As an extension on point one my headcanon is that Luna is more powerful than Celestia so it wasn't her becoming evil that gave her the power, she already had it.

edited 2nd Sep '12 12:05:37 PM by Badwolfwho

For what it's worth, I believe Faust herself liked the idea that some outside corrupting force contributed to the rise of Nightmare Moon (and to the freeing of Discord).

But at the same time, I'm not cool with any interpretation that completely absolves Luna of all wrongdoing. Heck, her scene of reconciliation with Celestia pretty strongly implies that Luna bore at least some responsibility for the Nightmare Moon incident.

So, either NMM was all Luna's fault, or the Nightmare was an external corrupting force which was only able to possess Luna because of the resentment that was already in Luna's heart.

Night > Day.

That could make sense, I guess.

Now that raises a really big question.

Is there any external force of evil in Equestria, like, say, Satan in Abrahamic religions?

I think I can believe Luna being actually more powerful than Celestia. In Judeo-Christian and Classical mythologies, the darkness existed before the light.

edited 2nd Sep '12 12:08:52 PM by dRoy

@ Meta: I agree that I don't like an explanation that absolves her of wrongdoing, that's why I prefer it being all her fault. I also don't take Faust's words as canon.

Faust doesn't even take her word as canon.

@J Teeth, I used to look up to his work back in the day, but I just have difficulty believing that after all these years, I have in some capacity surpassed him, that's not how it should be.

On the Nightmare Moon topic, I like to think Luna had acquired a power on her own initiative without considering the consequences to her mental stability.

edited 2nd Sep '12 12:11:02 PM by MousaThe14

She doesn't? That's confusing.

@Roy: Closest to that idea is probably Discord.

I headcanon it as a Power at a Price type deal, and the powers of Nightmare Moon came at the price of Luna's empathy and compassion. It's all to slot in with my other headcanon of Luna previously being the Bearer of the Element of Generosity, falling when she came to believe that no matter how much she gave, no one would ever notice.

Bloody job o' mine. What I miss?

Hmm, do you guys suppose that whatever the external force that corrupted Luna (if there is any, that is) has anything to do with Discord?

@Applelight - We are discussing/speculating the origin of Nightmare Moon.

edited 2nd Sep '12 12:13:41 PM by dRoy

I like the idea of Discord being the Devil. Like, feeling how awful goodness is and seeing Virtue in her shape how lovely and pining his loss and stuff.

Ooh, headcanon sharing time: some sort of Emotion Eater or other being tried to feed off of Luna's suppressed fear, resentment, jealousy; it was overwhelmed and consumed by Luna's heart, granting her its powers but corrupting her mind in the process.

edited 2nd Sep '12 12:18:07 PM by Blueeyedrat

That's one awesome bus!

edited 2nd Sep '12 12:19:12 PM by DavidtheMouse14

The official position is that there is no canon beyond what actually gets shown in the show. Faust has shared a few ideas she's had regarding background info, but has also said that the current showrunners could render those non-canon in any future episode.

I'm also kinda wondering about how Luna is "younger."

As d Roy said, Darkness is before the Light.

And what hath night to do with sleep?

Baseless Speculation Time: What if the outside force was neutral? As in, there was an outside force, and it did give Luna enough power to become Nightmare Moon, but it didn't corrupt her any more than she already was?

I'm afraid I don't see how that leads to Luna > Celestia.

edited 2nd Sep '12 12:20:31 PM by KylerThatch

So there could be some kind of Trinity, with Celestia as good, NMM as evil, and Discord as evil.

Singing of Chaos and Eternal Night, taught by the heavenly muse to venture down the dark descent.

OK, OK, enough John Milton, I promise.

I...I just saw Mousa's Spitfire in a swimsuit...

My body was so not ready for that...it hurt...

Eternal Night is pretty orderly, though. If Discord had anything to do with Nightmare Moon (and I personally don't think he did), it was just setting her against Celestia because of the chaos their conflict would cause. I doubt he would actually want it to be night forever. He prefers day and night to be at random intervals, instead.

I like that philosophy. That's what I always thought the way it should be.

Well, like I said, it's only in those two mythologies. I don't know how it is in other ones so who knows?

That makes me think, though. Usually, a night is when there is no sun. As far as the current theory of universe goes, there was really absolutely nothing before the sun. Would that mean that darkness was before existence of everything?

edited 2nd Sep '12 12:24:00 PM by dRoy

@applelight: Innocence, once lost, can never be regained. Darkness, once gazed upon, can never be lost.

OK, I know I promised to stop, but that was just too perfect.

The majority of creation myths begin in darkness. You should read Joseph Campbell, you would like him.

edited 2nd Sep '12 12:25:57 PM by condottiera

Well my headcanon is that Luna was always naturally slightly more powerful. After vanquishing Discord however since Celestia was so favoured over Luna that no one ever went to Luna about their problems or to give tribute, Luna had a lot more free time than Celestia and so split her time between working on her night sky and acquiring power to better defend Equestria in case another threat like Discord emerged. Nightmare Moon was just the form she took while channelling all that power.

Edit: Luna isn't necessarily darkness, she also brings light in the form of stars and the moon. She's a mixture of light and dark.

edited 2nd Sep '12 12:25:39 PM by Badwolfwho

@condot - *in Bane's voice* You have my permission to continue.