APR 19 Saturday. I sit down at a table in the breakroom with my lunch, in front of me is Daisy and Blaz, and Maple is eating on my left.

I look at Daisy as she's eating and ask her something, "hey Daisy?" she turns her head to me "any good auctions happening soon?", she thinks for a moment and swallows her food.

"Yes actually there is one I know of, it's happening in a few weeks but it's not as large or particularly interesting as the last one, it doesn't need an invite though, you want to go?"

"Ya I enjoyed the last one and I'm getting a little bored and need something to shake things up some, plus they can have very interesting things."

"You still remember the last one we went to" I nod "same place next month on the seventh, I'm down to go with you?"

"Sure, thanks Daisy", we continue our lunch and get back to work, it's uneventful as always and after a few hours I'm free to head home.

After getting home I take a moment to go through my calendar to make sure I'm not missing something important, half way through marking the date of the auction I realize that I forgot my birthday, it was April fifth, I've been so busy that I just forgot it, I decide to make up for it by doing something fun or stupid, probably both.

I spend some time feeding Entropy before grabbing my saddlebags and taking Entropy with me, I'm heading to the practice range that I've used in the past as I want to practice the combat spells I have, instead of just practice drawing the matrix, I walk through the streets and find the right building.

I enter and rent the next three hours of time inside the range, it's a simple test range much like a gun range with stalls and targets on an opposite wall, the wall in made of stone and enchanted so you can get pretty crazy before you damage it, I walk into the range and pick a spot.

I leave Entropy behind me and make sure to keep her there, I draw out the firebolt matrix and send it down the range at a target drawn on the wall, I don't hit it but get close so I try again drawing two firebolt spells at once, I succeed but aiming both is even more difficult then just one.

I brought some tea in my flask to drink, so I spend the next hour firing bolt after bolt improving my aim, while Entropy somehow sleeps nearby despite the noise, I stop and spend some time going through my notes while regenerating my magic, while I'm resting I see an older looking unicorn stallion walk past my stall.

He has a black mane and a stone gray coat along with yellow eyes, a strong build with more muscle then some earth ponies I've seen, I get up and start casting again and this time I've gotten a little bit better at aiming the spell, I repeat this cycle once more, but while resting again I'm interrupted.

"You're not bad colt", hearing the voice I look up from my book and see the older stallion that passed me earlier, his voice is deep and gravelly.

"Thank you? I don't think we've met before, have we?"

"No we haven't met before, but I saw you casting that spell a lot and got curious, not many younger ponies coming here to cast spells so much."

"Well thank you for the compliment, but if you don't mind me being blunt with you what do you want?"

He lets out a chuckle "fair, well first I should probably introduce myself, names Stone Mace nice to meet you."

"Shade evergreen, nice to meet you too."

"To answer your question I rarely see young'uns like you practice so much, most learn a spell until they are competent with it and leave it at that, few I've seen practice so much after that, so my question is why are you practicing so hard."

I think for a moment before answering him, "I use runic casting so it can take me a while to cast a spell and firebolt is a fast spell so I'm trying to get decent at aiming it."

He nods at me seemingly pleased with my answer, "well I've met a few ponies that use runic casting, so I don't know how good you are but some of the recruits I've had are a bit slower then you, so good job."

"Former guard?"

He smiles "caught that did you? ya I used to be a guard I retired last month and I'm already regretting it" he says that last part with a grumble" I raise a brow at him before deciding not to ask, "speaking of the guard you ever consider joining?"

"No I'm apprenticing at the city library" before I continue Entropy wakes up from her nap apparently deciding to wake up from our voices and not the spells being sent down range be other ponies, she turns to Stone and stares at him for a while, he also notices her and stairs back, they keep this up for a few moments before Stone lets out another chuckle.

"Seems your friend keeps an eye on others, the library? well not many go there but it's a decent profession, you planning to stay there or do something else."

I stay silent for a moment wondering if I should answer him as we just met, but I decide to tell him the partial truth, as others like Daisy and Blaz already know I want to make spells they just don't know I already do, "I'm planning on getting into spell creation and research."

He nods at me again, "a good career, so that's why you're taking notes?"

"ya I'm researching how this spell works right now" another partial truth.

"And decided to get some hoofs on experience? good most who take that path only make things and either keep it to themselves or pass it on, you want some advice from an old stallion?"

"Why?'.

"Like I said most ponies your age don't put in nearly this much effort, I like that and I don't have much else to do right now."

I think for a moment before deciding to humor the old stallion "ok sure why not?", he spends the last hour I rented giving me tips and some advise on how to properly aim a spell, his advise really helps as I make more progress in that hour then the previous two hours, but after my rented time is up we part ways.

"Thanks for the help sir Stone."

"Ha it's just Stone colt no need for sir, also colt you have more persistence then most of the recruits I've trained don't lose it, I work here as a trainer so if you need some help I'd be happy to give some advice when I'm not working", I realize that I may have kept him from his work, but he seems to see the look on my face, "I'm not working today if that's what your wondering."

I sit there for a moment before making a decision "you have any open spots?" he raises a brow before nodding "well I wouldn't mind having a trainer so how much?"

"You sure colt?"

"I get paid decently and have the spare time plus I could use the practice, so why not."

"Well I'll need to ask your parents but if they agree I'm willing."

I open my bag and take out a paper card, I'm an orphan living on my own this lets me do some things that others can't at my age but I need to provide proof, so I was given a card saying as much for situations like this, I pass the card over to him and he looks over it, his face doesn't shift but if feels a little softer.

"Well then I have an open slot on Wednesday the thirtieth from five to seven and it costs fifteen bits an hour, that work for you?"

"That works fine, I'll be there" I check my watch and decide it's time to head home, "Thanks for the help, and have a good day Stone."

"Same to you colt", he says as I walk out of the room, I make my way through the streets and get back to my apartment after a while, all this time I've been learning on my own but now I have a teacher for the first time in a long time, I still don't fully trust him but guards frequent the range so if I need help it would be easy.

I grab the wheat plants and take them to the workroom, I've kept up with breeding them almost every day and I've made a little progress, at this point I've mastered its magic flows as best I can with my skill right now and that has sped up the process massively.

I can breed them around fifteen times now before having to stop and regain my magic, this is faster than I originally thought it would be, at this rate I'll be able to finish this in five to six months from now, but because I'm breeding them so quickly I need to test them more often than before.

This has led to me making bread almost every day now, my watch has helped a lot in this as with some experimenting I've been able to find out how long it needs to bake before it's ready, letting me set a timer and do other things at the same time without the worry of starting a fire.

The good news is I don't buy bread anymore as I make plenty for both me and Entropy, I mostly make sandwiches and toast, I've even tried making some sweets and made some cookies they were ok but I can definitely improve them, Entropy also seemed to like them.

I've enjoyed baking and it's nice having fresh bread but I'll need to buy more yeast if I continue like this, but that's fine it's inexpensive and common, as for the wheat it's still early but I'm already seeing a very small amount of progress.

Its grains are the same but the wheat has been growing a little better in the rocky soil now, I'm going to change the wheat's soil every few weeks adding more rocks and less soil each time, I'll keep doing this over time to let the wheat slowly adapt over successive generations.

It's still slow going but progress is progress, I spend the next hour breeding the wheat, I get through thirteen generations before stopping to harvest enough grains to bake some bread, I'll be baking more than normal as I want to give some to Daisy.

I want to give her some both as a gift and to see if she thinks the wheat tastes decent, I bought a few loaf pans a few days ago to make bread loafs, I grind down the grain keeping the bran on the grain, I knead the dough and let it rise before filling two loaf pans and bake them.

I set a timer and move back into the work room, I'm going to work on my shield some more, I'm not going to update it for a while but I want to start making things to add when I do, first fire protection this one is both easy and hard, I'll need a way to detect fire that and put it out.

Detecting a fire is hard as I cant detect the temperature as that would make the shield also detect any heat source high enough, that includes my stove and oven so I need some other way to detect fire, I also need a way to put out fire without destroying anything.

For that the best method would be removing the air, but I have to be careful not to suffocate myself by accident, but I can't do that without a way to detect fire so it's best to start there, I look through my book and find a rune that might work, a rune for fire prevention.

I don't need to prevent fire but stop it, still this could be of use, I tinker around with the shielding spell and try to think of ideas that could work, I'm eventually brought out of my thoughts by my watch lighting up, I turn the alarm off by deactivating the enchantment.

I move back into the main room and take the bread out of the oven, it's well cooked and has a good look to it, I take the bread out of the pans before placing them on a plate before putting it on the counter and let it cool down, I drink some tea and keep looking through my notes for a while.

I get up and check the bread it's still warm but is fine to eat, I take a loaf with me and leave Entropy inside my apartment before moving into the hallway, I move across the hallway and knock on a door, the door opens and I'm greeted by Daisy "oh hey Shade, what do you need?"

"I made some bread and thought you'd like some" I passed the loaf over to her and she smiles at me then takes the loaf.

"Thanks, I'll tell you what I think tomorrow, want to come inside?"

"No thank you, I'm a little busy right now, have a good day Daisy."

She gives me a knowing smile "sure, have a good day Shade."

I walk away and make my way back inside, I spend some time making lunch, I cut some bread slices and toast them in a pan with butter, before frying some eggs in the same pan, I eat my lunch while sharing some of my eggs with Entropy.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading, we hit 2k somehow, thanks for that.