//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8:  The Mare In The Moon Came Down On Time 
// Story: Bedtime Stories For The Mare In The Moon 
// by Needling Haystacks 
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	The longest day of the thousandth year arrived mere moons after the publication of the first edition of this book.  As you almost certainly know, the sun failed to rise that day, resulting in over 24 hours of night.  Nightmare Moon returned and, somehow, imprisoned Celestia.  The details are sketchy at best, perhaps because Celestia does not want anyone repeating the act.  The subsequent events may be related.
This period, now known as The Longest Night, ended by the scheduled dawn of the following day thanks to the effort of a group of 6 ponies.  Led by Twilight Sparkle, one of Celestia's proteges, these six followed Nightmare Moon to the Castle of the Two Sisters, found the Elements of Harmony, and were somehow able to use them.  That they were able to seems to imply that Celestia no longer can, and perhaps has been unable to since Nightmare Moon was originally banished a millennium ago.  Regardless, while the expected result was to imprison Nightmare Moon on the moon again, the end result instead was the return of Luna.

Section I:  Luna's Reform
The official story was deliberately vague, leading some ponies to conclude that Nightmare Moon had held Luna prisoner.  However, Celestia has freely admitted to any who ask that Luna had become Nightmare Moon (as, indeed, she had before The Longest Night).  What is not entirely clear is just what was at play here.  Did dark magic used on or by Luna create a transformation?  Was Nightmare Moon just a name-change and an illusion?  And why did the use of the Elements of Harmony result in such a seemingly drastic change of heart on the part of Nightmare Moon/Luna?

A rather disturbing possibility is that the Elements of Harmony can brainwash ponies.  This would not be completely unheard of, as mind control spells are known to be possible (though for obvious reasons the details of their casting are not publicly accessible).  However, those spells have somewhat different effects.  On the milder end, mind manipulation spells can be used to implant suggestions, but these suggestions are limited in that they mostly concern small actions and cannot be something that the victim (or target if you prefer) would find abhorrent.  It is also possible to magically induce certain emotional states to, for instance, make a mare mad at her coltfriend in the hopes that they break up, thus freeing one of them up for the spell caster to court.  On the most severe end, it is possible in principle to construct a spell which causes the victim to carry out all those and only those instructions which the caster gives them.  This sort of spell is virtually unlimited, and personal morality does not seem to play into it:  rather, the body is moving on a sort of auto-pilot.  The only restriction at that point is the most primal of instincts:  survival.  A pony in that state will generally not an order that puts them in mortal danger, though it is speculated that they can be tricked into thinking a mortally dangerous situation is not so.  Some of this is speculative:  officially, no such spell has ever been cast on an intelligent creature.  Such spells have been cast on lesser animals, however, and allegedly this yields all the above result by extrapolation.  Unofficially, there are a few incidents where it is suspected intelligent creatures did have such spells cast on them, but this is difficult to confirm.  It is unknown, therefore, whether a pony victim of this spell retains awareness of what is happening.

All of the above examples require specific instructions or intent from the caster, and do not explain the general change in attitude of Nightmare Moon/Luna.  There are some “reform” spells which have been tested on the criminally insane (if you will pardon the outdated jargon), but the effects are not quite the same.  Reform spells are typically used on the criminally insane, and act to suppress aggression.  This tends to have the effect of suppressing the patient's personality as well, however, so they are only used in the most extreme cases.  The effect is said to be like being in a constant daze or dream-like state.  The effect also does not last forever:  the spell must be reapplied, at minimum, every moon.  At least, this is the version publicly known:  in theory, it could be made to last indefinitely, but no such rendition of the spell is publicly available, if it exists.  While I suppose it is possible that some such spell is being cast on Luna regularly, from my conversations with her I believe that this is not the case.  I shall get into the why shortly.  It is possible, of course, that the effect of the Elements of Harmony is an even higher-level magic that effectively does brainwash the target, but one hopes the objects touted as the embodiment of good would not do something so morally questionable.

I have had occasion to converse with Ms. Luna since her return, and while it is of course possible that I am being fooled, her repentance seems sincere.  By her description, she existed in a semi-conscious dream-like state while imprisoned on the moon.  It is possible to realize one is dreaming and control one's dreams, and as an adept in dream walking, Nightmare Moon/Luna was able to do this more frequently and more readily than most.  It did not last forever:  normally, when a pony achieves this state, they may believe they awake when they are not, and thus lose their awareness of their state.  However, she was conscious and able to think for some fraction of the time.

In this state, she made an initial attempt to break back into Equestria through someone else's consciousness.  This was repelled by Celestia, who put a ward around Luna's dream state.  Afterwards, Luna had little to do during her moments of lucidity but think.  At first, she seethed in her rage at being defeated in addition to the loneliness-turned-rage that drove her to her rebellion in the first place.  However, after some time (she is understandably vague on the exact passage of time), she was unable to continue suppressing her pain with anger.  Sometimes, she would deliberately slip out of lucidity when she did not wish to think on it more.  But this did not always work, and so she began to look back on happier times.  Into this introspection, rage would creep back in at what had been lost.  Between these fits of rage, she gradually began to see the problems with her original plan.  She had, at some point, and as seen on her return, decided to make ponies love the night by making it night forever.  The inevitable result of this would have been mass extinction of many forms of life and a reduction of pony population to a small group eking out a living on mosses and other low-light plants.  While she was not completely clear on the details, Luna did begin to see the consequences her actions could have had.

During her fits of rage, she rationalized that it would 'only' last until all creatures in Equestria had come to properly appreciate the night.  She was, of course, unaware of the night life and nocturnal occupations such as astronomy that had arisen since her banishment, but as she was out of circulation, she can be excused for that one.  A part of her knew her plan did not really make sense, but she also could not let go of her anger at both her previous loneliness and neglect and her subsequent imprisonment.  In addition, during her calm spells, she began to see that she had already hurt Celestia significantly, and depending on how much time had passed, possibly as much as Celestia had, in her opinion, hurt her.  But then, during her darker moments, she rationalized that even if Celestia had suffered, the OTHER ponies of Equestria still had to suffer for how they had treated her.  And then again, it would enter into her head that that was wrong.  In her centuries of dreaming, then, she realized that the revenge she desired was evil, but was unable to let go of her anger.

The end result of this sort of back-and-forth seems to have been what I am told is termed a psychotic break, though I prefer the term psychological break due to the connotations of the word 'psychotic'.  Unable to reconcile the conflict of regret and calm consideration with vengeance and rage, her personality became increasingly polarized and, to some extent, split.  Part of her could not be evil, but part of her could not recognize that what she had wanted (and to some extent still did) was evil.  In effect, then, “Nightmare Moon” became one persona and “Luna” another, both residing in the same body.

Why, then, was it Nightmare Moon that was released and not Luna, or a being conflicted between the two?  Based on Luna's recollections and some corroborations from Celestia, the events immediately preceding her banishment are the key.  Luna knew when she confronted Celestia that her sister's magical ability exceeded her own, at least in terms of combat.  To negate this difference, Luna had studies dark magic of the sort used by Sombra of the Crystal Empire (which has also reemerged: see the next chapter).  As these require harnessing emotions to unhealthy extremes, it did little for her state of mind.  Besides this, it seems to have metamorphosed her body.  According to reports from some of those who defeated Nightmare Moon, as well as from Celestia and Luna herself, Nightmare Moon was slightly larger than Luna is now and had canine-like teeth and magically created armor.  While it is not widely known, Luna was much smaller and younger-looking for a time after her return, but this will be covered shortly.  The physical changes attendant to becoming Nightmare Moon seemed to have insured that the 'surface' personality was one that would be willing to use the dark magic that had created them.

As an aside, Luna was at the time linked to three of the Elements of Harmony.  She did not think that Celestia would be able to use them alone, and thus thought that dark magic would be enough.  As mentioned in an earlier chapter, the elements went dormant after this, perhaps because Celestia had to 'force' the elements to work for her without Luna.

The conclusion I reach, then, is that the Elements of Harmony, used properly, 'stripped away' both the dark magic metamorphosis and at least some of the corresponding personality.  The previously 'buried' Luna who had come to regret her actions then came to the surface.  In the process, the elements seem to have rejuvenated her into a younger form.  According to Celestia and Luna, when she was first sealed away Luna looked approximately like she does now.  However, for her first two or three moons in Canterlot following these events, she was much younger and smaller.  Her fur was even a different color!  While there is no good way to confirm this, the best guess that Luna and Celestia could arrive at (and I have no better explanation) is that the dark magic of Nightmare Moon drained Luna's magical and physical strength so that when it was gone, her body reverted to a smaller, younger form to conserve energy.  The effect seems to have been akin to an age spell, where the target's physical age is temporarily altered.  For those who do not know, a regular age spell can only be performed by a handful of unicorns (and possibly alicorns) and tends to last a few days at most.  If this hypothesis is correct, the powerful magics involved in this particular incident led to a longer-lasting form.

Section 2:  The Returned Luna's Role In Society.

This brings us to what Luna's role has been since her return.  For the first few months, while the de-aging effect mentioned above ran its course, she was kept largely out of the public eye.  It does not, however, seem that this was primarily due to the magic mentioned, though that may have played a role.  Having spent one thousand years away from society, she had a good deal of catching up to do.  It seems that, in addition to Celestia attempting to make up for lost time (and, to my understanding, Luna being slow to respond), much of this time was spent educating Luna on the last millennium of Equestrian history.  During this time, the only ponies Luna interacted with were Celestia, a few royal guards, and a few teachers from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.  I could say more on the elitism and racism embodied by THAT school, but this is neither the time nor the place.

Somewhere in her studies, Luna came across the tradition of Nightmare Night.  Now, the origins of this holiday are unclear.  It seems unlikely now that Celestia would have encouraged a holiday that inspired the fear of her sister.  It is possible that it began as a solemn remembrance that over time morphed into the celebration as we know it today, but it does not seem likely as there is little evidence of it having ever been a solemn remembrance.  Mostly likely, it was an appropriation (with a slight change in date) of the older “spirit's night.”  Some ancient societies believed that the spirits of deceased ponies returned to the world of the living on that night.  After the incident with Nightmare Moon and the appearance of the Mare in the Moon, she substituted for spirits of the departed to some extent.  Celestia and a few bystanders did report the true story, rumors had begun to fly almost immediately.  It seems, given what Luna did next, that Nightmare Night was not the actual date of her banishment.  It may have happened on the Summer Solstice, but the historical record is oddly vague on this point.  At any rate, Nightmare Night came to be when the event was observed, and when Nightmare Moon was said to emerge in the world.  Of course, as most know, she never actually did.

Returning to the matter at hand, Luna learned of Nightmare Night and determined to turn it into a more joyous festival, starting in Ponyville.  Celestia wanted to help her, but she insisted on going alone, accompanied only by two Night Guards.  To my understanding, Luna did not want to be dependent on her sister.  Ponyville was selected as it was the home of the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, who knew of her past and reform and thus were more likely to accept her.

There turned out to be some problems with this plan, as it being Nightmare Night, everypony expected there to be an attempt to scare them.  You may have read about some of what resulted in the newspapers and tabloids.  In short, ponies were initially scared.  Her overly dramatic entrance combined with some ill-timed lightning effects from a mischievous pegasus did the initial work.  Following this, her tendency to use the Royal Canterlot Voice, which apparently involves yelling at the top of one's lungs, did few favors.  Her outdated mode of address also impeded understanding, though this was secondary.

After some coaching from some of the ponies who wielded the Elements of Harmony against her in the first place, she began to fit in more in Ponyville's festival.  This worked for awhile, until she apparently misunderstood the point of a simple toss game and used magic to animate the plush spiders in order to score more points.  To use technical terminology, this freaked ponies out.  This next part is not publicly known, but one particular pony had instigated much of the fear of Luna that night.  This was one of the element bearers, a pony named Pinkie Pie.  Investigation by Luna and Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's student and element bearer whom we have encountered before, revealed that she was not really scared but playing into the theme of Nightmare Night because she thought that was what the intent was.  Given the trick with the spiders, this was perhaps understandable.  Luna then deliberately played into the legend, using a glamour to make herself look like Nightmare Moon and gaining candy from the foals.  After one of them assured her in some manner that they really had had fun and were not really afraid of her, Luna apparently made peace with the celebration.

This was Luna's first public outing.  She had been raising the moon for some weeks at that point, but since then she has been a part of the public ceremonies that occasionally accompany that raising and lowering of the sun and moon.  While ponies do show her more reverence than formerly (for whatever that's worth), and she has become aware of the night life that now exists in Equestria, she now runs afoul of a problem often experienced by Celestia.  Namely, nearly everyone she interacts with sees her as something more than pony and thus treats her not as a friend but as a ruler.  This is one of many problems I have with the monarchy, but that is another discussion.  In addition, Luna's nighttime duties involve few interactions with the public, even those that are typically awake at night, and fewer interactions with staff as only a few night guards are out then.  Thus, while Luna has a few compatriots and a relationship with her sister which she did not have before her banishment, she has still largely been isolated.  Such isolation is, I suspect, much more to the point of her previous difficulties than the lack of reverence that she and others have publicly claimed.

There is, of course, an obvious solution to this problem.  Indeed, this is one reason I wrote this second edition.  Namely, ponies should treat Luna, Celestia, Cadence, and any other alicorns that may emerge as ponies.  Not as divine, not as untouchably distant figures, not even, if I were to have my preference, as rulers, but as ponies.  They may have more skill in some areas than most, but they are still just ponies.  They eat, they breathe, they love, they bleed.  To treat them as anything else does a disservice not just to them but to the ponies doing so.

Lastly, it has been confirmed that Luna can, in fact, 'walk' into other ponies' dreams.  Though she can directly interfere, she typically is merely a passive observer.  This raises some troubling questions regarding privacy.  The victim, for I feel this is an appropriate description, may have no knowledge or memory of the intrusion, but this scarcely makes it better.  I have only recently become aware of this phenomenon, and have communicated my concerns to both Luna and Celestia.  As of the time of writing, the issue has not been resolved to my satisfaction, but Luna has tentatively agreed to restrict these activities for the time being while more opinions are considered.  If you share my concern, please write to one or both of them and let them know.  I do not know whether considerations will be ongoing by the time of publishing, but they could certainly be reopened if there were enough of a public response

Now perhaps I have gotten a bit too far into my own personal hang-ups.  There is little more to say on this subject at this time, though I suspect there will be further developments.  Perhaps a third edition would be in order?  Anyway, let us now turn to the other two momentous events that have occurred since the first edition of this book:  the return of the tyrant Discord and the changeling invasion of the 'royal' wedding.