History Fanfic / RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse

* AdultFear: Compared to the show's mane 6 universe counterparts, the Lunaverse-6 characters often have to deal with these more.
** "A Hard Bargain" has a group of gangsters trying to abduct Dinky.
** "Carrot Top Season" has Flim and Flam make off with Apple Bloom during a crowded event (they have no intention of harming her, but it's done to sabotage the Apples' entry in a cooking contest).
** In ''Nightmares Yet to Come'', early on in the story it's mentioned that a member of the Equestrian army has taken a leave of absence to look for his missing daughter. Later on, when [[spoiler:Trixie is looking after Thesis, it's mentioned she's had nightmares about finding Thesis' bedroom mysteriously empty. Then the narration notes that she hasn't necessarily had to be asleep to think about it.]]

** At least one part of the "Darker and Edgier" part is that while the canon show has the mane six deal with arbitrary "Friendship Problems," such as "Twillight doesn't turn in an assignment on time" or "Applejack doesn't know how to accept help," or MonsterOfTheWeek attacks, the Lunaverse tends towards AdultFear dilemmas such as "My daughter just met her half-sister, [[spoiler: and she's just as much a victim of her father's affair as my daughter is]]," or "I could lose my farm because of the rising costs and increasing wear-and-tear on the various parts of the farm," or towards literary deconstruction of canon black-and-white events.

** In ''The School Talent Show,'' When Trixie asks if Windowpane is stalking her window he replies that her window is [[TheSimpsons putting his kid through college]].

* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/34701/A-Chance-Encounter- A Chance Encounter]]'': After spending months on end in Corona's palace, Spike runs away, leaving the insane alicorn and his friend Zecora behind. But he doesn't get far before he runs into a different pony, a unicorn on the run from the law who has a few screws loose. It is in complete, with the final two chapters being written by another author [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/87207/a-chance-encounter-continued here]].

* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/67624/Eye-of-the-Hurricane Eye of the Hurricane]]'': Raindrops has always had a problem with her anger, and despite her strong self-control, she sometimes can't help but lose it. Unfortunately, her latest explosion has not only gotten her suspended from her job, but also ordered to attend anger management. When she finds an alternative procedure, however, she's suddenly all smiles and giggles. Can her friends figure out what's happened and bring her back to normal? And more importantly, will Raindrops even want that to begin with? It is in progress.

* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/63008/Adventures-in-Ponysitting Adventures in Ponysitting]]'': After one of the worst days of her life Carrot Top is asked by a dreadfully ill Rainbow Dash to help Fluttershy. Feeling sorry for the mare, the Element of Generosity agrees to help Fluttershy with getting the animals' homes cleaned out. What could go wrong? Kidnapping, randsom, evil illusionists, and multiple musical numbers aside. It is in progress.

** ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/49641/Longest-Night%3A-Everypony%27s-Day Longest Night: Everypony's Day]]'' Some stories are too big to be told completely, some aspect always get overlooked. Some actors are too small to affect the outcome of a big story and their parts get left on the cutting floor. In their own right these small parts are worth knowing, worth experimenting to better understand the universe they are set in. A series of ADayInTheLimeLight stories retelling what various side characters were doing during the events of ''Longest Night, Longest Day''. It is a group project featuring work by multiple authors. It is in progress.

* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/34701/A-Chance-Encounter- A Chance Encounter]]'': After spending months on end in Corona's palace, Spike runs away, leaving the insane alicorn and his friend Zecora behind. But he doesn't get far before he runs into a different pony, a unicorn on the run from the law who has a few screws loose. It is in progress.

Now has a (still-in-progress) [[Characters/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse character sheet]], as well as a [[Recap/{{Lunaverse}} recap page]]

* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/58789/ In the Heat of the Moment]]'': Trixie is in heat. [[{{Asexuality}} She does not like this]]. But for everypony else, it's an opportunity... A non-canon CrackFic by [=RainbowDoubleDash=] himself. Due to the subject matter, it's for mature audiences. It is complete.

* EnthrallingSiren: Sirens are hippocamp-like equines whose songs can hypnotize those who listen to them, which they use to get ponies to drown themselves so that they can eat them. This doesn't work on everyone -- Lyra's immune to their attempt in ''Longest Night, Longest Day'' because the three aren't fully harmonizing with each other and it's enough for her to notice.

** Trixie accuses Raindrops of being an imposter in ''Tales Of Ponyville'' due to being uncharacteristically happy about the rain. (Trixie assumes that Raindrops would be upset about having to fix a weather mess Rainbow Dash made, unaware that the pegasus has a simple and genuine love of rain.)
*** Slightly justified on Trixie's part because a) Raindrops ''was'' acting remarkably out of character, and more importantly b) she had recently had experiences with a shapeshifter herself, not to mention she's had to tangle with other such beings who could disguise themselves as an Element for their own ends (the Night Court, Corona, etc).

** "Return of Tambelon" has Luna demanding what, to the Lunar Six, seem like unbelievably harsh punishments for Grogar. She justifies this because a) when they were first thought up, it would ''still'' have been harsh, but more acceptable by the morality of the day, b) She considers Grogar to be that much of a threat, and c) Grogar's ambitions extend far beyond himself.
*** Also, when discussing Grogar, Luna - who hesitates to take action for fear of becoming a tyrant - exercises her right as Princess to lay down the law, and states she ''will not'' go back on it.

* BrickJoke: The ponies noted under BlindIdiotTranslation were fired by Luna, but one of them returns in "Voice of the Sun" having learnt ''nothing'' from her screw-up. Lyra's incensed enough that ''Raindrops'' has to hold her back.

* HiddenAgendaVillain: The bad guys of "Nightmares Yet to Come" have an annoying habit of not explaining their plans to each other, in full. So far, the general details involve making... three of ''something'', which they need to do quickly, and getting Corona on their side.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Apparently the Punch Bowl has it as a standing exception that ponies are allowed a Freaking Drink at any time if their day meets certain requirements, like having to deal with Rainbow Dash, or Trixie.

** Spike tells Twilight Sparkle that since [[NeverMyFault she blames everyone but herself]] for her own problems, [[NotSoDifferent she's not really all that]] different from Corona.

* NotSoDifferent:

* EveryoneIsGay: In contrast to canon, there are more ponies that show off actual sexuality, most notably those of LGBT varieties. Lyra and Bon Bon are the most notable homosexual couple, but Cheerilee and Rarity are confirmed as bisexual, and Lyra herself has two fathers.

** Corona has them. They also serve as a metaphor: Corona is blind to the monster that she has become. WordOfGod is that this was initially unintentional (Corona's appearance is based off of [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=Devo+Celestia#/d4sib4b this picture]]), but has since been labeled as Happy Coincidence #1.

Now has a (still-in-progress) [[Characters/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse character sheet]], as well as a [[Recap/{{Lunaverse}} recap page]], which NeedsWikiMagicLove.

** ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/92300/crisis-on-two-equestrias Crisis on Two Equestrias]]'': Trixie appears once more in Ponyville, but something is… off… about her. She isn't speaking in third person. She is convinced that she is supposed to be the Element of Magic, that Celestia is supposed to be the Tyrant Sun, that Luna is supposed to rule as Equestria's monarch — and that Twilight is supposed to be a wanted criminal. Has she gone insane? Or is something bigger beginning — [[CrisisCrossover with consequences that Trixie, Twilight, and two entire worlds, can only guess at?]] It is complete. Canon.

** Corona has them. They also serve as a metaphor: Corona is blind to the monster that she has become. WordOfGod is that this was initially unintentional (Corona's appearance is based off of [[http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=Devo+Celestia#/d4sib4b this picture]]), but has since been labeled as Happy Coincidence #1.

* IgnoringBySinging: Trixie, whenever the subject of fornication comes up. ''[[ItMakesSenseInContext “La la la nopony can hear Lyra!”]]''

-->"None of the Trust teams had any friends of supporters come with -- didn't you notice? I don't think Applejack's the only Trust farmer who's completely isolated on her farm. I’d rather have my friends than a pile of bits and nopony to care about me."

** In ''Carrot Top Season'', Applejack's attempt to dissuade the other farmers from supporting Carrot Top (by bragging about how much Ponyville and Equestria depends on the Trust, because they have a ruthless monopoly, and how everypony owes her for not crushing them completely) only convinces them to give their support instead. Red Onion even makes it personal - "Kick this idiot’s flank to Tartarus and back, ‘kay?" Worse, the actions of the Trust end up putting pressure on the smaller Ponyville farms to band together into their ''own'' version of the Trust, call the Farmer's Union, which is capable of at least putting up a fight with Sweet Apple Acres without getting curbstomped.

* ScoobyDoobyDoors: In ''Old Friends'', Trixie was advertising a ''door-connecting'' spell that…worked in this fashion when Cheerilee went there to escape, with Notary chasing her. By the time the chase continued out of the doors, it turns out that Ivory Scroll was inadvertently sent to [[spoiler:Coneigh Island. Thankfully, Trixie (and Twilight) got her back.]]

* TallPoppySyndrome: In ''Carrot Top Season'', Applejack alludes to this in response to Carrot Top asking why there has to be only one farmer in Ponyville, rather than a cooperative group. “But in a group, the weak always drag down the strong."

--> '''Carrot Top''': All of us have farms that currently require infrastructural work – laying new irrigation pipes, mending broken fencing, rearranging fields -- but these jobs require such a large initial investment that we can’t afford to ever get started. And – of course – this just hurts us more and more, because without the latest equipment, or even working equipment in some cases, our daily chores take longer and longer, and we fall further behind.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: During "At the Grand Galloping Gala", Trixie gets away with uttering a minor vulgarity due to speaking in Prench ("mais n'enculons pas des mooches" -- "let's not bugger flies").

* DeadlyDecadentCourt:
** The Night Court is initially shown to be one. Well, except for the "deadly" part.
** ''At the Grand Galloping Gala'' has Trixie make the unpleasant realization that the Night Court is ''completely'' corrupt. Even the most decent members, like Night Light, willingly and often use blackmail, bribery, and threats in order to get what they want; or else simply stand aside and do nothing, like Fluttering Posey. Greengrass and his allies are just the most aggressive about it. As such, the final villain of Season 1 isn't any one pony, but the Night Court as a whole.

* GoLookAtTheDistraction: In ''Up and Automaton'', Raindrops really wants to beat someone up, but is told by Cheerilee not to in front of Snails. She distracts him by saying there's a snow beetle somewhere. He turns to look where she pointed, and thus does not see her sock the guy. It is then played with in that there ''is'' a snow beetle and that Raindrops made certain she wasn't lying to her brother.

* YourCheatingHeart: Dinky Doo is the result of an affair Ditzy Doo had with a married unicorn, Castor Cut. "Family Matters" deals with the fallout of this affair.

*** Mverse Twilight tells Mverse Trixie (who was arrested and had her property destroyed thanks to a misunderstanding thanks to Lverse Trixie) that she can stay with her until she [[FanFic/GettingBackOnYourHooves gets back on her hooves]].
*** Each chapter of ''Crisis on Two Equestrias'' is named after a song with "magic" in its title. This ties in with the plot of the fic being that [[spoiler:the Element of Magic is broken and needs to be fixed]]. Similarly, each chapter of ''The Return of Tambelon'' is named after a Series/BabylonFive episode, though it otherwise doesn't have anything to do with Babylon 5.

** In ''Crisis on Two Equestrias'', when M!Twilight teleported herself and her companions so that they were now falling ''up'', she mentions "[[VideoGame/{{Portal}} thinking with ‘porting]]".

** There's a subtle one in the third chapter of "Boast Busted" regarding the lack of personal entries or comments in Twilight Sparkle's journal, "not even so innocuous a comment as 'it was sunny today' or [[WebVideo/DragonballAbridged 'I saw a bird; it was pretty.']]"

--->''Hey, does this mean I’m helping sell [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill apples and apple acc... access... accessthingies]]? Yay! I’m helping my sister! And I should check with Miss Cheerilee what that word is again.''

*** In Chapter 1 of ''Elements of Insanity'', Twilight sings a full, twisted parody of "Pinkie's Brew" about how she's going to get back at Trixie and gather her own group of Elements. Shining Armor has a couple of lines (the "Pinkie if you're hearing this..." section), saying he just wants her home safe, making it a DistantDuet.

** In ''Crisis On Two Equestrias'', Mverse Twilight tells Mverse Trixie (who was arrested and had her property destroyed thanks to a misunderstanding thanks to Lverse Trixie) that she can stay with her until she [[FanFic/GettingBackOnYourHooves gets back on her hooves]].

** Each chapter of ''Crisis on Two Equestrias'' is named after a song with "magic" in its title. This ties in with the plot of the fic being that [[spoiler:the Element of Magic is broken and needs to be fixed]]. Similarly, each chapter of ''The Return of Tambelon'' is named after a Series/BabylonFive episode, though it otherwise doesn't have anything to do with Babylon 5.

%% Zero-context examples are not allowed on wiki pages; all such examples have been commented out.

* BrokenPedestal:
** Celestia, to Luna. A thousand years later, and Luna is ''still'' making decisions based on the fear that if Celestia wasn't strong enough to not turn evil, there's no way that she is.
** [[spoiler: Octavia, to Lyra]]

* CallARabbitASmeerp: In the epilogue to "Helping...Hands?", Luna refers to the species of ape-like cryptid Lyra got turned into as a hominian.
** Actually, Luna says that Lyra is "some kind" of hominan, without identifying the specific species. Hominans are a subfamily of primates that include Australopithecus, Paranthropus, Sahelanthropus, Orrorin, Ardipithecus, Kenyanthropus, and Homo - or in other words, humans and all related species.

* FlatWhat: the non-canon story, "Bride In The Rain," has this as the title for its only chapter.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Due to the AnachronicOrder of the series, a lot of this happens.
** During ''Crisis on Two Equestrias'', an annoyed Maneverse Rainbow Dash asks if Trixie's going to wind up riding into town on an Ursa Major. [[spoiler:Right idea, wrong pony.]]
* ForgotICouldFly: Averted, but mentioned by Ditzy when she first meets Trixie and Lyra. She claims that the reason that she was climbing a set of shelves to get muffins is because of this. In reality, Ditzy is not good at flying in enclosed spaces due to visual issues, but is embarrassed by this and was lying.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: During "At The Grand Galloping Gala", Trixie gets away with uttering a minor vulgarity due to speaking in Prench ("mais n'enculons pas des mooches" - "let's not bugger flies").

** Corona, of course.
** Also, God Save Us From The Empress of the Shouma, who is an arrogant, callous, aloof sort, who emotionally abuses her daughter so much she nearly kills herself and the Element Bearers trying to please mommy.

* GratuitousFrench: When Trixie gets drunk, she reverts to Neigh Orleans form. And starts quoting ''Series/BabylonFive''. Also: ''"Embrassez moi, Monsieur Bourbon!"''

** Corona, of course. She's associated with the day, sunshine, purity and light. She's also an odious, cruel and brutal tyrant.
** The ponies have superstitions about remaining outside at noon, partly due to Corona's influence: that's when the sun is brightest, and directly overhead.

** Protea is the newest world thrown into the mix. It's home to the Changelings, and appears to have only one major hive that contains their entire race, ruled over by a succession of Queens, of which Chrysalis is the latest. The rest of the planet is described as a DeathWorld filled with mutants and vaguely implied to have been the victim of a nuclear war. A recent problem for Protea is brief, tiny portals opening up near the surface, which sucks in anything that gets too close. Currently, Ocellus, a young Changeling, is living in Equestria after falling through a rift into the world. After near starvation and attacking some local children ("Ling From Another World,") Snails gave her enough love to adjust and actually be a person again. She now lives in the Everfree Forest.

* NoodleIncident:
** Trixie did ''something'' to melt an Ice Palace before the stories began that resulted in her being sent to Ponyville. What exactly it was she did has never been explained. Though according to Sparkler, it was kind of funny in hindsight.
*** Whatever it was seemed to damage Octavia's cello.

*** ''Crisis'' reveals that Luna was inside when it melted...
** Snails attempting to mail-order a baby Ursa.

** The non-cannon story "Nightmares Yet to Come" mentions that one [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames Abacus Cinch]] used to be in the employ of Luna's government. Exactly why she isn't anymore isn't said, but she was apparently bad enough that the secretarial staff ''don't'' want her coming back.
*** Earlier in the story, it's mentioned there was some sort of fire-related incident involving the Optibeurs-Golo family, of which Vicereine Puissance is the head, some years prior. It's not for several chapters before this is expounded on: Several years ago, shortly after the departure of the aforementioned Cinch from Her Majesty's government, Puissance's estate was destroyed in a mysterious fire, with the Vicereine and her head of security presumed dead in the fire.

** When Lyra says that Pinkie Pie is going to throw Trixie a party, Trixie's response is "Why are you saying that like it's synonymous with 'she's going to drag me into a basement and torture me'?", a reference to ''{{Fanfic/Cupcakes}}''.

** In "Helping... Hands?", Trixie won't be banished. More like chewed out. [[Film/InglouriousBasterds She has been chewed out before.]]
** ''Secret of Andalantis'' makes references to a musical called ''The Legend of [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Epona]]''
*** Two of the songs mentioned were the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Serenade of Water and the Bolero of Fire]].
** Pokey Pierce, at one point, claims that "he won't stop until he's [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Pierced the Heavens]]" with his horn.
*** And he gets to quote Kamina's memetic {{catchphrase}} in ''Hero of Oaton''.

** Each chapter of ''Crisis on Two Equestrias'' is named after a song with "magic" in its title. This ties in with the plot of the fic being that [[spoiler:the Element of Magic is broken and needs to be fixed.]]
*** Similarly, each chapter of ''The Return of Tambelon'' is named after a Series/BabylonFive episode, though it otherwise doesn't have anything to do with Babylon 5.
** ''The Return of Tambelon'' features multiple nods to ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'', including some of Grogar's lines being verbatim copies of Irenicus' to the Bhaalspawn.

** Raindrops' song in Chapter 1 of ''Tales of Ponyville'' is a parody of the "Gypsy Bard" song from ''WebVideo/{{Friendship is Witchcraft}}''.

** During ''At The Grand Galloping Gala'', Trixie orders the same kind of drink as James Bond in ''Literature/CasinoRoyale''.
** In ''The Return of Tambelon'', when the Element Bearers run into Bray, he pretends to be an innocent victim of Grogar's who managed to escape, a la Hans Gruber in ''Film/DieHard''.

** When Ocellus starts speaking "Protean," the Changeling Language, it turns out to be [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Newspeak.]]

* SnarkToSnarkCombat: every scene, and I mean ''every'' scene with Trixie and Pokey.

* StateSec: The Guarsai of Zaldia are a fairly standard version of this trope.
* TheSummation: The last chapter of the story ''Boast Busted'' has Luna tell Shining Armor what happened.
* SympathyForTheDevil: When Trixie looks through Twilight's wagon, she sees some things that lead her to wonder how things would have been like with their roles reversed. There is, of course, a MythologyGag in there.
** As of ''The Return of Tambelon'', the Luna-6 are starting to feel this towards Corona, now that they finally understand her motivations and what drove her to madness in the first place.
** In "Ling From Another World," Snips feels this way towards Ocellus thanks to his AnimalEmpathy.
** WordOfGod is that any feelings like this for Antithesis, in ''Crisis on Two Equestrias'', are misplaced - she isn't sympathetic, she's a psychopathic murderer who'd gladly kill everything just for the thrill of it.

** Duke Greengrass has a penchant of these. A good example is his plan to spread the story that Octavia Philharmonica is playing the Symphony for Moon and Sun for Luna. If she refuses to play, she's snubs the princess, she's ruined, and Greengrass has punished her for her betrayal. If she plays and, like everypony else who tried, doesn't play the piece to Luna's standards, Luna ruins her career, and Greengrass has punished her. And finally, if she plays the piece successfully, Greengrass reveals that she had done work for him in the past and spreads the rumor that he made it possible for her to play the piece and get what she wanted, and Greengrass then gets a bunch of servants with big dreams offering to sell him their master's secrets if he'll help them in a similar way. No matter what happens, Greengrass profits.

** Corona repeatedly rejects all forms of redemption, claiming that ''Luna'' is the evil one and that she does no wrong. ''The Return of Tambelon'' and evidence gathered from ''An Early Reunion'' show at bare minimum ''why'' she feels that Luna is evil (aside from her being crazy). [[spoiler: Luna, in order to defeat Corona, committed certain dark rituals, stealing dark power from Tirek and implanting it into a copy she split from herself. This made an ersatz version of Nightmare Moon to fight Corona, which made Corona think that Luna did those dark things to herself (instead of the Copy). In reality, during the fight, Luna hit both Nightmare and Corona with the Elements of Harmony, cleansing the copy and sealing Corona in the sun. The copy became Cadence.]]

* XanatosGambit: Duke Greengrass has a penchant of these. A good example is his plan to spread the story that Octavia Philharmonica is playing the Symphony for Moon and Sun for Luna. If she refuses to play, she's snubs the princess, she's ruined, and Greengrass has punished her for her betrayal. If she plays and, like everypony else who tried, doesn't play the piece to Luna's standards, Luna ruins her career, and Greengrass has punished her. And finally, if she plays the piece successfully, Greengrass reveals that she had done work for him in the past and spreads the rumor that he made it possible for her to play the piece and get what she wanted, and Greengrass then gets a bunch of servants with big dreams offering to sell him their master's secrets if he'll help them in a similar way. No matter what happens, Greengrass profits.
** And when another villain mis-guesses his plan and hires thugs to stop her from reaching the concert, Greengrass laughs his flank off since he ''still'' wins in either case. He takes no action to stop the interference and then blackmails the perpetrator in the aftermath.

* ActionMom: Ditzy Doo, full stop. Most of why she wants to stop Corona is that the [[AGodAmI Tyrant Sun]] kidnapped Dinky.

** The Sirens (not ''those'' Sirens), who are surprisingly good conversationalists. Well, two of them, anyway. The third was just hungry.

* AlternateUniverse: The series itself, of course.
** Two stories by RDD, ''In the Heat of the Moment'' and ''I'll See You Soon'', themselves take place in a slightly-alternate universe from the Lunaverse, nicknamed "the Sexyverse". Events still play out mostly the same, but everyone is a lot more promiscuous.

* BatmanGambit: Whatever Trixie's plan in ''[=AtGGG=]'' is, it seemed to rely at least partially on predicting the moves of [[spoiler:Zizanie]] based on what she knew of [[spoiler:her]]. [[spoiler:Turns out that Trixie's plan was to get Zizanie caught because she knew that Luna would then speak to Zizanie and convince Zizanie to make a plea bargain with Luna, telling Luna everything about the corruption of the Night Court - which leads to Luna chewing them out epically in Chapter 13.]]
* BearsAreBadNews:
** Ursas are just as dangerous in the Lunaverse as in the main universe, as chapter 3 of ''Boast Busted'' shows.
** In ''Crisis'', we actually see what happens when an [[spoiler: Ursa ''Major'' gets let loose]].

** And calling Lyra's lyre a harp.
*** She didn't handle Pinkie stealing it in ''Ill Communication,'' either, saying that "She'll only break ''one'' of [Pinkie's] legs if she puts down the lyre ''immediately.''"

** All instances of RDD using a language other than English.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Ocellus and the Sirens have a case of this. While both are sentient, and are able to speak with ponies and interact with them meaningfully, they're both predators at their core. As such, the biggest problems they have with [[ImAHumanitarian eating people]] is not that it's morally wrong, but that it might mean that the prey might gang up on them. That being said, Ocellus is still nicer than the usual Changeling, and is genuinely friends with Snails, valuing his advice and acknowledging him as a friend.
* BodyHorror: Shades of this in ''Helping...Hands?'', with Lyra's transformation into a human.

** During ''Crisis On Two Equestrias'', Trixie accidentally does this to the canon versions of the Luna-6 under the belief that Corona has done this to everypony in Ponyville.
* BreakingLecture: The final antagonist of "The Hero of Oaton" tries to give on, but it fails partly because EvilCannotComprehendGood, and partly because everyone's trying ''really hard'' to ignore it.

* ConMan:
** Flim and Flam.
** Stringer, one of the 'musicians' who tried to play the ''Symphony for Moon and Sun''.
** Moonlit Night, in a sense.
** Trixie can be this when she tries hard enough.
** And Duke Greengrass himself has been known to run the odd con.

** Played with. While Luna isn't evil, as we the audience know, InUniverse the ponies were and continue to harbour their own suspicions of her.
** [[spoiler:Tirek in ''The Return of Tambelon'' is described as a being of pure darkness and evil.]]
* DarkIsNotEvil: On the other hoof, on realizing that Corona was returning, Luna’s first action was to try and get everypony in Ponyville to flee to safety.

* DeconstructionFic: The first few chapters of ''Longest Night, Longest Day'' come across as this for five of the original Mane-6. The author uses the very different viewpoint of Trixie (as compared to Twilight Sparkle) to reexamine the behaviour and personality of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and to a lesser extent Fluttershy and Rarity. The results find them in a somewhat less than sympathetic light.
** Applejack retains her concern that the Apple Family/Trust might collapse practically at any minute, although with its size and virtual monopoly on apples throughout Equestria getting more focus than in canon we can see how she's really just a [[MythologyGag silly pony]] for having such an attitude.
*** Applejack cannot see this because she honestly believes that her hard work is the only thing standing between Ponyville and famine no matter what her account books or Granny Smith might tell her. The source of this belief (in her case, a distorted version of the Trust's founding) is unimportant; the end result of her driving away anypony foolhardy enough to tell her that the weight of the world isn't actually on her shoulders is.
** Rainbow Dash's laziness and heedless nature are somewhat more apparent, and her loyal nature has been re-focused solely on Fluttershy, such that she's willing to leave Ponyville hanging in order to hang out with her, even if it appears to be more out of concern for Fluttershy rather than just a desire to slack off.
*** ''Carrot Top of the Line'' reveals that Rainbow has been looking after Fluttershy ever since they were fillies. When Fluttershy moved away from Cloudsdale, her father arranged for Rainbow to get the Ponyville weather manager job so the two could stay close.
** Pinkie Pie is still basically Pinkie Pie, but Trixie (and Lyra, for that matter) are less than enthused at her constantly hyper-active nature - the hyperactive GenkiGirl party animal is exactly as annoying as she would be in RealLife.
*** Most of what seems to be wrong with her is that unlike her counterpart in Celestia's world, this version wants to make people happy without bothering to learn what makes them happy.
*** In ''Ill Communication'' we learn that growing up her family hardly spoke so she ended up speaking to anything or nothing, so she grew up not knowing how to deal with real ponies who could talk back....she gets better by the end of the fic though.
** Without her canon friends to pull her out of her shell, Fluttershy is an utter introvert, to the point of only having regular contact with three other ponies, Rainbow Dash, Ditzy Doo, and Dinky.
*** According to ''Carrot Top of the Line'', her parents are a Cloudsdale weather magnate and a member of Luna's Night Court. She didn't want to go into the family business, so she changed her name and moved to Ponyville with their financial support.
** Rarity is, like Pinkie Pie, still basically just Rarity, but she did not make a good first impression on Trixie [[spoiler: and paid for it later, albeit unfairly]].
*** As of ''Carrot Top of the Line'' it appears her generosity hides a much more self-interested goal of obtaining favors from others. According to RDD, she isn't a ''bad'' pony, just a little more self-interested than her normal self, and [[OutOfFocus Rarity's skill set and interests don't really match up to the main cast's at all unless they're in opposition to one another,]] so we tend to see her in a more negative light.
** ''Boast Busted'' shows us a much different Twilight. All the [[SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining devotion that originally went to Celestia now goes into studying magic]], to the point where it is how she spends every hour of every day. Her diary is little more than an impersonal record of her studies. Without Spike or the rest of her canon friends to moderate, she's [[InsufferableGenius noticeably more arrogant]], has [[NoSocialSkills even less social skills]], and she [[SelectiveObliviousness doesn't have the sense]] God gave a mule.

** ''Crisis on Two Equestrias'' also [[spoiler: deconstructs Twilight's Transferable Memory spells to restore her friends, by portraying Trixie's use of it (On ponies that never were her friends in ''this'' universe) as disturbing borderline MindRape, asking the question: "What happens if this is used on the wrong ponies?"]]
*** [[spoiler: Although, in Trixie's defense, she is unaware that she's been transported to another universe, and instead believes that she is still in her own universe and that either Twilight or Corona has done something to Ponyville, and again, to be fair, spells making everyone act out of character ''have'' happened in the Lunaverse before (such as "Foalish Misadventures"). In other words, from Trixie's perspective, she's fixing things.]]

** Averted with most other villains, who seem to teleport or run away after being defeated. [=RainbowDoubleDash=] lampshaded this with an omake ending to "Family Matters" where Sparkler announces that she's teleporting away so that "[she] doesn't have to have character growth," after stealing the cake. AndThatsTerrible.
** "Ling From Another World," plays this straight, but combines it with BecauseYouWereNiceToMe. Snails goes back and finds the Changeling they beat, and feeds her love, since his AnimalEmpathy told him she was just hungry. It works, and she becomes Snails' friend.

* DownerEnding: By the end of ''Boast Busted'', Twilight has rendered herself Pony Non Grata in Ponyville and becomes a fugitive. Trixie's attempt to make amends by opening up to her just gets twisted around to fuel the other's obssession with proving she's not a suitable Bearer of Magic. And Shining Armor learns Twilie's gotten herself into a situation her BBBFF can't fix. Bittersweet at best, this at worst.
** As of the season finale, "Foalish Misadventures" is revealed to have one. The town is destroyed, and there's no ResetButton to fix it.

* DramaticIrony: A major part of "An Early Reunion" is that while the readers know Cadence isn't Celestia, she doesn't. [[spoiler:And a big reveal later on in the story is that Luna knows exactly who she is.]]

* EvenTheGuysWantHim: According to the non-canon story "I'll See you Soon," Bon Bon accuses Lyra of staring at Big Macintosh. Lyra remarks that ''everyone'' stares at Big Macintosh. Bon Bon has no choice but to admit it's true while sighing dreamily - and keep in mind that this version of Bon Bon is [[SingleTargetSexuality Lyrasexual.]]
* EveryoneHasStandards: In a bit of a NoodleIncident, in ''Tales of Ponyville,'' Lyra remembers an argument she had with Bon Bon about what "green" tasted like, that resulted in them dragging other ponies into it and only stopping when ''Pinkie'' thought that they were being weird.

* {{Greed}}: Corona's primary motivation, contrasting to canon Nightmare Moon's [[GreenEyedMonster Envy]]

** She has a fair bit of {{Pride}} and [[UnstoppableRage Wrath]], too.
*** During her defeat, it's also implied that Sloth, in the original form of a DespairEventHorizon is what finally pushed her over the edge. As the Lunaverse has progressed, this has since become her primary motivation.

--> “Ah have a duty ta make sure that nopony starves in Ponyvile. Ah’m gonna do whatever it takes ta fulfill that duty. Ah don’t… it don’t matter if they hate ma. Ah can take it. Someday, they’ll need ma’.”

* {{Hypocrite}}: Corona does this subtly, with some fridge brilliance on the side. She thinks that the dragon belief that "the more syllables a name has, the more powerful the owner of the name is" is stupid and pointless. She also insists that she be called Celestia instead of Corona. Guess which one has more syllables?
** To be fair to Corona, though, Celestia is her actual name, with Corona being a name invented by others and applied to her, after she was banished. [[spoiler:She also hopes, in her own insane way, to one day mend things with Luna enough that Luna will call her "Tia" again.]]

* InnocenceLost: Celestia becoming Corona effectively served as this for ''all of Equestria''; while Luna seemed mysterious and dark enough that her turning on them wouldn't have been as big a surprise, having [[TheHighQueen The High Princess]] [[LightIsNotGood of the Sun]] go cuckoo banana nutzoid on them taught their subjects that ''anypony'' could betray you. While this hasn't bumped Equestria ''too'' far on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, ponies are generally more willing to accept that somepony might turn on you to suit their own ends...
** The end result is that while canon Equestria is very much black-and-white in terms of morality, the Lunaverse has many shades of grey.
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: [[spoiler:Played with. In ''Helping Hands,'' Lyra is accidentally transformed into a strange, bipedal, fur-less mammal that nopony can identify. RDD explicitly identifies her as having been turned into a human, and a naked one at that (the spell did not create clothes). However, as ponies are usually naked anyway, nopony seeing Lyra, nor Lyra herself, make anything out of her nudity beyond the difficulties it causes in staying warm, and RDD keeps describing Lyra in pony terms, i.e., referring to her arms as "forelegs," her torso as a "barrel," Lyra not knowing whether she has hands or paws, etc.]]

* InSpiteOfANail: Pointed out in ''Crisis on Two Equestria'', despite the vast differences between Cannon!Equestria and the Lunaverse version, the same ponies still exist in both universes. M!Twilight has a momentary freak-out about this, before Spike interrupts.

* ItsAllAboutMe:
** Corona seems fully convinced that everyone's distrust and fear of her is due to lies spread by Luna rather than anything she might have done. It's kind of bizarre. She kidnaps ponies to ensure loyalty, thereby demonstrating that she knows the effect it has on others, yet she expects ponies to love her regardless. Perhaps she was hoping Stockholm Syndrome would take.
** During most of ''Carrot Top Season'', Applejack is convinced that Carrot Top is participating in the contest solely to hurt her and her family. She refuses to consider that Carrot Top might ''need'' the money to fix up her own farm - all she's concerned about is how this may harm Sweet Apple Acres.
-->“Carrot Top, think fer a minute!” Applejack looked flustered. “All this is gonna do is take down both of us! Dang it, ah don’t know if ya've got some vendetta ‘gainst ma or what, but this ain’t worth it!”\\
''It’s not about you!'' thought Carrot Top.\\

“No! No, of course not!” Applejack shook her head. “Ya just bet yar farm ta try ta beat ma. Carrot Top, did ah do somethin’ ta make ya mad? Is this a grudge?”

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Trixie, who is a slightly InsufferableGenius with AlphaBitch tendencies, but honestly cares about her friends and is honest about what she actually is. That, and she doesn't bully people so much as [[DeadpanSnarker get lippy]] with them.
** ''Helping Hands'' shows that Trixie is afraid of, but resigned to the possibility that she probably will, eventually drive away her friends. In ''Tales of Ponyville'', she recounts exactly how many past friends she's driven off.

* KillItWithFire: The bad guys of "Nightmares Yet to Come" has a love of it. They burn down a theatre in Canterlot, and Greengrass' garden at his private estate, and it's heavily implied they did this to [[spoiler:Vicerein Puissance, some years before the story began.]]
* KingIncognito: Luna likes doing this when she needs a little stress relief. She split herself in three and disguised as normal ponies during "Longest Night, Longest Day," and likes to visit a cheese store in Canterlot in disguise. It's very strongly implied that in the non-canon "Pinkie and Bluie Tooie," that she was attending the foals' presentation of the Hearthswarming Play by Pinkie herself.

** Corona, of course.

--> “None of the Trust teams had any friends of supporters come with – didn’t you notice? I don’t think Applejack’s the only Trust farmer who’s completely isolated on her farm. I’d rather have my friends than a pile of bits and nopony to care about me.”

* MaliciousSlander: One of the many reasons why Night Light didn't want to see Trixie in ''At The Grand Galloping Gala'' is that one of Greengrass's friends published an article in one of the nation's leading papers that stated that she called him a failure as a parent. The first she heard of any such article was when Shining Armor interrogated her.

* MindRape: In a possible deconstruction of both times that[[spoiler: Twilight has made her friends remember their real lives, Trixie giving the Mane Universe versions of her friends memories of their lives in the Lunaverse seems to be played up as this.]]
** [[spoiler:However, it is important to note that Trixie was under the impression that her friends had themselves been {{mind rape}}d, and she believed that she was fixing things.]]
* MoodWhiplash: The last chapter of ''Past Remnants'' has The Watcher [[spoiler:learning Discord has gotten loose in an especially painful fashion.]]

** The Apples (well, some of them) have this about their monopoly. Applejack at least seems genuinely clueless about why it's a bad thing and appears convinced that they couldn't survive without it, but Applebloom is decidedly hostile whenever someone brings it up. Granny is decidedly more reasonable about the whole thing.

* MoralityChain: Explored. Without friends to keep them in line, Rainbow Dash and [[spoiler: Twilight]] are much less personable than in canon. Becomes a DeconstructedTrope for Rainbow Dash - she may care about Fluttershy, but fails to extend it to anyone else.
** In ''Tales of Ponyville'', she is developing a friendship with Carrot Top that may include this. Carrot Top points out that creating a sudden rainstorm that ruins everypony's plans just to make it easier for Fluttershy to reach the spa is not a nice move.

** Corona is incapable of connecting her being a power-hungry maniac with the fear she instills in the ponies of the Lunaverse. [[spoiler:Until Tambelon, at least.]]

* NotSoDifferent: Comparing their own actions to those of the Tyrant Sun and finding no substantive difference between them has made Ditzy and the other members of the Luna Six finally realize that Corona isn't a monster as they've been raised to believe. She's something far scarier and a damned sight more heartbreaking: A MamaBear [[UpToEleven with the power of a god]].
** On a more friendly level, Ocellus gets along well with the Sirens because they both are people, they just have overwhelming hunger issues that make them target other living things. They're able to use that as a basis for communication and even partnership- at one point she gets them a boar to eat, and in exchange she can eat some of their emotions. She even negotiates that the Sirens will stay away from Ponyville, as that's "her hunting ground."

* ParanoiaFuel: [[InvokedTrope Invoked.]] During "Family Matters"/"Helping... Hands?" Trixie has to sneak into Fluttershy's house to get some chicken feathers, and admits as much to Ditzy. Ditzy briefly considers telling Fluttershy... before thinking it over and realizing that the stress of an invisible pony who could sneak into your house at any time would probably kill the poor dear.

** Trixie has a spell that lets whoever she casts it on perfectly remember anything they're looking at for twenty-four hours.
*** Said photographic memory spell shows up in "The Glass Kingdom", where Trixie uses it to memorize some Zaldian phrases. Problem is, using them convinces Zaldians she's more knowledgeable about their language than she actually is (which is to say, not remotely).

** Applejack's paranoia pays off in the early chapters of ''At The Grand Galloping Gala'', when Zecora's curse destroys most of the town's crops, and only the Apple Trust's food stores can keep the town fed. Ivory Scroll even tells Applejack that she should feel free to say "I told you so".
*** This trope is actually a large part of Applejack's motivation- she works so hard because she got an incorrect version of the origin of the Apple Trust, so her goal is to make sure that no one in Equestria starves if something bad happens.

** Corona repeatedly rejects all forms of redemption, claiming that ''Luna'' is the evil one and that she does no wrong.
*** ''The Return Of Tambelon'' and evidence gathered from ''An Early Reunion'' show at bare minimum ''why'' she feels that Luna is evil (aside from her being crazy). [[spoiler: Luna, in order to defeat Corona, committed certain dark rituals, stealing dark power from Tirek and implanting it into a copy she split from herself. This made an ersatz version of Nightmare Moon to fight Corona, which made Corona think that Luna did those dark things to herself (instead of the Copy). In reality, during the fight, Luna hit both Nightmare and Corona with the Elements of Harmony, cleansing the copy and sealing Corona in the sun. The copy became Cadence.]]

** A much more minor example- Pipsqueak is ''really'' good at playing on the jungle gym, as he spent a year with his father on a sailing ship and learned how to maneuver on rigging and ropes.
* ResetButton: ''Harshly'' averted. In "Foalish Misadventures," the adults all got drunk and destroyed the town as the result of a curse. The next story in the series, "At The Grand Galloping Gala," shows that things are ''still'' destroyed, and the town doesn't have nearly enough money to fix the damages (both from the previous story, and from the Ursa Attack in "Boast Busted," Philomena's earlier attack, and numerous other incidents), which could shut down many of the businesses and force the ponies to start rationing food and water.
** And at the start of season two, Twilight notes all the construction going on to repair said damage, indicating that things are ''still'' a mess (though getting better, and it's somewhat implied that due to her emotional state she may be seeing things worse than they actually are).

** Corona's offer to the salamanders at the end of ''Through Fire and Flames'': [[spoiler:Either they can serve her, or she lets Solrath do what he likes with them. They go with the former.]]

* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem:
** Dash's attitude as weather captain.
** ''At the Grand Galloping Gala'' reveals that Luna doesn't want to go down this path.

** [[spoiler:Tirek is sealed away in Tartarus. And in fact, he ''really'' doesn't want to leave.]]

* ShoutOut: [[BlatantLies A few.]]
** When [[spoiler:drunk]], Trixie starts to quote [[spoiler:Londo Mollari from Series/BabylonFive]]. [=RainbowDoubleDash=] is a huge fan of the series.
** Trixie's [[spoiler:and Twilight's]] favorite novel is Don Rocinante of Equestria, an obvious shout-out to Don Quixote.
*** In ''Longest Night, Longest Day'', to keep herself amused, Trixie sings a few lines of "I, Don Quixote," slightly modified to fit into Equestria (i.e., "I am Don Rocinante" rather than "I am I, Don Quixote").

** In ''Carrot Top of the Line'': "[[Franchise/StarWars Help me Rainbow Dash, you're my only hope!]]"
*** And the same reference in ''Helping...Hands?'', only this time Trixie to Lyra.
** In "Helping… Hands?", Trixie won't be banished. More like chewed out. [[Film/InglouriousBasterds She has been chewed out before.]]

--> ''Hey, does this mean I’m helping sell [[WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill apples and apple acc... access... accessthingies]]? Yay! I’m helping my sister! And I should check with Miss Cheerilee what that word is again.''

* VillainExitStageLeft: [[spoiler: Corona, with the help of Zecora.]]
** [[spoiler:Grey Hoof, in Dinky and the Blanks]].

** [[spoiler:Octavia, in her first appearance]].
** [[spoiler:Twilight, in her first appearance... and continues until she turns herself in after ''Crisis''.]]
** Lampshaded by the author in an omake where Sparkler runs away so "She doesn't have to have character growth."

** In ''Carrot Top Season'', Applejack considers selling (not giving; ''selling'') apples to farmers going through a bad harvest, so they can survive the winter, a grand gesture of generosity worthy of respect and favors in return. She even points out that she could have just looked away and let them starve (or lose their livelihoods), and seems to have no idea at all how ''callous'' this makes her sound. This backfires ''spectacularly'' when she mentions how Berry would have gone out of business without her cider, unfortunately implying that if Berry wants to stay in business, she'll stop supporting Carrot Top. This leads to nearly all businesses in Ponyville boycotting Sweet Apple Acre's produce.
** Corona also seems to act shocked that Ditzy was offended that she took Dinky hostage, even though Corona kept her word and none of the hostages were harmed.

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Pegasuses as a race tend to get twitchy underground. Some of them are more capable of dealing with it than others.