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.
Luna's Tales: Discord's Reign
Dear Diary,
Today had been another great day with the commoners of Equestria. This time, I met with them not in the Cloudsdale Bath House, rather, I met them at the miniature "island" near Canterlot. They asked questions like what kind of cuisine do I enjoy and if I had enjoyed cake as much as my sister did. There was one annoying pony however who kept referring to me as Woona. I do not know the origins of this nickname, nor do I know its meaning, but the name itself simply irritates me. That pony had asked the most idiotic of questions and had really started to push my buttons, but in an effort to remain reserved, I of course had been polite and asked the pony to stop. Thankfully though, the nuisance was taken care of.
Today, just like yesterday, there was a pony who had came up and asked me an interesting question. Of course, this was again a question that demanded a long and detailed response, not just a quick one sentence answer. A pony had asked me about the time that Discord had ruled over Equestria, as everyone knew he had made it chaos central of the world at one point, but they never understood how he gained power in the kingdom. I told them all the tale of Discord's Reign.
"So now it is Discord you wish to learn about? I understand that it is a very gray area, especially since it doesn't seem that Celestia has ever shed light upon the subject. If you wish for me to tell you the tale, I'd gladly do so."
Just like yesterday, the ponies nodded in agreement as their burning curiosity demanded that they find out all they could
"I see... very well then. This is the tale of the time that Discord had ruled over Equestria. I will tell you all about his rise to power in our Kingdom, to his demise. It was a day just like any other, in the early years of Equestria's existence. Celestia and I were still rather young, and still didn't exactly know how to run a Kingdom. The previous royal advisers were not of much use to us. Back in those days, every nation had wanted to claim the fertile land that was Equestria, and destroy the harmony of all the races of ponies living together. We were in constant battle with the surrounding nations as we were still an early nation, not having proven our worth and not having given a reason for other nations to respect us. The last nation, to do any damage to us at all, was of course, the Dark Realm. They had destroyed the first Equestrian Castle, leaving us without a Castle for many years. Their king had even managed to make our mother meet her demise as she clashed with him head to head, and in a gigantic flash of light, they were all gone.
Our Mother, along with the King of the Dark Realm, and all the members of the army of the dark realm, just vanished into thin air, but I digress. Back then, Discord was already the ruler of his own nation, after he of course had forcefully taken it over. It was known as a danger zone to all other nations, as we were sure, that if you were to step in, you would not be able to step out. Now since the demise of our mother, we had to learn how to rule the Kingdom of Equestria ourselves, and we proved ourselves as worthy leaders time and time again as we fended off attacks from other nations with our powerful magic, taught to us by none other than Star Swirl the Bearded himself, who had already vanished before our mother.
Over the years, as we grew stronger, so did Discord. He slowly began expanding his horizons as much as we did, taking every nation by force, subduing them with his chaos. After many years of both Equestria expanding, and Discord's nation of chaos taking over all the others, we were the only ones who stood in the way of Discord ruling over the entire area. Obviously, he had come to attack us, since domination was his goal. He wanted the entire world to be filled with chaos and disharmony the likes of which are essentially incomprehensible. When Discord had come to take over Equestria, we were ill equipped to fight off the insane magic he possessed. We had severely underestimated his powerful chaos, and eventually, Equestria, to, had fallen. Sure, we didn't give up without a fight, but eventually, Celestia and I were the only ones who had remained, willing to fight him, and because of our weakened conditions due to the constant battles against him, we had lost Equestria. We knew that if our mother was watching, she would be disappointed in us.
With the last of our strength, however, we took all we could from the royal archives, and we headed off for the one place that no sane nor insane individual would ever dare step foot in, the Everfree Forest. It was a place filled with savage creatures the likes of which no one, not even Discord himself had wanted to deal with. It was the only uncharted and un-colonized area in the entire region. We settled deep within the forest, away from all other civilizations, and had found an excellent cave in which Celestia and I had decided to call home. We set up shop there, unpacking our belongings, and making the place more like a home. We even had an crafted an invisible door that did not allow anyone to see that there was anything in the cave, but we could watch the outside from it at our leisure. We spent the next few years constantly practicing our magic in an attempt to make ourselves strong enough to face Discord.
However, one fateful day, when we were practicing our magic spells in the cave, we broke a hole through one of the walls to reveal another cave, and inside of it, was just the thing we needed in order to defeat Discord. Inside this other cave, were what are now known as the Elements of Harmony housed in a tree, which we dubbed the Tree of Harmony. They were the exact opposite of Discord's magic, an anti-Discord to an extent. Discord was all about Disharmony, and these elements were harmony in their purest form.
After practicing our magical abilities with them for about a year, we were finally ready to face Discord. It had been years since we had last seen Equestria, and since Discord was infamous for completely destroying places with his chaos, my Sister and I were prepared to witness the worst. When we traveled back into Equestria, for the first time in many years, our worst expectations were nowhere close to the sheer chaos of the now insane and dis-harmonized kingdom of Equestria. It did not take long for us to find Discord, for he did not bother building a castle in which to rule in, for it would have obstructed his views of all the chaos that surrounded him, no; his throne was in the center of it all, as he sat there, eating seeds at his leisure, laughing at all the chaos he was responsible for. However, the lack of a castle did not mean there was a lack of vanity, oh no. Every building had some kind of imprint on it that resembled Discord's face, and there were statues of him everywhere. When we had finally confronted him, we demanded that he ceases all of his chaos, or else he would face the most extreme punishment he can, in order to pay for his transgressions. He did not take us seriously at all, and he did not seem surprised to see us. In fact, I could still remember the words he said as he mocked us.
"I was wondering when I'd see the two has-been Alicorn Sisters of Equestria. I hope you like what I've done with the place, isn't it just wonderful?"
"NO. We do not take pleasure in seeing our once beautiful Kingdom reduced to nothing more than the manifestation of all things nonsensical!" I told him as rage began to build up within me
"Oh really now? That's just a shame, because it isn't going back to the way it used to be, years ago, any time soon. Looks like you'll just have to accept the change, or be changed yourself. And either of those can easily be arranged, with the snap of my fingers."
Celestia and I were growing impatient with Discord, and the expressions on our faces grew sterner with every bit of whimsical mockery he directed towards us. However, no matter how serious we had appeared, all he had done was laugh at us, while gobbling down the seeds that will have grown into something horrid, and had done so, just a few years ago.
"Oh, you two look so cute when you're trying to act all tough and serious. Why I could just pinch your cute little cheeks right now."
This had downright angered us, but yet the angrier we got, the more pleased Discord became. He enjoyed pushing our buttons, trying to get under our skin. To continue his spree of irritation, he had even taken the tail of my Sister and fluffed it up and laid down on it as if it were a pillow. That was when we had finally had enough, that was the last straw.
"DISCORD, IF THOU DOES NOT CEASE THESE ACTS OF DISHARMONY, THEN WE SHALL DELIVER THE MOST EXTREME PUNISHMENT TO THEE POSSIBLE!" I had screamed at him, in my Royal Canterlot Voice.
"What's that? You think you could actually defeat me? You think you're capable of delivering me, Discord, the spirit and embodiment of all things chaotic and Disharmony itself, punishment? I know your previous statements were far-fetched, but this is a whole new level. Here, how about this, take some seeds for food, and go back to whatever hole you came from." He laughed as he threw the seeds at our faces.
Keeping our stern look, Celestia and I looked to each other and nodded in agreement that this was the prime time to unleash the powers of the Elements of Harmony upon Discord. As we pulled them out, and prepared to use them against him, he made another snarky remark, mocking the elements and calling them toys.
"Oh look at that, colorful rocks that you probably kept as toys from when you were fillies. What, are those things the tool with which you hope to punish and defeat me with? You're kidding, right? Why this is just the most hilarious thing I've ever seen in my life!"
"Discord, these are no toys. These are the Elements of Harmony, the exact opposite of what you embody. They will be the tools with which we dispose of you with."
Discord had done nothing but laugh uncontrollably, further spilling his seeds. Celestia and I decided to stop stalling and together, we used the Elements of Harmony against Discord. When we used them, a huge rainbow of light had come out of our horns and had arced over onto Discord himself, turning him into stone, while he was blissfully unaware of what was going on. Once we had imprisoned him, all the effects of his spells had come undone. All of Equestria was back to normal, and it was as if we had never left it.
Years later, when we had decided to build the castle in the Everfree forest, being dubbed the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, we had hidden and locked away Discord's stone form deep beneath the Castle, to make sure that he would never come back again. As you know, for whatever reason, Celestia had moved the Stone Discord into the Canterlot Gardens since my banishment, and due to his placement, he was able to break free when three foals had got into an argument. They were disharmonious, which had made the final crack in the stone that imprisoned Discord. Since his return though, we have managed to reform him, and what used to be one of our greatest foes, has turned into a somewhat reliable ally. It really is astonishing seeing how different he has become ever since he has let Friendship enter his heart."
I can honestly say, that my visits to Equestria continue to be the highlights of my days. The citizens, at least most of them are incredibly nice and with each visit, I meet a couple of new ponies, and make a few new friends. I can not wait until the next time I see them all. Just thinking about it all makes me smile with glee.
