You know in hindsight maybe I should’ve called out to Luna earlier. I wonder if bladesong would’ve made a difference there? Probably not, I mean that thing has like a +17 to hit or something, completely ridiculous. Well let’s get the death saves over with.

(A/N: Retconning death saves, misremembered how mechanic works in previous chapter)

11.

Failures: 0/3 Success: 1/3

A few seconds pass I feel some vibrations ringing throughout the void, Luna must be fighting the Dragon Lord. The second dice comes into view.

20.

Hit Points: 1/57

My eyes snap open and I take a sharp gasp of air in. Lifting my head off the ground I see my feet dragging along the ground kicking up dust with a trail of blood following me. Within a second or two of lifting my head whoever was dragging me promptly stops and drops my arms to the ground, “Sir! Sweet Celestia I thought we’d lost you!” I recognize that voice…

“Lieutenant Force? What happened?” Observing the situation it looks like pure chaos was unleashed in the few seconds I was knocked out. Creatures from all nations are running around in a panic, some on fire and screaming. Looking far beyond the crowd and past the arena I see a white dragon head lying on the ground with its eyes rolled back and blood trails coming from its slack jawed mouth and nose. Across the entire colosseum I see the rest of the white dragon, its body is embedded into the wall of the structure, upside down.

Quickly scanning I don’t see either of the red dragons. Force replies to me, “Luna announced your surrender and teleported you out of the arena just in time to prevent any further damage. Whatever you said to Inferno at the beginning of the fight pissed him off something fierce though, he didn’t stop after the fight was concluded. He yelled something in his native tongue to the other two dragons and then barreled straight at you while unleashing a massive fireball.”

Taking a breath the LT continued, “Shining blocked the fire with a shield but it redirected the fire all over the area and decimated half the camps. Right after that Frostbite burrowed out of the ground right next to you and tried to devour you, but Princess Celestia unleashed a lance of pure sun into the beast leaving him in the state you’ve observed.”

“I assume there’s more cause I don’t see either of the red dragons or the princesses.”

“Right. Tormura launched into the air and attempted to unleash a wave of his own fire but Princess Luna donned her armor and moved faster than any pegasus I’ve ever seen as she barreled straight into his gut. The last thing any of us were able to observe was Luna pushing the dragon lord straight into the air, through the roof, until they were so high we couldn’t see them anymore. Right after that, Princess Celestia turned her horn towards the dragon that was still trying to hunt you down. Before she could threaten him or fire off another spell Inferno fell out of air and grasped his head as blood shot out of his nose. Whatever you did to him with that shadow sword damaged him more than any of us realized. Realizing he wasn’t in a state to continue the skirmish he took off.”

Processing all the information Force just gave me I look at my stomach and realize just how gnarly of a wound Inferno gave me. It’s a miracle I haven’t bled to death to be honest. I hover both palms over the gaping wound in my gut and mutter out a new incantation.

“Remedium.” My hands glow green as I cast Cure Wounds.

4 + 1 = 5. Hit Points: 6/57.

Repeating the spell two more times I dump all my remaining spell slots into recovering.

7 and 4, 13 Total. Hit Points: 19/57.

Then I lower my hands and touch them against what remains of the wound. Lay on Hands, use all 10 points. Hit Points: 29/57.

The wound has almost fully closed now, it went from a gaping hole to a deep gash. Can’t believe my shirt is ruined. I’m about to see if I can stand to walk with Force over to the medical tent when I hear a chorus of gasping noises and see dozens of creatures point to the sky while covering their mouths with surprise.

I follow their pointing with my gaze and spot a large red spot rapidly growing bigger as it falls closer to us. After a few seconds I realize it’s Tormura in a free fall, he’s either dead or unconscious. Another small period of time passes and I can make out a streak of fire following behind him, almost like a meteor or something.

Perception.

20 + 5. 25.

Squinting, I can make out a starry mane behind the streaks of fire, as she comes closer I realize she’s covered in gore as she flies straight towards us. The blood on her fur turns black and slowly chips and crumbles to dust, peeling off of her as she continues to heat up during her re-entry. After several more seconds of waiting while listening to the whispers and murmurs of concern and surprise around me. Tormura crashes into the arena shattering it instantly and unleashing a huge cloud of dust that obscures everyone's vision.

I spot Luna as she slows down and glides into the arena landing next to me and at the same time the dust mostly settles. Looking at the massive red dragon lord I’m able to pretty quickly discern what killed him. His eye sockets are empty and there’s massive trails of blood all over his neck that originate from his maw. He died getting turned inside out in the vacuum of space.

“Strange, for a being that compared himself to Us quite often and boasts about how a 1000 year banishment to the moon isn’t a real punishment. He sure did succumb quickly to the cruelty of space. I need to make sure I don’t make a habit of doing that though. While I was actually on the moon the magic keeping me there protected me from the vacuum and the cold, but once I was freed I had to use my own magic. Flying from the moon to here while maintaining that protection is the real reason I was almost completely drained of mana upon my return. I could probably only pull that trick off twice without completely draining myself again. Where is my sister?”

“Right here, Lulu.” With impeccable timing the solar alicorn suddenly reappears before us. “I gave chase to Inferno but unfortunately my flying skills have gotten a bit rusty from a lack of practice. He was able to give me the slip quite quickly. Ignis, what did you say to him that caused all of this?”

“Well, while you were doing that weird telepathic negotiation with the Dragon Lord I overheard Inferno ask Frostbite if there was any news on his brother Kiln. Apparently he was supposed to be back from Equestria before the summit started. Once the fight started and he took to the air, I realized I had no way of dealing with him if he stayed in the air. So, I made use of the information I learned and called out to him in Draconic. I taunted him asking why he was hiding in the air like a coward, and even his baby brother Kiln didn’t resort to such tactics before I killed him.”

“You speak Draconic?!” All 3 of the ponies asked in unison.

“Yeah, I speak a few languages but wasn’t sure if any of them would be applicable here. Once I heard them though I knew it was the same. I didn’t think it’d lead to…. this much destruction. Was anyone killed?”

Both alicorns looked over to LT Force. “Thankfully no, our medics were able to jump in quickly. Unicorns used their create water spells to put out any creature that needed it. The last rough estimate I’d heard so far was 70 injured but we aren’t sure what percentage of that belongs to each nation.”

Slowly I rise up onto my feet, “That’s fortunate at least. Well, this is my mess so I’ll go help transport the injured to the medical tents and see where else I can lend a hand.”

Luna puts a hoof on my chest, “Absolutely not. You can’t help the injured, Ignis, you ARE the injured. Lieutenant, make sure my paladin makes it to the medical tents. His injury isn’t as bad as it initially seemed, but that’s still quite deep. Get some rest Ignis, Tia and I need to speak with you once we sort out all this chaos.”

After a few seconds of silence Luna speaks up again, “Ignis?”

“As you command, my liege.” Honestly I might disobey this order. I’ve made it my top priority to stay busy as much as possible. I still haven’t really internally acknowledged the fact that I’m never going home, to either home.

Force and I start slowly making our way back towards the Equestrian encampment. After around 30 seconds or so I guess Force was uncomfortable with the silence. “Sir, are you okay? You look pretty out of it.”

“We got lucky Lieutenant. No one died today, but at the end of the day I am almost solely responsible for what happened. This is kind of like a… a wake up call for me. On some level I think I believed this was just all a dream or a game of sorts. But I literally played with other people's lives, my actions have consequences.”

I’m not sure if I was able to properly explain my thoughts but Force seemed to understand well enough, she gave a small nod before responding. “That’s one of the first things we end up learning when we join the guard. Ponies are pretty good natured and happy go lucky, but during training they intentionally give us a massive shock while we’re goofing off during one of the first training exercises. It’s a pretty common phrase they throw around, “This isn’t a game, if we mess up, ponies die.””

In the middle of her response we arrive at one of the medical tents and head inside. I grab a roll of gauze and take a seat in the corner of the tent. Lieutenant removes her helmet and takes a seat next to me and watches curiously as I remove my cloak and shirt. “Wow, I don’t know what I was expecting, but I know it wasn’t bright red hair. Is that natural?”

“Yeah it’s natural. You seem like you’re doing fine, so I’m heading back out there to help out. Don’t leave the tent and make me get in trouble please.”

“I’ll be out there in an hour or so. I should be mostly recovered by then so I can help out if they still need it.” At this point I’ve finished wrapping the gauze around my lower torso.

“An hour? Sir that wound will take at least a week. You’ll be lucky if you can leave the tent before we start packing up to head back to Equestria.” I just offer the mare a shrug and she puts her helmet back on and leaves me to my thoughts in the tent.

Honestly I was hoping I’d have a level up by the time the dust settled, but I guess since I never interacted with Frostbite or Tormura I didn’t get any experience for their deaths. What’s going to happen with the dragons now? Three important dragons died within a week, including the Dragon Lord, this could lead to war. Technically Tormuras duel with Luna started as soon as I was defeated, so legally speaking there shouldn’t be any problems with his death. Frostbite was the aggressor as well. The only one that could really be argued as problematic is Kiln, but even then he committed a pretty egregious crime by threatening a princess.

I guess that’ll be one of the topics I bring up with the sisters. I also need to clarify how much power this coalition of leaders has as well. If they can demand Luna stand trial, what can they demand of me once my status as a bladesinger comes out?

I need to stop worrying for now, so let’s think about something else. Seeing the Lieutenant's bright red mane without her helmet reminded me of a girl from my fathers territory. I can’t remember her name, but we interacted a few times during some banquets. I wish I could remember more… she had that fiery red hair with blond streaks that almost all of the Summer elves had. Teal eyes, she was quite striking. I had planned on inviting her to my naming ceremony so I could attempt to court her.

Ember. That was her name, I wonder how she’s doing now?

Before I can go too far down the past life rabbit hole and end up emotional I get a notification that I’ve completed my Short Rest with a prompt for how many hit dice I want to consume.

Let’s use both paladin d10’s and 3 wizard d6’s.

8 + 8 + 3 + 6 + 3 = 28 Hit Points: 57/57.

Wow, that's crazy luck. Not only did I roll high on the two d10’s but I rolled the exact amount of HP I needed to get back to full. Next up is Arcane Recovery, at the end of a short rest I can use Arcane Recovery to recover spell slots that add up to 3. I elect to take three level 1 spell slots.

I remove the gauze and inspect my perfectly healed torso. It did end up leaving a pretty wicked scar running down the middle of my stomach, but otherwise everything is good as new! I throw my uniform back on and make my way out of the tent. As I pass through I give a quick look at all the ponies currently laid up on cots. Most of them seem to just have minor burns, so I continue on. If any of them were in a critical state I was going to use Cure Wounds on them, but luckily it’s not needed.

Since an hour has passed the scene outside of the medical tent is much more subdued this time around. Everyone currently out and about is focused on clearing up debris and re-setting up camp. Looking up towards the retractable roof of the colosseum I see hundreds of changelings currently working on repairing the hole so they can work on cooling the inside back down to a reasonable temperature. I opt to leave my visual enchantment disabled with my uniform as I wander around looking for either Princess. Wearing all black while the sun is out and its 115F sounds like a bad idea.

Eventually I find out that all the remaining leaders have decided to continue the summit and are located in a giant tent on the far northern end of the field. As I pass through the opening of the tent I realize I just went through a sound bubble. The first thing I hear is the changeling queen asking a question, “Celestia you're beating around the bush, is he a Bladesinger or not?”

Celestia is about to respond when she notices everyone else at the table is now looking behind her, at me. I decide to speak up since I already have their attention. “Sup? Did I miss anything important? I'll be honest, I assumed we'd call it a day and resume tomorrow.”

Luna rises to her hooves and gives me the stink eye, “You haven't missed much, we only started back up 5 or so minutes ago. The real question is why are you here against my order? You need to go back and recover.”

“Technically you ordered LT Force to escort me to the tent, you didn’t order me to do anything. Also,” I lift up my cloak and shirt. “I am fully recovered.”

I can tell Luna and Celestia had several questions, but it would seem they want to maintain an image of knowing everything about me. Granted, the fact that she even asked about my recovery in the first place is telling enough. Luna clears her throat and responds, “Very well. Some of us proposed putting a pause on things until repairs were finished, but it went to a vote and the majority decided we’d continue immediately.”

Luna returns to her mat on the ground and I take a seat between her and Shining. Since there’s no table or crystals now I guess it’s not too important where I sit. I nod to Queen Aurora and she reiterates her inquiry to Celestia. I’m curious what approach she’ll take here. I know she hasn’t been super happy with me lately but I think she still appreciates what I’m doing.

She decides to tell most of the truth. “His art of bladesinging is very similar to the extinct art in our history, but it is not the same. It’s significantly weaker, he was unable to even defeat a severely mana starved Nightmare Moon. I think that says enough, no?”

Everyone quietly ponders her words for a few minutes before the lead cow from Minos speaks up. “Can we have a demonstration?”

Celestia looks to me as if telling me it’s my decision, “Not today. My wounds are healed but it used just about all the mana I had. I don’t mind giving a demonstration tomorrow or later this week. I am curious though, what if Celestia said yes? Would it really make me some kind of boogeyman? Even more curiously, what do you all even plan on doing if it turns out that I am a true Bladesinger?” I lean forward and give each individual a very brief stare down.

I don’t put my hand to my hilt or anything too aggressive. I'm just genuinely shocked that they’re actually bringing this up. Surely, they don’t plan on attempting to make demands of me? King Silverwing gives me the answer I’m looking for, “I wouldn’t call you a boogeyman, but it would definitely make every nation uncomfortable to know that a Bladesinger has not only re-emerged into the world, but they’ve even aligned themself to a particular country. In our texts the old singers are described as a neutral party that only stepped in if disputes were beginning to destabilize the balance of the world. It’s a shame that they fell to Discord. Even their libraries and training halls were destroyed, leaving no way to pass on their art.”

I raise my eyebrow at him and make a gesture with my hand telling him to go on. He hasn’t answered the final part of my question. Queen Aurora chimes in before the griffon can continue, “We can’t demand you to do anything, but we would likely introduce a vote to have your oath abolished. After that we would request you step away from Equestria and act as a neutral force of balance the same way your predecessors did. This is all hypothetical though, I have no reason to believe Celestia lied to us and if what she said is true then there will likely be no follow up votes for this agenda topic.”

I have some thoughts on the matter, but I elect to hold my tongue for now. “Alright. Let’s move on for today then, what’s the next topic for discussion?”

“For the day 1 agenda there are no more topics for public discussion. The second half of every day is slotted out for private meetings between specific nations that requested or agreed to a discussion. Equestria and the Changelings have a meeting booked, and Ciervana has a meeting with Griffonia. Draconia had a meeting scheduled with Minos, but it would seem that is currently impossible. I’ll see you all here bright and early tomorrow for day 2!” The changeling queen stands up and walks over to Celestia.

Luna and I rise and begin to follow the two to wherever the meeting is being held, but Celestia turns around and faces us. “Neither of you have to be here for this meeting if you don’t want to. Aurora and I just wanted to catch up and make some small tweaks to our alliance agreement.

“Do you not want us there? Cause it’s like 4PM and there’s literally nothing else for us to do. I know you and Luna wanted to talk to me as well so why don’t we come along and just knock it all out in 1 go. Unless, did you have something else you’d rather do Luna?” I Inquire.

“It is as you say. However sister, if you simply wish to attend this meeting alone then that’s fine but if we had to choose we’d like to accompany you.”

Once again, Celestia wasn’t lying. I think we’ve been in this tent for atleast an hour and they’ve just been talking like a couple of friends catching up. I wish I had added Message to my cantrip list last time I long rested. Atleast that way I could have my own side bar with Luna. Almost as if she could detect my growing boredom Celestia taps Luna on the barrel and all 3 of them look over to me. “So Ignis, what is that glowing light that came down on Inferno during your fight. When I saw it for the first time in the mountain I assumed it was a feature of your legendary sword, but seeing it again with that illusionary blade piqued my curiosity.”

“That is eloquently known as Divine Smite. When I land any melee blow I can imbue the attack with divine energy. Ever since I performed the ritual with Luna and took an oath as her paladin I’ve been able to perform such feats. Pulling from that same source of energy is also how I acquired my new healing capabilities.” I look over at the changeling queen with a minor amount of suspicion, “Are you sure we should be discussing my capabilities with her in the room though?”

The queen just gives me a soft smile as Celestia responds, “Oh it’s fine Aurora and I have been friends for eons now. We just don’t get many opportunities to sit down with each other since she lives all the way out here in the desert. I trust her. With that out of the way though let’s get a bit serious here. I overheard your conversation with Miss Force, I’m glad you’re aware that you are atleast somewhat to blame for what happened today. However, the more pressing matter is what we should do with Draconia. We’ll almost certainly need to have a discussion with them, but I’d say it’s quite likely that this devolves into a real conflict. Aurora, what side do you think the summit will take?”

She hums in consideration for a moment, “Well that’s tough to say. If we assume no creature understood what your cute paladin said in his taunt then I think it’d be easy to convince the others that Draconia was the aggressor and your response was proportionate. Even if we do that though, the dragons are proud to an idiotic degree. I wouldn’t be surprised if they left the coalition and declared war on all of us if we took your side here.” Cute?!

It’s the first time I’ve been called cute in either of my lives and I find myself looking at the floor in response to the compliment. “Don’t be fooled by this harlot, Ignis. She just wants your bloodline for the possibility of bringing Bladesingers into her hive.” Luna unexpectedly jumps in.

Aurora holds up a chitin hoof to her chest pretending to be offended. “Harlot?! I guess I should’ve known better than to go after your paladin. You have always been the jealous type.”

What is she implying?

“What are you implying?” It would appear Luna had the same thought as me.

“Oh nothing. I’m just glad your return has been going well Luna. So Ignis, what else can you do? Apparently you can significantly injure a dragon all by yourself, conjure illusionary blades that inflict wounds on the mind, channel the power of the moon into a smite, and even perform healing magic that is unheard of in this realm. Oh and you’re a bladesinger, can’t forget that one.”

“Is my healing that impressive? It didn’t seem any different from the healing I received at the castle after my duel with Shining.”

“No no, Equestrian healing is only capable of performing similar feats if the wound is merely skin deep. Anything beyond that and all the spell would do is prevent things from getting worse. You healed your intestines, abdominal muscles, and skin. Interesting that it left a scar though. Don’t think you can dodge my question though, what else can you do?”

I look to Luna and she gives me a nod of approval to divulge further details. I end up walking the queen through most of my spellbook before putting my inquiry out for the group. “I think we should poach Lieutenant Force to the Night Watch.” Okay that wasn’t really an inquiry, but you get my point.

“Any reason why her in particular?” Celestia asks.

“She’s the first guard to go beyond tolerating me. Actually, she doesn’t even really seem to care that I’m a freaky alien. She has a fire in her eyes though, that look that ambitious people have. It’s something I’ve basically never seen in ponies before, almost like your entire species lacks ambition. She has it though, I can feel it.”

Luna speaks up this time, “Aye, cutie marks and a long standing era of peace have caused our ponies to become complacent. They’re all just happy to do what their cutie mark says to do and have fun with their friends and family. Even before my banishment ambition was a rare trait to find in a pony, but I daresay it’s worse in this era. Did she apply right before we left for this event though? I’m quite confident I’m caught up on all the applications so far and I didn’t see a file with her name on it.”

“No, she was going to apply but she said that after thinking about she decided the working hours would impact her social life too much. I think if we both talk to her though we can probably win her over.”

Luna just gives a deep sigh, “I’d rather not badger somepony into joining my guard, but if you really think she’d be a good fit then we can talk to her at some point tonight or tomorrow.”

I stand up and give a small yawn as I notice how hungry I am. I offer a polite goodbye to Aurora and tell the sisters I’m going to find food. I half expected atleast one of them to leave with me considering this is also their normal dinner time, but they both appear to be staying behind so I take my leave.

Let’s make sure I’m keeping track of everything. Potential war with dragons, demonstrating my bladesong tomorrow, and I need to mentally prepare for a major shitshow if they try to demand I abolish my oath and become a third party. I feel like that’s everything so far? Ah well it can’t be too important if I’m forgetting it. Time for food then some light training before bed, got another long day ahead of us tomorrow.

Author's Note

Honestly this chapter was a slog to write. I'm not sure why but it was a complete struggle to work my way through this one. Also a very slow chapter, mostly just dialogue and fleshing out more of the leaders some. Things should start getting interesting again next chapter.

Thanks for reading