Alrighty, I shall  make a quick review of MLP:FIM season 1 episodes 1&2 Friendship is harmony.

For obvious reasons this and ALL further reviews of the episode in question will spoil the plot of the episode so if you have not seen the episode in question it is probably a good idea to come back to the review later on after you have.

The episode begins with The reading narration of the history of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, how they watched over the land and ponies as the leaders of Equestria and more to the point how Luna became Nightmare moon. Thereafter, Celestia was forced to banish her own sister to the moon. 

So, what does this mean from a symbolic and metaphysical reference point?

Well let's look at first at the meaning of what is a princess first and foremost.  Now, this may sound like a simple concept of either family and or divine right but really  that is an almost purely human  point of view on the subject.  A more divine or heaven type of perspective would better equate a princess more as a mother and a teacher as opposed to a direct ruler per say. 

A good example of what I mean is to think of the Karate Kid and Daniel's relationship with his sensei  Miyagi. Miyagi didn't make him bow to him, did not humiliate him or treat him as some lower class "thing" etc instead he treated him akin to a son and taught him his Karate.  Even though he clearly knew more he always treated Daniel with respect and dignity. They were always equals in his eyes in other words. 

This is how heaven would describe a Prince/princess or any other type of royalty: One that is willing to teach, nurture, and inspire the ones they are to guide and watch over. The first into battle and the very last one to retreat in a sense. 

Okay, anyways getting back to summarizing the meaning of Princesses Celestia and Luna.  Celestia's name originates from the word Celestial or a more direct translation would be of heaven or heavens. We tend to associate and only think of her as the Princess of the sun or as some may call her "sunbutt" due to her sun shaped but she is far more than than this but we will dive more into that as we experience more of her character. 

For now, just from what we see in the short story read to us we can gather that she loves both her subjects and her sister equally but when she was forced to act for the greater good she did not hesitate.  

When you look at this from a more direct perspective what it is saying is that heaven loves all of us equally but in order to ensure harmony is not disrupted when there appears a negative or otherwise evil force of energy it becomes needed for heaven to remove this "disruptive energy" so that it does not cause further damage. 

Had Celestia AKA "heaven" not removed NMM then at best there would been a civil war and or some other division of powers not only forcing the two sisters against each other but the other ponies against one another as well.  So, in the end though it pained her to do it Celestia banished her sister away not because she resented her but because it was because she feared a greater harm being done to both her sister and the ponies she guided. 

Here is Luna/NMM's perspective and lesson on this matter.  We first hear of Luna becoming angry that she BELIEVED (and trust me this is the key thing ) ponies hated or even despised her night thus why they slept through it.  or as she put it Shunning her beautiful work whilst they adored her sisters majestic day. 

So, right there we have the issue of Envy, Luna is envious of the fame her sister has or again more accurately what she believes to be her sister's fame. 

It is very important to understand that during the transition from respectable and divine driven princess into the corrupt NMM that it did happen within a day er night it was a slow gradual process.  Luna did not bother to check with her subjects on how they really felt about her night if she had she would have realized the truth that instead of hating the night they loved it so much that it allowed them to relax in peace. That is they felt even more at peace with the night. 

That was the major mistake Luna made was just to assume the way others felt about her.  She simply decided what their views were without even even trying to learn if what she thought matched what the truth was. 

Princess Luna her self as most may have already guessed represents the moon and night. But what does NMM mean?

NMM in this particular case represents the corrupted or ego driven soul. One that has allowed their ego to drive them away from the harmony of friendship of divine blessings etc.  The banishment represents the ego stripping away and blocking off divine energy. 

Being "trapped in the moon" both represents solitude and trapped inside one's own heart.  That is Luna is in a very literal sense trapped inside NMM: feeling alone, scared etc.  That is how we may feel sometimes when we allow our ego to control our lives we may feel as if we are really sitting beside this "new" us this ego driven mind we created from our fears and doubts. 

Much like Luna we should never presume to know the mind and hearts of others nor should we withhold our own feelings from others.  Had Luna done this and faced her fear she would have realized her anger was over nothing.  

Some big lessons and information to ponder on for sure and all that was just covering the intro. 

tomorrow I shall cover Twilight and Spike as well as them meeting their new best friends details. 

Forgive me work is tiring so most of this may be a bit slow and done from the weekends.