DEC 25 Tuesday.

I look over the pile of gifts and turn to my right as Entropy teleports back into the main room of my apartment.

"You get them all there?" I ask and she bobs her head after landing on my back. I just had her send some gifts to the palace and with that done I have a few hours left before the festivities start. I smile and pet her a little to show my thanks. "Thank you, we still have a while so you might want to do something to pass the time," I say with a knowing look.

In a moment she's gone and I feel her reappear inside of the bedroom on her desk. After getting her gift she's been focused on painting and training, at this point she's really taking after me and working on her craft. At the moment though she is far from a skilled painter.

She is young and while she can hold a brush in her beak and talons it's not easy for her to work with it from what I've seen. I think for a moment I pick up a book on healing Clear Water recommended and headed to the bedroom as well. Clear Water really is proving to be a good teacher.

Recently she's had me learning about more permanent conditions that can be treated but never truly cured, and in that category diseases are the most common. Ponies are a fairly clean race but only to a point and not wearing clothes does make things harder to control sometimes.

Some diseases are not life-threatening but stay throughout a Ponies' life and while there are a few that can be cured with treatment many are simply something you have to deal with. Oddly enough one of the easier things to deal with is parasites, at least as a general rule they are easier to deal with.

I walk into the room and flip open the book while looking up at the fake sky above me. It's fully detailed now and I'm quite pleased with it. It may be a small thing but waking up to the sky is always pleasant and something I enjoy. It also means my room is never dark during the day.

As a nice side effect, it proved to also be a great place for painting as it provides a nice evenly lit room from the entire ceiling being a light. I look over at Entropy as she looks over the various jars of paint and starts to pick several out, after that she grabs a brush along with a canvas.

The canvas takes her a moment to drag into place on the stand so she can work on it properly, but she's proven to be stronger than expected. It's something small I've noticed many times but never really thought about too much, Entropy is both heavier and stronger than one would expect from her small size.

She's only around twenty percent larger than a normal crow, roughly as I only have some facts from books to work with. But despite that, she's able to move larger items with some ease and after seeing her drag a canvas into place the first time on her birthday I had to test it a bit.

She's capable of lifting up to eighty pounds of wood into the air while still keeping airborne and didn't that surprise the hell out of me. I knew she was heavier because I carry her often but I just assumed it was part of what she is. It seems that extra weight isn't without reason and for such a small bird she's definitely not weak.

She weighs about twenty pounds in total, not that much for me but I can see why others might find it odd. Normally though very few touch her let alone pick her up. And much like my friends when someone does pick her up they would probably assume they just underestimated what she weighed. Not that a situation like that is common.

I settle into my bed and she waves a little with her foot and starts to open jars, which are all latch jars so she can still open them. She picks out a few interesting colors and dabs some of them onto a wooden board I gave her to mix paint on, mostly because she started doing that with the desk at first.

I also found out part of the reason Entropy thought of painting when asking for gifts, Daisy. Entropy has overheard Daisy talking about painting several times and apparently was inspired to try it out as well. And at the moment she's doing, well? She's trying her best with a body that wasn't made for this.

I ended up helping her a bit by sketching out some plants on a few canvases so she'd have a starting point to work off of. Sort of like a coloring book with an odd twist, not that I'm complaining in the least. Helping and even just watching her have a hobby that she enjoys so much is amazing already, and Entropy very much loves it.

On her birthday she played around with painting for a bit and stayed up far too late, in the end, she made something both amazing and silly. She made me, or at least as close as she could her with the skill she has at the moment. The brown pony drawn on the canvas is a messy thing with a wobbly body and a background made from something even a dream would call chaotic.

However, the simple painting of me standing in a grass field with a sun, all drawn with minimal detail and no gradient to the colors, has become special to me. When she woke me up early the next morning to tiredly show me what she made I couldn't help but smile like a fool.

I spot the painting on the wall where I proudly displayed it and I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon. I settle in with my book and a cup of tea to start reading as she starts getting messy with paints and colors once again. I also noticed her new blanket wadded up under the desk like she was trying to keep it away from the paint.

She's mostly been painting in the book I got her but it seems she's going for another masterpiece this time. I might need to start making some shelves to store the paintings if she continues at this rate, not that I would mind. I should set up someplace she can draw at Gaia's Eden as well.

Thoughts for later.

time skip

I slowly maneuver the pile of gifts I have with me and make my way into the hallway, while Entropy turns on her illusion for a moment and follows me out.

I cross the hallway and knock, watching in my senses as Daisy walks over and opens the door. "Shade and Entropy, fashionably late I see." She jokes a little as we are the last to arrive, everypony else sitting around inside the apartment already. "OHH! Aren't you just the cutest thing?!" Daisy squeals a little as she moves down to look at Entropy.

Entropy decided to wear both her top hat and scarf for this and she chirps happily before waddling into the room past Daisy's legs. Daisy giggles and smiles widely while I hear the other two chuckle as Entropy walks in. "We got distracted, mostly her though. Turns out you've turned her into a painter, I blame you for the inevitable stains." I say jokingly as she lets me in.

I see Maple and Stone sitting down drinking something and they both nod to me silently, with me nodding back. I almost expect to hear a joke from Blaz but he's not here, he will be happy to have visited his family when he gets back though. "Wait what?" Daisy asks confused and looks over at Entropy.

Entropy turns off her illusions once the door is closed and waves to Maple and Stone with a wing. "Hello!" That earns her a pair of smiles from the two before she turns to Daisy. "Got paint for present. Like paint, fun." She caws out and flaps her wings to jump over and land on Maple. "Pet?" She asks and after a second Maple complies.

Daisy looks confused again but after a second turns to me with wide eyes as I chuckle. "Apparently she remembered you talking about painting, and either couldn't think of a better gift to ask for, or was curious." I walk over to the tree as I explain and start laying out gifts. "So she asked for painting supplies for her birthday, I gave her that and a space to work out of."

Daisy goes from shocked to looking genuinely touched and joyful. "Really?" I nod and she practically bounces over to Entropy before petting her. "You are now my best friend." The statement seems to catch Entropy off guard but she caws after a moment and leans into the hoof. "What have you been painting? Something fun?" Daisy asks.

I settle in on the couch next to Stone and nod to him as Daisy and Maple pamper Entropy with attention and questions about her art. Stone looks over the gifts for a moment and smirks a little before turning to me, "You really do put a lot into gifts, huh?" His tone is relaxed and casual.

I shrug after a second. "I guess? To be honest, I just like making things, combine that with the ability to enchant stuff and I get creative." I answer honestly while wrapping my scarf a little tighter around my neck, the winter is cold this year. "Or maybe I just have too much free time? I don't exactly do much."

He huffs out a small laugh and gives me a level look. "Colt you do more than enough." He states simply. "But if you think you have extra time I can up our training sessions to twice a week." I pin my ears back at that and he laughs again. "That's what I thought... Seriously though, Colt, you don't give yourself enough credit, or any really."

I sit silently for a long while and sigh a bit. "What good would it even do? It's not like I'd want my life to change a lot." I motion to the mares entertaining Entropy and Daisy showing off some of her art. "What more do I need? Credit ain't worth even a tenth of this." I am again honest with him.

He smiles wider at me and nods firmly. "Good, stick to that and you'll go a lot further than you even thought possible." I'm not entirely sure what he means by that but smirk regardless. "So what has the great Veil Winter been working on recently? Anything I should invest in early?" I easily can tell he's joking by his rather blunt tone.

I huff and drop the topic as well. "Not much, winter is a bit of a downtime for me. And after everything I'm taking some time to myself." He hums in approval. "As for Shade Evergreen? Well, I'm working on my plants at the moment, and my weapon skills as well." I am a bit more vague about that.

He seemed to get it and looked over at the pile of gifts under the tree before turning to the mares. Maple has gone back to her cup of whatever she is drinking and Daisy has Entropy between her forelegs. "So what is your favorite color? I'd guess black but I think you like purple." Daisy asks the bird.

She's not treating Entropy like a complete foal, but she is to a degree doing that and Entropy seems fine with it. She is still young and I find that Entropy often has a hard time speaking of her feelings, not because she doesn't want to say anything, but because she sometimes can't find the right words and it seems to annoy her.

While Entropy is mature in some ways she is still young and should be treated as such, to a point at least. "No, brown. Trees look nice." Entropy stares and Daisy looks up to me as if to guess Entropy actually means my coat color. "Present time?" Everypony takes a moment to look at each other before we all just sort of shrug and nod. "YAY! Presents!"

She hops up but like the good girl she is she stays in place and just looks over at the gifts impatiently. I chuckle and stand up to start grabbing gifts, something I can do with my field or space magic but prefer to do with my hooves. "Shade?" I turn to Daisy. "Save the big ones for last, I can guess those are the fun ones you brought." I nod and start with the small gifts.

I pick out one for each of us and pass it around before settling in. There is some silence as we all look at Entropy, a silent agreement to let her go first. Entropy happily rips into the paper and proves that she has sharp claws by clawing open the box at the same time.

Inside is honestly something adorable, a tiny blue sunhat. I turn to Daisy and raise a brow only to get a smile back. "Hats can be fun, and they seemed like a good option. Plus who would see a crow in a hat and be able to take it as anything but a joke?" She makes a good point and I smile as Entropy happily looks at me.

I dismiss the sticking spell I put on her top hat and apply one to her new sunhat as she puts it on. "Thank you!" Entropy says to Daisy and we all start opening our gifts. I see that Daisy got the paints from me, Maple got her illusion, and Stone got himself a nice wooden and metal mug from somepony.

I keep bringing over gifts as we happily open them and Entropy mainly gets toys and some treats. My first gift is a simple wooden box filled with several sketches of me reading in the library, I raise a brow and look over at a smiling Daisy. "I made them when you were working with me in the office, I got bored a few times." She explains.

It's a small thing but having something so personal is perfect. "Thank you," I say softly and continue to open gifts. From Maple I got a few good recipes and some spices, Stone got me a few books on fighting styles and Daisy also got me one of her paintings. Blaz got me a book on desert plants along with a book on parenting because of course he did. They are all small gifts but I like them and I prefer small simple things.

I go overboard with my gifts but am not the best Pony to shop for, it's a silent understanding that I give the good gifts. Eventually, we all get to the larger gifts and I start off with Maple by passing her a tall box. "If this is a joke gift, I will not laugh." She makes a joke of her own and I roll my eyes.

She takes off the paper and reveals the lamp I made her, taking a moment to look it over before turning to me. "A lamp? Really?" I smile at her and she smiles back after a moment. "You made this?" I nod again. "It's perfect, just what I needed, thanks." Her words might be simple but I can tell she likes it.

Next, I open the only large gift for me and raise a brow as I see a single thing inside, an entire coconut sitting on a metal plate. I look at their amused faces with confusion, "I... I can't tell if this is a joke, but I'm still going to use this for fresh drinks." I say happily as the fruit is actually useful to me. Coconut trees are hardy and their fruit could make some interesting things if done right.

Stone speaks up with a smirk. "Yes, the real gift is under it. Now stop ruining it by being happy." He says bluntly with a face that says just how serious he is, which is not at all. I huff and look under the fruit to see a full chess board and I look at them confused. "We thought you'd like a set you could enchant, all the pieces are metal and have small gems on them." He motions to the set.

Much like my other set, this one folds in half and stores the pieces inside, but unlike my last set, this one is completely made from metal. Both the board and all of the pieces are made from iron and have a soft black sheen to them with a slightly rough texture on everything but the place you play in. The pieces are all also textured metal with gems in them, mostly topaz and emerald. "You didn't-"

That's as far as I get before Daisy cuts me off. "Nope, just because we aren't rich doesn't mean we can't get you nice things. And just so you wouldn't complain we split the cost, now stuff it and be happy." Metal is expensive and this set is good work, but she shut me down instantly seeing where my mind was going.

I look over to Stone and Maple but they look just as ready to shut me up so after a moment I let it go and smile widely. "Fine, but I'll remember this kindness," I say slowly and I threaten them with an uncertain future. "Thank you, I love it. And I'm definitely enchanting it." I say as a few ideas pop into my head.

My old set was not new at the start and while it was a gift from Blaz it was a small gift, on top of that the materials used weren't amazing. The wood was just normal and while the pieces were made from stone they were not high quality. This set should last a long time and I can even add magic to it without fear of anything breaking.

I place it to the side and bring out the other big gifts, one for Daisy and Stone each, they are also the last gifts to go through. Daisy goes first and slowly pulls away at the paper to reveal the small Prismatic Rose bush, she reads the tag after a second and looks at me curiously. "What is this? Did you make it?"

I half nod. "I grew it. A Prismatic Rose, every flower is different from the last. A new color for every bud and they are never the same." I explain and look around her apartment for a second. "I'm not sure where you want it. But I can at least make it look decent." I reach out with my life magic.

In a second Daisy puts down the plant pot as the bush rapidly starts to grow. "Wow, that's amazing!" She says as it grows into a full three-foot-tall bush. "When will it-? You can do flowers too?!!" She says excitedly as the bush is covered in many different colors of roses. "It's, perfect!"

She happily picks it up and walks over to a somewhat empty spot in her apartment before placing the bush down with a beaming smile. "Thank you! And I hope you know I'm now coming to you for all gardening and plant advice from now on." She adds as she looks over the beautiful bush.

I nod and look over to Stone, he nods back and starts to unwrap his present. He's apparently the type to unwrap them instead of just ripping them all open. Once that's done he's met with a long plain-looking wooden box, he opens it and raises his brows as he pulls out his new sword.

We all watch as he looks over the metal sheath, a few rubies embedded inside of it along the lines carved in as decoration. The lines don't form any picture but they add to the look. He unsheathes the blade with a large grin and pulls it free, "Yup, the Colt definitely knows what he's doing with gifts." He says in a happy tone. "Did you?" He looks at the gems.

I nod. "Of course, I enchanted it well. I even added a Sharpening spell I made." He looks surprised at that. "It's a lot better than others, it's also enchanted to be very durable, just be careful as it can literally cut through stone." That earns me a giggle from Daisy and an unimpressed look from him.

"Then I’ll enjoy practicing with it soon, I'm sure you can explain it all then." I can't tell if he's joking, but knowing him, he isn't.

There is a long moment of silence as we all shift around our gifts and Daisy stands up again. "A fun year as always, and once again shown up by Shade's gifts." She jokes at my expense. "Well, who wants dinner?"

Entropy jumps up and raises a wing. "ME! I DO!"

POV shift Celestia.

I look down at the gifts sitting in front of me with a smile I do not often have, one filled with anticipation and some impatience.

Sadly my niece decided to take Shining on a date for the holiday and was gone when the gifts arrived. And even after waiting an extra few hours she is yet to arrive, her loss though, I'm done waiting and she can open her gifts tomorrow. I've been anticipating today for a few weeks now and won't be waiting anymore.

I happily look over the shelf I've dedicated to some of the gifts Shade has sent me that I haven't had a better place to keep. My office works but not everything needs to be displayed for others to see, and some of the things I have gotten are much better displayed in private.

I smile and let my thoughts wander as I separate my gift from the others and take it with me to sit on my balcony. As I step out I glance up for a moment, the sight of the moon hanging high brings back many memories that I would rather forget. However, tonight I have more than just my memories to focus on.

I lay down on the cold stone and sit in the dark as my thoughts come and go. Things have been complicated recently but even in times like this, there is light in it all. From a friend being freed from some of his fears and from a very young being having gained more freedom and recognition as well.

It is something I have always kept my eye on when I could, Entropy is a young being and needs proper care and guidance. Yet again I find myself surprised at how well Shade has risen to the challenge. And to think it all started from some tea and a kind act.

I believe Shade would have found some way to help others, even without me, maybe just dropping the spells he makes to some random researcher and letting them take credit. I giggle a little at the thought as it seems like something he would do with little hesitation.

I look down at the brown paper and open the single gift he sent. Even a single gift is more than enough, even though a small part of me would want more just to see what he would come up with. I remove the brown paper and inside is a simple box, the weathered wood looks old and well-used.

I open the top and see a single flower sitting inside, a flower I know all too well from my recent memories of a plant I could have never imagined. A Mantle Bloom flower, and a small one at that, sitting in the center of the box with a small note next to it. Tap the lid twice.

I leave the note where it is and reach out a hoof to tap the opened lid twice, going slow and being gentle to not damage the delicate marvel of gem work sitting in front of me. The flower on its own would have been the perfect gift, but it only got more perfect as it slowly started to spin where it sat.

Then there was a slow tune that echoed in the night around me as I looked at the flower twinkle and gleam in the moonlight as it spun. Despite the pain the moon and stars bring me with their appearance, I look up, and the soft tune plays as I stare at the night sky.

I stare up with a tired mind, but for the first time in so long the sight feels, a little ok.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 996

NEW YEAR WOOOOO! One more down!

How funny would it be if we made it to the first episode, and then I dropped off the face of the earth never to be seen again?