APR 30 Wednesday. I enter the training range a little before five in the afternoon, I'm here to train with Stone Mace, I check in at the desk and am led by a pony to a room, and open the door.

Inside I see Stone slashing a sword around in front of him, he notices me and stops, "come on in colt."

I enter the room, it's mostly plain looking with wood floors and white walls, "so what do you have planned for today?"

"Well first I have a few questions for you" I nod "first your age was marked as twelve right?" I nod again "I can see why others may think you're older, most your age don't act as mature as you, you're also tall for your age, but that's besides the point, second do you want help in spell casting and exercise or just one?"

"I'd like both."

"Good, do you do any exercises right now and what do you eat regularly?"

"Morning runs for a few years now and I eat a decent amount of bread, I should probably eat more veggies now that you bring it up, and meat three to two times a week."

I see his expression change a little giving me an odd look "meat? besides batponies I've met only two ponies in my life that eat meat, I'll be honest colt that's an odd habit for any pony let alone an earth pony but I'm not one to judge others, I do think you should cut back some though."

"I've worked with several batponies and from what I remember they ate meat once maybe twice a week, so I suggest you cut back to one maybe two meals with meat in them per week, moving on I'd like to test you some, basic things mostly a few exercises and some spell practice."

"Sounds good to me", he starts out by showing me some exercises I can do at home or when on my runs, he works me hard for the first hour having me push my bodies limits some, after that first hour we move onto spell practice and aiming, it was mostly small but impotent things.

Little things like how to better visualize a spells trajectory, when you cast a spell aiming it is mostly a matter of control over your magic and how well you can judge distance and speed, he has me cast spells as fast as I can while moving around at a slow trot.

I've never had to cast a long range spell while moving so this took me a while to hit anything, but progress is slowly made with each and every attempt, after that we spend the rest of our time going over different exercises in detail, I leave after seven as we both need to get home.

When I enter the apartment I see Entropy waiting for me, she flies over and demands some attention before leaving me alone, she's stopped following me everywhere inside but she still keeps an eye on me, although she still tries to follow me anytime I leave.

I drop my saddlebags and head to my workroom, I'm going to work on illusions some, I enter the room and grab a medium ruby to work with, I sit down with the ruby along with one of my notebooks and start as always by getting the gem to hold and gather magic.

I didn't do anything for my birthday and the last time I made a complex illusion was when I made the Celestia models so I think it's about time I dip my hooves back in and have some stupid fun with illusions.

I'm using one of my two medium rubies for this as they can let me get more complex and interesting with my creations, I'm going to use the same illusion spell I used for the Celestia models and a new one I found that lets me shift the colors instead of only having one solid color.

These spells combined give me a decent range of color and detail to work with, I want to make something really impressive and fun so I'm going to lair several enchantments and illusions onto the gem, I'm making a small planet, I'm hoping to make a small fake planet that I can modify and change however I like.

To start off with I'm going to need to make this illusion be able to move around, not much but I'd like it to spin if nothing else, but illusions like that are magic intensive the good news is I have found a spell that will help with all of this, a base frame spell.

This spell lets you attach different illusion spells onto it, the two things to keep in mind is there are only twelve slots for illusions spells you can link into it, and you can't use other spells beyond illusions as the frame spell was made to only use illusions.

The spell itself works by linking other spells to it through a different type of linking spell from what I normally use, using both of these combined you can link illusions together and have them stack on top of each other this lets them interact to an extent.

I'm looking into other frame type spells and I haven't found any other types yet, but I'll keep looking, I start with the frame spell and the first illusion, I create a stone colored sphere and take my time slowly adding other details as I go, after a while I have some indents that will be oceans.

I shape some mountains but then realize that they are far too big to look right, I spend more time trying to get them right and after an hour I have something that look kind of like a rocky dead world, it's rough and will take more work but I think it's good enough to add the water.

I layer the second illusion and shape it to fill all the sunken areas with blue, it's all one color so it kind of looks like a 3D rendering of a simplistic world, I spend some time adjusting its colors and get it to shift from lighter to darker water at different parts, and keep it transparent.

I spend more time adjusting these two illusions and getting them to look decent, I make some progress but this project will take me a while to get right and make it look good, I stop as it's getting late and move away from my desk to eat dinner and get some sleep.

time skip

MAY 7 Wednesday.

I just got off from work and am heading back to my apartment, I have a busier schedule than normal because I'm doing a whopping two things today, first practice with Stone and second the auction with Daisy later today, at first I worried that I'd have to miss practice with Stone or the auction, but after asking Daisy the auction starts at seven thirty so luckily I'll have time for both.

I get to my apartment and spend some time taking care of daily chores, I feed Entropy and tend to the plants before spending my spare time tinkering with my little planet project, the water and land is much more detailed then before and I've moved onto the next steps.

I added two new illusions to the frame, first is a transparent bubble that covers everything and is opaque, its thick so it reaches out from the ground and up giving the planet an atmosphere, I think it looks fine but it will need some more work, the second is that the whole illusion now slowly spins on a tilted axis.

The next thing I want to add is clouds and some greenery on the land, but that's for later as I don't want to be late for practice, I grab my saddlebags and leave heading for the range.

I make it there after a little while, and make my way to the same room as last time, as I enter I see Stone doing the same thing as last week swinging around a sword and practicing different slashes, "hey Stone" I call out as I place my saddlebags on the floor and close the door.

He turns to me "colt" he greets "well you've come around for a second time, keep this up and we'll get you properly trained in no time" he jokes.

"Do many not come back?"

"Some but many also choose not to, before we begin I want to ask you exactly what you want training for, I know you want to get better with your spells and fitness but what's your goal here?"

I take a moment to think it over, I want to be ready for what's to come and deal with the things that will inevitably pop up, but in what way? I think a little more before answering him, "could you put me through the same training guards go through?"

He raises a brow before showing a small smile, "well I've not gotten that request before, those who ask for that type of training are planning to join the guard but that doesn't matter, yes I can, but if you ask me to do that I'll need you to stay with me the whole way through."

He moves down a little to be eye level with me, then locks eyes with me "if I train you like that I expect you to be here until the end and if you quit I won't continue training you, I won't train anypony like that unless they prove they've earned it, you got that colt?"

I've met a few people like Stone in my past life, one of my uncles was former military so when they ask you something like this I know they are being completely serious, I also know that this is a opportunity I may never get again as Stone has trained guards before and he will be by far the best teacher I can find.

That and having the same training as a guard even if I don't manage to finish it will be invaluable to future plans and events, with my mind made up I give him a firm nod, "yes I want this."

He keeps eye contact with me for several seconds before giving his own nod, "good then let's get started."

An hour later I realize I may have made a mistake, "you call that running?! I've seen fillies run faster! Now pick up the pace colt?!, I severely underestimated both how loud Stone is when he shouts and how much of a slave driver he can be, although that last part is mostly my fault as I asked a former guard trainer to train my dumbass.

By the time our session ended I was barely standing and was utterly exhausted, I'm resting while taking deep gulps of water from my flask when Stone approached me with a piece of paper, "how are you feeling colt?"

I almost glared at him while answering, "well I just got to see what's in store for me, so about as well as can be expected."

He gives a deep chuckle in response, "well then consider this the cherry on top" he passes me a list of different exercises and meal suggestions, "that is a regimen similar to what a guard goes through when in training camp, I expect you to do the same."

I'm tired and sore but still stand and give him a determined nod, "I didn't go through today just to quit now, so bring it on you madpony."

He only smiles in response "you'll have to try harder than that to get on my nerves colt, we still have a little time left anything you want to ask?"

I ask several questions about the list he gave me and a few specific things on it, when we are done I bring my tired body back home to take a shower and get cleaned up, I eat some bread really quickly before leaving without Entropy and making my way to the auction house.

I arrive and have to wait twenty minutes before Daisy shows up, "sorry if I kept you waiting, I had some last minute paperwork that needed to get done."

"It's fine I wasn't waiting long" we enter the building and pay for two seats in the auction "so know anything about this auction?", I ask as we put on our cloaks and masks.

"Well this auction is smaller than the last one and will probably be less interesting, but hey there is always something to look at if nothing else."

"Fair enough", we make our way into the same large room as last time, inside there are around one hundred ponies far less than last time as back then this room was full, we take a seat not having a specific number this time allowing us to sit anywhere not taken.

We choose middle seats and wait for the auction to start, after a while everpony finds a seat and the doors are closed as the auction begins, a mare walks out on stage and like last time says a few words before bringing out the first item, it's a fancy sword well made but uninteresting to me.

The Next several items are the same, well made weapons and a few other things, like a pure silver tea set or a gold lined silk cloak, as the next item is bought out and it does catch my interest some, a wood crate filled with many books, some old and others new.

"This next item is an assortment of books bought from a private collector, the books are mostly random but a few are spell tomes and several are hoof written, the bidding will start at sixty five bits", I don't know if anything in that crate will be worth it, but I don't see a reason not to try and see what's inside.

I raise my paddle up, "I have sixty five bits, going once", almost before he can finish another paddle goes up and calls out.

"Seventy five", I guess I'll have to fight for this one then.

"Seventy five, going once, goi" he's cut off by me raising my paddle again.

"Eighty five"

"Eighty five, going once, going twice, going thrice, sold", it seems the other party decided it wasn't worth it.

The auction continues and more things are brought out, I sadly don't find anything else of interest but I did get something, and Daisy even got herself a necklace made from silver so the night went pretty well all things considered, after the auction I pay them eighty five bits and get my crate.

I spend the time it takes to walk home talking to Daisy, we break apart at our doors and I close the door behind me, I use my light when I enter to light up the dark room, I get a little scare when I see Entropy sitting right in front of me in the dark barely visible, as always I have to bribe her before she will forgive me.

I'm tired and don't have work tomorrow so I just feed both of us and collapse on my bed sleeping like a dead rock.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading and have a good day. :D