Although Nightmare Moon being hit by the Rainbow Cannon was a necessary step in Aurora's plan, her unexpected intrusion seemed to have slightly changed the nature of Nightmare Moon being bleached by the Magic of Friendship.
She truly didn't expect Nightmare Moon to choose to push her out of the Rainbow Cannon's firing range at that moment.
Although Aurora felt this was unnecessary, she wasn't an ingrate; regarding Nightmare Moon's kindness, she still felt a sense of admiration, an indescribable touch of emotion, and at the same time, a trace of undeserved guilt.
She and Nightmare Moon had only known each other for a few hours, but the tenderness the other had shown her was beyond any pony's expectations.
It was easy for The foals to believe that even if a more destructive magic had come, this princess would still have stood before her subjects without hesitation.
It's just that Aurora didn't think she was worth such protective regard from Princess Luna; she was, after all, a trashy pony who had been planning to scheme against the other from start to finish.
But that was the reality, and Flying Light's morals weren't low enough to let her calmly accept such unprovoked kindness, so a familiar sense of indebtedness gripped her heart once again.
The burst of light from the Magic of Friendship illuminated the entire hall of the Old Castle, the blinding white stealing the sight of all the ponies present, except for Aurora.
With her vision, which differed from that of ordinary ponies, she could still clearly distinguish the positions and states of all the ponies.
Since the Six Fillies successfully activated the elements of harmony, they had each bonded with the element of harmony representing their corresponding spirit, and their internal magic gained a touch of the brilliant color belonging to Harmony Magic.
And at this moment, Princess Luna was being baptized by the Magic of Friendship.
Unlike the old version of the elements of harmony, this time the elements of harmony lacked that rigid feeling of only suppressing discord; instead, they stripped the part belonging to Nightmare Magic from Princess Luna.
However, Nightmare Magic had dwelled within Princess Luna for too long. Once the color belonging to Nightmare Magic was completely separated from her, Princess Luna, having lost a large amount of magical energy, entered a weakened state and would likely need a period of recuperation to recover.
The purification process didn't take too long, and the magical light faded quickly after the purification was complete, leaving the surroundings clear once again.
There lay Princess Luna, washed out and pale, lying on the ground with her eyes closed tightly, motionless, surrounded by a circle of equipment that had dropped after she was defeated as Nightmare Moon.
It might be inappropriate to say this, but the drop rate was indeed quite high.
On the other side were the Six Fillies, who hadn't yet recovered from using the Magic of Friendship for the first time; they were all lying on the ground, looking slightly weak.
In the vast space, Aurora was the only pony still standing.
When the Nightmare Magic was separated from Princess Luna's body, the magic restricting Celestia would also dissipate. The Grand Princess must have already known that Nightmare Moon had been defeated and was likely planning to return soon to clean up the mess.
Aurora took a watch out of her backpack and checked it, discovering that because she had accidentally triggered the main storyline early, the Nightmare Moon event had also ended early.
If Celestia rushed back early enough, she might not even miss the Summer Sun Celebration.
Nor would she be late for her shift.
That's good; this was still the longest day of the year.
Aurora was sincerely happy that her beloved teacher could return to fulfill her duties as a princess.
So, before The Grand Princess arrived...
Aurora looked at the Six Fillies, who were still adapting to the new magic, decided they were likely fine, and then approached Princess Luna.
She wasn't sure about the relationship between Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon, nor did she know how much of her memory as a villain remained, but to Aurora, this black Alicorn had undoubtedly helped her.
"Princess Luna, how are you feeling now?"
Aurora called out softly in her ear.
At this moment, the color on Princess Luna had been bleached to almost the same brightness as her own.
Well, actually, it wasn't that bright, but compared to her previous deep blue, which was infinitely close to black, this color was now much lighter.
Her mane and tail had also lost their flowing, silky effect; after all, she didn't have much magic left in her body at the moment.
Her size had also shrunk significantly compared to when she was Nightmare Moon, at most only a size larger than Princess Cadance.
Hearing Aurora's voice, Princess Luna's eyelids twitched.
She hadn't been knocked unconscious by the Friendship Cannon; on the contrary, this might have been the most lucid her consciousness had been in a thousand years.
When the voices of Nightmare Magic, along with the accumulated negative emotions, were completely expelled from her mind, reason regained the high ground, and she finally had a sense of self-awareness, as if waking from a dream.
Princess Luna opened her eyes as if just waking up, and the pony wearing a monocle in front of her quickly became clear from being blurry in her eyes.
"Flying Light...?"
"That's great, you still remember me."
Seeing that Princess Luna had regained consciousness, Aurora helped her up from the ground.
After Princess Luna stood up, one could feel the changes in her size and temperament; she was far less oppressive than before.
"Of course I won't forget you, nor everything Nightmare Moon has done."
Princess Luna looked at Aurora with her calm cyan eyes, but her expression was somewhat dejected.
"I know I have done many wrong things, but fortunately I met you. Protecting you must be the only right thing I have done in this millennium."
After being transformed into Nightmare Moon by the unrestricted release of her negative emotions by Nightmare Magic, Princess Luna still clearly remembered everything she had done.
She wouldn't dissociate Nightmare Moon from herself, because that was essentially her state after losing control of her emotions.
As the Princess of the Moon of Equestria, protecting the country and its citizens was her responsibility.
But she had failed to do so. The negative emotions accumulated over years of night work, instigated by Nightmare Magic, finally broke down her psychological defenses, causing her to fall into madness and bringing panic to Equestria.
When she tore things apart with Celestia and fought, what was destroyed was not only the home that belonged to the two sisters, where countless beautiful memories had been left, but also the trust the citizens she had protected for so long had in her.
But after meeting Aurora, she felt she had found the feeling of being a princess again, which even made the Nightmare Moon of that time hesitate.
And after turning back into Princess Luna, she suddenly understood what she wanted.
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