Could it have been possible for Luna to avoid becoming Nightmare Moon or was it just inevitable and there was no to stop or even prevent it from happening?

7832863
Depends on the Author, i never take canon Nightmaremoon. Every story will have a different circumstantial reason why she ended up on the Moon.
My Cynder story has Nightmaremoon & Luna on the Moon for nearly 10.000 years, as seperate beings.
Why 10.000? Ponies life expectations depending on tribe are up to 200 years in my stories.

I even plan in one of my stories to have Celestia enjoy the sun, instead of the Nightmare to be on the Moon.

Of course it was inevitable. Without Nightmare Moon, there would have been no plot for the pilot episode and Hasbro would not have green lit the series.

7832863
I've wrote about it and would like to expand on it sometime 😁
In my little au here, though I try to stay close to canon, it is such an important point in history that story would never began without it.
But of course it might've been prevented somehow. If universe were more caring place, that is, and considered feelings of both Princessess. I believe the MLP universe would be much better place if it happened, so you're welcome to fantasize how millenium-long rule of the Diarchy would look like.
Would they truly balance each other out? Would they found Harmony much sooner, given that they both were wielders of The Elements of Harmony? Or is some sort of conflict was always inevitable? Interesting...

7832868
Daybreaker instead of Nightmare would have done the same...
7832874
Unless Harmony itself is the evil villain, I love towrite it that way

7832884
Harmony is Harmony. It cannot be 'evil villain', that seems to completely miss the point of what it is supposed to be: an idea of the world where conflict is so miniscule, that it is hardly existing.
I think it is very noble thought, even if it is unachievable in real life.

7832886
You see there is a problem with that view, Harmony is a flexible word. Just like balance or good and evil.
Unless you don't like complex answers and truth.

Example: Starwars
Anakin Skywalker is supposed to be bring balance, yet the Jedi interpretationof balance means for them destroying their opposition the Sith.
In the end he destroyed both and archive the balance in its most simple matter. With both light and dark cults being stopped out.

7832863

I don't think we can ever know for sure. I prefer to think she had a choice, and she made the wrong one.

we don't appreciate something until we lose it. Therefore, it seems to me that without this life lesson, one of the sisters would sooner or later turn to the dark side.
on the other hand, if what Twilight saw was true, then Celestia clearly did not do enough to prevent conflict. At the beginning of the series, it was said that she was "trying to reason with her sister," but in reality it turns out that Celestia said only two phrases. One of which is essentially an order (you must lower the moon. it's your duty.), and the second quote (I'm sorry but you give me no other choice.) Luna / Nightmare Moon did not even hear.

Let us look at a few facts a moments.

First off we know cannonly that ponies of the FAR FAR past prefered the Day over the Night, and would shower Celestia with prise and admeration leaving Luna to feel left out, alone, and shunned by those who feared the night. and as a result Celestia was pretty blinded to her sisters state.

Could Luna's fall have been avoided? Oh absolutely, it's my personal opinion had she had even just ONE REAL friend back then beyond her sister (who was even herself failing as a friend and sister) that it is HIGHLY possibly Luna might not have fell. I instead could have seen her saying "Hey I am not appriciated here, so why don't me and my friend just leave town and go somewhere else" this could infact have lead to the rise of another royal city somewhere, or maybe just Luna blending in with other ponies using an illusion spell or something. Unfortunately this is not what happened

7832891
No, it's really not that complex. 'Balance' might muddle the water a bit, because it defines itself as when forces exist in state of perpetual equilibrium, or strive towards it, to peace. Harmonius world should be viewed as when forces work in concordance. Harmony is when things kind of flow into each other, and everything has its place, motioning towards better and brighter future. True harmony could not be achieved in Star Wars for example, because it is infinitely more complex setting than MLP

Speaking of which, have you played KOTOR 2? It very heavily discusses ideas of balance and philosophy of Star Wars. I think you would've liked it

7832898
Absolutely agree. I would've written that Luna back then was not only jealous and feeling diminished and insignificant but was also surrounded by yes-men (yes-mares?), just like Celestia, and friendship as a concept hardly existed at all. Old Equestria, which spawned both Celestia, Luna, and the Old Pillars, should've been a very harsh place.

7832899
Love the game, i own a digital and a CD version.
I know the video, a masterpiece.

You think mlp is less complex? Its rather more condensed:
Griffons
Ponies
Kirins
Thestrals
Hippogriffons
Sphinxes
Minotaurs
Diamond Dogs
Dragons
Changelings
Yeti

That is a lot of culture and dietary needs and Nation demands for resources. Canon is a slightly complex great show.
In FIMfiction you really learn of complexity.
I can recommend a few mindblowing complet stories for you to read.

The longest story takes roughly a week or two with help of text to speech to be read through, because they are bloody long and detailed.

7832893
Depends on context, many stories on Fimfiction showed me it. Example:
Practically Luna/Nightmaremoon committed high treason, so death or banishment is usually the outcome.
Many stories have the rebellion running for months or years. Usually ending a bloody war...
In canon things are short lived, but in Fimfiction dtuff has time to actually work and have details.

Example:
Nightmaremoon is banished, but Thestral wage wir on Equestria, a necromancy mage is ask for defeating them.
The Thestral are reduced to near extinction.
Than Celestia betrays the Necromancer.

I think the name was along:
Necromancy For Foals
Or something...

7832898
Not in canon,but there are a lot of stories that tske stuff like that. Pretty awesome Stuff ♡

7832903
It is less complex though. Please, do not confuse fanfiction and what was laid out in the show, because you really can blow out of proportions even the simplest idea that way.
I know it perfectly well, because I myself write epic dark fantasy series based on worldbuilding strictly from canon. I am acquainted with others' interpretations

MLP in it's raw state will always be and remain a cartoon about friendship, and all vague interpretations in the world will hardly ever change that.

7832894
Canon is pretty short and leaves a lot of space for details, Fimfiction often makes a lot more out of the framework that is mlp canon.

Too much of how it went down is left unspoken for us to really know.

She was, it must be said, both a grown adult and the super-powered immortal co-queen of an entire species, a position which ironically would attract a great deal of envy in the modern world. I don't fully buy the 'if only she had a friend' argument - given her actions, she either had deep psychological issues or (as iirc the comics imply) she was slowly tainted and corrupted by an outside force. Neither of these would necessarily have been impeded by a friend.

All we 'know' is that Luna's prime motivation was jealousy. Based on this alone, 'it could have been avoided' if Luna chose to avoid it.

7832931
True, but you should consider that in mlp verse friendship hold a special power. All villains are defined by their lack of friendship and inability to form healthy connections, and first thing that offered after rainbow blast to Luna is a friendship from sister (which can imply they weren't on friendly terms at all, especially when Luna gave off a frightened reaction when approached by Celestia).
So there is that. Friendship is Magic, horse whimsy.

I've went with psychological issues for my writing though (maybe a bit of both). But friend would've help her great deal

One could argue that "Harmony" wanted Luna to be banished. Look at the threats that Equestria faced before it happened. Sombra, Discord and Terek that we know of and the fact that no threats made themselves known after the fact that we know of until her return. Also take into account that Celestia was able to utilize ALL of the Elements to do the deed. Could it be said that the Tree wanted it to happen so that the land could recover or was it because Luna was mentally unbalanced from all of the conflict they had faced?

7832939
There are definitely is something that chooses 'punishment' when Elements are used. Victims are either stopped in their tracks, like Discord, or banished for 1000 years with prophecy attached, or stripped of power, or reformed. I am writing with exactly that in mind

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/520470/and-so-i-left

I'm currently writing a story exploring exactly that. Have a read, it quite good.

7832863
Yes. Most stories just change one thing and make it work well.

7832946
Like this.

Easily. While a lot is left out, Luna claims it was her own envy and feelings of disrespect that created Nightmare Moon. She effectively threw a cosmic temper tantrum because her subjects weren't simpering over her. If Luna merely opened up more on her end or found a healthier way to deal iwth those emotions instead of bottling them than we'd not have NMM.

7832982
Also for adult or even immortal being that is to silly to be it.
Only children can take it for granted indeed...
For teen or adults Fimfiction explore it their reason a logic.

7832982
Unfortunately for Luna, her negative emotions were her biggest weakness. As long as she had them, there was really no way of getting rid of that manifestation known as Nightmare Moon. It was even shown that way in the fan made music video known as The Moon Rises. However, that doesn't make Celestia any less responsible as when she is shown singing the other fan made song Lullaby for a Princess, it sounds as if she is making a confession that is sort of was her fault as well. In other words, if she caught it sooner, she probably could have stopped it from happening, but she probably just thought that Luna was going a through a phase that she would get over at some point. However, she was wrong and by the time Celestia found out what was really going on with Luna, she was too late. I can even see why Star Swirl in the video didn't try to talk Luna out of it and turned away from her probably because there was nothing he could have done even if he wanted to. Another thing is that it's been shown that manifestations can't just go away, but something such as the Elements of Harmony can help purify those possessed by them. More importantly, if the Mane 6 have been able to change Luna back to herself, then it shows that she is not really evil and that there was still some good left her even when she took the form of Nightmare Moon.

If we are to bring up fanfics, then when I did Luna Comes Clean, both Celestia and Luna explain to Megan how it all came to be. For the most part, Luna is pretty much talking in either a sad or crying voice depending on one wants to view it when make that said discussion. After that, Megan feels that with the right apologies, Luna can finally seek the forgiveness for everything she did in that form. Also, doing that seemed to make her feel much better since she no longer had to keep her dark side a secret as if a burden was finally lifted from her. Meanwhile, when I did The Inconvenient Truth, Megan starts to have a lot of distrust with the ponies when she found out that Luna is Nightmare Moon especially when she already knew Megan even though she didn't introduce herself first making her feel very suspicious. In the aftermath, she is told to by Luna in her dreams to come over to Canterlot Castle as everything about how that became was explained to her as Megan agrees to return Equestria after understanding that.

7832863
Depends on what your cannon is. In my world nightmares forms are out of control emotions driven by magic, so yes.

Although Luna had already cut herself off from the dream realm trying to avoid becoming a different kind of Nightmare one that preys on minds and would have had a lot more destructive influence than Nightmare Moon.

One thing I didn't mention about my fanfic, The Inconvenient Truth, was that Megan and the rest of the Mane 6 were able to beat Nightmare Moon and change her back by having the Rainbow of Light serve as a placeholder when Twilight was captured and couldn't use her element.