NOV 6 Thursday.

It's been a few days now and Maple seems to be doing much better. She still looks a little tired but seems to be doing better overall, Daisy did end up getting a bit annoyed with her for leaving in a storm and has been forcing Maple to take breaks. I've never really seen Daisy like that but apparently she can be stubborn and a little scary when she wants to.

I'm just happy Maple seems to be ok, and as for her leaving in that storm? nopony asked, why didn't I? Like I said it's not my business and she deserves at least that much trust as my friend. Moving on I have some plans today and something exciting to do, I need to go shopping.

Right now I'm going through my saddlebags and cleaning them out for today. I won't be taking Entropy with me as I don't want to deal with her for a while and she doesn't really like being snowed on, but she can take care of herself and will be fine here. Once I have my saddlebags emptied out I find my card and put on my cloak and saddlebags before leaving my apartment.

I walk through the streets as small flakes of snow fall around me. My first order of business is finding gifts for my friends, I didn't try to keep it as much of a surprise and just asked them what they would like as a gift.

Maple just asked for some good tea and sweets. I don't want to give her Blood Leaf Tea so I'll have to find some other type to give her, and the sweets are easy enough to find.

Blaz wanted puzzles to noponies surprise, but he also asked me to send him a few good fish recipes, turns out the second foal his son is having is a Bat pony and he wants to know how to cook for them if he ever needs to in the future.

Daisy just asked for some paint and a new set of brushes, specifically any types of blue paint I could find, apparently she still hasn't found the right one.

They also asked me what I wanted as a gift. I asked Daisy to paint a pot for me as I thought it would be a nice thing to add some art to my home. From Blaz I asked for a chess set, I think I might know a princess that would enjoy a game or two. And from maple, I asked for a pie pan and a pie recipe that uses tea.

That last one was both a legitimate request and me wanting to see if she can actually find a pie that uses tea. I walk through the markets and shops looking for anything that catches my eye. I find a stall selling maple-shaped maple flavored sweets and buy them, I can't pass on a gag gift.

I found a small puzzle box, it's made from wood and after having the seller tell me how to open it I bought it, the puzzle box is a hard puzzle and I think Blaz will enjoy the challenge. I already know enough recipes so that's blaz off my list, and if I lock those recipes in a puzzle box I happen to own that's not my fault.

I keep looking and fail to find any stalls with paint or brushes, so I have to go through a few shops to find what I'm looking for. It takes me longer but I find several shades of blue paint along with a few other colors and some decent brushes.

That only leaves Maple who wants some tea. And that brings me to the exciting thing, during the winter Equestria has a shortage of many types of herbs. So often during winter trade caravans from the Zebras come to sell cheap herbs at a profit.

The dry savanna plains they live in are easy to travel through if you know what you are doing, and that easy travel gives them easy access to many environments with many types of plants and herbs. I didn't know about them last year but I do now and I'm not missing the opportunity to get some interesting plants.

I don't have to leave the city to find them but I still have to walk to the other side of the market and that takes a while in the snow. When I do find the right place I see several stalls with markings I don't recognize with zebras wearing cloaks like me. I guess they don't like the snow.

I look through their stalls, this is the only Zebra caravan here right now and it's a smaller one so I won't find any really good things, but I could still find a few things that would be useful.

But first I need to find some tea for Maple so let's start there. I see a stall selling specifically tea and tea products. The stall owner is talking to somepony so I take my time to look through the teas they have, and I find a nice apple tea that she should like, Maple will never tell me what flavor of pie is her favorite but I know she likes apple pie.

I wait as the zebra and pony talk over the price of something. Zebras are known for their herbs and potions, but they don't export many potions to others as most potions degrade rather fast and can be hard to transport. So instead they bring the ingredients and take commissions for whatever you'd like.

It lets them sell their potions without a lot of the logical problems, the downside is that if you want one of their potions and they aren't here you either need to go to them or wait for them to show up again. The stall owner and pony seem to have come to an agreement and the pony leaves.

I walk up. "I'd like this please." I place the small bag of apple tea on the table.

They nod, "Fifteen bits I shall need, in order to take that you've decreed." And like many zebras, they talk in rhyme. I just pass them the bits and take the tea, It's an apple tea, something you can find commonly in Canterlot but the Zebras are good with making tea and this tea is of a much higher quality than what I'd be able to buy for that price.

I look through several other stalls before coming to one with a few plants in pots and many dried herbs. There are also a few small jars filled with seeds and labeled with paper tags, I look through them and see many names I recognize. Most are normal and common herbs.

But a few of them caught my interest. Solar Vine seeds and Frost Bloom seeds, both I've heard and know of, I wouldn't mind owning them. After not finding anything else in the jars that I'd want I move onto the few small plants they have. Again most are things I can find here, but two are different.

The first is Spicy Red Root, I don't recognize it but it catches my interest. It's a large thick root with small fern-like leaves growing out of the top. I'm intrigued and grab it, I'll ask the seller and look around at the library to see what I can find out about it.

The last is by far the most and also least interesting. It's a small and clearly struggling Venus Fly Trap, I don't know how they have kept it alive in this cold as it's not known to like the cold at all. It's nearly identical to Venus Fly Trap I know, the only difference being its color, a deep purple with reddish stripes.

I have no use for this plant but I'm still buying it, why? Who wouldn't want one? It's a cool plant to have and I think it will be fun to just have around, plus fly's are annoying and I wouldn't mind having less of them in my life.

After looking through the rest of what they have nothing else catching my interest, I just buy what I have and ask a few questions about the plants before walking home. When I do get home I store the seeds and start working on the Venus Fly Trap, I'm surprised it's lasted this long in the cold and it needs help.

The Zebra said they didn't know anything about the Venus Fly Trap so I'm on my own. I start by feeling its magical flows, they are weak and sluggish. I start feeding it life magic and watch as the leaves and maws regain color. The purple lightens some as the red deepens, and the plant now looks much more healthy and stable. I take it to my window and place it with the others.

I go and grab a small sapphire to enchant, I don't know what the plant wants as I'll need to look into it later, but I know it will probably need a warmer and wetter environment. So I just settled for copying the jungle environment spell and placing the sapphire in its pot.

I'll keep an eye on it but it should at least stay somewhat stable now. I started with the Spicy Red Root next, I was able to ask the Zebra selling it about what it is. They didn't say much, just that it's a common food for a lot of them and you can eat it raw or cooked beyond that its name says it all.

I don't know how the plant flowers so I just have to brute force it with my magic, this takes longer and much more magic but after some effort I have several seeds from the Spicy Red Root. That name is a bit of a mouthful, isn't it?

I plant one of these seeds just to make sure they'll grow properly. I plant it and after a little while I have another Red Root, I think I'll just call it that, it seems easier. I take the new root out of the pot and start washing off all the dirt in my sink, I grab my knife and cutting board.

I cut off the top part that connects to the leaves, I spent a little while cutting it into several pieces. The inside is a deep crimson that looks like blood, I fill a pot with water and drop it inside before putting the lid of the pot on, and then putting it on the stovetop to heat up and cook.

I'm not sure how long I need to boil them so I'll check on them while cooking the fish. For the fish I do what I normally do, slice it into pieces and cook it in a pan with several seasonings. I have to go in between checking on the fish and Red Root but after a while both are done.

The Red Root came out much like a potato, it's soft and creamy with a nice amount of spice to it. Although its red color seems to stain a lot. But the Red Root goes well with my fish and Entropy also seems to like them, I don't remember if crows can taste spice but she doesn't seem to mind either way.

I'm definitely using this more in my cooking. After lunch I take the Red Root I still have and leave it next to my window with the rest of my plants. I still have two other plants that I got, well they are seeds, not plants but that's semantics. I grab a pot filled with soil and start with the Frost Bloom.

The Frost Bloom is a small flower, it has a white stem with very deep green leaves and light blue petals. Its base has several thick leaves with small thorns on their tips, all these leaves are connected to its main stem that rises high to form its flower.

The flower itself looks similar to a thistle without its bulb, it is a collection of light blue needles that form a small tuft on top. This flower doesn't have any magical properties or effects, you can't even make much with it. But it has one quality that made me buy it.

It can grow in very cold temperatures, far beyond almost any other plant. Its natural environment is snowy mountain tops and plateaus. It also has a small bulb under the plant that lets it hibernate until the winter much like a poppy, and when winter comes it grows out of the ground and blooms.

This lets it grow and breed without competition, and most animals won't eat it as it's slightly poisonous. You don't see them much in Equestria as they aren't from here, I wanted the plant because I might be able to crossbreed it with other plants to make them cold-resistant.

I grow a single flower in the pot and have it grow several new seeds for me to store. I take the pot and place it on my countertop as it does look nice despite its cold nature. The last plant I found is by far the most interesting one, the Solar Vine.

It grows on rocky outcroppings in the desert, and it does basically the same thing as the Moon Glow. The Moon Glow converts ambient magic into lunar magic, the Solar Vine stores solar magic it gathers during the day and releases it at night to attract bugs and their predators just like the Moon Glow.

Both plants use this to help themselves grow, but that's where they become opposites. The Solar Vine only collects solar magic and can't convert it from neutral magic. Its glow is also weaker than the Moon Glows. I planted the Solar Vines seed in a new pot with a branch from my Iron Oak as support.

I push my magic into the seed and watch as it grows up the branch. Its body is almost identical in color to sandstone, I presume that's to blend in to not be eaten. Its leaves are a sandy yellow-green that grows at certain points along the vine, at the base of these leaves are bean-sized white flowers.

I grow new seeds from the plant and store them like the others. I take the vine out into my main room and place it at the base of Entropy's perch and grow it along the perch with the Companion Vine. The Companion vine should also keep the Solar Vine alive despite the cold.

It should be relatively fine as desert plants need to deal with both extreme heat and cold. I haven't needed to give Entropy's perch any life magic so the Companion Vine should have enough for both. After checking on all my other plants I sit down and start wrapping the gifts I got.

Author's Note

150k not as big of a thing as 100k but still a milestone. I don't really have anything planed for this, but if any of you have questions you wanted to ask but haven't go for it.

Although if the question is about the story I may be a tight lipped or vague about it.

Thanks for reading as always and have a good day. :D