JUN 20 Saturday.

The first thing I feel is a nearly overwhelming sense of panic, but I'm not alone and can't afford to show what I'm feeling right now, so I slam that panic to the back of my mind and try my absolute best to show no outward reaction. Instead, I retreat into my mind to try and calm down and frantically think of a solution.

:WHY? HOW? FUCK!!: Calming down proves to be difficult, and I spend a few minutes zoning out and screaming internally. After a lot of cursing and continued panic, I get some form of control over my thoughts. I need to think through this and I need to find out what I'm going to do about it.

This train is already moving so I have no way off, or any way to excuse me wanting to leave after being so excited to go with my friends. I try to think of any other way I could prevent myself from staying on this train but come up with nothing that wouldn't raise more questions that I don't want to answer.

And that means I'm going to Ponyville whether I want to or not, and if I'm going there I need some form of a plan. I'm heading to the last place I want to be and I'll need to be exceedingly careful with how I act and what I do. First things first I need to figure out what I'm dealing with.

Who will be there? Well, Applejack will definitely be there as I'm pretty sure she's living there now. Twilight is still in school so she's out. I remember seeing who I'm pretty sure was Fluttershy's sire, and she's not an adult yet, so it's likely she's not living in Ponyville yet. Rarity is a complete unknown and I'll need to keep an eye out for her.

Rainbow Dash is also an unknown that could be here, the same goes for Pinkie Pie. So that leaves two accounted for and four unknowns, not the best situation. Avoiding Apple Jack shouldn't be too hard as she lives mostly on her family farm, and even if I see her I can just avoid any interaction.

As I'm thinking about possible situations somepony waves a hoof in front of my face. "Shade? You in there?" I turn my head from the window view to Daisy as she tries to get my attention.

I think fast and make up a half-lie. "Ya, just thinking about something I've been working on." I panicked a little as I was still not fully calmed down and brought up the first thing that came to mind, the T.P.T spell I was working on yesterday.

"Oh sorry if I interrupted your thoughts, I was just checking. What are you working on?" She asks curiously as Maple also starts looking at me, I take a second to look around the compartment. Blaz is still reading his book across from me, Daisy is sitting next to me and seems to have put her book to the side, and Maple is across from Daisy doing seemingly nothing.

And Entropy, under her disguise, is just sleeping on the rack above us. I again panic a little realizing what I just told her, but calm down about it a little a moment later. I did decide to show them this, and right now seems like as good a time as any, and it would give me something to do to distract myself and help me relax.

"Well I've been learning a complex spell for a few weeks, and I succeeded in casting it recently," I say with a little pride in my tone, it's not often I get to show off my training.

Daisy and Maple both looked a little intrigued now, and Blaz who seems to have been listening in lowers his book and also gives me his attention. Seeing them all looking at me I decided to just show them instead of explaining everything. "Move your legs," I ask while moving off the cushioned bench.

They all do as asked and move their limbs out of the way, I fold up the small fold-down table in between us, I lay down on the floor and start drawing out the spells matrix. I start with the three large runic rings and then work my way out from the center.

At first, I have my friend's interest but as I start forming the spell their curiosity turns to milled shock. They are all ponies decently well versed in spells and spell casting, they know the spell I'm casting is more complex than most my age would normally cast, the fact I'm drawing it from memory is just the cherry on top.

It takes me three full minutes, with me going extra slow just to make sure I don't mess anything up. When it's done I take an extra minute to check everything over, nopony says anything as I work, they know it's best not to interrupt somepony while casting a spell. Once I'm sure it's correct I push my magic into it and cast the spell.

The matrix flashes and I get the same odd feeling as the magic starts to take form. I hear a small excited gasp from Daisy, I ignore it to watch the wings form and make sure nothing goes wrong. After a short time, they are fully formed and I look back to my friends.

Daisy has a massive smile and looks excited, Blaz looks a little shocked but recovers quickly and just starts laughing. Even Maple looks a little shocked at my display, and she's not one to show much emotion. I smile back, "ta-da." I say with a laugh at their expressions.

Blaz just laughs harder and at this point is almost out of breath. I just smile and stand up from the floor, and forget to clench the right muscles so the wings flop down to the floor.

I start trying to move them correctly and fold them, which causes Blaz to laugh even harder at the sight of me clumsily moving the wings. I get them back into a resting position on my back before sitting down on the bench again, as I do so Entropy starts fussing over my wings again and demanding to fix the feathers I've misaligned.

Daisy speaks as Blaz is still doubled over laughing. "That's a very impressive spell, how much time did you spend learning it? Or practicing it for that matter?" She asks while watching Entropy preen the feathers on my back.

"A few weeks to make sure I remembered it properly and a lot of practice casts to make sure nothing was wrong. All in total it took around a month." In truth, I spent two weeks on it and first cast it yesterday, but they don't need to know that.

She nods proudly. "Impressive, not many have the patience or magic to cast something like that. Amazingly done." She flashes me a winning smile while looking the wings over.

Blaz has finally recovered at this point and turns to me, "Agreed, I haven't seen anypony use a spell that impressive in a while. But I'm guessing you have no idea how to use those wings?" He asks with a teasing smile.

I nod without any shame. "Nope not in the slightest, I've only learned how to fold them back and somewhat hold them in place there, and learning just that took a while. If only I knew a pegasus who might be able to help teach me." I tease back with a smile on my face.

He looks a little surprised but quickly switches to a smile again. "Well now, you want me to teach you?" I can already tell from his tone he's about to mess with me. "I guess I could, but what's in it for me?" His tone isn't serious at all, and I want to joke back.

So I decided to make an offer. "Two."

He raises a brow and looks bemused. "Two Bits? Really?"

"Oh sorry, let me be more clear." At this point we both know I'm fucking with him. "Two thousand." I smile as his face tries to stay neutral but eventually cracks as he chuckles.

"I have free time on the weekend, and the park should work well enough and we can practice there. And maybe we can try while we're at Ponyvile." He offers happily.

I struggle to maintain my smile when he mentions where we are going, but I recover a moment later. "That would be very much appreciated, thanks for the help Blaz," I say genuinely, it's nice to have friends to help you when you need it. He smiles and nods while picking his book up off the floor, it fell in his laughing fit.

Maple speaks up. "Congratulations, how long do they last?" Her tone is mostly neutral like most of the time but has a small hint of curiosity.

"Thanks, I timed it before and it came out to just under two hours." She nods and keeps looking at the wings as Entropy finishes her work and decides to lie down next to me on the bench. "Thanks, girl," I say while scratching her a little. I have to be careful to not mess up the illusions she's under but still get happy chirps in response.

"Lucky you, you get your wings preened without needing to do a thing." Blaz jokes.

I just laugh, "If you knew what it's like to live with her you wouldn't call me lucky." Entropy looks up to me. "It's true." She responds by demanding more scratches and ignoring me. After the excitement of me showing off the new spell, we settle in for the train ride.

Showing off my wings and joking around some helped me not stress as much and calm down. Going to Ponyville is less than optimal but at this point it's not looking too bad. I just need to avoid a few ponies, and the only one of them that might try to find me is Pinkie Pie.

But if that happens I'm out of luck, I know better than to try and run from her. Plus if she does throw a party it would probably be for all of us making it less stressful for me. Now that I'm looking at this with a more calm mind it sounds fun in a way.

Sure there are things to worry about, but I get to see Ponyville, it's like a dream come true, I just have to make sure it doesn't become a nightmare. I take out the book I brought with me to read while we traveled. It's just a Griffin history book but it's good to keep my skills sharp and read some Griffin books every once in a while.

The train ride is mostly quiet. Me, Blaz, and Daisy rotate reading books and talking to each other, while Maple plays with a deck of cards and occasionally joins our conversations. I'm still a little on edge and decided to play a few card games with Maple to distract myself a little more.

I can't do much about going to Ponyville beyond theorizing, so it's best to keep my calm and think of ways to stay out of trouble on this trip. Maple got a deck of cards from Blaz last year at our little get-together for Hearth's Warming, and while she's normally not one for games she's taken a liking to them.

We end up quietly playing twenty-one together. Maple is an odd pony in a few ways, but look who's talking, she's quiet and not very expressive but also seems decent at telling when you need somepony to vent to, and despite her blunt and dry tone she's always well-meaning.

As we play our game I spot a small smile on her face. It's funny in a way, she'll have the most bland expressionless face when hearing jokes. But during small moments of us just hanging out and relaxing she's got this small smile that makes her look like the most content pony I've ever seen.

It's just a small thing but I always smile back whenever I see it. The rest of the four-hour train ride is peaceful and mercifully calm, but as the countryside is replaced by more roads and a few ponies walking down them, I know we are nearing our destination. I can feel a bit of my small anxiety and fear returning but keep calm.

The train platform is in the open air unlike Canterlot's train station, it's not at the center of Ponyville but at its edge. This is only meant as one stop on the train's route and isn't that important of a location. I can see Ponyville out of the windows and it's as I'd imagined it would be.

It's not tiny but is also far from being the size of a city, with small buildings mostly homes, and a few more important larger buildings standing taller than the rest. I can see the town hall even from out here along with a large tree. And the streets are filled with a plethora of plants, bushes, and trees throughout the streets.

We gather our things and make our way off the train as a group, not many ponies get off with us, only a few that also seem to be heading to Ponyville. The roads are just packed dirt and sometimes gravel, but they work just fine and we enter the town properly a minute later.

It's a nice calming place, it's still a day away from the Summer Sun Celebration so many ponies are around doing preparations. The streets of Canterlot are always busy around this time with ponies walking every way and the streets having a chaotic feeling to navigate through.

In contrast, the streets here are still busy but it's much more relaxed, with many ponies simply walking around in no rush, talking with each other and socializing. "So what do you all think?" Daisy asks as we walk closer to the town center.

Maple just looks around and nods approvingly. Blaz is the first to verbally answer her, "It's nice, quiet and calm. Seems like a friendly place too." He comments while waving to a random pony who waved at him as he was answering Daisy.

I nod in agreement. "Same, also seems like they're preparing for the festivities," I answer with something mundane, I honestly don't have much to say about Ponyville yet. But I do agree with what Blaz said, this seems like a friendly place. After some more walking and talking about the different buildings we see, we arrive at a large tree.

The tree is not a species I recognize, its trunk is very large and covers a wide base. It's also tall, very tall towering over all the buildings in the town. I can see a balcony further up the tree trunk and several windows as well, we all walk over to the front door. I see the sign above the door, Golden Oaks Library.

On the door is an open sign so Daisy just opens the door and walks inside, we all follow after her. When we walk inside it's empty with nopony in sight, "Willow! Are you here?" She calls out as we all walk inside and wipe our hooves on a mat, I hear a pony walking and turn to a staircase near the back wall.

A very old bat pony mare slowly walks down the stairs. She has a light brownish-black coat, a silvery gray mane, and deep brown eyes. She's on the older side of anypony I've seen before, and she greets us with a kind smile. "Daisy, I'm glad you could make it." Her voice is quiet and gentle.

Daisy smiles when she sees the old mare, "It is Willow, it's been so long." Daisy walks over to her and hugs her happily.

Willow returns the hug and looks over to us when they separate, she squints her eyes a little as she looks us over. "So these are your friends?"

Daisy nods, then points to Blaz. "That's Blaz, Maple, and Shade." She says while pointing at each of us, and we each nod as she introduces us. "Thanks for letting us stay here," She says happily.

Willow gives us all a nod in return, "Nice to meet you all, I'm Willow Bark." Then she waves Daisy off. "I'm more than happy to have you stay, come I'll show you to your rooms so you can get those bags off of you." Entropy pops out from behind my head and starts looking around, and Willow notices her.

"Oh hello little one, aren't you beautiful?" She seems very happy to see Entropy and smiles at her. "Is she yours?" Willow asks me as she slowly starts to lead us up the stairs.

I nod. "Yes she is Miss Willow, I hope it's fine if she stays with me?" I ask nervously.

She just smiled kindly. "You're my guest, no need for Miss, please call me Willow. And they are more than welcome to stay with you, it's not often I get the pleasure of seeing such a bird up close. What's their name?" She asks as we follow her up the stairs and see a hallway filled with several doors.

I'm starting to get the sense that Willow really likes birds. I normally would just say her name is Shadow, but my friends know that's not Entropy's real name. So I just answered honestly, "Her name is Entropy, and thank you for letting us stay with you."

It's at this moment that Entropy decides she agrees. "Good." She caws out as we enter a room.

Willow stops and looks a little surprised at Entropy. "Seems she agrees with me," I say, a little embarrassed.

Willow lets out a soft chuckle at my embarrassment. "And quite the talkative one too. Like I said, it's no problem." We walk into a decent-sized bedroom. "This place has a few rooms just like this one so take your pick. My room is at the end of the hallway, and the bathroom is near the stairs on the left." She explains.

I turn to my friends and we all basically shrug, "I'll take it then," I volunteer, and the others nod.

"Good, please try to keep things relatively clean." She asks respectfully, this old mare is just too nice, it brings a smile to my face.

"No problem, and thank you again," I promise her.

She smiles. "Thank you, I'll show the rest of you thee other free rooms." Before they leave Willow turns to me, "I'm cooking dinner at seven please come down if you want some." She offers and I nod while taking off my saddlebags. Somepony closes the door on their way out and I'm left alone with Entropy.

She immediately starts exploring the room, and I start looking around the room too. It's basic with a bed, a bed stand, a shelf along with a closet carved from the wood that makes up the walls. This place is amazing, I can feel the life magic moving through the tree and it's a lot more than most plants I've seen have.

I have seen some plants with more but they were much smaller, I have no idea what type of tree this is but I'm definitely curious, maybe I should ask Willow later. I don't really have anything to unpack so I just spend a little time organizing my saddlebags.

Once I'm done I cast the illusion spell on Entropy again and I leave my saddlebags in the room before leaving with Entropy on my back. When I walk out into the hallway it's empty so I head downstairs, the tree seems to be form a three-story building.

The first floor is the library, the second floor is a kitchen and open living area, and the top floor has several bedrooms and a bathroom. It's surprisingly spacious inside and has a very comfortable feel to it. The hallways and stairs have several paintings on the walls.

I look at a few of them and recognize some of them as Daisy's art style, and a few of them have her signature on them. When I reach the open living area I see Daisy and Willow sitting at a table with some tea talking with each other, I walk over and sit at the table with them.

They turn to me while Entropy decides to sit on one of her favorite spots, the top of my head. They look up to her and start chuckling a little. I smile, "It's one of her favorite places to sit, and I know better than to disagree with her." I say as a joke, and that earns me a few laughs from both of them.

Willow looks back at my face, "Does she let others pet her?" She looks a little hopeful and I'm kind of sad I'll have to say no,

"Sadly no, she doesn't even like standing on other ponies besides me let alone getting pet, sorry. Not to be rude, but you seem to like birds a lot." I'm maybe a little blunt with how I ask that but Willow doesn't seem to mind.

"Yes, I very much do, I myself had an owl for a long time." From her tone, I can guess her owl isn't around anymore.

I try to cheer up the mood a little with a light joke. "Did they also demand food and scratches if you weren't home on time?" I ask half joking half seriously.

That seems to work and she laughs again before nodding. "OH yes, Jade was a feisty owl when it came to her dinner, and any meal really." I listen as Willow starts to recount different stories of her owl and younger years, all while Daisy smiles and listens along with me.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :}

I was planning on having each of the three days be their own chapter, but that's clearly not going to plan so the next chapter to might be yet another continuation. This arc might take a while.