JAN 1 Thursday.

I slowly get out of bed and make my way into the kitchen for some tea and breakfast. It's been a hectic three days of spell creation and keeping an eye out for anypony acting strange. But after a few late nights and long days, I'm done.

After my breakfast, I'm about to go into my workroom when I hear a knock on my door. I hurry into my workroom and grab a new necklace I bought, it's made from silver and has a small silver case on the chain. The case has a diamond that is the exact size of the case and fits inside perfectly.

The necklace was easy to find but having a gem worker pony cut a diamond to the right size took a full day by itself. But it was worth it as my new emotional shield is enchanted into that diamond, and even better I was able to cut down on the spell's magical requirements enough to have it be active all the time.

I take the necklace and place it around my neck before heading to the door. I take a moment to feel the life magic behind the door, it's about the same as anypony would have. I open the door slowly to see Daisy looking back at me. The bracelet on my foreleg doesn't react so I open the door fully.

"Hello Daisy, do you need something?"

She smiles at me. "I have bad news and good news, which do you want first?" I don't feel any panic as she says all this in a tone that is far too happy and teasing tone.

"Bad news." And I know how to shut her teasing mood down, a response about as subtle as a brick.

She loses her smile a little. "Oh, you're no fun. I hope you didn't plan anything for today as you have work."

I raise a brow at her statement. "I do? It's Thursday?"

"That's the good news. This year I planned out the new schedules in advance, your days off have been moved to the weekend." She says all this in the same teasing tone.

I just stare at her for a few moments. "You'd have to have known my days off were moved for a while. You aren't trying to prank me are you Daisy?" I ask back in the same tone.

All I get is the same smile. "I'm only half joking, you can come in tomorrow if you actually have things you need to do." She offers in her normal tone.

I think about it for a few moments. I can't just stay here forever fearing that this new shield won't work. It's like a Band-Aid you'll have to rip it off at some point, and I'd rather do this fast to give me more time if it doesn't work. I nod to her, "Ya I can come in, give me a few minutes."

She smiled again, "Thanks Shade, I need to leave now so I'll see you there." With that, she leaves down the hallway.

I close my door and spend a few minutes feeding Entropy before leaving my apartment. I walk through the streets, I'm still a little nervous and on edge but I make it to the library with nothing happening.

I move to the room that me and Ruby work in but find it empty. After realizing my mistake I walk over to the room that Blaz works in. "Hey Blaz, did Ruby leave my work here for me?" He turns to me from his desk.

"Yup, there is a schedule on your old desk with what you'll be working on."

I nod my thanks and walk over to what is now once again my work desk. I look through the schedule, it has a list of books that should keep me busy until Daisy finds a replacement. I find the right book and distract myself with work, I slowly relax more over the following hours.

By the time lunch rolls around I'm a little more calm about being outside of my apartment. There is nothing like three days of worry and panicked work to raise your anxiety and paranoia. But that will fade with time, but also never disappear, I am paranoid by nature.

But bringing out and about living my life helps. I walk over to a table and sit down with my friends to eat lunch. "So how have all of you been?" We haven't talked since we exchanged gifts a week ago.

Blaz answers me first. "I took the time to go visit my son, his little foal is just as much of a hoof full as he was at that age," Blaz says with a very happy tone, he doesn't use a tone like that often.

Daisy answers next. "Blaz you'll have to get pictures for us someday. And I've been doing just fine, I spent some time painting and trying out those blues you all got me."

"Are any of them the right one?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "Not yet, but a few show promise and One is very close."

And last Maple answers. I turn to her, she's been looking better. The cold has let up some after that snowstorm and spring should be here in a week or two. Maple speaks up, "I've been fine, thank you for the tea, it's nice." Her answer is short but that's something I've come to expect from her.

"I'm glad you like it. Although if you want more it might be hard to find, I bought it from a Zebra caravan." She just nods and continues eating.

Daisy looks at me. "Have you had any trouble today with Ruby's work?"

I shake my head. "No it's been the same, she left me a schedule that should last until you can find a replacement."

"Good. Also, I saw it this morning but I do like the necklace, it's plain but it fits you."

"Thanks, I thought it looked nice." That's only a half lie as I do think it looks nice, but that's not the reason I'll be wearing it all day. At her comment, both Blaz and Maple look at it. Blaz just nods after a second, and Maple just goes back to her food after looking at it.

I'm glad neither of them had more questions, I don't think I have the mental energy to form complex lies right now. We talk about mundane things for the rest of lunch before heading back to work. It goes as normal and after a few more hours I'm free to head home.

But I have something I need to do. I start walking to the lower city markets, I have a few necessities that I need to buy. Another reason to head to the markets is to help with my fear. I won't know if the shield works until I find a Changeling, and I rather not live in constant fear.

But I also find it difficult to just stop worrying, walking around should help. I walk through the markets trying to not let my nervousness show. I buy what I need along with a new cloak, I need to get rid of my old one. It's made from canvas like the last one but is dyed a deep green.

I put it on to stop the very light snowfall from landing on me. It's still odd to me that all this snow will be gone in a few weeks. I walk home a little less nervous than before, but still keeping an eye out. I make it home and start putting everything away, once I'm done I start working on my necklace.

I made the shield in three days and had to cut a few corners along the way, now that it is done I feel like I have some breathing room to improve it. I go over the matrix for a while changing small parts and improving it the best I can. But after an hour I stopped.

I've ignored everything besides Stone's training for the last four days and I should start catching up. So I started doing some work on the B.L.P spell, I've made some progress but it will take me several more months before I can finish it. With that in mind, I'm setting aside some time in my schedule to work on it slowly.

They gave me a year and I have many other things I want to do, so this will just be something I do at my own pace. I spend a while organizing my notes and making a few small delicate changes to the spell. It's a slow process as I need to take many things into account to make even small changes.

After a while, I'm interrupted by Entropy landing on my desk. "What?" I look over to her.

"Just doing some work, what do you need girl?" She looks back at me for a few seconds.

"Out?" I raise a brow, a new word. Out? I'm confused about this.

She moves over and looks at the door. "Out." OH! Oh. Shit, I haven't taken her outside in a few days now have I?

"Damn girl I'm sorry. How about a quick trip to the park before it gets dark?" She starts hopping around and moves over to me. I chuckle at her, "Ok just let me get my cloak." I stand up and find my new cloak, as I'm putting it on I see Entropy move over to me and land on my back.

I cast the illusion spell on her and walked out of my apartment. Once we leave the building she takes the opportunity to fly off of me and around the area. I keep my hood down as I walk to the park, it doesn't take us long to arrive. It's still day with a few ponies about having fun with the snow before winter ends.

I find a bench with a nice view and sit down. I just enjoy the view and watch as Entropy flies around the area, after a while she lands near me and sits down. "Did you have fun?"

"Good." That's all I get, but it's enough to know she's happy. We didn't stay long as it was near the end of the day, so we just spent a while relaxing before leaving for home. The walk is also peaceful and we arrive home not long after, Entropy goes off to do something and I get back to work.

I sit down and start working on the B.L.P spell again. An hour later I'm yet again interrupted by a small caw near me. I sigh, "I'm trying to do something girl, what do you want?" I say this while turning around, only to see nothing. I look around me but I can't find Entropy.

I hear another caw right next to me, that makes me jump slightly. I keep looking around but still see nothing. "Girl, you ok?" I'm getting a little worried. But I see some movement by my hooves, I look down only to see my own shadow moving. It splits off from me and in wisps of black smoke Entropy emerges from the shadow.

She looks back at me with what I can only describe as a smug look. "WHAT was that?" I remember the mention of shadow magic but this seems sudden. More wisps of black smoke appear as Entropy molds back into my shadow. I look behind me and see that my shadow on the wall now has a crow standing on it.

"Since when could you do this!?" I ask her, but she doesn't respond to me. She just moves out of my shadow on top of my back before sitting down. "We have so much to test." She just tilts her head at me and stays silent. "Let's get you a treat." That got her attention.

I fill a bowl with fruit and fish. She eats while I make my own food. After we are both done I walk into my bedroom, I've been going pretty hard so after seeing the time I decide to just get some more sleep than normal tonight.

Author's Note

I decided to let Entropy have this ability now as getting around guards that can detect illusions would complicate things, and I don't think I want to add two or three chapters of him finding out the problem and then finding a solution as I feel it would drag things out.

I also thought it was about time Entropy showed more abilities.

Also Entropy's now an adult for her kind, normal crows are adults at four months old so I thought twelve was enough for her. This fact has no real baring on the story just a small thing I wanted to add.

Thanks for reading.