“One thousand years ago, Nightmare Moon wasn’t banished, as Celestia had originally intended. Instead, for the first time in recorded history, the Elements of Harmony were used in a different way; they were brandished, but not activated. In lieu of banishing her sister to the moon, Princess Celestia struck a deal. If Nightmare Moon would stand down, then she would be willing to negotiate a partial surrender.
“And that is exactly what happened. Princess Celestia sacrificed half of Equestria to her beloved sister and, over time, Princess Luna returned to her senses. It was a slow process, but Celestia would wait… After a few hundred years, Nightmare Moon conceded to be called Nightmare Luna. In time, she even allowed her sister to address her as merely ‘Luna,’ though she was still Princess Nightmare to her subjects.
“The half of Equestria that Princess Nightmare ruled became know as the Lunar Division and, within its boundaries, no sunlight existed. For over a thousand years, half of the planet has been completely dark. And yet, in the sunlight’s absence, technology, science, and art prospered. With no sun to grow their crops, Division scholars developed special lanterns that would produce the same light as the sun, and that spurred the nation along on its path of progress. Even still, without its sister’s need of technology, the Solar Empire became magically advanced, and under the warm light of the sun, magic and alchemy replaced the sciences of the night.
“To date, Princess Celestia still values the love of her younger sister, and makes a monthly pilgrimage to the Lunar Division to visit with her, and vice versa. This not only maintains their bond, but promotes good relations between the Division and the Empire.
“Any questions, students?” Cheerilee asked from the front of the class.
“Yeah, I have one!” a small pink filly called from the back row.
Cheerilee heaved a sigh. “Yes, Diamond Tiara?” she asked though gritted teeth, despite already knowing what her question was. She was likely going to ask why they actually needed to know this stuff.
“Why did Princess Nightmare rebel in the first place?” Diamond asked, cocking her head sideways.
“Bec– I’m sorry, what?”
“I asked why Princess Nightmare rebelled,” she reiterated, drawing a number of surprised looks from her classmates. “I mean, she had everything she could want, right? Money… power… she had it all! Why would she rebel?”
“Oh, I thought…” Cheerilee shook her head, dispelling the notion and giving her student a kind smile. “Never mind. Glad to see you actually taking an interest in history,” she said calmly. “To answer your question, let me pose another; if you had an older sister who was maybe… prettier than you… and because of that, she got all of the attention, leaving you to be ignored… how would you feel about that?”
“I guess… I’d be pretty jealous of her…” Diamond said quietly, eying the teacher suspiciously.
Cheerilee smirked, glad to have delivered her message properly. “And that is exactly how Princess Nightmare felt when she saw the love her sister received for her gift of the sun. Why did the ponies shun her beautiful night? Why did they not appreciate the effort she put into painting the night sky? Was her pale moon not enough for them? Were her glittering stars not beautiful in their eyes? Why did they not love her?” she cried, turning away from the class. “But!” she whipped back around, giving the students a hard glare and making them all flinch. “This was no petty jealousy! Princess Nightmare stewed in her misery for centuries, letting her hate and rage and envy fester inside of her until it manifested as dark magic, transforming her body and altering her mind, sealing away the once beautiful Princess Luna and releasing the demon known as Nightmare Moon!”
The class let loose a collective gasp. Cheerilee smirked, delighting in heir reactions. She should not be having this much fun with them.
“That’s awful!” a filly in the front row shouted. “How could Princess Celestia let her sister go through that alone?!”
“Well, Apple Bloom, she didn’t know,” Cheerilee explained, moving over to her desk. “Princess Nightmare hid her negative feelings, fearing that the ponies, as well as her sister, would see her desires as selfish and immature. Even she herself felt that they were,” Cheerilee said softly, but loud enough for everypony to hear. She suddenly raised her head and smiled at the class. “Remember, every pony, bottling up your emotions can have absolutely disastrous effects. If something is ever bothering you, even if it’s something you think is silly, talk to somepony about it. Maybe your parents or your friends can help to ease your mind. Now, next week, we’re taking a six-day trip to the Lunar Division to learn a little more about it and the way they live there. I need you all to take home these permission slips,” she said, tapping the small stack of papers on the desk, “and return them when you come in tomorrow.”
X<<EDM>>X
“I wonder what it’s like in the Division…” Diamond Tiara said quietly, watching the countryside roll by. She turned to see her best friend giving her a coy smirk. “Oh don’t give me that, Bloom!” she said, playfully pushing her away. “You’ve never even been out of Ponyville!”
“It’s alright to be excited, Di; we all are!” Apple Bloom said warmly, putting a hoof on Diamond Tiara’s shoulder.
“And nervous!” Both fillies turned towards Pipsqueak. The poor lad looked like he was on the verge of a complete breakdown.
Scootaloo, who sat beside him, bopped the side of his head. “Dude, you’re from the Division!” she said teasingly.
“I was born in the Division, but I was raised in the Empire,” he said bluntly, poking her in the side. She immediately jerked to the side and batted his hoof away, blushing furiously. “I don’t know any more about the Division than you three.”
“It don’t really matter who knows more about it,” Apple Bloom pointed out. “We’re all gonna learn a boat load about it on this trip.”
“Ugh… Learning…” Scootaloo put a hoof in front of her mouth and made a gagging motion. “You make it sound so boring! Which is why…” she leaned out into the aisle and looked up at the chaperones, all of whom were busy talking about the schedule. “…I brought my Trotmare!” she whispered, unfolding her right wing to reveal a cassette player with a headphone cable wrapped around it. “And extra tapes!”
“Are you mad, filly?” Pipsqueak hissed, pushing Scootaloo’s wing back down. “If the chaperones see that…”
“See what?” All four ponies froze as Rainbow Dash trotted over, grinning as though she’d heard everything.
“Uh, absolutely nothing!” Diamond said much too quickly, shaking her hooves in front of her face.
Rainbow let loose a small laugh and pointed at Scootaloo’s wing. “I’ll tell you right now…” She paused, narrowing her eyes. “…you won’t need that.”
As Scootaloo pulled the tape player out from under her wing, she frowned up at Rainbow Dash. “Will I get it back?”
Rainbow smiled and pushed the filly’s hoof back. “I’m not taking it,” she said, turning away. “And I’ll tell the others not to, either. You just won’t want to listen to it, is all I’m saying. Oh, and you all may want to get dressed.”
“Oh, yeah! Why did we need to bring clothes with us, anyway?” Apple Bloom asked, getting out of her seat to pull her bag out from under it. “We don’t normally wear them…”
“They wear clothes in the Division,” Pipsqueak said as he pulled his suitcase down from the luggage rack. “It’s supposed to be really cold there.”
Diamond was already pulling on her faux marten fur jacket when she shrugged. “That makes sense. They don’t have any sunlight, so the sun can’t heat up their side of the planet.”
“I’m surrounded by eggheads…” Scootaloo muttered as she slipped into her black denim jacket.
!*_!%_&_@!_%