“I wouldn’t know what Celestia has been teaching her people. I only arrived on this plane yesterday. The only thing I do know is that this “Princess Celestia” is apparently quite adept with magic and is capable of returning me back to my home, and you’ve apparently done something to her. I will say though, there is a small amount of fear in my heart….” I’m not sure if her question was rhetorical or not but my best shot here is to delay her as long as possible with conversation.

Nightmare Moon starts to slowly pace back and forth eyeing me up while she replies, “Surely you’re driven by something more than that? You pelted me with your pathetic magic before I could even introduce myself. How can you be so sure that you’re even on the right side of this conflict?”

That does actually give me pause. Sure I’m very much inclined and motivated to assist Celestia as I currently believe she’s my best shot home, but I have no clue why this creature acted against her. Twilight probably explained some of this, but I was still pretty out of it. Let’s probe her. “My own self interests are truly what drive me, but you’ve spiked my curiosity. What are you trying to accomplish here, and why are you doing it?”

She seems to be thinking about something as she stops pacing and squints her eyes at me, saying nothing for a few seconds before finally replying. “I used to rule this land alongside Celestia, my sister, long ago. We were complete equals in everything, every decision was discussed between us and agreed upon. Over time however, our subjects began to choose favorites. Nobles would begin making comments whenever we were settling disagreements or reaching compromises, attempts to brush off my concerns or devalue my opinions entirely. Mine sister would always scold them and assure me that we were equals, but eventually even she began to make decisions without even informing me. They had swayed her over entirely, likely because she was more willing to make concessions in an attempt to keep herself in a positive light in the public eye. Even the guards and castle staff stopped greeting me and giving me the proper courtesies. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that my sister, privately at least, still loved me and was truly my best friend.”

INSIGHT.
6, +4. 10.

Well that roll doesn’t really help me at all. Shit. Half way through that speech she stopped looking at me entirely and it looked like her eyes had become glassy. My gut says that she isn’t lying, but this doesn’t explain anything. Sure it sounds like she became an outcast due to her stricter style of ruling but that doesn’t explain the whole “1000 years on the moon.” Luckily I do remember that part from Twilight when she was explaining how she tried to warn Celestia. “There has to be more to it. You truly do have my sympathy, but the way things are today are too extreme for that to be the only justification. You mentioned what kept you going, but what happened that led to….. To all of this?”

“Yes, you are correct. Things carried on like that for a while, I began to accept that I would live in my sister's shadow. Honestly, I think I was even a little relieved once I realized how much stress I was accumulating from ruling the kingdom. What happened 1000 years ago though went beyond the kingdom, the nobles, our roles as the day and night, as a sister it was completely unforgivable. Celestia was convinced by the nobles that her precious sun should have a day of celebration. She was so blinded by her own ego when they told her that the first day of summer should be the longest “day” of the year and have it’s own celebration to go with it. They named it the summer solstice and decided that the sun should be up for 14 hours every year on June 20th.”

She looked to be in pain at this point, but there was enough of a pause that I assumed she was done. “I’m confused then, how could this go beyond day and night when it sounds like you were just jealous that your moon didn’t have an appropriate holiday?”

I almost thought she wasn’t going to answer me. Just my question seemed to cause her pain with her eyes squeezed shut. After a few seconds though she opened her eyes and with enough venom in her voice to make me visibly recoil she answered.

“June 20th…. is MY BIRTHDAY!”

Tears were streaming down her face now and her sorrow at the end of that statement carried so much weight I could see the air directly in front of her begin to ripple. Then, I felt it. It felt like my entire body was being vibrated from the inside out. I instantly dropped my rapier to the ground and bent over in pain as I put my hands over my ears. I was given a moment of reprieve and thought it was over but when I opened my eyes I realized time had stopped again.

Constitution Saving Throw.
17, +2. 19.

Status: Dazed. Can’t take reactions.

I’m amazed this didn’t cause me to lose hit points, but that’s a pretty detrimental status. Nightmare Moon continues her rant.

“Imagine waking up on your birthday and excitedly cantering about your domicile while you overhear everypony around you talk about how excited they are for the upcoming celebration. You start to finally gain a little hope that maybe you’ve actually garnered some favor from the ponies around you. Then an hour after your birthday party has begun you are still ALONE. You wander out into the courtyard only to discover that your only friend, your sister, has decided to completely erase your birth from existence to make it all about HER and her PRECIOUS SUN! That is why I’ll make sure her and her damned ponies never get to see it again!"

This time Nightmare’s outburst is accompanied by more than just explosive soundwaves. There’s an actual wave of raw magic that explodes out from around her cracking the ground and the constellation behind her. Loose bricks and debris on the floor begin scattering and shooting off in every direction when I spot a brick and some rocks coming directly at me. There’s not enough time to dodge so I flick my hand and think SHIELD, but nothing happens. Shield shield shield SHIELD! I remember I’m dazed and instantly make an X with my arms in front of my face and hunch over to reduce my surface area while I tense up and brace for impact.

-3. -1. -2. 10/21 Hit Points.

Intense pain flares up in my left shin, hip, and gut. My left leg falls to its knee and I start gasping as I realize I forgot to breathe. I move my arms out of my face and grab my rapier off the ground as I begin to collect myself. Nightmare Moon is screaming in pure rage and grief as I quickly throw my backpack off and onto the ground. I reach in, quickly grab my last potion of healing and down it.

1. 4. +2. 20/21 Hit Points.

Guess that evens out my double ones earlier. Already the pain in my leg and gut have nearly vanished completely and I look back to Nightmare Moon only to see her horn glowing brightly as she stares me down.

“Wait wait wait Nightmare, I’m so sorry that happened to you. I know what it’s like to spend a birthday alone, and to add onto that with the complete betrayal you suffered I can’t even imagine that pain. But, you can’t doom this entire hemisphere to an eternal night because of them. If this was really 1000 years ago all of those ponies except your sister are surely dead by now! There are too many innocents that will suffer because of this, you can’t do it!”

3, +1 Persuasion. 4.

Shit.

“Silence.” Is all she says with the most pure authority I’ve ever heard in a creature's voice before I finally see the dreaded phrase appear before me. The phrase I had been trying to stall and avoid for as long as possible.

Roll For Initiative.

9, +4. 13.

As soon as the dice fades away from my view, so does my status condition. I’m no longer dazed, thankfully.

Not a moment too soon either! She starts off by igniting her horn and blasting a channeled beam of pure night straight at me. I decide I’m not even going to chance dodging that, Shield! The beam scatters around me and for a moment I think the shield isn’t going to withstand it but finally the magic fades.
I reach into a pouch tied to my belt, toss a pepper into my mouth and put my hand against my chest as I speak magic into the air, “Draco. Spiritus. IGNIS.” I start sprinting straight at her as I ready my blade acting as if I mean to strike at her. She lowers her head and readies herself, but it’s a feint as I suddenly dart to the right. I’m directly beside her and before she can turn herself to face me I take in a loud, deep breath. I feel my chest heat up and as the heat rises into my neck I release the mightiest roar I can muster as I spew a fiery dragons breath straight at the side of Nightmares body.

1. 4. 3. 13 Fire Damage.

Nightmare unfortunately reacts just in time, with one mighty flex of her wings she takes to the air as the fire scathes her legs.

Saved. 6 Fire Damage.

She lands back on the ground as I try to back peddle away from her, but I’m suddenly forced to a stop. Welp, guess that’s my 30 feet of movement. I really need to think these things through more. If I can survive this turn I’ll still have 9 more turns of Dragon’s Breath, 1 more 2nd level spell slot and 2 more 1st level slots. It’s time to pull out all the stops. I have no clue how this will work, but then again I have no idea how I’ve casted any of my spells so far so I’m sure it’ll work out.

Nightmare turns in my direction, now face to face. I can see the fury and pain in her eyes until she suddenly does a complete 180 and faces away from me completely. I’m confused for a second before it clicks. She might be a magical god horse, but she's still a horse, shit she’s going t-. Before I can finish the thought it feels like a car just fell on my chest as one of her back hooves hits me square in my center of mass.

Strength Saving Throw.

1, +1. 2. Fail.

The next thing I know I’m bouncing across the cracked floor of the castle ruins before sliding to a stop against a half wall. I’m trying to breathe, inhale exhale, I don’t care which but nothing is happening, the air’s been knocked out of me.

-17. 3/21 Hit Points.

Concentration Check. DC 10.

15, +2. 17. Maintains Concentration.

I can finally draw breath as I lift my face off the ground and cough up blood onto the stone. I stick my rapier into the ground to act as leverage to pull myself up. My ribs are almost certainly fractured, it hurts just to breathe. My right ankle sends a sharp pain up my leg as I stand up and put weight on it, must’ve twisted it when I was doing my best soccer ball impression.

I’m out of movement due to previously being prone, but I need the AC Bonus so I’m going to try a Bladesong anyways. I’ll just use my action on a magic missile or something as I’m too far for another Dragon's Breath.

“By arcane might, stars alight, Magic Missiles, take flight!” I hold up my left hand with 2 fingers extended and draw a line in front of me as I recite the incantation and 3 red orbs appear in the path my fingers traced. I finish the incantation and all 3 burst forward twisting and speeding through the air in different paths.

Nightmare Moon seems startled at first, I can only assume it’s because the magic is completely foreign to her. She quickly recovers and ignites her horn as she begins trying to follow the 3 separate bolts of force currently speeding at her from every direction. I wonder what she’s going to do, but I don’t get to find out as she’s too slow to react and the bolts slam into her on both sides of her barrel.

1. 2. 2. 7, +3. 10 Force Damage.

“Gah, your magic might be sophisticated but it lacks power!” She shouts at me as the dust settles around her she whips her head around to look at me, but when she faces me this time I get to see a face of pure shock as I channel a Bladesong.

"In the dance of steel, in melody's embrace,
Bladesong rises, weaving grace.
With steps as swift as morning's sigh,
Blade and magic, as one, they fly.

Echoes of war, whispers of old,
Power untamed, a tale untold.
Bladesinger's art, in shadows wade,
In the rhythm of battle, a serenade."

In my mind I can clearly understand what the incantation is supposed to be, but the words being spoken out loud might as well be complete gibberish to me. It sounds like I’m saying the incantation but all of the words are coming out at once at the same time on top of each other, the entire channel is condensed into one line. As I speak the incantation I hold the rapier with my right hand in front of me perfectly straight, aligned with my chest, I slowly turn my wrist and bring my right hand to my left shoulder as I dip into a formal bow. With the final words spoken I lift out of the bow put my left hand behind my back, whip my right arm to the right before bringing it back to my center and point the tip of the rapier at Nightmare Moon, who’s 20ft away.

The effect is immediate, I feel light as air and every now and then I can see little streaks of blue and white light coming out of the ground around my feet and wisping around my body as they rise up. I assume it’s mana. As the mana passes by my ears I can hear it, chords on a piano and notes from a violin are being carried through the air by these mana particles.

+5, 21 AC.

Nightmare’s reaction actually surprises me, for the first time I get to see a look of panic on her face as she stammers out, “That art was extinguished long before we ended Chaos’ Reign! What trickery is this?! I refuse to believe that is-”

“A Bladesong! Is that really a bladesong?!” Both mine and Nightmares heads whip towards the door as we hear a new voice enter the ruins. I’m more elated than I thought I’d be when my eyes focus and I realize who it is. It’s Twilight Sparkle, they made it!

“Girls! There’s no time, those orbs are what I assume are the magical artifacts you mentioned. I can only buy you a minute at most, but probably less.” I shout towards them, but when I see Rainbows face turn into a look of fear and shock, she looks like she’s about to say something, but her voice isn’t what I hear.

I turn and realize Nightmare is flying straight at me, less than 5ft away with her horn ablaze, and all she says is.

“Less.”

Author's Note

Idk why but I really like ending my chapters on cool one liners. Atleast I hope other people think they're cool.

I'm not gunna lie though, I really thought that Buck from NMM would knock our poor boy ignis out before he could show off the bladesong, but the 6d6 really did roll a 17.

We'll finish off episode 2 next chapter, and what I have planned might upset some people on the D&D side of things. I don't wanna completely spoil it, but just warning that next chapter is going to have some homebrew in it. It's my completely original homebrew made purely for the story, but I know alot of people don't like homebrew.

I mean I don't really like homebrew tbh, but that's when I'm PLAYING D&D. I think it just makes too much sense and fits way too well here for me to not use it. Sorry not sorry.

Anyways, thanks for reading!