The Duality of Souls

All of the ponies in the room looked at the man as he asked his question, expressions ranging from shocked, to annoyance, and alarm. After having a moment to digest the specific words used the prismatic pony few up and stopped right in front of him.

"What does it matter to you huh, and how do you even know what these are?"

"Look skittles, as much as they may say to "taste the rainbow," I don't really like you being right in my face so if you could just back up a bit there, that would be appreciated."

"Okay first off, ew. Second, what did you call me!?" With a glare she got even closer to him, looking like she was about to fight him.

"Okay first off," Relyks repeated mockingly. "You must be very light to be able to fly, I can only assume that your bones are hollow like a birds. You want to throw down right here and now? Fine, I will snap you like a twig over my leg if you don't back off right now! Second, why the hell does bluey over there keep glaring at me!? I may have been missing certain details since I woke up, but this is something that I had noticed since the beginning!"

With a finger he pointed to the lunar princess in question, a glare seemingly stuck on her face as her eyes narrowed at the confrontation.

"And another thing, what in the 9 hells did I ever do to all of you to warrant such hostility? It has been nothing but question after question in this little here "interrogation" with all of you. I don't care what others may say about you. All of you ponies are xenophobic jack wagons, with maybe the exception of maybe Fluttershy, and yes I do know all of your names. each of you can shove this whole situation up your-" Now even if someone is academically smart, this does not mean they are socially. It was here that Relyks came to the sudden and unwanted reality that he had probably gone too far when the lunar princess finally snapped. "ENOUGH! I princess Luna, will not stand here any longer as you and your cohorts continue to bring strife and chaos here! Even if you truly are not the nightmare but the being standing in front of us, we will not believe a word from you for even a moment that you are not an agent of that monster! Now you will answer our questions and help put a stop to this madness!"

On a normal day for Relyks, he would have backed down and and waited things out before he continued to argue his case. Unfortunately this was not a normal day for him, far from it in fact. Having what he could only describe as a phantom constantly trying to push him over the edge didn't help either.

"Look at her, she thinks she is going to make you succumb to her will. You didn't put up with that from me, why should you with her?"Egging him on in this fashion, with Relyks now being unable to think his way through without another voice giving their opinion, he snapped back.

"Oh so just because she possessed me, I am now her slave? Her puppet? I would have thought that you of all peo-ponies," He caught his word, trying to use the proper vernacular. "in this room you would understand my plight here and be willing to help me be rid of her. Instead you stand there all high and mighty trying to force me to submit to you! You your royal highness can go screw off to parts unknown. Oh wait, you already did that didn't you when you were stuck on your little moon for a thousand years, And for the record, you can shut your damn mouth!"

While he said that last part to the nightmare, it was not received that way by the others in the room with him. With his statement the room went silent to the point where you could hear a pin drop. All eyes were on the human and the princess, not knowing if one or the other was about to throw the first blow. There comes a time in every man's life where they learn the hard way, what to and what not to say to a woman, be they human, pony, or otherwise. This was one such moment where Relyks is reminded of that lesson he learned all those years ago. It was when he was no longer able to feel the ground under his feet, and that everything he saw was just a large expanse of blue, that he was reminded as he sailed through the air, a large hole where a window used to be in the castle.

"I have to hand it to you boy. Never have I ever seen such a being that was so unafraid of an alicorn that they would openly disrespect and even insult one to such a degree to their face. I have to admit I am surprised." With that confession from Nightmare he hit the ground, immediately grateful that they were on the first floor of the castle. However, with Nightmare continuing to push him, as well as now having been attacked, to put it simply there was a misfire in his brain as he stood up and began to walk back over to his assailant, intending to do some damage.

"Oh so now that you actually have someone talk back to you, you get offended and decide the best way to get rid of it is to try and hurt them? Fine princess, you want to do this so damn much, lets go!" With his final words he went from a slow walk to a sprint. Running at Luna he raised his arm, summoning all his strength intending to knock her out on the first swing. It wasn't until Luna's sister, Celestia, stepped in and said something to him that made him not only stop his advance, but also make him stop completely.

"If you truly are not with the Nightmare, then why are you beginning to look like her?"

Seconds had gone by after she had said this, his form frozen in place. He was not able to easily notice due to not having a mirror, but he did note that the hair on the right side of his face felt... incorrect. Taking a lock of it he saw that while it was still brown on the left side of his head, the right had taken on a look similar to Luna's. Racing to the nearest reflective object he could find, which happened to be a guards shield that had been discarded earlier, he saw that his right eye was no longer brown as it should have been, but was instead cyan with a draconic pupil. mouth falling open at the sight he also felt that the teeth on the right side were also sharper, less flat.

With the physical changes that he could see, he was then able to feel that he was already slipping. Nightmare Moon was using her power to break from her cage, and assume control. This was her plan all along was the thought that kept running through his mind as nothing else mattered any longer.

He proceeded to try and knock some sense back into himself, literally, with the shield as he bashed it on his own head. Seeing him act in such a way shocked the shy pegasus enough to where she felt like she had to voice her thoughts. "Shouldn't we stop him? He could hurt himself doing that." Looking at her friend she saw that they were all watching with different expressions. Twilight looked angry with the way he was speaking to her mentor and friends, and Rainbow Dash looked ready to attack. Pinkie looked conflicted, probably between meeting a new pony, or in this case person, and his attitude, and Rarity was stuck between disgusted with his actions, and enthralled with his attire.

Finally looking at her orange friend she saw the farmer looked to be contemplating something "Ah don't reckon we will have to worry about that, he looks to be simmerin down on his own." Was the reply from Applejack. She had yet to move from her spot, as while the human before her may have been throwing a tantrum, the thing that had her attention was she could not sense any deceit from him.

Feeling his anger subside as he took it out on himself, he was able to pull together long enough to try and be cordial. "I feel that I should apologize. I am normally not this easily angered, or have this loose of control over myself. Not only do I owe an apology for my actions and now seemingly bipolar nature, I also owe you Luna one. I said things that I should not have. I have had a long day and it has tired me out both physically and emotionally." To say the ponies in the room were surprised with his apology would be an understatement.

Relyks decided to take advantage of the moment of silence that was happening. Looking around he saw that some of their expressions had changed. While there was still the annoyance, anger, and shock from everything happening, he saw a new one that he himself wasn't expecting. Upon Fluttershy's face was none of these emotions, but instead pity, and it was directed at him. Due to the shame of his earlier display he was unable to withstand it, looking away from the shy pegasus.

Collecting his thoughts he continued. "I have been looking for a few friends who went missing. I have been looking for weeks for them and all of a sudden they appear, captives to some of your own previous enemies. Now I am consistently berated and taunted by the very same one who brought me here and attempted to make me her slip on puppet. Needless to say, it has been a difficult time for me, though understandably after everything that I have done within the last few minutes, I understand if you neither believe me nor care."

With no hesitation it was Celestia who responded to him. "I can only guess the inner turmoil you are going through if what you claim is true. That being said, we have questions of our own. If you work with us, I can assure you that we will be willing to work with you as well."

Luna, still angry about what happened, was quick to argue against this. "You cannot be serious sister, this is the same human who just moments ago was showing physical traits of the nightmare!"

Before Relyks could go to defend himself it was Applejack that did it for him. "Pard'n me for speaking for him, but ah believe him."

Looking aghast, Luna could only stare at the farmer. "Ah have been payin attention to what he said and how he said it. At this point, I have been unable to detect any lies coming from him, unlike his friend."

"Friend? You mean that I am not the only one here?" With the word "friend" having been said, Relyks clung on with all hope that he had found them.

Calmly like none of the fighting ever occurred, Celestia was the one who decided to speak up. "No you are not, you are the last one to both arrive and to wake up, but we can get to that later. I know that you said you know all of our names, however I will introduce myself anyways. I am Princess Celestia, co ruler with my sister Princess Luna, what is your name?"

"My name? It's..." He trailed off, wondering if he should give them his real name, or an alias. Looking to Applejack, and how she came to his aid earlier, he decided to return the favor by not making her, or himself, to be a liar.

"My name is Relyks your highness, I am just a normal guy who is easy to anger, and like I said earlier, I have had one hell of a day." He stated before giving a slight bow.

"It is nice to meet you Relyks, welcome to Equestria, and to Canterlot Castle. Your friends are all in the other room, if you would be so kind as to follow me, I will guide you."

Turning to leave Celestia's horn lit up as the door opened by itself. Calmly following the solar diarch, Relyks began to keep a constant watch over his own emotions.

"Congratulations for noticing before it was too late, try not to slip up anymore my little human" Responding to Nightmare Moon, Relyks only had a single thought. "You caught me when I was emotionally compromised, something that doesn't happen often. Don't think it will be so easy in the future."

Nightmare responded with what almost sounded like a purr "If you were to fall so easily now it would be disappointment. I wouldn't have it any other way"