I’m talking to Luna about Grogar when our new resident dragoness snaps her eyes open and sits up in a panic. “Woah! Relax. You’re in Canterlot, specifically the castle infirmary. Your father nearly diced you to bits.” I put my hand on her shoulder to keep her from launching fully out of bed.

Ember looks around with wide eyes, still in a panic, for another second or two. Then it seems the prior events replayed in her mind as she suddenly looks dejected and stares down the bedsheet.

“You were adamant about not killing your father, but it seems he didn’t have the same thoughts about killing you. He didn’t even hesitate or give you a real chance to explain things. What are you gonna do now?”

She just chews on her lip while deeply thinking about her next move. “Can I return home? I know I can clear up the misunderstanding if I can just talk to him one more time.”

“I don’t see a prob-” I start to respond but Luna cuts me off.

“Absolutely not. You may have been lied to and manipulated by your leader but you still invaded my city and killed an unforgivable amount of ponies. You will be sent to the dungeons until this war is over.”

I really didn’t want to remember that attack so I just pushed it out of my head, but Luna is right. We can’t just release the dragon that was literally leading the enemy forces on the day we were invaded. Still though…

“Or…you can redeem yourself by assisting us.” Luna adds after a bit of a dramatic pause. I’m glad I’m not the only dramatic one around here.

“I already told you I won’t help you kill my father.” She isn’t trying to argue that she should be released. Seems she’s willing to accept the punishment.

“Your father is going to die. One way or another, before this war ends, he will cease to exist. I do not need your help to do so. However, if we are attacked by your kind again, if you assist us in repelling the attack that would be enough. Through your actions you will save a number of ponies tenfold the amount you killed.”

“I will not kill my own subjects either! That’s even worse!”

Now it’s my turn to chime in. “Then don’t.” Ember and Luna turn to me, both confused. “Convince them to leave whatever city they’re attacking before they are killed or, even better, convince them to abandon your father and serve under your banner instead. Build up your own power base now and then once…the position becomes vacant, you’ll be able to seamlessly climb the throne. I’ll be honest Ember, we’re being far more lenient than we should. The reality is that you have nowhere to return to. If you go back home your father will kill you. If you stay here and don’t redeem yourself you’ll be locked in a cell for who knows how long and then once you’re released, you’ll still have to live in a city that resents you. Don’t answer us now, just think about it.”

I rise up from the bedside chair and motion for her to get up. “In the meantime though, I’ll show you to your cell. I’ll be back at some point tomorrow night, and that’s when I want your answer. For now, just think about it. I’m confident you’ll do the right thing.”

…

As soon as we enter the dungeon I have to resist the urge to become violent. “Oh no! Princess they’ve captured you as well? I guess even the mighty Dragon Princess is no match for The Last Bladesinger.” I swear to god I might just kill the drone. Everytime I think about doing it I start to feel guilty for killing a defenseless prisoner just because she keeps getting her body forcibly hijacked. But I can only take so much.

“You’re still alive Chrysalis? I’m surprised you managed to take down a dragon made of steel.” Is the only reply I can offer while making sure Ember enters her cell.

“Dragon made of steel? What are you talking about my dear? Did I go too far and break you because you sound a bit crazy right now.”

“The dragons decided you were too dangerous to be left to your own devices after you dissolved your alliance with them. They intended to use you and your hive as a test run for a new species of dragon. It sounds like they never made it to the hive, though.”

“They probably went to that old colosseum in the Badlands. I didn’t tell anyling where I was establishing my new hive. If you wanna know though…” I think she just tried to give me a husky and seductive tone of voice but the drone is too squeaky for that. She just sounds silly. “I’d be happy to tell you. I’d love another visit from my favorite knight.~”

I don’t even bother dignifying her with a response as I just turn and start to walk away.

“H-Hey! Where are you going? You’re supposed to threaten me and flash me that dominating stare! Get back here and quit ignoring me!” Oh I did not think it would be this effective. I’ll have to keep this in mind whenever I interact with her again. Unless it’s in person. I won’t need to keep this in mind then because next time we meet, it’s on sight.

Now that that’s over I find myself teleporting into my own office. We still have a few hours until dawn so I might as well get some work done. “Back already? I assume your mission went well, then?”

“Hey Moonie. It uh…it was eventful, and I learned a lot. The dragons have their own God now and it’s the Dragon Lord. They’re also working with some goat named Grogar. Luna says he’s-”

“The father of monsters. Did you confirm this? His identity I mean.”

“I did. I described him to Luna and she identified him, but the Dragon Princess also told me herself. She’s in the dungeons now by the way. I was trying to convince her to turncoat and join us and her father walked in on the conversation. He didn’t even give her a chance to explain before trying to kill her. He actually cut her up pretty bad. Also Grogar is trying to create a horrible monstrosity named Tiamat. When we go to sleep later I had planned on inviting you and Luna into my dream so I could show you the information and pictures of the Tiamat I’m familiar with.”

“He’s recreating a monster from your world?”

“I wouldn’t say that. I doubt he even knows about the Tiamat from my homeland. He also managed to reinforce a dragon with steel. All of their scales are literally steel. Apparently he was tasked to create the perfect dragon suited for killing me. Oh and the negotiations are going to fall through. They’re going to demand you and Luna under the pretense of putting you on trial for what you did before your banishment and for killing the previous Dragon Lord. In reality though I think he just wants you and Luna’s power to himself and away from Equestria. He’s scared of how many powerful beings we have. Once we reject the demand he’s going to agree to let us keep Luna and demand just you. For some reason he actually seems to think we’d agree to that. He didn’t mention what would happen when we reject that offer.”

“He said all that and you didn’t immediately lose your temper and charge at him? I’m proud of you!” This is the second time she’s used this condescending tone of voice with me and it’s starting to annoy me.

“Don’t patronize me. I lost my temper enough that I almost blew my cover. He felt my killing intent for a brief moment and it put him on alert. I’m going to suggest to Luna and Celestia tomorrow that we just use the negotiations as a trap. If he says the peace talks are off and walks away after we reject both of his demands then we just attack him right then and there. We could also use his daughter as a bargaining chip, but I doubt she’d be valuable. He’ll only want her back so he can kill her himself.”

“No, really, I mean it. In the past that would’ve sent you into a frenzy and who knows what would’ve happened. I’m happy you’re getting a better handle on your temper.”

“Sorry, it just sounded like you were talking to a foal or something. But yeah this shit is a nightmare, Moonie. I still haven’t been able to face any of the guards since the incident in training a few nights ago…” There’s a few seconds of silence. “Should I step down as Captain?”

“Where’s this coming from?”

“First of all, I’m a shit leader. Just straight up, I’m not good. Secondly, I’m spending so much time unconscious or away from Canterlot that Elytra is basically the Captain anyways. Maybe I should just stick to being the Lunar Knight. That way I can put all of my focus into the war, and stop feeling guilty about neglecting my other duties like I’ve been doing. Also, I’m just embarrassed to face any of them again as their captain after that.” The whole time I’m talking my chin is resting on my desk while I idly tap my finger on the wood.

“You should talk to Elytra about it. Personally, if you hadn’t said that last sentence and just said everything before it I’d be on board. But, that last part makes me think none of the first bits really matters all that much, and you just wanna step down because you feel like none of them will treat you the same after that incident.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll talk to her.” Mentally forming a connection to the follower I speak into her mind while also speaking out loud so Nightmare can hear me. “Hey Elytra.”

“Sir! How are you feeling? Do you need something?”

“No nothing like that. Can you come by my office if you have a few minutes? I have something I want your opinion on and I think it’s better if we do it face to face.”

…

There’s a few knocks on the door and I use telekinesis to pull it open. “Come in. Take a seat.” The changeling lounges on the bench across from my desk.

“What did you want to talk about, Sir?”

“I’m heavily considering stepping down as Captain. The way I see it, because of all my excursions and lengthy bouts of unconsciousness I’ve been pushing most of my work onto you, unfairly. But, we’re still waist deep in this war and I feel like I don’t have the time to do any of the responsibilities I’m supposed to do as Captain. I want to focus on killing dragons and finding Chrysalis, and I think it’s better for everyone if I do that, not as Captain of the Night Guard, but as the Lunar Knight. What do you think? Obviously you’d be promoted to Captain, by the way.”

She seems pensive. “Does this have anything to do with the night you attacked the guard during the training?”

“It’s a contributing factor, yes. But, in my opinion, it’s not the main reason. Even as the Lunar Knight I’ll still have to interact with the guards.”

“Honestly doing both of our jobs plus hosting prayer sessions has really been taking a toll on me. If you were to step down and I could find my own Vice captain to relieve myself of a portion of my duties I’d be in a much healthier situation…I think you should do whatever makes you happy, Sir. I think a lot of us would still think of you as Captain even if you were to step down. You’ve earned a lot of respect.”

“Alright, sounds good.” I reach into my pocket and pull out my identification badge for being the Lunar Knight. Then I grab the badge pinned to my cloak that represents being Captain of the Night Guard. I quickly unpin that badge and replace it with my Knight badge while simultaneously standing up from my desk.

“Wha-... Sir?! Right now?!”

Once the badges are swapped I toss Elytra the Captain badge. “Yup, grats on the promotion! There’s a secret compartment in the bottom right drawer of the desk. That’s where I keep my notes on all of our major adversaries, and notes about what I think we need to improve. It’s been a pleasure serving as your Captain. Take good care of ‘em, okay?”

The changeling still looks dumbfounded and is just staring off into space while holding the badge on her forehoof. “Wha..?”

I just chuckle and motion for Moonie to follow me out.

“Are you sure that was wise?” She asks once the door closes.

“Yeah. She’s basically been doing 90% of my work for the last three weeks. She’ll be fine. I’ll check in on her every couple of days and see if she needs any advice or tips or help. Now I can go back to doing my real job.” As I say that I turn the corner and walk into Luna’s office. She glances up at me and gives me a curious glance as I plop down on the couch against the side wall. Nightmare lays across the same bench and rests her forelegs over my thighs leaning back against my chest.

“Slow night in the office, Ignis? It’s not often you have time to come relax in my office.”

“Yeah, I stepped down as Captain. Elytra has officially taken over. Now I’m back to being just your knight. I got too much other stuff to focus on and worry about, and I was doing a horrible job anyways.”

Luna does not have the reaction I was expecting. Her expression barely even changes and she goes back to whatever paperwork she’s working on. “That’s surprising. It’s something you were gonna have to do at some point in the near future anyways, though, so not a big deal. I wish you had talked to me about it first, though.”

“Yeah…that’s my bad. Nightmare was in the room so I just talked about it with her then asked Elytra what her thoughts were. It is your guard though, so…definitely a bit of a fuck up there.”

“Indeed. Like I said though, you’d have been stepping down in the near future anyways, so it’s fine. Try to avoid it in the future though.”

Okay she’s mentioned it again. What is she talking about? “Why would I have needed to step down soon anyways?”

“Once we publicly announced our engagement you’d have to step down. I can’t have my consort also be in charge of my guard. Luckily there’s no laws about knights. Mostly because of how rare they are and because technically you work for me and not for Equestria.”

“........Engagement?”

“Yes? You said yes to Nightmares proposal on that stressful night, no? I had assumed it was in jest because of how casual the situation was, but you brought it up at breakfast last week so I assumed you were serious. Now that you’ve stepped down we can move forward. I suppose we’ll wait a week or two so we don’t overshadow Cadence’s announcement.”

Nightmare and I just look at each other, bewildered. However I actually have a different concern. “You ok, Luna? You sound pretty monotone right now.”

“I was just doing some thinking of my own. Mostly I was thinking of our conversation about my dead Night Court. I just don’t know what I’m doing here anymore. I don’t think Equestria needs a Princess of the Night.”

I pat Nightmare a couple of times on her barrel and she gets off of me and steps away from the couch. Then I reach out and grab Luna in my telekinesis before pulling her into my embrace while laying down on the couch. “Equestra does need a Princess of the Night. I think they just don’t need a Night Court. Just because Celestia does it, doesn’t mean you need to do it. You help out all of the ponies in this kingdom with your dream walking. I bet there are other things you could do at night along with dreamwalking that are even more important than Night Court. Maybe it’s time for both of us to make some changes, eh? I quit the guard to focus on the war and being with you. Why not try to find something besides court to find fulfillment? If you want you could still hold court, but maybe only like once or twice a week.”

“But what else can I even do, Ignis?” She folds her forelegs over my arms that wrapped around her barrel and looks up at me with big glassy eyes.

“You can do anything, Lulu. But you have to decide what that will be on your own. Just like how you couldn’t decide for me whether I stayed here or returned home. I can’t decide what you do with your life. I’ll be happy to assist and accompany you with whatever you choose to pursue, though.”

Luna turns around and throws her forelegs around my neck. Nightmare shoots me a grin. “And you say you’re a bad leader, pft.”

“Being a good boyfriend and being a leader are completely different Moonie. C’mon now.”

“Is it? You listened to her, guided her, figured out the problem and told her exactly what she needed to hear. But, you didn’t give her the answer. You just started her down the path.”

“Yeah cause I know Luna inside and out. I’m not familiar with any of the guards to the same extent. I wouldn’t be able to do this for them.” Nightmare just raises her eyebrows a bit while tilting her head.

“I suppose that’s true. Anyways can we circle back to the main topic. Luna, have you made the engagement official?” Oh that’s a good point. I was so caught up in how down Luna sounded that I completely brushed off the whole marriage thing.

“I haven’t announced it, but yes I updated the record of royals. Ignis is officially the future Prince Consort. There’s still some hoops to go through to start the vetting and approval process to have him recognized as a real Prince though. I planned to start that process for you and him at some point next week. I assumed we were all on the same page…”

I can’t stop myself from chuckling a bit. “Looks like we’re both pretty bad at communicating, hahaha.” The chuckling devolves into a belly laugh as I think about the absurdity of both situations. I quit Luna's Night Guard without talking to her, and she filed paperwork officially declaring our engagement without talking to any of us.

“So you aren’t mad?” Luna’s question surprises me.

“No? Why would I be? You should be asking Moonie that, not me. I was always fine with it, but she wanted to have some big romantic proposal. So…it’s her parade you’re raining on. Not mine. How do marriages even work with a herd? Do all three of you stand up there with me at the same time?”

Luna shakes her head. “Nay. Typically the head mare is in the official ceremony. Then we’d have a followup ceremony where the head mare takes the place of the pony officiating the ceremony.”

“Ah so with the head mare acting as the priest it’s more like she would be overseeing the addition of the new mare to the herd.”

“Exactly. The vows are a bit different as well, but it’s essentially the same thing. So, I’ll oversee Nightmare and Forces ceremony. We can either do it all on the same day or split it up into multiple ceremonies. It’s more special for the parties involved if it’s done separately, but usually it’s done the same day for convenience and expenses.”

I just sigh. “Sounds like a lot of planning and stress.”

“Indeed it does. It’ll be worth it though.” Nightmare chimes in, in agreement.

“Assuming all of us make it through this war alive.” With one small statement I bring us all crashing back down to the somber reality of our current situation. I don’t know how to beat the Dragon Lord. If I could kill him with one attack before he even knows I’m there then it’s possible. But, in a straight up one on one? I don’t know how to fight someone that can just cut me to pieces with a thought. I did dodge it once, but if I’m in real-time combat mode then I won’t get a dexterity saving throw.

That means I have to go back to using the system to fight, but even then what if I fail the saving throw? I wonder if I have Legendary Resistance? I didn’t see it in the system anywhere but I feel like it’d be weird to not have it, no?

…

I let Luna get back to her work, but I didn’t leave the office. I decided to spend more time refining my telekinesis. If I can’t use runes then I’m stuck with just telekinesis and raw energy attacks. You can’t really improve raw energy attacks so I want to work on my telekinesis. Repurposing it into a shield is already one good application of the magic, but I want more. I want to be able to fight someone using nothing but telekinesis. None of the ponies really use it for combat, but I think it’s a lack of creativity on their part.

Maybe it’s also just difficult to encapsulate a fast moving target with your mana in such a way to allow for the telekinesis in the first place? Using it as a shield seemed to circumvent that problem, though, if someone was fast enough I bet they could back away before I could trap them with the magic.

Wait a minute…

“Hey Luna…and Moonie. You guys use your mana to connect to your Divinity and then use the Divinity for some of your attacks right? Like that attack Luna did against the Ursa Major. You pulled all of the stars and channeled moonlight into your horn for a massive attack.”

“Yes…?”

“How did you use the Divinity to do that? I can’t use runes to cast spells with Divinity, but you both are capable of using the energy to perform massive attacks like that. How do you use it in a way that’s similar to mana? All I’ve been able to do is telekinesis, body enhancement, and raw energy beams.”

Luna and Nightmare both look at each other, seemingly at a loss for words. Seems like even they don’t know how they do it. It must just be instinctual for them. Finally Luna speaks up. “I just connect to the moon while thinking “I want to kill this opponent.” It’s not always the spell you saw against the Ursa, in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever consciously picked which attack the magic formed.”

So it’s pure willpower? Is that how Celestia seemingly spawns miscellaneous items out of thin air? I know sometimes it’s items that she arranged to be put in a specific location in the castle storage area, but other times she seems to just flash items into existence. Didn’t I try that though?

Wait. She’s never chosen the attack. She just wants to attack. The few times I’ve tried using Divinity to cast spells through willpower I’ve been very specific with what I want. I even perfectly picture the result in my head. Maybe that’s not what I’m supposed to do, though?

Okay….channel the Divinity. Protect Nightmare!

Suddenly a bright golden shield dome appears around the alicorn making her yelp in surprise from being startled. “Okay, I figured it out. Thanks Luna. Wait, how do I turn it off….? Uh oh.”

Okay it only took a few minutes of panicking while Luna laughed at us, but I eventually figured it out. But…this changes everything. What are the limits of this? How far can I push it? I theorized that this Divinity isn’t something from the system, it's something native to this world, so by that logic when I use Greater Teleport I’m using a feature of the system. What if I use Divinity to teleport though?

Quickly, I use Greater Teleport to appear at the castle in the Everfree. Bring me Nightmare Moon.

Nothing. I want to see Nightmare Moon.

Ope, that’s a scrying spell. Hm… why is this so fucking finicky? This is a trash system for magic…I want mana back. Teleport Nightmare to me, now.

One pop and a flash of light later, suddenly a familiar alicorn is lounging on the ground in front of me. She looks around a bit confused for a moment before looking up at me. “Sorry, needed to test something, heh…I can use proper teleportation now.”

She gives me a flat look and opens her mouth to respond. Teleport her back to where she came from!

And like that, she’s gone. Although I suppose I’ll still have to talk to her again. Ah, whatever, I use Greater Teleport and bring myself back.

“You can speak to me directly in my mind. It would not have been difficult to give me a warning that I was about to be teleported. What if I had been using the bathroom?”

“I’d be thrilled to get a free show…no, but seriously, I was only gone for like ten seconds. There was no way you were doing anything other than laying down.” She raises an eyebrow at mentioning a free show.

“Pervert. Idiot. Hmph.” Ah there it is.

“Stereotypical tsundere, tsk tsk. In the future though, I will contact you first. Onto the next thing on my to-do list, let’s see… Now that Elytra is Captain my office is no longer my office. Which means I need to pick a new area to be my Divine Realm. Any ideas?”

We spent the rest of the night just discussing random things like this while I kept fucking around with my new magic. Once morning arrived it was time to give Celestia a full breakdown on everything I learned and suggest my ideas for how we handle the upcoming negotiations.

Author's Note

Pretty uneventful chapter, little decompression before we get back into it :D

Still pretty important chapter though, lot of updates and progression on some of the back-end things happening in the world. But yeah I don't really have much to say for this one, and I expect the comments will be pretty quiet this chapter as well.

Thanks for reading! <3