Everything hurts. None of those memories warned me that using the Bladesong like that would make me feel like I got hit by a truck after. That’s not what really hurts though, is it? No, this pain is deep in my chest. Nightmare is the angriest I’ve ever seen her, she thinks Luna and I betrayed her. That look though, those eyes… I didn’t think I’d ever have that animosity directed at me again.

Beyond that, what’s happened to Luna? Did they swap places and now Luna is back on the moon? Is she trapped in her body? Is she… no, I can’t even imagine the words in my head. Luna is okay, she has to be. I need to focus on Nightmare, how can I clear away this mental magic?

I better think of something fast because she’s flying straight at me. “Nightmare wait! Please! Can we just… talk for a minute?”

Persuasion (Disadvantage)

13 and 15. 13 + 2 = 15.

“We are well past the time for talking! I am going to eviscerate you, bladesinger.” She spits out that last word with absolute venom. She doesn’t call me that nearly as often anymore.

As the last remnants of the Symphony of Steel leave me and the mana finishes vibrating I can feel my hair settle down onto my back. It’s returned to normal hair instead of being ethereal, and most importantly, I am now slowly dropping out of the sky.

As I fall through the air Nightmare fires off several pitch black bullets from her horn at me. “Shield.”

I weakly throw up a shield in front of me and when two of the bullets make it through I manage to knock one of them away with the Moonblade. There’s not enough time to recover to try and parry a second time though.

The black ball flies right up to my chest and then disappears. It apparently shrunk down to the size of an atom because I couldn’t see it at all. I know it imploded and compressed itself down though because an instant after it disappears I watch it expand from nothing.

A wall of darkness just slams into me and knocks the breath out of me as it continues to rapidly expand for another moment or two. I remember hearing a loud clap, but I don’t know what happened after that. The next thing I know I’m opening my eyes and I’m flying backwards back up into the air. There’s a massive plume of magical darkness that’s leaving my body like smoke.

Luckily I can see through that still, and unluckily I can see that the ground has started getting bigger again. That attack really knocked me out for a second? How hard did it hit me?

Hit Points: 31/82.

I was fully healed before this, so that one attack did 51 damage? I think this might be the end of the road for me. I’m out of 5th level spells, my singular 6th level is gone as well. So, I can’t cast Modify Memory or Greater Restoration.

C’mon Ignis, pull yourself together. If I die here what’s going to happen when the Elements beat Discord. Luna and Nightmare return to their own bodies? What then? They’re going to blame themselves for sure. Yeah… I can’t let that happen.

I lean forward and point my feet towards the rapidly approaching ground. Next I flood the area between me and the ground with my own mana. Compress it, it needs to be dense enough to slow me down.

I feel like I’m floating through water now as my plan apparently works, and I land on the ground. My entire body feels like I’m trying to move inside jello, and it’s not cause of the mana. I dispersed that as soon as I landed. It’s the aftershock of all that exertion I guess.

Glancing down I realize that the attack from Nightmare had some type of space-like vacuum effect, because my entire chest and stomach are bare. The armor just completely shredded on the sides of my body. It’s not just that either.

“I don’t think my skin is supposed to look like that?” Right in the center of my chest about the size of a baseball is just muscle. The skin is gone completely. That attack must’ve sucked in my armor and ripped my skin when it shrunk down against my chest.

Before I can continue to ponder I’m interrupted by the ground cratering a few feet in front of me as Nightmare lands at full speed. “I’m glad you survived that, bladesinger. I really need to take my time with this, and make sure I return the pain you dealt to me a thousand fold.”

I stab the Moonblade into the ground, drop the Staff, and look up at her instead of the wound on my chest. Once I take a step forward the back half of my armor that was still barely clinging to me, falls off. I move my empty left hand away from the wound and keep slowly walking towards Nightmare. Unarmed and Unarmored. Just the uncomfortable Mizzium leather straps now rubbing against my bare shoulders.

Her face contorts a bit when she spots the exposed muscle and thoracolumbar fascia tissue. She takes a quarter of a step backwards as her face shifts to confusion. After a second or two the resolve returns to her eyes and she leans forward again. “What are you doing?! Why are you just slowly walking towards me with no weapons? Do you think I’ll make your death painless if you offer yourself like this?”

“Moonie, I don’t have any gas left in the tank.” My left eye is partially closed and my entire face is droopy. It looks like someone who’s fighting the anesthesia before a surgery. I’m not even really walking. My feet are just dragging across the gravel path. Step by step.

“Even if I did. I just can’t do it. I can’t raise my blade towards you. I know you have all of those memories and I know that the pain and torment you endured is real, but we didn’t do that to you. Discord did that to you. Those memories are artificial, made by magic. I’m out of spell slots to try and help you see that, but I know if you just think about it. Just try to remember the good memories and see if you remember the moment they turned sour. I know you’ll be able to tell that something isn’t right. Please, Moonie. Please?”

Persuasion

6 + 2 = 8.

Fuck. This is really it?

To my surprise her eyes are darting around as if she’s backed into a corner. “S-STOP! Don’t come cl…closer!” Her rear legs give out from underneath her and she tries to slide herself backwards in a panic.

Wait, no. That’s genuine fear. She’s terrified. Of me? Did searching through the memories trigger a trauma response? Just what the hell did I do to her in those memories? I feel… anger, despair, and something else. Something heavier…hopelessness. All I can do is watch her suffer and I can’t fix it.

I can’t fix her memories but I can help her to stop being terrified. I channel the Mizzium and cast a 2nd level spell.

“Calm Emotions.”

Her hyperventilating slowly stops and I can see the fear leave her eyes. She stands back up and looks me dead in the eyes. “You. You won’t trick me with your words. Not again, never again.”

I’m only a few steps away from her at this point. So, I choose to not respond, I just take another shuffling step forward. That’s as far as I make it, something grabs onto my Mizzium and pulls me backwards. “Moonie, pl-”

“Don’t call me that. You’ve lost that right. Let me test out something that I theorized was possible back when I first gave you those eyes. I could see your rolls and talk to you while everything around you was frozen in time. Does that mean your magic treats me as part of you since I’m possessing you? If so, what else do you think I could do with it?”

Nightmare ignites her horn and I feel the weight of her telekinesis settle onto my shoulder. Suddenly there’s a bright golden light.

+41 Hit Points: 77/82.

-1 Level 4 Spell Slot.

She used her telekinesis as an extension of herself to satisfy the touch requirement and casted Cure Wounds. That’s the only explanation, Cure Wounds is the only thing that looks like that. She used my own spell slot to do it as well…

“Why heal me? Don’t you want me dead?” My limbs still feel heavy, but it’s not as bad.

“Like I said, I want to take my time. Ensure my revenge is thorough. I can’t stop until your face shows as much despair and terror as my own did. I’ll make sure to whittle away at your sanity.”

My mouth dries up as a thought enters my head. I have to know. “If you put me through all of that…what about Luna? What’s going to happen to her?”

“Well since she locked me in her body and slowly consumed my power and even my soul, I thought it would only be fair to do the same. Luckily for her I don’t plan on taking over 100 years. I’d wager I could completely snuff her out of existence within an hour, but I’ll at least hold off on finishing the job until you die. Watching you go through this will be my revenge for her.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, no? You can only say no to me if you have the power to stop me, and we both know you do not.”

The storm of inner turmoil I already had turns into a full on typhoon. Do I….do I have to fight her?

“I can’t let you do this. I know this isn’t your fault and I was willing to take anything you were going to throw at me. But I can’t let you do that to her. You'll never forgive yourself.” I jump backwards back to where I was standing originally and grab my Moonblade and Staff.

“You can’t let me do this? You don’t have a choice. I sat backseat to your lover for over a century. Even when I wasn’t being subjected to whatever torture the two of you cooked up for that night I still had to live as a prisoner in my own mind. I will not allow you to lock me up again. I have my horn, I have my wings, I am free now and I’m going to remind the world who I am!”

The wind picks up all around us as Nightmare flares her mana. The weight of her presence is like the entire moon is sitting on my chest. I don’t have a choice anymore, I have to subdue her. I hate to imagine what my body is going to feel like if I use this again while I’m already exhausted, but again, I don’t have a choice.

“Symphony of Steel.”

Bladesong Failed. Error: You cannot have more than one bladesong active at one time.

My eyes shrink as a wave of renewed fear washes over me. Focusing back on Nightmare I watch as her eyes begin to glow silver and motes of light rise out of the ground and flit about in the air around her. It’s not the same Bladesong I used just now versus Discord, it’s the base Bladesong. That’s still pretty bad for me though. I don’t even have armor, my AC is 15 right now. Time to use the Mizzium again.

“Mage Armor.” AC: 18.

Okay that’s back to what it normally is. What’s she going to do now?

-1 Level 3 Spell Slot.

The motes of light that were bouncing around in the air around Nightmare start to speed up, and it looks like she just got surrounded by a gust of wind. Third level spell slot? That’s Haste for sure.

Suddenly over 20 dark purple translucent weapons appear in the air. They’re all different types. Daggers, shortswords, longswords, rapiers, and suddenly time stops.

Roll for Initiative

14 + 5 = 19

17 + 5 = 22

My eyes widen a bit and I see her lips twitch into a smirk. Time unfreezes and two of her spiritual weapons in the air come blitzing down towards me. I bat one away and jump backwards to dodge the second. Then panic starts to hit when she speaks again. “Oh this is far too slow. I can only send three of these at you per turn? Enable Real-Time Combat.” (A/N: This is blue because it's a link, not cause NMM said it.)

“Long long time ago, I had my own little show. Was a beautiful, loveable, angel.~”

The music from her Bladesong finally starts and the song it chose for her surprises me a bit. I pause in anticipation for her next move, but she seems content to just keep floating there, singing her song, with her armada of spiritual weapons. If they all come at me back to back to back I need to figure out how I’m going to dodge all of them.

“But she took the spotlight shining so bright. Left me to fade away~”

My eyes widen as the number of magical weapons quadruples. There’s enough of them now that it’s casting a shadow over this abandoned street.

“But honey now the turn is mine~”

The slow piano notes fade out and are replaced by a cacophony of instruments. The same instant the song picks up the weapons start blitzing through the air, honing in on me. C’mon body, we gotta start moving like normal or I’m gunna be a skewer.

My first step looks slow motion as I barely manage to twist my torso to avoid the incoming spear. The momentum carries forward and the second step comes twice as fast. A dagger stabs right into my thigh, but I have to ignore it. I can't stop moving. The third step starts to look like my normal speed and I’m finally moving enough that I can somewhat ignore the fatigue.

The weapons start to fly past me in tandem with the notes of the song as I continue to sprint, jump, flip, twist, and duck out of the way of them as they fly by. Every so often I end up getting grazed and cut, but it’s not too bad.

“3. 2. 1.”

She finally runs out of magical weapons to fling at me and I internally sigh in relief. Until the ground beneath my still running feet breaks free from the surrounding earth and shoots into the air with me on it. By the time I can react she’s already telekinesis’d the chunk of stone nearly 100ft in the air. I slam on the breaks and almost run right off the edge, but manage to stop just in time right at the edge. My arms flail around so I can keep my balance.

“A devil made from heaven, sent from above. Looks like Ignis’ got a little date, let’s have some fun.”

Several pitch black, flat, massive crescent shaped air slashes appear in the air and start to vibrate with power. They are almost like sickles but without the handle. They’re surrounding me from every angle, if they all fly at me at once…I’m not sure how to avoid this. I’ll have to use a spell slot.

“We’ve got lots to do, little errand boy, come to me at Cloud Nine.”

With every word she belts out in her lyric one of the pure magical air slashes is launched at me. Until she says boy, that’s when the last one launches. I manage to jump and twist and contort my body in the air to dodge the first two, but it’s just as I feared. I’m midair and I can’t dodge, I’m going to be diced into pieces.

“Misty Step.”

I activate the spell slot I was hoping to save and start to teleport 30ft further up into the air, completely out of the magic attacks trajectory. It feels like time slows down as I hear Nightmare's voice right in my ear.

“Counterspell.”

“To be the perfect angel, some sin must be done.”

The first air slash hit’s me diagonally. From my right shoulder to my left hip. The blade gets about halfway through my body when I watch Nightmares horn ignite and the magic disappears.

I’d be confused if I wasn’t in an unimaginable amount of pain as I watch my right arm limply flap about in the air since I can’t control it anymore. There’s not enough muscle and tendons, she even went through most of the bones.

-45 Hit Points: 23/82.

I’m at the edge of losing consciousness when I see a Strengthen rune appear in the air and see a golden light.

+4? Hit Points: 65/82. -1 Level 1 Spell Slot.

She used Strengthen on a Level 1 Cure Wounds? Why?

“You~ told me what to do and what to say.”

My question is answered as my vision returns to normal. Just in time to watch the next magical air slash tear through both of my thighs as Nightmare just sings right next to me.

-57 Hit Points: 8/62.

No. I can’t take this. This is beyond cruel. I feel my jaw clench as muffled grunts and yelps of pain escape my lips.

“I couldn’t escape. You~...”

+?? Hit Points: 58/62. -1 Level 1 Spell Slot.

The nearly severed limbs once again heal in a flash of light, leaving deep scars. My eyes are slammed wide open, vision completely unfocused as my breathing becomes labored.

“...Got to choose the ending of my Fate.”

The next one slices all the way across my gut.

-38 Hit Points: 18/82.

“You put me astray.”

I can’t see anything, my eyes have rolled up into my head. The wounds might heal but the pain is just piling on. The onslaught finally breaks through and all I can do is scream.

+60 Hit Points: 78/82. -1 Level 2 Spell Slot.

“But not anymore! I’M IN CONTROL!”

When will it end when will it end? Stop stop stop it hurts please someone...Please no more I can’t…

I hear three unique sounds that sound like blades bouncing off of armor. While still hyperventilating I slowly open my eyes and see a familiar colored bubble shield surrounding me. It’s Shining Armor. The air slashes are pushing against the shield and it rapidly starts to crack and chip.

“I have the stage, you can’t turn the page!”

Right as I think the shield is going to give, there’s a bright flash of red light and I watch as a huge magic missile slams into Nightmare’s right side, the air slashes vanish instantly. Unstoppable Force. The two of them keep barreling away from me for several seconds until I see the red light grow brighter before bursting.

You’re okay right, Force? You pushed Nightmare away and then dropped her and booked it right?

Suddenly the shield drops and I land on the small floating island that starts to slowly come back to the ground. I’m just laying there on my back hazily scanning the sky trying to find two dots clashing with each other. Keep scanning. Where are the two of you?

The floating island lands back down in Canterlot and I hear the Captain of the Guard speaking to me. “We finished evacuating everypony out of the city. They’re all inside the mountain, we figured that’s as safe as we were going to get. The changelings are doing everything they can to reinforce the interior to prevent a collapse. I was getting ready to go down there myself when the Princess stopped me and begged me to help you. I… I didn’t realize how dire the situation had gotten. Those screams… I’m so sorry, Ignis.”

I stare at him for a few seconds as his words take a bit to register. Right, they got everyone out, that's good. He’s starting to look more concerned, oh, I should reply out loud. Through shaky breaths I finally utter a sentence. “It’s been a long day, man.”

He looks befuddled and then shocked and starts laughing. “Yeah it has. Let’s get you inside the caves with everypony else.”

The unicorn helps me to my feet and we take a few steps in the direction of the main gate before I stop. I shudder at the thought of turning around to go help Force. Just thinking about it brings back that searing pain. But, I have to. “Sorry, Captain. I can’t evacuate just yet, we still don’t have everyone.”

“Are you insane? Physically you seem okay, but you’re exhausted and your eyes are dead. Plus, I already told you! We got everypony out already? C’mon, bro?”

“No, we're still missing three. Force, Luna, and Nightmare. I’d be a real dickhead if I evacuated and left literally every member of my herd out here. I just need to talk to Nightmare one more time, I can get through to her. I know I can.”

“You’re going to die, Ignis. There’s no other way to say it. It’s not a chance, it’s a fact. If you go back out there you will die. I cannot let you go.”

"If it means saving them. My life is a price I can pay."

“But now it will change!”

My head turns towards the sudden sound and I watch as something is falling towards us, completely covered in smoke. I can feel my heart stop.

My mana surges into my legs and I leap into the air as the unknown projectile slams into my chest. I give a slight grunt, but it’s not that bad.

-4 Hit Points: 74/82

We still have a lot of speed so I cast Feather Fall, it’s unfortunately casted with a second level spell slot cause I’m out of first level slots. That’s my last second level slot as well. We’re only six or seven feet off the ground when I cast it and although the spell helps a lot I still land on my back and slide several feet across the ground, taking 12 more damage.

My hands brush against soft fur and I blow away the smoke with a small gust of wind. It’s Force. She’s breathing, but unconscious. There’s a nasty gash at the top of her head and the blood coming down the side of her face almost looks like it’s just an extension of her mane.

I cast Cure Wounds at third level and sigh at the amazing roll I get. +40 Hit Points. The wound on her head closes up completely and her eyes flutter open. “Ignis? Aw man is this the afterlife? I thought we saved you in time…”

“You did save me in time, you fiery little missile.” I try to act as normal as possible and give her a soft smile. We just stare at each other for a few seconds, neither one breaking the silence. Unfortunately the moment could never last forever.

“Focus on me!”

I turn my head towards the sky when I notice it suddenly gets much darker. My eyes widen as I watch an outline of Nightmare flying straight up in the sky with the Moon as a backdrop and she sings her next line. Eventually the moon blocks out the sun and stops.

“I’ll be all that they see! I’ll make em sway, no, can’t run away. All eyes on me.”

“Well I’m gunna go handle that. Shining, help her get to the cave, please.”

Shining looks like he wants to continue the argument from earlier until we make eye contact. I watch as he closes his eyes and sighs in resignation. I put Force on his back and do my best to tune out her yelling at me as he takes her away.

Surging mana into every fiber of muscle in my legs, I cause the ground to crater as I leap into the air towards Nightmare. Her bladesong is in a brief instrumental as I use a third level spell slot to Misty Step the rest of the way into the air.

3rd Person POV

The elf pops into existence right above her, and he wraps his hands around her neck and pulls himself against her back. Once there he wraps his legs around her barrel too. “Now I gotcha.”

To his amusement she’s so surprised that the bladesong instantly ends and she lets out some sound similar to chirp. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING? GET OFF OF ME THIS INSTANT!” Nightmare’s royal Canterlot voice causes the bladesingers head to rattle a bit.

“Nope, you’re stuck with me. You know even after all of this, I still love you. The first thing I thought of once the shock wore off was you. How you’re going to react when you remember all of this, I don’t know how you’re going to react or how I’ll even console you. This entire situation is so fucked. I’m damn near out of spell slots Moonie, I think I’ve actually gone a little bit insane, so I beg of you. Please! PLEASE SNAP OUT OF IT!”

The facade Ignis had on for Force, Shining, and even himself, finally crumbles. Out of nowhere during the end of his plea to her he just breaks down. The fur against his face becomes damp in an instant and breathing starts to become harder for the elf. Ignis screams out the last few words of his request before going into a sob. The alicorn feels something in her chest, there’s a dull ache as she listens to the bladesinger.

Her eyes start to dart around again until they turn into the same hypnotic swirls they were earlier. Flashes of the gala go through her mind followed by the false scenes of torture. The last month of basically shadowing the elf and assisting him with his daily stressors all flash back to back to back. There’s a flash of blistering pain in her mind as the chaotic spell starts to come undone. Voices start to scream that she’s making a mistake, he’s lying, she needs to end this now!

The spell snaps back together with a massive rebound that just makes the alicorn incredibly confused and disorientated. The elf once again failed to get through to her, but the spell is cracked and stretched and nearly shattered.

Nightmare completely loses her mind and starts to zoom higher and higher into the air. Ignis’ sobbing has quieted down a bit by this point and he slowly pulls himself up until his head is right next to hers. The bladesinger is suddenly reminded of a song from his time on earth as he starts to get dizzy. They continue climbing higher into the sky.

“Inside, are bottled up feelings. Silently screaming.
But when I lose control… you hold me in your wings and say
That “everything will be okay."

And when I’m left with nothing, babe.
I know I still have everything.
And they all say the spark will fade,
But you still take my breath away~”

The uncharacteristically soft voice from the elf starts to bring Nightmare back, just a little. Her subconscious hears the words and pulls her consciousness back to the surface. “It’s just another bladesong. The words are meaningless.” She hears her own voice talking to her mind.

“But there’s no mana, no lights… there isn’t even any music. It’s just him.” Nightmares mind reels in surprise as Luna has managed to work her way into Nightmares psyche thanks to how fractured it was. “Nightmare Moon. We were once a single pony. You know as well as I that something is wrong here, something doesn’t add up. Please just listen to him one more time.”

Nightmare finds herself floating deep underwater. She can hear the bladesinger, but her body struggles to move as she tries to take control of herself again.

“When I’m hanging by a thread,
Drawing my last breath.
At least I’ll share the air with you.”

She can hear how labored his breaths are. Whenever he pauses in the lyric to take a breath in he ends up wheezing. The air is getting too thin. Nightmare finds her strength and starts to pull herself up through the endless sea, even using her wings to try and find her way back just a bit faster.

“When the world’s falling apart,
And we’re left in the dark…
At least I’m holding onto you.
…holding…on… to…………….
You.”

The chaotic spell shatters bit by bit as she starts to become more frantic in her efforts to swim through the ocean of her mind. She hears the elf barely whisper the last line of the song and when he goes to repeat it he gets quieter and quieter. The gaps between words get longer. There’s a deafening silence.

The swirls in her eyes turn back to normal and the former villain comes to a screeching halt, having nearly left the atmosphere entirely. She notices the lack of weight on her back, and spins around instantly.

The elf is covered in spots of ice with his eyes closed. There’s a soft smile on his face as he starts to fall back down towards the planet. Nightmare instantly uses the same spell Luna used to fly away from the Ursa Major as fast as she could, and sends out a shockwave as she rockets towards the falling elf.

Nightmare wraps the elf up in her forelegs and throws up a thermal shield to protect him from re-entry heat. She’s still so high up that she can see most of Equestria and realizes Ignis isn’t breathing.

While reentering the atmosphere she pulls him closer and locks lips with the bladesinger. Trying and hoping with everything in her heart that she can breathe life back into him. As they get closer to Canterlot she’s back to normal air pressure, but her panic only rises as he still isn’t breathing.

“No. No no no nonononono please please...don't leave me...please.”

The alicorn's shield takes a massive blow as she slams into an empty field somewhere between Ponyville and Canterlot mountain. Nightmare tries to give him chest compressions, but nothing is working.

This empty field with no civilization in sight is filled only with the sounds of grief.

“Please…you can’t just save me. Save Luna. And then die with this stupid smile on your face. WHY ARE YOU SMILING!! WAKE UP!”

Author's Note

I get the feeling people will either love this chapter or hate this chapter. No inbetweens.

Not much to say this time.

Thanks for reading. :(