[note for journal entries Day☯, season(ζSpring, ☀Summer, ♨Fall, ☸Winter), Year♋,]

A few hours after leaving town, a young grey green mottled Drake was soaring high above the lavender filly, not a care in the world, as it watched her below from his advantageous viewpoint. The filly had an idea and started digging through her saddlebags, where she searched for the object of interest. Eventually, her magic caught onto one of its corners. Gently, she pulled it out and held it before herself in her own magenta glow in all its leather bound glory. The crisp pages were dazzlingly white as she looked over them, plucking a feather from her packs, while the pages flipped back to the first blank one. She drifted her quill over to the page, careful to dip it in the ink well and press off the excess before letting the writing stylus near the precious sheets. Touching the small feather upon the hide, she swiftly began to write.

21☯, ζ, 993♋,

Eleven days it’s been, since I’ve left, my master’s serv-... appre-... no, not that one either. I think the word was tutelage. Yes that one. Anyway, to any who read this: my name is Twilight Sparkle. My master In the arts of alchemy has given me the wondrous gift of this text and a beautiful set of saddlebags. Her name is Zecora, a nice teacher, if there ever was one. A year or two ago, she and a group of creatures, bipedal and scaled beings, began helping me develop the skills I have now.

On the 11☯,ζ my little Fang was hatched from his shell. He is a really cute little creature. I honestly wasn’t expecting to keep him, but the village elder asked that I keep his egg as a parting gift from under his tutelage, allowing me to graduate. He’s been such a great companion throughout these past two weeks, from keeping me happy to generally being there when I needed some creature to talk with. He’s learned a lot since he hatched. It’s too bad his mouth and voice box aren't designed for normal speech patterns. However, I digress. It has been such a delight having him around: it almost feels as if I have already become a mare. My mentor was correct on a few things though. I’ve been subsiding Fang’s diet with pure magic, since he finished growing and was unable to fully process the magically induced lactation from my mammaries. Thankfully, I produce enough magic per day to make enough crystals for him to subside on. I’m particularly glad that my other benefactors taught me that spell.

Yesterday, I had found a village by the name of Windbreak, an interesting village. Apparently, they have no healer, so I offered to help. For some reason, they laughed at my offer, but eventually, I was selling potions to those who would not use them, since they didn’t need the poultices as much as those who sought them for the right reasons. After a harrowing day, yesterday, I finally managed to crawl into bed. However, instead of finding sleep, I found that my little Fang could actually fly for the first time, and only within ten days of his hatching. I’m quite surprised and impressed to say the least. That day will be held in my memory as long as I live, as it was the first day he actually meant it, when he called me his mother. Now, I have him on a diet of solidified magic formed from my own reserves. I just hope I don’t run out. Otherwise, I’ll have to substitute mana with meat. I wonder how the conversion works within his body... I’ll have to run a few experiments once I’m within the proper environment. Other than Fang gaining more physical freedom, I’ve found an interesting and astounding need to restock on some items I’d never thought I would’ve run out of. The main ones I’m looking for are wyrm rot, black thorn powder, and thyme. Hopefully I can find useful herbs and ingredients along the road to the next village. I think it was called Rockeyridge. If I am lucky, the townsfolk there will be as nice as the ones I’ve met at Windbreak.

As of yesterday, I am low on a majority of my normal alchemical ingredients and am lacking a few of my critical ones. Hopefully, I can find enough on the road to help refill my stock, before I arrive at Rockyridge.

T.S.

22☯, ζ, 993♋,

I found some interesting yellow pods along the road. They are sweet. Yet, I am noticing they have severe aphrodisiac effects if consumed. I decided to gather a decent amount for further study. I’ve been able to restock most of my supplies to normal levels, and for some I’ve gathered extra, in case I run out again. I’m still missing a few more important base ingredients for some of my major healing potions (particularly thyme, wormwood, and hemlock). I can scent a bog on the breeze from here, Hopefully I pass through a swamp where I can find these ingredients easily. I found a dying tree with plenty of wyrm rot mushrooms growing out of it.

Fang has taken a habit of disappearing off into the distance only to return after a few hours. Sometimes, I worry for his safety, but I know, though he may be learning mentally, he is as physically grown as he is going to get. But I doubt size will really be a hindrance for him: the amount of magic he wields puts all of the other Drakes I’ve seen to shame. I hope, under my tutelage, he learns not to abuse his abilities. On a side note, his wings are coming in perfectly, and I see no stretch marks or tearing along the webbing from the joint to the wing itself. So, all I can say is that he is as healthy as he’s going to be.

T.S.

23☯, ζ, 993♋,

Twenty third of Spring... Had I known those swamps were guarded by golems, I would probably have done a less thorough herbal search. As it is, I barely made it out with my saddlebags intact. With Fang flying above, I was able to steer clear of the major collections of the elemental constructs. Thankfully, my search, though cut short, still proved fruitful. I have gathered enough wyrm rot and hemlock to make a few decent sized potion. Though, strangely I’ve found no signs of thyme, yet. I hope the ingredient hasn’t been eliminated outside the Everfree.

Fang continues to watch the world from above. I’ve asked him a few times to try and show me what he’s been seeing up there. Sadly, though, the mental communication I’ve set up doesn’t really work well with mental images. So, I haven’t been able to observe great detail from the images he has given me. Other than that, his magic has proven quite potent: There was a point, during the escape, where I got trapped by multiple golems, so I was forced to destroy a few. Taking advantage of their distraction, Fang flew down and blasted three to pieces with a lightning bolt. He must have picked up the formula from my fire starter spell. His intelligence still continues to impress me. I hope I can teach him as Zecora wished.

I’ve been traveling for a few days and have run across a sign indicating I’ll be entering Rockyridge tomorrow. I wonder why the others in Windbreak thought this would take me seven days to travel? I’m going to rest here tonight, underneath one of the nearby outcroppings. It’s really nice having Fang sleeping here with me.

T.S.

24☯, ζ, 993♋,

Today started out like the others. I awoke at false light. Then, I woke up Fang and packed my saddle bags, before heading off and continuing down the main road.

Besides finding a whole patch of thyme that I swiftly gathered and placed within my saddlebags, the experience was uneventful. However, the unexpected happened, or rather, I happened upon something strange. Apparently, changelings do exist: I found the poor chitinous creature dying in a tree. It was about a mile from the nearest road. I tried to help it, but the compassion I willingly gave wasn’t enough to help it heal. The poor creature was too far gone when I arrived, and none of the conventional methods of healing I remembered from Zecora’s tomes worked.

I took a few samples of its chitten to study and practice on, so that I could make sure the next time I came across a wounded changeling, I would be able to save or at least aid it. I’m going to see if I can create a spell that can make a viable substitute for gaining love, as opposed to being forced to drain the joyful emotions and energies of their victims.

-

Fang sprained a wing while flying today. I’m having him rest with a sling on my back while we headed into the city. I decided to head to an inn immediately upon entering the village. It was too dark to set up a stall and most of the ponies must have already went to sleep. I’m going to see about trying to set and heal Fang’s wing tonight, so I don’t have to worry about it in the morning.

T.S.

25☯, ζ, 993♋,

To my surprise, I’m making quite a profit off the non-needy. Apparently, most of the families in the village have been searching for something interesting to pass the time, and the aphrodisiac pods I found earlier, of which I gathered a sizeable amount of samples for testing, have been nearly bought dry. I’ll have to find another of the bushes along the way to the next town to restock on the material. My other potions haven’t been needed half as much in Rockyridge as they were in Windbreak. The town seems to have a half decent healer and a very skilled apothecary. I’ve been able to trade some of the strange gold coins, called “bits,” that I received earlier for some of the more rare ingredients held within the apothecary. I hope I’ll be able to maintain stocks carefully within the next town, and hopefully not run out of needed reagents.

As for my little project on finding a good alternative source of food for the changelings, I might have an idea. I just need two subjects to test it. The idea will involve infusing an object such as bread, or any other edible substance, with love and feeding it to the creatures. Hopefully, they will be able to digest the love that way. I’ve already found the magical frequency that the changelings consume love at, thanks to the samples I took earlier. Also, a bit morbidly, I found that as long as the pieces of chitin receive a little love and care, they will not degrade or age at all. On a more positive note, infusing the food with magically synthetic love is a lot easier to do than I originally had thought.

Now that I’m outside town, about five miles out, I decided to check Fang and allow him a little freedom for being so well behaved. His wing has fully recovered, as I expected, thanks to the demon weed and creeper briar bandage I put on. Now he’s flitting about, not a care in the world. Fang has learned a few more spells today as well. I wonder how Berry and Whitewind are doing? Hopefully, I’ll see them before next winter comes.

T.S.
-

Fang nearly got seen today, as I passed along the road. Thankfully, the travelers weren’t paying attention to their surroundings. I have been told by the same group to be wary in towns after Applecrest, since the griffons have been setting up recruiting stations to help fight off bandits, and such, attacking their territories. I see a nice round tower in the distance; I think I’ll investigate it tomorrow. The sun has been set for three hours and I will probably need to be at my best in order to avoid any arcane traps left behind or the natural degradation of the structure from years disuse.

T.S.

26☯, ζ, 993♋,

This entry will probably have to go over multiple pages as I document as much of the material I’ve gathered from it as possible. But, first, I’ll start off with how the morning went, before we entered the crumbling structure.

The sun came up in the East at a really good angle, letting me see almost all of the traps and note them down before entering the ancient structure.

Upon entering, with Fang flying at my side, I came across an entire ground floor laced with magical traps and some more conventional trigger action ones. I’ve dismantled and recorded almost all of the magical traps that we came across. There are a few that are integral to the towers structure and would be nearly impossible to remove due to the fact that they are designed on runes and infused with a stable magical fuel.

There were several rooms, three of which were barren, save for a few old personal items such as a strange, star-spangled coat and a moss covered bell not a foot away, next to a decrepit bed frame. Another held rags next to a staff etched in glowing blue runes and capped with an ancient diamond. In the third room, I found the best items of all: BOOKS. Sadly, the majority of them were aged far beyond legibility, and the few that weren’t moth eaten were written in such a way as to be difficult to decipher. I’ll have to take my time to study them the next time I visit an inn within a town, as the road is too dangerous and harmful to the precious tomes of knowledge.

Climbing further up the tower, I came across several levels filled with rotting and molded texts and scrolls. Whoever built this place must have been thinking solely on the protection of the building itself rather than the materials within, of these levels I only have several spell scrolls to learn from. Most of the spells though are less complex than I originally believed for their concept and the workarounds these spell makers have designed have been doing nothing but impressive.

After making it to the top level of the tower without incident, I found a really interesting place similar to the other levels of the literary repository, unlike the other rooms though apparently they had decided to put in a few more permanent protection spells within, thankfully I was able to do a bit of studying within the time frame I had till the next night started. Eventually, Fang and I decided to rest outside the tower after I studied many of the scrolls and learning some more utilitarian spells two of which I’ve found much use for, I’ve cast a simple yet powerful curse of sorts upon this journal. Now I can write in it as much as I like and I’ll never run out of pages however the downside (or upside depending on how you look at it) is that you need to remember or at least know the dates of the entries and there content in order to reach them within the papers otherwise every page you turn to will be the same as the cover. The other enchantment was a complex pocket enlargement spell designed by somepony by the name (or title) of Clover the Clever. The spell itself creates an extra pocket dimension that adds room to an otherwise small pocket, now I can stuff as many materials within my saddle bags as I want without having to worry about room, however like the journal I need to remember exactly what I’ve put in them.

I assume after a while I’ll become really good at remembering things.

Upon returning to the camp, Fang and I found a tan pegasus mare with a grey hued mane. Agreeing not to interrupt her, we decided to rest in a nearby copse of trees, no fire this time; I didn’t want to attract any unnecessary attention.

Fang has been improving his magical abilities. He has been able to even summon up a telekinesis field. I found out when I was about to drop a scroll and it was wrapped in a bright green telekinetic field. Also, I found him practicing my expanding bag spell, I think I’ll see if I can make a rabbit skin bag for him tomorrow. I need to make some grease. The meat, however, will probably need to be preserved in case I need it later. Hopefully, I won’t.

T.S.

27☯, ζ, 993♋,

The sky was clear this morning: the clouds were taken out by the pegasus pony we saw last night. I hope we don’t meet her on the way to the ancient tower.

I caught a brown rabbit on the way to the tower and finished skinning it as we reached the ancient structure. I stored the rest in clay before we entered and placed it within my pack, I made the small pouch for fang out of the skin while we were searching the basement.

Inside the basement, we found a few interesting items and a full sized laboratory. Though the most prized item we found was a large tome of research left behind by whoever used this tower. I’ve taken the glass beakers and samples of the residue left behind from ancient experiments. On the way out, with our bounty of knowledge, I noticed the the entrance of the tower was ajar, as opposed to being fully closed after we entered. I think someone had entered the tower after us, however because we left unmolested I doubt it was because they knew we were there.

-

Fang convinced me to continue down the road. The next town ‘was’ only a few days out. I broke up camp and stroke along the paths following the cleared highway. Fang managed to cast the pocket enlargement spell on his second try, it was quite interesting to see the Items that were gathered into the small leather pouch hung about his neck, I’ve also given him a few large mana crystals (about a three week supply). I hope I can trust him to conserve the crystals rather than swallow them down all at once. I wish Zecora were here; these mountains and hills are amazing. Not to mention, the waterfall a few miles back would have been a perfect place to meditate.

I was able to pick a few carrots and cabbages, along with some lettuce and apples, along the road. Thankfully, there were no signs of any nearby travelers or creatures, so I was able to cook my food and dry the rabbit into jerky, which will make the meat last a lot longer.

The fire is burning to embers now, and I’m forced to use my horn to light this page. I guess I should be getting some rest, but I really want to study some of the scrolls I took from the tower before traveling to Applecrest.

T.S.

Author's Notes:

Well here's chapter 10 part two.
I've had immense help from two authors Janushayed and Skeeter The Lurker.

Severely Edited and Yelled at by Zetetic,