Hooves, Plush, and Magic: The Untold Tales

by Harry Leferts

Luna's Story Part 5

Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro and Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling.

"Hello"-Normal Speaking
"Interesting..."- Nightmare Moon speaking.
'Huh'- Normal Thoughts.
'All mine...' Nightmare Moon's thoughts
_______________________________________________________________

*********************** Last time ********************

Luna nods. "Yeah, and he made another mistake that caused his discovery to come sooner." Seeing Harry look at her, she continues. "As it turned out, Lepidoptera was only step one. Pernicious was aiming for something much bigger." She narrows her eyes. "Rulership over Equestria..."

*********************** Now ****************************

Harry tries to work his mouth for a little while before he manages to get something. "He... no one could be that stupid..."

Luna sighs as she runs a hoof down her face. "I wish that I could agree with that Harry, I really do. But the fact was that, that he truly did try to do that."

Nightmare snorts a bit. "In fact, he did not even wait as almost as soon as he was married to Lepidoptera before he started to try to romance Celestia."

Harry just blinks at this before looking at Nightmare in confusion. "Wait a second..." He then looks at Luna with the same confused expression. "I know that here it wasn't uncommon for a noble to take on a mistress or what have you way back in the middle ages and such but..." He then raises an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it cause a problem for both Celestia and Pernicious as he was trying to cheat openly on his wife?"

Luna blinks at this before facehoofing. "I keep forgetting that you wouldn't know these things." Pulling her hoof away, she folds her forelegs over each other. "Before we continue, it seems that I have to explain some things about Equestrian culture when it comes to such."

Raising an eyebrow, Harry simply blinks. "How so?"

Luna sighs as she shakes her head. "Harry, one thing that you should remember back then was that birthrates were skewered towards females. And the ratio got worse especially back then as you increase the age."

Harry becomes thoughtful for a moment before looking at Luna. "Does this have to do with that time you told me that stallions were usually at the front of battle?"

Luna slowly nods. "That is a very big part of it." Shaking her head, she continues. "Back then, most families were members of what I guess you could call 'Clans'." She then gestures with a forehoof. "These were groups of families who were inter-related with each other." She then holds her hoof above her head. "At the top, was the clan Matriarch. This was the oldest mare in the family. Below her, would be the oldest mare in each family and so on. Our society is very... matriarchal in nature. For example, family lines aren't traced through the male side, but rather the female side."

Harry rubs his forehead for a moment before shaking his head. "So... Stallions had less rights?"

Nightmare shakes her head. "No Harry, they has just as much rights as a mare did." Looking at him directly, she continues. "It was just that mares were more valued thanks to the fact that they could pass along the family name and titles. So most families would want a female foal, not a male to pass along their inheritance."

Nodding, Luna takes over. "Both genders had their roles and strengths. While here on Earth, jobs such as homemaker and such met with derision for many years, in Equestria it was a highly respected duty as you would be 'taking care of the herd' as some referred to it." She then waves her hoof in the other direction. "Stallions, however, are for the most part physically stronger then a mare and more tough. And so, when it came to defense and hard physical labor, they were the ones to do so." Sighing, she shakes her head. "We Ponies are herd animals while humans are pack or tribal based. Because of that, a Pony never had to worry about their position in the herd as it was secure and everyone theoretically worked together for the betterment of all. Unlike in a human tribe where you could easily lose your position over something very small."

Harry blinks for a moment before looking at the sky in thought. "So then you didn't have issues between males and females that humans had?"

Waving her hoof, Luna shakes her head. "Not I never said that Harry."

Now Harry starts getting confused. "But you said..."

Luna's lips twitch a bit before she chuckles. "I know what I said Harry." Humming thoughtfully for a moment, she nods. "Ponies are by their nature very conservative in many ways and change socially slowly. Another is that due to our... mentality I suppose we can call it, it is commonly believed that certain roles should go to certain Ponies." She then waves her hoof a little. "A perfect example of this is with mares and stallions. While mares could fight and in some cases as well as or even better then a stallion, it was far more common for a stallion to be a fighter because such was expected of them socially. And the same came to the mares being in charge of the household. I knew some stallions who did very well in such a role, but it was more common for a mare to have that particular role because, as before, it was expected of them."

Nightmare then looks at Harry directly. "Of course, placing stallions into the soldier position had issues. A stallion was physically capable of doing battle at an earlier age then a mare could have a foal. And with all the monsters around in those days..."

Harry simply nods as the pieces start falling into place. "And because of that, the numbers of stallions would decrease even farther as they got older and older."

Luna nods as she smiles. "Yes, so by the time mares would reach the age where they could have foals, there was often substantially smaller pool of stallions to mate." She then shifts a bit and sighs. "Now that you can understand the issues, we can get back to your original question: Why did no one have issue with Pernicious courting my sister while he was married." She then clears her throat a little and continues. "Now, back then the most common form of marriage by far was monogamy. That is, one mare and one stallion. After that, though less common, was bigamy and polygamy. In both cases though, a single mare would be in charge of the group as an 'Alpha' of sorts."

Snorting, Nightmare catches Harry's attention. "Of course, that's actual marriage. It was not uncommon even for monogamous couples for the stallion to be... hmm... how to put this..." Tapping her chin for a few moments, Nightmare finally shrugs. "For the stallion to be, for lack of better words, lent out to mate with an unattached mare who wished for a foal. These were of course almost always either relatives of the mare in the couple or very close friends. And the whole thing had detailed contracts written up and needed the agreement of all parties involved. If one said no, then it would be dropped."

Leaning back, Harry nods. "So there were no issues with him courting Celestia?"

Luna shrugs. "Besides Lepidoptera's principality not being that large or her being that highly ranked?" She shakes her head. "Not really, no." Chuckling, she grins a little. "That's not to say that she enjoyed his... shall we say... attentions..." Snorting, Luna's grin widens a little. "He was simply awful at romance or to quote Celly, 'He is the most vile, despicable, pitiable little annoyance that it is my misfortune to deal with.'"

Harry raises an eyebrow at this. "So he never tried to use a love potion on Celestia then?"Another thought strikes him at that moment. "And why didn’t you or your sister ever notice what he did to Lepidoptera?" Seeing her grin vanish and replaced by a guilty expression, he flinches. "Sorry I..."

He trails off as Luna holds up a hoof. "Don't be sorry Harry, it was just one of mine and Celestia's first failures as Diarchies." Sighing, she shakes her hoof. "The only excuse that I could give was that I and Celestia were busy trying to rebuild the government at the time. Myself, I was often buried in various forms, plans, checklists, and the like. Sister however was often busy working on the social side of things." Blinking, Luna looks up while mumbling. "That might have been where issues started popping up between me and our subjects now that I think about it..."

Harry leans forwards a bit. "Oh?"

Looking first at him, and then at Nightmare, Luna waits until the larger Alicorn nods her head before getting up and walking over to where Harry is. Sitting down next him, she sighs. "During those twenty years, I was hardly seen outside of my study where I was sorting out a lot of the paperwork." Seeing Harry about to say something, she taps him on the shoulder and shakes her head. "Harry, I enjoyed doing all the paperwork that went along with rebuilding the country. Plans, decrees, laws, checklists... it was like heaven to me..." She then chuckles seeing Harry's interested look before reaching over and laying her foreleg over his shoulder as she gestures with her hoof. "At the time, Celly and I were playing with our strengths. When it came to various fine details such as building codes and taxes, I was always the best at it. When it came to Celly, however, she was always more of a ponies... pony." She then frowns as her eyes cross. "Or a people's Pony." She then waves it off. "However you want to slice it, during those twenty years, Celly was seen far more then me by the public, so I suppose that around then was when they started seeing me as the mysterious younger sibling who hid in the shadows."

Harry grimaces a bit before laying his arm over her shoulders. "And Celestia?"

Nightmare rolls her eyes a bit. "She spent much of the time having parties and such."

Hearing that and seeing Harry about to say something, Luna scowls. "That's a half truth at the best and you know that." She then turns to Harry. "What balls, parties, and celebrations she held was to play to the nobles' egos and feed them. Add into the fact that we needed to keep the population focused on something other then all the problems relating to reconstruction..."

Harry frowns but nods. "It was smarter to keep them distracted by having them focus on something else and what better for that then various celebrations."

Nodding, Luna smiles. "Right." Her smile soon turns into a scowl though. "Sadly, that gave Pernicious the opportunity to bug... I mean, court Celly." She then frowns. "And while Celly visited the various Principalities and kingdoms that made up Equestria, she would usually give a week or so notice before arriving."

Harry facepalms at that. "Which would give Pernicious all the time he needed to cover-up the issues."

Luna sighs but shakes her head. "And when you add in that she could only visit so many..." Hearing Harry groan, she shrugs. "As it was, I suspect that he tried several times to use a love potion of sorts on Celly, only for it to fail." Seeing Harry's look, she explains. "An Alicorn's magic naturally rejects that which could be harmful to us. It takes something very strong to get through that as at most, poisons would give me or Celly a slightly unpleasant feeling at the most."

Blinking, Harry smiles. "Huh, so then the love potions didn't do anything?"

Luna frowns a bit before answering. "I wouldn't quite say that. Pernicious was smart enough not to slip them into Celly's food or drink anywhere but in his manor. And even then, all it really did was make the visit just slightly more bearable from Celly's perspective. And that effect wore off quickly enough..."

Seeing her fall into silence, Harry eventually squeezes her shoulder causing her to look at him. "So how did you and Celestia come to find out?"

Shaking her head, the lunar princess sighs. "It was a combination of factors and it wasn't for a while that we became suspicious as we were in fact quite busy." She then tilts her hoof. "From Celestia, it was partially the change in Lepidoptera's personality. While before she was interested in all things magic like Clover, now all she wanted to talk about was her husband and how great he was. At first, we both shrugged it off as them being newly in love, though the way that Pernicious acted towards her set off some alarm bells. And where before she could be quite calm, she was suddenly emotionally all over the place. One minute she could be sitting there staring off into space and the next bubbly and excitable. Or she could become snappish towards one of the servants for a little thing."

Harry just stares at her in disbelief. "And that didn't set off alarm bells?!"

Luna rubs her forehead. "It did, but at the same time since the only time Celly ever saw Lepidoptera was when she visited, she would not think about it for an hour or so after her last bite to eat or drink. For a while, she dismissed it as her imagination or stress on Lepidoptera's part, as I am sad to say I did as well." Seeing his look, she shakes her head. "It was a stressful time Harry, and such things were not uncommon and with all the tragedy in her life..." Trailing off for a moment, she soon snaps out of her thoughts. "Then as the years went on and they didn't have a foal, Celly and I thought that it might be a side effect of a potion or spell to increase Lepidoptera fertility. Such reactions were quite common to such after all."

Nodding, Harry looks down in thought. "And if she was barren, it would make sense that he would look elsewhere for a foal."

Grunting, Nightmare gives him a proud look. "Indeed Harry. In fact, that was an opinion that both Celestia and I shared." She then scowls. "Eventually, even that fell through as the fact he went after nopony else for a foal became apparent."

Luna nods before continuing. "On my side, eventually I started noticing small discrepancies in things that had to do with her Principality. One of them was that less revenue came out of it then before or should since it was two Principalities merged. Another was that our annual census showed that the populations of the surrounding kingdoms and Principalities rose while Lepidoptera's fell. So, eventually I gathered up enough evidence and presented it to Celly. She added what she observed there, though she would trail off at times in thought."

His eyes widening, Harry gulps. "It was affecting her, wasn't it?"

Luna slams her hoof down in anger before squeezing her eyes shut with a hiss. "It did." Sighing, she opens her eyes and looks at Harry. "Even with an Alicorn's resistance, being exposed to the strongest love potion ever created did have an effect, even if all it was, was to make a conversation with him slightly bearable."

Harry nods. "And your suspicion was aroused enough that you both decided to look into it."

Nodding, the lunar princess gains a far off look. "We did. Celly, as was traditional, gave him a week's notice that we were both going to come. And while Celly prepared, one night I snuck into the Principality and looked around in the places where normally me and Celly would avoid." Running her hoof down her snout, she sighs. "Celly never really toured a Principality and mainly just went to the capitals such as they were. And when I looked around... that was when I saw how poverty stricken it was. That set off alarm bells as Lepidoptera loved her subjects very much."

Frowning, Harry shakes his head. "And that was when you figured out the discrepancies."

Nodding, Luna scowls. "He had drained the small kingdom of almost all it's worth almost to the point of collapse." She then sighs. "And then came the day of the official visit." She slowly leans into Harry's shoulder. "It was near the end where after observing it all where I had enough." She slowly looks up and shudders. "Celly had been playing the good visitor and had drank and eaten some and seemed quite relaxed around him. I myself had barely had anything and he seemed disappointed in that, but shrugged it off. And then he brought out a large dinner and a bottle of what he said was the finest wine produced in the Principality." Luna takes a shuddering breath before continuing. "He poured both me and Celly a large glass and we were about to drink it when I noticed something about Lepidoptera. She seemed to be struggling with something and in the depths of her eyes. It was pure despair and horror. Then Pernicious saw where I was looking and laid a hoof on Lepidoptera's knee and it all vanished as she turned to gaze at him."

Harry's eyes widen as he gulps. "And that's when you knew..."

Luna grimaces as she closes her eyes. "I figured out that something was wrong." She then snorts. "Unlike Celly, I was more impulsive and I showed it as a moment later, he found himself hoisted into the air alongside Lepidoptera. Celly soon found herself in the air when she demanded to know what I was doing and why though she was highly confused. After that was done, I stomped up to him and... asked what he was done." Luna then opens her eyes some and snorts. "The foal then glanced at the food and drink, in particular the wine, in fear which told me everything. I cast a spell and it found and identified what type of potion as well as the potency of it." She then growls. "It was powerful enough that Celly would have likely succumbed to it somewhat."

Nightmare snarls. "He got what was coming to him though."

Glancing over at her, Harry forces down his own anger. "He got his, right?"

Smirking, Nightmare darkly chuckles. "Of course Harry." She then examines her hoof. "As Celestia did not want him executed, being soft hearted as she was, he was instead gelded and exiled." She then grins as her eyes become hooded, not seeing Harry wince and squeeze his legs together. "And then, one day, he just so happened to find a bottle of wine..."

Luna just shakes her head in mock surprise. "And being the swine he was, he gulped it down before turning to see a mirror..." She then sighs. "For some reason he couldn't stop gazing into it."

Clearing his throat, Harry winces a bit as he thinks it over. 'Ironic...' He then looks at Luna. "And Lepidoptera?"

Now it's Luna's turn to wince. "That..." She then rubs her face. "We had to clear both her and Celly out of any potions and that alone was not fun. While it was just the one for Celly, for Lepidoptera, it was a large number. He had used far more then just love poison on her." She then grimaces. "And so it took her longer to get cleared out, though there were remnants of them within her system for decades after." Luna then glances at Harry. "What happened next compounded the tragedy."

Blinking at her tone, Harry raises an eyebrow. "How so?"

Luna shakes her head. "While her system was being flushed of the potion, Celly had massive mood swings. One minute she could be crying, and the next raging with all the fury of a hurricane. During that time, I was handling affairs of state in her place, and I disliked it immensely." She then sighs. "During one of her darker moods, one of the nobles mentioned around her that she could restitution for herself from Pernicious' House for what he had done. And, not thinking clearly, she demanded such." Slamming her hoof into the moon, Luna growls. "In her mood, she forgot that since Pernicious had no family outside of Lepidoptera, it fell to her House to pay for it."

Harry's eyes widen. "Oh no..."

Scowling, Nightmare nods. "Indeed. In her mood she also forgot what restitution would be or possibly that she was no longer living a relatively minor station in life." Nightmare just shakes her head. "For what he did and the high crime of doing it against one of the High Sovereigns of Equestria, she forfeited all her lands to Celestia."

Nodding her head, Luna looks down. "And by the time I found out due to being swamped with work, it was too late to do anything." Closing her eyes, a single tear drips from her eye. "For actions that she had nothing to do with, Lepidoptera lost it all to Celestia. Her lands, her fortune, and her titles were all given to Celly."

Harry just stares at her in disbelief. "And she never tried to give it back?!"

Luna shakes her head. "She honestly tried Harry, but at the time, that law was so tied up with a number of others that would not be until Lepidoptera's death that we managed to figure out how, and by then..."

Nodding, Harry sighs. "It had no point."

Luna grimaces, but nods. "Yes." She then gazes into the sky above and sighs. "I think that was what finally broke Lepidoptera. All of the tragedy in her life lead up to that and she became a shell of who she once was. And then she hated and despised Celly for everything that happened."

Harry glances over at her. "Because of Celestia taking everything?"

Shaking her head, Nightmare grumbles. "That was merely the final straw." Seeing that she has Harry's attention, she continues. "While she was under the potions' effects, Pernicious would rant at her and brag about his plan." She starts scowling. "He saw her as a test bed for the Love Poison and more then that, she was merely a stepping stone for him to grab Celestia. He did not see either of them as thinking beings, just as ways to gather more power and 'trophies'." Nightmare then slowly shakes her head. "He told her that with her wealth and lands added to his own, he then had enough status to get the chance to grab Celestia in his little web."

Luna nods. "And so she came to despise Celestia for everything." She then shakes her head. "That's not to say that Celly did not try to at least be kind to her. Celestia let her keep living in her ancestral manor and instead used a nearby mountain upon whose side she built a small keep as well as a school..."

Harry's eyes widen. "Canterlot!?"

The blue Alicorn's smile is answer enough. "Yes." She frowns. "Celly had the school built and then invited Lepidoptera there to teach the subject she was most knowledgeable in... transformational magics."

Raising an eyebrow, Harry blinks. "She didn't act like Snape... did she?"

The lunar princess shakes her head in the negative. "Not at all actually." She then softly smiles. "No matter what problems she might have had with Celly, one of the things she learned from both Starswirl and Clover was how to be a professional when it came to teaching." She then looks towards Harry. "At the same time, other people settled around the school and the Keep. They were there mainly to supply both with various craft items and food. A few years later I joined in the building by opening a small manor that had labs for thurmatological research." She then chuckles. "It was during the construction that we found the caverns underneath and in the mountain."

Nightmare snorts a bit. "The sheer amount of magic down there was incredible and the crystals and gems were exquisite for usage in thurmatological research."

Luna nods. "And Lepidoptera used the caverns to conduct her research into transformational magics." Luna then lifts a hoof as she looks directly at Harry. "She recruited a number of fellow Unicorns interested in that particular school of magic and a number, like her, used the wing spell she created to show who they followed." Rolling her eyes, she sighs. "Of course, those ones also disliked Celestia. She also delved into spells having to do with the mind, in particular mind control, which worried both Celly and I. Of course, with how hers and Celly's relationship was, I was the only two who could talk to her without hatred coming into it." Frowning in remembrance, she shakes her head. "So many nights we spent discussing magical theories and gossip... we might well have become friends if we had, had more time."

Harry sighs as he leans back into Nightmare. "I kind of wish that I could have met her."

Smiling, Luna gives him a small nuzzle. "I wish that you could have too."

Harry suddenly frowns in thought. "You know, in regards to the research into mind control magic I just thought of something..." He then turns to Luna with a puzzled look. "One would think that after what happened with her, she would despise that subject and stay away from it."

Shaking her head, Luna sets him straight. "Actually Harry, that was the reason why she was so interested in it. She despised it completely and, from talks I had with her, thought that the more she understood it the better ways she could create to fight against such." Wincing, she shakes her head. "Granted, her 'Want it, Need it' spell was terrifying in a number of ways." Humming in thought, Luna blinks. "I did love that scanning spell she made though."

That catches the attention of the boy wizard beside her. "Scanning spell?"

Luna nods. "Yes, an ingenious work of one I must say." She then taps her chin. "With normal scanning spells, the caster examines the magic of an object or creature outside of them. Problem being that there would be leakage from both the scanning spell itself and what was being examined interfering with the spell. She came up with a way though to get around that." A smile slowly blooms on her face. "A trained Unicorn mage would be able to sense their internal magics as this was quite important. What Lepidoptera's spell did was take a sample of the magic being examined and draw it into the caster. Once inside, it would be held by a bubble of sorts and the caster could examine it as if it was their own magic. This allowed a far better and clearer picture of the magic involved."

Luna watches Harry scrunch his eyebrows together in thought before smiling as he asks the question she was expecting. "Luna, that sounds just like how you and Nightmare give me magic at times, or how I give it to you."

Clapping her hooves together, the blue Alicorn gives Harry a proud look. "I knew that you would figure that bit out Harry. And you're right. It is very similar and for good reason as Lepidoptera's spell is based on it." She then sobers. "Hers however can be dangerous to the caster."

Giving her a confused look, Harry frowns. "Wait, how...?"

Nightmare grunts and sighs. "With the spell we use, the caster gives the magic. With Lepidoptera's, the caster takes the magic. I trust that you can see what issues might arise from such."

Licking his now dry lips, Harry nods. "Yeah, you could drain someone entirely of magic." He blinks a moment later. "Though how that is dangerous to the caster outside of maybe overloading yourself..."

Luna nods. "That is one major issue with it." She then tilts a hoof. "Another being the fact that you have to hold the magic inside your system using a bubble of sorts. If the magic would have an effect, especially a deadly one, and should you lose concentration causing the bubble to pop..."

Shivering slightly, Harry rubs his arms. "Easy way to kill yourself."

Shaking her head as she sighs, Luna shrugs. "The final bit that makes it dangerous, is that the more magic you took in, the better the scan and understanding of how it works." She then looks directly at Harry. "And with how Lepidoptera was about gaining the knowledge, that led to a lot of magic to take in." Seeing a pebble, she kicks it away. "That led to a lot of fights between her and Celly as sister considered it too dangerous."

Grunting, Nightmare nods. "Yes, those were rather large." She then cocks her head to the side. "Of course she started out..." Chucking some, she continues. "Small by using it on insects such as ants, bees, and such."

Luna is quiet for a moment before sighing. "And that was how she created two spells from those experiments."

Now interested, Harry leans towards her. "What spells?"

Her lips twitching at how interested he is, Luna shakes her head. "One of them is a telepathic spell of sorts allowing for two minds to speak to each other. The second allows you to 'Link' in more then two together using the spell as long as you have a Pony acting as a central relay of sorts. This creates a method for fast information exchange between a group even faster then what speaking would allow." She then frowns. "Celly and I found that it's dangerous though later on as the longer they're used in combination, the more the other ponies thoughts will become 'in-sync' with the one being used as a central relay." Shifting a little, Luna shakes her head. "I don't know how far it would go as Celly and I stopped all usage of it once it became apparent that ponies were losing themselves in it."

Harry just shakes his head as he looks down at the ground. "Seems like she created a number of spells too dangerous for normal usage."

Nightmare rolls her eyes with a mock long suffering sigh. "Back then, we were still trying to understand magic Harry. There were many spells created that had dangerous side-effects." She then snorts. "There spells that I, Celestia, and Starswirl created that were too bucking dangerous for even us to use unless there was no other resort."

Luna nods as she glances at her darker self. "True." She then looks back at Harry. "She came up with many useful magics including methods to throw off mind control Harry. And then there were the mood effecting ones like the Unicorn version of the cheering charm. But she truly shone with transformational magics." She chuckles a bit, a smile of remembrance on her face. "There is an entire wing of full of transformation spells dedicated to her in Canterlot's school. Some are quite useful such as her scar removal spell that transforms scar tissue into normal skin and pelt. Back then, there were many who had disfiguring scars that were helped by her spell. And even 500 years or so after her disappearance and probable death, the knowledge she wrote down has been barely added to and some of it was only just starting to be confirmed through other sources when I came here." Shaking her head free, Luna continues the story. "Of course, after she created the telepathy spells, she dove head first into pure transformational magics."

Sneering, Nightmare snorts. "Which caused no end of arguments with Celestia as Lepidoptera tried her best to outshine my sister by finding out more and more about transformational magic." Closing her eyes, she softly sighs. "Her push however lead to her end."

Wincing, Harry hisses. "The accident."

Her lips a thin line, Luna nods. "Yes, the accident." Closing her eyes like Nightmare, she shakes her head. "Shortly before then, Lepidoptera managed to track down some carcasses of Shifters and had them brought to her lab deep within the caves." Opening her eyes, Luna tilts her head back to look at the stars as she continues softly. "When Celly found out, she was furious about it." Shaking her head, she sighs. "Eventually she calmed down though and let Lepidoptera continue. Of course, that doesn't mean that Lepidoptera didn't cut some corners." She takes a moment to look at Harry out of the corner of her eye. "While there was magic still in the corpses, there wasn't really enough left. So, Lepidoptera used a spell and fed magic from her and her followers into the carcasses and converted it into the magic the Shifters used. Eventually, she had enough to perform her experiment and draw the magic out using her spell. The plan was for each member of her group to draw out some and then examine it while sharing the info among themselves with the hopes to get as much done in as little time as possible."

Harry looks down as he knows what's going to happen. "And then the accident occurred."

Luna simply nods. "Yes." Closing her eyes, she shakes her head. "I told Celly that assigning one of the Guards that she did was the wrong decision. The foal came from a family that blamed Lepidoptera for what had happened to her kingdom. And so, on the day that the experiment occurred, he was late for the briefing and when he showed up and saw her and her group drawing off a large amount of magic..."

Harry facepalms. "He thought she was up to no good."

Scowling, the lunar princess nods. "Yes. He tried to interfere and instead caused the whole thing to go off at once. The crystalline matrices around the cavern she was working in amplified the magic and caused a chain reaction." Hanging her head, Luna sighs. "Celly and I felt the vibrations from the explosion from all the way on the surface and by the time we got there, that area of the caverns collapsed into itself, sealing Lepidoptera, her fifteen followers, and a number of Celestia's Guards in there. A tomb for them all." She then frowns. "With the amount of dark magic in that area and the instability created, that section of the caverns was sealed off from the rest and abandoned."

Nightmare snorts as she shakes her head. "Didn't take long for the rumors to start though."

Harry raises an eyebrow as he looks at her. "Rumors?"

Luna nods. "Yes." She then snorts in derision. "With her gone, her family's manor was abandoned and eventually fell into ruin." Smirking, she shakes her head. "Soon afterwards of course rumors that it was haunted and that Ponies were found dead in it, almost mummified spread." Snorting again, she chuckles. "Never found any evidence to substantiate them though."

Comments

[1eragon33]

Chagelings

[Dracmatais]

That's... An Interesting Origin story for the Changelings.

[Destructorspace]

1200408
That's what's been implied this whole time.

Also, you will be referencing these stories in the main story, yeah? Since this is an amazing backstory you've built up, and we don't want to see these copypasta'd in when they finally make it to Equestria, although I suppose a quick summary that links to the appropriate chapter here would serve... But yeah, keep up the good work, and while I really want MOAR NAO, I suppose I can be patient.

[ed2481]

Well now I want them to get to Equestria but we still have like half a year before the first book ends

[p0nypanda]

Hello, Changelings.

[DavidPony]

and thus the changeling where born i love it!

[CommanderX5]

Quite interesting and complicated story to explain what happened before Luna banishment, but I personaly perfear changelings as a orginal race they are instead of side efect of curse or experiment, still, good luck with god work.

Also, usually you updated both Luna story and Luna and Harry adventure at the same time, I hope that next chapter from Harry adventure will be soon on.

[La Vallett1]

And thus, Chryssalis and her changelings are born.

[RailgunDragon]

I sense a reference to the final battle in How to Train Your Dragon. Amirite? I hope so! I'm not used to catching references! Anyway, love this backstory, and agree wholeheartedly with a suggestion to reference it in the main story. Wouldn't want anyone to miss this piece of awesome!

[GoesKaboom]

Ah, I was right! Lepidoptera DID become Chrysalis!

[satnapillowpants]

2582561
That, or Chrysalis is a descendent of hers.

[Vigriff]

3466286 So now that we have the origins of Discord and the Changelings that leaves us with Tirek, Sombra, and Scorpan.

[Jonny Bench]

Nice way to explain the changlings ya got there