A Lost Soul in The Real World

by TasteTheSun

Chapter 4: At What Price for Freedom?

Words could not describe how Celestia felt seeing her arch nemesis, the mare that sought for the eternal night and the downfall of a nation entirely, the mare that took her sister away, stand before her.

Across the room, Nightmare Moon examined her new body. Excitement surged through her being knowing she was on the physical plane. She arose from the ground, slowly approaching the two alicorns.

"Well well well, this is a sudden change in events." She glanced over to Celestia, a smile creeping on her face.

"Greetings Celestia, it's been far too long since we met last. Are you surprised to see me?" The princess grimaced. "Did you miss me, because I certainly missed you?"

"How could I've forgotten you?" Celestia replied.

"Oh, well it seems that once again I've been buried beneath history, only to be remembered as nothing more than an old mare's tale. I wouldn't have been surprised if even you had forgotten me, but I guess some things are best left forgotten."

Celestia rested Luna's head on the floor. Now the two alicorns stared at each other face to face. "Would you care to explain the reason as to how you stand here before me?"

Nightmare chuckled. "You can thank your beloved sister there," Celestia eyed her sister confusingly. "Why so?" she asked.

"Before your precious pupil and her rotten friends blasted me with the dreaded elements, I managed to slip deep into Luna's mind. She has kept me a prisoner of her subconscious for a long time. It wasn't until she decided to use a much more darker approach to help her friend, which indeed backfired marvelously. I would have taken complete control of her body had you not intervened, but given the outcome, I must say I'm quite pleased with the results." Nightmare said in admiration.

"WellI I hope you had not planned to get thoroughly acquainted with your new physique."

"Please, after your little interference, I doubt you would have enough strength to defeat me."

She had a point there. Saving Luna did quite a number on her magic. With any luck, she might be able to deflect anything the nightmare could through at her, at least for a while.

With that, Nightmare Moon lowered her head, aiming her horn at Celestia. She took a defensive stance, clenching her eyes against whatever it is that would be thrown at her.

A minute passed, and nothing happened.

Opening her eyes, Celestia noticed something strange. Nightmare Moon struggled with her magic. Small sparks came out from her horn. With her eyes clenched shut, her teeth grinding, and the veins in her head throbbing, it was obvious she was having difficulty getting anything more than a spark to come out.

After a couple of minutes of excruciating difficulty, Nightmare gasped for breath from the exhaustion. "What's going on?" She tried to get her mane to fire off a lightning bolt; only to get a few sparks and shocks from it as well. While this was happening, Celestia tried to make sense of it before it finally hit her.

"What happened to my magic?!" furry rose from her Nightmare's voice. Celestia chuckled at her disdain.

"It's not your magic."

Nightmare raised an eyebrow at that. "Excuse me, but could you repeat that?"

"It was never your magic to begin with. It was Luna's magic that you've wielded in the past. You just so happened to have tainted it."

"That... that's not possible!"

"Any magic that was truly yours must have been used up to give you your new physical form, hence why your magic is only as high as a growing unicorn filly."

Nightmare lowered her head, trying to process what she had just heard, but no! It can't be true. Why should she believe the pony she despised.

With one final attempt, she tried to get something from her magic but met with the same results. She breathed in heavily while her rage was boiling to the surface.

At last, she snapped.

"I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!!!"

Hollering in anger, Nightmare charged at the sun princess with her horn aimed at her in hopes of stabbing her at the very least. Instead, Celestia caught her in a magical grip, while lifting her a foot off the ground.

Seeing the predicament she was in; she thrashed around violently in the air trying to pry herself free. Celestia couldn't help but chuckle at seeing the kind of show Nightmare Moon was putting on from her perspective.

After quite some time, Nightmare calmed herself while letting her body fall limp in the air. Her head hung low, staring at her reflection on the well-polished marble floor.

"Well, I hope you finished that little act you just put on." Nightmare Moon couldn't bare to see the pony in front of her eye to eye. Not only did she robbed her of her magic, but she slowly chipped away at her dignity as well.

Taking in slow deep breaths to calm her nerves, she confronted the mare.

"It seems you have the upper hoof right now. I suppose you wish to defeat me once and for all. Please, feel free to smite me down while you can. I have nothing left loose." Nightmare dreaded to admit defeat, but right now, she was in the clutches of her adversary, feeling lower than a child who had committed an act of mischief.

Celestia stood there bewildered. Floating before her was the most twisted, cruel pony to ever come into existence. The mare that had taken her sister away from her and threatened to bring a never ending night was now nothing more than a minor threat. She thought of all the possibilities of what to do with her. Of course, the likely punishment would be banishment, being thrown into a dungeon, or banished then thrown into a dungeon in the place she gets banished to.

After much consideration, she rested on one final solution to deal with the problem before her, and with that, she would need some serious help.

•••

"Twilight... Twilight!"

Dozing in and out of consciousness, Twilight could barely make out a green blur in front of her, hearing her name echo in her head.

Emerald nudged her sister with her hoof in an attempt to wake her up. She slowly arose from the ground feeling dazed and weak.

"...what... what happened?" she asked groggily, feeling like she had been run over by a freight train.

"It's the princess Twilight! She wants you to go see her as quick as you can."

"The... princess... THE PRINCESS! I gotta go!" after snapping back into reality, she bolted out of the bedroom, not before going back and hugging her new sister and saying goodbye.

She exited the castle and took off into the air towards Canterlot. However, exhaustion quickly came to her. She felt weak for some reason, but could not place her hoof on why? Due to her sudden weakness, she barely made it to the train station.

"May-... maybe I'll take the train there."

•••

As the train pulled into a stop at the Grand Central Station of Canterlot, Twilight took off towards the castle, having been able to recuperate as much as she could on her ride there.

It didn't take long for her to reach the royal palace. From there, she made her way inside and through the halls, dodging castle staff moving to and fro. She arrived outside of the throne room, which appeared empty compared to the rest of the castle. As she was about to knock on the door to announce her presence, Celestia exited the throne, closing the doors quickly behind her so as to prevent her friend from seeing inside.

"Twilight, I'm so glad to see you."

"It's a pleasure to be here your majesty. What's going? Is Canterlot in trouble, Equestria under attack, or is there an evil monster that needs to be dealt with?"

The princess raised her hoof so as to silence the young mare.

"Allow me to alleviate your troubles by explaining to you the situation."

Twilight nodded.

"Now, let me begin by asking you a question. Do you remember Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight was struck back by such a strange, random question. "Of course I remember Nightmare Moon. She was what Princess Luna became due to her jealousy of you. My old friends and I were the ones that defeated her and brought back your sister. How could I forget?"

"That's Very good Twilight," Celestia responded.

"Pardon me for saying, but why are you asking me such question all of a sudden?"

"Follow me, and you will understand why."

Celestia turned and led Twilight into the throne room. Upon entering, she could not believe her eyes were showing her. Standing in the middle of the room was, in fact, Nightmare Moon.

With a gasp, Twilight stepped back in shock. Her mind was racing while being flooded with confusion. She could not believe what her eyes were seeing.

"N-nightmare Moon?!" she studdered.

"Well well, if it isn't Twilight Sparkle. We meet again I presume," Nightmare said to the mare before for her. The one that defeated her and deprived her of her endless night. As soon as she first laid eyes on her, she could feel the hatred spark up deep inside her. If she could, she would destroy her right then and there, but with her magic weak and the sun princess standing in between them, all she could do was stand there and watch her arch nemesis cower before her.

"No, this can't be! You're not supposed to be back here. My friends and I defeated you through the power of friendship! How could you be back? What have you done with Luna?!" Twilight said sporadically. At this point, she was on the verge of having a meltdown.

"Twilight, calm yourself. Luna is alright. She's resting in her bed chambers," the princess reassured her.

"But then, how in Equestria is she doing standing here?"

"Do you want to explain the whole story, or would you like me to."

Celestia ignored Nightmare before telling Twilight the whole thing. By the end, she was slowly taking in everything that was told to her.

"I guess that explains why I kept seeing Princess Luna in my dreams, but I can't believe the lengths she took just to help me." a wave of guilt washed over the young princess. "So now Nightmare Moon is here in our world once again, but with little magic." Celestia nodded while the Nightmare rolled her eyes aggravated.

"What do you plan on doing with her princess?"

"That is why I brought you here. I want you to reform Nightmare Moon."

"WHAT?!" both mares said in unison. Before Twilight could make any arguments, Nightmare Moon was already protesting the decision.

"You're kidding, you're right kidding right?! I would never let her poison me with her ridiculous friendship, especially not after what she did to me the last time we confronted each other!"

"Princess, may I speak with you in private?" Twilight interrupted. Celestia nodded as the two were heading outside the throne room, not before she wrapped the dark mare in her magic to prevent her from doing anything she will regret. After closing the doors to the throne room, Twilight went off on her.

"Princess, pardon me for saying this, but are you serious?! This is the mare that corrupted your sister and took her away from you for a millennia, and now that she's back you want to make her good? Nightmare Moon would rather chew broken glass then to be reformed, much less by me."

"I know this may come to you as a shock, but may I remind you that the whole reason as to why Nightmare Moon exists in the first place is because of all the jealousy and hatred towards me that Luna harbored within her, which is how the nightmare forces took control of her. It's because of me that she exists. Now that she has her body, I see this as a way of helping her not to be so angry and jealous of the world and hopefully see the light of friendship."

"I will admit, you do have a point, but still, she is the embodiment of jealousy. Reforming her would be like redefining the term jealousy itself. How would I be able to pull it off?"

"I do recall having you and your friends reform Discord who was the living embodiment of chaos, and in the end, he was somewhat reformed. I don't see this being any different."

"I'm not sure Princess. She didn't seem up to the idea when you mentioned it a while ago." Celestia held up Twilight's chin with her hoof.

"Trust me, as long as you have your friends by your side, and believe in the magic of friendship, I can guarantee you that you can accomplish anything."

Twilight took a deep breath, feeling a better sense of optimism. "Alright, if you say so. I vow to do whatever it takes to help Nightmare Moon."

Celestia smiled before pulling her friend in for a quick hug. The two went back inside the throne were they saw Nightmare Moon wandering her eyes around in boredom.

Celestia approached the mare. "Nightmare Moon, for all the crimes that you have committed, I now sentence you to go with Princess Twilight to Ponyville so you can go through the reformation process."

Nightmare Moon grunted upon hearing that. "I'd rather chew broken glass."

•••

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Author's Note:

Hey everypony! First off, I want to apologize for the long absence. The reason being is mostly because of school and other real life stuff. I had to put my priorities first, which caused me to lose interest and inspiration to keep this story going. Recently, though, I realized that there are a good number of people that enjoy these stories, so I decided to keep going now that I already have got several ideas floating around. I'd hate to see this story die so I will do my best to keep updating it, just not as frequently, though, so don't be surprised if the next chapter will come out in a few weeks to a few months. Thanks to everyone who has enjoyed both stories so far and for being patient. Don't worry, the story will live on, and I do hope it will turn out great!

Sincerely yours,
~Lightning Note

Comments

[Dragon of Shadows]

"You're kidding, you're right kidding right?!

[Dreadknight garen]

I love how it's always what the ponies want in these situations wants, not the person being reformed. THEN here's the bullshit where they basically say "Be a good person or else we will make you suffer eternally in stone" kind of stuff. Really great society.

[Naruto 9 Tails Jincuriki]

8452294
Your right that’s her name but i want to know is twilight friends dead those years ago and that guy new friends are the descendants of her previous friends. That’s what I want to know

[Vasto Lorde]

8452304
Oh ye that's right they are the decendents of the original Main 6, you read the story before this one right?

[Naruto 9 Tails Jincuriki]

8452524
Yeah I did it was good