History Fanfic / AnExtendedPerformance

-->The War Room could take a near-miss by a singularity, but no merely material object could withstand Nightmare Moon's full focused power. If necessary, Luna could have brought down the mountain itself in crashing ruin.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] by Trixie and Piercing Gaze. Trixie has a very low sex drive and severe trust issues; when she and Piercing have sex for their first and only time (first and only time ''ever'' for Trixie) it disgusts her so deeply that she flees the ''city'' of Baltimare. She regrets this action because this means she also lost a good friend. (Her {{Pride}} prevents her from trying to make up with him). Despite this disaster, it is very obvious from Trixie's thoughts that she still cares about him, and [[spoiler:the sequel Fanfic/ALongNightAtTheHippodrome makes it obvious that Piercing still cares about her, too]].

* ParalyzingFearOfSexuality: Trixie may have this instead of true asexuality, as she ''may'' be romantically attracted to Piercing Gaze. It's difficult to be sure, the more so because Trixie seems to be lying to herself about some of her emotions in that regard.

* WrongSideOfTheTracks: Tompkins Town is a classic Industrial Slum, with factories that process guano into fertilizer. Trixie is revolted by the smell, and [[spoiler:the Nightstallion's evil plan is to detonate the fertilizer works, devastating the city]].

* {{Asexuality}}: Trixie seems to be this, as she very much did ''not'' enjoy her single sexual experience (mentioned in flashback), to the point where it led her to avoid someone she considered a friend.

* ParalyzingFearOfSexuality: Trixie may have this instead of true {{Asexuality}}, as she ''may'' be romantically attracted to Piercing Gaze. It's difficult to be sure, the more so because Trixie seems to be lying to herself about some of her emotions in that regard.

* DreamSue: Trixie is very much a MarySue in her own mind -- beautiful, powerful and always not merely the heroine but the insufferably ''perfect'' heroine of her own story. This is why she constantly invents and applies new heroic epithets to herself. To some extent she seriously believes this, to some extent it is obviously a game she is playing in her mind to endure the vicissitudes of life.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The Shadow Coven are essentially (occult) terrorists serving (alien) foreign masters who plan to "tear down the towers" of the city of Manehattan, a [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Fantasy Counterpart City]] to New York. Later, Celestia realizes that this and similar attacks elsewhere are just the first battle of the Shadow Wars. Didn't [[TheWarOnTerror something similar]] happen, and isn't it happening, in our world?

A side-story to Fanfic/NightmaresAreTragic, hence takes place at the same time as MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon and /MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E2ElementsOfHarmony.

* [[TheAdjectivalSuperhero The Adjectival Heroine]]: She's the "Great and Powerful" Trixie, thank you very much! What's more, she improvises new heroic epithets to match her mood and the virtues she claims to be currently exemplifying.
* [[AdvancedAncientHumans Advanced Ancient Ponies]]: Four thousand years ago Manehattan was the city of the "titan towers" -- immense skyscrapers, beyond the technology of present-day Equestria to duplicate. The towers fell in the Cataclysm that ended the Age of Wonders. The Manehattan Coven wants to [[spoiler:bring about another Cataclysm and destroy the modern city]].
* [[AGodIAmNot A Goddess I Am Not]]: Princess Celestia. These are her thoughts as she lashes herself with scorn for her her series of errors that has led up to Equestria facing the threat of annihilation by Nightmare Moon:

* [[{{Asexuality}} Asexual]]: Trixie seems to be this, as she very much did ''not'' enjoy her single sexual experience (mentioned in flashback), to the point where it led her to avoid someone she considered a friend.
* [[BelievingTheirOwnLies Believing Her Own Lies]]: Trixie's main obstacle to personal growth is that she has convinced herself that she desires neither love nor friendship, and thus isolates herself -- when it's fairly obvious that she simply doesn't know how to get along with other ponies.

** The "Great Dark," which may either be the being or a GreaterScopeVillain.

* [[EmotionBomb Fear Aura]]: One of the main powers of the Shadow Coven is their ability to induce fear. We get to see how a victim perceives this power when the Night Stallion uses it on [[spoiler:Trixie]].

* [[GravityMaster Gravity Mistress]]: Princess Luna. Her most powerful attacks are force beams and the projection of beam and point gravitic singularities.
* [[HumanoidAbomination Equine Abomination]]: Several, to varying degrees.
** The Night Stallion -- and his disciples, after they've received their [[spoiler:power-ups from the Shadows]].
** Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings. Exactly as abominable usual, though the story cuts away before we find out for what purpose Chrysalis is calling to the Shadows.
** The inhabitants of Hinnysmouth, who are basically equine [[FishPeople Deep Ones]] out of Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth.
** The more normal looking [[Blog/AskFlufflePuff fluffy ponies]], for [[CreepyCute some values]] of "abomination."
** Possibly [[spoiler:Pinkie Pie]], since she is apparently the twin of the [[EldritchAbomination Least Noticeable Grand-Daughter]], which would make her the MLP-verse equivalent of Wilbur Whateley!

* [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex Good Ponies Have Good Sex]]: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] by Trixie and Piercing Gaze. Trixie has a very low sex drive and severe trust issues; when she and Piercing have sex for their first and only time (first and only time ''ever'' for Trixie) it disgusts her so deeply that she flees the ''city'' of Baltimare. She regrets this action because this means she also lost a good friend. (Her {{Pride}} prevents her from trying to make up with him). Despite this disaster, it is very obvious from Trixie's thoughts that she still cares about him, and [[spoiler:the sequel Fanfic/ALongNightAtTheHippodrome makes it obvious that Piercing still cares about her, too]].

* [[LittleHeroBigWar Little Heroine, Big War]]: The larger conflict, between Celestia and Nightmare Moon, is decided by the Mane Six in the Everfree Forest, and all Trixie does for most of the story is keep a single neighborhood in Manehattan from rioting. In the end, though, [[spoiler:by stopping the Night Coven from blowing up the fertilizer plants, Trixie saves Manehattan from a devastation which would have crippled the whole Equestrian economy and hamstrung the defense of the Earth down the line]].

* MerchantCity: The city of Manehattan began as a number of trading ports after the Ponies of the Three Tribes conquered it from the Minotaurs, and for a long time was a Free Republic under a confederation of [[MerchantPrince Merchant Princes]].
* [[MasterOfIllusion Mistress of Illusion]]: Two (related) examples:
** Trixie is the heroic version. At one point she ''does'' fantasize about using her skills villainously, though.
** The Alicorn Illusion, [[spoiler:Trixie's SuperPoweredAlterEgo]] is a straight heroic one, whose self-claimed purpose is to amaze and delight Ponies.

* [[PersonOfMassDestruction Ponies Of Mass Destruction]]: ''Both'' Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, which is why if Luna forces her into a personal fight, Celestia's plan is to lead her out into the wastelands, where they can both use their full powers without devastating any unfortunate towns that happen to be nearby.
** Possibly also the Alicorn Illusion, since her [[WorldHealingWave City-Healing Wave]] of sanity restoration could probably be twisted slightly to produce mass insanity. Fortunately, she seems to be a nice mare, and wouldn't want to do any such thing. We ''hope'' ...
* [[PhysicalGod Physical Goddesses]]: All Alicorns, including Celestia, Luna, Cadance and [[spoiler:Trixie's SuperPoweredAlterEgo Illusion]].

** The vignette with Granny and the fluffy ponies of Dunnich is one to Blog/AskFlufflePuff and Literature/TheDunwichHorror.
** The one with the town of fishy-looking Sea Ponies is one to Ask Ipsy Witch and Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth.
** Trixie explicitly thinks of the Nazgul when she sees the Shadow Coven. [[spoiler:This is because a character who is obviously the same being as Gandalf has told her about the Nazgul in the first place]].

* PostVictoryCollapse: After the Alicorn, Illusion, returns to dormancy, the Great and Powerful Trixie is left standing on stage, having not merely used all her magical energy but also consumed some of her own flesh to power more magic, and not entirely sure of what just happened. She tries to do her usual smoke-bomb exit, but faints from exhaustion in the middle of her last trick.

** The "Great Dark," which may either be the aforementioned being or an even BiggerBad.

* ObnoxiousSnarker: Trixie, frequently, the more so in her thoughts. Though being Trixie, often aloud as well.

* CuteMonster: Granny Pie's Least Noticeable Grand-Daughter, named (in one sequel) Claire Quartz Pie. She's a huge EldritchAbomination who is basically a ponified version of [[TheDunwichHorror Wilbur Whateley's Twin]]. She's also an innocent, nice and generally sweet creature who loves Ponies and life in general. Her most powerful attack is weaponized [[ThePowerOfLove love]], and it is only lethal to the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Night]] [[DemonicPossession Shadows]]. Her main goal is to open the way for her father [[EldritchAbomination Paradise]], a creature whose declared purpose is to spread happiness and joy. Her main desire (as revealed in the sequel is [[IJustWantToBeLoved to find love and friendhip]]. You just want to hug her, and it would probably feel nice because she's warm and ''very'' fluffy.

* WorldHealingWave: The Alicorn Illusion releases a city-sized one when she spreads her spectral wings to cover the whole island of Manehattan. It instantly heals all insanity directly caused by the Shadow Ponies.

* HeroicSpirit: With a little help from what may be the ghost of White-Beard the Grey, Trixie overcomes the [[EmotionBomb fear aura]] of the Night Stallion and -- despite being well aware that she is facing a band of ruthelss black magicians -- refuses to let them shut her show down. You rock, Trixie.

A MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic novella written by [[http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Jordan179 Jordan179]] in 2014. The Great and Powerful Trixie is unhappy when her Summer Sun Celebration night gig in Manehattan turns out to be a show at an open-air neighborhood festival in a seedy Lower East Side park. When the Sun refuses to rise on schedule, Trixie finds herself giving the greatest performance of her life to an increasingly-terrified crowd. But darker forces are moving events to an inescapable confrontation.

* PostVictoryCollapse: After the Alicorn, Illusion, returns to dormancy, the Great and Powerful Trixie is left standing on stage, having not merely used all her magical energy but also consumed some of her own flesh to power more magic, and not entirely sure of what just happened. She tries to do her usual smoke-bomb exit, but faints from exhaustion in the middle of her last trick.
* ThePowerOfTheSun: Celestia's signature ability. Her strongest attacks are fusion beams and the ability to generate (and survive) a fusion explosion from her own body. The latter power is devastating, but omnidirectional, and she doesn't want to use it anywhere near an inhabited area for the obvious reasons.

* [[EmotionBomb Fear Aura]]: One of the main powers of the Shadow Coven is their ability to induce fear. We get to see how a victim perceives this power when the Night Stallion uses it on [[spoiler:Trixie]].

* ExactWords: Trixie decides to have her contract rewritten to specify her time on stage as "until dawn" instead of specific hours, purely for aesthetic purposes. This comes back to bite her in the flank when dawn fails to happen for several additional hours, and she has to extend her performance accordingly.