Just when my court was starting to return to some sense of normalcy…we had to suffer another mass casualty event. Now the throne room is packed full of ponies requesting revival magic again. I was told I can’t just scream at them and throw them all out, but they truly won’t leave despite being told it’s impossible. There’s too many of them for it to be safe or reasonable for my guards to escort them out. Just where is my knight…wait why has the room gotten so quiet.

Glancing towards the back entrance I spot the elf walking in with his mane soaked. Did he just finish bathing? This late? “Ignis, I’m glad you could drop in.”

He looks up at me after hearing my voice and I can tell just from looking at his tired eyes that he’s giving me a weak smile under his mask and hood. Wait. No he needs to leave, none of us thought this through. He can’t address an entire audience filled with the families of the deceased! He already blames himself, if this goes wrong it’ll-

“Sorry for the delay, all of you. I had some urgent business just before the moonrise concerning the events that happened yesterday. I understand most of you are here because of that very same event.”

The surprisingly quiet crowd instantly erupts into ponies yelling out their requests. I decide to speak directly into his mind. “Ignis, I don’t think this is the best idea. All of these ponies-”

“I know, Luna. I realized it as soon as they all started speaking, this was a mistake. It’s too late for that now, though.” He raises one hand into the air slowly waving it up and down in an attempt to quiet the crowd. After a few seconds it seems to work.

“I’m sorry. All of you. I cannot revive any of the ponies we lost early this morning in the attack. It goes against the harmonious balance of life and death, and I’m afraid Harmony herself has forbidden me from doing it again.” Some of the ponies call him a liar and ask why he would shift the blame when he’s just lazy. “I wish I was lying. Could you imagine having the power to help so many, but being unable to do so? I hate this. I know it’s nothing compared to the grief and loss all of you are going through, but I truly cannot do it.”

The crowd roars to life again and starts to get unruly enough that the guards have tensed up and are looking towards me for guidance on how to proceed. Ignis pulls back his hood and lowers his mask, and the crowd slowly quiets down again starting from the front and creeping backwards like a wave. He must have quite the pitiful expression on his face to quell that level of unrest.

Then in an act even I wasn’t expecting he drops down to both knees, places his palms on the stone floor, leans forward and slams his forehead into the floor. It’s one of the deepest bows I’ve seen in recent memory. I’m not sure if this has some sort of meaning where he’s from, but here it’s just a deep show of respect. While keeping his head pressed against the floor he yells out another apology to the crowd.

Finally they seem quelled and don’t start yelling over each other in response. I need to capitalize on this and clear out the room. “He speaks the truth, everypony. This is the same thing I’ve been trying to tell all of you. So please, if you are only here with the intent of seeking revival magic I offer you the deepest of condolences from my sister and myself, and would ask that you all please vacate the Court.

After several minutes of murmurs and shuffling all of the ponies have left the throne room. Walking down the steps of the throne I lower myself next to my Knight. “Please raise your head Ignis. They’re all gone now.” He doesn’t move for a few seconds causing me a bit of concern. “Are you okay?”

“I hit my head too hard. It hurts.” The response is so unexpected that I can feel myself slowly blink a few times before snorting and laughing. “I’m glad one of us can laugh.”

“Sorry..ahh haha, sorry that was just very unexpected. I really do appreciate you for stopping by. Do you have anything else planned for the night? If not you could join me on the throne…”

He leans back and sits down normally before turning towards me. He looks so tired. I know I gave him a dreamless sleep though, so it’s a different kind of tired. “Sorry. I’m afraid I do have plans. Do you know when the court martial is?”

“Nay. The pre-trial is Tuesday morning, but all they’ll do there is review the evidence and determine if there’s enough to justify moving forward with the trial. I could join you with whatever you have planned? It’s Saturday so I’m not even supposed to be holding Court tonight, but Tia and I agreed we should hold sessions over the weekend because of the state of the city. But, there’s nopony here now that all of the…others have left.”

“If that’s what you want to do then I don’t see why not. I need to learn how to use my Divinity, so I was planning to just go back out to the training area. From what I can tell it’s similar to mana, but I haven’t actually tried to shape it with runes or use it for any spells. I’ve only done telekinesis and pure energy beams, and both of those just require activation of the mana, or Divinity in this case. Are you sure it’s okay, though? What if someone stops by expecting you to be here? They’d be quite upset to find out there is no Court when they were told there would be.”

I know that. I just hate seeing him like this and don’t want to send off by himself. My expression must’ve shifted because his next words make it seem like he read my mind. “I could just experiment with the divinity here, I suppose. There’s plenty of spells that aren’t combat related that should be safe to cast in here.”

He walks over to the bottom of the steps and addresses the two thestrals. “You’re both dismissed. Tell the other guards at both entrances they’re relieved for the rest of the night, and to leave the doors open. If I’m gunna spend the rest of the night here then there’s no reason to keep all of you here as well. Go find some of the others that participated in the training I held earlier and ask them what we went over. After that I don’t care what you do, just don’t get drunk until the sun comes up. You’re still on duty.”

The two thestrals look at each other and make the wise decision to not ask any questions and vacate the room as quickly as possible. One of them going out the main entrance and the other out the back entrance. “Dismissing my guards without my permission? Such blatant insubordination…perhaps you need some discipline?”

Whispering the second part of my question into his ear, trying my best to have a seductive tone. I figured I should make use of the fact that we’re now alone in here and thought something like this might cheer him up. With my muzzle still right next to his ear, he just leans back and turns towards me before giving me a gentle peck on the cheek.

“Sorry, Lulu, I appreciate it, but I doubt I could get in the mood for that right now.” As he stands up he runs his hand down the side of my neck and along my back in a gentle way, it’s calming. Then he climbs up the steps of the throne and sits down in the chair that Celestia’s assistant usually sits in. “You joining me? Ponies might get the wrong idea if they walk in and see me sitting up here with you on the floor.”

“Ah we wouldn’t want that now would we? Such a scandal could ruin me, I fear.” Quickly climbing back up the steps I take a seat in my throne and look at him intently.

“Luna…are we at war?”

“Yes. It was declared within an hour or two after you healed everypony. Tomorrow, before I go to sleep, I’ll be discussing strategy with Tia. We want to establish permanent teleportation circles in every major city that connect with Canterlot. That way we can rapidly respond to any attacks. We aren’t sure if there’ll be a conscription or not yet, but once we decide if we’ll actually go on the offensive it’ll be more clear what we need to do.”

“Nah, we don't need to conscript anyone. I’ll kill them all myself.” There’s a far off look in his eyes as they seem to lose their light, and his tone of voice sends a shiver down my spine. It feels like time has resumed a second later and he switches topics. “Do I need to be at the pre-trial?”

“No, but it’s preferable. Apparently your lawyer is one of the best, so you’ll probably want to meet with him before then.”

“Yeah I’ll find him tomorrow and dismiss him. I’m just gunna plead guilty, Luna. I don’t have time for this farce and even from a strategic point of view I think it’s better this way. If it went all the way to trial they’ll likely drag me through the mud and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the news ponies ran away with a headline or two. I can just plead guilty and whatever happens, happens. Don’t get me wrong, the trial itself isn’t a farce, I am guilty, and they’ll probably use the truth for the most part. But, it’s not too far-fetched to imagine someone being incentivised to lie or exaggerate something.”

“I would really prefer it if you didn’t do that. Atleast wait until after the pre-trial, it’d be silly for you to plead guilty before trial and it turns out there wasn’t enough evidence to even proceed.”

“Can you even enter your plea at the pre-trial? I just didn’t wanna waste the guy's time and have him do all the work and paperwork and shit, go through the entire process just for me to plead guilty. But, if that’s what you want then I don’t see the harm in it. Also, I can’t use magic.”

The sudden and abrupt statement comes out of nowhere and causes me to physically recoil. “What do you mean? I’ve seen you use telekinesis.”

“I can’t shape the Divinity with runes. I just tried to cast the heating spell and nothing happened. I can’t use Strengthen runes either. It either needs different runes or it has an entirely different method of operation altogether. Considering that it can be ignited in a similar way to mana I’m willing to bet it’s just a different set of runes. Although, I could try something…but it sounds impossible.”

The look he has right now is one I recognize. If I say his name or try to ask what he’s thinking of he won’t even hear me. He’s just in his own little world.

“When I use the Symphony of Steel Bladesong I’m able to convert, claim, and control the ambient mana as if it was my own. I did it against the dragons. But, what if I were to learn how to do the mana domain as a standalone technique, and I learned to have it active at all times? The ambient mana would become my own, but it never enters my thaumic system. It exists outside all of my mana channels. That should allow me to use it as if I still had mana and I can cast spells like normal without having mana clash with Divinity inside my body, killing me.”

“That’s theoretically possible, but to have something like that active at all times…I don’t think it’s feasible. And if you were to lose focus and the technique disperses you’ll lose all of that mana you accumulated and have to start over. In the first place are you even sure it can be done without the Bladesong? It’s a technique even I had never heard of until I saw you use it. Surely if it was possible without the Bladesong somepony would have figured it out. I told you that unicorns eventually reach the upper limits of how much they can expand their mana pools, to the point that they can only increase it by making it denser. I’m sure they’d have discovered your method while trying to find ways to expand their mana pools even further without increasing the density.”

“Maybe. Hell, maybe they did discover it, and the technique just takes so much focus they came to the same conclusion you just came to. It’s not feasible. I’m pretty certain I can do it though.”

From there we just made more idle conversation for a few hours while he continued to experiment with his divine energy and his mana domain theory. Then we were interrupted by a surprise guest. A unicorn with a notepad for a cutie mark.

“Uhm…hello?” She’s standing outside the main doors to the throne room that have been left open and glancing around inquisitively. “Did I arrive to late? I thought court was in session tonight?”

“Enter.”

“Oh! Your Majesty! Sorry I was just confused, normally there’s guards at the doors…”

“Since it’s supposed to be one of their nights off anyways my Knight decided to dismiss them early and guard me himself tonight. It’s a bit nostalgic if I’m being honest. Reminds me of our first few nights together…”

That’s when the unicorn mare widens her eyes and apparently only just now realizes Ignis is sitting next to me looking at his own hands very intensely. “Oh! Uhm…Your Radiance….”

“Don’t call me that. Literally anything but that, feel free to be informal.” Ignis responds quite coldly without even looking up to acknowledge the unicorn.

“I had originally come to seek a few statements from Your Majesty, since we usually only get statements from Her Highness. I thought I’d maybe ask for your thoughts as well, but if Sir Knight is here…uhm…”

“You would prefer to ask him some questions instead? I’m not offended in the slightest, we had been planning to have him do some interviews soon anyways. Ignis, do you want to answer the nice mares' questions?”

“Which publication are you with?”

“Canterlot Daily, Sir. I’m actually the one who wrote that article that gave you your new title that has been making its rounds. Big fan…haha.” She’s so nervous it’s adorable. The small foal kind of adorable.

Ignis finally looks up at the pony and squints at her before standing and gently floating down the steps to the mare. He floats over a couple of benches from the sides of the room and sits them down facing each other a few feet apart. Then he sits down and motions for the unicorn to sit across from him. “Shoot.”

“I really appreciate this, Sir. I’m B-”

“Big Scoop. I know who you are.” Ignis is finally showing the smallest hint of a smile, the journalist's enthusiasm must’ve picked up his spirits a bit.

“Eeeeeeee” That was quite the high pitched sound she just made. It only takes a moment for her to realize her situation and she quickly straightens up and clears her throat. It seems like she wishes to pretend that didn’t just happen. “Sorry about that, but yes, thank you for taking the time to do this. I think the first question I had was, where did you come from? We’ve never seen anything like you before in any historical data I could find.”

“Well you see, when a mommy elf and a daddy elf love each other very muc-”

“Ignis…” That kind of joke isn’t uncharacteristic of him, but that tone was so different. It wasn’t playful at all, just sarcastic and slightly annoyed,

“I’m not from your plane of reality. Due to reasons still unknown I was brought here against my will and there is seemingly no way for me to return. I won’t be answering any questions related to my homeland. It’s a sore subject and I’d rather not dig up those memories.”

“I understand…I’m so sorry…In that case let me skip, uhm, questions two through twenty. In my previous article I called you the God of Canterlot, but we still don’t really know if that’s true. Are you a Deity? If so, are the Princesses also Deities?”

“Yes and yes. Cele-..Princess Celestia created that law about religion because she just personally doesn’t like being worshiped. She said it makes her feel even more distanced and isolated from her subjects than she already is. I’m actually working to try and get that law walked back on, but obviously we have more pressing matters right now.”

The mare continues writing for a few seconds after Ignis is done talking, leaving the two in silence before she asks her next question. “Does that mean the tenets of Harmony we all follow are actually things set forth by a real entity representing Harmony? What we’ve theorized and guessed at in terms of divinity has always been so inconclusive.”

“Yep. We don’t get along. I’m also not sure what her name actually is. Harmony is almost certainly her domain and not her name, but maybe it’s been so long she doesn’t even remember her own name.”

“So there are things you’re all in charge of?! Oh that confirms so many theories in multiple communities! Would you mind sharing what yours are?”

“Hope and Chaos. I’m fairly certain Hope is what I’m supposed to preside over, and Chaos is something I inherited from defeating Discord. If you wanna know the Princesses you’ll have to ask them yourself. There’s the obvious answer, but they all have more than one domain from what I can tell. Why don’t you ask a spicy question, I’m getting bored.”

“Oh, uhm, hmmm, I was going to ask Her Majesty, but I have some questions about the recent attack. Do you know what their motivation is for the attack? Surely this didn’t come out of nowhere.”

Ignis looks at me with a questioning glance, he’s unsure if he should answer this question. I just give him a soft nod. “There was the Global Summit a couple months back, and right before the Summit a large red dragon decided to take residence in a mountain near Ponyville and Canterlot. When he napped his snoring created too much smoke, it was impacting our environment pretty harshly. We dispatched a small team that included myself, and tried to diplomatically get the dragon to move his nap somewhere else.”

“I take it that did not go well?”

“It did not. He said some pretty vulgar things and threatened harm against Princess Luna at the Summit that was only one week away, at the time. Things escalated pretty quickly and in the end we had to dispatch the dragon. At the Summit there was a disagreement between us and the dragons that was to be decided by a series of one on one duels. Captain Armor won his duel, I lost my duel, but before I lost I foolishly taunted the dragon and mentioned the red dragon that we had the encounter with in the mountain. Enraged, he defeated me, and continued trying to kill me even after the outcome of the duel was announced. The other dragon present also attacked and had to be taken care of. The Dragon Lord himself was meant to duel Princess Luna immediately following my duel, so once my duel was declared over Luna weaved through the chaos and quickly killed the Dragon Lord. The dragon that defeated me escaped, but the other white dragon and the Dragon Lord perished. They likely seek revenge for the deaths of all three of those dragons.”

“But what was the disagreement that led to the duel? It couldn’t have been insignificant if it was brought up at a Global Summit.”

“They wanted to put Luna on trial for her actions as Nightmare Moon 1,000 years ago. We argued that her banishment of isolation on the moon was enough, and they argued it was not. The rest is history.”

Now the mare is looking hesitantly between me and Ignis. I get the feeling she feels uncomfortable asking any type of follow up questions as they would likely be negative ones inquiring about what happened 1,000 years ago. Good instincts, I’m sure Ignis would just end the interview. “Are we going to retaliate? I know we officially declared a state of war, but the public is unsure if that was just because of the allocation of funds that can only be used if we’re at war.”

“Undecided. Even if it was decided I wouldn’t tell you. That’d just be stupid to publicly announce we’re going to attack them. Ha, I wish they would’ve done us that courtesy.”

He just rests his chin on his hand and looks off to the side with a look of disdain. “Got anything else?”

They continue the interview for another 20 minutes or so, but the questions are much more generic and things they ask every new celebrity. She closes her book and looks at him with a hesitant glance.

“This one is just a question for my own curiosity, how come I don’t feel that aura or presence that I was told about and referenced in my last article?”

“I suppress it if there’s no reason for it. Having people stare at you and hearing rooms fall into silence gets old fast. Here, I’ll indulge you.”

He stands up, removes his hood, and pulls down his mask. I’ll never understand how he hides that massive ethereal mane in that hood. Then he makes eye contact with her and...even I can feel it. It was strange because I could always feel his presence if he didn’t calm and suppress his mana, but ever since he lost mana in favor of Divinity I’ve never felt his presence. Until now. It’s so different from his old presence. That one was heavy, intimidating, and made your instincts scream at you. This one is warm and safe. There’s a small sense of awe I can feel rising up.

Once the mare is done picking up her jaw from the floor she thanks Ignis repeatedly for the interview and quietly leaves the throne room. I’m a bit disappointed she didn’t ask me anything, maybe she thought it was a one or the other kind of deal.

“Welp, think it’s just about time we close up shop Luna. I love the second half of the night, when we’re allowed to actually be productive.”

“Oh please, court is important. It’s not there yet, but give it some time and we’ll be handling important matters as well.”

“If you say so. It’s been months and besides the ponies wanting revival magic it’s still just as dead as it was in the beginning. I think we’d be better off just closing the throne room and walking around downtown Canterlot until everything closes. Just tal-”

“Why would you say it like that? I know it’s nearly empty every night, Ignis. You know I know this. You have been the one to encourage me to keep going and keep trying, so why….why now would you just tell me that this is an unproductive waste of time because my court is dead?! I know I interrupted you and I know you might’ve made a good point if I let you finish, but why would you just…insult me like that? You know how insecure I am about my court! Some God of Hope you are.”

I hate how emotional I am right now. I just let myself be so vulnerable around him because he’s never talked down to me before. More than that I hate the look on his face when he sees me crying. He looks so guilty and confused.

“Luna… I’m sorry. I don’t know why… why would I say that? What’s wrong with me? I’m so sorry, I…”

“I know you’re being crushed by everything weighing on you right now. I know you didn’t mean to say it like that. But, I’m still hurt. I’m sorry Ignis, but I don’t want to see you right now. I…I just need a few hours. I’ll see you at breakfast.”

I channel the runes to teleport to my office but pause when I hear him call out. “Luna, wait! Wait. Please… no you’re right. That was inexcusable, so I understand. I am truly sorry, and I love you.”

“I love you too, but just give me some time. I promise I’ll be at the Dining Hall for Breakfast, and we can talk then.” I finish casting the teleport and just lay down on the floor with my forelegs over my muzzle, covering my eyes.

“Luna what happened? Are you okay?” I stopped holding back once I appeared in my office because I wasn’t expecting anypony to be here. Hearing Nightmare’s voice I try to recompose myself.

“I’m…I’m fine. Ignis just spoke without thinking and it really hurt me.”

“What did he say?”

I spend the next few minutes trying to explain the conversation, and I was wondering if she’d be angry or comforting, but she just looks confused. “Ignis would never say that to you of all ponies. I knew something seemed off about him tonight, but I didn’t realize it was this bad.”

Nightmare lays down on the floor next to me and throws a wing over my back. Completely surprising me with her actions, I never expected her to have this side to her. “Come here, Lulu. You’ve been making so much progress lately. Don’t listen to him, okay? Something is wrong with him, and I need to figure out what. But first, I’ll be here for you. You want some dark chocolate? I know that used to be your favorite~”

“Yeah, I would like that. Thank you, Nightmare.”

“That’s what former soul corruption monsters are for. Well not really, but just this once.” That gets a chuckle out of me, surprisingly. With a quick flash of her horn my other half conjures a square shaped box that opens to reveal 36 pieces of chocolate. “I’m gunna go talk to him and see if I can figure out what’s going on with him.”

“Just don’t scold him, please.”

“I wasn’t. If he saw the state you were in when you teleported here then I know he’s probably feeling guilty and upset. I really am just going to talk to him, he probably needs some comfort at the moment as well. I’ll be right back, okay? Just use Sending if you need me.”

Flicking a piece of chocolate into my mouth with telekinesis does help me feel a bit better. I know he’s hurting too, I just wish I knew how to help him. If it was a normal stallion I’d just make him take a few weeks off from work and remove all of his stressors. But not only would he adamantly refuse to take time off, but I’m not even sure if that’s feasible right now. As a Princess, in an official capacity, I need him here.

What are we going to do?

Author's Note

Oh no, trouble in paradise! These two haven't had any real problems between the two of them, but this seemed like a very realistic slip of the tongue due to his darker headspace atm. Also felt like I was able to add this semi-realistic drama while avoiding that annoying cliche of "this would be solved if they just properly explained their sides of the story."

Also does a good job of showing just how off Ignis is atm because Nightmare is right, he would never say something like that to Luna. Anyways, it's not like there's any tension since it's pretty clear Luna knows he didn't mean it, but can't help that she's hurt by the words. So, no risk of a falling out or breakup, they both just need to cooldown.

We are very likely going back to Ignis POV next chapter, so...sorry if anyone wanted a Celestia POV. But, could always do a Celestia POV and Force POV after the Ignis chapter when the sun has come up...who knows.

Also sorry for the debbie downer, I especially tried to add some funny bits in the middle, and this was the probably the rock bottom chapter, it'll still be a bit down/dark for a decent bit of chapters with plenty of normal/funny mixed in, but it shouldn't get any worse than this chapter. Some of you might not even think this is "dark" or a "downer" but eh, it's def sad. I don't like writing Luna crying.

Thanks for reading! <3