SEP 17 Wednesday.

I walk through the streets heading to the library. It's been a few days since the forest incident and thankfully things have been quiet. But that doesn't mean nothing is wrong, I still have to worry about a changeling possibly interacting with me. And to that end, I've done something that might seem counter-intuitive.

I've stopped wearing my illusion-detecting bracelet. My reasoning behind this is simple, if I don't know that the pony I'm talking to is a changeling then they can't sense my fear or panic. Now obviously this isn't the best solution but until I find a better one it's my best bet.

I reached the library. And start walking through different hallways, before reaching the room I work in. But to my surprise, Blaz isn't alone in the room, as Daisy is also there talking to him. "What's this? A visit?"

Both turn to me with Blaz being the first to speak. "Don't know colt Daisy just showed up and said she'd be waiting for you."

"I can explain that myself Blaz. Anyway, I need to talk to you for a bit, mind coming to my office?"

"Sure lead the way." After a short walk we enter her office and sit down.

"So first, nothing is wrong. At least I don't think so, it really depends on how you see it."

I just sigh at her. "Daisy stop joking and just tell me, I have three books I need to do today," I say back at her.

"No need to be short with me Shade. But you are right I'm keeping you from your work. Ok sit down, this is going to take a little explanation." I comply and sit opposite of her. "First, do you know Ruby Rose?"

I think for a moment. "Ya I do, she's the older mare that works a few doors down from me and Blaz. I never talked to her though." The mare in question was elderly. Her main and tail, which seemed to be red at one point, is almost entirely silvery gray now. And her coat is a deep red, while her eyes are equally red.

"Right, so the thing is she's decided to retire at the end of the year, keep that in mind. Now you said you've been learning Griffin, you even showed you're almost fluent in it. What I need to know is how well you can write and read it.

I raise a brow at her. "Ok seriously Daisy, what is this?"

"You know it's my job to keep the library staffed." I nod to her. "Well, finding somepony that can take over for Ruby won't be easy. Not many ponies learn other languages, and those that do mostly learn Zebra or Griffin as we have the most trade with them."

"But most who learn griffin use it for trade and don't want to work at a library. This is a problem because Ruby is our expert for the Griffin language and does all our translations for it. So I would normally have to find somepony to replace her, but like I just said it's not easy, and that takes time."

"But while thinking about the problem I realized you might be able to help."

"So what, you want me to take over for her?"

"Yes and no. You are still underage and need a mentor, but we can work around that. What I'm asking is, would you like to apprentice under Ruby and fill her spot while I look for somepony qualified for the job."

I think over it for a few moments. It would be beneficial to learn from an expert on the written language, and it wouldn't be a position I'd hold forever. After some thought, I came to a decision. "I'm willing to do it, but I'd like to know how exactly this is going to work."

Daisy smiles widely at me. "Good, and as for how it will work that's easy to explain. Like I said you'll apprentice with Ruby until she retires in a few months, and when she leaves you'll go back to working under Blaz, as you'll still need a mentor. I don't expect you to do the job long after that, a month or two at most."

"And as a bonus I convinced the library head to give you the same pay as Ruby during that time. I know you don't really need it, but you will be paid twice what you are right now. But before we continue I want to ask if you're absolutely sure?"

She says this part more as a friend than a superior. Do I really want to do this? Yes I think I do. I'll be able to solidify my knowledge of the Griffin language. That and it would be a nice change of pace, plus the extra pay doesn't hurt either. I nod to Daisy. "Yes I'm sure, I want to do this."

"Ok, just making sure. And I'll be looking for others to fill the job starting right now, so if you change your mind I can probably find somepony to fill in for you if you change your mind. I mostly offered this to you because I thought it would be a good learning experience."

I smile back at her. "Thanks, Daisy I appreciate it."

"Well I've kept you from work long enough, so let's go inform Blaz and introduce you to Ruby." And we do just that. After walking back to the hallway, and informing Blaz, we walk down a few doors before knocking. "Come in." The voice that answers is that of an old, softly-spoken mare.

When we enter I see Ruby. And she's just like I remember. "Nice to see you Daisy." She turns to me. "And this must be the colt that will be taking over for me, at least for a while."

"Nice to see you too Ruby, and yes this is Shade."

I nod to her. "Nice to meet you ma'am."

She looks me up and down for a moment before answering. "Same to you Shade, and Ruby is just fine." I nod to her again.

Daisy speaks up again. "Well I need to get back to work, and you two need to do the same. Have a good day Ruby."

“Same to you daisy,” Daisy then walks through the door and leaves us.

I turn to Ruby as she shifts through a few pages. "Come here, I have something I need you to do." I comply and walk over to her. She passes me a small stack of papers. "First I want you to fill out this test to see where you're at." I nod. "You can work over there."

She points to a clean desk nearby. "Ok." I don't complain and just start filling out the test. Most of the test consists of me writing out sentences, and answering grammar questions. It takes me a little over an hour to complete it. And when I'm done I take it with me and move back over to Ruby.

"I'm done." I pass her the test, and she takes it, and then starts reading it.

It takes her several minutes to finish. "You did really well, there are a few things we'll need to work on, but overall well done." I can't help but smile at that. "Now then, come over here and help me with this book.

time skip

SEP 18 Thursday.

I leave my bed as the sun rises into the sky. Yesterday was certainly an interesting experience. Ruby turned out to be a very quiet but very good teacher. And as I learned she was an actual teacher when she was younger. But back to the point, she's a quiet pony.

And I mean quiet, she didn't talk except when she needed to. But when she did speak it was always to teach something to me. And I think I made the right choice. The work is basically the same as before just with a different language, and I find myself enjoying the work more.

Normally during work I don't get bored, but it can get tiring and tedious. This work may be the same, but using a different language just keeps me more interested. But enough about that, time to talk about Stone, he's still pushing my limits all the time.

We are still practicing with daggers, but I've made good progress. We've also done some practice with greatswords, but for now we are focusing on daggers. I leave my bedroom and start making breakfast. And when I'm done me and Entropy take a quick trip through the void.

We didn't go to the forest we normally use, but the other spot we used during Entropy's distance test. It's only a little further away from the city so Entropy can still make the trips, even if it makes her a little more tired. But she's fine, if she's ever too tired I make her stop and rest, even if we have to spend a while in the forest.

I do want to go back to the other camp, but I'll need to make a shield to hide it. Once we are back in my apartment I give Entropy a treat and head for the door with my saddlebags. I'm going to the library as I have several things I need to research.

Like always it's a short walk and I'm there. Once I'm inside I start looking through shelves for anything that might be relevant. Right now my focus is on finding a way to shield my emotions, and I already have a few ideas. I spend the next few hours digging through different books.

And after learning what I can I head back home with a few possible solutions. Once I'm home and inside my workroom, I start going through a few of my notebooks. My plan right now is a type of shield that will stop my emotions from leaking out, but that's easier said than done.

My first, and arguably biggest problem is finding a way to carry an enchantment like this with me. I expect it to take a decent amount of magic to use, and that will need something that's able to keep up. After some thought, I decided to work on the enchantment itself first.

The spell for the enchantment can be made in two different ways. First, I can use only one rune, a rune for emotion, and use that to base the shield off of. Second, I can target a specific emotion to block out by finding the right rune for that emotion.

Both have ups and downs, so let's start with the first. Upsides, I can use just one rune that covers for all emotions, and it would use less magic. Downsides, it will be blocking all emotions which is odd in its own way, and while the rune would block out all emotions it will probably do so to a lesser degree.

Now the second idea. Upsides, it can better block a single emotion, and it will be harder to break or see through. Downsides, if I need to block more than one emotion I'll need to add more runes, and finding those runes could be hard.

I think over my options before flipping through my notebook with all the runes I've collected. And after some searching through the notebook I only found one, A rune for sadness. Well that's not very helpful right now, I guess I'll need to do some research and try to find more runes for this.

And that also puts a stop to most of this project. The only thing I can work on right now is the size and shape of the shield, so I just started working on that. I take out a notebook and start my work. It's not too complicated to set up a shield's area and shape, so after two hours I'm done.

I take notes and start on the next thing. The cleansing spell. It's made good progress, but it is still far from done. I have knocked the number of runes the spell used from five to four, and I think I might be able to lower it to three if I do well enough.

I spend even more time working on the cleansing spell. But I start feeling hungry after a while and decide to stop. I stand up and move into the kitchen to start on a late lunch. Maybe I should just relax for the rest of today? Ya, that sounds nice. It's important to relax and ground myself.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D