History FanFic / AMinorVariation

* GuileHeroine: Rarity is a less powerful Element of Magic than Twilight, but she excels at contingency plans and exploiting flaws. To the point of consciously holding herself back so she won't hurt others.
* HiveMind: Every version of Pinkie Pie ever imagined across {{the multiverse}} is linked to all other versions. Dianne is connected to it after she sees the Rainbow created by the Elements Of Harmony, and fights a constant, potentially losing battle to stay as she is despite the hive mind's attempts to make her more like Canon!Pinkie.

* KillItWithIce: Fluttershy incapacitates Gilda the griffon by luring her high enough that her wingfeathers freeze up. She even quotes Film/IronMan: "How'd you solve the icing problem?"
* MistakenForRacist: According to Sea Foam, [[FantasticSlurs narwhals]] are the seapony equivalent to unicorns, hence why she called Lyra Heartstrings one upon recognizing her. In the Equestria we know, it's a rather offensive slur, and Lyra reacted accordingly.

* UsefulNotes/{{Otherkin}}: Sea Foam believes she is actually a seapony and had an incident with Lyra Heartstrings due to recognizing her from her "real" life. The truth about this goes unexplained.

** Rarity's [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} introduction to Discord]].

* ButYouWereThereAndYouAndYou: According to Sea Foam, Lyra has a counterpart ([[{{Reincarnation}} or a past life]] as a [[FantasticSlurs narwhal]] (a seapony unicorn) of the same name, whom Sea Foam knew well enough to recognize on sight. Jury's out on whether this was something real or if Sea Foam is deluded.

* ForWantOfANail: The divergence profoundly changes the ponies' lives, but ultimately they get drawn together anyway. [[note]][[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E23TheCutieMarkChronicles Canonically]], all ponies have special magical connections to their friends, possibly even before meeting them.[[/note]]

* InSpiteOfANail: The Variant Six end up getting drawn together despite the divergence,[[note]][[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E23TheCutieMarkChronicles Canonically]], all ponies have special magical connections to their friends, possibly even before meeting them[[/note]] although their individual lives are [[ForWantOfANail profoundly different from canon]].

* UsefulNotes/Otherkin: Sea Foam believes she is actually a seapony and had an incident with Lyra Heartstrings due to recognizing her from her "real" life. The truth about this goes unexplained.

''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/47421/a-minor-variation A Minor Variation]]'' is a ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' [[AlternateTimeline alternate universe]] fanfic by [[http://www.fimfiction.net/user/notMurphy notMuphy]], in which the events of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E23TheCutieMarkChronicles Rainbow Dash's first sonic rainboom]] play out very differently. Without the Sonic Rainboom tying them together, the Mane Six' destinies lead to some surprising differences...and some even more surprising similarities.

A [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic MLP:FiM]] [[AlternateTimeline alternate universe]] fanfic in which the events of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E23TheCutieMarkChronicles Rainbow Dash's first sonic rainboom]] play out very differently. Without the Sonic Rainboom tying them together the Mane Six' destinies lead to some surprising differences. And some even more surprising similarities.

Written by [[http://www.fimfiction.net/user/notMurphy notMuphy]]; it can be found [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/47421/a-minor-variation here]].

Written by [[http://www.fimfiction.net/user/notMurphy notMuphy]]; it can be found [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/47421/a-minor-variation here]]. It recently completed, going from Nightmare Moon to the return and re-sealing of Discord. A sequel is in the works.

Compare and contrast ''[[Fanfic/StrykesRandomElements Random Elements]]'' and ''FanFic/AWorldWithoutRainbows''.

* SilkHidingSteel: Fluttershy. Sweet and gentle, but fully determined to do anything it takes to get the job done and keep ponies safe. She never raises her voice more than she needs to be heard, but if she says Things Will Be Thus, that will happen. The closest she gets to actual anger is when she berates Photo Finish for trying to ruin the presentation of Rainbow Dash's new line of Wonderbolts uniforms, by focusing on Fluttershy's {{Moe}} potential rather than the subject matter.

-->Rarity: Discord, the Spirit of Disharmony? Good evening, my name is Rarity Bell. As a member of the country and world of Equestria, I ask you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin, or to the next convenient parallel dimension.

** One of Fluttershy's Omega Flight classmates is named [[Literature/TheWizardOfOz Dorothy Gale]], who ends up carried off by a tornado to a faraway land.

** Rarity's [[Film/{{Ghostbusters}} introduction to Discord]].

----

** After redeeming Nightmare Moon, Rarity begins a campaign of apologising and atoning to every pony she ever slighted during her youth (and there were many). Goes a bit out of hand with a few of them who had already come to terms with it, disliked Rarity opening old wounds, and rather preferred not to get money and letters of recommendation from childhood bullies.
* BoringButPractical: Teleporting apples. They are usable by any pony with a functional mouth, provide their own magical power, and can bypass most conventional wards.

Written by [[http://www.fimfiction.net/user/notMurphy notMuphy]]; it can be found [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/47421/a-minor-variation here]]. It recently completed, going from Nightmare Moon to the return and re-sealing of Discord. WordOfGod confirms a sequel is on the way, though.

* TalkingToThemself:
** Almost all of the six to some degree. Twilight's overactive mind tends to split off and go off on tangents, criticize herself, and even bicker out loud. According to WordOfGod, it's going to result in [[spoiler:the creation of [[SplitPersonality a whole new person]] altogether.]]
** Fluttershy gained her confidence in a moment of crisis when her other self essentially smacked her around until she did something instead of crying about being helpless. Rainbow Dash is so prone to zoning out and having long internal monologues that it freaks her friends out, and Rarity is no stranger to analyzing, second-guessing and criticizing her own actions.

* BoringButPractical: Teleporting apples. Can be used by anypony with a functional mouth, provides its own magical power, and can bypass most conventional wards.

* ForWantOfANail / InSpiteOfANail: The story zigzags between these two. The ponies lives are profoundly changed yet they still ultimately get drawn together anyway. Maybe because [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E23TheCutieMarkChronicles everypony everywhere has a special magical connection with her friends, maybe even before she's met them]].
* GreenThumb: Twilight gained her cutiemark when a spell gone out of control (thanks to Fluttershy's Cloudboom) put her in direct rapport with every single plant in Sweet Apple Acres. Even after the event died down, she maintains a constant link with surrounding plantlife, expending half of her magic supply to do so (and she has a massive supply). Not only can she persuade plants to do anything from dropping their fruit to moving around for her, she managed to locate and send a message to Jackie halfway across Equestria simply by exploiting the link between plants until she found something within range of the target, and later grew apples allowing the consumer to teleport. (For reference's sake, a conventional location spell would take several lifetimes to cover the expected distance. Exploiting Equestria's plantlife took ''seconds''.)
* [[GuileHero Guile Heroine]]: Rarity is a less powerful Element of Magic than Twilight, but she excels at contingency plans and exploiting flaws. To the point of consciously holding herself back so she won't hurt others.
* HiveMind: A [[TheMultiverse multiversal]] one exists, consisting of every version of Pinkie Pie that was ever imagined. Dianne is connected to it after she sees the Rainbow created by the Elements Of Harmony, and fights a constant, potentially losing battle to stay as she is despite its attempts to make her more like Canon!Pinkie.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Sending the CMC to ''deliberately'' provoke a disharmonious event near Discord to see if he was showing signs of breaking loose. Such a shame they got carried away.

* StaringDownCthulhu: Rarity delivers a heartfelt WhatTheHellHero to Celestia for essentially letting her own sister fade into history as a terrible monster while everypony forgot the real Luna. Thankfully Celestia takes it in stride and explains everything.
* TalkingToThemself: Almost all of the six to some degree. Twilight's overactive mind tends to split off and go off on tangents, criticize herself, and even bicker out loud. According to WordOfGod, it's going to result in [[spoiler:the creation of [[SplitPersonality a whole new person]] altogether.]]