“Is it bad that I’m surprised it took this long before I had to bail you out of the dungeons?” Cracking open an eye I spot Luna just standing in front of my cell alone.

“Eh I’m surprised it took this long as well. It seems like Armor is desperate. If he had the gall to approach me in public and try to coerce a confession out of me by threatening to investigate Elytra. He must not think the trial is going to go the way he wants it to.”

“My thoughts exactly. He’s overplayed his hand. They tell me you confessed to everything, but is that true?” She looks so amused right now.

“Nah. All I said is “you know what? Fuck it, I’ll play along” and then held out my hands so they could be bound together. Is it night time yet? I still need to host another training session with the Night Guards.”

“It’s just about time for me to raise the moon. Before I released you I wanted to make sure that’s what you want.”

“You think I want to spend more time in this stank ass musty dungeon? Hell no, get me out of here.” She just rolls her eyes and after a second passes I hear the door click and pop open.

“You should probably rest, Ignis. Your pre-trial is Tuesday morning, so you should take the opportunity to reset your sleep schedule tonight so you’re fresh and well rested in court.” But sleep means… “I’ll give you a dreamless slumber if something ails you.”

Glancing backwards at the changelings cell, I shake my head. “Nah I just didn’t want to sleep when everyone else is working so hard. Let me do my training session with the guards tonight and then I’ll rest. It shouldn’t take too long.”

Luna looks puzzled but follows me out of the dungeons. Once we’re back in the normal and ornate hallways of the castle and far from the cells I call out to her again. “I would appreciate a dreamless sleep, Luna. I just didn’t wanna say anything within earshot of that changeling. Chrysalis is smart enough and narcissistic enough that if she learns I’m having nightmares she’ll immediately think it’s about her. Which it is, but I don’t want her to know that. She’ll know she has a psychological advantage over me if that were to be the case.”

Luna makes a small “o” face as recognition dawns on her. “Ahhh. That’s quite wise of you. So, does that mean you’ll be going to bed now?”

“No, I still wanna do the training session, but it’s literally the first thing we’re doing after going on duty. So, I should be done before, like, 9PM at the latest.”

“Perhaps I should observe this training…”

“I don’t know you might give the poor things performance anxiety. It’s just gunna be an hour of me beating the snot out of them. Normally I’d say give ‘em a week to really get used to things, but tomorrow might be the last training session I can give them. Regardless of how I feel. So, come watch tomorrow night, and I’ll make sure they’re trained enough to give you a proper show.”

“Hmph, if that’s what you think is best… I expect to see you in bed early.”

“Of course. I try my best not to be a liar.”

Back out on the training field and this time Elytra is joining the fray. I don’t know if word got around to her about what Shining tried to do earlier involving her, but hopefully not. She’ll just feel bad.

Whenever something catastrophic happens like this there will ALWAYS be a scapegoat. The only way to prevent them from going after someone else if I don’t take the fall is if we prove that nothing could have been done to prevent the incident. Which, just isn’t true, so that isn’t happening.

Anyways, Elytra wants to observe their first attempt and then give them some hints in the right direction. If they still make no progress on the second attempt then she’ll completely join in on the third attempt. It’s not ideal but they might just need an example of what it looks like. If they still fail on the third attempt then I might just be going too hard on them. I’m fairly certain I’m holding back enough for them to pull out a win.

“Alright, everyone ready?”

It’s completely silent as I look out upon the training area. I like this approach alot more than what they did last time. Only a handful of guards are visible in the field, from what I can tell the rest of them are hiding in some low hanging clouds or lying prone on the roof of the castle. Is this going to be an ambush where they attack me in waves? Not bad.

“GO!”

“Mirror Image!”

As soon as I say go I can feel the air shift from multiple angles above me, signaling they’ve dived out of the clouds. I watch as 30 or so of them dart off the roof, opening their wings just a couple of feet above the ground. Using that momentum they’re flying towards me pretty fast, just above the ground. So I’ve got around 50 coming at me right now between the cloud divers and the low flyers.

All of the low flyers look surprised when suddenly 3 “clones” of myself appear just a couple of feet away from me, forming a triangle around me. They look surprised but they still follow whatever their plan was from the looks of it. The next thing I notice is dozens of small blades, launched from the mechanism on their wing blades, zipping towards me.

One thing I was able to theorize and then test with my image training is a more creative use of telekinesis. I figured if I can’t use runes I can at least expand my capabilities with what I can do. Since telekinesis is just sending out a cluster of your mana, or divinity in this case, and activating it around an object. I figured why not try just throwing a fuck ton of Divinity into the air and then activating it? From what I can tell I can’t “grip” the air and generate strong winds like that, but I can use it like a glove of sorts. Maybe a net would be a better description?

Either way, that’s what I use against the dozens of small blades being shot at me. Throwing out just a massive glob of Divinity I will it to expand into a wide and thin rectangle, and then activate the mana. A giant golden, transparent wall appears in front of me and all of the daggers rapidly slow down to a stop when they collide with it. Once they stop they just harmlessly fall to the ground.

Immediately following those blades are the thestrals that launched them. I’m not sure if this will act like a solid wall or if they’ll sink into it with the ability to break through if they have enough momentum. But, I don’t want to risk it being a solid wall and injuring my guards, so I drop the telekinesis.

Time slows down as I observe the approach angle of all the combatants. Last time they tried this strategy they flew at me from all sides and quickly discovered why that’s a horrendous idea. In theory it traps the target and makes it impossible to dodge everything, but in this world teleportation is available. I teleported out of the way and they all collided with each other, it was quite the entertainment.

This time though they’re flying at me from above from left to right, and the low flyers are flying at me from the front. Since they’re so low they won’t collide with the divers even if I evade. It’s a good improvement. Unfortunately with only two angles though it opens up the weakness of giving me too much space to evade. They need to find the perfect balance.

My perception of time returns to normal and I immediately jump forward and over the first couple of low flyers. With only a second or two to maneuver I push all of my momentum to the left and fly under the divers. If I wasn’t going in the opposite direction as them they’ve been able to course correct fast enough to stay on me, but now both the low flyers and the divers will need to make wide banking turns to come at me again.

Once I’m clear of all the diving thestrals my eyes widen when I’m suddenly face to face with over a dozen more Night Guards flying straight at me! They used those two angles to bait me into this movement pattern! If they didn’t time it right these guards would’ve slammed straight into the divers!

There’s not enough time to move far enough to clear the entire wave of guards, so with a grin on my face I flourish the Moonblade and turn it sideways so I’m using it more like a club than a sword. I don’t wanna kill them, after all. Unfortunately that means my swings are slow.

I’m able to turn my body sideways so the first guard zips past me, but I can only flinch as the next two are startlingly close to hitting me. Close enough that I lose two of my mirror images. If they can keep up this pressure they’re actually going to win!

Swinging my sword like a club I’m able to steer a couple of changelings away just a few inches so I can continue to contort myself around in the air to dodge. I hear the sound of dozens of tiny objects whizzing through the air and realize they’ve launched another volley of daggers. Daggers?

Flipping in the air I kick the last two changelings in the wave hard with the centrifugal force of the flip. One goes straight up and the other bullets into the ground. Flicking my blade back to a normal grip I’m able to quickly deflect all of the green daggers. Now that I’m flipped around in the air and looking at the ground I feel my anger spike from how many changelings I see in the training area. How many did they replace?!

Remembering the green daggers my head swivels around, “Chrysalis! Where are you?!”

The only response I get is small muttering from the drones below. They’re talking to each other barely above a whisper and the rest of them are slowly stepping back in fear. The two talking to each other keep throwing me hesitant glances every two or three seconds. If they’re not going to attack, then that gives me time to find the queen. The daggers came from the ground so she should be around there somewhere… is she disguised as one of her own drones?

Why……..something’s off. Something about this feels…wrong?

One of the talking drones ignites its horn and I hear more whizzing above me. Looking up there’s another wave of 15 jet black drones diving towards me. Baring my teeth at them, I stop suppressing my Divine Aura and swing my arm back to prepare for a slash when I launch at them.

The drone that used its magic finally speaks loud enough that I can hear her, but she isn’t talking to me. “STOP! THE EXERCISE IS OVER, SOMETHING IS WRONG!”

All of the drones flying at me widen their eyes as a reaction to the drone below me and right as I start to charge at them they try to disperse. What exercise are they even talking about? Is this attack just a game to them?!

The three closest to me aren’t nearly fast enough when dispersing to get out of striking range, and within an instant I’m on them. I’m just a fraction of a second away from slicing the three drones when I hear a familiar voice screaming my name. It’s Luna. Hearing her was enough to make me pause for a second, but I know it’s another trick. These three will die-

Suddenly the three are gone and I slash through air as I stare up into the cloudy night sky. Someone teleported them. Snapping my gaze back to the ground I realize most of the drones are running back to the castle leaving just two changelings below me. The drone from before and Chrysalis. I open my mouth to yell at the queen, but I’m overcome with the urge to shake my head. Quickly doing so and blinking rapidly I look back down and see Luna and Elytra standing where the drone and queen just were.

A wave of confusion washes over me and I feel a pit form in my stomach. What is happening? Are they trying to trick me again?

“Detect Poison and Disease.”

Elytra pings as venomous, but Luna doesn’t. So Luna doesn’t realize she’s protecting a drone…no Elytra is a changeling. The real one would trigger the spell too.

The Moonblade falls out of my grasp and through the air as my hands shoot up towards my head. I quickly follow suit and feel the wind against me as I fall through the air.

Bouncing off the ground I just sit on my knees while clutching at the top of my head and forehead. “Ignis? Are you there?”

A new feeling completely overwhelms me when I look up and see the look on Luna and my Vice Captains face. Shame. Without any type of reply I just teleport away to Luna’s bedroom.

3rd Person POV

“Princess…I didn’t think it was this bad.” Elytra quietly mutters to Luna who is equally stunned.

“And you’re sure all of the changeling magic was cleansed?” Luna asks without even looking at her.

“I can’t be 100% sure, but I’m very confident all traces of it were gone. It’s all in his head at this point.”

“Can I trust you to handle the explanation of what just happened to any of the guards present just now? He needs me right now.”

Elytra seems hesitant. “Do I just tell them the truth? Do you want me to cover it up? I don’t know what to do.”

“I don’t want to cover it up, but I know how prideful he is. He won’t take it well if almost the entire guard knows what really happened. They wouldn’t treat him the same and it’d get to him. Let’s…cover it up for now. Tell them it was very subtle mental manipulation magic leftover from Queen Chrysalis that was activated because he was within close proximity to the changeling in custody in the dungeons.”

“The drones will know that’s a lie. We’d have felt something. All we felt was a massive dump of anger, fear, and confusion.”

“Then tell the other changelings the truth, but separately from everypony else. It sounds like they’re probably capable of piecing together what happened on their own anyways. And Elytra, thanks for contacting me. If it had been a second later we would’ve potentially lost a few lives tonight.” The Vice Captain gives a very respectful nod as she lowers her head.

Luna ignites her horn and teleports to her bedchambers to see if Nightmare or Force is there, but what she finds instead causes her heart to drop. Just sitting on the floor with his knees to his chest, his forehead against his knees, and his hands clutching at his disheveled hair is Ignis. None of the candles or gems in the room are lit, he’s just sitting in the corner of this dark room alone.

The alicorn carefully lifts him up with her telekinesis and sets him down on the bed. Then she closes her eyes and tries to follow the steps Nightmare told her to use the Alter Form ability. After a few seconds the pony is replaced with a pale elven woman, with long flowing starry hair. The only irregularities are the two folded up dark blue wings on her naked back.

Luna then sits on the bed behind Ignis and puts one leg on each side of him before grabbing him and pulling him back into her. Leaning forward she presses her chest against his back and rests her head against the nape of his neck. Giving it a light kiss as she tightens her arms wrapped around his torso. Finally she extends her wings, slightly surprised at her new wingspan, and completely envelops the elf curled up into a ball.

When her arms wrap around his torso she can feel him freeze and tense up. Confused and startled by the sudden human appendages. It only takes a second for him to start shakily breathing again. “Moonie?”

“Nay. She walked me through the steps to do this when she was telling me about the date you two had. It’s okay Ignis, you don’t have to say anything. We can just stay like this for as long as you want.”

Luna can feel him shudder when she speaks. She isn’t sure why, but the reality is that he wasn’t expecting her voice to sound so gentle and smooth. After a few quiet seconds she feels one of his hands rest on her arm. “I’m scared, Luna. I can’t do this anymore. It’s too much….please….?”

“Shhh. Just rest for now. Everything is going to be fine.”

Four Hours Later

“Guess I’ll just take a nap since I can’t find either of them.” Nightmare Moon mutters to herself as she opens the door to Luna’s bedchamber. Once she closes the door and looks up she pauses as she registers the sight before her.

Luna is laying on her back with a slightly smaller Ignis laying on top of her on his belly. His arms are wrapped around her with his face looking towards the door and his cheek resting against Luna's collarbone. Luna lazily turns her head slightly to look at Nightmare, still not fully used to having two forward facing eyes. She’s just idly running one of her hands through the knight's silver, non-ethereal, hair while the other hand is absent mindedly scratching his back.

Nightmare immediately gets the wrong idea and her face flushes as she slowly back pedals toward the door, but she stops when she gets a good look at the bladesingers face. Within a second she relaxes and frowns as she approaches the bed. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you later. Come lay down.” Luna quietly replies and the alicorn follows the suggestion, laying on her side next to the two.

“Are we just going to cuddle like this until breakfast?” Nightmare asks curiously.

“I don’t plan on leaving this room anytime in the next few days.”

Nightmares frown deepens as she realizes this is worse than what she initially thought. “This must be the reason why Elytra can’t cast her new spells anymore.”

“What?” Ignis has slightly more emotion in his voice this time, but it’s still not a lot.

“I ran into her probably two or three hours ago and she mentioned losing her “cleric” abilities. She mentioned being hungry again and feeling a void in the core of her being. I didn’t really understand what she was saying, but she said it’s like it’s still there but the light has gone out.”

There’s a poignant silence weighing down in the room for almost a full minute. “It’s because I gave up. The God of Hope gave up and decided to hide away in his girlfriend's bedroom.”

Nightmare thinks to herself that she should switch topics. “You should at least go to the pre-trial, Ignis. I think it’ll be good for you.”

“That’s what Luna kept saying too, but I really don’t see how it could be beneficial for me at all. I didn’t even manage to meet with my lawyer. For all I know he’s given up too.”

Luna speaks up this time. “I assure you he has not given up. He seemed quite determined to make sure your name is cleared entirely. Surprisingly determined, if I’m being honest.”

“Fine. I guess I’ll go. I’m not leaving until then, though. I can’t risk hurting someone…”

Now Nightmare’s brows are furrowed and she’s finally reached the limit of being curious. Reaching out telepathically she asks Luna to please explain what happened. They spend the next hour or so conversing silently between their minds, and after it’s all explained to her, Nightmare can’t help but to want to squeeze the elf as well.

In the morning Nightmare left to bring them back some breakfast and to talk to Force. After they ate, two of them went to sleep while the third laid there silently, contemplating recent events. Monday evening rolled around and Luna left to go hold court, but felt comfortable because Force and Nightmare were still in the bedroom. Then, at a much faster pace than Ignis would’ve liked, Tuesday morning arrived.

Author's Note

Hopefully the training exercise from Ignis POV wasn't TOO confusing? You can kinda see the moment his trauma kicks in and then it gradually devolves into full on hallucination. Just some fun POV fuckery. Well not fun cause...it's sad, but ya know what I mean.

As the title implies THIS is rock bottom, hopefully you guys like what I got planned for the pretrial hearings/trial, it's all gunna get wrapped up in one or two chapters. The main point of this lull between the attack and the rest of the war was to give Ignis a proper amount of time to fully soak in everything that happened, get confronted at court, dramatized PTSD attack, and then finally mentally "break" as it were. The trial has just been acting as a railroad or vehicle I guess to get through all of that ^ stuff.

Don't get it twisted, it's still important and I've still fully fleshed it out, but the trial wasn't in the original outline of this season. This is another thing that got added cause I ad-libbed the start of the war and moved some shit around so we could have some fluff between discord and war.

Also I got a couple weeks outta class coming up, BUT it's the holidays. I am going to spend time with the fam, haven't seen any of em in a few months. So after Friday, I'd say to expect a release schedule that is semi-daily. It'll probably be mostly daily with 1-2 days off per week for each week. Also expect the chapters to go back down to 2-2.5k words. I was hanging out with my fam back around the summit arc and my writing schedule at that was basically a couple of hours before I went to sleep at like 11PM at night, so I only had time to write 2k words. It's gunna be similar this time around. That's probably TMI but I like using the author notes as little blog posts. Sorry for rambling :)

Anyways, thanks for reading! <3 :D