A theory I had regarding Nightmare Moon that I'd like input on. It starts with the Nightmare, the creature that turned Luna into Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare is what is known as a specter. Contrary to what some ponies believe, specters and ghosts are not the same. Ghosts are lingering spirits of the dead, specters are primarily intangible, but very much alive. They are symbiotic creatures that join with a host (with the host's permission, most of the time) and feed on their negative emotions and feelings (hate, loneliness, etc), which actually helps their hosts, making them more cheerful and less likely to become depressed. Ponies who are specter hosts tend to keep that fact a secret, usually at the specter's request, due to all the negativity associated with them after Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon. Romantic relationships between a specter and their host are not unheard of, and is made easier to accomplish by the fact that specters can become tangible, though retaining that state for more than a few hours is tiring. Specters usually avoid using alicorns as hosts, since their emotions are supercharged to the point of being harmful.

The Nightmare is a classic example of what happens when a specter becomes too greedy. She was drawn to Luna by the negativity she was feeling at the time, and decided that she could handle feeding on alicorn emotions. She then made a second mistake. Instead of simply revealing her nature to Luna, she pretended to be her friend, despite not caring about anything but feeding on her emotions. When Luna agreed to host the Nightmare, she discovered her true feelings. Already upset and lonely, she felt betrayed, and the Nightmare made an even bigger mistake by immediately feeding on that feeling of betrayal, which only made Luna even more upset. Eventually, this spiralled completely out of control, and Luna's emotions became too much for the Nightmare to handle, eventually overloading her.

This overload was a serious problem, because when specters feed, they convert emotions into magical energy. The excess energy was expelled, since the Nightmare was unable to absorb it fast enough. The excess energy could not escape Luna's body, either, and rebounded back inwards on itself.

The end result of this reaction was the creation of a third personality in Luna's psyche, formed from the combined thoughts of Luna and the Nightmare, but separate from either. This personality took control of Luna's body, turning her into the alicorn/specter hybrid known as Nightmare Moon. The Nightmare and Luna were both alive and conscious for the whole ordeal, but were unable to take control, essentially becoming prisoners within their own bodies.

The use of the Elements of Harmony on the three personalities destroyed Nightmare Moon, but left the other two alive. The Nightmare fled at the first opportunity, leaving Luna alone in body and mind once more.

That's all I've got. Thoughts?

2141762
Iiiiiiiiiiiiiinteeeeeeeeeeereeeeeeeeessting...

2141762 Damn, that's an awesome back-story.
Screw that, it's an awesome story.
You should get on writing that right now.

2141762 Fanfic. Naow.

2141762

It sounds a lot like a changeling.

2141762
That is a great idea for a NMM and Luna romance story. Go for it!!!

2141822

That's the thing. Going by this theory, Luna would absolutely despise the Nightmare for taking advantage of her. That was more of a hook for other romance stories involving the Nightmare (or another specter) with another pony.

Besides, if I'm gonna do a romance story, it's gonna be straight. I don't do anything else.

Sounds about like A Dream is a Wish.. Or a Nightmare's take on NMM.

2141882
then NMM with Spike would be interesting. Definitely something I haven't seen yet.

2141778>>2141787

Really? This is just a theory. Do you know how many unfinished fanfics I'd have if I started writing one for every idea I had?

2142018 As many as I have?

2142018 Not as much as meeeeeeee~!

I actually like that theory...

I sorta-kinda agree with that, but not entirely.

My own personal headcannon is that, rather than a dark force taking Luna over, NMM is a manifestation of all of Luna's negative emotions: hate, jealousy, sorrow, etc. So, since most of her negative emotions were directed at Celestia's treatment of Luna and Equestria's ignorance of the night, Nightmare was fueled by he desire to make Celestia pay and cause eternal night. However, when Celestia banished her to the moon, Luna's negative emotions towards her and the daytime faded only a little bit, and as such, Nightmare Moon was not dampened at all.

After she was separated from NMM and all was forgiven, Luna's hatred and loss started to dissapate. Becuase of this, somewhere off in the Everfree, NMM, now in the form of an Earth Pony, realized what she was: a demon. And without any fuel of negativity or anything to give her a reason to do what she was doing, NMM finally realized what she had done and ended up hating herself for it. She wanted herself dead, became her own nightmare, however you wanna call it, but in the end, Nightmare was ashamed of herself to the point she attempted suicide in the hopes she would make the world a better place. She failed, and to this day hides in the deepest of the Everfree where even Celestia fears to tread.

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