Antithesis – she rather liked her new name, but right now she was a little busy and couldn’t really spare the time to admire it – popped back into being hurtling towards the ground at rather uncomfortable speeds. She gasped, which naturally meant she got to have a mouthful of dirt and mud as she collided with the ground, bounced, tumbled, rolled, hit and rebounded off of a tree, and then landed in the muck.
“Ow.”
Pain had by now lost its appeal as a new and interesting sensation. She decided she didn’t like it and resolved to take steps to avoid it in the future as she stood. The world before her swam, and there were stars in her field of vision, and she was reasonably certain she was about to black out. This, too, would be new. She suspected she wouldn’t like it.
“Hate…” she groaned, before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.
---
Some part of Lulamoon’s brain registered that getting down from the cloud would require considerable effort and timing. One of them would have to try and telekinetically lower the other two, one at a time, until they were low enough for Sparkle to catch them. Then they would have to take a leap of faith – jump down themselves, and hope that Sparkle’s aim was good enough to catch them telekinetically before they hit the ground.
Lulamoon reasoned, in her mind, that it would make the most sense for her to take that leap of faith. Twilight and Sparkle had far more magical power than her or Trixie, so it made sense for Twilight to go down first. Then Trixie – she was the innocent one, she didn’t deserve to be here, was completely out of her element. Lulamoon did not consider herself expendable at all, but with both Twilights on the ground, they’d stand a good chance of catching her.
Yes. This made perfect sense, and it was what should be done, said that small part of her brain. This part of her brain, however, was not in contact with the rest. Lulamoon found herself only staring dumbly at the moon, and the pattern of dark craters that had appeared across its surface in the shape of an alicorn’s head. She was vaguely aware of Twilight and Trixie both trying to coax her into action, but she had nothing. There was a brief sensation of being lifted, lowered, and landing on the ground.
But past that, all Lulamoon could register was that, for the second time in her life, she had seen her mentor, Princess Luna, banished into the Moon she claimed dominion over – and this time, there were no Elements of Harmony to help.
---
Twilight took a deep breath and hopped from the cloud. She kept her gaze focused down, on Trixie and Sparkle, hoping that the two of them could coordinate enough to catch her as she fell. Unicorn telekinesis was, unfortunately, not much use for exerting any leverage on oneself.
Her faith paid off. Trixie and Sparkle caught her as best they could, with about a hundred feet still to go to the ground, though they focused on cushioning her fall more than stopping it. It still felt like running into a wall, but that was considerably better than the alternative. She fought the urge to kiss the ground once she was set down, instead trotting over quickly to her fellow unicorns. “How’s Lulamoon?” she asked.
Trixie waved a hoof in front of her counterpart’s face. “Not good,” she said when she got no response. Her main focus, however, was on the Ursa Major. By now, it had shrank back down to its normal height, and the angry red glow to its eyes had disappeared. It was still a frightening sight to behold, or would have been, were it not nuzzling and playing with the Ursa Minor, the Star Beast cub play-biting and batting at its mother with its paws as the mother lay on her back, making the occasional half-hearted swing back.
The fact that the Ursas were paying no real attention to Trixie didn’t seem to calm her down too much. “Y…you’re saying that i-it remembered you?” Trixie asked Sparkle.
“Well, her,” Sparkle said, pointing at Twilight, “but I guess it can’t tell us apart.”
Trixie swallowed. “S…so, would i-it remember me?”
Sparkle shrugged, even as the Ursas finally stopped playing around with each other, or at least the Major did, the Minor not getting the message and continuing to bat and bite at its mother’s legs. The Major paid it no mind as it looked down at the four unicorns with deep, fathomless eyes. It huffed, then began to walk away, its cub in tow.
Twilight watched it go, and decided that, whether or not the Ursa Major liked her and her counterpart, she had bigger problems to deal with – problems that were highlighted when she looked up at the moon, and saw the imprint of the Mare in the Moon upon it. Suddenly, Lulamoon’s near-catatonia almost seemed like a good idea, as she felt her hind legs give out.
“Th…the Princesses…all of them…” she intoned softly, feeling tears in her eyes.
Trixie and Sparkle looked up at the moon, and both grimaced. Sparkle glanced at Twilight. “I don’t suppose this world has a Princess Cadenza?” she asked.
Twilight blinked, then shook her head. “I…I don’t know. I’ve n-never heard that name.” She tapped her hooves together. “U…unicorns can move the Sun and Moon if we all work together. I guess w-we’ll just have to do it again…w-without the Element of Magic, there’s no way to free Princess Luna or Princess C-Celestia…”
Sparkle grimaced, looking down herself. She glanced at Trixie, then back to Twilight. “I…I know why Antithesis didn’t kill Trixie when she had the chance,” she said softly.
“Because she’s a very sick pony?” Trixie guessed.
Sparkle shook her head. “She can’t tell us apart,” she said. “You, me, these two,” she waved a hoof at Twilight and Lulamoon, “she can’t really tell us apart, just like the Element of Magic couldn’t. And she’s worried that if she doesn’t kill us all at the same time, then the Element inside of her might…might default to one of us.”
There was silence as the three considered that, and they glanced between one another. Trixie coughed. “Trixie is too famous to die,” she insisted.
“I don’t like the idea either,” Sparkle said. “I was just…just letting you know. Just getting the information out there.”
Twilight blinked a few times, before closing her eyes, wiping tears from them – it was too cold out to be crying, she told herself, and they were all exhausted. They needed to rest somewhere safe. “L…let’s go,” she said, standing and telekinetically placing Lulamoon on her back. The catatonic unicorn offered no objections. “We have to find someplace safe to hide. We need to rest, without interruption this time.”
Sparkle grimaced again, glancing at Trixie, then back the way the Ursas Major and Minor had gone. “I…may have an idea about that, too – ”
“No,” Trixie said immediately, eyes widening as she realized what Sparkle was suggesting. “No! No! No no no no no no no no…”
---
Being trapped in the moon for a thousand years had been an exercise in bitter loneliness and resentment for Luna. She had endured a millennium of resentment and anger, even as she prepared herself for her eventual return – Celestia had let it slip that she had known that Nightmare Moon would escape, and no matter how much she tried to deny it to herself, Nightmare Moon was Luna was Luna.
What?
Being isolated and alone on the world under the sun for a thousand years had been an exercise in abiding loneliness and terror for Luna. She had endured a millennium of uncertainty and difficulty, trying to shape Equestria into the nation that she knew it could be. She had stumbled and fallen and failed many times, but she had risen to the challenge as often – but every morning and every evening, raising and lowering the Sun, she had touched the soul of Corona and felt hate and sheer rage. Luna and Luna had failed their sister.
What?
Luna was Luna. And Luna was Luna. Consciousness was a tangled mess between the two of them, a cacophony of images and memory, so many of them alike, precious few of them different. But Luna and Luna scrambled and struggled to hold onto the memories they knew were theirs. They found the differences and held onto them tightly, and from there rebuilt themselves, their individuality.
And at length, Luna found herself standing before a hundred crystalline steps that lead to a throne of polished white quartz veined with silver and obsidian, and upon the Selenic Cathedra sat Luna, gazing down at Luna, as the crystalline surface of the Moon stretched in every direction and the stars glistened overhead.
It wasn’t real – it was a mental construct, a dreamscape, a way to rationalize and interpret their predicament and make it easier for each to hold onto themselves.
Luna-upon-the-throne blinked a few times as she stared at her counterpart. “Every day?” she asked quietly, voice trembling. For the briefest of moments, their minds and souls had been one and the same but for the barest shreds of ego to separate the two, and of everything she had seen, the constant, recurring memory of touching the Sun and feeling pure hatred from it was the strongest.
Luna-below-the-throne bowed her head, wings fluttering. “Every morning. Every evening. Except…except the last six months,” she said. Luna-upon-the-throne stared in utter disbelief. To have had to deal with that for a month would have been too much for a lesser pony. Luna herself could not conceive of doing it for a year.
But a thousand? With no end in sight? Luna-below-the-throne had thought that Corona was banished forever – there had been no thousand-year prophecy, as there had been for Celestia and Nightmare Moon. Celestia had a goal to work towards, a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel, something to buoy her spirits. Luna had nothing, had been forced to feel Corona’s hate for her every day with no end in sight – yet somehow she had persevered.
Luna-below-the-throne looked then to Luna-upon-the-throne. “I am jealous of you,” she said plainly. Here, in the dreamscape, after having touched souls, she could be little other than honest.
Luna-upon-the-throne’s eyes narrowed. “I let my loneliness overpower me,” she said. “I let myself tinker with dark magics to try and soothe my pain. I made the world revolve around me, my needs, my desires. For a thousand years I dreamed of nothing but laying my own sister low! Of making her suffer as I had suffered – of making all Equestria suffer! Yet thou art jealous of me?”
“I am,” Luna-below-the-throne said. “Because for you…the nightmare ended. And she was there. I envy you.”
Luna-upon-the-throne looked away, shamed at her own feelings. “And…and I am jealous,” she said. “I do not envy thy circumstances…but…but I wish I had thy strength.”
Luna-below-the-throne laughed. “I’ve spent a thousand years terrified of becoming Nightmare Moon. I’m not strong.”
“Thou art a liar,” Luna-upon-the-throne insisted. “A thousand years without slipping into darkness, when thou were far more lonely, more isolated, had more cause than any I ever imagined myself to have!”
“Nor can I rule,” Luna-below-the-throne said, as though she hadn’t heard Luna-upon-the-throne. “Equestria stumbles, slides into corruption. I try to fix everything…but it happens again. And again…I am a poor substitute for Celestia.”
Luna-upon-the-throne laughed now, not ironically, but as though her counterpart had told a true joke. She rose from the throne and descended halfway down the steps that lead to it, shaking her head. “My sister,” she said, “hath – has – created so many ministries and organizations, appointed so many officials and passed so much legislation, that it is a wonder that the whole thing has not collapsed under its own weight. It is as though…as though the entire government has gorged itself on the cakes that my sister loves so.”
Luna-below-the-throne stifled a laugh of her own at that image, as she considered her counterpart’s words. “Sub-Ministry of South-Central Weather?” she asked, as she tentatively placed a hoof on a step, then, at length, began her ascent towards the other Luna.
“Exactly,” Luna said. “I have begun trimming the fat, as best I can.”
Luna smiled softly. “Don’t…don’t trim out all of it. I feel I have invested too much power in too few ponies in my world.”
“I will bear that in mind,” Luna promised. The two stood now on equal footing, gazing at each other in silence for a long while. Beneath them, the stairs disappeared, the throne disappeared, and the two stood upon the surface of the Moon.
“I was trapped here once for a thousand years,” Luna said. “But that was by the Elements of Harmony, and then…I was alone.”
“And Antithesis is young,” Luna added. “And an imperfect, impetuous spellcaster. She would make some mistake in her spell. There is a way to escape.”
“We shall find it together,” Luna said.
“Yes,” Luna agreed.
---
Lulamoon didn’t have a memory of going to sleep, but she found herself waking up with a blanket over her and pillows beneath her. Opening her eyes, she found herself lying on her stomach, legs tucked beneath her and head resting on something soft and slightly furred and purple –
Lulamoon resisted the urge to yelp and leap away, instead taking in a deep breath and slowly pulling away from Twilight – or was it Sparkle? – who lay beside her, Trixie having lain her head across Twilight’s neck. On the other side of her, she found her counterpart, lying on her back, while the other purple unicorn lay beyond her. Each had their own blankets, but over them had been lain a fifth for additional warmth – the necessity of which reached Lulamoon when she realized just how cold it still was, and the quest for which had made her snuggle up to Twilight (or Sparkle) in her sleep. Her cape and hat lay nearby, as did Trixie’s and Sparkle’s. Glancing around, she found herself in a cave, which was illuminated by a low, purple light –
Lulamoon bit down on her hoof when she saw the Ursa Major, in order to prevent herself from screaming in fright. The Ursa Major had little interest in her, however, itself asleep, curled protectively around its cub.
Lulamoon heard a yawn, and saw Twilight (Sparkle?) stirring next to her, waking up herself. She glanced at Lulamoon, how close they were, and then her eyes narrowed slightly. “No jokes,” she insisted.
“What?” Lulamoon asked, blinking a few times in confusion, before the implication hit her. “Gah! No! That didn’t even – ”
The Ursa Major shifted slightly, huffing. Lulamoon again put a hoof to her mouth, quieting down as she stared. When the bear didn’t wake up, she continued in a lower voice. “That didn’t even cross my mind!”
The purple unicorn nodded, yawning again. She tapped a hoof to herself. “Sparkle, by the way,” she provided.
Lulamoon grimaced. “Lulamoon,” she identified in a low voice.
“I know,” she said, eyeing the Ursa Major. She looked to Lulamoon. “Ursas feed on starlight and solar winds, not ponies. And this one doesn’t think we’re a threat. As long as we don’t do anything to disturb her, we should be fine.”
Lulamoon blinked, then nodded, looking down. Sparkle eyed her. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” Lulamoon said. “Why wouldn’t I be? All that’s happened is Princess Luna just got trapped in the Moon again. As well as Princess Celestia. Oh, and a whole new Princess Luna, too. Antithesis has so much magic to toss around because she’s an alicorn. And the Element of Magic. Which is still shattered. So I'm just peachy. How are you?”
Sparkle pressed her lips tightly together, tapping her front hooves a few times. “I figured out why Antithesis wants to kill us at the same time,” she said, and told Lulamoon her supposition.
Lulamoon thought it sounded patently ridiculous, but at the same time, she didn’t have anything to counter it. Instead, she stared at her own hooves as she considered what Sparkle was saying, and the implications. “Last, last, last resort,” she said.
“I agree,” Sparkle assured her. “I want to go home. But…but I can’t think of anything else that might work. Antithesis is just too strong.”
“She isn’t,” Lulamoon said, glancing at Sparkle. “Not really…she isn’t really casting any spells at all. Like what my clone here said,” she poked a hoof at Trixie, who snorted in her sleep and buried herself under the blanket, but didn’t wake up. “She’s just tears spell-shaped holes open. She wants a fireball, she tears open a fireball-shaped hole. She wants to enchant an Ursa Major, she tears open a dominate-shaped hole. Magic rushes in to fill the void, gives her the same effect, without her having to use any of her own magic – because she doesn’t have any. Her? Nothing. Magic is almost going out of its way to avoid touching Antithesis herself.”
Sparkle blinked at that, shaking her head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Nothing about this makes any sense.”
“How can she be alive?”
“I don’t think she is,” Sparkle’s own voice answered, but from the other side of Lulamoon. She looked, and saw that Twilight had woken up, and was sitting on her own barrel. “I think she’s just…just exactly what she says she is. A pony-shaped thing wrapped around the remains of the Element of Magic.” She looked to the other two awake ponies. “She keeps saying she’s just bile and hate and anger. She won’t ever learn or grow, she doesn’t understand why she’s doing what she’s doing beyond that it makes her feel good, and she doesn’t want to understand. She just wants to hurt ponies, starting with us…but if we’re gone, she’ll just move on to her next victims.”
“So how do we stop her?” Lulamoon asked. “Without any of us killing ourselves, I mean. How do we stop something with basically limitless magic, that only wants to kill us?”
The three of them were silent, each trying to come up with something. “Have we tried just hitting her a lot?” Sparkle asked.
“She went hoof-to-hoof with my Princess Celestia and your Princess Luna,” Twilight noted. “I don’t think we can hit her hard enough.”
“And she has those nothing-pockets,” Sparkle said, sighing. “Ugh, how do you deal with something that’s just a hole…”
“Fill the hole,” Lulamoon said absentmindedly, though she stopped after saying it and thought about what she’d said. “Fill the hole! That’s it!” She looked between Twilight and Sparkle. “Magic is avoiding her. Why? Maybe it’s because she’s keeping it away. If all her spellcasting is based on just tearing spell-shaped holes in the world and magic rushing in to fill it…maybe the only reason she exists is because there hasn’t been any magic rushing to fill her in!”
Sparkle thought. “Maybe,” she said. “Without knowing how she even exists in the first place, we can’t be sure…but it’s better than nothing.” She looked to Lulamoon. “So…so, we just have to get close to her and just start dumping magic at her until she’s, what, just sort of negated?”
“That sounds like it could backfire pretty badly,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “And something just seems…seems wrong about it. Like we’re missing something important.”
“Maybe it's a couple of alicorns for making sure day and night happen?” Lulamoon asked. “Unless there’s somepony here who could take over?”
Sparkle shook her head. “There’s no Cavallia in this world, and Twilight’s never heard of Cadenza.”
“Right,” Lulamoon said. “We’re on a time limit now, until this world freezes without the Sun. And we can’t keep running away. We have to take the fight to Antithesis, challenge her on our terms, surprise her for a change.”
Twilight bit her lip, before nodding. “Okay,” she said, looking down at Trixie’s sleeping form. She nudged her a few times with a hoof, trying to wake her. The only response was Trixie burying herself even deeper in the blankets and mumbling “cinq minutes…”
“Maybe leave her,” Lulamoon suggested. Twilight and Sparkle glared at her, and she held up her hooves defensively. “I mean it in a good way! She’s not as good a spellcaster as us three, this really isn’t her fight, and I don’t want to see her hurt! I don’t think she could do much to help – ”
Lulamoon was interrupted not by either of the purple unicorns, but by Trixie, who sat up suddenly, pulling her hat and cape on from where they were laying and throwing them on dramatically. “That’s what you think!” She exclaimed, suddenly wide-eyed and awake.
The Ursa Major again huffed in its sleep, and Trixie eeped and ducked down low. When the Star Beast didn’t do anything other than twitch its nose, she stood again, one hoof in the air. “You forget,” she said, albeit in a low voice, “that Trixie’s magic has something yours does not: style!”
Lulamoon blinked, wondering if she had ever woken up so suddenly and easily as Trixie just had. “I have style,” she said defensively. Sparkle and Twilight also seemed off-put by being told that they lacked style.
Trixie offered a simple smile, and patted her counterpart on the head. “Trixie is sure that you are quite the hobbyist,” she said, “but Trixie is a professional magician. Misdirection is Trixie’s life. She has been listening to you three talking – incessantly – while she was trying to sleep – honestly it was extraordinarily rude – and has come up with the perfect plan to amaze, astound, befuddle, and bedazzle Antithesis, leaving her quite vulnerable to our efforts to fill her with magic until she explodes!”
The other three unicorns all blinked at Trixie’s rather vulgar description of what they were planning on doing. “Ew,” Twilight finally put forward.
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this…” Sparkle said, sighing, “but…what’s the plan?”
---
Antithesis woke up suddenly, and was instantly on her hooves, scrambling around, wings beating rapidly and horn glowing brightly to banish the darkness she was surrounded by. She was hyperventilating, sweating, ears swiveling.
She was right: blacking out was a singularly unpleasant experience. It was rather like not existing for a time, or what she imagined not existing to be, if she had any recollection of what it had been like before she had been at all. She had grown rather fond of being, and did not want it to end.
An image of one of the Twilights, the one with the brown cape, popped into her head. She was the one who had teleported her – who had made her sail down and hit her head and get a mouthful of dirt and muck, who had reduced her to her present state, covered in grime and dead leaves. Oh, the Princesses Luna and Celestia had done their part, too. Antithesis’ whole body ached. But the Princesses and the sound beating she had taken from were was such a secondary thing next to the knowledge that it had been one of the Twilights who had actually driven her to unconsciousness.
Antithesis resolved to never sleep again, no matter what, even as she took to the sky, trying to get her bearings, head whipping around and looking for landmarks. Fortunately, the site where the battle with the Ursa Major had taken place was not hard to find, and in a moment, she was off.
“I was just trying to have a good time,” she said as she reached a broad swath of forest that had been completely leveled. She alighted atop a fallen tree, horn still glowing bright as she attempted to look around and see if she could find her quarry. “Just trying to enjoy myself. But no, you have to all make it so difficult!”
Antithesis looked around, stowing her wings – alicorn or no, she found it easier to keep track of four limbs rather than six. Unfortunately, she had no idea what she was looking for – in the mess the Ursa Major had created, there was no sign of any hoof-prints. She could have given herself the nose of a bloodhound, but she didn’t know what the Twilights or Trixies smelled like. And try though she had, Luna and Celestia had come along before she could have had any real fun with her victims and made them bleed, so there was no blood to follow, either.
Antithesis was just about to scream in frustration when there was a flash of multicolored light and the sound of a distant, small explosion from behind her. Turning quickly, she saw the remains of a fireworks going off – then as she watched, a second, then a third, all launching straight into the sky, maybe a mile distant
“Come one!” A voice shouted, probably meant to be loud, but from this distance it was rather faint, though just inside Antithesis’ range of hearing. “Come all! Come and see the greatest show in all of Equestria!”
Antithesis blinked a few times. That was Trixie’s voice. Was she – what was she doing? Why was she setting off fireworks? Was it some kind of trap –
“Unless you’re scared to be finished off, Antithesis!” Trixie’s voice followed up.
“OH I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!” Antithesis roared, unveiling her wings once more and shooting off towards the fireworks, seeing nothing but red.
About how long until the next one? I don't want to wait!
Awesome! I really wanna see how the Princesses get out of their imprisonments. That should be really cool. And how Antithesis reacts to the fiercesome foursome's plan to blow her up with magic.
Oooh. Awesome.
I loved the bit with the two Lunas. The confusion, the intermingling, the separation, the balance...very nicely handled. I also liked the recognition that Lunaverse-Equestria had too much power concentrated into the hooves of too few ponies, that is the Night Court, whereas Maneverse-Equestria was a bit more of a bloated bureaucracy.
Also...I gotta admit, it's a LITTLE hard to believe that Twilight (of the Mane universe) doesn't remember that Cadance is an alicorn and a princess. Maybe a princess without anything to rule as such, but in the Wedding flashback we clearly see that Cadance is an alicorn and Twilight calls her a real princess.
I can't blame you for Twilight not recognizing Cadance's more formal name as that's an inherited plot hole from the series (though a plot hole nonetheless...seriously, how did Twilight not know that?) but I did sit up and take notice at that.
Oooooooh, and here it comes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...holy shit.
...and I'm kinda disapointed we didn't get Celestia's view of her in the sun.
Antithesis blinked a few times. That was Trixie’s voice. Was she – what was she doing? Why was she setting off fireworks? Was it some kind of trap –
“Unless you’re scared to be finished off, Antithesis!” Trixie’s voice followed up.
“OH I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!” Antithesis roared, unveiling her wings once more and shooting off towards the fireworks, seeing nothing but red.
This made me laugh so hard my ribs still hurt
Haha, I love Trixie's defiant declaration of style. It is a very important quality after all! I liked the Luna/Luna meld, too - good to see them put aside both their differences and get a better understanding of each other. I really like the imagery and description of the two of them, too. Wonder how Celestia's doing over in the Sun? Poor Lulamoon though..
This being before the Royal Wedding in the M!verse puts a bit of a new spin on Twi's reaction of "WHO IS THIS PRINCESS MI AMORE CADENZA ANYHOW?!" as not only is she a pony she doesn't know but having heard about Lulamoon and Sparkle's "Cadenza from Cavallia" also paints her as a FOREIGNER FOR WHOM HER BBBFF WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO MOVE TO A DIFFERENT COUNTRY. Doubly awful from her point of view! No wonder she was freaking out.
Anyhow, very excited to see how Trixie's plan works out against Antithesis. Good to see that even though she's alicorn-ascended, she's still the same ole manically unthinking ball of rage easily goaded into doing things.
Okay so they discount Cadence because they don't know her real name. That's expected. You could try using Discord. I am sure he would be happy to help.
Question: what are the ten other element bearers doing all this time?
Great! And was that a reference to "In The Heat Of The Moment"?
Oh this is gonna be good.
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I think the important difference is that Lunaverse Cadence is 1000 years old and incredibly powerful. She is capable of single-hoofedly moving the sun and moon if Luna and Corona aren't around to overrule her.
Maneverse Cadence seems to be in her twenties and except for Love Magic (her special talent) she isn't much stronger than a regular unicorn. So even if Twilight recognized her formal name, it would never occur to her that she could take over moving the celestial bodies.
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But how did Cadence come to exist in this universe too?
Endgame time! They got a plan now. And we all know how effective these 4 can be if they have had time to get a few tricks up their sleeve.
Psst. Guys, I think I know what your forgetting.
fimfiction-static.net/images/story_images/39247.png?1342671997
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Unless I miss my guess, KCaFO hasn't happened yet. Has it?
Just checked. It isn't on either the has happened or hasn't happened yet list, but my guess would be no. (WMG )
Meanwhile, in the Sun...
"Well, the place is just like I left it. A mess."
Anyway, nice breather chapter. The four unicorns are now at their most dangerous – they've been given time to prepare. Definitely looking forward to the next fight, and to the Lunas picking the lock on the moon.
I will be totally honest, here: Whenever Antithesis speaks, I hear Nappa from DBZ Abridged.
And I think it works.
I was right about the Luna Smooshyness.
Interesting about Cadenza, I had assumed that she was still Luna's 'daughter' in this universe, presumably part of Nightmare moon knocked off by the elements in the battle with Celestia presumably she was hidden by Celestia for a bit to stop her being lynched for Nightmare's crimes or maybe she doesn't exist in this version of the universe. Or it's just the different name that's throwing Twilight off.
The pumping her full of magic plan... I think there might be a problem there.
I'm waiting for the Alicorn Triplets to make it back and then call in reinforcements in the form of 2x Cadenza and Corona, not very sensible but it wold be AWSOME
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They had their own adventure by falling into yet another dimension, where they meet r63 versions of themselves. M!, L!, MM! and ML! madness, I hope. No shipping.
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Tell me where this story is or I will have to reach across the internet and send Pinkie after you... with cake.... that's over sugared.
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In my mind. If we can convince someone to write it, it'll be a thing.
Cant wait for next chapter!+
Now this...
Antithesis blinked a few times. That was Trixie’s voice. Was she – what was she doing? Why was she setting off fireworks? Was it some kind of trap –
“Unless you’re scared to be finished off, Antithesis!” Trixie’s voice followed up.
“OH I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!” Antithesis roared, unveiling her wings once more and shooting off towards the fireworks, seeing nothing but red.
just...
So funny!
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My thoughts exactly and this is my reaction at the heroines close but no cigar solution.
PERCEEEEEEIIIIIVVVVVEEEEEEE!
That plan of theirs seems like a good idea and it seems like you just explained how the princesses were able to seal up Antithesis's holes during their fight as well.
Fill the hatred with love. Fairly standard idea for getting rid of void-creatures. Though it sounds like you're planning to throw a twist in... the "important thing" they're forgetting, unless that was merely how to get the Princesses free.
Twilight doesn't seem to be completely accurate, either. Antithesis is learning and developing... she came up with her name. And to some extent she seems to like it, though you are writing her as someone who's afraid of learning too MUCH.
*Sigh* This is just... I'm sorry, but I am really not liking Antithesis. In every single way. Just for Trixie's reaction to seeing L-verse Luna sealed up I want her to suffer. The alicorns being banished like that still cheeses me off in a bad way, mind you.
2787225 Maneverse Trixie fought that Ursa Minor in Boast busters, even with two escape routes. She's got a lot more courage than given credit for.
Twilight may not know the name Cadenza... she should kind of remember that her foalsitter is an alicorn... meh. She has a lot on her mind.
Only 3 chapters?!
I guess the Ponyville Elements Adventures will be left untold... :(...
bored bored bored bored BORED!
why can't i break free faster!
it's the perfect opportunity even!
magic is gone, the princesses are banished and that's causing oodles of chaos!
WHY CAN'T I BREAK FREE FASTER!
we know the plan will work because it wasn't mentioned on screen.
2787382
No, Keep Calm and Flutter on wouldn't have happened at this point as Twilight doesn't appear to realize that Cadenze=Cadence (which she learned in the wedding episodes, which came came before KCaFo).
Hold on a second, why would Twilight not know who Cadance is?
Y'know, a lot of important things happened in this chapter that I should focus on...but I can only picture the adorableness of the Ursa Major and Minor just playing around with one another at the moment.
2788337
Because this story is Pre-Canterlot Wedding.
2787046
Twilight probably never even heard her formal name when she was a filly; the only ponies who would use it are obnoxious nobles and announcers at official events, both of which Twilight would have few encounters with.
2788337 See the author's note on the first chapter.
Twilight does not recognise that Cadance = Cadenza.
Which seems unnecessary, because lots of other excuses that don't require rearranging episode order would work just as well.
The bit with Luna and Luna was exactly what I was hoping for. So awesome.
2788337
Try watching the first part of the Canterlot Wedding.
Just after Twilight got the letter.
2788116
Given the anarchonic order of the episodes as the Lunaverse assumes them, there is no actual way of knowing whether or not KCaFO happened, because episode order doesn't mean anything. Going by episode order alone, "Magic Duel" wouldn't have happened either, but it very much has in story.
Rather, I should just remember that in a few previous chapters, it was explicitly stated that Discord was a statue in the gardens. I think L!Luna even got a look at him.
Lulamoon: I really wonder if this is going to do the trick?
Twilight: Yeah, I say that it did.
lol
2787082
Actually I find it more likely that she just forgot the name "Cadenza," having only heard it twice, in a wildly different context, and on a Very Bad Day besides.
2788487 I have to agree with this. We know Cadence used to babysit Twilight, and they had lots of fun when it did happen, but we don't know how often, for how long, or everything they did during that time. If they spent all of it mostly at home, or around parks with very few adults around, Cadenza would never have been mentioned at all probably. And even if she did hear it once, would she remember? Especially at the young age she would have to be to need a babysitter?
Really odd on not knowing who Cadence is...Since you are saying she exists right? Just doesn't know the name. But in context when talking about Alicorns she really should get it. Annoying dodge. Other then that still as interesting story. Thanks for sharing.
2789118
Twilight doesn't recognize the name "Cadenza," just as she didn't in "A Canterlot Wedding," which, if you'll recall, hasn't happened yet by the time of this fic.
2789232
Emergency need for an Alicorn in this situation isn't the same as not recognizing the name of someone she was invited to a wedding to.
Nice good chapter, loved the Luna-and-Luna bits as the souls entangled and struggled to remain distinct. Great opportunity for both to unload a lot of emotional baggage.
Also, good to see the four unicorns finally putting together a plan. Though I am a bit surprised, since as of last chapter I'd thought Sparkle's epiphany involved facing down Antithesis alone and that she had teleported herself away with the anti-alicorn. I suppose looking back, that would have been a silly plot twist, as it wouldn't really allow Sparkle to learn the lessons she need to from this whole ordeal.
Pumpkin Cake, even if only during a magic surge. Twilight herself when she fell down the stairs at Sombra's castle, even if it was a close call. Arguably even during the climactic fight against Discord, though the Element of Magic might have been helping.
Then again, there's the cliff she fell from in Everfree during the pilot and also escaping the hydra. Curse the inconstant portrayal of unicorn magic.
Still, it seems to me that even if it's difficult, exerting telekinetic leverage against oneself is far from impossible. So long as she's jumping down intentionally instead of accidentally falling, I should think a feather fall affect wouldn't be out of the question. I guess everypony is rather exhausted here though.
2787843
Meh, Antithesis is a one-shot villain who is pretty much literally made out of anger, hatred, and resentment. She is a pony shaped void created from the vacuum left behind in the absence of the central artifact of the MOST POWERFUL MAGIC KNOWN TO PONYDOM. You aren't really supposed to "like" her, and it's only natural that she'd be obscenely powerful.
This is also not the princesses story, and they needed to be somehow removed from events to allow the Twilights and Trixies the chance to save the day. Were Antithesis a smaller scale threat maybe such drastic measures wouldn't be needed, but this is after all a crisis crossover event, anything less then a walking apocalypse would arguably be wholly inadequate as a threat.
2788764
But this isn't in the Lunaverse, it's in Canon!verse(as it were) with Lunaverse characters having travelled into it. I was under the impression that the storyline would fit somewhere after Trixie's first appearance (the characters from the 'canon verse' as it were, remember the Ursa Minor incident) but before the Royal Wedding (Twi doesn't realize that Cadence=Cadenza).
That being said, I know like, piddly squat about Lunaverse aside from the basics of it being a sort of reverse of the canon one(that is, Tia was crazy rather than Luna and Elements of Harmony have different bearers and Twi is crazy/evil/something).
Oh yay, the mind meld wasn't permanent. We think it will take more than mere magic to fix this. I believe it has always been about the magic of friendship, and our protagonists are totally forgetting that.
Keep going! ;)
2786998
....my name is Yayme, and I approve this message.
2789334
It's not Antithesis herself. It's the concept of her. She's a remarkably bland, cookie-cutter, cliche, one-dimensional villian whose sole defining character trait is "EVIL! HATE! ANGER!" that would've been a lot better if she had no personality at all, like a slasher film villian.
Villians are the sort of character that you either give a personality or you don't. Look at some of the best ones out there: Darth Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, Emperor Palpatine, the Joker, Lex Luthor, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Colonel Hans Landa, the various Die Hard baddies, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Sure, they're all evil and the audience really doesn't want them to win in the end... but you can't help but hope that they somehow survive, or at least go out in style. It's the reason why the Empire from Star Wars didn't go away in the EU; both the audience and the authors loved them too much to just make them disappear.
These are villians who steal the show when they're on camera. We like them because they are likeable, because they have class, authority and style and menace. Because they are interesting and funny and brilliant and complex and snarky. Because they are people; evil, evil people you wouldn't want to be on the same planet as, sure, but people nonetheless. The villian makes the plot, and with these guys, what a plot it is!
And, on the other hand we have the Xenomorphs, Jason, zombies, the Terminator (some of them at least), Godzilla, serial killers from slasher movies, Sombra (YMMV on that one) and so on. Villians with no personality at all, without a single line of dialogue even, and still, they worked and people still like them, because they are terrifying, or because they are just cool-looking and badass.
As an additional example, take a Star Destroyer:
images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120302053033/starwars/images/a/a8/ImpStarDestroyer-SWI125.jpg
(FYI, that's an Imperial II. You can tell because the guns are on barbettes and not turrets. And know you know...)
No lines. Not even an actual character. It's a thing, a prop. Yet, it's one of the most recognizable things from the movies. Why? Because it looked cool. Because the second thing you saw after the crawl was one of these shooting the ever-loving shit out of something.
Antithesis, on the other hand, is an annoying, flat thing that I wouldn't mind if a particularly large brick randomly impacted her head at Sufficient Velocity. I just skip the segments that have her in them because I find them completely uninteresting or her whining annoying.
2789759
Except that is kind of looking at her the wrong way. As was pointed out this very chapter, she isn't really alive, so she doesn't really have a personality, just an empty hollowness where the unifying magic of friendship is supposed to be. "Antithesis" isn't just her name, it is her sole identity; her very existences is the antithesis to everything MLP represents as a setting.
Some villains exist for all the reasons you try to point out, but she isn't in any way one of those. This singular fic is to be her one and only claim to fame. Sure she could have just aseasily have been a formless/nameless looming disaster, but that would just make her completely bland and anticlimactic, much like Sombra in the show (who is almost universally agreed to have been an utter waste of potential). I much prefer her as a more active threat that is all about Chewing The Scenery to an nigh-literal extent.
The fact that you and some others even wish physical harm upon her just proves that she is doing her job correctly. Some villains are the kinds we love to hate and want to see comeback again and again to challenge the heroes, while other are just the kinds we want to see take a hard and permanent fall. Antithesis seems to by intent and design be the latter variety; she was born from NOTHING, and it is to that same NOTHINGNESS that she will return.
2788778
Shame I just had the crazy, crazy idea that Antithesis might be Cadenza, take one babysitter mix her with the remains of a dark magic Alicorn thing, cook for 20 minutes on a low heat, ta da, one princess of love!
Crazy, Crazy
2789247
Not alicorns per se, but talking about any being that can handle the burden. Apart from fan speculation there is nothing demonstrating that Cadance is quite on par with either Celestia or Luna. Since this is pre‐Canterlot Wedding the strongest demonstrations of Cadance’s capabilities haven’t happened yet; she hasn’t seen Cadance doing anything that would put her above Twilight’s power‐levels, much less capable of moving celestial bodies to and fro.
the sequel hook has got to be Corona and Discord team-up
hahaha awesome chapter but i have to admit that after reading this chapter title I couldn't stop thinking about this song