Luna Comes Clean

by TalB

Luna explains

Luna started to explain to Megan why she became Nightmare Moon.

"I always thought that you and Celestia always got along together." Megan said.

"For a while that was true, but as time grew by, that was no longer the case." Luna explained.

Megan then asked, "Didn't you both share the throne equally as the new rulers of Equestria?"

"Not exactly. Celestia believed that since she was the oldest, she should be the official ruler of Equestria while I just sat beside her." answered Luna.

Megan mentioned, "I get that it sounds unfair, but that doesn't seem to explain how you wound up becoming Nightmare Moon."

Luna explained, "I became Nightmare Moon over the course of time. I felt left out due to neglect of my own sister. I was also known for singing a song known as “The Moon Rises” to express how I felt. There was even a time when we were giving each other the cold shoulder when passing by. At the time, Celestia thought that I was just going through a phase and believed that I would get over it at one point."

Megan related to this by saying, "I will admit that problems with siblings exists even with us humans. There were times when I gave Danny or Molly the cold shoulder for a time when they annoyed me, though sometimes they could be the ones giving me the cold shoulder as well."

Luna then said, "Maybe. But to make matters worse, I let my anger towards her get the better of me."

Megan then thought, "So, from what I’m hearing, Nightmare Moon is your Mr. Hyde to your Dr. Jekyll."

Not understanding what Megan just mentioned, Luna asked, "Can you tell me what you mean by this Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde?"

"These two are characters written from a novel known as “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” written by Robert Louis Stevenson back in 1886. Mr. Hyde represented the dark side that Dr. Jekyll had created through a serum to separate that side from himself. Only, it took control of him later on." explained Megan.

"How does any of this relate to me?" asked Luna.

As Megan explained further, "Just like how you mentioned Nightmare Moon being a manifestation of yourself, the same applies to Dr. Jekyll with Mr. Hyde. Unlike him, you were able to overcome this thanks to Twilight and her friends changing you back to yourself with the Elements of Harmony. However, Dr. Jekyll could never do that. He had to write a letter saying that he was gone forever because his latest transformation to Mr. Hyde had become permanent."

Now with a better understanding, Luna then said, "At least now I know what you meant by that. But that still won't change what I did when I was... her.”

"What exactly did you do that makes it so difficult for you to be forgiven for being Nightmare Moon? I'm sure if you can prove to everyone else that you have changed since then, they can forgive you despite all of that.” Luna was about to say something when Megan continued saying, “Keep in mind that you are known for going into their dreams on most nights when they are asleep to see what's going and even helping them when they have certain nightmares. Are you afraid that if you come clean on this, they will no longer let you into their dreams?”

"If you were to know the rest of that song I was known for singing, it starts to take a more... aggressive approach.” Luna paused for a moment. “Later on, I added lyrics such as not being the lesser light and having followers similar to my what sister has. I even mentioned how it will be the final setting of the sun along with eternal lullabies."

After hearing that Megan said, "Huh, hearing this almost made me think about my first adventure when I came to Ponyland and battled Tirac, the ancestor of the Tirek you know. Just like your dark form, he also wanted to have eternal darkness, but this differed with that he needed four certain ponies to turn into dragons to help him achieve his goal. But I was able to stop him and destroy him before he could do that just by taking his rainbow and having it absorb into the Rainbow of Light. The result of his death lead to everything he changed including Scorpan, who was really a human prince, to change back. However, you're not like Tirac. That is why neither your sister or Twilight and her friends wanted to kill you. Instead, they got you back to being yourself again in the belief that there was still some good left in you."

"So I can see that this wasn't something new." noted Luna.

After making that analogy, Megan then wondered about the song and asked, "How did that part of the song lead to you becoming that monster?"

"It was then that came the night where I refused to allow for the moon to set. I was really showing my true colors. Everything on my body started to change.” Luna had to pause once more, bracing herself for what had to be said next. “My fur turned to black, my teeth became razor sharp, my wings became those of a bat, my horn got longer, I was about my sister's size, and my crown and regalia became a helmet and armor. After that, I was no longer like myself."

"Why couldn't you just fight that urge?" asked Megan.

Luna then said, "It was very hard to fight it as long as I kept having all those negative emotions. I even got angry at my own sister! That lead to me constantly shouting at her or even trying to throw things at her, though other times I just slammed the doors in her face."

Megan then noted, "It seems that despite all that, your sister still forgave you in the end after you were back to yourself."

Luna mentioned, "You are aware about how you mentioned that I nearly killed her and would have succeeded in doing so."

"Didn't other creatures in the past try to kill her as well?" asked Megan.

"None of them have ever came as close to doing that as much as I did." said Luna, once again feeling ready to cry.

Megan then petted Luna and reminded her, "But she still forgives you! That alone should show that someone really does care for you despite all of that."

"Maybe she should have killed me when she had to the chance!” said Luna.

“Luna, no. Don’t go there-“ replied Megan.

Luna continued with, “Then I could have been put out of my misery. Perhaps, I should have been imprisoned after all that I did! Better yet, turning me into a statue would have been the better choice so that I can always be beside her. Then again, I was probably better off staying on the moon so that I couldn’t be a threat. Any of those are likely better than just having to live with all that guilt and having to keep it a secret. I can’t stand this feeling inside of me! Now you probably think less of me..."

Megan petted a crying Luna as she responded, "You and Celestia didn't think less of me when I found out that there wasn't anything I could have done to stop Grogar. When I could no longer come back until only recently, I felt so ashamed about everything despite it not being my fault, but you two still saw me as the savior of Ponyland despite that. I don't see why I should think less of you for all of your actions you did as Nightmare Moon.”

“Megan, I-“ as Luna tried to explain.

“I can't even believe you said all of that after all this time! If anything, you should think about the fact that you're still alive today! You get to hit a reset button and start over with your life." explained Megan.

Luna was silent for a moment before responding, "Megan, you just don't understand what that put me through."

Megan answered back with, "Where I'm from, there are people who can still move on with their lives even if they were convicted felons, as long as they can prove that they have changed. Stop thinking that you are still Nightmare Moon. You’re Princess Luna, and you always will be. The only reason you still feel this way is because you allow it to haunt you. You need to learn how to move on from this."

After hearing all of that, Luna started to feel a little better about herself.

Author's Note:

You can go over to Youtube to watch a fan made video of The Moon Rises.