Luna's Tales

by Noctis

Luna's Tales: The Story of Nightmare Moon

Dear Diary,

Today was an excellent day. I had made some new friends, in Equestria. It seems as though Celestia, Twilight, and Cadance made the right decision sending me here instead of being with them, protecting the barrier that surrounds Equestria, preventing the darkness from coming through. I was nervous when they decided to make me a public relations pony of sorts. I thought that they were making a huge mistake. I was convinced that the people of Equestria still had lukewarm at best feelings towards me. But it seems, that after my visit to Cloudsdale today, that my thoughts were incorrect.

I have never been more happy in my life to be wrong. When I went to the Bath House, in Cloudsdale, I was incredibly shy. I did not want to make my appearance known. I was too afraid of the public's rejection of me. So I had simply lurked them from the roof tops, and everytime someone had thought they had spotted me, I had simply teleported away, and found a new spot on which to watch them from. However, that loop was interrupted when someone had spotted me going back to the Bath House. It was none other than Albi. She and I had crossed paths, and eventually we both decided to head to the Bath House. The citizens greeted me with smiles on their faces, and I felt welcome at last.

After a while, I decided to ask if they had any questions for me, and I certainly gained a lot of responses. One was from a stallion named Pan who had asked if there was cheese on the moon, and I of course had responded yes. He later made Moon Cheese Pizza, and it was absolutely scrumptious. There were two ponies who had asked to become my student, and I happily allowed them to do so. No one had ever asked to become my student before, but I was welcome to the change. After all, if Celestia had students, why shouldn't I? I knew knowledge Celestia never did, for Star Swirl had taught me a far more vast amount of knowledge than he ever did to her. Celestia was always the kind of pony who enjoyed to have a laugh and she never was as serious as I was. Sure, I had a great sense of humor, but when it came to studies, I knew they were no laughing matter, even as a filly. But I digress.

There was one question that was asked of me, that stood out to me the most. A pony named Sunny Skies had asked me a very sensitive question, but I decided to answer it anyways, and all were interested in hearing the tale. That question was, "Princess Luna, can you please tell us what caused you to become Nightmare Moon?" I had first hesitated a little bit, but the other ponies had expressed their genuine interest in hearing the true tale of Nightmare Moon.

"You all really want to know how I became Nightmare Moon and why I did the things I did?"

The ponies had all nodded their heads in agreement, assuring me that they indeed wanted me to speak

"Very well then. I'll start this off with some questions. Have you ever lived in the shadow of someone else? Whether it be a sibling, a different family relative, a friend, or another student, have you ever been in their shadow? How would you feel if you worked your very best to make something as equally beautiful, if not more beautiful, than someone else, and yet the pony who had put less effort in a project was praised while you were completely ignored and tossed to the side like last place garbage? That, is how I felt when I became Nightmare Moon. Many many many years ago, the only Princesses in the land were myself and my sister, Celestia. Celestia, of course was in charge of raising the shimmering sun while I was in charge of raising the enchanting moon. However, back then, all the ponies had feared the night. All of them had basked in the light of the day, but hid in their dwellings in fear during the night. None of them had even given me any respect, no matter what I did to reach out to them, they all turned away. I never understood their fear and hatred of the night, why in my honest opinion, I believe the night has a certain charm that the day lacks. My nights were always serene and tranquil, as the Enchanting glow of the moon had dimly lit the kingdom as the stars in the sky had twinkled in unison, as I arranged them in patterns, now called constellations, in which things from ancient legend were forever immortalized. The night required a lot more effort than the day ever did. To make it day, all my sister ever had to do was raise the sun, whilst I lower my moon. She didn't even have to clear out any of the clouds in the sky, all she did was put the sun there, no more, no less. My night was far more complex as I had to make sure the stars had twinkled and the moon had its enchanting glow, I also had to make sure all the constellations were in check. Anyways, moving onward with this tale, jealousy, envy, and bitterness had all brewed in my heart. No one had ever cared for my night, and as much as my sister had shown support for me, it all felt very empty to me, as she slept through the night, just like every other pony.

I had no friends back then either. No one was ever willing to stay up during the night to even come approach me. They all feared me and my night too much. Out of desperation to make a friend, I made my own. Nightmare Moon, was originally just an imaginary friend of mine. Over time, however, she had become an entire different being in my mind. The darkness, envy, and jealousy had all manifested itself into my alter-ego, Nightmare Moon. Even though, in the end, she was just me, she had a mind of her own. Nightmare Moon had always thought that, if the ponies had all feared me and my night, that we should give them a proper reason to do so. Instead of trying to gain the respect and love of the citizens through kindness and understanding, I had made the ponies fear me more than ever. I ruled with an iron hoof, so to speak. I had also decided to abuse my ability of being able to enter the dreams of other ponies, and I decided to make their peaceful dreams a horrible experience, creating what are now known as Nightmares. The term Nightmare was coined because of my actions as the ponies who experienced these horrible dreams would see a mare, that mare was me, and of course, these horrible dreams only occurred during the night. Therefore the word Nightmare was born. They no longer had their peace of mind, even when they were asleep, in their dwellings, in a place where they had once thought they were free from the "terrifying" night.

Ever since Nightmare Moon became like another being in my mind, I had been refusing to lower down the moon to make way for my Sister's day. Every night lasted longer than the last. This debacle had lasted about a month, until I had finally refused to lower the moon altogether. That was the night, that Nightmare Moon had taken complete control of my body. I was locked out, and I could not stop any of the actions that had come next. The only thing I could do is watch with my own eyes, as Nightmare Moon had done what she had done. I was a forced spectator, that was chained up, and prevented from doing anything, including looking away. Nightmare Moon had hastily tried to murder my Sister.

Nightmare Moon and Celestia had clashed, but it had seemed that Nightmare Moon had won, as she directed a powerful dark attack spell towards my sister, and it had hit her, causing her to appear dead as she plummeted all the way back down into the castle, smashing a new hole in the roof in the process. Nightmare Moon had went down to Celestia's unconscious body, laughing maniacally as she had seemed to have succeeded in her efforts to kill my sister, as I was in tears, thinking that my Sister is dead, and it was all because of me. I was thinking how I could live with myself after I had been responsible for such a horrible thing. I was filled with regret, remorse, and grief. I could no longer control my tears as I screamed internally with the most extreme form of sadness.

However, Celestia was not dead. She had awoken, whilst Nightmare Moon was still cackling due to her supposed success, and mustered up all the strength she could to rise up and fight back. Without trying to reason with me anymore, because to her, it seemed as if the Luna she had known was long gone, she had taken the Elements of Harmony and used their power against me. I saw the tears in her eyes as she blasted me away and banished me to the moon, in a form of cruel irony. My pride, was the very thing that lead to my downfall. I had taken so much pride in my night, happily raising the moon and aligning the stars for the ungrateful commoners.

Now, during most of the years of my banishment, I was having an internal struggle against Nightmare Moon. I was on the verge of insanity, until I had finally given in to Nightmare Moon and allowed her to do as she pleaded. She spent most of those one thousand years trying to break me, by convincing me that no one had even remembered me anymore, not even my own sister, Celestia, and that I more likely than not have already been replaced. I had finally stopped trying to resist her, and she did as she pleaded. That's why I even was able to return, for she found a way to use the stars to her advantage to return.

You all know how the rest of the story goes, I had gotten rid of Celestia, and Twilight Sparkle and her friends had defeated me using the very same elements that imprisoned me. But this time, instead, they allowed me to be reborn, ridding me of the darkness that consumed me."

It indeed was one of the best days in Equestria, in a very long time. It is unfortunate that I have to leave them so soon, but I know I will not be gone from them for long.