RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse

"“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest sister used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects: all the different types of ponies."

"“But as time went on, the elder sister grew greedy. Though the ponies relished and played in the day and honored her above her younger sister, she wanted to become queen of both night and day. One fateful day, she turned upon her younger sister. The younger sister tried to reason with her, but the avarice in the elder one’s heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of fire and hate: Corona. She vowed that she would reign forever over day, night, and everything in between."

"“Reluctantly, the younger sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony! Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her elder sister and banished her permanently into the heart of the sun. The younger sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon, and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.”"

"-- Series introduction: A world that hates the sun"

The Lunaverse, originally by RainbowDoubleDash is a series of Alternate Universe fics of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic.

On the surface, it is a Bizarro Universe: Celestia grew power-hungry and had to be sealed away by Luna. When she returns, it is up to Trixie and an alternate Mane Six (made up of the regular series background ponies Raindrops, Lyra Heartstrings, Carrot Top, Ditzy Doo [better known as but not in this universe called Derpy Hooves], and side-character Cheerilee) to stop her. However, things are not so straightforward, with many other divergences that make this more complex than that. Furthermore, just as the canon did not end with the defeat of Nightmare Moon, there are other stories to be told beyond Corona's defeat.

Rainbow Double Dash has opened up the Lunaverse to any author who wants to write in it, and the Shared Universe is constantly expanding.

Boast Busted, the original release, is a retelling of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic as it occurred in the Lunaverse. Trixie's performance during the Eventime festival, the celebration of the spring equinox, is interrupted by a certain purple unicorn who doesn't think Trixie is doing real magic and wants to show her what magic is really all about. It is complete.

Longest Night, Longest Day is a rendition of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic and My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, telling of Trixie's initial arrival in Ponyville, her gathering of the Lunaverse's Mane Six and their defeat of the Tyrant Sun Corona. It is complete.

Family Matters is the first wholly original Lunaverse story. Taking place after Longest Night, Longest Day but before Boast Busters, it is also the first story to center on a side-character rather than one of the new Elements of Harmony; in this case, the main character is Dinky Doo, and the story is about Dinky's attempts to buy a birthday present for her mother and her first meeting with her half-sister, Amethyst Star ("Sparkler"). It is in progress.

The Night After, by Blackbelt, is the first story set in the Lunaverse not by Rainbow Double Dash. It takes place after Longest Night, Longest Day. Trixie's house has been destroyed by rioting ponies, so now she must seek out the help of her friends to find a place to stay until her place can be fixed. Hilarity ensues. It is complete.

File Under 'I' For 'Impossible', by Fizzy Orange. Trixie greatly underestimated the amount of paperwork expected from a Representative of the Night Court of Luna. At Lyra's suggestion she decides to hire an assistant to help her out around the office. She puts up ads all over town and gets ready to receive interviewees. What could possibly go wrong? It is complete.

Ill Communication, by RK_Striker_JK_5. Trixie finds Pinkie Pie irritating... at best, but when a parasprite finds its way into Ponyville and begins multiplying, she and the Luna Six need her help to contain the plague before it gets out of control... or more out of control than it already is. It is in progress.

Griffin Over the Line, by Emeral Bookwise. Ever since Gilda the griffin came to town Rainbow Dash has been slacking off from her weather duties even more than usual. Worse still, the pair are practically terrorizing the townsfolk with recklessly inconsiderate pranks. Raindrops tries to take this all in stride, but when one prank goes too far, the temperamental pegasus takes it into her own hooves to teach the pair a lesson. It is in progress.

Carrot Top of the Line, by Fizzy Orange. Angel has been stealing Carrot Top's crops for a few days now, something he never did before. Worried about this turn of event, the farmer decides to have a talk with Fluttershy. This is easier said than done. With Ditzy and Dinky out of town, Carrot Top will need the help of Rainbow Dash to confront the shy recluse. When Rainbow Dash initially refuses, Carrot Top must push herself to be more assertive and get to the bottom of this story. It is in progress.

Other stories have been planned (by multiple other authors as well as Rainbow Double Dash), including an eventual Crisis Crossover with the canon universe.

This fanfiction series contains examples of the following:

 * Action Mom: Ditzy Doo, full stop. Most of why she wants to stop Corona is that the Tyrant Sun kidnapped Dinky.
 * Affably Evil:

""I am Celestia, foal! I am the Sun! I am thy Queen! Thou hast no right to bar me from assuming my throne! It is mine! Equestria is mine! All of it! Mine!""
 * A God Am I: Not only is Corona a self-absorbed creep with an allergy to taking responsibility for her actions, she's a theatrical lunatic who wants to set herself up as God Empress of Applebucking Everything.
 * Anachronic Order: The first story in The Verse, Boast Busted takes place after the events of later fics, with some hints being dropped as to the resolution of Longest Night Longest Day.
 * Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever:
 * Berserk Button: Calling Trixie by her Embarrassing Middle Name.
 * And calling Lyra's lyre a harp.
 * And doing anything that Corona doesn't like (such as calling her Corona).
 * Mentioning Ditzy Doo to Amethyst Star.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy:
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: The explanation given for why Rainbow Dash is given so much leeway to goof around - she is just that good at her work when she bothers to.
 * Curb Stomp Battle:
 * Dark Is Evil: Played with. While Luna isn't evil, as we the audience know, In-Universe the ponies were and continue to harbour their own suspicions of her.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: 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.
 * Darker and Edgier: As compared to the actual cartoon, anyway (which after all is targeted at 5-12-year-olds), though all the stories published so far still manage to remain within their "Everyone" ratings on Fim Fiction.
 * Deadly Decadent Court: The Night Court is said to be one, but we have yet to see them in action.
 * Deconstruction Fic: 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 a silly pony for having such an attitude;
 * 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;
 * 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 Genki Girl party animal is exactly as annoying as she would be in Real Life;
 * 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 two other ponies, Rainbow Dash and Ditzy Doo;
 * Rarity is, like Pinkie Pie, still basically just Rarity, but she did not make a good first impression on Trixie
 * Boast Busted shows us a much different Twilight.
 * Determinator: What Pokey Pierce is hinted at being at the end of 'File Under "I" for "Impossible'.
 * "I won't stop until I've pierced the heavens themselves!"
 * Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Cherrilee earns her stripes by making a Country Matters joke when Corona complained about her undereducated tongue.
 * Everything's Worse With Ursas: Ursas are just as dangerous in the Lunaverse as in the main universe, as chapter 3 of Boast Busted shows.
 * Evil Is Hammy/Large Ham: Corona spends an awful lot of her time chewing the scenery and proclaiming how awesome she is in as loud a voice as possible. In early-modern English.
 * Expy: Word of God has stated that Corona's characterisation draws inspiration from pre-Badass Decay Lord Zedd.
 * Fandom Nod: Boast Busted twice hints that Lyra's hooves were turned into...something, which is always cut off before the speaker can finish. Those who are familiar with Lyra's fanon characterization can probably guess what that something is.
 * Fantastic Nuke: Corona keeps thinking about dropping solar flares on those who offend her.
 * Full-Name Basis: Rainbow Dash, Ditzy Doo, Dinky Doo, Carrot Top, and Pinkie Pie are normally referred to by their full names by both the narrative and the characters, while most other characters with two names are instead only referred to by their first names. Justified in the case of Trixie, she hates her last name and demands that nopony use it, ever.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Corona has them.
 * They also serve as a metaphor: Corona is blind to the monster that she has become. Word of God is that this was initially unintentional (Corona's appearance is based off of this picture), but has since been labeled as Happy Coincidence #1.
 * God Save Us From the Queen: Corona, of course.
 * Gratuitous French:
 * Also:
 * Greed: Corona's primary motivation, contrasting to canon Nightmare Moon's Envy
 * God Save Us From the Queen: Corona, of course.
 * Gratuitous French:
 * Also:
 * Greed: Corona's primary motivation, contrasting to canon Nightmare Moon's Envy


 * She has a fair bit of Pride and Wrath, too.
 * During her defeat, it's also implied that is what finally pushed her over the edge.
 * 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, possibly after she was banished.
 * I Gave My Word: Despite her general depravity/insanity, Corona does seem to be making a special effort to keep her hostages safe.
 * Also, Raindrops keeps her promises.
 * I Have Your Wife: Corona takes quite a few ponies hostage.
 * The Immodest Orgasm: Bon Bon in The Night After. Oh so much
 * I'm Not Here to Make Friends: Twilight, who was expecting to find a powerful spell caster to learn from, simply cannot believe that friendship is what makes a run-of-the-mill unicorn like Trixie the Element of Magic.
 * In Vino Veritas: Trixie becomes significantly more personable after a few drinks.
 * Invisibility: The spell Trixie has demonstrated most turns her invisible, which she has used several times to either sneak around or avoid danger.
 * It's All About Me: 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.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Trixie, who is a slightly Insufferable Genius with Alpha Bitch 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 get lippy with them.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Gilda, full stop. The difference is that without Pinkie Pie to show Rainbow Dash what a cretin her old pal is, RD is about to get a gentle talking-to (pronounced "COM-pre-hen-sive BEAT-down") from Raindrops for nearly destroying Carrot Top's farm.
 * Karma Houdini:
 * Rainbow Double Dash has joked that this is how all of his stories are going to end. He's probably not serious.
 * Last Second Chance:
 * Light Is Not Good: Corona, of course.
 * Master of Illusion: Trixie's talent, which is part of the reason Twilight (who's far more interested in the practical side of things) heckles her.
 * Mega Corp: The Apples are this, insofar as they are considered Mega by Equestrian standards.
 * Mighty Glacier: Raindrops is strong even by the average earth pony's standard, but her speed and agility are bad even by the average pegasus's standard, to say nothing of prodigies like Dash.
 * Moral Myopia: The Apples 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.
 * Morality Chain: Explored. Without friends to keep them in line, Rainbow and  are much less personable than in canon. Becomes a Deconstructed Trope for Rainbow - she may care about Fluttershy, but fails to extend it to anyone else.
 * Motive Rant:  Corona tells Luna that she had to take over because ponies aren't strong enough to destroy real threats....despite six of them shutting her down fairly easily.
 * To be fair, Corona is still of the firm opinion that she is not a threat.
 * My Greatest Failure: The reason that Ditzy didn't think that she was qualified to be the Element of Kindness was due to her affair with Castor Cut.
 * Never My Fault: Corona seems to be incapable of connecting her being a power-hungry maniac with the fear she instills in the ponies of the Lunaverse.
 * Mythology Gag: Rarity's whining is still very impressive.
 * Obvious Judas: In retrospect, the suspicion  actions earn is well-deserved, though the jury is still out on.
 * Physical God: According to the author, alicorns like Celestia/Corona and Luna are basically these, and you can substitute the word "god" whenever you see the word "alicorn" in his stories.
 * Power Floats: Corona stops bothering to flap her wings after a while, using pure magical power to keep herself in the air.
 * Punctuated for Emphasis: From Bon Bon in Griffin Over the Line.
 * Rapunzel Hair:
 * Reassigned to Antarctica: What Trixie is led to think being sent to Ponyville is after blowing a hole in Canterlot tower. The truth is a tad more complex.
 * Screw the Rules, I Make Them: Dash's attitude as weather captain.
 * Selective Obliviousness: Applejack seems to be willing herself to not see that her concerns about the imminent collapse of the Apple Trust are so much hot air; this is because she doesn't want to admit that her beloved family are engaged in the sort of bully-colt tactics that delight Apple Bloom.
 * Shared Universe: Rainbow Double Dash has expressed that it is his intention to turn the Lunaverse into this and has extended an open invitation to other authors to write their own stories for it. With the publication of The Night After, by author Blackbelt, it has officially achieved this status.
 * Shout-Out: A few.
 * When, Trixie starts to quote
 * Trixie'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").
 * 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 Cupcakes.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: Cheerilee earns the Element of Laughter by ridiculing Corona and swearing that if she's gotta go down, she's gonna do it making the ponies see what a sordid joke the Tyrant Sun really is.
 * Spirit Bomb:
 * Start of Darkness: It's implied that Celestia lost her shit and became Corona because she couldn't handle the stresses that come from ruling a country in a universe where everything wants to wreck it.
 * Sympathy for the Devil: 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 Mythology Gag in there.
 * Terrible Interviewees Montage: The first chapter of File Under... is basically this.
 * Theory Tunnelvision: Twilight simply cannot and will not believe that Trixie's friendship with the other members of the Lunaverse Six is what helped her chase Corona away.
 * Too Dumb to Fool: Ditzy in Griffin over the Line.
 * Given that she smiled after she watched the two pranksters slump off in defeat, we might be her way of dealing with abrasive twits who thrive on antagonizing their fellows.
 * Took a Level In Badass:
 * Unknown Rival: Carrot Top to the Apples.
 * Villain Exit Stage Left:
 * Villainous Breakdown:
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: When Corona started out, she simply wanted to protect the mortals from threats she felt beyond their ken. The problem is that she simply buckled under the strain.
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity:
 * Word of God: The author tends to include short commentaries after each chapter, which often contain various additional bits of information that explain or expand things brought up in the chapter. For example, after Chapter 9 of Longest Night, Longest Day, he included a hierarchy of noble ranks in Equestria and rough guide to early-modern English verbs.
 * Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Corona, having been in exile for a thousand years, makes heavy use of early-modern English words and phrases, like "thy" and "hast" (not unlike Luna in Luna Eclipsed). Partially averted in that the author is actively trying to make it as accurate as possible rather than just adding "-th" to the end of random words, although he admits to not being very good at it.
 * Your Cheating Heart: 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.
 * Word of God: The author tends to include short commentaries after each chapter, which often contain various additional bits of information that explain or expand things brought up in the chapter. For example, after Chapter 9 of Longest Night, Longest Day, he included a hierarchy of noble ranks in Equestria and rough guide to early-modern English verbs.
 * Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Corona, having been in exile for a thousand years, makes heavy use of early-modern English words and phrases, like "thy" and "hast" (not unlike Luna in Luna Eclipsed). Partially averted in that the author is actively trying to make it as accurate as possible rather than just adding "-th" to the end of random words, although he admits to not being very good at it.
 * Your Cheating Heart: 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.