History Fanfic / Marionettes

** [[spoiler:Marshmallow is a complicated case, as while she is the closest any of the Marionettes come to being a KillerRobot, she's only doing what Masquerade ordered her to do. Played straight with the other attempts to create a Marionette like her, as they all went insane due to tampering with their central programming and apparently as a result of having weaponry being built into them. To prevent that from happening to Marshmallow, she was built so she could only feel happiness, as well as having deliberately more simplistic mindset and mental capacity, like that of a child]].

** Masquerade is so strong that the two ponies directly above fighting her together still can't just beat her by themselves, though part of that is essentially minimized PoweredArmor. [[spoiler:It takes Spitfire, who herself is an example, joining the fight to actually make it ''even'' and for Masquerade to start taking any serious damage.]]

* FantasticRacism: [[spoiler:Some of the "monsters" the Stallions capture are genuinely dangerous and a threat to ponies (one even calmly saying that he'll kill them all when asked what he'll do if they let him out), but plenty more are simply threats to the Stallions IgnoranceIsBliss attitude]].

* FlatCharacter: [[spoiler:Rainbow lampshades this with Well-To-Do, saying that him being an android makes sense in hindsight because he wanted to destroy the environment for no real reason like a [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Captain Equus]] villain. Apparently it was more to humble the deer than to teach the Mane Six AnAesop, so the Agents who handled that never gave him a very detailed personality]].

* {{Hypocrite}}: The Stallions in Black [[spoiler:have 'protect Equestria' as their mission statement, but not only have they [[KnightTemplar taken it so far as to become a threat themselves]], they place their own continued secrecy as the highest priority and thus allow threats they easily could have helped with or stopped go unchallenged if it'd mean exposing themselves in anyway, while also [[IgnoranceIsBliss keeping the public ignorant of very real threats that have gotten ponies hurt or killed]]. WordOfGod has compared them to the Pharisees, being [[MoralMyopia so self-righteous they're blind to their own wrongdoing]] while [[ObstructiveBureaucrat following a literal interpretation of their rules rather than the actual spirit of them]].]]
* IdiotBall: [[spoiler:Invoked: the Stallions in Black made Twilight stupidly stick to arbitrary rules that made no sense in context when dealing with Longhorn and his crew the first time to prevent her from CuttingTheKnot of their lesson.]]

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: [[spoiler:Twilight and Sunset forget that they can fly when they're in a cramped elevator in Moirai]].

* OmniscientMoralityLicense: [[spoiler:The Stallions, believing that they are carrying out the desires of fate, act like this. In their minds, anything from keeping Gypsy captive for years, creating sentient androids to be used as antagonists for the heroes to face in the name of making them better heroes, reprogramming or destroying said androids if they start to develop past the personalities they were programmed with or become a threat to their plans, manipulating memories in the belief that IgnoranceIsBliss, and being so obsessed with their own continued secrecy that they won't involve themselves in an issue if there's a chance they could be exposed, giving no warning to anyone else, allowing many events that could have been mitigated or stopped altogether to proceed, or letting monsters run around Equestria for years for the same reasons, which ''has'' gotten ponies hurt or killed]].

** [[spoiler:The Puppeteer, a suit of PoweredArmor based off the Marionette concept and intended to fight Celestia if she went rogue, is a dangerous, unfinished prototype that puts a large amount of strain on the user. Masquerade only pulls it out as a last resort and admits the strain combined with her pre-existing injures should have caused her to black out by now. In other aspects, it lacks mobility and limits Masquerade's movements, and the {{BFS}} is too large to be effectively used inside the base]].

** It turns out that [[spoiler:Masquerade's mother raised her to be the way she is and never gave her any choice in the matter, making her this trope to her daughter.]]

** [[spoiler:The Generation 2 Marionettes are [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales Ace and Teddy.]] The rest of the Mane 7 are mentioned, though with Nurse Redheart taking Sweetheart's place (according to WordOfGod this is because Redheart's design seems to be based off Sweetheart.]]

* ReallyWasBornYesterday: [[spoiler:The robotic Radiant Hope (referred to in text as Mecha Radiant) acts like a five year old filly. When questioned about it, Bright Future points out that due to not receiving her programming, she really ''is'' basically a five year old and she was literally just put in her body. It's noted that they should probably get her a new body better befitting her physical age.]]

** [[spoiler:Marshmallow is a complicated case, as while she is the closest any of the Marionettes come to being a KillerRobot, she's only doing what Masquerade ordered her to do. Played straight with the other attempts to create a Marionette like her, as they all went insane due to tampering with their central programming and apparently as a result of having weaponry being built into them. To prevent that from happening to Marshmallow, she was built so she could only feel happiness, as well as having deliberately more simplistic mindset, like that of a child]].

** One of Trixie's goals is to be able to return to her cart, which she's quite upset to have to abandon again to escape the Stallions in Black.
** [[spoiler:Teddy and Ace both ultimately want to get back to their loved ones who they haven't seen in over a decade, being stuck in the Stallion's basement.]]

* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Lightning Dust's eye gets destroyed in the impact with the train tunnel, revealing her optic underneath it.]]

** Trixie, being a showmare, tends to resort to any tactics she can in a fight. [[spoiler:Such as forcing Riptide into exposing herself by threatening to fire a lightning bolt into the water she's in, which would have possibly have hit Bright Future (who Riptide is protecting). It was a bluff (as doing so would hurt the Marionettes as well, something Trixie decidedly doesn't want), but Trixie put on a good enough act even her allies were fooled.]]

* DeathOrGloryAttack: [[spoiler:The move Trixie uses to destroy the Puppeteer upon realizing she simply can't deal enough damage to it with her normal attacks to take it out before Masquerade's much stronger attacks do her in. Not only does the set up require expert timing, the Roar of the Four Beasts is so powerful it nearly completely drains her mana engine and leaves her barely able to move afterwards.]]

* WaveMotionGun: [[spoiler:The Puppeteer has one in its chest that blows a hole clear through Moirai with one shot. However, it has considerable charge up time, allowing Trixie to dodge it.]]

** [[spoiler:Subverted with Masquerade. Twilight ''expects'' she'll be this when Marshmallow dies, but Masquerade is ''actually'' that emotionless. Trixie feels pity for her upon realizing ''why'' that is the case.]]

** [[spoiler:Marshmallow is a complicated case, as while she is the closest any of the Marionettes come to being a KillerRobot, she's only doing what Masquerade ordered her to do. Played straight with the other attempts to create a Marionette like her, as they all went insane due to tampering with their central programming and apparently as a result of having weaponry being built into them. To prevent that from happening to Marshmallow, she was built so she could only feel happiness, as well as having deliberately limited brainpower]].

* AndroidsArePeopleToo: After finding out [[spoiler:Trixie is a robot]], the Mane Six debate about this, and thanks to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy conclude that she is sapient and has feelings. Twilight Sparkle later says that by Equestrian law, constructs that display sapience are to be treated just like anypony else.

* TragicVillain: [[spoiler:It's all but directly stated that Masquerade was create from the foal-making mirror by her mother for the sole purpose of inheriting the leadership of the Stallions, given no choice at all in the matter, and brainwashed into being completely emotionless]].

* ArtifactOfDoom: [[spoiler:After the battle, A.K. Yearling goes through the Stallion's artifacts to sort out any of these]].

* DeusExitMachina: Fluttershy mentions she tried to ask for Discord's assistance with the situation, but she discovered he had just left on a fishing trip with the Smooze in another dimension.

** [[spoiler:The Stallions got the identities of the Element Bearers other than Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Fluttershy ''completely'' wrong, resulting in them running around like idiots trying to get the 'correct' Bearers all to fight Nightmare Moon (and even before that, had made assumptions like Gilda being Kindness). You think that would've clued them in on Gypsy telling the truth, but ''no''. Gypsy later reveals that this guess wasn't exactly ''wrong''.]]

* FantasticRacism: [[spoiler:Some of the "monsters" the Stallions capture are genuinely dangerous and a threat to ponies (one even calmly saying that he'll kill them all when asked what he'll do if he lets them out), but plenty more are simply threats to the Stallions IgnoranceIsBliss attitude]].

* NotSoStoic: Cover Story loses his shit when [[spoiler:he finds out he is a robot.]]

* VillainousFriendship: Cover Story and Gear Shift are the villains, but seem to genuinely care about one another as friends. When the two get separated fighting the Mane Six, Gear Shift promises Cover Story he'll come back to pick him up and makes a number of attempts at it during his fight with Rainbow Dash, and Cover Story tries to escape to help Gear Shift when he finds out Lightning Dust has joined her [[spoiler:only being stopped upon realizing [[TomatoInTheMirror he's a Marionette as well.]]]]

** [[spoiler:Marshmallow is a complicated case, as while she is the closest any of the Marionettes come to being a KillerRobot, she's only doing what Masquerade ordered her to do. Played straight with the other attempts to create a Marionette like her, as they all went insane due to tampering with their central programming and apparently as a result of having weaponry being built into them. To prevent that from happening to Marshmallow, she was built so she could only feel happiness]].

** [[spoiler: Film/TheMask and [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask what appears to be Majora's Mask]] are some of the artifacts confiscated from the Stallions]].

[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/295408/marionettes Marionettes]] is a ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fic written by [[http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Godzillawolf Godzillawolf]]. It is set during Season 5, and starts between "The Mane Attraction" and "The Cutie Re-Mark", as Rainbow Dash briefly mentions the Cutie Map and that Starlight Glimmer is still at large, and the group later mentions meeting Countess Coloratura.

** [[spoiler:Marshmallow is a complicated case, as while she is the closest any of the Marionettes come to being a KillerRobot, she's only doing what Masquerade ordered her to do. Played straight with the other attempts to create a Marionette like her, as they all went insane due to tampering with their central programming and apparently as a result of having weaponry being built into them]].

* ReallyWasBornYesterday: [[spoiler:The robotic Radiant Hope (referred to in text as Mecha Radiant) acts like a five year old filly. When questioned about it, Bright Future points out that due to not receiving her programming, she really ''is'' basically a five year old and she was literally just put in her body.]]