Roll for Friendship

by Desti

Rating: mature
Tags: Profanity, Gore, Violence, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dungeons and Dragons, Death, Human, Main 6, Nightmare Moon, Romance, Princess Luna, Original Character, Adventure, Sex
Length: 493779

Local human gets sent to Equestria on his way to his friends house for a Dungeons and Dragons one-shot.

Our protagonist was on his way to an annual get together with his old friends where they play a Dungeons and Dragons "One-Shot" campaign. Unfortunately he never made it.

Ignis, a Summer Eladrin High Elf, wakes up in Equestria on the day of the Summer Sun Celebration. Join our would-be hero as he fumbles his way through one adventure after another. With mysteries to unravel, Big Bad Evil Guys to thwart, and dice to be rolled, who knows what kinda trouble we may find ourselves in!

Tags that should probably be included but I can't due to there being a limit on how many tags you can use:

Sad

Drama

(I'm not swapping them out for any of the other tags because they don't show up at all early on and even then I'd say only 15% of the fic consists of content relevant to these two tags.

Fair warning about the story that dips a bit into spoiler territory: Originally this fic started as joke cause I noticed there weren't very many D&D + Gamer-esque System fics on the site, and it was supposed to end around chapter 8 or 9. Because of that you'll notice a much more relaxed and joking tone for the early parts of the fic, and I feel it is only fair to warn that the story does become more serious and a bit dark after 180k-ish words.

Also there are some plot points towards the end of Season 1 that got brought up way too late, and as a result the end product is messy and some readers said straight up frustrating. The only way I can fix that is with basically a full rewrite of season 1 and I'm just... not doing that. That's all the warnings out of the way though. So now if you get to any of those points and drop the fic you can't be like "wow i wasted X Hours of my life reading this fic for it to suddenly XX wtf author."

Anyways that's pretty much it, if you read this far then thanks for your time and I hope you enjoy the story :).

Published 2023-02-01 04:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2025-02-17 01:20:24 UTC

Session 0

“I already left the house, I can’t bring you an extra d12, Matt.” I explained to my friend as I’m driving up I-75, 3.5 hours into my 6 hour trip to his house for our annual Dungeons and Dragons one-shot get together with him and my 3 other friends.

“Please bro! I’d go and just buy one from the local card shop, but I’m swamped trying to finish up work and putting the finishing touches on the story for tonight! I’ll give you $20 bucks flat out if you could just stop somewhere and pick me up one. Please.” Guess he’s moved onto the bargaining stage, I’ll spare him.

“Fine, I’ll see if there’s one close to an exit at some point in the next 120 miles. You seriously need to stop procrastinating though! I can’t believe you still haven’t finished the story for the game we’re playing TONIGHT.” I hang up before he can even respond, he knows I don’t mean it and I really don’t want to continue the conversation and distract him from getting his shit wrapped up.

“Okay, Google! Add a stop to the closest comic book store.” I guess comic book stores aren’t guaranteed to also have table top stuff but hopefully it works out. Looks like it’s telling me to get off at the next exit.

I stop where I’m instructed to by the omnipotent powers from above known as Google, but this really doesn’t seem like the right place? I’m supposed to be at address number 2954 and instead I’m standing in front of an alley. To the right is 2956 and to the left is 2952, with my superior monkey brain I can deduce that this is supposed to be 2954, but if I have to walk through this dark alley to get to the front door then I don’t know how this place is still in business.

“Welp, $20 is $20. Let’s see if there’s a door hiding in this alley.” I mumble to no one in particular.

And then I bought Matt his d12 and together we had a great night of pizza and D&D.

I wish that’s what happened.

Instead I’m laying on my side in some orchard surrounded by apple trees and I’m cosplaying as a homeless person with what feels like a sword and a ball. Seriously? I thought I’d get mugged or step on a needle and catch Hepatitis, but I did not even consider getting drugged, kidnapped, and dressed up like a medieval character.

Ok let’s calm down, I feel a lot more shit on me than just a sword and robes, so let’s take stock of what I’m working with.

Standing up the first thing I notice is that my hair is way longer than it’s supposed to be. It comes down to around my shoulders and…. it’s silver? What the fuck? I’m wearing some kind of dark black robe with some leather on both my shoulders and chest with some kind of decorative silver markings on it. The sword I felt digging into my hip while I was laying in the dirt is actually a rapier, and a nice one at that. The ball I felt is actually a very small pouch attached to my robe at the waist. Let’s see what else we got here, I have cape, wait is it a cape? It’s like a cape but it goes around one of my shoulders as well.

I also have a knapsack on my back under the cape and right under the sack is what feels like a small mount for something? A book maybe? I’m not entirely sure, but this is starting to seem suspiciously fam-

“Woah I’ve never seen something like you before! Are you some special guard the Princess sent down here for the celebration today?” Spinning around to face the voice of what sounds like a child that has just about made me shit my pants I see nothing but air. Looking down I see a small yellow horse that’s tall enough to be about thigh level with a red mane and a comically large hair bow.

I’m completely dumbfounded because looking around for a second I don’t really see what else could’ve just spoken to me besides the horse and I end up just staring at her. I think it’s a her?
After around 10 seconds of us just awkwardly staring at each other she decides to try again, “Um, hello? Are you here for the Celebration?” She tilts her head adorably.

“Wow, ok, that was actually you that spoke. I was really hoping it wasn’t you because it means I’ve completely lost my mind. Or I’m dead. I’m being rude. Let me answer your questions before I fully process what’s happening and have a panic attack. I’m an elf-”

That’s not right, I’m not an elf. Elfs are about as real as talking horses, I’m a human. I…. have pointy ears. That’s not what I’m supposed to have…

“Are you sure you’re an elf? I’ve never heard of an elf before. Where do elfs live? Do y’all have cutie marks? Oh, what about a name? My name’s Apple Bloom.”

The tiny horse seems to have a knack for interrupting my train of thought, but it might actually be what’s saving me. I’m almost hyperventilating and my chest hurts.

“That’s a lot of questions, I didn’t even answer all of the ones you asked me before. I’m not a guard. I don’t know who your princess is or what she’s celebrating. My particular flavor of elves, and it’s elves when referred to in plural by the way, are mostly from the Feywild. I’m not really sure what a cutie mark is, and my name is Ignis Ferrum.” Once again my mouth speaks something that my brain was not trying to say. That’s not my name. That’s the name of my…

Holy shit I’m my D&D character. I really regret my lazy naming scheme of just using latin. Fire Steel? Really?

Oh, so this is what passing out feels like.

“Mister Ignis!”

Main Quest - Get Home pt. 2

I know I agreed to stay put until Applejack came to get me, but holy shit I’m bored. It looks like the sun is setting, so I know it’s been a few hours. I thought maybe I could use this time to figure out how to use my magic and I think I’ve gotten the hang of it, but the only thing I could really tinker with was Mage Hand or else I risked probably burning this barn down.

After playing 400 rounds of rock, paper, scissors with my mage hand I decided to do some people watching out the window. AJ wasn’t kidding when she said almost the entire Apple family tree was here. I think I counted at least 60 different ponies out and about. At some point I’m pretty sure I spotted a purple unicorn with a giant lizard which just about made me break my neck when I did a double take.

I remember Applejack mentioned unicorns, but I didn’t really think much of it. I can’t really tell what the difference is between unicorn and non-unicorn but considering magic was mentioned I’m guessing they’re the spellcaster subclass for ponies.

After the unicorn left I decided to just trance the time away and here I am. Strangely though, I don’t see anyone outside anymore… did the celebration start and she forgot about me?

Alright it’s officially dark outside I’m done waiting.

I start walking in the direction I saw the unicorn go when it left, there’s probably a town or something beyond all these apples. Sure enough, after walking past what feels like an endless sea of apple trees I crest over a hill and down below I can see a small village. There’s a stream of ponies walking and.. flying? Ok, I guess they have pegasus here too. They’re all going from what looks like a tree towards a tall building in the town center. Let’s see here if I can spot an orange mare with a cowboy hat on.

A familiar blue hue overtakes my vision as a single 20 sided die rolls into the air.

6.

Well I guess I’m not gunna find Applejack in this crowd then, haha. Had to roll bad at some point.

+9 Arcana.
15.

Everything fades away back to normal and before I can even question why the skill check was Arcana, I feel it. I faintly feel a tear of magic, and it’s incredibly far away. It had to be some serious power for me to feel it over here, but it doesn’t seem like any of the ponies felt it. I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or not.

Either way I need to keep moving, I don’t see Applejack in the stream of ponies so I’ll go check the tree they’re all coming out of to see if she’s still there.
“You’d plain spook everypony out there and cause a ruckus…” Her words echo in my mind as I approach the tree, maybe I should sneak in through the window. If I find her I can try and grab her attention with mage hand or something.

+6 Stealth. 23.

I’m impressed at how silently I’m managing to climb this tree right now, the leaves scattered about the branches are still and I’m able to distribute my weight across to prevent the branches themselves from moving. Just as I’m about to climb onto the balcony I hear someone talk and pause my next step.

“I hope the Princess wasright and it is just an old pony tale.”

“C’mon Twilight, it’s time to watch the sunrise!”

Taking a peak through a window it looks like the purple unicorn, Twilight, is concerned about something. She and the reptile are gone now though, so I slip through the balcony into the tree. Only to discover the tree is empty, I guess they were the last two to leave. One thing worth remembering is that apparently this tree is a library, if I’m gunna be around for more than a few days I should come educate myself on where I am. For now though I’m going to quietly follow Twilight and the other ponies to the town center and see if this Princess Celestia is there.

What the hell even is a summer sun celebration? Why is it happening at night? I feel like I’ve clearly missed something. Perhaps when the sun comes up is when the celebration actually begins?

This Princess will be able to help me right? No, no focus. I’ve been fighting off this panic for almost 24 hours.

The inside of this building definitely seems like it’s the right place. They have banners and streamers with the sun all over it and it looks like I see Applejack over on the side by the food. Sneaking onto the highest level looking down onto the main floor I decide to just wait here and observe.

An older looking regular pony comes on stage under the spotlight and proceeds to announce, “Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration! In just a few moments our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this, the longest day of the year. Now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day. The good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria, Princess Celestia!”

Wow, do all the ponies worship the princess this much? With all the praise in that introduction I wonder if the mayor smells anything other than shit all day.

The mayor points her forehoof to a big curtain that pulls back to reveal… an empty space?

She’s not here. She can’t help me. I’m never going home.

Panic. Panic. I feel my chest get tight when suddenly,

+9 Arcana. 26.

It’s the same magic from earlier but a lot closer this time. It’s almost nauseating how powerful it is. Is this the princess?

As if to answer my question a dark blue starry mist creeps and expands its way outwards onto the stage before coalescing into the largest pony I’ve seen so far. A deep jet black colored unicorn with wings, it appears to have on some type of helmet and armor piece around it’s chest. I mean this has to be the princess right? She’s tall and has all the qualities of the 3 different types of pony I’ve seen so far.

Feeling my panic settle down, I can finally hear what the ponies below are actually saying, “What did you do with our princess?!” a sky blue pegasus with rainbow mane yells out and seems like she actually attempts to charge at the large pony, who is apparently not the princess. The rainbow pegasus is held back by Applejack though for some reason. So, this large pony is not only not the princess, but she’s done something to her?

A new feeling starts to bubble up, it’s not the familiar feeling of panic, no, this is something new. It’s rage.

I grab my spellbook in my left hand and instantly decide what spell I want to use. My body instinctively acting on its own forms my right hand into a finger gun and as a small spark appears from the tip of my finger I yell out,

“Fire bolt!”

Tall, dark, and ominous snaps her head in my direction, but it’s too late. Time has frozen and I see something that makes me happier than I’ve been all day.

“ADVANTAGE.”
14 and a 20.... perfect.
“NATURAL 20.”

The dice fade away and are replaced by a single 10 sided die.

+10 Crit. 16 Fire Damage.

Time resumes and the fire bolt lands squarely between the ponies eyes causing her to flinch. She then glares at me and I’m hit by a shocking realization.

She doesn’t even have a scratch on her.

“Oh, I’m so fucked.”

Time freezes once again and all I see are three words.

“ROLL FOR INITIATIVE.”

Author's Note

I got hung up in the middle of this chapter for like 2 hours on and off and then I suddenly slammed out the last like 800 words, so if the back half of the chapter is worse than normal it's because I got struck by inspiration and was able to just crank out all of it in 1 go. Grammar corrections are welcomed by the way, I can't believe no one told me that Applejack is one word. For over 12 years I have thought her name was Apple Jack and I feel like a complete fool.

Anyways, we get our first taste of combat soon. Sorry for the cliffhanger.

Main Quest - Get Home pt. 3

“ROLL FOR INITIATIVE”

1.

+4.

5.

Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh FUCK.

Time unfreezes and immediately I can see raw magic gathering at the tip of big nasty’s horn. I want to fire off another fire bolt or maybe pull out a bigger spell but I’m unable to. Probably because I rolled a natural 1 for initiative.

“Where’s our Princess Nightmare Moon?!” The rainbow pony yells out and this time actually charges at the villain before she can put a giant hole in my chest. Nightmare Moon manages to evade the rainbow bullet heading at her and once again pierces my soul with those eyes.

Screw this, I jump over the railing and start falling toward the ground floor but before I can I see a beam of pure energy barreling towards me. Crap, I was hoping I could fall fast enough that she’d miss.

I reach my arm out and grab one of the yellow sun banners hanging from the ceiling and yank as hard as I can with my arm pulling myself into a swing towards the other side of the room.

*CRRRKK*

And that’s apparently the sound a banner makes when it decides to give up on life. Looks like I’m not gunna make it to the other side and I’ll just have to settle for being in the middle of the room. I managed to dodge the magic attack at least.

By this point a majority of the ponies in the room are scrambling towards the exit doors, but some white ponies in golden armor are flying towards the she-demon. She gives the guards one sweeping look and starts smiling which can’t be a good sign so I decide to try and be useful again. To my surprise, I can attack finally. From this distance none of my leveled spells are going to be particularly useful and I don’t really think I have enough time to get closer if I wanna hit her before she can do whatever she’s planning to do with those guards, so let’s just go with ole reliable again.

I point my finger towards Nightmare Moon and fire off another Fire Bolt.

+7. 11.

My fire bolt zooms past her head, completely missing. Where are the rolls I was getting earlier? C’mon dice I’m trying to not die here! I notice the metal bracers start humming on my wrist and I remember the Illusionists’ Bracers! Whenever I cast a cantrip spell like Fire Bolt the bracers store the spell and I can fire it again on the same turn.

Ok, breathe. We got 1 more shot. Let’s do it.

“Fire Bolt!”

+7. 24.

The spark of fire lands seems to graze past her neck leaving some singed fur before continuing into the wall of the building, but I see a 10 sided die come into view which means I did do something.

Glancing blow. 2 Fire Damage.

She has 24 AC. Ok this is fine, totally fine. I’m sure those guards are decently strong, I can continue supporting them from afar and we can wear her down.

As if on queue her horn lights up again and suddenly a bright flash of light fills my vision, and I see a lightning bolt strike the guard closest to her, and it bounces to the next. It bounces again. Oh shit it’s chain lightning!

“DEXTERITY SAVE”

+4. 21.

Time resumes and the lightning bolt proceeds to bounce between 3 other guards sending them all flying before coming my way. I manage to scramble out of the way and the bolt hits the ground right next to me.

Looking around I see it’s just me, Twilight, Applejack, rainbow pony, and Nightmare Moon, and boy oh boy Nightmare really looks like she wants me dead.

Before she can make her dreams a reality I feel the wind knocked out of my chest and suddenly I’m outside the building. In fact, I’m about 40 feet in the air moving quickly back towards the library with the blue pegasus carrying me.

“Dude! That’s what I’m talking about! I don’t know what you are, but I know we’re on the same page. You were all like “Fire bolt” pew pew bwahh and I was all like “HI-YAH” with my Pony-Fu. I really like yo-”

“Where are we going?! I need to talk to the Princess and that bitch is the only one that knows where she is!” I decided to interrupt the speeding Skittles representative.

“Twilight said she had a plan, but that we needed to retreat and regroup. She teleported Fluttershy and Rarity out then she teleported herself and Applejack at the same time I grabbed you.” You know what? That’s agreeable, Nightmare doesn't seem to be chasing us even though we were clearly out classed so I’m going to just quietly concur with these ponies and see what Twilight's plan is.

“Alright then let’s hear what the plan is. We need to take this horse down so I can go home.”

Author's Note

Sorry for the shorter chapter. I had originally wanted this chapter to cover all the way through until either the start of the actual NMM fight or on a cliff hanger in the middle of the fight, but I'm getting writers block on how to handle the trek through the Everfree and this seemed like a good stopping point.

Main Quest - Get Home pt. 4

“So you’re saying in some old ruins in the woods we can find some trinkets that use the power of “harmony” and will allow you to kill Nightmare Moon?” I ask just to make sure I’m properly understanding this plan.

“Defeat. Not kill. You sound like you have no faith in this plan, but according to this book these same trinkets were what sealed her in the moon last time.” The purple unicorn known as Twilight responds.

“Even worse! I can’t get back to my dimension if we can’t find Celestia and Nightmare is the only one who knows where she is!”

“I thought you were supposed to know magic? We have tracking spells. We’d just need a guard to go to her room in the palace and grab something that belongs to her and we can find her. In fact they’re probably doing that as we speak. We really need to leave though, I can tell she’s severely weakened right now, whatever she did to the Princess combined with the fact that she was in a sealed state for the last 1000 years had her running on near empty and the longer we leave her alone the stronger she’ll be.”

“You mean that monster wasn’t even at full strength? There’s no way!”

“Then why didn’t she chase after us? Why let the only ponies that put up a fight get away?”

“.... I don’t know, but she’s way too strong and I don’t wanna see what she can do at a full power. So fine, let’s go.” I finally concede as we stand up and start going towards the door of the library.

Some context here, apparently Twilight was sent to town yesterday to make sure all the preparations for the celebration were coming along nicely after trying to warn the Princess that this celebration would mark the return of Nightmare Moon. Princess Incompetent told her that she’s crazy and needed to go touch grass.

Along the way Twilight met the 5 other ponies that are currently walking with us through the forbidden forest and those same 5 ponies are the ones that decided it being night time forever is a bad idea. Let me give you a quick rundown of these 5.

Applejack, orange pony blond “mane” I don’t wanna get talked to again for calling it hair. We already know her she’s the one that kept me in a barn and seemed somewhat nice. Turns out she’s actually pretty strong.

Rainbow Dash, the blue pegasus with a rainbow mane. She’s the one that joined me in my insane effort to beat up what I’ve now been informed is basically a capital g, God.

Pinkie Pie, a fitting name for a pink pony with a pink puffy mane. She’s pretty random, hype, and loud.

Rarity, another unicorn, I don’t really have a vibe from her yet. She’s pure white with a purple mane, but it’s pretty stylized. She seems nice enough?

Fluttershy, a yellow pegasus with a long pink mane. I’m pretty sure she hasn’t said a word so far, but if she did I was too zoned out to hear it. The poor thing seems terrified, but respect for trying to do the right thing. Hopefully she doesn’t hold us back.

“So what exactly is so spooky about this forest?” I ask to break the silence.

“It don’t work like the rest of Equestria, it ain’t natural.” Applejack replies.

“That literally doesn’t answer my question at all. I don’t know how the rest of Equestria works.”

“All the plants and trees grow on their own and the weather is completely random. It can be sunny for a few hours and then a huge storm comes through.”

“That’s not how the rest of the world works?”

“Colt you really don’t know anything, huh? The pegasi control the weather and don’t none of the plants grow without our earth pony magic.”

“Right. Sure. The big magic horse can apparently move the moon and sun, so I guess weather manipulation isn’t unbelievable.”

Applejack probably had something to respond with but before she can say anything Pinkie Pie starts literally vibrating. “Oooooh wow this is gunna be a doozy!”

I’m just about to ask her if she’s having a stroke when suddenly the cliffside we’re walking on collapses.

+6 Acrobatics. 18.

The only 2 ponies completely safe are the ones with wings, Rainbow and Fluttershy, the other 4 ponies start tumbling down the side of the mountain with me. Digging my ankles into the dirt to slow my descent I grab Pinkie Pie by the hoof and move her towards a root sticking out of the ground that she stops herself with. Rainbow Dash catches Applejack and Fluttershy manages to slow down Rarity enough for her to stop herself. Twilight on the other hand goes over the side and is hanging onto the edge for dear life.

“Shit, shit, shit. Hang on!” Right as I get to the edge her hooves slip and she starts to fall.

Well, I hope an 18 is high enough for this! I go over the edge and grab Twilight, holding her forehooves while I dangle upside down by my feet.

I start to feel her slipping and decide I’m going to try to throw her back up onto the ledge, but before I can I hear Applejack, “Ignis, just let her go.”

“Are you insane?! There’s no way she can survive that fall!”

“You have to trust me just let her go or you’re both going to fall, and then we can’t help.”

“Screw that!”

I bend my knees and start building momentum back towards the edge. Flexing my entire core I transfer the momentum into my arm and fling Twilight back towards the cliff. She safely lands back on the incline and Applejack steadies her, but my feet lose grip in the process and I fall into the void.

As I’m falling I see Rainbow come speeding into view and she banks down, barreling straight towards me. “I gotcha!” She yells.

She grabs me and we slow down to a stop, just hovering in the air. “Sweet save Rainbow, now just bring me back up.”

“I’m trying dude, but you’re really heavy. Last time I already had a lot of force when I grabbed you, but I’m trying to start from zero now and to be honest I don’t think I can bring you up.”

She really is breathing hard and it makes sense. I’m like 3 times the size of these ponies I’m amazed she’s even holding me up right now. “Alright Rainbow, just let me go. I’ll be fine. Twilight said I’m looking for a castle right? I’ll keep heading in the same direction from this lower path and we can regroup at the castle. You go with them in case something like this happens again, I can handle myself.”

Rainbow goes silent for a few seconds, it seems like she really wants me to stay with the group, “I don’t think I have it in me right now to bring everyone else down to where you’ll be, and I can’t bring you up so I guess I’ll follow your plan. Watching what you did to Nightmare Moon I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’m not dropping you though I’ll slowly bring you down and then go back up with the girls.”

She places me on the ground and gives me a wave before flying back up through the foliage to reconvene with the others. On one hand it’s good they were there because it means I didn’t have to use Feather Fall and managed to save a spell slot, but on the other hand I can move a lot faster through these woods without them constantly doing double takes and jumping every time a tree looks scary. Splitting up is probably the best idea.

This also gives me the perfect opportunity to cut loose and actually figure out how the hell my power works. Very unexpectedly, I see that tinge of blue overtake my vision indicating time has stopped, but instead of seeing dice I just see 2 big words.

“TUTORIAL START”

Author's Note

I know not a lot happened this chapter, but I wanted to post something and this seemed like a good stopping point.

Next chapter is already like 30% done, as in I have the outline completed and the END of the chapter written. I just need to fill in all the stuff leading up to the end. The end of the chapter is really good though so look forward to it :D.

I'd probably be putting out longer chapters more often, but I'm a bit addicted to a game at the moment... sorry :(

Main Quest - Get Home pt. 5

“TUTORIAL START”

I get a tutorial for this thing? Hopefully the tutorial is more focused on whatever this power is cause I’m already plenty familiar with D&D rules.

“Everything in this world is randomly decided, some call it Fate others name it Destiny. You’re able to slightly influence and bring visual representation of this greater power in the form of Dice. As an example try to examine your surroundings for any threats or for something of use, simply announce the skill internally or externally with magical intent behind it.” Time unfreezes as the feminine narration in my head finishes speaking.

Ah, so when I wanted to look around the Apple farm earlier the reason the dice roll appeared wasn’t because of me. Explains why it was Arcana instead of Perception. Well let’s give it a try then, Perception.

That familiar blue takes over my vision again as I see the dice roll and land on 8. Below the dice I see “Wisdom +2. Proficiency +2.” and the dice shifts and becomes a 12.

Time resumes and nothing really happens, but then I spot a cluster of gray mushrooms sprouting in the middle of some tall grass. I’m not sure why I didn’t notice it earlier but for some reason it’s like something is just drawing my attention to them now. As I slowly approach the mushrooms I hear the narration again in my brain.

“This is called an Active Check. You can opt instead to rely on passive mode in which case you’ll interact with the world as if you rolled a 10 plus your modifiers. Your passive Perception for example would be 14. If you choose to not actively check something you’ll perceive it as if you rolled that, but you can and should still actively roll. Sometimes however, the Universe will demand a roll from you regardless of if you have a skill in passive mode or not.”

Before I can even start formulating a thought on how I want to use this new information the dice rolls again.

CRITICAL FAILURE. +5 Nature.

This time the +5 doesn’t even change the number it just fades away leaving the words Critical Failure in bright red. Back to the world around me I look at the mushrooms and determine that I’m 100% sure these mushrooms are Rogue’s Morsel. I can use these to make healing potions later once I find an alchemical setup. I pick them up from the ground and put them into my bag for later.

With no further interruptions from the mysterious power I decide to start walking forward trying to continue in the same general direction we were walking as a group.

“You know aimlessly walking in real life is alot worse than I thought it’d be. I definitely prefer the DM just waving their hands and going “after an uneventful walk for a few hours you begin to see a structure in the distance blah blah” maybe I can try doing it the same way as an active check. Fast Travel! ….. Yeah I didn’t think that’d work.” At this point I’m just talking outloud to myself to try and make the time go by faster as I keep steadily moving towards the castle, atleast I hope I’m going towards the castle.

Before I can fall into a cycle of doubt and panic I see the dice roll again. 15, +4 Perception, 19.

The hair on my neck and arms stands up straight and I feel like something is bearing down on me. I stop instantly mid step, pull out my rapier, and start slowly looking around me when I hear it. Bush leaves bristling together to my right. I quickly spin to face the bush and ready my blade. “Whatever you are, come out now!” I yell.

INITIATIVE. 11, +4. 15.

The narration begins again, “In combat every action is taken in turns. The order in which every creature take their turn is decided by rolling Initiative, the highest number goes first. Once the tutorial has been completed you may choose to allow combat to happen in real time with no turns, but this is not recommended as there are almost no benefits for beginners. Good luck.”

Some amalgamation of wooden bark and branches comes speeding out of the brush barreling straight towards me. It’s moving fast enough that it’s almost a blur, but I can make out its canine-esque shape with 2 green eyes. It lunges directly at me and I try to block it from biting my neck by giving it my forearm. It was too fast I couldn’t even try to dodge.

It feels like time slows to a crawl as I see it’s mouth start to close on my arm and right before its teeth begin to dig into me, “SHIELD!”

A translucent bubble bursts outward from my core sending the wolf back to the ground where it’s now growling at me. Okay shield is active until my next turn so I should have 21 AC right now.

I take my empty left hand and make a motion with it over the blade of my rapier and as I do a purple energy almost like lightning goes from my hand to the blade, as I silently cast Booming Blade. Quickly following that I make a fierce stab towards the wooden wolf.

+4 Dexterity, +2 Proficiency Bonus, +1 Weapon Enchantment. 25.

I’m apparently fast enough that the wolf can’t react fast enough to side step me and the blade pierces straight into it’s wooden head. Time doesn’t stop but I see in the top right of my peripheral vision an eight sided die rolls in place before landing on a 3. +5, 8 Piercing damage.

I quickly withdraw the blade and the wolf makes some type of pained response, I decide to take this opportunity to run. If this is one to one for D&D I’ll suffer an attack of opportunity but the wolf still looks a little dazed from the attack I don’t think it can react.

I am apparently wrong as the wolf notices me turning away to start running and makes a lunge to bite my calf, but is stopped again by the shield. Phew, it missed again. Sure enough, after a few seconds I’m almost forced to a stop and I turn around to face the wolf. So, I guess this 30 feet away.

The wolf lowers its head which is now leaking a glowing green liquid and starts to run at me again, but after it starts to move it’s body is wracked with a purple lightning and it yelps. Booming blade baby, if you move 5ft after being struck you take 1d8 thunder damage. I see the same 8 sided die roll before stopping on 4. Okay assuming it doesn’t have any resistances it’s taken 12 damage, hopefully it’s tapped out now.

Turns out, the wolf is not tapped out as it resumes it charge towards me, this time I pivot and spin so that I’m not in the path of it’s wide open maw. However I fail to notice the creatures paw as it goes straight through my shield leaving 3 scratches across the side of my torso as it flies past me before it lands and spins around to face me.

The pain is instant and I can feel my face contort as I wince and grab at the wound. I see my health go from 21 to 12. Gods above that burns.

My shield drops indicating it’s my turn once again as I decide to respond. My anger flares up again and I close my hand into the shape of a finger gun again and yell, “FIRE BOLT!”

I immediately regret firing my fire bolt as I see two dice appear with word “DISADVANTAGE” under them. In my panic and anger I forgot firing a ranged attack while in melee distance imposes disadvantage, fuck.

16. +6, 23. Damn I got lucky this time, but I’m pretty peeved I missed out on a natural 20 due to my mistake. There’s spark at the end of my finger gun’s barrel that turns into small ball of fire before flying away and slamming straight into the wolf.

8 Fire Damage. The entire wolf bursts into flames as it falls on its side and flops about a couple of times before going completely still. The glowing green light gone from its eye sockets. Dead.

I collapse right onto my ass and start breathing heavily. I didn’t expect to take this much damage from 1 graze of it’s paw. I look around in my bag and see 2 small red vials. This must be the passive roll taking effect as I instantly realize these are both potions of healing. I pop the cork off and down the red liquid as quickly as I can and time freeze as I see two little pyramid shaped dice roll in front of me. 1 and 1. +2, 4. I curse at the bad roll and watch my health counter in the bottom left of my peripheral vision change from 12 to 16. The burning pain on my side lightens and the scratches instantly scab over with a very light green glow. I gotta get some leather that covers my entire torso instead of just my chest and back.

After collecting myself for a few minutes and letting my heart rate go down I continue to march forward. My path eventually narrows up and I notice far above me there’s an olden wooden bridge, silently thanking the powers that be that I don’t have to walk across that. Suddenly I notice a cloud that looks almost exactly like the night sky fly over me and up towards the bridge, and I pull out my blade ready for the worst. The cloud continues up and out of sight and after waiting for a few seconds it seems like nothing is going to happen, so I continue marching on.

After I walk under the bridge I notice a collapsed stone wall up on the ledge above. “There’s the castle! Hopefully I’m not too late.” After a few athletics checks I heave myself up onto solid ground and look straight ahead to see what must’ve been a massive structure in the past, but is now a collapsing ruin with two large rotted wooden doors.

Perception.
15. +4, 19.

There’s no hoofprints in the ground, so I think I made it here first and as I walk up to the doors I don’t see any trip wires or other traps. Slowly opening the door I see a big mostly empty room, save for some type of stone statue…. Monument? I’m not sure what it is but it looks almost like a constellation system with one large moss covered orb in the middle surrounded by five smaller stone orbs that each have different symbols engraved on them.

I walk up and place my hand on one of the stone orbs and think Investigation. Immediately I can tell these objects are magical in nature and I think they might be those trinkets Twilight was talking about, but from what I can tell there’s only 5 here and she mentioned 6. Seeing as I’m the only one here I decide to make myself useful and start taking the orbs off the monument. If everything is already in place when they get here it should help a little.

Right as I place the last orb on the ground the doors slam open and a strong gust of wind knocks me clear across the room, now on the complete opposite side from the doors. That same starry night mist flows in and materializes in between me and the monument with the trinkets on the other side of the monument.

“You really decided to come here alone? Has Celestia really neglected to properly teach this nation about the past and who am I? Do I not strike fear into your heart?” The mist fully formed now and I realize it’s her. It’s Nightmare Moon.

I notice a flash in the top left of my vision and gulp as my main quest has been updated. The main quest is still Get Home, but there’s a sub-quest bullet under it now.

“Survive.”

Author's Note

Quick ret-con, in the scrap vs NMM in an earlier chapter it should've been turn based. In my head it was turn based as I wrote it but then I decided to do everything as if it was turn based but then put it all together and have it happen all at once which is technically speaking how actual D&D combat is meant to be narrated. I might switch between these depending on the number of combatants purely due to how long turn based combat takes to write. I think in the future if it's narrative combat I'll switch to 3rd person and for turn based combat I'll keep it 1st person POV.

Also don't think this story is back and kicking, I was randomly inspired to write this chapter but there is no backlog, I don't have any future chapters sitting in draft. If I decide to keep updating this story again it'll probably the same way I used to do it. I'll write until I don't want to anymore and then I'll round it off and end the chapter and upload. All my chapters are written in 1 session I try not to stop in the middle of a chapter so I usually keep writing till I'm sick of it or if the chapter is in a nice spot to end on.

Anyways thanks for reading, sorry I'm not active!

Main Quest - Survive

“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.

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.

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.

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!

Level Up!

Hello darkness my old friend…. I’m sure the ponies managed to take care of everything. Hopefully I’m not passed out for too long, I’d really like to talk to Celestia.

Defeated CR24 Nightmare Moon
+62,000 XP / 7 = 8,857 XP

LEVEL UP!

Level 3 -> Level 5

Level 4: Ability Score Improvement, New Cantrip, Two New Spells

Ability Score Improvement: Improve one stat by 2, two stats by 1, or choose a Feat!

Hmmm, I could get DEX to 20 and CON to 16, but I think I’m pretty alright with keep CON as an odd number. Let’s go with a half feat and pickup something that gets me to 20 DEX.

“Feat.”

Select your feat.

“Elven Accuracy, Assign +1 to DEX.”

New Cantrip Unlocked! Please select a new cantrip to add to your existing cantrips.

“Shocking Grasp.”

Please select 2 new spells to add to your spellbook.

This is gunna be a tough one. I’d really like to add Misty step to my defensive options, but I also really want Scorching Ray…. Shadow Blade is a must for sure though so lets go ahead and select that one. “Shadow Blade.”

On one hand I am trying to be a fire focused bladesinger, so scorching ray would fit more thematically, but misty step is super good for those “oh shit” moments. I’ll just roll a d4, 1-2 Misty Step, 3-4 Scorching Ray. Roll 1d4.

Scorching Ray it is. “Scorching Ray.”

Level 5: Two new spells.

Please select 2 new spells to add to your spellbook.

Alright it’s not even up for discussion, I’m taking Sending to see if I can contact my family, and Fireball because I wanna cast Fireball. Who needs a better reason?

“Fireball, Sending.”

New hit point maximum total: 32.

Alright and then lets setup our new prepared spells… Dragon’s breath is out for sure, so is Sleep. Without being able to see hit points I don’t really know when I can cast Sleep. Let’s add in our new spells and here’s my new prepared spells.

Cantrips:
Booming Blade
Control Flames
Mage Hand
Shocking Grasp
Firebolt (Elf Racial Trait)

1st Level:
Absorb Elements
Burning Hands
Feather Fall
Magic Missile
Shield

2nd Level:
Invisibility
Scorching Ray
Shadow Blade

3rd Level:
Fireball
Sending

I’m pretty happy with this, we can use Shadow Blade to generate advantage for elven accuracy and we’ve got our 2 main stats maxed to 20 now.

Level Up Completed!

Quest: Save Princess Luna. Completed!
+3000 XP.

Level 5: 12,757/14,000

Due to level up, body will receive a simulated Long Rest.

Hit Points: 32/32
Spell Slots Restored!
Class Features Restored!
New spellbook configuration confirmed!

“And then he was all like woosh and was moving super fast, he completely overwhelmed Nightmare! I’m telling you Princess it was so cool!” Sounds like Rainbow Dash is talking about me, I think I’ll just keep laying here with my eyes closed. Nothing wrong with a little snooping.

“While that does sound like quite the riveting tale, it’s not what I asked young Rainbow Dash. I need you to specifically recount both instances of the bladesong. While I’m thankful for his assistance in curing Luna, if he truly has the same bladesong as the ones in the long forgotten past then he will need to come back to Canterlot with me for now. That hospital is likely better suited to treat him anyhow.” That’s the same voice I heard when I was dying. That must be Princess Celestia! Let’s go ahead and chime in.

Sitting up slowly I interrupt the ponies, “I have no objections to going with you Celestia, but I don’t need a hospital. In fact I feel better now than I did a few hours ago.” I roll my right shoulder, then my left, and reach down to touch my feet to emphasize that I have full mobility.

All 8 ponies just kinda stare at me a little stunned, so I opt to just keep talking. “I’m also happy to explain the bladesong. What happened at the very end there was called Songblade Harmony, something about harnessing a heartsong to unleash the true power of a bladesong? It felt much different compared to my typical bladesong, exponentially more powerful. I don’t think I could do it again though, I can’t recall the feeling that led to it. Also, shouldn’t you know what that bladesong is? I was only able to use that power because of you. I was unconscious and I saw you shackled inside the sun and you told me to save your sister, remember?”

The princess seems to have overcome her initial shock, finally replying, “Although it was for only a short period of time everything that happened while I was sealed is a blur. I think I vaguely recall something like that happening, but all I did was bring you back from the brink of death. Harmony herself must’ve intervened and forced a heartsong to occur. What you’re describing is slightly different than the ancient art of bladesinging that we know, but it’s close enough that I’m still going to ask you to accompany my sister and I back to the capital. We’ll have a room prepared for you in the castle.”

“Perfect let’s get going then, I’ve been trying to have a conversation with you since I got here. Are you able to perform magic capable of traveling dimensions or planes? I would very much like to go home, nothing personal against all of you. I just have a lot of things left unfinished and people waiting for me back home.”

Celestia’s face scrunches up for a second before she tells me, “I’m afraid I’ve never heard of something like that. We do have an artifact that allows for dimensional traveling but its bound to a specific parallel of this world. It’d only be useful if that’s the one you’re trying to return to, but I can’t imagine it is.”

It feels like my throat is closing up, and I can feel my heart pounding in my ears. “And what are the odds there exists a spell or magic that you’ve never heard of?” Trying to hold on to a glimmer of hope.

“I consider myself quite versed in all the magic Equestria has to offer, but it’s not impossible that something like that exists. It’d have to be quite ancient though, and there’s also the fact that I could be forgetting a spell.” I’m not sure if she could hear the desperation in my voice and gave me this answer out of pity, but this is good enough for me. I still have some hope.

“Oh, let me try and send a message home. I can at least assuage their worries.” I said that, but I actually have no clue if this will even work. There’s a few different problems here, number 1, I’m not from the feywild, I’m from earth. This could cause problems as Sending requires me to be familiar with the creature I’m targeting. Another problem though I don’t even know what plane Earth is on, as far as I’m concerned the Feywild isn’t even fucking real. This doesn’t necessarily matter for Sending, but if they can even send me “home” where the hell am I going to end up.

Enough panicking, I pull out a copper wire from my pouch and sit down on the ground. Holding the wire in both hands I pull it taut and bring it up to my mouth. Alright I’m gunna cast this and target Matt, I was going to target my mom but if I tell Matt this is Sending he’ll know he can respond to me. “Matt, sorry I never showed up with your dice, but I got isekai’d into a land of talking ponies, this is Sending so respond please.” Boom, 25 words exactly. I know I didn’t really convey anything important, but the most important thing here is that he can respond. If he responds then I know I can make it back somehow.

I sit there in silence for a few seconds with the ponies just staring at me. The seconds drag on more and more. Pinkie Pie decides she’s waited long enough, “Well? Is something supposed to happen?”

I release a huge exhale I didn’t realize I was holding and stand up. “Yes, something was supposed to happen, but it didn’t. Guess it doesn’t matter if that spell exists here or not. I probably can’t go home.”

My voice is probably the most monotone it’s been since I arrived here, but I continue, “Even if the spell doesn’t exist here I know there is a spell that allows one to Plane Shift, so I was just going to study night and day until I could cast it myself. Guess I don’t need to do that anymore either. Alright princess, I’m ready to go whenever you are.”

This time I know for certain I’m being pitied, I can see it in their eyes and the way their ears are pressed against their heads. I’m not sure why but being pitied is pissing me off so I decide to turn away and start walking towards the exit of the ruins. “I’m going back into to town, come find me when it’s time to go.”

One of them must’ve tried to chase after me cause I hear Applejack, “Let him go, he just needs some time alone right now.”

Should I try Sending again and see if I can communicate with someone familiar to the original owner of this body? No, there’s no point. Also holy shit I’m starving. I slow down to a walk as I swing my backpack around to my front, let’s see if I’ve got some rations in here. Perfect looks I’ve got 10 just like I’m supposed to.

I arrive at the edge of the forest right as I finish my food and decide to wander around while I wait for the others to return. Pretty much all the ponies give me a wide berth as I wander around, which I don’t really blame them. I’d probably be the same way if the roles were reversed.

I decide to just head back over to the library where Twilight told us about the artifacts. Upon opening the door I hear what sounds like a little kid call out from upstairs, “Twilight! I finished cleaning the kitchen, I’m just reading upstairs if you need me.”

It’d probably be awkward if I just didn’t respond so I yell back, “I’m not Twilight just here to grab a couple books, Twilight should be back soon though.” After a few seconds of silence I shrug and start scanning the book shelves. Let’s see if I can make heads or tails of whatever magic system they use here. Neither Twilight or Nightmare used incantations for their spells, and Nightmare seemed really confused when I cast magic missile so it’s probably a different system entirely. It’d be cool if I could utilize it as well though. Really just anything to keep my mind occupied on something else. I spot a book titled “Your Magic and You, an Aide for Magic Kindergarten” and crack it open.

It feels like it’s been at least an hour or so since I started reading this, and I worked through it pretty quick. There’s a 40 character alphabet for a runic language and unicorns can use their thoughts and their internal mana supply to channel the runes through their horn similar to a spellcasting focus. I got all of that in around 20 minutes, but the rest of my time has been spent trying to recreate this Light spell it describes in the book. The instructions were pretty basic I just need to channel a single rune and I’ll create an orb of light for as long as I supply it with mana.

I’m not sure what the problem is though, I can feel mana being pulled and accumulated into my hand but I have no clue how to channel the rune. So far I’ve just been picturing the rune in my head as clearly as I can and I think I almost had it once. I hear the door open and then Twilights voice, “Having trouble? That’s a lot of mana you’re storing in your…. Hoof? What are you trying to do?”

“Hand, I’m trying to do the Light spell it says in this book, but I can’t channel the rune.” I reply not bothering to look up.

“There’s a reason our horns are on our head. You’re visualizing the rune in your head, but the mana is in your hand.” She says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. As she sits down next to me she continues, “If your hands are how your magic works you probably won’t be able to use our magic.”

“Oh, is that it? Hang on.” If that’s the case I just need to form the rune in my brain then move the already shaped mana to my hand instead of trying to shape it after it’s in my hand. This time the mana forms into the rune instantly, but it takes a second or two to move to my hand. Probably not practical in combat, for now. Once it does reach my hand though I start pushing mana through it and out of my palm as an orb of light plops into existence right over my hand.

“Well it’s a little too slow. If a spell uses more than 1 rune it’ll definitely be too slow.” I ponder aloud.

“Ignis, it took me 3 days to cast that spell for the first time.” I glance over and she looks stunned.

“Well, moving the mana felt natural to my body. My current theory is that my incantations shape and channel mana the same way your runes do. If that’s the case then this isn’t really impressive the only thing I had to learn was the rune, all of the mana manipulation came to me like muscle memory.”

A completely new voice chimes in right next to my head, “Personally we still find it moderately impressive.”

“Holy shit!” The light orb vanishes and I lean away from the voice as fast as I can, almost head butting Twilight. Looking over I see what I assume to be Princess Luna. She somewhat resembles Nightmare, but she’s smaller. The moon on her backside is what gives it away though, “When did you get here?!”

“We all arrived at the same time, you just never bothered looking up.” She replies with a smirk. How the hell can a horse walk that quietly? Looking around I see Celestia is here as well.

“Time to go then?” I ask while looking at Celestia.

“It would seem so, unfortunately. As much as I’d like to spend some more time with my student I’m afraid I’m needed in Canterlot. Normally we’d use a carriage but due to the circumstances we’re going to have to teleport.” She says as she begins walking outside.

“Is Twilight not coming with us?” I ask.

“Ah you must’ve still been unconscious, no. She’s going to stay here and send me weekly reports. It seems she doesn’t want to leave her new friends, and to be honest she has desperately needed some. So, I’ve allowed her to stay. Come a little closer for the spell.”

I oblige and take a few steps closer to her, Luna huddles in as well as Celestia’s horn lights up. I hear a loud pop and my vision goes white as we teleport to Canterlot.

Author's Note

This was originally going to just be a chapter going over the level up process, but once I started writing that dialogue with Celestia I felt like that was a bad ending point so I decided to just make this full fledged chapter.

Also for Shadowblade, I'm ruling that Shadowblade can be used with Booming Blade. My source is this tweet from Jeremy Crawford, consider it a Rules as Interpreted change, or consider it homebrew, who cares haha: https://x.com/JeremyECrawford/status/1327132714013782017

Enjoy!

Side Quest - Prove Yourself pt. 2

17, +5 Initiative. 22.

Perfect. I start off by sprinting towards Shining with my rapier held out to the side. Let’s start this nice and simple. I can work my way up depending on how strong he actually is. I see his eyes following me as I start to turn left, so I shift the momentum onto the back of my foot and spin around to quickly go after his right side. We agreed I wouldn’t stab him so I just aim to slash down the right side of his barrel.

14, +9. 23.

Right as the blade is about to start sliding over his coat a flash of magenta appears and forms a sphere around the unicorn. It causes my rapier to violently recoil away and I jump back. Okay so even with a 23 I can’t get through that shield. That shield felt…. different though I wonder if it’s more so like a wall of force or something that has its own hit points. It felt unusually solid.

I don’t get much more time to focus on that as a longsword the same shade as his shield suddenly pops into existence next to me. Spiritual weapon? The sword does a few spins before it attempts to slice me in half vertically. I wait until it’s about half way down before I attempt to swipe at it with the rapier in an attempt to parry it.

The longsword is deflected backwards a couple feet before it spins around again and makes a slash at my side. Because I just swung my rapier to the right and I have nothing in my left hand I’m wide open to the attack. I try to jump away from it, but that only helps prevent it from cutting deeply.

Hit points: 24/32.

I almost used my shield but they said they wanted to test my swordsmanship so I assume I’m not allowed to use magic. I’ll ask, “Hey am I allowed to use magic that supports my swordsmanship? You used your shield but I wasn’t sure if I could use mine.”

Shining and Luna share a look for a second before Luna answers, “Of course, we should’ve been more clear before we started. Feel free to use all of your capabilities that you determine are related to your sword play.”

“All of them? How good are your healers?” I respond with an eyebrow raised.

“I doubt they will be needed but they were quite capable 1000 years ago, so I can only imagine they’ve improved somewhat since then.”

“Alright, well don’t say I didn’t warn you.” I smirk and sheathe the rapier.

Let’s upcast this to 3rd level. “Edalb wodahs” I hold out my hand in front of me and my body begins chanting. It sounds like 10-15 different people's voices are coming out of my throat all at the same time and whispering over each other. A cloud of black begins to form from all the nearby shadows of the tree’s, the fence, a few of the spectating guards, and starts to swirl around in my hand before solidifying in my grasp in the vague shape of a short sword.

Alright that’s my last 3rd level slot, but I didn’t want to hold back. Hopefully this doesn’t kill Shining, if I can just get through that shield I’m sure I’ll only need to hit him once. I finally notice the looks I’m getting from my opponent and the spectators. I glance around and notice some of the spectators are looking slightly afraid as they whisper between each other, and even Shining has his brows furrowed as he glares at me. Luna’s reaction is unreadable, but if I had to give it my best guess I’d say she finds this interesting.

I don’t want to waste anymore time, so I begin to channel booming blade through the shadow sword and blast straight at Shining. Aiming at his neck the blade hits the still present shield.

19, +8 to hit. 27.

This time my attack doesn’t violently bounce off the shield but I don’t break through it either.

1. 6.
14, +5. 19 Psychic damage. 6 Thunder damage.

My attack slightly bounces off the shield, but as it does the shield begins to form several cracks, large and small. Shining winces a bit before giving me a serious look and I turn around to see his floating longsword making a stab at my chest. Two can play at this game.

Shield!

My own mostly transparent shield erupts from my offhand and the spiritual weapon bounces off it. I would’ve liked to bladesong and increased my AC, but I decided to gamble on the shadow blade being strong enough to end this in one go. Hopefully my shield holds up to his assault.

The longsword quickly recovers and slashes violently at the shield.

Hit points: 13/32.

Concentration Check.

18, +2. 20.

His spiritual weapon passes through my shield this time and gives me deep gash across my chest. This time stinging enough to make me drop to 1 knee and grasp at my chest.

“That’s enough for now, I’ll get this documented while Princess Luna escorts you to the medical wing. I’ll be by shortly to ask you some questions…. mostly about that dark magic you’re using.” Shining says as he looks down at me. The cracks in his shield have slightly closed up.

“We’re not done yet. How can this be the conclusion of the test when I haven’t even used my bladesong?” I ask him, genuinely curious. Is he that concerned about my shadow blade that he’s ending this early? Or is he looking down on me thinking I can’t take another attack.

After a small pause Luna chimes in, “Agreed Captain. Continue.” Shining looks over at her and she gives a small nod and he looks back towards me.

I close my eyes and flourish the shadow blade once more.

Bladesong.

When I open them again I see the familiar motes of light rising from the ground around my feet, carrying soft notes from a violin and chords of a piano. It’s not the True Bladesong, but this should still be enough.

AC: 17 , +5. 22.

Wasting no further time I charge directly at Shining once again, this time making use of my increased speed I jump straight up, coating my blade in purple wisps of thunder, and try to use gravity to add to the force of my slash on his shield.

Wait, 3d8 + 1d8 + 5, if I crit I’m potentially doing 74 damage here. Will that kill him? I freeze in mid-air and see the 20 sided die start to roll.

Natural 20. Oh shit. I just had to say something, huh?

Time resumes and I instantly shout with my voice full of panic, wide eyed. “DODGE!”

I crash through his shield and as he registers what’s happening it’s too late. The shadow blade phases through his head. Luckily it’s not a real physical blade and is just an illusion. Hopefully this doesn’t hit him too bad.

6, 6, 3. 15, +24 Crit +5. 44 Psychic damage.
10 Thunder damage.

Blood leaks from Shining's ears as he falls to the ground holding his head with his forehooves while hissing in pain with his eyes screwed shut. I instantly cancel the shadow blade and drop to my knees and catch him before he falls completely. “Don’t move, don’t move! If we move him right now he’ll suffer the secondary effect from my booming blade. It’s the thunder energy you see my attacks give off.”

The spectating guards all jump the fence and run straight at us, and luckily by the time they reach us the booming blade has worn off. I say luckily because they didn’t heed my warning at all and just instantly pulled me off of him while two of them helped Shining to his hooves and they helped him start walking towards the castle.

I stare up at the sky while the guards pin me down and they start asking for restraints, but Luna interrupts them. “That will not be necessary. We instructed him to go all out did we not? He was a bit stronger than we anticipated, but we shant hold ill will towards him for following our demands.“

“Of course your majesty, but that dark magic-!” The guard tries to retort, but she doesn’t get to finish her complaint.

“Release him. We will not say it a third time.” Luna orders with somewhat of a glare this time. Wow, that pure authority was…. nice.

With a few grumbles the guards stop holding me down and I stand up, brushing off my cloak and pants. I look over to Luna and she continues, “Come, you did not escape unscathed either. We will have your slashes treated in the medical bay.”

She turns and begins moving towards the castle as I jog and catch up to her before replying, “Thanks for not throwing me in the dungeons back there. I didn’t realize there would be such a negative reaction to my magic.”

“Yes, our subjects have always had problems with dark magic users. Mainly because Celestia dislikes it, but we are proficient enough with the school to know that your spell is not dark magic. We are curious as to the details of it though. After the both of you are treated we will reconvene with ‘Tia and discuss our observations.”

The rest of the short walk was in relative silence as I contemplated the consequences of what happened today. Luna and I turn a corner and walk into what looks to be a medical area. It’s a somewhat large and open room with around 30 beds, 15 spaced out on each side. Across the room I spot Shining laying down like a loaf of bread as he talks to a nurse and one of the guards that brought him in here.

As we approach their conversation stops and the guard next to the bed glares at me while Shining speaks up, “Phew, dude that shadowy sword thing is brutal. If I knew it attacked the mind I’d have cast mental reinforcement.”

Another nurse comes over and guides me to the bed opposite of Shining and starts channeling her magic. I see a green light begin to shine on the gashes on my torso as I respond to the Captain, “Yeah… my apologies in my defense I did double check what I was allowed to do, but I guess I still could’ve given you a warning. Now that I think about it I really should’ve said something because I know that spell wasn’t on the reports from the Nightmare Moon encounter.”

Luna decides to join the conversation, “Yes, while we take a majority of the blame here you are correct to acknowledge your own faults. That actually brings us to the first question we have, why didn’t you use either of the spells you showcased today? Surely you were not holding back for us? You’d be foolish if you held back despite how close to death you came.”

Well shit. How do I even explain this? Yeah so I have this ability that lets me accumulate experience in a quantified number form and after acquiring enough experience I can level up. When I leveled up I learned both of those spells as well as a couple others. Yea, no that just makes me sound like a lunatic. Time to perform some bullshittery!

“I had been studying those spells, and while I understood them I lacked the capacity to actually cast them. After the whole Nightmare Moon thing I noticed my mana pool had increased exponentially, and my body became sturdier.”

19, +1 Deception. 20.

Shining made some notes after my explanation, but Luna just squinted at me. “You are not telling us everything.”

I sigh. “I was trying to explain it in a way you’d all understand, I think if I gave you the full truth you’d either not believe me or you’d become confused at what I describe. I’ll try to explain it fully, but I’m not doing it until Celestia is here. I don’t want to explain it more than once, and I must also request that it’s in a more private area.”

Everything I said is true, but I’m mostly making these demands to give me time to think. Should I really do this? I can just cast invisibility and get out of here. No, I can do that if things go south, but for now I still want to explore their magical archives and spell libraries.

Whatever pro or con I was about to come up with next is interrupted by the guard that accompanied Shining here. “First of all, it’s Princess. Celestia. You continue to disrespect her majesty and I’m sick of allowing it! Secondly, who do you think you are to make demands here? You will answer the Princess, now.”

Before I can even respond Luna turns to the mare, “While the Sergeant is somewhat correct, I will agree to waiting for mine sister. We assumed Tia had allowed you to forgo her title, but if she has not then you would do well to address us properly.”

“Nuh uh.” I reply with a deadpan look.

“W-What?!” Luna is utterly flabbergasted.

“I said nuh uh, I don’t wanna. The only beings above me are the Archfey and the Dark Maiden herself, Eilistraee. Respectfully of course, I don’t believe all of you to be below me, but at best you are only my equals.”

When I mention Eilistraee I see Luna’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. Has she heard of my goddess?

The random guard looks like she’s about to pop a blood vessel when a familiar serene voice chimes in from the doorway, “I also don’t think you are below me Ignis, but if you had a preferred title I would still address you as such. However, I can’t say I dislike being referred to so casually. Now why don’t you follow me to one of my sitting rooms and I’ll read the Captains report to catch up while we walk.”

Celestia floats the report away from Shining and turns around. As a sign of good faith I give Luna a half bow and make an “after you” gesture with my arms and after she passes me I look over to the nurse and give her my thanks before following them out of the room.

Author's Note

Heyo sorry for the long wait! I am currently in the middle of moving across the country and haven't really had time to sit down and crank out a chapter.

That being said, I think I've decided what direction I want to go in for now and next chapter you'll get an idea of the next major arc for the story. Thanks for the comments as always, and tbh I apologize. I'm not really that happy with this chapter, but I think for it being a transition/in-between chapter it's fine. Still need to work on getting into the minds of the characters and writing smoother dialogue. Luna in particular is annoying to write dialogue for.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

Side Quest - Prove Yourself pt. 3

Wow is it hot in here or is it just me? Seriously, I feel sweat on the back of my neck and my hands. The answer is that it’s just me though, honestly I’m so nervous right now I feel sick. Celestia wasn’t finished reading the report when we got to this small meeting room, so we’ve just been quietly drinking tea while waiting for her to finish the report. My main concern right now is that I’ve seen her brows go up and furrow in confusion about 3 times now and she muttered “dark magic?” After that she put up a bubble around herself and Luna and they’ve been talking for a few minutes now. If they were a more humanoid form I could at least read their lips but right now I’m just trying to think of a solid enough explanation to not get tossed in the pony equivalent of a loony bin.

Do they even have those here? Ok no, focus. How do I explain leveling up? Should I try and I mean really try to explain my actual situation here? I’ve never really tried to fight or resist the compulsion to stay in character, but maybe it’s easier if I just start from the beginning. It’d be really helpful if they had some D&D equivalent here, maybe they do, I’ll ask and if they do I’ll start from there.

Celestia’s horn lights up again and a minute or so later Shining Armor joins us in the room and sits next to me, with the sisters across from us. Once he sits down Celestia lowers the sound bubble, “First things first, what exactly is that sword of yours? The report mentions dark magic, but Luna insists it’s not and I trust her knowledge of the arcane even if it might be slightly outdated. However, both of us still want a full explanation on the true nature of that shadow sword.”

Well hopefully they don’t want the nitty gritty details cause I have no fucking clue how magic works. “It could be dark magic, truthfully I have no clue. Where I’m from we didn’t have such things as “dark” magic. Our spells are broken up into several Schools. Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation. That shadow blade spell falls under the Illusion category. I say we don’t have dark magic because although necromancy, for example, used to be widely looked down on as inherently evil nowadays we acknowledge that no spell is good or evil. Any magic can be used for good and any magic can be used for evil regardless of the school or nature of the magic.”

Shining looks a little dizzy, I think I dumped a bit too much information onto him at once, but Luna is looking at me with a small smile and Celestia has a very neutral face on. Hard to read but she responds, “I see. In that case could you show me the runic makeup of the spell? For us, dark magic is akin to one of your “schools” it'd be very easy to tell just from seeing if it contains 1 or 2 runes in particular.”

Well I’m fucked. I start scratching the back of my head as I look up at the ceiling and quietly mutter aloud to myself, “Ah, how do I explain this? None of my magic uses runes.”

I look back down and see the reaction I was expecting to see. Mixture between shock and confusion. Celestia quickly lights her horn, “I’m going to use that same truth spell from before. Can you please repeat that line?”

I feel my face contort into a look of resignation. Yeah let’s just tell them everything after I answer this. “None of my magic uses runes.”

All 3 ponies look at the sun princess’ horn for a few seconds as if they know for sure it’s going to light up. But, it never does. Finally Luna just quietly goes, “Huh. That’s a new one. Are you sure this spell works sister?”

“I have never once seen someone lie successfully under this spell. The fact that it only lets me activate the spell after I inform the target that the spell is being channeled makes it uniquely powerful. Harsh restriction in exchange for more power.”

I decide to just chime in here and start my story. “Do you all have a game called Dungeons and Dragons? It’s a game played in the theater of the mind where one person out of the group is the Dungeon Master and they explain the setting and scenario while the other players act out their own fictional characters. Typically the actions and attacks of all the characters in the game are based on the result of a 20 sided dice.”

Celestia hums in thought, but to my surprise Shining is the one that answers me, “It’s not called Dungeons and Dragons but we have a game called Ogres & Oubliettes. The description almost exactly matches up though.”

“Perfect that makes this easy then. I’ve been only halfway honest with you all, and for that I apologize. I’ve only withheld this information because I wasn’t sure I could explain it in a way that didn’t sound crazy. Originally I’m a race known as Human, and I come from the planet Earth not the Fey Wild. Ignis Ferrum is my Dungeons & Dragons character. Visually I didn’t originally look much different from this, I just had rounder ears, an uglier face and shorter hair that fits closer to black than silver. Also humans only live for around 100 years.” I pause and take a sip of tea. All this talking has my throat dry.

Luna is about to ask a question when I just hold up my hand as if to say Hang On. Putting down the tea I continue. “All the information I provided about Ignis Ferrum is true though. However as far I knew Ignis was a fictional character that I created and wrote a backstory for. The reason I’m telling you all this is because this is the reason my magic has no runes. To be honest I’m not really even sure how my spells work at all. In my original human world magic isn’t even real. All of my spells are from the game and my body responds to my will. When I want to cast a spell I just will it in my head and my body speaks the incantation and performs the movements for the spell on its own. Kinda like muscle memory I guess.”

Taking a deep breath I finish my rant, “This is also why I was able to show off magic that I was unable to show off in those castle ruins. After the struggle against Nightmare Moon I “leveled up” which allowed me to learn a set number of spells for each level. Just for your information I went from Level 3 to Level 5.”

Luna and Celestia both just have a far off look in their eyes, I can tell they were not mentally prepared to get mind fucked today. Luna mutters, “Tia. I don’t care what you say. That spell is broken.”

“I’m starting to agree.” Celestia quietly responds.

Shining on the other hand looks super excited for some reason? “How did you know you leveled up?”

“When I was unconscious the information kinda just flowed into my mind. Like words floating in a void then it told me what I unlocked at level 4 and had me choose my new spells and feats, and the same thing for level 5. Oh! That’s also why I was perfectly fine, it said that because I leveled up it would simulate a long rest for my body which in the game heals you to full health and restores your spells.”

“Does your D&D version use the spell slot system as well?!” Shining is fully nerding out right now. Both princesses just look completely done with this entire situation.

“It does yes, and before you ask, yes when I swing my sword and cast certain spells I also see a dice roll right before the attack. I see the dice rolls for the damage as well.” I think I’ve talked more in this conversation than I have in my entire life leading up to this.

“That’s so cool! Aw dude I can’t say I haven’t fantasized about being my O&O character forreal and go on an actual adventure!”

I give him a sad smile and remind him, “Would you still do it if it meant leaving this planet forever with no possibility of return? With nothing or no one to accompany you?”

At this his face twists up into a look of regret, kinda like he just bit into a lemon. “No. Definitely not, I’m sorry- wait so what’s your real name?”

I open my mouth to respond but nothing comes out. I close my mouth and furrow my brows in confusion before opening my mouth again. This time I try to scream my name out as loud as possible, but nothing happens. I decide to try one more time, but this time I don’t scream I just flex my neck and try to squeeze the words out, “Lucas.” It finally comes out I take a deep breath and continue. “Sorry, it’s Lucas. However, if I’m going to stay in this body and I really have no way of returning that we know of. I think I’d prefer to go by Ignis still, symbolically Lucas is dead. I wonder why it was such a struggle to say my name.”

Celestia chimes in this time finally looking a bit more composed, “A long long time ago there was a case where a pony’s body was possessed by the ghost of his neighbor, and I remember in the report it was mentioned that the possession also struggled to speak their real name. It might be that instead of being transformed into Ignis Ferrum you instead possessed his body.”

I don’t respond to her theory right away. In fact I’m silent for several seconds in deep thought. “But, Ignis is a fictional character. Not only that he’s one I created.”

“It could be that you subconsciously created the character from a metaphysical link you share with the original body. Perhaps the both of you share the same soul for your respective dimensions? Multi-dimensional theory has always speculated subconscious recollections and retellings of nearby dimensions.” Celestia just nonchalantly throws that out there in between sips of tea.

“Maybe, but more importantly does that answer all your questions?” I ask.

“Hmmmm, for now I believe that’s fine. I can’t think of anything else at the moment. Quickly changing topics because I want to wrap this up and go get dinner before it’s too late. I have a few ideas I wanted to get your feedback on.”

“Shoot.”

“So, with your current capabilities and skill set I have two offers for you. Feel free to say no to both if neither of them sound appealing to you. One, I’d like to send you back to Ponyville to accompany my student Twilight and the other Element bearers as an extra layer of security. Two, if you’d rather stay in Canterlot my sister and I would both like to offer you the position of Luna's personal attendant. You’d also be extra security for her, but the reason you’d be doing both is because in a few weeks time Luna needs to travel to the north and gather up her thestrals to start building up the Night Watch branch of the guard that she used to have in the past.”

She continues, “And we don’t really have any maids that feel comfortable going to the thestrals territory alone with Luna. We were going to have the second in command for the guard to accompany her, but after talking it over while waiting on Shining Armor to get here we both decided to offer it to you instead. You can also choose to live wherever you want and explore finding a purpose in our lands, but both of these options seemed like good fits for you.”

That feels like a concerning amount of trust for a stranger who just arrived on this planet two days ago, but I guess helping save the world from eternal night earns you some trust. “Can I think on it for a bit? I’m still settling in metaphorically speaking and don’t really know enough to decide where I think I fit in right now. I am curious though, what would I do once we return from the thestrals territory?”

Luna answers this time, “That would depend on how we feel after the excursion. You could continue to serve as my personal attendant or assistant, you could perform only personal knight duties, you could even join the Night Watch or just be a civilian and wander the library. Maybe go to Ponyville? It would all depend on how both of us feel when we get back.”

“And how long would the trip be?”

“Two weeks minimum, but it could take as long as a month. You would be compensated obviously.”

“I’m going to say a soft yes on accompanying Lu- Princess Luna,” I give her a small nod as I say her title and she responds with a smile. “But give me a few days to make sure that’s what I want. Anything else?”

Celestia finishes her tea and stands up before answering me, “Yes, while you were out my prediction came true. Word of Lunas return has spread to the neighboring kingdoms already and they’ve requested a global summit. It’ll be in two weeks and last for 5 days, after that we’ll return here and after a few days of rest is when Luna plans to depart for her thestrals. If you decide to start filling the role as her personal attendant I’d like for you to accompany us to the summit as well.”

“Sure, I’d probably ask to go regardless since you mentioned I might come up as a topic for discussion.”

“Excellent, in that case feel free to join us in the dining hall again for dinner and if not we’ll see you around some other time.” Celestia says as she trots out of the room.

I follow the 3 ponies out of the room but instead of going right and following them I go left and speak up, “Thanks for the offer, but I’m going to explore for the rest of the night I think. Am I allowed to go down to the city?”

“Of course, you’re not a prisoner!” Celestia responds with a laugh. “Enjoy your exploration.”

Oh! I just thought of something I turn around and run around the corner to catch up to them, “I actually want to do some shopping, could I maybe get a small loan or stipend? I need some ink and ideally some more clothes but I’ll probably need to custom order those.”

A small pouch pops into existence right in front of me and I reach out to catch it, I hear what sounds like coins jingling in the pouch. “Thanks!”

I’m walking away now, but I hear Celestia in my mind, “The pouch also has the card you’ll need to gain access back into the castle when you return. Try not to lose it please.”

Perfect, I was actually wondering about that. I figured worst case scenario I’d remind the guards I’m the only bipedal furless creature walking around that’s as tall as their reigning monarch. And that they saw me leave an hour earlier, but this solves that problem I was leaving for future me.

Now let’s go into the city and see if I can find some charcoal, incense, and herbs. I’m pretty sure I saw a brass brazier somewhere around here earlier, but just in case I can’t find it again I’ll check if any of the stores I go to sell one. Hopefully all the stores I need are still open? I’ve got daylight but not for much longer, seems like it’ll be sunset soon.

Author's Note

Heyo, still moving. Well I'm moved but my shit still isn't. I've got a little lap desk for my laptop now though so it was easier to type for this chapter. Hopefully people don't mind the direction I'm going now, I felt like going to Ponyville and doing all that stuff has been done 1000 times already and also just re-writing my own version of each episode would be super boring too.

I figured focusing on Luna for now I can maybe tie in some of Ignis character backstory and maybe even work in his Goddess since it's all related to the night/moon. Just thematically works ya know?

Not sure if I'm entirely happy with revealing EVERYTHING to the princesses but I know when I'm reading alot of HiE I get somewhat frustrated with the characters that are overly paranoid and feel like they can't reveal anything even if it's to an extreme. Also I think I skimmed over their reaction to the information a little too fast, but that's one of the problems of doing 1st person POV/narration. I might start next chapter in 3rd person POV on the ponies and expand their reactions/thoughts to the new information.

Anyways thanks for reading!

Side Quest - Don't Spend the Entire Session Shopping

“Hey, do you know if these coins are made out of gold? Or are they just gold plated?” I’m about to go into an office supply store when I notice a pony sitting on a bench that hasn’t noticed me yet. Since everyone else slowly drifts away when I try to approach them I decide to ask this unfortunate soul the question I forgot to ask the guards when I was leaving the castle.

“Coins? You mean bits?” He starts to answer me but when he turns to look at me he gets properly startled, “By Celestia’s mane, what the buck are you?” He jumped so hard he fell off the bench, haha.

I resist the urge to laugh at the poor stallion and give him a deadpan stare, “Elf. Before you run off screaming can I please get the answer to my original question? It’d be immensely helpful and all you ponies keep avoiding me.”

The guy slowly gets up and stammers out, “Y-yes they are solid gold.” Wow he actually answered me, and there he goes. For some reason I’m not offended, but I really didn’t expect an answer. This is good for me though as now I should be able to easily fulfill the conditions for the ritual I want to do before I go to sleep tonight.

I keep walking in my original direction towards a store with a quill on it’s sign, apparently they should sell charcoal. The 2 guards at the castle entrance mentioned looking for a quill store because charcoal is mostly only used for rubbings. They didn’t know where to buy incense though, so I’ll ask this shopkeeper and with any luck, they’ll know.

There’s a bell chime when I walk through the door and I hear someone yell from the other side of the store, “Welcome to Drill’s Quills! Be right with you!”

I start making my way towards the back where I believe the mare’s voice is coming from and reply as I walk, “Ah don’t worry about it, I’m coming to you.” I’m in a small hurry so I’m just going to approach her and save myself a minute or two. At least that was the plan, but right after I finish talking the universe decided it was time for me to make a roll.

Perception Check
19, +5. 24.

Out of the corner of my eye all the way at the end of the aisle I see some charcoal. “Oh, never mind I actually just found what I was looking for!”

After a brief period of silence the mare replies, “Wonderful! Just ring the bell at the front when you’re ready to check out.”

“Will do.” I start making my way down the aisle when I notice something, there’s no prices on any of the products in this store. That’s…. Weird? Is that normal around here? Wait, the castle is in this city and I bet if they have royalty they have nobles as well! They must leave the products unmarked so they can upcharge rich schmucks that come in here. I wonder….
Manual Insight Check
12, +5. 17.

I’m pretty sure I should only have to pay 3 “bits” for this charcoal. Let’s go see if my price gouging theory is correct.

I ring the little bell on the counter and quickly an orange unicorn mare comes around the corner, she’s got silver hair like me! Nice to put a face to the voice. “Heya! You find everything okay? Name’s Drill Bit by the way.” I’m surprised she is showing zero reaction to my alien form. This feels nice.

“Oh yeah found it pretty much instantly, just gettin the charcoal today. I didn’t happen to see any price markers on your shelves, so what’s the damage?”

“Damage? No, there's no damage. Our prices are just always shifting so much cause the importing is inconsistent so we try to match the price for our supply. We figured no point in putting up price tags if we just gotta change them every week.” Ah, guess that slang doesn’t work here.

“No sorry I meant what’s the damage to my bank account, haha. I’m uhh not from around here so I’m unfamiliar with prices.”

She squints with one eye and moves her mouth to one side of her face while looking me up and down a couple times before finally speaking, “That’ll be 12 bits!”

Oh this bitch. She must think I’m some foreign diplomat using a government funded- wait I am government funded. No, that’s besides the point! It’s the principle of the matter! She didn’t even try to hide that she was eyeing up my net worth from face value. “That seems a bit high, I was thinking more like 3.”

Persuasion Check
9, +1. 10.

She looks a bit shocked but I’m not sure if it’s because I accurately guessed the price or because she’s genuinely offended and I just gave her a huge low ball. She responds quickly though, “Alright, alright I’ll admit 12 was a bit high, but I’m barely making any profit at 3. My real price is 5.”

Ah, my insight check must’ve given me the price for her to buy them. That or my persuasion roll was too low for her to give me the real price. Either way, I’m happy with 5. I drop the coins on the counter and as I’m dropping the charcoal into my bag I ask her, “By the way, would you happen to know where I can get some incense and herbs?”

“You a shaman or something? If you take a right out of here and go down to the fountain and make a left you should see the natural remedies store. It’ll have a pestle and mortar on the sign. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ve been enjoying Equestria so far!” She seems nice. I’ll probably make this place my regular shop for ink when I start scribing spell scrolls. Oh shit wait I need magical ink for that.

I quickly speak up before she gets out of my line of sight, “Oh wait, miss, do you happen to have magical ink? Perhaps imbued with mana or one that you ponies use specifically for writing runes?”

“Yes sir, but we keep that in the back. If 12 bit charcoal had you worried you don’t wanna know how much the ink is.” My face twists up in annoyance. I guess that’s to be expected. I'm pretty sure even in the game the ink for spell scrolls was expensive as all hell.

My trip to the natural remedy shop is unfortunately not quite as smooth as the quill store. I had to calm down the clerk and convince them that I’m a guest of the princess. Ended up showing him the card Celestia gave me for when I come back to the castle later. After that though it was very smooth. I got a couple of incense and some herbs for 9 bits. Now I’m just about back at the castle, and I didn’t see any places that sell braziers. Hopefully there’s one sitting around here in the castle, I’ll probably ask the guards.

I walk up to the entry gate for the castle and ask the unicorn guard to my left, “Hey do you know if there’s any brass braziers sitting around the castle grounds?”

“There is but why are you asking, day court has been closed for a few hours now so public access is restricted until tomorrow morning. Please return then.” Oh it’s a mare this time, guess the shift changed while I was out?

I reach into the bit bag and pull out the access card Celestia gave me, it’s a small black rectangle with a crescent moon raised up 3D style in the middle with a few golden stars. On the back it has my name in pretty cursive silver letters. “Sorry I should’ve shown you this first, but I didn't realize the shift had changed since I left. Figured if you were the same guard that I talked to when I was leaving a few hours ago I’d just be let in hassle free.”

The unicorn mare grabs the card out of my grasp with her telekinesis and squints at it suspiciously. She flips it over and looks over it quickly before floating it back to me. “What’s this supposed to be? You think I’ll let you in cause of this? I’ve never seen this in my 8 years of experience.”

The normal pony next to her gives her a nudge with his forehoof and points at the card, “Weren’t you listening at the shift brief? Her Majesty’s sister has returned and with her return the night guard is going to be stood up again for the first time in 1000 years. They showed us the Badges for the lunar guards and it looks just like that one! Anyways sorry about that sir.” He steps to the side and opens the gate.
I just offer a wave of my hand and reply with, “Don’t worry about it, if it’s brand new then it’s an understandable mistake. But, back to my original question! Is there a brass brazier somewhere on the castle grounds? I swear I saw one earlier when Shining Armor was testing me, but I don’t remember where I saw it.”

The mare decides to rejoin the conversation, she gives a small cough in embarrassment, “Apologies sir, yes the training ground is littered with the braziers, we use them for lighting and to mark off the different areas. Just go through the front door and take a left, go way way down and you’ll see an exit door on the right that should put you out near the barracks and training ground.”

The gate closes behind me after I walk through and I call out, “Thanks for the help! Stay safe, both of you.”

Let’s go perform my first ritual.

After about an hour I’ve finally got the summoning circle drawn on the ground using the charcoal. The leftover charcoal is sitting in the brazier with the herbs, 3 incense are lit on different areas of the circle. I sit down and hold my palms out towards the brazier and begin to chant. It sounds like nonsense, definitely not English, but I think I get the jist of it. After 10 minutes of chanting the incense reach the end of their sticks and go out, the fire also magically extinguishes.

I look around a bit in confusion wondering if my autopilot muscle memory magic thing messed up the ritual. I don’t have to wonder for too long though as a bat flies out of the brazier and begins to fly in circles around my head. I can’t help but crack a huge smile in excitement as I hold out my hand and extend my index finger for the bat to hang on to.

It does 1 more lap around my head before hanging upside down on my finger while staring at me. Oh no I have to name it, I’m terrible at naming things. Dracula? No, too lame. Alucard? That’s a little better but still no.

My struggle is interrupted when I hear a deep voice in my head, “Master, please just stop. I already have a name, it’s Callisid.” Oh right I can communicate telepathically with the familiar.

“Nice to meet you Callisid! I’m Ignis Ferrum and I’ll be honest I’m surprised this worked. As far as I can tell this plane isn’t connected to the standard planes of Faerun.”

I’m not sure how he pulled it off but somehow a bat manages to look confused he responds, “If you had tried summoning a new familiar that would likely be the case, but master I’ve been your familiar for well over 50 years. Has something happened to your mind Ignis?”

……Huh?

Author's Note

Couldn't think of a good title, so decided to just make a joke that references every D&D group I've ever been part of. Without fail almost every time we go shopping it somehow ends up taking the entire 4-6 hour session to do the shopping. I don't know how we always manage to get so sidetracked just shopping around.

The bombshell drops this chapter! This has strong implications for the true origin of Ignis' physical body.

I'm not sure where I found the motivation write another chapter the day after the last one but hey I'm not gunna complain about it. This one is a little on the shorter side, so I'll try and make sure I still release a chapter within 7-8 days of this one. :P

Thanks for reading!

A Mother's Love

“Ignis, you know before you were born they told us that on the outside you’d either be pure royalty in appearance or pure drow. Unlike the half breeds with other races the product of two different elven tribes is supposed to be all or nothing.” The silky smooth voice of a drow priestess calls out to a young boy while brushing his hair. The boy is sitting in her lap on a stool, the both of them facing an ornate mirror. To their left is a big stained glass window with shades of blue and green diamonds scattered across the glass. The room lit by the large full moon set out on the horizon.

“But then why do I have silver hair like you used to, mother?” Ignis stops looking at the mirror and glances up at the woman brushing his hair. Her long hair spilling over her shoulders is dull gray, she has bags and wrinkles under her bright red eyes as she smiles down at her son. Her almost obsidian purple skin seemingly glows in the moonlight.

“Like I told your father, it’s a blessing from the Dark Maiden. Every time you find yourself in a strong wind or an enthralling dance you can catch a glimpse of that silver hair and be reminded that She is always with you, and so am I. Come now it’s time for the ritual little starshine.” Ignis climbs off his mothers lap and looks up at her as she stands up and straightens her long white dress that hangs from her shoulders by 2 straps and runs down to just above her knees.

The woman grabs an emerald green elegant longsword with swirling runes running along the blade leaning up against the wall next to the door frame and sheathes it on her waist before grabbing Ignis by the hand and exiting the temple with him. As they stroll across the field and into the nearby forest Ignis looks at the back of his hand and flips it over to his palm, just simply observing his pale light skin tone, a stark contrast to his mothers. “Is father going to be at the ritual? He looked upset this morning before we left the manor.”

She gave him a comforting smile as she looked down at him, “Of course he’ll be there. He had a few meetings this morning, but he’d never forgive himself if he missed this.”

The two slowly walked through the forest as the moon continued to rise further up into the night sky. Eventually, they come across a small circular clearing that seems almost unnaturally bright compared to the rest of the dark woods. There are 6 elves at the edge of the clearing waiting for them. Two of them are also drow women in similar white dresses, next to them is a shorter drow girl, Ignis’ older half sister. The one that stands out is the tall elven man flanked by two slightly shorter men in butler uniforms. The tall man has piercing green eyes and long red hair that almost looks like it's on fire. He has a look on his face that Ignis can’t quite place. Almost like he’s in pain, he offers a sad smile to Ignis and holds out his hand.

“There you are Zarra.” The flame haired elf embraces his wife and gives her a small kiss before looking down and grabbing the boy's hand. “Did you behave for your mother?”

Ignis nods but doesn’t say anything. His eyes furrow in confusion as he tries to figure out what’s happening. His father is being more gentle than normal and the assistants look somber, but the drow women are smiling as they offer their greetings and talk to his mother.

After giving the fellow priestesses hugs and greetings Zarra turns around and squats in front of Ignis. “You’re going to be an excellent bladesinger in the future Ignis.” She purses her lips and with glassy eyes she offers another smile to the boy. “My little miracle….” with a pause she runs her hand along his cheek and gives him a kiss on the forehead, “I love you. I always will.”

Zarra then slowly walks out into the clearing and as she approaches the center she holds out her hand and thinks how beautiful the moonlight is tonight. She unsheathes her emerald longsword and throws the sheath out of the clearing towards the group of elves before grabbing the blade and planting the hilt firmly in the ground. The tip of the blade pointing straight up at the moon.

The other two nameless priestesses, and Ignis sister, walk out into the clearing, each holding 1 candle. As they cross the border of the clearing and enter the bright magical moonlight the candles catch fire and begin to burn. The 3 women crouch and place the candles down forming a triangle around the buried sword. By the time they stand back up a beautiful voice starts to sing in elven. Ignis looks around for the source of the voice but it’s like it’s coming from everywhere all around him.

He looks back towards his mother and sees all 4 women looking up at the moon. After a few seconds the two priestesses each grab a strap off of Zarras shoulder and as she lifts her arms up into the air the two pull up and remove the dress from her. They hand the dress to Ignis’s sister and she neatly folds it up as the three of them walk back towards the main group at the edge of the clearing. Zarra stands fully bare in the clearing, alone.

She holds out her arms and looks up again at the moon with her eyes closed, completely entranced by the song. The singing gets louder and as it does Zarra begins to slowly dance around the blade. Delicately stepping between the candles as she twirls and jumps around. The moonlight seems to narrow, stopping just a few inches from the circle Zarra is dancing.

After a few seconds the swirling runes on the blade of the sword light up bright white as they start to bleed. The blood runs down the sword before suddenly turning and floating off the single edge of the blade. The scars along the naked limbs of Zarra glow a similar white and the blood begins to spread out in the air and slowly float into the glowing scars.

Slowly with each lap she dances her skin begins to tighten up, wrinkles disappearing. More laps and her dull gray hair starts to shine again, a bright silver now. A few more laps and the singing voice is suddenly joined by 3 more and they begin to harmonize beautifully. Zarras husband is wearing a face of pure shock as he gazes upon her. The sword stops bleeding and where once an older looking woman was slowly twirling and stepping there is now a stunning young woman skipping and jumping. Her eyes cleared of bags and crow's feet, her breasts regaining their old perky appearance. Her smile brighter than the religious light she is dancing in.

Ignis doesn’t notice but tears are silently flowing down his fathers face as he tightens his grip on the boy's hand. Suddenly, a 4th voice joins the harmony but this voice is slightly louder and much more familiar to both of them, it’s Zarra. She sings and her entire body begins to shine the same bright white light.

She continues to dance and sing, but slowly her feet and lower legs become translucent. As the dancing continues more of his mothers body becomes translucent and starting from her legs up she begins to scatter like dust, shooting off beams of moonlight in every direction.

Ignis starts to panic, his eyes wide. What’s happening to her? He yells out to her but nothing escapes his mouth, he’s silenced by the overwhelming song. He starts to run out into the clearing but after two steps he’s snatched up by his father who pulls him up into his chest and holds him. He keeps trying to scream at his mother to stop dancing but he can do nothing. His face is covered in tears and his throat is sore, but he continues sobbing as he watches his mother disappear before his eyes.

In her final moments she notices her son being held by her husband. The boy is reaching out towards her with both hands as he silently sobs. Her heart starts to shatter as she watches him try to speak to her. The last thing Ignis sees of his mother is her eyes squeezing shut as they begin to leak tears as well.

But, after she’s completely gone and the light begins to narrow and dim and the song is quietly ending he feels a pair of familiar, invisible, soft hands wrap around his head. He once again feels his mothers lips against his forehead and as the feeling begins to leave him he hears a whisper right up against his ear,

“Ai armiel telere maenen hir.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I open my eyes to a blurry night sky, I hear someone sniffling to my left and I sit up to face the source of the sound. I see Luna laying on the ground a few feet from me wiping her eyes and I wipe my own eyes with the back of my hand, but the tears keep flowing against my will.

“At the end, what did that phrase mean Ignis?”

With a bitter smile I look down at the ground and pull my knees into my chest, “You hold my heart forever.”

Author's Note

Short chapter. This entire sequence randomly hit me like a train when I was reviewing the original outline I had for Ignis' backstory from way back when and I felt compelled to stop everything and type this one out before I lost it. Probably not as good as I think it is, but I'm very happy with this chapter. Even if it's one of the shortest ones so far.

Thanks for reading q.q

Ignis Ferrum

Author's Note

Dialogue heavy chapter and it's also quite messy. I tried to make the D&D related wall of text more easily digestible, but not quite so easy.

Thanks for reading!

Ignis Ferrum

“How much of that did you see, Luna? I’ll be honest, I'm a bit offended, feels like an invasion of privacy.” I ask Luna. We’re both still sitting in the grass at the castle training grounds, and from the looks of it I’d wager I was out of it for a few hours. It was barely sunset when I started the ritual, but the moon is already half way through its orbit across the sky.

“All of it. We were informed someone used the night watch identification badge to enter the castle grounds. They were under the impression none had been issued yet and informed us just in case. They told us you were looking for a brazier and should be on the training grounds. Originally we were just going to ignore it, but after some consideration we decided to come find you to ask if you’d like to observe the raising of the moon. Alas, you were unconscious by the time we got here.” Oh so I’m just not gunna get an apology for the NSA behavior? That’s fine, I guess.

“Well, I would like to see that next time for what it’s worth. Did you have any other questions about what you saw? Might as well get this out of the way now. That dream, no…. that memory leaves me with my own questions, so let’s make this quick.” I wipe my eyes again and rapidly blink them to clear out the blurry vision. Stupid emotions.

“Are you sure? It’s clearly upsetting you.” I glance at her and give her a quick nod. “Very well. Since you seem to be in a rush, we will just ask them all at once. Who is the Dark Maiden? What was that dance? What was going on with that sword, why did it seem to…. Bleed? Most importantly, if that was a memory and not a dream then… are you possessing that body?” Ah, that last one is definitely the most important.

Before I begin I reach into my backpack and take a few gulps of water. I know I’m about to talk alot, and I hate how dry it makes my throat. “The Dark Maiden is Eilistraee. That woman, my mother apparently, was a faithful cleric. The dance that we watched is called the Last Dance, appropriately named, when worshipers of Eilistraee reach the end of their natural life without perishing in battle they are rewarded with a song from the Dark Maiden herself. The singing we heard was that Goddess. The faithful worshiper begins to dance to the song and their age regresses to their peak and they disappear to join Her in Her realm. That sword… I’m fairly certain I know exactly what it was but I need to confirm something before I feel comfortable talking about it. What I can say for sure is that the blood we saw was originally my mothers blood.”

Nope, couldn't make it all the way through, need more water. “Apologies, dry throat. For context, there's another ritual for the Dark Maiden where a new sword is blessed by Eilistraee. To acquire that blessing the owner of the new sword will plant it in the ground with the tip facing down, and they will dance around the blade. As they perform the dance they’re meant to move against the blade and draw blood from each limb onto the sword. If She gives Her blessing the sword will glow silver and absorb the blood. For the next 3 months it won’t rust or dirty and it can even harm creatures that typically are immune to physical damage. The strange part is that her Last Dance included her blessed blade. Let me meditate for a few minutes and confirm my theory.” I close my eyes.

“It was a beautiful art. If we had not cried at the tragedy of a child losing his mother we surely would have shed tears purely in awe for the ritual. To see a group of creatures that cherished and worshiped the night…. I am happy to know that such a thing exists. Even if it is not our night. You also worship that goddess, yes?”

Sigh. What part of meditate did Luna not understand? I crack open one eye and look at her, “I heard you but I’m afraid I need full concentration right now. Give me a few minutes of silence please.”

“Callisid are you there? I have some questions about my past.” I ask internally, hoping to reach my familiar.

“Yes master, shall I come to you?”

“No that’s fine. Listen, did my mother own a Moonblade? Also what was I doing before I was whisked away to this place?” I really hope he gives me the answer I want to hear for both of these questions.

“Yes! That was indeed a Moonblade. Your father was supposed to own one as well, but it was lost 4 generations ago. Your great great great grandfather was asked to help with some grand task in the nine hells, but he and the sword never returned. You were preparing for the ceremony to test if you were worthy to inherit your mothers Moonblade, but you fell ill one day and never woke up.” He sounds a little somber at the end.

“Callisid listen to me. With the most accurate measurement you can give me, how long was I in a coma?”

“Twenty years Ignis. Although it wasn’t a coma, the healers described your condition as something akin to braindead. They said you were spiritually absent, nothing in your body or mind was wrong from what they could tell. They said it was similar to cases they’d seen where someone was using astral projection and they lost the tether to their bodies.”

I open my eyes wide. I can feel my heartbeat in my ears. I try to take another sip of water but my hands are shaking so bad I barely get a drop. Most of it just spills on the ground. All our theories were wrong, I’m not in a new body based on my own creation, I’m not possessing the body of Ignis. I am twenty years old. I…. I am Ignis Ferrum.

I look around and see Luna looking at me with a concerned look on her face. She’s definitely saying something to me, but I can’t hear it. I try blinking several times and give myself a couple of soft slaps to my face with both hands.

“Ignis….Ignis….Ignis! LUCAS!” She finally shifts from concern to panic and has now grabbed me by the shoulder. By the time I finally calm myself down enough to hear her over my own heart she’s calling me by my human name.
“Sorry. I just…. I just got the answers I was looking for, but I have even more questions now. Let me answer your last two questions and then I need to go. The reason she had the blade in her Last Dance is because that blade was special. It’s known as a Moonblade, a legendary weapon that is passed down through certain Elven bloodlines, although most have been lost to time. Since that sword was one of a kind and needed to be passed on to the heir she needed to undo the Sword Dance that bound it to her. By placing the blade in the ground hilt first instead of tip first she reversed the flow and reclaimed the blood she placed in it from the original dance.” I pause for a second to catch my breath before continuing.

“And as for your last question. That exact question is the reason I’m in a hurry and also quite shook to be honest. The ritual I performed with this brazier was to summon a familiar, but the familiar that I summoned has apparently been my familiar for half a century. I just found out from him that apparently the last thing Ignis did before ending up in Equestria was fall unconscious for 20 years. They said nothing was wrong with him physically, but he had lost his soul. I’m 20 years old, Luna. I don’t think I’m possessing this body, I think this is my body.”

Luna looks at me for a few seconds, and I frown at her. She’s giving me pity. “What are you going to do now Ignis?”

What am I going to do? I wanted to go find out more about myself. How was my relationship with my father, what happened to my sister? If I was going to have a ceremony to test my worthiness for the Moonblade that implies my sister either wasn’t worthy or something happened to her.

Let me answer Luna before she tries shaking me again for being unresponsive, “I’m not sure. I have an idea, but I can’t do it here. Can I borrow a chariot and go to Ponyville? I’d like to go tonight, I need to go into those woods where we fought you.”

“We are still not quite at 100% magical capacity, but we should be able to teleport you there. Just take the train back or have my sisters pupil send us a dragonfire letter when you’re ready to come back. How long do you expect to be gone and why are you going? We have the summit in 13 days.”

“I’m not sure how long I need. Maybe 3 days, maybe a week? I’ll make sure to come back 2 days before the summit at the latest to have time to discuss any concerns or plans. I’m ready to go.”

“But why go into that monster infested forest?”

“Oh I forgot to answer you, my apologies. I’m going back because there are monsters. I need to level up.”

“Hm. You mean get stronger? Very well. Good luck, Ignis.” With that she dips her head a bit and with a flash I find myself at the border between the Everfree and Ponyville.
“Quests.”

I command outloud and I’m greeted by this strange power once again, there are more quests than I thought. How long have these been here?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QUESTS:

Active Quest - Prove Yourself: Gain the approval from the royal sisters and pass their tests. - QUEST COMPLETED. Claim Rewards?

Main Quest - Get Home: Find out the truth about your appearance in Equestria and work with the inhabitants to return home. IN PROGRESS.

NEW! Main Quest - Recover your memories: You’ve discovered the truth of your identity, but still know very little about yourself. Find a way to recover your memories. IN PROGRESS.

Main Quest - Tutorial: Complete the tutorial. QUEST COMPLETED. Claim Rewards?

Side Quest - Summon Your Familiar: Acquire the materials needed to perform the Find Familiar ritual and summon your familiar. QUEST COMPLETED. Claim Rewards?

Side Quest - Make Your Choice: You’ve successfully proved yourself, but now you must decide. Will you become Luna’s personal attendant, join the element bearers on their adventures, or go your own way entirely. IN PROGRESS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well this is unexpected. I don’t even recall half of these quests but whats more is apparently 3 of them have been completed and I have to manually claim the rewards? That’s kinda dumb.

“Claim all pending Quest rewards.”

Prove Yourself, COMPLETED. Rewarded: +3,000 Experience. CHOOSE: One random level 3 spell scroll, two random level 2 spell scrolls, or 3 random level 1 spell scrolls.

Oh shit this is actually a tough choice…. Let me look mentally go over all the level 1, 2, and 3 spells and see if any of the levels have a spell I just need to have. Hmm alarm would be nice, especially out here in the woods alone. Distort Value maybe…. But I’d feel bad, Identify could be huge. I can’t really think of anything else for level 1 spells but I’m probably forgetting something.

Alter Self would be nice as well, I could actually disguise myself as a pony that way if I wanted to. Borrowed Knowledge could be useful, Blur as well. Oh the correct choice has to be level 2 right? Hold Person, Misty Step, Mirror Image, Knock there are so many nice utility level 2 spells that I’d like to have, but couldn’t justify taking them when I leveled up. There’s definitely a few level 3’s I want as well but I can just get those when I get level 6 which should be right now, I’m at 12 thousand and some change and only need 14 thousand for level 6. If I’m getting 3,000 right now that’ll put me over.

“Two random level 2 spell scrolls.”

Awarded: 3,000 Experience, Magic Mouth and Aganazzar’s Scorcher spell scrolls.

Tutorial, COMPLETED. Awarded: +1,000 Experience.

Summon Your Familiar, COMPLETED. Awarded: +1,500 Experience. See Luna for the secondary reward.

What? Luna? What the fu-

LEVEL UP! Simulated Long Rest completed. HP, spell slots, and class features restored.

Experience: 18,257/23,000 Level 6

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wizard - Bladesinger: Level 6.

New Features: Extra Attack, 2 New Spells.

Extra Attack: When you take the attack action you may now attack twice instead of once. In addition, one of these attacks may be substituted for a cantrip.

Choose two new spells:

“Misty Step and Haste”

Misty Step and Haste added to spellbook, please choose and configure which spells in your spellbook will be prepared.

Well, I still don’t need to prepare any Ritual spells. Preparing a spell means I can actually cast it, but rituals are different. I can perform ritual casting by reading the spell book; the only difference is that it adds significant casting time to the spell, usually 10 minutes. So, what am I not really using very often? Burning Hands can go, I’ll replace Burning Hands with Misty Step and then I’ll just add Haste to the list. Since I leveled up I can prepare 1 new spell for free, my maximum amount of prepared spells now is 11 + cantrips.

Configuration confirmed. Current Spellbook is as follows. (Prepared spells will have a *, cantrips don’t need to be prepared.)

Cantrips:

Booming Blade

Control Flames

Fire Bolt

Mage Hand

Shocking Grasp

Level 1:

Absorb Elements*

Burning Hands

Comprehend Languages (Ritual)

Feather Fall*

Find Familiar (Ritual)

Magic Missile*

Shield*

Sleep

Level 2:

Dragon’s Breath

Invisibility*

Misty Step*

Scorching Ray*

Shadow Blade*

Level 3:

Fireball*

Haste*

Sending*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Time finally resumes. I got so caught up in the quest rewards, I forgot I was supposed to learn Remove Curse instead of Misty Step or Haste. Fuck! I know Remove Curse is how you reverse someone who had Modify Memory casted on them, but there’s no guarantee it would’ve fixed my memories. Level 7 I’ll have to take it though.

Well, I only need 4,750 or so experience for level 7 so let’s start hunting. I barely did anything during the tutorial and that got me 1,000 experience so I reckon the wooden wolves have to worth like 500 maybe 700? I didn’t DM very often but I know creatures with a challenge rating 3 were worth 700. I was level 3 so I could see that being a CR3. Let’s look around.

Perception.
1, +5. 6.

This is definitely a forest. There are some trees. Great well maybe I can find some tracks or something.

Nature.
17, +5. 22.

There’s a snapped branch here and the ground to the west of the branch all the leaves are shifted in such a way that it looks like something went west. A few feet away from the branch I see some weird looking paw prints in the ground. I bet that’s what I’m looking for! These are also going west though… are the paw prints stalking whatever stepped on that branch?

It’s been an uneventful few hours. I ran into two of those wolves about 30 minutes apart but now that I have extra attack the fights were trivial. I can attack once, attack again with booming blade, then use my bonus action to cast booming blade a second time thanks to my illusionists bracers. So, overall I’m doing 5d8 + 18 damage every turn assuming I land every blow and if I recall correctly the wolves only had 20 Hit Points in the tutorial. Basically what I’m saying is, I killed them both times in 1 turn.

On the not so bright side they were only worth 450xp a piece, so I’m at 19,157/23,000 now. On the super extra not so bright side, after taking down the most recent wooden wolf I found a different track in the ground. This one I don’t recognize at all, but it’s bigger than the wolf marks. Maybe a bear? I rolled a 7 on my nature check so I have no fucking clue. Honestly my gut says its most similar to a cat paw, but it’s too big. Perhaps a panther? I’m going to follow it though, we’ve shifted somewhat and now we’re heading slightly more towards Ponyville.

It’d take a while to get back if I went in this exact direction, so it’s basically almost perfectly parallel with the border of the forest, but slightly angled towards Ponyville. I wonder how deep I am. I’ve still got a couple hours before sunrise, so let’s keep marching on for now. I assume the monsters aren’t as active in the day so I’ll likely make camp at sunrise. I might also just go to Ponyville at sunrise. I don’t really want to sleep in the woods if I can help it. I march on.

Okay it’s only been 30 minutes but I found the source of big paw print. It’s a fucking Manticore! WHY DO THEY HAVE MANTICORES HERE? It’s not exactly like the manticores I’m used to, but its very similar. The only difference is that these manticores have a scorpion tail instead of a flat-ish tail with several spikes. The scorpion tail implies it has poison, so I wonder if it also classifies as a CR3 creature? Stop rambling! The real problem here is that the manticore is chasing a Zebra!

I quietly recite the incantation for Shadow Blade and think as hard as possible that I want to upcast it to a 3rd level spell slot. That’ll make the damage 3d8 per hit instead of 2d8. Next I shout, “Inveniam Viam” (Shortened phrase in Latin that translates to “I will either find a way/path or make one) and misty step in front of the zebra.

I look at the zebra in their eyes and shout “Keep running! I’ve got this.” The zebra’s eyes widen a bit before they nod at me and continue to run past me. Right as they do, I get to see the all too familiar phrase.

ROLL FOR INITATIVE.
18, +5. 23.

“Sorry big guy, but I need you gone.” I lean forward and pull my shadow blade back and then run straight at the manticore. Before it can even do anything I’m already half way through my swing at it’s head.

10, +8. 18. Hit.

The swing strikes true and the shadow blade quickly passes through the manticore.

6 + 8 + 4 + 5 = 23 Psychic damage.

If this thing has a similar stat block to the normal D&D manticores I just did 1/3rd of its HP. I quickly flick my wrist and bring the shadow blade closer to me before quickly waving my hand over the blade and casting Booming Blade. I then quickly swing for the manticore again with the shadow blade that now has streaks of purple lightning.

20, +8. 28. CRITICAL HIT.

Well I’ll be damned, today is my lucky day! The beast is just roaring in pain and this time instead of slashing through the manticore with the illusionary blade I stab straight forward plunging the blade in between its eyes before twisting it and slashing sideways.

5 + 3 + 5 + 5 (Dex) + 24 (Crit) = 42 Psychic Damage
5 + 8 (Crit) = 13 Thunder Damage

The manticore staggers back a few steps as its roars of pain quiet down some. Suddenly blood starts pouring out of its nose and eyes, and its front left leg collapses as it drops down to its knee. Brutal, I was hoping that would kill it so it didn’t have to suffer after having it’s mind shattered but it looks like it’s still barely hanging on. If it was a D&D Manticore it’d have died from that, they only have 68 HP and I’ve done 78 damage. Well, my bracers are glowing which means they’re ready to cast Booming Blade again for my bonus action.

I pull up my blade ready to finish the beast off, but I freeze. Why can’t I move? Oh I used Shadow Blade then waited a few seconds and used Misty Step, but combat started basically right after I misty stepped. Put simply, Misty Step was my bonus action. I can’t finish the beast off this turn.

I keep my blade up in a somewhat defensive stance as I glare at the manticore. It gets back up and charges at me, and almost immediately after I see the purple sparks crackle all over it’s body before a loud crack of thunder booms out. Booming Blades secondary effect, if the target moves 5ft within 1 turn of being hit by booming blade it suffers a secondary crack of thunder. Ever since I hit level 5 the secondary effect went from 1d8 to 2d8.

8 + 3 = 11 Thunder Damage.

The beast pauses for a fraction of a second before roaring loudly in pain and continuing to charge at me. Wow that’s 89 damage, how much more gas does this thing have in the tank?! I squint my eyes and focus, it’s tail hasn’t reared back yet so it’ll go for a bite or a claw first. Sure enough right as it gets within striking distance it swipes at me with a paw.

But I’m quick enough to react I suck in my gut and form a big C shape with my body and the paw just barely misses me. I’m a bit surprised because I’m not bladesinging right now so my AC is still just the regular 17.

Suddenly without warning, before the manticore has even put its paw back on the ground after swinging at me, its scorpion tail flies forward. I try to lean back and dodge it like Neo in The Matrix, but I can tell it’s still going to hit me.

SHIELD! AC +5.

Holding my empty left hand out I throw up my trusty barrier and the tail deflects off of it. I assume its turn is over now until I see it rear back onto it’s hind legs before slamming forward with its mouth wide open. Holy shit it’s trying to eat me!

I still have the barrier up but this attack is so telegraphed and slow that I just turn sideways and side step it. When the manticore brings its front 2 paws back down to the ground I’m already beside it and I can tell now that it really is my turn this time.

“Alright big guy, sorry you had to suffer a bit longer than I wanted, but let’s end this now.”

I pull the shadow blade back and get ready to stab it straight into it’s ribs.

16, +8. 24. Hit.

I stab the blade straight into its broad side and then rip it sideways, running it across the entire side of its body.

7 + 8 + 1 + 5 = 21 Psychic Damage

When I pull the blade out this time the monster falls onto its side and roars in pain again, but this time immediately after the roar its completely silent. It goes limp as blood absolutely erupts out of its nose at a much higher velocity this time. It’s ears also begin to slowly leak out blood. It’s finally dead.

I dismiss the shadow blade and crash on to the ground on my ass. I put both palms on the ground slightly behind me and lean back putting some of my weight onto my hands as I catch my breath.

+1,800 XP. 20,957/23,000.

Hey that’s good news it must’ve been a CR 5. I’ve very close to level 7 now! One more manticore and a quest or maybe just the quest and I can be level 7. I look around to see if I can spot the zebra, but I don’t see anything.

Perception.
12, +5. 17.

I don’t see the zebra, and I don’t see anything to be honest. Not even a bird. That’s a bit eerie especially now that the sun has peaked out over the horizon. I’m surprisingly not tired, so I’m definitely not setting up camp yet. Let’s go see if I can track that zebra down, it was wearing golden loops on its neck and ears so I’m 99% sure its sapient. I know it for sure wasn’t heading towards Ponyville for some reason, probably lost. I’ll go find it and help it get out of here.

Let’s see if it got added to my quests.

“Quests.”

The same list as last time pops up, and sure enough this time there’s a new side quest, find the zebra. The zebra went further into the Everfree, find her and confirm her safety and escort her out if needed. Well I guess my power somehow knows it's a she. I guess I’ll take its word for it.

“Zebra! Where did you go!” I start walking in the last direction I saw her go, hopefully I can find her quickly.

Early Ending to Everfree Expedition

Nature.

5, +5. 10.

I’m gonna lose it.

Nature.

3, +5. 8.

You know some people would say that I should be happy I’m using up all my bad luck here, but you know what I say? Fuck that, I have done this nature check 5 times and that 10 was the highest result so far! I need to track the zebra down! WHY IS THIS BEING DIFFICULT?!

Fuck it.

Perception.

1, +5. 6.

Fine you know what, just fine. I’m over it! I’m gunna spin around with my eyes closed and when I open them I’m just gunna walk in whatever direction I’m facing.

I just wanted to go into the woods, kill some monsters, forget about my existential identity crisis, but noooo! Instead I get to wander around for 3 hours looking for a zebra with no monsters in sight. Perfect.

Wait…. My passive perception is 15. I shouldn’t even be mad then, that means none of those rolls mattered! Wait, what is that? I put my hand above my eyes to block out the sun as I look up into the sky. It’s smoke, but that isn’t towards Ponyville. Either I just found my zebra or Smokey the Bear is going to be really proud of me in about 30 minutes.

“Callisid, go check out the source of that smoke and report back. Mainly I just need to know if you see any creatures or structures.” I send out a thought to my new trusty bat while I start running towards the smoke.

“As you command, but be warned master that smoke is outside of our communication range. Shall I report back once I check it out or do you just want a report once you get within range?”

“Report back.”

I hear no response from the bat, which I assume means an affirmative response. After about 3 minutes I hear back from the celestial. “It appears to be a small hut. I didn’t approach the hut to see what was inside though, would you like me to?”

“No that’s alright, I’m pretty sure I know what’s inside. Thanks buddy.”

After another 6 or 7 minutes I arrive at the hut and knock on the door. The small door swings open and sure enough there’s my zebra! “Heya! I noticed you weren’t going towards Ponyville so I figured I’d try and catch up. Ya know, just wanted to make sure you weren’t lost in the woods.”

The zebra's eyes widened as soon as she opened the door, but after hearing me speak they went back to a neutral position as she looks me up and down a few times before finally responding. “For your assistance with the manitcore you have my thank. Had you been any later it’d surely had my flank. You have concern that I’m lost but let me ease your doubts. For as you can see this is my house.”

“Why are you talking like that? Ya know what, nevermind. I’m glad you’re safe, hope you enjoy the rest of the day.” I respond and immediately turn and walk away. She says something as I’m leaving but I cannot be asked to deal with that right now. That should be enough to satisfy the quest anyways.

“Quests.” Sure enough the quest is completed. “Claim rewards.” Honestly tracking her down was more annoying than the manticore, so it’d be great if this gave a lot of experience.

+250 XP. 21,207/23,000

Yeah okay, fuck you too universe. I wanna go check out that dilapidated old castle we fought Nightmare Moon in. If I remember correctly it should be to the…. East? That sounds right.

I’ve been walking for at least an hour now and I have seen nothing that looks even remotely familiar. I’m also starting to wonder if the monsters of the forest are intentionally avoiding me? I admitted that during the day their activity would be low, but I should’ve seen something by now. Honestly this entire trip is officially a shit show. I think I’m just going to hit level 7 and use Sending to Luna or Celestia and request a teleport back.

Another uneventful 30 minutes pass before I come upon a rickety old wooden bridge. I remember walking under this bridge! I’m close to the ruins now, but I don’t really want to walk across this thing. It looks like an OSHA violation.

Investigation.

15, +5. 20.

Looking at the rope and the wooden posts on this side of the bridge it actually looks like this bridge collapsed at some point in the last few days. The way this thing is tied down now is completely different than the knots I see on the other side. Well atleast that means the rope should be fine… right? I slowly and very carefully start walking across the bridge.

About halfway across right as I put my foot down, the wood snaps and my foot goes straight through.

17, +8 Acrobatics. 25.

I very cleanly catch myself and make sure to disperse the rest of my weight evenly and as far spread as possible. Then I very quickly pull my foot up and sprint across the rest of the bridge. Phew. Now let’s explore this castle.

Even though the sun is up this time around the feeling is super ominous. If I didn’t know better I’d think Nightmare was still here somewhere. This place has no business being this creepy. I walk through the room where we saved the world and look at my own blood stains on the stone floor. Ah good times. There’s not really anything else in this area, but I know there’s a few other rooms spread out, so let’s go check those out.

The 2nd room I went into was also pretty empty, but this 3rd section of the ruin? This is where the juicy bits are I can tell. It looks like this used to be the throne room, I see what looks to be two thrones but one of them is a lot more destroyed than the other. There’s also a large banner with a sun on it covered in dust on the floor behind the destroyed throne.

When I walk past the thrones to take a closer look at the banner I see a small cutout in the wall and floor that looks like a staircase leading down? Disregarding the banner I head into the stairwell and descend around 15 stairs in a half helix shape. The bottom of the staircase spits me out into a long empty hallway with a couple of suits of armor? I didn’t know these ponies had full on platemail! They have full helmets that cover their face and everything. Why don’t they wear these anymore? This is so badass.

Before I even take a single step down this hallway though I decide to roll for perception. I can feel it in my bones, there’s a trap in this hallway.

Perception.

13, +5. 18.

I don’t see any traps, but I swear I just saw two yellow eyes through the slitted visor of that armor. What the fuck? I decide to use my trusty finger gun and point it at the armor on the left. “Firebolt!”

5, +8. 13.

The small bolt of fire is let loose from my hand as it pelts into the side of the armor. A loud Chachink sounds out down the hallway and I roll 15 fire damage, but nothing happens. I give a small shrug but pull out my rapier anyways as I begin walking down the hallway.

I don’t make it very far though, as soon as I walk past the two sets of armor on both sides of the hallway I see yellow eyes pop up in BOTH sets of armor and instantly jump back 10 feet. I put up the rapier and call out the incantation for Shadow Blade, keeping it at level 2 this time though. As soon as the shadow blade appears in my hand I watch as the yellow eyes float through the armor and into the air as a plume of shadow and smoke rises out of both sets of armor and form around the eyes. It’s 2 Wraiths!

9, +5 Initiative. 14.

The wraith on the left sinks down into the ground before popping up behind me, I spin around and hold my shadow blade in an attempt to block whatever it’s trying. It just points both of its shadowy hands at me and I see two wisps of black inky shade start coming off my body. Oh shit this is that drain mov- AHH!

I can’t even finish my thought as the shadows connect with the wraiths hand and suddenly it feels like something is snapped off of me. I feel something similar to a cold numbing feeling that starts at my shoulders and sinks down right into the middle of my chest. It’s a sickening feeling, this is my first taste of necrotic damage and I hate it.

-20. Hit Points: 19/39.

Constitution Saving Throw: 14, +2. 16. Pass.

Concentration Check: 9, +2. 11. Pass.

My teeth are chattering against themselves now as I have a slight shiver. That thing just did over half my HP in one hit. If I didn’t pass that constitution saving throw it would’ve reduced my max HP from 39 to 19 as well until I long rested. I need to end this now. I pull back and get ready to slash through the wraith 3 times in quick succession. Since I’m in non-magical darkness I actually get advantage with shadow blade.

Two dice roll out for the first attack. 12 and Natural 20. CRITICAL HIT.

8 + 8 + 16 (Crit) + 5 = 37 Psychic damage.

(A/N: I’m actually astounded that I get the luckiest series of rolls in my life during a made-up encounter for a fanfiction. I legitimately rolled a nat 20 into double 8’s on my 2d8 roll for a max damage critical.)

As I use the momentum to twist the blade and get ready to slash through the wraith a second time I channel Booming Blade.

2 and 12. 12 + 8 = 20.

The second slash also connects and slides through the wraith like butter.

7 + 2 + 5 = 14 Psychic Damage
5 * 0.5 (Resistance to Thunder) = 2 Thunder Damage.

Ok, thing is looking pretty rough. Let’s use our bonus action booming blade again and see if we can finish it off. This time I try to slash it vertically in half from the head down.

3 and 15. 15 + 8 = 23.

Just like before the blade connects and tears through the shade.

7 + 8 + 5 = 20 Psychic Damage.
4 * 0.5 (Resistance) = 2 Thunder Damage.

The wraith lets out a ghastly wail that sounds like nails on a chalkboard as it starts to spasm in the air, unable to put itself back together before it finally bursts and the shadowy wisps dissipate into the air.

Panting slightly I turn towards the second wraith. I just need to survive this one attack and I’ll very likely be fine. The wraith lets out a screech before it flies straight at me channeling it’s life drain attack. I can’t tell if this one is also going to hit me or not so I decide to be as cautious as possible.

SHIELD!

I see the shadowy trails that connected my body to its hands get snapped at the middle and the wraith recoils a little as it staggers back a step. Phew, ok now unless I get monumentally unlucky I should be fine here.

Just like before I slash through the undead 3 times, using booming blade for 2 of the attacks and all 3 land. This time however I wasn’t lucky enough to land a crit and I only did 50 damage total. I never went against too many wraiths in my time and as a DM I never used them, so I can’t metagame the HP this around. I think it’s almost dead but I’m out of actions and 50 damage wasn’t enough.

I sigh and prepare myself for the worst. Gotta tank one more attack.

I watch as the wraith holds up it’s wispy hands but there’s no tendrils this time. I wait for a few seconds and get the feeling in my gut that it’s my turn. It missed! Oh thank the Maiden, alright let’s finish this. I ready myself and start my 3 slash combo, but after just two slashes the wraith releases it’s death cry and harmlessly explodes into a bunch of small shadow wisps.

+3600 XP. 24,807/23,000. Level Up!

Time freezes and I see the same level up information I saw last time, but instead of doing anything like picking spells I just try to exert my intent to ignore the level up for now and leave it for later. If possible I want to save this level up, now that I’ve leveled up two times I’ve confirmed that it gives me a free long rest everytime I finalize the level up information. If I can get a free long rest on demand I’m going to hold onto this level up until I think it’s the best time to use it.

The level up information disappears and time resumes. I lean up against the wall and slide down and sit on the dusty floor. Wow, to think a couple of wraiths could actually put that much fear into me. I might be able to pump out some decent damage now, but I’m a glass cannon through and through. I need to see if the castle armory has anything like a ring of protection or a cloak of protection. The higher my AC the better. For now though, fuck this.

I reach into my component pouch and pull out a copper wire. I pull the copper wire taught and talk into the wire casting Sending and directing it towards Celestia.

“Hey “Tia” it’s Ignis, went to the everfree for some training, things went south, figured Luna’s asleep wondering if you can teleport me to canterlot?” I put the copper wire back and lean my head against the dusty wall. Please have mercy on me sun horse.

“Hmm, I don’t know Ignis, I mean if I were teleporting someone like… a Lunar Knight after official training that’d be normal. Teleporting random civilians just cause they use long distance messaging magic without prior consent would set a bad precedent. It’s a slippery slope after that, you know?” Okay that’s way more than 25 words. She must be using her own version of a Sending spell instead of using the residual magic to use the built in response.

Is she really going to play dirty like this? I underestimated you Celestia. This is my last third level spell slot. Do I really want to use it just to argue with this lady? Yeah fuck her, I pull out the copper wire again, but before I can cast the spell I hear her voice again. “Just kidding! Teleporting you back now.”

I start to voice my complaints while rubbing my eyes to get rid of the blinding white light that always accompanies teleports from these ponies, “You’re lucky you teleported me before I could respond Celestia, cause if I had to cast another instance of Sending I was gunna be ready to throw hands wh-” I instantly stop in the middle of my rant because the white light fades and I realize, I’m in the middle of the throne room. A very full throne room, I’m talking like 100 ponies at least. Most of them don’t even seem to be in the guard, what’s going on here? Worst of all, they’re all staring at me.

I hear Celestia chuckle and I look up at her as she responds, “I realized your morale might still be in trouble from recent events and decided to end my prank early. I am curious if you have an answer to the offer yet though?”

“I have thought it through, and I’ve come to a conclusion. I need to discuss it with Luna herself though I’m afraid. I want a slightly different arrangement than what you originally offered.” I am getting a few nasty side eyes and slack jaws so I decide to add on to the end, “...your majesty?”

At that, a few of the side eyes disappear as the ponies giving them to me turn their noses up in snotty satisfaction. Celestia meanwhile just has this dumb smug smirk, “Very well, as you predicted my sister is asleep right now. If you come by the dining hall for dinner though we can all talk about it together.

“Yeah that’s fine. I’m going to bed as well. I think I’d like to get my sleep schedule set to also sleep during the day.” I decide to take a metaphorical shit on the floor as I’m walking out, I look over my shoulder and smirk at the princess, “Enjoy the rest of the day, Tia.”

I hear a small uproar in the audience as the doors close behind me and can’t help but laugh. I’m pretty sure I even heard one of them yell “YOU DARE?!” Oh man, that's a good reaction. I’m surprised, that's twice now she’s let me keep my rapier. I’m starting to think it’s not an accident and she’s doing it intentionally as a show of good faith so I’ll be more open to her offer.

Little does she know however, I’ve decided to join Luna. I’m not going to be her attendant though. I mean I might still begrudgingly carry out those duties if I have no choice, but I’d rather be her Chosen.

I wonder if they even have the concept of a Chosen here. Maybe they call it an Avatar here? Who knows. Regardless of how it plays out I’m excited to see what this other quest reward is that I need to get from Luna. I hope it’s cool or useful.

I get back to my room in the dignitary wing of the castle and jump onto the bed. Laying on my back I begin meditating.

Author's Note

Listen I gave it an honest try to write zecora, but much like Supa Hot Fire, "I'm not a rapper" I can't rhyme for shit.

Thanks for reading!

What is this feeling?

Knock, knock, knock, knock.

Slowly but surely I rise out of my trance and right before I open my eyes I see the System popup.

Cantrip Formulas - After a long rest you can replace one wizard cantrip with another cantrip from the wizard spell list. Would you like to use Cantrip Formulas? “Yes.”

Gods above I forgot this existed, why hasn’t it asked me about this until now?! “Replace Control Flames with Prestidigitation.”

Spellbook configuration updated.

I roll my neck and walk over to the door. “You can go on ahead, tell the princesses I’ll be a few minutes late.” I call out loudly hoping whoever is on the other side can hear me.

I see a blue glow of magic envelope the doorknob as it turns in place and the door cracks open. “Ignis you already missed dinner, the maid said she knocked several times but got no answer from you.” Oh that’s not one of the castle staff, that’s Luna. I open the door all the way and greet her.

“Wow, so in Equestria you all just open peoples doors without a care in the world, huh? I guess I was more tired than I thought I’d be. I did take down a few monsters in the everfree, but honestly I thought I’d gotten enough rest lately. Maybe this body still can’t handle the physical exertion? It was bedridden for 20 years, after all. Anyways Luna, is your reason for stopping by urgent? I forgot to clean myself before retiring for the day and to be honest I smell like dirt and sweat.”

“We had noticed an odor but Sister warned us that apparently it is considered rude in todays age to point out that somepony stinks. Also, we are one of the sovereign rulers of this kingdom, so of course we can open your door if we feel like it.” She offers a small smirk before walking past me and inside the room. “It’s not terribly urgent, mainly we just wanted to check on your wellbeing as we couldn’t locate you in the dream realm despite reports of you being unresponsive.”

“Right, well elves don’t usually sleep. We typically go into a trance and review our memories and thoughts. We can sleep and dream, we just choose to avoid it most of the time. You were able to barge in on my memory in the form of a dream last time because I was unconscious. Anyways, would you prefer to wait here for a few minutes or do you want me to come find you when I finish bathing?”

“We can wait. The moonrise isn’t for another hour or so and we have no plans until then.” Remind me to ask about this royal We thing she does. I wasn’t gunna bring it up but I realized after yesterday that Celestia doesn’t talk like that. Poor girl’s been on the moon for 1000 years. We gotta get her caught up on modern language.

“Alright, don’t go through my backpack or I’ll- no you know what nevermind. Voco.” I summon my mage hand which grabs my backpack and follows me into the bathroom as I close the door. Luna just seems confused as she watches the spectral hand float behind me.

After a quick shower I fold up my cloak and other clothes and cast Prestidigitation a few times to clean them up. Then cast it two more times on different parts of my studded leather before donning it as well. I walk out of the bathroom and drop the backpack at the foot of the bed before looking at Luna. “So, do you have something for me?”

Luna once again looks a bit confused, “What do you mean? Tia said you wish to speak with us regarding our offer of employment. Beyond that we have nothing for you.”

For the first time since I got here it seems like the omnipotent system has made an error. I could roll insight and see if she’s lying but I don’t really think she is. Also, she has no reason to do so. I’ll just ignore it for now. “Hm, alright. Anyways, yes I did want to talk to you. I did some thinking while I was hunting in the forest and I realized that from now on I’m not really going to have a purpose in life. I mean sure I could keep hunting in the Everfree or look through the library for magical tomes, but I can’t see myself spending all my time during the days and nights doing that. I’d rather have some real work to keep me occupied and do those things in my free time.”

“Marvelous! So, you accept the position to be our attendant?” Luna responds with a bit more enthusiasm than I was expecting.

“Well, about that. We need to define exactly what the responsibilities of this job are, because I don’t really want to be on call 24/7 ready to run to your room and cater to your every need. That personally is a bit too demeaning for me. However, things like assisting you in the office or escorting you for events and expeditions I can do.”

“Hm. Essentially you would rather be something like a personal guard or assistant rather than a personal butler?”

“Exactly! Well truthfully I’m not sure if any of that is what I’d describe as my dream job, but the element bearers in Ponyville have a bit more… energy than I can put up with on a long term basis. Which means it’s either you or I try to find a business on this mountain willing to hire the giant alien that spreads out a crowd like the red sea. Doesn’t really seem like a viable option.”

“Truly? If that’s your attitude about it then we’re not sure we’d like to maintain the offer.”

Oh shit. “Woah woah, listen I mean it’s not like I hate the idea of working for you! You’re actually rather interesting and I think we get along well. I just thought you might be curious about why I chose to accept the offer.”

“Well. This is acceptable to us then. Come, let us go to the armory. We have just enough time that you should be able to be able to attend the raising of the moon fully equipped. After that we can discuss your hours of responsibility and what you will be handling during those hours.”

I follow Luna out the door and down the hallway but still voice my confusion, “Armory? I’ve already got my armor and weapon of preference. There’s no way you even have armor that can fit someone of my form, you’re all quadrupeds.”

She looks back at me but keeps walking forward as she informs me “Nay, but we do have enchanters who can take a look at what you currently have. They should be able to improve upon it for you.” Wait really? Holy shit let’s go.

“Oh, cool. By the way just wondering, why do you speak like that? I thought maybe you were just more strict than your sister and chose to speak formally at all times, but when she brought me into the castle earlier she seemed to be in the middle of some pretty official business and she was still speaking quite informally. Which makes me think it’s something unique to you.”

“Does Celestia truly speak informally even when hosting day court? We, no, I hadn’t attended her court yet and was under the assumption I had to speak to this. It’s actually much more relaxing if I can speak candidly.” I figured it was something like that, because Nightmare Moon wasn’t speaking formally with royal we’s and whatnot.

“Another question I had was about the markings on your rear. I’ve noticed damn near every single pony has a unique marking, and thought it was just something native to everyone on this plane. Then I met a zebra in the Everfree and she didn’t have such markings. So, what exactly are they?”

“These are indeed something unique to us ponies. Likely in part due to our closer connection to Harmony we’ve been blessed with these Destiny markings. Nowadays they’re apparently referred to as Cutie Marks, but they truly do identify the pony’s destiny. We’re born with no markings and at some point during adolescence we gain the mark once we’ve found our true calling in life. My sister and I got ours when we moved the sun and moon for the first time. I couldn’t tell because of your constant need of clothing, but based on your confusion I assume your species doesn’t have something similar?”

“Nah, most people are either strong-armed into following whatever talent the bloodline has specialized in for generations or they spend decades sometimes their entire lives trying to find their true calling. Honestly though, we are good at anything if you give us a year or two. Are we almost there? I didn’t realize the castle was this big.”

“Truthfully I was lost for a few minutes there, but I found the right passageway eventually. We’re just about there though, should be right around the corner.” Right, I guess this is also only her 2nd day in the castle too.
We walk into a dim room and spy a single blue unicorn eyeing up a plain short sword and right as he jerks his head and flips the lenses down onto his goggles he spots us and sets the sword down. He quickly rises off of his workbench and does a full bow, “Welcome back your majesty! You came just in time! I was just about to put on the finishing touches for this sword and then head home for the night.” He rises out of the bow and looks at me, “I assume this is the fella the other princess mentioned when y'all were in here earlier? Pass me that nasty thing you call armor and give me the rapier.”

I unstrap and remove the studded leather before laying it down on the unicorn's workbench. “I’m keeping the rapier though, to be honest I don’t want you to waste your time on it. I don’t think I’ll be using the thing for too much longer.”

“Suit yourself, why don’t you wear something sturdier than this, anyways? You look like you’ve got the build to handle heavier material and it’d definitely protect you better than this.”

“My defensive capabilities come from my reflexes and speed. The armor honestly does very little, also when I wear heavier armor I seem to lose the ability to perform the bladesong.”

“Got it, well this should be ready to pick up around lunch time tomorrow. I don’t really have time to do anything with it tonight but since it’s an order from the princess it’ll be the first and only thing I work on tomorrow morning. One last thing your majesty, I got an inventory discrepancy to report.”

I bow out of the conversation and start looking around at all the armors and shields hanging up on the wall. They must keep their weapons in a different room. While I’m looking around I listen to their conversation. “Ah, what’s gone missing this time. I swear 1000 years later and it’s the same problems.”

“No no your majesty, that’s the weird thing. We found a sword that isn’t in our inventory roster. In fact it doesn’t even have a serial number enchanted onto it like the rest of our gear. It wasn’t on yesterday's inventory check either, so it’s like it just appeared in here in the middle of the night or something. I tried to add it to our system but it won’t accept my magic at all, it’s a weird blade your majesty.”

“Well, as interesting as that is, I don't think it’s something for me to handle. I’ll leave it up to my sister and her day guard to do something with it. Maybe if tonight wasn’t so busy, but I’ve got to raise the moon and then get to work on standing up the Night Watch. Thank you for the work Emerald.”

“No problem princess! Have a good night.”

“You as well. Let’s go Ignis, it’s time to raise the moon.”

I give a casual wave to the armory worker as I follow Luna out of the room with my hands in my pocket. “Feels weird walking around without my leather on. I feel… exposed.”

Luna just rolls her eyes at me, “You’ll be fine.”

“You’re the one that said I’d be able to attend the moon raising “fully equipped”.” I give finger quotes in the air when I say fully equipped.

This time she lets out a resigned sigh, “Yes well, I forgot that many of the castle services close at the end of the day. I know it’ll take time to find ponies to fill in the new job openings but it still stings a bit. Last night I had to make my own sandwich I mean can you believe it?!”

“Wow. I cannot believe how hard your life is right now princess, you mean to tell me you had to make your own food in YOUR castle? The absolute tragedy that has befallen you my liege. Shall I prepare your midnight snack for you tonight?”

“You’re mocking me.”

“I am.”

She looks like she is absolutely done with my shit as we go through a fancy set of dark blue double doors into a bedroom. “Well Luna at least you’re living in luxury. This room is way nicer than my setup. I bet I could lay down on that bed and my feet wouldn’t hang off the edge.”

“Shall I arrange for you to sleep here then? I wouldn’t want my only knight suffering from poor sleeping conditions.”

We step out onto the balcony right as she begins that statement and straight across the courtyard I see Celestia standing on a similar balcony. I guess their rooms are parallel to each other but on the opposite side of the castle? Weird setup, I’d just put them next to each other. It seems like Celestia heard Luna though cause she’s offering us a small smile with 1 eyebrow raised inquisitively.

“That seems like the only logical answer I can find as well, your grace. It’s two birds with one stone really, it’s also the most efficient way to guard you.” I don’t know if she’s trying to fluster me or what but I refuse! I’ll just pretend to be clueless and lean into it.

“Be careful Lulu, I’d hate for rumors to spread after only 3 days back in Equestria. We wouldn’t want ponies lining up to apply for the Night Watch for all the wrong reasons now, would we?” Celestia decides to join in on the conversation with some playful advice.

Luna wasn’t flustered at my response but when she hears her sister's advice she starts to blush a bit, “Sister please!”

“Oh no, are you embarrassed at my insinuation or because I called you by your nickname in front of somepony else? Don’t worry Lulu I know you’ll run your guards with the utmost decorum and professionalism.”

“Ugh! Please stop!” Luna’s looking at the floor now with her ears pinned back. Oof that’s actually quite adorable.

“I just thought it was only fair since Sir Ignis called me Tia in front of the entire day court today. And I wonder just how he came up with that nickname, surely he didn’t come up with it on his own?”

“I truly did not mean to say it in front of him if I did indeed do that. Forgive me sister. May we please perform the ceremony now?” Luna begs.

I almost feel bad for Luna now. No scratch that, I do feel a little bad. It’s partially my fault this is happening right now.

“Alright dear sister, let's begin.”

I sit down on a bench and watch as Celestia's horn lights up, much brighter than usual, and at first nothing happens. After a few seconds though I can feel it, a powerful and dense wave of mana pulses out and I watch as the sun moves toward the horizon at an unnaturally quick speed. Once it settles over the horizon I realize my mouth is slightly open from the display so I close it shut and look at the alicorn next to me.

I watch as the light from across the courtyard dims and is slowly replaced by a bright dark blue light. This time I feel an equally dense wave of mana but the feeling that accompanies it is just a serene calmness. I feel my body relax as this cold wave of magic pours over me and the moon rises into the sky. I find myself slightly impressed at the beauty of the ritual when I feel something much more powerful.

I look over at Luna and watch as her closed eyelids squeeze shut even tighter and a bead of sweat runs down her face and the light from her horn increases to an almost blinding level of brightness. When suddenly her light blue mane turns multiple shades darker and begins to lift off of her neck and flow in the air. She opens her eyes which are glowing with pure white light and her mane morphs into something else entirely. It’s like Celestia’s mane but instead of a pastel rainbow it just likes an empty night sky.

Just when I think it’s over another wave of magic pulses out into the night and this one causes something to stir in my chest. A feeling of nostalgia creeps it way up from my chest to the back of my neck down my arms giving me goosebumps all over. “Eilistraee..” I quietly mutter as I realize the familiarity of the presence I feel.

The empty night sky suddenly becomes flooded with stars, I watch as they appear in the sky from west to east in a beautiful display. I look over to Luna and her mane which previously appeared as an empty night sky is now mirrored with little stars all over.

The stars start to shift and maneuver throughout the sky and I realize they’re forming constellations and little galaxies. I keep looking between the sky and her hair in amazement as I can make out the same constellations forming in both. After a few seconds the light from her horn dies down and her eyes return to normal and after a few more seconds her mane returns to normal light blue hair before settling in it’s original position.

Luna looks over to find me staring at her in awe and she just looks concerned and asks me, “Ignis are you okay?”

I blink my eyes rapidly and realize at some point I had shed a single tear down the left side of my face. “Yeah sorry, when you decorated your night with the stars and your mane transformed the mana and presence I felt… it was just like the Dark Maiden. I think I just wasn’t prepared for such a sudden reminder of the past. Thank you for inviting me to this, it was beautiful.”

I find myself much more embarrassed than I thought I would be and decide to be immature, I grab the railing of the balcony and fling myself over it. Falling at an alarming rate several stories down into the courtyard below. I hear both sisters yell something in alarm but when I’m about 8-10 ft away from the ground I cast feather falling and gently land on both feet. As soon as I land I start fast walking towards the gate and decide to go collect myself in the city proper.

Author's Note

Oh man am I gunna end up adding a romance tag to this story? Your guess is as good as mine cause when I started this chapter I had no intention of going the route that it went. I am legitimately confused as to how we got here. I like it though so I'm not changing it.

Next chapter will likely be the last one before we start doing some tiny time skips. I don't wanna off-screen character and relationship developments but I also don't want to write 4-7 chapters for every in world day. So, we gotta find a happy medium. My goal is start the Global Summit with in the next 2-3 chapters and that'll officially end this in-between mini-arc and kick off the next major arc of the story.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - First Night on the Job

“Ignis you can’t just run away because you’re embarrassed. Maybe if you were my sisters guard, but if you’re going to be my knight I absolutely will not tolerate that behavior in the future.” Luna stopped me from leaving the castle grounds and is lecturing me as we walk the empty hallways.

“You’re just saying that cause you wanted to watch me suffer.” I pout with my arms cross as I walk next to her.

“.....Perhaps. Regardless you actually can’t leave because I need to open my first session of Night Court. We were holding off on starting up the sessions until I had somepony present to stand guard.” As she says that we walk through a grand set of double doors into the same throne room I found myself in earlier today, only now it’s empty.

It’s a bit surreal to be honest, almost unsettling how large this room is with all this seating and decoration only for it to be empty and dead silent. I realize Luna has stopped walking and promptly also stop and turn to face her. “Alright so what do I need to do here?”

“First I need you to strip.”

I break out into a coughing fit, nearly choking on my own breath from how unprepared I was for her words. “What?!”

“Hm? I need you to remove your cloak. Well I guess I can just do this while you’re wearing it.” Before I can continue to question her she ignites her horn and I’m covered in a bright flash.

When the light settles I look down and realize she’s changed the color of my outfit entirely. My shirt is now a very dark shade of blue-purple, not too dissimilar to Luna’s coat color, with shining white lines in an intricate pattern along the collar, extending from the pattern is the fancy white puffy bit that sits in the middle of my chest.

My half-circle cloak is a deep black but along the outer edges of the entire cape is a similar pattern of white lines. Grabbing the cloak and pulling the back side around into my field of view I see that the entire cloak is littered with small white stars and in the spot that normally covers the middle of my back is a large crescent moon.

“Wow Luna, this is beautiful. Kinda wish you had asked for permission before permanently changing the only set of clothing I had from my homeland, but it’s good enough that I’ll overlook it.” She offers me a sheepish grin and avoids my gaze.

“We are quite pleased you enjoy it. You will find that’s not quite everything though! Wear your hood as well, the exterior of it is the same as the rest of the cloak but pull it up and look at the inside.”

I give her a confused side eye as I raise my eyebrows before flipping the hood up onto my head. Very quickly I realize what she’s done here. For reference, the hood is on the slightly larger side and all of the interior parts that I can see in my field of view look just like the night sky I saw earlier. I even see a comet at the edge of my vision that streaks past quickly. Luna senses my amazement and continues explaining.

“I’ve given it an enchantment to mirror the night sky the same way my mane did when you saw it earlier. Once I’m fully recovered from my banishment it’ll look like that all the time. Back to the point though, every night I try to make the arrangements unique, only keeping a few different constellations consistent, this will always accurately mirror the current night sky. If you run your hoof along the inner edge at the top of the hood it’ll turn off the enchantment if you’re trying to be stealthy. That same motion actually turns off all of the dim white lines and turns your full outfit pitch black. You’ll need a mask if you want to cover your face though. Also, you mentioned this being your only clothing from home. During the day it’ll look how it originally looked. This is just going to be your uniform while on duty.”

“What about the studded leather I wear over the shirt normally? It’s more of a dark brown and the metal studs will stand out as well.”

“Your armor, once equipped, will become invisible. That’s one of the enchantments we ordered to be added to it. A mask will also be part of this uniform as well, we’ll need to get one in the morning when the shops open before we go to sleep. I want it to cover your entire neck and face all the way up to your eyes.” Luna walks past me and ascends the stairs up to the throne before continuing to speak.

“You’ll stand there at the bottom of the steps and face away from me. For the most part you won’t have to do anything, but if a petitioner refuses to leave once I’ve concluded their complaint then you’ll need to verbally order them out and if that fails, escort them. Court will run Monday through Thursday nights from 10 PM to 2 AM with a single 30 minute break somewhere in between. Once the castle's night staff is filled that’ll be when we eat. After court concludes you’ll escort me around for any other duties I need to attend to before sunrise, but typically it’ll just be you keeping watch in my office while I do paperwork or my bedroom while I patrol dreams. Once I lower the moon you’ll be off duty until 7 PM which is when you’ll report to the dining hall.”

I walk over and stand at the bottom of the stairs as directed with my hands behind my back. “When do you typically lower the moon?”

“6 AM.”

“So I have to work an 11 hour shift every day?”

“Well yes and no, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday there’s no court. You’ll still report to the dining hall at 7 like normal, but if there’s nothing officially planned for the night then you’ll likely be offered a night off. This is purely a probationary period though, you’ve taken no oath and haven’t been appointed any title. We’ll use this schedule until a few nights before the summit and see how both of us feel about appointing you officially.”

We spend the next few hours in relative silence, sometimes one of us has a random question and we talk for 20 minutes. However, the first official Night Court had 0 petitioners. I pull my hood down and follow Luna out of the throne room. While we’re walking I can tell she seems somewhat down about the lack of ponies for her night court so I decide to speak up, “Was it even advertised that there would be a night court tonight?”

She stops walking and looks at me, “Should we have spread word? I thought it’d be obvious that night court would resume now that I’ve returned.”

We stare at each other for like 15 seconds in pure silence, I’m utterly astonished. I think this might be the dumbest thing she’s said since I met her. “Luna, there are 2 major problems with your thought process here. One, no one currently alive in this country even knew that there used to be a night court aside from your sister. Which by extension means they couldn’t know that it would resume. Two, you yourself said right before court that you had decided to delay court until you had a guard. We just made that agreement a few hours before court. How could anyone have found out?”

She drops down onto her barrel and puts her forehooves on her muzzle, covering her eyes. “Oh I’m so stupid.” Well now I just feel bad. I mean she did waste both of our time tonight, but this is just pitiful. At least she isn’t crying, I think she’s just embarrassed like I was earlier. She didn’t give me any shit for being embarrassed so I’ll return the favor.

I crouch down and speak softly, “It’s definitely a mistake, but I don’t think you’re stupid. We can just say it was a practice run. By the way, if someone walks around the corner and see’s this, which one of us is more negatively affected by it? Because, if it’s me then I need you to get up Princess.”

“Just don’t tell my sister, please? She’d never let me live this down.”

“I had no intention of doing so, c’mon now, up up.” I hold out my hand and help her rise back up.

Luna coughs and looks around for a second before speaking quietly, “Well, let me show you where my office is.”

“Do you actually have paperwork to do yet? I was actually hoping to learn more about your dream walking.”

“Nay, but it’ll still be good for you to know where the office is. I might need to summon you during your off hours at some point. Unfortunately, dream walking is something I’m entirely unable to do without my full capabilities. Essentially, if my mane doesn’t look the way it did during the raising of the moon then I’m not in my peak condition. I was only able to observe your dream previously because it’s a different type of magic entirely to observe a dream from a creature that’s right in front of me versus the ancient magic I use to traverse the dreamscape. Plus, in the dreamscape I can interact with and change the contents of the dream while conversing with the dreamer, but the spell I used for you was just an observation spell.”

“Hm…. then how about we do some sparring after you show me the office? I’m pretty familiar with how Nightmare fights, but I haven’t gotten a chance to see you in action yet. I know you’re not at 100%, but I think you’re in good enough shape to still beat me, easily.”

Luna actually hums in thought at my suggestion, I expected her to say no without giving it a second thought. “That sounds acceptable. I need to get back in shape, and your form could use some coaching.”

After a quick stop by the office, which is just a few turns away from her bedroom, we find ourselves in the same field where I fought Shining Armor. I’m pretty excited to get into this, I’m not sure why but her saying that my form could use some coaching has irritated me more than I thought it would. I wonder if that’s the repressed Ignis who trained for decades getting upset?

Luna ignites her horn in aura as she calls out to me, “Unlike your bout with Shining Armor this is just a light spar, so don’t use that shadow blade. I’m going to conjure us some wooden swords as well.”

Should I use real time combat for this? If I’m getting free coaching from a warrior that’s over 2000 years old, maybe it’d be beneficial for me to actually learn something instead of leaning on the system as a crutch. Yeah fuck it. “Enable real time combat.” I internally think the command in my head.

Two wooden swords pop into existence in front of Luna and she floats one over to me. “I’ll let you have the first blow, Ignis, just come at me when you’re ready.”

“Just so you know Luna, I’m planning to take full advantage of your willingness to train me. I’m not going to use any of my weird metaphysical powers I explained to you, your sister, and Shining earlier. So, this will be my real swordsmanship and not the muscle memory built into this body based on the roll of a dice.”

“I’m still not entirely sure I understand what you mean by that, but you’re essentially telling me that you cheated versus Shining and are not going to cheat now.”

“That’s…. Close enough. Once you get your full dream walking powers back can you come into a dream and make the dreamer lucid? If you can do that I can use the dream to show you what my powers look like from my point of view when I’m fighting.”

“I can do that, a wonderful idea. Now let’s do this!”

I stand there for a few seconds waiting on the “Roll for initiative” to pop up until I realize that I’m using real time combat right now. Once I make the realization I decide to start this spar with misty step. I quietly whisper the incantation as I take 1 step forward and finish the spell right as my foot hits the ground, teleporting behind Luna. As soon as I appear behind her I start swinging my wooden sword towards the back of her neck, only to be caught by her own wooden sword as it swiftly floats into the path of my swing.

She looks back at me with a smirk, “Too obvious, plus you used that same idea versus Nightmare. Something like that won’t work on anypony that’s seen you do it before.”

I pull my blade back and prepare to swing again, but before I even finish pulling my sword all the way back Luna has already spun around and her floating wooden sword is moving straight for my throat.

I duck down and to the left and decide to do several quick swings in succession, curious if the speed of her telekinesis can keep up with a barrage. I swing for the left side of her head, only to get deflected sending my hand towards the ground. Using the momentum of the sword heading towards the dirt I flip my wrist around and swing straight towards her chin. I’m half a second away from hitting her jaw when I realize her sword is up against my own throat.

“You’ll have to be much faster than that if you think you can swing at me after being deflected. It was good to retain and shift the momentum of your sword, but you didn’t consider that after deflecting your blade my sword was already headed in your direction. There was no need for me to shift or turn. It was one fluid motion for me, so you either just didn’t consider the position and momentum of your opponent's blade or you naively thought you could shift and completely flip your own momentum faster than my blade that needed no shifting at all. I’m not sure which is worse. Back to where you started last time and let’s go again.”

And so we continued, for the next 4 hours we sparred again and again. Neither of us realizing just how fast time was passing by. Before either of us knew it, it was time to lower the moon.

“Well Ignis, you only lost to me 190 times in 4 hours. That’s not the worst result I’ve ever seen! For this last spar though I want you to use whatever cheat power thing you mentioned before. Still no bladesong or shadow blade though.”

“H-how are you not, out of breath? I’m pretty sure even in my original life I never fought for 4 hours straight.” I’m panting as I respond. “Fine, last one, I’ll use everything I’ve got this time. I need to win at least one time for my pride.”

“Disable real time combat.”

Roll For Initiative.

9, +5. 14.

“I’ll allow you to have the first blow again, Ignis.”

“Gee, thanks for your infinite mercy my liege. Provolo!” I cast Haste.

Luna can tell I’ve casted a somewhat powerful spell this time, I think, cause after I cast haste I see her slightly squint her eyes at me and her stance widens a bit.

Then I misty step again, but this time I aim the teleportation to land directly in front of her. This time I also start swinging my sword before the spell even finishes. This way as soon as I appear directly in front of her my sword is already 70% of the way through its swing.

19, +8. 27. Hit.

Somehow Luna gets her wooden sword in the perfect position to block me again, but this time both of us are suddenly shocked as the sword and my arm shift in an impossible direction. I was originally swinging from over my head down towards her head but now with the unnatural shift I’m suddenly swinging at her neck from the side as if I had started my swing from my waist in a horizontal movement. There’s nowhere near enough time for her to react to the completely different nature of the strike and right before she can move to block me again the wooden sword slams into her neck.

2, +5. 7 Bludgeoning Damage.

Once I make contact I just leave the sword pressed up against her neck as she stares at me in shock. “Well hey would you look at that I finally won one. 1 for 190 baby, woo!”

Luna looks at me with an expression I can’t quite figure out and responds, “I think I see the difference now. When you’re using your power it’s almost like there are small gaps, less than a second, where you move at impossible speeds. I don’t mean that weird thing you did with your sword just now, I mean like even before you Blinked towards me it was like you were standing there in your starting position and then in a fraction of second your entire body shifted forward and your arm moved like a blur into the position you take right before you swing, then you moved normally for a second. Then, you Blinked and instead of you moving unnaturally fast it felt like for 10 milliseconds, maybe less, I was unable to move. I know how fast my sword takes to respond to my telekinetic will and it was like my entire being was suddenly paused for an instant. You indeed have a strange power, before I go to sleep this morning I’ll focus on stabilizing my mana pool so I can dream walk.”

“I was always curious what it looked like from someone else's point of view whenever time stopped for my dice to roll. Now that I know how big of a gap there is in our sword techniques I realize just how insane it is that once my dice roll says I hit you, I WILL hit you. This is a strange power indeed…”

“I know I said you don’t have to report until 7 PM at the dining hall, but I’d like for you to meet me at my bedroom at noon so we can go get your armor from the enchanter. Perhaps we can get breakfast after?”

“Sure, that sounds nice. You gotta go though, it’s 6:02 AM and I’m not sure how big of a deal it is if you’re late lowering the moon? I’ll see you in a few hours….. Lulu.”

For once I finally get to see her blush as she stops and turns to face me with a completely red face. She blinks her eyes fast a few times and then yells out so loudly the force of her voice causes my hair to be pushed backwards, “YOU DARE INVOKE MINE WRATH, YE KNAVE? THOU SHALT KNOW TRUE PAIN!”

She then immediately puts a forehoof on her muzzle, shutting it closed in regret before lighting her horn and teleporting away. Wow, so ye olden english is her default accent when she's upset. I’m so dead the next time I see her.

Worth it.

Author's Note

Decided to flesh out some more concrete details on how the D&D Power works, also some good old fashioned character development :D

Thanks for reading

The Dark Maiden

It’s been a little over a week since my first night, it’s currently Monday morning and I’m in the dining hall having dinner/breakfast with Celestia and Luna. “So Ignis, how have you been settling into your new position? I’ve noticed you and Luna in the training area a few different mornings now, and I’ve received no reports of mishaps during Night Court.” Celestia asks.

“Honestly yeah it’s been more fun than I thought it’d be. I’m still a bit surprised that so few ponies show up during Night Court. You’d think that ponies would realize they can get their issues seen to much faster than the busy Day Court. We did come pretty close to having 1 mishap though. I can’t believe the nerve of that unicorn that came in screaming about Nightmare Moon usurping the throne and living among us. He was about 3 seconds away from being my first “escalation of force” since I started. Switching topics though, the reason I’m here is because I think we should open up applications for the Night Watch to any current guards that would like to switch.” I respond

“Luna did mention something like that Friday morning, but I thought we had decided to wait until a solid foundation was laid by the thestrals before expanding?”

Luna chimes in now, “Yes, but Ignis seems to insist that we need more ponies now rather than later, so I invited him to the dining hall this morning to let him pitch the idea himself.”

Now I take over. “So, I firmly believe that we need at least 3 but preferably around 6 guards to switch over to the night watch now. My reasons are simple, we don’t need them to actually switch to the same sleep schedule as Luna and I. We just need a few guards to start their shift at say… 4 AM instead of 6 AM, and then one or two different guards would end their shifts at midnight instead of 8 PM. The guards that would be starting their shift early would act as liaisons between the night and day branches, right now if something happens during our shift it’s only really being reported and acted upon by you. I want more integration and communication at the bottom and middle of the chain.”

Taking a sip of water I continue, “The guards that would be ending their shifts later would act in a similar capacity. There are numerous times where we realize we need something, but the only way we can do it is if one of us stays up later than usual to wait for the shops to open. We can instead tell the 4 AM Night Guards that we need, 2 rolls of purple cloth for example, then the Night Guards that end their shift at midnight can pass us the supplies and messages from our requests. I don’t mind staying up late to go visit the shops, but your ponies aren’t exactly thrilled to see me whenever I stop by.”

“Hm, any other reasons?” Celestia asks after pondering for a few seconds. I get the feeling she’s decided to agree but is probing to see if there’s any underlying reasons I didn’t want to vocalize unless I had to.

“Those ponies would also, hopefully, spread word to the other castle staff and ponies around Canterlot that Luna is not Nightmare Moon and I’m not a pony eating monster. Also working these hours with just the two of us makes it quite hard for either of us to… make friends.”

Celestia’s face softens into a small smile as she hears the real reason why I want more guards now instead of waiting 2 or 3 more weeks for the thestrals. “Very well, I’ll have all the shift leaders put out the call for applicants during their mid-day announcements. Did either of you have any other burning topics you wished to discuss?”

“Yes, we start our journey to the edge of the badlands for the global summit on Friday. I’d like to have Ignis take his oath and be anointed with an official ceremony immediately following Day Court on Wednesday.”

“Ouch, that’s pretty short notice, but I think we can make that work. I’ll invite the element bearers right now actually.” She pauses as a parchment and quill materializes in the air and she writes a few lines before the parchment goes up in green flames and its ashes float out of the dining hall. She continues, “Will you be fully recovered from your banishment by then?”

“I should be, in fact I think I’ll likely be back to normal before I raise the moon tonight. Ignis,” I look up from my food when I hear Luna call out my name “we’ll be doing a few rehearsals tonight after court, but once those are done you can end your shift early. I’ll be in my room after that to focus on finishing my recovery.”

“Sounds good. Well, if that’s everything I’m going to retire to my room now. See you tonight Luna.”

I make my way down the halls as I march towards Luna's room. On my second shift Luna informed me I’d be taking the room next to hers as is customary for personal knights. She explained that Celestia doesn’t have any personal knights but that Shining Armor occupies the room next to hers. Another new update is that I got my armor back from the enchanter, the system actually registered it as Glamoured Studded Leather, which is just Studded Leather +1 with some illusion magic layered in.

My AC is now 18 without bladesong thanks to the new enchantments, and I use the illusion magic to make it seem like I’m not wearing any armor at all. After a few nights of light sparring Luna decided we’d move into full contact spars until one surrenders or is incapacitated. I thought she had forgotten about the whole Lulu incident but I quickly learned she was just bottling in her rage until we started the full spars. I think that first night was the most bruised I’ve ever been in either of my lives.

On the bright side though once we moved into full on fights I started actually gaining small amounts of XP every night. I was at 24,807 after my trek into the Everfree and I’m currently sitting at 32,000/23,000 XP. I’m only 2,000 XP away from level 8, but I still haven’t actually used my level up yet from hitting level 7.

The reason I’ve been holding off is two-fold, firstly since it fully restores my body and magic it’s essentially a get out of jail free card if I find myself in deep shit. Secondly, the run-in I had with those two wraiths made me realize how lacking I am in defense and healing. I’ve been bouncing around a few ideas in my head for how I can cover up these failings and I think no matter what I decide on, I’m going to have to multiclass.

I could just put the 7th level in Wizard right now, learn Banishment and see what happens when I banish myself. Theoretically the spell should send me back to the plane of existence I originated from, whether that’s Earth or the Forgotten Realms, I’m not sure. I think I’d rather just get the multiclass level dip or dips over and done with as soon as possible though.

I go into my bedroom and lay down, Luna mentioned that since she’ll almost certainly regain her full strength today I should go to sleep instead of entering a trance. I’m in no position to disobey my boss so I close my eyes and drift away.

I find myself back in the ruins of the old castle in the Everfree. Nightmare Moon is standing in front of me several feet away laughing maniacally and when I look around I don’t see Twilight anywhere. I’m confused though, the elements aren’t here either… this dream doesn’t make any sense. I look down in my right hand and see my mothers sword. My eyes widen in shock, why do I have this?

I look up and find a familiar beam of pure magic hurtling towards me, but my body dodges to the left and sprints towards Nightmare. I’m not in control right now, I’m trying to ask Luna what’s going on but I can’t speak. I’m just along for the ride now. Nightmare fires another beam of magic at me but this time I raise the moonblade and deflect the beam sideways into the far wall as I don’t even slow down.

My body jumps high into the air and begins falling towards Nightmare with his moonblade ready and now he finally speaks. “Please don’t make me do this Luna. Please.”

“The only thing you’ll be doing tonight is dying, BETRAYER!” She fire’s off 3 separate beams simultaneously. I quickly deflect two and then swing my sword directly into the beam coming straight at me. The beam splits in half and goes around me as I fall through the air pushing against the beam.

The moonblade is mere centimeters away from inflicting a grievous wound on Nightmare when I finally manage to break free and control my body. I direct the blade away from Nightmare and land on the ground. I slam my eyes closed and will everything to disappear. When I open my eyes I look around and find myself in a pure white void now, I put the moonblade in the sheath and sit down on the floor of the void.

It feels like I’m sitting in the void for hours when finally I see a door just appear and open in the air and Luna comes through. She’s taller than normal and her tail and mane are just like they were on that first night. A flowing cloud of the night sky. She glides down and lands in front of me, now she’s tall enough that her eyes are just about at the same height as my neck. “Believe it or not this is the first time I’ve entered someone's dream and they were just patiently waiting in a void for me to show up. Typically the ones that can lucid dream are acting out some fantasy.”

“Well I suspect those ponies also weren’t expecting you. I would be having a normal dream, but it was one I didn’t really enjoy and had to struggle for a few minutes to gain control of it.”

She frowns at me in concern, “I’m glad you handled your nightmare on your own, but those things usually have a deeper meaning for something going on in your life. What was the dream about?”

“I was back in the Everfree, facing down against Nightmare Moon again. This time everything was different though. Twilight and the others weren’t there, and the elements themselves also weren’t there. Nightmare Moon also wasn’t wearing her usual armor, she actually had the same mane you do right now. I was about to kill you.” I almost spit out the last sentence with a scowl on my face. Over the last week I’d like to think me and Luna are good friends now, and witnessing my own body almost decapitating her has me a bit upset.

“Ha, well that’s how you know it truly was just a dream. If it was Nightmare at full strength you alone would not be enough to kill her. Not even close. Now how about you give me that demonstration we talked about.”

I construct a large cavern around us and conjure up a Young Black Dragon. I then point with my finger and conjure up a floating hologram that displays the exact thing I see when the system shows me my character sheet. I spend the next few minutes explaining what the stats mean, what AC is, I show her all my spells and explain the differences between the different dice.

“So, now that I’ve explained all that, let me show you exactly what I see when I fight something. Fire Bolt!” I shoot off a firebolt and right before the firebolt leaves me hand I once again conjure a hologram that shows the 20 sided die roll and land in the middle of my vision.

“This is astounding.” She watches as the dice comes to a stop on 13. Then she watches as it lists out my Spellcasting Modifier (Intelligence) of +5 and proficiency bonus of +3 and the 13 turns into a 21. Time resumes and the fire bolt slams into the face of the dragon. Once it makes contact I freeze time again and show her the 2d10’s rolling. They lang on 7 and 5 and combine into the number 12 and spells out “Fire Damage” next to the number.

“Now if that first die had landed on something like 4 for example, after the +8 it would’ve been 12 and when time resumed the fire bolt would’ve missed. I was explaining what AC is earlier and I can tell you for a fact that dragon has an AC of 18. Which means any roll below a 10 would result in a miss, so I essentially have a 55% chance to hit the dragon.” I explain.

“What is my AC?”

“I’m not entirely sure now that you’re fully recovered. I can tell you that I was able to determine Nightmares AC was 24 and your AC in our spars was 22. I’d wager that your AC now is probably back up to 24, and would be 27 or higher if you were to put on the armor Nightmare was wearing.”

“Hm, so your princess is quite powerful then. Is that what you’re saying?” Luna is holding up her forehoof and staring at it like a girl stares at her hand after getting her nails done, and she has a smug smirk while she says it.

“Uh huh, yeah. You’re clearly best princess.”

“I’m aware. On a more serious note, is that truly all the power is? That is shockingly simple for how powerful it is.”

“Pretty much, yeah. By the way, I won’t have to give a speech or say anything besides my oath at the ceremony on Wednesday, yeah?”

“You say that as if the oath is a trivial matter, but you are correct that’s the only speaking you’ll have to do.”

The way she says that causes me great concern so I decide to probe further, “Wait the oath is just you saying something and then me repeating after you right?”

“What? No! Every knight writes their own unique oath. I had one knight that swore his life upon my moon instead of me. He had the spirit but he was a little confused. It doesn’t have to be anything grandiose, the only requirement is that you pledge your loyalty to me. It is strongly recommended that you include Equestria in your oath though. Ah, our time is up, it seems like you’re about to wake up. Bring paper and a quill to court tonight, I’ll have a desk prepared for you at your normal position so you can start preparing drafts.”

“Aye, see you then, Princess.”

Luna disappears and I stand there for a few seconds tapping my foot on the ground. Am I not going to wake up? I mean it’s her first time dream walking since the banishment, maybe she’s just still rusty.

“You aren’t waking up just yet, I needed to talk to you alone and made it seem like you were about to wake up to get her to leave.” I hear a somewhat older woman's voice beyond me and a hand grabs my shoulder.

I spin around to find the source of the voice is a mature elven woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. Her face has a few wrinkles here and there, but if I had to estimate her age in human years I’d say she looks to be late 50s. “Who are you? Why are you in my dream?”

“I’ve been here for a few days now actually, but every time I tried to reach out to someone there was no connection to the Dark Maiden. Tonight I was finally able to feel the connection and use it to reach you here. Can you believe how shocked I was to find out that she Herself was visiting you? I’ve never seen Her in a form like that though.”

“Wait, you’re a follower of Eilistraee?”

“A follower? No young elf, I am her blade. You are Zarra’s son, yes? You are the heir.”

I grab my head in confusion. “You’re the Moonblade? That’s why I was wielding it in my nightmare earlier. I’m sorry but that isn’t Eilistraee. Her name is Princess Luna and I am her knight. We’re not even in the forgotten realms, I’m not entirely sure we can even reach that dimension. I will admit that her mana and presence evoke the same feeling I had the last time I was in the Dark Maidens presence though.”

“Lad, I don’t know what to tell you. As far as I’m concerned that was Her Grace. Everything in me was screaming to show Her the proper reverence. Even the connection to the realm of the dreams was the exact same. I gotta say though, I was wondering if you were worthy and I was leaning towards no. You’re a bit too chaotic for my tastes, truthfully speaking, but if you are the right hand of Her Grace and act as her personal knight? Well, in that case, I’d be honored to be wielded by you every night.”

“Where even are you in the waking world? Am I gunna have to go back to Ponyville to find you?”

“I’m not sure where Ponyville is, but I’m in an armory of some kind. I was almost certain it’s in the same town as you though, I saw one of those ponies casting magic on your studded leather.”

“OH! You’re in the Canterlot armory! Are you still there now? I’ll come get you as soon as I wake up.”

“Aye, now that I’ve formed a minor connection to you through Her Grace I’ll be able to call out to you when you’re nearby.”

“Okay I’m heading there right away, see you in a few minutes!”

“I like your enthusiasm! Once we’re in the waking world I’ll only be able to communicate with you through tremors and tingles, very light sensations. So, while I am able to speak to you I just want you to know, Zarra wanted me to tell you that she’s proud of you.”

I’m caught off guard by her words and quickly take a few steps forward and wrap the personified representation of the moonblade in a tight hug, “Thank you.”

My eyes slam open, looking out the window I can tell the sun is still up but it’ll probably be night in an hour or so. I quickly get dressed and sprint out of my room towards the armory. While I’m running I repeatedly cast prestidigitation on different parts of my uniform to give it its daily cleaning. I even sprint past a sleepy looking Luna who is groggily making her way towards the dining hall. Until I startle her as I pass by anyways. Once she realizes who or what just sped past her she yells out to me, “Ignis what’s wrong?!”

“No time to explain! Just go get breakfast and I’ll meet you there. It’s good news though!” I turn the corner and continue running. Weaving around servants and guards in the hall as I run is actually a pretty decent cardio warmup. Luckily after being here for a little over a week the castle staff don’t react too negatively to my appearances anymore. I can still tell they’re a bit apprehensive but they’re at least polite and cordial now.

I finally make it to the armory only to see the door closed and locked. I bang on the door hoping someone is inside when a passing guard calls out to me, “Last pony went home like 30 minutes ago, you’ll have to come back tomorrow.”

“Oh is that so? Alright thanks.”

Deception.

18, +1. 19.

“No problem, hope you have a quiet shift Ignis.” Wow I feel bad now, I have no clue what that guard's name is. I’m happy he buys my lie and continues walking though. Once he turns the corner I double check that no one is around and start attempting to pick the lock.

Thieves Tools check.

Natural 20, +5 (Dex) +3 (Proficient with Thieves Tools). 28.

After fiddling with it for a few seconds I feel the last pin in the tumbler click into place and the pressure I’m applying to the lock gives as it rotates around and unlocks.

I close the door behind me and start walking around looking for my sword. I turn a corner and find myself in a corridor with hundreds of swords hanging from the walls and buried in shelves and scabbards. I feel a pull towards an open barrel in the back corner of the room and walk over there.

Once I get close to the barrel I see a beautiful emerald hilt poking out of the barrel, and I know right away, that’s my Moonblade. I pull the sword and scabbard from the barrel and go find the inventory sheet where I sign out the newest addition to the list and write next to my name (permanently signed out, this is my sword and it was misplaced here upon my arrival to the castle.)

I exit the armory and lock the door behind me and make my way towards the dining hall. Once I arrive I skip past all the guards eating dinner and sit down next to Luna eating her pancakes with a cup of coffee. “Luna, can you cancel court tonight? We need to go to the more peaceful forest in Ponyville. Not the one with the old castle but the more normal one.”

“Why, Ignis? I can give you the night off, I’d say don’t make a habit of it, but canceling Night Court is not a decision to be made lightly. What’s going on?”

I pull the Moonblade from the scabbard and hold it up for Luna, Celestia, and anyone nearby to see. “I found my mothers sword! The Moonblade spoke to me in my dream after you left and told me where to find it! It was the random sword that showed up in the armory inventory and no one knew where it came from. I want you to cancel court because I want to go in the forest and perform the Sword Dance to attune the blade to me. Once the ritual is complete, if I'm accepted as the heir this rune pattern on the blade will extend and my own personal rune will be added to the pattern. Each rune from each generation of my bloodline has its own enchantment in it. This sword is quite old so it already has 4 runes inlaid on the blade.”

“Ah, that’s amazing Ignis! In that case I’m happy to give you the night off. I’ll even teleport you to Ponyville again.”

“Luna, I want you to be there. Please? Normally the immediate family attends as well as one or more high ranking priestesses, but right now you’re the closest thing I have to a family. It’d mean alot to me.”

She chews on her lip as she internally struggles to decide, she wants to be there and observe the ritual, but she also feels like it’d reflect poorly to cancel Night Court within it’s first week of being back in regular session. Luckily Celestia senses her internal struggle and puts her at peace, “Lulu, I cancel court all the time for things less important than this. Go with him, if any of the nobles complain I’ll take the blame and say I ordered you to take a night off out of concern for your health. You’ve only been back for a week after all.”

Luna smiles at her sister, “Thank you, Tia. Alright my faithful probationary knight, we leave right after I raise the moon.”

Author's Note

Alright this is likely where Ignis will plateau in strength for a while. The moonblade is actually quite overpowered and once he hits level 8 he'll be in a very good spot power wise. Level 8 before the end of season 1 was not in my original plans, but I'm happy with where we are for now. I definitely need to and will slow down on the powering up from this point on though. At the rate we're going we'd be level 20 before Discord is released haha.

Thanks for reading!

EDIT: Woah! I just realized next chapter will likely put us over 50k words. I never in my life thought I'd have a story on this site even come close to that wordcount. In fact after my first story (Friendship is a Burden) I didn't even think I'd ever write another story on here.

Man what a crazy world.

In Her Name

“Luna, are you and your sister…. Gods?” I ask the night princess as we wander through what I now know is Whitetail Woods. We’re looking for a clearing to host the Sword Dance.

“That is,” She pauses for several seconds before sighing, “a difficult question. Our old mentor Starswirl theorized we weren’t quite Gods, but quite close. The term he used was demigod I believe. We’ve always been too uncomfortable about the prospect to look into it on our own, so after he disappeared neither of us pursued it any further.”

“I see. Have either of you ever had worshipers or official churches in your name?”

“Before my banishment, yes. Celestia had a moderately sized church actually. Since my return I’ve seen no trace of that cult however. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now you have me curious. Should I ask her about it?”

“I don’t know, maybe? In my homeland we theorized the only thing that separated demigods and gods was their level of divinity, which was often derived from the amount of faith and reverence they received from their followers. Let me ask you a somewhat related follow-up question then. Have you ever seen two creatures share an identical mana signature?”

“Nay, not while alive anyways. I’ve met ponies that have identical mana signatures as ponies I met long, long before. How is that somewhat related?”

“Your mana signature is identical to Eilistraee’s. I was brought here the same day your banishment ended. It’s all too much to be a coincidence in my opinion. Something very strange is going on here. I see an opening over there to the left, I think that’ll do.” I point to a roughly circle shaped clearing in the canopy and we stroll over.

“Do you sing Luna?”

“W-what? I… I mean everyone sings when they’re alone right?”

I laugh a bit, “Of course of course, but Luna, the reason I ask is because neither the moonblade or myself can feel our usual connection to Her here in Equestria. We can sense something familiar in the dream world, but not out here. With your identical mana signature however, both of us agree that you might be able to stand-in for Her for this ritual. Do you remember the song you heard in my memory?”

“Yes.”

“Alright here’s my idea then, I need you to position the moon so that the clearing is flooded with moonlight like in the memory. Then, I’ll start the ritual and if we don’t hear anything after a few seconds then I was really hoping you could try singing. Especially if something in your gut tells you that you should, in fact if you get that feeling in any capacity during the ritual then I humbly request you follow it.”

“W-well it’s just us two out here right, so I supposed there’s no harm in assisting you with this.” With that she ignites her horn and I watch as the clearing is flooded with moonlight, leaving a white circle on the ground.

“If it makes you feel better, what I’m about to do causes me slight discomfort as well.” I strip off my clothing and with as much confidence as I can muster I walk fully bare into the moonlight holding 3 candles with my mage hand and my unsheathed Moonblade in my right hand.

As I cross the edge of the clearing and into the moonlight the candles suddenly become lit with a white-silvery flame. That’s a good indicator. I reach what I approximate is the center of the clearing and firmly plant the blade into the ground, tip first. Then, I set the lit candles down in a triangle formation around the candles and stand up. I stand for a few seconds with my eyes closed and feel myself washed over with a serene calming sensation.

All my uncomfortability and embarrassment wash away as I open my eyes and stare at the full moon above. This is going to work, I can feel it. Everything just feels…. Right.

I don’t even need to use the few memories I have from Ignis, the correct steps and moves are flowing into my mind. I take a deep breath in and begin to dance around the blade.

Religion.

Natural 20, +8. 28.

I know exactly what I must do and the order in which I must do it. I perform a series of skips back and forth in diagonal lines slowly forming a pentagram with the sword as the center.

Performance with Advantage.

14 and 2. 14, +4. 18.

After the first two lines are formed I hear the start of a similar, but not quite the same song as the one in my memory. I can’t afford to slip up so I only spare a single glance towards the source of the voice and I see Luna high, very high in the air. She’s transposed between the sword and the center of the moon, interestingly though she is producing no shadow anywhere. Her eyes are also producing a bright white light, I can’t see her irises at all. Once the imaginary lines of the pentagram are formed I begin to do twirls while balancing on the toes of 1 foot and I draw a circle around the points of the pentagram. Once the circle is formed I stop on the western tip of the pentagram and quickly strike a pose that causes my left leg to brush along the edge of the Moonblade drawing blood as it runs down the shining emerald.

I pivot from point to point and strike similar poses that cause each of my other 3 limbs to bleed upon the blade, before coming to a stop on the northernmost point of the pentagram. Once I come to a stop I drop to the ground on my knees and sit and on the balls of my feet. Then I lean forward and place my palms and my forehead on the ground towards the blade and quietly recite a prayer towards Her Grace. I’m controlling my mouth and could stop if I wanted to, but I’ve never heard the words coming out of my mouth before.

It’s like I’m just reciting purely on autopilot, but I’m in control. The entire time I’m praying I just have a clear image of Luna in my head. Once I finish the prayer I pull my head and hands off the ground and return to sitting on the balls of my feet. I put my palms together and interlock my fingers and watch as the pillar of moonlight narrows to only encompass me and the sword. I watch as the blood is absorbed into the sword and the swirling patterns of runes glow bright white and extend the pattern down towards the tip of the blade. I sense the ritual is at its end and open my mouth to speak the final words of the ritual.

“In Her Name.” There’s a loud and unfamiliar resonance with the words, as if 4 other people just spoke the same words out of my mouth. I recognize one of the voices is Zarra. The moonlight completely vanishes out of the clearing and I stand up with a small smile and grab the hilt of the Moonblade.

When I pull out of the ground I can’t help but stare in awe at the swirling rune pattern on the blade that is still glowing a dim white. Will this glow stay for the entire 3 months?

Before I can think any further about the sword, time freezes and I see and hear “You have succeeded in attuning to the Dark Maidens Moonblade!"

Dark Maidens Moonblade:

+2 to hit and damage rolls.

Finesse

All attacks with this weapon deal an extra 1-6 Slashing Damage.

All attacks with this weapon against dragons deal an extra 1-6 Radiant Damage.

The Moonblade acts as a Ring of Spell Storing. The sword is sentient and has 12 Intelligence, 10 Wisdom, and 12 Charisma, in its original life the soul of this blade was a spellcaster and thus any spells stored in this blade will be treated as if the sword casted the spells, not the user.

Rolling to determine the enchantment of the newest rune added to the blade.

1d100. 48. One property from the Minor Property table of generic Special Features.

Rolling to determine the Minor Property.

1d20. 16. War Leader, The bearer can use an action to cause his or her voice to carry clearly for up to 300 feet until the end of the bearer’s next turn.
The Moonblade has reached the maximum number of enchantments. No future heirs will be able to add their own rune.

Wait what? I thought I was the 5th user? The enchantment I just rolled was the 7th not its 5th. I’ll have to ask the sword about that next time I sleep. I’m slightly disappointed with the enchantment I rolled but it definitely could’ve been worse. I’m sure I’ll find a use for being able to talk loudly.

That ring of spell storing is insane though. If I’m interpreting this correctly it’s essentially saying that depending on the spell stored it’ll use its own ability scores for the On Hit Bonus and the Spell Save DC, but in exchange for that downside it has the ability to concentrate on its own. If I prepare properly I can use two concentration spells at once!

Anyways, enough thinking I need to put my clothes on, it’s a bit nippy out here. I run over to the edge of the clearing and as I’m getting dressed Luna lands next to me. “It was just as you said, Ignis. As soon as you started dancing I felt a pull and just allowed my existence to go with the flow. It was….. A strange experience. When you bowed and prostrated yourself against the ground I could feel a connection between us and a small surge of power I’ve never felt before.”

“I bet that was divinity. After the ceremony I have some experiments we can try to see if we can recreate and perhaps even bolster that power.”

“Sounds interesting. By the way, we didn’t need to cancel court for this. We can teleport back right now and we’d still have 10 minutes to spare. Since you’re the one that resulted in this slot of free time, how do you suggest we use it in a meaningful way?”

I brandish the Moonblade with a smirk on my face as I lock eyes with her. “Well we’re already in Ponyville and it’s the dead of night. Why don’t we go monster hunting together? We’ve sparred plenty of times by now so we should use this opportunity to practice our teamwork.”

She offers a short but hearty laugh before responding, “Very well. I’ll carry you in my telekinesis and we can go fly over the Everfree. There’s actually been a few reports over the weekend of a particularly nasty specimen that’s been expanding its territory and is now concerningly close enough to Ponyville to start causing problems. Celestia was curious on how she should relocate it, but I doubt she’d be too bothered if we took care of it on our own.”

With a spark of her horn Luna is suddenly adorned in silver armor around her barrel and helmet on her head. This helmet actually allows her starry mane to flow freely instead of trapping it under the helmet like Nightmares though. She then quickly spreads her wings and I feel myself wrapped in a blue aura as she takes off into the sky.

I start to ask Luna a question but the wind is a bit too loud, and I don’t feel like yelling right now so I just enjoy the view as we fly over the Everfree for several minutes. Finally I get bored enough and yell out, “So Luna what monster are we going after? You mentioned it being nasty but didn’t give me a name.”

She doesn’t verbally respond but simply points down into a large clearing in the Everfree canopy the solid forest ground turns into a large swamp. I’m about to tell her that that doesn’t explain anything, but right as I’m about to speak I hear a ear splitting roar and look back down at the swamp and watch as one.. two… three, no, five heads emerge from the water and the huge body of this creature slowly rises before taking a loud stomp out of the water and roaring once again.

It’s a bloody hydra.

Luna begins to dive bomb the hydra with me in tow and once we’re within about 20 feet of the creature a giant scythe with a jagged blade appears next to her, grasped in her telekinesis. Right after that, time stops and I see my favorite phrase.

Roll for Initiative.

7, +5. 12.

Well that could’ve been better.

It seems like Luna has rolled highest. I’m still held in the air in her aura but she has stopped bringing me closer to the Hydra as she continues to fly straight at it. She flies into the hydra like a kamikaze pilot and rapidly spins the scythe in the air right before it slams into the hydra. Once it makes contact it cleaves straight through its leftmost neck before stopping as Luna evens out and flies in a circle around the beast. Once she’s given it a once over she begins controlling the scythe again and has it flip upside down before carving into the belly of the Hydra in an upward arc.

The hydra then sends all 4 of its heads at the lunar menace each attempting to bite her. The first two heads miss entirely as she effortlessly evades them with aerial maneuvers, but the 3rd one looks like it’s about to fully eat the alicorn. I feel my heart rate skyrocket and right before I yell out to her she surrounds herself in an orb shaped shield that keeps the hydra’s mouth from closing around her. The 4th head seems like it was expecting her to dodge and lunged at where it predicted she would be, but doesn’t seem to react to the fact that she isn’t there. It just chomps at the air and keeps its momentum before slamming into the ground face first.

That must’ve been a natural 1, there’s no other explanation. The 4th head raises up off the ground and it’s eyes are looking in different directions while its tongue is hanging out of it’s mouth and there’s a large bump on the top of the head. What the fuck is this, looney toons?

The neck that Luna cleaved through suddenly sprouts 2 heads that roar and I get the subconscious feeling that it’s my turn. “Luna, drop me!” I yell out to her.

The aura disappears from around me and as I plummet towards the hydra I pull the Moonblade over and behind my head ready to swing with both hands. If I was bladesinging this would end the song early, and technically it’s probably a lore inaccurate move, but I’m not sure if I can get enough power to swing properly with how long this sword is with all this wind if I only use 1 hand.

I get within range to start slashing into this things newest neck when I see the dice roll.

18, +5 (Dex) +3 (Proficiency) +2 (Enchanted Weapon). 28. Hit

I let out a roar of my own as I swing the blade down with all the force of my body plus gravity and it cleanly slices into the creature's scales.

1d10 (2 Handed) + 1d6 Slashing (Enchanted Weapon) + 2d6 Fall Damage + 5 (Dex) + 2 (Enchanted Weapon), I see 4 different dice roll chaotically in my vision.

(7) + (5) + (3 + 2) + 5 + 2 = 24 Slashing Damage.

My blade almost completely cuts clean through the creatures neck, but I stopped just short and now I’m dangling in the air holding onto my sword. After my body comes to a complete stop in the air I feel a slight bit of recoil as I also take the same Fall Damage as the hydra, but the damage is halved for me.

36/39 Hit Points.

I take my left hand and while still dangling from the I point my finger at the neck and call out, “FIRE BOLT!”

Disadvantage: 9 and 19. 9 + 8 = 17. Hit.

The point blank firebolt shoots out and instantly slams into the thin layer of scales and meat keeping the head attached to the body.

7 + 6 = 13 Fire Damage.

The scales seem to turn to ash and the flesh quickly melts away causing the head to fully detach from the body and as a consequence, I also plummet another 10 feet into the swamp. I swim the 5 or so feet to the shore and climb up onto the muddy soil before twisting my body and pointing my finger at the 2nd head that sprouted up at the same time as the first. “Fire Bolt!”

8, +8. 16. Hit.

The firebolt roars into the chin of the head I was aiming at and the head recoils back from the force as it lets out a yelp.

10 + 7 = 17 Fire Damage.

To everyone's shock the scales seem to droop and fall off the head in globs before the entire head itself seems to just pop splattering gore onto the hydra's body and other heads.

I quickly do some mental math and realize I did 54 damage, for every 25 damage the hydra loses a head, so my firebolt just completely exploded that head as a result. Badass. Now that I’ve done fire damage when it comes back around to the hydras turn it won’t regenerate any heads.

The creature is back down to 4 heads and if my gut is right I’d wager the thing has somewhere between 95-110 Hit Points. If we cut off all of its head though it won’t matter how much HP it has, it instantly dies if it loses all of its heads.

Luna quickly recovers from the surprise of the hydra's head exploding and charges up a powerful spell, I’ve never seen her horn shine this bright before. She fires off a small burst of magic at the moon and about 2 seconds later a giant pillar of light encompasses a large portion of the hydra's body. It’s a fucking moonbeam!

She flashes me a proud smile as the hydra roars in pain and it flails wildly as it runs out of the moonbeam with only 2 heads remaining. Both heads open their mouths and swing at Luna, but they seem to be blinded or something as both of them completely miss. Luna doesn’t even have to dodge, they just go wide. I feel the tingle in my brain letting me know it’s my turn and give a wild smile in happiness. I’m glad I remembered to use fire damage.

In an effort to not be shown up by the princess I simply hold my hand, palm up, in the air and swing it from left to right above my head. As my hand arcs from left to right 4 small balls of fire are left the path of my hand.

“Pierce, Spears of Flame. SCORCHING RAY!”

The 4 balls turn into lances of fire and from left to right start screaming towards the hydra. All 4 lances will have their own rolls to decide if they hit or miss.

8 + 8 = 16. Hit.

19 + 8 = 27. Hit.

15 + 8 = 23. Hit.

14 + 8 = 22. Hit.

One lance impacts the body of the hydra, one roars into one of the two remaining necks, the third lance hits the hydra between the eyes, and the last lance hits the chin of other remaining head.

6 + 2 = 8

4 + 5 = 9

1 + 4 = 5

3 + 6 = 9

31 Fire Damage.

The hydra clutches at the gaping wound left in its body as one of its heads explodes into a ball of fire and the other head flails in pain. I look up at Luna and call out, “It’s only polite to let my Lady have the finishing blow.”

16, +1 Deception. 17.

I finish my statement with an over exaggerated bow, but Luna just snorts and rolls her eyes easily seeing through my lie. “Yes, you surely intended to allow me the honor of slaying this foul creature. What a loyal knight I have under me.” She calls out as she barrels into the neck of the last head while actually holding her scythe with both forehooves as she severs the last head from the creature's body and reaps its soul.

She fires a beam of magic at the creature's corpse causing it to disintegrate and flies down landing next to me, “This was a wonderful idea Ignis. I must admit though, we didn’t really do much teamwork.”

I give her a small chuckle, “What do you mean Luna, you expertly dropped me onto the creature. I’d say that qualifies as teamwork. Seriously though, this creature was a bit weaker than I was expecting. I think either of us could’ve taken that on alone and we’d have been fine. We’ll need something tougher than that to truly challenge us.”

“I’m not so sure about that. It was definitely too weak to be a challenge for both our forces combined, but had you been alone I think you’d have acquired some serious wounds. Assuming you were even able to kill it.”

I hum in consideration, I know she isn’t saying this to insult me. She legitimately wants to make sure I don’t get myself killed with overconfidence. After thinking it over I realize she isn’t completely wrong, if I were to get extremely unlucky and all 5 heads were able to take a bite out of me they’d be capable of doing over double my Hit Points in 1 go. Although once I reach level 8 I think I know what path I’m going to take, and if I had been that version of myself instead of my current version. I’d have trounced this thing no problem.

Hydra Defeated! 3,900 XP divided between a party of two.

+1,950 XP. 33,950/23,000 XP.

Wow I’m really 50 XP away from level 8? That’s annoying.

“Yeah you have a point. By the time we leave for the summit I’ll be strong enough to take down two of those at the same time.”

“You truly think you can grow that much in 3 nights?”

“Oh I know I can. Let’s just head back for now though, I need to work on this oath.”

“Ah, yes. Very well.” With a flash of her horn we’re in the throne room of the castle once again. “So, do you have any ideas for your oath yet or are you really starting from scratch?”

“Well I do have an oath of sorts I remember from my previous world that I think is pretty solid. I’ll just tweak it to be more inline with my own personal wishes.”

“In that case I’ll leave you to it, you’re dismissed for the night. If I keep you around I’ll end up reading your drafts and I don’t want to ruin the surprise for myself. I’ll see you tomorrow night, Ignis.”

I offer her a small bow, “May Equestria’s dreams be peaceful and calm for you tonight, your majesty.” Before promptly making my way towards my bedroom.

Celestia had writing supplies delivered to my room a few hours ago when I woke up, so I’ll just start on my drafts there. Let’s see… now what if I word it like this… no that’s too vague. If I put this part before this line there can be no room for doubt. Now if I word this bit like this I’m implying some pretty heavy things. I’m sure if I word it like that it’ll be controversial…. I think that’s okay though. She might be a little annoyed at me for this, but I want to send a message to everyone. And, on the 1 in a billion longshot chance that I can somehow find my way home, I’ll add this small tidbit at the very end and word it in such a way that I’m free of service if this comes to pass.

I ended up spending a few hours working on the Oath and I’m quite pleased with the outcome. There is potentially some drama around one part of the oath if I leave it as is, but I need to be very clear in my purpose. It’s still a couple hours until morning so I’m going to go check in with Luna and see if there’s any applications for the Night Watch and if so can I review them.

The next 36 hours are a blur between reviewing applications, performing rehearsals, going over plans for the 3 day expedition to the land where the summit will be held. However, it’s now time. I peek out the window into the castle garden where there are around 150 ponies sitting and standing between the hedge maze and the statue displays. Surprisingly enough, there’s a bit of a pit in my stomach. I didn’t really think I’d be this nervous. I think I’m more nervous about the content and the meaning of my Oath, but hopefully Luna appreciates it?

I walk out in my full uniform, with my hood down, but since it’s daytime it just looks like the full outfit of what I was wearing the day I arrived here. I, slowly and with deliberate steps, march down the aisle between the two large groups of attendees. Celestia has been droning on about how happy she is that her sister has returned and all the great things the two will do together, and as I started slowly approaching the center stage she shifted the focus onto the historical Night Watch. As I get closer she begins detailing the intention to re-establish her sisters army and today was to introduce and anoint her personal Knight.

I climb the steps onto the stage and Luna rises and meets me in the middle of the stage. She’s wearing a silver crown with hundreds of tiny diamonds embedded in it, her petryal is larger than her normal one and also shining brightly with tiny gems. The petryal has a long black cape, with fluffy white clouds along the entire edge, running off of it that drapes down the sides of her barrel and covers her rear legs almost entirely. Each hoof is adorned with Sabatons that match her crown and petryal. Honestly right now she truly looks like a being that does not belong down here with us mortal creatures. She’s radiating an absolute presence.

I drop to one knee in front of her and present my Moonblade to her with both hands. She grabs the hilt with her forehoof and slowly lowers it down onto my left shoulder and then hovers it in the air over my head as she states, loud enough for everyone to hear, “Dost thou vow to serve me dutifully in spreading and maintaining the tenets of harmony?”

I raise my head slightly and look up into her eyes.

“No, Your Grace. I, Ghaele Ignis Ferrum of the Natsume Clan, swear upon my very soul that I will support and protect the Princess of the Night, I will bear true faith and allegiance to the very same, and I will defend against all who oppose her, be they friend or foe, I will bare my blade against this entire realm in her name. Hear ye all gathered here today, as I declare myself to exist purely as the sword and shield of Her Grace, Princess Luna Concordia, my Dark Maiden until the day I no longer exist in this realm.”

Her mouth is slightly gaping as she looks at me with shock. Once she sees my conviction her eyes become a bit glassy and she offers a small, yet bright smile. I see Celestia out of the corner of my eye staring at me with her brows furrowed. I can’t tell if it’s confusion or anger. There’s murmurs and whispers behind me and I can just barely make out one pony directly behind me whisper, “Doesn’t that mean he’d even take on Equestria for her? What if she becomes Nightmare Moon again?”

I do mean that I’d take on this entire kingdom if I have to, but I was hoping to not be misconstrued about Nightmare Moon. During one of our conversations while we were taking a break from rehearsing or sparring, the topic of my dream came up where I was about to kill Nightmare. I was explaining to Luna how I’m not sure if I could do that anymore and Luna got very close to my face and while staring straight into my eyes. She told me if she ever falls and becomes the Nightmare again, and if the elements fail or if I’m left with no choice, I absolutely must kill her. She ended up making it a direct standing order.

Anyhow, once Luna reigns in her emotions she brings the sword down softly over my right shoulder and announces, “Then arise, Ignis Ferrum. Connect your mana to mine and be reborn…”

There’s a slight pause after she says reborn and during that pause I pull the hood over my head and activate the enchantment donning my full uniform. As I stand I pull an elastic, black, cloth material from the collar of my shirt and pull it up over my neck and over my mouth and nose masking my face. There’s a small gasp in the crowd at my transformation. As soon as I finish the fluid motion and look down into her eyes she finishes her statement.

“...as my…”

Time freezes.

Quest Complete! Make Your Choice: You’ve sworn your loyalty and service to Princess Luna. Congratulations! Claim rewards? “Yes.”

1,050 XP. 35,000/23,000 XP. Level up! (2).

“Multiclass. Allocate two levels into…”

Time Resumes.

“...and be reborn as my Paladin!”

35,000/48,000 XP.

Ignis Ferrum: Bladesinger 6/Paladin 2.

Author's Note

Quick notes, Ghaele is one of the 4 or 5 different titles given to Noble Eladrin that have absorbed so much magic from the feywild that they now reside over a particular nartual element like Spring Rains or even an entire season like Autumn.

If you remember correctly Ignis father had hair that almost looked like the hair itself was fire. This plays into the clan name I gave them, Natsume. Natsume is appropriately Summer Dreams. It used to be just Summer, his family is quote a notable one, but when the Sword Saint of Eilistraee, Zarra, married the patriarch of the clan, they celebrated the union by incorporating an element of the Dark Maiden into the family name, switching the name from Summer to Summer Dreams.

I might/probably will explain that in one of the upcoming chapters, but i felt it was worth explaining here in the A/N.

Another piece of important news, I can now say I have definitively decided on the ending to this story. It is quite an ambitious ending, but I think we can get there. It's gunna be doozy of a ride for sure though. Now that I have the ending outlined and imagined it'll be much easier to write and guide things towards that ending with minimal plot holes and hopefully no retcons.

If you go back and find the link I posted to Ignis's character sheet in one of the very early chapters you can find some spoilers on what cantrips, fighting style, and spells I picked for the 2 Paladin levels, but if you don't want to be spoiled then don't worry it's the first thing I'm covering in the next chapter.

Here's the image I was using as a reference to describe Luna's outfit for the ceremony, just replace her mane with her starry mane

Luna's Outfit (SFW, Link is to Tales-Fables DeviantArt which I believe is the source for the image)

Like always, Thanks for reading!

Ceremony Aftermath

Instantly the sky becomes a dark black as the sun is blocked out by the moon. Ignis grabs the Moonblade floating in the air and points the tip into the air as a pillar of moonlight shoots into the air around Luna. Seconds after, the moonlight pillar crashes back into the earth surrounding the paladin. The murmurs and whispers among the crowd are silenced as they stare in awe at the princess and elf currently illuminating half of Canterlot with their two pillars of moonlight.

As quickly as the scene arrived, it ends. The bright blue sky returns as the beams of moonlight narrow and dimly fade away. Everyone gathered continues to sit in stunned silence as Luna turns to the crowd and announces, “Now let us partake in the reception! Food and drinks aplenty!” The crowd offers a short and muted applause before warily rising and moving towards the dining area.

Ignis and Luna had both expected some push back and reserved reactions to the decision of naming him a Paladin, but not to this extent. They exchange some sideways glances at each other as they slightly wonder what they’ve overlooked. It’s only when Celestia steps between the two while radiating an intense heat that they realize they have, in fact, fucked up.

Celestia lowers her head and softly questions Luna, “What have you done sister? I worked very hard to pick apart and abolish the religions towards us while you were gone. It was imperative to do so if we ever wanted to be treated somewhat normally by our subjects.”

“Oh is that all, Tia? Then we can just continue to oppose formal religions in worship of us! If ponies want to offer their prayers privately though, who are we to stop them?”

“No Luna you don’t understand, the cults became so fanatical that they were bringing harm to ponies all over the country! In the end we had to make any form of worship towards alicorns illegal in its entirety. You’ve committed a legitimate crime, Luna!”

Ignis breaks up the two and chimes in, “Wow Celestia, freedom of religion is a basic human, err, pony right! You can’t tell creatures what they can and cannot worship.”

Celestia whips her head around and stares down the elf, “I can when the figure they’re worshiping is me! Just as they have the freedom of religion I have the freedom to not be worshiped!”

“See it’s fine then, they’d be praising Luna, not you.”

“You’re both being unreasonable here. This will not help the Nightmare Moon rumors at all. You’ve just given every newspaper publisher their next headline, “BREAKING: Nightmare Moon establishes religion to gather zealots for her next coup attempt!” oh maker above help me, I might have to have a drink for the first time in several centuries. It’d have been exponentially easier for all of us if you had at least waited until after the summit to pull this stunt.”

Both Ignis and the lunar princess finally start to feel guilty as they look at the ground, Luna’s ears splayed back. For several seconds no one says anything, but Ignis suddenly widens his eyes and looks up before announcing, “I have an idea!”

“Is it a good one this time?” Celestia questions with a scoff.

“Well hang on now, I didn’t say that. Tomorrow let us join Day Court. We can bring out both thrones and have you sit next to each other and I’ll replace one of the guards at the bottom of the steps. We can resolve petitioner complaints the way you always have, but on complaints that you know will have an outcome that would look good for the press you can ask Luna for her inputs and we can garner goodwill by having Her hand out the merciful rulings! If it goes well we can continue to do it for a week or so after the summit as well.”

“Hm, that’s not the worst idea. I would genuinely ask for Luna's input on any of the complaints that have a level of complexity to them, but I’ll make sure to apply emphasis on Luna's involvement in the outcome of cases that are favorable to us. That will definitely help on the PR side of things, but I have no clue where to even begin with this religious nonsense. What do you think about holding court alongside me, sister?”

“It would be a lie if I said I hated it. I actually wanted to do this exact thing before starting my own court again, but was afraid if I asked you’d doubt my abilities in other aspects as well. I must ask though, did you never feel any bolstering or surges to your mana pool when they had churches in your name?” Luna replies as she softly chews on the inside corner of her mouth.

Celestia sighs before answering, “I did. In the beginning it was almost addicting, I was chasing that feeling and appeasing the zealots to continue receiving their reverence. Until, they had me establish a certain holiday on somepony's birthday. After your banishment everytime they held a service, performed a ritual, or even offered prayer en masse, the feeling of power swelling up just brought me disgust. I can never forgive them or myself for that sin, any worship I receive just leaves me with resentment.”

Ignis’ face dawns with realization, “That explains…a lot. It seemed uncharacteristic of her to react so strongly as to ban an entire category of religion. I’ve also never seen her as angry as she was when she initially approached us.” He thinks to himself.

Ignis POV

After receiving the scolding of the century from Celestia I decided to uncover my face and lower my hood and mingle with the ponies, mainly the 6 ponies I remember from the Everfree. “Hey Twilight, glad to see you and your friends could make it. What’d you think of the ceremony?”

“Ah, hello Ignis. The ceremony… was not entirely what I expected. Oh! What was that magic after you finished your vow?! The presence it cast over the entire area felt so different from normal mana. Like, it felt similar but there was something extra in it, I’d love to recreate that and do some tests on the thaumatology output. Unfortunately I didn’t bring most of my lab equipment from the library…. Also who enchanted your uniform?? For an almost entirely cosmetic series of enchantments it's surprisingly complex. Especially around the hood, I’m not even entirely sure what those series of enchantments are doing on the inside, it’s so densely layered. What kind of ru-”

“Woah there friendo. I’m starting to realize you must be much more comfortable now than when we first met, because you never showed this much excitement or socialization. Before you drop another 20 questions on me let me answer the ones you already asked, in order. We theorize that the “extra” bit you feel in the mana is divinity. I had performed a ritual from my homeland and had Princess Luna perform parts that are typically done by my Goddess. During the ritual some type of metaphysical connection was formed and Luna could feel a surge of foreign power whenever I prayed to her or thought of her while performing actions in the ritual. Luna herself did the uniform enchantments, ask her whatever questions you have about it. Next.”

“Sorry, haha. Um, yes, I only have one last question. What are the enchantments on your sword? I got to look through the armory when I was learning enchanting but I’ve never seen anything like that before. Even the runes are completely foreign. Did Princess Luna enchant that as well?”

“No, well…. Kinda? The ritual I was talking about involved this sword. This sword has been in my bloodline for multiple generations and every time it’s passed on to the next generation an enchantment is added through an attunement ritual. The earlier parts of the pattern were done in my homeland, but the most recent rune was established during the ritual with Luna.”

I realize midway through my last answer that ponies have started pointing at Twilight and murmuring, no doubt starting to form rumors, “It was nice meeting you again Twilight, but I should probably retire for the day. This is way past my normal bed time, haha.”

I atleast make sure to not completely lie. That’s not the true reason I’m leaving, but it is still factual. I need to go to bed and prepare for the joint Day Court tomorrow. I can only imagine how much of a shitshow this will end up being.

Once I get into bed I decide to open up the system and double check all the Paladin features I configured today.

Paladin -

Level 1: Divine Sense and Lay on Hands.

Divine Sense - As an action you can open your senses and detect the presence of any Celestial, Fiend, or Undead within 60 feet. You know which type the creature is, but not the exact identity of the creature. (You can detect a celestial is 30 feet away, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that its specifically Princess Celestia.)

Lay on Hands - With your blessed touch you can invoke healing on a target (including yourself.) The amount of hit points you can restore per long rest is equivalent to your paladin level multiplied by 5. (2 * 5 = 10 Hit Points)

Level 2: Fighting Style, Spellcasting, and Divine Smite.

Fighting Style: Blessed Warrior - Learn two cantrips from the Cleric spell list. They are treated as Paladin spells and Charisma is the spellcasting modifier.

Guidance: Touch a creature and for 1 minute they can add 1-4 onto the next ability check they make.

Thaumaturgy: You manifest a small wonder, an act of supernatural power. Can have 3 instances of Thaumaturgy active at one time, the spell lasts for 1 minute.

Spellcasting: Learn a number of spells from the Paladin spell list equal to your charisma modifier + half of your Paladin level (1 + 1 = 2 spells.)

Cure Wounds (Level 1 Spell) - A creature you touch is healed for 1-8 + Charisma modifier Hit Points. When cast using higher level spell slots add an additional d8 for each level above 1st.

Detect Poison and Disease (Level 1 Spell) - For up to 10 minutes, you can sense the presence and location of poisons, poisonous creatures, and diseases within 30 feet of you. You also identify the kind of poison, poisonous creature, or disease in each case.

Divine Smite: Whenever you land a melee weapon attack you can expend a spell slot to deal 2d8 radiant damage in addition to the weapons damage. For each level above 1st level, add 1d8 to the damage dice up to maximum of 5d8 (4th level spell slot.) The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or fiend, to a maximum of 6d8.

Hit Points: 57/57

All in all this is pretty solid, I can use Guidance to assist with the skills I currently lack. Persuasion for example, I only have a +1 to my rolls for persuasion, as opposed to arcana where I have a +11. Thaumaturgy is just because I love my dramatic and cinematic flares.

Cure wounds should do a pretty good job at keeping me alive between fights and detect poison should be immensely helpful for any public events I attend with Luna. The real star of the show here, the main reason I opted for Paladin is Divine Smite. Divine Smite has no limitation to how many times I can use it per turn, if I hit someone with my sword I can smite. That means that without Haste I can smite 3 times per turn, if I were to use one 4th level spell slot and two 3rd level spell slots, that’s an extra 13d8 radiant damage. 104 potential damage from just smiting, don’t even get me started on if I manage to land a critical.

With damage output like that, I could easily take on something like that hydra alone. Of course I don’t have infinite spell slots so I can’t just let loose a smite everytime I swing my sword, but if worst comes to worst I can at least nuke the hell out of something.

Well, I should enter my trance now, we’ve got a long day tomorrow.

Since night court is canceled in favor of joint court, the night progressed a bit slower than it usually does. Luna decided to do some dream walking early and gave me 3 hours of free time. After bumming around the library for books on dimensional theory and ultimately finding nothing for a few hours I return to the office.

“Knock knock Princess, what’s on the schedule that you needed me to come back for?”

“Well it’s the strangest thing. The next 2 hours are blocked off on the calendar to conduct 3 interviews of solar guards that wished to crossbranch into the Night Watch, but looking through my sorted application piles I don’t have applicants marked for the next step in the decision process. There’s no names written in the calendar block as well.”

“Did you allocate time in the schedule intending to add names once you reviewed the applications and then just never got around to actually reviewing them?”

“I must have…. We have been a bit busier the last 2 days.”

“Well if we have some free time let’s talk about tomorrow. I think I should leave my hood down and mask off tomorrow, at the very least I should keep the mask off. Ponies already show discomfort around me and the uniform must be intimidating for them, I think it’d be a hindrance towards our effort.”

“Your reasoning is sound, I’ll allow it.”

“Perfect, do you need me for anything else tonight? I’ve been waiting for a good opportunity to run an experiment and I should have enough free time tonight.”

“No, you’re dismissed.” Luna closes the folder she’s been flipping through and stands up. I open the door to the office and hold it open for her.

“I hope the dream realm is kind to you tonight, your Grace.”

“Hm? Are we not doing the experiment?”

Oh there’s been a miscommunication here. “Oh no I was intending to do it alone, but you can come if you want. It won’t really look like anything is happening from your point of view though. I’m just going to be meditating. I want to see if I can recover the rest of my memories.”

“In that case come do it in my chambers, I can keep an eye on you while I patrol the dream realm.”

“I think that’s the opposite of what our roles are supposed to be… you just want to watch my memories again don’t you?”

“If you don’t want me to look then I won’t, but yes that is part of the reason. It’s still a good idea to have me present incase something does go wrong though.” Wow she just shamelessly admits that. Ponies really must not have an expectation of privacy.

“I think I would prefer if you didn’t look then, assuming I’m able to even recover them.”

“Very well. Let’s go.”

“Callisid are you nearby?” I think to myself, hoping the bat is within 100 feet.

“Yes master, what is it?”

“Good, you’re aware that I only have memories of my life as a human during the 20 year gap of my illness right?” I ask.

“Roughly, honestly it was quite a shock to discover that.”

“Well, I recovered a single memory after summoning you, so I was wondering if you know of any way to return the rest of my memories?” Please say yes….

“Of course not! I am only a familiar, I can’t perform any magic or manipulate your memories, master.”

I sigh, I was mostly expecting that response but that’s fine I have a backup plan. “I’m going to sleep Luna, don’t wake me up no matter how much I’m tossing or turning.”

“Aye, good luck my paladin.”

I pull the Moonblade from its scabbard and channel my mana into the hilt as I lie down at the foot of Luna’s enormous bed.

Almost instantly I find myself in a beautiful and densely packed forest. Tree’s and brightly colored fauna are scattered about everywhere. Sitting on a boulder a few feet away watching the sky is the original Sword Saint of Eilistraee. She turns around and flashes a big smile at me, “Ah! There you are, you brat! You haven’t slept since I told you to go find me, what’s the big idea huh asshole?!” She suddenly vanishes from the boulder and appears beside me startling me as she slaps me on the back of the head.

“Ow, what the fuck?! You should know the answer to that, ya old witch! Are you going senile or something? We’re elves we don’t fucking sleep.” Ah it feels good to talk like this again, I speak informally around almost all of the ponies, but even with Luna I don’t talk like this. It’s not that I’m uncomfortable or too unfamiliar. I just simply want to maintain a certain level of elegance in her eyes.

The lady suddenly grabs both of my ears and starts yanking them while yelling at me, “WHO ARE YOU CALLIN’ SENILE?! I should go find the eternal dancing grounds and tell Zarra how rude her son is.”

At the mention of Zarra I stop being overly dramatic and settle down, even though she’s still yanking my ears. “That’s actually why I’m here. Apparently when I was originally preparing for the ritual with you I lost my soul for 2 decades.”

She finally lets go of my ears and walks out from behind me to face me, “I do remember hearing something about that, your father was quite distressed.”

“Well, during those 20 years, I believe my soul was in another realm. I was living as a human in a magicless world. The problem is that I only have memories of my life as a human, the only memory I have as Ignis is watching my mothers Last Dance. I was hoping you could maybe restore them, or if you knew of a method to do so.”

“Hm, what day of the week is it on the outside?”

“Uhh, it’s Wednesday night. Why?”

“Come back on Saturday night, and bring Our Lady with you. I need time to prepare.” Before I can even respond to her she waves her hand in front me as if to say “Shoo, shoo” and I find myself staring at the ceiling of Luna's bedroom.

“Did you get your memories?” Luna asks, I look over and see her horn is just barely glowing and her eyes are closed.

“No and how did you know I was awake?”

“I wasn’t peeking inside the dream, but I was keeping an eye on the state of the dream while I worked. I saw the bubble pop.” She explains.

“I was talking to the soul inside the blade, she wants me to return on Saturday and she requested you come along with me.”

“Perfect! Now I don’t have to think of an excuse for next time.” Luna replies with a beaming smile.

“Also, I was hoping we could pivot our training, I’d like to learn equestrian spellcasting.” After thinking it over I decided this would be a good idea, when I get my memories back I’ll likely have my family's swordsmanship training. Which means training my swordsmanship is just redundant.

With this request Luna’s face practically crumples into a large frown. “I’ll talk to my sister and see if I can get some of her training materials she used for the element of magic. I’d hate to teach you some that’s entirely archaic and already improved upon.” I mean her reason for needing to talk to Celestia makes sense, but I’m not sure why she’d make such a pained expression.

I was going to roll insight, but I realized I don’t even need to. Her expression was bad enough that I nailed it with my passive insight of 15. She’s clearly not giving me the real reason she needs to talk to Celestia. I decide to indirectly press her on it. “Perfect! We’ll have a lot of free time on our journey to the badlands, so this’ll be a great way to pass the time. I’ll go read some of those basic magic books like that one I was reading in Ponyville so I can be better prepared.” I get off the bed and start walking towards the door.

For the first time since we entered the room Luna finally opens her eyes, “Wait!”

I pause and turn around, “Yes?”

“.....I’d prefer to have a direct involvement in your foundational training. Foals can afford to have the sloppy foundation that those books provide because they have time to sharpen their basics as they grow, but you’re already an adult. You need foundational training tailored uniquely to you.”

“Okay, I know you’re lying now, but that lie was so believable for something you just made up on the spot that I’m impressed. I won’t press you further, but can you promise me you’ll give me a straight answer after you talk to your sister?”

She sighs and lays her head down on the bed in defeat, “Yes, you have my word. There is truth in my statement though, in the long run you will be better off if you learn everything from one of us instead of that book. Some mana foundation techniques can only be taught to somepony that knows nothing.”

“Really? Alright in that case I won’t go read the books behind your back like I originally intended to do.” Before she can respond I close the door, she should know that I’m joking. I’m not sure if that would break the oath, but it’s something I don’t wanna do even without the oath.

I know one thing I can do though. Instead of turning right out of Luna’s bed chambers towards my room I turn left and start heading to the other side of the castle. After walking for a few minutes I make one final turn and spot 2 guards in the hall making small talk with each other. I wonder what the odds are that they’ll let me in. I mean I’m officially sworn in now so it shouldn’t be a problem for me to go into Celestia’s room. Should I even do this?

On one hand I’m frustrated that there’s clearly some type of order to prevent me from learning, but I need to know the reason before I fly off the handle. Surely it can’t be a trust issue, right? I mean help save the world, you allow me to become a personal guard for your sister. Those aren’t things that indicate a lack of trust, so I’m clearly missing something. Unless…. To them this whole knight business means nothing and it’s the other way around. I’m not guarding Luna, she’s supervising me. No…. I’m being paranoid. Let’s just go get some extra sleep, I need to flip my sleep schedule back to the day shift for the summit next week.

“Invisibilia.” I cast invisibility and sneak into the dining hall, Luna and Celestia are talking and I want to get answers. This should last me an hour, plenty of time to listen and get out. I silently walk past the sisters table and stand off to the side, against a wall, and listen closely.

“Tia, I can’t just lie to him. Why are you still insisting that he cannot be allowed to learn magic? He can already cast plenty of spells!” Luna questions her sister.

“Don’t you “Tia” me, you know exactly why! The spells he casts don’t pull from his own mana, it’s like he just interacts with some external force and commands it to produce his spells. Whatever system he is using has him extremely restricted and limited. He can only cast so many spells in an entire day and the requirements for him to learn and cast spells is excessive. That system is clearly designed to restrict the spellcasters of his homeland.” Celestia responds.

“Exactly! He’s learning so quickly and already so strong even with those limitations! If we taught him how to use his own mana he could be so much more. It’s a complete waste of talent!”

“I refuse to budge on this, Luna. I know he has a good heart, but objectively speaking, we’ve brought a monster into this capital. Even if we ignore the fact that he learned the runic language and cast his first spell several times faster than the most prodigal unicorn to ever exist. Even if we ignore that, just the sheer size of his mana pool is absurd! I have to intentionally reduce my truesight just to clearly look at him!” Truesight??

“Then what would you have me do Celestia?” The alicorn in question widens her eyes at Luna's usage of her full name. “You want me to just continue to make excuses, lie, and avoid his questions about magic for the next TWO THOUSAND YEARS?! No, I refuse. If you won’t allow him to learn magic then you’ll have to tell him yourself.” Luna wipes her mouth with a tablecloth and quickly stands and leaves the dining hall.

“Well Ignis, now you know the truth, why don’t you come sit down.” Shit, so she did see me.

“What did you mean when you said you have to reduce your truesight to look at me?” I stop concentrating on the invisibility spell and sit down across from Luna’s empty seat.

Instead of verbally responding, she just lights her horn. “Look at me. Do you see the golden aura surrounding me?” Wow she can even bestow that true sight onto others? I mean I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, she is a demigod.

“Yes it’s almost like a barrier that is completely surrounding you, there’s several inches between the edge of the aura and you. It’s almost touching the ceiling as well, what is that, 35, no 40 feet?”

“Good, I want you to make note of how inert and calm it is. Now look here.” She conjures a tall and wide mirror and rotates it toward me. “Now look at yourself.”

Celestia looked like she was encased in a solid chunk of golden jello, it barely flickered in it’s natural flow at all. Looking in the mirror I’m dumbfounded. The best way I can describe it is that it looks like someone is holding a giant vacuum cleaner tube several feet over my head, and that vacuum is sucking up a violent blue fire from me.

It looks like jagged blue flames, they start about 4 feet away from me and it looks like the flames are rushing towards me before they enter the range of the vacuum tube and get sucked up into the air. Like a giant blue pyramid, but the lines look more like an exponential curve instead of a straight line.

The aura is slightly obscuring my own reflection, I can only see parts of my face at any given moment. “I can see… your apprehension. I assume the aura’s around both of us are mana? What does it look like when you reduce the truesight, can you see my entire face then?”

Celestia doesn’t respond for a few seconds so I stop staring at the mirror and turn to face her. She’s leaning over the table looking straight into my eyes, “Ignis, this is reduced.” She leans back and softens her expression, “Now don’t get me wrong. Your mana pool is truly absurd, but that’s not to say you have more than me or even Luna for that matter.” As she says this the solid jello aura begins to wobble and vibrate before the solid lines start to flicker and the solid cylinder around her expands to about an 8 foot radius. Unlike mine it maintains its cylinder shape completely filling the area it occupies.

“The problem is that I’ve trained my magic for nearly 4,000 years, and you’ve only been alive for 100. To top it off you’re not even aware of mana it seems. That can only mean you’ve done no training or exercises to expand and solidify your mana's shape. Considering all of those facts, and then confronting the reality that your mana already looks like that? I’m sorry Ignis, I have a respectable level of trust in you, and I will be forever grateful that you assisted Twilight and have befriended my sister, but I cannot allow you to train your mana as it stands. I need more time, I need to see your will and your morals when you’re at your lowest point. That’s when you truly learn what kind of pony someone is.”

I don’t respond, I’m just resting my elbows on the table with my fingers interlocked as they hover right under my nose. I mean I think I can see where she’s coming from, I’d perhaps make the same choices in her shoes. But, I swore on my soul when I took my oath. What more could she possibly need from me? Is she worried I might be susceptible to corruption or control?

“It’s time for court, come.” Celestia apparently got tired of waiting on a response from me. She goes through the open dining hall doors and turns the corner.

I let out a massive sigh. I knew things were going too smoothly. “Callisid.”

“Yes, master?”

“That pony I was just talking to, her name is Celestia. I want you to shadow her from now on until we leave for the global summit on friday. She has truesight so you’ll need to be extremely careful.”

“I can do that, but what are you hoping to gain from this?”

“Inform me anytime she speaks to someone working in this castle about me, I want to know if she has any other standing orders in regards to me.”

“Very well, do you wish for me to inform you as I see it or would you just like a daily report?”

“Inform me in real time, if possible I want to use your senses and listen to the conversation myself.” I order.

“As you command.”

I’m not sure why but something about all this spying and politics is oddly familiar. I know Ignis was a noble, so perhaps he… I had to deal with things like this all the time.

I stroll into the throne room from the side entrance, and it appears I was lost in my own thoughts for too long because they’ve already started. “....your majesty, I implore you it’s only 5 feet over the property line! It’ll cost me a fortune to redo that separation wall.”

“Yes, but you already had the property line adjusted 5 feet in your favor a little over 10 years ago. I have half a mind to say you intentionally did this when it was time to rebuild your wall in an effort to slowly expand your plot of land. The decision stands, next petitioner.” Luna ends the disagreement.

The unicorn stallion ignores the order, “But your majesty-”

“Hey buddy, Her Grace has given her decision on the matter and she will not repeat herself.” The stallion glares at the elf that suddenly appeared next to him and looks like he’s about to say something, but I interrupt him, “I will throw you out of this room. And I don’t mean that metaphorically.”

Intimidation. (Advantage)

3 and 18. 18 + 1 = 19.

“Y-yes of course, thank you for taking time to hear me out your majesty.” He does a quick head bow before turning and speed walking out of the throne room.

I turn around and start walking towards my position at the bottom of the throne steps and look up at both princesses. Celestia looks back with a perfect neutral expression, “Glad you could join us Sir Ignis. I’m afraid we’ve already assigned the positions for court today, it’s unfortunate but you should’ve been on time.” She says quietly enough that it’s likely only Luna, the two guards at the bottom of the stairs, and myself heard her.

I look at the guard standing in my spot and clench my jaw and I slowly walk towards him while maintaining eye contact. I’d prefer if he moves without me needing to say something. I’m about 2 steps away from him and I can tell he isn’t going to move so I whisper the incantation for Misty Step and teleport to the top of the stairs right next to Luna’s throne. I about face so I can properly face the ponies below and stand straight.

I can hear Luna audibly gulp as she looks at me with a pained face. I meet her gaze and offer her a smile, “It’s okay.”

“Ignis this isn’t helping your case, she wants you to display at least a reasonable level of obedience.” Luna telepathically responds to me as we both look forward and pretend nothing is happening.

“That’s okay, I swore my soul to you, not Equestria, and definitely not to Celestia.” I respond.

The rest of court was uneventful, our plan seems to have worked for the most part, the ponies gradually warmed up to Luna as the day went on and none of them protested enough for me to get involved.

It’s about noon when court ends for the day, I was about to make my way out with the guards, but Luna asked me to stay back. Looks like I’m due for another scolding. Great.

“I understand you’re angry right now, so I’m willing to overlook your unwillingness to follow court protocol. However, I do have an unrelated request for you. At some point during the night a dragon took up residence in a mountain about 13 miles from Ponyville, and it’s causing unwanted changes to the surrounding fauna. It’s also creating dark black clouds, likely due to its snoring.”

Celestia continues, “Luckily the element bearers were already here thanks to your ceremony so I had them depart for the mountain first thing this morning, they should be arriving at the cave opening in a few minutes. I’d feel much more comfortable with this if you would be willing to stealthily observe them and step in if the dragon becomes aggressive. This is a request not an order, you’ve made it abundantly clear that you are my sister's paladin and not an equestrian knight. That said, I’d appreciate it very much if you’d keep watch over my student and her friends.”

“You think the timing of this with the summit is a coincidence?” I reply, not answering her request yet.

“Oh it almost assuredly is on purpose. They’re likely fishing for more things they can use against us at the summit based on our response. That’s why it's imperative that you don’t step in unless absolutely necessary and even then try to avoid combat. If you do end up engaging the creature just contact me with your sending spell or have Twilight send an emergency ping, and I’ll go personally and settle the matter.

I almost ask outloud why isn’t she just solving this herself to begin with if she’s capable, but it’s likely she wants the elements to start building up some more real world experience. Still…. A dragon is a bit extreme. “Is the dragon ancient or just an adult?”

“Hm? He’s definitely an adult, but I’m not sure what classifies a dragon as ancient. He’s a formidable opponent though, that much I can say for certain. So, will you do it?”

“Your Grace, what are your thoughts on this?” I turn to Luna.

“I owe a lot to the element bearers, I think this would be a good opportunity to work on that debt.” Luna responds almost instantly.

“Then it’s settled, I’ll do it. Ho-” I was going to ask how much time I had to spare before I needed to leave, but I’m interrupted by a sudden flash of teleportation. I have to pee…..

I look around the area where I landed and realize she teleported me directly to the entrance to the dragons lair. I look around and spot the 6 ponies I’m supposed to be looking after. How did she expect to do this stealthily if she was going to teleport me 15 feet away from them on an exposed mountain cliff with no cover? Did she want me to cast Invisibility, cause I’m not wasting another 2nd level spell slot. After using Invis this morning and Misty Step in court, I’m down to only 1 more 2nd level spell slot remaining.

“Top of the morning ladies.” I decide to turn my uniform back into my regular outfit and call out to the girls. They turn towards me and I offer them a wave.

“Well I’ll be, what are you doin’ out here Ignis? Did Princess Luna send you not realizing we were already here?” Applejack is the first to respond to me.

“Nah, I was requested to come out here and provide any assistance if something unexpected pops up. It’s your first mission as element bearers so they just wanted an extra set of eyes.” I respond.

Rainbow responds this time, “I’m glad you’re here dude, I’m not gunna lie I might have gotten just a tiny, tiny bit nervous when I peeked inside and saw how huge this guy is.”

Before I can ask for clarification on exactly how big he is, the cotton candy one chimes in, “Ooooh why don’t we just throw him a “Please Sleep Somewhere Else Because YourSnoringIsRuiningOurClimate” party?! Then there’s no way he could be grumpy cause I mean who could be grumpy at a party? I’ll have to go get some cupcakes and other supplies from town but I can probably be back lickity split so what do you guys think?!”

Twilight sighs, “I appreciate your enthusiasm Pinkie, but there’s no way we’re throwing him a party.”

“Awww.”

Twilight continues, “Listen I think we just go in there, gently wake him up and explain the harm he’s causing if he continues to sleep here. Dragons are intelligent creatures just like us, so I’m sure he’s reasonable.”

Fluttershy chimes in, “I-If it’s alright with everypony else I’m going to wait out here… if we need to use the elements then I’m sure I’ll be able to go inside, but I really hope I don’t have to…” I cannot imagine being a national hero with a personality like that. This must be a nightmare for her.

“Oh of course Fluttershy, dear. What kind of friends would we be if we forced you to go in there knowing how terrified of dragons you are?” I don’t remember this one's name either, she’s a white unicorn with a stylized purple mane.

I find myself offering a genuine smile as I silently watch them interact with each other. I’m not sure which ones were already friends before the whole Nightmare Moon fiasco, but it’s sweet seeing how close they all are now.

Twilight and the others begin to march in when Rainbow looks back at me, “Aw dude don’t tell me you’re wimping out too?!”

“Nono I’m ready to go at the drop of a hat, but I figured I should stay out here with Fluttershy, if you guys need her for the elements I can teleport her in there for a faster response time.” That’s not the full reason I’m staying out here, but that’s pretty much it.

It’s nice seeing them respect her boundaries, but if she’s going to keep doing this she needs to confront her fears. I won’t make her go in, but she needs to show at least some level of progress. Once the others are out of earshot I turn to Fluttershy and strike up conversation.

“You know if you’re going to be an element bearer you’ll need to eventually be able to confront things like this, right?”

“Ohh, I know, but I when I think about going in there I just start shaking so badly I can’t move. I feel terrible knowing my friends are in there and potentially in danger, yet I’m stuck out here unable to do anything. I know more than anypony that I can’t stay like this forever, but I just don’t know what to do.” Her eyes start to become glassy and she sniffles her nose. Oh fuck, my heart, what have I done?

“Want some help?” I reply.

“W-what did you have in mind?”

“Get on my back and I’ll carry you inside. Not all the way in, but maybe just to end of the entrance tunnel. That way you can get some experience, and you don’t need to move, I’ll be your legs.”

She looks like she’s about to say something but stops and thinks for a few seconds, “Okay. Please turn around if I say I can’t do it anymore though.”

“Of course. Alright hop on.” I squat down and hunch my back so the pegasus can climb up easier. Once she gets most of the way up my back she hangs her forelegs over my shoulders and hangs on. We do some shifting so it’s more comfortable for both of us and I start slowly walking down the entrance tunnel.

We’re about ¾ of the way down the tunnel when I hear panicked whispers up ahead. I can continue until I can make out what they’re saying. “I thought you said he’d be reasonable, Twilight?” I think Rainbow Dash is questioning.

“I don’t understand why he’s being so unreasonable! Nothing he’s doing matches the behavior patterns notated in the interactions ponies in the past had with dragons. What do we do now, I don’t want to summon the princess on our first assignment! That’d be a complete failure.” Twilight replies.

I decide that I’m going to just go ahead and step in. It’s clear this dragon has no intention of leaving peacefully and just wants to cause problems the day before we leave for the summit. “Okay Flutters, I need to go talk to this dragon. Do you want me to drop you off with your friends just up ahead or should I take you back out the entrance?”

“Um, you can just drop me off here. I’m going to try my best to take the steps forward to meet up with my friends.” That is the most adorable display of determination I’ve ever seen or heard.

“Alright, here you go.” I squat again and she climbs off. “Everything is gunna be just fine, alright?”

I can’t resist the urge and I reach out and give the pegasus a head pat. I hope this isn’t demeaning. I quickly remove my hand. “Sorry, I just realized that could be demeaning depending on how you look at it.”

“Some ponies probably wouldn’t appreciate it, but it did give me some comfort. Thank you, Ignis.”

I offer her a salute with my index finger and middle finger against my forehead and start dashing ahead. I quickly reach the other 5 and stop for a second. “Listen, I'm going to go talk to him. This is all just an annoying political move, so I’m just gunna go give him a scolding real quick.”

“A scolding?! Partner, have you lost your damn mind?” Applejack questions me like I’m insane.

“Been a while since I heard that line, haha, thanks for the nostalgia Applejack.” I continue dashing forward and finally reach the expansive cavern inside the mountain.

“I’ve never seen a creature like you before….. Are you with the ponies?” The Red Dragon asks out loud. Holy shit it’s bigger than the hydra.

“I am with the ponies. Listen, this is ridiculous. What kind of stunt are you trying to pull just a few days before the summit, huh? You literally couldn’t be more obvious about your intentions. Why don’t we just call it here and you head on back to wherever you dragons live and I’ll report to Celestia that you were cooperative.”

Wisdom Saving Throw.

4 + 5 = 9.

You are Frightened.

As soon as I finish my sentence a wave of pressure slams into me and I realize this must be Dragon Fear. Even though I’m screaming in anger against the pressure, my body is shaking like Fluttershy’s and I can’t move towards the dragon at all.

The dragon offers a deep guttural laugh, “You cannot even resist my presence, yet you try to order me around? Are you a fool? I could eat you right now and there’s nothing your Sun princess can do.”

“Oh it’s not her you’d have be worried about. I don’t work for Celestia, I’m just here as a favor.”

Repeat Wisdom Saving Throw.

13, +5. 18.

You are Frightened.

The dragon unfurls itself and brings its head within striking distance as it eyes me closely, “Oh you must be what all the news was about. You’re the paladin for that moon bitch right? I was told you’d be wearing all dark clothing with a night sky cloak, so I didn’t recognize you. I heard you’re a bladesinger too, but that must have been exaggerated rumors. No bladesinger would fall to my presence alone.”

“What did you just say?”

Repeat Wisdom Saving Throw.

15, +5. 20.

You are no longer Frightened.

Moonblade. Haste. Now.

I feel a powerful tremor and I can tell the blade is wondering why I haven’t already clobbered this fucking lizard. I grab the hilt of my sword as my hair begins to whip around as if there’s a strong wind in the cave. I feel the burst of speed from Haste. +2 AC. 20 AC.

Activate Bladesong.

The usually calm and serene motes of light that rise out of the ground and surround me are the exact opposite right now. They look like bright red embers aggressively darting throughout the air as a deep chord is struck on a piano. +5 AC. 25 AC.

“Oh did I make you angry? She tried to ruin the world with an eternal night, do you expect the rest of the world to just forgive her and give her a pat on the back and a crown? That whore deserves more than just a banishm-”

Thanks to haste I’m on him in less than an instant, my Moonblade slashing straight towards his skull.

13, +10. 23. Hit

Level 3 Smite.

1d8 + 1d6 Slashing + 1d6 Lightning (Moonblade Enchantment) + 4d8 Radiant + 7

5 + 3 + 4 + 20 + 7 = 39 Variant Damage. The dragon is not resistant to anything I’m hitting him with so no point in differentiating it.

Right before the blade makes contact with the top of the dragon's head a surge of silver light envelopes my body before converging onto the Moonblade. Causing it and my eyes to shine a brilliant silver light.

The blade crashes down onto the top of its head and a loud pop can be heard that sounds like air getting turned into plasma as all the divine light leaves my eyes and the sword and crashes into the beast like a moonbeam the same instant the sword does.

Roll For Initiative.

19, +5. 25.

I’m guessing the dragon thought I was still frozen in fear and had no idea I was capable of launching an attack from that position. Anyways it’s still my turn and I’ve got 3 more attacks to hit him with.

Once time resumes the dragon grabs its head and lets out a roar as it recoils backwards. “You dare?!”

I don’t say anything as I just run at the creature and make a slash at its left leg.

10, +10. 20. Hit.

Level 3 Smite.

42 Damage.

The process with the divine light repeats itself and this time the sword manages to get about ¼ of the way through the leg as scales and blood scatter across the floor.

At this point the dragon feels a small bit of fear for the first time in centuries. What the fuck is this creature? There were no reports indicating this level of strength. The dragon suddenly unable to keep weight on his left foot roars in surprise as his left side buckles and drops to his knee. Now his stomach is close enough for me to hack into without jumping.

This time when I swing the sword behind me to wind up the slash I run my hand over it and cast Booming Blade, adding an additional d8 to the damage.

12, +10. 22. Hit.

Yes, just keep hitting, don’t fail me dice.

Level 3 Smite, last level 3 spell slot.

46 Damage.

With a loud deep thunderous crack the sword slices deep into the dragon's belly, as it proceeds to continue its previous roar.

30 seconds earlier.

Twilight Sparkle 3rd Person POV

Twilight watched with nervousness as Ignis approached the red dragon and after 5 seconds felt an unfathomable pressure on herself. She was completely frozen in fear of the dragon. She can’t make out what they’re saying to each other, but can see they’re talking. Suddenly Ignis just vanishes and half a second later appears standing on top of the dragon's mouth and he just swings his blade into the creature's head.

Twilight feels the pressure lift off of her almost instantly and she begins to panic thinking if she should summon her mentor, but in the 2 seconds it takes her to even begin to process the decision, Ignis has sliced into the creature's leg and is now just about to hit its belly. All the hesitation leaves her and she instantly sends out a ping with her horn. The exact millisecond the ping leaves her horn the sword hacks into the dragon's belly with a sickening thunder sound. She starts to wonder if her hesitation is going to cost this dragon its life, which would be one of the worst case scenarios.

After the strike to its belly the dragon clutches at the wound and finally collapses onto both knees with its head drooping just barely above the ground as it roars. “IGNIS STOP YOU CAN’T DO THIS!”

Twilight and her 4 other friends all turn in shock as Fluttershy comes roaring out of the tunnel and flies past all of them. Barreling straight towards Ignis.

Ignis looks back with a bewildered look as he raises his sword once again, this time aiming for the creature's neck. He shouts “Stay Back!”

Suddenly there’s a loud pop right next to Twilight almost instantly followed by a 2nd pop. All the ponies except Fluttershy shout, “Princess!”

“STOP RIGHT NOW IGNIS!” Celestia shouts with the royal canterlot voice.

Her horn lights up but its too late, the sword once again glows with that strange silver light but it’s so much brighter this time it’s not even comparable.

Ignis 1st Person POV

“STOP RIGHT NOW IGNIS!” I hear Celestia screaming at me, but I refuse. He can take one more attack and I’m still pissed.

Bonus Action, Illusionist's Bracers, Booming Blade once more.

Natural 20. Critical Hit.

Level 4 Divine Smite.

44 + 7 = 51. 51 + 68 (Critical) = 119 Damage.

The sword shines almost as bright as the moon itself as the blade slashes into the dragon's neck and I rip it upwards creating a 3 foot deep dash on the creature's neck as even more scales are thrown onto the floor.

I’m suddenly slammed into by a speeding yellow mass that tackles me to the ground, “HOW DARE YOU?! That dragon does not deserve death and you have no right to do what you’ve done.”

I look up and past Fluttershy at the dragon and see Celestia pointing her horn with a green light at the dragon. Guess that means I didn’t kill it, but I bet I came damn close. Luna is looking at me with an expression I can’t figure out. She must be conflicted right now.

Fluttershy moves her face back into your field of view, “What do you have to say for yourself mister?”

“Get off of me I need to speak to him, you can scold me later.” I don’t wait for her respond, she weighs practically nothing so I just get up and walk over to him.

“Hey you overgrown lizard, wake up.” I pat him on the head a few times. “C’mon I know you’re awake, quit faking it.”

Celestia glares at me and with venom in her voice, “What is wrong with you?”

“Just give me a second. Hey lizard, you know what you have to do now right?” I give my own glare into the dragon's eye.

“You’ve already driven me to the brink of death, what more do you dare ask of me?”

“I want you to tell my Princess what you called her and then I demand an apology.”

“I didn’t call Celestia anything, you whelp!”

“And I told you, I don’t work for her!” I grab his head and pull with all my might to make him look 5 degrees to the left at Luna. “That’s my princess you stupid reptile.”

The dragon closes its eye again as if considering its options before finally opening both eyes. “Princess Luna, your majesty, during our heated disagreement about the location for my slumber, I got lost in the moment and called your majesty a bitch.”

Celestia finally has a look on her face that isn’t anger or contempt, she looks shocked. I look over to Luna and see her glaring at the dragon. “And? C’mon what else did you call her, you know the reason I laid into you.”

“I also called your majesty a whore, and I don’t take it back. Your idiotic plan would’ve doomed the planet and yet you get a 1000 year nap and a warm welcome home with a crown and a title? You deserve much worse and next week I will personally make sure you receive it!”

I feel the temperature in the cavern rise about 10 degrees and I ask out loud, “Celestia can I please ki-”

An overwhelming high pitched screaming sound coming from Celestia's horn interrupts me and I watch in shock as the green light from her horn turns into a bright orange dot that suddenly expands into a beam of pure sun plasma that blasts straight through the dragon's neck, decapitating the beast.

“I apologize, Sir Ignis. I judged the situation too hastily, but in this scenario…” she looks at me with a somewhat satisfied smirk, “You made the right call.”

Twilight and her friends are just staring straight ahead with slack jawed expressions. I don’t think they were ready for Celestia to just instantly deep six that fucker. Shit, even I wasn’t ready for that.

I walk over to Luna and stare at the ground as I stand silently next to her, “I’m sorry, Luna. I held it together for his first insult, but after that second insult I just snapped. I’ll have better self control by the time the summ-”

“Stop. Ignis….. Thank you for getting angry on my behalf. I won’t lie, it gives me immense satisfaction, but it’s as you said. Let’s not make a habit out of this. Now come with me, let’s go back to the castle.”

“As you wish, your Grace.”

“Why do you switch between Grace and Luna, you don’t even refer to me with the Princess title you just flip between the most formal way you can reference me to the 2nd most informal way possible. At this point I don’t particularly care, I consider you a friend, but I have to know why you keep flipping between the 2.” Luna asks with her horn lit but is holding off on teleporting us until I answer her.

“You haven’t figured it out? I call you Your Grace whenever you actually command me or order me like you’re supposed to, and I call you Luna when we’re having casual conversation.”

“You are a strange creature, Ignis.”

In the wake of the dragon incident the sisters decided to bring 50 guards instead of the original 10 and they elected to bring 3 carriages instead of 1. Both of them are still in the same carriage, but the other 2 are empty decoys. I’m currently sitting on top of an empty one and rolling Perception checks every 10 minutes, so far nothing.

I wonder how this summit is going to go….

Author's Note

Decided it was time Celestia got some real meat to her character. She was basically just existing as an exposition sponge, but with this chapter we've got some background lore info and some good ole fashioned drama/conflict. Also got to work on the mane 6 - ignis character relationship/development, so that's good. There was just a bit too much focus on Luna the past few chapters decided it was a good time to pass the spotlight to others

I considered going all in on having Celestia be the straight up villian for the next major arc and have her conspiring with the dragons to kill the bladesinger, but since I'm putting this in the author notes I obviously decided to go a different direction.

I might've made her a slight bit TOO aggressive, but we all know deep down she's just an overprotective teddy bear.

This is the first time I've stopped writing a chapter and come back the next day to finish it so hopefully I didn't lose the plot and somewhere in the middle of the chapter it just stops making sense lmao.

Lastly, before anyone gives me shit for gary stu/overpowered protag does it all because of the mana scene, just think about it for a lil bit. He has a gamer-esque system, what stat is often associated to Mana Points (MP)? Intelligence, which he has maxed out!

Idk I'm pretty sure there are some choices with the plot I made this chapter that might be mistakes, but I just went with what felt right/cool....

Feel free to quote and point out any grammar or word fuckups and as always: Thanks for reading!

3 Days and 3 Nights at a Tent in the Badlands

XP: 41,000/48,000 Level 8 (Bladesinger 6/Paladin 2)

I knew I wouldn’t get all of the experience from the dragon. Worst case it would be divided up 7 ways between the element bearers, Celestia, and myself. The best case scenario was that it’d be split between me and Celestia, but why did it divide it by 3? Did one of the girls actually hit that fucking thing? There’s no way, right?

Well, anyways, it’s Saturday now. The first day of the journey was uneventful. We stopped just after sunset on the outskirts of some small town. It was a little smaller than Ponyville, so there was nowhere for us to sleep. We did manage to find an old widowed mare who offered to let the Princesses sleep in the room that used to be for her son before he moved out. The rest of us setup camp near the dirt path into town.

Celestia’s guards wanted to just have 1 pony stand guard outside the shared bedroom and rotate every hour since we have so many ponies. To my utter shock most people murmured agreements, so I decided to step in. The least I would accept is 2 ponies outside the door, purely because you need an extra there so they can hold each other accountable. I mean seriously Celestia has 2 guards stand outside her chamber in the castle every night, why would we switch to 1 in a less secure area.

I told them that ideally having 2 outside the bedroom and 2 patrolling the outside of the house, so we can keep eyes on the windows as well. I only rolled a 12 in persuasion so I thought surely they’d shoot down my 4 pony suggestion and maybe accept the 2 pony suggestion. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised when they accepted the plan to use 4 ponies with 2 hour shifts.

I say all of that because that was our first night. Now? We officially entered the badlands about an hour before nightfall. During that 1 hour we’ve already had 4 ponies pass out from overheating. We have literally infinite water and are constantly reminding everyone they need to hydrate, but I guess that still isn’t enough.

Once we stopped and started setting up camp Celestia conjured a metric fuck ton of logs. Apparently they were prepared before the trip and she was just pulling them from a teleportation circle in storage. We set up multiple campfires around the site with one large bonfire in the middle. For the most part you can go anywhere in camp without being too cold, but outside the comfort of our campsite it’s around 30F.

That brings us to now, I’m on my way to the royal tent to go grab Luna. Tonight is when the Moonblade told me to return to her in the dreamscape with Luna. “Stop. Once the Princess retires for the night we are to only allow interruptions for emergencies.”

“First of all, the sun has been down for like an hour. There's no way she’s in bed already. Secondly, you seem to forget there’s more than 1 Princess in there. Circling back to the first point, the sun is down, period. As far as I’m concerned, not even Shining Armor himself can give me an order as long as there is more than 1 star in the sky.” Technically he can’t give me orders at any time, but it sounds better if I word it like this.

As I explain my final bit of my counter argument, I use Thaumaturgy 3 times in quick succession. I dim down the campfire illuminating this section of camp, creating almost pure darkness. Then I put my hand on his barrel just behind his neck and use the 2nd instance to cause the ground to shake. To put the cherry on top I use the 3rd instance to cause the loosely secured tent flaps to burst open with wind, right as I speak the last word.

Intimidation. (Advantage)

2 and 17. 17 + 1 = 18.

The guard I’m resting my hand on replies with wide eyes. “Ap-apologies, I’m still getting used to having a 2nd guard branch.”

I instantly cancel all of the Thaumaturgy instances early, flash him a big smile with my eyes closed, give him a couple firm pats and reassure him, “Is that so? I suppose that’s understandable. Hope the rest of your shift is uneventful”

I walk through the tent and the first thing I hear is a soft sigh, “While I appreciate you actually using your words like an adult this time, I would prefer if you could learn to resolve conflict without intimidation.” Celestia nags me while laying on a large pillow and reviewing some papers.

I take a deep breath in through my nose, be strong Ignis, be strong for Her Grace. “I’m working on it, can’t turn coal into diamond in a week. Luna, are you ready to get started?”

“Ignis, diamonds aren’t made out of coal.” I look back to Celestia and see her giving me by far the most judgemental look I’ve seen since I got her.

“Oh? Well they were where I’m from.” I just give her a shrug and go lay down on a large rug on the ground.

“Aye, had a particularly nasty nightmare to sort through, but I’m ready now. Just go to sleep and I’ll find you.” Luna offers her delayed response.

I close my eyes and a few minutes later I open them again to find myself a familiar looking forest. “There you are, child of Zarra! Where’s our Maiden?”

“She should be here any minute now….” Right as I finish my sentence I see a ripple in the sky as Luna just seemingly appears as if the sky was an ocean. “So, how are we doing this?”

“Right, so I have two theories. One is that the memories are located in your soul and they have merely been repressed. Long ago, a few centuries after the first sundering, there was a God that had his followers reincarnate after death. Thanks to that we were able to discover that natural reincarnation suppresses the memories of the soul. Why? Who knows. This is important to note though, because Druids are known to perform reincarnation magic. When the druids perform it however, the soul retains a majority of its memories. If your memories are indeed locked away in your soul I can repurpose the reincarnation spell and that would hopefully unlock those memories in a similar way.”

“You can repurpose a spell?” I ask with an eyebrow raised.

“Child, I’ve existed since the first sundering. That was well over 18,000 years ago, in that time period us mere mortals had more freedom in how we interacted with the weave. The real problem is that I can’t cast spells in that way anymore. I can only cast the spells that are stored in me.”

“Well then why bring it up at all?! I don’t know if you’re aware, but there are no fucking Druids here.”

“Yes, but Our Lady is quite powerful. She can perhaps use her own magic to probe your soul in a similar way?” We both look at Luna.

“Perhaps. I would rather not use magic that interacts with an individual's soul, however. I recognize the importance of this, so I’m willing to do it, but I need to brush up on the specifics of the spell. I can’t do that until we return from the summit. I refuse to perform such powerful magic without 100% confidence in my ability to perform it without incident.”

I reply, “I completely agree. I’d be more than uncomfortable if you were “probing” my soul while only being half sure of yourself. What’s the 2nd theory then?”

The mature elf points at my forehead, “If that body is truly your body then your memories should still be in your head. If that is the case I am significantly more confident that Her Grace can retrieve them.”

“Prior to my banishment there was no such magic that allowed memory manipulation. However, 1000 years is a long time. There's a chance such magic was discovered or created in that time. I’d have to ask my sister though.”

My fellow elf glances at me and we both look confused. I decide to voice the confusion, “Luna, can you not just access the memories via the dream? Dreams and memories are heavily connected to each other.”

“Now that you mention it, I believe I did manipulate the dream of a spy at some point to determine what she knew. I can give it a try.” She instantly ignites her horn and everything around us fades to black.

I look around to find I’m completely alone now. I feel a pulsating sensation in my head and squeeze my eyes shut. When I open them again I’m somewhere unfamiliar. It’s a large and ornate temple. My body is entering the main hall of the temple when I hear a sniffle to my left. My body turns its head to the left slightly and I see an adult drow on her knees with her head in her hands quietly sobbing. “Oh no…”

I start running over to the drow and once I’m closer hear my own voice call out, “Tala, what happened?” Tala?

In between sniffles the girl slowly replies, “I’m ashamed brother, what would mom think of me if she was here?” Oh Tala is the sister from my previous memory.

“I don’t understand, you’ve been a devout follower your whole life. There must’ve been a mistake in the ritual. I cannot comprehend why you’d be unworthy of the Moonblade.” As I respond I sit down on the floor next to her.

“NO! There was no mistake, I’m a failure Ignis.” Memories begin to flood in, filling in the 20 year gap between mothers Last Dance and now. In quick flashes I see myself chasing Tala with a wooden sword, the first time I casted fire bolt and started a fire in the garden, as more and more memories begin to process I notice something. I’m seeing Tala less and less, ah I understand, I see her fencing with a much older drow, flashes of her constantly being surrounded by priestesses.

Everyone just assumed she was the heir, I mean she was the oldest and on top of that she was a drow. It was a fair assumption. I see people referring to her as the future Chosen and Sword Saint. One memory I’m looking out my bedroom window in the middle of the night and I see candle lights in the distance with a single shadow moving back and forth and twirling around, fast forward I exit my trance and see Tala walking out of the forest the morning after with completely empty candle holders. I see that memory hundreds of times, she was constantly practicing the attunement ritual all night every night, but I’d still see memories of her walking around during the day casting spells and training her blade. She looks so tired.

I understand now, a little while after mom died they began placing this weight on her shoulders. The curse of expectations. Everything since then was leading to this moment that would start the rest of her life.

“Talabrina, look at me. You are not a failure. If mother were here she wouldn’t be disappointed in you, she’d laugh and say “Well what does she know, she’s just a sword.” None of us think any less of you.”

She grasps the sides of my cloak and pushes her face into my chest as she finally loses the battle of holding back her grief. “I’m so sorry, brother.” She lets out with a choked voice. I wrap her up in a hug.

“What are you sorry for, everything’s gunna be okay sis.” I reply with a small chuckle.

“No you don’t understand Ignis! If I’m not the heir, then they’re going to make you go through the same hell I’ve been living everyday since she died! In the beginning I wanted to be worthy to carry on mothers legacy, but as more and more time passed and I caught glimpses of you smiling and laughing, you were so happy when you got your first spellbook…. I knew that I had to be worthy. Because, if I wasn’t then…. then you’d….” She can’t finish her sentence as she starts wailing.

I rubbed the back of her head to try and comfort her, but in my mind I knew she was right. As the rest of the memories streamed in there were less and less memories of happy sword fights with friends, climbing trees, the kind mentor pointing out errors in my spellbook, training my bladesong with father. My life became more rigid and structured, practicing the attunement ritual all night, meeting with high ranking figures in the religion, getting dragged into political nonsense as a pawn. I could barely find time to catch up with my friends or study magic. Being strong armed into a cleric lifestyle by night and training my bladesong while taking on more responsibilities of the son of a noble.

The human side of me says this is just growing up, but now that I’ve got my memories I feel so much resentment. Since my sister wasn’t worthy they made sure to go twice as hard on me, but I was only 30 years old! Sure I was physically grown, but none of my friends started taking on responsibilities until they were in their late 70s! There was one bright side though. After the first few years Tala looked much happier.

Then the final memory plays. I'm sitting at a desk working on scribing the Shadow Blade spell into my spellbook when I feel dizzy and my chest hurts. I start feeling a cold numbness spread through my body as I collapse and my forehead slams into my spellbook. Suddenly I’m flying up into the air looking at my own body and everything goes black.

My eyes snap open and I’m in a carriage with my head leaning against the wall. “Not many get to say they slept in a tent with two princesses all night and got personally carried into the royal carriage with them as well. Honestly quite bold of you to pull a stunt like that.”

“Ah, I apologize Princess. Did Her Grace not explain what was going on?” I respond with a soft voice.

Celestia looks at me suspiciously, “No, she mentioned that she had done an experiment with some new dream magic. Are you feeling okay?” She then looks at Luna, who’s sat next to me.

“I used his dreams to recall and replay the memories from his original life as Ignis. I didn’t expect it to take so long though. I do agree though, are you well?”

“I feel fine. Why? Is there something wrong with me?” As I ask I begin looking for a mirror that doesn’t exist.

Celestia responds, “You just aren’t speaking how I’d expect you to. I think that was the first non-hostile thing you’ve said to me since you found out I prohibited you from learning Equestrian magic.”

“Oh, I’m supremely frustrated at your lack of trust, but I still have basic respect and decorum.”

“The past 3 days you haven’t had either of those. Your tone is even softer than it used to be.”

“Well, I learned etiquette from my attendant and had plenty of practice from following my father to events. Noble life was quite boring.”

Both of them respond at the same time, quite surprised, “You were a noble?!”

I respond, “Yes, I was the successor of the Natsume family. Natsume meaning Summer Dreams. The family line on my fathers side presided over Summer for several generations, but when he married my mother who was called the Chosen or the Sword Saint for her goddess whose domain was the night. They honored her goddess by changing the family name to Summer Dreams. Luna I thought you knew, you saw the memory where my father had his attendants with him.”

“Oh so you’ll address my sister properly now that you remember your etiquette lessons, but I’m still just “Luna”. Also, you’re right I just didn’t put much thought into it.”

“Just because I’m apparently acting a bit different doesn’t mean I’ve completely changed as a person. You said it yourself, I consider us friends.”

For the first time since our confrontation I see a genuine smile on Celestia’s face. Luna speaks up again looking a little flustered at the sudden declaration, “Now that you’ve fully woken up you should go back onto the top of the lead carriage and help keep lookout. We should be at the summit before I raise the moon tonight.”

“As you command, Your Grace.”

I open the door to the moving carriage and pull myself up before running and jumping onto the carriage in front of this one.

Acrobatics

13 + 8 = 21.

I land on the carriage and promptly sit down before putting my hand over my eyes and slowly scanning the horizon and the sky above.

Perception.

10 + 5 = 15.

Just like the first 2 days, I see nothing but wasteland.

Honestly I’m a bit disappointed with my memories. I thought for sure I’d learn at least a hint as to how I ended up getting my soul snatched and sent to earth.

Oh well, let’s just make it through today and when we wake up tomorrow it’ll be time to play politics. Well I’ll be playing stand there and cut any idiot that tries to pick a fight with Luna. They are the ones playing politics.

Author's Note

I wanted to actually start the summit this chapter, but the memory flashback was longer than expected and this felt like a good place to end. Compared the last few chapters this one is on the shorter side but that's okay.

Wizards revealed the new Wizard changes that are gunna be in the 2024 Players Handbook release in September, and unfortunately they didn't add Bladesinger into the core rules. I don't really care whether it becomes part of the core rules or not, but since in it's not part of the core rules that means it won't be receiving any changes anytime soon.

I'm pretty happy with where the subclass is right now, but all the new features the other subclasses got make Bladesinger feel a little.... lackluster now.

Turns out Ignis' childhood wasn't that traumatic, just strict. I'm not gunna lie I had to rewrite like 2 of those paragraphs probably 10-15 times cause I realized I had no clue what dnd elves do for leisure or fun.... or if they go to school.... or how their noble society interacts with each other...... oh well, hopefully what I decided on isn't too far off from canon :P

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Global Summit pt. 1

“So who are all the key players going to be?” Ignis asks while eating an apple in the royal sisters tent.

“We have Dragon Lord Tormura from the Dragon Lands, King Silverwing from Griffonia, King Haakim and Princess Amira from Saddle Arabia, Chieftess Winara Steelheart and her husband Chief Faslen from Minos, Prime Minister Willow of Ciervana, and Queen Aurora of the Changelings.” Replies a white unicorn with a quill and ink on her butt.

“Alright the first two are obvious, but what race lives in Saddle Arabia? I assume minotaurs are Minos, but I’m not sure about Ciervana. Lastly, I have a feeling your changelings and my changelings are slightly different so if I could get a description on those that’d be great Miss….?”

“Inkwell, Raven Inkwell, Sir Ferrum. The ponies in Saddle Arabia are much like our earth ponies, but they’re moderately larger. Your assumption about Minos is correct, and Ciervana is an exceptionally large forest that is home to predominantly deer. Changelings are most accurately described as insect ponies. They have an exoskeleton that ranges for an assortment of colors mostly consisting of shades of gray, black, and white with wings and a horn, and their main feature is being able to take on the features of any pony. Anything else, sir?”

“That should be it. If anything else comes up I’m sure Princess Celestia wouldn’t mind answering me. Thank you, Raven.” Although he isn’t entirely sure, he’s fairly confident that an annoyed set of magenta eyes just bored a hole in the back of his head.

Raven nods her head before returning to the corner of the tent where Celestia and Luna are currently having a private discussion in a sound bubble. Must be a unidirectional sound bubble, good to note. Ignis thinks to himself as he stands up and walks out of the tent. “Good Morning my solar counterparts, are we ready to depart?”

There's a few seconds of silence and just as Ignis thinks he’s about to be ignored by Celestia’s guards again, one of them speaks up. “Just about………… Sir. We’ve got everything but the royal tent packed up. The other guards are formed up and mustering to make sure we didn’t lose anypony overnight. After that they’ll get a rundown on what to expect for today. Should be ready to head out in 15.”

Ignis decides that he likes this guard. “What’s your name?”

“Lieutenant Force.”

“Thanks for the information LT. I’ll go inform the Sisters.” Ignis turns and stops just before going back inside the tent. “Did you happen to submit a request to cross branch over to the Night Watch?”

“Me? No sir. I’d considered it, but after thinking about it I decided the schedule would make it hard for me to participate in social activities.”

“....that’s a shame.” Ignis doesn’t wait to see if the mare has a response before heading back inside the tent. Once he’s a few steps away from the Princesses the sound bubble drops and they turn to look at him. “Guards’ll be ready to roll in 15 minutes. Figured I’d come let both of you know so we can start packing up this tent, it’s the last one.”

“Oh? Thank you, but we usually wait until they are ready to go before leaving the tent.” Luna replies.

“Yes and I’m strongly suggesting we don’t do that from now on. If your guards are anything like my soldiers, they probably get annoyed constantly being rushed through tasks, showing up to something by a specific time, all just so they can stand there and wait on leadership to show up. It’d be a small but significant gesture if you were ready to depart earlier than or at the same time as the guards.”

Celestia chimes in before Luna can give a proper response, “Why haven’t any of my officers given me that feedback before if it’s an issue?”

“There could be any number of reasons for that. If a guard has ever told you “I can’t think of anything” or “I don’t know” when you asked for feedback it’s generally because it’s much harder to remember complaints or criticisms if asked randomly. Especially for small gestures like what I’m suggesting, it’ll cause a tiny amount of annoyance in the moment but it’s not worth remembering for later. All the tiny annoyances can pile up to general bitterness or resentfulness. The second most likely reason is because if they do have complaints about something it’s generally a much bigger problem than something like this. Which leads to this never getting brought up, but I guarantee if you went out there and asked that formation “Is it annoying when you form up at 0745 for an all-call with some officer at 0800, and said officer shows up at 0815 or 0830?” they’d respond with a resounding yes.”

Both sisters look at each other before giving the paladin a small smile as Celestia responds, “Very well. Let’s pack up.”

The sisters start magicking away their bedrolls, rugs, and other furniture before all four creatures exit the tent. Once they exit Celestia looks at the LT, “We’re ready to go.”

One of the two guards starts pulling up the pegs holding the tent down as the lieutenant looks up at Ignis. “I think I speak for a few of us when I say this. Thank you, sir.”

The elf waves his hand in a dismissive motion, “Bah it’s not a big deal. After two days of watching you guards murmur “Why didn’t they do that while we were mustering?” I figured I’d bring it up. Inefficiency and poor time management annoy me.”

A few hours later the convoy arrives at an absolutely enormous structure resembling a colosseum. It’s big enough that it could likely fit an entire city inside it. The carriages pass through an archway and reach the inner field of the structure. In the center of the field is a massive circular table with fist sized pink crystals spread out in precise increments along the edge of the table. Spread out through the rest of the inner area are different stylized tents and camps for the other nations present, each camp is separated with rope and markings on the ground. The Equestrians turn right and head towards the south east where there’s still a decently sized plot that has a sign in front of it that reads “Equestria”. Ignis initially thought they were the last country to arrive, but upon looking around he realizes there’s no dragons to be seen.

Once camp is setup the sisters, Ignis, and Shining Armor make their way towards the round table where most of the other races are already gathered. There are 2 large seating arrangements with a folded piece of paper in each seat that has Equestria written on them. The two Princesses take their place on their bench as Ignis stands to the right of Luna and Shining to the left of Celestia. If Shining were a humanoid they’d be standing shoulder to shoulder.

Positioned on the edge of the table the pink crystal lies perfectly in the middle of the two benches. Equidistant from the alicorns. Ignis looks at the crystal for a moment.

Arcana

15 + 11 = 26.

Ignis realizes there’s a resonance in the crystal that matches all the other crystals, presumably linking them together. Once he considers how they’re positioned in front of every seat he surmises that they are likely acting as a microphone/speaker. The table is definitely large enough to require something like that, it easily has a 40ft radius, maybe larger.

After a few minutes of the leaders talking amongst themselves and fanning themselves to alleviate some of the desert heat a huge burst of wind can be felt spreading over the entire field. Looking up they spot three massive dragons slowly descending through the open roof of the colosseum. One is white and the other two are red.

Once they land the bigger of the two red dragons approaches the table and lays down on the ground on his belly before resting his head just a few inches from the edge of the table. Guess that explains why the table needs to be so excessively large. Ignis thinks to himself.

The dull white pony shaped creature that is most likely Queen Aurora ignites her horn in a sickly green aura. Suddenly there’s a loud rumbling and the ground begins to shake lightly as Ignis stares up to the sky with wide eyes and a slack jaw. The edges of the massive open circular roof start to rotate and extend towards the center, the motion reminds him of a camera aperture closing when a picture is taken. Once closed bright white light is emitted from hundreds of crystals along the supporting pillars and the now closed roof of the structure, completely illuminating the inside.

The changeling queen then ignites her horn again and hundreds of mesh grated holes begin to appear in the ground. Almost immediately the temperature in the inner field drops 10 degrees to a much more tolerable level, the ground vents are somehow acting as a giant air conditioner.

The changeling queen then speaks, her voice is heard clearly coming from the pink crystal. “As the host of the Global Summit this time around, I am happy to welcome all of you to our little corner of the badlands! I’m sure no creature wants their time wasted so let’s get right into the agenda. Our first item for discussion is concerning the attempted global domination committed by Princess Luna Concordia of Equestria. It’s noted that in the past the same princess allegedly committed the same crime, and that she was never given a proper trial in international court. As such, the nations of Draconia, Griffonia, and Minos propose that Princess Luna be arrested and tried for two counts of attempted global domination. As the initial nation to submit the topic to the agenda, the representative for Draconia will be the first to speak on the topic.”

Ignis 1st Person POV

So we’re just getting right fucking to it, huh? I’m gripping the armrest of Luna's bench so tightly that it begins to crack. Celestia predicted this is how it would go, but I’m still pissed. Her proposed strategy is that we let all the nations that proposed the trial speak first without interruption. Depending on what they say she has several speeches prepared. I gave my word to her and Luna that I would not speak out of turn. They initially wanted me to agree not to speak at all as it’s not my place as someone that isn’t sitting at the table, but I talked them down.

I actually have my own plan if things take an absolute turn for the worst, but it’ll take a minor amount of deception.

A deep gravelly voice from the Dragon Lord projects itself over the entire inside of the colosseum, without the use of the pink crystal. “It is a simple matter. The lunar princess of Equestria caused thousands of crops across the globe to wither and die in a matter of days over 1,000 years ago. Indirectly she caused the deaths of hundreds of creatures throughout every nation. The first thing she does when she returns? Apologize? Pay restitutions to the nations involved? No. The first thing she does when she returns is to try again. It is an absolute spit in the face, a complete disrespect to all those affected. I propose we hold the trial two days from now with a jury comprised of every race present except ponies, equally.”

The changeling queen then spoke up, “Do the representatives from Griffonia or Minos have any remarks to add?”

No one else speaks for a few seconds, so the changeling continues, “Very Well. Do the representatives from Equestria have any counter arguments?”

Celestia, with venom in her tone, spoke. “Queen Aurora, as an unbiased 3rd party, do you know how many Griffons died during the 7 dark days from 1,000 years ago?”

“Zero.”

“And, how many minotaurs?”

“Zero.”

“Lastly, how many dragons?”

“Zero.”

“Of the reported number of deaths, what percentage of the total deaths were from Equestria?”

“Of the 726 deaths, 100% of those were Equestrians.” The changeling queen gave her final reply.

“Thank you. On the topic of restitutions, over 1.2 million bits and 1.8 tons of produce, to include medicinal herbs, has been paid and delivered to every nation that would accept payment. Since the incident 1,000 years ago no nation has requested another payment of restitutions. That tells me that every nation was quite satisfied with what they received. Not to mention that Princess Luna was tried and convicted for her crimes 1,000 years ago. On the 7th day of darkness Harmony herself found Luna guilty and sentenced her to 1,000 years exile, on the moon. Once she returned she extended the night for an extra 3 hours. A whole 3 hours. With no deaths, no consequences anywhere in the world. The only result was some creatures waking up later than they normally would have. With all these facts taken into consideration it is a complete and utter joke to have the audacity to suggest that any nation outside of Equestria has a right to demand or sentence my sister to anything.” Celestia finishes her rebuttal much angrier than she started it.

Queen Aurora steps up, “Would any representative from any nation present like to continue discussion on the topic?”

Four different creatures spoke up, “Aye.”

“Very well. In that case the floor is now open for free debate. Please keep things civil and peaceful.”

Instantly, at least five different people start talking over one another yelling incoherently.

It’s gunna be a long day.

Author's Note

This chapter is on the shorter side, but that's mainly because a decent chunk of my writing time today was spent coming up with names for people. I hate naming characters, actually despise it. I also wrote down all the minor and major things I wanna make sure get mentioned and I wrote down which countries have what kind of relationship with other countries.

I also spent about 3x as long reviewing the chapter for minor oopsies, so hopefully this chapter is squeaky clean.

If I made any oopsies or left something unanswered let me know and I'll get fixed up asap

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Global Summit pt. 2

“This is completely ridiculous, why did we agree to even entertain the idea of this event?” I ask Luna. Everyone was just talking in circles and shouting over each other for at least 2 hours and I could tell it was starting to weigh her down, so I suggested we take a walk. We’re currently a hundred or so feet away from the colosseum. Luna has a nifty little shield spell around us that also regulates temperature. Good thing too cause this all black night uniform in the desert sun is fucking brutal.

“....” Luna glances at me before returning her gaze down to the ground as we continue to walk.

“I mean seriously this is all because they believe your return to Equestria upsets the balance of the global powers. They weren’t impacted by anything you did, and I know they don’t really care. Why don’t we just go back an-”

“Ignis, stop. Just stop. Even if their true motivations are wrong, the suggestion is still valid. Hundreds of ponies died because of Us. Ponies in Equestria would be demanding the same thing if they didn’t revere Celestia so much. Condemning Us outright would mean she was “wrong” and they can’t imagine something like that. We, I, truly deserve this.” As she started talking she stopped moving forward and turned to face me.

Now it’s my turn for conflicted silence. I don’t know what to say to that. “....1000 years in complete isolation is punishment enough. If you want to make true amends then we should go back to Canterlot, find the record detailing every loss of life, and go door to door meeting with their descendants. That wasn’t even you! You were possessed!”

“All the corruption did was act out my inner desires while turning my emotions up to 11. It’d be like saying I’m innocent because I was drunk. I still remember everything, my entire time as Nightmare Moon. Let’s go back to the summit, I’ll confer with Tia and see what the maximum sentence could be.” She replies solemnly as she turns around and begins marching back.

“I’m not letting a trial happen.”

“It won’t be up to either of us, my paladin. Regardless of how their debate goes it will be voted on. All the leaders are trying to do is persuade the other leaders to vote in favor of their opinion. Although the only party that we are unsure of is the deer. The 3 nations that filed the complaint will almost surely vote in favor of the trial. Celestia will likely vote no, as will the Saddle Arabians and the Changelings. The deer will be the tie breakers.”

Hmmm, I might have an idea but I need more details, “What happens if the deer abstain and the vote is a tie?”

“Since they are a tiebreaker they cannot abstain, but if an even number of nations had attended then the nation that filed the initial complaint, Draconia, and the defendant, Equestria would agree to some form of competition, game, or contest to decide the tie break.” Luna answers.

“Understood. For what it’s worth, your sister was right.”

“Hm?”

“If Harmony judged you deserved death you wouldn’t have been sent to the moon. There would be no second chance. If Harmony thought you had not suffered enough it would not have cleansed you of corruption and returned your magic to you. The fact that you are here with all your magic and talking to me proves that you have done enough, in the eyes of Harmony, at least.”

“I cannot help how I feel, Ignis. Let’s just shelf this topic for a while, okay?”

“Fine, my liege.”

With a sigh from Luna at my response, we emerge from the entry archway back into the colosseum. As we approach the table we hear Queen Aurora call out, “King Silverwing of Griffonia, what is your vote?”

The griffon's voice is not at all what I expected, it sounds like the dude has been chain smoking 6 packs a day for 90 years. “Griffonia votes aye. Her victims deserve real justice.”

Oh fuck they’re already voting. How many have voted? Aurora responds, “Very well. 2 Ayes and 2 Nays. The Changelings vote Nay, we are not arrogant enough to question the judgment of Harmony. Leaving us with 2 Ayes and 3 Nays. Prime Minister Willow of Ciervana, what is your vote?”

Well it’s 2-3 in our favor right now, but I’m not sure who all has voted. If everyone so far as voted as we predicted they would then this is the deciding vote. If th- wait…. I can maybe do this, I’ll just have to break my promise to Celestia… oh well.”

“Prime Minister, you know in your heart that this is wrong. Please spare Her Grace from further persecution.” I don’t give a fuck dude, I will shamelessly speak out of turn here. Why? Because it doesn’t matter if what I said was truly convincing. It’s all based on the dice motherfucker!

Persuasion.

19 + 1 = 20. That… should be enough right?

The female deer with gold plated and ornate horns wearing a veil looks in my direction, as does everyone else sitting at the table. The minotaur chieftess stands up from her chair, slamming her fist on the table and is about to shout something.

But the deer speaks first, “Ciervana votes aye.” What? Was I too vague on which outcome I was trying to argue for? No, the only explanation is that it had to have been a DC 25 or maybe even 30. But, that could only be the case if…. If she had already made up her mind. Damn it all.

Aurora calls out the new vote count to be 3 Ayes and 3 Nays, then the minotaur finally gets to verbalize their outrage.

“How dare you speak out of turn, creature! You, who doesn’t even have a seat at this table. A mere knight. Princess reel in your underling or send it back to your encampment.”

Time for plan B, I hold out a hand signaling Luna to hold off for a second. She gives me a look of concern, likely not for my safety, but because she isn’t sure what I plan on doing here. Regardless, she nods at me.

“Queen Aurora, do you have any spare chairs? I’m going to request one be brought to the table here between Luna and the Saddle Arabians. I’ll need my own crystal as well. The prince of the Summer Feywild has declared his participation in this meeting.” I mean my title doesn’t really translate to prince, but the influence fathers side of the family held was equal to a small nation, and I was his heir. If you look carefully you’ll notice my father isn’t here, so I’d say I’ve succeeded him. Wait, I feel like I’m forgetting something critical here…. OH! I never had my naming ceremony. That can wait, I need to think about it still anyways. Before I passed out and became a human I hadn’t put much thought into my true name because I still had plenty of time, but now I’m regretting it.

Deception. (Advantage) (A/N: Because it’s like basically true, it’s only deception if you focus on semantics really….)

17 and 1. Yikes, the 1 was the second result so I guess it would’ve been fine if I didn’t have advantage, but that’s still spooky.

17 + 1 = 18.

There’s more overlapping shouts of surprise and outrage but Queen Aurora suppresses them all, “I detect no lies. There was not even the faintest shift of his emotions, no spike in heart rate. It’s in our original agreement made eons ago, any nation no matter how small has the right to seek representation in the meetings between leaders on a global scale. Our ancestors swore on those words in the name of Harmony, and on that oath I welcome you to a seat at the table.”

As she says that a giant lump of dirt rises out of the ground before forming into a chair and transmuting into stone. Once that is done a smaller changeling buzzes out from one of the walls of the colosseum carrying a pink crystal. It places the crystal right in front of me.

“I think it goes without saying, the Feywild votes nay.” I dare not even look in the direction of Luna or Celestia. They might even be giving me positive reactions right now, but I cannot find the courage to glance over.

“Very well. The vote is 3 Ayes and 4 Nays. The last vote belongs to Minos. Chieftess Steelheart of Minos, what is your vote?”

If looks could kill this cow would’ve nat 20’d me about 3 times already. She spits on the ground and coldly speaks out, “Minos votes Aye. Tie.”

“Indeed, it’s a tie. As is tradition, Equestria and Draconia will determine the method of resolution.”

Celestia and Tormura are just staring at each other. Likely having a telepathic conversation if I had to guess.

Perception.

11 + 5 = 16. Hm? What am I even rolling for right now?

I look behind Tormura at the white and red dragons that descended with him. The red one is speaking to the white one in Draconic. I can just barely make out what they’re discussing. “Have you heard back from my brother yet? He was supposed to return from Equestria hours ago!”

The white one responds, “There has been no update from Tormura and I do not sense any large scale shifts in the wind patterns outside. Do you think he may have been killed?”

“He’s not that much of a failure, besides this mission was merely to measure their response to the provocation and get a gauge on their current power. He’d need to have made an egregious mistake to get himself killed. I bet he just actually fell asleep instead of blowing smoke!” The red dragon finishes his statement with a small chuckle.

“That does sound like something Kiln would do.”

Interesting. So the dragon Celestia finished off was Kiln. Suddenly my vision is occupied by Luna’s face. “Ah, the Goddess truly does bestow miracles to those worthy!” I try to lighten the mood.

“What?”

“I called your face a miracle.”

That gets the reaction I was looking for, she freezes for a moment before smiling and letting out a quiet puff of air from her nose before regaining her serious face. “What are you doing? You can’t just declare yourself royalty of a place that doesn’t exist!”

“But I am the current patriarch of the Natsume clan residing over nature’s Summer. Sure I might be the only elf on the entire planet, but technicalities are technicalities. It worked didn’t it?”

“It is decided.” The deep overbearing draconic voice suddenly announces out loud.

“It is decided.” Celestia repeats as she stands up.

Then Queen Aurora stands up, “All parties please rise and move away from the table. Equestria will send its sword and shield against the Draconia’s Fire and Ice in a 1 on 1 duel. The duel ends when 1 party is unable to continue or they surrender, deaths are not encouraged but will also not result in a disqualification. If the final score of the duels is 1-1 then Princess Luna will engage with Tormura in a duel with the same rules.”

Everyone backs away from the circular table as more solid stone emerges from the edge of the table and the entire structure begins rotating and twisting until it becomes a 120’x120’ square.

The sisters, shining, and I huddle up near the new arena and Celestia quietly addresses the group, “I had a few choice words for you about that stunt with the deer, but you recovered well. That was good improvisation to make the best out of a bad situation. I’m not sure what we would’ve done if they had moved forward with a trial. Now which of you is going first?”

“I want the red one, so can we figure out who they’re sending and then respond? If not, can one of you unicorns use your fancy magic to listen in and see if they say who’s going first?” I ask.

“Way ahead of you, Ignis. The white one is coming out first, I guess I don’t mind letting you have the red one. Can I ask why though?” Shining responds.

“I’m fairly certain I can get him rattled during the fight, enough to throw him off anyways. Sorry I don’t want to explain further in case they are listening to us the same way we listened to them.”

One interesting thing to note, ever since the table expanded into an arena the crystals lighting up the inside of the colosseum have dimmed considerably. It’s definitely not dark, but if I didn’t have darkvision I’m fairly confident it’d be dim enough for me to not be able to make out colors. If that’s true then I should use Shadow Blade for this fight. Forgive me Moonblade. If I use Shadow Blade in this dim light my odds of hitting him are exponentially improved. Mainly because of my Elven Accuracy feat. Everytime I make an attack roll with advantage I can reroll one of the dice. This basically means I have 3 chances to score a nat 20. If I can crit this guy more than once I can make quick work of him. The real question is how the fuck do I keep him from flying?

That’s where my first plan is gunna come into play if that doesn’t work out then I might just have to misty step into the fucking air and ride his back like a maniac.

Chieftain Steelheart is now standing in front of a small table with Queen Aurora and he yells into the familiar pink crystal, “Looks like our first duel will be between Equestria’s Shield, Shining Armor! His opponent will be Draconia’s Winter, Frostbite!”

As Shining gets his epitaph and name announced, all the ponies gathered in our camp on the South East side of the colosseum plus the 20 or so Saddle Arabians let out a roar of applause. That sound is immediately crushed by the much louder war cries and actual roars from the Minotaurs and Griffons when Frostbite is announced.

Queen Aurora announces, “Are both fighters ready?” After a quick nod from the pony and dragon she sounds off the call to begin.

Frostbite wastes no time and instantly soars into the sky, almost touching the closed roof of the colosseum. He twists himself in the air to aim his mouth towards the unicorn, but before he can release his breath the dragon is encased in a massive pink shield. Big enough to easily fit 4 dragons the same size as Frostbite, inside. The dragon releases his breath anyways but all it does is fog up the spherical shield starting from the bottom.

Slowly the sphere begins to fall towards the ground and as it falls, it shrinks. Okay that is way more terrifying than I thought he could be. Good to know he was 100% holding back when we fought. The sphere reaches the arena and is now small enough that the dragon has barely any room to move around. The dragon starts thrashing about much more fiercely and the shield finally starts to show some small cracks. The cracks slowly grow as the shield shrinks; it's a race to see what gives first. The dragon's bones or the shield.

The shield looks like it’s going to shatter at any moment, it’s now completely covered in cracks as Shining has multiple bullets of sweat running down his head. Finally it’s too much and the dragon can no longer move. It’s still flexing and pushing against the shield but it’s much less force than he was able to apply when he could still twist around and fling that tail of his. We all watch in stunned silence as the cracks slowly mend around the shield and the dragon lets out an ear piercing roar that’s instantly followed by several loud cracks.

The dragon's roar turns into a screech, “I SURRENDER! YOU”RE GOING TO CRUSH ME!”

The shield immediately disappears as the dragon falls onto the ground. It seems unable to fully close its wings as it grabs at its own left arm with its right hand. Frostbite limps off the arena and past Tormura before collapsing onto the ground to rest.

“Equestria is ahead 1-0. Next we have Equestria’s Sword, Prince of the Summer Feywild, Lunar Paladin, Ignis Ferrum. His opponent will be the Leader of the Fire Dragons, Right Arm of the Dragon Lord, Inferno.”

Compared to Shining the applause I get is quiet, but if I don’t take his into consideration it’s actually much louder than I was expecting. I can’t contain the small smile from dawning on my face at the reaction. Inferno uncoils himself from behind Tormura and it’s at this moment I realize I have made a critical error. I have fucked around and now I am about find out. I have now fucked up. He’s only like an inch smaller than Tormura, he’s at least 10 feet larger than his brother I fought previously. This fucker is an Ancient Red Dragon.

Welp. “Luna prepare yourself.”

“Oh? You usually show much more confidence, is my mighty paladin…scared?”

“I’m not scared, there’s nothing to be scared of. It is a fact, a 100% certainty that I cannot win against this creature. I’m not foolish enough to think I can beat an Ancient dragon just because I fought an adult.”

“Ah you’re able to recognize that he’s an Elder? That’s good. Just yell out my name and I’ll teleport you to safety and surrender on your behalf.”

I step up onto the arena and stare down the big bastard.

“Are you not going to draw your sword, tiny creature?” He asks mockingly.

“Nah, I’ve got something different prepared for you.” I reply.

Before the match begins I hear Celestia in my head, “Don’t use your bladesong. I’ve yet to hear any murmurs about it, so there’s a chance the information hasn’t been leaked outside of Equestria yet. If that’s the case I’d rather avoid having to deal with the topic during this summit, and we can push it off until the next one. There’s a minimum of 1 year between summits.”

“You realize you’re basically just telling me to kill myself right? I have such demanding bosses.”

I place my left hand on the hilt of my Moonblade and hold my right hand in front me as if I’m holding an invisible sword. Once Queen Aurora calls out to ask if we’re ready I wait until I see Inferno nod his head. Once he does I use my left hand on Moonblade to command it to cast the stored Haste spell on me. At the same time I recite the incantation and conjure my Shadow Blade into my right hand. I feel a familiar flow of wind making my hair whip and flutter up into the air as my speed is doubled and my AC rises to 20.

Once the Shadow Blade appears in my hand I hear a wave of whispers throughout the crowd and nod my head. As soon as the words “Begin” leave the changeling's mouth I see the dice.

Roll for Initiative.

10 + 5 = 15.

By some miracle I’m able to move first. This means I can hit this lizard with everything I’ve got before he takes off. This blade is illusionary and does psychic damage so it doesn’t matter where I hit him. Might as well avoid fancy shit and just start hitting the guy in his legs.

That’s exactly what I do, I sprint from the middle of the arena into his corner and can just barely reach his left leg before my movement runs out.

14 and 12. Elven Accuracy, 12 is rerolled into an 18.

18 + 8 = 26. Level 2 Divine Smite.

3d8 + 3d8 + 5 = 39 Damage.

The first slash is clean through the front of his leg. The path following the blade turns all of his red scales into gray scales as the dragon flinches from the surprising amount of pain.

Extra Attack, I swing from left to right this time through the same leg.

17 and 14. Elven Accuracy, 14 is rerolled into a 6.

17 + 8 = 25. Level 2 Divine Smite.

6d8 + 5 = 35 Damage.

I can hear Inferno make a slight noise that sounds frustrated. I wind up for the Hasted extra one weapon attack. Transferring the left to right momentum of the 2nd slash into bottom right to top left diagonal slash.

1 and 8. Elven Accuracy, 1 rerolls into 16.

16 + 8 = 24. Level 3 Divine Smite. Booming Blade.

8d8 + 5 = 46 Damage.

The dragon and I think most of the creatures watching have been stunned into silence by the rapid near-instant barrage of slashes before the dragon can even react. On top of that every hit is accompanied by a flash of intense moonlight that sounds like a brick hitting concrete after falling off a 10th story balcony. I’m not done yet though. Now that I’ve used booming blade the bracers activate and I can get 1 more attack off as a bonus action. I finish my turn by attempting to stab and twist into the dragon's leg.

6 and 17. Elven Accuracy, 6 rerolls into 18.

18 + 8 = 26. Level 3 Smite. Booming Blade. No level 3 slots remaining.

8d8 + 5 = 51 Damage.

The blade slips through his tough leg and as I remove it he finally lets out his first real groan of pain. Alas, that is the end of my turn and it’s fairly likely I do not get to take another turn. Pretty sure he’s still over 100hp away from half hp. Ancient dragons are so busted.

As soon as I end my turn Inferno gives two mighty flaps of his wings and I’m almost instantly sent flying away from the wind.

Dexterity Saving Throw.

4 + 5 = 9.

Scratch that, I AM sent flying across the arena. I land on my back and bounce and roll 10 feet back landing prone with my face down on the arena.

-20 Hit Points: 37/57 Concentration Check: 14 + 2, Maintains Concentration.

Fuck now I’m prone and already half dead. As soon as I pick my face off the ground I look up and see Inferno almost touching the roof of the colosseum. He suddenly gets assaulted with a loud thunder clap as the secondary Booming Blade effect hits him for 9 more Thunder damage. I need to use my plan now before he takes any real actions.

In Draconic I call out, “Where are you going you overgrown lizard? Kiln didn’t run and hide in the air like this before I killed him.”

I see no dice, and apparently I don’t need to because I hear both dragons from the sideline yell out, “What?!” and Inferno says nothing but just roars in a rage before dive bombing back down onto the arena with his mouth 10 feet away from me. I watch as his cheeks puff up and realize this is his breath weapon…. There’s a very real chance this kills me outright.

I wait until the exact moment I see his mouth open to run and dive to the right.

Dexterity Saving Throw.

Natural 20. +5, 25.

The massive wave of fire barely misses me, but its still so much hotter than I could’ve expected. Time to take 26d6 divided by 2.

81 Fire Damage divided by 2 = 41 Fire Damage

ABSORB ELEMENTS!

41 Fire Damage divided by 2, again = 20 Fire damage.

-20 Hit Points: 17/57. Concentration Check: 17 + 2 = 19. Maintains Concentration.

Holy shit I’m alive.

If I don’t land any crits this turn I’m done, I’m not letting him have another turn. I’m gunna hit him with my last hit and then instantly surrender, haha.

I charge at the ancient creature and start rapidly slashing at it’s head.

9 and 13. Elven Accuracy, 9 rerolls into Natural 20.

Critical Hit! Level 4 Divine Smite. Booming Blade.

3d8 + 24 + 5d8 + 40 + 1d8 + 8 + 5

9d8 + 77 = 126 Damage.

My illusionary blade slashes down straight into his eye as I land a critical hit with my highest level smite. If I can just do that like 2 more times I might actually win. As soon as the shadow blade makes contact and the loud explosion of divine energy is heard, it is immediately overwhelmed by an actual scream in pain from the ancient red dragon.

Let me just hit you a few more times buddy.

2 and 12. Elven Accuracy, 2 rerolls into 5.

12 + 8 = 20.

The thrashing in pain from the dragon causes my 2nd attack to miss completely, “Fuck, quit moving you overgrown lizard.” I quietly whisper to myself. Haste attack now, 3rd times the charm.

7 and 14. Elven Accuracy, 7 rerolls into 16.

16 + 8 = 24. Level 2 Divine Smite. No level 2 slots remaining..

6d8 + 5 = 39 Damage.

Time to use my bracers one last time and go for the hail mary. It doesn’t matter now though, even if I land another crit I’m all out level 2, 3, and 4 spell slots. I decide to go for the same eye.

1 and 1. Elven Accuracy, 1 rerolls into 10.

10 + 8 = 18.

I slip up a little as I step forward to stab the dragon again and it causes my shadow blade to miss completely. Well I got him from 546 to 201. I’d say that’s not bad. Maybe if I use Shield I can make it one more turn? Just gotta hope I get lucky and he can't use fire breath again yet.

As soon as the feeling of my turn fades away the dragon instantly whips his body 180 degrees and attempts to slam his tail into me. I hold up my empty left hand and chant out quickly, “SHIELD!”

The tail slams into the shield and it’s almost like the shield never existed in the first place as I watch it instantly shatter and feel all the breath get knocked out of me as the tail whips into my gut.

-14 Hit Points: 3/57

My shield lasts for 1 turn so it instantly regenerates as the dragon finishes rotating and swings a claw down at me. I hold up both arms to protect my head in case the claws pierce through the shield again. This would prove to be a costly mistake as it blocked his claw from my vision.

An instant later I hear Luna scream out something as I feel a claw go straight into my gut. Apparently in the fraction of a second I couldn’t see the dragon redirected its claw down and swung for my body instead of swinging down at my head. He also instantly destroyed my shield and my shadow blade. I saw one last pop up from the system in my vision and realized how badly I fucked up.

Critical Hit.

-32 Hit Points: 0/57.

The system flashes away for one second and I’m about 7 feet in the air flying backwards. I can taste blood in my mouth and the edges of my vision are red as I notice a 2nd claw coming down to swipe me out of the air… “Lu...na.......”

You are unconscious.

Death Saving Throws:

Author's Note

Yippie! Not gunna lie I had a long ass day and didn't even think I was gunna put out a chapter today, but here it is! I'm literally about to pass out so I did not spend even a single second proof reading it. Be kind enough to let me know if there are some oopsies in there <3

Thanks for reading as always

Main Quest - Global Summit pt. 4

I wake up with a big stretch and yawn. The rest of the evening was uneventful, but I did get a few guards who decided to join me for training. That was surprising. Now that I’m fully rested first things first, I grab the Moonblade and cast Haste, storing it into the blade for later. Walking outside I’m surprised to see the roof and table is fully repaired. I assume the demonstration they asked for will be the first thing we do today.

Once I’m fully awake I’m reminded of what Luna and I talked about before I retired for the night. If their demands aren’t too outlandish then we should just temporarily bend the knee. Once she gave me a proper breakdown of our current position I realized how precarious of a spot we’re in. If I were to be expelled from the group for refusing their demands then they can just redo the vote for Luna's trial. Since Draconia was listed on the original complaint their vote would still count despite not having a representative here, because they still had a seat at the table.

If this had been a week ago I’d give them the middle figure and tell them to eat shit, but now I can’t help but think of the cascading consequences. Luna going to trial could cause this entire alliance to fall apart, the hypothetical conflict with the dragons would evolve into a full on world war. That would be an absolute waste of lives for no good reason. At the end of the day it’s not even up to me, Luna would be the one to nullify the oath. Ah well that’s enough worrying for one morning, let’s go get breakfast.

One nutritional start to the day later and we’re all gathered around the table once again. As expected the demonstration is the first thing on the agenda. “Before I start I just want you all to understand yesterday I wasn’t using the bladesong and was instead affected by a Haste spell. You all have Haste here right?” After a quick explanation of the spell Celestia gives me a nod. “Cool, so I’m not using Haste today because it’s a taxing spell and this is meant to be a demonstration for the bladesong alone. All the bladesong is going to do is make me slightly faster, increase my evasiveness, and solidify my concentration. I’d honestly say it’s weaker than Haste.”

For the first time since the vote against Luna yesterday, the lead Doe from Ciervana speaks up. “However, you can perform the bladesong while hastened, yes?”

“Correct. I’m just giving you all clear expectations cause I suspect atleast one of you is going to accuse me of sandbagging the demonstration. How am I doing this? Do we have a wooden dummy or am I sparring against someone?”

To my utter astonishment, Celestia rises fully decked out in golden armor with a massive battle axe in her telekinesis field. “You’ll be sparring against me. I do recommend using everything you have though.”

“My spellcasting resources are quite limited and I don’t want to end up in a situation like yesterday where I’m completely drained for the entire day. If more representatives from Draconia arrive today I’d rather be fully capable.”

“Oh, Ignis, I’m not ordering you to do anything. Only Luna can do that, but I’m just warning you that it’s in your best interest to not hold back.”

Wisdom Saving Throw.

12 + 5 = 17.

The presence she’s releasing now is so much different than anything I’ve felt so far. It feels like the entire sky is weighing down on my shoulders, even with the roof in place it feels like I’m back out in the desert. Judging by the looks on everyone else's face they’re certainly feeling it just as much as I am. I guess no one will think she’s going easy on me this way.

Honestly I hate that I’m wasting spell slots on this. I refuse to use anything other than Shield though. Wasting my high level smites here would be a waste of time, I’m not even sure if Radiant damage does anything to her. Something in my gut tells me that she’s resistant at the very least.

I unsheathe the Moonblade and hold it in front of me. I close my eyes and begin channeling the Bladesong. Once I open my eyes I’m greeted to the familiar motes of light wisping around me, but the song is a new one. It’s slow and sad sounding notes being played individually on a piano. It’s very reminiscent of something I heard in my life as a human but I can’t quite place it.

Next I decide to go ahead and use the Haste I put in the sword this morning, I verbally shout out “Festinatio!” As the haste and bladesong begin to intermingle the slow flowing motes of light speed up significantly.

AC: 25. Speed: 80ft.

Roll for Initiative.

4 + 5 = 9. Well that blows.

Instantly her battle axe disappears. After a quick scan around and behind me I don’t see it, but I look up just in time to jump backwards and avoid the thing trying to cleave me in two. Before I can even land on the ground the axe has rotated and is making a swing for my torso, at the same time Celestia herself is sprinting at me.

I try to twist my body around in the air to avoid the axe a second time, but I can tell I’m too slow. “Shield!” AC: 30.

The golden battle axe bounces off my shield and I realize Celestia is nowhere to be seen. As I land on the ground I spin around just in time to see two rear hooves rapidly approaching my head. I start to lean back trying to duck under them as they completely shatter the shield. Right as I think I’ve dodged it her hooves speed up just a bit more and just barely nick the top of my forehead with her horseshoe.

Strength Saving Throw.

7 + 1 = 8.

Even though she just barely scraped my head at the end of her kick it’s still enough force to suddenly launch me back 10ft sliding into the wasteland soil.

-21, Glancing blow, -11. Hit Points: 46/57.

As I right myself into a proper stance I feel something dripping off my chin. It would seem I’m bleeding. I take off towards Celestia and prepare myself to go for a flurry of strikes. I’m hoping I can just simply overwhelm the speed of her telekinesis controlled weapon.

14 + 10 = 24.

My first slash is pushed to the side by her axe and I’m almost too stunned to launch my follow up swings. That missed? Holy shit, she must’ve let herself lose to Nightmare. Before I give up too much time I instantly chain together another slash from the opposite side.

18 + 10 = 28. Shit I should’ve used booming blade here instead of saving it.

The golden battle axe attempts to intercept my blade again, but the attack has come too quickly. I slip right under the axe and give her a slash right beside the golden petryal.

7 + 6 + 7 = 20 Slashing damage.

The vertical slash begins right next to the petryal and ends a couple of inches into her foreleg. Maintaining my momentum I go from diagonally in front of her to completely beside her as I let loose another slash, with Booming Blade added on.

15 + 10 = 25.

She lowers herself just a bit and causes my blade to hit her armor running along the top half of her barrel. After I’m about 60% through the swing I manage to lower the blade just enough to give a shallow cut along her side.

2 + 2 + 5 + 7 = 16 Damage, glancing blow, 8 Damage.

Clicking my tongue in annoyance I go for my final slash, it’s a vertical slash going up.

9 + 10 = 19.

Her legs were already slightly bent from attempting to deflect my last attack allowing her to quickly jump to the side, dodging the final slash completely. She rotates in the air with a half flap of her wing and is facing me again.

Her axe starts rotating in the air as she charges her horn. The weapon is spinning straight towards me as the alicorn lowers her head and points her horn at me, is she about to hit me with a beam of magic the same instant the axe hits me? My face lights up in panic as I quickly raise my sword in an attempt to push back against the battle axe, but just before anything makes contact we’re interrupted. “Stop! We’ve seen enough!”

The axe disappears from thin air and Celestia gives me a soft smile, “Honestly you did better than I expected. Superb maneuvers, Ignis.”

I put the Moonblade back in its scabbard and stop the Bladesong. I also instruct the blade to stop concentrating on the Haste spell. As soon as the Haste ends I’m suddenly very dizzy as I drop down to 1 knee while clutching my head with my hands. Usually the lethargy aftereffect from Haste doesn’t hit me this hard. Did that horse give me a concussion?!

Celestia stops and turns around when she hears me partially collapse, “Are you okay?” Wow she sounds genuinely concerned.

“Yes, the wave of lethargy that usually follows haste combined with the absolute rattle you gave my head just made me dizzy.” I put my hand on my chest and drop 5 points from Lay on Hands back into my health pool.

Hit Points: 51/57. Good enough.

Rising to my feet I take my assigned seat at the table in front of a pink crystal. I motion for a guard that’s watching us from afar to bring me some water. As I wait for him to return I listen to the other leaders. “It gave me quite the shock when I first heard the notes in tune with the motes of light, but it’s as you both said. That is much weaker than what we all feared. Does any creature still want to open further discussion on this topic?” Queen Aurora questions the leaders.

The chieftess from Minos raises a hand, “It was weaker but it was still strikingly similar. Are we not concerned that he could develop the art into the real thing? Also, how can any of us truly know he wasn’t holding back?”

Celestia makes an offer, “I can cast my truth spell if you’d like?”

“You know what, yes I would like that.”

Celestia ignites her horn and after asking a few baseline questions to the minotaur to prove the spell is functional she turns to me. “Ignis, were you holding back in our spar just now?”

“I was holding back on utilizing my Divine Smite, but all it would’ve done is made my attacks hurt more. The bladesong and my actual swordsmanship was everything I had.”

After no reaction from the spell I turn to Chieftess Steelheart, “Is this sufficient? Also while we still have the spell going. My people have never documented or practiced an improved version of my bladesinging.” Once again no reaction.

“I supposed that’s fine then. I’m done, Aurora.” The cow finally relents.

“Any creature else?” I can tell that the Griffons, Deer, and Minotaurs do still have complaints, but I guess my bladesong is so underwhelming that they don’t even think they can justify further arguments.

After a few seconds of silence the Changeling moves on. “Alright the next topic was originally going to be treaty re-negotiation between all of the nations present for the purpose of adding Ciervana. Draconia also wished to tweak some of the tariffs, but I believe there’s no point in discussing this topic without discussing a new point of contention. Therefore, the next item up on the agenda is the potential conflict between Draconia and Equestria. After having some of my smartest drones tackle the issue we were able to determine that Ignis taunted Inferno about killing his brother. When we investigated this further we did find evidence that Kiln was in Equestria and was causing a large disturbance. If Equestria is truly responsible for killing Kiln without proper justification then I’m afraid we’ll likely rule that the Draconia response to Ignis taunt was understandable. If that ends up being the case I suspect a majority of the creatures at this table will not support you should things come to blows. What is your side of the story, Equestria?”

Luna decides she’ll be the one to respond to this issue. “That creature had the nerve to come into our borders, intentionally created ecological problems to gauge our response, and offered several insults towards myself. To top it all off the last thing he said before we ended his miserable life was a very serious threat towards me. He implied that he would personally make sure I do not survive this summit. Also, while Tormura’s death is regrettable, I started the duel with him as soon as the previous combatants had exited the arena. Frostbite was slaughtered in self defense and Inferno received no injuries outside of the ones he sustained during his duel with Ignis. It would be foolish to find us entirely at fault no matter the result of Kiln's death.”

“So you do admit to being responsible for Kiln’s death. We still need to hear Draconia’s argument for their side, but as things stand I’m willing to agree that war is not justified in this situation. How do you all vote? Minos?”

“Minos agrees with the Changelings, not justified.”

“Ciervana?”

“Ciervana agrees, not justified.”

“Griffonia?”

“Griffonia abstains until all the facts are presented.”

“Saddle Arabia?”

“Not justified.”

“Well, we’ll likely do a final vote once the new representatives from Draconia arrive, but as things stand this is good enough to move on.” As Aurora finishes her statement a small changeling rushes up to the queen and whispers something in her ear. After they go back and forth a few times the two-toned light blue and pink maned Aurora proposes a lunch break which everyone else agrees to.

“I wonder what that was about, Queen Aurora looked quite shaken up.” I decide to say what we’re all thinking as I bite into a grilled cheese sandwich, can’t beat the classics. I’m currently in the royal tent with Celestia, Luna, Shining, and Raven.

“From what I was able to hear, it seems like there was some commotion going on in the love storage rooms. Didn’t seem too serious though.” Luna enlightens us.

“You could hear any of that? I only knew they were talking cause their mouths were moving but I couldn’t even hear a whisper.”

“Aye, thestral blood allows me superior hearing. It’s good enough that I can even navigate with my eyes closed.” She says that with her chest fluff puffed out, she’s apparently quite proud of that. It is interesting though, so Celestia has truesight and Luna has blindsight. Very Interesting.

Once lunch ended the rest of the day was quite boring. They did let me officially add the Summer Feywild to the list of nations in the treaty, which just absolutely tickles me. After that topic was over we broke off into individual meetings again, but Equestria had none. Suspiciously though there was a private meeting that included every nation except Equestria and Saddle Arabia. I tried to get Callisid to go observe the meeting and report back anything interesting but I couldn’t get a response from him. That actually does cause me a small bit of concern.

Around sunset I meet up with Luna and Celestia to ask them some questions. “This was supposed to last all week, but it feels like all the major issues have already been addressed, no? What’s on the agenda for tomorrow?”

“It was scheduled to potentially last all week, but we did go through the topics a bit quicker than anticipated. Assuming nopony arrives from Draconia tomorrow we will likely announce the end of the summit and tomorrow will be the friendship festival.” Celestia answers with a bright smile.

“Friendship festival? Seriously?”

“Of course, Ignis. It’s tradition that we end the summit with a festival to prove our friendship is true and no ill will harbors in any of our hearts. It’s essentially just one big party but with exposure to all the different cultures at once. It should be quite the fun time!”

I can’t help but scoff at how naive the idea sounds, but I choose to not voice that opinion. “Well I’m glad to see your mood has improved atleast. I was starting to get worried we were gunna be at each other's throat for the rest of my time here.”

“Well, most of the things that were causing me stress have been resolved now. I still refuse to allow you to learn Equestria magic, for now.”

I quietly whisper the incantation for the Guidance cantrip and cast it on myself.

“That’s fine I don’t need anyone to teach me, I don’t even need your stupid books. I already learned your runic alphabet and was able to perform a single rune spell. I’m sure I’m perfectly capable of teaching myself from that starting point. But, if you’d rather I learn powerful magic all on my own, in the castle, with no oversight. Then be my guest, I just thought you’d rather have someone teach me so you can atleast monitor what spells I’m learning and make sure I’m not doing an experiment that’ll blow up the entire Canterlot mountain.” Shining is struggling to hold back a laugh and Raven looks at me with curiosity.

Persuasion.

16 + 1 = 17. Guidance +1d4. 17 + 4 = 21.

I see Celestia’s smile falter and one of her eyebrows starts to twitch. Glancing at Luna she’s giving me a rather impressed look, so I guess that means I made a pretty good point. Eventually Celestia replies, “Once we get back to the castle and the Draconia matter is fully resolved I will allow you to learn our magic. You’ll spend two weeks with Luna then two weeks with me. Since Twilight has moved to Ponyville I can slot you into the timeslot she used to occupy on my schedule.” Oh I get to learn from her as well? She probably just plans to use those two weeks to observe and adjust.

“Perfect! I’m glad we could come to an agreement. This has been an enlightening conversation, but I think I’m going to go get some cardio in before I retire for the night. Sleep well, all of you.”

After my 30 minutes of cardio I clean myself off in one of the stalls with a bucket of water and some soap. Then I store another Haste spell in my Moonblade and retire for the evening. As I lay down and start to meditate I offer up a prayer that tomorrow everything goes smoothly and we can get the hell out of this desert.

Author's Note

Hopefully I was able to clear up any misunderstandings about the other nations potentially demanding the oath be abolished. Also it's pretty disgusting how bad of a matchup Celestia is for ole Ignis. She's literally like his hard counter.

I'm still absolutely struggling to write my way through this arc. It feels like I did it too early in the story and I should've maybe had individual mini-stories or interactions with each nation before the summit to properly introduce the situation in the world. That or perhaps I just rushed too much during the summit itself. I've also been really debating if I want to go straight into a nation level conflict this early in the story, I'll be honest that was originally the intention of this arc, but once I started writing it.... idk once again it just feels too early. I'd rather get ALOT more guard and thestral characters established and do some actual character development before getting into something like that.

If we get into something like that to begin with, might not happen at all anymore tbh.

At some point this month I'll be starting a very difficult training course that will eat up alot more of my attention. At that point this story will likely shift to a weekly release schedule with chapters around 6-10k words. After the summit is over I also intend on taking a 2-3 week break to work on building out new characters and actually writing down long term plot lines. This arc has been an absolute mess I don't care what any of you say, but it won't happen again.

Either way thanks for sticking with me and still reading the story. Next chapter should be a good one atleast.

Main Quest - Global Summit pt. 5

I elected to actually sleep last night instead of meditating, but it seems like Luna had a busy night because I’m fairly certain I had a dreamless sleep. Walking out of the tent I’m somewhat surprised to see the festival is pretty much in full swing already. Doing a quick scan I don’t see Luna, Celestia, or LT Force so I put my hands behind my head and decide to casually look around.

“Can I get 2 skewers?” I smelled a smelly smell that smelled….smelly, it was meat. Walking over to the griffon’s food stand I grabbed a couple roasted meat skewers. Honestly I wasn’t particularly missing meat since I had jerky in my rations, but this beats jerky all day every day. I feel like I should’ve gotten ale to go with this, but it’s not even noon yet. Honestly I laughed at the idea of this festival when I initially heard about it from Celly yesterday, but if the griffons brought meat I wonder what the minotaurs brought?

On my way to the minotaur section of the field I spot 3 or 4 of our guards lined up next to a large tent. There’s a wooden sign in front of the tent that says Changeling Food Drive, Please Donate. I don’t have anything going on so I decide to go check it out. Walking up to the end of the line I tap the guard on the back of her neck. “Hey the sign says food drive but none of you are carrying anything. That seemed odd to me, so figured I’d come ask what’s up?”

The armored unicorn mare turns her head to face me, “Yeah apparently something went wrong yesterday and the changelings lost all of their long term storage of love. We’d hate to see them starve so we’re going to donate as much as we safely can.”

“Oh, I heard something about that love storage yesterday from the princess, but I didn’t know why it was noteworthy that they lost stored love. You’re telling me they eat love? How does that work?”

“Why don’t you take a look for yourself?” As she suggests that to me the line moves and we slip into the tent. Looking over I see a big comfy looking set of benches and there’s two guards staring at two unarmored ponies. I notice there’s some pink mist very slowly rising from the guards and floating towards the unarmored ponies. So the changelings are currently disguised as the guards' significant other and then they can just slowly siphon the literal love from them. What in the fuck did they evolve from to develop that trait?

“I assume that’s safe since you’re all willingly doing this?”

“Oh of course as long as they just feed off the passive love that’s being generated it’s harmless. They’re capable of forcibly draining love from a pony though, and that is not harmless. It can quickly leave them unresponsive.”

As the guard finishes her explanation the line moves up again and now it's time for me and her to donate. I decide to ask the insect pony a question before we start, “Can you change into something that isn’t pony shaped?”

“Yesss, not all of us can but we were selected for this donation shift specifically because we can. There are a lot of non-ponies present if you haven’t noticed.”

“I did notice, but in the 10 or so minutes I’ve been here I’ve only seen ponies come and go. Figured it was worth asking. So, how does this work? Specifically, how do you manage to disguise yourself as someone’s love?”

“Well transformations cost us love, so we typically try to ask the subject to first close their eyes and visualize a loved one. If they’re able to do that then we ask them things like what’s their favorite thing about them, if they have any quirky behaviors. Things like that will usually trigger the brain to produce the chemicals for love. For some that process just doesn’t generate enough so at that point we, with consent, have a spell that can allow us to pull the perfect transformation from the food source's mind.”

That’s freaky. “Alright well let me get started on this visualization thing. Does familial love work or does it have to be romantic love?”

“They are functionally the same, but romantic love typically has a higher yield so that’s the preferred method.”

Unfortunately for them all I’ve ever had romantically is a couple of crushes. As a human I did have a couple of girlfriends but I wouldn’t produce any love if I pictured them right now, so I elect to think of my drow mother. The first memory that comes to mind is one early morning when I managed to sneak away from my attendant. I remember crawling through a bush and coming across Zarra performing some training for Talabrina and two other clerics in training. Tala is performing some basic motions with a wooden sword. The other two youngsters seem to be attempting spellcasting through the channeling of their faith. One of them finds success as her hands begin to glow a bright silver. Mom has a big smile and gives her a hug in celebration before turning to the other one and telling her that she’s doing well and should succeed soon.

She was always so kind and patient. Tiny me must’ve felt a tinge of jealousy because I quickly walked over to the training group and grabbed onto my mothers long gown. “Oh and how did you sneak out here, huh? Did you want to start training already? It’s hard work, you know, you’ll have to be very devout and work every day.” She picks me up mid sentence.

I put my hands together mimicking the actions of the cleric who managed to make her hands glow. After a few seconds I push my palms outward like there was a little explosion and go “Bwahhhh.”

“Ahhhh, you’re too much!” She pulls me close and ruffles my hair as she goes on about how she wants to see me walking around in a priest robe that’s too big for me. “You wouldn’t even need to use divine spells, anyone would be cured on the spot if they saw you.”

With a soft smile I stop reminiscing and open my eyes, honestly I got so immersed in the memory I think I ended up going into a small trance. The first thing I see when I open my eyes is that where there was once a small insect pony, now sits a large Queen Aurora staring at me intensely. Peeking around her I notice the smaller changeling is vomiting up some pink gel into a slightly green jar. The other changeling that was feeding on the guard I came in with is patting him on the back as he throws up the pink gel. He keeps telling him that he’s almost done and he did a good job.

“Good Morning madam. I didn’t know my donation would be personally handled by royalty?” I jokingly say with a tinge of curiosity.

“Well at first you were producing below average love, but right when my drone was about to interrupt you and ask for permission to use the True Hearts Desire spell you suddenly completely overwhelmed him with love. I’m not sure what happened but about a minute or so after you closed your eyes you produced an enormous amount of love. It’s very strange, I had to step in personally as they couldn’t handle your output. What did you do, if I may ask?” Queen Aurora gives me a pretty detailed rundown on the situation.

“Ah I was thinking of a memory of my mother and ended up getting so immersed I entered into my trance state. I don’t typically sleep, I instead meditate or go into a trance to reflect on the day’s events or old memories. The timing seems to line up so I’m guessing entering my trance state is what triggered the anomaly.”

“More importantly, are you feeling well? Do you need something to eat or drink? Obviously you’re a new species for us so we have no baseline, but if you were a pony you’d be a vegetable after producing that much love.” Aw, she’s actually caring about my well being. Oh wait, I’m a potential new wellspring of food of course she cares about my health.

“Yeah I feel fine, a little tired maybe? I only woke up 35 or 40 minutes ago though, so that could also be why I’m tired. Have you seen Luna by the way? It’s not particularly pressing, but I was hoping to keep an eye on her today as she wanders around.”

She gives me a smirk, “Aw look at the cute paladin, he wants to know where his Princess is. It is adorable that you think she needs extra protection, but yes I have seen her. She was just over by the deers’ camp and I saw her start walking back towards the pony area before I came in here.”

“Great, thanks. Also, I know she’s more powerful than me right now, but if I can’t help her in a troubling situation. I know I can at least buy her time to escape or regroup. Since I guess I can make a lot of food for you and your people I’ll stop by again to donate at some point today.”

“I would very much appreciate that. Thank you.” With a very light head bow I walk out of the tent and make my way back towards the royal tent.

“Ah there you are Ignis, I was coming to see if you were awake yet. Have you been enjoying the festivities so far?” Luna finds me before I can even make it to the tent.

“Yeah the griffons had some extremely juicy meat skewers. Honestly, the highlight of the trip so far. I also donated some love to the changelings. Do we have any plans for today?”

“Yes! I came to retrieve you to ask that you assist us at our festival event.”

“Oh sure, lead the way.”

We walk for a few minutes and as soon as I see the “event” I turn around and start walking back. Before I can make it more than a few steps I feel a tug on my hood and Luna starts to plead with me. “Ignis please! It’ll help improve the guards' perception of us if you participate!”

In front of me a classic carnival style dunk tank. There’s a small target that is floating around randomly next to a large pool of water with a platform above it. I guess allowing the guards to attempt to drop me into the water repeatedly is a pretty good idea. I can maybe throw out some playful banter and get them to lighten up a little when I’m around. “Fine! I’ll do it. How long do I need to stay up there?”

“Oh thank you! It’ll just be for a couple of hours. After that Shining Armor should show up to replace you.”

Well shit. I am curious as to how that target is connected to the platform that drops me in. Unlike the ones I remember from earth this target has no backdrop and is literally just moving in a 2 dimensional pattern randomly in the air. I can’t see any type of aura like I usually see with unicorn magic. I climb on up and plop my ass down on the diving board holding me above the water. I hope it’s not cold.

“Sergeant, if I knew you throw like that beforehand I would’ve told you it’s fine for you to use telekinesis. I mean seriously it’s been 45 minutes and I am bone dry, and this is the best of the best? The ponies that personally guard her majesty? Maybe the night guard is better off with just me.” Some of the guards are quite miffed at my constant ribbing, but I am legitimately shocked none of them have sunk me yet. I should step up my game. I whisper the incantation for mage hand and summon it into the pool of water.

An unfamiliar pegasus steps up to the plate and begins to take aim. She misses the first shot by a mile and the 2nd shot is closer but still pretty bad. I speak up before she throws a third one, “Hold up don’t throw your last ball yet, let me help you out.” Some of the guards watch with a hint of surprise as my blue corporeal mage hand floats out of the water and grabs the target. Bringing it to a complete stop in mid air I turn towards the guard. “Alright, you can go ahead now.”

Time seems to slow down as I watch the ball arc through the air. It’s gunna be close, I might be going down! Ohhh, and it just barely misses, phew.

I let go of the target with the mage hand and let out a yawn. This is getting boring fast. A few more flunkies come and go before something interesting happens. Luna and Celestia end up walking up to the side during some random unicorns' attempt to drown me.

“Have you been using magic to dry yourself off? You don’t look like you’ve gotten wet at all.” Luna asks.

“Nah, these guards just can’t throw even if their life depends on it. Or, perhaps they just can’t handle my presence. I’m motivated, determined, resilient, confident, mentally untouchabl-” I’m cut off as I hear a loud ringing noise and am suddenly surrounded by water. Oh fuck me it’s cold. How is it cold?! I resurface and decide to brood for a couple of minutes with just my eyes and nose poking over the surface. I give a deadpan stare at the sisters.

“Perhaps you should’ve been physically untouchable instead, hm?” Celestia taunts with a small smirk.

“I didn’t say physical because no man is.” I’m not sure why I’m even committing to a Low Tier God bit in Equestria. There is no chance anyone on this planet gets the reference.

“That is strangely wise. I didn’t expect that response.” Celestia hums as she takes a bite of cotton candy and turns to walk away. Luna starts to follow behind her sister but looks at me and quickly lets me know.

“Keep it up, Ignis. You’re doing great!” Well, I can’t just hide in the water for the next hour like I planned to if she’s going to say something like that to me. As they leave I climb back up and look out where the guards were to find there’s now around 25-30 of them just giving me varying levels of smugness.

“I guess even a broken clock is right twice a day, huh? Good job. Anyone else think they can knock me down?”

After that first dunk the guards apparently got a little more dialed in. They seemed to knock me in around once every 20 or so minutes? After a while though I start looking around, I swear it’s been two hours. Where is Shining?

At this point I feel like it’s beginning to get dark outside. I told Aurora I would donate one more time before today ended, so I’ll call it here and go see if I can find Shining Armor. “Alright everyone I’m sorry but I was supposed to be done like 4 hours ago. I’m going to find my replacement so just hang out if you want, someone should take my place in a few minutes.” As I climb down and walk away I just laugh at the chorus of “Boo”.

Perception.

14 + 5 = 19.

I feel like I’ve been walking around scanning for 30 minutes now and I don’t see this unicorn anywhere. I spot the sisters walking into their tent and decide to follow after them and ask if they’ve seen the Captain.

However, right before I enter the tent I hear a familiar voice telepathically speaking to me. “Ignis, can you come outside? I was following up on some rumors I heard that a new set of dragons would be here around sunset, and I think I see something, but it’s far off. I was hoping for a second set of eyes.”

“Oh that’s where you’ve been? I’ve been getting dunked at the water tank for like 6 hours! I’m on my way though, just outside the front archway?”

“Aww dude I’m so sorry. I completely forgot, if I had remembered I would’ve gotten somepony to go relieve you in my place. But, yeah go out the main archway and come around the right side, it seems like they’re 1000-2000 feet out.”

It’s basically night time by the time I make my way out and around, but I spot Shining standing on top of a rock staring out to the East. “Where am I looking here?” I ask him as I walk up and stand beside him.

“Yeah so look right over there, I’m pretty sure I see Inferno and then a purple dragon and a black dragon.” I follow the direction he’s pointing his hoof in.

Perception.

20 + 5 = 25.

“Are you sure man? I really don’t see anything, which direction were they flying in?” I stop looking out and start to turn towards the unicorn, but I never finish my rotation.

-12 Hit Points: 45/57.

Constitution Saving Throw.

11 + 2 = 13. Poisoned.

Time unfreezes and I finish turning my head to look at Shining, but what I see instead has me screaming internally. Green flames quickly spread out over the unicorns body to reveal a changeling biting into the side of my gut.

You Are Paralyzed.

The changeling releases me from its bite and I fall onto the ground face force with my hands between my chest and the ground. As I fall and roll off of the rock I land facing the colosseum and feel my heartbeat in my ears. The changeling is laughing as it walks away from me and the last thing it says to me is, “You just stay here and imagine what’s going to happen to every creature in there. Once the true queen has claimed her rightful place in the hive one of us will come to retrieve you. Worry not though, you were noted as being a potent source of food so we will not kill you."

I start to hyperventilate as I scream at myself in my head to get up and move. After a few seconds my thoughts settle down just enough to remember the secondary effect of Lay on Hands. I can use 5 HP from my Lay on Hands pool to cure a creature of a disease or poison. Closing my eyes I channel the divine power and start to pull myself up as feeling returns to my body.

I rise to my feet and pull out my Moonblade. I start sprinting back towards the entrance and as I’m running I pull out a copper wire and prepare to cast Sending. Right before I can cast it though I hear Celestia’s voice in my head, “Ignis something is wrong! Luna is gone and I can’t move my body, where ar-” something stops her from finishing the communication.

I let out a scream in frustration and the changeling I caught up to yelps in fear as it spins around yelling out something to me. Whatever it said I can’t hear over the ringing in my ears as I let out a roar at the bug and swing the Moonblade at its head.

Author's Note

For the first time since this arc started, I am happy with this chapter. I wanted to get a lot further into the event this chapter, but I ended up touching grass today and got home pretty late. This is a pretty decent stopping point for the chapter though.

As always, feel free to point out the grammar mistakes/misspellings/forgetting a word and most importantly:

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Global Summit pt. 6

3rd Person POV

“How are you already standing again?!” The changeling drone outside of the colosseum cries out the last question it’ll ever ask as a silver haired elf quickly gives it two slashes. Ignis hastily proceeds around the outer edge of the colosseum and enters through the archway. The changeling on deaths door behind him stumbles forward a few steps and is suddenly engulfed with purple lightning as a crack of thunder sounds out and the changeling drops to the ground dead. +450 XP.

The first thing the elf sees when he re-enters the colosseum is chaos. Stalls from every nation are shattered with wood everywhere, tents on fire. There’s not a single changeling in sight, it's just every race fighting every race including members of their own race. There’s no way to tell who is who with ponies fighting ponies or any other way around. Ignis holds the hilt of his Moonblade in both hands and activates the minor feature of the sword, projecting his voice to be clearly audible over 300ft.

“If you’re a changeling and you don’t wanna die then get to the north east of the field undisguised or get back in your hive, I don’t care which.” After the announcement he does surprisingly see several previously unseen undisguised changelings suddenly take to the air and begin flying as quickly as possible to the north east. A few seconds pass as thousands of thoughts fly through the elfs mind about how to handle this situation, but suddenly his eyes open wide as an idea hits him. He reaches into a pouch on his waist and pulls out a leaf from a yew tree. Closing the yew leaf into his hand he begins to mutter a short incantation.

Once the spell is finished casting he’s elated to find the idea worked. While he’s concentrating on Detect Poison he can differentiate between the true members of each race and the disguised changelings. Time to do as much damage as possible in the next 10 minutes. Turning and sprinting towards the Equestrian camp he gives occasional slashes to any changeling he passes and interrupts any fights if none of the combatants are changelings. No sense wasting time killing each other over paranoia.

As he sprints through and jumps over corpses he gives quick scans to see if he recognizes any of the downed ponies. For a split second he considers stopping to cast cure wounds on the ones that are mortally wounded but not yet dead. However, he instantly makes the decision that finding Luna is the top priority right now. He wonders why none of the changelings are disguised as himself, but quickly realizes they have no way to duplicate his sword or shadowblade.

Rapidly approaching the entrance to the royal tent he enters the densest area of fighting. It’s dense enough that it actually starts to slow him down, forcing Ignis to start twisting and weaving through the crowd. Any ponies that are fighting genuine ponies he taps them both as he passes and yells out “Neither of you are changelings, help the others.” Some of the guards actually follow the command, but some are too caught up in the paranoia to trust anything told to them.

Once he’s close enough to the tent he shouts the magic words to misty step straight through the slightly open entrance of the tent. The first thing he sees is Celestia laying on the ground on her side with her eyes wide open looking around in panic. Unlike the creatures outside he can’t discern her true nature with just detect poison. The creatures outside couldn’t have been poisoned victims because they were moving but that’s not the case here, he has to figure out a way to prove it’s her.

He decides to try Divine Sense. Divine Sense will allow him to know the location of any Celestial, Fiend, or Undead within 60 feet. He has no clue if Celestia is truly a celestial but she fits the qualities in his mind. If she pops as a Celestial he will be 99% sure that this is the real princess, but if nothing happens he is still completely unsure because he has no idea if the real Celestia is, in fact, a Celestial.

He kneels down next to the alicorn, closes his eyes, and begins to channel the divine power. Within seconds he feels a calming presence that turns into a tingling feeling that attempts to tug his vision downwards. He opens his eyes and follows the instinct and his eyes land on Celestia, she is a Celestial. Putting both hands on her barrel he uses the last 5 remaining Hit Points in his Lay on Hands pool to cure her of the poison. “You should be able to move now.”

Celestia rapidly blinks before jumping to her hooves. “It’s a rogue queen, Ignis! She was disguised as Luna and got the drop on me. I’ll infiltrate the hive and find Luna, you just need to settle down the chaos out there.”

Objectively speaking, keeping him out here is the right call, Ignis is likely the only non-changeling that can reliably tell apart who is fake or not. However, something in his gut tells him this is the wrong call, but he chalks that up to ego and responds to Celestia. “Fine, but contact me when you find her. The codeword is Selene. If you don’t say that I’m attacking you on site.”

Thankfully once Ignis cured her she was no longer signaling the detect poison spell so he relaxes knowing with full confidence that’s the real her. She has a conflicted look on her face, likely doesn’t enjoy the fact that Ignis accidentally made a demand of her, but really he just wanted to use as few words as possible. Time is of the essence. She gives him a nod and with a flash of her horn she’s in full battle gear and the entire tent disintegrates as she launches herself into the fray.

Ignis gives a slow look around at the carnage surrounding him, and spots two genuine guards sprinting towards him with hostile intent all over their faces. He holds out his left hand, palm out, signaling them to stop but they obviously refuse. After a split second he decides that it’ll be a trivial matter to prove to everyone in this field that he is not an imposter. In the dimly lit massive area a small pillar of silver light appears briefly illuminating a quarter of the area before dying back down into a small aura of light around the elf.

As blue wisps of light begin to rapidly orbit the man in random patterns a rapid set of notes from a piano ring out.

Electing to preserve the Haste stored in his Moonblade he quickly launches himself into the densest area of fighting in the Equestrian camp. As he arrives in the middle of the chaotic pit of fighting a chorus of foreign instruments begin to play as the blue wisps turn red and increase their speed. Everything that happens next is a blur to any outside observers, for the unaware it looks like he just begins indiscriminately killing every creature on the battlefield.

Two changelings are passing a battered guard back and forth inflicting small cuts in his blind spots every time he adjusts to their movements. The guard stumbles back and braces himself for the next slash across his body, but instead watches as one of the ponies he’s fighting is swiftly run through by an emerald longsword. Before the injured changeling can even cry out that he isn’t the imposter in this situation the sword is pulled from its body and swiftly slammed into the back of its neck. The blade sinks in 6-7 inches severing the creature's nervous system and as its eyes roll into the back of its head the disguise falls off the changeling in a burst of green flame. With a sickening crunch the sword is twisted and pulled away from the insect as it drops to the ground, lifeless.

The other changeling thrust forward with a spear but the elf just looks at the changeling with disgust as he pivots to the side, dodging the spear. Ignis then quickly slashes the insect across the throat and it drops to the ground, undisguised, while attempting to put pressure on its rapidly bleeding wound. The elf turns to the battered guard sporting a swollen eye and tens of small cuts, and notices the guard is just staring at him with awe.

The guard mutters a thank you and Ignis just gives him a small nod before continuing onto the next encounter. The next 3 encounters are handled in a similar fashion but before the 4th one can start all the changelings in the immediate vicinity seem to stiffen up and turn their heads toward the elf. Seems somehow they were all just made aware of the fact that he can discern their true identity.

“For the true queen!” The one closest to Ignis screams out, and with a roar they all start attempting to charge at the elf.

“Oh for fucks sake! Hey dipshits, every single creature charging at me right now is a changeling. They’re aware I can tell them apart. If you don’t believe me ask the tired ponies behind me. Every single one that I struck and killed was a changeling.” With several small nods from the guards attempting to catch their breath Ignis continues. “If you’re not a changeling get the fuck away from here, no offense but you’re mostly just in the way.”

The ponies that were slowing the oncoming mob of changelings look back and forth at each other in confusion before breaking away and retreating into the other nations' camps to attempt to help out. With the closest changeling being about 7 feet away and rapidly approaching, Ignis points his left index finger into the middle of the group and offers a small chuckle as a tiny mote of fire appears. It begins to rotate and grow and grow until it’s about the size of a fist and the elf announces at a normal speaking volume. “To whom it may concern...” He flicks his index finger and the rotating ball of fire zips into and disappears in the mob of imposters.

A split second passes and right as the closest changeling, disguised as a minotaur, starts to wind back a swing of its greatsword, the world flashes white for an instant. With a roaring explosion the fireball engulfs 70% of the mob, including half of the minotaur. A chorus of hissing and screams follows the explosion as the echoes of its initial blast taper off.

A large majority of the creatures caught in the blast, including the minotaur, now lay on the ground motionless as charred changelings. The ones currently alive have minor burns as it appears they were able to just barely escape the explosion in time. Those are still looking around in a state of shellshock, however. The changelings that weren’t caught in the blast have ceased their charge as they stare at the elf that is now walking towards them. The ones that were able to quickly move on and begin processing information again find themselves slowly leaning backwards, as if they intend to flee. They’re all unsure why, but it quickly becomes apparent.

All changelings have the instinct to flee from an enemy that is emitting zero emotions.

With a quick shake of their heads they overcome the instinct and manage to begin charging at the bladesinger again. Their sudden charge snapping the other changelings out of their stupor.

Ignis quickly gets a headcount and estimates there to be around 19-20 changeling corpses in the small crater from the fireball. Including the shell-shocked changelings that seemed to barely survive the explosion, there’s another 10 or so charging at him. He decides to hold off on another fireball for now as there’s still plenty of enemies remaining and he wants to conserve his spell slots unless absolutely necessary. He does a quick recap of how many rounds of combat have passed since he started the bladesong and realizes it’s been 8. He has 12 seconds left.

Leaning forward he lets out a sigh and begins to sprint towards the changelings charging at him. He quickly slashes along the side of one of the burnt creatures and continues running as it drops its disguise and collapses. His next obstacle is a minotaur charging at him with its head down in perfect tandem with a griffon dive bombing him.

Ignis drops and does a baseball slide under the minotaur and then uses his empty hand to push himself horizontally to attempt to roll out of the way of the griffon. The griffon is about 6 inches away when Ignis realizes he won’t be able to dodge it, so he misty steps into the air directly above the griffon. Maintaining his rotational momentum he spins in the air and slashes a deep wound across the back of the flying creature. Out of actions he ceases his spin and twists his body so that he can put both feet down on the griffon's back.

The disguised griffon lets out an undignified squawk as it slams into the ground with 160lbs of unexpected weight on its back. The minotaur that missed its charge quickly spins around and starts another charge at the elf. Ignis looks to the right at the minotaur charging towards him and to the left at the two ponies beginning to thrust their spears. He jumps backwards towards the charred circle and dodges the two spears but gets a blunt impact to his ribs from the side of the minotaurs horns. With no time to recover 3 more changelings are on him. With absolute focus on his face he tilts his head to the side and dodges a set of sharp talons and curves his torso to dodge a spear. However, he’s unable to dodge everything this time as one spear impales him completely on the right side just above the hip.

The last two changelings still have a small bit of distance to close. Ignis continues backpedaling when he notices from his detect poison that something is right behind him, but when he glances back all he sees is a unicorn with black singed fur weakly wheezing on the ground. The elf turns around and drops to his knees next to the unicorn, and the oncoming changelings recoil a bit from the sudden wave of despair that hits them. “N-no…. I could've sworn there weren't any bystanders in the way of the blast. Oh fuck what…. have I done…?” The changelings decide to take advantage of the elf that is now seemingly stunned in shock.

As they all swarm and descend on the elf he quietly mutters a single word and a shield pops up around him. Most of the attacks are deflected away but one spear lodges into the elfs back, just below his shoulder. With two spears sticking out of his torso Ignis puts one hand on the unicorn and speaks an incantation as his hand begins to glow in a silver light. After casting Cure Wounds at second level the unicorn appears to be more stable. His breaths are stronger and less labored, his face muscles are no longer pulled taut in silent agony.

Ignis knows if he just leaves him here the unicorn will likely still die or disappear, but he has no other way to cure the poison now. He glances into the air at seemingly nothing before whispering, “46,500…. Just need 1,500 more.” The elf looks back down at the still clearly terrified guard and reassures him. “Just sit tight for a bit, I’ll fix this I swear.” As he stands back up and turns to face the changelings he coughs and then spits a wad of blood onto the ground. The light and wisps flowing around him die down as his bladesong comes to an end.

The changelings have renewed vigor as smiles crack their faces, realizing their chances have gone up now that the bladesong is over. Ignis flicks his longsword and all the blood coating it is flung onto the ground, and he sheathes the Moonblade.

The creatures all begin to start their next barrage of attacks when they notice the elf pointing his finger at them again. They all know what it means, but none of them can respond in time as the fireball roars past all of them and detonates. The edge of the explosion stops just short of Ignis and when it dies down all the changelings except 1 are dead. The last one remaining staggers over to the elf and makes a haphazard swing of with its spear as it remains barely standing.

Ignis just takes a step forward and reaches up to grab the back of the imposter guards’ helmet. With a cast of Shocking Grasp the disguise drops and the changeling collapses. The elf then takes a slow look around and notices a few onlookers from different reaches of the colosseum have paused their fight and stare at him with mixtures of horror and awe.

He knows what he’s about to do next is by far one of the stupidest things he’s ever done but as he looks back down at the charred unicorn guard, he reaffirms himself and whispers.

“Level Up.”

Author's Note

I swear I proofread this one in its entirety. Also, I'm not done writing for the night but this was way too good of a stopping point, so I'm uploading this now while I work on the next chapter.

There's a 50/50 chance the next chapter is also done tonight and gets uploaded within a few hours, who knows.

Honestly I feel like I should stick to 3rd Person POV's, this chapter and A Mothers Love was written in 3rd person and I feel like that chapter and this chapter are by far my best writing. I'll likely stick to 3rd person much more often for now, but will still use 1st person POV when I want a chapter to have slower pacing and when I want to show a characters full thought process and observations on things. I can still do that in third person but I feel like I can portray more characterization from 1st person POV. So, still expect to see 1st person POV, but expect it to be less common than 3rd person.

Unless I'm way off the mark, if you prefer the 1st person let me know and if enough people prefer it I'll stick to that, but I definitely feel like 3rd person is my comfort zone.

Thanks for reading! Like I said, tonight might be a double release, we'll see.

EDIT: Nah no double release tonight. Next chapter is about 40% done but I ended up crashing hard and it's bed time now. It'll be up tomorrow for sure though

Main Quest - Global Summit pt. 7

Anyone who is looking at Ignis has to shake their heads and rub their eyes to make sure they’re seeing things right. One moment he was standing there with two spears sticking out of his body looking like he could collapse at any moment and the next moment he’s completely healed. He looks like he just woke up from the best sleep he’s ever had.

The first thing he does is spin around back towards the unicorn guard on the ground, reaching down he places both hands on the guard. His palms are engulfed in a dull silver light and when he pulls his hands away the guard rises to his hooves. “I can never apologize enough for what I did to you. I really thought there was nothing but changelings in the blast radius. I know you’re not fully recovered but this is the best I can do for right now, I have to go clear out the rest of these insects and then go find both Princesses.”

The guard kinda has a far off look as he stands silently. After a few seconds the guard just gives a small nod and begins slowly making his way over to where one of the guard tents used to be. The Equestrian encampment has been cleared of changelings. Ignis decides to use the last 2 minutes of his detect poison to clear up as much of the remaining field as he can. After that he has a different use for his concentration.

Now that he’s reached level 9 his proficiency bonus has gone up, this makes everything more potent. For example, when attacking with his Moonblade he now adds 11 onto whatever he rolled instead of 10. Some people would scoff at the idea of a single number improvement, but this is all based on a 20 sided die. Every +1 is +5%, when you think about it like that these +1’s can add up fast. On most of these fodder changeling drones Ignis only needs to roll a 3 or higher to hit the bugs. That’s a 90% chance to hit and if he has advantage? 99%.

The next two minutes pass in a blur of steel and blood. At the end of the detect poison spell Ignis points out the last remnants of the hostile changelings to the Equestrian guards. After that he heads over to where the innocent insects are and asks one of them to show him how to get in the hive. Over a chorus of “Help us!” and “Please help the queen!” One drone raises a foreleg and begins walking the elf towards a random part of the colosseum wall. The changeling lowers its head and with a dim, sickly green light the bricks on the wall start to shift and recede into the structure. Eventually a large staircase leading down is revealed.

“Do you know roughly how many of the changelings down there are aligned with the rogue queen?” Ignis questions the drone as he cracks his fingers and does some light stretching.

“There shouldn’t be many, all of her drones are jet black with blue eyes unlike us that have a range of dull colors. You should be careful though, royal drone Chrysalis devoured the entire stock of our love storage. It was enough for the entire hive for 4 or 5 years, so she wouldn’t need any help deposing Queen Aurora. I’m not sure if any of you can stop her as she is….” Well that’s encouraging.

Ignis pulls out a tuft of red fur from his component pouch and rapidly speaks the incantation for a new spell. At the very end of the incantation there’s a slight pause before he says, “Luna Concordia.” After that the tuft of bloodhound fur glows silver before zipping down into the hive. The 4th level spell, Locate Creature, starts to ping in the elf's head. With a burst of wind the paladin disappears from the entrance and descends into the dark.

Ignis scans his surroundings as he sprints towards the sensation of the spell, with how dark it is he basically can only see the outlines of objects and creatures. It’s enough that he can navigate and probably even fight with full confidence, but he can’t make out any colors. He takes note of the different shapes of changelings that are skittering about in the dark corners of the fortress. There’s different types down here than what he saw on the surface, some of these are bulkier with light armor on, some have oddly shaped hooves. Their hooves are more concave with sharper edges, those must be burrowers.

The bulkier ones are almost certainly guards, quite loyal too judging by how many of them are currently littering the ground, lifeless. After turning and twisting his way through a seemingly endless maze of tunnels and drones he reaches a massive opening with dim blue lights scattered about the room. On the left and right side there are massive ornate pillars with embedded spirals that bring emphasis on the center of the room. The center has a dimly glowing purple moss that leads from the entryway Ignis is standing in, to a large set of steps at the opposite end with a shattered marble throne. The back of the throne looks like it was split in half by a boulder, the jagged and bumpy top edge seems to only be halfway as tall as it normally is.

The piece of the throne that was separated has parts of it embedded into the cave wall behind the fancy seat and more parts are scattered into small marble pebbles along the ground. The rest of the throne is littered with a web of cracks and chunks missing. The final detail of note is a large splatter of blood where the back of the throne was broken that trails down the steps and off into a door on the side. The same direction Locate Creature is tugging Ignis towards.

Suddenly the passage to the side has its door sent flying across the throne room, knocking down the closest pillar as a massive plume of fire and smoke roars out behind it. Tightening his grip on the Moonblade, Ignis sprints through the leftover smoke and into the passageway. As he sprints further in the sound of 2 more explosions ring out in the distance followed by a pained scream.

Speeding up the elf reaches the end of the tunnel and slides to a stop into a mostly dark, dead end room illuminated by dark green lights. The first thing he sees is the blue and pink fluffy mane of Queen Aurora. After adjusting to the light he starts processing the full scene before him. Queen Aurora is being held in the air with a green aura telekinesis by her neck. She’s facing Ignis and between the elf and the queen is jet black changeling with a dark blue-green mane that stands as tall as Aurora. The pale white, almost gray colored exoskeleton of the current changeling queen is covered in splatters of bright red. Her pink eyes seem dull and out of focus as they stare over and beyond the usurper into the eyes of the paladin that just arrived.

“R…Run.” Aurora weakly whispers into the air as she stares into the elfs eyes. Chrysalis realizes that the current queen isn’t speaking to her as she drops Aurora onto the ground and turns to face the bladesinger.

Now that she’s facing him, he can see that Chrysalis’s form is much more slender and defined. Her entire body almost seems to be surrounded by a pulsating glow of power. She narrows her green eyes at Ignis and gives him a menacing smile. “You’re earlier than I expected! That was a neat trick you showed off up there, accurately revealing all of my children and slaughtering them. Once I put you in a pod like your pony princess you’ll help me replace all of the drones you efficiently dispatched. You know, originally I was planning to do all of this after all the nations had left, but once the reports came in about you from the food drive… I knew the plan had to be accelerated, you couldn’t be allowed to leave.”

Ignis was just looking behind the insect at Queen Aurora barely breathing on the ground. Once he heard one of the princesses had been put in a “pod” questions and thoughts began racing through his mind as his own heartbeat got louder once again. After a couple seconds of silence Chrysalis elected to continue monologuing.

“Don’t get too angry over there little bladesinger, this hive is mine now I can let you live the life of a king down here! You just ensure my kingdom has the nutrients to thrive for eons and you’ll want for nothing. I know you’re a zealot for your princess so I haven’t harmed her in the slightest, I just needed her for a bit of extra…. leverage.” The new queen began slowly walking towards the unresponsive elf. She halts suddenly when the emitting rage spikes.

“In every plane, every world, every timeline all of you are the same. You blindly move forward in search of power as you destroy and take everything available to you. Changeling, you have killed my fellow guards, taken my princess, slaughtered your own people, and now you have the audacity to think I would willingly do anything to help you.” Before he can continue his speech he realizes that the tugging from Locate Creature is much stronger in this room. Ignis glances to the right and see’s a bloodied and unconscious Celestia lying on the ground against the far wall.

The sight above her is what made him stop speaking, however. It’s a semi-translucent “pod” embedded into the wall and inside of it curled up into a ball is Luna. A few bubbles emerge from her sleeping face and float up into the wall, indicating that she is at least able to breathe in there. Ignis tightens the grip on his sword to such an extent that a thin trail of blood runs down the hilt and onto the blade.

As he turns back towards Chrysalis she smirks and covers herself in green flame. “Relax you don’t need them…..Ignis.” The voice changes midway through the sentence and he recognizes the voice as it says his name.The flames disperse and the rogue queen reveals herself in the spitting image of Luna.

The elf begins slowly walking towards the disguised queen and she tenses up ready to defend herself. The moment never arrives however, her features shift into one of confusion as Ignis walks right past her and squats next to Aurora. The battered changeling slowly moves her eyes towards him and she looks at him with one of the most defeated expressions he’s seen in a long time. “Remedium.” He places his palm on her carapace and with a bright glow some life returns to her eyes. She looks at him questioningly and the elf gives her an inquiry. “As you are now, can you free Luna from that pod, cure her of the paralysis if she’s affected and escort both ponies out of the hive?”

Aurora looks beyond Ignis at the false Luna standing there with a befuddled expression. “Not with her still here. I can’t give up the hive, Ignis.”

“I’ll take care of her, just wake those two up.”

Chrysalis begins laughing maniacally, “Oh you really are the best! It's decided. I have to have you. The confidence to think you can stop me long enough to save the alicorns is so cute. You realize with this much love I'm basically a God right? Even Celestia and my dear mother fighting together couldn't beat me.”

Ignis bends his knees slightly and lowers himself into a striking stance as he begins to apply his pre-fight buffs. “You’re not a God, but I’ll help you meet one.”

Ashardalon’s Stride Level 3 spell: the billowing flames of a dragon blast from your feet granting explosive speed. For the next minute your speed is increased by 20ft and moving doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks. When you move within 5ft of a creature or object, it takes 1d6 fire damage.

+20ft, 50ft Movement Speed.

Bladesong, +5 AC, +10ft. 23 AC and 60ft Movement Speed.

Moonblade applies Haste. +2 AC, Movement doubled. 25 AC and 120ft Movement Speed.

The elfs mouth is moving rapidly, but it sounds like multiple voices speaking from it at the same time as foreign and strange words overlay on top of each other. Suddenly two streaks of fire explode backwards from both of his feet, a silver aura with sparks of fire engulfs him as his eyes begin to emit a white light. Then his body emits a burst of wind as his clothes and hair begin to flap and lift wildly.

The current situation is the culmination of multiple stars that have aligned. The global balance is at risk of being upset, two champions of Harmony are under direct threat, and multiple buffing effects have been overlaid with the elfs bladesong. The spike of adrenaline and Ignis internally declaring that he must use everything he has right now, every ounce of strength, as he is prepared to die in this fight to buy as much time as possible. With all of these exact variables aligned in this exact way it has created the opportunity for Ignis to shine. There’s no notification that he has activated the True Bladesong, but this feeling is very similar. All of these buffs combined have managed to elevate the bladesong into something resembling it, heartsong included. Chrysalis and Aurora can both feel that something is different this time. The pressure in the room is much heavier than when he sparred with Celestia.

Aurora starts to run towards the downed Celestia with her curved horn ignited, and as Chrysalis leans forward to begin intercepting her a high pitched chime rings out 5 times. The pressure around Chrysalis increases and she realizes she cannot afford to ignore the elf right now. She makes a mental note to keep an eye out for an opening to blast Aurora and as she looks over to Ignis he quietly says something out loud.

“3. 2. 1.”

He launches towards Chrysalis right after the 1 as multiple instruments ring out, closing the 30ft of distance in half a second with a trail of fire behind him. The elf continues to sing but the changeling is too busy defending to listen to the words. Chrysalis drops her disguise as Luna and puts full focus onto dodging and shielding the oncoming flurry of slashes. There’s a pulsing bass note with a steady rhythm in the bladesong that seems to match the timing of his swings.

She projects a sickly green shield that deflects the first two slashes but on the third he breaks through. Chrysalis still manages to dodge it just in time, but the 4th swing is on her with a speed completely incomparable to the first 3. The blade makes contact with the front of her carapace, if she was a pony it’d be where her fluff is located, and Chrysalis is beyond shocked at the level of impact it makes.

As the edge of the blade makes contact she feels a deep scratch etch itself onto her exoskeleton. As soon as the impact registers she’s assaulted with a wave of purple electricity that surrounds her and then floods into her. Less than an instant later an ear ringing explosion rings out as divine power floods into the scratch and makes it a full web of small cracks in her exoskeleton. There’s no blood so the changeling quickly regains her confidence knowing even a full power swing with that mysterious “smite” can’t fully penetrate her carapace.

He steps back while still singing and says “Shall we start?”

The changeling conjures 3 sickly green daggers and beings slashing and stabbing at Ignis with her telekinesis. He bats one away with his sword and jumps to the left to dodge the second one. Ignis starts running a circle around the changeling as he hits the 3rd dagger with his Moonblade but it’s still able to graze his arm. His right eye narrows a bit as he gives a slight wince before jumping into the air towards Chrysalis. She launches a solid beam of green energy at the airborne elf, but he sticks out his empty left hand and conjures a shield.

The shield splits the beam as he continues to descend towards the rogue queen, all while singing something in a completely foreign language to any creature present. She stops channeling the beam right as the elf is about to swing his blade against her head and she jumps back avoiding the swing. Ignis speeds forward and while the changeling is still in the air sends a vertical slash under her barrel. It connects with a resonating explosion sound as the cave is filled with bright light for a moment, this time only leaving a large scratch embedded into the chitin.

Chrysalis lands on the ground and spins around to face the elf but is rapidly hit with 2 Booming Blade slashes imbued with Smite. Chrysalis clicks her tongue in annoyance at all the scratches and electric scorch markings decorating her body. She responds with another barrage of her incorporeal daggers. Ignis deflects the first one and as the second one slips past his defense and embeds itself in his gut there’s a loud tearing sound behind the changeling. Accompanying the tearing sound is a torrent of liquid splashing on the ground followed by a few coughs. Chrysalis wants to turn around and deal with the now free Lunar alicorn but she’s too confused to turn around. The third dagger dug itself into the elf's shoulder but he put his free hand against his chest at the exact same instant the dagger went in. What is he doing? She thinks to herself.

From Ignis point of view he knew there was a constitution saving throw the first time he was cut by those daggers, which means they likely have the same paralyzing poison as changeling bites. Ever since then anytime a dagger has come close to hitting him he has always made sure to have his open off hand pressed against him in some way so that he can instantly cure the poison if he fails the saving throw. He’d been lucky for the first two but he failed the third one. In an effort to keep his concentration up for Ashardalon’s Stride he made sure he was in a position to use his last 5 hit points from Lay on Hands to cure the poison the same instant he failed the saving throw. He hoped that would be good enough to prevent the paralysis from disrupting his concentration.

As the magical daggers fade out of existence and reappear next to Chrysalis the elf smirks, his plan worked. Unfortunately that was the only time he could use that trick, the next time he got poisoned it was lights out. Ignis sings out “Warning Warning.” As the changeling fires another beam at him, but this time the beam breaks apart into 5 smaller beams.

A new feminine voice starts singing in the same foreign language behind Chrysalis as she watches the elf spin, jump, twist, and slide around all the attempts to hit him with the blast. The elf dashes to the left out of her vision and as she turns to the right to keep track of the bastard the air is blasted out of her lungs as it feels like a train just hit her barrel. She glances over in shock to see Luna has landed a full force double leg buck onto her body. As the impact hits the alicorn sings out, “Left side!”

Recovering her breath she twists her body in mid air only to realize too late the alicorn kicked her straight into Ignis. He has his sword arm wound back as far as it can go. He belts out a guttural scream, “RIGHT SIDE!” as he steps forward and puts his whole body into this slash. It connects straight into her midsection and although the blade is still unable to cut all the way through the chitin, the impact is incomparable to the last few hits. Unbeknownst to her, that hit and the very first one were critical hits. This hit blasts out another web of cracks.

As the rogue queen begins to roll and bounce like a ragdoll across the room she closes her eyes and reaches deep into her internal reservoir. I wanted to make sure I kept enough love for the hive to survive a few months after this takeover, but the situation has changed now. I can’t hold back.

Luna and Ignis are unaware of what the changeling is planning as both of them dash after the ragdoll changeling while both are still singing a quite catchy, but foreign chorus. They catch up to her and Luna flits her wings and goes a few feet in the air before performing an aerial flip and kicking the changeling into ground, “Left side!” She sings out with a laugh after her part and watches as her paladin follows up the blow with his own.

Ignis swings at the prone and stationary target, making use of his elven accuracy as he smirks and belts out, “Right side!” Leaving another web of cracks across the changelings chitin. Suddenly said exoskeleton is covered in pulsing pink veins as Chrysalis taps into the full power of the love she stole from the storage. All the cracks in her carapace fully heal in an instant as the changeling looks up at Ignis. The sudden dump of such a large amount of love leaves her in a state comparable to intoxication, the thirst for battle she was displaying earlier is turned up to eleven as she eyes him down with a crazed look in her eyes.

“You really are the best, Ignis Ferrum!” Her frenzied speaking turns into singing as she unknowingly joins the heartsong and finishes the chorus, “BE MY KING!”

With a speed no one was expecting she charges forward and rams the elf directly into the cave wall leaving him embedded into the stone as he coughs up a bit of blood and loses consciousness instantly. She then returns the buck she received earlier to Luna as the alicorn was charging at her to separate Ignis from the changeling. Luna slides across the floor into the wall opposite of Ignis and she slowly tries to stagger back up onto her hooves.

Now that she has a second to breathe, Chrysalis turns towards Aurora on the far side of the room. “No matter what else happens today, the most important thing is killing you, dear mother.” Aurora is hovering over the downed Celestia trying to give her what little mana she has left in the form of a healing spell, but as she looks across the room and sees the elf and the lunar alicorn currently attempting to stand her eyes begin to well up with tears from pure terror. Buzzing wings launch the love drunk Chrysalis directly at Aurora.

“Please, no! Stay away! HELP!” The Queen screams out as a green beam of magic impacts her barrel launching her into the wall on her side of the room. Ignis watches as the queen is launched into the wall and her eyes roll up into the back of her head. She might still be alive, but with Chrysalis still flying at full speed towards her she definitely won’t survive the second impact.

He still has the Haste effect because the sword didn’t lose concentration, but the bladesong and Stride spell both ended early when he lost consciousness for a second. He had gotten himself back up to 11 Hit Points with a natural 20 on his death save plus a level 2 Cure Wounds right before he watched the initial magic beam impact Aurora.

Time seems to slow down as he lowers himself back down into his stance and as he re-activates Ashardalon’s Stride and Bladesong he screams out inside his head, “Harmony, PLEASE!” He’s calculated that if he misty steps he can hit Chrysalis in time but there’s no guarantee that will actually stop the changeling. He needs to move faster than he ever has before, the same way he did versus Nightmare Moon. Then with that momentum he can throw Chrysalis off course. Ignis needs the real True Bladesong.

Chrysalis is milliseconds away from ramming herself into Aurora at full speed when the room lights up with blue mana and Ignis disappears in a blur that moves towards the changeling. Less than instant later the elf appears in the air to the right of the changeling as he lowers his shoulder and rams directly into the rogue queen. The room is filled with dust from the huge crater Ignis and Chrysalis made, preventing anyone from knowing what has truly happened. Luna feels like a rock is in her stomach as she realizes that the brief instance of music from that second bladesong is no longer present.

She yells out, “Ignis! Answer me!” A golden aura is barely visible in the brown dust cloud currently occupying the room. A bipedal body is gently laid down next to Luna wrapped in that same golden aura. Suddenly a magical wind spirals into the room and carries the dust out of the only exit the room has. Luna sees Celestia standing up and staring at the deep crater in the wall where Chrysalis is currently embedded with a shocked look on the changeling's face.

The next thing Luna see’s is Aurora lying motionless on the ground next to Celestia. Only the whites of her eyes are visible as 3 incorporeal green daggers are embedded in her body. One of them in her neck. She must’ve launched those the instant she felt the explosion of mana from Ignis. All of his effort was for nothing….

Chrysalis, laughing like an insane person, dislodges herself from the wall and Celestia jumps backwards landing next to the unconscious elf and Luna. “Lulu, we cannot defeat her as she is right now. We need to get ourselves and our ponies out of here. Do you have enough mana to teleport yourself and Ignis back up to the surface?”

“Aye, I have plenty of mana. Are you sure though sister? I know Aurora was an old friend of yours. If we coordinate perfectly we can likely outlast her supply of love.”

“Yes, but then we’d doom the entire hive to death. The love she holds within herself is all the hive currently has.” The solar alicorns’ mask cracks as a few tears begin to stain her coat. “You will pay for this, Chrysalis. I’ll make sure of it.”

The new official queen sneers at Celestia, “Bold of you to think I’ll let either of you leave, but if you give up that creature on the floor….. I’ll let every single other creature walk out of this colosseum, unharmed.”

Without warning both alicorns go airborne and ignite their horns. Chrysalis quickly makes a mad dash towards the elf as Luna positions herself in front of Celestia. Both of the sisters' eyes begin shining light from an influx of mana as both sisters yell out at the same time.

“ECLIPSE”
“ECLIPSE”

A large golden beam flies over the tip of Luna’s horn and suddenly the entire room is plunged into darkness until a silver beam appears and expands. The room is lit up once again with a beam made up of gold and silver light swirling together. The combined magical attack crashes into the changeling and continues forward pushing her into the same crater Chrysalis had just dislodged herself from. After the initial explosion from the first impact, the beam just roars louder as it pushes her further and further into the bedrock.

Finally the beam begins to grow smaller until it eventually dissipates. Celestia looks over to Luna and tells her, “Take him and meet me in the center of the colosseum, we’ll double check and make sure the other nations are stable and their leaders are alive. Once that’s done we evacuate as fast as possible."

As the 3 creatures glow and begin to teleport there’s a loud scream of rage heard from deep within the cave wall. Chrysalis re-emerges from the wall but it’s too late, she’s alone in the room.

Ignis 1st Person POV

Oh man, I succeeded in my death saving throws but I’m still unconscious. I trust Luna was able to do something after my kamikaze charge to save Aurora and get everyone out of that hive. My only concern is that I haven’t gotten any XP which means we for sure didn’t defeat her, but we still likely escaped. I hope so at least. Fuck me I used just about everything I had there. Completely out of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th level spell slots. I have 2 first level spell slots and that’s it.

Reviewing the fight in my head I try to hold onto the feeling I had at the very end of the fight. The first bladesong felt so similar to the True Bladesong, but it’s pretty obvious I still have a long way to go. When I activated that second bladesong though, that feeling is the one I’m desperately trying to hold onto. I activated everything and then I reached into my mana pool the same way I did my 2nd night here when I managed to use the Light spell. I forced my mana to violently expand and embed itself deeper into my body than it usually does. It felt like someone was squeezing me like a super empty tube of toothpaste. There was so much… pressure throughout all my limbs, to the tips of my fingers and toes.

Once that happened, I could feel it. My entire perception of reality slowed down to a crawl and I could feel every muscle twitch, every individual hair on my body brushing against the air. I looked at Chrysalis and decided that’s where I wanted to be and it felt like I kicked the ground several times in an instant. After that I remember everything just blurred and my entire vision just stretched and tunneled onto that bitch. Then suddenly I was just there. It’s a miracle I didn’t miss her entirely.

Honestly compared to what I felt when I fought Nightmare this was completely different. I’m 99% sure that this had nothing to do with my bladesong and instead was just a metric fuck ton of adrenaline dumping into my system. That combined with my muscles and veins getting forcibly expanded with imbued mana allowed me to not only perceive everything in slow motion, but move fast enough to actually act on it.

After coming to that conclusion I let go of the feeling, I am much more confident now that the Equestrian bladesong does require mana, but I’m also confident that what I experienced had nothing to do with the bladesong. Whatever it was didn’t even register with the system, it just gave me a system error as soon as I forcibly circulated and expanded the mana.

+1 Hit Point: 1/32.

+1 Hit Point: 2/32.

My eyes snap open to the sight of a random guard pointing their lit horn at me. Ah they’re healing me. Wait, why is my Hit Point maximum 32? It should be 63.

I attempt to sit up when it feels like my entire body is suddenly electrocuted. I start writhing in pain as the guard tells me to take it easy and don’t move. What the fuck is this? Ever since coming here it was like the system was dulling my pain and preventing fatigue. I’ve never been unable to move after a fight…. Is it because of what I did with my mana?

Exhaustion Level: 5. Movement Speed: 0ft.

Holy shit. I’m really at my limit then, huh? The guard stops healing me and my Hit Points are sitting at 7 out of 32. If I had gained 1 more level of Exhaustion my heart would’ve stopped on the spot. Exhaustion is a super nasty mechanic, at Exhaustion level 1 you get disadvantage on all ability checks. Level 2 your movement speed is cut in half, level 3 you gain disadvantage on all attacks and saving throws. Level 4 your hit point maximum is halved and at level 5 your movement speed is reduced to 0. Level 6 you legitimately just straight up die, no rolls, no checks.

So, never doing that move again then. “Can one of you ponies help me sit up please?”

One of them ignites their horn and I feel an invisible force start pushing on my back. Once I sit up I realize I’m in the royal carriage. Looking around I spot both princesses across from me. Celestia is staring out the window with an absent look on her face. Has she been crying? Luna is just staring at me with the most exhausted look I’ve ever seen from her. “Why are we in the carriage? Have I been asleep for days and missed the meeting to discuss this incident? Did we already help the changelings repair the damages and healed all the injured? Where’s Queen Auro-”

“Ignis. We are retreating for now, Chrysalis was too powerful for us to defeat and we didn’t want to risk adding more numbers to our loss count. You’ve only been knocked out for an hour or so. We did make sure all the other nations leaders were safe and able to evacuate, but I have no clue how many of their soldiers were lost. You were commendable out there though, Equestria and even myself are proud to call you the Lunar Paladin.” Celestia interrupts me and gives me most of my answers.

“Okay so is Aurora being treated in one of the other carriages?” Celestia’s face scrunches up and falls as she returns to looking out the window. Luna answers instead.

“No. Chrysalis launched multiple daggers the exact instant you made contact with her. Queen Aurora is dead. To be completely honest none of us are sure if she was even alive after the first hit she took from the raw magic.”

I feel my eyes glaze over as grief pounds at my chest. “No….no I-I stopped her. We just left her there?! Chrysalis still draws breath and WE LEFT?!” I try to stand only to fall onto the floor of the carriage between the 2 rows of seats. Images of the changeling queen smiling at me during the meetings and in the donation tent. The embarrassment from being called cute. I told her I would handle Chrysalis, and she trusted me to save her and her hive. I failed.

The grief begins to turn into blinding rage and everything goes black.

3rd Person POV

Luna and the medic both yell out in panic as the elf stands and falls onto the floor. The medical guard slides off the flat seat onto the floor and begins trying to help Ignis back to the seat for him to lay back down. But when Luna tries to grasp onto the elf with telekinesis there’s a sudden shockwave of mana from the elf as he starts screaming and writhing in her magical grasp.

He breaks out of the telekinesis and while kneeling on the floor he reaches towards the door of the carriage when Luna steps in and wraps him up in her wings and forelegs. “Ignis please your body is already shattered you need to rest, I’m sorry we couldn’t save her but you’re not going to accomplish anything like this!”

“CHRYSALIS!” He shouts rivaling the Royal Canterlot voice.

The changeling queen standing on top of the Colosseum directing her new subjects in repair efforts actually manages to hear her name. She looks towards the pony formation marching away in the distance and points a scrying spell at them. Once the spell activates she bites her lip and smiles as she watches the elf somehow manage to stand and expel mana from a body that is clearly beyond its limit. Celestia detects the spell and instantly dispels the magic out of the air.

Ignis and Chrysalis then both make declarations at the same time, unbeknownst to each other.

“I WILL NEVER LET YOU GO! I WILL HUNT YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH AND I WILL KILL YOU!”
“Ahh my wonderful food source, I will find you again and I won’t let you go next time. You will be mine!”

Luna tries to force Ignis to sleep with magic but it seems to just keep failing. Like he just has an inherent resistance to sleep or something. After a few seconds Celestia radiates a calming light that illuminates the entire guard formation. The elf rapidly becomes more and more quiet before finally collapsing back down onto the floor of the carriage. He chants the word Remedium two times and then very slowly crawls towards and onto the seat in-between Luna and Celestia. Leaving the medical guard alone on the other side of the carriage.

Ignis leans against Luna and just silently sheds tears. “I’m so sorry Ignis. You barely knew Aurora, I didn't think you’d be in this much despair over her loss.” She does her best to replicate the uncomfortable bipedal sitting posture that the elf uses and wraps a wing around him.

“Luna…” After a few seconds he continues, “I’ve been here for nearly a month, and in that time I can count on both hands how many creatures, not just ponies, have actually treated me like they treat anyone else. Even fewer are the number of creatures that have actually shown me kindness, given me a compliment, or actually made me smile. Aurora was one of those creatures. I had promised myself that if it was possible to save you and help her then I would do both. If I had just spent less time on the surface or given her more healing before engaging with Chrysalis... It’s just so frustrating, Luna. I’ve never suffered such a loss, felt so hopeless against an opponent before. I told you during my first day in the castle, I would save all 6 ponies from the train even if it kills me. So, why am I still alive when ponies are dead? Aurora is dead. I almost killed a guard with my fireball because of my own recklessness!”

Choking up a bit the elf sniffles and continues, “When she slammed me into that wall, it was truly the first time I felt that level of hopelessness, if I hadn’t had that explosion of mana I would’ve been insignificant. I just…. “

“Shh. Ignis you saved so many lives on the surface. Nopony blames you for making an inaccuracy in a split second decision. I can definitely say nopony expected you to subdue a jumped up changeling queen that was running on more love than any other changeling in history. An enemy that even Tia and I couldn’t subdue. I’m sorry that your first true defeat had to be one so overwhelming and crushing, but I promise you everypony feels the same way you do right now. Resent and disgust at ourselves for our weakness. Just rest for now my paladin and I will give you pleasant dreams.”

The elf shamelessly grabbed the edge of Luna's wing and pulled it closer as he gave the alicorn a nod and closed his eyes.

“Well, I will say I didn’t expect you to do this. Especially with how embarrassed you were the night you saw me raise the moon.”

Ignis opened his eyes with a blush and he wordlessly tried to shimmy out of her grasp, but she just kept him in place and whispered, “I didn’t say I hated it though. Rest easy, Ignis.”

Author's Note

Sorry for weeb music, I'm just trying to make sure I use a WIDE variety of music for the bladesongs. So far we've had Western Cartoon song, Video game song, and now anime song.

For those of you less familiar with D&D I'll explain what he took with his level up since it's not explained completely in the chapter. He added a level to wizard and was allowed to learn 2 new spells. He learned the 3rd level spell Ashardalon's Stride and the 4th level spell Locate Creature. After that he rolled a 1d6 to increase his max HP and rolled a 4. This brought his max HP to 63.

But that's it! The global summit arc is officially over! Ignis got pretty close to achieving the true bladesong for a second time but it was just missing something.

Also let me explain some of the retcons I took for changelings here. Chrysalis in show canon honestly just feels evil for the sake of being evil. Like to a stupid degree. So, I retconned the motivation for her evil deeds to be an infinite thirst for power and a love for fighting. Second changeling canon I hated was the implication that changelings existed for hundreds, maybe thousands of years and just never got the idea to try loving each other? So my retcon for that I'm implying in this arc that changelings are not a hostile nation, they have plenty of food, and are fully integrated into society.

This atleast gives them some type of explanation for why they haven't evolved, because there's been no need. Now the Chrysalis has essentially made an enemy of seemingly every nation(?) that might change, who knows. Also if anyone thinks I went too overboard with how horny Ignis makes Chrysalis, it's not him that does it, it's his use to her as a tool. That's how much she loves power, the thought of having a reliable, consistent, and potent food source that would allow her to be at peak power at all times is enough to drive her up the wall. She does like his spirit, willpower, and combat ability though.... so I guess she does also like him as a person, but it's mostly the first thing.

Last thing, I'm fairly confident the timing of the lyrics in the fight will line up with the song if you consider each turn is 6 seconds, but I definitely put too many descriptions and expositions between the combat actions so most of you will be done listening to the song before you even get to the chorus in the story. I'll try and get better with that if/when I do another heartsong in the story, but it's quite hard to align properly.

Thanks for reading!

Productive Conversations

All I see is an empty white void.

“Greetings, human.” Turning to the right I see…myself sitting in a chair wearing some pompous fancy clothing with a tea cup.

“Uh, hi, why do you look like me?” The elf holds out a hand and a small mirror appears that points towards me. Oh. I’m in my human form at the moment.

“I’m not sure why we’re able to speak to each other, but I’m glad you’re able to finally visit. We need to talk.” A chair appears opposite of the elf and I slowly approach and take a seat.

“Why are you acting like we’re two separate entities? We share the same soul, I am you and you are me.”

“That is correct, but the personality known as Lucas appears to be the dominant force for our soul now. You’ve managed to link the memories together, but we haven’t truly integrated.”

“Integrated?” I ask with a pretty confused look.

“Yes, you have my memories and your personality slightly shifted, for example you are ever so slightly more polite now. However, even though you have all the memories of all the endless hours of swordplay and training you still can’t replicate my skills. When you aren’t using this blasted dice system as a crutch your swordsmanship is pitiful. Theoretically you should have all the skills and memories from both of our lives, yet you only seem to retain the human skills. When we were finally able to meet I had originally planned on convincing you to find a way to fully integrate both persona’s into the soul, but I recently came to a different conclusion.”

I wait for him to explain his new conclusion but he just takes a sip of tea and stares at me. Glad to know the elf me prefers to make people ask for his thoughts. “I agree with your initial thoughts though. If we were fully integrated I probably wouldn’t have almost died 3 or 4 times. Why shouldn’t we do it?”

“It would be ideal if you could use all of the memories to integrate the skills I have, but I’ve come to realize our personalities should not be combined. Do you know how long it takes a typical elf to perform the highest class of magic?”

“Uhh 80 years, maybe 35 to 40 if they’re talented?”

“No. 600 to 900 years. If you decided to investigate a rumor about a legendary magic artifact, but you continually found nothing and made no progress towards verifying or finding said artifact, how long would it take you to decide it’s not worth it and move on?”

“Depends on how useful the item is, I suppose. 1 to 4 years? I can’t waste that much time on something….. I think I see what you’re getting at here.”

Ignis gives me a small smirk while also looking quite resigned. “Exactly. Your personality retains your perception of time. It is a core fundamental difference between the two of us. I cannot fathom giving up on something that interests me after only 1 year simply because I’ve made no progress on it. I’d spend 150 or 200 years on it. A majority of my kin would not like to admit it, but the average human mage would all be considered prodigies from the speed they develop skills. If our personalities were to be merged I am almost certain you would lose that advantage.”

“There’s no way that could be true though, you’re all just as if not more intelligent than us! I can see your intelligence from the memories.”

“Yes and I’ll admit I worked quite diligently once I became the prime candidate for the Dark Ladies blade. However, I hated it. I knew that once it was over I would never have to work that hard again. When we learn things or pursue goals we take our time, get sidetracked, and spend a majority of time with activities of leisure. On the other hand, you and your kind understand and have an instinctual urge to pursue something with everything you have, sacrificing meals, sleep and even your health to achieve it. You understand that you don’t have time to waste. Do you understand the implications of our situation now?”

“Yes, we’re both considered prodigies, but now we have the opportunity to find out what happens when a prodigy that contains the determination and efficiency of a human-”

“Is placed within a vessel that is essentially ageless.” Ignis finishes the thought for me.

“We already know what happens though, liches or beings like Vecna are perfect examples of this concept.”

“No, it’s fundamentally different. They spend an overwhelming percentage of their time and efforts on ways to extend their lives. Immortality and godhood is all they work towards with their ambitions. You get a 2000 year buffer before you need to worry about such things.”

“If you exist as an entity though, I’m not sure I feel comfortable with you just…. existing in this void. This seems like a fate worse than death.”

“Ah don’t concern yourself with that. Like I said before your personality was slightly altered by my presence. Up until this point it felt like I was also you. It’s hard to explain but it’s almost like we are both living and controlling this body. I’m not aware of the fact that my actions and words are not my own until you sleep, truly sleep not trance.”

“Well that doesn’t seem so bad then….”

The elf suddenly has a devious look, “Onto more casual topics, when are you going to become a real prince?”

“What do you mean? I wasn’t being serious at the summit, I just needed a way to swing the vote.”

“You know what I mean, when are you going to court the pretty princess currently acting as our blanket?”

“WHA- I don’t know what you mean. It’s completely impossible. I don’t even like her like that. All I have is admiration and respect. She returns to a completely foreign culture and kingdom after 1000 years and just jumps right back into ruling. She’s an extremely capable fighter and mage. I’m proud to serve her and happy I can call her my friend.” What a ridiculous situation, I have to get teased by a fragment of my own soul.

“Oh so you when you were completely dumbfounded the first time you saw her true state and she noticed you staring at her with an awestruck face. You jumped off the balcony in embarrassment purely because of your admiration and respect right? You definitely weren’t blushing.”

“This is fucking unbelievable, how do I wake up?” I tap my foot and pinch myself. Nothing happens so after a few seconds I continue. “She’s an immortal horse goddess who rules a country and I am a long living hairless monkey mortal. The idea of that alone is outrageous.”

“Oh please, it’s not unheard of for the deities to court and even love their Chosen.”

“I’m not her Chosen. I am simply a devout follower.”

“For now. She doesn’t even know what a Chosen is, nor has she accumulated enough Divine Power to even be called a true Goddess yet. I won’t make you continue this conversation, but we both know you can’t keep repressing and denying your crush on her. It isn’t healthy.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, “Listen, I won’t deny that at some point my admiration evolved into something more romantically inclined. A crush is all it is though, it can be easily explained by prolonged isolation combined with trauma. Who wouldn’t develop some type of feelings for the only creature that helps them through a situation like that. I’m going to sit on it for a while, once I have more people in my life and I’m more confident in why I feel this way then I’ll consider saying something. Right now is just not a good time and I don’t want to ruin what we have going at the moment. Plus I know for a fact she doesn’t feel the same way in the slightest.”

“Fine. You at least acknowledged it. I guess that’s really all I can ask.”

“Can I wake up or go back to normal dreams now? I really want to be anywhere but here right now.”

“Sure, I do have one last request though.”

“Shoot.”

“Please take better care of OUR body from now on. This system of mana they have is quite astounding and it’s a miracle you didn’t render us completely unable to use it anymore after almost killing us.” The amount of sass this elf is giving me with his posh accent is so unbearable, I cannot believe we’re the same person.

“Yeah yeah I’ll tell the next power hungry super villian to just chill out next time so I don’t have to push our body.”

“Oh! One more thing, can you stop using that damn thunder spell on the sword?!”

“Why? It’s extremely effective in 1 on 1 matchups.”

“Yes, but what is our name? Ignis Ferrum, Fire Steel. Why do you think I was called that? Use the damn flame blade.”

3rd Person POV

“Luna, you really shouldn’t give him such treatment in front of other ponies.” Celestia goes from glancing at her sister to the medic sitting across from them in a carriage. The medic just has a soft smile as she stares at the scene.

“He’s my knight, I’ll treat him however I want. He deserves it and it broke my heart seeing him so defeated. You know how confident he normally is.”

“You just don’t want to start rumors, sister. I’m also devastated but I don’t see you giving me any reassurance.”

“Do my ears deceive me? Did the perfect princess, the avatar of the sun, just admit she’s jealous? Tia, you know I have two wings, right?”

Celestia just rises and Luna takes the opportunity to move herself and Ignis to the side allowing room for the solar alicorn to cuddle up to her sister. Once she settles in and gets comfortable, Celestia looks over to the guard that was previously healing Ignis. “Corporal, this is official treatment for the elf and I so this falls under patient confidentiality.”

The medic just giggles, “Of course, your majesty.”

Long rest completed! Exhaustion Level: 4. Movement speed: 15ft.

[Hit Points: 32/32]

[Experience: 53,000/64,000] Quest rewards available!

“Quests.”

QUEST LOG:

Active Quest: No quest currently active.

Main Quest - Get Home: Find out the truth about your appearance in Equestria and work with the inhabitants to return home. IN PROGRESS.

Main Quest - Recover Your Memories: You successfully recovered your memories! QUEST COMPLETED. Claim Rewards?

Main Quest - Global Summit: You successfully avoided further persecution for Princess Luna. You escalated tension with Draconia. PARTIAL COMPLETION. Claim Rewards?

Main Quest - Save Queen Aurora: You failed to save the changeling queen. QUEST FAILED. No rewards.

Side Quest - Positive PR: You caused a large portion of the guard to improve their opinion on yourself and Princess Luna. QUEST COMPLETED. Claim Rewards?

Side Quest - Spread the Good Word: Increase the influence and divine power of your Goddess. IN PROGRESS.

New Followers: 4/25.

Side Quest - Recruitment Efforts: Successfully recruit Royal Guard Lieutenant, Unstoppable Force, to the Lunar Guard. IN PROGRESS.

Quest failed, huh? Fuck that’s brutal. Thanks for the reminder I guess…. “Claim all rewards.”

+4,500 XP: 57,500/64,000. Level 9.

+2 Level 1 Spell Scrolls, +1 Level 2, 3, and 4 Spell Scrolls.

Choose any spell from the Wizard Spell List for your Spell Scroll rewards:

1st Level: Alarm and Identify.
2nd Level: Knock.
3rd Level: Counterspell.
4th Level: Dimension Door.

Ignis 1st Person POV

When I wake up the first thing I do is close my hands into fists as I attempt to stretch out my arms and yawn. I say attempt because all I successfully did was close my fists, only to find myself now squeezing something very soft. Instantly I remember where I was when I went to sleep and immediately open my eyes and lean myself in the opposite direction of my former pillow. Leaning away from the blue fur I hit my head on the interior panel of the carriage and I looked around in confusion. Why am I between Luna and the wall? Wasn’t Celestia on the other side of me? Leaning forward a bit I see Celestia laying down in the classic “loaf” position with the side of her head against Luna’s barrel and Luna's other wing is draped down over the back of her neck.

“Good night, Ignis. Did you sleep well? The guards are currently setting up camp for the night, but since both of you were sleeping so peacefully I decided to just let us stay here until both of you woke up.” I feel the wing pull away from me as she folds it up.

“Yeah it was fine. Did we get a final casualty count?”

“Straight to business then, yes. Of the 57 ponies we brought there are 9 dead, 32 injured, and 2 missing. The 2 missing are more than likely in a pod similar to the one you found me in, it’s where captives are placed in between love harvesting sessions. Shining has all the details if you want to go find him.”

As Luna finishes her sentence we hear a low groan, “Why do you two insist on speaking at a normal volume despite somepony in here trying to sleep?”

“Because sister you’re 30 minutes overdue on lowering the sun.”

The alicorn shoots up instantly, “WHAT?! Why didn’t you wake me earlier?!”

Luna just tucks her forelegs against her belly and lets out a hearty laugh, “I jest, Tia. You have 10 more minutes before sundown.”

Now I can’t help but laugh as the multi-thousand year old co-ruler of a massive nation begins to full on pout. “It isn’t funny.”

Quieting down to a giggle I offer an explanation, “I was laughing at your childish pouting, the gap moe was too powerful for me.”

“What is a gap mo-ay?” Celestia replies.

“It’s an affection born from an inconsistent behavior. I never in a million years expected to see you poke out your bottom lip and pout. It was unexpectedly adorable.”

“Adorable? Me?” She looks up at Luna causing her to laugh again, but their conversation is cut short as I try to stand up and end making a very undignified sound as I stagger and end up leaning against the wall of the carriage.

Luna immediately stands up, “Ignis! You seriously shouldn’t be moving. It’s a miracle that you can even stand right now, but don’t push it!”

Hissing in pain I don’t even respond. It feels like I just got a massive cramp, but in every muscle in my body 10 times over. Everything has gone stiff and I can’t even try to sit back down.

After a few seconds I manage to start slowly walking off the carriage, “I’m good, I’m good. I just forgot the state my body was in. I’m going to go find Shining and LT Force.”

Celestia and Luna look at each other before both of them give me a somber look. Luna ends up being the one to break the news to me. “Ignis, the Lieutenant is one of the two missing ponies.”

I always wondered what people meant when they said they felt their blood run cold, but I get it now. It’s the first time in a while that my mind is truly empty and it feels like I can’t breathe, my entire being is frozen. “Th-..... This is another joke right?”

“No, Ignis. She was last seen performing an aerial dive into a group of imposter ponies that were ganging up on a fellow guard. We believe she was paralyzed during the ensuing scuffle and was brought down into the hive.”

“Am I correct in assuming that our travel speed has been negatively impacted due to the high number of injured ponies?”

“Aye. If you were to run at full speed you could likely make it back to the colosseum in 3 maybe 3 and half hours. You’re not going to do that of course, but that’s how far we are.”

I look down at the two alicorns, “You’re right, I’m not going. Not like this. When we leave in the morning I’m going to stay here. I’ll slowly make my way towards the colosseum and get another full day of rest. After that I should be recovered enough to go back in there and get both of our guards out. From there we’ll make our way back to Equestria. It’s currently Thursday night so we should be able to return by Monday morning.”

“Absolutely not. I will not let you march into a changeling hive, that is now fully hostile by the way thanks to the new leader of the hivemind, alone. You can barely move there is no way you will be completely fine to do any of that in 48 hours. We will negotiate with Chrysalis and arrange their release, end of discussion.”

We both send a stern glare into each other's eyes. “I make myself invisible for up to 4 hours, find both of them, make all 3 of us invisible for 2 hours, and walk out with them none the wiser. It’d be a complete stealth operation.”

“They detect emotions, you stubborn ass! You’ll be emitting anger and despair to the point that the entire hive is alerted the second you walk into that colosseum.”

I close my eyes and try to remember the empty feeling I had during the fight on the surface. Right after that fireball, it was like I was completely out of my own body. Almost like a dream where I’m looking through my own eyes but I’m not in control. It was after the fire cleared and everything just hit me all at once. The screams from creatures in their last moments, the smell of the burning changelings, all the blood on my own hands. It was like everything just shut down. I remember turning to look at the rest of them and just wishing they’d run away. Some of them even started to back up, but eventually a few of them mustered up the courage to continue the fight and I remember just calmly thinking “So be it.”

My swordsmanship in the following moments was completely different than what I’ve shown before too. My body just moved exactly how I wanted it to, and I could see every movement they were making.

Trying to recreate that feeling I attempt to put myself back in that exact spot in the colosseum again with all the same sensations. One by one they hit me again, but at the very end a flash of Aurora hitting the wall and LT Force helping me bandage up after the fight with Inferno.

I feel it again. The most basic description I have is that it feels like giving up. I feel all my muscles relax and all my thoughts go silent. I slowly open my eyes again and see Luna go from the same stern glare she had moments ago to a look of confusion with the slightest hint of unease.

“I’ll be fine. If I had known all this the first time I woke up in this carriage, I might feel differently, but during that sleep I had internalized that all of today's events were in the past and couldn’t be changed. The only way I could even think of how to move on was to make a promise to myself that I would never fail so spectacularly again. But this? This can be undone, I can fix this. I’m going to fix this.” I grab the door frame to the carriage and use it to help myself slowly walk out of the carriage.

As soon as I walk out of the carriage all the chatter and commotion in the camp drops to a dull silence. I can even hear the crackles of the small campfires scattered around the encampment. Looking around I note that a majority of the guards are now looking at me. Some seem shocked, others look… impressed? “What, is something on my face?”

In response a majority of the guards start to run over and crowd around me. I just look around at all of them in shock as some begin thanking me, asking questions about how I could tell the changelings apart, apologizing for treating me so coldly, or some other form of adoration. My look of shock quickly turns into a scowl. I hear the carriage door behind me open and close as another set of hooves begin to approach me as I start to vent my frustration at this crowd. “What’s wrong with all of you?! We lost 11 ponies today and you’re all smiles and applause?”

Most of the crowd falls silent as they start to look away or at the ground. The pony behind me speaks up, “Of course not Ignis. All of us are saddened and upset about the loss of life we suffered today, but we try to celebrate their lives and rely on our friendship to maintain morale and mission readiness. We only bring our most veteran guards to events like this, so this group is especially familiar with loss. Don’t take it personally my little ponies, I’m sure we can all remember our first time out in the field.” It would appear Celestia is the one that decided to chase after me. She tends to scold me more than Luna so this isn’t a good sign.

A few of the guards closest to me reach a foreleg around and give me a pat on the back as the crowd disperses. “I came out here to find Shining, where is he?”

The familiar masculine voice of the unicorn rings out several feet away, “Over here!” I look over and find the stallion making his way towards the princess and I.

“Can we spare enough food and water to last two ponies 6 days?” I ask once he gets closer.

“Yeah? We always bring far more than we need for missions like these, but can I ask why?”

“In the morning I’m heading back towards the colosseum. I’m going to get two more days of rest and then infiltrate the hive on the 2nd night and rescue our two missing guards. Then we’re going to walk back to Canterlot.”

“Wha..?” He just sighs and looks to Celestia.

The princess also sighs, “He has a plan and while I still think it’s a bad idea, I’m willing to let him try. I came out here to give you this, Ignis.” She levitates over a small cloth pouch. “Inside are two gems. The blue one is a Sending crystal linked directly to Luna. You’ll only be able to send and receive around 3 messages before it dies, but as long as there is ambient mana it should recharge within an hour or so. The large purple gem will teleport you directly to the castle courtyard. It’s one use and will only teleport 1 creature. If you even think you’ve been detected, simply channel mana into it and get out of there. Lastly, you and I need to talk. Privately.” Yup I’m getting scolded, called it.

Shining offers me a chuckle and tells me, “Well, good luck with that. I’ll have the supplies put into your backpack and I’ll also leave you a tent and enough firewood for a few nights next to it.”

I plead with him in my head to stay, but he obviously can’t hear my thoughts and walks away. I turn and follow Celestia into the royal tent. We walk in and sit down across from each other. “Ignis, in your previous life’s culture, which gender was traditionally expected to be the protector and provider?”

“Huh? In the modern times we pretty much stopped having gender roles like that, but in the old days it was the males.”

“I see, so did your population have more males than females?”

“No it was pretty dead even, 50/50. What is this all about?”

“In Equestria the population is 70% mares. As such, mares are expected to be the protectors and providers. We’re supposed to be the decision makers, so much so that all 3 of the royalty in Equestria are alicorn mares. I had a feeling your previous culture was opposite of ours based on your behavior but I just needed to confirm it.”

“Why?”

“As you know prior to Nightmare Moon, Luna began to feel more and more ignored and forgotten. She often spoke about how it felt like nopony would listen to her. Now, although Nightmare Moon is no more, these are still feelings that she is quite vulnerable too.”

I interrupt Celestia, “So by disobeying her and telling her that I’m going to do this mission regardless of the fact that she said it isn’t up to discussion….”

“You’ve upset her a bit, yes. She knows logically that your culture is likely different, it was something we discussed previously. She also knows, logically, that you’re in a very emotional state and it would heavily weigh on you everyday until your friend was saved, but this isn’t necessarily just that. You’re her knight and she assumed that you would follow her orders, now that you seem dead set on ignoring them you’ve triggered her deepest insecurity. She’s right back to being the ignored and lesser princess. So, I’m asking you not as Princess Celestia, but as Celestia Concordia, can you please go back into the carriage and talk to her?”

I’m silent for a minute or so before I stand up and start walking out of the tent. “Thank you for telling me this, Celestia.”

I close the door behind me as I enter the carriage and see Luna laying across her seat staring at the ground with a defeated expression. “I’m sorry Luna.”

“You’re just saying that because my sister made you come back.”

“I’m not. She just talked to me about some things and even gave me some magic items to help on my journey. Our conversation, though, made me realize that if I were to leave tomorrow morning and head to that colosseum, I’d be breaking my oath. I just got so consumed by my emotions I wasn’t thinking. I not only lost to Inferno, but lost to him because of a foolish decision that could lead to an even more serious conflict. Then I fail to save 9 guards, then I fail to save Aurora, and then I wake up just to find out that one of my only friends was taken. It’s just all piling on Luna.”

“You think you’re the only one?! I come back and deal with 3 weeks of a barely active night court, find out I’m the sole reason several treaties have to be renegotiated, watch you get nearly killed, get tricked and pony napped by an insect, suffer all the same losses. At least when it came to night court and all of the initial problems in Canterlot it was okay because I had Celestia and you. I have to sit here and know that I either let you do this insanely risky plan and worry about you, my ONLY other friend by the way, everyday until you come back. Or, or! I don’t let you go and know that it’ll eat away at you for days and probably just lead to you resenting me. It’s an impossible choice for me, Ignis.”

I drop down onto my knees in front of her seat and wrap my arms around her neck. “I can’t believe how fucking selfish I’m being. I swear I’m not normally this stupid. You don’t have to make this decision, Luna. I have one compromise to offer and if you don’t want to do it just say the word and I will stay here.”

I feel two wings wrap around me, “As long as you know you’re being stupid! I’m your princess, Ignis! You’re supposed to spoil me!” She pokes me in the chest with a forehoof and it sounds like she started crying a little midway through her response, but she ends it with a laugh. “What do you propose?”

“Come with me. Celestia gave me this crystal that will teleport one creature to Canterlot. We can use that for whichever guard is the most injured and then that’ll still leave with a 3 person group. As long as it’s only 3 of us I can make us invisible for 2 hours. I can’t spread the spell out to more than 3 though until I get stronger.”

“That was an idea I had considered too, but I have no magic to mask my emotions. Once we get the captives I can just teleport us thousands of feet away from the colosseum, but I’m not sure how we’d get to them in the first place.”

“Ugh, I wish I knew the Calm Emotions spell. It’s a spell that I know exists in my world, but I never bothered to learn it.” I pull away from the hug and look at her. “Okay what if, we go together as originally planned, but you stay a couple thousand feet away from the hive. I can contact you with the Sending crystal and let you know that I’ve got both guards and I’ll grab both of them and you teleport all 3 of us to your location!”

She smiles and replies, “I would be much more comfortable with that plan. Are you confident you can maintain that emotionless state you displayed earlier?”

“Fairly confident. It’d require some type of external stimulus to take me out of that state.”

“Alright, let’s go to the tent. We need to convey the new plan to Tia and I need to get out of this carriage. I’ve been in here for far too long and it’s cramped.”

Active Quest - Saving Private Ryan: Rescue ALL the captives in the changeling hive.

Progress:

0/2 Ponies

0/1 Minotaur

0/3 Griffons

Author's Note

So uh, I might have originally said in a comment that the traveling back to Canterlot arc would be very short and mostly skimmed over. Then I realized that we only really have like one more action based arc once we get back to Canterlot and then after that its going to be quite heavy on Slice of Life for several chapters. Also this was a good way to give Ignis more character development and allow for him and Luna to open up a bit more to each other.

That quest is really trying it's best to the boy killed though, haha.

Anyways sorry for literally no dice rolls this chapter, but all the conversation quotes felt like genuine conversation that didn't require rolls, so I just didn't do any. Also the story was kinda sorta hinted at to be RGRE, but figured I'd go ahead and just full on commit to being RGRE. Gives me more legitimate reasons to have characters do things and feel certain ways while still being believable.

Lastly, I officially am starting school now so the chapter release schedule is going to slow down alot from here on out. I'd expect maybe twice a week, but don't be surprised if it goes down to once a week. Because I'm starting school tomorrow it also means I'm going to bed early tonight and can't be asked to do a full on proof read for this chapter like I have the last two. I still gave it a quick skim, but I'm sure there's something I missed in there somewhere. I like releasing in this timeslot so if I decided to just proofread it tomorrow and then publish it I'd have to wait until this timeslot to publish tomorrow. And I'd rather just publish it now and edit in the fixes.

Thanks for reading! I sleep now

Planning Stages

Active Quest - Saving Private Ryan: Rescue ALL the captives in the changeling hive.

Progress:

0/2 Ponies

0/1 Minotaur

0/3 Griffons

“I see you two are in much brighter spirits! I’m glad the both of you were able to come to an agreement, and don’t worry Ignis the negotiation to get our guards back is the top of my priority list once we return. We should expect them back within a week or two.” Celestia beams at Luna and I when we enter the tent.

“No, they’ll be free within the next 72 hours. We did come to an agreement though, you are right about that.” You can hear a certain level of smugness in my voice as I respond to her.

She looks like she just bit into a lemon as she looks at me. “Excuse me?”

“It’s as he says, Tia. I will be accompanying him until we’re a thousand or so feet away from the colosseum. At that point he will infiltrate by himself and alert me once he has our guards, from there I will teleport them to my location and we will quietly withdraw before anypony notices we were there.” Luna's mood is a complete 180 from earlier, I didn’t realize how much it’d mean to her just to be included in the operation.

Celestia tries to pinch the bridge of her nose, but since it’s a hoof it just looks a bit silly. Interesting that they have a similar motion to convey annoyance though. “I knew this was a possibility, but the chances of both of you agreeing to it seemed so small I hadn’t even seriously considered it. At this rate you two will kill me with high blood pressure well before I have a successor.”

Ignoring her complaints I turn to Luna. “By the way, I need to confess something. I haven’t been intentionally holding back this information, but it’s more like I just hadn’t even thought about it until now.”

“Go on.” She replies with her head tilted in thought.

“The strange power I possess with the dice and what not will sometimes give me Quests or Tasks to complete. When I complete those tasks it’ll reward me with a negligible increase in strength or with some magic items. I bring this up because once we decided on the new plan for the infiltration I was given a quest to rescue all of the captives currently held in the changeling hive. The quest specifies that I need to save two ponies, one minotaur, and three griffons. Is there any way we can alter the plan and have you teleport out the captives as I free them? They could all be in the same location and we can all come out in one sweep, but if they’re located in different areas I won’t be able to navigate around the hive with all of them in tow. However, I also don’t want to get teleported out with one batch just to go all the way back in and start over.”

“Mmmm, that is considerably more difficult. I’m using your mana signature as the anchor and then pulling along whatever other mana signatures you’re in contact with. I’m not sure if there’s a way for me to teleport them through you, but without actually pulling you. There’s also no way for me to get their mana signatures to teleport them directly. Sister, do you have any ideas?”

“You can gather up our guards and anypony else that’s close enough to safely extract and have one of the guards use something similar to the teleportation crystal I gave you. That one in particular couldn’t be used in such a way but I can try to modify it and have it target any creature in contact with the user. That’ll require much more mana though, depending on the number of extra creatures the gem might not have enough mana to properly function. It’s quite a tricky situation.”

Okay this is turning into quite the conundrum. “Okay. New plan. First I locate every prisoner, then route out the shortest path between all of them. Get all of us in one place and we just all teleport out.” I decided to make up something on the spot.

“Ignis, I feel as though I’m obligated to remind you that the minotaurs and griffons are allied with the dragons. I respect that you’re trying to do the right thing regardless of this fact, but we aren’t obligated to save them. Especially after that stunt they pulled on the first day of the summit.” Celestia does bring up a pretty valid point.

“You’re right. If it seems too risky to go after the other species then I’ll just grab our ponies and get out.” I can still get partial rewards, and honestly I forgot about that whole Luna trial thing they tried to pull. Fuck ‘em honestly.

Wait, I have the Moonblade! “Hang on, I’ve got it! I can store spells in my sword! I can only make 3 people including myself invisible, but if I store another cast of the invisibility spell in the sword I can make 5 other people invisible. I can have one of the ponies use the teleportation crystal and then I’ll make the other 5 invisible and we can just walk out. We still have to figure out the whole emotions thing, but I think this is our best shot.”

Luna perks up at the revelation and gives a brilliant suggestion. “Do you think the sword can store Equestrian magic?”

“Honestly I’m not sure. I know it can only store up to 5 levels of spell. So, one 5th level or five 1st level or some other combination to add up to 5. So, your spell would need to be equivalent to a 5th level or lower. For some perspective I can teleport myself and one other creature up to 500ft in any direction with a 4th level spell. I’m not sure if you have something like this but my polymorph spell can transform a creature into a frog or a sheep or a bear, that’s also 4th level. I’m currently unable to perform 5th level spells. Theoretically this means any spell that you think is less complicated or powerful than anything you’ve ever seen me perform, should be able to work in this sword.”

“Well let’s just test it then! If you are able to cast the spell yourself then I have something much simpler for this, can you hold out your Moonblade for me?” Luna stands and eyes the sword.

I grab the scabbard and remove the entire piece from my waist, pointing the hilt towards Luna. She ignites her horn and places it directly against the hilt, and once she does her horn and the hilt begin to glow brightly. After a few seconds the alicorn pulls away with a pensive look on her face. “I didn’t get any recoil as if the spell failed and the spell definitely didn’t activate so by all means it should be in there, but it felt very strange.”

“Ah, I bet you are the only pony that could store spells in this sword. This sword actually recognizes you as Eilistraee, so there’s no way it would reject a gift from you.” In response I feel a tingle shoot up my arm which makes me smile down at the sword. “Clever little sword. Now Luna, if I were to cast this now to test it, how many more times can you perform the spell to store it into the sword again?”

“Over 100, easily. Not to sound full of myself, but an alicorn's mana well is effectively infinite. Feel free to cast it right now and I’ll happily store another copy. All you need to do is point it towards a flat surface, usually the ground, and activate it.”

Following her simple advice I point the hilt towards a large empty space on the ground and activate the Moonblade. After a few seconds there’s a bright flash that blinds me for a second and when I blink away the spots in my vision I see a 10ft wide white circle with a star in the middle and runes placed randomly inside the circle. “Is this a teleportation circle?!”

“Indeed it is! Now when I store the spell in there again I’ll encode it with the runic signature for this circle. If everything works correctly you should be able to just activate the spell and the two will be linked!”

We repeat the process and after walking outside the tent and 100ft or so away I channel the Moonblade again. Another circle appears and I watch in awe as the star in the center begins to shrink and twist as the lines making up the star form into a circle-esque polygon. That polygon then begins to glow white and expand until it’s about the same size as the circle it’s being held within. Once the polygon finishes expanding the white light dims and I can see the tent and the cot I was sitting on through the circle. I’m so excited at witnessing this cool magic that I don’t notice when the portal brightens up and then the entire teleportation circle disappears in a flash. “Huh? Where did it go?”

Celestia decides to give me the explanation, “The teleportation circle is only good for around 10 seconds unless it’s a permanent circle. We used to have one at the castle in the Everfree but once we moved to Canterlot I abandoned the idea. If the runic signature was ever found the security risk was too large. So, you’ll only get 1 shot at this. If that fails then whoever is left behind is on their own. Although if somepony at both ends of the portal are supplying the connection with a stream of mana you should be able to extend the duration. It’ll be quite draining for mortals though. With your expansive mana well you should be able to double the duration, maybe a bit more. It’s hard to say exactly.”

Finally finding a glimmer of hope after taking a streak of losses is almost enough to make my eyes well up. “This is enough. I can feel it in my gut now, with this new strategy I know I can do this.” I look down at the ground where the circle was just a few seconds ago and can’t help but give a big smile.

It seems Luna was even more elated than me because after I smiled at the ground she suddenly hopped up a few inches and wrapped her forelegs around my neck, pulling me into a hug. After a few seconds of both of us just letting out happy celebratory noises Celestia clears her throat and quietly says, “We are not inside the tent, sister.”

Luna quickly drops back down to all 4’s and gives her sister a sheepish grin. “Forgive me, I was just happy that I could be useful!”

Oh. Well that saps my mood a bit. She seemed to be doing fine before we came out here for the summit. Sure, night court was extremely slow most nights, but it never appeared to me that it was getting to her. “You aren’t useless, Luna. You raise and lower the moon, align the constellations and make every starry night unique. Without you I would’ve been unable to even attune to this sword! You protect every single pony in the entire nation from nightmares. I know it must be a thankless job, and you might wonder why you even bother doing it every day. I promise you though, you positively affect the lives of thousands of ponies daily. Hell, if you were useless then I would be dead right now. A useless Luna would’ve fled from that room as soon as she was freed from the pod. Your assistance during the fight and efforts after the fight are the only reason I’m alive.”

Celestia has a soft smile on her face as I start lecturing the lunar alicorn, and she even offers an occasional nod of her head. Somehow I’m able to see the slightest hint of a blush under Luna's blue coat as she receives the mountain of praise. “Aye, we get it thou needest not continue. Thank ye.” Oh she’s really flustered she even went back into ye olden speak.

“Now I just have to decide what I want to do for the rest of the night since I ended up getting a full rest during the day.” Right as I say that Luna lets out a big yawn.

“Good luck figuring that out, unlike the two of you I was unable to get even the slightest bit of sleep during the ride today. I haven’t slept since I got out of the pod and I intend to rectify that right now.” Luna looks at Celestia then at me before continuing, “This is the perfect opportunity for you two to get to know each other better! Please don’t kill each other.”

Luna heads into the tent and as I look around I realize she’s right. Most of the guards turned in already, so it’s just me, Celestia, and two or three guards I haven't interacted with before.

I look at Celestia and sigh as I walk past her and sit down next to one of the camp fires, “So Celly, you got any hobbies?”

“Celly?”

“Yeah you know, short for Celestia!”

“I know what it means, why are you addressing me that way?”

“Oh, I don’t know, it just felt right. Are you avoiding the question? Does that mean you don’t have any hobbies? Because that would be quite sad.”

She assumes the loaf position across from me and gives her own sigh. “It’s not like I’ve never had hobbies, but once you live long enough you mostly get to try everything you think you’d enjoy. On top of that I became so busy once Luna was banished I just didn’t have time. I’ve been going on like that for a 1000 years, so I guess I’m just used to working non-stop now. Taking on personal students to test them and prepare them to be my successor is probably the closest thing I’ve had to a hobby in 1000 years.”

“Does that mean you had one before Twilight?”

“Yes…. that story did not end well though, I’m afraid.” I wait several seconds to see if she’s going to expand on that, but eventually she just looks at me questioningly.

“Ok I guess you don’t wanna talk about it, so that means Twilight is in the process of becoming your successor right? Is she doing well? Also how does that even work, you’re ageless and she’s mortal. How could she even succeed you?”

“She’s surpassed her predecessor, that’s for sure. As for the 2nd half of your question…. you’re effectively going to be the head of the Lunar Guard so I guess it’s fine to tell you, but this is Top Secret information. You must never spread this information, okay?”

“I swear I will not reveal or expose the information you’re about to give me, Princess Celestia.”

“Alicorns are almost never born as alicorns. Luna and I were both originally born as unicorns. You haven’t met her yet, but I imagine she’ll be at the castle by the time we return, Princess Cadence. She was born a pegasus. We all ascended into alicorns through one way or another. Twilight will be the same, assuming she does not get led astray from the path she’s on.” She drops an absolute bombshell on me.

“That sounds crazy to me. You can just become a demigod,” I snap my fingers, “like that?”

“That is why it’s Top Secret. How were you able to reliably tell who was changelings and who was not? It’s written in the report that you had 100% accuracy in detecting them, but it’s not explained.”

“I have a spell that lets you detect poison as long as it’s not behind 3ft of stone and it’s within a certain radius. Once I got bit by one of the small insects I realized they were poisonous creatures so I used that spell and any creature that moved while allegedly being poisoned was attacked on sight. In cases like yours once I cured the poison, if my detect poison spell had kept marking you as poisoned then you’d have been attacked on sight as well.”

“That is extremely useful! We used to have a spell meant for changeling detection, but the changelings have been our allies for so long the composition of the spell seems to have been lost to time. Can you give me a demonstration of the spell, please?”

“Yeah sure.” I reach into my component pouch and pull out a yew leaf. Mimicking the actions I used in the past I activate my Detect Poison spell. As soon as it activates my blood runs cold. “Celestia, don’t freak out, but there’s at least two changelings in this camp right now.”

Author's Note

I'm sleepy. I think with this chapter we've officially hit 100k? That's so insane to me I never thought I'd continue this story this far. I'm so happy it regularly hits the Featured box whenever I upload a new chapter AND we were able to get 100 thumbs up. FeelsStrongMan.

Potential future sister-in-law Celestia and Ignis got to know each other a little bit, so that's cool. We should be completely done with this arc by the end of the next 2 chapters.

In response to the 100 thumbs up and 100k words I want to thank everyone who's commented or favorited. All the grammar corrections and feedback has been hugely helpful and I try to comment on the profile of everyone who adds the story to their favorites. It really does give a me a smile when I see those notifications.

Thanks for everything homies!

Ignis the Wiza-corn.... the Uni-wizard? Ignis learns more magic.

“Well, I certainly hope there’s more than two. How limited is your detection radius?” Celestia just gives me the kind of a look a teacher gives a student when they ask an absurd question.

“Uh…. what? I can only detect out to 30ft but it moves with me. Can we circle back to that more than two?”

“We didn’t just leave all of Aurora's children down there to die or be converted, Ignis. It’s not a large number, but we were able to bring 10 of them with us. They’re under orders to only use a disguise if their life is in imminent danger or under direct orders from a superior. Even then they need to create their identities themselves, no duplicating existing ponies allowed.”

“Wow, that's surprisingly competent. Good move sunbutt.”

“First of all, almost every action I take is competent. Secondly, if you ever call me that again I will turn you into glass.” She gives me a smug smirk.

“Brutal. Hey, since no one else is out here and we have seemingly nothing to talk about….why don’t you give me a little lesson on magic?” I ask her with my eyes shifted to the side, nervously.

She has a look of deep contemplation as she shifts her lips left and right, tilting her head. “Very well. That book you read likely stated that the runic alphabet contains 40 letters, that is incorrect. There are a near infinite number of characters, but with the core 40 you can cast around 95% of all magic.”

“But how do you use spells that require multiple runes? The book didn’t really cover that…”

“Well for us it is quite simple. You see the spiraling line that goes up my horn?” I give her a small nod. “Each solid section of horn between the lines represents a different layer for us. I could cast a spell that requires 21 runes for example, but someone like Rarity could only do 7. This is where you are likely going to have the bulk of your struggles. You’re already an irregularity to our known magic fundamentals, you’re the only non-unicorn, besides alicorns of course, that can perform magic. Even I'm unsure how you’ll overcome this multi-rune problem, though.”

“But I thought pegasi and even earth ponies could all use magic?”

She shakes her head at me, “No. They can use mana, but only when mana is shaped through a rune or incantation can it be called magic and they are simply incapable. Also, don’t misunderstand. I said unicorns can utilize as many runes as they have layers, but it’s not quite so simple. For every layer they add the amount of mana needed for the spell is exponentially increased. They also need to have an increased mastery of moving the mana, even if Rarity had the mana to perform a 7-rune spell it’s unlikely she has the ability to force the mana through all of the layers.”

“How can you hold the mental image of multiple runes at once while moving the mana through them?”

“That’s another advantage the horn gives us, once a rune is applied to a layer it can be maintained with no effort or attention. When we’re born the connection to our horn is intuitively ingrained into us.”

“So basically you’re all a bunch of cheaters.” I summarize with an annoyed look on my face.

“It’s not the first time I’ve heard that. Would you like to give a multi-rune spell a try?” She summons a piece of paper and draws 3 runes on it. “You’ll want to set them up in this order, but keep in mind the mana needs to go through all of them in an instant. Using 1 rune and rapidly morphing it will never be fast enough to satisfy the spell, it’ll collapse before you get the next rune ready. Once you’re able to perform this spell I’ll teach you the meanings of each rune and how the meaning can change if used with another rune.”

She thinks to herself that if she’s lucky he’ll never overcome this wall, but Celestia acknowledges it’ll likely only take him a couple of months.

After 30 minutes or so of me failing the alicorn eventually stops giggling at my frustration and summons a book to read. I’ve managed to perform two runes, but the problem I’m running into isn’t even the ability to maintain the shape of 3 runes. The problem is that I’m forcing the mana through the layers in my head and then sending it straight to my hand, but the amount of time it takes for the spell to travel down is too long and the shape of the mana collapses. It was so easy with just 1 rune for the light spell that I didn’t even think this was a potential issue.

6 hours later. 4:40AM.

I’ve given up on multiple runes. I need to put all my focus on figuring out how to shape the mana in my hand instead of my head. It took everything I had and even made my break out in a sweat but I was able to maintain 3 runes at once. The time it takes for the mana to traverse down to my hands once shaped is simply too long. It’ll never be possible. I spent a couple of hours trying to eject the mana from anywhere else, and although it seems like the mouth can work it caused me a great amount of pain.

2 hours later. 6:40AM

The sun rises and Celestia walks over to me and watches as my face wrinkle from pure strain as I continue to attempt brute forcing this spell. But, it finally hits me, I think I know how I can do this. I imagine circles in my forearm. Then I divide up the outer edge of each circle and imprint all 40 characters into its own box along the edge. It’s easy for me to do this because I drew a physical representation of the design on a piece of paper in front of me.

With this I can theoretically recreate a unicorn horn, but with slight differences. I can’t just embed the rune into each circle and let it stick, but I can imagine a notch on the top of my forearm. Then I picture each wheel turning until each wheel is rotated in such a way that the correct runes are lined up together in sync on the notch. Now I just need to imagine each circle has a screen in the center of it. This is an imaginary magical item in my head, and I’m really not sure why this works but for some reason assigning everything to a fixed place like this makes it much easier on my concentration. The screen on the first wheel displays the rune aligned to the notch, then the 2nd and 3rd wheels also light up in the middle with their own screens. Now all 3 runes are sitting on this magic item inside my forearm. As I turn the wheel I watch the rune on the screen change to match.

Once I play with it enough I turn the wheels so that the runes fall into the correct characters in the correct order for the spell Celestia wants me to cast. Once that’s done I open my eyes and jump up onto my feet. The actions are done so quickly that Celly jumps back a little in surprise. I turn and look her straight into the eyes, “I’ve done it.”

She looks left then right and sees nothing different. “Are you sure you’ve done it? Because to everypony else out here it looked like you were trying to give yourself a hernia.”

I point the palm of my hand at her and she steps to the side. “Woah there Ignis, don’t point that thing at any of us. Aim it towards the ground away from camp, you don’t even know what the spell is!”

“So, what’s the spell?” I cock up an eyebrow as I stare at her.

“Well I’m not going to ruin the surprise now, you’ve apparently done it so just cast the spell and find out for yourself.”

I close my eyes and re-picture the magic item. It takes a few seconds but it reappears. I turn each wheel again to the correct runes. Next I put my attention on the core of my mana in my chest and with as much force as possible I ram the mana down my arm into the palm of my hand. I watch the mana go through all 3 rings and then gasp in surprise as the mana shifts from its typical blue color into a bright red and orange. Opening my eyes I watch as a line of fire jets out from the palm of my hand and impacts the ground several feet away with a loud crash.

I quickly shift my hand from a flat palm into a finger gun and yell out “Fire Bolt!” as I point my finger a few feet to the left of the Equestrian version of the spell. After the dust and smoke clears it seems as though the damage to the ground and the size of the scorch mark for MY fire bolt is more than the Equestrian version. That could be because I was so surprised by the result of the spell that the mental image of the magic machine shattered. I’ll need to work on a way to use that method while keeping my eyes open. I can’t exactly run around fighting while blind.

I turn to my right and look back at Celestia only to find that Luna has joined us now as well. Luna looks quite proud but Celestia looks like she’s currently knee deep in Vietnam flashbacks.
Before I can comment on Celestia's condition Luna walks further up to me. “I can’t believe you managed it! When Tia told me she had sent you on an impossible path I prepared a speech to bring up your spirits, but to think you’ve casted a triple rune spell after 1 night is truly outstanding! You know if you wanted to make that spell equivalent to the one you fired afterwards you would just need to add this rune to the end of the formula. This rune is a static rune, no matter where you place it in a formula or what you combine it with it will always mean “Strengthen.” Why not try adding a few and see what happens?” She projects an image of a rune into the air with her horn.

I decide to instantly try and adapt this new information to the configuration. I add 3 more wheels into my mental image and start turning them to set the rune, but after the 4th wheel is turned I instantly feel a wave of fatigue. Pushing on I turn the 5th wheel only to watch as the first wheel begins to blur and I’m unable to make out the image of the rune that’s displayed in the center of the wheel. At the same time I fall on my ass and struggle to catch my breath. Why did it suddenly sap so much energy from me….?

“Very interesting, so was it the 5th rune or the 6th?” Luna’s head pops into the edge of my upper vision as she questions me.

I look directly up into her eyes and after a moment of silence I reply. “It was the 5th one. The 4th one actually caused me to feel quite fatigued but the 5th one is when everything fell apart and I got knocked on my ass.”

She giggles a bit and offers me an explanation when I give her a questioning look. “I intentionally didn’t tell you, but that strengthen rune adds a 10 times multiplier to the mana cost. If you add 2 it becomes 100 times more costly. For those of us with horns we don’t have to concentrate on maintaining the shape of the rune but for you it seems like that rune also ended up increasing the mental power needed to maintain it times 100. If that’s the case then I’m impressed you’re even conscious.” Lifting her head and turning to look at Celestia she continues. “Sister, would you please quit acting like Ignis just murdered your bird? You’re overreacting.”

Sure enough I look over and she still has that astonished look on her face as she stares at the scorch marks on the ground. I stand up and walk over to the stunned alicorn and throw my arm around the back of her neck. “So, you sent me down an impossible path, huh? Was that supposed to be payback for the incompetent comment? Did you truly wish to watch me struggle for an indefinite amount of time? Luna is right though you should gather your thoughts and prepare to depart. The guards are already just about done tearing down camp.”

An hour or so passes and Luna and I wave goodbye to the guard formation as they continue on their march back to Equestria. The two of us then look at each other and after a quick nod we begin walking in the opposite direction, back towards the colosseum. I glance at my 15ft of movement speed and fight the urge to hiss in pain with every step. Our progress is going to be quite slow with the way I’m shuffling forward with my half shattered body.

After two hours of stop and go walking Luna finally lets out a frustrated “Ugh!” I sheepishly look down at the ground in embarrassment, knowing I’m the sole reason for our unreasonably slow pace. “Just climb on, Ignis. We’ll get to our camping spot much quicker and it’ll allow us for more resting time.”

“Absolutely not. You’re already carrying the firewood and a majority of our supplies. I refuse to make you carry everything including my own body. It goes against my pride and everything I stand for if I am to burden you like that.”

“That’s sweet and I appreciate the sentiment, but Ignis forcing me to walk at this agonizing pace in the hot desert sun is much more of a burden than me just flying ahead while carrying you. Please just climb on. I insist.” She bends all 4 legs and lowers herself while staring at me with a pleading look.

“Please forgive me.” I quietly mutter out loud before throwing one leg over her and sitting down on her back.

She stands back up to her full height and spreads her wings, forcing my legs back. As my legs get pushed back it causes my upper half to lean forward. I wrap my arms around her neck and after asking me if I’m secure, she takes off.

We don’t want to be spotted from afar during our approach so Luna rockets through the air just a foot or so above the ground. As my hair whips around from the wind I can’t help but look at the princess and remember the last two days. It feels like ever since we escaped she’s been more…. physical? The wing blanket, the hug, and now insisting we travel like this. It’s nothing concerning and it’s a very small change in behavior, but still interesting. I can’t help but wonder what happened or what thought she had during the event that led to this. I can’t say I dislike it though, and right as I finish that thought my eyelids get heavy and I fall asleep.

Exhaustion Level: 3. Hit Points: 63/63. Movement Speed: 15ft.

I wake up to the sounds of a crackling fire and the sun setting in the distance. Looking over I spot Luna meditating with her horn lit. It seems like she’s preparing herself to raise the moon soon. Without opening her eyes she calls out to me, “You know, if you were truly considerate of me you’d have kept me company during the flight instead of falling asleep. Now if I want our sleep schedules to match I need to stay up all night. Good news though, we won’t need to move at all tomorrow. I was able to get us into position.”

I sit up and offer her a sympathetic look, “Unfortunately the plan is to infiltrate the hive at night tomorrow, so I’ll need to maintain this sleep schedule so I’m wide awake during the op.”

She points her nose up to the sky and makes a very undignified “hmph” noise. “Then as your princess, no, your goddess I demand you entertain me so that I may more easily stay awake.”

I can’t help but to chuckle at her silliness, “Of course, Your Grace. This lowly knight will do his very best. You know so much about my mother and her Moonblade and my relationship with her, so how about I give you a few stories involving my father?”

As I near the end of my sentence her horn glows bright and I watch as the night sky slowly spreads across the sky. Once Luna is done she lowers her head from her pouting pose and opens her eyes, giving me a soft smile. “I think I would enjoy that.”

Author's Note

That is a supremely silly title, but I couldn't think of a better one.

Next chapter will likely contain more of this slow paced slice of life, dialogue heavy content, but assuming I don't come up with some random shit on the spot (Which I usually do, this entire magic system was made up on the spot so I wouldn't be surprised if I've left some giant plot hole in it's functionality that's vulnerable to exploitation) we should get a small chunk of the infiltration next chapter.

Seriously though, I hope I did a decent enough job with this magic system. The best he can do right now is seemingly weaker than a cantrip, but there's plenty of room to grow and I can think a few different applications that are quite interesting. But, it was all seriously cooked up in like 45 minutes so I wouldn't be surprised if I've overlooked something critical and left an inconsistency or something somewhere.

Thanks for reading!

Story Time

“It was near the end of a particularly uneventful summer. Father decided to let me spend a decade or so at an actual magic academy of sorts when I turned 65. Up until that point I was just working with tutors and mentors as they came and went throughout our territory. I remember being quite excited, I was going to study under a powerful Archfey, not directly ofcourse, but she oversaw the academy. Part of the admission process involved a direct interview with the Overseer, so I was extremely nervous to be questioned by Zybilna the Archfey. It was also the first and only time I got to see my father also nervous.” I start telling Luna about a long trip I took with my father.

“What kind of pony, err, creature was your father? Was he kind?” Luna decides to get some questions in before I even get really started on the story, haha.

“Well it’s a bit complicated. To understand why he was the way he was I need to first explain who he was. He, and technically I, were considered Summer elves. One interesting quality for us is that whenever our emotions run wild or we find ourselves in a particularly dense area of the feywild our hair emulates fire. Some even have their eyes turn red. My father on the other hand, as the ruler for the Summer domain, always had his hair ignited. Most people thought that was just a quality of our bloodline, but it requires almost completely mastery of one's emotions. To constantly maintain that form he was subconsciously always keeping his anger elevated. This led to some people thinking that he was just a very intense and strict man.”

“I take it that is not the case?”

“Correct. He was firm, but he never did anything that I resent him for. In conversation he was very direct, and he had no patience for nonsense. Actually, now that you’ve made me recall that I am, in fact, a summer elf that reminds of a conversation we had during our trek to Prismeer, Zybilna’s domain. I actually asked him during that trip why I had never undergone the Summer transformation. As you know my hair being silver was a biological impossibility, so we theorized that it was because of the traces of drow in my blood. By all rights I should’ve been born with red or blonde hair, but Eilistraee blessed me with silver. Eventually my father confessed that he believed it was possible for me to achieve the form, but he had never seen me in the emotional state necessary for it to happen. He said I was too kind and too forgiving. Apparently the key to achieving the form is not just pure anger, it requires a drop of pure hatred. He believed I was too kind to ever hate someone.”

“I’m not sure I agree with his statement…. You have quite a twisted side to you if I’m being honest and quite the nasty temper.” Luna admits her true feelings with a chuckle.

“Well, Ignis was a kind child. However, even after acquiring all of my previous memories my dominant personality is still Lucas. Lucas was an absolute menace. I like to think I’m actually a bit more tame compared to how I was on earth. Up until this summit I had been driven to the point of pure rage a few times, but I never truly wanted to kill someone. Even with Kiln I only struck him again because I was confident he would survive. Luckily nothing I’ve had to fight in this world is even remotely humanoid because if all of those changeling drones looked like humans or elves I’d probably be in an even worse mental state right now. However, they do just look like monsters to me; it doesn't even feel like murder. Maybe once I’m here for longer and my moral compass dials into you four legged creatures I’ll start seeing those changelings in my dreams.”

Pausing to gather my thoughts and get back on topic, “Until Chrysalis. When you all told me that Aurora was dead and I blacked out, that was the first time this body has felt true hate. She’s the first being that I have actively set out in my mind as a target that I will kill. If my fathers theory is true I’m guessing the only reason I didn’t catch on fire in the carriage is because of the state my body was in.”

“Hmm, a reasonable theory. Anyways, sorry for distracting you, please continue your story.”

“Right, we showed up at her domain and it was truly magical. To enter into her territory it required us to pass through an immense cloudy barrier that surrounded the entire domain. She had somehow managed to have all 4 seasons at the same time but they were spread out between 3 different areas. Yon was a wintery area, Hither was a mix of Spring and Summer, and Tither was Autumn. We went across a massive bridge that stretched for miles all the way up to her castle. It was bigger than Canterlot. Once we arrived there was a huge wooden gate with a big decorative door knocker on it and no guards or other people in sight. So, we knocked on the gate and a few seconds later were both teleported straight into Zybilnas office.”

Taking a sip of water I looked over to Luna with an eyebrow raised inquisitively trying to see if she had any questions while I was pausing to drink. She shook her head no and I continued.

“She actually appeared shockingly human for a supposed Archfey, but she was just as chaotic and playful as I’d expect an Archfey to be. The interview ended within 10 minutes. I was too young and she was also quite displeased to find out I was a bladesinger. Under normal circumstances she wouldn’t have even bothered setting up the interview due to my age, but because my father convinced her I was an unmatched prodigy combined with his Title and reputation, she entertained him.”

“Why would being a bladesinger be a bad thing?”

“Well it was an academy for studying magic. All sorts of talented wizards from all sorts of realms were there to study, and although bladesinging in my world was considered something only wizards could do, it meant I had to forgo specializing in a school of magic. She preferred Divination or Evocation wizards but since I was a bladesinger I had no school of magic. She didn’t even think bladesingers should be considered wizards. Something about spellcasters shouldn’t be in the thick of things playing around with swords. She believed that one could either be a master in physical combat or a master spellcaster, never both.”

“I would agree with her if you had a typical mortal lifespan, but if you can live up to 2000 years then you could definitely master both.” Luna tries to sympathize with me.

“No she was right. Elves took advantage of their long lifespans. They would spend years over any meaningful decision in life, they’d spend a majority of their time in leisure or personal activities. We have all the time in the world. Why would we rush through everything in life? It’s one of the reasons I’m glad I retained my personality and perspective of my human life and not my elf life. I can’t stand to waste even a second.”

“You must’ve been pretty disappointed at your rejection then? How did your father take it?”

“He took it worse than me. It was the one and only time I ever saw his fire go out besides when mom died. He was distraught because the only reason I’m a bladesinger is because the patriarchs of our family are all expected to be bladesingers. In his mind he was the reason I didn’t get accepted. Now that I have my memories from my time as a human, though? I am very sad I didn’t get accepted. Zybilna was actually a human mage named Natasha. She was one of the most powerful wizards ever seen in the post-Karsus era. She had like 7 spells named after her, which is quite an impressive number. I can’t believe I actually got to meet her, THE Tasha! I’m only just now realizing how cool that is!”

“Was she truly so impressive?”

“She could bend reality to her will. With a simple utterance of a few words she could revive anyone, no matter how long they had been dead or if they even had a body.” I reply with a certain level of awe in my voice.

“Hmph, I guess that is impressive.”

“Did you just hmph?! Aurora was right, you get jealous so easily!”

Suddenly a pillow from seemingly nowhere is thrown into my head, “SILENCE!”

After a few seconds of silence we both start to laugh. We continued to share stories all night and once the sun came up we built the tent and started getting ready for sleep. It was actually a bit harder than I thought it’d be for me to sleep because I knew when I woke up I’d be marching into a hostile hornets nest alone. Eventually sleep did find me though, I have to admit I really do prefer sleeping over meditating. Even if I only need to meditate for half the time.

Exhaustion Level: 2. Movement Speed: 15ft. Hit Points: 63/63.

Spellbook configuration confirmed!

Shocking Grasp replaced with Green-Flame Blade.

“Alright let’s go over everything. I got your teleportation circle stored in the Moonblade, I have 8 hours of invisibility, Sending Crystal, Emergency teleport crystal. Am I forgetting anything?” I ask Luna.

“No but it’s only around 2PM I thought you were going to go when it gets dark?”

“My body is still in rough shape. It'll probably take me like 6 hours to walk over there, Luna.”

“Let’s just rest one more day then, Chrysalis won’t kill them, she needs them for food.”

“No, I don't want to just waste an entire day doing nothing. I’ll stay here for an extra 2 hours though, how about that?”

“I supposed that’s fine, let’s eat breakfast.”

I’m chowing down on something when I remember a question I’ve been meaning to ask Luna. “Hey Luna.” She looks over at me, “Feel free to not answer this question, but just know my opinion of you won’t change no matter what you say. Is Nightmare Moon truly a different pony than you?” I’ve been wondering this ever since I had that dream forever ago where I was fighting Nightmare in the everfree again but she had Luna’s mane this time.

“As much as my sister would like to think it’s not, it essentially is. I’d say the corruption only changed me around 10% and even that’s being generous. All it did was take all the things I was wishing I could do and push me towards that direction.”

“I see, but what exactly is the corruption? Like why did it get you and not… any other pony? Is it an alicorn thing or did it just choose to go after the most powerful being that was susceptible? Cause if it’s an alicorn thing then I have to ask if Celestia has ever had a Nightmare moment?”

“None of us are sure. Tia has had a similar incident but it didn’t require the Elements to bring her back. The griffons went after our parents once we ascended because they were worried if our parents had any more foals they would also grow into alicorns. Tia was so enraged it was like she became the sun. Within 2 days a war had been declared and surrendered. She single handedly decimated the monarch's castle and caused it to be relocated to Griffonstone, but once their king was dead she went right back to normal Celestia and grieved with me. From that day onward there was a whisper among the other nations, “Beware the alicorn of fire and destruction, she is the Daybreaker.””

“Damn. Remind me to stop bantering with her so much. Let’s kick this thing off!”

I start to slowly walk in the direction of the colosseum when Luna calls out to me, “Just let me teleport you closer. If I put you a few hundred feet away it should be far enough to avoid magic detection. You’ll still have to walk a decent bit, but it’ll be much less than the distance you’re about to walk without the teleport.”

“Fine fine, will I be within line of sight when you teleport me in?” She thinks it over for a bit then gives me a small nod. “Okay let me apply my Invisibility and then you can drop me in.”

Once I apply the spell and close my eyes I feel a rush of wind and a sudden increase in heat, likely because I’m in the sun right now. Once I open my eyes I see the familiar colosseum off in the distance and start slowly walking towards it.

Perception.

5 + 6 = 11.

Looks like they have a few bugs patrolling from the top of the structure, but they all seem low level enough to not detect me. I wish I had asked either of the princesses for magical ink so I could learn Counterspell and Dimension Door. It’d be so much easier on my poor body if I could just Dimension Door all the way into their base.

Holding up the crystal to my mouth I run some mana through it. “Test test one two three, can you hear me Luna?”

“Aye, crystal appears to be fully functional.”

“Good, I’m heading in now.”

Author's Note

Aaaaand here we go! I was going to go a bit further into the infiltration this chapter, but much like every other day this week I am way too tired to keep going. Should have next chapter up tomorrow or Sunday.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Invisible Hand pt. 1

Maintaining this emotionless state is quite a bit more draining that I thought it’d be. I’ve managed to make it inside the hive with no problems, but every tick of soreness or shock of pain I encounter every few steps is enough to make me pause. Also one thing I completely overlooked is that I cannot cast Locate Creature to find Force. The only way I can use two concentration spells at once is to offload one of them to the Moonblade, but the blade is currently completely full while it’s holding the teleportation circle. Since I’m currently concentrating on Invisibility that has me in a bit of a pinch.

If I wasn’t on a timer it wouldn’t be a problem, but I am on a time limit. I only have so many spell slots to maintain my stealth. Not to mention the pace I’m exploring this hive is agonizingly slow. I’m not completely blind though. Currently I’m making my way to the throne room since that room eventually led to the room where Luna was held in a pod. If the others are held in similar pods then my educated guess is that they will be close to the same area.

“Have you found any of the hostages yet my paladin?” A familiar voice speaks into my mind.

“I haven’t. I’m moving at quite the slow pace to be honest, I think waiting 1 more day might’ve been the right call.”

“It’s not too late, I can teleport you back now and we can tell more stories to pass the time. In the near future we won’t have many opportunities like this, you know.”

“Shh. I’m curious what you mean by that but please don’t steer the conversation towards things likely to evoke any kind of emotion. It’s hard enough to keep my focus as is.” I reply coldly.

“Ah, I hadn’t considered that. I apologize, Ignis. Keep me updated on your progress.”

Turning the corner I spot a line of changelings chained together being led down the corridor. As they slowly trudge forward the only sound I can hear is the clinking of their chains. They’re heading in the same direction that I need to go, towards the throne room. What does Chrysalis have planned for Aurora's children?

I stop that line of thinking before it leads me into a potential spiral of despair or rage. We’re both heading there anyways, I can stop thinking about it and just silently follow behind them. I need to mentally prepare myself to see that whore again. I can’t have an outburst this deep into the hive.

Luckily for me when I make my way into the throne room Chrysalis is nowhere to be seen. One of the jet black changelings looks over the chained drones and speaks up. “Kneel and wait for the Queen to arrive. We will find out where your true loyalties lie.”

Perception. (Disadvantage)

18 and 7. 7 + 6 = 13.

Towards the back of the room, behind a pillar moving to the left into a hallway I make out the feathers of a griffon. Looking between the chained up drones and the hallway I decide to follow the griffon. Once I get all the hostages out I can come back and see what she has planned for these changelings.

Unfortunately I’m unable to move at my normal speed so by the time I make it across the room and into the hallway I can’t see where the griffon went. Thankfully the hallway appears to only go to a singular place. There are turns and bends but whenever they appear there’s no other paths to take other than the turn. Eventually I turn one final corner and the hallway finally opens up into a room.

Glancing around I see at least 20 pods decorating the walls of the room. Some of them are dark and I’m unable to see inside, but I’m assuming those are empty because I’m able to quickly count every single creature I’m here for is in this room.

Stealth. (Advantage)

14 and 1. 14 + 9 = 23.

I find myself feeling relieved for only a moment before instantly reigning myself back in. I’m relieved that all of our back up planning was for nothing, but I can’t let myself actually feel that. Glancing at the two changelings currently putting the griffon back into one of the pods and then at the two drones standing near the entryway into the room I watch to see if any of their faces change to acknowledge the momentary lapse in my emotions. Luckily nothing seems to happen as they all continue as normal.

Slowly walking over to a corner of the room I wait and see if any of these drones will leave the room. I know the two by the door are guards for this room so I’ll have to very quickly kill them, but I’m hoping the other two will leave.

The 4 changelings have been talking for what feels like hours, but I know it’s only been 30 minutes or so. The invisibility spell I’m currently concentrating on is my 3rd cast, and it currently only has 5 minutes left, but unlike the other two times I can’t re-apply this one when it runs out. Technically I can re-apply the status without becoming visible, but they would almost certainly be able to tell that something has occurred over here. I can’t silently cast this spell after all. If these other two changelings don’t leave before this spell runs out I’ll have to just blitz them all down.

Luckily using the sending crystal doesn’t seem to count as casting a spell otherwise I would’ve been caught ages ago when Luna randomly called me. Knowing this I grasp the gem and begin to give it a trickle of mana. “Alright Luna I’ve found all of the hostages, but there’s 4 drones in this room and unfortunately I’m just about out of time to continue waiting on them to leave. In two minutes I’m going loud.”

“Understood. Just remember that you can call out to me and I’ll be able to teleport you out in an instant.”

I wait another minute and silently curse in my head as the other two changelings seem to be insistent on staying in here. This is annoying because now I’m going to be forced to use Haste if I want to give myself the best chance to clear these guys out in one turn.

Silently walking up to the conversing drones I grasp the hilt of the Moonblade and prepare to swing. Right before I swing I mutter out the incantation for Haste and then as the drones turn to look at the source of the sound I ignite the emerald blade with a fire of the same color and bring the blade down onto the closest surprised changeling.

Initiative: 13 + 5 = 18.

Roll to hit:
18 and 10. 10 rerolls into 7. 18 + 11 = 29.

5 + 7 + 4 = 16 Slashing Damage. +5 Fire Damage. 21 Damage.

The blade cleanly slices through the drones chitin and a few inches into the body of the changeling. As the blade is pulled out of the wound a bright emerald fire flashes into the wound as the Green-Flame Blade extra damage kicks in. That same flash of emerald fire then jumps from the drones wound on the changeling next to it.

+5 + 5 = 10 Fire Damage.

The adjacent drone is shrouded in emerald flames for a second before they disappear in a flash and leave a trail of smoke emitting from the creature. Immediately following that attack I step to the side of the changeling I cut and bring down my Moonblade onto the adjacent drone that was hit by the emerald flame. This time I swing the blade with no fire.

16 and 19 16 rerolls into 18.. 19 + 11 = 30.

4 + 7 + 6 = 17 Slashing Damage.

The burned changeling hasn’t even had time to scream or react to being burnt before the Moonblade finds itself slicing clean through the drone finishing it off. Casting Haste took one of my Actions so now that I’ve used my regular Attack action all I have left is my bonus action. Channeling my bracers I re-ignite the Moonblade in an emerald flame as I strike one of the unharmed drones. This time if I hit I intend to send the flames toward the first drone I struck that took 21 damage.
18 and 17. 17 rerolls into 2. 18 + 11 = 29.

7 + 7 + 4 = 18 Slashing Damage. +8 Fire Damage. 26 Damage.

The blade makes its way through 90% of the changeling's neck until it finally catches and is unable to proceed. As soon as it stops a burst of flame erupts and the blade propels forward cleanly severing the third changelings head.

3 + 5 = 8 Fire Damage.

The fire then leaps from the bare neck of the dead drone onto the first changeling I struck that is barely clinging onto life. As soon as the emerald flame jumps from the dead drone onto the first drone it hisses in pain before collapsing into a pile of ash.

That’s 3 of the 4 down, but I’m out of actions. Luckily for me they were all surprised so assuming I beat this final drone in initiative I get to go again instantly. Everything works out perfectly as I can tell within a second that it’s back to being my turn. I cleave into the drone with 4 quick slashes in succession. The first one misses but the second one gives the changeling a deep gash and the third one combined with the Green-Flame Blade finishes the drone off. Combat ends with my last slash left unused.

Only one of the drones made any sounds and it was just a quiet hiss so I assume I’m fine, but just in case I waste no time and start cutting out the hostages from their pods. All of the creature slowly rise with a collection of groans and squawks and as I cut open the last pod I can’t help but finally smile as I watch my favorite guard slide out of the pod onto the ground. Holding out a hand I wait until the pegasus regains full awareness before speaking to her.

“Weird, I don’t recall hearing Celestia order you to get captured, Lieutenant Force.” I laugh as she looks at me and I help her up.

“Oh buck off……sir.”

“Wow I don’t even get a thanks?”

The guard clicks her tongue and rolls her eyes, “Thank you Ignis. How are we getting out of here?”

Looking around to make sure everyone else is ready to go I call out a little more loudly. “I’m going to open a teleportation circle directly to Princess Luna. I won’t be able to keep it open for very long so all of you need to go through it very quickly once it’s open. Everyone gather around me.”

Once they gather up I hold the Sending gem and reach out to my princess. “Alright Luna I’ve got everyone I’m getting ready to place the circle down.”
“I’m so glad to hear that Ignis. Send them over!”

Pointing the hilt of my Moonblade towards the ground I fire off the spell stored in the hilt and watch as the teleportation circle appears on the ground and opens itself up. Once it opens I place a hand next to it and feed it mana as I start motioning for everyone to go through it. All the hostages go through the circle with LT Force being the last one. After Force goes through I release my hands and watch as the portal closes.

“Ignis, why didn’t you come through?” Luna calls out to me with a very slight panic in her voice.

“I saw some of Aurora’s changelings get brought into the throne room chained up. I want to see what Chrysalis is planning to do with the drones that served Aurora before I leave. The safeword is “Toast” if I randomly say that it means to teleport me that instant.”

“This is a horrendous idea, my paladin. You can’t save them now that the circle is closed so why even burden yourself with learning their fate? Just let me bring you back now.”

“You know I can’t do that Luna. I need to make sure she isn’t just going to kill them all outright. Just be ready to teleport me out, okay?”

“Fine. I’m not happy about this, though.”

“I’ll make it up to you when we get back to Canterlot.” I reassure her.

“I’ll hold you to that.” She finally has a bit of that familiar playfulness to her tone. Now that that’s settled I re-suppress my emotions and start heading back to the throne room.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay. I'm finally finishing up the cross-country move I think I mentioned in my author notes several chapters ago. That combined with this class I started has me much busier and getting tired much earlier in the day. Basically just too tired and not enough free time to write as often. Happy I was able to get this chapter pushed out though :D

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Invisible Hand pt. 2

Reapplying my invisibility I start making my way back towards the throne room when Luna speaks to me again. “Are you sure you got everypony out? Sister and the rest of the guard returned to Canterlot this morning and apparently there were a few ponies wondering why their special somepony wasn’t with the convoy.”

“Haven’t we done musters every morning and night to ensure our headcount? Celestia should know if anyone is missing or not, did they check the names of the supposed missing against our roster?”

“I’m not sure…. It sounds like chaos over there. Tia says she can’t even get the names from the spouses at the moment, they must be inconsolable.”

Raw Intelligence Check.

9 + 5 = 14.

Something about this isn’t right. I’m extremely unsettled right now, but why? “Luna, some-”

“It would seem there was just some kind of miscommunication. Tia says the situation is resolved.”

“Is she sure? Something seems really off with the whole situation.”

“I agree. We can investigate when we return, you need to focus on your own situation for now. As long as Chrysalis is down there you are not safe.” Luna is right.

“Alright, I’m just about in the throne room. Can you throw down a scry and watch my back?”

“I did that as soon as I established the communication link. Currently this isn’t a series of Sending spells I’m directly linked to you.”

“No pressure, huh? I can’t disappoint my Goddess, haha.”

“You say that like you’re going to fight her. We agreed on this, you are just observing.”

Whatever I was going to say to Luna died in my throat as I entered the throne room. Chrysalis is sitting on her throne and to the right of her is Aurora’s corpse dangling in the air. A jet black spear is coming out of the ground and the tip of the spear is through her neck. She’s just hanging there with her lifeless eyes staring at one of her drones cowering on the ground in the middle of the room.

Stealth Check.

14 + 9 = 23.

Why didn’t I have advantage? Does Chrysalis have true sight? Can she see mana?

“It’s your choice, drone. Will you be exiled from the hive and go seek refuge with the ponies, or will you renounce your birth mother and serve your new queen?” Chrysalis gives her ultimatum to the changeling.

The drone looks between Chrysalis and the lifeless Aurora with tears in its eyes for several quiet seconds before finally giving its answer. “I… will receive the exile, Queen Chrysalis.” It barely manages to speak, just barely above a whisper.

A tiny glass bottle of raging red and blue fire begins to lightly vibrate as a small crack dashes across the surface.

It’s taking everything I have to suppress the whirlpool of feelings as they rampage in my gut. It’s becoming more clear that I’m not suppressing my emotions, I'm merely bottling them up. Within an instant of the drone giving its answer the guard standing next to it stomps and crushes the neck of changeling on the ground. Killing it instantly.

Why? It wasn’t even disrespectful with its answer. What just happened?

“My queen, why are we deceiving them with the illusion of exile? This feels….cruel.” The guard to the left of Chrysalis seems to mirror my thoughts.

Crack.

“If they knew the only other choice was death then I would not be able to trust that they have true loyalty to me. Noling would choose to die. I agree it’s not the most elegant solution, but with our love supply being cut off from the rest of the world we need to thin the hive and ration what we have. Until I can formulate a plan to bring us more captives, this is the only choice right now.” The queen replies.

Crack.

I can’t do this. I can feel it slipping.

Stealth Check (Disadvantage)

9 and 11. 9 + 9 = 18.

“Ignis…. Ignis! You have to leave, now!”

“Bring in the next drone. Also someling needs to go check on the pods, there’s glimpses of rage coming from that direction. Subdue it before they break out of their cocoon.”

A rapid flash of images of Tala, Father, scenes of elven children playing games in a brightly colored forest.

Crack. Crack.

“That’s it I’m teleporting you.”

Intelligence Saving Throw. Do you choose to willingly fail the save?

No.

19 + 9 = 28.

“LUCA-”

Another drone is brought in and after a chitin hoof crashes into the back of its head it drops onto the ground, shaking like a leaf. After being pummeled a few more times while instructions are barked at it, the drone finally manages to position itself into a formal bow. Chrysalis presents the drone with the same two choices the previous drone had, convert or exile.

The drone looks between the two queens while silently crying before it starts to mutter to itself. “Mom. My queen, t-the hive. M-mom please help me.” The feminine sounding drone devolves into full on wailing before being assaulted by the guard again.

“You dare put on such a pathetic display before the Queen?! Queen Chrysalis has ordered you to make a decision, you will announce your choice. Now!” The guard barks out over the dull thuds of chitin striking chitin.

Crack.

On complete autopilot my feet start slowly moving forward towards the scene of tragedy in front of me. A series of tingles and shocks shoot up my body from where the Moonblade is connected to my waist. A reminder of the state my body is in flashes in front of my eyes as I slowly put one foot in front of another.

Exhaustion Level: 2.
Exhaustion Level: 2.
Exhaustion Level: 2.

The onslaught of the changeling guard is silenced by Chrysalis. “Enough! Drone, you must give me your decision.”

More images flash of Lucas’ parents, an office full of humans smiling towards a camera as they all collectively hold up a trophy, and teenagers laughing in a dimly lit room as they surround a set of TVs with controllers in their hands.

With both of its forelegs tucked behind its head from where it was attempting to soften the guards blows, the drone replies. “Please Queen Chrysalis! Separating from the hive is an impossible choice, it pains me to make such a decision. I wish to continue to serve the hive, for the betterment of the hive, but please I cannot renounce my dead mother! What you ask is too cruel!”

Hearing the changeling cry out in grief for her mother sends a shiver down my spine. My eyes open wide and my breath catches in my throat as my feet stop moving just a few steps from the grieving drone. The scenery shifts and the drone is replaced with a young Ignis getting snatched up by his father in a moonlit forest.

Crrrrrrack.

The scenes shift again and I’m looking at Zarra’s eyes as she holds me. “Don’t cry my sweet boy.” She smiles down at me. “I’ll only be gone for a few weeks. You know what your mother does is very important. Of course the main teachings of the Dark Lady are to treat all creatures as equals and always put your best foot forward. However, it is also our responsibility sometimes to go and vanquish evil. There are thousands of lives at stake just a few towns over and it is our responsibility to help them and protect them. One day it’ll be your responsibility too. That is why we are given our blessings and strength from Eilistraee. We are born strong to help the weak. You’re such a kind child, so I know you’ll naturally understand and reciprocate these feelings when you’re old enough. Since you are going to walk the path of the bladesinger you won’t be able to heal or cure like I can, but you will strike at evil and protect the weak just the same.”

She holds up her Moonblade. “That’s what this sword represents, Ignis. If you wield this sword you must only wield it to protect. Never forget that.” I watch as my mother closes her eyes and leans her head down to kiss me on the forehead.

The glass bottle shatters.

Changeling Throne Room 3rd Person POV

This whelp has tested my patience and insulted my mercy for long enough. Chrysalis thinks to herself as she looks toward the guard standing over the drone in question. She gives the guard a nod and watches as it raises its foreleg up one last time to kill the insolent drone.

Suddenly the center of the room erupts in a bright flash of fire causing everyone, including Chrysalis to shield their eyes and glance away. A loud booming sound erupts from the center of the flash and a wave of murderous intent washes over the room. The feeling is so intense that every changeling guard in the room that was beginning to charge towards the fire freezes in places. Millions of neurons begin firing off in the changeling queen's brain that give her an unsettled feeling. If she was a human all the hair on her body would be standing straight.

That feeling combined with the killing intent, familiar sinister presence, and bright wall of flames cause the changeling queen to mutter out a single word. “D….Daybreaker?!”

Much to her shock though, when the light dims down what she sees is not an alicorn, but a familiar bipedal man. Only now his silver hair is replaced with golden blonde hair streaked with orange wavy lines and red tips. In one hand is a familiar emerald longsword and in the other is a dismembered changeling head that is still wearing a fresh look of shock on its face.

The room is in complete silence as the elf drops the changeling head and crouches down next to the crying gray colored drone. The queen can only question where he came from as she watches the elf start to gently rub the drones head. “I’m so sorry little one. I truly am sorry. I tried with everything I had to save your mother and I failed. I failed to save your sibling as well just a few moments ago. Your devotion to your people is respectable. If you had chosen exile you would’ve been killed. You’re going to be okay now, though. Once this is over I’m going to take you and all your siblings back to Equestria with me, okay?”

Every changeling in the room watches as the elfs face contorts into one of pure rage as the trails of tears on his face turn into steam and rise into the air. He rises back up to his feet and faces the throne.

6 seconds prior.

Ignis 1st Person POV

Emerging from the memory of my mother I feel every emotion I’ve been bottling up since I got to this planet surge within me. As I stare at the changeling queen's face I remember the scene from when I woke up in the carriage.

CHRYSALIS! I WILL NEVER LET YOU GO! I WILL HUNT YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH AND I WILL KILL YOU!

Everything in me is screaming with the purest hate to kill her. I want to kill her. Pure hate is running rampant in my mind as I feel a tingle in the back of my head and a system pop up appears.

Error. Error. Conditions not met. Error.

Subclass Acquired. Oath of Vengeance.

Error. Due to insufficient level: No subclass features have been unlocked.

We meet again, bladesinger. To think you’d become dearest Luna’s plaything, pathetic. Your rage and hate and intent to kill are so much purer than hers, though. So much so that you’ve even caused me to awaken. I was wondering why she was tinkering around with her connection to the moon so much, but it seems she was trying to give you a true connection to her source of divinity. I understand now. If it was anypony but you I’d just laugh at her, but if you’re willing to feed me so much delicious hate I will indulge the both of you.

I, Nightmare Moon, the dark side of the moon, acknowledge you as the true Chosen of the night.

Error. Subclass evolution.

Oath of Vengeance - The Nights’ Chosen.

Wisdom Saving Throw.

14 + 6 = 20. Corruption resisted.

You can even resist my control, hah. Truly extraordinary. We’ll see how long that lasts, bladesinger.

Time unfreezes and all of the surging emotions finally explode as the changeling guard aims for the grieving drones neck. My mana surges and ignites as my body moves on instinct. In a flash of fire I’m suddenly next to the guard and my blade is slicing through his neck. After giving a quick apology to the drone I just saved I stand back up and stare at Chrysalis. Once her look of shock fades into a neutral stare. I speak.

“Chrysalis.” Even I’m a bit surprised by how cold and dead my tone of voice is, but after a brief pause I continue.

“I’m going to kill you now.”

Author's Note

Summer Eladrin transformation is basically purely cosmetic. Only benefit is that he gains a single free cast of misty step that causes a surge of fire. Normally fire does 1d6 but I'm making it cosmetic only.

My several thousand mile move is finally concluded and I'm back on my desktop. As such on weekends like this I have much more free time and am less tired. Basically I'm saying expect another chapter tonight or early tomorrow. Won't leave you guys hanging for the rest of the fight for too long :P.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Invisible Hand pt. 3

Celestia 3rd Person POV

Celestia’s eyes snap open in frustration, knowing she’s only been asleep for 30 minutes or so. They decided to push on and arrive at Canterlot tonight instead of midday tomorrow, and after dealing with some confused spouses she went straight to bed. Her frustration of interrupted sleep quickly turns into a blind panic when she realizes what has caused her to awaken.

A massive surge of mana towards the badlands. If it was just the mana it might not have stirred her from her slumber but this mana. This sinister mana. She is intimately familiar with this presence. “Nightmare and……Ignis?”

The mana it was mixing with was not her sister but the elf. Igniting her horn she calls out to Luna. “Sister, what’s happened?”

“I stupidly allowed this paladin of mine to go investigate a situation that I knew he wouldn’t be able to handle. I really wanted to think he’d be fine. He saw Aurora’s children being led in chains to the throne room and wanted to see how Chrysalis was handling the old breed of changelings. The situation is cruel sister. She’s allowing them to convert to her rule and renounce Aurora or be exiled. When they choose exile she swiftly has them executed. I watched him fight his emotions for several seconds but when I tried to teleport him out he resisted it. Shortly after that our telepathic connection was severed. I want to feel proud of him, his unwillingness to allow this to happen despite the condition of his body, but at the same time I’m so frustrated he’s throwing his life away for something he cannot change.”

“Luna. Why is the Nightmare there?”

“He exploded with such rage and hatred I would not be surprised if she was able to feed off of his emotions through the indirect connection he has with my moon. She currently has no control over him though. Just as he resisted my teleportation, he seems to have resisted her will. He’s revealed himself now, he announced to Chrysalis that he will kill her. Right here and now.”

“You need to teleport in there and grab him, now. We cannot risk him losing control and allowing that demon back into our realm. It’s also very unlikely he will survive a confrontation with Chrysalis in his condition. She should be significantly weaker without the stockpile of love in her system, but she’s still a Queen. As she is now she should still be fairly even in a confrontation with one of us, without pulling power from our source.”

“I cannot, Tia. The Nightmare is preventing me from appearing. I could probably appear a few hundred feet from the hive, but by the time I get to him this fight will be over. It’s strange though. My divine connection to him isn’t severed, if anything it’s improved. It feels like the most pure and direct connection I’ve ever had to anything, the exact same as the moon. It’s almost like a connection to Nightmare is what he needed for the true connection to form….”

“We can worry about that later, Lulu. You need to move. I agree the fight will likely be over but she won’t kill him, she can’t. You can still move to recover him from a pod. What of the hostages? Are they going to return to their homes alone or will they return to Canterlot with you and allow for a transport?”

“The minotaur left, but the griffons will return to Equestria with us. I’m teleporting over now, catch my ping and scry on that location. You can keep an eye on him in the throne room while I make my way into the hive.”

Closing her eyes she faintly catches the mana ping hundreds of miles away and summons a scrying orb in the location. When she opens her eyes and looks into the spell her jaw clenches and her eyes squint in anger. “Luna, why does he look like that?”

Ignis 1st Person POV (A/N: Woah a major boss fight that’s finally from 1st person POV? O:)

“I’m going to kill you now.”

Green flames engulf the changeling queen and the result is a little disturbing. She walks out of her own fire on two feet. A jet black humanoid with two long elf ears, her sickly blue hair now draping over both of her shoulders covers two round mounds on her chest. She gives me a toothy grin exposing her oversized fangs as her green eyes shimmer a bit and she stares at me. Four translucent wings that look similar to her original ones unfurl from behind her, the bottom two are shorter and point down, diagonally. The two upper wings are much longer and point diagonally up. Her jagged horn parts her hair as it points out of her forehead and becomes enshrouded in a pale green aura, two daggers appear in her hands.

“After our last encounter I realized how useful your form is in a fight. The dexterous abilities of these hands combined with the flexibility of your body. Every inch of you is optimized for killing.” She puts her left hand against her chest and continues. “I was also quite hoping you’d be more enticed by this form. Imagine my surprise when I did detect a momentary spike in lust, hehe. What do you think, dear?”

Imagining my magical runic device inside my left arm I start to twist two cogs. Strengthen. Strengthen. Next I point a finger at Chrysalis. “You know what I think?” I channel mana through my body and as the magic approaches the runes I lift my thumb and turn my pointing hand into a finger gun. “You talk too much. Firebolt!” The same instant the mana hits the first rune I call out the incantation for my cantrip and feel the connection to the weave mix with the mana as both of them explode through the imaginary runic device.

Chrysalis watches with amusement as the mote of fire appears and her look turns to panic as the mote rapidly expands and hurls furth significantly faster than it normally does.

15 + 9 = 24.

Error. Fire Bolt incompatibility. Error.

The roaring ball of fire slams into the changeling queen and explodes into a tornado of fire. I’m a bit confused when no damage dice appear, but the fire is suddenly suppressed with a burst of wind and I’m shocked to see the insect with scorch lines on her body and a supremely annoyed look on her face.

She barks out, “Evacuate the hive. Looks like I’ll have to be a bit rough with this one. I hope you’re into that kind of thing, bladesinger.”

“I SAID SHUT UP! FIREBOLT!” I fire off another empowered firebolt, but before it leaves my body I see another dice appear.

Roll for Initiative.

7 + 5 = 12.

I don’t even get a roll to see if the firebolt hits, but it doesn’t matter. As soon as the spell left my hand Chrysalis shot into the air and unleashed her own green ball of flame. “Shield!” I turn my finger gun into an open palm and thrust my hand forward projecting a shield and panic as the shield instantly shatters. I form an “X” with my arms in front of my face and wince as I’m thrown backwards into the cave wall. Hitting the wall my body tries to release a yelp of pain, but instead all I get a gasp as all the air is knocked out of my lungs.

-22 HP. Hitpoints: 41/63. Prone.

I try to stand, but wince as my body is shocked from the pain still lingering around from my last encounter with this demon. My reduced movement speed. I’m able to just barely get to my feet as a jet black human foot slams into my gut, cracking the wall behind me.

-19 HP. Hitpoints: 22/63.

This time a brief scream erupts from my mouth along with a bit of stomach acid as I crumple and slide down the wall, back onto my ass. Chrysalis says something but I can’t understand it. All I hear is ringing. Placing my hand against my ribs I wheeze a breath in and out as my eyes vibrate and I try to gather myself.

Why do you use mana so inefficiently? I can’t have my future host dying, so let me give you a tip. Your body is already magical, and your hands can already project spells. You don’t even need an air rune. Just use that same feeling to project runes into the air. It’ll be a physical thing at that point and shouldn’t even use your concentration to maintain its form. It’ll only last for a few seconds but that’s plenty of time for you to project mana through it.

“Shut up.”

Chrysalis crouches down in front of me and takes a handful of my own hair as she starts shaking my head back and forth, laughing at me. Sadistic bitch.

Bladesong. As the lights and aura start to form I channel all my mana into my heart and send it to every limb I have. Please just let me use the True Bladesong one more time. Please. The motes of light and silver aura start to flicker, ripple, speed up, and go wild like flames.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmQim_bxBjM (With dialogue overlaid.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4uveN0YhHw (No Dialogue. Same song.)

Chrysalis keeps shaking my head but stops laughing to speak again. “Hey. Answer me, whelp. You imbecile, sad sack, coward, good for nothing!”

I have no clue what she even said before so I just keep quiet and focus on spreading the mana.

The changeling starts to laugh. “It’s just as I thought then, you really are a disgrace! Just like me.” She starts thumping her hand against my head, forehand, backhand. “What are you attempting with this pitiful bladesong? I’d love to see you try and cut off my head with that useless, battered, disgraceful, pitiful body of yours. COME ON!”

I look up at her with the meanest glare I can muster before slamming my foot into her chest.

19 + 5 = 24.

2 Bludgeoning Damage.

The queen is sent staggering back a few steps, and she quickly dashes backwards as I stand up and face her. Fighting my own body with everything I have I force it to start running after her.

“I have to ignore all the pain in my body. Endure!”

As I get closer to her and start to swing my Moonblade I remember our last encounter, and how her hard exoskeleton was able to repel my sword.

“I can’t just use my arms. I have to use everything, summon EVERY OUNCE OF STRENGTH LEFT!”

Exhaustion Level: Error, +1. 3. Movement Speed: 15ft Unknown.

Focusing all the mana into my feet I jump, shattering the ground. In an instant I’m right in front of her as all my grief, rage, and despair surge within me again. I feel an intense heat on the back of my head and watch as my sword ignites in a bright blue blaze. Belting out a scream, venting all my emotions I tighten the grip on my hilt and swing at the changeling with everything I have.

“AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Two dice appear but all of the numbers just look like scribbles and they seem to roll endlessly. Eventually they just disappear and time resumes and I transfer all the mana from my feet and heart into my right arm. My right arm leaves a trail of silver light and the blade a trail of blue fire in the air as they shoot forward.

Chrysalis looks extremely unsettled as she leans backwards, causing the blade to miss her entirely. I can’t stop the mana fuelled momentum and the blade slams against the hard floor of the cave.

A bright flash of light erupts and it sounds like a bomb went off. I watch as one of my level 4 spell slots disappear and the ground turns into a deep crater. I land on my feet and watch as cracks quickly shoot out in all directions from the edge of the crater and the entire surroundings begin to shake. Pebbles and dust fall from the roof as the pillars in the throne room also begin to crack at the base and top of their structures.

I look towards Chrysalis, who is now 20ft or so away, and am surprised to see that for the first time she looks genuinely scared as she looks at the ground where she once stood. Before I can even think of my next move I drop to one knee and stick the Moonblade into the ground to lean against it. I cough and watch as blood spatters onto the floor of the cave. The next thing I feel is an intense explosion of pain that threatens to knock me out as darkness creeps into the edge of my vision.

Exhaustion Level: Error. +1. 4. Movement Speed: 15ft Unknown.

Hitpoints: 11/32.

Looking up at the ceiling I start desperately gasping for air. Stabilize the mana. Breathe. Slow down, calm down.

“Ignis, you have to escape!” Celestia?
You can’t continue. Run. Nightmare Moon?

My own voice, in a posh accent, speaks into my head. “We cannot survive this, you have to run.” Even my own soul?

Chrysalis with her voice that sounds like nails on a chalkboard speaks. “If you keep going you’ll really kill yourself.”

Down the hallway I hear my favorite voice quietly echo into the room from a distance. “Ignis, please?! You have to RUN!”

Staggering to my feet with blood dripping onto the floor, I gather my focus. Precisely spread the mana to every fiber of my muscles. Through every vein in my body.

Off in the distance I can hear crashing and rumbling, the entire hive is collapsing. Suddenly the scene shifts and I’m in an unfamiliar courtyard with my father squatting in front of me, looking me in the eyes. “If you are ever feeling defeated and that you are not enough… set your heart ablaze.”

I look at the terrified changeling queen and clench my fist. As I start to scream I feel the intense heat on the back of my head rise up once again, even hotter this time. Smoke and flames appear at the edge of my vision.

“Shut up, all of you! Changeling, Luna, Celestia, and even you, elf. Today you’ll all learn a lesson. I’ll show you THE INDOMITABLE. HUMAN. SPIRIT.” In a flash I cover the distance between me and Chrysalis. I watch as flames spread onto the floor of the cave and the blue blaze engulfs my sword once more. "I'M GOING TO WIN!"

Use every ounce of strength left!

I wave my left hand over the blade of my sword and three Strengthen rune circles appear. It looks like the blade is piercing through the 3 glowing circles. I send every molecule of mana into the hilt of my sword as I hear the feminine voice inside the sword start screaming in pain. I belt out my own scream as I swing the blade towards Chrysalis and channel my last level 4 smite.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

The cave begins shaking and rumbling once more as I listen to what sounds like large rocks falling all around me. The entire cave is illuminated by a fire that seems to be coming from my body.

I watch as the blade zips through the air and Chrysalis ignites her horn. I hear more crashing sounds as the blade is centimeters from her neck. The same instant the blade makes contact with her neck I feel a hoof touch my back. My entire vision is filled with a bright white light. I hear something crack followed by a pained scream from the changeling queen, and everything ends as darkness creeps into my vision and I black out.

Author's Note

Well uh. Hm. Listen. This is a sample of the distant future of the fic, I figured I'd warn readers now that at some point in the future Ignis will not use the system, at least for combat.

For now though, it should be pretty obvious that continued use of outside magic will kill him and he cannot handle it. We are creeping firmly into the territory of "Power Fantasy" and that's fine for me, that was always supposed to be the direction this story went, but I understand that it's not for everyone.

I'm still going to try and at least make the power feel "earned" but we'll see if I can do a good enough job with it. I can at least say that you won't need to worry about this for a minimum of 30-50 chapters, I won't spoil future chapters any more than I have already, but stuff like this won't be available for Ignis for a while after this fight.

Obligatory apologies aside, I'm happy with this chapter. We'll have 1 more adventure/combat focused arc that should be pretty short, and then it'll solidly be slice of life for a long while. Always happy to answer any questions in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Kill The Monster

In an instant I stick my fingers in my ears, “Luna, can you cause temporary deafness? Both of us need to be deaf. NOW.”

I’m lucky I didn’t already forget everything. I have no clue how these things actually work, I never encountered one as a player or a DM, but I watched some videos on it. Luna moves her mouth but I obviously can’t hear her. After a second or two it seems she finally understands the gravity of the situation and I see her horn ignite. Another few seconds pass and she nods towards me. Removing my fingers I talk and don’t hear anything, then I point a finger at her head and then point at my own head, rapidly switching between which head I’m pointing at.

She gets the message and an instant later I hear her voice in my head. “Will you please explain what’s going on now?”

“It’s called a False Hydra. It feasts on living creatures in plain sight and relies on its secret weapon to stay hidden. It’s constantly singing a silent lullaby that charms any creature within 5 miles and basically causes them to forget they saw or even know about the false hydra's existence. As it consumes it grows more heads and once it reaches 7 it matures and is capable of wiping out entire countries. When it consumes a creature it wipes out all memories of that creature from anyone that remembers it. When you had those interviews scheduled and then it turned out that you forgot to actually pick the applicants to interview? They were likely the first victims. The spouses that had their loved ones eaten must’ve woken up and wondered why there was guard equipment in their house, but their brain just put together pieces of information and decided their spouse MUST be a guard but since they aren’t around they MUST’VE gone on the expedition to the badlands with the Princess. Your interviews like 2 weeks ago there’s no telling how much damage this thing has done. We need to find it and kill it, right now.”

As I speak I watch her expression darken until I’m finally done. “Then this filly wasn’t abandoned by her parents…”

“No, she likely watched them die. You probably couldn’t even see the hydra in her dream because of its influence. We should gather a squad of guards, get them deafened, and go hunt this fucker down.”

“Take my hoof. I’m teleporting us to the throne room.”

Doing as she says I grasp the hoof being held out towards me and with a flash we’re in the throne room.

Looking around I don’t see Celestia, but I see several guards and at least thirty civilians. I see Luna’s horn engulf itself with a blue aura and instantly every guard in the chamber turns their head towards her. An instant later I hear a cacophony of voices talking over each other in my head before Luna silences them all. “Silence. As of this instant I have dulled your ability to hear and placed you in a telepathic connection with myself and my paladin. Where is my sister?”

Once again several voices begin talking over each other in my head before Luna raises her mental voice again. “One at a time. Please!”

“Princess Celestia just stepped out for lunch, Ma’am! What’s going on?!”

“Our capital is under grave threat from a deadly creature hiding among us. My paladin, Ignis, will explain while we move to the dining hall. Follow me, everypony.”

As we march out of the throne room I explain all of the same details to the guards following us. As I finish up the details of what’s happening we enter the dining hall. Something is wrong though. When we enter the dining hall there are 4 royal guards that I recognize as being part of Celestia’s personal squadron, Shining Armor is with the 4 of them and all 5 of them are standing at the end of the room facing us. Celestia herself is also there, standing behind them. They all look….hostile? Did the hydra finally figure out that it’s been outed and somehow issue commands to Celestia? This is so much worse now…

Luna attempts to cast her deafening spell but Celestia’s horn flashes and Luna winces in pain. Was that a counterspell?! It seems she was only able to prevent Luna's spell from targeting herself and her royal guards because Cadence and LT Force look over towards us in concern and slowly back away from the table. I hear Luna in my head again and she gives a brief explanation to Cadence and her new personal knight. From her explanation it would seem she’s also gathered that Celestia and the guards are under some deeper level of mental compulsion from the hydra.

Luna looks over to me. “Take Force and most of the guards behind you to the sewer. I’ve been sending echo spells out over the city and something massive is sitting in the central sewer chamber under the city. I’ll stay here with a few guards plus Cadence and we’ll hold my sister at bay so she doesn’t hurt anypony. Be quick Ignis, I’m not sure how long I can hold her back without also causing injuries to her.”

After a quick nod from the former Lieutenant I point out 7 guards to stay behind and quickly start sprinting towards the exit of the castle. While we run I attempt to store a Haste spell in my Moonblade so I can stack my normal buff spells once we get to the Hydras domain, but nothing happens. I remember the scream I heard from the blade when I channeled that strengthened smite into the sword and realize I must have damaged the ancient soul residing within.

“I haven't had a chance to mention this yet, Ignis. You absolutely must not use mana. You strained your inner mana channels quite severely during your stunt with Chrysalis, and continuing to use mana when they’re in this state will likely lead to you being unable to use magic for the rest of your life. It’ll likely be months before you can continue practicing magic. Please be careful, my paladin.” Luna randomly informs me over the telepathic link as I make it out of the castle and into Canterlot proper. Well. That blows.

Our group of 26 made our way through the busy streets of the city and once we’re a few blocks away from the manhole we were planning to use as our entry point, the entire mountain began to rumble and shake.

“Look alive, it’s coming to us!” I call out over the group mind link.

3rd Person POV (A/N: Seriously, there’s way too many fuckin people to use initiative order)

Just as the elf predicted, seconds later cracks and fissures erupted all over the ground as stark white tendrils protruded through the gravel roads. An instant later a massive sinkhole opened and seven white stalks erupted from it. Each neck was wider than a pony and decorated with mouths and eyes. Although the combatants couldn’t hear it, each mouth on the neck was muttering out distorted mimicry of somepony’s final words. The beast let out an ear piercing screech as the seven pony heads atop each neck flailed around trying to determine which creature would be its next meal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0QhGGO1gQ

The all too familiar aura of a bladesong engulfs Ignis as he stacks the haste buff on top of it. Every guard present except for the new Knight of Love freezes in fear the sheer size of the beast. Force takes to the sky and with a flick of her wings both limbs are covered in razor sharp blades. She flies off to the left before turning and flying towards the hydra, Ignis runs to the right for a few steps before sprinting towards the creature from the opposite side. The far left head of the hydra cocks its head towards the incoming living projectile and attempts to bite at her, but she reacts far too quickly. Performing a barrel roll to the side, the head whiz’s past her as her rapidly rotating form slightly angles her wings to the right and leaves a series of lacerations along the length of the neck she flies next to.

At the same time the far right head arches its neck up into the air before launching itself, with its mouth open, directly towards the elf currently sprinting towards it. Ignis skids a stop and does a small jump backwards as the head crashes into the road, burying itself slightly. The bladesinger then leaps up onto the neck and he runs up the hydra. Once he’s a few steps up the neck the beast pulls its head out of the ground causing the elf to stumble a bit. After passing an athletics check Ignis steadies him before pulling back the Moonblade and stabbing directly at the neck under his feet. With a loud chink noise the point of sword veers off to the side, unable to pierce the creatures neck. Whether he just didn’t put enough force into it or he lacked the force due to his unstable footing, it’s anyone's guess.

Gritting his teeth he jumps into the air and lets out a roar as he aims to deliver a horizontal slash longways across the neck. The blade connects and right as it makes contact a bright flash of silver light erupts across the blade and the cut erupts with the sound of an explosion. The blade cuts right through and decapitates the head as Ignis connects with level 4 smite Critical Hit. With a reactionary Feather Fall the elf lands gracefully on the ground at the same time as the decapitated head.

Both of these wounds happen at the same time and the result is instant. All of the remaining heads let out a cry of pain before instantly launching themselves into the non-moving crowd of guards. They arch down towards the ground as if they’re going to bury themselves the same way the far right head did, but right before they hit the ground they turn all of their momentum horizontal. Looking like a bunch of pure white bullets the head fly towards the crowd just above the ground and although all of the guards at the front of the formations are quick enough to dodge, the ones in the 2nd and 3rd ranks are not so lucky.

In an instant the 26 creature entourage is reduced to 20. One of the heads was quick enough to snatch up two guards in the same bite. Everyone present watches with horror as lumps appear in five of the necks that seem to slowly move back towards the sinkhole all of the heads erupted from. They can do nothing but watch in real time as 6 of their comrades are swallowed, slowly.

Quickly getting over the initial shock the frozen guards finally begin to run and spread out, firing off magical bolts, throwing spears. Suddenly a loud crack sounds off in the air and everyone looks up to see Force blitzing down towards the sinkhole. She hasn’t quite broken the sound barrier but there’s a pulsing red cone in front of her. Her irises flashing pink as a glowing light can be seen exuding out from under her armor where her cutie mark would be.

One of the guards calls out over the telepathic link, “It’s her special talent! I never thought I’d get to see it in the flesh!” Her special talent? Ignis’ mind flashes back to when he recovered her unarmored form from the changeling pod, her cutie mark looked similar to a magic missile but larger. “Does she become the missile?! Unstoppable Force, duh.” He can’t help but let out a soft chuckle as he puts the pieces together. He watches as her form disappears into the sinkhole.

An instant later a bright red light flashes and the entire body of the hydra slowly emerges out of the sinkhole. A second later and the entire hydra is above ground, with a red missile pushing into the belly of the beast, lifting it even higher. She lets out a motivating roar as she continues to lift the entire hydra into the air above Canterlot, but of course none of the combatants can hear it.

Eventually the light fades out and they all watch in awe as the colossal amalgamation picks up speed and starts to fall back down to earth. When the hydra impacts with the ground dust and dirt kicks up into a massive cloud, and although unheard by everyone around, the beast releases a loud squelch of pain the contents of its stomach was unleashed onto the ground.

Once the dust fades everyone lets out a mental cheer as they see the 6 guards that were devoured slowly rise to their feet, covered in icky goop. “Everypony focus up. I can only do that once.” Her mental speech is clear but Force is panting for breath as she hovers in the air where she dropped the hydra. Drops of sweat all over her head and body.

With renewed vigor the guards all send out another volley, when suddenly Luna calls out over the link. “Ignis, my sister and her guards are back to normal. We’re headed over now but be careful! If it released control on her it must be planning something.”

Ignis cannot respond as he watches in horror. Six civilians appear from nowhere and jump in front of the oncoming barrage of magic bolts. Thinking quickly he upcasts Scorching Ray to 5th level and sends a spear of fire to intercept all bolts. “No one else will die to this monster!” Each spear of fire connects with the magical bolts and they explode inches from the mind controlled civilians. They all land on the ground with some minor injuries, but seem to be okay as they look around confused.

The bladesong aura intensifies as he sprints over to the currently prone form of the hydra. The heads all flail about as it tries to turn its body back into an upright position. Ignis quickly unleashes two slashes into the neck that was already left with several cuts from the pegasus’ barrel roll. They both leave deep gashes that let out claps of thunderous roar from smite. The second gash causes a bright green fire to explode out and creep up the neck of the monster as the flame jumps over and starts to consume a 2nd neck. It would seem each head counts as a separate creature for Green-Flame Blade. After a couple seconds of the burning the first neck seems to turn to ash as the head falls away from the body and disintegrates.

Two down. Ignis thinks to himself.

Even more civilians start running into the fray as Ignis pivots and turns his body towards the head still covered in green flame. With a slash that's almost too fast to see a wave of light erupts as a long and deep slicing wound appears on the neck.

3 level one spell slots, 1 level two slot, 1 level three slot, and 2 level four slots left. Should be plenty.

Suddenly two beams of blinding light shoot down from the sky and instantly cut off two more heads. One of the beams is a pure silver and the other is a bright orange. Two alicorns land behind the elf. Ignis looks to the left and see’s over 50 small blue shields surrounding all the civilians in sight. They look confused as the shields start to slowly move and push all of the ponies away from the fight.

Suddenly a smaller but equally bright beam of pink light erupts as another head is blasted off of the beast. All the remaining heads let out a scream of pain before going limp on the ground, and Cadence lands a few feet away from the trio with her knight next to her. A few seconds later the gift of hearing is returned to everyone that was just locked in combat.

“Glad you all showed up when you did. We were just barely managing but things were close to going sideways.” Ignis calls out to the new arrivals.

“Were there any casualties?” Celestia questions the Lunar Knight.

“Almost, but Cadence's knight pulled off a spectacular move and saved six guards. How about on your end?”

Force interrupts, “Hey, don’t sell yourself short! That was some quick thinking to save those civilians. I would’ve never thought anypony could intercept magic like that!”

Luna smiles at the elf when she hears the pegasus and answers his original question. “A few bruises but we held our own pretty well.” She looks around at all the damage to the nearby buildings and the road before sighing. “Let’s take a few hours to recuperate and get started on fixing all of this.”

Before anyone can reply the ground starts to violently shake. Everyone turns to look at the deceased hydra in shock as Celestia yells out, “What’s going on?! I confirmed that it was dead!”

Even Ignis is a bit confused because he was awarded XP when all the heads went limp. His face crumples in thought for a second before the realization hits. “Death Throes! Everyone back up, this isn’t ov-”

All the severed heads on that hydra instantly regrow and before he can finish his warning all the heads whip around and scream as pure destruction is unleashed on the city. A cloud of dust obscures everyone's vision as anything close to the hydra is knocked back with a massive blow. Wood can be heard splintering and cracking as all the buildings on this block are destroyed and whipped by the frantic flailing of the dying hydra.

Ignis raises his head and sees that he’s over 30 feet away from where was previously standing. Looking around he sees Luna and Celestia slowly stagger to their feet, just to the left of them Cadence is still lying on the ground. Where buildings once stood there’s now just piles of rubble as prone and unconscious ponies litter the ground. He tries to stand but with a quick shock he drops down onto his back.

I failed the concentration check on Haste. Getting stunned for 1 turn is so brutal for one bad dice roll. Wait. I saw Luna, Celestia, and Cadence, but where’s Lieuten… Knight.. For…? Who?

A deep look of panic and confusion strikes his face. He knows someone else important was with them, but can’t remember their name… He looks at the colossal monster and sees a lump slowly moving down one of the necks of the creature.

NO!

Ignis calls out the alicorns as he rises to his feet, applying Haste to himself one more time. “You three get everyone out of harm's way. I’m going to end this.”

As they attempt to question what he plans they’re interrupted by two screeching heads launching straight towards the elf. He lowers himself down into a stance as he readies himself to meet the hydra head-on. A silver light erupts from the elf as all the wounds on his body glow and close themselves shut.

For the second time today. Ignis levels up.

He sprints straight towards the heads and jumps into the air, watching as they both speed under him. Quicker than sound he unleashes two slashes and two level 4 smites. Both heads are instantly severed.

Ignis lands on the limp necks and continues to run towards the hydra, the quick act of brutality has caused everyone present to stare at the elf, they all can’t help but wonder what they’re about to see.

He flourishes his blade once more and then with a flash of light he’s gone. Suddenly like a blur it appears like he’s in five places at once. Five quick flashes of light appear and to the naked eye it seems like he’s teleporting between the five heads, bright silver lines appear on each neck.

Suddenly he appears on the ground just a few feet away from the hydra and he slides his Moonblade back into its scabbard. As soon as the blade clicks into place all five remaining heads on the hydra disconnect from the body.

The elf then quickly runs over to the disembodied neck that contained the lump of his friend and he watches as a white pegasus rolls out of the limb and onto the ground, covered in mucus. Disregarding the sticky substance he immediately lunges onto the guard and wraps his arms around her. “Knight of Love, Unstoppable Force! Lieutenant Force! That’s your name!”

She just looks confused as she lets out a laugh, wiping her eyes clear.

“Yes sir, that’s me!”

Author's Note

I said this was going to be a super short arc! Hopefully you guys aren't too disappointed with how quickly the hydra went down. Realistically I could've had Ignis instantly forget and come up with some way for him to get a note from himself to go to the everfree with Luna so they'd be far enough away from the hydra and then had them figure everything out and deafen themselves to return to Canterlot, but that just seemed like a roundabout unnecessary way to get things done.

A couple tweaks I gave to the hydra before anyone questions the mechanics.

https://www.worldanvil.com/block/1309409

This is the statblock I used as my base, but I tweaked a few things. Lowered its AC to 18, increased its HP to 478, made the part where victims are forgotten an inherent trait to the hydra and NOT part of it's magical song, and then added a huge AoE explosion to the activation of it's death throes. Any questions about interactions in this chapter or mechanics or why something didn't work like you think it should just ask in the comments and I'll be happy to explain either my thought process for why i had the interaction work that way or I'll just smile and say woops I forgot that part, haha.

Lastly, Steel Wind Strike is such a cool fucking spell and I'm so happy we get to finally see it in action.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Dinner with a Friend

“Ignis what was that attack just now?!” I pull away from the nasty and sticky embrace with Force to look at Luna as she asks about my latest spell.

Casting prestidigitation several times several times to clean off myself and the pegasus, I respond. “Steel Wind Strike. I leveled up when the false hydra died and learned that spell. It’s a 5th level spell that lets me disappear into the wind and cut up to 5 different enemies within 30ft of me, after I finish all the slashes I can choose to teleport 5ft away from any of the targets I attacked. Even if I miss. So how many did we lose?”

Celestia steps up, “None. Not a single pony lost their life here. The efforts you and Miss Force provided combined with the shields from Shining Armor minimized our losses to just mere injuries. I’m proud of all of you.” She gives us all a motherly smile.

I reply, “Perfect. Then we should get started on putting everything back together?”

This time Luna responds, “I admire your spirit, but no Ignis. We will not be assisting with the reconstruction. I have no knowledge of modern architecture and you lack the proper telekinesis. No, I’ll be going to dinner with Cadence like we originally planned and you’ll be RESTING like you’re supposed to be. You’ll have breakfast with us in the dining hall and from there we’ll be going to Ponyville. Generosity has offered to create a dress for me for the upcoming Gala. After that we’ll be going to gather up my thestrals.”

“Like, we’re going straight from Ponyville? With my sword barely functioning and my mana channels handicapped?”

“Aye. It should be a safe trip, I’m not expecting us to even need your sword. Now go rest up and grab some food. I’d invite you for dinner with us, but Cadence seems to want some private time. I believe the words she used was “mare talk.””

“Welp, that’s all I needed to hear. If it’s anything like girl talk back on Earth then I am A-Okay missing out on that dinner.” I look over to Cadence and Force. “Hey former LT, you joining these two for their mare talk or are you free to grab something with me? I haven’t eaten outside of the castle…. Ever? I can’t remember eating anything that wasn’t served at the castle.”

She gives a brief shake of her head. “No, it seems like my Princess is giving me the boot as well. I’ll swing by your room at 1900 and take you to one of my favorite spots. Sound good?”

“You’ll swing by my room? I’ll never get used to the culture here. Yeah that sounds good. Just remember I can’t eat flowers or hay.”

I stand up and look back to Luna to find her with a strange expression on her face. “You good? We still got several hours before dinner did you have anything else we should take care of today?” Suddenly I’m hit by a wicked yawn. I just woke up from a weeklong nap like 5 hours ago, why am I tired?

She replies with a yawn of her own. “The only thing I need is my bed chambers. There is absolutely no reason the Princess of the Night should be awake at noon and it seems like your body agrees. I know you were unconscious for a while, but that was a lot of exertion for someone who just got out of the hospital. Good Afternoon, Ignis.”

“Luna, wait. In my homeland we say good night to each other when we’re going to bed. Regardless of what time it is outside, it’s always good night. This is the second time you’ve given me a time accurate message. I’m just curious, do you have a reason for doing so or is that just the norm here?”

She gives me a smirk, “What your people practiced is in fact the custom here as well, but I refuse to associate my night with an obligation to sleep. We’re going to sleep, but it’s the afternoon, so I say again. Good afternoon, Ignis.”

If I had taken a moment to actually think about it instead of just immediately asking that question I probably would’ve come to that realization. Makes me feel a bit silly now. “Good Afternoon, Luna.”

I plop down onto my bed and the realization hits me. That crafty horse dodged my question. What was that look for?

The first thing I see is a beautiful night sky. Looking down I see that I’m sitting on some pitch black rocky surface. Looking around I realize I’m in space.

“Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up.” I hear an all too familiar voice and my neck snaps in her direction. The only thing I see is a pair of blue dragon eyes staring back at me in the darkness. Nightmare Moon.

“It’s not like I asked to be here. I just closed my eyes and the next thing I know I’m sitting here.” I reply.

“It’s not like I asked to be here, either.”

“Touche, but you were kind of being a bitch. I’ve actually been wondering about that. Did the elements split you from Luna down there in the Everfree and send you here, or have you two always been separate?”

“Now, why should I answer that? It sounds much more fun to just let you guess and theorize.” We both just stare at each other for several seconds. “Oh fine, be that way. We’ve always been separate ponies, but I never had a physical form like this until that night in the Everfree. My first memories are from inside dearest Luna's mind. I’ll have to thank Harmony at some point, though. Not having to fight for control and being allowed my own form is actually quite the gift. Whenever I get off this blasted rock, anyways.”

“If you get off this rock will you try and bring about eternal night again?”

“Who knows?” She flashes me another grin. “I can’t really say I feel any urges to do something like that. Now that I’m fully separated from Luna I’ve been trying to organize my thoughts. Separating her desires from my own.” She quiets down to almost a whisper. “It really feels like I don’t even know who I am.”

Insight Check.

9 + 6 = 15.

That surprises me. I hadn’t expected her to be so… lost? “Why even try to corrupt me then?”

“To replenish my power. It’ll take everything I have and then some to escape this prison. I know one thing for sure, I want to be free.”

“So do you want revenge on the element bearers? Luna? Celestia?”

“Tch. I do greatly dislike every pony you just listed. My wardens, my prison, and the “sister” that just refused to even acknowledge my existence until I forced her to confront me.”

“Okay but like you do realize you literally wanted to plunge half the planet into eternal night and kill all their crops right? That isn’t really a nice thing to do. We either had to stop you or live miserable lives.”

“Again, I don’t want to do that anymore! Luna and my own feelings were combining and amplifying each other. We weren’t too dissimilar to a filly going through hormonal puberty, but cranked up to 100.”

“Nightmare. I can free you from this prison, but I refuse to do so until I know it won’t just lead to another conflict. Will you seek revenge on my friends?”

“Just friends? I think we both know that’s a bit inaccurate, but no I currently have no plans to seek revenge. I just….. I need to talk to Luna. Celestia too.”

“That can likely be arranged. Just know I probably won’t be able to help you until I can use mana again.”

“Don’t get too confident, elf. I can just keep battering away at your mind until you have no choice but to help me.”

“See that right there! That’s why I’m even hesitant to offer my help! You’re too hostile. I get it, you’re angry and confused… but Harmony was right to lock you up here for a while. Take some time to cool off and figure out who you are. I’m outta here.” With a flick of my fingers I wake up.

Just in time to hear someone knocking at my door. Completely forgetting any arrangements I made for the day I open the door to find Force standing there. Instead of her usual guard armor she’s wearing a white dress with red accents that compliment her eyes. I pull myself behind the door and look at myself in the mirror. I’m in the same clothes I’ve been wearing since I got here, with mended tatters and tears. My hair looks like one would expect for someone that just got out of bed. I lean forward through the door and look at her again. “I uh. Wow. Why are you all dressed up? Is the place we’re going to a fancy place? I think I still need a minute to freshen up… I just got out of bed.”

With the usual confidence I expect from her she just stands up onto her hind legs and uses a wing to brush and fix my hair. “It’s a somewhat formal place, yeah. I discovered it when I was on escort duty for a griffon dignitary. I’m not sure why you’re so flustered though, I mean you asked me to grab dinner and I said I’d pick you up. I don’t know about where you’re from but here that’s called a date. Now come on, you look fine just activate your uniform enchantment but keep the mask and hood down. I was aiming for a black and white kinda theme between the two of us.”

“Date?! I was just asking a friend to grab some food with me!” I wasn’t even that flustered before but now I am. “Where did this even come from? I know I can be a bit dense but I wasn’t picking up any signs that you thought about me like this.”

“Well a mare always has to have a good poker face. I always keep things professional when I’m in uniform, but really I think I’ve always been a bit curious about you. Then I watched you fight and couldn’t help but get caught up in your finesse and strength. Plus, you’ve saved me twice now. I think it’d be more weird if I didn’t have a small crush on you at this point. Listen, I understand. The only thing is, I don’t know what you like, what hobbies you have, what your favorite music is, that’s what a first date is supposed to be. A chance to learn all of that about each other. This doesn’t have to be a date if you really are opposed to the idea, but I saw your face when you opened the door. You have at least some level of attraction for me, so why don’t we just take this opportunity to see if it’s something real, and I’m already all dressed up, why waste the chance?”

I lean back into my room and grab a bag of bits before stepping back into the hallway and closing the door behind me. “Alright. Can we stop by a magical supplies shop on the way though? I need to get some ink.”

For the first time I see the pegasus give me a bright smile. “Of course!”

As we walk through the castle several different servants and guards give us a wide range of looks. Some look confused, others give us smiles and nods, and some give me in particular a strange pensive look that borders on disgust. One thing that most of them have in common is that anyone that wasn’t walking by themself ended up whispering things between them. “Do all of these ponies somehow know we’re going on a date? These reactions are quite different from what I usually receive in these halls.”

“Well, the two guards that smiled at us are my friends. I told them I was going on a date tonight, but the others probably have a fairly decent idea of what’s happening. After all, it's not very common for us ponies to get dressed up like I am. I can’t say I appreciate those judgemental looks we got thrown our way.” Well I’ve been getting those since I got here, regardless of who is with me. Maybe I should warn her that those’ll be common if things continue between us. “Don’t go feeling down and blame yourself. Canterlot is a majority unicorn city, I get those sidelong glances even if you’re not here. Even my own parents wish I was a unicorn.”

“Brutal. I won’t lie, I had noticed there seemed to be a slightly larger unicorn presence around us, but I thought ponies were too “harmonious” to have something petty like racism.”

As we rounded one of the last corners before reaching the castle exit we run into two ponies I did not expect to see. Luna and Cadence. The Princess of Love spots us and calls out with a big smile. “Wow wow wow! Look at you two! I hope the both of you have an amazing time.” She looks over to Luna who once again has that strange but subtle look on her face that I can’t quite place.

I watch with surprise as Force trots over to Luna and rears up to whisper something in her ear. The two whisper back and forth a few times before Luna finally relaxes and gives a small smile. “Enjoy your date, Ignis.” My princess softly orders me as she walks past me and when Force comes back over to me I question her as we continue to walk out of the castle and into Canterlot.

“What’d you two talk about?”

“Oh nothing much, I just told her I’d have you home before midnight.” Her left ear folds in a bit and twitches as she flashes a confident grin.

I don’t need an insight check to tell she’s lying, but if she was going to tell me she would’ve done so. Knowing that I don’t push the subject. “Uh huh. Sure.”

The pegasus rotates around and faces me as she walks backwards. “So which direction is this magic shop?”

I point to the right as we go through the castle gate and the two guards on duty salute us as we pass. “It’s just a few blocks that way. Hopefully I have enough bits, I hear magical ink can be quite expensive.”

Turning back around to walk normally she cocks her head and gives me a confused look. “Ignis, we’re both the highest paid officers in the guard. Even though you’ve only been employed for a few weeks you should have a couple thousand bits, easily.”

I pull out the small bag of bits I grabbed before left. “This bag is what I was given on my first night in Canterlot. I already spent most of it. How often do we get paid and was I supposed to go somewhere to get it?”

Now she’s really looking at me like I’m an idiot. “Do you not have a bank account? We get a direct deposit every two weeks.”

I pause my forward motion and look at her. “No… I never really thought about it?”

“You seriously need to do that before you leave tomorrow. I’m actually stunned nopony explained any of this to you.”

“Force, you do realize that the only pony I interacted with on a consistent basis is Luna. The same Luna that also hasn’t been here in a thousand years. The lunar guard literally has no other personnel besides me and her.”

Her mouth forms into an O shape as everything clicks into place for her. She gains an ever so slight blush as she looks away in embarrassment. “That… makes sense. You should just ask Luna for your paycheck then, we’re only a few steps from the castle let’s head back.”

I hold up my palm signaling for her to stop as I pull out the same gem I used in the changeling hive to contact Luna. “Hey Lulu…. Can you pay me?” The pegasus gives a shocked look to hear me use Luna's nickname.

You haven’t been paid?

“No, apparently I was supposed to set up a bank account and talk to the finance department to have my paychecks deposited automatically.”

I haven’t heard of such a system… hold out your hand and get ready to catch something. I’ll teleport a bag over to you shortly.

“Thank you, O merciful Goddess.”

What are you even buying anyways?

“Some magical ink so I can copy some spell scrolls over into my spellbook. I was gunna use the down time on our journey to expand my spell list. I’ve got like 7 new spells I can learn once I get that ink.”

Oh. In that case save your bits. I’ll still send you what you’re owed but you can just use my personal supply of ink.

“You truly are the best, Luna. I appreciate it.”

Oh hush, you. Give me a minute or two.

I slide the gem back into my pocket and stand there with my hand held out as I stare at Force. “Good news, we don’t need to go to the store. Luna has a stockpile of ink I can use, but she’s still going to teleport over my payment so we gotta wait here for a bit.”

“.....Lulu?”

I look away from the pegasus and scratch my cheek. “It’s what Celestia calls her when we’re in private, I just end up using it by accident every now and then.”

A much more sizable bag of bits appears in the air and I quickly shift my hand and grasp it. After tying it around my waist I turn towards Force. “Lead the way! Onwards to food!”

She turns around and starts walking in the opposite direction. I pivot and fall in next to her, a few steps behind. She looks back and smiles at me. “I expect you to come up with a nickname for me too, you know.”

“How the hell do I come up with a shortened nickname for Unstoppable Force? Can I just call you LT?”

Her face contorts into a look like she just bit a lemon. “Absolutely not. I don’t wanna think of work every time you call out to me.”

“Right. Right. Well you’ll need to give me a bit of time, I’ll have to get creative.”

“You better.” She sticks her tongue out at me in a joking manner before turning back to look ahead as we continue towards the restaurant.

Author's Note

Time for the pacing to slow wayyy down. We'll probably spend 3 or 4 chapters knocking out tonight and tomorrow, then another 10-15 for the thestrals and that'll lead us straight into the Gala which will be our season 1 finale!

I meant what I said when I let you all know we'd be going pretty heavy into slice of life for the next little while, so I'll understand if a decent number of you wanna take a break from the story. Come back in 2-3 weeks and we should be back into the swing of things.

Also if it wasn't obvious I'm expanding the romance during this arc. Who knows if we'll end up with any hard set relationships, but a decent chunk of this arc will be exploring the characters and how they all feel at the moment.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Dinner (Date) with a Friend

Our walk is interrupted by a very familiar sinkhole. Looking around I’m shocked to see all the buildings and cracks have been completely repaired. The only evidence that something happened here is the gaping hole in the middle of the street. Sensing my confusion, Force speaks up. “Magic speeds up reconstruction pretty quick. To be honest I’m more surprised the sinkhole is still there, but I guess they ran out of material or need a specialist or something.”

“Have they announced a memorial for those who were lost before we realized what was happening?”

Her voice becomes quite somber, “Yeah. Once the hydra was down for good everypony got their memories back, the current death toll is over 150. The memorial is in a few days on Saturday. They even plan on putting a statue of the heroes who slayed the beast where the sinkhole is.”

“Who is organizing the statue? I won’t be able to attend the memorial, but I need to give some instructions to whoever is making the statue.”

She gives me a very judgmental look, “Oh you wanna make sure they capture your good side? Surely that can’t be what your first thought was.”

I let out a small chuckle, “No. That statue shouldn’t even have me on it. That statue should be a single filly. Her name is Cursive Hoof and she’s the only reason we even discovered the monster. She was born deaf which made her immune to the monster's mind altering lullaby, and she watched it eat her parents. If it hadn’t been for her the death toll would likely be several times higher.”

Her eyes actually well up and she stares at the ground. “Th-that poor foal. I don’t know who’s making the statue but Princess Luna should.”

I reach out and ruffle up her mane a bit, feeling bad that I brought the mood down even further. I decide to just move on from the topic entirely. “C’mon let’s hurry up, I’m starving.”

“H-Hey! I spent 30 minutes trying to style this!” She forgets her sadness in an instant and gives me a glare. After spending a few seconds trying to fix her mane with a wing she starts walking. “Ugh, don’t do that again.”

“No promises~” I should probably bring this up before we get to the place. “Hey actually can we stop for a second, sorry I just remembered something.”

She stops and turns to me. “What is it?”

“I feel obligated to explain why I was so apprehensive to this idea to begin with. You know I’m not from this realm or plane, right?” She gives me a nod with a confused look. “I’m not going to be here forever, Force. I’m still actively trying to figure out a way home. I’ll admit that as of right now it’s not looking all that possible, but it is still possible. Part of my magic gives me quests to accomplish and it awards me with magic items and strength, one of my quests is to find my way back home and it’s still showing as “In Progress” if it wasn’t possible it would’ve changed to “Completed.” Basically, I’m not looking for love because I don’t see a point in it if it just means I’m going to leave in a few years. If you wanna call this whole thing off then I understand.”

She looks even more confused now and…angry? “WHAT?!” She rears up and gets in my face. “You’re just going to get up and leave one day? You became Luna’s paladin and swore an oath against your soul just to one day leave her? Why do you draw the line at love? You think your friends won’t miss you? You think Princess Luna wouldn’t miss you? Why not just live in solitude in the Everfree if you’re still planning to leave? Would that just be too miserable for you? I mean seriously how selfish can you be to just draw some arbitrary line in the feelings sand and say Love is too far-”

“Luna knows! Luna and Celestia, they both know I’m still researching how to leave!”

“Oh so if I told you that in 30 seconds I’m going to kick you in the balls then it won’t hurt anymore right? Since I told you I’m going to do it that makes it painless right?! I can guarantee Princess Cadence doesn’t know about this because if she did she'd be more furious than me! I can’t imagine how Princess Luna feels. The guilt she feels every time she catches herself thinking “I hope he never finds a way home.”” She drops back onto all fours and takes a deep breath. “I just didn’t realize how much of a coward you are.”

“Coward?! Oh pl-”

“Yeah you’re a coward. If you weren’t a coward you’d either be completely selfish and let yourself fall in love or you would live in misery alone in the woods. You’re scared to fall in love because you know you won’t be able to go home anymore. Even if you find a way you wouldn’t take it if you’re in love. Either that or you’re scared of how broken you’d be when you do go home. Either way don’t just sit here and lie and hide behind this notion that you can’t possibly bear to place that pain on somepony else.”

I run a hand through my hair as I stare at the ground with a scowl on my face. Finally I click my tongue in annoyance and look at the pegasus. “I’m just being realistic. Why the fuck would I get into a relationship with someone if I know it’s not going to last? Why put them and myself through that?! I should’ve just put my foot down at the castle and went back to bed, this was a stupid idea.” I turn and start to walk away.

“Or you can just stop being a coward.”

I stop and glare at the knight.

“Anything but a coward Ignis. I actually admire selfish ponies. Being able to just throw away the expectations and desires of everypony around you to chase after what YOU want. That’s a rare thing to find in this kingdom. I think it takes a lot of guts. If you were a selfish bastard I’d still want to date you. As long as you don’t hate me for also being selfish and hoping every night that you don’t find a way home. I can accept you as you are with any flaws you have, except being a coward. I hate cowards. So, what’s it gunna be?”

I turn and start stomping towards her. Once I reach her I just scoff out loud. “You’re unbelievable, you know that? Fine, I’ll be selfish. Let’s go.” She finally adopts a smug grin on her face as she starts leading me down the road again. “But Force, if this somehow works out and we end up dating. When the time comes, and I leave forever I just want you to remember. You asked for this.”

“Yup! Cause I’m selfish too.”

This place is way nicer than I thought it’d be. The inside is a mostly white completely open banquet hall. It reminds me of my fathers but smaller. The dim light also gives a romantic vibe. The only confusing part is that it’s damn near empty, even though it's peak dinner time right now. A griffon in a cheap tux approaches us. “Ah, tonight we are graced by the knight and the knight to be. Will it just be you two dining with us tonight?”

Force answers for us, smiling towards me. “Yep, just the two of us.”

We start following the griffon towards our table when I lean towards the pegasus. “Him saying soon to be knight reminded me, you haven’t completed your oath yet have you? When’s the ceremony?”

“No, we were going to do it the day before you woke up, but all three princesses agreed that symbolically it’d be better if the only other living knight was at the ceremony. So, we agreed to do it after you woke up.”

I slide her chair out for her but it just results in a strange look from the griffon and the pegasus. I slap my forehead. “Sorry, keep forgetting the things I would normally do for girls are reversed in this horse kingdom.” I take a few steps over to my chair and roll my eyes as Force pulls it out for me to sit down. “Anyways. Why wait for me to wake up? Apparently Lunas plan was for us to go on the multi-week long adventure as soon as I woke up. Are you all going to delay the ceremony until we come back? That seems like such a long delay…”

She sits down across from me. “Nah it’s okay. I’m still getting paid as a knight and I’m honestly struggling to come up with my oath. The only reason I even knew about the details of your oath is because I asked Luna what you used to see if I could steal some of it for my own.” She looks at the waiter who has just been staring at us with a bored expression. “Sorry.” She looks back at me. “Do you drink? I was going to get us a bottle of champagne.”

“Not often, but I’ll indulge tonight.” I turn towards the griffon, “Can I also get some water, though?”

“Certainly sir, and which bottle were you thinking for this occasion ma’am?”

She picks up the menu and holds it toward the waiter. “I don’t feel like embarrassing myself trying to pronounce it, can we get this one?” She points her hoof somewhere towards the middle of the menu. It’s facing away from me so I can’t really tell which one she’s picked out.

“And do you two already know what you’d like to eat or do you need some time?”

I glance down at the menu and realize I haven’t even looked at the bloody thing yet. “Oh yeah I probably should’ve been reading this, huh? I definitely need a few minutes.”

The waiter just gives a slight bow and walks off. “Woah this place serves meat? I guess I should’ve figured that out when you said you found this place on escort duty for a griffon. Well, that and the waiter being a griffon.”

“We actually probably only got the griffon waiter because you were with me. The few times I’ve been able to splurge and come here alone I always get an Equestrian waiter until I order meat. Then the Griffon usually brings it out and becomes my waiter. See anything in particular? It’s my treat so feel free to get whatever you want.”

“No. Listen, I'm willing to adapt to this culture to a certain extent, but I won’t budge on this one. You’ve only been on a knight's pay for like a week at most and you already admitted this place is pretty expensive. Also, I don’t even pay for things, like it’s kind of ridiculous actually. Everything in the castle is just provided for me and I haven’t had a reason to really go out and spend bits, so I’m either splitting the bill or I’m paying for the whole thing.”

“Okay! Okay. I get it. Honestly if you’re offering then buck it, you can pay for the whole thing.” She gives me a small laugh. “Honestly the change of pace feels pretty nice.”

“I’m noticing a distinct lack of beef on this menu. Does Equestria not have cows?”

“Oh we do, but they’re sapient creatures. If we were actually in Griffonstone you could probably get some, but it’d be even more expensive than half of this menu combined. They don’t have their own nation but they have a business union here in Equestria. The reason it’d be so expensive is because of how impossible it is to even find cows outside of Equestria, and of course killing them here is illegal, so is the sale or consumption of any beef products.”

“Yeah I kinda lost my appetite for them as soon as you said they could talk.”

The waiter returns and sets down two glasses of water and a bucket filled with ice and our bottle poking out of the top. “Do the two of you still need a minute?”
I shake my head and Force grabs my menu and stacks it on top of hers before passing them both to the griffon. “Nope, I think we’re all set. I’ll have the salmon with a salad.”

He looks over to me, “And you sir?”

“I’ll have some chicken parmesan and…. Do you guys have bacon here?” He gives me a nod. “Oh hell yeah, I’ll take some bacon as well.” He walks away as I look back towards Force. “Honestly not two foods I’d normally order together but I haven’t had bacon in months. Even before I was sent here I had been craving it but hadn’t gotten around to actually buying some to cook up. Also you ordered salmon?”

“Yep! This place wouldn’t be one of my favorites if I wasn’t coming here for some kind of meat. There’s a few places around here that serve fish for pegasi like myself, but griffons will always cook meat better than a pony.”

Force grabs the bottle of champagne from the bucket and pours two glasses. I grab mine and start to take a sip when she clears her throat. Pausing, I look over and see her giving me a look that screams “Duh” while holding her glass towards the center of the table. “We gotta toast to something, doofus.” I just snorted and hold my glass in the air a few centimeters from hers. After flashing a smile she announces, “To your health!”

As we clink the glasses I decide I hate that toast and offer my own. “To your promotion!” I take a sip and let out a sigh. “Woah, that’s sweet. Sweeter than anything from Earth for sure.”

Constitution Saving Throw (Advantage).

1 and 4. 4 + 2 = 6. You are drunk.

“I know! Isn’t it great?”

Wow this got awkward fast. It’s been like 30 seconds of pure silence. “So do your parents actually hate you just because you were born with wings? They realize you didn’t really get any say in the matter, right?”

“Ugh, I know right. Honestly I think the main problem is that for years my sire was convinced that I wasn’t his. Both of my parents are unicorns so he assumed she must’ve been fooling around, but the mana signature test confirmed it as soon as I was old enough to take the test. I remember hoping that everything would get better after the test, but it didn’t. His entire family started rioting and claiming that the bloodline is impure. Things only finally calmed down when my little brother was born. They finally got the unicorn they wanted. Once he was born I just quietly existed until I was old enough to move out. Got selected for the Wonderbolts Academy, wasn’t good enough to make the main squad but still got an officer recommendation with a specialization in maneuvers. I actually plan to invite them to the knighting ceremony, but who knows if they’ll show.”

“Ha, if they do, you should have Cadence tell them about how she was born a pegasus too. Seems like Harmony or whoever is in charge doesn’t care what appendages you’re born with.”

“She, WHAT?!”

“Oh… was that confidential information? Listen, you didn’t hear that from me. I’m sure you would’ve found out anyways….eventually. Sorry I’m kind of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.”

“Lightweight?! You’ve had like half a glass that’s more like a featherweight!”

I’m not gunna tell her that I’m only drunk cause I got insanely unlucky on a dice roll. “Its fineee~. I’m like 108 years old or something I can handle myself.”

“So the rumors are true…. I thought there was no way you could be that old.”

“Oh please, my kind aren’t even considered adults until we’re 100. The really old one lives in my sword, she’s like 30,000 years old. That reminds me I should check on her at some point tonight…”

“Your homeland sounds so different and interesting. Do you have any stories? If it’s not too painful to talk about… I mean.”

“No, I don't mind. Let me tell you about my family….” I tell her everything. Tala, Mom, Dad, the Final Dance ritual, the Moonblade, all the events and banquets, the system, everything. Everything except Earth. Just like with Luna all I did was mention it in a passing comment.

In the middle of my stories the food comes out and it’s delightful. In between my own tales she tells me how she got her cutie mark, stories from when she was escorting dignitaries. Eventually the only thing on the table is an empty bottle and a griffon is kindly asking us to leave so they can close up shop.

Standing outside looking at the sky, Luna’s outdone herself tonight. I glance back down to Force when I hear speak up. “If only you had wings! That’d be the perfect ending to tonight, a romantic flight over the city and we can lay down on a cloud and stare at the stars. Wait no, we can’t stargaze. I don't want you thinking about another mare! Look at me!” She flies up and gets in my face. Seems like I’m not the only drunk one now.

“I’m looking at you! Listen no stargazing, but give me a minute I might be able to do something about the whole no wings thing.” If I’m a bonafide Chosen for a deity surely I have wings now, right? Double checking over my racial features and my paladin features I don’t see anything…

“What are you doing~? Is it that weird system thing you were talking about?”

“Shhh. I’m making a deal with the devil.”

Hello!!!~~ Oh Nightmare~, Wherefore art thou my Nightmare?

You keep talking like that and I’ll recreate the ending to that play. What do you want? Also… are you drunk?!

I want wings!

….. Okay? You aren’t going to expand on that at all?

I’m the Chosen of the moon, every Chosen gets wings. It’s like…. a law.

No, it’s not. I can give you wings, bladesinger, but nothing comes without a price.

Wait, I can just ask Luna. Silly me. Have a good night…. Nightmare. That sounds awkward.

W-wait, no!

Pulling out the gem from the changeling hive I grasp firmly.

Oh Luna~.

I’m glad to see you seem to be enjoying your night, what is it Ignis.

Can you give me wings? Nightmare supposedly fixed my connection to your divinity and I was really hoping that meant I could get a nice set of wings.

…What? No, I can't give you wings. I mean I can, there’s a spell for it, but it has nothing to do with our connection. Why do you-

“Hurry up!” I receive two hooves straight to the chest as Force throws a mild tantrum.

“Shush, the grown ups are talking.”

Excuse me?

Oh shit sorry I thought I only said that part outloud, Force is being impatient.

Tch. So that’s why you want wings, huh?

At this exact moment…. Yes, but I’ve always been jealous of creatures that can fly. It seems so freeing and relaxing.

Whatever, just don’t fly into something and hurt yourself. The last thing any of us needs is a drinking and flying scandal.

As she says that two giant wings appear on my back, “Woah!!” You’re the best Luna! Thank you!

Uh huh. Tell Cadence's knight that she only has 45 minutes left.

“Luna says you only have 45 minutes left. Whatever that means.”

“Oh buck it’s already 2315! Did those wings come with instructions?”

“Instructions? No?”

“Do you instinctively know how to fly, is what I’m asking.”

I jump into the air and feel the wings behind me flap on their own as I hover in the air. “Yeah, it seems pretty automatic.”

“Good, follow me.” She zips off into the open air and I slowly trail behind her. Looking back I watch as the castle gets smaller and smaller. How high are we going? “Oh my gosh you’re so slow! C'mon!” She banks around and flies down to me and after grabbing my hand with her hoof she zips up again.

“Woah! How high up are we going?!” I yell over the sound of wind.

“We’re going to my house, silly!”

I’m so confused. But, sure enough as we pass a particularly dense cloud I see it. A two story house made entirely out of clouds. “What the fuck?” I can’t help but mutter out loud. “You live in a cloud?”

“Yep! Most pegasus do, it’s basically free, we just have to do the maintenance to make sure the clouds don’t dissipate. Let’s go to the roof, oh I can’t believe I get to see your reaction to your first time laying on a cloud!”

“I thought you said no stargazing?”

“Oh shoot that’s right. Well either way you should still lay down, laying on a cloud for the first time will literally change your life. After that we could always take things inside…. 30 minutes should be plenty of time for… something or two.”

“Sorry, Force. I had a great time, and I definitely wouldn’t mind doing something like this again, but I don’t quite think I’m ready to take things that far yet. With anyone.”

“Ah that’s fine I was like… half joking.” She says that but she looks pretty disappointed.

I lay down on the cloud and let out a huge sigh. “Oh wow you weren’t kidding. It’s like all the tension in my body just melted away. It literally feels like I’m just floating on nothing.”

She lays down on her side an arm length away from me. “I know right, honestly just the ability to sleep on one of these babies is almost worth all the trouble these wings caused me. Almost.”

I roll over and grab the pegasus. Laying back down on my back I plop her down next to me, with her head resting on the area where my left pectoral meets my shoulder, both of her forehooves laying across my chest. I glance at her face to find her eyes opened wide, pupils like saucer plates, and a bright blush under her eyes. “...I never realized how big you are. I’m only a bit longer than your torso, and you just tossed me around like it was nothing.” Her forelegs fold up a bit and she nestles her head closer to me. “Feels…. safe.”

“Sorry for not saying anything, you just looked so dejected and I really did have a great time. FIgured this should be good enough.”

All I get in response is a quiet “Mhmm.”

“Hey don’t fall asleep! I gotta leave in like 10 minutes or something.”

“Nuh uh. She’ll get over it and she’s not my princess. I didn't vote for her!”

“None of you voted for any of the princesses!" I can't help but let out a chuckle. "I never expected you to have such a childish side. It’s pretty cute.”

She looks up at me with a pout. “Shut it. I’m tired and drunk. I don’t have the energy to talk like a proper grown up.”

“Uh huh. Alright upsy daisy!” I stand up and hold her against my chest. “Let’s get the cute pony to bed.”

“Stop calling me cute! I’m a knight! Knights aren’t cute!” She continues to protest as I walk down her cloudy hallway and stop at the only decorated door I see. Pushing it open I can confirm it is at the very least a bedroom. Hopefully it’s hers.

“Fine fine, O brave and mighty knight!” I announce as I drop her onto the bed. I watch as she curls up into a ball and pulls a puffy blanket over herself with her wings. “Good night, Force. Cya at breakfast.”

“Mhmm.”

Landing on Luna’s balcony I knock on the glass door a few times before opening it. “You in here, Luna?”

“Yes, just patrolling the dreamscape.” I watch as her eyes open and stare at me with a neutral expression.

Closing the balcony door I take a seat next to her bed. With a sigh I mutter to myself, “Be selfish. You can do this.” Looking at Luna I see her staring at me with her head cocked to the side and a confused look on her face. I call out to her.

“We need to talk, Luna.”

Author's Note

Took a little longer than I was hoping for to get this chapter out, but that's okay. Cute little chapter.

Nothing much to say about this one, not sure if clop will ever be a thing. I feel bad adding it to a story that wasn't advertised to have it to begin with, I know it's not really a thing a lot of readers like. If it ever happens I might just elude to the fact the event occurred and start a spin-off fic that just contains the smut chapters as it's own separate entity.

Anyways, that's a problem for future me! Thanks for reading!

Onto the Next Adventure!

Ka-Thunk Ka-Thunk

My head is pounding as I slowly open my eyes to the sound of the train moving along the tracks. What the fuck happened last night? The last thing I remember is flying back to the castle… did I blackout? Wait, why am I on a train?! I was supposed to get breakfast in the dining hall then go to Ponyville with… “Luna.” Sitting up midway through my panic I realize Luna is lounging across from me in our private suite.

“Oh look who slept through breakfast. I must say it was quite amusing to watch you stumble into my room and declare that we need to talk with such a serious expression, only to fall face first onto my bed completely passed out. I talked to Force and she informed me it was just 1 bottle shared between the two of you, so I’ve noted that you can’t handle alcohol. Good thing we didn’t wait until the gala to find out.”

“UGH! Luna, I got unlucky! As soon as I took my first sip I was forced to roll a dice to see if I would get drunk and I rolled horrendously. That’s so anno-” I’m interrupted by a gnarly hangover as I clutch my head in pain.

“So, what did you want to talk about last night that made you so serious?” Luna asks while giving me a look of amused curiosity.

“Let’s kick that can down the road for now. It was a lot easier to bring up that topic while under the influence, but now I’m sober and this hangover is making it ten times worse. Did I already miss our stop in Ponyville?”

“Nay, the train only departed from Canterlot maybe ten minutes ago. We’ve still got another hour and a half.” She ignites her horn and a few seconds later a pony comes through the door with a glass of orange juice. “Thank you.”

The drink floats over to me and I grab it out of the air. “Why are we taking the train anyways? Flying or teleporting would’ve been more convenient.”

“I haven’t gotten a chance to ride one of these yet, they didn’t exist before my banishment. This seemed like a good opportunity to see how I feel about them, so far I’m impressed. It’s not as fast as flying if you consider it as 1 trip versus 1 trip, but if you think about how many flying carriages it would take to bring the same amount of ponies and luggage… it’s not even a competition at that point. This invention is marvelous.”

I take a deep chug of the OJ before pressing the cold glass against my forehead. “They know we’re visiting today right?”

“Hm? Yes, Generosity knows we’re stopping by.”

“Of course she knows, I’m saying did you tell anyone else? The local officials will likely shit themselves if you or your sister shows up unannounced. Surprise visits never go well.”

“Oh surely you jest. If it were Tia I could see that happening, but I doubt we’ll receive any such reception. The most we’ll get is somepony screaming that Nightmare Moon has returned as they run off to alert the town…. I guess that could still be problematic. I see what you mean now.”

I just give her a deadpan stare. “Am I getting anything made as well? Or is it just expected for me to wear my uniform?”

“Awh, you ruined the surprise.” She flashes an adorable pouting face for a second. “Yes you’ll be having something made as well. Apparently she’s turning this endeavor into a fashion show. She’s already mostly finished dresses for the other elements, and she’s designed something for both of us but she didn’t want to finalize everything without having our measurements.”

“Is it bad that I’m slightly terrified to see what she’s made for me? She’s only seen 1 outfit to use as a base for my entire species' fashion. What are the odds I end up in some weird outfit…”

“Oh please, if it’s bad we can just request changes or reject it all together. Now, pay attention. I'm going to cover our plan once we’re done here in Ponyville.” Luna conjures up a pseudo hologram map of the world. Directly in the center is Canterlot. “Once we finish up here we’re going to take the train again and ride West, through Whitetail Woods, until we reach the end of the line. From there the trains only go North or South, but we need to continue West so we’ll be on hoof from there. This entire mass of land after we get off the train is the Undiscovered West so who knows what we’ll run into there. From there all I was told is to follow the mountain peaks until we see the North Luna Ocean. At that point we should see a cave and that’ll be where the thestrals have been hibernating.”

“North Luna Ocean? You’ve had an entire ocean named after you and ponies still didn’t know who you are? Luna, don’t take this the wrong way, but are ponies just kinda…. dumb?”

“No! They’re simply uneducated. Cutie marks drastically reduce the need for generalized basic education, we only mandate that foals take 6 years of broad generic education. After that they can go to a trade school, university, or just follow their cutie mark and naturally find success. During those 6 years apparently history is not one of the prioritized subjects.”

“That’s a mistake, those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it. Sorry, we got off topic. You’re not expecting any problems or hostility from the thestrals right?” I decided to ask the important question.

“We’re not actually sure if they’ve sworn loyalty to Nightmare Moon or me. They were my thestrals before the corruption, but they did swear loyalty to her after the corruption. So technically speaking, their oath to Nightmare is the most recent one. I’ve been speaking with their leaders in their dreams though, and I think we should be fine. I told you yesterday, didn't I? I don’t expect you to use your blade a single time this entire trip.”

I let the conversation die as Luna goes back to her reading material. Now that we know Nightmare is still alive and active it actually makes me severely uneasy to hear that they have an oath with her. Hopefully Luna's feeling is correct, though. I wonder if I should try being more friendly with the element bearers? If they’re seen as heroes to Equestria then it would be good for Luna's image to be friends with them, and they seem reliable.

Let’s make a mental note, a lot of things have happened over the past couple weeks. I need to keep track of my threads.

Callisid is still MIA. Likely got dismissed in the chaos at the colosseum, need to resummon him. Twilight likely has magical supplies for this.

I need to communicate to Celestia my thoughts about the memorial statue. I sincerely think Cursive Hoof and her parents are the ones who should be depicted.

Need to transcribe all the spell scrolls into my spellbook.

See if I can make contact with the ancient elf in the Moonblade, I will likely need to perform some ritual with Luna to fix the damage I caused.

Circling back to number 1 that needs to be top priority. I can send him to the dragon lands and have him inform me on their plans.

Lastly…. I swear I’m forgetting something. Eh, probably not important.

“Ignis are you coming? We’ve been at the station for over 5 minutes and the conductor needs to leave or he’ll fall behind schedule.” Luna grabs my attention as she pokes her head into the suite.

“Oh sorry, guess I got a little lost in my thoughts.”

I follow Luna off the train and look around. Honestly I think I would’ve preferred to live here over Canterlot. It’s a shame that Luna is tied to the castle, although maybe a vacation home? I should see how much real estate costs in this world and figure out if I can afford it. My inner rambling is interrupted by Luna. “Has anypony told you that something seems different about you?”

“No? I mean I’ve only talked to you, your sister, Cadence, and Force. None of them mentioned anything like that.”

“Right before you performed that new spell that lets you zip around and attack multiple creatures, and every moment since then, your presence feels…. what’s a good descriptor here? Heavier. Even ponies that aren’t as attuned to mana can feel when you’ve entered a room. Did your “level up” have any significant meaning other than new spells?”

“Oh yeah, all of my offensive based cantrips like Fire Bolt or Booming Blade gained more power. Fire Bolt in particular is quite potent now. Other than that though, no nothing really significant.”

“Interesting. I’ll likely ask for a demonstration once we depart from here. You’ll need to work on learning to suppress your presence now, though. It’s something you’ll now need to do passively at all times, or you’ll unsettle anypony that can feel mana. I’ll suppress it for you for now, but it’ll likely be the first thing you work on when you are able to return to training your mana.”

“I assume this is something you and your sister do?” She gives me a nod as we continue to walk. “Can I feel your unsuppressed aura?”

“Ha! No, not in the middle of a populated town, Ignis. If you were worried about any panic or unpleasant situations before, it’d be much worse if I did that here. I can simulate what your presence currently does though, I assume you wanted to see what it feels like so you’d know how seriously to treat the suppression training.”

“Something like tha-” I’m interrupted as it feels like someone places a heavy hand on my shoulder. A shiver creeps up my neck and I feel my instincts telling me to turn around. Turning around I just see a floating dark purple orb enshrouded in Luna’s magic.

“That’s what you would’ve been doing to everypony here in Ponyville. Although my simulation at the end of the night is still my mana, so it was likely a bit more sinister than yours. Yours just feels like I should be on alert and my instincts point my eyes toward your location.” The orb disappears into nothingness.

“Got it. Yeah that’s surprisingly annoying. Nothing like that happens in my world as we get more powerful. You’d have to be something like an Archmage or a dragon to have an aura strong enough to command attention from a room when you enter. I’m guessing it’s because no one is even aware mana exists and the mana is what causes the presence?”

“Correct. There was a mage in the long forgotten past that used to mentor me and Tia, he speculated that the presence was due to the increase in density of the mana. Anypony can increase how large their mana pool is, but increasing the density of your mana pool is something that can only be done by ponies that have increased the size of their pool to its limit. It’s not intuitive either, it took years for that same mentor to grasp the concept and apply it to his stagnated magic.”

“If that’s the case then why has it happened to me? Surely just that level up can’t be the cause, maybe if it was level 17 or 20, but not 11?”

“It’s likely due to Nightmare Moon bolstering your connection to the moon combined with the level up. One of those on its own likely pushed your mana pool to its limit, but when added onto by the other your body had no choice but to condense the mana. On the bright side, this means your mana channels shouldn’t take as long to fully recover. I’d even go so far as to say you might be cleared to train by the time we get back.” She gives me a smile as she drops the good news on me. “Now, let’s go greet Generosity.” We arrive at some frilly building that seems to have a carousel design towards the top of it. As we enter through the front door a bell chimes off.

“Terribly sorry, darling, but I’m afraid we’re closed today. I’ve got to focus on my last minute touch ups and finalize these designs before they go down the catwalk tonight.” A familiar voice calls out from another room.

I’m about to speak up and inform the unicorn who we are when Luna beats me to the punch. “I believe I have an appointment. It should be under, “Princess Luna.” I’ve brought Ignis with me as well.”

The unicorn suddenly slides across the floor as she runs into the room. Around her neck is a tape measure and she’s holding several pieces of fabric in the air. She drops into a formal bow and speaks. “Apologies, your highness, I lost track of time and didn’t realize it was already time for your appointment.”

“Rise Generosity, you are a hero to this kingdom and a savior of myself. You do not need to bow to anypony. Feel free to call me Luna or just Princess is fine. Plus, if we keep up with formalities it’ll take hours to finish this dress.”

Rarity rises and offers a smile to Luna. “Oh of course Princess, but only if you also agree to call me Rarity. You’re the first pony to address me by my element and frankly it makes me uncomfortable.” She looks over at me and glances up and down my form. Right now my enchanted armor is currently appearing as my standard uniform for when I’m on duty. I have my hood down and mask off though. It really is a bit too intimidating to just walk around like that. After giving me a once over she circles behind me and gives me a full inspection, I won’t lie it has me a bit flustered. “This is the first time I’ve had a chance to really look at your uniform in detail from up close. This design really is something else, especially the inside of your cowl.” As she mentions it she grasps the hood in her magic and lifts it up onto my head. Inspecting the inside of the hood she clicks her tongue. “Tch, to waste something so intricate and beautiful on the inside of the cowl is a crime against fashion. Honestly I have half a mind to incorporate it into your tuxedo, but the thing is I cannot figure out how this projection is being done. It’s not static every time you move your head or turn the night sky shifts in the same way. As if the illusion is just a…. scrying spell pointed into the night sky.”

Luna has a look I don’t see on her face very often, smug. “That is exactly what it is, Rarity. I placed a permanent scrying anchor in space and connected it to the illusionary enchantment. The reason it’s on the inside is because it isn’t meant for everypony else to see it. He and he alone can look at my night from anywhere at any time. It’s for him and him alone. I forbid you from using the same enchantment for his gala attire.”

Wow when she says it like that it almost feels like an intimate gesture. I can tell both of them can see I’m somewhat embarrassed right now. Pulling the hood even further, obscuring my face, I look around the inside. This is only for me, I should treasure it a bit more.

Rarity giggles at my reaction before responding to Luna's command. “Something like that is beyond my ability anyways, Princess. It seems I’ll have to throw out his entire design too, I was not expecting such a drastic change in his hair and eye colors since the last time I saw him.”

“Ah, that is an oversight on my part. I failed to mention it when we were discus-” Luna is speaking but I decide to interrupt her.

“Let’s continue the design as if my hair is still silver. My intuition tells me it won’t stay like this forever and to be quite honest I’ll just bleach the fucker if it refuses to turn back. If it hasn’t returned to silver by the night of the Gala we can just use an illusion for it. My eyes on the other hand… they will likely look like this for the foreseeable future.” I could cast Protection from Good and Evil, but even if it works what is that going to do to my Feat? Would I just lose my Devil Sight? Also it’d likely sever my true connection to the moon. Although secretly… I don’t hate the look. If teenager Lucas could see me right now he’d be freaking out. It’s the perfect amount of edginess.

“Darling, the eyes are a big problem too. If it’s just the eyes I can still use the design, but the colors will need to change for sure. Let’s go get measurements for both of you and you can review the designs on paper while I work.”

Ah I’m hoping I can avoid getting measured. “Rarity, just so you know I refuse to go to the Gala unarmored. You can just show me whatever design you have and I’ll shift the illusion enchantment to match your design. You can just tweak and adjust it on the fly.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you had full control over the illusion. I assumed it was just an on and off thing. I’d still like your measurements anyways though, it’ll make any future orders for you much easier.” Seems she intends on getting these measurements. I won’t hold it against her though, she likely doesn’t understand why I’m apprehensive or embarrassed to take off my outer garments. Since most of these ponies are always naked.

“I agree, Ignis. Honestly I know you keep your uniform clean through magic, but if you were to disable the enchantment completely it’d be obvious how tattered the clothing is. You really need other clothes to change into, if not just to have something to wear when your uniform is being repaired.” Luna agreeing with Rarity seals my fate.

“How much of my clothing do I need to remove for you to take the measurements?” I ask Rarity as she frantically looks around for the papers containing the designs.

“Oh you don’t have to remove anything if you’re shy about it. I can just slide your clothing around to expose the parts I need to measure as I get around to them. I admit it would speed the process up though. Really whatever you’re willing to part with would be helpful.”

Oh so I don’t need to get naked at least. That’s good. I probably would’ve refused anyway, but that’s nice. I’m wearing somewhat tight underwear that goes down to the middle of my thigh, and honestly if I’m wearing that it won’t feel too different from being in a bathing suit. Definitely less embarrassing than the short shorts I was forced to wear for track.

Stripping down I take a moment to actually look at myself. I’ve been cleaning myself and my uniform with magic since I got here so I haven’t actually taken off these clothes like ever I think. For a body that was supposedly bedridden for two decades I’m surprisingly toned. I don’t look like a bodybuilder by any means, I only have 13 strength after all, but I look like someone that does intense calisthenics everyday. Abs are defined and toned, pecs are respectable, even my arms don’t look too bad. The arms are definitely the biggest weak point though, if I was wearing a short sleeved t-shirt you would not think I had any strength.

Looking up I find Rarity and Luna both looking away. One of them is looking at the floor and the other one is glancing at the ceiling. “Why are the two of you more embarrassed than me when I’m the one that didn’t even want to do this to begin with?!”

Luna looks me in the eyes with a flustered look. “I will admit I was a bit curious what you looked like underneath all of that cloth, but I didn’t expect the feeling it would invoke. We’re so used to seeing you clothed that looking at you like this almost feels… forbidden. It feels like we shouldn’t look.”

Insight Check.

16 + 6 = 22.

Something seems off, she’s definitely hiding something. She looked away for a brief instant when mentioning that she didn’t expect how it made her feel. Why would she lie about that though, moreso how could she have known this is what her reaction would be? I woke up wearing my uniform but I was thoroughly bandaged under the uniform so I must’ve been stripped. Did she do that herself? I wouldn’t even particularly mind if it was something to do with my health, and it doesn’t seem like something she would go out of her way to cover up. It has to be something else but what? There’s no way she’s stripped me in my sleep…. right? No, that's crazy she wouldn’t do that. I’ll just make a note to ask her about this later.

“What she said.” Rarity quietly gives her eloquent explanation as she continues to look away. With a quick cough the unicorn shakes her head and looks at me as the small blush disappears from her face. “I apologize for my failure to maintain professionalism. Here are the designs for both of you, let me know what you think while I get these measurements.” She floats over a couple pieces of paper to both of us. Does she want me to provide feedback for Luna’s dress as well and vice versa for Luna to provide feedback for my tuxedo? I could understand why Luna would need to review both designs but why do I get to review both?

Rarity notices my confusion as she uses her magic to hold my arms out flat as she measures my shoulders and arm length. “The reason you’re both reviewing both designs is because they are intended to be a set. Ignis’ tux will compliment the Princesses dress.” Ah so that’s why.

Well, let’s look at my tux first. The base color is dark blue and along the bottom edge of the jacket, all the way around, there’s a mural that at first looks like waves of an ocean, but colored solid silver all throughout. Looking at it a bit closer though I realize these aren’t waves, they're outlines that create several small silhouettes. The design is just big enough that I can tell these are silhouettes of elves. They’re all perfectly recreated from my memories, the first ones starting at the front are my childhood friends and they’re all positioned as if they’re running from the front of the jacket to the back.

Continuing around the bottom edge the next silhouettes are Callisid and my personal attendant that looked after me when my parents were busy when I was extremely young. For Callisid a line of solid silver comes out from the bottom and then narrows to a pinpoint before exploding back out into the shape of a bat. The attendant is standing straight with both of her arms held up in the air as the outline of a toddler sits in her grasp. Reaching the center of the back of the jacket the final outlines are recreating a scene that flashed in my mind back in the changeling hive right before I lost my shit. Mother and Father are facing forward and instead of the small child me, the current me is outlined in between them. I’m holding the Moonblade and pointing its tip straight up as a thin silver line shoots up the back of the jacket before expanding into Luna’s cutie mark in the center of my back, between my shoulders.

If the silhouettes have no detailing to be clear, it’s just blobs of solid silver that are creating outlines, but these are just big enough that it’s clear to me what each outline is. If they had been even an inch bigger it’d be tacky, but they’re just small enough that from a medium distance it just looks like small intricate silver patterns along the bottom edge of the jacket. The rest of the jacket is just plain dark dark blue. I thought there’d be a few stars here and there but picturing it with the silver design at the bottom and adding stars makes it a bit too much. The lapels are black and the inner shirt is a white button up. Each button is a different phase of the moon.

“It’s perfect Rarity. Luna, did you help her with these outlines? You must’ve they’re too accurate otherwise.”

“I did. Between patrolling the dream realm and doing some light paperwork there wasn’t much else I could do from your hospital room. I ended up passing letters back and forth with Rarity and when I mentioned your homeland she pitched the idea. All I did was send her some sketches for the outlines.”

My measurements are done by now so I start putting my clothes and armor back on while looking at Luna's dress. It starts off with a very light see through black material that puffs up and around the back of her neck. Once it reaches her body it turns into a solid black, no longer see through. That covers up her chest fluff and covers her entire barrel. The black see through material returns in the form of tight sleeves that cover roughly 1/3rd of her forelegs. Starting right above her wings another fabric appears and fans out, dropping down over the rear half of her barrel and covering her cutie mark and her rear legs, this fabric is what classifies this as a dress. It’s a puffier wavy fabric that is the same shade of dark dark blue as my tux. Embedded all along the edges of this wavy fabric is a massive silver fire that seems to be moving up the fabric and forward towards the center.

There’s little stars drawn on the silver fire and above the design it states “Silver fire design will actually be thousands of tiny diamonds that make the fire design glitter and reflect light like a real fire.”

I really don’t have anything to say about Luna’s dress either. If you can really make that effect with the diamonds it’ll be beautiful. What makes these two a set though? The colors match but that’s all I see.”

Rarity gives me a look of disappointment before looking at Luna with a questioning gaze. Finally she turns back to me and answers. “The centerpiece of your tux is right here in the middle of your back, it’s Luna’s cutie mark. Now look at the silver fire on her dress. Are you really not getting it?”

“It’s a reference to your name, Ignis. You have my symbol on your back and I have your symbol on mine. The fire represents Ignis.” Luna decides to help me out.

I form an O shape with my mouth. “Oh wow yeah I guess I am a little slow. Won’t something like this make people think we’re in a relationship though? The symbolism almost feels like a claim or a marking of territory.”

Luna rolls her eyes. “Oh ponies will always interpret things to whatever suits their narrative. Besides….maybe it’s not a bad thing if that misinterpretation helps prevent more Lieutenant Forces from showing up.”

Before I can follow up on that train of thought the bell at the front door rings again and the voices of the other element bearers can be heard. “Oh perfect timing I can start actually making the Princesses dress while they all try on their own!”

Rarity walks out of the room to go greet her friends and I look at Luna. “Do we really need to stay here and do the fashion show with all of them? Honestly her designs are good enough I think we can just trust her to finalize your dress and we can just head out of here?”

“Oh nonsense! The element bearers seem like nice ponies and I want to get to know them. Come, let’s go greet them as well.” She stands up and begins to walk out.

Ugh, I thought they wouldn’t be here until much later, closer to the actual fashion show. I don’t have the patience or the social battery to hang out with all 6 of them for several hours. Oh I can ask Twilight if she has the materials I need to re-summon Callisid! I can use his resummoning as an excuse to bail out of here for a few hours, perfect.

Author's Note

This took way longer than I wanted it to. I legitimately had to rewrite the beginning of the chapter probably like 4 times. This is the first time I've actually spent time multiple days in a row on 1 chapter. Because of this I'm worried that between paragraphs it'll feel like whiplash and you're like "why is it talking about this now, it didn't even finish its thought on this?"

If there's any of that just let me know, but I did speed read through most of this and I think it's ok for the most part.

Is it just me or is it starting to feel like Luna x Ignis ship has already sailed but Luna is the only one who knows they're in a relationship? It'd be funny if like 100 chapters from now Ignis is just like "Wait, I just realized how similar the way we act is to a herd. Are we in a herd?" and Luna being like "You idiot, we've been in a herd for months!"

I don't have it in me to do that though. I hate situations that are caused purely because two parties just refuse to communicate so writing something like that isn't possible for me. Cause I'd probably hate writing it as much as I hate seeing it.

Anyways, we'll probably wrap up the fashion show next chapter and start moving towards the thestral reveal! Thanks for reading!

Side Quest - Dressed for Success pt. 1

“Princess Luna?! What are you doing here?” Twilight is the first one to spot us as we walk out of the side room to greet them. Everyone but Rarity drops down into a bow, but Luna just gives them the same “you bow to no one” spiel that she gave to Rarity.

“I’m surprised Rarity did not tell you. We’re both here for our Gala outfits, I had several offers from supposedly prestigious establishments in Canterlot, but Rarity was the only one to also offer to make something for Ignis.” Luna continues after they all rise from their bows.

“You literally cannot say anything. Miss “I’m not gunna tell the local guards or the mayor that I’m coming, good luck everybody.”” I shift my gaze over to the purple unicorn, “Hey Twilight do you have charcoal, incense, herbs, and a brazier at the library? I need to resummon my familiar but forgot to do it before we left Canterlot.”

Her ears twitch and her eyes widen. “Familiar? I thought those weren’t real?! I have everything but the brazier, the library is a tree after all, but there should be several along the border between Sweet Apple Acres and the Everfree. They use them to keep the treeline well lit and deter any predators from leaving. Just head over to the library and ask Spike for those ingredients.”

“Sick nasty, thanks. Luna you’re staying here I assume?” She gives me a nod. “Alrighty, well it’ll take me well over an hour to perform the ritual so I won’t be back for a while.” I start to leave but notice Twilight looking at her group of friends then at me then back to her friends. “You good Sparkle?”

“I don’t wanna ditch my friends that I’ve already made plans with, but I really want to learn more about your world's magic… I still need to try on my dress too.”

“Like I said it’ll take me over an hour, and I’m coming back here afterwards. Just try on your dress or whatever and I’m sure your friends won’t mind you stepping out for a few minutes. But, it's up to you. I could always show you the ritual some other time, but it’s pretty time consuming so I don’t know when the next time will be…Eh whatever. Be back later!” I give the ladies a wave as I walk out of the shop.

I’m surprised none of them mentioned my eyes, but maybe it’s not as noticeable as I originally thought. That’d be ideal. Walking through Ponyville I notice something about the town that’s much different since the last time I was here. Most of the ponies that I walk past either have no reaction, as if they don’t even care that I’m here, or they smile and wave. Did the entire city just suddenly start being accepting of other species since the last time I was here? I can feel my body relax as a soft smile finds its way onto my face, this is a nice change of pace.

Opening the door to the library I find a… small purple reptile? Oh it’s the big lizard I saw sitting on Twilights back the first day I showed up here. Is he Spike? Either way it turns around from the bookshelf it’s organizing and speaks with a childish voice. “Hey didn’t anypony teach you to knoc- woah are you the elf creature Twilight was talking about a few weeks ago?”

“Knock? Isn’t this a public library?”

“Oh yeah…”

“But, yes I am an elf.” Suddenly my smile becomes bittersweet. “Well I guess you’re not technically wrong. In this world I am THE elf, not an elf. Anyways, I need some charcoal, incense, and herbs. I was over at Rarity’s shop with Luna when Twilight popped in and told me I could get that stuff from here.”

“Oh yeah we keep all the magic stuff in the basement, follow me.” As we walk down the dimly lit stairs he continues. “Are you guys gunna be in Ponyville for a while? Big Mac and I could use another bro to hang out with. Too many mares around here…”

“Nah, we’re just here to have our Gala outfits made then we’re heading West for a couple of weeks. After that it’s back to Canterlot. I wouldn’t mind coming by here more often though. If you guys wanna get up to something you can just mention it in one of those letters you send to Celestia. She’ll…. probably pass it on. Yeah she would.” He seems pretty young, but I’m pretty sure Big Mac is an adult… I think I remember him being the big red pony at Applejacks place. I could use more dude friends.

We arrive in the basement and as Spike walks over to the shelves and desk with multiple containers of different magical items he asks me a question I wasn’t expecting. “Do you read any comics? How many of each did you need by the way?”

“You guys have comics here?! What the fuck, how have I not seen any? I need 10 bits worth of each ingredient. Don’t ask me for a better measurement cause I have no clue, my spellbook just says the ingredients need to be worth 10 gold pieces. It’s a very strange spell.”

“Woah you cursed dude. Twilight would be so mad if she was here. That isn’t the strangest way to measure these, but I’ll kinda have to guess. I got an issue of Power Ponies upstairs if you wanna see one.” As he talks he hands me handfuls of each ingredient. Woah someone else has hands here!

“I’ll check it out before I leave Ponyville, but I’m kinda in a hurry right now. I need to get this ritual finished as soon as possible.” I really need to know what happened to Callisid in the colosseum and if he saw anything before he got dismissed.

“Oh. I mean yeah for sure, no biggie. Whenever you’ve got time. What’s all this stuff for?”

“Oh I’m summoning my familiar. I brought him with me to the badlands and something happened to him while we were there, so I’ve gotta resummon him.”

“Woah like in the fairy tales?! Can I watch?”

“I don’t mind but the ritual takes over an hour and it’s pretty mind numbing. You’d probably be better off just doing whatever you were doing here for like 45 minutes then come find me. I’ll be where Sweet Apple Acres meets the Everfree, gotta use all this stuff in a brazier.” I go to put the ingredients in my backpack when I realize.. I don’t have it. Luna didn’t grab it from my room and I was blacked out. Fuck that’s annoying. Not for this specifically, but because that’s where my spell scrolls are! AH! “Thanks for the help, Spike.”

“Yeah, no problem. Cya dude.”

Okay, summon Callisid then have Luna teleport me back to Canterlot. That bag has my jerky.. Which maybe I should throw away now that I know the jerky is illegal since it’s beef. It also has my water pouch and my bedroll. So I can grab that then come back here. Easy day.

Eventually I find my way to the tree line of the Everfree and take a seat in the grass at the first brazier I happen upon. I have an important choice to make here, I could keep him as a bat or I can change his form. I have to think about this strategically, half the reason he probably got caught back at the summit is because he was a bat in the desert. If I want to send him to the dragon lands and report back would a bat be okay there? Probably not, but if I choose something like a lizard or a weasel it’ll take him ages to get there.

“Oh perfect you haven’t even started yet. Is there a problem with the ingredients?” I’m interrupted from my internal decision making by purple unicorn.

“Huh? Oh, maybe. I’m not sure if this will satisfy the 10 gold pieces condition for the spell, but that’s not why I haven’t started yet. I’m having trouble deciding what form I want him to take. Last time he was a bat, but I think for most situations a bat sticks out too much. It’s a tough decision.”

“Can it be in any form or are there restrictions? Does he have a preference for his form?”

“I honestly have no clue if he has a preference, I’ve never asked. There’s a list of different animals he can be. It’s either a bat, cat, crab, frog, hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, snake, fish, rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel.” Honestly if I wasn’t planning to use him for recon and scouting I’d just make him a cat or a weasel and call it a day.

“Hmm,” she brings a hoof up to her mouth as she hums in thought. “If you want something that doesn’t stand out I think it has to be a lizard or a rat, but that’s assuming it’ll be indoors. If it’s not restricted in that way then a hawk or a raven would be best. What exactly are you planning to have the familiar do that requires him to be hidden?”

“I’m planning to send him to the dragons. There was an incident at the Global Summit and I’d like to know what they’re planning. Plan is to send him there to lurk around in whatever their version of Canterlot Castle is for 3 weeks and then return to Canterlot. Although that assumes he can get there just from looking at a map… maybe Luna can teleport him? Ah fuck it, he’s gunna be a raven this time around. Ravens are dope and he should be able to hide in any shadows. Alright Twilight, once I start I’m going to be locked into the chant for the ritual for over an hour. All your questions need to be yes or no and my answers will only be through head nods or shakes. Got it?”

She flashes her horn and a notepad and quill appears in the air. “Got it.”

I perform the ritual the exact same way as I did in Canterlot. Every 2-5 minutes Twilight asks some question about the weave or the intricacies of the familiar contract. Honestly being limited to yes or no questions makes some of this quite impressive, she basically just asks the same point over and over but with different methods or definitions and uses my no answers as a process of elimination. She tries to figure out why verbal and somatic components are so important for our spells and attempts to figure out if there’s any method to the madness for why certain spells need specific materials.

An hour and 100 questions later and the fire in the brazier goes out. The ashes laying at the bottom begin to swirl and rise into the air before compressing together into a tight ball that morphs into a raven. “Callisid, that’s you right? Hope you don’t mind the new form.” I call out the bird telepathically.

“Woah! What can he do? Does he talk? He must be able to if he’s able carry out orders like spying on foreign leaders, right?” Twilight immediately fires off another barrage before the familiar can answer me.

“Shh, yes he can talk, but only telepathically and only with me. I need to ask him some questions though so gimmie a few minutes.”

The bird stops staring at the purple unicorn and lands on my shoulder. “It is indeed I, sir. I was beginning to believe you’d forgotten about me again.”

I don’t have the heart to tell him that I kinda did forget about him. I didn’t try to contact him until after the Summit, just before I went back into the hive to rescue Force. “What… no. I’ve just been very busy. Being unconscious for a week didn’t help, but Callisid what happened to you? I tried to call on you to observe a meeting during the summit and you were MIA. I assume you weren’t out of range and something caused you to dispel?”

“I am afraid I was collateral damage during the scuffle with the dragons. One of them got launched through the roof and I had just happened to be hanging upside down on the spot it went through. Quite unfortunate. I am pleased to see you survived that encounter, however. It wasn’t looking very good before I got caught between a rock and a dragon.”

“Did you overhear anything interesting before you went back to the Celestial plane?”

“I did see something a bit suspicious, but I wasn’t entirely sure if it was worth reporting so I was just going to wait and report about it with something else. I saw a pitch black changeling that was almost the same size as their queen and she was lurking in the shadows at the edge of the colosseum. Just a few minutes before your duel that changeling was speaking to the leader of the dragons. I was too far to hear any details though.”

“No, that's actually really good information. Chrysalis was conspiring with the dragons… now I’m even more certain they’re up to something. Okay just stay on my shoulder for now, we’re going to go back into town and talk to Luna, but I’m likely going to send you off on a scouting mission.” I look over to the patiently waiting purple unicorn. “Alright, sorry I just had a lot of catching up to do. You had some questions?”

She looks at the notepad for a second then back up. “Yes. Since your relationship seems purely magical, I was wondering what all he could do besides talking and flying around.”

“Yes so Callisid here can do many things. The most useful thing is that as long as he’s within 100ft of me I can communicate with him telepathically, which you already knew, and I can see through his eyes and hear what he hears. Another very useful trick we can do is that any spell I have that has a casting range of “Touch” , like my Cure Wounds healing spell, I can channel the spell to be casted through him. So if you were 90ft away and wounded, time is of the essence, I’m caught up in my own life or death situation, but if I don’t heal you in the next 5 seconds you’re dead. Callisid can fly over to you and I can cast the Cure Wounds spell. It’s extremely useful. I mostly just use him for recon and scouting though.”

Her quill is moving faster than a blur as she scribbles while I talk. “One thing I’m still really confused about is that you mentioned a theory about how your incantations and hand movements likely served the same purpose as our runes and that’s why you were able to learn Light so quickly. But, when you use magic there is no mana. It’s almost like you’re manipulating some invisible force and then when you finish all of your preparation actions some dense energy just appears in the air. It was gathering all around you during that ritual, I could barely make it out at first, but whatever it is, it's unique to you and it’s different than mana.”

“Yeah it’s called the Weave. I’ve actually been wondering why I even have access to it at all… I have a couple of theories on it, but haven’t had time to really investigate it. I didn’t have all my memories back when I gave you that theory, but now that I do I can say that you pretty much nailed it. Off topic, but did Spike show up at some point? He said he wanted to watch, but after I told him it’d be boring he said he’d show up later. I don’t think I ever saw him though. Let’s go meet up with everyone else.”

We start the long walk back into Ponyville as Twilight continues with her inquiries. “No, he never showed up. Probably just forgot. Hey, I wasn’t able to come to a conclusion about your spell ingredients, why do some spells need certain materials?”

“Honestly, I have no clue. The materials honestly just seem like a joke cooked up by the universe. See Invisibility requires powdered silver, Alarm needs a bell and silver wire, Grease needs either pork rind or butter, Dragon’s Breath needs a hot pepper, oh and my personal favorite Darkvision needs dried carrot. You know, cause carrots improve eyesight? Honestly when you lay it all out like that it doesn’t even seem like magic. I could just throw powdered silver in the air and the invisible people would be covered in it, I can set a perimeter alarm with the same items as Alarm, eating a hot pepper lets you spit fire? I mean the jokes just write themselves. My entire world's magic system is a big joke. Some spells are exceptionally potent though. How did things go with your dress? You tried it on before you came here right?”

She stops writing for a second to answer me. “It fit perfectly, I mean Rarity had my measurements so I didn’t doubt that it’d fit. Personally though I did want to make some tweaks to the design, but I was in a rush to watch the ritual so I decided the dress was good enough as is. All my suggestions were just nit-picks anyways.”

The rest of the walk is in relative silence and a short time later we’re back at the boutique. I spot Luna, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Applejack talking about something but the conversation dies once Twilight and I approach the group. Luna spots the bird on my shoulder, “Is that your familiar? I thought he was a bat? Did something go wrong?”

“Nah, I can pick his form when I summon him.” I hold out my palm and gesture towards the bird on my shoulder. “Ladies this my familiar his name is-,” but when I look over I see he’s gone. I turn my head to the right and find the raven perched on Fluttershy's head.

The pegasus then says something that surprises me. “Wow, Callisid, that’s such a pretty name. Oh you’re such a good bird.”

“Luna, did you tell her his name?”

“Nay.”

Pinkie Pie bounces into view, “That’s her specialty! Fluttershy can talk to all sorts of animals, you should’ve seen her calm down the manticore in the Everfree. It was all like ROAAR, and she just walked up to him like it was nothing!”

“Huh, well that’s neat. Sorry to break up the party for a bit but Luna can we talk outside?” I point towards the door as I look at the princess.

“What is it? Did Callisid give you any important information from the Summit?” She asks with a slight tone of concern as soon as we leave earshot of the others.

“Sort of, he spotted Chrysalis talking to the dragon lord before my duel. They were conspiring together. Unfortunately he didn’t get to hear any of their conversation and shortly after that he was crushed by a dragon being sent through the ceiling. The other reason I wanted to talk to you is because I need my backpack, it has all my traveling supplies and my spell scrolls, and it appears it was left in my bedroom at the castle. I was gunna see if you could just teleport me back to the castle and I’ll let you know via the Sending crystal when I’m ready to come back?”

“Ah I knew I was forgetting something. I had that nagging feeling in the back of my head, but I couldn’t quite place it. You’ll need my magic quill for the ink I promised as well. It should be on the desk in my bed chambers. Are you ready to go now or do you want to go grab your familiar to bring him along?”

Yo, Callisid I’m going to Canterlot for a bit so I’ll be out of range. Keep out of trouble and keep an eye on Luna.

Understood, sir.

“Alright I’m ready to go, I just let him know I’d be out of range for a bit.”

With a flash of light I’m back in the familiar courtyard of Canterlot Castle. Alright, grab the backpack, grab the quill, talk to Celestia. That’s it, in and out 10 minute adventure.

Author's Note

Lmao I think I'm done giving estimation on how many chapters these events will take. I really thought we'd be alot further into the episode by the end of this chapter, but we are absolutely not. I think I just underestimate how long some of my conversations end up being.. oh well. Not much to say on this one, we got our boy Callisid back and made friends with Spike.

Sorry the amount of time between chapters has gone up lately. I did kinda warn that this would happen once I started class, but was hoping to put something out atleast every 3 days, but it's been 4 days the last couple chapters...

Thanks for reading!

Side Quest - Dressed for Success pt. 2

Closing my bedroom door behind me I make my way towards Luna's room, just a few steps away. Putting my hand against the door the defensive enchantments detect my mana and I hear the door click. Pushing it open I stride across the room, it’s changed a lot from the first time I was in here. Originally the room didn’t look much different than my own, but now the gem embedded lighting fixtures and presence detecting candles emit a blue light instead of natural pure light. Black pillows and a deep blue blanket on the bed. She could use more decorations if I’m being honest, but the tone fits her much more now.

Approaching the mostly empty desk I find the left side of the desk has a small cup of gems, paper, and two inkwells with a quill in each one. How am I supposed to be able to tell which one of these is her magical quill?

Investigation.

16 +5 = 21.

My gut tells me it’s the one on the left, closest to the cup of gems. She likely scribes something on the paper with the quill and embeds it into the gem. I bet that’s why all of the light in here is blue now. Picking up the quill I notice the ink underneath it is very strange looking, it’s like a swirl of black, purple, and blue with specks of glitter. Well there’s no way she’s using that ink on official paperwork, so I’d say this quill is the safe bet. Regardless I pull out the sending gem and squeeze it.

“Hey Luna, got the quill and my backpack. I’m going to see if I can find your sister though, I need to talk to her about something. Figured I’d give you a small update.” I close the door to her room and start making my way towards the lower floors.

“I appreciate it. She should still be in the throne room, but court will break for lunch soon. It will likely be easier for you to just wait near her office, she typically has lunch there as opposed to the dining hall.”

Hmm not the worst idea, I’d like to be a bit more efficient though. “I think I’ll just wait outside the private exit. I can just talk to her while we’re walking and it’ll let me get outta here faster. Wait… I just saw a handful of guards running that direction, something’s happening.”

“Tia hasn’t called out to me, so it likely isn’t too serious. Keep me updated.”

I slide the gem into one of my pockets as I reach the stairwell. Jumping over the railings I make my way down to the first floor and start bounding for the first floor. Reaching the public entrance for the throne room I spot a wall of guards explaining to a group of ponies that court has unexpectedly closed early for the day, and to come back tomorrow. I don’t even bother trying to make my way through that crowd, a light cloud of fog disperses from around my feet as I misty step right up to the door.

I don’t know what exactly I was expecting to find when I stepped into the throne room, but it wasn’t this. I could’ve guessed like 10 times and it wouldn’t have been this. Celestia and Cadence are quietly talking to each other on the throne and Force, along with 30 or so guards, is standing spread out along the edge of the room. In the center of the room there is a large group of changelings, at least 100, bowing towards the throne. All of the changelings are different shades of gray and very light black. Aurora’s changelings managed to get away from Chrysalis?

As soon as the door clicks closed behind me several eyes and heads turn. Force gives me a big smile and waves her foreleg in the air, Cadence and Celestia pause their conversation and look at me with confusion. A few of the changelings rise and turn to look towards me. As soon as they see me they gasp, “It’s the savior!” “The devil of fire is here.” “It’s him, the one that challenged the usurper.”

After that they all rise to turn and look. I recognize one towards the front, it’s the one who was being executed when I lost it. They all start quietly murmuring and looking at each other but that drone just stares at me. The drone buzzes her wings and flies over the crowd, eliciting a few shouts from the guards in the room, telling her to stop. She quickly drops back to the ground in front of me, lowers her head, and quietly speaks, “Thank you. The cave-in you caused trapped the usurper in the rubble and allowed for some of us to escape. You saved us.”

The rest of the group lowers their heads as well, causing me to awkwardly rub the back of my head. “My original intention was to save my own friends, and the cave-in was completely unintentional.. If Chrysalis hadn’t ordered an evacuation then I would’ve killed all of you. So, you can raise your heads.”

Celestia speaks up, “You could’ve left after you completed your mission, but you chose to let the portal close. You chose to stay and investigate their situation. Too much modesty can lead to resentment, you should be proud, Ignis.”

It’s not like I saved all of them. This has to be a fraction of the original numbers. I don’t say it out loud but the thought does cause my face to shift into a somber stare. I walk towards the throne and the group of changelings part to let me through. “Sorry I missed breakfast.” I flash Force a small smile as I walk past her.

“It’s fine, I missed it too. Guess we’re both lightweights.” She releases a small giggle after her statement.

Climbing the stairs I exhale a big sigh as I reach the two alicorns. “So what exactly is going on here?”

Celestia responds, “Court was moving along the same as always when suddenly the next petitioner was called and over 100 ponies stood up. They grouped up in the middle of the room, bowed, and all dropped their disguises. They’re requesting asylum and integration into Equestria. I called Cadence here to see what we can do for their dietary needs in the short term and after that I was going to reach out to Luna for her thoughts on what we should do with them.”

I look at Cadence, “Oh yeah your domain is love right? You must be like an infinite source of food for them.”

She shakes her head, “Not quite. I can increase the potency of the love as they extract it from a source, but I can’t just produce it infinitely.”

“How dire is the food situation?”

“I’d say most of them are starved to some degree. You can tell because their carapace is starting to develop holes.” Cadence points to a drone towards the front and I notice what she’s talking about. They literally have small holes all the way through on their legs.

I look at Celestia, “Well my opinion depends on if they’ll be attacked randomly in public, how much did we release to the public about what happened at the summit?”

“All they know is that there was a conflict between us and the dragons and the unrelated news that the changeling queen perished.”

“Then I say we just let them loose? Probably worth checking if any of them are still in disguise and are actually one of Chrysalis’ drones, if there’s a way to do that.”

Celestia sighs, “That was the original intent but they do wish for that. They want to create a new hive inside the mountain, but we have active mines in the mountain that give us a constant supply of magic crystals. There is a large chunk of the mine that is depleted, so we were thinking of allowing them to set up there. When, not if, they expand is when the true problem will come into play.”

“I say we cross that bridge when we get there and let them move in, but that’s just the opinion of a lowly knight.” Looking towards Cadence I continue, “You ready to increase some potency, Princess?” I start walking down the stairs and pause a few steps away from the still quietly murmuring group.

A few seconds later Cadence steps up beside me, looking slightly confused. “We sent for volunteers to come by and offer love, it’ll probably be another hour or so before they arrive.”

“That’s fine, I assume Celestia forgot to mention it to you but apparently my love output is quite abnormal. As far as I know I can probably feed all of them in one go, especially if you’re helping with the output.”

“It was in the reports but even so you cannot feed this many changelings at once. It would literally kill you!”

I pause for a second. “Nah, I’ll be fine. Get ready.” Speaking louder so the entire group can hear me, I continue. “Alright changelings, get ready to feed.”

I hear Cadence call out, but her voice gets tuned out along with everything else as I enter my trance state. I start to recall the same scene with my mother that came to me when I was donating love at the colosseum, but the scene blurs. My subconscious replays that drones words, romantic love is more efficient and potent than familial love. That train of thought railroads my trance into flashing the same scenes from both my previous lives of crushes or dates that led to nothing, and just I try to reign my subconscious back in the scene changes again.

It’s from last night. The scene of Force and I laying on the roof of the cloud house staring up at the sky. It’s a romantic scene but I hardly think that qualifies as love, even if I wouldn’t mind replaying the scene a few times.

Constitution Saving Throw. (A/N: DC 10)

19 + 2 = 21.

The scene flashes again, but this time to the night when I watched Luna raise the moon for the first time. Her mane transforming into the ethereal form it is now. I will admit that did fluster me much more than I anticipated, but again I wouldn’t go so far as to call that… love. Maybe their definition is much more loose than I originally thought?

Constitution Saving Throw. (A/N: DC 15)

10 + 2 = 12.

Exhaustion Level: 1.

Everything in the trance state blurs as I find myself back in the throne room. “-diot, stubborn, foolish colt. Luna’s gunna kill me.” I’m laying on my back watching Cadence rant as she pinches the bride of her nose with a forehoof.

I sit up and roll my shoulders, letting out a gasp as they crack and pop. “Relax, I’m fine.” Looking ahead I see all the changelings no longer have holes, and I smile as they all lower their heads toward me again.

-2 Hit Points: 73/75.

I let out a yelp as something hits me in the back of the head. I turn and find a furious Cadence glaring at me, “That’s for my knight, you deserve it.” Looking back towards the throne I see Force at the bottom of the stairs. She’s chewing the inside of her mouth with worry in her eyes.

Ah. Yeah I won’t argue with the princess on that one. I stand up and use my hands to straighten out my wrinkled clothes as I approach the pegasus. “Sorry Em, didn’t mean to make you worry.”

“Em?”

“Yeah if you were to write it down it’d just be “MM” it’s Magic Missile. Your cutie mark looks like a bolt of my Magic Missile and you resemble it a bit too when you perform your special talent. I told you it’s hard to come up with nicknames for you. It was either that or Pablo and I don’t think you’d have liked Pablo. Unstoppablo.”

“Nope, come up with another one. You’ve got a few weeks to think about it. Reckless fool.”

“Ah come on, you like reckless. I knew I’d be fine, gotta have a little more faith in me.”

She rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t worried at all until you collapsed. You were out for several minutes, you know?”

“I was? Huh. Listen, I’ll try to come up with some more ideas, but I think Em will grow on you. Nice and short.” I stand up and look up the stairs towards Celestia on the throne. “I gotta go talk to the sun and head back to Ponyville, take it easy.”

“Stay safe.” As I start up the stairs, Force walks over to Cadence.

Once I’m a few steps away Celestia speaks. “Shouldn’t you be in Ponyville right now?”

“Yeah, but I needed my backpack and Luna’s quill. The reason I came by was to talk to you about the statue you’re building in the middle of the street where we killed the hydra.”

“What about it?”

“I heard it’s going to depict all of us that fought?” She nods. “It should depict a filly named Cursive Hoof and her parents. She’s a deaf filly that was orphaned when her parents were consumed by the Hydra. Her deafness prevented her from the mental influence of the hydra and it’s only because of her and the loss of her parents that we were able to even discover the hydra. There’s no telling how long that thing would’ve continued unchecked if it weren’t for her.”

A pained expression forms on the alicorn's face. “The original idea was to put Luna in a positive spotlight, but I was unaware of that filly. I’ll speak with the sculptor. Was that all you wanted to talk about?”

“Yeah.”

“Very well. Try not to be so reckless while protecting my sister.” With that she makes her way down the steps and starts speaking with the group of changelings.

I squeeze the gem in my pocket, “Alright Luna, I’m ready for the teleport.”

With a flash and a pop I open my eyes and I’m in…. a bakery?

Author's Note

I'm not done writing for today, but this felt like a good stopping point for a chapter.

Little bit more than a 10 minute adventure, but nothing too serious, just expanding the political landscape.

Next chapter will probably bring us right up to the start of the fashion show, or I'll slam through an wrap the whole thing up. Probably the former though.

Thanks for reading!

Side Quest - Dressed for Success pt. 3

“This is not quite where I expected to end up…” looking around at the brightly colored interior of what must be a bakery. Eventually my eyes settle on the group of mares munching on cupcakes in front of me. Someone is missing, though. “Where’s Rarity?”

“She’s making all the alterations to their dresses at the moment. We saved some for her though.” Luna floats a little container with 2 cupcakes in it in front of me.

I look over at the element bearers, “How many changes did you guys even need? Our outfits were perfect, I can’t imagine she messed up on all of your dresses.”

“I mean mine was pretty cool, but it didn’t exactly scream “Rainbow Dash” ya know? I just asked for a few things to really make it my own.” Rainbow explains and everyone else nods and murmurs in agreement.

“Well hey it’s your dress, I guess as long as it’s what you want.”

“Oh yeah, especially since Hooty Tooty is coming to the show! He’s some important pony in the fashion industry in Canterlot. As soon as Rarity found out he was coming she got all frazzled and said she had to skip lunch.” Pinkie explains, as soon as she finishes speaking she opens her mouth wide and somehow all the cupcakes on the plate in front of her get sucked through the air and into her maw. I don’t know if I should be impressed or disturbed. Probably both.

Twilight quickly corrects Pinkie, “It’s Hoity Toity, Pinkie. The rest of her description was accurate though. This could be a big boost for Rarity’s career if he’s impressed by her outfits.”

Guess the stakes have gone up for her, then. “Speaking of, how much longer until we actually start the show?” I ask, still standing next to the booth they’re all eating at.

“It should only be three or so more hours, we should probably return to the boutique.” Luna says as she rises out of the booth. Everyone else rises as well and we head back out towards the shop. After a minute or so of walking I see Luna suddenly flick her eyes over to me before clicking her tongue in annoyance. “And what made you think that was a good idea?” Oh it would seem Celestia or Cadence has snitched on me. Snitches get stitches.

“Think what was a good idea?” I put both my hands behind my head and interlock my fingers as we continue to move through town.

Deception. (Disadvantage due to level 1 Exhaustion.)

20 and 16. 16 + 1 = 17.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. I think it is commendable you wanted to help them even at risk to yourself, but there were volunteers en route. It was a completely unnecessary risk.” She’s right of course, but I had to help them.

“I couldn’t save Aurora, so I guess I just feel compelled to help them.” I see her eyes widen for a brief moment in realization.

“My knight and I need to make a slight detour, you all can continue without us.” Oh boy here we go. I shouldn’t have said anything. The girls look a bit confused but after saying they’ll see us later they walk off. Luna leads me a few feet away in a quieter area. “Be honest with me, Ignis. How often do thoughts about the former changeling queen enter your mind?”

“I’ve only been awake for what, 3 days? I’ve been much too busy to have distracting thoughts like that. Every now and then I try to replay that battle in my mind. What could I have done better? What if I had expended more resources to properly heal her? Why didn’t I use Shadow Blade, with its psychic damage it would’ve been more effective than just cracking her chitin. I just can’t help but feel that I could’ve done better. Don’t try and tell me that I can’t blame myself or that there’s nothing I could’ve done. I’m not being emotional when I say this, I regret the decisions I made in the moment and I know with 100% certainty that I could’ve saved her.” I vent out everything in a completely flat tone.

Luna just stares at me for a few seconds before sighing. “I just wanted to make sure this isn’t something eating away at you. If this isn’t coming from a place of trauma or from survivor’s guilt then all I can say is that you’ll have to live with that regret. Don’t make the same mistakes again. If you’re wrong though, and this becomes too heavy of a burden for you just remember that I’ll always be here for you. I’ve got my fair share of regrets as well…”

The silence lingers for a few seconds. “I appreciate it. We should probably catch up to the others now, yeah?”

“Hm, I was actually hoping you could demonstrate this scribing process you speak of. I’ve never actually taken a look at your spellbook before. Does it take very long to transcribe something from a scroll into the book?”

“Oh? It depends on the level, sorry complexity of the spell. Something like Alarm would take me 2 hours, but something like Counterspell would take me 6 hours. I think we should have just enough time.” We walk even further away from town and we both come to rest in the grass. Rummaging through my backpack I pull out all the spell scrolls and look through them.

Arcana. (Disadvantage)

5 and 12. 5 + 13 = 18.

Picking out the Alarm scroll I put the rest away. Reaching behind my back and under my cloak I unclasp the spellbook from the sleek mount that keeps it against my back. I spend a few minutes going over the scroll before I start pointing out details to Luna. “So this part in the center, this basically translates to the bare necessities of the spell. Bell, silver wire, message. I know that this is Alarm so the spell requires a bell and silver wire and you can designate a 20ft cube as your area and if anyone enters that area it’ll mentally ping you as long as you’re within 1 mile. I’m guessing the “message” part is referencing a lower tier spell Message that allows basic short distance telepathic communication. All of this gibberish and math around this center bit is the actual spell. Every wizard has their own unique way of writing down their spells, mostly to prevent spell theft.”

“Ah so if somepony stole your spellbook it would take a considerable amount of time to learn new spells from your work?” Luna inquires as she tilts her head in a few different directions to get a good look at the scroll.

“Exactly. Scrolls are a bit different though, they’re designed to be used by anyone with a secondary purpose of learning. They didn’t have to write these basic components in plain text, but since it’s a scroll they did. The challenging part will be decoding this wizards notation, I’m basically just going to sit here and slowly work through how I think the spell is cast. Then I’ll compare my plain text notation to the coded notation and see if it bears any similarities, if it does then I’ll transcribe it with my own notation. Trial and error until I’m confident I can understand this spell, then I just write it into the book.”

3rd Person POV

Luna is lounging in the grass with the side of her face resting against her forehoof. She’s watching the elf with a soft smile on her face as he rambles and talks to himself as he works through this spell, several parchments around him with different attempts at decoding. The scroll has lost some of its glow as he works his way through the spell. She is mildly interested in such a foreign concept of magic, but she’s mostly just quietly enjoying seeing this side of the elf for the first time. It’s clear that he’s passionate about his magic.

Finally after an hour and a half or so Ignis throws his arms up and shouts, “Yes! I knew it, god what idiot would describe that part in such a convoluted way. Luna, do you see it? The thin almost imperceptible line, that’s the marker for the area! This is gunna be so useful when we’re out camping.” Luna can’t help but giggle at the enthusiasm before telling him that she can see it.

The elf starts to pick up a few sheets of parchment as he turns the pages and tears off sections of other pages. Eventually he gets everything written cleanly onto a single sheet. He goes over it one more time to make sure it’s perfect and then pulls out the quill he retrieved from Luna’s room. Ignis very carefully notates everything into a single page of the spell book and then they both watch as the spell scrolls floats into the air and turns to ash that scatters in the wind.

“What was that about? Why did the scroll just destroy itself?” Luna looks concerned as she stares at the spot in the air where the scroll once was.

“As I got more confident about different sections of the spell I had to… what’s the right word here? I had to simulate partial casting of that section to compare to my own result which resulted in the scroll losing some of its power. By the time I finished with it the scroll was completely depowered.” He takes all the leftover notes and failed attempts and holds them in the air with his left hand. With his right hand he casts a firebolt at the stack and watches it scatter in the wind. “Alright let’s head back over to the boutique.” He stands up and offers his hand to assist Luna in rising up from the grass.

Ignis 1st Person POV

Holy fuck that was a pain in the ass. Glad I figured it out, but I am not looking forward to scribing these other scrolls. We head inside the boutique and Luna branches off from me to go to the dressing room and I head off towards the room where we were measured. As soon as I walk into the room I can feel every active neuron in my brain misfire. These outfits are horrendously tacky. Fluttershy has a nest ON HER HEAD?!

“Whatcha think, Ignis? Look at that girls, he’s speechless.” Applejack laughs and after a few more seconds of silence the laugh awkwardly dies down.

“I need a minute.” I announce and instantly about face to go find Rarity. I need to confirm that these outfits are as bad as I think they are. If they want to tank their friend's career so they can have the dress they want, that’s fine by me, but Luna is involved. I’m not letting her be associated with the train wreck that’s about to happen.

Opening the door into the dressing room, I spot Rarity. Her mane is disheveled and she looks like she’s going to drop dead any minute now. “Hey Rarity. All of their outfits are like really tacky now right? I wanted to ask to make sure cause I’m not familiar with pony stuff.” Glancing to the right I see Luna in her dress. “Damn. Perfect.”

Rarity sighs and hesitates to answer. “It is… unique. It might be to everypony’s tastes, but I’m sure an elite like Hoity Toity can recognize…. the individualism of each dress.”

“So it’s really bad?”

“.....I’m afraid so. It’s so dreadful, I wanted them to be happy with their outfits, but I know it’s going to ruin me.” She drops onto her haunches with a defeated look in her eyes.

“How long would it take you to undo all of the changes?”

“Removing things is typically faster than adding them, maybe an hour? We only have 30 minutes until show time, though. It’s too late, darling.”

“Nope, Luna take off the dress. When it’s time to start, go out there and stall. If he’s some canterlot fancy guy he’ll probably be thrilled to talk to you. Once we start you can come back in here and get dressed and we’ll go out last. In the meantime though, can you come with me to scold these children?” Rarity and Luna both widen their eyes a bit. I guess I did just bark orders at my goddess. “Please?” There we go, totally fixed it.

Rarity runs surprisingly fast and blocks me from leaving the room. “Scold?! They’ve done no wrong, they are the customer and they are entitled to any changes they want.”

“And they can have those changes. At the gala. Not at a fashion show with the future of your career on the line! Did they even pay for these?”

“....well no, but-”

“No buts! Let me out!” The unicorn side steps and I exit the room with Luna in tow.

“You know, not even my sister has ordered me around like that.” Luna quietly informs me during the short walk to the measuring room.

“Yeah, sorry. We’re just in a rush and it’s faster to just tell people to do things.”

“Don’t apologize, yet. I’m still trying to decide if I hated it or not.” I don’t know how to respond to that. Luckily we’re in the room.

I stop and look at the mares with the most neutral face I can muster. “So between the 6 of you, you all have something that you excel at right? Twilight is magic, Applejack is apples, etc etc.”

Twilight steps in, “Yes! Our skills and weaknesses are diversified so we can cover for each other in what we lack as individuals.”

“Right, and does one of you have a particular talent for fashion?”

“Yep, that’s Rarity!” Pinkie replies.

Applejack frowns and I think she’s starting to see what I’m getting at here. I don’t let her interrupt the flow I have going right now, though. “So how about all of you go take those dresses back in there and let the fashionista fix those outfits?”

“Now look here, ain’t nothin wrong with our dresses! This is what we all wanted.” Now AJ butts in.

“Twilight, if I told you there's a friendship lesson to be learned here, what do you think the issue is?” The group is silent for at least a minute until some of them start to look at the ground awkwardly, I think some of them are starting to figure it out.

Luna apparently decided to spell it out for them all, though. “What my knight is trying to get at here is that you all pressured your friend into choosing between her career and letting you all down. True to her element she made a choice that I don’t think many ponies in her situation would. Applejack is correct that you all are entitled to have your dresses look any way you want them to, but I implore you to perhaps discard these alterations for tonight. After tonight you can make all of the changes you want.”

“Oh! I get it! Because the stallion from Canterlot is going to be here! If we went out there like this he would probably spread all kinds of bad reviews to everyone up there- wait…. Oh no.” Pinkie bounces as she explains her thought process out loud only to deflate and fall onto her face as she realizes what the issue is here. “Are we bad ponies?”

“No you’re not bad ponies. It’s clear you all just didn’t realize the implications or the stakes of what is happening tonight. Please get those dresses back to Rarity, right now. She said it’ll take an hour to remove all the changes, so Luna and I will stall until everything is ready.” The group collectively runs down the hall and I just shake my head and look at Luna as we hear a loud collective apology from the group. “Where are we sleeping tonight? You said we’re taking the train again for the first leg of our journey but those don’t run this late.”

“Does this village not have an inn?”

“Not that I’ve seen, no.”

“Well, we can probably stay with my sister's student. Worst case scenario we can just camp on the outskirts of town, a vast majority of this trip is going to be spent sleeping outside.” She makes a valid point.

“True. Shall we go get this over with?”

Luna gives me a smirk that I’m not sure if I like. What’s she up to? “Nay, we still have a few minutes, and there’s one topic I’ve been meaning to bring up.” She ignites her horn and a newspaper appears in the air. I watch as it unfolds and quickly realize what’s happening here. “I thought you’d like to see that you and the pegasus made the front page. “Future Knight of Love in love with the Lunar Knight? The real reason this Lieutenant was fast track promoted to Knight exposed!” Granted this is a tabloid, but you made page 2 of Canterlot Daily. Thankfully that article is much less…. wrong.”

If I’m ever in a position to accidentally blow up the office of that newspaper, I’m going to do it. “They’re allowed to just print pure slander like this? This is ridiculous!”

“Trust me, Tia and Cadence have likely already taken care of the issue. The real reason I’m bringing this up is because I wanted to show you that you are in the public's eye now. I didn’t want you to be surprised if any of these strangers from Canterlot asked you about the date.”

“Just morbid curiosity, what was the front page for Canterlot Daily? You said we were page 2.”

“Oh that article features you as well, but only briefly. It’s about the hydra and the heroes that vanquished it. You’re mentioned as the leader of the squad with a passing comment about your unique magic.”

“Oh, duh. Yeah I guess that makes sense, my sense of time is so skewed it feels like that hydra fight was so long ago.” I crack my knuckles and activate the enchantment so that my armor is back to my standard night court uniform. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

Author's Note

On track to wrap up the mini-arc next chapter. Only real change from canon this time around is that Rarity didn't have to suffer through the embarrassment of the first fashion show going horribly wrong.

Hopefully I did a decent enough job walking through the spell scroll transcribing process? I didn't want to just completely skim over it and time skip to being done, but I'm also terrified to go extremely in depth and potentially fuck myself over if I need the magic system to work a certain way later on.

Thanks for reading!

Side Quest - Dressed for Success pt. 4

“What the hell kinda name even is Hoity Toity? Where I’m from, that literally means a snob.” I quietly comment as I peek at the small crowd formed in front of the boutique.

“From what I’ve gathered it seems to have a similar meaning here. Definitely an odd choice for a name. Why aren’t we going out there?” Luna asks behind me.

“We only need to start stalling once they start getting restless and frustrated. I’d honestly prefer to interact with them as little as possible. Unless you actually want to go out there?”

“No no, that’s quite alright.”

The show is officially 15 minutes late and the grumbles from the crowd are starting to get noticeable. Seems like we only need to buy 30 minutes, probably the best we could’ve asked for. I take the back exit from the stage and approach the crowd with Luna beside me.

“Oh your majesty, what are you doing out here? Aren’t you taking part in the show? Or, was it canceled? We’ve been waiting for quite a while now with no announcements from anypony.” Some earth pony stallion with purple sunglasses does a quick and shallow bow as we approach. Is this the guy? With him being from Canterlot I imagined it’d be a unicorn.

“The show is not canceled but I will admit it’s suffering from a small delay. My knight and I are the last two to go out so it was suggested I come out to mingle with all of you to ease the tension.” Luna replies with a flatter tone than usual.

“Ah yes, and this thing,” He gestures his front left hoof in my direction. “Is the knight you speak of, yes? I’m surprised to hear it will also have an ensemble to parade for us, I wasn’t aware this boutique made accessories for pets.” Well hot damn that might be the first time I’ve been called a pet. Not sure if i prefer that over monster though? What exactly is this douchebag's plan here, surely he isn’t stupid enough to just meet a princess and instantly get himself thrown on the shit list, right?

I feel the temperature in the air drop a few degrees. I quickly squeeze the sending stone in my pocket. “It’s fine Luna, it’d be a shame to have gone through all of this just for you to kill the guy we’re trying to impress. You can just give him nightmares later.” I telepathically call out to her, hoping to prevent an outburst.

“I wasn’t going to kill him. I understand your point, though.” She replies in my mind, after a brief pause she replies to the earth pony out loud. “I would appreciate it if you did not refer to my knight as a pet. In the short time he’s been under my command he has done more good for this kingdom than you will likely ever do in your entire life.”

“I deeply apologize, your majesty. I was just going off of the rumors I’d heard whispering around the vine. Well uhm, right, sir knight may I know your name so I can properly apologize to you as well?” Wait he really wasn’t making some elaborate political play trying to rile her up? Is he actually just stupid?

“Ignis. You can keep your apology though, it’s not the worst thing I’ve been called by a pony. I’m surprised to see such a brazen display of discrimination from an earth pony, though. I know non-unicorns can run into some issues in Canterlot, so it’s a bit shocking.”

“That’s why I want to apologize! It’s precisely because I’m an earth pony that I feel ashamed to have been misled by rumors. I don’t read things like the paper, I haven’t got the time for it. All my news comes through what I hear around me, and the impression I had was that you were… a servant of sorts.”

Insight (Disadvantage)

15 and 17. 15 + 6 = 21.

His voice is an octave higher. His left ear folded while he was talking. He keeps shifting his eyes around. He’s nervous, but about what?

“Interesting. You know I thought it was weird none of the shops in Canterlot had offered to tailor something for me when they sought Luna’s patronage. Sure some of them just likely hadn’t considered it and sure I thought a few were intentionally snubbing me, but ALL of the shops in Canterlot? I mean that’s just crazy, not a single one? You’d almost think that it was an organized effort. You wouldn’t know anything about that right?”

“Wh-what? I’m sure it was just something that hadn’t crossed their minds. I mean.. What would I even gain from doing something like that?” He brings up a valid point. He’d stand to gain nothing from having all of Canterlot fashion snub me. Could he be jealous of the attention Luna gives me? No, surely not.

“Hm, I suppose that’s true. There’d be no logical reason to do something like that. I guess I’ll offer an apology of my own and we can call it even then.” He holds out a hoof towards me and I’m a bit taken aback. Do I grab it and shake it? Do I just fist bump it? I decide to just give him a fist bump. “Did I do that right?”

He lets out a loud laugh, “Yes. That was perfect.”

I see Rarity poke her head through the stage curtain and mouth something to me, looks like she’s ready to get this thing started. I look back towards Hoity, “Looks like the delay is over and we’ll be starting momentarily, it was nice meeting you.”

As we walk away and go back into the boutique so Luna can put her dress on she quietly mutters. “So he was completely lying right?”

“Oh almost certainly. I’m sure he had involvement, but I really don’t see why. Unless he fancies you and he’s jealous of me. That’s really the only thing I can think of. I bet he was going to show up to whichever shop you decided to go with and personally measure you.” I channel the enchantment on my armor and have it take on the appearance of the tuxedo Rarity showed me earlier. “Also Luna, can you use an illusion to make my hair silver? I told Rarity not to change the colors because I was hoping to have solved this whole hair color issue by now.”

She ignites her horn and I watch as my hair shimmers and turns from its fiery look back to the original silver. “Done. It’ll stay for 24 hours.”

“Thanks. That dress really does suit you by the way.”

She gives me a soft smile and we make our way to the backstage of the catwalk. Luna asks Rarity a question I was about to ask. “So what exactly do we need to do here? Just walk to the end of the platform and walk back?”

“Oh look at the two of you! It’s even better than I imagined! Yes, you’ll both just slowly strut to the end of the platform, do a quick spin and slowly strut back. Ideally the two of you could lock your arm and wing together, or just lean against each other.”

I can’t help but raise my eyebrow in suspicion. Is that Equestria’s version of holding hands? I’ll let Luna decide what we’re doing, she’s more familiar with whatever Rarity is asking. I just look at Luna and shrug my shoulders. “Nay, Ignis will lead the way down and then stand aside as I reach the end. Then I’ll lead us back in.”

And that’s exactly what we did. After waiting a few minutes for all of the girls to have their turns going out I led the princess out.

Performance (Disadvantage)

Oh fuck.

16 and 8. 8 + 5 = 13.

Nothing went spectacularly wrong, but there wasn’t any grand reaction for us either. Once we turned around to head back in there were some murmurs among the crowd. Oh… her cutie mark is on my back. Ah it’s fine.

The evening ends with all of us spread out in Rarity’s living room. Apparently Spike showed up at some point, no clue what he was doing the rest of the day. “Take a letter Spike. Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned…” I tuned out after that. Something about pressuring friends. Why does Celestia have her do these reports?

Once she’s finished speaking Spike lights the letter on fire. It’d be so funny if Celestia was just lying and all he does is legitimately just light them on fire. “Yo Twilight, me and Luna need a place to crash for the night, you got a space at the library?”

“There’s a spare bed in the basement that I use for when I’m immersed in my experiments or magic studies. It’s just the one though…”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, Twilight Sparkle. You won’t even notice we’re there.” Luna responds before I can. Guess I’m sleeping on the floor tonight.

I’m just glad this whole ordeal is over now. It’s just relaxing travels with the princess for the next couple of weeks.

I’m interrupted from my thoughts by Luna as I lay down my bedroll on the ground a few feet away from the bed. “Ignis what are you doing?”

“Going to sleep? Did you have something you wanted to discuss?”

“This is the last night we’ll have a proper residence for a few weeks and you’re going to forgo sleeping in a real bed?”

“Well yeah, there’s only one bed and I’m not letting you sleep on the floor.” I look at her confused.

“Neither of us will sleep on the floor. This bed is just big enough for both of us, surely you’re not too shy to simply share a bed? We’re only going to have 1 tent once we’re out in the unexplored west, so you’ll be sleeping next to me anyways.”

“....Have you been planning for this all along? You could’ve just left me in Canterlot and flew to the Thestral cave in a day.”

She glances away and paws at the bed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This seemed like a good opportunity for a vacation, we’ve had a very stressful few weeks. Plus you’ve already slept under my wing once…”

Standing up I stare at the bed for a few seconds. It’s just barely wide enough for both of us. After a brief sigh I look at Luna. “Fine… scoot over.”

Author's Note

Super short chapter, but we got everything wrapped up. Still trying to decide if I wanna take the trip to the thestral colony day by day or just skim over 3-4 days at a time.

Either way it'll probably be a few days for next chapter, probably Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 1

Level 11: 93,000/100,000 XP.

Choose any magic item considered “Rare” or lower:

…. I was going through my quests while waiting on sleep to claim me and this was the last one. I had not been expecting a reward this good, but I suppose the False Hydra was quite a monster. There’s so many items from the Rare category or lower though. Shame it wasn’t Very Rare, I’d have picked a Staff of Power in an instant. Amulet of Health was the first thing that came to mind, but I’m trying to remember all of my options before I choose. The Amulet of Health would boost my Constitution up to 19 which would give me more hit points and would make it easier to keep my concentration, but a +2 Grimoire isn’t a bad option either… what rarity is the Cloak of Displacement? I’m fairly certain that is Rare, would I rather have more Hit Points or higher evasion?

Wait…. Mizzium Apparatus. If the system let’s be do some “Rules as Written” shenanigans I can use it to attempt to cast spells from the Paladin spell list, provided I have the materials and the spell slots. Meaning that although I can only prepare 1st level Paladin spells I could use the apparatus to attempt to cast Revivify. Even then though, just having full unfettered access to the Wizard spell list would be game changing. I have a +13 to Arcana checks so I can cast any 1st or 2nd level spell and I literally cannot fail the check. I mean just the option of having Revivify as an option seems too strong to pass up.

“Mizzium Apparatus.”

Mizzium Apparatus - You can attempt to cast a spell that you do not know or have prepared. The spell you choose must be on your class’s spell list and of a level for which you have a spell slot, and you must provide the spell’s components. You expend the spell slot to cast the spell as normal, but before resolving the spell you must make an Arcana check. The DC for the save is 10 + 2 times the level of the spell slot expended. Revivify is a 3rd level spell so the DC would be 10 + 6 = 16. Cantrips have a DC of 10. The only downside is that if I do fail the Arcana check the spell I cast is a random spell from the same level, so if I failed the check while casting Revivfy I could end up casting Fireball instead. Which would be pretty bad.

Time resumes and a giant brass looking contraption pops into existence 2 inches in the air above my chest. It’s a big metal cylinder with glass tubes filled with lightning, and attached to the front of the cylinder is three leather straps allowing you to place the device on your back. There’s a tube coming out of the bottom that loops around into a large metal piece that you insert your forearm into and it rests around your wrist like a magic Pip-Boy from fallout, but bulkier and colored like brass. The wrist piece also has two glass tubes filled with lightning.

The contraption falls onto my chest and I let out a grunt in response. It’s not that heavy but I wasn’t expecting it to literally drop onto my body while laying in bed. As soon as it lands on me the wrist piece clatters against the metal backpack, and that combined with my grunt sends Luna into a small panic. “Harmony above, what is that thing?!”

“It’s called a Mizzium Apparatus, it’s a spellcasting focus made of a rare metal called Mizzium. It allows me to attempt to cast spells that I don’t know or have prepared. I was clearing out my quest rewards from the summit and the last couple of days and this was one of the rewards. I also got a few more spell scrolls. Glyph of Warding, Shatter, and Blur. I also got 4 Potions of Healing and a Potion of Flying, and finally I got a few thousand experience, but I know that doesn’t really mean anything to you.” I was at 85,500 XP before all the quest rewards, and now I’m at 93,000. Just need another 7,000 for level 12.

“A potion… of flying?”

“Really out of everything I said that’s the one that catches you off guard? If I drink it I gain the ability to fly the same speed as my walking speed for 1 hour. Anyways sorry if I woke you up, but I need to attune to this Apparatus so it’ll be ready for use anytime afterwards.”

“Just do it on the train, Ignis. Go to sleep.”

“As you command, Your Grace.” I really just wanted to play around with it, but I guess it’s fine.

“When exactly are you going to get the royal sisters to communicate with me?” I open my eyes to find I’m on the moon. After a few seconds the question asked by the familiar voice finally registers.

“Is it really too much to ask that I just go one night with normal dreams? I swear between you, the original personality of this body, and the old lady inside my sword I hardly ever just get a normal night of sleep.” I turn my head and Nightmare is just staring at me with a deadpan expression. “Listen I forgot, okay? There was a lot going on and it just slipped my mind. I’ll mention it to Luna first thing in the morning. Honestly you’ve been so quiet lately I almost forgot you’ve been trying to possess me.”

“I’d ceased my activities once I finally managed to take hold. As a show of good faith, but I can start exerting my corruption once more if you want?” She gives me a toothy grin, flashing her canines.

“No, I’m okay. Thanks though. For another show of good faith, why don’t you tell me if you’ve been in communication with the thestrals? Apparently you formed an oath with them before the banishment, and Luna has assured me that they are not hostile towards us. However, just because they’re not hostile doesn’t mean they aren’t still covertly loyal to you.”

“Oh. I was able to contact them the night of my return, but I told them to wait at their colony for my arrival. If Luna were to show up instead of me… I’m not sure how they’d react. They know Luna is the one arriving, correct?”

“Well, she implied that they know it’s her. I have no way of knowing if she physically appeared in their dreams and they were able to see her form, or if she just spoke to them. Shit it’s been so long I wonder if they even know the difference between you two? They might’ve just assumed she’s you.” I start contemplating if we should change our approach to the colony.

“Out of all the possible outcomes that one is the most likely to be true. As far as I know there wasn’t enough time during the conflict 1,000 years ago for me to allocate a few hours to have my portrait painted. If there was one it’s likely to have been lost during their migration out of Equestria. You should have her contact the thestrals again and be as precise as possible about her identity and where they stand. I was only able to interact with the world because of how strong your hate and anger were, but even now my reach only goes as far as you. I have no way to contact anypony else.”

“Have you figured out who you are? What you want to do if you get freed from this prison? They’re likely going to ask you the same question.”

“I want to rebuild my castle in the Everfree and start my own magical academy. I can use the students to cleanse the Everfree while expanding the amount of battlemages for Equestria.”

I squint my eyes at the alicorn suspiciously. “Can you see my memories?”

“.....no.”

I don’t need to roll for insight this time, that pause told me all I need to know. “You just stole that from anime!”

“It’s not false, though! I was inspired! I can rule over the academy like my own kingdom, have an outlet for my violence, progress my own magic capabilities, and it benefits Equestria! So what if I didn’t come up with the idea on my own. If they have their suspicions about me the element bearers are just a few minutes away, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Honestly she’s not wrong. I don’t know if Equestria really needs a battlemage academy, or if Celestia will even approve of it… probably not. “Alrigh-” I’m interrupted by a flash of white light.

“Sorry for the early awakening, but we’re on the first train out this morning. As my sister would say, rise and shine sleepyhead.” Blinking the sleep out of my eyes I can’t help but squint at how bright the room is. I move my arm to try and block out some of the light, but stop when I notice the light is being blocked by something else. Finally able to clearly see I realize Luna is using her wing to shield me from the light. Glancing next to me I find the alicorn loafing next to me with a soft grin on her face.

“Thanks, I’m adjusted well enough now so you can probably pull your wing back in.” One thing that worried me about devil sight was if sunlight or bright lights would hurt my eyes, but that’s not the case. It just takes me a few seconds longer than it used to for my eyes to adjust, I am probably more susceptible to flashbangs now, though. “We getting breakfast here or just gunna eat on the train?”

“Twilight seemed quite hesitant to cook. Apparently the young drake is typically the chef of the house, but he’s not quite awake yet. I decided we should just let him sleep in and grab something either on the way or on the train. Did you want anything in particular?”

“Bacon. I assume I can’t have that, though. Honestly I’m fine with whatever, just no hay or flowers.”

“If we were in Canterlot perhaps, but not here. If you’re lucky there might be meat of some kind on the train.”

“Do I have time to take a shower? I can clean with prestidigitation, but this will probably be the last opportunity for a nice hot shower for a few weeks.”

“Since we’re eating on the train, yes you have time.”

I half expected Miss “there’s only one bed” to try and convince me that ponies bathe together all the time, but there were no shenanigans. After a quick shower in a weird horse bath, I got dressed and threw on my new 8 lb magic device. I’m glad it’s only 8 lbs to be honest, it’s bulky enough to be an inconvenience if it was heavy as well I’d be filled with a lot of regret at my choice of item.

According to Twilight the reason the ponies around town are more friendly and less scared is because the zebra that lives in the Everfree came into town and everyone realized being racist is bad. If only it was that easy everywhere else, haha. I only bring up this up because now the friendly faces of Ponyville are more… concerned, it seems they’re more uncomfortable about the Mizzium Apparatus than me.

“Hey Luna.”

“Hm?”

“Nightmare wants a meeting with you and your sister. Apparently since the Elements separated the two of you she’s been able to clear her head and wants to make a peaceful return to Equestria. I told her I’d try and get a meeting between the 3 of you to happen.”

She stops walking and looks at me with concern. “When did you two talk?”

“Last night while I was asleep, but I can talk to her anytime it seems. Side effect of these eyes.” We resume walking towards the train station, but she still has a concerned look on her face. After a few minutes of silence, while we’re standing on the platform waiting for the train she finally replies.

“Tia has agreed. We’ll speak with her tonight.”

“Are you guys gunna use my dream or do you have a way to talk to her without it? We can just do the same thing we did when you talked to the soul inside my sword. We need to do that again soon by the way. The sword still can’t store any spells and I’m a bit worried about her at this point.” While I’m speaking the train arrives at the station and we move into a private suite at the front of the train.

“We could use your dream, but it’s more dangerous that way. Since she has corruption in you she likely has more power in your dream space than she does in reality. We’ll meet with her through a different method. I’d be glad to assist in restoring your blade, but I don’t know where to begin. You’ll have to guide me through it.”

As she’s finishing up her response a pony pokes her head into the suite and asks if we’d like breakfast. We both ended up getting waffles. “I had one last important topic. Did you actually tell the thestrals you are Princess Luna? Did they address you as Luna? As a show of good faith Nightmare informed me that there could be a negative reaction if you were to show up instead of her. So, I just want to make sure they are 100% aware that you are not Nightmare Moon.”

“Aye. There was an initial break in communications when I revealed that Nightmare was gone, but after two or three nights we resumed speaking. For the third time, I am confident we will not receive issues from the thestrals. Now, can you please, what’s the word, attune to that invention? I’d like to see a demonstration of it.”

“Oh sure but it’ll take me like an hour.”

Some waffles and an hour later, the Mizzium Apparatus hums to life as I slide my arm into the machine. “Since we’re on a train I’m not going to try and cast a high level spell and risk accidentally blowing the entire train up. So, this let’s me cast any wizard or paladin spell even if I don’t have the spell in my spellbook or have the spell prepared. For example I’m going to cast a spell that changes my size, and it’s one that I don’t even have a scroll for.”

Reaching into my component pouch I sprinkle a bit of powdered iron into the air as I mutter words of power. The DC is going to be 14 and my Aracana modifier is +13, so theoretically this is perfectly safe.

Arcana Check.

20 + 13 = 33.

I love getting a natural 20 on a roll where literally any roll would’ve resulted in success. After time resumes lightning starts to jump between the tubes as the device hums for a few seconds. “Reduce.” I watch Luna’s eyes widen into dinner plates as I shrink down to half my normal size. I’m immediately seized in a telekinetic aura and floated over to the princess as she makes some high pitched noise.

“As your princess I demand you stay like this until I deem fit.” She floats me over as she has me sit down on her bench and puts my back against her floof and wraps her two forelegs around me.

“Luna I can only stay like this for a minute. You have 42 seconds left, and I mean it. I literally cannot maintain this for longer than a minute.” I guess 3ft tall Ignis is adorable. Add weaponized cuteness to my list of tools.

“As soon as we get back I’m researching how to cast this spell via Equestrian magic. You are absolutely adorable.”

I just let out a resigned sigh and roll my eyes. I guess this is what I get for picking this spell, I just wanted to pick something that had a clear demonstrable effect. Overall I am extremely pleased with this contraption, I still need to test if the system will interpret the items wording the same way I am and let me cast Paladin spells. Either way this has been an eventful start to our journey to the thestral colony.

Author's Note

I was originally going to go with either the +2 grimoire, amulet of health, or winged boots, but when I was doing 1 last cursory glance over the list of items I saw the wording of this item and knew I had to take it. I've used it only once in a previous campaign and my DM at the time interpreted the item the same way Ignis did.

The item requires attunement from a Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard. Then in the description of the item it says you can "Attempt to cast a spell that you do not know or have prepared. The spell you choose must be on your class's spell list and of a level for which you have a spell slot...." You could argue that this implies that this is only applicable to the 3 classes that are allowed to attune to it, but it doesn't explicitly say that. Technically since I have two levels in Paladin then I have the Paladin spell list, and I have 5th level spell slots even though they are not a result of the Paladin levels, in the same way I can upcast Cure Wounds to 5th level because I have wizard 5th level spell slots.

If the item ends up being too gamebreaking or if alot of people comment that the item is a bad choice then I'll probably just have the item get broken in a fight or something, but I think the risk of accidentally casting Cloudkill when you were trying to cast Greater Restoration is a strong enough risk to outweigh the immense utility it will provide.

As always, open to feedback, and would appreciate any comments pointing out misspellings or grammar and...

Thanks for Reading!

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 2

“What are you working on now?”

“I’m currently trying to add Counterspell to my spellbook, but it’s proving to be a bit of a troublesome one. I was hoping it wouldn’t actually take me 6 hours to figure one this out, but it’s starting to look like it will.” After my diminutive size wore off I sat quietly with Luna for a while, but decided I should be productive.

“Is that some type of dispelling spell for your kind?”

“No, that’s Dispel Magic, Counterspell lets me stop a spell right at the instant it’s being cast. Assuming I can identify that the opponent is casting a spell. In my world it’s a must have spell and skill for any respectable mage to have, but I was hesitant to learn it here because I’m not actually sure if it’ll work against unicorns.”

“Why not just use your new device and we can test if it works before you bother learning it?” She asks, taking a sip of coffee.

“Because, it’s a 90% chance to succeed but that still means there’s a 10% chance of unleashing a fireball inside of a populated train. I’m not taking that chance.” I matter of factly state while continuing to write notes on my scratch paper.

“If the device fails I can just negate whatever spell you end up casting, I’m confident there’ll be no danger.”

That’s…. not a bad idea. Setting down my pen I hold up my hand and give Luna a nod. “Try casting something weak, like a low power beam attack or really just any spell that has a visual effect so we can tell if it was truly canceled.” The device begins to hum.

Luna closes her eyes and ignites her horn. One second later she opens her eyes and the glow around her horn gets brighter. I snap my fingers.

Counterspell (Intelligence) Check.

15 + 5 = 20.

Time resumes and a spark pops out of the tip of Luna's horn and she recoils a bit with a wince. “Well, Ignis, I can say that definitely worked.” That’s good but I’m a bit concerned with why there was a DC check. I asked her to do a weak spell, and I assume she listened to me. Yet, I still had to roll to succeed, this needs further testing, but for now I’m happy to keep investing the time to add the spell to my repertoire.

“Excellent. Also how long are we on this train for, again? I feel like you mentioned it when you showed me the map on the way to Ponyville, but I don’t remember.”

“We’ll be departing the train in the middle of the night, tonight. I was going to mention that it might be worth having an early dinner and get some rest before the sun goes down.”

“Yeah, I’ll probably grab a bite around 4 or 5pm and hit the sack after. That should give me enough time to finish scribing Counterspell and one other spell before it’s time.”

Another few quiet hours pass when suddenly something starts tapping on the window of our suite. Looking over I’m shocked to see a raven pecking on the glass as it flies parallel to the train.

Sir, would you please let me in?

With a snap of my fingers I temporarily dismiss the raven into a pocket dimension before quickly flicking my wrist and pointing up. Following the hand gesture Callisid is recalled to this dimension, inside the train. Honestly I forgot I can just dismiss him and recall him to my side whenever I want.

“Sorry bud, you just seemed like you were having so much fun with Fluttershy that I thought I’d let you hang out with her for a while.” I speak aloud so Luna can have some idea of what we’re talking about.

“Ah, I was wondering where your familiar had gone off to, but didn’t deem it important enough to ask.” She eyes the bird curiously. Callisid immediately flaps his wings and does a few circles in the air around her head. Luna giggles in amusement and the bird lands on her barrel, settling down and resting between her wings.

That pegasus is a delight to be around, but my place will always be by your side, master Ignis.

“Luna, do you think it’d be a good idea to have him go and embed himself in the capital of the dragon lands and report back any significant signs or warnings of an impending retaliation?” I ask her as I give the bird a stink eye that he ignores.

“There’s no need. Apparently Tia reached out to them via dragon fire and received no response. According to her no response is all the warning we need. They are going to retaliate in some way, it’s just a matter of when at this point. We’ll likely need to bolster the number of guards on duty for the Gala, having all of the nobles and military leadership in one spot is a giant target.”

“Ah, that’s unfortunate. Luckily I’ll still be fully geared during the gala since my armor will just have the illusion of a tuxedo, but I doubt I’ll have the Mizzium Apparatus on me. I’ll need to find a nearby spot to stash it for the night so I can quickly equip it if something happens. Also, just let me know if Callisid is disturbing you and I’ll recall him.”

“Oh he’s no bother, once he settled down I can hardly even tell he’s there. You know, it’s actually quite interesting, in this book Twilight recommended to me there’s a passage about the heroine’s familiar giving heaps of attention to her love interest. The narrator goes out of their way to note that although somepony may hide their feelings all they want, their familiar’s will always reveal their masters true intentions. Is the same true for real familiars, I wonder?”

“Who knows? There was a similar theory about familiar backs on earth, but I’m not sure if the same applies for Callisid.”

Deception.

12 + 1 = 13.

She just gives me a small smirk and goes back to reading her book. “Is that so? Hm.”

Silence takes over the suite as I find myself distracted just staring at her starry mane. As if to taunt me the raven begins to fly through and play with her mane. She just continues to smile in silence as she reads. I snap my fingers and temporarily dismiss the familiar.

She looks up from the book. “Oh? Where did he go?”

I just close my eyes and smile, hopefully concealing how annoyed I am at the little bastard. “I just sent him on an errand, that’s all.”

A few more hours pass and I close my spell book as I stretch and let out a big yawn. I managed to learn Counterspell and Knock. I still need to learn Magic Mouth, Aganazzar’s Scorcher, Identify, Dimension Door, Glyph of Warding, Shatter, and Blur. 32 Hours worth of scribing to get all of that in my spellbook. At least I’ll have plenty of free time during our journey, I suppose.

As I stand up to go to the dining car I recall the raven onto my shoulder.

I apologize, sir. I was just being your wingman.

“I don’t need a wingman. Honestly, ever since Luna hung out with Cadence that one night she’s been acting different. More confident, if I didn’t know any better I’d almost think she was teasing me sometimes. Like that smirk earlier, she must’ve known I was lying but chose to act oblivious. She’s made possessive comments every now and then, but I figured if she actually had any feelings for me she would’ve made a move by now, right? If mares are supposed to be the protectors and pay for the meals then surely they’re expected to also make the first move, no? That’s why her behavior recently is so perplexing. Regardless, please don’t shower her with your attention. We’re playing it cool, alright?” I rant to the familiar silently, through our telepathic link.

Why not just confront her about it? You were never shy with potential paramours in your homeland.

“Well unfortunately that personality isn’t the one you’re dealing with. I was planning to make a move during the Gala if she hasn’t made one first before then.”

Bladesinger… this overthinking isn’t like you. It’s almost pathetic. I know that pony better than any other creature alive, if she truly wished for something like that she’d have said something by now.

“Shut it. I could cleanse you from my body any time I wish, by the way. The only reason I haven’t done so is the same reason you stopped attempting to further your corruption, a show of good faith.” I can cast Protection from Good and Evil anytime even without the Mizzium Apparatus, but now that I have the device I could even cast Dispel Evil and Good.

The truth hurts, huh? If you don’t believe me, why not follow the bird's advice? Go confront her about it.

I sigh as I sit back down in the suite with my plate of food. She’s just trying to get under my skin, ignore it. “Hey Luna is there a way for you to tell how close I am to being able to practice mana again? Something felt wrong for the first couple of days, but honestly I feel perfectly fine now.”

“Sure.” Her horn is engulfed in a dim aura. “Very slowly and gently channel mana to both of your palms.”

I do as she says, and after a few seconds of humming inquisitively she speaks again. “Technically speaking it would be safe to practice in your current state, but there’s still a lot of instability. I’d prefer it if you waited one or two more days. I will say though, your recovery was much quicker than it should’ve been. It seems your inherent power that heals your wounds when you rest impacts more than just your physical body. An ordinary unicorn would’ve been out of commission for at least a month.”

“Got it. I don’t mind waiting a few days to be honest. It’s going to take me so long to learn and copy all of these scrolls…” I give a big stretch and yawn. “I think I’m going to trance tonight instead of sleep. I haven’t had a normal night of sleep since the colosseum, and I can’t dream while trancing.”

“I was actually going to mention that. It’d be best if you could avoid dreaming while Tia and I are visiting Nightmare. I don’t think she’d be able to forcefully pull us into your dream where she has power, but just to be safe. I’ll wake you up when it's time to deboard the train, we need to be quick while leaving because the train doesn’t normally stop where we’re getting out. I don’t want to throw off the conductor's schedule more than we need to.”

“Sounds good.” I lay down across the bench style seat and start to meditate.

I open my eyes to something lightly shaking me.

“It’s time to go.” Luna softly speaks and leaves the suite.

I make sure I have everything and quickly follow after her. Once I catch up and we jump off the train into a field of grass I probe her on the meeting. “How did the meeting with Nightmare go?”

She lets out a sigh as we transition from the grassy field to a somewhat dense forest. “It did not go well. Even getting Tia to agree to the meeting was an ordeal. We heard her out and had an argument that lasted a few hours, in fact we only finished the meeting about 10 minutes before I woke you up. The decision we came to was that sister will speak to the elements and make a final decision after hearing their input.”

“Okay, but what did you make of her situation?”

“I didn’t even really need to hear her out, once you explained what she told you about clearing her head after the separation of our beings… I understood immediately what had happened. If I am allowed another chance to redeem myself then she should be offered the same choice. Tia on the other hoof, vehemently disagrees. She has more contempt and hatred in her heart for Nightmare than any other creature in existence combined. Purely because she blames Nightmare for my banishment, but I believe the blame is equally shared between the two of us. In the end getting her students' opinion on the matter was the only compromise I could get her to agree to. We should have a final answer on how to move forward around the same time as the gala, probably immediately afterwards.”

Perception.

4 + 6 = 10.

“My opinion lies somewhere between the two of you. I think Nightmare's share of the blame is more than yours, but she has manipulated you into thinking you were in control of your actions the entire time. I don’t believe she’s a completely lost cause but she is definitely devious. By the way, is there anything we should be on the lookout for in these woods?” Honestly I’m so glad to have a devil's sight right now. The moon is well into the sky but I can see as if it were daytime.

“Not yet, we’re still technically in Whitetail Woods for now. After an hour or so the view should open back up into a field and we’ll need to keep our eyes peeled from that point on. Although this far western section of these woods is in Deer territory, but I doubt they’d give us any trouble even if we did run into some.”

“Once we’re out of Whitetail Woods though, what are we looking for then?”

“Anything. It’s called the undiscovered west for a reason. The only rumors I’ve heard about the lands we’re venturing into is that the wooded areas host some type of large bipedal furry creatures, and there was one documented interview with a deer that mentioned the forest contains all the same types of insects, bugs, and reptiles as our normal woods, but that they’re much larger.”

“Well that’s unsettling. Can you just wipe my memory of the last 30 seconds so I can forget this conversation?”

Luna glances at me with a smirk. “Oh? Is the mighty knight afraid of bugs?”

“Just spiders. If we run into a giant spider I am literally going to burn the entire forest to the ground.”

Her face actually shifts into a look of surprise. “Truly? I did not expect that… well please do not burn the forest down, and if we run into any giant arachnids, I'll take care of them for you.” Her features harden a bit and the aura in the air shifts into feeling more.. Protective? Luna also slowly closes the distance and walks right next to me.

“Okay listen it’s not that bad. I’m not going to just freeze up and cry if we run into a spider, I don’t need you going full mama bear on me. They just freak me out, that’s all.”

“Of course my big strong paladin. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe from the scary forest.”

I know if I reply it’s just going to make it worse so I just stare ahead with the most deadpan and annoyed look I can muster.

Eventually we passed through the field she mentioned and entered a different forest. The tree trunks aren’t as dense here, but the branches on these are creating some type of massive canopy that blocks the sky. Sometime around noon we stopped and set up camp. “Alright Luna, do you want to take turns keeping watch and we switch every 4 hours or do you want to just trust in my Alarm spells to keep us informed?”

“Neither. Feel free to set up your Alarms, but I’m going to place an illusion around us that makes it seem like our camp isn’t even here. The only creatures that should stumble across us are creatures that end up passing right by us inadvertently.”

44 minutes and 4 Alarm spells later I’m inside a tent sitting on my bedroll with Luna laying on her side next to me. “Are you going to work on your spell scrolls more? Because if so I’m afraid I must ask that you do it outside the tent. Once you start really getting into it your parchment crinkling and quill noises end up being quite loud.”

“I was going to, but it sounds like it’ll be easier if I just do it when I wake up.” I lean back and lay down on my bed roll and stare at the interior of the tent. She definitely planned this, this tent is just barely big enough for the two of us and I know for a fact we could’ve used the same extravagant tent the sisters used on our trek to the Colosseum.

“Perfect. Sweet dreams, Ignis.”

“How could they be anything but when I have the queen of dreams herself with me?”

Her only response is a snort of amusement. I can’t help but give a small smile before turning onto my side, facing away from the alicorn, ready to sleep. Right as I close my eyes I feel a soft blanket go over my shoulder and across my chest. Cracking open an eye I’m surprised to see that she’s decided to cover me with her wing. Considering how comfortable it was when I woke up in the carriage a week or so ago, I can’t say I dislike the gesture. Sleep takes hold of me fairly quickly after that.

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 3

1st Person POV, Luna

Watching the elf fall asleep under my wing, I can’t help but wonder if all of his kind are this dense. After speaking with Cadence a few nights ago we decided it’d be better to either let things progress naturally or let him make the first move. Based purely on the tales of his culture and the fact that he made the first move and asked out the pegasus. Yet, he seems to lack the confidence to do so again for me. I can tell that he does harbor at least some romantic feelings for me, so I don’t mind waiting a little longer. I’ll give him until the gala, but if there’s been no progress by then I’m going to take the initiative.

I should rest as well, I was unable to relax at all while speaking with Nightmare so I’ve been up for around 36 hours. Thankfully Tia agreed to raise and lower the moon for me for the duration of this trip. Otherwise I would’ve been forced to interrupt my sleep after a few hours to perform the ritual. The new magical contraption Ignis conjured catches my eye as I lay down my head, and it makes me remember his shrunken form. Closing my eyes with a smile I start to think of the runes I’d need to recreate that spell, even though I’m sure it already exists.

Opening my eyes I find myself alone in the tent. Frowning, I rise up to my hooves and exit the tent. As soon as I leave the tent I see the elf sitting in the grass with parchment spread out all around him, playing with his spellbook. A few feet away there’s a decapitated giant praying mantis littering the ground. “I assume the bug didn’t give you any trouble then?”

He startles a bit from my voice, he must’ve been extremely immersed in his work. Looking back down at the spellbook he replies without facing me. “No, I was already awake when it set off my alarm. Although, I was planning to stay in bed for a few more minutes, so his arrival did annoy me quite a bit. When did you raise the moon, by the way? I was sure the surge of mana from that would wake me up, but the moon was already in the sky when I left the tent.”

Since he’s choosing to continue facing away from me, I decide to approach. I walk up behind him and lower my head so that it’s resting in the air a few inches away from his cheek. “Tia raised the moon. She’ll be assuming those duties for the duration of our trip. What spell are you working on now?”

He ever so slightly turns his head and I watch his eyes glance up and meet my own. He quickly looks back down and continues writing in his book, looking slightly flustered. “I learned a rudimentary spell called Identify. It lets me discern the properties of a magic item and how to use it, it also shows me what spells are affecting an object or a creature. Now I’m working on a very powerful spell called Glyph of Warding. It lets me inscribe a glyph up to 10ft in diameter to a surface or within an object. I can then establish a custom action or sequence that will cause the glyph to activate. Once it activates it’ll either explode, dealing a not insignificant amount of damage or it’ll activate a spell that I stored in the glyph at the time of casting.”

Ah, this is actually quite similar to a spell we use for the armory and vaults. “It seems a bit redundant considering you already have the Alarm spells, no?”

“Although that is a common use for the glyph it’s not what I intend to utilize it for. The important thing about the glyph is that if the spell you store in it is a spell that requires full concentration, the spell will last for its full duration without actually using my concentration. This is extremely powerful because concentration spells are some of the best spells in my arsenal, but I can only use them one at a time, never overlapping. The Moonblade circumvents that and lets me use two, but it’s currently out of commission. Once we get it repaired though, I can theoretically set up the glyph somewhere and imbue it with a spell like Haste. Then I can make the condition for the glyph be the activation of a bladesong, and I can store another spell like Greater Invisibility in the Moonblade. In this ideal scenario I can activate the Invisibility and then activate the bladesong, and that bladesong will activate the glyph giving me the Haste buff. Then I can use my own concentration to use something like the striding spell that leaves trails of fire at my feet, or I can even use a high level version of the Shadow Blade.”

I give a non-responsive slow blink at the onslaught of words he just poured out. “So essentially you want to use the Glyph in an ambush scenario so that you can apply multiple buffs onto yourself at the same time?”

“Yes, exactly! The only downside is that the glyph takes an hour to inscribe, so it truly does have to be set up well in advance. My plan is to leave several of them around the castle on different floors and areas, so that I’m prepared to activate the plan at a moment's notice.”

“Impressive, although a bit paranoid. There’s no risk of them being accidentally triggered, right?”

“No, the condition for all of the glyphs in the castle will likely be the activation of a bladesong while standing on it. Even if they were to be accidentally triggered the only thing the glyph will do is give whoever is standing on it a surge of energy. Nothing dangerous like a fireball or an explosion of sorts.”

“I see. I like the utility of that spell, how much longer do you need to have it mastered?”

He grabs the spell scroll and rotates it around a few times. “Probably another 4 or 5 hours, but I don’t have to do it all at once. I was planning to stop once you were ready to continue on.”

“What did you have planned for breakfast?”

He stops writing and his back stiffens up quite a bit. “I thought you’d just magic us food the same way we did during the journey through the desert? Was I supposed to bring the food?!”

I raise my head back up, away from his and can’t help but laugh. “Nay, but for the Summit Tia had already arranged for the staff to prepare us meals that she teleported in. In our case, I was unaware of what our exact schedule would be, and there’s still no dedicated night staff for the kitchen so we’re out of luck. I do have a number of meals prepared but they’re all quite bland. It might be better for you to hunt something, perhaps we could find something together? I wouldn’t be opposed to some fish.”

He stands up and goes into the tent, a few seconds later emerging with his backpack. “How do ponies even fish? Do you just use your telekinesis and snatch them out of the water?”

I shake my head, “no the fish are very sensitive to mana. As soon as they feel that something is attempting to grasp them they zip away in a burst of speed. Very rarely do ponies fish individual prey, I believe most of the industry uses large nets. I’ve heard of some earth ponies using spears, though. How did your kind do it?”

“We used a rod with strong string-like material with a hook on the end of it. You’d fling your arm forward and launch the string into the water, often with bait of some kind on the hook. Then you’d wait until you felt a fish go for the bait and yank the rod, sinking the hook into them. After that you just reel the string back in. We also used nets, but like you said that was moreso for commercial markets. My reflexes are probably fast enough that if we find a river I can just stand in the middle of the stream and grab a fish out of the water.”

“There’s a river a few minutes north, it feeds into the North Luna Sea. I highly doubt you’ll be able to just simply reach in and grab a fish. The only creatures capable of something like that are griffons, and they have the benefit of increased speed from diving through the air at the water.” I’d truly be impressed if he could pull off something like that.

“Wanna race there? Between the fashion show and being cooped up on the train we’ve been slacking on our nightly training.” I haven’t even answered yet and he’s already stretching. Seems he’s going to run there regardless of if I agree.

“That sounds fun, I assume interference is allowed?”

“It’s encouraged, wouldn’t really be training without it, haha.”

Ignis puts on his new magical device, unsheathes his blade and crouches down, ready to launch himself. I think we should add some stakes to this. “Shall we make this more interesting?”

He relaxes his pose and glances at me, “How so?”

“Let’s add some stakes. You know something like the loser has to cook what we catch? Not necessarily that, but something like that.”

“Something like the loser has to do whatever one command the winner gives?” He asks with an eyebrow arched.

“Well there’d be nothing to gain for me in that scenario, you already have to do whatever I command of you.”

“There’s nothing for me to gain with the cooking prize either, I’m already gunna have to cook it, but if I lose that means you have to cook it and I’m not sure if I trust your culinary skills with raw meat. Listen, it's true that I already listen to your commands, but I’m sure there’s plenty of things you’d never command me to do under normal circumstances. It doesn’t matter anyways, I’m going to win.” Ah there’s his usual confidence.

“Fine, I suppose you have a point. It’ll be the first one to touch the water, is the winner. Ready?”

He leans over and places most of his fingertips on the ground, such a peculiar launch stance. While still looking straight ahead he nods his head a single time. “Ready.”

“Go!”

Like an arrow we both take off. Not even 10 paces into the race I hear Ignis yell out a phrase in a foreign language. Glancing over I’m surprised to see a bolt of ice flying towards my hooves. Quickly jumping into the air I watch as the grass and dirt freezes where the bolt hit. Crafty elf.

While still mid-air from dodging his bolt I launch to beams of my own at 4 trees further ahead of his path. I should’ve aimed a little further ahead as the first tree has barely started to fall as he passes it. With a slight lean to the left the tree falls behind him, he leans forward and ducks under the 2nd tree as it falls. For the third tree he drops onto one knee and sticks his other leg straight out in front of him sliding just under the thick trunk. Without losing any momentum he pulls his front leg back in and springs into the air, it looks like he’s about to face plant into the 4th and final tree. At the last second however, he reaches out with both arms and pulls himself over the log. He hits the ground running as the last tree impacts the ground behind him.

Ignis managed to retain most of his momentum, but it slowed him down just enough to put me in the lead. I hear him yell out behind me “Impediendum!” Glancing back I watch as he points his palm towards me before quickly clenching his open hand into a fist. I’m left a bit confused as I wait for his magic to activate, but an instant later I’m stopped dead in my tracks. Some invisible force is holding me, I can’t move at all. I push out a massive wave of mana that seems to break me free of the paralysis. That spell only bought him 5 or 6 seconds at most but that was all he needed, he’s ahead of me now. I’m actually a bit shaken at what that spell was, there are not many things that could completely bind me like that.

If that’s how you want to play it, though, then two can play at that game. All I do is focus on the hood of his cloak and activate my telekinesis. I watch as his head is yanked backwards and his feet go up into the air. I didn’t pull him back, but I stopped his hood from moving forward. With a yelp he lands on his back and I release the telekinesis as I pass him. “Maybe next time, my knight!”

I can see the water come into view up ahead. Gritting my teeth I go from a run to a dead sprint. Just as I start to wonder what his next move is going to be I hear pop to my left and watch as the elf appears 7 or 8ft away from me with a cloud of mist around him. I ignite my horn ready to counter whatever scheme he’s cooked up only to widen my eyes in shock as he pivots diagonally and runs straight at me.

I conjure a shield between us as he lifts his blade into the air, surely he doesn’t intend to actually strike me?! It turns out the sword was a feint, and it worked. He jumped into the air screaming as he flew towards me and as I readied myself to parry his blade he suddenly drops the sword and wraps his arms around my neck. With a yelp there’s nothing I can do as he trips up my front legs with his own and pulls me down to the ground.

We were both going far too quickly to have a graceful fall. We both tumble forward and roll several feet across the ground. We finally come to a stop as I roll onto my back and slide a few inches. When we cease our forward momentum I open my eyes to find the elfs face mere centimeters from my own, one palm on the ground on both sides of my head.

I feel my face heat up and watch as his own face quickly turns crimson. For a second there’s an intense silence broken only by the sounds of our labored breaths. My body reacts on its own, against my own control and flings the elf away from me with telekinesis. Scrambling back up onto my hooves I’m just a few seconds away from reaching the water when I hear a loud incantation behind me. Glancing back I watch as he brandishes the Moonblade and performs the same spell he used to finish the hydra.

Slashes quickly appear on five different trees in quick succession leading up to my own position. Ignis appears 10ft in the air directly above me, but he didn’t calculate gravity. As he’s falling through the air my hooves splash into the river, with him landing in the water right next to me. Wordlessly I turn and walk back onto the shore before dropping down on my barrel and lay down in the grass to catch my breath.

The elf stumbles out of the water and sits down in the grass a few feet away. “Looks like it’s your win, Luna.”

I make eye contact with him and before I can say anything he quickly glances away and scratches his cheek. I’ve started to learn that when he makes this awkward face and scratches his cheek it means he’s embarrassed. “What was that spell you used to briefly paralyze me? That completely caught me off guard.”

“To avoid you getting the wrong idea from the name of the spell I want to give you some context. There’s a paralyzation spell called Hold Person, but that spell is a lower level spell and only works against humanoids. Essentially it only works against bipedal elf or human shaped things. The more powerful version of the spell is called Hold Monster, but by monster it just means anything that is not a humanoid. I didn’t want you to think I was calling you a monster. That spell is actually the same level of spell as my Steel Wind Strike, so I used both of my 5th level spell slots just to still lose.” He throws his head back with a groan. “So, what’s your command my princess?”

I stare at him with a soft smile. For a violent battlemage he’s always surprisingly thoughtful. “It’s a very easy command, you don’t even have to move for it.”

“Oh? Well c’mon let’s get it over with.”

Should I really do this? The thought of this command leaves me feeling a bit embarrassed as well, and I end up glancing at the dirt as I draw a line in the soil with my forehoof.

“I command you to confess what you were going to tell me right before you blacked out two nights ago.”

Author's Note

Regardless of one of the comments on the last chapter this was what I always had planned for this chapter. Tensions have officially peaked!

Hopefully since I came out with a chapter 3 days in a row you all will forgive me when I say that the next chapter won't be until Thursday night at the earliest, but probably Friday if I'm being honest. Got a bit of a road trip for the next two days, and I'm not bringing my laptop.

Sorry! I know for some of you this might be one of the more brutal cliff hangers for me to announce I'm gunna be MIA for a few days! Please forgive!

In the meantime, at some point in the future there is likely going to be sex. I made a poll for you all to vote on for how I should handle sex scenes for the fic. (Standalone fic that contains all the sex scenes, include them in main story but have them be their own isolated chapters that are marked as sex and can be skipped, just raw dog it and put it in the story like normal, or none of the above.) I'm only doing this because in the description of the story I said there would be no sex, and I know there are likely a few people that only started reading because of that statement. So in order to ease my guilt at the false advertisement I've made this poll for you all to vote on:

https://strawpoll.com/05Zdzzr9En6

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 4

“Before I tell you… I just have a question.” Ignis looks out into the distance and the sound of the running water nearby fills the silence. “If you knew someone wasn’t going to be around for very long, would you still risk getting attached to them?”

Ah, so that’s what this is about. He mentioned that returning to his home was still a possibility and that he was still pursuing it, but I’ll be honest, I’ve still never considered it to be possible. Does he really still intend to leave? “I would not. It’s a tragedy I’ve already faced numerous times due to my ageless nature. In this hypothetical though I assume you do not mean death?”

The elf is still staring at the trees across the river, but now with a far off look in his eyes. I’m not even sure he heard me until he slowly nods. “I had talked to Force about this, but she was of the opinion that I should be selfish. Pursue whatever I want to pursue regardless of what the future might hold. Initially I agreed with her, I made up my mind to just make the most of everything I have here until it’s time to go. But… I’m scared Luna. I’m not sure I’ll be able to abandon this world if…”

“You feel forced to choose. Either way you’ll be giving up something dear to you. Choosing between two burdens.” His head hangs low now, staring at the ground. “It’s an impossible choice, Ignis. I’m sure the possibility is far off in the future though, no?”

His hands rush up to his forehead and he grabs his hair. “It’s right now, Luna. If I wanted to test it I could possibly go home right now.” I feel my breath catch in my throat and my heart rate spikes. “I could cast Banishment on myself right now and if everything works correctly it’ll return me to my home plane. I wanted to at least wait until I learn the Plane Shift spell before I test the possibility. With Plane Shift I can use a tuning fork that’s been attuned to this realm and return back here, but even if Banishment returns me back to my world there’s no guarantee that Plane Shift would bring me back here. There’s no record or tales of this place in Faerun and they’ve documented an untold number of realms.”

His breathing quickens and he raises his voice a few decibels. “Even then, that’s not where I want to go. I don’t want to go to Faerun! I want to go back to Earth, but that seems much more impossible at this point. The idea of using Banishment has come up several times, but I always distract myself. I don’t know what to do, Luna. The choice is already too hard, too much is uncertain. I’m-”

His voice cracks and he stops speaking. I move closer to him and pull him into me with my wing. I was unaware that Ignis has gone on this whole time without properly processing his situation. The fool has just bottled everything up for weeks, now it’s even more clear as to why Nightmare was able to latch onto him. “Ignis, we’ve only known each other for a few weeks. If you can go home then you should.” I don’t want him to go, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I’m the reason he traps himself here. Just seeing him in this state hurts my heart. “If it’s already this hard for you then you should just do it now. You can learn your other spell in your homeland and come back if you’re able to. Do you already have the tuning fork?”

I hear a muffled sniffle before the elf pulls himself away from me. “No. It has to be worth 250 gold pieces, and I couldn’t find one that expensive in any of the shops.”

“I can send you back to Canterlot with a written order for the castle staff to procure a mana infused tuning fork. The metal required for the forks is quite uncommon and is very resistant to mana, so the process of forcing mana into one should give it the necessary monetary value. Another option is that we can wait until the sun has risen and I can ask Tia to find one.”

Ignis looks up into my eyes. His eyes are glassy and his face is a mess. “No. Let’s just wait until we get back.”

“Why? The longer you wait the harder it’ll be.”

“Because if Banishment works the way I think it works it’ll just send me to Faerun, and I’m not even certain if I’d rather be trapped in Faerun or here. I might have the memories of Ignis, but that’s just it, it’s only memories. Plus,” He leans back into me and buries his face in my fur. “I rolled high enough to know that you were lying when you told me I should go home. So, let’s just enjoy the rest of this trip.”

“It’s not healthy for you to keep bottling this back up, Ignis. We need to work through this. It’s true that I want you to stay, but I would be guilt stricken if I’m the reason you don’t go home.”

He pulls away again and stands up. “Okay then how about this. In order for banishment to be permanent I have to stay banished for the duration of the spell, 1 minute. I’ll cast the spell and then regardless of what I find, I’ll end the spell early and return. Maybe it doesn’t even work and there’s no need for us to even go through all this grief?”

I can’t help but to frown at him. “Okay, but if it doesn’t work you still need to properly process your emotions. Bottling things up will only lead to ruin, and I refuse to see you do that to yourself any longer.”

“Alright, we just need something that I find distasteful and then I can give it a try.”

I scan around until I find a web attached to a branch near the top of one of the nearby trees. Reaching out with my telekinesis I tear down the entire web and feel something moving around in the ball of web, surely that’s a spider. I float the web down and hold it in the air behind Ignis. “Okay, turn around! I believe this should qualify as something that you do not enjoy.”

He glances behind him before jumping back a few feet and pulling his hands up to try and form a wall with his hands. “What the fuck, Luna?!”

“You said you don’t like spiders, yes?”

“Yeah I guess I did. Alright just hold it there.” He holds his hand over the web and mutters a few indecipherable words. An instant later he disappears with a pop.

A few long seconds pass by in silence. He reappears with a pop and I release a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. His back is turned to me and without seeing his face I can’t tell if it’s a good result or not. After a few more seconds he turns to me and lets out a somber chuckle. “It was a pure white void. It didn’t work.”

A conflicting set of emotions storm in my chest. Elation, grief, pity, and doubt. I start to open my mouth to ask him if he’s telling the truth, but he speaks again before I can. “But, the quest is still in progress. We’re right back to square one, Luna.”

“I’m sorry, Ignis. Truly.”

“It’s alright, let’s just head back to camp and pack up. We’ll need to eat our rations while we move, this took up too much time.” I frown at him again, “Just let me bottle it up for tonight… you can meet me in my dreams during the day and we can talk about it again there. Please?”

All I can do is sigh. “That is agreeable.”

Ignis 1st Person POV

It’s been 3 quiet days since we had our race. Moving during the night seems to have worked for the most part, aside from the giant praying mantis on day 2 we haven’t ran into anything dangerous. Since then I’ve learned Glyph of Warding and Aganazzar’s Scorcher. Right now it's an hour or so after sunset and I’m finishing up learning Identify.

Looking up at the night sky I can’t help but sigh in relief. The “therapy dreams”, I’ve come to call them, with Luna have been immensely helpful the last couple of days. I’m still burdened with a choice, but everything is more clear now. I won’t return to Faerun if it’s the only option, and the romantic tension has essentially disappeared. At this point it’s safe to say we’re both vaguely aware of how we feel, but there’s an unspoken agreement that we’ll keep things as they are until the future is more certain.

I hear the tent open behind me, so it seems like she’s up. I turn around and am surprised to see she’s back to her normal mane. “Did something happen? Your mane is back to normal hair.”

She glances to the right, “So it is. It’s likely because I haven’t moved the moon in a few days, if you remember a few weeks ago, when I was still recovering my strength from the banishment, my mane temporarily went into its ethereal state while I was turning day to night. We’ve never really investigated why our manes do it, but I can say for sure it has something to do with the ritual. Perhaps it’s because of how much mana the ritual requires and the excess mana seeps out of our manes?”

“I’ll admit I was a big fan of the starry mane, but now that I’ve seen it for so long this is a nice change of pace. Are we close to being out of this forest yet? I know you said the last leg of this trip is going to be in snowy mountains.”

She teleports in two plates of pancakes and sits next to me. Oh, after the first night our Luna talked to Celestia and managed to arrange some meals to be prepared for us. The only reason she couldn’t do it before was because she was unsure what our schedule would be, but we are pretty consistently waking up at 8PM and setting up camp at 11AM. “We have been making progress faster than I initially anticipated, but we still likely have 3 or 4 more days until we reach the mountains.”

“Ready to give me some mana lessons?”

“I suppose we can begin your magic training today. After breakfast though.”

“Oh of course!”

Four pancakes and 30 minutes later, we’re back on the road. “Alright I’m going to stop suppressing your presence now. Your first task is to maintain this suppression on your own, I’m sure it’ll actually be quite easy for you to do. However, maintaining it at all times, unconsciously, will be the challenging part.”

Luna ignites her horn and a second later all the branches around us vibrate and bounce as all the birds nearby take off into the sky. “So how do I do this? My mana feels like a blazing fire, do I just need to tame it?”

“That’s an interesting phrase, I’ve never quite heard it described like that. The easiest way for me to describe it, is think of yourself as having 2 bodies. The first body is the one you’re familiar with, it has all your organs and blood. The second body is much more formless, it’s almost like a jar around your body. If my sister were here she could show you your mana field, but alas she isn’t.”

“She actually did that for me the same day I had my argument with her. So you’re saying my mana field is that cylinder of mana around me?”

“Exactly, and the simplest way to suppress your presence is to keep all of the mana inside your physical body. That’s the simplest but for beings like my sister and I, and you to a lesser extent this simple method is impractical. We just have too much mana. You can still try this method, but I recommend the second method. Your fire analogy is actually surprisingly accurate for the second method. Your mana field is likely very rough and it flickers and whips about, and if Tia allowed you her sight you’ll know what it should look like.”

“Her mana field just looked like smooth solid walls around her. Okay, I think I get it.”

“You’ll find one of the methods much easier than the other depending on how you instinctively use mana. If you’re able to direct it in a precise manner then you’ll find the second method easiest. If your mana seems to “flow on it’s own as you need it” and it feels like it’s completely out of your control, then the first method will be easiest.”

I remember in the changeling hive I was able to precisely direct my mana through my veins and embed it into my muscle fibers, so it seems like the second method will be easiest. I was going to try the first method to start with, but if the second method is easier for large mana pools and my instincts favor the second method, then I might as well just do the second method.

I picture the blazing fire in my head and imagine myself removing oxygen from the surrounding area. Starve the fire. In response the fire shrinks but starts to move and whip about even more violently, like it’s desperately fighting to stay alive. “Whatever you’re doing is wrong, Ignis.”

I let it return to normal. Maybe picturing a fire is a bad idea, I can’t really imagine a fire that is shaped like a smooth cylinder. Unless… okay take a step back. It’s not a campfire, it’s a bonfire, much larger than me. Now I just need to limit the area of the fire. Picture the bonfire from the top down, and draw a circle around the maximum range of the fire. Now place rocks where the circle is, and then shrink the circle. Move the rocks inward, just a few inches.

It’s so violent and aggressive because it’s being allowed to expand however it wants, but I’m limiting its horizontal range. If it wants to maintain the same strength it has no choice but to adapt to the new shape being forced upon it. Now replace the rock circle with an inverted Magic Circle spell. An unbreakable cylinder of force that allows no fire to exit its range.

Now the bonfire is exactly how I want it, from the outside it just looks like a perfect circle of fire. Inside the magic circle however, the fire is still theoretically burning with the same strength, though. Just because I’ve shaped it correctly doesn’t mean I’ve actually brought it under control and eliminated the aggression and violence from it. “Luna just to confirm I’m still not doing it, correct?”

“You’ve somewhat done it, I was to walk a few feet further away from you, I wouldn't feel your presence anymore. I’m not sure how you’ve managed to reduce the effective range while still maintaining the same potency.”

Hm, I wonder… I try to feel the mana flowing through me, and I actively try to will it to slow down. I think the aggression is a side effect of how fast it’s flowing. The mana slows down and sure enough I hear Luna, “You’ve done it. Now open your eyes and maintain this for the rest of your life.”

“When you say it like that it sounds much more daunting.” I open my eyes and instantly lose my mental images.

“Wow, that didn’t last long.”

“I swear this normally never happens to me.” I can’t resist the urge to make the joke. The only response I get is a slightly louder and more forceful burst of air out of her nose.

“Which method did you end up using?”

“The second method, I imagined a large fire and constructed a circle around the fire to force it to maintain the shape I wanted. Then I had to consciously will the mana circulating in and around me to slow down. After it slowed down, that's when you let me know it had worked.”

“Were you doing both of those at the same time or did you try the large fire and then try slowing down the mana?”

“I just did both at the same time, why?”

She gives me a soft smile, “Good news, you don’t need to picture the fire. If you can slow down the flow of your mana then that’s all you need to do. When you slow down the mana and constrict it, that cylinder shape is its natural state. That should make it a bit easier for you to do with your eyes open.”

While we continue to walk forward I try again. Slow down. A calm and barely perceptible stream of water. I think this is it, but I can’t even ask Luna. This is taking so much more focus than before. Why does having my eyes open make this so much harder?

“You need to relax, Ignis. Your posture is stiff and your jaw and hands are clenched tightly. You’re doing it, but it’s not sustainable if you're forcing it this hard. Remember, second nature, it needs to just come to you.”

This went on for hours, anytime I had to speak or was surprised by a sudden noise I’d lose the thread. It was only when we started setting up camp and Luna mentioned that it shouldn’t take as much focus as I’m using that I started to get concerned. “Maybe my mana is just wilder than all of you? Or, maybe it has to do with your horns? Perhaps the horn allows you to focus on it in a similar way as it helps with runes.”

“Nay, it has nothing to do with the horn. It’s almost like something is influencing your mana… could it because you’re still in your Summer form? You said your people are the living embodiment of summer and you in particular are associated with fire. Perhaps your mana is burning like a fire. In fact maybe that’s why your presence was surprisingly potent for how much mana you have. Your pool is considerable but we thought it was strange how aggressive your presence was.”

Arcana.

20 + 13 = 33.

That’s it. She’s nailed it, it makes perfect sense. I just don’t understand why I’m still like this, once my anger died I should’ve reverted, no that’s not right. During the fight my hair became this color, but it went an extra step and actually became fire once I was enraged. It’s not on fire right now, but it’s still resembling the colors of fire. Perhaps there is no way to get my silver hair back? No, I just need to suppress the mana even more.

I stop walking and Luna turns towards me and gives me an inquisitive look. I close my eyes and slow the mana. Even slower than before, to almost a complete stand still. Constrict the channels, smother the flame. Kill it.

Suddenly I feel extremely weak and dizzy. “Ignis whatever you’re doing you have to stop!” No, I'm almost there, I can feel it. Just maintain this for a few more seconds. An image of an ocean appears and 1 drop hits the water. Ripples go out for a few inches and suddenly the entire ocean is calm, no waves, no ripples. Luna’s voice sounds like it’s being muffled by a wall of concrete. I open my eyes and find myself laying on my back. “You can’t just stop your mana, Ignis! It’s like stopping your heart! You’re lucky I was able to stimulate it to start circulating again, you cannot- no you WILL NOT do that again!”

I look to the right and see my hair splayed out on the ground, it’s silver. “It worked, though. I just needed to turn it off and turn it back on again. Tried and true method for any problem.” Her glare doesn’t soften at all. “Okay! I’m sorry! I didn’t know it was dangerous, I won’t do it again.”

Finally her glare softens into concern. “Are you okay?”

I’m able to stand pretty easily and I don’t feel any of that previous weakness or dizziness. “Yeah I’m good, I think.”

She looks up into the daytime sky. The sun only rose a couple hours ago. “We’re setting up camp. It’s a bit early, but we’re far enough ahead of schedule that we can afford it. You can only set up the tent if your presence is suppressed. If it leaks for even a second you restart. That’s your punishment for today. I’ll handle the perimeter and security setup.”

52 times. I had to restart 52 times. It was easier to maintain after calming down my mana, but still took a considerable amount of focus. It felt like it was 50/50 on if I’d knock myself out of the state when slamming the stakes into the dirt. Laying down in the grass I let out a sigh.

“All things considered I’d say you made good time. I thought it’d take you another hour at least.”

“You know me, always aiming to impress. Please tell me I can relax until we sleep…”

“You’ll need to keep maintaining your suppression, but otherwise yes you can relax. It’s only 9am so we have a few hours. Do you have any stories from your world?” She asks and then immediately cringes, “I apologize, I didn’t think before I spoke.”

“What kind of stories? We’ve got some pretty dark ones.”

“Could you give an example?”

“Yeah so there’s this guy right and he’s been in a war for almost a decade. The whole time he hasn’t been able to see his wife and kid. They do this brilliant plan to get a large number of soldiers inside the city walls without detection, and they take over the capital city. But, the ruler of the people that lost has a son. One of their gods, Zeus, tells this man that if the son of this ruler grows up, he will kill him, kill his family, and bring ruin to his kingdom. So, this soldier has to make a choice between killing an infant or losing everything he loves in 15-20 years.”

“Well surely he chose to nurture the child and give him a positive upbringing that would prevent the tragedy?” Her tone is quite conflicted.

“No. He dropped the infant from the top of the city walls.”

She gasps and brings a forehoof up to her mouth. “No… he’s a monster.”

“I can understand your sentiment. He probably thought the same thing, but to me he was just doing whatever it takes to keep his family safe.”

“Well, let it be known, do not kill a foal to save me. I do not approve.” I let out a short chuckle, but don’t say anything. “Don’t just laugh and lay there, promise me you won’t do something like that.”

I can’t help but think back to the conversation I had in the royal dining hall with Celestia. I would find a way to save everyone. Even if it kills me. “I promise, Luna. I will not kill or sacrifice a foal to save your life.” I’ve already failed to live up to that mantra, but I promised Luna in the carriage that I would never fail like that again. Then there’s the hydra situation. Once we found out about its existence we did keep everyone alive, but before that… there’s nothing we could’ve done.

“You haven’t lost your suppression since you finished setting up the tent. Do you think you’re ready to try casting spells while suppressing?”

“No, but I wouldn’t mind learning the meaning for the different runes. Does that go against the plans you had for my “foundational” lessons? You mentioned wanting to give me a more advanced foundation.”

“It’s a small deviation, but it shouldn’t have any impact. Before I go over the runes I need to go back to the origins of that magic system. It was actually quite common for spells back then to actually have incantations, similar to your magic. My mentor and his colleagues theorized and implemented the rune system we use today. They disliked the variance and instability of incantations, so they broke down all sorts of spells to their fundamental components and researched how to recreate that component with a rune. That’s the basis of the runic alphabet, fundamental components of everything that can be combined to produce most of the spells we have today. I know you haven’t seen one yet, but there are still spells that require incantations even now in the modern era. It’s for spells that have niche elements that were never standardized into a rune. Did you get all of that? I know your focus is slightly divided right now.”

I slowly blink my eyes that started to get heavy during her lecture. “Yeah I got everything. Has anyone ever tried just channeling mana while thinking of the fundamental forces? Like if I just channel mana while thinking about friction, oxygen, and burning material could I just imagine fire and the mana responds to my will?”

It's her turn to just stare at me with a blank look. “What is friction and oxygen?”

“Eh? What fundamental components do the runes for fire bolt stand for?”

“Flint, wood, and air.”

“I’m pretty sure those aren’t fundamental forces…”

Fuck it, I hold out my hand and point my palm at the ground in front of me. I imagine friction creating a spark igniting gasoline and expanded by oxygen and channel the mana out of my palm.

Nothing happens. “Well that sucks.”

Luna tilts her head and perks up her ears, gods that’s adorable. “What is it?”

“You’re right, that doesn’t work. I think I’m onto something though, but I’ll explore it once I get a better grasp on magic.”

She gives me a smug smile. “You dropped your suppression.”

“FUCK.”

(A/N: This is where I’d have ended the chapter normally, but since I haven’t released anything in 3 days and I still have a few hours of sunlight I’ll keep trucking.)

It’s been a couple of hours since our impromptu rune training, and I learned most of them. It’s been interesting to learn which combinations make certain things, the system is super weird in my opinion. Anyways, onto the present. I’m currently laying down with the Moonblade grasped in my hand. Luna and I are going to try entering the realm of the ancient elven soul that resides in the blade. We need a hint on what’s going on with the sword so we can fix it.

Within a few minutes sleep takes me and I find myself in a familiar forest. Only the ground has scorch marks all over it and the trees are charred. How in the world did my mana cause this? I hear a tearing sound and looking up I see Luna enter the dream. She voices the same thing I was thinking. “How did your mana cause this to happen?”

“I’m not sure, but we need to see if we can find the elf. Let’s go to the hill where she normally rests.” A short walk through what used to be a field and we arrive at the hill, but the only thing here is a massive tree trunk. Embedded into the wood there’s a large teal… gem? It’s very smooth and opaque and it feels hard like a gem.

I knock on the gem a few times. “If I had to guess she’s in this gem. This might just be a problem that only time can heal. Unless you have any ideas?” I look at Luna.

She’s in her own world looking at all the damage in this space, but she notices me staring at her and asks me to repeat myself. I do and then she hums in thought. “Hm, the sword is technically an artifact under my domain right? Maybe I can supply energy to speed up the recovery?”

“I think that’s worth a shot. Can you transfer mana into the ground through your hooves?”

She chuckles, “Yes, that is the signature ability of Earth Ponies. Since I represent all of the pony races I share their abilities as well.” She stands there silent for several seconds.

I’m looking at the ground directly beneath her but I can’t see any changes, wait no. There’s the tiniest patch of grass right under her. It’s ever so slowly inching outwards. “Can you transfer…. Faster?”

“I’m actually offloading a significant amount of mana right now. I could probably only do this for another 45 minutes or so.” As if to prove her point, a few seconds later her mane returns to its starry form. She continues to transfer mana for another 35 minutes or so before she stops. She actually seems a bit tired, but her efforts didn’t amount to much. She restored a circle that’s probably 10ft in diameter. It’d take her weeks to repair the realm at this rate.

“I would have continued until I ran out, but I don’t feel comfortable completely exhausting myself while we’re out here. We’ve been lucky to avoid any significant problems, but that could change any moment.” A second later her eyes widen in surprise. “Wake Up!” I’m shoved backwards through the air, as soon as I impact something I wake up with a gasp.

“What’s happening, Luna?!” Looking around, the tent is empty. I bolt out of the tent and find Luna zipping through the air and sending a blast of magic at… a giant bear that’s see through with stars and constellations inside its body? It’s literally the size of a mountain, what in the fuck is this thing?

“Ignis! It’s an Ursa Major! Physical attacks do nothing but go through it, you’ll need to use magic!” As she finishes talking she ignites her horn and a set of wings sprouts from my back. These are the same as the ones I had on the date with Force.

I activate Shadow Blade at 5th level and launch into the air.

Roll for Initiative

11 + 5 = 16

As soon as time unfreezes I realize I left the Mizzium Apparatus in the tent but it’s too late now. The bear stands up onto its hind legs and swings a paw towards Luna. Trying to bat her out of the sky. It’s surprisingly agile for its size, but not agile enough. Luna pulls up and avoids the swing. It goes for a second swing that she also dodges. The alicorn then arcs over the monstrosity and hovers under its chin/neck. Once she’s under its chin her horn is enshrouded in aura, and after a second the aura gets brighter. She throws her head back and the aura gets even brighter again.

Finally she points her horn at the bear and I watch in awe as all the stars in the sky one by one zip through the sky and into the tip of her horn. Within another two seconds the entire sky is empty and Luna opens her eyes to reveal they’re pure white with light shining through them. A massive beam of white light slams into the chin of the Ursa Major and the bear starts to slowly rise into the air.

The beam channels for what feels like minutes, but in reality was only a few seconds and when it ends the bear is roaring in pain, 40ft in the air and flailing. It’s my turn, I zip into the air and while the bear is still falling I hold my shadow blade out to the side ready to give it a slash all the way up its side.

Attack with Advantage (Elven Accuracy.)

8 and 3. Reroll the 3 with Elven Accuracy.

Natural 20. Critical Hit!

Expend Level 4 Divine Smite.

Total damage: 9d8 + 5 + 72 (Crit)

54 + 77 = 131 Psychic and Radiant Damage.

I shoot up the creature's body, from its head down to its tail. The shadow blade is embedded along the entire strike, and as soon as I finish the strike a silver line of light appears along the path I traced. The silver line glows bright and explodes from the smite.

The bear lands on its back with a boom, crushing at least 40 trees under its body. It lets out a pained groan, and I look at Luna to see if we should continue the battle or see if it’ll lick its wounds and run off. She gives me a stern look and ignites her horn again, seems we’re still going.

I’m out of movement, but I still have one more attack. Pointing my finger gun at the Bear I unleash a Fire Bolt. Technically it’s prone and I’m using a ranged attack, so I should have disadvantage. If this were under DM discretion though, I think most DMs would let me have a neutral roll here because I’m directly above the creature and it’s sprawled out. Literally a sitting duck.

Attack with Disadvantage.

3 and 13. 3 + 9 = 12.

Okay, fuck you too system. The Fire Bolt launches and just before it hits the bear it dissipates completely. Wait, did I have disadvantage because I’m more than 120ft away? Ok I take back my fuck you for now. The bracers activate, but it seems the Shadowblade from before initiative still counted as my bonus action for this turn.

The bear heaves itself over and stands back up on all fours. Luna and I both watch with bated breath to see if it’s going to flee or continue to fight. We don’t have to wait very long, the bear rises up on its back legs and swings at me. It’s only then that it occurs to me, I’m not hasted and I’m not in Bladesong. I have no AC bonuses right now. I can’t dodge it in time, why is it so fast?

“SHIELD!” AC: 23.

I hold out my empty left hand in front of me and conjure a shield. The shield might as well have been paper. My entire body fits in the center of its paw as it feels like I just ran into a brick wall at 100mph. The paw swing follows through and I’m flung backwards, but that is also interrupted as it swings its other paw straight down at me.

HP: 47/75

Concentration Check with Advantage (War Caster.) DC: 14.

13 and 7. 13 + 2 = 15. Shadowblade maintained.

The shield still re-materializes right in front of me, but it’s once again useless. For a few painful seconds all I see is darkness as I feel a rush of wind at my back. My body leaves the paw and
HP: 20/75

I’m able to see again, but that does little to improve my situation. I’m currently rocketing towards the ground at an alarming speed, and I already used my reaction on Shield. I squeeze the sending stone in my pocket. “I fucked up Luna, I went into the melee without bladesong. I’m probably going to lose consciousness when I hit the ground.” Time slows down and I’m 10ft away from the ground. Think, what can I do? “CALLISID! There’s 4 health potions in by backpack in the tent, give one to me once-”

Fall damage: 6d6.

I’m surprised I get to see the dice roll for this.

It’s 20 damage exactly.

Everything goes black.

HP:0/75. Death Saving Throws.

Author's Note

I feel like I was all over the place this chapter, but hopefully I conveyed everything I wanted to convey. I'm really enjoying depriving information from the reader by abusing perspective changes. If we're ever NOT in Ignis 1st Person POV it's for a reason.

For anyone curious about the Ursa Major, it has an AC of 17, 640HP, and its paw swipes do 4d8 + 7.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 6

It’s been around 20 minutes and the beast has caught up to us. It doesn’t seem to have worked out that we’re invisible so sometimes it just stops right on top of us and swipes at the ground in confusion. “Ignis this isn’t going to work at this speed, if you can’t follow me then you’ll just need to climb on.”

“Yeah I was starting to think the same thing.” With my arm already around the back of her neck it’s as simple as floating up and onto her back.

Reaching around her neck with my other arm I clasp my hands together above her peytral plate and lean in close for stability. As soon as she can tell that I’m done adjusting myself I hear her wings open and we lift into the air. As we’re climbing into the air I watch in horror as a sudden blue aura appears where her horn would be if she was visible. With a panicked whisper I try to stop her, “Wait, Luna, stop! If you cast a spel-” It’s too late. Our speed rapidly increases but the princess is completely visible now. “-Spell… it’ll… negate the invisibility…”

I can barely hear Luna’s reply over the Ursa’s sudden roar. “Perhaps that would’ve been something to share earlier!”

I’m still invisible thankfully, and apparently that means I’m not in combat because there’s no initiative roll. I reach into my component pouch so I can try and reapply the invisibility, but Luna quickly dips and rolls to avoid a swing from the Ursa. With only 1 hand half way looped around her I’m not prepared for the sudden maneuver and start to take a tumble. I instantly remember that my potion of flying is still in effect so I just let go and float away from the alicorn. As soon as she feels my weight disappear she calls out my name in a slight panic.

“I’m alright, my potion of flying won’t wear off for at least another 30 minutes. What spell did you cast?” I start moving towards Luna while taking note of where the bear is swinging so I can safely approach.

“It was a simple speed enhancing spell. I didn’t see any faults in the plan, so I wasn’t as concerned with conserving mana.”

I see a window and dive towards Luna, she turns towards me as I get close. As soon as I reach out my hand to grab onto her I see a translucent limb come into view. It’s coming down towards her diagonally from behind, and it seems she hasn’t noticed it. As soon as I feel her soft fur graze the tip of fingers I flex my arm and engage the Mizzium Apparatus. “Fragor Curro!”

Arcana Check (Mizzium, DC: 16)

3 + 13 = 16. Just Barely.

An instant away from disaster I become visible as the glass tubes on the magical device hum and flicker. The Ursa’s paw swipes through the space we were occupying as a loud thunderous boom erupts from our position. Thanks to that Thunder Step we appear a good 90ft away from the beast.

3d10 = 13.

6 Thunder Damage.

As soon as we appear I keep my momentum and with a fluid motion I rotate my body in the air and pull myself down onto her back again. “Punch it!”

“What?” She glances at me with a look of confusion.

“It means GO!”

With a burst of wind we’re off. Everything becomes blurry as the wind makes my eyes start to water. She said this was a simple speed enhancement?! Glancing back I watch as the Ursa barreling towards us starts to slowly get smaller and smaller as we gain distance on it. How fast are we going to be able to outrun that thing? It covers literally hundreds of feet in a step.

The Ursa turns into a dot on the horizon as we start to slow down and gradually descend towards the ground. Luna’s mane that had returned to its starry form during the dream transforms back into normal hair. “You okay Luna?”

I dismount right before she lands and as soon as she lands she collapses onto her barrel. “It was a channeled spell, more speed for more mana. I’m fairly immobilized right now, so this is where we’re setting up camp. I know we’ve only been awake for an hour or so, but I need to rest. On the bright side though, we covered the same amount of distance we normally cover.” Her breathing is ragged and she’s covered in a layer of sweat.

“Do you think it’ll follow us this far? If it tracks us all the way out here and you’re still out of mana we’re gunna be in big trouble.” I start unpacking the camping bag and getting the tent setup.

“It shouldn’t, but it shouldn’t have even been concerned with us to begin with due to its size. You need to suppress your presence by the way. It’s been unsuppressed since you went to sleep.”

It’s easier to do now than it was yesterday, so that’s nice. It takes a few minutes to get the tent setup and then I lay out our bedrolls. We must be close to the mountains because the temperature has dropped considerably, so we’ll likely need a campfire. If that monstrosity is still tracking us though the smoke will be a dead giveaway. “Should I set up a campfire, or do you just want some help getting into the tent?”

“Without access to my illusions the campfire would just invite more trouble. We’ve been fine without a campfire though, why do you want one for this night?”

“You haven’t noticed the drop in temperature? It’s not cold perse, but it is chilly. Your fur and feathers must be insulating you. Seriously though, how immobile are you? Can you get into the tent on your own, do you need some assistance, or do I need to full-on carry you?”

She glances off to the side and mutters out, “I’m afraid you’ll have to carry me.”

Insight.

13 + 6 = 19.

Eh, why not? She’s carried me more than once now and it’s only a few feet. I squat down and help her roll onto her back. I figured it was either bridal style or backpack style and this one seemed more feasible. It’s a bit awkward but I manage to stand up with her. She’s not as heavy as I thought she’d be, but it’s enough weight that I can only shuffle forward now. Once I take the first step forward I glance down and find her looking surprised with her face bright crimson. Should I take this opportunity to do some teasing of my own? Yeah.

“In the future if you want me to carry you, you just have to ask. Can’t believe my Princess would lie to me about the status of her health. Tsk tsk.” Her blush gets a shade darker.

“I did not lie… completely. That enhancement spell puts immense strain on my muscles, and although I can stand and move on my own, it’d be slow and painful.”

I just offer her a soft smile as I reach the tent and awkwardly lower myself so I can enter. “I’m also surprised how embarrassed you got, I think that might be the biggest blush I’ve seen on your face. Especially considering you asked for this.” I lower her down onto her bedroll and she lays down on her side with a pouting face.

“I thought you’d use telekinesis or some other magic to carry me. How was I supposed to know you were capable of just casually lifting and carrying me? It was just unexpected, that’s all.”

“I can’t even cast telekinesis without the Mizzium Apparatus, and unlike your magic system telekinesis is a pretty advanced spell for us. It’s the same level as that paralysis spell or the spell that lets me teleport between 5 targets as I slash them. I was actually going to ask if you could teach me telekinesis next?”

“I wanted to hold off on telekinesis until we had your mana control down to a precise level. When foals learn telekinesis they lack the mana or capability to exert a lot of force onto anything. You, on the other hand, could do some serious damage with telekinesis. For example you could try to lift a dog and end up flinging it hundreds of feet by accident due to too much force. I’ll try to teach you, but if it’s too unstable we’re calling it off. Go find a decent sized rock and bring it back.”

“I hadn’t really considered those dangers… alright I need to go setup the Alarm spell perimeter first, but I’ll bring back a rock.” Since we don’t have the illusion hiding our campsite from any wandering eyes I’m going to expand the Alarm perimeter. It takes around two and a half hours but I feel pretty comfortable with this. I found a rock about the size of my head 45 minutes into setting up the Alarms, so I walked back to where I found it and grabbed it.

Upon entering the tent I was prepared to make some dumb comment about rocks, but I stop when I see Luna’s laying on her side fast asleep. Damn she really must’ve been exhausted to fall asleep at 11PM. We just woke up like 3 hours ago. I think this is the first time I’ve seen her sleeping, usually I knock out first. She looks peaceful.

Nightmare can you teach me telekinesis? Luna was going to but she’s all tuckered out and fell asleep.

I just hear a sigh in my mind. I suppose so. The concept is quite simple, you just focus on an object and project your mana towards it. Once the mana has the object surrounded you exert your will into the mana and it should respond in kind.

Really? That’s it? Luna made it sound more dangerous.

It is more dangerous if it’s somepony like you learning the skill. I recommend doing this outside.

Should I wake Luna up? On one hand I don’t want to, but on the other hand she might fuck up her sleep schedule which in turn will fuck up our palace food schedule. Oh she’s out of mana anyways. I’ll wake her up anyways. I put my hand on her barrel and give a few scritches, “Nap time’s over, Lulu.”

Her eyes slowly crack open, “You were gone for so long~ without my magic I couldn’t conjure my book.”

“Sorry, those alarm spells take a while to set up. You can go back to sleep if you want, but I figured you didn’t wanna mess up your sleep schedule. Here’s my rock though.”

“You figured correctly, I appreciate it.” She goes on to give me a slightly more in depth explanation of telekinesis, but it’s basically the same thing Nightmare told me.

System Update In Progress…..

System offline.

Until the update is complete only critical functions are supported.

Woah. Everything kinda went blurry for a second, but wait can I still cast spells if I use Ignis’ memories? What the hell is it even updating?

“Ignis?” I look over at Luna to find her looking slightly concerned.

“Sorry, kinda spaced out. My power is temporarily disabled. I think I can still cast spells and what not but there won’t be any dice rolls. If something attacks us right now we might be in real trouble.”

“Do you know how long it’ll take to function again?”

“Could be 30 seconds, could be 6 hours, hell it could even be 6 months. Let’s just focus on this rock.” I exit the tent and tie the opening so that it can’t close. That way Luna can still observe without moving.

Making sure I maintain my suppression I stare at the rock intensely. I hold out my left hand palm open and attempt to “project” the mana from my body. Lift the rock. Lift the rock. Almost instantly the rock is surrounded in a silver glow, but it doesn’t move at all. “Luna, why isn’t it moving?”

“You might need some sort of stimulus? You’re projecting the mana from your hand so why not try gesturing with that hand?”

Following her advice I flick my hand upwards and watch in shock as the rock zips up into the air, severing the mana connection as it continues to soar higher and higher until I can’t even see it anymore. “Looks like I should’ve gotten a bigger rock. Is it bad that I’m terrified about the fact that I can’t see this rock anymore? Where is it going to land? Statistically it shouldn’t hit either of us, right?”

Instead of answering me Luna closes her eyes and starts to tilt her head. After a second or two she opens her eyes again. “It’s falling 30, no, 40ft that way.” She points to the right with her forehoof. Did she just echolocate a falling rock? As if on cue I hear twigs snapping and the sound of something heavy thudding the ground in the direction she pointed.

I run over and grab the rock and bring it back to camp to continue my attempts. The next issue I run into is that the run keeps falling out of my aura as I slowly lift it into the air. Well if gesturing with my hand is what lets me do directions maybe I just need to close my hand like I’m grabbing something before I lift?

When I close my hand into a fist the rock makes a loud cracking sound and compresses 2 or 3cm. That did the trick though, now I can ever so slowly lift it and move it. Looks like I need to be more gentle when closing my hand. The sound of two hooves hitting each other rings out from the tent, and when I glance back I see Luna giving me slow applause. “It’s still quite rough, but you managed to get the concept down pretty quickly.”

“How long have I been at it? It feels like it couldn’t have been longer than an hour.”

“Correct, I’d say it’s been 45 minutes since you launched the rock into the clouds the first time. You even managed to mai-” She stops and suddenly snaps her head in the direction we came from. It looks a bit silly since she’s still in the tent, so she’s just staring at the wall. I assume she heard something though.

I start to ask what’s up when I feel the ground start to vibrate. “Ignis! Help me pack everything the Ursa is coming. We need to move, now!” She grits her teeth and hisses in pain as she rises up to all fours.

I quickly yank out the pegs and start rolling up the tent as Luna uses her hooves and teeth to roll up our bedrolls. I put on the Mizzium Apparatus and throw on the backpack over it. Then I take the camping bag and throw it over one shoulder, positioning it under my armpit. Next I place my hand on Luna and get ready to cast Invisibility. “You stopped suppressing, you need to maintain it now more than ever, Ignis. It will find us if you can’t.”

I’m panicking at this point as I remember the system is offline, can I even cast Invisibility? I need to calm down and slow the mana.

Master Ignis the beast from before is approaching! You have 45 seconds at most!

Focus. Suppress the mana. Focus. I feel a cold breeze hit the back of my neck and everything goes quiet. It feels like everything is moving slow. It’s an adrenaline rush, in an instant the mana slows down and I reach into the component pouch. I have two 1st level spell slots, three 2nd level, one 3rd level, zero 4th level, and one 5th level. This invisibility will be my last 3rd level slot. After I go over my mental checklist I mutter out an incantation and attempt to cast the spell at 3rd level.

Nothing happens.

Again, nothing. Again, nothing.

You’ll be within its line of sight in 10 seconds, sir!

All the noises of the forest and the vibrations of the ground come back all at once, my distorted sense of time returns to normal. “Fuck. Fuck! I can’t do it Luna! We have to hide the old fashion way.”

I scan around to see if I can spot any elevation changes or caves to use for hiding, but it’s just flat ground and trees. I start running to the West, but I only make it a few steps before I hear a yelp of pain from Luna. Glancing back it looks like she couldn’t even gallop for a second without her muscles seizing. “I’ve recovered enough mana that I can slip into the shadows, run Ignis.” Halfway through her sentence at least 5 different instances of my Alarm spell ping me at the same time. It’s right on us. 30ft behind Luna the trees crack and snap as the canopy collapses and exposes the night sky. With an ear splitting roar all the leaves around us scatter into the air completely revealing us and everything else nearby.

Luna immediately transforms into a starry mist that sinks into the ground and starts to move between the shadows of the trees. Okay, she should be fine like that. I turn and start to move in a dead sprint away from the Ursa. There’s no pointing running from something this big though. In one step I watch as a large shadow zips across the ground before stopping right above me. I can hear the paw coming down to stomp on me and at the last second I leap forward and just barely manage to avoid being crushed.

Unfortunately it’s not a graceful leap. When I impact the ground I land shoulder first and roll several times. At some point the camping bag and my backpack got slung off while I was rolling. I scramble to my feet and try to keep running as it moves to stomp me into the ground again, but my foot slips. I catch myself with both hands and start to fast crawl forward while trying to stand up at the same time. Before I can get back up I see the ominous shadow overtake me.

I can’t help but to let out a dark chuckle as I start to realize that this is how it ends. Until I see my arms get enshrouded in a dark blue aura and I get yanked, hard. As I’m flying through the air I see Luna has come out of the shadows and is panting with one eye close and the other eye squinting. She saved me with her telekinesis.

I land on the ground and watch as the Ursa’s other foreleg starts to crash through the air towards Luna. Several shields appear on top of her, and the paw stops when it hits the first shield. An instant later it smashes through half of the shields and the rest of them disappear as Luna’s horn sparks and she cries out in pain, collapsing onto the ground.

Everything slows down again and several trains of thought go through my head. It’s made 3 saving throws, if it has Legendary Resistance there’s a good chance it’s out of them now. I have one last 5th level spell slot I can use to cast Hold Monster, but I haven’t been able to get my spells to work. The paw is inching closer to Luna.

In one fluid motion I reach behind my back and grab my spellbook from its mounting mechanism on my lower back, with my right hand. At the same time with my left hand I reach into the component pouch and pull out a piece of iron. You're my magic, so fucking LISTEN TO ME!

The book snaps open and the pages start to move on their own to the page of Hold Monster as I squeeze the iron in my hand while glaring at the Ursa. The paw is half a second away from crushing the alicorn.

“IMPEDIENDUM!”

The paw stops mere centimeters away from Luna as silver lines shoot up the legs of the beast and a loud ringing sound pierces the air. A fraction of a second later I send my mana towards Luna and fling her away from the Ursa. She flips through the air a couple of times before opening her wings and gliding to a stop. Before she lands though, I’ve already decided that one minute isn’t long enough for us to make any meaningful distance on this thing. It has to die tonight. After a couple more seconds I get hit with a dizzy spell but continue on.

I turn towards the leg that’s currently on the ground just a few feet away from me and pull out my Moonblade. I know she said it’s immune to physical attacks, but I doubt they used magical weapons. 7 seconds have passed since I paralyzed the Ursa. Now let’s see if I can emulate my smite using mana.

I try to grasp onto the thread that I feel whenever Nightmare speaks to me. Surely that’s an access to the well of divinity they both share, right? My right arm swings backwards, winding up for a slash with all my might. Suddenly I’m looking at the planet from space. Did I grasp it? I try to will myself back down to the planet, to my body, and gasp as I instantaneously rocket through space and the atmosphere back into my own shell.

As soon as I’m back in my body a giant pillar of white light comes down and engulfs me, it’s Moonbeam, or at least some variation of it. The Ursa lets out a roar of pain as it’s shoulder and part of its leg is caught in the pillar of light. The Moonblade currently wound up behind me starts to vibrate as all of the runes on the blade glow and shine with silver light. I know this hurt you last time, but this time I’m not brute forcing my mana through the blade, it’s power from the moon herself.

With a roar of my own I swing the blade at the creature's leg and my eyes widen as the moonbeam narrows and engulfs just the Moonblade as it slashes through the air. The edge of the blade makes contact with the beast and I’m blown backwards as an explosion rings out and destroys everything below the knee on the creature's leg. Since its other paw is stuck in the air the bear completely loses balance and it roars in pain as its head plummets towards the ground.

I land on my ass next to Luna and laugh at the surprised look on her face. The Ursas head crashes onto the ground right in front of us and I slowly get up and dash to its neck. I can tell from the silver lines it’s still paralyzed. I grasp the hilt of the Moonblade with both hands and bring the blade high above my head, ready to finish this.

“Wait!” I glance at Luna and watch as she slowly rises and walks right up to one of the eyes of the Ursa. “Creature, it does not have to end this way. We meant you no harm and have no intentions of invading your den. Take my mercy and leave us alone.”

Is she serious? This thing was a fraction of a second away from turning both of us into paste, multiple times. To my surprise the beast makes some sort of noise that isn’t too different from the sound dogs make when they’re in pain. “Blink twice if you understand and agree.”

I’m even more surprised when it blinks twice in rapid succession while still whining. This thing was capable of understanding us this whole time? That’s even more reason I should kill it, in my opinion that takes it firmly out of the “wild animal” category.

She’s the boss, though. The sliver of moonbeam that was still present narrows even further before disappearing entirely. The runes on the Moonblade are still shining however… did that repair the damage? Putting a pin in that so I remember to look at it later, and sheath the sword.

Relaxing my body I stop focusing on the Hold Monster spell and watch as the silver lines on its body disappear. It shakily rises off the ground and awkwardly hobbles away with its 3 legs. I cast my gaze over to Luna, “Why did you stop me? Did you truly want to show that thing mercy?”

“I was debating it, but then I noticed something that cemented my decision to try and bargain with it. You don’t have enough mana to perform that attack again. Once it realized you weren’t able to kill it then we’d surely be done in.” I raise an eyebrow in confusion.

“What do you mean? I feel perfectly fine, I think I could’ve done that attack several more times.” I take a step forward to go find the camping bag and my backpack, and as soon as I take a step forward everything goes blurry and the dizzy spell hits me even harder. “Ope, nevermind. Good call.”

I fall backwards onto my ass and lay down to stare at the sky. Luna sighs and drops down onto her barrel right next to me. “I’m glad your power came back in time, I’m not sure what would’ve happened to me if that creature really buried me under its paw. How did you use my spell at the end, though?”

“First things first, my power still isn’t back. You were in danger and I had an adrenaline rush and put every ounce of willpower I had into forcing my magic to work. Secondly, what do you mean by “your spell?””

“One of my most powerful spells that’s unique to me is extremely similar to what you did. The only difference is that the pillar of moonlight focuses on the tip of my horn and I release it in a concentrated blast. Yours was weaker, but that was definitely my spell.” Her tone of voice is one I can’t quite place. Is that pride?

“I just thought about simulating my divine smite with mana, and when I tried to grasp onto the link I have to your divinity my mind's eye got transported to the moon. After that I fell back down to the planet and into my body, and the pillar of light came with me.”

I feel a wing start to ruffle the hair on top of my head. “That’s my paladin. Thank you for saving me.”

“Oh please, we saved each other. In fact I’m pretty sure you got me beat 5-2 right now if we count me rescuing you from the Changeling pod.”

Suddenly time freezes and I see a familiar prompt.

System Update Completed.

System Initializing….

Ruleset: 5.5e

Ignis Ferrum - Bladesinger 9/Paladin 2
93,000/100,000 XP. Level 11.

Wait… I didn’t get any XP for that encounter?! WHAT THE FUCK!

Author's Note

Chapter felt messy as I was writing it, but I think I'm happy enough with the result. Who doesn't love a classic "Sick/Bedridden love interest gets bed side service from MC" trope?

The power creep has increased even further with this new Moonbeam Smite, but considering all he had done was minor practice with telekinesis he was pretty much at maximum mana capacity. That spell still drained the entire thing, so it's definitely a last resort "you better end it with this or you're fucked after" kinda attack.

Also the 2024 Player Handbook came out today for some users on DnDBeyond, and I think I've mostly been able to transition Ignis from 5e to 5.5e. There are some changes that I'll be making for the sake of the story though.

Smite is not a Bonus Action. This is kind of a crazy decision from wotc imo, but I guess it's because they want to limit Smite to once per turn instead once per melee attack. On the bright side it no longer maxes out at 5d8 damage, it scales all the way up to 9th level AND you can use it with unarmed strikes now. So, for this story I will still nerf the character to 1 Smite per Attack Action, like WotC intended, but it's not using a bonus action. This character is already so starved on bonus actions that it would basically kill the paladin portion of the character.

Secondly, they made it so that even if you Action Surge you can only use 1 spell slot per turn. We were already ignoring the 1 leveled spell rule for 5e because of BG3, and we're going to continue ignoring it for 5.5e. Aside from Smite, Smite will only be once per Attack Action, so I can use it twice if I'm hasted.

Other than that there aren't too many changes for the character, there are some new features and new bonuses and stuff but I'll cover those in the actual story next chapter.

Hope the attempted romance wasn't too cringe, thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 7

Did I really not get any XP because the system was offline when the encounter ended? That’s crazy. Also, did that say “ruleset 5.5e?” When the hell did that happen? What’s different I wonder?

“Character Sheet”

Oh I have expertise built into the Wizard class at level 2 now, I wouldn’t have needed Skill Expert if I had this to begin with. I’ll take expertise in Insight since I seem to roll that pretty often. Now I have expertise in Arcana and Insight.

There’s a new feature at level 5 called Memorize Spell. Whenever I finish a Short Rest I can replace one level 1+ spell I have prepared with another level 1+ spell from the spellbook. That’s super handy! I can think of a couple times I would’ve wanted to have that.

For Paladin I unlocked spellcasting at level 1 now instead of level 2 so I can prepare 3 Paladin Spells after a long rest compared to the 2 spells I could prepare before. I have some new thing called Weapon Mastery for the Longsword and Rapier. For the longsword this unlocks a new ability to impose disadvantage on the enemies next attack roll if I hit them with the longsword. For the rapier, if I hit a creature with a rapier and deal damage to the creature I have advantage on the next attack roll against that creature before my turn ends.

Holy shit. I can only Smite once per Attack action now. That’s a huge nerf! Haste is even more of an important spell now. Oh, but smite scales up to 9th level now instead of stopping at 4th level, so that’s nice. Looks like several spells got changed, True Strike is actually an insanely good cantrip now. I think I still prefer Booming Blade or Green-Flame but that’s really good. I don’t feel like going through every single leveled spell to see if anything significant was changed, but maybe later if I’m bored.

Time unfreezes and I sit up from laying in the grass. “What are the odds my backpack didn’t get crushed when that thing fell onto the ground? If the camping bag got crushed it’s not really a big deal but there’s a decent chance I lost some stuff if it crushed my backpack. Namely the inkwell for the magical quill.”

She actually winces when I mention the possibility of the inkwell being crushed. “I’d say the odds are not in your favor.”

“Well guess I’d better go look. By the way I only have like 4 spell slots and I’m also completely drained on mana. We are truly, actually, supremely fucked if we run into another problem like that Ursa. Good news for you though, it’s a pretty decent walk to get back to a section of the forest that still has an overhead canopy.”

“Why is that good news for me?”

“It means you get to be carried again for like 100 plus feet instead of 2 feet, haha.”

I don’t stick around to see her reaction as I start to make my way over to where I ragdolled across the ground and lost the bags.

Perception.

15 + 6 = 21.

Finding them comes pretty easily, and thankfully only the camping bag was crushed. If the inkwell bursted in my backpack it would’ve ruined all of the spell scrolls as well. Oh, and the health potions would’ve been wasted. Honestly I’m not sure I can carry Luna and the Mizzium and both of the bags at the same time. Last time it was just her and it was pretty close to my limit. Walking back over to the prone alicorn I let her know the plan.

“I’m gunna bring the bags and the Mizzium over to the campsite then come back and get you, or I can take you first if you prefer.”

“Neither, you’ll use this opportunity to train your telekinesis. Carry the bags without using your hand as a crutch. From what I can tell you can project mana from any part of your body, so you don’t need to use your hand. We’ll wait here until you can pick up the bags without using your hands then we’ll move to the new camp site.”

“Luna, you’re the one that said I’m basically out of mana.”

“Basically out of mana and actually out of mana are not the same. Those bags plus the magical device are probably only 20 or 30lbs max and that much weight does not require a significant amount of mana.”

“My goddess truly is a demanding one. Alright fine, and I suppose I need to keep my presence suppressed as well?”

“You’re in luck actually. Since you are basically out of mana there is no presence to suppress. We’ll work on that once you replenish your pool.”

Wait, I don't have to use my hands? I mean I guess I just instinctively used my hands because it’s easier to aim that way, but I could’ve sworn someone told me to use my hands. Let’s give it a shot I guess?

I decide to try the camping bag first since it’s the most expendable if I fuck up. Intensely staring at the bag I picture my mana reaching out from my chest and surrounding the bag. Nothing’s happening. I’ll just imagine a hand then, since using a real hand worked last time then maybe imagining one will make this easier. Imagine a silver thread connecting the bag to me, and at the end of that thread is a hand. Grasp the bag and gently grip it. As the mental image of the hand wraps its fingers around the bag it’s enshrouded in the familiar silver light.

Repeating the process I have my backpack, the camping bag, and the Mizzium Apparatus in my grasp. Now just slowly lift them to this point, instead of thinking of a direction I focus my gaze at one point in particular. Finally pull the threads taut, so that if I walk away the items are forced to be pulled along. I just need to focus on maintaining my grasp on the items and they should follow on their own.

Next we need to pick up the spoiled princess. I perform the task exactly the same way I did last time, and after a few steps I notice her staring behind with a look of mild confusion. “What’s up?”

“How did you project your mana to the items?”

“I imagined a thread with hands on the end that flew through the air and grabbed onto all of them. Then I just moved them up above me, and pulled the threads tight so the items would follow me.”

“Interesting. It’s a rather uncommon method, but it is used by some ponies. That being said, nopony has used this method as their first method. Typically foals instinctively know that if they condense a minute amount of mana into the air and then send it to the object that the mana will spread out and enshroud the object on its own. That mana still belongs to them so they just control it and move it the same way they circulate and direct mana in their body. You don’t need a literal connection to maintain control of your mana.”

“Why didn’t you explain that before?! I’ve just been operating on the assumption that once it leaves me I can’t exert any force on it!”

“Like I said it’s an instinct, most of us do it subconsciously! I hadn’t even considered that you’d lack that trait. Besides, when it comes to magic it’s always better to let the caster themself come up with their first method and usage of the instructions. Once you prove that you understand and can implement the concept, then it’s okay to teach you the most efficient way to perform the task.”

“I guess that makes sense. Still, could’ve saved us like 45 minutes of me just sitting here fucking around with it. Since we still have a few hours before we normally go to sleep I’m going to try and finish up the rest of the spell scrolls tonight.”

It takes another 20 minutes of slowly walking west to reach an unscathed area of the forest where we still have a canopy overhead. This time I set up the tent around Luna so I don’t have to awkwardly move her inside afterwards. As soon as I get comfortable and start working on learning the spell scrolls Luna ruins it. “Are you not going to re-establish your Alarm spells?”

Instantly I throw my head back with a groan. “Thanks for reminding me, I completely forgot.”

“I didn’t think your reaction would be so visceral, is it truly so tedious?”

“It’s extremely tedious and slow. That’s not why I groaned though. I’m honestly just exhausted, Luna. That thing was like 20 times bigger than the dragon lord and I did not expect it to be so relentless. I know it needs to be done though, so I’ll get to it.”

She gives me a sympathetic look as I leave the tent. Half the Alarms I set up at the old campsite just a couple hundred feet away are still up, so that’s good at least. I’m not making the perimeter as wide as I did last time. I really do not have the energy to be out here ritual casting Alarm 16 times. I end up going with the same setup I used on the first day we camped, so it only takes 44 minutes to get everything going.

Walking back to the tent I give another look over my spell slots just to confirm I’ve got the numbers memorized correctly. I have two 1st level spell slots and two 2nd level spell slots. That’s it. Oh, I just noticed that since I got an extra expertise that I put on Insight that my passive Insight is 20 now. I don’t even need to roll for most conversations now, that’s pretty useful.

Sitting down on my bedroll I let out a sigh and lean back against my pillow, staring at the spell scrolls on the ground. Do I really want to do these right now? Since Luna doesn’t have her book she quickly takes notice of me just staring at the scrolls. “It’s been an eventful few hours, Ignis. If you need to rest then feel free to do so. You’d only be going to sleep a few hours early.”

“If you’re staying up then I’m staying up. Just give me a few minutes to contemplate my life.”

The sun rose at some point while I was learning Magic Mouth, and while I was two hours into learning Blur it finally reached the normal time for sleep. I ended up using meditation for my rest because frankly I’m not in the mood to have conversational dreams with whoever the fuck feels like barging in. The other benefit of meditation over sleep is that I only need 4 hours of meditation to feel well rested, so I have a couple extra hours to work on these scrolls before Luna wakes up. With that extra time I’m about to finish learning Blur. Once I finish with this I only have Shatter and Dimension Door left. I’ve been holding off on learning Dimension Door because it’s going to take 8 hours.

I’m two hours into learning Shatter when I hear Luna call out for me inside the tent. Getting up I go pop my head in and say hi. “How are you feeling today? Think your muscles have recovered enough to at least walk?”

She slowly rises to her hooves with a few sounds of discomfort but walks out of the tent on her own. “It’ll be at a slower pace than normal, but I should be fine to continue on today. My mana is back up to around 40% capacity which is more than enough for most spells.”

“How much did you have when you left after you drained your mana into the Moonblade?”

“Significantly less than what I have now. We won’t be defenseless if we run into another problem tonight.”

Talking about this just made me realize, “How do you tell how much you have? I didn’t realize I was low on mana last night until that massive dizzy spell and fatigue hit me.”

“I could only tell that you were close to empty because as soon as you casted that spell your presence disappeared entirely. You should be able to just instinctively know how much mana you have… can you really not tell?” While she’s speaking she teleports in our breakfast from the castle and floats over my plate.

“No? Maybe? I don’t know, can you give some description as to what it feels like?”

“You should just know. I really can’t describe it… it’s like trying to describe how you know where your limbs are when your eyes are closed. You just know where they are. I’ll talk to Tia and see if we can have some bracelet or ring made for you that gives you a visual indicator for how much mana you have. It shouldn’t be too difficult to craft. I will say though, you have enough mana that your presence has returned.”

It only takes about 5 seconds to suppress my mana this time. I’m starting to get pretty quick with it, but it still feels like I’m a ways off from being able to keep this up at all times passively. “That’d be pretty convenient to be honest. I’m glad you’re doing better today, I was worried we were going to stay here for another 24 hours.”

She adopts a playful tone as she looks like she’s in deep contemplation. “Well we are still a couple days ahead of schedule… staying here for tonight isn’t too bad of an idea. I’m glad you suggested it, Ignis!”

“Wait seriously? I mean if your body is still sore I don’t mind, but the sooner we get to the thestrals the sooner we can go back to Canterlot.”

“Yes, seriously. I am still sore but I was willing to push through it so we could keep moving, but you reminded me that we’re still ahead of schedule. Also I remembered that I’m your Princess, so if I say I don’t want to walk for hours on end because I’m sore then we aren’t doing it.”

Oh she’s in an authoritative mood? I actually really prefer it when she’s intimidating and commanding. “As you wish, my Goddess. That’s actually perfect for me, that means I can finish scribing the last of my spell scrolls tonight. Unless you had other plans?”

“Yes, you’re going to be training. You'll still have plenty of time for your scrolls, this shouldn’t take more than an hour or two.”

“What training can we even do in your state? Unless you mean magic training?”

“No, you’ll be learning a valuable skill that all knights and attendants learn at some point in their careers.”

Why did she stop looking at me, and why does she seem embarrassed? “What skill?”

“How to perform a hoof massage.”

Huh?

Author's Note

Personally I'm vibing with this slower pace of the story, but it'll probably pick up soon. It's deliberately slow because I'm trying to avoid certain things feeling "rushed" when/if they happen.

Other than that, nothing much to add, pretty simple chapter.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 8

3rd Person POV

“Oh yeah right there….” Is sputtered out with a shaky voice. “You don’t have to be so gentle I’m not made of glass. There you go, just like that… mmf.”

“Luna I swear to god if anyone heard you right now they would not think this is a massage. Are you intentionally phrasing things like that?”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about. What else could they possibly confuse this for? I must say though, I didn’t think you’d pick up this art so quickly. All the stress on my fetlocks and the aches on my pastern joints are completely melting away.”

“I wouldn’t say I picked up on it fast, more like I just rolled high for the ability check.”

The alicorn pulls her foreleg away from the elf and just looks content with a soft smile. “As promised, I'll allow you to work on your spell scrolls now.”

“Perfect. While I’m doing this though, do you want a full run down on all my spells and their limitations? That whole situation where you lost invisibility was pretty brutal and I think we should avoid something like that in the future. Figured the easiest way would be to just cover everything, and who knows you might even have some creative uses for my spells that I haven’t thought of.”

“I doubt I’ll remember every intricacy but it’s a good idea. Will that not distract you from your scribe learning though?” Ignis can tell she’s truly relaxed because normally she raises her head when she speaks, but right now half of Luna’s face is squished against the bedroll and she’s just following him with her eyes. The image isn’t too dissimilar to someone just collapsed on a bed after a particularly long day. Completely limp.

“No, it should be fine. Besides, it won’t take that long to go over everything anyways. Just keep in mind that although some of these spells are in my spellbook I don’t actively have them prepared and memorized. This also doesn’t include spells that I can cast thanks to the Mizzium Apparatus, but if I listed all of those it’d take several hours.”

Luna activates her horn and conjures up a black book with a crescent moon on the center of the front outer cover and a quill. “Alright I’m ready.”

“So first off are the cantrips, you’ve heard me refer to spells by level numbers like a level 1 or level 5 spell, but cantrips aren’t considered leveled spells. This is great because it means they are an unlimited resource, I can cast them as many times as I want whenever I want. The two you’re probably most familiar with are Booming Blade and Fire Bolt.”

“Yes, booming blade I believe is when you imbue your sword with some type of lightning magic. If the target moves a few steps right after being struck they’re assaulted by the same magic for a second time. Fire Bolt is actually the same thing as our Fire Bolt, so that one is easy.”

“Yup you mostly got it, Booming Blade enhances the strike with Thunder damage and if they move 5ft within the same turn, which is usually 6 seconds by the way, they actually get hit with a slightly stronger dose of that Thunder magic.” Things continue like this as Ignis explains Mage Hand and Prestidigitation, but after hearing what the Guidance cantrip can do she interrupts the elf.

“What exactly are these skills and ability checks? I know your power involves a set of dice that only you can see and the outcome of certain events is determined based on the roll, but are these skills quantifiable?”

This ends up leading into a 30 minute detour where Ignis explains what all of the different skills are, what proficiency and expertise are, and how those things affect the ability check. Once she gets a firm grasp on what ability checks are she can’t help but be surprised. “Why do you not use Guidance more often? That sounds incredibly useful! You could use it when convincing my sister of something or when you’re trying to tell if someone is lying or…or even just looking around and scanning our environment!”

Ignis gets a bit of a sheepish look as he scratches his cheek in embarrassment. “You’re not entirely wrong, it's definitely something I should be using more often. However using it for dialogue or convincing is… problematic. It requires an incantation and a hand gesture, and it’s not exactly subtle. You’d have to pre-emptively cast the spell before meeting with the person. I mean if we were talking and I suddenly just cast a random spell that made my body glow slightly for a few seconds would you proceed with the conversation like nothing just happened?”

“Ah I see, you hadn’t even mentioned incantations and hand gestures yet, do all of your spells require that?”

“For the most part, yeah. There are a few that only require hand gestures or only require verbal incantations, but usually both are needed. Booming Blade is an example of a spell that doesn’t require an incantation, but I do have to wave my hand over the entire length of the blade for the magic to imbue.”

They continued on like that with Ignis explaining the intricacies and downfalls of his capabilities and Luna asking for clarification or suggesting a different usage. At some point the alicorn sat up properly while taking notes, and as the elf got further along into the explanations he started to pay attention to his spell scrolls less and less. Spending more time showing off examples of the different hand motions and telling stories about certain spells and how he used them in the different campaigns he played as a human. Without realizing it the two of them slowly moved closer and closer together between demonstrations and stories.

“Ah so Greater Invisibility allows you to attack and spellcast while retaining your invisibility but you’re unable to target multiple creatures with it even if you cast it at a higher level.” Luna adds to the increasingly long section of notes in her personal book.

“Yeah exactly, if 5th level Greater Invis allowed me to apply it to both of us I would’ve done that instead, but for some reason you gain no benefit from upcasting it.” Suddenly the elf notices something peculiar through the opening of the tent. “Wait…. when did the sun come up? I didn’t think this would take longer than an hour or two. Have we really been going over these all night?”

“It would appear so… you still have a few more to cover right?”

“Yeah, I’ve got 4 more. They’re all pretty simple though. Locate Creature lets me know the general direction of the target as long as they’re within 1000ft, but it requires me to have seen the target or type of creature within 30ft at least once.”

“What do you mean by “type of creature?”” Luna asks while scribbling into the book.

“Instead of specifying a specific target I can configure the spell to locate the nearest Alicorn or Dragon or Unicorn. As long as I’ve seen that type of creature up close at least once. This spell is actually how I got to you so fast in the changeling hive. The last 4th level spell is Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere. It’s a very niche spell, and if I had the Mizzium back then I wouldn’t have picked this spell. It’s a spell I wanted to always have in my back pocket, just in case.”

“How does it differ from your normal Shield spell?”

“It encloses the target completely in a shimmering sphere, and nothing can pass through the barrier. No objects, no energy, no spell effects, in or out. You won’t run out of air to breathe though. I wanted to always have it ready so in the worst case scenario I could put you in the sphere and launch you away. It only lasts for a minute, but it’s basically completely indestructible. It will be destroyed if it’s hit with a Disintegrate spell, though.”

“I’m not particularly fond of how many back up plans you have that involve sacrificing yourself to save me.” She mutters quietly while staring at the spellbook.

“Well nothing says I’d be sacrificing myself. I could cast invisibility after I launch you and make my own escape. Regardless I’d just rather have them and not need them, than need them and not have them. If it helps then don’t think of it as me sacrificing myself, rather we have exhausted every possible resource and plan that we could come up with and both of our deaths are imminent. That Ursa basically pushed us to that point, and if my Hold Monster spell didn’t stick there’s only one plan that would’ve worked. Which honestly terrifies me. First the colosseum and now last night… I’m too reliant on luck.”

“I can’t think of any spell or scenario you’ve described tonight that would’ve evacuated me from the situation. What was it?”

“I’d rather not say. I know you would resent me for it if I ever have to enact that plan.”

“I won’t command you, but it’d be more beneficial for you to share it. There’s a chance the plan is flawed or there’s a factor you hadn’t considered.”

“If the Hold Monster didn’t stick I was going to offer Nightmare whatever she wants to help us.”

There’s an uncomfortable silence for several seconds after the admission.

“Ignis. Before I give you my thoughts on that plan, I just have one question. Why would you be willing to go so far for me, yet you refuse to permanently stay in Equestria? Why would you condemn yourself to corruption and death, and refuse to stay and live with me in the same breath?”

The elf glances to his left and sees tears welling up in her eyes and realizes that at some point the two of them moved closer together. Reaching out he gently wipes the tears away with his thumb. “If someone told me the only way for me to go home would be for you to die, then I’d be just as happy to stay here. I don’t want you to die, that’s the difference. Do you want me to stay that badly? I didn’t think it’d make you this upset, in fact I don’t think I’ve seen you emotional like this since the night of your return.”

She leans into his palm. “It’d be a lie if I said there wasn’t a small part of me that wants you to stay. However, that’s not why I got emotional. I… never thought I’d have somepony besides Tia that would be willing to go so far just for me, and” With a pause she lets out a huge sigh, “I still don’t think I deserve it.”

“Good thing it’s not up to you. Can you grab us some of that palace food and after we eat I can cover these last two spells?”

Luna pulls away from the elf's hand and ignites her horn teleporting in their dinner. Once they finish eating Ignis starts to explain both of his level 5 spells, but halfway through the final spell he feels a sudden weight fall against him. Looking to his left he can’t help but softly smile at the sleeping princess leaning against him. “I guess her body is still physically exhausted. That’s why we didn’t continue marching today, after all. Now how do I move her without waking her up?” Ignis thinks to himself.

After a few minutes he comes up with a plan. Using his new telekinesis he holds her in place so he can lean away and wrap her left arm around her. Slowly leaning back and laying down until the elf is lying down on his back with his arm holding Luna as her head rests on his chest.

“24 hours from now we’ll be on a freezing cold mountain… hopefully it’s less eventful than this god forsaken forest.” Is the last thing that goes through the bladesingers head as his eyes shut and sleep takes him.

Author's Note

Warm fuzzies.

I know this is a short chapter considering it's been like 3 days since the last chapter, but incase it wasn't obvious chapters like this are not my forte so it takes me a lot longer for me to write stuff like this. Mostly due to rewrites, I basically end up re-reading all of the dialogue and try to break it down to look for any contradictions or illogical statements. I know I probably still missed a couple of things, but I'm trying to keep the characters values and flaws consistent. Anyways, enough excuses about why I'm dogshit at writing dialogue/character development chapters. I promise to make up for it with a longer-ish chapter tomorrow.

Thanks for reading <3

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 9

“Would you have truly allowed me to possess you in exchange for her life?” Opening my eyes I find myself lying in the same position I fell asleep in, but on the moon once again. Nightmare is loafing next to me staring straight ahead towards the planet.

“Of course. I had enough mana that you could’ve teleported her and yourself back to Canterlot, easily. I would’ve been prepared to never regain myself, but I also had hope that if it came to pass… you wouldn’t let me down.”

“I’ve always admired your resolve, but in this instance, why?”

“Because, I actually think you do intend to be a better pony. My gut tells me that’ll you’ll be freed from this prison much earlier than you think, and once I explained my reasoning I believed you would release the possession.” I truly think she would’ve returned my body afterwards. Why ruin the fragile olive branch that’s beginning to form, that could result in permanent freedom, for a temporary freedom in another body that isn’t truly hers?

“Surely you’re not that naive? If I was able to cultivate your strange power and combine it with my mastery over mana there’s nothing on that planet that could stop me.”

“That might be true, but why continue with these hypotheticals when you’ve already proved me right?” She finally looks at me and arches an eyebrow in confusion. “You helped me access the power inside the moon didn’t you? I reached out with my mana and channeled as much as I could muster, but you’re the one that actually connected my mana to the moon. I originally thought it was luck that I managed to pull that spell out of my ass, but the more I think about it… it had to be you. There’s no way I could accidentally consume my mana and access the well of power in this rock. I also realized that I wasn’t even thinking of the moon when I reached out with my mana, I was thinking of the link between us to indirectly reach the moon, but would that really have worked?”

Nightmare turns her head back towards the planet and closes her eyes with a quiet chuckle. “It would not have, your theory is correct.” There’s a brief silence but I hold back a response as I sense that she still has something to say. “Do you actually think they’d free me from this hell early?”

“I do. Luna thinks you should have a second chance and she even managed to convince Celestia to seek out the opinions from the elements of harmony before she makes a final decision.”

A sudden new voice to my left jump scares the hell out of me as I roll away in surprise. “I wouldn’t really say I convinced her, all I did was mention the idea and after some consideration on her own she elected to listen to me.”

“Holy shit Luna you startled me… how long have you been here?”

“Since the beginning. Once I realized I had fallen asleep I waited for your dream to appear.” Her eyes shift up as she looks behind me. After a brief stare down Luna dips her head down, “You truly have my thanks, for saving him.”

Nightmare rolls her eyes, “Please, as if I’d just let my only chance at an early freedom die to a mere Ursa Major. If anything I should be scolding you for recklessly draining so much of your mana when you know you’re in a dangerous region.”

“That is true, but that’s not actually why I’m here. I need to know the truth, Nightmare, the question I dared not to ask while my sister was with me. Do you think both of us truly deserve a second chance? I only voted to give you a second chance because I was being given one, but do either of us really deserve it?”

“Yes. The combination of your resentment with my corruption created a negative feedback loop that spiraled us into madness. I had no awareness of what I was doing by influencing you, in my original form I had no thoughts, no feelings, I don’t even remember what my existence was before you. In the same vein you had completely lost yourself with no control of your own body after the corruption reached a certain point. It’s comparable to somepony blaming a mindless virus for infecting a victim while also blaming the victim for unknowingly catching an illness. I’m sure there could be an argument made that would justify blaming either of us, but we have both suffered through 1,000 years on this barren rock! I would rather die than suffer through another millennium of…. This!” She makes a sweeping motion with one of her forehooves pointing all around herself. By the end of her explanation she’s clearly upset and frustrated.

Luna does nothing but stare at the alicorn in shock, and my face probably looks the same. If they were the same consciousness back then, then doesn’t that mean they spent the entire 1,000 years up here alone.

Insight.

19 + 10 = 29.

“I’ll free you.”

“What?” Both of the alicorns loudly ask as they both look at me.

“I can’t do it now, but in a year or two I’ll have the capability. You’ve convinced me, I don’t know why Harmony sent you back up here when it separated the two of you, but I think it’s a mistake. Surely you agree with me Luna?”

“If everything is truly as she says then yes, I agree. My memories are hazy, but it felt like I was in control of myself. I don’t know if I believe her.”

“Your memories are hazy, that's evidence enough in my opinion. The fact that you aren’t 100% certain you were in your right mind says everything we need to know. You would know if you were in complete control. Now, if you two will excuse me I’d like to enjoy the rest of my sleep.”

I wake up to find one of Luna’s wings has spread open and given me a partial blanket. Said alicorn is still laying her head on my chest while hovering a book in front of her. “Comfortable?”

Laughing loudly I watch the book fall out of the air as Luna startles and goes stiff with a yelp. “That’s for startling me in the dream! Now we’re even.”

The pony flips over and squints her eyes at me with a pout. “You understand of course that this means war, yes?”

“Yeah yeah whatever you say. You ready to head into the mountains tonight?”

“My body only has a few dull aches here and there so we should be able to proceed at our usual pace. I do intend to have breakfast before we depart, though.”

“Oh for sure. I don’t want to skip breakfast either, I was curious about your condition and misworded my question.”

Around half an hour later Luna teleports the empty plates back to the palance and both stand up with a stretch. While I’m taking down the tent Luna gives me some good news. “Your suppression never wavered last night and it’s even still going right now. You’ve improved considerably.”

Unfortunately in the same way someone can make you start manually breathing, her pointing it out has caused me to start consciously paying attention to it again. I must’ve gone on autopilot at some point when I was going over my spells with her. I’m still able to maintain it but it’s taking a portion of my focus now. That does remind me of something though, “Hey Luna remember in Ponyville when I asked if you could unsuppress your presence and you mentioned not wanting to do it in the middle of town? Can you demonstrate it now?”

“Ah right, I’m glad you reminded me. Now that my mana is completely replenished I don’t mind.”

Suddenly all the noises of the forest go silent and strong winds start to whip through the area. My eyes widen in surprise when the moon and all the stars in the sky disappear and it’s like darkness is surrounding me.

Wisdom Saving Throw.

13 + 6 = 19.
On pure instinct I take a step backwards, but it feels like I’m being watched from every angle, I can’t escape.

You are Frightened.

All my hairs stand up and it’s like something is screaming at me to give up, it’s over. In an instant everything returns to normal, and I release a shaky breath. The difference between that and mine is quite large, but that’s to be expected. The more interesting thing is that mine caused me to look in a certain direction and to instinctively move from 1 object in particular, but hers felt like I was surrounded by 100 Luna’s with nowhere to go. I wonder if that specific difference is due to the mana disparity or if that’s just her unique flair for her presence.

“That was unpleasant. It felt like I was at the end of a long pursuit in pitch black darkness and that resistance would be pointless. I was being pressured from every direction.”

She gives me an apologetic look, “That is quite similar to how it’s been described to me in the past. I will give you credit, though, you fared much better than most. I’ve had several creatures just hyperventilate until they pass out. If you ever find yourself facing a presence that has you frozen you can try to do the opposite of suppression. Flare your mana up and it should alleviate some of the pressure.”

“Does flaring up your mana work the other way around as well? That sounds like it should make my own presence more potent.”

“Not quite, from my experience it just adds killing intent. You mentioned that you felt like resistance was meaningless, but you didn’t feel like you were going to die, that your death was imminent.”

“Got it. That makes sense I suppose.”

It’s been a few hours and now we’ve gone far enough west that snow is starting to fall. All this snow combined with the fact that it’s the middle of the night has my teeth chattering while we walk along. Somehow though, none of this is the worst thing going on right now. “We’re being watched, Ignis.”

“I know, but I can’t figure out where it is or if it's more than one.” We’ve been followed for around 15 minutes and this deep seated dread is starting to settle in. Whatever is following us is close now. “Disable Passive Perception.” I need to actively roll here, my passive 16 isn’t cutting it.

Perception.

20 + 6 = 26.

Right as I turn around to look behind me I notice something also comes to a stop 30 or so feet away from us. I know something is there but with it not moving it’s incredibly hard to see it, it must be blending in with the snow. I stop walking and squint and that’s when I see it. There are small hairs sticking out of the “snow” that seem to draw several straight lines. As soon as I notice it I see 8 eyes snap open and watch in horror as 3 giant spiders stand up to their full height.

Wisdom Saving Throw (Disadvantage.)

10 and 16. 10 + 6 = 16.

You are frightened.

“AHHHHH! SPIDERS! LUNA IT’S SPIDERS! FIREBALL!” These giant spiders are actually quite similar in size to the giant spiders in faerun, but due to a run in with said giant spider at an early age has left me utterly terrified of the bugs. I throw my palm in the air and as the small flame starts to form and spin in my hand I project a Strengthen rune in front of the fire.

Luna turns as her eyes widen when she hears me scream, but they widen even more when she hears the last thing I said. “Wait, Ignis! DON’T!”

But it’s too late, on pure instinct I surge mana out of my palm while at the same time I unleash the fireball. Luna yells out a loud no as the Fireball combines with the mana as it passes through the Strengthen rune and expands. Half an instant later I’m blown backwards and Luna launches herself into the air as a massive 40ft radius ball of fire explodes outwards when it comes in contact with the spider closest to us.

With a massive dump of adrenaline still running through my veins I scramble to my feet, and start to wonder why we aren’t rolling for initiative? As soon as the explosion dissipates into several small fires all over the ground and on the tree’s closest to the spiders I see why. All 3 spiders are limp and charred, completely toasted.

+600 XP: 93,600/100,000.

Oh. That was way overkill.

“What in Harmony’s name is wrong with you, IGNIS!” Luna yells at me from the sky. My face heats up in embarrassment, looking up I can tell from her face she’s stunned in disbelief at what she just witnessed. “You’re going to burn down the entire forest over a few spiders?!”

On the brightside I’m no longer feeling cold, but the downside is that this is by far the most embarrassed I’ve ever been in front of her. So much so that I can’t even look at her anymore, I just look at the ground with a sheepish look. Quietly muttering out my justification, “I told you I’m scared of spiders…”

I hear snow crunch next to me as Luna lands next to me and sighs. “Who would’ve guessed this would be the one time you act like a typical stallion.” She ignites her horn and a steady torrent of water erupts from the tip of her horn as she starts to do damage control on the fire. Luckily all the trees are damp and covered in snow so it shouldn’t be too dangerous.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting them to be so big and I panicked.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting your reaction to be so visceral. Good news though we’re about to start climbing the first mountain so the tree’s and bushes should thin out. Giving any would be stalkers less coverage to hide.”

“Ugh so you mean it’s going to get even colder?! I did not pack the correct clothes for this trip.”

“You’re wearing the only clothes you own, Ignis.”

“Exactly! I fucked up Luna! Whenever we set up camp I’ll be okay but I have no way of keeping warm while we walk. Please tell me you have something?”

She rolls her eyes and her already activated horn glows a bit brighter as I feel the cold dissipate replaced by a slight warmth. “Ohhh yeah that’s perfect.” I give her a hug around her neck, “Thank you Lulu~”

She still looks annoyed but there is a slight blush from the unexpected hug combined with her nickname. “Don’t thank me yet, this is a good training opportunity.” I pull away and she displays 2 runes in the air. “This is the first two runes of the spell, figure out what the last two runes should be and cast it yourself. You have 2 hours until my spell wears off and you’ll be cold until you can figure it out.”

Oh for fucks sake. Wait, can I just roll for this? It’s….very loosely arcana? Fuck it let’s try.

Arcana Check.

9 + 13 = 22.

These first two runes don’t appear to have any particular reason why they are together, but if I use this for the third rune it’ll mean “regulate” and temperature is considered one of the fundamental runes so that one is easy. This should work?

I wave my hand in the air and project the 4 runes then stack them into a pile and place the top of the pile on the palm of my hand. Putting my palm against my chest I push mana out of my palm and through the runes into my chest, and nothing happens. Oh cause the spell is already on me. “Luna, can you end the spell? I’m pretty sure I got it figured out but I can’t test the spell because it’s already applied to me.”

“Are you sure? I highly doubt you’ve figured it out when I barely covered any of the combinations with you. I know I didn’t cover the one you’ll need for the spell.” She’s not wrong she didn’t cover it, but while she was teaching me she had her book open to two pages that did nothing but cover common combinations. I don’t have the keen mind feat but 20 Intelligence still goes pretty hard, I remember basically everything from those two pages. It was on the right page, 7th row.

“Yeah I’m pretty sure.”

“Alright, but I’m not reapplying it if you’re wrong.”

The dim light from her horn fades and within a second I feel the cold start to seep into my bones. A few seconds later I redo the steps I did previously and send the spell into my chest. I feel the familiar warmness wrap around me like a blanket and offer a smug smirk to Luna. She actually looks a bit disturbed. “Did you memorize the combination for “regulate” from the few seconds I had the page open in the book?”

“Yep. I had to recall the image, but I remembered it.”

“Hm, well, good job I suppose.”

“How do I make it last longer than 2 hours?”

“Oh yours is only going to last for 10 minutes. You just need to use a “Strengthen” rune. One will increase it to 2 hours and another one will increase it to a day.” It’s actually ridiculous how hard spells scale with the Strengthen rune.

Once the spell ran out I used a strengthen rune and reapplied the spell for two hours and soon enough we’d reached the peak of the first mountain. From here the fog is so dense that we can’t even see the peak for the next mountain, but that’s alright. We’re going to set up camp here and I’ll show Luna my new spell. Putting my arm through the Mizzium I pull out a crystal bead and perform the one minute casting time to cast Leomund’s Tiny Hut.

Arcana (Mizzium DC: 16.)

11 + 13 = 24.

Luna watches with a bit of childlike wonder as a transparent dome expands from the bead and passes through us. Within seconds the inside of the dome feels comfortable and the ground under us is completely dry and free of snow. “From the outside of the dome it’s an opaque white color so that it blends in with the snow. From inside it’s transparent and I can dim down the light inside or even make it completely dark. The spell is configured so that any creature or object that was inside the dome as it originally expanded and was established are the only things that can pass through the barrier. No other creature or object can enter inside here even if they detect us. Oh and spells cannot go through the barrier either, both ways, so don’t cast something or it’ll probably bounce around and nail one of us.”

“This is incredible. Something like this with equestrian magic would require the caster to actively channel the spell for the entire duration. Why haven’t you been using this the entire time?!”

“It takes a 3rd level spell slot and to be honest I kind of forgot it exists. I only remembered it because I started thinking of a spell that could alleviate our climate problem.”

After 30 or so minutes of idle chatter Luna ignites her horn and attempts to teleport in our dinner, but we both look up at the dome when we hear two plates shatter against the barrier and our food slides down the outside of the barrier. After the initial shock we both burst out laughing and realize we have to eat the food outside since it’s not an object that was configured to be allowed in the dome.

Somehow we end up laying down in the same position as yesterday, but as I’m falling asleep I just think about today and smile. Looking at Luna with her eyes closed I smile and think to myself. For once we actually just had a pretty normal night…I might be in trouble.

Author's Note

I think this chapter might be the closest I've come to a real slice of life/comedy chapter that I'm HAPPY with. Some of the actions and things said might seem a tad OOC compared to previous behavior, but just remember that you usually get a little more silly with your friends as you get more comfortable with them. :)

Also holy shit this is chapter 54! I didn't even realize we'd passed chapter 50! Honestly I'm so happy I've been able to keep consistently writing for this story. I was afraid I'd burn out like I did the first time last year, but all the positive comments and all the ideas for scenes I want to write have really kept me motivated, so thanks homies <3.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 10

Clonk… Clonk-Clonk… Thump.

What in the hell is that noise? Rubbing the sleep out of my eye I find some white furred monkey looking thing banging his hands on the dome of my spell.

“You think if we ignore it it’ll go away?” Glancing down at my chest at the source of voice I find Luna looking very unbothered while staring at the creature.

“What even is it? It looks like some weird monkey.” She snorts with a laugh at my remark, and I realize it’s because I’ve been called those exact words in front of her before. “The irony of my observation is not lost on me, but seriously what is this thing?”

“I believe it’s a yeti. I’ve never seen one with only two legs though, and never one this large.” It’s honestly not that huge, I’d say it’s maybe 20ft tall? Then again I think the Ursa has ruined my perception of how large things are.

“Interesting. I think I’m okay with ignoring it. Theoretically it shouldn’t smell us and it definitely can’t see us or hear us. Do you know how many hours it’s been since I put up the dome?”

“It’s just about sunset so I’d wager it’s been 6.5 or 7 hours. This dome only lasts for 8, correct?”

“Yup. You think it has any friends? Like do these things usually operate in packs?”

“Ignis. Why do you think I would know that? What about “Princess of the Night” says to you “she knows the intricate behavior of a niche creature”?”

“Wow, some princess woke up on the right side of the elf. I just ask you questions I don’t know the answer to. Are you saying you don’t know?”

Her face was pretty neutral before despite her sass but now she actually looks annoyed before letting out a big sigh. “No, they don’t typically travel in packs larger than two or three.”

“SEE! You did know! I never doubted you!” Her annoyed look starts to falter as she fights to keep the smile off her face when I start tousling her mane with my right hand.

After a few more seconds she finally caves and starts laughing and flailing, “CEASE THOUST NEFARIOUS PLOTS AT ONCE! It’ll take me ages to fix this!”

I notice a lot of movement out of the corner of my eye and completely freeze when I look outside of the dome. Luna realizes something is up from how abruptly I stopped moving and she freezes as well when she looks outside the dome. There’s at least 10 yeti’s standing and pointing at the dome, one of them is slowly approaching with a massive boulder. The one carrying the boulder is just a bit taller and wider than the others, must be the pack alpha or some equivalent.

“Okay we need a real plan now Luna. These things actually seem moderately intelligent, do you think it’s worth trying to communicate with them?”

“We won’t be able to. I’ve been trying to read their lips but they’re either making grunts and noises, or speaking in some other language, we won’t be able to communicate. We could try to posture ourselves to present as non-hostile, but I don’t know if that’ll work either.”

“What if I fight that big one and take him down? Maybe the rest will back off?”

“...That sounds insane, but if you actually think that’ll work then it’s probably the best option we have other than just ambushing them with magic as soon as the dome falls.”

We’ve probably still got 20 minutes left for the dome, so I’m just going to throw hands with this yeti. Since my power “Updated” I can smite with unarmed strikes now, so throwing hands doesn’t seem so crazy now. I pull the Moonblade off of my waist and set it down on the ground next to Luna, and I put on the Mizzium. “Enlarge!” Casting the same spell I used on the train but this time I doubled in height. Luna has a strange look in her eyes as I remove the Mizzium and roll my shoulders, eliciting a few cracks as I get ready to fight.

Standing up to my full height, my head and shoulders pop out of the dome. I immediately start mimicking monkey noises while hitting my chest and pointing at the biggest yeti.

Animal Handling.

3 + 2 = 5.

The yeti’s all step back in surprise at my sudden appearance from inside the dome, but quickly start to glance at each other in confusion while a few of them point at me. I was making an assumption that they would mimic monkey behaviors, but there’s a pretty good chance I just look like an idiot to them right now. Let’s change tactics, I point at myself then point at the alpha, then I form my right hand into a fist and punch my left palm. This is pretty much the universal way of saying “Let’s Fight.”

Intimidation.

19 + 1 = 20.

The other yeti’s start making strange noises as they move away from the dome and myself. They walk a few feet to the left and form a circle. The alpha has been giving me a glare the whole time, but once they form their circle he drops the rock with a loud thud, gives a big huff out of his nose and points to the circle. It’s been about 18 seconds since i casted Enlarge.

Making an effort to keep my chest held high I slowly walk into the circle with the larger yeti. Once we’re in the circle we start slowly walking around the outer edge of the circle across from each other, eyeing each other up.

Roll For Initiative.

13 + 5 = 18.

Launching forward with my right fist raised in the air, I let out a roar as my fist arcs over my head and down towards the stomach of the yeti. He swings his left fish up to try and make our fists collide, but my plan was always to feint. I pivot to the right and my entire body is on his inside now with arm going straight up, he’s wide open. Let’s finish this in one hit, to finish the move I swing up towards his head and deliver a jumping uppercut to the yeti.

16 + 5 = 21.

4 Bludgeoning Damage.

Level 4 Smite: 5d8 = 21 Radiant Damage.

My fist connects with its jaw with a loud crack and explosion as the yeti stumbles back a few steps looking dazed. A small trail of blood is pouring out of its mouth from the bottom and running down to its blunt chin. All the noise the spectator yetis were making instantly falls silent. Before it can recover I’m going to hit it again. Unfortunately I can’t smite again, but that’s fine. I swapped out Mage Hand for Shocking Grasp since I can use telekinesis on demand now.

With one big step I close the distance and slam my left arm forward imitating a palm strike. The yeti tries to flail an arm into the path of my strike, but that’s what I was hoping for. My flat palm quickly snaps into a death grip onto the wrist of the yeti. I yell out, “Fulgor!” and cast Shocking Grasp.

14 + 9 = 23.

13 Lightning Damage.

My bracers glow indicating I can use my bonus action to recast Shocking Grasp, and that’s exactly what I do. While the yeti is twitching with a yelp from the electricity running through him, I squeeze his wrist again and shout out the same spell.

19 + 9 = 28.

19 Lightning Damage.

The yeti’s arm starts to smoke from getting fried with current, and it snatches its arm backwards escaping my grasp. I start to panic a bit when the yeti flexes both of its hands and long claws pop out of its fingers. The yeti gives me a killer mean mug as it stabs its hand forward trying to impale me. I barely manage to step back and avoid the stab but it leans forward and swipes down, slashing me from my shoulder down to the middle of my chest.

Hit Points: 59/75.

Okay fuck this. I squint at the yeti and quietly mutter the incantation for Hold Monster. I watch as silver lines appear over the yeti and it stops moving. It seems like the other yeti’s aren’t even aware something has happened. My turn ends and after a couple of seconds I can instinctively tell it’s my turn again, so it failed its second saving throw. I take two big steps at the yeti and throw my right fist backwards, and half way through my wind up I start shrinking back to normal size. Shit, Enlarge and Hold Monster are both concentration. It doesn’t matter, this is a guaranteed critical.

Letting out another roar I lean forward and punch the yetis gut as hard as I can.

Automatic Critical.

4 Bludgeoning Damage.

Level 5 Smite: 6d8 + 48 = 75 Radiant Damage.

It sounds like a massive clap of thunder as my fist makes contact with the yeti. As soon as I hit it a huge explosion of silver light erupts from the yeti’s backside and its pupils disappear showing only the whites of its eyes. Should I kill it?

I decide to spare its life and stop concentrating on Hold Monster. As soon as I do it drops onto its knees then falls forward laying flat on its stomach. A pool of blood starts to form under its head, it seems like that punch gave it some serious internal bleeding that’s leaking out of its mouth. I watch as a small cloud of fog comes out of my mouth as I let out a big sigh and start slowly turning and looking at the yetis surrounding me. Closing my eyes I stop suppressing my mana.

Intimidation (Advantage.)

20 and 19. 20 + 1 = 21.

The yetis yelp and scatter leaving their alpha to die on the ground. Crouching down I place my hand on the yeti alpha and cast Cure Wounds at 3rd level. To my shock I see that 3rd level Cure Wounds is 6d8 now instead of 3d8. Apparently part of the update included a buff to Cure Wounds so it's 2d8 at level 1 and increases by 2d8 every level.
6d8 + 1 = 41 Hit Points.

Within a few seconds the yeti rolls over onto its back with wide eyes, it looks pretty shook to be honest. The yeti sits up and uses its hands to slide backwards away from me as it looks around and realizes it’s been left alone. It’s starting to breathe rapidly so I put my hand against the slashes on my chest and cast Cure Wounds again, but at 2nd level.

4d8 + 1 = 19 Hit Points: 75/75.

The gashes glow brightly and then close up leaving very light scars. After that it seems like the yeti realized I used the same healing on him, he stands up straight and holds his right fist against his chest before slowly walking away. Walking back into the dome I drop down onto my ass and notice Luna staring at me. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Your cloak is torn again.”

“Oh…yeah. I can fix it pretty easily now, though!” I put on the Mizzium and cast Mending a few times. It takes 1 minute per cast but it fixes any tears or holes in an object as long as its less than 1 foot in all directions. “There we go, good as new.”

“Interesting, our version of that spell requires raw material for whatever you’re repairing. The more I see of your magic the more I think Tia’s initial judgment was inaccurate. Your spell casting does seem designed to intentionally limit you, but some of your spells are much more practical or efficient compared to ours.”

“She’s right. I never told either of you about the folly of Karsus did I?” She shakes her head no. “It’s a bit of a long one so I’ll explain it while we continue west.”

“So he harnessed the power of a cosmic level spell and tried to become the God of Magic, but instead he severely damaged the fundamental foundation of your magic system. The God of Magic had to sacrifice themself and magic stopped working briefly, which caused several floating cities to fall and killed thousands?” Luna gives a small recap as she slowly maneuvers her way down a steep decline.

“Yep. The future of an entire empire weighed down on his shoulders and with the motivation of such a burden he overstepped his capabilities. After that the Weave was repaired and the new God of Magic implemented a few strict restrictions on all magic for us mortals. To make sure something like that never happens again.”

“I can’t imagine somepony’s domain being Magic. Cadence's domain can theoretically surpass mine and Tia’s, but I can’t imagine Magic ever being surpassed.”

“If it’s this world? I agree, but Mystryl or Mystra back in the Forgotten Realms were not the most powerful gods. I think they were up there for sure, but the Overgod was the most powerful.”

“Oh Ignis, I just remembered something! When you stopped suppressing your presence with the yeti’s I felt it inside the dome. I know our Equestria spell’s can’t travel through the barrier because I was unable to teleport our food inside, but I think raw mana can actually pass through the barrier.”

“That’s…surprising. Maybe that’s why the yeti’s were interested in it to begin with? Perhaps they’re able to see or sense mana like Celestia and they noticed something was inside the dome?” Now that we’re traversing mountains our progress has slowed considerably. I’m starting to wonder why we don’t just fly? “Luna, can we just fly from here? You’re full of mana now so you should be able to give me wings. I know we didn’t fly before because I can’t fly very fast so it’d have likely been the same speed as walking, but it’d save us a ton of time here.”

“We could I suppose…if you’re tired of spending time with your Princess then I guess we can fly to the colony tonight…” Oh so that’s how it is?

“You did mention that we’d have less time together once the thestrals are fully integrated…yeah we can keep walking.”

We ended up climbing over the 2nd mountain and made it to the peak of the 3rd mountain a couple of hours after the sun came up. Typically we’d continue for another hour or two but we’d rather make camp up here on the peak to enjoy the view.

Author's Note

Another slow chapter, but we'll likely reach the thestral colony within 1 or 2 chapters..... assuming nothing crazy happens. Oh I just realized I forgot XP for the yeti, hmmmm, I'm not fixing it tonight I'm tired I'll just bring it up first thing next chapter. It's not enough for level 12 anyways so no biggie.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 11

XP: 98,000/100,000 Bladesinger 9/Paladin 2.

I’m pretty close to level 12 now, and if my memory is correct I should get a 6th level spell slot. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal because I won’t be able to learn any 6th level wizard spells for another level or two, but I have the Mizzium Apparatus. I can cast any spell from my wizard or paladin spell list as long as I have the components for it and the spell slot available. I hadn’t even considered this when I first picked this item for my reward, but every day it proves to be more and more valuable.

Some people say 7th level spells is when magic based classes start to “ascend” as it were, but in my opinion 6th level spells is really where the power starts to ramp. I get Disintegrate, Globe of Invulnerability, and Sunbeam. More importantly I get access to Tenser’s Transformation and Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise, on the surface the spells are very similar but they have completely different use cases. Tenser’s Transformation prevents you from doing any spellcasting while transformed and Tasha’s does not. Tasha’s also gives you flight and increased AC as well as some damage immunities, but Tenser’s is pure damage output. If it wasn’t for Glyph of Warding and my Moonblade I’d probably never use Tenser’s but I have a few ideas to really crank every drop of power from this spell.

Anyways enough min/max powergaming talk, let’s recap the last 2 days. After the encounter with the yeti’s we didn’t run into any other issues, and with the heating spell we had a nice and relaxing stroll through the mountains. That being said they were also uneventful, but it was a nice change of pace to be honest. Just now we crested the peak of the 9th mountain, and through the fog just off in the distance we can finally see it. The Northern Luna Sea.

Perception.

5 + 6 = 11.

“Aren’t we supposed to see the entrance to their colony from here? I’m not spotting anything.” While I’m looking around I start to rearrange all my belongings so I can put on the Mizzium Apparatus.

“It’s not something you’d be able to see with your eyes. Climb down the northern side until you reach the lower cliff.” Jumping down with featherfall I stand on the lower ledge and my confusion only rises. To my north is the open air and eventually the sea and directly behind me is the steep wall I just climbed down. “This cliff wall is an illusion. I’m not sure how they’ve done it but there’s a constant stream of extremely high pitched whistles coming out of this wall. Only those with thestral hearing would be able to tell where the illusion is or that there even exists an illusion.”

I watch with a surprised look as she just flies through the cliff wall 15ft above me. Well isn’t that nifty? She flies back out and after loosening the straps of the Mizzium so it hangs lower down my back she gives me wings again, and I slowly follow her through the illusion. Now that I’m inside I can tell the opening is just barely big enough for Luna to fit through. The inside of this cave is an almost 90 degree vertical drop into pitch black nothingness. Even with my Devil Sight I can’t see what’s at the bottom. The walls going down are all covered with small concave pores, and if I had to guess they’re using these divots to create the sound Luna is hearing. There’s a pretty strong updraft in this vertical tunnel so it makes sense, but I didn’t think ponies were that academically inclined to know acoustic science.

After around 600ft the vertical tunnel starts to level out and turns into a hallway. Eventually the hallway opens up into a massive and wide open cavern. Looking around in amazement I can’t help but to gawk at the castle like tower spires built into the cave walls and ceiling, but why is the actual floor of the cave completely bare? Also, even with all of those spires and windows built into the cave wall this doesn’t seem like it’d hold enough ponies to be considered a colony, more like an outpost. It’s also eerily quiet in here, something isn’t right. In an instant I reach for my Moonblade, but before my hand can reach the hilt…

Acrobatics Check.

4 + 9 = 13.

You are grappled.

Somehow the bastard was completely silent as he divebombs down and connects his hooves with my shoulders pushing me forward. As I’m falling forward something pushes against my back and my hands get tugged behind me, causing me to suffer a pretty uncomfortable landing against my chest and face.

“Stop! That is my knight, he’s with me!” Lifting my face off of the floor of the cavern I see at least 10 ponies have formed a circle around me, turning my head I realize they’re completely blocking my line of sight from Luna.

“Pardon our rudeness, Your Majesty, but I assure you the creature is fine. We just merely needed to take some precautions.” Some feminine voice with a strange but light accent responds to Luna a few feet away from me. Right as she says that I feel the Moonblade and its scabbard get pulled away from my hip. “Remove that artifact from his back as well. Our intelligence has noted that his emotional state is unstable and his temper will flare from minor provocations. Because of this we require the, ahem, “knight” to be disarmed before he is permitted entrance to the main living cavern.”

Acrobatics Check.

18 + 9 = 27.

As soon as I feel two of the four hooves pinning me down leave my body to reach for the Mizzium I roll to the right, causing one of the ponies on my back to lose balance and stagger. In that instant my hands break free and I instantly push myself to my feet. “Okay chuckle fucks you have exactly 5 seconds to give me back my sword, or you’ll find out just how much my temper can really flare.”

Now that I can get a good look at them they seem like pegasus but with bat-like wings and fluffier ears. The look on their face is the exact same look I’ve seen several pegasus make though, fear. Glancing at Luna I can see she’s also quickly becoming frustrated at this awkward situation. “I discussed this with your Chancellor several times and was assured we’d receive a warm welcome. I suggest you all listen to the elf.”

The bat mare standing next to Luna with a slightly fancier set of armor looks a bit apprehensive. Almost like she’s trying to decide if it’s worth dying on this hill. “With all due respect Your Majesty, this creature is not part of our pact of service. We will still allow him to accompany you while you’re here, but until we can formally renew the pact it was quite difficult to convince my ponies that he be allowed to remain armed. We were going to verbally negotiate this, but once he reached for the blade it forced our hoof.”

“Your 5 seconds ended 4 seconds ago, by the way.” My jaw clenches a bit tighter.

“Hang on Ignis, let me understand their reasoning first. Chancellor, you mentioned specifically that he’s vulnerable to provocations, but why are you operating on the assumption that he will be provoked? Is there something else you failed to inform me of before our arrival?”

The thestrals surrounding me seem to have gotten over their initial fear and have stiffened up their stances. “There are some…” She rolls her hoof in the air as if she’s carefully choosing her next words. “Concerns that he will not be receptive to some of the terms laid out in our pact. I’d rather not discuss them here and now, but there was some worry that he would become violent during the negotiations. We also assumed he would be opposed to us meeting in private before the negotiations to discuss some of our other concerns.”

My patience has just about run out, but something in the back of mind is telling me that exploding here is exactly what they want. It would validate all of their worries and prove them correct about their assumptions. “How about this? One of yours can carry the sword, but it doesn’t leave my sight. That blade is more than just a weapon for me, it’s an heirloom and one of the few things I have left from my family and my home.”

A few of the bats glance back at the mare seemingly in charge as she hums in contemplation. Finally she glances at Luna and with an annoyed tone she replies, “That is acceptable. We still require that you wait in one of our holding rooms while our council has a meeting with Her Majesty.” She turns towards Luna, “They’re already ready for you, our scouts reported you’d be arriving soon.”

Luna looks at me with a questioning gaze, as if she’s leaving the decision up to me. I reach into my pocket and squeeze my sending stone. “It’s fine. Take Callisid with you and request that I specifically be allowed to wait outside the room for the meeting.” Next I cause Callisid to silently poof into existence in Luna’s mane. He’s not completely concealed but she can just say that’s her personal pet and demand it stay with her. Finally I need to lower their guards, so I’ll let them think Luna will listen to their demands over my own opinions. Outloud this time I speak to Luna, “I don’t like it, Your Grace. Surely you can just order them to allow my accompaniment?”

Deception (Advantage)

20 + 1 = 21.

Luna looks a bit confused for half a second until I think she grasped what my intention here is. “Apologies, Ignis, but you’ll need to cooperate with them for the duration of our stay here.” Looking back down at the mare she continues, “I don’t know where you intended to have him wait, but I would at least request that he be no further than 1 room away. As a sign of good faith?”

The mare nods and all of the thestrals surrounding me seem to finally relax, and back away from me. We all take to the air and they lead us into one of the larger spire’s through a window. We walk down to the base of the spire and go through a hallway that must be directly inside the walls, and after a few minutes we emerge into another spacious and massive cavern. There’s two metal gates and several more guards, but looking through the gates as we approach I can tell that beyond this gate is an actual city with conventional buildings and structures.

As we pass through the gate I squeeze my Sending stone once more. “At least these guys have some backbone, they were afraid of me just like a lot of the Royal Guards but they still held their ground. If all of this works out and they aren’t complete assholes I can definitely work with this.”

“It’s to be expected, from what I can tell, all they’ve done for the last 1,000 years is train and hunt. I’m not sure if you noticed or not but we have yet to see a single garden or source of vegetables and fruits. They might actually make good sparring partners for you if my assumptions are correct.”

“Yeah maybe without magic or my dice rolls. Not to toot my own horn, but comparing where I’m at now to where I was a month ago it’s a fairly unbelievable pace of improvement. Give me another month and I could probably give you or your sister a run for your money.”

“Perhaps, but I think you’re approaching the point where your improvements will slow down considerably. Your training is going to run into the problem of, I believe it’s called, diminishing returns. Don’t be too discouraged if you do stagnate in the near future.”

Should I tell her that I’d only need to solo kill 4 Ancient Red Dragons and I’ll basically be level 20? The fact that we’re likely going to be in conflict with the dragons in the near future will basically force me to level up fast. Could I kill an Ancient on my own? It’s feasible at the very least, I have the damage output to take one down it’d just be a matter of if I can kill it before it kills me.

Eventually we reach a much more grandiose looking building, and I assume this is the place for the “council” they talked about. Going through a series of double doors we reach an area that has several floor mats and chairs for lounging, and at the other end of the room is a more ornate set of double doors. I sit down feeling pretty annoyed and Luna walks through the ornate doors with the mare in charge and a couple of guards. The other 8 guards are all sitting in here with me. Alright Callisid lend me your eyes and ears. “I’m pretty exhausted from our journey so I’ll just rest here until they’re done. Please don’t disturb me.” They don’t even acknowledge that I said something, so it’ll probably be fine.

Meeting Hall of the Council - 3rd Person POV

“I’m glad to see you arrived safely, Your Majesty.” There’s a tall wooden structure on one end of the room that has 5 seats for 5 thestrals. The pony in the middle is the one greeting Luna.

“We finally meet, Chancellor Umbra. First things first would you mind explaining why my knight was assaulted upon our arrival?”

“I’m sure the Major has already gone over our reasoning. The real question is, why have you given up and become subservient to the Sun? We’ve been preparing and training for generations upon generations of thestrals for the Night of Return. All wasted once we learned of your fall.” All 5 ponies look down at the Princess.

“Excuse me? Nightmare Moon was cleansed from my being and sealed away, and to begin with the plan of an everlasting night would’ve doomed all life on this planet. Secondly, I am not subservient to my sister. I am her-” Luna completely stops suppressing her presence. “-equal.”

All of the ponies present freeze in fear as their pupils shrink to pinpoints and something weighs down on them. The Major and the other 2 guards stumble backwards into the wall behind them on instinct. “S-S…So you say, Y-Your Majesty, but you’re s-still not involved in th-the major decisions or the laws of the kingd-dom.” To her credit, the Chancellor is continuing to hold her ground despite all of her instincts screaming at her.

Luna goes back to suppressing her presence and all of the council members sigh in relief. “I’ve been back for 7 weeks, roughly, and nearly half of that was spent traveling or participating in the Global Summit. The entire legal process for Equestria has to be updated to start passing documentation and proposals through both the day court and night court. If I’m going to spend this entire meeting defending and proving myself then we can just end this now.”

“Your Majesty, we're just trying to put things in perspective before we start. You’ve come to us to enlist us once more into your service, but none of the ponies in this mountain were alive 1,000 years ago. With all of that in consideration it’s a bit difficult for our citizens to get behind the idea of leaving all of this behind for a Princess we’ve never even met before. It’s even more difficult once word got around that you had no military and no power, so here is a list of terms for our side of the pact.”

A new guard flies down from the ceiling and hands over a scroll to the lunar princess. Some of the demands are as benign as, We require meat to be served for at least 1 meal per night, but some are completely absurd. “Surely you jest, Chancellor? “The Night Watch will only take orders from the Generals or the Chancellor.” Why would I want a guard that I have no control over?” She continues to scan the document with growing annoyance.

“You need us, Your Majesty. We don’t need you. If you were our true Goddess instead of this weaker form you’d perhaps be able to demand our service. This isn’t all of our terms, by the way. We have another set of terms that is much shorter but is specifically in regards to your “knight.” It was decided that it’d be best for him to be present when going over those terms, however so it’s in a separate document.”

Luna feels the raven hiding in her mane start to shiver and tremble, but she’s unsure what it could mean. Glancing up from the scroll she glares at the Chancellor. “Don’t act like you’re all thriving in this cave without me. My ears are just as strong as all of yours so you should know throughout my entire walk through your city I heard a cacophony of stomachs growling for food. Your environment isn’t suitable to grow plants, even outside of the cave, and you’re unable to change the weather like pegasi. I’m sure you’re all adept hunters and the gigantification of all the creatures in this region probably helps, but you can’t possibly hunt enough to sufficiently feed hundreds of ponies. I’d wager you’re all mostly making due with mushrooms.”

The alicorn flaps her wings and hovers in the air, sick of looking up at the council and continues her tirade. “This is a matter of tradition and honor. The thestrals have been the backbone of the Night Guard since the unification of the tribes, and to try and make demands of me is outrageous. You all should be honored that Equestria is willing to welcome an entire tribe of traitors with a smile on their faces.”

The Chancellor snaps at the end of the rant and stands up from her podium and points a forehoof at the princess. “Then call it reparations! As a race we lost everything because of you. My ancestors supported you throughout all of the turmoil and they lost their home, their friends, some of them even lost their lives. All because you LOST! Yes, we’re currently suffering through a particularly rough patch of a food crisis, but you can’t sit here and act like it’s no fault of your own! All we ask is that you at least consider it. You were told there would be a negotiation, so you can convince us to remove any of the demands at that time.”

The raven covers its eyes with its wings and starts to cower. Luna actually deflates a bit and loses most of her anger at the stinging words from the Chancellor. She slowly flies back down to her previous position and continues to read the scroll. Towards the bottom of the document she see’s what is by far their most outrageous demand. “The Princess must take one thestral as her Prince Consort?! Have you all lost your minds?”

Callisid flies up into the ceiling with a loud squawk of fear. A few of the guards stare at it in confusion, but Luna quietly whispers to herself. “What is wrong with his familiar?”

The raven actually preemptively answered her question when it squawked and flew away, but Luna was unable to understand the familiar.

I’ve never seen the young master this angry before. His killing intent was leaking through our mental connection and it was even causing me to shiver.

Before the Chancellor can respond to the alicorn's outrage every set of ears swivels towards the door as several crashes and thuds ring out in quick succession. All the dust on the doors is shaken off when the door suddenly flexes and vibrates.

“Stop! You can’t go in there?!”
“Restrain him!”
“Private, go request backup!”

The Major and several guards unlatch themselves from the ceiling and start flying towards the doors in a panic, but before they can reach the doors the ornate wooden rectangles are sent flying into the room with loud cracks as they tear off of the hinges. A bipedal creature that seems to be on fire walks through the empty doorway and silently steps towards the council.

“YOUR ANCESTORS DESERVED EVERYTHING THEY GOT!” Several thestrals in the room look enraged at the provocation, but the elf continues. “They didn’t even have the resolve to continue the fight once Nightmare was banished! They should’ve fought to the bitter end and died with honor, but they didn’t do that! They ran. They should’ve at least stayed in Equestria and received their punishments, but they didn’t do that either. They ran. THEY HID LIKE THE COWARDS THEY WERE. Sure they would’ve face discrimination and ridicule, but they could’ve kept the image of Luna alive. Her Grace came back to a kingdom that didn’t even know her name, she was slowly forgotten to time. None of them even know what a thestral is! If your ancestors were worth a damn then Luna wouldn’t have come back to an empty section of a castle, with no guards, with an entire country that doesn’t even know she existed!”

Luna tries to call out to the elf, but he can’t hear her as he continues to tear into the council. “The fact that you even have the gall to try and tear her down and make demands from her is insane. She was sealed in the moon for 1,000 years against her will with no way out. That should be an understandable reason for her lack of action during that time period, so WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE?!”

A mass of ponies in armor start to pour into the meeting hall through holes in the ceiling and what used to be the doorway, so Ignis decides to wrap up his rant. “I guess I should be thankful though. If any of you were worth a damn I wouldn’t have become her paladin. It’s only thanks to your ancestors' cowardice and your continued insistence to hide from the world that I even had this opportunity. So, I should thank you. Here let me show you a customary sign of gratitude and goodwill from the culture of my homeland!” The elf holds up his left hand with only the middle finger raised.

He knows that no one on this planet will appreciate what he just did, but he did it for his own amusement. Luna, shield your ears. The elf calls out through the Sending stone as the mob of guards starts to close in on where he’s standing. Luna quickly ignites her horn and blocks her inner ear as she watches the bladesinger in confusion.

The Mizzium starts to hum loudly and vibrate as the guards get closer and closer. Luna can barely make out his figure when she sees him slam his palms together as hard as he can. Her hearing is protected so she doesn’t hear his incantation, but a shockwave of purple energy explodes out from the elf as most of the guards that were close to him are sent flying away. The rest of the guards that didn’t get sent flying are writhing on the ground while covering their ears with their front hooves.

Thunderwave against extremely sensitive hearing proved to be as effective as Ignis thought it would be. Luna feels the air vibrate as the thunder continues to ring out and echo in the enclosed room and once she feels the air settle she undoes her hearing protection spell. Feeling satisfied after venting his anger the elf calms down and sighs before addressing the thestrals gathered around him. “So how about we call things even now, let bygones be bygones and start over fresh?”

One of the guards still writhing on the ground next to Ignis responds, “WHAT?”

Author's Note

Decent chance this chapter and the next one have a few more mistake than normal. I was in the zone and just slammed out paragraph after paragraph instead of the more recent chapters where I write a few sentences then re-read them as I continue to write. This chapter was originally just going to be one longer-ish chapter consisting for 6-7k words, but I think it's way funnier to end the chapter on that bit with the bats not being able to hear Ignis cause their ears are still ringing.

That being said I don't wanna leave you guys hanging so tonight is a double release. This chapter and the next one should be published within a few minutes of each other.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 12

By the time their ears had stopped ringing all of their anger had wafted away. The bats were much more wary of me after that, but it seems some of the things I had said to them had some effect on them. “So Chancellor what do you say? Let’s start over and try this again.” I call out to the pony from below their podiums.

“While your words may hold some truth, we would still refuse to serve under this knight. We also think he is unsuited to be your personal guard. Since Her Majesty employed you she’s been captured by changelings and nearly trampled by an Ursa Major. You are far too weak to be trusted as the sole protector of her life. If she had a personal retinue of thestrals neither of those things would’ve come to pass. At the very least we refuse to acknowledge you as part of the Night Guard.” They’re intelligence network is… impressive.

“How many of you would be in her personal guard unit?”

The Chancellor looks a bit confused for a moment, “The standard unit is 12 ponies. They would be the best of the best.”

“Do you already know which of your guards would be in this unit?”

“Of course. We were prepared to deploy them immediately following negotiations.”

I start to stretch my arms and chest then crack my knuckles. “Alright, let’s see who’s more deserving to be her personal guard? Your elite unit or me and myself.”

Luna whispers in my ear before the Chancellor can respond. “Do I not get a say in this, Ignis? What kind of knight has a competition to decide who stands beside me?!”

I reply with my normal speaking voice, not caring if they hear me. “I didn’t say the winner would actually be your personal guard, Luna. I just said the winner would be more deserving. Either way it’s fine because I don’t plan on losing.”

“Don’t think you’ll win just because of that cheap trick you pulled earlier. Now that we know you have that capability we’ll be prepared for it.” I just give the Chancellor a smug smirk in response.

“So does that mean you agree to the fight?”

“With one additional stipulation.” Now I’m frowning, this can only mean trouble. “If we win, every demand in that scroll will be met. If you win we’ll acknowledge you as the 2nd in command.”

That’s it? All their requests seemed pretty benign as far as I know, they just wanted autonomy and to be served meat. I stopped listening before Luna got to the 2nd half of the scroll though, so there might be something egregious in those demands. I decide to glance at Luna and see what her opinion is. “Ignis you surely aren’t actually thinking about this, are you?”

“I was… why? Is there something super heinous in there? I stopped listening and seeing through Callisid when cuntface up there blamed all of their problems on you.”

“One of the last demands listed there is that I have to accept one of the thestrals from this colony as my Prince Consort.”

I’m still in the middle of mentally processing that when the Chancellor calls out to me. “Well sir knight, where’d all your confidence about winning go? If you’re so sure of your victory then prove it.”

“Every demand but the consort one.” I respond in a flat tone.

“Hm?”

“I said every demand except the consort. It’s not up to us to decide that, and it’s shameful for you to have even listed that as a demand.”

Persuasion.

17 + 1 = 18.

“Fine. Follow me.” The Chancellor flies down and lands next to Luna before leading us away towards the back of the cavern. Once we reach the back wall of the cavern there’s a staircase on the ground that leads down into a decently sized empty room. Well, mostly empty. There are glowing runes all over the floor with blue torches on the wall, this room is definitely magical.

Sensing that we’re both about to ask what this room is, the Chancellor preemptively answers us. “You lay down on one of the glowing glyphs and anypony that’s asleep on the glyphs will be in the same dreamscape. We commonly use it for tournaments or to settle disputes as it allows you to go all out without needing to worry about killing your opponent. Just wait here while we go retrieve your opponents.”

“Luna… quick question. Can’t most people do whatever they want inside a dream? Only limited to what your imagination can conjure?”

“I’ve seen a few ponies with that ability to do so, but it’s rare. I’d wager most could do it with practice but the difficult part is training yourself to recognize you’re in a dream so you can experiment with it. However, I think I see where you’re going with this, and the answer is no. You cannot control or freely manipulate a dream if it’s not your dream. That’s why I have to use my magic to either fight off and banish the nightmares or to make the dreamer realize it’s a dream.”

“Well it was worth a shot anyways. If I could freely manipulate the fighting arena then they could bring every guard in this mountain and I’d still win.” I need to get Callisid back in here. Waving my hand I summon the raven from wherever he was hiding earlier. “Hey Cal, in a few minutes we’re going to be unconscious on these glyphs. I need you to keep an eye out for anyone approaching us while we’re unconscious and wake us up before anything happens.”

Y-yes, I will keep the both of you safe.

“Cal… are you.. Scared? Of me?”

I just need some time, sir. Before your coma you were such a diligent and nice boy, and I just never expected to feel that much rage and killing intent from you.

“Oh right I guess you were killed before I went into the changeling hive and I didn’t resummon you until well after it, so that was the first time you’ve seen that side of me.” That reminds me, my hair is fucked up again. Is it easier to trigger the transformation now that I’ve done it once? It’s a bit of a problem because now that I’ve transformed it’s harder to maintain my suppression again. “Sorry about that buddy, I just didn’t appreciate them shitting on Luna and using her as a scapegoat. They’re lucky I cut off the connection when I did because if I had heard about that consort bit while I was still actively enraged… it would’ve been bad.”

By the time I calm down my mana to return my hair back to silver the Chancellor has returned with a decent number of guards. Once everyone is in the room they seal the chamber and we all lay down on the ground above the glowing glyphs.

Opening my eyes I find myself in the everfree forest on a cold night. It’s strange though because there’s no stars or moon in the sky, but it is technically a dream so I guess it’s fine, right? Looking around I see several Scrying orbs scattered around, is that for the non-combatants? When do we start the match? Well while I’ve got a few seconds let’s test my idea, even if Luna said it won’t work.

I try to imagine a dying ancient red dragon appearing next to me. Of course nothing happens. Looking at my XP bar I try to imagine the number just rapidly increasing to 400,000, but that doesn’t work either. Alright well it was worth a shot.

Perception.

15 + 6 = 21.

Crack-snap. A twig just broke several feet behind me, did the match already start? Turning around I see 4 of the guards positioned in the tree’s with 2 on the ground and they all scatter as soon as I see them.

Roll for Initiative.

11 + 5 = 16.

I can barely hear the sound of something whizzing through the air above me and it’s getting closer. With a quick hop to the right I watch as one of the bats zips through the area where I was standing. An instant later I hear the same sound but from several directions at once. “Shield!” Sparks are sent through the air as several bats have their wing blades deflected by my shield, but one slips through giving me a pretty deep cut on my left arm.

-10 HP: 65/75.

Ignoring the stinging sensation I quickly look around and try to lock in on 5 of these bastards. My best shot is going to be taking out as many of them in one move as possible. There’s 3 above me that are banking in the air to come back towards me and 2 that were too close to the ground after getting deflected by my shield so they ended up landing and sliding. All 5 are within 30ft of me so this is perfect.

I take in a huge gasp of breath as I flourish the Moonblade and everything blurs as I start zipping through the air towards the 3 bats above me.

Roll to hit: 3 targets, 3 rolls.

10 + 9 = 19. 14 + 9 = 23. 12 + 9 =21.

Within a fraction of a second I can feel the blade slash and cut all 3 targets as everything blurs again and I teleport to the 2 bats that were on the ground.

Roll to hit: 2 targets, 3 rolls.

17 + 9 = 26. 11 + 9 =20.

Appearing next to the 5th bat on my feet I flick my wrist and throw all of the blood off the blade. Next I hear the sound of high pressure liquid spraying, it’s their blood spraying out from their wounds.

Roll for Damage: 5 hits. 6d10 times 5.

36. 24. 43. 35 Force Damage.

3 of the bats poof into thin air which I assume means they died, it was 2 in the air and the one I landed next to on the ground. The other two don’t seem to be doing so hot though, the last one that was in the air dropped out of the sky and collapsed back down after trying to stand. The other one has dropped onto her knees for both forelegs and has stuck her wing blade into the ground to keep herself propped up.

Glancing around I spot a few more of the thestrals hiding in trees or hovering high in the sky, with 3 dead and 2 currently incapacitated that leave 7 more to find. Out of those 7 I’ve spotted 6, so I’ve just got one bat unaccounted for. Well I’ve learned my lesson from the Ursa Major encounter, I still have my bonus action so I’m using my Bladesong.

I let my mana run wild as an ominous song starts to shred through the air. Apparently now that I’ve gotten much better at mana control the wisps that used to form around me are instead appearing as a slightly opaque silver aura forming a 5ft circle around me that goes 2 or 3ft above my head. AC: 23. (Click here for bladesong music.)

To an outsider this must look a bit intimidating because the two injured bats have started shuffling away from me with their eyes wide open. “That’s three down.” I decide to lean into the intimidation.

“Formation Delta Three!” One of the injured bats on the ground shouts out loud and I watch as 3 more bats take their position in the sky above me. The 3 of them form a rough triangle before angling themselves upside down, heads pointed at me. Then while they’re starting to fall all 3 of them open face towards the center of the triangle they’ve formed and lock one of their wings halfway open. They’re effectively becoming an ultra sharp rotating drill that’s barreling towards me. Another 3 are flying straight at me from 3 different angles, and all 3 of them are just a couple of feet above the ground, I see what the point here is. They’ve cut off all routes of escape, no matter which way I dodge I’ll be moving straight into one of their wings.

I start to sprint towards one of the bats flying above the ground and the injured one on the ground shouts, “Formation close!” The bat I’m running towards squints and speeds up, all of the other bats have tilted and angled themselves to pincer me.

“Shield!”

Acrobatics Check (Advantage Bladesong.)

8 and 15. 15 + 9 = 24.

While sprinting towards the bat right in front of me I leap into the air and pull my legs up while casting my shield spell. Thanks to this leap the other bats are forced to fly at me in awkward directions. Performing a snappy somersault I land with both feet onto the bat I jumped towards, within an instance I jump towards the other 2 ground bats and the drill formation bats. Since the 2 other ground bats had to pull up to keep flying towards me and drill formation going straight down had to tilt themselves diagonally there’s now a perfect gap for me to jump through as I leap off of the guard I landed on.

To an outside observer I just ran towards one of the ground bats, jumped onto his back and then leaped diagonally through a small gap formed by their altered trajectories. It becomes my turn while I’m still in midair and time slows down as it registers in my brain that 7 bats are all grouped up right below me. Instantly my mind is made up.

As I cast this spell for some reason my body calls out an incantation that I haven’t used before, but it just feels… right.

“IGNISS!” I hurl the level 4 Fireball straight into the grouped up mass of thestrals and grin as it explodes on impact.

44 Fire Damage.

The smoke clears and only 2 of the 7 bats remain, but both of them are collapsed on the ground with singed fur and smoke wafting off their bodies. That’s two collapsed with a third one immobile a few feet to my right, the one that’s propped up on her wing blades. That means 8 are dead and 3 are out of the fight. There’s only one left and it’s the one I couldn’t locate.

I land on the ground and glance around in every direction trying to find the last bat, when suddenly I hear a feminine voice chuckle behind me. “Not bad, elf. Honestly we didn’t think we’d have to resort to our own cheap trick, so I must commend you for pushing us this far.”

Turning around I look at the mare and I’m extremely confused to see a thestral mare… with a horn? A thestral alicorn? What is going on right now? Above her are well over 50 corporeal swords and spears hovering in the air pointed towards me.

It was a trap all along. This dreamscape isn’t a neutral battleground; it uses one of the participants as the origin point and brings every other creature into their dreamscape. I’m not sure how you can win this one, bladesinger.

Author's Note

Part 2 of the double release! I bet you guys really thought I was gunna do that trope where the protag and some other character do a competition to win over the love interest while completely ignoring their opinions and treating them like a trophy. Haha I was tempted to, but decided it's a stupid trope so we went this route instead.

A long long time ago I actually intended for "Ignis" to be the incantation he uses for Fire Bolt, because that spell is actually attached to his racial traits and not his Wizard Spell List so it just felt right for his name to be the incantation for his "signature spell" as it were. This was around the time when I had the personality of Ignis lecture the MC about his refusal to use the cantrip that belongs to his name sake rather than Booming blade, but when I went to go callback to that moment I realized I wrote the dialogue in a way that the cantrip he's referring to is Green-Flame Blade, which still works, but isn't what I originally intended.

So I decided to make Fireball his signature spell and attached his name as the incantation. Cause ya know Ignis literally means fire, so... /shrug

Anyways, I gotta go figure out how to write myself out of this doozy I put myself in. Not even plot armor might be enough to get Ignis a W here...

Thanks for reading :D

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 13

Statistically speaking I can’t block or dodge that many blades if we’re going by dice rolls. What if there aren’t any dice rolls though? I have sixty years of memories and six weeks of training and sparring with Luna without relying on the dice. I think that’s going to be my best bet for now. “Enable Real Time Mode.”

Without wasting another second I lean forward and start to sprint towards the cheating thestral. Do you have any actual ideas to help here, Nightmare? Technically they still have a pact with you, can’t you just tell them to fuck off?

While I’m responding to the sealed alicorn in my head all of the conjured weapons floating above the pony start to zip through the air towards me. With a hard pivot to the left I turn and start running in an arc towards the bat. Several of the weapons are fractions of a second too late as they impale the ground behind me, but there’s still a few I have to swing at with my Moonblade to deflect them away.

As I get closer to the thestral I hear her click her tongue in annoyance and the ground starts to rise on both sides of me. The walls start to curve until they’ve forced me out of my arc and now I’m running straight at the bat. She’s used the earth to make a narrow pathway so I can’t dodge! I’m not concentrating on a spell right now, right? I’m fairly certain I’m not. “Provolo!” With only a few seconds to spare I cast haste.

The dirt walls on both sides seem to blur as Haste doubles my speed and all of the remaining conjured weapons that were still hovering in the sky fly completely over me as the thestral alicorn widens her eyes in surprise and jumps backwards. “In a world where you’re only limited by your imagination and this is the best you can do?”

In hindsight maybe taunting the person that can freely manipulate this reality wasn’t the greatest idea. She fires off a huge beam of pure black magic that tears down the dirt walls as it barrels towards me. With a quick muttering of words I tap my foot on the ground twice and Misty Step into the air above the thestral. It seems she’s completely unaware as I start to fall through the air and swing my blade towards the back of her neck.

Sparks fly as my blade hits an invisible shield a few inches away from her. Her head snaps to the left as she looks behind her and the look of surprise is shifting into one of fear when she spots the blade starting to glow with a bright silver light. Level 4 Smite!

The shield shatters like glass as an explosion of silver light flashes from the Moonblade and instead of cutting into her neck my blade just slices through a cloud of smoke. Any of the dirt walls that were still standing crumbles as the smoke twists and turns through the air before rematerializing into the bat pony several feet away from me. Did she do that in the instant I shattered her shield or is that an automatic response that I need to strategize around?

Everytime I counter her she just responds with an even more absurd move. It really is starting to seem like I can’t beat her. If I don’t give her even an instant to respond then I can maybe pull something off. If I was in turn based right now I could rack out a Fire Bolt, a 2nd Fire Bolt with Haste, and a 3rd Fire Bolt with the bracers. That means theoretically I should be able to just rapid fire 3 of these…

“Fire Bolt!” Normally I’d use a Strengthen rune but the point here is to fire all 3 of these off as fast as I can, damage is not the end result. One of the fire bolts hits the shield and results in a mini explosion while two strike the dirt right in front of the thestral kicking up a cloud of dirt, dust, and smoke. Now that her vision is obscured is when I make my real move.

It’s just a dream so it shouldn’t fuck up my body at all to do this next trick. Just like when I was in the changeling hive I surge all the mana into my legs and feel all of the muscles bulge and flex and cramp as I zip through the air like a blur and close the distance between myself and the bat. I won’t give her any time to react this time, imbue the level 5 smite before I hit the shield.

The wind from my near instant movement starts to blow the smoke and dust away as my sword slashes through the air, but just before her vision clears my blade hits the shield and instantly shatters it with the explosion of divine power. Unfortunately my plan had the same effect on me that it did on her, just as she was unable to see my next move due to the obstruction, I was unable to see that her horn was glowing brighter than it had at any point during our fight so far.

The same instant the shield shattered the smoke cleared enough for me to see the extremely bright blue light emanating from her horn and it feels like my chest is being caved in as a second explosion rings out. A bright blue shockwave explodes out in all directions sending me flying backwards through the air, and after a few seconds there’s a distinct cracking sound as my back slams into a tree.

-53 HP: 12/75.

All the air is knocked out of my lungs and the Moonblade flies out of my hand. Crumpling onto the ground I try to stand as my vision shakes. Nightmare I could really use a response this time, if you have any ideas I’m open to input.

This isn’t your dreamscape, bladesinger. The only way I could provide assistance is by directly taking control of you.

….Can you guarantee victory if you possess me?

No. There is a chance however that they would recognize me as their pact holder and listen to my commands.

The alicorn thestral starts to slowly strut towards me with her head held high and smug smirk on her face. I try to fully stand but stagger back down onto one knee as a series of shocks wrack my body. I lost concentration on Haste, and this is the lethargy effect. “Any last words, O mighty knight?”
Glancing at my character sheet for anything that I can use right now, anything to turn the tide, and my eyes widen in surprise when I look at the very top of the character sheet. Giving my own smirk at the bat I respond to her taunt, “Add 1 level to wizard. Confirmed.”

XP: 100,100/100,000. Level up available!

The 8 thestrals I killed in this dream gave me XP! Time freezes as all of the level up information occupies my vision.

Level 10 Wizard new features unlocked!

Song of Defense. When you take damage while bladesong is active, you can use your reaction to expend one spell slot and reduce that damage by an amount equal to 5 times the level of the spell slot expended.

FEATURE ERROR ???: Your understanding of the True Bladesong deepens.

Select two new spells from the wizard spell list to add to your spellbook!

“Conjure Minor Elementals and Animate Objects.”

After reconfiguring which spells will be prepared once the simulated long rest is complete I glance at my spell slots and confirm that my memory was correct. I couldn’t learn any 6th level spells but I have a 6th level spell slot.

Spellbook Configuration Confirmed! Simulating Long Rest.

New Hit Point Maximum: 82/82.

Time resumes and I feel all my power surge within me as I easily rise to my feet, completely free of wounds. “Let’s wrap this up.” I place my left hand on my chest and cast Guidance. Next I start channeling the Mizzium Apparatus which causes the tubes to hum and glow as the entire machine starts to vibrate and rattle as I channel a 5th level spell through the device for the first time.

Arcana Check (Mizzium DC: 20.)

12 + 13 = 25 + 4 (Guidance) = 29.

My eyes glow with power and when the thestral makes eye contact with me she completely freezes as my spell starts to worm its way into her mind.

“Wake up.”

The words echo throughout the dreamscape as they’re embedded with power from the weave and my eyes glow brighter as I fully complete the casting of the 5th level spell known as Geas.

I watch as her own eyes begin to glow as she squeezes them shut and starts to hiss through her teeth. “What dark magic is this?! Mental manipulation was banned long before we even went into hiding! Why are your words repeating and screaming into my skull?! I REFUSE!”

It seems like she failed the saving throw. Even if the target fails the saving throw though they are allowed to refuse the command. The caveat being they’ll take up to 50 psychic damage if they do refuse, and considering most of these thestrals died somewhere between 29-37 damage… I don’t think this will end well for her.

My assumption is correct as the whites of her eyes start to turn red and blood starts to leak from her tear ducts and nose. Suddenly the entire forest is gone and I’m floating in a dark empty void, and after a few seconds the scene shifts to the landscape I usually see when I visit the spirit inside the Moonblade. Glancing around in confusion when I suddenly feel a pair of hooves land on my shoulders and a pair of wings wrap around me from behind. “You did it, Ignis! You won! What was that final spell you used?! It completely ruined the poor mare.”

Ah it’s Luna. “It’s a pretty powerful spell known as Geas, it lets you order a creature to perform a service or refrain from a specific act for up to 30 days. They’re allowed to refuse the order but they receive immense psychic damage upon their refusal. I simply ordered to wake up since I figured if she woke up it’d be the same as me killing her. Should we wake up now?”

“That’s probably for the best, but we need to discuss that spell more in-depth before we return to Canterlot.”

Closing my eyes I focus on ending the dream and everything fades away until my eyes open and I’m back in the room full of glowing glyphs inside the mountain. Looking to my right I see there’s several thestrals all gathered around one in particular and after my eyes adjust I can tell it’s the mare that was cheating inside the dreamscape. It seems like since the damage was pure psychic damage it didn’t stop at merely affecting her inside the dream it assaulted her mind completely.

Rising to my feet I slowly approach the circle of thestrals only to realize that some of them are in complete despair, full on sobbing. Confused, I look towards the mare again and realize her eyes have no pupils and they look much duller than normal. My breath quickens as I process the scene before me and it dawns on me that she isn’t breathing…what have I done?

I’ve killed her.

Author's Note

Pretty short chapter again today, just barely falling short of the 2k word mark I try to aim for as a minimum. I intended to cover a bit more in this chapter, but I ended up getting distracted. I was going to just not post anything tonight and finish the chapter tomorrow, but this is actually a pretty good stopping point. It also nicely separates the end of the encounter and the aftermath of the encounter, but yeah definitely meant to delve into the political stuff this chapter.. oh well I guess.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 14

An armored stallion is cradling the mare in his forelegs and wings and his whole body shudders as he starts to sob. One of the thestrals closest to me turns around enraged and starts trying to push me away. “What is wrong with you?! You… you’re a monster!” I just continue to stare at the corpse in shock.

“I… I didn’t know this would happen…” This is far from the first creature I’ve killed, but those creatures were… evil. Those were on purpose and it was kill or be killed, but this was an accident.

Wisdom Saving Throw

11 + 6 = 17.

The haze in my mind clears up for a brief moment and I’m able to push down the shock and guilt for long enough to realize I can fix this. I still have time. “Luna, can you transmute bits into copper?”

“I… what? I can but is now really an appropriate time for this?”

I dig into my bit bag and pull out a handful of the gold coins, “Yes. I can save her, but I need two copper coins. I’ll need a diamond worth over 300 bits as well, but for now I need the copper. Please transmute these for me.”

The look of confusion is still present but Luna trusts me completely so she ignites her horn without any further questions. Once I have the copper pieces in my hand I quickly approach the grieving group of thestrals. I only have 30 more seconds at the most. Bats between me and the corpse hurl insults and curses at me as they try to keep me away, but I just keep mumbling the same phrase as I slide around and past them.

“It’s okay. I can fix this.”

The last obstacle is the wailing stallion that I’m starting to think must be her husband. Once I’m within reaching distance he clutches her tighter and screams out at me to stay away. “Haven’t you done enough?! What more do you want from us?”

I quietly mutter the same response I’ve been repeating like a mantra and I can feel all of the thestrals behind me release my cloak and slowly back away. They must have realized I’m truly trying to help, is what I think to myself, but really they were backing away because the husband had pulled a dagger from somewhere and was thrusting it towards me. My gaze was so transfixed on the corpse that I didn't even notice the dagger, and if it weren’t for Luna and Callisid screaming out my name I wouldn’t have realized something was happening.

I glance up and my eyes meet the tear filled glare from the husband as his dagger slides cleanly into my gut.

Critical Hit.

-38 HP: 44/82.

I can taste copper in my mouth and feel a trickle of warm liquid flow down my chin as I continue to stare at the stallion. “Please. Let me help her.”

The room falls into silence as the stallion pulls away from me in shock and confusion, leaving the dagger in me. I don’t wait for a response as I set one copper piece over both eyes of the mare. The Mizzium starts to hum once the Material components are set into place and I cast Gentle Repose on the dead thestral. Since Gentle Repose is a 2nd level spell and it’s impossible for me to fail the Arcana check the spell casts without even needing a roll.

The copper pieces fade away as a dim silver light envelopes the fresh corpse. Everyone around me is watching with bated breath as they wait for something to happen, but they don’t realize this spell was just a spell to buy me time. If Luna isn’t able to teleport in a diamond for the Revivify spell then Gentle Repose buys us 10 days. For 10 days this corpse won’t decay, it’s completely protected from the passage of time.

Something hard lands on my shoulder and I turn to see a somewhat large diamond being held in Luna’s telekinesis. Quickly grabbing the diamond I cast Guidance on myself to prepare for the Aracana check for my next spell. I just need to roll a 3 or higher and I pass the check, but just to be even more safe the Guidance will give me an extra 1d4 on top. The silent thestrals start to murmur in discontent as nothing happens to the corpse and I can tell their patience is already growing thin. I know revival is seen as impossible to ponies so I can understand their disbelief and apprehension.

Once Guidance is cast I gently pull the mare away from her husband and lay her down on her back. Next I place the diamond down on her chest, where her heart should be, and my hands start to glow with a blinding white light as the Mizzium hums to life once more.

Arcana Check (Mizzium DC: 16.)

2 + 13 = 15 + 1 (Guidance) = 16.

I’m glad I casted Guidance but it looks like I took longer than I thought to reach her corpse.

Amount of time since the time of death exceeds the maximum allowed for this spell. Revivify Failed.

The diamond was consumed anyways… “She’s been dead for too long. I have to use a more powerful spell. Luna I need another diamond, this one needs to be worth more than 500 bits.” Her horn lights up a few more times as if she’s casting Sending repeatedly, and I can only guess that she woke up Celestia to help us. Her horn lights up 1 final time a diamond nearly the size of my head appears in the air.

She floats the diamond over to me and one of the bats closest to me yells at me. “Why are you continuing this charade? You can’t revive the dead, nopony can!”

“This spell is going to take me an hour to cast so please give me some space and some time.” They give me a few steps of space but it’s not enough to make me comfortable about what I’m about to do. If I fail this Mizzium roll they’re all within range of some potentially deadly spells. “I need more space. There’s a chance this could go wrong and all of you are too close, we don’t need to risk anyone else dying tonight.”

That seems to do the trick as they walk to the other side of the room and stare at me intensely. I can’t say I’m of fan of 18-20 ponies glaring at me, but I don’t blame them. I place the diamond in the same spot as last time and after casting Guidance again the Mizzium starts to hum.

Arcana Check (Mizzium DC: 20.)

5 + 13 = 18.

I watch with bated breath as the triangle shaped d4 rolls around in my vision, please don’t be a 1 please don’t be a 1.

18 + 2 = 20. Spell casting will now begin.

I sit down on my knees next to the corpse and put my hands together with 3 fingers raised on each hand creating a hand sign for vitality. Immediately a glowing green circle starts to form on the ground around the corpse. Eventually there’s going to be hundreds of glyphs inside this spell circle, but it takes an hour for them to form. I hear the ponies behind me start to murmur and ask questions when they see the glowing green light and I decide to give them some good news.

“The dangerous part is over, you all can come back now if you would like to. It’s just a matter of time at this point.” A few of the thestrals, including her husband, slowly saunter back over to where I’m sitting and the husband takes her forehoof and holds it against his head and he quietly mutters a prayer repeatedly. This continues for the full hour and finally the spell circle is complete. I release the hand sign and place my palm over the diamond as I start to speak the incantation for the spell and it sounds like I’m saying multiple words at the same time and my eyes begin to glow.

The next thing I know there’s a blinding white light and once it’s gone I quickly blink my eyes to readjust them to the dark room. I realize I’m somewhere completely different. Looking around I’m completely puzzled as I’m standing in what seems like a void with aurora like fog and white motes of light aimlessly floating around.

“You are overstepping your authority, bladesinger.” Turning around I find an alicorn that’s slightly bigger than Celestia but this one seems more… ethereal. A thought enters my mind that is not my own as an unfamiliar voice whispers recognition into my brain. This is Harmony.

“Where you're from this might be commonplace, but in this realm these souls are mine. It is completely out of your jurisdiction to disrupt the harmonic cycle of life and death.”

“I’m just trying to fix my own wrong doings. This mare doesn’t deserve to be punished for my mistake.”

“I’m aware. It’s only because this intention is pure that I have even decided to speak with you. All the souls under my purview are in a cycle of reincarnation, by reviving this thestral you’ve caused a zebra on the other side of the world to suffer a miscarriage.”

“But why? Only deaths from natural causes like illness and old age should be applicable. It wasn’t her time to go yet, and was only caused by my intervention.”

The ethereal alicorn starts to slowly circle around me. “Do you not believe in fate? If she was not meant to die in that moment then she simply would not have died. You are changing what has been written.”

“Then is it not fate that I revive her? If she was meant to die then my Raise Dead spell would not have been successfully casted.”

“It’s not so simple. You’re an outside variable entirely, you do not exist in my pages, by all rights you shouldn’t even be here. Your presence altered the purification of Nightmare Moon in such a way that if I had let you die under that pile of rubble my elements would not have recovered, and they would have been defeated. This forced my hand into saving you at the last second and awakening your true power for a brief moment. Although you have been an instrument of good since then I have only allowed you to continue your existence because so far you have not disrupted fate. The dragon you encountered before the summit was meant to be taught a lesson by Kindness but he was instead killed. This was indirectly your fault but one of my own avatar’s was the one to actually kill him, so I ignored that change. This thestral was not fated to die by your hand but she was fated to die today. Even in this way you did not alter fate, but with this revival you threaten to unravel the threads of this realm entirely.”

The Goddess comes to stop directly in front of me and pierces my soul with her gaze. “Knowing this, will you still revive her?”

“Of course.”

I watch as an extremely large tome is conjured into the space above us. The book cracks open and the pages flutter around as the book jumps to a specific page. Once the pages stop moving the entire book glows brightly and I watch as the unreadable text fades and shifts into a completely different set of hieroglyphs. Once the change is complete the alicorn flies up to the book and reads the pages before turning and glancing back down at me. “The consequences of your choice are not catastrophic this time. However, there has been a change. It’s a change you’ll have to live with. I urge you to never use this magic again, bladesinger.”

Everything fades away and I’m back in the thestral colony, hovering my hands over the thestral corpse. The diamond has disappeared and as the silver light enshrouded around the mare fades away a spark of life returns to her eyes as the dullness ceases to exist and she draws in a massive breath with a gasp.

A chorus of voices ring out with shouts of shock, but it’s all like static in my ears as the newly revived mare stares at me in terror. She’s completely frozen and her eyes widen even more as I reach my hand out towards her. She starts to scream bloody murder when my hand touches forehead but I just ignore it as I mutter out the incantation to cast Cure Wounds at 4th level.

8d8 + 1 = 38 Points of healing.

The terror fades from her eyes as the drying blood on her face is erased. I slowly rise to my feet and walk towards Luna. While I’m walking I hear the whispers of the thestrals around me and the shouts from the husband of the formerly deceased. “Wasn’t she dead? I thought healing didn’t work on those that had already passed?” - “Did he revive her?” - “It’s a miracle! You were dead Starshine! That knight… is he…” “Divine?” “A God?” “It must’ve been a Divine miracle!” “Even in the ancient texts our goddesses never had the power to revive..”

It’s hard to make out the individual thoughts while they all talk over each other, but that’s the most I can decipher from the noise. Between the guilt of killing that mare and the existential dread I received from my conversation with Harmony I’m completely overwhelmed and my emotions have gone numb. Luna’s looking at me with a mixture of fear and pity and it dawns on me I can use this to our advantage. Pivoting on my ankle and turning around to face the thestrals again I pull the dagger out of my guy and wince in pain before calmly speaking out to them.

-8 HP: 36/82.

“Do you fools now recognize the power you’ve tried to manipulate and take advantage of? I’m merely a paladin, a conduit for Her power and I was still able to perform this miracle. Will you repent and join me in servitude for Her in Canterlot?”

Performance Check

4 + 5 = 9.

The thestrals start to murmur and argue amongst themselves. It seems some of them have been convinced to cease their selfish shenanigans, but some, the Chancellor included, are stubbornly refusing to admit their wrong doings. I just sigh in disbelief, “So be it. Luna, can we go back now?”

“I’d prefer if we found a place to rest here for a few hours so you can properly recover, but I agree that this is a lost cause. Even if you had convinced them with your deception there I’m not sure I’d have even taken them.”

“That wasn’t deception. That Revival spell wasn’t from my spell book, it was from the divine link we have as your paladin. It was technically your power that brought her back from the abyss. I won’t say no to some sleep in a comfortable bed though, the bedroll was starting to hurt my back.”

-5 HP: 31/82.

Looking down at my gut in confusion I watch as blood spurts out of the stab wound and pours down my cloak. I hear Luna’s voice, “Are you not going to treat yourself? You can’t just let that continue to bleed, Ignis.”

“Yeah… it’s just weird because normally I don’t continue to lose health from my wounds…” Placing my palm on the wound I use all 10 points from my Lay on Hands pool and the wound finally closes. HP: 41/82.

Curious if this dagger has a special property that applies some type of bleeding debuff I wipe the blade clean and deposit it into my backpack. Once I’m finished with that I follow Luna out of the magical chamber. The thestrals are still arguing as we climb the stairs, seemingly oblivious to the fact that we’re leaving.

After wandering around the city for a few minutes we end up in a bit of an awkward encounter. “Dam, Dam, look! It’s the Mare of the Moon!”

Luna pauses and turns to face the squeaky adolescent voice so I stop as well and follow her gaze. It’s the first set of civilian thestrals we’ve seen since we got here and holy shit they are so adorable without armor on! The foal's parent points at Luna and replies to the child with an equal level of excitement. “That’s Princess Luna! She’s returned to rescue us! We’re just waiting on word from the council so we can start packing our things, and finally return to our homeland.”

This causes Luna and I to look at each other with a frown. After a second or two Luna decides to approach the two of them. “Good evening little one! Do you see that scary looking elf over there with the silver hair?” The foal nods, “That’s my knight, he knows all kinds of cool magic, have you ever seen magic before?” This time she shakes her head no. “You should go ask him to show you some, I promise he’s not actually scary.” The filly looks a bit apprehensive but once Luna makes eye contact with the mare and she realizes that the Princess wants to speak with her privately she encourages the child to run over to me.

“Miss Princess said you could show me cool magic!” Flashing a genuine smile for the first time in what feels like forever I sit down criss cross on the ground so I can be at eye level with the foal.

Making sure to keep most of my attention on Luna so I can hear their conversation I think of a few tricks I can show off. Since she’s looking into my eyes I’ll use Thaumaturgy to change their appearance. “Sure, I don’t mind showing you some cool magic. What’s your name?”

“Eclipse! It’s so cool how your eyes look like ours! Dam said in the anc-anshe.. Old books that the other ponies were scared of us cause of the slits in our eyes. I think that isn’t very nice of them. And-and yours are red which is so cool! I haven’t seen any red eyes before it’s so pretty…”

“Eclipse huh? Well my name is Ignis. What do you think the prettiest eye color would be?” She thinks about it while I listen to Luna explain the situation with the list of demands to the mother. To my surprise the mothers face is plastered with horror that only seems to grow as the list goes on.

“I think white or silver would be the prettiest for you, but then it wouldn’t stand out from the rest of your eye so… you’d have to make the other part of your eyes black! Can you change your eyes?!”

Imagining it in my head it’s not a bad look, but combined with my hair it’s almost a little too much white and silver. I snap my fingers and follow her request though, making my actual eyeball black and my iris’s silver, but letting them keep their dragon-like appearance. Before I open my eyes to reveal the change I listen to the mare rattle off apology after apology to Luna… did the civilians have no clue what the fuck was happening?

Opening my eyes the filly gasps and her own eyes expand like saucers. “That’s so cool! What else can you do?!”

Channeling the Mizzium I cast the cantrip Dancing Lights and 4 orbs of light appear over the palm of my hand. Holding out my index finger I make the lights orbit around the finger super fast and then I have them follow the tip of my finger as I wave it around in the air. The kid is just going woah every so often, and it’s adorable. Finally I hear the conversation between Luna and her mother winding down so I flick my finger and point towards her mom and have the 4 orbs fly through the air and start doing orbits around the mare. The filly yells in excitement as she chases after the orbs flying towards her mom, causing Luna to giggle while the mom still looks horrified about their conversation.

“So let me guess, they had no idea the council was making a grab for power and trying to manipulate the situation so they could retain control over them?”

Luna just sighs. “I’m afraid so. All of the civilians were told was that soon they’d be rescued and taken back to the homeland where food grows in abundance and nopony goes hungry.”

“How’d she react when you told her we weren’t rescuing them and their shitty council ruined it for everyone?” The alicorn doesn’t respond and her eyes shift to the side, attempting to avoid looking at me. “Luna, you told her right?”

“No. I’m not going to condemn this entire colony because of a few corrupt leaders, Ignis. She’s going to gather up all of the denizens to meet in the middle of town and we’re going to interrogate the Chancellor. I’ll have a scrying spell setup so the thestrals in town can hear and see our meeting and we’ll get a full confession from her.”

“Okay I don’t mind that, I think that’s a noble thing to do actually. However, what are we going to do about the Night Guard? The main reason for coming here was to bolster our non-existent guard, but if these guards are willing to blindly follow corrupt orders do we really want them?”

“Hmm, that is true. We can use the refugee changelings as our core force and open up recruitment for any of the civilian thestrals. That’d still leave us with over 100 guards, easily. From there we can open recruitment to all equestrian citizens. I also wouldn’t completely remove the guards here from the table, though. A majority of them are likely just indoctrinated and think they have no choice but to follow orders that seem amoral, and with some training we could easily teach them to not follow evil orders.”

“It’s your guard, so do what you wanna do. Personally I think indoctrination is too hard to undo and I’d never trust any of them. I’d only let them be janitors. It’s an important job but I think it’s the job they can do the least amount of damage with if they were to continue with their corrupt ways.”

“The thestrals won’t arrive in Canterlot until after the gala, so we can just iron out the details then. For now let’s just focus on exposing the council and the Chancellor.”

Callisid kept me updated on the movements of the Chancellor so we only gathered all of the civilians into one spot once the council went back into their meeting chamber. The guards did notice the public gathering but the ponies just made up some story about waiting around to meet the Princess and they bought it.

Luna set up the scrying receivers and then requested a private meeting with the Chancellor and as we went into the private meeting chamber the Chancellor ordered the two guards outside to not allow anypony to disturb us. Now I’m sitting here ready to cast Arcane Lock on the door at a moments notice and Luna has the room soundproofed. We’re taking both of these precautions because it won’t take long for the guards patrolling the city to notice what’s happening and the soundproofing will prevent them from alerting Umbra from the outside and my Arcane Lock will keep them from entering.

“So, Chancellor Umbra, we’ve settled our disputes and my knight has proved himself, so I have to ask if you’ve reconsidered how you want to approach this pact.” Luna is giving her one last chance, one last out.

“I have to admit I was underestimating the both of you, but the reason I was so quick to accept this meeting is because I’d like to say that we’re happy to re-enter the pact with you with no terms or demands.”

Luna smiles brightly, but it seems she didn’t quite catch the wording there. She’s still pretty new to modern English so I don’t blame her. “You’d like to say that, so why can’t you say that?” I ask before Luna gets too excited.

The alicorn looks at me in confusion as Umbra sighs. “It’s the council. I’m just a political figurehead; the council holds all the real power. They’re terrified of losing their power and control over this colony, and are willing to give up our only salvation and anger our Mistress for their own pettiness. They’re even prepared to mobilize the guards and institute martial law to keep everypony here if either of you tries to convince the civilians to leave.”

This causes me and Luna to look at each other with concern. We didn’t expect it to be this bad. “Why haven’t you spoken out to the public about this? Why do they have such an iron grasp on their power here?” Luna asks the Chancellor with sincere sympathy in her voice.

“The food shortage. The land to the east of the mountains is dangerous, but that ground is plenty fertile to farm and grow sustenance for the colony. They have manufactured this food shortage so that they can bribe the guards with extra food to uphold their commands. They silence anyone that tries to speak out with their ideas or campaign to take one of their seats from the council. Things have not been going well around here…”

Something doesn’t add up here. Thankfully Luna seems to notice as well and she asks a very valid question. “Why not bring this up during our dream meetings then? Dreams are my domain and we had complete privacy, there was no reason for you to withhold this information until now.”

The mare squeezes her eyes closed and I imagine she feels like her entire world is crashing down right now. “She didn’t bring it up because she was one of them. You’re not innocent in this matter either, are you Umbra? You only turned your back on them because you can sense that the power is going to shift to Luna no matter what you do, so in your last desperate act to maintain any semblance of power you’ve feigned innocence and ratted out your co-conspirators in hopes of gaining our trust.”

She buries her face in her forelegs and starts to mutter curses in frustration. Her reaction tells me all I needed to know. “Alright Luna did the Scrying spell catch all of that?”

“Indeed it did. I’d pay bits to see how the civilians gathered up in the middle of town are reacting to this news. I wouldn’t be surprised if the other members of the council also just listened to Chancellor Umbra stab them in the back.”

The thestral in question snaps her head forward and stares at us slack jawed in complete horror. “What?! No no no nonono this isn’t happening!”

She starts having a full on meltdown and Luna looks at her with pity as we both decide to just stand up and leave. There’s nothing more to be said here, and she’ll have to suffer the consequences of her own actions. Walking outside I watch with slight amusement as the thestrals are rioting and demanding answers from the council. “Can we go to bed now Luna?”

She gives a slight chuckle before answering me. “Yes Ignis, we can go to bed now. The dam of that filly you were entertaining said she had a spare bed we could use.”

“By the way, I know gems are way more common here than the land where I’m from, so why were those two diamonds so expensive?”

“They were mana diamonds. Some gems are formed near ley lines and have an abundance of dense mana inside of them, and unlike typical gems they gain the property of naturally replenishing their mana supply. Typically you have to supply the gems with your own mana. That 2nd diamond was actually around 2,000 bits, but Tia was tired and impatient so she just grabbed the first one she found in the enchantment vault.”

“I’ll be sure to send her my thanks later. So are we teleporting back tomorrow or are we going to hike back the same way we came?”

“Oh Harmony no, we are not going through that forsaken forest again, it’s worse than the Everfree. We’ll teleport back to Canterlot when we wake up, which with it being 4AM right now will probably be around noon or 11AM, and we’ll have 3 days of rest. The day after that is Force’s official Knighting ceremony. I informed Cadence we’d be back early, Friday at the latest, so she went ahead and scheduled the ceremony for Friday. Then we have 1 week of normalcy that leads straight into the Gala.”

“Cool, cool. One other thing...I don’t have the energy to talk about it right now so can you remind me tomorrow that I need to talk to you about something that happened when I revived that thestral?”

She looks worried, “That sounds rather ominous, are you sure it should wait until tomorrow?”

“Yeah it’s nothing dangerous, I think. I just had a conversation with Harmony, and she mentioned something that has had me a little distracted since. She said I’m not in her book of fate and I shouldn’t exist…”

“You…. had a conversation....with... Harmony? What?!”

Author's Note

Commenters predicted correctly how things would play out with the council, but then again I don't really think I left myself with too many options that would be believable.

We're also finally reaching the end of season 1, and I'm pretty excited for it. Similar to the NMM fight I've already imagined basically the entire climax of the gala in my head and I think it'll be really good.

Once we wrap up season 1 I'm going to take a few days off before we roll into Season 2. I'm not making the seasons separate stories so in reality the "season" ending doesn't really signify anything, but lately I've been losing track of my own foreshadowing seeds and I'm forgetting what dialogue has been had and which characters have had conversations about what AND all of the recent chapters are kinda blurring together which tells me that I need a break. Season 1 ending seems like a good opportunity for that so like I said it'll just be a few days, maybe a week at most and then we'll get right back into it. During the down time I plan on rereading the story and properly documenting the things I planted and hinted at so I can remember to actually use the information.

I'll also be doing a sweep through and fixing all the early errors where I forgot words in sentences or typed the wrong word but it was still a word so spellcheck didn't catch the error, you know all that good stuff. It still happens now, but it was alot worse in the earlier chapters and I'm sure I never fixed all of it so while I'm rereading to properly document my notes I'll be fixing all the oopsies along the way. That should only take a couple of days and then I can chill before starting Season 2.

By the way we really did almost fail that Arcana check for Raise Dead:

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 15

“...and that’s basically everything. After she “urged” me to never use that type of magic again I came back to my senses and the thestral was alive. I just don’t understand her position though, if she was going to be that standoffish about it then why even let the revival succeed?” I gave Luna the run down on the conversation with Harmony while we made our way to our sleeping quarters. Right now I’m just laying on my back with one hand behind my head.

“That decision isn’t up to her. Harmony is merely an observer of the world and she aims to steer it in the right direction with minor influence. The more interesting thing is that she said you shouldn’t exist. Tia and I had been operating on the assumption that She was the one to actually bring you here, the timing of it lined up too perfectly with the end of my banishment. If you aren’t in her pages though…” Her words taper off and she stares at me while seemingly deep in thought.

“Do you think I’m… in danger? Do I need to be careful of my every move now to not earn her ire?”

“No… I think she was merely warning you that you’re altering the events of the future in a way that even she cannot foresee. Imagine you were reading your favorite book and suddenly half way through the story some new character shows up seemingly out of nowhere for no reason. Out of all the dozens of times you read this story that character never existed before, and now things are seemingly the exact same until one chapter the character does something that completely alters the ending of the book. This is the important part, you are so familiar with the story that you are able to quite accurately predict every future event will be impacted by this change, but even after all of your predictions are correct for a hundred pages or so all of a sudden this new character does something else that completely throws you off. Everytime you adjust your plans and predictions for the story the character changes something else that you hadn’t anticipated. That’s you right now for Harmony.”

I don’t really respond as I think of the implications and Luna decides to explain even further. “You are causing her book to change in real time, but if it was just once it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. The problem is that you are continually causing the pages to shift, likely to the point that she is no longer able to confidently predict the far off future and make plans around it. You appeared in this world and the pages shift, you became my paladin and the pages shift again, you grievously wound the dragon near Ponyville and the pages shift yet again. You’re causing her to be extremely uncomfortable.”

“But what if… the changes have been made now but in the future Fate actually intends for me to revive another soul, and I don’t do it because she warned me not to? If I don’t know what I’m supposed to do how can I be sure that I’m doing the right thing? This is a paradox Luna.”

“Her warning you not to use revival magic might actually be part of her plan. You might be right and now Fate says you will revive somepony in the future, but Harmony see’s the future where you revive somepony else and it’s the worst outcome. Something changes so catastrophically that she has now warned you to stop reviving souls to prevent that specific revival. Even I'm unsure of what you should do now. Reviving a soul has always been a fundamental law of our magic that cannot be broken. It’s not that we’ve been warned not to and so no mage has ever pursued it, but that it cannot be done. Thousands have tried and it just cannot be done. On one hoof it’s quite amazing and I know all of the good you could do with it, but on the other hoof… breaking one of the fundamental laws makes me uneasy.”

“Is there a force higher than Harmony? Maybe she was warning me because that higher power can take action against me?”

“Not that I know of… let’s table this for now, we both could use some rest.”

Well she’s the boss. Luna lays her head down on, what is now apparently the default position, my chest and closes her eyes. I just stare at the ceiling with too much on my mind to sleep.

It’s better to not overthink things like this. Just continue as you normally would, but I would be more reserved on when and who you use your revival magic on. However I should add that dear Luna does underestimate how much Harmony can exert her influence. She can rarely ever change things in the physical realm, but in the metaphysical realm she is much more…absolute.

Speaking from experience?

Indeed, my entire being at one point was entirely metaphysical. I had to resort to possessing a creature to safely use my power. I could always feel that she was present as I navigated and hid in the ethereal background. Since souls operate in a similar way I’d wager she actually does have the capability to prevent you from reviving a soul. It’s likely she just doesn’t know of the method.

Doesn’t sound very omniscient of her.

Revival was not something that was considered to even be possible until just a few hours ago. Why would she investigate how to prevent something that isn’t even possible? The question is how long will it take her to learn of a method?

I guess you have a point.

I meant what I said originally. Continue moving forward as you normally would, but just… don’t be surprised if your next revival fails.

Alright… switching topics I think I might have a way to free you, but I need some information.

...yes?

If you had to choose between a fiend, devil, abyssal, or celestial, which one would you say fits you best?

I think the most likely trait is celestial, but I could see myself being classified as a fiend.

I was hoping you had a more definitive answer. I also narrowed it down to those two choices. I have a few different summoning spells that might let me bypass your seal since it seems like most of my weave magic seems to ignore things like that. The problem is that it’s only a temporary measure. I can't summon you for a prolonged period of time, but I was thinking about using it to let you attend the gala. If you were interested… that is.

Nightmare actually doesn’t respond and I can’t tell if she’s angry or flustered. Probably the former as she doesn’t seem like the type to get flustered.

Don’t think this means that I want to attend with you! I just want the opportunity to get off of this rock.

Oh. My. God. She’s a tsundere. Uh huh, sure, we’ll do some experiments this weekend after Forces knighting ceremony. We’ll need to get you a dress too.

That is.. acceptable.

Thanks for the distraction. I’m gunna grab some sleep.

Exhaustion Level: 1

True to Luna’s prediction it’s around 11:30 when we wake up and not only is this house completely silent but the entire city is as well. I guess it makes sense though since it’s basically noon outside and these guys probably sleep during the day, but I didn’t think all of them would sleep during the day.

“Are you alright, Ignis? This is the first time in a while I’ve seen you look so tired” Luna asks me as she zaps a teleportation circle onto the ground.

“Yeah I just had a hard time going to sleep, had a lot on my mind.” I’m not going to tell her about the dream I had. It’s definitely going to be a problem if this becomes a recurring issue, though. I was walking through a swamp and a bunch of hooves covered in thick mud came out of the water and tried to grab me. I started to fly upwards cause I had my temporary wings but it ended up being futile as all of the hooves turned out to be changelings. They climbed on top of each other and made a pile of bodies so they could pull me back down. Some of them were charred and the others were covered in cuts. The guard that got caught up in my fireball was there too even though I know he survived.

“I know it’s more than that. You don’t need to hide anything from me.”

“It’s not that I’m trying to hide it, I just don’t want to worry you unless it becomes a recurring problem. I’d prefer to try sorting through it on my own before relying on someone else.”

Right as I finish my sentence we appear in the courtyard of the castle. “Was it a nightmare? I checked on you a few times while I was sleeping and I never noticed any indicators that you were troubled.”

Sighing, I explain the nightmare to her, and she gives me a look of pity as we head into the castle proper.

“I’m afraid I can’t do much for that type of nightmare. I can make you aware that you’re dreaming so your rest can at least be peaceful, but that is not a long term solution.”

“It’s fine, I might just stick to meditating for a while. I don’t dream in that state, and I only need to meditate for 4 hours to feel as rested as 8 hours of sleep. I know Force’s thing is on Friday, but did we have anything planned for today?”

“I was planning to meet with Tia so she could be debriefed on everything that happened while we were gone. I was hoping you’d join me so we can talk to her about your conversation with Harmony, but you can talk to her tomorrow if you’re truly that exhausted.”

“No, if it's just talking I can handle that. Are we going right now?”

“Indeed. We’re meeting for lunch. Cadence and her guard will be there as well.” Oh I get to see Force too? That’s perfect. I was going to try and track her down before I went to meditate.

“Sick, let’s go.”

“Damn dude, you look like shit.” My favorite pegasus decides this is the perfect thing to say after not seeing me for damn near two weeks.

“Gee golly you really know how to make a guy feel special. I miss anything important while I was gone? Besides the hydra memorial, of course.”

“Not really. Did you wanna grab dinner with me later now that you’re back~?”

“Unfortunately no, I look like shit because I feel like shit. As soon as we’re done here I have one errand I need to run down and then I’m going to bed.”

“What’s the errand? I wouldn’t mind helping out.” Luna also looks interested to hear my answer to Force's question.

“I need to go find a guard from the Summit. There’s one I accidentally hit with my fireball when I was targeting a group of changelings. As far as I know he made it out fine, but I uh… was reminded of him recently and I want to check in on him.” Luna gives me a knowing look.

“That was Silver Lance. He’s actually on duty right now. I can take you to him when we finish here.” I shoot a smile to the pegasus across the table and then look towards Celestia.

At this point Luna goes over the entire journey leading up to the thestral colony. For some reason she even talks about our new sleeping arrangements, to my embarrassment. Cadence and Force seem to take more interest in that part of the story, but Celestia really locks in when she hears about the move I did to completely obliterate half of an Ursa Major's leg. She doesn’t make any comments about it, but she does stare at me for a few seconds with a calculating look.

Then she covers all of the political shit that happened in the thestral colony and it seems she’s saving the most interesting bit for last. Suddenly Luna lights up her horn and projects a very light blue dome around all of us. “Clear the room.” Once all of the staff that were cleaning different parts of the room and the guards that were standing in the doorway have all left she finally speaks again. “This next bit of information is Top Secret. It’s likely already spread among the thestral’s but I’ll speak with them about it before they get into Equestria proper.”

“Lulu…” Celestia looks at me and Force. “Is it alright for the knights to know as well?”

“That’s up to Cadence. Ignis is the topic of the information he knows more about this than anypony else.” Cadence tells Force that she can stay and Luna continues. “During a confrontation with a thestral squad inside of a magical sparring arena in the dreamscape Ignis used a spell that unknowingly hurt the target in the waking world and ended up killing her.”

Force seems to think that’s why I look like shit, and Cadence does a dramatic gasp thinking this is the actual news. Ha. Luna continues, “Then he demonstrated a new magic he had learned during our travels and proceeded to revive the thestral.” Celestia starts to speak up, but Luna doesn’t let her. “Yes, revived. Not healed. That pony was not on the brink of death; she was completely dead for over a minute.”

Now everyone at the table is just staring at me looking a bit stunned, Celestia looks a bit… afraid? “There’s more. At the very end of the revival process Harmony pulled his consciousness into her realm and spoke with him. Ignis, can you tell them exactly what she said? The wording here is extremely important if we want their help interpreting her meaning and I don’t want to leave anything out.”

I go over the entire conversation basically word for word. As I continue on Force looks confused, Cadence still seems stunned, and Celestia’s face becomes unreadable half way through. Then I go over the questions I brought up to Nightmare as well as Nightmares own explanation just to get their opinion on it.

“Nightmare’s explanation is not that far off, I’d say. I can’t think of a reason why Harmony would disagree with your logic about old age and illness. If someone is murdered then they clearly are not part of the natural cycle of life and death. That makes me think that whatever future she sees is one where you revive somepony and it spells disaster for the entire world. I’d advise against reviving anypony for the foreseeable future. As much as it saddens me to know that in the future we will be unable to save a creature... her warning must be heeded.”

There’s an uncomfortable silence and I decide to ask the question that I think needs to be asked. “Even if it’s Force? What if it’s Luna? What if it’s you, Celestia?”

The uncomfortable silences hangs for several seconds until the sun horse finally responds. “You’ve put me in a very awkward situation. I can’t tell you it’s ok to revive my sister or one of your friends while at the same time say that you can’t revive anypony else. That implies that our lives intrinsically have more value than others.”

“Your lives do have more value than others… to me, anyways.” Luna gives me a small smile.

“Instead I’ll just amend my suggestion. If you’re in that situation… do what you think is right. Was there anything else?” Celestia sounds much more mentally exhausted now than she did when we first sat down.

“I just have 1 more question and I want everyone's input. If Harmony says I shouldn’t exist and my quest still implies that I have a way to return home… does that mean my return home is not a matter of if, but a matter of when?”

Author's Note

I did not want to end the chapter here but I got writers block after Ignis asked the last question at the end of the chapter and it's late af. So we're just gunna send it and let it be a cliff hanger I guess. Also I'm lowkey sick af right now so I was just moving alot slower in general today.

I guess I could just not release a chapter today, but I kinda want to cause I'm not sure if I'm gunna have it in me to write for a few days until this sickness leaves my body. I am fucking miserable rn.

Thanks for reading <3

Side Quest - Attend the Knighting Ceremony pt. 2

“Did she talk this much for my ceremony?” I whisper to Luna while we’re sitting in the front row. Celestia has been going on and on about the good work Cadence has done and she even brings up a recent list of my accomplishments to use as a reference for what is expected of a knight. She brings up Forces list of assignments and jobs along with all of her accomplishments and at some point I just started to tune her out.

“She didn’t have as much to work with for your ceremony, but thankfully both of you have been quite busy in the last month. I’m more shocked at the attire Cadence chose to wear. Surely I didn’t wear something so royal and pretentious?”

“You did,” Luna starts to look offended, “but you pulled it off much better than she does. I remember thinking you looked like a proper Goddess that had descended to our realm for a visit.”

She’s caught off guard and actually shoots out a short cough. “W….When did you get so forward?”

“Hm? I was just answering your question. How much longer is this thing going to go on for? Do you have to give a speech too?”

“It should only be another 30 minutes at most, Ignis. Stop being a brat and be happy for your friend. Tia asked me to say some words, but there wasn’t much I could contribute so I turned her down.”

As Luna finishes scolding me impatience my ear twitches and I hear the sound of metal rubbing on metal and clinking in the distance. Which means the mare of the hour has arrived. Turning around I look at the pegasus and can’t help but be impressed. Her armor covers the same areas as the regular guard armor but it’s a light shade of gray all around. I thought it’d be pink to be honest. Her bright red hair is poking out of the top of the helmet and all of her little hoof guards have intricate designs going half way up her legs. The impressive part is how intimidating she’s being. The armor isn’t the reason either it’s her eyes, posture, the way she’s walking. It’s almost like Force is just looking down on everyone as she approaches the front stage.

“She looks good. That armor is one I have not seen in a long time, it must’ve been centuries before my banishment. Now that I’ve been reminded of that guard I guess it’s quite obvious where Tia is going to put Cadence, but I was under the impression the empire hadn’t returned yet.” Luna quietly mutters aloud, mostly talking to herself.

“What’s significant about that armor?”

“It belongs to the guards of the Crystal Empire. In the frozen north they once stood as a beacon of hope for the region but the empire fell to dark magic and before Tia and I could correct the situation the entire empire disappeared.”

Apparently Celestia was listening to us as she looked over at Luna and her horn glowed dimly. “Ah apparently that is not something I should so casually discuss in the open like this. I was under the impression this was part of Equestrian History, but it seems it has fallen to the wayside like myself.”

As Luna finishes talking, Force arrives front and center and kneels down with 1 foreleg while lowering her head towards Cadence. The pink alicorn smiles softly and conjures a sword that seems purely ceremonial. Lowering the blade down onto whatever her shoulder is called Cadence speaks. “Do you vow to serve me dutifully in spreading and maintaining the tenets of harmony?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. However in addition to that I, Unstoppable Force, swear that I will place your safety and your ambitions above everything else in my life. That I will always act in your best interest and the interest of Equestria. That I will follow you to any corner of this world and serve you dutifully until the end of my service. Finally I vow that you, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, will always have an immovable pillar to lean on.”

Wait, we're allowed to say yes to that first part? I thought that was just some copout question for people that didn’t feel like writing their own vow. Compared to my vow that brought on whispers and commotion this one hangs in silence as the audience looks on with a mixture of happiness and pride depending on who you’re looking at.

Cadence moves the blade from Force's right shoulder to her left and the alicorns’ cutie mark starts to glow as she speaks once more. “Then rise, Unstoppable Force. Open up your heart to love in its purest form as I connect your mana to mine and stand proudly as the Champion of Love, my only Knight!”

There’s a flash of white light and when it fades we’re all shocked to see Force’s appearance has changed drastically. Her entire being is almost like glass or a gemstone with multiple sparkles and dots all along her body. She’s almost… see through? “I wonder if this was anticipated? Nopony here is going to recognize the signature transformation of a crystal pony.”

Once the applause starts I smile as Shining quickly makes his way onto the stage to embrace the princess. After that he starts sharing some words with the new knight that I’m unfortunately unable to hear. Celestia pokes her head up from the ground and gestures for us to come up as well. Slapping my thighs I groan like an old person as I stand up and escort Luna to the stage.

“That’s a neat trick, champion of love. Are you always gunna look like this or was it just something that happened for the ceremony?” I ask once we’re in ear shot of the group.

“Funny you should ask… none of us actually know what this is, and it was completely unplanned. It feels kinda tingly.”

Luna tilts her head in confusion when Force says none of them know, but before she can speak up Celestia looks at her and speaks telepathically into both of our heads. “I don’t want to tell them about the empire yet. Cadence is still learning and I do not think she's ready to bear the burden of what she will have to be responsible for in the future. We still have plenty of time and I’ll likely tell both of them soon.”

Before the silence hangs on long enough to be suspicious or awkward I verbally speak up again. “Well you won’t hear me complaining if this is a permanent change, you look good.” The nature of her new translucent coat makes it much easier to see that she’s blushing. Cadence smiles at both of us.

“Let’s move this gathering to the ballroom where everypony else has gone. If you three are going to be this adorable I want it to be in public.” Cadence somehow cartoonishly pushes all 3 of us off the stage and towards the castle.

“So Ignis, now that we finally have some time to talk I was hoping for some clarification.” Celestia walks up next to me as I’m putting food on my plate in the ballroom..

“Clarification on what?” I act completely oblivious as I don’t even look at her and continue grabbing different items with my new telekinesis.

“What exactly did you mean when you said Nightmare Moon would be attending the Gala?”

“Oh that? I have some spells that allow me to summon different types of creatures and I was planning to temporarily give her some freedom by summoning her for the Gala. It’s a temporary thing, no matter which spell I end up using they all run out in less than a day. Of course if you are vehemently against this then I’ll reconsider and talk with Luna about what I should do. Have you asked Twilight what her opinion on reforming Nightmare is, by the way?”

She gives out a bit of an angry sigh. “Surprisingly my student said everypony deserves a second chance and that she supports unsealing the demon and keeping her under strict supervision of the elements. For the record I am vehemently against your Gala idea.”

“I mean… are the elements going to be at the Gala?”

She opens her mouth and then pauses, and I think she realizes where I’m going with this because she lets out an even longer sigh. “Yes, but it’s their first Gala and I don’t want their experience to be ruined supervising Nightmare for the night.”

“Okay hear me out. She most likely will not have even 1% of her normal power, so how about I disguise her and she stays with me and Luna at all times and we just have the elements on standby. To be honest if I was as strong as I am now back then in that old castle I could probably have defeated her all on my own. Granted, that would’ve also killed your sister so I’m glad that didn’t happen, but the point is that I can almost certainly handle her on my own. Can you just trust me on this one? I feel like I have to have earned at least a crumb of trust since our last talk about trust when you denied me being able to learn magic.”

Persuasion Check.

8 + 1 = 9.

“I’m still against it. I know you’re going to do whatever you want to do and Luna also supports you on this Nightmare business so you’ll probably just do it anyways. However, I am asking you to please reconsider.” Woah Celestia actually being reasonable? Fuck now I feel like an asshole.

“I kinda already promised her I would do it…so going back on it now would put me in an awkward position. I promise you nothing will go wrong.”

The solar alicorn seems like she’s lost in thought as she stares off into space, and after a few seconds she just shakes her head and walks off with a concerned look. Looking around with my plate of snacks I try to find Luna but she’s nowhere to be seen which is…curious. Force is being swarmed by ponies giving her congratulations, so I guess I’ll just go sit by myself.

The rest of the reception was actually quite uneventful. Luna eventually wandered over to my table and we idly chatted for the rest of the event with Force joining us after the event had officially ended. It’s been a couple days since then and it’s Sunday night now. I’m currently sitting in the castle gardens with Luna as my theorize what spell we need to use to summon Nightmare.

“The problem here is that a lot of these summon spells don’t let me specify what I summon. It just summons a spirit of that type. There’s a chance that if I cast Summon Celestial it’ll summon Nightmare as long as I’m emphasizing that as my intent upon completion of the casting, but there’s also a decent chance it just doesn’t work at all. The next issue is that if she classifies as a demon then I have to use Summon Greater Demon which restricts what I can summon by Challenge Rating. That’s a problem because even the weakened Nightmare had a Challenge Rating for 24 and I can only summon up to a Challenge Rating of 6. I’d have to summon like a filly version of Nightmare for that to work.” I comment out loud the main problems we’re running into right now.

“Is there no other spell outside of those that you could use?” Luna, of course, has no clue what spells I can cast, but she’s doing a great job letting me bounce ideas off of her.

“I don’t know….maybe? Let me try and remember all of the spells I can cast.”

Arcana Check

15 + 13 = 28.

“There’s one spell that might work. The only problem is that this one also specifies that I’m summoning a spirit. Which implies to me that if this one would work then any of the other Summon spells will work. Oh wait a minute, I think I have a better solution. I just need to confirm something.”

Hey Moonie, do you think you can possess something that I summon or can you only possess me?

It would depend on if the creature is fully connected to your mana. To the point that it even has your same mana signature. Also, don't ever call me that again.

Okay and last question, would you be okay with only being a pegasus? I don’t think I can give you an alicorn form or a unicorn form.

If it’s the only way then yes that is acceptable. I would even take the form of an earth pony if it meant a temporary reprieve from this prison.

Alright thumbs up let’s do this.

I throw on the Mizzium and gesture towards Luna. “You might wanna stand back, this spell is a high enough level that I can potentially fail and miscast something harmful. The chances are pretty slim, but why even risk injury?”

Once she’s around 30 or so feet away I cast Guidance on myself and start to channel the power of the magic item to cast Find Greater Steed.

Arcana Check (Mizzium DC: 18)

15 + 13 = 28 + 1 = 29.

Wow a 15 two times in a row? Nice. The spell is going to take 10 minutes to cast but passing the check is good enough for me. “Okay Lulu you can come back, the spell will take 10 minutes to cast but from this point on I can’t miscast the spell into something else.”

Once the 10 minutes are over I close my eyes and vividly picture what Nightmare looked like on my first day here, but without a horn as I choose to use the Pegasus form for the spell. It’s a resounding success. I can hear Luna’s breath catch in her throat and even though she supports this her eyes still shrink to a pinpoint as she stares at the form of her other half. “You can relax, right now it just looks like her. We’re gunna try the experiment now.”

You’ll need to avoid resisting my influence this time. I’m going to emulate possessing you but I’ll follow the flow of mana into this thing you’ve summoned. If it doesn’t work I’ll cancel my magic and return to how we are now.

That’s sketchy as fuck, but uhh alright. Fuck it we Bhaal. Send it.

Wisdom Saving Throw.

Save was failed willingly.

S̵̡̡͈̼̭̥͔̜̳̣̱͋̀͑̒̍̓͊͘͘͜y̵̧̛̮̜̎͐̓̔́͒̉͛̌͠ͅs̴̀́̓͑͌ͅt̴̜̘̳͍̿̄̽͐̓̆̂̔͆͘̕ê̴͈̲͚̘̹̝m̵̮̪͕͕̘͙̏̓́̒̚ ̶͉̹̲͈̜̜̬̋͆͘Ê̴̢̳͎̬͆͂̒̈́̋̕͘r̵͖̟͉̝͓̃̎͛̾̈̌ŗ̷̢̮͓̥̟̼̥̞̤̒́ó̵̘̗̩͖̰͚̳͍͑͜r̵̨̠̦̲̬̫̣̗̲͈̫̣͛͑ͅ ̵̧̛̰̬̖͈͒̾̽̏̂̊̇̄̓͠͠S̸͖̙̙̮̲̣͓̮̀͗͠y̷̳̟͎͚͊̽̃̀̊͆ŝ̸̢̢͕͇̰͕̭̻͚̹̠̄̎͜t̵̳̫̽͐̎͊̂̐͋́͆̿̒̾͝ę̵̠̝̻̀̃͜m̴̡̲̥̣̥̥̍̑͆͜͠͝ ̷̡͈̪̦̝̹̗̬̺̗̀̂̓̈́͂̓̋̔̍̌͂̚E̵̜̺̲͍̣̝̤̠̺͇͍͒͂̓̽̔̆̀̀͊̍̾̕͘ṙ̸͉̤̫̼̯͇͈͙̰͙̱̥̓́͑̂̒͘̚̚͝ͅr̶̬̼̜̺̬̪̗͍̍͜ͅö̴̱̦̲̝̜̝͖̜͕̅̾̉̾͂̑̐͜͜͜r̵̖̟͔̖̥̬̯͙͚̍̍̐̈́̓͊̋͆̋̑̿̀ ̸͓͚̃̋̈́̈́̈́̕S̷̜͔̳̥͍̪̖̦̣͎̩̺̑̾̎̚͜y̷͍̳̫̟͇̤̲̠̖̜̰̓̓́̐̓̐͐̀̓͘͠s̸͇͇̜͉͂̋̎̑͠t̸̨͇̺̙͔̓͋̅̾̽͌͘e̴̡̡̡̛̟̦̘̗͎͍̘̮̓̅̌͋̾̈́͠ͅm̴̡̡̗̫͚͍̜͕͎̞̞̳̦̊̑̊͑̉̿̚ ̴̡̰̦͓͕̫͖͍̤͇͚̲͍̊̏͑̈̉̋̒̅̍͘̕͝Ē̶̡̼͚͇̟̫͍̖͖̖̌̆ŗ̸̡̙̠̮͗̆͒̅̽́͐͗͛̿r̶̡͖̩̳͈̹͙͓̭̪̞̞̿̆ó̷͇̮̟̰̈́̎̋͠͝r̷̳̰̹̤̥͉̳̉̆̉.̴͈̜̼̣͓̄́̒͑̑̓̃̌̚͘͝͝ ̸̡̳̘̺̣͑́̎̀͌̐̉͜Ḧ̵̢̫̬̙̞͔̫͔̖̩́̂̀͛̂͋͘͝ǒ̷̗͆̄͊̆͌̏͒̀͗͛̓͛s̴̨̗̥̱͉̣͖̲̫̩̈́͛̽̎͑̋͆͜͝͠t̸̬̂̔͜ ̶̪͈̤͎̰͍̒̈́́c̴̢̛͇̞̗͚͉͛̈́͗͊ͅö̵̢̡̨̧̧̰͚̲̺̤̟̳́̌m̵̡͚̗͇͙̈́͌̆̂͐̈́͘͝p̷̨̨͍͈̠̦̼̱͓̿͛̆́̀̚r̶̢̪͇͉͔̬͔̙̖̝̓̓ơ̸̢̳̭̦͎̖͕̯̱̜̋̔͋̀̔̅̍̋̚ͅm̶̨̢̡̥͙͆͌͆͊̓i̸͍͖͕̪̣͛̂̎̈́̔̽̀ś̸͓͚̺͕̮̼̫̭͉̄ͅḛ̷̛̤̺̲̣͔̄͌̑͜d̷͔͓͖͔̠͙̺̖̱͖͍̻͆̊͒̏̿̓̐̒̐͝͝͝.̵̳̤͍̪̔̋̈́̑̓̄̄͛͊͑̀̃ͅ

System Restored.

“It seems it was successful. You have my gratitude, Bladesinger.” Shaking my head from the absolutely strange and uncomfortable feeling I was just assaulted by, I look at the summon and smile as I watch her speak.

“Excellent. By the way Luna I do have some…news to share. This spell isn’t temporary, in fact she’s essentially my 2nd familiar in this state. I’ll be honest I kinda forgot about that when I casted the spell.” There’s several long seconds of silence as both of them stare at me. “That’s not a problem, right? Ole Celly won’t blow a gasket, right?”

“Right?”

Author's Note

Right? It's fine, right?

I'm not gunna lie I wanted to establish more screentime between Ignis and Force to bring them up to the same level as Ignis and Luna post-thestral colony, but I also really just want to get to the Gala so it's off screened and you'll just have to take my word for it.

Also I'll be honest RAW there really isn't an actual way to summon NMM, I think the way we did it here is probably the closest thing we can get with the least amount of fuckery as possible. I considered just having her possess Callisid and then polymorph Cal to a Unicorn and cast Seeming on the unicorn to look like NMM, but unicorns are CR 5 and Cal doesn't really have a CR so that probably wouldn't work. Either way I think this is fine.... right?

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Best Night Ever pt. 1

“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!

Main Quest - Best Night Ever pt. 2

“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!

Side Quest - How Does That Make You Feel? pt. 1

I was wondering how long it’d take for me to come back here. Honestly I meant to come back way earlier but I guess it’s okay now since she brought me here on her own. “Child of Zarra.” I make eye contact with the ancient elf inside the Moonblade and she motions for me to approach her. Once I do she continues, “You nearly shattered my soul, child. What possessed you to channel that much magic into my blade?”

“Rage. Desperation. Instinct. I guess you could say it was a combination of those three. Moonblade, before we continue can you tell me your name? You’ve neglected to do it in any of our prior meetings.” Glancing around I’m amazed to see how full of life this place looks right now compared to how it looked when Luna and I visited a week or so ago.

“Is that all you have to say?” She ignores my question and I realize instantly I’m being an asshole. I think I can play this off though.

“Well I was hoping to get your name first so it could be properly done, but if you insist. I am sorry, if I had known that was going to happen I would not have done it. It’s too late for that now, though, but I hope you can at least sympathize with the emotions I was dealing with in that moment.” Her glare finally softens, but it’s still not a smile.

“Galadra. It’s only because your motivation was pure and just that I’m even having this conversation with you. If I was your father I’d be scolding you for failing to control your emotions and allowing your full Summer Eladrin traits to come ablaze. Luckily for you The Dark Maiden has no such teachings. I truly must ask you to never do whatever it is you did that nearly shattered me, ever again. I’m not sure I can survive it a second time.”

“Trust me I didn’t plan on it. Galadra, huh? No family name? You mentioned you’ve been around since before the first sundering, but surely there’s more to your story, no? How did you end up in this blade?”

“I had a family name, once. Before I could even give myself a proper name I was banished from my House. I’m sure you’ve guessed it by now based on my golden hair and pale complexion, but I was a Sun Elf. Ironic isn’t it? I was taken in by a wandering group of dark elves and ended up finding my new home in Miyeritar, and chose to omit a family name at my coming of age naming ceremony. From there I lived in a temple dedicated to Her Grace and became a devout cleric. In your modern terms I ended up becoming something similar to a Chosen. I lived for several thousand years since that power seemed to make me ageless, but ended up suffering a mortal wound at the start of the Crown Wars. In my final words I asked Her Grace if there was any way I could continue serving her and she granted me this.”

When she finishes her final statement she holds out her hands and gestures to this entire realm. “So you became this Moonblade and were wielded by the mightiest clerics in your Order to continue on your fight after your death? That’s…quite noble. All of that as a sun elf, that really is ironic. There were only 6 wielders of you before myself, though and the Crown Wars were long long ago. How is it that there were only 6 wielders in 14,000 years?”

“Well, as you know from your teachings in your own temple, we were not victorious.” Galadra’s face looks quite pained. “The Dark Disaster struck and eventually Miyeritar fell, with most of its citizens becoming aberrations known as Sharns. I was buried in the ruins and forgotten for eons, but one day the city was reconstructed and became known as Rhymanthiin. That’s when I was reclaimed by the Order and put back into loyal service.”

Suddenly she pulls me into a hug and quietly says, “Now I’m once again the blade for Her Chosen. Child of Zarra, I know you are still young and you are burdened with hardship, but please for Her sake…you must cool your head, clear your mind of that which plagues you, and temper your recklessness. As far as I can tell you will most likely be the final person to wield me, so make it count.”

The first thing I see upon waking up is a pair of cyan eyes staring into my own. “Oh good, I was just about to wake you. Night Court is in 45 minutes, so if you want to bathe and grab whatever food they have left in the dining hall you have some time.”

“Is the other one still behind me?” I whisper to Luna and try to glance behind myself without moving my head, which is impossible.

“The other one is about to smack you.” I hear a very deadpan Nightmare behind me.

“Luna, I think she can hear us. What do we do? I can go gather the elements.” Luna just rolls her eyes at me and gently pushes me away with a forehoof so she can roll over and get out of bed.

“I’m glad to see you appear to have slept well. I was worried when I saw you were asleep that you’d be plagued with those unpleasant images again. Also, don’t worry about today's report to Tia on Nightmares activities. Cadence’s knight gave her a summary at dinner, but Tia wanted me to give you a warning to not miss any further reports.”

After a quick shower and some snacks, Nightmare, Luna, and I are in the throne room for Night Court. Nightmare lounges on the petitioner side of the room and I take up my normal position at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the throne. “I hear you’re going to be seeing a therapist in the morning, did you want me to accompany you?” There’s no petitioners as usual so Luna decides to ask me about the therapy. Who snitched?

“Is that allowed? I thought you had to do that kind of stuff alone, unless it’s couples therapy.” She seems mildly confused at the mention of couples therapy, guessing they either don’t have that or she hasn’t been introduced to the concept yet. “Nevermind that, the answer is no. I appreciate the support, but if I’m being entirely honest I doubt I’ll be confident enough to talk about all of my issues if you’re in the room.”

The confusion turns into a look of slight annoyance. “Do you not trust me enough to know of the problems that ail you?”

“It’s not that…I just don’t want your image of me to change. If that makes sense? I’d be too worried about appearing weak or causing you to think less of me and then you take away some of my responsibilities.”

“Exactly so you don’t trust me to be above such trivial things? Why would I-”

“Luna.” Nightmare actually interrupts her. “Why didn’t we talk to Celestia and tell her of our pains and woes?”

“.....That’s not the same.” Luna pauses for another few seconds. “No, you’re right. Nopony wants to burden the ones closest to them. I understand.”

I just look between the two of them absolutely befuddled. “I’m confused if the two of you fed off of each other's negative emotions then why are you able to balance each other out like this?”

“All I had known was negative emotions at that time. How could I have been a balancing force when I was a cloud of hate?” You know she’s making a lot of sense right now.

“That makes sense. Honestly you’re surprisingly chill since our first meeting on the moon. I didn’t expect you to mellow out so quickly.”

“I’m just happy enough to be free.”

The small talk continued for the rest of night court and afterwards Luna went on patrol in the dream realm while Nightmare gave me some more magic lessons. Eventually though it was morning. After eating breakfast with the alicorns Luna took Nightmare and Force escorted me to the medical wing and brought me into a small but cozy office featuring a lone unicorn stallion with a plain brown coat and black hair.

“Ignis this is Dr. Sentiment, doctor this is Knight I was speaking with you about last week.” Force gestures to the stallion and steps aside so I can enter the room.

The stallion rises and offers me a forehoof. “Ah yes, the Knight who appeared out of nowhere and has already been mentioned in the papers more than most nobles. Knight Force here was telling me you’ve had some traumatic flashes and night terrors, is that right?”

I fist bump his forehoof and then give Force a side eye. Why the fuck she talking about that? I hadn’t decided what I even wanted to share with this guy. “Yeah, something like that. How does this work?” He gestures towards the couch across from his desk so I lay down on it and hang my feet over the opposite armrest.

“Well this is completely voluntary, you’re only here because you want to be here. Some patients just come in here and have stress free conversations where I try to point out lessons from their daily interactions that they can apply to the issues in their file. Other patients just tell me what’s troubling them and I’m just here to listen. If they or you have any questions about if something is normal or how they’re supposed to handle something then I’ll talk through that. Whatever makes you most comfortable.” As he’s talking he pulls out a folder that has my name on it and the file is actually a bit thicker than I thought it’d be.

Force walks further in and closes the door before I give her a questioning look, raising an eyebrow. “What?” She asks me.

“You gotta go, Force. I even told Luna not to be here.” I remember how Luna worded it and use that same phrasing. “I don’t want to be a burden to any of you, but this guy gets paid to do it. So, let him do his job and skedaddle outta here.” I flutter my hands toward her as if I’m shooing her out of the room.

“Sorry, Knight if the patient doesn’t want you here then I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.” She frowns but leaves without a word.

The door closes and we sit in silence for at least 5 minutes before I speak up. “If you’re trying to use silence to make me uncomfortable so I just start talking to fill the void then I should probably just warn you to use a different tactic.”

“Good guess, but no. Like I said, you're the one that came to my office, so if you want to sit here in silence for 90 minutes then be my guest. You wouldn’t be the first, in fact I had one mare that sat through four 90 minute sessions before finally feeling comfortable enough to open up.” He does actually write something down while he’s talking though. What could he have notated?

A few more minutes pass but this time I’m actually thinking about what I even want to talk about. “I guess I should start with the most recent issue?”

“And what would that be?”

“I mean it’s what you mentioned when Force introduced us. I’ve been having nightmares about changelings and yesterday I ended up having something like the nightmare, but it was while I was still awake.”

“Okay and in your night terrors what exactly is happening?”

“I’m in a swamp of some kind and out the mud and murky water changelings will try grab me and pull me under. I fly up to escape and they just rise up as well, ascending higher and higher by forming a mountain of corpses. Eventually they get me and pull me down and I wake up.”

“And do you hear anything when this is happening?”

“No. They’re mouths are moving but the entire dream is dead silent. I’m sure they’re all…” I trail off before I can finish the thought.

“Hm? What was that? What are they all saying?”

“I think they’re cursing me. Some of them are trying to pull me under because I killed them directly and others because it’s my fault they died.”

He writes in silence for a few seconds. “Who are these changelings?”

“Some of them are the jet black changelings that belong to the rogue Queen Chrysalis. Those I slaughtered with reckless abandon. The others are the drones that served under Queen Aurora…they died because I couldn’t stop the rogue Queen and some of them I even watched them be executed and just watched.” My throat feels dry, and it’s hard to swallow.

“Ah so this is from the events that happened at the global summit. Why did you kill the rogue drones?”

“What do you mean why? They tried to paralyze me and keep me in a pod as an indefinite food source. They were killing and kidnapping my fellow guards. They…..” I pause as I realize the main reason, the one that actually kicked me into overdrive and made me not even think as I cut through them. He looks up and gives me an expectant look as if he’s silently telling me to continue. “They took Luna.”

He writes a few more lines down. “Do you feel guilty about what you did to those changelings? Regret?”

“No?” He tilts his head at me and I realize I answered him as if I was asking a question. “Yes? I don’t know! That’s not why we were there. I was prepared to have conflict with the dragons, but out of nowhere I’m slicing through these weak creatures and blowing them up with fireballs…They were just following orders, they’re a literal hive mind. At the same time though, I had to do it.”

“And why is that?”

“Because it was kill or be killed. I didn’t even have time to consider options or think of peaceful resolutions. Was I supposed to just fucking roll over and live in a pod? Let all the ponies I came with die?”

“You did what you had to do Ignis. It was what needed to be done. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“It doesn’t feel that way.” I feel a wet trail of water run down my face. The doctor notices it and probably notices my confused look. “What the fuck is happening right now? Where is all of this even coming from? I’ve deliberately made sure to just not even think about anything that happened in that colosseum…. Is that why they decided to haunt me in my dreams?”

He frowns as if I said something wrong and after making some more notes he replies. “More than likely, yes. You can’t repress things like that forever, Ignis. One way or another your body will force you to process it. Let’s come back to the rogue changelings later. For now can you explain why the death of the other changelings is your fault?”

I don’t wanna be here anymore. This is stupid. I go to stand up when I remember the scared look on Force’s face, and the concern from Luna. Finally I remember Galadra from the Moonblade. For Her sake, clear your mind of that which plagues you.

This is gunna be a long morning.

Author's Note

Woah unexpected Moonblade lore drop woahhhh

Also I can confirm I hated writing therapy just as much as I thought I would. Nope nope don't like doing that, feels cringey. But hey if the commenters say it's good then we'll continue it into next chapter if they admit defeat and say "you were right, this is bad" then I the rest of the session is getting off screened lmao.

Thanks for reading! <3

Side Quest - How Does That Make You Feel? pt. 2

Author Notes: Normally I'd just use the built in notes and change it to where the notes appear up here, but I have spoiler comments and remarks in those notes. This small set of notes is just a T/W: There's some super vague wording in the back half of the chapter that hint towards Suicide/Self-Harm. I don't want to add the tag to the story because the first and probably only instance of it is 205k words deep into the fic, so you're just gunna get this warning here.

“And with that we are just about out of time Mr. Ferrum. I recommend you return every morning for the rest of the week until we have a good baseline setup.” He looks up from his notes. “That is assuming you have more unresolved problems we need to look at?”

Well we didn’t really touch on Silver Lance but he also hasn’t shown up in any of the flashes or nightmares. Probably because I’ve been working through that one on my own. I guess really the only thing left to talk about is…Earth. “Not really. Those are the only ones that are actually affecting me in my daily activities.”

He taps his quill against the paper a few times while humming in thought. “Hm. So there are still unresolved issues but they haven’t reared their ugly head yet. Judging by the way our conversations went about the changelings and Queen Aurora I believe you have a tendency to pretend things aren’t as bad as they truly are. The way you talked about the changelings seemed like a minor trauma to begin with but after digging through it and prying more details out of you it showed some major issues. That combined with your tendency to repress and bottle up your problems tells me that there’s one or more issues that are bigger than what we talked about.”

The stallion rises up and I guess that’s the signal that I need to leave. As I’m standing he continues speaking. “Just try to remember the breathing exercises we talked about, and the strategies you can use to anchor yourself to reality if you start seeing images again. Come back at the same time tomorrow morning and be ready to talk about topics completely different than what we talked about today. Okay?”

I slowly nod and leave the office.

3rd Person POV

The doctor sits back down after the elf leaves and looks at two different sheets of paper he was using for notes. One contains the typical notes one would expect for a therapist detailing different triggers and behaviors. The other one is much different though.

Priority 0 Target Ignis Ferrum: Equestrian Bladesinger, Lunar Knight.

High mental fortitude. Recommend non-violent interrogation tactics.

Attempts to view the classified dossier on the target resulted in confusion. Original identity appears to have very recently viewed the file, recommended to interrogate original identity for key details from the file. Once enough time has passed I will request to view the file again.

Any visual references to the former Queen Aurora likely to cause momentary vulnerability.

Romantic inclinations toward Princess Luna, recommend any attempts to chip away at mental defenses be performed while disguised as her.

Any drones capable of high level transformation techniques to appear burned or slashed could prove useful.

Romantic inclinations toward Knight of Love, recommended priority 1 hostage assuming Princess Luna is too powerful for standard ponynapping procedures.

Spikes of anger and hate at the mention of Queen Chrysalis, avoid topic at all costs if approaching target while disguised.

True mental vulnerability and source of leverage for persuasion still undetermined. When mentioned that I suspected he had a much larger problem plaguing his mind the target became extremely anxious and withdrawn. Expect more details within 36 hours.

I’ve probed the target's mind twice but even when under emotional duress there was a thick barrier preventing any attempts to implant subliminal compulsions. Will attempt more intrusive probes in future sessions to allow for easier control from the Queen.

With a flash of his horn the text on the nefarious file is transformed to appear as an exact copy of the standard notes. Filing everything away the unicorn proceeds into the bathroom of his office and vomits a dense black ball of some type of resin or goo into the toilet before flushing the substance into the sewers. “Sometimes I wonder if the extra rations are worth the constant assault of negative emotions I have to endure. Regardless, apparently this target is Her Majesty’s number 0 priority so I’ll have to bring this information to the Tunnel Commander at once. This should net me a few extra rations and perhaps even a promotion.”

Ignis 1st Person POV

2 days later. Thursday night, 24 hours until the Gala.

Exhaustion Level: 1.

“Ignis, are the nightmares getting worse? You don’t look like you’ve gotten any rest.” Luna asks me while we’re sitting in the dining hall.

“No…I don’t know what’s wrong I just feel so drained every morning before I go to sleep. I think I need to limit my visits with Dr. Sentiment to once per week.” The next two sessions after the first one were much more stressful than the first one. It must’ve gotten really bad a few times because I had to make Wisdom saving throws twice. One of them I thought for sure I failed but I didn’t feel any different after.

“That was actually in his notes as well. He seems to think that allowing you a venue to finally vent your problems is likely the best he can do, and at this point it would be redundant to continue daily appointments. He actually recommended it once every other week. At those appointments he’ll likely just ask for any updates on things you’ve talked about previously, and then go over any significant events that happened between appointments that have been on your mind.” Celestia chimes in and makes me momentarily uncomfortable. I don’t really appreciate that she has been keeping tabs on my progress, but I suppose it makes sense.

“What have you two been talking about?” Force asks with no tact. Cadence gives her a quick thwap on the back of her head with a wing.

“I understand you want to support him, my knight, but with things like this it’s better to just let him talk about it when he’s ready.” Cadence scolds Force with a much gentler tone than Luna or Celly have ever used when scolding me.

“I mean the first day we just talked about the nightmares and the incident in the theater. Like Celestia said just finally venting about that did seem to alleviate the nightmares. Seeing any of Aurora's changelings walking around the castle still triggers “episodes” as he calls them. The last two sessions I spent the entire time finally unpacking everything I’ve bottled up about my homeland. Regrets, worries, who I miss…finally confronting my inner conflict on why I still want to go home versus why I want to stay here. This part is just a theory but I think he’s trying to make me slowly accept and come to terms with the possibility of not going home.”

I take a sip of orange juice and realize the awkward silence at the table. I guess it's because they all feel the same way as Doc, or else they’d be trying to reassure me right now. “If I could at least tell both my families that I’m fine and they don’t need to worry…I’d settle for that.” I suddenly stand up and turn towards Luna. “Do you need me for anything until Court?” She shakes her head no. “I’m gunna take a walk. I’ll meet you in the throne room.”

Leaving Nightmare with the rest of the royalty I make my way towards the gardens, but after looking around there’s a few more ponies out here than I thought there would be. Turning around towards the castle I cast Misty Step 3 times in quick succession and sit down on one of the higher roofs of the castle.

Pulling out a copper wire I pull it taut and just stare at the wire with the Canterlot skyline out of focus in the background. “I should try it one more time, right? I’m scared to try again.” A memory of my last session with the therapist flashes in my mind.

“If there’s a chance your message didn’t make it to your loved ones back home why haven’t you tried again?” Dr. Sentiment interrupts me to ask after mentioning Sending.

“Well it’s only a 5% chance. I’m sure it went through.”

“We both know you’re lying, Mr. Ferrum. If you never try again then you can always think to yourself “Oh, I failed to make it through the planes, but I can probably still reach home.” If you try again-” He tries to finish making his point, but everything finally starts to bubble up to the surface.

“If I try again and they still don’t respond…what the fuck am I supposed to do then? WHY WOULD I TRY AGAIN…when I’m better off being uncertain? If no one answers me next time” My voice finally cracks and the dam breaks. “I don’t know what I’ll do.”

I whisper out the incantation for Sending with a shaky breath as I continue to stare at the wire. “Hey mom, it’s Lucas. Just think your reply, I'll hear it. I can’t explain where I am but you don’t have to worry, I’m okay.” 25 words really isn’t enough. I have so much I want to say. Once the casting finishes I pull my knees to my chest and curl up into a ball. Please respond…

The seconds feel like hours and I can feel my fingers start to dig into the back of my neck as everything tenses up. That’s okay it’s entirely possible I hit the 5% two times in a row. Let me try my sister back in the Feywild. I cast it again. “Tala, it’s Ignis. This is Sending, I’m in a strange Realm but I’m okay. Respond if you can and tell father I’ll be back soon.”

Nothing. Cast it again.

Nothing.

Again.

Nothing.

Again. Again. Again.

Main Quest - Get home. In Progress.

I just stare at the quest prompt and start to laugh. “Isn’t this so funny?! It has no objective, no marker on a map! It just sits here and mocks me! JUST SAY THE QUEST IS COMPLETE SO I CAN GIVE UP! PLEASE!”

Cast Sending again.

Cast it again.

Error. There are no 3rd level or higher spell slots remaining for this spell.

How long have I been up here? What is that sound grating against my ears? Why does my throat hurt?

“Let it out, my Knight.” Suddenly from a burst of wind I’m surrounded by blue fur and feathers. Before I can even think my arms wrap around the source of the voice and I bury my face into the soft coat. As soon as I do, the terrible sound that confused me becomes muffled and I finally realize what’s happening. I’ve just been screaming on this roof.

Luna 1st Person POV

“I’m gunna take a walk. I’ll meet you in the throne room.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then.” I’m not even sure he heard me as I watch him walk out of the dining hall.

“I’ll go keep an eye on him.” Force states as she starts to stand but I hold out a hoof and stop her.

“No. I’ll go.” She opens her mouth to argue but I just channel my horn and teleport far into the sky above the castle. After a quick scan I spot him entering the garden and after looking around he does his own teleportation onto the roof of one of the higher towers. My breath is caught in my throat watching him standing on such a precarious spot high in the air, but I calm down once he sits down. With a flap of my wings I accelerate down a bit closer to the castle and lay down on a cloud above the elf.

Just remember Lulu, Dr. Sentiment said we need to let him work through this on his own.

I know, sister. I just want to make sure he’s safe.

He pulls something out of the pouch around his waist but I’m too far to make it out. I cast a lesser version of Scrying to make out what he’s holding and I remember it’s the same thing he used in the Everfree when he tried to contact his homeland. I can’t make out what he’s saying but after a few seconds he tenses and curls up.

I’m just about ready to reach out with telepathy and ask him if he’s okay when he lifts his head and speaks into the wire again. After more silence he speaks into the wire again but louder this time. Loud enough that I can tell he’s trying to send a message to his mother. He repeats the message over and over and over, until finally I see a smile on his face.

I spread my wings with excitement thinking he must’ve received a response, but quickly all of that excitement turns into a stone sinking into my stomach. The smile turns into a chuckle which leads into a manic laugh. The only other times I’ve heard a laugh like this was on the battlefield or at a funeral.

Eventually he starts to talk to himself and screams at what I assume is the strange power he’s explained to me. “Just say the quest is complete so I can give up! Please!” It’s the first sentence I’ve been able to hear clearly and the look on his face pains me.

He speaks into the wire two more times. I feel pressure starting to push me down and realize he’s stopped suppressing his mana. It’s more than that he’s subconsciously flaring the mana to the point that it’s visibly leaking out of him. Then he suddenly throws the wire off the castle and starts to pull at his own hair while screaming in despair.

To Tartarus with whatever the doctor said I can’t just watch this! Flying down as fast as I can and almost crashing into the roof, I land and wrap my wings around the elf. To my surprise he instantly wraps his arms around my barrel and squeezes tight as he buries his face into my fur. “Let it out, my Knight.”

The muffled screaming finally starts to fade away into silence. “It hurts, Luna.”

“I know. I’m so sorry, Ignis.” He starts to pull away, but I use my forelegs and pull him back in. “We don’t need to go anywhere. We can stay like this for as long as you need. Let it all out.”

Author's Note

Who had "Changeling therapist" on their bingo card, huh? Pretty devious of Chrysalis to implant an agent in a position where people basically tell the agent how to mentally exploit them. Also yeah sorry I ended up off-screening the rest of it. Partly because I didn't wanna write it, but also partly because now you guys don't know everything that happened in that room. Well you probably have somewhat of an idea based on 1 line in particular that I threw in there as an off-hand throwaway comment.

Probably have a few more seeds that'll get planted over the next few chapters for season 2, but for the most part it's time for the gala. Mane 6 shenanigans, first interaction with Blueblood, and maybe some things that the characters have mentioned waiting until the Gala to do certain things <.<

Also I got no comment on the 2nd half of the chapter. I've been delaying this freakout since the first Sending all the way back in chapter 7 or whatever. I delayed it for as long as I could, but it inevitably had to happen. I do somehow always end up being more dramatic than I originally intended but oh well.

Thanks for Reading!

Main Quest - Best Night Ever pt. 3

“Poor thing…you should go up there too, Force.” The pink alicorn staring up at the ceiling suggests to her knight.

Force looks a bit pensive as she considers flying up to the roof. “I don’t know, the two of them seem so much closer since they went to the thestral colony. I feel like I would just be intruding.”

“You should go, Knight. Your worries are unfounded, I assure you that your presence would be welcomed.” Nightmare surprisingly chooses to encourage the pegasus. “Looks like I’ll need to postpone the magic lesson I had prepared for him for after court.”

After another second of thought the knight speeds out of the dining hall and starts making her way towards the roof. “I’m surprised it took this long for the cracks to start showing. In the end he truly is just as emotional as a typical stallion.” Cadence makes a borderline offensive comment after Force has left the room, and Nightmare sends a glare her way. “What? Am I wrong?”

“Yes. Ever since the colosseum incident I have lived vicariously through his eyes and ears. Listened to his surface level thoughts when he forgets that he’s sharing a telepathic link. It’s a miracle the bladesinger is even sane, I doubt you would have been able to endure his path, Princess.”

Cadence tries to defend herself but Celestia is the first to speak up. “What in particular makes you believe that?”

“We can start with the most glaring issue, the one that’s caused…” Nightmare glances up towards the ceiling. “That incident. I’m sure you’ve already imagined how you would react if you were suddenly snatched from this realm and wound up in a strange land, the only pony around. Never being able to see or talk to any of your loved ones ever again, that alone would cripple anypony for weeks, perhaps months.”

Both alicorns nod, wondering where she’s going to go with this. “But, I doubt you've imagined that happening twice. He has the memories of two different lives, but as a human he was unaware of his life as an elf. If he didn’t remember his other life until he came here then he’s experiencing the loss of both lives at the same time.” Cadence's expression collapses into a frown while Celestia’s eyes open a bit wider in shock.

“As a knight he shouldn’t be nearly this affected by what he experienced at the colosseum, though. I can understand the guilt over Queen Aurora, but as a bladesinger and a knight, violence should not have impacted him as strongly as this has. I briefly saw his face when he cut down the changelings on the surface and he had none of the signs we typically see in traumatized ponies.” Celestia doubles down on her side of the argument, mainly due to how she treated him before and during the summit. She assumed she was dealing with an experienced killer this whole time.

“His first bladesong outside of a training enviornment was against myself in the old castle, Celestia. He merely fenced and sparred with the blade while studying his world's magic. Those changelings were the first sapient beings he's killed, hell that was essentially his first battle. It’s compounded by the fact that all the creatures in Equestria are so different from what he knows that he only registered that he'd murdered somepony when he saw one of Aurora's children wailing and asking for her mother. Not to mention that this entire time he’s been pulled in 3 different directions. He has to make the impossible choice of picking which life gets to return to normalcy between his two homelands. Add onto that Luna and the pink ones' Knight are not so subtly trying to anchor him to Equestria.”

Glancing at the ceiling one last time, Nightmare sighs and finishes her rant. “Well after tonight that particular burden might be lifted off of his shoulders. Surely he realizes that he’s stuck here indefinitely.” Suddenly one last realization hits her and she adds one last remake. “Oh and don’t forget his race is only considered adults at 100 years old and he’s 108. Compared to a mortals lifespan he’s essentially the same age as your precious student. Would you have expected her to slaughter a field of changelings, lead a rescue operation, watch the children of the Queen she failed to save be executed systemically, and walk away with no trauma?”

“I have to go…” Cadence stands up looking a bit pale as she walks out of the dining hall.

As the only two left, Nightmare shifts her gaze over to Celestia as the solar alicorn starts to voice her realization. “I’ve judged him too harshly. Should he even be serving as my sister's knight?”

“I assume that’s rhetorical as I know you don’t value my opinion, but yes he should. In spite of everything I just said he’s likely the strongest mortal in your army. Not to mention that this would be the worst timing to strip him of that title.”

“Strength is not important if it means he has to live the rest of his life here mentally scarred. Especially considering we’ll likely be entering conflict with the dragons in a few months, it’s only going to get harder for him. I agree that now is not a good time, but I still wish to talk to Luna about it.” Celestia stands up from the table and looks at Nightmares pegasus form. “I have much to think about and need to retire for the evening. I’m going to teleport you to Luna’s bedroom as that seems to be where they are now.”

“So the stallion she fancied shows up and Tia is completely unaware as she starts to devour a chocolate cake as if she was a beast that hadn’t eaten in months. Oh Harmony above I wish you could’ve seen her face then. Chocolate splattered all around her muzzle and she was so embarrassed that if it was your first time seeing her you’d have thought her coat is normally red instead of white! The stallion was of course mortified since he was a noble, and Tia was so embarrassed that she didn’t leave her room for at least a week.” Nightmare teleports into the room and gets to hear the back half of a story about Celestia from long long ago.

Force is on the verge of tears from how hard she’s laughing while laying down to the right of Ignis, resting her head in his lap. Luna can barely speak coherently enough to finish the story as she loafs on the mattress to his left. Ignis himself is just sitting on the bed upright, leaning his back against the headboard. Nightmare just stares at the elf with pity as he only lets out a brief chuckle in response to the story from Luna. His gaze is pointed down at the bed but his eyes look like he’s staring into the void.

“So I guess he hasn’t improved since you took him from the roof?” Nightmare asks Luna as her laughter dies down a bit.

“Nay. I tried to have him rest but he’s resisting. The most we can get out of him are one word replies. I don’t think his psyche is shattered, though. I believe he’s just emotionally drained and mentally exhausted. Once he eventually does rest he should be more responsive. I’m so lost Nightmare…were we too hasty in placing all these burdens on his shoulders? I always forget he’s barely an adult.” Nightmare is a bit surprised to hear that from Luna since the lunar alicorn wasn't there to here the rant she gave to Cadence and Celestia.

When Luna finishes her sentence the elf startles Luna and Force as he suddenly sits up straight and stares at Luna. “Are you going to fire me? I mentioned that this is exactly what I was afraid of when you asked to accompany me to therapy. I truste-”

“You are my Knight Eternal, Ignis. That will never change. I’m just regretful that you had to go to the Summit and go through all of that as your first experience. Who knows though, I might not even be here if we hadn’t brought you along.” Luna uses her forehoof to tilt the elf’s gaze so she can look into his eyes. “I just wish things didn’t turn out this way. I know you’re strong though, I know you’ll be okay.”

Ignis tilts his head and rubs his cheek against the foreleg that was holding his chin. “If you say so.”

As soon as he finishes that sentence rest finally claims him and he passes out.

Ignis 1st Person POV

I’m not sure what exactly I thought I would see when I woke up, but this is definitely a little different than what I imagined. There are 3 ponies using me as a pillow. Luna is in her typical position where her body is nestled under my left arm with a forehoof on my chest and her head resting on the muscle connecting my chest to my shoulder. Force is laying on her back with her forelegs tucked in, with my right arm stuck under her neck and the back of her head resting on my right pectoral. Nightmare is also on my right side but she seems to have fallen asleep in the standard loaf position with her chin resting on my stomach.

“Glad your eyes have a bit more life in them this morning.” Glancing to my left I look at Luna as she quietly makes her comment and her eyes flutter open. “You still look quite tired though.”

“How did I get here? The last thing I remember is you showing up after…” Everything comes crashing down again as I remember what happened.

“Your fellow knight showed up so I decided to teleport us back to my room. Do you think you’re still feeling up to attending the Gala tonight? We can always just go train, or maybe go hunting in the Everfree again?”

“As tempting as that sounds, I think we should still go.” Maybe I should just treat this Get Home quest like a toxic attention seeking crush, and just pretend it doesn’t exist. It continues to give me no solid evidence towards any outcome and dangles the carrot in front of me like said attention seeker. I was supposed to finally confess to Luna tonight, but I really didn’t want to do that unless I was sure I’m staying here. It was naive of me to think I’d have made up my mind by tonight, though. I need to think.

It was basically impossible to ever actually consider and think about my options because I knew if I started down that path it’d end up like last night. Now though, it should be more feasible. I use telekinesis to keep Force and Nightmare in place as I move my body out from under their heads, so that they hopefully stay asleep.

Stealth.

15 + 5 = 20.

It works and I’m able to pull an Indiana Jones and slide a real pillow under them. Once that’s finished I get out of bed while Luna gives me a worried look and starts to also get out of bed. “I need some time alone for a while. What time do you want to meet up for the Gala tonight?”

Her worried look shifts into concern so I decide to add on to my previous statement. “I’ll be okay this time, I swear. I just need to think about a few things.”

“Are you actually considering just giving up on your homeland?” My face must’ve shown how offended I felt, thinking she was judging me, because she immediately followed up with, “I’m just surprised is all. I’m not sure how any of us would feel if you were only staying here because of us…”

“It's not like that, you shouldn't feel guilty if I choose to stay here. It’s in my best interest to think of my mental health at this point. Sending is a very powerful spell that only has a miniscule chance of failing as long as the target exists. Statistically speaking it’s extremely unlikely that it failed for technical reasons for all…what was it 8 attempts? So, assuming the spell successfully casted that means it couldn’t find the target. I used it on multiple different people in both of my homelands, and got no response every time. Considering all of that, at this point I think it’s time for me to wake up to reality.”

Luna just stares at me with her brows furrowed for several seconds. “I’ll contact you when it’s time. We’ll meet up here. Don’t hesitate to use the Sending stone if you need me.”

Reaching into my pocket I flash the stone for her to see. “You got it.”

I start to wander the hallways aimlessly while I think. I mean logically speaking I basically just laid out all the reasons why I should just move on, but this isn’t entirely a logical decision. I’ve already known that since the first time I casted Sending in the Everfree, but even so…it’s just an impossible decision. It’s like asking me if I’d rather lose both my arms or both of my legs. Well not exactly like that, that’s actually an easy decision with telekinesis. Same principle though.

Let’s lay out all the comparisons for the different worlds, maybe that’ll show me something to sway me. I’ve been here for nearly 2 months and my life feels much more fulfilling than it ever did on Earth. I’m happier here than I was on Earth. Earth has my parents and my friends, and that’s the real doozy between the choices.

Assuming time moves the same between the worlds they’ve probably already mourned for me and moved on right? In the Feywild I was in a coma for the last 20 years, and for all I know that empty husk is still there. Even if it’s not they don’t have IV’s and feeding tubes in the Forgotten Realms so my health had likely deteriorated severely, I wouldn’t be surprised if father and Tala had already come to terms and accepted my death long ago.

Why are you only considering how they are doing without you? That’s fine and all but quit pretending to be a selfless saint. How will YOU feel effectively losing them forever?

We really need to talk about expectations of privacy. Can you not listen to my inner thoughts all the time?

That’s a bit difficult when you’re essentially talking in my ear. I can only hear what you’re letting me hear. Don’t get me wrong I could probe deeper and listen in, but I stopped doing that once we came to an agreement.

Well how the fuck do I stop broadcasting this shit to you?

It’s all based on intent, just think to yourself instead of just putting it out there all willy nilly.

Did you just say willy nilly? I feel like you’ve adopted a lot of my vocabulary.

It’s only natural, I spent weeks in your subconscious while I’ve only been around my fellow ponies for a few days. I do make an effort to speak formally when I’m speaking out loud though. Don’t forget I wasn’t my own creature until recently.

Okay but why haven’t you told me until now?

Because it was my main source of entertainment and I’d have been sitting in deafening silence without it.

That’s fair. Shit if you listened in that often you probably know more about me than anyone else on this planet.

You’re not entirely wrong. I think Luna actually has me beat by a slim margin. She can tell what you’re thinking sometimes and I know if I wasn’t able to hear it I’d have no clue what you were thinking.

Ha. Guess that makes sense, we do spend a lot of time around each other. Especially the last couple of weeks. Anyways, enough distractions I’m gunna tune you out now.

She does bring up a valid point though. All the late night discord talks with my bros, the weekly check ins with my mom…hell One Piece is still going, at one point the thought of being around for the ending of One Piece was one of the few things keeping me going. As stupid as that sounds. Can I really just throw all of that away and give up?

I pull up the quest interface and just stare at the quest still marked as “In Progress.” Why can’t you just make the decision for me? I guess from one point of view it has made the decision for me. The decision to keep pushing forward and find a way. It really does just feel hopeless at this point, though. Banishing myself sent me to an empty void space which is what it does if the target is from the plane of existence it was banished from. Just that alone basically confirms I’m stuck here, no?

Maybe this body is from here? I mentioned that the empty husk of Ignis might still exist in the Feywild and if that’s the case then this body is from this plane of existence. That pretty much leaves me with only Plane Shift and there’s no way I can get a metal rod attuned to either of my homelands.

Pausing my thoughts I look out the window of the hallway I’m in and notice how high up in the sky the sun is. It has to be afternoon at this point, how did time go by so fast?

Okay considering everything I just went over…I have to give up.

Just give up, I’m going to stay here.

I just have to give up, easy right?

Then why can’t I do it?

3rd Person POV

Canterlot Castle, Royal Dining Hall

“He’s really still going to attend? Better than me, I’m not attending and I don’t even have an excuse.” Cadence comments while everyone is eating their lunch.

“You really should reconsider, niece.” Celestia replies in an almost sing-song voice like she knows something no one else does.

“Why? I’ve been once and that was enough for the rest of my life. It’s an insufferable event.”

“I’m inclined to agree, Tia. I’m only attending because Ignis is. If he weren’t around I’d probably sit this one out as well, regardless of how much you insist it’ll help with my “public image.”” Luna throws out some support for Cadence’s decision.

“I would normally agree, but what you’re all failing to consider is that Twilight and her friends will be there. Those six might be the Elements of Harmony but I swear they’re all a borderline menace to society. That’s not even considering the fact that Nightmare Moon over there will also be in attendance. She might be an average sized adorable pegasus, but she’s still easily recognizable. The Gala this year will surely be an eventful one, so I ask you again to perhaps reconsider. It’d be a crime to make Shining attend all by himself, afterall.” The solar alicorn seems dead set on having Cadence attend this year.

“That does sound tempting,” Cadence pauses while she hums in consideration. “But I don’t even have a dress and it’s way too short notice to get one made now.”

“Oh please, I’m not even dressing up for the thing. You know how much I detest formal wear. If you really want to wear something just wear your dress from your recent knighting ceremony.”

“That would kill me socially, auntie. I cannot wear that same dress again so soon!”

At that comment Force can’t help but to roll her eyes. She’s barely listening while mostly thinking of the elf and remembering last night. Even she pays full attention when suddenly Nightmare herself gives an attempt to convince Cadence. “Princess of Love, I recommend you attend. Even if we ignore all the reasons the big one listed,” Nightmare sends a side eye and a smirk towards Celestia, getting her back for the adorable comment. “I promise you that you don’t want to miss something that’s probably going to happen tonight.”

“You better watch yourself, I’ve sent ponies to the dungeon for less, Nightmare. I give her a compliment and she calls me fat, ridiculous.” Celestia takes another bite of salad and continues. “Joking aside, could you be a bit more clear about that? When you say something like that it sounds ominous. No offense.”

Nightmare just gives her a deadpan stare. “None taken. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but I can be a bit more specific I suppose.” She looks directly at Cadence and points a hoof at her. “It’s something you specifically don’t want to miss.”

Celestia seems to understand as her expression shifts into a small smile, but Luna is still confused at what she means. Cadence on the other hand ever so subtly shifts her gaze to Luna then back to Nightmare before raising her eyebrows questioningly. Nightmare gives her a barely noticeable nod and Cadence squee’s. She dials back her excitement before speaking to not give anything away. “Fine, I guess I’ll go. You don’t have to go though Force, Shining can act as my date and my guard. With how much you seem to dislike fashion and formal events I doubt you want to go.”

“No, I was already attending. I have a little something planned for the night.” The pegasus continues to eat as her Princess stares at her silently asking her to expand on that thought.

“Interesting. Well this was a fun lunch. Force, you’re dismissed for the day, I’m going to go find Shining and let him know about my change of plans.” Cadence promptly stands up and exits the room.

Once she’s gone Luna looks at Force suspiciously. “What exactly do you have planned? As per our discussion right before your date we agreed I would be the lead mare, so if it’s related to him I feel like I should be included on this plan.”

“It’s nothing that grandiose. On our date Ignis lied and said he was planning to keep us at a forelegs length out of consideration for our feelings and how we would feel if he ended up returning to his home. He clearly is scared to do anything because he thinks he won’t be able to leave if he does. I called him out on it and tried to convince him that he shouldn’t live his life like that and I thought I got through to him, but after hearing that the two of you still weren’t in a trial herd or even courting I realized my advice didn’t stick. Originally I was planning to just straight up argue with him again.”

She lets out a sigh and continues. “Until last night happened. At this point I think he needs to realize that he isn’t going anywhere. I don’t want to keep waiting for him and I hate seeing him tear himself up like that over something that clearly isn’t possible. So I was just going to…give him a little extra push towards making that realization.”

“You are planning to give him an ultimatum? An ultimatum about the exact decision that mentally shattered him less than 24 hours ago? Force…excuse my language but that is bucking stupid. You absolutely cannot do that!” Luna starts to raise her voice a bit and Celestia and Force both widen their eyes in surprise.

“I agree with the Knight. An ultimatum might sound harsh, but I think deep down he knows he’s stuck here. It’s healthier for him to realize that sooner rather than later.” Nightmare chimes in with her insider knowledge, the eavesdropper.

“I know that! Where do you think he’s been for the last 6 hours?! He has been mentally preparing himself all day to accept that he will never see any of his loved ones or friends ever again. I refuse to pressure him into that decision and make him think that he will lose us if he doesn’t give up on his home.” Luna doesn’t raise her voice any further but her anger is still quite present.

“I agree with my sister. An ultimatum is not the correct choice here. I do think you’re moving in the right direction though. You can help him realize his situation and request a relationship without making it seem like something he has to do right now or lose you forever.” Celestia gives her opinion calmly while wiping the corner of her mouth with a tablecloth.

“I apologize for speaking candidly, but how in the world would I do that? Do I just go up to him and say, “Hey Ignis I was just wondering if you could just stay in Equestria and start a herd with me? No pressure though!”?” Force clearly growing impatient with the pushback she’s receiving.

“Basically, yes. You could probably word it a little less awkwardly, but that’s the gist of it. I think you should just continue as things are and let him come to the decision on his own, but I understand if the constant uncertainty of your relationship with him is wearing down your patience. I think the three of you should come up with something together. If you all put your minds together I’m sure you can come up with a good plan.” Celly stands up and starts to also exit the dining hall.

“Pretty sure if we put our minds together it’ll just be 3 brain cells fighting for 4th place. Also, why are you including me in this? I have no romantic interest in the bladesinger.” Nightmare gets slightly defensive while Luna and Force look at her confused because of the saying she picked up from the elf.

Celestia doesn’t respond and just leaves the room. Luna looks at the other two and gives a suggestion. “I say we take a break and reconvene in an hour in the sitting room down the hall from my bed chambers.”

Force nods and leaves but now it’s Nightmares turn to look confused. “How exactly am I supposed to take a break if I have to be escorted by you until the bladesinger retrieves me?”

“You’ve been well behaved all week and I don’t see the harm in at least letting you roam the castle. I do ask that you go find Ignis and check in on him though. I need to go find Cadence.” With that Luna leaves Nightmare alone in the dining hall as she just slowly blinks with a surprised look on her face.

“Tonight is going to be a shit show isn’t it?” Moonie quietly mutters aloud to herself.

Author's Note

Luna is best pony. Her approach to the situation they argued about at the end is by far the least toxic approach, but it also kinda is too passive for this situation. Hopefully they find a happy medium.

Their planning and the 2nd half of Ignis' inner conflict is going to be off-screened though. Next chapter we're going straight into the Gala. Probably only 3 or 4 chapters left now for season 1.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Best Night Ever pt. 4

“You know what, on second thought you’re right let’s just go spar.” It’s already time for us to make our way down to the ballroom and I’m still just as uncertain now as I was when I left this morning. Also a bit more nervous than I thought I’d be, wonder if it’s because of how many ponies will be there?

“Oh we are well past that point, Ignis. It was a massive pain in the flank to get this dress on and we’re going now come hell or high water. Now, go on and make your armor transform into the suit we looked at in Ponyville.” Luna gives the order while floating a crescent moon up to the base of her ear. The moon sticks to the right side of her head while her starry mane has been brushed to the left side.

Tapping the center of my chest twice for dramatic effect I watch as the illusion on the armor ripples and transforms into the suit Rarity designed for me. Glancing over at Nightmare who just looks annoyed and uncomfortable as she fidgets and adjusts the basic purple dress we got for her earlier this week. The purple matches her mane and contrasts with the dark coat nicely. “I’d say the “pain in the flank” was worth it, both of you look good. The ornament at the base of your ear is a nice touch, you didn’t have that in Ponyville right?”

Nightmare seems a bit surprised at the compliment before turning her nose up at me. “It’s not like I did this for you. I just didn’t want to be the only one under dressed!” I should compliment her more often. Her responses are always amusing.

“I’m glad you like it, I thought it was a cute addition to the ensemble.” Luna gracefully accepts the compliment, completely ignoring Nightmare's shenanigans. After that she finally turns away from the mirror and looks me up and down. “Not too bad yourself. Do you want an illusion to touch up the bags under your eyes? You look fine either way but I figured I’d offer.”

Is it that noticeable? I walk over to where Luna is and borrow the mirror. Oh yeah that’s pretty bad. “Yeah I’d appreciate it.”

Her horn lights up and as the dark circles under my eyes clear up I can’t help but to stare at the bright red dragon like eyes that Nightmare gave me a while back. Honestly they’ve kinda grown on me. “There you go, that should last for an entire day.”

“I am once again bestowed a blessing from my merciful Goddess. How can I ever thank her enough?” I give the most over exaggerated and playful thanks I can muster despite my low energy.

She gives me the response I was hoping for when she rolls her eyes and starts walking towards the door. “Oh shut up, you. C’mon let’s not make Force continue to wait for us.”

We walk out of the room and I voice my confusion. “Why is she waiting for us? I figured she’d either avoid the whole thing or get brought against her will with Cadence. If she’s going in with us she should’ve just come down here.”

“Cadence’s wing of the castle is much closer to the ballroom, and as is customary Force sleeps 1 room down from her. So it’s more efficient for her to wait near the entrance for us. Cadence is being accompanied by Shining Armor tonight and that freed up Force to be part of our group. You should be happy, Ignis. You get to be escorted into the ballroom by 3 powerful mares.”

“Is that how this works? Pretty sure I’m escorting you.”

“Not tonight! You are not here as my knight, you are here as my plus one. I should warn you though, there’s a chance Tia tries to make us stand at the entryway and greet the ponies as they arrive. Cadence said she does it every year, and made her do it the one year she attended.”

“I mean that doesn’t sound so bad?”

“Yes, greeting nobles and dealing with their nonsense for 3-4 hours. What’s so bad about that?” Nightmare decides to join in on the conversation.

“Exactly. That is not how I intend to spend my time tonight. Odds are one of the nobles will insult you or make some demeaning comment and I’ll end up going back to the moon for a few years.” The chuckle Luna gives at the end of that sentence actually surprises me. She can already make an earnest joke about her banishment? That’s pretty badass.

“I would rather you didn’t. It’s just words Luna, compared to everything else I’m going through… words don’t really phase me at the moment. Woah is Force wearing a black dress?” We’re just about at the Gala when I spot Force making her way towards us. She’s got a simple black dress that honestly goes really well with her bright red mane. Plus with her fur being white, a black dress must’ve been a no brainer.

“There you are! If you all had taken any longer I was gunna go grab you myself.” Force calls out to us as she closes the distance.

“We aren’t even late though? There’s barely anypony here.” Nightmare responds and after a quick glance around the room I realize just how dead it is. Are we really that early?

“Yeah you’re not late for the Gala, but we agreed to meet here over 30 minutes ago! It’s alright though I got to talk to Spitfire while I was waiting on you all. Can’t believe she remembered me from when I tried out a few years ago.” The pegasus points a forehoof over her shoulder at some other pony wearing a skin tight blue flight suit. Her mane is a bit over the top but it suits her I think. Wonder what she’d think of my hair when it’s not silver?

“Who exactly is that? Her attire doesn’t really seem like it fits under the “formal” category.” I voice my curiosity, but I feel like I should know who she is. I can’t really recall the information if I do know it though.

“Captain Spitfire! She’s the captain of the Wonderbolts.”

“Oh right, that's the team you tried to join and ended up getting a recommendation to be an officer instead. Specialization in maneuvers, right?”

“Aw, you remember that story? Yeah that’s exactly right. They do aerial shows for the public with all kinds of different stunts and tricks that show off their skills. They are technically part of the guard though, so it acts as advertising for us as well.” Now that I’m actually looking I see there’s a few of them in that same flight suit. Interesting parallel to the Blue Angels, but I won’t comment on that out loud.

“That’s pretty smart. Are we really that early? If so, should we go somewhere else for a while and come back?” I don’t really wanna drain my social battery and be ready to leave when everyone else shows up.

“There isn’t really anywhere to go. Most places close up early for tonight, but the bar is open if you wanna get a headstart on that.” We both chuckle knowing what happened last time we had alcohol. “No but seriously, in around 30 minutes or so it’s going to very quickly get crowded in here.”

“Yeah I think I’ll have to say no to the bar. Ask me again in an hour.” I turn to Luna and Nightmare. “Should we go talk to Celestia and see if she wants you to greet ponies with her, or did you want to just slip past her and meet up with her later?”

“As much as I want to avoid that particular conversation it would be a bit rude of me to just sneak in around her. If I do end up greeting ponies I’m just going to go ahead and give you an out. You’re free to go inside with Nightmare and Force and we can just meet up later.” Well that’s kind of Luna, but I don’t really plan on just leaving her out here.

I wave my hand in the air dismissively. “Nonsense. I have no intention of leaving you. I think you will probably end up being asked to stay out here though. This is the first time all three of you have been in an event like this. Force’s knighting ceremony was the only other time but that was a much smaller event.”

It’s almost like she can hear us talking about her because as I finish speaking I notice Celestia on the stairs leading up to the ballroom, and she smiles at us and waves us over. Walking over to her makes us go from the edge of the lobby into the center where we’re actually noticed. Listening closely as we go up the stairs I can make out some of the murmurs. Most of them are making comments about Luna, some are talking about Force, and I hear just one feminine voice go, “That’s him right? The one that fought the rogue queen and rescued you from the hive? Is he really that strong?”

It’s only when I hear that I come to a full stop, causing Nightmare to almost walk into me. She makes some annoyed comment asking why I stopped, but I tune her out as I turn and locate the voice.

Perception.

11 + 6 = 17.

Luckily the lobby isn’t very crowded yet so I’m able to spot two ponies that are looking right at me while whispering to each other. One of them is that Spitfire girl we were just talking about and the other one is an undisguised changeling. I recognize that one, it’s the one that was almost executed but I stopped it at the last second.

Just like that I’m back in the hive again. I can feel my heartbeat rise as I stare at Chrysalis and the corpse on display next to her. Quickly I pinch my forearm and start to remind myself I’m at the Gala. Remember the breathing technique, in through the nose, hold, out through the mouth.

Just as quickly as I arrived in the hive, I escape and return to reality. I realize my hand is wrapped around the hilt of my Moonblade, but I haven’t drawn the blade thankfully. That one was less intense than most of the episodes, luckily.

I let go of my blade and relax my body before making eye contact with the wonderbolt. As soon as our eyes meet I realize Spitfire is tense and looking at me with trepidation. The changeling next to her says something and I think it’s an apology? Then she whispers something to Spitfire that I can’t hear this time and the wonderbolt relaxes before giving me a sympathetic look. Could the changeling tell I was having a flashback from just my emotions? That’s interesting.

“Bladesinger, are you okay? You need to get out of the way, you’re blocking the stairs.” Looking down I realize there are several ponies trying to make their way up the stairs. They actually have plenty of room to go around our group but I think they’re intimidated.

“Sorry, I heard someone talking about us.” I start walking up the stairs again but give the two across the room one last glance and offer a friendly wave while mouthing the word “Sorry.”

“I thought you said you weren’t phased by words?” Luna teases me as we reach the top of the stairs.

“Oh they were actually mostly saying good things about us, but I heard one of them mention something about me and the changeling hive. When I heard that I turned around on instinct just to see who it was. It was that wonderbolt chick, Spitfire, and the changeling I saved in the hive’s throne room. What’s up Celly?”

“Don’t call me that.” The alicorn gives me a deadpan look before turning towards her sister and they start to talk about whatever boring stuff they talk about.

In the meantime though I lean over towards Nightmare and whisper to her. “Interestingly enough I didn’t hear a single comment about you. Maybe you aren’t as recognizable as we initially thought, even with those dragon-like eyes.”

“I wouldn’t expect any of these ponies to recognize me anyways. I was never in Canterlot, remember? I sealed Celestia away while I was in the small village and then went straight to the old castle in the Everfree. Your concerns would be valid if the Gala was held in Ponyville, though.”

“Well I mean the element bearers are going to be here at some point. In fact that might already be here. I know Celly mentioned un-banishing you from the moon but I don’t remember if anyone told them you’d be attending as a pegasus.”

“Ahem.” Celestia clears her throat and I stop leaning towards Nightmare and look at her.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

“First of all, no I did not tell Twilight that she would be here. I meant to but was too busy to get around to it. Secondly I was trying to ask you if you’re going to be staying with Luna here to greet the guests?”

“How long is it?” I ask, and Luna looks a bit confused since I seemed so adamant about not leaving her alone to do this. The truth is that if I don’t like the answer neither of us are doing it and I’m dragging my Goddess into the ballroom.

“It should only take an hour at most. The Gala doesn’t officially start until I move on from here into the ballroom.”

I look at Force and Nightmare. “I assume you two aren’t staying here regardless of what I pick right?” They both give an affirmative response. I think about it for a few more seconds and come to a decision. “Nah fuck that. We’re spending this night together, all of us.”

“Well it’ll be a bit crowded if all of us are lingering around in this section of the staircase…” Celestia trails off as she considers her options.

“Nononono. I’m saying Luna isn’t doing this. I know for a fact she doesn’t want to and I think it’d be dumb for us to split up. Make Cadence do it, or hell, make Twilight do it. Better yet, you don’t have to do it at all! You’ll be in the ballroom all night, if any of these bozo’s wanna talk to you they can come find you.”

Luna and Nightmare look surprised while Force is looking at me like I just committed a war crime. Celestia looks like she’s going to get angry but her face slowly quickly shifts into a look of realization and then a soft smile. “I suppose even I need a friendship lesson every now and then. You’re right Ignis, this is an event you’re all supposed to enjoy together and it’d be foolish to split up for such a superficial reason.” She then turns her gaze to Luna. “I hope tonight is enjoyable for you, Lulu.”

I didn’t think I’d get this far. I really expected to get into an argument just now. I’m stammering as I think of a response to the unexpected twist in this conversation. “Yeah. That’s right. I’m right, I’m glad we uh… had this discussion.”

Force barely stifles a chuckle and Nightmare just mutters out. “Poetry, Ignis. Truly you have such a way with words.”

They all continue to tease me as we move on into the ballroom and out of the corner of my eye I just see Celestia shake her head with an amused look. Tonight’s already off to an interesting start.

Author's Note

I always think I'm not giving the characters enough dialogue for proper character development and then I get damn near 3k words into a chapter and realize all we did was sit in a room, walk down a hall, stand in another room, and walk up a small flight of stairs because of how much dialogue there is...

That's probably a good thing right?

Anyways I'm saying that as context for this next statement: At this rate it's to be more than 3 or 4 chapters left for season 1, so I kinda lied last chapter in the author notes... I might have to cut some mane 6 interaction I had planned cause I'm slowly realizing how much I have crammed into this one night. We'll see how I feel when I'm writing the next chapter, half the time I'll be 70% of the way thru a chapter and then realize I didn't like some phrasing in a conversation way earlier in the chapter so I scroll up and either change the dialogue or change the entire fucking scene lmao. I think THAT is the main reason I always cover less content per chapter than I intend too. Alot of unplanned content that just flows into the story via stream of consciousness.

Anyways, thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Best Night Ever pt. 5

“What’s gotten into you? That was completely unexpected!” Force asks me as we make our way into the VIP section of the room.

“I don’t know I was debating in my head what I wanted to do, and realized the entire situation was bullshit. If it had been you and Luna greeting and me and Nightmare just had to hang out aimlessly I’d have been pretty annoyed. Mainly because the only reason we’re all here is for each other. If this had been some event I was actually looking forward to and had some other purpose other than being with you all then it would’ve been a different story.” I probably was a bit too snappy though…

“Aw you girls hear that? The big strong knight wants to spend time with us.” The pegasus attempts to tease me.

“You act like that isn’t what I already do. Granted, one of you does get a bigger chunk of my time, but that’s why this is important! It’s rare we get to all be in the same place with no obligations or work.”

“Now that you mention it, that is pretty unfair. Princess I think we need to set up a schedule or something. We can trade every other week and come up with some way to decide who gets him on the weekends.” The absurd declaration gets a snort out of me as Luna and Force decide to commit to the bit and argue about the logistics of shared custody.

Nightmare seems amused, those 2 are arguing with big smiles, and I’m barely containing my laugh…this is a nice change of pace. Should I let this particular conversation continue, though? The entire premise of this conversation seems to assume I’m already dating one, if not both, of them. Between the therapy and the soul searching I’ve been able to come to at least one solid conclusion, if I’m committing to finding a way back home then I can’t start something with any of them.

I won’t be able to leave them if things go that far. It was foolish of me to overestimate myself…to think I could have my cake and eat it too. The funny thing is, I think they realized that before I did. There’s been this tension between us, but neither of them had tried to advance beyond that. Until the incident on the roof, anyways. Since then I’ve noticed both Luna and Force have talked in ways that imply we’re already dating. Hell this conversation they’re having right now implies I’m dating both of them.

“Helloo~, Equestria to Ignis!” Force is waving her foreleg in front of me and it makes me realize how zoned out I was.

“Sorry! Sorry. What is it?”

“We were asking you how we should decide who gets you on holidays. I proposed a battle to the death, but this supposed knight seems to think that’s too far.” Oh we’re still on this?

“Why wouldn’t we just spend holidays together?” The words leave my mouth before I can even process it. I didn’t plan to say that. I guess the heart can send out words faster than the brain?

“Well that’s just boring. I think we should compete in the Running of the Leaves in Ponyville next year. We already missed it for this year.” Force instantly dismisses the reasonable solution. I think they just want to compete.

I notice Nightmare staring at me with an uneasy expression while the other two continue with their nonsense. Once she notices that I’m looking back at her she speaks up. “That was a 100 mile stare if I’ve ever seen one. Are you okay or were you just thinking about something?”

Ah so that’s what it was. “Yeah I’m good. Just thinking about the same thing I’ve been thinking about for the last 2 days.”

“Why? We’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves, no?”

“That was the intention, yeah. I know they’re just joking around with an absurd hypothetical, but the implication that I’m already dating both of them,” I give a bit of a pause, trying to find the right words. “Well, I don’t know. That prospect was one of the main things that kept popping up when I thought about home.”

“I thought you decided you’d pursue something even if you knew you were going home? That’s what you told Force at least.” We both know that Nightmare already knows the answer to this, so I assume she’s trying to lead me somewhere or make a point.

“Yeah cause it pissed me off being called a coward. I realize now that she was right back then. If I fall in love I won’t be able to leave this place, Moonie. I acknowledge that now. Unless I could bring them with me, but I’d only do that if I had a reliable way of traveling between our realms. Otherwise I’d be putting them in the exact same situation I’m in now, and I can’t do that.”

Nightmare’s eyes shift to the right and I realize I don’t hear Luna and Force talking anymore. Glancing over at them it becomes obvious they stopped talking and listened to our conversation at some point. Luna’s expression is unreadable, but it’s obvious Force is angry. Considering this topic made her angry last time too, I’m not surprised.

“I’m getting a drink. Anypony else want one?” To my surprise, Force actually doesn’t scold me again. At least not yet anyways. She might do it once she gets some of that alcohol in her system. Luna says yes and I just give her a small nod.

“Let me come with you. I want to partake in one of these alcoholic beverages but I’ve no experience with the subject. Can you give me a quick rundown?” Nightmare walks over to Force and they make their way across the ballroom to the bar.

“Ignis.” Turning my attention away from them I look at Luna. “What if you’re wrong? What if you find out years, maybe centuries, from now that there is no way back, but it’s too late. Everypony else will have moved on and given up, choosing to just stay friends with you. If it takes too long Force might not even be alive by the time you find out. Do you think that’ll hurt more? I certainly think it would. You’d have to just live with the regret of being alone and being stuck here.”

My gaze turns down towards the floor as her words weigh down on me. After a few seconds of silence she seems to realize I don’t have an answer, so she continues to speak. “You already said it yourself, Ignis. The Banishment spell didn’t work, your Sending spell didn’t work, and you acknowledged that essentially means your realm either doesn’t exist or there’s no way to reach it from here. I just don’t want you to continue to live in misery for something that seems impossible.”

“I know. It’s not like I want to either. It’s jus-”

“GUARDS! Nightmare Moon has returned! Seize that mare this instant!” I turn towards the bar where the yelling came from and spot some white unicorn with bleached blond hair cowering behind… is that Rarity? Rarity also seems a bit fearful, but also angry? Oh he’s literally pushing her towards Nightmare as a sacrificial offering. Yeah that’d make me angry too. Wait, I should probably go over there.

I start walking over there while the buffoon continues to make a scene, and around halfway there I feel my blood pressure start rising. Three guards have actually shown up and are confused on who to take orders from. Force is telling them to stand down and the unicorn is screeching for the entire army. Why is this even a decision that has to be made? Force is a knight we’re basically only superseded by the Princesses or by the Captain of that particular guard.

Now I’m probably about 15ft away and Force spots me walking with a purpose. I think she recognizes the annoyed look on my face and this time I’m close enough to actually hear her. “This is your last chance guys. I would really advise you to stand down and walk away.”

After quickly glancing behind me I realize Luna didn’t come with me and she’s still over there by herself. Weird. When I look back towards the scene my eyes widen as I watch them start to actually attempt to bind Nightmare. One of them throws a rope around her barrel, pinning her wings, and the other two force her to the ground causing her front forelegs to buckle.

“Grovel.”

Casting Command at third level I target all 3 guards and within a second all 3 of them are prone on the ground, pressing their faces into the ground. Next I flick my wrist and undo the knot on the rope around Moonies barrel with telekinesis.

“What are you three doing?! A-and what are you?! Somepony get my Aunt, now!” The white unicorn somehow looks a shade paler despite having a white coat.

While I’m helping Nightmare stand I turn towards Rarity and the dipshit hiding behind her. “Rarity, who is that?”

“This paragon of a gentlecolt,” wow she sounds so done right now. “Is Prince Blueblood. Apparently he just got back from a 4 month stint in Saddle Arabia. By the way, Is that actually Nightmare Moon? I mentioned that she resembled Nightmare and when the pegasus said yes...well this happened.”

When I hear the word prince I look back down at the guards that are still groveling despite the spell having worn off well over 10 seconds ago. “You three can go. I was unaware Equestria had a prince so I can understand your confusion on which orders to follow.”

The three guards rise and start to quickly shuffle away when the supposed Prince shouts again, “Where are you going! Stop-”

Unsuppressing my mana I bring a finger to my lips. “Shhh. I’m talking to Rarity right now. You just stand there and wait.” He freezes with his eyes wide open and I switch eye contact to Rarity while resuppressing my mana again. “Sorry about that. Yeah this is Nightmare Moon. We’re giving her a probationary period to determine if she should be allowed a second chance at reformation. As you can see she’s the same size as you and doesn’t even have a horn. Also, Celestia and Luna are both aware. Celly just neglected to tell any of you.”

Finally I look over Nightmare for any scrapes or bruises from the manhandling. Nothing stands out but just to be safe I cast Cure Wounds at 1st level, and it heals 12 HP. “You hurt?”

“Tch, just my pride. Taken down by three privates, curse this weak body you’ve given me.”

“Good.” Finally returning my attention to Blueblood I address him. “I’m willing to look past this, move on, and tell you to leave us alone. What do you say…Prince.”

“Absolutely not you ruffian! Back away! Where are the guards? WHERE IS AUNTIE?!”

I raise my hand while trying to decide what I want to do, but when my arm is half way up I’m stopped by a golden aura. “Ignis. That’s far enough. Any further and I’ll have to do paperwork. Not to mention that at the moment the only attendants currently present are either guards or diplomats, and I’m not sure you could take on everypony in this room.”

Curious as to what she means I look around and notice that apparently when I raised my arm well over 20 ponies started to approach, ready to subdue me. Celestia continues to speak, noticing my surprise. “Thankfully the general public usually doesn’t arrive for another 10 or so minutes. If the nobles saw this I’m not sure what we’d have to do.”

The solar princess releases my arm from her telekinetic grasp and turns her focus to Blueblood. “And you, dear nephew. I thought we’d made it clear by now that you do not have the authority to give orders to any guards. It is that sole reason that you are technically and legally in the wrong right now.” She looks back to me, “I don’t think anypony here was planning to step in unless it looked like things were going to get physical. I’m afraid you can only assault the Prince verbally, Lunar Knight.”

“B-but auntie! This mare is one of the elements of harmony and she said that pegasus was Nightmare Moon! Shouldn’t it be common sense to have her arrested!” I click my tongue in annoyance again. I can’t truly hold him at fault here, if he was out of the country until recently there’s no way he’d have known about Nightmare. Especially when you consider that Sunbutt didn’t even inform the elements.

“As both of the knights explained to you, Blueblood. She is under a probationary reprieve from her banishment and has restricted access to all of Canterlot while escorted. Ignis, can you forgive him for the honest mistake? Surely you understand that it was a reasonable point of confusion?” Why has she been so…nice to me lately?

“Yeah. Also for the record I wasn’t going to hurt him, I was just going to publicly embarrass him.” Casting Command with the order Defecate is a classic for when someone pisses you off. “Although Rarity, if you were accompanying that guy you should probably just hang out with your friends instead. I doubt they’d throw you in between them and the first sign of danger. Oh, hey Twilight.”

“Oh, believe me I’m now well aware that this is not the prince charming I was hoping for. Twilight dear, would you mind if I sat with you and your mentor? I know you were excited to have some free time to talk to her.”

Twilight looks between Celestia, Rarity, and I for a moment before responding. “Of course I don’t mind, but it’s really up to the Princess. Do you mind if my friends sit with us, Princess. Also, hi Ignis.”

Before Celestia can answer Twilight I voice some of my confusion. “Sit? You’re not greeting the arrivals anymore Celly?”

“No, you were right. I don’t get the opportunity to spend time with my faithful student, so why should I waste the time I do have with such trivial matters? Miss Rarity, I have no objections to you joining us. In fact, I’ve been wanting to learn more about my students' new friends ever since I met you all that night in the Everfree.” The alicorn looks at the prince one last time, “Dear nephew, please overlook this incident and carry on with your night. You’ll have to forgive my sister's knight for his aggressiveness, you caught him on a particularly bad week.”

The prince apparently recognizes a graceful out when he sees one and pounces on the opportunity. “Ha-haha, yes of course auntie. I apologize as well Sir Knight for the misunderstanding. Thankyouauntiepleaseenjoytherestofyournight.”

“Yeah, I guess that was partly my bad… as well… ” I offered my half sincere apology but the prince was already gone, leaving nothing but a pony shaped cloud of dust like a cartoon character. “Well, that happened. Lemme help you carry the drinks back.”

I grab all four drinks with my own telekinesis and feel pretty proud of myself for being able to handle carrying delicate glass. I realize that Force hasn’t said a word to me since I went over to the bar, glancing down I can tell she’s still pretty angry. “Force, can you just be mad at me tomorrow instead? It’s too early to have your night ruined.”

“No. I’m mad at myself. I know you’re in an impossible situation and I still felt entitled to vent my frustration towards you. You’re not a coward, Ignis. If I was you…I don’t know what I’d do.” She replies with a pretty disheartened tone.

“No I mean I can get why you’d be frustrated it’s understandable. This is like the ultimate version of leading you on. If the roles were reversed I’d probably be thinking to myself “Can you just make-”” Force interrupts me.

“-Up your mind already? Yeah that’s exactly how I feel, and I feel terrible for thinking that.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. Like I said I’d be thinking the same thing if I was in your shoes. Plus, I wish I could hurry up and make a decision as well. Constantly thinking about it is probably gunna give me ulcers.”

“I’d be surprised if you didn’t already have some. They probably heal when you rest though. You and your strange power.” Luna joins the conversation as arrive back in our little comfy corner that she stayed in. “Are you sure you wanna down this drink so early, Ignis? I’d hate to have to carry you out of here before the party even starts.” She teases as she grabs one of the drinks out of my telekinesis with her own.

“Har har har. We both know I just rolled bad that night. I swear I’m not normally such a lightweight.” Just to prove the point I do an old trick I learned in college that lets you just vacuum down an entire drink in one go.

Constitution Saving Throw.

16 + 2 = 18.

If I had to guess the DC’s for being drunk probably start at 10 and increment up by 1, 2, or 5 for every consecutive drink. If it’s 5 then I’m screwed and I really am a lightweight. “See? Feel perfectly fine.”

“Ignis we were gunna make a toast…” Force informs me several seconds too late that I was not in fact supposed to chug that in one go.

“Shoulda told me earlier. What was the name of that one? It tasted pretty good for a drink that had alcohol in it. I’ll go get another one super fast and then we can do it.” I turn around and start to leave but pause and look back waiting on the name of the drink.

“Strawberry Swirl. Doesn’t he already seem more peppy? He’s gotta be the biggest lightweight I’ve ever seen.” I choose not to dignify that with a response and power walk back to the bar.

Hunching over due to how low to the ground this bar is, damn ponies and their short stature, I slap the countertop a couple of times to get the stallion's attention. “Hey bossman, can I get a Strawberry Swirl?”

“You got ID?”

“What? ID?”

“Yeah, they don’t give you some form of identification wherever you’re from? I gotta check your age.”

“Did you just miss that entire scene with the Prince and Princess Cadence's Knight?”

“No way! I wouldn’t have missed that for the world. Love seeing that uppity prince get what’s comin’ to him. That doesn’t change anything though, sir. I gotta have ID if you want a drink. Thems the rules.” He gives me a shrug and the expression on his face looks like it’s saying What can ya do? It’s a shame.

Didn’t they give me some badge or something the first night I came here? I think I used it to enter the castle maybe twice? I fumble around in all the different pockets I have before grabbing some metal thing in one of my inner breast pockets. Yep this is it. “Does this work? They gave it to me during my like 2nd or 3rd night in the city.”

“It’s a bit unorthodox but I guess in a roundabout way it works. The minimum age for the guard is higher than the minimum age to drink, so it’ll do. You said you wanted a Strawberry Swirl?”

“Yep yep.” He quickly gets to work putting a few different drinks into a shaker and vibrating the thing in his telekinesis while pouring two other drinks into a glass. Once he’s finished shaking the thing he dumps it into the glass as well and then to top it off he floats a strawberry into the glass and crushes it with his telekinesis. That turns the somewhat clear liquid bright red. He sticks a little spoon into the glass and spins it a few times before sliding it across the counter.

I guess Strawberry Swirl is a bit of an on-the-nose name. “Thanks boss.” I slide him 4 bits and start to walk away.

“Wait, sir! It’s an open bar!”

“Yeah that’s the tip.” I don’t even look back, I just give him a wave over my shoulder and continue walking. Judging by his response I don’t think tipping culture exists here, but that’s ok he seemed like a cool dude.

When I’m halfway across the room I get cut off by a tall white unicorn with pink hair. “Oh pardon me, I really should watch where I’m going. How’s your night going so far?”

Is she really trying to play this off like it was an accident? Lady, you clearly stopped me on purpose purely to start a conversation. Now that I’ve stopped and I’m not tunnel visioned on the mares waiting for me I realize the room has filled up really fast. I guess everyone else arrived while we were talking or something? “It’s alright. Had a couple of hiccups but nothing I can’t handle. Did you need something?”

“Just cutting straight to business? I don’t mind that, I guess. I just thought I’d introduce myself and extend an olive branch from the nobles of Canterlot. With your position you’ll likely be dealing with us more often than you’d prefer and I figured it would be beneficial for both of us if I help you make some connections with the upper crust. I’m Fleur de Lis, by the way.” She gives a little dip with her forelegs that seems similar to a curtsy.

“That doesn’t seem like the worst idea, but the timing is pretty bad. I’ve got a few mares waiting for me to come back so we can start drinking. It’d probably be easier if you just came to Night Court. We don’t really get any petitioners, and we usually just hang out so it’s a perfect time for an informal meeting.” I throw out the suggestion and start to slowly back away from the conversation.

Fleur does a little hair flip. “Psh, wouldn’t you rather come and meet my friends? We all work at the same modeling agency so they’re almost as attractive as me.”

“I’m sure you’re all lovely ponies, but no I need to get going. Sorry.”

She says something else but I’m over it and booking it back to my comfy corner. “Took you long enough. I thought we’d have to send out a search party for you.” Nightmare comments as I approach the group.

“Yeah sorry, had a bit of a back and forth with the bartender cause of my lack of an ID. Eventually got it worked out, and then some tall unicorn Flower de Lift or something tried to bring me over to where she and her friends were hanging out.”

“Fleur de Lis, Ignis. She’s a pretty well connected pony, it might have been beneficial to play along with whatever she was trying.” Force corrects me on the name.

“Did we never give you an identification?” Luna asks before I can even reply to Force.

“She might be well connected but you guys were waiting on me, so I politely declined her a few times and then skedaddled.” Shifting my gaze to Luna I continue. “You gave me this rectangle with your cutie mark and my name on the back, but I think this is more so to show I’m in the guard?”

“Ah you are correct. We’ll need to get that corrected next week.” Luna seemed surprised when I showed it to her. Did she think I threw it away or something?

“Hopefully you didn’t “skedaddle” in a rude way. Word on the street is that she can be petty and holds a mean grudge.” Welp, that’s not good.

“It’s probably finee~” I give Force my most confident smile and I can tell right away she knows I’m bullshitting.

She just sighs and lifts her glass. “Alright what are we making a toast to? We gotta get this out of the way before Ignis pisses off a 3rd important pony tonight.”

Nightmare looks at her glass for a few seconds before giving her suggestion. “A toast to decision making.”

“That’s a horrible toast, and it’s not even subtle. I didn’t realize you were also part of the camp that wants me to hurry up. Shit, if this is how everyone feels why don’t I just flip a coin? Almost every outcome I’ve been a part of since my arrival here was based on luck, so why not let this one boil down to luck as well? If it lands Sun then I continue pushing forward to find my path home. If it lands Moon I don’t even think about it anymore and just accept that this is where I’ll spend the rest of my life.” I reach down to pull out a bit.

“Stop. Ignis, we both know that’s a foolish idea. I know you want somepony, anypony, to make this decision for you. But we can’t, Harmony can’t, a stupid quest can’t, and not even Fate itself can. If YOU don’t make the decision it’ll be meaningless.” Luna stops me before I can pull the bit out, and just absolutely fucking soul reads me. How does she know?

The Gala is in full swing now and the band they hired is playing now. Ponies are starting to dance in the center of the room while we continue to argue.

“How am I supposed to decide if I want to gouge out my eyes or puncture my ears? How do I decide on this? It literally feels like I’m killing both of my families if I decide to stay here. They will be dead to me and it’s the result of my decision, to me that is no different than killing them.” I raise my voice slightly to compete with the ever growing noise of the gala.

“Ignis! Continuing to refuse making this decision will kill you! It is literally eating away at you. The same way….” Nightmare pauses for a moment and her face contorts into a pained expression. “The same way I ate away at Luna. Your health has been a rapid decline the last few days and you can’t seem to rest even if you meditate.”

Nightmare is showing a side to herself that I didn’t know she had, but Force holds up a hoof as if telling her to stop. Once Nightmare stops Force begins to speak, “Listen what we’re trying to say is-”

LINK: It's song time baby.

Luna
Nightmare
Force

If there's multiple colors in one line it means they're saying the entire line together.

Baby, it’s time to make up your mind.~ I think that tonight is when our stars align!~

What is happening, it’s like when I use my blade song but I didn’t do this? I think this is a heart song Celestia mentioned…

Honey, it’s time to leave the doubt behind.~

Luna and Force both start to move away from the comfy corner.

Take my hoof causeyou and I are gonnashine…

They took me! Force yanked me and spun me like a beyblade over to Luna.

I was cold in the dark, it was empty in my life.

From the outside it looked so bright, but nothing felt right… to me.

I can vividly picture her sitting on the moon staring out into space with the sun lighting up the side of the moon she’s on with no ozone between the two.

Like a sky with no sun, like a night that has no stars.

Everything she can see on the moon fades into nothing and it’s just a dark void. The image flashes and I’m trying to recover from the mental whiplash as Luna is standing on her hind legs with a foreleg around my waist and on my shoulder. Everytime she steps with one leg I get pulled along and make my best effort to keep up.

My heart was eclipsed by the dark, then something changed.~

I’m forced to lean back as she leans forward and drops us into a dip.

I saw a little ray of light come through.

I can see… myself completely battered and bleeding in the old castle in the Everfree. Happy Birthday, Luna.

The tiniest of sparks came into view.

There’s another flash and this dipped position she’s holding us in leaves me with nowhere to look except her eyes. The image goes from the Everfree to the Canterlot garden, it’s my knighting ceremony. I will bare my blade against this entire realm in her name…. I declare myself to exist purely as the sword and shield of Her Grace.

And then…

Everything that comes next is rapid flashes. It’s me yelling at the leaders at the Summit. Then I’m fighting the dragon that beat me. I can see myself through a translucent green goop sprinting into a room, and healing Queen Aurora. Next the green goop is cut open and it’s both myself and Luna in perfect sync fighting Chrysalis.

You made me hope again.

Scenes of us carrying each other through the Unexplored West and swapping in and out as we fight the Ursa. Finally, I can see the tall podiums where the Thestral council stood, and the door behind my point of view is blown open. If your ancestors were worth a damn then Luna wouldn’t have come back to an empty section of a castle, with no guards, with an entire country that doesn’t even know she existed!

When I can see again we’re no longer in the same dip, but I’m being twirled again. There’s a bit of an instrumental and then like a fever dream the ponies surrounding us start going, “Hooowooo.”

Luna suddenly ignites her horn and throws me into the air. Force swoops under me and while carrying my full weight starts to perform rolls and loops. Thankfully it’s a high ceiling…

I hear someone yelling “Wait! No, no no no NO! Don’t do this Harmony! I swe-” I can’t help but laugh as Nightmare is metaphorically dragged kicking and screaming into the heart song as well.

Suddenly I’m somehow floating through the air and the three ponies quickly fly up to me in quick succession.

I’ve been watching you,

Helping you,

Wishing that you’d see.~

Next thing I know we’re zooming out of the door to the gardens and flying through the air. We’re flying in a swirl pattern that resembles a Twizzler, with me still somehow floating in the center.

That the girl you’vebeen waiting so longfor could be me.~

Now, I’ve never been in love, but I think this it.

It might seem like a schoolgirl crush, but I have to admit…

There’s no more images flashing but the view of the Canterlot city below with all the light is captivating as we continue to fly. Though we are slowly descending now.

I wanna take a chance and make you see.

I think that you’re the one who’ll rescue me…This time,

I’m back on the moon but this time I’m looking at myself standing next to Luna. I’ll free you.
Quickly followed up by Nightmare and Luna yelling back, What?

You’re finally gonna seeyou should be mine.~

They go through the chorus again as we land in the gardens. There’s a small crowd doing backup vocals, and looking past the crowd I can see Celestia laying down in the grass looking at Luna with a soft smile. Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie are next to the princess talking about something and pointing at us.

Finally, the chorus ends and now Luna is the one leading me again.

I won’t need any dreams, it’s all there if you’re by my side~

We do a couple of steps and a spin, then she flicks her foreleg and sends me to Force. She slots right in and picks up where Luna left off. It’s a bit more difficult for her since she’s smaller than Luna and her head is leaning against my chest.

Every moment’s enough and you take me to paradise!~

Just like Luna, Force does a few steps while she sings her line and then sends me to Nightmare. Nightmare being the same size as Force is in the same predicament while leading the dance. Also, she looks pissed at Harmony.

When I needed a hero, you knew it and you were there.

And I’m scared but I’ll open my heart up, I’m ready to dare.~

Why am I singing?! What do you mean I'm ready to dare?! No I’m not! What?!

The three of them close the distance and have formed a small triangle around me, with me facing Force.

I know I’ve never felt like this before~

A quick twirl in place and now Nightmare has me.

I never really knew what love was for…

Once more I do a quick spin and land in Luna’s forelegs.

I dreamed, but never did believe.~

Luna pulls away from the small triangle with me in tow. At this point I’m a bit dizzy and overwhelmed.

But baby, it’s time to make up your mind.~

I think that tonight is when our stars align.

Suddenly like an advanced illusion all of the stars seemingly fall out of the sky and cover my outer jacket like it’s the sky. Most of them can’t fit so they just flitter around in the air around all four of us. Force pulls me away from Luna, and all three of them close in again, making a small triangle.

Honey, right now we leave the doubt behind.~

Force’s eyes start to light up, and so does her cutie mark. The next thing I know all four of us are moving up towards the star-less night sky.

Take my hoof cause you and I are gonna…

Force’s signature red cone forms around us and we start to rapidly accelerate straight up while their triangle formation closes all the way into a group hug with me in the center.. All of the stars start to rapidly rotate and flitter around the four of us, and they begin to glow much brighter.

Light the sky until it’s dawn and-

I can’t tell from my point of view but from the ground I bet we are lighting up the sky for all of Canterlot. The next thing I know the red light fades and all of the stars explode outwards like a firework. They zip away from us and back into their positions in the sky.

Baby, we are gonnashine.~

We slowly float back down to the ground still in our group hug, but our bodies are emanating a bright silver light that fades as we get closer to the ground. Once the magic fades fully the panic fully sets in. That song put words in my fucking mouth, and I am NOT ready to make this decision.

Before anyone can say anything I hear Fluttershy a few feet away from our group hug. “Oh I'm sorry but can you ponies go back inside? You're scaring away the animals.” The crowd is still applauding and talking excitedly about the finale of the song with the big red firework that went off. I finally manage to actually see Fluttershy and she looks like she is about to have her Chrysalis moment.

Honestly, being slightly afraid of her right now I pull myself out of the group hug and start ordering everyone back inside. For a moment of privacy, of course. Once the dust settles it’s just Luna, Force, Nightmare, Celestia, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and I in the garden.

I take a deep breath and look around at everyone. Rarity is gushing about how she’s never seen a heart song like that and something about romance. Celestia is talking to Luna and Force asking if this was the plan they came up with. Nightmare is talking with Twilight and her friends, except for Fluttershy who is still on the verge of mentally snapping, but she looks a bit calmer now. She slowly gets up and moves into a nearby bush while whispering about the song birds.

Everyone is caught up in conversation as I sit down in the center of it all. All the sounds turn into a high pitch ringing that slowly fades out until all I can hear is my heartbeat. I slowly and absentmindedly reach into my pouch and pull out a bit. After flipping it over a few times and inspecting the Sun and Moon I place the bit on my thumb and get ready to launch it into the air. I'm still gunna do it.

Technically this is a d2 right? “Roll for my future.”

I watch as the coin flips in the air as it rises higher and higher. What’s it gunna land on?

Who knows.

Author's Note

This is either really good or cringe as fuck, lmao. But, dude3 said I should write what I wanna write and it'll be good, so if it's cringe blame dude3 :P.

This isn't the season finale by the way. We still got a bit more to get through, but it is a helluva cliffhanger.

Definitely looking for feedback on the heartsong. If there's a better way for me to quickly show who is singing what line or make everything look a bit neater please let me know. This is not the last time we'll be doing something like this so any feedback to make it better just lmk, this is just what I came up with when I was editing and formatting the chapter.

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Best Night Ever pt. 6

Time seems to slow down as the coin rotates in the air, rising higher and higher. Surprisingly enough, seeing both sides of the coin causes both of my lives to flash before my eyes. It starts with my elf life, traveling, training, studying, and even a little bit of playing. Zarra’s final dance, the trip to Prismeer where I got to meet Tasha, but there’s one memory that sticks out a bit more than the rest. It’s over 86 years worth of memories so I was bound to be a bit foggy on some of them.

It’s when I was learning our family’s bladesong. “Do you know why the bladesong was entrusted to our House of Summer Dreams, Ignis?”

“Because we’re the strongest, and we have the Moonblade?” I guess I was still a bit naive at this point. The answer causes father and my current self to chuckle.

“No. Do you remember what I said about emotions and the bladesong?”

“The chords of the song will not be able to reach their full potential if the strings are not plucked as precisely as possible. The weight of emotions and the hesitation of thoughts will cause one’s symphony to sound like it’s missing its conductor. Our bodies are the instrument and training cannot be neglected lest we sound out of tune. Oh I think I understand…”

“Do you? Well go on, I’d much rather you reach this conclusion on your own.”

“From infancy we’re trained on how to suppress our emotions to allow for mastery over our Summer transformation. It has its uses and can be quite effective, but it brings great shame if the transformation is done unintentionally. Since we are already proficient in one of the three aspects of the bladesong it should come easier for us.”

“Well that is mostly the reason, but the real reason is that emotional suppression is much more difficult to learn once you’re no longer a child. The methods required usually involve trauma or are unhealthy for the user's mind. Those people can still use the bladesong as well, but the true key lies in the first sentence you gave me. Only those who can meet all three criteria will be able to reach its full potential. Unfortunately for you due to your silver hair we did not train you properly as an infant. Thankfully it’s not too late, as you are still very much a child, but you will likely still struggle more than those around you.”

Soul and body synchronization increased.

Why did that memory choose this moment in time to bring itself to the forefront? That explains why the suppression came so easily to me in the colosseum, I suppose. Those are good things to remember for the future, no matter what I choose that will be useful for understanding the True Bladesong. More importantly, isn’t the synchronization between me and Ignis a bad thing? The Ignis I spoke too deep in my subconscious indicated that it should be avoided.

The memories speed back up and continue to pass by in flashes until we arrive in the study. This is where I was when everything went dark… but the memory continues? This is new! Is it because of the synchronization?!

In the memory I black out and grow cold, and after that I rise up into the air and stare at my motionless body in confusion. “Sorry young one, but you have to take a long nap for now. I’ll bring you somewhere very interesting in the meantime. You’ll love it there, trust me.”

I don’t recognize the voice at all, but it sounds like a man. I try to reply and move so I can look at him, but nothing is responding to me the way I want. All of my surroundings seem to stretch and blur before a rush of colors take up my vision that finish with a blinding white light.

The next thing I see an orange and red sky above me, but I recognize this. This is a sunset on Earth. My body finally responds to me but everything is sluggish as I raise my hand up into the air. It’s such a tiny hand.

“Unfortunately this place is the only one that can support this process. I’ll make sure you’re safe and taken care of, but you’ll need to stay here for a while.” It’s the same man’s voice from the Feywild. I still can’t see him because he’s wearing a cloak and has his hood up, but his voice sounds older here. Also he’s holding a book that seems vaguely familiar to me, but I can’t figure out why.

The man suddenly puts his palm on my forehead, and the next thing I see makes my heart stop.

Initializing…

Downloading user’s essence and memories…..

Complete.

User: Ignis Ferrum.

Storing user’s essence for post-installation processes…

Complete.

System Installing….

0.0000000001/100% ETA: 63 years, 274 days, 19 hours, 41 minutes, and 9 seconds.

“Hm, that's a bit longer than I was anticipating. I’m sure it’ll speed up as he gets older and he redevelops his intelligence. The initial estimate was 25 years, and I’ll be surprised if it takes any longer than that.” The hand is pulled away from my forehead and I feel… empty? This is why I didn’t remember anything as a human…

“Alright child, your new family are good people. They’ve been trying for a few years now to have a child, but can’t due to medical complications. They’re going to take care of you, don’t give them too much trouble.”

The man disappears and I hear the sounds of an infant crying. Oh, that’s me. I hear the sound of a door opening and sure enough the voice I hear is moms. Her and dad argue about what to do with me, and eventually I see my moms face and she tells me my name is Lucas.

The next 17 years flash by and I’m sitting at my desk with a blank character sheet and on my computer screen is an empty Word document. “Ugh why did Matt say my new character needs to have an actual backstory this time? It’s already bad enough that we TPK’d but now I have to write a damn essay!”

Of course back then I was completely unaware of what was happening in my subconscious, but now that I’m reliving this moment I can see glimpses of my life as an elf. The conscious part of my brain assumes that this is something it just came up with and my fingers start to move across the keyboard.

“Silver haired high elf, bladesinger, I feel like his spells should have an underlying fire theme. Oh man I need a name, I hate naming things. Well if he’s a fire based wizard that has bladesinging as his subclass I’ll just name him fire sword. Ignis Gladius, oh that sounds wrong. I hate that. Uh, swords are made of steel right?” I look at the computer screen and underneath the translation it has synonyms and my eyes are just drawn to the 2nd option, Ferrum. That sounds right, yeah that’s the one. “Ignis Ferrum.”

The last 3 years following that event rapidly flash through my head and I’m holding my breath in anticipation for what I see at the end of this life. Unfortunately though, it ends exactly where my current memory ends. I walk into that alley and wake up here. That explains how Ignis came to Earth, but there’s still no hint as to how I got here from Earth.

Wait, I’m adopted?! What the fuck??

Time resumes and as the coin reaches its peak it loses its upward momentum. It stops and begins falling back down, but in an instant a crow zips past and grabs the shiny coin out of the air. Wait, was it a crow? It could’ve been a raven. Cal if you took that coin I’m canceling our familiar contract.

I apologize master, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve been in the throne room for most of the night since the other side of the castle is far too loud for me.

My brain is so overloaded from all the new information I learned that I can do nothing but stare into the air at where the coin once was. I numbly reach into my bit pouch and pull out another coin. I set it on my thumb and prepare to launch this one but get startled by a voice in my ear.
“I think you and I are overdue for a conversation. Are you okay with that?”

“Holy shit!” All the sounds around me had turned into ringing so for a lone voice to suddenly appear right next to my head, it gives me a good startle. I turn my head and find Princess Cadence laying in the grass next to where I’m sitting. Everyone that was still outside is also staring at me due to my loud outburst. “Sorry, you startled me.”

“Yeah you were pretty zoned out. So, can we talk, Ignis?”

“Sure… yeah that sounds fine. Are we going to do it infront of Luna, Celestia, and the elements? I’m not sure if I want this much of an audience.”

“Of course not. Here, follow me.” She leads me out of the ballroom and I wave to Luna and the other as I walk out. I follow her into a nearby sitting room.

“Is this about-” I start to ask what we’re going to talk about, but Cadence interrupts me.

“About your love problem? Yes. I hear that you’re afraid to love, is that true?”

“In a roundabout way, yeah, I guess I am. I don’t want to fall in love if I know it’s going to lead to heartbreak in the future. Right now I’m not sure if it’ll lead to heartbreak, and that all hinges on 1 fact, 1 decision.”

“It’s all about if you can get back to your homeland, yes?” I give her a nod and she continues. “Well, I could sit here and preach about how it’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all, but I feel like you’ve already decided this. So, walk me through the decision instead. What are all the considerations you have and what are all the factors pulling you one way or another?”

For the next 30-45 minutes I explain both Earth and the Feywild, what I’d be leaving behind, what I had to look forward to, the people I wouldn’t see again. After that I explain all of the spells I’ve done that are heavily pushing me towards the opinion that I’m stuck here. Once I’m done I exhale a huge sigh and melt into the couch I’m sitting on.

“So I guess my first question is, if you find a way back home can you not just bring others with you? If you can go there then you should be able to come back, so why not just bring everypony along?”

“Because it depends on the method. There’s only one… maybe two more spells that I think would even be worth trying, and one of them has a 33% chance to become uncastable for me for the rest of my life. If I brought someone with me and then lost access to the spell then they’d be in the exact situation I’m in now. That same spell will likely be unavailable to me for a few years as well. It’s a very powerful spell that some go their entire life without learning.”

“Okay, that’s understandable. You have plenty of time to figure this out, so why is it weighing down on you so heavily?”

“Well a while ago I decided I’d have a decision by the Gala. I wanted to decide because the uncertainty of it all has been slowly eating away at me. I can’t reciprocate anyone's feelings until I make this decision, and I feel so guilty to keep leading them on like this. It’s slightly worse now after talking with Luna and Force tonight.”

“Why’s that, did they say something to you?”

“Luna talked about a hypothetical situation where I decide to end things romantically with everyone and dedicate myself to finding a way home. In this hypothetical situation a long time passes and I finally come to the conclusion that there is no way home, but all of the girls have moved on and no longer feel that way about me. If I take too long, Force might not even be alive. She asked if that would hurt worse than the alternative, and she’s right. Then not only would I be stuck here, but I’d be alone.”

“That’s…not the approach I would’ve taken, but I think I understand. She’s lived through that hypothetical scenario, Ignis. When I had my talk with her while you were out on a date with my knight, we had a long talk about love. A few thousand years ago there was somepony she grew somewhat close with, but was scared to commit or take things further because she knew he’d be dead in a few decades. Why fall in love if you’ll be subject to that pain for who knows how many eons? In the end she chose to never have loved at all. During her time on the moon she realized that maybe she wouldn’t have ended up there if she chose to have loved and lost. I think she just doesn’t want to see you go down the path she’s already traveled.”

“It didn’t end there. Later on all 4 of us got into an argument and they finally stopped being indirect and straight up told me I need to make a decision. Luna seems to think my mental state is deteriorating and if something doesn’t change I’ll die. Really though that didn’t change anything, I was already feeling the pressure. All that really did was annoy me, but I know it’s coming from a place of concern so I don’t hold it against them.”

Ugh, Auntie told them that things like ultimatums and applying pressure were not the correct way to go about doing things. “It might’ve been from a place of concern but I think it was still a bit too far. What did Force say to you?”

“She just explained that she was feeling frustrated, but that she knew she had no right to be angry. She empathized with my situation, but mentioned how guilty she felt because she really just wished I would hurry up and make a decision. I don’t want her to feel that way. Between me setting a deadline for myself for tonight, Luna making me realize that there’s a far worse outcome I hadn’t considered, and my own guilt about making Force feel that way…I have to decide, Cadence. But, wouldn’t I be a monster if I just let my parents think I’m dead and never go back to my world? Like how can I possibly decide something like this?”

“I’m sorry, Ignis. I don’t know how to answer that. I’m surprised my knight feels so strongly about this though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I mean her reaction just doesn’t make sense. If anypony should feel the way she feels it should be Aunt Luna. I’ve listened to Force’s life story and from what I can tell she falls hard and she falls fast, but for her to feel this strongly about something concerning you. It's a bit fast even for her. You must’ve really made an impression?”

Oh that’s what she means, I think I left out something important. “I don’t think she’s angry because of how she feels. She’s angry on Luna’s behalf. She called me a coward the first time we talked about this when we went on our date. At that time she was just angry because I was one of Luna's only friends and had I just sworn to serve her until I die. Then a few days later I admit I’m trying to find a way to get out of here and never see her again? Yeah I’d be pissed if someone did that to someone I knew, too. Honestly I was impressed she didn’t chew me out again tonight.”

I take a breath and hold up my hand so Cadence doesn’t reply just yet. “As for the impression? If I had to think of one action in particular it was probably when she got swallowed by that False Hydra. I decapitated the head that swallowed her and saved her from becoming hydra food. Well I guess I also did save her from the changeling hive. It’s probably a mix of those two.”

“I still think I need to have a talk with her as well, but that does make more sense. Well to me it sounds like your main stressor here is expectations. The expectations of the ponies around you, the moral and societal expectations about your decision. Things like “Isn’t it wrong for me to willingly choose to never see my family again?” or “How will the ponies I care about react to me saying I don’t care about them and plan to leave them as soon as I’m able to.” All of those types of thoughts are the main things that keep bouncing around in your head when you try to make up your mind, yes?”

“Kinda? Yeah I guess so. I just don’t want to let anyone down, and I don't know how I'm supposed to decide to never see my family again.” I stare down at the floor between us in defeat.

I feel a hoof on my shoulder and when I look up Cadence is giving me a sympathetic smile. “But Ignis. None of that is truly important, as harsh as it sounds. Ignore all of those expectations and standards. What do YOU want? What does Ignis Ferrum want to do?”

We sit in silence for a few minutes before Cadence stands up. “You don’t need to answer right now. I just wanted to make sure you were aware that you might not have even considered your own feelings, your own wants and needs. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go talk to somepony about peer pressure and another pony about tact and subtlety.”

I just continue to stare ahead, blankly, as she leaves the room.

What do I want?

3rd Person POV

“My dear knight and my fellow Princess. May I have a word with you?” A certain pink alicorn approaches a familiar grouping of ponies.

The alicorn and knight in question look at each other for a bit, and the knight recognizes that tone. Cadence is unhappy about something. The three of them walk off to an isolated area of the ballroom where Cadence erects a soundproof barrier. “Auntie told me all of you were going to come up with a plan for tonight to GENTLY help Ignis come to terms with his fate. So, where exactly in this plan did things go wrong? Because from what I heard you did not do anything even remotely close to gentle.”

“We never even made it to the plan. The conversation got brought up early and I was flustered. I realized after he left with you that… well, we messed up. I left the table to settle down my emotions because I knew I had no right to feel that way, but she royally bucked up.” Force replies as her ears droop down.

“....I did. I did exactly what I said I wouldn’t do.” I refuse to pressure him into that decision and make him think that he will lose us if he doesn’t give up on his home. “I don’t know what came over me…something he said just reminded me of the past. After that my mouth betrayed the rest of me, and I just let my emotions get the best of me. Did he return with you? I need to apologize to him.”

“No, I’m not sure where he is. I’m glad both of you know specifically what I’m talking about though. You should still apologize to him, but you should know that he didn’t hold any of it against you. Apparently he himself had decided that he’d make a decision by the end of tonight, but it seems to have taken him longer than he thought. It’s because of his own self imposed deadline that your pressure was not as impactful as it could’ve been.” Cadence replies and shakes her head in disbelief. “Honestly it’s so unbelievable how in the same breath that he explains what you three did he defends and excuses you.”

Neither Force or Luna have a response to that, so Cadence asks something that she was curious about. “By the way, if you were so against pressuring him to begin with, what happened while you three were planning that changed your mind?”

“After lunch we split up for an hour before meeting up again to have our discussion. During that hour break I decided to get the opinion from an unbiased third party. After I talked with him and he vehemently insisted that Force was on the right path. He agreed that an ultimatum was too far, but he told me that previous patients of his that exhibited some of the same symptoms as Ignis died within weeks. Some by their own hoof and some from the lack of sleep. He insisted that the sooner Ignis accepts his situation, makes his decision, and processes his emotions the better. Then after I brought up the potential regrets I was already flustered and I just kept hearing the stallions words in my head. I don’t want him to die Cadence!”

“Wait, previous patients? Who did you talk to? Surely you didn’t reveal information that you shouldn’t have to some random stallion.” Cadence asks Luna with an arched eyebrow.

“Of course not! It was his therapist, Dr. Sentiment.”

Author's Note

This isn't exactly how I wanted this chapter to go, feels like besides the beginning and the end of the chapter it was just a bunch of rehashing, but hopefully this can assuage some of the concerns and issues anyone has.

To be honest I could've probably just not included any of this Cadence shit and just let the last line of the chapter explain why they seemingly decided to do what they previously said they wouldn't do. It's not a huge deal though it's just a lot of content I hadn't originally planned on including but it doesn't change anything moving forward. I was able to cover about half of what I originally wanted to cover in this chapter, and the other half wasn't really effected in any way it just got delayed a bit. That's fine though.

If I was a better writer to begin with then I wouldn't have needed the Cadence scene to begin with, so it's definitely on me. If this was able to clear up any of the concerns then I'm happy you guys brought up those concerns. Cause there's probably other people with the same concerns that couldn't be bothered to leave a comment about it, so thank you for allowing me the opportunity to clear things up (hopefully).

:D Thanks for reading <3

Main Quest - Get Home pt. 6

“We meet again, human.” It feels weird to hear my own voice with that posh accent again. It seems like I'm in the void state where I met the real Ignis for the first time.

“Why am I here? I thought this could only happen when I was in a trance?”

“I’m not sure either. If I had to guess? It’s related to that message we saw. Soul and body synchronization increased. This is good though, I wanted to speak to you, Lucas.”

The elf takes a few large steps toward me in this white void space and puts a hand on my shoulder. “You have my blessing.”

“For what? Or is this like a passive buff you’re applying to our body?”

“You have my blessing to stay here or return to Earth. While we’re still separate enough to have differing personalities I just wanted to let you know. As far as I’m concerned I already died 20 years ago. If you ended up finding a way for us to leave this realm but found yourself torn between Earth or the Feywild, you can go home, Lucas. You don’t need to take my memories and feelings into consideration. I know you’re quite torn, so I thought perhaps this would ease your burden, if only a little. I’ll also throw in my opinion on your whole ordeal, if you would like that?”

“Yeah. You’re the only other one around me that can directly relate to my situation.”

“I agree with the pink princess. Disregard any guilt you feel when making your decision. It is your life and your choice to make, as it always has been. That pegasus you’ve taken a fancy to, she was right as well multiple weeks ago. Be selfish. This choice impacts the rest of your life, you have to live with whatever outcome is decided, not the ponies, not your friends, not even your parents. It is your life.”

“It’s… our life. Why can you so easily cast aside your own home and family? Why resign yourself to go quietly into the night?”

“Because I could feel it. When the synchronization improved I felt more hazy, weaker. We’re truly merging now, and it’s probably a good thing. You’ll never be able to reach your full potential if we’re fragmented like this. Our personalities though, that’s the bad news. I can tell from how much weaker I am now, it’s like I’m fighting to stay awake after 3 days of continued labor. Once we fully sync…most of myself will likely be gone.”

“But this is your body?! Why do you refuse to fight? You can retain more of yourself!”

“You saw the same new memory I saw, Lucas. Our soul was forcefully astral projected and crammed into another vessel. Once that happened this…system, downloaded my memories and personality and took those things away from you. That’s all I am, I’m just a downloaded ego. This body is yours, this soul is yours. I’m just data and it was always my purpose to be stored until you were ready, and I guess you’re close now. It’ll be soon, I can feel it.”

“Father was right, you are far too kind Ignis.” I can feel my eyes well up. “If this was the other way around, if I was just data you can bet your ass I wouldn't be as amicable as you. Is this really okay?”

“Yes, it’s okay. If you think about it I’m not even really going anywhere, I’m just going back to where I came from. You. If we don’t have a chance to talk once more before I slip away, just know that I’m proud of you. Mother and Father would be proud of you too. Just keep moving forward.”

Everything goes dark and when I blink I’m back in the sitting room, alone, where I was talking to Cadence earlier. “I know this will sound weird cause we’re technically the same person, but I wish I could’ve talked with you more. I wish we had just both been brought here in our own bodies. I wish....we could’ve been friends. We would’ve been good friends, I think.”

After I finish talking to no one in this empty room, I wipe my face and rub my eyes. I know a while back I told Luna I would only leave here if I could return to Earth, but this entire time I’ve still been thinking of the Feywild. I didn’t even remember making that declaration, the Feywild has been one of the things I was considering, purely because I think my odds of getting there are better than Earth.

When he gave me his blessing I was so surprised at how….relieved I felt. Once I stand up it hits me that I feel much less sluggish now. Almost like lifting that weight from me has reenergized me a bit. Let’s go back to the ballroom, but let’s take the scenic route. I want to go outside.

“Applejack, did you just trip that guy?”

“What the blazes?! Where’d you come from fella? I uh… I wouldn’t say I tripped him, it’s more like I used a fancy marketing technique to get his attention.” After she says that her mouth is closed in a funny looking way and her eyes keep darting back and forth. I just give her a deadpan stare and raise an eyebrow. She hangs her head in shame and admits it. “Yeah I tripped em. I’ve been out here for hours and only had one customer the whole time, Ignis! ONE!”

“Wait customer? You’re charging people?”

“Well yeah, how else am I supposed to stay in business?”

“AJ. Applejack. They have catering inside. Free catering. Why would they buy an apple or whatever if they can get free food inside?”

“What? They have enough food for everypony in there and it’s free? I didn’t even go inside once I got here, I just came straight out here and set up my stand. I can’t believe it…”

“Ohh, bless your heart.”

Applejack apparently knows what that means and it apparently means the same thing as it did on Earth, because her head snapped around to look at me and she just squinted at me. “How do you know that saying? I say that to my friends sometimes, but they think I’m sympathizing with em.”

I must’ve had a smug expression since she didn’t even have to ask if I meant it in the condescending way. “It’s a saying back where I’m from as well. For what it’s worth I am halfway sympathizing with you. I’m surprised Twilight didn’t mention anything to you about it since I’m fairly certain she’s been to this before. I guess she just didn’t even think about it?”

“Yeah I reckon I’d say the same thing if I was in your position. Twi’ was probably just too excited about gettin to talk to the princess to even realize I was intending to sell my stuff here.”

“Well, the Gala still has a couple of hours left. Last time I saw them, Twilight and a few of your other friends were all sitting together with Celestia. Why don’t you go look for them? Your night would probably be a bit better if you were with your friends.” I give her a soft smile and her mood seems to improve a bit.

“You’re right, that’s what I should’ve been doin from the start. Imma go hunt em down, thanks Ignis.”

“Yep, no problem.”

I think that just leaves Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. I didn’t talk to her but I noticed Pinkie had joined their little entourage when I saw them in the garden, and that’s where Fluttershy is too. I wonder what she’s been doing in the garden this whole time? Ah whatever it’s probably fine, I got my own problems to work out.

What do I want? Let’s just start there. If this was a perfect world and I could have anything I wanted, what exactly would be my ideal solution here? I want a reliable way to go back and forth between all 3 realms that also allows me to bring Luna.

Why can’t I do that? Time. I want to make at least some kind of decision tonight. As things stand this solution isn’t possible. If I find something that enables this solution in the future, however, I would take it in heartbeat no matter what I decide tonight. That’s easy, so no matter what, if I find a way for all of us to travel between the realms then I can go home and meet with my family regularly.

It currently isn’t possible though, so why is that the ideal solution? What about that instinctively checks all of my boxes? It lets me visit both of my homelands and keep in contact with those I don’t want to lose. Visit? Why would I only visit my home if that were possible?

Because I would live here if I had the best of both worlds and was allowed to freely travel between them, this is where I’d live. Is that what I want then?

Why do I want to visit home to begin with? Let’s stop reacting to things with my gut and think about it. I want to keep in contact with my friends and family. My job doesn’t matter, my future doesn’t matter. I was working a dead end job that would’ve grinded away at me until I retired in my 60s or died. There’s no places in particular I would miss. I just don’t want to lose my friends and family.

Okay. If I found a way to go back to my home, but it’s a one way trip. Why do I want to stay here? Until recently I’ve been happy. Far happier than I ever was on Earth. I’ve had troubles and I’ve gone through some shit, but I’m fulfilled. I feel like I matter here. I… have people I don’t want to lose here too.

It’s easy then right? I mean laying it all out there, logically, staying here is the easy choice. Emotionally however, it’s complicated.

Why is it complicated? I have people I love on Earth, but I don’t have anyone here that I love. Right? That doesn’t sound right, it feels wrong. But, the whole reason there’s even a debate is because I don’t want to love anyone here unless I know I’m staying, so that means there’s no one like that here.

It’s getting derailed, back to the beginning, with everything we’ve laid out. What do I want?

My train of thought is interrupted when my head bangs into something hard. I walked into the large wooden door to go back inside. Some random pony must’ve heard the knock because the door opens and I absentmindedly walk into the ballroom.

“Did you see the back of his jacket? I could never wear my special somepony’s cutie mark so emblazoned onto my clothing like that.” I hear a whisper somewhere to my left side, behind me.

“Well he is her knight, maybe it’s more like a symbol of which guard he belongs to. You don’t really think she’d be marking him like that right?” This second voice isn’t quite as aware of her own voice as her friend. She’s a decent bit louder than the first voice.

“I mean I think it makes perfect sense. The freak and the outcast? It’s like they’re made for each other.” It’s after hearing this third voice that my slow paced walk comes to a stop. “There’s no way he heard us right?”

“Shh, quit staring at him before he turns around. If you aren’t obvious he won’t be able to pick us out of the crowd.”

I slowly turn and look straight at where I’m fairly certain the voices came from. It’s one of the ponies Fleur pointed at when she asked me to join her. There’s a primal rage bubbling up, but for some reason I just can’t bring myself to even get mad. They’re just not worth getting so worked up over. I should still say something, though. I close my eyes and give the most subtle smile I can before I speak. “What’s the point of saying things like that? Are you just trying to boost your own self image? If not then it doesn’t make sense, it costs you nothing to be kind.”

The nervous and somewhat fearful look the noble had as we maintained eye contact fades away. Now she just looks…embarrassed? Ashamed? It’s one of those but either way, she can’t maintain eye contact anymore as she just stares at the table she’s seated at. I guess I’m satisfied with the lack of response, so I turn away and continue aimlessly walking around the ballroom.

“You seem a bit lost, Ignis. Are you not enjoying your time?” I look over and see Celestia lounging on a bench.

“I guess I am a bit lost. It’s an alright night so far, had its ups and downs, but right now I just have a lot on my mind. Where’d Twilight and her friends go? I’m surprised you’d be sitting around by yourself.”

“I could say the same for you. It’s odd to see you without my sister. To answer your question though Twilight and the girls went to find the rest of their group. Why don’t you take a seat? A bit for your thoughts.”

There’s enough room on the bench for me to take a seat as well so I take her up on her offer and sit down. I go over all the things I listed out earlier and summarize the conversation with Cadence. When I finish going over everything I look over at her and see a small smug smile on her face. “What is that look for?”

“Nothing, nothing. I was just amused to hear you say something in particular. I’m not going to explain what I found amusing because I think it’s more beneficial for you to figure it out on your own. I’ll tell you that for the most part you’ve laid everything out very well. I think you just need to think through a couple of those details again.”

“Really? I thought I did a pretty good job picking that apart.”

“Truly? Well, you’re not my student so I suppose there’s no reason to not give you some help. Especially with how things have been for you lately, you probably feel like you’re in a lose-lose situation here, huh? In my opinion I think you’ve already found your answer. I’d just maybe reconsider some of those “facts”.”

Celestia gets up and walks off, leaving me with my thoughts again. After running through everything a couple of times I look up and realize the ballroom has mostly emptied out. Where did my squad disappear to? I haven’t seen any of them ever since I walked away with Cadence.

“Oh there you are! You must be like the hide and seek champion or something! We’ve been walking around trying to figure out where you went and at first I was all like “What if he had an existential dream and ended up just wandering around?” but they were like “No he wouldn’t have stayed here if he was going to find somewhere to think.” and then Applejack was like “Well last I saw he was outside near the fountain, so maybe he’s downtown somewhere?” and then we checked some room with Princess Candy and then we checked your room and then we checked Princess Luna’s room. Then we checked all the rooms. Finally they decided to go get some donuts before the shop closes up and then we’d look for you in the walkways downtown, but then my ear twitched and my nose tickles and my back right leg vibrated so I knew you were still here. Everypony is waiting for me in the lobby so do you wanna get some donuts with us?”

I just stare at the pink earth pony and give a slow blink in response. She’s a crackhead. “Yeah sure I’ll come with you guys. I kinda feel bad you all wasted your time looking for me though.”

While I follow the pink crackhead to the lobby I quickly go through everything one last time. Oh there’s one question I never asked myself. My mom on Earth, what would she say to me if she were here? She’d probably tell me to do whatever makes me happy. There’s no way that’s what Celestia was thinking of when she told me to reconsider some of my facts.

We reach the lobby and I see Celestia, Twilight, the other elements, Cadence, and Force. Everyone says their greetings, asks me where I was hiding at, and makes some comments about being invisible. I just nod and give short answers until they’re done and then I ask my question. “Where’s Luna and Moonie?”

“They said there was one more place they wanted to check, but that they’d meet us on the way.” Force answers me.

“Oh. Well let’s go then, yeah? Honestly I didn’t know you guys had donuts here, are they good?”

“This spot is actually a longtime favorite of mine. The owner is an exceptional baker. Did you think about what I said?” Celestia answers me then immediately puts my brain back into thinking mode.

“I did, but I just don’t understand what you think I’m missing here.”

She sighs and rolls her eyes before leaning over and whispering a question in my ear. Wait, that's the part she wanted me to reconsider? I mean it did sound wrong the first time I went over it, but it wasn’t even part of the things I reconsidered. Who-

“There you are! I’m glad they were able to find you, Ignis. Are you okay?” Luna and Nightmare land in front of us as we’re walking and Luna immediately weaves through the elements to give me a hug.

“Yeah I was just going through everything again. You know I just realized technically the Gala is over now, right?”

“Indeed it is. Were you able to find the answer you were hoping to have by the end of tonight? If not it’s perfectly fine, I actually really want to apologize for some of the things I said earlier. I was completely out-”

“It’s fine. Really it’s okay. Thanks to your sister I think I actually did manage to realize something.”

Celestia gains a knowing smile, Force, Cadence and Luna look extremely surprised. Nightmare seems a bit worried, she probably thinks I shouldn’t have made a decision this fast and is worried I’ll regret whatever I say next.

I open my mouth to start explaining my decision, but no words come out. I’m a bit confused until suddenly I hear a chord of music play. Oh no we’re doing this again?

Here's the last song of Season 1!

Smiling through the lose-lose days of confusion~
You picked me right off the ground, then dust me off as we dance on nonchalantly~
I’m realizing the answer I’ve already found.

I remember sitting in the Ponyville library, talking with Twilight and I casted my first Equestrian spell, Light. “Personally we still find it moderately impressive.” The first interaction I ever had with Luna was that mundane comment that startled me. The next couple of weeks around the castle flash through my head.

Never-ending days wore on. I was aimless, and yet focused.

All those days blended together and then I decided to do a trial run as her knight. I really was aimless back then.

The oxy-est of morons, I know, stuck deep coming ghost hits.
Fist to the desk, then next the sky.
Well aware of the dangerous heights and falls, back then trusted nobody at all.

I remember we were heading to the castle in the Everfree and the cliff collapsed. Applejack tried steering me in the right direction, but I did what I thought was best and got caught falling by Rainbow.

I was all bark no bite.
Fighting with God when it got dark at night.

My feet start to move on their own and when I mention fighting with God I point at Nightmare.Then I put my right arm around her and my left arm around Luna. Gesturing Force over she joins the group and leans against Nightmare, with my hand resting on top of her head.

Outta nowhere, now at my side, standing 4 strong.
Back then we saw nothing wrong.

Lost. The dreams we had gathered here to find…

I swore to protect her, and performed a divine ritual with her. I’ve tried to bolster her power and re-establish her into Equestria’s power dynamics. She helped me regain my memories in the dreamscape and we’ve ended up mostly protecting each other, haha.

…Turned into the blind leading the blind.

Today it hurt again. We bandaged bruises, who gives a damn if they’re right?

All of the shit those threstral councilors tried to blame her for, that noble calling us the freak and the outcast.They were right about one thing though.

I’m smiling through the lose-lose days of confusion~
I was well on my way…

I pull away from the group and hold out my hand for Luna to grab onto.

To diving, all alone, thinking “Damn, I miss home”
To rolling eyes and deciding to stay.

Luna places a forehoof in my hand and her eyes go wide as she hears the last two lines.

Trusting, choosing allies wasn’t my style till you picked me right up off the ground!

That’s exactly what she does as suddenly with a flap of her wings we’re both flying straight up. I don’t have wings, but I’m still floating along as I hold her hoof.

Then dust me off as we dance on nonchalantly,

I rotate a bit and grab her other forehoof forcing us to look at each other, we start to dance in the air but this time I’m leading our movements.

I’m realizing the answer I’ve found.

We stop dancing and she still has this surprised wide eyed stare like she can’t believe what’s happening. Her eyes only open wider and they become a bit glassy as she listens to the lyric. When I pull her closer she squeezes her eyes shut and she has a big smile.

If I got you…

Looking at her, it feels like the right time for this, and on my own I rub my thumb across her cheek causing her to open her eyes from the sudden touch. As soon as her eyes open the lyric finishes and I take both hands and put them behind her head.

I just might stick around!

Her eyes shoot wide open as I push my head forward and pull her towards me. Our lips meet and the wide open eyes close. The instrumental plays and she tilts her head a bit as she leans further into the kiss.

I can’t fall in love until I decide if I’m staying or not, but Celly helped me realize it’s too late. At some point during these last couple of weeks I fell hard for this girl.

Got in a fight with myself again, and I lashed out no surprise.
Try as I might, look a saint can’t sin at least in everyone’s eyes.

We slowly go down and land back in the street of downtown Canterlot. Once we land I look over at Force and Nightmare.

Broken pieces, my life, now a puzzle on a dusty floor
and right on time when I feel that I can’t get by, I getcha knock on my door.

With Luna in tow I pull the other two close so we’re all 4 together again.

Y’all say it “it ain’t all bad” talk me down slow, cheer me up and take my hand.
Find somewhere to go, we laugh and chat away. Nothing remains,
That little cloud from today.

Force is shifting her eyes left and right as I stare at her. I raise my eyebrows questioningly as I sing the lyric about chatting away. I point at her with the same questioning expression and she realizes I’m trying to ask her if she’s jealous of Luna and wants the same treatment. She gives me a shy nod, and glances away as I let go of everyone and grab both of Force’s forehooves.

I go through the chorus one more time as we stay on the ground and I lead us on a series of quick steps and twirl her around like they were doing to me earlier. Until we get to the end of the chorus and I put my hand on her back and lean forward, forcing her to lean back, putting us in a classic dip pose.

If I got you I just might stick around.

She barely even lets me finish the last line of the chorus before flapping her wings and forcing us back into a straight, neutral position. Until she continues beating her wings and flies up a couple of feet and claiming a kiss of her own. Mirroring Luna’s kiss she puts her forelegs around my neck instead of the other way around.

I jump back over to the group and grab both Luna and Nightmare as I point up at the night sky. Both of their moon shaped cutie marks start to pulse with light as I gain my own silver glow. With both of them together like this the heart song is able to make full use of their well of divinity and all of the stars come down out of the sky again.

Permanent markers run…
White colored pencils don’t leave impressions…
We took this canvas,

I point both of my palms at the empty night sky.

We painted landscapes, all in our OWN shade of truth!

I spread my hands out as if I was pressing my hands against the night sky and as my hands move across the sky, in their wake there’s a much more detailed night sky. Entire galaxy’s and millions of stars decorate the sky with an aurora borealis to boot.

I hear the elements behind me make some kind of “oooo” sound as the sky is decorated. As the sky continues to be populated with more and more stars I go into the chorus for the final time.

Time and time again I can prove… That I’m smiling through the lose-lose days of confusion.
Sure I was well on my way! To diving all alone, thinking “Damn, I miss home”
To rolling eyes and deciding to stay.

Trusting, choosing, allies wasn’t my style till you picked me right up off the ground.
Then dust me off as we dance on nonchalantly, I’m realizing the answer I’ve found…

I pivot on my feet and turn around to look at all 3 of the mares.

I’m gonna smile and make…
You guys… proud.

I’m damn near tackled by Luna and Force as soon as the heart song finishes and I hear a bunch of commotion from the other ponies we were with, but my eyes are focused on Nightmare. She’s standing there looking at the ground a bit disappointed. “Moonie, what’s wrong? You seemed insistent on not being in the same boat as these two so I just gave you a friendly hug.”

“Y-yeah, it’s not like I wanted a kiss too or anything.”

“Come here you little tsundere!” Moonie flaps her wings and moves up to hover in the air in front of me. She’s still being super shy and looking off to the side, so I just use my hand to turn her head towards me and lean in for a quick peck. When I pull away from the peck she makes an annoyed face for half a second before grabbing me and pulling me back in.

After that I can’t help but to start laughing as I’m quickly overwhelmed with emotions. I know this is still going to be painful, I’m still going to often find myself missing home. I also decided that I won’t give up on looking for a way to achieve my ideal solution. A reliable method that works both ways and lets me bring everyone else too. For now though, this is good enough. For tonight, I can just be happy and lean on these mares. For now… this is home.

Quest Completed!

Main Quest - Get Home!
Completed: You are home.

Author's Note

Aaaaaaaand that's a wrap. I didn't actually expect to finish this chapter, but I kept typing and realized like hey this is it.

Bro, I tried to wrap this shit up as cleanly as possible, as realistic as possible, I know the decision is likely too rushed, but this is always when the decision was supposed to be made. I fucked up by not having Ignis start to seriously think about the decision earlier in the story.

Overall though? I'm happy with it.

There's going to be 1 or 2 more chapters. 1 for sure is going to be an epilogue that also acts as a teaser for season 2, but I might also throw in the first NSFW Chapter between this and the epilogue. It'd basically be the main cast deciding to ditch donuts and go back to the castle <.< Either way, if the next chapter you see is the Season 1 Epilogue then that means I backed out on the NSFW chapter for w/e reason, most likely cause I'm going to die of embarrassment when trying to edit/skim proofread the NSFW Chapter. We'll see.

Thanks for reading <3, sorry if the S1 finale kinda fucked up the story for you. :( Hopefully most of you are as happy with it as I am though.

S1 Epilogue - The Era of Gods

Inside of a pocket dimension filled with screens and void we see a blue translucent alicorn pacing back and forth, the being known as Harmony. “If I had known this would be the outcome I would’ve let those falling rocks crush the stupid elf. This is bad, I’m not sure if there’s no going back from this now…”

The screen she’s pacing in front of is displaying a scene from inside the Changeling throne room. There’s hundreds of drones prostrating themselves in front of the queen, silently offering prayers to the throne. Queen Chrysalis stands up as she feels herself swelling from a feeling even more potent than love, an energy more powerful than mana. Worship. “It’s actually true. You can receive a surge of power and overwhelming strength just from the reverence of a crowd of lings. Tell Drone 3405 aka Dr. Sentiment that he can pull out after two more weeks, and give him the same treatment we’d give a royal drone. This is the biggest discovery since the second queen learned how to establish the hive mind, truly no one can stop us now!”

She lets out a typical villain laugh before barking a few more orders to the drones closest to her. “I want someone to inform the Dragon Lord that the divinity experiment was a success. He’ll find out on his own anyways so it’s better to establish a level of trust between us. Also let’s get started on the construction of a few different rooms in the hive for worship. I want altars and statue depictions of myself in every room. From here on out the changeling hive has a new religion…”

Her eyes glow green as the room around her goes dark. “Me.”

The screen zips away into the void and is replaced by another screen. This one displaying a battered and bruised thestral chained up in a prison cell. Harmony watches as a Griffon and a Minotaur enter the cell block and walk up to the room containing the thestral.

“Alright bat. You’ve officially piqued my interest. What’s this world changing information you claim to have, and before you ask, yes, if the information is good I will release you.”

The familiar thestral that was once the Chancellor of the colony spits a wad of blood onto the stone floor and glares at the griffon for a few seconds before speaking. She’s trying to gauge if the hen will keep her word. “I saw it with my own eyes. My soldier was lifeless, the light had left her eyes, and she had grown cold. She was DEAD, and that bladesinger…somehow revived her. I thought it was an act of necromancy and was prepared to have her thrown out of the cave and killed, but she had a heartbeat. She acted the exact same. He legitimately retrieved the soul of a dead creature and returned it to its former body while breathing life back into said body.”

The griffon queen and the minotaur chieftainess glance at each other with wide eyes that quickly fold into concern. “And you're sure it was his own power? That’s not something the ancient bladesingers were known for.” The minotaur asks.

“It was either him or that blasted Princess… Luna. Apparently he claims to draw some level of power from her. If it were up to me I’d say they both need to be eliminated.”

The scene shifts and Harmony lets out a massive sigh as she stares at the new image displayed before her. “This one isn’t his fault, but I can only imagine this impending clash will turn the world upside down…”

This scene is of the very familiar Canterlot Garden, specifically on a collection of statues being moved from their obscure corner of the garden to an area with more foot traffic. Where they can now be properly displayed. One statue in particular that appears to be some serpent or wyvern with an assortment of different animals making up its limbs stands out more than the rest.

At the base of the statue the smallest of cracks begins to form, and instantly Harmony hears a voice she’d hoped she would never have to hear again.

“Ohhhh is it almost time?~ Time for me to make my rousing debut once more into the fray? This time no pesky alicorns or their silly trinkets will stop me. Wait, what is this? There’s an abundance of chaos right here in the castle. This creature is… an abomination. The one thing in this world I despise, organized Chaos. Harmony what have you been up to, hm? I thought I did a pretty good job of wiping out all of those annoying bladesingers, but I wake up eons later to find they have returned? Well it seems like it’s just one, but I did not think you would raise some type of monster like this.”

“I didn’t raise him, I don’t even know how he got here. He’s a complete outlier Discord, a threat to both of us. He’s already had a rippling impact on the future that endangers all of us.”

The creature is still encased in stone, but Harmony is familiar enough with him that she can tell he’s stroking his beard in thought right now. “That is very…interesting. Perhaps I should play with him first when I get out of this blasted prison you’ve trapped me in.”

“Maybe you can put him in his place, he refused to stay in line under my watchful eye.”

“Well of course, Harmonica. How can you keep something in line if all you do is look at it? Sometimes you need a more…direct approach.”

Harmony stops viewing any of the screens and continues pacing while thinking to herself. “The rise of divinity, the return of the God of Chaos, and the elf that shouldn’t exist. It’s almost like a sick joke because of how perfectly the cosmic stars had to align for this to happen. All of these beings needed to exist at the same time and interact with each other in a specific way, for us to reach this outcome. It might not have been predicted in my book but this is far too lucky to be a coincidence this has to be Fate. But why, why would Fate seek this outcome? Why thrust The Era of Gods upon us?”

Author's Note

Alright that pretty nicely sets us up for Season 2 I think? Now it's time for me to disappear for a week or two and reread my own story so I can fix all the grammar oopsies that I know have to exist, and also actually start an organized collection of notes keeping proper track of details I've revealed about certain characters, which plot threads are open, what important information do I need to make sure I don't contradict in a later chapter, stuff like that.

If I finish doing all of that early then I'll start writing again when I finish, I'm not disappearing because I want to take a break, I'm disappearing so I can make sure I'm tracking all the nonsense I got going on in the story so I don't fuck it up in season 2. Soon as that's finished I'm right back on the grind!

Thanks for everything homies, the kind comments, the feedback, the favorites and the thumbs ups and most of all...

THANKS FOR READING! <3 :D :D :D

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 1

“Quests! Filter out any quest that’s been completed with the rewards claimed or failed.”

Quests:

Spread the Good Word - Increase the influence and divine power of your Goddess.

63/25 New Followers. Quest Complete! Claim Rewards?

Oath of Vengeance - You swore an Oath to exact your revenge on Queen Chrysalis, vowing to hunt her down to the ends of the Earth.

0/1 Kill Queen Chrysalis. In Progress.

Get Home - Find out the truth about your appearance in Equestria and work with the inhabitants to return home.

You are home. Quest Complete! Claim Rewards?

It’s been over a month since the Gala and a lot has happened, but I’ll circle back to that in a minute. I’ve been putting off claiming my quest rewards because I’m honestly a bit nervous about what the reward is. What if it’s literally a one way trip back to Earth and the system is just some sick fuck that was putting me through a test? I mean at this point I probably wouldn’t take that anymore, but still ya know? I’ve also just been super busy.

The thestrals showed up a few days after the Gala and we had to get them moved into the caves under the mountain, and we were supposed to have integrated some of the changelings into the Night Guard so we could use them as the core to build around with the thestrals. That didn’t really work out though because they made me go fight my inner demons instead, so I got a bit distracted.

I am now officially the Captain of the Night Guard…well I mean that’s the level of authority I have. Lunar Knight supersede’s the Captain rank, but I’m basically just doing both jobs. We have 12 of Aurora’s changelings and 143 thestrals. Well we originally had 143 thestrals. Those fuckers still left a sour taste in my mouth so we did some extensive interviews and personality tests to sort through the bad apples, and now it’s down to 68 thestrals. Compared to the Day Guard we have roughly 1/50th of their man power, but that’s partly because the Day Guard has stations at most of the cities around the country and we’re just in the castle, for now. If we compare the current Night Guard to the Royal Guard division of the Day Guard then we’re roughly 1/3rd of their man power. Which honestly, for how quiet things are during the night, that's probably fine. For now Luna and I both agree we don’t need to expand for now.

We also interviewed and managed to hire enough ponies to mostly have the castle kitchen and armory staffed 24/7 now. The lack of blacksmiths at night would’ve definitely been a problem, so I’m glad we got that one sorted.

I’m still nailing down the details for the guard, but the drone I saved mid execution in the Changeling throne room is my current second in command. She didn’t have the best physical results and her magic isn’t much at the moment, but out of all the candidates she was the only one that had something to prove. I’ve mentioned it in the past but a lot of these ponies lack ambition, the fire in their eyes, but not Vice Captain Elytra. When we’re training and running simulations that bug is resting bitch face the entire time and is pure focus.

Turns out she might be one of the few creatures who hates Chrysalis more than me. A lot of the changelings here should hate her more than me, but much like the ponies they seem averse to things like hate and revenge. Suffice to say, we get along well, but it’s purely professional. That professionalism is actually one of the other main deciding factors. There were also a couple of bats who were also under consideration but unfortunately both of them seemed happy to serve under me in more ways than one. As flattered as I was, the girls and I agree that we aren’t looking to expand the herd at the moment.

Now that we have all of that up and running I end up being almost as busy most nights as Luna is. The guards have taken up my role at Night Court, which suspiciously got busier once I stopped standing guard, and now I spend most of the night running training, ordering supplies, writing the schedules, all of that good stuff. I still put myself on the rotation for Night Court at least twice a week just so I can have some time with Luna, and don’t get me wrong I do still pop in every so often even just to chat if I’m not scheduled that night.

Nightmare has ended up acting as my own pseudo personal guard in an interesting turn of events. We still haven’t gotten her unsealed, but the motion was approved. Twilight is currently just working on how we go about doing it. Apparently if Moonie was sealed in a statue or something right in front of us it’d be much easier, but they can’t just fire the elements at the moon. That leaves her with a lack of things to do, but she seems to enjoy hanging out with me in my office or helping me develop my magic further.

I’ve actually been stewing on the idea that maybe I should ask her to join the guard until she gets her alicorn body back. She’s still quite capable as a pegasus and she’s competent enough to lessen the load on me for training or logistics. I’ll probably bring it up to her soon if we don’t get any updates on unsealing her. In the meantime I’ve had her start giving Elytra training on leadership and risk management. If she’s going to keep her Vice Captain position she’ll need to actually take up more responsibilities, but I acknowledge that none of the guards are ready for that responsibility. Once she’s trained though I have faith she’ll do good.

All of this is in the face of a joint training exercise in a couple of months. Apparently having a yearly competition between the Day and Night guards in the capital used to be a thing, and the sisters want to bring it back. It’ll consist of a tournament open to any member that wants to participate, two different simulation battles, one during the day and one during the night, and as with any military event there will be plenty of boring training. Death by powerpoint except they don’t have powerpoint here so it’s death by word vomit.

Let’s see what else has happened during that time…we got word that the dragons have been performing some type of experimentation that allows them to perform unicorn level spellcasting. I thought they could already use magic since Tormura spoke with Celestia via telepathy at the Summit, but apparently that was her spell and he was just using it to reply. I’m apparently to blame because they got the idea that it was possible upon seeing me use magic. Which is stupid because at the Summit I only used Weave magic, so if they couldn’t use mana before they shouldn’t be able to now. Apparently they’ve found success though which is…concerning to say the least. We’re expecting some type of attack from them any day now, but there’s been no indications of when.

Dr. Sentiment is gone. I had one more appointment with him where we talked about my decision to start pursuing romantic relationships and giving up on going home, for the most part. Then we were supposed to have another appointment yesterday, but he seems to have gone missing. Strangely enough the files he had on several of the guards, including me were taken as well. Since there was no evidence of someone breaking into his office we think he might’ve turned traitor and went to the griffons or dragons with notes about our mental evaluations. Worst case scenario he either went to the changelings or… I hate to even think about this, but he might’ve been a changeling. I get sick to my stomach thinking about it. That means all of the advice he gave me could be called into question about whether it was truly in my best interest or if it was to degrade me even further mentally, for future exploitation.

That investigation has been one of my top priorities. I've been working with Shining during the morning if there’s any updates or if he wants to bounce ideas off of each other. Unfortunately the ole doctor didn’t have a family, so it makes it significantly more difficult to determine if he ever had any changes in behavior or strange habits that came about recently.

Speaking of the therapist, I guess I should mention the nightmares. The frequency has definitely decreased, but in exchange it feels like the intensity of them when they do happen is way higher. Half the time I can’t even remember what happened but I wake up drenched and my head hurts. The only thing I can remember from those dreams is a pair of glowing green eyes chanting something, but I can never remember what. The extra weird part is that whenever Luna checks on me there’s no nightmare. It always happens as soon as we let our guard down after a few days of nothing. She’s at least aware of it though and that’s a big step for me, in the past I definitely wouldn’t have said anything until it had gotten worse.

Oh, during the training and spars I was surprised to find out my swordsmanship has improved significantly since the body and soul integration that happened during the Gala. I guess part of that integration included the memories of Ignis actually being part of me, like completely. Before I could remember all of his training and swordsmanship if I thought about it, but I didn’t feel like I was actually the one who trained, if that makes sense? Now though, the sword feels like an extension of me. Similar to when I somewhat disassociated in the Colosseum and went ballistic with my sword until I fireballed that guard and snapped out of it. Even then though if I were to compare the difference in skill between me during that fight and me now it’s like a 4 out of 10 before and a 9 out of 10 now.

I don’t even really use the system for combat anymore, that’s how much it’s improved. I can get off more attacks during a 6 second window and dodge attacks more easily it feels like without the system than with it. It’s still useful against targets that far far outclass me though, like Luna. Without the system I’m lucky to land a hit once every 50 attacks or something, but with the system I can land attacks more consistently even though I’m launching less of them.

On a somewhat related note to that, I am proficient in basic magic now. Equestrian magic I mean. My suppression has become completely automatic and subconscious and I've pretty much gotten a decent grasp on a majority of what the different runes mean and do when combined with each other. I’ve also managed to increase the number of runes I can use when casting to six, which is pretty good. Right now I’m actually headed to Celestia’s personal study for a lesson. If you remember the original idea was supposed to be that I’d learn from Luna for two weeks then learn from Celestia for two weeks so she could correct anything that’s outdated or different that I learned from Luna who is still running on 1,000 year old magic.

Celestia is actually much better at teaching than Luna. Luna typically just gives me a concept and makes me figure out how to apply it on my own or will just straight up give me a task to complete that she’s never mentored me on, so I have to go find information myself. Which is definitely a more challenging way to learn and is probably beneficial in making sure I have full comprehension of a subject. It also has its problems though, like I might be able to perform the task she gave me but I fundamentally misunderstood something and did it a different way that still worked, but is worse than what I should’ve done.

Whereas Celly is more hands on. If she wants me to perform a task or cast a spell with a specific outcome she won’t just say “Make this gold plate turn into wood.” Which is what Luna does. Instead, she’ll say “Let’s dabble into transmutation for a bit, do you think all transmutations use a similar runic pattern with the tail end of each pattern differing based on the materials? Or, do you think they’d all be unique for the most part?” Then I’d go research the basic concept of transmutation, find out that all transmutation spells use the same 3 runes to start with and then the second half of the spell changes based on what the starting and ending materials are. Then she’d say, “Okay now which rune or combination of runes do you think would represent gold? How about wood? Okay if you were to take this gold plate and turn it into wood what would the full runic pattern be?”

Finally I’d give her the pattern she’d double check that it’s right and then cover how much mana should be used, which materials are dangerous because they require an exponential amount of mana compared to others, and which materials are completely incompatible and will result in a backfire. After all of that then I’d be presented with the task to turn the gold plate into wood. Luckily for me, that means her lessons help me twofold. They make me more confident in what I learned but it also helps me learn the proper steps I should be taking to learn a concept when Luna throws me into the deep end of the lake and tells me to swim.

Don’t tell Luna any of this though or she might feel bad. I do like the challenges of her style of teaching and it makes me feel more engaged, and if I was only learning from her I might’ve voiced some complaints about it. Since both sisters' learning styles complement each other though I think this works out okay.

“Knock knock!”

“What’s the point of saying knock knock when you’ve already opened the door, Ignis? Please actually knock on the door. I swear I don’t know how many times I need to tell you.” It’s become one of my stress relievers to do these mundane things that I know somewhat annoy Celestia. I’m not sure why but seeing her annoyed is somewhat therapeutic for me.

That’s another thing, ever since I had that mental breakdown on the roof over my Sending spell…Celestia has been way nicer to me. Less confrontational, more trusting, and she even smiles when we see each other now? Apparently Nightmare said something to Cadence and Celestia, but none of them will tell me what they talked about. Regardless I won’t look a gift ~~horse~~ pony in the mouth, I’m happy for the improved treatment.

“I mean, I’d consider it. But you’re never doing something in here that I’d be worried about barging in on. If it was your bedchambers or something, I’d definitely knock. I wouldn't wanna walk in on any debauchery. I think you already learned that lesson.”

“I already apologized to you and my sister, please stop bringing that up! Everytime you make me think about it I have to relive walking in on…. THAT. I’m glad you two have sorted your feelings out but if I ever witness that again I might just learn dark magic so I can forget about the entire event.” Oh man, Tia's reaction when she walked in on Luna and I having an, uhh, intimate moment is something I will never forget. Although it seems like she wants to forget it, haha.

“Alright alright, so what are we learning today?”

“First I want to go over what I asked you to research last time we spoke. What did you manage to find out about elemental magic? Were you able to cast any spells for all of the elements? I know previously we’ve only really covered fire, but it’s standard for any educated mage to be at least somewhat proficient with, at minimum, the four basic elements.”

“I was able to cast Fire Bolt, which we already knew I could. I was also able to cast Gust and Create Water, but Earth magic I’m a bit stumped on. The research I did allowed me to learn the runes for the four basic elements which are easy because they each have their own rune, but also the combination runes for Lightning, Ice, Steam, Mud, and Lava. I also was able to determine that Solar and Lunar magic also fall under elemental magic, but I was unable to find what runes are needed for that. The Earth magic though, I just don’t get it. They didn’t list any spells for Earth like they did the other spells but they described concepts like accelerating plant growth or duplicating seeds. It seemed more like plant magic than Earth magic. I was completely unable to even start figuring out the runes for either of those, I’m missing something.”

“Ah okay, let's start with your Earth magic problems. Most of the modern texts heavily neglect that element of magic because it’s commonly associated with earth ponies. Unfortunately that means most mages think that Earth magic is substandard or beneath them. I can walk you through some spells for that element or I can give you some of the older reading material for you to go through on your own. What would you prefer?”

“I’d prefer if you just went through it with me, but can we go over the Solar and Lunar magic first? Why are they considered elemental and are ponies besides you and Luna even capable of casting such magic?” I start asking these questions while I pull out my notebook and quill.

“Those are fair questions but I want you to have a firm understanding of the four core elements before we expand into the combination elements or the cosmic elements.” When she says that I just note down, “Solar and Lunar are considered Cosmic Elements, requires further research.”

“Alright then, do you want me to demonstrate what I learned for the three elements I did understand before we move onto Earth magic, or do you just want to start with the Earth magic?”

“Let’s cover the Earth magic first, I know in a practical sense that you have a firm grasp of spellcasting so if you say you casted those spells then I believe you. Typically the first Earth spell anypony learns is Earth Shift. That basic spell allows for rudimentary manipulation of the ground. You can do things like raise up a square platform or compress the soil in multiple directions in such a way that you create a deep pit under somepony. Once you learn that spell a majority of the Earth spells become much easier as they all use that spell as the base. Earth Bullet for example you’d raise a small chunk of the ground into the air and compress it down. Then you shape that compressed Earth into either a ball or a sharp object, depending on how lethal you want the spell to be.”

“If that’s the case then why do all of the modern books use plant based magic as the base for Earth magic?”

“Well the primary reason is the association Earth magic has with Earth ponies, but another reason is that most Earth based spells aren’t useful. Earth Shift and Earth Bullet for example, can both be done with just basic telekinesis. In fact, it’s more efficient to just use telekinesis to recreate the effects of those spells. With that being the case, they decided to document the spells that can’t be easily recreated and have a universal use case. Your intuition is spot on about why you can’t figure out those spells, though. Those plant spells make use of Life magic, and Life magic is much more advanced than what you’re currently ready for.”

“Why are they even in the book then? That book is meant for foundational studies, no?”

“It is! Those spells aren’t meant to be casted by the reader. They’re merely there as examples for you to get an idea about the concept of “Earth.” Now, let’s work through the runic patterns for Earth Shift.”

“Excellent progress as always, Ignis. I’m afraid we’re out of time, as I need to go lower the sun, and this is our last lesson for this period. You’ll go back to learning from my sister on Monday. It’s a shame we never had a chance to circle back to Cosmic Elemental magic, but Luna is just as knowledgeable about that subject as I am. That’s one of the few fields of magic that has not seen much change in the last 1,000 years. Will you be able to make it to dinner tonight?” Celestia ends our lesson and continues our conversation as she walks me out of the study.

“It’s Friday, of course I’ll be there. Do you have anything you want me to take to Twilight? At some point in the early morning I’m going to the old castle in the Everfree with Nightmare. I don’t mind swinging by the library if you have something you can’t send over dragon fire.” Luna and Force would both have a few words with me if I were to miss dinner on Friday, or the weekend. Friday through Sunday are the closest things I get to a night off, and I arranged it that way to align with the Night Court schedule. The result being that Luna and I both have a bit more free time on the same nights, and it’s well worth it. Even if that means more work on Monday to catch up from slacking on the weekend.

“Not this time, but why are the two of you going there?”

“A while back, like before the Summit even, I was exploring that castle and got hit with a really ominous feeling. After that two Shadow Wraiths appeared when I ventured down into the interior and attacked me. I meant to go back there at some point, but we've just been so busy I forgot about it. Nightmare is coming with me because the energy I felt was very similar to her energy the night she returned from her banishment.”

The solar alicorn gives me a concerned look as she hums in thought. “Keep me updated on that, please. I don’t think there’s been any sightings of a Wraith in centuries and you say you fought two? Why didn’t you at least bring it up at some point?”

“I was still new to Equestria at that point! I thought spooky Wraiths were just something to expect when you explore an ancient castle ruins in a haunted forest.”

“You know what? That’s fair. I just had an idea, why don’t you take Twilight with you?”

“Oh?”

“She actually wrote to me a few weeks ago asking if she could explore those same ruins for any ancient artifacts or items that were left behind. I told her there was no point, but that was mostly because I just didn’t want her to go. If you and Nightmare are with her though? She should be plenty safe.” It’s not the worst idea, I suppose. Twilight can be a little overwhelming with her questions, but she’s probably one of the more competent ponies I’ve interacted with.

“I’ll bring it up to Moonie, but I’m personally fine with it. Can you let Twilight know tonight though? I need to know if she’s okay with our 0530 arrival time. Nightmare might be less on board if we have to leave here later to accommodate your student.”

Celestia conjures up a piece of parchment and while still walking down the hallway with me writes out a full letter to the unicorn, without even looking. Now that I have a better understanding of magic I realize how impressive that is. To be able to finely control a quill with the amount of power she has, and she’s seemingly able to do it with very little effort or concentration. Insane.

The letter disappears in a puff of green flames and the ashes scatter around my head before flying out of the nearest window. “Done. She’ll probably have a response for me before dinner so I’ll just let you know then.”

“Sounds good. Thanks for the lesson, Celly.” I call out to her as we reach the point in our journey where she turns right and I continue straight.

“I told you not to call me that! It makes me feel like a vegetable!” I giggle at the fact that she associates Celly to celery, but don’t bother replying to the alicorn. We’re far enough away at this point I’d have to yell, and I don’t feel like doing that. Time to go wake up my Goddess so she can usher in her night.

Opening the door to her bedchamber I’m surprised to see Luna’s already awake and she’s standing on the balcony. She must be deep in thought because I don’t even notice her ears twitch when the door closes. After setting my Moonblade down by the bed I quietly make my way onto the balcony to join her.

Leaning down I give her a quick peck on the cheek and gently apply scritches to the top of her head. “What’s got you so deep in thought tonight? Getting performance anxiety about raising the moon?”

Luna opts to give me a hum of contentment while leaning into my hand. Eventually she does reply, though. “I’m not sure. There’s nothing in particular I just have this sinking feeling that something bad is going to happen. Have you accepted your quest rewards yet?”

“I kinda regret asking you to remind me every night, and no I have not. I just get anxious whenever I look at it.”

“I can stop reminding you if you’d prefer that. I was just doing it because you asked. From what I understand though, your system has only ever given you good things for your rewards right? I think you should just close your eyes and do it.”

“Yeah? Maybe you’re right. Claim Quest Rewards!”

Spread the Good Word - Quest Requirement exceeded.
Calculating rewards…100%

Subclass: Oath of Vengeance - The Nights’ Chosen: Due to insufficient level no subclass features have been unlocked.

Bypassing Requirements.

1st Reward:

Subclass Acquired: Oath of Vengeance - The Nights’ Chosen:

Vow of Enmity: When you take the Attack action you can choose to expend one use of your Channel Divinity to utter a vow of enmity against a creature you can see within 30ft of yourself. You have advantage on attack rolls against that creature for 1 minute. If the target drops to 0 hit points before the vow ends you can transfer the vow to a different creature within 30ft of yourself.

Lunar Blessing: Surround yourself in Her light. As long as the moon is visible in the sky you can call upon Her power and cast Moonbeam on yourself. The moonbeam follows you at all times and deals 2d10 Radiant damage to any enemy that gets within 5ft of you.

2nd Reward:

The divinity of your Goddess has increased.

3rd Reward:

+10,000 XP: 110,100/120,000 XP

Get Home - Secret Clear Condition Met.
Calculating rewards…100%

1st Reward:

Choose one reward from the following options:

Staff of the Magi

Cloak of Displacement

Wand of Polymorph

2nd Reward:

Choose one reward from the following options:

+2 Intelligence

+1 New Feat

Add 1 creature to your party. Once selected the choice is permanent.

Secret Clear Condition Reward:

+1 Boon

You may ask any one question and will receive one clear and truthful answer that attempts to answer your question in its entirety in good faith.

Woah. I’m glad time has stopped. I think I’m going to be sick. I didn’t expect these level of rewards from either of those quests.

“Select Staff of the Magi for 1st Reward.” Staff of the Magi has been added to your equipment and will not count towards your number of attuned items.

What the fuck do I pick for the 2nd reward? I could add Luna to my party, but what exactly does that do for either of us? We probably get a more clear idea of her stats and powers, but does that also give her access to the Weave? Does she get to make a character? Do I get XP for things she does? There’s so many unknowns. If I pick a new feat I can take Dual Wielder and that’ll let me wield my new Staff and my Moonblade at the same time which is pretty tempting.

I wish I could ask Luna what she would pick. “For the 2nd Reward, add Luna Concordia to my party.”

Incompatible. Please select a creature that is not a Deity.

Well shit. That means Nightmare is out too. I could add Force but we’re hardly ever doing things together that would make it beneficial for us to be in a party. I’m not sure if I trust anyone else enough to let them in on this secret. “For the 2nd Reward, select the Dual Wielder feat.”

Dual Wielder feat added to character sheet. +1 Strength: 14.

Please choose a Boon.

This is the real doozy. There’s so many good options. I feel like I have to take Boon of the Night Spirit though. At first glance it seems pretty situational because you would think you have to stay within Dim Light or Darkness to maintain your Invisibility, but that’s not true. It says you have to be in Dim Light or Darkness to activate the feature and give yourself the Invisible condition. Then it states that the condition ends immediately after taking an action, a bonus action, or a reaction. Nothing in there states that I lose the invisibility upon leaving dim light or darkness.

While I’m in Dim Light or Darkness though I am resistant to all forms of damage except Psychic and Radiant which is pretty valuable. Especially since most of my fights are at night anyways. I bet Luna and Nightmare would really appreciate it if I took the Boon of Immortality though. I stop aging on the spot and become immune to any effects that would age me, I also cannot die of old age.

I can always just choose the Boon of Immortality once I get to level 20. “Select Boon of the Night Spirit.”

Boon of the Night Spirit added to character sheet. Select an ability score to increase by 1, to a maximum of 30.

Oh I forgot about that. I could bump up Constitution to 16 and give myself some more HP or I could bump my Charisma up to 14 and improve my social skills. Both are equally good in my opinion so I’ll just flip a coin. Charisma it is. “Increase Charisma by +1.”

Charisma: 14.

You may now ask any one question and the system will attempt to answer it in its entirety.

Wait, I can't like unpause time and ask for help? This is fucking huge, but I’m completely overwhelmed. What do I ask?

How can I reliably travel between the Feywild and Equestria in a way that allows me to bring my companions? I mean that’s pretty solid right? Who was the hooded man that took my soul and brought me to Earth? Oh fuck I’m stumped.

What should I do?

Author's Note

Aaaaand we're back. I was able to go through and organize my notes and shit way faster than I originally thought.

So, let's get right back into the swing of things and kick off Season 2!

Leave your suggestion below for what Ignis should ask the system. Also, shoutout to Dude3 for helping out with the first half of the chapter. Homie went through it and gave me a decent number of things to fix. I ignored one of his fixes though cause I disagreed with it, but still appreciate the time he took to go through everything.

To everyone else, thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 2

“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

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 3

With nothing to do and a few hours to kill I decided to go back to my office and give myself less work for Monday. As per usual Nightmare joins me in the office and keeps me occupied with idle chatter while I work on my paperwork.

“I noticed you didn’t mention the one free question to anyone else in the dining hall or when you were showing off your new abilities. Did you forget or is there something else holding you back? I can understand not wanting to say something about it with Celestia and Cadence there, but once we came out here I thought you’d tell Force.” Nightmare decides to ask something that I’d wager she’s been thinking about since we left the dining hall.

“I didn’t see any reason to ruin the mood. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Celestia with that kind of smile before. I didn’t say anything to Force afterwards because I don’t think it’s worth mentioning. There’s a few implications that I’ve considered from the answer the system gave me, and I don’t really see a point in involving others until I think through those implications on my own.”

“What implications?” She arches an eyebrow at me.

“Time. She specifically said I couldn’t return to those places as I knew them, right? That could mean that if I returned I’d either be so far in the past or the future that I don’t recognize either of those places. It could also mean that something happened. Something cataclysmic. Either way I’m not going to waste time on it until I can figure out what she meant when she said I’ve already found the answer.”

Standing up from my chair, I straighten up my cloak and sigh. “Anyways, it’s 1230 I’m gonna go grab a quick 4 hours of meditation before we head down to Ponyville. You joining me?”

The summoned pegasus cracks her neck before replying. “No, I think I’ll go find the Vice Captain and see what she’s up to. I’ll meet you in Luna’s room when it’s time to depart.”

While I’m walking towards my bedroom I end up lost in thought. Maybe she meant the Sending spell? If it truly is time related then perhaps it’s not that the spell was unable to make it to their dimensions, but rather it was unable to find the targets. If either of those realms were in the far future compared to when I left I think I’d still be able to contact them in the Fugue Plane. That would mean…if I were to find a way back I’d be in the far distant past compared to when I left. That all sounds very plausible. Maybe I’ll learn that Dream of the Blue Veil spell and if it works I’ll see what time period I’m in and then come back. At the rate I’m leveling up I can probably get the Boon of Immortality at some point in the next couple of years, so it’d just be a waiting game before I can meet my family again.

That spell is perfect if this theory is correct because that spell lets me bring everyone with me and then I could just cast it again to come back with all of them.

Before I know it I find myself standing in front of the bedroom door. The changeling and thestral in the Lunar Armor are standing outside the room and they both greet me as I approach.

I offer them a quick salute and a short greeting in return before opening the door. Once the door clicks closed behind me I’m greeted by the sight of my Goddess loafing in bed with her horn dimly lit. She’s no doubt patrolling the dreamscape right now. “I didn’t think you’d be back here until you returned from the Everfree. A surprise to be sure, but not an unwelcome one. How has your night been since I saw you last?”

Her eyes have stayed closed since I walked in so I decide to try a bit of trolling. “I’m not sure who you think I am, but I’m an assassin from Griffonstone! I’ve come to claim your head.”

“Ignis your very being is quite literally connected to me. I can tell it’s you without opening my eyes.”

“Fine then be that way. I guess I can cross “roleplay” off the list of things to try.” I let out a small laugh, finally breaking character. “Oh man, anyways, yeah I decided I should grab a few hours of meditation before I leave since I don’t have anything else to do. How are the dreams treating you?”

“Well let’s not be hasty. I might be open to something like that, I’m just a bit distracted right now and didn’t consider that possibility. I assumed you were just pranking me. The dreamscape has been quiet tonight, but I’m still trying to figure out why I have this sinking feeling of dread. Something terrible is going to happen Ignis, I can feel it.” Luna finally opens her eyes and looks at me. “Maybe you should reconsider going to the old castle ruins. I think it’s a bad idea.”

“Really? I can postpone the trip, it’s not like it’s super important or anything. Just a curiosity I had. Are you sure you’re not just being paranoid, though? Maybe you spent so much time suffering that now you can’t help but feel like you’re overdue for something to tear it all down.” As I psychoanalyze her I wrap my arms around her neck and pull her into my chest as I lay down.

“Perhaps. I will admit that sometimes I do find myself wondering when I’ll wake up from this dream and find myself back on the moon. I suppose there’s no harm in you exploring the old castle, you’re close enough that I can just teleport you back here should the need arise. Speaking of being on the moon, where’s your shadow at?”

“You mean Nightmare? She’s hanging out with Elytra or something. I should probably go meditate in my actual bedroom, I don’t wanna distract you from your duties.”

“No no, you might be fine. Can you meditate in this position? I can dreamwalk like this and I’ll admit I’m quite content to keep laying here in your arms.”

“Yeah I can meditate like this. I just felt a bit bad about laying here and sleeping while you work. It feels a bit inconsiderate.”

“Well as the party concerned, I declare that you leaving this bed would be the truly inconsiderate thing to do. You shall stay just like this until it’s time for you to depart for your journey.”

“As you command, Your Grace.” After a quick giggle I give her a short peck and lean back with my eyes closed.

Once it was time to go I put on the Mizzium Apparatus and casted Fly on myself. From there it was a quick 90 minute flight to Ponyville, which is where we are currently. I’m currently staring at a purple unicorn and already regretting that I agreed to let her tag along. “Twilight, I think you might be a tad over prepared. If you bring all of that gear with you you’ll slow us down for sure.”

The unicorn is wearing two sets of saddlebags and floating two more small wooden containers in the air behind her. “This is for my research! I need to be able to take sediment samples, samples of the mana in the air, and I need my archeology gear incase we find any artifacts that I need to dig up. Plus containers for said artifacts. Trust me, I went through all of this gear three times already and made sure to only bring the essentials.”

“Did you bring a meal or two? Water? I know we can just cast Create Water but it’s never a bad idea to have some on hand.”

The unicorn opens her mouth and says nothing for a brief moment. Then her eyes furrow in deep thought, and she closes her mouth before reopening it and closing it a few times. Eventually she realizes she might’ve been a bit silly and gives me a sheepish grin. “I may have forgotten an item or two?”

After managing to convince the unicorn to leave behind most of her “research” supplies we were off into the Everfree. Everything was moving along smoothly until we ran into this manticore I’m currently staring down. I pull out my Moonblade and assume my new fighting stance, but before either of us can do anything Twilight yells out.

“Wait! There’s nothing that says we have to fight the manticore! Right after we got split up in this forest on your first night here we ran into a manticore. Back then Fluttershy managed to calm it down and it ended up licking her like a big cat. She’d be devastated if we just killed the creature without even trying our other options. Seriously, violence should always be your last resort!”

“Violence is always my last resort. If violence isn’t your last resort that just means you didn’t resort to enough of it.” The unicorn gives me a deadpan stare and mean glare, and I can’t help but sigh. “Fine. I’ll try something else first.”

I lower my sword and stare directly into the manticore's eyes. After a second of focusing I stop suppressing my mana, and start to slowly walk towards it.

Intimidation Check (Advantage)

5 and 13. 13 + 2 = 15.

I notice out of the corner of my eye that even Twilight has stiffened up a bit with her pupils shrinking. The manticore doesn’t fare any better as soon as I take my third step the creature roars and sprints away in the opposite direction. Sheathing my sword and suppressing my mana I turn and look at the frozen unicorn. “There. Happy?”

“I didn’t realize you had already developed your mana to this extent… It’s only been a few months right? That level of growth in such a short time shouldn’t be possible!” As soon as the mana is suppressed she snaps out of it and goes straight into scientific mode.

“It’s a complicated explanation, Magic. Perhaps he can give you a brief rundown some other time?” Nightmare seems to want to snip this in the bud so we can move on and I’m fine with it so I don’t interject.

“Did you just refer to me by the Element of Harmony I represent? That feels weird. I don’t think I like that. Right, anyways, we’re on a time table. Sorry. That’s still really impressive, Ignis.”

“She almost never calls someone by their name. She referred to me as just “bladesinger” for a few weeks at least. You get used to it, but once she warms up to you or considers you a friend she’ll drop the formal speaking.”

“I don’t appreciate that you’re talking about me as if I’m not right here.” Luckily Nightmare has a playful tone to her voice, so I know she’s not actually offended.

“Also Twilight for what’s worth I am being mentored by Luna, Celestia, and Nightmare. I think being personally taught by three of the most powerful spellcasters in the world contributes a fair bit. Celly taught you magic as well right?”

“Mhmm. That would only matter in terms of your spellcasting ability though. The number of runes you can utilize, how many spells you know. Expanding your mana pool is almost purely self driven, and is something that just happens as you practice magic more. Oh, look! It’s the rickety bridge that Rainbow had to fix. That means we’re almost there!”

Oh so that’s why the knots in the rope on one side of the bridge are different. I was curious about that the first time I saw this old bridge. As soon as we walk up to the ruins I can feel that ominous energy again. “Alright, stay close. That energy feels even stronger now than it did then. We’re going to be going to what used to be the throne room. That was the first section I found that led anywhere, but I also didn’t get to explore much.”

Before we even step foot into the throne room I pull out my Moonblade and my new Staff. I will absolutely not get caught lackin’. Our group seems to subconsciously tighten up and move closer to each other. When we enter the ruined throne room Nightmare pauses and stares at the shattered throne on the left, she seems lost in thought.

“You good?” I give her some ear scritches to snap her out of it.

“Yes. Sorry, it’s just been a while. This is actually where our initial fight broke out. Luna snapped and the expulsion of mana as I took over is what shattered that throne. I’m so curious as to what the source of this energy is. I agree with your initial observation, this does actually feel similar to my presence when I’m in my real body. Not exactly the same, but similar. You said you encountered the wraiths down the stairs?”

“Yeah as soon as I went down the stairs I came into a corridor with suits of armor along the walls. The wraiths were inside two of the suits of armor. Let’s move in deeper.”

We slowly made our way into the interior and traversed through the long and winding corridors. Nightmare pointed out the sister's old bedroom and then she mentioned something interesting. “Whenever we move to the West the energy gets stronger, I think it must be in the library. If I recall correctly the library was at the far western end of this section.”

As soon as she finished her statement there was a horrific sound, similar to nails on a chalkboard. It’s accompanied by an eerie high pitched screech that sounds like it’s right around the corner. Instantly our group pauses and takes a few steps back.

I assumed it was another pair of wraiths, but I was not prepared at all for what rounded the corner. Their shapes are similar to a wraith, but a wraith looks like it’s made of shadows and smoke. These things look like solid blobs of pitch black ink. Instead of dull golden eyes they have bright red eyes, and their fingers are like sharp blades. The sound of nails on the chalkboard was their sharp fingers literally shredding through the stone wall as it walked.

I hear a quiet whimper behind me and looking back I can see Twilight is shaking with her ears pinned back as she slowly takes another step backwards. “Sorry Twilight, but I think violence is gonna have to be our first resort here. Nightmare do you know if the moon is still up?”

“If it’s still up it won’t be for long. Minutes at most. Why?”

I take two large strides forward as I roll and crack my shoulders. Once I’m just a couple of feet away from the monsters I activate two features in the system at the same time.

Enable Real Time Combat.

Lunar Blessing.

There’s a sound that reminds me of a jet screaming across the sky, but this noise is straight above us and rapidly getting louder. An instant later there’s a slamming noise and the ceiling vibrates a bit as dust falls down all around us. Then I’m surrounded by the Moonbeam and the Wraiths screech and recoils back a few feet. This was a good test and I’m glad it works. The Moonbeam is going through the solid ground above me, but it’s not actually creating a hole in the ceiling. It’s just phasing straight through. Now that I know it works, let's turn it off for now. I need this hallway to be a bit darker.

As soon as the Moonbeam disperses I slip into my own Shadowy Form, thanks to the Boon of the Night Spirit. First my body turns into something similar to a cloud of black smoke and as I start zipping forward I activate Merge with Shadows and go completely invisible.

The super wraiths look around in confusion and within a second I’ve maneuvered around behind both of them. I re-activate the Lunar Blessing and swing my Moonblade at the same time towards the super wraith closest to Twilight and Nightmare. Channeling a level three smite just because I’m not sure how strong this thing actually is. Based on how it freaked out when the Moonbeam came down earlier I wouldn’t be surprised if it was vulnerable to Radiant damage.

My theory seems to be somewhat correct as the entire backside of this creature gets covered in silver holy flames as the Moonbeam burns into it. Before it can even react to that the Moonblade is glowing brightly as I slice into it diagonally. The sword goes several inches into the creature's body and then the smite kicks in and the hallway is filled with a loud crack of power. The monster seems to explode as the area where the blade was buried is surrounded with a one foot wide glowing white orb that flashes and explodes.

Pulling the blade back I stare at the wound on this thing and am mildly impressed with myself. Its right arm is gone and its torso is looking like the Apple logo from where the smite just deleted part of its body. After about a tenth of a second I remember I’m in real time combat mode and start to wind up several slashes to just tear into this thing and hopefully kill it before it can attack me back.

With the elegance of a swordsman that trained for 60+ years my arm moves in a blur as the creature is assaulted with several slashes. After the final slash I go back into my Shadowy Form and zip in between the two super wraiths so that I’m back to where I was to begin with, standing between the two monsters and my two party members.

Once I re-emerge from the shadowy form I watch as the aberration I just sliced apart like butter starts to look like it’s melting and pieces of it just fall off. The outer edge of its body almost looks like it’s dripping onto the floor as it loses more and more of its shade. Assuming it's at least immobilized for now I turn my attention towards the second monster. Unfortunately it’s much quicker on the draw than its friend.

As soon as I turn to look at it I’m startled to see it already lunging at me. I raise up my sword in an attempt to block but I’m just barely too slow. “SHIELD.”

Activating my Shield in a panic I watch with an even higher spike of fear as the inky arm just goes straight through the shield. The shield doesn’t shatter, it's more like it just ignored the shield altogether. A thousand thoughts race through my mind about how I can defend against this without dodging and leaving Twilight or Nightmare vulnerable, but no solution reaches my mind fast enough.

One of my eyes closes in pain as I feel a sharp pain in my gut and a chilling coldness starts to spread from the point of impact. My confusion starts to grow when I don’t see my hit points go down even though it’s clearly impaled me. The confusion quickly morphs into a frenzied panic as I realize that the chilling cold feeling is spreading even further throughout my body.

Constitution Saving Throw

12 + 2 = 14.

Darkness starts to creep into the edge of my vision and I drop to one knee. “What the fuck is happening?!” My body won’t respond to me, but there’s no status effect message. Everything in me is screaming that this is really bad, but my hit points are still untouched.

I watch as a line is drawn through the Lunar Blessing and then another line crosses out my new subclass. Silver glowing lines start to run through the monster's body that seem to pulse and grow. It’s absorbing my divine connection?! “HELP! IT’S ABSORBING MY DIVINE ENERGY, I CAN Feel my con….connection…slipping…”

A bright purple beam crashes into the monster and it’s flung away from me, crashing into the wall a few feet away. Next I feel a pair of legs grab me and yank me backwards. Now that I’ve been pulled back I can see that Twilight is unleashing burst after burst of magic at the creature that is currently buried into the far wall. Nightmare’s mouth is moving but I can’t hear her.

I feel so weak, but the system isn’t indicating anything besides the loss of most of my paladin features.

Suddenly Twilight is launched backwards and she slides bounces across the floor before sliding to a stop next to me. She was hit by a silver beam… the wraith just fired back at her with the energy it took from me.

Mustering all of my willpower and screaming with effort I manage to rise to my feet. I grab the Staff and point the tip towards the Divine Empowered Wraith and the still melting, half dead wraith. Fuck this. “FIREBALL!”

I use the staff’s ability to cast Fireball at 7th level and my hearing finally returns to me as I hear Nightmare yelling in my ear. “You can’t use that spell here Ignis! The corridor is too narrow. You might even collapse the entire ceiling and kill us all!”

“I didn’t ask how big the corridor is. I said. I CAST FIREBALL!”

The 7th level Fireball instantly grows to its normal size and takes up the entire hallway. One second later it compresses down and launches, screaming towards the monsters. This might be really stupid but all of my instincts are telling me this thing has to die, NOW.

12d6 = 49 Fire Damage.

The spell explodes a few feet away as it crashes into the wraiths and instantly I’m blown backwards. Landing on my back I see Twilight and Nightmare also prone on the ground.

Luckily the ruins didn’t collapse and as soon as the smoke clears I can see the half dead wraith is now nothing but a puddle. The wraith that stole my power looks much worse for wear as the entire left side of its body looks like it’s starting to melt as well. Pulling myself up onto my knees I’m panting with heavy breaths as I lean against my staff and point my Moonblade at the creature.

It lets loose an ear piercing scream and then turns and bolts away from us, running away in the direction it came from.

“NO! Get back here you fucker and return what you stole!” I attempt to rise to my feet and chase after it but after only one step I stagger back down onto one knee and almost collapse.

This is bad.

Author's Note

Uh oh spaghetti o's. What is this strange creature capable of stealing divinity? Hmm... Find out next time on Dragon Ba- wait wrong show.

Just to be clear he still has his Paladin levels and his standard level 1 and level 2 paladin abilities. Right now the only thing that's been crossed out from his feature list is the Lunar Blessing and the title "The Nights' Chosen"

If anyone can guess what these wraiths and the ominous energy are related to I'll give you a cookie. You won't have to wait too long to find out though, next chapter I think most of you will figure out what's going on even if I don't specifically spell out what's going on.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 4

I hear a feminine groan of pain and look back to see Nightmare standing up, shaking her head to clear the mental haze. Twilight is still unmoving but I can see that she’s breathing. Slowly moving over to the unicorn I hover a hand over her and cast Cure Wounds at 3rd level.

6d8 + 2 = 32 Hit Points.

A sigh of relief floats out of me when I see her eyes flutter open. “What happened? Did we get it?”

“No, one of them perished but the one that did whatever this is to me got away. How are you feeling? Can you move?”

“I feel fine, just a bit dazed. What about you? You look very pale.”

“I’m most definitely not fine, but I also don’t know what’s wrong.” Turning my gaze and shifting my attention to my companion I continue. “Nightmare you need to get out of here.”

“Excuse me? I know in a conflict I’m not of much use in this form, but to send me away entirely is just disrespectful!”

“No you don’t understand, Nightmare. If this thing simply drained the divine energy from me I wouldn’t be this…affected. Divine energy replenishes just like mana. It’s almost like it robbed me of the literal connection or maybe even… a piece of my soul? I shouldn’t be on the verge of collapse just from what it did, but my entire body is cold. It feels more like I’ve been drained of my blood. That means you specifically are in danger. If it had gotten ahold of you instead of me? I can’t even imagine what it would’ve been able to do. You have to get out of here!”

The pegasus looks a bit pensive for a moment until she clicks her tongue in annoyance. “You’re right. I know you’re right, but I hate this feeling of being useless.” Moonie turns towards the exit and before she leaves she gives her first ever order. “Just remember. You’re the Nights’ Chosen, not Lunas Chosen, so I expect you to listen when I order you to stay alive.”

She takes off down the hall with a frustrated look before I can even acknowledge what just happened. I guess she’s technically right. The connection only truly established once she and Luna acknowledged me. Looking back towards Twilight I’m surprised to see her ears are pinned back and she has a look I can’t quite figure out.

“I suppose you’re going to try and tell me to escape too?”

“No, Twilight. I’m not foolish enough to pretend I can do this alone. I was going to ask if you felt comfortable pursuing this thing with me. If you don’t think you can handle it then I won’t pressure you, but I could really use the assist.”

“Why do we have to pursue it? Shouldn’t we regroup and come back with reinforcements? We still don’t even know what we’re truly dealing with here. What if there’s more of those things?”

“I don’t think I have time to retreat and come back. I don’t know for sure, but I really feel like I’m dying right now. I need to track that thing down and get back what it stole from me. Are you in or not?”

She seems very hesitant as she thinks for several seconds. I’m just about ready to tell her she can go, but suddenly her face hardens to a look of resolve. “I can’t turn away from a friend in need. I’ll admit that that creature terrifies me, but I managed to blast it once. I can do it again.”

We all ascended into alicorns through one way or another. Twilight will do the same, assuming does not get led astray from the path she’s on. Twilight is my successor. Hmph, guess ole Sunbutt really does have a way to sniff out talent. Not bad, Celly.

“Atta girl. Alright now I need to figure out how to temporarily fix whatever is happening to me. My body won’t move the way I want it to.”

In the fight against Chrysalis I was able to move faster than I’ve ever moved before and even to this day I haven’t surpassed that. How did I do it? I forcefully channeled all of my mana into my muscles and veins. I remember the pressure, it felt like I was a tube of toothpaste getting squeezed.

I should be able to do that again, but to a much lesser degree. Closing my eyes I completely stop suppressing my mana. I need it to run wild. Observe how it circulates and flows, expand the pathways just a bit and force a higher volume through. I don’t need to break the sound barrier I just need. TO. MOVE!

I watch and Twilight gasps in surprise as an extremely soft and dim silver glow starts to emit from my body. Ever so slowly I can feel my body coming back online as I stand up properly and stop leaning against my staff. Clenching and releasing my hand a few times to get a feel for how my body responds in this state, my confidence returns. “Alright, let’s go kill this thing.”

“What’s happening to you? The way you’re glowing it’s almost like…a horn?” The unicorn moves and bit closer and inspects my arm.

“I’m forcibly expanding my mana circuits and imbuing a bit of mana into my muscles. I did something similar at the Summit, but back then I overdid it completely and it tore my body apart. My circuits were apparently quite damaged as well. Right now though I think this is the only way I can move normally. I might actually be a smidge stronger and faster than normal.”

“That’s so interesting! That’s the same thing Earth Ponies do to augment their strength and vitality, but for them it’s always happening to a certain degree. They simply just “turn up the intensity” as it were. You might be more similar to us than anypony realizes.”

“I appreciate scientific discoveries just as much as the next guy, but we gotta focus up here Twilight. Let’s move. I don’t know how long I can maintain this.”

“Right. You’re right. Focus Twilight Sparkle, this is a dangerous situation, you can do this.” That’s an adorable pep talk.

Once she finishes her little pep talk she gives me a serious look and small nod. I take that to mean “lead the way” and start to move in the direction the wraith went. Nightmare said west so we’ll go west. Maybe Luna wasn’t being paranoid…

Eventually the ominous feeling was almost suffocating and around that same time we spotted blotches of black ink on the ground, almost like the wraith is bleeding. Turning the corner we spot the thing a few feet away from a doorway that seems to lead into the library Nightmare was talking about. Unfortunately, maintaining this mana flow to allow my body to move normally also means my mana is unsuppressed. The wraith notices us before I can even start to formulate a plan to sneak up on it.

Bladesong. Haste.

A series of notes ring out from a piano that sound almost as ominous as the feeling of this place. Wasting not even a second as soon as the buffs are on I launch myself at the monster. The same instant my feet push off the ground Twilight’s horn ignites. The monster holds up its inky clawed hand and fires another beam of silver light at me. Attacking me with my own power, what a joke.

Unfortunately for the monster Twilight is seemingly much more creative with magic than the other spellcasters I’ve fought with. As soon as the beam leaves the monster a dark pink orb forms around the creature's arm and the wraiths own magic attack explodes before it can even fly through the air. The thing screeches in pain and yanks itself backwards revealing half of its arm is just gone.

I am deeply impressed by that move. The creature stops looking at its stumpy arm that’s dripping ink everywhere and raises its other arm as if it’s going to make a slash at me. Sucks for it though because I’m already on it. As soon as its head tilts up to focus on the fight again the first thing it sees is an emerald edge inches away from it. Haste don’t fuck around.

Divine Smite. Level 6.

I dump everything I have on this first swing hoping to end this as quickly as possible. The blade flashes with an intense bright light and the air seems to scream as the blade cuts through it on the way to the intended target.

My attack connects perfectly as I slash down vertically. The edge of the sword slices through the top of the wraiths head and almost completely bisects the creature in half. The two halves of the monster's head and torso fall in opposite directions and inky tendrils start to shoot out from the bisected areas. It’s attempting to pull itself back together?!

That’s when the Smite hits. The sword, still embedded about 3/4th's of the way down the monster, starts to let off smoke as a sizzling noise rings out in the air. An instant later a ball of blinding light shoots out beams of radiant energy in every direction, it's almost like the monster has a holy disco ball embedded in it. It sounds as if space itself is being torn as the ball detonates and the ink-like substance is splattered everywhere.

Wiping the goop off my face I’m shocked to see that the wraith has managed to start putting itself back together. It’s much smaller than it was previously, but it still has the thick pulsing silver lines of divine energy all over its body. The creature is pitiful as it slowly moves across the ground towards the library doorway. The screeches of intimidation and pain it was releasing is now more akin to a whimper.

I start to slowly walk towards the retreating monster as it reaches the doorway and pushes the doors open. The sight of this supposed library causes me to pause. There’s small, thin, black vines with a very light shade of blue colored spikes protruding all over. The vines are coming in through the floor on the far side of the room and they’ve covered the walls, bookcases, and ceiling of nearly half the room.

The wraith reaches out towards the vines with an inky tendril and my eyes widen as all of the silver divine energy retreats from the monster's body, and emerges from the tendril. The energy is slowly moving through the air towards the collection of vines.

“Oh no you don’t!” I’m not sure if it’s trying to connect with the vines to regenerate its body or if it's going to give my energy to the vines. Either way I don’t intend to find out. Casting Misty Step I teleport directly in front of the glowing silver energy moving through the air. Before anything can react I move my hand like lightning and grab the glowing energy.

Almost instantly I can feel power surging back into me. The wraith's whimpers turn into one last screeching cry as steam starts to rise from its body, and it slowly melts. The more energy I take back the more it melts. I let out a sigh of relief as the monster finally turns into a puddle and my body feels like everything has returned to normal. My Lunar Blessing and my Nights’ Chosen subclass are no longer crossed out.

Before I can celebrate though my focus snaps towards Twilight as I hear her yell out my name. “IGNIS! Behind you!”

Glancing behind myself I panic as several vines have started squirming and moving and now they’re darting through the air at me. Thankfully that wraith died so fast I still have around 36 seconds left on my Bladesong and Haste. Turning around to face the vines while dashing away from them I raise the Moonblade into the air and start to spin the blade in front of me like an airplane propeller. “Green-Flame Blade.”

All the vines that were dashing towards me are shredded into nothingness as they attempt to pass through the whirling blade of fiery death I’ve put between them and me. Finally the attacking vines retreat and seem to calm down, but every other vine in the room is still slightly squirming in place.

Ceasing the spinning blade technique I continue to slowly step backwards, away from the vines and back towards Twilight. It’s only then that I notice in the middle of the wall on the far side of the room, there’s a dark black ball of shadowy smoke. It looks like it’s being held against the wall by the vines. As soon as I eviscerated the vines that were attacking me that shadowy ball started to shake and bounce around.

My first thought is that the ball must be the heart of the magical vines, but the more I look at it… the more I realize it’s a prisoner. It’s trapped in place between the vines and the wall and it’s trying to escape. I bite my lip as I consider helping the strange shadow core.

After a few seconds I decide to not judge a book by its cover, and elect to free the core. I point my empty hand towards the vines and flex my hand wide open. I send out a small gathering of mana to grab the vines and as soon as the mana is close enough I squeeze my hand into a fist and clench, hard. The vines glow silver for a second and I wrench my hand through the air as if I’m grabbing a fistful of the vines and tearing them away from the wall.

With much less resistance than I was expecting, the vines are torn away from the wall via telekinesis. It creates a hole in the wall of vines just big enough for the shadowy ball to dart out and away from its prison cell. I watch with an abundance of caution as the ball of black smoke flies through the air towards me.

It stops just a foot or so away and bobs up and down for a second, as if it’s eyeing me up. After that it flies around my body a few times in different diagonal patterns, and I just awkwardly shift around and look over my shoulders to track it as it continues to flit about. Eventually it stops in front of me and for a few seconds nothing happens.

“What the heck is that thing? Are you sure freeing it was a good idea?” Twilight breaks the silence and questions my decision from the hallway.

Half way turning around so I can look at Twilight. “I have no clue, and no I’m not sure. I know from first hand experience though how it feels to be immediately written off as a monster or some kind of evil creature. I felt like if I just assumed its true nature from my first glance at it that I’d be a huge hypocrite, so I freed it.”

Turning back towards the shadowy ball I’m a bit startled to see it just inches from my face. It seems to have reacted in some way to my words. Before I can even think about what to say or do next the shadow core zips through the air a few feet away from me, and flies back towards me at a speed much faster than I can react to.

All I can do is let a tiny gasp in surprise at the sudden turn of events before the orb flies into my chest and sinks into me, disappearing. “Woah! What the fuck?! Get out get out get out!”

After a few seconds of panic I realize nothing has happened. No saving throw, no status changes. In response to my panic there’s a warmth in my chest. It’s almost…comforting? Is this thing trying to say it’s friendly? “Listen you might be chill, but you still gotta get consent before you just go inside someone!”

“Ew! Ignis, phrasing, please!”

“Oh please, what are you, 12? Get your scientific method lookin head-ass out of the gutter.” I totally phrased it like that on purpose. I didn’t think she’d have such a sheltered reaction to it though. In hindsight I should’ve expected her to be somewhat sheltered. “Seriously though, shadow ball thing, can you at least communicate with me here? What the fuck is going on?”

That same comforting warmth radiates throughout my chest and I just sigh and slouch over. “Alright whatever, just don’t do anything weird.” If the thing acts up I’ll just cast Dispel Evil and Good and force the thing to be expelled.

After a few minutes of talking with Twilight about what we should do from here I decide to go ahead and tell Nightmare she can come back down if she wants.

Yo Moonie, you’re clear to come back down. Wraith is taken care of. I’d stay away from the library though there’s these weird spiky vines the wraith was trying to give my divine energy to.

And what of your condition? Has your body returned to normal?

Yeah I’m good. I teleported between my energy and the vines and intercepted that shit back to where it belongs. Twilight and I will start heading back your way, we can meet halfway and keep exploring.

Why? It sounds like those vines are the source of the ominous feeling, and if you don’t want to interact with them then our mission here is done. I’d rather just go back to Canterlot and get some sleep.

Well Twilight did kinda save me, so I couldn’t really say no when she asked if we could keep exploring for artifacts.

I just chuckle as I hear a telepathic sigh. “Okay yeah she’s coming down, let’s head back towards the exit and we can meet her halfway.”

While we’re walking Twilight says something that seems slightly concerning. “Ignis, did you notice that the ominous feeling is completely gone now?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah. You think the presence went away since we killed all the wraiths? Maybe without any defenders it’s choosing to conceal its presence now?”

“Plausible, but it’s hard to say.”

“What’s plausible?” Nightmare joins the conversation from around the corner.

“We’re wondering if the ominous fee-” Twilight suddenly stops speaking and her eyes widen in fear. “I have to go, the Princess is summoning the elements to Canterlot.”

Before either Nightmare or I can ask for more information the unicorn teleports away, cause me and my companion to just look at each other in confusion. “Let me contact Luna. If something has happened in Canterlot I think it’d be we-”

This time I’m the one suddenly interrupted.

Ignis! I’ve been trying to contact you for nearly 10 minutes! Place a hand on Nightmare, now. I’m teleporting both of you back, something terrible has happened.

“What?!” I put my hand on Nightmare as I reply out loud and in my head. “What’s going on Luna?” It seems like that wraith really did steal more than just divine energy from me if Luna couldn't contact me.

Luna’s reply is the last thing I hear as everything flashes white and we’re pulled through space back to Canterlot.

Discord has returned.

Author's Note

Aw shiet it's time for the chaos monster to turn the world upside down. Hopefully now it's a bit more obvious what was going on with those wraiths, but I still left a decent bit up in the air for now. Well up in the air for you guys, I know what's gunna happen of course. If someone presses me in the comments about it or speculates something that ends up being pretty accurate I might spoil a bit of the near future in my reply. I aint saying shit about the shadow core though, that one needs to stew properly.

I realized this chapter that a lot of my Equestria magic fights are just beam attacks and really fancy beam attacks, so I tried to let Twilight be more creative with her applications of mana.

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 5

I don’t know what I was expecting to see once the flash of light from teleportation cleared out of my vision. I know that you could give me one billion guesses and I would not have guessed this. Glass clouds raining down soda, buildings floating in the air, and I’m sure there’s more but that’s all I can see through the window in the throne room. What the hell is this? “Alright sister, Ignis and Nightmare have returned. Any word on your student? We need the elements as soon as possible.”

“Spike said she still hadn’t returned from the Everfree so I used Sending to contact her. She’s currently gathering the other elements and then they’ll be on their way. Although with how far we are from Ponyville it’ll be a few hours. Even if they left on the next train out.”

“Why not just teleport them here? Surely you have the mana?” Luna asks, genuinely confused. If I didn’t know any better I’d think she’s like five seconds away from insulting Celly.

“I can’t. Wait, you were able to teleport Ignis? Quick you need to bring Twilight and the others here, now!”

“Ah ah ah, how could I have forgotten about dear Luna? I’m afraid neither of you will be able to assist the element bearers. I want some time to really stretch my bones before I play with those six. Seriously, you all wouldn’t believe how stiff my back was!” Some mysterious voice fills the entire throne room with cackling. Luna’s horn ignites but with a loud popping sound her horn just shoots confetti and she winces as if the spell backfired. I might really be out of my depth here.

Suddenly an amalgamation of creatures appears in the air before flying down and coiling around Nightmare. “And what do we have here? You’re that little ball of resentment and envy aren’t you? Why, the last time I saw you, you were barely a whisper in the back of dear Luna's mind. They truly do grow up so fast.”

Any lingering thoughts of fear are stomped in an instant. Watching this creature coil himself around the mare, my mare has me seeing red. I reach out with my telekinesis and grab the villain with a giant hand of mana, as if I was picking up a garden snake in my backyard. It works for a second and the creature is pulled away from Nightmare. After that though the creature just slips out of the grasp like he’s covered in oil.

“And then there’s you. The one that shouldn’t even be here. I have to admit that I am a fan of some of your work, you could truly be my rival in a few hundred thousand years or so. Anyone who manages to make that old hag, hiding away in her own private dimension, angry is really someone that I respect. Unfortunately for you, you annoy me as well.”

Suddenly the thing flies behind me and puts his head right next to mine as he throws his arm around me. “There are very few that can wield Chaos magic in this world, bladesinger. The number of them that can wield it without my blessing is even lower. It’s zero in fact. So, imagine my surprise when one of the first things I see when I sober up from being stoned is some nobody attempting to control and organize the same magic that I wield. Then there’s the fact that you’re a bladesinger even though I am sure I wiped those annoying pests from existence eons ago. You are truly a perplexing existence.”

“What are you even talking about? The only magic I wield is Equestrian magic, through mana, and my own magic that I brought from my homeland. I’ve never heard of this “Chaos” magic you speak of.”

“Oh really? Well I don’t think you're lying, so it seems you just don’t know. Hmm, should I waste my time explaining it?” Suddenly the creature turns into a flat two dimensional picasso art, and lays down as if someone drew him onto the floor of the throne room. “I suppose you should at least understand the reason I dislike you. It’s this book you have here.”

I feel a weight unclick from my back and my confusion grows even more as my spellbook floats through the air. “It’s this blasted thing right here. It’s constantly producing Chaos magic and polluting the air around you with it. Just watching you use my magic makes me want to retch. You reach into the Chaos and do some stupid hand movements, you chant some words, and then throw it something inane like a leaf from a yew tree. Somehow all of those random things combined folds and morphs my magic into a spell.”

My eyes widen and it feels like my heart is in my throat as the spellbook catches on fire. “I wouldn’t even be upset if that was all there was to it. You look like an insane creature when pulling and folding my magic, and it honestly is right on brand with what I would expect. But no, the thing that really irks me is that the magic does exactly what you were expecting it to do. This magic is not meant to be ordered or tamed. It’s not a plaything for you to use and throw out little sparks of fire.”

The creature pauses and looks at the spellbook, confused. He rises out of the floor and sticks one of his fingers from his thin chicken-like arm into his mouth and blows air into it. Popping and expanding back into his original three dimensional form. He continues to stare at the spellbook. I’d go as far as to say he’s perplexed. “Why isn’t this accursed item turning to ash?”

There’s a bead of sweat on his face now as he strains while pointing at the book. “How can this be? For me to be completely unable to even scuff this artifact it must’ve been created by someone extremely powerful. Certainly no one from this harmonized dump.”

The fire goes out and the book drops to the ground. Like a child bored with his toy he just scoffs and walks away while humming deep in thought. Honestly for all the feats he’s pulled off he doesn’t really seem that intimidating. He doesn’t even really have a presence to him. If he’s just gunna turn his back to me like this, why not take advantage of it? Let’s see what he can really do.

Luckily for me, we’re in the throne room. I have one of my ambush Glyphs of Warding here. Shame I used my 6th level spell slot against the Wraith though, I had something I wanted to try. Okay 5th Level, “Ashardalon’s Stride!”

Speed: +30ft. 60ft total.

Now I don’t provoke opportunity attacks and I deal fire damage whenever I move close to someone.

Bladesong. +10ft. 70ft total. 23 AC.

Now the conditions for the Glyph I’m standing on are met. If I’m concentrating on a spell and using a bladesong while standing on this glyph, activate. The 10ft wide magical pattern suddenly appears and glows bright white. I feel the burst of speed hit me as the glyph casts the buffing spell on me.

Haste. Speed: 140ft. 25 AC.

All of this happens within a fraction of a second of each other. Fire engulfs my feet and spreads out in an intricate design that climbs my calves. The aura from the bladesong encases me then the glyph glows bright and casts Haste. “Disable Real-Time Combat.”

If this guy is as powerful as they say he is then I need the system. The chimera-esque monster is still seemingly unaware of my intent to attack, so with no hesitation I launch myself at Discord.

Roll for Initiative. (A/N: If you want the true experience, stop at 1:57, I’m very descriptive during this next part so our progress through the bladesong is very slow compared to real time. 1:57 is where the bladesong ends in story though. If it’s too much trouble then maybe just listen to the song without reading until 1:57 then come back.)

13 + 5 = 18.

As soon as the dice disappears and time resumes I move like a blur through the air. Once I reach him I activate Lunar Blessing, and become engulfed in the Moonbeam. Then I swing the Moonblade straight at his back.

Unfortunately right before I get close enough to him for my Stride or Moonbeam to damage him he pops out of existence and I swing at the air. Landing on one foot I almost carry too much forward momentum and lose balance. Hopping around on one foot for a second I finally catch myself. I put so much of my body into the swing I was not prepared to just swing at air.

I hear a familiar popping sound behind me and quickly pivot to face the sound. The asshole is just floating in the air on his back as if he’s laying in a lounge chair by the pool. He’s even got sunglasses on while reading an upside down book. “My my, so violent. I’m a bit surprised though, they said your song was quite pitiful, but that’s not bad. I definitely saw worse forms when I tore through their hidden fortress.”

Without waiting I just swing again at him. How is this fucker doing things when it’s still my turn? This time the blade is arcing through the air as I jump and swing straight down at his body. When I’m still a second away from hitting him I watch him snap his fingers on his chicken hand, and then look at his hand with confusion.

13 + 11 = 24.

This time there is no teleportation or blinking, the sword strikes true. At least it looked like it struck true. As soon as the blade made contact my entire Moonblade just went limp like it’s a pool noodle instead of a sword, and the blade just slaps him and bends around his body a bit. Seriously what the fuck is this guy? What am I supposed to do against this?!

“That’s interesting. How have you managed to restrict me? I tried turning into a bunch of springy snakes you find in a prank can of peanut brittle, but nothing seems to happen. You are becoming more and more interesting by the second.”

In a panic I land and push myself backwards away from the creature. As soon as my blade stops touching him it snaps back to its normal shape and returns to normal. I’ve used my Haste action and half of my Attack action. I can still cast a cantrip with Extra Attack and then recast it with my Bonus Action. Let’s try and keep our distance and see if my spells fare any better.

Channeling energy into the staff in my left hand since it’s now my spellcasting focus, I cast fire bolt. “Ignis!”

19 + 11 = 30.

Discord just yawns and looks at his wrist where a watch would be if he had one. Then he starts to contort his body into an O shape to dodge the Fire Bolt, but the magical attack just curves mid air and slams into him.

23 Fire Damage. Damage Mitigated.

The spell lands and I internally celebrate but then it’s his coat…it just ripples a bit and there’s no mini explosion. The Fire Bolt is just gone. Does he have that status where he’s immune to spells under a certain level? I think it’s usually level 6 right? Oh fuck me.

“There’s still plenty of time, I suppose I can play with you.” His face seems to turn just a bit serious after being unable to dodge the Fire Bolt, and his voice has a bit of hostility to it. He snaps his claws again, and nothing happens. “This is starting to get on my nerves! Why can’t I use my magic?”

“Ehh, it’s still not your turn, dipshit.” The illusionist bracers light up and hum, indicating they’re ready for me to use Fire Bolt again with my bonus action. This time I project three Strengthen runes in front of the staff and as the spell casts I push out and channel as much mana as I can into the staff so that the spells can combine. I’ve done this before but I don’t think I’ve ever done it with more than one Strengthen rune.

20 + 11 = 31. Natural 20.

Discord holds up his hand with one claw extended, it reminds of the pose a nerd takes when he says, Uhm Ackshually. “That’s adorable. You can’t combine those two types of mag- WHAT?!” Before he can finish saying whatever nonsense he was going to say he’s interrupted by the triple Strengthened Fire Bolt. It roars through the air, nearly the size of a Fireball and nails the fucker right in his face.

21 + 30 + ??? = ??E?ror? Fire Damage.

Oh right the system still doesn’t really know how to handle the combination mana attacks. It doesn’t matter though because the spell releases a glass shattering explosion on impact that feels like it’s shaking the entire room. The smoke instantly clears and Discord is just floating there in the exact same pose, but his extended claw is halfway bent instead of fully extended.

His entire face is covered in black soot and all the features on his face are pointed backwards, like he stuck his face into a 300mph wind tunnel. He literally looks like a looney toons character when a bomb goes off in their face. Discord shakes his head a couple of times and all the soot clears away, but when he stops the shaking all of his facial features are shifted around. His mouth is under his eyebrows and his eyes are sideways. Is this dude really just gunna treat everything like a joke?

“I must say, I don’t appreciate your constant attacks on me.” He grabs his face and spins his head around so fast it’s a blur. His head is doing full 360 degree rotations, his neck should be completely shattered. The spinning stops and his face is back to normal. “I get it, you’re just under a lot of stress~. Why don’t I help you out and lighten the load?”

Discord snaps his claws again and my body feels a lot lighter. In fact, it’s too light. Without warning I do a flip and float in the air upside down, and my body starts shooting towards the ceiling. He didn’t make me levitate, he reversed gravity! Specifically for just me!

Just when I start to think that’s all he did I’m suddenly falling towards the eastern wall of the throne room. Then up towards the ceiling again. Then towards the northern wall. Everytime the direction of gravity changes my body flips around against my will and I very quickly become disorientated. My Lunar Blessing deactivates and the Moonbeam disperses.

“Discord! Put him down this instant!” Out of everyone here I did not expect Celestia to be the one to call out to him and tell him to stop. Everything is a bit blurry and I’m dizzy but I think I see Luna giving her a confused look. I agree with Luna’s look, I don’t know why Celly said anything. This guy isn’t going to listen to her.

“No can do, Sunny! That spell is for a set amount of time I’m afraid, I can’t stop it now even if I wanted to. Which, I don’t, for the record.” A light bulb appears over his head. “Oh! I know! I’ll give him something he can use as an anchor!”

With another snap of his claws I watch in horror as all the pews, benches, potted plants, and even the throne starts to float in the air and they all angle themselves towards me. An instant later they all start flying at me at alarming rates of speed.

“Feather Fall!” Thinking quickly I cast feather fall, and now even though the direction of gravity keeps shifting my body is rotating and falling much slower. Let’s put this 140ft of movement to use.

Acrobatics (Advantage - Bladesong)

5 and 18. 18 + 9 = 27.

The first pew is just about in striking distance and I reach out with my hand towards it. “I want to talk to you about violence in our cities.” It’s a bit awkward since I’m still holding the Moonblade, but I’m able to use my fingers to push myself up in the air a bit. That’s enough for me to tuck my legs in and start to run along the top of the pew as it flies under me.

Intelligence Saving Throw

19 + 9 = 28.

Jumping off the pew I curve my body and do a sideways somersault. A potted plant flies through the C I formed with my body. Time seems to slow down as I’m turning in the air and my brain starts to think at light speed.

East, Up, North, Down, West, and South. That’s the exact order the direction of gravity shifts. If I want to counteract the force I just need to use the incoming objects to push myself in the opposite direction of whatever the gravity is about to be, as it changes. If that’s the case I need to push myself West, Down, South, Up, East, and North every half a second or so. If I’m going to move in those directions in that order…

I watch as hundreds of imaginary lines draw themselves in the air and bounce around between the obstacles flying at me. From an outside perspective it probably looks like I’m glancing around in every direction very quickly and erratically.

That path! That should work. All the paths disappear except the one I focused in on. If I want to make my way back down into striking distance of Discord then that’s the path I have to take. Bouncing, pushing, and jumping off those pews and benches in that order will move me in those directions and I can get back down there.

“I will use whatever force is necessary to restore order.”

Time flows normally again as I say the line, and like a bullet I’m off. Jumping, twisting and turning to jump again, and pushing with my hands I bounce around the objects like a bouncy ball in a narrow pathway. With every obstacle I use I get closer and closer to the ground. Finally Discord is close enough that I close the distance.

“Steel Wind Strike.”

I flourish my Moonblade as I jump off the large throne and vanish into the wind. Instead of bouncing, now I’m teleporting to four different obstacles so that I can get within 30ft of the Chaos monster. Within a fraction of a second I chain together multiple blinks, cutting the last four obstacles in my path and finally I blink into the serpent like creature.

15 + 11 = 26.

As I slice through space I feel a slight resistance indicating my blade definitely hit something. I reappear behind Discord, finally back on solid ground, and instantly turn around. Ready to pounce at him again for a follow up attack, but I pause, shocked at the sight before me. Where discord once was there’s now a cardboard cutout of him looking up with his paw and hand on his face. He’s making an exaggerated shocked face. As soon as I turn around a line appears on the next of the cutout and his cardboard head falls to the ground.

The sound of a slow clap rings out in the mess of a throne room. “I have to thank you for telling me that it wasn’t my turn earlier. Thanks to that I’m slowly figuring you out. If I want to do something when it’s your “turn” I can only perform a single reaction. When it’s my turn I can only do two or three things before it’s your turn again. That’s so very… structured. Organized. I detest it.”

Before I can even reply, all of the anti-gravity magic he applied to the objects in the room comes to an end and they start to fall back down towards us. Initially I think nothing of it, I can dodge this debris just as easily now as I could before. Then it hits me. Luna, Nightmare, and Celestia are here too. It probably won’t kill either of the alicorns and Nightmare is currently just a summon. But, even they would be a bit hurt if hundreds of pounds of weight piled on top of them.

Looking around in a panic as all of my spells run through my mind. I’m out of 5th and 6th level spells. What about the Mizzium? What spells can I cast with it?! I’m blanking, damnit! I watch as Celestia and Luna ignite their horns only for them to spark and blast confetti again.

There’s no time. I drop the Moonblade and the Staff onto the ground and thrust both my hands up into the air. I’ll just catch everything!

I’ll use the same concept I used when I pulled our camping supplies in the Undiscovered West when I first learned Telekinesis. My mana is hundreds of ropes, latch onto everything. Both hands glow bright silver and on instinct alone I launch hundreds of lines of mana through the air, sticking to every object in free fall.

My head hurts.

The weight is nothing compared to when I tried to stop Force, but the multitasking. It’s too many things at once. Move everything inwards, make it one big blob of objects instead of 80 or 90 separate objects.

It’s no good, I can’t move them, hell I can barely hold them. Just let them down slowly then, I can do that. Yeah I can do this.

I let out a sigh of relief as the objects gently start to come down from the air. Until I hear a pop in the air behind me. “Well well, since it looks like you’re a bit… tied up at the moment. That means I can tinker around with whatever this strange phenomenon is.”

“NO!” I hear Luna scream out and as I glance backwards to look at Discord with wide eyes, I feel it. A claw taps the back of my head, and my entire body goes stiff. Time stops.

“Oh that’s interesting. Hmm, I see, so that's how it works. What if I were to do….” He hums in thought as I can see his arms moving about wildly out of the corner of my eye. Then a searing pain lances out in my mind and I let out an involuntary scream.

-46 Hit Points: 36/82.

“...This. Oh that seems painful, here let me put that back. What if I do this instead?”

It feels like something cold is worming around in my head.

Wisdom Saving Throw

20 + 6 = 2—??

“That’s how it determines if something is successful? Oh I need to meet whoever designed this magic. That’s simply outstanding. I assume this 20 is good for you, yes?” For the first time in my life I feel a deep, primal, resonating fear as I watch his claw come into my field of view. He grabs the imaginary dice floating in my vision. And he turns it over to a 1.

1 + 6 = 7.

A strange feeling washes over me. Like everything around me is just dull and colorless, even my senses are dull.

System Failure.
System Failure. System Failure.
Syst- (A/N: This is the 1:57 part.)

My hit points and all of my buffed status messages disappear. My AC, my speed. The system is…gone?

This is the power of a true God? No wonder everything was a joke to him. He truly did nothing but play with us.

We never stood a chance.

Author's Note

Maybe I should've just downloaded the bladesong and re-uploaded it on a burner YT Channel and cut it so the song only had the first 1:57? Eh, that's a lot of work and it's not really a big deal.

Hopefully I did Discord justice? I've been dreading actually writing this character for a long time, but I think I managed to mostly keep his personality. I did tweak it a bit to fit the slightly darker and violent nature of my world vs canon though. I'm definitely really happy with his actions and magic though, that was a lot of fun to write.

Anyways, the next chapter might come out later tonight at the regular time. I'm feeling pretty motivated right now.

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 6

“You know, it’s not that I dislike you, elf. I simply wish you would stop changing Fate, but the more I observe and the more I ponder, I’ve come to realize that it’s like you’re doing these things on purpose. In fact most of the time you are doing what you consider to be just.”

One second I was in the throne room and time was paused. Discord did something to me and the system shut down. Now I’m here. In Harmony’s pocket realm. “The things you’ve set in motion are going to ruin all of us, unintentional or not. My most devoted though, she defended you. She suggested a change in perspective. “The things that have been done cannot be undone, and your book of Fate might suggest that the world will crumble to nothing. But have you considered that maybe, just maybe, if he’s the one that started all of this. Well, surely he can be the one to fix it, no?””

Harmony does a perfect imitation of Celestia’s voice. I didn’t think she’d do something like that for me. “I think she might be onto something. The book says everything is lost and all will turn to dust. But, you’ve already changed the book. Several times. If you’ve always acted in the name of good then surely you’ll continue to change it, and change it for the better. What’s done cannot be undone, so perhaps I should just support you. Support you and hope that you’ll continue to change Fate for the better and rewrite the ending you’ve set in this book.”

Finally it feels like I can move. I think she had me restrained so I wouldn’t interrupt her. “You know I actually thought about this after our last conversation and I remembered something. It’s not me and me alone that is changing fate. You see when I first came to this realm I went through something called a Tutorial. That tutorial was meant to give me a basic understanding of this strange and unique power I have, but the first thing the tutorial said to me is what piqued my interest.”

“Everything in this world is randomly decided, some call it Fate others name it Destiny. You’re able to slightly influence and bring visual representation of this greater power in the form of Dice.”

“When I roll the dice, that’s when Fate changes. If I had realized the implications of this earlier or maybe if you spoke to me before it was too late. Maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation right now. You’re right though. What’s been done cannot be undone. Honestly if my changing of Fate is what allowed this Discord guy to return then maybe you should’ve let me die at the hands of Nightmare Moon. He’s tough and I don’t know how we can beat him. He even circumvented this same power that allows me to change Fate. What are we supposed to do against that? Become his friend? You said you’ll support me right? So, how the fuck do we beat this thing?”

“If my little sunshine was here and she heard you use such vulgarity in my presence I think her mane might’ve caught on fire.” The semi-translucent alicorn lets out a small chuckle, despite how hopeless I feel about our current situation. “Come hither, let me show you my support.”

My feet feel like bricks as I slowly take step after step in this astral realm towards the Goddess. Once I reach her she shows me something I’ve never seen from her before, a smile. Her horn ignites. “Chaos might have razed my temple and slaughtered my army, but all of their training and their teachings is still within me. I will pass onto you all of the Bladesinger training that would have previously been impossible for you to receive. This still won’t give you the True Bladesong. In fact you’ve never truly used Songblade Harmony, even against Nightmare almost all of my causality was spent bringing you back from the precipice of death. All I could do was use the nearby elements to augment your bladesong. Empower all of the features you already had, but this? This should be much more of an improvement than what you’re used to. First let me help you with this, though.”

The alicorn leans down and touches the tip of her horn to the top of my head.

Rebooting…100%
System Online.

All of my statistics and statuses and spells roar to life again and I feel all of my energy and power surge up and swell. Then everything goes dark again.

Hundreds, no, thousands of memories and pages of words are flashing in my mind. It’s almost too much, I can feel the blood vessels in my head pulsing. Sword slashes by the hundreds of thousands, the clashing of steel a million times over. Streams of words and techniques flooding every neuron in my skull.

This goes on for what feels like years, but must’ve only been minutes in reality. When I return to the present the alicorn has a serious look on her face. “You won’t be able to use all of that information at once. In fact I have no clue which parts of it you’ll pick up instantly and which parts you’ll have to dig through your memories to find. Some might require you to be on the brink of death to understand them. Nonetheless, this should be immensely helpful to you. I have one last gift for you and then I’m afraid I must rest. This was too direct of an intervention and it’s consumed far too much of my power for the moment.”

Her horn flashes one more time.

Long Rest, simulated. Spell slots restored, class features restored, hit points recovered.

3rd Person POV

“Luna what are you doing?!” Celestia shouts as she chases her sister out of the castle and into downtown Canterlot.

“I’m getting him out of this city. If the elements are coming here then who knows what developments will happen here. The entire mountain should be evacuated!” Luna replies while carrying an unconscious elf on her back. Ignis is laying on his stomach, completely limp with his arms hanging off the sides of her body.

“Evacuated where?! Luna the entire world is like this! There is nowhere anypony can go to escape this chaos. We need to stay in the castle so we can prepare Twilight properly. Ignis can wait in the medical wing. Now please, come back to the castle Luna.”

The sisters continue to argue in the populated and panicked streets of Canterlot and the sight of their Princesses having lost their composure drives the ponies to even more panic. Discord meanwhile is just doing the backstroke through the air with a straw in his mouth, and everytime he floats past a cloud he sticks the straw in it and slurps it up. “Tia you don’t get it. Ignis cannot stay here. He can’t!”

“Why?! What puts him in any more danger than the rest of our ponies?”

“HE IS A BLADESINGER, TIA! Discord already wiped out the rest of them eons ago. What makes you think he’ll let Ignis just lay in bed and recover in the medical wing?! Every second he stays on this mountain is another second I risk losing him. And I will. Not. Lose. Him.”

Celestia just pauses, a bit slack jawed at her own lapse in judgment. She hadn’t even considered the fact that Discord might go out of his way to finish the job he thought he did back then. Luna huffs in annoyance and turns to continue running towards the exit path that leads down the mountain.

Before she can take too many steps though, something happens. The elf on her back starts to glow in a bright golden light. The color and life seems to return to his body and the elf starts to hover in the air, his eyes still closed.

Finally his long silver hair starts to whip about wildly as if caught in a tornado until all of that hair merges into one and becomes a silver ethereal cloud.

Just like Luna and Celestia.

His eyes open and there’s no iris, no pupil. The eyes are just pure white, emitting their own silver glow.

The elf slowly lifts up both of his arms and silently gazes at his hands as he clenches and unclenches them. Rotating them around to look at his palm and knuckles. Finally he fully extends his right arm and flicks it towards the ground.

Dust and dirt kick up as a whirlwind of pressure is flung from the force of his swing. Most of the ponies present are staring in awe and even Discord has paused his backstrokes as he looks at the elf in surprise. Luna calls out to the elf, “Ignis! I don’t know what happened but don’t be overconfident. You are still no match for Discord! We need to evacuate.”

Ignis slowly turns in the air and looks at Luna. “I don’t have to win. I just have to buy time.”

He unsheathes his Moonblade and turns towards Discord. Right before anything further happens he glances back towards Luna one more time.

“I love you. Now let me go do my job, as your paladin.”

The golden light finally dies down, but the ethereal hair remains. The golden glow is replaced with a silver aura, the same aura as his bladesong once he unlocked Song of Defence. Now though the aura extends out from the elf. Instead of hovering around his body and inch away it’s now more like a large cylinder. It extends out several inches in all directions from the elf.

“Symphony of Steel.”

What used to be a quiet melody that could be heard by those within a few feet of the bladesinger has turned into a concert. Clearly audible by anyone within a few thousand feet. A voice rings out but it’s not Ignis singing. The mana is singing. This was the next evolution of the Bladesong he had been searching for since the colosseum. He knew it involved mana but didn’t realize he needed to focus on the mana in the air instead of the mana in his body.

The billions of mana particles, invisible to the naked eye, needed to be stimulated. If you simply took the concept of your presence, which he had mastered suppression of, and instead expanded that presence. Place your song into your aura as you push against the world with your very being, and those natural mana particles will begin to vibrate. They harmonize and expand your senses. While the mana in the air is vibrating to your song you are attuned to it. The range of your senses, the capacity of your mana pool, it’s all empowered and expanded by the attuned mana in the air.

Ignis can currently sense the exact mana signature of every creature within 100ft of him. He can feel movements and spells up to 300ft away from himself. This is the true essence of the bladesong. When you harmonize with the world itself.

“Let’s try this one more time, Discord.”

“You really think this power up is enough for you to win? All you’ve done is cement the fact that I cannot allow you to exist in the world I want to live in.”

“I don’t know. I feel like I can do anything right now.”

Discord snaps his fingers and all of the lamp posts in the streets, the mailboxes, the park benches, they turn into all sorts of creatures. Timberwolves, manticores, giant insects, massive spiders.

The ponies that were watching in awe start to panic and scream and begin to run around aimlessly again as they watch the transformations take place.

“A state of chaos and disorder is upon us.”

Ignis snaps his own fingers and whispers out a phrase that vibrates out like a shock wave. All of the transformations never complete, they all stop prematurely and the objects return to normal. “Counterspell.”

“Will you take up arms?”

The ponies hear the words and see the power that’s been flexed before them and some of them even start to feel inspired. Guards that were previously directing traffic or hiding in shame start to step forward, feeling empowered.

“Will you help us make our last stand? The time is now. Let us be heard as we sing our way into battle.”

A roar of voices and battlecries can be heard spreading throughout the filled streets and alleys of Canterlot. An instant later and the elf disappears. He reappears directly above the draconequus and swings his Moonblade like lightning, aiming for the creature's neck.

The blade cuts through nothing but smoke as the Chaos God avoids the slash. Discord then performed his usual move and floated in the ethereal plane, where he could talk to the ponies and observe them, but they were none the wiser.

I thought we had a deal, Harmony. I put this brat in his place and you don’t meddle with my game I intend to play with the Elements? Discord thinks to himself as he continues to hide in the ethereal plane. He considers what he should do now. Since if he eliminates the bladesinger wouldn’t that still be doing what Harmony wants? He considers just teleporting the bladesinger to the other side of the planet and locking him in a nullstone prison cell.

All of Discord's thoughts come screeching to a halt when he watches the elf slowly turn and look straight at him. I didn’t think he had truly achieved the evolved bladesong, but if he can tell where I am then he truly has attuned to the mana. Discord is entirely right, since mana exists in the ethereal plane as well that plane is included in the radius of his senses.

In an instant the elf appears right in front of Discord and he smirks wondering what the elf thinks he can do. He might be able to tell where I am, but he still can’t do anything to me. He can’t cross the plane to even try and touch me.

Unfortunately for Discord, Ignis is a human. A human from a world without magic. This gives him the unique property of lacking common sense, he has no baseline for how magic should work. In his mind Ignis thinks, Well, if mana exists in both places at once at the same time then I should be able to do that too, no? If I’m attuned to the world then why can’t I just….

The bladesinger reaches forward with his empty off hand and wraps his fingers around the air. Then he simply snatches that arm to the right, as if he was ripping open a curtain. Ignis simply grasped the mana, which exists in both planes at the same time, and used their vibrations to reach between planes. He tears open the sky and exposes the draconequus.

Caught completely and utterly off guard at the absurd situation the monster was entirely unprepared to be grabbed by the same hand and yanked back into the material plane like a ragdoll. “Wha- You DARE?! Unhand me you barbarian!”

“I don’t have any levels in barbarian. I’m a wizard, Harry.”

While still grasping Discord as tightly as he can, he channels a level five smite into his hand.

That hand glows a bright silver and thunderclap of divine energy resonates within the chaotic creature's body. For the first time in a long time, he felt pain.

“No more playing games, then.” Discord mutters quietly and the words send a shiver up the elfs spine.

Quickly flying backwards away from the God, Ignis comes up with his next plan.

Ignis grabs his Staff of the Magi and channels its power to cast Fireball at 7th level. As the fire swirls and grows he decides to try something a little risky. He projects two Strengthen runes in front of the fireball and starts to channel as much mana as he possibly can into the runes. Based on how much mana Fire Bolt needed to be Strengthened, when that was just a cantrip?! This fireball might very well empty half of his reserves, but luckily the attuned mana in the air just fills the gaps in his mana pool as they form. Sucked in like a vacuum. While he’s attuned it’s his mana, he’s just letting the world borrow it.

It’s time to light up the sky with fire!

The Fireball goes through the first rune and expands several times larger. Instantly he exerts pressure on the spell with all of the vibrating mana in the air and compresses the ball back down, until it passes through the second rune.

“It’s like a second sun…” Cadence says to herself as she spots the giant ball of fire from the complete other side of the city.

Discord snaps his claw multiple times and all the nearby trees and clouds are sucked in and transformed into sheets of glowing metal and radiating shields. Unfortunately he place all of his attention on the elf and forgot about the hundreds of ponies and guards below him that were inspired by the Symphony of Steel. As soon as they get a whiff of vulnerability from the Chaos God in the sky, they let loose.

Any of the guards trained in artillery and combat magic dump all their mana into bombs and blasts of magic towards the unprotected back of Discord. All the while he continues to snap his fingers and create more defenses for himself while also hurling spears of raw Chaos magic through the air.

Ignis spots the incoming barrage of magic and arrows from the civilians below and smirks. Then he slams both of his arms forward and hurls the massive mini-sun straight at the God. The ball collides with the random assortment of transmuted objects that have been randomly turned into different forms of shields. Metal groans and fire roars as the two forces push against each other.

Then it happens.

Hundreds of bolts, blasts, shells, and bombs of magic slam into the God from behind, catching him completely off guard. Arrows turn into water as they harmlessly bounce off his body. In reality the ponies did not do much damage, if any, to the God. But, they distracted him. For a split second the God turned his focus away from the Force of Nature in front of him.

That distraction was all he needed. Ignis had been bluffing the entire time. He never actually launched the Fireball. If he did it would’ve exploded on contact with the shields and metal and armor floating in the air. He simply continued to channel it and pushed it forward as if it was launched. As soon as the draconequus glances away the elf misty steps directly above him, bypassing all of the shields.

The Fireball teleports with him and suddenly appears inches away from the God. Discord panics for a tenth of a second and the mini-sun goes critical. Supernova.

Everyone sees it before they hear it, the giant ball of fire in the sky compressed down into the size of a gold coin and then in an instant the entire sky was filled with white light. No one could see anything as all of the ponies below covered their eyes from the intense flare. Then they heard it.

It was like nothing anyone on that planet had ever heard. It sounded as if a hundred trains slammed into an unbreakable wall at supersonic speeds. The ponies that were closest to ground zero felt as if their entire body was being violently vibrated by the soundwave.

Of course light is the fastest thing in the universe, so they saw it first. Sound is impressively fast as well, so they heard it next. The last sense left was to feel it but thankfully for them they don’t have to. Ignis was well aware the full brunt of the explosion would likely level everything in a ten block radius, so he took a page from Twilights book.

He flicked his wrist and formed a giant bubble shield around Discord. The explosion instantly filled the space and spread cracks like a spiderweb all over the shield, but the attuned mana in the air filled in the cracks as quickly as they formed. Once the explosion ran out of room to expand it started to roar and shake and consume itself alive as the fire ate away all of the precious oxygen inside the shield that it needed to survive.

The explosion turned into hundreds of smaller explosions as the pressure of being contained made pockets of air reignite and cause a chain reaction of flash burns and mini explosions all over.

Once the rumbling inside the shield had stopped Ignis dropped the shield while slightly panting for breath. Being able to use the world's mana from the air around him helped immensely but that still took a lot of power to keep it together. Ignis is silently hoping that the explosion either killed the God or that he’d look down and see Twilight and her friends.

Neither of those things happened though. Instead everyone gaped and stared with wide eyes at the floating draconequus. Patches of fur missing, left arm gone, blood stains all over his body, and bloodshot eyes seething with rage.

Snap

In one snap the missing arm is replaced, but instead of a lion foreleg and paw he now has a blue reptile arm with a hand that has three claws and a thumb. The missing fur grows back in all the wrong colors and all the blood vanishes completely. If you hadn’t seen what Discord looked like a few minutes ago you’d think this is how he normally looks, and he’s completely unharmed. All the damage done to him seems to have been undone in an instant.

“That’s it. I’m really done playing around now.” The creature snaps again and Luna appears. Flailing in the air angrily with a panicked look on her face. “Since you seem to care for both of those Lunar mares so much why don’t I do you a favor. See, I really liked her the way she used to be, so I’m gunna get the band back together!”

Another snap and a cloud of stars shoots down into the atmosphere from the moon. Ignis falls out of his bladesong due to fatigue, but almost instantly tries to jump back into it as he realizes what’s happening.

“NO! Let her go, you bastard!” The elf flings himself through the air in an attempt to stop this from happening but he’s too late.

The miasma of stars collides with the Princess and completely enshrouds the mare. Her eyes turn draconic, her teeth grow two fangs, and her coat turns pitch black. Nightmare Moon has returned but in a way that none of them wanted.

“What have you done, Discord?! I finally had my own body! I was going to be free! What is the meaning of this?! Undo this right now.” Nightmare lays into the God with a tirade of words and a string of curses.

Suddenly she goes quiet and Ignis looks and sees Discord's eyes have been replaced by strange swirls that remind of those mind control designs he used to see in old cartoons. To his horror, Nightmare's eyes mirror the swirls and Discord puts a claw on the tip of her horn.

Poor Luna, or should I say Nightmare. You trusted that knight of yours to free you and protect you. You even gave him your heart. For him to reveal that it was all a trick to get you sealed back inside Luna, so she could absorb your power! For over 100 years you’ve been trapped in Luna's body, slowly getting weaker and weaker as the elf and the alicorn taunted you. Tormented you. Now I have freed you. Returned you to the peak of your power just like 1,100 years ago before your initial banishment. So, what will you do with your new freedom?

Discord grabs the mare by the chin and turns her head towards Ignis who is moving his mouth, screaming something, but it’s not audible for her. She feels a pang of sadness and love when she sees how much despair he’s in. Ignis knows that something is happening to her mentally, cursing himself for running out of power at the worst time.

All of those pesky emotions are gone in an instant as thousands of fake memories flash in front of her. The only thing she feels is rage and a need for revenge. The unarmored Nightmare Moon tears herself away from Discord and gives the elf a death stare.

“Alright little bladesinger, hope you and your special somepony have fun!~ This should keep you occupied for a while. I’ll come find whichever one of you is still left when I finish playing with the elements.”

Celestia looks up at the newly empowered and corrupted alicorn, her eyes well up with tears knowing that if Twilight and her friends don’t hurry… Her sister is either going to lose her life, or lose her sanity when she sees what she’s done.

In either outcome she loses her sister again, forever.

Author's Note

For the record: Yes I did START writing this chapter about an hour after I uploaded the last one. So 4.2k words in a couple of hours.... what I'm tryna say is, there's a decent chance there's more mistakes in this chapter compared to the last one. I wrote this VERY fast.

Also holy fuck season 2 got dark quick, and the powerscaling is already going nuts. Hopefully none of you actually thought Ignis would beat Discord, cause that would be CRAZY. I wonder if any of you remember a certain dream Ignis had way way earlier on in the story? Would you believe me if I said that was actual foreshadowing and I had been planning for this moment for months? Believe me or not it's true!

I'm dropping lore bombs and revealing shit and finally uncorking everything I've been bottling up since early Season 1. Hopefully it's a bit more understandable why I NEEDED to solve the Get Home thread so the romance could actually start and for relationships to form now? It's regrettable that I started the thread on that way too late into season 1, but I've been locked in on this path for a while now.

Anyways, enjoy your double release two chapters in one day shit. Sorry for the dark turn of events, but this arc is just getting started. I mean it, this discord arc is a beast and still has a lot of runtime left. I've got more things planned to reveal that are on the same level as "The spellbook was made by someone really really powerful oh and also The Weave and Chaos magic are the same thing. Oh and also the spell book has been acting as a Weave battery for Ignis and all of his magic items and the system, so he can keep doing D&D shit." Otherwise he woulda ran outta spell slots in like chapter 9, long rested, and still had no spell slots left haha.

Okay enough rambling, I need to get ready for bed. Hopefully you all enjoy this arc as much as I am.

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 7

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. :(

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 9

What the hell is wrong with these ponies? People said they were acting a bit strange, but this is far beyond strange. They’re basically completely opposite of their normal selves. I was pretty quickly able to figure out that literally every single sentence out of AJ’s mouth is a lie. Fluttershy is being a massive cunt, and Pinkie is just…mad. Hopefully Twilight hasn’t completely lost her mind.

“Yo! What’s up Twi? What are you doing all the way over here at the corner of the camp? I’ve been trying to find you for like 30 minutes.” She’s the only one I’ve seen using a normal sized tent. Just hanging out all alone way off in the corner.

“Well? You found me! Now leave me alone.”

“Not you too! Did Discord manage to corrupt all of you or something?”

“Corrupt? He opened my eyes. I should’ve never listened to Celestia, I knew making friends is a waste of time.” She sounds depressed.

Does this weird thing Discord did to them count as a curse, or would it be closer to a status condition like paralysis or petrification? Remove Curse works on Modify Memory, so it probably would’ve worked on Nightmare. I was just way too overwhelmed and panicked. By the time I could think somewhat clearly…

I clutch my left arm as I remember watching it flapping around the wind, nearly severed. By the time I could think clearly she had used all my spell slots. Well I’m gunna try Remove Curse on Twilight and we’ll see what happens. Channeling the Mizzium I get ready to cast Remove Curse, it’s a level 3 spell so the DC will be 16, that should be safe enough.

Arcana (Mizzium Check DC 16)

19 + 13 = 32.

Would’ve liked to save that roll for when I try to slam a level 9 spell through this thing, but hey that works. Twilight turns her head up in confusion as she hears the Mizzium start to hum to life and hears me reciting an incantation. “Wh-what are you doing?! Stay back!”

I just merely flare my mana since I know that caused her to freeze up in the old castle, this should let me touch her so I can channel the spell. She opens her mouth again as the mana unleashes and her pupils shrink rapidly in fear. “Don’t worry, this is for your own good.”

“Remove Curse.”

I place my hand on her back and channel the spell, thankfully it has no material cost like Greater Restoration. There's a small burst of light, and afterwards the unicorn's coat looks much more vibrant. I didn’t realize how dull her colors were until just now. “You back to normal?”

“Ignis! Oh, I just had the worst dream ever. I lost all of my friends and even had to leave Ponyville. Did we beat Discord?”

“That wasn’t a dream, and no we didn’t beat him. I was hoping you could explain what went wrong but it sounds like you all were unable to use the elements after being corrupted. Where are the elements by the way?”

“Oh no… we threw them away! We have to go back to Ponyville, Ignis! Can you fix my friends too?”

Well that Sending spell was a 3rd level, same as Remove Curse. I only have one 3rd level slot left, then I’ll have to use my 4th and 5th levels. Assuming I only have to cast it 5 more times that’ll leave me a single 5th and 6th level spell slot. I guess I don’t have any other option though. “Yeah I can. If they react to me casting a spell the same way you did though, I’ll need your help. I have to touch them for the spell, so if you could restrain them with your magic that’d be nice.”

“That should be easy enough, c’mon we can’t afford to waste any time!”

“The only one left now is Rainbow. You guys know where she is?” I ask after using my last 4th level spell slot on Fluttershy. With Twilight’s magic getting the rest of these guys cured was relatively uneventful. I used Guidance in tandem with the Mizzium as well so my odds were still pretty good, even for 4th level spell slots. The 1d4 boost from Guidance made it so even if I rolled a 1 I could still theoretically hit the DC if the Guidance rolled a 4. It never came that close thankfully.

With Rarity I rolled a 2 and needed to hit a 3 or a 4 on Guidance to cast the spell, so basically a 50/50. We lucked out and got a 4 though.

“She couldn’t have gone too far, there’s nothing around for miles. Fluttershy you check the clouds and we’ll spread out to look through the trees. She’s probably just napping somewhere.” Twilight divvy’s up the assignments and I break away from them.

“While you guys look for her I need to go update my Vice Captain on the situation.”

Everyone splits up and I’m able to very quickly make it back to the tent I woke up in. “Where’s Elytra?” I ask one of the first guards I spot when I arrive.

“Vice Captain is in the Command and Control tent just over there.” I thank him and turn to walk away but pause when he speaks up again. “Sir…I don’t know if you remember this, but when you were visiting Night Court a couple of weeks ago, I was there. That noble muttered under her breath about you being a monster, and she was surprised when we all heard it. You just laughed it off and I couldn’t understand why. Until you mentioned how often you used to hear things like that when you first arrived here.”

I elect to interrupt him there. I’m sure he’s leading to something but it seems more like rambling at this point and I really am pressed for time. “That was when I first got here. It’s only like once a week nowadays. I appreciate what I assume was going to be a pep talk, but I really need to ge-”

“I was one of the few Night Guards that happened to be outside when you fought Discord. I saw everything, and I just wanted to… make sure you knew. That you knew every single pony who was out there with me, none of them see you as a monster. Nopony thought any of us had a chance against that thing and we just needed to hide and wait for the real heroes to save the day. You changed that, I, no, we really thought we had a chance. You inspired ponies then, sir, and I just thought you should know. It seems like nopony tells you about things like that, and you deserve to know. That you’re not a monster or a freak or…or..”

His eyes are staring at the ground as he searches for the words, so he doesn’t notice that I’m reaching out towards him. I place my hand right on top of his head and his eyes snap up towards me. “Thanks. Listen this might sound bad, but there’s alot of you and I haven’t really had any one on one time with any of you. So, forgive me for asking, but what’s your name?”

“Echo. Private Echo, sir. I’m sorry for holding you up.”

“No you’re good Echo. You’re right I definitely don’t hear things like that, and I’m happy you told me. Do you have anything else you wanna say or ask? I’m in a hurry but I’ll give you a free one for lifting my mood.” I remove my hand from his hand and back up a few steps.

“Umm,” It’s always a tragedy when someone is put on the spot. I can guarantee you he had something he wanted to ask at some point in the last few weeks, and now it’s just slipping his mind. If he can’t remember he’ll ask some childish question like “How’s your day been?” or “How can I get-””

“How can I get as strong as you? I realized how weak I really am that day, and I want to be strong.”

“Well that’s a tough one. I don’t know if I recommend my method of training. I just lost, like a lot. Fought Nightmare Moon, lost. Fought a dragon at the colosseum, lost. Fought Chrysalis, twice, lost both times. Oh I fought Celestia at the colosseum too, definitely lost that one, but that one didn’t put me on death's door like the others. I think up until Discord I had been on a bit of a hot streak, but back to zero wins in a row now.”

“So I just have to fight….and lose? Are you sure that works?”

“Of course. You gotta nearly die though, that’s a key factor. You’ll lose but survive and you’ll win some too, and eventually you’ll be strong enough that you never lose again.” I leave him with that and go towards the C2 tent.

Opening the tent flap I stick my head in and announce myself. “Elytra!”

“Sir!”

“The element bearers had some type of magic affecting them, but I’ve gotten nearly all of them cured. I’m about to go cure Rainbow Dash and then we’re heading back to Ponyville to grab the elements. I figured I’d give you that update before I leave so you can spread the good news. I’d maybe sit on it for a bit until morale drops though, that’ll probably be a decent booster.”

My eyes turn away from the Vice Captain who looks a bit shell shocked for some reason, and spot a pegasus…Day Guard? “I thought it was just Night Guards here? Were you in Ponyville to watch over the element bearers or something?

“No, sir. He just arrived a few minutes ago. He brought urgent news from Canterlot. The- actually maybe you should tell him yourself, Lieutenant.”

The Day Guard officer stammers a bit and I can already tell this is bad news. I can feel a knot in my stomach twisting everything up. “Princess Celestia is missing.”

“What?”

“She got her magic back, apparently the “game” for the elements ended so her magic returned? I don’t know, but she flew out of the cave and went to take on Discord herself. We heard rumbling and crashing and the interior of the mountain definitely got hotter by a few degrees. After a while though it was just silent. That was nearly 12 hours ago at this point, and nopony has seen her. Our tracking spells are turning up nothing and same thing with our Sending spells. Captain Armor wanted me to come deliver the news and request that you and the Elements return as soon as possible.”

“Alright. Message received. That’s what we were about to do anyways, I’ll be heading out with the element bearers in a few minutes. Elytra you said Nightmare woke up and left around 12 hours ago as well right?”

“Yes sir, but it’s more like 13 and a half at this point. You think it’s related?”

“Maybe. Alright, you’re in charge, don’t throw any crazy parties while I’m gone. If you see a giant rainbow shockwave fly over then it’s clear to head back to Canterlot.” She gives me a super serious affirmative and holds the tent flap open for me as I leave. I know I said I picked her for her determination and professionalism, but she could stand to lighten up just a bit.

When I walk out of the tent I immediately get called out by someone. “Uhm, excuse me, uhm Mr. Ignis.”

Oh it’s Fluttershy. I’m surprised she’s talking to me, ever since that napping dragon incident she hasn’t really spoken a word to me. “Hey, did you guys find Rainbow?”

“Yes. Twilight wanted me to come get you. They’ve got her all tied up but she’s really struggling. So uhm, if you could hurry, if that’s ok, that would probably be best. I’m Sorry.”

“You’re good. No need to be so…afraid. Where are they? Just point me in the general direction and I’ll find them.”

She apologizes again and points a wing towards the North West. Using a bit of mana I chain a few leaps together to get over the tents and out of camp. Then I break out into a sprint and start to swivel my head around looking for the ponies.

Within a couple of minutes I found them and wow I didn’t realize how bad it was. They’ve got a few ropes tied around Rainbows barrel and they’re all holding their own rope, pulling in four different directions to keep her in place. Even with all of that she’s still kicking back her hind legs and throwing a huge fit.

She spots me approaching and starts to double her efforts. “Oh heck no! You’re not gunna eat me, Ignis! Ughhhh Let. Me. Go!”

I just reach out with my telekinesis and slowly push her towards the ground. Alright this time I have to cast Remove Curse at level 5 so the DC is going to be 20 this time. This time it’s actually a bit risky. I try to tune out the pegasus as she throws a string of curses at me, and channel the Mizzium for what is hopefully the last time.

Arcana (Mizzium Check DC 20)

7 + 13 = 20 + 1 (Guidance) = 21.

Turns out I would’ve been okay without Guidance, but better to be safe than sorry. The spell goes through and her sounds of resistance quiet down as the color returns to her. “Huh? Wait, what happened?! Did we beat Discord?”

I back away as they have their cheesy group hug and catch her up to speed. Once that’s done we gather up a few supplies for our short trip and start heading back towards Ponyville.

“Some news came in while I was talking to my Vice Captain by the way. I’ve been debating if I should tell you all, but I suppose you deserve to know.”

“Did something happen?” Twilight stops me from continuing with a question and I just give her a look of minor annoyance. I know she's just stressed though so I don't hold it against her. Hell I guess I'm stressed too. That shouldn't have annoyed me as much.

“OH! Is it a surprise?! If it’s a surprise you shouldn’t tell us cause that’ll ruin it, and I love surprises. But wait, if you don’t tell us then that means we’ll know it’s a surprise because we told you to not tell us if it is one? Oh I know! You can say whatever it is and I’ll block my ears so I can’t hear it! Then I won’t know cause you told us and I didn’t hear what you said!” Pinkie chimes in and sounds like an insane person, like normal.

“Like I was TRYING to say,” I give Twilight a side eye and then Pinkie an absolute bombastic side eye. “Princess Celestia-”

“Lalalalala, blblblblblblbl I can’t hear you!” How is she so… like this with everything that’s happened?

She keeps making her noises so I’m forced to speak up a bit louder. “Celestia was last seen leaving Canterlot mountain to go confront Discord, over 12 hours ago. No one has heard from her since, and none of their tracking spells are working. She’s officially missing.”

The group pauses our forward momentum as they all gasp and Twilights ears pin back. “Th- the Princess is missing?”

Pinkie, seeing that we’ve all stopped and my mouth isn’t moving anymore, decides to stop making incessant noises and removes her ear plugs. Where’d she even get those? When she regains her hearing the first thing she hears is Twilights sniffling and Pinkie quickly realizes the mood is somber now. “Wait what did I miss…?”

Completely ignoring her before she gives me an aneurysm I go kneel next to Twilight. “Listen, Celestia's fine. I’ve gone toe to toe with her and Discord and I can tell you that she wouldn’t go down that easy.”

“But if the tracking spells aren’t working then she’s either sealed or… oh I hope you’re right.”

“I am. C’mon we gotta keep moving, we’re still several hours away from town.” I hope I’m right too. The sun and the moon are both missing, but at least we’ve got the element bearers back.

Somewhere Near Canterlot

“I’m impressed that brat managed to cleanse my magic from Twilight and her little friends, and even more impressed that he’s still alive after that lover’s quarrel. Now that he’s handled the younger sister, I’m curious to see how he fares against the elder one. This should delay the bearers for a while as well. Long enough for me to plan a new game.” A certain draconequus laughs to himself, imagining what’s about to unfold.

Just a few feet away there’s an alicorn soaring through the air, flying towards Ponyville. On her flanks rests the sun, and in her eyes there’s a pair of hypnotic swirls.

“Ignis has foalnapped Twilight and her friends and placed a Geas on them. I have to safeguard the Elements until he is dealt with and the element bearers can prove they are free from the mental compulsion.” She repeats to herself out loud with a monotone, robotic voice.

After she finishes repeating herself the swirls fade away and the alicorn regains control of her body, mind still altered. “I knew that elf would betray us one day. We taught him magic against my better judgment and now he has all of Equestria at risk. I can only hope Lulu will forgive me when she finds the glassed crater I will leave him in.”

The solar alicorn speeds up and approaches Ponyville with determination in her eyes. Those golden, draconic eyes. Her mane and tail a crackling, blazing inferno that leaves embers in her wake. In her telekinesis a small metal box, imprinted to only open to her mana signature, contains the Elements of Harmony.

Author's Note

Poor Ignis thinks they're just gunna walk into Ponyville, grab the jewelry, and leave.

Since there's a lot more time between the Mane 6 getting cured and the Mane 6 getting the elements back, I figured it'd be pretty in character for Discord to want to plan another little game for them. And since Celly kinda just threw herself at him, recklessly (she finally got her magic back and Discord did kinda push the Luna button), he saw a great opportunity to buy some more time while he plans and plays around.

I'm debating on just having the cast show up in Ponyville at the start of next chapter or if I wanna spend 50-100% of next chapter giving Ignis/Mane 6 some more interaction time. I can't really think of that much dialogue they would have and honestly I feel overwhelmed when there's that many characters in one conversation scene cause it's easy to forget some of them exist and have them just silently exist cause you forgot to write them chiming in with stuff.

I'll sleep on it and figure it out in the morning.

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 10

My eyes open to a deafening silence and an expansive black sky littered with stars. Sitting up I realize I’m on the moon. Instantly I can feel a smile break out on my face as I stand up and start to run towards our normal meeting spot. “Nightmare! I’ve been tr-”

Cresting over the edge of a huge crater I look down and find an empty throne. “Luna? Nightmare?”

After walking around for several minutes just yelling both of their names I collapse onto my ass and just stare at the planet. “If neither of you are here, then why am I? I am dreaming right?”

Suddenly everything turns upside down and I’m falling through the sky towards the Everfree. Well at least that confirms its a dream, I would’ve taken way longer to go from the moon to here from just gravity. One second later and I’m falling through the treeline into an area of the forest far deeper than I’ve ever gone before. I’m surprised how big it actually is.

I land in a rather open clearing that’s completely empty. No grass or life of any kind, and the dirt is pitch black. Considering where I just was, I can only assume I’m here because something brought me here.

“Well? You’ve got my attention. What do you want?”

“Shhh. Just listen.”

An extremely raspy voice replies and I freeze on instinct. Something about that voice, no that’s wrong, it’s several voices, maybe more. I can tell it’s just 1 creature though, and that’s what has me terrified.

Over the silence I hear it, it sounds like blades bouncing off of each other. It’s faint, very faint, but despite that I can just feel that it’s happening right where I’m standing. It sounds like one of the most intense sword fights I’ve ever heard. It’s only two combatants but they’re clashing so quickly it sounds like it should be 30 people fighting. “What is that?”

“You should know.”

My eyes snap open to the sound of a quietly crackling campfire. A few of the girls were complaining about being exhausted so we ended up making a small camp. I underestimated how much slower this journey would be with 6 mares slowing me down. We still have another four or five hours of walking left, easy.

The system doesn’t say I’m long rested so I definitely woke up early, but with the sun being up in the middle of the night it’s a bit tough to force my body back to sleep. I’ll just meditate instead, what was that…thing in my dream?

Spell Slots Recovered!
Pending Level Up Rewards!

Guess it’s about that time. I still can’t quite figure out what the point of that dream was, or what that thing was. It doesn’t help that any time I think about it I remember the beginning of the dream. Being up there on that rock, all alone, was…hopeless. How did she do it for 1,000 years?

“Pardner, are ya ready?” A southern accent knocks me out of my thoughts.

“No, but it doesn’t really matter. We don’t have a choice.”

“Well shoot, I almost wish you had lied. Makin our situation sound a mite hopeless.”

I offer a small chuckle hoping to raise the mood a bit. “Sorry, there’s usually someone around that keeps me outta that headspace. I’m not ready, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do this. Let’s go.”

“Now that’s more like it!” Just like that we were back on the move.

When I saw a horde of rabbits running around on long stick legs I almost thought we had ended up going further into the Undiscovered West. But no, it’s just Discord's magic. Cresting over one last hill we can see the Ponyville train station with the rest of the town behind it. Or what used to be Ponyville anyways, half the buildings are completely distorted, some are even turned inside out. Strangely enough though we don’t see a single soul moving around.

“I thought the Night Guard didn’t bring everyone from Ponyville? Elytra said a decent few stayed back.” I ask to the group as they crest over the hill and also pause.

“She didn’t lie to you, we definitely left around 25% of the town here. Are you sure that’s Ponyville? It doesn’t even look like home.” Twilight answers me and looks a bit sad as she gazes upon the absolute mess Ponyville has been turned into.

The hyperactive cotton candy pony in our group bounces on her tail ahead of us and just points towards Ponyville.“That’s Ponyville alright! You can tell because of the way it is.” There’s no way that’s a reference here, right?

“You girls remember where you left the Elements?”

Twilight mentions that hers is upstairs in the library and the others mention that they think they remember, so we elect to split up. “Where do you think everyone went?” I’m currently approaching the library with Twilight. While we’re walking I go ahead and cast Mage Armor, just in case. It’s only a level one spell and it lasts for 8 hours so it’s probably worth it. Especially since I’m still shirtless.

“I’m not sure, but it’s rather strange. The ones that stayed behind did so to try and keep things as much in order as they could. That way it would hopefully be just a bit better once we came back…” She closes the doors after I walk through it and it feels so weird to see the inside of the library look the exact same as I remember it. With out fucked up all the other building are I’m surprised this interior looks normal.

“Doesn’t this almost feel too easy? I mean we didn’t run into anything on the way here, and town was so empty we just strolled right in.” I’m just rambling to try and fill the silence while Twilight rummages around.

“Ignis it’s not here! I can’t find the Element of Magic! I’m sure I left it in this trash can… Maybe Spike put it somewhere before we left.” She starts teleporting around the library looking all over while I just sigh. I knew things were going too well.

“I’ll go see if the other girls are having better luck, maybe they can come help you look once they get their trinkets.”

As soon as I step outside and close the door all of the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. On pure instinct I flex my legs and start to jump to the side.

Dexterity Saving Throw

13 + 5 = 18.

Right as my feet leave the ground I discover I’m a bit too late to react. A pillar of light knocks me onto my back and starts to burn my skin while forcing me further into the dirt.

-29 HIt Points: 53/82.

“I was wondering how long it’d take for me to catch you by yourself. How foolish are you to think you can just place my student and her friends under your mental magic, and then waltz in here like nothing is wrong. Did you think I wouldn’t step in and handle it myself?” I blink my eyes several times trying to regain vision but nothing happens, I think that was Sunbeam?

And that voice…it’s somewhat familiar, but who? Celestia, she kind of sounds like Celestia. My vision returns as I continue to lay on the ground, unmoving, hissing through gritted teeth at the searing pain. She kind of looks like Celestia too. More sinister, reminds me of Night-... Oh fuck. It’s Daybreaker. Luna told me about this.

I slowly stand up, ready to dodge at any given moment and talk to the demonic looking alicorn. “I don’t have Twilight, or anyone for that matter, under any kind of mental magic. I freed them from Discords mental magic! The same magic you saw him use on your sister! I’m starting to think he might’ve used it on you too.”

“Is that so? Then prostrate yourself before me and lay down your weapons.”

“Will that really help? If that’s what it takes…” I lay the Moonblade and the staff to my left and drop to my knees. Then I lean forward and place my palms and my forehead against the bare dirt. Enable Real-Time Combat.

If she drops another Sunbeam on me I’ll still take half damage even if I pass the save, so I’m better off just trusting myself to completely dodge it. That decision proves to be a wise one as half a second later I hear the air being charged with powerful mana, it’s another beam. I grab my shit and fling my entire body away from the library. Dodging the beam just in time.

“I knew you were a liar.” Daybreaker spits the words at me like venom.

“What?! So I either lay there and die, or I’m a liar? If I die then it doesn’t matter if I’m telling the truth! Whatever you’re clearly under false memories just like your sister. Unfortunately for you I don’t have any reservations about getting a bit violent with you.” I realized when I looked back on the encounter with Nightmare, I never raised even a finger towards her. At one point I had resolved myself to getting a bit rough so I could calm her down, but even after that I didn’t fire a spell or swing my blade at her.

Of course I don’t intend to get that violent with Daybreaker either, I just need to make her think I am so I can get in close and cast Remove Curse. “Cure Wounds.”

+15 Hit Points: 68/82.

Tapping the staff on the ground I use one of the spells imbued into the staff that costs me literally nothing. Enlarge. “So, are you just gunna hover up there all day like a coward or are you gunna come down here and fight me like a real mare?”

“As if I’d fall for your petty provocations. I know you’re significantly weaker from a distance, why would I give you any advantage?”

I’m about to keep yapping to try and stall until the girls get the elements but a certain unicorn grabs both of our attention.

“Princess Celestia?! What’s going on? Why are you attacking Ignis?” Twilight calls out to her mentor from the doorway of the library.

Mizzium, Fly.

Aracana (Mizzium Check DC 16)

10 + 13 = 23.

I’m so used to the Moonblade letting me circumvent concentration that I completely forgot most magic items don’t work that way, including the Staff of the Magi. Enlargement ends as I cast Fly on myself.

“Just stay back, Twilight. I know this is going to sound hard to believe but he has you and your friends under a Geas. Just go back inside until I retrieve you.”

“But Prince-” Twilight starts to speak until a deep red aura gently pushes her a few inches back inside the tree, and after that a quick flash of golden light appears and all the entrances and exits of the library are completely sealed by a barrier.

“Now, where were we? Oh right I was about to turn you into glass.” That’s all the warning I get before her horn shines bright and multiple Sunbeams come down from the heavens. All from different angles.

Tucking my arms and legs in to make myself as small as possible I jump towards a spot in the air that I think none of the beams will touch. Based on their trajectory anyways. Luckily my prediction is right and I jump through the small gap unharmed. As soon as I’m in open air I angle up and fly straight at Daybreaker.

She seems a bit surprised which is what I was hoping for. She probably only thinks I can fly when I’m using the new Bladesong. Time to go all in! “Misty Step.”

I teleport just a few inches above and start to swing my hand down towards literally any part of her body. I just need to touch her and I win. Unfortunately as soon as I appear an orange bubble expands outwards and pushes me away from the alicorn. It’s almost hot enough to burn me as well. This might be harder than I thought.

I was hoping to avoid using the bladesong since it seems like it still leaves my body pretty tapped out, but that move just now was my best shot. I won’t be able to catch her by surprise like that again.

“As if something that simple would work. I know you require physical contact to use your mental magic. The only way you’re laying a hand on me is if I’m dead.” Well. That fucking sucks. Even Greater Restoration is touch.

I could try sending Callisid in, I can channel spells with a range of touch through him. He’d just have to get in close, but that fire shield is probably enough to take him out before he can even get close enough. She has true sight so Invisibility is off the table, same with any type of illusion. All of my heavy hitting spells are fire and radiant so I doubt I can even do much to her if I decide to go all out.

Well I do have that one spell…

This time Daybreaker just fills the air with small orange balls and I get the feeling if I touch one it’s a bad time. Just to test my theory I reach out and boop one.

-12 Hit Points: 56/82.

Holy shit I didn’t think it’d hurt that bad since she just launched like 100 of them! They’re so small as well! The good news is that they’re Radiant damage and not Fire damage. Time to see if this object will meet the Material component for the spell I’m thinking of. It’s my Lunar Knight badge. It’s apparently worth over 500 bits so I spent an hour or so and carved a symbol into it.

Alright Mizzium time to try a 6th Level spell! Don’t let me down!

Arcana (Mizzium Check DC 22)

20 + 13 = 33.

Fuck yes! Oh I wish I could meet Natasha one more time just so I can call her a hypocrite for making this spell. Denied me from her school because she doesn’t believe in wizards that can fight in melee. Why did you make this spell then, huh?

“Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise.”

I feel the Fly spell slip away from the loss in concentration, but it's okay because a pair of angelic spectral wings sprout from my back.

Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise (Upper Planes)

You are immune to Radiant and Necrotic damage.

You are immune to the Charmed condition.

Angelic Spectral wings give you a flying speed of 40ft.

+2 AC, and you can use your Intelligence modifier when attacking with a weapon instead of Strength or Dexterity.

The spell kicks in and I can feel a golden aura enveloping me, it’s warm. At the same time I activate the Moonblade and use the Haste spell stored inside. Now my AC is 22, and my flying speed is 80ft. Now we finish it off with the Bladesong. “Once you’re back to normal don’t hold it against me if I end up getting a bit rough, kay Celly?”

Unsheathe the Moonblade. This is another opportunity for me to get the jump on her, she won’t expect me to just plow through these explosive balls. Wow you know what? Twilight was right, I really gotta work on my phrasing.

“Symphony of-”

I’m surrounded by complete darkness. Why is this happening now? What even is this?

“It’s too early. Chaos is very close but you would waste your strength and go all out now?” It’s that same haunting set of voices from my dream. What is this?

“What do you mean it’s too early? Daybreaker could literally kill me with one misstep, I can’t afford to hold back. Also I have a method to recover all of my strength in an instant. That is what I’m trying to save for later. Why do you even care? What are you?”

“We are but an echo, an echo with a common enemy.”

I’m back in the clearing deep in the everfree. Why should I know what this is? Why do I hear the clashing of steel with nothing nearby for miles? Wait, an echo?

“Yes. You’re right there…just a little closer.”

The only way this could be an echo is if the sound is coming from the mana. Mana is the only thing present here. The mana is replaying the last sounds it captured from this spot, but that would’ve only happened…if they were using the evolved Bladesong.

“Are all of you…Bladesingers?” I ask, barely above a whisper.

“Yes. Your predecessors. We’ve been trapped here in this clearing, all of us who performed in this final symphony were able to imprint our spirit and vengeance into this harmonized mana.”

“Wait if you’re trapped here then how are you reaching out to me?”

“Any of us can leave whenever we wish, but once we fall out of sync with the echoes of the harmonized mana we lose our rationality. That’s what we are. We are the remnants of the ones that grew impatient and left that accursed clearing. Then we became something much worse. Heed this warning, if you do not do everything in your power to take down Chaos we will seize your body like a pupp-”

The layers of voices are drowned out by a loud rush of howling wind. “Sorry about them, they can be a bit, well, aggressive. I’m still trying to figure out what to do with them.”

I still can’t see the source of this voice, but it’s a woman for sure. “Why are you apologizing on their behalf? Who are you?”

“Well it’s kinda~ my fault they can even contact you. It’s great that you’re here though! I’ve been trying to figure out how to talk to you, but if I had known you spoke Celestial this would’ve been way easier. I didn’t really know how to talk for a while, but I found this one friend and she taught me this language.” She sounds so peppy, almost like Pinkie Pie but this voice is much more, hmm, silky. I think that’s the best word here. She sounds older, more mature, but that hint of playfulness is still there.

“That only answers half of my questions. Who are you?”

“I’m your friend! And you’re my friend! You should be honored, you’re my 2nd ever friend.” I take it back, she’s starting to err into the territory of annoying.

“Then why have you been trying to talk to me? Did you want to ask something?”

“Oh! Yes! I already assumed you’d say yes since we couldn’t communicate, but apparently this has to be done for formalities. I want to form a Pact with you.”

What? “How am I going to form a Pact with something when I don’t even know what it is? What do you look like? WHO. ARE. YOU?”

“You’re no fun. I thought you’d be more fun when I first saw you. Listen, I don’t get an opportunity to see most of the world, and you’re interesting enough that I thought I’d give you this offer. You let me see the world and I’ll lend you my power.”

Insight

9 + 10 = 19.

“Can you be more clear about how I show you the world? I don’t wanna do something like give up control of my body.”

“I’d merge with your mind, possess you, and become your eyes. You’d still be able to see, of course. Maybe even a little better than normal if I’m being honest. You can draw on my power from there, but unfortunately while you wield my power the more you draw out, the more your personality will mesh with mine. It’s only temporary though and I always try to give my partner as much control as possible while in that state. Freedom is something I truly value and understand. So, what do you say?”

“This sounds too good to be true. I get improved eyes, more power, and the only side effect is that our personalities temporarily mix together? Thanks but no thanks.”

“Why don’t you just sit on it, take some time and come up with an answer. If you change your mind at any point just say you accept the pact.”

I’m back in the sky, but everything is different. All of the floating mines are gone, and Daybreaker is nowhere to be seen. I still have 59 seconds on Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise though. Did I pause while everything out here continued to move?

“Ignis! IGNIS!” I glance down and see Twilight and her friends. They still lack the elements, that’s not good. As soon as Twilight sees that I’ve acknowledged her she points towards the Everfree.

As soon as I looked in that direction whatever she said next went completely unheard. The first thing I saw was a dark red beam pushing against a shield of stars. Nightmare. Before my mind had even processed exactly what I was watching I was blitzing towards the ongoing conflict.

Within a few seconds I’m close enough that Nightmare spots me. She gives me a pained look before I hear her voice in my mind.

I’m so sorry. Letting myself get manipulated so eas-

I continued to barrel straight at her, wrapping my arms around her as we collide in the air. My body thudding into hers causes the telepathic interruption. “You disappear, cut our connection, and don’t respond to my Sending spell?! I was so confused! That’s the only thing you should be sorry for. Idiot!”

I hear half of a chuckle that gets choked up into a sniffle. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Are you two finished yet? Since the two of you were kind enough to both show up and allow me to purge both of you at the same time I thought I’d let you have your moment. But, I’m bored now. First I’ll turn the bladesinger to glass then I’ll immobilize you until you tell me where my sister is.”

“That is your sister. We were trying to get them separate bodies but discord merged the two of them together again. You were even there for that!”

“More lies. It’s time to end this.” I don’t know why, maybe it’s just everything catching up to me like some sort of emotional whiplash. But, Daybreakers constant denial of the truth and all the different things I felt when I saw Nightmare start to bubble. This last statement from Daybreaker was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I feel my mana run wild and my hair flashes for a moment. It’s not on fire, but it has changed into its blonde color with red streaks. The only thing I can think is, “Fuck this, I’m done holding back. She’s a big girl, she can take it.”

Nightmare, I just need to touch her with my hand. If I can do that she’ll snap out of it. So focus on restraining or stunning.

Got it.

“Symphony of Steel.” 27 AC.

Till death do us part.~

Nightmare flies straight at Daybreaker and Ignis tucks in behind her, hiding his approach.

But we’re already past that phase.

Daybreaker unleashes a deep red beam from her horn and Nightmare angles her flight upwards while throwing up a shield to block the blast. Daybreaker instinctively looks up, so as to keep her horn trained on the other alicorn. This perfect coordination leads to Ignis going completely unseen once Nightmare pulled up.

The elf is mere centimeters from making contact when Daybreaker feels the shift in wind and a tingle up her spine. Alerting her that something is near. On instinct she launches a bright orange bubble around herself that looks like the sun. Since Ignis is still immune to Radiant damage it doesn’t injure him but it does launch him away from the alicorn.

This is a brand new start~, and I think I deserve some praise.

Nightmare and Ignis both stop themselves around the same time and start charging at Daybreaker from opposite angles.

For the way that I am~

In-between every word of the next lyric Nightmare rapid fires a series of teleportations*. Causing her and Ignis to swap places or shift them just a few inches to change the approach angle. All in an attempt to throw off Daybreaker.

Despite * having * bit * the * dust, * yeah * was * quite * unjust.

The solar alicorn is constantly firing blasts and flying in a zigzag pattern in a mad dash attempt to land an attack on one of them to end the teleportation chaos. She could just keep throwing the bubble up but then it blocks her from attacking.

I don’t give a damn! I’ve let my emotions go, fuck being a sober ho.

Daybreaker, in a fit of annoyance, teleports high into the air above the two. They both widen their eyes as they realize she’s gone and by the time they look up, it’s too late. Daybreaker launches a wide wave of magic, wide enough to hit both of them at once.

Ignis uses Misty Step to get in front of Nightmare, and takes the blast head on. Keeping the lunar alicorn completely untouched. She calls out his name in a panic, but he just calmly replies telepathically that he is immune. Nightmare shoots upward into the open sky, completely out of the attack and charges up a surprisingly powerful attack. Surprising given the target anyways.

This is the mantra, this is my life!

Ignis flies towards Daybreaker while still inside her magical attack, completely concealing his presence.

You’re playin with now ‘til the end of the night~

She unleashes her counterattack and as the beam of pure darkness flies towards Daybreaker, she stops channeling her attack on Ignis. Only to launch an even stronger beam that collides with Nightmares. The beam struggle only lasts for a fraction of a second though, because as soon as Daybreaker fires the beam at her sister she realizes the elf somehow took the brunt of her attack and traveled inside the solar magic.

Daybreaker stops channeling the beam she fired at Nightmare and attempts to teleport in a panic, but gasps when she feels his hand wrap around her throat. Time seems to slow as Ignis activates his magical item, but he fails the Arcana roll. He’s concentrating on Tasha’s so he couldn’t use Guidance. He rolled a two which landed him a total of 15, but he needed a 16.

So instead of Remove Curse the Mizzium misfires and unleashes a Fireball right on top of himself and Daybreaker. Hitting himself with a whopping 32 points of Fire damage. His HP now at 24/82.

The elf, still glowing with a gold light and angelic wings, gets launched backwards through the air covered in burns. Ignis reaches out to Nightmare via telepathy. “Moonie, I think we need to give up on this whole strategy. Let’s just hit her until she passes out and I can cure her. Afterwards I’ll heal her.”

“That was my plan before you arrived, so that works for me. How does that really change anything for you though? You still won’t be able to hit her with your sword.”

Surrounded by fire, the passion ignites!

Nightmare throws up a concussive field in front of her and flies straight at Daybreaker from below, while Ignis flies straight down at her. “Disable Real-Time Combat.”

A hit of that Heaven and Hell,

Daybreaker throws up her classic orange sun-like bubble shield, but when it expands into Nightmare's concussive field it triggers it. A thundering wave ripples the air and blows away the sun-shield. “Steel Wind Strike.”

A hell of a high!

The instant the shield drops Ignis casts his Level 5 spell. With a natural 20 he disappears from sight entirely, and Daybreaker quickly looks around to find him. She’s completely befuddled when something slams into her back with enough force to knock the wind out of her. “Staggering Smite!” He passes the Mizzium check to cast the Smite spell he normally would be unable to use.

The combined force of a critical hit PLUS 6d10 Force damage and 5d6 Psychic damage, sends her down through the air like a brick with 147 combined damage. “Enable Real-Time Combat.”

The corrupted alicorn stands up and glares upward as the dust from her crash clears. Ignis casts Cure Wounds on himself at 2nd level. HP: 50/82.

We’re forever gunna have a fuckin’ reason to sin.

Let me leave my soul to burn and I’ll be breathin’ it in

Daybreaker realizes that none of her attacks have had any effect on Ignis, but his own Fireball did. She comes to the realization that he might be immune to her Divine Fire, but not regular fire. The alicorn launches a spell that is very similar to Scorching Ray. Well over 10 rays of fire spout from her horn and they arc through the air in all sorts of different paths.

I’m addicted to this feelin’, gettin’ higher than the ceiling.

And we’re never gonna want this fuckin’ feeling to end…

Passing an Arcana check Ignis realizes this attack is Fire and not Radiant. He quickly throws up a Shield spell, AC: 32, while blitzing through the air down towards Daybreaker. Six beams of fire explode against his shield, doing nothing. Nightmare tucks her wings in and rolls through the air to dodge two while also flying down towards Daybreaker. Then she blasts three more of the beams with her own blasts, intercepting them. They’re both about halfway to her now.

Just concede and give in to your inner demons again.

Nightmare and Ignis both slam into the ground, missing their attacks on Daybreaker as she blinks a few feet away. Now that they’re back on foot Ignis becomes a lot faster. The lyrics cease as the beat drops, all three combatants disappear. To an average observer it just looks like no one is even around, but small craters and cracks start appearing all over the ground, feet apart from each other. Nightmare and Daybreaker have both summoned their spectral weapons, and the three are engaging in a melee.

All three are slowly accumulating cuts as their fight transcends mortal standards. This continues for a few more seconds until Daybreaker suddenly launches back up into the air at incredible speeds. The look of pure rage on her face signals to Ignis and Nightmare that this might be their chance. Both of them blast off with Nightmare pulling away from the elf.

Daybreaker glances back and takes note of how far behind Ignis is. She’s fine if Nightmare gets in close, but having him that close is uncomfortable for her. After judging that she still has a few seconds before he catches up she looks back up into the air and begins stealthily channeling mana for a big attack.

“Moonie, throw me!” As soon as Daybreaker looks away from the two Ignis issues his order and Nightmare follows without hesitation. Grabbing his entire body in her telekinesis she slings the elf upwards significantly faster than he could fly himself. So fast in fact that when Daybreaker glances backwards again she audibly gasps for the second time at how close both of them are now.

Any plans of attack she had go out the window and on pure instinct she just unleashes her charged mana. Both of them continue forward as Nightmare throws up the concussive barrier again to shatter the bright red bubble expanding towards them. Ignis is confused when the bubble doesn’t push him backwards instantly. It envelopes him and then slowly pushes him back.

It’s only when he hears a sudden scream in pain that he looks over and realizes this isn’t a shield, it’s an attack. Anyone inside the field gets constantly assaulted as if they were in the sun. Luckily for Ignis it’s pure Radiant damage. He slowly pushes his way through the attack to make it to Nightmare who has black smoke oozing off of her body.

Ignis is just a few feet away, ready to Thunder Step her out of the attack when he watches as a massive cloud of stars covers the alicorn. Suddenly Luna is launched out of the attack as she plummets toward the ground, seemingly unconscious. It’s only when he sees Luna that he realizes Nightmare just expelled herself from Luna’s body so she could save her.

The elf holds out his hand and screams at the cloud of stars to re-possess his body like before. Unfortunately he can only watch in shock as the starry mist goes from a night sky to deep gray cloud of smoke and the few stars that were present in the starry mist fall out of the smoke and slowly float around aimlessly in the wind. Another second later and the gray smoke emits a few drops of water before going up in flames.

The attack finally relents and Ignis just waves his hands where Nightmare had been a few seconds prior and tries to catch the now dull stars. All he can do is mutter incoherent sounds as he stares at the empty air wide eyed.

The golden glow and the wings leave his body as the transformation spell and the bladesong run out of time. He starts to plummet towards the ground without his flight, but he’s seemingly unaware as he just stares at the dull gray stars in his hands. Suddenly a Sunbeam slams into him in midair and sends him ragdolling through the air, landing in the dirt next to the unconscious Luna.

Twilight and her friends run up to the scene just in time to watch the elf impact and crater into the ground. They’re completely speechless as he just sits there on his knees, staring at the ground. Jaw slightly slacked, eyes wide open, and he's in complete silence as steady lines of tears run down his face. Even Daybreaker is a bit stunned at the display.

Twilight looks up towards her mentor and with a tone of disbelief shouts. “Princess, I don’t…I don’t understand. How could you do this?”

Before Daybreaker can respond the air starts vibrating as music starts to play once more. It sounds like several high pitched notes are being distorted and stretched as the sound grates on everyone's ears.

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 10.5

That’s it, we win! Just one more second and I’ll be able to cast Remove Curse. That’s when I see the familiar sun shield that she’s been using everytime we get close, but we have a counter strategy now. Moonie use your concussion field again, if we shatter it this time, it’s over for sure.

Already done. Finish this now, Ignis!

Weird, why isn’t the shield pushing me away? It’s slowly forcing me backwards but I’m completely inside of it now. Moving feels like I’m dragging my limbs through wet concrete. Suddenly there’s a scream just a couple of feet away, I don’t understand how Nightmare could be in pain? Glancing over I see that being inside this field is burning her alive. It’s killing her, fast.

Move. Move damnit! If I can just…. reach her. I can teleport us out. Listening to those screams is making my chest hurt. “Nightmare! Reach for me! I can get us out!”

It hurts. Maker above, it hurts, please help…me.

I watch as her draconic eyes white out completely. Why is this killing her so fast?! Please just a few. more. INCHES!

Time seems to slow down.

I’m sorry Ignis. I’m sorry for making you worry when you woke up. I’m sorry for possessing you back in that hive. For being unable to help you grow your magic more. I wish I had been able to teach Elytra just a few more lessons… I’m sorry for succumbing to Discord's magic, for torturing you with your own healing. I only had my own thoughts and feelings for a little over two months, but thanks to you I didn’t have to spend them on the moon. I always wondered if this was something I was allowed to have, to enjoy.

What are you talking about? You’re allowed to have those things, you have more than two months, why… why are you…

Shh. There’s not much time left. More than apologies, I just wanted to thank you. The sparring, the flirts, the nights of idle comfort in your office while you did paperwork. I…. I was happy. Truly.

Nightmare’s signature starry mist pours out of Luna’s body and enshrouds it completely. Luna’s unconscious body is shot out of the miniature sun, and the starry mist starts to turn into smoke. Moonie, get back in my body. Please, you can have my body! Nightmare please… you’re just going back to the moon right? Why are you talking like this is goodbye?!

Because this probably is goodbye, Ignis. If I was going to go back to the moon, inside my seal…I think it would’ve happened as soon as I left Luna.

It's okay though, I only really have one small regret. It's selfish, but I was really looking forward to that date, hah... I had so much planned for the near future, I was going to wait and say this with my own body, but I’ve never said it back to you and now this is my last opportunity. I love you, Ignis.

All I can do is scream, “NIGHTMARE!” As the last bit of animated night sky releases a few tears that instantly turn to steam.

The only thing left are the few dimly glowing stars that were floating in her ethereal form. If that’s all that’s left then that counts as her body right? The small sun disappears and all of my spells wear off as I catch those dimly glowing stars. The light completely goes out once they reach my hand. I have a diamond in my pocket, I had gotten one so I could learn Contingency and place a contingent Revivify on myself. I can use that diamond here though.

Hang on, Moonie just give me a few seconds.

Revivify.

Invalid target.

Revivify.

Invalid target.

My vision goes bright red as some magical attack slams into my side and sends me careening into the dirt. Sitting up and moving to my knees, I spare a glance at Luna and confirm that she’s still breathing.

Revivify.

Invalid target.

Revivify. Revivify. Revivify. Revivify. Revivify. Revivify. Revivify.

You must touch a creature that has died within the last minute.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I’M DOING?! Revivify.

Invalid target.

“That’s one mistake corrected. Step away from my sister so I can finish this.”

That’s the last thing I remember before everything went dark.

Author's Note

I was originally not going to post a chapter tonight. The chapter is around 2.8k works, well 2.1k now, but it wasn't really in a good spot to end on. So I was just going to wait and post the finished thing tomorrow, but I realized that maybe the beginning of the chapter, this section you just read, would be better off as it's own chapter.

Despite how short it is, I think if this was at the beginning of the next 5k word chapter, reading the 4.3k words after this might lessen the potential impact/weight this part has on its own, so I'm just going to release this small 700 word chapter and call it Part 10.5.

FWIW I 100% cried writing Moonies goodbye speech. Like it's the reason I didn't get to finish the entire chapter, like I straight up had to take a break. So, if this chapter upset you then I'm sorry for writing it, and as always,

Thanks for reading. :(

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 11

“That’s one mistake corrected. Step away from my sister so I can finish this.”

As soon as those words left Daybreakers lips she felt something she hadn’t felt for over a thousand years. Fear. It was only for the briefest of moments, it left as quickly as it arrived. It was the look on his face. His head snapped towards her and his eyes were completely dull, almost dead, like a statue. His face expressed no emotion, it was unnatural. In that same instant Daybreaker was hit with a wave of pure animosity.

It’s the same mortal as before, calm down. If his emotions run wild he’ll be much more predictable, like a wild animal. Then it happened, the elfs blonde hair turned into pure fire, just like his father, for the second time in his life.

“So you intend to fight the Sun with fire? You must be joking.” Mana flared and surged around the bladesingers body and Daybreaker was reminded of when the three of them fought Chrysalis together. The final moment of his consciousness he did this exact technique with his mana before moving at nearly impossible speeds in a last ditch attempt to save Aurora.

That eerie, distorted sound begins to pick up in volume as it makes everyone nearby uncomfortable.

An emerald longsword suddenly flies past the alicorn's head and leaves a gash along the side of her neck. She expected him to speak or scream or vent his anger, and then she thought this would happen. That must be it, that’s why she was unable to react to the elf throwing his sword at her. She just wasn’t expecting an attack, that’s all.

Daybreakers eyes widen as suddenly a pair of dull green eyes are right in front of her. She leans back and flaps her wings but feels a surprisingly warm hand grab her by the neck. The alicorn begins to discharge mana in an attempt to separate herself from him. Mentally chiding herself for letting her guard down, she accepts that she is likely to fall under the elfs “Geas” before her shield can expand.

Ignis bares his teeth and the robotic, emotionless look on his face turns into a barely suppressed seething rage. There is not even a single thought in his head about using Remove Curse right now. The elf turns his entire body in the air, transferring all of the momentum and centrifugal force into the arm being used to hold the alicorn's throat, and then throws the alicorn like a baseball towards the wide canopy of the Everfree.

Twilight and her friends gasp in surprise as they watch the princess fly like a blur through the air before disappearing into the Everfree. A loud crashing sound rips through the air and a cloud of dust and dirt shoots into the air from where she landed.

Finally a response comes from the alicorn as uprooted trees enshrouded in a red aura are launched into the sky towards the elf. He dodges them with relative ease, but his movement pattern is exactly as she predicted. After he avoids the final tree he flies headfirst into a massive fireball. She mistakenly still thinks he is immune to Radiant damage even though the transformation from before has worn off, so she opts to keep using pure fire.

Ignis falls out of the sky, upside down, with blood pouring from a new wound on his head as a result of the fireball's explosion. Daybreaker takes off and is able to correctly discern that the elf has passed out from the fireball. Without a moment's hesitation she flies straight at the bladesinger and plans to make use of his incapacitated state to finish this with her most powerful fire spell. Point blank.

Until she’s a few feet away and watches with surprise as both of his eyes turn from white to completely black, with red slits in the middle. With renewed vigor he flips in the air and brings his foot down onto the back of the alicorn's head. Staggering her with a shocked expression.

Recovering from the kick she tilts her head back up to look at Ignis only to be face to face with the end of a staff. A 7th Level Lightning Bolt cracks through the air, completely engulfing the corrupted demigod. Finally being truly enraged, Daybreaker emerges from the lightning with smoke sizzling off of her body, teleports herself above Ignis, and starts to unleash a rapid barrage of fiery blasts from her horn.

The blasts ring through the air with the sound of explosion after explosion as more and more smoke fills up the sky. Until a familiar bipedal body zips out of the smoke and crashes into the ground once more. At this point the elf has been flung far away from Luna and the element bearers.

Far enough that Daybreaker mentally decides to end this once and for all as the sky starts to turn red. All of the standing water and chocolate milk nearby, including the river in the Everfree dries up in an instant as everything in the immediate vicinity heats up and the air dries out completely. The grass and nearby vegetation slowly dry up and wither. The sun starts to set down the horizon until it’s perfectly aligned in the air behind Daybreaker.

Finally, a true Sunbeam screams into the atmosphere as the sun itself releases a flare of energy that the alicorn harnesses. The dark red solid beam is nearly half the size of Ponyville as it slams into the Everfree. The energy of the magic is so vast that the air is literally screaming, it sounds like hundreds of jet’s flying through the air.

Unfortunately for her, Callasid was nearby, ready and waiting. He instantly dumped the elf's last healing potion into his mouth as soon as he hit the ground. Ignis opened his eyes and saw the immense attack coming down at him and casted “Otiluke's Resilient Sphere” purely on instinct.

The barrier that surrounded him was only capable of being destroyed by a Disintegrate spell, and so it rattled and vibrated as it withstood the full force of the sun. Despite that attack being more powerful than Disintegrate, the elf correctly assumed that the sphere would survive. Since it specifically only says a Disintegrate spell can destroy it.

Once the solar flare narrows and dissipates Daybreaker clicks her tongue in annoyance at getting overzealous and glassing a huge section of the Everfree. She makes the completely reasonable assumption that the elf has been so thoroughly killed that not even a cell of the creature remains, and turns her attention towards her student and her friends.

Returning our attention to the currently exhausted elf, currently laying inside of a magical hamster ball in the middle of a huge glassed crater of earth. He’s huffing in desperate gulps of air as his entire body screams at him for how much abuse he just exerted on it by imbuing all of his muscles with mana for such an extended period of time. Now completely out of spell slots he lays there completely dazed and out of it.

“How dare she?! She has brought so much death and destruction upon all the animals in my forest! Mortal, I gave you a hint of my power to prevent you from dying, and that was all I intended to do. But now, that whorse has completely eradicated a huge chunk of my territory! I have no more conditions to my power, I request no Pact. Just merge with me temporarily and we can put this alicorn in her place.” The silky smooth feminine voice that asked to form a Pact with Ignis asks him directly in his mind.

Although the elf has regained a sliver of reason, he is still completely overwhelmed with rage and grief. The only reason he’s coherent is because of how much pain his body is in combined with his inability to move. Ignis is still completely unable to comprehend anything being said to him. His still black and red eyes are shaking as he wills himself to fight once more.

“Level Up.”

The air resonates once more as a surge of mana shoots out of the glassed crater. Daybreaker, who had finally made it back within line of sight of her student, snaps her head in the direction of the surge. Eyes wide in complete disbelief. She’s sure it has to be something else. Her sister perhaps? Maybe even some new third party.

Turning in the air, the alicorn immediately flies back to the glassed crater. Her surprise is evident on her face when she sees a completely unscathed elf laying on his back. The mana is still surging and flaring out of control, but his eyes are closed. Unable to resist the curiosity of the situation, Daybreaker silently flies down and hovers a few feet in the air over the elf. He’s truly completely unharmed. Did something protect him?

Well whatever it is can’t protect you twice. I’ll make sure to end it properly this time and watch you die with my own eyes. The tip of her horn glows bright red as the mana compresses into a single dot. Ignis immediately disappears as he teleports to the left of Daybreaker, in the air. Out of the corner of her eye she watches as his own eyes snap open and she feels something slam into her. The spell she was channeling is disrupted in an instant as Ignis uses both hands balled up together to spike the alicorn dowards like a volleyball. Landing on her back and sinking a few feet into the dirt she thinks to herself. What is this strength? Isn’t he an agility based swordspony that relies on reflexes?!

That thought is interrupted as a foot lands squarely in the middle of her stomach. Coughing up bile from the impact as the air is knocked out of her she starts to reconsider the decisions she made up to this point. Her memories told her Luna and Nightmare were in separate bodies and Nightmare had betrayed Luna. So why did Nightmare sacrifice herself to save Luna? Why were they in the same body?

That thought process also doesn’t get to find a conclusion as a barrage of blunt force from two fists impact her muzzle, repeatedly. With pure telekinesis the alicorn lifts the elf into the air by his head. He flails about and fires two bolts of ice at her that she ignores as she rises out of the crater. She then proceeds with the elegance of a bull and repeatedly slams the elf into the ground over and over. Front, back, front, back, after the 7th or so slam the flailing stops. Daybreaker then flies up and spots a few boulders in the Everfree and throws the elf as hard as she can into the rock formation.

She noticed something peculiar about him as he disappeared from sight though. The fiery hair that mirrored her own seemed to be turning…black? She’s probably just seeing things.

“That’s it, I’m done waiting for your permission! I’m merging with your mind.” Ignis hears that silky voice of the woman in his head again as he floats in a sea of black. Suddenly the void turns into that familiar clearing in the forest. Only now there’s a floating…. shadow core.

“You? Why didn’t you just tell me that you were that shadowy orb from the Everfree? What actually are you?”

The scene of the clearing shifts to the moon and then to the Feywild. Tendrils launch out of the orb in every direction, sinking into the ground and trees of everything surrounding itself. “I thought it was self explanatory. Listen, you just close your eyes for a while and when you wake up everything will be fixed.”

The creature now occupying the elfs mind was under the assumption that in this nearly dead state with his mind already bordering on shattered that the merger would be one sided. It assumed that the merged personality would mostly consist of its own ego, influenced slightly by the emotions and memories of the elf. That was okay though because the merger was only temporary and in the past there had been no lasting side effects.

Which is why the shadow core was so surprised when the scene shifted once more to a grassy field located behind a small house. In the distance was the skyline of a massive city it had never seen before. The merging process continued as more tentacles emerged and started to occupy this portion of the creature's mind. Until an unfamiliar bipedal creature similar to Ignis but with rounded ears and shorter hair that was nearly black suddenly appeared and thrusted his hand into the core.

“W-what?! There were already two egos in here?” The human seemed incapable of intelligent thoughts as it just screamed at the core and started pulling power out of the core. The spirit of the Everfree realized at this point that the merged ego was no longer going to be entirely in its control. In fact this might as well be a new creature entirely. The core could feel the rage and animosity seeping over the line between their minds and started to be overwhelmed with the emotion.

Character Profile Updated!
New Class Configuration Confirmed!

Feeling confident that the fight was truly over this time, Daybreaker used magic to stop her bleeding nose and clear up any scuffs still on her. She had to look presentable for her student and her friends, after all. Flying down towards Twilight, Daybeaker was happy to see that her sister had regained consciousness. Luna looks distraught as Twilight talks to her and helps her to her feet.

“Sister, no, Daybreaker, do you have any idea what you’ve done?!” The solar alicorn is confused as her sister screams this question at her as she lands. Why is she crying so hard?

“I have saved Equestria and corrected two of the only mistakes I made this year. I know you think you were in love with him,” Daybreaker rolls her eyes as she says this. “But trust me. I’ve done you a huge favor. Now let’s confirm that my dear student is no longer under the effect of that Geas spell and dispel it if she still is.”

Luna realizes there’s nothing she can say anymore, and completely collapses. Sobbing into her forelegs as the recent events replay in her mind over and over. She keeps trying to reach out to the elf through her Divine connection, but that only confirms her worst fear as the connection seemingly no longer exists.

Daybreakers ears pin back at the raw display of grief and her eyes flash between her own eyes and Celestia's eyes rapidly. Finally settling on Daybreakers eyes as she turns towards Twilight and the others. Only to be hit with another emotional arrow as all six of the bearers step back and flinch upon seeing the alicorn move towards them. “I know you all think you realize what has happened here, but let me dispel the magic on you. It is regrettable but it had to be done. Twilight, my little pony, come here.”

The next words that Twilight would utter were words that Celestia never, never thought would come from the unicorn's mouth. “P-princess…you’re a monster. We tried to tell you we were never under any spell. You’re the one being manipulated Princess.”

Daybreaker rapidly blinks a few times as the words from her student, that essentially worships her, hit her like a ton of bricks and she goes through her memories over and over again. She looks over at the inconsolable Luna lying on the ground with Fluttershy and Rarity trying to comfort her. And that does it, the alicorn is finally mentally pushed far enough to give in, and she casts her most powerful dispelling magic on herself. Although in reality Discord had been silently watching with a bucket of popcorn from the Ethereal plane, and decided to stop channeling magic into the mental spell on the princess. Purely so he could see her reaction to everything.

The fire in her mane returns to an ethereal mane of pastel colors as eyes return to a normal purple and they well up with emotion. Celestia returns to reality with only one thought, “What have I done?”

Watching both alicorns turn into emotional wrecks sends the draconequus in a laughing fit until he feels something. Something new hundreds of feet away. Grabbing the air an oblong oval appears that Discord pulls open like a window, and he slides through, teleporting himself to the location of this new magic.

With a twisted fascination he watches as the elfs teeth become sharper, the entire upper half of his head is covered completely in a black, inky, darkness. Two large yellow slits appear in the darkness as this new creature starts to writhe in pain. The darkness surrounding his head perfectly transitions to his hair that is still crackling and moving like it’s on fire, but it’s now completely black as well.

Thin black lines start to form all over the elfs torso, forming some kind of symbol, and the lines merge into a much thicker line at his shoulders. Those thick lines run down the back of both arms until they reach the forearm. At that point they completely engulf his hand and wrist like a pair of long gloves. His now shadowy fingers crack and bend unnaturally as they turn into sharp claws. Both elbows and shoulders sprout small black fires as the transformation seemingly finishes.

“Now what do we call this one? Nightmare Ignis? No~ that’d be in poor taste, it’s too soon.” He laughs at his own joke before continuing. “How about Ignoctus? That sounds proper evil, doesn’t it? What do you think?”

The transformed creature just lets out a low rumbling sound as he opens his mouth and smoke pours out between the sharp teeth.

“Well no that’s not a good name at all. We can’t just call you “grrr” that’d be ridiculous! Actually on second thought I quite like the idea of ponies addressing you as Grrr. You know what? It’s grown on me, I like it.” If anyone could actually see this scene they’d wonder why Discord is talking at all, since he’s still in the Ethereal plane and the creature can’t see or hear him.

The creature stands and starts to move towards the direction of the Element bearers. Discord ponders on if he should try mentally manipulating this creature like he did the sisters, but realizes it's not needed when he hears the creature finally utter a single word.

“ᗫᕔᎽᗹɌꗛᕔҜꗛɌ…”

Discord releases a small gasp of surprise as the creature just disappears.

All eight ponies gathered at the edge of the Everfree freeze and go silent as an ominous pressure weighs down on them. It’s murderous, heavy, and feels wrong. Then they notice a familiar pair of legs emerge from the darkness in the forest. Luna feels her breath catch and her eyes widen, she feels immense relief upon seeing what she assumes is Ignis.

Then they see his arms and his claws, and they all start to realize this feeling is coming from him. They feel their hairs stand on end, instincts screaming that something is wrong.

He steps out of the clearing fully revealing himself now, and Twilight is the first to make any kind of connection. It’s only natural since the only other pony that could’ve made the connection is no longer present. “His hands and his head, those yellow eyes, he looks like the Wraiths we fought in the old castle…Princess where are the elements? We need them now.”

The creature just stands there, slowly breathing, and exhaling smoke with every breath. Even Luna is hesitant to say anything, she still doesn’t feel the connection to her paladin. Swallowing those foolish thoughts she rises up and starts to slowly walk towards the creature. “Ignis? I thought I lost you as well…I still can’t feel our connection. Is something wrong?”

He just stares at her in silence. His mind is trying to find Daybreaker but his confusion is growing as he looks around and doesn’t see her. The blue one calls out to him again, but that name means nothing to him. She says it again and he realizes she must be talking to him.

“Ĭ ᕔᙏ ᙁꗞꞆ ĬǤᙁĬꕷ. Ĭ ᕔᙏ ᗹԸᕔⱿꗛᙡɌᕔĬꞆዛ ᙁᎽ𐠷ᗹԸᕔᗫꗛ.”

Character Profile: Blazewraith Nyxblade.
Fiend Patron Warlock - Level 13.

Luna takes a step back as an instinctual reaction to the guttural rumbling that makes up his voice. His words barely understandable. The memories of the personalities that make up the new creature finally catch up with its brain and it puts together that Daybreaker is Celestia. Celestia is standing right there. The black fire that makes up his hair and the small flames resting on his elbows and shoulders suddenly flare up as a strange, ear piercing, high pitched sound ripples out of the creature's mouth in waves.

The air starts to hum and vibrate as mana all around them begins to exist on the same frequency. They harmonize and vibrate as one and the air is filled with what sounds like a children's choir, singing in a foreign language. It just adds to the ominous feeling surrounding them. Except for Luna who realizes that this creature just spotted her sister, and even more disturbing is that it’s still capable of performing a Symphony of Steel.

“ᙅꗛԸꗛꕷꞆĬᕔ!!” He drops down onto his claws, like a beast as the fires flare up more. The smoke coming out of its mouth increases in volume and a loud thumping can be heard. Its heart sounds like a train engine.

Blazewraith disappears and reappears in the air right in front of Celestia, and right as he appears the air vibrates with pulsing low bass notes from the bladesong. There’s a blur of motion as he turns his whole body and suddenly Celestia is flying straight up. Her body flipping uncontrollably as it rises, her head vibrating from the impact of the creature hitting her chin. Just as she manages to stabilize herself and stretch her wings she’s hit with a loud screech in her right ear.

Then she feels something extremely hot on her horn. Blazewraith squeezes her horn as if his life depended on it, and while still holding the horn he barrel rolls away from the alicorn. Celestia can only get pulled along for the ride as she tries to clear the disorientation she feels. She’s dragged through the air by the biological makeshift handle sprouting from her head.

Having built up enough speed from completing a few rotations, the elf does one more half rotation before slinging the alicorn into the ground at dangerous speeds. As soon as she craters into the dirt there’s not a moment’s respite as he instantly buries her even deeper with a kick to the gut. The demon throws his arm back getting ready to thrust his claws forward when a voice…a familiar voice calls out to him.

Now that the memories have had more time to sink in he can’t help but to be compelled to look at Luna as she calls out to him. “Please! I know you’re hurting even more than I am, but please…! Please don’t make me lose two sisters on the same day! Celestia is freed from Discords corruption, you know it wasn’t her fault, so please!” Luna is a bit surprised herself that she’d call Nightmare a sister. Things really have changed over the last month and a half.

The words take a few seconds to register with the Wraith-Elf hybrid but his arm relaxes slightly and then straightens again. It’s like there’s an internal battle on what to do. Finally his arm straightens up again and snaps his gaze back to Celestia and starts to bring his claw down.

Before it pierces her neck though Celestia finally fights back and blasts the demon into the air with her radiant magic. She flies up in the air and conjures a Forcecage, its walls made up of golden magic. Nyxblade merely screeches and the walls start to crack. He slams a hand forward and the claws pierce straight through the wall. One more thrust and the cage shatters. The instant it shatters a purple and golden beam from the student-mentor duo slam into his chest and launch him back into the Everfree.

He re-emerges from the dust cloud and spits a bit of inky black goop onto the ground, but his form is different now. On top of his head there are seven black motes of fire orbiting his head slowly. The spell is Crown of Stars.

Then he holds a hand out in front of him with his palm towards the ground and mutters an incantation as a large red circle about 30ft across in diameter appears under him. With himself in the center of the circle, this spell is Conjure Minor Elementals. Normally little sprites of magical flame would rise from the circle in a constant flow, but as this circle stays open the primal magic of the Everfree mixes in and Mephits of black fire rise out of the circle instead.

Crown of Stars 7th Level Spell: Seven stars appear and orbit your head for one hour. You can launch a star at a creature and deal 4d12 ~~Radiant~~ Fire damage per star. Each Star is a one time use only.

Conjure Minor Elementals 4th Level Spell (Upcasted to 6th Level): You conjure spirits that flit around you for up to 10 minutes. Any attack you make deals an extra 6d8 Fire damage, empowered by the spirits. The area of spirits around you is difficult terrain for any enemy.

Elemental Adept (Primal Fire): The dark and primal magic of the Everfree mixed with your fire allows your attacks to treat Fire Immunity as if it was Fire Resistance. Fire Resistance is ignored. A creature with no immunity or resistance becomes vulnerable to Fire Damage.

Everyone that was planning to help restrain the former elf becomes extremely hesitant when they see and feel this new magic. Nyxblade slowly walks towards Celestia, in a very casual manner. Suddenly one of the black mephits compresses down into pure energy that’s absorbed by one of the stars floating around the creature's head. Then without warning the star hurls into Celestia. She manages to summon a shield in time, but it just goes straight through and lands a direct hit. Thankfully not a critical hit, though.

56 Fire Damage. Celestia is normally immune though so the damage is cut in half, down to 28. That amount of damage isn’t enough to significantly stagger the alicorn but her eyes are still wide from shock.

That…that BURNED me? That shouldn’t be possible. Her thoughts are interrupted as six rays of fire appear in the air over the creature. Scorching Ray at 5th Level. All six rays become empowered by the Minor Elementals. Celestia takes to the air and attempts to make herself harder to hit. She summons a shield as well, and it actually stops the first two rays. The third ray smashes the shield to bits and hits her right under her wing. The fourth ray hits a fraction of a second later on the side of her neck, and her wing locks up from the pain of the third ray hitting the base of it.

She’s falling out of the air with a locked up wing and the next are both natural 20’s. One lands right between her eyes and the other at the base of her horn. In total the Minor Elemental empowered, upcasted Scorching Ray did 258 Fire Damage. Thankfully the solar alicorn is quite sturdy to heat so that’s reduced to 129 Fire Damage.

Celestia crashes into the ground for the fourth time today and this time she doesn’t get up. She stares at the creature with half opened, hazy eyes, and mumbles that she doesn’t blame him for his anger. Fully ready to meet her fate she closes her eyes and waits for the end to come, but it never does.

She opens her eyes again a few seconds later and sees a blue dome around her with a purple dome around that dome. Luna and Twilight have doubled up their magic to shield her from the next three stars that shoot from his crown. Twilight's dome shatters after the first star and Lunas just barely manages to withstand the next two. Blazewraith raises his hand to signal another volley of attacks but freezes as Luna puts herself directly in front of her sister.

“That is enough Ignis. I cannot just sit idly by and watch you do this. You are strong. You are my Knight, MY Paladin.” Her voice cracks and she ends her sentence early to reaffirm herself. “So, I order you to break free from this animalistic state, and return to my side. Please…”

The possessed elf raised his hand again and Luna just stared with widened eyes, but refused to move from her spot. Strange sounds of exertion and teeth grinding can be heard from the shadowy elf. His arm is violently shaking as if parts of himself are fighting each other.

The creature bends over as if in pain and grabs at his head with his claws while screeching. Apparently some part of him was considering actually attacking Luna. This is enough of a distraction for everyone to pile together with Celestia and allows just enough time for Luna to teleport everyone away with a flash of light.

The creature screams, enraged that he let her get away. After smashing the ground a few times the elf turns and takes a massive leap to the west.

The group pops into existence back in the Night Guard camp at the edge of the Undiscovered West. The plan to get the elements, the Princesses, and the two knights into one surmounting force to take on Discord has officially failed. They left as six ponies and a knight, and they returned with six ponies and two alicorns. Under normal circumstances that would probably be considered a victory, but they still don’t have the elements. And, they lost far too much.

The entire camp goes into an uproar when they return but they’re instantly silenced at the sight of both princesses losing their composure, and all of the element bearers have their ears pinned back with wide far off stares. Not a single one of those six woke up today and thought they’d watch somepony die. Celestia wracked with the guilt of what she’d done combined with the pain she inflicted on the elf. Remembering the state her sister had been in when they all thought Ignis had perished as well.

Luna was by far in the worst shape. Still emotionally reeling from watching her own body torture her knight, being unable to do anything. Watching his lifeless form fall from orbit. Losing a member of her herd and the uncertainty of the entire situation with the possessed Ignis.

“Y’all is it really okay to just leave him there when he’s like that? I know Ponyville is empty, I’m not talkin’ about that. Y’all could hear how loud and fast his heart was beatin’ right? Is he gunna be okay if we just let him stay like that for who knows how long? We didn’t even manage to get the elements and that’s what we went there ta do.” Applejack is the first to break the silence among the group.

“It’s the only thing we could do, Applejack. You saw how he tossed around the Princess like she was nothing! Without the elements we were just waiting for the Princess to die. Who knows what would’ve happened after that! He might’ve even turned on us!” Rainbow is the one that is the least emotionally distraught. She barely knows Ignis and never really agreed with unsealing Nightmare in the first place. She’s mostly just a bit shocked at watching somepony die, and any sadness she feels is because she hates seeing her friends and the Princesses like this.

“He would not have. That, I can assure you.” Luna reels back in her emotional state to try and be productive in this conversation. To hopefully help formulate a plan for the future. “If he had managed to… to kill my sister. He would’ve almost certainly passed out or dropped out of that form instantly. Applejack is also right to wonder if he’s safe in that state. He was constantly pumping mana through his muscles and blood vessels to enhance himself physically, and last time he did that it nearly killed him. Back then he only did it for a few seconds, but that confrontation was nearly 15 minutes.”

Luna pauses for a second as her mind starts to go down the dark path of imagining Ignis in that state rampaging through the Everfree until his body just gives out and he collapses. “If that shadow thing possessing him has him constantly doing that even outside of battle… I doubt he’ll make it to tomorrow. Young Twilight, could you properly explain what happened to him in the old castle?”

Twilight goes on to explain the entire encounter with the super wraiths, the vines, and the shadowy core. Luna has a barely noticeable soft smile when she hears what he said about being a hypocrite. Once she finishes the story and says that the core flew inside of his chest she looks to her mentor. “Do you have any idea what that could’ve been, Princess?”

“If that is truly what has possessed him then teleporting away was the right call. That core is the Spirit of the Everfree. She protects the forest from any large, major threats, and she supplies most of the forest with its magic. I’ve only seen her once and my mentor explained what she is. Harmony also gave some insight into the wraiths several centuries ago when they were first spotted. Apparently there are some lost spirits in a deep, deep section of the forest. If they leave that section they succumb to their negative emotions and are corrupted by the ambient magic of the forest.”

Looking down at the ground for a moment, Celestia takes a second to wipe her eyes before continuing. “Those wraiths are the result of that process. The Spirit of the Everfree absorbs the wraiths anytime she finds them and uses them to patrol important sites and particularly dangerous areas. The ruins of our old castle is one of those places. It seems like after Ignis slayed the wraiths patrolling the castle the first time, she went there herself and ended up getting trapped by those vines. It sounds like the vines were taking her power and even took control of her wraiths.”

“But uhm, sorry Princess, but why would she possess Ignis then?” Fluttershy asks the obvious question. It doesn’t sound like this core was an evil entity so this outcome is confusing.

“It’s likely because I, as Daybreaker, glassed nearly an entire square mile of the Everfree. She likely offered to merge with him on the assumption that she would be able to control their new combined form. The impossible part to me is that Ignis was able to overwhelm her ego with his rage alone. That creature seemed like it was an entirely new ego. Neither of them were in control, it was just some combination of their personalities purely driven by the singular purpose to kill me. The good news is that if that truly is the Everfree’s Spirit then Ignis will be fine. She is likely taking the brunt of the burden being placed on his body.” For the first time in what feels like years, there is a bit of good news.

“But what do we do now, Princess Celestia? We don’t even know where the Elements are to begin making some kind of plan?” Twilight instantly brings everyone back to the grim reality of their current situation.

“I’m…I don’t know, Twilight. Discord is an arrogant creature and enjoys giving ponies hope just to snatch it away. We can maybe make use of that and get him to agree to another game or riddle of some kind. You all are more familiar with his ways and tactics now, and I trust you can use your friendship to overcome whatever challenge he presents to you. So, if you can get him to agree to a rematch you just might be able to do something. Beyond that, I’m not sure.”

Silence reigns over the camp as the conversation dies off. Luna stands up and starts to walk around the camp. Celestia initially thinks of accompanying her but decides that her face is probably the last one Lulu wants to see right now. Luna combs through the memories of her body while Nightmare was in control and uses those memories to figure out where they kept Ignis while he was unconscious. Finding the location in her memory she turns and heads that way.

The Lunar Princess reaches the medical tent and silently enters. A couple of thestrals attempt to follow her into the tent to try and comfort her, but they are stopped by Elytra who just shakes her head no. With the entire tent to herself, Luna lays down in the hospital bed Ignis had previously occupied for nearly two days. She buries herself into the sheets and finds a modicum of comfort from the familiar scent. Then the dam finally breaks and everyone in that corner of the camp can only grimace at the sound of grief.

Author's Note

The situation reaches a new rock bottom as everyone is crushed from the defeat in Ponyville. The beginnings of a new plan are formed and just maybe a spark of hope has been reignited. Also holy fuck that last paragraph hurt to write. That shit actually made my chest hurt.

Also yeah, I totally leaned HARD into the edgy this chapter. I told myself to just go all out when thinking of Nightmare Ignis design and name and cringed a little after putting all down into words. By the end of the chapter though, it grew on me. I've explained it before but Ignis Ferrum literally means Fire Iron, to be interpreted as Fire Sword. Not necessarily a fiery sword, but the theme of his character is Fire AND Swords (bladesong). So his Nightmare-version name just cranks up both of those factors, Blaze-Wraith Nyx-blade. I even got to throw a little nod to Nightmare in the last name.

I imagine some people are probably like "holy shit how many chapters in a row are they just gunna get hit with L after L after L" and like... I get it. Things always get worse before they get better though. It's always darkest before the dawn.

Thanks for reading. <3

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 12

“What…is happening to me?” Floating in a dark inky void, my hands grab my head. Everything is hazy. Am I dreaming right now?

The events of the last few hours replay in my mind, but the memory is distorted. Everything is monochrome and there’s strange lines and auras coming from everyone. Right we came to get the elements, but ran into…Daybreaker.

Nightmare showed up and helped and then…

The voidscape rumbles and shakes as I react to the memories. She’s gone. I thought I was on my way to join her, so how did I end up here? Is this Hell? I close my eyes to try and maintain composure but surprisingly enough I barely feel anything. I’m definitely upset but everything is severely muted.

Suddenly I’m able to see the world around me, but it’s still in this strange monochrome vision, and I assume the auras I see are some type of thermal vision? The auras are barely visible on trees and plants, but it was bright around the ponies. I can’t control my body.

Panic rises up but I can quickly feel something suppressing the emotion. My eye lids grow heavy and it feels like I’m out of energy. Fighting off the urge to sleep I watch as Luna steps in between my possessed body and Celestia. She’s…. She’s saying something. Stay awake.

She’s ordering me to snap out of it and return to her side. That’s exactly…what…I want to do! I can feel the body starting to tense up as if it’s about to attack Luna and that’s when I’m able to completely overcome the urge to sleep. I exert every ounce of willpower into forcing my body to lower its arm.

Kill kill kill kill kill kill KILL! SHE is in our way!

“I will not let you use my body to take away the things I cherish!” Feel starts to slowly return to my limbs and I’m able to grab my head as pain also starts to return with the rest of my bodily functions. I hear the sound of teleportation and glance up to see Luna and everyone else is gone. I’m alone.

Thank God. I don’t think I could’ve….held this thing….off….

Falling out of my own body and back into the dark void my eyes slowly close.

Canterlot Mines - Primary Pony Shelter

“After an encounter with Daybreaker, under the influence of Discord, the Element bearers were able to recover both Princess Celestia and Luna. Whereabouts of the actual Elements is still unknown. The report mentions one KIA and one MIA.” A guard that had only graduated basic a week ago reads off the report received from Vice Captain Elytra.

“What are their names? If it was one of the bearers it would’ve mentioned it, no? I didn’t think anypony else accompanied them on the journey.” Shining Armor replies while still focusing on a large holographic map of Canterlot Mountain and all of the nearby towns. New supply routes being drafted.

Cadence and her Knight are also in attendance and the Knight feels a knot form in her stomach, as the guard reads off the names. “Nightmare Moon sacrificed herself to save Princess Luna, and Ignis Ferrum was last seen leaping into the Everfree. It mentions that search and rescue for the Knight is not advised as he is currently transformed in a way that is similar to Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker. Subject cannot be reasoned with, flee on sight.”

“It’s just a villain transformation buffet out there, huh? What do you think, honey, feeling like you might be corrupted anytime soon? I’d appreciate a warning at least.” Shining either completely didn’t register the first name that was given out, or simply forgot who was in the room. Either way his special somepony lets him have it.

With a thwap upside the back of his head with her wing she gives him the stink eye. “Shining, read the room!” She motions with her eyes towards Force sitting a few feet away staring at the ground. It takes a second but it finally clicks and he shows a bit of guilt on his face. Cadence turns towards her knight and speaks to her. “Are you okay?”

“I mean you two were able to put two and two together right? Ignis transformed into that thing and Nightmare Moon died. She was the catalyst, I can’t imagine how much pain he’s in right now…”

“Do you want to go look for him?” Cadence offers her with a soft and gentle tone.

“But, the report said not to approach. It sounds like he’s not himself right now…”

“That’s not what I asked, my Knight. Do you want to go look for him? I would advise you not to approach him when you find him, but I think you’ll do so anyway.”

Force gives her sheepish grin and rubs the back of her head with a forehoof. “Yeah I probably will. Are you sure it’s okay?”

“Of course, without either of my Aunties here I’m in charge and I say it’s okay. Just be careful okay? He was last seen in the Everfree going west.”

The pegasus throws on her helmet and bolts towards the exit.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? The report made it seem more like he’s not even capable of speaking. He’s not like Nightmare or Daybreaker, they monologue, gloat, taunt, and converse with their opponents. This makes it seem like he just attacks on sight.” The Captain throws a questioning glance towards Cadence.

“...Why didn’t you say anything before I sent her off? No, I’m sure it’ll be fine. You don’t need the elements to solve every problem, Shiny. Sometimes all you need is a little Love.” To that response Shining just rolls his eyes.

“Lulu, you’ve been in this bed for almost an entire day. Why don’t you get up and come eat with me?” Nearly 24 hours after returning Celestia decides to go check on her sister in the medical tent.

“I’m not hungry, Tia.” With a massive sigh the alicorn still picks her head up from the bed. “I suppose I should at least move around a bit. Have you and your student come up with a new plan? I still don’t like that we just left Ignis in the Everfree to rampage on his own.”

“It was the only choice we had, Luna. You saw how he was barely holding himself back when you stepped in. The only real plan we have is the one we came up with yesterday. We just need to figure out how to find DIscord and what to say to him to coerce him into another riddle or game for the elements.”

As the words leave Celestia's lips there’s a tear in space over the camp. Everyone watches in horror as the draconequus himself appears in the air and slithers down towards the sisters. “Worry not, Sunny. You don’t have to say a thing. In fact I was already planning a rematch as soon as I discovered the bladesinger had cleansed my magic from your student and her friends.”

“How about we just skip the part where you turn back into a statue, asshole?” Rainbow calls out to Discord as her and the rest of the element bearers approach the sudden meeting.

“Now now dear Rainbow Dash, nopony likes a sore loser. I told you no wings allowed and you still took off anyways. Now, let’s see... where was I?”

Discord pulls out a ballcap that says “Thinking” on it and puts it on his head.

“When the pieces are in place,
and everything is where it’s supposed to be.
Against the speed of a city you shall race,
and should you fail you will not flee.
Or It will surely kill the tree.”

Discord hums for a moment and tries to decide if he’s happy with that, and with a final nod to himself he turns to the ponies one last time. “Solve that riddle and you’ll find the starting line, but just be aware that you should bring more than nine. Then the true game will begin.”

He takes note of the absolute death glare Luna is giving him and just before he vanishes back to his hidey hole he blows her a kiss. “Hopefully you don’t lose anypony else this time, Princess.”

Luna's face contorts into a disgusted rage and with a scream she fires off a beam at the draconequus. Right before the attack makes contact he poofs into a very familiar looking cloud of smoke and the echoes of his laughter fills the air as he disappears.

“I’ll kill him. If it’s the last thing I do, that creature will die.” Luna stares at where Discord just was with a look that sends a shiver down the other ponies' spines.

Applejack decides she’ll be the one to break the silence. “Is it just me or did that riddle make even less sense than the first one? I got no clue what the heck he’s talkin about.”

“Nope! Definitely not just you. I don’t even know what pieces he’s talking about!” Pinkie reassures AJ.

“Well darling, I thought it was rather obvious. We are the pieces. He’s implying that since we wield the Elements we are but pieces on the chess board of our Princesses.”

“I think you’re right Rarity, so if we’re supposed to go back to where we’re supposed to be…does that mean the Elements are back in the vault in Canterlot? It’s the only thing I can think of.” Twilight looks to her mentor for a second opinion and Celestia just gives her a nod.

“I believe that is correct. Unfortunately Canterlot is currently floating a few thousand feet above where it normally does, but I suppose in the grand scheme of things that isn’t too large of a problem. He didn’t take your wings or your horns this time, and he didn’t forbid me and Luna from helping. There is one peculiar thing though, he mentioned that we need to bring more than nine.” Celestia looks to her sister before continuing.

“The bearers are six, you and I make eight. Who else could he consider as “Pieces?” We might be forced to go confront Ignis before we can return to Canterlot. Even then that only leaves us at nine, I’m not sure who else would be considered a piece.”

“I believe I know Princess. When Ignis left here with us he gave a speech to the came and said that he didn’t think anything in this world could stand up to all three Princesses, the Elements, and the two Knights of Equestria if they banded together. Those numbers makes eleven, but he wasn’t referring to Princess Cadence. If we, uhm,” Twilight gulps feeling a bit guilty and uncomfortable for speaking so clinically about the recently deceased. “If we consider that it’s only two Princesses then that would be ten. In that case the other pony we would need is Unstoppable Force.”

The group of ponies proceed to go a bit more in depth on what they think each line of the riddle means, but decide that they should head out now. They don’t know where Ignis is and it might take a while to find him if they need to search the entire Everfree.

The Knight of Love had only been flying for an hour or so when she spotted something metal shining into her eyes. Dipping down closer to the dirt to inspect she sees a familiar emerald longsword. Eyes widening she flies down and lands. “This is definitely his sword but how did it end up over here? This is miles away from the Ponyville-Everfree border. Did he throw it?”

After taking a few minutes to strap the sword down to her back in a way that doesn’t impede her flight or endanger her safety if she were to crash, she returns to the air. “If he was last seen heading west, does that mean he was making his way towards the thestral camp? I’m not sure why he’d think to go back there, so I don’t think that’s the case. It’s been long enough that he would’ve already arrived and we would’ve definitely heard about that. So, I’ll stick to the Everfree.”

The plans have been put into motion and now everything is converging back to one place. To one elf. Hopefully the groups will not meet another tragic fate on their short journeys back to the Everfree.

Author's Note

This chapter is back to the normal amount of words I can comfortably put out in a day. I wasn't really pushing myself that hard the last several chapters it's more apt to say I was just in the zone.

Now I am in a state much like the state of this chapter. Decompression. A nice little decompression chapter setting the stage for the next and perhaps final arc in the Discord saga.

I did zero proofreading or skimming on this chapter, so if it's super fucked up just quote the bad parts and I'll swing through and fix em. I gotta go hit the sack though.

Thanks for reading.

Main Quest - The Return to Harmony pt. 13

(A/N: Super super light NSFW in this chapter. It's not enough that I think it warrants it's own chapter, like there's no sex or anything it's just a bit of a spicy scene, but I'm also pretty sure it couldn't go in a PG-13 movie.)

“Where are you, Ignis?” Force comments out loud to no one as she continues to fly over the Everfree. She’s been flying over the forest for hours at this point, and she doesn’t seem to realize she’s just checking over sections of the forest she’s already covered. There’s no way he’s deeper than this right? At this point he has to be, I’m pretty sure I’ve checked everything from here to Ponyville.

Eventually she flies over a spot of the forest that makes her pause as an overwhelming pressure hits her. That has to be him, right?

She takes off her helmet and glides down, looking for an opening in the canopy to descend through. When she lands she glances around trying to feel where the pressure is coming from. After walking for a few minutes she finds a small cave opening and sees…him. The elf's appearance is quite jarring for Force, but she quickly recovers and slowly approaches. He’s currently just sitting down with his back leaned up against the stone wall of the cave, looking at the ceiling.

A twig snaps under her hoof and his head snaps in her direction. She can barely suppress her panic when the creature disappears and reappears in front of her a second later. Every time this thing takes a breath there’s a deep rumbling in his chest, almost like a growl. “I, uh, heard about what happened. I didn’t like the thought of you being out here alone with nopony to help you get through your grief. So, I threw on my helmet and flew over.”

The creature tilts his head to the left and then the right, almost like he’s investigating the mare. After a few tense seconds that feel like forever the elf-wraith hybrid plops down and sits in the grass. As Force feels the pressure and tension in the air melt away she instantly dives towards him, wrapping her forelegs around his neck. “And they told me I should be careful, pfft, I know you’d never hurt me.” After a few seconds of silence she realizes something and corrects herself. “Outside of a spar, of course.”

“Tired.”

The creature utters a single word in response to the affection. Offering no return hug or acknowledgement. His voice sounds like a shitty subwoofer getting dragged through gravel, but Force manages to understand him. “Then why don’t you get some rest?”

“Job’s not finished.”

“What job? Maybe I can help you out.”

“Kill Celestia.”

“O-Oh…you know she was not in control of her own actions right? Discord manipulated her.”

“Kill Discord too. Celestia then Discord.”

The Knight can’t help but to frown at how matter-of-fact his tone is. It’s probably best to not continue down this conversation topic, so she elects to try and pivot. “Well how about you get some rest first and I’ll keep watch to make sure nothing sneaks up on us. If I see Princess Celestia I’ll wake you up.”

“No need. Creatures know better.”

Force tilts her head in confusion as to what he could mean, but then she remembers that intense pressure she felt originally. It’s only then that she notices the entire forest is dead silent. Anything alive in this forest is steering wide when traveling around this area.

“Love right. Sleep.”

He announces very bluntly before standing up and carrying the Knight into the cave he was sat in originally. Blazewraith lays on his side and holds the pony like a teddy bear as he instantly dozes off. Force meanwhile just has a massive blush from the sudden manhandling and display of strength and dominance. He didn’t even ask, he just brought me to bed and laid down…

“It’s nice to meet both of you, Ignis spoke of you all often. You’ve raised him well, he’s strong, kind, and saved my entire kingdom once.” A human woman in a silky blue dress, with hair that’s just a few shades darker, offers a small curtsy as she greets the Patriarch of the Natsume, and she also gives a small nod to the shorter drow girl standing next to her father. “And you must be Tala?”

“That is correct, Y-your Majesty?” Ignis' younger sister replies a bit unsure of how to address the guest that is apparently, royalty.

“Oh just Luna is fine. We’re all family, so there’s no need for any of that.”

Ignis' father steps forward and offers an open hand for a handshake. “I really just cannot thank you enough for taking care of him while he was there, and for bringing him back.”

“Oh I played no part in bringing him back. He was able to accomplish the feat all on his own. I’ll admit for the first few hundred years or so we all thought this day would never come. I’m glad it did though.” Luna replies with a bit of a far off look as she reminisces about the past as she finishes the handshake with the Patriarch.

“And how long will you be staying here, Miss Luna?”

“Oh she’ll be here for as long as I’m here. There’s a few of us actually, but the others are unpacking everything and figuring out where everything is. I was intending to introduce them when we gathered for dinner later. We’ll probably stay here for three or four months and then we’ll return to Equestria. After that we plan to visit quite often.”

“You’re going to go back there? I’m confused.”

“OH right, silly me I always forget that part in the introduction. Mostly cause it still never feels real. Luna is my wife, father. She has been for, what, 402 years now?”

The elf’s father and sister both go slack jawed and stare at each other for a few seconds, after a few seconds they both release a loud, “WHAAAT?!”

“You remember the agreement, Ignis. Since you forgot to introduce me as your wife again, you owe me tonight.” Luna has a half smirk as she says this. “Honestly sometimes I think you forget on purpose purely because of this agreement. Perhaps I should rethink the punishment?”

Ignis has the faintest of blushes, surprised she’d even hint towards that agreement with his family still in the room. Putting his hand behind his head he laughs a bit. “You caught me.”

Looking back towards the still confused family members they bother mutter out some form of “I don’t even wanna know.” In regards to that part of the conversation they just overheard. Tala is the first to overcome the shock of the news and runs up to her brother. “Does that mean you’re a Prince?! Wait…does that mean I’m a Princess by relation?! Oh Dark Maiden, I have to tell my friends!”

She runs off before Ignis can correct her, so he just mutters quietly as she runs away. “King, actually…”

That’s when his father snaps out of it and begins to grill his son. “King?! How can you possibly stay here for months if you’re their king?”

“Ah, I'm just a trophy husband. In their kingdom everything is run by the women. Luna is the one that probably shouldn’t be here for more than a week, but she insists her substitute will be fine for a few months on her own.”

Luna just rolls her eyes, “Ugh, my replacement is more than capable, Ignis. We could probably stay here for a century and things would still be fine.” She releases a big yawn mid sentence. “Did you have any other questions for either of us….dad?”

Everyone makes a bit of an awkward face at the usage. Luna sighs, “You’re right Ignis, it does sound a bit forced and awkward.”

“No, nothing important anyways. It can wait until dinner, I’m excited to meet whoever else you brought with you, son.”

After a brief exchange of goodbyes the couple climb upstairs and Ignis leads Luna to where they’ll be sleeping for the duration of their stay. Opening the door he finds two more women currently putting clothes into dresser drawers while the other one is half naked, changing into pajama’s.

The one currently changing looks similar to Luna but her eyes are much more piercing and intimidating. Her hair is also purple instead of blue. The lady who is already in her pajamas, and is currently putting clothes away is a bit shorter than the other two with bright red hair. If she had pointy ears she’d actually look like she’s from here. The taller woman in purple hair turns towards the two that entered while putting her hair up.

“How’d it go? Did Ignis forget again?” She finishes her ponytail and puts her hands on her hips with a smug smile on her face. Showing off a pair of fangs.

“Of course he did. You know he almost always forgets. Are you not putting on any, uhm what do they call it, pants over your panties? Ignis said just walking around with just the undergarments on is quite inappropriate.” Luna replies with a sigh as she gives the man a side eye.

“It’s not enough I have to wear this blasted thing covering my chest and something on top of that? This is too confining! How do your people constantly walk around like this?” The purple haired woman pulls at the collar of her shirt, trying to loosen it. Although it’s already fairly loose and baggy considering it’s a shirt for sleeping.

“I mean we’re in the privacy of our bedroom, Nightmare. You don’t have to wear anything while we’re in here. If you leave the room at some point to grab a snack or something though I must insist that you put your pants back on. I’ll admit I’m quite fond of that look though. Nothing beats your woman wearing nothing but one of your t-shirts.”

Nightmare blushes a bit while she reaches behind her back to unclip her bra. She hated every minute of wearing that particular undergarment. “Well, i-it’s not necessary to say such things. I’m sure you’d be fond of any outfit I’m wearing.”

“You got me there.” The elf gives Nightmare a quick peck before jumping onto the bed and letting out a gigantic sigh. “Oh, my sweet bed! You’re as beautiful as the day I lost you. So soft…”

“I don’t see what the big deal is. Personally, these pajamas are super soft and I feel so snug and comfortable.” The red haired woman closes the drawer she was putting clothes into, and leans back to fall onto the bed as well. “You better not forget to introduce us properly at dinner tonight. Luna might find it cute cause of that little agreement you two have, but I’ll be quite offended if you forget that I’m your wife too.”

“Of course, how could I ever forget that the Unstoppable Force is my wife? It’s not that I forget I’m married to all of you. It’s just… I don’t know. Every morning I go to sleep thinking that this is all too good to be true, and every night I wake up surprised that this isn’t a dream. You three know you’re the most important things in my life.” Ignis gives her a kiss as well before turning his head towards the head mare of the group. Admiring her while she also changes into pajamas and puts her hair up.

Once she’s finished she climbs onto the bed and crawls on her hands and knees over the elf with a predatory smile on her face.

Everything blurs together and fades to black. The only thing left is Ignis, floating in a familiar black void with his eyes closed. There’s a dopey smile on his face as he mutters out Luna’s name in his infinite sleep.

Rainbow Dash just finished reporting to the group that she felt that same ominous feeling as before. She pointed them in the direction of the energy then took off again to scout it out while they caught up. When she lands in front of a small cave the only thing she can see is a pair of hooves, white fur, and something bright red sprawled out on the cave floor like a puddle.

In her adrenaline rush she thinks the red hair is blood and instantly moves into action. “Hey! Let that pony go right now! What did you do…to……her? Huh?” The scene Rainbow finds is not one she expected. That creature from earlier is laying down on the floor with Cadences Knight, and they’re…cuddling?

“Rainbow Dash! Shhh, he’s sleeping.” The pegasus whisper yells to the rainbow maned speedster.

The element of Loyalty can do nothing but stare, confused. Another few seconds pass and the rest of the bearers arrive at the cave with Luna. They all share Rainbow's confused stare except Luna who offers a soft smile at the unexpectedly adorable situation.

Author's Note

Don't ever say I didn't do anything nice for yall, :P

Nah I'm just kidding this was always gunna be the next chapter. Believe it or not I also needed a break from the sadness. Ignis seeing whatever he thinks is an ideal future while Blazewraith maintains control just gave me an easy excuse to write some cute shit.

Other than that, not much actual progress this chapter, but the group is back together! Except Celestia. <.< For reasons I'm sure I don't have to explain. <.<

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 14

“Where Celestia?”

The gawking of the group at the adorable cuddling scene is quickly brought back to reality as the creature asks his question while still laying down and holding the knight in his arms. They group all hesitantly look at each other trying to figure out what to say. Luna steps forward and decides to be mostly truthful.

“She’s in Canterlot. That’s where we’re going as well. Would you like to accompany me?”

Blazewraith stands up and places Force down gently. Walking up to Luna he gives her a discerning stare while tilting his head. After a few seconds he leans forward and all of the girls tense up.

Only to immediately relax when they watch him rub his cheek along her own cheek and neck. Luna leans into it with a smile. The creature then leaves the cave, squats down very low and leaps into the air. Twilight and Force stare a bit perplexed while the rest of them just seem surprised. The elf goes higher and higher, further and further, until he turns into a small dot and disappears in the distance. “Well at least he’s heading in the right direction. That is the direction of Canterlot right?”

“That is correct, Rainbow Dash. I suppose we’ll just have to continue without him and assume that he’ll be there waiting for us.” Luna answers the pegasus while walking ahead and resuming their journey.

“Why’d you tell him that’s where the Princess is though? I thought it was supposed to be a surprise!” Pinkie bounces on her tail, facing backwards so she can look directly at the alicorn.

“Well, I didn’t expect him to just leave on his own. Luckily there’s no way Tia is already there, so she should be fine. I mostly just didn’t want to lie to him. She is technically on her way to Canterlot.”

The group continue their walk through the Everfree for several minutes until they reach the edge of the forest near Ponyville. As soon as they breach the treeline and leave the forest they hear something zipping through the air, almost like something heavy is falling. They all look up and search for the source of the noise only for a sudden crashing sound to land a few feet away from them.

“Not there.” Nyxblade stomps up the dirt towards the group of ponies, coming to a stop right in front of Luna. Looking down at her with his chest puffed out.

“Where? No lie.”

“I didn’t lie. That’s where she said she was going. She must’ve stopped somewhere along the way for a break or maybe you just missed her. There’s no way you checked the entire city that fast. Why don’t you just join us since that’s where we’re heading anyways.” Luna maintains eye contact with a determined look.

After a few seconds of silence the wraith relaxes his posture. “No. I wait.”

As soon as he says that he just leaps into the air again and disappears. “I can’t believe how quickly that form is adapting to using mana. He’s barely even using his physical strength when he jumps like that. He’s coiling mana around his legs and compressing it like a spring when he crouches. He’s even releasing it in bursts out of his feet while he goes through the air.”

Twilight conjures a notepad and quill, immediately taking notes. The rest of the girls just laugh at the fact she can still act like this despite how bleak the situation is looking. The group continues into Ponyville until they reach the library. Once there they unpack the hot air balloon and load up Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity into the basket. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Luna use their wings to help speed up the contraption as they float to Canterlot.

It’s only when they’re about half way through their journey when the burner for the balloon starts spitting out bubbles instead of fire. The girls in the basket start to panic until Twilight reassures them. “It’s alright girls, despite how it looks this isn’t that dangerous. Without the burner we just won’t be able to maintain this altitude. In these conditions we shouldn’t drop out of the sky or anything. I’d estimate that we have another 30 to 40 minutes of flight until we land. I’m not sure how we’ll get everypony up to Canterlot without the balloon though…”

“I could bring all of you up in one trip with my telekinesis alone. It wouldn’t be much trouble.” Luna offers while gliding next to the slowly descending basket.

“Oh Princess we couldn’t ask y’all to do something like that for us. Rainbow and Flutters can just bring us up one at a time.”

“Dear Applejack, I assure you I would barely even notice. Just because I’m a Princess, that doesn’t change the fact that I could carry all four of you up there without magic. With magic it’s not even a challenge. It’s no trouble at all, I promise.”

As if to prove her point Luna ignites her horn and a blue bubble appears around the entire hot air balloon. A few seconds later the balloon stops descending and starts to actually regain its lost altitude. She’s lifting the entire balloon and its occupants with just her magic and she doesn’t even seem to be bothered at all. Her face is like she’s not even using magic.

Applejack whistles at the display and Twilight's eyes light up with stars at the display. It’s not a feat that should surprise the unicorn, but she very rarely gets to see an alicorn flex their magic outside of their domain. Just another couple of hours and the group would arrive at Canterlot Mountain.

A group of four wake up in a bed that they all just barely fit on together. “What was even the point of having us change into those “pajama” things if you were just going to strip us a few minutes later?”

“Because Nightmare, when you get a gift, unwrapping the present is one of the best parts. Besides, you still have the shirt on. Now c’mon c’mon get up you lot we’re already on the verge of running late. We gotta get dressed for dinner.” Ignis claps his hands as he sits up in bed, Force grunting in her sleep in disapproval. Luna opens her eyes as she goes from laying on top of the elf to laying on her back as he sits up.

“That’s a very rude way to wake up your Goddess, Ignis.” She calls out with a deadpan voice while staring at the ceiling.

“Yeah yeah, not my fault you wouldn’t wake up any other way. It was either that or I lick my finger and stick it in your ear again.”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Very suddenly the Queen is fully awake and standing, getting dressed. With a chuckle Ignis also gets up and begins getting dressed.

The three women look around with surprise on their faces as they take in the elf’s dining room that nearly rivals the royal dining hall at the castle. “Oh two more women? Wait, but didn’t you all sleep in the same room?” Tala points out the obvious as she spots her brother and the ladies walking into the room.

“Yep. Father, Tala, this is Nightmare Moon and Unstoppable Force. All three of these lovely ladies are my wives.” The elf has a bit of a sheepish grin as he nervously scratches the back of his head. Unsure of how his family will react to his polygamy.

Tala looks stunned and the other man in the room starts to belly laugh as he looks at the harem. “You really managed to pull off the impossible, huh? Your mother alone was enough to keep my hands full. I can't imagine how in the world you handle three. Although if the marriage is open I wonder if that girl from the Count’s family is still interested in you? I believe her name was Ember?”

“Even if she is, I doubt it’d work out. She’d have to be willing to come back to Equestria with us.” Ignis tries to shoot down the idea as politely as possible while also sighing in relief at his fathers positive reaction to the news.

That’s one informational bombshell down, let’s see if handles the other one with nearly half as much grace. Ignis thinks to himself as they all sit down and food is brought out.

“So besides having a very active love life, what else have you been up to in this Equestria place?” The Patriarch asks his son.

“Well, I’ve become quite proficient with the Bladesong. I never stopped my arcane studies either, I’d wager I’m probably stronger than Natasha or even Elminister himself, nowadays. Their plane is so different compared to ours though, they have their own magic system that doesn’t involve the Weave in any capacity. It’s fascinating, honestly. They have their own fuel for magic inside their bodies called mana, and they’re able to use that to cast anything they can come up with. They aren’t restricted by spell levels or slots.”

Before his father can respond Tala stands up, slamming her hands on the table with sparkles in her eyes. “What?! Really?! Can we have a demonstration or does it only work back in their plane?”

Ignis holds up his hand as it’s enveloped in a dim silver aura and suddenly all of the candles and table ornaments light up in the same silver before floating into the air. He starts to flick his hand around in the air and all of the objects form a single file line before zipping down and orbiting slowly around the drow girl. She looks around and follows the objects with a look of wonder.

After a minute or so he puts everything back. Can’t distract the girl for too long or the food will go cold. “We can do some much more extravagant demonstrations afterwards, but I’m afraid they can’t really be done indoors. We’ll have to go to the arena.”

“Wait so you can also use their mana? Even though you’re here?” Tala still looks like she’s lost in a fantasy as Father questions Ignis.

“Oh yeah. Both of you probably can as well. I apparently had quite a reserve of the stuff when I showed up. It definitely takes some getting used to though. Although in this form Luna is probably the only one of these three that can still use mana. She has a bit more practice.”

Everyone looks at the elf with varying levels of confusion and surprise. Luna, Force, and Moonie are all wondering why he mentioned so much earlier than he initially planned. Tala and their father look confused at what he means by “this form” and “practice.”

Ignis looks up from his food and sees the facial reactions all around him. “Ah shit I didn’t mean to bring that up this soon.”

“What do you mean by “this form” Ignis?”

“Uh, well. Uhm. You see, right now I’ve casted True Polymorph on all of them. I thought it’d be a bit of a smoother introduction if they were in more familiar forms when we first met. It was their idea, to be fair. I admitted being a bit nervous about it and they offered to stay Polymorphed for our first trip.”

“Why is that? What do they normally look like? They’re not Mind Flayers or something are they?”

“What? Father, no! Gods above I would never be caught dead with an Illithid. Listen, let's just table this for now and we can show you when we do the magic demonstration, deal?”

One awkwardly quiet meal later and the group found themselves in the Natume Arena. One of the upsides for being the clan of bladesingers means they often host combat tournaments, so their arena is quite exceptional. It’s large and features several defensive wards for the structure itself and the audience. Although when there’s no competitions going on the local Eilistraee worshippers use the arena for training. There’s currently a little over 50 Clerics and priests.

“What do you think would be a good demo spell, Luna?” Ignis rubs his chin as he thinks of a good demonstration.

She whispers something in his ear and his face lights up. “Oh that’s a good one!”

He lifts his hand into the air and his eyes glow bright with silver as this spell will consume a great deal of mana. A few seconds later and a beam of magic shoots up before splitting in over 50 smaller beams that scatter in the arena. They all track down and hit every single person inside the structure. There’s a few yelps of panic until they realize the spell didn’t hurt them.

Then they look at their allies and they all realize every single one of them has a pair of wings. “I guess technically our magic can do this as well, but not on a scale like this.”

All of the drow present that feel brave enough, including Tala, take to the skies with their new wings for several minutes before landing. Next he points a finger into the air and several massive balls of fire appear in the air above the elf. All of them are the size of a house and they number well over 10. Tala and their father look on in shock as Tala actually stumbles backwards at the sight.

The elf cycles through a few more spells before his father asks about his wives. With a sigh Ignis looks back at Luna and with a flash of light she transforms back into her alicorn form.

“Ignis, son. Look I know I probably never said this enough, but you know I love you right?” The elf nods and sighs. “I just wanted to make sure you knew that before I said this. Son, that’s a horse.”

Luna giggles as the fathers reaction is almost spot on with what Ignis predicted. Ignis just looks at Luna and speaks to her. “Hey Luna since it’s nearly sunset why don’t we show them one of Equestria’s most powerful spells. Hit em with your speciality. Just make sure to put it back when you’re done so you don’t freak out the entire realm.”

Everyone looks on in confusion at the alicorn. Luna ignites her horn and starts to float into the air from the intense output of mana. Her eyes light up and her mane turns from her normal blue hair into her starry ethereal mane. Suddenly the orange sky that had been slowly turning into a sunset is transformed into the middle of the night. The moon high in the sky and thousands of stars decorating the black canvas.

As soon as the spell channels and Luna’s mana overwhelms the arena every single drow there instantly recognizes the feeling of presence. In a swift singular motion every single worshiper there drops down to one knee and puts their right fist against their left shoulder, purely on instinct.

Tala looks up from her bow at the alicorn then looks down at herself in complete surprise at how automatic her response was. She eventually mutters out, “Th-The Dark Maiden herself? Wha….huh?”

Ignis’ face immediately turns into a small o face as he realizes he forgot an important detail. “Honestly it’s been so many centuries since I thought about it, I completely forgot the presence of your mana is the same as Eilistraee.”

Once he remembers that he remembers that he brought something with them with the intention of returning it. It’s served him extremely well over the last few centuries but it belongs here. Back with the elves and the temple. Unsheathing the Moonblade causes the followers to all release another gasp.

Ignis walks over to who he thinks is the highest ranking cleric of the order that’s currently present, and he presents the Moonblade to them. She gulps in hesitation before taking the blade without a word.

After that he walks over and decides to show them that he truly doesn’t care what form she takes by giving her a deep kiss in front of everyone. It’s only then that the implications of everything truly slam into Tala and the others. He had the Moonblade and he’s married to The Dark Maiden. He’s Her Chosen.

They all bow down again, but this time facing Ignis. He immediately puts his hands up, signaling them to relax. “Woah woah there’s no need for all that. Listen, it's a bit complicated to explain, but I don’t think Luna here is actually Eilistraee. I think she’s just the equivalent of her for their plane. Equestria isn’t even linked to this place, I had to use a very unusual method of transportation to get us here. So let’s just all relax.”

Ignis hears a man clear his throat and looks over at this father. “I think I’d prefer it if she was The Dark Maiden, it’d be much easier to accept that my son is married to a horse if she was our Goddess.”

“Dad! There are no elves in Equestria. No humans, no tieflings, no dwarves. Even if there was, I probably still would’ve fallen for these three, but that’s besides the point. Did you expect me to just wallow in loneliness over there for multiple centuries? Now apologize to my wives, they’re not horses, they’re ponies. For them the term horse is the word used to describe a whore. A Whorse if you will. Anyways now that the cat is out of the bag do you two wanna ditch the human disguises?”

With an enthusiastic yes Ignis dispels their polymorphs and everyone just seems a bit confused on where to go from here. Meanwhile the lovers from Equestria are all just looking at each other fondly.

Force, Luna, Twilight and her friends all land on the edge of the floating island of Canterlot. Fluttershy turns around and eep’s in fright at how high they truly are, she’s unable to even see the ground. The group looks around for Ignis and after not seeing him Luna ignites her horn and Celestia flies up and lands as well.

Instantly spaces tears open and Discord appears before the group. “I’m surprised you all figured everything out so quickly! I’m so proud of how you all have improved. Now that all of you are here it’s time to really put the pieces in place.”

“What’s your game this time, Discord?! Now that we’re all together and I know my friends are with me you don’t stand a chance!” Twilight stomps her forehoof on the ground while yelling at the draconequus with a look of determination.

He smirks at the unicorn before laughing. “Oh that’s a good one! As for what the game is, let me get all the pieces in place like I said. I don’t want to explain this more than once.”

With a snap from the chaos God suddenly the entire population of Canterlot, including the entire royal guard, is teleported from the shelter below, inside the mountain to up here in the city. Another snap later and every single pony present loses their horns and wings except for Celestia. Next up a giant glass dome comes down perfectly covers the edge of the floating city so no one can jump off the island.

“Now, all the pieces are in place! The game is simple young Twilight. You and your friends simply have to get to the Elements. You have until this floating city reaches that little camp of yours in the far West that consists of the thestrals plus the population of Ponyville. If you haven’t retrieved the Elements and bested me before we arrive then this place will plummet thousands of feet down and land on that camp.”

Everyone looks pale at the idea of this place falling so far and landing on hundreds of ponies. They all realize that without wings or horns that fall would kill all of them as well. “Now then for all my Canterlot locals here is the game for you. Anypony who takes out one of the element bearers will be safely transported off of the island and onto the ground below. Along with their family and the family of one other friend of their choosing. To make things fair I’ve taken away everypony's magic and their flight so you’ll all have to get creative.”

Discord then looks over at Celestia who has a horrified look on her face from all of the stipulations listed so far. “And you. Sunny. You have been allowed to keep your horn and your wings for one special reason. Your goal for this game is to avoid that corrupted bladesinger who is trying to claim your life. I don’t want you to be defenseless so I’ve allowed you to keep your normal magic and such. You will also need to be present at the finish line with the rest of the bearers so you’ll want to get rid of that creature one way or another. Lest you risk the fate of the world, of course.”

All of the civilians and guards look at each other in horror as they overhear certain groups talking about which element bearer they’re going to go after. Saying things like they have to think of their families here. They can’t risk their own lives on the assumption that everypony else will also let the bearers through. As everyone goes through these discussions all of the ones that seem to have decided on hunting the element bearers slowly lose their colors and become dull monochrome versions of themselves.

Luna looks at Discord a bit confused. “What am I supposed to do?”

“What do you mean dear Luna? You don’t have a role to play, that’s why you lack your horn and wings. You can choose to stop one of the bearers or you can choose to try and help them reach their goal. If I were you though I’d probably choose to help your sister. She’s gunna need it.”

With that Discord holds up his arm and gives one last announcement to all of the players. “Good luck, everypony! Let the games begin!”

Following a singular snap everyone is teleported to a random location throughout the massive capital city. The civilians and guards are even distributed throughout the city for the sake of fairness, this prevents any single element bearer from getting ganged up on too quickly. The bearers themselves are also separated and sent to random corners of the floating city.

The first thing anyone hears after the teleportation is an ear piercing screech as they watch a familiar wraith-like creature fly across the sky chasing a white alicorn. Luna looks around as the city devolves into mayhem, civilians and guards that have decided to help the bearers are fighting with the ones that are trying to stop the bearers. The only thing she can think to herself watching this depraved sight is,

“This is the beginning of the end.”

Author's Note

I said I was gunna take a break tonight and not write, but then.... I got bored. So I wrote anyways! Just like Luna said, this is the beginning of the end. One way or another this arc will be resolved by the end of this event :)

Thanks for reading! <3

The Return of Harmony - Kindness

With a series of pops we find ourselves in the south western corner of Canterlot, in the lower district. Fluttershy in particular appears inside a small house that’s in ruin, with one corner of the building entirely gone and patches of roof missing from above. The other walls don’t fare much better, there’s one full wall that appears untouched connected to one wall that’s only halfway standing. The other wall is roughly 70% standing, all of the windows around the structure are shattered. Any furniture still inside is scattered and cut open, disassembled.

The pegasus looks around with wide eyes trying to determine what just happened as she slowly shrinks into herself, backing into the closest corner she can find. “Uhm, R-Rainbow Dash? App-applejack? Is…. is anypony there? Please don’t leave me alone.”

As she mutters those words to herself she hears small roars of commotion begin to pop up in varying distances from the residential structure she’s sheltering in. The closest sounds like several ponies fighting each other while defending their decisions from each other. As the argument turns physical and yelps of pain and screams can be heard just outside the house Fluttershy starts to shake and hides behind her own forelegs while whimpering. “P-please stop fighting.”

This continues as all of the different confrontations seem to naturally merge into one large battle. After several minutes of quietly crying in her hidden corner of the lonely house she’s startled as a brown pony comes flying through the open window in the room next to hers. The pony bounces and tumbles all the way through that room and into Fluttershy's room before coming to a stop.

After a few seconds of silence the pegasus slowly peeks out to find the pony laying on the floor, staring at her. She eeps and starts to mutter out a few apologies as she hides behind her forelegs again. It’s only after another few seconds of silence that she decides to peek out again and discovers the eyes that are staring at her hold a gaze that’s completely empty. Empty and lifeless.

In an instant her demeanor flips on its head. She’s on her hooves and running towards the corpse as her eyes truly start to well up. She gets to the corpse and tries to look all over the body for any wounds so she can try and save him, not realizing it’s far too late. It’s only flipping the pony over and finding several gaping stab wounds in his underbelly that she realizes life has left this body.

How many more ponies are out there dying? Are they dying just because of my friends? Because of me?! I can stop all of this if I just go out there right? While still crying her eyes become determined and she climbs up the stairs of the house to the second level. Once there she runs over to the exposed corner that’s facing the confrontation.

“Everypony stop please! All of this is not necessary, please!” No one can really hear the shy pegasus. She realizes she has to actually speak up. “EVERYPONY PLEASE! Please stop throwing your lives away!”

The fighting slowly comes to a stop as everyone quiets down and looks up at the determined pegasus with tears running down her face. All of the monochrome ponies look at each other and then back to the element bearer. Fluttershy is just about to resume her naive speech when the monochrome faction yells over her.

“There she is! Get her!”

Suddenly spears and debris are launched into the air towards the element bearer and her eyes go wide in panic. Turning around she jumps and ducks, falling down to the first level of the house and barely managing to dodge the attacks. She lands with a thud and winces slightly. Turning around she watches as ponies are trying to climb over each other to rush into the house after her.

Realizing she doesn’t have time to sit here in pain, Fluttershy stands up nearly hyperventilating and sprints across the house into an adjacent room. Once there she jumps through a shattered window and onto a mostly empty street on the opposite side of the house from where the battle was. The ground vibrates as if there's a stampede and all at once ponies emerge from both paths around the house, and they spew from the windows on the side of the house she’s on.

Several of them are pushing and trying to hold back the mob and they scream at the element bearer to run. Time slows down for Fluttershy as she has an internal battle with herself to try and stop the needless violence or save her own life for the greater good and run. It’s only when a mare in Day Guard armor slams into the pony is she knocked out of her stupor.

“YOU HAVE TO RUN!” The guard shouts at her and her eyes shrink to pinpricks as she turns and starts to hightail it down the street. Turning into the first alley she can find. The pegasus starts to jump through broken windows and leaps from alley to house to alley to street. Quickly trying to put as many obstacles between herself and her pursuers as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately the pegasus reaches the edge of the floating city and skids to a stop before hitting the barrier guarding the edge. Turning quickly she sloppily runs towards the closest house, but not before a sudden spear grazes her hind leg. Fluttershy yelps in pain and loses her balance, tumbling and hitting the wall of the house she was about to jump into.

Forcing her eyes open she screams as she watches four more spears fly through the air at her. Only to be saved as one pony slides across the ground while holding a door that was found as debris. Holding the door up like a shield it manages to stop all four spears as they poke through about half way before stopping. The element bearer scrambles to her hooves and as she jumps through an open window frame she thanks the pony that just saved her.

“Just make sure to pay me back and save all of u-” There’s a loud squelching sound followed by what sounds like someone gurgling on a liquid of some sort. Blood in this case, but Fluttershy can’t know that for sure since she can no longer see the street she just left. She has a pretty good idea of what just happened though as fresh tears leave her eyes and she begins running in earnest again.

This continues for another minute or so until Fluttershy finds herself in a particularly damaged home. It looks like it should’ve already collapsed by now as she makes a note to get out of this house as quickly as possible. Running through an open door and skidding across the ground as she turns sharply to the right. The element bearer only makes it a few feet before she hears the building she was just inside collapse and crumble, loudly.

She hears several screams as the bricks and stone fall onto the ponies passing through, and this time she cannot ignore her heart. Skidding to a stop she turns around and runs back to the collapsed building. Right as she’s about to arrive at the structure a mass of ponies spew from an alley right in front of her and without hesitation she jumps and leaps over the group.

The ponies in pursuit stop and look on with confusion as the mare jumps into the piled up stack of rubble. The house next door was nearly brought down with the building that collapsed, and one of its tall walls is leaning over the pile of bricks. All the pursuers stop in fear of having that massive wall next door collapse onto them.

They can only watch, their eyes growing slowly wider as they do, as the pegasus begins to lift and throw bricks from the pile of rubble. Even the ponies with projectiles and rocks that had been planning to throw them stop and stare as the element bearer desperately tries to save anyone trapped in the rubble. After a minute or so she uncovers, pony after pony, moving on as soon as the trapped ponies gasp and start to breathe now that there’s nothing stopping them from doing so.

She knows that ponies will still die from being crushed but her priority is to uncover as many heads as possible so anyone trapped can breathe while they wait to be rescued. One of the ponies sputters and coughs up a cloud of dust as her head is uncovered and she looks at the pegasus with wide eyes. The uncovered pony’s eyes start to well up as she sees who saved her.

“Wh…what? Why are you saving us? We,” She violently coughs. “We are the ones trying to kill you!” Actually saying the words out loud seems to make the weight of her actions hit her in full force. She realizes and starts to feel immense guilt for what she was just trying to do to a national hero.

The entire street is dead silent in response to the loud question posed by the nearly crushed pony. Fluttershy looks the pony squarely in the eyes and a bit of rainbow lightning sparks around both of her irises. Fluttershy herself has a flashback to the dragon inside of the cave that Ignis nearly killed, and Celestia did kill. Her thoughts back then are the same as the next words she utters.

“I don’t think anypony deserves to die, no matter how badly they may have acted. You’re all just scared for you and your family's safety. You’re all in the middle of the worst day of your lives, and that’s okay. Everypony still deserves Kindness.”

Over 100 ponies surrounding the crumbled house, and filling the adjacent streets seem to quickly blink and their faces contort into pained looks of guilt. A dull light begins to glow on all of them as their monochrome features are washed away and they all return to normal.

In an instant a group of the ex-pursuers are inside the house next door throwing ropes around the wall that is threatening to fall onto the already collapsed house of rubble. They pull the wall back upright and stabilize it as everyone else joins in the rescue effort to uncover and unbury any one trapped in the collapsed house.

Anyone that has already committed the ultimate crime of murder will of course be arrested and tried for their crimes, but that fact goes unspoken. Fluttershy might not have left it unspoken on purpose but it’s good that she did so. If it had been spoken a few of those ponies may have gone back to the dark side.

After another 15 minutes or so the pile of rubble has been fully sifted through and there’s a small area in the middle of the street with several injured ponies laying down on sheets and blankets found in the surrounding houses. Bandages cover any of their wounds and Fluttershy is seen giving soft commands to anyone with medical expertise, directing their efforts according to her own triage observations.

Once that’s finished the entire group over 80 ponies strong move as a single unit with Fluttershy and start making their way towards the castle.

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches the Ponyville shelter camp: 132 Minutes.

“Ignis where are we going?” Nightmare asks me as I lead her through the woods near my estate.

“There’s just one last person I want you all to meet. Then after that I figured we’d just see where the night takes us.”

We’ve been walking through these woods for nearly half an hour at this point, but it’ll be worth it. I know she’d love to meet these three. All three of the ladies are having small talk amongst themselves while guessing who this last mysterious person could be.

It’s only when we stop at the edge of a certain clearing in the woods that Luna realizes who we’re meeting. She stops mid sentence very suddenly, Nightmare and Force both look back at her in surprise wondering why she stopped walking and talking so suddenly. They see her gaze locked onto something up ahead and they turn to look as well.

Once they look, all the chattering dies in an instant. I look back towards the three of them and tilt my heads towards the center of the clearing. “C’mon let me introduce you all.”

The mood is a bit more somber than I’d hoped, but I guess I understand. Where they’re from this is a much sadder scene, but here it’s not really too sad.

We approach a gravestone with a sword coming out of the ground behind it. Once we finish the short walk I rub my hand along the top of the gravestone clearing any dust. I make sure to wipe away any small spots of dirt, and then I sit down on the ground. Patting my hand on the ground next to me I motion for the three of them to sit down too.

“Hey Mom. I know it’s been a while, I ended up stuck in a different plane of existence for a few centuries. So, that made it kinda hard to stop by. I promise this is the soonest I could’ve come here. Before I introduce the people I brought with me I thought I’d catch you up on everything I’ve been through.”

I said this wasn’t that sad of a meeting, but here I am getting misty eyed. “I ended up being accepted by the Moonblade. I can’t believe you never told me about that ancient old hag that lived in the sword. I hope you don’t hold it against her but she told me all kinds of embarrassing stories from your past. Long before you met Father, even. I got really good at magic. I was even able to cast Wish for a while. Eventually the backlash caught up to me though and I lost access to the spell forever.”

As all of the memories flood through my head I end up rubbing my index finger between my upper lip and my nose. “I’m probably the strongest Bladesinger in any realm now. I always remembered what you told me, that one day I’d inherit the blade and I’d use it to protect those that are weaker than myself. I didn’t always manage to save everyone, but uh. Fuck. I tried ya know?”

Caught completely off guard I’m suddenly choked up and my throat hurts. “Galadra said you’d be proud. I’m not sure how true that is, but I hope it is. There was a lot of times where I missed you. So many times I was sat there wishing you or Father or Tala could see me. See what I’d accomplished. Everything is okay though. Despite some minor setbacks along the way I’ve been happy.”

I go a little more indepth and tell her stories about the changelings, all the villains I fought, and just rambling in general. It must’ve been over an hour of just talking to the gravestone before I finally moved on.

“So anyways I brought some people I know you’d have loved to meet. This is Luna, Nightmare Moon, and Unstoppable Force. Don’t scold me for it but I’m married to all three of them. I promise you we’re all happy, I’m not two timing or three timing anyone. Grandkids have been a bit of a problem due to how different we are genetically, but we’ve been planning a few things out. One of them is going to go under a True Polymorph spell for a year or so and we’ll have an elf child. Then I’ll hit myself with a True Polymorph and become a pony. Probably a unicorn. Don’t worry once they’re born you’ll be one of the first to meet them.”

I scoot over a bit to allow room for the three of them to come closer. “I’ve done enough talking by now. I’ll let these three introduce themselves.”

I’m surprised by how much they also talked to her. I wasn’t sure how something like this compared to their culture. It’s probably another 45 minutes or so of them talking to the gravestone. Once they’re done telling stories about how we met and anything embarrassing they can think of, a dim beam of moonlight shines down and envelopes the gravestone.

Suddenly a very translucent image of Zarra appears, floating in the air as she gently comes down. She looks exactly the way I remembered her on the night of her Final Dance. Once she softly lands on the ground she smiles at me and I immediately pull her in for a hug. Mom leans away from the hug and wipes a tear off my cheek as she smiles at me. This time its a tear of joy though. I’m happy she was allowed a few moments to actually come and visit us again. The way the afterlife works here is the reason why this wasn’t supposed to be a sad meeting. I just ended up getting emotional.

Then she turns towards the beauties I brought with me and gives them a bright smile before embracing all of them. The moonlight starts to dim and fade and with it her translucent image also starts to disappear. I wave to her as she floats up into the air and right before she vanishes completely I call out to her.

“Love you, Mom.”

Author's Note

Ah fuck here I go making myself cry like an idiot again. If you read carefully during the Ignis portion of the chapter you can see the exact moment I fucked myself up emotionally. Oh that was a good scene though. I hope at some point I can write that as something that actually happens instead of being a dream, but who knows. (I really don't know.)

Anyways that's all. You'll notice a slightly different naming scheme for this chapter and that's cause the the main focus is on Fluttershy and she doesn't have the system, she's a normal pony. So there is no quest. I'd expect see chapter names like this one for the next few chapters, also make sure to pay attention to the "Time remaining" piece I'm throwing around. Cause some of these next few chapters are going to be happening at the same time in world and you'll be able to tell what order of events things are chronologically based on that "Time remaining" line. :D

Also oh shit, 300k words! O:

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 15

“Any sign of the other bearers?” Sergeant Flaw asks one of her subordinates as she approaches the lookout position on top of Canterlot Hospital.

“Yes, we spotted Rainbow Dash sneaking across the rooftops about four blocks to the east. We’ve already sent a squad to go pick her up and bring her back here, but we haven’t notified Miss Rarity yet. Any updates from the other lookouts?”

“Negative. Don’t forget we’re also trying to spot any of the Princesses. Princess Cadence and Princess Luna were also stripped of their horns and wings, so they are extremely vulnerable right now.”

After checking on the hospital lookouts the guardsmare goes back downstairs. In the Intensive Care wing she spots Rarity using her hooves to sew a wound closed for a pony that was attacked as soon as everyone teleported in. “Miss Rarity, they’ve spotted your friend Rainbow Dash and are sending a few guards to escort her back here. Once more of the guards rendezvous here we’ll start moving towards the castle as a unit.”

“Oh that sounds wonderful, dear. I must say I’m impressed how coordinated you all are considering we only arrived here 15 minutes ago. Already establishing a point to defend, shooting flares to bring more guards over, setting up lookouts for several blocks. I had no idea how involved being a guard truly was!”

“Truthfully, that new creature serving under Princess Luna has been a huge help. He lets our guards attend his training sessions and is surprisingly well versed in tactics. This situation isn’t exactly the same but we did run simulations for the city of Canterlot being invaded. A lot of that has been applicable here, I just never thought the enemy would be our own citizens…” Her face contorts into a pained look as she glances to the side, towards the ground.

Rarity finishes closing up the wound and turns towards Sgt Flaw. “It is a bit tragic, but they’re just scared. If I wasn’t one of the bearers I’m not even sure how I’d react if I was them. It’s easy to say that I’d still be here, doing what I’m doing now. But, reality is always a bit more cruel. Something I think everypony has learned to some degree the last few days. Is there anything else I can help out with? I’ve finished dressing and suturing the few wounded we have in here. If any of the guards need some repairs to the non-metal parts of their uniform I could help out.”

“No ma’am. The only non-metal parts are underneath the metal parts, so if they’re messed up that likely means the entire armor is compromised. I’d say you could see if there’s anything you can do to help out with the fortification of the lobby downstairs, but that’s probably the most dangerous place you could be at the moment. As one of the primary targets it’d be foolish to even let you near that area, so I’ll just have to ask that you stay up here on the second level.”

There’s an extremely loud crashing sound as the entire building shakes and dust falls from the ceiling. Rarity drops to the floor and holds her forelegs over her head as she dramatically screams. Flaw looks up at the quaking ceiling with a concerned face before bolting out of the room and back to the roof.

Slamming the door open as she skids to a stop on the roof, she calls out. “Report! What’s go-”

She interrupts herself as she looks across the street and sees nothing but rubble where there was once several nearly pristine buildings. In the middle of the rubble there’s a cratered line hundreds of feet long and at the end of the grooved line lies the Princess of the Sun.

Celestia shakily rises up to her hooves and yells out at the many guards from the nearby hospital approaching her. “Stay back! This is something far beyond any of you, and as long as you don’t get in his way you’ll all be safe. I can handle myself, find the element bearers and get them to the castle, now!”

The guards stare and hesitate as the order goes against years of training. It’s only when Blazewraith slams into the ground where Celestia was once standing that they fully decide against approaching the battle. The presence of that creature placed far too much pressure on the guards. Thankfully he missed Celestia because she blinked into the air, but just as quickly as the natural disaster, that is their battle, arrived, it leaves as they zoom off to the north.

“Why does it feel more unlikely for the element bearers to win versus that thing than it does against Discord?”

“Probably because Discord isn’t actively participating and he’s seemingly just letting them get the elements, but if that thing was against all of us instead of just the Princess…? I think we’d be screwed.”

The two guards that were standing on top of the hospital comment to themselves as they watch the two combatants disappear into the distance. Flaw just gawks at the crater where the Princess once stood. That thing was Ignis? I knew he was strong but I didn’t think he was THAT powerful…

The door to the roof bursts open as another guard emerges and calls out to the sergeant. “Alpha Squad has returned with Rainbow Dash, Sgt.”

Snapping out of her stupor the guard turns towards the new voice. “Anything else?” The guard shakes his head no. “Where are they now?”

“Rainbow immediately went to greet Miss Rarity. They were still conversing when I passed by.”

After thanking and dismissing the messenger, Flaw goes back to the Intensive Care wing to find the two element bearers. “Plans changed. We’re moving now.”

“Why now, darling? There’s only two of us!” Rarity replies with confusion evident on her face.

“We’re better off using the castle as our base of operations and it’s where both of you need to go anyways. Logically speaking, it just works out. We’ve got well over 50 guards so we should be fine if we run into any trouble.”

Rainbow and Rarity share a hesitant look at each other but follow the guard down to the lobby.

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches the Ponyville shelter camp: 150 minutes.

Ignis is really doing a number on me right now. I don’t think I’ve been tossed around and physically harmed like this in 1,000 years. Ironically the same pony that was responsible for my wounds back then is also the cause for these wounds. No, that’s wrong. It’s my fault.

I’m interrupted from my thoughts as Ignis slams his claws into my barrel and a sickly green light glows in the wounds.

“Eldritch Smite.”

There’s a strange taste in my mouth and I feel several stone structures collapse as I crash through them. It’s been much longer than 1,000 years since I’ve had this taste in my mouth, it’s copper. It’s blood.

Eventually I stop cratering through downtown Canterlot and a legitimate fear starts to settle in the back of my mind. It’s taking effort to stand and I can taste blood in my mouth. This creature is truly strong enough to actually kill me. After a few seconds I manage to stand and notice several guards running towards me.

After yelling at them to find the elements and leave I feel mana shifting in the air. Channeling a teleportation spell I blink several feet into the air and spread my wings wide. The corrupted elf lands where I was just standing and causes the crater that was already there to expand and deepen.

There’s too many ponies here, I need to move this somewhere safer. It’s quiet to the north I’ll go there. Luna I’m sorry but I can’t hold back anymore. If things continue like this for another 30 minutes I won’t survive.

I understand, Tia. Just don’t…don’t kill him. Please. Where are you? I want to try snapping him out of it one more time.

I’m moving north, it seems less populated than the other sections of the city. There’s too much collateral damage everywhere else.

Alright. I’m on my way.

Glancing a look backwards I see him closing in on me as we continue to fly north. Summoning my armor I quickly veer upwards, ascending at a sharp angle. I’ll use one of my most complicated spells.

After flashing a blinding light to buy myself the few seconds I’ll need to cast this I get to work layering the 17 rune spell. He’s enraged, that’s good. That means it blinded him. Just a few more seconds.

Conjuring a nearly invisible crystal in the air, I channel several mana channels into the crystal from all sides. Refraction magic combined with illusion magic. The mana hits the crystal and pure sunlight is scattered from the crystal, creating six alicorns that are purely made of sunlight. Next is the illusion magic. Following the already established mana channels that were created by the crystal I send a perfect cloned illusion of myself. All six clones now look identical to me, including my armor and wounds.

The crystal is the weakness of the spell, if it were to break all of the solar clones would disperse instantly. Since the clones are all connected to me via these established mana channels though, that means I can cast spells from them as well. It's quite powerful as a trade off for that glaring weakness.

Looking at Ignis I’m surprised to find him floating there glancing between all of the clones. All of us are staring down at him like he’s beneath us. He simply raises his hand and utters an incomprehensible incantation.

“Eldritch Blast.”

Suddenly three bolts of energy fire off. All of them aimed at a different clone, but thankfully none of them are aimed at me. Before those bolts even hit the bracers that are barely visible on his forearms glow and three more bolts of energy are fired. This time one of them is aimed at me.

I shudder at the mental drain this level of multitasking requires. I send all six of the clones plus myself scattering and weaving in the air as we all attempt to dodge and evade the energy bolts. The one clone that isn’t under threat blurs through the air and unleashes a beam of pure mana right into the creature's chest.

Strange, he was much harder to hit last time I fought this form. Is he not coherent enough to have the intelligence to deal with clone spells like this? He lets out that disgusting screech as he’s buried in rubble from the beam of magic still being channeled.

Now that he can’t see I can let my clones get hit by his attack. The attack will just phase straight through the clones so it was vital that I evaded them until he wouldn’t be able to notice. Letting the bolt hit me I wince. It doesn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would, but it’d be bad if all six of those bolts were aimed at me instead of just one.

cough Well that’s not good. Blood just poured out of my mouth with a cough. I need to end this now. I’m sorry Luna, I can't wait for you to show up.

The beam relents its constant burning and Ignis instantly zips out of the rubble with the skin on his torso bubbling and charred. Once he’s high enough into the air I summon a cage that is similar in shape to the crystal allowing my clones to function. I know from last time it takes him two hits to shatter this cage, so I need to strike within an instant of summoning it.

The magical Forcecage encloses the creature and within a fraction of a second all of the clones surrounding the Forcecage at several different angles all fire a Sunbeam into the cage. One claw pokes through the cage and cracks spread everywhere. He rears up his other arm when the Sunbeams make contact.

Similar to the crystal this Forcecage is shaped for the sole purpose of refracting and reflecting light. The crystal projected the light back out, but the shape of this Forcecage is optimal for trapping and focusing the intensity of any light that enters into the center of the cage.

I let out a sigh as the claw poking through the cage seems to go limp as screeching pierces the air. The second claw never came. After a few seconds the screeching stops and I stop channeling the beams from all of the clones. The creature is smoking all over and is crumpled up, limp at the bottom of the Forcecage.

Dispelling the clones I fly down to the ground and slowly bring the cage down to the ground with me. Once we reach the ground I dispel the cage which has filled with smoke, so I can see if he’s still breathing.

Quickly blowing the smoke away I grab the creature with my telekinesis and flip him over onto his back. It’s only now that I realize he has a slightly golden glow emitting from his body. Is that a side effect of being assaulted from that much pure sunlight? It’s never happened to anypony else I’ve used that on. Wait, are those angel wings?

An image flashes in my mind from when I was still Daybreaker. This glow and those wings is what he had when he was immune to my holy fire. With a gasp I widen my eyes and attempt to throw up my most powerful shield, but it’s too late.

As soon as I gasped he shot up from the ground and seized my throat with his clawed hand. His other hand grabbed my horn and squeezed it tight. He’s channeling mana into my horn to disrupt any casting. We never taught Ignis that, but it’s plausible the Spirit of the Everfree is aware of such a method.

Darkness starts to fade in at the edge of my vision as I feel my neck getting squeezed tighter. He’s just staring into my eyes the entire time. Such lifeless and empty eyes. Part of me feels like I deserve this, but I still have too much to teach Twilight. I just got my sister back. I can’t die. Not yet.

Flailing my forelegs at his arm and kicking at his gut with my rear legs, I struggle with everything I have left in me. To think I’d be reduced to such a pitiful and desperate state. With every hit I make on his body he doesn’t even flinch. He just keeps staring into my soul with those eyes. This is really it… I’m going to die.

Everything goes dark.

“Ignis, you will put her down this instant! Ignis! Lucas! Stop!” Luna screams out at the elf as she sprints towards the scene of her knight choking the life from her sister.

She can see Celestia’s flailing limbs growing weaker and slower. What used to be Ignis turns towards Luna and looks at her for a brief instant before turning back towards the Solar Princess. Celestia’s limbs stop moving and her eyes start to slowly close and Luna slams her entire body into the outstretched arms of the elf.

Celestia falls to the ground, unconscious. She does start violently coughing while trying to desperately gulp in air, but her eyes remain closed. Alive but unconscious.

Luna throws herself over her sister, attempting to cover up as much of her body as possible while staring at the elf with wide eyed fear.

“Why stop me?”

“She doesn’t deserve this. Deep down you know it as well as I do. Also without Celestia the elements can’t be retrieved. You need the elements to defeat Discord and her mana signature is the only thing that unlocks the vault.” Luna tries to appeal to any corner of logic in his mind. Any attempt to buy as much time as possible. Last time she was in front of the creature Ignis showed signs of resistance and fought for control.

This is her last hope. All or nothing, if this doesn’t bring him back then he’ll kill her and her sister.

“Please Ignis. I know you’re in there! You’re just going to let this thing control your body? How can you kill Chrysalis like that? You won't be satisfied with that revenge! How can you love Force and I like that? There’s no way we’d let this thing assume your role in our lives. It’s not you! FIGHT!” She pleads to an Ignis that she hopes can hear her as the creature just stares at her silently.

“Wow, first you take me to a secluded clearing by a lake and give me some of the best food and wine I’ve ever had. Then you bring us to a private hot spring to relax, unwind, and embrace each other. Now you’re showing me this big empty ballroom. I wasn’t aware just how truthful you were when you mentioned being a noble.” Nightmare Moon is in her human form as she and Ignis slow dance by themselves in an empty ballroom. Lit up only by moonlight.

Ignis chuckles a bit before replying. “Yeah, but to be fair this place was probably only half this fancy and built up back then compared to now. A lot of this is new for me too. All of that aside though, did you enjoy the date?”

As he asks the question he leans forward and forces Nightmare to lean backwards into a classic dip. “I loved it.”

They have a quick kiss before exiting the dip as the music in the background fades out. The two start to wander around the Natsume grounds as they make their way back to the mansion with their fingers interlocked. “Was this enough Ignis?”

“What do you mean? Enough for what?”

“Was this enough to satisfy my regrets? Is it enough for you to confront reality?”

“Y-your regrets? Confront…real-, wha?”

“Don’t make me spell it out. You know what this is.”

Their leisurely stroll comes to a stop as they turn and look each other in the eyes. Nightmare continues speaking. “You can’t stay in this place forever, Ignis. You have to wake up. Wake up to the world that I’m not in.”

Ignis is still immensely confused by what the former villain is saying, but he’s even more confused when a rogue tear falls from his eye. “I am awake, Moonie. I told you and the others every morning I wake up and realize this isn’t a dream. Are you okay?”

“I’m not okay, Ignis. I’m dead. I died fighting Daybreaker while she was under the mental manipulation of Discord. You know this, but you’re refusing to accept it. I know you’re in an unimaginable amount of pain, but if you don’t wake up soon then you’re going to be in even worse pain. You’re going to lose everything.”

Everything fades around the couple, nothing but a white void remains. Suddenly Ignis shrinks a couple of inches and feels his hair become much shorter. His vision becomes a bit worse. He’s back in his human form, silently crying. “I don’t wanna wake up, Moonie. I don’t want to go back to that place.”

“You’re going to kill Celestia soon, and maybe even harm Luna. Even if you don’t physically harm Luna she’ll never forgive you for what you’re about to do. You’re not even under the effects of Discords magic. You’re just choosing to wallow in this dream.”

Suddenly Ignis fades into existence and walks up to Lucas and the fake Nightmare Moon. “It’ll take both of us to get our body back. You truly do need to wake up Lucas. Come on, there are still people, no, ponies that need us. We have to go back. I’ve been using the system to stall the creature for well over 30 minutes now, but I can’t hold out much longer. I need your help.”

Ignis holds out his hand towards Lucas, but the human just turns and throws himself at Nightmare. “I’m… I’m g-going. I’m going to bring you back. Whatever it takes.”

“I know you will.”

Ignis interrupts them. “Lucas, it’s time.”

The human gives her one last kiss before grabbing the elf’s hand.

The white void turns into the black inky ocean he was in when he fought for control of his body to prevent it from attacking Luna. Now the human and the elf are here.

“My time management, personality, and intelligence.” Lucas says as he stares at the elf while still holding his hand.

“My temper, kindness, swordsmanship, and magic ability.” Ignis replies as both of them start to smirk at each other.

“Shed every negative aspect from each of our lives. Anything we share, combine them or take the greater of the two. Optimize everything for fighting. Ignis has the patience of a Saint and kindness to match, he doesn’t make rash decisions without thinking. But he’s naive and sheltered. I’m ruthless and cold, I’m not naive to how cruel the world can be, I have all of Earth's modern and historical war tactics, but I’m rash and my temper always gets the best of me. We can cover for each other's weaknesses.”

Soul and body synchronization complete.

Suddenly the dark void is just Ignis again, and the void shifts to the Feywild. Ignis reaches up into the air and grabs seemingly nothing before the scene shifts again. Now they're in Lucas’ backyard, and the elf reaches out with his other hand and grabs seemingly nothing. Now both scenes are present and half of his body is in each scene.

The empty air in his hands transforms into the shadow cores that are shooting black tentacles everywhere. The entire void starts to shake as he pulls on the cores as hard as he can. His hair ignites into fire that spreads to the tentacles. The cores start to make high pitch, shrill, ringing noises as the tentacles burn and shrivel.

Screaming with every ounce of strength he can muster, Ignis pulls on the cores and everything starts to crack. The scenery, the sky, the walls of the void. “Get. Out. OF. MY BODY!”

“GAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Celestia wakes up to find that she is still alive and her sister is shielding her body. Unaware of how long she’s been unconscious she coughs and weakly calls out Luna’s name. Then she starts to stand, much to the protests of a frightened Luna.

Luna is scared but also perplexed at the situation. The creature hasn’t moved or spoken in over half an hour. No signs of a struggle or anything like that. Just an uncomfortable silence. Seeing Celestia weakly stand in front of him now, though, puts an overwhelming fear in her heart.

I don’t know what he’ll do now that she’s just standing in front of him without me blocking him. Luna thinks to herself as the corrupted elf makes a low rumbling noise.

He flexes his hand and rears back his right arm, readying himself to thrust his claws at Celestia's throat.

Suddenly the inky black lines and the shadow enveloping half the elf's head just starts to float off of his body. Fading into nothing. The black fire of his hair returns to normal fire, and his eyes return to their normal green color. They have their normal shape as well. Then a black orb floats out of his chest and drops to the ground, completely inert.

Celestia flinches as something makes contact with her, but she realizes there’s no pain. Opening her eyes she sees the elf, returned to normal, and instead of lunging with a claw he reached out with both arms and pulled her into a hug. This is the first time the two of them have shared a hug, and Celestia is a bit curious why he would do such a thing even if he did return to normal.

“I know it wasn’t your fault, Celestia.” The Solar Princess is surprised when the simple statement combined with the hug causes her to choke up a bit.

Luna jumps in and makes it a group hug as her body nearly collapses from the amount of stress it just dumped out of its system. “You’re back! Oh maker above you’re back. I was so scared I was going to lose both of you.”

“I’m back. Sorry it took so long.”

“You were possessed by that shadow core from the old castle! The fact that you were able to return to your normal self without the elements is immensely impressive, Ignis. Do not apologize when you did something that even I was unable to do.”

“You got it. Now then,” Backing away from the group hug he looks at the two alicorns. “Let’s wrap this up, so I can revive Moonie.”

“I thought you couldn’t? It seemed like you had already tried…do you mean like you’ll recreate her in your dreams?” Luna asks, a bit confused. She is familiar with crafting dreams out of grief, though.

“No. I’m done dreaming.”

Character Profile: Ignis Ferrum.
Bladesinger 11/Paladin 2 - Level 13.

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches the Ponyville shelter camp: 85 minutes.

Author's Note

We are so back.

Thanks for reading.

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 16

“Woo am I glad to see a familiar face!” Applejack calls out from an alleyway. She initially hid when she heard a large group approaching, but taking a peak around the corner she saw it was Fluttershy and her entourage. Stepping out from the alley she starts to run towards the pegasus.

“Applejack!” Fluttershy meets the earth pony half way and they quickly brush their necks together. Normally Fluttershy would use her wings for a hug but without them this will suffice. “Have you seen any of the other girls?”

“If I did I reckon they’d be here with me. I did watch the Princess get thrown through some buildings earlier, but that had to have been at least half an hour ago. They was pretty far away too, I only saw it cause I was climbed up as high as I could get to see if I could spot anypony.”

“Well, uhm, what do you think we should do? We were heading towards the castle, but do you think we should go find the others first?”

“Nah, they’re headed in the same direction. I don’t know how long it’ll take fore this here floating city to drops outta the sky, so we got no time to waste. The girls can all take care of themselves I’m sure we’ll see ‘em at the castle or maybe even right before the castle.”

Suddenly to the north there’s a blinding light way off in the distance accompanied by the echo of a high pitched screech. “Sounds like the Princess is fighting back…I hope everypony makes it out of this okay.”

Applejack notices the silence from the pegasus and looks over to find Fluttershy staring at the ground with a somber expression. “What is it ‘Shy?”

“It’s too late for that Applejack. We’ve already lost so many ponies. Th-they…they died protecting me.”

The farmer looks down and angles her stetson to block her eyes and snout. She’s upset to hear of the deaths, but even more than that she can feel her heart breaking as she tries to imagine everything Fluttershy has been through in this short amount of time.

“I’m so sorry, but we really need to keep moving.” A random voice calls out from the crowd and in response we hear a series of “shh’s” and a thud immediately followed by “Ouch!”

“What the heck? It’s true! This situation is unimaginably horrible, but we don’t have time to waste!” The stallion doubles down and this time there’s a somber but silent agreement among the crowd as they all start to slowly march forward again.

After walking for another 20 minutes or so the group is passing under a stone archway that connects two buildings when suddenly the archway collapses. There’s a series of screams and yells as dozens of ponies pop up from the surrounding rooftops and start throwing rocks and debris at the group. Mostly aiming for either Applejack or Fluttershy, who thankfully were not under the archway when it collapsed.

The collapsed archway does pose as a severe impediment for forward progress. This results in the entire group scattering into the nearby buildings and alleys while covering their heads with their forehooves.

“Follow me, this way!” Applejack calls out to Fluttershy and the two duck into what used to be a bakery.

Once they're inside they start to flip all of the tables over to create cover from the windows. Hooves can be heard thundering on the roof above them. Fluttershy hunkers down behind a table with a small stream of blood pouring from the top of her head. “Why is this happening to us?! What did we do wrong?!”

Applejack rubs her forehoof across the back of the traumatized pegasus. “It’s gunna be okay. We just gotta collect ourselves and come up with a plan to get back out there and make it to the castle. Take deep breaths, c’mon now.”

“We found a staircase leading up that could probably get us to the roof, but it’s been completely blocked off with furniture. From what we can see there’s no other exits either. The only windows are the ones at the storefront which is where we came from. I don’t know what we can do here.” One of the Day Guard gives an update from the back of the shop.

“We might just have to wait this one out…” Applejack quietly suggests, mostly just talking to herself.

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches Ponyville shelter camp: 95 minutes.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea for us to split up? I don’t really like the sound of it, Luna.” Ignis comments with a bit of a sour tone as he taps his foot on the ground with his arms crossed. Hair still burning with a bright fire.

“Yes. Celestia and I can go find the bearers and since Tia still has her magic she can teleport all of us to the castle. In the meantime you need to go to the castle on foot and make sure it’s cleared out. This is the most time efficient method we have. Since you two are the only ones capable of using magic right now it’s best if you split up. Divide and conquer.”

“Fine. I wish I could fly again, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to waste any spell slots just for that. It’s probably what, a 20 minute run from here? Celestia, why did you bring us all the way over here?”

Celestia looks over at the elf with a very tired face. “It had the least amount of ponies around. I was trying to minimize our collateral damage.”

Ignis realizes she’s still bleeding and extremely exhausted so he walks over and places a hand on her barrel and casts “Cure Wounds” at 5th level. Healing the alicorn for 57 hit points. The wound from the Eldritch Smite on her side stops bleeding and seems to slightly close up, but it’s still a gnarly looking wound. Any other injuries become much less noticeable and the alicorn seems to be a bit more energized.

“That’s much better.” Celestia turns her head to the right and cracks her neck. “Thank you, Ignis.”

It’s only when Ignis used the system and casted a spell that he realized there was a system message.

Beginning Integration……….21%

Huh, that’s neat, but what the hell is it integrating? Ignis thinks to himself as he apologizes to the solar alicorn one last time before turning and starting his run to the castle. The two sisters split off from the elf and start running to the south in search of the element bearers.

“I’m surprised he actually agreed to splitting up. I thought for sure he wouldn’t let you out of his sight while you don’t have wings or a horn.” After several minutes of silence Celestia decides to make idle conversation as they hop from rooftop to rooftop as they head south.

“I hadn’t even thought of that. No wonder he was so against it. It’s less that he actually agreed and more that he probably interpreted it as an order. That does still surprise me though, he’s disobeyed my orders before…I wonder what changed?” Luna hums in thought as they make one final jump and come to a stop.

“Sister look, there’s Rarity and Rainbow Dash.” The solar alicorn comments as she jumps off the roof and glides to a stop in front of their detail. Luna just rolls her eyes at the fact that Tia forgot her sister doesn’t have wings. With a sigh she jumps across a small gap to a building with a door on the roof and climbs downstairs.

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches Ponyville shelter camp: 75 minutes.

Ignis 1st Person POV (A/N: It's been too long since I wrote that line.)

Wow, I’m surprised there’s so few ponies here. I mean this is still a decent number, they have over 40 for sure, but I was expecting a much larger group to be waiting here at the castle to ambush Twilight and her friends. I quickly cast Invisibility on myself and sprint over to the training grounds. I don’t know where my Moonblade is, and I could use the original rapier I had on me when I arrived here. But, I don’t particularly want to kill any of these ponies.

Which is why the training grounds are my first stop. I can pick up two wooden swords. Glad to have my Dual Wielder feat from the Get Home quest rewards. I did notice something that was just a slight metaphorical kick to the nuts, though. I no longer have the Eldritch Adept feat with Devil Sight. The feat slot is just empty and the system is asking for a replacement feat.

“Select…Spell Sniper.” I’m a bit surprised by my own choice, but adding 60ft of range onto my spells seems pretty useful. I also get to ignore half cover and three-quarters cover, and I don’t have disadvantage if I cast a ranged spell within melee distance of someone else. Lastly it lets me add an additional point to Wisdom, bringing it up to 16.

My proficiency bonus went up by one when I leveled up as well, so combining that with the plus one in Wisdom brings my passive senses up to a bit of an absurd level. Passive Perception of 18, Passive Investigation of 20, and Passive Insight of 23. That Insight score being the absurd one. I basically never need to roll Insight ever again unless I’m talking to a changeling or an alicorn. Celestia in particular probably has a high DC whenever I roll Insight against her, Harmony too.

After grabbing two wooden training swords I run back around to the entrance of the castle and plan out where I should start. They’re all armed with either large stones or spears, but with Mage Armor plus Dual Wielder I’m at 19 AC right now. Next level up is 12th level of Wizard and that’ll let me get another feat, maybe I’ll take the Fighting Initiate and choose the fighting style that gives me another plus one to AC. Having a base AC of 20 would be…strong.

Bladesong and Shield combined would take me up to 30 AC which is insane. I guess right now those two things would bring me up to 29, so it’s only one less and still pretty strong. I doubt I’ll need Bladesong for this group of dickheads though. I’m not even going to use the system to be honest, I feel pretty confident in my abilities right now.

Just gotta pray these wooden swords don’t break on me, but in the worst case scenario I might actually be able to just throw hands with these ponies. Only a few of them are guards, and I assume the regular civilians only have like 10 Hit Points or something. Alright, enough delay, let’s run the fade.

Starting in the street in front of the castle I pop out of invis with a loud crack as I hit the first pony in the back of the head. They crumple and fall unconscious instantly, basically confirming my suspicion that regular civilians might as well be wet toilet paper.

Four or so nearby ponies get startled at the noise and snap turn towards me, yelling out something about the Lunar Knight. I don’t know, I'm not listening to them. Moving like a blur I aim for the next 5 closest ponies. Sprinting up to the first mare it’s light work just feint an attack straight on then move far too fast for her to track to the other side of her body and hit her in the head.

All of that is in one fluid motion, I don’t stop moving my feet for even a fraction of a second. Instantly pivoting to the left I channel a bit of mana into my legs and leap at the next stallion. He was wholly unprepared for this speed and both wooden swords hit him in the side of his neck. Unlike the others I follow through the swing and keep pushing forward, this launches the stallion into the mare that was right next to them.

They both topple to the ground a few feet away with the stallion unconscious and the mare under him flailing about trying to get him off of her. Turning again I scan for the few rogue guards and spot two of them around 60ft away standing at the main gate. Channeling the Illusionist Bracers, I throw out two Fire Bolts. One aimed at each guard. I only feel comfortable throwing these out at the guards since they can do up to 30 damage, 60 with a critical hit, it’s very likely I’d outright kill a civilian.

If I land a critical hit it’s going to outright kill a guard as well, but to be honest these ponies aren’t under any type of mental manipulation. They were just persuaded to join the dark side and lost their colors. Celestia would probably argue I only have this authority over the Night Guard but I think I have the authority to deal out the death penalty to any guard I find helping Discord. I’m not trying to kill them, but it’s for that reason that I won’t feel that guilty if I accidentally do kill one of them.

Both Fire Bolts land and one guard drops like a sack of potatoes, but the other one just winces and staggers a few steps. It’s at this point that the entire group of 20+ ponies is fully on alert and have registered what is happening. Now comes the hard part.

Several of them charge at me at once, and I watch well over 10 spears go hurtling through the air over the charging ponies. It feels like I’m on autopilot as I spin the wooden sword in my offhand at extreme speeds to deflect any spear heading for my upper body. The wood splinters a bit after deflecting a few spears but actually manages to hold up rather well.

This is definitely a result of the synchronization. I can see the exact path and actions I’m going to take to handle the ponies charging at me. They’re in a three pony wide formation with an extra straggler at the rear, totaling 10. Zipping forward to meet the charge I land my right foot squarely in the front and center ponies chest floof. They feel light, so they’re probably supposed to be a pegasus.

She lets out a yelp and goes airborne, flailing her hooves as her muscle memory tries to flex the wings she no longer has. The pony directly behind her is unable to react in time and she takes out his legs like a bowling ball as she lands and bounces into him. They’re both already staggering back up, I need to take out the other two ponies that were in the front row.

One is to my right and the other to my left, let’s start with the left. The pony thrusts a spear forward with a foreleg and I twist my torso out of the way and swing both swords at their head. I hear the sound of something moving through air at high speeds behind me so I step forward and jump onto the pony I just struck. Their eyes completely whited out after the hit but they were staggering on their feet trying to stay upright, but as soon as my feet landed on their back they started to crumble.

Within an instant of landing on the ponies back I jump and do a backflip over the spear that was being thrust at me from behind. I hear the attacker gasp in surprise and tilt my head to look down at them as I go upside down and start to finish the flip. Before they can thrust again I land on them and bring my sword down against the top of their head with all my downward force.

This one also instantly drops, two down. The pony I spartan kicked and the pony she knocked over are back on their hooves, but not for long. Now that I know the mare used to be a pegasus and she’s extremely light I can use that fact.

Twisting around the first spear and ducking the second one I drop the wooden sword in my offhand and grab the mare by her foreleg. She lets out a scream as I start to spin around rapidly and her body knocks back all three of the ponies in the second row. Those three fly backwards and the screaming stops, looking down at the mare I feel a bit guilty to see she’s foaming at the mouth. I can only see the whites of her eyes so I assume she went into a deep state of fear and then passed out.

I’m still spinning and let go of the mare, sending her flying with all of the momentum into one of the ponies in the third row.

One of the ponies I hit while spinning the mare manages to get back up, so that’s four ponies on their hooves and one pony is knocked down but still conscious, they’ll probably be standing soon. Let’s wrap this up and quit being fancy.

Picking up the wooden sword I dropped, I suddenly feel completely empty. There’s no thoughts, no emotions, and everything starts to move like a blur as I evade the next four spears and swing my two wooden swords around like flowing water, connecting with and knocking out all four of the ponies still standing. The one I threw the mare at is back on her feet and the 10th pony is still up.

Using the sword in my off hand I neck chop the mare that just finished standing and then throw the sword in my main hand at the straggler pony. It makes a comical thud noise as it bounces off of his head, and he makes a yelp sound as his head is knocked backwards, forcing him to look up.

By the time he looks back down I’m already on him, jumping into the air I grab the sword that bounced off of his head and do a flip over the pony. While performing the flip I use the momentum to slam the sword against his head one final time, and he finally drops.

That takes care of the first 10, but I still have two guards on their feet and seven civilians. Luckily all of them are unarmed since they decided to go all in on throwing their weapons apparently.

I just twist my head and crack my neck while staring at them, then I crack my knuckles and take a few slow steps forward. This seems to have the intended effect as five of the civilians yell and sprint away from the castle as fast as they can. That leaves two guards and two civilians.

Since they're unarmed all four go down faster than the group that charged at me. The guards took three hits each, but in real-time combat mode that’s nothing. Turning towards the main gate I walk over and crouch in front of the mare that dropped from my Fire Bolt. I put one hand in front of her muzzle to see if I can feel air moving, but there’s nothing. Placing that hand on her neck to check for a pulse I can only sigh as I don’t feel anything.

Now that I’m up close I recognize this mare. This is the one that gave me the stink eye when Celestia teleported me and Luna here right after we defeated Nightmare. She’s the one I surrendered my sword too and got mad when I refused to call Celestia by her title.

“I just don’t understand you seemed so loyal and devoted to Celly back then, so why did you turn against us? I can expect rash decisions from panicked civilians that are fearing for their lives, but you’re all guards. I just don’t get it.” Talking outloud to the corpse as if she hears me I sigh again before reaching out and closing her eyes. Should I revive her? It’s been less than a minute so I can still use Revivify.

Looking at her…All I can do is wonder if she had a family. She must’ve if she was tempted enough to turn against the element bearers for a chance to save herself and her family. Do they deserve a chance to say goodbye to her? Is it really my place to decide if she dies? Am I prepared to add another corpse to the pile of ghosts haunting my dreams?

I don’t know, but considering what the future holds after we defeat Discord…I’m going to be forced to kill a lot more than this. I’m sorry, but I can’t revive you. The resource is too valuable and limited, and your crime is too great. I’ll tell Celestia that you died defending the castle. At least that way your family will still get survivor benefits. “I’m sorry.”

With that done, and my mood much more somber, I walk through the main gate and enter the lobby of the castle. This is the room where Celestia was greeting all the ponies as they arrived for the Gala. Walking in there’s another group of around 20 ponies that all have the colors drained from them. All I can do is sigh.

“This will be a lot easier if you all just surrender or flee. Don’t think you stand a chance just because I’m outnumbered. The guys out there had me just as outnumbered and they’re all taking a nap against the gravel right now.”

They all look around at each other before yelling and charging at me. “Just once. Just one time I want them to take the easy route!” I mutter to myself before flourishing the two wooden swords and getting in my fighting stance.

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches Ponyville shelter camp: 50 minutes.

Author's Note

The chapters are starting to get a bit more chaotic, and all of the cogs are starting to turn as everything is slowly coming together.

I wonder what's being integrated into the system? Also should Ignis have revived the guard? Treason is a pretty serious crime...

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 17

“Oh Applejack, how much longer do we have to wait? Why won’t those ponies leave?” Despite the questions Fluttershy has actually calmed down a decent bit since they originally took refuge in this bakery over 20 minutes ago.

“I don’t know sugarcube, we might have to…we might have to fight our way out of this one ‘Shy.”

“Let’s just wait a few minutes longer….please? Maybe our friends will show up or another group of ponies will intervene and scare off the ponies waiting for us.”

“That just sounds like wishful thinking. I don’t think we can afford to waste any more time here, and for all we know all of our friends are already at the castle just waiting on us. I’m not saying you have to fight, but I think violence might be our only way out.”

Fluttershy opens her mouth to protest but she’s interrupted by the sound of several glass bottles shattering at the front of the store. With a startled yelp the two element bearers peak over their cover and gasp at the sight before them.

The entire wooden floor has been lit on fire. It’s already spreading to the tables they flipped over for cover and creeping towards the back of the store. Within a few seconds a few of the ponies huddling up in the bakery with the two bearers move into action. Running to the back of the kitchen they grab the detachable nozzle from the kitchen sink and start fanning the water over the counter and into the lobby of the building.

It helps a bit, but not much. The water can barely even reach half way across the room. They keep fanning the water hoping to get as much of the floor as wet as possible. That should at least help with the spreading, but even that’s a stop gap. Thankfully all of the windows at the front are completely busted open so the smoke isn’t accumulating too much.

The real kicker here is that the fire has now completely blocked off the only exit they had. Now they can’t even hope to rush outside and try to fight their way out. Applejack realizes pretty quickly that the “wishful thinking” Fluttershy had suggested earlier was now likely their only way out of this.

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches Ponyville shelter camp: 70 minutes.

I cannot believe all of my Glyphs of Warding are gone! I know they get dispelled if they move more than 10ft, but I didn’t think that included THE ENTIRE CITY MOVING! This is bullshit. By that logic no Glyph of Warding should ever work because the planet moves through space at such high speeds that the glyphs would move 10ft the instant the spell is cast. Oh I am actually so livid right now.

Looking up at the group of 15 ponies, that used to be 20, I give them the meanest glare I can muster. “I am in a really foul mood now, so how about you all just take those 5 ponies as an example and get out of the castle. Now.”

Intimidation Check

8 + 2 = 10.

“He can’t take all of us if we charge him at once! Knight or not he’s just one creature!” Some random mare yells out from across the room.

Squinting my eyes I zero in on the direction of the voice and find the mare who spoke up. “You’re first.”

“First for wh-” She doesn’t finish her question as I get serious and use mana to zip across the room at high speeds. The question dies in her throat and comes out as a quiet gurgle as she drops to the floor. I was still channeling mana through my body when I knocked the shit out of her. Did I kill her?

No, she’s breathing. I gotta focus the mana into just my legs. Ever since I got possessed by that shadow core it feels like my body can handle mana being infused into my muscles and blood vessels without just instantly placing a heavy burden on me. I’ve channeled mana through my legs three times now and they don’t even ache. Let’s use this group of 14 to limit test how far I can push it.

Wait, no. I might have to fight another 100 ponies after this. I can't risk giving myself any points of Exhaustion. Let’s just use it for half second bursts when I need to close a gap. This is literally just the lobby of the Castle. I need to clear every hallway, the entire second floor, and then the southwest tower leading up to the vault room. If it’s been about 20 ponies every encounter…30 minutes, tops.

The next 30 seconds are a blur. There’s much less jumping and flipping this time around as I try to minimize my movements and conserve as much energy as possible. Whenever ponies are within five feet of each other I strike all of them in one fluid motion, conserving momentum between ponies.

Dodging any blows with the most minute adjustments causes some of the ponies in the room to start freaking out. One of them even yelled something like “Why aren’t they hitting him, he’s not even moving?” Which I gotta say, really boosted my ego. Felt like Goku versus those two clowns from the Ginyu Force.

Although one of the guards did catch me by surprise though. She actually anticipated my movement since I was only doing the bare minimum to evade attacks. She managed to predict and adjust mid strike to nick the side of my stomach.

I may have hit her a bit harder than the others.

All in all though this went much faster than the group outside the main gate and I feel less tired. Both are positives.

Clearing the hallways before moving upstairs was much more efficient than the lobby or the outside areas. The hallways are narrow enough that I can just blitz straight through and move from pony to pony. Right before arriving on the second floor is when I hit my first snag, though.

Slamming my wooden sword into the armor of another rogue guard I click my tongue in annoyance as the wooden sword shatters to pieces. It finally took enough punishment and gave up, and to be honest I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did. I still have one more sword but it’s looking pretty rough too.

Wait this isn’t my Moonblade, can I imbue mana into this wooden sword to reinforce it the same way I do my body? Pausing my assault I stop and look at the sword as I try to force mana into the handle and up the blade. There’s a slight silver glow along the pattern of the wood and I’m pretty pleased with myself.

“Ahhhh! Die monster!” I look up from the sword with a somewhat annoyed face to find a pony just a few inches away from striking me.

“Shut up.” I give the wooden sword a haphazard swing with barely any force and it shatters through the pony’s spear, makes a sickening crack as it makes contact with his body and sends him cratering into the wall. A spiderweb of cracks appears in the stone and the pony coughs up blood.

“Oh shit, that’s my bad. Wow I didn’t think it’d work that well…?” He’s not dead so I use a first level spell slot to cast Cure Wounds. It only heals him for 11 Hit Points, but that’s more than enough to keep him alive…probably.

With renewed vigor I take off down the hallways of the second floor as I make my way to the southwest tower.

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches Ponyville shelter camp: 35 minutes.

“Princess, our scout reports a concerning amount of smoke a few blocks away from here. When she investigated further she found ponies waiting on rooftops with spears and rocks. They were all facing towards a bakery that was consumed in a large blaze, but they weren’t concerned. They seemed excited and happy. She seems to think they are waiting on somepony to leave the bakery and escape the fire so they can ambush them. Should we reroute and head that way?”

“Yes. I’m going on ahead, though. If they just have crude weapons I can suppress them in seconds, and if they are truly trying to target somepony stuck in the burning building then it’s highly likely to be one or more of the bearers. Get over there as soon as you can, but I’ll likely have everything resolved before you arrive.”

Celestia gives one strong flap of her wings and shoots into the sky. Once in the air she spots a plume of smoke and speeds that direction.

“It’s the Princess!”

“Princess help us! We have two of the ponies we’re supposed to stop in there.”

“Please help us so we can escape the city!”

Several ponies yell out towards the alicorn as she flies over and all she can do is look at them with a gaze that sends shivers down their spines. Her eyes speak of nothing but contempt, disgust, disappointment, and anger.

With a flash of her horn all of the bricks, stones, and spears being wielded by the monochrome ponies are enveloped in a golden aura and snatched from the grasp of their wielders foreleg. They all float into the air before turning to ash that scatters in the wind. All of the ponies start to scream and panic until a golden bubble surrounds every pony the Princess can see.

All of the offenders trapped in the bubble panic in their new prison as the bubbles all float towards each other. Once they’re all near each other the bubbles combine in a one large shield that compresses down into several rings. Those rings act like golden ropes. They wrap around the entire group of ponies and tie them together in one big group that’s unable to move.

Once that’s done she turns her attention towards the bakery that has massive walls of fire shooting out from the front windows and doorway. Using her magic to create a dense cloud of air she suffocates the fire and flies down into the building through a window.

“‘Shy we’re saved! It’s the Princess!” Applejack and Fluttershy jump up from behind the counter and run up to the alicorn with faces that scream several levels of gratitude.

“Oh Your Majesty, I’m so glad you’re okay! I was worried the, uhm, elf was going to hurt you.”

“Oh he definitely did. It’s ok though he managed to beat the spirit possessing him and then healed me. He’s actually probably at the castle now as we speak making sure it’s clear and safe for you girls to arrive. Are there any other bearers here with you? Miss Rarity and Young Rainbow Dash were traveling with me and should arrive any minute now along with my sister.”

“Naw I’m fraid not, it’s just me and Fluttershy. We had a pretty large group traveling with us though, until that group out there collapsed the bridge between the two buildings and blocked our path ahead. Then they all popped out and attacked us, dirty varmints!”

“AJ! Fluttershy!” The conversation is interrupted as a scratchy voice from a familiar pegasus breaches the air and a rainbow maned pony jumps into the building and nearly tackles her two friends.

“Rainbow, darling, don’t do our attackers job for them and take out our dear friends, please. It’d be a tragedy if we lost to discord because you accidentally gave poor Fluttershy a concussion.” Rarity teasingly scolds Rainbow as she carefully and slowly walks around the charred and soot covered wooden floor. Making sure to keep her hooves and forelegs clean of the black ash.

“I must agree with the dramatic mare. You shouldn’t spear tackle your friends, Loyalty.” Luna chimes in as she also joins the group in the bakery. “So now we have four. We’re missing your student and the hyperactive cotton candy one. Do you think they’re already at the castle sister?”

“It’s possible, especially if Pinkamena is with Twilight. My dear student has lived here all of her life so I wouldn’t be surprised if she had already made her way to the castle. Why don’t I speed this up and just teleport all of us over there?”

Suddenly the entire bakery rumbles and everyone looks in shock as the walls of the bakery lift off the ground and the entire building sprouts legs and walks away. “Ah tut tut, Sunny. You’re only supposed to use your magic to defend yourself from that dastardly demon and to unlock the vault. It’d ruin all of the fun if you just skipped to the end!”

Discord appears in the air and before Celestia can even respond her horn and wings disappear with a snap. “Discord! How dare you?! This is cheating! When we all make it to the vault room now I won’t even be able to unlock the stash holding the elements.”

“Oh relax, Celestia. I’ll give these back once you get there! You know me, I’d never cheat! There’s no fun in the game if I just rig it in my favor everytime. Ta ta now! Goodluck~”

With that the draconequus disappears again and leaves everyone a bit more uncomfortable than they were just a few minutes ago.

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches Ponyville shelter camp: 50 minutes.

Author's Note

The gang is almost all back together while Ignis clears a path for them once they arrive! One or two more chapters and we'll probably start the climax of the arc! I'm so excited :)

You all should be excited too cause remember, nothing bad ever happens. :)

Also some of you might have noticed this is two chapters in a row where I had a day off between them, and that class I started a few weeks ago has kinda ramped up a bit and I'm a bit busier than I was before. After next week I'll likely go back to daily or near daily for a couple of weeks, but for this week and next week I'd expect there to be a 1-2 day gap between chapters instead of daily.

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 19

Author Notes, WARNING: Part of this chapter is dark like way darker than I meant for it to be, I actually had to rewrite it and dial it down a bit. There's also very vague mentions of non-con NSFW, but none actually happens. Just a character implying that they want to.

Holy fuck that hurt. I can’t believe that guy actually used space itself to launch me. The worst part is that for once I have no clue how he did it. We’re both using the Weave so how the fuck did he do that? Okay enough stalling in frustration I have to get up and get back to the castle.

Oh wow okay that’s sore. Not as bad as it usually is when I use Symphony of Steel, but still pretty sore. I think I can actually use it one or two more times before I’m incapacitated now. Alright channel mana into my legs, let’s get to the castle in two leaps. In just a few seconds I’m a block away from the main gate of the castle.

As soon as I come up to the gate I can feel my eyes widen in joy. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes! Force~!”

Force is with Cadence and Shining Armor and when she hears my name she turns and sprints at me. Slamming her face into my gut as she starts to sob. “Woah… it’s okay, I’m alright. I’m back. I hope you didn’t worry too much, Force. Oh you even held onto my Moonblade for me? I was looking all over for this thing! I was worried I left it in Ponyville or something.”

As I speak to her I rub one of her ears with my thumb and scratch the top of her head under her mane. “Th-that’s… that’s not why I’m upset! I’m so happy you’re back, and you’re okay and you’re alive! B-but. But, Ignis we’re all doomed!”

“Why? Luna, Celestia and the element bearers just went into the vault room and they should be ready any minute now!”

“Are you sure it was all of the element bearers?”

“Pretty sure? Let’s see…” I start remembering the faces and counting the ponies I saw. “Oh wait, they're missing Twilight.”

It’s only now that I see the absolute look of shellshock on Shining Armor's face. His eyes are completely blank and dead inside. Cadence doesn’t look much better, but her eyes are bloodshot. Looking down at Force I feel a pit start to sink deep into my stomach. She looks up at me and confirms my fear.

“Twilight’s dead, Ignis…”

“Why did I have to get teleported here?! I hate the lower city…it’s okay Twilight all of the ponies were randomly teleported. So, the odds of this place being filled with shady ponies like normal is astronomically low. In fact it has to be at least one in eight hundred thousand fourty-”

“Twilight! I’m so glad you’re safe!” Twilight stops her spiraling rant and her head snaps to the left. Spotting the source of the voice her spirits brighten up instantly.

“BBBFF! Oh I’m so happy I ran into somepony I know! Have you seen any of my friends?” The two siblings meet in a big hug as Twilight asks her brother her question.

“No, I haven’t really seen anypony until now. I did see the Princess fighting with that shadow creature, though. They went off to the north after she was thrown through a building. Knowing the Princess, she went to the least populated area in the city, so let’s go to the south and see if we can find your friends.”

Twilight was about to reply in agreement with her brother but before she could speak both of the ponies were alerted by the sounds of glass shattering just a few feet away. It’s accompanied by the sound of a few different ponies talking amongst themselves. Shining nudges Twilight towards a narrow alley next to the building they’re standing in front of.

The element of magic is breathing heavily with a fear she’s never felt before. Even though she has no idea if the approaching ponies are friends or foes she’s still being assaulted with the overwhelming feeling of being hunted.

Twilight stares around at the upper windows and rooftops surrounding her and her brother in the narrow alley as she quietly moves further into the dark passageway. The sound of the talking ponies gets quieter and it sounds like they’re moving away from the two.

Only feeling a modicum of relief the mare starts to whisper to her brother. “It sounds like they are moving to the south, are we still going to head in that direction?”

“No, let’s just move towards the castle. That’s where you’ll need to be anyway and this is too dangerous for us to keep wandering around aimlessly.”

Twilight nods her head in agreement and the two stand there in silence for a few seconds as the air becomes awkward. She’s waiting for her brother to move so she can follow him but he’s just standing there.

Deciding not to waste time Twilight shuffled around her brother with a confused stare and quietly began making her way out of the alley. She reaches the end of the alley and all of the hair on the back of her neck stands up straight. Something is wrong, but she can’t figure out what.

Then she notices it. There’s eyes in the windows across the street. At least five pairs of eyes are staring straight at her. The former unicorn gasps in a huge breath of air, preparing to scream and run back down the alley towards Shining.

Before she can scream or turn around though Twilight feels a sharp pain in her neck as her legs buckle and she collapses onto the ground. Her eyes widen in primal fear as she looks over and watches Shining Armor go up in green flames, revealing a jet black insect pony.

She starts to hyperventilate as the ponies across the street exit their hiding spots and also transform into similar looking creatures. Her mind is running faster than light as she tries to process and calculate anything she can do to get out of this.

“Are you sure about this Larynx? This seems like a waste of food.” One of the changelings calls out to the changeling that was disguised as her brother.

“The Elements of Harmony are a weapon that would’ve stood in the way of our Queen at some point in the future. Killing this one not only saves us from this nightmare of a situation, but it’ll be good for the future of the hive. At the end of the day it’s just one pony.”

The other changelings nod in agreement and Twilight's mind finally shatters as she starts to scream.

“Shiny! Princess Celestia! Please ANYPONY?! SOM-hik-SOMEPONY PLEASE HELP ME!”

Her pleas for help turn into just an ear piercing scream as a spear is suddenly plunged into her barrel.

“Why did you do that?! We could’ve at least had a meal or two before we eliminated her! Do you know how pent up I am after being undercover for the last two months?! Two months with strict orders to not raise any suspicions! No crime or nefarious activities whatsoever!”

“What was I supposed to do? She’s just screaming! I don’t know why she can even speak if she’s paralyzed from the venom, that’s not supposed to happen. The longer we let her keep screaming like this the higher the chances are that we’re discovered.”

Larynx nods his head in agreement and grabs a spear from the drone next to him and another spear joins the first one in the element bearer.

The screaming stops as Twilight devolves into just sobbing. Everything is blurry and she can taste blood in her mouth. With a sputtering cough most of the blood finds itself splattered on the gravel path. She can’t even hear what the changelings are saying anymore as she goes into shock.

One of the changelings is sent careening into a wall where it hangs there, impaled by a spear. All of the changelings turn and ignite their horns ready to engage whoever just happened upon them. They were not expecting to find the real Shining Armor joined by Princess Cadence and her knight. WIthin an instant two more of the changelings find their chitin cracked as the two mortal ponies surge forward and deliver an unexpectedly fast buck. Just a few more seconds and all of the changelings are dispatched.

Cadence and Shining run over and slide across the ground as they drop down and tend to the former unicorn. Her brother is saying her name and trying to get her to look at him while Cadence and Force stare at the spears sticking out of the mare with looks of despair. With no magic and no medical supplies they both know there’s nothing they can do. If they take out the spears she’ll just bleed out, but there’s a good chance those spears went through her critical organs.

Twilight is still completely oblivious to her surroundings as she quietly sobs and mutters out the names of her friends and the Princess over and over. She keeps apologizing to them and to Equestria while asking for help. Another lethal cough rocks her body and more blood is splattered out onto the white fur of her brother.

Shining was originally telling her she had nothing to be sorry for, that he was here, help was here. But, now he’s just apologizing and sobbing as he cradles his sister's neck and head. All of the sound silences and they all look over to find the element bearer staring up with empty eyes and her jaw slightly slacked. All of the light is gone and she’s no longer breathing.

The three ponies console each other and grieve for over an hour, completely unable to find the strength to move forward.

The Element of Magic is gone.

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches Ponyville shelter camp: 105 minutes.

“You can revive her, right Ignis? She’s just a few minutes away from here…we decided it’d be too demoralizing if we paraded her around to bring her here…but you can save her right?” Force looks at me with such a desperate look in her eyes. She’s trying to find anything, even the smallest piece of information to give her hope.

“If it’s been over a minute then I have to perform a ritual that takes an hour. We don’t have an hour…I can revive her but it’ll have to be after we defeat Discord. What are we going to do….?” Looking towards the gate where Shining and Cadence were I’m surprised to see no one is there.

“They must’ve gone inside to tell the others…Ignis can we really still win?”

“Of course. We have no other option. One way or another we have to defeat Discord. If I can reach that state… the True Bladesong. If I can achieve that I might have a chance on my own. The only step I think I’m missing is a completely clear mind. I have to kill all of my thoughts and emotions.” Easier said than done.

As I sit down on the ground, Force looks at me with sad confusion. “I’m going to meditate for a couple of minutes. I need to clear my mind. Go find the others in the castle and tell them that it’s do or die time. I’m not going to act like it’s too dangerous for any of you to get involved. All of you need to get involved or we aren’t going to make it. When they hear the bladesong, that's the signal.”

She gives me a slow nod before blinking and sprints into the castle.

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches Ponyville shelter camp: 13 minutes.

The mane five all collapse and stare at Princess Cadence as the bombshell is dropped on them without warning. Even Celestia can’t maintain her mask of emotions as she begins to grieve and gives in to despair. Luna looks at all of them with a pained expression, but with every ounce of willpower she manages to keep her mind on the task at hand. Thousands of thoughts race through her mind of how they can overcome this and defeat Discord.

Luna doesn’t know how long she was in her thoughts but she’s brought back to reality at the sounds of hooves running up the stairs to the vault room. She looks at Force with the same pained expression as she enters the room.

“Everypony, I know this is bad. I know it seems hopeless. But, we have to fight. We have to defeat Discord. If we can defeat him then Ignis can revive Twilight. Ignis gathered himself outside the main gate and he mentioned something about the True Bladesong. We need to join him and give everything we have to this fight. Once we hear the bladesong that is our final stand! There has to be a way, we need our second wind.”

“I’m afraid you’re mistaking your second wind with your final gasp. I told you, Celestia, if you knew what I knew you would also give up, but you didn’t believe me~! Now the game is officially over and you all lose!”

At the mention of the game being over every pony regains their horns and wings. Discord doesn’t even take the elements away from the bearers as he floats around in the room, gloating.

Suddenly the air in the room grows a bit brighter. Crackles of silver lightning appear randomly along the walls and in the air of the room. They go completely unnoticed by everyone but Luna. Luna see’s the sparks and crackles and recognizes it as her knight. That mana doesn't have his signature it still feels like the mana of the world that exists all around, but it has a hint of his presence in there.

Faint sounds of music can be heard and every one, Discord included, quiets down and turns their head towards the stained windows facing the main gate of the castle. Suddenly all of the windows shatter and a bright silver line zips into the room through one of the broken windows as the volume of the music becomes louder.

The silver line hits Discord and keeps going, until they both hit the ceiling. Then the entire roof of the vault room is torn asunder as they shoot through it and slam into the barrier containing the island city. Everyone just stares with wide eyes as the entire room is now open to the sky.

Clear my mind. Eliminate all unnecessary thoughts and feelings. Emotions first, I’ll do the same thing I did in the changeling hive. Now I need to empty myself. Symphony of Steel involves forcing the mana around you to harmonize and vibrate at the same frequency as yourself. That effectively makes it my mana signature which allows me to expand my metaphysical body as wide as I can spread that harmonization effect.

How do we go from that to the True Bladesong? What could be missing? Wait, could it really be that simple?

What if I just change the frequency of my own mana? If making the world's mana vibrate at my frequency allows me domain over that mana then what if I vibrate at the frequency of the world? That should effectively do the same thing no?

Bladesong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mt8Q0s7VxA

Wait, why is it activating on its own?

Stay just like this, you’re on the right path. You’ve captured it in essence, but you must be careful. Changing your own frequency to match the world has a serious consequence.

What the fuck? Wait, I know that voice. It’s one of the voices from the clearing in the Everfree that housed the souls of the ancient bladesingers. What’s the danger?

You would be changing yourself. It wouldn’t be surprising if you were to completely lose your sense of self and assimilate with the world.

You’re standing on the border of everything.

Wait, that explains how the echo’s of that bladesong are still playing in that clearing in the Everfree! That bladesinger achieved this feat and then at the end of the fight he must’ve lost concentration and become one with the world. But how do I change myself to match the world?

Listen close, can you hear the spirits sing lost messages of long ago?

I can hear them. This is why I have to empty my mind, no it’s more than that. I have to erase myself entirely. I have to become nothing, become truly neutral. That’s why the old order of bladesingers was a neutral force belonging to no kingdom. It’s a core value at the center of their very being.

I’ll trap my mind in my Trance state. Leave just my subconscious, let myself become one with the world and let my body move on instinct alone. Until I become one with the world then allow myself to seep through as if I was dreaming.

That’s it…

Leave the life you knew before.
See, a new world worth fighting for!

I can see it. I can see the entire castle and a quarter of Canterlot. Discord is taunting the ponies in the vault room. I want to attack him. Moonblade, give me Haste. Next I'll cast Tenser’s Transformation.

Find the truth of who you're meant to become.
Another path you must now walk on.

It’s like an out of body experience, my field of vision is in the vault room, but I know I’m at the main gate. I want to attack Discord, so just need to will my body. Force myself into a dream-like state so I can control my subconscious.

My eyes open and everything stretches as I move at a speed far beyond anything I’ve ever done before. I hear glass shatter. My hand is inches away from Discord's throat.

“I’M HERE!”

My hand is around Discords throat and he makes a squawking sound as we crash through… something. It’s too fast. Squeezing his throat as I stare into his eyes I imagine in the future I’ll look back on this sheer terror on his face quite fondly. Right now though…I don’t feel anything. The barrier that I’m holding him against cracks and then instantly heals itself. The draconequus pops out of existence and time slows down.

Reaching far across these new frontiers
With my life I fight this fear

Where is he going? Sixty feet to the left the mana there is disturbed. Time resumes and his teleportation channels. He appears right where I predicted and has not even a nanosecond to react before my Moonblade is cutting into him.

In my hands I hold the ones I love
Walk forward through the cold dawn
Always to new horizons

3rd Person POV

“He wants us to help him in THAT fight? I can’t even see them moving!” Rainbow yells out as Discord teleports away from Ignis but the elf seems to know exactly where he’ll appear.

“Tia, we’ve both wielded the Element of Magic in the past. What if we were to try and use it ourselves?” Luna comments, ignoring Rainbow's statements.

“We can try. At this point it’s our only shot.” The solar alicorn has a flat and cold tone. As if she’s completely emotionally drained.

Celestia puts on the Element of Magic and suddenly the entire group is enveloped in a silver light. They’re a bit confused about the meaning of the event until Pinkie jumps and then swims through the air. Smoothly flying into the sky. Everyone else joins her and the entire group zips into the air to try and assist the elf.

Come with me. We'll travel through thе trials and tragedy~

The air near the two main combatants is stretching and cracking as they zip around faster than most of the ponies can even track with their eyes. All of the element bearers plus Celestia start to glow even brighter. They attempt to fire the elements.

Can you hear the spirits shout
The secrets in their melodies?

Sensing a large ripple of mana nearby Ignis realizes the elements are going to fire. Instantly he starts trying to direct Discords movements to get the two of them closer to the element bearers. All of Discord's attention is on the bladesinger, he doesn’t even notice the elements are about to fire.

Dream, explore the mysteries
Breathe; a new life is revealed to me

Discord teleports one last time and Ignis instantly compresses as much mana as he can into the space where Discord is occupying. Attempting to recreate Hold Monster purely through mana. It seems to be somewhat effective as restraining his physical movements, but Ignis feels the disturbance of mana just a few feet away signifying an imminent teleport.

Once again, we'll start our story anew
Don't be afraid; I will be with you

Suddenly Ignis can feel that someone else is restraining the draconequus, leaving him free to cast Counterspell. Instantly stopping the Gods teleportation. He looks over and sees Luna with her horn ignited, casting a soft smile towards him.

The rainbow beam fires from the group of ponies, but it seems a bit dull. There’s also a couple of colors missing entirely. Discord still screams out in a panic and holds out his hands to shield himself as the rainbow slams into him. But, nothing happens and he starts to laugh.

“I’M HERE!”

His laughing is cut short as a Moonblade protrudes through his torso. Glancing down with shock he watches as the entire sword starts to glow bright silver. This guy doesn’t know that restrained targets are a guaranteed critical. Level 5 Divine Smite.

Reaching far across these new frontiers
With my life I fight this fear

The divine energy explodes at the very center of Discords being and shakes the God down to his core as thick black liquid oozes out of the wound. Before he can react though, the elf still has four more swings of his sword. In rapid fashion the draconequus is slashed and smited four more times. All of them are natural 20s due to being restrained.

In my hands I hold the ones I love
Walk forward through the cold dawn
Always to new horizons

Discord is oozing ichor from several wounds as he begins chain teleporting around, completely on the defensive versus the bladesinger. While this is happening Luna trades out with Celestia and puts on the Element of Magic.

Ignis senses the next attempt from the elements and grabs the draconequus by the neck again before flying him straight at the rainbow beam. Unfortunately the beam passes through both of them harmlessly once again.

Now the elf is wide open though. Discord snaps his claws and starts to bend the space around Ignis once again. Next several giant red beams of light are fired from seemingly thin air. With his calm and silent mind, Ignis is able to quickly calculate the trajectories in a fraction of a second and starts to zip around evading the beams. But, whenever they miss Discord bends the space around the beam to redirect it at the elf. The attack in this manner is never ending, and Ignis is somewhat aware that all of those beams look similar to Disintegrate.

Switching strategies, Ignis starts flying back towards Discord while avoiding the lethal lasers.

Standing here
The way ahead's becoming clear

Rolling, diving, leaning, Ignis evades the Disintegration rays by the slimmest of margins until he makes eye contact with Discord. Discord can feel all of his hairs stand end as they make eye contact and the song quiets down.

All across these new frontiers

All of the nearby mana that has been acting as the elfs domain during the bladesong is suddenly compressed down and pulled into the elf. His body starts to glow bright silver as he imbues every fiber of his muscles, and every blood cell in his veins with as much mana as possible. There’s golden lightning in his eyes as his body becomes super charged.

In my hands I hold the ones I love

Time seems to stop as Ignis instantly appears next to Discord. There’s several afterimages all around the draconequus as he slashes and cuts at the God. All of this happening within a fraction of a second.

Walk forward through the cold dawn

More and more wounds appear on Discord as Ignis feels more and more of his muscles tearing. His bones shattering. His body can’t withstand this. He notices he can only see the whites of Discords eyes and assumes the bastard has actually fallen unconscious.

Always to new horizons.

Finally the song ends and the elfs body completely gives up. He coughs up blood with a smile on his face as he and Discord start to fall out of the air. Until those pesky Disintegration Rays reminded him of their existence.

Celestia and Luna start channeling their most powerful sealing spell using combined magic technique since the elements are inoperable. When suddenly the red lasers impact the elf one after another. His body bounces and recoils with every hit as he’s sent careening into the barrier. In between the lasers he was able to cast Cure Wounds on himself, but the elf is still unconscious as he bounces off the barrier and starts to fall to the ground.

Luna realizes that neither Rainbow nor Force can catch him in time and Cadence is nowhere to be seen. Rarity can’t use teleportation. The weight of reality settles in that she has to choose between casting this sealing spell with this one opportunity that the elf provided them, and let him fall to potentially his death. Or, teleport down and save the elf and hope she’s fast enough to still complete the sealing spell before Discord recovers.

The lunar alicorn doesn’t have to think about it for even a moment. She cancels the sealing spell and teleports under Ignis, catching him mid fall. She quickly sets him down on the ground and teleports back to Celestia to begin channeling the sealing spell again. Her sister is giving her a slightly judgemental look, but Luna knows she made the right decision.

Until the draconequus suddenly disappears and reappears next to the unconscious elf. Completely healed.

How in the hell did he achieve that form? That bastard I killed back then was the only bladesinger to ever pull it off but this chump did it in a matter of months? His eyes were just as unsettling as those eyes back then. No pupil, no slits, no patterns, his eyes were just solid golden orbs. Well, let’s dispose of this thing for now. I don’t think I want to kill him yet, I want him to watch the last few minutes of his friends' lives.

With a snap several purple walls appear and surround the elf. They start to fold in a way that it seems like the elf should be dead, but he’s not harmed by it at all. The walls turn into a cube that compresses down and could fit in the palm of one's hand. Then he floats the cube up to the top of the barrier, with the best view in the house.

Turning his attention back down towards the ponies he scoffs. Somewhat annoyed for the first time in centuries. “Now then have you all gotten that out of your system? Who’s ready to watch a city land on hundreds of ponies?”

The ponies in question have landed on the ground after slowly falling at a safe speed as the silver light around them dimmed. They don’t even bother responding to the draconequus as they all start comforting each other and desperately asking if there’s any more ideas to try.

Integration…97%

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches Ponyville shelter camp:6 minutes.

Author's Note

All of the branches are finally converged and there's no more POV's to go through. Ignis is sealed in some magical prison, Twilight is dead, and the elements are inoperable.

How the fuck are we gunna get out of this one? Don't ask me cause I don't know either.

That's a lie, I do know. Next chapter is almost surely the finale of the arc, but it might end up being two more chapters. We'll see when it comes time I suppose.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 20

Where am I? I’m surrounded by a thick fog and beneath my feet is just solid white. Did I die?

Integration…99%

Oh I guess I didn’t die. Either that or I’m in hell. Wait, did I lose myself and become one with the world? The gravity here is so heavy I feel like I can barely move. What happened with Discord and the element bearers? Is Luna okay?

Suddenly in the distance the thick fog clears and reveals a big piece of glass that turns on like a television and reveals all of Canterlot. Why is my camera so high up? I can’t see shit. Oh there we go, it’s zooming in.

It’s bad. They all look so hopeless, tired, and defeated. I wish the bladesong had picked a song that was like 30 seconds longer, I almost had him. Wait, what are the ponies saying?

“We’ve got maybe five minutes left, Princess. What if we started teleporting everypony out? If we can evacuate the entire city we can warn everypony at camp to run away. We’d lose Canterlot, but we can always rebuild…”

“I’m afraid there’s not enough time, Rarity. We could probably get over half of Canterlot evacuated but I’m fairly certain Discord has a similar barrier to this one over the camp. So, at a minimum we’d lose half of Canterlot and everypony from Ponyville plus all of the Night Guard. Perhaps we should at least teleport you all out of here, though. If the five of you perish then everything we lose today will have been for nothing.” Luna replies with a bit of a somber expression.

“Absolutely no stinkin’ way am I gunna let thousands of ponies die for me! We still got five minutes left right? Let’s stop wasting ‘em and go knock some sense into that fella up there!”

“There is some merit to Applejack’s plan. That’s only the third time I’ve ever seen Discord bleed his true essence. Even for him it must’ve drained him quite a bit to regenerate from that. This might be our best opportunity.” Celestia tries to resolve herself as she speaks to the ponies.

The screen cuts off and I find myself in a memory. I’m in Ponyville…at the library.

Inside Celestia's Mind

“Celestia, my most faithful follower.” An angelic voice speaks directly into the alicorn's mind.

“H-Harmony, what is it? Is there a way I can save my little ponies?”

“There’s always a way, little Light. These are just the idle ramblings of a pony wondering if she could’ve done better.”

“Your Radiance, please. You’ve always done yo-”

“No, listen Celestia. I think perhaps I’ve been a bit too passive with this world. I could’ve given more prophecies or advised more ponies at critical junctions of history. The world has improved so much in the last two or three millennia, but I wonder if my pride prevented this improvement from happening earlier.”

There’s a peaceful silence as Celestia resists the urge to ask her how her pride could’ve done such a thing. “I’ve always been too complacent. Never believing myself capable of failure. When I had my order of Bladesingers I kept the greedy and the wicked in line with power. That entire time I could’ve chosen more followers, perhaps there’d be 10 or even 20 alicorns now. I could’ve unleashed the elements on the world thousands of years earlier. My pride is what prevented these things. My pride and complacency.”

“I believed any other measure was unnecessary since I had my bladesingers and they had never failed me. Until they did. No, it’s better to say I failed them. If I had brought the elements into the world before the bladesingers fell…I wonder what the world would look like today.”

Ignis POV

I remember this, this is when I first saw the runic language. I was using backwards logic when trying to apply the runes to my mana. Then Twilight came in and unlocked a brand new world for me. With just one simple sentence.

“There’s a reason our horns are on our head. You’re visualizing the runes in your head but your mana is in your hand.”

Then I channeled the mana in my brain where the rune is and moved the shaped mana to my hand, instead of trying to bring the rune down to my hand. Switching that process and instantly that little ball of light formed.

“Ignis, it took me 3 days to cast that spell for the first time.” I’ll never forget how stunned she looked. I’d never admitted it back then but hearing her say that did boost my ego a bit.

Celestia and Harmony POV

“Are you implying that the world never had the Elements of Harmony and the Bladesingers at the same time?” Celestia asks with a bit of disbelief in her voice.

“Exactly. Doesn’t that make you quite curious?”

“Curious of what? How would the world look now? I admit I am a bit curious.”

“No, no, I’m curious what would happen if a Bladesinger was one of the bearers. The peak of bladesinging isn’t quite as powerful as the full power of the Elements, but it’s close. What would happen if those two events could’ve overlapped?”

Ignis POV

Now I’m in Canterlot Castle. This is when I was hiding Invisible in the Dining Hall and listening to Celestia argue with Luna about teaching me mana control.

“...we’ve brought a monster into this capital. Ignoring the fact that he learned the runic language and cast his first spell several times faster than the most prodigal unicorn to ever exist. Even if we ignore that, just the sheer size of his mana pool is absurd!”

Ah wow I forgot Celestia called me a monster. In this context she does mean it in a different way though. So, I’m not too upset about it. The citizens called me a monster because they thought I was scary and was going to eat them, but she meant it as a prodigy with too much potential.

More importantly, why am I being shown this?

The memory continues to the point where Celestia temporarily gives me Truesight. That’s when it happens. A question pops into my head that leads me down a rabbit hole of thoughts.

If the Weave is Chaos magic then that explains why the requirements for spells are so seemingly random. It even explains why Wild Magic is a thing. I bet Wild Magic Sorcerers are just more compatible with Chaos magic than normal magic users. However, if the Weave is Chaos magic then doesn’t that mean mana is Harmonic magic?

I guess it’s not necessarily meant to be a direct counterpart to Chaos magic. But, why are they so similar? For Chaos magic I use hand movements, incantations, and materials to “shape” the magic into the form I want so it can do what I command of it. For Harmonic magic I use runes and sometimes even incantations to “shape” the mana so that the spell has the result I want.

There has to be a critical misunderstanding here. Discord doesn’t even use components for his magic, he just snaps. Telekinesis doesn’t even require runes, just mana and Will. When I use my Symphony of Steel any of the mana within range that adapts to my mana frequency essentially becomes my domain. I can sense everything in that area and just like with those wooden swords, I can interact with things in the domain much more freely. That has to mean something.

Why does the Bladesong and Telekinsis require no runes? The only thing they have in common is Willpower, but I tried that before. I perfectly pictured and imagined the exact scientific process to create fire while commanding the mana to follow that train of thought. Wait, that's the difference, no?

Thought. I don’t think when I use telekinesis. I did at first but that explains why I struggled so much, and I definitely don’t think about the mana in the air or controlling it when I perform the Bladesong. Can I just use mana without runes as long as I exert enough Will onto the mana? No thoughts, just exert my Will. I bet it’s similar for Discord. That guy’s a crackhead so I doubt he thinks when casting.

He probably just thinks “Oh I want to be over there with my stupid ugly face.” Then he snaps and he’s over there. That sounds insane for both systems of magic though. You’d basically be a God if you could just freely exert your Will onto the mana. Telekinesis requires you to send out your mana into the air to envelope the object, and Symphony of Steel requires you to force the ambient mana to become your domain. So, perhaps you have to claim the mana first?

I’ve got it…

Back to Celestia and Harmony

“I…I don’t know. Why are we even hypothesizing something that isn’t possible anymore? Your Order of Bladesingers doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Oh Celestia, why would it matter if he’s in my Order or not?”

“Wait…Are you implying…?”

“Like I said, I’m just curious what would happen. Do you know the real question, Celestia?”

The solar alicorn hums in thought before Harmony gives her the answer. “The real question is, are you ready to find out what happens?”

Ignis POV (A/N: Last POV Switch this chapter I swear!)

...That’s the true essence of magic. It’s all the same! It’s so simple! Haha…

Integration…100%

There’s a bright light around my forearms and when I look down I’m shocked to see that my Illusionist’s Bracers have transformed. Instead of two solid purple gems now each bracer has one large intricate purple gem, and it’s in the shape of Twilight's cutie mark.

Integration Complete!

New Title: The Element of Magic.

Title Features: Manasight for up to 300ft, and the ability to understand the true essence of all forms of magic.

The entire inside of this prison looks far different from before. The thick fog just looks like black particles moving around erratically and bouncing off of each other. I can see why they call it Chaos magic now. There’s so much of it coming from my spellbook. That makes sense though, I wouldn’t have been able to continue casting spells and regaining spell slots if something wasn’t upkeeping the Weave for me.

Well, let’s get out of here. I can see the density of magic particles is much lower in this area, so this is likely the weak spot of the prison. Now let’s just…inject my magic into there and break this bad boy open.

Oh my God why is it so bright? Fucking relax! As soon as the prison collapsed there was an earth shattering sound and shockwave that rippled out from where I’m at. As soon as I could see though I was blinded. Is that Celestia’s mana?

Oh it’s mine. Wait, hers must be extremely blinding then! Can I just…filter this out? Yeah there we go. That's better. The world looks so different…

Oh they’re all staring at me. All of them have their own unique color to the aura surrounding them, this would be good for spotting changelings. Even just the air though is so different. Compared to Chaos magic, mana is…softer. It’s floating around like it’s just a leaf in the wind, and compared to that sickly black color this is a very calming blue. Maybe that’s the real reason the sky is blue. In Equestria anyways.

Alright well, thumbs up, let’s do this.

“True Bladesong.”

Author's Note

Ha woops I lied... Guess this isn't the finale of the arc. I wanted to reinforce the foundation I'd been slowly building so there'd be a logical, believable reason for why Ignis is the new Element of Magic. Is it temporary? Who knows...

I have another hour or so I could spend writing or editing, but it's literally impossible to stop a chapter in the middle of a Bladesong because I link a real song to go with it, and if I started the Bladesong we wouldn't have a chapter today.

So, apologies for it being slightly shorter than usual, but that's probably fine... this was all of the buildup and stuff so next chapter we'll probably start in 3rd Person POV so I can explain the changes in Ignis' visual appearance and presence. After that we'll just jump straight into the Bladesong. Hopefully it's enough to save the city /shrug

Thanks for reading! <3

A New Beginning

“Is that really Ignis?” Pinkie says what all of the ponies are thinking as they watch a massive tear in space appear near the top of the barrier.

There’s no response as they all stare up. The elf is just floating with his torn and ragged pants, still shirtless. Thin glowing purple lines draw a complex pattern on his chest and shoulders as they go up his neck and stop right under his eyes. His eye sockets are just completely purple, it’s like looking at outer space but the dark void is a deep purple. There’s small galaxies just barely visible and the stars are all tiny Equestrian runes.

The biggest change is on his forehead. There’s a long translucent unicorn horn, just a bit shorter than Luna’s. The elfs hair is the same as when he’s using a bladesong, just an ethereal silver cloud that stops in the middle of his back.

Everyone's eyes shrink to pinpricks as they suddenly feel an unbearable pressure weighing on them. Even the alicorns are frozen in fear as they all have the impression that if any of them move a single inch right now, they’ll die. This, however, is not because of Ignis. No, this is because for the second time in his entire life, Discord is serious.

“True Bladesong.”

In an instant the entire city is claimed by the elf. Contained only by the barrier surrounding the edge of the city. Unlike the previous True Bladesong not even 2 minutes ago, this time Ignis did not change himself to match the world. As a being that has grasped the true essence of all magic it was effortless to claim all of the mana inside the barrier.

Discord has an intense death glare as he stares at the bladesinger, his back turned to the ponies. The draconequus opens his mouth to say something, but before even a single syllable can be uttered Ignis ignites his horn. The instant he saw Discord's jaw move he spotted an opening and took it by teleporting straight in front of Discord.

With a single slash across the midsection, the God is sliced in two. Everyone stares completely shocked as Discord's lower half floats away from his upper half. A thick black liquid pours out of the two body parts before shooting towards the other half. The ichor meets in the middle of the air and pulls the two halves back together.

As soon as his body is reconnected, Discord is completely enveloped in a massive silver beam of magic. The attack burns him all over and sends him crashing into the barrier. Ignis looks down at the ponies and gives Luna and Force a soft smile.

Bladesong Music.

We can choose the way of our future. Try a brand new path…
If I change the world…

If I change the world.

The drums kick in and that oppressive aura from the draconequus is overwhelmed by a much lighter presence. Everyone in the city suddenly finds themselves thinking, “It’s not over yet.”

Out of nowhere sparks appear in the air right next to Ignis, almost like two steel balls clashed together. The resulting sound is an ear splitting crack as the elf's head suddenly snaps backwards and he’s sent flying into a collection of buildings.

Not even a second later a silver blur shoots out of the rubble and collides with something in mid air. To everyone but Celestia it looks like he’s just swinging his sword in the air, but Celestia can see it. There’s four invisible Discords that all look slightly different from the original. One is missing the beard, they all slightly deviate in which animals make up the different parts of their body. It’s a strange sight to see a draconequus throwing punches and engaging in melee combat, but these four are doing it.

Say goodbye to everyone who stands against us. (A/N: Honestly maybe pause the song here, the next bit has a lot happening at the same time and requires a good bit of description. Resume at next italicized lyrics.)

The original Discord appears in the air and snaps several times in rapid succession. Several types of magic conjure in the air and fire at the elf. Black lightning, fire, acid, raw energy, and…cotton candy? “Well they can’t all be winners.” Discord thinks to himself.

Celestia ignites her horn without hesitation and gives all of the element bearers True Sight. Without missing a beat they all spring up into action, much to Ignis’ surprise. Pinkie suddenly appears in the air right next to Ignis with a…CANNON? There’s a loud explosion of confetti and one of the draconequus is sent flying.

At the same time Luna and Celestia start firing magic to intercept Discords attacks. A rope is thrown that wraps itself around one of the three remaining chaos clones. With a hard yank the creature is pulled away from Ignis where it’s promptly smashed in the face by two cyan hooves that send it flying into the ground.

Just before it can hit the ground though Applejack delivers a solid buck with both hind legs right in its center of mass. Sending the creature into a pile of rubble.

Hundreds of bricks and stones start flying through the air and pelting the two remaining clones who are unable to defend against it due to being attacked by Ignis. They’re all wrapped in a light blue magic belonging to a certain fashionista. One that looks quite proud at being able to display her level of skill with telekinesis.

A silver light flashes as the elf spins and the two clones are sliced into several pieces and they disappear like smoke.

The original Discord finds himself befuddled as a yellow pegasus flies right at him with one eye closed. “You have done enough, mister!” For a few precious seconds the God actually finds himself completely stunned as Fluttershy continues to scold him for all the harm he caused.

All of these actions happen simultaneously over the span of a few seconds.

No one has the power to stop a change that comes through…

Music.

Free from the harassment of the clones, Ignis flies straight at Discord while firing a beam of silver magic. As he launches the attack he teleports Fluttershy away from the draconequus. Several thick completely black walls of magic appear in between the elf and the God.

No, you can’t stop…

Magic.

As the lyrics mention stopping all of the conjured walls of force shatter and explode as Ignis shoots through them like a missile. Right as the elf reaches Discord two large beams of magic crash into the God from both sides of him. Each one fired from the two alicorn sisters. Right as they connect and sandwich Discord an emerald Moonblade slashes into his body several times.

Close your eyes and you can see the future before you.
Every note I sing is bringin’ you closer to your purpose.

Suddenly thousands of ponies in the city below start roaring with cheers as they all stampede towards the area the fight is taking place. The element bearers by this point have all joined together and dismissed one of the remaining clones, and now they surround the last one. The creature is passed around the group as it's bucked, hit with pony-fu, and shot by explosive confetti.

“You can have Tom back, by the way.” Everypony looks at Rarity a bit confused until suddenly a massive boulder falls on top of the clone. Crushing it instantly.

Once you’re there, don’t let go.

Discord snaps his arms outward and lets out an annoyed yell. Raw energy explodes outwards from the draconequus in a sphere shape as it repels the two blasts. It near instantaneously expands, knocking away Luna, Celestia, and Ignis.

Discord tries to recover a bit but instantly the elf pops into existence right in front of him.

“You wanna play a real game, unfurl the chain…”

The Chaos God is surprised when instead of a sword, a fist crashes into his face. He’s sent reeling a few inches before crashing into a barrier. He quickly realizes this barrier is not his. The barrier explodes and sends Discord flying back towards Ignis. The bladesinger ignites his horn and several walls of force appear in the air around him and Discord. They don’t form a cage, but they do all angle and face towards a single point in what would be the center of a dodecahedron if the walls connected.

Melody strung out like we’re walkin’ on a tightrope.

Discord is a bit confused by the barriers until Ignis turns and flies straight towards one of the barriers. Then he’s even more confused. Until Ignis reaches the barrier and flips in the air, putting his feet against the barrier and squats down, ready to launch himself.

Don’t wanna try, don’t wanna cry, wanna forget.

Ignis moves fast enough to only be seen as a silver blur once more as he starts bouncing around from one wall of force to another wall of force. Every time he bounces he moves through the center of the formation and lands a slash on Discord.

When he hears the lyrics Ignis can’t help but think back to when he was hiding away in that make believe future in his head.

Just wanna live inside a dreamland…

“Girls, use the elements! NOW!” Celestia recovers from being launched and screams at the element bearers. She recognizes that Discord is seemingly unable to do anything as he slashed several times per second by the bouncing bladesinger.

Wanna be free… and let a brand-new era dawn.

The girls start running towards each other as the elements start to glow. Out of nowhere Discord manages to perfectly time an attack as he clotheslines the elf zipping past him. He snaps his claws and right next to the elf's head space starts to fold in on itself as it's pulled into a single point. Until suddenly the space rebounds and all of that built up tension explodes forward, at Ignis’ head. Snapping his head back with a loud crack.

I know that we can…

Discord prepares to launch a follow-up attack when Ignis snaps his head forward again. With blood pouring down his face and his eyebrows furrowed into a death glare. Quicker than Discord can react, the bladesinger reaches out with his free hand and grabs the draconequus by the face. Then starts to spin in the air.

…Create a new world!

Releasing all of the momentum, Ignis throws Discord into the ground. As soon as he hits the ground all of the nearby ponies that had gathered due to the bladesong mob the discombobulated God. Hooves, stones, and spears are all pelting Discord as he lays in a small crater. The element bearers call out to Ignis and when he looks over they signal for him to come down.

They need him to join the group so they can properly fire the elements. Since Discord is too busy being assaulted by an angry mob Ignis starts to fly down towards the bearers.

We can choose the way of our future.
Try a brand new path…

Until he feels a sudden surge of magic at the center of the mob and Ignis realizes that Discord is about to unleash a massive attack on those ponies. They don’t realize how dangerous he really is!

If I change the world…

In a blind panic the elf diverts his flight and starts quickly moving ponies with his telekinesis while teleporting other ponies away from Discord. Then the surge of magic disappears entirely and reappears behind Ignis. It’s at this point Ignis realizes the civilians were a distraction.

“You really are predictable. I didn’t think you’d actually put all of your focus and concentration on trying to save those idiotic ponies!”

Before Ignis can even react or fully turn around he feels a massive surge of energy strike into his back. The muscles of his back are fully exposed as the attack completely obliterates his skin. Ignis screams in pain as he’s sent flying through the air.

If I change the world~!

“Just have them fire the elements now! They have no time!” Harmony shouts directly into Celestia's mind as the alicorn gawks in horror at how much damage was inflicted on the bladesinger.

She relays the order to the bearers and they all seem a bit confused but they try to channel the instinctual feeling they get when they’ve used the elements in the past. They all start to float and a dull rainbow is shot straight at Discord. He turns and just laughs as the rainbow harmlessly passes through him.

He’s completely unaware of the fact that the rainbow beam curved up and collided with the elf in mid air.

This boundless music brings transformation!

There’s a bright rainbow glow under the elf's silver hair that illuminates his back, and acts as a beacon to those below that can see it. Ignis is completely overwhelmed as he absorbs the entirety of the attack from the elements. His bracers glow brightly as the purple lines on his chest turn into glowing rainbows as well.

The amount of power in the elf keeps rising higher and higher as the amount of mana trapped in the barrier starts to get denser and denser. The entire city island starts to shake and rumble violently.

Then the barrier shatters.

Messages in song… reach even further~!

The mana domain of the bladesong, now unrestrained, expands more and more. The very faint silver glow passes over the Everfree and continues. It passes over Ponyville and then Canterlot mountain. As it grows more and more creatures are inside the domain and can hear the bladesong. It explodes outwards and surrounds the entire planet. The bladesong combined with the overwhelming, global power of Harmony allows the domain of his mana zone to claim all of the mana on the surface of the world.

Griffins, Dragons, Changelings, Deer, Zebras, Minotaurs, and all sorts of creatures look up, confused at the sudden presence and sounds of music playing. Some of the creatures that are vaguely aware of stories of bladesingers from the ancient past widen their eyes in fear. The ones at the Summit are able to instantly come to the conclusion that this power is from that elf creature they saw.

This dream will come true…

I believe in you.

Any ponies with wings instantly start to fly away from the city as they realize the barrier is gone. Not wanting to lose his potential hostages Discord turns away from the bladesinger that is tensed up and shaking in the air, and snaps away all of their wings and horns. Due to the panic and condition of the draconequus the alicorns aren’t affected and the elements protected the bearers from the magic as well.

Meanwhile Ignis is still trying to handle the amount of power surging within him as well as the information overload from having the entire planet in his mana domain. Sudden omniscience seems to be quite taxing on the mind.

After several seconds he finally manages to regain some level of composure before flaring his blade and flies straight at Discord.

Say goodbye to everything that’s weighing you down.
Transcend beyond reality to colorful worlds of music…
We need to keep on rising.

Discord switches to full on defense as he increases gravity over hundred fold for the elf. Managing to somewhat slow the elf down. Knowing he must avoid all of his attacks at all costs until the harmonic energy dissipates he starts to fly away from the elf. Weaving between different planes of existence as he flies, hoping to use the barriers of the planes to slow him down even more.

Deep in a cave in the middle of the dragon lands there are a few elder dragons meeting with Chrysalis and her drones. They’re interrupted as the mana domain claimed the space and they started listening to the bladesong as well. A few of the dragons are laughing about Equestria being so soft they manage to turn something like a bladesong into a song about peace. Chrysalis just stares, impressed at the progress the elf has made since their last encounter.

Close your eyes and take my hand, we’re runnin’ together.
We don’t have to live like this, I know we can all do…Better.

“Ignis, you don’t have to hit him to use the power of the elements!” Celestia speaks directly into his mind as he chases after the cowardly draconequus.

“Then how the hell do I use it? None of you gave me an instruction manual!”

I sing for liberation~!

“You just have to imagine the most powerful magic you can think of. It doesn’t have to be a real spell or attack, you're only limited to what you can imagine!”

“Is that why these things only seal creatures for 1,000 years? You guys aren’t creative enough to come up with real attacks?” Ignis sarcastically replies as he tears through different planes, just about within reach of Discord.

“That’s the upper limit of what they can do! Do you know how much magic it takes to seal somepony on his level for any amount of time?! It’s incredibly high!”

“Yeah yeah, just shut up and watch. Tell everyone to ingrain my attack into their minds.”

As he finishes that though he teleports in front of Discord and surprises him as he gets in his face.

“You wanna play a real game, unfurl the chain…”

Ignis grabs his head and slams him through a barrier, back into the material plane far above the city. As he slashes and chases around the God thousands of attacks from all sorts of different works of fiction from Earth go through his head. He could use Wish, but there’s a chance for a Monkey’s Paw type of effect and everything goes sideways real fast.

Melody lighting up the path to new horizons.
Don’t wanna try, don’t wanna cry, wanna forget…
Just wanna live inside a dreamland.

Celestia yells into his head that he’s nearly out of time. More and more spells and attacks pass through his mind, but none of them fit the bill for what he wants the elements to do. He doesn’t want to just turn him to stone for who knows how long. He also doesn’t want to outright kill him, and some attacks are too powerful. Ignis worries those might destroy the city or even the planet.

Wanna be free…

That one just might work. He slashes Discord one final time and makes his final decision.

…and let a brand-new era dawn.

“The Era of Gods belongs to me. I’ll let you be the first example, Discord.”

I know that we can…create a new world~!

The city starts to speed up its flight speed as Discord laughs in the elf’s face. “How about one final deal? You stop this nonsense and I won’t kill everypony here. You don’t have much time, colt.”

We can choose the way of our future!
Try a brand-new path, if I change the world…

Ignoring his words entirely, Ignis rises up a bit and punches Discord as hard as he can in the back of the head. The draconequus craters into the ground in the center of Canterlot, but this time the ponies are smart enough to not approach him.

If I change the world~!

Mana starts to condense and gather into a single point above the elf. As all of the mana in the world starts to move even Harmony becomes fearful. “What kind of spell could he possibly have thought of that needs so much mana?!”

This boundless music brings transformation.
Messages in song reach even further.

A loud snap rings out through the air as nearly three quarters of the entire world's mana has gathered around the elf. Every pony in the city feels their stomachs flip from the sudden sensation they’re feeling.

“Times up.” That sensation is the one you feel when you start to freefall. Clouds start to fly past the city as it begins falling through the air.

Ignis finishes gathering the mana and starts to chant the incantation for the attack he chose.

“I, Ignis, son of Zarra
Will show you the power of the Chain of the Heavens!
I will awaken the breath of the planet…
For I shall walk among humanity as friends.
Henceforth…”

An enormous golden portal appears in the air above Ignis. With only mere seconds left until Canterlot slams into the Ponyville camp. Everyone in the camp is looking up as the distant dot becomes larger and larger and they all start to scream as they realize a piece of a mountain is falling on them.

Time slows down as the attack is launched.

“ENUMA ELISH!”

A new Genesis!

The song finishes as hundreds of thousands of chains launch out of the golden portal above Ignis. All of the chains have a spear tip at the end of them. All of the chains start impaling themselves into the ground of the city. The chains become taut as they latch on.

Discord watches as hundreds of chains fly at him specifically and snaps his claws to teleport away from the entire country. Having completely admitted defeat he aims to just escape. Until a second snap is heard from the air.

“Counterspell.”

Discord's face contorts into a scream of panic as the chains wrap around his body and limbs. More and more layers of chains are added that start to chain him to the ground, completely immobilized. It's only when he’s chained to the ground, looking up, that he see’s what the true attack is.

A massive chain glowing with a rainbow aura emerges from the portal and starts to fly straight at Discord. Realizing this is the end, Discord ponders out loud. “I should pick a good pose this time, I think I should be more comfortable as a statue this time.”

The massive chain starts to fly towards Discords and Ignis replies to him. “You won’t be turning into a statue this time Discord. I’m not kind like these ponies, I won’t let you off so easily.”

The chain slams into Discord and the draconequus starts to truly panic and fear for his life as he feels his very essence being drained away. The only consolation is that he believes the elf is incapable of stopping the city from falling on the camp.

“Looks like I will truly surpass Karsus today. I’ll kill a God and stop my capital city from falling out of the sky.” Ignis comments as he uses telekinesis to grab all of the chains at the entrance of the portal.

He pulls them all together into a tight bundle and then grabs it with one hand. With his other hand he envelopes the entire chunk of rock under the city in his telekinesis. Then he attempts to fly up.

All of the ponies on the ground look up and are completely stunned as they watch the elf squeeze his eyes shut as he screams and pulls on the chains that have impaled the city. Luna's legs give out and she falls onto her rear as she stares up slack jawed. The entire city can feel their fall rapidly slowing down as blood starts to pour from the elfs nose.

“Just…a little….longer, Ignis. The attack is almost….finished…AAGGHHHHHHHHH!”

With a few feet to spare the island stops falling and even begins to slowly rise back up into the air. Then the Chain of the Heavens finally finishes and the chains explode into a massive rainbow.

The giant rainbow flies under the city and carries the entire island back to Canterlot Mountain in mere seconds as it magically reattaches the city. As if it was never torn away to begin with. As soon as it arc’s into the mountain it explodes into a huge rainbow shockwave.

That shockwave starts to fly over the entire planet as it undoes all of the Chaos Magic affecting the land. The cities are fixed, the animals are back to normal, and everyone that’s awake to witness it cheer as the rainbow shockwave flies over them.

Ignis reverts back to his normal appearance with a flash of light and his eyes flutter closed. He starts to rapidly fall out of the air and towards Canterlot. It’s only then that Luna and Force are knocked from their stupor and both shoot into the air to catch the elf. Luna is the one to arrive first as she grabs him in her telekinesis and floats him over to rest on her back.

“Take me down there, Luna.” Ignis weakly manages to utter out to the alicorn. She looks back at him a bit confused and surprised, but she does as he says and lands next to the element bearers in Canterlot.

“What did you need from here?” She asks him as he climbs off of her and staggers a bit trying to keep his balance.

“The jobs not finished yet. Quit hiding over there you piece of shit!” Ignis yells out as he walks toward a seemingly random building.

“You must be so disappointed knowing that your precious elements didn’t finish the job.” Discord smugly taunts as he walks out of said building and into the center of the city. Everyone gasps in shock.

“Oh no, it did exactly what I wanted it to do. I told you I wasn't turning you into a statue.”

“Well, that mistake will be your last. Thanks for the entertainment, bladesinger!” Discord laughs as he snaps his claws, but his laughing abruptly stops when nothing happens.

“I targeted your magic, Discord. Your power. Now you’re just an ugly animal.” As he finishes his statement he lands a solid right hook onto the former Gods face. Knocking him to the ground.

“Wh…what?! You can’t do that! Harmony can’t do that! This…this can’t be happening!” Discord loses his composure and starts to crawl backwards away from the elf while stuttering.

Ignis just cracks his knuckles and he stares at Discord. His eyes completely void of any light or emotion. “I’m going to enjoy this, Discord.”

Author's Note

Looks like I was half right, the fight is seemingly over, but the arc isn't quite finished yet. I ran out of time and had to end the chapter here, but it's a decent stopping point anyways so not a huge deal.

Power creep goes crazy huh? But forreal some of this stuff is what I meant when I said I imagine some of you will have some questions on why the Element of Magic specifically did things for Ignis that it seemingly doesn't do for Twilight. Just wait until after the next chapter to ask those questions, and also wait until next chapter but complaining about the previously mentioned power creep.

Also by the way, I'm not time skipping/off screening what's about to happen to Discord. I know the way the chapter ended some of you probably have a feeling the next chapter will start AFTER whatever happens, but nah I'm well aware we all wanna see this :P.

I will say to also remember this bladesong, it might end up being one of the most important ones of the story from a certain point of view.

Anyways I gotta go to sleep now!
Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 21

“I’m going to enjoy this, Discord.” The surrounding city of Canterlot is so quiet that anyone nearby can easily make out the sound of something dragging on the ground followed by slow footsteps.

Discord drags his tail and lower half as he continues shuffling backwards. “We-..we can talk about this! You wouldn’t hurt a defenseless creature right?”

Ignis just looks down at Discord like he’s an insect as he slowly walks forward, closing the distance. He doesn’t utter a single reply. After staring into the elf’s cold eyes for a few seconds the draconequus scrambles to his feet and takes two steps forward, intending to run. That’s when Ignis decides to quickly close the distance.

The bladesinger grabs the creature by the back of the head and slams Discord into the gravel face first. He rolls over onto his back with black blood pouring out of his nose. His eyes are shaking as he stares up at Ignis.

“You’re just as evil as I am if you do this, you know? These ponies will never look at you the same way after watching you beat a defenseless and magicless creature to death. Is that what you reall-”

Discord doesn’t get to finish his attempt to reason with the elf. Ignis drops to his knees and sits on the draconequus as he lands another fist straight into his muzzle. This time the sound of something cracking can be heard.

“How does it feel Discord?”

THWACK

“How does it feel to be powerless? To despair for your life? Is this the first time your mind has raced with thousands of possibilities, looking for any path, any phrase, any way you can salvage this situation?”

THWACK

Discord makes a gurgling sound as he spits out teeth onto the ground, trying to reply.

“Oh I’m sorry, of course you can’t reply when your jaw is broken and you’re missing half your teeth. Here let me help you out. Cure Wounds.”

Discords eyes shrink to pinpricks as his face shifts and corrects itself. He quickly realizes what is about to happen to him as he remembers what Nightmare did to Ignis while under the mental manipulation.

“Y-Y-Yes-” THWACK “YESH, I feel powerlesh! I underschtand what I’ve been doing to ponies now! Please…please spare-”

A sickening crack rings through the air as Ignis interrupts the begging with a palm thrust into the former Gods ribcage. “That’s good Discord. That’s really good. It must’ve been hard for you to admit that, but that’s a good first step. I’m surprised you still have that spark in your eye though. That spark that tells me you think there’s still a chance you might survive this. I want your eyes to look just as hopeless as countless ponies I’ve seen in the last week. But, don’t beg like this yet. That’ll be step three so let’s hold off on that one for now.”

Discords breathing quickens for a couple of seconds until he’s forced into a coughing fit as more black blood splatters out. “Oh this is your first time trying to breathe with broken ribs? That’s a fun one.” Ignis puts more of his weight onto Discords body as he rests on the creature with his knees in the gravel. “You’re going to die today Discord. I just want you to know that. The only thing you have the slightest chance of influencing is how fast and how painful that death is.”

“Ignis!” The elf pauses his next strike and glances behind himself to see his friends staring at him. Most of them just look disturbed but Luna looks…sad. It was her voice that called his name, and that’s the only reason he even turned around.

“This isn’t going to make you feel better. It’s not going to bring anypony back. If you’ve truly sealed his power then allow us to arrest him and put him on trial. The right way.” It’s Celestia speaking now that Ignis is looking in their direction.

“Can you go away now please? I just about had the hope extinguished from his eyes, but now you’ve foolishly given him something to latch onto. Now I gotta start all over. Cure Wounds.”

THWACK

Celestia starts to call out his name again, but stops when she sees Luna softly shaking her head. “Sister…Discord deserves this. Truly, he deserves more than this, but I think this should suffice. Do you actually believe he shouldn’t get his revenge?”

THWACK

“Lulu, you might be right. But, Discord is also right. Look around us, sister. Half of our citizens look horrified at what they’re watching. Once he starts down the path of revenge it’ll be hard to steer him from that path. His future will have many hardships and if all he can do is resort to revenge then that path will be dark and lonely. As unsatisfying as it may be, he shouldn’t do this.”

“Alright well clearly we aren’t going to accomplish step two like this, so let’s just move on. You can go back to begging for your life.” Ignis pauses for a moment to clean the gore from his hands.

“This is too far, bladesinger. I know what you went through in this city on the first day of my release. You can’t blame me for that though. I manipulated her memories but I didn’t tell her to perform this torture on you. Doing this just makes you a….a monster.”

A soft silver aura pulses around the elfs fist as he brings it down on the draconequus one more time. This mana infused blow has much more force than the previous blows, combined. “That’s a weird way to beg for your life, idiot.”

The response is so cold and uncaring that several ponies feel a chill go up their necks. Many of the once cheering civilians slowly take a few steps back out of instinct. “I don’t mind though, that just means you get to try again. I’m fine with being a monster, Discord. I never took much offense to being called such a thing when I first arrived here. Plus I’ve already told some of these ponies exactly why I’m not a hero. Why I’m something closer to a villain. Now take it from the top, I want you to really beg this time.”

“Wh-whats the point you sick bastard? I know you just want to hear me beg so you can force me to reflect on all the times creatures begged me for mercy.”

Sudden two cracks ring out as Ignis grabs both of Discords arms and breaks both of them at the wrist. “Then how about you beg me to end this quickly? I’m glad we’re on the same page, but it’s really not in your best interest to ignore my demands. None of these ponies are going to save you Discord. I’d wager three of these ponies, max, have the willpower to take even a single step towards me at the moment.”

Ignis rises to his feet while holding the creature by one of his horns before throwing him at the closest wall. “Anyone else want a turn? I can heal him at least 12 more times.”

As he walks over to the prone draconequus he calls out after a few moments of silence. “Alright but don’t say I didn’t offer. Weird, most of you were ready to commit treason and kill one of those bearers over there not even 20 minutes ago. Now all of a sudden you’re all going to act self righteous? Like none of you want to give this piece of shit what he deserves?”

“I do.” Luna quietly replies from right next to Ignis, startling him. She was completely silent on her approach. “But, I also don’t want to take this moment from you. I think nothing I planned to do to him is worse than what you plan to do. I am satisfied just watching.”

Ignis finally cracks the emotionless mask and gives her a soft smile. Then he holds his hand up and casts Acid Splash at Discord. Causing him to spasm a bit as he hisses in pain on the ground. Then Ignis proceeds to fall into a steady rhythm of punches that rain down onto Discords skull.

“Princess…no pony deserves this. Please, we have to stop him…” The bearers and the princesses look over surprised that Fluttershy of all ponies was the one to speak up.

“You’re right Fluttershy, no one deserves this. I surely didn’t deserve it just a few days ago. I think Discord does actually deserve this. If this is too much for you all I don’t mind just flying him somewhere else until I’m done with him. I don’t really need the satisfaction of you all watching this, but I know we’re a bit strapped for time.”

That’s when a purple aura appears and yanks the elf off of the draconequus. Ignis turns as he’s yanked and looks down at the pony who had the balls to do such a thing. It’s an angry Shining Armor.

“How about you get over yourself and this pity party, and go help my sister. You said you would after he was defeated!”

The rising anger Ignis felt evaporates in an instant as he stares at the unicorn. “I will help her. There is something else I need to do beforehand though. Defeating Discord wasn’t actually my main goal today.”

Before Shining can question what he’s talking about, both of their attention is drawn over to Discord as a few ponies approach the prone and bleeding creature. They look at the elf with cautious and hesitant faces.

“I wasn’t joking, if you guys wanna take a few swings at him then be my guest. Just don’t kill him yet, it’s too early.” Ignis then looks back to Shining Armor. “I’ll wrap this Discord thing up a bit earlier than I was planning to and then I’ll go finish that one last thing. After that I’ll revive her.”

The unicorn's eyebrows furrow with a bit of frustration still evident but he nods and backs away. After that Ignis goes over to where the crowd of ponies has grown to over 50. He gently pulls them away from Discord as he wades through the mob. The draconequus is in rough shape.

Both of eyes are swollen shut, his chin and neck are stained with blood, and his breathing sounds like that of a elderly patient that just got taken off the ventilator. “At this rate he might not survive what I plan to do to him. Cure Wounds.”

Ignis heals him just enough to stabilize him before picking him up by the neck. That’s when he hears Luna’s voice speaking to him telepathically. “Why can you not revive my sister's student before you do whatever it is you plan? I’m not going to order you to revive her now, but I’m just genuinely curious.”

“I need her to still be dead for what I have planned. That’s all I can say right now. Once I’ve finished up with Discord I’ll tell you more.”

That’s when the dull purple lines across the elfs torso start to glow and his hair starts to whip about as if it's in a strong wind funnel. The translucent unicorn horn reappears on his head. “Alright Discord, let’s get you to your final stop.”

Closing his eyes he pictures a specific clearing in the Everfree. A particularly large one where echo’s of a spectacular battle can still be heard. Then he performs his first long range teleportation spell. Landing right in the middle of the resting place of the ancient bladesingers.

Ignis feels Discords breathing quicken. The draconequus starts to mutter the words no and not this over and over. “Oh! You remember this place? That’s good, that saves me the explanation. You see, a couple of days ago I found this place and spoke to a few spirits who told me some interesting tales about this place. This clearing is occupied by mana that was harmonized thousands of years ago and somehow still maintains that frequency. You know that part, surely? What I doubt you know is that in this harmonized mana, more than just the sounds of their last battle is being stored.”

Discord starts to flail his two bottom legs as he tries to take swings at the elf with his two broken arms. The creature devolving into a panicked prey animal. “That’s good, I’ll admit I did want to see this side of you as well. Anyways, I figured these guys have been holed up in this mana domain for thousands of years, so they could probably use some new company. What do you think Discord, you think you can get along with these ole bladesingers as permanent roommates?”

The only sound heard in response is a unique and ear scratching scream. The draconequus finally, truly falls into despair. A wicked smirk starts to crawl across the elf's face. “That sounds like a yes to me, let’s do this.”

Ignis grabs Discord with both hands and starts to channel his mana into the creature. Since Discord no longer has any magic of his own, Ignis is hoping he can temporarily “possess” Discord by flooding him with his mana. Unbeknownst to Ignis, this process has been done in experiments in the past and is extremely painful.

That doesn’t really make him stop though, it just makes him chuckle a bit. Once that’s done, Ignis activates True Bladesong while still holding onto Discord. This time he does it the proper way and changes his own very being into a state of nothingness. A state that allows him to change his own mana frequency to match the surrounding mana’s. By extension the mana inside Discord also changes to match.

Now that both of them are harmonized with the ancient mana in this clearing they can both see it. Standing and sitting all around, some propped up with their blades, some leaning against trees, are the ancient bladesingers that died in this place. There’s at least 40 of them in total and they all look quite surprised that the elf actually pulled it off. Minotaurs, Griffins, Ponies, and even a few smaller bipedal dragons pick up their translucent blades and start to approach the two new arrivals.

Ignis just smiles at them and then looks at Discord. “One of you helped me achieve the peak of bladesinging in my fight against this bastard. I’ve already beaten him to near death a few times so I figured I’d come by here to give my thanks to the voice that helped me.”

All of the spirits seem a bit confused and it appears none of them were the voice that helped him in Canterlot. That’s when Ignis slaps his forehead. “Duh, those voices were the bladesingers that left this clearing and became corrupted into wraiths. I completely forgot! Oh well I still think you all deserve to have some fun with the guy for a few thousand years. Have fun~”

Ignis uses his mana imbued form to start pressing on both sides of Discords head. Cracking and popping sounds can be heard for a split second before his head is crushed and pops like a watermelon. His body drops to the ground limp and lifeless, but the shape and outline of Discord is still standing there as if he didn’t just have his head crushed.

That’s when Discord and the spirits realize what Ignis has just done. He’s just trapped Discords soul in this place with no power and no magic, surrounded by a group of creatures that hate him just as much as Ignis. For millennia they’ve been desiring revenge and now they get to have it, eternally.

A sight Ignis thought he would never see unfolds in front of him. Tears start to well up as the former God begins sobbing in his grasp. With a look of disgust Ignis just tosses him like a ball into the center of the clearing. “You guys have fun with him. He won’t be able to leave the clearing like you all can. He has no magic or power of his own to sustain him, so he’ll cease to exist the instant he leaves the clearing. That means he can’t turn into a wraith, but it also means you all need to keep an eye on him. You can’t keep having fun with him if he stops existing. I’ll drop by in a few years and give him a few smacks, probably.”

With this Ignis picks up the physical corpse of Discord and deactivates the bladesong as he waves goodbye to the spirits and sobbing spirit of Chaos. Once he walks out of the clearing he casts Disintegrate on the corpse and it turns to ash that scatters in the wind. “Good riddance.”

“Alright Luna, Discord’s dead.”

“What did you end up doing with him?”

“I trapped his soul in the same place where all of the ancient bladesingers were wiped out. They were happy to see him. Then I turned his corpse into ash.”

There’s a brief pause of silence as the weight of his words settle in for Luna before she speaks into his mind again. “So what else did you need to take care of?”

“You’re really not gunna like it, but it’s the only thing I can think of if I wanna revive Moonie.”

“What? I can’t imagine there’s much you’d plan to do that could truly upset me…”

“Well, most of you were here with the intent to fight a God. I woke up today prepared to fight two.”

Ignis closes the telepathic channel before Luna can try to potentially talk him out of this. Then he channels all of his focus into the Element of Magic. Look for a thread, one that stands out from the rest…

There it is, a tiny thread going from the Element to…just a couple of miles to the East? Using the Element of Magic he reverse traces the energy back to Harmony. As soon as his mind's eye reaches the entrance of a specific cave his vision goes white.

“You didn’t need to do that if you want to talk, Ignis. With the Element you just needed to use it the same way you’d use a Sending stone. I’d have happily pulled you in here.” Harmony states with a bit of a somber tone as she faces away from the elf.

“You really killed him. I can’t believe it. Even more unbelievably, I can’t tell what you did with his magic. It’s just…gone. Is that what you wanted to talk about? I was actually hoping to talk to you as well. I wanted to let you know that I permit you to revive Twilight Sparkle. No, that’s arrogant of me to say. I… would appreciate it if you could do so.”

“I’m not here to talk about Discord, but I am here to talk about Twilight.” Ignis wants to actually look at her and make eye contact for this conversation, so he walks around and stands between her and one of her magic TV Screens.

“I need you to either give me Nightmare Moon's body, which I assume is on the moon. Or, I need you to place her soul in me so that I can allow her to possess me like before.”

“What does that have to do with Twil-” Harmony’s eyes widen. She quickly becomes enraged. ”Do you intend to hold Twilight Sparkle hostage until I help you revive NIGHTMARE MOON? How dare you?! If it was for Luna or even that pegasus… I could at least understand where you’re coming from, but for her? For that… that-”

The temperature in the spiritual demiplane plummets several degrees. “I would choose your next words wisely, Goddess. Because it sounded like you were about to say something that both of us would regret.”

They stare into each other's eyes and Harmony realizes this isn’t a bluff. He’s not joking. He’s actually threatening her.

“I’m not even asking for a lot here. Don’t act like I’m being unreasonable. You said you oversee all of the souls as they come and go through the cycle of life and death. I know you have her soul. What is your problem here?”

“My problem is that you didn’t even try to ask first. You just traced my energy to my home and tried to break in so you could…negotiate a hostage release. Who wouldn’t be enraged?”

“We both know you would either refuse my request or just flat out lie and say it’s beyond your capability. Don’t sit here and try to lie to me. You know exactly what you would’ve done.”

Her eyebrows furrow in anger and she squeezes her eyes shut as she sighs. “Yes, because it is not your place to decide who lives and who dies. Are you going to revive everypony that tragically died in this incident? Are you going to revive anypony who has a family member come request it of you? What gives you the right to decide that?”

“Hypocrite.”

“Excuse me?!”

“The first thing you said to me when I showed up was that you REQUESTED me to revive Twilight. If I can’t cherry pick who gets to cheat death then why do you get to? Why don’t you just make every pony an alicorn? Why even let them die of old age? Fuck it Harmony, let’s just let ‘em all be invincible!”

“BECAUSE SHE IS IMPORTANT. FAR… more important than you could ever realize. She is meant to be the last wielder of the Element of Magic. She was never supposed to pass away on this day.”

“And you think Nightmare Moon isn’t important? I’d say she’s important. I don’t think she was supposed to pass away this week.” Ignis gives a sarcastic reply as he closes the distance and gets in Harmony’s face.

“She’s important to you. This is not the same. Ignis, she is meant to become the Goddess of Magic. Her domain is magic. I’m not sure why the element allowed you to completely grasp the inner workings of magic, but that power is Twilights. Once she ascended and grew into her power she was meant to naturally develop that power. At that point the Element of Magic would cease to be. Twilight Sparkle is magic. You cannot condemn millions of lives in the future for the sake of…. Of your special somepony!”

“I’m not a hero, Harmony. I will do whatever it takes to save her. Nothing will stand in my way, not even you. It’s actually a small blessing that Twilight died here, originally I was planning to come here and make the same demands. In that scenario though if you had refused then I was going to threaten to teleport back to Canterlot and personally kill all of the element bearers.”

“What is wrong with you? How can you be so delusional…so selfish?! Tens of thousands die everyday Ignis and you are the only one threatening to burn the world down to save a single one out of those thousands.”

“Because where I’m from, it’s only natural to revive a friend or a loved one if they pass before their time. You all are the ones that seem insane to me. If someone dies of sickness at 120 then that was their time. If they were to die of natural causes at the age of 16, then that was their time. If an alicorn who was meant to live for thousands of years dies after ONLY ONE MONTH, THEN WHY…why is it so weird to think that she should be entitled to have her life back? Every creature who dies before their time deserves to have their life back.”

There’s an awkward silence as the two enraged beings stare at each other, breathing heavily. Finally Harmony clicks her tongue in annoyance. “Her body will be next to Twilights in Canterlot when you return. This argument is pointless to continue because there is no right or wrong. We just have two different views of how the world should work.”

Ignis lets out a sigh of relief and all the tension leaves his body. Until it suddenly feels like his entire body is being squeezed by thousands of giants at once. The pressure is incomparable to anything he’s ever felt. His Wisdom saving throw automatically fails as his eyes begin to shake.

“I just want you to remember this mercy, Ignis. You walked into my home and threatened me, and I am allowing you to leave unharmed while complying with your demands. But, know this, after this stunt you just pulled, Nightmare Moon will be the last creature on this planet I allow you to revive. The only reason I even chose to cooperate with you for the revival of Twilight is because if you weren’t here to begin with then she wouldn’t be dead. This was not her fate.”

Ignis starts to fade as he’s forced from the demiplane, but before he vanishes completely he speaks up one more time. This time he’s quiet and timid. “How is that any different from the reason I gave as justification?...

…You really are a hypocrite.”

Author's Note

<.< Ignis really is ride or die, huh? Also new "Merged" Ignis seems to want the smoke just as much as the "Old" Ignis did.

I guess the real question is, will any of the ponies find out what he just did? And if they do...what will they think about it? What will they do? What will Celestia do?

I really did try to write this in such a way that neither Harmony nor Ignis is truly in the right or wrong. I think different people will probably side with either of the two. The only egregious mistake here was that Ignis didn't atleast...ask before holding Twilight hostage. Then again if a guy with 20 INT and a +13 to Insight thinks she was going to say no and that asking was pointless to begin with...he's probably not wrong?

Anyways, bet none of you guessed this is how he was going to go about reviving Nightmare, huh? I personally really like this route because it leaves a ton of different what if scenarios and choices and branches, and I can easily see this being on an ongoing thing that slowly progresses in the background across several arcs.

Hopefully I don't get any 12 paragraph comments in all caps talking about how this is stupid writing >.>, but we were getting close to Gary Stu levels of fuckery with Ignis so this is a good change of pace.

Thanks for reading! <3

Dark Side of the Moon

And…I’m back in Canterlot. Home sweet home I suppose. “Alright Luna, I’m back in the capital where are you all at? Also do you guys have the diamonds ready?”

“We’re…we’re in the royal section of the castle’s medical wing. It's right next to the area where you and Shining Armor were healed after your spar. How many bits do the diamonds need to be worth again?” She sounds conflicted. Did Harmony snitch already?

“500 bits or more, also singular diamond. One per pony. I’m on my way now.”

As soon as the telepathic message leaves my mind I can feel my entire body sag like it’s tied down with several tons of weight. I feel like I have lead bones. I’m so tired.

All of the purple lines have dulled completely and I can’t see that stupid thing poking out of my forehead. Guess that means I’m all out of energy. Still got spell slots though, thankfully.

It’s surprisingly quiet as I walk through Canterlot towards the castle. I suppose it is night time. The moon came up around the time I used True Bladesong for the first time, so it’s probably a little after midnight now. That would explain it under normal circumstances, but the city is still a wreck. Where are half of these ponies even sleeping tonight?

Wait, what’s that noise? It sounds like a commotion a few blocks away…oh that’s where they all are. It’s a massive party in the streets right in front of the castle. I guess those chose to celebrate since they couldn’t sleep. Still seems strange to me to throw a party when we still lost hundreds of ponies in Canterlot alone. I shouldn’t be too surprised though, the ponies at camp after the Summit were the same way.

They’d all rather look at the bright side and celebrate the things worth celebrating instead of grieving over the things lost. Or, maybe they’ll just grieve about it on their own? Who knows, but I should stop wasting time…….

“Woah there, mister Knight…sir. Did you have too much to drink as well?” I appear to have passed out for a few seconds. I’m on my knees leaning over but there’s a pony under my left armpit holding me up. She sounds innocent.

“No. No, I haven't had anything to drink. Thank you for catching me, but I have a meeting in the castle I’ve gotta get to. Don’t get too drunk, miss.” Am I even going to be able to make it through both of these revival spells? They’re gunna take an hour each…yeah I can do this.

It takes a few minutes longer than it probably would take normally, but I eventually find myself standing in the middle of a familiar white room lined with beds. All of the beds are occupied by patients of differing levels of severity and there’s no shortage of groaning in the room. “Excuse me, where is the royal section? Luna is expecting me.”

The nurse that I don’t recognize nods and silently turns and walks out of the room. Shrugging my shoulders I follow her down the hall for a few doors that are all marked with the same green crosses until we reach an unmarked door. This is it? I guess it’s inconspicuous. That’s probably best considering the level of secrecy we’re using for my reviving capabilities. “Thanks.”

Opening the door I was expecting to see three alicorns and several ponies. Instead it’s just Luna, Celestia, and Shining. Wow, not even Cadence is here? Strange.

They all turn to look at me but before I can register any of the emotions on their face I can feel my breath catch in my throat. Time seems to slow down. There she is, Harmony kept her word. I didn’t think her regular alicorn form would also have purple hair like this…I like it.

“Ignis.” I hear the solar alicorn call out my name, but when I turn to look at her she stops herself and her face shifts a bit. She looked angry, but now she just looks pained. “Nevermind. Perhaps now isn’t the time for that discussion. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you give such an innocent smile.”

Oh she was going to scold me? I guess whatever expression I’m making while I run my hands through Nightmares mane was enough to dissuade her. “No, now is okay. I know that most of you, no, all of you probably don’t approve of what I did. I understand that. By all rights I could even understand if you tell me that it was evil. I’d have no argument against that logic.”

“Then why did you do it? How could you even come up with such an idea? To use…my student as leverage? You’ve made me angry so many times in our short time knowing each other, but this is probably the first time you’ve actually hurt me. I think I’m just disappointed you’d stoop so low.”

“Because it was Harmony. I knew if I just asked her with nothing on my side of the table she’d shoot me down in an instant. When she went out of her way to personally request that I revive Twilight? I was already going to try what I did, but when she asked that I knew it’d work. She might be an uppity hypocrite, but I know on some level she’s somewhat of a good person. She’d never let Twilight stay dead for such a simple and easy demand.”

“Were you bluffing?” Turning towards the masculine voice I find Shining Armor giving me the same glare he gave me just an hour or so ago.

“No. I’d have gone through with it, but I knew I wouldn’t have to. When I mentioned that my original plan was to hold all six of them hostage though, that was a bluff. She could probably tell it was a bluff, but that was just another layer of reinforcement to my threat. After that she knew what it looked like when I was bluffing. I needed her to believe with 100% certainty that I wasn’t bluffing. Only then could I be sure she’d have followed my demands. I am truly sorry Shining and Celestia, but I imagine if you were in my shoes captain you might’ve considered the same idea.”

Everything goes blurry as I drop to one knee. The only response I got was a hoof to my gut. “Alright, that’s the only one you get for free. Next time I’m grabbing you by the horn and throwing you out the closest window.”

Shining starts to respond and I look up at him from my kneeling position to see his horn is ignited.

SMACK.

My eyes widen in shock as a blue foreleg comes from nowhere and slaps the unicorn across the muzzle. “Get out, Captain Armor. We’ll send for you when your sister wakes up.”

“Wha-, but-!”

“Lulu!”

Luna ignites her horn and the door opens. “As a Princess of Equestria I am ordering you to get out. I know you’re angry. I’ll even admit that you have a right to be angry. But, Ignis did not kill your sister. It’s quite the opposite actually, you only have the opportunity to see her again purely because of him. I won’t have you continue to assault him when he can barely even stand. You’re lucky he’s even kind enough to do this. Hundreds of brothers lost their sisters today, and you’re the only one getting his back. Maybe take some perspective while you’re out there waiting.”

Celestia is staring at her with wide eyes and I’m pretty sure I’m staring at her with heart eyes if those are real in this universe. Her words are apparently good enough because her sister offers no further argument, but Shining does continue to stand there silently. His nostrils flaring as he huffs and puffs.

“This is the last time I’ll say it, colt. Get. Out.” Shining looks to Celestia for some defense but she offers nothing but a sympathetic tilt of her head. Finally the unicorn leaves the room.

Once the door closes I stagger to my feet and when Luna turns to face me again I lunge forward. After a brief second of intimacy I’m gently pushed back with a hoof. “Don’t think you’re in the clear either, Ignis. I understand your logic, I understand why you did it, but there had to be another way. I cannot condone what you did, and I’m not even sure if she,” Luna gestures towards Moonie. “Will condone it either. Once this is all over and we’ve all had time to rest and heal we need to have a serious discussion about this.”

What is this feeling? Why does her disapproval and disappointment in me feel like this? This must be from the elven side, Ignis would train night and day to prepare for the Moonblade ceremony because he was so afraid of this feeling. I can see why he was afraid of it, I hate this.

I just give Luna a slow nod as my gaze falls toward the floor. “I only had a few more days to figure something out. I knew this had an overwhelming chance of success, but if I opted to not take this route I would’ve only had a few more days to figure out a solution. The most powerful revival spell I have access to at the moment has a time limit of 10 days. Anything beyond 10 days and there’d only be two spells that could do the trick and both of those are far beyond me at the moment. I was desperate.”

I involuntarily let out a sigh of content when I feel soft feathers brush against my back. “I know. C’mon let’s finish this up and we can go get some well deserved sleep.”

Placing the diamond on Twilight's corpse I pull out my Staff of the Magi and channel the Mizzium Apparatus one more time. Raise Dead is 5th level so it’ll be a DC of 20 to cast the spell, but I have four levels of exhaustion so it’ll be at disadvantage. I do have a +15 bonus to Arcana though so it should be fine. The Staff of the Magi is in my other hand so if I fail the check and misfire a spell I can use the Staff to absorb the spell. Wait, that only works if the spell is a targeted spell that’s fired specifically at me…aw well.

Arcana Check (Mizzium DC: 20)

Check is passed automatically due to being the Element of Magic.

“Raise Dead.” Well that’s convenient. I don’t have manasight anymore and I don’t feel that omniscient feeling of enlightenment coursing through me. So, I thought the other benefits wouldn’t be there anymore either. Unless I was actively using the element.

“As soon as the spell completes she’s more than likely going to be in shock. Even if the wounds are closed, purely because of how traumatic the incident was. I’m saying this because when I say the word I need one of you to restrain her until I cast follow up healing magic on her. If she flails about and hurts herself she could easily kill herself.”

Celestia and Luna both give me a nod and I start to mutter the long series of incantations I’ll be repeating for the next hour. Green light shines on the walls of the room as wind from nowhere starts to whip about in the closed space. After a tense hour passes I nod towards Celestia since I’m still muttering incantations, but she understands what I mean and ignites her horn. I see a golden aura completely envelop Twilight’s body as the green light from the spell grows brighter and wispy smoke starts to appear that gets siphoned into the unicorn's body through her eyes and mouth.

Twilight's eyes snap open and she starts screaming for help and sobbing. What the fuck did they do her? The sight actually breaks my heart, remembering how naive her and her friends were just a couple of months ago. This event might just break the poor girl.

“Cure Wounds.”

+42 Hit Points.

Her body glows and any scars or wounds that remain close up completely. Her breathing finally starts to slow down as she gets quieter and quieter. The glow from the healing leaves her and her eyes flutter closed as she falls asleep. Glancing up it seems Luna and Celestia both have the same emotion in their chest as me.

Status Update: Title Removed.

~~Element of Magic~~

My bracers light up white and after a bright flash they’ve returned to normal. Guess I was just a temporary stop gap, huh? “Should we wipe her memories of this event? I think she might be…broken. If a changeling tricked her and then attacked her she might not trust anypony ever again. I could even see her never leaving the library or her bedroom for that matter. As soon as her eyes opened that was a deep and primal fear I could see in her pupils. She’s going to be scared for a long time.”

“That might be the best choice. It seems like Ignis is no longer the Element of Magic, but if it’s returned to Twilight it’s highly likely she’ll be too traumatized to even use the elements.” Luna agrees as we both turn to Celestia.

“I’ll discuss the option with Shining and we’ll ask Twilight for her own opinion. If she wants to forget…then I’ll do it for her.” I don’t think I’ve seen Celestia like this. She’s quite somber. It seems seeing her student in that state was too much for her. “She’s fully healed, yes?”

I give her a nod and the solar alicorn lifts Twilight up off the table in her telekinesis. “I’ll take her to my room and go find her brother. Thank you, Ignis.”

The little unicorn is gently lowered onto Celestia's back and it’s quite adorable the way she instantly nuzzles subconsciously into her neck and her legs just dangle from the alicorn's barrel. Luna and I watch the two of them leave before turning towards Nightmare. “Alright, let’s do this one more time.”

Arcana Check (Mizzium DC: 20; Disadvantage)

12 and 19. 12 +15 = 27.

“Raise Dead.”

It takes everything I have not to pass out in the middle of this hour long spell. My eyelids are so heavy and apparently it’s late enough into the evening now that my Exhaustion has gone from level four to level five.

My head and torso start drooping forward as I hold my hands over the diamond on top of Nightmares chest. Suddenly something solid is resting against my chest and I realize Luna has laid down to support me from falling forward. I can’t thank her due to the incantations but I lean forward and push into her in acknowledgement. Come on Ignis, the pain she and Luna went through to revive you was far worse than this. I’m just tired, this is nothing.

The light glows brighter just as it did with Twilight and the alicorn's eyes snap open.

“Yes yes it’s mahogany, it’s a nice desk, can we PLEASE- wait what?” Nightmare Moon looks around a bit confused at the dimly lit hospital looking room. Laying on her back is a bit uncomfortable as she feels exposed. Before she can ask any further questions though she feels two warm arms wrap around her.

That’s followed by someone's head resting against her chest. Hearing quiet sobs she finally glances down and sees a familiar elf crying into her fur. Glancing to the right her eyes widen as she sees Luna looking at her a bit misty eyed as well. Instantly she realizes she’s not in Luna’s body, she’s in her own body.

“I-...I thought I lost you…forever!” Nightmare smiles at the elf before igniting her horn for the first time. All three of them pop out of existence and reappear in the large bed in Luna's room. She rolls onto her side and wraps up the elf.

Nightmare starts to ask Ignis a question but when she glances down she realizes he fell asleep the instant he got embraced. She instead turns her attention to Luna who’s laying on the other side of the elf.

“This feels a bit surreal.” Nightmare quietly mutters not wanting to disturb Ignis. That’s when she notices the conflicted emotions on Luna's face. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“You died, that's what’s wrong. He fell into such despair he became somepony else entirely, just like I did with you and my sister with Daybreaker. When he finally snapped out of it he was determined to bring you back. Twilight Sparkle died before we could confront Discord and Ignis became the Element of Magic. We defeated Discord.”

“Then he revived Twilight and found a way to revive me? The beginning of the story is quite tragic but the ending doesn’t seem like something that would cause you to make that face. Or sound quite so melancholic.”

“He confronted Harmony. Harmony requested he revive Twilight, but he used her as leverage. Wouldn’t revive her unless Harmony gave him your body so he could revive you as well. He also would’ve accepted having your soul placed into him so you could possess him, but Harmony conceded and conjured your physical form. Only after that did he revive Twilight and then you.”

Nightmare makes a shocked expression. “He did that? For me?” She looks down at the sleeping elf and gently strokes his head with her wing. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Not quite the reaction I expected you to have. He’s angered and picked a fight with the reigning supreme deity that rallies our entire kingdom in the name of everything that is good.”

“Exactly! He did that for me. How could I be anything but grateful?”

“While I understand what you mean, Nightmare, this is extremely problematic. The actions he took has him starting down a dark path. The same path we once traveled. You cannot encourage him to do evil acts, use ponies as leverage, or even outright kill innocent ponies if it means saving us. I don’t want to see him go down that path.”

Nightmare hums a bit in thought. “Hm, I think that’s just who he is, Luna. If you don’t want him to burn the world down trying to save you then perhaps you should get stronger. We should get stronger. Strong enough that we don’t need to be saved. Besides, do you really think an evil villain would collapse onto somepony and start bawling while hugging them? I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

That gets a chuckle out of both of them. “I suppose you might be right. Perhaps I am overreacting. There is still one issue though, Nightmare. As you know Tia is a devout follower of Harmony. She’s spent thousands of years spreading her teachings to the entire kingdom. The problem is that Celestia is completely aware of what he did. Things were already tense between the two of them and I don’t know what’s going to happen the next time they see each other when both of them are fully recovered.”

“Well, what do you think Luna?”

“Hm?”

“Their entire argument was likely about the balance between the cycle of life and death. You know Harmony vehemently disagrees with the mentality Ignis has about death. He thinks that if somepony did not die of natural causes then they died before their time. Everypony deserves to live all of the years they’re supposed to. So, what do you think? Do you agree with him?”

“Why is that important?”

“Because that’s what this is going to come down to. They might have a real fight to begin with but at the end of the night this is going to boil down to a battle of morals, of core values. So, if you agree with Harmony and think that every death is equal and nopony should ever break that cycle of life and death. Then that means you’re going to take your sister's side in their upcoming conflict. I, for one, agree with Ignis.”

“I…I don’t know. I don’t think that’s my place to decide, I don’t think anypony should have the power to decide if somepony died their correct death.”

“Ignis is going to win the fight, Luna. In fact has already won it. There’s really no need to think about whether you agree with him or not.”

“How so?”

“You said Harmony requested he revive Twilight. That tells you that even Harmony thinks ponies should be revived if they die before they’re supposed to. As long as that pony is important and has a role in her chess game, anyways. Or, maybe they just disagree on what defines an improper death?”

Luna widens her eyes as she realizes Nightmare is right.

Before Luna can process a response to this revelation, Nightmare speaks up again. “Worst case scenario I’ll just marry him and take him with me to the Everfree. He can help me establish my battlemage academy. Then he’ll almost never have to see Celestia ever again, and I get to have him live with me. It’s a win-win all around.”

“M-m-marry?! So fast?! And… before ME?!” Luna gets surprisingly flustered at the sudden pivot in conversation topics.

“Why not? He looks good, he’s strong and intelligent. If you find a stallion that’ll stand up to the Goddess for you why would you not claim him as soon as possible? You won’t find loyalty like that anywhere else, especially in stallions. They know they can always find some mare to sleep with if they want it, so why would they bother being that loyal? That’s not even mentioning the way you go cross eyed when he-”

“OKAY! I understand! I get it! You’re right.” With an embarrassed cough Luna climbs out of bed and starts walking towards the door. “I’ll go figure out how to deal with Celestia and let you two have some alone time.”

Nightmare smirks as she burns the image of the blushing alicorn into her mind and fully lays down on the bed. She starts to hum a soft tune-

“I’m glad you agree with me. Everyone on this planet is too quick to just throw away lives. To just give up and accept death as a permanent unsolvable problem.”

Nightmare freezes as she registers the quiet words from the elf. “You’ve been awake for that long? So you heard all of that?”

He pulls his face away from her floor and looks at her with a tired, but adorable smile. “I did. I’ll admit I was curious how ponies propose to each other since they don’t have rings, but I didn’t think it would be this nonchalant.”

“That wasn’t a proposal! You weren’t supposed to hear that! Go back to sleep, this is all a dream! None of it happened!”

Ignis just scoots up so his feet aren’t hanging over the end of the bed, and gives Nightmare a quick peck. “Just a dream? Well in that case I guess my answer isn’t important since none of this is real. I’ll just close my eyes and go back to sleep.”

In an act of karma Nightmare is now the one flustered and blushing after the exchange. She's conflicted between avoiding the situation and embarrassment entirely while also wanting to know what his answer would be. “Well...indeed, you are correct.... Enjoy the rest of your sleep.”

“Yes yes yes. Of course.” There’s a few seconds of silence as the elf closes his eyes once more.

Then he speaks one last time. “Oh and yes I’ll enjoy the rest of my sleep.”

A confused alicorn glances at him. “What? Then what were you replying to before- wait...YOU CAN’T JUST CASUALLY SAY YES OF COURSE TO THAT!”

The flustered alicorn starts playfully swatting him with her wing. “Help! Where’s Celestia?! My fiance is abusing me~ someone help! How could a royal alicorn treat her husband to be like th-”

“SILENCE!”

"Seriously though, Moonie. I didn't get to respond to you back then, but I love you too."

Author's Note

Ignis has managed to find a situation that causes Nightmare to evolve from a tsundere to a tsuntsuntsuntsun-tsundere. The best part about this is that it's 100% not clear if this is serious or not. By that I mean I'm not sure if I want to make it serious or not and this gives me a way to take it either way :P

This was a fun chapter to write for the most part. I got to write Luna being a bad ass, got to write cute shit with the return of best girl. All around top tier chapter from my POV.

No chapter tomorrow and fair warning next chapter is uhh Probably be NSFW. The timing feels right, ya know?

Thanks for reading! <3

Aftermath

“I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to wake up.” Turning to the left I see a tired looking Luna with messy bed head. Looking around there’s no one else in the room.

“How long was I out?”

“About a week. We had to take turns bathing you…I didn’t know somepony could get so stinky from just sleeping.”

“Rude.” Sitting up I try to determine what time it is, but the curtains are completely shut. “What time is it? Where is everyone else?”

“It’s around 11 in the morning. I saw your bubble disappear from the dreamscape and woke up to greet you, but I’d prefer to go back to sleep if I’m being honest.”

“Wow you really hate having your sleep interrupted so much that’d you rather go back to sleep than hang out in bed with your consort who you’ve seen for a total of maybe two hours in the last week. After he DIED?!”

“You would do well to not guilt trip me, Ignis. It’s been a long week that you’ve decided to just sleep through.” Woah, she sounds legitimately drained right now.

“Sorry. I wasn’t really going to hold it against you… did something happen? Or have the reconstruction efforts just been more demanding than anticipated?” Using the power of hands I try to get back in her good graces. Pushing her head back down onto the pillow I start giving her ear scritches and playing with her hair.

“Mmmm, your bribes won’t work here, fiend. Reconstruction has been beyond a nightmare, but that is not the main problem. The biggest headache has been you.”

“I didn’t ask to sleep for a week, Luna.”

“Not that. Somehow word got out that you can bring ponies back from the dead. They overheard the topic get briefly mentioned when Shining Armor interrupted your fun with Discord. They even have proof. They have an image of Twilight’s corpse before it was recovered. Night Court has been busier than Day Court every night since that article came out. You’re going to have your hooves-, your hands full tonight.”

Oh shit. “Oh shit. Did no one tell them that Harmony has forbidden any further revivals? She stated Nightmare Moon would be the last. I doubt that’s true, she’ll probably be the last until someone important bites the dust. Regardless, I'm metaphorically grounded right now. No miracles for me!”

“I don’t think you mentioned that before.”

“I didn’t mention any of it, I assumed Harmony would have mentioned it when she snitched to Celestia about everything else. Well that’s easy enough I’ll put this all to bed tonight. Anything else I should know before you head off to dreamland?”

“It’s not just Equestria you need to address. There’s whispers that the dragons are ready to declare war. We haven’t heard from them directly, but now that your little secret has gotten out…I suspect they’ll have more allies than before. The minotaurs especially, they’ve already declared you a heretic. You go against the natural law, they say.”

“They’re not wrong. Fuck the natural law. Honestly I wouldn’t even mind spending the rest of my days reviving creatures, but I can only revive like three at most, per day. It’s not sustainable. Alright well, enjoy the rest of your sleep. I’m gunna go find the blacksmith and request a replacement for my armor that got shredded then I’m gunna go find a tailor and get clothes made. I’ve only had one set for far too long and now I don’t even have that. I’d rather not walk around shirtless for the next 2,000 years.”

“You should pay Rarity a visit then. I’m sure she’d be happy to supply your entire wardrobe.”

“Is that really worth a trip to Ponyville?”

Luna is borderline asleep at this point, I don’t know how she’s still replying. “You can’t teleport? You did it back then.”

“Nah, I was able to bend all forms of my magic to my will while I was the Element of Magic, but I can just tell on instinct that I can’t do that anymore.”

“Shame. Tell my other half and that pegasus I said hello.”

“You got it, babe.” Her eyebrows furrow a bit at the new term, but she makes no comment on it. Shrugging I decide to get out of bed and go wander the castle for a bit. Scratch that I am literally starving.

It’s around lunch but no one else is in the Royal Dining Hall. Weird. Am I even allowed to eat here if one of the god horses isn’t with me?

The answer was no, by the way. Now I’m in the mess hall for the guards on duty, and I’m getting a surprisingly high number of stares. No one is saying anything to me though. The look in their eyes isn’t fear this time. It reminds me of the looks I got from the Night Guard back at that camp in the far west. Revere. That’s the word.

“It’s quite uncomfortable to eat with so many staring at me. Do any of you have a question or something? A meal with conversation is much more enjoyable.”

To my surprise one of them actually gets up. It’s a unicorn stallion with red fur, of course it’d be white if he had his helmet on. “Sir, I was just wondering if you’ll be participating in the war games between the Day and Night Guard a couple of weeks from now?”

“I was planning on it, yeah. I suppose it might be a bit unfair though. What do you think? Should I be allowed to participate?”

“I think you should be prohibited from entering the one on one tournament, but everything else seems like fair game. I doubt the Singles Combat Tournament would even be interesting for you.”

“Oh yeah, it wouldn’t even be a warm up. No offense.”

“None taken, I think we’re all well aware you’re closer to the Princesses in power than you are to us.”

“Cool. Alright sorry everyone, this guy used up all the time I had for questions, I got shit to do today. Stay safe.”

There’s a sea of voices that are not in harmony at all, so I have no idea what they said. Now that I’ve got some food in me it’s time to go to the blacksmiths area. Hopefully they’re not out on lunch break as well…

Walking through the familiar armory and into the forge I see a few different ponies at work. None of them seem to notice me, so I just take a few seconds to observe. I was curious which race of ponies would work in a place like this and I ended up thinking it’d be unicorns. That’s apparently not true as only one pony in here is a unicorn. The rest are all earth ponies, and the unicorn isn’t even using telekinesis.

“OI!” I call out as loud as I can hoping to be heard over the hammers and roars of flame. The closest pony to me looks up and now I can see it’s a mare. “I need to put in an order!”

“Then you can go through the proper steps and route up the paperwork to submit it to us like everypony else.”

“Really? I didn’t have to do that last time.”

“Last time you-” Her eyes seem to widen and apparently she was in a state of autopilot before. As soon as her eyes widened she slammed her hammer down and ran up to me. “Sorry about that sir, if I swing my hammer for too long I end up in a trance-like state. What did you need made?”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind doing whatever admin bullshit I gotta do. I don’t want too much special treatment just cause I’m a Knight or whatever.”

“Knight? Oh right I forgot you’re Princess Luna’s Knight! No, no, that’s not why at all. You’re a bucking hero! My master would throw my flank straight into the coals if he found out I turned away somepony like you. What did you want made, sir?”

“Well I had this armor before the whole incident. It was made using my pre-existing armor as a base and had some enchantments added on, but now I got nothing. I desperately need a replacement. It has to cover this whole area, plus my arms, but it’s gotta be light. It can’t affect my flexibility either. The armor before was made of Leather and it was the perfect material, but..”

Her face pales when I mention leather. “Exactly. Don’t worry though it was leather from my home. The cows there were not intelligent, not even a little bit. I need something similar to the qualities of that material though. Preferably studded as well. But, the most important thing is that it’s light and flexible. My agility is what keeps me alive, not the strength of my armor.”

She finishes writing down whatever she was writing for the order then gestured for me to follow her towards the back of the forge. “This should be easy enough, but I gotta measure you. Can you squat down a little bit and hold your arms out straight? Perfect, sorry we don’t have a stool or anything like that.”

The teal mare with a black mane that’s currently tied up into a bun grabs a tape measure from the workbench. She starts measuring my chest and shoulders and I quickly realize the benefits of having a unicorn measure you. She keeps lightly rubbing me as she moves and wraps the measuring tape. Asking me to hold it sometimes so she can take it around to the other side. This probably wouldn’t be a big deal, but I’m surprised at just how light the touch is.

It’s just like when some very very lightly traces their finger up your arm or across your chest, but it's a big finger. It’s giving me goosebumps and I find my face feeling a bit flushed.

“So smooth…and firm. Wow…” Glancing at the mare it seems I’m not the only one having this reaction. Right as I looked at her she bit her bottom lip and then disappeared behind me, dragging her hoof and the measuring tape lightly across my back. She didn’t see me glance down at her thankfully or that might’ve turned awkward. Thanks to that teal fur it’s easy to see she’s got some crimson flushing her face as well.

“When you measure ponies is it always this…intimate?” I decide to playfully ask as she hugs my back tight and touches her forehooves to connect the tape.

“Not usually…it just never occurred to me that this is all muscle when I saw it. It was only when I first brushed against you that I realized it. Sorry if I got a bit too carried away though. I’ve got everything I need.”

“I’m pretty sure you had everything you needed like five minutes ago. You measured the same three spots six times. But, I guess I don’t particularly mind. Luna might kill you though. She already thinks that our herd having three mares is too many, and she gets jealous very~ easily.”

“That’s why that smell was so familiar…OH! Sweet Celestia, how could I forget?! Uh-uhm… Sir, uh..”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I’ll make sure she doesn’t fire you or anything like that. You’ll probably need to apologize though.”

“Sir please! Please don’t tell her!” She looks so genuinely afraid…she must love this job, or she needs it that badly.

“Sorry, but I gotta. I’m telling you though, don’t worry about it~. I was joking about the whole "kill you” thing, she’s not that serious. Anyways, when can I expect to have that armor?”

Her ears pin back and she looks at the ground, dejected. “Probably around a week or two. Assuming I still work here by then…”

If Luna wasn’t asleep right now I’d just hit her up over the sending stone to ease this mare’s worries, but I’m not waking her up for this. It’d probably go worse for the blacksmith if I did that, to be honest. “You’ll still work here. I swear.”

With that I turn and walk out of the forge and through the armory, back out into the hallway. Now I need to go find a pony to make me some clothes. Hmm, maybe I should go to Ponyville. That way I don’t have to get measured again. That’d be a whole two day trip though, ugh. Wait…

After asking around several times I was able to ascertain that Nightmare is in the castle library. Sneaking up behind her I get ready to pounce.

“Out of every alternate universe to exist at every branching point or decision, there is not a single one where you are capable of sneaking up on me, Ignis. I’m glad to see you’re awake though.” She calls out to me right as I crouch down, and all I can do is pout as I sit down across from her.

“That’s no fun. Anyways, what are you up to? I was surprised to only see Luna in bed when I woke up. I know Force is on duty, but I didn’t think you were a daywalker.”

“Luna and I are going through some drama, and since you were asleep 24/7 I decided to just flip my sleep schedule. That way I could still share a bed with you, but without her. It’s much easier for me and Force to share the bed with you than with Luna as well. With me being the same size as Luna now that bed almost isn’t big enough for all four of us at once. Now that you’re awake though this complicates things…”

“What kind of drama?”

“Mare stuff. Nothing for you to worry about. What are you up to?”

“Well I was about to go find a place out in Canterlot to get some new clothes made, but after getting sensually measured by one of the blacksmiths I decided I’d rather go to Ponyville. Rarity already has my measurements, so I don’t need to go through that again.”

“What?”

“What? Which part of that are yo-”

“The blacksmith did what to you?”

“Nothing serious! Relax! She needed my measurements for my replacement armor and, uhm, she was enthralled by the bare muscles. It’s not a big deal though.”

“Hmph. If you say so. Guess I’ll go adjust the order for the new bed and have it made a bit bigger.”

“Oh, shut up. She profusely apologized once she remembered I was in a relationship, I think it was just a genuine slip up.”

“And did you just happen to also forget? Or were you enjoying it too much?” She’s giving me that glare. That glare once frightened me on my first night in this world. Now it still frightens me a fair bit, but it’s also hot. I didn’t realize any of them would actually be upset about this though. I figured with this herding thing they were a bit more loose on things like this.

“I didn’t forget, but I also didn’t think it was a big deal. Are you gunna smite the ponies that end up giving me a massage when I go to the spa? Cause that’ll probably be much more sensual than this whole incident.”

“And that’s their job. This was just a mare that got carried away.”

I can’t help but to sigh. “Alright I get it! Back in my world that would’ve been a problem and I would’ve stopped her, but I figured things weren’t as strict since you all do this herding thing. Cut me some slack until I got this whole culture situation sorted. It won’t happen again.”

“Good. Now, are you here to invite me out with you? I wouldn’t mind helping you order some clothes.”

“Well that, and I was also hoping you could teleport us to Ponyville.” I give her a sheepish grin. “I don’t really wanna take the train.”

She just rolls her eyes. “I suppose I can do that. Are we going now?”

“Yep! Thank you~!”

“Uh huh. You owe me when we get back.” That’s quite a predatory smile she’s giving me right now.

Am I in danger?

Author's Note

Nice short, chill chapter. Dialing back on global threats for a while and writing some petty drama is a nice change of pace for me.

Also managed to finagle my way back into Ponyville for a chapter or two. Just in time for some Lesson Zero shenanigans <.<

Oh I forgot to have Ignis check his quests and XP. Ah well too late now we'll do it next chapter.

Thanks for reading~

Main Quest - A New Mystery pt. 1

“Wow it’s almost like it never got turned inside out and torn down.” I idly comment on the first thought that pops into my head as we appear in Ponyville.

“That’s likely due to the fact that a majority of the problems in this village was directly caused by the chaos magic that was undone by the elements. If the city had been razed because someone threw an alicorn into a bunch of buildings then it’d likely still be suffering reconstruction efforts.”

“EVERYPONY RUN! NIGHTMARE MOON HAS RETURNED! HIDE YOUR KIDS, HIDE YOUR WIV-” Using a very precise level of telekinesis I grab the cotton candy loudmouth mare and silence her.

“Pinkie. Nightmare has been back for well over a month now. This is not news to anyone. It might be her first time in Ponyville in this form since the…the incident, but we don’t need to make a scene and throw the town into a panic. Nod if you understand.” She nods so fast that it’s a blur.

“Alright now I’m gunna let go, but only if you promise to not immediately start inciting mass panic again. Nod if you agree to those conditions.” She gives another nod and I release the telekinesis.

“Sorry! I just thought it’d be a fun game of hide and seek! Oh and then while she was seeking I’d put together the things for her Welcome to Ponyv- oh wait I can’t say anything. That’ll ruin the surprise! Gotta go!”

“She does realize she has already ruined the surprise, right?” Nightmare asks with a surprising level of concern.

“Who cares, we’re not gunna be here long enough for whatever surprise she has. We’re placing the order with Rarity then skedaddling back to Canterlot. I might stick around long enough to at least get one shirt before we leave though.”

“Hmm, are you sure? I think you could go a couple of days longer without one.” Oh my.

I just look at her with a smirk. “Uh huh. Yeah sure.”

Once we’re a few feet away from the boutique’s front door it suddenly bursts open with a very frazzled looking Twilight running out. “The fuck? She didn’t even say hi to us and she looks like a complete mess.” I comment as we watch her run off towards the library.

“The poor dear thinks she’s going to go back to magic kindergarten. She hasn’t really been the same since we got back from Canterlot.” Rarity replies from the open door of the store.

“What? Why would she go back to…kindergarten?”

“That was the first time she’s left the library since we came back, and apparently staying in there has resulted in her not having a friendship report for the Princess. She seems to think that being late on that report will get her swooped away back to Canterlot. I think she’s overreacting, so I just let her run off.” She is overreacting but that doesn’t mean you just let her go back to her hidey hole and get worse.

“Alright well, I need some clothes. Around two weeks worth of shirts and pants, plain colors, no patterns. Pants need to be black. Most of the time the shirts are going to be under my armor so I need something that breathes well and doesn’t restrict movement. I was hoping I could get one shirt rush ordered for today, and then I’d come grab the rest whenever it’s done? As you can see by my bare torso I have no shirts.”

Nightmare and Rarity both seem a bit confused with my short tone of voice. I basically just barked my order to her as concisely as possible as if I wanted to leave immediately. Rarity gets over it pretty quickly and replies. “I can have the one done for you today, but it’ll have to be in a few hours. I’m getting ready to go on a picnic with the girls, and can’t really cancel this last minute. Is that alright?”

“Yeah that’s perfect. Also for the shirts, I know I said they’re gunna be under armor most of the time, but I prefer darker colors for when I’m not wearing armor. Dark blue and black, those kinds of colors. Anyways thanks Rarity, gotta go.” She makes a noise out of surprise at the abrupt goodbye, and stammers out a farewell. I can hear Nightmare quietly apologizing for my attitude and slight rudeness before catching up with me.

“What was that all about? Your mood was fine before we went in.”

“Twilight is overreacting but letting her spiral further without help is a huge dick move. Everytime we come to Ponyville and I interact with these ponies I wonder how they’re even friends to begin with. We’re going to the library.” Her eyes widen a bit as my words sink in. It seems she didn’t even think much of Rarity’s comment when we arrived.

When we get to the library I end up almost face planting into the door. “Why is it locked? Isn’t this a public library?”

“WE’RE CLOSED!” I hear Spike call out from the other side of the door and furrow my brows.

“Well, I’m coming in anyways.” I reach out with my telekinesis to start forcing the door open when I hear a couple of clicks and the door opens from the inside.

“Ignis! And….Night..mare…….Moon.” The little guy passes out on the spot.

“Was he not at the Gala? He was right? How do so many ponies not realize you’re back?” Stepping over the unconscious drake as I grab him with my magic and float him over to the couch.

“I don’t know, Ignis. At this point I’m more annoyed than offended. Also, do you hear that?”

I hold my breath when she says that so I can hear even the quietest sound. It’s Twilight, she’s muttering about something.

“If I can’t solve a friendship problem then I can just make one. Ha..Haha, Heeee” Oh she’s gone off the deep end. Holding up a hand to stop Nightmare from following me I quietly make my way upstairs.

“Twilight.”

Immediately a blast of purple whizzes past my head. “How’d you get in?! We’re closed! Get out! GET OUT CHANGELING!”

I just slowly start taking steps towards the unicorn. She shoots out three more purple bolts and I just let two of them hit me in the chest. There’s a small sizzling sound with some smoke, but I just ignore it. Once I’m a few steps away she starts hyperventilating and crying. “Twilight…”

I lower my voice to just above a whisper and crouch down so she has to look down at me instead of up. “I’m not a changeling. This sword is one of a kind from my homeland, the odds that they managed to somehow steal this and make it to Ponyville without my notice is extremely low. Also they can’t do this.”

I could tell logic wasn’t going to work when I finished mentioning the sword so I opted to just turn on my basic Bladesong through the system. I smile as I watch some small motes of white light come out of the ground and flit around me. It’s been a long time since I saw this. I should use the regular ole Bladesong more often. The effect is immediate, Twilight visibly relaxes her body as she breaks down.

I just sit with her while she lets it out and collects herself. After a few minutes Nightmare wanders up the steps and offers a look of sympathy and pity towards Twilight. Another few minutes go by and now there’s just an occasional sniffle.

“I tried. I tried to go outside and meet up with my friends, but I just can’t do it. Anypony that even remotely approaches me from behind just sends me spiraling in a panic. I can’t trust anypony, even just seeing my friends makes this voice start screaming in my head that they aren’t who they say they are. I don’t know what to do, and if I don’t get a report for the Princess I’m gonna be a bad student!”

“I..I don’t have much advice or help for your trauma Twilight. What you went through was horrible. I can tell you with 100% certainty though that Celestia is not going to make you go back to Canterlot, put you in magic kindergarten, and be disappointed in you. You know she isn’t that type of mare. I could see Nightmare doing that though…”

That gets a small giggle from the unicorn as Nightmare gives me an exaggerated and playful glare. “You can’t know that for sure though! I’ve never been late, not a single time! I can’t ruin that just because I’m scared to go outside…”

“I mean you have two of the strongest beings on the planet here. Your friends are having a picnic, why don’t you go and we’ll keep an eye out for you. Just a few feet away.” She looks hesitant so I throw in an extra fact. “I have a spell that lets me detect changelings with 100% accuracy that I can keep up while you’re out. It’s a crutch that won’t really help you heal and move on, but we can at least get you out of the house for a nice change of pace?”

After thinking about it for a few seconds while looking at the ground she finally quietly whispers out. “...okay.” Then she gets up and heads into the bathroom followed by the sounds of running water.

“Ignis we are not adding anypony else to the herd.”

“Oh shut up! We both know it’s not like that. She’s too young anyways, didn’t she, like, just recently become an adult? Compared to Force who already went to post secondary schooling and has been in the guard long enough to get promoted a few times. They’ve gotta be at least eight or nine years apart in age. She really feels more like a little sister than anything.”

“Geez, so defensive! I was just making a half-joking comment. I’m surprised you offered to do this for her though. I thought you wanted out of Ponyville as soon as possible.”

“I do, but… I mean c’mon how does that sight not just break your heart?”

Nightmare chuckles. “The mighty Lunar Knight, swayed by the sight of a single mare in distress! You should pray the changelings never find out or you’ll get captured by a simple trap in no time.”

After a few more minutes of small talk Twilight walks out looking much better than before. Walking downstairs it seems like Spike is awake and decides to accompany us. As they go to open the door though I stop them. “Gimme a second, I need to cast the spell.”

“Detect Poison and Disease.”

I give the unicorn a nod and the four of us make our way into town. Twilight's head is on a swivel as she’s completely alert while we go through the somewhat busy center of town. She keeps glancing back at me and I just give her a thumbs up. After a couple of minutes we’re in a field and I spot the rest of the bearers already setup and lounging around.

Twilight looks at them then looks back at me. “They’re all good. We’re gunna stay off to the side over here so we’re not intruding. Just pretend we’re not even here. If anyone in Ponyville is a changeling I promise they won’t make it within 100ft of you. So just relax and have fun, and don’t worry about the friendship report thing, okay?”

She nods, still looking a bit hesitant and skittish. After a few seconds she slowly makes her way over to her friends. Once she gets over there a couple of them point at me and Nightmare but Twilight just waves them off. After that they really do just act like we aren’t there. After keeping my head on a swivel for a few minutes and recasting Detect Poison, I get a bit bored and decide to have some idle chatter.

“So…mare stuff, huh? What kinda mare stuff you two in a disagreement about? Are you trying to become head mare now that you have your alicorn body and full strength back?” Her eyes widen a bit. Seems like I’m pretty close to the truth with my guess, if not right on the money.

“How did you guess that?” After a quick sigh she relents and finally explains. “It wasn’t even serious at first, but it came up after that marriage conversation she and I had when you were pretending to sleep. I was telling them how you jokingly said yes while half asleep and said that must mean I’m head mare now. It just slowly escalated after that with slight verbal jabs at each other. Mean spirited comments. At some point we both just snapped.”

“Well, how do herds normally solve those kinds of disputes?”

“I don’t know. It’s very rare for something like this to happen. It never usually gets disagreed upon after the pecking order is established, and it’s almost always based on who came first in their life. Luna claims it's her right due to you being her knight and based on the fact that she knew you first. But, I brought up the point that technically I met you first. In fact I’d wager I was one of the first ponies you ever met, period. I think ultimately though…the only way this is gunna get settled is if you decide who deserves it.”

“Yeah but not in a romantic sense. As soon as I found out you kidnapped what I thought was my one ticket home I greatly disliked you right there on the spot. If it’s supposed to be based on order then Luna did come first. I got captivated the first time I saw her raise the moon and the rest is history.” I try to be as logical as possible. I really don’t understand this whole herding thing based on the conversation about the touchy blacksmith. So, I’m trying my best to be delicate here.

“So you’d pick Luna then?”

There’s a bit of an uncomfortable silence. “You realize you’ve put me in a lose-lose situation right now, yes? I’m extremely anxious now because I have no clue how herds work and if I pick one of you…Do I lose the other one?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s cruel.”

“I told you that you didn’t want to get involved. I’m sorry for putting all that pressure on you. No matter who you pick I have no doubt the other will stick around. You don’t need to pick though, we can just move on.”

“What if we just don’t have one?”

Nightmares face scrunches up in immense confusion. “What?”

“What if we just don’t have a head mare? Functionally and practically what does it even matter who’s head mare?”

“Pride.”

“Aside from pride, ya dingus. I said practically and functionally.”

“The head mare typically has final say on all of the decisions in the herd. Where and what we eat, what we do for date nights, etcetera etcetera. Some herds are so strict the head mare even schedules out the sexual encounters.”

I just roll my eyes. “Then yeah, let’s just not have one. I’m head mare.”

“You aren’t a mare.”

“And? I’m saying I’m in charge.”

“At that point it’d be more like a harem than a herd. I can’t help but picture just three subservient mares worshiping you and feeding you grapes while the other fans you.”

Now I’m just confused. “I don’t get it. Isn’t this whole thing built around me anyways?”

“Yes, but…this is going to sound bad. In a traditional relationship you wouldn’t be out doing all these dangerous activities and fighting villains. You’d be in the castle having little social gatherings and cooking or something. We’re supposed to be a unit that protects and shares the stallion, and the head mare is the team leader. It’s a completely different dynamic than if the stallion was the center focus and also had all of the power.”

“So basically, I’m a resource. I’m supposed to just turn my brain off and go be a good boy for the mistresses?”

“I told you it would sound bad. That was a long time ago, nowadays things have gotten a bit more progressive. That’s why we have stallions in the guard now. Basically the head mare isn’t just in charge of us. She’s in charge of you as well.” She seems a bit fearful after hearing my tone of voice when I asked her my question.

“Don’t worry I’m not mad at you or them or anything. The idea of living a life like that does make me heat up a bit, but I know none of you have treated me like that. I’m not delusional enough to ignore all of our actual experiences together and get mad about some words that don’t even describe us.”

Nightmare lets out an almost silent sigh and I can see her facial features relax a bit. That’s when everything goes blurry. “Ngh….Oh what the hell?”

“What’s wrong?” I almost fall over but she moves in close to support me.

“I don’t know.” I have to pause from how out of breath I am. “My chest…feels like it’s…on fire.”

I can feel the heat spreading down into my stomach and up into my shoulders. As it spreads darkness starts to close in at the edge of my vision. “Am I…dying?”

As quickly as it came, it’s gone. The heat fades after a few brief seconds and my vision returns to normal. Glancing over it seems like none of the bearers noticed, so I try to straighten my posture and act natural. “What was that?!” Nightmare whisper yells into my ear.

“I don’t know. It was intense but it didn’t last long. I didn’t even get a roll for it. When we get back to the castle let’s look into it.”

“No! Your chest was glowing! It was a colorless, bright light. We need to take you somewhere remote and isolated, now!”

Now I’m actually panicking a bit. “Why? Do you know what just happened to me?”

“Yes! You almost just had your first magic surge, but you reigned in. Although it seems it was subconsciously suppressed. Most ponies have their surges when they are young and their mana is still new and unstable. I don’t think we’ve ever seen a surge from a creature with your level a mana…I don’t even understand why it’s happening. Your mana pool when you arrived was near the peak of a mortal unicorn so we assumed you’d had it your whole life, but just didn’t realize it. Is it possible you actually didn’t have mana until you came here? That’s a terrifying thought…”

Nightmare seems to be lost in her own thoughts for a few seconds before her eyes widen. “Anyways! That’s not important, we need to get you somewhere far away from any other creatures.”

“I’m not going anywhere. If we leave and Twilight notices we’re gone she’s gunna freak the fuck out and probably lose it. She’ll never trust us again, and who knows what she’ll do after that.”

“Then let’s just go explain it to her, walk her back to the library and then I’ll teleport us to the castle in the Everfree.”

“Nah it’s fine. If it’s just mana then I know I can suppress it the next time it comes up.”

“You are frustratingly stubborn.” She sighs in frustration so I just scratch behind her ear. “Your bribery will…. Get you….everywhere.”

“There we go, that’s a good alicorn. Now relax and talk with me some more.”

Nightmare starts to say something, but before she can the bearers call out for us. “Why don’t you two just come join us?” Rarity is apparently the one that wants to invite us over. To my surprise Applejack and Fluttershy seem pretty apprehensive. I’m pretty sure those two don’t want us over there. Maybe they just have a problem with me?

Internally shrugging my shoulders I just start walking over there. “Did you need something Rarity?”

“Psh, of course not darling. I just figured if you were going to wait around for that shirt you ordered I might as well invite you over. No need to just leave you two waiting over there alone.” I glance at Twilight with a bit of confusion. She seems a bit nervous and shakes her head at me. So she didn’t tell them because she thinks she’ll be laughed off again?

“I’m here because I’m casting a changeling detection spell for Twilight. Since I knew we’d be waiting around anyway, we offered to guard her so she could attend this gathering.”

Rainbow and Pinkie start to chuckle. Applejack looks at Twilight and sighs. “Girl I told you there ain’t no fake ponies here in Ponyville. You’re scared of your own shadow, Twi.” AJ looks at me now. “Let me guess you also think she’ll go back to magic kindergarten if she doesn’t send a letter to the Princess?”

“I know that would never happen, but Twilight you’re in luck. You actually do have a friendship lesson you can write about. When your friends notice you’re panicking and going through some mental troubles they shouldn’t just laugh off that friend's worries. Even if the worries are unfounded and false they should still be there to support that friend and help them through this issue.”

Most of them have a bit of a guilty look now, but I’m not done. “Now friendship bullshit aside. That magic kindergarten thing I can understand, it seems silly and so over the top it’s not worrying about. You still should’ve helped her see logic and reason instead of brushing her off, but I can atleast get that one. What’s really making my blood boil is how you’re treating this changeling business.”

Now there’s hints of confusion mixed in with the guilt. “Do none of you realize what happened to her in Canterlot? After getting separated from you all she found Shining Armor and followed him around. Then he revealed himself as a changeling when he paralyzed her from behind. No chance to even defend herself. She had to lay there, completely helpless and paralyzed while she watched a group of changelings talk about her as if she was food and then slowly kill her with spears. I mean holy shit that’s brutal. That would traumatize ME!”

Unbeknownst to me, my eyes started to glow and my hair started to flicker with fire. “How can you so-called friends lack such a basic level of empathy?! I was disappointed with the whole dress incident, but this is actually outrageous.” All of their previous emotions fade into fear. I’m not entirely sure why but I don’t really care. “Any of you that laughed about her trauma with the changelings and called her paranoia ridiculous should be ashamed of yourselves! If it was me I’d NEVER-”

Twilight looks up from the ground and notices something is happening and she interrupts me with a teleportation spell as her and all of her friends disappear. “What the fuck?”

Nightmare stops standing behind me and runs to my side to look at me. When she does her eyes go wide and she teleports both of us away. Ah it must be that surge nonsense we talked about earlier. Why don’t I feel it happening this time?

Oh there it is, that hurts.

With a flash and a pop Nightmare Moon and Ignis appear in the middle of nowhere, deep in the Everfree. As soon as they appear Ignis grabs his shoulders, making an “X” across his chest with his arms. Then he starts to scream as his eyes and chest glow bright, and he floats a few feet into the air.

Raw mana starts to become visible as it forms a large rotating sphere around the elf. The mana starts to flash with bursts of silver light as it spins faster and faster. Silver arcs of lightning shoot out from the spinning orb and leave scorch marks and craters in the dirt as they land and move around.

Nightmare quickly realizes that it isn't lightning. It’s plasma from how much energy is in this rotating sphere of mana. He’s effectively a massive mana bomb right now. “IGNIS! You have to release the mana somehow! If it keeps building up like this it’s going to explode and you might wipe out half the forest! Just channel it in a specific direction!”

She’s not sure if he can even hear her over his own screams and the sounds of the mana sphere. Suddenly the air starts to vibrate and the atmosphere feels heavy. Then it happens.

A massive beam of silver magic shoots straight up into the sky. Obliterating any clouds in its path as it goes higher and higher, eventually exiting the atmosphere entirely. Even ponies in Canterlot that have a view capable of seeing the Everfree are able to see the beam. It’s like a beacon.

Anyone outside in Ponyville just stares at the beacon in awe. Unsure of what it is, but for reason it doesn’t stir fear in their hearts. The same can’t be said for either of the Princesses still in Canterlot. They’re both inside the castle, incapable of seeing the beam from where they are. But, they feel it. To them it’s like someone just slammed a bunch of metal pieces into each other. Startling them as they turn to face it.

Celestia teleports herself above the castle and as soon as she appears she see’s Luna flying towards the beam of magic. Catching up to her sister they give each other a look of concern as the beam starts to narrow and fade away. Right as they arrive over the location of the elf the beam disappears entirely and Ignis drops down to the ground on his back.

“What happened?!” Luna asks Nightmare as she lands on the ground and rushes over to the prone elf.

“Magic surge. We just barely noticed it in time to get him away from civilization.”

“A surge at his age? That doesn’t make any sense…” Celestia comments as she lands behind Luna.

“The only thing I can think of is that he didn’t actually have mana in his old world, and he only gained it once he came here. Then from his mana’s perspective he’s an infant. That’s the only way it could be that unstable, right?” Nightmare shares her theory as she and Luna look down at Ignis.

“It’s not a bad theory, but I don’t think that’s the case. No surge would cause that.” The thing all three of them are staring at is a random pattern engraved onto the elfs chest with burn marks. “I have no idea what could’ve caused that.” Luna and Nightmare nod in agreement with Celestia.

“Is one of you gunna help me up? I thought I was a fragile stallion you two were supposed to protect, huh? Where’s your chivalry?” Both sides of the moon roll their eyes as they help him stand.

“Is that gunna happen again? Cause holy fuck that hurts.” Ignis glances around as none of the alicorns answer him. “Guys? You’re starting to freak me out a little bit here.”

“Ignis, I think you need to stay at the old castle for now. It’s not safe for you to be in Canterlot or Ponyville. I’m not sure if it’ll happen again, but until I can confirm what’s happening to you I don’t want to take that risk.” Celestia responds and gives him the bad news.

“That’s fine.” Ignis looks over at Luna and Nightmare. “As long as one of you stays here as well. I might go crazy if I have to sit around in this forest doing nothing for who knows how long. Oh and Celly. You need to go talk to your student and her friends. If they’re not together, talk to Twilight first then summon all of them. Although I did already chew them out, so maybe take it easy with whatever lecture you decide to give.”

She raises an eyebrow at him in confusion before shrugging and teleporting to Ponyville.

“So which one of you is staying here?”

“I will for now. Nightmare will come and replace me much later tonight so I can still hold Court. We’ll take turns staying out here. If Force has some free time I’ll send her along as well. You shouldn’t be out here for longer than a day or two.” After Luna finishes talking I give Nightmare a quick hug and she flies off towards Canterlot.

Once I can’t see her anymore I look over at Luna. “So….I heard you two are having a bit of a fight right now. Tryna figure out who gets to be boss bitch?”

Luna just lets out an exasperated sigh. “It’s a bit more complicated than that, but yes.”

“Yeah she already walked me through all the implications of the position and gave me some context on how herds traditionally work. I still think it’s pointless drama though.”

“Should we just put you in charge then?”

“That’s what I suggested but then she got all uppity and said that’d completely change the dynamic and it’d just be some baseless harem or something. I will admit though that I actually do prefer not being in charge. When you guys get serious and don’t take shit from anyone and you just issue commands with that authority…phew. I’d probably see less of that if I was in charge, so I’d prefer if you guys could just figure this shit out.”

“It’s such a shame because I’m the same way. Whenever you get in the zone you throw all status and position out the window. Watching you order around everypony nearby and even bark out orders to me. It’s attractive.”

Ignis just laughs for several seconds before finally saying what he thought of that made him laugh. “And so…they were both bottoms. If that’s the case why don’t you just let Moonie be head mare then? You’re already super busy with Princess shit and I think she’s the opposite of us. She seems to like being the one in control.”

“Because that’s only one aspect of the relationship, Ignis. Sure, she can be head mare in the bedroom. In every other aspect I’d prefer to not be subservient to some other mare when it comes to you. I already dislike sharing, but the thought of being denied time with you, or being told what I can and can’t do with you? That’s where I draw the line.”

“I get that. Luna, do you deny them time with me? Do you restrict what they can do with me?”

“Well…no.”

“Exactly. So what makes you think she would do something like that?”

“I just dislike even having the possibility of such a thing. Also why are you asking these questions? It feels like you’re trying to persuade me to give up my position. Do you not…” She doesn’t finish her question as she stops herself and stares at the ground with a hesitant look.

“I guess that is how I came off, huh? I’m trying to say that there’s no fucking point in any of you holding the position. Based on what I’ve heard about any aspect of a herd, we are extremely unconventional. We can all be equals, no head mare, no harem king, and I guarantee no aspect of our relationship will change in any meaningful way. I mainly just don’t want to lose either of you over something so petty.”

It seems my final sentence gives her the realization of my true fear. “Ah. No matter what happens I promise none of us are going anywhere.”

With a bit of relief I turn towards her and give her a smirk. “Good, now come here. We’re stuck in the middle of the woods with no books or games to play so let’s pass the time.”

Author's Note

Hopefully I didn't accidentally jump around or skip something this chapter. This was probably the most amount of times I've started and stopped writing for one chapter. I think this one was around 7 sessions spread out over the last 3 days, so hopefully everything is, whats the word? Coherent. Hopefully everything is coherent.

I'm a bit worried I might've gone too far with how Twilights friends reacted to her trauma, but I'm playing the angle that they didn't realize she had actually died cause they thought revival was impossible. So by extension they didn't think whatever happened to her had been that bad. Even with all of that I think I might've twisted it a bit too far.

It's probably fine, they did some fucked up shit to each other in canon and stayed friends, so this isn't too unbelievable. Like the time they took turns dressing up as a super hero to gaslight Rainbow Dash into thinking she isn't cool. That's probably not quite as fucked up as this, but it's actually kinda close. If I was RD in that episode I wouldn't talk to any of them ever again, that was a coordinated effort to drag her through the dirt and "humble" her in a pretty toxic way.

Anyways, this was basically a nothing chapter. I'm having fun just writing dialogue and I think I'm starting have conversations between the characters that feels more natural and real. I'm sure some of you have some crazy theories about the magic surge that I'd love to read. Most of the time one of the theories ends up being shockingly close to the actual plan and it always makes me chuckle to be so easily predicted.

I gotta go sleep now, I retake my important test tomorrow and if I fail the retake I'm dropped from the class D:

Thanks for reading! <3

(NSFW) Side Quest - Become a Switch

Author's Note

I was in the mood to write some smut. This is definitely skippable, but uh a specific scene is definitely going to be referenced in later chapters. You won't feel like you don't understand something when it's referenced, but you probably won't find the same level of humor in it as people who didn't skip.

Also, sorry if this is shit. I feel a bit more comfortable writing stuff like this after the first time, but it's still an area way outside my comfort zone.

Kinks Included: A sub trying to be a dom, Master/Servant play, verbal and physical degrading of a Princess, Blowjob, Deep Throating, Face Fucking, Mind Break Roleplay, Vaginal, M/F, Mating Press, Voyeurism, Invisible Sex, An Elf trying to overcome the genetic impossibility of impregnation with every ounce of breeding he can muster, Breath Sharing, Wholesome intimacy, Cuddling, Cute aftercare, Kissing, and Two creatures saying they love each other.

Thanks for Reading! <3

(NSFW) Side Quest - Become a Switch

“When you said let’s pass the time this isn’t exactly what I had in mind.” A certain Princess complains while firing bolts of magic at an elf.

“Wow, I didn’t think a prestigious royal like yourself would have her mind in the gutter.” Ignis replies while slicing through said magic bolts. The elf wants to stop relying on the Shield spell and his crazy high AC, so he asked Luna to just attack him nonstop.

“We’ve just been so busy lately…and we finally have a moment of peace.”

“Wait you’re serious? You wanna do it right here in the middle of the Everfree? If I die to a manticore cause I’m stuck balls deep in my Princess I’m gunna haunt you. You know that, right?”

Luna just pauses and slowly blinks with wide eyes. “That might be the most vulgar thing I’ve heard you say.”

Ignis starts tapping his foot. “Well? Are you just gunna stand there and look surprised?” Her face shifts a bit to confusion. He feels a bit nervous about this, but attempts to sound as neutral and stern as possible with an air of authority. “I’m telling you to come here. Now.”

There’s a flash of anger at the sudden disrespect, but it’s quickly washed away. Replaced by arousal as the authority in that “now” sends a shiver down the back of her neck. Lunas tail flicks as it starts to involuntarily rise. Her eyes dilate and she thinks to herself, “Is he really doing this?”

The quiet sound of leaves crunching under hooves is the only thing heard as the alicorn slowly closes the gap between them, swaying her flank with every step. Unfortunately she hasn’t made a single noise or word since being issued an order. Ignis can only guess that she likes it based on his limited understanding of pony body language.

After a few seconds Luna stops in front of Ignis and glances up to find him staring down at her with a cold gaze. “Sit.”

It takes a second for the command to register as she’s suffering from the mental whiplash of being literally and metaphorically looked down upon. Once it does register though she complies without even thinking. Sitting down brings her eye level to around the middle of his torso. This causes Ignis to click his tongue in annoyance. “Lower. Fold your forelegs in as well.”

Every act of submission despite her power and authority causes her breathing to become heavy. Her mind starts to get lost in a haze as she obeys the elf. Now she rests at the perfect height.

Her gaze is torn away from his eyes when she hears something clicking and falling to the ground. Her thoughts freeze and her body goes stiff as she looks down just in time to watch the now freed member land on her muzzle. Her eyes go wide at the degrading act until she takes in a breath through her nose without thinking. Those wide eyes roll up for a second as she’s overwhelmed with pheromones and musk.

Every time she inhales more and more of her body is washed over with a radiating heat. “Well? Are you just gunna sit there and breathe on it? You’re the one that wants this, so you’re going to work for it.”

Luna leans back and takes hold of him with her telekinesis. Then she looks up and locks eyes with him as she leans forward and takes the tip into her maw. Ignis releases a small gasp, “There we go. That’s a good girl.”

Her mind instantly goes blank at his words, and Luna releases a soft muffled moan as he suddenly grabs her horn. The alicorn's eyes go glassy as he pulls her forward by the horn and hilts himself down her throat in one thrust. “We can get rid of this.”

She’s too overwhelmed to react as her crown is lifted off of her head and dropped unceremoniously to the ground. “Only Princesses wear those, and that’s not what you are, is it?”

She tries to verbally express her disagreement with the statement, but it only comes out as muffled noises. Barely even audible over the ghlk, ghlk, ghlk sounds ringing out as Ignis slowly, but rhythmically pumps in and out of her mouth. The only effect her arguments have is a vibration in her throat that only acts to make the elf feel more pleasure.

He can see the new defiant look in her eyes though after he tells her she isn’t a Princess right now. “What? I-it’s… oh mmm, it’s true. Your eyes are hazy and watering, you can’t use magic, and you’ve willingly submitted yourself to me entirely. Hmm, holy fuck. So we can hardly call you a Princess. Right now you’re just a depraved slut, practically begging to be claimed. In fact from now you may only refer to me as Master. I expect a “Sir” to follow all of your responses to me.”

There’s a small pit of guilt in his stomach as Ignis says these words to Luna. Even knowing it’s just roleplay and she’s loving every second of it, it still feels wrong to treat her like this. That feeling is completely devoured by the warm snugness of her throat and the swelling power in his chest as he watches black lines fall from her eyes. The makeup mixed with the tears drives him wild everytime he sees it.

“Are we clear?” He yanks backwards and pulls her head away from his member. They’re still connected by strings of saliva and pre as she gasps for air. Staring up at him with hazy eyes.

“Y…Yes, master.”

“Good. Resume servicing me, and this time do it yourself. It’s tiring to pull your head back and forth.”

With ragged breath she slowly tilts her head back down away from his eyes, staring at his erection. “Yes….sir.”

Without wasting another second she eagerly leans forward with her mouth open and presses her nose against his groin as she gags around the familiar intruder. Lifting her forelegs up the Princess wraps them around his waist for leverage as she begins fucking her own face. Moaning everytime a drop of pre lands on her tongue.

The sudden onslaught causes Ignis to squeeze his eyes shut as he sharply inhales through his teeth, making a hissing sound. “Oh, fuck. Good girl, embrace who you really are. No, what you really are.”

Several minutes pass and the sensations of her lips, tongue, and throat are enough to make the elf’s eyes roll up. But, combine that with the obscene sounds coming from the Goddess and the half lidded, out of focus eyes with makeup stained tear streaks running from them staring into his soul. It was all quickly piling up and Ignis knew he couldn’t hold out for too much longer.

“Stop.”

Instantly Luna pulls away. Her mouth hangs halfway open and she’s heated up so much that her breaths are visible in the air. She looks like she can barely hold her head up as she looks into his eyes while gasping for breath. Those half lidded hazy eyes convey a mixture of sadness and absolute contentment as she waits for his next order. “Was I inadequate, Master?”

Ah, so she was sad because she was ordered to stop. “No, you did well. Any longer and precious seed would’ve been wasted. Now you’ll have what you sought after all this time. Stand up, turn around, and put your face in the dirt.”

She closes her mouth with a dopey smile as she stands and obeys the commands. Ignis widens his eyes when she turns around and presents herself with her tail flagged. She’s so worked up that there’s strands of fluid connecting her lips every time she winks. There’s visible damp streaks and matted fur all around from her gushing while she serviced him.

Well it’d be rude to keep her waiting. Ignis thinks to himself as he steps up and grabs her dock with his left hand. After lining himself up and prodding her inferno of an entrance he takes his right hand and slaps it against her cutie mark. Luna lets out a squeak at the contact but her breath catches in her throat when she feels the prodding against her folds. She continues to hold her breath in anticipation as the seconds stretch on.

The Princess starts to make quiet but indignant whining sounds as she waits for her reward. “P-please…”

“Please what?”

“Master…please…”

“I don’t know what you want, Luna. I can’t read your mind.”

“Master can you please…. Please fuck me?” The elf hums in thought so she continues. “PLEASE! Rut me! Ruin me! Give me an heir! Your greedy slut needs it, so please Master… Ple- AHNN”

Interrupting her begging and pleading, Ignis yanks her backwards as he thrusts himself forward. He lets out a small groan as his hips slap against her rear and he’s completely enveloped in what feels like a volcano with a vice grip. Luna’s forelegs that were previously holding her head a few inches from the ground go completely limp, and her chin hits the dirt as her eyes roll up.

Her moans compete against the obscene sounds coming from behind her as flesh slaps tensed muscles. After just a few minutes the alicorn squeals as she soaks his groin and the ground in marecum. Her walls contract and coil around the invader relentlessly pounding against the entrance to her womb as she rides out the orgasm.

It’s almost too much to bear for the elf as he clenches his jaw and screws his eyes shut. His own grip on her tail and ass tighten as he continues to piston away. Just barely managing to hold out against the Goddess as she finally lets out a sigh and her squeals turn into rhythmic moans.

Ignis pulls himself out of the alicorn, much to her displeasure, and after a couple of seconds of confusion Luna yelps as her rear is suddenly lifted off of the ground. The rest of her body follows suit as she's unceremoniously flipped on her back and plopped onto the ground. Luna’s sanity is slowly returning to her as she begins to question what’s going on, but then she sees the look in his eyes.

The gaze looking down at her is not the one she is used to. It’s more primal, nearly feral, as the elf bares his teeth at her. All of her base instincts embedded in her gene’s from the prey animals of her ancestors start to scream as she focuses in on the exposed canine teeth. However, that only serves as fuel to the fire and she begins rapidly winking as her heart rate spikes.

Her hind legs start to tilt as her rear is lifted and her winking sex is angled to face up. The alicorn's breathing becomes ragged as her mind registers what position she’s now in. It’s one designed for depth and intensity.

He’s claiming me. Is all she can think as he squats down and lines himself up.

I’m being bred. Is all she thinks as the elf hilts himself in one smooth motion. Her mind goes completely blank and she screams as he instantly slips through the entrance to her inner chamber. Her screams are muffled as Ignis covers her mouth with his own, his tongue invading her mouth as he pistons into her cervix repeatedly.

The feeling of the tip of his cock constantly getting rubbed by the tight entrance to her womb combined with her entire sex trying to milk him for everything he’s worth as she repeatedly cums is nearly too much for the elf.

“Don’t worry Twilight, I’ll make sure you can see your friends as often as possible. I know this will be tough for you, but it’s for your own good. There’s no therapist qualified to handle what you’ve been through here in Ponyville.” The sound of a familiar alicorn quietly rings through the forest as Celestia and her student wander closer to the lewd scene.

Unfortunately Luna is utterly dominated and incoherent to even register the approaching voice, and Ignis is too lost in his primal instinct to breed as his peak is rapidly approaching.

“Luna, I wanted to come and see you before I left for Canterlot. I’m going to be bringing my student wit-” Any further words are lost as the pure white fur of the alicorn is quickly engulfed in scarlet. Twilight is not faring any better as both of them just stare in shock at the scene before them. “LUNA! HARMONY ABOVE PLEASE, How do I forget this?!”

The voice still doesn’t really register with either of the participants but they both vaguely feel their instincts tell them they’re being watched. Luna tilts her head back and heart shaped pupils make eye contact with her sister. Instantly the Princess is lucid as her heart rate spikes even further.

In a blind panic she attempts to pull herself away from the elf, but she’s completely pinned and locked into the mating press. “IGNIS! NOT IN FRONT OF MY SISTER-” Any further attempt to sway the elf dies in her throat as her vocal chords only produce moans and squeals.

Luna ignites her horn in an attempt to do anything to either catch his attention or separate the two but the magic is cut off as his hand snaps up and grabs her horn.

“Greater Invisibility.”

The elf and alicorn disappear entirely from view, and Celestia quickly stops using True Sight. “Ignis, ahn you can’t do hhhhnnng this. You can’t bree- Maker above, you can’t breed me infront of my sister! MMMM! Why does it feel even better?!”

Luna hears a low growl before feeling the elf bite down on her neck. Her eyes shrink to pinpricks and she releases a breathy silent scream as she feels his member start to throb and grow just a bit more. Oh Gods, this is really happening. Why is it so much hotter knowing my sister and her student are standing there, and they can hear all of this?!

The elfs cock impales her one last time, reaching as deep as possible, before unleashing a torrent of his seed. With so much force that Luna can feel it hit and splash against the back of her womb. The deep warmth spreads as he fills her up completely with throb after throb, and her eyes roll up one last time as she cums harder than she ever has before, sinking into unconsciousness with a content smile on her face.

Unbeknownst to either of them, while their primal act may have been hidden from view thanks to magic. His claiming of her inner depths was not. Celestia and Twilight both watch as the thick baby batter appears in the middle of the air. Twilight's tail flags while Celestia just widens her eyes, completely disturbed. Yet, for some reason she just can’t look away.

"So that's what a mating press looks like..." Twilight mutters out as her blush grows.

They watch as the life giving fluid splashes against something invisible as it starts to pool up and fill the invisible alicorn. After a second passes they clearly make out the shape of Luna’s womb as the semen starts to rise up with nowhere left to go. Another second passes and the combination of both of their fluids has filled every crevice of Luna’s greedy pussy. To the point that it even traced the outline of the member impaling her.

It’s only when she is completely full and the thick white fluid starts to run down her flank that Celestia finally overcomes the complete shock of the situation and she teleports herself and her student away from the scene.

Luna then awakens from her multi-second lapse of consciousness, and instantly moans as her senses are assaulted. She tilts her head up and stares at the floating jizz currently occupying her inner chamber. The alicorn has a mini-orgasm as the elf pulls himself out of her battered and abused sex, both of them becoming visible again.

Ignis releases the pin on his lover and lets out a sigh as her rear slaps against the ground and Luna falls to the side completely limp and out of breath. A steady stream of white running out of her and pooling on the ground against her flank.

The elf wipes his forehead with the back of his hand as he lays down on his back right next to Luna. Both of the exhausted creatures just stare into each other's eyes as they try to catch their breath. “I can’t believe you just did that. I don’t know how I’m going to look either of them in the eye again after that, Ignis.”

“Shit, Twilight looked like she wanted to join in at the end there. I wonder if it was the overwhelming smell of sex that flagged her tail or if it was watching you get completely filled while cumming your brains out.”

They both laugh at the absurd situation, and Ignis reaches out and pulls Luna close. She lays there cradled between his arm and his body, her neck resting on his shoulder as she brushes against his chin before turning slightly so she can rub the side of her face against his. “Turn onto your side, Ignis.”

The elf glances at her with a completely exhausted look before silently complying and turns onto his side so they're facing each other. “Now come closer.”

He leans forward and reaches out to brush his hand against her cheek as his lips slightly part, readying for a kiss. “Wait, that’s not it. I want to show you how us ponies share a truly intimate moment. Just stay right there, and breathe.”

Ignis complies and stares into her eyes lovingly. Then he feels it, her warm breath lands against his face as he inhales and slowly exhales. After a few seconds of this he feels an unnatural calmness radiate over him as his pupils dilate. Everything else fades away as just the two of them lay there, isolated from all of existence. “This is breath sharing. How is it?”

“I feel calm, and like nothing else matters aside from this moment. I feel…you.” He almost whispers the reply from how calm he is. Almost falling asleep on the spot.

“Exactly.”

“Sorry to ruin the moment, but I just need to let you know that I don’t think I can do that very often Luna.”

“What? Breath sharing?”

“No, no, haha sorry. I can’t treat you like that very often. I felt so bad…it felt so wrong to be that way towards you. I can tell you really enjoyed that, and I did too, don’t get me wrong. But, the entire time there was just this gut twisting feeling of guilt. I think I just love you too much. I can’t stand to see you being treated like that…even if I’m the one doing it.”

Luna gives him a smile that makes his chest feel like it’s melting, it’s such a pure smile. “That’s okay, Ignis. I’m happy that you were willing to do that for me, and even happier to hear you say that. I love you too. But, you know you can be domineering and commanding without degrading me, right? I'll admit I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, but I just like hearing you with authority in your voice. Like for just a little while I'm not a Princess in charge of thousands, just a mare that's subservient to her stallion.”

He smiles and wraps his arms around her. "Yeah I guess that's true. I can try that for you some other time." Pressing their bodies together tightly as he peppers her neck and chin with kisses. His mind goes blank as he drinks in the feeling of her soft fur pressing against so much of himself. “Hmm? What’s this? Even for you this is an extreme level of cuddles.” Luna asks with a hint of amusement in her tired voice.

“I need this.” Ignis just bluntly admits as he nuzzles his face into her fur. “We’ve both been through alot this week. I just want you. I want this to last forever. Also, worshiping you like this is washing away the guilt of throwing off your crown and claiming you as my personal slut. Do you not like it? I can stop.”

“Don’t you dare. You’re right, I need this too.” With a flash of her horn she cleans the bodily fluids on her lower half before leaning into Ignis and rolling him onto his back. She lays completely on top of him and drapes her head down next to his, rubbing cheeks with the elf. Then she pulls away and smiles down at him before locking lips with him once more.

She lets out a satisfied hum as he starts to run his hand through her mane with one hand and scratches behind her ear and down her neck with the other. “I don’t know if I can ever live without having somepony with hands. These fingers are far too capable.”

“Well as long as nothing goes sideways I plan on spending forever with you. My body is close to becoming ageless, I can feel it. So, I hope you don’t get bored of me after a few thousand years.”

“I can’t even imagine a world where that could happen.” This time Ignis is the one with a pure smile on his face as he just absentmindedly rubs his hands all along the alicorn's barrel.

After a few minutes of intimate silence, Luna finally speaks up again. “Seriously though Ignis, what in the world possessed you to do THAT in front of my sister and her student? I really don’t know what she’s going to do the next we see her.”

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t care less. I was already past the point of no return, at that point not even Harmony could’ve pulled me out of you. Call me Excalibur.”

“What?”

“Sorry, human reference. Excalibur was a legendary sword that was allegedly stuck in the ground. It was only removable by a single man, who would then have the qualification to become king. However, in later tellings of the story the sword drawn from the stone is unnamed and actually gets broken soon after. Then that king is given the real Excalibur from The Lady of the Lake. So I’m saying at that moment I was also a legendary sword, incapable of being pulled from the “stone” hahaha. Stupid joke, sorry I have a very rudimentary sense of humor when I’m exhausted.”

After looking befuddled for a second, Luna breaks out into a series of giggles. “That is…exceptionally silly, Ignis.”

He lets out a chuckle before leaning up and kissing her again. After a few seconds Luna pulls away and speaks up. “So…what do you wanna do now?”

Ignis looks offended at the question. “Fucking nothing. I’m going to lay here with my arms wrapped around the pony lying on top of me until one of us is forced to get up for whatever reason.”

“I suppose that’s not a bad way to spend the rest of the evening.” Luna smiles down at the elf before giving the elf a deep kiss.

Main Quest - A New Mystery pt. 2

“So would any of you care to explain why my sister’s Knight insisted I come talk to you six?” Celestia asks the group of ponies while looking at them with a neutral mask of emotions.

“We…we messed up Princess.” Applejack is the one to speak up as everyone but Twilight has their gazes transfixed on the floor, walls, or ceiling, anywhere except for the alicorn.

“I gathered that. I was hoping somepony would explain exactly what happened.”

“It’s my fault, Princess Celestia. I’ve been stuck in the library all week, too scared to go outside because… because I don’t know who’s real and who’s a changeling. Then I realized today was when I usually send you my weekly friendship report and I hadn’t sent anything so I started panicking. So, I was selfish and tried to burden my friends with my problems. I didn’t want to be tardy and I don’t want to let you down, and I ended up just becoming a nuisance asking them for help. They knew I wasn’t acting logically and tried to tell me I was worrying over nothing and all of my problems were just made up in my head, but I couldn’t get over it.”

As she talks Celestia’s features soften more and more, and towards the end her ears even start to pin back as Twilight continues to talk while becoming emotional. Her friends are not faring any better. They’d already felt guilty after the scolding from Ignis but hearing Twilight explain things from her warped point of view just drags them down even further. Fluttershy and Rarity are crying, Pinkie has completely deflated, and Rainbow and Applejack just look ashamed.

“That’s not true, Princess.” Rainbow barely manages to speak up despite the lump in her throat. Well most of it is true, but Twilight you didn’t burden us and you aren’t a nuisance. You trusted us to help you and we let you down. We had no clue what you went through was so…bad. I mean one minute we heard you were dead and then a couple of hours later and we’re all back on the train here like nothing happened. None of us thought anypony was capable of reviving somepony…you didn’t even look like you were injured. You were super out of it, but we just thought you were tired. We bucked up Twilight. We should’ve taken you seriously and been there for you, but we weren’t. We’re…..we’re horrible friends.”

The rest of the girls start to yell out apologies and agreements with Rainbow as all five run towards the unicorn and tackle her in a group hug. Twilight starts to cry as she’s buried in a multi-colored pile of fur. Part of her is relieved and happy after hearing what her friends said, but another part of her is still fragile and scared of how uncertain the world is. She’s too choked up and torn to decide on what words to say so she just leans into her friends.

There’s an eerie silence on the other side of the library as all of the ponies realize Celestia still hasn’t said anything. When they look up they’re all shocked to see the Princess crying as well. “T-This is my fault, my precious student. I knew there would be some underlying trauma but you seemed determined about not staying in Canterlot, so I foolishly let you leave. I didn’t explain the true severity of the situation to any of your friends. I won’t let you down again. Twilight Sparkle you are returning to Canterlot with me.”

“What?!”
“Princess, why?”
“Princess Celestia, please!”

“I’m sorry I didn’t turn in my report, please don’t take me away from my…my fr-friends!”

“I’m sorry, my little ponies, but this isn’t a punishment. Twilight I should not have allowed you to come back to Ponyville so quickly in the first place. There are no specialists in this village capable of helping you cope and overcome your trauma, and I know it will be painful to leave your friends for an extended period of time, but you need this. Do you understand?”

“I understand, Princess…” The unicorn mutters out as she paws at the floor with one of her forelegs.

“All of you will be able to visit the castle whenever you please and I’ll provide Twilight with teleportation to and from Canterlot at least once a week to visit you all. Let’s help her pack her things and we’ll head back before nightfall.”

Celestia walks outside to gather her thoughts as the girl help Twilight pack.

“This is lame! Why does the Princess think you need to go back to Canterlot?! She thinks we can’t help?” Rainbow complains as she avoids helping by flying around. Standard lazy behavior.

“Naw Rainbow, the Princess is right. This isn’t something you can fix with friendships and hugs. Well maybe after a long long time you could, but that ain’t healthy. Twilight needs professional help. Plus, you heard her, we’ll still be there for her as often as we wanna be. Twi…I really am sorry for how we acted. It ain’t right.”

“It’s okay Applejack. It’s not all bad! Now that I realize how important friendship is I can reconnect with some old acquaintances I brushed off back in the day. Oh, and I can hang out with my brother and Cadence and I can see my parents more often. Surely with all of that it won’t be too bad….right?” Her voice cracking a bit at the end.

After some reassurances from her friends the rest of the packing was mostly quiet as they spent the next half hour or so getting everything together. After that they stepped outside to meet with Celestia again.

The alicorn ignites her horn and teleports away the luggage before turning her head towards the Everfree. “Alright Twilight, let’s get going. Did you give your farewells?” After a single nod the alicorn starts walking towards the forest. “Let’s go check in on my sister and her Knight and see if they’ve found out anything about that magic surge he went through.”

After finding Luna and Ignis in a quite lewd scene the two teleported straight to Canterlot.

“Hey, do you think it’s safe enough for me to run back to Ponyville for a quick trip to Rarity’s? She should hopefully have a shirt ready for me by now and I’d prefer to have one if I’m staying here in the woods for a while. It’s starting to get cold at night.” I ask the question to Luna with a fair amount of hope in my voice. After getting dressed I went back to work with ear scratches and gentle rubs on the Princess. Making sure to take full advantage of the lapse in busy work and world ending problems to shower the Goddess with affection.

“It’s more than likely safe, but I wouldn’t advise it at the moment. You’ll want to either find a river to bathe in or use magic to clean your scent.” Luna barely manages to eek out a response as she lays on my chest with her eyes closed, fighting off the sweet embrace of sleep due to how relaxed she is.

“Why? I took one this morning.”

“Well I don’t think you smell particularly bad, but other ponies probably won’t appreciate your scent at the moment.”

I sniff a few times at the air before sniffing my arm. I don’t smell anything? “I’m confused. I don’t smell anything.”

“Ah right, our sense of smell is much more sensitive than yours. Well if you go into town right now, every single pony you encounter will be absolutely aware of what we just did. It’d probably be quite embarrassing for you and annoying for them.”

Oh. “Got it.” After casting Prestidigitation a few times I shift around under the alicorn so I can stand up. Much to her vocal dissatisfaction.

“Cease your treason! Resume the scratches!”

“Nope, you already told me I could go into town. No takesies backsies.”

Luna just clicks her tongue in annoyance before getting off of me and standing up, allowing me to rise to my feet. “By the way…normally after a major event you usually get all excited and tell me about your “Level Ups” and “Quests” but you haven’t talked about anything like that since we defeated Discord. Did you not get anything for that?

“Oh fuck. I completely forgot to check! Weird normally it screams at me to check my pending rewards…”

Experience: 149,500/140,000.

Bladesinger 11/Paladin 2.

Level Up Available!

Pending Quest Rewards!

Well shit. Sure enough I have a ton of things waiting on me to go through them. “Level Up.”

Let’s put our 12th level into Wizard, and that’ll get me an Ability Score Improvement. “Select feat, Fighting Initiate. For the Fighting Style select Defense. Now when I’m wearing armor that’ll give me an extra +1 to my AC. If my new armor is just as good as my last set of armor then I’ll be at 19 AC now instead of 18. Combine that with the Dual Wielding feat I picked up when I lost Devil Sight and I’ll be at 20 AC. That’s basically my end game as far as Armor Class is concerned. With Bladesong that’ll be at 25, with Haste it’s at 27, and then throw the Shield spell in and that’s 32. That’s more than literally anything I’ve faced in Equestria so far.

Now for my Spells, let’s see I already know Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise and Globe of Invulnerability. Let’s learn… “Disintegrate and Contingency.”

Spell Book Configured! Level Up Complete!

Simulating Long Rest….

Hit Points: 97/97.

Aw, so close to 100. Oh, now I have access to my 7th Level Spell Slot. I don’t know any spells at that level, but with the Mizzium…this opens up some possibilities. Mainly… I involuntarily gulp as my blood freezes at the realization. I can cast Dream of the Blue Veil now. “Luna…can you…no nevermind.”

Her face turns serious in an instant upon hearing my tone. “What is it?”

“I can now cast one of the two spells I deemed viable as a way to return to where I came from. I can bring up to seven other creatures with me, and we’d be able to come back roughly one day after that. I was going to ask if you could cancel Night Court. I want to try the spell with you, Nightmare, and Force. But, I realized this isn’t something we should do on a whim. Let’s wait until we figure out this magic surge nonsense and then we can actually pack some supplies and prepare some materials in case anything goes sideways.”

Luna’s eyes go wide. “Just like that? We’re standing here one second and then the next second you’re able to cast a spell to bring eight creatures across the dimensional planes to your old home? No! We shouldn’t wait! Let’s go right now!”

Woah I wasn’t expecting this response. “We can’t Luna. If we go and then I have another surge and I get taken out of commission for a while you’ll be stuck there until I recover. Or, god forbid, but something kills me and you’re stuck there forever! I want to be more prepared before we go.”

It looks like Luna is biting the inside of her cheek as she thinks. “Okay. Just don’t hesitate to change your mind. Whenever you want to go just let me know and I’ll drop whatever I’m doing. I know I was supposed to wait until Nightmare showed up but Celestia is demanding I return to Canterlot. Apparently it doesn’t have anything to do with…” The alicorn pauses and starts to blush up a storm as she thinks of her next words. “With what happened earlier.”

“That’s fine, I’ll talk to you tonight with the Sending stone. I’ll head into town and grab a shirt. After that I’ll probably go setup camp at the old castle. Don’t get too embarrassed when you’re talking to your sister or it’ll just make things awkward.” I give her a smirk as I tease her. “Love you.”

One quick peck later and Luna is gone. Leaving me alone in the Everfree with an eerie silence. Oh right, I almost forgot.
“Claim Quest Rewards.”

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony. Quest Complete! Secret clear condition met! You sealed Discords power and returned Harmony to Equestria.

Calculating rewards…

Quest Reward is unavailable at this time. Incompatible.

The fuck? No experience, no items, and no spells. I only get a single reward and I’m apparently incompatible?

Main Quest - Element of Magic. Quest Complete! You adapted to the power of raw magic and successfully wielded the element. Secondary Condition Met: You revive the rightful holder of the element.

Calculating Rewards…

+5,000 XP: 154,500/165,000.

Mystic Arcanum: Once per Long Rest when you cast a spell from the Wizard spell list, you can choose to ignore all required components of the spell and cast the spell without consuming a spell slot. Cannot be used to upcast (If you use this ability on Fireball then you could cast it while Silenced and Restrained without using a 3rd Level Spell Slot, but you could not use this ability to cast Fireball at any level higher than 3rd Level.)

+2 Intelligence.

Woah. That’s actually kind of insane. I thought I’d already gained the benefits of becoming the Element of Magic. Whenever I cast Equestrian spells now I don’t have to use any stupid imagery and extra concentration to maintain my runes. I just picture the runes and they instinctively appear and maintain their shape. Based on how the ponies describe it I basically have a horn, but it’s not visible. The limit seems to be six runes though.

Now that I have 22 Intelligence my spells get a +13 to hit and my spells that require a saving throw have a DC of 19. I’m pretty strong…that’s not even considering this new ability. That’s actually super versatile and useful. Once per long rest is pretty rough, but I think it’s understandable. Even if it still used a spell slot, being able to cast a spell without moving my hands or speaking an incantation and bypassing the material cost is bonkers.

That just makes me even more curious about the incompatible quest reward. If that secondary quest gave those two insane rewards then the incompatible one must be…on a completely different level.

My thoughts are interrupted with a shiver as some wind hits my exposed chest. Okay yeah let’s go get this shirt. Wait, can I even go there quickly? I wanted to try out a unique method of flight, but it’s already this chilly. I think if I fly I’ll actually die. That kinda rules out running fast as well.

Wait, Luna taught me that warming spell! Haha, perfect. Alright, that's much better. Now, let’s try this new method of flying.

When I expelled the magic upwards earlier during my surge I learned how to shoot magic beams like all the other ponies. I don’t know why they never taught it to me before since it doesn’t even require a rune, but it gave me an idea. The force of the expulsion was enough that I felt like I was being crushed into the ground. If it has that much propulsion then can’t I use it to fly Iron Man style?

That’s what we’re about to find out! Alright, feet together, arms point straight down with my palms flat pointing at the ground. Now just concentrate the flow of mana to my palms and both of my feet. This next part is almost exactly the same as telekinesis with one key difference.

Instead of throwing out a cluster of my own mana into the air and controlling it, I’m going to…it’s hard to describe. I think ignition is the best word, but essentially you’re activating the same you would as if you were casting a spell. Except there’s no runes so it just converts into energy like normal but with no runes to shape it and give it other properties it just becomes raw magic. You just have to give it enough force and aim it and it’ll go. It’s surprisingly simple.

The only hard part is that it’s almost like trying to pee when you still have pants on, if that makes sense? Your body just really doesn’t want to do it, so you’ve gotta really like, try, to force it out. My mana system instinctively knows it’s not supposed to activate the mana if there’s no runes, so it’s a pain to force it. This isn’t the best analogy though, because infants still piss their pants. This is more like something that’s hard coded into any creature with mana, apparently. Keep foals from just firing off beams all willy nilly.

Now I just gotta hope I don’t instantly lose balance and fire myself into a tree, or have too much force and go into space. Once there’s a ball of mana sitting in my palms and feet I ignite it and push out.

“WOAHHH!” Within the first second I’m nearly over the treeline, but everything is moving too fast. I’m already diagonal and if I can’t counteract this I’m going to go sideways and splatter against the forest. I move my left hand from my hip and thrust it to the right and at an opposite angle than what I’m currently tilting towards.

It’s enough to slow how fast I’m tilting, but not stop it or push me in the other direction. Alright let’s add in the right hand.

Things go from bad to worse. Pointing my right palm in the same angle as my left did stop my tilt and point me upwards, launching me clear of the canopy, and into open sky. However I also seem to have made a critical miscalculation, because as soon as I clear the canopy my body starts to spin in the air. It only takes a second and I’m spinning so fast everything is a blur.

For a few seconds I try my hardest to fix it, but darkness is closing in on the edge of my vision. I think I’m spinning so fast I can’t breathe. In an instant I cut off all of the mana flow, and as soon as I do the spinning slows. It doesn’t slow very much, but enough that I’m not about to pass out. Another couple of seconds pass and I realize that not only is the spinning slowing down, but my ascent is slowing as well.

I come to a complete stop in the air and realize I’ve hit my peak, and right around that time my spinning has slowed down enough that I can orient which way is up and down. I almost regret being able to do that. When I look down I can’t even make out the individual buildings that make up Ponyville.

It’s just one tiny dot in a sea of green that borders with a sea of dark green. My spinning comes to a complete stop and now I’m just nose diving towards what I hope is Ponyville. My eyes are watering from the wind as I reach terminal velocity.

Five seconds pass and the dot is much larger, I’m able to see lines between buildings and sections of the village. Another ten seconds pass and I can tell that this is Ponyville for sure. Once I’m only a hundred or so feet above the town I flip around and point my feet towards the ground. Next I try to slowly release mana from just my feet. I can use Feather Fall if this doesn’t work, but I want to learn how to land on my own.

As soon as the mana ignites and expels from my feet I shoot several feet in the air. Okay too much force. Limit it even more.

On my next attempt I find the sweet spot, and it’s so weird. It feels like I’m walking on jello while drunk, and that really is the best I can describe it. I’m descending at around one or two feet per second but I’m constantly wobbling back and forth trying to keep my balance. It’s like standing on a spinning log, but it literally feels like I’m standing on water.

Around 30 or so feet from the ground I finally lose my balance and flip head over heels in the air. In the heat of the moment I forget to stop sending the mana out of my feet, and before I can even react to cast Feather Fall the mana expelling out of my feet cause me to slam into the ground head first.

-67 HP: 30/97.

“FUCK!” It’s not even sunset yet, so a decent bit of Ponyville is out and about as I crater into the ground near the center of town. When I pull my head out of the cartoonish looking hole in the ground I find all of the nearby ponies just staring at me with looks of concern. “I’m good!”

“I don’t think you are, dear.”

Some random mare I don’t recognize disagrees with me and before I can argue with her my vision turns red as blood pours down my face from a wound on top of my head. “It would seem you are correct. Cure Wounds.”

+38 HP: 68/97.

I can hear a few of the ponies gasp in surprise while a few sigh in relief as the wound closes and I no longer feel a waterfall on my face. “Prestidigitation.”

Cleaning away the blood I stand up and brush my pants off before walking towards the boutique. There’s a loud brrrring ring as I open the door and I hear the mare call out from the back of the building.

I have no clue what she said so I don’t respond and just stand around in the lobby. After several seconds I can hear hoofsteps approaching, “I said I’m sorry, but we are closed for the day. You’ll nee- Oh! Hello darling.”

“Sup? Apparently I have to live in the Everfree until they figure out this magic surge business, so I was hoping you had my shirt ready? Also I need to add a couple of hoodies to that order.”

“It does get quite chilly once the sun goes down…that’s no way to treat a stallion in my opinion. I know I wouldn’t make you sleep out in the cold in the middle of the woods.” Rarity sympathizes with my plight as she ignites her horn and floats over a black t-shirt. Wait is she flirting?

“Well it’s either that or we risk me accidentally blowing up the entire town. You saw that beam earlier, surely?” I let the question hang for a second as I push my head through the designated hole in the shirt. “That was me. Even with me directing the blast straight upwards it still blew all the trees within 100ft of me.”

“Oh dear…that does seem to be a compelling argument. Surely they aren’t makin sleep out there alone though, right?”

“No, that’d be cruel. Luna was hanging out with me for a few hours, and Nightmare might actually be waiting for me over there by the time I get back. Wow, this is soft. Good work, Rarity.”

“Of course! Only the best for my customers. However, Ignis dear, just know that I’m saying this for your own benefit. You need to clean yourself properly after you, uhm, are intimate with another pony. It’s quite a strong scent.” It’s only then that I notice the small blush on her face.

“I did! Oh. I didn’t clean the clothes. That’s my bad. I appreciate you for letting me know though, I’d hate to have gone out there and walked around like that. Prestidigitation.” After snapping my fingers a few times I look over at the marshmallow unicorn and tilt my head. “Is that better?”

“Much. If it gets too cold you’re welcome to use the couch back in the lobby, but I ask that you run as far away as possible before blowing up.”

That’s such a playful tone in her voice. “Nah I wouldn’t wanna risk it, and I know a warming spell so I should be fine. I just wanted the shirt for comfort. Thanks again, Rares! Gonna head over to the old castle in the Everfree.”

“Wait! You should just sleep in the library! Twilight and Spike are back in Canterlot so we need somepony in there anyways. It’s also one of the more isolated structures so if you blow up it’ll only be the library itself that gets damaged.”

I involuntarily raise my eyebrows as she talks. “That’s…a really good idea actually. Thank you once more, o’generous shopkeeper.”

She just snorts and waves as I leave the building. “Sending. Yo, Nightmare, I’m gunna sleep at the library in Ponyville. If you’re waiting for me in the Everfree you should head over here instead.”

It’s only 24 words, but that’s fine. I only make it a few steps before she responds. “Are you sure that’s wise? I haven’t left Canterlot yet, but I’ll go there once I do leave.”

I’m not wasting another spell slot to tell her why it’s safe, so she can either use my connection to her divinity to reach out telepathically or she can just wonder why I’m not responding, haha. It seems she ran out of patience as I opened the door of the library.

Why aren’t you responding? Did something happen?

No. I was using my Sending spell to contact you, and I can only reach out once per casting. It’s a third level spell and I didn’t want to use up any more spell slots. If we talk like this though there’s no problem.

Tch. It’s not like I was worrying about you or anything. I was just annoyed that you weren’t answering me.

Uh huh, whatever you say Princess Tsundere. Anyways, yeah this should be safe. The library is vacant since Twilight went back to Canterlot and the tree is actually pretty isolated so if I have another surge only the library will get damaged.

But why risk the destruction of the library? I know you have no qualms against camping out in the Everfree.

Cause it’s cold. I can use the warming spell, but I’d rather just use no magic and relax. Plus cuddling under a blanket for warmth is way more comfy than a stupid spell. So get over here already.

I can hear a sigh over the telepathic link. Ugh, alright I’ll be there in five minutes. I have an update for you as well, but I’d rather tell you face to face.

Oh? Apparently it’s my turn to get left on read cause she doesn’t respond. Climbing up the stairs I lay down in what is probably Twilight's bed after I take off my shoes. After laying there and looking up at the ceiling for a few minutes I hear the door open downstairs. For some reason I can just tell it’s…wait what? It’s Luna. It’s Luna and Nightmare.

Glancing over I watch as Luna, Nightmare, and Force crest over the top of the steps. The three of them stand there and give me somber looks. “What? I’m not gunna complain, but why are all three of you here? Did something happen?”

I start to stand up but Force jumps forward and pushes me back onto the bed as she lands on my chest and looks at me with glassy eyes. Luna climbs over me and squeezes herself between me and the window. Nightmare lays down at the edge of bed with over half of her body on top of me as well, and she’s still nearly falling off the mattress. “Ladies, I think this bed is too small for whatever you have planned.”

I crack a joke as my throat dries up. I can tell something is wrong by the way all of them are still silent and how sad they all look. “Will you please tell me what’s going on?”

“Celestia ended up consulting with Harmony about the details of your surge, and….it’s not good Ignis.” Luna informs with her voice just above a whisper.

“Am I going to lose my magic forever or something? What could have made you three so upset?”

“You’re dying, Ignis.”

Author's Note

Well that's a bummer. Sorry there's not alot going on this chapter, but I really want to enjoy this downtime before I kick things into overdrive again.

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - A New Mystery pt. 3

“We’re all dying Luna. Some of us are just dying faster than others.”

“I’m serious Ignis! You recklessly used the elements in a way they were never meant to be used! If I had known that’s what you were doing I would’ve stopped you…” I should stop joking around. I think I see what they’re getting at.

“I’m sorry. I was told to use the most powerful attack I could think of.” I might’ve accidentally killed myself.

“Instead of sealing the magic within the creature while also sealing the creature in a temporary prison you permanently sealed his magic and killed him. That magic…or divinity, it didn’t just vanish into thin air! It’s in you! Every minute that passes your vessel is cracking further and further. At any point your body, or rather, your thaumic system will fail completely. Once that happens the energy is just going to tear your body apart.” Great, now Luna’s completely crying. Even Nightmare is a bit choked up but she mostly just looks frustrated.

She probably feels helpless and I know she hates that feeling. “We can’t just siphon the divinity into the Moon? Why can’t we just use it to empower your divinity?”

“Because it’s sealed in you. We could use the elements on you, but not only are we unsure what will happen to the magic once it’s expelled from you. We aren’t even sure what the elements will do to you. There’s a chance you end up sealed for 1,000 years and the unleashed magic reforms into Discord and revives him. I argued that we should risk it because it’s better than you dying. But, the elements are apparently not responding right now. We’re unsure if it’s because Twilight isn’t mentally capable of using hers, or if it’s because of how turbulent their friendship is right now. I don’t know what to do, Ignis.”

“Let’s just enjoy whatever time we have left and I’ll try to think of something.”

All four of us just laid there like that for who knows how many hours. Every so often I’d move my hands between the three mares, trying to give them all attention and affection. I’ve wracked my brain the entire time and I can’t come up with anything. “Wait. Why is it destroying my thaumic system?”

“Mana and divinity cannot exist in the same ethereal body. You know this. It’s why our divinity is stored in the moon and we pull from it as needed.” Nightmare answers me this time. Her tone surprisingly harsh, but I know she’s just upset at the situation.

“Then I just need to get rid of one of them, yeah?”

“That…that might work. You mean to completely empty your mana reserves, yes?”

“Yeah, exactly. Teleport us to the Everfree.”

Within a few seconds there’s a bright flash and I find myself a couple of feet in the air. Unceremoniously falling to the ground on my back as three mares also fall on top of me. “Okay maybe we should’ve stood up before we teleported.” I comment with a groan as I rub my chest where Force landed.

After untangling ourselves all four of us stand and I crack my knuckles before looking up at the night sky. At least if I go out now it’s under her moon. “Here goes nothing.”

“Wait, you're just gunna go for it?!” Force calls out right before I start.

“Yeah? I mean I’m dead either way right? What’s the point in waiting?”

“But…shouldn’t we say our goodbyes?”

“Nah, that implies that I’m planning to die. That’s never part of my plan.” Without waiting on any further arguments I thrust both of my hands up and just start to dump as much mana as I can, as fast as I can.

I can feel my hair rise off my back and become lighter, which means it’s become ethereal again. Guess that shows just how mana I’m channeling right now. An instant later and another massive silver beacon is unleashed into the night sky. Oh this is already starting to hurt.

I can feel myself growing weaker with each passing second as this beam of magic is screaming out of my hands. Even more concerning is that a familiar heat is spreading in my chest. As more and more mana is expelled I can start to feel the foreign energy in my mana pool.

Dropping to one knee I can hear myself starting to groan in pain. The heat in my chest is searing at this point and I feel so weak I can barely stand. Surely I’m almost out of mana, right?

My eyes open wide as I watch my chest start to glow brightly. From the light there’s raw energy drawing lines on my body as it sears through me, leaving trails of blood running down my torso from the lines. I can only scream at this point as my other leg gives out and I drop down to both knees. The beam of magic I’m firing straight up is becoming narrower.

All of the magic is suddenly gone and I feel so incredibly empty. The burning heat in my chest feels cold now. I can’t move. Did emptying my mana pool kill me? No. Time is stopped….

Quest Reward now available! Incompatibility corrected!

Time resumes and I look over just in time to watch Celestia and Twilight appear in a bright flash. They must’ve sensed it. Before I can say anything or even try to process what the quest reward is, the searing pain in my chest comes back in full force.

The pain wraps around my torso and my entire back feels like it’s being flayed. I hear gasps behind me, but can’t ask what’s happening due to the involuntary screaming. I manage to wrench my gaze up and watch in confusion as thousands of chains are shooting into the air. They’re coming out of my back?

The chains are twirling and intertwining with each other as they rise into the air until they form one singular giant chain. It’s the Chain of the Heavens I used to seal Discords divinity…

Suddenly the chain flips around in the air and starts flying towards my chest. What the fuck is going on?

I gasp as the chain pierces through my torso, splitting me from my neck to the bottom of my stomach. The pain is indescribable as I watch thousands of golden lines spread all over my body from where the chain is impaling me. Everything goes white and I hear a loud explosion, and then everything goes dark.

The elf's entire body glowed in a bright golden light for several seconds until suddenly exploding. Leaving nothing but scorch marks on the ground where he was kneeling just a few seconds prior.

Within a fraction of a second Luna and Force collapse onto the ground. Luna is screaming the bladesingers name while Force is just loudly sobbing. Nightmare is glaring at the ground silently with streams of tears running down her face.

“This can’t be real. He’s just… dead? Like that?” Nightmare mutters as she stomps on the ground in frustration.

“He’s not dead.”

Silence instantly washes over the small clearing in the Everfree as all three mares snap their gazes towards Celestia. They’re confused when they see her with a soft smile on her face.

“He ascended…”

“Why are you here?” Rapidly blinking my eyes I find Harmony staring at me, wide eyed. She looks terrified.

“I don’t know. What was I doing? I think…I was trying to empty all of the mana in my body so the two energies wouldn’t clash and kill me. Then suddenly the Chain of the Heavens appeared and pierced me. Next thing I know I hear an explosion and I’m here.”

“No…there’s no way this is happening.” Harmony looks stunned as all of the TV’s she normally uses to observe the world start to flash different images and memories from his life.

“I don’t understand. Is this the afterlife? Are you supposed to reincarnate me now?”

“No. Ignis you’ve ascended. This is normally what happens when I select one of my faithful ponies to become an alicorn.”

Sure enough as soon as she says that a notification from the system pops up.

Ignis Ferrum
Bladesinger 12/Paladin 2 - Divine Rank 0

“Holy shit. Wait, why is it only Rank 0? There’s no way killing Discord and absorbing his divinity just gave me Rank 0 divinity.”

Main Quest - The Era of Gods: You’ve ushered in the Era of Gods for Equestria, and have even dared to trespass into the realm of divinity yourself. Currently you do not possess the qualifications to wield or access your divinity. You can change this through two means of action:

Absorb divinity from other Gods: (0/14)

Amass devout worshipers and followers: (27)

Next Divine Rank at 400 followers.

Absorbing another Gods divinity will also assimilate their followers.

This is cool and all, but I'm supposed to help Luna amass more followers, not bolster my own. Also I thought I was playing in some updated version of 5th edition? Divine ranks are from 3.5.

Calculating Reward…

Wait…ascending into divinity wasn’t the reward?

Divine Rank 4

Absorb divinity from other Gods: (1/14)

Amass devout worshipers and followers: (27)

Next Divine Rank at 4000 followers.

A familiar heat returns to my chest, but this time there’s no pain. Instead it feels like a shot of adrenaline, like there’s lightning in my veins. There’s no way Discord was only equivalent to a rank four deity, but I assume the conversion ratio upon absorption isn’t one to one.

Time resumes and that feeling of adrenaline only grows. I can feel power swelling up within me. Harmony stares at me with wide eyes and I can only imagine what she’s thinking as I feel a massive smile break out on my face. I open my mouth before thinking and start to say something rude, but before I can even get the first syllable out I’m thrusted out of the realm and back to the Everfree.

“I thought that was something only ponies could do?” Luna asks her sister after hearing the revelation.

“It’s not like it’s a widely explored area of study, Lulu. There’s quite a lot that even I don’t know about ascension.”

As soon as Celestia finishes her statement there’s a bright flash that blinds all of the ponies in the clearing. The first two ponies to notice the change are Twilight and Force. That’s because everyone is still blinded, but those two are able to feel the new presence in the area. It’s not heavy or intimidating, but an eerie calmness. They don’t feel threatened, but they feel an urge to kneel and bow. It’s very similar to the presence Celestia exudes during ceremonies or public speeches. The only difference is that Celestia’s presence also feels a bit warm, and this is cold.

Force is awestruck as she tries to blink the light out of her eyes, but she doesn’t bow. Twilight on the other hand bends one of her forelegs and dips her head down, purely out of muscle memory.

After a couple of seconds everyone can finally see again and they’re shocked at the sight before them. The elf has returned, but he’s nearly a foot taller than before. His hair seems to now permanently be in a state of etherealness, it’s like there’s a light gray cloud surrounded by a thin layer of a lighter silver colored smoke. It reaches all the way down to his hips. His eyes are just golden orbs with no pupil.

The most shocking thing is that the elf is stark naked. On the ground next to him is his Mizzium device and his Moonblade, in its sheath. Ignis can immediately tell something is wrong based on the way the ponies in front of him are reacting, and when he looks down he yelps and moves his hands to try and cover himself. “Oh, C’MON MAN! I just got that shirt! INVISIBILITY!”

As soon as he turns invisible he relaxes with a sigh as he hunches over. It’s only after another second that he realizes a key fact. “Celestia! Close your eyes! Pervert!”

“Trust me I disabled my True Sight several hours ago. Where was this shyness earlier today, hm? You didn’t seem to have qualms flashing me and my student back then.” Ignis leans his body far, far to the left and keeps a close eye on the solar alicorns pupils. When she talks to him she’s still looking at where he was standing, so she really can’t see him right now.

“That was…in the heat of the moment. Please forget that as well.”

“I would love to, but unfortunately I can’t. That type of magic is outlawed except for very specific medical uses related to mental health. I’m afraid the nobles wouldn’t agree that “Watching my sister and h-””

“OKAY! We get it! Please God, someone just teleport me back to the castle.”

Force, Nightmare, and Celestia both start to laugh as they experience this rare moment of the elf being deeply embarrassed. Luna just has a soft smile on her face and Twilight is still stunned, standing there wide eyed. “Come rest your hand on me and I’ll teleport us back.” Luna offers an out to the poor elf.

Within a fraction of a second she feels something touch the middle of her back, right in between her wings. Without wasting another second she ignites her horn and teleports herself, Ignis, Nightmare, and Force to her bedroom. As soon as they appear in the room Ignis ceases his invisibility and looks at Luna with a serious look on his face. “I’m sorry Luna. I understand what I put you through earlier, and I apologize.”

“I don’t care, you idiot. I’m just happy you’re alive. Your body literally exploded and we thought you were gone.” As she stops talking all three of the mares tackle the elf onto the new bed in the room.

“Yeah I thought that was it for me as well. As soon as I appeared in Harmony’s realm again I asked her if this was the afterlife. I’d never seen that pony so shaken before. She really didn’t understand how I’d appeared in her realm. Apparently I have a whole new list of abilities to sort through, but as soon as I reappeared…well, you know what happened.”

Ignis notices that Force has a strange conflicted look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Luna has gotten bigger, Nightmare got her original form back and now she’s bigger, and now even you’ve grown. I feel a bit out of place. I’m afraid I’m too small now.”

Ignis reaches out with his telekinesis and grabs his staff that’s sitting in the corner of the room. “Enlarge.”

With the Staff of the Magi he could cast Enlarge/Reduce at will and it doesn’t cost him anything. The effect is immediate as the pegasus laying on her belly on top of the elf’s chest suddenly doubles in size. Ignis makes an oof noise as her weight increases eightfold. At this new size she’s a bit bigger than Celestia. Force looks around surprised before smiling down at Ignis and leans down for a kiss.

“It only lasts for one minute, but I’m sure I can use a couple of runes to extend the duration. It also doesn’t cost me anything to cast that so I could keep you at this size indefinitely.”

(A/N: This is legitimately a giant wall of text. I completely understand if you want to skip this and just learn about the new abilities as they are naturally used and introduced. Ctrl + F “Holy fuck” to skip to after the giant wall of abilities.)

Now that I’ve solved Force’s new insecurity let’s take a look at these new abilities.

Ignis Ferrum - Demigod: Divine Rank 4.
Bladesinger 12/Paladin 2

Divine Characteristics:

Deities receive maximum hit points for each Hit Die.

New HP Maximum: 120/120.

Walking Speed increased to 60ft.

A field of Divine energy encompasses your body, granting you a Divine AC Bonus equal to your divine rank. AC: 19.

Deities of Divine Rank 1 or higher do not automatically fail on a natural roll of 1.

Deities get half of their Divine Rank (rounded down) as a bonus to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks.

Deities of Divine Rank 1 or higher are immune to polymorphing, petrification, any other attack that alters its form, charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, morale effects, electricity, cold, acid, disease, poison, stuns, sleep, paralysis, death effects, and disintegration. These immunity’s are ignored by Deities of equal Divine Rank or higher.

You can use any Domain power that you can bestow upon your followers a number of times per day equal to your Divine Rank. Similarly, you can use any Domain spell you can bestow upon your followers as a spell-like ability at will. If the spell requires a saving throw the DC is equal to 10 + Divine Rank + Charisma Bonus.

You are naturally immortal and cannot die from natural causes. You do not age, you do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe. Deities of Divine Rank 1 or higher are not subject to instant death from massive damage (Twice your maximum Hit Points.)

Deities of Rank 1 or higher have incredibly sensitive perception. Your senses (including darkvision or even True Sight if you possess it) extend out to a radius of one mile per Divine Rank. Perception is limited to the senses the Deity possesses, and you cannot see through solid objects without using a Remote Sensing ability.

Remote Sense: As an action, a deity of Divine Rank 1 or higher can perceive everything within a radius of one mile per Divine Rank around any of its worshipers, holy sites, or other objects or locales sacred to the Deity. This effect can also be centered on any place where someone speaks your name or title for up to one hour after the name is spoken, and at any location when an event related to your portfolio occurs. Deities of an equal or higher Divine Rank can block this ability. You can extend your senses to two remote locations at once and still sense what’s nearby. Once you choose a location to sense you will automatically receive sensory information from that location until you choose a new one or until you can’t sense the location.

Block Sense: You can block the sensing ability of other Deities equal to or lower than your Divine Rank. This extends for a radius of one mile per Divine Rank of the Deity, or within the same distance around a temple or other locale sacred to the Deity. You can block up to two locations at once, plus the area within one mile of yourself. The block lasts for one hour per Divine Rank.

Portfolio: Your Domains currently consist of the following:

Hope

Chaos

Divine Aura: Your mere presence can deeply affect mortals and beings of lower Divine Rank. Creatures can resist the effects with a Wisdom Saving Throw, the DC is 10 + Divine Rank + Charisma Bonus. Any being that succeeds the Save is immune to the effects for 24 hours. The radius of your aura is 10ft per Divine Rank, but you can alter the size or suppress it altogether. You can also choose to make your own worshipers or beings of your alignment immune to the effect as a Free Action. If a creature fails the Save you can choose from one of the three following effects:

Daze: Affected beings just stare in fascination. They can defend themselves, but can take no actions.

Fright: Affected beings become shaken and suffer a -1d4 penalty to attack rolls, saves, and checks. A glance or gesture from the Deity makes them Frightened and they flee as quickly as they can.

Resolve: Deity’s allies receive a +1d4 to attacks, saves, and ability checks, while the Deity’s foes receive a -1d4 to the same types of rolls.

You can grant spell and domain powers to any mortal divine spellcasters that pray to you. You can grant any spell from the Cleric spell list, and from your Domain spell lists. You can withhold spells from a particular mortal as a free action.

You can understand, speak, and read any language, including nonverbal languages. You can speak directly to any beings within one mile per Divine Rank of yourself.

As an action you can send a Remote Communication to a remote location. You can speak to any of your worshipers, and to anyone within one mile per Divine Rank of a site dedicated to you, or within one mile per Rank away from a statue or other likeness to yourself. You can speak directly to the being telepathically so only they hear, or you can project your voice into the air, the ground, or some other object of your choosing. In such a case anyone within earshot will hear you. This ability can cross planes and penetrate any barrier. Once initiated you can continue conversing as a free action until you decide to end the communication.

Divine Realm: Each Deity of Divine Rank 1 or higher has a location that serves as a workplace, personal residence, audience chamber, and sometimes as a retreat or fortress. You are at your most powerful within this realm. You have modest control over the environment within your realm, able to control the temperature and minor elements. The radius of this control depends on whether the Realm is in the Outer Planes or the Material Plane. For Divine Rank 4 your radius is 100ft per Rank for both Planes.

You can set the temperature to anything considered normal for the Plane where the Realm is located, fill the area with scents and sounds as you see fit. Sounds can be no louder than 120 dB, but cannot be intelligible speech or a harmful sound. At higher Divine Ranks the possibilities of what you can build and control in this realm increase exponentially.

Deities of Divine Rank 1 or higher can use Greater Teleport at will, except you can only transport yourself and up to 100lbs of objects per Divine Rank.

You may now choose up to four Salient Divine Abilities or Feats.

Okay that’s a long fucking list of abilities and feats. Jesus what the fuck is this? Is this real? Most of these abilities have insane prerequisites that I won’t meet for years. Like this Divine Celerity ability would let me give myself Haste for one minute per Divine Rank, but it requires my Dexterity to be 29 or higher. Oh this one seems useful.

“Alter Size.” That’s a good first pick. As a free action I can change my size to be anything between Fine and Colossal. I can change the size of up to 100lbs of objects I touch, and if I have a familiar, mount, or personal intelligent weapon, I can change it’s size when I change mine as long as I’m touching it. The next ability I want actually has this ability as a prerequisite.

“Alter Form.” I can alter my form, including clothing and equipment. The assumed form must be corporeal. My body can undergo a limited physical transmutation, including adding or subtracting one or two limbs. If the form has wings I gain a flying speed equal to my walking speed, and if it has fins or gills I can swim faster or breathe underwater. I can remain in that form indefinitely, but revert to my own form when slain. I’m completely overwhelmed at how long the list is. Oh this one seems really strong…

“Hand of Death.” I can point to any mortal within my sensory range and snuff out its life. There has to be an unbroken line of sight between me and the target. They have to pass a Constitution Saving Throw with a DC of 10 + Divine Rank + Charisma Bonus. Which is 16 at the moment. That’s a pretty low DC, but if they fail it’s literally instant death. I can also only use the ability a number of times per day equal to my Divine Rank. Lastly… this one also seems insanely overpowered.

“Power of Truth.” I instantly know when anyone (other than a Deity of equal or higher Rank) deliberately lies. I can also enchant creatures so they become truthful. I can do that on up to one creature per Divine Rank at once, but no more than that each day. All targets have to be within my line of sight when first affected. They have to pass a DC 16 Wisdom Saving Throw and if they fail they are unable to utter any deliberate falsehoods or evasions of truth for an entire day. If they pass the save they are immune to the effect for 24 hours.

“Holy fuck.”

“What is it?” Nightmare asks, a bit startled as I suddenly disturb the peaceful cuddling.

“I’m overwhelmed by the sheer number of new abilities I have. Some of these I don’t even understand. Like, it says my senses should be extended out to a radius of four miles, but my senses feel the exact same as before. Although one of my new abilities is something Luna is going to absolutely love.”

Said alicorn glances at me with tired eyes as she hears her name and raises her eyebrows inquisitively.

“Alter Size.” I shrink myself down to around 4’2” and the response is immediate. Before I can even blink my vision is obscured by fur and I just hear two mares making those dumb noises you make when you see something cute.

“I thought you could already do this though?” Luna asks a completely valid question.

“I could but that was through a spell. This is an innate ability I have through my Divinity and I’ll stay like this until I choose to be a different size. With this ability I can also shrink even further than this and I can grow up to 64ft tall.” My voice is higher pitched than normal and I almost laughed just hearing myself talk, but I manage to hold myself back.

“Alter Form.” I demonstrate my other new ability as my naked form is suddenly completely clothed with an identical copy of my Night Court uniform and cloak. “Ta-da! I have complete control over my form as well! I could actually turn myself into a pony with this ability. I wonder what I would look like if I didn't choose any features and just let the magic change my form into what I would actually look like as a pony?”

“Can we find out?” There’s a hint of something unfamiliar in Force's tone of voice as she asks that question.

“Fuck it, why not? You guys gotta let go of me so I can climb off the bed though.” After some awkward shifting around I’m finally free from the warm, comfy, soft fur prison, and standing next to the bed. “Alter Form.”

After a brief flash of light I turn towards the mares on the bed, and nearly lose my balance as I do. Four legs is weird. “How do I look?”

“Woah.” I can’t tell if that’s a good response or not from Luna.

“Is that a good woah or a bad woah?”

“It’s a good woah, but also I’m very surprised. Your jaw is more rounded, similar to a mare, and your barrel is slender until it reaches your flank where it widens a bit. If I didn’t see your equipment, and didn’t know you were a stallion…I’d be almost certain you’re a mare. You’re more pretty than handsome if that makes sense.”

As Luna is explaining it she floats over her full body mirror and sets it down next to me. I can see what she means. I’m about as tall as Fleur and my body type is damn near identical to her as well. Overall though I just look like a very bland unicorn. My fur is white, and my mane is exactly the same as an elf, a light gray and silver ethereal cloud.

“I guess that makes sense. As an elf my appearance was pretty much like that as well. Elves by human standards were all exceptionally pretty or beautiful. I have a very soft face with feminine cheekbones and my eyelashes are more similar to a woman than a man as well. If I was a human I’d be called a femboy, but that appearance was pretty common among elves. I kinda hate how bland I look though. White on gray is a very boring color palette. The golden eyes help a bit, but not enough. I need clothes to contrast with my hair.”

“Oh we actually have that same term here, but I didn’t wanna say it cause I was sure you wouldn’t get it. You’re a femcolt.” Force seems far too excited as she says that. “I’m moreso surprised you’re a unicorn. I thought for sure you’d be an alicorn. Also you don’t have a cutie mark.”

“My ability only lets me add up to two new limbs. So, I can either have two wings or one horn, but not both.” I respond without looking away from the mirror. I’m eyeing myself up as I turn and twist my body so I can try and see all of myself.

“Ah, that’s because you changed your form to a pony. We alicorns are a separate species entirely, Ignis. It’s why there’s essentially no natural born alicorns and it’s why our bodies explode when we ascend. You need to change your form to specifically an alicorn and then you wouldn’t be adding any limbs that’s just the standard limbs.” Luna lets me in on a fact that I was unaware of, but that doesn’t change anything.

“I didn’t know that, but it doesn’t matter. What I mean is that whatever form I change into can only have up to two extra limbs. I literally cannot become an alicorn through this ability. Once I learn more spells though I can probably do it with True Polymorph. Alright well this was fun, but I miss having thumbs and only walking on two legs.” As I say that I dispel the transformation and return to my shrunken elf form with my Night Court uniform on.

Hopping back into bed I notice there’s some light peeking in from under the curtains blocking the balcony. It seems like it’s morning already. “Seems like you need to lower the moon, Luna.”

Luna ignites her horn and shifts the curtain to reveal an orange sky on the horizon. “It would seem so. I wasn’t aware it was already morning. That’s perfect cause I am ready to go to sleep, I’m exhausted.”

I go a bit slack jawed as Luna doesn’t even get up, but lowers the moon right there from the bed. “I thought you had to go out on your balcony or just be outside in general to do that?”

She shakes her head no as she lets out a big yawn and I suddenly find myself being lifted into the air in a light blue aura. “Wow she doesn’t even ask first, can you believe that?” I look at Nightmare and Force with a smile as I float through the air and they both just roll their eyes.

“By the way, Ignis. You’re on duty when we wake up.” I just let out a groan before I get buried in a cuddle pile and close my eyes.

Author's Note

I get the feeling we're gunna lose some readers after this chapter. Some people are probably curious why I said Ignis couldn't keep his complete understanding of magic because it'd be too OP only to do this 2 chapters later.

The answer is that I can think of so many insane feats he could do with his complete understanding of magic that it would trivialize literally every new obstacle for the rest of the story. That means that this DOESN'T do that. I know there's a lot of OP shit in those new abilities, but the whole theme of the story post-Season 1 is "The Era of Gods." So trust me when I say as he is right now, he still has his work cut out for him.

Now that the cat is out of the bag though, next chapter will likely be the last one that is mostly just the cast hanging out and talking to each other. After that Nightmare and Ignis still need to have their date and then that'll probably get followed up with a NSFW chapter and that'll be the end of the "Intermission" as it were.

Don't worry things are not going to get super dark like they did during the Discord encounter for a long while, but we are going to slide back into more serious things and it might get a little dark. Not too much though, I don't plan on crying or making anyone else cry.

So, if you drop the fic cause the powerscale just went from 0-100 in a single chapter, I don't blame you. During the year long hiatus after Nightmare Moon was defeated I sat on this story for a while and decided what I wanted the ending to be and then kinda worked backwards. So, this was always the plan is essentially what I'm saying, and I have kinda hinted towards that. Like in the changeling hive I said that level of power was a teaser for where we're going to be in the near future and now we're officially there.

During the New Genesis bladesong I also had Ignis say something that boiled down to him claiming the Era of Gods was his era, and Discord would be the first example. So I promise this did not come from out of nowhere.

Also here is the 3.5e list of Divine Ranks and Powers that I used as a reference: https://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineRanksAndPowers.htm

I didn't use EVERYTHING from this list and on like half the things that I did port over I nerfed the ability, so if you see something on that site that wasn't even referenced here...that means it doesn't exist in my canon. Also, here is the list of all of the Salient Divine Abilities:
https://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#salientDivineAbilities

Ignore Gift of Life. I haven't decided if I'm going to let that be a power that exists or not. If I do end up letting it exist then I can say Ignis didn't take it because it specifies that you need permission of the Deity that oversees the souls of the dead for whatever Plane you're on an Harmony would definitely have a bitch fit and not give permission.

Anyways, like always:

Thanks for reading. :D <3

Side Quest - Trials for the Traitors pt. 1

Well this is new. As soon as I fell asleep I opened my eyes to a sparkly white void. Do I just…no longer have dreams? Well, let’s give it some soft, lush grass. Next I’ll conjure a comfy little 3 bedroom fully furnished house, with a fireplace. It’s basically a carbon copy of my house as a human. Walking into my familiar bedroom I snap my fingers and expand the room to twice its current size. Then I replace the bed with a California King size bed.

Turning around to look at my desk, my eyes widen as the computer is actually on and seemingly functional. Unfortunately when I open Firefox I get a no internet error message. Typical. Walking out of the bedroom and into the second bedroom that I turned into a study I eye up the bookshelf next to the recliner. With a snap of my fingers the bookshelf is filled with every single sourcebook and adventure module for Dungeons and Dragons that I can remember. Typically the System shows me a list of spells and such whenever I level up and need to select new spells. It also shows me all of the feats when I get to pick a new one.

However it doesn’t show me things like the higher level Paladin Spells that I can only cast through the Mizzium, and it definitely doesn’t show me any Cleric spells. Now let’s pour through these books and see if any of these things mention a Hope or Chaos Domain. I’d love to see what the Channel Divinity is for both and what the Domain specific spells are. I also want to see all of the Cleric spells so I can have a decent idea of what I’d be giving ponies access to if I bestow any of them with my blessing.

Mind if I intrude?

Nightmare? Yeah sure, but why are you asking? Normally you just barge in. Not that I mind, it’s usually a pleasant surprise.

I…can’t. I was able to find your dream after searching much harder than I usually have to, and now I’m unable to enter it. I can’t even see inside of it.

How do I let you in? I’m not protecting the dream consciously.

Just will the dream to allow me in.

That’s so fucking vague, but alright I’ll give it a shot.

I make a rotating gesture with my left hand while thinking about allowing Nightmare Moon and Luna into my dream.

“Ah that’s much better. What is all of this?” Nightmare startles me as she starts talking behind me within a fraction of a second after being let in.

“This is apparently my dreamscape. It was a white void when I started, and this house is using my house back on Earth as a reference, but I’ve already changed a few things. It seems like I’ll only have normal dreams if I wish to have them. I’m a bit conflicted on that, to be honest. On one hand it saves me from those nightmares with the corpses dragging me down to die with them. But, in normal pleasant dreams I don’t have to think or do anything, it’s just autopilot. Like I’m a passenger. This feels like I’m fully awake, and I’m not even sure if I’ll feel rested when I wake up.”

“Are you sure you even need to sleep? You mentioned not needing to eat, drink, or breathe. That’s not normal for alicorns so you’re already diverged from what we consider normal. There’s a chance you don’t even require sleep.” Nightmare brings up a good point as we lounge in the soft grass outside of my dream house.

“Maybe I don’t? If so that’d be pretty nice cause it means I can spend more time with Force. It was a pain to try and maintain a consistent sleep schedule while making time for her. She should’ve just joined the Night Guard and made things easy for me.”

“Do you want to test it? Why not wake up and start getting caught up on your paperwork? You could even swing by Day Court, Celestia has been holding all of the trials and court martials for the ponies that turned violent and attacked any innocent ponies or the element bearers.”

“Yeah fuck it, why not?” Before Nightmare can even respond my eyes snap open in the waking world. I can barely see some light peeking under the curtains, so it’s definitely still daytime. I just wonder if it’s before or after noon. My instincts tell me it's around 9am, but that can’t be right. I was setting up and rearranging that dream realm for a few hours.

Next I need to figure out how I’m going to escape this cuddle pile without waking anyone up. I could use that Greater Teleport thing, but that seems a bit overkill for moving a few feet away. Oh I’ll just shrink myself down to about six inches and then climb out of bed and regrow myself.

I was verbally announcing my Alteration abilities earlier, but they don’t actually need that. I silently will myself down to the size of an insect and then alter my form to give myself two wings. Using those wings I fly out of bed and land on the ground. After that I regrow to my new normal height, which is around 6’9”, and alter my form again so that the wings are gone and my Night Court uniform is replaced with something more casual.

I decided to just go with a black hoodie with a crescent moon on the chest and some sweatpants. If I end up going to Day Court I’ll swap out the sweatpants for some black dress pants or something. The hoodie stays on though, this shit is comfy. I can’t believe my AC is 19 without any armor. The description says it stacks with any other AC Bonuses so once I get my armor back my AC is gunna be 24, without using a bladesong.

Funny enough that’s around the same AC as…Luna and Nightmare. Am I the same rank as them? I think I might be. That’s…uncomfortable.

My thoughts are interrupted as I turn the corner and run into a couple of Day Guards conversing with some civilian staff. As soon as I turn the corner I hear all of their talking instantly stop, and they all turn to stare at me in fascination. Ah shit I forgot to turn off my Divine Aura. Actually, let’s keep it on. They have to fail a Wisdom Saving Throw with a DC of 16 to be affected, so this will give me a good idea of roughly how common it is for ordinary ponies to pass that saving throw. Not like it’s harmful anyways, they just stare at me when I walk past.

I walk past a decent handful of maids and guards as I make my way towards my office and only one maid seemed unaffected, and three guards withstood the Aura. It seems like ponies are not very good at Wisdom Saves. Opening the door to my office I’m surprised to see Vice Captain Elytra seated in my chair.

As the door opens she calls out, “Who dares to enter this space without knocking? If you’re a Guard so help me- OH! SIR! Welcome back!”

“Who said you use my office and sit in my chair?” Her eyes go wide as she looks down at the paperwork on the desk and then back up to me. “I’m just fucking with you. Thanks for covering down while I was out of commission. Anything important I should be aware of? What’s the passdown?”

The changeling lets out a sigh of relief. “Nothing too major, sir. We still don’t have any updates on the Dragons but we’re fairly certain they’ll make a move any day now. Ever since the Discord incident the Night Guard has been flooded with applications to cross-branch in from the Day Guard and even a decent number of civilians want to join. Going through their files and medical records to mark off recommended or not recommended has been most of what I’m working on.”

“You’re the Vice Captain. I trust your judgement on things like that. Anyone you already made a decision on, I want you to get that paperwork updated to reflect either approved or rejected.” Now that my mind isn’t as distracted I realize something as I stare at the changeling. She’s a worshiper. “Elytra.”

Her eyes glance up from the papers on the desk and look into my own eyes. “Sir?”

“Do you know anyone else that worships me?” I get to enjoy the rare sight of a blushing changeling as she gets embarrassed within a fraction of a second.

“I’d say there’s at least 10 or 15 of us from Aurora’s hive that think of you as our Guardian.”

“Well, let me be the one to inform you that as of yesterday I am a certified Deity. My domains are Hope and Chaos, but I think Chaos is just because I killed Discord. I probably stole his domain when I absorbed his Divinity. Anyways, feel free to offer any prayers whenever you’re troubled, and don’t offer me things or sacrifice things in my name. I’ll be happy enough just to offer any aid I can provide to any of you.”

Looking at the Vice Captain while she seems stunned at the new information, I start to think about bestowing her Cleric abilities. I trust her enough, and she’s never seemed to have misused her authority and power as Vice Captain. “I can actually give a blessing to creatures that worship me, but I haven’t given it to anyone yet so I’m not sure what it actually entails. Would you like to be the first? It can only be good things, it’s a blessing and not a curse, after all.”

She gives a rapid set of nods as she continues to look up at me. I reach down with my open right hand and gently place my palm on top of her head. “You shall become the first Cleric of Hope. You will remain steadfast in the face of suffering and you will become the beacon of hope to your allies. Never giving up even in the depths of despair when it seems all is lost. That is what you are. If it is not then it’s what you shall become, these are the values you will strive to live by everyday. Rise now, Elytra.”

Her eyes snap open and flash a brilliant golden light that fades as her eyes return to normal. “Feel any different?”

She offers me a slow blink and then holds up a foreleg to look at it with confusion. “I’m not hungry anymore…” As she says this her eyes start to well up and a few tears run down the changeling's face. “Even when the hive was thriving…there was always hunger. We assumed it just wasn’t possible to not feel hungry. I feel powerful.”

Suddenly she freezes and her eyes go a bit hazy for a few seconds. “You okay?”

“I just heard your voice. You gave me a stream of information like spells and abilities. I was able to select a bunch of different spells that now seem to be ingrained into my brain. Spells I’ve never even heard of but now I know instinctively that I can cast them. I’m not sure what the difference is between Cantrips and Leveled spells, but it only let me pick a few cantrips. Then I selected around eight spells that have a Level, whatever that means. There’s also some spells that I didn’t select that are ingrained into me.”

“What are those spells? Those ones you didn’t pick.”

“Heroism, Protection from Evil and Good, Calm Emotions, Silence, Beacon of Hope, and Sending.”

Wow so she’s around 5th or 6th level. That’s impressive for an ordinary changeling that’s only received some moderate training. “What are the other spells you selected?”

“Guidance, Sacred Flame, Toll the Dead, and Mending are the cantrips, but I also know Resistance and Spare the Dying. The Leveled spells or whatever besides the ones I already told you are Bless, Cure Wounds, Guiding Bolt, Sanctuary, Shield of Faith, Blindness/Deafness, Lesser Restoration, Warding Bond, Mass Healing Word, and Spirit Guardians.”

I let out a low whistle as I mentally register everything she’s saying. “Those are some pretty good spells. Why didn’t you select Revivify?”

“You suggested that I don’t take it. You said it’s because that spell likely wouldn’t work in this realm.” Good, I wanted to make sure that she could actually hear me when I was speaking to her directly in her mind.

“And you said something about abilities as well? What are those?”

“If I cast a leveled spell on an ally they gain temporary hit points equal to twice the level of the spell plus five. What are hit points and temporary hit points?”

“Hit Points are numeric representations of someone’s life force. As an example let’s say you have 55 Hit Points and I hit you with a Fire Bolt. That’d probably bring you down to 39 Hit Points or something. If you used Cure Wounds or Mass Healing Word that will restore those Hit Points and heal the target. Temporary Hit Points on the other hand is a quick and dirty type of healing. They’ll feel like they were healed by that amount, but as it states, it’s only temporary. Once they take enough damage to eat through those Temporary Hit Points or if a certain amount of time passes they’ll feel just as injured as before. Continue?”

“So if I used Cure Wounds as a 3rd Level spell…I’d heal them for a lot of Hit Points and then also give them 11 Temporary Hit Points?”

“Exactly. What’s the other abilities?”

“I can channel your power through worship to ignite a flame of hope in those around me. My body glows with dim light that reaches out 30ft for one minute, and any creature of my choosing inside that light has resistance to all incoming damage. If a creature gains Temporary Hit Points or has Temporary Hit Points when it enters the aura I can react to them and consume those Temporary Hit Points to restore their actual Hit Points by the same amount. Allies also have advantage on death saving throws while in the light, whatever that means…”

“That means when they lose consciousness and are on the verge of death they’ll be more likely to stabilize on their own. If they become stable you can rest assured they won’t die unless they’re attacked while unconscious, so you can focus on the fight and heal them afterwards. That’s a pretty strong ability. Anything else?” I have to keep in mind that I can use those Domain spells she listed and these Domain abilities a limited number of times per day as well.

“Yes, but this one makes even less sense. If an ally takes a long rest within 90ft of me they recover two points of exhaustion instead of one, and it takes two hours of strenuous activity for that rest to be interrupted rather than one. They can also sleep in armor or in other conditions that would normally prevent them from resting or sleeping normally.”

“Wow. I wouldn’t worry too much about that one. It just means if you’re on a mission and you and your allies set up camp for the night and sleep. You’ll all feel twice as rested as normal, essentially. Alright, well thanks for the information and thank you for being a faithful believer.”

My hand is still on her head so I give her a little pet before removing my hand. “I’ll let you correct that paperwork that I asked you to work on. I’m gunna go see what’s happening in Day Court.”

“It’s a madhouse, Sir. I’d really recommend staying away.” I just take my hand and wave away her concerns. I start to leave but remember one other thing I wanted to do while I was here.

I move into the center of the office and hold out my hand with my palm facing down to the floor. A small translucent sphere appears in the palm of my hand and then rapidly expands until the entire room is inside the sphere. I’ve claimed this office as my Divine Realm. “What temperature do you want it in here? It can be as cold or hot as you want.”

She looks around in awe and then stares at me slack jawed. Oh right I’m at my most powerful in this room, so my aura is probably affecting her now. I snap my fingers and make her immune to the effect and after a slow blink she starts to speak. “It actually has been a bit cold in here lately, would it be possible if it was something more tropical? Around 78 degrees or so would be perfect.”

“Wow that’s a decent bit hotter than I’d be comfortable with, but yeah sure I can do that.” In my mind I change the temperature to 78 degrees and then wave the changeling goodbye as I exit the office. It’s interesting that she didn’t succumb to my aura when I entered the room, so that means she passed the save.

With a snap of the fingers I turn my red sweatpants into black dress pants. Can’t be dressed too casually in Celestia’s Court or she might throw me out. When I approach the back entrance to the throne room one of the guards salutes me and the other one just stares slack jawed. I offer a super informal and sloppy two finger salute as I stroll past them and into the throne room.

Imagine my surprise when I see the guard dragging a chained up thestral to the podium. Well they were doing that until I walked in. Basically every creature within the 40ft radius with the exception of the two guards standing at the bottom of the steps to the throne fail the saving throw and stare at me, awestruck. Okay this is getting old, reducing the radius to zero.

“Ah perfect timing, Ignis. I was just about to review this thestrals case and then I was very likely going to defer judgement to my sister and have her thrown back in the holding cells. Would you like to preside over this court martial?” Celestia asks me with a surprisingly friendly tone of voice. It’s still weird that she treats me better nowadays.

“Court Martial, huh? I thought this was just a civilian thestral, so I wasn’t going to say anything. If it’s a Court Martial though, that means you’re one of mine. What’s she accused of?” I ask Celestia as I casually cross the room and float over a chair as I walk. Then I turn the chair backwards and sit down right in front of the chained thestral, leaning my chest up against the backrest of the chair.

“Well the official charge is Treason, but I assume you want the actual details. The report says she led the group of ponies responsible for throwing fire bombs into a bakery occupied by two of the Element Bearers. She also participated in the throwing of the bombs but several witness testimonies have identified her as the leader and mastermind behind the ambush.” My eyebrows raise as I hear the details. That’s quite the charge.

“So Terrorism, Vandalism, Arson, Treason, and Attempted Murder times two. Alright thestral, here’s the deal. Answer all of my questions with nothing but the truth and I will not give you the death sentence.” I hear a gasp from most of the spectators and guards as I utter out the final phrase of my sentence.

“Do you guys not do the death sentence here?”

“Not for civilian trials, but for Court Martial it’s still technically a legal sentence. It hasn’t been done in centuries though. Do you truly believe these crimes warrant her death?”

“She led a plot that could’ve potentially doomed the entire planet and killed thousands of ponies. She’s lucky death is the worst thing I’m offering to her. Alright, first question. Did you come up with the plan to ambush the ponies and corner them into a building?” I ask with an even tone while trying to be as unintimidating as possible.

“No! It was some Day Guard Lieutenant, you have to believe me! She told me nopony would blame me for what happened and promised my herd would be safe…” The thestral starts to tear up as she collapses.

“Well that’s one lie already. You can’t lie to me, thestral. That was your last warning, if you lie one more time then that’ll be it. Did you not think we had a chance to win? Why would you turn against your fellow ponies and commit such a heinous act?”

“I…I didn’t care if we won or not. My plan was to prevent Discord from being defeated and when I was freed from the city I planned to bring Princess Luna with me. Me and several other thestrals planned to take advantage of your death and the chaotic state of Equestria to bring the Princess back to our original colony in the West.”

Every single pony in the room stiffens and their eyes shrink to pinpricks just a second or two after the thestral says that. It’s likely because I could not suppress the fury that had built up in my chest. I look the pony straight in the eyes, and can tell from a single glance that this mare is completely terrified right now. As are most of the civilians present. “And what exactly did you plan to do with Luna once you had her inside the colony?”

At this point I’ve activated the secondary ability of Power of Truth, which enchants a target of my choosing to only be capable of telling the truth. “Assuming her horn and wings stayed magically removed thanks to Discord we assumed that biologically she would still be an alicorn. With her horn and wings gone we planned to use her to bring about thestral alicorns so we could rise to power and become our own kingdom.”

“Ignis, DON’T! Even for the death sentence there’s still a legal process that has to happen before the execution!” I hear Celestia shout at me from atop her throne as I stand up from my chair.

I just take my left hand and run it through my ethereal hair as I try, and I really mean that I tried to hold back. Celestia has been kind to me lately, I’ve started to come around and enjoy her company as well. She’s Luna’s sister. I don't want to upset Luna by constantly being in arguments with her sister. “I’m sorry Celestia.”

“NO!”

I just point at the thestral with my right index finger and activate Hand of Death.

“Die.”

The entire throne room falls to silence as everyone just stares at the thestral mare. Some look confused and some look terrified. They’re probably waiting on some visual effect to happen or some type of indication that magic has been activated. However, that never comes. Unfortunately the only people capable of seeing the thestrals face is me, Celestia, and the two guards at the bottom of the steps to the throne. Everyone else is behind the bat pony.

So they’re incapable of watching as all of the bright red leaves her eyes as they instead turn lifeless and dull gray. The mare releases an unnatural gurgling sound as her body produces its death rattle and her legs suddenly buckle and the corpse falls forward. It lands on its face before falling to the side and laying there limp with its legs and wings sprawled out.

When I look up to Celestia on the throne I’m surprised to see that even her eyes are wide as she stares at me with a mixture of confusion and fear. “Wh…what….what did you just do?”

“I snuffed out her life. I truly am sorry, Celestia. I just…I don’t even understand how you could hold your rage back after hearing that. That’s beyond treason, that was vile and unapologetically evil. Even if it wasn’t Luna or an alicorn or someone that I know and love, if she had told me that plan for any creature, I’d have been nearly just as angry. I’d definitely still have killed her on the spot. I’ll take whatever punishment you have for me for bypassing your legal processes, but I would do it again if given the choice. I hope Harmony doesn’t reincarnate her soul. I hope she rots in the darkest and most vile pits of whatever type of afterlife you have for evil creatures in this realm.”

Thankfully, Celestia actually doesn’t even seem angry. It’s hard to tell though as she looks slightly afraid of what just happened. “Court is adjourned early for lunch. Reconvene at 1300. Guards please take that corpse to the morgue in the medical wing and the rest of you are also dismissed. Return back here at 1245.”

The guards all pop salutes and then start to move, two of them moving towards the corpse but they get very tense as they get close to me and act like they’re walking on eggshells as they slide past me to get to the body. Once everyone is gone it’s just me and Celestia in the room.

She slowly rises and spreads her wings, proceeding to glide from the throne to land next to me. “Ignis, I’m serious, okay? What did you just do?”

“I used one of the inherent abilities tied to my divinity. It’s referred to as “Hand of Death” and it only works on mortals. When I point at them they have a chance to resist the ability with their fortitude. If they succeed and resist it then nothing happens. Believe it or not it’s actually not that difficult to resist it. Even if it was me from the first day I arrived here, I would’ve had like a 30% chance to resist it. Which is pretty high for how weak I was back then.”

“I….I see. That’s honestly a terrifying ability. As for this event, I believe I’ll be able to sweep it under the rug. If I recall correctly there’s a clause in our military laws that allows for the Captain of the Guard or a Princess to personally handle an execution if the situation is deemed necessary. We’ll have to come up with something as to why it could be deemed necessary, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Just a bit of a headache. Honestly I’m quite thankful that you were here for that. I was so worried about how you would react that I was able to distract myself from my own anger. If you weren’t here…I’d probably have killed her on the spot myself.”

“Happy to take the fall for you. I just can’t believe what I heard. A plan like that is something I wouldn’t even expect to hear from some of the most evil humans on the planet, and that species was quite dark. So, to hear it from a pony of all creatures, it doesn’t even seem real. I legitimately feel sick to my stomach just imagining it…”

“Yes, despite what you and many other countries think, Equestria is not all sunshine and rainbows. By the way, are you aware that you no longer possess mana? When you first entered the room I had to disable my True Sight from how brightly you were shining. Alicorns like Luna and myself are incapable of directly storing what you call “divinity” in our bodies, so we store in our celestial objects instead. Now that I’ve seen you though, I’m beginning to wonder if that was a correct assumption.” Wow, Celestia is surprisingly chill about this whole situation.

“I guess Luna didn’t explain what we did to you? Once it was explained to me that Divinity and mana could not co-exist in one's ethereal body or mana pool, I asked what would happen if I just expelled all of my mana. That’s why I was unleashing so much mana when you and Twilight appeared, you probably thought it was another surge. Once all of the mana left my body the system unsealed Discords Divinity and then my body exploded. Once I ascended my body started to absorb Discords power and now Chaos is one of my Domains. Do you think you or Luna could wield your divinity directly if you also empty your mana pools?”

“No. Even when we aren’t storing it, if we actively use it for a prolonged period of time or if we use too much at once it can start to tear our bodies apart. Did Nightmare or Luna tell you how they revived you?”

Wait…”Now that you mention it I completely forgot I died back then. No they didn’t explain it all, Nightmare probably wanted to explain it but then she uh…well you know. Then it was never a good moment for Luna to talk about it and by the time things had calmed down she probably forgot about it. I’ll ask one of them about it the next time I see them.”

“Also how did you know that thestral wasn’t telling the truth?”

“Another one of my new abilities. It’s called the Power of Truth. I know when anyone, other than a deity of equal or greater power, deliberately lies. It’s passive and always applies to any creature I can perceive. I can also target a creature and actively use it to compel them to only tell the truth. It’s pretty neat.”

Celestia just snorts in response. “What a nonchalant way to describe such a powerful ability. Yes it’s very neat. If that’s the case would you be willing to observe the rest of the trials we have slated for today and tell me if somepony is lying?”

“Sure, got nothing else to do. Do you want me to, like, disguise myself or something? I might freak everyone out if I’m just chilling up there on the throne with you.”

The alicorn hums in thought for a few seconds. “I’ll let you decide. I have something I need to take care of before court resumes in a couple of hours. I’ll see you back here around 1245.”

With a flash of her horn Celestia is gone. That sounded kinda ominous, I wonder what she’s taking care of? Well shit what do I do for the next couple of hours? Wait, I just realized something I need to check on. Closing my eyes I use Remote Sensing to perceive my Divine Realm (my office) and sure enough Elytra is still in there. Thankfully she’s a worshiper so I can just talk to her directly.

Hey Vice Captain, I don’t know what your sleep schedule is at the moment, but if you’ve been up all night I’m ordering you to go to bed. I’ll pick up where you left off and even if I don’t it’s not more important than your health. It’ll be there in a few hours, so go to bed.

I understand. Thank you, Sir.

I watch the changeling with my remote sensing for several minutes and she’s still just sitting there.

Elytra, I can see you, you know? That office is literally my physical Domain, I can perceive everything inside it at all times.

In an instant I watch the changeling shoot up out of the chair, her entire body stiff as a board. I’m so sorry, Sir. I just wanted to finish this section of the application I was on. I’m leaving right now.

You’re not in trouble or anything, relax. I just don’t want you neglecting your health over some petty paperwork. Thanks for the good work Elytra.

I can’t help but laugh as Elytra randomly faces the window in the back of the office and salutes it. Thank you, Sir. I pray the rest of your day is peaceful and happy.

I’m not the window, Elytra. It’s just too comical. I can't even suppress my laughter over the telepathic conversation. From my point of view her back is turned to me and she’s just super seriously saluting and talking to a window. As soon as I inform her that I’m not the window she looks around and hesitantly starts to salute, but stops and turns before repeating the same motion. She can't decide which way to face.

Wow she’s so much more stiff and nervous around me now compared to before. I suppose that’s normal, but it’s kind of adorable to watch her nervously try to figure out which way to face to salute me. Don’t worry about it, Vice Captain. It’s the thought that counts. Go to bed.

With that she finally exits the office. I gotta get her to loosen up and go back to how she used to act around me. In the meantime, let’s go find Twilight. Wait, this ability says I can use any Domain spell that I can bestow upon my followers as a spell-like ability at will. That means it doesn’t use a spell slot. Sending is one of my Hope Domain spells that I bestowed to Elytra. That means I can use it at will. For my Divine Remote Communication ability they have to be within four miles of a divine site dedicated to me or a statue or painting of my likeness, but Sending is literally unrestricted.

“Sending.” Yo, Twilight, it’s Ignis, are you in the castle right now? If so, can you meet me in the throne room?

“I’m about to see my new therapist for the first time actually. Did you need something?” After she replies I just keep activating the spell so we can have a continuous conversation.

Nah, I’m just not normally awake during the day and Luna, Nightmare, and Force are all asleep so I’m kinda bored. Was gunna see if you wanted to teach me any magic lessons. I hope this therapy helps Twilight. It helped me some, so I think it’ll help you.

“I was actually wondering…if it isn’t too much trouble could you use that ability of yours to make sure my therapist isn’t a changeling? I’ve been really nervous about it.”

Yeah sure. I know where the mental health wing of Medical is, so I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.

As I start making my way over there I pull my hood up and double check to make sure my Divine Aura is disabled. Within a minute or so I’m in a familiar part of the castle. I still can’t believe something happened to Dr. Sentiment. Twilight waves at me when she spots me.

“Heyo, which office is the one you’re visiting?” She tilts her head forward and points her horn at the door right next to us. When I peak my head inside I see a dark purple colored unicorn mare sitting there flipping through a folder. Oh that’s what it means my senses are extended. I can clearly see that it’s Twilight’s medical record with some notes from Celestia about her trauma.

The doors already open, so I just knock on the wood to get her attention. She looks up from the medical record and squints at me. “Can I help you? I’m afraid I have an appointment soon, so if you need something you’ll have to try a different office.”

“Are you a changeling?”

“....What? That’s a ridiculous question.”

“Just answer it, yes or no. Are you a changeling?”

“No.” The way she dodged the question at first made me suspicious, but she isn’t lying.

“You’re good Twilight. She’s a real pony.”

Twilight gives me a sheepish grin as she scratches her cheek with her forehoof. “Thanks and sorry again, I know it’s silly to keep being paranoid of every new pony I meet like this.”

“It’s no problem, and it’s not silly. If that happened to me I’d be just as paranoid. Don’t hesitate to ask me for anything in the future. Just say my name out loud and I can contact you.” She gives me a grateful smile and turns to enter the therapist's office. Now I am once again bored.

I need a hobby.

Author's Note

I lied. I think I wanna explore some of these criminal trials and have Ignis interact with Celestia more, so I'm pushing back the Nightmare date and the start of the arc for a couple more chapters. Other than that I don't have much to say for this chapter.

It ended up being way longer than I thought it would be, I didn't even spend that much time writing it...like 3 hours? Maybe 4? Sorry for the uneventful chapter, this is mostly just Ignis breaking in his new powers so he can get used to them.

Thanks for reading! <3

Side Quest - Trials for the Traitors pt. 2

I’ve got a couple of hours to kill, but what to do? Wait, what is happening? I feel a tingling on the back of my neck. There’s an event happening related to Chaos? Let me use my Remote Sense to see what’s happening, it feels like a destructive kind of Chaos.

Activating Remote Sense my eyes widen as the stream of sensory information starts to flow in. It’s Celestia. She’s using a spell that I am intimately familiar with, it’s the same one Daybreaker used to try and finish me off. I survived thanks to Resilient Sphere but it decimated a huge chunk of the Everfree and left a massive crater.

I can only watch in awe as the colossal red and orange beam of light slams into the earth, like an orbital laser, but much larger in scale. I’m curious what she’s doing, but if I had to guess she’s venting her anger. Now that I think about it, I bet half of those ponies were shitting their pants because of Celestia as well, and I just didn’t notice her aura change.

It’s only when the giant beam of sunfire narrows and disperses entirely that I realize what she’s done. Celestia just destroyed the entire mountain where the thestrals used to live. Holy shit. Suddenly the alicorn turns and somehow looks directly into my eyes, despite me not actually being there. “Hm, nopony was supposed to see this. Who are you?”

It’s Ignis. I became aware that an event related to Chaos was unfolding and opened my senses to the location. You just displaced thousands of animals and a decent number of yeti’s. Also, there were still a handful of thestrals in there. Mostly a criminal that we banished to there and some of her sympathizers but still…there’s no way they were related to the plan the thestral in the throne room spoke of.

“There might’ve been some in there at some point, but it was clear of life when I scanned it. Seems they’ve relocated to another remote location or defected to foreign nation. Just how many new abilities do you have?”

A ton. If you need to vent more of your anger feel free, I can tell you about it after the trials. If you’re done though we can talk now. I met with Twilight for a few minutes, but she’s in therapy now and I can’t find anything to do. I’m quite bored if I’m being honest.

“I don’t need to vent anything, but I did have some paperwork I wanted to catch up on. So, I’ll take you up on the offer to talk after the trials. You should go find a hobby or something.”

The alicorn disappears with a flash of her horn, and I cut off the Remote Sensing. Can’t believe she just told me to get a hobby. I take back all of the nice things I said about her. No, but she is right. Oh here’s an idea.

“Sending. Hey Shining, it’s Ignis was just wondering where you’re at, I had a favor to ask of you.”

“Bold of you to assume I'd be willing to grant you any favors. I’m at the training area outside, going through some magical defense exercises with my guards.”

I’m surprised he didn’t ask what I wanted, but that’s fine I wanted to ask in person anyways. With a snap of my fingers I’m standing outside of the small arena I used to spar with Shining back when I first got here. Looking around I spot him near the target range and walk over.

“Your structure is good, but you’re not channeling enough mana into it Private.” Sounds like he’s giving some feedback on a shield spell that I can see being cast. Shining turns and spots me approaching and tells the guards to take a 10 minute break. His face has shifted into an absolute scowl as he approaches. "What do you want?"

“I need you to forge documentation for a fake unicorn to join the Day Guard.”

“What? That's ridiculous. I'm not forging paperwork so some new member of your harem can join the Guard. In fact the only reason I even entertained this conversation was because you were true to your word and revived my sister. I have no choice but to be grateful for that. But, it doesn't change what you did. You're vile.”

“Yeah. You're right. This isn't for someone else though, it's for me. I plan to disguise myself as a unicorn so I can see if there's any issues falling through the cracks for the lower enlisted. I no longer need to sleep since I've ascended, so I have a lot more free time when the sun is up. You can hate me all you want, but this truly is for the betterment of both of our guards.”

Shining just tries to bore holes into my skull as he stares into my eyes. "Fine. Follow me."

I follow the unicorn with my hands held behind my head and he leads me back into the castle. After a few turns through different hallways I find myself in what appears to be a giant supply closet. He floats over a closed box and opens it to reveal just a bunch of golden shield shaped badges that all have a sun emblazoned in the center of the shield.

“Here you go, one identification badge.”

I grab the thing and slide it into my pocket and then I activate Alter Form. I opt to transform into a creme colored unicorn with a short bright red mane that has a small braid running down the right side of my head. Using that as the base I activate Alter Form again and alter my equipment to be the standard Day Guard armor that changes my fur to a pure white color. I give myself cyan colored eyes and a cutie mark that depicts a small volley of fireballs.

Turning towards Shining I raise my eyebrows. “Well, what do you think? Did I get everything right? I’d hate to get called out for some minor design fuck up on the armor.”

“How did you do that? I expected some sort of polymorphing spell when you said you'd go in disguise, but how did you even manage to recreate our armor?”

“I can freely alter my form to be just about anything as long as it has no more than two extra limbs compared to my normal form. Including my equipment. As far as I can tell though this is purely cosmetic. I don’t think this armor is actually giving me any type of defense as my AC didn’t go up when I altered my form to have the armor equipped.”

“What’s your false name? I’ll need it when I’m making your record later.”

“Rapid Fire.”

He just gives me a flat look that screams, really? “Alright. Well…welcome to the Day Guard, Private Fire.”

“Thanks! Now I’m gunna go wander around the barracks and introduce myself to some of your ponies.”

I hear the unicorn clear his throat and I look backwards at him with a questioning glance. “Are you not going to salute your superior officer?”

Now it’s my turn to give him a flat look, and he further explains his reasoning with a sadistic grin and a mocking tone. “I’m just trying to make sure you don’t blow your cover within the first hour of walking around. As a Private you’re gunna have to use proper courtesies and address a lot of ponies with respect. You’ll definitely be saluting a lot.”

“You’re lucky this is the new me. The old me would’ve weighed down on you with my presence and told you not to push your luck. But, you’re right. That is something I will have to do. Trust me though, I’ll be fine.” It’s still a little annoying to walk on four legs but after doing it for a couple of minutes it’s mostly coming to me naturally.

"I'm afraid I must insist, Private. Assuming you really want this paperwork filed. What's the harm, huh? It's just a salute."

Count to ten, Ignis. Calm thoughts, waterfalls, clear night sky, getting smothered in a cuddle pile on a bed. Resist the urge to throw him out a window. Am I really bored enough to give this fucker the satisfaction? "Fine, fuck your paperwork then. You already gave me the badge and that's more than enough for me to do what I wanted to do for today."

The smirk disappears and his eyes widen at my sudden shift in attitude. I wonder if really didn't realize how much I was holding myself back for our entire interaction? Even what I let slip there was only half of my real frustration. What an asshole.

“Hey look, who is that?”

“I don’t know. Were we supposed to get somepony new today?”

These two mares are just talking to each other right in front of me as if I don’t exist. “I can hear you, you know?”

“It’s really a pain in the flank that both Captains of the Day and Night Guard are stallions. Feels like every other new pony we get strolling in here is a stallion nowadays.”

“I know right? When it was just the smaller villages and border towns it was fine to let stallions join. The regiments there were in desperate need for more bodies. But, the decision to let them join the Royal Guard? Feels like things have just been going to shit ever since, ya know?”

I can feel my eye involuntarily twitching. “So you’re both just going to keep pretending like I’m not standing here? Alright, fine. I’ll go find somepony else to show me around.”

“Woah hang on there cutie. We’re just joking around! We’d be happy to show you around.” The unicorn mare removes her helmet and I watch as her illusionary white fur changes a dark blue color. It has a nice contrast to the golden mane that spills out as the helmet leaves her head entirely. “Name’s Lightning Spear and this is Tepid Defender.”

When her name is mentioned the other mare gives me a flat stare. “Sup?” Her tone of voice is equally as flat. I guess Tepid is an accurate adjective for her. She doesn’t seem interested in removing her helmet so all I can really tell is that her eyes are pink and she’s a unicorn as well.

Lightning motions to follow her and the three of us go inside the barracks. “This is Aurora barracks. The building is pretty old so half the rooms no longer have hot water because the gems used in the faucets have either been overused and lost the ability to recharge themselves or they’ve just fallen apart. Stallions live on the first floor, and luckily for you most of the heating gems on this floor were just installed a couple of weeks ago. Did they tell you what your room number is?”

“If they did I don’t remember it. Why the first floor?”

“We can’t have the stallions climbing up and down the stairs after a hard day's work. I think it’s a bit of a silly reason, but that’s what the building manager said. I think most of you guys get bothered too easily and there’s always some kind of drama going on, but I don’t think you’re so fragile you can’t climb a few steps everyday.”

“Since the first floor just got the heating gems in their faucets replaced does that mean the other floors are getting replacements soon as well?”

This time Tepid is the one to answer me. “As if. That mare just tells us we’re guards and if we can’t handle some cold water then we shouldn’t be here.”

Alrighty then, that’s already one huge improvement I can make here. “Have any of you reported it up your chain of command?”

“Yeah but they all just say that barracks issues aren’t something that falls under their area of responsibility. All maintenance and other issues are to be submitted to the building manager.” Tepid sighs before continuing. “Speaking of, we’re gunna have to talk to her to figure out what your room number is.”

“Wait. Are there any other problems like that in this place?”

Tepid just raises an eyebrow and gives me a condescending look, but Lightning seems to be the one to verbalize her thoughts. “Why? You think you can change anything? Look colt, I appreciate the sentiment, but you’re fresh out of basic. Trust me, it’s been like this for a couple of years now, so you aren’t going to be able to change anything.”

I apparently let too much annoyance into my voice when I respond as they both flinch at my tone. “Humor me.”

The two mares share a look before turning back to me, and Lightning sighs before responding. “A lot of the windows don’t properly seal anymore, so it gets cold during the winter. The rooms on the top floor have leaks all over the ceiling whenever it rains. For some Celestia forsaken reason the Night Guard does their physical training in the open field we have around the back of the building and they’re way too loud. We’ve tried asking them to either move it somewhere else or to at least stop doing it in the dead of night when we’re all trying to sleep. They just tell us to take it up with their Captain.”

I pray that my cheeks are actually flushed right now. When we first started up the Night Guard the gym was always closed whenever we needed to train so I just said fuck it and picked the closest open field to the gym. Okay I’m pretty sure I can flex and pressure in the right places to get all of this fixed. Especially the Night Guard issue because that one is legitimately on me.

“Got it. Well, it was nice to meet you two. I just remembered I have somewhere to be, but I’ll talk to you later.”

They both go a bit wide-eyed at my sudden departure, but before they can say anything I’m already back at the entrance of the building opening the door. “Wow Lightning, you scared off another one. No stallion is gunna want a mare that complains that much.”

For some asinine reason I tried using a forehoof to open the door instead of telekinesis. Probably because my muscle memory is to use a hand, but as a result my dumb ass falls face first into the door with a loud thud. When the two mares hear the sound of metal armor crashing and banging into something right after hearing me yelp they put two and two together.

I hear a gasp followed by loud hoofsteps and open my eyes to find both of them staring down at me with concern. “Wow, is that your natural mane color? It’s pretty rare to see a bright red mane like that.” The words come out of Tepids mouth and just leave me a bit confused. I guess the fall knocked my helmet off.

“The guy slams his horn and face into the door and you’re asking him if his mane is dyed or not? Tepid what the buck? It is a nice shade though…anyways, are you okay dude? You never gave us your name.”

“Rapid Fire, and yes I’m fine, thanks for asking.” After I get some help standing up I look at both of them feeling a bit embarrassed. “For what it’s worth neither of you scared me off, I really am on the verge of running late for something important. Thanks again.”

This time I use telekinesis to pull the door open and zip out of the building. After looking around to make sure no one is looking I teleport away and land in my office. As I return to a bipedal form I can’t help but to put two hands on my back as I stretch and arch it. Getting a few cracks for my trouble I let out a groan. I don’t know time passed by so fast, it feels like I was barely out there. Is this a symptom of regaining some of my elven personality? I’d hate to have a warped sense of time.

Quickly making my way to the back door of the throne room I greet the two guards again before casting Invisibility on myself. “You’re late Ignis.”

“Well I’m late to your 1245 asking time, but I still got here before 1300. I decided I’m just gunna chill up here on the throne with you, and I’ll stay invisible the whole time. We can just speak into each other's mind so no one will know I’m acting as your lie detector.”

“If you’re going to be using telepathy then why are you sitting on Luna's throne?”

“Cause it’s super fucking comfy.” Celestia just rolls her eyes.

“Just…don’t kill any of the other criminals today, please.”

“No promises~”

After a few minutes pass the doors open and ponies pour back into the throne room. Celestia says some nonsense about how we couldn’t risk the thestral being broken out of the dungeons by any co-conspirators that might have been captured. Funny enough that is technically true, but it’s definitely not why I snuffed her out. There’s a few questions from different ponies, I think some are nobles and some are news people? No clue to be honest. Celestia just gives them non-answers and then the first defendant is brought in.

“So, did you have any specific questions about my new capabilities or did you want me to just list them off? She’s lying by the way. When she said she was under mental compulsion magic from Discord. She is telling the truth that she didn’t harm anyone though, so I guess she just hung around with the traitor crowd and then backed out when it came time to act.” Celestia hums in thought for a few seconds.

“I’ll have you list them off to begin with and then if I have any questions I’ll ask them. Being able to tell which part of her statement is the lie is actually quite a notable ability. I suppose I’ll give this mare community service, since she wasn’t a guard her actions aren’t nearly as egregious.”

The next several trials all go the same way. Out of every single pony we judged today, only one just admitted that they were scared, didn’t know what to do, and just wanted to survive. Every single other pony tried to shift the blame to some external force or tried to lie about the severity of their crimes. It’s after the tenth trial that I finally finish rattling off all of my new abilities.

“When you say that you can bestow spells and minor abilities through a blessing, what exactly are said spells and abilities?”

“Only a few spells are set in stone, for the rest I just give them access to a mental library of sorts. They instinctively know all of the spells they can cast and when they wake up they can trade out any of their spells for other spells in that mental library. It’s mostly supporting spells though. Healing, empowering, bolstering their defenses, and even something like an area of effect sphere that silences everything inside it. For you ponies, silencing isn’t that big of a deal, but for my kind that requires incantations, it’s a deadly effect.”

“And the abilities?”

“Mostly the same. One causes allies nearby to receive less damage when they’re hit, and another lets allies feel more well rested after a good night's sleep. Pretty mundane stuff, truth be told.” Celestia still looks conflicted about something and I can tell she’s still deep in thought. Deep enough that she’s ignoring the trial completely, Raven is trying to get her attention.

“I assume there’s a limit to how many creatures you can give this blessing to?”

“Nope. The only restriction is that they have to worship me. I’m pretty loose on the definition of that word though. As long as they just follow me and try to stick to the core principles I don’t really mind if they’re not super devout. By the way Raven has been trying to get your attention for like a solid minute now. The defendant finished talking well over five minutes ago and they’ve all just been staring at you.”

I can see her gaze snap upwards and she apologizes for getting lost in thought. “This one lied when he said he didn’t harm anyone. You should narrow it down and see if he killed anyone.”

“So you swear on the core tenants of Harmony that you did not murder anypony during the incident?”

“Murder?! Your Majesty, of course not! I could never do something so cruel and violent.”

I instantly direct my voice into her mind. “Lies. Do you want me to attempt the enchantment that forces him to tell the truth?”

“I’m not sure. That likely falls under mental magic and is almost certainly illegal. I can only use a variation of a similar spell that doesn’t force you to tell the truth, but it will not let you speak a lie.”

“First of all, it isn’t magic. Second of all, my ability is mostly the same. The only difference is that mine strictly prohibits the evasion of truth. They can likely stay completely silent if they so wished. Oh and I don’t have to tell them that the effect is activated like you do for your Zone of Truth. So, can I do it?”

Her eyes squint in consideration. I can tell she’s really conflicted about this, which means she wants to do it but is worried about the morals of the act. “Do it.”

“Power of Truth.”

“How many of my little ponies did you kill?”

The stallion opens his mouth, but looks confused when nothing comes out. He opens his mouth again and says, “I only managed to rob four ponies of their futures.”

He instantly slams his foreleg into his mouth as his eyes widen in panic. “What I meant to say is, the power I feel knowing I prevent them from decades of happiness and love as I watched the light fade from their eyes was exhilarating. My only regret is that I only managed to find four foals alone and stupid enough to follow me!”

Tears start pouring from his eyes as he’s half way through his confession, realizing that he has sealed his fate. Compared to the thestral from earlier, the only feelings that stir in my chest when he admits to killing four children is sadness. Their friends and siblings, their parents being forced to bury their child.

Before I can get too emotional I realize a lot of ponies in the front half of the audience have a similar look on their face as before. They look like they’re about to shit their pants. It must be caused by Celestia then. I guess that confirms I can no longer even discern her aura. I can only imagine how pissed she is though, I know she views all of the ponies of her kingdom as her own family. Likely a coping mechanism for the lack of any immortal mates or ponies biologically capable of giving her an heir, and not to mention the 1,000 years without her sister.

My eyes widen and now I don’t need to be able to feel her aura to tell she’s enraged. Her hair just caught on fire!

"How dare you? What even are you? I refuse to believe there is a pony so vile that they would not only take advantage of an apocalyptic situation to murder foals. But, to also take pleasure in it? To have your only regret be that you….you….DIDN’T MURDER MORE?"

Her horn is glowing. Should I stop her? Just a few hours ago I killed a criminal for my own selfish desires, wouldn’t I be a hypocrite if I stopped her? That’s the wrong question. I should ask myself, would she want me to stop her?

I think she would.

Her horn glows brighter and I whisper out loud. “Forgive me, Celestia.”

The alicorns horn flashes and in that instant I snap my fingers revealing myself. “COUNTERSPELL!”

A tiny ray of fire appears in the air over her horn before sparking and collapsing in on itself. Celestia instantly snaps her head towards me. “You dare?! Hypocrite!”

“I just wanted to make sure this is what you really want. I asked myself if Celestia would want me to stop her, and the answer I came to is yes. If this is truly what you want I have no right to judge or stop you. I just hoped for you to take a short second to really ask yourself if this is what you want to do.”

She’s still seething and her draconic eyes are trying to set me fire through pure willpower alone, but after a second I can see her brows furrow. The fury starts to slowly fade. Celestia’s eyes return to normal but her mane is still ablaze. “You have my thanks, Ignis.”

Her gaze turns icy as she turns back towards the murderer. “I sentence you to four life sentences in Tartarus. The sentences are to be served consecutively, and believe me when I tell you that I will make damn sure you live long enough to carry out that entire sentence.”

She ignites her horn one more time and a circle of fire appears under the pony. He starts to scream as the circle rises and completely surrounds the pony before imploding and after a brief flash, he’s gone. “How are you gunna keep him alive for 400 years?”

“I don’t know, but I have at least 100 years to figure it out. I really do appreciate it, Ignis. You were right in believing that I would want you to stop me.” The fiery mane returns to a pastel rainbow as Celestia addresses the audience. “That will be the last trial for today. If you have any disputes that would normally be settled during Day Court you’ll be allowed to bring them up when my sister opens her court tonight.”

The throne room empties out and Celestia tells the guards to leave as well. “What’s happening to the world? Even during pre-unification when things were at their darkest, ponies were not like this. Sure they were scared and racist, but in one day I’ve seen two ponies have more evil in their hearts than even some of the worst villains I’ve fought to the death. It feels like everything is crumbling around me, Ignis.”

I…did not expect to see this side of Celestia. “If Harmony is to be believed it likely has something to do with my existence. The way ponies acted when I first arrived here and the way Equestria is described in history books painted such an unrealistic picture of this kingdom. I truly thought it was propaganda. Compared to both of the realms I lived in before this, Equestria of the past was a utopia. From my perspective it just feels like this place has become more…realistic.”

“I wonder what things were supposed to be like. Would Luna still be happy in that world where you never existed? No, I’m sorry, that’s a dark line of hypotheticals to dive down and it’s not constructive at all. At least I can take comfort knowing that your existence has nothing to do with what happened to my daughter. She’s adopted of course, but she was my student before Twilight. The tragedy involving her was years before you showed up, but I wonder if the ultimate outcome of her fate will be for better or worse in this sequence of events.”

I’m starting to get the feeling that I don’t really need to say anything. I think she just needs someone to listen. “What was she like?”

For the first time since the guards left the room Celestia actually makes eye contact with me. “You’re not going to ask what happened to her?”

“You can tell me if you want, but I figured you’d appreciate the chance to gush about her. I’m just a set of ears right now.” Her eyes widen a tiny bit, almost like she’s had an epiphany. Maybe she didn’t even realize that she just needs someone to listen to her.

“She was brilliant. If she was still here she and Twilight would be competitive rivals for sure. Like Twilight she didn’t see a point in having friends or socializing, but Sunset was much more assertive. I love Twilight but she can be a bit awkward, you know? She’s earnest and tries her best though, and that’s all I can ask, but I worry about her leadership skills. They’re both polar opposites on that front. Sunset had the qualities of a leader, a strategic mind, but I worried with her attitude towards ponies she could become a tyrant. With Twilight I just worry if she’ll be able to handle the weight of the decisions she has to make, and if she’ll be able to make those hard choices.”

“So her name is Sunset? Did he give her that name or did she already have it when you took her in? If she already had that name then it almost feels like… I hate to say it, but fate.”

“Sunset Shimmer. It had to be fate. One of the first titles I ever received was Celestia, the Radiant Dawn. It made me think that if she ascended we would’ve shared the responsibility of the sun. I’d raise it in the morning and she’d bring it down in the evening.” The alicorn starts to sniffle and I feel uncomfortable. I don’t know how to handle a crying Celestia and normally someone else is here for her.

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing…mentioning her lowering the sun made me realize that Luna never got to meet her. Realizing that just made my regrets a bit heavier than I was expecting.”

I want to ask if she died, because that’s what it sounds like. But, even I have a bit more tact than that. It’s almost like Celestia read my mind though, because she answers my unasked question. “I suppose they could still meet. If you remember when we first met I told you there was an artifact that opened up access to a dimension that housed creatures similar to the humans you described. Ultimately I know that place is a mirror of this world, so it couldn’t have been your Earth you speak of, but that’s where she is. We had an argument, well it was an argument we’d had at least 100 times, but this time she finally snapped. She ran through the mirror and I couldn’t afford to go after her and risk the portal closing while I was in that place.”

“It closes?”

“Indeed. It only opens for one night every three years. 30 Lunar cycles to be exact, so two and a half years I suppose. It pained me to know that I couldn’t risk being trapped in that place for such an extended period of time without Luna being here. The unicorns of todays modern age wouldn’t be able to move the sun and moon, so it’d be a disaster if I was gone for 30 months. It was the single time I held resentment for this crown and this cutie mark. Being forced to choose my kingdom over my daughter. It’s cruel.”

It is cruel. If it were me I’d have forsaken everyone here and told them if I don’t make it back to figure it out on their own. I dare not say that out loud though.

“If it were you I bet you’d have told Harmony to kick rocks and told the unicorns to figure it out. Then you’d have gone in there without a moment of hesitation. So unapologetically selfish, and I wish I could also be so. I won’t lie though, I can sleep just a bit more soundly at night knowing Luna has somepony that’ll set the world on fire if it means saving her.”

“You were so displeased at me holding Twilight’s soul hostage, though? I assumed you hated my mindset.”

“Of course. Don’t you understand? Twilight might have Night Light and Twilight Velvet, but I still can’t help but to see her as my second daughter. I practically helped raise her, to the point that she’d slip up and call me mom sometimes. You were threatening to take one filly when I’ve already lost one. Which just makes it even worse that I let her go back to Ponyville knowing she needed professional help that isn’t available there.”

I should weaponize sad ponies. Seeing these creatures like this makes me wanna lean into them and scratch their ears and make it all better. I resist that urge in this case though, I’m pretty sure she’d turn me to ash if I pet her like a cat. “Nah that just makes it make even more sense. No mother wants their child to hate them, and I assume that’s what you feared would happen if you kept her here against her will to go to therapy.”

“Essentially.”

Things fall into an awkward silence after that, so after several seconds of quiet I decide to re-initiate. “Did you have any further questions about my Divinity?”

“No, I think I asked everything I needed clarification for. It’s astounding how many abilities you gained compared to us, though. Back when I did have an entire cult worshiping me, I could feel the surges in power, but I couldn’t just speak directly to any of them or remotely perceive their temples. I definitely can’t give any of my ponies access to my solar abilities. Thanks for lending me an ear, Ignis.”

“Yeah no problem. I’m just glad we’re able to get along. I could tell it made Luna a bit upset back when we were at each other's throats. Oh by the way. I have a list of things that need to be addressed for your Day Guard. Do you want to hear them or should I bring them up with Shining Armor?”

“Oh? I’ll hear them. I might still refer you to him, but how serious are the problems?”

“Nothing that serious, but it’s several observations I made while walking around in disguise today. Your building manager for the Aurora barracks seems to be pretty sexist and is giving a lot of preferential treatment to stallions. A majority of the mares living there have defected heating gems in their faucets, so they have no hot water. Most of the seals around the windows are non-existent resulting in extremely cold rooms during the winter. The roof of the building has leaks all over the place so residents on the top floor constantly have water dripping from the ceiling. This is all just one of your barracks. I can’t imagine the other barracks are much different.”

“I disagree, that is quite serious. I just approved funds for over 1,000 new heating gems last month and you’re telling me only the rooms on the first floor received the replacements? That building manager is probably embezzling the funds and hiding it behind sexism to keep the residents from being suspicious. I’ll have Captain Armor and a few investigators sent over to question the mare in charge and to document all the repairs needed for the building. I’ll make an example of this mare and that’ll likely cause the other building managers to fall in line if they’re also neglecting their duty to maintain those structures.”

“Perfect. Morale should improve a lot for the mares living there. I’ll probably keep going around in disguise to find other quality of life issues that might be falling through the cracks and keep you updated. I decided that’ll be my daytime hobby for now. It’s quite fun pretending to be some fresh new recruit in the Day Guard.”

“I can’t say I don’t get it, I have a few secret identities myself. It’s nice to just get away from it all and pretend the mundane problems of my mortal identity are the only problems in my life. It also gives me a certain appreciation for other aspects of my life. Anyways, Ignis, I’m afraid all this venting has left me quite peckish and I believe I hear a chocolate cake calling my name in my office. Thanks again for everything today, and I’ll see you at dinner.”

“No problemo, cya Sunbutt.”

I feel a pair of eyes trying to bore into the back of my skull. “I’ve learned to accept that you’ll continue to call me Celly, but I draw the line there. Do not refer to me with such a vulgar nickname.”

“Sorry haha, I was trying to lighten the mood. But yeah I’ll see you at dinner.” I guess I’ll go lay in bed with the girls until they wake up. I might not need sleep anymore, but you can never have too many cuddles.

Author's Note

Would've released this tomorrow and ended it after the scene with the two guard mares, but ended up wanting to rewrite a few parts and then went to bed before I finished. So instead you all can have this longer-ish chapter today :D

Thanks for reading! <3

Side Quest - Prayers Answered and Miracles Performed

Ignis Ferrum - Divine Rank 4
Bladesinger 12/Paladin 2

Chosen of the Moon

Next Divine Rank at 4,000 followers: 2,400

Huh? When did I get over 2,000 followers?

Anyways, I didn’t gain any levels of exhaustion after staying up for 48 hours, but I did start to make silly mistakes in my paperwork and training. I also started to feel pretty fatigued, so I’m guessing pushing it for a third day would’ve resulted in some exhaustion finally starting to accumulate.

My second day of participating in the trials was much less eventful. Thankfully we had no Princess trafficking and enslavement plots, and no serial child murderers. I talked to Elytra and we got the Night Guard to move their training further away from the barracks. That brings us around to tonight. I just woke up and it looks like it’s a few minutes before sunset.

I’m supposed to have my date with Nightmare in a couple of hours, the latest we could schedule it before everything in town closes. I’d like to see if I can figure out why my follower count jumped so suddenly though.

2,450.

Oh. It’s still going. Looking around I find an empty bedroom which is strange. I’d have expected to see at least one of the three mares in here when I woke up. Wherever Luna is she’ll head to the dining hall once she raises the moon, so I suppose I’ll head that way.

Can you-, please he-, my math homework? My colt is-, Please give me strength.

I almost have to grasp my head as I get out of bed and have my mind assaulted with far too many voices overlapping one another in my mind. Prayers. It’s only a couple thousand though, how can there be this many? I can’t hear myself think!

“QUIET!” I inadvertently end up screaming out loud and accidentally shatter a mirror on the wall next to me.

The doors to the room burst open and two guards run in. “Sir! Is everything alright?!”

“Yeah, sorry. I just… this is going to sound weird but I had hundreds of voices speaking to me at once. It felt like my head was going to explode.”

“Could it be a rogue changeling, sir? My kind is known to have a few mind altering spells, I can perform a scan.”

“No. They were all prayers. I didn’t expect to have so many worshipers when I woke up today…”

2,600

The thestral next to the changeling lunges forward with her eyes wide. “Wait, does that mean the article I saw this morning was telling the truth?! You’re divine?!”

“Yeah, something like that. Do you know where Luna or Nightmare are?”

2,601

“Her Majesty is in a private meeting with her sister over in the Solar wing. I’m not sure where the mistress is, though.”

“Don’t call her that.”

“Oh. Yes, sir.”

“Neither of you happen to have the publication containing the article on you right now, do you?” They both shake their heads. “Alright, get back to your posts.” As I issue the command my pajama’s glow and transform into my Knight uniform. “Time to go to work I suppose.”

While I’m walking to the meeting room near Celestia’s office I think about the prayers I heard earlier. Okay, let’s filter these through so I can actually sift through the masses to find the important ones. If someone is in imminent danger and they’re requesting help that one gets second priority. The only thing higher than that is for the very unlikely event that there’s a prayer asking for help involving Luna, Nightmare, or Force being in imminent danger.

Next give me anyone with critically ill foals, siblings, or lovers. After that we’ll put the same types of things but for serious yet non-life threatening scenarios. Things like kidnapping, sexual assault, or immoblizing injuries. After that I’ll take any prayers from those asking for strength or guidance.

Once I get a temple or two established I’m going to filter that last one to only be from creatures sending the prayer from those locations. If someone wants to get access to crazy cleric powers then making them go on a pilgrimage seems like a good first step to sift out the ones who aren’t serious. If I find myself with nothing to do I’ll open up the prayers and listen to any mundane requests, but that’ll be pretty rare I think.

Now then I heard one of those hundreds of voices mention their colt earlier, let’s take a look at that one. Remote Sense. Ah, I’m not sure if I can truly help with this one. Just from my initial inspection nothing is physically wrong with the boy, but he looks rather weak and he’s laid up in a hospital bed. The father is alone in the room though, I have a few minutes to spare. I can go and provide some level of comfort at the very least. Greater Teleport.

“Wha- HUH?!” As soon as I appear the tan earth pony falls out of his chair and slams his forehead into the floor as he prostrates himself before me.

“Rise, I didn’t come here for that. Tell me what’s wrong with him.”

The pony is shivering but he does manage to stand and I can see a keen look of determination in his eyes. I get the feeling this stallion would throw hands with me right now if it meant saving this colt. I like that.

“The doctors aren’t sure. He collapsed at school last week and he only wakes up for minutes at a time. Whenever we’ve tried giving him water he acts like it’s acid or something. The doctors just told me there’s nothing they could do, but I don’t know what's wrong.”

“Rabies.” The tan pony goes pale as I say the name of the illness. Barely being able to stay conscious isn’t a symptom that illness has where I’m from but the hydrophobia and the scratch on his cheek tell me everything I need to know. “I can try something, and if it doesn’t work I have another spell I can try. If neither of those work though then I’m afraid it’s beyond me. I can heal a blade through the heart or even the head, but illnesses like this are different beasts altogether.”

Lay on Hands and Lesser Restoration both used to mention diseases specifically, but ever since the system update to 5.5 there’s nothing. If I had to make a guess I’d say they removed diseases as a status condition altogether from the new version of the game, but who knows. All I can do is try it anyway.

I rest one hand against the colt's forehead and the other on his chest and my hands begin to glow with silver light. We’ll try Lay on Hands first.

Lay on Hands, remove the disease rabies from this child of God.

The light fades and I can hear the father hold his breath as he waits for any signs of improvement. After a few tense seconds the colt opens his eyes and makes a quiet woah sound as he looks at me hovering above him. “Go get some water for him, that’ll be the true test.”

The father comes to his senses when I mention water and after nervously nodding his head he runs out of the hospital room. “I’ve never seen a doctor like you mister.”

“Well that’s because I’m not a doctor, little one. I’m an elf. How are you feeling? You’ve been through the ringer for the past week apparently, and your sire was worried sick about you.”

“I’m tired, and it feels like I’m moving through mud when I try to move around. Did you make me all better?” I give him a soft smile and a subtle nod. “Thanks mister elf. I’m glad Daddy won’t have to worry about me so much anymore.”

“You’re a good kid, you know that? Not many foals would be concerned with the impact they have on their parents lives. That means the both of you had probably had it rough, huh?”

“Yeah. Ever since Mommy went to work one day and never came back. Daddy made me go to some service and they talked about a hydra or something, and Mommy’s name was one of the ones on the big stone they showed. After that there’s a lot of nights where I can tell Daddy is sad.” I feel some cold water splash onto my hands and wonder if the father must’ve spilled some of the water. “Why are you crying mister elf?”

Ah that’s what it was. “That’s just a very tragic story, kid. I’m sorry I didn’t find the hydra sooner. If I did then…maybe…”

I hear the familiar sound of hooves on a hard floor as the father returns to the room. I glance back at him and hover the cup of water with a straw in it over to the foal. “Drink this for me.”

The colt barely manages to lean forward the half inch it takes to put the straw in his mouth but as soon as it does we watch the water level in the cup quickly get lower and lower. Instantly both me and the stallion let out a sigh of relief. After that I try to cast Cure Wounds on the kid, and his sunken cheek bones return to normal and he looks a bit healthier.

“Thank you so much! I can’t believe you actually heard my prayer! I thought for sure it wasn’t going to work, but I was desperate and then I saw that article and the way you looked in that photo and I knew you were my last Hope. I’ll never forget this for as long as I live, your holiness.”

“Ope, nope I don’t like that at all. Just sir or Ignis is fine. I only ask that you stay faithful and if you have the means to help someone else, to act on it and help them as I’ve helped you. Anyone can be a beacon of hope. If something like this comes up again don’t hesitate to ask for help in another prayer, but do try to only do so for emergencies. There’s a lot of ponies and only one of me. Also have the hospital inform the castle that there's an animal with Rabies on the loose somewhere here in Canterlot. If you know what kind it was that injured your colt be sure to include that information.”

“Of course. I really wish I had some way to actually repay you, but I’ll do my best to do as you say.”

“Good. Also your son loves you very much, but..” I speak directly into the fathers mind for the next part of my statement. “But he worries about how often he sees you sad at night. I understand wanting to shield him from the harshness of this situation until he’s older, but if that’s how you’re going to approach the situation, try to be more discreet with your grieving. I asked you to try and be a beacon for others, but you MUST be a beacon for him. If you ever need any advice or help for something that isn’t an emergency feel free to stop by Night Court and ask for me. If they refuse you for whatever reason then ask for Elytra, she is one of my most faithful and she can get you to me.”

The stallion gives me a nod with that familiar look of determination in his eyes, and I can feel at ease as I teleport away. That look tells me that everything will probably work out fine for those two. Can’t believe his mom was one of the ponies we lost to the False Hydra early on. Giving him permission to find me directly in the castle will likely be seen as preferential treatment by anyone that knows, but it's the only way I can feel any form of atonement for failing to notice that hydra before it devoured anyone.

I should’ve asked for that stallion’s name. Carved Oak. Somehow I just instinctively know his name, and even for ponies it’s a bit of a strange one. I wonder what kind of woodwork he does. Anyways, with that 30 minute detour out of the way, I assume whatever meeting Celly and Luna were having has already concluded. So, I’ll just go straight to the dining hall.

“Can we please not talk about this anymore? This is the dinner table, that conversation ended when we left the meeting.” I hear Luna complaining about whatever topic they have right now.

“I’d love to do that if it wasn’t so serious Lulu. We have to do something about these news articles! The last thing we need is another cult, and with how rapidly this one is growing we need to move now.”

“Who cares? Pretty sure Ignis appreciates the followers and who are we to tell ponies who they can and cannot worship. I’m of the opinion that we should be more concerned about the dragons. Our spy was supposed to report every week and they’re 12 hours late to report. I wouldn’t be too surprised to hear that they’ve found the guard.” Luna pauses for a second before calling out. “Glad you could join us, Ignis. I was starting to wonder if I needed to go drag you out of bed myself.”

Caught red handed I step out from behind the door and sit down at the table. Looks like it’s just Celestia and Luna in here tonight. “For what it’s worth I prefer if you didn’t outlaw my religion. I was actually thinking Luna and I should set up a joint temple. Our domains are so compatible that I’m fairly certain there wouldn’t be any problems if we shared followers.”

Luna tilts her head adorably in confusion while Celestia just furrows her brows, deep in thought. “What does the moon have to do with either Hope or Chaos?”

“You almost certainly have more than one domain, Luna. If you don’t have this domain then perhaps Nightmare has it, but I’m talking about Hopes and Dreams. Those two are so tightly bound together that I’m sure we could get away with joint followers. Normally the hardest part about having a worshiper that also follows another deity is that the follower has to live by the tenants of both for both to get the benefits. For something like Harmony and Chaos, it’d be damn near impossible for a follower to truly worship both. Hopes and Dreams though? Not a problem.”

Celestia seems surprised at the revelation but Luna has a type of smile I don’t get to see on her very often. It’s one she wears when she is exceedingly pleased about something. “Ah also can you accompany me to the orphanage we went to a while ago? I want to get this done before it’s too late, and I don’t remember where the place is.”

“That place? Why?”

“I have a theory I want to test. If it works it’ll be extremely good news.” I can tell from the inquisitive look on her face that this explanation isn’t enough to satisfy her. “If this works I will cure that filly’s deafness.”

“Shouldn’t you eat something first? You haven’t even touched a plate since you sat down.”

“I’m eating in a couple of hours, I don’t wanna spoil my appetite.”

“Ahh.” Her face dawns with realization and she nods before abruptly standing up, and leading me out of the dining hall.

“So what exactly is this plan of yours?”

“I can use domain spells and domain powers that I bestow on my followers, and I also give them access to the Cleric spell list. I want to see if my Divine Ranks will work as a justification for the System to let me use Cleric spells with the Mizzium Apparatus. If it works I can cast Regenerate on that filly. It’s a seventh level spell, so I haven’t had access to it until recently.”

“Ah so if it’s that high of a level you can likely only do it once per day.”

“Yeah, for now. Also if this works I plan on doing the same thing for a blind pony in the center of town. Performing miracles like that in public is a great way to bolster our numbers.”

Luna gives me the most judgemental side eye I’ve ever seen her give to anyone. “I’m not sure if that’s a good motivation to do something like that in front of everypony. It feels like you’re using the victim.”

“I am. They’ll be using me as well, though. You ask any blind person if they care about being used as a public demonstration and in return they get their vision back for the rest of their life. Trust me it’s not that amoral. I won’t ask for anything from those that get healed so some public exposure should be plenty fine. I won’t even make them worship us.”

After humming in thought for a few seconds she relents. “I suppose that’s valid. It still makes me feel slimy thinking about it, though.”

“If you really hate the idea then we don’t have to do it, but I promise you it’s not as bad as you're making it out to be.”

Before she can respond I realize we’ve arrived at the orphanage. After talking to the old mare we met last time she lets us in to visit the filly again. The poor thing is shaking like a leaf as she stares at the bright glowing tubes of the Mizzium as she isn’t really sure what’s going on. I pull out the Staff of the Magi since it’s a spellcasting focus and can substitute for the Material component that I don’t have.

Next I cast Guidance on myself. Now that I have 22 Intelligence my Aracana is +16 on it’s own. I get another +2 from my Divine Rank, and another +1d4 from Guidance. The worst I can possibly roll is 20. If I roll a natural 1 on the d20 then another 1 on the guidance that’d be 1+19. This is a 7th Level spell so I have to roll a 24. I just have to roll higher than a 5 and I’m guaranteed to cast the spell with no complications. Phew okay deep breathes. Please let this work, please let this work. I have access to the Cleric spell list, but I only have access to it in such a way so that I can bestow onto others. Surely that still counts as having access to it?

“Regenerate.” I hold my breath as I wait for the Arcana check to appear. If it appears then that means this works, even if the spell fails because of a bad roll. That’d still be amazing news.

Arcana Check (Mizzium DC: 24)

11 + 4 + (16 +2) = 33.

Thank me it was a good roll. My hand and the staff start to glow with an immensely bright light as the Mizzium hums and rattles much louder than it ever has before. This is the first time I’m casting a 7th Level spell with my own power, and the way the air vibrates from the density of magic is amazing. Hell, maybe magic like this really is a miracle.

The light fades and the filly is surrounded in a very dim silver aura as she looks around confused, wondering what happened. “I assume it worked then? Can you hear me, little Cursive Hoof?”

The filly makes no indication that she heard Luna. “The spell takes around two minutes to regenerate any limbs. Honestly it’s a very loose definition that I think this will cure her deafness if we consider her ear drums as a limb. If this doesn’t work though then I’m sure the Heal spell will work.”

We sit there with tension hanging in the air as the seconds pass. After a brief period of time that feels like hours the filly suddenly yelps and then screams, jumping backwards as if startled. Oh, she’s scaring herself. She probably just heard herself breathing for the first time and got startled so she involuntarily yelped which scared her even more so she screamed. It’s just one big chain reaction as the filly screams one last time before hiding under the bed.

“Cursive, it’s ok. What you heard at first was the sound of your own breathing. You can hear now.”

Her eyes widen to an extreme degree as her pupils shrink to pinpricks. Her bottom lip starts to tremble and she breaks down into tears with a big smile on her face. She’s completely overwhelmed, the poor thing. I feel my face relax as I can’t help but to give her a gentle smile. Suddenly the filly darts out from under the bed and jumps up, ramming her head into my chest at full speed.

“Oof!” It doesn’t hurt at all but I make the noise on reflex. The child is repeatedly saying thank you in broken common. Wait, how did she even understand what I said? Luna talked to her telepathically last time we were here, so maybe they use telepathy to teach deaf foals what the words sound like after they learn how to spell them?

Ah, who cares. No point in wondering about pointless details when I should just be enjoying the moment.

After maybe an hour or so of celebration and thank yous and being forced to interact with all of the foals in the place I finally manage to get out. I have to get ready for my date. Nightmare requested to specifically pick me up from my room, so that’s where I’m at. It’s been so long since I’ve been here that it’s dusty as hell. Do the maids not come in here?

Nightmare had another specific request that surprised me, but it wasn’t an unpleasant surprise. It was actually something I hadn’t even thought about doing, and now that she’s put the idea in my head I’m wondering how I didn’t try this as soon as I got these Divinity powers.

“Alter Form.”I look in the mirror as my body shrinks down to around 5’10” and my long silver hair fades away to short black hair. My soft elven face fills out a bit as my jaw becomes more defined and my shoulders get a bit broader.

Nightmare requested to go on this date with Lucas. The glimpses of my life on Earth she was able to see during my dreams and visions seemed to leave an impression on her. She also thinks that Lucas is who she got to know and understand as we grew closer, so as a result she asked if I would mind assuming that form for the date.

I actually have no problem with it, and it’s a strange feeling to finally see my old self in the mirror like this. Ah I still need to fix the eyes, Lucas didn’t have golden orbs for eyes they were just plain ole brown with normal pupils. Next is the clothes, I’ll just keep it simple and use a white button up shirt with a collar combined with black dress pants.

As I’m turning and inspecting myself to see if there’s anything I missed when I was altering my form I hear a knock at the door. Opening it I find Nightmare’s draconic eyes are at the same level as my own eyes. We’re damn near the exact same height, she’s just got me beat with the horn. Her eyes widen in surprise as a small smirk forms on her face. “Like what you see? You can take a picture if you want.”

“I just might. Don’t get me wrong I adore your normal form as well, but this form has it’s own masculine charms. Rugged is perhaps a good word to describe it? The hair on your face combined with that look in your eyes that seems more…predatory. How did you manage to not find love looking like this?”

“Oh, I had plenty of lovers with this body, but they were just flings, ya know? Nothing serious. Just meaningless physical relationships with no love. It’s really my elven form that leaves me puzzled. I have no clue how Ignis didn’t manage to get laid with the way that body looks.”

“I see. Well, are you ready to depart, my consort eternal?”

“Of course. What have you got planned for us first?”

Author's Note

NOTICE: Last chapter had a pretty substantial rewrite in it. The entire interaction between Ignis and Shining was rewritten because I completely forgot that Shining is supposed to hate Ignis. The end result is still the same but the conversation is much more argumentative with Shining being more stand-offish. You don't have to go back and reread it since the end result is the same, and he gets the badge and goes to the barracks like normal. But, figured I'd inform those of you that read last chapter before the rewrite, so in future chapters you aren't like "why is Shining being an asshole all of a sudden? He was cool last time we talked."

Secondly...Listen. I didn't really mean for that scene with the kid in the hospital to be that sad. I originally didn't even have backstories for them, but I decided it was lazy to not have backstories for the two of them. So I was like "Okay, why is it just the dad?"

"Cause the mom is out of the picture." and then the backstory just wrote itself. Sorry not sorry, at least the family was able to avoid another tragedy so shortly after the first one. Hopefully the scene with the deaf filly was able to adequately serve as eye bleach/palate cleanser.

I know some of you are enjoying these fluff chapters, but I don't want the pacing of the story to slow down much more than this. After this date (might be 2 or 3 chapters) we're going to the next arc. Even if I gotta drag some of you kicking and screaming >:(

Also I can't believe I completely missed the fact that we passed 100 chapters. If I did my math correctly A New Mystery pt. 1 was chapter 100. Insane to me that we've come so far, but still have so much more to go. I'd say we're not even 1/5th of the way through the story, which is insane to think about.

Anyways, Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - An Overdue Date

“The Everfree, huh? You know last time me and you went on an outing here the world nearly ended. Technically the first time we were in these woods together the world was on the verge of ending then as well. Things don’t tend to go very well when we end up here, Moonie.”

“You know…I had never really realized it until now. Should we go somewhere else?” She actually looks pretty concerned.

“Nah I mean it is factually correct, but I was just fuckin around. I doubt anything will happen. What are we doing here?”

Nightmare just tilts her head signaling for me to follow her. We stumble upon a lake I’ve never seen before. Considering this is the Everfree the water is shockingly clear. “Has this place always been here?”

“No. It used to be a swamp, but mysteriously it was cleansed at some point.” When she says that I actually spot a large pile of bones that I recognize as the Hydra me and Luna killed out here forever ago.

“Alter Form.” My eyes instantly widen as I turn to my left to look at the voice who just said that. I find myself unable to breathe as an absolute stunner of a woman is in front of me. Her pale skin tone matches mine, likely a result of my form being the only reference she has. Cyan draconic eyes stare back at me.

Long hair the color of a deep purple falls over her shoulder and hangs down to her waist. The purple has silvery dots that remind me of stars all over. She seems to still have her horn, though. If she’s using the same Alter Form as me, which I think she is, then she can only assume a form with a maximum of two limbs less. She’s about a head taller than me and her face isn’t what I would describe as cute.

It’s hot. She exudes the presence of someone that stands above the rest. There’s a tight black strapless dress clinging to her chest that reaches down to almost her knee on one leg, but on the other leg stops just after her hip. She looks so similar yet so different than how I imagined her in that make believe dream I had during the Discord incident.

“Oh, I didn’t realize how short you are, dear consort.”

“I’ll have you know I am perfectly average for a human. You’re just tall.”

She closes the distance and forces me to lean my head back to maintain eye contact. “Does this perhaps hurt your pride as a man? I could make myself shorter if so, I wasn’t really considering my height when I configured this form so I suppose this is what my height would actually be if I was human.” Her tone is genuine, so I don’t feel mocked when she asks about my pride.

“Don’t you dare. Stay just like that.”

In response I feel a hand run through my hair before gently scratching my head. It takes everything I have to not melt on the spot. I haven’t been on the receiving end of this type of treatment my entire time here, so I plan to enjoy it for as long as she’s willing. Apparently my inner thoughts are written plainly on my face because Moonie comments on it.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen your eyes flutter closed like that. You must be quite content right now.”

“...Very much so.” I’m unable to hide how suddenly tired I am from my voice.

“Oh don’t fall asleep on me yet. We’re only just getting started.” She snaps her fingers and a small square table appears with two simple wooden chairs. “Take a seat.”

As I sit down she snaps again and a tablecloth falls out of the air, covering the table. Then two plates appear and my eyes widen as I realize what’s on them. “Isn’t this illegal?”

“Where do you think I was all day? I got these fresh from the capital of the griffon lands. It might still be against the law to consume them here, but the cows were already dead and were going to die no matter what I did. So…I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.” I look at the sirloin sitting in front of me with the slightest bit of hesitation.

Inside of me there are two wolves. One questions the morality of eating a creature that could once talk and think like myself. The other really hasn’t had steak in a long time and would like to enjoy one again. I decide to cut into it, and when I see that it’s been cooked medium rare the last of my resistance crumbles. I instantly pop the piece of beef into my mouth and let an involuntary groan of satisfaction.

“This is amazing. I can’t believe you went so far out of your way to get all of this setup for us…for me?” Gazing at the food again before glancing over to the lake, staring at the reflection of the full moon on the water.

“Please, I’d go this far just to thank you for saving my life and freeing me. It’s still hard to believe I’m here. Really here with my own form and my full power. You said you’d free me and in hardly any time at all you made it reality. You should eat though before it gets cold.”

“True. I suppose we’ve got all night to talk.” We both start eating in earnest and the woman keeps catching me staring at her as she starts to get more and more embarrassed.

“Why do you insist on continuing to stare like that? Nopony wants to be stared at while they eat, it’s embarrassing.”

“If it was an unpleasant sight I don’t think I’d continue to look. Don’t feel obligated to stay in this form or use it more often after tonight by the way. It’s a pleasant surprise but you're perfect regardless of if you have two or four legs.”

“As long as you understand that as well. There’s no obligation for you to assume your old human form just for me. I’m typically quite pleased with how you look.”

It doesn’t take long to finish the meal and we find ourselves just enjoying each other's company. “Could I get your take on a certain topic I had an argument about earlier?” She nods and I briefly explain the argument I had with Luna about curing someone's blindness in the center of town so others can see it.

“It is very questionable of you as a person to have that as your sole motivator, but if we remove that from the equation and look at it as a transaction or a trade of sorts? Then I would agree with you, as long as you have their consent beforehand I don’t think it’s a problem to do that. The issue isn’t with the transaction though, it’s your mindset. When you say it the way you said it, it sounds like you only want to help creatures for a reward or gain of some sort.”

“Well of course not. I can only do it once per day, but if I could do it more than once then I’d be all over the place just helping everyone I could find. Speaking logically though, as a transaction, this is more than fair the party being cured. In my mind it’s moreso like “I’m already going to do this, why not just do it in a way that benefits me as well?” Is that really so slimy?”

“But if you happened across a pony in the dead of night with nopony around and for some reason if you didn’t cure them right then and there they’d be blind for the rest of their life no matter what. Would you just scoff and continue on your way because nopony is around to witness it?”

I recoil from how insulted I suddenly feel. “Of course not! I just don’t get the big deal, I guess. If I gain more followers then I’ll gain the power to help even more people. Why would I not just try and be efficient while I’m at it? I can help people, which I’m going to do anyways, but I can also do it while accomplishing my other goal of getting more followers. It just makes sense. I don’t think anyone has the right to ignore all of the good being done just because they find the motivation to be selfish. If the reason I wanted it to be seen in public was for some malicious reason like gaining the trust of the people so I can build power and overthrow the kingdom or something. I could see that as something worth judging. But for a vast majority of cases I think good deeds are good no matter why they were done.”

“It’s a true philosophical debacle then, isn’t it? Let me ask you a hypothetical then. If you were terminally ill and somepony walked in and said they could cure you. Then you found out that the pony is just using you for public exposure, would you still allows yourself to be cured?”

“Yes. Everyone is using everyone, Nightmare. It’s naive to think otherwise. Every request I hear I always consider what they stand to gain and as long as it’s nothing evil or heinous I don’t mind if it’s selfish. I don’t even really consider myself as “being used” I’m being offered a benefit and that just so happens to also benefit them. I don’t even have to do anything except be cured. If them being benefited were to also be detrimental to me, then I might have some issues with it. If it’s just a scenario where we both stand to gain something, why would I spit in the face of that offer just because they also gain a benefit? That sounds selfish to me. I’d want anyone who helps me to gain some type of benefit or payment for their trouble. I think most people are like that, that’s why they always try to offer some form of payment to not feel indebted.”

She hums in thought for a while. “I suppose your argument might have some merit to it. You’re right in the sense that whenever somepony does something for me or helps me in some way, I do often think about how I could repay them. You’re suggesting that what you want to do is the same thing as someone offering repayment, but you’d just be skipping the step where one party asks how to repay them and the other party tries to insist they don’t need to do anything.”

I can’t help but sigh. “No I’m not saying that. In that scenario it implies I don’t want repayment. The reason we often say we don’t want repayment is because we think that it’s wrong for us to feel that way. If it’s wrong then why does almost everyone hate receiving charity. Why do we always ask for some way to make things even, yet it’s apparently outlandish for someone to just do something kind because they stand to gain something. The repayment is already baked in, why do people instinctively feel revulsion at that idea? Is it because they want to be the one offering the repayment? I don’t know, but I think it’s silly.”

Nightmare furrows her brow for several seconds. “I…I think I actually agree with you. If someone were to do something for me I would want them to gain something. So why do I dislike the idea of a gift where they already stand to gain something?”

“Because offering that repayment makes you feel like a good person. It’s like being told to do something you’re already doing. You want to stop just because they told you to, it’s not as satisfying now because someone told you to do it. Except in this case you feel robbed because you don’t get to be the good person offering some way to also help them. That’s my theory anyways.”

“That’s dark. I didn’t know you were so…nihilistic.”

“I prefer to think it’s being realistic, but yeah I’ve been called that before. Everything everyone does is for an ulterior motive. I just think it’s silly to try and masquerade that with pointless and repetitive social interactions. “Oh no, after you.” “No after you I insist.” “Oh I’ll pay the bill, it was my idea to come here.” “Noo~ I couldn’t let myself mooch a free meal off of you.” All of those scenarios to me are just people trying to gain some type of benefit. It might be goodwill or a positive impression on a person, or they might just want the benefit of being normal and following the social status quo.”

After taking a sip of water I continue ranting. “I’m not trying to say I’m better than those people, either. I just find all of it to be exhausting. If someone holds the door and wants me to go in first, “yeah sure man thanks”, or if someone wants to pay for my half of the bill? Sure fuck it bro, thanks. I’m still perfectly fine to do something even if I do gain literally nothing for it, but if it’s possible for me to gain some sort of benefit that has no negative impact or effect on anyone else, why is it wrong for me to do so?”

I got a bit more worked up about this than I thought I would. “Sorry, supposed to be a fun date. I’ll just admit that maybe I have a strange way of viewing the world.”

“Oh, don’t be sorry. I haven’t had to think this much outside of a fight in centuries. I do think I’ve changed my mind as well. It’s not wrong for you to think like that, but I will caveat that. If you ask somepony to do the healing in public and they say no…”

“I’d heal them anyways. Of course.”

She nods and gives me a smile. “You do realize at some point you’re going to have an entirely different problem, right?”

“Hm?”

“You’re going to be stretched too thin. If you have this mindset of helping anypony you can, you're going to find yourself weighed down by the fact that in some cases you choose to help one pony and another pony loses their life without you. Ponies will turn on you as they think you’ve personally slighted them by choosing to help somepony else over them if they live, and if they don’t live you’ll have to continue on wondering if you made the right choice.”

“So what? I just shouldn’t help anyone because I’m unable to help everyone? For my own mental health you’re probably right. You’re also right that those same followers would turn on me at the drop of a hat if I’m constantly bending over backwards to help everyone the instant I’m unable to help them personally. Like when a problem sibling gets away with everything with a minor scolding and you resent them for doing whatever they want, so you do the same thing as them. But, since the expectation for you is to be the good kid, your punishment for the same offense is much more severe than the problem sibling.”

Nightmare gives me a single nod and gives me a sympathetic look. “I worry what will happen when that day comes.”

“I’ll just have to be everywhere at once.” She gives me a confused look. “I’ll just bless thousands of clerics, and scatter them across the continent. If I can’t be somewhere cause I’m in the middle of solving a crisis I can dispatch my followers to act as an extension of myself.”

“So you’ll just run yourself ragged and leave your devout followers to pick up the slack?”

“Pretty much, yeah. I think that’s better than being an indifferent God who sits in their own pocket dimension and observes everything wrong with the world while doing nothing to help or fix it. In that scenario she’s still leaving her devout followers to pick up the slack. The only difference is that there’s a fuck ton more slack to be picked up than in my scenario. I want to earn their worship. Not just sit in a cloud and offer lip service with a couple of miracles every hundred years or so.”

“Won’t that leave them too complacent? The mortals might get lazy and spoiled, sitting back and doing nothing in the face of any type of inconvenience or evil because they know you and your followers will fix it.”

I click my tongue in annoyance. “Tch, yeah. That probably would happen after a long enough period of time. Probably after two or three generations when the only people alive are people that have only ever known of a world where I solve their problems. This is annoying. There has to be an acceptable middle ground. Doing NOTHING cannot possibly be the right answer. I refuse to accept that.”

The beautiful woman looks at me with eyes full of pity. “I hope you’re right, but I worry about what the future will hold for you. It’s going to be a hard path to go down, Lucas.”

“Guess I’m glad I’ve got some really nice marefriends to be there for me.”

Please…please help me. I don’t wanna die!

“Be right back.” I don’t even get a chance to hear her response before popping out of existence and reappearing in some dark tunnel.

Looking down I can see some dark water and that’s when the stench hits me. I’m in the sewer. I hear voices just around the corner and stop to listen. “Your orders are to replace this maid, she works on the night shift at the castle. The queen wants the daily routine of the VIP Target and the Lunar Princess. She also expects information about the true extent of the VIPs capabilities. The rumors circulating seem outlandish, so we need to verify the veracity of the claims. The riskiest part of your mission will be this.”

Using Remote Sense on the follower I’m able to see an extremely small gem get passed from one changeling to the other. “You will need to plant this gem and two others in the bedrooms of both Princesses and the VIP. These cannot be discovered under any circumstances. Every week you’ll extract everything in the gems into this gem and bring it down here when you make your report. If our magic specialist is to be believed this will record and store audio from around itself. You are to take no actions against any of the castle staff, royalty, or the target. After one month of reports we will reevaluate and update your orders.”

I didn’t realize they were this sophisticated with their intelligence gathering. Sentiment has been missing for weeks now, and I’m starting to think this is what happened to the poor therapist as well. I wonder if I ever even met the real doctor. Well, it’s already been two minutes and I’ve got a beautiful woman waiting on me.

Turning the corner I silently leap forward towards the two changelings. One of them has their back to me and I watch as the other one starts to look alarmed and wide eyed. It starts to open its mouth to yell out something, but it’s too late. I've already reached the subordinate. One quick slash of the Moonblade with a level two smite instantly snuffs the bug from existence.

“H-How can this be….how did… how did you find us?!” I just grab it by the horn, lift it into the air, and punch it in the gut. After one minute of muttering incantations I cast Geas on the changeling.

“While staying undisguised, you will go from here straight to the front gate of Canterlot castle and turn yourself into the guards for ponynapping. You will offer no resistance to what happens after that and you will make no attempts to contact the hive or escape the dungeons.”

I watch as the changeling goes limp and its blue eyes seem to lose their color. I drop the changeling on the ground and it starts to walk away from me in robotic fashion. I look down at the maid who looks scared out of her mind. “I can’t teleport anyone else when I teleport, do you want me to carry you out of here? I was going to ask you to accompany the changeling to the castle, and offer me another prayer if something happens. I understand if you’re too shaken up to do that though.”

“N-n-n-n…no. I can do that. Thank you so much.” There’s a deep level of gratitude in her eyes, so I offer her a cast of Cure Wounds for her scrapes and bruises and watch as she catches up to the mind controlled changeling.

Alright, back to Nightmare. Greater Teleport.

“It’s quite rude to just abandon a lady in the middle of your date, you know?” She has a somewhat playful tone, but I can tell she is actually a little annoyed at the situation.

“Sorry, one of the castle maids sent a prayer begging for help, she feared for her life. Rightfully so, she was about to be taken to the changeling hive. Chrysalis apparently wanted the drone to replace the maid and gather a bunch of information about us. It was specifically a maid from the night shift.”

“Wait..what? You were only gone for… no longer than five minutes, though?”

“Yeah I killed the subordinate, took his magic gems, and then placed the changeling that seemed to be in charge under a Geas. He’s turning himself in to the front gate of the castle while being escorted by the maid he tried to kidnap as we speak.” Now she looks moderately impressed.

“Wow, you are efficient. Hopefully this kind of thing doesn’t happen too often though. If we were having a more…intimate moment I think I’d be quite frustrated. It’s matters of life and death though, so I suppose I should be less selfish.”

“No, you'd be totally justified to be annoyed. You didn’t sign up for this, and it’s not really fair to you. That’s another reason why I want to expand my follower base as quickly as possible. That situation could’ve been handled by two or three clerics, easily. They were planning to put these gems into our bedrooms.”

I lay out the three small gems and the slightly larger gem on the table. “These three would’ve sat in the rooms and apparently recorded all of our conversations. Then the drone was told to use this larger gem to extract the information and they were to turn in this larger gem every week when they made a report. You ever heard of magic items that can do that?”

“Nay, but I imagine the concept isn’t too complicated. You could repurpose a Sending spell to just capture the audio whenever it detects speech, but instead of sending it somewhere just store it into the mana of the gem. It’s deceptively simple and brilliant. Can we examine them after tonight, though?”

I give her a sheepish grin. “Right, yeah let’s do that. Sorry, haha. What did you have planned next?”

“Well when I was looking for ideas there was one suggestion that came up a few times, and I figured it was worth checking out. Apparently it’s not done very often at night, so this should be interesting. This time slot was their last one for the evening and it’s the reason why we had to do this so early into the night. We’re going to see the Wonderbolts Air Show.”

With a flash of her horn we’re suddenly standing in a private balcony seat in some stadium. I have to shield my eyes as they adjust to the new level of brightness. They’ve positioned several clouds far up in the sky and seem to have planted very bright gems containing the Light spell into the bottom of the clouds. They’re acting like spotlights illuminating the field of grass in the center of the stadium and all of the air in between. One downside is that suddenly the night sky has far less stars in it.

“I guess that explains how they’re able to do this kind of thing at night. I was wondering how they’d perform air stunts without crashing into each other if they were doing it at night.” I point at the obvious as my eyes finally adjust to the bright lights.

“I’m more surprised by how many ponies are here. It looks like it’s a sold out show…such a stark difference from the nights 1,000 years ago.” Ah there is a slight bit of pain in that voice.

“A good kind of different?” She nods with a soft smile. “So uh are you sure us being in an isolate balcony, of which there are only like 10, where everyone can see us, is a good idea while you’re in that form and I’m in this form? I’m not sure how ponies will react to two more lanky bipedal creatures that look nothing like Ignis.”

Her mouth forms a small “o” before turning a bit sheepish. “I hadn’t considered that. Should we switch back?”

“Up to you, I don’t frankly give a fuck, I was just wondering if you had considered it. I suppose it’s probably for the best that we do revert to our original forms.” Another short nod and suddenly the pair of humans are now a tall elf God and Nightmare Moon. “Another thing I was curious about, how did you figure out how to change your form like me?”

“Luna seemed to just assume you were special and wrote off being able to do any of those abilities herself, but some of these things you described are literally exact descriptions of what Harmony does. That made me think perhaps I can do all of those things as well. So ever since then I’ve done nothing but experimentation. The reason we instinctively feel that we can’t accomplish those things is because our divinity is stored in our celestial bodies. If I take in some of the divinity and don’t immediately convert it into power or mana, but instead circulate it through my mana pool. It’s a bit uncomfortable but I was able to find just the right amount of divinity for it to not actually harm me, it stops at being uncomfortable. Once I figured that out and had the divinity circulating for a while it worked almost the exact same as my horn. In the sense that I just knew what I could do with it. I’ve got some other tricks as well, but I want them to be a surprise so I’m not spoiling it.”

“Well shit, that’s actually super cool. I’m excited to see what else you can do now, especially if it’s different from what I can do. Did you and Luna ever settle your Head Mare disagreement? I know that was ongoing when suddenly we all thought I was going to die. Ever since then you two have gone back to talking to each other.”

“Indeed. All three of us had a meeting and Luna suggested that we just don’t have a head mare.” Hey that was my idea and she told me it was dumb! “Force brought up quite a good point though. Luna is head mare regardless of what happens because you swore your soul and entire being to her in your oath. By default that kinda puts her ahead of us.” That’s quite a bittersweet tone.

“I wouldn’t say she’s ahead of you two. But, I get what you mean. That does kinda make sense, I suppose. When does this thing start?” We teleported here so I assumed it was almost time, but we’ve been sat here for like 10 minutes now.

“It should be soon. Oh! There they are, look up there.” I follow her hoof and sure enough I see six ponies in familiar flight suits dive bombing towards the center of the arena. All six of them are in a single file line until about half way down they do something that’s rather pretty. Aside from the pony in front, they all break formation at the same time and split off into different directions. They also start leaving smoke trails through the sky when they break off, and they all fly in such a way that while looking straight up the smoke forms a circle around the lead pony with a spiral pattern starting from the center until it reaches the outer circle.

I can feel the entire balcony platform start to vibrate from the thunderous applause as they approach closer and closer to the stadium. The five that broke off and formed the circle with the spiral continue to fly outwards and for a second I’m confused. It’s only when they curve back towards the center that I realize they’ve drawn a rose in the sky.

The smoke making up the rose suddenly ignites and for a brief second there’s a beautiful fiery rose in the night sky, until a single pony crashes through the center of it. Spitfire knows how to make an entrance for sure. I think that was her name, anyway. If I recall correctly we actually had a bit of a staredown at the gala but nothing ever came from it. I couldn’t tell if she was actually hostile or if she was just sizing me up to see if I’d be a fun fight.

I’d love to see her think she could put up a decent fight as I am now. I watch as she flies down and hovers in the air in the middle of the stadium at around the height of the middle row of seats. “Fillies and colts, mares and stallions, are you ready to witness the greatest fliers in Equestria?!”

If I thought it was thunderous before it’s nothing compared to now. Apparently ponies are very easy to hype up, I can barely hear myself think. Spitfire continues on and announces the names of the other five Wonderbolts one by one and they all make their own dramatic entrance. As one who also has a flare for dramatics I can appreciate the showmanship.

After that a bunch of hoops and obstacles are brought into the air attached to tiny clouds. That’s not quite what I expected from an air show, but I suppose it’s still entertaining. As we watch the first pony absolutely blitz through the obstacle course I tap Nightmare on the back of her neck.

She doesn’t turn towards me but I can see her eyes glance in my direction in acknowledgement. “You know I’m sure this is impressive and cool, but compared to going toe to toe with ancient dragons and corrupted alicorns I’m not sure if this can really stand up to snuff.”

“It is a bit mundane, isn’t it? I wasn’t going to say anything because it sounds horrible, but I was kinda hoping one of them would crash and liven things up a bit.”

“Yeah that does sound bad. Do you know what else they have planned for this thing? I was expecting to see things like tight formations and performing intense maneuvers while being just inches away from the rest of the other ponies in flight.”

“I’m sure they have that as well, I wouldn’t be surprised if this their warm up exercises and they’ve just turned it into a display.” That’s true. “Do you want to leave?”

“Nah you’re probably right I’ll give 'em like 20 minutes or something, but if this is all then yeah I’m gunna be pretty bored.”

Turns out that exact phrase would be the thing I regret saying most from tonight.

“Woah woah Soarin’ time out!” The last pony flying through comes to a stop and looks at Spitfire confused. “Apparently we got somepony who thinks this is boring. What do you think we should do with ‘em?” I snort as a chorus of boo’s ring out throughout the stadium. Looks like I fucked up.

This Soarin’ fella doesn’t seem to have whatever enchantment is letting us here Spitfire so most of the crowd probably can’t hear him, but me and Nightmare definitely can. “Seriously? It’s been a while since we had one of those. Wanna just have him race you through the course we use as the Final Exam for the maneuvering classes?”

“Well that’s the thing Soarin, this pony can’t fly. In fact it’s not even a pony!” The boo’s turn into a sea of murmurs of confusion.

“You know what, yeah Nightmare let’s get outta here.”

Before Nightmare can respond I get an eyeful of fiery mane. “Woah there, Sir Knight! You can’t just disrespect us like that and then turn tail and run! What right do you have to judge how we fly when you aren’t even capable of it yourself?”

“I wasn’t judging your flying skills, I was just saying that when you’ve been through the shit we’ve been through in the last two months this isn’t really enough to get me excited. I have no doubt it takes a lot of skill and you all have worked hard and trained relentlessly to put together this show. I just don’t think it’s for me. Also, I can totally fly.”

I thought my little response was good enough to defuse the situation, but as soon as I mentioned being able to fly I saw a fire ignite in the mare's eyes. “In that case, if the things you’ve done make this seem mundane then you shouldn’t have a problem doing it yourself, right? I’ll even let you race me.”

The audience makes a bunch of oooo and woah noises and I just pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh. “That’s not a question I need answered. I promise you that you will win. It’d probably take me like five times as long to go through that course.”

“Wow, and here I thought the “God of Canterlot” would have the spine to back up his words.” Spitfire flies a bit to my left and addresses my date. “So tall, dark, and mysterious what do you think about your stallion backing down from my challenge? Why don’t you come watch from the Captain’s cloud? Best seat in the house.”

Alright well, I tried. Instantly the wonderbolt goes quiet and her eyes widen in shock. This entire section of the stadium falls silent as my Divine Aura expands outwards to its full 40ft. I hear Nightmare speak up next to me and she sounds cool as a cucumber. “You made the wrong choice, little pegasus. Every single member of this herd has a mean streak of jealousy, so you really should not have done that.”

The pegasus slowly looks over at me to find me glaring daggers at her. “Setup the fucking course. I’m going to destroy you.”

She flies away without a word and I watch as the hoops and poles are rearranged into a much tighter setup. The thing is packed with tight angled turns one after another with obstacles forcing you to weave through and around things in the way as you make the turns.

“You know I’d never agree to something like that right? We don’t have to do this, Ignis. We can just leave.” Nightmare tries to get me to back out of this.

“Absolutely not. You believe in me right?”

“So you’re telling me you wouldn’t lose in a one on one race through an intense obstacle course against the captain of the most rigorous and prestigious flight squad in Equestria?” I can’t help but smirk as she sets me up to say the iconic line.

“Nah, I’d win.”

I alter my form and give myself a pair of wings and watch as the system updates to add a flying speed of 60ft to my status. Luckily there is some very specific wording in the description of Alter Form that is going to work out for me here. It says if the new form has wings I gain a flying speed equal to my walking speed.

When you use something like the Fly spell or a potion of flight you usually just get a flat flying speed of 30 or 60ft. In cases like that it’s basically impossible to use any spells or buffs to increase your speed. However, because this says I gain a flying speed equal to my walking speed, all of my buffs will apply here.

We line up at the start of the course and Spitfire still hasn’t said a single word to me since I flared my Aura on accident earlier. Using my sixth level spell slot I upcast Ashardalon’s Stride using my Mystic Arcanum feature so I can cast it silently and without hand movements. That adds 35ft to my speed. Then I activate my normal, plain ole Bladesong and that adds another 10ft. Lastly I touch the handle of the Moonblade and activate the Haste spell stored inside.

My flying speed is 105ft as Haste activates and doubles it to 210ft. Then right as we start I manually use the Dash action. That means I can cover 420ft in 6 seconds. That’s close to 50mph. That won’t be enough though, will it? Wait, I’m hasted so I have two actions. I can Dash again.

That brings it up to 630ft. A little faster than 70mph. That’ll have to be enough.

“GO!”

With one mighty flap of my wings I’m instantly up to top speed. Time slows down as I tuck my wings in and shoot through the first hoop. Spitfire is only inches ahead of me and I can see the shock on her face as she glances back.

As soon as I go through the hoop I have to immediately turn 90 degrees and start flying straight up. I’ve never had to maneuver like this the few times I’ve flown so it’s a bit sloppy and costs me even more distance as Spitfire surges ahead.

While flying straight up there’s a series of poles in a straight line that require you to go from left to right as you zigzag around them and continue up. After the first weave I’m delighted to find that I can kick outwards with a decent amount of force as I tuck in one wing to start turning and it’ll make me snap in that direction instead of slowly turning.

Acrobatics Check

11 + 12 = 23.

Everything blurs and I feel myself starting to get dizzy as I rapidly shift from left to right to left over and over again. When I exit the poles I can’t help but smirk as I notice the distance between me and Spitfire has closed again. We go through another hoop and turn 90 degrees so that we’re now flying horizontal again.

The next obstacles look like randomly placed hoops that come in pairs of two. I’m a bit confused when I see the first pair until I watch Spitfire go through the hoop on the right before snap turning 180 degrees and flying through the hoop on the left. I have to do multiple rapid u-turns in a row?! This is ridiculous!

I just barely manage to contort myself through the several u-turns and while the gap between me and Spitfire didn’t grow it also didn’t shrink. After the u-turns however the cheering and booing crowd seems to have gone quiet. They must be surprised that I’m able to keep up even this much. Hell I’m surprised I can keep up this much. I’m putting all of my focus on maintaining my top speed, but I can almost guarantee this isn’t her actual top speed. This is just her top speed while turning like this. If we were racing in a straight line I’d be doomed for sure.

The next obstacle is around 12 hoops in a row that are moving left and right at insane speeds. I’ll have to calculate its trajectory and aim for where it’s going to be, I’m not fast enough to follow it and react. I manage to go through the first hoop but the next hoop is off to the far right and close enough that I essentially need to do a 90 degree turn followed by a 90 degree turn through the hoop moving at unreasonable speeds.

It’s at this moment I remember my attempt to fly like Iron Man and using mana for propulsion. It’s unstable as hell but I don’t need all four limbs this time, I can just point my palm in the opposite direction and use it to force me in the direction I want to go.

Activating my divinity in bursts for a fraction of a second to assist in turning ends up being the right call. By the eighth hoop I’ve completely caught up to Spitfire, and I’m faster than her. The only problem is that the hoops are too small for both of us to go through at the same time, so I’ll need to pass her after the last hoop. As we approach the 12th hoop I can see the finish line and I realize whatever obstacle is after these hoops is the last one.

As soon as I’m half way through the last hoop I tilt my body just a bit and activate my magic propulsion on both hands to instantly accelerate and shoot past the Wonderbolt. I hear her gasp and then yelp in surprise as I blow past her and my eyes widen as I realize the last obstacle is multiple sets of hoops three wide.

I have to do two high speed u-turns and then keep going in the original direction into the next set of three. I have to do this four times and then it’s the finish line. Time slows down as I go through the first hoop and I’m able to use my kicking motion while contorting my body to do the first u-turn, but after going through the next hoop the position of my body is way too fucked up to do the same motion to complete another u-turn.

So I activate the thrusters again and time slows down as I calculate the entire rest of my path.

Acrobatics Check

14 + 12 = 26.

I can barely even see as I get whiplash from performing several high speed u-turns back to back to back, and I’m so dizzy that I don’t even notice the finish line slamming into my face.

As soon as my vision is blocked the crowd goes crazy with applause, but I start to panic as I can’t see and I’m dizzy. I don’t know which way is up or down. The next thing I know my wings are locked up, and I realize the finish line wrapped around my wings somehow and has tied them together.

Completely out of options my brain short circuits as I start to lose my forward momentum and drop out of the sky. I could activate my propulsion, but I’m not even sure if it'll launch me up or down. I could use telekinesis to try and get this paper unwrapped but I don’t even know if I have enough time. Think. Think. Think! My haste runs out and I can feel my entire body lock up, so now I couldn’t do anything even if I figured something out. This is gunna hurt isn’t it?

That’s when I feel myself come to a stop and I’m surrounded by a familiar warmth and softness.

“I gotcha. You reckless idiot. What were you thinking, huh?”

“Would you believe me if I said I did this on purpose cause I wanted you to catch me?”

I still can’t see, but I can just tell that she rolled her eyes in response. “No, I wouldn’t believe you. Stubborn stallion.”

Finally the fabric material used for the finish line is pulled away from me and I can see again. “I won, right?” I ask Nightmare as she stares into my eyes.

“Yeah you won. I’d argue that whatever magic you were doing to push yourself forward and around with your hands and feet is probably cheating. But, technically when a pegasus does high speed turns like that we’re not actually using just our physical wings either. Part of our inherent magic let’s us somewhat mold the air around us using the mana in the air. We pull in the air on one side and it acts as an external force that turns us in a similar way. So, I can’t really be mad. All I can say is that was some good flying. Sorry for trying to steal your date.” Spitfire answers me instead of Nightmare and I can feel the scowl return to my face as I turn my gaze towards her.

“You do it again and next time it won’t be settled with a race. It’ll be settled with a fight, and I promise you I’ll win that in a more brutal fashion. C’mon Moonie let’s get the fuck outta here.”

She ignites her horn and I find myself on a canoe in the middle of the same lake in the Everfree we were at earlier. On the other side is Nightmare who has returned to her human form. I follow suit and change my appearance back to Lucas. She holds her arms open and tells me to come here.

I’m a bit confused because the way she’s sitting it’ll be awkward for me to position myself for a hug. When I approach her though I yelp as she suddenly grabs me and turns me around so my back is facing her. Then she pulls me backwards and I feel my neck nestle between two soft pillows and I feel a chin rest on top of my head. Two wings the shade of her normal wings come into my field of vision as they wrap around me and I feel her arms wrapped around my chest squeeze tighter, bringing me even closer.

So Nightmare is sitting up straight with her legs flat and pressed up against both sides of the canoe. I’m sitting between her legs, getting pulled against her by her arms while her wings cover my nose down to my stomach. “I am so comfortable and so content right now that I’m pretty sure I could die and I’d be happy that I was like this in my final moments.”

“It is quite an intimate position isn’t it? If I was in my pony form this would be much more awkward and it likely just wouldn’t work at all. I am surprised how quickly being like this has calmed me down. It’s likely because I can feel your heartbeat resonating through my chest from how close you are. You might be doomed, Ignis. As things stand I’m not sure if I could be convinced to let you go.”

“Shit, you won’t hear me trying to convince you. I wouldn’t mind staying like this forever.”

Author's Note

Well uh. I said this was probably going to be two or three chapters, but that was with the intention of each chapter being 2-3k words long. This one is long enough that this is essentially the entire date. Next chapter is going to be another skippable NSFW chapter (and one of the last ones for a long while) then we move on :D

Thanks for reading! <3

(NSFW) Main Quest - An Overdue Lay

Author's Note

SPOILERS (This is what I would normally put at the BOTTOM of the chapter in the author notes:
I think this is probably the weakest of the three NSFW chapters. I was consciously aware of the fact that I was consistently failing to cover all five senses, but for some reason whenever I tried to come up with something for that sense I either couldn't imagine it to try and write about it, or I couldn't find the right words to describe it.

As a result some parts of this chapter feel more like a summary of a sexual encounter rather than a first person POV of an intense session of lewdness. I'm happy enough with the chapter though.

This is once again definitely skippable. With how soon it is after the last NSFW chapter I can see a decent chunk of readers skipping this one and maybe coming back to it at some point. Thanks for reading!

Kinks Included: Femdom, Hickeys, Very light biting and choking, Master/toy play, face sitting, Cowgirl, M/F, Creampie, An overuse of onomatopoeia's, Ahegao, Temporary Mind Break, and Magically induced forced orgasm

(NSFW) Main Quest - An Overdue Lay

We’re still sitting together in the canoe when I feel a sudden warmth around my ear. It’s gone as quickly as it arrived and I let out a gasp when she gently bites my neck. At the same time her right hand slides up the inside of my shirt, lightly dragging her nails as she travels up my chest.

I find myself panting for breath as the suction increases on the left side of my neck. “Hah…You’re really just going for it, huh?”

Suddenly all I feel is cold air on the left side of my neck as she responds. “Oh as soon as you got pissed at that mare and intimidated her into silence I found my thighs involuntarily rubbing against each other. That dominance really got me riled up and made me feel something I haven’t felt in quite a while..”

“Oh no you’re a sub too? How did we end up with a herd of four creatures and three of them as subs?”

“No…” She pauses and kisses my neck again. “That’s not quite the feeling that stirred in my chest.” Another pause is followed by another light bite on the neck. Then I feel her other hand grab the inside of my left thigh, slowly moving upwards. “I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that dominance. It made me want to conquer that dominance.”

As she puts emphasis on the word, conquer, her hand goes from the inside of my left thigh to my groin. The constant assault on my neck, chest, thigh, and now groin start to overwhelm me as an embarrassing moan tries to force its way out of my mouth. I keep my lips sealed shut though so instead the only sound heard is a quiet, “Mmmph.”

“Music to my ears, little human. Look at you already putty in my grasp as I’ve got you completely ensnared. Your jewels are literally in the palm of my hand.” She gives me the lightest of squeezes with the aforementioned hand currently resting on my groin. “Honestly I thought you’d put up a bit more of a fight.”

With an impossible quickness her left hand leaves my groin and slides down, under my dress pants. She wraps that hand around my member as she suddenly bites my neck again with a bit more force. I can feel those fangs threatening to pierce me as she sucks in, hard, trying her damndest to give me a bruise.

Getting hit with both at the same time, completely out of nowhere, makes me arch my back. I push the back of my head against her breasts and press myself harder against her mouth. “Oh yes. It should be no problem to make you mine. What do you think about retiring and just living out your role as my toy? Would you like that?”

“Ahhn, N…no. I’d never….hah…demean myself to something so low as a toy.”

“Oh? The mighty knight still has some fight left in him? If that’s the case then why aren’t you stopping me? You know right now you’re already my toy, yes? C’mon just imagine it. Luna and Celestia can rule the kingdom and you can just lose yourself in me entirely. No worries, no fears, no thoughts.” She punctuates each pause with another brief kiss to my neck. “So why don’t you stop lying to me and to yourself and just accept that you are mine.”

My pants are now alarmingly tight as she pumps her left hand at a slow but consistent pace. “N-n-n…no. Never.”

Suddenly all of the sensory overload stops and I no longer feel her entangling me. Until I’m suddenly spun around and pushed backwards into the canoe. As I land on my back, laying down, I feel a weight come to rest on my waist. As I look into the woman's predatory gaze she pounces. Both of her hands come down onto my own, our fingers interlocking. Her face mere inches from mine as I feel her breath against my face.

Nightmare starts to ever so slightly grind herself into my groin as she licks her lips. “You are going to worship me.”

Without allowing me a chance to refuse she closes in and locks her lips with mine. The force of her grinding increases as her tongue dominates and explores my mouth. After a few seconds her tongue withdraws and she bites my lower lip with a slight tug. When she releases me and pulls away I find myself a bit dazed and breathing heavily. Her purple hair is like a curtain as I feel it on the sides of my face, cool to the touch.

“Do your worst.” I barely manage to quietly utter the phrase in between breaths and I give her a lazy smirk.

Nightmare flashes her fangs as a wicked smile breaks out on her blushing face from my challenge. “I shall introduce you to one of your primary duties as my toy, then.” The canoe rocks left and right a bit as Nightmare stands up and takes two steps forward. I’m treated to a view straight up her dress as I eye the lacy black panties being worn underneath. Down her thigh there’s already a small trail of fluid.

She reaches down and pulls her panties to the side before descending onto my face. “A Goddess such as myself deserves only the best to serve as my throne.”

I feel her grab a handful of my short black hair before she tugs upward, as a result my lips meet her lower lips. Using both hands I grab her hips tightly and pull down as I open my mouth and my tongue darts forward. She lets out a gasp as my tongue brushes between her outer folds before flicking across her clit. I’m instantly treated to the taste of blackberries in my mouth as I repeatedly and forcefully drag my tongue across her sensitive nub.

Every gasp and breathy moan motivates me to continue. An overwhelming sense of satisfaction washing over me, knowing that it’s my efforts causing her to make this symphony.

My hands start to wander up the sides of her body in a slow and methodical motion. She looks down and we make eye contact as I rub my hands all over her. From her bosom down to her thighs pressing tightly against the sides of my head. When they travel up her body once more I grab the strapless dress and pull down, my eyes drink in the sight of her breasts spilling out as the dress is pulled down and away from them.

Nightmare lets out a heavy gasp as I grab both of the double D sized perky melons with a decent amount of force. Greatly enjoying the softness of her tits as I squeeze them. With my left hand I let go and lightly pinch her nipple, causing her to release a sharp gasp that turns into a moan.

She starts grinding herself against me as I continue to assault her chest. In between moans she decides to taunt me again. “I didn’t even tell you to do this, you know? I simply instructed you to act as my throne, and you began servicing and worshiping me like this all on your own. Your actions and your body continue to expose your lies every step of the way. It’s your baser instinct, you just know you’re meant to serve me.”

The pressure around my head from her thighs spikes out of nowhere and she starts to tremble. The hand grabbing my hair pulls me up with even more force. “Something’s happening! Something’s coming!” She seems almost confused about the overwhelming pressure and heat she's feeling that signals her approaching her peak. It’s then that I’m reminded of the fact that this is her first time.

Her grinding becomes more erratic as her moans become higher pitched. I decide to send her over the edge by speaking directly into her mind.

“You’re right. I am completely yours, mistress. Please cum for your unworthy throne, and allow me the satisfaction of fulfilling my new purpose in life, to give you pleasure.”

The effect is instant and I start to fear for my life as she threatens to crush my skull with her thighs. Her back arches as she releases an ear piercing scream. My mouth is filled with her essence and it starts to run out the sides of my mouth as I try to greedily drink it all.

All at once the pressure is relieved and I start gasping for breath as my head is freed from between her legs. When the woman glances down at me while breathing heavily it seems like she’s lost in a haze. Her eyes are unfocused. Her horn ignites and I suddenly feel the cold night air against my entire body. The magic leaves both of us completely bare and exposed.

Nightmare shuffles backwards until I feel an intense warmth resting against the middle of my cock as it lays flat against my groin and stomach. She slowly moves back and forth and my eyes start to roll up as her folds move along my shaft. If she already feels this good I can’t imagine what it’ll feel like when she actually puts it in.

Momentary lucidity overcomes me and I realize an important question. “Are you sure you want your first time to be in that form? This is all for you so if you’d rather be in your alicorn form then I wouldn’t mind in the slightest.”

Her gaze looks a bit annoyed as I break character. “Don’t question me. If I wanted to be in a different form I’d have done it regardless of your preference.” That annoyed scowl turns into a playful smirk. “Besides, I plan on doing it with both forms tonight.”

She lifts herself off of me and uses telekinesis to line up my member with her entrance. “Who do you belong to?”

“You, Nightmare Moon.”

“What is your purpose?”

“To serve and pleasure you, mistress.”

“Where is your place?”

“Beneath you, mis-Mmm….ahn.”

When I answer her final question I feel myself completely enveloped with an unprecedented level of tightness as she slams herself down on me. Another embarrassing moan slips out at the unexpected timing. I can feel myself twitching in her as she flexes herself around me.

Then I watch as the woman stares down at me with a familiar predatory gaze as she places both of her hands on my chest. Without a word she pushes herself up and drops back down. Picking up speed as she gets into a rhythm and starts to bounce on me in earnest.

After a couple of minutes I grab her hips and start to synchronize my own thrusts upwards with her descent. It feels like I’m melting inside her as I’m constantly being milked. Then she suddenly leans down and locks lips with me while continuing to bounce up and down. My eyes roll up as she dominates the inside of my mouth. Then I feel a hand wrap around my throat and when she applies some pressure my back arches and my toes curl as I moan into her mouth.

Her other hand flexes and her nails start to dig into my chest as she slams into me harder and harder. My own hands start to deathgrip her hips as I curl my fingers and my own nails start to dig into her ass.

Nightmare breaks the kiss and looks like she can barely hold herself up as her head hands right next to mine and I feel her breathing in my ear. The soles of my feet start to cramp from how long my entire body has been tensed. “Nightmare, I can’t hold on any longer!”

“Not yet. You won’t finish until I allow you to do so! Just a little more…. Ahn… Fuck fuck fuckfuckfuck, LUCAS!”

When she screams my name I feel her start to spasm around me, and she slams down to the hilt one last time. With my own low growl that turns into a roar I thrust up and pull her down as hard as I can, trying to get even a centimeter deeper. I feel my tip push against something as stars start to fill my vision and my entire body locks up.

After the first two throbs Nightmare releases a whorish moan, this one coming from her core as she trembles. “Maker above! Yesyesyes fill me up!”

The woman apparently cums again in an instant just from the feeling of her first creampie. The fifth throb hits and I can’t stop myself from grunting. It’s her turn for her eyes to roll up as her tongue lolls out of her mouth and I feel her gush around me.

Then it’s over. My entire body goes limp as all of the tension leaves me and Nightmare collapses forward laying down on me. After several seconds of heavy breathing between the two of us, Nightmare is the one to finally break the silence. “That is…dangerous. I might seriously get addicted to that. It’s like my entire body is washed over with a blinding pleasure as I feel that sudden warmth in my core. Like I accomplished my life's mission.”

“That’s your brain dumping dopamine because of your biological need to breed. It thinks I just put a baby or two in you so it fires off those fulfillment chemicals now that you’ve passed on your genetics.”

“Too many science words. Can’t think.” I just pat the woman on the head.

“So uh, for your other form…are we also doing that in the boat? Cause I’ll be honest I think that won’t go as smoothly.” Pretty sure we’d fucking capsize.

“Ah no. We’ll be going back to the castle. I never intended for this little boat to be where we had our moment, but I just didn’t want to wait anymore.” With that she ignites her horn and we find ourselves in Luna’s bedroom. Looks like no one else is in here at the moment.

As soon as I look back at the bed I see Nightmare already back in her alicorn form, laying on her belly on the bed with her hind legs hanging off the side of the bed. Her tail laying flat across her spine instead of hanging where it normally does. I revert back to my original form instead of my human form.

I walk up and take my place behind her, and squat down until I’m eye level with her winking sex. Interestingly the products from our first round are still present and running out and down the inside of her hind legs. With no warning I dive back in and lick her nub as it flicks out momentarily.

I’m treated to a delightfully cute noise from the alicorn as she yelps in surprise but it transforms into a moan halfway through. I only get to enjoy the taste of blackberries for a few seconds before she calls out my name and tells me to stop. “I’m worked up enough from our first go around, just fucking rut me.”

“Rude. Maybe I wanted some seconds before getting to the dessert, hm?”

“Feel free, but feeling you leak out of me set me ablaze as soon as I stood up and gravity took effect. I am raring to go.” Now that I’m looking closer her outer folds are already swollen and damp. Damn, she really got worked up this much in that short period of time? That’s kinda hot.

Standing back up to my full height I line myself up before leaning down and nibbling on the alicorn's ear. After a couple of seconds I release it and whisper to her. “Just so you know, this is going to be a different beast entirely if you’re letting me take the wheel.”

“I doubt it could be tha- AHHN” I interrupt her by grabbing her dock and slamming myself down to the base in one go. When she was riding on top she’d only push herself up around halfway before coming back down, so I elect to go a bit slower than normal but in exchange for the slower speed I pull out all the way to the tip before slamming back in just as hard as the first time. It’s a steady rhythm of long, deep, and hard thrusts.

“How can- oh fuck- it feel-mmmf- so different?! Maker above don’t stop.”

Deciding I want to pick up the pace I let go of her tail and slap her cutie mark before sinking my hands into her flanks in a death grip. Using both hands combined with a slightly wider stance lets me keep the same length and depth for my thrusts but at a faster speed.

Within seconds her cunt turns into a vice grip as my groin is splashed with marecum. I don’t relent at all though, I think she’s trying to ask me to slow down because of how sensitive she is right now. But, she can’t really string together anything coherent right now.

“Not soOOommf- fasht- hnng ahn PLEASCH- hah ahn nnnnf- I’m gunna break.” The mare goes limp and her head falls down onto the bed and I worry I might’ve actually fucked her silly, so I slow down and stop thrusting so hard.

In response she weakly lifts her head while breathing heavily. “Please let up for a few seconds when I go over the edge. Please Gods above. I thought I was about to lose my mind, I could see stars all over and my entire body was tensed up from the radiating pleasure. I really thought I might die.”

“Got it. So are you ready to go now?”

She floats over a couple of pillows and puts one under the middle of her barrel and the other one under her chin. “Yes.”

As soon as I hear the word yes I grab a fistful of her mane in my left hand and the base of her right wing with my right hand. I tug backwards and she bites into the pillow before throwing her head back and letting her eyes roll up.

The next time I feel her walls constrict around me and hear a muffled scream into the pillow I decide to let her experience the same thing I did to Luna our first time. In the middle of her climax I cast Command. “Cum for me.”

The instant she registers the one word command the pillow falls out of her mouth and she releases a primal whinny at an ear shattering volume. Sparks fly out of her horn as the whinny turns into gutteral moans and grunts. Her greedy cunt is constricting so hard it’s literally pulling me when I try to pull out so I can keep thrusting.

That sensation combined with the unreal level of tightness is enough to finally push me over the edge. I give her mane one final yank as I collide with her so hard the entire bed slides a few inches across the floor. Everything goes fuzzy as I let out a silent scream and unload into the alicorn's womb for the second time tonight.

Nightmare goes limp and collapses on the bed with her tongue lolled out of her mouth and I watch her eyes twitch and hear her breath hitch with every throb.

Once I’m finished I collapse on top of the pony and it takes all of my willpower to not just pass out on the spot.

“So I take it the date went well?” I don’t even have the energy to be startled or embarrassed as my eyes lazily glance in the direction of Luna's voice.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at Court right now?”

“I had to call for a recess when everypony in the throne room heard a scream followed by a rather lewd whinny sound. I assured them that everything was fine and that we had some drafts caused by damages from Discord, and the wind sometimes made a noise like that. What did you do to her for her to have that kind of reaction?”

“I did that trick where I used the Command spell to order her to cum while she was already in the middle of an orgasm. She went cross eyed, made that noise, sparks flew from her horn, and she hasn’t said a word since. I think I might’ve actually broken her.”

“No, she just needs a few minutes to realize she isn’t dead. I remember that feeling, it was so intense I couldn’t see anything, couldn’t move, and couldn’t even breathe. I really thought I’d died on the spot. Totally worth it, though.”

Sure enough after a few more seconds I hear the alicorn under me start to mutter. “Please no, not the mahogany desk. I can’t wait in that line again. Oh. I’m alive?”

“Yep. Alive and kicking.” I roll off of her and lay down next to the alicorn before wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close. “I gotta figure out how to get us both some water and a couple of towels. We need the hydration and the wipe down.”

“I’ll have a maid bring some in for you.” Luna responds with a smirk on her face as she stares at us on the bed.

“I don’t quite like the idea of a maid walking in here and smelling….this. Plus you can see everything from the doorway. It’s embarrassing.”

“Hm, very well then. I’ll have them leave at the door and knock three times to let you know it's arrived. Then you can bring them in yourself.”

“Thanks Lulu.” The alicorn just shakes her head with a small smile on her face before teleporting out.

Nightmare flips over and faces me as we both lay on our sides. I lean forward and give her a kiss before slightly pulling away and sharing my breath with her. “Love you, Moonie.”

“I love you too, Ignis.” It only takes a few seconds of breath sharing for the calming feeling to wash over me.

Unfortunately neither of us stayed conscious long enough after that to hear the maid knock on the door with the water and towels.

Followers: 3,900.

Main Quest - Interrogation of the Prisoner

Followers: 3,900

Next Divine Rank at 4,000.

That’s the first thing I see when I wake up. Why does it keep rising higher when I don’t do anything? Closing the system my thoughts get derailed when I see the state Nightmare is in. Her mane disheveled and she’s drooling on her pillow with the occasional snore. That’s some good fuckin sleep right there. I’m jealous.

“Ahem.” I hear someone clear their throat behind me and slowly turn my head to glance back at Luna. She looks like she just woke up as well. Did I wake her up?

“Did I wake you? I haven’t really done anything except open my eyes.” I try to turn and fully face the Goddess but it would appear I am completely restrained. There’s no way this is comfortable for her, though, right? I’m laying on two of her legs and the other two laying on top of me. Her forelegs are hooked around my neck.

“Nay. I woke you I’m afraid. I’m not just waking up Ignis, I’ve just now made it to bed. I’ve spent the last four hours interrogating the changeling you sent us. Stubborn creature refuses to say a word.”

“Sorry. I didn’t think you would be the one to deal with it.”

“The moon was in the sky, so the responsibility fell to me.”

“Well since I’m already awake…I need to go find that article you all have been talking about. Spitfire called me the God of Canterlot last night and I can’t wrap my head around how that title came about.” I start to slowly move Nightmares limbs off of me when I feel a weight settle on my back.

“You ran off to go play Guard and participate in Day Court for two days in a row. Leaving me in this bed, alone. Not even visiting Night Court! You will not abandon your duties a third time. Stay right where you are.” Oh. Wow, when she puts it like that I guess I have been a bit of a shitty boyfriend the past few days…

I’m surrounded by a telekinetic aura before rotating around so that my back is facing Nightmare. Her limbs settle back down once Luna is done moving me. Then Luna promptly lays down on her side with her back to me. With my arms free I slide one under her neck as I rest my other arm on her wing and dangle my hand down over her belly. After that I complete the loop by grabbing my own hand, forming a sash between her forelegs, and pull her tight up against me.

This results in a face full of starry night mane, but that’s fine. It’s actually kinda cool to the touch, like satin. “You have my deepest apologies for the neglect I’ve done to you over the past two and a half days. But, you know I love you, right?”

She pushes back, pressing against me just a bit more as I feel her finally start to relax. “I’ll forgive you just this once, but only cause you’re cute. You also have all of my love.”

With that I close my eyes and force myself to sleep once more.

“”First Bladesinger in Millenia! Capable of reviving the dead, and now photos have surfaced along with eyewitness testimony of the Lunar Knight going hoof to hoof with Discord! Most surprising of all, he was winning! Ever since the incident the Bladesinger has been seen with an ethereal mane and there are reports of the creature having a new transcendental presence when walking about the castle!” Okay I think I can see the picture they’re trying to paint that leads us towards the God title. Some of this is so exaggerated though.” I comment while chugging some water while I read the news article that got published a day after my ascension.

““When you see him you just get this overwhelming urge to lower your head, but most of us just end up staring at him. It’s almost like he’s an alicorn except he can revive the dead. Something that was thought to be impossible, with no recorded cases. I know Her Majesty forbids any religions from worshiping her as a deity, so I guess the Princesses aren’t Demigods? But, if you consider everything he can do and has shown, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that he’s a God.” Wow, I've never seen so many words dedicated to saying nice things about me. That’s not even the end of it!”

“”A Deity that appeared before us in our darkest hour, and defeated the God of Chaos. Knight Ignis then impaled the entire city of Canterlot with magic chains. Using those chains with nothing but brute strength He stopped our capital city from plummeting hundreds of feet to our deaths. I can’t speak for everypony but this Canterlot Daily journalist is all but certain that the God of Canterlot, capable of carrying the entire city, has blessed our glorious city with his protection.” Ah so that’s the kicker. Wow this one journalist managed to convince over 3,900 people to worship me. That’s kinda incredible.”

“Perhaps you should give her an interview? If they announced it beforehand and took in questions via the mail from their readers it could prove quite fruitful. Also I looked into it for you and the reason you saw a secondary bump in followers is likely because Canterlot Daily takes an extra day or two to publish in the other major cities. That secondary jump would’ve likely been much higher if those ponies had actually been able to witness you like the ponies here in Canterlot.” Nightmare responds from the corner of my office.

I had fully intended on attending Night Court tonight, but I realized it’s Friday. Which means no court. Instead I’m in my office, finally doing my job again. Definitely not pretending to do work while I read and talk to Nightmare, I would never. “Honestly that’s not the worst idea but I have some reservations about it. It could go really bad. I have a tendency to be quite blunt. Eh fuck it, I’ll head over there in the morning before bed. I think I’m going to go have a visit with our new little bug friend in the dungeons.”

The dungeons are actually quite medieval, compared to how everything has a hint of modern styling. I’d be depressed as fuck if I had to live down here. “Evening ladies! I wanna talk to the changeling. Where is it?”

“Good Evening Sir! I’d be happy to escort the two of you, if you’ll follow me?” The thestral is much more chipper than any of the other ones I’ve talked to. That’s not to say they all have a stick up their ass, but none were as peppy as this mare. It’s almost too suspicious.

After quietly muttering the incantation for Detect Poison and Disease I’m surprised to get no alerts on the thestral. Guess she’s just an exception to the rule.

“Lead the way.” She tilted her head as I did my incantation, but I told her it was just a mental warding spell. After a couple of minutes we’re led to a cell that is much different than the rest. Instead of a big metal grate it’s just a solid chunk of metal. “Why is this one different?”

“We’re unsure of just how much they can change their forms when they transform, so we opted to replace the door with something that has no gaps in it. Minimize the risk of escape.” After she finishes the explanation she slams her hoof into the metal door three times before pressing her Night Guard badge against the metal. Once the badge touches the door a small square in the middle of the door opens up. “Alright changeling, you know the drill by now. Move to the back of your cell, stand up on your hind legs and rest your forelegs against the wall. Do not turn around.”

I’m flabbergasted when the changeling actually listens without complaint and moves against the wall. Now that the door has opened up I get a mental alert of a venomous creature from my spell. That’s good, I had no doubts that this was a real changeling, but just in case…

“That’s not necessary, open the door. If it tries to do anything it knows how quickly it’ll turn into green paste on the walls.” The guard looks extremely hesitant, so I’m probably breaking standard operating procedure. Luckily I’m high enough rank that most ponies will just hesitate for a few seconds before deciding it’s not worth the trouble. This mare is the same as she opens the door after a few seconds. As I walk in I close the door behind me, but tell them to leave the slot in the door so they can listen and watch.

“Alright bug, I heard my Goddess had a very one sided conversation with you this morning. Do you plan to give me the same silent treatment?”

The changeling, now relaxed on its shitty cot looks at me as its eyes flash green and glow with a magical aura. In an instant my hand is on the hilt of my Moonblade, but then it just starts to laugh. “I could never ignore you, my elusive buffet. I knew if I had the drone ignore your mate she’d send you down eventually. Truly I’ve been looking forward to this conversation. It’s been so long since you left your mark on my carapace and claimed me.”

I can hear something cracking as I clench my jaw in reaction to her voice. “Chrysalis.”

“You address me so flippantly…I’ll allow it just this once. Now then, how can I help you? More importantly, how can you help me?”

“The only thing I can help you with is an express ticket to the afterlife. I have a few things that I want to know, however. Why did you replace a random therapist in the castle? Was it just on the off chance that I popped into his office?”

She laughs in my face. “You were only able to figure out that much? Oh dear, oh maybe invading Canterlot won’t be as difficult as I thought it’d be. I’m in a good mood though, so I’ll let you in on a little secret. It’s for your ears only though, so you’ll need to come closer.”

It takes everything in me to not impale the creature into the wall with my sword when I see the absolutely smug toothy grin on the changeling's face. “Sure. I’ll humor you.”

I take two slow steps across the cell before suddenly snapping my hand around the changeling's neck and lifting it into the air. I pull it closer to my face as I increase the pressure around its exoskeleton. Chrysalis is just giggling as she stares into my eyes. “Closer.”

I lean in so close that we’re nearly touching. “It wasn’t on the off chance, my dear. You visiting that particular therapist was set in stone as soon as your fellow Knight was left alone in that room with my drone. It took a few sessions, but soon enough the suggestion to refer you took hold in her mind.”

I can feel the hair on the back of my next stand on end as she reveals much more than I expected. Then I freeze and feel a primal fear deep in my mind as I come to a realization. The wisdom saving throws, the fuzzy memories of the sessions. It wasn’t because our conversations triggered a trauma response for me to forget. “What did you do to me?” I somehow manage to keep the trembling out of my voice.

“Oh you figured that part out rather quickly~ I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that though.”

“I have nothing else to worry about. Tell me what you’ve done to me or I will fill your hive with a tasteless, scentless gas and cook you and all of your drones alive when I light the match.”

“Oh but you do, you poor thing. I’m afraid a few of your little villages near the badlands are about to suffer a disaster. If you want to save all of them you should probably get out of here, mister hero.” I’m not receiving any indications that she’s lying. I throw the insect into the corner of the room with a moderate amount of force before teleporting outside of the cell.

My face must be pale or something because Nightmare instantly looks worried as she moves in close. “What’s wrong? Did she say something to you?”

“The therapist was already replaced when Force was doing sessions with him. He implanted the suggestion for her to bring me to his office to make sure I got the disguised drone for my therapist. He definitely did something to my mind as well. There are portions of those sessions missing from my memory.”

“What do we do? Can’t you cleanse your mind of any corruption through the same spell you used on us when we were corrupted by Discord?” Wait, she's right. I can use Greater Restoration. But, that was specifically related to memory manipulation, and the only reason that worked is because Greater Restoration also works on the Modify Memory spell.

“Wait, I'm stupid. I’m immune to charms and compulsions from any creature that isn’t equal or higher than my Divine Rank. She can’t touch me! Anyways not important, the dragons are about to attack our border villages near the badlands. She warned me they’d be attacked soon and I didn’t get any indication that she was lying. I need you to tell Luna and wake up Celestia, we need to mobilize as quickly as we can. I’m teleporting to the town we used as a rest stop on our way to the Summit and I’ll fly to the border towns from there.”

“Wait! You can’t just go on your own! That’s idio-”

She’s interrupted as I grab her cheeks and press my lips against hers. I pull away and she’s blushing up a storm as she glances at the guard standing there looking confused. Looks like if there’s strangers around she’s still a tsundere and a sudden kiss is the easiest way to make a tsundere go through a mental reboot. “Love you Moonie, I’ll be back before you know it.”

“IGNI-” I don’t give her a chance to convince me as I activate my divine greater teleportation.

I look around as I appear in the vaguely familiar town where Celestia and Luna got to sleep in a house while we all slept outside. Why is it so peaceful? Shouldn’t this place be getting attacked by dragons? Giving myself wings I shoot up high into the sky and look for any billowing smoke across the horizon. Seeing nothing I activate my magic propulsion and shoot towards the border of the wasteland.

Maybe that town just isn’t close enough to the border to be considered a target. After 45 minutes of flying I reach the land where the ground starts to shift from lush green grass to cracked earth with no signs of life. Zipping back up into the air to look across the horizon I can barely make out some black smoke rising into the sky. Without hesitating I speed up to speeds I would normally not be comfortable with. I’m going fast enough that I have to squint to even see things, but it’s all blurry.

In less than a minute I’m close enough to make a town completely razed to the ground, with shattered wood and bricks strown all about. It doesn’t even look like it used to be a town, if I didn’t know any better I’d think it’s just randomly scattered debris. Shooting down massive waves of fire into the wreckage is a huge red dragon. Once I’m closer I realize some of his scales are drained of color, looking gray and dead. This is the dragon that nearly killed me at the Summit, and I gave him those scars with my Shadow Blade.

As soon as he realizes I’ve arrived he suddenly opens his claws on his right hand before blowing fire into his claws. That was how they sent letters right? Did he just call for backup?

“BLADESINGER! SO, YOU’VE COME TO DIE?!”

Roll for Initativ-

“Enable real-time combat.”

I drop to the ground and glare up at the dragon as I unsheathe my Moonblade. “Looks like you still prefer to hide in the air like a coward, huh?”

I can actually see his eye twitch as I hit him with the same taunt I used at the Summit. He responds by unleashing a massive roar as he pivots in the air and starts to divebomb me. Perfect.

I blast off into the air flying straight up towards the dragon with my own battlecry. I raise my open off-hand into the air above my head, palm open. Alter Size. Colossal.

The distance between me and Inferno closes in an instant as my body expands in every direction at once. If this were a game board I’d be occupying a 30’x30’ square instead of the standard 5’x5’, and my height is staggering 66ft tall. Not only does it increase my size but it allows me to increase the size of a “personal intelligence weapon” which is definitely an accurate description of the Moonblade.

Inferno’s eyes widen as I suddenly become even bigger than him and wrap my hand around his neck and part of his body. He’s too stunned to speak apparently as I flip over so that I’m facing the ground now. Then he starts to roar and spew fire as I squeeze him tightly and throw him into the ground as hard as I can, at least 100ft away from what was once apparently a town.

If I remember the size charts correctly I weigh around 125 tons right now, and my carrying capacity, maximum push and pull weights have increased exponentially. Inferno slams into the cracked earth and kicks up a huge cloud of dirt and sand as he craters into the ground with a roar.

He’s writhing on the ground in pain and I decide to not let up. I stop flapping my wings and point my Moonblade down as I start to fall towards the dragon. I let out a roar of my own as I’m about to run the dragon through with my blade, but I hit something earlier than expected and it throws me off balance. My Moonblade bounces off of the….SHIELD? And I land on the ground in a roll as it feels like the entire planet is shaking under me when I land.

Quickly rising to my feet I see the dragon kneeling on the ground looking fatigued already. “You’re not the only creature that can use magic, bladesinger. I’ve learned a few tricks since we last fought, but it appears you have as well. cough Oh! Perhaps you could perform a concert for me like you did when you fought Discord.”

“Or I could just kill you.” Hand of Death. I’m fairly certain he counts as a mortal, but even if he does he’s basically guaranteed to pass the saving throw. It’s worth trying though.

His mouth opens to say something but pauses as he glances around looking confused. After a couple of seconds nothing happens and he returns his glare to me. I cast Haste and attempt to activate my True Bladesong, but nothing happens. I don’t have any mana to change the frequency of. I can’t match the frequency of the world if I don’t have any mana to begin with. Shit. This is actually really bad.

Well time for plan B. I’m gunna hit him really hard. Slightly bending my knees I take my stance, ready to cleave the dragon.

“You couldn’t break through my shield just now, what makes you think it’ll work this time?”

“I’m expecting it this time.” I point my left index finger at the giant shield shimmering in front of the dragon and start to chant a new incantation. Since I learned this spell when I leveled up I don’t even need the Mizzium “Disintegrate.”

A bright green ray fires from my hand and slams into the shield, causing green lightning to spread out all over the shield. “You really thought something weak like that would-”

The instant I spot holes starting to form indicating the shield is collapsing I surge forward. I have no clue how much damage this will do in this giant form, but fuck it. 7th Level “Divine Smite.”

A blinding light flashes as my blade zips right through where his shield was half a second earlier and slams into his neck. My eardrums nearly go deaf as a loud thunderous crack is unleashed and I hear the sound of something heavy hitting the ground and bouncing several times. Each impact further and further away.

One second later and the light clears and I spot Inferno on the ground around 40ft or so away from me and he’s clutching his throat with one of his clawed hands as he stares at me with wide eyes. He’s filled with fear. “Shame, I was really hoping to go clean through and sever your head.”

Now that I’m looking closer I can see scales missing and blood pouring out from under his hand. I didn’t behead him but I got him pretty bad. I start to slowly walk towards him and he scrambles to his feet before flapping his wings to try and take off. He doesn’t make it very high as I grab his tail and yank him back down. “Oh you’re not going anywhere, you overgrown lizard.”

With one tug he yelps in pain and is sent flying back into the ground. I bring my blade up in the air, but stop when I hear my name.

“IGNIS! Stand down, now!” Squinting towards the sound of the voice I spot Celestia standing on the ground below me. After glancing at Inferno to see if he has any fight left in him I judge that it’s safe enough to return to my normal height. Alter Size.

“I’m come to an agreement with the new Dragon Lord, but it’ll all be for naught if you kill him.”

“Celly…that entire town was destroyed by this asshole. I didn’t even detect any signs of life in the rubble.”

The alicorn hums in thought for a second. “That’s okay. There was never anypony there to begin with. In fact, that's not even a town. It’s just debris we scattered around and lit on fire.” I start to swing my Moonblade at what must be a changeling disguised as Celestia, but suddenly stop mid swing. Glowing green eyes stare into my own and I find myself unable to move.

“It’s truly incredible how guarded your mind still is after my drone left so many openings and anchors for me to exploit. I’m afraid it was all for naught though, Ignis.”

What? But…is it because I didn’t have a Divine Rank when the therapist violated my mind? Or…no. She can’t be a Deity…right?

“Oh I can taste your confusion and it is delectable. I’m afraid I won’t spoil the surprise, though.” Chrysalis drops her disguise finally and I feel a small bit of satisfaction when I notice a small collection of grayish brown lines forming a spider web of sorts on the right side of her body at the base of her neck.

There’s one crack that shoots up from the web and goes up her neck and into the bottom of her eye, with a small bit of the line emerging from the top of the open eye. That’s where I struck her with my final blow as the hive collapsed. That’s what she meant by marking her.

The changeling looks over at a barely conscious Inferno. “You did well holding out on your own, dragon. Tell the Dragon Lord that phase 1 is complete. With the Bladesinger being held here, Canterlot should be easily capturable for his elite dragons. They can just hold the citizens hostage and Celestia will comply. I know you wouldn’t comply though, would you, my future king? You’re not weak like them. That’s why we had to get you out of the city first.”

Just like that? I don’t get a saving throw? I’m defeated with a mere gaze? No. No no nonono. MOVE DAMNIT!

“Oh and tell that arrogant Lord as well that from here our deal is over. We shared the knowledge both of us promised and I cleared a path for him to take Canterlot. I’m taking the bladesinger, and he can do whatever he has planned on his side.”

This can’t be happening. I have to warn them. Remote Communication, nothing. Sending, nothing. I can’t even activate my magic. I’m going to lose everything…

“Oh that is some delicious despair. Come now, dear, let’s get you back to the hive.” Chrysalis turns and starts walking and my body begins moving on its, following her step for step.

I’m sorry Luna. Nightmare. Force. I misjudged the situation completely, and I don’t think I can get out of this one.

As my body continues marching on I can only scream out into my mind.

Author's Note

I wanna get off Mr. Desti's wild ride... wait that's me.

It's fine. Nothing bad ever happens.

So it turns out the plan was always for Ignis to catch one of her drones at some point. It's unlikely she knew he'd be able to hear the prayers of the victim and teleport straight to them, but when the opportunity presented itself.... ya know? Also if anyone is wondering what would've happened if Ignis flew up the border instead of down the border, he would've happened upon the same scene but with a different dragon. They had multiple staged sites ready to go and whichever one he showed up at would ignite their letter and send it to Chrysalis.

We're finally hard derailing off of canon in such a way that we can never go back. Feels good to finally cash in on some of the shit I left behind forever ago. Welp uh... I don't wanna keep ranting and accidentally spoil something and I also kinda went over my bed time by like an hour...I'm gunna be tired af tomorrow.

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Relentless Faith

“I think you’ll love what I’ve done to the place.” Chrysalis tells me as we appear in front of a very familiar colosseum. I was not expecting such a drastic redesign. From the outside it looks exactly as it did during the Summit, but as soon as we pass through the entry tunnel I can feel my eyes widen.

The ground is covered in lush thick grass, a far cry from the desolate wasteland just a few feet away. Nearly half of the colosseum is covered by changelings who are all kneeling with their heads pointing towards a giant white marble statue of the Queen. Considering this place was big enough for three ancient dragons and all of their foreign soldiers and royalty with their tents means there has to be at least 1,000 of them.

She figured out how to do it… she’s a Deity. That explains why Power of Truth didn’t catch anything and how she’s still able to mess with my head. What are her domains? How many followers does she actually have? The sun should be up soon, so perhaps I can gain the last 100 followers I need to ascend to the next rank.

“You really did a number on my home, Bladesinger. It took us weeks to clear out our tunnels and reestablish the support beams. During all that downtime I focused on two things. Maintaining the alliance with the Dragons and laying eggs. It was a delicate balancing act to use our limited love to hatch new larva, but we found a rather efficient solution. Did you a single dragon can supply the same amount of love as nearly 250 ponies before their minds are shattered? It was quite the discovery for us, and it just made me even more curious how much I can get from you.”

Her voice drops to a huskier tone as she runs a hoof along my chin. I’m not even able to feel my body and I still feel like I’m going to be sick. She frowns a bit as she pulls her leg away. “That’s new. You’ve never been revolted in any of our previous encounters. No matter, just another thing we’ll need to work on for your reeducation.”

The small changelings start to slowly stand one by one and walk towards the entrance to the hive and I can hear their murmurs. “Is that him? The one the ponies stole from us?”

What propaganda has she been feeding these drones? Now that I’m thinking about it, her pose in that statue isn’t right either. She’s standing proud and determined with her chest out and her mane blowing in the wind. It’s almost…heroic. “I can’t believe the ponies spit on the generosity Her Radiance offered, and stole our sacred sword.”

“You are confused. Perhaps I should have one of my Bishops refresh your memory on what happened here just months ago. It would seem you’ve been brainwashed, you poor thing.” She’s deliberately choosing her words since so many of the drones can hear her right now.

“Your Radiance,” to my surprise one of the drones walks right up to her and bows as he addresses her. “We’re all in high spirits to see you earlier than planned with the sacred sword in tow. Do you require anything?”

“Not at the moment, Bishop Aurora. It seems my dear sword has had his memories tampered with, so for now I’ll be bringing him to my quarters. I want you to gather the other Bishops and have them gather at the High Altar in one hour.” Her voice just a few seconds prior was filled with sarcasm and smug playfulness, but she effortlessly addressed the drone with a neutral tone. It still carried an air of superiority and a small level of sternness. But all of the drones passing by and heading inside are lowering their heads respectfully and greeting the Queen as they pass.

I think I get the jist of it. She likely has a portion of the hive sworn to secrecy that knows the true history of everything and they are the ones used as field agents and infiltrators. She hatched the rest of these seemingly for the sole purpose of bolstering her number of worshipers. What a vile creature.

It’s a 10 minute walk to reach what is apparently her personal quarters, but just from that short glimpse inside this place I can tell she’s put a lot of effort into this. You can tell which corridors and rooms suffered most from the collapse, but some of the rooms have been upgraded. Glossy black floors with stark white walls that all have some small statue or portrait of the queen. She’s set up numerous prayer rooms.

My fear spikes again as the stone blocking the archway slides down into the cave floor and allows us entrance to her bedroom. What is she going to do to me?

“Take a seat on the bed. I had my royal sleeping pod temporarily relocated in preparation for when I captured you.” I sit on the edge of the bed with my legs dangling off, and the changeling sprawls out on her side behind me. Curled up just enough to put her head in my field of vision as she lays there.

“I could tell from your initial reaction to having your body possessed that you were deeply afraid when I mentioned the Dragon Lord invading Canterlot. But, I think you are underestimating your Princesses. I wanted no part in his plan because I’m aware that just because those overgrown lizards learned some spells it’s not going to be enough to overcome the power disparity. Although if I had gone to Canterlot with them myself, it’d likely be a different story.”

“Then why didn’t you go with them?” My eyes go wide as I’m actually able to speak. I’m free?! The despair quickly seeps back in when none of my limbs respond to me.

“The hive is only barely managing to maintain enough love to keep the drones sustained, and I determined that fighting both of your Princesses would likely use up enough power that we’d be in a food crisis if something unforeseen happened that would cause me to retreat. I know you think I’m just a battle crazed Queen determined to amass as much power as possible, but I do actually place the well being of the hive over my own ambitions.”

“Then why have you spread so many lies to your own people? We both know you’re not some generous benevolent hero. Why are they calling me the sacred sword?” The queen gives me a wide smirk when she hears the venom in my voice.

“I’m sure you’ve already put most of it together. While the world leaders were gathered here one of the Equestrian Princesses decided she wanted to have you. Since you were acting as the sacred sword for Aurora that wasn’t possible. On the final day of the Summit both alicorns mounted a surprise attack in the heart of the hive. Subduing you and killing Queen Aurora, but in the chaos I empowered myself on the last of our meager stored love. I heroically led the charge into the throne room, but it was too late. Following the trail of blood we found you unconscious next to the corpse of the queen.”

I scoff out loud at how much bullshit she has in this story. I’ll admit it’s a very creative way of twisting the narrative, though. “Being the generous and benevolent Queen I am, I offered to spare all of their lives if they left right then and there. Of course they didn’t, the ponies are greedy. The ensuing battle was so intense it collapsed most of the hive, but in that critical moment I ascended and saved all of my drones. Once the dust had settled we realized the ponies had managed to take you when they teleported themselves away.”

“That’s quite the tale. None of them questioned why the tall and lanky bipedal creature was in the hive to begin with? What about the hundreds of changelings that were there when the hive collapsed? I know they weren’t all in the throne room, but there still has to be a significant number of drones that know good and well you killed Aurora.”

“Only a dozen or so. Even if all of the lings present that day were aware of the true events it still wouldn’t matter. The only drones left in this hive are my own, there are no remnants of Aurora left here. If I explained why I was telling such a tall tale and ordered them to never reveal what really happened, they’d obey without question. The story of your origin is by far the most unbelievable, though. I simply explained that you were a gift to us from Harmony, the last of the Bladesingers, meant to act as an extension of the Queen.”

I don’t have anything to say anymore so the room just has a lingering silence for several seconds. “You’re probably wondering what I intend to do with you now that I have you. Your life will not be one filled with hardship, I can assure you. You’ll gift the hive with a new generation of powerful drones, and in between hatching cycles you’ll live out your happiest dreams in that pod right over there. An endless supply of progeny and sustenance for thousands of years. Of course once you’ve completely submitted and been reeducated I plan to have you by my side.”

“The drones won’t wonder where the sacred sword is? Aren’t I supposed to be an extension of you?” I somehow manage to keep my voice from trembling.

“The mental corruption from the Equestrians deteriorated you far more than expected, so you’ll be bound in a recovery pod in my quarters for as long as it takes for you to recover. I’m the Goddess of Trickery, Ignis, it’d take more than that to expose me.”

“There’s just one thing I don’t understand. Why? If you truly do place the hive above your own ambitions, why drain your food to the brink of a shortage, kill the Queen, and make yourself an enemy of Equestria? The only person benefitting at the end of that is you, and it’s not even a major benefit. It’s just power.”

“Aurora was queen for over a millenia. In that time that hive saw over 50 royal drones come and go. When one becomes queen and becomes the center of the hivemind they no longer have to worry about the woes of aging. That’s likely because the core of the hivemind is deemed the most important, so miniscule amounts of life force is drained from any drone connected to the hivemind. I was royal drone 57, and I had no intentions to wither away and die because my mother determined I was not fit to be queen. My options were to leave and start my own hive, build up a sizable number of drones and love, and establish my own hivemind. Or, kill Aurora and seize the mantle. The knowledge of how to establish a new hive mind has been lost for centuries so it was an easy choice to make.”

“But why do it during the Summit? Why did you take Luna and put her in a pod? Beyond that why go this far just to take me? You know Luna and Celestia will not stand for this. As soon as they find out I’m here they’ll come straight here and crush you.”

“How will they find you, hm? You left Canterlot to engage with an invading force of powerful dragons. They can’t scry on you or even contact you as long as you’re here. They’ll just think you died in your battle against the dragons, or they’ll think Dragon Lord has you. There’s no reason to suspect me at all.”

If I could I’d make my own smug smirk now. “Unless one of the dragons attacking Canterlot blabs. I mean Nightmare Moon knows you were the one that even gave me the tip about the invading dragons, so that already gives them a loose reason to suspect you.”

“Very few dragons knew the true purpose of today's plan. Most of them just knew to ignite their paper when they made contact with the enemy. They weren’t told who would be contacted by igniting the paper, or who they were expected to fight. Communications between myself and the Dragon Lord have either been face to face with a select few of his subordinates, or through dragon fire. For the latter my messages go directly to him.”

“Luna won’t give up on me that easy. She knows I wouldn’t die to a measly dragon. If they assume I’m being held prisoner by the Dragon Lord they’ll invade. Once they determine I was never there, they’ll remember that you were the one that led me out to the badlands and come straight here.”

“You are finally correct, but by then I’ll be exponentially more powerful than I am now. Strong enough to defeat anyling stupid enough to challenge me. Now why don’t you go ahead and rest your weary head, lay down and get comfortable. I need to go relay the next steps of my plan to my Bishops and receive the weekly reports. After that I’ll march back in here and join you.”

There’s a new surge of panic as my body follows her command and lays down on my back. I have to come up with something in the time she’s gone. There has to be something I can do. No technique or spell can be this absolute, there has to be a weakness.

Although the weakness is probably that it took multiple probes by someone else who left behind back doors for his queen. Even still there has to be something.

No there doesn’t. This isn’t a game, this is real life, there’s no such thing as balancing in this world. Despite what Harmony tries to do. Think Ignis, think!

Wait! I can dream! What are the odds that either Luna or Nightmare are looking in there though? I don’t even know how the dreamscape works here. If they can’t contact me here then would being in a dream make any difference? Wait, if that counts as their Divine Realm then that’s where they’re most powerful. This has to work.

I don’t have a lot of time, probably an hour at most. Forcing myself to sleep I just pray that I wake up before it’s too late.

Within a minute or so I find myself back in a familiar dreamscape. The one where I built my little house with all my source books and a computer. Quickly remembering that last time I had to consciously make the decision to allow Nightmare into the dream I focus and exert my will to allow Luna or Nightmare to come through.

While I’m waiting I start to go towards my study so I can look through my D&D source books, but I realize there’s basically no point. Even if I find a perfect spell or feat it won’t matter because I can’t cast any spells anyways. Wait, if I go up in Divine Rank I can choose another Salient Divine Ability or Feat. Okay let’s look through all of the feats, there has to be something.

There’s not. I can’t help but sigh as I lean back and start talking to myself out of desperation. Maybe if I walk through it out loud I can bounce something off of myself. “All I can do then is hope Luna finds me or hope that I get enough followers to ascend to the fifth Divine Rank. Even then I have to hope that it’s enough to allow me to at least contest her abilities.”

“Consider yourself found.” My eyes open wide as my gaze snaps toward the sound of a familiar voice. Luna is standing in the doorway of the study, and she does not look happy. “I thought you’d learned your lesson about being reckless, but imagine my surprise when Nightmare comes to inform that you’ve teleported to the border to fight an invading force of dragons. I teleported as soon as she contacted me, but any trace of you was gone. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, so I assume you walked right into a trap?”

While she’s talking I slowly walk towards her, eyes glued to the floor as her words cut deep. This is a lesson I’ve learned numerous times and it just doesn’t seem to stick. I always act before thinking. Once I reach Luna I throw my arms around her neck and bury my face in her mane. Only for a fraction of a second, I know I don’t have a lot of time.

“I’m sorry Luna. The thought of it being a trap crossed my mind, but my power said she wasn’t lying when she said the dragons were invading. I didn’t think I could afford to waste even a second if I wanted to save as many as possible. If there was a trap I knew I could overcome it and last until you and the others arrived. It’s bad Luna. I think…she could’ve been lying then too. I don’t even know what to think anymore. I think the dragons are heading straight for Canterlot. They were never attacking villages on the border; it was staged with fake debris to lure me in. Once I arrived Chrysalis showed up and before I even had a chance to react she trapped me in my own mind. Oh! I almost forgot, the dragon I did see used magic. He was able to cast a shield spell. It was weaker than Shining Armor’s but not by much.”

As the words start to pour out my voice gets faster and faster and everything I had been bottling up to try and hide from Chrysalis starts to bubble to the surface. “I’m a passenger in my own body right now. She has complete control. She has Divinity, Luna. Enough that I didn’t even get to roll my dice to try and resist her power. I’m in her hive right now, her bedroom specifically, and she has prayer rooms and altars and statues. And…..and I can’t think of anything. I can’t come up with any plan. There’s too many unknowns and I don’t even know which of my own abilities I can trust to work against her. This hive has to be her Divine Realm. You can’t fight her here, even if it’s you, Celestia, Nightmare, and Cadence you still won’t stand a chance. The element might work, but I doubt she’d even give them a chance to be used.”

My voice started to be shaky around half way through and at the end my legs collapsed under me.

Something soft rubs the back of my head causing me to glance up at the alicorn. “Do you know what she plans to do with you? How much time do we have?”

“She…she wants progeny. After that she says I’ll be put into a pod. They’ve prepared one just for me in her bedroom. I don’t know how much time you have Luna. She’s attending a meeting right now and has left me laying in bed, but I’m pretty sure she intends to proceed as planned as soon as she gets back.”

The more I talk the more panicked and desperate I sound, and the more Luna’s face shifts. I’ve never seen her this angry before. I shouldn’t have told her about the progeny. She might be just as reckless as me and come charging in here on her own. I don’t want to see her upset like this.

“It’ll be okay, Luna. I can just retreat into my mind and I won’t even know what’s happening. You have to make sure Canterlot is safe and secure before you even think about coming up with a plan to help me. You absolutely cannot charge in here in a blind rage.”

She still doesn’t respond. Luna looks like she’s on the verge of losing it. “It’ll be fine, really, Luna. I’ll figure something out, I always do. Once the sun comes up I’ll probably gain enough followers to be promoted to Divine Rank 5, and that’ll surely give me some way to fight back…Please say something.”

“Draw a circle to represent the colosseum. Then give me your best guess at the layout of the hive compared to the colosseum above. Make sure to include where you are.”

“You can’t fight her here, Luna! I’m telling you it’d take Harmony herself to win against her here.”

“We don’t have time, draw! Please just trust me!”

I conjure a whiteboard and two markers, black and blue. Quickly I draw a giant circle to represent the colosseum, and notate which way is north. Then I start from where I entered the hive and do my best to remember all of the possible turns along the way to her bedroom and which turns we actually took. It was a short walk I remember that much.

Intelligence Check

13 + 6 + 2 = 21.

Once that’s done I mark with an X approximately where I am.

“There. That should be pretty accurate. Just…please don’t get yourself hurt or captured. If something happens to you because of my fuck up that made you come to save me, I’ll never forgive myself.” I try one last time to plead with her not to do anything reckless.

Persuasion Check

9 + 2 + 2 = 13.

“You’re starting to wake up. We’re out of time. You need to buy as much time as possible when you wake up. Stop being so reliant on these stupid abilities and divine powers. If she lets you talk then deceive her, taunt her, do anything to delay. You might even be able to free yourself if she takes the bait. Believe in you, not in your System.”

I can feel the dream start to crumble. As it fades away I look Luna in her eyes for what might be the last time for a long time. “I love you, Luna.”

I can see her mouth move but the dream fades away before I can hear her response.

“You were truly relaxed enough to sleep for the brief period I was gone? Incredible. Did you have sweet dreams?” Chrysalis is just standing next to the bed right next to me, looking down on me.

“I didn’t dream. Elves don’t always dream when we sleep, or if we do we don’t remember it.”

“Don’t worry once we’re done here you’ll remember all of your dreams, living out all of your ambitions.” She flashes a predatory gaze when she finishes speaking and walks around to the other side of the bed before slowly climbing onto the mattress.

“You don’t have to do this, Chrysalis. Wouldn’t you rather get more insight into the intricacies of Divinity? Perhaps some state secrets from Equestria that even you don’t know about? Surely there’s something that has a higher priority than this.”

The changeling arches an eyebrow, and she seems surprised at my change of tone and lack of hostility. “I can get that while I’m enjoying you. Your mind is my playground afterall.” After overcoming the confusion she starts to move closer.

Followers: 3,925.

The words that I’m about to spill from my lips almost cause me to dry heave. I have to suppress it though if I’m going to be convincing. “Then can I at least enjoy it?! I can’t feel any of my limbs, and surely it’d be better for you as well if I wasn’t just some unmoving corpse lying beneath you?”

Deception Check

19 + 2 + 2 = 23.

The queen pauses and smirks at me. “This is the same Bladesinger who felt so much revulsion it insulted me not even an hour ago at the thought of lying with me. You really think I’d believe that you are even capable of enjoying this?”

“Maybe if you transformed into someone else I could convince myself that everything is normal. C’mon, we both know I can’t do anything to you anyways. With just a thought you could seize my body and force me into that pod to live out the next several millennia. Especially now that we’re in your hive. Unless…you’re scared of me?”

Persuasion Check

16 + 2 + 2 = 20.

She’s silent for several seconds as she weighs her choices. “Ha! You almost got me, but there’s no way I’d risk anything going awry in my plan just for a little more momentary pleasure.”

The changeling is now standing over me on the bed, and she starts to kneel down lowering her face towards my own.

Followers: 4,010

Ascending to Divine Rank 5!

Next promotion at 9,000 followers.

Choose a Salient Divine Ability or Feat.

There’s one choice here that I think would save me, but there’s no telling what kind of consequences it would bring in return. There’s a Salient Divine Ability called Undead Qualities, that turns me into an undead. One of the qualities is a total immunity to “Mind-Affecting effects” and there is no mention of this being negated by a Deity of equal Rank or higher.

There’s huge drawbacks though. I can only be healed by necrotic damage instead of normal healing, and if I drop to zero hit points I’m instantly destroyed. I don’t want to risk Luna, Nightmare, or Force having something horrible happen to them, though. This might be my only option. It’s not permanent, if I’m hit with a resurrection spell I’ll be returned to how I was before I became an undead.

“Please trust me!” I know she’s still insecure about this. The same things that plagued her 1,000 years ago still haunt her now. If I do this and try to escape and the worst comes to pass then not only would I be dead, but I’d die with Luna thinking I don’t trust her. Knowing that I didn’t listen to her. Just like her family did back then.

Ha….hahaha….how is this even a decision? What kind of paladin would I be, if I didn’t trust my own Goddess? Hell screw being a paladin, I couldn’t even call myself her knight or her follower at that point. If I’m supposed to be the manifestation of hope, then that’s what I’ll be. For everyone else, but I can’t be my own beacon of hope. Those mares will be my beacon.

“I choose Increased Spell Resistance.”

Increased Spell Resistance: Your spell resistance increases by 20.

Spell Resistance: Your opponents must roll a d20 when choosing to target you with a spell. For their spell to even target you they must roll higher than your spell resistance after calculating all modifiers. Regardless of if they succeed on this roll if the spell requires a Saving Throw you will still roll that Saving Throw for a chance to resist the spell that successfully targets you.

Right now it’s not going to be that much help versus Chrysalis, her spellcasting modifiers are probably higher than mine, meaning she likely has at least a 70% chance to roll over a 20. I could’ve sworn I was able to take this Ability more than once, but there’s no mention of it here. Then again Spell Resistance isn’t even a thing in 5.5e, so we’re already way off script here.

The system starts to fade and I try to sharpen all of my senses. Hone my focus. Just ascending one rank might temporarily break me out of the spell, but if it does she can just use her magic on me again. I’ll only have a fraction of a fraction of a second. Dump as much divinity into my right hand as possible and slam it straight into her. Then I can capitalize on the surprise attack and kill her here and now. No, that’s idiotic, that’s why I’m here in the first place. Just teleport, instantly. Back to Canterlot. Do I teleport first instead of hitting her? The teleport will take a fraction of a second longer to cast compared to how fast I can strike.

Yeah, let's hit her first. Assuming this actually does momentarily break me free.

Time resumes with her face close enough that she’s all I can see. All of my thoughts are focused and screaming for my fist into her as fast as possible. I feel the surge of power one microsecond after time resumes, and one microsecond later I can no longer see her face. The impact comes next. My entire arm reverberates and screams at me as soon as it collides with her carapace-covered belly.

Before Chrysalis as even impacted the ceiling I’ve started picturing Luna’s bedroom as clearly as possible in my mind, and then I use the Divine Ability of Greater Teleport. There’s a massive cloud of dust as the changeling collides with the ceiling and lets out a shrill scream of anger mixed with pain.

Why am I still here? Teleport! Greater Teleport!

Hit Points: 94/120.

Oh my right arm is definitely broken.

I can’t gather my thoughts because Chrysalis launches herself off the ceiling towards me. Rolling off the bed I manage to avoid her as I quickly back pedal away from the bed and start panicking. Maybe I have to snap my fingers? I was just doing it on instinct before but I didn’t think it was necessary.

Snap

Snap. Snap.

Her eyes glow green and I freeze in fear, but quickly realize I can still feel my limbs. Did she get unlucky and roll below a 20? She doesn’t seem to be reacting, maybe I can play dead and pretend she’s regained control over me.

“To be in this situation, as fearful and confused as you were. You were still able to not only escape my grasp, but in that briefest moment of freedom you managed to cleanly attack me with every ounce of strength you could muster. You continue to amaze me. Unfortunately you’ve also angered me greatly. Based on your repeated snapping and spiking panic I can only guess that you were attempting to teleport away. I’m lucky you didn’t try to run instead. No creature can teleport into or out of this place. Why do you think I teleported us to the colosseum and walked with you down to this room?”

I don’t say anything, committed to playing “dead” at this point. Clicking her tongue in annoyance at my silence she starts to walk closer. The changeling starts to charge her horn and I’m beginning to think I might have to ditch this strategy. “Cure Wounds!”

Hit Points: 120/120.

Followers: 4,200.

I need my arm to not be broken if I want to use this beautiful sword. Unfortunately that means the jig is up. I could’ve used Mystic Arcanum to silently cast it, but the spell still glows so I wouldn’t have gotten away with it.

Thankfully this bitch was arrogant enough to keep my weapon in the same room as me. As soon as I cast Cure Wounds I reach out with telekinesis and fly over my sword, staff, and Mizzium. Chrysalis looks stunned at the fact that I can still move. Her eyes glow again and I slam my staff down on the ground. Activating its Magic Absorption feature. I’ve been intentionally keeping the charges low ever since Daybreaker, so I could absorb at least one super powerful spell without risking the damn thing exploding.

To my surprise the staff glows and starts to vibrate. I almost shit my pants when the charges in the staff go from 9 to 37. Equestrian spells are so stupid. Pointing the staff at her I channel the charges inside the staff and use it to cast, “Lightning Bolt!” at 7th Level.

Accompanied by thunder that almost makes my ears ring a massive bolt of lightning envelopes the changeling completely. An instant later and the spell is done casting, and there are just a few tiny scorch marks on her carapace. That did basically nothing and it was a direct hit.

Hoping to catch her off guard I launch myself towards the exit of the room, but I only make it a few feet before the bed from earlier is picked up and hurled into me. Sending me crashing to the floor and bouncing into the wall.

“I suppose we have to do this the hard way then. On the brightside you’re going to need to spend quite a while in the pod to recover after this, so I won’t be able to enjoy you immediately. I’m going to enjoy this though.”

The entire room turns into a black void. I can’t see her or any of the furniture. With no warning there are suddenly several Chrysalis's and they’re disappearing into and out of the walls of the void. This is an illusion.

Followers: 4,644

The next instant I see a flash of the same green spectral daggers she used against me when she killed Aurora. Only this time there’s well over 10 of them and they’re coming at me from every direction. I’m able to twist, lean, and contort my body enough to dodge a few of them and I deflect another couple of them with the Moonblade. I feel one sink into my left arm right under the shoulder, and the other one cuts my right thigh before burying itself into the dark ground.

Constitution Saving Throw

18 + 2 + 2 = 22.

You are paralyzed.

NO! I don’t understand…I thought I was a higher rank than her now?! Don’t tell me she’s been Rank 5 this entire time?! What is the level 17 feature for my domain? Nightmare said she looked within her divinity and instinctively knew what her abilities were. That means I can do it too. It’s a level 17 feature for a cleric, there’s a decent chance it can get me out of this.

Relentless Faith: You can use an action to fill one willing creature with determination. That creature is cured of all conditions and is immune to all damage and conditions until the end of your next turn.

So I get six seconds of complete invulnerability? And I can use this five times per day?

My entire body, including my hair, clothes, and eyes glow with a brilliant golden light. It cures my paralysis but the room is still a dark void. Does that mean this illusion isn’t a condition? It might be related to her domain if her domain truly is Trickery, that’d make sense with the duplicates I saw a second ago.

Doesn’t matter, I have six seconds. “Lunar Blessing!” Now in addition to the golden light emanating from me I have a cylinder of moonlight shining down on me from the Moonbeam. I don’t know where she is but this room isn’t that big and this Moonbeam does 2d10 to anyone that’s close enough.

Next since I’m immune to all damage I’ll channel all of my power into my legs and try to cover every square inch of this room in the remaining 3 seconds. My vision starts to stretch and blur from the sudden speed and I start running up and down the room covering every square inch of the floor. Since it’s 40ft tall it also covers the dark walls when I run along them as well as the ceiling.

I’m about 65% done covering the room when I hear a hiss and instantly point my staff in that direction. Using 7 more charges I upcast at the 7th Level, “Fireball!”

Followers: 4,846

I’m in the radius as well but I still have a second left on Relentless Faith. For a fraction of a second thanks to the light of the massive explosion I can make out the queen's seaweed looking mane. Letting go of my staff and sword, they float beside me in telekinesis. I need my hands free as I reactivate Relentless Faith for a second time, and jump into the ceiling as hard as I can where I saw the changeling.

“WHAT?!” The queen squawks out as I slam into her, pushing her into the ceiling. Wrapping my hands around her throat I drop down to the ground and just start repeatedly swinging the bug into the dark void covered ground, using her neck as a handle.

I hear her making increasingly frustrated noises followed by the familiar ting sound of metal bouncing off of something. Her spectral daggers are just bouncing off of me while I radiate this golden light.

The room returns to normal, only with several craters on the walls and ceiling as she recalls the dark void illusion. Or it just timed out, but I doubt that. The changeling turns into black smoke that slips through my hands before reappearing across the room. She is absolutely pissed now. She might actually kill me, food be damned.

She still doesn’t even have a crack in her carapace. She really is damn near invincible in this place.

I use Relentless Faith two more times for a total of four times as we continue to unleash attacks at each other. When the second Relentless Faith ran out she realized I could still be teleported and restrained within shields or walls of force. Using that she’s started to adapt to the point that by the end of the fourth Relentless Faith I can’t even touch her anymore.

When the golden light fades for a fourth time I start panting heavily, I was worried the damage and rebound on my body would accumulate and hit me after the golden light faded away, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. The fatigue however, does stack up and slams into me like a truck when that light fades for a fourth time.

“Are you done now? You’re going to regret this rebellious act when you’re begging me for death later.”

“I doubt it. You can’t control me anymore.” I mutter out between heavy breaths.

“We’ll see about that.” Her eyes glow green once more and I realize I never re-equipped my staff. I grabbed my Moonblade during the third Relentless Faith, but I never grabbed the staff again. It’s too far for me to absorb this spell if she targets me.

Wisdom Saving Throw (Disadvantage)

19 and 3.

3 + 8 = 11.

Dread washes over me as everything starts to go dark and I lose feeling in all of my limbs once again. This is insane, I can’t believe she got Divine Rank 5.

Followers: 4,912

Suddenly the entire room starts to shake violently as dust and dirt is knocked loose from the ceiling. Chrysalis looks straight up with a very concerned gaze. The shaking becomes even more violent and nearly makes me fall to the ground since I can’t control my limbs.

That’s when Chrysalis starts to scream, “No! How dare you?! Those drones are innocent!”

I have no clue what she’s talking about but suddenly I’m in control of my body again. The changeling hasn’t even noticed as she ignites her horn. She mentioned innocent drones and the entire hive was shaking…

Did Luna…? It’s the only thing that makes sense. She just obliterated some section of the hive that I wasn’t in, based on my crude map. Killing so many drones that Chrysalis has fallen from Rank 5 to Rank 4 or even Rank 3. That means I should be able to, “Counterspell.”

Her horn sparks and pops making her flinch. She turns towards me and her gaze is mixed with anger and despair. If Luna really did that, I can understand the queen’s anger. I won’t sympathize with her, though.

Ignis?! Can you hear me?

Raising my Moonblade into the air as I glare down at the changeling, I get ready to start slashing her until she stops moving. Until I find myself clutching at my head in pain. From a stream of voices all talking over each other.

“Please!”
“Your Holiness, please spa-AGHH”
“God of Can-”
“Mister Knight, I’m scared-”
“Help, maker abo-”
“IGNIS!”

Followers: 4,854.

It’s hundreds of voices, no maybe more…it’s too much. Even with the filters, they’re all panicked and screaming. It’s so overwhelming I can’t swing my sword, I can’t do anything except clutch at my head. I’m so sorry.

“It’s enough to drive you mad, isn’t it? Now that the hive has been torn open you’re hearing all of your devoted followers screaming out for you. I never thought a pony of all creatures would do something like this.” It’s the same thing that just happened to her.

Followers: 4,689.

“Well Bladesinger, are you going to ignore all of those prayers and spend who knows how many minutes trying to kill me? Or, are you going to go save your followers? With the hive torn open you can teleport out now.”

I have to kill her now. It won’t be fast though. She’s still a Deity even if she’s a lower Rank than me now it’ll take time.

Followers: 4,522.

If I let her live she’s going to relocate and by the time I find her again how much stronger will she be by then?

Followers: 4,403.

What am I supposed to do?!

Hundreds have already died…I have to go, as much as it frustrates me I can’t afford to waste anymore time here. My parting gift to the changeling is a hard kick to the head as I use Remote Sensing on the next prayer I hear and teleport straight there.

Author's Note

If you're thinking "wow this feels rushed" just remember it's already been over a week since Discord. The dragons want to strike as quickly as possible while Equestria is still in a reconstitution phase.

"Why even have the Chrysalis thing happen then if we're going to focus on the dragons and he escapes one chapter later?" For an in world reason, she wanted Ignis, the dragons wanted to attack Canterlot, the changelings and dragons were already collaborating (shown in the season 1 epilogue) and the dragon they're using for love came at a price. That price might've included Chrysalis assisting in weakening Equestria for the invade as one of the conditions and she played them like a fiddle because she was able accomplish her goal while pretending that she was doing it to help the dragons.

From an irl "why?" literary purpose perspective?
I don't think any of this will spoil any future plot points, but it gives alot of my thought process and it's very likely you'll be able to accurately guess some aspects of the future. So read with caution.
I want to build more hatred and conflict between Ignis and Chrysalis, to make their eventual climax more satisfying meaningful. It also let's me establish the ground work for her Divinity. I also needed to give Ignis a real come to Jesus/humble pie moment. He has consistently mentioned needing to curb his "act first, think later" reckless behavior and yet he keeps doing it.

That reckless behavior wasn't a reason why everything went sideways during the Discord arc, so he slowly reverted back to that behavior. But this? Yeah this will probably stick. Being able to combine those two things (Bug-Ignis conflict + Ignis humble pie) I wanted to do while also letting Chrysalis flex her planning/plotting and manipulating ability.

I'm just writing all this cause I still feel the need to defend last chapter, but this will probably be the last time I comment about it or reference it. All of you were very respectful with your criticism, well except one of you, and I've been quick to admit when I've fucked up things like the summit, the rushed gala debacle, the shining armor thing. So I don't want to give the impression that I don't want criticism. BUT in this instance I am adamant that intentional character flaws are being misinterpreted.

Unless they aren't, and people just don't like the character flaws. In that case uhhh, yeah idk man go read something else haha. Making mistakes and losing is a core part of any character imo, and this has been his first real, major, tragic fuck up. The previous ones could've been really bad (like taunting Inferno about his brothers death at the Summit and endangering the entire crowd) but for the most part he got lucky. Luck runs out eventually.

Anyways, sorry for crashing out in the author notes. Even if I disagree with the criticism I still walk away realizing I probably just didn't explain something properly in the story and still try to take a lesson from it. So, please feel free to keep it coming. (If you just straight up insult the story though and either have bad reasoning or literally no reasoning I'm just ignoring anything you say in the future. I've already blocked two commenters lmao.)

For everyone else, sorry about the rant! (also the chapter is 6969 words haha, unplanned)
Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Dragon Slayer

As soon as I appear it feels like time slows down as I evaluate the situation. Celestia is battling what has to be at least “Ancient” on the power scale. Inferno was an Ancient Red Dragon and this blue one is even larger than Inferno. Thankfully it seems like Celestia has successfully guided the fight away from the city.

Nightmare is battling a white dragon dangerously close to the castle, and I don’t see Force or Cadence anywhere. They might have been on a foreign relations visit or maybe they were part of the force that got directed towards the badlands due to my idiotic leadership. There’s another white dragon far above the city that is seemingly content to just circle way up there. I’m not sure if he’s just observing or if he’s waiting for something, but I’m going to prioritize the dragons killing civilians first.

There’s at least 100 dragons that I can immediately see that are either wingless bipedal creatures with strangely shaped bodies, or they’re flying over the city and raining fire down. Why is no one leading an evacuation? Ponies are just running for their lives with no place in mind. I’m happy to see some dragons already laying dead in the streets, so the guards have done well. The lack of an evacuation is a failure on all of our parts, though.
“True Bladesong.”

It still doesn’t work. Right, if I can’t use True Bladesong because I have no mana to vibrate…

I can still use Symphony of Steel! I don’t have any mana but I still have a mana signature! It’s just not in my body because it can’t coexist with divinity, but if I force the mana around me to vibrate at my frequency it'll still let me establish the mana domain needed for the technique, but it won’t be in my body. While I’m preparing to activate the technique I’ll check in on Luna super fast. It’s only been less than three seconds since I teleported away, but she shouldn’t have been too far behind me with her own teleport.

Luna, I'm back in Canterlot, are you okay?

Breaking through the colosseum and bedrock took a lot more out of me than I thought it would. I’m fine, Chrysalis isn’t pursuing me and I’m on my way back now. I hear a pop in the air and feel Luna’s presence in the courtyard of the castle. I’ve used over half of my mana. I plan to take care of the last Elder that’s high in the sky and after that I’ll likely be running on empty.

Could you lead the evacuation efforts then? There’s no coordination at all down there and we’re losing ponies fast.

I should be capable of that. Just give me a minute.

A blue blur shoots straight into the sky after she says to give her a minute. As she flies up I accelerate down and fly towards the densest cluster of dragons and ponies. I grab the hilt of my Moonblade and the Staff of the Magi and pull the hood and mask up on my Knight uniform.

“Symphony of Steel.”

Using the charges in the staff I cast the spell at 7th Level and manage to line it up just right to hit three different dragons. The dragons have corralled the ponies into the center of this wide street where they were standing on all sides surrounding them, but thankfully not in any particular shape. They’re just haphazardly standing around them and taunting them. “Lightning Bolt!”

The slow intro of the song starts to build as the three bipedal, almost humanoid looking, dragons start to convulse as the lightning passes through them. Two of them look exceptionally charred and struggle to continue standing while the third one seems less injured and throws a glare at me.

I’m not trying to use the True Bladesong anymore, so I don’t need to hold back on my emotions. When seven of the dragons turn and charge at me I unleash my Divine Aura to its maximum range of 50ft and scream at the lizards as I charge at them all head on.

Now, here we go, it's the end of the show.

Three dragons on the other side of the clumped up ponies jump onto the nearby buildings and two of them use their breath weapon, fire and ice, while the third gathers what looks like an aura in his open mouth before firing a raw magic beam at me. As soon as the beam leaves his maw it fizzles into nothingness mid air. Thank you Spell Resistance.

Hear them, they’re calling your name…

I push outwards with as much force as I can muster with telekinesis and the elemental breaths stop and flare out as if they’re colliding with a shield. All seven of these fuckers look like they intend to fight me at the same time instead of being stupid and charging in one by one, so let’s fix that.

Because in the end, it's you and your friends…

Now that I’ve moved past where the elemental breaths were going to hit I can grab the middle white dragon and yank him towards me with my telekinesis. “Huh?! Whaaa-!”

He flails his limbs as he zips through the air and I just hold my sword out in front of me, directly in his path. His final yell of confusion is abruptly cut off as he gets impaled on the sword, and apparently his scales are much weaker than the true dragons because he sinks all the way down to the hilt and coughs up blood on my arm before going limp on the blade. His feet dragging in the gravel. “Gross.”

You’ll Find Your Flame.

Flicking the Moonblade causes his body to slide off the sword and roll across the gravel.

We won’t~ back down, we won’t

That leaves six charging at me and at this point they’re pretty close. I’m no stranger to fighting large groups on my own, but the group has never consisted of this many actual threats at once.

“Conjure Minor Elementals.” 5th Level.

A circle with a radius of 15ft shoots out from around me and to my surprise I don’t get to choose a damage type. Unlike last time when little wisps of fire emerged this time it’s just golden orbs rising out of the ground. Does that mean it’s using my Divine Energy, so it’ll be Radiant? That’s pretty sick.

Alter Size. Turning myself from a Medium sized creature into a Huge sized creature, triples the area of space I occupy. This has a min-max effect of increasing the radius of my Elementals because the radius is 15ft from the edges of my body which is now three times as large.

We won’t~ back down, we won’t

This also instantly closes the distance between me and the six lizards charging at me. Now I’m taller than all of them and my sword has grown with me. Throwing my arm back I get ready to make a sweeping strike in front of me, aiming to hit all of them at once. When the Moonblade starts to swing forward at them, multiple golden orbs attach to the sword and seep into the blade, making it glow a brilliant gold. At 5th Level this spell causes any attack I make on anyone with the radius to take an extra 4d8 damage from the attack.

Combined with my increased strength from the larger form and the unknown damage bonuses this empowered Bladesong seems to provide, I might just end this now.

They’re all staring up with wide eyes at my sudden growth but realize what’s about to happen and attempt to dodge or run away. Unfortunately this radius of Elementals also acts as difficult terrain for enemies, the orbs are attaching themselves to the dragons and slowing them down. Just enough for my sword to strike true on all of them.

I’m here to go beyond my limit, not to compromise.

The sword cleaves through four dragons as I sweep at all of them and all four seem to disintegrate as a golden fire washes over both halves of them from the open wound caused by the sword. Unfortunately a shield appears after the fourth one and although it’s shattered as the Moonblade slams into it, it slows me down enough to where I only manage to cut off the fifth dragon's arm and cut deeply into his torso.

And you can tell me if I mean it lookin’ in my eyes.

I know they’re dragons but this is ridiculous. Selune was a Lesser Deity and I’m only one rank away from that…is this really all I amount to? I can still hear so many voices crying out in my head that I wanna scream. I have to be using this Divinity wrong. I’ve used it like mana this whole time, but maybe that’s the wrong way to use it? Luna can channel hers from the moon and cause the literal stars to rain down. I’m thinking of this Divinity as something from the system, but it replaced my mana which is from Equestria.

With my sword still embedded in this dragon who is pushing against it with his other remaining arm. I let out another roar rapidly twist and spin finishing the cleave. The sixth and seventh made use of that time I was thinking to escape my emanation and they’re both making their way back towards the crowd of ponies. All of the ponies are looking at me with wide eyes and bated breaths.

‘Cause I been waiting for my moment to strike,

But her domain is the Moon or rather the Night itself. How can I materialize hope in the form of an attack? Maybe it’s not meant to be an attack.

The two dragons that were nearly downed by the Lightning from earlier have managed to gather their bearings and joined the two who just ran away from me and now they are all pointing their claws at different ponies and yelling commands at me. The two that launched their breath at me earlier open their jaws and threaten to do so again. “Do all of you believe in me?”

So, come close, let me show you what it’s like.

The dragons look confused at the random question but the ponies realize I’m staring directly at them. The two dragons launch their breath weapons again as the ponies sit in a fearful silence. Right before the elemental weapons hit me I hear a mare yell out, “Yes! You won’t lose!”

Relentless Faith.

You can try to stand in my path, but you’re gonna regret it

The cloud of smoke and dust is blown away in the wind and everyone sees I’m completely unharmed and unphased. Glowing brightly. The dragons trying to hold the ponies hostage look terrified and drop the ponies they were holding as they take off down the road. “Believe in each other, like you believe in me. You are all stronger than you realize, especially together.”

I’ll be the one who laughs last while I’m making my exit.

Several of the civilians in the large group of ponies get a shimmer of golden light around them for a brief moment. After that they all stand tall with renewed vigor and they begin helping those that can’t stand while calling out which direction to head in. Maybe that’s my role in this? If I just give them Hope they can help each other.

‘Cause this is only for the strong of heart, not if you get it.

The golden light fades away and it’s the last time I can use my D&D Domain power again. That means whatever that was just now was my own power. Casting Haste on myself I shoot back up into the sky and empower my vocal chords to try and recreate the royal Canterlot voice.

And no matter what the outcome, you better accept it.

“When Nightmare Moon attacked, you ran! When the Hydra attacked? You ran! When Discord broke free? You ran and turned on yourselves. JUST LIKE NOW! WILL YOU CONTINUE TO RUN?! To place the burden on your Princesses and Heroes?! There’s no more than 100 overgrown lizards in this city right now, and we outnumber them by at least 250 to 1! Help each other! Together you are strong, more of you will escape if you do it together. More of you will survive if you FIGHT together. This is your city, your home, your livelihoods! If you can’t help others escape and you can’t fight then at least believe in ME!”

I can cut right through steel, I can bury the pain,

I see several flashes of light popping up around the streets and inside of buildings, and my own mental fog starts to clear. I begin circulating and flaring the Divinity as if it was mana and imbue it into my body causing me to glow in similar fashion. “WE’RE GOING TO WIN!”

So go down for a second, just get out of my way.

Rocketing forward back down into the city streets I expect to feel a strain on my body, since I’m not invulnerable to damage like I was against Chrysalis. But, I just feel a little tired. I hadn’t even tried this since I just assumed it would tear me apart even worse than mana, but my body can withstand it now?! This changes everything.

You cheat, and you steal, I’m not letting it go,

If I’m empowered like this I can take out most of these humanoid dragon’s in one slash. Undoing my altered size I drop back down to normal. If I can take them out in one hit I can try out this strategy even if it’ll take so much concentration it might kill me. As soon as a prayer comes in use Remote Sensing and Greater Teleport. I can do both of those an unlimited number of times per day, but I can only Remotely Sense two places at once. So, I’ll be constantly shifting my vision and teleporting every second. Easy right?

So take this as a lesson, ‘cause it's all that we know.

As the next wave of desperate prayers everything that happens for the next few seconds is a blur.

Will the whole world know your name,

Remote Sense, Greater Teleport, slash.

Sense, teleport, slash.

When we reject destiny?~

Over and over I appear between a pony mere moments away from death and slice through the dragon responsible before it can even register I’ve teleported. From a birds eye view it probably looks like I’m just casting Steel Wind Strike on a colossal scale.

I’ve been there, and I’ve seen it.

After around 30 dragons I feel something dripping down my face after I slay another lizard. Rubbing around my upper lip and pulling away the hand I’m shocked to see blood. I know this is information overload, but I didn’t think it would be this bad. I found out after the first two that I don’t need to Remote Sense for every teleport because my Remote Sense is for five miles. So is this purely from spamming teleport while imbuing my body with Divine Energy? There can’t be too many left, I have to keep going.

I’m never gonna stop believing…

Not every teleport puts me within striking distance as sometimes the pony calling for me is getting rained down upon by one of the dragons with wings. I wonder why some of them have wings and some don’t…figured it’d be pretty universal.

You’ll find your flame.

After another 20-ish dragons I notice it’s not just cries for help in my head anymore. For some reason I can also hear words of encouragement. I hear the voice of the colt from the hospital telling me to make the scary dragons go away.

It’s like I’m seeing double vision, take a seat, I’m on a mission.

A couple of seconds pass by and I don’t hear anymore creatures calling out for help, but there’s definitely still dragons in the city. That just means my worshipers are safe, but now my progress is going to be slowed significantly. I decide to fly straight up and observe the city to try and triage where I need to be.

We got everything to gain.

All of the alicorns are still fighting the same dragons they were engaged in combat with when I first got here, which is rather concerning when compared to how long Luna’s fight at the Summit lasted.

To become everything you’re not,

The last half of these weaker dragons below are pretty spread out at this point, but if I draw a path out from up here… I can get over 20 of the ones remaining.

(A/N: Kinda annoying but pause the music here if you care enough to, it’s gunna come back at some point but we’re switching perspectives.)

3rd Person POV - Celestia

Why can’t I hit him? Somehow he’s become physically attuned with Lightning, and it’s made his speed outrageous. Celestia thinks to herself as she tries all manner of attacks to try and hit this dragon with something. The only thing she hasn’t tried yet is that prism attack she used against Blazewraith. She’s trying to gauge this dragon's full capabilities before jumping to that though.

“Are you satisfied now with how far you’ve pushed us away from your city, pony?” The dragon asks before unleashing a torrent of lightning out of his mouth.

“I’d like to be a bit further, to be truthful. I suppose I should be satisfied, though, with how far the three of us have managed to divert the most dangerous threats away from the city.” The alicorn replies nonchalantly as she holds her battleaxe in the air in front of herself with telekinesis and rapidly spins it like a helicopter. The lightning shoots off in all directions as it’s deflected by the weapon.

The dragon merely chuckles which causes an uneasy feeling to shoot up the Princesses spine. “What’s so funny?”

“If you wanted to get the most dangerous threats away then I’m sorry Princess, but you have failed. The most dangerous dragon we brought with us is down there in your city.”

He’s bluffing. There’s no way one of those dragons without a hoard is the most dangerous out of everypony fighting this morning. The alicorn seems pretty sure of herself as she fires a volley of golden-orange fiery bolts at the dragon, trying to cover as wide of angle as possible But, the dragon is suddenly enveloped in lightning before turning into a blur that goes straight up, allowing the volley to fly under him.

(A/N: Ok, resume song.)

1st Person POV - Ignis

I’m using magic propulsion and as much focus as possible to keep myself from flying into any buildings as I sweep through the streets down the path I drew in my mind. Slicing dragons left and right as I bounce around the city like a pinball.

You just give it all you got, and take the pleasure with the pain, yeah.

Suddenly my entire view gets tilted as I’m forcefully pushed out of nowhere, crashing through a stone wall that causes half of the building to collapse.

Hit Points: 46/120.

I can feel my fire awaken, no time for being complacent.

Shoving away the brick with telekinesis and shooting up to my feet I throw out an angry glare as I start looking around. “Which one of you has the balls?”

There’s a sudden force on my forehead that sends backwards, causing the rest of the building to collapse.

Hit Points: 21/120.

There’s a dream on the horizon, you know we gotta chase it.

Blasting straight up into the air while using my last 5th Level slot for Cure Wounds I frantically look all around.

Hit Points: 72/120.

“That’d be me.” Instant I snap towards the voice and find a light blue dragon almost half my size with horns curving downwards. I think this is the first dragoness I’ve met so far. What magic did she learn to toss me around like that. “You look confused. I know I’m not big and strong, but I am powerful.”

And when we get to where we’re going, then we stop the invasion.

Whatever magic she’s learned is powerful. Something strong enough to overcome my spell resistance twice in a row and throw me through a building. “I’m confused cause I’m trying to figure out what magic you used. It almost feels like telekinesis but…something’s off. Oh well guess I’ll never know.” I fly at her but it’s a feint, one second after I leave the ground I teleport behind her with my sword already readied.

Best me? Nah you must be mistaken.

Right as I’m about to connect with my sword she glances backwards and something strong barrels into my gut, pushing me back several inches. “I thought Bladesingers were supposed to be neutral parties upkeeping the balance? Shouldn’t you be fighting villains or something?”

“Is it wind? That’s the only thing that makes sense, but how can you generate wind that strong?” I unleash a Frost Bolt at the dragoness.

You know I’ll turn you into rust, grind you right down to dust.

The Frost Bolt looks like it hits an invisible dome as it suddenly flares out about a foot away from her. “For the record I am fighting villains, literally right now.”

“So you’re harboring a fugitive that tried to end the world, and you killed the Dragon Lord and his second in command for no reason. And, we’re the villains?” She concentrates a massive amount of nearby air into a spear, and I’m only really able to make it out because I know what I’m looking for. It’s damn near invisible. She flicks a claw in my direction and the wind spear blasts towards me.

You thought you were the best, well, you haven’t met us.

Swinging upwards with my right hand, diagonally, starting from my left hip and extending my right arm straight up into the air, I hit the spear inches away from me and the air disperses. The dragon opens her eyes a bit wide before putting on a more serious expression.

“A fugitive who already served her sentence. She spent 1,000 years on the moon, alone. I bet you wouldn’t even last a week before the insanity consumed you. Also at that Summit we entered an approved and consensual three on three duel. Consisting of three one versus one matches. As soon as my match ended and it was time for your Dragon Lord to fight he was instantly overwhelmed and lost within minutes. I’d hardly say we’re villains for killing him in a duel he requested and agreed to.”

Persuasion Check

16 + 2 + 2 = 20.

I see her face falter a bit as she looks hesitant.

I’ll bring the fire and rain, call me “the hurricane.”

“That can’t be true. Why would my father lie to all of us? There’s no way we…no I won’t be swayed by your false words.” She fires another wind spear and I slice it just like before, only this time there are four more accompanying it. They all go down and then swing up into my gut again, launching me into the air. Then the second one hits, launching me higher and the third one.

Hit Points: 39/120.

I’m not letting it go, cause it’s all that I know.

I get my bearings and block the fourth wind spear only to see her zooming towards me at speeds almost as fast as mine. She’s eliminating air resistance in front of her entirely while funneling everything behind her for extra propulsion. Her use of just wind is…impressive honestly.

Will the whole world know your name, when we reject destiny?~

I know how to defeat her pretty quickly, but I think I can actually convince her to back off. She seems to think she’s on the morally correct side of this conflict. “You know I’m telling the truth, you’re just terrified to think of all this blood on your hands being caused for selfish reasons.”

“Shut up!” She swings both arms and two massive wind slashes fly at me.

I’ve been there, and I’ve seen it, I’m never gunna stop believing.

I swing my Moonblade at the center of the “X” formed by the two slashes and am surprised when my sword makes a CLANG sword and sparks fly as the slashes keep pushing in. Putting in a bit more force I manage to parry the wind.

You’ll find your flame… GO!

This is taking too long. I need to kill the rest of the dragons, after I parry the wind away I don’t even bother looking for her. Glancing down I spot the path I was flying earlier and drop back down into the streets before zipping forward.

“Oh no you don’t!” It turns into some bullet hell game as I weave left and right, dodging the dragon's wind attacks while making sure I land my slashes on the dragons passing by. One of the wind slashes I realize will hit a small group of ponies if I dodge it so I’m forced to slow down and parry it. This makes her smirk and I start to worry what strategy she just came up with.

Will the whole world know your name?!

From that moment on all of her attacks were aimed as ponies running around underneath us, slowing me down considerably from killing her comrades. Is it even worth trying to talk her down at this point? Maybe I should just kill her…

I’ve been there, and I’ve seen it, I’m never gunna stop believing!

“Fine, you want my attention?! You’ve got it.” I grab the next three dragons with telekinesis and throw them at her as she fires the wind slashes. Her eyes go wide as she realizes her three teammates are directly in her line of fire.

She finally shows an opening as she reaches out her hand in an attempt to stop her own slashes, but I teleport directly above her and swing my sword down onto the back of her neck.

You’ll find your flame…

I hear the sound of those three dragons getting sliced open and realize she gave up on trying to do that, which means she knows I’m here. I brace myself and add all of my force into the downward swing. Right as the sword makes contact I can see air pushing up so strongly that there’s a shell of wind that it seems like my sword is pushing down on.

Suddenly in an act of desperation I feel strong gusts all around me and realize she’s not even controlling her magic right now, she’s just dumping everything into pushing up.

Oh, we can save~…the day.

Unfortunately no matter how strong her magic is, she’s a mortal and I’m not. And, I’m actually trying to kill her this time. I let up and stop swinging my sword down, causing it to point straight up in the air as it’s blown up with my arm holding it. Now that I have all this room to work with I swing down again, and this time when the sword makes contact I see some blood and then the dragon is sent shooting into the ground.

There’s no crater though…did she concentrate all of that wind into a single point right as the sword made contact, so that I would cut skin deep. Scale deep in this case, I suppose. Then when the blowback sent her shooting into the ground she made a cushion of air and landed on it.

This instrumental seems to be going on for a while, but I won’t complain. I shoot down and she flies up, looking pissed. This time I break through her wind slash instantly and she realizes she can’t face me head on. Eliminating her own air resistance while increasing mine she starts to fly away from as I chase her. Constantly slashing at wind spears and wind slashes, as I slowly close the distance to the sound of a high speed drums pedal.

The music dies down as I start to swing my blade at her one last time.

Now, here we go, it’s the end of the show.

She makes one final stand and starts rapidly throwing everything she has at me in a panicked flail. I have to swing my Moonblade around several times per second to keep everything at bay.

Hear them, they're calling your name…

“How can you hold your breath for so long?!” She screams out as I continue inching closer swinging violently through her attacks.

“You’ve been preventing me from breathing? I don’t have to breathe, haha.”

Seems like I was just a bad matchup for her then. She’s finally overwhelmed and as my sword swings at her from the side I watch as the sword and my arms glow golden and a thunderous crack goes through the air. The dragoness gets sent into the city so fast that it sounds like a jet as she crashes into a building and disappears in a huge cloud of dust and debris.

At the last second she used wind on her entire body to move with my swing and traveled in the same direction I was already going to send her. As a result she hit the ground much harder than she would’ve, but the trade off is that I know I didn’t cut nearly deep enough to kill her. She’s actually a combat genius.

Cause in the end, it’s you and your friends…

I look down at the war torn city and only see a handful of dragons left. Celestia seems dead even with her opponent, Nightmare seems close to victory against hers, and Luna looks like she needs help, badly. She probably ran out of magic. “Gimmie 5 seconds, babe, I’m almost done taking out the trash.”

Taking note of all their locations in the city I teleport down to the first one.

You’ll find your flame…

Will the whole world know your name?!

The music picks back up right as I slash the first dragon into two.

When we dance with destiny?

Using teleportation and high speed flight I start to go from dragon to dragon.

Yeah I’ve been there, and I’ve seen it, I’m never gunna stop believing.

The remaining few dragons all start to take flight out of the city, making it way easier for me to spot them. You’ll find your flame…

The refrain repeats itself as I slash and cut my way through the last of the weaklings, heavily breathing at this point. It feels like I’ve been going full tilt for nearly 7 minutes.

You’ll find your flame…

I feel a bit of oomph in my chest as the guitar solo kicks in and blast straight up towards Luna and her fight with the massive white dragon. She has bits of frost all over her fur and I can see her breath as she exhales.

Neither of them seem to notice me approaching until I’m just a few feet away, but for the dragon that’s already too late. I use the same trick I used on Inferno, and Alter Size, growing up to the Colossal size. The Moonblade growing to it’s appropriate size as well means that even this big son of a bitch could get cut in two in one swing if he isn’t careful.

The enlarged sword meets his vulnerable belly as I fly past him, but it doesn’t manage to cut through. I look at Nightmare and Celestia and realize that with how big I am now, if I move closer to Celestia all three of these dragons are within 30ft of me. That’s exactly what I do, pulling my blade out of the dragon it staggers and looks like it’s barely able to fly as it roars at me. As soon as I’m close enough to Celestia’s fight I activate Mystic Arcanum and use it to cast Steel Wind Strike, without using a spell slot or any components. Right as I activate it I yell out to everyone.

“With this…IT’S OVER!”

None of them expected a guy over 64ft tall to instantly move between all three dragons at once, slicing them simultaneously. Luna’s dragon goes limp and only the whites of its eyes can be seen as it plummets to the ground. Nightmare's dragon also loses his ability to fly as he roars in pain.

Nightmare and Celestia are surprised but still aware enough to capitalize on the opening I gave them. “Ah, you finally slowed down.” Celestia comments before engulfing the entire dragon in an orange-red beam of magic.

Nightmare just silently uses her spectral scythe to behead the white dragon she was fighting.

The intense guitar finally dies down as all three dragons plummet. Quickly confirming they aren’t going to fall on the city, I just let all the tension leave my body and float in the air, shrinking back down to my normal size.

Will the whole world know your name, when we dance with destiny?
I’ve been there and I’ve seen it, I’m never gunna stop believing.
You’ll find your flame…

That fight was so strange. Although I got more and more tired as it dragged on, I also felt like I was swelling with more and more power.

Luna lets me lay on my belly on her back with my head resting on top of hers as she flies down to the city. I can’t help but point out the obvious. “It’s only been a week since Discord, and just as it felt like the city was starting to shift back to normalcy everything turned to ruin again. I can’t even imagine how many we lost.”

Luna stops flying down when she hears the crack in my voice. Internally my frustration swells because I let my emotions get the best of me, but as everything that happened with Chrysalis finally starts to sink in, on top of this scene of Canterlot in ruins. I just squeeze the alicorn I’m laying on and bury my face into the back of her neck as I finally crack and break down.

“Luna…Luna…I killed all of these ponies. Every single thing that went wrong tonight and into the early morning. Is…entirely because of my arrogance. Why did I just believe that bitch without even questioning it? Why did I insist on going ahead by myself? I even saw the dragon contact Chrysalis before I engaged him. I fucked up. Monumentally! And I can’t even bring them back?!”

It feels like Luna is tilting her head and pointing towards the ground, after a few seconds she flies back up and settles down on a cloud. She doesn’t even say anything, she just loaf’s on the cloud, sets me down next to her and pulls me to her side with a wing while rubbing the top of my head. I want to get mad and frustrated at being babied like this, but my emotions betray me. Breaking down even more.

“Why does this keep happening? Why do we have to keep going through these life or death events? You getting taken at the Summit, Aurora, Discord, Daybreaker, Nightmare, Chrysalis again, and now this?! Why was I even brought here if this is what happens because of my fuck ups?! The only good thing that has resulted from me being brought here is Nightmare apparently getting her own body and being free. I keep hoping I’m going to wake up at any moment the morning after the Gala and find out this was all a dream… I just don’t know how much more I can take, Luna. Now we have to go to war? I have to watch even more ponies die for some stupid pointless reason? A reason that is once again indirectly my fault?! I hate this. I hate all of it so much. Why am I even alive?”

“Shhh. Don’t say things like that. I knew you’d blame yourself for this incident, but I hadn’t even considered you blaming yourself for everything that’s gone wrong since you arrived all because Harmony said you made her book wrong. You didn’t ask to be brought here, Ignis. You didn’t come here on your own. You…were reckless last night, I won’t sugarcoat it. But, everything else you’ve done since you got here was only done with good intentions. I know deep down you also know that, but if you just want to vent it all out I’ll sit here with you until you’re ready to head down.”

After a couple minutes of embarrassing myself and giving Luna a patch of matted fur I finally pull myself together. “I have to change Luna. I mean it this time. We need to cleanse my mind of her hooks and then I’m going to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. No more half measures.”

Author's Note

Listen, Nightmare didn't technically attack Canterlot. In fact she probably never even showed up there, but it doesn't change the fact that when Celestia teleported back with Ignis the entire city was a fucking mad house. Plus he needed more examples to really put the emphasis on it.

This is definitely the longest bladesong of the story. I debated on just scrapping it and splitting this chapter into two separate chapters with two separate bladesongs, but I've been trying to find a good place for this song and I think this fight was high speed enough for it to fit well.

Also yes that is Ember and No, she isn't dead. I mean Ignis even says she did a genius tactic to avoid being fatally wounded by the sword. So that's not really a spoiler but fuck it I'll spoiler it just in case.

But this is it, we are officially in the next arc. "This is war." Ignis is OP enough now that I can start putting less emphasis on the fights and more emphasis on his decision making, leadership, and deteriorating mental state. Oh also we passed 400k words, woahhhh~

Thanks for reading! <3

Side Quest - Reconstitution

“Where did the light blue dragon that was here go? Did any of you see her?” I lifted up the entire debris field that I left her in, but she’s nowhere to be seen. She actually had enough in the tank to get up and fly outta here?

“We didn’t even know there was a dragon here, sir.” One of the Day Guards responds and I just tell him to not worry about it and continue walking around. Eventually finding the creature I was looking for.

“Vice Captain. As a changeling do you know of any methods to cleanse the mind of any changeling corruption? My therapist, a while back, ended up implanting some backdoors and compulsions into my mind and Chrysalis was able to bypass all of my defenses and took complete control of my body using them. I need to burn all of that away.” Elytra stops healing a pony when she hears me call out to her. “Keep healing, I’ll come to you.”

“If the only things left behind are from the drone that deceived you then yes, I can clear all of that away. If the false queen herself left something behind then I’m afraid it’ll be a bit more difficult, sir.” That’s what I was afraid of.

“I don’t know if she did. I wasn’t even able to tell if the drone did something until I was made aware of the possibility. Is there an easy way to tell? Also, are you using Equestrian magic to heal him? Just use Cure Wounds, you should have it.”

“I was only able to use my spells around eight times before the magic just wouldn’t respond to me anymore.” Ah, so she also has spell slots. Without the system it’ll be harder for her to keep track of things like that.

“Cure Wounds.” The unicorn who had their face scrunched up in pain while hissing and groaning is instantly restored, and they quickly pass out as the tension leaves them. “Can you take a look?”

She looks a bit hesitant before motioning for me to sit down. Plopping down next to the changeling she leans up and hovers her horn next to my head. “I’ll need to go into your mind to inspect it, sir. I just wanted to make sure that’s okay, and you’ll need to allow me in as I can’t even scratch the barrier around your mind.”

I should’ve realized I’d need to let her in to accomplish this. I can feel my heart rate spike at the thought of willingly letting someone else inside. After a tense few seconds I clear my throat. “I trust you, Elytra.” Her expression is a lot harder to read than a pony’s but I think that's a look of pity or sympathy. Likely due to how shaky my voice was as it escaped.

Closing my eyes as I lower my guard and feel something tickling the back of my head. “There’s remnants of something here, but this is more than likely just where Chrysalis broke through. I’ve cleansed that easily enough, but I can’t find anything else, sir.”

“Have you looked deeper or just on the surface?”

“Just the surface, but are you sure that’s okay? If I go any deeper I’m going to see glimpses of your thoughts and memories.”

Luna, I’m about to let the Vice Captain into my mind to look for the backdoors Chrysalis used to possess me. I trust her and I can tell it’s her because she’s a worshiper, but I wanted to let you know just in case.

I’m sending Nightmare over. Wait for her before starting, she’s quite adept as possession and mental magic herself, so she is confident she can detect if something nefarious were to happen.

“Pull back out, Elytra. We’re going to wait a few minutes before proceeding.” She looks a bit dejected and is seemingly aware that I requested someone to oversee the procedure. “I’m sorry, I trust you far more than almost any other guard or pony in Canterlot. But, I just can’t let myself be that vulnerable without some measure of protection. There could be another one of Chrysalis’ drones nearby for all we know who takes advantage of my guard being lowered.”

“No I understand, that’s why I didn’t do it in the first place. I’m honored that you’re allowing me to investigate. Knowing that you don’t feel comfortable enough to let me do this did leave me a bit more dejected than I realized it would, but I know this is the right decision. If I weren’t the one investigating you I’d be the one suggesting you get somepony to oversee.”

Glad she’s understanding.

We don’t have to wait long until Nightmare lands next to us and I watch with amusement as Elytra suddenly has wide eyes and she’s recoiled back like when something strong hits your nose. “Eat your fill, you’ve earned it.”

She nods and I watch as some pink vapor wisps appear in the air and get sucked into the changeling. Weird, I never noticed that before. “Hey Moonie, thanks for coming over here.”

“Of course. Thank you for holding yourself back and actually waiting for help to arrive.”

“Ouch. Just going straight for the knockout punch, huh? I don’t blame you, I definitely deserve it.”

Elytra chimes in before Nightmare can respond and tells me she’s ready so I close my eyes again and lower my guard completely. There’s a familiar tickle on the back of my head that suddenly expands and feels like it’s engulfing half of my head. My entire being is screaming at me that something is wrong, but I just ignore the feeling as I place my faith in Nightmare and Elytra. I do feel a bit small and scared at the moment, very exposed and vulnerable.

“I’ve found it. It’s spread around the core of your mind and it seems like it waits until the false queen’s magic probes the surface before opening your mind from the inside.”

“Can you get rid of it?”

“I…I can try.”

It feels like someone just shoved an icicle through my head as a cold searing pain spikes up. “Ack-aghh!”

“I can’t do it. It’ll do irreparable damage if I try to cleanse it forcefully.” The pain fades almost instantly as she says it’s impossible.

“Can you feel my magic?” I ask her as I circulate and direct my Divinity into my head. “It’ll feel different but similar to mana.”

“Yes. It’s warm and comforting.”

“Can you guide it towards the corruption? I want to try something.” I feel something similar to telekinesis start to pull and redirect the flow of my Divinity as she pulls on it. After a few seconds a sickening feeling washes over me as I make contact with the little gift Chrysalis left me. “Alright now withdraw from my mind entirely.” Within a second or two I feel the sensation leave my head.

In one violent motion I concentrate, compress, and force all of my Divinity into this single spot, trying to completely overwhelm the corruption. I feel that sharp cold pain spike up once more, but activate the divinity as if I was trying to fire a beam.

That sharp and cold pain fades to an intense heat as it feels like I’m on fire inside. That might as well be the case, to be honest. My head hangs low as I’m suddenly even more tired than I was just a few minutes ago. The fatigue is catching up to me. “Alright can you double check and make sure I cleansed it? I used brute force. Knowing that she’s a weaker Deity than me right now made me pretty confident I could cleanse it without any lasting damage.”

“There is not a single trace of changeling magic in here. You burned everything?”

“Yeah. Same way our bodies naturally fight off infections with a fever. Just cook the fucker until it’s gone. Let the Night Guard know we’re having an all call when shift starts tonight. I’m going to talk to the Day Guards as well, but this whole thing kicked off at night just before sunrise which means for the most part it’s our fuck up. I know it’s likely due to undermanning, but we trained and ran through practice runs for evacuations. You guys nailed it when Discord broke free, but somehow we dropped the ball horrendously here. I need to know what went wrong, so this doesn’t happen again.”

“Is that really necessary? I agree that we should determine what failed tonight, but bringing all of the guards together to scold them? This doesn’t seem like the right time for that.” Nightmare asks from the side. Elytra just told me yes sir and I told her our shift is technically over, so she can do whatever she wants, but don’t overdo it.

“It is necessary. I’m going to inform them of my failure as well. If anyone is to blame for the loss of life tonight it’s almost entirely on me. I need to talk with Luna again before she goes to sleep, and then I’m going to help with clearing out all of this debris and any search and rescue efforts we have for ponies currently missing.” When I stand up the Vice Captain gives me a salute before walking off towards a small group of Day Guards that don’t seem to be doing anything. Rookie move to not try and at least look busy, ladies.

Looking around the city with Remote Sense going from follower to follower I try to spot Luna and eventually see her with Celestia by the main gate of the castle. Looking over to Nightmare I tell her where I’m going. “I currently don’t know how to teleport anyone else with me, but I’m going to the front gate of the castle. Looks like Luna is over there with Celestia.”

She ignites her horn and disappears with a pop and I follow shortly after.

“Did you take care of everything you needed to? You should rest, Ignis, you did a lot of good work out there.” Celestia is the one to greet me as Nightmare appears and I arrive shortly after.

“Almost. Just got one thing left and then I’m going to go help some of the volunteers and guards. Luna,” She looks over to me and I throw my arms around her neck. “Are you okay?”

“Yes? I just exhausted a majority of my mana, but I’m fine. What brought this on?”

“You blew open the changeling hive and wiped out enough drones that Chrysalis lost a Divine Rank. A lot of those drones were pretty small, and from what I can tell they’d spent their entire lives just worshiping Chrysalis and helping out with minor duties around the hive. To just kill thousands in an instant like that…I thought…sorry.”

“I did what needed to be done. There wasn’t enough time to figure out a less violent strategy. I hope you don’t think any less of me for having such a cold response.” She averts her eyes for a moment, and I can tell this must be a specific issue from the time prior to her banishment.

So, I just give her a soft smile. “No. You saved me. The only thing I can feel towards you is gratitude and love. If it does start to weigh on you, please tell me. I want to listen the same way you did for me.” There’s a chance this is another one of those opposite gender things where mares don’t want to show weakness to their stallion so they don’t open up to them about things like this. Just in case I add in another bit at the end. “Remember, I’m not a stallion.“

Celestia looks confused, but Luna seems to understand what I’m getting at. She returns my smile with her own. “I…I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for checking on me.” I nod at her and start to fly away, but stop when she calls out again. “You really should rest, Ignis. You’ve had a long night.”

“Compared to what is yet to come, I know this is nothing. I’ll be fine, Lulu.” This time before I fly off I give Moonie and Luna a quick peck.

Quickly flying over the city I try to spot Shining Armor to see where he needs me, but decide I don’t wanna deal with his attitude. Especially when I know I’m competent enough to decide where I’m needed. I spot a familiar hospital that’s been reduced to just the left side of a hospital. The entire right side collapsed, I hope no one was left in there. The street in front of the hospital seems to be where the worst of the injured are being lined up, and there’s ponies inside the hospital with hard hats on. Likely determining if it’s safe to start letting patients and staff go back in.

Quickly landing and looking around I grimace at all the sounds of pain and the sheer number of injured. This makeshift medical area has enough patients to take up nearly three blocks with cots and ponies. Flicking my hand I look in the system to see my spell slots.

Ignis Ferrum - Divine Rank 5
Bladesinger 12/Paladin 2
Experience: 172,000/165,000 - Level up available!

Quest rewards pending!

Followers: 6,800/9,000.

Spell Slots: …

I’ve got all of my First and Second level slots, and two slots left for Third and Fourth level, each. Completely out of Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Level slots. Let’s exhaust all of my slots to heal as many of these ponies as possible and then use the level up. I suppose I should check the quest rewards first, might be a free spell scroll or something in there.

Main Quest - Defend Your City. Completed. Claim rewards?

Main Quest - Dragon Slayer. Completed. Claim rewards?

“Claim.”

Defend Your City:

Party Function Unlocked

One Miracle

Dragon Slayer:

After personally dispatching so many of their kind, dragons can instinctively smell the scent of death from you. Gained permanent Advantage on any Intimidation rolls against creatures of draconic origins, excluding Deities, regardless of Rank.

Kind of a mid reward for the dragon slayer quest, but beggars can’t be choosers. What is “Miracle?”

Miracle - A miracle can do any of the following things:

Duplicate any cleric spell of 8th level or lower (including spells to which you have access because of your domains).

Duplicate any other spell of 7th level or lower.

Undo the harmful effects of certain spells, such as feeblemind or insanity.

Have any effect whose power level is in line with the above effects.

At the cost of 5,000 XP you can request an exceptionally powerful Miracle. Examples include:

Swinging the tide of a battle in your favor by raising fallen allies to continue fighting.

Moving you and your allies, with all your and their gear, from one plane to another through planar barriers to a specific locale with no chance of error.

Protecting a city from an earthquake, volcanic eruption, flood, or other major natural disaster.

So instead of Wish it’s more like wish.com, got it. I already know I can’t revive every pony that died today. Not only would it be beyond the power of the spell, since the number of dead is in the hundreds, maybe even thousands. But, Harmony would also have a stroke and I really can’t deal with that right now without a risk of becoming violent. As the holder of all those souls she can easily reject the spell anyways.

“Miracle,” As soon as I activate the spell I feel an immense surge of power. “Restore the city of Canterlot and its injured citizens to how they were before the dragons attacked.”

That should make it ignore the dead, so it won’t fail. Hopefully.

That is beyond the capability of a Miracle.

“Oh so you can protect a city from a natural disaster, but you can’t undo one? I call bullshit but okay. Let’s try removing the buildings from the equation. Miracle, fully heal all of the injured in this city, excluding dragons.”

This will consume 5,000 XP. Confirm? “Confirmed. That’s a small price to pay to try and fix my own mistakes.”

Everything goes white an instant later.

“You should talk to him about it, Luna. I know it’s bothering you, and since your return you’ve been more open with your feelings. So, I’m surprised you lied to him. He wants to be there for you and it’d make you feel better to vent to somepony.” Celestia tries encouraging her sister to be more open to the elf.

“I didn’t lie. I did do what needed to be done, and my response was cold. I just completely omitted my feelings on the matter. His state right now is worse than mine I fear, and I don’t want to add to that burden with my own problems. It’s enough just knowing that he wants to lend an ear.”

Before Celestia or Nightmare can respond or retort, all of their eyes snap open wide as they feel an intense surge of magic. Before they can question what’s happening there's a blinding flash of light, followed by a giant golden cylinder that reaches up into the sky. That cylinder rapidly expands and covers the entire city as it passes through buildings and debris out to the edge of Canterlot.

All three alicorns look at the faint green energy coming out of the ground and floating in the air before realizing all of their minor scrapes and cuts are rapidly closing. Their mana pools instantly topped up to full.

Without saying a word to each other they all individually teleport to where the cylinder of golden light first appeared. As soon as they appear they look around and see a massive crowd of ponies slowly rising to their hooves looking confused and tired as they stand up. The only creature laying on the ground is Ignis, right in front of what's left of the hospital. There’s one guard and one nurse standing over him.

Luna and Nightmare blink to the Knight and immediately start questioning the two ponies. “What happened? Is he okay?”

“I don’t know, Your Majesty. I saw him land and was going to come greet him to see if he was here to help with the healing, but something happened before I got to him. My horn started to feel all tingly and a wave of dizziness washed over me and all of the unicorns standing nearby. He floated a few feet in the air with his mane going straight up, and golden beams of light pouring out of his eyes. He held out his hand and then that golden wave washed over the city. As far as I can tell he’s just passed out from exertion.”

His chest is rising and falling at a steady rhythm, so he is alive. Luna picks him up in her telekinesis before looking towards Celestia and Nightmare. “I’m going to lay him down and watch over him. Can you go find Cadence and her Knight and update the pegasus on what’s happened? I didn’t spot either of them this entire time.”

“I teleported them away to watch over Twilight. With her mental state I didn’t want her to see…all of this, or risk her getting injured again. Sending Cadence was the only way to make her feel comfortable with leaving the castle, and her Knight insisted on not letting her Princess leave unprotected. All three of them should be Ponyville.” Celestia informs them of Force’s location and in response Luna and Nightmare nod at each other before both of them teleport away. Each one going to a different destination.

Luna floats the elf over to their bed, and rests on her belly next to him. Looking down at him with a mixture of pride and concern. “What did you do Ignis…?” It’s only now that she realizes his hair has reverted back to normal silver hair instead of the ethereal gray and silver it was before.

“Whatever you did it must’ve drained you dry for your mane to revert like this.”

“Get away…”

“Hm?” The alicorn is unsure if she actually heard something from how quiet the mumble was.

“Chrysa-...stop..please”

Immediately Luna frowns as she notices forehead sweat accompanied by small twitches and jerks all indicative of a nightmare. She ignites her horn and presses it to his forehead and the mumbling stops instantly as the elfs sleeping body fully relaxes.

“I thought you didn’t dream anymore? Perhaps it’s because you lost consciousness as opposed to sleeping normally? It could be because of how drained you are, if your mane reverted it’d make sense if your inability to dream reverted as well. Rest easy.”

Luna goes back to her thoughts and considers something else Celestia mentioned to her.

1st Person POV - Luna

It is highly likely that Ignis will be investigated for this. And it’ll almost certainly be substantiated enough to have him put on trial for dereliction of duty. If he publicly reveals his truth detecting abilities that alone will likely bump the charge down to an accidental dereliction of duty. That'd be revealing a powerful capability that has managed to stay secret for now, though.

It’s a shame that Celestia can’t be the judge for this one. In cases where the Princess cannot be impartial it becomes a trial with a jury of guards. Shining Armor will be the one presiding over it. Even if we convince them that Ignis made the best call he could’ve made with the information he had, they might still be able to have him relieved as the Captain of Night Guard due to a loss in confidence in his ability to lead.

But, did he truly make the best decision he could’ve made with the information he had? If he had waited for me and Tia to go with him we would’ve recognized that there’s no town where the debris was located. The dragon still would’ve spotted us and alerted Chrysalis though. If she truly was stronger than Ignis in that moment before his follower count increased… Would Tia and I have been able to win against her, a mind controlled Ignis, and Inferno a formidable Elder Red Dragon?

There’s an even worse case scenario. Perhaps even if we were able to defeat her the fight might have taken long enough that the dragons would’ve attacked Canterlot anyways, but in this case all three of us aren’t there instead of just Ignis. That would’ve been disastrous.

In reality he did make the actual best choice, but based on the information he had it was not the choice he should’ve made. It’ll be up to the jury at that point to decide if that’s egregious enough to deserve punishment. Even worse than that it’ll be up to the court of public opinion. If they decide to pump out headlines placing the sole blame on him he’ll likely lose a majority of his followers and likely won’t even want to leave the castle for years.

The most concerning bit is that he won’t be able to go out and defend against any further attacks from the dragons, nor will he be able to perform his duties as Captain until the investigation and trial are completed. Can we afford to have him out of commission for that long? Tia, Nightmare, and I will likely be able to handle whatever may come.

That’s what I would’ve said until today. Tia and I were both essentially drawn to a stalemate. Her opponent was too fast for her to target and I was running nearly empty on mana. What happens if the next foes are even more powerful? What if they coordinate a multi-pronged attack and target several major cities? All of us can only be in one place. In that case, we’ll just have to grant him an exception to policy and authorize his continued work while under investigation.

How will Ignis react to all of this though? Considering how much he’s already blaming himself he might just plead guilty to everything in some effort to atone. I suppose if he’s no longer in the Night Guard at all he’d still be able to defend Equestria, but they could give him confinement if he pleads guilty to everything. Not just a discharge.

Ah, things have become so complicated.

Author's Note

Due to popular demand (This is a lie, I was already considering all the possible problems and complications for this for a while now. But, decided on how I want to implement it so I brought it back) the Party Function has been unlocked!

I found this Miracle spell in the 3.5e spell list and it's honestly perfect for what I needed. I've been hesitant to give Wish as a big quest reward because it is far, FAR too powerful. But this was able to accomplish what I wanted while not also being reality warping. Wish is capable of time travel and all sorts of wonky shit, but Miracle is pretty straight forward. You're just requesting an exceptional miracle from a God. Basically Divine Intervention on crack. In this case Ignis was requesting the miracle to...himself....the system...? Idk, but either way I'm glad I found a happy medium I could use to heal everyone, while also avoiding the constant FOMO of "Why didn't I have him use Wish for this or that or X or Y? That would've been way cooler and solved everything even better than what he did."

Other than that, not much happening this chapter. See I can still take things slow even if we're in the middle of an arc, no biggie. Next chapter and maybe the next several chapters are going to exclusively be either 3rd person or 1st person POV's of everyone but Ignis. This is cause it's hard to show differences in tone of voice or way of speaking, posture, etc from his own POV. A lot of times when we undergo minor changes like that we ourselves aren't even aware of it unless it's pointed out.

So I'll be driving us around through some different perspectives instead.

Also... listen I haven't done this for the entire 400k words so far, but Imma do it right now. If you like the story and have read this far, can you give it a thumbs up? <.< This story is sitting in nearly 500 Favorites lists, and barely half of that have actually liked the fic. We're close to 300, and Ill be brutally honest, I just like watching the number go up. Bigger number = more dopamine.

But also if you don't feel like it then hey fuck it, dont worry about it, lmao.

Thanks for reading! <3

New Perspectives

“Do you know why the Captain wants to talk with us?” Sergeant (Sgt.) Dusk asks, already knowing my answer.

“Yes.”

“Well? What’s going on?”

“He will tell you when he gets here. Don’t ask again, Sgt.” I try not to be too short with the thestral, but she’s like this every time she’s called into a meeting.

“Vice Captain, why do you act so differently when the Captain isn’t around?” What?

“What?”

“You’re very straight edge and no nonsense. Which is something I expect from the second in command, but when the Captain is around you turn into a puppy. Which surprises me because your personality shifts even if us peons are around. Why do you always seem so eager whenever you talk to him?” That’s quite an outrageous series of statements to say to your superior.

“I owe him a great debt. I’m more surprised that all of you don’t feel that same level of admiration and respect for him.”

“Well of course, everypony in the Night Guard respects the Captain. Especially us bats, we know he’s the sword and shield of Her Grace. What kind of debt could you possibly owe him? Is it because he created an opportunity for all of you to escape your hive?”

For some reason I’m in a sharing mood today. “After Queen Aurora was killed, the false queen brought us into her court one by one. She told us to choose between swearing loyalty to her or exile. Except anyling that chose exile was killed on the spot. She understood that no creature would ever choose to die, so she led them to believe it was only exile.”

“...Brutal. Good thing you were able to escape before it was your turn.”

“I wasn’t. I was seconds away from being executed. The Captain cleanly cut through the executioner in time to save me. I almost got sick from how much hatred he was spewing towards the false queen. I caught a glimpse of their fight and was awe-struck. Then we all managed to escape in the chaos and marched to Equestria. Her Grace’s sister wasn’t sure what she was going to do with us, but he just walked in, fed all of us in one go, and suggested to the Princess that we live in the mines located under the city. Just recently he even bestowed a blessing on me that granted me immense power. All he’s done for me is give and give and give.”

“Woah…I thought the rumor that you worshiped him was an exaggeration until that article came out. Even then I didn’t really understand why you specifically were so devoted, but now it makes sense.”

“Would you like to join us on Monday nights? Any are welcome, but as a thestral it’d be easy for you. We meet in the eighth district inside the mines.” Of course she’ll say no, but I figured if I asked right after telling that story she’d be more likely to at least attend once.

“I…yeah. I mean, yes ma’am, I should at least give it a try, I suppose. What time on Mondays?”

“Half an hour before the guard shift change from day to night. Any Night Guards on duty are allowed to attend in their armor, but we usually finish up within 15 minutes or so, bu-”

“Good evening everyone, sorry for making all of you gear up and come to work early to attend this.” Within one syllable the entire room drops into silence. Such a commanding presence.

His Radiance sits down and we all follow suit. “First things first. I wanna preface this by saying that no one is punished, there’s no group punishment, no one is in trouble, so don’t get the wrong idea when I ask this question. Why did we fail to evacuate everyone into the mines?”

There’s a tense silence for several seconds and I assume they think this is a rhetorical question and he’s going to tell us why, but it’s not. “Hello? I don’t know the answer either, that’s why I’m asking. I need to know what went wrong that caused us to fail to perform something we’ve explicitly trained for.”

“We were in the middle of shift change, sir! All of the patrols were back at the castle passing down information to the Day Guards before they started their shifts.” I’m unsure of who that mare is, but I’m glad she spoke up.

“That’s it? Anyone else know of some contributing factors?” He just lets out a sigh as he slouches over. Another period of silence lingers in the room. “Alright, that's an easy enough fix. From now on all patrols will perform their shift change in whatever area they were patrolling at the time. Honestly not sure why we weren’t already doing that. That isn’t in effect immediately by the way. Since it involves the day walkers I'll have to bring it up with Captain Armor and Princess Celestia. I don’t see any reason why they’d oppose it though so expect something official to come out for that within a few days. Now I’m going to explain how I failed last night.”

I hope you’re sure about this, sir. I know you said you’d divulge this information, but even I’m not sure what exactly happened to him.

“Early last night I decided to go question the new changeling we had placed in the dungeons. Once I approached the drone their queen initiated conversation with me directly by possessing the drone. At the time there was magic in place that would alert me if the changeling lied about anything, and she revealed that dragons were razing the villages we have closest to the border with the badlands. I was overly confident in that magic when it didn’t register her statements as a lie, and I was arrogant when I teleported to the border completely alone. If it isn’t obvious by now that was a trap.”

It’s a bit nauseating how much guilt and regret he’s emitting. He pauses and lets out another sigh before looking straight up at the ceiling. “There was no village, it was just a dragon setting fire to random debris they’d planted. The changeling queen appeared and captured me. If Luna hadn’t taken the time to teleport out there and rescue me I probably would’ve been far later to arrive. Late enough that the death toll would probably be much worse than it already is. Anyways this is relevant because Chrysalis was colluding with the dragons. Once I was captured she told the dragons to proceed with the attack.”

Halfway through his tone of voice becomes flat and he has a far off look in his eyes. I noticed it when I was helping him cleanse his mind. The false queen's magic might be gone, but she’s still in his head. In a way that magic can’t fix. Every event, starting with Summit, he’s continued to bear responsibility for every death around him. He’s smart enough to know that even if he was here we still would’ve suffered losses. He can’t save everyling, but at the same time…I don’t have it in me to try and discourage him from having that mindset.

But, you don’t have to be a changeling to see that he can’t take much more. I’m not even sure if he’s aware of it himself but there’s times I’ll find him in his office just staring at the door with a blank look on his face. He’s there but he’s not there at the same time. I have to say his name several times to get a response and he acts like I just walked in the room.

“They’re going to have me court martialed for dereliction of duty. So I’m announcing my replacement ahead of time. If I get stripped of title and rank Elytra is going to move up to Captain. Whoever she wants to be the new Vice Captain is up to her.”

“Sir, it wouldn’t have mattered if you were here when the dragons attacked! There was too many of them spread out all over the city. It’s unreasonable to pin the blame for everypony's death on you. You can’t save everypony…..sir…” I look over at Sgt. Dusk in surprise at the sudden outburst. She wilts and tries to shrink and hide herself once he locks eyes with her.

“I doubt they’re blaming me for all of the deaths. I’m the one blaming myself for that. It’s a fact that the death toll would’ve been significantly reduced, though. As far as I know we didn’t lose a single life after I teleported here. That’s beside the point. None of this has been announced yet, but I wanted all of you to hear it from me. I doubt any of this will roll down onto you guys, but be prepared to get approached by journalists just in case. I don’t think I’ve got anything else to put out. Should I open the floor for questions? Hm… we’ve still got 15 minutes until we gotta relieve the Day Guards. Yeah if any of you have any questions feel free to ask. It doesn’t have to be related to what we talked about just now.”

“Sir! Is it true that you really healed all of the injured in the entire city before passing out?”

“Yep. That was a one time thing though, I don’t feel like getting into the specifics but I can’t use that magic again. Next.”

“Are we at war?”

“Probably. I don’t know how that works in this realm, but as far as I’m concerned we’re at war.” His tone became much more ominous in the second half of that response. “Good thing you mentioned that actually. Once the shift starts anyone not on patrol or gate duty is going to join me in the training fields for a new exercise. Next.”

“Are you really a God?”

“Yep. The Princesses are all Gods as well, but Princess Celestia hates being worshiped so she rejected the notion and made it illegal however many centuries ago. I’m trying to get that law reversed however. During reconstruction a temple will be built with areas for all of the alicorns and myself. Next.”

“Why aren’t you reviving anypony? I thought you could do that?”

“Harmony said no. She doesn’t like me reviving any of you. Since she’s apparently the overseer of all of your souls it’s within her power to prevent my magic. Something about upsetting the harmonious balance of life and death. Take any complaints up with her. Next.”

It’s silent in the room for several seconds so he rises to his feet. “Alright if that’s it I’m headed over to the training field. If you fall into that category I mentioned earlier I expect to see you over there as well.”

I stand up to go talk to him, but he pops out of existence as soon as he finishes talking.

1st Person POV - Nightmare Moon

“So, why did you drag me out here to this dirt pit? Are we sparring again?” As soon as Ignis teleports in I ask him what’s going on.

“We can if you want. I don’t really need anything from you, but I wasn’t sure what you had planned and didn’t want you to potentially end up waiting for me in my office for hours. Once I’m done here I’m going to Court, so I probably won’t be in the office at all tonight.” That’s quite considerate. I was going to stop by the library first, but I indeed would have ended up waiting around for him after that. It’s embarrassing to admit that though.

“Hmph. It’s not like I would’ve waited on you for hours! Quite the presumption you've come up with there.” I puff out one of my cheeks and expect him to laugh and talk about whatever a tsundere is, but after a few seconds of silence I glance over at the elf. Only to find him looking at the ground deep in thought.

“I guess that was a bit of an arrogant assumption on my part. I just assumed since you usually read or hang out in my office that…well, sorry I guess.” Wait, this isn’t what I meant to do!

“No! No. Sorry. You’re right and it was considerate. I just feel embarrassed saying that out loud. What’s with that reaction though? Normally you laugh at me whenever I say things like that.”

“Oh? I don’t know…I guess I just couldn’t tell you were doing it this time. Sorry.” Has he lost his confidence? Now that I think about it, everything he’s saying and doing is more muted than normal. He’s a bit quieter and less animated while he’s talking.

“No, it’s fine, really. Are you okay? You seem more reserved tonight.”

“I don’t feel any different…oh the guards are starting to show up, hang on.”

Perhaps he’s just being more serious with the situation we’re in now? I hope so.

“Alright so, I know you’re all very trained and well aware of how to fight in a battle. One force of soldiers versus another. But, what if Chrysalis were to fly in here and attack and I’m not here and the alicorns aren’t here? It’s going to fall on all of you to take her down. Same thing with those Elder Dragons. If we’re going to war you can bet your ass you’ll need to take those on at some point as well. That’s what we’re going to be training for today. You’re all gunna figure out how to work together, strategize, and take down a raid boss.”

“Is that why Nightmare Moon is here?” Which one of you said that? I don’t like the implication that I’m a threat they need to train for.

“Nah, she’s just here to watch. You’re all gunna be fighting me. First I’ll take all of you on in this form, and if you figure out a way to take me down I’ll change my size to something more dragon-like. Also, this isn’t a spar. I’m going to hold back enough to not kill you, but I want all of you to come at me with the intent to kill. You’ll get 10 minutes to think of a strategy.” He plops himself down and starts idly looking up at the sky as it finally settles down into a true night sky.

All of the thestrals, changelings, and the very few ponies all walk a decent distance away and form a big huddle to try and talk it out. I decide to sit down next to Ignis. “This is definitely a unique form of training. It’s quite niche though, do you really think they’ll ever have a chance to put this into practice?”

“I hope they never have to. But, if the worst comes to pass and they’re all that’s left…I want them to at least have a fighting chance. Here, get out of the arena, I’d probably just go find somewhere high up to watch from this is likely gunna get a bit crazy.”

“Hm? There’s still plenty of time left though?”

“You think Chrysalis will let them call a timeout and allow them to huddle up and strategize? I just wanted to give them a false sense of security so their panic is more real when I ambush them.” Oh.

“I suppose you have a point. Alright well please go easy on them.” He just waves his hand back and forth before turning invisible.

The next thing I know there’s a loud crash and I look up to see well over 20 guards flying through the air away from the castle and towards the dirt arena. Did he throw them?!

“That wasn’t 10 minutes, sir!”

“The enemy isn’t gunna give you 10 minutes either. Tough shit.”

…

They only lasted around a minute and a half. The entire training yard is littered with Night Guards laying on the ground groaning from exertion and pain. My consort causes me to be confused once more when he starts walking around and pointing at guards seemingly at random. He makes all of the ones he pointed out stand up, despite some of their protests, and walk with him to the center of the arena.

“I’ve gathered you 12 because you either showed me something exceptional, or because I see a lot of potential in you. Before I tell you what I have planned for you I need to ask you four a question.” He points to three thestrals and a changeling. “Have you considered becoming a follower of mine? Unfortunately this next part I can only perform with worshipers or followers, but you four are, in my opinion, worth recruiting. So, I figured I’d at least ask if you were interested in following me. You can ask these eight or Elytra about what that entails, I don’t really know what they do, but they qualify as followers one way or another. If you have absolutely no interest at all it won’t be held against you, you will receive no reprisal, no punishment. Just head back over to the main group and recuperate for round two.”

The changeling and two of the thestrals seem to accept becoming followers, but one of the thestrals limps out of the arena and back to his tired comrades.

“Alright all of you. I would like to make you 11 into clerics. You’ll be given access to a limited number of spells and a couple of helpful abilities to rally your allies in combat. The only requirement is that you always act as a beacon of Hope. You can never give up in the face of defeat, and you’ll be the light all of your fellow guards look to when things are dark. This also applies when you’re off duty. If you see someone in need and you have the capability and the time to fulfill that need then you should do it. Within a reasonable extent, of course. Obviously some things are just not realistically solvable in a reasonable amount of time. Do you agree?”

They all nod or give a verbal yes.

“Kneel.” In unison without a moment of hesitation they all lower their heads and bow. He goes over them one by one and places his hand on their head for a few seconds while reciting some small speech before moving on to the next. “Rise now, Clerics of Hope. Now I want you all to get some practice with your new abilities. All of you gather up five of the most injured or exhausted, there should be fifty five in total. Once you have your five I want you to cast Prayer of Healing and target your group of five. If you think you also need some healing then only grab four instead of five. Prayer of Healing can only target 5 creatures. The spell will take around 10 minutes to cast, and yes, even if you don’t have a horn you can do it.”

The thestrals walk away with wide eyes, seemingly dumbfounded and too overwhelmed to ask questions about what just happened. That was quite a lot of things to just dump casually on them like it's an afternoon stroll.

Once they disperse to go complete their task Ignis walks over to me and sits down letting out a big sigh as he leans back and rests on his palms. “That’s a pretty smart move. I didn’t even think of the possibility that you’d use this as a way to judge them individually.”

“In reality only one of them in particular was one I truly wanted to make a cleric. The other ten are all well above average though and showed some impressive feats for that short fight. You see that thestral that’s a bit shorter than the others? That’s Private Midnight Shine.”

“She was the last one standing when you announced the fight was over. I assumed she had just avoided confronting you and happened to be the only one left. Is that incorrect?”

“That is incorrect. I swatted that little shit out of the sky nine times and she kept getting back up. Not only that but she tried to rally her teammates to stand back up two times. Doing all of that when she didn’t even know that I was secretly screening for clerics? That’s a true Beacon. I’m sure she’s going to do great things.” High praises coming from Ignis. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him praise anypony like this before. He really values determination and grit over all else? Interesting.

“Are you a mastermind evil doer? Do you have a third or fourth secret purpose for this training? Hmmm?”

“They aren’t secrets, but yes. We’re at war and I have a bit of the opposite problem that they do. I’m confident in my ability to battle strong opponents in a one on one, but at war I’m likely going to be facing battalions and armies. I need more experience with fighting large groups of creatures en masse.”

I just snort in response. “Why? Are you planning on going out to the front lines alone?” I chuckle as I ask the ridiculous question, but after a couple of seconds I realize he isn’t laughing. “You’re joking right? That’s completely insane.”

“Is it? If I have the capability to defeat the entire enemy force in a battle why would I not do so? Why send out waves of my own guards to potentially die when I could just fly in and wipe out the entire enemy force on my own?”

I think he’s actually lost his mind. That's far too unhealthy of a mindset and is incredibly unsafe in practice. If you have your entire army out there you can count on somepony to have your back. But, if he goes out there alone all it'll take is one mistake and it's all over.

He stands up and stretches his arms straight up into the air. “Anyways, their break is over. I need to beat 'em up one more times.”

He walks over to the large group of guards and calls out to them. “Alright, now we’re gunna try this again but this time you’ll have 11 of my newly blessed clerics. Beacons, your abilities and spells excel at supporting your allies so I want you to get a good idea of how to utilize these new spells and abilities. I also want you to keep track of how many times you can use those spells and abilities, because you will only be able to use them a limited number of times per day.” He twists his torso a couple of times and places his hands against the small of his back before leaning back and causing his spine to let out a loud cracking noise. Then he drops into his fighting stance. “Alright round two let’s do it. Since it’s our first day with this new training method I’ll stop at two fights. After this one you’ll probably be too exhausted to learn anything useful from a third fight.”

They lasted four minutes this time.

Ignis walks over to me and wipes the sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand. “Now that was a decent warm up. There might be some hope, haha, for these guys. Didn’t mean to use my domain like that. I’m gunna shower and head over to Court now, thanks for hanging out Moonie.”

He seemed more normal just now, but his voice was still less energetic than normal and his eyes weren’t shining as brightly either. I’ll have to talk to Luna about this after she spends some time with him. I’m sure she’ll notice it as well.

“Oh! Moonie, by the way. Wanna join my party?”

Ignis Ferrum invites you to join his party.
Accept?
Yes. No.

Wait I recognize this…this is the same thing I saw when I was possessing him. When did he gain this power?! “Accept! Yes!”

You have formed a party with: Ignis Ferrum!

Welcome!

Character: Nightmare Moon - Divine Rank 3
Race: Alicorn

I feel dizzy… how can he just drop massively important knowledge so casually?!

Author's Note

I had more fun writing this one than I thought I would. Also I mightve done a bad job explaining the training area. It has the spell range that consists of lanes mages stand in and targets down range for them to shoot at.

Then there's a dirt arena that has no seating or separators. It became an arena because that's where ponies consistently sparred and their duels stomped out all the grass over time, making that spot into the "Dirt Arena" then there's just a lot of open area meant for doing whatever. There's equipment that can be brought out and put in those empty spots but its meant to be empty when not in use. For these two fights they used the entire training area. Unless the dirt arena is specifically mentioned like when he made the clerics.

Thanks for the thumbs up last chapter <3 that's the first and last time I'll ask for them. I didn't expect to actually hit 300 from just that one chapter so the number going up so fast felt really good. Much love to everyone

Oh also Nightmare joined the party. :D
And she's Divine Rank 3 :D

Thanks for reading! <3

Side Quest - Ask for Forgiveness

“I thought you’d be at the training area. Can’t say I’m too surprised to find you here though since it was my second guess after all.” Hearing a familiar voice brings me back to reality as I find myself staring blankly at the Canterlot skyline from the roof of the castle. Last time I was up here was when I tried to use Sending.

“What did you need, Moonie?”

“I just wanted to talk, see how you were doing.”

“I’m okay.” Strangely there’s no deception roll. Which means she just believes me because we’re close, or it’s because it’s an impossible check because she already knows the real answer.

“I think we both know you’re far from okay right now, Ignis. If you were okay I don’t think I would’ve found Luna in the state she was in.” Ah. She knows even more than I thought she did.

“I just keep replaying it in my head and I don’t understand why I’d say something so hurtful about something I know she’s sensitive about. Seeing her cry with that hurt expression on her face and knowing I caused it…something is wrong with me. I just want to fix this and see her smile again, but I don’t even know where to begin. I’m such a piece of shit, Nightmare. I don’t deserv-”

I don’t get to finish my rant that was beginning to emotionally spiral out of control because Nightmare silences me with her lips. After a brief moment she pulls away. “Shhh. You’ve been through far too much in far too short of a period of time. It’s understandable that you’d be somewhat bitter and snappy for a few days. That doesn’t excuse you of course, but Luna and I both know you’d never say that or mean that under normal circumstances.”

“You both have been through just as much. How does that even remotely make it understandable? I have egregiously failed in one of my core responsibilities as a knight and even moreso as a partner!”

“Well…I mean we are a couple thousand years older than you. I think it’s fair to say we have more experience with things like this. That’s beside the point, I came out here to get you. We’re going to Luna’s office and I’m going to help you make things right and then the three of us are going to enjoy each other's company for a while.” She wraps a wing around me and tries to pull me along as she stands up, but I don’t budge.

“She doesn’t want to see me right now. That’s not even me assuming how others feel, it’s what she told me herself. You should go be there for her instead of me, I’m just wallowing in self-pity and guilt. She’s the one actually hurt.”

“You’re both hurt. I promise you you’re wrong though, if you share a mind with a mare for long enough you learn some of her behaviors. She wants to see you more than anything, she just doesn’t want you to see her in the state she was in. This isn’t a request, Ignis. Besides, I know just what you can do to cheer her up.” She gives me a bit of a sinister grin, but if it’ll make Luna feel better I’m willing to do anything.

“Lead the way.”

3rd Person POV

“Lulu~ I’m back and I brought a surprise.” Nightmare calls out as she slowly opens the door to Luna’s office.

“It’s so jarring to hear you with such a chipper and energetic tone. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but even when you’re happy you don’t typically sound like this. I hope it’s a good surprise, though.” Luna replies quietly, still laying on her belly on the floor, about half way through her box of chocolates.

“Well I just thought I’d put in some effort to try and cheer the two of you up. I think it’s probably the best surprise you’ll get for the next couple of centuries. Here, close your eyes!” Moonie does sound uncharacteristically excited for what’s about to happen as she closes the door behind her and tells Luna to close her eyes.

There’s the soft hum of magic followed by the sound of something light being placed on the floor just a foot or two in front of Luna. “Alright, you can open them.”

Luna’s heart might’ve actually momentarily stopped the instant she opened her eyes. Sat on the floor in front of her, is the spitting image of Ignis as a child from the memory she watched. Only his hair is still ethereal. He’s wearing his Gala outfit, but it’s just a size or two too big and slightly hanging off of him. This was all done intentionally for “maximum cuteness” according to Nightmare. She insisted that he go beyond just shrinking himself and actually use Alter Form to look similar to how he looked as a child. She also was quite adamant that the clothing be two sizes too large, despite it also being created with Alter Form.

An indecipherable high pitched noise rings throughout the room as Luna looks at the adolescent, with his extremely embarrassed expression as he tries to look at the floor or the ceiling, and his slightly oversized elf ears poking out of his head. The soft baby face highlighted by the embarrassed blushed and his eyes with their golden orbs seem bigger in this form as well.

No words are said and within seconds the elf child completely disappears. Resigned to his fate of dying by suffocation as the alicorn yoinks him into her grasp and buries him in her floof. “Ohmygosh! Look at you! You are the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, oh it’s too much, I’m overwhelmed. I’m never letting you go, you’re officially promoted from Knight to Personal Princess Teddy Bear. You are now the God of Adorableness!”

“See Ignis, I told you she would love it.”

Suddenly Luna feels something small tapping her rapidly and she realizes the small creature is nearly being crushed by her. The alicorn loosens her foreleg grasp on the elf and he instantly shuffles out from under her.

Turning around the small Ignis gets a bit glassy eyed as he stares into Luna's eyes, and without warning he jumps forward. Trying to wrap his arms around her neck as he attempts to speak. “I am -hic- I’M SORRY LUNA! I’m so sorry! I don’t know why I’d s-”

He’s silenced as she rolls over to her side and pulls the elf back into her floor with her forelegs. She lets him turn himself around so his face isn’t buried before she replies to him. “I forgive you, Ignis. On the condition that you stay like this and rest against me in my chair while I work.”

“Done.” His childish voice squeaks out a response without a moment of hesitation.

1st Person POV - Ignis

Knock Knock

“Enter!” Luna calls out without looking up from her desk.

The sound of the door creaking open can be heard along with the voice of the Vice Captain of the Night Guard. “Your Grace, I was wondering if perhaps you’d seen the Captain? Apparently he dismissed some of the gua..r…..d…….s………”

I’m laying on my belly on Luna's head, playing with her mane and scratching her head when I hear Elytra’s voice trail off. Glancing up I make eye contact with the changeling who looks like she’s been petrified, and is completely unmoving. Deciding that I want to pretend everything is normal right now I just assume the rest of her question and answer her with my childish voice. “Yeah I dismissed them. Told them to stay geared up and don’t get drunk cause they’re still on duty. But, I did dismiss them from their posts. Mainly because I didn’t see a reason to keep 'em around if I’m with Luna, and it’s supposed to be an off night anyways. You okay, Elytra?”

Elytra just stammers. “I……uhm….I ju-.....What?” And without another word she just slowly backs away and closes the door as she moves in a way that looks like her exact motions from entering the room, but in reverse.

Luna, Nightmare, and I can barely hold back as our choked laughs fight to escape from our throats. I’m about to ask Luna if I should call her back in with telepathy so we can actually finish our conversation, but before I can.

Knock Knock

“Pfft- Enter.” Luna barely manages to say with a flat tone.

The door opens even more slowly this time as the changeling slowly peeks inside. “Oh, this is actually real…”

“Is it your first time seeing something so cute, Vice Captain?” Luna asks the changeling and I can’t help but to slightly shuffle down her neck and hide in her mane out of embarrassment.

“Is that what this feeling is? It’s like I’ve consumed something extremely sweet. It’s very strong.”

“Ah yes, that’s exactly the feeling. Here you can have him for a few minutes.” Wait what?! I thought I was safe! I thought Luna was too jealous to do something like this! No! Put me back!

The alicorn floats me off her head and sets me down on the floor right in front of the changeling who is staring down at me with a completely unknown expression on her face. Nightmare just looks so amused. Is she a sadist?

“Elytra if you speak of this to anyone you will experience unspeakable horrors. You understand, right?”

“Awww! Is the mighty God gunna smite me down with warm fuzzy feelings and ear scratches? I always wondered why ponies talked like that to their foals, but I completely get it now.” I can feel my face fall and my left eye twitch a bit. Even my own Vice Captain has emasculated me!

Luna finally can’t hold back and just loudly releases her laughing as she slaps her desk a couple of times. “Oh this is perfect! Ignis maybe we should have you stay like this unless you’re actively fighting something. I think it’d be a big morale boost! Hahaha!” Moonie is quick to follow with her own giggling.

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” I grimace as my childish voice cracks and squeaks out my response.

“Aw. How about until after breakfast? I think Force and Tia deserve to see this at least.”

Nope nope nope nope nopenopenopenope. It’s for Luna, she deserves this. Sigh “Okay. After breakfast I’m back to normal though, not a second longer!”

“Oh please it’s obvious to tell you enjoy being fawned over like this. Even now you have a silly smile on your face.” Looking at the small mirror in the room in a minor panic I realize Nightmare is right. I am smiling, but it’s not silly, it’s forced. Far too wide. I’m glad she can’t tell though, this is supposed to be something to cheer her up.

I really don’t know if I have the energy to keep this up until breakfast.

“Ignis?”

Snapping my head towards the voice of the alicorn I realize the Vice Captain is gone. How long was I zoned out? “You seemed lost in thought so I finished explaining to her why you dismissed my guards earlier.”

“Thank you, and…sorry. I didn’t mean to zone out like that.”

“Ignis, could you be convinced to take a break?”

“Sure, I’d love to go back to being normal sized for 30 minutes or so.”

“That’s not what she meant, Ignis.” Nightmare’s tone has shifted to serious so fast that I nearly get whiplash. “She means a break from everything. No fighting, no worrying, no Captain duties, no Kightly obligations.”

“What?” The question barely manages to squeak from my throat. “I know I messed up and let you down, but just give me another chance! Don’t….throw me away…”

“No! Just for a week or two, and it’s not a punishment. Ignis you need a break, I’m not sure if you’re even aware but you are breaking. Elytra said she's found you disassociated in your office multiple times since Discord. You’ve become sarcastic and bitter. Not to mention what happened between us earlier. You said you don’t know why you said something like that, but it’s because you are completely drained and exhausted emotionally and mentally. I know the timing of this is not ideal, but we both think it’d be better for you to take time off now while we’re still in the early phases of conflict. It’s better than you completely shattering and being forced to step away from your responsibilities when we’re at the peak of conflict.”

Luna says everything with a very gentle tone and Nightmare just nods along every so often. Have I really been acting so differently? Just tonight Elytra and Nightmare both mentioned I seemed off, and then there is the thing that happened with Luna. Would a break even help though? As a human I always preferred to throw myself into my work to get through my problems, I hate being idle.

“No.”

“Ignis!”

“I’m sorry but if I just sit around idly twiddling my thumbs I promise you my mental health is only going to deteriorate faster. I need something to pour myself into.”

“That’s what he said.” I shoot Nightmare a bombastic side eye at the comment.

“First of all, saying that while I still look like this is gross. Second of all, I’m serious! Having something to do takes my mind off of reality.”

“It wasn’t even a suggestion, Ignis. I just wanted to know what your opinion on it was. Now, get back over here and get back on my head.”

“After you sold me out and gave me away to some changeling?! Hmph.” Despite my verbal protest I fly up and resume my resting position on the alicorn's head. “Anyways, moving on. Moonie, what have you noticed since joining the party? I have no clue what to expect from something like this, so I used you as the guinea pig since you have some experience with the system. Did it give you a class like Sorcerer or Wizard or something?”

“No. It tells me my Divine Rank is three and it lists out my Ess-tee-are? Dex, con, and whatever these other things are. It says I have 286 Hit Points, but there’s no level or class or job or anything. I did notice that you were making “Wisdom Saving Throws” earlier, but wasn’t sure what that entailed. Wait is WIS short for Wisdom? What do these other ones mean then? Strength?”

“Yeah, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Ten in one stat is apparently the average, so if you have twenty or more in a single stat then you’re exceptionally gifted in that particular area. Which of your stats are at twenty or more?”

“All of them. Charisma is the lowest at 20, Wisdom is the highest at 28, Intelligence, Constitution, and Dexterity all have 25, and Strength is at 22. Is that good?”

“That’s unreal. If we could somehow make you a character sheet and get you a class assigned with those stats you’d be even more of a powerhouse than you already are. Wait, I just realized I can see all of your stats and your status on my own. Woops.”

Luna decides to chime in. “Are we just going to pretend Ignis didn’t completely ignore and brush past the Wisdom Saving Throw question? What are those?”

I explain what a saving throw is to begin with and then break it down into what could trigger saving throws for the different abilities. “Those saving throws were right after Luna teleported here. Thankfully I passed both of them, but if I hadn’t Moonie would’ve probably found me in a much worse state than I was already in. Wisdom Saving Throws can also be used for “Will” Saving Throws if it’s something that’s testing your willpower. Anyways, Nightmare, can you try to see if it’ll let you view my character sheet? If you’re able to see how many spell slots I have left and other important statuses that’d be huge. Try just thinking in your own head something like “Open party interface. Select Ignis Ferrum. View Character Sheet for Ignis Ferrum.” one of those should do something.”

“The third one worked, but there’s too much information here. Can you walk me through this so I know what I’m looking at?” She almost seems dizzy.

“Yeah but let me invite Luna to the party as well, so I don’t have to explain it again at some point. Luna, do you want to join my party?”

She glances around with an expectant look on her face before getting startled, yelping, and recoiling back, nearly throwing me off of her head. “What is this?!”

“That’s the system. Just think “Accept” or “Confirm” whatever the buttons say, pick the affirmative one. Once you do that tell me your Divine Rank, your ability scores, and how many Hit Points you have.”

“They’re all the exact same as Nightmares. Our theory about us sharing the same pool of Divinity and having our power split evenly between us seems to be correct. Oh wow that is a lot of words. Can you explain now?”

I spend the next 45 minutes or so going over my entire character sheet with the two of them and answering any questions they have. Before we know it, it’s already time for Luna to lower the Moon.

Author's Note

This chapter is 100% all over the place, but it's like that on purpose. Since we're back to Ignis POV I wanted things to be as jarring as he's experiencing them with the same super sudden mood/tone swings/changes. Guy is currently an emotional rollercoaster that keeps accidentally time skipping forward.

Also some of this was purely just me wanting to write some cute/happy shit. But, I doubt you guys mind, and what Nightmare had Ignis do to make her feel seems like something would realistically work (if we had those powers in real life, ofc)

I thought about not publishing tonight and then tomorrow I'd work on the breakfast scene and stuff but realized this was a decent stopping point and it's enough of a word count to justify publishing it. Hopefully the grammar and shit isn't all over the place, I tried to clean up some of it and some of it was REALLY bad, idk if I was also just super out of it this chapter or what, but it might be bad.

Anyways~ thanks for reading! <3

Sunny on a Sunday

Sun-day~ morning. Raising my glorious star on the day sharing the same namesake will always be a perfect start to the day. Or at least it would be, normally, but unfortunately we are still reeling from the vicious attacks by the drakes. What is supposed to be my one day of rest is instead going to be filled to the brim with things to do. It’s not all bad though…I still have breakfast to look forward to. Seems like the dining hall has just been getting busier and busier ever since Lulu returned.

I’ll have to clean myself magically this morning since I decided to sleep in for an extra 15 minutes. Now to make myself nice and shiny for the masses with this regalia. I know this same regalia has allowed me to live a very privileged life for the last several centuries, but times like this even this crown feels heavier than I can bear. Hopefully seeing my sister, her herd, Cadence, and my student will cheer me up.

…

It would appear I’m the first to arrive. I should have the kitchen staff prepare a couple of servings of some meat. Fish in the morning doesn’t sound particularly appetizing, but then again it rarely ever does for me. I’ll just have them prepare a serving for whatever we serve visiting griffons with in the morning. Walking past the table where I would normally sit I pass through the smaller door leading to the kitchen area.

“Ah, Your Majesty, how can I help you this morning? Did you have a special request?”

“Not for me, but could you prepare a dish with meat in it? Whatever we normally prepare for visiting griffons should be fine.”

“Of course, Princess. It’ll be out a bit later than the others since it’s a bit last minute, but it’s no trouble.”

After giving her my thanks I go take my place as I wait for the others to arrive. Thankfully I don’t have to wait too long.

“Spike, I told you they don’t have gems in the kitchen. I’ll get you some after breakfast, but you’ll have to settle for pancakes at the moment.” So much of my worry has been placed on Twilight I’d nearly forgotten about poor Spike. I can only imagine what he’s going through right now, hopefully the citizens and staff don’t treat him harshly just because he’s a dragon. “Oh, good morning, Princess! Where’s everypony at? Is it just us this morning?”

“I don’t think so. I’m not sure where the others are though, Luna and her Knight are likely just running late. With Cadence I can never guess why she’s late. It’s always something unexpected. Do you and Spike have any plans today?”

“No… I’m likely just going to be in the library for most of today. Spike is trying to decide if he wants to go back to Ponyville or not. I don’t want to keep him cooped up in the castle just because I’m too afraid to leave, but I also don’t want him walking around Canterlot on his own. He has so many friends in Ponyville as well. Somepony needs to keep the library running, and I know he’s responsible enough to handle that. At this point it’s mostly up to Spike. If he decides he wants to go back I was hoping you could teleport him? Or have someone ride with him on the train down there, at least.”

“Of course, my faithful student, but Spike,” The young drake turns towards me with a curious expression. “Don’t make this decision too hastily. You should really think about it and make sure whatever choice you make is the one you truly want.”

“I-I will, Princess!”

“I am so sorry for running late, but I promise it’s for a good reason!” Cadence calls out with a big smile on her face as she runs in with her knight behind her, just rolling her eyes with a content smile.

“Did you find just the most adorable couple to spy on and nudge in the right direction?” I can’t help but tease her, her good mood is infectious.

“No! Shining Armor proposed to me! Ahhhh I can’t believe it, Auntie! He said that all of these disasters happening in a row made him realize how quickly someponys life can end and be upheaved, and it made him realize what’s truly important to him. So important he never wants to lose it. Oh! I just can’t believe he said something so romantic!~” For the first time in a while I find myself genuinely surprised and at a loss for words.

“Ohmygosh ohmygosh… My BBBFF and my favorite foalsitter are going to get married?! You’re going to be my sister?!” The two of them rub cheeks as they celebrate with equal levels of enthusiasm. Good news really does emerge from the strangest of places.

“Have the two of you decided on a date yet? I’d be thrilled to host the reception and ceremony here at the castle.”

Cadence pulls away from her celebration with Twilight to answer me. “Since winter is settling in soon we decided to have it on the first day of spring! And I would love it if we could have it here! Thank you, Auntie!”

“I suppose that is fairly good timing to have a wedding. Convenient that your honeymoon will be during that particular time of year. Quite efficient!”

“Auntie! Not in front of Twilight!” Spike just looks oblivious, and I thought Twilight would be equally as confused. So, imagine my surprise when I see her flushed red and hiding in her forelegs. It appears I made a slight miscalculation, how embarrassing.

“Wow you’re all so lively for having just woken up. Did we miss something important?” Luna and Nightmare have perfect timing with their arrival. Aside from one elf we finally have everypony in attendance.

Luna and Nightmare both hug Cadences Knight before sitting down next to each other. They quickly retell their good news to the two alicorns and after a brief celebration Force asks the question that I was also curious about.

“Where’s our stallion at? He didn’t pass out again did he?”

“That’s a great question, Force. Ignis how long do you intend to hide?” Luna calls out with a playful tone while looking straight up with just her eyes.

I know he’s not invisible, so why is she looking up? My unasked question is immediately answered as I see two hands emerge from my sister's starry mane, and out of that mane climbs the most adorable thing I’ve seen in centuries. It’s Ignis but he’s a foal. Or, whatever foals are referred to by his race.

“I was planning to hide until breakfast was over and just hoped you all would forget I exist.” The elf stares out at all of us with his big golden eyes and his face slowly shifts to terror. Luna and Nightmare just have smirks, but the rest of us, aside from Spike, all seem to share the same sentiment as me.

“Luna.” I call out to my sister.

“I know! Originally he wasn’t going to stay like this, but I told him Force deserved to also see him like this so he agreed to stay in this form until after breakfast.”

The pegasus of their herd makes a classic “squee” sound as she flies over and picks up the elf. It’s only when she picks him up and flies around with him dangling from her forelegs that I get a good look at his face. It doesn’t reflect what I would expect to see during such a playful and happy moment. He looks tired.

“Well, I have to say, while I do hope to see that form more in the future, I think we should let him return to normal for now. We’ve all had our fun and the food will be out soon enough.” I carefully threw the suggestion out there. If it’s not coming from him there should be no reason to refuse.

Luna looks confused, but Nightmare is staring at me with a neutral expression. Force, Cadence, and Twilight all release a chorus of disappointed “aww’s”, but the elf is finally released. Once he’s standing on the ground next to the table he reverts to his normal size and appearance. After cracking his neck he sits back down. “Sorry, but don’t blame me. It’s all Captain Killjoy’s fault over there.”

Ever since Nightmare scolded some of us before the Gala I’ve had a different perspective for the bladesinger. I never really truly appreciated the simple fact that I am where I belong. Surrounded by ponies I take for granted everyday. He is not.

Once I realized that…well, I think it’s fair to say I was expecting too much from him while judging him too harshly. Now that he’s returned to his normal size I was expecting him to cheer up a bit, but it would seem that form had nothing to do with his current state. It’s expected, I suppose, even I’m a bit bitter these days. My little ponies have suffered far too much recently. There hasn’t even been enough time between events for us to really gather our bearings.

Now it’s war. I have half a mind to say “to Tartarus with the global treaty” and step in myself. Being confined to the capital and only being allowed self-defense is suffocating. If this were the old me I wouldn’t have needed help killing that Elder. My axe and flames combined with Lulu’s Scythe and encompassing darkness was enough to deter any form of conflict for centuries. Now there’s scarcely a creature alive that remembers those times.

It’s not hard to imagine Ignis will fulfill a similar role in this era. He’s already more powerful than the current me. My intuition about him was spot on from the very beginning, he’s a monster. Thankfully he’s on our side, rather, Luna’s side. Ah, I’m jealous of my little sister. How the tables have turned. It’s not the elf himself that I’m jealous of, but the fact that she has found what all alicorns have sought for millenia. An eternal lover with a matching lifespan.

It’s a shame Harmony doesn’t approve of him. In fact she greatly dislikes the creature. Far more than she’s ever disliked anypony, as far as I know, anyways. I wonder if it’s related to why she’s been acting so odd the last few days? Probably not.

I should get out of my own head and focus on the ponies around me.

“I can’t believe the two of you are seriously having your wedding in like 6 months. That’s a horrendous time to do something like that, in the castle of all places.” It seems like Ignis is having an argument with Cadence.

“What’s wrong with that?! Weddings are a perfectly normal thing to do in Spring. I think hosting it here makes it feel more grandiose and special, so this is where I’m doing it!”

“IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR?! Do you seriously think we will be at peace in a mere six months?! We’d be lucky if this was over in a year! You’re painting a giant target on Canterlot that says “Hey! Hey dragons! All of the alicorns and government figures are all in this one place getting drunk and celebrating! We’d love it if you came and scorched us all alive!” I mean seriously, you’re either incredibly selfish or incredibly naive. You agreed to this?!”

Ignis ends his rant with a question directed at me with wide eyes that just look genuinely confused. “I did. I understand your concern, but it’s important that we carry on with life like everything is normal. Hosting the wedding in the middle of the war would send a loud message that we aren’t even affected by the ongoing conflict. Also I think we’ll likely be at peace by then. In fact, I’d wager this war won’t even last three months, let alone six.”

Cadence turns her nose up and makes a “Hmph!” noise as I support her decision. “You know this world far better than me and have been alive long enough that I trust your Wisdom. So, if you say it’s fine then it’s probably fine. Sorry Cadence. I just…don’t want this city to be attacked again.”

“It’s fine, I guess. Considering recent events I suppose it’s normal to have that fear.”

“At this rate you’ll either have every alicorn in existence pissed at you or sleeping with you. I swear you just like arguing sometimes.” Nightmare’s attempt at ribbing just gets a snort from the elf.

“Not my fault I’m surrounded by em half the time.” Ignis glances at Nightmare and Luna and opens his mouth for a second before closing it hesitantly. After another second or so he decides to say what’s on his mind. “If that’s the case we should probably schedule ours soon too, right?”

“Your what? Next sleeping session? Bit crude for breakfast talk, but I suppose it’s efficient.” Cadence teasingly asks the question I was also wondering.

“No! God, you’re all perverts I swear. I’m talking about our wedding, of course. I haven’t really brought it up cause I just assumed one of you would work out the details.” All of the orange juice in my mouth quickly scatters into the air, as I owlishly blink at the new sets of eyes staring at me.

“WHAT?!” Oh that was louder than I intended.

Nightmare apparently decides to ignore me as she responds to Ignis. “Don’t make that our actual proposal Ignis! That’s the furthest thing from romantic or special it could possibly be! Plus Luna will kill me!”

“It’s true. I’ll do it.”

Apparently seeing the draconic eyed former villain properly flustered and blushing is what it takes for the elf to finally crack a smile. That smile turns into a quiet laugh as the food starts to emerge from the kitchen. The herd decide to explain what he’s talking about while we eat, making for quite the memorable meal.

1st Person POV - Ignis

“Any chance I can pull you away from Cadence today, Force?” I decide to ask while the others are finishing up their meals.

“If it’s for a spar, no. If it’s for something else then probably.” Force responds as Cadence nods along with her mouth full.

“No, no sparring. Just feel like we haven’t seen each other very much lately and since I’m gunna spend most of today volunteering and helping with cleanup around the city I figured I’d invite you as well.”

“Oh. Yeah sure, I’ll come along. I figured you were heading to bed after this, you look exhausted.”

“There’s too much to be done, and I’d prefer not to…. nevermind.”

“Not to what?” She’s too curious.

It’s not that I don’t wanna tell her, it's more that I don’t want to say it when literally everyone is still around. So instead I just talk directly into her mind.

“I’d prefer not to sleep. When I was unconscious after healing everyone in Canterlot…it was not a restful sleep. The nightmares are back in full force, and theoretically I thought I didn’t dream anymore. But, perhaps this is a side effect from cooking my own mind to cleanse it of Chrysalis’ corruption?”

“Chrysalis? Did you have another run in with her?” I give her a slow nod. “Oh we have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Yeah…I guess we do.” I’d really prefer to not talk about it, but who knows, maybe it’ll help.

I stand up and Force follows my lead. Once we stand up Luna turns towards us. “Are you two off to my bed chambers? I have some early morning meetings with Tia so I’ll be late to bed.”

“Nah we’re going out into town. We’re gunna help with the cleaning up and reconstruction efforts. I didn’t do anything to help after Discord and I hate just sitting around when I know I could be helping out. So, I’ll also be pretty late going to bed. I’ll see both of you later.”

After giving both of the lunar alicorns a quick peck Force and I walk out of the dining hall, and while we exit the castle I catch her up on everything that happened leading up the dragon attack.

1st Person POV - Knight of Love, Unstoppable Force

“That’s horrible! Wait, doesn’t that mean I also have changeling magic in my mind?! If that creep is the reason I even suggested you go there then that means he also implanted something into my mind. And….it means this was my fault.” I was wondering why the big guy looks so haunted, but after hearing about everything…yeesh.

“Nah, not your fault. If he managed to get me then there’s no way you could’ve known what was happening. At this point I’m just taking things one day at a time. Today is assisting with cleanup followed by training. After that I’ll be doing some exercises with the Night Guard again. Monday will be most of the same, and then Tuesday is the pre-trial. Honestly I hope things don’t go too wrong with this whole court martial thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well if they try to make my punishment something stupid like, a year of confinement. If they want to lock me up and keep me from fighting these dragons and changelings then it’s not gunna go well for any of us.”

“Yeah we’d be losing a pretty valuable asset if they tried to do something like that.”

“That’s not what I mean. If they try something like that, I’m just going to refuse and walk out. If Armor tries to make demands or escalate the situation I’ll just simply tell him to find someone who can arrest and subdue me. If he can do that then I’ll obey the sentence. Whatever happens after that will be up to the alicorns and the public.”

I’m left speechless from his explanation. “You don’t seriously mean you’ll become a wanted fugitive just so you can continue to fight, right?”

“If that’s what happens then yeah that’s what I’ll do. I’m pretty sure Luna knows that’s what I’ll do as well. She asked if I was open to the idea of stepping away from my responsibilities for a while. I adamantly refused and she didn’t push it any further. It’s not really a big deal though. I’ll just go live in the Everfree with Nightmare and we can start working on her battle mage academy earlier than initially planned. You and Luna can visit whenever you want, or move in as well to be honest. I doubt either of us would mind, but I can’t imagine either of you would so quickly abandon Canterlot to come live in the woods.”

“That’s pretty heavy, dude. Like, that sounds like the worst outcome possible.”

“Nah the worst outcome is me overthrowing the Princesses and becoming the God-Emperor of Equestria. You really don’t want that one to play out.” For the first time all day he finally has a hint of a playful tone, and I can tell he’s joking.

It’d be just my luck to finally find a herd and then the stallion goes and becomes a wanted criminal or even worse a treasonous knight overthrowing the government. “Switching topics, I know you’ll be using your telekinesis to help clear out debris and lift heavy things for ponies. But, what exactly am I supposed to do? I don’t have a horn…”

“I don’t know, just keep me company, I guess. It really has been a while since we’ve hung out like this, ya know? The curse of having opposite sleeping schedules. I’m sure you'll figure out something to do.”

Bit of a selfish request from him. I don’t hate it. He’s far kinder than most ponies realize, so it’s nice to hear him say something he wants. I can tell some ponies like Nightmare wish he wasn’t so argumentative, like how quick he was to argue with Cadence this morning. Some also think he’s quite cold and harsh just because he’s only sociable with ponies he’s close too.

For me though, I can see the veiled kindness behind all of it. Every event he’s gone through or argument he’s had has been for the purpose of somepony else. Taunting the dragon at the Summit? For Luna. Flying off on his own into the badlands? To minimize loss of life as quickly as possible. His argument with Cadence this morning? He was simply worried about the dangers being posed on the ponies of this city. Even his spats with what was once thought to be the only Goddess on the planet, was purely to try and save the lives of those that couldn’t be protected.

But, no good deed goes unpunished.

…

Ignis is holding up several hundred pounds of rubble and slowly moving it out of the way of the current site so ponies can work when he asks me about something out of the blue. “Hey Force. I want your opinion on something.” He pauses and I glance up at him. When we make eye contact he continues. “What do you think about just the two of us flying into the dragon lands and counter attacking?”

“Why just the two of us? That seems unnecessarily dangerous.”

“Cause I don’t trust any of my guards to not die in the battle. You, on the other hand, were able to beat me in a spar. I know I was far less powerful then, but it’s still not a feat anyone without a horn and wings would have accomplished. I might still have to keep and eye on you and help out every once and while but it’s easier to do that for one pony than an entire platoon of them.”

“Shouldn’t we atleast bring Nightmare, Luna, or Princess Celestia along? They’re all plenty stronger than us.”

“You maybe. I’m pretty sure I could give any of them a run for their money right now in a one on one. But, no. Apparently some global treaty prevents alicorns from taking the initiative in a conflict between countries. They can only act in self defense and only against whoever is personally attacking them. Then again, if we just killed every overgrown lizard within 100 miles then who would be around to report us? Luna didn’t buy that reasoning though. So, alicorns are off the table. Luckily though, I’m not. Until they amend it, but they can’t have another Summit for like 8 months so it’s fine. So, you in?”

“I’m not sure if it’s the best idea…if I say no will you just go alone?”

“I don’t know. Theoretically it’s fine, I can just teleport away, but they might have some crazy variable I’m unaware of. They do apparently have magic now, so anything is possible. Oh, but I can’t teleport you. I only know how to teleport myself, and it’s through Divinity, not magic.”

I mean it makes sense. I just can’t shake this feeling that something bad will happen if we attack them right now.

“How about no counterattack, YET, and for now you and I can be the quick response task force. If the dragons hit anywhere in the country, the two of us will immediately respond without hesitation.” That makes him frown. I’m able to instantly see that he doesn’t like the idea. “Just until we encounter them a few more times, so we can get a better idea of their new capabilities. It’s too reckless to just charge into their territory, mostly blind.”

“Being reactive means more ponies will die. Even if we respond within a minute, that's still a minute they can run wild. They’re capable of widespread destruction, so a minute is still a lot of time. Plus in reality it’ll probably take us longer than a minute to get there. We’re talking about hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives here, Force. If we just go in there, hit ‘em hard and hit ‘em fast, they might get discouraged from even continuing to attack us.”

“I think it’d be better if you went alone. As much as I want to join you I think I’d just hold you back too much. If you could teleport both of us somehow then it’d be different, but as things stand if you’re alone then you can just teleport away. I’d still be up for my idea as well though, regardless of if you go alone or not. We are going to be attacked again, so let’s respond together.”

“Hang on, I might have something. I need to double check the conditions of Greater Teleport” He gets a distant look in his eyes for a fraction of a second before speaking up again.

“Okay, I can teleport both of us but there is a small condition. You have to be my personal mount.”

I can feel my face instantly heat up as an intense feeling of embarrassment rises up. Quickly darting around I try to make sure nopony else heard him. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, back home we have horses and ponies. They’re similar to you all except they’re not sapient. We generally used horses as a means of transportation. As in, we sat on their back and rode them around. So, when I say you have to be my personal mount…I mean I have to be riding you in order for me to teleport you. I can reduce my size and weight so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. It does add another two or three steps required for us to teleport though, and in the middle of intense combat it might be hard for me to shrink, hop on your back, and teleport us out. So yeah, nevermind, I think you’re right. I’ll just go alone.”

Right as I’m about to reply a nearby brick wall makes a series of clicks before rapidly collapsing. There’s three or four ponies that it’s going to land on, but Ignis quickly holds up the wall and gently sets it down in a clear spot. “Good save.”

“Thanks. Anyways, this is all hypothetical. It’ll depend on what they decide to do with me after the trial.” That’s when I hear someone clear their throat and turn around to find the Captain standing there with another guard right beside him. “Oh hey, speak of the devil. What’s up Captain.”

“I heard from your Vice Captain that you wanted to make some changes on how the shift changes are performed?” Wow he’s being surprisingly cordial right now. Is it because we’re in public? I thought he hated Ignis’ guts.

“Yeah. Our guards shouldn’t be going back to the castle just to pass down information. Shift changes should be happening in the area of the patrols themselves. If a unit is patrolling the market district then the turnover should be in the market district. The complete failure of an evacuation cost a lot of lives and the culprit is the fact that not a single guard was in the streets. They were all at the castle doing turnover. This seems like a simple change that should be pretty impactful.”

“I agree. It’s a rather simple change that wouldn’t be hard to implement. I wonder though, perhaps the real reason for the lack of order and cohesion among the Night Guard was because their Captain was nowhere to be found for the first hour of the attack?”

Ignis clenches his fists and his eyes darken as he tries to stare a hole into the ground. I’m suddenly very uneasy, but Shining Armor apparently isn’t as he decides to continue digging into the elf.

“They might’ve been at the castle but if their leadership had been around wouldn’t they be capable of quickly organizing the evacuation effort? Although I suppose Vice Captain Elytra was here, and they still failed. Perhaps she should be investigated as well for being unable to organize an evacuation.”

Is he trying to bait Ignis into confessing before the trial even begins by threatening his Vice Captain?! The air becomes heavy and I’m overwhelmed with an intense urge to back away. Instead I glare at the unicorn. “That is uncalled for, Armor! If it was shift change that means you were awake too. So, where were you at, huh?! Were you also unable to organize the guards because instead you were too busy worrying about your marefriend? You don’t have to answer me, since I know the answer, I was there afterall.”

The unicorn's face goes from surprised to confused to angry in a matter of seconds as he returns my glare with a nasty stare of his own. “This doesn’t concern you, Knight.”

Suddenly Ignis takes one big step forward, towards the Captain. I watch Shinings eyes trail up the bladesingers body before going wide when he looks at his face. All I can see is his back, so I can’t tell what face he’s making, but for Shining to have that reaction it must not be a good one.

“What are you doing? Trying to intimidate the judge before the trial? That’s a crime as well you know.”

“I’m going to push out the correspondence confirming the new policy for shift change turnover. I’ll see you in court on Tuesday, so it would be best if you spent your time preparing for that investigation instead of splitting your effort and opening a second investigation. Captain.”

“Unless we have somepony to place the blame on I’m afraid we’ll have to look into every pony of interest. Why don’t you just save us all of the time and effort and confess. I’ve even taken the liberty to bring along one of the internal affairs officers so we can take you straight into custody. Your choice, Ignis.”

He’s holding Elytra hostage the same way Ignis held Twilight hostage. What a flankhole!

“Shining Armor. You have a wedding to attend in a few months, right?”

“What? How do you know- ah I guess my fiance's knight isn’t very tight lipped. Yes, I will be getting married come springtime.”

“That’s nice. I’m really happy for you.” I don’t like how ominous his tone of voice is right now. “Hopefully nothing happens between now and then that would impact your ability to get married. You know what? Fine, I’ll play along. Take me away, Lieutenant.”

Wait what? Before I can even process what’s happening there’s a rope tied around his wrists, completely binding his arms together, behind his back. They’re walking away and Shining has a smug grin on his face that infuriates me. But what can I do? I exist outside the guards chain of command, I have no authority over him…

But I am best friends with his future wife…yeah screw this guy, I’m talking to Cadence.

1st Person POV - Ignis

Wow, honestly this cell isn’t so bad. The bed is way more comfortable than I thought it’d be, even though my legs are dangling off the edge from the thigh down. I’m glad I had a moment of lucidity there because I was about 20 seconds away from making that unicorn put his teeth against a curb.

Honestly I’m glad so many people pointed out how differently I’ve been acting lately. If I wasn’t aware of it I don’t think I’d have been able to come to my senses at that moment. I have to figure out what’s wrong with me before I do something I’ll regret. There’s two main possibilities that I can think of.

First, this could be because I cooked my mind with Divinity. That would be the best option because I think I could fix that with Greater Restoration.

The other possibility is that this is because of Discords Chaos domain. I assumed this domain would give absolute control over the Weave since the Weave is apparently Chaos magic, but that’s not the case. Since that isn’t the case I have no clue what’s going on with this domain. It could explain why Discord had such a twisted personality. If that is what’s wrong with me then it’s pretty bad because I don’t know how to fix it.

I guess we can start with the easy one first.

“Greater Restoration.”

Arcana Check (Mizzium DC: 20)

2 + 16 + 2 = 20.

Holy shit my Divine Rank saved me there. I forgot I get a bonus equal to half my Divine Rank on every dice roll.

The spell casts and it feels like ice cold wind is blowing in my face as a wave of coolness washes over my body. I mean something definitely happened, but I don’t feel any different? Then again I didn’t feel any different to begin with, so that’s a bad frame of reference.

I don’t know what to do now. I think that worked? I guess I can just image train until someone comes down here to get me. I didn’t confess to anything so I don’t know why Shining was looking so smug, he might just be that stupid. All I said is that I’d play along, there’s no court where that holds up as a confession. Which is funny because I am guilty and had planned to plead guilty, but now I wanna fight it just to spite this stupid fucker.

I’ll go over my fight with Chrysalis and use her as my reference for image training. I’ll just do that until I get bored or until someone comes down here to get me. If they take too long I’ll just call Luna or Moonie to come get me and if they’re asleep I’ll just break the fucking door.

“I didn’t think we’d have another chance to speak so soon. I never imagined the ponies would turn on you this fast.” My blood runs cold when I realize my cell is right next to the changeling and Chrysalis has possessed the drone again. “You know you’re always welcome in my hive, bladesinger. If these ponies cast you aside you can be sure I’ll properly appreciate you.”

“Chrysalis, if you utter another sound that drone will not be live for another single second.”

To my utter shock she actually stops talking and fucks off. Has she lied to herself so much that she’s convinced herself she actually cares about the good of the hive?

Either way, I’ll just appreciate the silence and make use of the downtime I have in here.

Author's Note

I had to rewrite the confrontation with Shining legit like four times. It got bad enough to the point that I just started writing next chapter this morning and decided I'd come back to that scene after the break. Which is why there was no chapter yesterday. The good news is that next chapter is already like 2.5k words deep so that should be ready pretty early tomorrow.

There was a version of the Shining Armor confrontation that went way more aggressively but I realized it was too much of an escalation too fast. Especially considering that entire confrontation took place in downtown Canterlot early in the morning in front of everyone.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy it. Also we are not getting a Shining POV. This was officially the last two POVs I wanted to go through. I mainly wanted to demonstrate how differently Ignis is viewed between the characters. Even though they all view him favorably they all such different takes on who he is as a person. With Elytra and Force being the two that have the most similar POV.

(Nightmare: Acknowledges he's strong, but doesn't think he's as strong as everyone else does. She's pretty much constantly worrying about him. But, as shown, she also worried about the other mares too and seems content to be the one always taking care of things.

Luna: Thematically she's on the other end of the spectrum from Moonie. She overestimates his strength and always assumes he isn't as effected as he really is.

Elytra: Literally worships the ground he walks on. Thinks he's a Saint and very rarely questions him or his motives.

Force: Not nearly to the same extent as Elytra, but she has rose tinted glasses for sure. She assumes he has his reasons for doing things and mostly trusts his decisions.

Celestia: She just straight up pities him. She is probably the only one that is still conscious of the fact that he's barely an adult and went from a relatively peaceful life to two months of back to back to back to back tragedy. After getting scolded by Nightmare she pretty much just feels bad for him most of the time.)

:D Thanks for reading! <3

Rock Bottom pt. 1

“Is it bad that I’m surprised it took this long before I had to bail you out of the dungeons?” Cracking open an eye I spot Luna just standing in front of my cell alone.

“Eh I’m surprised it took this long as well. It seems like Armor is desperate. If he had the gall to approach me in public and try to coerce a confession out of me by threatening to investigate Elytra. He must not think the trial is going to go the way he wants it to.”

“My thoughts exactly. He’s overplayed his hand. They tell me you confessed to everything, but is that true?” She looks so amused right now.

“Nah. All I said is “you know what? Fuck it, I’ll play along” and then held out my hands so they could be bound together. Is it night time yet? I still need to host another training session with the Night Guards.”

“It’s just about time for me to raise the moon. Before I released you I wanted to make sure that’s what you want.”

“You think I want to spend more time in this stank ass musty dungeon? Hell no, get me out of here.” She just rolls her eyes and after a second passes I hear the door click and pop open.

“You should probably rest, Ignis. Your pre-trial is Tuesday morning, so you should take the opportunity to reset your sleep schedule tonight so you’re fresh and well rested in court.” But sleep means… “I’ll give you a dreamless slumber if something ails you.”

Glancing backwards at the changelings cell, I shake my head. “Nah I just didn’t want to sleep when everyone else is working so hard. Let me do my training session with the guards tonight and then I’ll rest. It shouldn’t take too long.”

Luna looks puzzled but follows me out of the dungeons. Once we’re back in the normal and ornate hallways of the castle and far from the cells I call out to her again. “I would appreciate a dreamless sleep, Luna. I just didn’t wanna say anything within earshot of that changeling. Chrysalis is smart enough and narcissistic enough that if she learns I’m having nightmares she’ll immediately think it’s about her. Which it is, but I don’t want her to know that. She’ll know she has a psychological advantage over me if that were to be the case.”

Luna makes a small “o” face as recognition dawns on her. “Ahhh. That’s quite wise of you. So, does that mean you’ll be going to bed now?”

“No, I still wanna do the training session, but it’s literally the first thing we’re doing after going on duty. So, I should be done before, like, 9PM at the latest.”

“Perhaps I should observe this training…”

“I don’t know you might give the poor things performance anxiety. It’s just gunna be an hour of me beating the snot out of them. Normally I’d say give ‘em a week to really get used to things, but tomorrow might be the last training session I can give them. Regardless of how I feel. So, come watch tomorrow night, and I’ll make sure they’re trained enough to give you a proper show.”

“Hmph, if that’s what you think is best… I expect to see you in bed early.”

“Of course. I try my best not to be a liar.”

Back out on the training field and this time Elytra is joining the fray. I don’t know if word got around to her about what Shining tried to do earlier involving her, but hopefully not. She’ll just feel bad.

Whenever something catastrophic happens like this there will ALWAYS be a scapegoat. The only way to prevent them from going after someone else if I don’t take the fall is if we prove that nothing could have been done to prevent the incident. Which, just isn’t true, so that isn’t happening.

Anyways, Elytra wants to observe their first attempt and then give them some hints in the right direction. If they still make no progress on the second attempt then she’ll completely join in on the third attempt. It’s not ideal but they might just need an example of what it looks like. If they still fail on the third attempt then I might just be going too hard on them. I’m fairly certain I’m holding back enough for them to pull out a win.

“Alright, everyone ready?”

It’s completely silent as I look out upon the training area. I like this approach alot more than what they did last time. Only a handful of guards are visible in the field, from what I can tell the rest of them are hiding in some low hanging clouds or lying prone on the roof of the castle. Is this going to be an ambush where they attack me in waves? Not bad.

“GO!”

“Mirror Image!”

As soon as I say go I can feel the air shift from multiple angles above me, signaling they’ve dived out of the clouds. I watch as 30 or so of them dart off the roof, opening their wings just a couple of feet above the ground. Using that momentum they’re flying towards me pretty fast, just above the ground. So I’ve got around 50 coming at me right now between the cloud divers and the low flyers.

All of the low flyers look surprised when suddenly 3 “clones” of myself appear just a couple of feet away from me, forming a triangle around me. They look surprised but they still follow whatever their plan was from the looks of it. The next thing I notice is dozens of small blades, launched from the mechanism on their wing blades, zipping towards me.

One thing I was able to theorize and then test with my image training is a more creative use of telekinesis. I figured if I can’t use runes I can at least expand my capabilities with what I can do. Since telekinesis is just sending out a cluster of your mana, or divinity in this case, and activating it around an object. I figured why not try just throwing a fuck ton of Divinity into the air and then activating it? From what I can tell I can’t “grip” the air and generate strong winds like that, but I can use it like a glove of sorts. Maybe a net would be a better description?

Either way, that’s what I use against the dozens of small blades being shot at me. Throwing out just a massive glob of Divinity I will it to expand into a wide and thin rectangle, and then activate the mana. A giant golden, transparent wall appears in front of me and all of the daggers rapidly slow down to a stop when they collide with it. Once they stop they just harmlessly fall to the ground.

Immediately following those blades are the thestrals that launched them. I’m not sure if this will act like a solid wall or if they’ll sink into it with the ability to break through if they have enough momentum. But, I don’t want to risk it being a solid wall and injuring my guards, so I drop the telekinesis.

Time slows down as I observe the approach angle of all the combatants. Last time they tried this strategy they flew at me from all sides and quickly discovered why that’s a horrendous idea. In theory it traps the target and makes it impossible to dodge everything, but in this world teleportation is available. I teleported out of the way and they all collided with each other, it was quite the entertainment.

This time though they’re flying at me from above from left to right, and the low flyers are flying at me from the front. Since they’re so low they won’t collide with the divers even if I evade. It’s a good improvement. Unfortunately with only two angles though it opens up the weakness of giving me too much space to evade. They need to find the perfect balance.

My perception of time returns to normal and I immediately jump forward and over the first couple of low flyers. With only a second or two to maneuver I push all of my momentum to the left and fly under the divers. If I wasn’t going in the opposite direction as them they’ve been able to course correct fast enough to stay on me, but now both the low flyers and the divers will need to make wide banking turns to come at me again.

Once I’m clear of all the diving thestrals my eyes widen when I’m suddenly face to face with over a dozen more Night Guards flying straight at me! They used those two angles to bait me into this movement pattern! If they didn’t time it right these guards would’ve slammed straight into the divers!

There’s not enough time to move far enough to clear the entire wave of guards, so with a grin on my face I flourish the Moonblade and turn it sideways so I’m using it more like a club than a sword. I don’t wanna kill them, after all. Unfortunately that means my swings are slow.

I’m able to turn my body sideways so the first guard zips past me, but I can only flinch as the next two are startlingly close to hitting me. Close enough that I lose two of my mirror images. If they can keep up this pressure they’re actually going to win!

Swinging my sword like a club I’m able to steer a couple of changelings away just a few inches so I can continue to contort myself around in the air to dodge. I hear the sound of dozens of tiny objects whizzing through the air and realize they’ve launched another volley of daggers. Daggers?

Flipping in the air I kick the last two changelings in the wave hard with the centrifugal force of the flip. One goes straight up and the other bullets into the ground. Flicking my blade back to a normal grip I’m able to quickly deflect all of the green daggers. Now that I’m flipped around in the air and looking at the ground I feel my anger spike from how many changelings I see in the training area. How many did they replace?!

Remembering the green daggers my head swivels around, “Chrysalis! Where are you?!”

The only response I get is small muttering from the drones below. They’re talking to each other barely above a whisper and the rest of them are slowly stepping back in fear. The two talking to each other keep throwing me hesitant glances every two or three seconds. If they’re not going to attack, then that gives me time to find the queen. The daggers came from the ground so she should be around there somewhere… is she disguised as one of her own drones?

Why……..something’s off. Something about this feels…wrong?

One of the talking drones ignites its horn and I hear more whizzing above me. Looking up there’s another wave of 15 jet black drones diving towards me. Baring my teeth at them, I stop suppressing my Divine Aura and swing my arm back to prepare for a slash when I launch at them.

The drone that used its magic finally speaks loud enough that I can hear her, but she isn’t talking to me. “STOP! THE EXERCISE IS OVER, SOMETHING IS WRONG!”

All of the drones flying at me widen their eyes as a reaction to the drone below me and right as I start to charge at them they try to disperse. What exercise are they even talking about? Is this attack just a game to them?!

The three closest to me aren’t nearly fast enough when dispersing to get out of striking range, and within an instant I’m on them. I’m just a fraction of a second away from slicing the three drones when I hear a familiar voice screaming my name. It’s Luna. Hearing her was enough to make me pause for a second, but I know it’s another trick. These three will die-

Suddenly the three are gone and I slash through air as I stare up into the cloudy night sky. Someone teleported them. Snapping my gaze back to the ground I realize most of the drones are running back to the castle leaving just two changelings below me. The drone from before and Chrysalis. I open my mouth to yell at the queen, but I’m overcome with the urge to shake my head. Quickly doing so and blinking rapidly I look back down and see Luna and Elytra standing where the drone and queen just were.

A wave of confusion washes over me and I feel a pit form in my stomach. What is happening? Are they trying to trick me again?

“Detect Poison and Disease.”

Elytra pings as venomous, but Luna doesn’t. So Luna doesn’t realize she’s protecting a drone…no Elytra is a changeling. The real one would trigger the spell too.

The Moonblade falls out of my grasp and through the air as my hands shoot up towards my head. I quickly follow suit and feel the wind against me as I fall through the air.

Bouncing off the ground I just sit on my knees while clutching at the top of my head and forehead. “Ignis? Are you there?”

A new feeling completely overwhelms me when I look up and see the look on Luna and my Vice Captains face. Shame. Without any type of reply I just teleport away to Luna’s bedroom.

3rd Person POV

“Princess…I didn’t think it was this bad.” Elytra quietly mutters to Luna who is equally stunned.

“And you’re sure all of the changeling magic was cleansed?” Luna asks without even looking at her.

“I can’t be 100% sure, but I’m very confident all traces of it were gone. It’s all in his head at this point.”

“Can I trust you to handle the explanation of what just happened to any of the guards present just now? He needs me right now.”

Elytra seems hesitant. “Do I just tell them the truth? Do you want me to cover it up? I don’t know what to do.”

“I don’t want to cover it up, but I know how prideful he is. He won’t take it well if almost the entire guard knows what really happened. They wouldn’t treat him the same and it’d get to him. Let’s…cover it up for now. Tell them it was very subtle mental manipulation magic leftover from Queen Chrysalis that was activated because he was within close proximity to the changeling in custody in the dungeons.”

“The drones will know that’s a lie. We’d have felt something. All we felt was a massive dump of anger, fear, and confusion.”

“Then tell the other changelings the truth, but separately from everypony else. It sounds like they’re probably capable of piecing together what happened on their own anyways. And Elytra, thanks for contacting me. If it had been a second later we would’ve potentially lost a few lives tonight.” The Vice Captain gives a very respectful nod as she lowers her head.

Luna ignites her horn and teleports to her bedchambers to see if Nightmare or Force is there, but what she finds instead causes her heart to drop. Just sitting on the floor with his knees to his chest, his forehead against his knees, and his hands clutching at his disheveled hair is Ignis. None of the candles or gems in the room are lit, he’s just sitting in the corner of this dark room alone.

The alicorn carefully lifts him up with her telekinesis and sets him down on the bed. Then she closes her eyes and tries to follow the steps Nightmare told her to use the Alter Form ability. After a few seconds the pony is replaced with a pale elven woman, with long flowing starry hair. The only irregularities are the two folded up dark blue wings on her naked back.

Luna then sits on the bed behind Ignis and puts one leg on each side of him before grabbing him and pulling him back into her. Leaning forward she presses her chest against his back and rests her head against the nape of his neck. Giving it a light kiss as she tightens her arms wrapped around his torso. Finally she extends her wings, slightly surprised at her new wingspan, and completely envelops the elf curled up into a ball.

When her arms wrap around his torso she can feel him freeze and tense up. Confused and startled by the sudden human appendages. It only takes a second for him to start shakily breathing again. “Moonie?”

“Nay. She walked me through the steps to do this when she was telling me about the date you two had. It’s okay Ignis, you don’t have to say anything. We can just stay like this for as long as you want.”

Luna can feel him shudder when she speaks. She isn’t sure why, but the reality is that he wasn’t expecting her voice to sound so gentle and smooth. After a few quiet seconds she feels one of his hands rest on her arm. “I’m scared, Luna. I can’t do this anymore. It’s too much….please….?”

“Shhh. Just rest for now. Everything is going to be fine.”

Four Hours Later

“Guess I’ll just take a nap since I can’t find either of them.” Nightmare Moon mutters to herself as she opens the door to Luna’s bedchamber. Once she closes the door and looks up she pauses as she registers the sight before her.

Luna is laying on her back with a slightly smaller Ignis laying on top of her on his belly. His arms are wrapped around her with his face looking towards the door and his cheek resting against Luna's collarbone. Luna lazily turns her head slightly to look at Nightmare, still not fully used to having two forward facing eyes. She’s just idly running one of her hands through the knight's silver, non-ethereal, hair while the other hand is absent mindedly scratching his back.

Nightmare immediately gets the wrong idea and her face flushes as she slowly back pedals toward the door, but she stops when she gets a good look at the bladesingers face. Within a second she relaxes and frowns as she approaches the bed. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you later. Come lay down.” Luna quietly replies and the alicorn follows the suggestion, laying on her side next to the two.

“Are we just going to cuddle like this until breakfast?” Nightmare asks curiously.

“I don’t plan on leaving this room anytime in the next few days.”

Nightmares frown deepens as she realizes this is worse than what she initially thought. “This must be the reason why Elytra can’t cast her new spells anymore.”

“What?” Ignis has slightly more emotion in his voice this time, but it’s still not a lot.

“I ran into her probably two or three hours ago and she mentioned losing her “cleric” abilities. She mentioned being hungry again and feeling a void in the core of her being. I didn’t really understand what she was saying, but she said it’s like it’s still there but the light has gone out.”

There’s a poignant silence weighing down in the room for almost a full minute. “It’s because I gave up. The God of Hope gave up and decided to hide away in his girlfriend's bedroom.”

Nightmare thinks to herself that she should switch topics. “You should at least go to the pre-trial, Ignis. I think it’ll be good for you.”

“That’s what Luna kept saying too, but I really don’t see how it could be beneficial for me at all. I didn’t even manage to meet with my lawyer. For all I know he’s given up too.”

Luna speaks up this time. “I assure you he has not given up. He seemed quite determined to make sure your name is cleared entirely. Surprisingly determined, if I’m being honest.”

“Fine. I guess I’ll go. I’m not leaving until then, though. I can’t risk hurting someone…”

Now Nightmare’s brows are furrowed and she’s finally reached the limit of being curious. Reaching out telepathically she asks Luna to please explain what happened. They spend the next hour or so conversing silently between their minds, and after it’s all explained to her, Nightmare can’t help but to want to squeeze the elf as well.

In the morning Nightmare left to bring them back some breakfast and to talk to Force. After they ate, two of them went to sleep while the third laid there silently, contemplating recent events. Monday evening rolled around and Luna left to go hold court, but felt comfortable because Force and Nightmare were still in the bedroom. Then, at a much faster pace than Ignis would’ve liked, Tuesday morning arrived.

Author's Note

Hopefully the training exercise from Ignis POV wasn't TOO confusing? You can kinda see the moment his trauma kicks in and then it gradually devolves into full on hallucination. Just some fun POV fuckery. Well not fun cause...it's sad, but ya know what I mean.

As the title implies THIS is rock bottom, hopefully you guys like what I got planned for the pretrial hearings/trial, it's all gunna get wrapped up in one or two chapters. The main point of this lull between the attack and the rest of the war was to give Ignis a proper amount of time to fully soak in everything that happened, get confronted at court, dramatized PTSD attack, and then finally mentally "break" as it were. The trial has just been acting as a railroad or vehicle I guess to get through all of that ^ stuff.

Don't get it twisted, it's still important and I've still fully fleshed it out, but the trial wasn't in the original outline of this season. This is another thing that got added cause I ad-libbed the start of the war and moved some shit around so we could have some fluff between discord and war.

Also I got a couple weeks outta class coming up, BUT it's the holidays. I am going to spend time with the fam, haven't seen any of em in a few months. So after Friday, I'd say to expect a release schedule that is semi-daily. It'll probably be mostly daily with 1-2 days off per week for each week. Also expect the chapters to go back down to 2-2.5k words. I was hanging out with my fam back around the summit arc and my writing schedule at that was basically a couple of hours before I went to sleep at like 11PM at night, so I only had time to write 2k words. It's gunna be similar this time around. That's probably TMI but I like using the author notes as little blog posts. Sorry for rambling :)

Anyways, thanks for reading! <3 :D

Rock Bottom pt. 2

“You look like shit.”

“Thanks.” I offer my reply in a dead pan voice to Force as I stare down at the pegasus.

“No, really. Why isn’t your mane all…poofy and cloudy, ya know? Like it’s just regular hair. You don’t look like you’ve slept in at least three or four days. Luna, are you sure it’s a good idea for him to attend this?”

“Yes. It should be beneficial. Although we are somehow already two hours late. We really need to get moving.”

I end up involuntarily rolling my eyes a bit. “I’ve been ready for hours. You all were the ones that wanted me to go to this thing, and then you drag your feet and tell me to wait so we can all go together. Also my hair went back to looking like this around the same time Elytra lost her Cleric abilities.”

Ignis Ferrum - Divine Rank 0 (5)
Bladesinger 12/Paladin 2 - Pending level up!

Followers: —-

I had to have Nightmare go pick up my order of clothes from Rarity since I can’t use Alter Form anymore. Luckily all of the measurements are right since I’ve shrunken back down to my original size pre-ascension. I guess as the God of Hope I wasn’t supposed to give up on life, but I’m just so tired. It’s strange that Chaos isn’t filling the gaps, but it might be because as a God of Chaos I have no followers. The “(5)” in my status leads me to believe the ranks are still there, they’re just inaccessible right now.

“Would you have even gone ahead without us? I think we both know if it were up to you you’d just go make another blanket cocoon on the bed.” Nightmare points out as she comes out of the bathroom. “I’m ready to go, though, so if everypony else is as well then let’s head out.”

…

“Why are we going towards the throne room? I thought the pretrial hearings were going to be somewhere else?” I point out as I notice we’re not walking in the right direction.

“I told Cadence what her fiance had been up to and she told Princess Celestia. Long story short, Captain Armor has recused himself from the case. As a Knight and Captain the only ponies capable of presiding over your case are ponies of equal rank or higher. If this was a civilian court then we could just have Blueblood or some noble take over, but this is a court martial. None of the Princesses originally volunteered, saying they’d be biased one way or another. After that it fell down to me or Shining, and between the two of us they correctly judged that Shining would be the more neutral party. Now that he’s out though, Princess Celestia has stepped up and swore she had the capability of being neutral. Citing the fact that she banished…well you know.”

I can only blankly stare ahead and slightly nod in response to Force. I only agreed to this because I thought it was just a pretrial hearing in some small meeting room. If this is in the throne room doesn’t that mean it’s public?!

Apparently sensing my new unease, Luna bumps my hip with her barrel as we’re walking. “It’s going to be fine, Ignis. I promise.”

“I hope you’re right.” Is all I mumble out as we go through the side entrance of the throne room. As soon as we walk in I want to shrivel up and disappear. The entire audience section is crammed full. They all turn and look at us as we walk up the center aisle. I don’t even know what type of looks they’re giving me because my eyes are glued to the floor.

“Welcome, Mr. Ferrum. If I could have you sit at the table to my right.” I hear Celestia greet me and just mumble out an affirmative response. After a few seconds I find myself sitting down next to a tan earth pony.

“Sorry we had to meet again under these circumstances, Your Radiance.” Wait…that voice?

I wearily turn and take a proper look at the stallion next to me. It’s the earth pony from the hospital. The one with the colt that had rabies. “Carved Oak? What are you doing here?”

“I’m your JAG, sir. Why do you seem so surprised?”

“With your name being Carved Oak I thought…I thought you’d have a job doing woodworking or something.”

He chuckles a bit before giving me a gentle smile. “That is my special talent, but it doesn’t quite pay the bills when you live in a place like Canterlot. My wife and I are…were, both guards. I actually met her on a case funny enough. She was going up for insubordination and I got assigned to be her defense counsel. We just hit it off. As soon as she was back to work after her sentence we started going out.”

Right. His wife was one of the ones we lost early on to the False Hydra.

“Anyways, sir, as soon as I saw your name come up I rushed over to volunteer for this.” He looks just as tired as I do. His eyes are bloodshot and everything.

“How hard have you been working on my case? I’m so sorry Oak, but I was planning to just plead gu-”

“I’ve been very hard at work! I had to track down a lot of ponies to get my case put together, but I managed to do it. Just barely. Don’t worry sir, this case won’t even make it to trial. I guarantee it. I have to repay you for saving my colt.”

I don’t know what to say. In fact I’m a bit confused why Celestia is just letting us converse like this. Aren’t I super late? They should’ve been well into discovery and filing whatever motions they had. I finally find the words to reply to the stallion. “Thank you.” It ends up being just a bit louder than a whisper, but he smiles at me in response.

“Now, I believe we were discussing the defense’s motion to dismiss?” Celestia finally decides to resume the hearing, I guess she decided I’d had enough time to talk to my lawyer. “Can I ask on what grounds?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.” Oak stands up and I can’t help but be impressed at the Day Guards dress uniform. It’s just a top, but it’s quite sharp and he has a surprising number of ribbons. “As I’m sure you know, our charges are broken down into very specific categories with very specific descriptions and requirements that must be met. My client is charged with “Dereliction of Duty resulting in the loss of 542 lives. Now, Dereliction of Duty has two types of charges, major and minor. In this case my client is being charged with the one categorized as “Major.””

He starts to pace a bit as he walks out from behind the table we’re both sitting at and he has me confused on where this is going. “The only real difference between the major and minor versions of this charge is that the minor charge is victimless. It’s typically used when said crime results in loss of property or some other object of monetary value. What is detailed in my motion is an explanation for why the charge against my client does not have one of its main requirements met. Preventable loss of life.”

Oh so his whole argument for dismissal is that it wasn’t preventable. Couldn’t they still push for the minor version of the charge? Or even just downgrade it to negligence?

Celestia seems to agree. “Even in a hypothetical world where you’re correct, that still wouldn’t justify a dismissal. I could see a downgrade of the charge being possible, though. Unless you still haven’t made your point?”

“I have not, Your Majesty.” She motions for him to continue. “Over the last three days myself and several others have gone out into Canterlot and selectively surveyed over 700 ponies about a hypothetical situation that is nearly identical to the one seen in this case. After explaining everything properly and answering any questions, you might be surprised to find all 764 said this was not preventable. Or rather, that they do not place their blame on my client.”

“Canterlot is a big city, Mr. Oak. Your client even has a substantial following with the public in this city. Why don’t you ask those questions to the parents that had to bury their foal, herds that had to bury one or more members? Do you think they’d have the same answer? Your sample size is not nearly large enough, I’m afraid. I will give you praise for managing to get that many responses in a mere three days, though.”

“I’m glad you said that, Your Majesty. I mentioned that we “selectively” surveyed those ponies, no? That’s because we used the census data and next of kin data to find and survey all 764 next of kin for every life lost that morning.” When he says that I can feel my breath hitch in my throat and it feels like I’m frozen in place.

I hear the main double doors of the throne room open, and somehow manage to turn and look. The corridor outside the double doors is crammed full of ponies all the way down and turning the corner. “Just in case, we arranged for all 764 to be here this morning. If you would like to verify their identities and circumstances, we can call them forward, Your Majesty.”

What? This is some misleading ploy right? Why would these people…. I collapse back into my chair and start to hyperventilate.

“Before that there’s still my original question. Why would this justify a dismissal and not a downgrade to a lesser charge?” Celestia asks with a completely flat tone. She’s so good at hiding if she’s surprised or not.

“Well I think it’s obvious that the loss of property and monetary damages wasn’t preventable, Your Majesty. The incident with Discord proved that. All of the buildings that were demolished would have surely still faced destruction. The only other thing you could downgrade it to is Negligence, but you’ll run into the same situation there. It also has a major and minor version of the charge with nearly identical requirements. I’d make the same argument for that, that I’m making now.”

“In that case, I’ll call your bluff Mr. Oak. I’m going to randomly select four ponies to cross the threshold and approach the throne. If you feel a slight pressure behind your right ear, that’s my telekinesis and you’re one of the ponies selected. Will those four come up now?”

I…… I just….. What is happening? I recognize so many of these ponies. They were at Night Court asking for the revival magic when I stopped by that night.

“Your Majesty…” The first pony to walk up was a yellow unicorn mare accompanied by a small pink unicorn filly.

“Mrs. Care, and hello little one…I don’t think we’ve met before. Mrs. Care if I recall correctly your herd lost its stallion and you lost your older filly?” It’s the most gentle I’ve ever heard Celestia speak, but I still can’t process what’s happening. I can feel my eyes shaking in shock.

“That’s right, Your Majesty. I actually remember right before I lost consciousness from half of the hospital collapsing. I was scared out of my mind, and I kept looking out the window wondering why I hadn’t seen the knight that fought Discord. I found out when I woke up a few hours later that he was completely missing for the first two or three hours of the attack. Then yesterday evening Mr. Oak stopped by and did his “survey” and any resentment I might’ve had for the knight…” She actually stops and turns to look at me. “For you. Vanished in an instant. You were tricked into thinking our towns near the border were under attack and didn’t hesitate for even a moment to charge straight there. Then we found out you were the one to heal everypony that was injured, even the ones on the brink of death…”

Her eyes start to well up as she keeps looking at me. “How can I blame somepony for trying to do the right thing, and even afterwards tried with everything they had to repel the attack and save everypony still left? I can’t. I just can’t. And I know they wouldn’t blame you either. I was buried under three stories of stone and I know I’m only alive because of your healing magic. I wouldn’t have lasted long enough for the rescue crews to find me and dig me out. Then my little filly would’ve lost both of her parents…”

The mare chokes up a bit and I can feel my own bottom lip start to quiver. “It’s not your fault, mister. You just wanted to save everypony, and I want you to be around to keep chasing that same goal for any hardships we might face in the future.”

Everything is blurry and I find myself blinking rapidly to try and restore my vision. Another mare comes up and gives her point of view during the attack. I only made it halfway through her speech before I had to put my elbow on the table and prop my forehead against the palm of my hand. Turned to a complete mess as more and more ponies came forward to speak.

After at least 50 ponies have spoken I feel a rising heat in my chest and my hair lifts up away from my back. Looking up at the stallion currently speaking I watch through tear filled eyes as a small golden orb floats out of the pony before floating over and into my chest. It’s the opposite of what happened during the attack…

They’re giving me their Hope.

At that point my quiet crying turns into a loud sob as my body grows a foot and half taller. Looking around to see so many ponies just giving me a soft, bittersweet smile. The stallion has stopped talking at this point and I’m just rubbing my eyes while trying to stammer out an apology and a thank you at the same time. Completely confused on which one I’m supposed to say.

“I think I’ve heard enough. It’s through my judgement that this court decides the charges against the defendant are not substantiated enough to warrant moving to trial. Case dismissed.” Celestia announces over my choked sobs. “I want to thank all of you for being here this morning. I’m sure it’s easy to see how impactful your presence was for Mr. Ferrum. Mr. Oak I want to thank you and your team for your efforts as well. I’m so proud to see all of my little ponies coming together to support one of our own like this. I really haven’t seen something like this in centuries. Ignis, I hope you’re able to see how valued you are in this kingdom now. There’s no way something like this could’ve been done if you didn’t mean anything to the ponies in this city.”

Wait, what? Why is she saying it like that? It almost sounds like…she knew this was going to happen?

“You seem confused, Sir.” I turn my blurry vision towards Carved Oak. “I filed the motion to dismiss pretty much the same day I accepted the case. I laid out the base of my argument, but obviously didn’t have the ponies interviewed yet. The Princess requested an audience with me to discuss the motion yesterday and ended up agreeing with me. I was going to go find your Vice Captain to have her tell you, but the Princess suggested this idea.”

Is that why it felt weird when I got here? I did notice that it didn’t feel like the hearing had already been going for a couple of hours. I look over at Luna, Nightmare, and Force and watch them walk over with big smiles. “So the reason you all took so long to get ready this morning…?”

“Was it to stall until we had all of these ponies in place? Yes.” Luna replies.

“And it’s why we were insistent that you attended last night.” Nightmare chimes in.

“The motion getting filed initially was the same morning Armor came out and tried to coerce a confession from you. The motion to dismiss probably had him panicking, and he wanted a confession before things could fall into place.” Force jumps in as well.

I finally manage to compose myself long enough to stand up and face all the ponies still in the throne room. Bowing towards them I yell out the only thing I can think of. “I’m still deeply sorry for failing all of you! But…thank you. Thank you so much!”

I immediately start sobbing again when I look out and see all the faint golden orbs and all of the bittersweet, caring smiles.

Ignis Ferrum - Divine Rank 5
Bladesinger 12/Paladin 2 - Pending level up!

Followers: 8,212

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. <3

Taking the Initiative

It took a while but I eventually finished individually apologizing and thanking everyone that showed up. Now that everything has settled and I’m not in the heat of the moment I’m able to get a stronger grip on my emotions. It definitely feels like a huge weight has been pulled off my chest, but it’s not like it solved all of my problems. I still have to get over this Chrysalis nonsense before I hurt someone.

I will say though, when the ponies were giving me hope I could feel my Divinity swelling up and it made me realize how drained I was. Basically ever since I used Miracle and healed everyone in Canterlot I’ve been running on near empty. I just assumed it was like mana and it would regenerate over time, but I think it’s something that has to be actively done.

Now that I’m overflowing with it I don’t feel…tired. I know the Divinity is supposed to make me immune to morale affecting effects, but I assumed it only worked on magic or against a racial ability or something. What if I’m wrong though? What if the Divinity is actively reinforcing my mind, and when I ran low after using Miracle I got overwhelmed with the rush of trauma as it came flooding back in?

What if having an abundance of the energy prevents, treats, or suppresses the symptoms of mental illness? I definitely felt something close to depression the first two or three days, and the changeling PTSD was something I already had. I was having episodes and night terrors pretty frequently after the Summit, but it stopped once I gained Divinity. I think there’s enough evidence here to support my theory. Especially since the night terrors and episodes came back in full force when I was running low, and I’m not even supposed to dream in this state, let alone have nightmares.

Maybe I should unfilter my prayers at some point for at least 30 to 60 minutes per day. I should start going to the services Elytra hosts in the cave under the mountain, too. I need to start putting more effort towards supporting my followers.

“Ignis, are you coming to bed?” Luna asks as she starts to walk towards the side entrance of the throne room.

If my theory is right…my dreams should be safe now. I haven’t slept in three or four days, and physically I think I’m fine. But, I am exhausted. I don’t feel that existential type of tired that dulls everything around me and drains my motivation, but I actually feel tired. I want to sleep… “Yeah. I could really use some rest….”

3rd Person POV

The two lunar alicorns with their knight retired for the afternoon and as soon as the elf's head touched the pillow he was out cold. “I can’t believe he didn’t sleep the entire time he was holed up in here, refusing to leave. He might not need sleep, but it looks like it’s still quite helpful for him.” Luna idly comments as she and Nightmare lay down on either side of the elf.

“Despite knowing that either of us could suppress his night terrors he was still that afraid to fall asleep. He didn’t want to experience even a single second of whatever happened to him in that dream. Did you take a look at it when you suppressed it a few nights ago?”

“Nay. In the interest of time I made the decision to suppress it without diving in. I wasn’t sure if I would even be able to enter his dream. But, I think part of me just didn’t want to look. I’m not confident I would’ve been able to bear whatever I witnessed. I was able to get a rough idea of the contents of the dream just from hearing him mutter that whore’s name while telling her to get away. Even just thinking about it, I can feel my teeth grinding. The scouting party Tia sent out to the hive returned yesterday and confirmed there’s no trace of any changelings in that hive. She completely abandoned it and moved.” Luna replies quite sharply with a scowl and far off look in her eyes. “If she was still there I planned to go finish what I started.”

“She is quite the vile creature, isn’t she? I wouldn’t mind joining you for that when the night arrives that we find her again. What she’s done is unforgivable. Enough of this talk though, we should follow in his hoofsteps and rest. It’s already quite late compared to when we normally retire.” As if on cue Nightmare releases an involuntary and mighty yawn right after she says retire.

This yawn of courses causes Luna to release one as well. “Ah, indeed. We still have to catch him up on everything that happened for the few days he didn’t leave the room. I get the feeling we’ll need as much rest as possible for that conversation.”

Nightmare, who has already laid down fully and closed her eyes, just gives a knowing smile. “Oh if his emotions have returned to him he’s going to be quite angry.”

1st Person POV - Ignis

Thankfully I’m in my little personal dream dimension again with my house I imagined. I was going through my bookshelf and remembered the memory I unlocked at the Gala. The man who yoinked me from the Faywild and brought me to Earth. When he was dropping me off at my parents home he was holding a book. I somehow never put two and two together but that book was my spellbook. As in, the one I’m using now.

I can only guess I didn’t realize it sooner because the spellbook spends most of its time strapped to a harness on my back, similar to the way Noble Six carried Cortana, except my book is decently smaller. Does that mean he’s responsible for the book being nigh indestructible? Considering that Discord mentioned the book absorbs nearby mana and converts it into the Weave, and being strong enough that even he couldn’t put a scratch on it. That kinda narrows down who the man is, no?

I can’t think of many capable of doing such a thing. Especially when you consider that he was traveling freely between Earth and the Forgotten Realms. Is the person responsible for sending me here….fucking Ao?

There’s no way, right? That guy has only ever intervened with the world once in like 30,000 years. Why would he personally steal the soul of an elf child and send it to Earth? It couldn’t have been him, it just doesn’t make sense. But, if it’s not him who could it have been? Jergal? No that wouldn’t make sense either, even if you could argue stealing a soul would fall under the Death domain.

Does it really matter at the end of the day who sent me here? At this point I’m quite thankful to whoever did it. This shit with the dragons needs to end so I can test out the Blue Veil spell.

…

“Five more minutes…” I manage to mutter the phrase with slurred speech as someone continues to shake me.

“Wake up, fool. We want to talk before dinner.” I think that’s Nightmare. I’m really out of it right now. Luna wouldn’t call me “fool” like that though, then again Nightmare would call me idiot, not fool.

“Fine, fine. I’m awake. What do you want?”

“Sit up. We need to catch you up on what’s happened with the dragons while you were away.” It is Nightmare being stern with me. Figured.

“Pfft. You say that like I was gone to Trottingham or something. I was right here the whole time, I figured if something happened one of you would tell me. I guess this means I was wrong. You didn’t want to add anything to my burdens and took advantage of me finally taking a break. I get it. So, what happened?”

Now Luna takes over. “The dragons wish to negotiate a treaty. We’ve been mulling it over for two days now, but I think Tia is going to agree to at least meet with them. I doubt their terms will be anywhere near acceptable, and in all likelihood it might even be a trap.”

“Then why is she doing it?”

“Because that’s how she’s always been. Similar to you, she wants to end this as peacefully as possible.”

“That’s technically wrong. I don’t want this to end peacefully. I want this to end with as few deaths as possible for Equestria. Simplistically they seem similar but they are very different.”

“I suppose you’re right. Either way she’s going to demand reparations and some dragon to be held responsible for what happened here. When they decline that, I’m not sure what she’ll do. She seems determined to get through this as quickly and peacefully as possible.”

“The only thing we’re “getting” is even. Send me to their territory. I’ll crush them.”

Luna gives me a smirk. “Funny enough that is actually what I’m going to suggest to Tia after dinner. I want to have you on standby just a few minutes away from their main lair and when negotiations fail I’ll give you the command to cut loose. We could even use your presence there as a threat.”

“No, that's a bad idea. We don’t know what these things are capable of now that they have magic and have allied with the changelings. If the treaty falls through and they discover I’ve razed their home to the ground they might have a method to subdue you or one of the other alicorns. If that happens it’s the worst case scenario. We either attack them or we all attend the negotiations. One or the other. I, for one, vote to attack.”

“Then I have the same argument for you. Why would I send you into the heart of the enemy's territory when we still don’t know what they’re capable of?” Nightmare nods along as Luna speaks.

“Because I can teleport without using mana. My Divinity based Greater Teleport is completely different from what you use. I’m willing to bet even in some type of anti-magic scenario it’d still work. Even then I can always just blast myself away at full thrust. I’ve never gone all out while flying cause it’s impossible for me to keep my eyes open at those speeds from the wind, but if I’m in the empty sky just trying to get away as fast as possible I know for a fact none of them could keep up with me. However I can only reliably teleport myself with the ability. If you were to get an inhibitor ring slipped onto your horn I doubt I’d be able to create an opening long enough to fulfill the conditions required for me to teleport both of us. It’s going to be different this time Luna, I swear to you. I won’t lose.”

“I’ll bring up with Tia after dinner. If anything goes wrong this will be the last time I let you go off on your own like this. I swear you’re going to give me ulcers at this rate. I think you underestimate how much all of us worry when you do things like this.”

“...I’m sorry. I just hate the idea of this war already ending when we never had the chance to strike back. I want them to pay.”

“Revenge will never lead to peace, Ignis.”

“It will if I don’t leave any of them alive to continue the cycle.” Luna and Nightmare both go wide eyed and Luna looks a bit disturbed. “I wouldn’t do that, though. I know the Dragon Lord is lying to a majority of the drakes to manipulate them into thinking their attack is justified. I just wanna kill the Dragon Lord and Inferno. None of the others need to die.”

“So instead of an attack you want to perform an assassination?” Nightmare asks with a tone of voice I don’t quite appreciate.

“Yes.”

Luna just sighs and tells us to go to the dining hall.

…

“You’ll be teleported into the dragon's territory.” Celestia announces after she and Luna finish talking privately. I make a quiet “yes” and pump my arm.

“But, you are only to perform reconnaissance. We’ve sent a few of our best over there and none of them could get close enough to get us any valuable information. We don’t even know who the current Dragon Lord is, that’s how blind we are. Ideally you can find the Dragon Lord, report his name if you hear it, any abilities he demonstrates, and separately I want you to find where the dragons are learning and training their magic. If we can identify that we can send a couple of specially trained high altitude pegasus to observe that area for an idea on their magic capabilities as well. You are only to engage if you are engaged upon. You will maintain invisibility at all times, or some other method of becoming undetectable if you deem it safer. At any point you can use your Sending stone or telepathically call me with the codeword “dawn” and you’ll be teleported back here with no questions asked, zero delay. Do you understand?”

“Look around and figure out what they’re doing. Call home if shit hits the fan. Did I miss anything?” Celestia just gives me an exasperated sigh followed by a smile that screams “welp”. Nightmare is giggling but Luna looks dead serious.

“Ignis.” Luna hits me with an authoritative tone. “Do you understand? I am ordering you, do not engage.”

“Yes, Your Grace.” I move my right fist to my left pectoral and answer her with an equally serious tone. “When do I leave?”

“Whenever you’re ready. The negotiations are set to take place next Monday, so you have five days and six nights to gather information. If you can find enough information to come up with an air tight plan to kill the Dragon Lord and convince me that it’s safe and guaranteed, then I will call off the negotiations. Ideally in your plan I’d like you to include who the likely replacements will be for the Dragon Lord should you succeed. I’d hate to get rid of one that’s at least willing to meet us at the negotiation table for a replacement that decides to attack us everyday relentlessly.”

“That’s a big ask for five days. It’ll take a day or two just to come up with the plan. You wouldn’t happen to have given me an impossible task in hopes that I’d be discouraged to even attempt it, would you?”

“Absolutely not. I think you should do it no matter what. It’s more likely than not that we will not reach an agreement during this first session of negotiations. So in reality you have more than five days, but the first session is indeed in five days if you wanted to get this done before then.”

…

After giving Luna, Nightmare, and Force some proper farewells and kisses, I stood in front of Celestia with my Moonblade at my waist, my Mizzium fully attached and ready, and cast Invisibility. A few seconds later I find myself at the bottom of a relatively large volcano.

Holy shit I’m actually here. I didn’t think they’d really agree to this…time to redeem myself.

Author's Note

I was wondering if anyone would pick up on the fact that the Changeling PTSD incident happened immediately after he "dumped a ton" of Divinity into making a telekinesis wall to catch some projectiles. From a narrative standpoint I think making Divinity passively regenerate extremely slowly opens up alot of possibilities and interactions through actively regenerating it through your followers. It's also good from a balancing stand point.

But yeah basically it was noted that his hair reverted to normal after using that Miracle to heal everyone, and Luna commented that it must've drained him completely. Within minutes of being drained he started murmuring Chrysalis' name and suffering from the night terrors. Then he went through ups and downs, kinda mood swingy because he would regen a miniscule amount of Divinity only to use it up on mundane stuff, leading to eventually the incident at the training area. Now he's completely topped up on the god juice again and while still feeling guilty and regretful, he's not a complete wreck.

Another major(?) minor(?) reveal this chapter in the form of the spellbook. It's such a small detail to reveal but I wonder if it'll still get the theory junkies to cook up something. I love seeing how close you guys get to the plans, I actually prefer it when you're really close or spot on because it means I adequately left enough evidence or bread crumbs to reach that conclusion. Which means it shouldn't come outta nowhere since someone was/is able to figure it out. So by all means feel free to fire away.

Next few chapters should be pretty chill, so no more emotional damage for a while. Sorry if you liked being emotionally damaged :P

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Prevent Calamity pt. 1

I didn’t bring it up with Celestia because I didn’t wanna give them a reason to change their decision. But, if these dragons have gained magic there’s a decent chance quite a few of them have truesight. I’ll keep the invisibility on for now, but I’m also going to shrink down to the smallest size possible for some inherent stealth.

Double check and make sure my Divine Aura is fully suppressed…good. Alright first things first let’s wait around for half an hour or so and see if any Elders come through. Wherever they go is most likely a place of interest. Flying up I pick a cloud to lay on and peek over the side to watch the area. It’s a bit surprising how this area is set up, it’s several volcanoes with a larger one kinda in the middle, but not really. Can they even accumulate enough pressure to erupt if there’s this many outlets so close together?

Eh, that's out of my field of expertise. Anyways after 20-ish minutes I don’t spot an Ancient or Elder, but I spot a very familiar blue dragoness. Would it even be safe for me to follow her like this though? I might be six inches tall and invisible, but she seemed extremely attuned to the wind element. She might be able to detect the tiny shifts in the air I create when I fly.

Suddenly she looks straight up and I swear we make eye contact, but after a few seconds she just keeps walking and heads into the side of the larger volcano. I made a rookie move by staring directly at her. She definitely felt like she was being watched. Luckily it doesn’t seem like she detected me, so she probably just shrugged it off. I can’t afford to make that mistake again.

My curiosity is getting the best of me, I’m fairly certain that larger volcano is the main “base” as it were. Especially since she mentioned that her father is the Dragon Lord. If she’s in there he can’t be too far away. So, after thinking about it for another few seconds I very slowly glide down and land at the side entrance to the volcano.

What I see nearly stuns me. The magma is floating in the air to cover the opening on top, but there’s just small streams of the viscous liquid streaming down into a large hole in the center that likely was the natural channel at one point. They’ve completely hollowed out the inside though. How are they getting the magma to float like that? Not important.

Glancing around to try and see where the blue dragoness went I’m unable to spot her. It’s strange though, there’s no passageways so where could she have gone? Unless…

Peering over the edge I look down into the massive hole in the center and bubbling magma resting several feet down. Would that not have killed her? If that magma is similar to the pool being levitated above me it’s possible she just opened a hole with her wind and flew through. That doesn’t really help me though. I could try using telekinesis to do the same thing, it’ll be a very small hole.

If my memory serves me correctly though that shit will kill me even if I don’t make direct contact with it. Basically vaporizes your lungs if you breathe in if you’re too close. I could use Relentless Faith to become invulnerable for six seconds, but that’ll make me glow pretty brightly.

Suddenly I feel the air shift and snap my gaze towards the entrance I passed through earlier. A massive black dragon zips right over me and dives down into the magma. Guess that answers that. That’s either the secret entrance or Chrysalis is mind controlling dragons en masse to kill themselves, and I really doubt it’s the latter.

Joking aside I can tell it’s an entrance, that massive dragon left a brief gap in the magma that let me see inside for a few seconds. It really is just a thin pool of magma, thin enough for Misty Step to solve this. Quickly looking around to double check for any witnesses and finding nothing, I throw myself over the edge and start to fall down the massive hole. Once I’m a few feet away from the magma and I can feel the heat, I cast Misty Step and just aim for 60ft straight down. This is going to break my invisibility, but only briefly and it won’t make me glow like Relentless Faith would’ve.

As soon as I appear on the other side I use Mystic Arcanum to silently cast Invisibility again. I hate using such a powerful ability on a simple spell, but it’s the safest option right now. Once I’m invisible again I start to look around and I’m at a loss for words. It’s a massive and I mean truly massive chasm. It’s at least 15, maybe 20 times bigger than the colosseum and that was able to hold all the leaders plus their small armies plus three Elder dragons.

There’s channels all along the walls going from top to bottom with flowing magma in them that are serving as the lighting for the entire place. Towards the center the light is pretty dim, but that’s still surprising given how large this place is. The magma doesn’t seem bright enough to light up as much as it is, but it is.

Against the wall of what I’m pretty sure is the southern side of the chasm there’s a mountain of gold and gems with a monstrous dragon resting on it. He’s a sort of grayish blue? With two massive horns pointed down behind his head and curved back up towards his chin. Is that even practical? The red pointy thing on his head is reminiscent of a crown, so I’m gonna bet half my salary that it's the new Dragon Lord. He really is a big son of a bitch though. Bigger than any other I’ve seen so far. By a fair bit.

If his daughter is shorter than me and he’s that big….how young is she? Also where is her mom? That lady must have been a fucking trooper, really took one for the team. Unless she’s equally as large, but I doubt it. Speaking of his daughter… she just landed in front of him.

Before that I need to double check the layout of this place. It’s pretty much just an empty circle, but there’s random objects and lava pools scattered about. There’s several huge tunnels that go somewhere scattered around the chasm at various points. And then of course, there’s the huge hoard with the Dragon Lord on it to the south. There’s at least 10 Elders down there though, not including the Dragon Lord.

Alright now let’s listen to this conversation between what I assume to be father and daughter.

“What do you mean it’s true?! I led those drakes to their deaths over some petty lies?!” The dragoness apparently did take my words to heart. Seems like she questioned her father over what I said and he spilled the beans.

“It’s merely an exaggeration of the truth. No matter how you frame it, they still killed two Elders and the Dragon Lord. Your words do have some merit though, Ember. They’ve paid for that slight against us in blood and I’ve offered them a chance to negotiate peace before this devolves any further. If Celestia is smart she’ll give us what we demand. This all could’ve been avoided if she just acquiesced back at the Summit.”

“And exactly what are we going to demand from them? Knowing you it’s going to be something outrageous.”

“Watch your tone. You might be my own flesh and blood but even I can only tolerate so much. We’re demanding the same thing we demanded at the Summit. For them to claw over the mass murderer that attempted to doom the world to darkness. I can’t believe the other kingdoms backed out just because that bladesinger killed a few changelings. One day they’re all in agreement that we can’t just let that bomb sit in Equestria until her fuse runs out. It’s only a matter of time before she does something again.”

“That’s going to be difficult, my Lord. Nightmare Moon was in Canterlot. As in she was her own alicorn in a completely separate body from Princess Luna. They are two different entities. Are you going to demand both of them? That might be difficult since the demon is the one you should allegedly be worried about. You can’t charge two of them with the crime committed by one.”

“We’ll demand both to start with, but I think we could walk away standing proud if we got just the demon. According to your report Luna didn’t seem too powerful anyways. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem to leave her be. If that goat succeeds with his latest experiment not even Celestia will pose a problem to us. In fact, Ember, I want you to go get an update on his progress. Make sure he’s not up to something, he’s mo-” The Dragon Lord pauses.

“Father?”

“It was only for the briefest moment, but I felt killing intent. Go carry out my order, I’m going to have Winter investigate that presence.” His eyes are still scanning over the entire chasm, and I’m mentally cursing myself for losing grip on my emotions for a moment.

“I think you’re just being paranoid. This is an empty cave with nothing in sight, and what could even be strong enough to target you like that? But, as you ordered I’ll go check on our guest. One last thing, though, father. Did you upgrade the status of that creature like I advised in my report?”

“I did. Now go.” Ember flies up and zips toward a tunnel on the western side of the cave and the Dragon Lord looks like he’s about to stand up, but he sighs and relaxes again. “She’s probably right. It doesn’t make any sense for a threat to be down here.” Looks like I got away with it thi-

“My Lord!” A red dragon a few sizes bigger than Ember flies down to the big guy in a panic. “We picked up a surge of mana at the base of the volcano, so we sent two of our most mana sensitive drakes to investigate. It appears that something has teleported here!”

Ah shit.

“I knew I detected something! WINTER!” One of the white Elder dragons raises its head before lazily rising and with a couple of flaps of its wings lands several feet away from the Dragon Lord.

“Yes, Lord Torch?” Oh another dragoness. Neat.

“We have an intruder. Task your drakes and find it.”

“Oh dear~ what foolish creature would willingly come into the belly of the beast?” Honestly her voice is like silk. She has a slower cadence with emphasis on the ending of every few words. That “oh dear” in particular sounded so sarcastically and playfully worried. In reality I can tell she’s quite bored and indifferent.

Now I’m in quite the conundrum. Do I risk getting discovered and stay here to investigate the Dragon Lord and his closest subordinates? Or, do I go down the tunnel Ember went through and see what the hell this “goat” is?

I don’t have time to think, I’m following Ember.

…

I’m flying just an inch or two above the ground as I zip through the tunnel I saw Ember leave through. My logic is that the tunnel is so large and most dragons are so tall there shouldn’t be any reason they’re looking down at their feet.

One thing I kinda forgot is that I’m immune to a few different types of damage now. I kinda completely forgot about it until I was strategizing how to take down that white dragon if I have to. From the couple of white dragons I’ve seen, the cold breath seems pretty uniform in this world as well, and I’m immune to electricity, cold, acid, and poison. Once I hit Divine Rank 6 I might just snag some fire immunity.

Also there’s a decent chance I’m lost. There’s been so many different side paths and forks that it’s basically a zero percent chance I’m still on the same path as Ember. I took too long to make my decision. I could cast Locate Creature, but that’ll dispel the invisibility. Wait, I’m in dim light aren’t I? I have the Boon of the Night Spirit, I can become invisible in dim light or darkness. Well shit, alright let’s do it.

“Locate Creature, Ember the dragon princess.”

Immediately my invisibility drops, but within a fraction of a second I merge with the shadows and become invisible. Thankfully this boon is worded so horribly that I don’t have to stay in dim light or darkness to maintain the invisibility, I just have to be in it when I become invisible.

Ah shit, ok she’s somehow several hundred feet to the west and a bit lower than me. Time to start wandering in that general direction then, I suppose. How the hell do these dragons even navigate this shit? It’s just tunnels…they all look the same, and unlike the changeling hive there’s no rhyme or reason to their branches and turns. It’s like they just gave a giant mole 10 shots of tequila, blindfolded it, and cut it loose. Maybe these are naturally formed and they just drained the magma?

Anyways, after another 15 minutes she’s pretty close. Close enough that I can start to hear a couple of different voices speaking to each other.

“What exactly is this? I thought you were working on new types of magic for us, but this is…disturbing.” I can hear Ember and true enough to her phrasing she sounds thoroughly disturbed.

“Oh my dear, this is so much more important than petty magic. I assure you the subject feels no pain and won’t remember any of this.” That’s a dude for sure, and his voice sounds like gravel. My curiosity is getting the better of me here, I want to look.

Peeking into the smaller cave I see some strange blue goat with huge curved horns, or is that a ram? The horns make me think ram… anyways, he’s got red lines all over his horns that seem to spiral up, and he’s wearing a black collar with a bell on it. Behind him is a changeling pod, but this one isn’t as see through as some of the ones I’m familiar with. It’s an opaque and very dark green color. It’s also far larger than any other changeling pod I’ve seen before. Chrysalis, what did you agree to with these guys?

“That’s not even my main concern. This thing is an abomination. How is it even going to survive once it leaves the pod?”

“That’s the problem I’m trying to solve. My other project has had much more success and I believe your father deployed it for a test run just a few hours ago, but this one is probably going to take a while longer. I had hoped the experimental Singing Hydra I created would give me enough data to recreate one of the more base features of a standard Hydra.”

Wait what? A test run where?

“If you made that creature then why can’t you recreate one of its abilities in something else?” Ember is a real one. Asking all the questions I’d ask. Unintentionally, I hope.

“I didn’t create that creature from scratch, I simply manipulated the embryo of several eggs before they hatched until I found success.”

Luna, are the teleportation circles for the major cities already established?

“I just can’t believe my father let you use the previous Dragon Lord's corpse for this. That is Tamura right? It’s hard to make out any details.”

“Indeed it is. If this creature is a success he should return to life. Though, he’s decayed enough that his mind and intelligence might not be even remotely close to what they were before.”

They aren’t permanently linked yet, but they’re established. Why?

Apparently some experiment the dragons were working on was deployed a few hours ago. I think it’s going to be used against one of our cities. What’s the closest major city?

Baltimare. Are you sure this is a credible threat?

Of course she doubts me after what happened last time I tried to warn of an attack…I’m the boy who cried dragon at this point. No. They didn’t say where, just that it’s been deployed. Just to be safe we should still have all the guards on standby. Ready and waiting for the alarm. Baltimare should be alerted as well so they can expand their patrol ranges. The earlier they can communicate to us that there’s a threat the more lives we save.

Alright. I’m moving now. Good work, Ignis.

Moving closer I try to be as quiet as possible, but I really need a closer look at this pod…

“What are you calling this project? It’s easier if they have names so I can ask for updates on specific ones.” Ember asks as I creep ever closer.

Wait…no. No this can’t be right. What is this?! How did he create this? Where did he even get the idea from?

“Ah, I haven't decided yet. I was calling it Hydra Dragon for the initial stages, but it’s progressed enough that I think it deserves a real name. One of the names that I came up with just really resonates with me though. I think it’s the one I’m going to use for the final version.”

Luna I need authorization to go loud.

“So you’re just gonna stand there silently until I ask you which name you think resonates? Fine, which name is that?”

What? Why?!

Because if this thing escapes the Volcano we are fucked. It has to die. Right here, right now.

“Project: Tiamat.”

Author's Note

Finally some payoff for the False Hydra :)

Shit just got real :)

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Prevent Calamity pt. 2

Ignis what exactly is going on? You’re panicking and vague, I need details before I can agree to anything.

She’s right. This thing hasn’t even been born yet. Even if it’s completed it’d take a while to become the Tiamat. There’s a goat here. He’s apparently responsible for creating the False Hydra and for giving magic to the dragons.

Goat? Can you describe him in the most exact detail possible?

He’s not why I’m spooked. He’s created some abomination, it’s the heads of five different Elders combined in one body, like a hydra. One of each color and the white dragon is the last Dragon Lord. Luna, this creature exists in my world. She’s called Tiamat and she is destruction incarnate, a force of nature powerful enough to have served as the ruler for the first layer of Hell. Hell is similar to Tartarus but it’s home to demons and devils. If this thing were to reach her same level of strength…it’d be worse than Discord.

I understand. I believe you, and I don’t want you to think I am taking you lightly. But, it is critical that you describe this goat to me.

He’s blue, two big ass curved horns with bright red spiral lines, and a black collar with a bell on it.

Several seconds pass.

Luna?

Another pause of eerie silence.

Luna? What is it? Did something happen?

You have to leave. Get out right now. This is an order. That is an ibex who wields enough power to have rivaled even Harmony back in his era. You don’t stand a chance, and I’d wager he’s already aware of your presence. Teleport away, NOW!

Please, just let me hear the end of this conversation. Five more minutes, tops!

If something happens to you I will chain you to our bed for the rest of your life.

Woah. Has she ever gotten like this before with me? That was a real threat.

“Huh. What kinda name is Tiamat? Also if father is negotiating with the ponies in just a few days why would he authorize a test run of whatever new weapon you’ve cooked up?” Ember continues asking questions that I want to know.

“Oh it’s not performing it’s tests on the ponies! That creature the princesses have tamed is far too strong for something like that. No, now that Chrysalis has stated her obligations to the alliance are fulfilled she’s stepping away back into the shadows. Since we’re not allied with her anymore, I’m going to be rid of her. The last thing I need is to constantly look behind me for that crafty harlot.”

Wait, he's sent his experiment to go kill Chrysalis? Does he know the location of her new hive?

“Uh huh. Well, good luck with that. I need a real progress update though, do you have an estimated time frame for when this “Tiamat” will be ready for testing?”

“It could be tomorrow, it could be several months or years from now. I’ve done all I can do, at this point it’s up to them to wake up.”

“What an annoying answer. You know how long it’s going to be, you're just leaving yourself plenty of cushion time to wring more resources out of my father for your projects.” I need to talk to Ember before I leave. I’m 99% sure I can get her to come back to Equestria with me, or stay here and become a spy.

“You say that like I’m not providing your kind with tangible benefits and power. Keep in mind who gave you that Wind you’re so fond of. Now, if that’ll be all I’d like to kindly request you leave here and let me get back to my work.” Ember doesn’t even reply; she just sighs and turns to walk away.

Quickly but carefully I turn as well and follow Ember, making sure to engrave this location into my brain. Now I can teleport straight here in the future. I’m following Ember for just over five minutes when she suddenly speeds up and starts taking random turns. I don’t wanna lose her so I speed up as well. Until I round the next corner and find a set of blue claws closing around my small insect sized body.

Dispel the Alter Size!

As a result of suddenly growing to nearly seven feet tall, the dragoness just ends up placing her palm at a uh…unfortunate part of my body. “What do you think you’re doing?! Do you have a deat- AGH!” She very quickly pulls her arm away and I get to discover that dragons can actually blush.

“Listen, I'm sure you’re a nice dragon princess or whatever, but if you wanna just start grabbing me like that you’re gunna need to talk to Luna first. She’s my owner, you see? As for yo-”

“SHUT UP! You know that wasn’t on purpose! Why are you here?!”

“Gathering information. I overheard your conversation with your father, so what are you going to do now that you know the truth?” I quickly get serious since we are still just in a random hallway tunnel and someone could happen upon me any second now.

She’s silent for several seconds as she stares at the ground with a pensive look. “I don’t know. This isn’t right, but at the same time…this is still my kingdom. I need to somehow take the throne from my father, and then end this war. Hopefully we’ll still be able to have peace by then.”

“So if I just kill your dad then this is all over? Let’s go then, c’mon.”

“What?! No! I’m not killing my father. If anything I should kill you-”

I don’t care if this is an offhand comment. I’m too far into enemy territory with apparently a very powerful goat nearby. For that reason, as soon as she says “kill you” my hand is around her throat and the dragon princess finds herself pinned to the floor, now covered in cracks. The breath is knocked out of her when she hits the stone and for a few seconds all she does is sputter and cough. “I held back significantly in Canterlot because I could tell you’re a good person who had been misled. But, if you are still going to go against me I will end you right now.”

For the first time I can see genuine fear and panic in her eyes as she claws at my hand and forearm squeezing her throat. I can feel sharp cuts of wind hitting my torso and arms. “I understand you won’t kill your father, but if I release you are you going to try and kill me?”

She tries to speak but just releases a choked gargle before quickly shaking her head left and right. I think about it for another second or two before releasing her. After she’s done gasping for air and hacking up a lunch she finally turns towards me. “I intend to help you. But, I cannot fight my own kind. I already knew most of the information I was asking for in Grogar's lab, but I knew you were there. I asked those questions for your benefit. Also, even you would have a hard time killing the Dragon Lord. My father’s wind is much stronger than mine.”

“What’s his name? Part of the information I came here to gather was who the Dragon Lord is.”

“Torch. Dragon Lord Torch.”

“What’s the experiment he sent to wipe out the changelings?” Without even realizing it I’ve moved closer to the dragoness. She’s starting to get intimidated again.

“Father assigned him the task of coming up with a dragon specifically modified and designed to kill you. His experiment is testing just one aspect of what the end result of that dragon will be. Since you use swords and fire Grogar decided to transmute our scales with metal. The dragon he sent to Chrysalis is a former Elder red dragon that now has scales reinforced with Steel. My father, being the creative genius that he is, named this new type of dragon “Steel Dragon.” That’s not the project you should be worried about, though.”

“Trust me it’s not. That Tiamat thing is what mainly concerns me.”

“No, not that either. Some of the last information Chrysalis shared with us was how to ascend and become a God. With the help of Grogar my father has ascended. He’s the God of Wind. His blessing is what allows me to wield the wind in the way I do. I literally cannot go against him, it’s like asking a rain cloud to fight a lake.” Oh it’s never simple, is it? Chrysalis why…would you do this?

“If I gave you my blessing and bestowed you with more power would you be willing to defect to Equestria with me? We’re confident we can win in a physical confrontation, but we’re information starved. Anything you could provide the princesses might be the breakthrough we need.” Please just say yes. If I take any longer to leave here Luna is gunna fucking kill me.

“Well, well, well. I knew you were unhappy that I deceived you, Ember. But, I didn’t think you’d turn on me like this. Conspiring with the biggest threat Equestria has? Have you truly turned your back on me like this?” It’s the dragon lord. He’s behind me. How did he get here so silently?!

“Father?! No! I would never! I was going to turn him down! I could never betray you or this kingdom. You have to believe me!” Wow her voice even cracked. I don’t understand why she’s so upset right now though…she did betray him. He isn’t even wrong.

“Of course, you were just standing around in the tunnel a few inches away from him casually having a conversation about betraying me. You’re right, how could I be so foolish?! You were clearly just lowering his guard! Do you think I’m a fool, Ember?”

“Father, no! Plea-!”

Torch holds up one of his claws and suddenly several deep slashes cover Ember's body. What was that? Was that even an attack?

Dexterity Saving Throw

16 + 5 + 3 = 24.

On pure instinct I jump backwards a few inches and watch as several slashes strike the air where I was just standing. Ember drops to her knees screaming in pain. Torch flicks his claw again and this time I’m able to understand what’s happening. He’s using his power over wind to create a thin line of high pressure wind in the air. Then he sucks all of the air out of that compressed area turning it into a mini vacuum and the sudden massive loss of pressure followed by an instantaneous repressurization causes the space around it to violently explode.

He’s essentially creating high pressure mines in the air that he can detonate on command to cut through anything in contact with it.

Realizing how insane that ability is, I scoop up the gravely injured Ember and channel the Mizzium to cast Dimension Door straight up 500ft.

Arcana Check (Mizzium DC: 20)

2 + 16 + 3 = 21.

Me and the dragon princess instantly appear in the air in some random cave that just happened to be above us. I was hoping this would get me to the surface, but fuck it this will have to work for now.

LUNA! Teleport me and anyone in contact with me back to Canterlot! NOW!

I watch as the stone floor explodes into a spiderweb of cracks before getting obliterated as the massive Dragon Lord slams through the bedrock. Thankfully as soon as the ground broke Luna finished channeling the teleportation. I find myself on the floor of the throne room, on my back. Ember is passed out on top of me, breathing ragged.

“Explain yourself, Ignis. What is the meaning of this?” Luna looks at the dragoness with contempt.

I just sigh and stare at the ceiling. “It’s a long story…”

After half an hour or so of me explaining the interactions I had with Ember during the attack on Canterlot. Then I explain everything that happened in the hive while healing Ember at the same time.

“Good work, Ignis. Let’s take her to the infirmary and wait around until she wakes up. I want both of us to be there so she doesn’t panic when she wakes up. Then the three of us are going to have a long conversation.”

This has become an absolute clusterfuck.

Author's Note

Leave it to Ignis to spend one night with a princess, get touched by her, and bring her home worn out and passed out. :ajsmug: :rainbowlaugh: Do not let this man near your royalty!

Also the nonsensical nature of a BLUE dragon, the God of Wind, being named Torch is not lost on me. I don't really have a good explanation, I just hate naming things so him and Ember kept their names. :P

Seems like Ignis and the Princesses are going to have a LOT to talk about and consider for future strategies. I wanted to have Ignis talk with Grogar before leaving, but no matter how I played it the conversation just didn't seem to make sense. Basically after talking to Grogar he has to teleport back to Canterlot no matter what, but then I wouldn't have been able to do the Ember stuff so... I guess that conversation will happen later...

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Prevent Calamity pt. 3

I’m talking to Luna about Grogar when our new resident dragoness snaps her eyes open and sits up in a panic. “Woah! Relax. You’re in Canterlot, specifically the castle infirmary. Your father nearly diced you to bits.” I put my hand on her shoulder to keep her from launching fully out of bed.

Ember looks around with wide eyes, still in a panic, for another second or two. Then it seems the prior events replayed in her mind as she suddenly looks dejected and stares down the bedsheet.

“You were adamant about not killing your father, but it seems he didn’t have the same thoughts about killing you. He didn’t even hesitate or give you a real chance to explain things. What are you gonna do now?”

She just chews on her lip while deeply thinking about her next move. “Can I return home? I know I can clear up the misunderstanding if I can just talk to him one more time.”

“I don’t see a prob-” I start to respond but Luna cuts me off.

“Absolutely not. You may have been lied to and manipulated by your leader but you still invaded my city and killed an unforgivable amount of ponies. You will be sent to the dungeons until this war is over.”

I really didn’t want to remember that attack so I just pushed it out of my head, but Luna is right. We can’t just release the dragon that was literally leading the enemy forces on the day we were invaded. Still though…

“Or…you can redeem yourself by assisting us.” Luna adds after a bit of a dramatic pause. I’m glad I’m not the only dramatic one around here.

“I already told you I won’t help you kill my father.” She isn’t trying to argue that she should be released. Seems she’s willing to accept the punishment.

“Your father is going to die. One way or another, before this war ends, he will cease to exist. I do not need your help to do so. However, if we are attacked by your kind again, if you assist us in repelling the attack that would be enough. Through your actions you will save a number of ponies tenfold the amount you killed.”

“I will not kill my own subjects either! That’s even worse!”

Now it’s my turn to chime in. “Then don’t.” Ember and Luna turn to me, both confused. “Convince them to leave whatever city they’re attacking before they are killed or, even better, convince them to abandon your father and serve under your banner instead. Build up your own power base now and then once…the position becomes vacant, you’ll be able to seamlessly climb the throne. I’ll be honest Ember, we’re being far more lenient than we should. The reality is that you have nowhere to return to. If you go back home your father will kill you. If you stay here and don’t redeem yourself you’ll be locked in a cell for who knows how long and then once you’re released, you’ll still have to live in a city that resents you. Don’t answer us now, just think about it.”

I rise up from the bedside chair and motion for her to get up. “In the meantime though, I’ll show you to your cell. I’ll be back at some point tomorrow night, and that’s when I want your answer. For now, just think about it. I’m confident you’ll do the right thing.”

…

As soon as we enter the dungeon I have to resist the urge to become violent. “Oh no! Princess they’ve captured you as well? I guess even the mighty Dragon Princess is no match for The Last Bladesinger.” I swear to god I might just kill the drone. Everytime I think about doing it I start to feel guilty for killing a defenseless prisoner just because she keeps getting her body forcibly hijacked. But I can only take so much.

“You’re still alive Chrysalis? I’m surprised you managed to take down a dragon made of steel.” Is the only reply I can offer while making sure Ember enters her cell.

“Dragon made of steel? What are you talking about my dear? Did I go too far and break you because you sound a bit crazy right now.”

“The dragons decided you were too dangerous to be left to your own devices after you dissolved your alliance with them. They intended to use you and your hive as a test run for a new species of dragon. It sounds like they never made it to the hive, though.”

“They probably went to that old colosseum in the Badlands. I didn’t tell anyling where I was establishing my new hive. If you wanna know though…” I think she just tried to give me a husky and seductive tone of voice but the drone is too squeaky for that. She just sounds silly. “I’d be happy to tell you. I’d love another visit from my favorite knight.~”

I don’t even bother dignifying her with a response as I just turn and start to walk away.

“H-Hey! Where are you going? You’re supposed to threaten me and flash me that dominating stare! Get back here and quit ignoring me!” Oh I did not think it would be this effective. I’ll have to keep this in mind whenever I interact with her again. Unless it’s in person. I won’t need to keep this in mind then because next time we meet, it’s on sight.

Now that that’s over I find myself teleporting into my own office. We still have a few hours until dawn so I might as well get some work done. “Back already? I assume your mission went well, then?”

“Hey Moonie. It uh…it was eventful, and I learned a lot. The dragons have their own God now and it’s the Dragon Lord. They’re also working with some goat named Grogar. Luna says he’s-”

“The father of monsters. Did you confirm this? His identity I mean.”

“I did. I described him to Luna and she identified him, but the Dragon Princess also told me herself. She’s in the dungeons now by the way. I was trying to convince her to turncoat and join us and her father walked in on the conversation. He didn’t even give her a chance to explain before trying to kill her. He actually cut her up pretty bad. Also Grogar is trying to create a horrible monstrosity named Tiamat. When we go to sleep later I had planned on inviting you and Luna into my dream so I could show you the information and pictures of the Tiamat I’m familiar with.”

“He’s recreating a monster from your world?”

“I wouldn’t say that. I doubt he even knows about the Tiamat from my homeland. He also managed to reinforce a dragon with steel. All of their scales are literally steel. Apparently he was tasked to create the perfect dragon suited for killing me. Oh and the negotiations are going to fall through. They’re going to demand you and Luna under the pretense of putting you on trial for what you did before your banishment and for killing the previous Dragon Lord. In reality though I think he just wants you and Luna’s power to himself and away from Equestria. He’s scared of how many powerful beings we have. Once we reject the demand he’s going to agree to let us keep Luna and demand just you. For some reason he actually seems to think we’d agree to that. He didn’t mention what would happen when we reject that offer.”

“He said all that and you didn’t immediately lose your temper and charge at him? I’m proud of you!” This is the second time she’s used this condescending tone of voice with me and it’s starting to annoy me.

“Don’t patronize me. I lost my temper enough that I almost blew my cover. He felt my killing intent for a brief moment and it put him on alert. I’m going to suggest to Luna and Celestia tomorrow that we just use the negotiations as a trap. If he says the peace talks are off and walks away after we reject both of his demands then we just attack him right then and there. We could also use his daughter as a bargaining chip, but I doubt she’d be valuable. He’ll only want her back so he can kill her himself.”

“No, really, I mean it. In the past that would’ve sent you into a frenzy and who knows what would’ve happened. I’m happy you’re getting a better handle on your temper.”

“Sorry, it just sounded like you were talking to a foal or something. But yeah this shit is a nightmare, Moonie. I still haven’t been able to face any of the guards since the incident in training a few nights ago…” There’s a few seconds of silence. “Should I step down as Captain?”

“Where’s this coming from?”

“First of all, I’m a shit leader. Just straight up, I’m not good. Secondly, I’m spending so much time unconscious or away from Canterlot that Elytra is basically the Captain anyways. Maybe I should just stick to being the Lunar Knight. That way I can put all of my focus into the war, and stop feeling guilty about neglecting my other duties like I’ve been doing. Also, I’m just embarrassed to face any of them again as their captain after that.” The whole time I’m talking my chin is resting on my desk while I idly tap my finger on the wood.

“You should talk to Elytra about it. Personally, if you hadn’t said that last sentence and just said everything before it I’d be on board. But, that last part makes me think none of the first bits really matters all that much, and you just wanna step down because you feel like none of them will treat you the same after that incident.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll talk to her.” Mentally forming a connection to the follower I speak into her mind while also speaking out loud so Nightmare can hear me. “Hey Elytra.”

“Sir! How are you feeling? Do you need something?”

“No nothing like that. Can you come by my office if you have a few minutes? I have something I want your opinion on and I think it’s better if we do it face to face.”

…

There’s a few knocks on the door and I use telekinesis to pull it open. “Come in. Take a seat.” The changeling lounges on the bench across from my desk.

“What did you want to talk about, Sir?”

“I’m heavily considering stepping down as Captain. The way I see it, because of all my excursions and lengthy bouts of unconsciousness I’ve been pushing most of my work onto you, unfairly. But, we’re still waist deep in this war and I feel like I don’t have the time to do any of the responsibilities I’m supposed to do as Captain. I want to focus on killing dragons and finding Chrysalis, and I think it’s better for everyone if I do that, not as Captain of the Night Guard, but as the Lunar Knight. What do you think? Obviously you’d be promoted to Captain, by the way.”

She seems pensive. “Does this have anything to do with the night you attacked the guard during the training?”

“It’s a contributing factor, yes. But, in my opinion, it’s not the main reason. Even as the Lunar Knight I’ll still have to interact with the guards.”

“Honestly doing both of our jobs plus hosting prayer sessions has really been taking a toll on me. If you were to step down and I could find my own Vice captain to relieve myself of a portion of my duties I’d be in a much healthier situation…I think you should do whatever makes you happy, Sir. I think a lot of us would still think of you as Captain even if you were to step down. You’ve earned a lot of respect.”

“Alright, sounds good.” I reach into my pocket and pull out my identification badge for being the Lunar Knight. Then I grab the badge pinned to my cloak that represents being Captain of the Night Guard. I quickly unpin that badge and replace it with my Knight badge while simultaneously standing up from my desk.

“Wha-... Sir?! Right now?!”

Once the badges are swapped I toss Elytra the Captain badge. “Yup, grats on the promotion! There’s a secret compartment in the bottom right drawer of the desk. That’s where I keep my notes on all of our major adversaries, and notes about what I think we need to improve. It’s been a pleasure serving as your Captain. Take good care of ‘em, okay?”

The changeling still looks dumbfounded and is just staring off into space while holding the badge on her forehoof. “Wha..?”

I just chuckle and motion for Moonie to follow me out.

“Are you sure that was wise?” She asks once the door closes.

“Yeah. She’s basically been doing 90% of my work for the last three weeks. She’ll be fine. I’ll check in on her every couple of days and see if she needs any advice or tips or help. Now I can go back to doing my real job.” As I say that I turn the corner and walk into Luna’s office. She glances up at me and gives me a curious glance as I plop down on the couch against the side wall. Nightmare lays across the same bench and rests her forelegs over my thighs leaning back against my chest.

“Slow night in the office, Ignis? It’s not often you have time to come relax in my office.”

“Yeah, I stepped down as Captain. Elytra has officially taken over. Now I’m back to being just your knight. I got too much other stuff to focus on and worry about, and I was doing a horrible job anyways.”

Luna does not have the reaction I was expecting. Her expression barely even changes and she goes back to whatever paperwork she’s working on. “That’s surprising. It’s something you were gonna have to do at some point in the near future anyways, though, so not a big deal. I wish you had talked to me about it first, though.”

“Yeah…that’s my bad. Nightmare was in the room so I just talked about it with her then asked Elytra what her thoughts were. It is your guard though, so…definitely a bit of a fuck up there.”

“Indeed. Like I said though, you’d have been stepping down in the near future anyways, so it’s fine. Try to avoid it in the future though.”

Okay she’s mentioned it again. What is she talking about? “Why would I have needed to step down soon anyways?”

“Once we publicly announced our engagement you’d have to step down. I can’t have my consort also be in charge of my guard. Luckily there’s no laws about knights. Mostly because of how rare they are and because technically you work for me and not for Equestria.”

“........Engagement?”

“Yes? You said yes to Nightmares proposal on that stressful night, no? I had assumed it was in jest because of how casual the situation was, but you brought it up at breakfast last week so I assumed you were serious. Now that you’ve stepped down we can move forward. I suppose we’ll wait a week or two so we don’t overshadow Cadence’s announcement.”

Nightmare and I just look at each other, bewildered. However I actually have a different concern. “You ok, Luna? You sound pretty monotone right now.”

“I was just doing some thinking of my own. Mostly I was thinking of our conversation about my dead Night Court. I just don’t know what I’m doing here anymore. I don’t think Equestria needs a Princess of the Night.”

I pat Nightmare a couple of times on her barrel and she gets off of me and steps away from the couch. Then I reach out and grab Luna in my telekinesis before pulling her into my embrace while laying down on the couch. “Equestra does need a Princess of the Night. I think they just don’t need a Night Court. Just because Celestia does it, doesn’t mean you need to do it. You help out all of the ponies in this kingdom with your dream walking. I bet there are other things you could do at night along with dreamwalking that are even more important than Night Court. Maybe it’s time for both of us to make some changes, eh? I quit the guard to focus on the war and being with you. Why not try to find something besides court to find fulfillment? If you want you could still hold court, but maybe only like once or twice a week.”

“But what else can I even do, Ignis?” She folds her forelegs over my arms that wrapped around her barrel and looks up at me with big glassy eyes.

“You can do anything, Lulu. But you have to decide what that will be on your own. Just like how you couldn’t decide for me whether I stayed here or returned home. I can’t decide what you do with your life. I’ll be happy to assist and accompany you with whatever you choose to pursue, though.”

Luna turns around and throws her forelegs around my neck. Nightmare shoots me a grin. “And you say you’re a bad leader, pft.”

“Being a good boyfriend and being a leader are completely different Moonie. C’mon now.”

“Is it? You listened to her, guided her, figured out the problem and told her exactly what she needed to hear. But, you didn’t give her the answer. You just started her down the path.”

“Yeah cause I know Luna inside and out. I’m not familiar with any of the guards to the same extent. I wouldn’t be able to do this for them.” Nightmare just raises her eyebrows a bit while tilting her head.

“I suppose that’s true. Anyways can we circle back to the main topic. Luna, have you made the engagement official?” Oh that’s a good point. I was so caught up in how down Luna sounded that I completely brushed off the whole marriage thing.

“I haven’t announced it, but yes I updated the record of royals. Ignis is officially the future Prince Consort. There’s still some hoops to go through to start the vetting and approval process to have him recognized as a real Prince though. I planned to start that process for you and him at some point next week. I assumed we were all on the same page…”

I can’t stop myself from chuckling a bit. “Looks like we’re both pretty bad at communicating, hahaha.” The chuckling devolves into a belly laugh as I think about the absurdity of both situations. I quit Luna's Night Guard without talking to her, and she filed paperwork officially declaring our engagement without talking to any of us.

“So you aren’t mad?” Luna’s question surprises me.

“No? Why would I be? You should be asking Moonie that, not me. I was always fine with it, but she wanted to have some big romantic proposal. So…it’s her parade you’re raining on. Not mine. How do marriages even work with a herd? Do all three of you stand up there with me at the same time?”

Luna shakes her head. “Nay. Typically the head mare is in the official ceremony. Then we’d have a followup ceremony where the head mare takes the place of the pony officiating the ceremony.”

“Ah so with the head mare acting as the priest it’s more like she would be overseeing the addition of the new mare to the herd.”

“Exactly. The vows are a bit different as well, but it’s essentially the same thing. So, I’ll oversee Nightmare and Forces ceremony. We can either do it all on the same day or split it up into multiple ceremonies. It’s more special for the parties involved if it’s done separately, but usually it’s done the same day for convenience and expenses.”

I just sigh. “Sounds like a lot of planning and stress.”

“Indeed it does. It’ll be worth it though.” Nightmare chimes in, in agreement.

“Assuming all of us make it through this war alive.” With one small statement I bring us all crashing back down to the somber reality of our current situation. I don’t know how to beat the Dragon Lord. If I could kill him with one attack before he even knows I’m there then it’s possible. But, in a straight up one on one? I don’t know how to fight someone that can just cut me to pieces with a thought. I did dodge it once, but if I’m in real-time combat mode then I won’t get a dexterity saving throw.

That means I have to go back to using the system to fight, but even then what if I fail the saving throw? I wonder if I have Legendary Resistance? I didn’t see it in the system anywhere but I feel like it’d be weird to not have it, no?

…

I let Luna get back to her work, but I didn’t leave the office. I decided to spend more time refining my telekinesis. If I can’t use runes then I’m stuck with just telekinesis and raw energy attacks. You can’t really improve raw energy attacks so I want to work on my telekinesis. Repurposing it into a shield is already one good application of the magic, but I want more. I want to be able to fight someone using nothing but telekinesis. None of the ponies really use it for combat, but I think it’s a lack of creativity on their part.

Maybe it’s also just difficult to encapsulate a fast moving target with your mana in such a way to allow for the telekinesis in the first place? Using it as a shield seemed to circumvent that problem, though, if someone was fast enough I bet they could back away before I could trap them with the magic.

Wait a minute…

“Hey Luna…and Moonie. You guys use your mana to connect to your Divinity and then use the Divinity for some of your attacks right? Like that attack Luna did against the Ursa Major. You pulled all of the stars and channeled moonlight into your horn for a massive attack.”

“Yes…?”

“How did you use the Divinity to do that? I can’t use runes to cast spells with Divinity, but you both are capable of using the energy to perform massive attacks like that. How do you use it in a way that’s similar to mana? All I’ve been able to do is telekinesis, body enhancement, and raw energy beams.”

Luna and Nightmare both look at each other, seemingly at a loss for words. Seems like even they don’t know how they do it. It must just be instinctual for them. Finally Luna speaks up. “I just connect to the moon while thinking “I want to kill this opponent.” It’s not always the spell you saw against the Ursa, in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever consciously picked which attack the magic formed.”

So it’s pure willpower? Is that how Celestia seemingly spawns miscellaneous items out of thin air? I know sometimes it’s items that she arranged to be put in a specific location in the castle storage area, but other times she seems to just flash items into existence. Didn’t I try that though?

Wait. She’s never chosen the attack. She just wants to attack. The few times I’ve tried using Divinity to cast spells through willpower I’ve been very specific with what I want. I even perfectly picture the result in my head. Maybe that’s not what I’m supposed to do, though?

Okay….channel the Divinity. Protect Nightmare!

Suddenly a bright golden shield dome appears around the alicorn making her yelp in surprise from being startled. “Okay, I figured it out. Thanks Luna. Wait, how do I turn it off….? Uh oh.”

Okay it only took a few minutes of panicking while Luna laughed at us, but I eventually figured it out. But…this changes everything. What are the limits of this? How far can I push it? I theorized that this Divinity isn’t something from the system, it's something native to this world, so by that logic when I use Greater Teleport I’m using a feature of the system. What if I use Divinity to teleport though?

Quickly, I use Greater Teleport to appear at the castle in the Everfree. Bring me Nightmare Moon.

Nothing. I want to see Nightmare Moon.

Ope, that’s a scrying spell. Hm… why is this so fucking finicky? This is a trash system for magic…I want mana back. Teleport Nightmare to me, now.

One pop and a flash of light later, suddenly a familiar alicorn is lounging on the ground in front of me. She looks around a bit confused for a moment before looking up at me. “Sorry, needed to test something, heh…I can use proper teleportation now.”

She gives me a flat look and opens her mouth to respond. Teleport her back to where she came from!

And like that, she’s gone. Although I suppose I’ll still have to talk to her again. Ah, whatever, I use Greater Teleport and bring myself back.

“You can speak to me directly in my mind. It would not have been difficult to give me a warning that I was about to be teleported. What if I had been using the bathroom?”

“I’d be thrilled to get a free show…no, but seriously, I was only gone for like ten seconds. There was no way you were doing anything other than laying down.” She raises an eyebrow at mentioning a free show.

“Pervert. Idiot. Hmph.” Ah there it is.

“Stereotypical tsundere, tsk tsk. In the future though, I will contact you first. Onto the next thing on my to-do list, let’s see… Now that Elytra is Captain my office is no longer my office. Which means I need to pick a new area to be my Divine Realm. Any ideas?”

We spent the rest of the night just discussing random things like this while I kept fucking around with my new magic. Once morning arrived it was time to give Celestia a full breakdown on everything I learned and suggest my ideas for how we handle the upcoming negotiations.

Author's Note

Pretty uneventful chapter, little decompression before we get back into it :D

Still pretty important chapter though, lot of updates and progression on some of the back-end things happening in the world. But yeah I don't really have much to say for this one, and I expect the comments will be pretty quiet this chapter as well.

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Prevent Calamity pt. 4

“I remember young Torch. He had quite a mean streak a few centuries ago. Surprised he’s grown up so fast and is the current Dragon Lord, though. The fact that Grogar is in the mix though…changes things. I’ll have to rethink my entire approach to this war.” Celestia idly comments. Once breakfast finished she brought Luna, Moonie, and I to the war room for this discussion. I just finished explaining everything I saw and heard on my stealth mission.

“Exactly, so I was thinking we should use these upcoming negotiations as a trap. We prop up Ember to be the next Dragon Lord, and then if Torch cancels the peace talks after we reject his offers then we just ice him right there on the spot. Ember now understands this war is pointless and has no motivation to continue it, so if we take him out and leave her in power she’ll end the war.” I don’t like how deeply Celestia seems to think after I finish my suggestion.

“That’s not what I meant by rethink. If Grogar is truly unsealed then we must take extra precaution at this meeting. I want a detachment of guards in every major city for the entire duration of the negotiations. I’m also going to request that you, Ignis, stay here for the meeting. We’re likely going to be meeting in the middle of the Badlands as a neutral ground and with us gone it will leave Equestria very vulnerable. I want you here to be able to rapidly respond to any threats.” I immediately frown at the alicorn.

“If Luna or Nightmare are going to be at the meeting then I am going to be there.”

“No, Ignis…you should stay here. Perhaps even go to Baltimare. If they do threaten a major city I think it’d be that one before any of the others.” Luna doesn’t seem to word this as a suggestion. “All four alicorns are going to be at that meeting, Ignis. They would be suicidal to try anything with all four of us there. It will be fine. I’d rather you protect our ponies here.”

I look to Nightmare with pleading eyes. “It should be fine, Ignis. I’ll contact you the instant something happens and you can teleport over instantly.”

I don’t have it in me to argue. I go off on my own all the time and refuse their requests to improve my safety. If I was back home I wouldn’t care about being a hypocrite in this situation, but this is Equestria. I’m not even supposed to be in dangerous situations to begin with. If their stallion keeps ignoring their requests and nearly gets himself killed all the time while constantly whining whenever they try to do the same, they'll probably resent me soon. Just like how a man has his pride, I guess a mare has hers as well, and they’ve made plenty of concessions on my behalf already.

I think they can see how dissatisfied I am from whatever expression is on my face because Luna leans in close. “We’ll be fine, Ignis. I promise.”

“I don’t like it. If this Grogar guy really is as dangerous and crafty as you say he is it’s even more of a reason I don’t want you there without me. But, you both indulge my selfish requests to be in harm's way, so I guess I can’t complain now. Just please be safe. Please.”

I hope I don’t regret this.

After that stressful meeting we went to sleep. Now it’s just a few minutes after sunset and I’m on my way to my old office.

Knock Knock

“Enter.” I confidently push the door open and walk in. “Sir!”

“Heyo. You seemed a bit shell shocked yesterday so I just kinda left you to let it all sink in, but now 24 hours later…how are you feeling?”

“I’m falling apart. Sure I might’ve handled a lot of your administrative workload, but sir, you did a lot of work outside of that administrative nonsense. I don't have a clue where to begin on training and….and…WE'RE AT WAR! I HELPED YOU WITH YOUR WORK…because I knew you could handle the war. I trust you with my life and the lives of my guards. But, I'm going to get us all killed. I'm so far out of depth…I feel like I'm drowning.”

Ah. “Well. Good news. I'm still focusing on the war. You don't need to worry about it at all. I'm still going to handle troop movement, defensive measures, and training. That was another reason I stopped by. I want to continue the training I was doing previously, but I wanted to clear it with you first.”

The poor drone is just buried in her forelegs. I've never seen her stressed before. “Elytra.” She lifts her head and looks at me, mildly distressed. “You can do this. I'm not dead, I'm still here, I'm still working at night. I'm not just going to abandon you. I'm here for you until you are comfortable. Now, what do you need help with?”

“I'm sorry…I'm sorry I'm letting you down…”

“Shh. You're not letting me down, Elytra. I was like this at first too, it's a lot to take it. Especially that crushing weight of responsibility, knowing you're going to be held accountable for every life under your command. Honestly I’d be more worried if you DIDN'T need any help getting settled in. I knew this wasn't going to be an overnight process, that's why I'm here to begin with. Now, let me help you and a couple weeks from now you'll be a better captain than me or Shining Armor.”

I'm actually proud of her. I was worried she'd put up a wall and keep me from helping her while trying to convince me everything is fine. Mostly because she expects more from herself than I expect from her. Almost like Twilight with Celestia, but not to the same extent. But, she immediately admitted she needed help. Knowing when you need help and actually asking for it are very rare and strong characteristics. I'm guessing she can taste my pride because she gives me this big smile with a few tears falling down her chitin while thanking me.

I spent a couple of hours helping her with some of the more specific night to night duties, and just any random questions she had. After that she went and gathered up any of the guards that weren't actively standing guard or on patrol and brought them out to the training area. All of the muttering I could hear as they approached died as soon as I came into view. Things are just as awkward and tense as I thought they'd be.

“Hey everyone. I figured it was about time I addressed my little incident a few nights ago. I also have an announcement but I'll leave that for the end. The backstory for this actually starts before the Night Guard was even reestablished, at the Global Summit.”

I went on to explain what I went through with the changelings there and Queen Chrysalis specifically. Then I talked about some of the minor episodes and night terrors I had after that experience. All of that led into what I went through after getting tricked by Chrysalis most recently. Tying it all together by explaining what was happening from my point of view during the training incident.

“So that's basically it. I feel like you all deserved a real explanation because your lives were in danger at that moment even if you didn't realize it. Also because I intend to continue that training, so if you aren't comfortable with attending this training I completely understand. If any of you want out, feel free to walk away and go back to what you were doing once I put out this last announcement. As of last night, Vice Captain Elytra is now Captain Elytra. I have officially stepped down from the position. With the war picking up steam I want all of my focus on that, and I think she's a much better leader than me anyways. She'll be deciding on a Vice Captain here in the near future so put your best foot forward if you want your name out there.”

I see a bat wing shoot up into the air and point at the thestral, acknowledging them.

“Sir, are you stepping down because of the incident? Or do you really just want to focus on fighting the dragons?”

“It definitely is a factor, but this was something that had to happen anyways. Even if it wasn't so I could focus on the war. This hasn't been announced anywhere so if I see this next part in the newspapers I'll hunt you down, alright? But I would've had to have stepped down in the near future regardless because I'm officially engaged to Luna. Future Prince Consort, I think was what she called me? Apparently some Equestrian law says government employees, including guards, cannot date or marry a princess. There's some bias concerns and nepotism problems that could pop up.”

To my surprise a lot of them seem excited and most of them start to applaud and cheer while yelling congratulatory remarks. Once they settle down I address them again.

“Thank you, thank you. I'm pretty excited about it too. Not the prince thing, I don't really give a fuck about that, but I adore the shit out of Luna, Nightmare, and Force. So I'm pretty happy we get to tie the knot. Anyways! I'm gonna start the “Raid Boss” training again, if you're not comfortable participating then cya later, have fun. Unless you're one of my Clerics. You can't leave, sorry.”

I am once again flabbergasted when not a single one of them gets up. Why the hell do these people respect me?

Apparently the lads got rusty since it's been almost an entire week since the last training. They performed almost as badly as the very first training session, and I'm still not using my Divinity at all. Just my D&D spells.

“We got started pretty late tonight so I'll end your misery after just one session. You guys gotta get back into form though, this was a pretty concerning showing. Well keep doing this every night until Tuesday. Tuesday some of you are going to be augmented to the Day Guard, so get your sleep schedules ready. You'll be deployed to a few different cities to defend while the Princesses attend negotiations with the dragons. For all we know the negotiations aren't real and they just wanna lure away the alicorns and the top guards so we're less defended from their next attack. You'll find out by the end of tomorrow night if you'll be joining the day walkers on Tuesday, or you can volunteer if you want. Wait thats not up to me. Elytra! Come do your first set of announcements as Captain! Give her some applause, ya heathens, she deserves it more than my engagement.”

They start stomping their hooves and chanting Captain as Elytra walks up looking all bashful. She's even dragging one of her forehoofs back and forth in the dirt while staring down. Once they quiet down I listen to her intently with a soft smile.

The next few days were pretty much the same. I'd mentor Elytra, train the guards, train my own magic and swordsmanship, hang out with the girls and have one or two rolls in the hay. Before I knew it…it was already Tuesday morning.

…

“Luna, can I please convince you to let me escort you?”

“No and that’s final. We can protect ourselves, I want you to protect Equestria.”

“Luna. I specifically didn’t mention Equestria in my oath. I swore my entire being, body and soul, to you. Do you understand? If, against all odds, something happens to you or Nightmare I will not recover. No matter what happens, prioritize your own safety over anything else. If they threaten Equestria and use one of our cities as a bargaining chip then trust in my strength to do what needs to be done. Both of you better make it back unharmed.” As I continue to speak I see her features soften. I think she forgets sometimes that although I blame myself and carry immense guilt for every pony I fail to protect. If it’s between her and them I will forsake all of them for her, everytime, without question. I also think she just isn’t used to having someone put so much priority on herself over others.

“I will. Moonie will be fine, too. Like she said, if something happens you will be the first to know and you’ll know within seconds of it happening.” She gives me a kiss and looks up noticing how far away Celestia and the others already are. “I have to go, it seems they aren’t going to wait for me, and I don’t want them to get too far away. Be careful, Ignis. Love you!” The alicorn takes off and I feel the pit in my stomach get bigger. Something is going to go wrong today, I can feel it.

I went through every teleportation circle in Canterlot so I could get all of the major cities stored in my memory. Now I can teleport to any of them at will with Greater Teleport. For now I’m going to stay in Baltimare since it’s the closest city to the Badlands and the Dragon Territory, so statistically speaking it’s the most likely to be targeted. I’ve also got at least one cleric in every city so I can periodically check on them with Remote Sensing. Now it’s just a waiting game.

…

I don’t have to wait long. It’s only been maybe six hours and I can see a small cluster of Elder Dragons far off in the distance. They aren’t getting closer and they’re so far away I can’t even make out what color any of them are. But, they’re there.

Luna, Nightmare, I’ve got around six or seven Elders spotted around 20 miles away from Baltimare. They aren’t approaching but they are here. Has anything significant happened at the negotiation?

It’s silent for over a minute and I’m starting to get worried when Luna finally responds.

Nothing yet. We’re slowly making progress, and things are looking good so far.

Something is wrong. She sounded stiff.

Why do you sound so stiff? Something is wrong, isn’t it? Luna don’t hold back on me, you said I’d be the first to know. What’s happening?

There’s been a couple of problems, but you don’t need to worry about it. Alert us if the dragons move closer.

Fuck I hate this. I hate this so much. I can clearly tell she’s unsettled, but the way she said that. It was almost like she was desperately telling me not to worry about it. It makes me thing that something is happening, but they have control over it. If I show up it’ll complicate things or ruin whatever plan they have, so as much as I hate it…I’m going to stay here.

…

It’s been another three or four hours and my insecurity finally got the best of me. I tried to use Remote Sensing and I tried to use Scrying. Neither of them let me spy on the meeting. Either Celestia, Torch, Grogar, or Harmony are keeping me from spying in on them. I pray it’s Celestia or Harmony though, cause if Torch or Grogar are blocking me then that means they have a higher Divine Rank.

Ignis. We’re calling it for the day and retiring to our camps. We aren’t finished though, so I want you to stay in Baltimare for tonight. Pass the word around.

……..Alright Luna. I know something is wrong because you’re terrible at hiding it, but I’m going to assume you have a really good reason. If you’re being monitored or something and actually want me to teleport in but can’t outright say it…call me by my human name.

Everything is fine, Ignis.

Needless to say, I didn’t get any sleep that night.

…

It’s around 1400 the next day when I finally get word that the negotiations are over. Around the same time that the dragons started flying away from Baltimare, Luna reached out again.

We’re back in Canterlot, Ignis. Return to my bedchamber at once please.

With a flick of my wrist I’m in a very familiar bedroom. “Can you please explain what happened?”

“Sit down Ignis.” Her tone is extremely soft but somber. She won’t even look at me. Something is seriously wrong.

“Luna, what hap-”

“I’m going to explain. Don’t interrupt me and don’t ask any questions until I’m done. Okay?” I nod and she continues. “I’ll start with the bad news and then explain why it happened.”

She opens her mouth to continue several times but just can’t seem to find the words. Finally she looks me in the eyes and drops the bombshell. “Nightmare Moon is currently in custody in the Dragon Lands, awaiting her trial scheduled to occur at some point in the next week.”

I’m not sure what expression was on my face, but it must’ve been frightening. As soon as Luna saw it she flinched backwards and snapped her gaze down to the floor. When I speak she squeezes her eyes shut. “What? There better be an extremely compelling reason for why you let this happen, Luna. Was it Celestia? Did she agree to it and there was nothing you could do? Why didn’t either of you reach out to me?”

She starts to tremble and I realize I’m making this worse, so I just stop. I try with everything I have to calm down my breathing and I gently place my hand on Luna’s head. It’s only then that Luna continues. “It all started when Grogar revealed himself…”

3rd Person POV - Negotiations in the badlands, 24 hours prior.

“Torch. Equestria will never give any kingdom one of their princesses. You are asking for two. If our peace is contingent on this condition of yours then we’re done here. Sister, let’s go pack our things.” Celestia comments with no small amount of venom in her tone.

“Now now, dear pony, let’s not be too hasty.” The gravelly deep voice is unfamiliar to any of the ponies at the meeting, but once the goat steps out of a nearby shadow and reveals himself they realize it’s Grogar.

“There’s no reason for me to not be hasty. I will not concede on this. You will not have either of my sisters.”

“First, I want you to try using your magic.” All of the alicorns look a bit concerned when he says this because it carries a certain implication with it. Sure enough when Celestia tries to channel mana through her horn all she gets is a pop with some feedback into her horn causing her to flinch.

“Anti-magic zone…this is forbidden magic. I haven’t even met somepony aware of its existence in over a millenia…”

“Is it? Well it wasn’t forbidden when I invented it so I must apologize. It has been quite some time though, so I understand if I just missed the memo. Now then, I want you to understand that currently we have no less than five Elder Dragons positioned within minutes of every major city in your kingdom. You can either give us your sister or give us the night demon. If you do not surrender one of them we will take both of them and order every dragon to lay waste to all of your populated areas. It seems you did somewhat prepare for this possibility, but your bladesinger can’t be everywhere at once and your guards don’t stand a chance. So, what will it be, Celestia?” The ibex just laughs as the three alicorns look at each other with eyes full of fear. Unable to even use magic they can’t contact Ignis.

Thankfully by some stroke of luck, Ignis happens to contract Luna and Nightmare with his Divinity. It manages to bypass the anti-magic zone, but Grogar still seemingly notices that some type of magic has occurred.

“Do not respond to that. I’m not sure what was said or how it got through, but if you respond I will be able to tell. I’ll be able to hear what you respond with as well.”

Luna speaks up and tries her best to get some type of message out. “If I don’t respond he is going to know something is wrong and teleport here. If he teleports here your dragons might raze our cities, but I can almost guarantee none of you will live long enough to know if your subordinates succeeded.”

SIlence washes over the meeting as Grogar and Torch quietly whisper to each other. Finally Torch replies. “Just tell him everything is fine. Don’t reveal any information or use any phrases that would tip him off. If we detect teleportation anywhere near here we’ll kill you before he can even register what he’s teleported into.”

At this point Luna replies to Ignis and leans over to say something to Celestia. “Ignis just mentioned there are six Elders miles away from Baltimare. It doesn’t seem like the goat is bluffing.”

Celestia still has a look of defiance in her eyes and as tensions rise over the next quiet few hours Nightmare quietly considers every option she has in this situation. Until she arrives at the only choice she can make to minimize loss.

“I will surrender myself to your kingdom.” Nightmare quietly states, making Celestia and Luna gawk at her with shock.

“Absolutely not! I will not trade lives with these barbarians!” Celestia almost screams in response as her anger flairs.

“Tia, they aren’t bluffing. If one of us doesn’t surrender they are going to kill thousands. Ignis cannot protect every city at the same time and our guards cannot handle more than one Elder at once. As much as I hate it, this is the only choice we have. Besides, it’s just a criminal trial. It’s not like they’ll kill me or something. At worst they’ll probably just banish me for another few centuries. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

Before any of them can continue to argue with her she walks over to the other side of the meeting and in a flash of light she and Grogar disappear. Torch looks at the remaining alicorns with a smug smile. "As long as none of you make an attempt to retrieve her or seek revenge, we consider this war to be under a ceasefire. If any of you interfere with her trial or make an attempt to rescue her we will immediately launch a full scale invasion. Thank you for your cooperation, ladies.”

“We didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know how to tell you so…I told you to stay in Baltimare while Celestia and I tried to come up with something. But, I think we’ve lost Ignis. The losses are far too great if we were to even attempt something.”

Ignis just stares ahead with cold, lifeless, unblinking eyes as a thick silence hangs in the air. It’s at this moment that Ignis opens the party interface and sees something that ignites a primal anger in the elf. One not seen since Discord.

Nightmare Moon:
Status: Silenced, Frightened, Restrained.

Nearly half of her hit points are gone as well. The elf is screaming at himself internally for not opening the party interface at any point yesterday, mostly because he’s used it so rarely since unlocking it. It would’ve given him a lot of information this time around though.

Without a word, Ignis turns and starts to stomp his way out of the bedroom and into the hall.

“Ignis! Wait! You can’t go! IGNIS! LUCAS!”

That finally seems to catch his attention, so he goes back into the room. Luna breathes a small sigh of relief until she watches the elf pull out a parchment and quill and starts to write something. Whatever it is, it’s a very short message, and he promptly puts it in an envelope and seals it with a wax stamp. “I’m going to have Ember send this to Nightmare with her dragon fire. Then I’m going to leave here for a few hours and none of you will contact me.”

~Somewhere inside the Dragons Lair.~

Nightmare Moon is laying on a cold steel floor inside a small cage hanging just a few feet over a massive pit of lava. Her wings are bound and there’s a magic inhibitor ring around her horn. Her hind legs are chained to the bars of the cage. There’s some scuffs and dried blood on her fur as she lays there sweating from the heat, on the verge of heat stroke. Dehydrated from how many tears she shed.

It’s then that a burst of blue flames appears in the air and a sealed envelope glides down and lands next to her in the cage. She recognizes the seal as Luna’s and quickly grasps the envelope with her forehooves to try and open it. Eventually she tears it open with her teeth and tears start to leak from her eyes again as she reads the message contained within. This time they are not tears of sadness however.

I’ll come pick you up now.

Ignis.

Author's Note

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyful Kwanzaa, or uh... Enjoy your December if none of the above.

Gave some more details on the Elytra situation that I wasn't going to give initially. It was always planned I just wasn't gonna go into it like I did, was just gunna kinda mention it in passing, but I realized ignis looked like a dickhead just dropping that shit on her lap the way he did with no further explanation. So, I explained why he just left and then gave actual details on how the transition is going to work.

Oh also the next couple of chapters are about to be absolute unrestricted violence. Ignis is about to walk around with a bunch of clothing that looks like it was made from alligator. (but the scales aren't from an alligator if you catch my drift.)

NBEH

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Prevent Calamity pt. 5

Greater Teleport.

As soon as I appear in the air just a few feet away from the entrance to the main volcano I make eye contact with several dragons flying out of the volcano.

“It's the bladesinger! What are you doing here? Negotiations finished yesterday. Thanks for-”

Intimidation Check

17 + 2 + 3 = 22.

All I did was flare my aura while staring into his eyes, but I suppose that's enough to warrant intimidation. Within a second the Drake is frozen stiff. A couple of his friends start to fly towards me but the largest one in the group, an adult black dragon calls out to them.

“Stop! Go alert the Dragon Lord. The standing order for the bladesinger is flee on sight, we cannot fight him.”

During the initial stealth mission into the Dragon Lair.

“One last thing, though, father. Did you upgrade the status of that creature like I advised in my report?” Ember asked her father as she left to check on Grogar.

“I did. Now go.”

Ah so that's what Ember meant back then. I won't lie, if the dragons have standing order to flee on sight against me that's a pretty big ego boost. It should speed up this rescue operation as well.

As soon as the younger drakes hear of the flee on sight order they take off. Leaving just me and the black dragon in the air. Reaching out with telekinesis I envelope his entire head and neck with Divinity and pull him through the air to me.

“Where is she?”

“She's in the volcano half a glide from here to the northeast. It's the one that's heavily guarded.” I just stare at him for several seconds in contemplation. I'll allow him to live.

I release the telekinesis and let him go. He seems a bit surprised so I just motion with my hand for him to fuck off. Assuming half a glide is half a mile, I should be able to see the volcano from here. Squinting my eyes I can make out a tunnel on the side of a volcano roughly a mile away with four of the humanoid dragons standing idle outside.

I can't remote sense or scry inside the volcano, just like how I can't do the same when targeting Nightmare. So, she's likely in there. I can scry a few hundred feet above the opening of the volcano and when I do so…my blood boils when I see the state of the alicorn.

For the first time since Daybreaker…something in me snaps.

3rd Person POV

“My Lord! The bladesinger is here! He's moving towards the prisoner!”

“What? It hasn't even been a full 24 hou-” The Dragon Lord and every dragon around him freezes as they feel an intense pressure surge through the entire volcano. Torch immediately realizes he has to move. “Go find the goat and send him to the prisoner. I'll go stop this fool myself.”

Using a nearby tunnel that leads to a magma duct the Dragon Lord swims to where Nightmare is being held. Using this method allows him to arrive just before Ignis. Torch feels uneasy when he surfaces and decides to fly up and out of the volcano. His first thought is that the report was wrong and it’s Daybreaker who is attacking them, but he quickly realizes that is not the case.

The elf is walking towards the volcano where Nightmare is being held. His normally silver ethereal hair has turned into blazing inferno, and the iris and pupils of his eyes are no longer visible. Instead they are just shining pure golden light.

Torch is unsure of how to approach this because for the first time since Grogar bestowed him power, he is unsure if he is stronger than his opponent. Unfortunately the Dragon Lord doesn't get the luxury of more time to contemplate as he watches the four guard drakes stationed outside the volcano fly down and approach the bladesinger.

“Halt!”
“Stop there, creature! This is your only warning and chance to turn around. Our Lord has declared any non-dragon who approaches this prison shall be swiftly executed.”

Torch considers shouting at the young drakes to warn them to flee, but he's too late. The Elder Dragon can only widen his eyes as the bladesinger simply points at all four guards and mutters a single word.

“Die.” He didn't yell or scream the word, just simply stated it, but Torch could feel the power of the word from his position several hundred feet away. Not even a second later all four drakes go stiff and collapse. Laying crumpled, limp, and unmoving on the ground.

Ignis never even stopped walking during the entire exchange and another second later he simply steps over the corpses as if they were just garbage in his path.

Torch tenses as the elf slowly lifts his head and makes eye contact with the Dragon Lord. The dragon contemplates his next move when suddenly the elf vanishes and an instant later the enormous distance between them is closed. The two simply glare at each other as the elf hovers just a few feet in front of the Dragon Lords head.

“Do you understand the consequences of your actions, bladesinger? Countless pony lives will be extinguished if you continue. All of this for one pony?”

“I’m going to retrieve my fiancée, dragon. If you think this one pony is worth the destruction of your entire territory then feel free to try and stop me. You will not succeed, though.” Torch has lived for centuries and through those years he has accumulated no small amount of wisdom. His pride as a dragon, no, as the God of Wind compels him to kill this bladesinger. But, that wisdom gnaws at his mind. It's whispering something that he cannot ignore.

You cannot win.

Unfortunately the stereotype of a dragons pride is not entirely unfounded. In this case it proves true as Torch squashes the whispering in his mind and unleashes a mighty roar. He holds up his arm and prepares to cut the bladesinger to ribbons.

Ignis was ready for this, though. He knew Torch would never surrender. As soon as he saw the Dragon Lord start to tense up, just before he was able to roar, Ignis began channeling a vast amount of Divinity in his arm. When Torch raised his arm to prepare his wind slashes he was surprised to see the bladesinger had already raised his own arm. The next thing Torch knew, his vision was filled with golden light as a raw beam of Divine energy poured out of the elf's hand.

His entire head and upper body are engulfed in a raw beam attack that sends the massive dragon hurtling through the air. He slams into the ground and slides almost 100ft, leaving a huge tear in the landscape. Torch groans and rolls back to his feet with scorch marks all over half of his body and smoke wafting from his scales.

When he looks up he just glares at the bladesinger floating there with his palm pointed at the Dragon Lord. Torch considers where to go from here, now that he's taken an attack from the elf he is confident that they are somewhat evenly matched. Before he can retaliate a familiar voice growls out into the air.

“Stand down Torch. Go guard the prisoner, he might not be alone.” Grogar emerges from a nearby shadow right to the dragon and orders him to leave. “Let's have a conversation Mr. Ferrum. My name is Grogar.”

Ignis doesn't respond or acknowledge the goat he just starts flying down into the volcano. He's about to call out to Nightmare now that he can see her in the birdcage hanging over magma. Before he can however he's suddenly flying face first into dirt.

Teleportation? But there was no flash or any kind of transition. I was flying down into a volcano and then I just… was here.

Ignis is able to react in time to not eat dirt, flipping around he slams his feet into the ground and stands up. “I said I wanted to have a conversation Mr. Ferrum. No need to be so rude.”

Ignis looks at the goat just a foot or so away and glances around. He quickly realizes Torch is gone. Looking back down to Grogar the elf finally acknowledges him. “Then talk. What do you want?”

“I wanted to thank you, of course. If it wasn't for you I'd still be sealed in the accursed void. Deprived of my senses and floating for eternity. I also wanted to propose an alliance. I quite detest these dragons, but they were the most willing to work with me. If you were to join me…no creature could ever even glance at your loved ones the wrong way. We'd be unstoppable. You want the same thing I want!”

The standing rage doesn't leave the elf's face. “What do you mean? How did I unseal you? What exactly could you be trying to achieve that aligns with what I want?”

“When you came here you traversed through the void I was trapped in. I detected a new surge of energy in the void and willed myself to it's location, but by the time I got there the opening was already nearly closed. You were there and on the other side of the opening I could see a lavish bedroom and a creature that looks like you but a much darker complexion.”

Drow. It must've been my sister, but why don't I remember that? “Was I conscious?”

“No. There was another creature similar to you. His skin was wrinkly though, I imagine he was your elder. He glanced at me and completely froze me with his power. Then he opened another tear in the void that led to an apple orchard and deposited you through it. Then he disappeared. He didn't join you in Equestria, he just simply vanished, but that freed me and just before the tear in space closed…I slipped through.”

“And then you bioengineered a False Hydra, unleashed it on Canterlot, and killed countless innocents. Got it. That still doesn't explain what goal you could have that I share. There is nothing I have in common with you. You are VILE!”

Grogar just chuckles for a few seconds. “We both want Harmony out of the picture.”

That actually gives Ignis some pause. “You think the two of us could put down Harmony? She's basically an Overgod, I doubt we'd be no more than an annoyance.”

“Does that mean you're interested? I have some pertinent information that reveals how we can deal with her. You agree to work with me and I'll disclose everything.”

“And if I say no? Are you going to try and stop me from rescuing one of the loves of my life?”

“Of course not! I don't care what you do with that blighted corruption you call a mare. The dragons wanted her and this is entirely their doing. My work with them has no involvement in this particular endeavor. But…”

“Oh here we go…”

“If you were to decline, I'd be quite cross with you. I might even be so inclined as to impede you here.”

Ignis just sighs at the stereotypical villain. Then he thinks to himself for a moment before responding. “I want the intel first. How can we defeat Harmony? Also how are you able to prevent me from scrying on Nightmare or teleporting her away from here? It has to be you that dragon seems too incompetent to do something like that.”

“You communicate with her avatar on a daily basis and you think I'd give away this information without some kind of guarantee? If you share this with Celestia or Harmony all of my plans are dead in the water. As for your other question, I've simply saturated her with my source of magic. I should've done the same thing at the negotiations instead of using standard anti-magic, you could think of it as… me claiming my territory.”

“Your Divine Realm.” Ignis is able to put two and two together, but as he thinks about Grogars words something finally clicks. “Wait..you claimed my mare? YOU?!”

“I assure you it's nothing so vulgar. Her cage is just imbued with an abundance of my magic. Although I did have to dig into her mind a bit when the dragons requested some information. There was no permanent damage, however.”

It happens in a fraction of a second, faster than any creature could've reacted. Golden jagged lines started to burn themselves into Ignis’ skin as a result of the elf dumping Divinity into his blood, muscles, and bones. In an even smaller fraction of a second a hand wrapped itself around one of Grogars horns before slamming his face into the ground.

“HOW DARE YOU?!” The bladesinger screams at Grogar.

Ignis is about to start repeatedly bashing the villain into the ground when Grogar suddenly turns into black smoke and gets blown away with the wind. Ignis can only hear the ibex laughing as the smoke disappears. The elf just turns his attention towards the volcano and his form blurs a bit before disappearing and reappearing at the entrance of the volcano.

As soon as he enters the volcano he spots Nightmare Moon in a cage. That cage is hanging from the tip of Torch's tail while the Dragon Lord himself is perched on the opening at the top of the volcano.

“Torch. Put her down.”

“Are you sure you want that?”

If his eyes were visible through the golden light he'd be rolling them. “Put her down on solid ground. You cliche bastard.”

“You understand this means the war is back on, right? If you take her back to Equestria then your cities will burn.”

“Ignis, please! Just leave!” Nightmare tries to plead for Ignis to abandon her. Not only because she can't bear the thought of thousands dying because of her, but also because she can see the jagged, almost rune-like lines all over the elf's body. She can see that he's pushing his body too far.

“Or I could just kill you, Torch. Kill you, take my fiancée back, and let your daughter be the new Dragon Lord. Problems solved, wars over, you're dead.” As Ignis comments this he puts his hand on his Moonblade and starts to unsheathe it for the first time since he arrived.

“How about a bet?” Ignis cocks an eyebrow at the dragon. In response the dragon flies down and lands on the other side of the platform Ignis is on, about 100ft away.

“You will walk towards me, walk, and I will unleash my wind slashes on you. If you can survive the onslaught and reach her cage then I'll let both of you leave. If not then you can try to kill me, but I hope you're able to do it faster than I can drop her cage in magma. Oh and it's still war even if you play my game and win.”

Although Ignis is enraged he still realizes that the game is probably his best chance. He's fairly certain he can kill Torch but because of Grogar he can't even grab the cage with telekinesis. That means he'd be at a severe disadvantage if he had to kill Torch while also trying to secure Nightmare. “I'll play your game.”

Without even waiting on a response Ignis takes one step forward and then another. Walking at a brisk pace towards Torch. Torch gives a sadistic smiles as he holds out his hand and targets the elf several times over.

The sound of flesh being slashed and blood spattering on stone is the only thing that can be heard. One cut appears diagonally across the elf's face, another four or five across his torso. With every step the amount of open cuts all over his body, face, and forehead steadily increase.

After the first 30ft Torch feels his uneasiness return to him as he watches this bipedal creature. He's completely drenched in blood with at least 100 deep cuts all over his body, but he just keeps taking deliberate and confident steps forward. The entire time his eyes are unblinking and he maintains eye contact with the Dragon Lord.

Another 20ft pass and the unease has evolved to unsettled, nearly disturbed. Torch starts to wonder if this creature is even real.

Suddenly Ignis is enveloped in white light and one step later all of the blood is gone and all of the cuts are rapidly closing.

Level Up.

The Dragon Lord instinctively flinches away from the elf out of fear. With renewed vigor he holds out two hands and doubles the amount of slashes being unleashed on the elf.

“Relentless Faith.” Ignis turns completely golden as he activates the Hope Domains capstone feature. For the next six seconds nothing can touch him.

Torch is breathing heavily now as panic starts to set in. Ignis is only 25ft away and he looks like he's in even better shape than he was when they started. The elf returns to normal as the feature runs out, but he just activates it again.

This time Ignis stops walking forward. He just stands there completely invulnerable, glaring into Torch's eyes as the dragon attempts to dice him into tiny pieces. His golden skin from Relentless Faith starts to shine and glow intently. Now even Nightmare is confused as she's never seen this before.

Divine Rank 6
Salient Divine Ability: Divine Fire Mastery - Fire Domain

As soon as Ignis is done glowing Torch stops attacking, he stops being hostile entirely. He can instinctively tell something has changed. The aura of the creature in front of him is not the same as it was just seconds ago. The glare from Ignis no longer feels like a glare from hatred and revenge, it's like the glare of someone looking annoyed at an insect that just bit them.

Torch sets the cage down, nearly trembling, before flapping his wings with immense force. Flying out of the volcano with such reckless abandon that he crashes into the rim of the opening and sends massive chunks of stone and boulders through the air.

Ignis ignores the fleeing dragon and rips the door off of the cage containing Nightmare. Then he carries her bridal style out of the cage and removes the ring on her horn. No words are spoken between them the entire time.

Once the ring is removed Ignis uses a sixth level Cure Wounds to fully heal the alicorn. Then he uses Greater Restoration to mend any lasting conditions. It's only then the Nightmare finally speaks. On the verge of sobbing.

“This…this is wrong Ignis. You can't forsake the kingdom just for me. After everything I've done…”

“Sure it might be for the greater good.” Nightmare is surprised at how gentle his tone is compared to how ferocious he was just minutes ago. “I might be dooming Equestria, it's true. But, Equestria doesn't mean anything to me without you. If doing this makes me the villain, then I'll happily play that part.” The declaration leaves her speechless and wide eyed as she just stares at Ignis.

He gives her a soft smile and then teleports Nightmare back to Canterlot.

“To think you would evolve into a being in the same realm of power as me, in such a short time. Do you have an answer for me, Ignis?” Grogar calmly speaks to the elf from the entrance of the volcano.

“Go fuck yourself. Stay out of my way and watch me kill the Dragon Lord.”

“I'm afraid I can't do that. If you aren't going to join me then I can't afford to lose the resources and support from the dragons. I'm afraid it'll have to be a fight.”

“So be it.” Ignis sighs and his power surges back to life. Grogar feels a shiver go up the back of his neck this time, giving him a level of excitement he hasn't felt in a long time.

“Extraordinary.” Ignis leaps forward with his Moonblade ready to strike, and faster than Grogar can react he swings for the goats neck. Ignis is almost disappointed with how easy it was, until his sword passes harmlessly through the goat as he turns into smoke again.

“Cheap tricks seem beyond a creature with your level of power, Grogar.” All Ignis gets in response is another chuckle from Grogar.

All this time Grogar has been in his lab in the main Lair of the dragons. In front of him is the pod containing the prototype Tiamat. He considers what to do now that his illusion has been killed again, but suddenly he feels the ground start to violently shake and rumble.

Unbeknownst to him, Ignis gained Divine Fire Mastery when he selected an Extra Domain at Divine Rank Six. This makes him immune to fire and heat and also allows him complete and full control of ALL non-magical fire. It also let's him cast any spell that has a spell descriptor of fire. In this case the control of all non-magical fire is what has caused the ground to shake.

You see, when you fall into lava in Dungeons and Dragons, you take fire damage. Stone to Magma and Magma Wall are also considered fire spells. By this logic, magma is fire. Ignis jumped into the magma pool in the middle of the volcano where Nightmare was being kept, and from there he assumed control of all the magma in a six mile radius.

“Erupt.” The dragons are apparently immune to magma so the only creature this should harm is Grogar. It will likely still be extremely annoying for the dragons which is all the motivation Ignis needs. Once he's commanded the magma and can feel the planet shaking beneath him he flies out of the volcano.

As soon as he clears the rim he watches as massive pillars of lava shoot up from the countless volcanoes around the area. Hundreds of dragons are expelled along with the lava as it continues pouring out. He glanced around until he spots Torch barking orders to that Winter dragon Ignis saw last time.

“COME HERE TORCH!” Ignis shouts at the dragon as he zips through the air towards him. Half a second away from impact Ignis activates Alter Size and becomes Colossal.

Torch is so large that they are actually around the same size now, but this only causes Torch to freak the fuck out even more. He never expected an angry bladesinger God the same size as him would ever drop out of the sky and dropkick him.

Before the fight can continue four massive tears in space appear next to the colossal elf. Shadowy tendrils shoot out and bind both of the elf's wrists. The other two tendrils pierce through his torso, causing Ignis to cough up blood. Blood that now looks thick and golden instead of bright red. Ichor.

“You. You are lucky I was able to save my notes and materials. You nearly set me back a century in my research. You have successfully angered me bladesinger, so if that was your goal you have succeeded.” Grogar appears in front of the kneeling and impaled elf looking furious as he unleashed his verbal tirade to Ignis.

Ignis is barely listening to him as his mind tries to understand what just happened. One second he was about to brutally murder Torch, the next second he's impaled through the chest and his wrists are bound. Did he vastly underestimate Grogar?

Activating Relentless Faith for a third time the tendrils catch fire and disappear. Once freed Ignis returns to normal size and flies away as fast as possible. After one second of flight he teleports back to Canterlot.

As soon as he appears in Luna's bedroom he is tackled into the bed by two alicorns and a pegasus.

Once all the commotion has settled down the elf just looks at the three mares with a slight frown. “Grogar is stronger than me.”

He expected some shock or surprise but instead Luna just thwaps him in the back of the head with one of her wings. “Duh! You didn't have to go fight him to learn that, I bucking told you he was powerful!”

Ignis finally relaxes and let's out a small laugh. “That's true you did warn me. It just unsettles me because now it means that I can't fight him alone. I hate asking any of you to risk your lives and help me, but I think it might be our only option.”

“I like where your head is at, but Ignis I have a new mission for you instead. You're going to spend a week in Ponyville.” Luna casually gives the order to her knight.

“Why?” Ignis doesn't seem to have a problem with the assignment based on his tone. He's just genuinely curious.

“Your objective is to reintegrate Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville and make sure she's capable of using her Element. I think even if all of us came together to fight Grogar we wouldn't be able to win without suffering our own losses. Losses I'm not willing to concede, especially when we have the Elements of Harmony. They should be sufficient to seal away Grogar once again.”

“Wait, you're willingly sending me away to spend an entire week with another mare? I'm not interested in her like that but I'm surprised the normally jealous Luna would do such a thing.”

Luna just rolls her eyes as Force giggles at the comment. “Moonie is going with you. I want you to help Twilight during the day and comfort Moonie at night. I'm only doing this because I know you're not interested in young Sparkle.”

“Comfort Nightmare?” I glance at the other alicorn and notice that although she is smiling she still has matted fur under her bloodshot eyes. What did they do to her? “I can do that.”

Without any prompting he leans over and gently kisses the alicorn just under her horn. “So I gotta get Twilight's mojo back so she can blast Grogar with the rainbow beam. Got it. Did you guys notice my status change in the party?”

“Yeah you leveled up and now you're also the God of Fire! Oh that's so cool.” Luna actually fan girls a little bit and it makes Ignis feel a bit fuzzy to see her react like this to him.

“Party?” Force looks a bit confused.

“Oh right. I unlocked a party system feature for my unique magic. Here it's easier if I just invite you.” Ignis attempts to invite Force but scoffs when he sees the error message.

Incompatible. Please select a creature with a minimum Divine Rank of zero.

“I guess I can't invite mortals to the party. Before I ascended I could only invite mortals, and now I can't invite mortals. What an annoying little feature. You were basically the only other pony I wanted in the party anyways.” He looks at Force who is still confused. “So, basically I can see this little window in the air and it has Luna and Nightmare present. I can see their health and if any status conditions are applied to them like Restrained or Stunned or Unconscious. It's insanely useful.”

The three spend the next several hours talking and cuddling. The next morning Ignis goes to breakfast and sits next to Twilight.

“Sup Sparkle?”

“Good Morning, Ignis. I heard you're taking me back to Ponyville today?”

“Indeed. I'll basically be acting as your personal guard so you can feel as safe and comfortable as possible. I can perform essentially anything you ask of me, and hopefully you'll be able to use the Element of Magic again. How you feeling? Think you'll be okay?” Ignis doesn't realize it but basically every time he talks to Twilight he sounds like he's talking to a child.

“I'm looking forward to it. I miss my friends a lot…but some part of me is still afraid. Anypony could be…something else.”

Ignis just gives her a headpat. “It'd be weird if you weren't afraid. I think I have a solution for your fear though. I'll tell you about it once we're at the library. You finish eating, I need to talk to the Night Guard captain before I go. She was expecting me to assist her this week so I'll have to let her know about the change of plans.”

“Oh I can just go back to Ponyville next week instead, I don't mind!”

“Hah, nah it's aight. It isn't gonna change the plan too much. I'll just need to teleport up here for an hour or so every night after you go to sleep. Like I said though, don't worry about it.” With that said he uses Remote Sensing to find his most faithful follower and after making sure she isn't doing anything embarrassing or sleeping he teleports to her.

“AHHH! OH…oh. Sir. Please warn me before you just APPEAR in front of me. Oh I think I'm gunna faint.”

“Haha, sorry Captain. I got assigned a new mission from Luna so I'll be spending the next week in Ponyville. Our mentoring sessions are gonna have to be done remotely through telepathy, and the training sessions I'm hosting with the guards needs to be moved to the right a few hours instead of right at the beginning of shift.”

Elytra seems a little surprised when he mentions Ponyville. “Ah okay. That should be easy enough to adjust, but why did you come see me face to face to tell me this?”

“Do I need a reason to see my most faithful believer? You really have done a lot for me Elytra. If you need something, anything, don't hesitate to ask. Hell, if you want something feel free to ask. I feel like I don't do enough for you.”

“You give me strength and the ability to save my comrades. I could not ask for more, Sir. I will keep that in mind for the future though. Am I really your most faithful?”

“Oh yeah and it's not even close. I can feel your devotion almost every second that you're conscious. There was a small gap of around ten minutes a couple of days ago. I was so curious what could've happened, I thought perhaps you'd taken a nap. Do you have any idea wh-”

It's quite a rare sight to see a changeling blush, but this changeling has almost entirely gone crimson. “Sir…please don't make me say it.”

Ignis quickly puts two and two together, and makes a silent “ohhh.”

“My bad. Yeah you know what it's probably good that you weren't thinking of me while you were uh…intimate. But hey I'm happy for you! Is it a steady relationship or were you just having a fling?”

Elytra kicks her foreleg across the stone floor a bit. “It's…I don't know what it is. It's so strange being with a non-changeling for any reason other than feeding. I'm not even sure if these feelings I have are romantic or just my body telling me I've found a reliable food source.”

“I thought you don't get hungry anymore now that you've become my follower?”

“I don't, but I still eat. You don't need to eat anymore either, but I still see you in the dining hall.”

“Of course, but what I'm saying is…look, your body wouldn't be screaming at you to secure a food source if you're never hungry. What do you feel when you're around them?”

“Her. Honestly Sir, I appreciate this, but you are the last creature I want to talk about my love life with. I mean that as respectfully as possible, it's just too embarrassing.”

“Fine~ be that way. I could get you in a room with Princess Cadence though? I bet she would be the perfect person to help you with this.”

Elytra seems a bit pensive but finally relents. “If you could do that I'd appreciate it a lot, Sir.”

Ignis finds himself just staring at the smiling changeling. For some reason she almost reminds him of a puppy. Without warning he squats down and gives the drone a hug. “S-sir?! Is something wrong?!”

The elf pulls back and stands up. “Nah, you just looked adorable and I wanted to give you a hug. Anyways, I'll talk to Cadence before I leave and give you a time and place. I'll see you in a week!”

Just like that he's gone.

Sigh. “His Radiance is becoming more and more strange by the night. I suppose it's not a bad thing, though. Much better than the state he was in a few days ago… It literally made me sick just to look at him.”

Elytra comments to herself as she walks back to her resting place in the tunnel system.

Back to the dining hall

“Alright got that taken care of…Cadence.” The alicorn looks up from her pancakes with a deadpan stare and eyes of an extremely tired mare. “Oh wow. You okay? Anyways, my guard captain Elytra is having a love problem. I was hoping you could help her out? She doesn't feel comfortable talking to me about it. If you don't have time or don't want to the-”

“No! No. I actually love doing exactly what you're asking of me. I just don't get too many ponies seeking that kind of assistance. If she's your guard captain then she's likely heading to bed right now…have her come by here tomorrow morning and I'll help her out over a nice breakfast.”

“Well.. shes a changeling so she doesn't really eat? I'll send her here around 30 minutes from now, tomorrow. So you can just take her to your office when you're done eating.”

Ignis does not miss Twilight tensing up when he mentions the species of his captain. “She's a good one Twilight, promise. She doesn't use transformation magic at all and she was the daughter of the old queen. The peaceful queen that Equestria had a good relationship with.”

With all of that taken care of he gives a temporary goodbye kiss to Luna and Force before motioning Twilight and Nightmare to his side so he can teleport them to Ponyville.

One flash of light later and the three arrived in the library. One extremely startled and fainted young dragon later and the three are giggling.

Hopefully nothing happens during this week long assignment….

Author's Note

I wrote this chapter on my phone so if its messier than usual that's why. Oh and thats definitely why the paragraphs are all almost one or two sentences, I thought the paragraphs were way too big on my phone so I kept breaking them up. Now that I'm looking at it on PC I might've been too liberal with my paragraphs.... oh well

This chapter lets Ignis and Grogar actually speak to each other, gives Grogar motivation to start actively participating in the war, and let me give Ignis some BAMF scenes. He takes a lot of L's and I think its good to give him some W's every now and then as well. There's a Honkai Impact 3rd reference in here that I wonder if anyone will spot...

Also...I gave the bug a hug. Be grateful, hmph. I know it seems like Ignis is like super chill and nonchalant about what Nightmare went through once he rescued her, but just trust me on this one. For now we're just gunna say she got lots of love and positive vibes during the "several hours" of cuddling I off screened. During the week in Ponyville though they will gradually ease Nightmare into talking about what happened to her. Ignis at the moment believes the best thing for her right now is to not treat her any differently and act as he always would have.

This way she doesn't feel pitied or think shes a burden and it lets her feel comfortable until shes ready to talk about it. :D

Also really really debating on adding book horse to the harem. Personally always been a fan of the nerd, but not sure if I want to add her to the MC Romance in this fic. Their relationship to me feels more familial to me, and Ignis would not wanna boink his own kid, even if its just metaphorically his kid. I can obviouslly tweak that relationship over the course of the week as the two get closer, and it wouldn't be that out of left field to bring her into the herd. It was kinda hinted at the very first time he returned to Ponyville after Nightmare Moon and Twilight observed him summoning Callisid that Luna saw her as competition.

So the groundwork is definitely there. I think my biggest reservation is that it feels too "self-insert" and I was kinda trying to avoid that. Might just say fuck it though, tbh. I can tell you that in the original plan for the entire outline of the story, there's two more characters that are for sure gunna get added to the herd. Does adding Twilight make that too many members of the harem? Hm.

Twilight also is supposed to live in Ponyville, so having her join the herd would be a bit awkward in that aspect.... hmmm. I have several chapters to come to a decision so I'm just gunna play it by ear.

Anyways enough rambling about future plot decisions.

Thanks for reading! <3

Side Quest - Unexpected Down Time pt. 1

“Sorry Spike, I didn't think you'd be right next to our teleport spot.” I give the drake a few pats on the back.

“Yeah totally, it's okay. I get it. Honestly I should be used to it from how much Twi teleports around. I guess I just let my guard down since I left Canterlot and started living here alone.”

“You can make that past tense now, Spike! Princess Celestia is letting me move back here to Ponyville! Oh I can't wait to go say hi to the girls! Oh no…I didn't bring them anything back from Canterlot! Ignis we have to go back.” Twilight is back for five minutes and is already having a breakdown over a non-existent problem.

“We're not going back to Canterlot, Twilight. You didn't bring them anything back and they didn't visit you a single time despite being told the travel and lodging expenses would be covered. I think we can call it even.”

“That is true… I'm sure they were just busy, though.”

“You were busy too. Don't trivialize your own problems. Did you have anything you wanted to take care of today? It's still pretty early, not even noon yet.” Twilight seems to think for a few moments before smiling.

“Let me spend some time getting settled in and then I’ll go round up the girls, Pinkie will definitely want to throw a “Welcome back to Ponyville after overcoming your trauma and anxiety about shapeshifting bug ponies that killed you, party.””

Is she serious? “Are you sure Pinkie is….sane?”

The unicorn just gives me another smile and with a startling level of confidence replies with a resounding, “Nope! She has definitely lost her mind!”

What the fuck kind of week did Luna just unleash on me?

Can’t believe Nightmare went to sleep and left me to wander around with these nutcases alone. I’ve had to stop myself from making off-hand remarks at least 50 times since Twilight went and gathered up her friends. Now all six of them are here at the library catching up on old times.

“I just can’t believe your brother is getting married to a Princess!~ Oh it’s like a fairytale romance, the captain of the guard and his forbidden love, his Princess! Ahhh I can’t even imagine it!” Rarity is gushing about the engagement between Shining and Cadence and I just roll my eyes. This time I’m unable to resist the urge to chime in.

“Ahem.” I clear my throat and Rarity glances my way. I just arch my eyebrow and after replaying her words in her mind it registers. “Oh! Wait, it's the same for you and Princess Luna! Gah I wish I could find my Prince Charming as well!”

“It’s overrated. Lots of drama and too many eyes on you.” There’s a thick silence that hands in the air, as my tone reeks of melancholy. “Well…I suppose it’s worth it.” I find myself softly smiling. “Definitely worth it.”

They go back to whatever they’re talking about and my mind wanders. I can’t believe they haven’t even apologized for what they did to Twilight before she went to Canterlot. I mean I know they all talked and hashed things out with Celestia, but still…there’s no it’s all water under the bridge just like that. Right?

Twilight says bye to her friends as they file out of the library, and I decide to ask her about it. “Hey Twilight. I was wondering…did you talk to your friends while you were in Canterlot?”

“Hm? Oh…uhm, Applejack and Fluttershy did send a couple of letters, but that’s about it I guess.”

“Okay I thought so.”

She looks confused, “Why do you ask?”

“Well, it just seems weird to me that you have seemingly forgiven them for collectively laughing off your problem and watching from the sidelines as you spiraled out of control. I thought maybe they talked to you and apologized and made it up to you while you were in Canterlot.”

Now the unicorn seems conflicted. She’s nervously dragging a hoof back and forth while averting her gaze. “I guess I’ve forgiven them. Princess Celestia explained to me how unbelievable it seemed to them that I had actually died and been revived due to how impossible revival magic was considered to be. So, um, when I think about it logically from their point of views…of course I sounded crazy. “A bunch of shapeshifting bug ponies impersonated my brother and paralyzed me with venom, and then they impaled me with spears until I died. So, now I think everypony I meet is a potential changeling and I can’t cope with it. Please girls, help me.” I mean…” She swallows nervously. “Th-that sounds crazy right? It's understandable they wouldn’t believe me, right? They’re the only friends I have Ignis…”

Ah she’s definitely been having this internal conflict the entire time she was in Canterlot. This is probably why she can’t use her element. “I get it. I’ve been there. It’s hard to keep being friends with someone you resent. It’s not nearly as hard as being alone though, right?”

“If you had asked me that just a few months ago I’d call you crazy. But now, I can’t imagine my life as a recluse in the library, content being alone. Plus, I really don’t want to stop being friends with them. They’ve done a lot for me and I think one mistake shouldn’t override all of that. But, I just can’t help it, I feel so frustrated when I think back to that day.”

Sigh. “Come here, nerd.” She hops up onto the couch, still looking conflicted and downtrodden. “There’s no right or wrong answer here, Twilight. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t forgive them, I was just confused on why you had. Or at least it seemed like you had. Personally I think they still should’ve helped you calm down and comforted you even if they didn’t believe what you were saying. But, you know them way better than I do. If you think this isn’t something worth ending your friendship over, then you just need to actually forgive them.”

“But how? I can’t control how I feel.”

“Stop trying to excuse what they did. Don’t hide it behind whatever loops you’re jumping through in your head to justify it. Acknowledge that they messed up, and that they hurt you. Acknowledge how bad they felt when we finally got through to them. Acknowledge that you want to overlook this mistake, and then just let it go.”

It’s silent in the library, but it’s not a tense silence or an awkward silence. I can tell she’s just thinking, and I’ll wait.

“You’re right. I think I was just so hung up on the excuse Princess Celestia used, I kept arguing back and forth in my head if that was really a good enough reason. But, you’re right. There’s alot of things they could’ve done better, but they just dropped the ball, and….I think that’s okay.”

I can’t resist the urge to ruffle her mane, so I reach out and do just that. “That’s your problem girl, you’re in your own head and you overthink everything. How often do you find yourself thinking, “Well that can’t be right, it’s too simple.””

“H-hey, stop! My mane! Ugh. I guess I do think that a lot, but sometimes it’s helped! How do I know when it really is too simple?”

“Eh, you just gotta lower your confidence threshold. I’m willing you bet you only accept an answer when you’re at least 90 to 95% confident in that answer.”

“95.”

“Yeah just get more comfortable accepting things even if you’re only 80 or even 70% confident. I think if you do that, you’ll end up realizing that sometimes you did miss something, or overlook it, and that simple answer is wrong. But don’t triple and quadruple check every single thing every time you have to make a decision, ya know? If you’re anything like me when I was young you’ll end up sending yourself down pointless rabbit holes. Anyways, we’re off topic now. Did that help? Do you forgive your friends?”

“Not yet. I want to talk to them one more time. I can’t just admit that it’s an overlookable honest mistake until I talk to them individually and hear exactly what their thought process was. There’s no way all five of them have the same excuse the Princess gave me.”

“Atta girl, that’s a good answer. You headin to bed soon?”

As soon as I mention bed she lets out an involuntary yawn. “Soon, but first I want to know about that potential solution you had to my changeling paranoia.”

Oh, I did mention that. I kinda forgot. “Right. There’s just one small issue with it though, and I’m not sure if you’re able to overcome that.”

“What is it?”

“Well, you have to, uh, pray to me, sometimes. It can just be something as simple as “Ignis, thank you for the blessings and power you give to me that allow me to keep my peace of mind.” It just has to be some form of appreciation or devotion, I think.” Her face instantly scrunches up when I mention the word “pray.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I have the ability to bestow a blessing of power onto any creature. That blessing gives them access to all kinds of spells and abilities, but not your spells, my spells. Like my instant healing magic. If I were to give you this blessing you’d be able to use a spell called Detect Poison and DIsease. I don’t remember if I explained last time I walked around with you as a changeling detector, but that spell will constantly scan a radius of 30ft around your body. It’ll alert you of the location of any poisons, poisonous or venomous creatures, and magical contagions. You can even tell what kind of poison it is. So you basically use this spell whenever you wanna go out, or whenever you have a suspicion about someone and if they’re a normal pony they shouldn’t-”

“They won’t make the spell react! Oh that’s such a good detection method, what’s your false positive and false negative percentage? Are there any conditions that make it ineffective? What if a changeling were to empty all of its venom before entering the radius?”

Woah. “Alright, welcome back to your normal self, Twilight. There is no false positive rate. If it says something or someone is poisonous or venomous then they are. The only times I’ve had problems with it is if the pony you’re suspicious of is a paralyzed pony that is claiming to have been poisoned by the changelings. Even if they are a legitimate pony…”

“They’ll still react because the venom is in their system. I get it. In an active battle that seems like a pretty common scenario though, do you have a backup method?”

“Yeah but you can’t do it, even with my blessing. I can instantly tell if someone speaks a lie. The only exception is Gods that have a higher Divine Rank than me, like Chrysalis when she tricked me back then. So, I just straight up ask a pony if they’re a changeling and use my lie detector to pick them out. Also, I have no clue if it’ll detect a changeling that has emptied their venom glands. What do you think about becoming my follower? That requirement I gave you is the only obligation, and if it were up to me you wouldn’t even have to do that. But, there’s arbitrary conditions that have to be met or the system will forcibly strip you of the blessing.”

“I think it sounds like a deal that’s too good to be true, but I don’t know why you’d lie about this. So, I guess I can try.”

System, add Twilight Sparkle to the whitelist of creatures that can bypass my prayer filters. That list is only five ponies long right now, but maybe I should relax on the filters altogether. I’ll have a lot of down time during the day this week.

Suddenly I hear Twilight's voice and she says basically the same thing I told her to say except instead of thanking me for the blessing, she asks for the blessing. Then she randomly said a number afterwards… “Why 27?”

“You can really hear when ponies do that?! I thought it was just some hooey! Wait, how do I know you’re not just reading my mind….” She’s a scientific mare alright, always wanting to rule out the possibilities.

“Your first lesson in not overthinking things is to just take my word for it.” I give her a bit of a smirk. “Maybe this will help convince you as well.”

My aura explodes against my own will, surprising me and Twilight as I place my hand on her head.

You would try to convert the one you know I’ve chosen as one of my future ascended? Ah, so that’s why. My Divinity is protecting me from the mean scary lady that apparently wants Harmony.

Relax, would you? I don’t wanna convert her, just let my blessing coexist with yours. I’m helping her learn to detect poison so she can find some comfort and hopefully overcome this trauma she’s suffered. Surely you see that, no? I try to reason with her with a pretty casual tone. I don’t think she’s angry, she doesn’t sound angry anyways. Honestly her tone sounded….curious?

Fine. What is actually the deal with this lady? I swear to God she’s more bipolar than a magnet. Wait, does that comparison work? Bah who cares.

“Wait…Twilight would you rather have the blessing of Hope or Fire. I could give you Chaos but I kinda refuse to even touch that one, and I think uh….someone would be really mad if I gave you that one.”

“Does it matter? Is there a tangible difference between the two?”

“Yes and no. Either way you’ll still gain access to the Detect Poison spell, but the Fire Domain has an entirely different selection of Domain specific spells and abilities.”

She seems to think about it for a few seconds before looking back up at me. “I’ll take Fire. It seems like a more tangible thing than Hope.”

“Alright then. Twilight Sparkle, when I bless my Clerics of Hope I tell them to live as beacons. Always living and moving forward as guiding lights to everyone around them in the darkness. But you. You’ll serve as a different beacon. You’ll embody all the elements of fire. Fire hurts, but it also cauterizes, and cooks. It can rage like an inferno devouring everything in its path, or…..it can be what allows a little filly to read in the dark. No matter what though, Fire is passionate and it is temporary. It burns knowing it could be extinguished at any moment, and yet it burns. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“To appreciate everyday because it could be my last?” I nod and motion for her to continue. “To not fear my own power because although it is dangerous and could hurt somepony it’s invaluable in the ways it can also help and save somepony?”

“Yeah pretty much. Also when you get mad your mane might catch on fire, but I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“It already does that. My tail too, actually.”

“What?” I owlishly blink at the unicorn. “Huh. Wonder if it’s a Celestia thing? Anyways yeah, I’d say you already embody fire, so you’ll probably be fine. Just live everyday like it’s your last, and remember that even the smallest ember can reignite a blaze.”

There’s a faint red aura that envelopes my hand before moving and enshrouding Twilight. Within a second or so it fades away. “Congrats, you’re a Cleric. Ta-da~.”

Her eyes go a bit unfocused for a second before she suddenly mutters an incantation and a bright red orb swirls into existence in front of her and slams into the wall of the library. I just glance at her and raise an eyebrow. “Guiding Bolt?”

She gives a sheepish smile. “Y-yeah….I was trying to figure out how to use the spells and then when I focused on one and wanted to cast it…it just did it.”

“Yup. It’s a little fucky sometimes, but it gets the job done. It’s normally a lot more instinctual and fundamental, but I wonder if having an in-depth understanding of a different system of magic has made it a bit more abstract for you? All the changelings and thestrals I blessed pretty instantly understood everything. Also fair warning, the leveled spells, you can only cast around eight or nine of them per day. Maybe more if you’re a higher level, but I don’t really have a good way to figure out someones level unless they’re in my party and I can’t invite mortals to my party. What’s the highest level spell you can cast?”

She thinks for a bit. “Fifth level…I think?”

“Oh wow you’re better than Elytra. Not bad. That means you’re either level nine or ten. Just to give you a frame of reference, before I ascended I was level twelve I think? Anyways, don’t bother learning spells that let you revive ponies, Harmony won’t let you. Other than that I won’t keep you up any longer, get some good rest.”

The unicorn yawns again. “Thanks, goodnight Ignis. Goodnight Nightmare.”

Turning to my right I find that Nightmare did, in fact, wake up and come down here at some point. She smirks at me before asking, “You know you can be quite poetic sometimes. You come up with all that fire stuff on the spot?”

“Kinda. I don’t know I definitely heard some of it from some other form of media, but I can’t really remember it at all. For the purposes of Equestria, though, yeah I totally came up with all of that on the spot.” I kick my feet up and take a more confident posture.

“Careful Ignis, your ego is inflating again.” Ah, that playful tone on that evil voice is like the cool side of the pillow to me.

“You wanna see an inflated ego? Just wait till I start walking around calling everyone a mongrel. The King of Heroes was the definition of a fucking inflated ego. Well, actually, he really was something else so can I call it inflated? Ah it got him killed once, so it’s probably a bit inflated.” Nightmare looks confused at what the hell I’m talking about.

“It’s a character from my human world called Gilgamesh. He’d say shit like “Rejoice mongrel, I allow you to bask in my presence.” and other nonsense.”

“Ew. Yes, never turn into that please.” I give her a side eye. Does she not realize some of her tsundere shit treads awfully close into that territory, even if she doesn’t mean it? “Anyways, do you have any plans for tonight or are you going to actually get some rest?”

“I don’t need sleep, my brain just doesn’t realize that yet. I need to keep staying up for longer and longer periods of time until it realizes it’s not actually getting tired. But, yes I have plans. I’ll be teleporting to Canterlot to train the guards in around 15 minutes, and then I’ve got some training of my own to do. While I’m doing my own training I’ll probably help Elytra out telepathically. You’re more than welcome to join in on any of that though. Actually I think you’d be a perfect test for them to see what they’ve learned. I doubt they can beat you, but it’s easier for me to evaluate them if I’m not actively fighting them.”

“Ah, I….I wouldn’t mind observing, but I don’t think I should participate.” Right. She just got back from probably being tortured, fighting a bunch of night guards is the last thing she wants to do. Idiot. “I appreciate you asking though. Don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s actually nice that you’re not changing how you treat me.”

Yeah, but I was doing that intentionally. Even I wouldn’t have asked that if I was properly thinking. That’s obviously too far of a step for her right now. “Right. Well, I guess we should probably head over there, huh?”

With one quick teleport we are back at the trainina area behind the castle.

“Alright you guys were doing pretty good last time I ended up getting a little serious at the end, but still pretty much all the handicaps on. You got a different strategy this time?” This whole time I’ve been mostly making sure I only use my agility and my D&D Spells. I made sure to even mention the Silence spell when I was explaining to the new clerics what they could do. I mentioned that it’s not useful against most spellcasters because they don’t need to speak, but against me it would be strong. If I’m only using my natural agility and my spells and they silence me…they just have to catch me at that point. Hopefully they figure that out soon, or at least come up with some other way to win.

…

They got me. They finally used the Silence spell and then cut off my escape routes before barraging me with a ton of attacks. I didn’t use my makeshift shield spell using telekinesis this time cause I just needed to test it back then, and it kinda goes against what I was trying to teach them here.

“Good job, all of you. I was wondering how long you all would take to figure out that you’re supposed to use Silence on me. Now we get to step it up a notch, so which handicap do you want me to stop using? The version of me that you fought was essentially me about a week before Discord showed up, but with no bladesong. I can either start using Equestrian spells, start using bladesong, start using my Divinity, or start using Body Reinforcement magic. I use my Divinity to cast Equestrian spells, but what I mean is stuff like my Aura, my at-will teleportation, all kinds of goodies. What do you think Captain? What are they ready for?”

Elytra seems to think for a moment. “Would it be the bladesong you used at the hive, or the strong one where you make a mana domain around yourself?”

“The one at the hive to start with.”

“Let ‘em have it.” There’s a few groans and complaints from the collection of guards.

“You guys are lucky, she picked the easiest of the three for you to deal with. In my opinion anyways.” Some of them don’t seem to believe me.

“What are you all complaining for? If it’s weaker than the bladesong we’re all used to seeing then it can’t be that strong right?” One of the thestrals asks.

I answer before anyone or Elytra can. “You’re kinda right. It’s not affected by Silence though, so you’ll need to find a different weakness to exploit. It does make me much harder to hit though, and it increases my speed.”

This time they need to figure out how to hold out until the bladesong ends and then silence me

…

30 Seconds. This might’ve bumped up the difficulty more than I thought it would. “Is this too much of a step up or are you all just tired from the previous fight?”

It’s a chorus of answers and seems to be roughly evenly split between tired and too hard. In that case I’ll just chalk it up to too tired, and write off half the guard as lazy. “Alright, no point in doing this anymore tonight then, I’m done with ‘em Captain. You got anything to add?”

She starts putting out some announcements and other nonsense I don’t have to worry about anymore, so I just turn and dip out. That was a good warmup I guess. “What do you think, Moonie? Did I make it too hard?”

“Yes, but it’s a trick question.” I tilt my head in confusion. “I don’t think it mattered what you did, any step up in difficulty will be too hard. The guards just aren’t designed to be able to focus and take down one extremely strong target. I think it’s impressive they were able to even win in the first place, but I think that’s pretty close they’re hard limit.”

I glance over at the winded and still exhausted guards. Half of them are still laying on the ground. “Really? Even with the clerics?”

“Yes, even with the clerics. The only reason they even won this time is because of the clerics. If they didn’t have the ability to stop you from casting spells they’d have a better chance finding a snowball in Tartarus.” That is true I suppose.

“I’ll ask Elytra what she thinks, if she wants to keep doing it I’ll tell them that it’s probably impossible but that if they just want the practice they have an hour to throw themselves at me. I should probably find a better way to say that before I tell them.”

Nightmare is giving me a deadpan stare. “Please do. What exactly do you need to train anyways? You can’t train Divinity the same way one would train mana. Your swordsmanship seems pretty close to its peak. You were able to use the True Bladesong. What do you have left to work on?”

“First of all my swordsmanship is dog water. Second of all, I can still train my stamina, strength, and speed. If I can improve those without reinforcing my body with Divinity then when I do use reinforcement it’ll be even faster.” I lay down on my back in the grass next to her and decide to just chill out for a little while. I’ve got all night after all.

“What exactly are your abilities now that you’ve added fire as one of your domains?” Rather than explain I just hold out my hand all of the fire burning on all of the braziers and torches around the training area fly up out of their fuel sources and start to converge in the air above my palm.

“Complete immunity to all fire and heat. I can cannonball into lava with the dragons now, so if they try to run into a magma pit thinking they can hide from me there I’ll get to show ‘em a little surprise.” I make the giant ball of fire above my hand break off and shape some of them into an alicorn and the others into a humanoid. Then I make them do a little dance together. “I also have complete control over all non-magical fire, including lava. I actually forced all of the volcanoes to erupt right before I left the dragon's territory. That was fun. There’s some other stuff but it’s not important, that’s the big one.”

“How did you even gain responsibility over that? I’ve never heard of any creature just deciding they want to be the alicorn of fire.”

“Well I’m not an alicorn now am I? Everytime my divine rank goes up I get to pick a new Salient Divine Ability, and one of those is “Extra Domain.” Theoretically I could just keep snatching up domains as I get more and more powerful.”

There’s a comfortable silence as we just lay in the grass next to each other. I have to train soon, but I figured I’d just lay here and be with her even if there’s nothing to discuss. I’m hoping it’ll get her to open up a bit about what she went through, but I know that probably isn’t gonna happen this soon.

“I thought you wanted to train?”

“You tryna get rid of me? I figured I’d just lay here for a while. I enjoy your presence even if we aren’t doing anything.” I roll over onto my belly and throw an arm over. My cheek brushing her soft fur before coming to a rest against her.

“I just told you that I appreciate you not treating me any differently and you go and treat me differently.” I glance up at her with a frown.

“That’s not fair. We used to sit silently next to each other in my office all the time. Just because we haven’t been able to do this recently cause of all the commotion doesn’t mean I didn’t wanna go back to doing it. You don’t have to say anything, alright. Just appreciate this for what it is….I’ll probably go train in an hour or so. If I wait too long I won’t be able to swing by and see Luna before we head back to Ponyville.”

As I predicted, the next hour passes in complete silence, but it’s not bad. I really did enjoy just laying against Moonie and relaxing for a while. I spent the next few hours doing practice sword swings and fighting an imaginary friend while talking to Elytra telepathically.

“It’s a little strange Sir. You’ve only been gone for a day and Princess Luna already seems uncharacteristically on edge. She can have her outbursts but she’s never been the type to, ahem, have a stick up her ass, as you call it.”

“Oh fuck. Elytra I gotta go. I might already be too late!” For some reason I imagine hanging up a phone even though that is not how it works at all. When we talk like this it’s just a form of prayer that goes until she stops or I filter her prayers out.

“......Sir…..did you forget to visit the Princess?”

“Sorry, I’m going through a tunnel!” Old human muscle memory dies hard.

“What?” I don’t respond. I might explain it to her one day.

Greater Teleport!

“Ignis.” I turn and see and see slightly annoyed alicorn. “Surely Ponyville was besieged by a monster, or a villain invaded with an ancient artifact right?”

“Now Luna…..let’s not get too hasty here.” I back up as she moves out from behind her desk and approaches me with a deceptively sweet smile.

“Surely something must’ve happened. You definitely have a good reason for only showing up five minutes before I lower the moon, right? That reason definitely doesn’t involve a purple unicorn mare, right?”

“You said you weren’t jealous! You knew it wasn’t like that!” She’s getting close! Moonie help!

“Opinions change when you’re sitting somewhere for over an hour waiting on somepony to show up, you know? The mind tends to wander and it’s almost always very creative and imaginative.”

“I was training and helping Elytra and lost track of time! Moonie was there the whole time! I’m sorry Lulu!”

“Oh you aren’t going to Lulu your way out of this one mister.” Her horn flashes and I wonder what’s happening. “Alright Nightmare has agreed to supervise the unicorn until your timely return.”

“Oh, good idea! She can watch her so we can still spend the right amount of time together! That’s why you get paid the Princess bucks. Why are you still smiling like that?”

“You owe me for making my mind wander, my loyal knight.” Her horn lights up again and I hear the door I’m leaning against click as it locks and hums with a magical seal.

Well…… I can think of worse punishments, all things considered I probably need this too.

Author's Note

Wowee, last time I took a year long break it was like 15 months! Good thing it was only 4 days this time :P.

No but really I uh.... I struggled hard with this chapter. I think choosing to sit on it and slowly write it instead of cranking it out like I did with the Summit was the right call, but I might also just uh.....cancel this mini-arc and derail it with the next main plot event. I had plans for this little mini arc with Twilight, but man it is just.....not translating to words very well. Taking a break was nice though....

So anyways I'll give this mini-arc one more shot with the next chapter, if I'm still not feeling it I'll have the one thing I needed to happen in this segment happen and then derails us back to Prevent Calamity.

(Also there is no NSFW chapter for what happens after the last line of the chapter. It's getting off-screened.)

Thanks for reading!

Side Quest - Unexpected Down Time pt. 3

“So three of them chased you two, and mentioned something about using her to find gems. Do any of you girls know what we’re dealing with down there? Is it just those three or has a whole colony of mutts been living next to town for years?” I ask the group while we’re standing in a field of filled in burrows.

“There’s been a whole settlement of ‘em down there for as long as I can remember.” A couple of the other mares nod along as Applejack answers me.

“Any problems like this in the past? How often are these dogs just coming up top and snatching ponies?” These girls don’t realize it but their answers are basically deciding if this colony is going to be here by sunrise tomorrow. By that I mean I’m going to make them move.

“There was only one other documented case and that mare was returned the next day. She said their leader found out what happened and had her promptly returned with the ones who took her being punished by the colony.” Leave it to Twilight to just randomly know that. That’s actually pretty good though.

“That means I can probably just talk to their leader and tell them what’s happened.” I start emptying a burrow with telekinesis when I hear another set of hooves approach.

“If that’s the case why don’t we all go down there. Perhaps it’s time we set up an official channel for these creatures.” Oh it’s Nightmare.

“You’re up early. Couldn’t sleep?”

“The drake went to the library first trying to find your charge and woke me up. I debated going back to sleep, but decided to come join you.”

Is this a good idea? Sending the mare that was potentially traumatized after being taken into foreign lands and held captive, to go deal with diamond dogs that have taken a different mare into foreign lands and are holding her captive? People think I’m merciless, I’m pretty sure Moonie will vaporize the three dogs responsible on the spot. Well, I trust her. She knows her limits. “Alright, I guess we can all go down there. Worst case scenario I can throw down a Globe of Invulnerability for the girls and Spike while you and I clean house.”

The burrow seems mostly cleared out at this point so I turn to the others. “I’ll go down first, wait ten seconds then follow me. Moonie will go last and hold the rear.”

“Pfft! He said hold the rear!”

“Shut up Pinkie.” After being called a meanie pants by the menace I jumped down the burrow.

As I’m gliding down the steep decline I watch dirt start to rise up towards me. I’m just gonna take some telekinesis and…. push that into whatever tunnel is at the bottom of this burrow. After a few seconds I’m in a pretty open tunnel and see a couple of limbs and two spears poking out a mountain of dirt. Oh, I did that, didn't I? They were probably the ones filling in the burrow. Let me just pull them out…

“Sorry about that fellas but I need to be in here and you were trying to keep me out. Can you take me and my friends to your leader?”

It’s two identical looking dogs wearing helmets that I pull out of the dirt and after a few seconds of silence one of them finally replies. “Friends?”

“They’ll be here in a second.” On cue I hear a familiar menace yelling “Yippie~~” followed by a few other familiar voices. “Also I worded that like a question, but it wasn’t a question. I’m gonna need one of you to take us to your leader.”

The two dogs look at each other then back at me then they look at the dragon-eyed intimidating lunar alicorn. “Follow us.”

The girls are all talking to each other about dogs and mining or something, but I decide to probe our escorts a little. “So are you two like soldiers or guards or are you more like police?”

“Poe-Lease? We defend pack.” Guards, got it.

“And are either of you aware that three of your dogs took a pony from the surface against her will around an hour ago?”

“That not good.”

“How eloquently put. You are right, that is not good. That’s why we need to talk to your leader so we can get her back to her home.” The two seemed to pick up the pace after that, which is good because we were going pretty slow.

Eventually we reach a pretty large open area with some densely packed dirt tables and stools. In the middle of the room there’s a few dogs not wearing any armor or wielding any weapons and one of those dogs is exceptionally small. That small dog is also the one barking orders. Oh boy I gotta deal with a chihuahua?

“Foredog, ponies here for you.” Foredog? Like foreman? That’s just lazy.

“Yo. Three of your dogs took a pony. We’re here to get her back, hopefully peacefully.” The small dog just looks at me then hops down and walks right past me to Nightmare.

“You have my apologies Princess, I’ve always tried to make sure my miners don’t bother the nearby town. I’ll have my guards go look for your pony right away.” You know what? That’s fair. I think I actually respect him for addressing the alicorn in the room instead of me.

“I appreciate the apology, but I’d prefer if you talked with my knight. I placed him at the front for a reason.” I placed me at the front, but god damn I like what she just did. With that small lie she’s letting me lead the meeting while still asserting herself as the leader. Wording it like that means the small dog can’t really ignore it too.

“Of course Your Majesty.” The mutt turns back towards me and walks over. “Sir Knight, I’m in charge of this mine, and I assure you we’ll have your pony returned safe and unharmed.” Oh that’s new information.

“This isn’t a town or a colony? Hm.”

“Indeed, this is just an outpost. We’ve been mining in this area for decades and it’s always been very fruitful. Enough that I know we can’t afford to jeopardize the operational status of this outpost. That’s why I promise you this is being dealt with harshly.”

“Wow you’re quite the talker, compared to the other dogs we’ve talked to down here anyways. But, for now you have my trust, we’ll wait and give you a chance to correct your own people. Does one hour seem reasonable? After that we’d be taking control of the search.”

“One hour is more than enough. Can I get all of you something to drink?”

The girls reply with varying levels of enthusiasm, but I speak over them. “No, that's fine, we wouldn’t want to impose.” I have Detect Poison and Disease but does that work on drugs? Either way I’m not risking any of us just because we want to be polite.

After 20 or minutes of semi-awkward small talk we’re interrupted by the sound of several creatures approaching. Looking over I spot several guard dogs with three unarmored dogs and a slightly dirtied Rarity. Immediately the girls shout her name and they run to meet each other in a group hug. Nightmare and I just smile at each other and I turn towards the foreman of the mine.

“Now, how do we go about…” I slowly turn my cold gaze towards the three perpetrators and release my Divine Aura. “...punishment?”

I unsheathe my Moonblade and use telekinesis to force the three dogs to their knees with the back of their necks exposed. “Personally, I think an example has to be set. You can’t just come to the surface and take ponies from their homes.”

“Ignis, that's too far. They just made me use my gem finding spell for an hour or so and got dirt in my coat.” Rarity exclaims as she steps away from the group hug.

“That doesn’t change the fact they came to the surface and took a pony. Just because we found you quickly and nothing heinous has been done to you doesn’t mean that the crime is less severe. What if next time they take someone that pony comes back broken? What if they don’t come back at all? All of that is prevented if we set an example for what happens simply for taking a pony, because all of those outcomes require them to take a pony.”

Rarity seems exasperated and looks back towards the group who has mixed reactions to my argument. Applejack seems like she’s accepted that this is an uncomfortable truth and I’m right. Rainbow looks like she wants to be the one to kill the dogs which is surprising to me. Suddenly, Fluttershy pulls away from the group and trots over to me. “I know that you’re tired of the war and bloodshed, tell me is this how we’re supposed to live? Mercy is something we could all use more of. They don’t need to be executed, Ignis.”

“That’s downright diabolical to use those lyrics again outside of the heartsong. Fine, let’s take them back to Canterlot and I’ll have them go to trial and then the dungeons. Is that acceptable?”

“Actually Sir Knight, we’d prefer to have their punishments handled here. They’ll be sentenced to hard labor without pay, and be forced to live in miserable conditions.”

I just sigh. “It’s always fuckin something, man. Alright let me confer with the others.” I turn and walk towards the group. “Well, you all won’t let me execute them, so do we let the dogs handle their own criminals or do I bring ‘em to Canterlot.”

“Traditionally in situations like this we would let them handle their own punishment. The dogs are actually in this weird pseudo-independent state with Equestria. Their territory exists inside of Equestria, but they have a fair amount of autonomy. If we’re going on precedence then we should leave them to their fates here.” Wow Twilight really went all lawyer speak on me there.

Her friends seem to agree with her, so I look at Nightmare. “What do you think?”

“I think you should execute them. But, if that’s not an option then I’m not sure. I’m not caught up on modern politics or legal procedures, and I don’t even have authority, I’m not a Princess.”

“Two for execution and seven for leaving them here to be punished by their own kind.” Turning back towards the chihuahua. “We’ll leave it to you to carry out their punishment, foreman, er, foredog. Also I need to double check some things with Celestia and Luna, but later this week we’ll likely send a small squad of guards with an emissary to work out an official partnership with Ponyville.”

He thanks me and I turn back to the group and teleport all of us back to the surface. I hope I don’t regret this later. “Wow it’s already almost sunset?” How did the day go by so fast? “Twilight, do you need me for the rest of today? I’m meeting someone just after nightfall.”

She shakes her head no. “I can use the Detect Poison spell if I get paranoid, and I’m probably just going back to the library anyways.”

“Who are you meeting? I thought you’d go back to Canterlot after Nightfall.” Nightmare almost immediately butts in.

“It’s some mare named Trixie. I met her in town today and I thought the idea of stage magic in a world with real magic seemed silly, so she offered to show me tricks. I was still escorting Twilight though, so I pushed it back to nightfall. You wanna join me?” Her expression almost immediately softens when I ask if she wants to join in. I wonder if she thought I was going on a date or something? I guess it kinda does sound like a date….. Hm.

“No, that’s okay. I forget that in some areas you’re more naive than even a foal. Ignis, you got picked up by a mare. She introduced herself, made small talk, mentioned her work, and then invited you to her home. She’s just using her stage magic as an in to get you in her home.” Wait. No way right? Holy shit I fell for a pick up routine. I got Barney’d! “So, no, I won’t join you, and I trust you to not let her take things too far.”

“Yeah, that's my bad. Then again maybe you’re just overblowing it and she just wants a friend, or just wants to show off her craft?”

“Ignis, Trixie is trouble-” Twilight starts but I cut her off.

“Yeah yeah, Applejack gave me the rundown, you guys are blowing it out of proportion.” With that I blast off into the air and opt to fly into town instead of teleporting. Pretty quickly I spot a carriage on the edge of town and zip down towards it. After I land I give the door a couple of knocks.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is not see patrons tonight, she has plans.”

“Pretty sure I am those plans, but I can dip if you want…”

Suddenly the door flies open. “Trixie apologizes! She didn’t think you’d show up early, or at all if she’s being honest…”

I can fix her. No… “Yeah some stuff happened and I ended up going off duty a bit earlier than I thought I would. Now what kinda magic you got? I’m ready to be amazed.”

Her horn lights up and a bunch of cards fly out of the carriage and land as a deck of cards on her hoof and I instantly know this is gonna be fun. I love card tricks so if I can figure out what she’s doing I win, and if I get to see something new, I still win.

She lifts the top card up and reveals it. “Ah the Celestia of clubs! Remember this card!” She places it back down on top of the deck then slides it away and places it in the middle of the deck. After that she shakes the entire deck and lifts the top card to reveal…..the same Celestia of clubs. She then fans out the entire deck to show there’s no duplicate cards.

When she looks at me I’m just leaning my cheek against fist with an amused smile on my face. “This is the part where you’re supposed to ask how I did it and get really excited.”

I just silently grab the deck from her, and with my hands I pinch the top two cards and lift them up. Making it seem like it’s just one card. Then I show it to her, put the two cards back down and slide the top card to the bottom and show her the card I just revealed didn’t actually move. “You just lifted two cards the first time. You’ll have to be more creative than that, I'm afraid.”

She squints at me with a challenging glare. “Trixie is surprised you can perform that so seamlessly without telekinesis… very well, prepare yourself!”

This time she floats the deck in between us. “This time I will allow you to draw the top card, so you can be assured that it’s just one card.” I slide the top card off the deck and look at it without showing it to her. “Now you can place it anywhere you want inside the deck.”

I slide it into the middle with renewed interest. Is she going to do the exact same trick but without a double lift? Sure enough she shakes the deck with a smug smile and then looks at me. “If you would do the honors.”

I slide the top card off and sure enough…. It’s the same card. I can think of a few ways she could’ve pulled this off but I feel like I would’ve noticed all of them. I’m apparently unable to keep the puzzled look off of my face because she immediately calls me out. “That! That is the reaction you’re supposed to have! Bahaha! The Great and Powerful Trixie amazes yet again!”

“Did you teleport the card back to the top? That’d require some amazing precision to not be noticeable, especially for a unicorn…”

“Nope! If you’re going to keep guessing then Trixie suggests we add a wager to the mix. If you’re unable to figure out the trick with four more guesses then you must listen to one request from Trixie. If you are able to figure it out then Trixie will follow your one request. Hm?”

Damn this really is just a scheme to pick up dudes, isn’t it? “I’ll hear out your request, but I reserve the right to say if I deem it unreasonable. Is that an acceptable modification?”

She hums in thought for a few seconds before giving me a single nod. “Did you stick the top two cards together so that I would pick up two without realizing it?”

She shakes her head. “Three more guesses~”

“Did you somehow move the card back to the top of the deck while you were shaking it?”

“That’s a good guess, but no. That would be a good distraction though.”

Shit, two more. “Did you place an illusion on the top card so that it would look like the second card?”

Her face shifts a bit, but I can’t tell why. “Now that is a really good guess. That is definitely one variation of the trick, but it’s not what I did just now. One guess left~”

“Did you use an illusion to make the new top card look like the one I placed in the center of the deck?”

“Another good one, but not quite! See both of those methods require some setup, Trixie would’ve needed to see which card you pulled or she would’ve had to know what the second card was. Trixie didn’t know what either of the cards were.”

“You didn’t fan the deck this time…”

“Trixie thinks you’ve figured it out, but you already ran out of guesses~”

“You used an illusion on both cards, to make them look like whatever card you wanted. That method wouldn’t require you to know what any of the cards are beforehand.”

She nods. “That is indeed the trick. Now, about that request… Trixie would like to explain with some tea, would you like to come in?”

I just rub the back of my head awkwardly. “Trixie, I’m in a herd, you know? Inviting me into your home for a “request” seems a bit suspect…”

“Heavens no! Trixie is not such a loose mare, we’ve only just met!”

I can’t help but let out a belly laugh at the offended response. “Of course, of course, my apologies. Sure I’ll take some tea.” I follow her into the carriage and take a seat at a tiny side table with two chairs.

After a few minutes she lounges on the bed across from the table and floats me a cup. “So, what’s this request? I’m actually curious what you think I’m capable of providing.”

“Trixie would like you to take her carriage and herself to Manehattan. Preferably tomorrow morning. She can’t take something like the train because her carriage has to come with her, but you could probably transport all of it. Trixie heard you stopped the entire city of Canterlot from freefalling, so surely a carriage and one mare shouldn’t be a problem?”

After taking a sip of tea I lean back and respond. “That’s actually pretty mundane. You sure that’s what you wanna use this for?”

“Well Trixie was going to ask for a date, but she reconsidered after your crude accusation. Truthfully this is much more helpful than you realize. Towing this wagon by herself slows down Trixies travels significantly. You’d be reducing a two to three week journey plus all of the supplies needed into something much shorter, I assume an hour at most?”

Well when she puts it that way I guess it does seem pretty helpful. But, it’s literally the smallest amount of effort for me. I can just go use the teleportation circle we’ve set up in the castle for fast responses to dragon attacks, memorize the location, then in the morning just teleport everything over. “Okay yeah, I can do that. You wanna leave tomorrow morning… how about we do it just after sunrise?”

“Trixie is fine with that.”

She just glances around awkwardly and I get the feeling with a date being off the table and her request being agreed to, she has no clue what to do from here. “Alright, easy enough then. I’ll see you after sunrise.”

I feel a bit of guilt when I see the flash of disappointment on her face, but choose to ignore it. Man, is this how women back home felt dealing with this shit? I think I’d rather be the one getting rejected. “Thank you, Ignis. Not just for this, but for standing up for Trix-... for me, earlier today. I didn’t think anypony in this town would give me the benefit of the doubt and I was dreading stopping here for the night, but it turned out better than I thought it would. So, thanks again.”

After that she stands up to walk me out. “No problem.” Once we’re outside I give a big stretch and then offer the mare a quick two finger salute. “I’m off to Canterlot for the night, see ya in the morning!”

As soon as I appeared in Canterlot I realized I made an oopsie and teleported back to the library. “Yo, Moonie I’m going to Canterlot now, you comin?”

“Was she hitting on you?”

I was hoping she forgot. I just hang my head in disappointment. “Yeah she was. She backed off when I mentioned being in a herd though. In the morning I’m helping her go to Manehattan since I lost a bet. Should be fast though, just teleport her and the wagon then teleport myself back.”

I see her giving me a smug look and she raises an eyebrow inquisitively.

“Yes, the favor was going to be a date. Can we go now?”

Author's Note

We haven't done any rolls in a while..... that's probably gonna keep happening tbh. Insight rolls are basically obsolete now, so are basically any combat related rolls aside from the Mizzium. His passive perception is 18, but technically DND Beyond can't caluclate the Divinity bonuses properly, his passive perception is actually 21....

I guess realistically I could've done some persuasion rolls in the Diamond Dog mine, but it wouldn't have changed anything.

Anyways, yeah I had to rewrite the diamond dog part of this chapter around 4 times. I think I'm happy with it now.... but maybe I'm just tired of rewriting it. Also felt nice to flex the RGRE again with Trixie. For reference by "Barney'd" I mean Barney from How I Met Your Mother, if you haven't seen it guy is just a huge playboy and has like 1,000,000 different strats in a playbook for picking up girls. The magic thing would've definitely been in that playbook.

Hopefully next chapter doesn't take almost two weeks to write..... but we'll see I guess....

Thanks for reading <3

Side Quest - Unexpected Down Time pt. 4

“Is it just me..” The night guard has to pause because he’s panting from exertion. “..or is His Radiance being extra harsh tonight? I don’t think we’ve even come close to subduing him this time.”

“It has something to do with Nightmare Moon. She kept saying “I told you so” in a mocking sing song voice. He was doing that thing where his eyebrow twitches… I should’ve just gone to sick call when I noticed. Also don't call him that, he hates it.” The bleeding cleric responds before letting her body relax and laying flat in the dirt.

“Good work everyone. We’ll call it there for tonight. Don’t be too discouraged at your seemingly lack of progress, I uh, I kinda went a bit hard today.” He snaps his fingers and all of the guards are covered in a dim golden light that seems to rid all of them of their soreness, but still leaves them looking a bit worse for wear. “Sorry clerics, I can’t restore your spell slots, but this should be enough so you all are good for the rest of the night. I’m still trying to get a good grasp on this new form of magic, so gimmie a week and I can probably fully heal all of you when we’re done with these sessions.”

The guards are pleasantly surprised with this development, even if they’re all still a little bruised. Ignis walks over to Nightmare and sits down for a breather before they go visit Luna. “That’s a neat trick. When did you learn that?”

“When I was taking Twilight to Rarity’s. I wanted a cloud to stop raining on me so I used my Divinity with that intent and the cloud turned into cotton candy. So apparently the reason I can’t use runes with my Divinity is because of the Chaos domain I took from Discord. I’m kinda getting the hang of how vague I have to be for the magic to actually do something, but specific enough that the Chaos can’t do anything too wonky. Let’s go visit Luna before I lose track of time again. I don’t wanna walk around with bruised hips two days in a row.”

1st Person POV - Ignis

“What’s this now….day three of no sleep? Day four?” Luna asks as we come into the throne room. Apparently I finished beating the guards fast enough to catch the tail end of court tonight. I thought we weren’t doing court anymore though?

“Day four I think? Three nights of no sleep, this is the fourth night. I think my body is finally starting to realize it doesn’t need sleep anymore, I haven’t been as fatigued today. I have noticed one small issue though…. I can’t replenish my spell slots unless I either sleep or meditate. I don’t accumulate exhaustion anymore, but I can’t long rest if I’m just constantly active all day and night. Right now it’s fine, I’ve barely used any spell slots, but it’ll be a problem in the future I imagine. I have really been enjoying having so much more free time though. I highly recommend not sleeping to everyone.”

“Don’t listen to him, guards. You will surely die if you do not rest.” Luna quickly detects fun and shuts it down.

“Wow, never let me have any fun.” One of the guards chortles and all three of us turn to look at the unicorn. Wait, we have a unicorn in the night guard?

She very quickly realizes all of the eyes on her. “What? I’ve never heard either of you sound so casual and playful.”

“Detect Poison and Disease.” Nope not a changeling. “That’s weird, you’re not a changeling… are you new? Me and Luna have always been like this.”

“She’s part of our first batch of new actual recruits. Enlisted and went into training shortly after the Discord fiasco.” Luna answers for her.

“Huh. Neat. Wait, does that mean the public thinks both of us are serious, stick up the ass, no fun allowed types? Cause if so I am personally offended that they’re lumping me in with her.” Something hits my head. “Ow! See?! No fun allowed! Can’t even take a joke!”

“Shut it. Anyways, Ignis, you should come to Canterlot at some point in the morning. The joint temple is done and ready for a grand opening. They just need approval from everypony being depicted. I believe you’re the last one that still needs to review it.”

That gets a raised eyebrow from me. “What about Moonie? She’s been with me or with Twilight the whole time so I know she hasn’t reviewed it.”

“I’m not depicted in the temple, Ignis. It’s still too soon in my opinion and it’s unnecessary since Luna and I share the same source of Divinity.” Nightmare answers me with a calm and even tone, but I detect some very mild disappointment in her voice.

“Ah, well then I won’t approve of my depiction until you’re added. Then they can’t open the damn thing.”

“You don’t need to-”

“Moonie. Do you want to be included in the temple?”

That gets her. She can’t answer me as she just averts her gaze to the side and pushes her mouth to one side. “It’s yes or no, super easy.”

“....Yes.”

“That’s what I thought. They can pound sand if they got a problem with it.” Wait, am I the bitchy Karen standing up for my significant other at the restaurant cause they got the food wrong and my partner is too shy to bring up the issue?

Moonie is still looking at anything but me with her mouth pushed to one side, but there’s a hint of a smile in there now. “Thank you…”

“Woah she skipped the tsun and went straight to dere. That’s a rare sight….I won’t complain though.”

“Just don’t be too rude about it, Ignis.” Luna joins in. “Also can I get a status update on Twilight? Is she able to use her element yet?”

“She seems to be reintegrating fine. There’s been a few times where we’ve left her alone and she didn’t freak out. I have no clue if she’s having nightmares or not though cause I always leave when the sun goes down.”

“She’s had one since she returned, but she didn’t need my assistance to work through it. That’s a good sign. Perhaps you should have the bearers attempt to use the elements today?”

“Yeah sure I can-” Suddenly I shrink almost an entire foot and half down to five feet nine inches, and my voice drops an octave.

System Offline.

Both of the guards suddenly faint on the spot and fall over, and I look up in confusion when I hear their armor clatter on the floor. That’s when I see Luna and Moonie both looking at me like I just sprouted a second head. “What the fuck just happened to me? Wait this voice….”

“You’re Lucas.” Yeah that’s what I thought I sounded like. Luna confirms for me and then continues. “Where did all of your Divinity go?”

She sounds really spooked right now. “It’s gone?”

“Yes. That’s why the guards passed out. You have an alarming amount of mana that you aren’t suppressing…” Oh shit.

The next thing I know there’s a bright flash and Celestia appears with a cute little sleeping cap on. “Lulu do you feel that?! What’s happening?”

Luna just points a hoof at me as I try to suppress the mana. The system suppresses my Divinity for me, so I kinda fell out of practice with this. Also, this is a fuck ton more mana than I’m used to. When I focus on the mana I can tell the aura is insane, it’s easily a 100ft radius and it’s not like a fire around me anymore, it’s just a flat smooth wall forming a cylinder around me. It reaches the ceiling and seems to just stop.

“Why is there so much?!” I struggle for another minute until I finally seem to get a handle on it. “Is this how much mana I would’ve had if my human body was sent to Equestria instead of my elven one?! Why is this happening?”

“Poison Joke.” My eyes snap open as Celestia answers me. “You have blue spots on your left cheek running down your neck. You stepped in Poison Joke.”

“But I’m immune to polymorphing effects!”

“Nopony understands how that plant works, Ignis. It might not be a form of polymorph. In fact I think it’s safe to say that it isn’t. Your clothes are different, your Moonblade is gone, and so is that magical device you wear on your back. You’re in a plain shirt and blue pants.” I pat my hip and sure enough, it’s all gone. The Moonblade, the Mizzium, the bracers, and the staff of the magi. Even my spellbook is gone.

“Okay….so how do I fix it? I just need to go visit the zebra in the Everfree right?” Celestia gives me a nod and I look towards Luna and Nightmare. “Can one of you teleport me back? I can’t do it anymore, I never learned the runes for it.”

“It’s the middle of the night Ignis, I’ll send you back in the morning.” Luna gives me a very unsatisfactory answer.

“This is serious Luna. If the dragons attack again and I’m like…… like THIS it’s going to be bad. Not to mention…..” I can’t say it out loud, but it’s only a matter of time before the hallucinations come back.

“If the dragons attack then I’ll send you right away, but otherwise we aren’t going to wake up a mare in the middle of the night because you were reckless. I know for a fact young Fluttershy was with you in the Everfree and I have no doubt that she warned you about the plant.”

“I don’t remember to be honest. I think she tried but it was already too late, so she wanted to take me to visit the zebra and get treated before symptoms appeared. But, uh…. Yeah you’re right I told her if the plant actually does something to me I’d cross that bridge when I got to it. Can I at least get a sword or something?”

“You had a sword in your bedchambers. A rapier, if memory serves correctly.” Good shout Luna.

“Good memory, I’d forgotten about that to be honest. Anyways, yeah I’ll have Twilight and the girls try to use the elements today. Also we need to send an emissary with a few guards to a diamond dog mine outside of Ponyville. There was an incident where three of their dogs ponynapped Rarity, but we got her back pretty quickly. She was unharmed, and we think it’d be better if we worked out something official with them. Preferably some type of integration with the town. At a minimum we could give them a better means of trading and place a tariff on it.” I finish the sentence with a huge yawn.

“Looks like someone is sleepy~” Nightmare teases me.

“Yeah I’m a mortal again, and I mean super mortal. Humans only live like 80 years usually. Good thing I’m turning back tomorrow haha. I guess I should get some sleep then…. I’m gonna go grab my rapier from my room and then go crash on your bed Luna. Hopefully I don’t get stabbed by a guard because of how different I look.”

“Alright, love, I’ll join you both in a couple of hours.” That’s new. I like it.

I wave goodbye and start walking out when I notice Moonie has also turned and is following me. “You gonna come watch me sleep? I figured you’d go to the library or something like you used to.”

“I might, but I’d rather you not get stabbed by a guard. So, I’ll walk you to Luna’s chambers first.”

“Sounds good. Can you hit me with a dreamless sleep while you’re at it? I get the feeling I’m gonna need it.” A look of realization washes over her as she remembers what my dreams look like when I wasn’t in my little dreamscape I set up.

Entering my room I quickly spot the old +1 Rapier leaning against the wall, and float it over with telekinesis. I give it a few thrusts and spin it around in my hand a bit to get a feel for the weight, and then go next door to Luna’s room and lay down. “I’m not going to give you a dreamless sleep. I’m giving you an empty dream instead. If you’re in a dreamless sleep Luna and I can’t interact with you, but in an empty dream you can set it up however you want and we can come and go as we please.”

“Sounds good. I’m serious about the temple by the way. If you could figure out who’s in charge of that for me I can give ‘em a piece of my mind before I go back to Ponyville.” I suddenly realize another problem about this poison joke. “Ah shit, I can’t teleport Trixie to Manehattan now. I need to be in Ponyville right after sunrise so I can let her know we’re delaying it until I’m an elf again.”

“Yeah yeah I’ll make sure you aren’t late for your second date.”

I give her a very much not amused face, but before I can vocalize my annoyance she zaps my forehead and I’m out like a light.

Author's Note

Don't ask me why Poison Joke works on Ignis cause I don't have an answer. It's not some mystery leading into some reveal down the road, it's just lazy writing and a convenient plot device :P. If I have to give an answer I'm just gonna say Quantum Entanglement. Ignis and all his shit is conked out in a void somewhere or in an alternate Equestria where Lucas showed up instead of Ignis, and both of them stepped in Poison Joke and got swapped. Idk man, magic bitch, I ain't gotta explain shit

But yeah we got Lucas now. I'm using Lucas to play around with an idea I've been considering. But, if I commit to the idea I can't go back it's pretty permanent. This is very temporary though and lets me kinda fuck around with the same idea, so it should be fine. Also for those of you unaware, I started a new fic. It's another HiE with some similar elements, but it's definitely gonna be very different from this.

Also I started a ko-fi.... there's no benefits or perks or even a discord server. Literally just for anyone that feels generous/appreciative enough to toss a couple bucks over: https://ko-fi.com/desti (if I'm supposed to advertise this somewhere else like on my profile or something just show me the rule and I'll change it. I checked the rules and didn't see anything about it.)

Other than that, I'm still kinda really having problems writing right now. Starting the other fic and having something else to work on when I get writers block did help a bit for this chapter, but we might be on this once a week release schedule for a bit longer than I anticipated... sorry :/

Thanks for reading! <3

Side Quest - Unexpected Down Time pt. 5

“You sure this is fine?” I ask Force as she walks out of the library with me.

“Yeah Cadence said if she’s getting a few months off to plan her wedding then I deserve a few months off too. Don’t tell me you’re gonna complain about it?”

“Of course not, Force. I’m just worried you might get sick of me if we’re gonna spend this much time together.”

“Weren’t you supposed to have a cute pet name for me by now?”

“I could call you Pilim if you want?” I offer her basically the only name I came up with that made some amount of logical sense, but it’s not cute. I can tell from her look of confusion that I should probably explain. “It’s the elven word for arrow, but more importantly it’s the shorthand incantation for Magic Missile. When you use your special talent that’s what it reminds me of, you look like a giant Magic Missile. They also don’t do elemental damage, they do force damage, and they never miss. They're also practically unstoppable...”

“I wouldn’t exactly call that cute…”

“No, but that pout is.” I tousle her mane and stand up from the bench we’re sitting on. We’re currently in Ponyville and we’re about to break the news to Trixie that I can’t take her to Manehattan until I get this poison joke situation resolved. “C’mon let’s go tell the magician the bad news.”

“And then go to the Everfree. No offense but I like your other appearance more.”

“Yeah that’s fair.” Pretty harsh, but I know my elf form is much more alluring than my human body. Plus, they’re both me, so it’d feel weird to be jealous of myself. Before we continue we arrive at Trixies wagon and I knock on the door.

We hear something thud, likely the mare got startled by the knocking and hit her head. But, a few seconds later the door starts to open. “Welcome! Welcome! Would you like some more tea before-” She just stops and looks at me wide eyed. “Who are you?”

“Long story, but I’m Ignis. I stepped in some poison joke and now I’m like this. I can’t take you to Manehattan until I’m cured. We’re hoping that’ll be later today, but yeah…. sorry. If you don’t mind waiting I can take you there once my situation is resolved.”

“Well if it’s just a few hours… Trixie supposes she can wait. Just don’t take too long.” We say our goodbyes and walk away. Part of her seemed disappointed we were leaving so quickly, but another part seemed to understand the sooner we left the sooner I could get cured.

“Nightmare is right, she’s totally into you.”

“Yeah yeah, and I already shot her down. Let’s go grab Twilight or Fluttershy cause I don’t remember how to get to the zebra’s place.”

“Fluttershy don’t look at me with that tone of voice.”

“I’m waiting.”

Sigh. “Alright I’m sorry. You were right… we should’ve gone to see Zecora before we left the forest yesterday. Although in my defense we would’ve taken way longer to find out about Rarity if we did that.”

Her eyes open a bit wider. “Oh, I suppose that is true… so you need help finding Zecora I assume?”

“Yep. You mind?”

“Not at all! Come on, it’s not that long of a walk.” Force and I follow her out and she turns to the other pegasus. “You’re Princess Cadence’s knight right? I think we briefly met at the gala.”

“That’s me! I’ve been authorized to help with the war instead of guarding Cadence, so I’m making sure to spend plenty of time with Ignis. Luna and Nightmare always get more time with him than me.” She looks back at me and gives me a pout like it's my fault somehow, but I know she’s just joking.

“Oh well that’s good, I’m happy for you two. Hopefully this whole war business ends soon, it’s dreadful.” You don’t know the half of it. Hell, does anyone outside of the crown even know about Grogar?

“I doubt it’ll end anytime soon, Fluttershy. In fact it’s been concerningly quiet for long enough that I think something is going to happen any day now. That’s why it’s imperative we treat this poison joke. If they attack while I’m like this it’s gonna be bad.” I chime in as we go through some thick foliage.

Grrr.

My head snaps to the right and spots a timber wolf in a defensive posture growling at us. Fluttershy immediately starts walking up to it. “Aww, hello there little one. We’re just visiting our friend-”

She doesn’t get another word out because the creature pounces and digs into her foreleg, causing her to scream in pain as her fur is dyed crimson. “I don’t understand! They were….. they were friendly last time! Help!”

I quickly leap forward and wrap my hand around the dog's head, covering its eyes. Hopefully this works without the system, it should since I have all of my memories as an elf and some of Ignis personality. “Fire Bolt!”

Nothing happens. I guess it doesn’t matter if I remember how to do it because I don’t have the Weave. It’s fine, Celestia taught me the runes for the Equestrian version of Fire Bolt that first night after we left the Summit before I broke off with Luna and went back to rescue Force and the others. An instant later and I have the runes aligned and with the use of a Strengthen rune I fire away.

The top of its head and half of its body is engulfed in a roaring flame as it yelps and releases the element bearer. It lands on the ground and rolls a few times as the flames go out and rises to its feet before its legs wobble and give out, causing it to collapse. I turn and look at Fluttershy and see she’s sobbing while resting on her haunches, Force is holding up her foreleg and putting pressure on the bite. “I don’t understand…” is all she can mutter out between sobs.

“It’s not just the wolf, Fluttershy, the entire forest seems darker than it did last time. Something is different....... wait.... I just remembered I can’t see in the dark anymore.”

“No, you’re right, something is wrong.” She manages to confirm my theory between whimpers.

“Ignis what are we doing? Should I take her back?” Shit. I don’t have the system and I don’t have divine perception. This poison joke shit sucks.

“Yeah Force, take her back. Fluttershy which way do I go from here?”

“You can’t. You can’t take me back. I don’t know if my bite needs to be treated, if it does Zecora will be the only one nearby that can do it.” Well shit that’s a pretty decent point I suppose.

“You deal with injured animals all the time you’ve never had to treat one with a timberwolf bite?” I ask curiously as I crouch next to the two pegasi.

“No, that’s why I’m concerned. If there wasn’t some type of secondary effect I should’ve had at least one bite victim come in.”

“Time to stress test then.” I turn around and present my hunched back to Fluttershy. “Climb on.” Force helps her climb up and she hooks her good foreleg over my shoulder.

“Stress test what, exactly?” Force asks with a tinge of concern.

“My human body of course. I know about how well it works without mana, time to find out if it can handle mana being imbued better than the elf body did at first. Imbuing mana into my muscles when I first got here tore my shit up bad. Anyways, Fluttershy, you’re steering alright? Tell me if I veer off the wrong path.”

“Is that really necessary?” Forces ask and I just sigh, she should know better.

“We don’t know if something bad will happen, if something bad is going to happen we don’t know how much time we have. Yes this is necessary.”

I allow no room for further argument. I feel a familiar sensation in my limbs as I imbue a small amount of mana for physical enhancement and then take off. This is underwhelming. It doesn’t hurt, but I’m also going insanely slow. I didn’t think my human body was this bad. I dump more mana into my legs specifically and move at a more acceptable pace, and as far as I can tell there’s no strain from imbuing the mana like this. Which is weird…

“Ignis you’ve got six more timberwolves approaching from the right. I’m engaging but some are still going to get through.” Force calls out from a few feet above me and then tilts to the right and banks off.

I glance down at my rapier. It’s probably not the best weapon for wooden creatures. Plus this body is shorter and slower than my elf body, but I’m pretty sure it’s stronger. Let’s try unarmed combat first.

Four of the wooden wolves burst out of the foliage to my right, looks like Force only intercepted two of them. “Hang on Fluttershy, this is gonna get a bit bumpy.”

The mare in question just whimpers next to my ear as she hunkers down on my back. “Don’t kill them Ignis… please.”

“Close your eyes and spare yourself the view.”

All four are charging next to each other which should make this easier. My next step forward I land on my heel and pivot to the right and immediately launch towards them. This actually seems to startle them as all four slide to a stop, but it’s too late I’m already on them. I land right next to the one on the far left of their formation and kick it square in the middle of its body. Launching it with a resounding crack into the wolf next to it.

Both creatures make some kind of garbled noise that seems similar to a yelp before entangling themselves into each other and rolling like a lumpy soccer ball into the third wolf. There’s a loud impact noise as they impact that third wolf but it doesn’t get entangled into the other two it’s simply knocked back a bit. The two entangled wolves deflect off to the side and roll across the ground before stopping. One of the two lays on its back with the green glowing light in its eye sockets completely extinguished while the other one flinches a bit on its side before standing up and growling.

“God this body is weak.” I glance towards where Force should be and see her flying back towards me. Seems like she already dispatched her two. Whether or not she killed them or just scared them off I’m not sure. “Already done?”

“They kinda just ran off when they realized I wasn’t letting them get past me. It’s kinda weird. They didn’t even try to hurt me or fight back, they just really wanted to get to you two.”

“Wait… really? Can you take Fluttershy for a second? I need to test something.” I continue having a tense stand off with the three timberwolves until Force picks up the pegasus off my back and when they fly away the three wolves still just glare at me. “Are they pissed at me specifically? Force take Fluttershy to Zecora and see if you can find an Everfree creature that isn’t being uncharacteristically aggressive. She needs to ask them what’s going on.”

To be honest I don’t know why we didn’t just let Force fly her to Zecora in the first place. Bad call on my part. “Alright little wolves. Let’s not get overzealous here….”

A minute or so later and there’s four unmoving timberwolves on the ground. I’m not sure if they’re dead or knocked out since they don’t really breathe in the first place. I turn and take off in the same direction I saw Force take Fluttershy, and after several minutes I arrive at a familiar hut I’ve been to exactly once.

“Ignis! I was starting to get worried.” Force is waiting for me outside the hut alone, seems like Flutters is inside.

“I was starting to think I got lost, but I made it. Did you two find any critters she could talk to on the way?”

“We did…… but what they said doesn’t make sense.” She looks pretty confused so I believe it.

“Well? Go on, maybe I can make sense of it.”

“Apparently your original form is the Spirit of the Everfree? Whatever that means? The manticore said you have the lingering scent of the Spirit and most of the animals are interpreting that to mean you’ve injured or killed the Spirit since they can no longer find it anywhere.”

“Oh shit. That…….makes sense. Kinda. I think I became the Spirit of the Everfree when Nightmare died and I became that….. thing. Once I got control of my body back the shadow orb thing I saved from the old castle in the Everfree was completely inert and drained when it fell out of my chest. Sounds like that’s just another reason I need Zecora to cure me. Let’s go inside.”

Author's Note

I know it's not a long chapter considering it took 3 weeks...... I'm sorry.

I had a test I took a few days ago that was riding at 22% pass rate among my classmates so I was kinda tweaking the fuck out preparing for it, and the writers block is still in full effect to be honest. Passing that test has kinda relieved alot of pressure on my brain though, so I was able to crank this out over the weekend. The last 3 chapters I've said that I'll be back to my old release schedule and I have yet to actually do that, so I'm gonna stop saying it. I might be back, I might not.

One thing is for sure, the plan is to alternate between this story and Twist of Fate, so this one won't even have a new chapter in progress until Twist of Fate gets its new chapter written and pushed out. So, might be a few days, might be 2 or 3 weeks.

Sorry again :( but, thanks for reading <3

(NSFW) Main Quest - Best Night Ever pt. 7

Author's Note

WARNING WARNING WARNING: This chapter is straight up just SKIPPABLE porn. The events are canon but no story developments or important information will be revealed here, if something does get revealed it'll be re-revealed in the next SFW Chapter as if it was never revealed before.

You can straight up just mark this chapter as read and skip it if you don't wanna read about horse fucking.

Okay now that the normies are gone listen, this is my first time so please be gentle in the comments section <3.

Thanks for reading! :D

(NSFW) Main Quest - Best Night Ever pt. 7

“Is it really okay for us to just leave like that? I was kinda looking forward to one of those donuts…” We’re walking down one of the hallways in the castle after abruptly excusing ourselves from the visit to Donut Joe’s. “Plus we left Force and Nightmare with that group as well, it feels weird to just not include them for this.”

Especially considering everyone that was with us definitely knows we left for less than pure reasons. We were sitting down waiting for our orders to come out when I felt a breath against the side of my head. My entire body tensed from the sudden sensation and then she whispered right into my ear. Why don’t we just get out of here and head back to my bedchamber?

It was unexpected that I couldn’t suppress the shock. I’d never heard Luna sound like that. More than one person noticed as well because I felt my face heat up and saw a few of them glancing at each other with smirks after looking at me. A thousand thoughts raced through my head in an instant and I snapped up to my feet. I think I’m actually gunna bow out here guys. I really need some rest, it’s been a long night.

Pardner, I think your night is just gettin started. I heard a round of laughs from AJ’s comment as Luna and I left and the door closed behind me.

“Would you truly prefer to turn around and go back for a donut? Before my banishment there were stallions and mares willing to commit treason just to have a chance for this. Even the thestrals were willing to almost doom their return to Equestria to allow just one of them to indulge.” Those half-lidded eyes looking back at me are enough to convince me.

“Yeah you’re right that was a stupid thing to say. I still feel bad leaving those two out though, I thought you guys were like polyamorous or whatever right? Won’t this cause some resentment or jealousy?”

“Nay. Many things have changed while I was gone, but the etiquette and traditions of a herd have not. The lead mare always gets first claim on the stallion. They know they’ll have their own turn soon. After that I don’t mind some active sharing, if you truly think you can handle more than one of us at a time?” Oh she’s good. Every step now is accompanied by an exaggerated sway of her hindquarters.

Apparently I don’t respond fast enough because she glances back at me and notices my staring. She flashes a smirk and returns her gaze forward. “Well if ponies here are anything like the equines back home then I think I’ll have no problem handling all 3 of you.”

After I say that her star filled ethereal tail lifts a bit and starts to sway on its own. It’s swaying in the opposite direction of her hips which ends up giving me a glimpse of something I’m surprised I haven’t seen on accident in all my time here. Which is extra weird when you think about it cause all of these ponies are always naked.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to flick your tail around like that when we’re still in the hallway? Any of the castle staff could see you.”

“Oh please we both know the castle is basically empty this time of night. You should’ve been more observant at the start of the Gala when you ordered around Tia. That show of dominance almost made me flag my tail on the spot, but luckily I caught it in time so it ended up just flicking to the side a bit. You wanna talk about somepony seeing me, half the nobles almost got an eyeful right there. Even just thinking about it now…” Her head twitches a bit and she lets out a shaky breath.

“So back at Rarity’s fashion show when I ordered you around and you told me you were still trying to decide if you hated it or not…?”

“Oh Harmony above, don’t even remind me of that or I’m actually going to flag.”

I can see the door to her bedroom after we turn the last corner, and all of a sudden I feel the nerves starting to kick in. “What does that mean? Flagging your tail?”

Luna decides to show me instead of telling me. The base of her tail goes straight up and the rest of it follows suit, oh it’s literally like a flag. Before that stupid line of thinking can go any further I realize she’s just completely exposed herself. My eyes widen as they're drawn somewhere that feels like a place I’m not supposed to look. It’s a perfect dark blue slit that’s completely closed until the bottom of her sex spreads open slightly revealing a bright pink color and exposing pronounced pink nub for half a second before everything closes again.

Her slit does the action again a few seconds later and there’s a quiet squelching sound that I didn’t notice last time. Once that sound pierces the silence Luna speaks again, breaking me from my stupor. “Sorry I just ended up remembering that moment from the fashion show and as you saw that’s why I didn’t want you to remind me of it.” Maybe ponies are just more nonchalant about sex than what I’m used to?

We’re only a few feet away from her bedroom door, but the brazenness of this mare right now is not at all what I expected from her personality. This is the same mare that reverted to ye olden english for the lightest teasing out of embarrassment. Wait… there’s no way right?

“Detect Poison.” I whisper an incantation as we walk through her bedroom door, and let out a huge sigh of relief mentally when there’s no reaction.

Maybe this is just a false bravado and she’s just as nervous as I am? In that case let me be a bit more bold as well and see if I can throw her off. I close the door with my foot and take two big steps to close the gap that was present for our entire walk here.

“Well if you’re eager enough that you can’t help but to expose yourself, why don’t I help you?” She’s close enough to the bed that I can put one hand under her barrel and one hand on her back, right next to the base of her tail. Instantly I can feel her tense up and her exhale shudders. I pick her up and use my hand near her tail as leverage to flip her around so that she’s facing me and falls onto the bed on her back.

Her forelegs fold in and tuck against her chest while her tail curls up and splays out on her stomach. Covering the same parts of her that she was just proudly putting on display. Her eyes are opened wide and there’s a blush spreading across her face. She looks like she’s going to say something but I take another step forward, pushing myself against her. Then I lean forward putting my torso between her hind legs and placing my palms onto the bed on both sides of her head.

Her mouth is spread open just slightly and her breathing is ragged as my face hovers mere inches away from hers. My body pressed against hers. Luna’s pupils have shrunk down to a pin needle and she’s completely frozen. It seems like all of this was a bit of false bravado and I think I might’ve moved a little too fast here.

The concern must’ve shown on my face because Luna takes a sudden shaky breath in and barely managed to mutter out a few words. “W-well…are you going to finish wha-... what you started?”

That’s all I needed to hear. I take my right hand and place it against her cheek with my fingers curling around to the back of her head, and pull her into another kiss. Then another and another and another. I start to pull away again when it feels like she opened her mouth a tiny bit, but her horn lights up and pulls me back down into a much deeper kiss. Her tongue brushes against my bottom lip as she sends it forward and I react in time to give her access before her tongue can prod at my teeth.

Luna's horn lights up again and my jacket starts to lift up and gets pulled away from me. Then I can feel some light tugging against my chest as she tries to undo the buttons to my undershirt. Seems in the heat of the moment she forgot this suit is actually my armor in an illusion, the jacket she threw on the floor was my cloak. I try to pull away to tease her about her inability to strip me, but she holds me in place and after a bright flash my armor appears in the air on the other side of the room before falling to the ground. Another flash and her dess joins my armor.

Instantly everything feels more intimate, this is the first time my bare torso has brushed against her coat like this. It gives me chills as the soft fur lightly rubs against me, almost like a tickle. At this my lower half is starting to get uncomfortable as my pants become tighter and tighter.

Almost as if she could sense what I was mentally complaining about, I feel the button around my waist click and the pressure is relieved. I feel the clothing brush against my legs as it collapses to the ground, and suddenly it’s a bit colder in the room. Besides the pants around my ankles the only thing left is my boxer briefs. Before she can strip those off as well I pull away from the kiss.

As soon as my face is free I take in a loud and deep breath. I was starting to run out of oxygen for a second there. Luna’s eyes are unfocused as she stares at me while also out of breath. She seems to recover faster than me though because she’s able to speak first. As shaky as her voice is. “And here I thought you were some shy, innocent, elf whose never laid with another like this. But no, you…” She pauses, still out of breath. “You definitely have done this before.”

“Technically yes, but not with this body. As an elf I was never intimate with someone else. I wasn’t even an adult when this body went comatose. Lucas though, he’s had a roll in the hay a few times.”

My face hovers just above hers as we continue to just stare into each other's eyes, trying to recover our breathing. “W-well? What are you waiting for? Remove your last piece of cloth and claim me.”

“As fun as that sounds, I always prefer to start with some foreplay.”

“You’ll need to move then, you won’t be able to access my throat like this.” Luna starts to shift and squirm to escape my pin, but I just look at her with a hint of confusion.

“That’s not what I meant, but maybe in a few minutes. I mainly just wanted to show you what these bad boys can do.” I finally pull away fully and stand up straight as I flex my hand and wriggle my fingers in the air. Suddenly I freeze up and pause as my eyes take in the goddess laying in front of me. Her mane somewhat disheveled and splayed out like a puddle of stars between her head and the bed. That still hazy and unfocused gaze that’s staring straight at me with her mouth slightly open, still breathing heavily. “You’re beautiful.”

Luna blinks a couple of times and suddenly covers her face with her forelegs. “Wha- You can’t just say something like that so suddenly in a situation like this!”

For the second time tonight I find myself laughing with a genuine smile. “Sorry. I’ll keep my compliments to myself next time.”

“That’s not what I me-” The words die in her mouth as she sharply inhales and gasps. That’s a brilliant reaction to my hand ever so lightly sliding down the side of her barrel and onto her exposed belly. Once there I start to walk my fingers downward, slowly approaching the portion of her lower belly that is currently covered by her curled up tail. I’m glad she got embarrassed enough to cover her face with her forelegs or they would’ve been in the way when I tried to do this.

Once my index and middle fingers have reached her tail I climb onto the bed beside her and place my hand down flat. Then I slide my hand under her tail as if it was a pair of panties. I’m a bit surprised when I feel two small mounds until I realize that must be her breasts. I decide to do some exploratory groping to see if this elicits any kind of reaction, and to my absolute glee it does.

It’s when I brush over one of her nipples that Luna graces my ears with another sharp inhale that turns into muffled feminine noise when she bites her bottom lip. As cute as this is I want to really look at her so I take my free hand and place it on both of her forelegs, gradually pushing them back down. At this point she finally opens her eyes again and I watch them glance around trying to find me before she finally lands her gaze on me and turns her head.

Now that I can clearly see her face and we’re staring into each other's eyes I opt to finally strike. I slide my hand down further past her crotch-tits and explore around the edges of her marehood. Luna's lips slightly part and another heavy breath escapes her body. Her eyes are filled with anticipation, apprehension, and a need. Those eyes are begging me to continue.

That look is really doing something to me, it makes me feel a bit wicked as I want to see more of it. I decide to tease her a bit more, using my fingers to lightly trace around her outer edge and lightly spread her open. My other hand is exploring the rest of her body and it’s a bit of an awkward position for me but I manage. I’m surprised by how wet she already is.

Her breathing gets heavier and starts to shudder, her eyes are barely open and she finally does what I want her to do, speak. “Ignis please stop torturrr-AH-hnng” Once she started verbally begging I waited until I heard the telltale sound of her winking. As soon as I hear that I sink my index and middle finger into her folds, down to the knuckle. In one fluid motion my thumb rubs against her exposed nub as it shows itself and retreats back into her hood.

Her eyes snap open and she briefly tenses up, arching her back and leaning her head back. The alicorn's horn presses against the bed as her request turns into the briefest of screams that instantly quiets into a muffled moan. I’m amused as she makes the foolish choice to try speaking again as soon as the moan stops. “You are cruel and unf…f..fuck.”

My fingers curl up which places the base of my palm against where her most sensitive part will be, should it reveal itself again, similar to the way you hold a bowling ball. She’s wet enough that from here I just start to roughly finger her in earnest while pulling up with my hand to ensure the curled fingers are scraping against her upper wall.

“Mmmf, Igni- Uhnf, maker above help mEEE!” The constant lifting and pushing down force I’m applying as I jackhammer the digits into her are doing wonders when she winks and has her clit assaulted by the vibrating palm of my hand. At some point her wings unfurled and are completely stiff as they press into the mattress. The chorus of muffled squeals and moans coming from her vocal chords accompanied by the wet sounds of flesh coming from her marehood are music to my ears. “Ah- hah, ahnn, guh.”

I briefly pause so I can position myself above her, straddling her barrel between my knees and the hand being used to pleasure her reaching between my own legs to maintain its position. The Goddess seems to be confused about my intent but is unable to voice the question between her own gasps and moans.

I quickly answer her unspoken question by leaning down and locking lips with her again. This time my tongue is intruding into her territory and fighting for dominance, forcing the alicorn to keep her mouth open. Keeping her mouth open was my true goal as my ring finger joins the vaginal assault as well and I perform my motions even more intensely than before. That combined with the sudden deep kiss causes her to release her now unmuffled moans into my mouth.

Her eyes roll up into her head and I feel her walls start to constrict as they attempt to pull my fingers in deeper. This is accompanied by her sex winking multiple times in rapid succession and a sudden splashing of fluid into my hand. This might be my first time with a pony but most of these signs are pretty universal. Luna reaching her peak spurs me to give it my all and my fingers continue the attack with everything they have.

The effect is instant, the splash turns into a higher pressure spray and her back arches so much that her head is forced to pull away from my kiss. Her vocalization turns into a silent scream for half a second before becoming an ear piercing symphony.

“GAHHH, MMMMF S-sto-Nnhg STOP. Mmmmffp. TOO. Uhh-uhhnf, SENSITIVE. I’m losing my MIND AHHN!” I finally slow down and stop, withdrawing the soaked fingers from her completely.

Her muscles release and she collapses onto the bed, her eyes staring straight up, her chest heaving for desperate breaths. Honestly I’m impressed it took me 4 minutes to finally bring her to orgasm with the intensity I was hitting her with from the get go. Maybe ponies here do have more stamina in bed than the equines back on Earth?

“You…call that…foreplay?” Luna looks at me and manages to ask her question in between heavy pants. “I really thought I was going to go crazy or die for a second there. You trapped my clit and just kept rubbing against it, I’ve never cum that hard for so long. The longer it went on the more sensitive I got and you just kept going… I need a minute… or 20.”

“Yeah that’s fair. Come here let me give you some aftercare while you catch your breath.” I get up from my position pinning her down and lay down on my back. She tries to close the distance but her legs are wobbly and she can’t pull herself, so I just reach over and grab her. I plop her down on top of me and her forelegs are dangling over my shoulders while she just lays her entire head and body against me. Using the non-soaked hand I caress her cheek and start to slowly scratch and massage her head, starting behind her left ear.

“Mmmmm, this isn’t so bad either.” She stares into my eyes with her unfocused gaze. “This is quite the interesting position you have us in.” As she says that she squeezes my hips and part of my thighs with her hind legs that are just draping over the side of my body. Luna hums with contentment as she slowly nuzzles my chest with her head while I keep massaging her head and playing with her ethereal mane.

“I agree, I wouldn’t mind staying like this for a while. I can feel your heartbeat thumping against my chest…it’s calming.” We lay there in silence for a few more seconds as I just stare at her, and eventually the words just leap out of my mouth without even thinking about it. "I love you, Luna. I realized that when I was going over everything that matters to me in all 3 realms. The first time I watched you raise the moon and align the stars, that was probably when it started. When your mane transformed you just gave off this feeling of perfection. I got so flustered when I realized how enthralled I was that I just jumped off the balcony. Oh man do you remember that?"

I finally gather the courage to actually look at the mare I'm finally confessing to , and my heart stops when I see tears falling from her eyes. She gives me a happy nod and I try to wipe away the tears. "Did I say something wrong?" I'm surprised by how panicked I sound.

"No. I'm just... I'm overwhelmed. I've been pursued before and had hundreds of creatures try to tell me I'm pretty and perfect. But I never believed them, it always felt like they had some ulterior motive. The ones that did seem genuine I just ignored because I had already made the conscious decision not to become attached to anypony I would outlive. But hearing you actually describing what you see in me and what about me makes you feel that way...well it just hit it me in a way I didn't expect it too."

"I'll continue then, cause there's more. I think what might've sealed my fate is after the summit when I woke up under your wing. Anytime you put this feathery appendage around me I feel safe, like everything is going to be okay. Then you had the audacity to carry me...you were so soft. I remember considering to myself "I might just get injured more often if it means I can lay against this soft fur."" I proceed to describe everytime she showed me herself being vulnerable, everytime she impressed me with her strength, and everytime I caught myself staring at her.

"Everything came to a head during our journey through the west. Everytime we laid down next to each other I just fought this urge deep down to wrap my arms around you and bury myself against you. Then that fateful day when you slept in my grasp, with your head on my chest. I was so flustered but happy, and then we proceeded to sleep like that everyday from then on. You saved me Luna. Several times. And I saved you sometimes too. There's no doubt in my mind anymore, there's no question about it. I have completely fallen in love with you."

Luna is still quietly crying tears of happiness but when I say that final line she bursts into a happy giggle and leans forward to lock me into another kiss. She hums in contentment while I continue to massage her head through the kids until she finally pulls away.

"I love you as well. You were so mysterious and reserved that I found myself wanting to peel away at your outer edges so I could find the real you. And everytime I got a glimpse of you I got more and more curious about you. I haven't told a soul about this, but I actually discovered how attracted I was to you at the summit. A changeling was disguised as a nearly naked version of you and it professed it's love to me. I got so surprised at how happy I was to hear that from you and then suddenly I felt something pierce me and everything went dark. Imagine my surprise when I the first thing I see when I'm pulled out of the changeling pod is you locked into combat with a creature well above you in strength. All for me. I think thats when I fell for you."

"Wow so thats how they managed to get the jump on you? Such a devious species." There's a few seconds of silence. "I can't help it, I want to say it again and again and again. Luna, I love you. I truly love you."

“Ignis you will live in my heart until the end of time. I love you." The Goddess kisses me again and rubs her cheek against mine.

Finally she pulls away and covers her mouth right next to mine, almost kissing. It feels like a magical moment as we share the air with each other. Everytime I inhale she's part of the air I'm breathing in.

Eventually she pulls away again and stares at me a renewed hint of arousal in her eyes. "I think it's time to move on now. You’ve teased me, had your way with me, and played with me like an instrument. Now it’s time for what I want.” I can feel a shiver run down my spine as her voice assumes that familiar, commanding tone. There’s something else mixed in as well, hunger.

Roll for size: 1d12

7 + 2 (CON) = 9 inches. Normally I’d say that’s a bit too big but I’m getting compared to horse cock here so I’ll take it.

Luna uses her forelegs to push herself up until she’s upright and straddling me. The only thing separating us is the thin cloth of my underwear, but I can still feel the heat radiating from her, dampness starting to soak through the fabric. Her horn flashes and the last piece of clothing I had on vanishes. Her eyes are sharp now, her gaze predatory. A familiar pink nub flashes for a moment and I can feel her wink against my member, lubing it up.

The alicorn puts her forehooves back down on my chest and lifts her rear end into the air with her rear legs. Then she leans forward and I feel a strange sensation grip around my shaft, and I watch as she lines me up with her entrance using her telekinesis. We both let out a gasp as Luna slowly lowers her down onto me. It’s a snug fit and I can feel my tip spreading her open as she sinks further down.

The warm embrace catches me off guard completely as her walls clench and constrict around me, as if it’s trying to pull me in deeper. Right as her ass starts to press against my groin I feel my tip kiss something deep inside her. Luna lets out a groan and her eyes roll up as she starts to grind against me now that she’s taken me all the way down to the base.

I decide to start being actively involved and place the palm of my hands on her cutie mark. My fingers sink in as I grab on to her flank firmly. The alicorn is still just slowly grinding her winking sex against me, refusing to remove even an inch of me from her walls. “I’m going to start moving now, Luna.”

That’s all the warning she gets before I lift her up a couple of inches and hold her there as I bend my knees and pull my feet in so I can have proper leverage to start thrusting upwards. The sounds of our bodies slapping against each other is the only thing I can hear between our heavy breathing. Luna’s moans return in full force and start to become more frequent once she starts bouncing in perfect tandem with my thrusts.

Right as we get a good rhythm going her legs buckle and she falls down, slamming herself down all the way to the base. Looks like she’s still a bit worn out from the foreplay. I slide my hands up from her ass to her lower back so I can support her as I pull out from her warm folds and roll to the right. She resumes her position of laying down on her back.

Finally I get up and stand on the floor right next to the bed, and grab her cutie mark again. Luna lets out an adorable yelp as I tug her towards the edge of the bed. Now we’re in the same position from the start of this ordeal, her laying on her back at the edge of the bed and me standing next to the bed perfectly lined up to impale her.

“W-wait, why don’t you let me roll onto my belly and hang my hind legs off the bed so you can mount me the traditional way?”

“Because I don’t get to see your beautiful face contort and twist in pleasure. Watching and hearing your reactions is half the enjoyment for me. It drives me up the wall to know I’m doing a good job.” I don’t give her a chance to reply as I lean forward and grab onto her forelegs. I thrust forward with my hips and pull her forelegs towards me at the same time and instantly hilt myself in her again.

The combined force of pulling her towards me while I thrust forward creates much more force than when Luna was on top, and the result is obvious. Instead of soft delicate moans she’s releasing a visceral half scream every time I bottom out and slap against her. I continue to plough her like this for another 15 minutes until a thought occurs to me.

“I’m….surprised no one has…barged in to check on you. An unassuming guard…might think…you’re being murdered in here…based on your vocalizations.” I manage to make the comment between my own heavy breaths and small groans.

“Room is…AHNN…enchanted with privasheeEE spell, mmm fuck I’m close.”

I keep the same rhythm and force as before assuming if she wants it harder or faster she’ll tell me. I have something I want to try once I push her over the edge though.

“Please.. Hah just a little more, don’t ahn STOP!” I’m not even close to finishing, but I won’t say anything that might distract her and ruin the buildup. I just keep up the motions and bite my lip as I feel her walls start to tighten and spasm around me.

“YesyesyesYESYESYES, IGNIS!” Her back arches and she just squeals after saying my name.

As soon as she hits her climax though I quickly mutter out the incantation for Command and while she’s still climaxing I cast the spell. “Cum again for me.”

Only the first word is technically part of the command but instantaneously the effect hits. The magically induced second climax wracks her body while she’s still in the middle of her first orgasm and her scream is silenced as her mouth snaps closed and she grits her teeth. The alicorn's eyes snap open and are glowing with a bright white light as her horn starts to spark.

Finally everything overwhelms her as she reaches a full body orgasm, her body spasming, her marehood spraying her juices all over my groin. Luna starts to scream out again through her closed teeth but her voice is randomly changing in volume and intensity, it sounds like she’s being electrocuted.

None of that can compare to the way her cunt reacted though, I thought it was tight during the first climax, but it is an absolute fucking vicegrip now. I can’t even pull myself out as her walls milk me for everything I have,

Constitution Saving Throw

6 + 2 = 8.

And she succeeds. Her explosive reaction and the sounds she’s making combined with her assault on my shaft is too much for me to bear.

With a roar of my own I pull her towards me as hard as I can, trying to get even another centimeter deeper inside her. Her innermost wall, her final barrier opens up just a bit and I feel the tip slip in and lock in place as I grit my teeth and my eyes are screwed shut.

“Take it, Lulu, fuck… take all of it into your greedy womb.”

It’s at this point I realize I haven’t relieved myself at all the entire 2 months I’ve been here, not even a nocturnal emission. I realize this because the first 3 shots I release into her feel like torrents and I continue to pump out spurt after spurt. This is easily the most I’ve ever produced.

“So full…and warm.” Are the last things Luna says before going completely limp. I let go of her forelegs and she flops onto her side, drooling onto the bed, and my cock comes out of her with a popping noise. As soon as she’s unplugged a steady stream of white runs out of her and onto the bed.

“Luna, are you alive? Please don’t tell me I fucked you to death because I don’t know how in the hell I would explain that to your sister.” I climb on the bed and lay down next to her on my side so that we’re facing each other, and our faces are only inches apart.

Her eyes flutter open and she barely whispers out, “I think I’m alive, but I might be wrong. I definitely saw the light for a moment there. I think I might need to sleep for a couple of days after this. What did you do to me? That was the most intense thing I’ve ever felt and I really thought I was going to die.”

“It was a spell I’ve only had the chance to use once so far in my time here, called Command. It’s why those guards with Blueblood groveled at my feet when I approached. I waited until you were at your most sensitive and then Commanded you to climax again while the first one was still ongoing. But Luna, does that mean you’re tapping out already?”

“Wha..? Yes, I cannot continue. After 15 minutes of your relentless pounding I was ready to accuse you of using dark magic to affect your stamina.” After saying that she gives me a weak smirk. “And I know for a fact you finished, so why are you putting up this false bravado that you could keep going?”

“I’ll be honest, my own climax came out of nowhere, when I hit you with that stacked double orgasm… phew. You tightened up something fierce and just felt way too good. If not for that I probably had another 15 or 20 minutes in me. I’m not putting up a false bravado though, Luna. That was my first release since I arrived in Equestria and this body was in a coma for 20 years. It’s possible that was my first release in decades, so it really shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m still raring to go again. With your 1,000 year dry spell I’m surprised you’d call it quits this soon too.”

“Under normal circumstances I’d agree with you, but that was… something else. For a moment I felt completely shattered. I still refuse to believe you can go again though, you pumped far too much into me to still have any left in reserve.”

“I mean you can literally see it, Luna. Just look down.”

“Can’t, or rather I don’t want to. Too much work. If you’re truly still unsatisfied then feel free to use me as you see fit.” Luna just rolls her eyes and then closes them as if she’s about to go to sleep. There’s no way stallions here have that long of a refractory period, right?

“I think I’ll take you up on your offer from earlier then.” She keeps her eyes closed but furrows her eyebrows together in confusion. I grab her and slide her over until her head is hanging off of the bed, upside down. Her crown surrenders to gravity and falls to the ground.

“What are you do- GHLRK” She doesn’t get to finish her question because as soon as her mouth makes an O shape while saying that last word I push forward and silence her with my cock. She makes what sounds like some noises of protest as I start to slowly pump in and out of her gullet, but they quickly quiet down as her tongue starts to taste the combination of both of our fluids from the previous union.

“Tap my thigh with a hoof if I can be a bit rougher.” Her right foreleg flops around weakly trying to find its way over to me before slapping my thigh a few times. “Alright then, buckle up!”

I lean forward and grab the base of her neck for leverage and thrust forward down to the base in one motion, hilting myself in her throat. As soon as the head of my cock entered her throat I could feel her gag and then to my utter surprise she swallowed and took all of me in like a champ. I watch with fascination as a slight bulge appears part way down her throat everytime I thrust forward.

Every time I hilt I feel a very light cold breeze across my two orbs as they rest right up against her nostrils. “Ghrk-Ghug, Mmm- GLRK” I get so lost in the sounds and rhythm of this throat fuck that I don’t notice her forehoof slapping my thigh with increased tempo and panic.

It’s only when I hilt in her throat again and hold it there that I’m snapped out of my stupor from her coughing into my crotch accompanied by faint sounds of choking and muffled moans. In an instant I step away and withdraw from her completely. My member and her face are still connected with strings of saliva and pre until she breaks out into a coughing fit and forces herself to sit up.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry Luna! I just got lost in the feeling of your throat wrapped around me and the power I had over you in the moment and completely zoned out. Are you okay? Let me get you some water!” I run to the bathroom while she continues to cough. The coughs start to taper off as I run back to the bed holding a ball of water in the air with telekinesis. “Here, drink.”

Luna puts her mouth up to the ball of water and starts to lap at it with her tongue like a dog until she eventually pulls away and lets out an exasperated sigh. “It’s fine, that was actually incredibly exhilarating. Towards the end though some fluid went down the wrong hole and your relentless abuse left me unable to correct the issue.”

The alicorn turns towards me and the state of her face at the moment is so hot my breath catches for a moment. She looks absolutely ruined, black lines in her coat from eyeliner stained tears, dried up lines and splotches of saliva and drool all around her mouth, reaching up to her nose and down her chin.

“I know you didn’t reach climax again, but I don’t think I can take anymore of that. Thankfully the adrenaline from almost choking has left me feeling a bit renewed energy wise, so I think I’m up for another round with my lower lips this time.”

“Say less.” She seems a bit confused at my human slang, but seems to get the message as I watch her tail flag.

This time I’ll indulge her and mount her the proper pony way, or at least as close I can get to that position. Within a minute or two I’m back to pounding away at her cervix with one hand wrapped around her dock. The other hand has a fistful of her mane and is pushing her face down into the mattress as she begins to squeal again.

3rd Person POV - 60 Minutes Later

“Do you think she’s okay?! Her ping just said “help” and she sounded weak!” A white pegasus with her bright red mane, still dressed in her outfit from the Gala yells out to a pitch black pegasus with a purple mane, dressed in the same way.

“I sure fucking hope so, Force. She’s in her bedroom and Ignis should’ve been with her so if something has truly happened I’m not even sure what we can do against something that stopped both of them.” Nightmare replies as they turn the final corner and sprint up the bedroom door of the Princess in question.

Force puts a hoof on the doorknob and starts to turn it. “Your Majesty, wha-” The words die in the knight's throat as the soundproof barrier drops once the door opens and all of their senses are assaulted at once.

Force and Nightmare stand in the doorway in shocked silence as an intense odor of sweat and sex wash over them, the soundproof barrier now deactivated because the door is open, no longer blocks the whimpers and groans from the Princess inside, but their eyes. What they see with their eyes is what truly has them shocked.

One of the diarchs of Equestria, a being known as one of the most powerful forces alive, a demigod, the ruler of the night is reduced to a quivering mess collapsed in her bed. Her face is still marked and stained with the evidence of the assault on her throat from earlier, but now her eyes are truly hazy. She has a far off look as she lays there with her tongue lolled out of her mouth that's stuck in the position of a dopey smile. Her mane is a disheveled mess and her crown is crooked, nearly falling off as it shakes from every thrust the alicorn is receiving.

At the other end of the princess is a familiar elf. He is sitting on one of the Princesses' cum stained rear legs and hugging the other rear leg against his torso as he repeatedly buries himself in her abused cunt. The only other sound being produced is the squelching of his thrusts and her winks. The two pegasi are pulled out of their stunned silence when they hear Luna quietly mutter out a phrase that makes their fur stand on end and their tails flick with the beginnings of arousal.

“T…tag out, please…I can’t take anymore…” Despite her own words, as soon as she finishes her sentence they watch as her eyes roll up into her head and a spray of marecum is splashed onto the elf.

The door closes behind them and both of their tails fully flag. An audible gulp can be heard from Force as she continues to stand still in shock. After shaking her head to snap herself out of it the white pegasus starts to slowly walk towards the bed. Her wings unfurling and stiffening as the smell of sex gets stronger as she gets closer. The sight and the pheromones already starting to get her worked up as her own marehood flashes its clit and a small splash of fluid can be heard dropping onto the ground.

“Have you two been going at it…. this whole time?” Luna offers a weak nod in reply and Force just widens her eyes. “How is it that he hasn’t been able to cum this whole time? Surely his stamina can’t be that outrageous right?”

“Twice.” Is all Luna says but the weight of that single word causes another misfire in the knight's brain, as her sex winks again. “He’s finished twice, he just keeps..uhhn..going.”

Nightmare comes to a stop next to Force and now both of them are right next to the bed with their nostrils flaring. The constant sound of flesh stops and the elf releases the alicorn from his grasp and climbs off the bed. Luna’s leg stays in the air and starts to involuntarily twitch as the Princess sighs in relief. “I’ll be honest, it took a few minutes to get ready to go for a third time, so I’ve probably only got one more load in me. It might be best if you both just lay down next to each other and I’ll alternate.”

The words barely register to Force as she is still just staring at the Princess in disbelief. She has never seen a mare so thoroughly fucked before, was something like this possible? It’s only when the elf calls out her name that she turns her head and looks towards him.

As soon as she turns her head she goes cross eyed as she stares at the elf’s member that just flopped onto her face. “Sorry I was a bit zoned out, what did you say?”

“I said I only have one more round in me so I’ll need to take care of both of you at the same time. Go lay down on the bed next to Nightmare and both of you dangle your rear legs off the side of the bed.” The words register but the pegasus is a bit delayed as she’s forced to breathe in the musk of her lover that’s resting himself on her face. After a few seconds she strips and slowly turns and gets on the bed as instructed. The pair both present themselves and look back at the bladesinger, curious as to which one he’ll choose first.

Ignis stands behind the two of them and offers a small warning before he begins. “Listen Luna was able to take me all the way down to the base, but I was still able to knock on her cervix. Both of you are a decent bit smaller than her so this might be too much for you?”

Force just looks over at the Princess who is now completely collapsed and splayed out on her belly, staring at the two mares with a soft smile on her face. “If you can leave me looking like that by the time you're done with me then I don’t care. You can absolutely ruin me.”

Nightmare on the other hand looks a bit hesitant. “Luna never indulged her carnal desires while I was possessing her, so… this is basically my first time. I didn’t think I was this sentimental but this doesn’t feel right for my first time? This is feral and rough and don’t get me wrong it’s hot, but I’d prefer if I could have you all to myself under the moonlight. I want passion not… whatever this is. So, I think I’ll sit this one out.”

Nightmare climbs up fully onto the bed and loafs next to Luna and before I can respond she continues speaking with a cute pout. “Plus you’ve gone on dates with both of them now, so I want mine. Soon.”

1st Person POV, Ignis

“I think I can arrange that.” I can’t help but give the former demon a soft and caring smile as she finally speaks her genuine feelings for once. “We’ll schedule something soon. Better yet if they agree to unseal you then we can wait until you’re in your real body. Sound good?” She gives me a nod and then crosses her forelegs in front of her and lays her head down on them.

Turning my attention to my fellow knight currently presenting herself to me with a slightly fearful look in her eyes. I get down onto my knees and scoot over until my face is mere inches from her rear end. I take my left arm and wrap it around the top of her hindquarters and grab the base of her tail with my left hand. Pushing her into the mattress to keep her place while pulling her tail to keep it from interrupting me elicits a squeak from the pegasus that surprises me. I’ve never heard such a feminine sound come from her before.

Once that’s done I lean forward and start to explore around her folds with my tongue. She releases a shuddering gasp when my tongue makes contact with her and I’m surprised at the taste as I lap her up. Force lets out a few whimpers as I wriggle my tongue inside her, trying to fully explore her. It’s only when her nub exposes itself that I get a throaty moan from her. As soon as I feel her walls contract due to a wink I pull my tongue out and shift my mouth down a bit so I can trap her clit.

The plan works and I start to lightly suckle while rapidly flicking my tongue over the nub. “AH..HNNNG..Celestia above please just rut me.”

“Tch, always so impatient and desperate this one.” I can’t help but to joke with her a bit as I pull my mouth away from her winking sex. “Fine if you want it that bad I’ll give it to you.”

I was going to just stand next to the bed and plough her, but if Nightmare is sitting this one out and Force apparently wants me to ruin her then I’ll oblige. I tell her to get off the bed and I grab a few pillows with my telekinesis and throw them onto the floor. “Stand on these pillows with your front legs, now face down, ass up.”

The mare smirks at me as she collapses her forelegs onto the pillows and rests her cheek against the floor, with her ass pointing at the door and her face towards the bed. “This is basically the same position as the bed, why the change?”

“Because I can’t position myself correctly when you’re on the bed, and I don’t have the leverage to do this properly if you’re up there. I need this diagonal angle for my thrusts as well. Just works out better honestly.” I can tell she’s a bit confused, and so is Nightmare. Luna might be confused but she’s too fucked silly to show any emotion other than that dopey smile.

I’m lucky these ponies are small because otherwise in cases like Celestia or Nightmare Moon I’m sure my equipment would be woefully inadequate, even though it's a decent bit above average on Earth. Force and the current Nightmare for example have their eye level around my belly button, and their torso is probably around 1.5 maybe 1.8ft long? Luna is a little over 2ft and if Nightmare is the same size as the night we fought she’ll be closer to Celestia's size which actually does worry me a bit. At that point she’ll be closer to a horse than a pony and we’re probably gunna be a bit mismatched.

The point of this rant was to give context for our position right now. Since her eye level is at my belly button her flank reaches up to my lower thigh, just a bit too short for me to comfortably fuck her under normal conditions. It’s perfect for this position though. I walk up with my legs spread wide and my crotch is tickled by her tail as I walk over it. Now that I’m directly above her I squat down like I’m about to sit in a chair which positions my groin behind the mare. Perfectly lined up with her entrance. I’m pretty sure this was called the bulldog position back home.

Finally I grab her toned and firm ass by the cutie mark and slowly squat down and thrust forward into her. We both let out a groan as I slip in, inch by inch. She’s much tighter than Luna but that was to be expected. I won’t complain about her ability to grip my shaft as I sink into her, but Luna being a bit bigger and not quite as tight allowed for me to feel that milking sensation from her inner depths. Force is so tight that even if she clenches and constricts and tries to milk me it’s going to be barely noticeable. That’s a tradeoff I’m willing to make though because this tightness is an equally amazing sensation.

I bottom out into the mare probably about 3/4ths of the way down my member, and we can both feel when I kiss her cervix. “I’m not hilted yet, do you want me to keep going?”

“Mmmm No I think I see what the point of this position is and I’m sure once you start pistoning into me you’ll gradually stretch me out. F-fuck I feel so full.”

Her guess is correct, this position drains my stamina pretty fast but the leverage and position let’s me breach her slit like a battering ram and gets me deeper than other positions.

I start off slow and squeeze my eyes shut as I hold back my own moan as her marehood tries its best to keep me in place. As I scrape against every inch of her walls while pulling out I can tell I’m not going to last nearly as long with Force as I did with Luna. This feeling plus how tiring this position is will drain me in a few minutes tops, so I should pick up the pace.

Once I’m withdrawn to the point that only the tip is still in, I slam down and forward hard, letting gravity carry me and I’m treated to a sharp moan from the pegasus. That’s all the warm up either one of us is going to get. I immediately start pistoning into her with fast, deep strokes. More and more of my member is slowly granted access to her walls as I bottom out repeatedly, knocking on the door to her private sanctum.

Every time I hilt she releases a short Ah or Nnn after a minute or so I’m in a steady rhythm until she surprises me with her words. “I’m not th-that fragile… Fuck me harder. Faster. Mmmm.”

I let go with one of my hands and give her cutie mark a hard slap, that is received with a squeal for half a second until she bites her lip and silences it. My eyes drift to her stiff and unfurled wings and an idea strikes me. I bottom out in her again and pause so I can let go of her ass and I place my hands around the base of her wings and her barrel and pull hard.

The effect is immediate as she lets out her first scream and I finally hilt in her, feeling her final barrier give way and allow me access. Knowing this will be the last time I’m fucking someone tonight before I pass out spurs me on to put every ounce of strength and stamina I have left into this. I start to thoroughly fuck her as fast as I can with my mushroom head piercing her cervix with every thrust.

Force is just letting out one continuous, loud moan that turns into a grunt everytime I hilt in her. I start to grunt and hiss through a clenched jaw as I feel my sack start to churn in preparation for this final release. The feeling of the entrance to her inner sanctum wrapping around the sensitive head of my member on every thrust is eating up the time I have left quickly.

The next time I feel her wink and convulse I reach out with my telekinesis and grab onto her exposed clit. The now constant pressure and rubbing of her nub combined with having her cervix pierced is too much for the mare.

Her eyes roll up into her head and her grunting turns into labored squeals as I feel and hear her cunt starting to gush and spray. Now that she’s cumming I decide to finish this off with a bang and cast Haste on myself while maintaining the telekinetic pressure on her nub.

My already fast thrusts turn into a legitimate blur as the Haste kicks in and tears start to well up in Forces eyes. Guhh-gaaa-hkk The strained noises she’s making sound more like someone trying to lift an impossibly heavy weight rather than someone getting railed.

There’s only 6 seconds left on Haste when I finally give out and stop resisting my own climax. The telekinesis on her clit is released and I slam down into her as hard as I can, smushing her cheek against the floor as a puddle of drool starts to form and her strained grunts morph into one last scream that’s akin to someone who just hit both of their shins at the same time.

I belt out another roar and my third and final load is surprisingly bigger than my 2nd, by a lot. I feel myself throb while locked into place and just unleash a solid torrent of cum straight against the back wall of her womb for a few seconds until it finally tapers off into rapid spurts. I must’ve genuinely filled her up because I feel a warm fluid start to trickle out of her all around my shaft.

The haste wears off and I’m hit with the stunned status condition causing me to fall backwards onto my ass and my hands release their death grip from her midsection. Force squeaks out another grunt when my tip pops free from her slit and she completely crumples and falls down on her side.

Once the 6 seconds of being stunned wears off I wearily make my way into the bathroom and grab a small towel. Then I squat down next to Force and gently pat her sex a few times with the towel before wiping away the stream of cum that poured out of her. Finally I pick her up and find myself amused at her face. It looks like the lights are on but nobody’s home until she tilts her head ever so slightly and looks into my eyes. Once she does that I extend a finger out and give her a boop that causes her to let out the weakest but cutest giggle I’ve ever heard.

I lay her down on the bed and collapse next to her. Luna slowly scoots her way over to us and settles down on my right side with my arm around her and her cheek nuzzled up against my own. Force instantly passes out and curls up in the nook of my arm with her head resting against my chest. I glance my eyes over to Nightmare who is just smiling at us.

“I hate to ask but I am legitimately completely fucking drained.” She snorts and I realize my phrasing was poor. “In every aspect. All of us desperately need some water, so… can you bring some in here? I’m sorry, I feel like an asshole asking that of you when it feels like you’re already getting the short end of the stick here. I just really…cannot move another muscle.”

Her smile doesn’t change at all. “No, I don't mind. I know I’ll have my turn soon and I feel…at ease finally seeing you three all piled up together looking so content and happy. Compared to the mood and your expression the last few times you laid down with them, this is nice. I’ll be right back.”

Nightmare walks out of the room, presumably going to get us some water and Luna whispers in my ear. “You might be in trouble now my knight.”

“Oh yeah? Why is that?”

“Cause now you’ve set the standard and I don’t know how you’re going to top this performance. I’m not even sure if I want you to top this performance. It might be too much for us to bear, but either way all your future lays will be compared to this one. You might’ve revealed too many of your tricks in the first session.” She gives me a smug smile and I know she’s joking but that is a real concern I already had once the post-nut kicked in.

The concern on my face must’ve been obvious because Luna chimes in again to wash away my doubts. “I’m kidding Ignis, if our next union of the flesh is even half as good as this one, I think you’ll have no problem keeping me satisfied for the next couple of eons.” She follows that up with a light peck on my cheek and I start to struggle staying awake.

After Nightmare returns and we all get some water in our systems we all lay back down in the same positions, but with Nightmare now laying directly on top of my torso, similar to how Luna was earlier. The only difference is that Nightmare is draping her head over my left shoulder and nuzzling the opposite cheek as Luna. Luckily she managed to do so in a way that doesn’t disturb Force. As my consciousness starts to fade I have a single thought about tonight.

“Best night ever…” I manage to mutter out before my eyes flutter closed.

Within an instant my body gives out and I’m thrown into the world of dreams.

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 8

NIGHTMARE MOON! Please regain your senses! You are not out of options yet!

Unfortunately the alicorn is just continuing to stare at the corpse beneath her, she’s shut down completely. This is how she’s been for the last few hours now, the sun and moon randomly exchanging places every now and then. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Getting unsealed was supposed to be a joyous occasion. Force had been helping me plan a few different stops for our date. Now…now….”

Nightmare gives up on trying to utter the next few words out loud. Scrunching up her muzzle as she releases a shudder.

Nightmare. You- no, WE are not out of options. There is still one thing we can try.

“What? Should I link our life forces together? Harmony would disown you if you used that spell, it’s one of the most forbidden out there. Doesn’t matter though, it’s too late for that now that spell only works on the living.”

Suddenly the elf’s voice rings out in her mind. Her eyes shrink initially until she realizes it’s a memory. Luna is replaying a memory.

I’m merely a paladin, a conduit for Her power and I was still able to perform this miracle.

“He was greatly exaggerating Luna. That instance of revival was because of his dice rolling power. I don’t even have access to that anymore.”

That cannot be true. If I feel it then you must as well, anytime that Paladin prays, smites, seeks Guidance, or heals himself or another creature. There’s a tug on our connection, sometimes I can even feel a surge of power get transferred. He even managed to channel the moonlight into his blade against the Ursa! If his divine power was purely a result of his unique power then he could not have done that!

“...You might be right. Even then Our power is probably just being fed into him, and his own power is what’s utilizing it. Without that we don’t know how to perform the spell, and that spell is one that unicorns have been attempting to cast well before even you were born. You think we can create that impossible spell in a day when those eons of effort could not?”

We have to try! Do you even hear yourself right now?! If you aren’t going to try then get the hell out of my body and I’ll do it myself.

The alicorn slaps herself on both sides of her muzzle a few times. “I can’t give up. You’re right. Okay so let’s lay out our variables.”

The runic pattern first of all. Starswirl was able to reverse engineer Grogar's necromancy, and found two core problems. It doesn’t return life to the corpse and it doesn’t return their soul. The dark magic merely possesses their body. Even then that spell is over 17 runes. Starswirl theorized that life could be returned to the corpse with the addition of 10 more runes that in combination with each other translate to vitality, blood, and restoration. At that point he mostly stopped his research, 27 runes is far more than anything that’s been done before. I remember asking him out of curiosity why let that stop him when he could use multiple spellcasters in a ritual to accomplish the feat. The method they used to move the celestial bodies, of course.

“It’s the mana cost, isn’t it? That many runes in one spell it’d take who knows how many Archmages to supply it.”

That as well, but even then that was a solvable variable. He gave up on the research because of the soul. There was no runic combination that could even remotely represent a soul. Also it’s more than 27 runes… he said you’d likely need two Strengthen runes, at a minimum. Maybe even three.

“Well what the hell are we supposed to do? Let alone the runes and mana problem, how do we retrieve his soul?”

I think…we already have. His oath. He swore his soul to me. I’m not sure how to act on this information but his soul should be available to us.

“And if we supply the spell with Divinity instead of mana…There should be more than enough in the moon right now. Maybe…maybe we can actually do this…”

Let’s scribe the runes down first and then we can theorize how to actually get around the massive number of them required for the spell. We can do this.

“How are you holding yourself together so well? I barely feel like I can go on, I can’t imagine how I’d feel if I was you.”

Because I know we can bring him back. We have to. There is no other option.

Nightmare realizes that Luna is also just barely holding on by a single thread of hope. She silently agrees with the mare trapped inside her own body and conjures stacks of paper and a quill.

Nightmare backs away from the papers and looks at the final draft. It’s like looking at an insurmountable cliff. It ended up being 30 runes total, almost double what a single pony has managed to do before. She just hopes that Luna’s idea works.

“So I’ll layer every other rune starting with the first one, and you’ll layer every other rune starting with the second one? Why do you think this will work when we still share the same horn?”

Because it has to.

Right. “You’ll also need to invoke his soul at the same time. Did you come up with a way to do that, yet?”

I think so. I haven’t done it yet because I’m scared that if I do it and we don’t have the spell ready I might not be able to put it back. If I reach deep inside the well of divine power I can definitely feel something else there, it has to be him.

“So we’re ready then?”

I am if you are.

“Wait!”

What is it?!

“We need a diamond. A valuable one, that was the only thing he used then that we haven’t tried to create a substitute for.”

You’re right. Do you feel the ping I’m releasing? That’s where the most valuable diamond I could find is. I’ve had it prepared there ever since he asked for one in the colony.

Nightmare does see the location flashing in her memory, and conjures the item to her side. The alicorn gawks at the sheer size of the gem, it’s at least the size of a soccer ball. Instead of the typical round cut that has a point on one side, this gem is more spherical. It almost resembles that 20 sided dice she’s seen before, but this one has more than 20 sides.

She hovers the diamond over the elf’s chest and starts to layer her portion of the runic pattern. She almost cries from the relief that washes over her when she sees Luna’s runes start to take their place as well. She knew that runes could be projected into the air instead of the horn, but she was unsure if Luna could even perform the task while locked in her own body.

The reason the runes have to be projected into the air is because you can only layer one rune per layer of the spiral on one's horn. Despite being an alicorn she could still only channel 13 runes through the bone-like organ. The downside to this is that it requires much more concentration to maintain the layers properly compared to the horn that resonates in tune with the rune, and locks the rune in on its own.

As the layers of magic circles finish stacking on top of each other in the air, Nightmare can feel beads of sweat forming. Channeling 15 runes at once is no small feat, and it’s draining her mental stamina at a steady pace.

Next she reaches into her connection with the moon and starts to pour the power directly out of it. While she does that Luna searches for that foreign feeling she felt within her own power, and starts to tug on it. Both actions have an immediate impact.

The sheer volume of divine energy being channeled has caused Nightmare to begin floating without using her wings. One by one the magic circles start to slowly spin and glow. Then a giant silver ball of fire appears over the elf’s corpse. It’s probably twice as big as the diamond currently floating an inch off his chest.

“Luna, are those normally that big?”

How would I know? I haven’t seen a soul before either. That's definitely him though I could tell as soon as I reached out and grasped it.

As the runes start to all glow and spin in activation the air begins to hum with power. The floating soul compresses down into the massive diamond and causes the diamond to glow extremely bright.

Finally a massive pillar of completely opaque moonlight roars through the air and slams through all of the runes. It starts to channel into a single point at the tip of Nightmares horn. From there a second beam, much smaller than the one from outer space, shoots out of her horn and directly through the diamond into the chest of the deceased elf.

The beam continues to pour down from space for several minutes and Nightmares' entire horn is completely obscured from how bright it’s now glowing. She starts to grunt and wince from the strain of the spell.

“It’s too much p-gah power Luna! There’s a reason it’s stored in the moon grrrk-ah and we just draw from it! We’re almost done right?! I can’t take much more! Tch”

Luna knew it had only been 8 minutes and she wasn’t sure how to break the news to Nightmare about how long this spell takes. They need to endure for another 52 minutes.

Can you adjust the output? The only reason this is happening is because we’re taking in the divinity faster than you’re sending it back out. Too much of it is building up in our thaumic system!

Nightmare lets out a painful scream as she cranks up the output. Eventually reaching a point where she doesn’t feel like the internal pressure is increasing anymore. “I can’t go higher than this! I think this is enough to keep it from getting worse, but I can’t purge what we’ve already taken in. Not until the spell is nearly finished. Please Luna, how much longer?!”

Just…just a bit more. You’re doing great, Nightmare. This is going to work if we can just finish the spell I can feel it.

Luna has the advantage of currently not being in control of the body being crushed by an impossible volume of divine power, and she knows it. She wishes she could trade places with the former villain but despite the manipulation spell being broken she still can’t take control of her body. If she forces it there’s a chance it doesn’t make her trade places with Nightmare, it might just send Nightmare back to the moon. So, it’s not an option right now.

45 minutes later.

Screams of pain fill the air, sounding as if someone is getting all of their teeth pulled with no anesthetic. Nightmares horn has small cracks that have formed in it as the spell continues to cast. This is nothing compared to what I put him through. I can endure this. Luna it’s almost over right? We’re almost there?

Yes. Just…. A bit… more.

Despite not feeling the physical pain herself, the spell was starting to take its toll on her as well.

6 minutes later.

The screams have stopped. There’s still a minute left on the spell, but the mare's throat has just been completely shredded to the point that her screams are silent. Glowing, jagged silver lines have started appearing on her body as well. The Divinity trapped in her mana pool has grown more violent. Divinity isn't meant to share the same space as your mana and cycle through your mana circuits. It has it's own metaphysical space. If the spell had to continue for more than another 30 seconds, it’s not certain that her physical form would withstand it.

But thankfully, the spell has finished. The pillar of light coming from the sky narrows down into a thin line before finally dispersing, and the trapped Divinity leaves her body with the final burst of the spell. All of the cracks that had appeared on her horn and body vanish as well, a side effect of the healing power of the Divinity that had be cycled through 30 runes of healing and vitality as it finished coursing through her.

With an unceremonious thud the alicorn drops out of the air a few feet away from the elf. She passes out for a fraction of a second before slowly finding the resolve to pick up her head. Nightmare has to see if it worked.

For a moment her mind is blank as she scans for any signs of life, but the diamond is gone so that should be a good sign right? That’s when she sees his chest start to slowly rise and fall with life giving breath. All of his scars are gone as well. This is because, unbeknownst to anyone on this planet, the pair of alicorns went far beyond what would’ve been necessary for a 5th Level Raise Dead spell.

In their efforts to give the spell everything they could offer it they supplied it with far more than enough. Even the diamond with its auction price of 110,000 bits, was far far too much. What they had done was more comparable to the 9th Level True Resurrection spell. Comparable because it was likely even more powerful than that, but there’s no other metric to compare it against.

Nightmare attempts to stay conscious for just a few moments longer, hoping to see him wake up. Something beyond just breathing. There’s a chance they returned life into the body but did not properly deliver the soul. Unfortunately that is when her adrenaline runs out and she collapses back down to the dirt.

Ignis 1st Person POV

Hit Points: 82/82

Exhaustion: 2

XP: 126,000/120,000. Level Up Pending!

Instantly my heart rate spikes and I sit up like lightning. “Nightm-”

Where am I? It looks like a massive tent with bunk beds on one half and hospital beds on the other. There’s thestrals and changelings, but where is she? How am I alive?

“Sir! Calm down! We’re on the border of the Undiscovered West. Princess Celestia informed us where Her Grace and yourself had crash landed, and we abandoned the inner mountain to come evac the two of you. What happened out there, sir?” My mind is still processing everything around me as her words slowly register.

Eventually my mind catches up and I don’t answer the Vice Captains question. Turning to my left to look her in the eyes I just ask the question repeating itself in my mind. “Where is she?”

Elytra’s eyes widen a bit. “When did you get green eyes? Sorry, not important. I’m not sure where Her Grace is. She woke up around 12 hours ago and just said she needed some time. Are you okay? We couldn’t find any wounds on you, or even scars for that matter, but that didn’t match what we’d heard from Captain Armor.”

“Green? Wait that is important, do they still look like thestral or draconic eyes? Slitted instead of a circular pupil?”

“No they’re just a really bright green with a small dot for a pupil…”

Nightmare? Can you hear me? After a few seconds I dig around for my Sending stone. Luna, are you there?

I can still feel the divine connection, but Nightmare no longer has her minor possession on me. Why? “Why are we in the Undiscovered West? Why not take us back to Canterlot? If Luna left 12 hours ago then how long have I been out?”

“Well sir, first off, Her Grace was….she was Nightmare Moon. It’s been about two and half days. We didn’t go back to Canterlot because the city is gone, it’s floating a few hundred feet above the mountain. The elements lost, sir. They’re actually just outside the tent right now. They managed to recover the elements but apparently they couldn’t get them to activate. They’re also all acting strange according to the ponies that have known them.”

Holy shit. We lost? Of course we lost, I don’t even know how they sealed him the first time. My juiced up Fireball did 600d6 damage to the fucker and it looked like it hurt him but he just snapped the wounds away. What the hell do we even do now?

“I take it Celestia stayed at the mountain?” Elytra gives me a nod. “Okay. Walk with me, I need some air.”

Getting out of the hospital bed I quickly realize I am, in fact, still shirtless. Right, armor got shredded. Who cares, they're all mostly naked anyways, and I’ve still got pants. Walking out of the long tent I’m greeted with a sight that surprises me. This is almost a small village. We’ve got 300 ponies here, easily. I was expecting it to just be the Night Guard.

“We took a detour to Ponyville after grabbing the two of you. We got the hospital beds from there, and Her Grace summoned our bunks from the barracks before she left. All of the civilians you see came with us when we left Ponyville.”

After a few seconds more and more of the ponies around the campsite have noticed me, and a wave of silence permeates outward. The guards are all silent, but the civilians are muttering and whispering amongst themselves. Apparently there’s all kinds of rumors about what I did in Canterlot. Wait, what is this look on all of my guards faces?

After the colosseum I got looks of pride, a small applause, a few ponies asking questions. None of them looked like this though. Why are they looking at me with such awe-stricken faces? Do they think I’m a hero?

“Hey Mr. Ignis! It’s Applebloom, you ‘member me?” The first pony I met when I came here interrupts my thoughts and runs up to me, waving.

“You’re hard to forget. How are you holding up?”

“...I’m okay. Sis hasn’t been herself though, she’s startin to worry the rest of us. Can you help ‘em like you did at the Summer Sun Celebration?” Her happy tone quickly turns somber and she looks up at me with big puppy eyes. That should be a war crime. “I miss the farm and the clubhouse, and how things used to be. I wanna go home.”

“That’s the plan. I was just about to go find Twilight and see what’s going on with the elements.”

“She’s been weird lately too…” Applebloom's voice trails off and her ears swivel a bit as Applejack calls her name off in the distance. “I gotta go.” If AJ is over there then Twilight probably is too.

I return my gaze to my guards. “Thank you. All of you. For recovering Luna and myself. I’m impressed with what you all have managed to do with this situation. Evacuating Ponyville and having the presence of mind to get all of us as far from ground zero as possible is exactly what I expect from you. You all managed to stay cool and react quickly to an impossibly chaotic situation and… I’m proud.”

Performance

11 + 6 = 17.

I grab the Moonblade and channel the ability to project my voice for 300ft. “Now it’s my turn to do what I’m expected to do. This time next week we’ll all be back at the castle, complaining about how boring it is during our shift. Discord will pay for what he did to Her Grace, and he’ll pay for what he did to us.”

“B-but how, sir? Not even the Elements could win…” One of the changelings sitting closer to the front asks the question that probably everyone else is thinking. I need to work on remembering everyone's name.

“The Elements were going to lose to Nightmare Moon too, but I was there. They lost to Discord and I wasn’t there. This time I’ll be there. You think anything in this entire realm can stand up to all three Princesses, the Elements of Harmony, and the two Knights of Equestria? I can’t think of anything that could take that on.”

There’s a few cheers but not nearly as many as I was hoping for. In situations like this morale is the most important resource. “I didn’t think you were the type to give speeches, sir.”

“Well if they’re all going to look at me like I'm a hero I thought I should at least try to play the part. Do we have squads set up to go hunt and forage? If it’s been two days I can’t imagine our food situation is good.”

“Yes sir, around 60 of us have been going out there whenever the sun is up. We wanted to send more than that, but considering we have to do a muster before we leave and a muster when we get back to make sure we didn’t lose anyone…well it was a bit inefficient to do more than 60.”

The Vice Captain holds her mouth open for a second and it looks like she’s hesitating to say something. I don’t think I’ve seen her like this since she was about to get executed in the hive. “Sir, can you really save us?”

“No. I can’t. If it’s me and the Elements then I’m much more confident. If Luna, Nightmare, Celestia, and maybe even Cadence are there then I know we can win. I can’t do shit alone though. I already tried that and the guy just shrugged off anything I hit him with. I’m going to go find Twilight and see if we can get a plan together.”

Elytra gives a quick nod as I turn and walk away. I do need to find Twilight, but first I have to do this. It’s eating me up inside to not know what’s going on. Grabbing my staff to use as a focus so I can ignore any material component that doesn’t have a monetary value specified, I cast Sending. “Are you okay? Where are you? What happened, and can you come back to camp please?”

It’s not 25 words but I send it off anyway. There’s no point in asking too many questions, I just need to know she’s ok.

C’mon… say something.

Maybe she’s just asleep right now. Yeah, I’ll try again in a few hours. Let’s go find the elements and see what the hell happened.

Author's Note

Didn't get as far as I was hoping to get this chapter, but 3.8k words is good enough. I'm a bit exhausted from work today so I'm going to bed a bit earlier than normal which means I'm calling it quits on the chapter earlier than normal.

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - The Return of Harmony pt. 18

Luna, Celestia, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and over 120 ponies have been marching through downtown Canterlot for over 15 minutes since Celestia lost her horn and wings.

Anytime they were ambushed or attacked the violence ended within seconds. Not a single injury on either side. How? It’s simple.

Inspiration. Some would give it a different name, perhaps.

Any would-be attacker simply gazed upon the massive group and instantly realized how the cards had been laid out. Four of the six elements and two of the Princesses are just minutes away from the castle with an entourage rivaling the size of an entire platoon of guards.

In the face of fear and certain death all it takes is seeing that the path to victory is not impossible. It’s why hope is the one thing all villains and oppressors fear. Even Gods are not immune to this fear.

As Discord observed from beyond the Material Plane the group marched and 70 became 90. Then 90 became 100. 100 became 120, and an uncomfortable pit had begun to form in the draconequus’ gut. The castle was within sight now and 120 had grown even further to 200. Words were no longer even required to sway the hearts of those approaching with malicious intent.

They just moved forward undeterred and ponies popped up from rubble and alleys, silently regaining their colors as they joined the group and continued forward. Discord finally stirred and decided to move into action once more. Afterall, he was also a participant in this game.

He just hadn’t been a very active one so far.

“I still have my final obstacle. I made sure to send well over 200 ponies to the castle. Even if they have the capability to overcome that obstacle they don’t have the time. The delicious irony for the Princesses that once again time is the enemy even they cannot defeat to save their little ponies.” That pit of uncomfortability flared up in the Gods stomach. The unshaking feeling in the back of someone's mind that says, “Something’s off.”

No longer able to ignore that whisper of doubt, Discord slithers into nonexistence and appears inside the castle. That uncomfortable feeling finally bubbles to the surface and evolves into true fear. Every single pony outside the castle, in the lobby, throughout the first and second floors is lying on the floor unconscious.

Turning his head to the sound of hooves on stone he finds the massive group of ponies just another minute or so away from reaching the main gate of the castle. Turning serious for only the second time in his entire life the Chaos deity raises his awareness to observe the entire city. He knows where four of the elements are, but where are the other two?
Time remaining until Canterlot reaches Ponyville shelter camp: 30 minutes.

“Wait, what are you doing here?! No no that’s not even the right question. HOW did you get here?” Ignis raises his voice in genuine shock as he arrives at the vault room of the elements. His breathing sounding slightly winded from continually fighting and clearing the entire castle of hostiles.

“Ooooooh! That’s a good question! What AM I doing here? I think I’m supposed to be here? What are YOU doing here, mister? Hmmm? You ever think of that?” A certain pony replies with a disturbing level of nonchalance.

“Pinkie I’m serious! There were at least 150 ponies here waiting on you or your friends! How did you get past all of them?”

“I didn’t get past them silly! Mister meanie pants snapped his magic and BOOM I was here!” The mare moves her hooves around pointing all over the room in exaggerated motions as she talks. “Wait! Did you kill all of those ponies?! That’s not nice!”

“No! I didn’t kill anyone. Well, I killed one of them. I knocked out the rest of them though. I can’t believe how lucky you are to have just been teleported straight here to the vault room. Seriously what the fuck?”

“Well I wouldn’t say it was luck. I noticed everypony was popping like Twilight does when she teleports and I was like “oooo am I gunna teleport?” and then I was like “Well if I’m gunna teleport I wanna go to the castle so I don’t have to walk!” and then I went pop and I was here!”

The elf just stares at her with a blank look, completely dumbfounded. Did she… did she exert her will on the weave as Discord teleported her? That shouldn’t be possible right? Right…?

“Oh! Wait I just realized, you’re not the scary shadow thing anymore! Does that mean… oh no. Does that mean the Princess is dead?” Pinkie starts to literally deflate as air comes out of her ears and her mane starts to sink and droop like a bouncy castle with a hole in it.

“No. I overcame the creature that was possessing me, but she did sustain some injuries. I managed to heal her enough to stabilize her though.”

“Yippie!” Just like that she’s back in the air and bouncing around. “Does that mean you saw my friends? I was going to go look for them but I got worried I’d get lost and then I wouldn’t be able to get back. That made me scared that I’d be the reason we’d fail and then all my friends would laugh at me like the last time we played a game with Mr. Meanie Pants, and I didn’t wanna go through that again so I just stayed here.”

“No, I haven't seen any of them. Luna and Celestia sent me here to make sure this place would be safe when your friends arrived and they went to go find the others. They should be here any minute now though.” Sitting down on the floor Ignis puts his palms down on the stone and leans back onto his hands. Letting out a huge sigh. “Gods above it’s been a long week.”

“You can say that again!” The earth pony plops down next to the elf and after her statement she just stares at him, expectantly. He stares back with some confusion, eventually tilting his head. “Well? Are you gunna say it again? I said you could.”

The absurdity of the entire conversation finally breaks him from his serious mood and for what feels like the first time in forever the elf laughs. Not just a chuckle or a snort of air from his nose, but a full on belly laugh. Nearly falling onto his back as he places his hand against his eyes and looks up. “Gods above, it has BEEN A LONG WEEK!”

Both of them are laughing now as Ignis caves and plays along with saying the phrase again. Pinkie starts to say something but suddenly shoots into the air as her entire body starts to spasm. “WooOOaH, THIS Is a DOoZy~~”

“Are you having a stroke? Wait, I think you did this in the Everfree back on my first day here too. It’s your Pinkie sense right?”

“Yeah and this one is bad! I don’t even know what this one means, but it’s really bad! The only thing I recognized was that it’s below me and it’s bad. I think my friends are in trouble below us!”

Ignis got up and walked up to one of the stained windows looking out over the main gate and his eyes widened in shock.

“Fuck.”

As the massive group of ponies approached the main gate they’re stopped when Discord appears in the air above them laughing maniacally. “Ahh hahaha! You ponies actually think you have a chance?”

“We won’t be stalled by your words, fiend. Let’s keep moving everypony!” Luna shouts at the creature and the group takes a few steps forward.

“Now now, I think all of you loyal citizens want to hear what I have to say. You’re all here because you think these heroes have a chance. You think they can save you. I guarantee if you knew what I knew, you’d all turn on these so-called heroes. In fact would you all like to make a wager?”

“Don’t listen to him, my little ponies! He’s just backed into a corner and afraid! He’s doing this because he knows we’re going to beat his game!” Celestia noticed the hesitation in the group and tried with everything she had to keep them moving forward. But, it wasn’t enough. Her heart absolutely sank as only 30% of the group started moving again.

Seeing his opportunity Discord pounced and snapped his talons. Directly into the minds of every single pony that didn’t continue moving he broadcasted just a single image. Within seconds the color drained from every single pony that was shown the image. Any hope of victory was shattered in an instant at what they saw. Unfortunately this magic also compelled them to keep silent about what they were shown. This wouldn’t have been much of a problem except that every single pony that was shown the image gave up hope. Of the original 215, 190 were shown the image and all 190 turned against the group.

Perhaps that's for the best though. For, if any of them had resisted the despair and told the Princesses or the guards what they saw it might’ve caused even the alicorns to give up.

Several seconds of terror passed as the 25 ponies left stared with wide eyes at the massive group turning and surrounding them. An instant later and it devolved into a full on brawl as the draconequus conjured popcorn and watched the chaos with a hearty laugh.

With everyone robbed of their magic and wings the ensuing fight can only be a slaughter. As the brawl starts Celestia orders everyone to surround the elements and try to slowly move through the melee towards the castle. Luna loses her cool and starts to go into a frenzy, clearing a small path for the bearers to try and escape the mob.

Hooves, bricks, and spheres are flying in every direction and within minutes it seems all hope is lost. A rogue brick bounces off of Luna's head and a few seconds later a spear embeds itself into Celestia's barrel.

The solar alicorn is in a much worse state as she nearly collapses on the spot, her breathing extremely labored. A bright red streak of blood is a glaring contrast to Lunas fur as it runs down the side of her head and neck. All four of the element bearers are also covered in minor wounds as they try to help and shield Celestia. Luna only goes into an even more frenzied state.

All of the commotion dies as there’s a bright flash of light accompanied by the sound of glass breaking. Everyone looks up into the air to see Ignis falling through the air aiming straight for the center of the mob.

Luna lets out a gasp as she notices he isn’t flying. Mainly because he just jumped from the highest level of the castle and is falling over 100 feet easily. A golden glow starts to emanate from the elf as he gets closer to the ground and his long fiery hair melts together into an ethereal fiery mane, similar to Daybreaker.

“All of you get to the vault room. I’ll handle this.”

“I’m not leaving you here alone. I just got you back and I’m not going to abandon you here and risk losing you again!” Luna yells up at the elf, completely failing to notice another large rock flying towards the back of her head.

“It’s the ponies you should be worried about. It’ll be nearly one versus two hundred so I can’t afford to not use my Bladesong. But, I’m not sure how well I can hold back my blows while I’m in this state. I doubt I can be gentle, so you should worry about these fools instead.”

He reaches out with his hand and catches the stone in his telekinesis before throwing it back at the pony it originated from. Luna wants to argue further but finds that she can’t find fault in his statements. Looking at her sister with worry Luna finally concedes that other things take precedence right now. She trusts him to take care of himself.

Ignis reaches out with his telekinesis again and surprises everyone as suddenly a massive pocket in the mob opens and the 25 ponies find themselves no longer under attack. The elf lands next to the small group and slowly scans around casting a cold stare at all of the attackers.

Everyone there can only stare in awe. The presence they’re feeling right now is one they’ve never felt from the elf. Instead of an intimidating and heavy pressure signaling for them to run or fight a predator stalking them from nearby, they all feel a regal presence. Everyone except the princesses feel slightly insignificant, like they should cast their gazes to the ground. Luna takes note of his posture, and how he’s standing proud.

I’ve never seen him like this before…it’s almost like he’s royalty. Is this what the presence of an elven noble is supposed to feel like? But why is he only exhibiting this presence now? She thinks to herself as she tries to help her sister stand. Once Celestia is standing Ignis turns and looks at the gate of the castle. With slow deliberate steps he places a hand on the side of Lunas head and casts Cure Wounds, healing her. Then doing the same to Celestia. Once that’s done he leans down and places a soft kiss on his Goddesses head where her horn would be.

Then he looks at the ponies blocking the way to the castle and calmly utters one word.

“Move.” With a single phrase the crowd parts and all 25 ponies start to slowly move through the opening towards the castle. Looking around confused and amazed at what’s happening right now. Then it happens. The sky grows dark and the moon rises up over the horizon.

“Symphony of Steel.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns9dhhEW1mE

The fiery ethereal mane turns into the same silver cloud that Ignis had when he used this technique the first time against Discord.

Maybe I’m colorblind. Don’t know where I lost the colors.

The entire group of 190 take a hesitant step backwards away from the elf as he looks around at them once more.

I only see black and white.

Can’t help but to think of it.

Something that hasn’t happened in a while happens again. The bladesong feeds a series of images into every single creature's mind as they all stand there. Including the bearers, the alicorns, and the guards that are making their way into the castle.

But it all comes back when the moon gets low, dancing in the afterglow.

It’s a short memory from the elfs dream, where he was dancing with Nightmare Moon in an empty ballroom filled with moonlight.

And when the room starts spinning and my eyes are closed, feeling like I’m not alone.

The couple quickly step in sync across the ornate tiles as Ignis grabs her hand and spins her around. The elf in the present shows a nostalgic soft smile as he closes his eyes and drinks in the memory.

Cause there’s a ghost~ in the machine…I only see you when I go to sleep.

As the gate is closing behind, them Luna looks back at her knight one more time with a conflicted face filled with sorrow as she is shown the memories. She looks at her sister. “Tia I thought this effect from the bladesong was meant to show enemies the error of their ways?”

“Originally, yes. It seems it can be used in other ways. This seems to be transforming his rage, hatred, and despair into a sort of nostalgic grief. He’s remembering her the times they shared instead of killing in her name. Perhaps the world has determined this bladesong is for him instead of his foes.”

I built a world under the sheets…

Tens upon tens of flashes of images of the mare smiling, laughing, showing him a runic pattern in a book, sparring, and even flashes of small gestures of affection flash. As these images flash the golden glow from the elf grows brighter and the zone of harmonic mana vibrating in his frequency expands exponentially.

And when I’m dreaming that you’re here with me~
I close my eyes and keep us alive~, someone please turn off the lights~

Stars appear in the sky and the moon rises higher as the volume of the song increases. The regal presence starts to feel just a bit more intimidating.

Cause there’s a ghost in the machine, I only see you when I go to sleep.

Ignis’ mana zone has expanded so far that the castle training grounds is in his domain of awareness. Reaching out with two hands a few ponies look confused as he just stares off towards the side of the castle.

There’s a ghost in the machine.

Two wooden swords come flying through the air over the castle and the walls of the main gate. They rotate and flip as they zip towards the elves' outstretched hands. As they fly through the air a thumping series of bass notes start to pick up in speed.

There’s a ghost in the machine.

The training swords land in his hands and they begin glowing brightly as mana is unconsciously imbued into the weapons. The thumping increases in speed even more and with each thump another image of the deceased mare flashes through the minds of everyone present.

Cause there’s a ghost~ in the machine, I only see you when I go to sleep.

One final memory plays and its her final moments. Everyone feels the emotions of the elf in that moment as Nightmare's final words are uttered out like a whisper as she turns into smoke and vanishes. I love you, Ignis.

All of the instruments stop. The pressure in the air is immense, none of the monochrome ponies feel like they should even breathe in this moment in an attempt to keep the bladesingers attention away from them.

There’s a ghost in the machi-

In a flash absolute carnage is unleashed. Several ponies suddenly find themselves over 15ft in the air with their ears ringing and darkness closing in around the edge of their vision. From an outsider's perspective the elf disappeared entirely and a zig-zag line of silver light started violently bouncing around inside the dense group of ponies. The silver line shoots up into the air along with a seemingly random pony. The elf hits the pony three times knocking her higher and higher with each strike and then he does a flip and kicks her in the back of the head, sending her plummeting back into the ground. Landing on a group of ponies, knocking all of them out.

“That’s for hitting my girlfriend in the head with a brick, you stupid bitch.”

He starts moving at speeds too fast to be seen with an untrained eye and continues to efficiently dispatch more and more ponies. A solid quarter of the mob is scattered around on the ground sprawled out unconscious.

The bearers and alicorns are climbing up to the second floor of the castle when Luna hears Ignis make his vulgar statement that’s followed by a loud crashing sound. She can’t help herself as a small blush and soft smile appears on her face along with a hint of pride and embarrassment from such a loud declaration of their relationship.

I close my eyes, keep us alive~

Ignis is visible again as he stops in the middle of the group. There’s a stallion dangling in the air with his legs brushing against the ground as he’s being held by the back of his neck in the elfs grasp. Only the whites of his eyes are visible and Ignis drops him, looking at him with a cold stare as he hits the ground and his face slides across the ground until he comes to a stop, unconscious. Apparently one of the wooden swords shattered since he’s back to only having one.

Someone please turn off the lights~
Cause there’s a ghost in the machine~, I only see you when I go to sleep.

Ignis looks around at the roughly 120 ponies left and feels nothing at their looks of frozen fear.

Why don’t we go somewhere…where we can grow old together…

Another scene plays but this one isn’t from a dream nor is it a memory. It’s a potential future that the elf had imagined at one point in the past. It’s of a massive castle looking building in the Everfree with a big courtyard full of aspiring mages. In the upper level of the building Ignis, Nightmare, Luna, and Force are eating in an office. Talking and laughing about something as Nightmare grades research papers.

And nobody knows we’re there?

Come to think of it…

The scene fades to a small cabin in a seemingly random clearing in the Everfree where the herd is laying together under a blanket by a lit fireplace.

But it all comes back when the moon gets low.
Dancing in the afterglow.
And when the room starts spinning and my eyes are closed, feeling like I’m not alone.

Luna is forced to pause as she chokes up a bit as she watches the scene of this imaginary future. A small elven girl with blue hair and a young unicorn colt with white fur and a purple mane filled with silver stars run into the room and jump on the group of adults cuddled up under the blanket.

Cause there’s a ghost in the machine, I only see you when I go to sleep.
I built a world…under the sheets, and when I’m dreaming that you’re here with me.

The instruments and the bass flare up as over 20 wooden swords come flying over the castle wall. They all come to a stop and hover over the elf, forming a semi-circle behind his head as they all point forwards.

Ignis jumps forward and starts spinning through the group with violent swings of his arms once more as the swords in the air seem to just follow him around. Seemingly harmless at the moment.

I close my eyes, keep us alive.
Someone please, turn off the lights~

Cause there’s a ghost~ in the machine. I only see you when I go to sleep.

The elf speeds up to the point of no longer being visible once more.

There’s a ghost in the mach-

As soon as the music flares up one last time all of the floating swords take off and join the elf in completely dispatching this group of traitors. The sword all moving with what seems to be a mind of their own as they zip around, over, and through the enemies. In just a quarter of a minute the remaining 120 are down to 40 as the elf and his telekinesis controlled swords tear through the group.

The remaining ponies are finally completely overwhelmed with an unsuppressable fear and start to sprint away from the castle screaming.

With no more pony targets left the elf snaps his head up and glares at a seemingly empty space of air.

“Your turn, you ugly piece of shit.”

Before Discord can react the elf is right in front of him and the draconequus yelps in surprise as he's suddenly yanked from the Ethereal Plane.

I close my eyes, keep us alive.

Discord turns into a flat two dimensional version of himself and unnaturally bends his body at odd angles as he dodges the elfs sword swings and the flying swords zipping and stabbing at him through the air. He can’t help but to laugh as a look of anger finally flashes on the elf's face.

The true target of Ignis' rage is finally in front of him and he drops all restraint as he drops a wooden sword and conjures a 5th Level Shadow Blade.

Someone please turn off the lights~

As the elf picks up even more speed Discord is forced to start conjuring strange shapes that look like crystals, but they’re not physically there. They’re just drawn into the air. Their strange shapes bend space around the two causing both of their bodies to seem distorted and twisted. As if someone was looking at them through a kaleidoscope.

Ignis grows confused as he gets a viewing of the true powers of the reality warping God. Has the idea to turn off Real-Time Combat until he remembers that Discord can see and manipulate his dice. So, even doing that wouldn’t help him overcome this strange defensive tactic.

He can only start swinging his swords with even more ferocity and speed as he tries to force himself through the distorted space.

Cause there’s a ghost…

There’s a loud tearing sound followed by several cracking noises as Ignis is able to correct the space through the harmonized mana within the range of his bladesong. He ended up just forcing more and more mana into the area while condensing it further and further, his intuition telling him that it would work.

Him and Discord are both surprised as it does actually work and the Shadow Blade is mere milliseconds from striking the God.

I only see you when I go to sleep.

The song ends and suddenly everything feels wrong. Ignis feels like his body is bending in ways it’s not supposed to. He’s completely unable to move as he glances down and realizes all of the space near his torso is being pulled into a single point. The air and sky around him look stretched and twisted.

A loud crack rings out that sounds like hundreds of strikes of thunder when the twisted and stretched air rebounds and launches the elf at insane speeds away from the castle and fight. As Ignis starts to lose consciousness he realizes that Discord just pulled all of the nearby space into a single point and then used the energy of the space snapping back to normal to launch him like a slingshot.

In that instant Ignis realizes that his consciousness is fading, but it hasn’t actually faded yet. In a moment of clarity he taps his chest and casts Cure Wounds at 4th Level. Healing himself back up to half of his maximum hit points.

Then he slams into the shield at the edge of the city and slides down it until thudding against the ground with a groan. Despite no longer being at zero hit points the elf still passes out.

His eyes open a few minutes later to a message from the system.

Integration…72%

Time remaining until Canterlot reaches Ponyville shelter camp: 16 minutes.

As the bearers enter the room their tackled by a cheering Pinkie Pie. Pinkie is speaking far too fast for any of them to understand, but they're all just happy to see each other. Applejack starts to ask a question to the hyperactive mare, but is interrupted by a cheer and a gasp as Celestia enters the room and regains her horn and wings.

They all cheer as the entire group runs to the vault and Celestia enters her horn into the slot and opens the door. As the door slowly opens the music from the Bladesong outside comes to an end. Once it's open she pulls out a small box with her telekinesis and opens it to reveal the Elements of Harmony. She hovers each element to it's rightful bearer until only one remains and it's at this moment everyone realizes the same thing.

In the excitement of being reunited and Celestia regaining her magic they were all so caught up in the moment of victory they forgot to notice one critical thing when they spotted Pinkie in the vault room. She was alone.

"Hey y'all, uhm... Where's Twilight?"

Author's Note

Uh oh.

Also I'm too tired to proofread, if there's errors I'm sorry :( please just comment the mistakes and I'll fix 'em when I wake up.

Thanks for reading. <3

Sticks and Stones

Just when my court was starting to return to some sense of normalcy…we had to suffer another mass casualty event. Now the throne room is packed full of ponies requesting revival magic again. I was told I can’t just scream at them and throw them all out, but they truly won’t leave despite being told it’s impossible. There’s too many of them for it to be safe or reasonable for my guards to escort them out. Just where is my knight…wait why has the room gotten so quiet.

Glancing towards the back entrance I spot the elf walking in with his mane soaked. Did he just finish bathing? This late? “Ignis, I’m glad you could drop in.”

He looks up at me after hearing my voice and I can tell just from looking at his tired eyes that he’s giving me a weak smile under his mask and hood. Wait. No he needs to leave, none of us thought this through. He can’t address an entire audience filled with the families of the deceased! He already blames himself, if this goes wrong it’ll-

“Sorry for the delay, all of you. I had some urgent business just before the moonrise concerning the events that happened yesterday. I understand most of you are here because of that very same event.”

The surprisingly quiet crowd instantly erupts into ponies yelling out their requests. I decide to speak directly into his mind. “Ignis, I don’t think this is the best idea. All of these ponies-”

“I know, Luna. I realized it as soon as they all started speaking, this was a mistake. It’s too late for that now, though.” He raises one hand into the air slowly waving it up and down in an attempt to quiet the crowd. After a few seconds it seems to work.

“I’m sorry. All of you. I cannot revive any of the ponies we lost early this morning in the attack. It goes against the harmonious balance of life and death, and I’m afraid Harmony herself has forbidden me from doing it again.” Some of the ponies call him a liar and ask why he would shift the blame when he’s just lazy. “I wish I was lying. Could you imagine having the power to help so many, but being unable to do so? I hate this. I know it’s nothing compared to the grief and loss all of you are going through, but I truly cannot do it.”

The crowd roars to life again and starts to get unruly enough that the guards have tensed up and are looking towards me for guidance on how to proceed. Ignis pulls back his hood and lowers his mask, and the crowd slowly quiets down again starting from the front and creeping backwards like a wave. He must have quite the pitiful expression on his face to quell that level of unrest.

Then in an act even I wasn’t expecting he drops down to both knees, places his palms on the stone floor, leans forward and slams his forehead into the floor. It’s one of the deepest bows I’ve seen in recent memory. I’m not sure if this has some sort of meaning where he’s from, but here it’s just a deep show of respect. While keeping his head pressed against the floor he yells out another apology to the crowd.

Finally they seem quelled and don’t start yelling over each other in response. I need to capitalize on this and clear out the room. “He speaks the truth, everypony. This is the same thing I’ve been trying to tell all of you. So please, if you are only here with the intent of seeking revival magic I offer you the deepest of condolences from my sister and myself, and would ask that you all please vacate the Court.

After several minutes of murmurs and shuffling all of the ponies have left the throne room. Walking down the steps of the throne I lower myself next to my Knight. “Please raise your head Ignis. They’re all gone now.” He doesn’t move for a few seconds causing me a bit of concern. “Are you okay?”

“I hit my head too hard. It hurts.” The response is so unexpected that I can feel myself slowly blink a few times before snorting and laughing. “I’m glad one of us can laugh.”

“Sorry..ahh haha, sorry that was just very unexpected. I really do appreciate you for stopping by. Do you have anything else planned for the night? If not you could join me on the throne…”

He leans back and sits down normally before turning towards me. He looks so tired. I know I gave him a dreamless sleep though, so it’s a different kind of tired. “Sorry. I’m afraid I do have plans. Do you know when the court martial is?”

“Nay. The pre-trial is Tuesday morning, but all they’ll do there is review the evidence and determine if there’s enough to justify moving forward with the trial. I could join you with whatever you have planned? It’s Saturday so I’m not even supposed to be holding Court tonight, but Tia and I agreed we should hold sessions over the weekend because of the state of the city. But, there’s nopony here now that all of the…others have left.”

“If that’s what you want to do then I don’t see why not. I need to learn how to use my Divinity, so I was planning to just go back out to the training area. From what I can tell it’s similar to mana, but I haven’t actually tried to shape it with runes or use it for any spells. I’ve only done telekinesis and pure energy beams, and both of those just require activation of the mana, or Divinity in this case. Are you sure it’s okay, though? What if someone stops by expecting you to be here? They’d be quite upset to find out there is no Court when they were told there would be.”

I know that. I just hate seeing him like this and don’t want to send off by himself. My expression must’ve shifted because his next words make it seem like he read my mind. “I could just experiment with the divinity here, I suppose. There’s plenty of spells that aren’t combat related that should be safe to cast in here.”

He walks over to the bottom of the steps and addresses the two thestrals. “You’re both dismissed. Tell the other guards at both entrances they’re relieved for the rest of the night, and to leave the doors open. If I’m gunna spend the rest of the night here then there’s no reason to keep all of you here as well. Go find some of the others that participated in the training I held earlier and ask them what we went over. After that I don’t care what you do, just don’t get drunk until the sun comes up. You’re still on duty.”

The two thestrals look at each other and make the wise decision to not ask any questions and vacate the room as quickly as possible. One of them going out the main entrance and the other out the back entrance. “Dismissing my guards without my permission? Such blatant insubordination…perhaps you need some discipline?”

Whispering the second part of my question into his ear, trying my best to have a seductive tone. I figured I should make use of the fact that we’re now alone in here and thought something like this might cheer him up. With my muzzle still right next to his ear, he just leans back and turns towards me before giving me a gentle peck on the cheek.

“Sorry, Lulu, I appreciate it, but I doubt I could get in the mood for that right now.” As he stands up he runs his hand down the side of my neck and along my back in a gentle way, it’s calming. Then he climbs up the steps of the throne and sits down in the chair that Celestia’s assistant usually sits in. “You joining me? Ponies might get the wrong idea if they walk in and see me sitting up here with you on the floor.”

“Ah we wouldn’t want that now would we? Such a scandal could ruin me, I fear.” Quickly climbing back up the steps I take a seat in my throne and look at him intently.

“Luna…are we at war?”

“Yes. It was declared within an hour or two after you healed everypony. Tomorrow, before I go to sleep, I’ll be discussing strategy with Tia. We want to establish permanent teleportation circles in every major city that connect with Canterlot. That way we can rapidly respond to any attacks. We aren’t sure if there’ll be a conscription or not yet, but once we decide if we’ll actually go on the offensive it’ll be more clear what we need to do.”

“Nah, we don't need to conscript anyone. I’ll kill them all myself.” There’s a far off look in his eyes as they seem to lose their light, and his tone of voice sends a shiver down my spine. It feels like time has resumed a second later and he switches topics. “Do I need to be at the pre-trial?”

“No, but it’s preferable. Apparently your lawyer is one of the best, so you’ll probably want to meet with him before then.”

“Yeah I’ll find him tomorrow and dismiss him. I’m just gunna plead guilty, Luna. I don’t have time for this farce and even from a strategic point of view I think it’s better this way. If it went all the way to trial they’ll likely drag me through the mud and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the news ponies ran away with a headline or two. I can just plead guilty and whatever happens, happens. Don’t get me wrong, the trial itself isn’t a farce, I am guilty, and they’ll probably use the truth for the most part. But, it’s not too far-fetched to imagine someone being incentivised to lie or exaggerate something.”

“I would really prefer it if you didn’t do that. Atleast wait until after the pre-trial, it’d be silly for you to plead guilty before trial and it turns out there wasn’t enough evidence to even proceed.”

“Can you even enter your plea at the pre-trial? I just didn’t wanna waste the guy's time and have him do all the work and paperwork and shit, go through the entire process just for me to plead guilty. But, if that’s what you want then I don’t see the harm in it. Also, I can’t use magic.”

The sudden and abrupt statement comes out of nowhere and causes me to physically recoil. “What do you mean? I’ve seen you use telekinesis.”

“I can’t shape the Divinity with runes. I just tried to cast the heating spell and nothing happened. I can’t use Strengthen runes either. It either needs different runes or it has an entirely different method of operation altogether. Considering that it can be ignited in a similar way to mana I’m willing to bet it’s just a different set of runes. Although, I could try something…but it sounds impossible.”

The look he has right now is one I recognize. If I say his name or try to ask what he’s thinking of he won’t even hear me. He’s just in his own little world.

“When I use the Symphony of Steel Bladesong I’m able to convert, claim, and control the ambient mana as if it was my own. I did it against the dragons. But, what if I were to learn how to do the mana domain as a standalone technique, and I learned to have it active at all times? The ambient mana would become my own, but it never enters my thaumic system. It exists outside all of my mana channels. That should allow me to use it as if I still had mana and I can cast spells like normal without having mana clash with Divinity inside my body, killing me.”

“That’s theoretically possible, but to have something like that active at all times…I don’t think it’s feasible. And if you were to lose focus and the technique disperses you’ll lose all of that mana you accumulated and have to start over. In the first place are you even sure it can be done without the Bladesong? It’s a technique even I had never heard of until I saw you use it. Surely if it was possible without the Bladesong somepony would have figured it out. I told you that unicorns eventually reach the upper limits of how much they can expand their mana pools, to the point that they can only increase it by making it denser. I’m sure they’d have discovered your method while trying to find ways to expand their mana pools even further without increasing the density.”

“Maybe. Hell, maybe they did discover it, and the technique just takes so much focus they came to the same conclusion you just came to. It’s not feasible. I’m pretty certain I can do it though.”

From there we just made more idle conversation for a few hours while he continued to experiment with his divine energy and his mana domain theory. Then we were interrupted by a surprise guest. A unicorn with a notepad for a cutie mark.

“Uhm…hello?” She’s standing outside the main doors to the throne room that have been left open and glancing around inquisitively. “Did I arrive to late? I thought court was in session tonight?”

“Enter.”

“Oh! Your Majesty! Sorry I was just confused, normally there’s guards at the doors…”

“Since it’s supposed to be one of their nights off anyways my Knight decided to dismiss them early and guard me himself tonight. It’s a bit nostalgic if I’m being honest. Reminds me of our first few nights together…”

That’s when the unicorn mare widens her eyes and apparently only just now realizes Ignis is sitting next to me looking at his own hands very intensely. “Oh! Uhm…Your Radiance….”

“Don’t call me that. Literally anything but that, feel free to be informal.” Ignis responds quite coldly without even looking up to acknowledge the unicorn.

“I had originally come to seek a few statements from Your Majesty, since we usually only get statements from Her Highness. I thought I’d maybe ask for your thoughts as well, but if Sir Knight is here…uhm…”

“You would prefer to ask him some questions instead? I’m not offended in the slightest, we had been planning to have him do some interviews soon anyways. Ignis, do you want to answer the nice mares' questions?”

“Which publication are you with?”

“Canterlot Daily, Sir. I’m actually the one who wrote that article that gave you your new title that has been making its rounds. Big fan…haha.” She’s so nervous it’s adorable. The small foal kind of adorable.

Ignis finally looks up at the pony and squints at her before standing and gently floating down the steps to the mare. He floats over a couple of benches from the sides of the room and sits them down facing each other a few feet apart. Then he sits down and motions for the unicorn to sit across from him. “Shoot.”

“I really appreciate this, Sir. I’m B-”

“Big Scoop. I know who you are.” Ignis is finally showing the smallest hint of a smile, the journalist's enthusiasm must’ve picked up his spirits a bit.

“Eeeeeeee” That was quite the high pitched sound she just made. It only takes a moment for her to realize her situation and she quickly straightens up and clears her throat. It seems like she wishes to pretend that didn’t just happen. “Sorry about that, but yes, thank you for taking the time to do this. I think the first question I had was, where did you come from? We’ve never seen anything like you before in any historical data I could find.”

“Well you see, when a mommy elf and a daddy elf love each other very muc-”

“Ignis…” That kind of joke isn’t uncharacteristic of him, but that tone was so different. It wasn’t playful at all, just sarcastic and slightly annoyed,

“I’m not from your plane of reality. Due to reasons still unknown I was brought here against my will and there is seemingly no way for me to return. I won’t be answering any questions related to my homeland. It’s a sore subject and I’d rather not dig up those memories.”

“I understand…I’m so sorry…In that case let me skip, uhm, questions two through twenty. In my previous article I called you the God of Canterlot, but we still don’t really know if that’s true. Are you a Deity? If so, are the Princesses also Deities?”

“Yes and yes. Cele-..Princess Celestia created that law about religion because she just personally doesn’t like being worshiped. She said it makes her feel even more distanced and isolated from her subjects than she already is. I’m actually working to try and get that law walked back on, but obviously we have more pressing matters right now.”

The mare continues writing for a few seconds after Ignis is done talking, leaving the two in silence before she asks her next question. “Does that mean the tenets of Harmony we all follow are actually things set forth by a real entity representing Harmony? What we’ve theorized and guessed at in terms of divinity has always been so inconclusive.”

“Yep. We don’t get along. I’m also not sure what her name actually is. Harmony is almost certainly her domain and not her name, but maybe it’s been so long she doesn’t even remember her own name.”

“So there are things you’re all in charge of?! Oh that confirms so many theories in multiple communities! Would you mind sharing what yours are?”

“Hope and Chaos. I’m fairly certain Hope is what I’m supposed to preside over, and Chaos is something I inherited from defeating Discord. If you wanna know the Princesses you’ll have to ask them yourself. There’s the obvious answer, but they all have more than one domain from what I can tell. Why don’t you ask a spicy question, I’m getting bored.”

“Oh, uhm, hmmm, I was going to ask Her Majesty, but I have some questions about the recent attack. Do you know what their motivation is for the attack? Surely this didn’t come out of nowhere.”

Ignis looks at me with a questioning glance, he’s unsure if he should answer this question. I just give him a soft nod. “There was the Global Summit a couple months back, and right before the Summit a large red dragon decided to take residence in a mountain near Ponyville and Canterlot. When he napped his snoring created too much smoke, it was impacting our environment pretty harshly. We dispatched a small team that included myself, and tried to diplomatically get the dragon to move his nap somewhere else.”

“I take it that did not go well?”

“It did not. He said some pretty vulgar things and threatened harm against Princess Luna at the Summit that was only one week away, at the time. Things escalated pretty quickly and in the end we had to dispatch the dragon. At the Summit there was a disagreement between us and the dragons that was to be decided by a series of one on one duels. Captain Armor won his duel, I lost my duel, but before I lost I foolishly taunted the dragon and mentioned the red dragon that we had the encounter with in the mountain. Enraged, he defeated me, and continued trying to kill me even after the outcome of the duel was announced. The other dragon present also attacked and had to be taken care of. The Dragon Lord himself was meant to duel Princess Luna immediately following my duel, so once my duel was declared over Luna weaved through the chaos and quickly killed the Dragon Lord. The dragon that defeated me escaped, but the other white dragon and the Dragon Lord perished. They likely seek revenge for the deaths of all three of those dragons.”

“But what was the disagreement that led to the duel? It couldn’t have been insignificant if it was brought up at a Global Summit.”

“They wanted to put Luna on trial for her actions as Nightmare Moon 1,000 years ago. We argued that her banishment of isolation on the moon was enough, and they argued it was not. The rest is history.”

Now the mare is looking hesitantly between me and Ignis. I get the feeling she feels uncomfortable asking any type of follow up questions as they would likely be negative ones inquiring about what happened 1,000 years ago. Good instincts, I’m sure Ignis would just end the interview. “Are we going to retaliate? I know we officially declared a state of war, but the public is unsure if that was just because of the allocation of funds that can only be used if we’re at war.”

“Undecided. Even if it was decided I wouldn’t tell you. That’d just be stupid to publicly announce we’re going to attack them. Ha, I wish they would’ve done us that courtesy.”

He just rests his chin on his hand and looks off to the side with a look of disdain. “Got anything else?”

They continue the interview for another 20 minutes or so, but the questions are much more generic and things they ask every new celebrity. She closes her book and looks at him with a hesitant glance.

“This one is just a question for my own curiosity, how come I don’t feel that aura or presence that I was told about and referenced in my last article?”

“I suppress it if there’s no reason for it. Having people stare at you and hearing rooms fall into silence gets old fast. Here, I’ll indulge you.”

He stands up, removes his hood, and pulls down his mask. I’ll never understand how he hides that massive ethereal mane in that hood. Then he makes eye contact with her and...even I can feel it. It was strange because I could always feel his presence if he didn’t calm and suppress his mana, but ever since he lost mana in favor of Divinity I’ve never felt his presence. Until now. It’s so different from his old presence. That one was heavy, intimidating, and made your instincts scream at you. This one is warm and safe. There’s a small sense of awe I can feel rising up.

Once the mare is done picking up her jaw from the floor she thanks Ignis repeatedly for the interview and quietly leaves the throne room. I’m a bit disappointed she didn’t ask me anything, maybe she thought it was a one or the other kind of deal.

“Welp, think it’s just about time we close up shop Luna. I love the second half of the night, when we’re allowed to actually be productive.”

“Oh please, court is important. It’s not there yet, but give it some time and we’ll be handling important matters as well.”

“If you say so. It’s been months and besides the ponies wanting revival magic it’s still just as dead as it was in the beginning. I think we’d be better off just closing the throne room and walking around downtown Canterlot until everything closes. Just tal-”

“Why would you say it like that? I know it’s nearly empty every night, Ignis. You know I know this. You have been the one to encourage me to keep going and keep trying, so why….why now would you just tell me that this is an unproductive waste of time because my court is dead?! I know I interrupted you and I know you might’ve made a good point if I let you finish, but why would you just…insult me like that? You know how insecure I am about my court! Some God of Hope you are.”

I hate how emotional I am right now. I just let myself be so vulnerable around him because he’s never talked down to me before. More than that I hate the look on his face when he sees me crying. He looks so guilty and confused.

“Luna… I’m sorry. I don’t know why… why would I say that? What’s wrong with me? I’m so sorry, I…”

“I know you’re being crushed by everything weighing on you right now. I know you didn’t mean to say it like that. But, I’m still hurt. I’m sorry Ignis, but I don’t want to see you right now. I…I just need a few hours. I’ll see you at breakfast.”

I channel the runes to teleport to my office but pause when I hear him call out. “Luna, wait! Wait. Please… no you’re right. That was inexcusable, so I understand. I am truly sorry, and I love you.”

“I love you too, but just give me some time. I promise I’ll be at the Dining Hall for Breakfast, and we can talk then.” I finish casting the teleport and just lay down on the floor with my forelegs over my muzzle, covering my eyes.

“Luna what happened? Are you okay?” I stopped holding back once I appeared in my office because I wasn’t expecting anypony to be here. Hearing Nightmare’s voice I try to recompose myself.

“I’m…I’m fine. Ignis just spoke without thinking and it really hurt me.”

“What did he say?”

I spend the next few minutes trying to explain the conversation, and I was wondering if she’d be angry or comforting, but she just looks confused. “Ignis would never say that to you of all ponies. I knew something seemed off about him tonight, but I didn’t realize it was this bad.”

Nightmare lays down on the floor next to me and throws a wing over my back. Completely surprising me with her actions, I never expected her to have this side to her. “Come here, Lulu. You’ve been making so much progress lately. Don’t listen to him, okay? Something is wrong with him, and I need to figure out what. But first, I’ll be here for you. You want some dark chocolate? I know that used to be your favorite~”

“Yeah, I would like that. Thank you, Nightmare.”

“That’s what former soul corruption monsters are for. Well not really, but just this once.” That gets a chuckle out of me, surprisingly. With a quick flash of her horn my other half conjures a square shaped box that opens to reveal 36 pieces of chocolate. “I’m gunna go talk to him and see if I can figure out what’s going on with him.”

“Just don’t scold him, please.”

“I wasn’t. If he saw the state you were in when you teleported here then I know he’s probably feeling guilty and upset. I really am just going to talk to him, he probably needs some comfort at the moment as well. I’ll be right back, okay? Just use Sending if you need me.”

Flicking a piece of chocolate into my mouth with telekinesis does help me feel a bit better. I know he’s hurting too, I just wish I knew how to help him. If it was a normal stallion I’d just make him take a few weeks off from work and remove all of his stressors. But not only would he adamantly refuse to take time off, but I’m not even sure if that’s feasible right now. As a Princess, in an official capacity, I need him here.

What are we going to do?

Author's Note

Oh no, trouble in paradise! These two haven't had any real problems between the two of them, but this seemed like a very realistic slip of the tongue due to his darker headspace atm. Also felt like I was able to add this semi-realistic drama while avoiding that annoying cliche of "this would be solved if they just properly explained their sides of the story."

Also does a good job of showing just how off Ignis is atm because Nightmare is right, he would never say something like that to Luna. Anyways, it's not like there's any tension since it's pretty clear Luna knows he didn't mean it, but can't help that she's hurt by the words. So, no risk of a falling out or breakup, they both just need to cooldown.

We are very likely going back to Ignis POV next chapter, so...sorry if anyone wanted a Celestia POV. But, could always do a Celestia POV and Force POV after the Ignis chapter when the sun has come up...who knows.

Also sorry for the debbie downer, I especially tried to add some funny bits in the middle, and this was the probably the rock bottom chapter, it'll still be a bit down/dark for a decent bit of chapters with plenty of normal/funny mixed in, but it shouldn't get any worse than this chapter. Some of you might not even think this is "dark" or a "downer" but eh, it's def sad. I don't like writing Luna crying.

Thanks for reading! <3

Side Quest - Unexpected Down Time pt. 2

“Uhm Ignis, I can stay inside and help Spike organize the library today. You don’t need to force yourself on my behalf.” Twilight nervously offers as we’re walking through the center of Ponyville towards Rarity’s place.

“It’s fine, Twilight. This too is part of my penance.”

“You said that earlier and I’m a bit confused. I can tell you’re definitely not fine though, you keep wincing and rubbing your hip. Why don’t you just fly?”

“I committed a grave sin, young unicorn. I stood up my Goddess. Walking around all day with bruised hips is a merciful punishment for such a grave sin.”

“But why are your hips bruised?” Is she serious? Looking down at the unicorn I see her head tilted with an inquisitive look on her face.

“Because the spirit is willing but the flesh is spongy and bruised, Twilight. If you can’t come to the conclusion of why my hips are bruised after making a very powerful mare angry, then all I can say is that I’ll tell you when you’re older.” There it is. Okay she gets it. I didn’t know ponies could blush with their entire head... Is that healthy?

“I-I-I….I’m sorry for asking.” I just laugh at the flustered mare.

“It’s chill. You enjoying your new spells and shit?”

“It’s definitely fascinating. I was focusing on all the energies in the air and noticed there were wisps of golden energy fluttering between the two of us. I know why they’d go towards me, but why do I send some back?”

“That’s a good question. I’m not sure exactly how it works, but basically my Divinity doesn’t naturally replenish the same way mana does. I can very very slowly replenish it over time through that tiny amount that you saw, but when I interact with prayers and talk to followers the energy seems to just…generate. Orders of magnitude more than just the wisps you saw.” I should look into that more, but at the moment I think I understand it enough to make due.

I’m glad I was reminded about my order with Rarity. I can give myself any appearance of clothes with Alter Form, but it doesn’t feel quite right. I’ll probably still use the ability to just modify the appearance of these clothes once I get them.

Water starts to fall around us and I look up at the sky a bit annoyed. “It was scheduled to rain today, but I thought we still had another hour or so.”

I don’t particularly want to be rained on so I give the vague command to make it stop raining on me.

“Ignis.”

“Yep. I see it.”

“Why is that cloud cotton candy?”

“Well, I think I just figured out why I can’t use runes with my Divinity.” I was wondering what the hell was happening with that particular domain of mine. It all makes sense now.

“Wait, you mean your magic is like Discords?” She stops walking and looks at me with blatant concern. Does she think he’s going to take over me like Daybreaker or something?

“It’s not like Discords, it’s the same. Hope, Fire, and Chaos. I had assumed my Divinity didn’t work with runes because I was just fundamentally misunderstanding it. It had almost all the other properties and functioned the same way as mana, but now it makes sense. All I can do is give my magic a command and let it figure out how it wants to accomplish that on its own. That’s annoying.”

“Inconvenient. I’d hate it if my magic worked like that.” I just shrug and start walking away.

“It is what it is. I’m just pissed because it means I can’t use the Strengthen rune anymore. I loved using that rune to augment my normal spells. If you can figure it out, which I’m sure you can, that rune has different and seemingly random effects on the spells of my world. For Detect Poison I’m fairly certain it extends the duration but not the range. Anyways, it seems like we’re here.”

The bell rings as we enter the boutique and Rarity walks out to greet us. “Ah ha! I was wondering who could be coming in right after opening but it’s you two. Did you want to spend some more time catching up or are you two here as customers? I don’t have too much time to spare though, I’m only open for a couple of hours today since it’s gem day.”

“Nah, I’m here to pick up all the clothes I ordered a while back. After I ascended I don’t technically need clothes, but it feels like I’m naked without actual clothes on. Sorry I’m late picking them up. I know they’ve probably been ready for a bit.”

“Nonsense, I was actually going to ask if you still needed them before I figured out some other use for them. They aren’t going to fit you anymore since you’ve grown at least a foot since you placed the order.” She walks to the back and brings them out folded up in a stack in her telekinesis.

“I can just shrink myself down and then put them on and grow back. When I alter my size it changes my equipment as well, so it should be fine. What’s gem day?” I’m a bit curious what and why she even needs a gem day so I ask while grabbing the clothes from her aura.

“Oh it’s when I take little Spike with me and I use my special talent to find gems. Spike helps me dig them up and then we bring them back here so I can use them for my designs. In return he gets to eat a few. We were supposed to do it a couple of weeks before the Gala, but after the scolding you and Princess Luna gave my friends we decided to have a little outing instead and then it was so chaotic I just never got around to rescheduling it. We’re actually doing it today and tomorrow since we missed that day.”

Dig for gems? The fuck? They just sitting out there in the ground like fucking potatoes? “Alright. You want more help? I mean we’re not really doing anything, and I’m sure Twilight could use the conversation while me and Spike dig.”

“That would speed things along and I do want to spend some more time catching up, but these gem excavations are important to Spike. I think he enjoys helping out and talking with just the two of us. Plus I wouldn’t want the Lunar Knight, Captain of the Night Guard, reduced to digging for gems in a field.”

I’m not going to bother correcting the title cause she seems like the type to freak out over a prince. “Makes sense to me. In that case we’ll let you get back to work, I’m sure you’ve got some orders to knock out before you close up early. Thanks Rarity.”

I turn to leave but Twilight starts speaking so I hang back. “You can go put your clothes back or just hang around if you want Ignis. I was actually hoping to talk to Rarity for a little while, but I don’t wanna bore you to just stand around us and listen to us talk again like I did yesterday.”

“I mean that is literally the job description, but I assume you actually want some privacy so I’ll go put my clothes up and hang around in town near here. Just pray if you need something.” Normally I’d refuse because it is literally the job, but it’s actually good for her to show she’s comfortable on her own even if it is just inside her friend's shop. So I teleport back to the library and drop my clothes off and then teleport back to town, just outside the boutique.

“Ya’ll got lotta nerve showin your face around here!” Applejack? I turn and see the earth pony in a one sided stand off with someone I’ve never seen before. I say one sided because AJ looks like she’s about to barrel through this unicorn who looks unbothered.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie can show her face wherever she pleases! For your information Trixie is just passing through this podunk village on her way to somewhere more important.” Why does that name sound familiar? Oh right there was an Ursa Minor and her name was in the report. If I remember correctly it wasn’t actually her fault though it was a couple of colts. Wonder why she’s got AJ so riled up then. “And what exactly is that creature?”

Oh. I haven’t had one of these interactions in a while. “Elf. Well technically I think I’m an Outsider now, but let’s just say Elf for now. Summer Eldarin High Elf, specifically. I’m guessing you’re….. Trixie?”

“Oh hey there Ignis. Yeah this here is Trixie she’s a traveling performance magician.” I arch an eyebrow at the idea of a magician performing a magic show in this world. With so many unicorns who would watch a magic show? “She does stage magic. Things that look like magic but are just careful movements and illusions. The problem is that she’s a showboater! Actin’ like she’s all better ‘an everypony. And she’s the reason an Ursa Minor rampaged through the town!”

The unicorn seems to gaze at the ground a bit dejected. Or rather, resigned? “My report said the Ursa was due to two colts. Why do you think it was her fault?”

“Cause she told those two colts some lie of a story about how she dealt with an Ursa Major. Thank Celestia the colts only managed to find a Minor.” Thank Celestia indeed. Even as I am now I’d rather not run into another one of those.

“So she came to town, put on a performance, and told some lies? I mean…. That doesn’t really sound too bad. I mean that’s basically just Rainbow Dash without the redeeming qualities.” AJ goes wide eyed at the Rainbow comment and Trixie looks up with a confused face and then a bit hurt at the “lack of redeeming qualities” comment. “Not that you don’t have redeeming qualities, I don’t know you, I’m just saying comparing those three things to the speedster.”

“Maybe you just had to be there. It don’t sound bad but I’m tell yah it was. Most of the town don’t want her here, it ain’t just me!”

“Most of the town didn’t want me here at one point too you know. I think I heard something about a zebra one time too. Listen I’m sure whatever happened was particularly annoying or rude, but I’m just saying in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t sound bad. Why not just let the mare buy her things and go wherever she’s gonna go.”

The earth mare's face contorts like I shoved a lemon in her mouth. “I…. fine.” She turns to Trixie. “Ya’ll ain’t doin a show here though, I promise you that.”

“The great and powerful Trixie is already… well aware that she is not appreciated here. There was no plan to put on a performance.” AJ just mutters something in response and walks off.

“You must’ve been really rude cause I don’t think I’ve ever seen that pony dislike someone so much.” I comment while watching her walk off and when I turn I see the unicorn looking a bit awkward. Eyes off to the side and one foreleg rubbing the other.

“Trixie did use them as stage volunteers to put them down and make herself look better. But, they were heckling the great and powerful Trixie!” Ah. Hecklers do be annoying.

“Sounds like you’re an alright pony then. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I’m surprised you don’t know who I am though, not to brag but I’ve been all over the papers lately.”

“Trixie doesn’t bother reading the papers very often. She’s too busy practicing and traveling. Your name does seem familiar though.”

“Since you seem to enjoy your great and powerful title I might as well give you my full title as well. Ignis Ferrum, future Prince Consort, Lunar Knight, and The Last Bladesinger.” She goes wide eyed and seems to stand a bit more straight. She seems more focused as well.

I gotta be careful, right now this mare is making all of my “I can fix her” alarm bells go off, but I think I’m a bit busy at the moment to bother with something like that. “Well, Trixie appreciates your help. You seemed a bit confused when that redneck mentioned my job. Are you curious about the differences between Trixie's magic and normal unicorn magic? Perhaps I could show you a few of my smaller tricks?”

“Redneck?” I can’t help but laugh at the word. I didn’t think they’d have that word here, but fuck, hearing someone call AJ that is funny. “Yeah sure why not, I’ve got a few minutes to spare.”

“Perrrfect! Follow Trixie right this way, and she’ll show you only her finest magic.”

“Oh I can’t really go anywhere. I’m waiting here for a friend and she’s only going to be a few more minutes.” She looks a bit dejected and the alarm bells start going off again. This mare is dangerous. “How about later? Just after sundown. I’ll be off duty then so I can stop by.”

“The great and powerful Trixie supposes she can clear some time in her very busy schedule. Just after sundown. You’ll want to go to the wagon on the outskirts of town, and don’t be late!” Does she know I was late to meeting up with Luna, and how is she busy if she’s passing through town, not performing, and has no friends here? I guess she just wants to seem important.

I spot Twilight leaving the boutique and walk over. “Productive talk with Rarity?”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, yeah I guess it was.” She seemed pretty distracted, Rarity must’ve given her something to think about.

“Well? Where to next?”

“We’re going to Fluttershy’s next. She wanted some help collecting some herbs from the Everfree and having someone with telekinesis can help if the plants are in particularly dangerous places. It’ll be even easier with you around since we don’t have to worry about the creatures and beasts in the forest.”

I’m a bit flabbergasted here. “You’re telling me Fluttershy regularly goes into the Everfree?”

“I know it’s a bit surprising but she makes salves and things for treating her animals. There’s herbs in other places but the ones in the Everfree seem particularly potent. Zecora helped her with some recipes as well. You’re fine helping with that right?”

“Yeah of course. Nothing in the Everfree can really bother me at this point.”

Twilight smiles and starts walking towards the Everfree. “Perfect! I was also hoping you could talk to Fluttershy. Rather, she wants to talk to you.”

“What could she wanna talk to me about?”

“You’ll have to ask her. I didn’t really dig into it.”

We walk the rest of the way to the cottage in relative silence, and a few seconds after Twilight knocks on the door Fluttershy steps out with some saddlebags, but without a saddle. “Hey there Twilight and, uhm, Ignis. You two ready to go? Hopefully this doesn’t take too long, but there is one rarer plant specifically that I’m hoping we find along the way.”

“Which one? I might’ve read about it at some point.” Twilight asks while we’re walking and I’m just hanging back behind the two. More on guard now as we go through the treeline and into the Everfree.

“The Gorgon Lily. I had a critter get brought in that apparently had a run in with a cockatrice and I need that flower to undo the petrification. The only other way is to get the creature to turn them back, but oh… I’d rather not do something so risky. I know it’s in this forest somewhere, but not really sure where. Here’s what it looks like.”

With practiced smoothness she somehow grabs a book out of the bag with her wing and after stopping for a second to flip through the book she shows a picture of the flower and it’s a gray lily with a snake popping out of the middle with its mouth open. Apparently it’s a defense mechanism to keep it from being eaten.

“Alright I’ll keep an eye out for it too.” With my enhanced senses it shouldn’t be too difficult.

She shows me and Twilight some other specific herbs she’s looking for and we start roaming around.

“Ignis why did you hurt that dragon so much back then? The one that was napping.” I turn and look at Fluttershy who isn’t even looking at me as she takes a plant from the ground. I guess this is what she wanted to talk about.

“Because he wasn’t listening to reason and he insulted Luna. I wasn’t going to kill him. That last attack I never landed wasn’t going to kill him. At least I’m fairly certain he could take it.”

“But are those really good enough reasons to have shed all that blood and inflict all that pain? Did it make you feel better?” She doesn’t sound condescending or sarcastic, she’s pretty genuine.

“A little, yeah.” She looks shocked and hurt. “Seeing him in pain made me feel satisfied after what he did. Why are you talking to me about this though? Celestia is the one that deep six’d his ass.”

“Well that dragon isn’t entirely the point. Between that and when we interacted at the Ponyville Refugee camp and everything I saw from you in Canterlot during the final confrontation, I noticed that you’re deteriorating. Believe it or not but when we first met, the night we saved Luna, you were actually quite bright and jovial. You had this aura of a younger creature, not quite foal-like but a little older. Everytime I see you since then you’ve become darker and darker. The entire time we were talking with Twilight at the library yesterday you were just staring at the wall with what seemed like a bittersweet expression. It’s like you were somewhat happy with what was going on around you, but you seem so sure that it’s all going to go wrong.”

“Yeah Fluttershy people have darker views of the world when bad things happen to them. What’s your point?” I managed to hide the short tone that was about to be in my voice. I don’t like being preached to like this.

“Aren’t you tired? Isn’t it exhausting waiting on a disaster that might never come? Like yesterday, why didn’t you try to sit down with all of us in the library? You can make friends too, you know. You seem so tired spiritually. You keep anypony you’re not friends with a hoofs length away, always expect the worst, and are so quick to resort to violence. All of that must weigh on you alot.”

“I’m here to guard Twilight, not make friends. I need to expect the worst so I can properly react to the worst. I’m quick to resort to violence because most of the time it’s the only thing that’ll work. I can’t talk to the dragons, I’m at war with them. I couldn’t talk to Discord, the guy was a psycho. For someone who lives in a quiet town and hangs out with her animals all day you can afford to have your idealist mindset. As much as I wish I could have that mindset too, I can’t. Not with how things are right now. So, thanks for looking out for me, but-”

“Ignis don’t step the-... oh no. That’s Poison Joke! We’ll have to go by Zecora’s and get an antidote.” She tried to warn me, but it was too late and I stepped into these blue flowers.

“We don’t need an antidote, Fluttershy. I’m a God, I doubt a flower is going to do anything to me.” She looks skeptical. “Is the plant lethal?”

“Oh heavens no, it’s just inconvenient. It made Applejack tiny, and made me have a deep voice. It also took away Twilight's magic. It has a seemingly random effect on anypony that touches it.”

“Then yeah we’re not detouring for an antidote. If it somehow changes me we can just go get an antidote at that point.”

“If you’re sure…. But back to our conversation. I’m not saying you need to do a complete 180 on your mindset. I just think you should change a little. Try to be more positive, and even if you don’t think anything else will work you should at least try something before violence.”

“Pft. Yeah I’ll get right on that.” The mare’s face falls at me completely disregarding her advice. Suddenly she takes a deep breath and seems more determined and…. Music starts to play? Oh dear God not a Heartsong.

She picks up some more herbs and then lifts a normal daisy up and walks up to put it in my hand. “You can relax, my friend.”

“Huh?”

“I can tell you’re getting more tense, so do yourself a service and try to relax, my friend.” Twilight is just watching this exchange with a soft smile.

“I’m fine, Fluttershy.”

Suddenly the pegasus flies up and grabs me by the hand with her forehoof and tries to pull me along. I decide to indulge her naivete. She’s leading us towards a river. “Think of all that we have been through, we’ll survive what we get into. So you can relax my friend.”

I let go of her hoof and scoff. This is stupid. She grabs my hand again and continues. “I know that you’re tired of the war and bloodshed.”

That line kinda proverbially throws me on my ass, and I end up following her again as we get very close to the river. “Tell me, is this how you’re supposed to live?”

I can tell my face has a pained expression in response to her question. It looks like she's about to dump me in the river when some giant part of a serpent rises out of the water under my feet. I instantly tense up again and grab the hilt of my sword. Suddenly, it waves to Fluttershy and then to Twilight who jumps on to join me and Fluttershy on its back. “Look at how you grip your sword, enough said.”

I guess this thing is friendly… it starts carrying us down the river. “Why should we take when we could give?”

The serpent stops every now and then and the two mares take the opportunity to collect some herbs before jumping back on. “You could show a creature that you trust them if you stop and lower your guard.”

The next time it stops I’m once again given a tug on my hand and join them in jumping off the serpent who waves and submerges as we walk away. “Here we have a chance for some adjustment!”

A manticore ambushes us as we’re walking and I pull my hand away from Fluttershy to grab my sword and start to jump forward. Until Fluttershy just zips right past me and gives it a……hug? “Give it a try, it’s not that hard!”

Really? I could’ve talked to the manticore I killed? I can tell I have a cautious and pained expression again as I walk up and hesitantly pet the manticore that then licks me. “I’m telling you…”

She flies up and away and I follow her with my eyes and for some reason the forest seems brighter and the flowers more colorful. “This life is amazing~ when you greet it with open arms.”

She lands and starts running, while looking back at me and Twilight. Suddenly two timberwolves appear. “Whatever we face~ we’ll be fine if we’re leading from the heart!”

She lowers her posture and smiles at the creatures before holding out a hoof. One of them tentatively sniffs her hoof then looks at me and darts back into the foliage. “No matter the place~ we can light up the world~ here’s how to start..”

We reach a clearing and she starts to spin around with her hooves up, as if she’s talking about everything around us. “Greet the world with open arms..”

Twilight passes me and steps up next to Fluttershy with a big smile before gesturing “come here” with her hoof, she sings as well. “Greet the world with open arms.”

I walk forward, each step a bit of hesitation. Right before I get to the center of the clearing I hear a twig snap and instantly snap back to alertness and draw my sword. I realize we’re surrounded by an entire pack of Timberwolves. The two from earlier must’ve alerted them. Fluttershy puts her foreleg on my arm as I hold out my Moonblade ready to attack. “Stay back!” I shout at her so she doesn’t try to approach the monsters again.

“My friend, greet the world with open arms” I look at her like she’s insane and notice some of the wolves have come a couple steps closer.

“We’re only here for herbs…” Fuck it, I try to tell the timberwolves why we’re here. Maybe that’ll put them at ease? “Fluttershy, we’ve got ponies waiting for us to show our faces.”

The wolves step closer again. “Stay back! I’m warning you.” I turn to Fluttershy and Twilight who are also less confident now and seem a bit scared. “If you two don’t get back safely, I’ll turn this place into blazes.”

Out of nowhere a two timberwolves walk forward with a bunch of herbs on their backs and stop right in front of me. And they….. Wag their wooden stump tail….

“See!”

All of the wolves come up and sit down in between and around all three of us. “This life is amazing~ when you greet it with open arms!”

Fluttershy flies out of the good boy pets and scritches circle and lands to start running. All of the wolves jump up and follow her with me and Twilight also running now. This heartsong is getting to me. I can feel something start to crumble inside me. “Whatever we face~ we’ll be fine if we’re leading from the heart!”

The pegasus runs us straight into a cave with tiny timberwolves. Why am I feeling emotional right now? “No matter the place~ we can light up the world, here’s how to start…”

She picks up a timberwolf puppy and flies up to me holding it outstretched towards me. “Greet the world with open arms…”

I take it and just kinda look at the cute thing staring inquisitively into my eyes. Then I pull it to my chest and cradle it. Fluttershy makes a squee sound and continues. “Greet the world with open arms!”

(A/N: We’re skipping to 2:20 and not using a few lines in the linked video)

Fluttershy flies down to land. The pack that has also entered the cave and they’re all laying around just lounging throughout the cave. The pegasus walks up to one of them. “Timberwolves~ I’d like to show my friend that kindness is brave.”

She looks back to me and points her head at the wolf she’s talking to as if she wants to make sure I’m paying attention. “Could you tell me where there’s a Gorgon Lilly~”

To my surprise I hear a lot of voices answer her, but they’re not out loud. They're in our minds. “The ravine!”

Fluttershy looks really excited and repeats it back almost like she herself doesn’t believe she got an answer. “A ravine?!”

She walks back to me and Twilight before looking at the same wolf she was just talking to. “You’re saying there’s a ravine that holds our lily? And where do we go to find this Gorgon Lily Ravine.”

“North West!” They all respond again.

Fluttershy starts to lead us out of the cave before turning back to the interior and facing the timberwolves. “Thank you!”

“Welcome…”

We run to the north west and sure enough there’s a ravine and growing out of the wall of the ravine about half way down is the Gorgon Lily. I just stare at dumbstruck and think of everything that just happened. I can feel my guard lowering completely. Fluttershy rubs my back a little as if she’s comforting me before continuing in a quieter voice. “This life is amazing~ when you greet it with open arms. I see in your face, there is so much guilt inside your heart.”

She flies down and gets the lily and lands next to me and Twilight. She’s looking up at me with such a pure expression, and I feel my eyes start to well up. “So why not replace it~ and light up the world, here’s how to start. Just greet the world with open arms.”

For some reason it feels like a huge weight is lifting from me as I smile down at her with tears running down my face. “Greet the world with open arms…”

“You can relax, my friend.”

I squat down and sit on the ground. “You guys don’t even have arms!” I laugh at my own comment and the laughter sounds much lighter than it had in the past. Haven’t heard it like this in a while. The two suddenly give me a quick hug from both sides of me while also laughing.

“You don’t look quite as tired now.”I just smile at the comment before standing up after a few minutes. It’s a short walk back to Ponyville, and as soon as we emerge Spike and three of Twilight's other friends run up looking panicked.

“I was helping Rarity find gems, and these three diamond dogs showed up and…. And…..they took her and went into a burrow in the ground!”

Well that is certainly not good.

Author's Note

Our boy needed some more positivity in his life. Homie's in Ponyville and has only made a single friend in two days! His Divinity might prevent mental illness, but it doesn't stop you from becoming bitter and miserable. Which he wasn't yet, but was definitely trending in that direction. It also doesn't help with stress... which is/was the main thing he's dealing with at the moment.

Just to be clear btw, Rarity has not been kidnapped by diamond dogs yet at this point in time in the story. This is her first time getting nabbed, I gave a flimsy excuse in the fic, but eh who cares I aint gotta explain why my timelines different than canon!

Also once again, sorry for taking so long on this one. I just didn't feel like sitting down and cranking out a chapter for a few days. Now that I've had a couple of light weeks only releasing one chapter a week, I think I can start going to back to the every other day or every two days schedule.

Man I hope someone else loves that song as much as I do. Has a special kind of pureness to it that makes me wanna do better, ya know?

Thanks for reading! <3

Main Quest - Get Home

“Mister Ignis!”

I slam my eyes open expecting to find myself on my ass in the orchard, but instead I just see darkness. Endless void.

I’m floating slowly, pointlessly around, and I look at my hands. They’re perfectly clean, no calluses, scars, or blemishes. This really isn’t my body. I don’t even know how long it’s been since I passed out, it feels like a few seconds. I feel unnaturally calm and my thoughts are slowing down.

I’m Ignis Ferrum.

If I have all this equipment with me then I wonder if my character sheet is in that knapsack? As the thought leaves my brain I see blue particles fly through me and around me, quickly. They start to accumulate and form a shape, soon enough I recognize it.

IGNIS FERRUM
High Elf
Level 3 - Wizard.

Strength - 13
Dexterity - 19
Constitution - 15
Intelligence - 20
Wisdom - 15
Charisma - 13

Cantrips:
Booming Blade
Control Flames
Fire Bolt
Mage Hand

1st Level Spells:
Absorb Elements
Burning Hands
Comprehend Languages
Feather Fall
Find Familiar
Magic Missile
Shield
Sleep

2nd Level Spells:
Dragon’s Breath
Invisibility

Skimming through the rest of it I mentally make a note of my skill proficiencies and languages, but how does that work? Sure on paper Ignis was apparently proficient with a Sling and can speak Draconic, but I’ve never done either of those things. Will it be similar to when I tried to say my name but my body spoke something different? Sounds a bit scary to be honest, not being in complete control of my body.

Gotta love being proficient in Religion while apparently being in a completely different universe. I’m sure that’ll be applicable.

Am I ever going to see any of my friends again?

“Send” works across dimensions right? Maybe I could try that. Let’s focus on that later and let me go back to my character sheet.

Man, I rolled really lucky on those stats though huh? 20 INT and 19 DEX at level 3 with not a single stat below 13. I don’t know if levels even matter now, but at level 4 I can give myself a +2 to any of those stats besides INT, since 20 is the max. Why am I not freaking out anymore? Is it because of this void? Am I dreaming? No. Elves don’t sleep, but I’m not sleeping, technically, I should be unconscious because of my panic attack. My body must have gone into the elven trance state automatically.

I have so many more questions like why do I still have modifiers and proficiencies in the first place when those only matter if someone is rolling a dice.

Suddenly the black void in my vision is quickly replaced with loose hay and it seems like I’m in a barn. I can hear what sounds like that small horse… pony, she’s a pony. Anyways I hear Apple Bloom and another woman I don’t recognize. She sounds older.

“Are ya crazy Apple Bloom! We got dang near the whole Apple family tree here with the celebration set to start in a few hours and you bring some creature that came from Celestia knows where with a sword and armor on!” She’s clearly talking about me, but when she puts it that way even I’m a little concerned with the decision making skills from Apple Bloom.

“He’s not some creature from Celestia knows where! He’s Mister Ignis and he’s an elves from the Feywild. I think? He said something like that, but most importantly, he’s lost! He said he don’t know who the Princess is or what the celebration is. Everypony knows who the Princess is!”

Well she said elves this time instead of elfs, but I’m guessing she hasn’t learned what plural means. Besides adorable grammar issues, she also brings up some valid points. I think I’m just going to step in here though and talk to the older pony myself. Save little Bloom from getting in even more trouble.

“What she says is true. My name is Ignis Ferrum and I am a High Elf. I’m also not entirely sure where I am, but I am fairly certain it’s the wrong plane of existence entirely. I don’t wanna cause either of you any trouble so I’ll just get out of your hair.” The instant I stop speaking everything in my vision takes on a hint of blue and it seems as if time itself has stopped.

In the space above the older pony I see the word “ADVANTAGE” appear and two 20 sided dice roll into view bouncing off of some imaginary table. They stop. One lands on 3 and the other on 13. The number 3 fades away into nothingness and then just under the 13 I see “+1 Persuasion” and the 13 turns into a 14.

The sheer magnitude of what I’m witnessing rocks me to my core. This is a reality warping power I possess. I just tried to explain away my presence and then excuse myself and now before any outcome is decided I just rolled for Persuasion with advantage. I’m not sure why this power gave me advantage but it looks like I rolled a 14. Not the worst thing I could’ve rolled for sure, but could’ve been better.

The numbers and words appearing in thin air instantly vanish and time resumes.

The orange pony squints at me suspiciously and replies, “Woah there partner. I can’t just let you walk out with that there sword and especially with whatever that book is. I’m not even a unicorn and I can feel the magic radiating off that thing. You’re not here to invade Equestria or hurt anypony?” Book? Oh that empty mount attached to the small of my back now has a book firmly held within it. Well that has to be my spell book then, and I guess Equestria is the country I’m in. I should probably answer this pony.

“No. I don’t even know where “here” is and I definitely wouldn’t just hurt someone for no reason.” I make a wide sweeping motion with my arms to put emphasis on the fact that I really have no fucking clue where I am. I really just need help getting home.

“You really have no idea where you are, do you? You said something about a plane of existence? I don’t know nothing about that, but I do know I’ve never heard of no elves before or the Feywild. Maybe the Princess knows something I don’t and she can help you. She’ll be in town later tonight for the Summer Sun Celebration. I can’t force ya to do anything, but I’d really prefer it if you stayed in this barn or atleast in this general vicinity for a while. You’d plain spook everypony out there and cause a ruckus and we still got a lot to do to finish up the catering for tonight. I promise to come get you when it’s time though.” She seems sincere enough. I’m surprised there’s no roll for Insight to see if I think she’s lying or something. Perhaps it’s because I didn’t feel a need for it? In some scenarios it might only need a roll if I consciously want to.

“That’s the first piece of good news I’ve heard so far. As far as staying here until it’s more convenient for you, sure I don’t mind….. I still need time to process some things to be honest so that’s probably for the best. One thing though, what’s your name?”

“Oh! Silly me, my name is Applejack.” Applejack responds and holds out her front left hoof while making eye contact with me.

A hand shake? I grab her hoof and she continues “Pleasure to make your acquaintance!”

“I’m placing all my trust in you Applejack, I’m in a foreign land surrounded by unfamiliar faces, and I decide to completely trust the first two creatures I meet. Maybe I really am crazy, but I hope I can count on you.”

I release Applejacks hoof but before she can respond Apple Bloom interrupts, “You won’t regret it Mister Ignis! I can’t even think of the last time my sister lied to somepony! She’s never let me down!”

The older pony gives Apple Bloom a bit of a side eye before adding in, “I’ll definitely do what I can, but I’m no miracle worker. That’ll be Princess Celestia’s job.

Looks like I have the first step in my quest. Meet with this Princess Celestia.

Author's Note

I know, I know the character sheet is an eye sore. I don't plan on showing it very often mostly because it isn't going to change that often, and also because I'm going to link the actual character sheet right here: https://ddb.ac/characters/93111821/jUgD9n

Also, I'd love some feedback. I was really stuck when trying to decide if I actually want to have the rolling of the dice happen in the universe itself, or if I should just roll the dice outside of the universe and maybe just throw the result in parenthesis like this (14)
or if I just let you guys infer the roll based on the outcome. If I keep the in universe dice rolling the actual scene where I describe what it looks like when time stops and the dice roll won't be as detailed in future references I just wanted to give an idea of what it looks like when it does happen the first time around.

Also for people who like the story but really don't know neither jack nor shit about D&D here's all you'll need to know for the story:

Typically in Dungeons and Dragons upon trying to interact with the world itself you must roll a 20 sided die (a d20) to decide what the outcome of your action would be, we call this a skill check.

Normally you only roll a single d20 when performing a skill check but there are 2 things called Advantage or Disadvantage. If you have either of those things then you roll TWO d20’s.

If you have advantage you take the higher of the two numbers, and if you have disadvantage you take the lower of the two. Since I had advantage I took the 13 instead of the 3.

In most scenarios it’s easy to just remember “Bigger number is better.”

Main Quest - Save Princess Luna

"Less."

I instantly duck down and watch as she soars over me and lands on the side of the wall like Spiderman or something before launching herself off of it and landing right beside me as she unleashes another beam point blank.

Ha, doesn’t she know ranged attacks in melee distance cause disadvantage? I tilt my head to the side to dodge the beam as it roars past me. I start my turn by repeating the same hand motions I used versus the wooden wolf, run my left hand along the blade of my rapier as it sparks to life with purple lightning.

I feint left then quickly dash to the right and attempt to run her through with my blade directed at her barrel.

18, +7. 25.

The tip strikes true and sinks into her side, I internally celebrate but am cut short when I see that her fur isn’t really fur. It’s like an outer layer of thick darkness that sputters and flickers off of her where the rapier pierces through. She still gives a small wince indicating that I made it through the darkness but I realize now why her AC is so high. Let’s see the damage.

8, +5. 13 Piercing damage.

I pull the blade out quickly and see some blood along the steel as I return back to my neutral position, so it seems like if she’s resistant to piercing damage its only non-magical. Luckily my rapier has a small +1 enchantment. Her wound emits the same purple lightning for a moment and I feel the hum of my bracers as I activate them to cast booming blade a second time.

16, +7. 23.

This time the blade hits that layer of magical darkness and almost bounces off. Complete miss.

Both of these attacks happen in just a few seconds, and I’m instantly back on defense as her horn lights up again. It’s much brighter than before though, whatever this is, it’s new.

With a loud boom her horn explodes and a wave of darkness at least 20ft wide and as thin as a scythe’s blade shoots out almost faster than I can react.

Dexterity Save.
19, +4. 23.

I quickly pull my rapier up and try to block the hit or redirect it with a parry, but the force is much greater than I can imagine as I’m pushed back by the wave while sparks fly off of my rapier. I grab it with both hands and start to grit my teeth. I don’t have the hit points to fail here.

I start putting all my weight into pushing down with the rapier, and then I use the momentum of being pushed by with the leverage my blade pushing down to launch myself straight up into the air. I watch the wave of darkness soar under me and flip around to look at Nightmare again.

She’s gone. I quickly rotate myself around as I fall to the ground trying to find her and spot her racing towards the girls and the artifacts. After two steps however I see the purple lightning wrack her body accompanied by a loud THOOM of thunder.

7 Thunder damage.

She clicks her teeth and I see her eyes half close for a second, but she continues moving through the pain.

“Oh no you don’t Nightmare! Your fight is with ME.” I land and redirect the force from my fall into a mighty push off the ground, screaming straight at her. When I’m a few feet away from her she stops and turns toward me.

“Learn your place, pest!”

I inhale as deeply as I can before leaping off the ground. I’m directly above her when I release another roar of fire.

6. 1. 13 Fire damage.

I know she jumped to dodge the last fire, so I decided to release this one above her hoping to prevent that instinctual response. It seems to work as she just lowers herself to the ground and lets out a yelp. I land and use the last of my movement to put myself directly between her and the ponies. I glance behind and see Twilight on the ground with her horn sparking as she tries to interface with the artifacts. 48 seconds left on the bladesong.

It’s then that I realize, I’m a huge idiot. I just spared a glance and looked away from my enemy, a goddess no less, who’s less than 5ft away. Why did I realize this? Because I’m suddenly looking at the hard stone floor as my face quickly approaches it.

“You dare look away from me?! That mistake will be your la- ” I have no clue if she said anything after that because it was the final thing I heard before I felt what must’ve been my head cratering into the hard floor of the castle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Third Person POV

“Ignis!” Applejack cried out as she watched the elfs’ head thud against the floor. Nightmare Moon stood over his body with one of her front hooves parked directly on the back of his cranium.
For a novice he was more annoying than I thought he’d be. Luckily whatever that magic was fell far short of the bladesong’s of the past. Nightmare thought to herself as she glared at the unconscious body under her. “Now then, let’s deal with these pesky elements!”

“Get off of him right now!” Rainbow yelled out as she flexed her wings and rocketed towards the alicorn, but she passes straight through her as Nightmare shifts into her mist form and creates a powerful wind to knock back Twilight and the others.

They all watch as the starry mist begins to circle around the elements like a tornado, spinning faster and faster as the elements begin to lift off the ground. Twilight realizes what’s about to happens and leaps straight into the typhoon of raw magic as it blinks from existence. The other 5 ponies looking dazed as they realize that Twilight, Nightmare, and the elements are gone. After another second they realize Ignis is gone as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ignis POV

Pure darkness. I’m floating in a void of black. Looking around at the vast nothingness I realize I must be unconscious. God that was a stupid move. How do I wake up? Am I dead? I need to help the ponies activate the artifacts!

Suddenly I see the twenty sided dice appear again.

Death Saving Throws.

Under it there’s three squares. Each square holding its own d20. The one on the far left beings to roll in place.

The first square turns green.

The second square turns red.

Welp, this is it. This is how I die.

The third die begins to roll in place.

Cmon cmon, please just a 10 or higher. Do it for the 1 time!

It slowly comes to stop but it’s cocked, it could land on 2 or 18, but I can’t tell which way its going to fall…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Third Person POV

“Dang-nab-it, what the blazes is that mare thinkin’ jumpin into that magical tornado! We’ve gotta split up and find them! Rainbow fly up and see if you can spot anything, everypony else with me.” Applejack barks out orders to the others.

Fluttershy is in tears looking around as if she’s completely lost. Seemingly in a state of shock from the sight of limp elf with a pool of blood under his head. Rarity and Pinkie are just staring at the spot where Nightmare and the elements used to be, seemingly in a daze.

Rainbow gives a salute and rockets into the air to begin sweeping the area. Applejack tries to talk to the girls again to get them out of their shocked states. “Girls I know this is bad, but it’s gunna be worse if we don’t find where they went! Now come on!” The others turn to look at her, Pinkie suddenly shakes her head left and right so fast it’s a blur before stopping with her eyes spinning. She grabs her head and her eyes come to a stop and her face drops into a serious expression. Fluttershy looks like she’s about to say something when suddenly a huge purple pillar of magic is seen a few hundred feet away in another section of the ruins.

“That magic is Twilight! I see her, she’s facing down Nightmare by herself, we have to go!” Rainbow yells out from the sky before flying off towards the area the magic came from.

“Cmon girls let’s go!” Applejack yells out and takes off with the other three following behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight's Location, Third Person POV

Twilight stops channeling her magic hoping somepony from her group saw it and begins casting a scanning spell on the unconscious, barely breathing, elf. From across the room Nightmare is laughing as she holds the elements above her in her magic. “Ahahahah! Try and save him if you can pony, but with the elements in my control now you’re all as doomed as he is!”

Nightmare channels powerful magic before slamming the elements onto the ground, shattering them completely. “With this, my night will last forever!” She continues maniacally laughing.

Twilight doesn’t even respond as her scanning spell finishes. She just looks at the elf in shock. 9 broken ribs, both forearms fractured, broken nose and jaw, left ankle completely shattered. She knows what the broken nose and jaw were caused by, and that’s why she’s so shocked. He was fighting with all of these broken bones?! While we laughed at trees and made friends with a sea serpent he was fighting for his life trying to protect the elements. Waiting for us. For ponies he’d only known for a couple of hours….

Twilight's resolve hardens and she stands up and faces Nightmare. She begins running her left forehoof across the ground as if she means to charge at the alicorn. Smoke huffs from her nose as her horn begins to charge.

“Really? REALLY? You’re kidding right?” Nightmare gives the purple unicorn a deadpan stare as she begins to wonder what caused the sudden motivation for the young mare. However, Nightmare doesn’t get another second to ponder the situation as suddenly a blast of magic fires from the unicorn.

Nightmare responds with a blast of her own and as the beams clash they explode into a plume of smoke. “You seriously mean to challenge me on your own?! You’ve gone mad” Nightmare taunts.

The smoke clears and the alicorn discovers Twilight has disappeared, she starts scanning left and right looking for her when she hears POP behind her. Quickly turning around she spots the unicorn teleport in and fire off another beam directly at her. This time she’s too close for Nightmare to respond with a beam of her own so she opts to conjure a shield this time. “Don’t you see there’s no hope! Why don’t you just join me instead of continuing with this pointless resistance?! I can see you’re quite gifted magically and I could teach you much.”

Twilight continues to ignore the mare and begins rapidly teleporting over and over, landing all around the alicorn. Every time she pops into existence she fires off another blast of magic.

Nightmare has no trouble responding to each blast with a blast of her own before she finally becomes annoyed and shouts, “ENOUGH!” The alicorn seizes Twilight in her magic, completely stopping her from teleporting again, and uses her telekinesis to throw the unicorn as hard as she can into the wall on the other side of the ruin.

“Gah!” Twilight shouts in pain as she bounces off the wall and lands next to the unconscious elf. She slowly rises back up with her legs shaking under her, panting hard as she considers her next move. Before any of them can do something however, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie come screaming into the ruin at full speed and Pinkie yells out, “Leave her alone you big meanie!”

Rainbow flies in from a broken window on the side landing beside Twilight and chimes in, “Yeah Nightmare Moon, if you want her you’ll have to get through all of us!” All five of the ponies stand in front of Twilight and the downed elf.

“Oh is that all? Easy enough.” Nightmare casually responds before blasting a powerful beam at what’s left of the roof directly above the 6 ponies.

All six of them look up in panic as the huge chunks of stone start to crumble and fall towards them. “Everypony move!” All 6 of them start to scatter before they all instantly realize at the same time. Somepony has to protect Ignis!

They all dive towards each other and try to cover the elf with their bodies, hoping that if they stand together they can withstand the debris.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ignis POV

The third box turns red.

Everything starts to fade away and I feel a numbing chillness begin to spread throughout my body.

You are dead.

System shutting dow-

SYSTEM ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.

What? What’s happening? I feel a warmth on my back and turn around. I see the sun. It’s right in front of me…. And there’s another alicorn inside of it, this one pure white. She looks.. Shackled? Is this Celestia? I try to speak but nothing comes out.

ERROR. Class incompatibility. ERROR.

//////////////// DIVINE INTERVENTION ////////////////

M̴̦̖͌̏a̷͕̙͗̀i̸̩͗n̷̖̝̏͘ ̵̢̚q̶̟̙̓͋ṷ̶̐̕è̶̖͉͐s̸̼̤͆̎t̶̳͛:̴̡͔͝ ̵͉͓̈́͗S̵̗̔̇ư̴̯͉̊ȑ̴̺̫͘v̴̧͙̍ḯ̷͚͘v̵̞̓e̵͖̖̿

Ḿ̴̠̣͕̱͙̭͉a̵̖͚͛͆̐i̶̪͛͗͊̈́̈́̅̾n̵̫̦͚̒̆͊̌ ̵̜̯̬͎͔͌q̶̊͆͜u̵͉̱̻̪͚͐͑͘é̸̻͓͓̮͊̆̚s̵͉̭͉̅̌̄̆͘͜ṭ̷̝͖́:̶͎̃͋̌͊̕͝ ̶̳̱̗̒̀͐̿͜͜G̷͚̯͇̗̿̋̕ę̴̤̫̤̘́͘t̷̡̗̱̔͂̑̌̄͛̽ ̷̻̺̝̬͓͕̙̐͋̋͗̆̔͊H̸̳̅͆́͘͘̕͠ơ̸͔̠̗̻͐̋́͐̚͜m̸̧̹̦̲͕̻̺̌̏̐͝ȩ̴͇̳͚͇̲͆̀̌͘

“Please bladesinger, I beg of you to allow me one favor.”

Yes?

“Please. Save my sister.”

Quest Override.

Main Quest: Save Princess Luna.

Hit Points: 1/21.

New Class Feature: Songblade Harmony (True Bladesong)
Harnessing the power of an Equestrian Heartsong, you unlock the true power of a bladesong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Song, it should skip to the timestamp, but if not skip to 2:43

All 6 ponies open their eyes to see all the debris has landed around them instead of on them, and they suddenly hear a serene set of notes fall on their ears. They look up to see Ignis standing, looking down at them. Instead of motes of mana fluttering from the ground, he has a small golden glow emitting from his body with golden lightning coursing through his eyes. Dried blood on his face and running down the corner of his mouth as he smiles down at them.

He reaches out with a hand and helps Twilight up and as he does he sings, “There’s a moment that changes a life when, we do something that no one else can.” The other 5 also begin to rise to their hooves and he continues, “And the path that we’ve taken will lead us. One final stand.”

All 6 realize their fur is standing straight as a chill runs down their spines. The power in the room has shifted, everyone feels an eerie calmness. Everyone except for Nightmare Moon who now has beads of sweat on her face as she slowly takes a few steps backwards. “No, I know you stopped breathing, this can’t be happening!”

Ignis turns and faces Nightmare, “There’s a moment we make a decision,”

Fluttershy rises fully and faces Nightmare as well, joining in “Not to cower and crash to the ground.”

Twilight watches as all of her new friends turn and face Nightmare as Pinkie also starts singing, “The moment we laugh at our demons, our courage found!~”

There’s a light in Twilights eye as it clicks into place for her and she rises as well, now all 7 are singing, “When we stand with friends and we won’t retreat. As we stare down death, and the taste is sweet!”

The broken pieces of the elements begin to vibrate violently before reforming into 5 gems resembling the cutie marks of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy embedded into amulets as they fly to their respective owners.

They watch as Ignis takes one step forward and when his foot hits the ground, he vanishes completely. They look ahead and realize he instantly appeared behind Nightmare. After they see him a huge burst of wind blows their manes back from where he was previously standing and they realize, he didn’t teleport. Before anything else happens though Twilight yells out, “That’s it, the spark for the 6th element wasn’t a literal spark, it’s the spark of harmony created when the other 5 elements are present. Each of you represent one of the tenets of harmony!” As she says that they all begin floating into the air and a crown with a gem in the shape of Twilights cutie mark appears and lands on her head. Their eyes all glow white.

“No! What is going on?!” Nightmare is in a pure panic now until she realizes the elf has appeared behind her, she instantly summons 2 of her own shadow blades as she turns to face Ignis.

Ignis slams his rapier towards her and the blade is caught between the two shadow blades as he yells out, “I may fall!”

He disappears again, reappearing to her right. She blocks his blade again as he continues to sing, “But not like this! It won’t be by your hand!”

Ignis and Nightmare fall into a beautiful dance of swordplay as he moves around her striking at nearly unobservable speed. “I may fall, but not this place. Not today!”

She starts to lose to him in speed and starts slowly accumulating slashes and cuts all over her body, “I MAY FALL!” he screams out again.

His slashes are piling up but she knows she can take hundreds more of his strikes if they’re this weak, so she decides to give up on him and puts all her effort into eliminating the element bearers before they can fully attune to the artifacts, she puts everything she can muster into a huge blast aimed directly at the floating mares.

Ignis appears directly in front of the blast and slams into it with his blade, after a few seconds he conjures his own shield and screams against the blast, “Bring it all, it’s not enough TO TAKE ME DOWN!”

“DAMN YOU, YOU FURLESS MONKEY. I THOUGHT YOU UNDERSTOOD MY PAIN. Why even apologize if you’re going to do this to me?!” Nightmares magic beam falls and as Ignis lands on the ground he continues to sing out “I may fall!” before suddenly the music in the air stops, the glow leaves his body, and a rainbow shockwave explodes out from the element bearers signifying they’ve finished their attunement.

Ignis speaks calmly to the mare, knowing this might be the last chance he gets to speak to her. He has no clue what these elements will do after all.

“I realized something while I was unconscious that I thought I should tell you, Luna.”

Nightmare freezes at that name, the teleport spell she was channeling fails at her lapse in concentration.

“In your story the celebration took place the afternoon of your birthday, during the day. Today however the celebration started at night, in fact the ponies stayed up and partied ALL night. The rising of the sun was going to mark the end of the celebration. She made the “summer sun celebration” take place at night? I mean that doesn’t sound right does it? I think Celestia was trying to show you that this holiday isn’t about her sun anymore Luna. After your banishment it was never about her sun.”

Nightmares eyes were blinking quickly as they became foggy again, and she dropped onto her barrel. Her eyes opened wide as tears slowly started to run down her face.

“Happy Birthday Luna.” Ignis smiled at her before his eyes roll back into his head and he unceremoniously drops onto the ground completely passed out. A wave of pure harmonic energy cascades forth from the floating mares and slams into Nightmare Moon she mutters out.

“Celestia… sister… We are sorry.”

Author's Note

WEW. Sorry if it's a bit messy, I was putting off writing this all day before I finally decided to write it before going to bed. Like the other chapters I slammed out this one all in 1 go in a couple hours. I did a quick once over and I think I caught all the grammar oopsies but if not just let me know. Also, before anyone gets upset, spoiler alert: That class feature won't be there when he wakes up.

This is the chapter that made me want to actually write this story to begin with, I was driving to work and the acoustic version of I may fall popped up on my youtube music radio station and this fight is what I came up with while i was driving.

That being said, I have no clue where to take the story from here haha. I have a few ideas but nothing solid, so the next chapter might be a week or two while I iron out where I want to go from here. Hope this chapter is as good as I think it is. I'm actually super happy with how it turned out. That song just fits so well here haha.

Side Quest - Prove Yourself

An alicorn, a princess, and an elf teleport into a castle courtyard. There is no punchline.

Seriously though, this place is in chaos compared to Ponyville. As soon as we arrived there were ponies running around in every direction all of them yelling over each other, but Celestia quickly went to work explaining what happened, who Luna was, who I was, what their public statement about the nights events would be. Meanwhile Luna and I ended up just slowly shuffling to the side where we’re now both sitting in the grass watching Celestia reign in all the anarchy in complete silence.

Finally I decided to break the silence, “I wonder why everyone was so calm back in Ponyville?”

“We were beginning to wonder the same thing. Perhaps the castle is just more aware of Tia’s schedule and more dependent on her for the day to day functions? I imagine the guards and staff were in quite the panic when the sun didn’t rise on time and none of the guards in Ponyville responded to the Sending crystal.”, Luna quickly answers.

Her mention of the Ponyville guards reminds me of something. With a frown I ask, “Speaking of those guards……. Are they alive? I remember watching them get hit by lightning, but didn’t stick around long enough to see if they were okay.”

“Yes, thankfully. It was the first thing we checked on before we came to retrieve you. Those guards were all pegasus which are especially resistant to lightning.”

“That’s good then. In the grand scheme of things that just means the only suffering caused was… everyone sleeping in for a few hours. I can think of worse crimes.” Foot, meet mouth. What in the absolute hell possessed me to say that? I’m almost scared to look over to Luna for her reaction.

Sure enough, I look over and she’s looking at the ground with a frown on her face. Before the silence gets awkward I let out a yawn and ask, “Are we supposed to be doing anything right now? Physically I feel fine, but mentally I am exhausted. Celestia mentioned there’d be a room for me here, but I don’t know if she wanted to discuss anything before I skedaddled.”

“You will definitely need to talk to her before you retire to your chambers. If you’re in a hurry to do so you can just go ask her. Things seem to have mostly calmed down for now.”

“Then I think I’ll do just that.” Standing up and awkwardly straightening out my cloak I turn to Luna and continue, “And uh, sorry for making that comment. It was thoughtless of me to bring that up so soon, and I imagine you’re already feeling enough guilt for what happened.”

“Think nothing of it. We deserve a fate worse than just feeling guilty.” I have some thoughts in response to that, but I really am tired.

“I’m not qualified enough to tell you otherwise, but either way it was nice to meet you. Happy birthday again.” Luna’s mood seems to improve a little. I give her a small wave and make my way over to Celestia.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I’m exhausted. Luna said I need to talk to you before I hit the sack, so I was just wondering how much longer I’ll need to be on standby? And, if it’s gonna be a while I was hoping you could point me towards my room and I’ll just wait there instead.” I quickly ask when I hear a pause in Celestia’s current conversation.

The guard she was talking to just squints her eyes at me and glances at my blade while Celestia hums in consideration. “It shouldn’t be more than another hour, but if you’re tired we can just delay our conversation until dinner. Lieutenant if you could have someone escort my friend here to one of the guest rooms in the “Visiting Dignitaries” wing. Ignis I’ll have somepony come wake you when it’s time.” I give her a nod and the LT walks over to grab a volunteer for my escort. Once she’s out of earshot Celestia continues, “I will need your rapier though. Only guards are permitted to have weapons on castle grounds.”

That explains why the guard was giving me the stink eye. Celestia’s demand isn’t unreasonable, but it doesn’t sit right with me for some reason. The thought of giving away my rapier makes me uncomfortable, “I’d rather not. Forgive me for being argumentative, but I’m in a completely foreign world and you’re asking for one of the few things that brings me some level of comfort and security.”

Time stops and I realize it’s been a long time since I had to roll for something as a single d20 rolls into view.

8, +1 Persuasion. 9.

Time resumes and Celestia instantly replies with a stern look, “I’m afraid I must insist. This is non-negotiable. I can give you my word that you are safe in this castle, but I have no guarantee about the safety of my ponies in your presence.”

I decide to do a manual insight check.

INSIGHT.
20, +5 Insight. Natural 20, Critical Success.

She can’t really give me a 100% guarantee of my safety, but at the very least she truly has no malicious intentions. Just a ruler worried about her subjects. That’s what my gut is telling me. I still have the dagger hidden on my thigh and in the worst case scenario I have Shadow Blade.

I sigh and unclip the sheath strapped to my hip before grabbing the blade and pointing the hilt towards her. “I hope you can at least appreciate the amount of trust I’m giving you right now. Regardless of my comfort, that blade is from before I was brought here. One of the few possessions I still own.” This isn’t technically a lie, but she doesn’t need to know that this body isn’t mine.

A golden aura engulfs the rapier and it floats out of my grasp. “Of course Ignis, thank you for cooperating.”

After that a different guard approached us and led me to my new room. An uneventful walk, the guard kept glancing back and he looked a bit scared to be honest. I grab a key from him and thank him before going inside and laying down to meditate.

A knock at the door stirs me from the meditation. I look out the window and see the sun is still up, but it’s not far from the horizon. Glancing at my status I see my 3rd level spell slot is refreshed, so it was enough hours for a long rest. Someone knocks on my door again but louder this time.

Opening the door I see a maid and a guard, looking between the two for a few seconds before finally the maid speaks, “Your p-presence is requested in the dining hall.”

Stepping out fully so I can close the door I turn around and look at the maid inquisitively, is she really that scared? Let’s test it. I suddenly lean my head forward a bit and go, “Boo!”

18, +1 Intimidation. 19.

Ah shit, I didn’t want to actually intimidate anyone! Why are you making me roll?!

To my surprise the guard is the one that startles, he jumps back a foot or so and takes a deep breath before finally relaxing. “Not funny.” he finally says before slowly approaching me again.

“Says you, by the way I think the uh maid needs some assistance.” I reply while pointing at the maid. The guard looks over at the maid and realizes she’s frozen completely stiff with wide eyes. He waves his hoof in front of her face.

“Feather~, oh Feather~ come back to Equestria.” He finally gives her a little shake and she twitches before looking around.

“Oh. Oh! Sorry, what were we doing?” She asks, still a little dazed.

“Going to the dining hall.” Me and the guard reply at the same time.

“Right! Follow me sir.” They both turn around and start leading me down the hall. I feel a little bad now, I didn’t think she’d completely shut down like that. In hindsight it makes sense I guess, most of these ponies only reach the middle of my torso in height.

After we turn a few corners it bothers me enough that I speak up, “Sorry. I uh, I went too far there. I saw you were uncomfortable and thought that would ease the tension.”

She looks back to see me with a sheepish grin while scratching my cheek. “You’re forgiven. I suppose in the end it did help a little, I apologize for being frightened to begin with, it was unprofessional. Your stature just caught me off guard.”

We come up to a large archway with a pair of wooden double doors that are currently open when the guard takes 1 step in and turns to face the center of the archway before saying, “Your majesty,” he looks at me and gestures into the room as I walk past him he finishes “Ignis Ferrum.” After that he steps out and the doors close behind me.

Celestia must have recognized my look of perplexity because she spoke out to me, “Apologies for the formality, we typically announce nobles and dignitaries. With you being in that wing of the guest rooms he just followed protocol.”

“Ah.” Smooth response bro. I’m dumbly looking around at the fancy dining hall. It definitely meets my expectations, one unnecessarily long table with junk in the middle of it and a fancy chandelier hanging overhead.

At the other end of the room I see Celestia sat at the very end and Luna sat to her left with salads in front of them with a third salad placed to Celestia’s right with an unoccupied seat. I pop a squat and look at the food, it’s just a standard salad but with a few flowers mixed in? Welp, I start taking the flowers out of the bowl while I ask, “So what’s the plan?”

Celestia takes a moment to swallow her food before replying, “Well I have a few ideas I’d like to run by you, but before that I’d like to get to know you a bit more. Just so you know I am currently channeling a lie detection spell. If you don’t feel comfortable answering a question just verbally inform me and we’ll move on. After that I’ll have one of my top officers lead you to our training grounds and we’ll test your full capabilities in terms of spellcasting and sword play to determine your threat level.”

What? “That all seems a bit much. If I truly end up unable to return home I intend to live quietly and study the arcane. I can understand a bit of apprehension, but that's ridiculous.” I state before shoving a fork full of leafy green in my mouth. Oh wow, this is super fresh.

“Then let me ask you this, Ignis. Are you willing to have your bladesong sealed off permanently and agree to never perform one again?” She asks me with a raised eyebrow.

I mean… realistically I could agree to that, but I don’t want to purely on principle. Plus, I just got all this cool magic. If I'm stuck here forever I atleast want to use it! “Absolutely not. It’s part of me, I can’t just give it up.”

“Exactly, and I don’t want to ask that of you. However, you have to understand that means eventually the world at large will find out that there is a bladesinger. You might not be as powerful as the ones in legends of old, but that will still cause issues politically. Especially now that Luna has returned. From the outside looking in, that's too much power tipping the scales in our favor. In fact, just Luna's return will likely spark the invitation of a global summit to discuss treaty re-negotiations. So, when the world finds out you exist I want there to be a public record of your interview and threat level measurements.”

Okay, I think I see what she’s getting at. She wants a paper trail to prove I’m not a threat. “Fine, I agree with your reasoning. What’s your first question?”

“We’ll start with an easy one, what is your name?” Celestia starts.

“Ignis Ferrum.”

“How old are you?”

“108.”

I stop myself from taking my next bite of food when I notice the complete silence. Looking over I see both princesses looking stunned. Then they both look to Celestia’s horn, I guess to see if I’m lying. Nothing happens though. I decide to expand.

“I’m an elf. Specifically a High Elf, we perform the celebration to mark adulthood at the age of 100, and it’s not too uncommon for us to live up to 2000 years.” I just nonchalantly throw it out there and take another bite of food. I’m just going to continue answering in character since the lie detecting spell didn’t go off when I said my name. I can only conclude that means my real name will make it go off.

Luna and Celestia look at each other then back to me, “How long have you been learning the art of bladesinging?”

“I’m going to lie.” I pause for a second then say, “The first bladesong I used against Nightmare Moon was my first time ever using a bladesong.” Celestia’s horn illuminated a bright red light. Just as I thought then, this is going to be tricky because I didn’t completely flesh out this character's backstory, so I’m not going to know the answer to some of these.

“The truth is that I’m not sure. I don’t remember when I started.” No reaction. I can work with that.

Wait, I’m thinking about this all wrong I can use the lie detection to learn more about this body!

“Do you have any plans to take over, conquer, or bring ruin to Equestria?” Celestia calmly asks like this is something that happens enough to be a common concern. I just raise my eyebrows at her.

“No?”

“Please, answer as a statement.”

“I have no plans nor do I want to rule over, conquer, or bring ruin to Equestria. Or anything else for that matter.”

Celestia hums in thought, is she making these questions up on the fly?! After another bite of salad she asks, “Let’s say there’s two sets of train tracks and next to the tracks is a switch that determines which track the oncoming train will take. Currently there’s a train approaching and if nothing is done, it will run over 5 ponies. You can flip the switch to make it take the alternate track but doing so will kill 1 pony. What do you do?”

There’s no way this horse is hitting me with the trolley problem right now. Well whenever I normally answer this question I give the logical answer, but that’s never been my real answer. “I’d free the ponies from the tracks.”

“Suppose doing so is impossible, you’re also magically bound and all you can do is flip the lever.”

“Does the train have anyone on it?”

“Hm? No it’s a runaway train with no conductor and no passengers.”

“Then I’d stop the train.”

“Okay you are clearly not understanding the point of this question. There are only 2 options, you either do nothing and indirectly let 5 ponies die or you take action and directly kill 1 pony! You can’t stop the train!”

“I’d flip the lever when the train is halfway across causing it to derail.”

“That would kill all 6 ponies!”

“I know what you want me to say, logically I should flip the lever and kill 1 pony, because 1 life lost is better than 5. But that isn’t my answer! Every life has an immeasurable value, and I refuse to accept that I can’t save all 6 of them!” At this point I’m standing and leaning over the table looking Celestia directly in her eyes, almost yelling.

“Even if it kills you?”

“Even if it kills me.”

Celestia looks to her horn for any sign of deceit, before finally softening her gaze and laughing out loud. “Well, thank you for your honesty. That concludes the interview, but you’ve completely ruined my plan of submitting it to the public record.”

I’m once again confused, “What do you mean?”

“There’s no way I can convince any of the other countries you’re not a threat if I give them that interview. You displayed far too much determination and worst of all if any of them were to go to war with us your attitude is one they’d all fear. You want to be a Hero.”

“It’s not like I had an option! The logical answer would’ve triggered your spell!” I retorted.

“You’re right, it’s my fault for continuing to push for an answer. Your answer was just very interesting, it’s an answer I haven’t heard in a long time and I just had to test your resolve.”

After that the rest of dinner was mostly silent, the sisters had their own small talk, but I barely paid attention to it. Celestia levitated a cloth up to wipe her mouth as the doors to the hall opened and a white unicorn with blue hair walked in. “Luna, Ignis, this is Shining Armor the current Captain of the Guard. He’ll be the one overseeing your magical and physical tests. I’m going to go lower the sun and retire for the night. Luna, will you join me?”

Luna pauses and looks between me and Celestia, “Nay Tia, we are still too weak to participate in the ritual and would like to see his results first hand.”

Celestia smiles and nods, “Alright, just be careful. All three of you.”

During the walk to the training grounds I found out Shining is actually Twilight's brother. He was very worried when he first heard something had gone awry with the celebration in Ponyville, but was elated to hear that she had saved Equestria and made some friends.

As we approach what looks like a firing range I see a few guards firing thin bolts of magic at small targets at least 100ft away. It looks shockingly similar to a gun range. Shining speaks up, “Just pick an empty stall and use your strongest magic to hit a target, preferably aim for as far back as you can.”

“Do you have a different field we can use? My strongest magic isn’t really meant for a precise shot from far away.” I ask looking over to Shining. I mean I can use it here, but it’d look cooler if they had a target range for area of effect spells.

“No? The guard firmly believes in precision. The worst thing that can happen is us hitting an innocent because of careless magic. My old mentor used to say “Combat magic is like a letter. It should only be sent to and received by the specific pony that it was addressed to.”” He says with a proud smile.

Oh man I’ve always wanted to say this. “You know it’s actually quite funny. Back in my lands there was an old elf who said almost the exact same thing, but my mentor and I both disagreed.” I reach into my pouch and pull out a tiny ball that looks like it’s made of black tar and place it between my thumb and index finger before finishing my statement.

“Not all letters need to be read by just one person, sometimes you want 10 maybe 20 people to read your letter. Are you gunna write out 20 letters each titled and tailored to that specific person?”

“Yes. In your scenario it’s not the most efficient, but it’s the most secure.” Shining retorts.

The black ball sparks and turns into a small fire, “See that’s where you’re wrong. That’s completely unnecessary. Sometimes it’s perfectly acceptable to write a letter and just title it, TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, FIREBALL!”

The small spark of flame gets shot out and starts speeding down the range, by this point in our conversation the few other ponies present have stopped firing just to observe. They all silently watch as that small spark goes 30ft, 60ft, 120ft growing bigger and bigger as it speeds down range until at 150ft out the inferno expands fully as a huge 40ft wide explosion shakes the ground.

I turn around with a huge smile plastered on my face, to find a stunned Shining Armor with his mouth hanging open and Luna looks at me with a face that screams, “Not bad.”

“Cmon now Shining, you’re captain of the guard, surely this isn’t actually that impressive?” I ask him as I walk up and pat him on the back.

“No, you’re right there are definitely unicorns capable of that, myself included, but it’s not a lot. It’s certainly not what I expected from you. The reports based on the statements from the element bearers made it seem that your magical capability was just small bursts of fire and the ability to let out a short flame breath like a young dragon. It emphasized that your physical abilities were the more impressive of the two.” He writes down on his clipboard “Was holding back against Nightmare Moon??” and underlines it. I don’t really feel like correcting him, it’ll probably just bring up more questions that I’m not sure how to answer.

So, I don’t push it. I opt to move along instead, “So… how are we doing this swordsmanship test? Am I gunna spar with someone?”

“Yes actually. You’ll be sparring with me.” I look over and see Shining is wearing his full guard armor now as he floats the clipboard and quill over to Luna. He then floats over my rapier and I snatch it out of the air. Quickly pulling it out of its case and looking over it for knicks or any other blemishes they might have caused if they decided to study it. But, it looks just like it did when I surrendered it.

I follow him out on a flat field of dirt and the same ponies that were watching my fireball have wandered over to spectate the spar as well it seems. I guess I don’t mind, but I might get some performance anxiety.

“Shining, do i need to keep my rapier in its sheath or are you going to cast some kind of magic that dulls the blade for the duration of the spar.” I decide to ask, I don’t wanna accidentally kill the guy.

“I’m not casting any magic like that, but it’s a rapier so just don’t stab me and we should be fine.”

“Welp. I’m not really comfortable with that, but okay let’s do this.” I call out as I assume my stance and focus on Shining.

Roll For Initiative.

Author's Note

I'm still trying to get a feel for where I want the overarching plot to go for this story, but I think I have the next few minor events and the next major event solidified atleast.

As always, thanks for the comments and thumbs ups on the story, it really helps motivate me to keep writing. I also deeply appreciate all the people that have been adding this story to their favorties or tracking library. :)

Also, I'm not really happy ending the chapter here it feels like it's not strong enough to be a cliff hanger but there's enough happening that I feel dissatisfied not resolving everything. But, as I've always stated I write these chapters in 1 session and whatever I got is what I got. It's like 1am and I wanna go to sleep so this is where I'm ending it haha.

Main Quest - Global Summit pt. 3

You know in hindsight maybe I should’ve called out to Luna earlier. I wonder if bladesong would’ve made a difference there? Probably not, I mean that thing has like a +17 to hit or something, completely ridiculous. Well let’s get the death saves over with.

(A/N: Retconning death saves, misremembered how mechanic works in previous chapter)

11.

Failures: 0/3 Success: 1/3

A few seconds pass I feel some vibrations ringing throughout the void, Luna must be fighting the Dragon Lord. The second dice comes into view.

20.

Hit Points: 1/57

My eyes snap open and I take a sharp gasp of air in. Lifting my head off the ground I see my feet dragging along the ground kicking up dust with a trail of blood following me. Within a second or two of lifting my head whoever was dragging me promptly stops and drops my arms to the ground, “Sir! Sweet Celestia I thought we’d lost you!” I recognize that voice…

“Lieutenant Force? What happened?” Observing the situation it looks like pure chaos was unleashed in the few seconds I was knocked out. Creatures from all nations are running around in a panic, some on fire and screaming. Looking far beyond the crowd and past the arena I see a white dragon head lying on the ground with its eyes rolled back and blood trails coming from its slack jawed mouth and nose. Across the entire colosseum I see the rest of the white dragon, its body is embedded into the wall of the structure, upside down.

Quickly scanning I don’t see either of the red dragons. Force replies to me, “Luna announced your surrender and teleported you out of the arena just in time to prevent any further damage. Whatever you said to Inferno at the beginning of the fight pissed him off something fierce though, he didn’t stop after the fight was concluded. He yelled something in his native tongue to the other two dragons and then barreled straight at you while unleashing a massive fireball.”

Taking a breath the LT continued, “Shining blocked the fire with a shield but it redirected the fire all over the area and decimated half the camps. Right after that Frostbite burrowed out of the ground right next to you and tried to devour you, but Princess Celestia unleashed a lance of pure sun into the beast leaving him in the state you’ve observed.”

“I assume there’s more cause I don’t see either of the red dragons or the princesses.”

“Right. Tormura launched into the air and attempted to unleash a wave of his own fire but Princess Luna donned her armor and moved faster than any pegasus I’ve ever seen as she barreled straight into his gut. The last thing any of us were able to observe was Luna pushing the dragon lord straight into the air, through the roof, until they were so high we couldn’t see them anymore. Right after that, Princess Celestia turned her horn towards the dragon that was still trying to hunt you down. Before she could threaten him or fire off another spell Inferno fell out of air and grasped his head as blood shot out of his nose. Whatever you did to him with that shadow sword damaged him more than any of us realized. Realizing he wasn’t in a state to continue the skirmish he took off.”

Processing all the information Force just gave me I look at my stomach and realize just how gnarly of a wound Inferno gave me. It’s a miracle I haven’t bled to death to be honest. I hover both palms over the gaping wound in my gut and mutter out a new incantation.

“Remedium.” My hands glow green as I cast Cure Wounds.

4 + 1 = 5. Hit Points: 6/57.

Repeating the spell two more times I dump all my remaining spell slots into recovering.

7 and 4, 13 Total. Hit Points: 19/57.

Then I lower my hands and touch them against what remains of the wound. Lay on Hands, use all 10 points. Hit Points: 29/57.

The wound has almost fully closed now, it went from a gaping hole to a deep gash. Can’t believe my shirt is ruined. I’m about to see if I can stand to walk with Force over to the medical tent when I hear a chorus of gasping noises and see dozens of creatures point to the sky while covering their mouths with surprise.

I follow their pointing with my gaze and spot a large red spot rapidly growing bigger as it falls closer to us. After a few seconds I realize it’s Tormura in a free fall, he’s either dead or unconscious. Another small period of time passes and I can make out a streak of fire following behind him, almost like a meteor or something.

Perception.

20 + 5. 25.

Squinting, I can make out a starry mane behind the streaks of fire, as she comes closer I realize she’s covered in gore as she flies straight towards us. The blood on her fur turns black and slowly chips and crumbles to dust, peeling off of her as she continues to heat up during her re-entry. After several more seconds of waiting while listening to the whispers and murmurs of concern and surprise around me. Tormura crashes into the arena shattering it instantly and unleashing a huge cloud of dust that obscures everyone's vision.

I spot Luna as she slows down and glides into the arena landing next to me and at the same time the dust mostly settles. Looking at the massive red dragon lord I’m able to pretty quickly discern what killed him. His eye sockets are empty and there’s massive trails of blood all over his neck that originate from his maw. He died getting turned inside out in the vacuum of space.

“Strange, for a being that compared himself to Us quite often and boasts about how a 1000 year banishment to the moon isn’t a real punishment. He sure did succumb quickly to the cruelty of space. I need to make sure I don’t make a habit of doing that though. While I was actually on the moon the magic keeping me there protected me from the vacuum and the cold, but once I was freed I had to use my own magic. Flying from the moon to here while maintaining that protection is the real reason I was almost completely drained of mana upon my return. I could probably only pull that trick off twice without completely draining myself again. Where is my sister?”

“Right here, Lulu.” With impeccable timing the solar alicorn suddenly reappears before us. “I gave chase to Inferno but unfortunately my flying skills have gotten a bit rusty from a lack of practice. He was able to give me the slip quite quickly. Ignis, what did you say to him that caused all of this?”

“Well, while you were doing that weird telepathic negotiation with the Dragon Lord I overheard Inferno ask Frostbite if there was any news on his brother Kiln. Apparently he was supposed to be back from Equestria before the summit started. Once the fight started and he took to the air, I realized I had no way of dealing with him if he stayed in the air. So, I made use of the information I learned and called out to him in Draconic. I taunted him asking why he was hiding in the air like a coward, and even his baby brother Kiln didn’t resort to such tactics before I killed him.”

“You speak Draconic?!” All 3 of the ponies asked in unison.

“Yeah, I speak a few languages but wasn’t sure if any of them would be applicable here. Once I heard them though I knew it was the same. I didn’t think it’d lead to…. this much destruction. Was anyone killed?”

Both alicorns looked over to LT Force. “Thankfully no, our medics were able to jump in quickly. Unicorns used their create water spells to put out any creature that needed it. The last rough estimate I’d heard so far was 70 injured but we aren’t sure what percentage of that belongs to each nation.”

Slowly I rise up onto my feet, “That’s fortunate at least. Well, this is my mess so I’ll go help transport the injured to the medical tents and see where else I can lend a hand.”

Luna puts a hoof on my chest, “Absolutely not. You can’t help the injured, Ignis, you ARE the injured. Lieutenant, make sure my paladin makes it to the medical tents. His injury isn’t as bad as it initially seemed, but that’s still quite deep. Get some rest Ignis, Tia and I need to speak with you once we sort out all this chaos.”

After a few seconds of silence Luna speaks up again, “Ignis?”

“As you command, my liege.” Honestly I might disobey this order. I’ve made it my top priority to stay busy as much as possible. I still haven’t really internally acknowledged the fact that I’m never going home, to either home.

Force and I start slowly making our way back towards the Equestrian encampment. After around 30 seconds or so I guess Force was uncomfortable with the silence. “Sir, are you okay? You look pretty out of it.”

“We got lucky Lieutenant. No one died today, but at the end of the day I am almost solely responsible for what happened. This is kind of like a… a wake up call for me. On some level I think I believed this was just all a dream or a game of sorts. But I literally played with other people's lives, my actions have consequences.”

I’m not sure if I was able to properly explain my thoughts but Force seemed to understand well enough, she gave a small nod before responding. “That’s one of the first things we end up learning when we join the guard. Ponies are pretty good natured and happy go lucky, but during training they intentionally give us a massive shock while we’re goofing off during one of the first training exercises. It’s a pretty common phrase they throw around, “This isn’t a game, if we mess up, ponies die.””

In the middle of her response we arrive at one of the medical tents and head inside. I grab a roll of gauze and take a seat in the corner of the tent. Lieutenant removes her helmet and takes a seat next to me and watches curiously as I remove my cloak and shirt. “Wow, I don’t know what I was expecting, but I know it wasn’t bright red hair. Is that natural?”

“Yeah it’s natural. You seem like you’re doing fine, so I’m heading back out there to help out. Don’t leave the tent and make me get in trouble please.”

“I’ll be out there in an hour or so. I should be mostly recovered by then so I can help out if they still need it.” At this point I’ve finished wrapping the gauze around my lower torso.

“An hour? Sir that wound will take at least a week. You’ll be lucky if you can leave the tent before we start packing up to head back to Equestria.” I just offer the mare a shrug and she puts her helmet back on and leaves me to my thoughts in the tent.

Honestly I was hoping I’d have a level up by the time the dust settled, but I guess since I never interacted with Frostbite or Tormura I didn’t get any experience for their deaths. What’s going to happen with the dragons now? Three important dragons died within a week, including the Dragon Lord, this could lead to war. Technically Tormuras duel with Luna started as soon as I was defeated, so legally speaking there shouldn’t be any problems with his death. Frostbite was the aggressor as well. The only one that could really be argued as problematic is Kiln, but even then he committed a pretty egregious crime by threatening a princess.

I guess that’ll be one of the topics I bring up with the sisters. I also need to clarify how much power this coalition of leaders has as well. If they can demand Luna stand trial, what can they demand of me once my status as a bladesinger comes out?

I need to stop worrying for now, so let’s think about something else. Seeing the Lieutenant's bright red mane without her helmet reminded me of a girl from my fathers territory. I can’t remember her name, but we interacted a few times during some banquets. I wish I could remember more… she had that fiery red hair with blond streaks that almost all of the Summer elves had. Teal eyes, she was quite striking. I had planned on inviting her to my naming ceremony so I could attempt to court her.

Ember. That was her name, I wonder how she’s doing now?

Before I can go too far down the past life rabbit hole and end up emotional I get a notification that I’ve completed my Short Rest with a prompt for how many hit dice I want to consume.

Let’s use both paladin d10’s and 3 wizard d6’s.

8 + 8 + 3 + 6 + 3 = 28 Hit Points: 57/57.

Wow, that's crazy luck. Not only did I roll high on the two d10’s but I rolled the exact amount of HP I needed to get back to full. Next up is Arcane Recovery, at the end of a short rest I can use Arcane Recovery to recover spell slots that add up to 3. I elect to take three level 1 spell slots.

I remove the gauze and inspect my perfectly healed torso. It did end up leaving a pretty wicked scar running down the middle of my stomach, but otherwise everything is good as new! I throw my uniform back on and make my way out of the tent. As I pass through I give a quick look at all the ponies currently laid up on cots. Most of them seem to just have minor burns, so I continue on. If any of them were in a critical state I was going to use Cure Wounds on them, but luckily it’s not needed.

Since an hour has passed the scene outside of the medical tent is much more subdued this time around. Everyone currently out and about is focused on clearing up debris and re-setting up camp. Looking up towards the retractable roof of the colosseum I see hundreds of changelings currently working on repairing the hole so they can work on cooling the inside back down to a reasonable temperature. I opt to leave my visual enchantment disabled with my uniform as I wander around looking for either Princess. Wearing all black while the sun is out and its 115F sounds like a bad idea.

Eventually I find out that all the remaining leaders have decided to continue the summit and are located in a giant tent on the far northern end of the field. As I pass through the opening of the tent I realize I just went through a sound bubble. The first thing I hear is the changeling queen asking a question, “Celestia you're beating around the bush, is he a Bladesinger or not?”

Celestia is about to respond when she notices everyone else at the table is now looking behind her, at me. I decide to speak up since I already have their attention. “Sup? Did I miss anything important? I'll be honest, I assumed we'd call it a day and resume tomorrow.”

Luna rises to her hooves and gives me the stink eye, “You haven't missed much, we only started back up 5 or so minutes ago. The real question is why are you here against my order? You need to go back and recover.”

“Technically you ordered LT Force to escort me to the tent, you didn’t order me to do anything. Also,” I lift up my cloak and shirt. “I am fully recovered.”

I can tell Luna and Celestia had several questions, but it would seem they want to maintain an image of knowing everything about me. Granted, the fact that she even asked about my recovery in the first place is telling enough. Luna clears her throat and responds, “Very well. Some of us proposed putting a pause on things until repairs were finished, but it went to a vote and the majority decided we’d continue immediately.”

Luna returns to her mat on the ground and I take a seat between her and Shining. Since there’s no table or crystals now I guess it’s not too important where I sit. I nod to Queen Aurora and she reiterates her inquiry to Celestia. I’m curious what approach she’ll take here. I know she hasn’t been super happy with me lately but I think she still appreciates what I’m doing.

She decides to tell most of the truth. “His art of bladesinging is very similar to the extinct art in our history, but it is not the same. It’s significantly weaker, he was unable to even defeat a severely mana starved Nightmare Moon. I think that says enough, no?”

Everyone quietly ponders her words for a few minutes before the lead cow from Minos speaks up. “Can we have a demonstration?”

Celestia looks to me as if telling me it’s my decision, “Not today. My wounds are healed but it used just about all the mana I had. I don’t mind giving a demonstration tomorrow or later this week. I am curious though, what if Celestia said yes? Would it really make me some kind of boogeyman? Even more curiously, what do you all even plan on doing if it turns out that I am a true Bladesinger?” I lean forward and give each individual a very brief stare down.

I don’t put my hand to my hilt or anything too aggressive. I'm just genuinely shocked that they’re actually bringing this up. Surely, they don’t plan on attempting to make demands of me? King Silverwing gives me the answer I’m looking for, “I wouldn’t call you a boogeyman, but it would definitely make every nation uncomfortable to know that a Bladesinger has not only re-emerged into the world, but they’ve even aligned themself to a particular country. In our texts the old singers are described as a neutral party that only stepped in if disputes were beginning to destabilize the balance of the world. It’s a shame that they fell to Discord. Even their libraries and training halls were destroyed, leaving no way to pass on their art.”

I raise my eyebrow at him and make a gesture with my hand telling him to go on. He hasn’t answered the final part of my question. Queen Aurora chimes in before the griffon can continue, “We can’t demand you to do anything, but we would likely introduce a vote to have your oath abolished. After that we would request you step away from Equestria and act as a neutral force of balance the same way your predecessors did. This is all hypothetical though, I have no reason to believe Celestia lied to us and if what she said is true then there will likely be no follow up votes for this agenda topic.”

I have some thoughts on the matter, but I elect to hold my tongue for now. “Alright. Let’s move on for today then, what’s the next topic for discussion?”

“For the day 1 agenda there are no more topics for public discussion. The second half of every day is slotted out for private meetings between specific nations that requested or agreed to a discussion. Equestria and the Changelings have a meeting booked, and Ciervana has a meeting with Griffonia. Draconia had a meeting scheduled with Minos, but it would seem that is currently impossible. I’ll see you all here bright and early tomorrow for day 2!” The changeling queen stands up and walks over to Celestia.

Luna and I rise and begin to follow the two to wherever the meeting is being held, but Celestia turns around and faces us. “Neither of you have to be here for this meeting if you don’t want to. Aurora and I just wanted to catch up and make some small tweaks to our alliance agreement.

“Do you not want us there? Cause it’s like 4PM and there’s literally nothing else for us to do. I know you and Luna wanted to talk to me as well so why don’t we come along and just knock it all out in 1 go. Unless, did you have something else you’d rather do Luna?” I Inquire.

“It is as you say. However sister, if you simply wish to attend this meeting alone then that’s fine but if we had to choose we’d like to accompany you.”

Once again, Celestia wasn’t lying. I think we’ve been in this tent for atleast an hour and they’ve just been talking like a couple of friends catching up. I wish I had added Message to my cantrip list last time I long rested. Atleast that way I could have my own side bar with Luna. Almost as if she could detect my growing boredom Celestia taps Luna on the barrel and all 3 of them look over to me. “So Ignis, what is that glowing light that came down on Inferno during your fight. When I saw it for the first time in the mountain I assumed it was a feature of your legendary sword, but seeing it again with that illusionary blade piqued my curiosity.”

“That is eloquently known as Divine Smite. When I land any melee blow I can imbue the attack with divine energy. Ever since I performed the ritual with Luna and took an oath as her paladin I’ve been able to perform such feats. Pulling from that same source of energy is also how I acquired my new healing capabilities.” I look over at the changeling queen with a minor amount of suspicion, “Are you sure we should be discussing my capabilities with her in the room though?”

The queen just gives me a soft smile as Celestia responds, “Oh it’s fine Aurora and I have been friends for eons now. We just don’t get many opportunities to sit down with each other since she lives all the way out here in the desert. I trust her. With that out of the way though let’s get a bit serious here. I overheard your conversation with Miss Force, I’m glad you’re aware that you are atleast somewhat to blame for what happened today. However, the more pressing matter is what we should do with Draconia. We’ll almost certainly need to have a discussion with them, but I’d say it’s quite likely that this devolves into a real conflict. Aurora, what side do you think the summit will take?”

She hums in consideration for a moment, “Well that’s tough to say. If we assume no creature understood what your cute paladin said in his taunt then I think it’d be easy to convince the others that Draconia was the aggressor and your response was proportionate. Even if we do that though, the dragons are proud to an idiotic degree. I wouldn’t be surprised if they left the coalition and declared war on all of us if we took your side here.” Cute?!

It’s the first time I’ve been called cute in either of my lives and I find myself looking at the floor in response to the compliment. “Don’t be fooled by this harlot, Ignis. She just wants your bloodline for the possibility of bringing Bladesingers into her hive.” Luna unexpectedly jumps in.

Aurora holds up a chitin hoof to her chest pretending to be offended. “Harlot?! I guess I should’ve known better than to go after your paladin. You have always been the jealous type.”

What is she implying?

“What are you implying?” It would appear Luna had the same thought as me.

“Oh nothing. I’m just glad your return has been going well Luna. So Ignis, what else can you do? Apparently you can significantly injure a dragon all by yourself, conjure illusionary blades that inflict wounds on the mind, channel the power of the moon into a smite, and even perform healing magic that is unheard of in this realm. Oh and you’re a bladesinger, can’t forget that one.”

“Is my healing that impressive? It didn’t seem any different from the healing I received at the castle after my duel with Shining.”

“No no, Equestrian healing is only capable of performing similar feats if the wound is merely skin deep. Anything beyond that and all the spell would do is prevent things from getting worse. You healed your intestines, abdominal muscles, and skin. Interesting that it left a scar though. Don’t think you can dodge my question though, what else can you do?”

I look to Luna and she gives me a nod of approval to divulge further details. I end up walking the queen through most of my spellbook before putting my inquiry out for the group. “I think we should poach Lieutenant Force to the Night Watch.” Okay that wasn’t really an inquiry, but you get my point.

“Any reason why her in particular?” Celestia asks.

“She’s the first guard to go beyond tolerating me. Actually, she doesn’t even really seem to care that I’m a freaky alien. She has a fire in her eyes though, that look that ambitious people have. It’s something I’ve basically never seen in ponies before, almost like your entire species lacks ambition. She has it though, I can feel it.”

Luna speaks up this time, “Aye, cutie marks and a long standing era of peace have caused our ponies to become complacent. They’re all just happy to do what their cutie mark says to do and have fun with their friends and family. Even before my banishment ambition was a rare trait to find in a pony, but I daresay it’s worse in this era. Did she apply right before we left for this event though? I’m quite confident I’m caught up on all the applications so far and I didn’t see a file with her name on it.”

“No, she was going to apply but she said that after thinking about she decided the working hours would impact her social life too much. I think if we both talk to her though we can probably win her over.”

Luna just gives a deep sigh, “I’d rather not badger somepony into joining my guard, but if you really think she’d be a good fit then we can talk to her at some point tonight or tomorrow.”

I stand up and give a small yawn as I notice how hungry I am. I offer a polite goodbye to Aurora and tell the sisters I’m going to find food. I half expected atleast one of them to leave with me considering this is also their normal dinner time, but they both appear to be staying behind so I take my leave.

Let’s make sure I’m keeping track of everything. Potential war with dragons, demonstrating my bladesong tomorrow, and I need to mentally prepare for a major shitshow if they try to demand I abolish my oath and become a third party. I feel like that’s everything so far? Ah well it can’t be too important if I’m forgetting it. Time for food then some light training before bed, got another long day ahead of us tomorrow.

Author's Note

Honestly this chapter was a slog to write. I'm not sure why but it was a complete struggle to work my way through this one. Also a very slow chapter, mostly just dialogue and fleshing out more of the leaders some. Things should start getting interesting again next chapter.

Thanks for reading

Week Long Vacation and All I Got Was These Bandages

Luna 1st Pony POV

“Lieutenant Force, you’re in charge of getting this small party back to Equestria. Ignis will likely be in bad shape when I get to him and I’ll need to take him directly to Canterlot. I apologize deeply for this circumstance but I trust you can get it done.” I order the pegasus mare.

She snaps into a crisp salute, despite having no guard gear on, and barks out, “Of course, ma’am! No apology needed. Bring him home.” She gives me a smirk and I cast my teleport.

Popping into existence I look upon the changeling colosseum with fear plastered across my features. Idiot. Stupid. Numbskull. You knew this would happen as soon as he described changelings in chains, but nooo let’s just wait at camp and see what happens! Now I’ll be lucky if he hasn’t killed himself through over exertion. Please be okay, Ignis.

Blitzing through the entryway into the colosseum I’m confused at the sight before me, changelings are pouring out of the hive and sprinting for the exit en masse. Did she evacuate the hive? Why?

Glancing into my scrying spell I see Chrysalis has assumed an elven form. That harlot! Seeing her naked form momentarily takes me back to the moment when I was tricked and captured during the summit. An innocent letter from Ignis asking me to meet him outside the colosseum to discuss something private. Only to discover a mostly naked Ignis standing there confessing his development of feelings for me.

I hadn’t even realized what my own feelings on the matter were until I heard the words leave that imposters lips. The happiness welling up caught me by complete surprise. We closed the distance for an embrace when I felt something stinging into my neck followed by complete darkness. Now I don’t even know what to do with myself, I’ve told nopony what happened but even Tia commented that I’ve apparently been more touchy with him since the incident.

Sprinting through the narrow hallways of the hive I’m brought out of my thoughts by a loud explosion that is shortly followed by small vibrations and rumblings throughout the entire hive. Glancing into the scrying spell again I see my paladin barely holding himself up on 1 knee with his body leaning against his Moonblade. Abandoning my priority over stealth I scream out for Ignis to run and escape, hoping to meet him halfway and teleport him out of there.

Now that my Umbral Cloak has faded due to my outburst I throw caution to the wind and transform into a cloud of stars as I speed through the cave system. Forcing my incorporeal form through the cracks in the debris blocking my path I arrive at the throne room just in time to watch as the elfs now blonde hair ignites into actual fire. Smoke is pooling at his feet as lines of fire shoot out from his feet standing in the center of a crater.

I pause in pure awe as he shouts for everypony to shut up and declares that we will witness “the indomitable human spirit.” He dashes forward at an impossible speed leaving a trail of fire in the air down the path he took to reach the changeling queen, and as I ignite my horn to blink next to him I’m caught in awe again as he creates three Strengthen runes along the blade of his sword. He’s going to use Equestrian magic to empower his own smite. Frighteningly genius. I’ll have to teleport him somewhere uninhabited or else this sword strike will likely kill somepony.

I blink right behind him and reach out of my hoof as he begins swinging his sword towards Chrysalis. He lets out a heart wrenching scream as his fiery hair burns even brighter, turning a dark shade of red. His moonblade begins glowing brightly and…. Vibrating? That can’t be good. It’s almost like the sword is crying out from abuse. It can’t handle that much mana.

I push my hoof through the fire on his back, surprised that it doesn’t burn me in any way, and I touch his back right as his sword is about to strike down the changeling queen. Glancing up I spot a large chunk of the roof falling rapidly towards us, it’ll crush all 3 of us. I wait until the last possible moment and as a web of cracks appear on the changeling queens chitin I begin channeling my teleport.

We appear in the old castle located in the everfree as I wrap him up in my wings as my vision is filled with bright light and my ear drums are assaulted by what sounds like tens of lightning bolts striking at once.

Opening my eyes I gently place his unconscious body on the group, after checking that he’s still breathing. Glancing at my wings and legs I let out a scoff at the absurdity of my own body. Spots of singed fur, dozens of scrapes and cuts, misaligned feathers, if I took that hit directly without defending myself it could even threaten my own life. With one lesson in runes he’s grown this much… his body nor his sword can handle it though. I glance at the Moonblade laying on the ground next to his sleeping body. The previously glowing swirls along the blade are completely extinguished, it doesn’t even look like a magical weapon anymore, just a heavily decorated fancy blade.

I grab the sword with my telekinesis and slide it into the scabbard around his waist before teleporting both of us back to Canterlot.

Ignis 1st Person POV

Exhaustion Level: 0
Movement Speed: 30ft
Hit Points: 63/63
Experience: 79,500/64,000

Level Up!

Exhaustion level zero? How long was I out? Also that puts me like 5,500 XP from level 11. Does that mean I killed Chrysalis?

“Quests.”

Glancing at my quests to see if one appeared that involved Chrysalis I see a quest titled Oath of Vengeance. Looks like a subclass quest appeared since I vowed revenge against Chrysalis, but to my absolute dread it’s still in progress. So I got awarded experience for defeating her, then? If the quest isn’t completed then she’s definitely still alive, but with this much XP it’s the only explanation.

Well let’s not waste any time then, “Add 1 level to Wizard.”

Instantly a 6 sided die appears and lands on 5.

Hit Points: 70/70.

Now that wizard is level 8 I need to come up with what I want to do with my Ability Score Improvement. I could round out my odd stats, 16 Constitution and then either 16 Wisdom or 14 Charisma. Nah, let’s just take a feat. What do I choose though? I could do Defensive Duelist and get more AC, that’s always useful. I could take Dual Wielder and use my Shadow Blade and my Moonblade at the same time, that also adds +1 AC. Both are very tempting. What’s this?

Strike of the Giants (Fire Strike) once per turn add 1d10 to a melee weapon attack. Oooo, that’s tempting as well.

It’s only once per turn, meh. I would’ve taken Dual Wielder without a second thought but my off-hand weapon can only be used with my bonus action. Summoning the shadowblade and activating my bladesong are both bonus actions. I also can already attack with booming blade or green-flame blade with my bonus action thanks to my bracers. Defensive duelist also uses my reaction so I can’t combine it with the shield spell. Maybe I should just take fighting initiate and take the Defense fighting style. That gives me a +1 AC as well, and it’s unconditional.

Wisdom Saving Throw.

4 + 6 = 10.

Suddenly the feat options automatically selects Eldritch Adept. Then Devil’s Sight.

Ah that’s much better. I truly thought you were dead, I was unable to even feel your presence to attempt my influence. Now I’ve got my hooks in you and I fully intend to never let go, bladesinger.

Ah fuck. What the fuck is this? She can exert influence over the system? How is she even talking to me while time is frozen?

I'm directly inside your psyche, of course I can even interact with you in this interesting state. Seeing this, though… what are you?

Hell if I know. I woke up in this body with this strange reality warping system already attached to me.

“Choose spells, Greater Invisibility and Resilient Sphere. Unprepare Locate Creature and prepare Greater Invisibility and Resilient Sphere.”

Spellbook configuration confirmed! Level up complete! 5th Level Spell Slot unlocked! Simulating Long Rest.

Time unfreezes and I open my eyes. Judging by the soft feeling of a pillow behind my head and this plain white ceiling I’d wager I’m back in the Canterlot castle medical wing. Before I give any indication that I’m awake I ponder on my situation with Nightmare Moon. I thought Luna said she wasn’t her own entity? Did the elements split them? Did Nightmare just make Luna think she was responsible for everything to increase her suffering? I wouldn’t doubt that last option, the villains here are all quite sadistic.

Hearing a snore to my left I look over and see Luna’s sleeping head resting on the edge of my hospital bed. Even though her mane is a cloud of stars it still somehow looks quite messy and unkempt, has she stayed by my side this entire time?! I start to reach out towards her to pet the top of her head but pause when I hear a murmur to my right. Looking that way I see Force ungracefully sprawled out on a couch on her back with her wings unfurled. She murmurs something again in her sleep as her back right leg twitches. Glad to see she made it back, too.

With a much softer expression on my face I turn back to Luna and place my hand on top of her head. After rubbing my thumb along her forehead, near the base of her horn, her snoring stops and her eyes flutter open.

“You’re awake!” Luna practically screams before ramming into me at full force and wrapping her forelegs around my neck. She then quickly pulls away and gives me a hard glare before scolding me. “You absolutely idiotic hero! What were you thinking?! OH LOOK AT ME I’M A BLADESINGER I’LL JUST FIGHT THE QUEEN OF CHANGELINGS WITH A BODY THAT CAN BARELY MOVE! Who am I, Ignis?! I’m you! Seriously, why?! No, wait I get why and I’m proud of you, but why not wait for me to show up or ask for help?!”

I just give her a soft smile and resume petting her head before answering. “I knew you were watching over me. I trusted you, and you came through.”

She looks slightly embarrassed as she jerks her head to knock my hand off. Then she stares at the ground, “Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Either I’m supposed to be the one in danger, or we’re supposed to be in danger together. Don’t make your princess save you.”

I just give a quiet chuckle, “You’re right. It won’t happen again, my Goddess.”

“Oh hush, you.” She then looks up into my eyes and gasps. Uh oh. “What happened to your eyes?!”

It’s my turn to flash a face of concern. “What do you mean what happened to my eyes?!”

She ignites her horn and a small mirror appears in the air before floating in front of my face.

My eyes are a solid deep red now, with a white vertical slit down the middle. They resemble dragon eyes or….Nightmare Moons… oh. My hair looks like dads. Before I can even offer an explanation to Luna about my eyes I can’t help but to grab my hair in my hands as I stare down at it. I feel tears welling up as I remember my mother. I knew it caught on fire during my outburst but… you were supposed to go back to silver… da-damnit.

I squeeze my hair in my hands and clench my eyes closed. I’ve cried more times since I came here than I ever did during my short life as a human, but this is the first time it’s been from pure grief.

After some reassuring words and another round of hugs I wipe my eyes and look back up at Luna. “I imagine they’d be red regardless, but my pupils are like this because of Nightmare Moon. I was able to resist her during the fight against Chrysalis but she caught me by surprise right as I woke up. It seems I’m now able to see perfectly normal in complete and total darkness, even if it’s magical darkness. I don’t feel any different right now though, so her corruption must be pretty weak as it stands.” I’m lucky the system didn’t force me to take a level in Warlock, all things considered.

“By the way, how long have I been unconscious?” I ask.

“A full week if my math is correct. It took us 3 days to make it back to Canterlot and you’ve been asleep for 4 days since then. It’s currently 0830 making today day 8.” LT Force decided now was a good time to chime in.

Luna looks at the pegasus then back at me as she realizes she’s still basically laying on top of me. With a squeak she flails for a bit before clumsily falling off the bed, landing on all fours. With a quick cough she speaks up, “Indeed. You were asleep for just over a week.”

The guard just laughs, “No need to be embarrassed just because I’m here, your Majesty. I know he’s the only guard you have right now and the two of you have grown close. It’s no secret to anypony working in the castle.”

I catch a specific wording she used and butt in, “If I’m her only guard does that mean you’re still choosing to stay with the day guard?”

Luna answers for her, “Not quite. She submitted her request up the chain on her side, but she was presented with an offer to be the personal knight for Princess Cadence.”

“And I’d rather be the direct #2 for a Princess than just another officer in a guard, no offense to either of you.”

“Hey, no need to apologize for doing what’s best for your career. I get it. Congratulations, Force.” I offer the pegasus my congrats.

Said pegasus then stands up and makes her way towards the door, “And now to carry out my final order as Day Guard Lieutenant Unstoppable Force. Princess Celestia wanted to be alerted when you woke up. I imagine she’ll be here shortly….. Glad to see you back on your feet, sir.” With that she makes her exit and closes the door behind her.

“Such a shame, I really like her. Unfortunate that this other random princess recognized her worth before she could switch over.” I state with a slightly disappointed tone.

“Oh shush. This is a big moment for her, you should just be happy for her.” Luna scolds.

“I am! Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for her, but I’m still allowed to be disappointed. Until we gather up the thestrals we are in desperate need of help.”

With a sigh Luna replies, “I know. I will admit if we had more guards we likely wouldn’t spend as much time together, though.”

“I’m your personal knight though?”

“Yes, but Equestria firmly believes in a healthy work life balance. You don’t even really get to take advantage of your down time.”

“Oh unless you’re a princess, I suppose? Your sister especially, but even you to an extent have some of the worst work life balance I’ve ever seen.”

“Touche.”

Moving on to a different topic I ask Luna to catch me up on any current events. “So, what have I missed? Any new global problems pop up during my beauty sleep?”

“Thankfully no. We still haven’t heard from the dragons, but we’ve received letters of thanks from the other leaders around the globe. Many of them mentioned you specifically. Your quick thinking to figure out a way to root out the imposter changelings saved many lives that night, Ignis. There’s only two things of note, for some reason we’ve had a few different instances this week of guards showing up to their duty station for the day only to have no partner. The first time we thought somepony was just hungover in their bunk, but turns out the schedule only had 1 guard. It’s only happened 3 times, but the fact it happened at all is quite strange. The officers in charge of that are known to be quite consistent in the performance of their duties. There’s an investigation going on to see what’s causing these problem schedules. On my side of things there’s been 1 particularly nasty recurring nightmare I’ve been trying to solve, but have made no progress.”

“That sounds weird, but the nightmare is more interesting to me. What’s happening in the dream?”

“It’s a small unicorn filly in a completely dark void space and they’re always crying to themselves while covering their eyes with their forehoofs but when I show up to comfort them they always wake up. I haven’t been able to make any progress in figuring out what she’s so scared of.”

“That’s quite concerning. Do you know where she’s located? We can pay her a visit today once Celestia stops by and I get discharged.”

“I gave her appearance and cutie mark to one of the ponies in the census department and they tracked her down for me. Apparently she’s actually here in Canterlot at one of four orphanages in all of Equestria. I was actually planning to visit her as soon as you woke up.”

“You didn’t have to stay by my side this entire time, Luna. My condition would’ve improved or not regardless of your presence.”

“Yes, but I wanted to be here when you woke up.” She gives me a soft smile.

Suddenly the door clicks open and two alicorns walk in. One of them is Celestia and the other is a pink Alicorn with a heart on her ass. Celestia looks at me and then speaks. “Glad to see you’re in good health, Ignis. Allow me to introduce you to the only Princess you haven’t met yet! Ignis, Luna, this is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, she acts as our outward facing diplomat and is often away from the castle visiting foreign lands. She is also my niece.”

The new alicorn then looks at me with a bright smile and waves, “Hi! You can just call me Cadence, by the way. I’ve been so looking forward to meeting both of you! Auntie talks about both of you all the time in her letters! I heard you gave my coltfriend a run for his bits during your initial physical examination.” Looking from me to Luna her smile grows even bigger and she trots over and gives Luna a hug. “Auntie Luna! Can I call you Auntie? I’m so happy you’re back, I never got to meet you before the incident but Celestia has been so much happier since you came back. I’m glad you’re both ok!”

Luna responds before I do, “How about you just call me Lulu or Luna? That way you can just call Tia auntie without adding her name. I take it your domain is Love? That’s quite interesting, I always assumed our domains had to be a physical thing, but yours is a feeling or rather an emotion. I hope Tia doesn’t work you too hard, traveling is much too tiring for me, I’d hate for it to be my entire job.”

“Oh I love it! I get to meet all sorts of creatures and absorb their cultures. I get to spread love to all the corners of our plane! We should have dinner sometime, I’d love to hear any advice or wisdom you have for me as a newer Princess. Auntie just gives me vague answers and tells me to keep forging my own path.” She looks over to Celestia and gives her a pouting face.

Luna just chuckles as Cadence walks back over to Celestia and then gives her reply. “There is merit to my sister's words. I wouldn’t mind answering any specific questions you have, I think you could also give me some help with the more modern trends and customs. Will you be in the royal dining hall tonight?”

“I will! I’m looking forward to it.” Cadence then looks at me then back at Luna then back at me before tilting her head ever so slightly. She then leans over to Celestia and whispers something in her ear. The solar alicorn simply shakes her head in response to whatever Cadence said. The love princess then looks back to Luna, “I can definitely give you some pointers!”

Cadence's horn then lights up for a second before she looks at me, “Looks like duty calls, sorry we couldn’t talk, Ignis. You should come by the dining hall for breakfast tomorrow morning, I have some questions I was hoping you could answer for me. Nothing serious, I promise!” She then teleports out of the room.

“That one has far too much energy for me. Is she always like that?” I ask looking towards Celly.

“No, but she was excited to meet both of you. I mainly just wanted to stop by and check on your condition but it looks like you’re completely healed….. Absurd. I would like an explanation on your appearance though. I was watching your fight with Chrysalis and your new look causes me some concern. At first I thought you’d been possessed by Daybreaker.”

After explaining the intricacies of my race to Celestia and explaining the Nightmare Moon debacle she promises to have Twilight look into ways to combat the corruption without the elements. She says that she would prefer to not use them unless the corruption enters a more advanced stage, since the outcome of the elements is often unpredictable. After that she told me I was free to leave the medical wing whenever I felt like it, and she promptly left.

Once I got dressed Luna and I stopped by the dining hall so I could grab a bite to eat and then we set out for the Canterlot orphanage. After knocking on the door an elderly looking unicorn mare opened the door. After quickly panicking and dropping into a bow Luna gently told her she didn’t have to do that right now. “This is an unannounced visit, miss. No need to panic, we're just here to visit a pale yellow unicorn with a pattern of dots for a cutie mark. She’s been having some troubling nightmares and I wanted to stop by and check on her.”

The elderly mare stood up before replying. “Oh thank goodness. The poor dear wandered in here sometime last week apparently nopony knows who her parents are. I can’t believe somepony would just abandon their foal like that. Please follow me, if you could get her to tell you her name that’d be lovely. We haven’t been able to get a word out of her.”

While we’re following the mare Luna speaks up, “Her name is Cursive Hoof. I had some ponies in the census department figure out her name from my description of her appearance, they also correlated it to the report our foal services department received from you all when you took her in. Once they connected the dots, getting over here was one of my top priorities.”

We walk into a room with several beds and spot the filly drawing something while sitting on her bed. Luna calls out her name but receives no reaction. Once Luna gently prods her with her hoof the filly jumps and turns with a look of pure fear. I see Luna ignite her horn and they just stare at each other for a while. Every now and then the filly nods or shakes her head.

Getting bored of watching them have a telepathic conversation I look around at the pieces of paper scattered around her bed. One of them catches my eye and I pick it up. My face contorts to a look of confusion at the drawing, it’s some strange creature… it has two heads, one of them a unicorn the other a plain pony head. It has eyes and mouths down both of its necks and they connect to just a blob of mass at the bottom.

After staring at it in confusion for a few seconds I decide to ask the filly about the drawing. It’s quite unsettling to be honest. It almost looks like a hydra but with pony features, and I really want to confirm if this is what I think it is and why she drew it.

“Hey Cursive, what is this drawing of? Did you see something like this?” The filly just keeps staring at Luna, and I can feel my heartbeat quickening as a feeling of dread sets in. “HEY! Filly! Why did you draw this?!”

“Ignis!” Luna puts a hoof on my shoulder as I raise my voice towards the filly.

“What, Luna? I need to know why she drew this!”

“That’s fine, but you don’t need to yell.”

“She isn’t answering me?!”

Luna’s reply makes my blood run cold.

“Ignis, she’s deaf.”

Author's Note

ifykyk.

If you don't know, it'll be explained next chapter.

If you're thinking I didn't do enough setup or teasing for this I want you to go all the way back to when Luna had a block on her schedule for a couple of interview for potential Lunar Guards that she apparently blocked out the schedule for but forgot to select names for the interviews. :P

Thanks for reading!

Main Quest - Journey to the West pt. 5

4.

Death Saving Throw: 1/3 Fails. 0/3 Success.

2.

Death Saving Throw: 2/3 Fails. 0/3 Success.

16.

Death Saving Throw: 2/3 Fails. 1/3 Success.

+7 Hit Points: 7/75.

Opening my eyes with a groan the first thing I see is a raven a few inches away from my face.

You need to move, sir. Your companion is quite winded and has put all of her focus into evasion.

I try to move my arms to push myself up but there’s unexpected resistance. With a hard yank my right arm is freed as dirt and pebbles scatter into the air. Holy shit I’m actually embedded into the ground like a cartoon character. There’s a loud crashing sound off to the right, behind me. Pulling the rest of my body out of the ground as my back and ribs scream at me in pain I reach into my pocket and squeeze my sending stone. “Luna, I’m okay, but I lost my wings. What should I do?”

“Thank Harmony you’re okay! I only have enough mana for one spell, and if that doesn’t wrap this up then we need to flee. Get back to camp and pack everything up, you might need to use your flying potion in the worst case scenario.”

“Do you know if this creature dislikes anything in particular?”

“Gold, why?”

“I’m gunna pack everything up and then banish it. That’ll give us a minute to make as much distance as possible. Unless you wanna kill it, I could try that paralysis spell I used on you.”

“No, this is just a wild animal whose territory we’ve encroached upon. They already have a very low population, so we should only kill it as a last resort. Let’s go with your banishment plan.”

Alright, the boss has spoken. Luckily it seems like I’m out of combat, so let me dump some healing before I start moving. Lay on Hands all 10 points, Cure Wounds level 3.

+10 +18

Hit Points: 35/75.

“Thanks for the assist Cal, can you point me towards camp then go hover near Luna? I want you within 30ft of her and the bear so I can cast through you.”

It’s about 70ft south west, sir.

I just stare at the bird for a few seconds, “Which way is south west?” Callisid silently points a wing and I can feel the disappointment radiating off of him. “Don’t look at me with that tone of voice. I’m pretty sure the sun doesn’t rise and set in the same direction in this realm, but I haven’t asked.”

I didn’t say anything, sir.

That’s what I thought you lil’ shit. Turning away from the raven I take off towards camp. Within 10 seconds or so I’m packing up the tent and other supplies into Luna’s bag. “Luna the camping bag is ready for you to magic it wherever you normally magic it off to. I’m going to throw on my Mizzium and then fly back over there. You still doin okay?”

I throw on my backpack and then awkwardly place the Mizzium over the top of it. Luna replies but sounds even more out of breath than before. “The beast is quite persistent…. I did not think I would tire out before it, but that’s likely due to my mana running low. You’ll need to bring that camping bag with you as well, I can’t store it remotely.”

Shit. Well I guess I’m not using a sword anyways so both of my hands are free. I chug the potion of flying, grab the camping bag, and take off towards the mountainous space bear. Once I’m within 30ft of the ursa I let Luna know. “Alright I’m going to banish it now, get ready to move.”

I pull out a bit from my coin pouch and yell out the incantation for Banishment.

Arcana Check (Mizzium, DC: 18)

9 + 13 = 22.

A loud crackle echoes through the air and all of us stop moving for a few seconds waiting for something to happen.

Nothing happens.

Roll for Initiative.

19 + 5 = 24.

Fuck. Alright let’s try this one more time. Bladesong. Nothing says I have to actually be holding a sword to use the bladesong. “Ignis, when are you going to banish it?”

“I just did, it resisted it. Buy me 6 seconds and I can try again.” My action was the banishment spell and my bonus action was the bladesong, so my turn is already over. Luna fires off a pitifully weak magic beam at the bear, purely to try and grab its attention. Unfortunately it seems to not even notice the attack as the gargantuan creature slowly turns away from her and stares me down. “Do you want me to try banishing it again, or should I try the paralysis spell?”

“Try to banish it one more time if you can.”

The sound of trees bending and cracking rings out as the bear takes two big steps towards me. I’m only at 35 HP, I can’t risk getting hit by this thing once. It swings its paw through the air and it sounds like an airplane is flying at me from all the wind noise. Time seems to slow down as I fly to the left to try and evade the swing. I’m not going to make it in time, “Shield!” I throw out an empty palm and project the shield between me and the paw. It seems like I moved far enough to the left that the paw is forced to slide off my shield and gently push me out of the way.

Okay that worked for the first swing, where’s the second? I find my answer as the moonlight from above is suddenly obscured, looking up I freeze in fear as my eyes widen. It’s going to stomp me into the ground. I point my palm up and rotate the shield just in time. The paw hits the shield, and thankfully it doesn’t shatter it instantly. Unfortunately this doesn’t prevent the secondary consequence of being stomped, I’m being quickly pushed towards the ground.

Suddenly I hear wings flapping just a few feet away from me and the next thing I know I’m wrapped up in soft dark blue wings, and with a loud pop my vision is temporarily filled with a white flash. An instant later I feel grass under me and the loud pseudo-explosion from what must’ve been the bear stomping the ground is heard a few feet away from where I’m currently at. Luna teleported us, but how did she move when it wasn’t her turn? “Lulu, was that all of your mana?”

“No, but if I use my attack spell there’s a very good chance it’ll actually zero me out. If that happens it’ll take even longer for me to replenish my pool. More importantly, we are not out of danger, I only blinked us a few feet away. You need to banish it. Now.”

“My Goddess is a real slave driver sometimes. As you command, Your Grace.” I lean back away from the winged embrace so I can see the Ursa as I hold out another bit and shout the same incantation as before. This is my last 4th level spell slot, make it count!

Arcana Check (Mizzium, DC: 18)

8 + 13 = 21.

An even louder cracking sound permeates through the air as reality ripples around the bear, but to my absolute despair the creature remains. “Luna, how far can you teleport us?”

“If I’m in an unfamiliar environment like this I can only teleport as far as I can see, but that won’t be far enough to truly get us away from the Ursa. I don’t have enough mana to get us to any of the closest teleportation circles. Does that mean your spell failed again?”

“I’m afraid so. What do we do now?” This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed her so hard to attempt the repairs on the Moonblade.

“Stay here, I’m going to hit it with my spell one more time.”

“Wait, I can just make us invisible and we can run away.” I should’ve come up with this earlier, but my brain was in fight mode. I was tunnel visioned on Banishment or Hold Monster. I place my hand on her neck and Invisibility at 3rd level, targeting myself and her. “Let’s go. This will last for an hour.”

I feel her pull away and stand up, and that makes me realize something. “Wait, Luna, I can’t see you. Which way are you going?”

Something unseen pulls on my hand until I feel soft fur in between my fingers. My hand continues to be pulled and I realize she’s pulling my arm around the back of her neck. “Now lean into me and I’ll lean into you.” She speaks just a few inches away from my ear, barely above a whisper. I follow her instructions and I’m glad she has blindsight instead of truesight. She knows where I am but can’t actually see me, and the reason I’m glad she can’t see me is because I can feel my face has heated up.

I can’t really explain why, but this feels very intimate. Is this pony handholding?

Yes. This is often how couples will walk to their destination together.

Really?! You pick now of all times to randomly chime in?

Although causing you to become even more flustered does bring me some level of amusement, the reason I’ve “chimed in” is to alert you that the Ursa Major is still following you.

Wait, is it actually? I glance back and see that it is slowly wandering in our general direction, but it’s not looking directly at us.

It’s likely tracking you with its nose.

“Luna, th-” I whisper out, but I’m interrupted.

“I’m aware. We likely have some time before it can hone in on us precisely, and I’m trying to think of a new plan.”

Author's Note

Listen I know this is really short, but I wanted to put out a chapter today and I just kept getting distracted while I was writing. I pushed through and stayed up like 3 hours later than I normally do to try and get this up to 2k words, but I think this is a good stopping point for the chapter and in 400 more words it likely won't be as good of a stopping point.

I also felt pretty scattered brain when trying to come up with the decision making process for Ignis and Luna, so if I completely overlooked a more sound strategy or better spells for this situation then I'm not gunna lie I would like to know about it in the comments. Mainly because if Ignis had super bad decision making this chapter it was because of ME being out of it and I feel like the character could've come up with whatever the better strategy is.

If the better strategy is some insane niche shit though, then I likely won't rewrite the chapter, but if its believable for Ignis to have come up with it then I'll most likely rewrite this chapter.

Anyways that's all, thanks for reading!

Side Quest - Attend the Knighting Ceremony pt. 1

“You’re overthinking it, in my opinion. What she said and your quest are likely not correlated at all, especially since it seems she has nothing to do with that power of yours. If Harmony was responsible for that power and for you being here then you could interpret her words that way, but those same words indicate she is just as clueless about your presence as everypony else.” Luna answers my question after the room fell into silence for a few seconds.

“I don’t think the two are directly correlated though. I think they are indicating the same thing. Two separate facts that individually point towards the same answer. Maybe this just isn’t worth stressing out over, though. I mean it’ll either happen or it won’t, right?”

Deception

16 + 1 = 17.

Seems like Luna and Celestia both saw through me, judging by the looks on their faces. Thankfully they seem to realize I just want to move on from the topic and stop thinking about it. Turning towards Force I fully pivot the conversation. “You finish writing your oath, yet?”

“Yeah it’s pretty much done. I might trim it down a bit, but that’s all.”

“Hopefully your ceremony is less eventful than mine, haha. I don’t wanna deal with another dragon in our territory. Are the elements going to be here for this one as well?”

Celestia chimes in with the answer for this one, “Not this time I’m afraid. They actually had quite an eventful week as well. Rainbow Dash won the young fliers competition in heroic fashion, Rarity was ponynapped by a pack of diamond dogs, and as we speak they are headed to Appleloosa to deliver an apple tree that should help kick start the settlement's own agriculture. Well the real reason is that they’re going to settle a land dispute we’ve been having with some buffalo in the area, but they don’t know that yet. Even if they settled that in a day the train ride is long enough that they still wouldn’t make it back here in time.”

“Wait so it was okay to postpone the ceremony until Luna and I could make it, but you won’t postpone it for the elements?”

Cadence takes over for this question. “If it were up to me I’d delay it for them too, but this ceremony is mostly an honor for the individual being knighted. Force doesn’t really know the element bearers and apparently isn’t too bothered by their absence.” The princess actually has a small pout as she huffs in indignation.

“I said I didn’t mind delaying it so Twilight could attend. You were the one that said it’s fine because we’d have to push the ceremony so far back that it’d be after the Gala. My Princess is right about my feelings on the matter, though. I’ve only briefly met the elements and it doesn’t really matter to me if they’re in attendance or not.” The future knight defends herself as she finishes her meal.

I’ve only got one more topic I want to bring up before I excuse myself from the table. “What’s the status of the changeling refugee’s we accepted right before Luna and I left the kingdom?”

“I ended up allowing them to establish the core of their hive in the depleted section of the crystal mines below us. However, I did give them 1 condition. They have to expand the hive into a cavern and share the space with the thestrals once they arrive. They’re allowed to come and go into the city as they please but must remain undisguised at all times, and with their burrowing capabilities I think they’ll be very useful to the thestrals once they arrive and establish a new colony.” Celestia gives me a pretty satisfactory answer.

“Wow that’s perfect, Luna and I decided that we’re going to recruit the changelings into the Night Guard. Having them cohabitate with the thestrals makes the idea even more viable.” I stand up from the table and start making my way out of the dining hall. “Nightmare Moon is attending the Gala, by the way. Figured I’d give you a heads up.”

Everyone looks a little stunned, but Force still slowly follows me into the hallway. As the door closes I think Celestia’s brain finally rebooted because I hear her shout, “WHAT?!” and just chuckle while walking away from the room.

“So where is Silver Lance? You know if he’s been doing okay?” I ask Force as she leads me down the hallway.

“He should be on patrol at the train station, making sure nopony is bringing in illegal goods to the city. I don’t really know him well enough to know how he’s been doing. I just happened to notice his name when I was looking at the duty roster today. If he’s still patrolling though then he must be doing pretty well.”

“So I gotta ask Force, do you normally get stares and side eyes like this when you’re in a patrol area? Or could it be because there’s two knights here, or, and what I suspect is most likely, is that it’s because of me?” We’re still a few minutes away from the actual train station but we entered the patrol area for the station around 3 minutes ago. Since then just about every single guard we’ve passed by has either side eyed us in an attempt to be subtle or just blatantly stared at us.

“Believe it or not I actually do get a few stares on my own nowadays. Ever since the Hydra incident there’s been murmurs around the city about the power of the two knights. At Least these stares are better than the ones you were getting your first week in town. Instead of just fear or disgust there’s now a decent number of stares that contain admiration and awe. It’s been so long since any of the princesses actually took on a personal knight that many didn’t know what to expect from us. Now that we’ve proven ourselves somewhat there’s actually a few ponies that are aspiring to join our ranks.”

“How many knights can each princess have? Back in my homeland there were thousands of knights at a time and on Earth it had kinda faded into just being a status thing.”

“There’s not really a limit as far as I know. Historically it’s only been 1 at a time, it sounds like your knights filled a different role than they do here. Equestrian Knights are the personal guard for the princess they are sworn too. They might have guard details outside their bed chambers during off time, but we will always be by their side during their official duties.” She has a point, I knew they had referred to me as Luna's personal guard but I thought that was just my specific title, not the title for all knights.

My last question on this topic makes me a bit flustered to ask, so I can’t help but to glance away from the pegasus and scratch my cheek while asking it. “And…is there any rules about relationships between a princess and her knight?”

“When I was doing my research to help write my oath I went through the old archives of knights and apparently Princess Celestia courted her own knight on 3 separate occasions. So, at the very least there’s precedent that falls in your favor. Technically though there is the fraternization policy between guards and their superiors and somepony could probably make the argument that you’ll be violating that.”

“Woah I’m not violating anything, I was just asking out of idle curiosity.” Before Force can call out my blatant lie we almost run into a guard, but I stop right before hitting him and glance down only to realize this is the stallion I was looking for. Some of his fur is still singed with patches of it completely empty. Once the pony realizes who I am he staggers backwards a few steps and holds one of his forelegs in the air as his ears pin back and his eyes widen in fear.

“S-S-Sir, apologies I…. I sho… I’m sorry for almost bumping into you.” His breathing has quickened a lot but he’s not hyperventilating…yet. He slowly takes a few more steps backwards.

I slowly squat down so we’re eye level. “Are you Sargeant Silver Lance?”

“Y-Yes, sir.”

I reach into my bag and pull out a tiny pouch filled with diamond dust before looking at the unicorn with the most gentle face I can muster. “I’m so sorry for what happened in that colosseum, Sergeant. I know there’s likely very little I can do to make up for what I did to you, but I came out here today to find you and try to at least… make things better. Even if it’s only slight.”

I wasn’t actually sure if he had been traumatized from the fireball incident, but judging by how hard he reacted just from seeing me I think it’s safe to say he’s suffering on some level. Hopefully he’s in therapy…

I place my hand against my chest and cast Guidance. Next I take the diamond dust I grabbed on the way here and start to channel a 5th level spell slot into the Mizzium Apparatus. I reach out my hand as slowly as I can and his ears pin back again. “SIR, I’M SORRY SIR, I DON’T WANT TO BURN!”

“I will never burn you again, Silver Lance. On my oath to Princess Luna I swear it, you will never come to harm under my hand. I’m only trying to help. This spell will heal your scars and help with all the blemishes to your fur. It’s a very powerful healing spell. Please trust me.”

His whole body starts to shake but he somehow manages to stop leaning away from me. He squeezes his eyes shut as tight as he can and flinches as he braces himself for a pain that will never come.

Arcana Check (Mizzium DC: 20.)

20 + 13 = 33.

33 + 2 = 35.

Words of power flow out of my mouth as all of the diamond dust in the small pouch starts to float into the air and quickly orbit around the guards body. His entire body is covered in a green aura and with a bright flash of light I finish casting Greater Restoration. Technically no spell in the game says it treats scars like this, but several DMs I’ve played with have let us use either Greater Restoration or Cure Wounds on a target as long as they are already at full HP. There was one bastard that made us use the Heal spell, but hopefully that’s not the case here because Paladins can’t cast that so I’d be fucked.

Thankfully after the light fades away the guard looks like he was never even burned. He slowly opens his eyes and looks down at his foreleg where they used to be bare skin showing with patches of blackened fur to see his body has been restored to pristine condition. He actually cracks a smile which of course causes me to smile with him. “Hopefully everything has been okay since you came back, Sgt?”

“I-I’ve had my m-m-moments, but most days I can get through w-w-with no problem. Usually it’s stuff like fireworks or loud crashing sou… sounds. If it means anything Sir I never held it against you. I know you didn’t go through our training so you didn’t get drilled everyday on only using precise magic to minimize collateral d-d-damage. It’s just th-that seeing you just now….brought me back to that night. The roaring in my ears followed by the constant ringing, the smell of my own flesh being roasted. I was right back there.”

When he mentions precise magic training my mind flashes back to when I was getting assessed by Shining Armor during my first couple of days here in Canterlot. He specifically told me that they’re trained to fire spells with the exact intent to hit only the target they are aiming at. If there’s any collateral damage that’s considered a failure. I just laughed at him and jumped at the opportunity to say the Fireball line. “If I had just taken another half a second to properly scan the surroundings… You should hold this against me. This was an entirely preventable incident and a complete failure on my part, Sgt. After the gala I’m going to personally receive the same battle mage training you all go through in basic, so this doesn’t happen again. I’m sorry again, Silver Lance.”

We talked for a few more minutes and he actually gave me the name and office location of his therapist, but he had to get back out on patrol and I needed to sleep. Badly. Everything after that was an uneventful blur as I got back into the swing of standing guard at night court and escorting Luna around. Now it’s Friday and it’s time for the knighting ceremony.

Author's Note

This chapter felt like a bit of a grind, but I'll chalk that up to me STILL being sick. I didn't want to go any longer without uploading so I went ahead and cranked this one out today.

Pacing is still a bit slow at the moment but next chapter should cover entire ceremony and a little bit of the after-party. Chapter after that will be Nightmare Moon summoning experimentation, and then we'll start the gala which... will probably be less chapters than Journey to the West arc, but I'm guessing it's probably going to be like 8 or 9 chapters. So that's like 11 more chapters till Season 1 end and my short break starts. Hopefully I can get over this illness soon... I've tested negative for a bunch of shit but they gave up on trying to diagnose me and gave me generic antibiotics that so far don't really feel like they've done anything.

But that's ok. Now that I've done it once I think I can still write while near delirious, one problem I'm noticing is that all of the characters are slowly sliding into this problem where they're losing their unique speech patterns and words and to me it feels like it's the same character talking everytime. I'm not really sure how I lost that ability but I'm atleast aware of the problem and am working on trying to make the characters speak a bit more uniquely. At the moment it feels like everyone talks all stiff and proper like Celestia and I gotta work on getting some of them back to more casual and basic speech.

Anyways, thanks for reading!