Class 1A, and some teachers, are brought to a room by a strange being who has made a deal with them. They will be given information about various secrets and future events, which they could use to save lives, but this information comes at a cost. Every time the 'on screen' version of them experiences pain, they will feel it too. There's no such thing a painless lesson, after all.
Nightmare Moon didn't just sit around after Celestia banished her. Filled with a thirst for vengeance, she became determined to break out of her prison. She alters a powerful spell and casts it, hoping it will send her back to Equestria, but it backfires. She's still on the moon, but it's not HER moon. Mare in the Moon, meet the Man in the Moon.