Nightmare Moon felt a searing pain through her body, as if somepony was driving red hot nails into her skin, enough pain to knock almost anyone unconscious. She could feel her body being tossed about, a blinding light in her eyes. The light, she guessed, was the full power of the Elements of Harmony banishing her. She thought about it for a while, and she knew who had done it, she knew why. Her sister, the Solar Princess, had banished her to keep Equestria safe, as a whole. Celestia would now have to raise both the sun and moon, with Luna gone. Luna... the name sounded familiar to Nightmare Moon. She had finally regained consciousness and found herself in a strange landscape.
"What... where... is this place?" she had asked herself aloud. She looked to her left and to her right, but only saw an unnaturally white hills surrounding her. She knew the night sky well enough that if she looked up, she would be able to tell where exactly she was. What she saw, however, confused her. She saw what must have been Equestria. She was on the moon.
"No... no... this can't have happened! Celestia... my sister..." she had started to sob gently. Her memories flooded her mind, and now that the floodgates were open, they would not close. She slowly began to fight away the darkness of the being inhabiting her, slowly... slowly. It took Luna little over six minutes to fight away the darkness of Nightmare Moon, but it was too late. She had done her damage.
Luna looked up to Equestria and sighed. "My sister... what have I done to you..." She held her head and started to cry. Only now though was it in sadness. She knew of the banishment now, one that her sister had promised only to use in the direst of situations: banishment to the moon for a thousand years.
Sighing, Luna had only herself and her thoughts. A thousand years, no more, no less. She felt sick in her stomach, but she was perfectly healthy. She knew what this sickness was. It was loneliness. Guilt. Fear. Sadness. All at once, this was a burden on the mare's mind, changing her mentally, making her wiser.
Time passed, minutes became hours, hours became days, days became months, months became years. Still, after just under what the Princess of Night could guess was just under 100 years, there was still an emptiness and guilt in her. It was now that she started to remember her life, seeing everything that she remembers...