JUN 14 Saturday. POV Celestia

I take a sip of tea as I fill out and copy another form from the stack in front of me, this month is always so busy, the Summer Sun Celebration is only a week or so away and the paperwork just piles up.

It's not all bad though, the new copy spell has been making it easier, and yesterday I received yet another gift from a certain colt, the quill I'm now using might be the most complex thing they have made.

On my desk is a wood block that contains a gem, I dip the quill tip inside a slot and sign another form, I even spent some of my rare free time looking through the enchantments, and they are truly unique.

Thinking of all this brings my mind to the pony responsible for all of this, Shade Evergreen, a source of both great joy, and even greater confusion for me, a young earth pony, an orphan, an apprentice, and an inventor, this pony is many things, but simple is not one of them.

So many things about him both makes sense and also don't make any sense at the same time, I've had a few of my ponies look into his past but that has answered little, and in fact just raised more questions.

As far as I've been able to find out he started practicing magic as soon as he could, his younger life is mostly uninteresting as he was and is still young, but seemingly right at the moment he left the orphanage he started doing so much that it's a little overwhelming.

When offered the chance to become an apprentice he agreed, not that uncommon for orphans, but he decided to become a librarian apprentice, it's a rare thing for a pony that young to seek that type of apprenticeship, in fact only four have done the same in the past few years.

Then without help he unlocked his affinities, most don't even bother to unlock them at all, and then he spent a considerable amount of time training that affinity, after that he found a valuable plant by accident and with it an even more valuable herb, one only he could grow in large quantities.

And then he just gave it away, I'm used to others sending me gifts to gain my favor, but Shade doesn't seem to want that from what I've seen, then there is the first time we met, at the meeting I could tell he was nervous, even if he hid it well, but that's where he went from interesting to odd.

He's mature for his age, he speaks well and tried to remain calm through our conversation, and as far as I can tell he never lied to me, he didn't even hide his method, he even offered to show me how he did what he did, the vast majority of ponies his age would be scared or secretive, but he wasn't.

The next several meetings and letters have only raised more questions, he seems very good at math, I can tell that much from the things he's sent me, he's also good at inventing new things, and every single thing he sends me is useful or life-saving, the magic light alone has helped so many.

And in return he asked for nothing, in fact he didn't even ask he just sent me a life-changing invention and said it was mine, the fact that he didn't even ask for bits or to have his name attached to it is odd to say the least, in the end I decided to give him some of the royalties from it's sale.

And all he's done with those bits is invent more things, the magic light, the anti pest spell, the copying spell, and recently the water flasks, each one of these is amazing, the light is something I've had other ponies try to make for a while, but none succeeded.

The pest spell has been working well, crop loss has dropped by roughly seven percent this year, that may sound small but adding up all the different farms together and it makes a difference.

The copy spell has been a personal favorite, there were a few spells that did the same thing, but those cost too much magic for most to cast and were hard to learn, this spell is fairly easy to learn and almost anypony can cast it, it's made the administration of equestria easier.

Paper and ink waste is down massively, and important paperwork can be copied and sent in mass quickly now, this spell has even made my job easier, I don't have to wait as long for bills or documents to be written and sent to me, and with the new quill he sent me I don't even need to use ink anymore.

And finally the new flasks, this is something I never thought could be solved this easily, with a small gem and a flask you can now get water even in the desert, I know it will definitely be popular with the caravans.

I move the signed paperwork to the side, I then open a letter I got from Shade with my new quill, it's a progress report on the new strain of wheat he's breeding, I smile at the progress and expected finish date, if he can get it ready before the next year starts then that would be perfect.

I never did ask him to send me progress reports, he just did, I've come to know that Shade is the type of pony that does so much for others and never seems to want them to know, I don't know why but he seems dead set on remaining unknown, even with all he's done.

I may not know why he does this but I can tell that he wants to help others, what I can't understand is what drives him, he does all this, and yet he doesn't seem to have a reason, at least not one I can see clearly.

I take another sip of tea as I finish reading the report he sent, Shade Evergreen what drives you?, I would like a break from all this paperwork, and maybe I could invite him to talk again soon, maybe it's time to ask some questions and get a few answers.

POV Shade

I'm copying a page when a chill runs down my spine, :did Blaz leave a window open?: I look around but nope all the windows are closed, I shake my head and focus back on the page in front of me.

time skip

JUN 17 Tuesday. I stand in front of the gates to the palace checking the time.

It's odd that Celestia would invite me this time of year, the Summer Sun Celebration is a little lessthan a week away so why does she want to talk now, I suppose it doesn't really matter I'm about to find out, I approach the gate and like the times before I show a guard the letter I got and they lead me through the palace.

We enter the same room as last time and I see Celestia lying next to a table, unlike last time she's not alone, she has a small baby dragon with her and seems to be entertaining them, :I forgot that Twilight might be here, fuck: I maintain my calm and approach the table after bowing to her.

"Good to see you again princess."

"Same to you Shade" Before she can continue Spike interrupts her, "Shh it's ok."

I spend a moment looking at Spike pretending to be surprised, and after a moment I speak, "I've never met a dragon before, what's their name?"

She turns back to me, "It's Spike, my student Twilight hatched him."

"So that's what happened? I heard that a dragon's head put a hole in the roof of your school."

"Yes it was a byproduct of him hatching, he's still young but is growing fast" "she moves Spike a little away from us to some blankets before casting a spell around him, I'm not sure what spell but if I had to guess it's something to let Spike sleep while we talk.

"Now you're probably wondering why I invited you?", I nod "Well first I'd like to thank you for the gift I love it, and I have also been meaning to talk to you for some time now and realized that I had some free time today, so I'd like to just talk if that's ok with you?", I don't trust that for a second.

"Completely fine princess, anything in particular you want to talk about", she smiles at my answer.

"Well, what have you been working on recently?"

Out of all the questions, this is by far the worst to start on, in response I take a moment to rummage through my saddlebags, and I take out a book I use to take notes.

I have several notebooks but most I keep at home and write in English, this is one I use when at the library or in public, it's written in the ponies language just in case somepony sees it, this book only has some notes and spells along with my thoughts on things, It also doesn't have anything that would get me in trouble, or anything I shouldn't know.

"Here this should give you a decent idea of my current skill", it's pretty obvious she was asking a loaded question, and from the look on her face she wasn't really trying to hide it.

She just smiles and takes the notebook, I spend my time trying to keep myself calm as she takes a few minutes to read through several pages, "you have progressed much further than I realized, different spell designs, matrixes, and even some notes about plant cross-breeding."

She passes the book back to me and I put it away, "Thank you princess."

She's silent for a moment before speaking, "We've talked some and have been writing letters back and forth for a year now, and something has been on my mind for a while, so do you mind if I ask you something personal?", I spend a moment thinking, before nodding to her "Why do you make things? what drives you to learn and train so much?"

I freeze, :out of all the dammed questions it had to be that:, I'm silent for almost a full minute, I see Celestia about to speak before cutting her off.

"Magic is many things, and it can do so many wonderful things, but so often I see others look at a problem and just accept it, some do try and fix or improve things but most don't", I pause to keep my words steady "but so many of those problems hurt others and could be solved easily, but nopony does."

"So often I see a way to fix something or improve those problems, so one day I decided to do something about it, I guess you could say I don't stop trying to improve because I can't let the world stay like this, I can't just sit here and watch others suffer when I can do something about it."

Celestia's face shifts to a soft understanding look, "I know what you mean, I'm much the same I see many problems, and often I try and help all I can but I can never do everything alone, you should try and remember that Shade, and I apologize if that question upset you in any way."

"It's fine princess, but how about a change of topic?", we spend some time talking about several topics, and I find myself relaxing, I may have to hide a great many things from her, but unlike my other friends I can actually talk to her about my projects, and to no ones surprise she's great at giving advice.

We spend the rest of our time together talking about different branches of magic, and when our time is up we stop, "thank you for keeping me company for a while Shade", she picks up a sleeping Spike "I do have one last thing to ask you, if that's ok?"

I hesitate for a moment before nodding "I asked you why you do so much now I want to ask you, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

I sit there, really thinking over her question, :what do I want to be?:, and after some thought, I find my answer, "I want to help, even if nopony ever knows, even if nopony ever knows I did anything at all I want to help."

Celestia has a kind smile on her face as she looks at me, "Then know that I will always do my best to help you, have a good day Shade"

"Same to you princess", after that I'm led out of the palace and back out into the city, I hum a small tune as I walk home, and I think I feel just a bit better about the future.

POV Celestia

As Shade leaves I spend a moment thinking over what we spoke about, I didn't get any real answers, but I'm not sure I need them, I could tell that Shade has secrets and that he didn't really want to answer me, so I stopped asking after the first question.

I want answers but not at the expense of Shade's trust in me, I don't want to push him away by asking too much, so for now he can keep his secrets, I just hope he trusts somepony with them, holding all that in won't do him any good, but for now I'll be patient.

Author's Note

This is my first real attempt at something emotional so sorry if it's rough, I may tweak it later.
Thanks for reading.