anymore. It's really grown tolerant of metal poisoning and just general bad water and soil quality. It still needs more work but come spring or sometime after that I should be able to start cross breeding it with the Copper Lily.

I make even more notes, by magic I spend far too much time making and organizing my notes, but I need them so I make them. I walk away and near the Mantle Bloom project, marking down the appearance of the Fire Gems. Seeing that they still haven't changed in the past half hour it seems they took around six hours to fully recharge.

The Fire Trees are still fine so I guess they really can provide more fire magic than the gems can absorb. I start the next part of the plan, I flip the small Fire Gem over and start moving boulders to the top of the shield. It should have more than enough fire magic stored to get things started without causing problems.

As I drop them inside I look up and watch the large bolder splash and sink into the lava already there, adding more and more to the pool. After adding several large boulders I see the glow of the gems decrease by half, and after filling the shield by a third with lava I stop as the Fire Gems have around a quarter of their magic left.

I mark the results and once again walk up into the air up to the shield's side. I stare into the mass of bubbling stone and take a moment to enjoy the interesting sight. After a few seconds, I bring out a small wooden box from my saddlebags, feeling the seed inside stir as I take it out into the hot air.

I look at it for a moment before moving it up to the top of the shield and letting go, watching it drop down before splashing into the lava. I keep my senses on it and immediately notice that its flows of life magic speed up to nearly three times their normal speed.

I feel the seed sink deeper and deeper before settling at the lowest point of the ball-shaped shield. I feel its life magic shift and move like many other seeds when they start to sprout, yet nothing happens. That's to be expected though as plants aren't known to be very fast-moving, especially ones made from gems.

At first, I just wait a few minutes to make sure nothing is wrong, and the seed continues to be much more active and stable. After making sure nothing was immediately wrong I reached out with my life magic and started to slowly add some to the seed. While doing this I walk back down and look at the shield from the bottom, seeing the gem seed resting against the shield.

I watch in interest while taking notes. I watch as the seed starts to grow very thin tendrils of crystal that root off from the seed, growing along and conforming to the shape of the shield it's up against, like a plant growing in a glass bottle. I keep adding more and more life magic and watch as the roots thicken and spread along the shield's bottom further and further.

The roots are odd, formed triangle-shaped rods that split and branch off from each other at even forty-five-degree angles. My eyes can't see more than the roots hugging the shield but while this close my life magic senses can make out plenty of detail. The plant seems healthy as it grows and I once again walk up into the air as I let it grow without instruction.

I walk up to observe from the top of the shield, watching the plant's main stalk grow out from the three-foot-deep pool of lava. At this point I'm basically out of magic and have to force myself to stop growing the plant, ignoring the slight headache I now have. Only an inch or two of the main stalk is peeking out above the lava, but its deep crimson gem core and completely clear outer layer are unmistakable.

I smile to myself and settle in to draw a sketch of the sight next to my notes, while drinking tea and activating Mana Mimicry. "I did it. Celestia is going to be over the moon." I chuckle a little at the idea and smirk. "Let's see if I can't get some seeds from you."

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :]
Current year is 996

So first, we got the gem plant done. So, any ideas for what the gem's properties might be?

Also, as you have probably noticed, I've had Shade thinking about telling his friends for a while now. I think it would fit well to add it in at this time and it's honestly about time they found out.

However, I'm still undecided on two things. What will give Shade the last little push to reveal it, and how to reveal it? So any suggestions? I could use a little inspiration and you all are certainly good at making up some rather... Creative Ideas.