“YOU SPECIFICALLY SAID IT WOULD BE TEMPORARY IGNIS! LESS THAN A DAY!” Turns out ole Celly did in fact blow a gasket. I’m now getting the wonderful experience of sitting in a room that rapidly increases in temperature. Sweating my ass off in here. The solar alicorn sighs and puts a forehoof between her eyes like she's trying to pinch the bridge of her nose. “So what exactly went wrong here, knight? Did something go awry? Did a spell not work the way you thought it would, or did you just lie to me?”

“None of the spells I originally considered would’ve worked in the way we wanted it to work. The spell I ended up using is one that I hadn’t even considered as a possible option until we ran out of options. Plus she’s a pegasus! She can’t even cast magic, Celly. We let her slowly acclimate to the capital and let the public get used to her and if she’s well behaved between now and the Gala then we can properly unseal her.” Honestly even Luna wanted me to just dismiss her and then recast the spell on the night of the gala, but I can’t really bring myself to lock her back up after just freeing her. Plus everytime I dismiss her like this I have to go through the small risk of having the Mizzium backfire when re-summoning her.

“Fine. You know what, fine. She’s your responsibility, anything she does is on your head. If you’re willing to accept that level of accountability, and stick your neck out for that demon to go this far then I’ll allow it.”

“Oh that’s it?” I almost melted into my chair from how much tension I just released. “I was already going to do that, if she commits any wrong doings I’ll accept the punishment.”

“Why are you two talking about me as if I am not sitting here in the same room?” Nightmare pipes up.

“Well honestly, for me it’s normal to do this since you’re always listening to my conversations and chiming in whenever you want. Why is she acting like this? I got no clue.” I playfully respond while pointing at Celestia with my thumb.

“Because if I pretend you don’t exist my blood pressure goes down. I want daily reports on everything she does with summaries of the public's reaction to her. I have to go to court now if you need something contact Miss Inkwell.” Celestia finishes the conversation slightly calmer than she started it and leaves the room.

I look over at Nightmare, “All things considered…I’d say that went well.”

“Indeed. It definitely could’ve gone worse.” After Moonie responds I watch as her eyes cross and she flinches. I’ve come to realize this is what happens whenever she tries to perform magic without a horn.

“What were you even trying to cast? We’re not doing anything right now.”

“I was trying to conjure some tea. This form is much more inconvenient than I initially thought it would be. What else did you have planned for today?”

“For today? Nothing. It’s like 10AM Moonie I’m going to bed. I’d suggest you at least try to sleep as well so we can have you on the correct sleep schedule.” I let out a big yawn as I stretch my arms over my head.

“I’ve been locked in the moon for 2 months with only a few hours reprieve from 1,000 years of the same thing. If you think I am tired in any capacity then you are a fool.” I guess she has a point but there’s no way in hell I can just let her wander around unescorted. Can’t believe I’m about to pull a 36 hour shift…

“Fine. What did you want to do then?”

She just gives me a deadpan stare. “I have no magic, am tethered to you at all times, and have no clue what I actually can do. Any plans I had have been thrown in the garbage.”

“True. Let’s go snag you some tea then since you wanted some, and I guess I can go track down Force and see what she’s up to. Let’s go.”

“Enter.” A muffled feminine voice calls out from the other side of the door I just knocked on. Cracking the door I poke my head in and spot the alicorn of love reviewing some papers on her desk and a certain pegasus relaxed on the side of the room. “What are you doing up? Did something happen?” Force offers me a small smile as she questions me.

“Uhm. Something happened for sure but it’s not bad…I’m pretty sure.” I feel a hoof collide with my thigh with a small amount of pain. “Sorry it’s definitely not bad. A friend of mine ended up visiting and I figured if I’m gunna be up anyways I should come see if you wanted to tag along? Assuming your princess says you can come out to play?”

Force starts to refuse the offer but is cut off as Cadence talks over her with a big smile. “Of course! All I’m doing today is paperwork and I am perfectly capable of handling myself for a few hours.” Before the pegasus can even offer up a retort the door is telekinetically opened all the way and Force is pushed out of the room with the door slamming behind her.

“Ignis…why is Nightmare Moon standing behind you? Also, why doesn’t she have a horn?” Force sounds a bit disturbed while asking her question, but I’m going to try and be as nonchalant as possible.

“This is the friend I was talking about. Since she has no magic and has been gone for 1,000 years and I don’t do anything except hang out with Luna so neither of us know what to do with her free time while she has it. Before you ask, yes, Celestia and Luna both know. I’m not sure if Cadence does though?”

Moonie apparently takes this as a queue to introduce herself. “Greetings Knight. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you directly. I always find amusement listening to the two of you talk when it’s not about official matters.”

Force just offers a slow blink in response before finally speaking. “Uhm….hi? I don’t know how to process this.” Turning to me she continues, “So basically you just want to hang out and have Nightmare third wheel us?”

“Well no, I’d prefer if all 3 of us were equally participating.” I realize my armor is still enchanted to be appearing as my typical night court uniform so I deactivate it and transform the illusion into something more casual. “I just don’t really know what kind of leisure activities you ponies have. Back home we’d go to an arcade, hang out at the mall, play video games, but I doubt you all have any of that.”

Force hums in thought for a few seconds before replying. “I think there’s a play down at the theater in an hour?”

Nightmare actually seems to perk up at the mention of a play. Did they have those before Luna's banishment? “Would you happen to know which work is being performed, Knight?”

“I believe it’s “Royal Trouble” which I’ve already seen a few times, but I wouldn’t mind sitting through it again since neither of you have seen it. It’s pretty good. We could also just go have a picnic in the gardens, it’ll be time for lunch soon. I also wouldn’t mind some training… I can tell you’re even stronger now than you were when you left for the thestrals.”

I’m about to speak up and voice my decision on seeing the play since I noticed Nightmare seemed interested in it, but before I can Nightmare herself actually cuts me off. “We shall see the play then. It’s been far too long since I ventured into a theater.” She notices my slightly annoyed look. “What?”

“Nothing, that’s what I was to say as well, but for some reason it annoys me to have someone else speak for me.”

“Ah well the Knight of Love was clearly okay with any of the options and I wanted to see the play. Did you want to be the one to make the decision, bladesinger? Stallions always just say they don’t care where we go and it turns into a whole thing that ends with us mares making a decision. It’s far more efficient to just decide for you, and if you didn’t want to go then we would pick something else.” Why does that sound so familiar and yet so wrong.

“Yeah? Well I got no problem making decisions, for future reference.” With an exaggerated huff out of my nose I turn and start walking towards one of the sitting rooms since we still have plenty of time before the play.

“He’s such a tomfilly isn’t he?” I hear Force quietly whisper to Nightmare behind me.

“What is that? Tomfilly?” Nightmare responds.

“It means I’m a guy acting like a girl. I’m not by the way, I told you Force that your culture is the direct opposite of mine in this way.” I decide to nip this in the bud since they’re talking about me. “Force, are they gunna have food at the theater or should we grab something on the way?”

“Yeah they’ll have food there. As far as actual food goes they might not have much that you can actually eat, but they do have popcorn.”

“Ah that’s fine I haven’t had popcorn in years I’ll devour some fucking popcorn.” As I finish the crude statement we reach a sitting room and head inside.

We all lounge on the furniture and Force starts up the next topic. “So can I get an actual explanation of this whole Nightmare Moon thing?”

“We’re giving her a second chance. Prior to their initial banishment, Nightmare and Luna were both sharing control of Luna's body. As Nightmare grew more into a truly separate entity they started to feed off of each other's negative emotions and spiral into madness. This time the elements actually split the two of them apart and gave Nightmare her own form, but it still banished her back to the moon. Luna and I both think that if Luna deserves a second chance…”

“Then Nightmare deserves one too. Okay, I get it. Why is she a pegasus though? Is that the form the elements gave her?”

“No, that’s the form I gave her. I used some magic shenanigans to create a vessel she could possess to have temporary reprieve from her sentence. We’ll likely need the elements to truly unseal her, but from now until the Gala she’ll be in this form. After that… who knows?”

“If she’s completely unsealed, how is that going to work politically? Will the two of them share the duties as princess of the night?”

Nightmare jumps in to reply here. “No. I have no intention of assuming any power or responsibility for this kingdom. My current plan is to reestablish the stronghold in the Everfree and start my own academy for battlemages. The eventual plan is to completely clear out and tame that cursed forest.”

Force nods. “That’s actually a great idea. With the rising tensions ever since the summit we could use a force of true battlemages, but I guess that’s probably too soon for the academy to play a role in that conflict. Okay I can get behind this.” She turns towards me now. “So, did you like my oath? I think I covered everything while keeping it on the shorter side.”

The sudden pivot in topics makes me chuckle, she's probably really wanted to ask that question since the ceremony, but was too crowded at her knighting ceremony and was too curious about Nightmare up to now. “Yeah it was solid. Definitely much more heroic and noble than mine. I didn’t know we could say yes to that question about Harmony, and you even included Equestria in your oath. Overall it was definitely good.”

“Yeah you’re the first one to say no to the harmony question as far as I could tell from the records. The harmony bit is asked because it’s the only real “requirement” they expect us to include in the oath. Asking makes it easier for us because we can just say yes and then add on to it. Also, what do you mean more heroic? You pledged everything to Luna.”

“That makes sense, but no what I mean is that you included things besides Cadence in your oath. The kingdom and its citizens, you’re much more of what I think a Knight should be. By extension, of course, that means I think you’re more heroic as well.”

“Oh please Ignis you are literally already considered a hero. Both of us are.”

“Yeah in 90% of situations I can be the hero. I can save the people and do the thing, but there is one distinct quality of a hero that I lack that I think you have. Based purely on how you phrased your oath.” Force tilts her head in confusion and even Nightmare seems interested to hear my explanation. “Would you sacrifice Cadence or Celestia, or hell even me if it was the only way to save Equestria? To save the world?”

They both seem to be deep in thought for several minutes before Force finally replies. “I don’t believe in trading lives, but if it was truly the only way? I…. hope I’d have the resolve to make the right decision at that moment. Even if I’d regret it for the rest of my life.”

Nightmare squints at me almost accusingly, “Are you implying you would not make that decision, bladesinger?”

Force replies for me. “Of course not. Just like myself he doesn’t believe in trading lives. The difference is that he’ll kill himself trying to make sure nopony else has to die.”

I hold up my hand. “Absolutely not. In any other scenario I think in the end I would be the same as you Force. If it’s Luna or someone else that’s equally as close to me? I’ll try and save everyone until I run out of options, but if it comes down to it… I’d go out of my way to save the single life over the many.”

Nightmare leans forward with a dead serious look, while Force looks…shocked? “Bladesinger, you would truly doom the world just to save her? That’s what you’re really saying here, yes?”

“That’s what I swore. “I will bare my blade against this entire realm in her name,” were my exact words. In my home world that exact scenario is actually used to differentiate between a hero and a villain. So, by that definition? I’m no hero.” Force is looking at me like I just shot her puppy, so I try to lighten the mood. “But hey what are the odds that ever actually happens? It’ll be fine~ let’s go watch this play!”

Unsurprisingly, the walk to the theater was filled with a bit of uneasy silence.

3rd Person POV

The elf is sitting in between the two mares in a private balcony seat looking down onto the stage. Force is looking somewhat bored as the characters on stage go through their dialogue while Nightmare has her full focus on the stage and seems to be in awe at the performance. Ignis seems somewhat indifferent but is still interested as he chomps on some popcorn.

The play itself is a fairly generic play about a princess being led astray by a dark mage to conspire against her mother, the queen, and claim the throne for herself. It seems Nightmare sees herself as the dark mage the true mastermind behind the operation while Ignis is drawing comparisons to some of the classic plays on earth.

It’s only during the climax of the play when the plot twist is revealed that the elf has a true reaction. The entire lead up to this point was lowering the queen's social standing and ruining her credibility so the princess could exile her. However, it’s revealed that the dark mage was actually planning to slither in at the finale and she kills the queen while possessing the princess. Her true plan was to steal the kingdom while posing as the princess.

Many of the ponies in the crowd are emotional at the princess’s grief and sorrow through her inner monologue as she watches her own body murder the queen. Nightmare is just murmuring about how the plot was foolproof and that even she had not predicted the mage would go this far. The reaction Ignis gives though is much more visceral.

Looking down at the stage he doesn’t see the actors or the audience. All of the noise around him has faded completely. The only thing he sees is that where the prop corpse of the queen is laying is a much more haunting image of Queen Aurora. Her eye sockets are deep black voids with green blood running down her face. All he can hear is the panicked screams and cries for help that she belted out in her final moments.

Both mares notice that his breathing has become more rapid and shallow. Looking over they see a look of despair as he clenches his jaw and fists are balled up so tight that his arms are shaking and his knuckles are bright white. At first they both seem to think it’s just a reaction to the climax of the tragedy on stage and that maybe it reminds of him of something from home.

It’s only when he bares his teeth and his eyes well up that they realize something is truly wrong, but they still think it has something to do with the play. Finally he fails to continue suppressing his mana and it causes the entire theater to fall into silence, even the actors. Nightmare closes her eyes and uses the possession link to perceive the world as he sees it, the same way she did when she was on the moon. Immediately she realizes what’s wrong and starts to quietly speak towards the elf.

“Bladesinger no…. Ignis you are at the Canterlot Theater. You are watching a play, that queen is not truly the one you are perceiving. You need to pull back and focus your breathing…” It’s clear nothing is working so Nightmare recalls what Luna did to calm him in the carriage. Showing clear discomfort she wraps a wing around the elf and pulls him close. “It’s okay Ignis. You did everything you could, but you need to see the true reality around you.”

“What’s happening to him?” Force asks the former demon with a mixture of concern and fear.

“He’s having a nightmare while awake. The situation on stage triggered a memory from the summit.” Nightmare feels the elf release some of the tension in his body as his breathing stabilizes. “Have you returned to reality, bladesinger?”

Instantly suppressing his mana again before speaking he replies. “Yeah. I’m sorry girls but I need to cut this short.” He uses his forearm to wipe his eyes before pulling away from Nightmare and quickly walking out of the theater. The two mares quickly follow him and Force makes a mental note to send a letter of apology to the theater with some compensation for the disruption. Even though it's likely none of them have any idea what caused the sudden pressure to weigh down on every pony in the building.

“Ignis…let me introduce you to my therapist tomorrow morning after breakfast. She’s part of the castles medical staff and-”

“Okay. Yeah fine. For now though can you go put your armor back on, put on your wing blades and meet me in the training area? I feel like I’m about to explode, so let me vent through some spars. Please.”

The knight nods and takes off towards the castle as Nightmare stares at him with a slight look of concern. She’s clearly uncomfortable with these types of situations and conversations but for some reason she still feels obligated to speak up. “Bladesinger, you know you can’t possibly blame yourself for what happened to Queen Aurora. Her usurper was so powerful that not even Celestia and Luna combined could defeat her.”

“Yes Nightmare. I’ve had this exact conversation already. Logically I understand that I never stood a chance against Chrysalis. Logic isn’t what’s hijacking my senses and making me hallucinate her corpse, though. Even then I already reviewed the entire series of events with Luna, if I used a higher level spell slot to heal Aurora initially there’s a decent chance she would’ve at least survived the impact that killed her. If she survived that impact then it’s completely plausible for the royal sisters to have evacuated Aurora and myself out of that hive. Are you joining in on these spars? If you were primarily a battlemage then I doubt you’re familiar with pegasus combat tactics. Also I’m going to feel bad if I completely overwhelm Force, but against you I’ll have no compunctions about going all out.”

“Sure I don’t mind being an emotional punching bag. As long as you don’t hold it against me when I stomp you into the dirt.” Nightmare smirks at the elf.

“Oh you’re so fucking on. I can’t wait to get even for the punishment you handed out to me in the Everfree.”

Author's Note

I am actively trying to make sure I don't rush through the potential interactions and bonding I can establish during the next 4 days in story time leading up to the gala. Mainly because I tend to rush through things if I have a particular scene(s) that I'm really looking forward to writing. We're still probably going to fly through a few days in the next chapter, like the spars at the end of this chapter are 100% gunna be off screen'd inbetween chapters.

I kinda hate writing trauma and traumatic flashbacks because I don't like writing things that i haven't experienced, but I think this trauma is a good catalyst to start uncorking the bottled up grief he still hasn't processed from being displaced to Equestria. Uncorking that lets us get more emotional stability which means Ignis can start actually considering and deciding if he wants to give up on going home.

Thanks for reading!