Pure raw moon magic I’d say

I thought about this possibility….

@Pepsi_Al: what I meant was,*

@Background Pony #ABE7
 
@Pepsi_Al
 
To clarify, I meant was what does fandom reaction have to do with whether an idea is canon or not? It’s not like Hasbro’s running any sort of asylum (slang for when something starts looking like fanfiction after a while) with anything they put out.

@Background Pony #ABE7: That matters, how?

@Pepsi_Al  
She also said Twilight won’t outlive her friends, but I still see tons of immortality blues artwork with her.  
Inconsistencies with what fans take and don’t take.

@Background Pony #AD7D: I remember Meghan Mccarthy (or at least someone on the show staff) explicitly telling someone who asked about Cadence’s Alicorn status or relation to Celestia to at least skim through the first of the chapter books for an answer. (I can’t remember exactly where I saw such an exchange, though. If anyone can, it’d be much appreciated.) There’s also the thing about Maud Pie being mentioned by Pinkie’s father in the chapter book centered around Pinkie, despite Maud herself not being named. (And to note, the Pinkie Pie chapter book was published well before the episode that introduces Maud Pie even aired.)

@Background Pony #AD7D  
I don’t care at all for canonicity of the chapter books, I don’t like a lot of the ideas. The comics I am more fine with, but I don’t like some elements (like Luna’s pet).

@Background Pony #ABE7  
Well, there are still a lot (maybe even most) that consider the chapter books canon. It’s debated, just like the comics, though it’s less public.

@Background Pony #AD7D  
And yet people constantly shove the “cadence used to a be a pegasus!” bullshit in my face all the time.

@Pepsi_Al  
I’m pretty sure that the chapter books are not considered canon by quite a good portion of the fanbase (except for maybe the journal of the two sisters, since that was written by Rogers, one of the main show writers).

@Amethyst_Crystal  

The thing is, though, that idea relates exactly to what I said earlier about how “getting outside help for her Nightmare Moon transformation” would be “playing directly into the Nightmare spirit’s hands”. Which wouldn’t necessarily entail wanting to become Nightmare Moon in the first place, or knowing what such a transformation would do to her.

@Mugen Kagemaru  
I prefer the idea that if Luna did get some outside help for her Nightmare Moon transformation, she did it on her own willing terms,  
or,  
that if she did ‘give in’, it was only to her own personal shadow.
 
Basically I’m a fan of the idea that Luna is 100% responsible for the Nighmare Moon incident. :P

@Background Pony #DC96  
You want them to pay you royalty fees or something? :p

This has been my headcanon for years.  
Damn thieving writers :P

@Pepsi_Al  

Please, just “Mugen” will suffice.

@Amethyst_Crystal: Adding to what MK said, doing something like “giving in to serious negative emotional problems” would have been precisely what the Nightmare spirit would have wanted their host to do. Luna, at the time, must have felt like she was willing to do anything just to get ponies to appreciate her and her night. To say that she regretted her choice when she became NMM is an understatement. Especially considering that she must have felt so cold and alone for 1000 years. That on top of being aware of every action taken and being unable to do anything about it can be pretty heavy on somepony like Luna.

@Amethyst_Crystal  
@Mugen Kagemaru (addendum)
 
She did still betray Celestia, but only because she doubted her sister and wouldn’t listen, instead throwing herself into Nightmare’s arms and taking her lies as truth.

@Amethyst_Crystal
 
I like to think that the “dark forces” that caused Luna’s fall was a single sentient entity that took over her body at the Eclipse during the first flashback in “Princess Twilight Sparkle” and it was from this merger that who/what we know as “Nightmare Moon” came to be.
 
And to do that, it wore Luna down while whispering into ponies’ ears to make them hate her and afraid of the Night.
 
In this way, Luna maintains some responsibility for NMM, because she was admittedly weak of heart, but also maintains that she’s an idiot for continuing to blame herself for NMM.

@Pepsi_Al  
I will be honest,  
I hope that the comic’s interpretation of an outside force being responsible for Nightmare Moon isn’t taken as canon for the show.
 
Actually, to be specific, if its just a matter of Luna using an outside force to ‘power up’ to become Nightmare Moon, that’s probably fine.
 
My main issue is implying that she’s not 100% responsible for betraying her sister and Equestria, that she didn’t give in to serious negative emotional problems and lash out violently at everyone in the worst possible way.
 
Because taking that away from Luna diminishes her as a tragic figure and a reformed character, imo.

@Mugen Kagemaru  

Which is precisely what I’m trying to get at.
 
Plus, Lauren Faust said herself that “some sort of evil magic turned Luna into Nightmare Moon”. The main question was where that evil magic came from. I can only think of one official thing that answered such a question so far. Granted, the official material that answered the question is a side material. But it’s not like there’s a reason not to assume that anything official that’s published with one another is canon with another material outside of it’s own medium, let alone the primary medium. Right? I mean look at the chapter books. They’re considered canon. Even if the show doesn’t directly acknowledge them.

@Pepsi_Al  
@Mugen Kagemaru (addendum)
 
Bottom line: Leave the comics in the comics and the show in the show.

@Pepsi_Al
 
The point I’m trying to make is this.
 
Just because it was in the comics doesn’t mean the show has to use it. Events in the comics are only as canon as the show will allow them to be. In the end, the show comes first in determining canon.
 
That said, “Do Princesses Dream Of Magic Sheep” didn’t contradict the Nightmare Rarity arc either, so there is that.

@Mugen Kagemaru: That doesn’t mean that they didn’t happen in some way, though.

@Pepsi_Al
 
Nightmare Rarity is comics only, so the show is not obligated to develop Nightmare Moon’s backstory with any of that in mind.