Princess Luna becoming Nightmare Moon? · 6:38pm Sep 7th, 2013
Recently, a clip showing a story board at comic-con has arisen, which implies that Season 4 for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic will include a return of Nightmare Moon, with Luna apparently becoming her once more. More than likely being the season opener. I have a problem with this, but for what I feel are good reasons. The reasons are as follows:
1: This would destroy any character development Luna has been given over the past three seasons. The ending to episode 2 of season 1 gave the impression that Luna was sorry for what she had done, and wanted to move on, accepting Princess Celestia's offer of friendship. In addiction, during Nightmare Night, she was trying to grow on a smaller level, trying to regain the trust and or love of the ponies in Ponyville, showing that she clearly has moved and wishes to reform. However, in the clip at comic-con, she is seen greedily claiming that she will be the only Princess in Equestria, after which she becomes consumed by darkness, beginning the transformation. This completely contradicts what has been developing over the past three seasons, with Luna changing from a princess who wants what is best for her kingdom, and cares for it's inhabitants, to a power-hungry brat who does not care what she has to do. Granted, she seems terrified and shocked during the transformation, but the point is, she is falling back to how she was before her first transformation into Nightmare Moon. She completely backtracks all her progression hastily, as this was not really built up in season three. She also seemed genuinely happy for Twilight becoming a princess, so it seems unlikely she has grown angry over this. It would also appear she does not harbor harsh feelings to her sister, making this come even more out of nowhere. Perhaps it will be explained in the episode, but even then, this feels lazy and just done to get a shock out of people.
2: This will be the first time that a new villain is not introduced in a season opener, and it feels lazy. Think about it, Season 1 brought us Nightmare Moon, Season 2 brought us Discord, and Season 3 brought us Sombra. This made the anticipation leading up to the openings nerve-racking, at least for me. But with the fact that a new villain is not going to be introduced, and is instead an old villain is being recycled feels lazy. I'm not saying Nightmare Moon can't come back, far from it. However, the fact that an old villain is being used as the first major battle for the mane 6 doesn't feel right, and seems like the creators may be running out of ideas, so they simply brought back a favorite villain. In addition, Nightmare Moon could have been brought back while still introducing a new villain. Perhaps Luna has been facing nightmares of Nightmare Moon, and a mysterious dark force could feed on that. Making the nightmares more and more real until the fear consumes her, turning her against her will into Nightmare Moon, with the force now in control of her and using her to obtain power, spread mayhem, etc. There was definitely more that could have been thought up, and it seems like the creators of the show felt like bare minimum would suffice here. And it feels flat out lazy.
3: What exactly can they do with Luna afterward? Yeah, not much they can do is there? As far as I see it, there are only three real options for what action to take, none of which are good news for Luna. One is to take her power away and strip her of her royal status, locking her away in a dungeon or prison so that she will not cause problems in the future. Needless to say, that would either seriously damage Luna, or backfire severely. Luna could very easily grow deeply depressed, becoming a wreck of her former self and simply fading away from any other pony, making for one heartbreaking, and rather cruel move by her imprisoners. Or it could backfire, causing only harsh feelings for her sister and Twilight, slowly leading up to another attack. Another option is to banish her to the moon again. Like we really need that to happen again? That worked out wonderfully last time, building up anger and resentment inside of Nightmare Moon for a thousand years before returning. Yeah, great idea. Finally, they could simply take her out. Turn her to stone, or be killed off like Sombra was. (Come on people, we all know he was.) If that's the case, how guilty is Princess Celestia or Twilight or even the mane 6 going to feel? Killing off one of the rulers of the kingdom, who just wanted to be loved? This is the worst option, as it would leave everyone scarred, depressed, and overall just unhappy. Or they could do nothing and citizens of Equestria will hate Luna. Needless to say, none of these options are positive, and all end poorly in one way another.
4: Leave Princess Luna alone for crying out loud... She's been through enough. Imprisonment on the moon, alone for a thousand years has more than likely taken it's toll on her, whether it be depression, trauma, or just uncomfortable memories, it's a horrendous thing to have to live with. Second, she was feared by an entire town, when she just wanted to participate in the event. A whole town of ponies cowers away from you and say that you're going to gobble them up? Yeah... Real spirit lifter there. And now we're going to add another Nightmare Moon transformation, with guilt and more trauma more than likely being added to the pile that is literally over 1000 years in the making? I think I speak for a lot of bronies when I say I care about Luna, and this can't just be ignored. Some way or another, there has to be a personal reaction from Luna for this, and I doubt that it will be positive.
So that's my view on this, and why I think Princess Luna becoming Nightmare Moon is not going to work out well. If you don't agree, or think I missed something then that's your opinion, you can go ahead and believe it, I'm just saying this is how I feel.
This can't be true due to how many bronies and pegasisters adore her, it would be as crazy as taking away one of the mane 6