Wow is it hot in here or is it just me? Seriously, I feel sweat on the back of my neck and my hands. The answer is that it’s just me though, honestly I’m so nervous right now I feel sick. Celestia wasn’t finished reading the report when we got to this small meeting room, so we’ve just been quietly drinking tea while waiting for her to finish the report. My main concern right now is that I’ve seen her brows go up and furrow in confusion about 3 times now and she muttered “dark magic?” After that she put up a bubble around herself and Luna and they’ve been talking for a few minutes now. If they were a more humanoid form I could at least read their lips but right now I’m just trying to think of a solid enough explanation to not get tossed in the pony equivalent of a loony bin.

Do they even have those here? Ok no, focus. How do I explain leveling up? Should I try and I mean really try to explain my actual situation here? I’ve never really tried to fight or resist the compulsion to stay in character, but maybe it’s easier if I just start from the beginning. It’d be really helpful if they had some D&D equivalent here, maybe they do, I’ll ask and if they do I’ll start from there.

Celestia’s horn lights up again and a minute or so later Shining Armor joins us in the room and sits next to me, with the sisters across from us. Once he sits down Celestia lowers the sound bubble, “First things first, what exactly is that sword of yours? The report mentions dark magic, but Luna insists it’s not and I trust her knowledge of the arcane even if it might be slightly outdated. However, both of us still want a full explanation on the true nature of that shadow sword.”

Well hopefully they don’t want the nitty gritty details cause I have no fucking clue how magic works. “It could be dark magic, truthfully I have no clue. Where I’m from we didn’t have such things as “dark” magic. Our spells are broken up into several Schools. Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation. That shadow blade spell falls under the Illusion category. I say we don’t have dark magic because although necromancy, for example, used to be widely looked down on as inherently evil nowadays we acknowledge that no spell is good or evil. Any magic can be used for good and any magic can be used for evil regardless of the school or nature of the magic.”

Shining looks a little dizzy, I think I dumped a bit too much information onto him at once, but Luna is looking at me with a small smile and Celestia has a very neutral face on. Hard to read but she responds, “I see. In that case could you show me the runic makeup of the spell? For us, dark magic is akin to one of your “schools” it'd be very easy to tell just from seeing if it contains 1 or 2 runes in particular.”

Well I’m fucked. I start scratching the back of my head as I look up at the ceiling and quietly mutter aloud to myself, “Ah, how do I explain this? None of my magic uses runes.”

I look back down and see the reaction I was expecting to see. Mixture between shock and confusion. Celestia quickly lights her horn, “I’m going to use that same truth spell from before. Can you please repeat that line?”

I feel my face contort into a look of resignation. Yeah let’s just tell them everything after I answer this. “None of my magic uses runes.”

All 3 ponies look at the sun princess’ horn for a few seconds as if they know for sure it’s going to light up. But, it never does. Finally Luna just quietly goes, “Huh. That’s a new one. Are you sure this spell works sister?”

“I have never once seen someone lie successfully under this spell. The fact that it only lets me activate the spell after I inform the target that the spell is being channeled makes it uniquely powerful. Harsh restriction in exchange for more power.”

I decide to just chime in here and start my story. “Do you all have a game called Dungeons and Dragons? It’s a game played in the theater of the mind where one person out of the group is the Dungeon Master and they explain the setting and scenario while the other players act out their own fictional characters. Typically the actions and attacks of all the characters in the game are based on the result of a 20 sided dice.”

Celestia hums in thought, but to my surprise Shining is the one that answers me, “It’s not called Dungeons and Dragons but we have a game called Ogres & Oubliettes. The description almost exactly matches up though.”

“Perfect that makes this easy then. I’ve been only halfway honest with you all, and for that I apologize. I’ve only withheld this information because I wasn’t sure I could explain it in a way that didn’t sound crazy. Originally I’m a race known as Human, and I come from the planet Earth not the Fey Wild. Ignis Ferrum is my Dungeons & Dragons character. Visually I didn’t originally look much different from this, I just had rounder ears, an uglier face and shorter hair that fits closer to black than silver. Also humans only live for around 100 years.” I pause and take a sip of tea. All this talking has my throat dry.

Luna is about to ask a question when I just hold up my hand as if to say Hang On. Putting down the tea I continue. “All the information I provided about Ignis Ferrum is true though. However as far I knew Ignis was a fictional character that I created and wrote a backstory for. The reason I’m telling you all this is because this is the reason my magic has no runes. To be honest I’m not really even sure how my spells work at all. In my original human world magic isn’t even real. All of my spells are from the game and my body responds to my will. When I want to cast a spell I just will it in my head and my body speaks the incantation and performs the movements for the spell on its own. Kinda like muscle memory I guess.”

Taking a deep breath I finish my rant, “This is also why I was able to show off magic that I was unable to show off in those castle ruins. After the struggle against Nightmare Moon I “leveled up” which allowed me to learn a set number of spells for each level. Just for your information I went from Level 3 to Level 5.”

Luna and Celestia both just have a far off look in their eyes, I can tell they were not mentally prepared to get mind fucked today. Luna mutters, “Tia. I don’t care what you say. That spell is broken.”

“I’m starting to agree.” Celestia quietly responds.

Shining on the other hand looks super excited for some reason? “How did you know you leveled up?”

“When I was unconscious the information kinda just flowed into my mind. Like words floating in a void then it told me what I unlocked at level 4 and had me choose my new spells and feats, and the same thing for level 5. Oh! That’s also why I was perfectly fine, it said that because I leveled up it would simulate a long rest for my body which in the game heals you to full health and restores your spells.”

“Does your D&D version use the spell slot system as well?!” Shining is fully nerding out right now. Both princesses just look completely done with this entire situation.

“It does yes, and before you ask, yes when I swing my sword and cast certain spells I also see a dice roll right before the attack. I see the dice rolls for the damage as well.” I think I’ve talked more in this conversation than I have in my entire life leading up to this.

“That’s so cool! Aw dude I can’t say I haven’t fantasized about being my O&O character forreal and go on an actual adventure!”

I give him a sad smile and remind him, “Would you still do it if it meant leaving this planet forever with no possibility of return? With nothing or no one to accompany you?”

At this his face twists up into a look of regret, kinda like he just bit into a lemon. “No. Definitely not, I’m sorry- wait so what’s your real name?”

I open my mouth to respond but nothing comes out. I close my mouth and furrow my brows in confusion before opening my mouth again. This time I try to scream my name out as loud as possible, but nothing happens. I decide to try one more time, but this time I don’t scream I just flex my neck and try to squeeze the words out, “Lucas.” It finally comes out I take a deep breath and continue. “Sorry, it’s Lucas. However, if I’m going to stay in this body and I really have no way of returning that we know of. I think I’d prefer to go by Ignis still, symbolically Lucas is dead. I wonder why it was such a struggle to say my name.”

Celestia chimes in this time finally looking a bit more composed, “A long long time ago there was a case where a pony’s body was possessed by the ghost of his neighbor, and I remember in the report it was mentioned that the possession also struggled to speak their real name. It might be that instead of being transformed into Ignis Ferrum you instead possessed his body.”

I don’t respond to her theory right away. In fact I’m silent for several seconds in deep thought. “But, Ignis is a fictional character. Not only that he’s one I created.”

“It could be that you subconsciously created the character from a metaphysical link you share with the original body. Perhaps the both of you share the same soul for your respective dimensions? Multi-dimensional theory has always speculated subconscious recollections and retellings of nearby dimensions.” Celestia just nonchalantly throws that out there in between sips of tea.

“Maybe, but more importantly does that answer all your questions?” I ask.

“Hmmmm, for now I believe that’s fine. I can’t think of anything else at the moment. Quickly changing topics because I want to wrap this up and go get dinner before it’s too late. I have a few ideas I wanted to get your feedback on.”

“Shoot.”

“So, with your current capabilities and skill set I have two offers for you. Feel free to say no to both if neither of them sound appealing to you. One, I’d like to send you back to Ponyville to accompany my student Twilight and the other Element bearers as an extra layer of security. Two, if you’d rather stay in Canterlot my sister and I would both like to offer you the position of Luna's personal attendant. You’d also be extra security for her, but the reason you’d be doing both is because in a few weeks time Luna needs to travel to the north and gather up her thestrals to start building up the Night Watch branch of the guard that she used to have in the past.”

She continues, “And we don’t really have any maids that feel comfortable going to the thestrals territory alone with Luna. We were going to have the second in command for the guard to accompany her, but after talking it over while waiting on Shining Armor to get here we both decided to offer it to you instead. You can also choose to live wherever you want and explore finding a purpose in our lands, but both of these options seemed like good fits for you.”

That feels like a concerning amount of trust for a stranger who just arrived on this planet two days ago, but I guess helping save the world from eternal night earns you some trust. “Can I think on it for a bit? I’m still settling in metaphorically speaking and don’t really know enough to decide where I think I fit in right now. I am curious though, what would I do once we return from the thestrals territory?”

Luna answers this time, “That would depend on how we feel after the excursion. You could continue to serve as my personal attendant or assistant, you could perform only personal knight duties, you could even join the Night Watch or just be a civilian and wander the library. Maybe go to Ponyville? It would all depend on how both of us feel when we get back.”

“And how long would the trip be?”

“Two weeks minimum, but it could take as long as a month. You would be compensated obviously.”

“I’m going to say a soft yes on accompanying Lu- Princess Luna,” I give her a small nod as I say her title and she responds with a smile. “But give me a few days to make sure that’s what I want. Anything else?”

Celestia finishes her tea and stands up before answering me, “Yes, while you were out my prediction came true. Word of Lunas return has spread to the neighboring kingdoms already and they’ve requested a global summit. It’ll be in two weeks and last for 5 days, after that we’ll return here and after a few days of rest is when Luna plans to depart for her thestrals. If you decide to start filling the role as her personal attendant I’d like for you to accompany us to the summit as well.”

“Sure, I’d probably ask to go regardless since you mentioned I might come up as a topic for discussion.”

“Excellent, in that case feel free to join us in the dining hall again for dinner and if not we’ll see you around some other time.” Celestia says as she trots out of the room.

I follow the 3 ponies out of the room but instead of going right and following them I go left and speak up, “Thanks for the offer, but I’m going to explore for the rest of the night I think. Am I allowed to go down to the city?”

“Of course, you’re not a prisoner!” Celestia responds with a laugh. “Enjoy your exploration.”

Oh! I just thought of something I turn around and run around the corner to catch up to them, “I actually want to do some shopping, could I maybe get a small loan or stipend? I need some ink and ideally some more clothes but I’ll probably need to custom order those.”

A small pouch pops into existence right in front of me and I reach out to catch it, I hear what sounds like coins jingling in the pouch. “Thanks!”

I’m walking away now, but I hear Celestia in my mind, “The pouch also has the card you’ll need to gain access back into the castle when you return. Try not to lose it please.”

Perfect, I was actually wondering about that. I figured worst case scenario I’d remind the guards I’m the only bipedal furless creature walking around that’s as tall as their reigning monarch. And that they saw me leave an hour earlier, but this solves that problem I was leaving for future me.

Now let’s go into the city and see if I can find some charcoal, incense, and herbs. I’m pretty sure I saw a brass brazier somewhere around here earlier, but just in case I can’t find it again I’ll check if any of the stores I go to sell one. Hopefully all the stores I need are still open? I’ve got daylight but not for much longer, seems like it’ll be sunset soon.

Author's Note

Heyo, still moving. Well I'm moved but my shit still isn't. I've got a little lap desk for my laptop now though so it was easier to type for this chapter. Hopefully people don't mind the direction I'm going now, I felt like going to Ponyville and doing all that stuff has been done 1000 times already and also just re-writing my own version of each episode would be super boring too.

I figured focusing on Luna for now I can maybe tie in some of Ignis character backstory and maybe even work in his Goddess since it's all related to the night/moon. Just thematically works ya know?

Not sure if I'm entirely happy with revealing EVERYTHING to the princesses but I know when I'm reading alot of HiE I get somewhat frustrated with the characters that are overly paranoid and feel like they can't reveal anything even if it's to an extreme. Also I think I skimmed over their reaction to the information a little too fast, but that's one of the problems of doing 1st person POV/narration. I might start next chapter in 3rd person POV on the ponies and expand their reactions/thoughts to the new information.

Anyways thanks for reading!