Princess of Deception.

by Rezz

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 4866

Princess Luna has secretly never changed since Nightmare Moon and has been acting as a kind generous princess for three years, finally she has developed a plan to take the throne and bring eternal night to Equestria.

Princess Luna, the princess of the night and dreams….and deception. For three years now she has masterfully kept attention away from her when in truth she has been behind everything. Discords first return and even the changeling invasion all were crafted by Luna in an attempt to gain her sisters throne and bring upon eternal night. Will her deception continue or will she slip up and have her newest plan come crashing down on her?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-26 02:40:40 UTC

Prologue

“Thou fearest us sister!” Nightmare Moon stated, baring her fangs in an angry growl. she wore midnight black armor that covered every inch of her frame except for her belly and wings. Behind her stood twenty-five of her most loyal guards, all dressed in a similar fashion and looking to the princess of the day and her guards that stood in front of her with glares of hatred.

“We do not fear thee dearest sister, for thou fearest the light of my day” Celestia retaliated calmly before Nightmare Moon approached, causing the gold armored unicorns in front of Celestia to prepare for an attack. Celestia sat upon her throne with the night sky visible through the windows behind her. The day had been scheduled to come nine hours ago, though her sister had refused to lower her cold night and allow the warmth of the day to come. “Sister, we plead with thee for resolution and to cease this discord between us,” Celestia pleaded which caused her sister to smile.

“Now thou beggeth me for resolution of our conflict? Hast thou come to epiphany now that thou ist weakest in our family? Doest thou wishest to capitulate dear sister?” questioned Nightmare Moon, receiving a sad sigh from Celestia.

“Luna... we beggeth you to ponder this fur....”

“We hast thought enough sister, it is time for us to take action,” interrupted Nightmare Moon, jumping into the air and hovering with her wings. Her horn glowed a blinding white that had a strange death black aura with it as her eyes glowed similarly. Celestia ignored the tear that fell down her face before forcing her feelings to anger. This was not her sister, this was a monster, and if she had to fight this beast in order to bring order and harmony then she would do so, for Luna, and her subjects.

Celestia leapt from her throne faster than Nightmare Moon could react, when she did she was hit in the gut by her sisters head, her horn slicing across her abdomen and tearing the leather straps holding the armor in place causing it to clatter to the floor. Nightmare Moon’s gathered energy discharged through the air like a lightning bolt, exploding against the ceiling of the throne room. The roof shattered like glass, chunks of stone and wood came falling down before anyone could react, killing most of the guards present injuring the others.

Nightmare crashed down on the hard stone floor and gasped in pain as she rolled with her sister, who had freed her horn from its entanglement, and now was attempting to charge a ray of energy. Nightmare moved her head rapidly to her sister’s side and sunk her magically sharpened teeth into her left wing. Celestia screamed in pain, losing her attention on the spell and allowing Nightmare to buck her sister off using her hind legs.

Celestia crashed down onto the ground a few feet away. Determined to not give her sister the advantage she rose to her hooves and cast a teleportation spell to give the two some room. Now twenty meters away from each other the two princess’ glared at each other; Nightmare Moon’s eyes full of anger, hatred and darkness while Celestia’s were filled with inner pain.

Nightmare Moon lowered herself slightly before dragging her front right hoof across the stone ground and kicked it back, repeating this action three times to tell her sister she will charge. Celestia knew how to end it all, but felt her heart shatter at the idea.

Her sister charged, galloping at lightning speeds and Celestia did the same, tears rolling down her face. The second the two sisters clashed horns together, Celestia used the elements of harmony.

In a blink the two sisters were in a different location. It was the coldest thing Nightmare Moon had ever felt, everywhere she looked there was nothing but a greyish rock. Stars were everywhere in the night sky and not a single noise could be heard.

“W-where hast thou taken us sister?” Nightmare Moon wondered as she looked around, keeping an eye on her sister just in case she attacked.

“This... is the moon... it is your new home for a thousand years” Celestia explained sadly, keeping her head down before turning and beginning to walk away.

“Ha... hahaha, thou thinkest we shall not return? Thou cannot keep us here!” Nightmare Moon stated with a mocking tone before Celestia turned, her expression now cold, and looked her  sister in the eyes.

“We cannot, but the elements can,” Celestia responded, a shocked expression showing on her sisters face. “We love you Luna, but for now, goodbye.” Celestia spoke before disappearing from a teleportation spell.

Nightmare Moon stood still for a moment while she tried to comprehend what her sister had said. “S-she used... the elements... on us?” she spoke before realization hit her; she was now banished, doomed to spend one thousand years on the cold moon, alone and to never see anypony else for a millennium.

Chapter 1

Princess Luna lifted the navy blue curtains that covered the windows in her room, allowing the light of the sunset to flood the previously dark room with light. She pondered the memory she had relived through her dream and felt bitter towards it. How many obstacles were required to bring her sisters rule to an end? She had been curious of that since her return to Equestria. The day she returned everyone had assumed the Princess of the night was reformed and Nightmare Moon had been vanquished, they couldn’t be more wrong.

Luna removed herself from her quarters, earning salutes from the guards dressed in gold armor that were so very loyal to her loving sister. She gave them no notice as she continued down the hallways of Canterlot Castle. Discord had failed her, during his first release when she found his statue partially cracked but still sealed she had released him. He had tried to pull a trick on her but failed when she made a deal with him. The deal was that he could keep the world in a state of semi chaos if he managed to completely break apart the elements of harmony. He had done so wonderfully till he got cocky. Then came Chrysalis, she was even more troublesome than Discord. The memory of their first meeting sent a small shiver down the princess of the night’s back.

She had travelled into the wasteland of the badlands and had met with the changeling Queen. The changelings were nearing a state of starvation and Chrysalis agreed to take Canterlot and all of Equestria if they got to have everlasting food with which Luna agreed too, if she could rule over Equestria in return. Chrysalis however failed with her invasion and Luna again was left with nothing. She still maintained contact with Chrysalis and met with her on rare occasions however her and the changelings weren’t much use anymore since there were now unicorns who could sense them coming. Sombra would not listen to her and nopony or anything had showed up since then could help her.

Nightmare Moon had never existed, it was the arrogance and the idiocy as Luna liked to think of it as that caused everyone to believe it was some foreign corruption within her that somehow could simply be cleansed; how wrong they were. The elements of harmony had brutally weakened her the day she returned from her banishment, so much so that it returned her to her filly state. Did it hurt? You damn well bet it did, but did it cleanse her soul and make her into little Ms Mary-sue? No. Luna smiled at the thought and memories of her sister falling for her act.

One thousand years on the moon sister, do you truly think that I would simply come crawling back to you and say ‘I’m so sorry big sister!’ and everything would be OK? of course you did Tia, but what you don’t understand about the world is that when you banish someone for a millennium they will despise you the thought baffled her every time it came up. Banishing someone to pure isolation on the moon, the coldest thing you could ever imagine for one thousand years does not build up an inner foreign corruption or a fake hatred to someone. No, what it builds up is pure hatred, it drives you insane and eventually you begin to ponder what you shall do to that being who sent you to this hell when you get the chance.

During the millennium she was banished for she thought of what she would do. She knew her sister would use her oh so precious elements of harmony on her once again but the question was: What would happen?

If she were to die, well she would have died, if she were to become mind controlled by the evil twisted corrupt things that symboled so called harmony then she would be mind controlled. But maybe, just maybe, she could put on a little act? A little deception here and there and act all nice and seeking redemption? That was a plan and that is what she had hoped for; you know what? it had worked marvelously.

Nightmare Moon as the ponies of Equestria loved to call her was never in existence, she had always hated her dear sister Celestia and she did to this day. She smiled darkly before realizing that she was now approaching the dining room where her and her older sister ate their meals. She took a deep breath, put a gentle smile on her features and then opened the twin doors, revealing a long table decorated in her sisters colors and covered in food. “Good evening Luna, did you sleep well?” Celestia greeted as Luna took her seat and began using her magic to lift up the different items of food up.

“Very well thank you, anything happen while I was asleep?” Luna asked curiously before receiving a shake of the head for a no from her sister. “How is Twilight Sparkle’s training coming?” Luna wondered before having a sip of tea, it tasted fresh and herbal.

“Very well, though the castle staff is finding it... troublesome having to clean up after some of the mess her and her friends have made,” Celestia responded. Well that is what happens when you allow the entire upperclass to turn into snivelling cowards too snobbish to lift a hoof for each other Luna thought but kept it to herself. If she was ever to say anything like that to her sister it would gain suspicion, she had acted kind for three years and she wasn’t about to buck it up.

“Out of curiosity sister, is there anything you request of me too do?” wondered Luna, though secretly she didn’t want to do anything tonight.

“No, though if you’re interested there is a concert tonight in Canterlot,” Celestia suggested to her sister.

“I’ll consider it thank you.”

I’d rather drop dead

Chapter 2

“Princess Luna,” a familiar voice spoke, gaining the attention of the princess of the night who turned her head to find Twilight Sparkle standing a few hooves away. Princess Luna had chosen to wear her favorite cloak this night. Midnight black and with a crescent moon on the center of the back, in color and design it was one of the few pieces of clothing she had kept upon her return from banishment. She had worn it many times before her banishment because of its design and ability to block the weather and keep her warm. By the moon what does my sister’s pet want from me?

“You should be in bed young Twilight Sparkle, it is past midnight,” she pointed out, hoping the young alicorn would go away. She did not hold anything against Princess Cadence, however Twilight Sparkle was a whole different matter. When Luna first found out that anyone could gain the title of Princess or Prince depending on what they did Luna wanted to murder her sister, of course she didn’t but she still wanted to. Her and Celestia had been born under Discord’s rule, it was a fact however that the two Alicorns were pure blood royalty, their parents being the previous monarchs of the land before the arrival of Discord. Luna and Celestia both lived in poverty for sixty-two years until finally one day Celestia discovered the Elements of Harmony as she named them. On the walls where the elements were found was writing that explained their function. They required those who bared the elements to work together, they could not be used by those who wished to use them for ill intent however. Celestia compared them to friendship and explained that the bearers must work together like true friends, or in their case sisters.

Luna immediately wanted to return them to where they had found them, she had explained to her sister that power like this could still be used by evil and that they were much too powerful. Celestia however disagreed and after many hours of debate she convinced Luna that they were their only hope in ending the tyranny that controlled Equestria. The two sisters had defeated Discord, however there was another problem at hand for both the sun and the moon would not move, even after a full day. Deciding to use their alicorn powers as a resolution Celestia moved the sun while Luna lowered the moon, bringing upon a beautiful day that had not been seen for years. This is where it all went wrong and everything very slowly began to crumble away.

During Discord’s reign it went from being either extremely cold to extremely hot. Discord brought the sun closer to Equestria whenever he wished for day which caused all crops, ponies and tree’s within a certain area to burn rapidly. Lakes boiled and ponies died. Whenever night came, he would bring the sun far away from Equestria, causing the entire planet to freeze. Blizzards wreaked havoc across Equestria and many species became extinct. When Celestia brought the first ever normal day in over a couple centuries all the ponies rejoiced in happiness at the beauty and actual pleasant warmth of the daylight sun, for it was not an object of fear, it now provided life for crops and warmed them pleasantly. However, when Luna brought upon the night, the cold of the night reminded the ponies of Equestria about the bitter cold Discord had brought upon them and due to the lack of light, many ponies could not see; therefore, they slept till morning when the sun came back up and warmed them once more.

Now many ponies in Equestria would argue if these facts came up that there were many ponies awake in the night and that all ponies loved Luna. Luna knew it was nothing to even discuss. Whenever ponies got a accomplishment who did they thank? Celestia, What did ponies say for a reaction? ‘by celestia’. It was always Celestia and it had always been Celestia. Normal fillies or younger sisters may get punished by maybe doing extra housework or not being allowed to see their friends for a day etc. But when Luna who was just wanting to be loved like her older sister lashed out what did she get? Exile, and no not a month of banishment or even a year, a damn millennium! A millennium filled with loneliness, filled with boredom, filled with sorrow, regret and most of all...hatred. What had her ‘loving’ sister done while she was gone? Did she sink into a depression? Did she gain a sorrowful personality or weep? No, none of those things ever happened and she knew, oh she knew well for she could see her sisters dreams, and you know what? the majority were positive and happy dreams. While she was gone, her ‘loving’ sister had built a civilization out of Equestria with all of her colors and all of her symbols. Upon Luna’s return, the vast majority of all ponies never even knew she had existed! She was simply a legend before that day three years ago. Her sister had not even confirmed that she had a sister, she had not done anything in her honor and she had not even spoken her name to anypony since her banishment.

Her sister did not love her, her sister may believe that she loved her, she may think she had done nothing wrong and that she was very fair and wise; to Luna, she was (b and u)blinder(b and u) then a (b)bat(b).

Twilight Sparkle was confused, one moment Princess Luna was sitting with a perfect posture and looking into the night sky while she thought. The next she was hunched over, her hooves planted on the stone of the balcony while she breathed quickly through her clenched teeth which now appeared very slightly sharper to the new princess. Tears ran down Luna’s face from her eyes which seemed to be flickering between blue and green. “P-princess?” Twilight spoke hesitantly before Luna shot up with a shocked gasp, her hood falling back off her head and her eyes shooting wide open and no longer flickering. She completely forgot about Twilight Sparkle, she had almost changed back into her more fitting form of Nightmare Moon.

“O-oh! Twilight Sparkle... I... u-um...” Luna said quickly, trying to think of an excuse, the new princess before her still staring at her.

“Princess Luna, are you ok? Would you like me to get a servant? You seemed to be in pain or something,” Twilight offered, concern in her eyes for one of her mentors.

“U-uh... i-it’s ok Twilight, I’m... just bothered by something personal...” Luna said, looking away from the purple princess and to the stars in the sky. “I... request that you leave my presence Twilight... I am sorry,” Luna requested, still not making eye contact.

“Its ok Princess, good night,” Twilight said nervously, turning around to get back to her room as quick as possible. I will be sure to....

Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted by a hard figure crashing into her from behind before she could reach the door leading back inside from the balcony. Twilight was forced down against the stone floor brutally and gasped in terror before looking back over her wing to find Princess Luna but she no longer looked like the princess. Her coat had turned midnight black and her mane had grown lighter with a violet trim and she had gained armor. She was no longer Luna, but Nightmare Moon. Twilight felt panic shoot down her spine before turning to the door and going to scream, it never left her mouth. Her lips sealed shut faster than she could exhale, fusing her lips together with her flesh to appear that her muzzle never possessed an opening which caused her to go into a full fledged panic. My mouth! What happened to my mouth? the panic stricken purple alicorn thought.

Nightmare eyed Twilight like a jaguar would eye its prey, she smiled when the alicorn looked back to her, baring her razor sharp teeth which glittered in the moonlight. “Thou ist a fool, following my sisters every word and desire, doest thou thinketh she cares for thee? Doest thou believeth that we are corrupt?” Nightmare asked, holding Twilight down by digging her armored hoof into a pressure point Alicorn’s and Pegasi had between their wings, her being an alicorn she knew exactly where it was on Twilight. Twilight did not respond to Nightmare’s question, instead she kept trying to scream for help which came out only as a muffled pathetic noise. “Ever since thou becometh a princess we hast despised thee on a cellular level, thou ist filth!” Nightmare growled, spitting down into the purple alicorns streaked mane as a signal of disgust.

Twilight shot up in her bed quickly, her breaths quick and panicked which got the attention of Spike who still was up reading a book on Dragons. “Twi? Yikes, what’s wrong?” Spike asked, running across the room to his oldest friend and climbing up on the bed.

“Spike? Oh... nothing... it was just a dream, I think,” Twilight responded, thinking about her dream before turning her head to face her concerned dragon friend once more. “Have I been here all night?” Twilight wondered, bringing a nod from Spike.

“Yeah Twi, since the moment you laid down... did you have a nightmare?” Spike wondered, bringing a nod from his friend.

“Yeah... a big one...” Twilight responded believing it had all been a dream, which it had not.

Chapter 3

“Princess Celestia,” Twilight spoke, gaining the sun princess’ attention and a warm smile.

“Twilight Sparkle, how can I help?” Celestia wondered, putting her quill and the scroll she was writing down on the desk.

“I had a weird dream that I wished to ask you about,” Twilight explained, sitting down in front of her mentor’s desk.

“Shouldn’t you ask my sister about dreams when she awakens Twilight?” Celestia wondered, receiving a shake of the head from her student.

“That’s the issue princess, it was about Luna,” Twilight said before she thought through the dream once more. “She and I talked for a few moments in the dream on a balcony, she quickly went from acting normal to hunched over and sobbing, looking like she was ready to explode with anger on top of that. Upon asking her she acted surprised that I was still there and when I turned my back she attacked me, not as Luna though, as Nightmare Moon”

Celestia thought about what her student had told her. It’s odd that Twilight had that dream when Nightmare Moon was defeated three years ago. “I’ll speak with Luna with what it could mean once she awakens,” Celestia told Twilight who nodded with approval.

“I will be in the library if you need me princess,” Twilight explained as she trotted out of the room.

“Have a good morning,” Celestia wished to her student.

“These scrolls are only accessible by royalty due to the secrets they hold,” an old mare explained, pointing with her hoof to another room in the library behind a locked gate inside the library. The old mare, being in charge of preserving old books had a peach colored coat with a white mane and tail while her eyes were green; a scroll and quill being her cutie mark.

“Why are they only accessible by royalty?”

“Unknown reasons to me Princess Twilight,” the old mare replied before handing Twilight the key. “That opens the gate.”

“Thank you,” Twilight thanked before approaching the locked gate casually, until of course she looked over her shoulder and found the old mare to be gone. She galloped quickly up to it and unlocked it with the key. “By Celestia this is so exciting! I’m one of four ponies to be allowed inside here! I wonder what hidden volumes of Star Swirl the Bearded and ancient stories still written archaic are hidden inside here!” Twilight exclaimed, jumping up and down like Pinkie Pie for a moment before blushing with embarrassment, luckily nopony was in sight. Twilight quickly closed the gate behind her and then began galloping through the spaces between the bookshelves, paying close attention to names and dates.

“Star Swirl the Bearded! There has to be over eight books here!” Twilight squealed with excitement, grabbing all of them off the shelf with her magic before continuing through the isles till she came across a book titled The lies of Harmony. Upon pulling the book out from the shelf Twilight saw the author to be named as L. with no long version of the name on either side of the book. Twilight frowned at it for a moment before taking the books she had, and the new one to a desk in the center of the room.

She would be alone today since her friends had gone back to Ponyville to collect more belongings and the Elements so the six of them would be ready incase of a problem; this meant she could sit here all day and study these one of a kind books. The lies of harmony... sounds interesting Twilight thought before flipping to the first page, the book not being more than four pages at the most.

The Elements of Harmony, the last defence against evil for Equestria and controlled by Princess Celestia. Believed by all ponies to be objects of restoration, peace and overall harmony. This is a lie, a horrible cruel lie that for over a millennium has kept Celestia’s tyranny alive and powerful. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, the two monarchs of Equestria are believed to rule the country together, this is a lie. The elements of harmony, Celestia, Nightmare Moon... Harmony? It’s all a horrible lie established by none other than Celestia herself. Over a millennium ago Celestia and Luna both defeated Discord in a battle with the help of the elements of harmony. Discord surrendered, but this was not good enough, Celestia believed that Discord would cause more harm to Equestria and back stab her and her sister the second he got it, therefor she, after convincing her sister encased Discord in stone, believed to be imprisoned forever. This did NOT solve anything, nor would it ever.

Luna began to notice something about her sister that she had not seen while the two were in poverty with all other ponies. Whenever a problem arose her sister would annihilate a problem instead of solving it, leaving those problems to come back in the future. The world is full of deceit and darkness, and those who think otherwise are pathetic tools under Celestia’s control.

The elements of harmony may have saved Equestria, but there is something twisted with them that many do not know about: They can be used for evil purposes if those using them are unaware of the evil in it. Celestia has used this method to gain what she has wished for over the years, discovering this shortly after banishing her sister for a thousand years. Celestia’s power does not make her a demigod like her sister Luna, what makes her almost god-like is her possession and control over the elements that are used at her will.

The elements of harmony are also not bound to ponies as Celestia claims, any being may possess the power as long as their use of them do not conflict with these rules: One: The wielders of the elements must not use the elements in any way that they believe is evil, doing so will result in no reaction from the elements, two: the one who wears the elements must possess a trait of which that element represents; if the element is loyalty then that individual must be loyal to a large extent. Finally three: All elements must work together, failure in doing so will result in the elements being no more than jewelry. We see the misuse of the elements today my subjects. When Discord was released from his stone prison the second time by the elements of harmony the six ponies began attempting to cast reformation spells, therefore forcing the spirit of Chaos to reform himself or be turned to stone. Has Discord changed? Not at all, but being free and allowed to feel the wind on your coat, to be able to smell the fresh night air or eat and drink water is much better than being a statue. Discord and all others who are against Celestia fear the elements because they know Celestia can use them anyway she wishes by leading six ponies blindly into her loyal service and gifting them the power of the elements.

Due to their blindness they do not see that in truth they are eviler than those they use the elements on. It is in Discord’s nature to create Chaos, it is in Queen Chrysalis’ nature to feed off the emotions of ponies and find food for her subjects. The Elements are biased, corrupt and misused in making a fake harmony and instead creating fear. Celestia cannot use them, so she has recruited others to do her dirty work and appear to all in Equestria that the Elements are good, for if the elements were to fail and become considered evil Celestia would lose her main power: Deception.

-Princess Luna

Twilight stared at the book, her attention to how long she had been sitting there for unknown to her as she thought about what the book said. It made perfect sense all along, but was it true? The book by the paper and ink had been written recently, most likely a few months ago, Twilight guessed, but it couldn’t all be true. Sure the elements were powerful and maybe could be used negatively once in awhile but that did not make them evil... did it?

Twilight after a few more moments of thought rose from the desk, the other books remaining untouched as she exited the library, wishing to find Princess Luna. I must ask if she truly wrote this and hear the story from her if it is real.