Statistically speaking I can’t block or dodge that many blades if we’re going by dice rolls. What if there aren’t any dice rolls though? I have sixty years of memories and six weeks of training and sparring with Luna without relying on the dice. I think that’s going to be my best bet for now. “Enable Real Time Mode.”

Without wasting another second I lean forward and start to sprint towards the cheating thestral. Do you have any actual ideas to help here, Nightmare? Technically they still have a pact with you, can’t you just tell them to fuck off?

While I’m responding to the sealed alicorn in my head all of the conjured weapons floating above the pony start to zip through the air towards me. With a hard pivot to the left I turn and start running in an arc towards the bat. Several of the weapons are fractions of a second too late as they impale the ground behind me, but there’s still a few I have to swing at with my Moonblade to deflect them away.

As I get closer to the thestral I hear her click her tongue in annoyance and the ground starts to rise on both sides of me. The walls start to curve until they’ve forced me out of my arc and now I’m running straight at the bat. She’s used the earth to make a narrow pathway so I can’t dodge! I’m not concentrating on a spell right now, right? I’m fairly certain I’m not. “Provolo!” With only a few seconds to spare I cast haste.

The dirt walls on both sides seem to blur as Haste doubles my speed and all of the remaining conjured weapons that were still hovering in the sky fly completely over me as the thestral alicorn widens her eyes in surprise and jumps backwards. “In a world where you’re only limited by your imagination and this is the best you can do?”

In hindsight maybe taunting the person that can freely manipulate this reality wasn’t the greatest idea. She fires off a huge beam of pure black magic that tears down the dirt walls as it barrels towards me. With a quick muttering of words I tap my foot on the ground twice and Misty Step into the air above the thestral. It seems she’s completely unaware as I start to fall through the air and swing my blade towards the back of her neck.

Sparks fly as my blade hits an invisible shield a few inches away from her. Her head snaps to the left as she looks behind her and the look of surprise is shifting into one of fear when she spots the blade starting to glow with a bright silver light. Level 4 Smite!

The shield shatters like glass as an explosion of silver light flashes from the Moonblade and instead of cutting into her neck my blade just slices through a cloud of smoke. Any of the dirt walls that were still standing crumbles as the smoke twists and turns through the air before rematerializing into the bat pony several feet away from me. Did she do that in the instant I shattered her shield or is that an automatic response that I need to strategize around?

Everytime I counter her she just responds with an even more absurd move. It really is starting to seem like I can’t beat her. If I don’t give her even an instant to respond then I can maybe pull something off. If I was in turn based right now I could rack out a Fire Bolt, a 2nd Fire Bolt with Haste, and a 3rd Fire Bolt with the bracers. That means theoretically I should be able to just rapid fire 3 of these…

“Fire Bolt!” Normally I’d use a Strengthen rune but the point here is to fire all 3 of these off as fast as I can, damage is not the end result. One of the fire bolts hits the shield and results in a mini explosion while two strike the dirt right in front of the thestral kicking up a cloud of dirt, dust, and smoke. Now that her vision is obscured is when I make my real move.

It’s just a dream so it shouldn’t fuck up my body at all to do this next trick. Just like when I was in the changeling hive I surge all the mana into my legs and feel all of the muscles bulge and flex and cramp as I zip through the air like a blur and close the distance between myself and the bat. I won’t give her any time to react this time, imbue the level 5 smite before I hit the shield.

The wind from my near instant movement starts to blow the smoke and dust away as my sword slashes through the air, but just before her vision clears my blade hits the shield and instantly shatters it with the explosion of divine power. Unfortunately my plan had the same effect on me that it did on her, just as she was unable to see my next move due to the obstruction, I was unable to see that her horn was glowing brighter than it had at any point during our fight so far.

The same instant the shield shattered the smoke cleared enough for me to see the extremely bright blue light emanating from her horn and it feels like my chest is being caved in as a second explosion rings out. A bright blue shockwave explodes out in all directions sending me flying backwards through the air, and after a few seconds there’s a distinct cracking sound as my back slams into a tree.

-53 HP: 12/75.

All the air is knocked out of my lungs and the Moonblade flies out of my hand. Crumpling onto the ground I try to stand as my vision shakes. Nightmare I could really use a response this time, if you have any ideas I’m open to input.

This isn’t your dreamscape, bladesinger. The only way I could provide assistance is by directly taking control of you.

….Can you guarantee victory if you possess me?

No. There is a chance however that they would recognize me as their pact holder and listen to my commands.

The alicorn thestral starts to slowly strut towards me with her head held high and smug smirk on her face. I try to fully stand but stagger back down onto one knee as a series of shocks wrack my body. I lost concentration on Haste, and this is the lethargy effect. “Any last words, O mighty knight?”
Glancing at my character sheet for anything that I can use right now, anything to turn the tide, and my eyes widen in surprise when I look at the very top of the character sheet. Giving my own smirk at the bat I respond to her taunt, “Add 1 level to wizard. Confirmed.”

XP: 100,100/100,000. Level up available!

The 8 thestrals I killed in this dream gave me XP! Time freezes as all of the level up information occupies my vision.

Level 10 Wizard new features unlocked!

• Song of Defense. When you take damage while bladesong is active, you can use your reaction to expend one spell slot and reduce that damage by an amount equal to 5 times the level of the spell slot expended.
• FEATURE ERROR ???: Your understanding of the True Bladesong deepens.

Select two new spells from the wizard spell list to add to your spellbook!

“Conjure Minor Elementals and Animate Objects.”

After reconfiguring which spells will be prepared once the simulated long rest is complete I glance at my spell slots and confirm that my memory was correct. I couldn’t learn any 6th level spells but I have a 6th level spell slot.

Spellbook Configuration Confirmed! Simulating Long Rest.

New Hit Point Maximum: 82/82.

Time resumes and I feel all my power surge within me as I easily rise to my feet, completely free of wounds. “Let’s wrap this up.” I place my left hand on my chest and cast Guidance. Next I start channeling the Mizzium Apparatus which causes the tubes to hum and glow as the entire machine starts to vibrate and rattle as I channel a 5th level spell through the device for the first time.

Arcana Check (Mizzium DC: 20.)

12 + 13 = 25 + 4 (Guidance) = 29.

My eyes glow with power and when the thestral makes eye contact with me she completely freezes as my spell starts to worm its way into her mind.

“Wake up.”

The words echo throughout the dreamscape as they’re embedded with power from the weave and my eyes glow brighter as I fully complete the casting of the 5th level spell known as Geas.

I watch as her own eyes begin to glow as she squeezes them shut and starts to hiss through her teeth. “What dark magic is this?! Mental manipulation was banned long before we even went into hiding! Why are your words repeating and screaming into my skull?! I REFUSE!”

It seems like she failed the saving throw. Even if the target fails the saving throw though they are allowed to refuse the command. The caveat being they’ll take up to 50 psychic damage if they do refuse, and considering most of these thestrals died somewhere between 29-37 damage… I don’t think this will end well for her.

My assumption is correct as the whites of her eyes start to turn red and blood starts to leak from her tear ducts and nose. Suddenly the entire forest is gone and I’m floating in a dark empty void, and after a few seconds the scene shifts to the landscape I usually see when I visit the spirit inside the Moonblade. Glancing around in confusion when I suddenly feel a pair of hooves land on my shoulders and a pair of wings wrap around me from behind. “You did it, Ignis! You won! What was that final spell you used?! It completely ruined the poor mare.”

Ah it’s Luna. “It’s a pretty powerful spell known as Geas, it lets you order a creature to perform a service or refrain from a specific act for up to 30 days. They’re allowed to refuse the order but they receive immense psychic damage upon their refusal. I simply ordered to wake up since I figured if she woke up it’d be the same as me killing her. Should we wake up now?”

“That’s probably for the best, but we need to discuss that spell more in-depth before we return to Canterlot.”

Closing my eyes I focus on ending the dream and everything fades away until my eyes open and I’m back in the room full of glowing glyphs inside the mountain. Looking to my right I see there’s several thestrals all gathered around one in particular and after my eyes adjust I can tell it’s the mare that was cheating inside the dreamscape. It seems like since the damage was pure psychic damage it didn’t stop at merely affecting her inside the dream it assaulted her mind completely.

Rising to my feet I slowly approach the circle of thestrals only to realize that some of them are in complete despair, full on sobbing. Confused, I look towards the mare again and realize her eyes have no pupils and they look much duller than normal. My breath quickens as I process the scene before me and it dawns on me that she isn’t breathing…what have I done?

I’ve killed her.

Author's Note

Pretty short chapter again today, just barely falling short of the 2k word mark I try to aim for as a minimum. I intended to cover a bit more in this chapter, but I ended up getting distracted. I was going to just not post anything tonight and finish the chapter tomorrow, but this is actually a pretty good stopping point. It also nicely separates the end of the encounter and the aftermath of the encounter, but yeah definitely meant to delve into the political stuff this chapter.. oh well I guess.

Thanks for reading!