“What is the most reliable way to transport my companions and I back and forth between Equestria and either of my home dimensions?” I decide after a lot of hesitation that this is the question I want answered.

Are you SURE that is the question you’d like answered?

Bro seriously? I just fought with myself for what felt like hours just for you to hit me with the classic DM phrase “Are you SURE?” Fuck me that’s rough. Okay wait let’s add more onto the question.

“What is the most reliable way to transport my companions and I back and forth between Equestria and either of the original dimensions associated with Lucas and Ignis, and if it’s not possible then why?”

Calculating Response…100%

There is no method available to you or your companions to take any of you to Earth or the Forgotten Realms as you know them. The reason why is simple, it’s because [RESTRICTED]. Oh dear, it would seem I cannot answer that part of the question directly. I will say that you have already experienced something that should lead you to the answer. I apologize for the lack of a solid answer but that is the best I can do.

Time resumes and after a bright flash of light I’m now holding a Staff of the Magi in my left hand. Glancing at my character sheet I can see that it’s already attuned, and true to the quest reward screen it’s not counting as one of the three items I can attune to. That’s good because I’m already at the maximum of three, so I would’ve had to have unattuned to the Illusionists’ Bracers.

That’s not the only visible change that happened either. Luna suddenly screwed her eyes shut and groaned in discomfort until her eyes reopened shining bright. As soon as that happened I could feel her mana swelling and suddenly she grew two or three inches. Before she was about the size of Fleur, just a bit bigger than a normal pony. Now she’s just a bit shorter than Celestia.

The best comparison I have is that before the tip of her horn came up to my chin, but now it reaches to the middle of my nose. Celly’s horn is just about as tall as I am, if not a smidge taller. On one hand she’s closer to true dommy mommy status, but on the other hand if she gets to the same size as Celestia I might become a bit…insecure. Ah it’s probably fine.

“Wha-” Luna starts to speak but seems to become a bit disorientated. “What just happened? Why are you shorter? What in the world is that staff? It’s radiating and immense amount of power.”

“Well first things first, I didn’t get shorter. You got taller. I had a quest to recruit more followers and worshippers for you and I managed to get over double what it wanted from me. Once I claimed the rewards it said your divinity was increased, and I guess that has a direct correlation to your size and mana pool. It also deepened our connection and gave me more power as your Chosen. Lastly, this is a legendary artifact called the Staff of the Magi. It enables me to cast several new spells. Some of them I can already cast but this allows me to cast them at a higher level than what I’m currently capable of, and some of them I can cast at will for free. Others consume charges from the staff, but I can replenish those charges by absorbing spells.”

“I’m sure I’ve said this before, but your strange power is…unbelievable sometimes. I think I’m starting to understand how you exist outside of Harmony’s purview. Did anything else happen? If not I’d be delighted for a demonstration on some of those things you just detailed.”

I awkwardly rub the back of my head and chuckle. “Yeah there’s one more thing, but uhm, you should probably raise the moon? Celestia is staring at us.”

Luna snaps her neck towards her sister and gives her sheepish look while making some adorable squee noise. One embarrassed raising of the moon later, and we’re back to our conversation. Once I tell Luna about the one free question she looks quite shocked.

“I’m so sorry, Ignis. At least this should give you some closure?” She tries to be optimistic, but surprisingly enough this new development hasn’t actually soured my mood at all. There are two very peculiar phrases the system used, and they’ve got my brain kicked into overdrive. “Shall we head to the training grounds? I’m excited to see your new abilities and maybe do a few test runs of my own.”

“What? No. We gotta go to the dining hall, Luna. You know Fridays are the only days where everyone’s schedule aligns and we can all meet up. Your sister would be pretty disappointed if you skipped out and Force would probably kill one of us. Honestly it’s been really hard to spend time with her ever since the Night Guard went fully operational.”

“You’re right. I was a bit short sighted in my excitement. I suppose we have plenty of time after dinner since you’re not going to the Everfree for several hours.”

3rd Person POV

What was once a common occurrence for a week or two has become a rare sight in recent times. Three alicorns, two knights, and a former villain are all sitting together in the same place, chattering away loudly.

Seems like only yesterday I was eating in this room alone, in silence. Occasionally joined by Raven, Twilight, or Cadence. For all the chaos that elf has brought, it’s all worth it just for moments like this. Celestia thinks to herself as she silently watches the small gathering of friends argue over some inane topic.

“Sister, is everything alright? You’ve been awfully quiet tonight.” Luna snaps her sister out of her stupor with a tinge of concern.

“Oh everything is more than alright, Lulu. I was just thinking about the fact that most of my time in this room was usually alone for the better part of a millennium. Now…I rarely spend a meal here alone. Not to mention the state of the room on nights like this, I would’ve never even imagined this dining hall could be so noisy.” The solar alicorn's eyes actually seem to be a bit glassy as she finishes thinking aloud. The noisy room she mentioned slowly got quieter as she spoke until becoming dead silent as she finished speaking.

Luna's face is one of regret while the others are softly smiling from the happiness they feel in Celestia’s reminiscing. Nightmare's face is neutral as she stares at Luna and thinks to herself, That 1,000 years almost seems like a blur looking back on it now, but for her, living and ruling down here. It must’ve been painful. Now I have to see dear Luna look on with regret and guilt and pain, but it wasn’t her fault. It was mine.

Ignis with his passive Insight being 20 is able to quickly pick up the somber mood two of his herd mates are sharing. He reaches over and gently scratches the top of his Goddess’ head. He looks across the table at Nightmare while giving Luna his affection so that he knows he has both of their attention. “I’m sure the thoughts both of you are thinking have not entered her mind once tonight. Celestia is just elated that she can have moments like this again, happy to see everyone in high spirits.”

Celestia just gives a small nod. “Exactly right, Ignis. We all have regrets and things we wish we could do over, but I’m just happy with how things are right now.”

Luna and her sister start to dive into their own conversation as the elf notices a certain knight across the table is staring him down. Ignis realizes his mistake and gets up to make the long walk around the table. Once he sits down next to the pegasus he gives her a small peck and wraps his arm around the back of her neck, resting his palm against her head. The bladesinger starts to slowly rub her head as he apologizes. “I’m sorry, Force. I know we’ve only been able to see each other a couple of times in the last month, so I should’ve sat here to begin with.”

The knight sticks her nose up with a loud hmph, “Well, as long as you know then I suppose I can overlook it this time.” After a few seconds she drops the act with a giggle. “I really have missed you lately.”

“I know, it’s the same for me. You wanna come to the Everfree with Nightmare and I in the morning? It’ll be really early for you, but I figured I’d at least offer.”

“What would we be doing there?” She hums in thought as she considers the offer.

“We’re investigating an ominous energy I felt last time I was there. We might actually get caught up in some danger.”

“That does sound tempting… How early are we talking here?”

“Well we planned to arrive and start the exploration at 0530, so we’d probably need to leave here at 0430.”

“Aaaand that’s all I needed to hear. As much as I miss you I don’t even think an invasion could get me out of bed that early. I do feel a bit bad though…”

“How about this? Pick two days out of the week that you want to use to schedule a get together, and I’ll make it work. My own schedule be damned! That’s still less often than I see Luna and Nightmare, but I think that’s probably about as thin as I can spread myself.”

“Tuesdays and Thursdays!” She says without even thinking about it. “I always find myself bored on those days. If we could do something late afternoon or early evening that’d be great, but really whatever time you can find I’ll take.”

“Let me talk to Elytra and Nightmare and see if I can get a time nailed down that’ll be consistent every week, but I’m pretty sure I can make that work. Oh, I’ll be right back actually. I just remembered I had something I needed to ask Nightmare about our trip tomorrow.”

Standing up and walking past Force and Cadence the elf silently approaches the former villain, current summoned companion. He leans down and places his head right next to hers and taps her on the left side of her neck, hoping she’ll turn her head straight into his.

The plan is a rousing success as she jerks her head to the side in surprise and as soon as her turning comes to a stop Ignis instantly hands out his third kiss of the night. “Sup Moonie?”

She pulls away from the peck and rolls her eyes with a smile at his shenanigans. “What is it?”

“What? I can’t just come and give you my affections for no reason?” She just gives him a deadpan stare. “Oh fine, be that way. Celestia mentioned that her student was asking to explore the ruins of the old castle a while back, but she didn’t allow it because of the dangers of the forest. When I told her we’d be going there in the morning she asked if we could bring Twilight along with us. I don’t personally mind, she seems competent enough from the few interactions I’ve had with her. I still wanted to ask you first though, what do you think?”

“Did you tell Celestia the dangers you faced in the lower interior of that place last time?” The elf gives her a short nod and she hums for a second before replying. “I suppose it should be fine. If she slows us down too much though I’m sending her back.”

“Works for me!” Ignis stands up straight and looks over at Celly, waving his hand to grab her attention. “Did Twilight reply to your letter?”

“She did. Twilight said she’d be ready and waiting outside the library at 0500. I take it that means you’ll be bringing her along then?”

“Yeah I’m fine with it and Moonie is fine with it. If she slows us down too much or if things get a little too dangerous we’ll send her back though.”

As he finishes his statement a few of the castle staff emerge from the kitchen and wheel in the carts carrying their dinner. Ignis returns to the table and takes a seat next to Force so they can enjoy their meal together, and once that’s finished they talk for a while longer and all three of the faithful mares accompany the bladesinger to the training grounds. Apparently Nightmare and Force also wanted a demonstration of his new staff and powers.

Ignis 1st Person POV

“Is that it? It sounded way more impressive when the two of you were talking about it, but that’s just a fancy stick.” Force is skeptical once I grab the staff from my back and hold it in my left hand. It seems like she was under the impression the new, long piece of wood on my back was not in fact the magical staff we were talking about.

“Eh you just aren’t that sensitive to mana. Even Celestia gave it a wary look when I walked in. In fact I’m surprised she didn’t even ask me about it. She really does seem to trust me more nowadays. Nightmare can you please just tell me what you said to her?”

“I just gave her perspective.”

That’s more of an answer than I’ve gotten the last nine times I’ve asked, so I’ll take it. After a few short minutes of casting my new spells I’ve showed them Light, Detect Magic, Enlarge/Reduce, Flaming Sphere, Web, Dispel Magic, Ice Storm, Wall of Fire, Passwall, and Telekinesis. It’s worth noting that there’s a few more spells the staff gives me access to, but I couldn’t demonstrate them for one reason or another.

Mage Hand and Invisibility I didn’t show off because I could already cast those and they’ve seen me cast those. The staff just lets me do them more conveniently now. Protection from Evil and Good because I was worried it’d sever the connection I have with Nightmare and send her back to the moon. Arcane Lock and Knock I didn’t cast because there was nothing nearby for me to use as a demonstration. Finally there’s Conjure Elemental, not to be confused with Conjure Minor Elementals. I didn’t show off Conjure Elemental because I’m not even sure what I’ll actually summon considering I don’t think the spell would be able to summon the elementals I’m used to, and I don’t wanna risk whatever I summon going rogue.

They all seem moderately impressed but all of that was just the warm up. “That was all just the appetizer. The real boon for me here is that it gives me access to Fireball and Lightning Bolt but I can cast them at the 7th level. Right now I could only cast Fireball at a 6th level and I could only do it once per day, and I don’t even know Lightning Bolt. I could cast it with my Mizzium but it’d be the same story as the Fireball. This lets me cast it one level higher than that and multiple times per day.

I grasp the staff with both hands and hold it in front of it as I start to channel power into the artifact. Soon enough the familiar mote of fire appears at the tip of the staff and grows. It grows more and more until it’s a giant ball of fire at least 80ft wide hovering in the air above the tip of the staff. I channel the power forward and thrust forward with my palms and the staff hovers in the air, no longer bound by my hands. Once that happens the giant fireball blasts off down the magical artillery range and as it flies down the range it compresses further and further down. Becoming a dense ball of carnage.

Until it reaches its maximum range of 150ft and explodes. Despite the massively increased size of the spell when it was hovering above me the explosion is the same 20ft radius as normal. The fireball compressing down as it flew allows it to be the same size as normal, but with a much more massive explosive force. Dealing 12d6 Fire damage to whatever is unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of it.

The explosion shakes the ground and is so strong we actually feel a surge of wind come from behind us towards the initial explosion as it sucks in all of the surrounding air to fuel its carnage. Then, with clouds of dust and smoke the air slams against us and almost knocks me over as it blows through us.

I can’t contain my excitement as I belt out a loud, “WOOOO!~” that’s likely just barely heard over the roaring thunder of the explosion. Looking around I end up laughing hard at the mixed looks of shock and surprise among the ladies.

I follow up that spell with Lightning Bolt at 7th level to a much more subdued reaction, and now the staff only has 4 charges left of the original 50. This was part of the plan though, so now I can show off the most powerful feature of this staff.

“Alright Luna, I want you to blast me with a powerful beam of pure mana.”

She looks at me like I just sprouted a 2nd head and told her the sky was purple. “I’d prefer to not kill my only knight and lover.”

“No no it’ll be fine, trust me.”

She looks even more skeptical, but after I give her the most reassuring and resolved stare I can muster while giving her a small nod, she sighs and ignites her horn. “If this kills you I’m going to find you and bring you back so I can kill you again.”

After that she unleashes a beam of magic that looks like she’s firing a stream of the night sky at me. There’s a high pitched screeching sound as it literally tears through the air towards me. I twist the staff and intercept the beam with the very tip of the artifact.

SPELL ABSORPTION.

I use my reaction to activate the most powerful feature on the staff and all three of them drop their jaws to the ground. Literally, it’s a bit silly, but not the first time I’ve seen some outlandish shit that seems like it’s out of a cartoon. Anyways, the staff glows a bright silver light that slowly turns darker and darker in color as the beam of magic thins out more and more. Eventually the beam of magic disappears entirely and I watch with my own surprise as the number of charges on the staff goes from 4 to 22. It’s supposed to gain 1 charge per level of the spell absorbed. Is that beam of pure night equivalent to an 18th level spell?!

If that’s the case I have to be really careful when absorbing alicorn level magic. “So I can absorb magic and it actually uses that magic to replenish the charges in the staff. That beam of magic brought it up from 4 charges remaining to 22. The downside is that if said absorption brings the number of charges over the maximum of 50, the staff explodes and there’s a pretty decent chance it’ll obliterate me. That spell Luna fired just now actually gave me far more charges than I was expecting so I’ll need to be careful using that against powerful magic in the future.”

“Ignis, that's insane! That spell was pure power, I rarely use it because it’s horribly inefficient on mana, but the raw power is high. The only spells I know that are more powerful than that are the ones you saw me use against the Ursa. The two spells where the stars came down from the sky and channeled into my horn or the one where a solid beam of moonlight channels into my horn and is condensed down to pure destruction. I can’t believe it just completely negated AND absorbed that attack…”

“If you thought that was crazy just wait till you see what I can do now that our connection has improved.” I close my eyes and activate my new Lunar Blessing and listen with a smile as the Moonbeam slams into the ground around me and hums with power in the air.

Once I finish activating it I open my eyes and look down, surprised to see the ground is scorched completely with white and silver fire around the edges of the Moonbeam. That’s holy fire! It does Radiant damage, I didn’t know that was an effect of this Blessing. It’s not mentioned in the description at all!

I take a few tentative steps around the training grounds and watch with amusement as the Moonbeam follows me around and leaves trails of holy fire in my path. Once the Moonbeam leaves the specific area it was once in, the holy fire disappears within 6 seconds, but from what I can tell there’s no time limit or concentration on this Moonbeam. It’ll just go until the sun comes up or I turn it off.

Another round of surprise and questions from the crowd of three and after I’m done answering them all I turn off the Blessing and get ready to show off my final trick. “Alright this is the last thing. I can only do this I’m in dim light or darkness, but considering most of my active time is at night this is perfect.

I channel the Boon of the Night Spirit and for now I just transform into my shadowy form. I look kinda similar to what Luna or Nightmare looked like when they transformed into a starry cloud and floated around. The only difference is that I don’t have any stars in my appearance, I’m just a cloud of dark smoke. “While I’m in this form I’m resistant to almost all types of damage, which is pretty incredible. It’s not the only thing I can do while in dim light or darkness though.

I drop the Shadowy Form and activate Merge with Shadows, instantly fading away and becoming invisible. There’s a few exclamations of surprise and after a few seconds of silently walking I place my hand on the middle of Luna’s barrel, right between her wings. Her reaction is instant as she startles a bit and gasps in surprise at the sudden contact. When she gasps the other two snap their heads in the direction of her gasp and stare at my sudden appearance.

“Both of those things are called the Boon of the Night Spirit. They’re incredibly useful, and I feel blessed to have access to this power.”

After an hour or so of more talking and Luna playing around with her increased power we all decide to split off. Force is off to dream land and funnily enough so is Luna, but in a different way of course. That leaves just me and Nightmare and a few hours to kill.

After a few seconds of silence I look at her and decide to voice my question.“So…got anything you wanna do to kill some time before we head out towards Ponyville?”

Author's Note

Sorry if this chapter has bit more errors and missing words than usual. I'm on the verge of passing out and didn't have it in me to skim over the chapter before publishing. I think it's mostly fine though, I read over the paragraphs a few times as I wrote and I think I caught most of the issues as I went along.

By the way here's a fun little list of continuity errors I had to edit and fix while I was rereading the entire story to take my notes:

• Raven said changelings were jet black exoskeletons, but that’s only after Chrysalis takes over and this was before, corrected it to shades of gray, black, and white.

• THE VERY FIRST SCENE WITH FORCE SHE SAID SHE DIDNT WANT TO JOIN THE NIGHT GUARD CAUSE OF HER HERD, Retcon’d to “I just thought about it and realized it’d interfere with my social life too much.” Cause ya know Force can’t be in a herd lmao

• Fairly certain I had two different descriptions of Aurora one being jet black with dark blue and light blue hair and the other being dull white with light blue and pink hair so I’m changing the first description of jet black to dull white and correcting the hair to light blue and pink..

Pretty sure there was one or two more but I forgot to document it in my notes. I wanna say it was related to the Equestria rune system, but oh well.

Also woah 250k words! Quarter Million baby! Still seems crazy to me that I've managed to keep consistent with the writing.

Thanks for reading all 250k words you crazies! <3