“Sorry we didn’t get to see the end of the play. I’m curious how it ends, so maybe we can try watching it again this week at some point?” I idly comment to Nightmare while we wait on Force to come back with her armor and wing blades. I realized Nightmare only has the stat block of a standard CR2 Pegasus and really wouldn’t stand a chance in a spar so she’s just waiting here with me.

“That was apparently the end of the play. I’m surprised they have plays in this era that don’t have a happy ending. Specifically something like that, it’s actually quite a dark conclusion. How did it compare with stories from your world?”

“It was alright. I saw the twist coming from a mile away, but didn’t expect the story would actually have a Bad Ending. In terms of how dark it was? Eh, it wasn’t that dark. Haven’t you seen the stories from my world? I remember calling you out on copying something from an anime I watched.”

“And I told you then that I can’t see your memories. I wasn’t lying. I only saw it because it appeared in your subconscious while you were doing your false sleep. I think you called it a trance?” That makes sense. I think I actually remember that specific set of memories from my trance a while back.

“Ah well in that case I mean we got Julius Caesar, that one’s pretty brutal, guy was a dictator and got betrayed by his senate. They stabbed him 23 times, I think?” Force lands while I’m talking and chimes in.

“That seems excessive. Who are we talking about? That didn’t happen in Equestria right?” The battle ready pegasus asks.

“Julius Caesar. No, it's a story from my homeland. That one is only particularly dark because it actually happened. Now, Odysseus? That one is a brutal story. Way too long to summarize right now though.”

“Perhaps just a small example then?” Moonie asks inquisitively.

“Sure. Odysseus led his soldiers to the enemy's capital and after seeing how slow the progress of their traditional siege would be he devised a plan. They crafted a large wooden horse that was hollow on the inside and hid Odysseus and a decent number of soldiers inside the wooden statue. The enemy awoke the next morning and was confused by the giant statue in front of their walls, but celebrated that the siege was nowhere to be seen and accepted the statue as a gift. Then once the city fell asleep the following night the soldiers climbed out of the statue and started slaughtering the city from the inside.”

Pausing to take a breath before I continue, I’m surprised they both look so interested. “Eventually the city fell and Odysseus was successful, but then he was visited by a God and was given a prophecy. He was told he must kill the son of the Prince, an infant named Astyanax or the baby would grow up and bring ruin to Odysseus’ homeland. Even as far as killing his wife and child.”

It’s here where Force interrupts me. “Surely he doesn’t actually kill a foal, right? Why can’t he just adopt the child and hide his origins from him and nurture him to be a kind stallion?”

“That’s not how prophecies work I’m afraid. Odysseus was told “if this child lives everything you love will die.” So, he took the infant and dropped it from the tall walls that surrounded the city.” Force looks disturbed but Nightmare just seems surprised.

“That’s insane! You don’t even sound like you’re phased by it. Surely you don’t agree with what he did?” Force seems like she has completely forgotten what we talked about before the play. Either that or she just isn’t drawing the connection between what I said and what Odysseus did. Moonie seems to understand because she’s looking at the pegasus with a confused gaze.

I just unclip my scabbard and get into my standard fighting stance. Probably safer if I just keep my sword in the scabbard and use the thing like a bludgeon. “He’s just someone willing to do whatever it takes to see his family again and keep them safe. How can I not respect that?”

Enable real time combat.

The realization finally settles in for her and she remembers our conversation from earlier. She looks a bit conflicted before taking off into the sky. This is going to be the first bladesong I’ve done since I leveled up and saw that strange text. “Your understanding of the true bladesong deepens.” It’s definitely no coincidence that the text appeared the same level I unlocked Song of Defense, so the two are likely related. I’ve been itching to see if there’s any difference to the technique now.

“Bladesong.”

“Woah guys, look, the knights are sparring! Go get everypony! This will be a good learning experience for us.” Looks like we’re getting an audience.

Immediately I can tell there’s a visual difference. Instead of motes of light swirling around me there’s just thin translucent silver extending out from my body like a full body suit of gel or something. I feel more…reinforced. This definitely seems like something that’s only happening because I’m in Equestria. My speed has gone up by more than the standard 10ft, it went up by 20ft this time. Does that mean I’ll get the full True Bladesong at level 17? Oh shit Force is dive bombing me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-wQQwMLK7Q
https://youtu.be/XcaJTJ_viN8?t=13 (These are same song but different animatic’s, take your pick)

The first few notes play and I instantly recognize this one, very fitting for what we just talked about. Once Force is just a couple of feet away from slamming into me I jump and roll to the left. As soon as I’m done rolling I put my head on a swivel to see where the pegasus went after she missed me. She’s flying away from likely to gain more distance to circle back and make another dive at me. All I can do from this distance is firebolt.

“I look into your eyes and I think back to the son~ of mine.”

With my action and bonus action I fire off two firebolts; the first one flashes in a small explosion as it lands right on her armor. She instantly banks left to dodge the follow up shot. Right as she starts flying back towards me something strange happens. An image flashes of a baby in a crib looking up at a man. It’s not distracting in any way, but it does surprise me a bit. It’s like a stream of information into the back of my brain that’s giving me a visual representation of the song. It’s hard to explain but it’s being fed in a way that doesn’t impact my ability to fight at all. It seems like Nightmare and Force are experiencing it as well judging from the flash of confusion.

“You’re as old as he was when I left for war.”

This time Force curls up her wings a bit mid flight and I remember this is what she did right before that rotating barrel roll continuous slash against the hydra. I hold my sword out vertically and prepare to take the slash head on, hoping I can direct her momentum in a different direction. At first it works and sparks fly as her wing blades scrape against my steel scabbard, and I successfully make her pivot to the right and spin away from me.

Somehow though she defies the laws of physics I’m familiar with and instantly turns back towards me. I have no time to react and my eyes widen as the blades start to slash into my back. I use my Song of Defense reaction and dump a 3rd level spell slot to reduce the incoming damage by 15. The silver aura where she struck glows bright and becomes completely opaque before expanding and rippling outwards. It’s dispersing the force of the blow all over the aura so it can’t reach me, I get it now. Thankfully whatever she did was less than 15 damage because I didn't take any after the dispersion.

“Will these actions haunt my days? Every man I’ve slain, is the price I pay endless pain?”

I’m expecting to see a flash of the slaughter in Troy but instead it’s flashes of me cutting down changelings in the colosseum. Nightmare looks on indifferently as she likely has seen this before, but when I pivot on my feet to take a swing at Force before she gets out of melee range I see a look of sadness on her face. Ignoring that for now I swing down hard with the sheathed Moonblade and loud clang rings out as it comes down on her back. Purple sparks crackle all over the armor as well and she flinches. Seems she forgot about booming blades 2nd effect though as she keeps flying and not even 1 second later the sparks return and with a clap of thunder her wings seize and she falls into the dirt. She looks a bit frustrated but overall seems fine and takes off once more.

“Close your eyes and spare yourself the view. How could I hurt you?”

The flashes are back to Odysseus now as I see him covering the childs eyes while holding a dagger over it. He reluctantly pulls away as the question in the lyrics ring out. The guards start to murmur and point at Force as she angles her wings in a strange direction and flies towards me. I haven’t seen this move before.

“I’m just a man who’s trying to go home~”

I see now why the wonderbolts gave her an officer recommendation with a specialization in maneuvers. She’s somehow instantly turning over 90 degrees and constantly barraging me with slashes. Luckily I casted shield so a bulk of them are being deflected but my HP is still chipping down slowly.

“Even after all the years away from what I’ve known!”

After a couple of seconds of this constant barrage I notice she’s only going 3 or 4ft away from me every time before turning back to keep up the attack. Making use of this as soon as she zips hits me I can tell she’s going to go to my right so I cast Misty Step and land 5ft to the right. It works completely and I can see the shock on her face as I throw out a punch with my left hand that she flies directly into. I channel a 1st level smite just to give it some oomph as she gets sent flying into the ground.

“I’m just a man who’s fighting for his life! Deep down I would trade the world to see my son and wife.”

She gets up with a nasty bruise but she’s actually smiling. “I got one last attack in me. Let’s see how you can stop this one.” The smile on Force's face turns into a smirk as she flies into the air for what is apparently going to be the last time.

“I’m just a man.”

She turns around and hovers about 150ft away from me and I notice her eyes flash red. Wait she’s going to use her fucking special talent on me?! I can just teleport at the last second and dodge….. No, fuck that! Surely people have dodged this attack before, but she’s supposed to be UNSTOPPABLE.

“But when, does a comet become a meteor?”

She’s about 1.5 seconds away from turning me into paste on the ground and all of the guards are shouting for her to stop or for me to move. That signature bright red aura forms in front of her. My own silver aura expands outwards and glows brightly as I hold out my left palm towards her and clench the open hand into a fist. “Hold Monster.”

“When does a candle become a blaze?”

For a brief instant the glowing red arrow pauses in mid air, but a horrendous sound booms out that sounds like something is being ripped. And that brief instant was all I had, she’s exploding towards me, glowing even brighter now. In a panic I channel the Mizzium and try to cast another spell.

“When does a man become a monster?”

“Wall of Force!” The Mizzium obviously doesn’t respond because I don’t have the damn thing. I came straight here from the theater, and even if I had it I just casted a spell. Two images flash through my head, Odysseus holding a bundled child in the air over the burning city of Troy, and myself in the changeling throne room surrounded by fire, covered in blood, and screaming as I charge the Queen. Force is 10ft away now.

“When does a ripple become a tidal wave? When does the reason become the blame?”

In a final panicked act of desperation I dump mana in her direction and try to use the Equestrian telekinesis to hold her in place. Nightmare yells, “Ignis, DON’T-” but it’s too late. The mana surrounds the pegasus and instantly it feels like thousands of knives are stabbing into my head as the strain of trying to hold her is far too heavy.

“When does a man become a monster~”

Blood pours out of both nostrils and I drop down onto my hands and knees. Luckily me dropping down combined with Force slightly angling up at the last second is enough for her to soar over me, missing entirely. My bladesong ends as I fully collapse onto my stomach, and I roll over onto my back. Picking my head up I look where Force landed and am impressed to see it looks like a meteor skidded several feet sideways before stopping. Standing there completely unharmed aside from the bruise I gave her is the Knight of Love running towards me with concern plastered on her face.

HP: 27/82.

The first voice I hear is Moonie’s though, directly beside me. “Who in their right mind would try to stop that with telekinesis?! It’s our fault for not warning you about the dangers of the spell.”

“What uh…. What happened?” I replied to her.

“Your muscles can rip and tear if you try to push or pull something that weighs far too much, yes?” I nod. “Telekinesis works in the same way but with a mental strain. You basically just tried to move the sun and moon with your arms, at the same time.”

“Well when you put it like that I guess that was a pretty dumb move, huh?”

“No, like I said it's both mine and Luna's fault for not properly warning you. Does anything feel off? Do you have any symptoms other than head pain?”

“Head pain is the understatement of the century, but no it’s just the….f-fuck, just the pain.”

“If it’s any consolation you did stop me, twice in fact. It was only for a fraction of a second both times but that’s more than any opponent I’ve fought before. But, you were supposed to dodge! Why in the world would you try to take that attack head on?!” Seems like Force has gone through a whirlwind of emotions before finally landing on the “scold” option.

“I just thought “why would I dodge when I came here to fight?” After that I was determined to do the impossible, and by the way I have 1 more spell I need to test and I think it might actually stop you.”

“Respectable. Also, I’m….. I’m sorry, I think I understand you a bit more now. That bladesong was so strange, it’s like it was feeding memories to me to show me a story. I was able to feel how that stallion felt when he was staring at the foal. OH, and what was that thing you did when I did my rotating slash into your back? I’ve never seen mana absorb an impact and disperse it like that!” It’s honestly so adorable how she just instantly drops all of her negative emotions to pivot into something that she’s curious about.

“That bladesong was the closest you’ve come to the bladesingers of the past. It’s still lacking in terms of offensive capabilities, but that defense was surprisingly similar. The part about the memories is where I’m most surprised. I experienced the same thing the Knight described, and if I recall correctly it was mentioned that bladesingers would do that to try and show their opponents the error of their ways.” Oh, so it’s a talk no jutsu.

“Well I had no control over it so I hope it doesn’t happen every bladesong. If I end up revealing some embarrassing memory because I was fighting for life I might just lay down the sword and end it all right then and there. I think it happened this time though because Force disagreed with me on my core fundamental values. It tried to help give her some perspective. Anyways, watch out, let me heal us up.”

Cure Wounds at 4th level.

+36 HP: 63/82

Cure Wounds at 2nd level.

+25 HP: 82/82

Cure Wounds at 5th level on Force.

In the span of a few seconds all the ruffles, scrapes, scruffs, and bruises are cleared away and the pegasus gives a few rapid blinks of surprise. “That’s the best healing magic I’ve ever felt. I think you’ve used it on me before but for minor scratches. I think I get why you’re so idiotically reckless now. I’d probably be the same way if I had magic that could just fix me up good as new in a few seconds. How’s your head?”

“Still feels like the worst hangover I’ve ever had in my entire life times 100.” After a few seconds of silence the audience around us seems to disperse murmuring about the different moves they saw. “So if we don’t tell Luna ourselves… how long do you think it’ll take her to catch wind of this?”

“Around 2 minutes if my math is correct.” Oh no. Who woke Luna up?! I think the confusion must’ve been obvious from my face because she answers my unspoken question. “Your surge of mana shook me from my slumber.” She spots the dried blood on my face and frowns. “What happened here?” She then turns and glares at Nightmare, oh she thinks Moonie did it.

Force actually steps in to defend Nightmare which surprises me. “No, Your Majesty. I was sparring with Ignis and I think we just got a little carried away.”

“That doesn’t explain the mana surge or the apparent nosebleed.” Bro why isn’t she this commanding and stern more often.

“The Knight of Love used her special talent and Ignis tried to stop her with telekinesis. The damage was near instantaneous, it was apparently an immense strain for him.” Nightmare explains for us.

Luna frowns again, “Ah. I did neglect to mention the upper limits of telekinesis and the damage it can do if you try to surpass it. You are still correct though Force attacks like that are way too far for a friendly spar. Also, why haven’t you gone to sleep yet Ignis? When I didn’t see your dreamscape appear I assumed you were in a trance, but I did not expect you to still be awake.”

“Well, Nightmare wasn’t tired and I couldn’t just let her wander around the castle without an escort or your sister would probably have a stroke. Making her stay in my room while I slept also seemed a bit cruel for someone who just got out of prison. I figured I’d just sacrifice some rest for today and work through tonight and then sleep tomorrow morning, so she could make the most of her time while she has the freedom.” I explain while standing up.

“As commendable as that is, I'm ordering you to rest. If she is unable to rest at the moment I can solve that with one simple spell.” Turning to Force she continues commanding. “Force you are dismissed. If you would normally still be with Cadence at this time then you are to return to her, if not you are released for the day. Ignis, follow me, I’m going to verify with my own eyes that you are actually resting.”

Force looks at me with an expression that screams, “Good luck with that dude, you are in trouble.” before flying off towards the castle. While we’re walking back to the castle I decide to actually ask Luna what’s going on with her personality right now. “Luna, just curious if there’s any specific reason you’re so commanding right now?”

“I hate being woken up early. I wish to return to bed as quickly as possible. In fact,” She ignites her horn and after a flash of light Luna, Nightmare, and I are teleported into Luna’s bedroom. “I should’ve just done this to begin with. Now, rest.”

I start making my way towards her door so I can go to my room next door when I feel a tug on my cloak. A second passes and the tug turns into a full on telekinesis field that floats me back over to Lunas bed. “I said I’m going to verify with my own eyes that you are resting, and I did not say to go anywhere. Rest.”

“Yes ma’am!” I offer up a salute while floating in the air and she proceeds to drop me onto the bed. After that she climbs up and lays down to my left.

I awkwardly stare at Nightmare who is just standing at the foot of the bed looking on with a surprised face. Luna speaks up again. “Nightmare you are sleeping as well. Can you fall asleep naturally or do you need a spell?”

“As much as it hurts my pride to admit…I do require your assistance.” With a flap of her wings Nightmare in her average pony sized pegasus form lays down to my right. What the fuck is happening right now?

Luna zaps Moonies forehead and the pegasus instantly collapses and starts breathing slowly and rhythmically. As soon as she does that Luna rolls onto her side and pulls me close with her forelegs. Before I can even question the absurdity of this situation Luna follows in Nightmares steps and instantly falls asleep. It’s funny that she can go for a few days without sleep and be perfectly normal but if you interrupt her sleep she becomes a boss bitch.

I decide to risk getting assaulted with the nightmares again and elect to sleep instead of trance. With that our eventful Monday is drawn to a close with only 3 days remaining until the Gala. We should rename Monday to Moonday since Celly has Sunday…no, maybe that's dumb.

Author's Note

WOAH WE PASSED 200K WORDS! Alright forreal this time, the pacing for the next 3 days in world is going to be faster paced <.<

I've had a small checklist of things I wanted to make sure happen before the Gala that I was slowly working through and all we really have left is seeing the therapist. So next chapter will either be 90% focused on the therapist visit or I'll determine that I have no fucking clue how to write a therapy session and we'll skim through the next 3 days and end the chapter with the start of the Gala.

Also I had no real reason for the spar this chapter. To be honest I was going to skip over it but then I realized there's very likely no more combat for the rest of season 1 and I wanted to show off the new bladesong features. Probably didn't need to have them go so far, and I almost chose to have the telekinesis actually stop Force but after a flashback to when he first started learning telekinesis and getting warned about how could accidentally over exert force on an object, I was going to have Force be the one that gets seriously injured. It technically lines up better with the final "When does a man become a monster?" Because I could've had Force actually be somewhat scared of Ignis for a few chapters thus making him the monster, or I could just have him feel super guilty and view himself as a monster.

Ended up not doing that cause number 1, I don't want Unstoppable Force to be stopped by mere telekinesis. Secondly, if she became afraid of Ignis I don't think I have enough time in world to solve that problem before the Gala and it would need to be resolved before the Gala, so ended up just being a no-go. Let me know if that would've been a good path to take instead of what I ended up going with, I'm curious how everyone would've liked that.

Also the harem is growing.

As always, thanks for reading!