FEB 21 Saturday.

I'm drawing another sketch of Entropy while Avalon gives me different pieces of advice and small instructions. Turns out that Avalon very much likes art in many forms, but his favorite seems to be simple drawings and sketches.

Avalon is a quiet and calm Griffin and seems like a nice person overall. I draw another line and look back up to him as he draws in his own book. It's still several hours until we arrive so I might as well attempt some small talk. "We still have a long ride until we arrive, do you have any good stories?"

He looks back up to me. He seems now much more relaxed than when he first sat down with me and has opened up more than any other Griffin I've met so far, he seems to defy his nature in that way. "Well, I do have one about a delivery I had a while back."

"Oh ya, you did mention you were a Courier. What's that like?" I changed the subject slightly out of curiosity.

"I work for contract hire, it basically means I'm independent of any organization and can be hired by anyone. And it's fine, I mostly move small delicate things as they are easy and can pay decently. Back to the story, a month or two ago I was contracted to deliver some documents."

"They needed them to be moved fast and while I'm not that fast on land I consider myself to be a good flyer. I was contracted to move them in two days as they were important and time-sensitive. And I got it there in time, but the pony I was supposed to deliver them to wasn't there when I arrived."

I listen to his story with a smile on my face. "Turns out the pony that I was supposed to deliver to was fired by some other pony that wanted their job and got them fired somehow."

"Why?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "I asked another employee there and they just started talking about some feud between them over some past incident. But this is where things get fun. The contract I signed was for some important documents for this business, and it specifically said I could only deliver the documents to the pony working there."

I start to see where he's going with this. "So when I arrived and they weren't there I couldn't give it to the new pony or I could get heavily fined for a breach of contract. But that's not my job and after some less than pleasant back and forth between me and the new pony in charge.

"He just lost it a little after I mentioned the other pony's name and that I had something for them. Full-on screaming at me that they didn't work there anymore and that I wasn't needed there. So I did just that and left without delivering the documents."

"The contract told me what to do if I couldn't fulfill my delivery. It's standard practice in most contracts like this to return the package to the sender in situations like this, so I did just that and left the same day. When I got back my employers were losing their minds over what happened."

"Turns out the document I was delivering was for a trade document, it needed to be signed before they could buy out a new business in that area before word got out and their competitors noticed the same opportunity, and that new company got a better offer."

"The new business was a small smithy that invented a new slightly cheaper way to smelt iron, it mostly just saves fuel. But when that pony refused to let me deliver my package to the pony stated in the contract they lost the opportunity and got into a bidding war over ownership of the small company."

"They ended up paying a lot more than the original offer to acquire that business. And I was contracted to take another document to that pony not long after, it was a letter telling me they were fired from his new job." Avalon chuckles as he ends the story.

I chuckle along with him. "That's just a mess, do you have things like that happen often?"

He shakes his head. "Thankfully no. That was probably the worst reaction I've gotten from someone getting a delivery."

"Probably for the best that it stays that way. So are you delivering something now?"

He again shakes his head. "I'm heading to New Trotten to pick something up that needs to be moved, and after that, it's back home. Where are you going?"

"I'm on vacation for the next two weeks and decided to take a trip to New Trotten. Where is home for you? I myself have lived in Canterlot for my whole life." I start with where I live to sound less noisy.

"Same, I've lived in Canterlot for two years now. It's a wonderful city, the only problem I have is all the questions." He stops abruptly at that and looks a little odd, I think he was relaxed enough to let that slip out by accident.

He stops for a moment and looks back at his missing arm. "Why haven't you asked yet?" He seems to realize he said that out loud a second after he said it. "S-sorry that came out wrong. It's just that most ask about it and you haven't even after a few hours."

I just smile at him. "I had a friend that was missing a limb when I was younger. And while he never let it show I know he didn't want to talk about it when others asked. So no I didn't ask, and I won't be asking anytime soon."

He gives me a thankful look. "Thanks not many do that." He stops talking after that and goes back to drawing in his book. I do the same for a moment before a thought strikes me, why doesn't he have a prosthetic? After flipping ahead through the medical book I brought until I found a small section on prosthetics.

I read through it for a while and saw that it's not the most informative. The answer is mostly that ponies don't need prosthetics much, as while it's not easy it's not too hard to reattach limbs with healing magic. But over all this seems to be yet another thing that is underdeveloped in Equestria.

My mind won't let this stand, so I find my notebook and start thinking of ideas on how I can make or improve prosthetics. I start writing down different runes and spell matrices while thinking of different rune combinations or spells that could help. As I'm doing this I don't notice Avalon staring at me.

"What are you working on?" He asks. I jumped a little at his voice as I was sucked into my work. I look at him and think of the best way to explain this. And just decide to down play what I was doing while still being honest.

"I study and practice runic magic, and I had an idea a moment ago. I was just making some notes and writing down a few ideas on some things to research later." He looks intrigued.

"Runic magic? I've heard a bit about that, it's a type of magic non-unicorns can use right?"

I move my hoof in a half-and-half gesture. "Yes and no, it's not often used but those that do are mostly Earth ponies and Pegasi. But all beings have magic and with enough practice can use runic magic, even you could use it."

"Wait, I could use magic?" He asks while looking confused.

I nod. "Well, yes. You'd need to learn how and you'd probably have less magic to work with than a pony, but you'd still be able to use a lot of simple spells." I give him an example by quickly drawing out a basic light spell matrix in front of him and casting it to form a small ball of light in the air.

"Wow." That's all he says as he looks mesmerized by the small light. After a moment he looks at me with a surprisingly determined look on his face and a certain look in his eyes, "How could I learn to use magic?" He nearly demands of me. I guess I've sparked something in him.

"There are a few ways, but before you start there are a few things I should warn you about." I start writing something out as I continue speaking. "All magic can be dangerous if used improperly, so no matter what you decide on I caution you to be careful and double check everything as you go."

"With that out of the way let's start with this." I pass him a page of paper I ripped out of my notebook, it's filled with several math questions. "Magic is mostly three things. First, will, you need to have enough will to control your magic to do as you want. Second, you need magic. And third, you need the knowledge to use magic."

He looks down at the page confused. "And what does math have to do with this?"

"Magic spells are made from two things. Runes to give the spell complex and widespread instructions, and math to give the spell structure and more specific instructions. If you can solve those questions it will give me a good idea of what books to recommend to you."

"Also I noticed that you seem really interested in magic, why?"

He gives me the same look he had when he was talking about art. "I've seen it a lot, and it's always interested me. But now that I know I can use it I really want to try and learn how. Also, thanks for the help, again." That last part is said in a more reserved way.

"No problem, it's just nice to see someone excited to learn about runic magic." We lapse back into silence as he works on the questions and I continue working on my ideas. It takes him almost two hours to finish the thirty questions on the page. When he passes it back to me I start reading it.

He got a surprising amount of them right, even a few of the ones I didn't expect him to be able to answer. Seeing that he has at least some potential with the mathematics side of magic I start writing a list of books for him. When I'm done I rip out another page and hand it to him.

"This is a list of books to start with, you can find all of them at the city library in Canterlot. I recommend you start at the top of this list and work your way down. A few of the early ones might seem simple but they have several things that are important to learn."

He looks over the list and looks back at me. "Thanks, I know I've been saying that a lot but I mean it."

I smile at him again. "And like I said before, it's no problem. Just make sure you stay safe and don't ignore the warning in those books, many ponies make that mistake and while weak spells are safe to fail stronger ones can lead to some less than pleasant situations."

He gives me a firm nod. "I promise." He goes back to reading through the list after that and I go back to my work. We spend the rest of the train ride in silence with a few small conversations. When the train does eventually arrive I start gathering my things and preparing to leave.

When I have everything ready I turn to Avalon. "Thanks for the story and keeping me company through the ride. Oh, and the drawing advice." I pretend to forget that last part just to see him smile about it when I bring it up again.

He nods and stands up next to me. "It's no trouble. And thank you for all the help you've given me, even a lot of ponies aren't as helpful as you have been. Here." He passes me a small piece of paper. "That's my mail address. If you ever need something moved I'd be happy to do so." He smiles at me while I take the piece of paper.

I smile back before taking a small piece of paper and writing down the address used for my apartment building. If he sends anything there it will just be sorted into my mailbox without him knowing what room I live in. "And here, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm more than willing. Have a good day Avalon."

"Same to you Shade, and I hope you have a good vacation." We both leave the compartment and make our way off the train before separating to go our own ways. I look around the busy train station and move towards the exit, I walk out onto an equally busy street.

I smile as I look around. Seems I have a new city to explore.

Author's Note

I had fun writing about this and just kind of kept going. Next chapter should be more interesting.

Also new city, and ideas? Or suggestions?

Thanks for reading as always and I hope you have a lovely day. :]