Princess Luna

**Princess Luna**, known as **Nightmare Moon**[2] or **Night Mare Moon**[3] when transformed or under certain other circumstances,[note 3] is an Alicorn pony, the younger sister of Princess Celestia, and the main antagonist of the season one premiere of *My Little Pony Friendship is Magic* as Nightmare Moon. She is also the adoptive aunt of Princess Cadance. Eventually, the Elements of Harmony restore Luna to her former self and she returns to rule over Equestria alongside her older sister. Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon is called by her respective early names **Princess Selena**/**Night Mare** in another depiction.

## Depiction in the series

### Personality

#### As Nightmare Moon

Much like the archetypal, over-the-top villains, Nightmare Moon is overly confident of herself and dramatically declares that the protagonist is a fool (foal) for thinking she can defeat her, and that "the night will last forever." She is portrayed as vicious and maniacal, shown when she attacks Princess Celestia and cackles evilly in Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2.

##### Bitterness

The narration at the beginning of Friendship is Magic, part 1 speaks of Luna's bitterness which transformed her. When she first appears, she intimidates the ponies with her evil laugh and pointed questions. She snidely refers to the ponies as her "beloved subjects," but appears genuinely impressed when Twilight Sparkle recognizes her as Nightmare Moon.

##### Manipulation

Nightmare Moon uses her magic to set obstacles in Twilight and her friends' path to the Elements of Harmony indirectly, making creatures unwittingly assist her. These include the manticore, whose paw she embeds with a thorn so he'd attack the ponies, or Steven Magnet, whose mustache she cuts off so he'd make the river impassible. She further indirectly attacks the ponies by causing a cliff side to collapse underneath the ponies' hooves and making trees look like monsters. As the Shadowbolts, she tries to persuade Rainbow Dash to abandon her friends so they won't be able to cross a fallen bridge and reach the Elements of Harmony.
Despite her indirect approach, when she is attacked by the royal guards, she quickly repels them with lightning, then turns into mist and floats away. She also confronts Twilight Sparkle directly when the two charge at each other, right before shattering the Elements of Harmony.

#### As Princess Luna

##### Remorse

Once transformed back to her former self, Princess Luna is remorseful and tearful upon seeing her older sister. She runs to Celestia's side, apologizing for what she had done. The two sisters later join the celebration in Ponyville, where Luna receives a welcome wreath in wonderment, and gazes up with an anxious smile at her older sister. However, as stated in Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?, Luna's sense of guilt causes her to create the Tantabus in order to give herself nightmares every night as punishment for the suffering she caused as Nightmare Moon.

##### Excessive decorum

Princess Luna returned to the show exactly one year after the broadcast date of Friendship is Magic, part 2, in the episode Luna Eclipsed. The episode takes place in Ponyville during Nightmare Night. Despite wanting to win over the citizens of Ponyville, the townspeople are frightened of her booming voice and assertive manner. Twilight Sparkle tells Spike that Luna must be having trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years.
When Luna tries to express her happiness with being purged of her dark powers, Twilight tells her that she sounds like she's yelling, and Luna explains that she's using the "traditional Canterlot voice," the royal we, and high volume in order to properly address her subjects. She uses archaic terms like "hath," "thy," "nay," and "thou," as well as other constructs.
Twilight encourages Luna to lower the volume of her voice, but Luna is hesitant. Twilight Sparkle recruits Fluttershy's help in teaching Luna to speak in a softer voice, and later takes her to Ponyville so Applejack can show her how to be likable. For a short while, Luna manages to mingle with the villagers of Ponyville and have fun with them, by playing games where she throws toy spiders or pumpkins onto a target. In Sleepless in Ponyville she seems to show less of her former decorum, dispensing with the royal we, and speaking in a far less harsh manner.

##### Temper

Princess Luna reverts to her intimidating self after Pinkie Pie accuses her of eating Pipsqueak, while she was actually saving him from drowning in the apple bob. She attempts to endear herself to the villagers by turning toy spiders into real spiders, trying to elicit "fun" by making them crawl on their own to the bulls-eye, but the spiders only frighten everyone. The villagers panic and flee, and after a few seconds of indecision, Luna stops the commotion by shouting "*Be still!*" in her royal Canterlot voice, to the accompaniment of a crack of thunder. She then decrees in anger that since the ponies dishonor and insult her with the celebration, Nightmare Night is canceled forever.

##### Playfulness

Thanks to Pinkie Pie's insight, Twilight Sparkle realizes that because of the holiday, Pinkie Pie and her entourage actually want to be frightened, so she arranges for Luna to purposefully scare them. Luna appears as Nightmare Moon, scares the ponies, and bares fangs. After the ponies run away in fright, she changes back to her usual appearance and spits out the false fangs she was wearing, confused as to why Twilight wanted her to do that. Then Pipsqueak approaches Luna on behalf of the children and asks her to come back and scare them again next year, even though she canceled Nightmare Night. Luna begins to understand and reinstates Nightmare Night, at which point Pipsqueak declares her his "favorite princess ever" and hugs her leg.
The princess manages to relinquish the use of her royal Canterlot voice, and in the epilogue she plays a variety of games with the villagers, accepts the foals' candy, and frightens Rainbow Dash by firing a bolt of lightning behind her, a trick that Rainbow Dash had been playing on other ponies over the course of the night.

##### Kindness and wisdom

In the episode Sleepless in Ponyville, she displays kindness and offers wise advice to Scootaloo when she tells her to face her fears. At the end of the episode she gives Scootaloo a wink and a smile, as she knows that Scootaloo has faced her fears and she also knows that she has Rainbow Dash to help her overcome them.
In For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils, Luna once again appears in a nightmare; this time, in Sweetie Belle's nightmare. She gives advice to Sweetie Belle and tells her that she as well has a sister that often "shines more brightly" than her and that she struggles with it. She then takes Sweetie Belle into the past at her fifth birthday party and shows her that Rarity did not want to take over the party, just simply save it. Later, Luna tells Sweetie to go inside a door of what the future might hold if she does not fix her sabotage of the headpiece Rarity had designed for Sapphire Shores. Later in the episode, Luna appears again in Canterlot in order to help Sweetie Belle undo the damage she did to the headpiece.

### Magic

#### Raising the moon

As mentioned above, Luna's chief duty is raising the moon at night when Celestia lowers the sun. Following her banishment to the moon, Luna resumes this responsibility, as shown in Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1.
In the episode Hearth's Warming Eve, Spike narrates that this magic is not exclusive to Luna and Celestia and that it could be performed by the unicorns of old collectively. In Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2, Luna temporarily transfers her ability to control the moon, along with all of her magic, to Twilight Sparkle.

#### Transformation

On multiple occasions, Nightmare Moon turns her entire form into mist. She appears in this manner in Ponyville's pavilion where the Summer Sun Celebration is being held, and she follows the Mane Six on their journey for the Elements this way. While in this form, Nightmare Moon manipulates creatures and environments; she transforms into a thorn to hurt a manticore, prompting it to attack the Mane Six, and she transforms into the Shadowbolts at one point.

In Luna Eclipsed, Luna transforms into her Nightmare Moon form with a set of false fangs to playfully frighten some foals on Nightmare Night. In the same episode, she transforms toy spiders into living spiders.

#### Weather manipulation

Nightmare Moon uses lightning to repel the royal guards in Friendship is Magic, part 2 and thickens the mist over the fallen bridge later in the episode to prevent Rainbow Dash from hearing Twilight Sparkle calling out to her.
In Luna Eclipsed, Princess Luna makes clouds swirl above her in the sky when she decrees that Nightmare Night is canceled, and she produces lightning from a cloud to playfully frighten Rainbow Dash.

#### Dream duty

In Sleepless in Ponyville, Luna appears in Scootaloo's dreams, stating that as the princess of the night, it is "[her] duty to come into [ponies'] dreams," and offers Scootaloo guidance in facing her fears.
Luna makes a similar appearance in Sweetie Belle's dreams in For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils and shows Sweetie Belle visions of her past, the present, and Rarity's future.
In Bloom & Gloom, Luna visits Apple Bloom's nightmare to comfort her cutie mark anxieties, and also brings Sweetie and Scootaloo into the dream.

In Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?, Princess Luna hunts down the Tantabus, a nightmare creature she created that haunts the Mane Six's dreams. She jumps from dream to dream and also creates a dream that everyone in Ponyville shares.

### Royal guards

Princess Luna's royal guards look quite different from Princess Celestia's guards. They wear black and purple armor reminiscent of Nightmare Moon's armor. And most significantly, they have purple dragon or bat-like wings instead of the standard feathered Pegasus wings. They are grey-brown and have yellow eyes with pupils in the form of slits. Their ears appear to be furrier than normal. The carriage they pull is aggressive and Gothic, with streamlined shapes evoking bat or dragon-wings as well as arrow-like or spear-like accents. It is built with a low center of gravity, and Luna's royal guards pull it via heavy chains.

## Quotes

"*Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!*"
— Friendship is Magic, part 1 (as Nightmare Moon)
"*You're kidding. You're kidding, right?*"
— Friendship is Magic, part 2 (as Nightmare Moon)
"*I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!*"
— Friendship is Magic, part 2
"*Citizens of Ponyville! We have graced your tiny village with our presence so that you might behold the real princess of the night! A creature of nightmares no longer, but instead a pony who desires your love and admiration! Together we shall change this dreadful celebration into a bright and glorious feast!*"
— Luna Eclipsed
"*[booming voice] Change our approach?*"
— Luna Eclipsed
"*Fun? What is this 'fun' thou speakest of? Pray tell, what purpose do these serve?*"
— Luna Eclipsed
"*Ha ha! The fun has been doubled!*"
— Luna Eclipsed
"'*Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!*"
— Luna Eclipsed
"*Huzzah! How many points do I receive?*"
— Luna Eclipsed
"*Citizens of Ponyville, you have been wise to bring this candy to me! I am pleased with your offering! So pleased, I may eat it instead of eating you!*"
— Pretending to be Nightmare Moon, from Luna Eclipsed
"*Child. Art thou saying that thou... likest me to scare you?*"
— Luna Eclipsed
"*OH, MOST WONDERFUL OF...! I mean... Oh, most wonderful of nights.*"
— Luna Eclipsed
"*Rest, my sister. As always, I will guard the night.*"
— A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1
"*Who goes there? Stay indoors, Twilight Sparkle.*"
— A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1
"*Hello, everypony! Did I miss anything?*"
— A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2
"*A warm welcome to you, Scootaloo.*"
— Sleepless in Ponyville
"*I am the princess of the night, thus it is my duty to come into your dreams.*"
— Sleepless in Ponyville
"*FACE YOUR FEARS!!!*"
— Sleepless in Ponyville
"*It is time to face your real fears, Scootaloo.*"
— Sleepless in Ponyville
"*Not another step!*"
— Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1
"*There can only be*one*princess in Equestria! And that princess... will be*me*!*"
— Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1
"*Luna? I am Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now... To destroy YOU!*"
— Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2 (as Nightmare Moon)
"*Six locks... Six keys...*"
— Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2
"*I understand what you're going through, Sweetie Belle. I, too, have a sister who often shines more brightly than me, and with this I have struggled.*"
— For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils
"*Sometimes we can worry about a thing so much, the fear can make us feel we're trapped in a nightmare.*"
— Bloom & Gloom
"*You have all suffered so much because of me.*"
— Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?
"*My sister has been imprisoned in the moon for years! But it is no less a fate than she'd sentence me to!*"
— The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2 (as Nightmare Moon)
"*I see much of myself in you, Starlight Glimmer, and I can tell you from personal experience that things do indeed get better.*"
— To Where and Back Again - Part 1
"*This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power.*"
— Equestria Girls: Forgotten Friendship
"*So, to be funny I have to torment those who oppose me and laugh in their faces?*"
— *Friends Forever* Issue #7 page 12
"*Soy la princesa Luna, y gobierno Equestria junto con mi hermana mayor Celestia, ahora que he vencido a mi lado malo, Luna de Pesadilla, ¡qué mal lo hemos pasado! Estuve 1000 años en la luna, pero ahora he regresado y me encargo de hacer anochecer. Me encanta hacer que los sueños de todos los ponis sean preciosos.*"
— Promotional image[18]
## TMNT X Pokemon

Princess Luna helps the Turtles from time to time during the night. She can gain access to their dreams to help them out.