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Fanfic: Elementalsof Harmony
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Ditzy Doo. Or, if you prefer, Derpy Hooves. A happy-go-lucky, muffin-loving mare with hardly a care in the world. Right? Well, that was until massive amounts of mana start gathering around the homes of the Elements of Harmony. Now Ditzy's the one pony who even knows that there is a problem, much less how to go about solving it. The bad news is that it's going to be next to impossible to get anypony else to listen to her. The good news? She has considerably more leverage in the situation than you might think. After all, she's a Planeswalker. A crossover of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Magic: The Gathering by FanOfMostEverything. Currently complete, with two Sequel Series in progress. The first, Sideboard of Harmony, is a collection of drabbles. The second, My Little Praetor: Phthisis is Magic, is about the Phyrexian invasion of Ungula (the ponies' plane). The story can be found here , the Sideboard here, and My Little Praetor here. open/close all folders Elementals of Harmony - Action Mom: Ditzy is already a planeswalker with years of experience in magical combat. When she hears her daughter in pain, the only reason she doesn't go supersonic is that her destination got in the way.
- Adaptational Badass: Ditzy, of course.
- Alternative Calendar: The story mostly takes place during the summer of Anno Celesti 5872.
- Anachronic Order: Not only are there flashbacks, the flashbacks aren't even in order. The first ones bookend Ditzy's adventures in the wider Multiverse without giving any details regarding that time.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The laughter elemental hurt Pinkie's friend, clearly didn't care about anypony's feelings, and didn't even applaud after Pinkie's musical number!
- The Assimilator: The generosity elemental. It's not exactly villainous per se, but it definitely wants to give itself to every living thing. And vice versa.
- The Atoner: Both Trixie and her mentor, Luna.
- Aura Vision: Ditzy's unique ability to literally see magic is what gets the plot going in the first place. It also makes going near Twilight's house, where the magic elemental is forming, a really bad idea.
- Badass and Child Duo: Ditzy tries to keep this from happening, but submits to inevitability by the magic elemental.
- Badass Boast: See I Have Many Names below.
- Beam-O-War: The fight with the magic elemental becomes one in its later stages.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Okay, Pinkie's not just an ineffectual Comic Relief character, but the worst she can do is a harmless prank, right? Right?
- Beyond the Impossible: Spike's fire breath apparently burns faster than entropy. The story acknowledges that this shouldn't make sense, but dragonfire, like dragons, is magical enough to make it work regardless.
- Black Mage: In both Lady of Black Magic and Black Magician Girl variations. (Luna and Pinkie Pie, respectively.)
- Break Them By Talking: Magic elemental Twilight to Trixie, without even meaning to. She then tries to apologize for it, making things worse. The guilt for so demoralizing Trixie starts Twilight's own Villainous Breakdown, which means that she also managed to break herself by talking.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Pinkie Pie, of course, to the extent that she does it in her first line of dialogue. (See Medium Awareness)
- She also sings a Gilbert and Sullivan Song Parody that pretty much obliterates the poor thing.
- She also supplies the narration to one of her own fight scenes. Then she fails to dodge a blow that sends her across Ponyville because she's having a conversation with the author. In the narration.
- Pinkie's fourth-wall awareness is justified: She was taught by Commodore Guff, a Magic: the Gathering character who canonically broke it rather frequently.
- In the last chapter, the two of them pause in reading the story to critique the ending. Then they start reading the epilogue.
- The card that follows this exchange? "Fourth Wall Breach"
- Casting a Shadow: Done literally, when Luna uses a spell to turn her shadow into a localized version of the heat death of the universe to destroy the honesty elemental. Comes complete with a creepy Magical Incantation:
The world is a mote of dust circling a tiny spark, floating in an unfathomably vast ocean of nothingness. Light, life, chaos, all of these are lies. Lies of such miniscule consequence that the universe allows them to seem true. But one day, its patience will run out. The spark will gutter. The mote will freeze. All will be as it truly is: Dark, silent, unchanging. For eternity. - Also presented in card form as "Litany of the Void".
- Catapult Nightmare: Rainbow Dash reduces her sheets to a thin mist as she comes out of one.
- The Chains of Commanding: Celestia can't join in on the smiting because somepony's actually got to keep running the country while the others make sure there still is one at the end of the day.
- Chekhov's Armory: Double subverted. With a few exceptions, all that stuff in Ditzy's attic doesn't enter into the story. What does is its sheer quantity, which combined with the Carousel Boutique-turned-Tolarian Academy, allows her to use ungodly amounts of mana.
- Chekhov's Gun: That pretty little bauble that Sweetie Belle's machine made? That'll be important later on. Specifically, it's a Mox Lotus.
- Color-Coded Elements: Literally. Each Element of Harmony is aligned to a specific color of Magic: the Gathering magic, except for Magic, which is attracting all colors of Magic magic. Magically.
- Continuity Nod: The designs for the elementals were decided upon before the show's second season began. However, by the time Pinkie met the laughter elemental in-story, she'd already had an unpleasant experience with constantly laughing balloons in canon. Cue the Aside Comment:
It's a good thing this story takes place before Season Two, or I'd find this a lot more disturbing. - The Courier Capsule Knew You Would Say That: Tezzeret does this to Jace before explaining why it would be a very bad idea not to teach the nice pony blue magic.
- Crisis of Faith: Inverted. Much to Ditzy's distress, it's Celestia who doubts if the pegasus is really a pony.
- Cryptic Background Reference: Numerous. Carrot Top is a potential heiress to a multimillion bit empire. In the last chapter (not counting the epilogue,) Celestia meets with a pair of spymaster ponies who are never seen before or after. And, of course, there's the ETSAB.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Luna, of course. Surprisingly, also applies to Nightmare Moon, now that she's been Harmonized with a capital H.
- Deadpan Snarker: Several, but Flawless Composure, Celestia's personal coltservant, stands out.
Ditzy: Where did you come from? Flawless: Since Madam is a parent, I should scarcely think that such matters would need to be explained to her. - Death by Irony: Each elemental is destroyed by its own element:
- Laughter is annihilated by Pinkie Pie, its own Bearer and a far better comedian.
- Honesty is defeated by a concentrated blast of thermodynamic inevitability.
- Generosity undoes itself with its own better nature: Once it realizes that it is destroying the universe through its very existence, it gives the gift of a future.
- Kindness goes away once it's asked nicely.
- Loyalty dives in front of its own attack to save Rainbow Dash.
- Magic is disempowered through copious use of countermagic, then finished off through her own use of the Elements of Harmony. She doesn't die, though.
- Deceased Parents Are The Best: The flashbacks show that Ditzy grew up in a loving, supportive household. Then her father exploded.
- Downplayed. Ditzy's mother is still alive, but her daughter never made the effort to contact her until after the events of the story.
- Die or Fly: Dinky figures out her special talent less than a second before she gets wiped from existence.
- Dont Think Feel: Ditzy has trouble with this and, by extension, red magic. At least, she does until her daughter gets hurt.
- Double Meaning: Screwball, the avatar of discord, a reference to both a Magic card and the FiM villain in whose episode she appears.
- Edible Bludgeon: Angel's carrot is converted into a holy lance in his Archangel form, as Screwball discovers.
- Eldritch Abomination: Technically, the titular elementals, since their very presence is destabilizing the universe. Some, however, are more eldritch than others.
- Also Screwball, avatar of discord.
- Embarrassing Middle Name: Rainbow Dash's is number four on her all-time list of things she hates. For the record, it's Jennifer.
- En Route Sum Up: Subverted.
Applejack: Is it magic? Pinkie: Well, duh. Anyway— Applejack: Don't care. - Equinoid Abomination: Screwball. Oh, and Twilight the magic elemental.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Ditzy's name may not be Derpy Hooves, but that doesn't keep ponies from calling her that.
- Expy: Scootaloo's father is a fairly obvious pony version of Dirk Strider. He's even named Ollie Outie.
- Faceless Eye: The honesty elemental's single eye occupies the whole face area.
- Fictional Document: In addition to the various works cited in Flavor Text, there's a chapter that is an excerpt from the Planeswalker's Guide to Ungula, an epilogue is made entirely of letters, including a friendship report. and the fanfiction itself. Apparently, there's a printed copy of it in Guff's library.
- Flintstone Theming: It is Equestria, after all. Even the universe as a whole is called Ungula.
- Flowery Elizabethan English: Luna can apparently toggle between normal speech and the TRADITIONAL ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE at will.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Applejack's name for the giant cyclopean apple-creature that can crush houses with every step? Paul. Fluttershy's for the inchworm longer than her house? Eric.
- Footnote Fever: Every chapter ends with a made-up Magic card pertinent to the chapter's events. The chapters of the final battle get a double-feature version, and when the elementals show up, each of them is presented in card form in turn.
- Friend to All Living Things: The kindness elemental, even more than Fluttershy. Not even Angel Bunny can bring himself to harm it.
- Full Name Ultimatum: Delivered to Dinkabeth Sharuum Doo.
- Fun with Acronyms: Luna explains the story's events as an "act of fate," citing the Full Arcane Temporaspacial Enforcement Act.
- Funetik Aksent: The Apple family, with a heapin' helpin' o' 'postrophes.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Averted, several times. Especially by Pinkie, who at times literally fights like a card player.
- Genius Bonus: For a certain value of "genius"*
Namely, knowing a lot of Magic cards . The various crystals on Sweetie's machine are all the Moxen (except for Jack-in-the-Mox): Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Jet, Pearl, Diamond, Opal, and the final slot (into which Ditzy inserts a Black LotusPetal) is made of Chrome. With all that power, no wonder it made a Mox Lotus! - Give Me a Reason: When Ditzy asks where her child is, you don't tell her that she's repeating herself.
- Glowing Eyes: As and after Ditzy uses magic, her eyes glow in the corresponding color. Which can be kind of menacing when she starts casting red.
- Gotta Kill Them All: The plot becomes this once the elementals show up.
- Heel Face Turn: Nightmare Moon still exists in Luna's psyche, but she's as sane and pleasant as her counterpart. And she just loves those adorable little cults of hers.
- Hikikomori: Apparently, Twilight reverts to this when left unattended. She's not happy about it.
- How We Got Here: Most of the flashbacks are in this vein, covering Ditzy's past and detailing exactly how she went from Ascended Meme to Adaptational Badass.
- Humans Through Alien Eyes: In Equestrian fairy tales, humans are the equivalent of The Big Bad Wolf. When Ditzy first meets Tezzeret, she's convinced that he wants to enslave her, stab her, and drink her blood. Trixie faints when Ditzy adopts an illusion that disguises her as a human.
- Hypnotic Eyes: Ditzy uses hers as a pair of HypnoPendulums to get out of an awkward conversation with Rarity.
- I Got Bigger: The honesty elemental starts off the size of an average apple. By the time it's destroyed, it's crushing houses with each step.
- I Have Many Names: "On Ravnica, I am the nameless patron totem of Rauck-Chauv, the Gruul festival of spontaneous vandalism. On Segovia, I am Apocalypse-Given-Flesh, accidental flattener of civilizations. On Kamigawa, I am Piki-Piki, kami of akki poetry and octopus hats. Oona, queen-mother of the faeries of Lorwyn, remembers me as the pony who tried to eat her. Nicol Bolas, elder dragon planeswalker, acknowledges me as the one being who has withstood his touch with sanity unchanged. Emrakul, The Aeons Torn, She of the Six Thousand Tentacles of Annihilation, considers me her therapist...I am Pinkie Pie. I am a planeswalker. And I am on your side."
- Imagine Spot: Chapter 4 opens with a pair of cultists summoning a demon and an Expy of Conan the Barbarian. Turns out it's the Cutie Mark Crusaders playing in the park.
- Incompatible Orientation: Pinkie Pie has a crush on Rainbow Dash, who is straight. Dash herself admits that either she needs to give up and learn to like mares, or find some way to turn down her awesome, as this is evidently a recurring problem for her.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tezzeret (perhaps literally.) He saves an unconscious Ditzy from slow dissolution in the Blind Eternities. Then he shuts off her motor control for a while, restarts her brain as she begins to descend into madness, and uses her as a bargaining chip to further his own personal quest. He then arranges a more comprehensive education in magic than what he could provide... by pointing meaningfully at the Sword of Damocles he has dangling over her future tutor's head.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: Happens several times, usually with Ditzy as the journeyer or mind. She even manages to go on one accidentally.
- Large Ham: Ditzy's father is once described as "glowing with the power of pure ham." His daughter and granddaughter later use melodramatic Rule of Funny to defuse an awkward situation with Luna.
- While she's been humbled, Trixie still has a soul of pork, as evidenced with her play with Dinky.
- Laughing Mad: Unsurprisingly, the laughter elemental, which embodies all laughter, from the annoying to the dissonant to the outright evil.
- Lemony Narrator: Now and again, usually parenthetically.
She turned to Pinkie Pie for a more sensible explanation (and what a sorry state of affairs that implied.) - Magi Babble: Rather frequent during the early chapters, which assume the reader knows much more about ponies than card games.
- Magic A Is Magic A: Played with a lot, given that there are three breeds of magic from the ponies, five colors of it from the card games, and, of course, Magic P, which is a whole other kettle of fourth wall rubble.
- The Magnificent: During the Great and Powerful Trixie's first scene, she uses a different pair of descriptors each time she refers to herself in her Inner Monologue. Lampshaded when, during a caffeine nadir she once resorts to "The Adjective and Other-Adjective Trixie."
- Later on, after a few life-shaking events have gotten Trixie to drop the habit, she catches herself doing this and recognizes it as a sign of mental contamination.
- Major General Song: Pinkie Pie in chapter 7. "I am the very model of a modern cartoon character."
- Manchurian Agent: Lyra. As she puts it, "My job is so secret, even I don't know about it."
- Master of Illusion: Ditzy is a rare heroic one, her magic being largely focused around perception.
- Medium Awareness: After a horrified gasp: "Omigosh! What is it? Did Pinkie Pie find somepony she's never seen before? Wait... I'm Pinkie Pie. Silly unattributed dialogue!" She goes on to look up at previously written description and at one point, explains what just happened entirely through the context of the Magic: the Gathering card game.
- Mundane Utility: The ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE was originally devised as a form of crowd control.
- Mythology Gag: Quoth Applejack, "Ah'm bein' a silly pony, ain't I?"
- In a nod to Faust's preliminary designs, Fluttershy's full name is Fluttershy Poseysfilly.
- In a similar vein, Pinkie's father comments on how much she takes after her grandmother, calling her "a little surprise."
- Negative Space Wedgie: Once magic becomes dense enough, the sky above the library literally cracks apart.
- Nice Hat: The Myojin of Seeing Winds, to the point that he's still wearing it while inside Ditzy's mind.
- Obfuscating Insanity / The Wonka: It's not entirely clear which Pinkie falls under. It's entirely possible that's she's both.
- The Obi-Wan: For Ditzy, Tezzeret. For Pinkie Pie, Commodore Guff. Both avoid the Mentor Occupational Hazard by virtue of still having things to do in canon afterwards.
- OC Stand In: The protagonist is an Ensemble Darkpony, after all.
- One-Winged Angel: Twilight as the magic elemental. She tries to do it a second time by fusing herself with the magic of the world. Dinky has something to say about that.
- Original Character: Several, ranging from Ditzy's husband to Celestia's butler.
- Our Angels Are Different: Angel Bunny combines white magic, meditation, and a carrot to great effect. One chapter's end card is him after doing so, appropriately named "Archangel Bunny."
- Our Goblins Are Different: Averted, with a side of Humans Are Bastards:
Goblins were annoying, present in nearly every plane, came in only one quantity (too many), and had an impressive talent for killing themselves. Humans were largely similar, but generally had better hygiene and on occasion had better manners. - Overly-Long Name: Luna's full name is apparently Luna Diana Hecate Regina Nox Alicor.
- Carrot Top is an alias for one Zannoria Karatine Golden-Harvest the Fifth.
- For some reason or another, Desiderata Lillian Doo goes through life referred to by her fillyhood nickname 'Ditzy'.
- Though known to ponies as Angel Bunny, among his own kind he is Archon of Virtue, Who Punches Evil in the Face.
- Phlebotinum Overdose: This is what Ditzy is trying to avert for most of the story. Too much magic in too little space will not end well for Equestria. Twilight basically turns into a walking Overdose when she becomes the magic elemental.
- Power Strain Blackout: Happens to Ditzy when she overextends her magic. The first time, it's after she teleports Dinky and herself from Ponyville to above Canterlot.
- Precision F-Strike: Spake the Most Holy Bringer of Dawn: "Shit."
- Prolonged Prologue: The titular monsters don't even show up until Chapter 7.
- Psychic Link: The members of the generosity elemental's gestalt can telepathically communicate with one another and share spell knowledge, but retain individuality. If they want to.
- Pun-Based Title: Several chapter titles are card game puns. Most egregious is "Plight of Foal's Betrayal."
- Real Dreams Are Weirder: Rarity dreams of flying a spy plane made of candy over an unspecified enemy that hits her with bombs made of synthetic fabric. She overloads her reactor to forcibly deliver fifty kilotons of style to them when the generosity elemental intercedes.
- Really 700 Years Old: Pinkie Pie, though she still grew up on that rock farm at the same time as the rest of the Mane Six. Shortly afterwards, she fell through a time rift and landed in a different universe several millennia earlier.
- Reluctant Monster: Almost all of the elementals have peaceful intentions. They just happen to be inherently harmful to the universe.
- Repetitive Name: Mayor Marion Mare
- Rogue Protagonist: With the exception of Rainbow Dash, each of the Mane Six is kindly disposed towards her elemental and has to be convinced that it must be eliminated. Some take longer than others.
- Retired Badass: Ditzy, being a Planeswalker whose put planeswalking behind her and is trying to live a normal life with her daughter in Ponyville, certainly fits the bill.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Princess Luna, up to and including channeling the heat death of the universe to destroy the honesty elemental.
- Sanity Has Advantages: Now that Nightmare Moon is in her right mind and has joined the side of good, she can look back on her career as a villain and admit that half of the stuff she did only seemed like a good idea because she was insane.
- Scaled Up: Pinkie Pie. Yes, really.
- Science-Related Memetic Disorder: Sweetie Belle exhibits symptoms when the Carousel Boutique becomes flooded with blue mana.
- Sensory Overload: Happens several times to Ditzy, given her ability to see magic. Usually, it's near Twilight's house, given the ludicrous amount of magic there, but also happens when meeting the Myojin of Seeing Winds, which to her eyes is a blue giant star five feet from her face.
- Ship Tease: Trixie declared her undying love to Twilight before the story even began... but while under the influence of a "ludicrous" amount of poison joke.
- Shock and Awe: The loyalty elemental is a vaguely humanoid thundercloud, constantly crackling with rainbow lightning. No points for guessing how it fights.
- Shout Out: And how.
- In her first five lines of dialogue, Pinkie refers to the Haruhi Suzumiya series, Dwarf Fortress, and Cupcakes.
- Pinkie Sense is an inherited trait.
- Years in the past, but not many...
- Angel Bunny is described as a "hyperintelligent rabbity thing" and "much smarter than the average hare."
- Paul, the Kwisatz Haderapple and Eric, the Very Friendly Caterpillar
- "Red Lobster to Book Fort. Come in, Book Fort"◊
- Pinkie's father teaches her how rock farmers deal with xorns. Or he would have, if she hadn't fallen through that time rift.
- A certain Great and Powerful showmare's full name is Trixie Hobbitses.
- Screwball tries using hokuto no ken on the honesty elemental. It doesn't work.
"You are already pie." - "Applejack, grab my tail."
- "Beep beep, I'm a cloud."
- Screwball's last words: "Hello, Superman. Hello."
- The Equestrian Time-Space Administration Bureau
- Dinky finds her special ability upon the realization that "Magic must defeat Magic."
- "I'm magic! I don't have to explain anything!"
- Twilight turns Trixie into a chubby.
- The Guide to the Elements of Harmony was written by one Mineral MacGuffin.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: Ditzy on Address, interrupting an angry existential rant. The couple's Forceful First Kiss. The poor unicorn's brain takes a while to reboot afterwards.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Averted by a timely cutaway.
- Slept Through the Apocalypse: Twilight manages this during most of the actual elemental fighting. Then she awakens as the magic elemental.
- Slow Electricity: The loyalty elemental's final attack, essentially a giant instance of ball lightning, is slow enough for not one, but two attempts to intercept it.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Ditzy versus Celestia, the latter of whom is thrilled to finally meet somepony who isn't afraid to participate. Luna is appalled by the breach of decorum.
- Stalker Without A Crush: The loyalty elemental, tirelessly pursuing Rainbow Dash. Fellow stalker Scootaloo recognizes the signs and defends her claim. Then the two decide to work together.
- Suicide Mission: Ditzy's father died trying to defuse a thundercloud that was about to explode.
- Summon Magic: Naturally, given some of the source material. Ditzy calls up a six-pack of floating eyes for reconnaissance. Pinkie later calls in an Avatar of Discord entirely through Magic: the Gathering rules.
- Symbiotic Possession: The good news? Scootaloo can fly! The bad news? She's completely insane.
- Talkative Loon: Screwball. Justified, in that she's an embodiment of chaos.
- Telepathy: Ditzy has this ability, as do the members of the generosity elemental's gestalt. The language of Angel Bunny's species is made up entirely of gestures and thought impulses.
- This Is My Pony: Angel Bunny's stance on his relationship with Fluttershy. The strange part is, he's probably right.
- Time for Plan B:
The pink pyro wilted a bit at this. No fire? That invalidated Plans A through G! She literally spent seconds on those tactical masterpieces! This is why she hated making plans, they never actually saw use. - Took a Level in Badass: Angel Bunny. Specifically, in a prestige class known as "Carrot Archon".
- Trademark Favorite Food: The love of muffins is apparently a Doo family tradition.
- Translator Microbes: Justified. Tezzeret slips a bit of etherium into Ditzy's brains to act as a universal translator. When she learns of his tinkering with her brain, he offers to undo it, noting that she'll need to replace it, either with a translation spell or, "horror of horrors," by actually learning the languages in question.
- Void Between the Worlds: Comes in two flavors, the Magic-canon Blind Eternities and "exile," which is basically what happens when someone tries to describe the Featureless Plane of Disembodied Dialogue.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Magic Elemental!Twilight. She'll paralyze her friends, drive two them to the brink of insanity, remove a mother from existence in front of her daughter, and crack the universe in half, all in the name of keeping everypony safe.
- Weather Dissonance: Played for Laughs. One sign that something is going wrong? A cloud. Moving on its own. Towards the Everfree Forest.
Applejack: That is the second impossible thing Ah've seen in as many days. - What's Up, King Dude?: Downplayed and justified. Celestia makes it a point that anypony can ask for a royal audience. The hapless accountant we see is suitably cowed by meeting the ruler of the nation and controller of the sun.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Most unicorns go unresponsively euphoric in the aura of magic around Twilight's library. Trixie... doesn't.
- After she's been possessed by the loyalty elemental, Scootaloo's thought processes "could best be described – and even then, not very well – as an operatic remix of the Nyan Cat song performed on an electric guitar, a theramin, and a didgeridoo made from a hollowed-out butternut squash."
- As time goes on, Twilight the magic elemental becomes increasingly unstable, both mentally and physically.
- The Worf Barrage: Trixie's final gambit against the magic elemental. Of course, using magic on it probably wasn't a good idea to begin with...
Sideboard of Harmony - All of the Other Reindeer: Dinky's unicorn classmates start to get nervous around her, then blame her when their magic goes awry. Her other peers jeer at a unicorn whose special talent is making things less magical.
- Altum Videtur: Two chapter titles have been in Latin, "Ave Discordia" and "Fiat Harmonia." Interestingly, both involve a deity getting transformed into MineralMacGuffins.
- A third, "Quod Cucurbita," breaks the pattern for the sake of an MS Paint Adventures reference.
- Ascended Fanon: Originally, the Elements of Discord were never going to show up after the events of "Ave Discordia," but they proved so popular that Fan of Most Everything decided to bring them back.
- Canis Latinicus: The Liber Digitalis Ambulatorum, or Book of Walking Fingers. (Sibling to the Liber Paginarum Fulvarum, or Book of Yellowed Pages.)
- Creating Life Is Unforeseen: Pinkie meant to create Discord. Lauren was an unexpected bonus.
- Creation Story: Told over two chapters. Appropriately enough, the first is entitled "How Pinkie Pie Got Her Cutie Mark."
- Everyone Is Related: Well, not everyone. However, Pinkie is Discord's mother and the princesses' grandmother.
- Evil Counterpart: Played with. Lauren and Discord are Lawful and Chaotic Counterparts. They're also twins.
- Fix Fic: Fan of Most Everything has admitted that part of the reason he wrote "Wedding Bells of Velis Vel" was to address the issues he had with the second season finale.
- Forgotten First Meeting: To be fair, it's been millennia since Celestia and Luna last saw Pinkie Pie. Also, there was the whole "Discord mind screwing the world" thing. That kind of wrecked their memories of their childhood.
- Genesis Effect: How Equestria is made.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Civilian-level classified information, "public knowledge applied in a way that the public would never believe."
- Hippopomorphic Ponification: Lauren is the physical incarnation of order and harmony. Discord is entropy given flesh and a sense of humor.
- When they channel the Elements of Harmony without the actual necklaces and big crown thingy, the Mane Six turn into a small pantheon of alicorns (and, in Pinkie's case, a draconequus.)
- In Medias Res: "Ave Discordia" opens with in the middle of a conversation that, until then, was proceeding as canon.
- Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: As Pinkie notes, "what kind of self-respecting universe doesn't have a few dragons?"
- Kid from the Future: Pumpkin Cake. Given the density of timey-wimey events that take place when she's an infant, her older, ETSAB member self is sent back help to deal with them.
- The Maker: Pinkie Pie created the universe. Lauren made almost everything in it.
- The Magnificent: Lyra's boss, a.k.a. Bonbon Thronetaker, Preacher of the Bittersweet Truth, Princess by Her Own Hand, and Director of the Strings Section of the Office of Parallel Realities.
- The Multiverse: Lyra's entire department of the ETSAB is staffed by instances of herself with the exception of her boss, a humanoid Princess Bonbon. Given that she works in the Office of Parallel Realities, it makes sense.
- Also the Magic: the Gathering one.
- My Own Demiurge: Due to time shenanigans, Pinkie Pie created Equestria.
- Mythology Gag: Chrysalis and her tribe used to be the Flutter Ponies.
- Never The Selves Shall Meet: Mostly averted. Pumpkin Cake avoids the Sugarcube Corner in "Quod Cucurbita," but because of awkwardness, not the threat of fatal paradox.
What do you say to a pony who just changed your diaper? - However, going to a time when your mother is pregnant with you is noted to be a very bad idea.
- Outside The Box Tactic: Address Unknown holds his own against Sarkhan Vol, using junk mail as blades and shields, then covering Vol in enough stamps that his postally oriented magic recognizes the planeswalker as mail, allowing teleportation.
- Playful Hacker: Twilight improves Shining Armor's shield around Canterlot, noting that "I<3Cadence" is not the most secure of passwords.
- Power Of Creation: As in reality, Lauren Faust created the world.
- Professionals Do It On Desks: Subverted during one of Lyra's debriefings.
- Retroactive Preparation: Pumpkin Cake goes to meet her fellow agents for the first time after they've met her for the first time, allowing her to get to know them without all the formalities and introductions while making those same formalities and introductions all the easier.
- Shout Out: Naturally.
- Stable Time Loop: Pinkie Pie made Equestria, which eventually saw the birth of a little pink filly who fell through a time rift.
- Start of Darkness: Left without the balancing influence of his sister, Discord went mad with grief.
- Stealth Pun: Lyra's magic extends to the manipulation of cosmic strings.
- The Stoic: Cranky Doodle Donkey, who is so good at controlling his emotions that Chrysalis starts feeling hungrier around him.
- Talking to Himself: Discord does so as hammily as possible for his own amusement.
- Sarkhan Vol does so because he's crazy.
- Time Is Dangerous: As noted by Pumpkin:
The first rule of time travel is, "When in the past, don't gawk at everything like a tourist in Haywaii." Well, actually, the first rule of time travel is, "Don't time travel unless you absolutely have to." Then there's a bunch of other rules involving causal loops, paradoxes, and a general theme of ensuring that you don't accidentally make the universe implode. But the first rule that isn't punctuated with an unspoken "or you'll kill us all, you idiot" is the one about the gawking. - Time Travelers Are Spies: Justified, since one of the spy agencies is also in charge of maintaining timespace.
- Whatever Mancy: Pumpkin Cake is an ontolomancer. By altering the moment of Ontological Inertia, she can make intangible concepts "real enough to sit on", render herself totally unnoticable, and undo spells by subjecting them to gradual existence failure.
My Little Praetor - Apocalyptic Log: Twilight keeps one as her infection develops.
- Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce: Pinkie mixes her own, including "metacapsaicin," which detectable in concentrations of one part per trillion.
- Brain in a Jar: Tezzeret's storage medium of choice for the story. Ditzy is less enthusiastic.
- Corrupt the Cutie: Phyrexia's modus operandi, beginning with Twilight Sparkle.
- Dirty Coward: Diamond Tiara, much to her father's displeasure.
- Dramatic Deadpan:
Fluttershy, Angel - Drill Sergeant Nasty: Cheerilee, full stop. She has a lot of free-floating rage because Celestia stupidly enacted a law against killing hopeless idiots like Snips and Snails and a platoon to whip into shape. The results should be entertaining.
- Easily Conquered World: Jin-Gitaxias thinks Equestria will be one. Whether he's right remains to be seen.
- Elseworld: The introduction establishes the story as a Potential Future.
- Enemy Mine: While trapped in a changeling coccoon, Celestia grudgingly accepts Discord's help and the Element of Cunning, along with any other responsibilities that may entail.
- Fetish: Scientific terminology is to Twilight as French is to Gomez Addams.
- Fourth Wall Observer: In addition to Pinkie Pie, there's also Pumpkin Cake. After all, she was raised by Pinkie.
- Framing Device: The story is a hypothetical scenario Ditzy is watching in her living room.
- Gemstone Assault: Rarity fires one to repel an early attempt to invade Ponyville.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In universe, Iron Will is wildly popular in Prance.
- Happy Fun Ball: Metacapsaicin. While nearly indistinguishable from water, it's so insanely spicy that its warning label reads more like one for the deadlier sort of industrial chemical. Bonus points for explicitly stating "Do not taunt." Twice.
- I Got Bigger: The glistening oil has some rather dramatic effects on Spike.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Physical rather than moral. The oil finds a way to get at most of the Mane Six, but is incompatible with the Element of Kindness, rendering Fluttershy immune.
- Jetpack: Spike and Rainbow Dash both develop organic ones as the oil mutates them.
- Kissgusting: Clinical Trial's liplock with Twilight is strictly business.
- Loose Canon: "Interlude: Praetor Bebop at His Computer." As the opening note says, its "canonical uncertainty is of nearly Heisenbergian levels."
- Loud of War: Pinkie uses "Giggle at the Ghosty" to incapacitate Azax-Azog, a Phyrexian demon whose entire philosophy is based on power through fear. Then she tears his throat out with her bare teeth.
- Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom: Among Angel Bunny's people, names are fluid summaries of achievements and ignominies. Examples include "Compassionate Steward of the Glorious Future," "Clear-Eyed Sage, Who Sees Beyond the Horizon," and "Stalwart Paragon, Who Literally Spat in the Darkhearted's Eye."
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Emily White Shyamenthol, Twist's mother.
- No Indoor Voice: Vorinclex, who is physiologically incapable of volume control.
- Partially Civilized Animal: Angel Bunny's species, the lagomaths.
- Passive Rescue: To break Celestia out of the cocoon spell, Discord just slips her the Element of Cunning and lets her do the rest.
- Rage Breaking Point: Phyrexia invading her home was enough for Pinkie to drop her Obfuscating Insanity and begin a merciless one-pony counterinvasion.
- Rogue Protagonist: Twilight is infected almost immediately.
- Rules of the Internet: The story opens with Number 43.
- Sanity Slippage Song: Appropriately enough, Crazy Train, sung by Pinkie as she begins wreaking havoc in Phyrexia.
- Shout Out: Was there ever any doubt?
- Slipping a Mickey: Twilight infects each of the other main characters with glistening oil-laced tea.
- Spare Body Parts: Discord has two and a half hearts.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: One scene shows this happening from the point of view of an unfortunate stallion named Red Jacket.
- Tailor-Made Prison: Twilight encases Celestia in a changeling cocoon that is only as strong as its captive's love. Since Celestia loves all of Equestria, not even she can escape.
- Theme Quintuplet Naming: Word Of God has it that each of Cadence's sisters will have a name that ends in -nce and a full name that will follow a "Mi (Italian noun related to talent that ends in -e) (Italian cognate for common name that ends in -nza)" scheme, as demonstrated with Prudence (Mi Illusione Prudenza.)
- Torture Technician: About one third of Phyrexia's population.
- Trigger Phrase: Lyra has several, all of them apparently phrases said by a certain infamous real-life Celestia toy.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Invoked by Pumpkin Cake, who actively shields the ETSAB meetings from the narrator.
- Whatever Mancy: Laughter magic is also called thaliamancy, named after The Muse of comedy. It's explicitly described as not making sense.
- At high enough levels, honesty magic, or alethiomancy, is inherently incompatible with fiction, which is ultimately an elaborate form of lying. In one blog entry, Fan Of Most Everything wonders if this is the reason behind the "Applejack is best background pony" meme.
- When Trees Attack: Glistening oil remakes Twilight's library into a shapeshifting, guard-swallowing monstrosity.
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