An Equestrian History Lesson
In the beginning, there was light. Burning, obtrusive, ignorant light. It blasted everything with heat, never having the least bit of modesty about what it uncovered, and frankly, not caring in the least what it harmed.
Oh, there was darkness too, but even though it was created as a moderator for the light, it was constantly thrust into the smallest of recesses, blasted away by the light's rays.
In time however, the natural order of the young world caused the light and darkness to fall into a balance, one shrinking and the other growing, until they were equal in power and duration. When the inherent magic infused into the world by its creation not so long ago began to affect the light and darkness, the two forces began to manifest into two great horned, hoofed, and winged beasts. The gods of day and night were born.
Over the next millennium, the beings shaped the land, Equestria they called it, into a place of beauty, each enhancing their element, and adding order and strife as they saw fit. They even went so far as to each place a piece of themselves in the sky, which they called the sun and moon. After a long while of engaging in this act though, they became lonely, longing for the company of more than each other, and the primal beings called animals, that they had created so far. As a result of this, pony kind was created.
The new race was fashioned in the image of their creators, with horns, wings, or strength gifted to each individual, but never all three, so that the new beings would never be too powerful for their own good. They were also all given individuality, intelligence, and the freedom to create their own civilization however they chose, with the gods as their guiding figures. In the end, they ended up choosing the two gods as their leaders, giving them names and titles as the princesses of their growing empire.
The pony civilization flourished, and the gods were happy...
...for a time
After a while, the nocturnal god, Luna the ponies called her, became restless, so she asked her "sister", Celestia (the name the sun god chose for herself), to take care of all their subjects, while she went out to see new worlds and learn new power. For several millennia, she explored and quested, observed and learned, gaining knowledge and strength along the way, only to return to find that, in her absence she had been forgotten. Not only did the ponies ignore the beautiful moon and stars that she had painstakingly raised every single night even from across the dimensions, they even went so far as to shun her night as a whole, and Celestia had done nothing to stop it, even going so far as to encourage the act!
This caused Luna to become bitter towards both her "sister" and her creations, but she refused to let her anger show, for she knew that she was still less powerful than the sun god, and thus would never be able to change anything in her current state. Instead, she knew that she must train as hard as possible, for as long as it would take to become a greater being, capable of exacting her revenge upon everyone and everything in her once beloved world.
Celestia saw through Luna's guise of happiness however, and confronted her before her evolution was reached, causing plans and spells alike to backfire, and forcing the night god to morph prematurely into a monster created by the spike in emotion caused as a result. Luna was not completely unprepared though, and was able to almost kill her rival god before being banished, quite ironically, to her own moon. She vowed never to let emotions get in the way of her plans again.
During her thousand year exile, the fallen nightmare of a god fell into the seething proverbial abyss of true evil, and climbed back out again, having made quite a few new friends. She began to formulate new plans to replace the failed ones, and to build new armies where her power alone was not enough, mighty though it was. She had been wronged so many times that she was sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that emotions or none, if anyone was being wronged, it would be the weak, not her.
One thousand years later, Nightmare Moon (Luna was a weak and emotional name anyway) had finally succeeded in the act of moving the distant stars into the exact locations needed to create the conditions for a portal spell that would release her from her lunar prison. This time, she succeeded in banishing Celestia to her own prison of irony, her prized jewel the sun, for a full forty eight hours before letting emotion get the best of her once again, and destroy the very beast it once created. The rest is history.
That is what anypony who cares to look into ancient history knows, though in a much less sun-prejudiced form than most available scrolled on the subject. What they don't know is this: Celestia did not banish Nightmare Moon without it weighing upon her conscience, or her sanity. In fact, she is still troubled by guilt to this day, even after Luna's restoration to the sister she once loved. How do I know this you may ask? The answer is simple, Celestia and I are one and the same, and this "history scroll" is less of an educational artifact, and more the too-true-for-comfort rantings of a troubled soul and mind.
A wise mare once said "hold close your rivals, friends, enemies, and siblings alike, for distance causes forgetfulness, and forgetfulness causes pain and strife." I only wish that I could have done so, for if I had, I would not feel so alone, even in the presence of those who I care for most.
(The End)