FEB 28 Thursday.

I once again take my time to go through everything in my saddlebags to make sure it is all accounted for and present.

Once I'm done I look out the window to see the sun cresting over the horizon as it rises into the sky. It is very early at the moment and it's finally time to get going on what promises to be an interesting vacation. Funnily enough, this might be my most enjoyable one yet, or at least the most active.

Mostly because unlike all my other trips I actually have a good idea of what I'm going to be dealing with this time, I'm not just walking in blind and that feels nice. That's not to say I'm just relaxing and not taking things seriously, I'm not that much of a fool, but the trip itself should be very interesting.

It may not be something I do often but I really enjoy exploring new places and interesting expressions of magic. I find that nature is endlessly creative with it and the Everfree was my choice of home for partly that reason. Now I'm going to be dealing with something similar and it excites me.

The simple freedom of actually having a choice and willingly walking into a mess versus accidentally stumbling into it is so much more preferable. I stop my thoughts and get myself moving as I do have places to be. I turn to a sleepy Entropy sitting on a countertop waiting, "Come on, time to head out." I keep my words simple and she flies onto my back with a caw as I leave my apartment.

I already asked Daisy to make sure everything is looked after here and left her with a key and the ability to get through the shield. I hum a little as I head to the roof and cast a spell to make my wings before taking flight with Entropy. From there it only takes ten minutes to get to the train station and find a place to land.

This time the location we are leaving from is the same as when I went on two trips with Cadance. That thought of Cadance makes me chuckle as I land and dismiss my wings. Yesterday I got a letter back from her and it was pretty funny to read through.

The first part was basically telling me not to get hurt and to not be stupid, the second part was more interesting. it was just a frown with the words, "I will have my revenge." On it. It's safe to say my and Celestia's prank has been going well so far, I do wonder when she'll find the gem we hid.

The bracelet was just a distraction and the real noisemaker is a tiny pure diamond. The spell I made was really basic so the diamond only needed to be about the size of a few grains of sand. So naturally I had Celestia embed it into the ceiling of her office and paint over it.

I don't think Cadance will be finding it soon but I planned for that as well. The spell has two timers in it, the first is a short but random timer that resets and changes whenever the noise goes off to make a countdown to the next time it should activate. The second timer counts down one week at a time and makes the spell slowly less and less active.

After two months the spell will only go off every few weeks at random. I really need to thank Celestia for getting me a timetable for when Cadance normally uses her office, it made timing the spell so much easier. I leave that amusing thought alone for now and focus as I enter the train station and take my cloak off from the light rain outside.

I take out and look over a paper I was given as I look around the busy train station. Even this early there are many Ponies and several dozen members of a few other races around the massive indoor train station. I follow the directions and find a train on one far-off side with a fair few guards around it.

The train looks normal compared to the one Cadance was on, and the guards are also not Celestia's guards. The guards may all have the same color scheme in Canterlot but there is a noticeable difference between city guards and palace guards, and that's not counting all the different types of guards. I know that difference well enough by this point to spot it.

I walk over and head over to a pair of city guards at an entrance to the train. One detaches a clipboard from their armor and looks me over for a second. "Name?" I give it and they nod before checking the list. After a moment they look back at me a little surprised and with some respect in their eyes. "Healers card please." They ask with a hint of respect in their tone.

It's not something I've experienced much before but I know from stone that most guards respect healers, even if just for the fact you should not piss off the guy healing you. I do as asked and pass them my card while the other guard pays more attention to me as well. They pass the card back with a nod after a moment, "Cabin six is yours, Sir." They say and step to the side to let me through.

I nod and walk past, heading into what is apparently a cabin car, with the rooms right on my left. I decided to find my room first and head down the corridor to find a room marked number six. I open the door and see the inside is about what I expected, a bed, some shelves, a folding table, and a cushion to sit on.

Entropy makes herself right at home quickly by flying over to the bed and promptly falling onto it and trying to sleep. I chuckle a little and cast a Silence spell around her so she can sleep uninterrupted. Last night she stayed up far too late trying to get some last-minute painting in before we left.

I could have made her go to bed but I thought she could use the time and learn a lesson about proper sleep. That and I could have just carried her here if needed. I smile and take off my saddlebags before placing a blank notebook and my metal chess set on the small table.

I didn't get exact details but this trip will take two days by train and another two by carriage after that. That and I'll be gone for a while, maybe more than a month depending on how things go. We may only be working there for three weeks before another healer swaps out with us, but the traveling time will add more than a week after going both ways.

As for why healers are swapping out like that? Well, healing is a mentally taxing thing and you do not want a healer going hard in a stressful situation for too long, that's how Ponies die from mistakes. So while the guard gets more healers ready we will be doing the work.

I settle in and start to sketch out a few ideas for my new chess set. It's been a few months since I got it but the best I've come up with so far is something to make the game easier to play, so I've focused on that. And surprisingly another item I have proved to be some good inspiration.

I took some time to study the spell that made Entropy's ball fly back to her, and it proved to be an interesting spell with an interesting rune. The spell worked from a combination of a rune of Return and a rune of Movement. The movement rune was nothing too special but the rune of Return was more interesting.

Finding the Runic Context wasn't too hard but still took a while, the Runic Context proved to be more robust and flexible than I first assumed. The rune is pretty well made and basically just returns something back to where it was, it is very simple, but well made in its simplicity.

In the end, my first idea was easy, I wanted my chess set to reset itself. More than that, I want it to pack itself back up as well. That might take a little work but the spells involved would all be so simple that the gems would be enough, let alone the metal the pieces are made from, and that means I'm most likely going to be able to add more spells.

The wooden ball didn't even have a gem in it like I thought it would, the wood was enough for the spell considering its good quality, so the chess set can easily handle a spell like this. I spend a moment thinking out a few parts of this new spell before taking the time to start and make something simple and easily workable.

Something like this isn't too hard to set up, and over the next hour, I am able to make the spell easily enough. The spell is simple, the pieces are each enchanted and the board itself is linked to them. I start with a single pawn on the white side and look at the small topaz embedded in its head.

The spell is very simple, when you tap the piece ten times it saves the current position, and then I link it to the board. The piece has two of these spells in it, it lets me save two fixed locations for the pieces to go to. And because I added to the link a little the pieces move relative to the metal board.

The look of the chess set itself is interesting. One-half of the pieces are polished metal, making them the white side, with the black side being unshined. The squares on the board are made from shined and stained squares, all flat and smooth but making distinct colors to separate them easily.

The pieces are stored in the underside of the board, the board itself able to fold in half to make the case. Each piece has a shaped slot lined in fabric to keep anything from grinding or chipping. The board's top has distinct sides to it, four small topaz in the corners and one emerald and sapphire in the middle on two opposite sides.

I linked the chess pieces to two topazes on the sides so they would only activate if you tapped either gem. One of the topazes on the emerald side of the board will move the pieces from around the board to their correct starting positions, setting up the game without needing to do anything.

The second spell on each chess piece links to a topaz on the sapphire side, when tapped three times that topaz moves all the pieces back into the underside of the board to be stored. The obvious downside to this is you have to have all the pieces out and not under the metal board before you activate it to set up a game, and you also have to flip the board to put them all away.

Otherwise, the chess pieces will have no direct path to their set location and will just press against anything in the way, effectively flipping the board if done wrong. Still, all of this is easy enough to set up, though saving both locations on all thirty-two pieces two times took a while to do.

I also had to adjust the spell very slightly for each different type of piece, but that was very minor and after another fifteen minutes I was done. I set the board right-side up and looked at the piles of loose metal chess pieces all lying to the side. I reach out and tap the correct topaz gem three times before leaning back to watch.

I made sure the spell didn't move too fast, but within the next ten seconds, all the pieces floated a little and moved over to the chess board, all landing in the right places. They all stand up and face the right directions as well, all of them clinking a little as a few bump into each other, but overall everything moves into place smoothly.

It takes a few more seconds but after less than twenty seconds the entire board is set and perfectly ready to play on. Every piece is exactly where it belongs with an almost professional feel to the orientation and placement. I smile widely at the sight but pause as I feel the train below me start to shift and move slowly. "Finally," I mutter.

My little project might have been easy but the train took nearly an hour and a half to get on its way, not that I mind at all. I flip the board on its side and watch all the pieces clink and fall onto the small table. I flip the board around so the underside is facing the mess of disorganized chess pieces before tapping another topaz gem.

Twenty seconds later all the pieces are back where they belong in the underside and I happily close my chess set up before putting it to the side for now to make some notes. As I write I notice a mare walking down the hallway before stopping at my room, knocking on it after a second. I glance at Entropy and see she's still sleeping under her illusions on my bed. "Come in."

I don't worry as I have long come to remember the shape of Clear Water in my senses. I close up my notebook and put it down, making a mental note to myself to copy the paper notes to my bracelet later and burn the originals. I turn to see the compartment door open and Clear Water stepping inside with her own saddlebags on.

Her mane is tied back like she often does to keep it out of the way and she looks to have cleaned herself up more than usual for this trip. She looks at me for half a second before turning to Entropy sleeping on my bed, her wings splayed out, "You are here, good. That your familiar?" She asks bluntly.

I smile in greeting and nod. "I am and she is. That would be Entropy, I'd wake her up but she'd be fussy." I say, only half joking. I look at the brown saddlebags she has, all of the pockets rather full. "I got some medical supplies as well, not too much but I'll make a list for you." I decided it'd be a good idea if she knows what I have in case she needed it quickly.

I start to write in my notebook as she gives me an approving nod. "Good, I'll do the same later." She agrees with it and we settle into silence for a long moment before I rip out the page and pass it to her. She nods again, "Good choices, also there is a change in who we are traveling with, you need an update." She explains simply.

I raise a brow and try to let my slight curiosity be more obvious than it is. I knew Celestia changed things but I never got any details on it. "Nothing bad? Because I really don't want to find out we have fewer guards than planned." I joke a little but keep an attentive tone.

She continues to look around the room and spots my chess set sitting nearby before looking back up into my eyes. "No, the opposite. Ten more guards and four knights are accompanying us." I raise both my brows at that and don't have to fake my confusion. She stays silent for a moment and nods while passing me a piece of paper, "It is odd, but it seems this got more attention than expected. Good news for us." She also sounds a tad bit curious but keeps to her stoicism.

Knights are interesting in a few ways, they are about what is to be expected. They are the rare heavy-duty guards and are generally much less commonly seen and deployed. They are specialists and on top of being more armored they are also better trained, nearer the training of a palace guard from what I understand. And that's city guard knights, palace knights are something else entirely.

Overall Equestria and Ponies like lighter and more maneuverable armor, and even a knight has less armor than a full plate set like me. Still, they are heavy units and not as often sent to deal with things, then again it makes sense to send some heavily armored Ponies in this situation.

"Huh, good news indeed," I say lightly while realizing that Celestia did indeed up our guard detail a good bit. "I don't think I've seen a knight before, that should be interesting. Anything I should know about them when it comes to healing?" I ask as the thought pops into my head.

If she suspects anything about me at the moment she doesn't show it and just nods. "A lot of them have enchanted equipment, armor especially. It can be hard to move out of the way, go for the straps, and don't bother with trying to pull it off, cut it off instead." She advises and I nod back while filing that away in my mind. "You play chess?" She adds after a second.

I move my notebook to the side and try not to draw any attention to it, instead letting her step closer and look at the folded-up chess set. "Yes, a few of my friends play it with me. One in particular I play with often. This set I got as a gift recently, it's even enchanted. Do you play?" I don't hide that fact but play it off like it was given to me that way.

She moves close and glances at Entropy, but the crow stays dead asleep. "It is interesting, but I do not play often." She reveals. "Any spells that could interfere with healing?" She asks and even though it seems very unlikely I actually give it some thought for a moment.

I can't think of any way that it would, but I know some Scanning spells have trouble if there are enchanted items nearby, even if those spells are out of my skill. "Not that I can think of, it just moves the pieces into place and packs them away," I explain and she nods before backing up.

She seems to lose interest and instead looks over at Entropy again. "A large bird, healthy from what I can tell. Good for carrying messages then." I nearly tense a little at her close observation but she turns back to me and I resist the urge. "You said they could carry messages? Are they trained to do it?" She asks.

I stay relaxed and hum. "Yup. I raised and trained her myself, and she knows how to do it well. Still, you'd need to let her be around you to remember what you look like if you want her to deliver something to you specifically. She's smart, but still just a crow." I temper the expectations Clear Water has. "We can do that later, we have time after all." I chuckle a little.

She smirks a tiny bit and nods once again. "Agreed. You raised her? It seems you might have skill in that as well. Do you know a lot about animals?" She questions and it seems odd for her to ask that, at least odd for her. But after a moment I get what she's talking about.

We still have no idea what is attacking Ponies, and with the remote woods around an animal being the cause is possible. I tilt my head some, "Somewhat. I know a fair amount about the more common things, more so on magical creatures, nothing extensive though. I'll look through anything we learn when we get there." I agree with the idea right away as I'd likely have done so anyway.

She shifts and walks to the door before opening it. "Keep me informed. And keep your eyes open, simple things can mean a lot when pointed out in this kind of situation." She advises before standing outside the door. "I'm in room eleven if you need me, try not to wake me up early. And when we get there... Don't be stupid." She adds seriously.

I huff a little and smile back. "You wouldn't be the only one screaming at me if I did. But I'll act if I don't have a better option." I add back and she gives me a long look before nodding in agreement and closing the door. I feel her walk away and settle in her room down the hallway.

I sit in silence for a while and look over the paper she passed me, looking over more of the information. The paper she gave me is just a short list of the Ponies we have with us and details on our travel plans, along with things like meal times. I read through it quickly and put it away in my saddlebags along with my chess set and notebook.

I sit there for a moment and look out the window as lush grass fields pass by at a steady pace as a thick rain falls, the sight broken up by the occasional bush and tree. It is rather nice to look at and honestly a beautiful scene. I think for a moment and take out a sketchbook, settling in for an old hobby of mine.

This trip is just getting started and it's bound to be an interesting mess. I wonder how Cadance is doing? Who cares? She put my table on my ceiling.

POV shift Celestia.

I giggle a little as I see my little niece stomp across from me at the large dining table. "I have no idea what you mean, Dear Niece," I say knowing very well that I am lying.

She narrows her eyes more and sighs slowly after a long moment. "If you two weren't so..." She trails off and looks at me very annoyed. "I have taken out every drawer, every paper, every single thing in that room has been moved. And, nothing!" She says with slight frustration. "And YOU helped, I don't know how, but you did!" She points at me with a hoof.

I know her well enough to know she's not mad, just annoyed she can't stop us. I must admit the idea of putting that gem in the ceiling might be his greatest idea yet. I just smile at her and take a bite of the fruit and waffles I have in front of me. "It's quite rude to accuse others you know." I tease her a little more.

She just glares at me for a second before pouting and shoving a pastry in her muzzle. "You two deserve each other." She states plainly and even as a joke those words sit in my mind for half a second longer than needed. "You could at least give me a hint? For all I know you two put it on the floor!" She exclaims and I have to hold in some laughter at the guess.

I think for a moment, trying to mimic what Shade would say in response. And after a moment I smirk back, "We used a gem." I don't lie but I completely omit any context, just to add to it all. She glares at me more. "Now, eat up. You have work to do and a mind to keep focused." I tease her more before standing up and heading for the door.

She just huffs back as I leave the room and make my way toward day court. As I walk I can't help but think about Shade and hope that he will come back safe and sound. There is little to worry over, but I worry all the same. Everything he walks into seems to go completely wild, and out there he won't have full support.

I do know he is far from a weak Pony, and I have sent much less trained and protected Ponies on missions like this before. Yet, he is my friend, and that makes more difference than I can fit into words alone. In all that worry though I worry for his innocence as well.

He had little in his life to begin with, I do not wish for conflict and spilled blood to take what remains. But I know him, and... I think, that the spilled blood won't be his own. What a grave thought that is, and yet I hope for it all the same.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}
Current year is 997

Sorry to say I couldn't fit more Pinkie into another chapter, but we can always go there again. Now onto the real question, what theme should the two sides of his chess set have? Anything with green and blue works well, or we can just ignore the gems and do something else.